From: John Tenney <jelt2000@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 18:27:12 -0500
Fwd Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 01:05:50 -0500
Subject: Ghosts, UFOs and Local Politics


I knew someone would want to do a "UFO Mayor" story!

John E.L. Tenney

--------

Researcher blends interests in ghosts, government


By: GARY GOULD, Of The Oakland Press October 28, 2001

October 28, 2001

He's taken on government conspiracies, searched for proof of
UFOs and tracked down ghosts for 15 years, but now John Tenney
is pursuing something truly unknown to him.

He's running for mayor of Royal Oak. "I think I'd be a good
mayor," said Tenney, 30, who founded The Great Lakes Ghost
Hunters Society and the Michigan Anomalous Information Network
in 1997.

Tenney will face challengers Mike Andrzejak, a city councilman,
and resident Bill Urich for a two-year term as mayor in the Nov.
6 election. Incumbent Dennis Cowan is not running after 14 years
on the City Commission.

"I'm a person who always wanted answers to my questions, and I
think I would do that for the residents (as mayor)," he said.

A lifelong resident of Royal Oak, Tenney is making the leap from
research and lectures about the unexplained to politics in part
because of his love for the community.

Tenney, a graphic designer, is assistant manager of the Preston
Burke art gallery in Royal Oak, and he's the owner/creator of
the online city guide Royal Oak Online

He also is an ordained minister - sort of.

The designation reverend, which appears as part of his title on
his paranormal web sites, is something of an inside joke.

"Many paranormal researchers get as many mail-order degrees as
they can to lend credibility to their research," Tenney said.
"So it was sort of an in-joke with other researchers when I
became a mail-order minister."

Unlike many researchers, he tries to have a sense of humor about
the topic.

His paranormal Web site is designed to resemble the cover of a
supermarket tabloid, complete with the sensational headline:
"Now the Startling Truth Can Be Told!"

While he may have fun with his research, Tenney is very serious
about finding answers to the unknown. This desire led him to
research government conspiracies when he was just 15 years old.

"I started out studying the Kennedy assassination," Tenney said.
"When you are dealing with the government, you'll find that
conspiracy theories are passed down from generation to
generation."

He later turned to researching UFO sightings and then took an
interest in the supernatural.

Through his research, he tries to prove the paranormal exists -
though often his findings disprove common ghostly myths and
perceived phenomena.

Of all the hauntings and other paranormal occurrences he's
studied, Tenney said only about 10 percent of those can't be
explained.

One of the strangest and still unexplained incidents was a
Bigfoot "attack" in Monroe County in 1965, which Tenney
investigated years after the fact.

"A creature, which fit the common description of Bigfoot,
grabbed a woman through the window of her car on a remote road
in Monroe County one night and tried to pull her from the car
before it fled," Tenney said. "There was a countywide search for
the creature for weeks after that, but nothing was found."

Closer to home, he said Oakland County is host to many of its
own unexplained phenomena.

"There are a lot of UFO reports in Oakland County," Tenney said.
"People report that a lot of the cemeteries here are haunted,
but a lot of that is active imagination."

One of the more prominent ghost stories in Royal Oak is that of
a spirit that haunts the railroad tracks between Washington and
Main streets. Accounts of a ghostly woman with no legs floating
along the tracks have been told for several years now, he said.

Tenney said a number of people have been killed in car-train
accidents in that area of Royal Oak, including a woman who fits
the description of the ghost many have seen. She died in the
1980s.

UFOs are another phenomenon often difficult to explain,
especially since the government maintains a veil of secrecy
around the subject.

Tenney's search for answers about UFOs led him to approach
then-presidential candidate George W. Bush on a visit to Royal
Oak on Feb. 22, 2000.

According to the online magazine UFOcity.com, Bush met with some
residents at a local restaurant while campaigning in Michigan,
and Tenney saw this as an opportunity to ask a presidential
candidate about UFOs.


At the conclusion of the visit, Tenney placed himself in Bush's
path and shook the candidate's hand while asking, "As a
presidential candidate, would you like to issue a statement
concerning the American public's right to access whatever
information the United States government currently has available
on the topic of UFO..."

Before Tenney could finish his question, he told UFOcity.com, he
was grabbed by the arm by a Texas Ranger, who was protecting
Bush, and was pulled from the crowd. In the meantime, Bush was
pushed onto a van by another officer and was gone.

Though he was not successful in receiving an answer from the
future president, Tenney told UFOcity.com that the reaction he
received said enough - and it continued to fuel his desire - and
that of his organization - for answers.

The Michigan Anomalous Information Network has 15 active members
who assist Tenney in his investigations. Through his
organization, he said he conducts two or three lectures each
year on topics related to his study.

Tenney said he also is writing a couple of books about strange
happenings in Michigan, including one about a military plane
from Michigan that disappeared while pursuing a UFO.

But first, he said, he'll have to put the Nov. 6 election behind
him. Having spent most of his life in disagreement with the
government, he said he's now ready to make a difference.

"There's a truly amazing groundswell throughout Royal Oak," he
said of the supporters who have encouraged his bid for mayor.
"I've spent my entire life disenchanted with the government - I
say, who better to represent the people?"

On the Net

John Tenney for Mayor - http://www.votetenney.com

Michigan Anomalous Information Network - http://mainorg.tripod.com

The Great Lakes Ghost Hunters Society - http://www.ghost.web.com

ŠThe Oakland Press 2001