At age 34, writer, Fortean thinker, and all around decent human being Mac Tonnies has passed away. Mac is best known in ufology as a proponent of the cryptoterrestrial theory--that is, the theory that the intelligences we call "aliens" or "visitors" are neither. They live along side of us pretending to be those things, camouflaging themselves in our expectations and surviving the human advancement.

I always liked Mac. I won't say we were great friends but I'll bet we would have been if we'd lived closer to each other. He always struck me as a fish out of water: sharp guy into alternative things struggling to get by with a crap job in a small town. I urged him to move to New York where he'd be appreciated but he just didn't have the funds. (I also practically begged him to write for UFO Magazine until he thankfully caved!)

His untimely death is that jarring reminder of all our mortality but to me it's something else too. Mac had just completed his new book. He'd just gone on Coast To Coast for the first time. He earned the respect of those who paid attention to his work and was on his way to breaking out of obscurity. For the public at large, that would have meant a refreshing, intellectually honest and level voice in a field where such is nearly extinct. For Mac, that might have meant an end to the financial struggle and the personal struggle to be heard above the droning noise churning from the stagnant minds around him.

New directions for him. New directions for us. Greater freedom for all.

Gone.

Gone but not forgotten. Remembered for what he gave us. Remembered for where he was bringing us. His is the story of a man with his whole future ahead of him and not distantly so. No, right at his fingertips, actually. He was an artistic thinker, arguably poetic, and this is the fitting ending to that general story, tragic though it is for those of us who knew and appreciated Mac and for those who loved him.

On that note, my heartfelt condolensces to Mac's family and his good friends, Greg Bishop, Nick Redfern, and Paul Kimball. Mac has passed into that good night but you know better than the rest of us he was a man with a flashlight. Wherever he is now, take comfort that he's doing just fine.

Love ya, Mac. Rest well.