“…and the gun in my hand suddenly felt obscene. Obscene…”
November 14, 1915. 22:30 hours, local, European, time.
This event may have “haunted the minds of men for 40 years,” when it was produced for One Step Beyond, in 1959, but it has haunted me for probably the same amount of time, since I last saw this episode. I often marveled at the fact that if this had really happened, why hadn’t more—so much more—been “made” of it?!
See, I haven’t seen this show in I don’t know how long…but it surely must have been about the same amount of time. I’ve thought of this episode for years, wondering if I’d made it up or what, about a bright light or flash in the sky over a battlefield, where everyone just stopped fighting, with some even walking off the battlefield—unharmed.
They didn’t run. And they weren’t fired upon.
I did a couple searches for this event, and this was the first link I found. I did a second look and this was the second link I found. It’s too bad there isn’t more information to this extreme paranormal event from WWI Europe, since it had been witnessed from all corners of the WWI European theater. I’d love to see the research material on this OSB used in creating their episode. What happened to those who left the battlefields? How did they fare after the war?
And was it really true that the French placed a call to their enemy to stay their enemy’s execution of similarly affected soldiers?
But…I had finally seen this episode this past weekend…the episode that had haunted me for most of my life. I thought that has got to have been one of the most coolest paranormal events to have ever happened on such a large scale.
But what was it? A UFO? A more mystical event? It even boggles my mind. It obviously didn’t end the war, nor any other wars that followed. But it still had a massive, immediate impact on many who saw it, disgusted by their own violent actions. Even for those who didn’t walk off the battlefield, for a brief moment in time, for everyone fighting in Europe, it actually ended current fighting.
I did a little more searching a day or two later, and found this rather interesting, Rosicrucian newsletter article. It’s a Rosicrucian newsletter, titled, “Rays from the Rose Cross, A Magazine of Mystic Light,” and is dated November 1915, Vol. 4, No. 1, out of Oceanside, California. Now, if you read the first section (titled, “The Occult Side of the War! AN OPERATION FOR SPIRITUAL CATARACT“), the first couple pages of the above newsletter link, another WWI battle scene is described from different viewpoints, involving several accounts of the Allies’ retreat from Mons, in which a “strange cloud” came between the Germans and the British. There are three different versions of what was in that cloud. There’s nothing about the OSB incident, given it occurred on the date of the posted newsletter, but this newsletter talked about another paranormal occurrence during WWI. I didn’t read the entire newsletter (it’s 38 pages), but did skim it. Interesting information and a view into another secret society, but I was interested in the paranormal rout at Mons. I briefly searched a little more but didn’t find anything else—I know not everything is out on the Internet, but really hope to research more of “The Vision” incident OSB wrote about, some time in the future. It fascinates me!
So, this is my request: whatever that bright light was…come back.
Do it again.
Only this time…make it have a lasting effect. We really need it. Reach the hearts of those who actually want war. Create war. Reach them, this time. Make them stop.
But, I know, nothing external will save us from each other, make us stop fighting each other. We have to learn that for ourselves. But I so long for us all to once again, make the feel of holding a rifle—or anything else—in one’s hand to harm another…obscene.
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- One Step Beyond! (fpdorchakrealitycheck.wordpress.com)
Reality Check 
Went to the Rosicrucian museum near San Jose CA one time and was shocked to see it was all about tombs and mummies…pretty cool stuff. Enjoyed it even more than the King Tut museum I saw at the Nelson Art Gallery in K.C. I confused it with Rastafarian! 🙂
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Ha! Good one, Karen! :-]
Oh, yes, I’ve been to that museum a couple times over the years! Last time was, I think, 2–maybe 3–years ago, when I took one of my brothers to see it. Its still pretty much the same, but less mummies than with I first visited it over 20 years ago. Pretty interesting. And…as a KID…I used to get Rosicrucian literature mailed to my home! I never joined tham, but I’ve know of them forever. I’m just not a huge group-joiner, plus there’s still too much traditional religious symbolism, and such, in it for me. But, it’s still fascinating, and I’d go to their museum again, if had another chance….
I enjoyed the Denver Tut exhibit twice, once also over 20 years ago (that one sems far better and, if I remember right, had more stuff in it?), and the alst one a couple years ago. I try to go every time I hear of it. Fascinating! I LOVE ancient Egyptian culture! Plan on writing a mummy novel one of these years (my favorite monster!)…..
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I wonder if there are any diaries with accounts of this phenomenon?
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Excellent point! But that would be a BEAR to track down….
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Seems like there would have to be. That would be fascinating!
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I, too imprinted on this OSB episode. Decades later it helped me correlate an older technology basis for the November 14, 1915. 22:30 hours, local, European, time event. I found the earlier basis for this V. earthly tech, and its further development post WWII. IT was used to accidentally cause a host of UFO reports (not angels) when high fr energy devices were field tested (one type fr on civilians), another, NNEMP, was tested against 2 of our own MMen missile complexes to inductively couple & overload ComConCommand3 electronics. These were night time tests to conceal the “carrier”. It’s a minor puzzle solved along my >35yr. path of UFO solutions. All found “connected dots” are in my book. UFO, THE SOLUTION. NO hardware, NO bodies. I am not a “believer”, but I am not a dis-believer only due to circumstantial and statistical factors.. From all the data, I can make a 2020 Gyroscopically-stabilized oblate spheroid with present technology.
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I too this episode as a young teenager. And was profoundly touched. Did it really happen ? I hope so.
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Yes, I continue to hope that it really happened. We could really use something like that now. Again. Thanks for visiting, Kate!
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I to wonder, did it happen, history says something happened. It just makes me think that we are not alone in this world. whether, its u.f.o., or god or something else I don’t know but we are not alone on the third rock from the sun
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It was, indeed, a very weird occurrence!
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I had a similar experience, a vision. It occurred on the winter solstice in 2018. Like Richard Dreyfus in the Close Encounter movie, I had to build what I saw.
Over the past two years I’ve figured it out, at least the meaningful part. It’s also beautiful. I call it a ‘tetrix’ and posted a youtube video of models I made.
I won’t describe it other than to say that – someday – any schoolkid will know what it is a model of.
Enjoy: https://youtu.be/QRYpbO7Bss4
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Pretty, Douglas! (Though I’m sure there’s more to it than that.)
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That image is pretty cool, Douglas! Can you go into a little more detail about your vision—I’m quite intrigued!
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And thanks for sharing!
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Uh, okay…
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Apparently some close minded Ken or Karen removed the Wiki information, because they felt it should be censored from us. The Rays from the Rose Cross newsletter is thankfully still there. I just watched the episode on Tubi. I know the shows are “based on” true events and are not entirely fact based, but it still makes you think how much was true.
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Thank you for your update, Mike! Sad to hear it was removed, but thank you for the information.
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As a kid, that was the creepiest OSB episode I saw. Many years later, I found out about the “Angels of Mons” & how the whole thing came from a short story & a nation desperately looking for good news in a war that was going badly. I fully agree that nothing is likely save us from our savage folly but ourselves – and that doesn’t seem to be a realistic hope anytime soon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons
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Thank you for this update, Nathan! Interesting how that short story took flight on its own and became “fact” for those who wanted to believe. That’s nice and all, but, please, people, do some research before out-and-out believing anything like this! As much as I want to believe OSB’s “The Vision,” I’m open to it being an hallucination, though it appears [“anecdotally” from the show] that it did happen and happened across a wide swatch of “data points” (i.e., people). I’d love for that to be true…but, as I’d stated, couldn’t find any source documentation. Bummer. So for now, I’m leaning toward that side that it might have, indeed, happened!
But the Mons incident? Wow, all from a short story from a guy just trying to write a story the best he knew how, and it took off like “War of the Worlds”! Interesting how so many people WANT TO BELIEVE, isn’t it, Nathan?
Again, thank you for this update, taking the time to write me, and for reading my post!
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I just watched the episode (on YouTube) for the first time in decades. I’d “thought” it was a pretty direct take on the Mons incident, but obviously there are differences, e.g. French troops instead of British and each man seeing his own (nostalgic?) vision, rather than historical apparitions.
Some have noted a thematic similarity to the 1957 Kirk Douglas film, “Paths of Glory,” though I don’t think there was anything supernatural in it. I don’t know what the inspiration for the OSB script was, or what, if any “real” events they used for the series. “The Vision” almost seems like it could have been inspired by the film’s plot, with the supernatural element added to make it OSB material. A very brief didn’t turn up any other wartime incidents in lists of prominent mass hallucinations. Surely such occurrences happening in multiple WWI theaters (as Newland described in the intro) would have been recorded.
I’m not sure if the implicit anti-war theme would have gone over well a couple of years later, with the Cold War becoming more intense and Vietnam. One big difference between “Mons” and “Vision” just struck me. The “Angels” were warriors, whereas the visions led men t leave the battle. In the Douglas film, the men simply refuse to commit pointless suicide – a far more rational thing. Ironically, bringing in the supernatural makes the rational more “acceptable.”
It’s a bit similar to the Twilight Zone episode, “A Quality of Mercy,” where an American finds himself in the body of a Japanese soldier. We knew the TLX was fiction. It’s interesting how the “factual” framing of OSB made equally improbable things seem much more real. Of course we see the potentially insidious effect of that today with the internet.
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Yes, the irony of elements, here, is quite interesting! And I agree with the TZ analogy. Good call. Thanks for all of your extra effort, here! I haven’t had to time I used to have to dig deeper into this stuff, so it’s good to know that (unfortunately) nothing’s really changed in terms of source documentation or people.
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I guess seeing that Retro TV is showing OSB on Saturday afternoons got me thinking about the episode. All of these odd channels that digital TV brought are a real grab-bag of old shows. Other than TLZ and Perry Mason, I mostly stick to sitcoms and old toons. There’s too much carnage and insanity in the real world to enjoy Law and Order etc. – you can just turn on the news. Alas, Bluto’s serial assaults on Olive Oyl and the way Ward always dismisses June’s ideas on raising the boys aren’t really funny anymore.
In any case, I’m glad my recollection led me to your site. Whether it’s a mystery or finding out things aren’t exactly as you thought you remembered them, those old shows are great nostalgia and a reminder of how much the world has changed, both for better and for worse. Take care. I’ll try to drop in on occasion – and thanks for providing a great resource.
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I quite agree, Nathan! Things may or may not getting worse, but the media is showing the worst. I’ve stopped regularly watching the news a while ago. And I’m being pickier about what I do watch, because everything is always “supersized.” And not in a good way. We hardly go to movies anymore because of their inanity and violence. As you also pointed out, I’m also quite uncomfortable with the old negative values portrayed in some TV/movies.
Thank you for your kind words, Nathan! I’m glad I could be of service to you! It’s been a pleasure bantering with you! I may have to pull out my Blu-Ray and rewatch that show! Take care, yourself!
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“a I’ve stopped regularly watching the news a while ago.”
Ditto on that. I subscribe to one national newspaper here. I also contribute a few dollars to support the Guardian UK. I’m not a big Anglophile, other than loving Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and some of the sitcoms PBS used to run, like “Are You Being Served,” but They give a bit of different perspwective on the US. It’s also interesting to observe the parallel, albeit perhaps somewhat less cataclysmic divisions in British society. Looking at the rise of populist nationalism in Europe and the developing alliance between fascist states makes today seem far too similar to the 1930s. Humanity seems to be hellbent on repeating the same mistakes.
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And this is exactly why we all need to better curate what goes on in our heads and manifests itself through our actions. But again…this is ME running the world, not those who are causing the havoc. #JustMyOpinion
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