The skies over Alabama were relatively free of alien spacecraft on Tuesday, disappointing many of us UFO enthusiasts who really believed it when an Australian psychic predicted their arrival months ago.

Blossom Goodchild boldly went where no psychics had gone before, predicting the exact date (Oct. 14) of an Earth visit by extraterrestrials. As reported here, she said she learned of the upcoming visit by beings calling themselves “;The Federation of Light,”; while channeling the spirit of a dead American Indian named “;White Cloud.”; She said the UFOs would hover over the southern United States long enough for there to be no doubt of their existence. Alas, on Oct. 14, Alabama continued to be populated only be terrestrials, no extra ones to be found anywhere.

Blossom Goodchild's Web site is rather silent on the issue of why the ETs never showed up. Her last communication with her legion of believers (of which I am one) came on Oct. 6 and hinted that all might not be right with our only connection to beings from another world. She said she was cutting back her readings and that she was “;truly exhausted”; and, to make matters worse, she had dropped her laptop computer and it had broken.

“;Not a good time,”; she wrote.

Indeed. It is tiring channeling space beings through dead American Indians. The hardest thing, I would think, is keeping a straight face. Those muscles start to hurt after a while.

I'd be the last one to suggest that Miss Blossom might have had a financial interest in predicting the arrival of ETs, but I notice she has become very popular and her Web site hosts advertisements from other seers and psychics hoping to ride her coattails.

“;My life has turned upside down,”; she says. “;I have been overwhelmed with the amount of mail I have received.”;

Apparently anticipating the possibility that no aliens would appear as predicted, she comforts her followers with this statement: “;I feel it important to quash an ugly rumor someone has started. I have NEVER thought/said that if the ship doesn't show that I will commit suicide.”;

Whew. That's a relief. That, to me, shows she's the real deal. Not like those nutty members of the Heavens Gate cult who committed suicide in order to hitch a ride on a spaceship that, sadly, never passed by Earth.

Some will think that the failure of Blossom's prediction proves she isn't actually in contact with space aliens via a dead American Indian. Or that White Cloud is just messing with her. That's completely insulting to the spirits of not just dead American Indians but the spirits of all dead Americans who communicate with Australian psychics. The fact that spirits of dead Americans have to outsource their visions to foreigners says a lot about the lack of support they get at home.

It is possible the spaceships will still get here and just took a wrong turn at Uranus or something. You can keep your spirits up, so to speak, by downloading Blossom's “;Oct. 14 Music Album.”; And, bless her, it's free.