Every year New Yorkers and Americans alike are witness to a tradition that began after the September 11, 2001 attacks: Two beaming lights thrust into the sky to emulate the rising Twin Towers that were destroyed that day.
They were beacons of bravery! Symbolism that American might can make it through even the darkest of hours before the blazing sunshine of dawn.
Until the 19th time.
Those famous symbols are canceled this year due to the Coronavirus.
The annual “Tribute in Light” display requires a large crew to pull off, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said on its website, posing health risks this year that “were far too great.”
The museum said it was an “incredibly difficult decision” to nix the lights, but announced an alternative citywide initiative to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The new plan, dubbed the “Tribute in Lights,” will feature buildings across the city lighting up their facades and spires in blue on 9/11.
Instead this year buildings across the city are being welcomed to light their facades in a ‘Tribute of Lights.’
And this year, with so much controversy over police shootings and law enforcement tactics, the ‘blue’ aura may cause some eyebrows to rise:
“Many iconic New York City buildings will be lighting their spires and facades in blue to honor those killed on 9/11.”
But it’s not just the lights! It’s the names too!
The names of the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 will NOT be read by families at this year’s ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York “out of an abundance of caution” during the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said..
An abundance of caution..
BACK TO THE LIGHTS
Just to showcase a glimpse into what it takes to make the tribute, this video from 2007:
And not to be a presumptuous 20th century boy, but it sure looks like there is good potential for social distancing and safety precautions based off of the short snippets of video and photography.
This is a a beautiful time-lapse of the tribute several short years ago on the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011:
WONDER WOMAN toys grace Walmarts around the nation.. but the kids jst don’t get it.
1984 was not released (though this year felt more like Orwell’s 1984 than anything else) ..
NO other big time summer blockbusters busted blocks either.
Covid-19 shut it down.. shut it all down.
So how are movie theater chains responding? ENTER AMC!
AMC theaters have reopened in numerous international countries but have remained shuttered in the U.S. since March. The chain touted the reopening as “Movies in 2020 at 1920 Prices.” And now this: Thursday that it expects to open the doors to more than 100 cinemas — or about a sixth of its nationwide locations — on Aug. 20 with throwback pricing for a day.
During its opening-day promotion, AMC will show catalog films, including “Ghostbusters,” “Black Panther,” “Back to the Future” and “Grease.” Those older films will continue to play afterward for $5!
Theaters have an increased challenge in facing COVID.. tight cramped theaters that loved the idea of filling theaters to the max. Now social distancing and masks are the ideals to be met.
The 1918 flu halted Hollywood, too. This isn’t new.
On Oct. 11, L.A. City Hall ordered all theaters, motion picture houses, theaters and places of amusement closed until further notice. In all, 83 movie theaters were closed, shutting out thousands of film fans every week. “Did the young man pleasure-bent seek recreation at his favorite matinee or picture theater?” the Los Angeles Times asked. “Lo, a sign greeted him ‘closed by order of the health commissioner.’”
Studios were also coming to terms with the dangers of filming during the outbreak. Word arrived from New York that popular actor Bryant Washburn had infected co-star Anna Q. Nilsson while shooting Venus in the East. On Oct. 16, Frank Garbutt, vp and West Coast manager of Lasky Photoplay Corp., announced that three pictures in production were being rushed and that most of the studio would go dark for a month. The Metro, Mack Sennett and Triangle studios followed suit. Stars like Constance and Norma Talmadge agreed to forgo their salaries so that regular employees could continue to work.
As silent-film producer Benjamin Hampton told it, panic set in as the still-young “studios closed entirely, or operated on part time, and pessimists croaked that this was the beginning of the end.” Popular Metro matinee idol Harold Lockwood, 31, died of the influenza Oct. 19, and Russia’s first movie star, Vera Kholodnaya, would also succumb to the Spanish flu in Odessa, breaking the hearts of millions of European fans.
Pop some popcorn or get a pot of Joe ready.. This will be a long post.
x x x
There is no easy way to summarize this interesting and strange series of events that recently caught our attention .. it’s not necessarily paranormal. Maybe. But it’s creepy, indeed.. So keep with this post as we explore.. as we take a dive.
Before we begin, remember this.. All of this could be a grand hoax, one that has taken place over a series of months and even years.. I could be a huge ARG.. Maybe it’s just a bunch of 4Channers and Redditors have fun at the expense of the Internet..
The dream thing is not new.. Many months back, as the March shutdowns began to take hold across America, the one uniting issue that everyone seemed to have suddenly in common: Bad dreams.. I even asked the question of my friends on my personal Facebook account and immediately received dozens of responses. People stating they never had dreams quite like they were having.. that they were puzzled and at the same time frightened by the way the dreams felt. Real.. vivid.. Like they were actually happen or actually did. Some of the most visceral dreams anyone had in years. I had them too.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to document these weird terrors at night we all have been sharing?
x x x
HAVE YOU BEEN HAVING STRANGE DREAMS?
A VERY weird poster began popping up around the Willamette Valley of Portland Oregon in 2015–five years ago now at the time this post is written..
The poster said was placed on random telephone poles and buildings.. It stated,
“The Willamette Valley Dream Survey is investigating a recent spike in bizarre, unexplainable dreams. If you have been experiencing any unusual dream activity, you can help by reporting a summary.”
The poster went on to say to call 971-258-1465 with a description of the dream.
Even OREGON LIVE had a story at that time about the posters and how it was giving people an edgy freaking feeling through the area.
Calling the number on the poster reveals that someone cared enough to set up a voicemail account just for the purpose. A woman’s voice says, “Thank you for calling the Willamette Valley Dream Survey. Please leave a detailed account of your dream after the tone. Transcripts or audio from your report may be duplicated in other media.”
The recording provides no other details. A message left by The Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday morning was not immediately returned.
A Google search finds no other reference to the Willamette Valley Dream Survey. The number has in the past been affiliated with a summer camp operated by the German-language immersion program Sophie Scholl Schule, which operates in Beaverton, Portland and Corvallis. But a school official said the number was a Google phone account that the school no longer uses.
“All we do is German,” school director Lynn Ries said. After viewing the Reddit post, she wrote in an email “I can see why you’re checking into this. That’s one weird poster.”
When you called the 971 numbers, you were met with this greeting in a female voice (that sounded real and not robotic): “Thank you for calling the Willamette Valley Dream Survey. please leave a detailed description of your dream after the tone.”
Yes, all strange. Strange that the phone number worked, that people were able to report their dreams, and that the ‘collector’ was never known.. some of you who saw the documentary DON’T FUCK WITH CATS on Netflix may remember how dedicated Reddit users are on finding their suspects.. But on this one, it didn’t work. For all of the research we did about the Willamette Valley dream survey, we were not able to find one clear and concise source that the culprit behind these posters was ever located.
There were, however, some interesting and tantalizing hints on the origins.
THE BRIDGE is a college newspaper in Portland.. A May 2019 edition ran a story about FUTEL phones that were popping up around the city. The FUTEL website has this mantra:
At Futel, we believe in the preservation of public telephone hardware as a means of providing access to the agora for everybody, and toward that goal we are privileged to provide free telephone calls, voicemail, and telephone-mediated services.
All services, including telephony and human interaction, are free from any Futel telephone.
Rory Elliot sought out this in May 2019: A little adventure to locate all the “Futel” phones in Portland. What they found, they reported at the time, were pay phones acting as radio towers, broadcasting analog potential across the city.
Elliot wrote this, with my emphasis added in bold red text:
Each Futel phone sits in front of a house and is almost invisible to the unconcerned eye. The first Futel phone booth we approached was on 23rd and Taylor. We punched the buttons of this antiquated device with wonder, only to find that besides pressing 1 for free domestic calling, an entire world of bizarre and mystical interactivity laid beyond each key. Stunned, we explored all of the different ways we could travel the winding roads within the world of Futel. By dialing 3 for the directory, you are given the option to call the Mayor, the “Druid of Sisyphus Gardens” (still unknown), the Apology line (a voicemail confessional that began in New York in the 1980’s), Willamette Valley Dream Survey, and more. I called the Mayor and the Druid, but didn’t want to slow down to make an apology. Finally, I selected the option to call a payphone at random. The phone rang over and over, and I awaited anxiously for someone to happen upon my phantom call. I stayed on this phone for over a half an hour, exploring all its secrets. Finally, I connected to Futel’s collective voicemail box, where anyone can record and listen to each others messages. I left a voicemail about an upcoming show happening at my house, and sang a short song for someone to stumble upon. Resting the clunky handset between my ear and shoulder, I remembered the strangeness of telephone communication. The depth of its intimacy. How it brings us across towns and countries. How important it is to have, to cherish, and how necessary it is to daily life.
There was no mention on NPR of the Oregon phones allowing you to press an option to reach the Willamette Valley Dream Survey.
CRAZY DREAMS THESE DAYS
The coronavirus breakout in 2019 and 2020 has no solidified this time in history books.. beyond that, weird flyers began to appear again just this year.
Around April, 2020, a new flyer is being posted in potentially several states — at least if you believe those who post on REDDIT– featuring a somewhat similar message to the strange Willamette Valley 2015 leaflets. This one is being labeled the Happy Valley Dream Survey. And now features an email of happyvalleydreamsurvey@gmail.com and a phone number of 725-333-9067.
Happy Valley is a nickname for Utah County, one of the most populous areas of that state. It is also a nickname for the State College area of Pennsylvania..
I personally called the phone number listed on the poster.. you get an automated message stating, “Please leave a description of your dream after the tone.” I did. And immediately afterwards, I received a text message thanking me for participating in the “dream survey.”
Some report that they receive calls a few days afterwards from the Happy valley Dream survey that hang up..
Googling 725-333-9067 leaves you no where. You just find out the number is associated with a Las Vegas location.
So we are left wondering.. A marketing ploy? A starving artist looking for ideas? A cult? Scientists trying to do a real study? A group investigating dreams we are collectively having..?
That collective dream issue brings us back to another famous collective dream of the past.
In January 2006 in New York, the patient of a well-known psychiatrist draws the face of a man that has been repeatedly appearing in her dreams. In more than one occasion that man has given her advice on her private life. The woman swears she has never met the man in her life.
That portrait lies forgotten on the psychiatrist’s desk for a few days until one day another patient recognizes that face and says that the man has often visited him in his dreams. He also claims he has never seen that man in his waking life.
The psychiatrist decides to send the portrait to some of his colleagues that have patients with recurrent dreams. Within a few months, four patients recognize the man as a frequent presence in their own dreams. All the patients refer to him as THIS MAN.
From January 2006 until today, at least 2000 people have claimed they have seen this man in their dreams, in many cities all over the world: Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, New Dehli, Moskow etc.
At the moment there is no ascertained relation or common trait among the people that have dreamed of seeing this man. Moreover, no living man has ever been recognized as resembling the man of the portrait by the people who have seen this man in their dreams.
The aim of this website is: – to help those who have seen this man in their dreams and to foster communication among them; – to understand who this man is and why he appears in an apparently pattern-less array of situations in the dreams of such diverse human subjects.
Are we collectively having similar dreams? And is this new study trying to just capture that.. but for what end?
ENTER THE NEW CONSPIRACY..
Remember remember the 5th of September
This is where things get… even weirder. Is that possible..
Going back to the REDDIT, users ‘aliensdid911’ and ‘1regit’ were both highly active on the website trying to ascertain the information about the happy valley dream survey.. They were in deep..
1Regit said he was “uneasy” and worried about what he got himself into.
BOTH USERS VANISHED FROM REDDIT in May. Not only their posts and initial information, but also their Youtube Videos of their calls to the Happy Valley Dream Survey.
The vanishing act of both users created an online drama on REDDIT in the aftermath..
And a weird connection to a new conspiracy about 5September…
Let’s explain..
REDDIT user Caitlyn2468 tried to contact this dream survey. She got back a text response saying “sorry my responses are limited,you must ask the right questions.” To check what kind of questions would trigger a response she asked a random set of questions and surprisingly she got a question right and received a response.
The response was “that is the right question.”
The response: “9 goehe 5 jit”..
9 goeh translates to Kreyol ayisyen as Septanm in French. and that translates to September in English..
5..
A now famous group on Reddit, a group–or some call a cult–believe an apocalyptic event will occur on September 5, 2020…
The group believe that dreams will help avert a disaster, or at least help you find a safe place during the “end of the world.”
The day will be exactly 24 hours–usually its a tiny bit less than 24 exact hours.. Electric devices won’t work, people will disappear. He claims to have seen dreams of a man in blue flames who told him about this thing. He talks in codes and tells tales about a mysterious “organization”.
Back to dreams.. Those interesting strange dreams..
And back to those weird dream surveys from 2015 and now the happy valley survey of 2020, the year of our pandemic.
So join me.. dive head first into the rabbit hole of high strangeness.
