EARL RAY SAATHOFF
(a.k.a. FRANKENSTEAM)

Those who know me well will not be surprised to learn that I originally intended to call this site the demon haunted world or demon haunted UFO, but that was already taken. The idea I present here can basically be stated in the form of a question. Namely, how can you have a metaphysical thing such as a demon or ghost in the business of haunting a technologic thing such as a flying saucer? Picture, if you will space aliens fling around in their craft and being plagued by pesky ghosts. In my universe there's no room for both to exist simultaneously. I consider myself a Cartesian (You know, Descartes, the French philosopher. His most famous statement is "Cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am")). To my mind, mysticism and science seem mutually exclusive. This has been described to me as a type of absolutism by friends specializing in the fields of psychology and the physical sciences and I defer to their expertise. "What, a black and white world with no shades of gray," you may ask? Yes, there is black and white, but yes, there are also about a million shades of gray in between. Nuance. There are some folks who believe that the world is black and white, good and bad. There is no in between. "This is good," they announce, "and that is bad." They put everything into one of those two categories. It's a simplistic (but easy) world-view in which most of us engage at some time or another. Intellectual laziness!

An over developed sense of wonder motivates me. You can participate in SETI@home, as do I. SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Credited with completing a total of 189 workunits for SETI@home Classic. SETI@home has completed its transition to BOINC. BOINC lets you donate computing power to scientific research projects such as: study climate change, help researchers develop cures for human diseases, look for radio evidence of extraterrestrial life.

As a young boy, my mother and I would sometime listen to the radio together and my favorite was San Antonio, Texas's AM 1200-WOAI, "The Alan Dale Show." It had some pretty strange topics E.g. cattle mutilation and the occasional guest, not the least of which was, Betty Hill of Barney and Betty Hill fame (Incident at Exeter, the Interrupted Journey). Something called the 'Stendeckt Report,'(SP?) short sensationalized news reports and then there were the callers. Lots of 'crazy callers.' My dad thought we were nuts to listen to such 'BS,' but Mom and I loved it!

Life intervened and things transpired and I forgot about that for many years. Sometime in the mid-80's, Houston, Texas, AM 740-KTRH, broadcast a show, "Radio Physic," with Lynn Gladhill. She employed a technique, 'voice psycometry,' --I think it was called, in which callers to the show were given 'physic readings,' over the air. In 1997 I discovered the Art Bell Show on the radio and began to think about the subjects of UFO's and the paranormal and how to reconcile my interests, dare I say fascination with these disparate subjects. Again, the questions I had pondered in the past came to the fore. Later, after several drive crashes, false starts, and half-assed attempts (this may be one more), I started to see the possibilities of using the net to store my thoughts and to share my rantings and passions with a select audience. I am a skeptic. I don't believe in anything I have not seen with my own eyes (I know, I know there are unseen worlds. E.g. atomic world, viral/bacterial worlds, the force of gravity, etc., etc.) I have never seen a UFO. I'd love to, but so far, nothing. Therefore, I cannot be a 'true' UFO believer. I just have an unquenchable passion for the subjects, UFO's, alien beings, science fiction, the paranormal and always have since I was a little kid. I love Paganism as well, with it's animal spirits, monsters, fantastical beings, but alas, I am an atheist. Contradictory, I know. Sigmund Freud said, "Embrace your inconsistencies." I have become comfortable in my own skin. I am at home with my contradictory philosophies and competing ideas.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a crackpot! I come from a long line of crackpot inventors, miscreants, religious zealots, dirt farmers and artists/visionaries.

My surname is German in origin. It loosely translates to the compound word: seed-estate or seed-house. Saat being translated as seed and hoff, house or estate. FreeTranslation.com yields a slightly different result: saat & hoff = sowings hope. I'm named after my fraternal grandfather, Earl Adolf Saathoff. The dictionary usually defines an earl as an English nobleman. In Spanish, earl translates to conde (count). In Spanish, ray (my middle name) translates to rey (king) . Therefore, a Spanish transition of earl ray = 'conde rey' or count king. I have been called 'el rey' or 'king rey' by Spanish speaking friends but that reminds me too much of Elvis and I'm no Elvis. Elvis was sometime referred to as, "The King."

Politically, I'm a 'proud' liberal. We 'libs' call it 'progressive,' now. Only republicans want you to think the word liberal is a bad word. It's not.

I have worked in film and video production, set design, miniatures and film acting classes since 1989. Production designer, "Redboy13." CO-producer of the independent feature films: the 1997 cult classic, "Barn of the Blood LLama" (A new look at bad animal husbandry.) Llama Vision Production's, 2000's, ensemble cast, "Rowdy Roundup: Night of the Killer Pinatas," has completed production and is in final edit for a 2005 'première.'

Hobbies: cooking, movie miniatures, model railroading and gardening.

Some of my artwork is what you might call appropriation. Theft, if you like. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Very popular back in the go-go 80's. Here you will find that in abundance. When 'borrowing' an attempt is made at crediting the source, especially where news is referenced. As a photographer I have thousands of photographs spanning three decades. Any work referred to as 'my painting' is exactly that - one of my paintings. I paint. I did 'em. They are not appropriated although the subjects my be. An artist may take inspiration from three sources. First, other artists, second, the world around them and third, their inner world, that murky, incandescent, twilight zone of thoughts, dreams and desire. This is a glimpse of my inner world and all that I have synthesized from the previously mentioned lists. A demon haunted, alien rich kinda world. Scary, huh?

I consider this site experimental. Developing...