Author: Craig Colgan

Abandon in Place: The Price of the First Steps to the Moon

Published by Craig Colgan

The sun pours down on a sweaty Florida morning. The deserted, circular concrete slab just steps from the Atlantic Ocean is wider than an American football field. Today, it hosts two visitors: Someone with a very intimate connection to this place, who has agreed to serve as my tour guide. And me. That’s it. Somehow, this space seems to expand in all directions, across the wetlands to the immediate west and out to sea to the east. And then vertically all around. Up, up, up. To forever. Dominating the space is the looming, four-post, 25-foot-high pedestal in the center of the slab. It supports a platform with a wide, circular opening to the sky. A few other items are strewn about amid blowing sand and random scrub vegetation. Two heavy, angled metal structures, neglected and alone across the slab at the edge, resemble skateboard ramps. These turn out to be rocket exhaust flame deflectors. Nearby are the two launch pads on which the moon rockets once stood. But this morning, except for the occasional squawk …

Are the JFK Conspiracies Slowly Dying?

Published by Craig Colgan

Recently, a 2016 British documentary called 9/11: Truth, Lies, and Conspiracies cropped up in my Netflix list. It seemed to have a legitimate pedigree and, at only 43 minutes, I decided to give it a spin. About eight minutes in, I was rewarded when it made a leap that was both astonishing and satisfying, and yet so subtle I almost missed it. I re-watched the 45-second section several times. On the screen is Dylan Avery, one of the producers of the widely viewed and vastly nutty 9/11 documentary titled Loose Change. “Today,” the narrator explains, “Dylan’s views have moderated. He doesn’t stand by his more extreme claims, such as passengers being offloaded from Flight 93 before it crashed.” Wait … What? “Even so,” she continues, “he still believes that many of the questions posed by Loose Change are as relevant today as they have ever been.” Then Avery speaks: “Why did no one catch these guys?” he asks. And just like that, a leading light of the 9/11 crackpot universe, in front of the world, takes a big step back …