Art imitates life imitates art: A Synchronicity

Okay, this is a weird one. Bear with me, please. As probably anyone reading this knows, I wrote a book called Blackwater Lights. It is the story  of a man named Ray. It takes place in West Virginia. The central mystery involves "ghost lights" (or UFOs) associated with the town of Blackwater.

While doing an interview for the book's sequel this past weekend, I spent some time talking with a friend (we'll call her Melissa) I met after my talk at a UFO conference several years ago. Melissa dropped a synchronistic bomb on me that literally caused my hair to stand on end.

"I forgot to mention to you before," she said, "but after I read your book I realized there's a strange connection with someone I know."

"Oh?" I said.

"Well," she said, "I have a friend named Ray who lives in West Virginia. And he produced a documentary about UFOs in Hardy County, near where I lived for a while."

Okay, that was certainly an interesting coincidence. But then she followed up with the brain-melting kicker. "And he made another film. A short feature. About a couple who encounter strange lights in the sky over the Lost River Valley in West Virginia. The film is called The Lights."

It turns out Ray Schmitt directed the short science fiction feature film (The Lights) first, and after showing it, local people started telling him about their real-life experiences with strange lights in the sky, which encouraged him to make the documentary UFOs of Hardy County, WV: First-Hand Accounts of Strange Phenomena (2005). From the description:

Filmmaker Ray Schmitt interviewed friends, neighbors, and other people about UFOs and other strange phenomena they have been seeing above the skies in Hardy County, WV. People began contacting Schmitt after they heard about the sci-fi film he made called “The Lights.” That film was shot in the Lost River Valley area of West Virginia and was based on an account that Schmitt heard about strange lights streaking across the sky in the nearby Shenandoah Valley. Local people began contacting the filmmaker about what they had seen in Hardy County. Many agreed to be interviewed on camera while others preferred to remain anonymous. But their stories are unique inasmuch as they all occurred in Schmitt’s “own backyard.” These stories are absolutely amazing and beg for a scientific explanation.

Okay, I think there's only one thing to say about this:

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More: Ray Schmitt and Real Earth Productions