Local paranormal event subject of new book

When you pick up this newspaper or any periodical, the headlines are what usually grab your attention.

Sometimes, you are drawn to a graphic that piques your interest. Other times, you are so desperate for reading material, you’ll read nearly anything.

I suggested “Do Not Read This Article” to my editor because the information contained herein is very thought-provoking. It challenges you to examine preconceived notions, debate “common” wisdom, and doubt your own senses and those of others. I don’t want to be responsible for any mental crises from something I wrote.

This article deals with the paranormal, defined as “denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding:”

It also deals with the techniques used by some paranormal investigators who have written a book about their search for the reasons behind the unusual experiences of a local woman.

Lindsey Fertitta Higgins grew up in the Joseph and Evelyn Fertitta household, a normal child of normal parents in a normal environment for all intents and purposes. But when Lindsey was 2 years old, she was involved in an event that changed her and her family and friends’ perspective on reality and normality.

Her parents owned the Central Station Restaurant on Marshall Street in downtown Shreveport. The family operated the food services downstairs and lived in the rooms on the second floor.

One day, people on Marshall Street see the toddler, Lindsey, standing on the secondfloor ledge outside her window and rush in to warn her parents. They hurry upstairs and find Lindsey walking outside and bring her in. Shaken and relieved, they ask her who opened the window. She calmly replies, Morlock. It turns out that Morlock is a companion with whom Lindsey played in her second-floor room while her parents were downstairs working. On the day she was spotted outside, she apparently was bored and asked Morlock to open her window, a floor-to-ceiling, double-hung window described in “Paranormal Pendulum III.” “We have examined the windows at the old building, and we guarantee that no 2-yearold child could even budge one, much less open one.”

Former local adman Dan Baldwin and self-described cognitive philanthropist George Sewell have collaborated on a book about Higgins and her experiences and the investigations surrounding them.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this reporter is intrinsically skeptical and analytical in his approach to life but also burdened with a desire to believe the best in people and trust them to be honest most of the time.

Approaching a story about the paranormal and alien interaction, while not anathema, certainly would be considered unusual, to say the least, in my experience. I have known George Sewell for over 20 years and have never considered him a kook or “out there.” True, I did not know he was deeply interested in the phenomena of what are usually called unidentified flying objects. However, I share many of his curiosities about the numerous sightings and the convicted belief of the many people who swear they have encountered aliens in one of the classified “kinds,” first, second, third, fourth and even fifth. And I am interested in the great cosmos we share with the universe and wonder what we still haven’t learned about it. That wonder makes me hesitant to label any of the incidents recounted in this book as impossible.

On a rainy – why is it always rainy? – Saturday in July, I met with Sewell and Higgins in Bossier City to learn more about the book and its subjects. For nearly two hours, they wove a tale full of evidence that seemed to defy the laws of the universe as we currently accept them to be.

This article will not detail the descriptions in the book nor attempt to bolster nor rebut their accounts. If you are intrigued, you should obtain a copy of “Paranormal Pendulum III, The Abduction of Lindsey Higgins, The UFO Phenomenon, The Spirit World … and Beyond” by Dan Baldwin and George Sewell, a Four Knights Press Publication, ISBN: 9798439883998. Suffice to say that their story is an honest recounting of events which they experienced, though it may be hard to explain. Their investigative techniques are recounted, and their results are meticulously presented.

At the end of the interview, I found myself with more questions than conclusions. Did I believe their claim? Yes, with the caveat that the laws of physics, presently understood or to be discovered, must not have been broken in their fulfillment. Do I think they are sincere in their convictions? Absolutely. Can we discount them? Not out of hand because we don’t know everything we should about how the space/ time continuum actually works, and Steven Hawking died before he discovered it. Should we be afraid of “alien abductions”? Maybe; some of the outcomes described are less than appealing.

It’s easy to ridicule people who believe something we do not accept as truth. It is easy to discount their “findings” as wishful thinking or mass hysteria. But one must wonder how the Wright brothers were regarded when they discussed man taking wing like a bird, or even when Jules Verne posited that man would one day launch a projectile that ended up on the moon.

Do I think Lindsey Higgins’ story is real?

Ultimately, it does not matter what my opinion or yours is about the incidents and techniques of this book. They are real to Lindsey and many, many more “victims” of whatever this phenomenon is or isn’t. Someday, we may have the answers. Some may even be in this book.