Betwixt and Between: Zones as Liminal and Deterritorialized Spaces

Frequent occult or conspiracy circles long
enough—especially those centered around the
paranormal and ufology—one begins to notice a
trend. UFO sightings or alien abductions, fair
folk conducting séances, leprechauns
frantically hiding their coveted gold, and other
odd occurrences, are seldom happenings found
in populated areas. Indeed, for the skeptic, the
fact of isolation with a lack of witnesses is the
single most powerful weapon in their arsenal.
“If such-and-such event really did occur, why
are there no witnesses? Why did it happen in
the abandoned church? Why do all your
sightings happen in the most remote of
locations?” she asks. The secluded, hidden
locations of these events is not happenstance,
however. It is not a tool to explain away
anomalies. Rather, these things must occur in
secluded, run-down areas because secluded
locations are thresholds between the world of
appearances and the world of things as they
are. They are areas where the supposedly
‘hard,’ ‘natural,’ and ‘immutable’ boundaries of
the world break down. They are the wave
wracked shores of Kant’s Island of Reason, his
terra firma slowly being eroded.