Overdue solar flare or an EMP? Could send world back to Dark Ages

WAYNESVILLE — For a second consecutive year, keynote speaker William Forstchen was introduced as “the scariest man in America” — and lived up to that billing with urgent apocalyptic warnings — at the Heritage Life Skills II conference on May 18 at the Haywood County Fairgrounds.

The event drew about 225 people, which organizers Bill and Jan Sterrett of Carolina Readiness Supply Inc. said, rated as a success and about the same turnout as last year. 

A number of vendors had tables at which they could display and sell their products and services. The event revolved around classes that taught a number of survival skills that have been lost in modern American culture, including butchering, candle-making and fire-starting.”

Forstchen, a Montreat College history professor, is the author of “One Second After,” a New York Times bestseller about the effects to the area around Black Mountain, including Asheville, in a scenario where an electro-magnetic pulse has been detonated above the United States, shutting down the electrical grid and frying the insides of all things digital, rendering them useless.

“You cannot call yourself a prepper if you’ve never read the book, “One Second After,’” the emcee, who asked that his name not be used, told the crowd.

“I introduced him one time as ‘the scariest man in Amerca’ — and I meant it from the bottom of my heart. He’s what I consider the godfather of prepping — wha-a!! — kind of like (late soul-singer) James Brown!” The crowd laughted heartily at the emcee’s buildup for Forstchen.

“I think a lot of the author and I think a lot of the book…. Without further ado, Dr.  William Forstchen!”

Nonplussed at the revved-up introduction, Forstchen greeted the audience and told how he got into the subject of his book — EMPs — after someone had noted the paralyzing threat they pose, but that there is little public interest in them, that “there is no constituency” for them.

Forstchen said he had driven to his Black Mountain home late one night several years ago after learning about EMPS and  “I got in late and peeked in at my daughter,” who was 12 at the time, and began bawling after seeing her sleeping so peacefully.

“Thus started a series of interviews and the book evolved,” he said. “So I wrote the book. It’s been out about four years. The joy for me is seeing this (gathering). Other people have picked up the ball and gone further. My book was like an undergraduate primer, laying out the basics.

After seeing recent responses to catastrophes, “I have totally given up on the federal government — from the top down — doing anything (efficiently) on any emergency,” Forstchen said.

“Only yesterday we were going through a major solar storm” and. the only reason we survived is because” the huge explosion on the sun did not score a direct hit on the Earth.

Such storms, Forstchen said are known as coronal mass ejections (or CMEs), and if the hit the Earth squarely, “We’re talking about an environmental disaster.” Specifically, he said they could disrupt GPS navigation, satellite communications and power grids.

Every 100 or 150 years, the sun emits a CMI that wreak havoc with the Earth. Given the current over-dependence on technoloy of most people, “if it hits us today, it will be a global disaster taking out the power grid from 20 degrees south to 20 degrees north. Most of us will die... Within three days, we’d be scrambling for what’s left,” Forstchen warned.

“The good thing with a CME is we’d at least have 24 hours warning... In the (last) big one in 1859, called the Carrington Event, telegraph wires melted off the poles, railroad ties caught on fire….”

He then expressed his delight that the prepper movement is growing. “The first time Jan called me, she said maybe 60 people would be attending. Next time, it was about 600” at another conference.

I’ve been in labs out west, to Washington, D.C. and to the U.S. War College in Carlisle, Pa., addressing — and listening to — military insiders on the threats posed by EMPs and CMEs. What he has learned strikes fear in his heart, Forstchen said.

Ever the history professor, he added,“I’ll finished with my favorite Abraham Lincoln favorite quote (from Lincoln’s 1862 address to Congress:

“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”

Forstchen said, “So many people went through the Depression and then World War II. We have to make sure that we can pass to our children and grandchildren and, as Abraham Lincoln said, “to generations unborn.”

During a question-and-answer period, someone asked, “Where are we as an update with Iran and North Korea?”

“They’re a bunch of cranky loonies,” Forstchen quipped. “I mean ladies, would you go out with a 28-year-old guy with a hairstyle like that?” (He was referring to the reclusive country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un.)

“From a psychological view, he wants to make his own mark. So what’s his mark going to be? ‘Who do we kill?’ That guy scares the hell out of me because he has the classic profile of a sociopath. 

“I do love the one photo of his generals lined up… They have so many medals that they have a flap sewed on. They haven’t fought a war” in decades. “That’s a psychotic nation?

“Iran — most of the people in Iran want to get rid” of their  leader. “They want to be mainstream, but the fanatics remain in control.”

He told of a photo that was so horrifying to what they did to this poor girl in Iran…. It’s insanity. And again they feel that they’re fulfilling particular prophecies in opposing the United States.”

He then asked, “Why is Sept. 17, 1949 so important to the Polish people?

“It’s the day that the Poland was knifed in the back by the Society Union.”

Then, he noted, “There was a Russian submarine cruising around the Gulf of Mexico for a week recently. Previously, (before President Obama) that would have been unheard of.”

Forstchen then prompted laughter when he said, “You know, I promised my daughter that my next book would be titled “The Happy Bunny Goes to Town.”

“I actually just finished a book about spacial aliens, but it’s a happy book. My daughter asked if I was on medication.”

Turning serious, Forstchen said, “Economic manipulation on a global level is part of the game.

“So we’re prepping for a number of things… My particular issues are EMPs and CMEs, but when the lights go out… nobody’s going to care why.”

someone asked,  “How does precious metals figure into this?”

“I believe everybody who’s preparing … the precious metal market has been wicked crazy for the past several months. A year ago, silver was up as high as $47. It’s down” now. “And gold is down to $1,350 right now. I think everybody, within legal consideration, should keep an eye on it....”

“Hey, take out $10 or $20 per week. Buy dimes, quarters and half-dollars. People know when they’re looking at a Peace Dollar that they’re looking at real silver.”

someone asked about the cascading effect overloading the system. 

“A new power plant needs a hell of a lot of power going into to bring it back up to speed so it can pump power out,” Forstchen said.

“You still need the power for four days, or you;ll have another Chernobl. I hope the wind blows out of the northwest because I wouldn’t want to be in Charlotte.”

As for the Chinese threat, he said, “The Chinese enhanced bomb… a gamma ray burst coming of a bomb, meaning a weapon designed for a maximum EMP. … The Chinese don’t scare me too much because their infrastructure is as delicate as ours.

“There’s three worlds in China — the world we see (living 1st world), miles out of Beijing (it’s second world) and there’s a third world with a Maoist leaning. So they’re afraid... So the Chinese have as much to lose as we do. But now if a rogue state messes us up …”

A second speaker, Chris Weatherman, aka Mr. Angery American (author of “going Home”) said, “I didn’t intend to write a book. I was just writing a story on the Internet … I’m a huge fan of this book (“One Second After”), but I couldn’t relate to it on a lot of levels.

“If everything goes bad …. What if you take everything away?  What if you’re away from home? You’re in a scary place. … He’s got a basic bag in his car and he’s got one firearm…. In a world where everyone’s suddenly plunged into 100 years ago, it may not be enough. The only thing he’s thinking about is getting home to his family --- 100 miles away. It takes him a little over two weeks to walk 250 miles. He runs into everything… If something like this happens, people are going to evolve into two groups -- predator and prey.

“I don’t feel under our current situation, with what our politicians have done to drive a wedge to divide us… It’s even worse than the civil war. We’ve got dozens of factions -- along racial lines, political lines, etc…. When you have  all of these groups, are they going to work together…. The biggest point to the beginning of that is what do you have to start.

“The vast majority of society looks at us like lone. … At some point in a five-year span, you’re going to need a generator. What do most people do? They go to Lowe’s or Home Depot when a storm approaches. Don’t take it out of the box and then return it when the storm doesn’t come.

“You don’t really think about a lot of things (meds) until you need them.

“It’s the same thing here ... if a disaster hits, it’s too late to go out looking for something.

“In the story, this fellow meets some good people, who help him out. He does get home. (It’s a five-book series). Then the story is what happened to his community since he was gone…. I can see a Balkanization… In the book, we get into small communities working together. Some small communities not working together.

“Some people will be looking out for themselves…. There will be tough decisions. That’s where leadership comes in. In the series, you’ll see how the series plays out.

How things happened in the book is never revealed. If all of our cars went out, it won’t matter why it happened. It’s a matter of what to do nope.

Once you’re there, your there,” the author said.