September 25, 2006

London Guardian  (UK)

Is There Anybody Out There? How The Men From The Ministry Hid The Hunt For UFOs
MoD tried to cover-up secret investigation unit
10,000 eyewitness reports 'mostly due to weather'

by James Randerson
Science Correspondent

The Ministry of Defence went to extraordinary lengths to cover up its true involvement in investigating UFOs, according to secret documents revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The files show that officials attempted to expunge information from documents released to the Public Records Office under the "30-year rule" that would have revealed the extent of the MoD's interest in UFO sightings.

In particular, the ministry wanted to cover up the operation of a secret unit dedicated to UFO investigations within the Defence Intelligence Staff. UFO conspiracy theorists have likened the unit, called DI55, to a sort of "Men in Black" agency for defending the Earth against invasion but the released documents show this is far from the truth. One 1995 memo from DI55 to the MoD's public "UFO desk" said: "I have several books at home that describe our supposed role of 'defender of the Earth against the alien menace' - it is light years from the truth!"

The files were made public following FOI requests by David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and his colleague Andy Roberts.

"These documents don't tell us anything about UFOs but they do show how desperate the MoD have been to conceal the interest which the intelligence services had in the subject," said Dr Clarke.

The trail begins with a request, in 1976, from a UFO enthusiast called Julian Hennessy for access to the MoD's records on UFO sightings. A note from the UFO desk to the MoD's head of security on March 23 shows that officials intended to refuse him access on the grounds that the files contain confidential information and "very little of value to a serious scientific investigator".

But the note continues: "This is not to say that the investigation is not taken seriously. The branches have their own methods - and [the public UFO desk] has no 'need to know' about them - but we are aware that DI55 for example sometimes makes extensive inquiries.

"It is undesirable that even a hint of this should become public and we are currently consulting the [Air Historical Branch] on ways of expurgating the official records against the time when they qualify for disclosure [at the Public Records Office]."

Hearing of the background to his fob off 30 years ago Mr. Hennessy, who is a local magistrate, was not surprised.   "Everything led me to believe there was a major cover up going on," he said"  T hey didn't want to let the public know just how interested they were in these phenomena."

Attempts to alter the public record went on into the 90s. In a note dated April 28 1993 from DI55 to the public UFO desk the unnamed author argued the unit's involvement should be excised from records due to be released under the 30-year rule. But the cat was already out of the bag. A clerical error in 1983 had meant that the distribution list was incorrectly left on a publicly released UFO-related document, so UFO enthusiasts were already asking questions.

"Since then they have obviously been bombarded by people saying who is this DI55, what do they do, what is the extent of their involvement," said Dr Clarke.

Eventually, DI55 decided to allow its involvement to be made public. A note from DI55 to the public UFO desk on 5July 1995 said: "I see no reason for continuing to deny that the [Defence Intelligence Service] has an interest in UFOs. However, if the association is formally made public then the MoD will no doubt be pressured to state what the intelligence role/interest is.  This could lead to disbelief and embarrassment since few people are likely to believe the truth that lack of funds and higher priorities have prevented any study of the thousands of reports received."

At this point someone, presumably from the public UFO desk, has scribbled "ouch!" in the margin.

"The lengths they went to to remove any mention of the Defence Intelligence Staff's central role in investigating sightings suggests they had something to hide," said Dr Clarke. "But what they were hiding was not evidence of ET visits but embarrassment at the fact they were never allowed to spend public money on investigating the subject in any depth." The full extent of DI55's involvement has subsequently been made clear by a report released to Dr Clarke in May and reported in the Guardian. That threw up a 500-page document which brought together everything the unit knew about UFOs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) as the MoD prefers, including more than 10,000 sightings.  It said the existence of UAPs was "indisputable", but blamed the most vexing sighting on airborne "plasmas" formed during "more than one set of weather and electrically charged conditions", or during meteor showers.

Sighting aliens or otherwise?

August 10 1965 A man reported seeing a crimson ball fly out of the side of a hill in Warminster, Wiltshire. A fortnight later, another man photographed a UFO in the centre of Warminster. In 1994 it was claimed the photo was a hoax and the object was made from a cotton reel and a button.

Boxing Day 1980 A UFO reportedly crash landed in Rendlesham forest, Suffolk, near the Woodbridge US air force base. The incident was nicknamed Britain's Roswell in a reference to the famous UFO sighting in New Mexico in 1947. Witnesses said the craft was covered in markings similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs and aliens emerged from it. An airman later confessed the incident was a hoax.

November 28 1980 Policeman Alan Godfrey reported seeing a six-metre wide dome-like object hovering in the air in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He returned to the site with colleagues and they found the area where the object had supposedly been hovering was dry even though the rest of the road was wet because of earlier rain.

Early 1990s A string of sightings by residents in north Scotland of a UFO regularly flying overhead at great speed. Documents released earlier this year suggested the aircraft was a spy plane called Aurora, designed by the Americans to take covert pictures of the Soviet Union.

May 2006 The MoD released details of Project Condign, a four-year secret study into possible explanations for UFOs. The report concluded that many sightings could be explained as by glowing "plasmas" of gas created by charges of electricity.
 

June 14, 2006

Western Daily Press (Bristol, Devon, UK)

So Where Are All The Crop Circles?

by Tristan Cork

Hay fever, different crops, tragedy, emigration and yet more argument. Yes, the 2006 crop circle season is now under way... or is it? The rumours spreading around the wacky crop-circle world of Wiltshire are that there might not be as many of the mysterious formations this year as in previous summers.

While some people who claim to make the crop circles say they are hanging up their planks and ropes to have time out, others in the furtive world of the circlemakers pledge that this year will be the biggest yet.

And then, of course, there are the crop-circle devotees. They scoff at such planks-of-wood nonsense and say the more other-worldly circle- makers are sure to carry on.

One thing is certain, the possibility that there will be fewer, or even no crop circles this year, has sent the close-knit croppie community into a geometric vortex.

It was prompted by probably the most famous circlemaker in Wiltshire, Matthew Williams, announcing he would be taking a year off because hay fever, probably sparked by the increase in oil seed rape fields, was getting the better of him.

Mr Williams, still the only person in the world to be found guilty of crop circle criminal damage, said: "I'll not be out this year, it really is getting too bad. After a night in the fields, it takes me at least a day to recover."

He, and other crop circlemakers were also stunned by the death of one of their number, Paul Obee, who was found dead in a car at Erlestoke, near Devizes, last month.

He was a popular member of the circlemaking community, which is based around the Barge Inn pub at Honeystreet, in the heart of Wiltshire's crop-circle country. That tragedy, coupled with another prominent but unnamed circlemaker emigrating to Portugal, raised doubts that there wouldn't be many formations this year.

And, until this weekend, that appeared to be the case. The crop-circle enthusiasts' Bible, the website cropcircleconnector.com, failed to report a single formation throughout May and early June, when normally there would be at least a dozen early happenings.

Enthusiasts of course, don't believe all, or even most, circles are made by a group of 'landscape artists' with planks of wood and a computer-aided graphic design sheet and they can spot a hoax a mile off.

They are still expected to come in their thousands to Wiltshire this summer, looking for more evidence and clues to the real perpetrators of the crop circle phenomenon. They will also be engaging scientists to show the intense heat and energy used to create a real crop circle, as well as trying to capture the balls of light many have seen around the time of the creation of crop circles.

This weekend, despite the fears of a barren year, a beautiful geometric circular formation appeared at West Overton, near Avebury. And now all appears to be right with the crop-circle world again.

Circlemaker John Lundberg, from London, said yesterday this year would be the best yet for crop circles. "To be fair to him, Matt Williams hasn't made a crop circle in years, probably not since he was arrested. Paul's death was tragic and did hit everyone hard, but there's more than three or four people making circles and it's business as usual.

"This year is an important year for us, as it is the 30th year since Doug and Dave (the first people to claim they hoaxed crop circles) first made a circle. We're going to have the biggest summer yet, and I'm looking forward to it."

Mr Lundberg and his colleagues Robert Irving and Mark Pilkington have a book published this month entitled A Field Guide: The Art, History And Philosophy of Crop Circle Making.

 

May 23, 2006

Sudbury Star (Ontario, Canada)

Sudbury Man Keeps An Eye On The Sky
UFO researcher is writing a book about sightings in Northern Ontario

by Laura Stradiotto

Michel Deschamps, a UFO researcher/historian, has spent several years compiling data on UFO sightings in Sudbury and Northern Ontario.

He has investigated abductions, UFO crash sites and obtained "official" UFO documents.

Deschamps has witnessed 17 sightings since the age of nine.

He encourages people to contact him with their experiences and is currently writing a book on the history of flying objects, abductions, crop circles and other paranormal activities across Northern Ontario.

Deschamps shared his findings at a workshop during the weekend at Rayvin’s Eclectic Enchantments. It was the first one he has presented in six years.

Only a handful of people attended, but one could tell by the binders of documents he hauled in with him that Deschamps takes his work very seriously.

He stood behind a podium and said when it comes to the subject of UFOs, people are more "close-minded" than they were 15 years ago.

Today, people are reluctant to admit they’ve seen something unusual hovering in the skies overhead and are even more reluctant to leave their name with him.

Glancing at Sudbury Star newspaper clippings, it’s surprising the amount of space that was dedicated to reports of flying objects.

Eye witnesses are clearly identified, including their exact address.

In 1948, for example, Joe Caruso of 294 Albinson St., spotted a "long oval-shaped black object with 20-foot orange-coloured sparks shooting out from the rear."

"To me, newspaper articles are our history a history that is not spoken of often," Deschamps said.

Most people are skeptical of his work and tell Deschamps there’s no physical evidence of close encounters of the first, second, third or fourth kind.

With encounters of the first kind, there is no interaction between the eyewitness and UFO, while encounters of the second kind involve actual landings often involving scorched ground.

Encounters of the third kind include sightings of aliens or human-like entities, while abductions are characteristic of encounters of the fourth kind.

The largest number of UFO sightings in Sudbury occurred during the summer of 1967, when there were eight incidents reported.

While it became known as the (psychedelic) summer of love, the 1967 sightings were so vivid eyewitnesses often called the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Forces station at Falconbridge to report what they saw.

In one incident, police were called to investigate a report of an attempted UFO landing, but when they tried to contact headquarters there was "heavy radio interference", the Sudbury Star reported.

Often a UFO sighting was corroborated by other people who saw the object from different areas of the city.

It was 1974 when Deschamps, then nine years old, had his first UFO encounter.

He was playing with friends at the end of Pharand Street in Hanmer when something caught his eye.

"I remember seeing this metallic silver-looking ball above the tree line. It was probably no more than one-metre wide. I thought it was an advertising balloon, so I looked to see if it was tied down. It wasn’t."

Years later, Deschamps bought a book about UFOs and one chapter discussed sightings in the Sudbury area, particularly sightings during the first few weeks of July 1974 the time he figures he saw the UFO.

"Up until then, I thought I had imagined it," he said.

That’s when Deschamps started spending considerable time conducting research.

"I still get bugged at work," said Deschamps, who works at Wal-Mart.

Deschamps created posters of physical evidence to show skeptics, including: cow mutilations, sketches of eyewitness accounts and photographs of crop circles one of which was discovered in Spring Bay on Manitoulin Island in the early 1990s.

Called a hoax by non-believers, to this day Deschamps says there’s no way it was a joke. The imprints look like they were burned and they’re located off a beaten path.

Surely if it was a hoax, the jokers would have placed the crop circles in an area frequented by passersby, he said.

Shortly after that experience, Deschamps joined the UFO Network, an Internet-based initiative designed to unite researchers across the world. He is also a member of the Mutual UFO Network.

Many UFO sightings have occurred in mining areas like Copper Cliff, Garson and Falconbridge, he said.

Deschamps said that’s because a mining centre gives alien life an indication of our technology base.

"If NASA is interested in us, I’m sure others are curious, too."

 

May 18, 2006

Salem Statesman Journal

UFO Festival Looks Into The World Of Aliens
Scientists, revelers and people who've been abducted come together in McMinnville

by Angela Yeager

Marius Dekker doesn't want to talk about his experience being abducted by aliens - even though he is giving a speech about the subject this weekend.

Vancouver, Wash., resident Dekker, 70, is a retired chemical engineer and scientist who will be speaking about his abduction experience at a workshop on UFOs at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"It is a very good possibility I was abducted. I can't go into it on the phone," he said, after being asked to explain his abduction experience.

"You'll just have to come see my talk. I'm not going to get into the whole story on the phone. It first happened in Holland, when I was 16. I suspect I was abducted. I am examining these things now."

Dekker's workshop is part of the McMenamins UFO Festival, which is Friday and Saturday in downtown McMinnville. There also is a preview event at 7:30 tonight at the Kennedy School in Portland, featuring a screening of the 1994 Showtime movie "Roswell."

The event is in its seventh year and brings the serious and the goofy sides of aliens and UFOs together. There are workshops and forums with speakers on UFOs and alien abduction, as well as more light-hearted events such as the UFO Costume Parade at 1 p.m. Saturday, which is followed by an Alien Pet Costume Contest at 2 p.m.

Dekker was selected to speak because of his research into abduction; he is one of the festival's many scheduled speakers.

Dekker is retired, but worked as a chemical engineer in Alberta, Canada, and as a math, physics and chemistry professor at Capilano College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He said he started believing in aliens later in his life.

"I grew up as a scientist and a real nerd and had little use for UFO talk," he said. "Over the course of many years, I have reversed my feelings about them."

This will be Dekker's first time attending the UFO Festival in McMinnville. He refused to give any details on what he will talk about for his speech, other than to say he will chronicle the "long story" about why he believes he was abducted. He would say, however, that "missing time" is one of the main elements that abductees find they have in common.

"It's the most telling sign," he said. "People wondering, 'Where have I been in the last three hours?'"

When asked if that could just be memory loss, Dekker explained: "People might think they just had a memory lapse, but there's usually more to it."

Another high-profile speaker at this year's festival is Jesse Marcel Jr., who will give the keynote speech to promote his new book, "Roswell: It Really Happened."

According to Tim Hills, the project historian with McMenamins Pubs, Marcel is a big name in the UFO community.

Marcel Jr. will speak at 7 p.m. Friday at the Mack Theater and will follow his speech with a reception and book signing in a tent that will be set up next to the Hotel Oregon on Evans Street.

Aside from people giving serious speeches about UFOs and aliens, there are those who go to the festival as an excuse to paint their faces and put on pairs of antennas to parade through downtown McMinnville.

The UFO Costume Parade is one of the highlights of the event each year and is organized by McMenamins and the McMinnville Downtown Association. The parade will feature more than 24 entries this year, including floats and marching bands.

The Salem-area Star Trek club USS Destiny plans to participate in this year's parade. Salem resident Craig Martin, a member of USS Destiny, said members dressed in officer's uniforms as well as others from a separate Klingon club will be on the back of a flatbed truck for the event.

"I'm going to be in a 'Next Generation' commander's uniform because I'm the commanding officer of the club," Martin said.

"We try to interact with other groups doing the same kinds of things we are. And it's a good way to advertise for new members," he said.

"Last year, we just had bales of hay on the truck. This year, the Klingons thought it would be cool to have a table in the middle with peace talks going on, which sounds like a lot of fun to me."
 

May 12, 2006

Reading Evening Post (Berkshire, UK)

UFO Cannot Believe It!

A space odyssey of UFO sightings has been zooming across our radar courtesy of eagle-eyed readers.

Your calls flooded in after Pip Neal spotted a mysterious green ball in the sky over Southcote on Friday, April 7, and Vicky Chapman saw a glowing red orb over Basingstoke Road on Good Friday (Post, Wednesdays, April 19 and 26, respectively).

It's not the first time Mr. Neal has seen unexplained things in the sky. He also told us that he saw a triangle of light in the skies over Lincoln two decades ago.

Gloria Fisher, a carer from Meadow Road, Earley, called to say she and husband, Roy, a window-maker, spotted the same phenomenon, also 20 years ago, while camping in Wittering, Sussex.

She said: "We looked up in the sky and saw a triangle of white light as though joined but you could see through the middle. It was in complete formation but whether it was a Government experiment, you just don't know.

"We haven't really mentioned it too much to people.

"My husband, if you do see things, says it's probably clouds or aeroplanes and the last thing you think about is UFOs but you do think: ‘Ooh, I wonder'."

Peter Brake, 77, revealed his experiences after reading about the Good Friday sighting in the Post.

"The first one was mind-boggling, like a world just going along," he said of his sighting of a multicoloured globe while in his Whitley Wood garden some years ago. "It wasn't smooth, it was like in a square pattern and lit up. I didn't know quite what to make of it.

"When it got level with me it was there one second and suddenly went away from me within two seconds."

Then last September the retired forestry worker spied a deep red star-like object moving slowly over his Falmouth Road garden.

But perhaps the most exciting phenomenon has been by former coffee shop worker Janet Cryer, from Woodley who witnessed a bright, whooshing light roaring past her first-floor window.

She couldn't sleep at around 1am on Tuesday, April 18, when suddenly she heard a noise "like an underground train, a roar and a whoosh at the same time" before a greeny-coloured light flew past her open-curtained window.

"Immediately I thought it was a meteorite and I was waiting for a bang," said the 58-year-old.

"It was faster than a helicopter and nothing like an aircraft. The day after that I saw all those stories in the paper."

Mrs Cryer, of Hanwood Close, added: "My late husband used to long to see a UFO, he used to keep all the clippings."

Have you seen any strange aerial objects or inexplicable sights worthy of the X Files? Call the Evening Post's extra terrestrial reporter on (0118) 918 3009.
 

May 12, 2006

Beaver County Times

40th Anniversary Of Beaver County UFO Sighting

by Sally Maxson

As far as the federal government is concerned, the incident is over and done.

"The case was closed and never reopened," said Brian Seese, a paranormal researcher from Hopewell Township, who includes the incident in his new book, "Unexplained Events in Beaver County."

In late 1966, Weitzel, the NICAP investigator assigned to the case, delivered his final report to his Washington, D.C., supervisor, Richard Hall.

"I personally hand-carried a copy of Weitzel's very thick and extremely well-documented report to Dr. Edward Condon," Hall recalled last month.

Condon, a scientist, was in charge of a UFO study conducted by the University of Colorado under the sponsorship of the Air Force.

"Years later, I learned to my astonishment that he never turned over the case to his staff, and it gathered dust in his personal files," Hall said.

And so when the Air Force turned the Colorado report over to Congress, the Ohio-to-Conway incident wasn't mentioned.

"Maj. Hector Quintanilla tried to pass it off as a sighting of the planet Venus and an earth satellite, which was quite preposterous," said Hall, who wrote "The UFO Evidence, Vol. II; A Thirty-Year Report," published in 2001. "I think he may have changed it to an unexplained case later on."

According to the files of a leading UFO researcher, Brad Sparks, the Air Force ultimately did categorize the case as "unexplained" and probably left it at that, Hall said.

Project Blue Book files would show the final status of the incident, Hall said.

But trying to get someone to share Project Blue Book details isn't easy.

The feds closed Project Blue Book in 1972, ending at least publicly the Air Force's role as a UFO investigation agency.
 

May 8, 2006

Great Falls Tribune

Mariana's UFO Film One Of The Best Produced

Great Falls area residents have seen many unidentified flying objects over the years.

Some of those people might have had too much hootch to drink at the time.

But that wasn't the case for Nicholas Mariana, who filmed strange objects from Legion baseball park with a 16mm camera in August 1950.

Mariana was general manager of the Great Falls Electrics baseball team at the time.

Little did he know that his quick-thinking work with a camera would make Mariana a heroic figure among UFO buffs.

Mariana was standing in the bleachers one day when he was amazed to see "two vehicles hovering above the pitcher's mound," his son related in an interview Saturday.

The elder Mariana, who studied journalism at the University of Montana, kept a movie camera in his glove box.

He ran for the camera, and stood in the bleachers behind home plate filming closeups of the strange objects.

After a short time, the aircrafts shot up into the air in a flash.

Soon, "they were little dots on the horizon," said the son, Nick Mariana of Victor.

Mariana's film is credited as one of the best films ever taken of possible extra-terrestrial activity. And he had a witness, his secretary, who backed up his story.

Mariana later complained the best segment of his film disappeared after he gave the movie to Malmstrom Air Force Base to analyze. Base officials denied intentionally clipping out the best closeups from the film.

Mariana once appeared on "I've Got a Secret," a TV program hosted by Gary Moore in which a panel tried to guess what secret a guest had.

Panelists didn't guess Mariana's secret.

Mariana died Aug. 20, 1999, in Oregon, but interest in his film continues.

Mariana's son, Nick, was born in Great Falls, but the family almost immediately moved to Missoula.

Today, he owns a former Great Falls business called Mr. Video.  As it turned out, he had his own movie camera when he was a kid.

Nick Mariana shares his father's view that the government took the best part of the film and stuck it in a classified folder somewhere.

"They don't lose that stuff," he said. The younger Mariana thinks the vehicle may well have been from another world.

"I'm a believer," the Victor man said. "I think it's perfectly feasible that they've made contact."

At the same time, he said there are plenty of "crackpots" out there who falsely claim to have been abducted by aliens.

For years, the Marianas had the famous 15 seconds of 16 mm film around the house in a collection of movies. Then Nick Mariana tried to find it.

"It disappeared from our house," he said. Fortunately, that part of the film had already been copied.

Nick Mariana said his father was irritated that the government whacked out the best section of his movie. After all, who wouldn't object to a hatchet job of editing?

But the elder Mariana didn't dwell on what happened to his film, even if he wasn't thrilled about it.

"He just wasn't that kind of guy at all," son Nick said. That hasn't kept the Marianas from musing over the years about what the full film might have been worth to collectors.

This spring, makers of a two-hour UFO film documentary for the History Channel in Canada, All In One Films of Toronto, are trying to find friends or relatives of Mariana who heard him talk about filming the UFOs.

They also would like to talk to anyone who might have seen a showing of the Mariana film in Great Falls in the 1950s.

If you fill that bill, either e-mail or write me and I'll pass the information on to the folks upstairs in Canada.

Tribune Staff Writer Richard Ecke writes a weekly column on city life. Reach him by e-mail at recke.nul, or at (406) 791-1467 or (800) 438-6600.
 

May 5, 2006

Northwest Meridian (Aurora, Oregon)

Sci-Fi Man

by Tracy Macdonald

The film "Roswell: The U.F.O Cover-up" (1994) tells the story of USAF Major Jesse Marcel's attempt to understand the events that unfolded in the southeastern New Mexico desert in July of 1947.

The picture's executive producer, Paul Davids, will be on hand to take questions at the screening of the film at McMenamins Kennedy School Theater in Northeast Portland.

When Major Marcel (played by Kyle MacLachlan) is called out to investigate the mysterious debris discovered by a local rancher, he concludes (allegedly, along with his colleagues) that the ranch was the site of a UFO crash. The tables turn, however, and Marcel soon becomes the fall guy for a government cover-up, and then the object of press mockery, when his superiors claim the debris in the rancher's prairie came not from a flying saucer, but a typical weather balloon.

Confused and disillusioned, Marcel spends the next 30 years torn between honoring his duty as a soldier and discovering the truth about what really happened. When he attends the 30-year reunion for the members of his Air Force unit, suffering from a heart ailment and faced with his own impending mortality, he's overtaken by his desire to solve the mystery, or at least finally commit himself to asking the hard, potentially dangerous questions, whatever the risks and whatever the cost.

Davids, who also wrote and directed the 1996 documentary "Timothy Leary's Dead", and more recently, "The Sci-Fi Boys", released earlier this year, was interviewed by Northwest Meridian via email about "Roswell", and his career as a writer, filmmaker and UFologist.

Northwest Meridian: Your film implies that there was a massive government conspiracy to conceal the truth about Roswell. Do you believe that this conspiracy is real, or were you just intrigued by the story?

Paul Davids: I have read about and researched this case since 1987. I think I've read nearly everything written on the subject. There are two books which provide the details of the so-called "conspiracy" with greater accuracy and depth than any others I've come across: "UFOs and the National Security State", by Richard Dolan, and "The Missing Times", by Terry Hanson. Both present what I think is an entirely convincing view that we do have extraterrestrial visitors, and that the facts have been officially and deliberately suppressed since at least 1947.

I personally cannot find any fault with the points of view, so eloquently presented, in those books. Also, in the last year the former Defense Minister of Canada Paul Hellyer has stated in public interviews that this conspiracy does exist and that "flying saucers from other worlds" are as real as airplanes.

(Hellyer) stated that he is convinced the claims of Lt. Colonel Philip Corso in the book "The Day After Roswell" are essentially correct, i.e., that this has been one of the most highly classified issues for over half a century, and that the failure to inform and educate the public has been appalling. His views have not been widely reported in the U.S. media, but once again, in all my research, nothing has convinced me that he's mistaken, including several government reports that declare Roswell to be "Case Closed".

NWM: Were the other people involved in the making of your film believers in the government cover-up?

Davids: Captain Kevin Randle (U.S. Air Force) and Donald Schmitt are the authors of a book called "UFO Crash at Roswell", upon which we loosely based the drama of the film. They are both "believers" in the cover-up, and Captain Randle was a military technical advisor to our film. Don Schmitt for many years was the Director of Special Investigations for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago. Apart from them, I believe I was the only person involved who had a driving passion to tell the story because I felt it was urgent and credible.

The others were not necessarily "disbelievers" but took the position they didn't know much and were curious to learn more.  Of everyone, Kyle MacLachlan was probably the most skeptical, or at least very cautious about saying anything to give the impression he was a "UFO believer". It shows what a superb actor he was. His personal beliefs had no influence whatsoever on his magnificent performance as Major Jesse Marcel. Martin Sheen was open-minded about the story, but he is what I would call a devoted Catholic with special interests in reported sightings of the Virgin Mary. He could accept the possibility of UFO's only insofar as he did not feel it conflicted with his Catholic faith, which actually does not at all rule out the possibility of intelligent life on other worlds ("In my Father's house are many mansions...".).

Interestingly, since we made the movie, Monsignor Corrado Balducci, who was the Vatican's Apostolic representative in Washington D.C. for many years, has been giving lectures, apparently with Papal blessing, stating that extraterrestrial visitors are real and are neither angels nor demons nor delusions. Jeremy Kagan, who directed "Roswell", and Arthur Kopit, a great American playwright credited with the screenplay writing (based on a story written by myself and Jeremy and Arthur) were what you might call "agnostic". They felt the "conspiracy" could possibly be true, perhaps was even probably true - but they (and I) felt that the drama should be done in a way that left the final result ambiguous and showed that the data, no matter which side you are on, has been "salted" with disinformation.

NWM: How do you think the public reaction to the Roswell incident - and the government's explanation of that incident - would be different today than in 1947?

Davids: I don't think the rancher would necessarily have summoned the authorities (the sheriff and the military) before alerting the media, and a total cover-up would have been more difficult. Also, the public today would be much more skeptical about a military pronouncement, for instance when the Army changed the first announcement from "flying saucer" to "weather balloon". There was a very similar incident in Brazil in recent years, and much more information leaked out, much more quickly, than was the case in the Roswell Incident where military people felt it was their sworn duty to reveal nothing for decades. The "crash dummy" report at the Pentagon in 1997 drew an unintended reaction of public ridicule and hostile rejection. All military statements were much more likely to be accepted without much questioning back in 1947, so soon after World War II.

NWM: You have been a Science Fiction fan since childhood. What fueled your initial attraction to this genre?

Davids: My love of the sci-fi double features that came out every Saturday during my childhood. Some of them (such as "Forbidden Planet", with Robby the Robot,) were masterpieces that stimulated my imagination for years. I absolutely loved the space films of George Pal including "The War of the Worlds" (the first one, from 1953), plus films such as "The Thing From Another World" and the "Day the Earth Stood Still". And I was of the Baby Boom generation who grew up on Forrest J Ackerman's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine, which I relished, even though my parents had a dim view of it. But all of this was Science Fiction for me. It did not occur to me that extraterrestrial contact may already have taken place until 1987, the year I had a close range daylight disc sighting with my son and daughter.

NWM: How has your work in this genre evolved over the years?

Davids: It's not so much that my work in this field has "evolved" as that I have gone where the opportunities have taken me.

I never expected to be the production coordinator of "The Transformers" television show, which was on every day beginning in the mid-1980's - it was a lucky break - I was called in to take the place of someone I knew who was leaving the show and who had to be replaced immediately.

I seized the opportunity to develop "Roswell" as a film after the experience of my daylight disc sighting, and after doing much research. For years I wanted to do a film based on the research of Richard C. Hoagland, who passionately believes there were extraterrestrial civilizations on both the Mars and the Moon, and that there are archeological remains there. We came very close to launching the film, but ultimately it has not happened yet. I co-wrote six "Star Wars" sequel books with my wife because the opportunity was there - Lucasfilm was interested in having some sequel books developed and published, to keep the public aware of "Star Wars" up until the fourth film would come out.

Finally, I made "The Sci-Fi Boys" out of a passion for the sci-fi genre and the feeling that there was a story that had to be told about the "pioneers" of the genre who inspired my generation of filmmakers (and also Peter Jackson's generations of filmmakers). What started as a dream without great hope of commercial release became very real once Peter Jackson saw and loved my first edit of the film and agreed to be in it.

NWM: Can you expound briefly upon the idea of Science Fiction as a mechanism of cultural and political criticism?

Davids: Science Fiction has often been used as a mechanism of cultural and political commentary, a way to teach us about the predicaments we are in as human beings by showing us fictional extrapolations of what might come to pass or what could happen.  Two excellent examples are Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" (about censorship and book burning in a society which does not allow reading) and "The Day After Tomorrow", which dramatized the extreme possibilities of climate change. But there are hundreds of examples. From a literary point of view, it's often easier for authors to couch their political attitudes and social criticisms by creating fictional literary universes. "Gulliver's Travels" is one of the early examples, and the anti-war attitudes of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is another.

Finally, I made "The Sci-Fi Boys" out of a passion for the sci-fi genre and the feeling that there was a story that had to be told about the "pioneers" of the genre who inspired my generation of filmmakers (and also Peter Jackson's generations of filmmakers). What started as a dream without great hope of commercial release became very real once Peter Jackson saw and loved my first edit of the film and agreed to be in it.

NWM: Can you expound briefly upon the idea of Science Fiction as a mechanism of cultural and political criticism?

Davids: Science Fiction has often been used as a mechanism of cultural and political commentary, a way to teach us about the predicaments we are in as human beings by showing us fictional extrapolations of what might come to pass or what could happen.  Two excellent examples are Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" (about censorship and book burning in a society which does not allow reading) and "The Day After Tomorrow", which dramatized the extreme possibilities of climate change. But there are hundreds of examples. From a literary point of view, it's often easier for authors to couch their political attitudes and social criticisms by creating fictional literary universes. "Gulliver's Travels" is one of the early examples, and the anti-war attitudes of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is another.

NWM: What inspired the creation of your new film, "The Sci Fi Boys"?

Davids: "The Sci-Fi Boys" shows the evolution of Science Fiction in cinema. Kellen Quinn, a critic and commentator for the Tribeca Film Festival, called it "a must-see for anyone who has screamed, gasped or laughed at a movie monster". I have not only screamed, gasped and laughed at movie monsters, I started out making them when I was nine years old and all I had was an 8mm home movie camera and my own ingenuity, plus copies of Famous Monsters magazine that gave away a few of the "trade secrets" of Hollywood. All of those secrets have since changed, but the love of movie monsters is still with me.

These monsters, throughout the decades, have often stolen the limelight from the actors who share the movies with them - and the creatures that once scared us are now like our long lost friends from childhood. We love to collect model kits of them, or build them and paint them. Once we covered our eyes when they came on-screen because they represented our darkest nightmares.  Today we can laugh at those nightmares of days gone by and know that we survived them.

Our real problem (now) - the problem of all of us as human beings in today's society - is the issue of whether we can we survive the actual nightmares of living in this current era, an era of too many lethal weapons and too many leaders and soldiers and others who are willing to use them on innocent civilians all over the world. If we can ever lick that monster, then as a human species, we will have won, and we will have a future out there among the stars. If we cannot lick that monster, then we are witnessing something terrible in our lifetimes, the collapse and destruction of what could have been, what might have been, a magnificent and peaceful worldwide human civilization, with all of mankind respecting everyone regardless of cultural and religious differences. As Michael Rennie stated (as the character Klaatu) in "The Day the Earth Stood Still": "The choice is up to you".
 

May 3, 2006

Terrace Standard (British Columbia, Canada)

Something Was In The Sky Over Terrace On April 24

Terrace's Reputation as a UFO sighting hot spot continues thanks to two independent reports from two couples who both saw mysterious lights in the sky the evening of April 24.

The lights were described as blue-coloured balls with tails coming out the back, says Houston, B.C.-based UFO researcher Brian Vike.

Vike, one of North America's leading UFO researchers, said having two independent reports makes the occurrence all that more tantalizing.

"In the first report there were three balls and in the second, two. Whether one was behind the other then, I don't know," he continued.

The sightings were at about the same time - shortly after 7:30 p.m. - as well and the weather conditions that evening were excellent.

"That this took place during daylight makes it very interesting," Vike said.

The first couple was on Munroe St. on the Bench and the second in the arena parking lot. Their sightings were toward the south. Neither reported a sound coming from the respective objects.

"They moved together, silently through the sky from our right to our left sides," reported the wife of the first couple's observation.

"They were fast, but slow enough that we both could say 'Do you see that?' and look back."

The woman added that she would not have told anyone but that her husband "is a non-believer of anything, and even he saw it."

The husband of the second couple said their sighting looked like flares or a welding spark.

"One large one and a smaller one underneath. I jumped out of the truck and said, 'Did you see that?' and she said 'yes,'" he said of his wife.

"[It] was kind of spooky. Never seen anything like this before in my life - probably never again," the man continued.

Vike welcomes information from anybody else who saw something in the sky shortly after 7:30 p.m. on April 24.

Terrace at one time ranked near the top of UFO sightings for all of Canada.

Vike can be reached at hbcufo@telus.net. His Web site is:

http://www.hbccufo
 

May 1, 2006

Los Angeles Times

Foiling The Space Aliens
In the search for the perfect tin hat, a few things are learned about community and mind control

by Bettie Rinehart

For two weeks I've been thinking about aluminum foil. The problem is that my thoughts should have been focused on tin foil because that, you see, is what purportedly provides the best shield against alien mind control. At least that's what I've read on the Internet.

This is not simply a matter of research. This weekend, I'll be chronicling in writing and on video the Retro UFO Space Convention at the Integratron in the Mojave Desert. I'll be chatting with the abducted, drinking in the wisdom of guest experts on extra-terrestrials and listening to some UFO performance poetry.

But it was the "Tinfoil Hat Contest" that hit me like a gigaton of space balls. Although I didn't even know what the prize was, I wanted to win.

Foil hats got a pop culture bump in the 2002 thriller, "Signs," when, in perhaps the film's funniest scene, Joaquin Phoenix donned aluminum headgear to keep his thoughts protected from unseen aliens. But in my Web sleuthing I found that the coterie of the aluminated is of two minds. Anecdotally speaking, some feel that tin foil provides a shield to thought invasion by both aliens and, dare I say, the CIA. Others contend that the thin metallic sheets are actually more of an "antenna" for other-worldly communication.

I've chosen the style of my hat with an intensity bordering on obsession. I knew I wouldn't be caught dead wandering the desert like some still-wrapped Hershey Kiss or like the styles I'd seen on the Web, including the "Kutcher" (an annoying trucker cap), or the Fez (nice enough with its sassy tassel, but too easy).

For me, would it be Katherine Hepburn in "The Alien Queen?" Uma Thurman in "Even Martian Ladies Get the Blues?" No, I'd go more exotic-a Chinese sunhat with a huge, garish aluminum foil and pink construction paper rose. Maybe some trim, too. A little Chinoiserie meets Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Alien."

I headed to the Rite-aid and Office Depot for foil, tape, colored paper and paste. Four hours later, voila!

My hat turned out to be a pretty glamorous little something for the stylish, paranoid gardening enthusiast. Any misguided extraterrestrial looking to probe my thoughts would be in for a big surprise. They'd have to dig through that monster garnish on the top of my head. Good luck, space invader. Good luck.

They say that the desert doesn't care if you live or die. The desert doesn't care about fashion, either. It's really, really hot. And within a half hour of my arrival, I'm sweaty and smell bad. I've left my hat in the car, stressed about the resilience of Elmer's glue and foil.

The hard sun glints off a mere handful of silvered pates. There isn't much competition. Or maybe, like myself, folks are just waiting for the crucial moment. The competition is scheduled to take place after a very down-to-Earth lunch of burgers and hot dogs, beans, slaw and apple pie.

After I've completed a few select interviews with members of the UFO community-learning along the way about the tall, thin Arcturian tribe of aliens, the dovetailing of heavenly angels and extraterrestrials and universal astrology-I run to the car, grab my precious hat and arrive at the judging table in a cloud of dust, just in time.

After all the hopes I'd rested atop my foil hat, the judging turned out to be a very informal affair-winners determined by claps, hoots and hollers. Not first, not second, but third place was mine. The prize: a sound bath at the Integratron. A $40 value!

Afterwards, Frank Bollinger, co-creator of the "Brain Tuner," which he claims "stops anxiety and trans-cranial electro-stimulation," asks me, "Is that just a hat, or does it have another purpose?"

It no longer mattered to me that I felt like I'd put more brainpower into my hat than the other winners, who'd constructed theirs' in a matter of minutes before the contest. Maybe, in my striving toward alien sartorial greatness, I had been foiled by my own design. I remembered the words of extraterrestrial expert Dr. Louis Turi, author of "Moon Power Starguide 2006": "You have to mean business with the super-conscience of time and space. Be prepared."

With that piece of real-world advice in and on my head, next year I'll be all business.
 

April 24, 2006

Woodland Hills Daily Bulletin

UFO Devotees To Gather In Landers

by Redmond Carolipio

According to The X-Files, the truth is out there.

And on Saturday, it'll be in Landers.

The High Desert will become the landing site for the Retro UFO Spacecraft Convention, an old-school homage to the starry gatherings that used to draw people to the desert decades ago.

"We're going back to the history," said Barbara Harris of Yucca Valley, one of the event's co-creators. "We don't want to make it scary - we want it to be fun."

Many trekked to UFO conventions in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, Harris said. People used to gather from all over the country for a chance to hear people called "contactees" talk about their personal experiences with beings from another world - and expound about what it all meant.

One of the first contactees was George Van Tassel, an aerospace engineer who said he was visited by people from space, boarded a ship and was given the plans to build a machine called the Integratron, which is the focal point of the convention.

Van Tassel, who died in 1978, held yearly "spacecraft conventions" near Giant Rock in Landers, which attracted thousands of people. The conventions helped raise the funds for Van Tassel to build the Integratron, which he described as a "time machine, a rejuvenation machine, and an anti-gravity device."

Today, people boldly go to the Integratron to do everything from record music in the sound chamber to meditate. One of its signature features is the "sound bath," which is said to have therapeutic effects.

Harris said the rest of the fair will be quite a break from a run-of-the-mill UFO convention, which is heavy on academics and theories.

"Typical conventions are held in hotels, and they just feature a lot of speakers - like a lecture," she said. "We're outside, we're going to have lectures in tents, hayrides, shows, bands at night, contests... it's very lighthearted."

There are also going to be tours of Giant Rock and the Integratron, art exhibits and a UFO opera performed by the band UFOetry, which has won two L.A. Music Awards for their work.

Visitors also have the option of staying at the Integratron overnight, supported by campfires and astronomers.

Some of the original contactees from years past will be part of the lineup of speakers.

Rob Harris, Barbara's husband and co-organizer of the event, said while much discussion about meeting alien beings might sound "out there" at first, it's obviously still on a lot of minds - just look at pop culture as proof.

"There's that sense of wonder out there," he said. "It's still a big topic. You see more stuff about aliens on television shows and movies, so people are definitely still interested."

However, much of what's seen in the media perceives aliens as malicious creatures that want to wipe humans off the face of the Earth, and people aren't getting the clearest picture of the movement, said Josh Poet, co-founder and member of UFOetry.

"One of the things Barbara (Harris) talked to us about was that she wanted to reinstill the idea of the innocence and the purity of when we first heard about life on other planets," he said. "We wanted to get a back to the stuff that's been shrouded in conspiracy. There's more than just one group of aliens... many of them want to help us evolve."

And Barbara Harris hopes the convention itself evolves into something that leaves a lasting impression.

"This made memories for people years ago," she said. "We want to create new memories for the next generation."

The Retro UFO Space Convention
When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: The Integratron, 2477 Belfield Blvd., Landers
Cost: $25 for general admission, $145 for full-day pass, $195 to
stay overnight

Information: www.integratron.com    www.retroufo.com,
or call Barbara or Rob Harris: 760-365-3266
 

April 18, 2006

Hagerstown Herald-Mail

The Truth Is Up There

by Nick Ritchick 

One April night, the Socorro, N.M., police department received a radio call from Sgt. Lonnie Zamora. Zamora said that while investigating a loud roar at a dynamite storage shack, he encountered a strange scene.

What he first thought to be an overturned car with an exploded gas tank turned out to be an oval-shaped object about the size of a car, with legs that extended to the ground.

According to UFO Casebook magazine's Web site (ufocasebook.com), Zamora reported the object had no windows or doors and had a red insignia on the side. Two child-sized people in white coveralls stood nearby.

Zamora told his dispatcher he was going to go closer to investigate. But he heard a loud roar and saw a blue-orange flame at the bottom of the object. Then the object rose into the air and flew away.

Air Force and FBI investigators arrived on the scene within a few days, gathered evidence and spoke to witnesses. After two years, Air Force investigator Hector Quintanilla, Jr., released his surprising conclusion.

"There is... no question about Zamora's reliability," Quintanilla reported. "... we have been unable, in spite of thorough investigation, to find the vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic."

Weird science?

According to the National UFO Reporting Center (www.nuforc.org), there were 3,999 unidentified flying object (UFO) reports in the year 2005. Some of these reports, according to Bruce Maccabee, former president of Mutual UFO Network, Maryland chapter, remain unexplained.

"Most cases - 70-80-90 percent - you can reasonably explain," said Maccabee, of Thurmont, Md., in a phone interview last week.  "But maybe 5 percent do not fit."

Maccabee, a civilian physicist working with the U.S. Navy, said he has been investigating UFO reports since the 1970s. He said the U.S. government has investigated UFOs since the first sightings were reported in newspapers a few years after World War II.

"The government thought maybe the Russians had leapfrogged our technology. These craft were probably nuclear powered. The government was naturally worried, at the beginning of what is called the Cold War," Maccabee said. "Air Force pilots were also involved. FBI was involved to find out if there was any communist activity."

Government investigators discounted most UFO reports, but a few were truly strange. But they told the public differently, according to Maccabee.

Maccabee has been interested in these unidentified aircraft since he was a teenager in the 1950s. During this era, newspaper reports of the UFO appearances caught the interests of many people. He volunteered with the Washington, D.C., office of the National Investigating Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), and began investigating reported sightings.

"That's where the rubber hits the road - witnesses who are telling the truth as they know it, or just plain hoaxing," he said. "Where I investigated, they were telling the truth as they know it.

"But it's possible to misperceive. You know there are stars and planets up there - aircraft with lights on. If the light was traveling along and made a right-angle turn, it wasn't a star, wasn't a meteor. Sometimes it takes days or weeks or years.  After you spend time and you have no other explanation that fits, you can say it might be unidentifiable. This is the scientific method."

Maccabee has published several books and reports on UFO investigations, including "UFO FBI Connection," which details early FBI investigations. To visit Maccabee's Web site, go to www.brumac.8k.com.

Read about thought-provoking UFO reports such as Lonnie Zamora's in "Mysteries of Mind, Space and Time: The Unexplained." And, for fun, find good UFO fiction in "Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens 1" and "Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens 2."

You can believe me or not, but there are reports of flying objects that cannot be explained. Next time you're outside at night and see stars, just think to yourself that maybe not all of those lights are stars.
 

April 16, 2006

Beaver County Times

So What Happened?

by Scott Tady

As far as the federal government is concerned, the incident is over and done.

"The case was closed and never reopened," said Brian Seese, a paranormal researcher from Hopewell Township, who includes the incident in his new book, "Unexplained Events in Beaver County."

In late 1966, Weitzel, the NICAP investigator assigned to the case, delivered his final report to his Washington, D.C., supervisor, Richard Hall.

"I personally hand-carried a copy of Weitzel's very thick and extremely well-documented report to Dr. Edward Condon," Hall recalled last month.

Condon, a scientist, was in charge of a UFO study conducted by the University of Colorado under the sponsorship of the Air
Force.

"Years later, I learned to my astonishment that he never turned over the case to his staff, and it gathered dust in his personal files," Hall said.

And so when the Air Force turned the Colorado report over to Congress, the Ohio-to-Conway incident wasn't mentioned.

"Maj. Hector Quintanilla tried to pass it off as a sighting of the planet Venus and an earth satellite, which was quite preposterous," said Hall, who wrote "The UFO Evidence, Vol. II; A Thirty-Year Report," published in 2001. "I think he may have changed it to an unexplained case later on."

According to the files of a leading UFO researcher, Brad Sparks, the Air Force ultimately did categorize the case as "unexplained" and probably left it at that, Hall said.

Project Blue Book files would show the final status of the incident, Hall said.

But trying to get someone to share Project Blue Book details isn't easy.

The feds closed Project Blue Book in 1972, ending at least publicly the Air Force's role as a UFO investigation agency.

Representatives of the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency contacted last month said documents from Project Blue Book are kept at the National Archives and Records Agency, though two representatives at that agency said they couldn't confirm the status of the case, ultimately transferring a reporter's phone call to a third person who never returned the call.

"Getting someone from the government to talk is almost impossible," said Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter who, backed by cable's Sci-Fi Channel, sued NASA under the Freedom of Information Act to see files on a UFO sighting Dec. 9, 1965, in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County.

NASA maintains the "fireball" that dozens of witnesses spotted that night was a remnant of a Russian satellite that disintegrated after re-entering the atmosphere. But official documents from that investigation were lost in the 1990s, NASA claims.

As for the Conway sighting, Kean speculated the Air Force proclaimed that matter dead after Quintanilla's ruling, or once the University of Colorado-Air Force report didn't list it.

UFO investigators claim that Air Force report "was a totally bogus thing" anyway, designed from the onset to debunk UFO theories, Kean said.

In the first few years after Project Blue Book ceased, UFO sightings continued to crop up nationally, including a six-month span from 1973 to 1974 that included separate sightings in Center Township, Ohioville and West Mifflin. Gradually, the phenomenon faded away, and recent years have been devoid of similar reports.

"The UFO sightings may have appeared to slow down," Seese said, "but these may only be reported sightings. As a general rule, most people do not report what they observe.

"According to veteran UFO researcher Paul Johnson, the Internet changed the way people report their sightings," Seese said. "Instead of contacting the state police or local researchers, they can now send their report directly to the Internet and remain anonymous and not have to deal face to face with an investigator initially."

The Internet certainly has kept the Conway-to-Portage incident alive.

Dozens of sites, many suspecting a government cover-up, recount the morning of April 17, 1966.

Meanwhile, the men who saw the flying object are left with their own unique perspectives.

"I don't know what I would have done it if had landed," Panzanella said. "I don't know if I would have run or not."


Scott Tady can be reached online at stady@timesonline.com
 

April 11, 2006

Salt Lake Tribune

Are Are We Alone? UFOs The Topic

by Dan Nailen

In 1952, Navy officer Delbert Newhouse was driving cross-country with his family, a trip that took them through northern Utah the morning of July 2.

Around 11 a.m., Newhouse's wife reportedly noticed odd figures in the sky a few miles outside Tremonton. Grabbing his movie camera, Newhouse ended up with some striking images of the unidentified flying objects - images that persuaded the U.S. Air Force, Navy and the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate.

The government eventually concluded the "Tremonton tapes" simply showed some seagulls in flight.

Of course, what would you expect the government to say?

The Tremonton episode is one story in a long line of alleged extraterrestrial activity in Utah. It's one reason independent UFO researcher and lecturer Robert Hastings will make his fourth trip to the state Wednesday for a lecture at the University of Utah.

Of the Tremonton tapes, Hastings said: "If one looks, using modern, computer-based visual-enhancement technologies, those seagulls essentially were saucer-shaped. They were round, oval-shaped or disc-shaped, so clearly they weren't seagulls.

"That's one example of countless ones where the PR guys at the Pentagon have tried to explain away UFOs."

UFOs, extraterrestrials and all manner of unexplained phenomena are always the subject of uneasy debate between believers and nonbelievers, government agents and private citizens. And UFOs are fodder for pop-culture fantasies, whether through sci-fi flicks of the 1950s or "The X-Files," a TV show in the '90s that rekindled talk that "The Truth Is Out There."

The 56-year-old Hastings has dedicated much of his life to formulating counterarguments to official dismissals of all things UFO-related, digging through once-classified documents, filing Freedom of Information Act requests, and interviewing people with firsthand knowledge of UFO sightings and the government's efforts to ignore them.

He's delivered his findings in lectures at more than 500 colleges and universities.

Most of his study involves the preponderance of UFO activity near America's nuclear weapons, and he has studied intently cases in Wyoming, New Mexico and Montana.

"There are FBI, CIA and Air Force documents going back to as early as December 1948 confirming that what the documents themselves refer to as 'flying discs' or 'flying saucers' have demonstrated an ongoing interest in our nuclear weapons sites," Hastings said, noting that since 2001, the release of sensitive, UFO-related documents by the government has slowed to a trickle.  Much of his lecture Wednesday, "UFOs: The Hidden History," will involve the history and potential risks of alien life forms' interest in U.S. nuclear weapons.

Stephen Nielson, the 23-year-old speakers board chairman for the Associated Students of the University of Utah, booked Hastings' lecture at the U. Nielson said he believes in extraterrestrial life, but "I don't necessarily know if they've been to Earth."

"UFOs, everybody has some fascination with them," Nielson said.  " 'The X-Files' made them extremely popular during the '90s, so the generation that's now in college kind of has that mentality."

For more on UFOs in Utah

Robert Hastings will present his lecture "UFOs: The Hidden History" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts Auditorium. Admission is free.


To view video of the Tremonton tapes, visit:   http://galactic2.net/video/ufo9.avi

and for photographs, visit:  http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk /utahcondon.htm
  
For more information on UFO activity in Utah, visit the Web site of the Utah UFO Hunters at:  http://www.aliendave.com
 

April 7, 2006

Melbourne Herald Sun (Australia)

UFO Witnesses Reunite

by Terry Brown

The truth is out there ... in Clayton South

One of Australia's biggest UFO mysteries has taken off again, 40 years on.

And researchers hope the truth will out at a reunion of more than 30 witnesses tomorrow.

About 200 people are said to have seen either a flying saucer or crop circles near Westall High School on April 6, 1966.

The craft was described as silver, saucer-shaped and silent.

Some witnesses say they saw it drop behind trees at Westall's Grange Reserve, then rise vertically and leave.

Flattened and charred grass "crop circles" were said to have been left.

Canberra academic Shane Ryan says he has contacted about 50 witnesses in the past year.

The bulk were Westall High School students who were gathered on the oval at the time for physical education.

The incident was reported in daily papers, on Channel Nine and twice as front-page news in the local Dandenong Journal.

About a quarter of the witnesses said they saw the flying saucer and the rest saw as many as five so-called crop circles.

Many children reportedly ran down to the Grange after the sighting.

John Spencer, a seven-year-old at Westall Primary School at the time, said the incident still got to him. "I need answers, 'cos this has been a real bugbear over the years," he said.

"I have remembered the day as vividly as a seven-year-old could -- Mum dragging me away from the Grange after school from the landing site . . . seeing this object in the sky, other planes flying, following it."

Mr Spencer said the Grange was a second home to kids, a spot to catch frogs and tadpoles.

He said that after the incident, "guys in uniforms" made the reserve a no-go zone.

Mr Ryan said many witnesses reported police or military activity after the incident.

Science teacher Andrew Greenwood told the Dandenong Journal at the time he saw a silvery-green disc.

Mr Greenwood also claimed he was visited at home by two uniformed officers and threatened with prosecution if he continued to speak of it.

The defence department says there is no record of any military action after the sightings.

Gerry Shepherd taught woodwork at the time and says he never saw any military at the school.

"All I can say is that the school bell went to start the afternoon classes and there was hardly anyone there," Mr. Shepherd said.

"I would say 99.999 per cent it's a load of bull."

Mr Ryan hopes retired police or military will go to the reunion, from 11am-2pm at Westall Tennis Club on the edge of the Grange in Clayton South.

"I'm convinced people saw something quite out of the ordinary," he said.

"It is a story that has almost been completely forgotten.

"These people, even after 40 years, have this burning desire to make sense of what they saw."
 

April 6, 2006

Winnipeg Sun (Manitoba, Canada)

Did UFOs Go To Alberta?
'Toba sightings in '05 Down Significantly

by Chris Kitching

Maybe it was our lousy summer or the Blue Bombers' wretched regular season that kept them away.

Whatever the reason, fewer unidentified flying objects were spotted in Manitoba's skies last year than in 2004.

Ufology Research of Manitoba spokesman Chris Rutkowski said there were 43 sightings reported to his independent agency in 2005. Twenty-three of them were in Winnipeg.

He received 112 reports from around the province in 2004, a record-setting year.

"We're way down, but despite that (Canada) recorded its second-highest number of sightings in a single year," Rutkowski said.  "Most people aren't convinced these are spaceships. Many have reasonable explanations."

Most sightings are lights in the sky. There has been no evidence of extraterrestrial involvement.

But some can't be explained.

One such case was reported in Vita, Man., on Aug. 7 when three people reported seeing a silver missile-shaped object.

No, it wasn't a plane, witness Peter Osadchuk said.

"It was a tubular shape with protrusions on the sides," he said.  "We could not figure out what it was before it got out of eyesight."

Rutkowski said two people saw a similar object in Winnipeg the same day. It's unknown what it was or if it was the same UFO.

"It was hovering in the sky making no sound and it suddenly vanished after a short length of time," he said.

Rutkowski's independent agency researches sightings and releases an annual tally on them.

He said Canadians reported 769 sightings last year, which translates into about two a day. Canada recorded 882 in 2004.

Ontario tops the 2005 list with 214, while Nunavut was the only jurisdiction without a report.

Calgary and Vancouver's 29 sightings were the most of all urban centres.
 

March 25, 2006

Farmington Daily Times

UFO Symposium Draws Believers

AZTEC - Jack Berringer said he began going to UFO conventions after his first encounter with aliens. The 69-year-old California resident claimed that on Feb. 8, 1980, spacecrafts hovered directly over his home. The event sparked an interest in the extraterrestrial and caused him to begin reading about the subject.

"I've met some interesting people," Berringer said of the conventions he attends. "But I only go to 'smart' UFO conventions."

Berringer was one of many who gathered Friday afternoon to meet with some of the 9th Annual UFO Symposium speakers in Aztec. He and others discussed ufology - the study of unidentified flying objects - over wine and cheese at Hard Backs Book Store.

"It's basically for speakers and anyone who wants to come in," said event organizer Scott Ramsey. "We try to make it a community event."

According to the event's Web site, www.aztecufo.com, New Mexico is ranked highest in the world for UFO-related sightings.

According to the site, 12 "crashed disks" or alien space crafts were recovered in New Mexico.

"Our UFO Symposium will initiate discussions on the UFO, alien phenomenon that seems to permeate our culture," the site states.

The city of Aztec gained prominence among UFO enthusiasts after a crash reportedly occurred around March 25, 1948, almost 12 miles outside of Aztec in Hart Canyon, according to information provided on the Web site.

Ramsey said he believes this year's speakers will shed some insight into new findings in the field of ufology, noting that two of Saturday's speakers will do so in Aztec for the first time this year.

Ramsey said each year Friends of the Library choose speakers who have done much research and have published literature relating to the study of UFOs and aliens. The group also attempts to bring in at least one scholar with a Ph.D.

"You can learn and have fun at the same time," he said. Dennis Balthaser, one of the event's lecturers, said he has been involved with the Aztec UFO Symposium for nine years.

"I've been fortunate to work here as a speaker and as an emcee," said the Roswell resident. "I think it's one of the better managed symposiums because it doesn't have the carnival aspect."

Balthaser said he believes the event had also served as an important fundraiser for the new library in previous years.

When asked how he responds to skeptics and naysayers, Balthaser said he speaks with them publicly.

"Years ago, I did it privately not to embarrass people," he said. "That didn't work."

Balthaser said he believes answering such questions is an important part of his research, noting that serious researchers spend much of their time "putting out fires" by validating their findings.

"I think skeptics are needed," he said. "But they usually don't present a whole lot of information to counter (our findings)."

Rhys Saunders: rsaunders@daily-times.com
 

March 20, 2006

Ann Arbour News

'UFO' Mystery Still Haunts Some
1966 Dexter sightings by residents, officer called swamp gas by U.S. government

By Jo Collins Mathis

Forty years ago today, for a brief but interesting time, Washtenaw County became the flying saucer capital of the Midwest.

It started when a Dexter farmer named Frank Mannor and his 18-year-old son, Ronald, told the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department that a strange flying object appeared and landed in a swampy area at Quigley and Brand roads.

Frank Mannor, 46, told authorities that night that the two went out in search of the object moments after they saw it touch ground. He said it appeared to be brown, with a "quilted" effect on the surface. It was flat on the bottom and cone-shaped toward the top, with two small lights on the outer edges emitting a glowing blue-green color that intensified and turned red at times. When it became brightly lit, the entire object was light yellow, with the light running horizontally between the two outer running lights.

According to the police report, Mannor said: "We then heard the sound of a whistle - something like a rifle bullet makes when it ricochets off something. Then this object went up in the air, passed directly over us and disappeared."

Patrolman Robert Hunawill of the Dexter Village Police Department reported then that he saw what appeared to be the same object after he parked his car near the area. He said it suddenly appeared over his patrol car at a height of about 1,000 feet, that it had white and red lights on it that at times had a bluish tinge, and that it hovered over the car before continuing sweeps over the swamp.

Hunawill reported that he watched the object for a few minutes before it was joined by three others that flew in formation, with one set of two flying high above the other two. They then disappeared into the sky.

Professor J. Allen Hynek, a Northwestern University astrophysicist who consulted with the military, came to Dexter to investigate, and then reported his findings at the Detroit Press Club.

"It was like a mob scene," said Bill Treml of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor News reporter who covered the story. "Then (Hynek) said: 'As near as I can tell, what we're seeing is swamp gas*.'"

"I remember (Mannor) saying, 'I was in the Army and we were down in Louisiana and there was swamp gas all the time; this was not swamp gas.' "

Treml is convinced the Mannors and Hunawill saw something that night.

"Frank Mannor wasn't a nut case," he said. "He wasn't a guy who had wishes of grandeur. He was just telling what he saw. I'm sure he didn't dream it up. He died thinking that was some kind of UFO, either Air Force-connected or from another planet or something."

Treml said he thinks that something was manmade.

"I'm sure the Air Force has secret files about all their experiments with rockets or whatever," he said. "Sometimes the high officials are so stupid, they think, 'This will create a panic.' That's their alibi for not saying, 'Hey, we had a rocket ship go round the moon, or something come down.' Each administration continues the charade."

Douglas Harvey, Washtenaw County sheriff from 1965 to 1972, agrees with Treml that the Mannors clearly saw something.

And he's never believed the government's official stance on what that something was.

"Dr. Hynek was sent in from the U.S. government. He came into my office. We went out to the site where supposedly this object came down on the ground. Dr. Hynek in the car said, 'There is something. We just can't put our finger on it. We've been investigating this for quite a while.' "

They returned to Harvey's office, where Hynek asked to use the telephone in private.

"He was on the phone for quite a while, which I found very enlightening," Harvey said. "He came out and I said, 'Well, Dr. Hynek. What do you think?' He said, 'It's swamp gas.' He tells me one minute he has no idea what it is. And then he makes one phone call to Washington and comes out and gives a statement that it's swamp gas. Very strange."

"And then the Mannor family really caught a lot of flak, which was very unfortunate."

He said soon after that, a man who was out running in Brighton reported a sighting.

"And then that was it," Harvey said. "It just kind of died away."

Harvey doesn't know what to think about it.

"They did see something," he said. "I'll believe this to the day I die. Somebody has kept something quiet, and nothing more ever materialized. So we don't know if it was the government experimenting, or was it really a UFO. I don't know."

Harry Willnus of South Lyon, the former state director of the Mutual UFO Network, has investigated the sightings and wrote a feature article about it for UFO (UK edition) magazine two years ago.

Willnus has a copy of the police report from that night, and said there's no way that it was swamp gas.

"For instance, it mentions that the object was observed to rise to an altitude of approximately 500 feet, and then return to the ground," he said. "Swamp gas doesn't do that. It only goes off the ground a few feet. It mentioned when it took off, it sounded like a rifle shot in a canyon. Again, swamp gas doesn't do that."

So what was it?

"We can't be sure," he said. "It was, I think, either a craft that came from off the earth, an extraterrestrial, or some kind of one-dimensional device. And I'm starting to use the word multiverse rather than universe... Some kind of one-dimensional craft, perhaps, that came into our realm and then left."

Willnus, who is retired from teaching in the Romulus school district, worked for a while as an investigator for Hynek after Hynek started The Center for UFO Studies.

"We haven't solved the mystery," Willnus said. "This case is 40 years old. We still don't know the answer, and yet it still continues to occur, with sightings every day around the world."

Jo Collins Mathis can be reached at jmathis@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6849.
 

March 20, 2006

Ridgeway Recorder

Today is National Festival of Extraterrestrial Abductions Day

Extraterrestrial abduction claims have become almost common since the late 20th century and once each year alien enthusiasts have a day to speculate on the validity of such reports.

In Pennsylvania, a number of extraterrestrial abduction claims have been documented. The international extraterrestrial abduction and UFO reporting center, "Mystical Universe," keeps a comprehensive listing of the reports of such phenomena from around the world. The largest number of such sightings and abductions seem to come from California, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Although the reasons for this are unknown, Pennsylvania is listed as the sight of 19 such reports. A particularly famous abduction report involved a group of four men, three of which were Pennsylvanians, who claim to have been abducted while camping in Maine.

Four distinct abduction or sighting reports stem from the Harrisburg area alone and involve up to 17 witnesses. The Bensalem area is also the sight of four purported incidents.  Other locations such as Mt. Carmel, Langhorne, Easton, Springfield, Lewiston, Jessup, Levittown, Highspire, Union City and Vermillion Hills record as many as three reports each.  Unfortunately, many of those reporting such phenomena do not disclose an actual location and, fearing public censure, only report the general region or state in which their experience occurred.

In our own area, no claimants could be contacted to discuss their experiences. It is very likely though that someone in our region believes to have been abducted or have seen a UFO.  Statistically, these reports are more common in rural areas such as our own. Given county population and geographic features, our area most likely has residents who believe to have had such experiences, although they may never have reported it.

Ridgway Borough Police and Pennsylvania State Police based in Ridgway were both contacted in regards to such extraterrestrial experiences. Neither office reports having any such incident claims on file. One state police officer claimed that in his entire time here he knows of no such reports and stated that something of that nature would probably have been brought up for procedural instruction at daily roll call. That doesn't mean that no one in our area makes such claims, only that they have thus far gone unreported. In researching such events you quickly find that everyone knows someone else who makes such claims, but can rarely give you any accurate information.

Local astronomer Richard Steudler was willing to give his opinions on such phenomena. Steudler stated that he didn't put a whole lot of faith in such stories. He said he felt that, without solid proof, the stories remain completely unsubstantiated, and said he couldn't figure out why no one has ever gotten any sharp pictures if such reports are true.  Steudler said he believes that there probably is alien life somewhere else in our vast universe, but he does not believe that extraterrestrials would be secretly abducting people. Steudler stated that he felt that visitors with such capabilities would make themselves known and not be, "sneaking around."

Steudler has, in the past, seen things as an astronomer that he himself was unable to account for at the time, but all such occurrences were later given a valid scientific explanation. He said that he has read some things on the infamous Roswell, New Mexico incident that prove, in his mind, that it wasn't aliens at all. Steudler stated that his research has led him to believe that the incident was merely an accident involving a Canadian test pilot working with an American bomber plane. He felt that the story was simply, "blown out of proportion."

Steudler also believed that many reports of UFO sightings can be accounted for by ball lightning. Ball lightning, claimed Steudler, can occur on perfectly clear nights. He also stated that it can account for the buzzing noise reported by many extraterrestrial phenomena claimants, since ball lightning makes a similar buzzing sound. Ball lightning, said Steudler, can also account for the ground tremors and static shocks that many people claim to experience in such cases, as it can cause both when it grounds.

Whether the purported experiences with extraterrestrials that many people claim to have experienced in the past are bonafide events, simple misunderstandings of naturally occurring phenomena, or merely pleas for attention we may never know.  Steudler though did have this to say on the matter, "I hope if they (extraterrestrials) do make contact with us they have a better attitude than people have proven to have in encountering strangers." Steudler referred to such incidents as the European colonization of the Americas as proof that humanitiy's track record in such events has not proven the best. With such events in our own past, it is hard not to echo Steudler's sentiments.
 

March 10, 2006

Charlotte Observer

Farewell To Flying Saucers
UFO expert Fawcett is retiring, but he hasn't lost his enthusiasm

by Joe Depriest

LINCOLNTON - That NASCAR Hall of Fame announced in Charlotte this week sounds great, says UFO expert George Fawcett.

He's got an idea, too.

Why not a UFO museum in the Queen City?

After all, North Carolina ranks fifth in the U.S. for flying saucer sightings. Sightings are up worldwide. So is interest.

As we sat in his Lincolnton ranch house this week, Fawcett, 76, reminded me he'd pitched the idea of a state UFO museum to anybody who'd listen way back in the 1970s. Back when people called him a nut for believing in stuff like that.

"Now skeptics are in the minority," Fawcett said.

The soft-spoken dean of North Carolina "UFOnauts" has had a rough year following two knee surgeries and lengthy therapy. At times, he didn't think he'd make it.

I've known Fawcett, a Mount Airy native and retired YMCA director, for more than 20 years. Last month, I spotted a notice about his upcoming "farewell address" at the 58th meeting of the Mutual UFO Network of North Carolina at Pfeiffer University.

Fawcett is founder of the N.C. Chapter of MUFON, a group that tracks and researches reports of UFOs.

According to the notice, Fawcett was retiring from active membership because of his health.

It was time to check on my old friend. I hadn't seen him since 1998 when he'd just donated most of his Sauceriana Collection to the International UFO Museum in Roswell, N.M.

That's it, I figured. Fawcett had been collecting UFO materials since the subject hooked him in 1944. Maybe he'd finally let it go. Maybe he'd take up golf or stamp collecting.

I should have known better.

Funny thing about those empty UFO files, Fawcett said as he showed me into the living room. They'd filled up again. People from all over the world keep sending him books and videos, research papers and photos. He gets journals from England and Australia and subscribes to a national UFO clipping service.

Fawcett is pretty much the same as ever. He still likes to talk about his wife, two children and grandchildren. He's big on Duke basketball and pancakes. He remains active in St. Luke's Episcopal Church, singing in the choir and serving on the vestry. And his passion for UFOs is still hotter than a down-to-the-finish race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

When I stopped by, he was boxing up another load of UFO materials for the Roswell museum, where he's an honorary board member. He ships at least two boxes a year.

"George is a major benefactor to our library," museum director Julie Shuster told me. "We rely on the generosity of people like him."

I've never seen a UFO. Not that I know of. Those strange lights I spotted in the night sky once were probably shooting stars or aircraft of some kind.

Fawcett has seen only one UFO. That was in 1951, on the campus of Lynchburg (Va.) College, where he was a student. It was 30 feet in diameter and orange.

His interest in UFOs went back even earlier, to 1944, when he spotted an Associated Press article about "mysterious balls of fire" American pilots saw over Germany in World War II.

Fawcett has taught a UFO class at Gaston College, founded and advised five UFO study groups from New England to Florida, served as a movie consultant and written two books, one of which he recently revised and enlarged.

You can hear him speak in April at the Lincolnton Rotary Club. I hope he tells the story of how he met a Man-in-Black in 1974.  Sometimes called MIBs, these mysterious figures try to intimidate witnesses to UFOs or other strange doings the government is trying to cover up, according to UFO circles.

Fawcett may hit the highlights of the conclusions he's reached after years of study.

Fawcett believes UFOs are real, controlled by a clear intelligence, and that extraterrestrials could be responsible.  The government knows all this, but keeps the information hidden from the public while considering UFOs a threat to national security.

That's it in a nutshell. His research continues.

Wading deeper and deeper into UFOs isn't my thing, but Fawcett keeps probing. I admire the depth of his curiosity. And he's got a neat philosophy: "Keep an open mind and not an empty head."

So rest easy. Don't worry about the night sky. The UFO man is still on the job.

Want to Know More Lore?

• For information about George Fawcett's revised "Human Reactions To UFOs and UFOnauts Worldwide 1940-1983" and "What We Have Learned From UFO Repetitions 1947-1984," call (704) 735-5725. Or write to Fawcett at 602 Battleground Road, Lincolnton 28092.

• For information about the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, N.M., call (505) 625-9495 or go to www.iufomrc.com.

March 9, 2006

Wandsworth Borough News (London, UK)

UFO Sighting Really Took My Breath Away

by Carron Taylor

Was it a bird? Was it a plane? No, it was a shining silver pyramid, according to two colleagues who spotted a UFO in the skies of Putney last week.

Michelle Medhat was sitting at her office desk last Wednesday morning when she glanced out of the window and spotted a glimmering silver object in the sky.

"I thought what the hell is that?' There were no clouds in the sky at all and 100 per cent visibility.

"The sun was hitting the object and you could see it was turning very slowly.

"I did get a feeling there was something strange about the thing," she said.

Entranced, Michelle signalled to her colleague Peter Gardiner, 53, to take a look.

He said: "At first I thought it was a big piece of rubbish or a clear tarpaulin sheet.

"But then it glistened and it was shiny. It had a strange pattern of movement. It was a significant size, possibly the size of a roof or even a house."

The pair watched it for a couple of minutes, rotating in the distance and heading towards Wandsworth Town. Then, as soon as it had appeared it vanished.

Michelle said if it was a piece of rubbish it would have caused severe damage when it came down, because of its size and density.

"I can't explain it and therefore I'm calling it a UFO. It took my breath away. It did feel weird.

"The more I looked at it I realised there was something not quite right. It wasn't moving like anything I've ever seen before," she said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it had not been notified of any sighting of the pyramid.

"The MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded."

He said it examined the reports of UFO sightings it received solely to establish whether what was seen might have some defence significance, namely whether there was any evidence the UK's airspace might have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity.

Michelle and Peter said there has been a lot of activity in the skies over Putney recently.

Michelle said they had seen several Chinook helicopters over the past week and believes something must be happening.

Chinooks are used to transport troops, artillery, supplies and equipment, but also used for operations such as medical evacuation, disaster relief and search and rescue.

When travelling to Putney, our reporter saw what looked to be three Apache helicopters travelling east.

A spokesman for the MoD said the helicopters were probably part of general aviation traffic over London and there was no specific activity or event they were involved in. He added such movements were "not unusual".

Did you see the flying silver pyramid? Call the newsdesk on 020 8254 5409.

ctaylor@london.newsquest.co.uk
 

March 8, 2006

Brisbane Courier-Mail (Queensland, Australia)

Blinded By Power Of Illusion

by  Stephen Hughes

THERE have been a number of UFO sightings reported in Queensland recently, two of which I was asked to look at by Channel 10.

One was Venus hanging in the early morning sky off the beach at Mackay and the other was aircraft contrails high over Brisbane, illuminated by the rays of the sun in the pre-dawn sky.

Other reports followed in regional newspapers.

Sceptics may say that in this case the UFOs could be easily identified – and so became "IFOs" or Identified Flying Objects – but what about the UFO sightings that cannot be so easily explained? Are these evidence of alien spacecraft visiting the Earth and are governments guilty of covering up the truth about UFOs?

UFO sightings are nothing new.

In ancient times people saw "fiery dragons" and "foo balls" and so on.

In the 1800s strange lights were reported off the coast to Japan that would follow a ship all night.

In 1897, there was the flying-saucer scare in the northwest of the US – although in this case the object was said to be a cigar-shaped airship.

The modern flying saucer or UFO era begun on June 24, 1947 when a pilot, Kenneth Arnold, reported seeing nine unidentified objects which he said flew erratically like a saucer skipping across the water.

Although Arnold actually described the objects as looking like boomerangs, the newspaper report said that flying saucers had been seen rather than flying boomerangs.

No doubt, if the newspaper article had been more accurate we would have entered the flying boomerang era (possibly with interesting consequences for the Australian tourist industry).

One of the most famous cases known to the general public is the Roswell incident, which hit the media only one month after the "official" start of the UFO era.

It is claimed by some that in July 1947 the US Air Force recovered debris from a crashed alien space ship near a ranch at Roswell in New Mexico.

In August, 1985, the Fox Network in the US aired a film claiming to show autopsies of alien bodies recovered from the Roswell wreckage.

It subsequently has been proved – I would say beyond even unreasonable doubt – that the wreckage discovered at Roswell was the remains of a weather balloon and that the autopsy film is fake.

In spite of this, many claim that the US government has covered up the true details of the case for almost 50 years.

I find it impossible to believe that any government could cover up something that really happened for so long with no leaks ever taking place.

The vast majority of UFO sightings are either Venus, a bright star (for example, Sirius), meteors, aircraft, weather balloons, high-flying tumbleweed, reflective layers of ice crystals, not including UFO photos that clearly have been faked.

However, this still leaves a significant number of unexplained sightings.

I believe that many of these can be explained by invoking more exotic atmospheric phenomena such as a special type of "reverse" mirage known as a superior mirage.

We are all familiar with a standard mirage (inferior mirage) in which the light from a line of trees on the horizon appears to be reflected in water.

This effect is caused by a hot layer of air near the ground reflecting light from the trees and the surrounding sky upwards so that it appears to be coming from below the horizon.

If we have the situation where we have cold air close to the ground with a warm layer above, we have what is known as an inversion layer.

Light rays which pass from the cool layer of air into the warm layer are reflected downwards and so in this way can be projected over the horizon.

The effect is similar to the way in which light is propagated down a fibre optic cable and has been used to describe the origin of the Min Min lights in western Queensland.

Temperature inversions can occur high up in the atmosphere and are capable of projecting astronomical bodies such as Sirius (the brightest star in the sky) and Venus over the horizon.

When an aircraft arrives at the right place at the right time, the UFO can appear to travel from the horizon several hundred kilometres away to appear just a few hundred metres from the plane.

When the plane flies out of the part of the sky where the inversion layer lies between the plane and the horizon, the object appears to rush back to the horizon in almost no time at all.

This back-and-forth motion may be repeated a number of times, making it appear as if the UFO is engaged in a "dogfight" with the aircraft.

The result of these observations is that the UFO is assumed to be powered by some unknown energy source when in reality it is all an optical illusion.

---

Dr Stephen Hughes is a lecturer in physics and astrophysics with QUT's Faculty of Science and School of Physical and Chemical Sciences

http://www.sci.qut.edu.au/profiles/hughes/sw.hughes@qut.edu.au
 

March 2006

Focus Magazine (UK MOD)

The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident

The Ministry of Defence's UFO Project has its roots in a study commissioned in 1950 by the MOD's then Chief Scientific Adviser, the great radar scientist Sir Henry Tizard. As a result of his insistence that UFO sightings should not be dismissed without some form of proper scientific study, the Department set up arguably the most marvellously-named committee in the history of the civil service, the Flying Saucer Working Party. The committee's conclusions were sceptical; UFO sightings were misidentifications of ordinary objects, or hoaxes. They recommended no further action. But in 1952 there was a series of high-profile events where UFOs were tracked on radar and seen by RAF pilots, and this forced the MOD to think again. UFO sightings were to be collated and sent to the Department for investigation, so that a determination could be made as to whether anything of any defence significance might have occurred. Since then, over 10,000 UFO reports have been received. From 1991 to 1994 I worked in the department responsible for this bizarre subject. It was among the most fascinating of my postings in 20 years in the Department.

Most UFO sightings received by the MOD had prosaic explanations: aircraft lights, weather balloons, meteors, airships, etc. But in all of this, a small percentage looked more interesting and one case in particular stood out. This was the so-called Rendlesham Forest incident. Last December saw the 25th anniversary of what is universally accepted as Britain's most famous UFO sighting. There was extensive media coverage of this bizarre anniversary, a commemorative Boxing Day event organised by the Forestry Commission at the site of their ‘UFO Trail', and several unofficial ‘skywatches' where UFO enthusiasts came together to mark the event, swap stories, and generally stand around getting extremely cold. So why the interest? What happened in the forest all those years ago and why is it still generating so much interest?

Rendlesham Forest lies between the twin bases of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk. In 1980 both facilities were operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The Cold War was still decidedly frosty. The Solidarity Movement was taking hold in Poland and Soviet forces were building up on the border. It was against this background that a strange series of incidents occurred.

In the early hours of 26 December 1980 military personnel at the twin bases saw strange lights in the forest. At first they thought an aircraft might have crashed, so they went out to investigate. What they found was not a crashed aircraft, but what they could only categorise as a UFO. Nearby farm animals were going into a frenzy. One of the security police officers got close enough to touch the side of the object. He and another of the airmen present attached a sketch of the craft to their official USAF witness statements. One of these sketches even details the strange symbols seen on the craft's hull, which the witness likened to Egyptian hieroglyphs. "I wish I'd had my weapon, because I felt totally defenceless," one of the young airmen, John Burroughs, subsequently remarked.

Two nights later the UFO returned. The Deputy Base Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, was informed and went out into the forest to investigate. He too saw the UFO, which at one point fired beams of light down at his party and at the Woodbridge facility. "Here I am, a senior official who routinely denies this sort of thing and diligently works to debunk them, and I'm involved in the middle of something I can't explain", he subsequently commented.

The MOD's investigation included an inconclusive search for radar evidence that might have corroborated what was seen. Of far more interest, however, was an assessment of radiation readings that had been taken from the landing site with a Geiger counter. The readings had peaked in three holes in the ground which formed the shape of an equilateral triangle, as if the UFO had landed on a tripod of some sort. The Defence Intelligence Staff stated that the readings seemed "significantly higher than the average background". Their report suggested that the radiation level was around seven times what would have been expected for the area concerned.

There are various sceptical theories for what was seen, the most prevalent one being that the various witnesses were somehow misled by the beam from Orfordness lighthouse, shining through the trees. "If the USAF really are capable of hallucinations induced by a lighthouse which must surely be familiar to them, then I shudder for that powerful finger which lies upon so many triggers," remarked Ralph Noyes, a former MOD Under Secretary who took a close interest in the case after his retirement.  Charles Halt's reaction to the theory was blunter. "Lighthouses don't fly," he said. Ralph Noyes was not the only senior figure to take an interest in the case. Former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Hill-Norton corresponded with the Department extensively about the incident, and tabled a number of Parliamentary Questions in the House of Lords.

Many UFO researchers believe that information about UFOs is being covered up. They see a vast conspiracy to keep the truth from the public. Nothing could be further from the truth. Requests concerning UFOs are among the most frequently submitted under the Freedom of Information Act and the MOD has made great efforts to be as helpful as possible. Information has been made available under the Publication Scheme, in the FOI ‘Reading Room' and at the National Archives in Kew. The entire file of the Rendlesham Forest incident has been scanned in and is available on the MOD's website.

The official position is that these events were of no defence significance, but the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident remains unexplained to this date. I hope that we have some answers before the 50th anniversary of one of the most extraordinary incidents ever investigated by the MOD.
 

February 24, 2006

Wimbledon Guardian (UK)

Do UFO Sightings Prove The Truth Is Out There?

Mulder and Scully would have their hands full if they decided to come out of retirement to investigate strange phenomenon in the skies over south west London.

Reported UFO sightings dating from 2002 have been revealed for the first time by the Ministry of Defence, under the Freedom of Information Act.

Last week, unexplained phenomenon hovered over Merton and Wandsworth, adding to the area's growing X Files.

Debbie, from Mitcham, saw strange lights in the skies as she passed through Tooting on her way home from work at about 8.40pm on Wednesday, February 15.

She said: "I saw what I thought was a plane and another one coming towards it," said Debbie. "I thought that's a bit close someone at Heathrow or Gatwick will be in trouble for that'.

"But they weren't planes. The second white light came right up to the other one and then a third appeared. All three then moved together two at the front and one following at the back.

"They hovered for a bit and then one light disappeared and came back again. They went off in the same direction and then split up," she said.

Debbie pulled over in her car for five minutes to try and capture the moment on her camera phone.

"All I wanted to do was get home and have a cup of tea so I must've thought it was something pretty unusual to pull over," said Debbie.

"I don't know if I really believe in all this stuff but I've never seen anything like it before. I was looking at the sky all the way home and couldn't wait to tell my boyfriend who obviously thought I was bonkers."

According to records, UFOs were seen in the skies above Wimbledon in June 2003 and October 2004 and, in September 2003 a resident saw a copper-coloured triangular object hovering above their house for a minute before disappearing.

There were also two unexplainable sightings in Southfields, in February and March 2003.

The MoD receives hundreds of reports each year about UFOs but most are dismissed as aircraft lights or natural phenomenon. However, some are unexplainable and the MoD remains "totally open-minded" on the subject.
 

February 17, 2006

Western Daily Press (Derby, Derbyshire, UK)

Revisiting Riddle Of The Thing

Thirty years ago, two teenage lads from Warminster were up on the nearby Cradle Hill every week to watch for UFOs, inspired by a local journalist's book about the flying saucer flap which by that time had been flustering the Wiltshire town for more than a decade. Arthur Shuttlewood's book of 1967 was entitled The Warminster Mystery, and much of the mystery still abounds.

But now those same lads, Steve Dewey and John Ries, are the authors of a remarkable new book, In Alien Heat: The Warminster Mystery Revisited, an in-depth investigation of the UFO fever that gripped the town in the 1960sand 1970s.

Modestly, the pair - Steve now lives at Westbury, Wiltshire, and John in Shropshire - say it was not a book waiting to be written.

The Warminster case, if not forgotten, is an embarrassment to modern-day ufologists, they say, and the story of the Warminster Thing almost unknown outside the UK.

But I would say this is a book that w as waiting to be written.  It's a riveting social document, objectively placing the phenomenon in its cultural and historical context, and providing a highly engaging and revealing analysis of those strange d ay s.

"When we were younger, with all the enthusiasm of youth, we were much more into it all, " Steve, a technical author, told me. "We thought things were happening and a UFO landing was imminent.

"We went to Cradle Hill a lot; we were too young to go to the pub! We were there once a week for at least two years.

"But watching the sky-watchers made us sceptical because they would get so excited about things which were quite mundane. We began to think it was all in the UFO culture."

While the book clears up some aspects of the Warminster mystery - some lights in the sky could be explained by military exercises on nearby Salisbury Plain - other questions remain unanswered.

"We think there is a genuine mystery behind what happened, " said Steve. "It all started with a strange noise from the sky and there have never been any conclusions about what it was."

>From Christmas 1964, humming or droning sounds were reported to Shuttlewood - sonic disturbances which flung people to the ground and damaged buildings.

Shuttlewood blamed what he called The Thing and became the prime focus for the whole saucer circus that followed.

What was to mark out Warminster particularly was the sheer volume of UFO sightings, several thousand, and that the whole town seemed to be caught up in the fantastic affair.

Steve and John say it's clear that the ufologists who flocked into Warminster helped to create the phenomenon.

They demanded that the weird sounds be spaceships, and the populace duly saw them.

The Warminster Journal, Shuttlewood's paper, also played a role by its reporting, and providing a forum for UFO debate, and Shuttlewood created the national media interest, often embellishing or exaggerating incidents.

A photograph of a flying saucer over the area, taken by local man Gordon Faulkner in 1965, and which came to be the emblematic image of The Thing, now used for the cover of In Alien Heat, later turned out to be a hoax. In January 1969, the veteran TV astronomer Patrick Moore visited Warminster, poked fun at Shuttlewood, and cracked that several of the objects seen in the sky "looked like balls".

However, Shuttlewood, who died in 1996, wrote two further books in which he claimed to have had contacts with extraterrestrials wanting to save humans from destroying the planet. Just how a straightforward, respected journalist in a small West town turned into a deluded UFO guru is not the least part of the Warminster mystery.

In Alien Heat is published by Anomalist Books for 11 Pounds Sterling.
 

Independent (London, UK)

'Right To Know' Fails To Open The Government's Vaults Of Secrets

by Robert Verkaik
Legal Affairs Correspondent

Labour's much-trumpeted freedom of information laws have failed to open up Whitehall to public scrutiny, judging by the evidence of the first 12 months of the new order.

A year after we were first granted the "right to know", new figures show nine out of 17 government departments have failed to provide adequate answers to half of the requests they received.

Gordon Brown's Treasury was the worst offender by refusing to release information in three-quarters of all "resolvable" requests.

Further findings reveal that all but one government department has breached the FOI legislation by failing to answer requests within the 20-day time limit.

The report, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, confirms what many suspected - that the Government has blocked access by failing to observe the spirit of the new law in a year in which central government bodies received 36,000 requests.

While Labour has been happy to release documents embarrassing the previous Tory administration over its handling of "Black Wednesday" - Britain's forced withdrawal from the ERM -ministers have been less willing to let the public use the Act to shed light on Labour's own political controversies.

For example, ministers are still refusing to release earlier drafts of the Attorney General's advice on the legality of the war with Iraq.

At the heart of its strategy is the Orwellian-sounding Central Clearing House where all sensitive or difficult requests are sent. Set up by ministers in the run-up to the introduction of the legislation, the unit employs 12 staff to monitor the public's use of the legislation. A FOI request from The Independent reveals, in its first year, the clearing house cost the taxpayer £700,000.

The most popular target for information is the Ministry of Defence, which handled more than 2,700 requests for the disclosure of ministerial letters, memos and military reports.

Maurice Frankel, a man who for many years campaigned for Britain's own freedom of information laws, said in the first year of the Act's operation the Government had responded "cautiously" to most of the important requests and there was still no voluntary process of disclosure.

He said: "They are not taking gigantic leaps by making proactive releases. There is much more information to come out but the Government is not going to release it until it has to."

Michael Smyth, an expert on FOI and head of public policy at Clifford Chance, a law firm, said: "The clearing house is a development that will need monitoring. People making requests of bodies subject to the clearing house can be confident they will be dealt with by FOI experts but over-zealous application of the exemption regime could mean less information is released."

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, the FOI's independent watchdog, is considering a backlog of more than 1,200 appeal cases, including government refusals to release information about policies on defence and the environment.

The public also made requests for information from a further 1,000 public bodies. The new figures show those bodies have found a similar willingness to rely on the 34 statutory exemptions to refuse disclosure.

The Crown Prosecution Service has only complied with a fifth of the 229 requests for information. The Health and Safety Executive received more than 5,300 applications for disclosure of which it has answered around 60 per cent. But generally non-government bodies are granting 10 per cent more requests than Whitehall departments.

The figures do not include hundreds more requests which have become " lapsed" because the applicant has not paid a fee for any additional work the department says the request would generate.

A spokesperson for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said yesterday: "Central government performance has improved steadily throughout the year. The response has been very positive. Latest figures show 86 per cent of requests are answered within statutory deadlines and the majority of those requests (60 per cent) result in full disclosure. About 16,000 pieces of information have been given out by central government bodies."

The spokesperson added: "The Freedom of Information Act recognises the presumption of openness, but it also expressly recognises that there must be responsible limits."

The successful requests

* UFOs

Requests from The Independent led to the Ministry of Defence revealing details about UFO sightings across the country.  Branded "Britain's X files", reports from senior military personnel, police officers and civil servants gave some credibility to sightings which had been previously dismissed as cases of mistaken identity. Although there was never any official recognition of visits from other planets, the documents proved that the Government still had a special unit set up to monitor the reports of UFOs.

* FARMING SUBSIDIES

Some of Britain's wealthiest landowners have received hundreds of thousands of pounds in farming subsides, including the Queen, who was given more than £750,000 over the past two years. The figures became public after a list of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies in England was published by the Rural Payment Agency, under the terms of the Freedom of Information legislation. The Queen's subsidy, paid through CAP, went to Sandringham Farms. Charles's cash went to the Duchy of Cornwall, which made a profit of almost £10m in 2003.
 

December 8, 2005

Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader

Sci Fi Channel-Backed Researcher Pressing NASA For 'UFO' Files

by Joe Mandak

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Researchers and witnesses who believe a UFO landed in the woods of western Pennsylvania 40 years ago are marking another anniversary on Friday: two years since a lawsuit was filed to get NASA to release records of what happened.

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman says there's no cover-up: the "UFO" was a Russian satellite but government records documenting it have been lost.

Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter backed by the Sci Fi Channel, and a group connected to the cable TV channel sued the NASA two years ago under the Freedom of Information Act.

Kean wants files on what happened Dec. 9, 1965, in the unincorporated hamlet of Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Witnesses described a "fireball" in the evening sky, and a metallic, acorn-shaped object about 12 to 15 feet high and 8 to 12 feet in diameter that landed gently in the woods, according to media accounts at the time.

Kean's attorney Lee Helfrich said she'll file a new court motion on Friday seeking to "jump start" NASA's search for the information.

"NASA has been stonewalling for too long, and in the process has given us a great record to show that it's recalcitrant and acting in bad faith," Helfrich said. "What is NASA trying to hide?"

Nothing, NASA spokesman Dave Steitz said.

The object appeared to be a Russian satellite that re-entered the atmosphere and broke up. NASA experts studied fragments from the object, but records of what they found were lost in the 1990s, Steitz said.

"As a rule, we don't track UFOs. What we could do, and what we apparently did as experts in spacecraft in the 1960s, was to take a look at whatever it was and give our expert opinion," Steitz said. "We did that, we boxed (the case) up and that was the end of it. Unfortunately, the documents supporting those findings were misplaced."

Kean and Helfrich don't believe that explanation.

Kean said Nicholas L. Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris, determined the object couldn't be a Russian satellite or any other manmade object, after studying the orbital paths of known satellites and other records from 1965.

Johnson didn't immediately return calls for comment Thursday to his phone number listed on NASA's Web site. Steitz referred questions on Kean's claims to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which didn't immediately comment.

Witnesses claim military personnel cordoned off the site, removed the object and threatened residents who questioned the incident. The military later called the object a meteor.

On Saturday, Kean, Helfrich and others connected to a Sci Fi Channel documentary will speak at the Kecksburg fire hall, where a mock-up of the object is on permanent display.

Kean said a pair of West Virginia University scientists who examined the reported landing site made two recent discoveries.

Forestry professor Ray Hicks counted tree rings and determined that trees in the area were damaged in 1965. Hicks, however, said the trees were likely damaged by ice, and then snapped off by the wind. He says his findings don't support Kean's claim that "something physically landed" at the site.

Geoarchaeologist J. Steven Kite says he found no evidence to support the high-speed impact of a meteor or other large object - which Kean says supports witness accounts that a spacecraft landed softly.
 

November 26, 2005

Edmonton Sun

Senate Pressured To Hold Hearings On ET

A number of groups have joined forces with former Canadian Defence Minister Paul Hellyer in urging Parliament to hold public hearings on 'exopolitics' - or relations with extraterrestrials (ETs).

Three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were reacting to a speech made by Hellyer in September in Toronto in which he warned that "UFOs are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

Hellyer said he is concerned the United States is preparing weapons for use against the aliens and could get the whole world into an "intergalactic war." According to Hellyer, the Americans' interest in returning to the moon is in part based on the desire to build a forward military base there.

The three organizations backing Hellyer's request for hearings are the Institute for Co-operation in Space (ICIS), the Toronto Exopolitics Symposium and the Disclosure Project, a U.S.-based organization that has assembled high-level military-intelligence witnesses of a possible ET presence.

Earlier this month, the Senate replied to the ICIS that their full agenda precluded any hearings in the near future on ET issues.

"That does not deter us," one spokesman for the NGOs said, "We are going ahead with our request to Prime Minister Paul Martin and the official Opposition leaders in the House of Commons now, and we will re-apply to the Senate of Canada in early 2006.

"Time is on the side of open disclosure that there are ethical extraterrestrial civilizations visiting Earth."
 

November 20, 2005

Associated Press

Harvard Researcher Ready To Wash Her Hands Of Space Aliens

by Michael Kunzelman

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Susan Clancy is sick of space aliens.

November 20, 2005

Washington Post

Psychologist: 'Alien' Faces Are None Other Than Mother

by Richard Morin

Accounts of people who claim to have been abducted by aliens have one eerie similarity.

When serious researchers like psychologist Frederick Malmstrom have asked self-proclaimed abductees what their out-of-this-world kidnappers looked like, they inevitably describe beings with large heads, big eyes, gray skin, smooth features, a barely visible or absent mouth and smallish bodies.

Malmstrom, a visiting scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy, now thinks he recognizes that face. It's Mommy -- or at least the image of a "prototypical female face" that's hard-wired into a baby's brain and helps newborns instantly respond to their mothers.

Scientists have known for years that animals are born with certain visual recognition "templates" that help them survive.

In one famous study, a scientist found that newly hatched chickens automatically cowered from shadows in the shape of a predator (such as a hawk) while the shadow of a nonpredator -- a goose -- elicited no such fearful response.

There's similar evidence that human babies are programmed to react to a generalized face.

Studies show that up until 2 months of age, an infant will react favorably to anything resembling a human face -- even a Halloween mask.

In fact, when Malmstrom optically altered a photo of a woman in a way consistent with the characteristics of a newborn's vision -- astigmatism, an extremely shallow focal plane -- the resulting face looked remarkably like those big-eyed aliens drawn by self-declared abductees, he reports in the latest issue of the magazine Skeptic, which features scholarly articles on the paranormal and other extraordinary claims.

Why do adults who claim to be abducted "see" their mothers, or at least this prototypical female face, and not some other important figure?

Malmstrom says the answer has to do with another familiar feature of alien-abduction accounts. Virtually all of the cases considered credible enough to study occurred when the abductees reported they were either falling asleep, or they were
 

September 21, 2005

National Post (Canada)

Holding Editors To Account

Andrew Coyne

The former Liberal cabinet minister Paul Hellyer, after a long career defending Canadian sovereignty from American incursions, has a new reason to mistrust the United States: UFOs. Specifically, the efforts by successive American governments to conceal from public knowledge the 1947 crash of an alien spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico.

"I believe that UFOs are real," Mr. Hellyer, who was second to Pierre Trudeau on the first ballot at the 1968 Liberal leadership convention, told the Canadian Press recently. Later this week, he will speak at a convention of UFO enthusiasts in Toronto. "I'll talk about that a little bit and a bit about the fantastic cover-up of the United States government and also a little bit of the fallout from the wreckage." By "fallout" he means the adaptation of technologies found in the Roswell craft in subsequent American technical advances. I'd tell you more, but it's just too risky.

I feel a certain unease in writing this: It is possible that Mr. Hellyer has simply lost his mind, and it's not right to poke fun at a lunatic. On the other hand, who knows any more? What once were classed as psychological disorders are today considered perfectly normal, while behaviour for which one might previously have been held responsible is now just another form of mental illness.

More to the point, what is to distinguish Mr. Hellyer's belief in a massive, decades-long conspiracy by the American government to conceal the existence of alien visitors to planet Earth from, say, Paul William Roberts' belief in a massive, decades-long conspiracy by the American government to create the very Islamist terror network it is now fighting -- not as an accidental "blowback," but as a deliberate strategy to justify more military spending? The first makes you the butt of an oddly-enough piece on the CP wire. The second is worth a three-page, 5,000-word essay in The Globe and Mail. Yet the one has precisely as little plausibility or supporting evidence as the other.

Mind you, give it time. Experience teaches that any theory, no matter how crackpot, can gain a respectful hearing in this country, so long as it asks us to believe the worst about the Americans or their government: Anti-Americanism inoculates even the worst cranks from serious scrutiny. Paul Hellyer may not have much of a following now, but depend upon it, he will be packing them in at the universities before long.

My colleague Jonathan Kay has already detailed the many factual howlers in the Roberts piece, which somehow "got by" the Globe's fact-checkers. But I rather think something else is at work. The piece would have been planned long in advance. Having written several previous pieces for the Globe, Mr. Roberts would be well-known to the editors, as would his views. For example, readers of his latest book, A War Against Truth, will learn, inter alia, that Saddam Hussein killed many fewer Iraqis than the United States, and with more justification: After all, the hundreds of thousands of Saddam's victims were people "who opposed him in some way." And they will learn the real reason for the failure of Saddam's vaunted Special Republican Guard to show up for battle: They were all vaporized, 40,000 of them at one go, by "some kind of hi-tech bomb" detonated in the warren of tunnels under Baghdad.

"Fact-checking," in the circumstances, would seem beside the point. It isn't that Mr. Roberts' piece was, in that fine old journalistic phrase, "too good to check," or that the Globe editors think fact-checking is a tool of imperialism. It's more that it would be, well, gauche -- like the fellow who objects to modern art because it isn't realistic. It may not be true, but it's "true enough." Likewise, when Linda McQuaig explains that the Katrina disaster is a consequence of FEMA having been "privatized," or when Jeremy Clarkson writes feelingly in London's Sun of seeing New Orleans looters blown to bits by helicopter gunships, it isn't true in a conventional, real-world sense. It is rather true in a transcendent, ecstatic sense.

We are dealing not so much with a factual matter, in other words, as a psychological one. There is an undeniable pleasure in tweaking the conventional wisdom: I confess to indulging in it at times myself. But what begins as a harmless contrarianism can progress by stages into full-blown conspiracy-theorizing, of which anti-Americanism is a particularly malignant example. The sufferer experiences the thrill of having "pierced the veil." He has seen through the official lies that have everyone else in their thrall, and every piece of evidence to the contrary merely confirms him in his belief. At the furthest extreme, it emerges as Holocaust denial.

This puts the student of argument in an uncomfortable position.  Convention dictates that every opponent should be treated with courtesy, every argument with respect. But what do we do with arguments that are plainly, well, crazy? Reasonable people can differ, of course, but so can unreasonable people, and we do our worthy opponents no honour by lumping them in with our unworthy opponents.

Civilized discussion depends not only on an open-minded readiness to consider other legitimate points of view, but on an equal readiness to exclude the obviously marginal. There is a time and a place to debate whether the Earth goes around the sun or the contrary, but we should have little time to address other matters if we were perpetually revisiting old controversies, or disproving every fantasy. For everyday purposes, we are obliged to exercise some basic judgment: I cannot prove beyond dispute that there are no UFOs, but I am justified by all experience in drawing the inference that there are not.

And, when it comes to the public square, we depend on the gatekeepers -- the editors of our newspapers, the publishers of our books, to exercise that judgment on our behalf. If they fail in that duty, the result is intellectual anarchy, where every opinion, no matter how nonsensical, is of equal validity and every source, no matter how dubious, is of equal authority. Or, if you prefer, contemporary Canada.
 

September 12, 2005

Ukiah Daily Journal

Judicial Follies: Alienating Your Employer

by Frank Zotter Jr.

A quarter century ago, the expense of copy machines came down so much that photocopies cost less than a nickel apiece, and photocopying became America's favorite method of reproduction. The saying in those days was that Gutenberg made it possible for everyone to be a writer; Xerox made it possible for everyone to become a publisher.

The Internet has gone a step further: it has made it possible for everyone to become his own publicist. No matter how absurd the cause or how wacky the belief, there is a web site out there devoted to it.

Ah, for the simpler days of yore - like way, way back about 1990 - when folks who trafficked in Elvis sightings or gunmen on the grassy knoll were relegated to the fringe where they belong. Consider, for example, Larry Bryant's fight with the Defense Department over his beliefs in little green men.

Well, maybe "little green men" is too specific. But Bryant clearly grew up watching too many episodes of "The Invaders" or "Twilight Zone."

According to Judge K. K. Hall of the federal appeals court in Virginia, Bryant was a civilian employee of the Army for more than 30 years. Beginning in 1981, he wrote news items for the Army News Service, a wire service disseminating information to Army installations around the world. Judge Hall described him as someone who apparently was quite good at this job; he was consistently rated "exceptional" by his supervisors - until 1986, that is, when he unexpectedly received an "unsatisfactory."

It seems that Bryant suspected the Army had an ulterior motive for giving him that low rating after so many years of good performance. Bryant, Judge Hall explained, was "convinced that the government has concealed evidence of UFO visits." In fact, Bryant was the director of the Washington, D.C., office of something called "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS).

In 1983, Bryant, on behalf of CAUS, filed a civil action in district court in the District of Columbia which he called a "Writ of Habeas Corpus Extraterrestrial." In this suit, he sought to compel the Air Force to produce the bodies of space creatures that Bryant claimed the Air Force had retrieved from crashed flying saucers. This suit was eventually dismissed, but not until it had generated a good deal of publicity.

Sadly, because it was never appealed, there are no readily available copies of the lawsuit (or the judge's ruling, which would have been an irresistible opportunity for some judicial humor of its own). Still, one has to hand it to Bryant - he knows his legal terminology. "Habeas corpus" literally means "produce the body." Thus, his lawsuit translated to "produce the bod(ies) - of the extraterrestrials."

While the courts were busy wrestling with that legal effort, in late 1984 and early 1985, Bryant submitted paid classified advertisements to some of the newspapers in which his own wire stories were published, seeking information from the papers' military audience about the government's alleged cover-up of the UFO menace. The ads didn't use Bryant's name; they were listed as being placed by CAUS, but they did give his home address for replies. Some of the advertisements were printed, but others were rejected by the publishers. Bryant never identified himself as a federal employee in these off-duty pursuits.

In 1986, Bryant received that "unsatisfactory" rating from one of the Army captains who oversaw his work. The captain claimed that it was because the quality of Bryant's work had declined; Bryant even was placed on a probationary status for a while, although he later attained the higher rating and the "unsatisfactory" was expunged.

Bryant nevertheless was unhappy. He filed a lawsuit claiming the Army had retaliated against him for his valiant attempts to expose the government cover-up of visits by UFOs.

The trial judge dismissed the lawsuit and Judge Hall's court upheld him. Although Bryant claimed that his right to free speech had been violated, Hall agreed with the trial judge that Bryant had not been injured (his unsatisfactory rating had, after all, been expunged,) but also that the Army proved it would have taken the actions it did anyway, even if Bryant's extracurricular activities had not been about extraterrestrials.

Bryant, no doubt, took the judge's ruling as further evidence that the conspiracy was even bigger than he originally believed.  Still, if Bryant ever does lose his job, just a few years later an opportunity opened up with a new television series whose producer, Chris Carter, would undoubtedly love to have Bryant as a creative consultant.
 

September 11, 2005

Macleans Magazine (Canada)

Politics
Former Cabinet Minister Paul Hellyer Takes Up The Cause Of Believers In UFOs
 

by John Ward

OTTAWA (CP) - Paul Hellyer, onetime cabinet minister and a political chameleon who went through Liberal and Tory colours before founding two political parties of his own, has a new cause - UFOs.

Hellyer is to be a featured speaker at a UFO conference in Toronto later this month and organizers are making much of his credentials as a former defence minister in the Pearson administration 40 years ago.

Skeptics are, well, skeptical.

The 82-year-old Hellyer says he believes not only that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors, but that some governments - the United States at least - know all about it and are covering up.

He says he believes American scientists have re-engineered alien wreckage from a supposed UFO crash at Roswell, N.M. in 1947 to produce modern technical marvels.

"I believe that UFOs are real," he said in a recent interview.  "I'll talk about that a little bit and a bit about the fantastic cover-up of the United States government and also a little bit of the fallout from the wreckage, by that I mean the material discoveries we have made and how they've been applied to our technology."

Hellyer was once a political star. He was first elected to the Commons in 1949 at the age of 25, at that time the youngest person ever to win a seat.

He went on to become a cabinet minister, ran for the Liberal leadership against Pierre Trudeau, switched parties to the Conservatives and ran for that party's leadership, too. He eventually founded two other political parties, Action Canada in 1971 and the Canadian Action party in 1997.

He says his conviction that UFOs are real arose from reading in recent years, not from anything gleaned from secret archives during his time in office.

"I've been a skeptic for quite a while but I've been exposed to more and more information recently and have just decided to take a stand," he said.

Organizers of the MUFON conference - the name is an acronym for the Mutual UFO Network - see Hellyer's participation as giving legitimacy to the cause.

The conference is billed as "Canada's first major UFO symposium calling for complete government disclosure concerning the reality of UFOs and the extraterrestrial presence on Earth."

"Mr. Hellyer's involvement will increase the impact of the symposium," says a conference news release.

Victor Viggiani, a retired educator who is an organizer of the event, calls him a featured speaker.

"We're depending on him to be a real focal point," Viggiani said. "We're using his sort of experiences to demonstrate that national political figures can come out and talk about this."

He says Hellyer has a simple point to make: "Let's start telling the truth about what we all know is really happening in the skies and journalists start paying attention, that's basically going to be his message."

Does Hellyer feel he's being used?

"I think they are trying to make the most of my appearance."

His participation is exasperating for David Gower, a spokesman for Skeptics Canada, a group dedicated to rational thinking and to debunking paranormal claims.

"This sort of thing is a big feather in their cap, to come across people like him," says Gower, who is dismissive of the whole UFO mystique.

"There's no convincing evidence that can be anything other than personal anecdotes or allegations that can't be proven," he said.

He said UFO enthusiasts have a quasi-religious fervour that often makes them impervious to doubt.

"There is a deep-seated need, a desire in people, to feel that there's something in control somewhere, bigger than they are, something that can give some kinds of answers."

Trying to wean people away from UFO beliefs is like "nailing Jello to the wall," he said.

Viggiani says UFOs could be a boon for mankind. He says they have technology that could solve the world's energy problems "in one fell swoop."

This is where the conspiracy theory takes off for him.

"For some strange reasons, our governments can't come forward to talk to us about what these energy sources are," he says. "Because oil is just about $70 a barrel and that would undercut a lot of the power structure, the World Bank . . . the fossil fuel industry.

"They are just not prepared to handle this."

Hellyer, too, thinks there are important secrets to be learned.

"I think, frankly, that the subject should be taken seriously, because there are consequences that have real effects or could have real effects on the people of the world and I think there should be discussion of it."

While some believers think western governments have actually negotiated with extraterrestrials, Hellyer doesn't go that far.

"To my knowledge, it's just visitations," he says.

Although his participation in the conference is likely to draw ridicule, Hellyer said he's used to that after his roller-coaster political life.

"It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

"I think they are trying to make the most of my appearance."

His participation is exasperating for David Gower, a spokesman for Skeptics Canada, a group dedicated to rational thinking and to debunking paranormal claims.

"This sort of thing is a big feather in their cap, to come across people like him," says Gower, who is dismissive of the whole UFO mystique.

"There's no convincing evidence that can be anything other than personal anecdotes or allegations that can't be proven," he said.

He said UFO enthusiasts have a quasi-religious fervour that often makes them impervious to doubt.

"There is a deep-seated need, a desire in people, to feel that there's something in control somewhere, bigger than they are, something that can give some kinds of answers."

Trying to wean people away from UFO beliefs is like "nailing Jello to the wall," he said.

Viggiani says UFOs could be a boon for mankind. He says they have technology that could solve the world's energy problems "in one fell swoop."

This is where the conspiracy theory takes off for him.

"For some strange reasons, our governments can't come forward to talk to us about what these energy sources are," he says.  "Because oil is just about $70 a barrel and that would undercut a lot of the power structure, the World Bank . . . the fossil fuel industry.

"They are just not prepared to handle this."

Hellyer, too, thinks there are important secrets to be learned.

"I think, frankly, that the subject should be taken seriously, because there are consequences that have real effects or could have real effects on the people of the world and I think there should be discussion of it."

While some believers think western governments have actually negotiated with extraterrestrials, Hellyer doesn't go that far.

"To my knowledge, it's just visitations," he says.

Although his participation in the conference is likely to draw ridicule, Hellyer said he's used to that after his roller-coaster political life.

"It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"
 

September 3, 2005

Austin American-Statesman

When UFOs Plied the Night Skies: Air Force Blue Book on UFOs
Peek into the U.S. files: declassified documents of Air Force 'Blue Book' on UFOs

by Delia M. Rios
Newhouse News Service

WASHINGTON -- "Rumors about the saucer mystery fly almost as fast as the strange sights themselves," pronounced the narrator of a 1952 Paramount newsreel, commenting on a rash of UFO sightings from New York to Washington, D.C.

He added ominously: "With this evidence, the mystery thickens."

And so it seemed.

A comic book narrative of the time came down on the side of believers. "SAUCERS OVER WASHINGTON, D.C.," blared its bold black headline. It dismissed the military's "glib" explanation of radar blips seen that July by National Airport flight controllers. Simply a case of temperature inversion or reflections of ground objects, insisted the Air Force brass. But what about the pilot, the cartoonist countered, who described "a bright light moving faster, at times, than a shooting star"?

Well, what about it?

From 1947 to 1969, Americans accounted for 12,618 reports of unidentified flying objects. It was up to investigators at Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to determine if extraterrestrial beings, in fact, had descended from space to Earth.

This work was incendiary enough to be classified. But the government bestowed a bureaucratic name just the same: "Project Blue Book."

It went on until 1969. That year, the United States Air Force declared itself out of the UFO business, but not before concluding that 701 sightings remained "unidentified."

Not to worry, Wright-Patterson officials assured the public in a 1985 fact sheet:

"No UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security; there has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present-day scientific knowledge; and there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' are extraterrestrial vehicles."

Just to be clear: Should anyone feel threatened by something he or she sees, the Air Force advised, "contact a local law enforcement agency."

And one last thing: "Periodically, it is erroneously stated that the remains of extraterrestrial visitors are or have been stored at Wright-Patterson AFB. There are not now, nor ever have been, any extraterrestrial visitors or equipment on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."

Did Project Blue Book really lead to such a disappointing end?

The unconvinced -- or the merely curious -- are welcome to see for themselves. Blue Book's documents and photographs comprise 42 cubic feet of declassified records -- numbering 2,000 pages per cubic foot -- now housed in the Military Reference Branch of the National Archives. They can be accessed through 94 rolls of 35 mm microfilm.

A glimpse inside the files finds a graphic charting coverage of UFOs -- including in the popular magazines Look and Life -- against subsequent spikes in sightings. There was a outbreak of them in the summer of 1952. Even Harry S. Truman got involved. A July 26, 1952, memo from Box 26 reveals that "the President had requested Gen. Landry to find out the details of the sighting that had occurred in Washington on Saturday night."

That 1952 newsreel, with its breathless narration, describes how "across the river from New York City, a Jersey City volunteer air-defense observer reports that not only has he spotted a flying saucer in the nighttime sky over Manhattan, but that he's actually photographed it."

What was it, really?

We are left to wonder.

September 3, 2005

Globe and Mail (Canada)

UFOs are real, but the Tories are acting

Paul Hellyer has been a Liberal and a Conservative, has run for the leadership of both parties and founded two more, and will announce this month that he believes UFOs exist. Yes, indeed, the 82-year-old former defence minister in Lester Pearson's government is to address the Exopolitics Toronto Symposium on UFO Disclosure and Planetary Directions at U of T's Convocation Hall on Sept. 25.

"My role is really to say publicly for the first time that I believe that what we call unidentified flying objects are real," he said, ". . . and that people should know more about them and some of the implications of the fact they exist and that they've been observing our planet for more than half a century now."

Yesterday, he said he has never seen a UFO and he had remained unconvinced of their existence until quite recently. In fact, as defence minister (he is known for controversially unifying the forces), Mr. Hellyer said, he received reports of UFO sightings but didn't pay much attention to them.

Lately, however, his reading on the subject and other evidence has him convinced they do exist. And he says this has policy implications for governments but will not reveal what he thinks they are. He said he doesn't want to scoop himself. Stay tuned.

August 22, 2005

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Researcher Feels Certain UFOs Exist

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. -- Peter Davenport has received more phone calls than he cares to count that have an unusual opening: "Please believe me, I'm not crazy."

For Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, it's part of the job.

Davenport spoke Sunday at the Little Green Men Festival in Hopkinsville with tales of what he believes are some of the more fascinating, provable cases reported. The festival, at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Conference and Convention Center, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Aug. 21, 1955, report of an alien invasion at Kelly.

After a lifetime of studying what many brush off as science fiction, Davenport is feels certain that UFOs exist and have been witnessed on Earth, and second, that the government has known about them for decades.

"I have not just a mountain of data, perhaps a mountain range of data. And I assure you, it's strictly by accident," Davenport told the Kentucky New Era in an interview.

Davenport has spent the last 11 years filing accounts and eyewitness reports of UFO sightings from a reporting center that consists of one phone, one fax, and one Web master, and is almost completely privately funded by Davenport and donations.

Davenport graduated Stanford with degrees in Russian and biology and received his MBA in finance and international business. But, years before receiving a master's degree in genetics and biochemistry of fish, Davenport heard of the Kelly Green Men incident on the radio.

The story from Kelly was one of several that piqued his interest in UFOs, which eventually led to his involvement in the National UFO Reporting Center.

Davenport said his perspective of UFO sightings took on a whole new dimension when he was 6-years-old on a July night in 1954. Davenport said that's when he, his mom and brother saw a strange object in the sky while at a drive-in theater on the edge of the St. Louis Airport.

"We didn't know it at the time, but my father, and people in the tower on the north side of the airport, were looking at the same object with their binoculars," he said.

Davenport said the object was about the size of the moon, bright red like a traffic signal and slightly oval in shape.

"And (it) stopped, almost stock-still, in the sky to the east of our location. People were getting out of their cars," Davenport said. "It was casting a red light ... all over the theater, all over the airport, as far as we could see."

Since then, Davenport has logged literally thousands of calls about colored lights, flying triangles and hovering disks on his web site, but he's hesistant to say any two are the same sighting.

August 20, 2005

Kentucky New Era (Hopkinsville)

UFO expert to speak at Green Men festival

by Emily Burton

After a lifetime of studying what many brush off as science fiction, Peter Davenport is relatively certain of two things. First, that UFO's exist and have been witnessed on Earth, and second, that the government has known about them for decades.

As director of the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Davenport has spent the last 11 years filing accounts and eyewitness reports of UFO sightings.

The reporting center in Seattle consists of one phone, one fax, and one Web master, and is almost completely privately funded by Davenport and donations.

Often, Davenport receives anonymous reports of UFO sightings in e-mails or phone calls from people who begins, "Please believe me, I'm not crazy."

He has been interviewed by Peter Jennings, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel, to name a few. Davenport will regale the crowd at the Little Green Men Festival today with tales of what he believes are some of the more fascinating, provable cases reported.

The festival, at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Conference and Convention Center, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Aug. 21, 1955, report of an alien invasion at Kelly.

As Davenport retells each sighting with an immense focus on scientific details, his out-of-this-world stories become more science and less fiction.

"I have not just a mountain of data, perhaps a mountain range of data. And I assure you, it's strictly by accident," he said.

Before Davenport graduated Stanford with degrees in Russian and biology, he received his MBA in finance and international business. Years before receiving his master's degree in genetics and biochemistry of fish, Davenport heard of the Kelly Green Men incident on the radio.

The story from Kelly was one of several that piqued his interest in UFOs, which eventually led to his involvement in the National UFO Reporting Center.

But one July night in 1954, Davenport's perspective of UFO sightings went from third-party listener to first-hand witness. He was 6 years old.

Sitting in a 1953 Studebaker, Davenport was at a drive-in theater on the edge of the St. Louis Airport with his mom and brother when a strange object appeared to their right.

"We didn't know it at the time, but my father, and people in the tower on the north side of the airport, were looking at the same object with their binoculars," he said.

Imagine an object the apparent size of the moon, said Davenport.

"It was bright red, the color of a red traffic signal. With perhaps just a shade of orange in it, and slightly oval. And stopped, almost stock-still, in the sky to the east of our location. People were getting out of their cars."

For decades, his family would discuss that night and wonder, "what was that object?" Davenport said.

"It was casting a red light … all over the theater, all over the airport, as far as we could see."

His sighting is one among literally thousands on his Web-site, www.ufocenter.com. But while there are many mentions of colored lights, flying triangles and hovering disks, Davenport is hesitant to say any two sightings are the same.

Among the multitudes of sightings he's logged, Davenport will present Saturday his "best" documented cases, he said. Ever the scientist, Davenport's list of what constitutes good evidence of UFO activity reads like a textbook.

"Once you have evidence, there's the question, is it accurate? Does it come from independent sources? Is it indelible in the sense that, do you have photographic evidence or just eye-witness accounts?"

Take for example the 1998 UFO report from a former Canadian fighter pilot, who said he saw green balls of light in the sky. Or the 14 forestry workers in Washington who all witnessed a horseshoe-shaped object lift an elk from the forest and fly away with it. In St. Clair County, Ill, five years ago, "officers from eight police departments witness, pursue, and photograph a huge, triangular object," Davenport wrote from reports.

Witnesses include a commercial pilot, a radar patrol officer, a former Navy Chief, a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controller, and even an astronaut. Local officials and high-ranking government agents who know of nowhere else to go with reports of a UFO sighting now call him, Davenport said.

"We are the facility to which law enforcement agencies, military facilities and the FAA report UFO events."

By his own admission, about 70 percent or more of the reports to Davenport's hotline and Web-site have nothing to do with actual UFOs. But of the remaining 30 percent …

During a classified meeting on the East coast several years ago, with a government agency Davenport is not at liberty to identify, the exact scope of the government's involvement in their own UFO research was partial revealed, he said.

"They identified themselves, … and they said, ‘Peter, we know who you are. We have visited your web-site extensively.' And they said, ‘You appear to us to have information that we are very interested in.'

They wanted to know more about a UFO that had been seen near a commercial airliner.

After a four-hour meeting, they thanked Davenport and told him, "‘Out of our sense of gratitude, we're going to tell you what our position about UFOs is in the U.S. government,'" he said.

The officials told Davenport, "‘Number one, we know that UFOs are real. Number two, we know that UFOs are what they appear to be. Namely, sophisticated craft under intelligent control. There's no doubt of that', they said. ‘And number three, we in the government are a bit worried about them,'" recalled Davenport.

But if the government knows anything about UFOs, they aren't about to crack, Davenport said.

"Clearly, the U.S. government -- from my vantage point I think I can say this safely -- is doing everything in its power to quash interest in the subject of ufology in general. And in individual cases that are dramatic and well documented, and evident to a large body of people. Now, is that conspiracy or is that policy? I'm not sure I can answer that."

Is there intelligent life cruising the night skies, and did it ever visit Kelly? If local lore can't convince us, maybe science and an extensive collection of similar stories can.

"If it were not for our center, I fear the American people would be naked in the face of whatever threat we may be dealing with. Even if its just as mild of threat of ignorance of UFO phenomena," said Davenport. "And that threat makes me very uncomfortable."

 

August 13, 2005

Kentucky New Era (Hopkinsville)

The Kelly 'Commotion'
Life Hasn't Been Easy Since The Aliens Came Calling

by Jennifer P. Brown

Kelly, a tiny town about five miles north of Hopkinsville, was made famous by the Aug. 21, 1955, report of an alien invasion.

If Lonnie Lankford had been a little older, his mother might not have pushed him under the bed that night she thought she saw an alien outside her bedroom window.

It was the evening of Aug. 21, 1955, and Glennie Lankford was trying to protect the children in the little farmhouse off Old Madisonville Road at Kelly. So, Lonnie, who was 12 years old, was scrunched under the mattress with his brother, Charlton, 10, and sister, Mary, 5.

He never saw the little creatures that frightened his mother and sent his older half-brother, Elmer "Lucky" Sutton, running for a shotgun.

But Lonnie Lankford heard plenty, both that night and in the days and weeks that followed, and he remains clear about what did and did not happened that night 50 years ago.

His mother saw a space creature outside her window, not a cat or a monkey or a bird. There were more in the yard and on the roof.

The creatures were sliver, not green. They were small, about 3 feet tall, and had webbed hands and feet, and big round eyes,.

Shots were fired at the creatures, but there was no raging gun battle that went on for hours.

Most important, Lonnie says, no one was drinking at the house that night. No beer, or liquor or moonshine was allowed inside. That was Glennie Lankford's rule.

"I remember the commotion and the hollerin' and screaming," Lonnie, 62, said Friday afternoon. "I didn't see them, but my momma did, and I believe her because she was a religious woman and she wouldn't lie."

The Legend of Kelly

Today, the world knows the Kelly story as the tale of the Little Green Men, or the Kelly Green Men.

In the days following the first news story of the family's report, published on Aug. 22, 1955, in the Kentucky New Era, the world beat a path to Kelly, a tiny community about 5 miles north of Hopkinsville.

The New York Daily News reported on its front page, "Spacemen Take Kentucky." A headline in the Los Angeles Times read, "Kentucky Gains New Fame."

Someone -- maybe a headline writer -- couldn't resist the word play on Kelly and Green, and the little men changed colors, from silver to green. (A French journalist, Yann Mege, who traveled to Hopkinsville in 2000 to research the story, has theorized that the phrase "little green men" originated from the Kelly story.)

The family, embarrassed by reports that they were drunk or simply pulling an elaborate prank that night, rejected the attention and turned away reporters. While the world laughed, they were often insulted.

The Kelly incident became a legend that grew over time. It remains a classic chapter in the U.S. Air Force's "Project Blue Book," a catalogue of more than 12,000 UFO sightings in the United States between 1952 and 1969.

A different time

In the summer of 1955, air conditioning was rare in Christian County homes and highly prized in public places such as theaters, stores and churches. People spent a good amount of time simply trying to endure the heat and humidity, said William T. Turner, county history. Fans blew in hallways and at night people often slept, or languished, on pallets on their porches.

The First Presbyterian Church in Hopkinsville was running a newspaper ad that touted its air-conditioned sanctuary. Window air conditioning units were selling for $169 at Keach Furniture.

Many people in Hopkinsville had black-and-white television sets and received antenna signals for three stations, channels 4, 5 and 8, all out of Nashville, Tenn. At 7 o'clock on Saturday nights, they watched "The Lawrence Welk Show."

Six movie theaters, including three drive-ins, were showing westerns, romance stories, monster movies and science fiction. The Alhambra had "Rainbow Over Texas," starring Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger. The Family Drive-In was showing "Daltons Ride Again," and the Skyway Drive-In had "Revenge of the Creature" and "Flying Saucers."

The Shrine Circus came to town, featuring clowns, dancing dogs, elephants and ponies. Hopkinsville resident Margaret Rash played the organ for the circus.

There were parties at restaurants -- the Coach and Four in Hopkinsville and Gray's Steak House out on Madisonville Road.

One day, people stood in line to apply for jobs at the new Moe Light Plant of Thomas Industries.

At Buddies restaurant next to the fire station on East Ninth Street, people paid 10 cents for a hamburger.

Former Gov. A.B. "Happy" Chandler campaigned at the courthouse for another term in office. His opponent, Bert Combs, courted voters at the Memorial Building.

Dalton Bros. Brick was developing a new subdivision on South Jessup.

Almost everybody in Christian County, even the ones in Hopkinsville, still had a connection to farming. They worked on farms, or in tobacco warehouses, or they worked for businesses that couldn't survive without the money generated by farming.

Many families, like Lonnie Lankford's, lived on small farms and lived a modest life.

The Kelly sighting

At Glennie Lankford's house, there was no indoor plumbing. There was an outhouse in the back. Water had to be toted from an outdoor well.

Billy Ray Taylor, a visitor from Pennsylvania and friend of "Lucky" Sutton, was going to the outhouse when he saw a light streak through the sky, said Lonnie, who related the story Friday at his home off U.S. 68 near the eastern edge of the Hopkinsville city limits.

Taylor saw a spaceship land in a field of sagebrush, but he didn't tell anybody what he saw when he returned to the house.

Then Lonnie's mother screamed. She had seen a space creature through the bedroom window. "Lucky" ran for his double-barrel shotgun and fired at the creature. It retreated, but was not hurt.

Stepping outside on the small front stoop, "Lucky" felt a tug at his hair. One of the creatures had reached for him from the roof, Lonnie said.

"Lucky" backed into the yard and saw four or five aliens on the roof. He fired a few shots. Again, the creatures seemed to retreat but were not hurt.

Later, according to the family's story, everybody in the house, including Glennie, the three children, "Lucky" and his brother, J.C. Sutton, and Billy Ray, loaded up in a couple of vehicles and headed for Hopkinsville.

At the Hopkinsville Police Department, they asked Police Chief Russell Greenwell for help.

Police officers, Kentucky state troopers and soldiers from Fort Campbell converged at the Lankford place that night and searched for a spaceship and aliens. They found nothing, according to the report in the U.S. Air Force "Blue Book."

Over the years, Lonnie has heard the speculation that his family actually saw some escaped monkeys from the Shrine circus. He laughs at the suggestion.

"I ain't ever seen a silver monkey, or a green one," he said.

Lonnie concedes that his older brother, "Lucky" had a reputation for telling tales and that he drank. But on that night, "Lucky" wasn't drinking and he didn't invent a story about space creatures.

"He was one of the biggest liars in Hopkinsville, but he didn't lie about that," Lonnie said.

To this day, Lonnie wishes he had not crawled under the bed after his mother screamed.

"I wish I had seen one of them, but I didn't and I'm not going to lie about it," he said.

It's hard to tell, Lonnie said, how many people have made money off the Kelly Green Men since that night in 1955. It seems like everybody but his family made something off the story.

"Here I sit, broke and poor, and I ain't made nothing off it," said Lonnie, who is disabled after years of manual labor. He worked so many different jobs, it's hard to list them all Š roofer, gas station attendant, truck driver, saw mill hand.

But Lonnie still has a sense of humor about his family's brush with fame. Three years ago, he went to a Halloween dance at the Hopkinsville Elks Club. He dressed as an alien. Hardly anyone knew the story behind the mask and cape that night.

Lonnie has been looking for his costume this week. Next weekend, for the Little Green Men Festival's Alien Ball, he'd like to go as an alien.
 

August 9, 2005

New York Times

Health: Books on Science
Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens, by Susan Clancy. Harvard University Press
Explaining Those Vivid Memories Of Martian Kidnappers

By Benedict Carey

People who have memories of being abducted by aliens become hardened skeptics, of a kind. They dismiss the procession of scientists who explain away the memories as illusions or fantasy. They scoff at talk about hypnosis or the unconscious processing of Hollywood scripts. And they hold their ground amid snickers from a public that thinks that they are daft or psychotic.

They are neither, it turns out, and their experiences should be taken as seriously as any strongly held exotic beliefs, according to Susan Clancy, a Harvard psychologist who interviewed dozens of self-described abductees as part of a series of memory studies over the last several years.

In her book "Abducted," due in October, Dr. Clancy, a psychologist at Harvard, manages to refute and defend these believers, and along the way provide a discussion of current research into memory, emotion and culture that renders abduction stories understandable, if not believable. Although it focuses on abduction memories, the book hints at a larger ambition, to explain the psychology of transformative experiences, whether supposed abductions, conversions or divine visitations.

"Understanding why people believe weird things is important for anyone who wishes to know more about people - that is, humans in general," she writes.

Dr. Clancy's accounting for abduction memories starts with an odd but not uncommon experience called sleep paralysis. While in light dream-rich REM sleep, people will in rare cases wake up for a few moments and find themselves unable to move. Psychologists estimate that about a fifth of people will have that experience at least once, during which some 5 percent will be bathed in terrifying sensations like buzzing, full-body electrical quivers, a feeling of levitation, at times accompanied by hallucinations of intruders.

Some of them must have an explanation as exotic as the surreal nature of the experience itself. Although no one has studied this group systematically, Dr. Clancy suggests based on her interviews, that they tend to be people who already have some interest in the paranormal, mystical arts and the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors. Often enough, their search for meaning lands them in the care of a therapist who uses hypnotism to elicit more details of their dreamlike experiences.

Hypnotism is a state of deep relaxation, when people become highly prone to suggestion, psychologists find. When encouraged under hypnosis to imagine a vivid but entirely concocted incident - like being awakened by loud noises - people are more likely later to claim the scene as a real experience, studies find.

Where, exactly, do the green figures with the wraparound eyes come from? From the deep well of pop culture, Dr. Clancy argues, based on a review of the history of U.F.O. sightings, popular movies and television programs on aliens. The first "abduction" in the United States was dramatized in 1953, in the movie "Invaders From Mars," she writes, and a rash of abduction reports followed this and other works on aliens, including the television series "The Outer Limits."

One such report, by a couple from New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill, followed by days a particularly evocative episode of the show in 1961. Mr. Hill's description of the aliens - with big heads and shiny wraparound eyes - was featured in a best-selling book about the experience, and inspired the alien forms in Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in 1977, according to Dr. Clancy.

Thus does life imitate art, and vice versa, in a narrative hall of mirrors in which scenes and even dialogues are recycled. Although they are distinct in details, abduction narratives are extremely similar in broad outline and often include experimentation with a sexual or procreative subtext. "Oh! And he's opening my shirt, and - he's going to put that thing in my navel," says one 1970's narrative, referring to a needle.

"I can feel them moving that thing around in my stomach, in my body," the narrative, excerpted in the book, continues. The passage echoes other abduction accounts, past and future.

In a laboratory study in 2002, Dr. Clancy and another Harvard psychologist, Richard McNally, gave self-described abductees a standardized word-association test intended to measure proneness to false-memory creation. The participants studied lists of words that were related to one another - "sugar," "candy," "sour," "bitter" - and to another word that was not on the list, in this case, "sweet."

When asked to recall the word lists, those with abduction memories were more likely than a group of peers who had no such memories to falsely recall the unlisted word. The findings suggest a susceptibility to what are called source errors, misattributing sources of remembered information by, say, confusing a scene from a barely remembered movie with a dream.

In another experiment, the researchers found that recalling abduction memories prompted physiological changes in blood pressure and sweat-gland activity that were higher than those seen in post-traumatic stress syndrome. The memories produced intense emotional trauma, and each time that occurs it deepens the certainty that something profound really did happen.

Although no one of those elements - sleep paralysis, interest in the paranormal, hypnotherapy, memory tricks or emotional investment - is necessary or sufficient to create abduction memories, they tend to cluster together in self-described abductees, Dr. Clancy finds. "In the past, researchers have tended to concentrate on one or another" factor, she said in an interview. "I'm saying they all play a role."

Yet abduction narratives often have another, less explicit, dimension that Dr. Clancy suspects may be central to their power. Consider this comment, from a study participant whom Dr. Clancy calls Jan, a middle-age divorcée engaged in a quest for personal understanding: "You know, they do walk among us on earth. They have to transform first into a physical body, which is very painful for them. But they do it out of love. They are here to tell us that we're all interconnected in some way.  Everything is."

At a basic level, Dr. Clancy concludes, alien abduction stories give people meaning, a way to comprehend the many odd and dispiriting things that buffet any life, as well as a deep sense that they are not alone in the universe. In this sense, abduction memories are like transcendent religious visions, scary and yet somehow comforting and, at some personal psychological level, true.

Dr. Clancy said she regretted not having asked the abductees she interviewed about religious beliefs, which were not a part of her original research. The reader may regret that, too.

The warmth, awe and emotion of abduction stories and of those who tell them betray strong spiritual currents that will be familiar to millions of people whose internal lives are animated by religious imagery.

When it comes to sounding the depths of alien stories, a scientific inquiry like this one may have to end with an inquiry into religion.
 

August 7, 2005

Brisbane Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia)

Our X-Files

by Kate Patterson

Hidden files, cover-ups and pressure on witnesses to "forget" the UFOs they say they saw – these are the Queensland X-Files.

Australian UFO Research Centre investigator Dominic McNamara has spent two years uncovering restricted files from the Federal Government's top-secret national archives.

For the first time, The Sunday Mail is able to disclose three sightings previously marked classified and deemed to be a matter of national security.

Mr McNamara said there was little doubt the files – detailing UFO sightings between 1950 and 1970 – were deliberately hidden or made difficult to find.

"We are under the impression that some files are yet to be found or they are in something deeper that we are never going to get a look at," he said.

Mr McNamara said Queensland had a spate of sightings for which there did not seem to be much explanation.

"It's a bit of a hot spot," he said.

"The bureaucratic solution is to contain it, especially if your mandate is to be able to explain what goes on in the sky.

"There were a number of sightings in that time, where there was something really strange going on in Queensland.

"The best evidence we have are the witnesses who have risked their social lives, their career and their sanity to come forward at a time when it was extremely difficult to do so and make a report."

The engineer said there was too much unexplained activity to simply discount extra-terrestrial life.

He said sightings tended to peak around the time humans extended their push into the skies, with events such as rocket launches or nuclear bombs.

Mr. McNamara said a lot of people thought he was "mad" and compared his work as a UFO investigator to that of TV character Fox Mulder of The X-Files.

"It's hard for people to consider that there's such a thing as alien life, but it's harder to accept that there can't be any," he said.

The sightings include:

Unidentified Aircraft

Witnessed by Harold Jackwitz at Wulkuraka, west of Ipswich, on July 14, 1958, at 1.45pm. The object was seen by 12 members of a construction gang employed at the partly built electric shunting and marshalling yards.

Mr Jackwitz, of North Ipswich, described the object as round, silent and cloud-like, giving off light reflection, solid in construction, but emitting no sound or any obvious means of propulsion.

When seen, it was to the northwest and apart from one period where it appeared to hover, the direction remained constant until visual contact was lost.

Bruce Stephens, of Auchenflower in Brisbane, who was at the location, made observations of the phenomenon through his theodolite for about eight minutes.

He drew a detailed sketch.

Interrogators reported, "the possibility of it being an aircraft is most unlikely... the observers gave straightforward information, showed no tendency to embellish and their details were identical".

No RAAF or civil aircraft was airborne or operating within these confines at the time.

Unusual Sighting

Roland Roberts, witnessed a UFO at Daunia Station, via Nebo, near Mackay, on June 24, 1965, at 6.45pm.

"Saucer shape with silver dome top and black underneath... with lights around the side of it brilliant bluish white," Mr. Roberts wrote.

He included a sketch of his sighting. He described the object moving from southwest until it vanished in a northeast direction.

"It had a constant red jet tail or slip stream at the rear the colour did not vary," the report read. "Never seen anything move as fast as the object observed."

Mr Roberts was a grazier at his homestead when he saw the object, which he said "would have been between 30 to 50 feet (9m to 15m) across, could see no legs or landing gear under the object".

Mr McNamara said there was great interest in this sighting because there was a boat which made a similar UFO report in Darwin.

Flying Object

Police officer Leslie Gray saw a UFO from his address at Kedron in Brisbane on November 12, 1966, at 7.55pm.

Mr Gray, then 36, said he was watching Russian satellites from his back yard with his family when a slightly illuminated boomerang-shaped object travelled overhead.

"I said to the children, come and look and try and remember what you've seen because no one will ever believe you," he told The Sunday Mail this week.

The sighting was confirmed by his then-wife Elva and two children Robyn, then 13, and Stewart, then 5.

He described the object moving from the north to the south before it disappeared about 30 degrees above the horizon.

Mr Gray said lights in straight lines covered the object and there was a faint glow outlining the whole object, giving the impression of a brighter light above it.

"I thought no one's going to believe me, but I would like to get it recorded," he said.

No aircraft were reported as being in the area.

"Being a policeman I knew that you don't ring the police and talk about things like that, so I called a friend in the air force," he said.

Mr Gray said he was interviewed soon after he reported it, but "he was the most uninterested person I have ever met and thought I was crazy," he said.

"I haven't heard a thing since."

Mr Gray said a newspaper article appeared soon after about a banana-shaped object burnt into the ground in Victoria.

Mrs Gray said it had been hard to convince others.

"People would brush you off, saying you've been drinking, but we'll never forget it."


- All documents obtained from the National Archives of Australia.  Australian UFO Research Network Sightings Hotline: 1800 772 288.
 

July 26, 2005

Exeter News-Letter

UFO Sighting In Exeter Again

By Adam Dolge
adolge@seacoastonline.com

EXETER - There was something odd in the sky last week, something that caused a Navy veteran with 10,000 hours of flight experience to have his own close encounter.
that slow, he said.

The object began changing colors from a bright silver to an orange-ish red. A strange cloud of red and orange flames began surrounding the obattle-based National UFO Reporting Center.

Peter Davenport, director of the UFO reporting center, said David’s report was astonishing because of his history with flight. "I have no question on his reliability."

He said he gets several accounts each year, but this one stood out. The report was well written and scientific, Davenport said.

"In my view, that’s one of the cardinal rules of an account," he said.

The center was founded in 1974 by UFO investigator Robert Gribble. The center’s Web site, www.nuforc.org, has a large list of UFO sightings. According to the site, the center’s primary function is to receive, record, and to the greatest degree possible, corroborate and document reports from individuals who have witnessed possible UFOs. David’s report, which will soon be on the Web site, will be among dozens of documented sightings to be formally reported to the center.

Not the first time

The Exeter area is no stranger to UFO sightings. In 1965, two Exeter police officers and hitchhiker Norman Muscarello, who was with them, gained national attention after seeing a UFO hovering over Route 101 in Kensington. The sighting was documented in a book called "The Incident at Exeter."

And then there was the incident involving Barney and Betty Hill, a husband and wife from Portsmouth who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. The couple was driving from a vacation in Canada in 1961 when they saw a UFO.

The object moved directly over their car, and before they knew it they grew drowsy. They later claimed to have been abducted by aliens and gave identical accounts while they were hypnotized.

But for this recent sighting, David said he believes that there is life beyond Earth. He said the galaxy is so enormous, it’s hard to believe humans are the only intelligent life.

"To the point of not being obnoxious, it’d be egocentric to think there is no other life out there."
 

July 13, 2005

Denver Post

For UFO Expert Sci-Fi Is Real Life

by Jeremy Meyer

Aurora - Two or three times a month, someone in Colorado looks into the sky and sees something he cannot identify.

Often, that's when John Schuessler's group gets a call.

Schuessler, a retired Boeing engineer who moved to Jefferson County, is the international director of the Mutual UFO Network, a 3,000-member nonprofit group that investigates UFO sightings and promotes research on the phenomenon.

His group runs a website on which people can report their experiences and sends investigators to interview people who spy something strange.

"We're not a lot of starry-eyed believers," Schuessler said. "We're a fairly skeptical group. There's no doubt in my mind about UFOs. We have firm evidence of it. We have videotapes. And the testimony by credible people is beyond question. ... Some of the most definitive documentation is by the government - 300,000 documents that all attest to the reality of UFOs."

Schuessler will speak Sunday at the Aurora History Museum, which through Sept. 18 is featuring an exhibit celebrating a century of science fiction.

He will talk about UFO sightings across Colorado - from the storm chaser in Jefferson County who reported a bowling-ball-like object flying out of clouds to a park packed with people who saw a strange craft 500 feet above Lakewood that zoomed straight up.

There seems to be an unending number of sightings in the San Luis Valley.

"They call that the 'mysterious valley,' and I can see why," Schuessler said.

He will explain how his group, in cataloging and investigating UFO sightings around the world, is building a body of evidence that "there is something real (in the skies)."

He added: "It's unusual, it's not ours, and it's something worth looking at."

Perhaps that won't be much of a surprise to the visitors to the museum's popular "Science Fiction Century" exhibit, which opened July 4.

Curator Matt Chasansky worked through various science-fiction groups in the Denver area to build the display, which includes everything from Star Wars costumes to first-edition books by H.G. Wells.

The experience has been an eye- opener for Chasansky, who was never  really a sci-fi buff until the exhibit.

"At first I thought (science fiction) was escapism," he said. "People want somewhere that is totally invented that they can separate themselves from."

But he realized it was more reality- based than other pop-culture genres such as horror or fantasy. Science fiction extrapolates actual scientific discovery. For example, Jules Verne's 19th-century stories about moonshots became reality by the 1960s.

Schuessler doesn't see a conflict in talking factually about UFOs at an exhibition of science fiction.

"We are living a real science- fiction situation that most people want to just read about," he said. "It is futuristic stuff. The characteristics of the UFO sightings are beyond our technological capabilities."

Schuessler leaves conjecture - "Who is flying these vehicles?" "Why they are here?" - to the sci-fi buffs.

"They come up with ideas based on reality but beyond reality," he said. "It's where the two merge - reality merges with science fiction."

Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com. Talk on UFOs

Mutual UFO Network director John Schuessler will discuss UFO sightings in Colorado from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Aurora History Museum, 15051 E. Alameda Parkway, at the Aurora municipal campus.

Schuessler's presentation is for all ages and costs $3 for Aurora residents and $4 for nonresidents.

To register, call 303-739-6660.
 

 July 3, 2005

Pascagoula Mississippi Press

Local man says UFO experience is one he will never get over

by Natalie Chambers

GAUTIER -- UFOs. Real or imaginary?

There's the Hollywood version and then there's Charles Hickson of Gautier.

Hickson and fishing partner, Calvin Parker, were near a pier at Shaupeter Shipyard in Pascagoula on the evening of Oct. 11, 1973, when they reported being abducted by robot-like aliens and taken aboard an egg-shaped, glowing spacecraft.

Their account of that night is the type stuff movies should be made of.

They spoke of floating creatures and being examined by an electronic eye, within an approximate 20-minute time frame.  Hickson remained conscious but could only move his eyes. Parker fainted.

Hickson was recently interviewed at his Gautier home following the release of War of the Worlds, a present-day re-telling of H.G. Wells' classic, sci-fi adventure thriller that reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it.

"Some of the movies they make now I watch, some I don't. They're not what Calvin and I went through with. They are make-believe. What happened to us is a natural fact," Hickson said. "I notice here lately, they've been having a lot of UFO programs on the History Channel."

Hollywood touts several variations of alien-life. Hickson, at 74, has not deviated from accounts he has given to local police, government investigators, television commentators such as Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson, or anyone else who has asked.

Under hypnosis, he recalled seeing human-like beings aboard the craft.

"Evidently they couldn't live in our atmosphere and had the robots come out and handle us," he said. Hickson believes the aliens will return.

"They are still having UFO sightings around the world," he said. "I still get letters from people all over the whole world who tell me things they went through. Some of them won't talk to anybody else about it."

The fear, sleepless nights, inability to eat, afraid of the outdoors - emanating from that night - are long gone and in some ways, so has the close relationship shared with Parker.

"They didn't do me any physical harm. They give me a bad fright.  They gave Calvin a heck of a fright. In fact, I don't think he will ever get over it," Hickson said. Parker, then 19, left Jackson County.

"I don't know what the answer is. I may never find an answer during my lifetime. Everybody has to have their own beliefs. I think some day in the near future, people will know there are other worlds with life on them because we are going farther and farther with space exploration. We've got probes around Mars and Jupiter," he said.

Over the years, Hickson has received letters from others who said they, too, saw the craft that night.

"They didn't want to be ridiculed," he said.

Mike Cataldo, a retired Navy chief petty officer now living in Florida, contacted The Mississippi Press a couple of years ago.

"We saw it, no question about it. We talked about it. Was it a shooting star, a meteorite? This was very different," he said.  "As quickly as we saw it, it just vanished."

Hickson has since published a book of the account, UFO: Contact At Pascagoula. The $15 hardback can be purchased by calling Hickson at 228-497-4753.

"Everywhere I go and I've been to many big colleges and universities all over the country and they've never ridiculed me at all. They've been very interested. They want to ask questions. They are eager to learn. I think they realize some day they will have to cope with that. It's something I will never get over," he said.

A year ago, Hickson lost his wife, Blanche. They celebrated 50 years of marriage prior to her death. Back surgery keeps him from traveling a lot but he still keeps in touch through e-mail, television, phone and postal service.

"I think there are many, many worlds out there. Some with life on it. God didn't only create this little earth. He created this universe and I don't know how many beyond this. They say that it's still expanding so I guess there's no end to it out there, I suppose," he said.
 

June 2, 2005

Memphis Commercial Appeal

Flying Saucer Group Looks To The Skies
Extraterrestrials

by Lindsay Sonsky
Special to East Memphis Appeal

At age 7, Mark Gilley had an experience that would change the way he looked at the sky forever.

In the backyard of his home in Central Gardens, it was spring and nearing dusk when his aunt called to him.

"She said 'Come here and see if you see what I see,' " recalled Gilley.

He remembers spotting an illuminated object like a teardrop moving across the sky. He watched until it disappeared behind a cluster of trees.

At 58, Gilley is employed Downtown at the Clovernook Center for the Blind on St. Paul Avenue, where he helps those who have lost their vision become independent.

He still believes it was a UFO he saw that day. He's not alone.

As a longtime member of the Memphis UFO Discussion Group, which meets at the Poplar-White Station Branch Library at 5094 Poplar on the second Wednesday of each month, Gilley is in agreeable company with many others who believe Earth is being visited by extraterrestrials.

Attracting up to 30 people to meetings, the Memphis group has been together for nearly 25 years.

Gilley is also the state director of Western Tennessee for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a 3,000-member international organization that investigates sightings.

Manning the region hotline (the phone number dials his cell phone), the East Memphian anticipates calls that send him and Marcia Prince out of town for closer inspections.

Prince, also an East Memphian, is assistant state director of Western Tennessee and chairman of the Memphis UFO Discussion Group.

But that doesn't happen very often.

Most are hesitant to admit they might have spotted something unearthly, said Prince. "I call it the 'giggle factor.' You say 'UFO' and people giggle," she said.

But as ridiculous as some may think it is, every year tens of thousands of people claim to spot UFOs, she said.

The folks who are certified by the state group to look into such cases are called field investigators.

Gilley and Prince are investigative trainees, who will soon be taking the official MUFON examination, which will cover 35 scientific fields. Instructed by certified investigators, they learn how to take steps such as conducting interviews and collecting soil samples.

Their first assignment sent them to North Mississippi, where a resident captured a photograph of a sphere in the sky.

"It looked like a worm hole," said Prince, who sent it on to a MUFON specialist who ended up discrediting it as a product of the way the film was developed.

Other sightings have sent them investigating occurrences all over Memphis and in areas such as Berclair, Bartlett, Whitehaven and Shelby Farms.

The trainees are investigating a rural town outside Memphis, which they wouldn't disclose, but which has had several accounts of UFOs and cases of dead cattle.

Like Gilley and Prince, many "Ufologists" don't believe that the government or mainstream media are revealing everything or reporting fairly about extraterrestrial encounters. That leaves believers scouting out information from publications such as MUFON's monthly journal and books and local radio shows.

A big part of the Memphis UFO Discussion Group is keeping members updated on sightings, studies and investigations. They do this by handing out articles and hosting guest speakers from scientists to abductees. The Memphis UFO Discussion Group had booth at the MidSouth Con (the annual Science, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Gaming convention) hoping to reach a range of open-minded folks.

"We believe this is the truth and we want to prove that it's out there," Prince said.

To report a UFO or extraterrestrial encounter, contact Gilley at 484-2972.
 

June 2, 2005

SOONews.ca (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada)

Beyond The Stars - Special Series
Meeting Stanton Friedman
A Special Report

by L. Henderson

Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs, have intrigued us for generations. The man, synonymous with the topic, is, Stanton Friedman.

It was a pleasure to conduct an interview with him, discussing at length his role in informing the public of what is going on in the world of UFOs. Talking to Mr. Friedman certainly is the high point of my career, as I have long been an armchair enthusiast of the UFO mystery.

In the study of the unknown, the unexplained or the unidentifiable, credibility of those presenting the facts is often questioned. Friedman has the credentials, delivering his answers sincerely and without hesitation.

For the record, he holds a BSC and MSC in Physics from the University of Chicago. Lecturing at over 600 colleges and to 100 professional groups on the topic, Flying Saucers Are Real, his engagements have taken him to 50 states, 9 provinces and 14 countries. Along with appearing on hundreds of radio and television programs, Friedman has published over 80 papers on the subject and was the original civilian investigator of the Roswell, New Mexico incident.

UFO Magazine in Leeds England presented Friedman with a Lifetime Achievements Award in 2002, while that same year Canada broadcast a documentary titled, "Stanton T. Friedman Is Real!!"

In 1980 Friedman decided to relocate from California and set up residence in New Brunswick where his wife's family lived. Her being from a family of nine children, it made sense to be closer to them, as, "we had no family out there" (California) he explained.

He points out that New Brunswick was a "great place" to raise his son and two daughters. Then, there were a few other benefits. "Our house in California had tripled in value but no way to get our money out and stay there. I have never regretted the move," he said. He added that he, "sometimes misses the traffic, the smog, the crime, the earthquakes, but has learned to live without them."

Although he has reached the age of 70, he, "won't truly retire, as I keep getting invitations and I want to write another book." A new edition of his 1996 book, TOP SECRET/MAJIC is set for September release with a new chapter added. Friedman will continue to lecture, "As long as people invite me and I feel I can provide a solid program", he said.

Renowned UFO Expert, Stanton Friedman

In his website biography, he states that the subject of UFOs represents a "Cosmic Watergate", adding that none of the "anti UFO arguments stand up to careful scrutiny."

Unidentified Flying Objects, he insists, is "the biggest story of the past millennium", and suggests that the governments have been covering up evidence for the past 58 years.

As to when we can expect the truth to be revealed, he said, "I have no reason to think the truth will be released anytime soon unless a reporter wants a Pulitzer Prize for blowing the lid off the Cosmic Watergate."

He maintains that evidence is concealed because, "Governments want to stay in power" and "don't want the people to start thinking of themselves as earthlings instead of Americans or Canadians. Can't tell your friends without telling your enemies", he added.

The movie, Fire In The Sky portrays the encounter of Travis Walton and his crew of tree cutters with an unexplained craft. Friedman has met Travis and appeared on television with him. "I stand behind him 100%", he stressed, regarding Walton's sincerity.

Friedman has been involved with UFOs since 1958. Why is he so passionate and what drives him? "I can't think of a more important story than visits to earth by aliens and the government's covering up the facts. I enjoy being on the stage, can use my background in advanced propulsion systems, my knowledge of security, and can give voice to my answers to the Why questions that so many want. Peoples responses are very heartwarming", he explained.

Citing his ability to "stimulate people to become involved" as his number one accomplishment, he points out that he was the original civilian investigator of Roswell, the first to publish about the star map seen in the famous Hill case, won several debates on UFOs, pioneered document research, coined the term, "Cosmic Watergate," and he says, "shown that trips to the stars do NOT violate the laws of Physics."

Although we more often hear about the American sightings and occasional encounters, there are many recorded Canadian occurrences that are worth talking about. Friedman mentioned two sightings, which intrigue him. They are The Falcon Lake Encounter and Shag Harbour, which we will be fodder for another article.

He explains that we hear less about Canadian sightings do to a combination of things such as our, "much smaller population, fewer investigators, and less promotion."

In discussing his recent interview with Peter Jennings on ABC, Friedman was less than pleased. The show, which aired in February, was less than what was anticipated from a professional journalist. In his column in MUFON Journal, (see, www.stantonfriedman.com), Friedman takes to task the treatment and obvious negativity shown by the Jennings presentation. Quoting from part of his column, "I am really puzzled about certain aspects of the Peter Jennings Productions UFO special seen on ABC on February 24, 2005." Farther along he questions where the show calls him a "promoter" and refers to Roswell as a "myth."

In summary, Stanton Friedman said, "I think most people find UFOs interesting, but they are too fearful of ridicule to say so. Most people believe in UFOs. Unfortunately most people think most other people don't. I check my audiences after my lectures. Typically 10% will have seen a UFO but only 10% of them, will have reported what they saw."

Stanton Friedman continues to be in demand as the lecture circuit beckons him to Hawaii in June for a Conference, and Roswell New Mexico July 1-4. Following this, he appears in Denver that same month and in Virginia Beach December 1-3. There are likely to be other dates announced.

For those in Canada wishing to catch his presentation, there will be an opportunity to see Friedman, in a forum in Toronto, September 25th, at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto beginning at 9am.

Stanton Friedman is highly intelligent and easy to talk to. In our discussions, he was quick to answer, didn't hesitate, appeared very confident, and never wavered in his beliefs.

How far out on a limb will the average guy go to prove the courage of his convictions? Friedman decided long ago to carry the banner for research, and open communication regarding UFOs. This column is dedicated to fostering that goal.
 

May 18, 2005

Berkshire Eagle (UK)

Savoy man eyes the sky for answers

by Noah Hoffenberg

SAVOY -- Sixty-three-year-old Marshall Rosenthal cannot confirm or deny whether he's been probed by beings from outer space, but if he was, it was a benevolent probing.

"Did they put their little screwdriver into me? I don't know," said the mostly retired Rosenthal, who is sure of one thing: He has seen, on a number of occasions, unidentified flying objects.

The first of the Savoy resident's sightings was in New York in 1959, when Rosenthal, then 19, was attending City College of New York. He and a group of friends were part of a social club that organized group dates with seniors from local high schools.

On one such date night, as a carload of these young people was heading through Pelham Manor, N.Y. with the radio blaring, they all saw something inexplicable, Rosenthal said.

At about 10, as the sedan came up on a rise, Rosenthal and the others saw a perfectly circular disc about 200 feet away, he said. It was about 60 feet in diameter and like nothing he had ever seen or considered.

"It was very large, perfectly circular and incandescently red-hot glowing," said Rosenthal, who teaches an after-school science program in North Adams. The disc left a trail of singed air behind it as it moved, he said.

The orange glow was so intense that it was reflected not only from Long Island Sound, but also on all of the astonished faces in the car, Rosenthal said.

"I was the only person in the car that seemed to be able to say anything," said Rosenthal. At the time, he said he repeated over and over: "Look at that! Look at that!"

He said the disc seemed to respond to him seeing it -- as when a deer is startled by a walker -- then began to accelerate and move skyward in a hyperbolic curve.

"I was astounded. Astonished. I couldn't believe what I had witnessed," said Rosenthal. Before that, he had never given UFOs or extraterrestrial beings a moment's thought, he said. "I mean, flying saucers?"

But he doesn't remember the whole evening, especially after the sighting: "A kind of social amnesia was imposed upon us."

That was Rosenthal's introduction to the possibility of life existing in places other than on Earth, he said.

The experience has spurred a chain of inquiries in him that he has been asking ever since: What was it that he saw and where did it come from? More importantly, was the object "manned," and if so, what was its mission?

After 40 years of investigation, both internal and external, Rosenthal has come to some conclusions, and certainly has more questions, he said.

"It must be very much like the way a goldfish looks out of his bowl," Rosenthal said. The goldfish hears and sees something tapping on the glass, but never truly understands what's doing the tapping or occasionally dropping in food, he said. "Our relationship with the extraterrestrial presence is very similar."

Rosenthal has just returned from a meeting of fellow believers, called the X-Conference. It was held in Washington, D.C., from April 17 to 18, advertising "to bring together ... the most powerful group of speakers ever assembled to focus on the governmental, political and media aspects of 50-plus years of extraterrestrial engagement and societal denial."

Upon returning from his trip, Rosenthal had another sighting with a friend in Rockland County, N.Y. This time, a giant ship, about a quarter-mile across, partially materialized before his eyes. This was over the regional reservoir in the area.

What Rosenthal's study of extraterrestrial life has shown him is that these beings are very interested in the future of human beings.

Why? Well, Rosenthal said there a multitude of reasons, including the need for good water, to prepare humans for an invitation to the intergalactic community and, more immediately, to avert humanity's self-destruction.

To give humans a chance for a less-dire destiny, he believes that the extraterrestrials have been altering us to accelerate mankind's evolution, to be more like them.

In fact, he feels that the extraterrestrials have been altering the DNA of human beings all along the course of human existence.

Rosenthal said, "It's a continuum of genetic interference, so that you have very many people who find themselves embedded in the extraterrestrial contact complex."

People who make this type of contact and are altered genetically, said Rosenthal, exhibit new psychic powers, such as precognition, psychic knowing and healing abilities: "Usually attributes we reserve for the supernatural."

He said the fostering of certain people's psychic ability is a form of underground resistance to the secret "black government," a nation hidden within our nation, the goal of which is power, greed and control of the masses through fear.

It is this secret government that manipulates war for oil and that propagates misinformation and fear about alien races as justification to weaponize space, he said.

Rosenthal is also an investigator for MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, tracking down people who claim to have had sightings and conducting interviews with the same.

"Testimony is an important thing. What else do we have?" he said. People need to talk about these kinds of experiences, just as someone would talk to the clergy or a therapist to unburden themselves, he added.

Rosenthal testified to the Eagle, in fact, that a year or so ago, he saw another spacecraft over the hills east of Savoy.

If anyone has had an experience with extraterrestrial beings or other unexplained events, he or she is asked to contact Rosenthal at marshsue@msn.com or by phone at 743-5256.

"I think I have a fair amount to teach. I don't have all of the answers, because I'm more of a goldfish in a bowl," said Rosenthal. "This is the biggest story in the universe, and it's been suppressed for too long."

May 14, 2005

London Free Press (Canada)

UFOs, implants and aliens

by Ian Gillespie

Something happened to Richard Cote. And now, almost 11 years later, he wants to tell the world. And whether you believe Cote's story or not, one thing is clear: He's not alone.

Reports indicate thousands of people have told authorities they were abducted by aliens. Last year, BBC News reported four million Americans believe it has happened to them. Amazon.com sells a book titled How To Defend Yourself Against Alien Abduction. Type the words "alien abduction" into the Google search engine and you'll be rewarded with more than 85,000 hits -- including a service that offers Christian counselling to people who've been snatched by outer space visitors.

This week, the Mexican Air Force released a videotape of a recent encounter between air force pilots and 11 brightly lit unidentified flying objects whizzing through the sky and, at one point, changing direction and surrounding the Mexican aircraft, which was flying a routine anti-drug patrol.

One researcher said it was a noteworthy event because although there are hundreds of UFO videos, none before has ever been backed by a nation's military.

So maybe it's time to tell Cote's tale.

Cote has been investigating UFOs for almost 30 years. Since 1996, he's led a local group of UFO researchers called the Lansdowne Five.

But now, Cote has disbanded the group for reasons that can be traced back to Oct. 18, 1993, -- a night, he says, "that changed my life totally around."

Cote says he was lying in bed, asleep, when at 3:15 a.m. he awoke and found himself paralysed.

"My eyes were open, but I couldn't move," he says. "And I floated up . . . I saw the window turning into like a liquid, and then my body went through the window.

"Then I started rising up and I could see the leaves of the trees," he says. "I saw this big, bright light. And the first thing you know, I was inside the craft."

Cote says he found himself in an alien space craft manned by metre-high creatures with triangular heads, bug-type eyes and skinny limbs.

"You could basically see their arteries and veins," says Cote.

"They looked so delicate, so fragile."

Did the aliens speak?

"Yeah, but they didn't open their mouths," he says. "When they had a thought, I understood it. It went into my head."

Cote says one of the aliens resembled a dark-skinned Earthling and supervised a series of tests. He says they sedated him, obtained samples of bone, skin and sperm and then shot two "implants" into his arm.

Cote says the aliens told him to start "writing things down." He says they told him not to worry because, in time, things would become clear. He says they told him to form a small group to document the many terrible things happening on Earth.

Cote says he found himself back in his bed about two hours later. The next morning, he says he awoke to find two tiny round puncture marks in his upper left arm. About a day later, he started feeling bad.

"I couldn't stand the sound of high-pitched noises," he says. "I felt confused."

After he recovered, Cote -- and later other group members -- started documenting what was going wrong in the world. He kept the information in a big white book that now holds more than 2,500 pages.

Over the years, he says, the aliens have communicated to him through the implants. The most recent message prompted him to disband the Lansdowne Five.

The message, he says, was that, "The end times are near."

Cote says the aliens have told him that before the world ends, they will visit Earth and collect him and several million other individuals with implants. They will be tutored and returned to Earth to guide its future.

"This is the scary part," he says. "Maybe I'm being lied to and they're going to take me up there (into space) and not bring me back to Earth. I don't know if I should trust them."

Something happened to Richard Cote. Of that, I have no doubt.

May 14, 2005

Portland Tribute

UFO Festival keeps on flying
Extraterrestrial interest dips, but McMinnville annual party continues

by Joseph Gallivan

Is Oregon’s fine tradition of unidentified flying objects in decline?

The Portland Alien Museum in the Hollywood neighborhood closed last year after just three months. The UFO Festival in McMinnville, now in its fifth year, looks like a scaled-back version of what we’ve come to expect, with just two speakers.

And, worst of all, the keynote speaker just might be a government agent sent to disinform, distract and terrify the American people.

Budd Hopkins, who investigates people’s claims of having been abducted by aliens, is the author of the books “Missing Time,” “Intruders” and “Witnessed.” For this week’s festival he’s making a rare trip to McMinnville, the site of a famous flying saucer sighting in 1950. He’ll lead a workshop on his findings, the result of meetings with 700 people who claim to have had too-close-for-comfort encounters with the big-eyed boys of Schwa.

“Their accounts are incredibly similar,” Hopkins says in an interview. “I will show photos of marks that are very similar — straight cuts on the arms and fingernail-shaped scoops on other parts of the body.”

Hopkins uses hypnosis to coax other details from alleged abductees, who tell of temporary paralysis, feeling cold, being transported though closed bedroom windows and being staked out on alien gurneys for some sort of DNA sampling session.

Anal probes, though, are out.

“There aren’t anal probes. Well, occasionally,” Hopkins says. He points out that in the abduction of someone called Betty Hill in 1966, “they came at her with a long needle and told her it was a pregnancy test and inserted it in her navel. Psychiatrists said it was just her fantasy, but three or four years later laparoscopy was invented and we had amniocentesis.” He says scraping skin cells off the arm with a dull knife also was done by aliens before human doctors thought of it.

Hopkins uses his home phone number as a hot line for the Intruders Foundation, open to anyone who feels he or she has been abducted. To catch fakers he throws out red herrings, such as “What did they give you to eat?” and “Did you notice a greenish cast to the light?”

He stresses that most abductees keep the incidents to themselves, knowing that people will think they’re crazy, so the idea that they are attention-seekers is false. Another reason he takes abductees and their trauma seriously: UFO photos and crop circles can be faked by people who remain anonymous, but abductees put their lives on the line when they talk.
   
Only Roswell’s is bigger
   
To sponsor McMenamins, the festival is good, clean family fun. Aspects of it include book and curio stands, a parade and an Alien Costume Ball on Saturday. Spokesman Tim Hills says it’s the second largest UFO festival, after the one held every July in Roswell, N.M.

Lawrence Johns, director of the Portland Alien Museum, which now exists only online, says there’s strong evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life. But he thinks the whole abduction thing is a government plan to discredit UFO enthusiasts as part of a coverup, and to justify the militarization of space.

“Why do so many of these abductions take place near military installations?’ he asks rhetorically. “In Budd’s book anyone could be an alien — almost like how governments say anyone could be a communist, or a terrorist, to ratchet up the fear factor.”

Hopkins flat-out denies he’s a government agent.

“This field, I’m sad to say, attracts paranoid nuts.”

He does, however, believe in a government coverup, because so many government whistle-blowers have come forward. “I’m saying the government should take this seriously.”
   
‘They are all over’
   
He tells the tale of a doctor who came to him 23 years ago with some cockamamie story about aliens continuing the Nazi Holocaust. Eventually Hopkins had to call the cops when the man’s threats became frightening.

“He started telling people I was a government agent,” Hopkins says.

As for where abductions happen, he says, “It’s absolutely not true they only take place near military installations, they are all over the country,” and around the world.

“There are only three subjects which can be discussed at a high intellectual level and at the same time can bring out every nitwit: the Roman Catholic Church, the CIA and the Clintons, or in Britain the Royal Family.”

Both Hopkins and Johns are frustrated at the credibility gap that fissures the field of UFOlogy.

Couldn’t this be exactly what the aliens want?
 

May 12, 2005

Salem Statesman Journal

All The Cool Aliens Are Heading To McMinnville
Keynote speaker for the UFO Festival says he removes alien implants

by Angela Yeager

The UFO Festival in McMinnville brings out the believers and the nonbelievers each year.

It is the mingling of the serious alien enthusiasts with those who just want to party while wearing antennas that makes this festival so unique and interesting.

The sixth annual festival, which is today through Saturday, was created to celebrate the legacy of the famous Trent abduction case in McMinnville. There also is a parade and an alien costume ball as well as a film festival.

Alien experts also will converge to talk about crop circles and alien implants with the kind of seriousness usually reserved for PERS.

The keynote speaker is Roger Leir, a California podiatrist who has written five books on the subject of alien implants.

He has performed 11 surgeries to date to remove "alien implants" from abductees. He performs the surgeries for free through his nonprofit organization, A&S Research. Leir also was a consultant on the TV show "X-Files" and has appeared on programs on the History Channel and SciFi Channel.

We had the opportunity to chat with Leir on the phone before his appearance.

Statesman Journal: When did you first become interested in the subject of alien abduction?

Leir: Well, I've sort of been interested in the phenomenon since childhood. I remember my father bringing home the newspaper in 1947 and laying it on the kitchen table and reading the Roswell headline. My father had this whole dissertation on how we can't be the only beings in the universe. And I've always been interested in flying and ufology.

I went to this meeting of the International Mutual UFO Network on a whim in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I went, and it wasn't what I thought. I expected to see a lot of nutcases with flying propellers on their heads, but there was an interesting cross section of males, females. There was an interesting presentation, and there were home-baked cookies, so that really did it.

Abduction was becoming quite popular in that time. I was still not a believer. At this conference I went to, I met a researcher who claimed he met this person who had alien implants and showed me a set of X-rays of this woman's foot. I thought it was the biggest bunch of bull I ever heard. I examined the X-rays, and it looked like pieces of metal in the foot, which isn't uncommon with certain types of foot surgery. But her medical records showed the woman never had surgery.

In August 1995, I did my first two surgeries. There was a foot and a hand case.

SJ: What did you find in the foot?

Leir: The first thing I noticed is that there was no scar on either one of these cases. I couldn't see where any object could go in. The first thing I took out was in the big toes. It was a T-shaped thing covered with dark-gray biological coating. I had never seen anything like that before, and the general surgeon (assisting) hadn't either.

The other item was small cantaloupe-shaped thing that turned out to be a metal rod that was highly magnetic. We received funding for testing from the National Institute for Discovery Science.  Since then, everything we remove, we have tested at labs.

SJ: So this convinced you?

Leir: I certainly became a believer that something is out there.

SJ: What is the strangest thing you found in someone?

Leir: There is one that really blew me away, even now when I think of it. There was a lady who came in, she had a marble-sized object in her arm that moved. And if you put your finger 2 inches away from it, it would come toward your finger. When we removed it, it was a pea-sized yellow object that was completely biological. It was not attached to anything. Now, I've done surgery for over 40 years, and I've never seen anything like it.

SJ: Why do you think aliens would be implanting humans with these objects? What would the purpose be?

Leir: I get asked this question more than anything. I can only theorize. Anyone who says they have the answer is not being truthful. In a nutshell, my theory is I think these are devices made for monitoring the manipulation of the genetics of the human race.

There have been studies done of growth characteristics of children worldwide. Do you know what I mean by that?

SJ: Um, I'm not sure.

Leir: Normal growth characters such as when children raise their heads, learn to climb stairs, crawl. These same statistics are accelerating worldwide anywhere from 16 to 80 percent. It's either an act of God or the human race is being genetically manipulated.

SJ: So are you saying you think the aliens are accelerating our development so we learn to do things faster?

Leir: Exactly. We grow faster so we learn faster. We are very disjointed from our spiritual self, so maybe that's part of it. We have many lessons to learn before we destroy the entire planet and not a lot of time to learn them.

SJ: So the aliens are trying to help us. Why would they do that?

Leir: I don't think the aliens have any great love for the human race. The universe is probably teeming with intelligent life. We don't have the best track record. We've bathed this planet in blood forever. But when you get into things like nuclear weapons that could destroy everything, maybe they don't like it.

SJ: You're not one of the people that believe then that aliens are hostile or out to destroy us then?

Leir: If they were hostile, they would have eaten us a long time ago. UFO sightings go back thousands of years. They've had plenty of opportunity to get rid of us if they wanted.

SJ: How do you feel about festivals like the one if McMinnville that combines the serious UFO people with the ones who go to the parade?

Leir: It's just like Roswell. I was there at the 50th anniversary celebration, and there are alien puppets and balloons. Lots of people came to have fun, but they also saw the serious side. I think that's just fine. If you took the whole subject that seriously, you would probably go into your bedroom and just shut the door forever.

ayeager@StatesmanJournal.com 
or   (503) 399-6743
 

May 3, 2005

Hindustan Times

Few Claim Intimacy With UFOs!

Beijing - Meng Zhaoguo, a rural worker from northeast China's Wuchang city, says he was 29 years old when he broke his marital vows for the first and only time - with a female extraterrestrial of unusually robust build.

"She was three meters (10 feet) tall and had six fingers, but otherwise she looked completely like a human," he says of his close encounter with an alien species. "I told my wife all about it afterwards. She wasn't too angry."

While few Chinese claim to have managed to get quite as intimate with an extraterrestrial as Meng, a growing number of people in the world's most populous nation believe in unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.

Officially registered UFO associations in China have about 50,000 members, but some estimate the actual number of Chinese interested in the subject is probably in the tens of millions.

Sun Shili is one of the most serious enthusiasts, and he knows exactly where he will be the day the extraterrestrials finally make contact with mankind. The 67-year-old retired Beijing professor will be in the 21-member delegation picked by international UFO associations to represent Earth as the first negotiations get underway.

Once a Spanish translator for Mao Zedong during high-level state visits, Sun says language will not be a problem. "We expect to communicate using telepathy," he says.

In a country that has lost its spiritual bearings as Marxism has given way to materialism, the idea of strange worlds light years away offers a last great hope for many.

Richard McNally, a Harvard psychologist, says he recognizes the pattern from research into Westerners who claim to have been abducted by aliens and who characterized the experience as "spiritually deepening".

"Our abductees typically describe themselves as 'spiritual' individuals for whom organized religion provides scant spiritual nourishment, and the Chinese UFO spotters may very well be like our subjects," McNally says.

As Sun, the Spanish translator, sits one sunny spring morning in the Chinese capital, he points at the streets outside and explains how many of the people walking by are probably extraterrestrials in human guise.

They are here to help mankind move human civilization on little by little, he explains.

Shakespeare and Einstein were not from another planet, but they may very well have received inspiration from a galaxy far, far away.

"It's estimated that 80 per cent of new inventions come to people in their dreams," says Sun. "Maybe this is how the extraterrestrials pass on their knowledge to us."

Extraterrestrials are moving mankind on the path towards perfection, but they can only do so in a very gradual fashion, Sun says.

"They give us wisdom and skills that are just a little bit more advanced than what we have at any given moment," he says.

"If they gave us their full range of knowledge all at once, we wouldn't be able to handle it."

As in most other areas of human endeavor, China is also an emerging force to be reckoned with in UFO research.

In September, the International Chinese UFO Association will hold an international meeting on UFO research in the northern port city of Dalian.

"The fact that this meeting can be held shows that China is gradually becoming a great power in UFO research," says Zhang Jingping, a leading member of the association.

A dedicated group of enthusiasts forming the core membership of the Beijing UFO Research Association are on constant alert, ready to move out and investigate observations of mysterious phenomena in the night sky.

They take photos, record videos and interview witnesses, all in the interest of addressing the issue from a scientific point of view, according to Zhou Xiaoqiang, the chairman of the association.

"The result is that 95 to 99 per cent of the sightings can be explained naturally, like airplanes or satellites," he says. "But a tiny minority may be real UFOs, and we should take them seriously."

Zhou, a 57-year-old executive at a transportation company, spends most of his waking hours studying UFOs, but he remembers a time when it was not allowed.

After the Cultural Revolution broke out in 1966, his fresh university degree earned him a one-way ticket to the deep countryside, a victim of Mao's scheme to instill proletarian values in the intellectuals.

The dreary life almost made him forget there might be something beyond the narrow confines of the rural community where he spent the next decade.

But then when the Cultural Revolution finally ended, and China slowly emerged from decades of self-imposed isolation, Zhou remembers watching Steven Spielberg's film classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

It was a revelation. It was not just a new world that opened up to him, but a whole new universe, where everything seemed possible -- even extraterrestrials.

"Chinese people are interested in UFOs now because their lives have improved," says Zhou.

"They no longer have to worry about getting enough to eat, but can start caring about issues like this."

Huang Yanqiu, a 49-year-old farmer from Beigao village in north China's Hebei province, recalls his one and only encounter with extraterrestrials in 1977.

He woke up in the middle of the night and found himself in front of two men who looked and spoke like ordinary humans.

But they had special powers, taking him on a nightly flight on their backs to all corners of China, from Heilongjiang province in the north to Fujian province in the southeast. Eventually, they carried him to Tiananmen Square.

For a young man who had never been more than a few kilometers (miles) away from home, but had a secret wish to see the world, it was the experience of a lifetime.

"We couldn't go anywhere at the time. There were no cars, just bicycles," he says. "Maybe it was all just a dream."
 

April 28, 2004

Leeds Today (UK)

They are aliens. And they came to ...Ilkley Moor

by Grant Woodward

YORKSHIRE folk are renowned for their down-to-earth approach to life.

But it seems these days many Tykes harbour thoughts that are, quite literally, out of this world.

According to a new poll, one in three people in the county believe in the existence of aliens, while one in 12 reckons they have actually seen a UFO.

And Yorkshire expert Russ Kellet said he was not surprised one bit by the findings – which emerged in an online survey.
He said: "This demonstrates the level of belief in the potential of alien existence.

"I'm not surprised at the response because Yorkshire has long been recognised as one of the top places for sightings.
"I have the evidence, including sighting reports, photography and video footage to prove that this area is now the UFO capital of the UK."

World-renowned sightings in Yorkshire include 1974's 'Cigar', a 100ft silver object hovering over Bradford, and an alien on Ilkley Moor in 1987.

Meanwhile, hundreds of residents reported seeing two orbs of light travelling at very low speed across the region in 1998.

Mr Kellet, 40, from Filey, has been studying the phenomena since spotting what he believes to be a UFO near Keighley over 15 years years ago.

He said: "I think people in Yorkshire are more open to the idea of aliens than they were a few years ago.

"The evidence is starting to stack up and it's becoming difficult to ignore with all the documentaries that are on TV."

The survey, conducted by the National Lottery among more than 2,000 people, also looked at the lighter side of the alien debate by asking them to name their scariest extra terrestrial.

In first place was the alien which burst out of John Hurt's chest and then proceeded to hunt down Sigourney Weaver and her crew in the original Alien movie.

The aliens voted the least scary of all time were the Daleks from TV show Doctor Who, who were intent on taking over the world despite not being able to cope with a flight of stairs.

grant.woodward@ypn.co.uk
 

April 24, 2005

South Bend Tribune

UFO Tales Unite The Curious
Rochester sightings recalled a year ago at state investigators' session.

by Anita Munson

ROCHESTER -- It's been a year since Bev Carpenter saw her first UFO hovering over her rural Fulton County farm, and she says her life hasn't changed all that much despite the fact that she's appeared on several national radio programs.

Still, she was among the couple dozen people who gathered in Rochester Saturday for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to learn more about the phenomena, and to share encounters with the unexplained.

MUFON, headquartered in Littleton, Colo., is an international scientific organization of people who are seriously studying UFOs. It was founded in 1969 and has chapters across the United States, including Indiana.

Indiana MUFON leaders gathered in Rochester Saturday for their state meeting because of what they term a "flap" that occurred there a little more than a year ago. A "flap" means several sightings occurred within a minimal time range.

For Carpenter, it was around 10 p.m. on a Thursday night. Several of her friends and neighbors saw the disc-shaped object in the sky, as well. So, too, did Gene Winters and his wife, who live mid-way between Mexico and Denver in Miami County. A couple of Plymouth people also reported seeing the object.

"That one we never solved," said Roger Sugden, assistant director of MUFON and an investigator who drove down to check things out along with Stuart Hill, a MUFON state section director. "And it was the best case we've come across in 10 years."

Sugden noted that just about everyone who admitted seeing the craft was willing to speak with MUFON investigators, and in all of the reports from the area that night, people saw the craft over or near a body of water.

Through interviews and conversations with officials at Grissom Air Reserve Base near Peru, Ind., "normal" aircraft and helicopters were ruled out as the suspect UFO.

"In fact, a guy at Grissom told me, 'If it doesn't look like a KC-135 (Stratotanker), it's not ours,'" Sugden said.

Sugden passed around photos upon which drawings of the disc had been made by hand. They all looked alike.

A middle-aged couple who live outside Columbia City, Ind., asked Sugden if MUFON had investigated crop circles discovered north of Indiana 109 some five years ago, too.

He confirmed that he had, and then showed slides of crop circles that had been proven to be hoaxes, or man-made, and those for which no rational explanation could yet be found. The Columbia City crop circles fell into the latter category, he said.

Only the day before, he said, he'd been in Paulding, Ohio, near the state line, where a crop circle some 500 feet in diameter had been discovered almost three years to the day after Indiana had experienced its "largest UFO flap in Indiana history" in the same Columbia City vicinity.

That experience, and others, prompted Sugden and some colleagues to form the Indiana Crop Circles Research Association, now in its second year. The group recently met at Serpent Mound, Ohio, and has been featured in UFO Magazine.

Hill's presentation reminded guests that Indiana -- and Michigan-- has long been the site of UFO activity, and showed a slide of an 1897 issue of the Niles (Mich.) Weekly Mirror in which a "Vagrant of the Sky" was featured. Hill also pointed out that the sighting was long before the Wright Brothers came along with their flying machine.

He offered up some noted scientists' research for additional reading and, showing the training he'd received as a young student, the retired Bayer Corp. engineer even gave a possible explanation of why we folks living in a three-dimensional world don't necessarily "see" the entirety of objects that may be coming from a four- or more-dimensional reality. Hill's writings on the subject will appear on the state MUFON Web site.

Jim Delahanty and Don Dailey, also MUFON leaders, gave a history of classic Indiana UFO sightings and update on UFO literature before the meeting adjourned.

For Carpenter, it was a chance to re-affirm she and her neighbors are not alone in their experience with the unknown.

"All I know," she said to Hill, "is that I didn't believe until I saw that UFO last year. Now I'm catching myself always looking up to the sky -- just in case."

Staff writer Anita Munson:  amunson@sbtinfo.com
 

April 15, 2005

Aberdeen News

Expert Gives UFO Presentation Monday
Was Present For Incident Over Montana Air Force Base

by Scott Waltman

For some reason, aliens seem to have an interest in the nuclear weapons of the United States.

So says Robert Hastings, an independent expert on unidentified flying objects who will be speaking at Northern State University next week. His 90-minute presentation will begin at 9 p.m. Monday in Room 127 of the Johnson Fine Arts Center.

Hastings said the declassified documents and on-the-record comments he will share will prove to those willing to listen that UFOs do exist. Most of the documents and comments come from former federal government and military officials.

After a 30-minute video, Hastings will lecture for an hour.

One story he will share is from 1967. That's when evidence shows UFOs hovered over missile silos near a Montana Air Force base, temporarily causing the weapons to malfunction.

"There is, for whatever reason, a nuclear (weapon)-UFO connection," he said.

Government documents also refer to UFOs violating the airspace over Los Alamos National Laboratory, Hastings said. Many nuclear weapons are designed at the New Mexico lab.

Hastings said that perhaps the most interesting document in his collection is a 1950 note to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. It says that "flying saucers" crashed in New Mexico and were secretly recovered by the Air Force. The craft, according to the memo, were flown by "bodies of human shape, but only three feet tall."

In all, Hastings said hundreds of government documents available to anybody through the Freedom of Information Act refer to UFOs.

Hastings was at an air traffic control tower in Montana at the time of the 1967 incident. That's what piqued his interest in UFOs. He's been doing independent research since 1973, reviewing documents and interviewing people. Since starting to lecture at colleges in 1981, he has spoke at more than 500 schools.

There are skeptics in every audience, Hastings said. However, he said, most people he talks to give him favorable feedback. He said that may be because people who attend his lectures have an interest in UFOs and, perhaps, an inclination to believe in them.

Reliable public opinion polls show that about half of Americans believe in UFOs, Hastings said.

Even ardent non-believers are welcomed to Hastings' free talk.  He simply reminds detractors that there's a difference between having an opinion and having an informed opinion.

In publicity information, Hastings writes that he is "not condemning any government agency for its policy of secrecy regarding UFOs, but I believe that the American public should be given the facts."

Hastings lives in Surfside Beach, S.C. While in this part of the country, he is also speaking in Dickinson, N.D. and Peru, Neb.
 

April 3, 2005

Farmington Daily Times

Aztec Conference

ETs, UFOs and conspiracies highlight Saturday talk at 8th annual UFO Symposium By Debra Mayeux/The Daily Times

AZTEC — Extraterrestrial biological entities, foreign discs and enemy weapons systems are descriptions found in many declassified government reports from the late 1940s and early 1950s.

When the phrases are pieced together with the common knowledge of alleged UFO crashes in New Mexico and the more recent cases of alien abductions, there is a story about government cover-ups and extraterrestrial life possibly living among humans and controlling them. This was the message from Linda Moulton Howe, who spoke Saturday at the 8th annual Aztec UFO Symposium at the Aztec Boys and Girls Club.

Howe, an investigative reporter and expert on extraterrestrial phenomenon, used a number of alleged UFO crashes in New Mexico to tell get her point across. She also told her theories of what happened in Roswell in 1947 and in Aztec in 1948.

It was Howe’s theory that a “foreign disc” carrying “humanoids” was shot down in July 1947 near Roswell. It was brought down with “20 millimeter canon fire,” after the U.S. Army Air Force received orders to fire upon all hostile “foreign weapons systems” or UFOs.

Aztec was a little different.

Howe said an unidentified military agent told her: “We did not shoot that one down.”

Instead the spaceship — a pewter, circular-shaped craft — flew into the path of radar beam. It was brought down in Hart Canyon and discovered by some oil field workers responding to a well fire in the area.

“There were two badly charred bodies, four feet in height” on the craft. The bodies were later described by the military as “dead non-human beings,” Howe said.

These two crashes and possibly two more in New Mexico became a part of the big government cover-up that began in the era of Harry Truman, who ordered those in the know to lie, she said.

“The suppression began as a policy of denial,” Howe said, adding that was followed by a “shoot down” policy implemented by the military.

The “shoot down” policy lasted through the mid-1950s, when according to Howe’s military informant, ended because “We lost so many of our own planes and pilots.”

The aliens were hostile, and people could not know because there would be a “War of the Worlds type of hysteria,” Howe said.

More than 50 people listened to Howe. Those, who purchased weekend passes to the annual event will hear more today with speakers talking about Roswell, showing off UFO photographs and sharing more government conspiracies.

Doreen Chavez of Nageezi said she enjoys UFO lectures and museums. She attended the Roswell UFO event last year and decided to give the Aztec event a try.

“It’s interesting. UFO crashes have happened all over the world,” Chavez said. “I wanted to see what was going on here.”

Caroline Robblee brought her grandchildren to the symposium, because the children — aged 14 months to 12 years old — love ETs.

“They saw the signs and got excited,” said Robblee of Aztec.

She had heard of the alleged Aztec crash and wanted to learn more about it, she said holding the 14-month-old, who was wearing alien antennas.

“If we can be here, why can’t they,” Robblee said. “I’m totally open to life on other planets.”

The symposium opens 9:30 a.m. today with David Rudiak speaking on Roswell. Also on the agenda are Rob Swiatek and John Greenewald, Jr.

Tickets for all day Sunday are $25. A morning pass can be purchased for $18 and an afternoon pass is $9.

Information: Aztec UFO Information Center, (505) 334-9890 or on the Web at www.aztecufo.com
 

March 15, 2005

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Rochester Man Studies UFOs With A Historian's Tools

Richard Dolan has never seen a UFO. But he believes they are real. Don't roll your eyes.

Dolan is a historian and researcher by trade. He has never had any interest in science fiction. If extraterrestrials have visited Earth, Dolan doesn't claim to know where they've come from or what they want.

He does believe, though, that the subject is worthy of inquiry.

Dolan, a Brooklyn native, earned a history degree from Alfred University, studied at Oxford University, and then studied American Cold War diplomacy at the University of Rochester in the 1990s. He earned a master's degree in history.

He left academia because he didn't want to spend his life "begging for adjunct instructorships." He now runs his own professional résumé writing service.

His passion, however, is researching and writing about UFOs. He has been a contributor to The History Channel, has written dozens of articles and, in 2000, published Volume One of UFOs and the National Security State: An Unclassified History. The book documents global UFO encounters from 1941 to 1973. Just in those years, he says, the book documents about 250 UFO encounters involving the military. He is working on a second volume that would present evidence through the 1990s.

"I have gone from the standard academic track to the fringe," he says, "and the fringe is the best place to be."

He has collected loads of official documents released to many researchers over the years through Freedom of Information Act requests.

At first, he says, American intelligence worried that the Soviet Union might have perfected the technology of extremely high-speed craft that can stop in midair and turn on a dime. That turned out not to have been the case, but the reports of sightings continued for decades.

As every television viewer knows, the government has long dismissed sightings as mistakes. Either witnesses have mistaken weather balloons or atmospheric conditions for unusual aircraft or they are hallucinating.

But when you have trained pilots telling similar stories, you have to listen, he says. "I would hesitate to use the words 'extraterrestrial spacecraft' in describing these things. This could well be so — but I really try to be less definitive. Call me picky, but I would simply describe them as military encounters with unconventional craft that vastly exceed our own capabilities."

You have to be skeptical of reports, but not closed-minded. So what's credible?

"I look at a few things. First, a detailed (Freedom of Information Act) report is something I consider credible," Dolan says. "A photograph that has gone through extensive analysis" is also credible.

In fact, he says, people need to be far more open to possibilities we cannot imagine. Might creatures capable of traveling vast distances have more sophisticated ways than low-flying metallic hovercraft to survey the Earth? A reasonable assumption, he says, but who knows?

In 1994, Dolan kind of stumbled into the field of UFO research, knowing quite well that most of the world finds the subject amusing, if not nuts. It doesn't bother him.

He has pursued his material methodically because, as he says in the introduction to his book, "this topic deserves a respectable history."

Dolan will speak on "UFOs, National Security and You" from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 28, at Brighton High School. Advance registration is required. Call (585) 242-5191.
 

March 13, 2005

Allentown Morning Call

Across U.S., battles over access to government records on the rise Officials blame 9/11 for restrictions. Some say they go too far.

by Robert Tanner
Associated Press

Fall River, Mass. Ed Lambert, Al Lima and Mike Miozza never thought of themselves as activists, just regular guys.

Then an energy company announced plans to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas in this small community on the Taunton River. The men — the mayor, a city planner and an engineer — had nightmare visions of gas igniting into a huge fireball on the river, and asked for government-held reports that studied the threat to the town if the plant or a tanker were attacked.

But like many people who ask for government records these days, they didn't get what they were looking for. "It's a farce," Miozza said.

And it's happening across the country. To a Virginia homeowner seeking plans for a gas pipeline near his home. To Wyoming politicians worried about local dams. To an environmental group that wants the studies on 100-year floods and dam failures in a Southwest river canyon.

All asked for records, and all were turned down.

Behind the rejections is a transformation of the nation's Freedom of Information Act — a federal law that allows public access to government reports, documents and other records. That freedom is supposed to be balanced by the needs of national defense and privacy, and government officials argue that America's war on terror has made a new, more closely guarded approach necessary.

The law itself hasn't been changed, but the balance shifted after the Sept. 11 attacks with a series of actions by the Bush administration and Congress. The creation of the Homeland Security Department effectively added another reason government doesn't have to open its books. States and local governments followed suit, moving more information out of public view.

"We're denied information that could put our community at risk," Lambert said during an interview in his sixth-floor office, the granite mills, sea gulls and steep hills of Fall River spread out below the windows. "It seems to us like a bad movie … yet we're all living it."

Originally passed in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act grew out of a backlash to the Cold War-culture of government secrecy that flourished amid the nation's worries about communism. The Watergate scandals spurred a strengthening of the law, giving it teeth for the first time, and it has since been revised — most recently in 1996, when it was updated to make more information available over the Internet.

The American policy has inspired governments across the globe. Slowly at first, but increasingly in the last decade, nation after nation — from Japan to South Africa to Armenia — opened their government information to citizens.

While the U.S. law often is associated with journalists and government watchdog groups, private citizens use it far more frequently. Individuals with questions for Social Security or Veterans Affairs, usually about their personal records, are the biggest users. Prison inmates frequently make Freedom of Information Act requests, as do businesses, since documents can reveal details about government contracts and their competitors.

In all, more than 3.2 million FOIA requests were made to the federal government in fiscal year 2003, the last year with complete figures, the Justice Department said. That's up from 1.9 million in 1999.

Staff time on such requests equaled a full year's work of more than 5,000 employees.

The CIA's Web site, where information requests can be made online, offers a glimpse into the public's interests. January's top information searches? "UFO" (2,019 times) and "Vietnam" (1,889 times). Other searches in the top 25 included "Iraq," "mind control," "Bay of Pigs" and "mapping the global future."

Although many requests are for personal records and some might be pointless, in the end, the idea is to help people keep an eye on how they are being governed, invigorating American democracy. But the changes in the last few years have raised alarms from journalists and public interest and civil liberties groups.

"Instead of government officials being considered public servants, they are now more and more like gatekeepers who can determine what the public can know," said Steven Aftergood, a Washington-based government watchdog who runs the Federation of American Scientists. "And that's a profound change."

A shift in standards

A month and a day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, former Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a memo as part of the guidance the Justice Department provides to federal agencies as they consider whether to grant requests for information.

Shifting from the Clinton administration's standard that experts say emphasized "maximum responsible disclosure," Ashcroft encouraged staff to consider "institutional, commercial and personal privacy interests" and said the Justice Department would defend any rejections unless they lacked a "sound legal basis."

Another memo followed five months later from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, urging agencies to "safeguard" information that could help in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction, and other information that could be used "to harm the security of our nation."

Following that note, thousands of documents were removed from public access, according to government watchdog groups and federal agencies.

Finally, with the creation of the Homeland Security Department, the administration and Congress created an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act that allows private companies to give the agency information that can then be kept secret if it is considered "critical infrastructure." The idea is to get companies to share more information with the promise it won't be made public.

"Unquestionably, agencies do look at information now through a post-9-11 lens," said Daniel J. Metcalfe, co-director of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy. He helped Ashcroft draft his Oct. 12 memo, although he noted work on it started long before the terrorist attacks.

The Card memo that followed and the provision in the Homeland Security Act helped create a new tone for handling information requests, but Metcalfe stressed they did not change the law.

Access on a condition

In Fall River, that tone meant the denial of information.

"We're trying to balance the public's need to know with the need to keep this information from getting into the hands of those who would kill our citizens," said Bryan Lee at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which holds the reports.

"Nobody here wants to be the equivalent of the State Department administrator who gave the visas to the terrorists who came into this country," Lee said.

His agency would allow Lambert, Lima and Miozza to see the records regarding the Fall River plant only if they promised not to speak about them. Lambert refused, figuring as mayor it would limit his ability to address the subject in public. Lima and Miozza agreed, but said so much of the material they saw was blacked out that it was useless.

"What's the use of the information if we can't talk about it?" Lima said. "It's this surreal, Kafka-esque situation."

The terminal, if approved, would hold 58 million gallons of gas, with aircraft carrier-sized tankers coming up the narrow river roughly once a week. Residents say it's an unacceptable risk, with homes and schools all within a mile — the range for second-degree burns if the fuel ignited, according to government studies.

The federal regulatory agency has yet to decide whether to let the plant be constructed.
 

March 9, 2005

Talon Marks (Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA)

UFO Phenomena

by Diona Carrillo

"Hello...is there anybody out there?"

If you're a Pink Floyd fan, then you obviously know those were lyrics from the song "Is there anybody out there." Not only are those lyrics, but they also bring up an interesting question, to me anyway, regarding if we really are alone in this huge universe we are a part of.

For decades there have been sightings of UFOs by millions and millions of people. It is a mystery that only science can solve, and yet the phenomenon remains largely unexamined.

Almost 50 percent of Americans, according to recent polls, and millions of people elsewhere in the world believe that UFOs are real.

The idea of aliens seems a bit far fetched and unbelievable to the other 50 percent of people in America, but to honestly believe and argue that we (meaning all life forms on Earth) are the only forms of life in a universe that is full of billions of galaxies, to me, is extremely egocentric.

>From the arguments of non-believers such as Dr. Alan Heimlich as far back as 1948, to pilots continually spotting UFOs in the late 1960s, to the start of project blue book, which was used get the documentation of UFO sightings and lure them out of newspapers and the media by different persuasion tactics, to the controversial discoveries at Roswell, UFOs and aliens have really gotten people's attention.

We watch movies such as "Signs" and "The Forgotten" and think, wow, what a great movie. But is it just a movie, or could those situations really happen? Could aliens actually exist?

It seems in movies aliens are portrayed as having a mean and evil persona by chasing away families, destroying homes and lives and scaring the hell out of people.

But from what has been said about aliens and abductions from people who claim they've been abducted and seen UFOs doesn't really fit in with what we are shown aliens are capable of, in movies at least.

No doubt it makes for a great movie, but to me it serves as a bigger purpose.

Movies about aliens, unless based on true stories, are often over exaggerated and unrealistic. Which could only lead to us, the viewers, assuming aliens, UFOs and fiction should all be placed under the same genre.

An even bigger influence on this concept is the TV program X-Files that Fox aired about untold truths regarding the UFO phenomena and the conspiracy's behind them.

Just another fiction-based tactic to make us believe the entire concept is based on sensationalism.

Sometimes it seems that the whole issue is merely a science vs. myth debate, but wouldn't it be great if it wasn't?

Cover-ups are often suspected by our government when the issue of UFOs and aliens is mentioned.

Roswell could be the biggest conspiracy yet, but who knows if we'll ever know...but I sure want to.

When unidentified debris from a flying disk consisting of metals never seen or created by mankind were found at Roswell on July 8, 1947, most people concluded it was enough evidence to believe that it was not from this earth.

But surprisingly, the very next day, a press conference was gathered, and soon after, a press release denying that any type of flying disk was found and telling people it was only parts of a weather balloon had a lasting effect of people.

For 30 years Roswell was ignored until Major Jesse Marcel, who originally found the debris, was again contacted by researcher Stan Friedman, because Marcel says he is sure the debris was nothing from earth.

So what to believe?

I've come up with my own two senses on the topic. In my mind "aliens" exist just as much as you and I exist on this earth.

Who knows, maybe some other life form out there is trying to figure out if we actually exist or if our traces of being are fictitious.

Not only do I believe aliens exist, but in my mind, if visits from aliens to earth are happening and the claims people are making about abductions are true, then it seems as though they are not here to chase families, destroy homes and lives and scare the hell out of people.

If I were to conclude why aliens are visiting it would be to learn about us just as we are attempting to learn about them.

But, from the "evidence" that has been found, I would also conclude that these extraterrestrials are much more intelligent life forms then us, and I have to imagine that their intelligence can be billions of years ahead of ours, which makes for an even bigger controversial theory.

But, the facts are in and scientists say that there is no hard evidence that aliens exist, and that there is a slim chance we'll ever find evidence; but to completely rule the idea out and put it away, to forget about it, would only lesson the chances of knowing if there are other life forms out there.

Most of the reporting on this subject by the mainstream media holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.

UFO sightings are the butt of the joke nowadays.

Sources who confirm they've been abducted or have seen UFOs are often criticized on personal levels and often called crazy in order to conclude that in no way could those situations the claim to have experienced happened.

Could that be just another cover-up to the truth?

So maybe seeing is believing to some, but believing in possibilities and having the courage and determination to know the absolute truth, even if it turns out that aliens don't exist, is a lot more comforting then being told what to believe.
 

February 24, 2005

Hobart Mercury (Tasmania, Australia)

UFO sleuth with an eye to the sky

by Claire Konkes


Reports of an unidentified flying object in the Midlands on Regatta Day are still coming in to a Hobart UFO investigator.

Since the first sighting was reported in The Mercury last week, six people have come forward to say they saw a large bright light, says Keith Roberts, who has collected data at the Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre since 1969.

Mr Roberts said the first report shortly after midnight on Regatta Day came from three women who said they saw a large craft flying beside them in a paddock.

Since then, six people have told him of a bright light around Mangalore late in the evening on Regatta Day.

"It's not the same event obviously, but they are all within 24 hours," he said.

The Mangalore sighting is the first multiple-reported sighting in nearly 10 years.

Surprisingly, Mr. Roberts does not believe in aliens.

"I don't know why the thing is there _ that's why it's called unidentified," he said.

Instead of being an aspiring alien hunter, the amateur astronomer said he enjoyed keeping records of the sightings and investigating the mystery behind them.

He said 80 per cent of the phone calls he gets at his South Hobart home are easily explained over the phone.

Many people are told their UFO is a bright star, satellite or meteorites, he said.

Balloons and flares, and the occasional storm or aurora are also easily explained.

Calls to police, the airport and the Bureau of Meteorology explain a further 15 per cent _ leaving about 5 per cent that remain a mystery.

In recent years, Mr. Roberts said, he could expect about 50 telephone calls from people annually, but he has already had 20 this year.
 

February 24, 2005

New York Times

TV Review - 'Peter Jennings Reporting'
An ABC Documentary Lands in UFO Territory

by Alessandra Stanley

During a sweeps month, U.F.O. is not solely an abbreviation for unidentified flying object. When a veteran network anchor devotes two hours to the subject in a special prime-time report, U.F.O. can also be code for uncontrollable fear of obscurity.

Tom Brokaw's retirement as the NBC anchor did not drive viewers to ABC en masse; actually, the ratings of his replacement, Brian Williams, are higher than Peter Jennings's. Even Dan Rather's fall from grace and imminent retirement have not significantly benefited ABC's "World News Tonight." And that may help explain the mystery of why Mr. Jennings, ABC's lofty and fastidious anchorman, chose to lend his gravitas to a lengthy examination of extraterrestrial life forms.

Space aliens are not particularly timely. Newspapers are not brimming with fresh reports of mass sightings of bright lights hovering over the Mojave Desert. Steven Spielberg does not have a sci-fi sequel, "Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind," in the works. And no one would argue that this is a slow news period.

But the race for ratings is particularly intense in February. Mr. Jennings points out in his introduction that as many as 80 million Americans believe in U.F.O.'s and that 40 million say they have seen one or know someone who has. If even a fraction of those people turn to ABC tonight, "U.F.O.'s: Seeing Is Believing" could do for Mr. Jennings what more somber special reports like last June's "Guantánamo Bay" could not.

Not that this special report is a day at the beach. Mr. Jennings applies the same solemn, impassive tone he used to examine Christianity in his special report "Jesus and Paul: The Word and the Witness" last April. He does not try to prove or debunk the existence of U.F.O.'s. Instead, he handles Ufology, as he refers to it, like a religion whose followers are numerous and steadfast enough to merit respectful treatment.

And that is not inappropriate. Ufology has many of the rites and rhythms of more traditional faiths, and the skeptic-turned-convert is a crucial element in any belief system. The millions of followers of Padre Pio, a 20th-century friar who was said to have had stigmata and supernatural powers and was canonized in 2002, bolster their case by pointing out that Father Maccari, a Vatican investigator sent to prove the friar a fraud, later recanted and prayed to Padre Pio on his deathbed (at least according to a Capuchin publication, "The Voice of Padre Pio").

The documentary showcases a U.F.O. version of Father Maccari: J. Allen Hynek, an astrophysicist and a consultant for an Air Force project created in 1952 to assess U.F.O. reports. Early on, he dismissed witnesses as crackpots. He later repented and went on to found the Center for U.F.O. Studies in Illinois. He was one of the first scientists to give the study an aura of respectability. (Dr. Hynek came up with the phrase "close encounters of the third kind," which Mr. Spielberg used for his film title.)

The history of U.F.O. sightings is interspersed with contemporary accounts by witnesses: housewives, pilots and truck drivers who do not look or sound like crackpots and who matter-of-factly describe what they saw that turned them into believers. ("It arched over the top of our car. ...") The most recent well-known incident was reported over Phoenix in 1997, when hundreds of people said they saw strange lights overhead that did not resemble an airplane or a helicopter. One man videotaped some of what he saw: a row of lights in the sky that he said were atop some kind of spaceship. The tape is not very distinct, however. Mostly, ABC uses animation to recreate what the witnesses say they saw.

The U.F.O. is a topic usually relegated to the tabloids, but Mr. Jennings gives the phenomenon his full consideration. "Seeing Is Believing" is not likely to create a new army of converts, but it may draw viewers who are already convinced and hungry for network affirmation: believing is seeing.

'Peter Jennings Reporting'

'U.F.O.'s: Seeing Is Believing'

ABC, tonight at 8, Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central time.

Mark Obenhaus and Tom Yellin, executive producers. Produced by PJ Productions and Springs Media for ABC News.
 

February 23, 2005

Newark Star-Ledger

There was a fair bit of skepticism, even sneering, when ABC News announced that anchor Peter Jennings' newest primetime documentary would tackle the UFO phenomenon. Would Jennings enrage UFO believers by portraying them as kooks? Would other people get mad at Jennings for dignifying a subject that many scientists consider to be mystic nonsense wrapped in modern folktales?

The special airs tomorrow 8-10 p.m. on Channel 7, under the title "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFO's - Seeing is Believing."  It's the first primetime documentary by a network news anchor on this topic, which has obsessed Americans for almost six decades without ever quite becoming respectable

But there's nothing especially provocative about "Seeing is Believing," which presents its information in a slightly cornball way (complete with ethereal backlight on some interviewees, speculative animation of UFOs and creepy "X-Files"-style thriller music), but ultimately settles into the standard, middle-of-the-road network news mode: on the one hand this, on the other hand that.

With its emphasis on rudimentary UFO history - including 1950s newsreel snippets, old government documents and a summary of the U.S. Air Force's now-defunct Project Blue Book and the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life - the special feels so much like a primer that it could have been titled, "UFO 101." The Sci-Fi Channel airs programs just like it all the time.

Interviewees include UFO witnesses from the 1960s through the present, semi-famous obsessives and pundits (including conspiratorial radio DJ Art Bell , who says, "It would be so strange if we were all alone"), and former government officials and scientists (including PBS star Neil Degrasse Tyson , who says scientists consider eyewitness testimony "the lowest form of evidence you could possibly put forth").

The most intriguing part of the special is its middle section, which tracks UFO sightings to the start of the Cold War era (which began after World War II and stretched into the early'90s) and suggests the sightings were unconscious expressions of America's fear of being invaded and dominated by an all-powerful alien force (at that time, the Soviet Union was our national bogeyman).

Is it possible that UFO hysteria is a manifestation of a superpower's fear of being exposed as powerless, then annihilated by forces ranging from communists to right-wing militias and foreign terrorists?

Maybe, and maybe not - and either way, Jennings' special isn't interested in going there. The subject matter is otherworldly, but in style and subject matter, this special stays earthbound.
 

February 20, 2005

Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland)

Phone Home

Is this really a picture of a UFO over Stirling? A flying saucer-shaped trick of the light being shot by video phones?

by George Mair

THE dramatic rise in the number of flying saucers reported over Scotland is caused by... video phones.

The illusion of an extra-terrestrial force is sparked by the phones being pointed into the sun.

This creates an image of a blurred object that appears to hover before flashing a 'ray gun' into the ground.

Steve Bird, 36, spotted what he thought was an alien craft last Tuesday, as it apparently hovered around 40ft in the air.

He was walking on the Dumyat hill, overlooking the Wallace Monument, near Stirling, when he captured what he thought was incredible footage on his mobile phone.

It shows a blurred shape remaining static in the sky as light sweeps below.

Salesman Steve, of Cornton, Stirling, said: 'I decided to walk to the summit of Dumyat because it was such a nice morning.

'It was around 10.30am when I stopped for a rest near the top and decided to take my phone out to capture the view over Stirling on video.

'I pressed the record button and, within seconds, spotted this shape on the screen.

'It hovered in the sky, about 100 metres away from where I was standing, then tilted and flew off to the left. Then it was gone.

'When I put the phone down, I had to sit down on a rock to compose myself.

'I was shocked and could hardly sleep that night for thinking about it.

'It was the shape you normally associate with flying saucers, with a ridge around the middle.'

Steve's view is backed by Scotland's self-styled UFO expert, Ron Halliday, who has been investigating paranormal phenomena for more than 20 years.

He confirmed a string of reports based on phone videos. The Stirling University-based expert, who is also chairman of Scottish Earth Mysteries Research, said: 'The shape of the UFO is consistent with other alien sightings across the world.'

We asked researchers to get to the bottom of the UFO mystery.

Gordon Ridley, senior lecturer in photography at Glasgow College of Printing, said: 'I believe the footage came about due to sensor burn-out when the picture was taken into the sun.

'The limited sensor in a camera phone cannot cope with the brightness and a solid black blob appears in the image in the middle of the bright area.

'The rays coming down can be explained by the flares created from photographing into the sun, causing the sensors to overload.'

Mr Ridley's views are shared by Sunday Mail picture editor Andy Hosie.

He said: 'The flare is caused by sunlight shining directly into the lens. The blurred shape stays static and is probably due to some sort of burn-out with the camera.

'But the fact these are 'low quality' images which are very difficult to analyse adds to the intrigue.'

Scotland is regarded as one of the world's UFO hotspots.

Bonnybridge, just 10 miles from Stirling, has the highest number of reported UFO sightings in Britain, with dozens of unexplained phenomena every year.

Residents there have also claimed the greatest variety of spaceships, describing everything from flying saucers to hovering cigars.

Locals have previously campaigned for their town to be twinned with Roswell, in New Mexico, where - it was claimed - a spaceship came down in 1947 and was taken to a secret military base.
 

February 19, 2005

Hobart Mercury (Tasmania, Australia)

Mystery Of UFO Deepens

by Phil Beck

The status of an unidentified flying object seen above the Midland Highway Monday night remains a mystery.

Co-ordinator of UFO Reports and Sightings Tasmania, Keith Roberts said yesterday the report now fell into the 5 per cent of UFO sightings which could not be explained.

"We checked up with the airport, helicopter companies, crop dusters, the Navy and the Department of Defence and drew a blank with all of them," Mr. Roberts said.

"Out of 100 reports, there is usually a ready explanation for 80 per cent and further investigations explain another 15 per cent.

"This report, however, falls into the 5 per cent which are not explained. But we are ready to receive more information which can help."

Monday night's report was made by a 43-year-old Kingston woman who was driving north on the highway with her sister and a friend.

They first spotted a bright light near Brighton about midnight but by the time they were near the Bothwell turnoff the bright light appeared to be heading towards them.

The woman, who said she was not one to believe in aliens, said the object was about half the size of a house and had one red pulsating light on one side and a similar blue light on the other. They had pulled over and got out of the car, and within minutes the object was hovering about 30m above the ground less than 300m away.

She said the craft was shaped like an AFL football as it came towards them, but when it was closer she guessed it was saucer shaped.

Mr Roberts said he hoped other people would come forward with information on the sighting.

"At the moment we are left with an unexplained object," Mr. Roberts said.

"There was a similar sighting in the same area in the 1970s, when a driver saw a bright mass of light before his car conked out."
 

February 17, 2005

Rocky Mountain News

Jennings Lands 'UFO' Promo

by Dusty Saunders

Dan Rather is going.  Tom Brokaw is gone.

For a generation of network evening news watchers, Peter Jennings is the last anchor standing.

But Jennings does more than just stand. Or stand around.

The peripatetic newsman was in Houston Monday, conducting a lengthy public town meeting.

In Denver on Tuesday he interviewed Peter Coors and charmed a luncheon gathering of civic leaders.

Next stop was Seattle on Wednesday and a session with Bill Gates.

As part of the job, he anchored the ABC Evening News from each city, with the Denver telecast on 7News, produced outdoors in the chilly Civic Center.

And in all three cities he managed to trumpet his two-hour Feb. 24 network special, Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs - Seeing is Believing.

Notice I said trumpet rather than promote.

Jennings has hoisted promotion to a much higher level.

He's adept at discussing, in subtle terms, his career, the ABC newscast and his documentary work while boosting the profile of local network affiliates.

So it's easy to forget Jennings' news tours contain a heavy dose of promotion because they come across in such a seamless professional manner.

Jennings' luncheon meeting and question-and-answer session with chamber of commerce and metro Denver leaders covered everything from his longtime association with Rather and Brokaw ("we've been rivals in the daytime and buddies at night") to the tinder box in the Middle East, after Monday's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - a leader Jennings knew well from his lengthy reporting stints in that part of the world.

Regarding Iraq, Jennings said he was impressed, during a recent trip, with the "optimism and enthusiasm" of the U.S. troops, while adding "they won't be leaving for any time soon." However, he decried the lack of media coverage regarding the growing number of troops seriously wounded in combat there.

Jennings' numerous overseas assignments gave him an opportunity to provide humorous tales about his longtime relationship with Jesuits - certainly appropriate since the Rev. Michael J. Sheeran, president of Regis University, was part of the program.

And Jennings "localized" his visit telling luncheon guests it's important for him to regularly leave the insular media world of New York and Washington, D.C., to get a feel for what's happening in other parts of the country.

In an earlier interview, Jennings noted "it's business as usual for ABC News."

"We don't react to what NBC and CBS are doing," Jennings said, regarding changes in the dinnertime newscasts. "They're competitive professionals doing excellent work."

Like many in the network news business, Jennings pooh-poohs those who constantly add the dinosaur tag to the three newscasts.

"All three remain a vital news source to millions of viewers. It's not just habit. Concise information is provided. The newscasts will be around for a long time."

Regarding his upcoming UFO special, Jennings notes that nearly 50 percent of Americans along with millions around the world believe UFOs are real.

"Too often the mainstream media holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.

"I approached this project as a skeptic. And I still am.

"But as a reporter it would be foolish of me to simply dismiss these mysteries as something perpetrated by a bunch of kooks."

The special will look at the spectrum of the UFO experience, beginning with the first "sighting" in 1947 to today, while featuring interviews with police officers, pilots, military personnel and scientists.

One of the more detailed UFO cases recently reported (January 2000) came from St. Clair County, Ill., where police officers in five adjoining towns independently reported witnessing a giant craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a low altitude.

Jennings is critical of how our government has handled reports of sightings.

"There's been an ongoing policy for leaders to say there is no scientific proof about UFOs.

"We hear reports that a 22-year-long investigation ended in 1969 with the conclusion UFOs are not a threat to national security.

"Meanwhile, scientists and physicists say we shouldn't simply dismiss such sightings."

Jennings is proud that his quarterly documentaries - almost a lost art on network television - deal with a wide variety of
subjects.

He recently took on the tobacco industry and provided a you-are-there report on crime in Los Angeles.

Future subjects: health care in America and a look at Iran.


Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5137
 

February 10, 2005

Wilmington Advocate (Concord, MA)

They Are Out There: UFO Reported Over Billerica

By Margaret Smith

Whatever it was that appeared in the cold skies over Billerica on Dec. 12, at least one observer was concerned enough to seek answers.

That's according to Mark Petty, an investigator with the Massachusetts Mutual UFO Network, which said he is heading up a team to look into the reported sighting.

The volunteer-run network is part of a nationwide mutual UFO network, whose chapter members in several states track reports of all manner of peculiar lights and objects seen hovering or cruising through the heavens.

Petty, who is originally from Billerica, offered few details about the Dec. 12 incident in order to protect the privacy of the person who reported it. A press release describes the reporting sighting only as "a strange aerial phenomenon."

"One of the biggest concerns we have is for the person who reported the sight," Petty said. He added, "They might be traumatized, or just so curious they go crazy. A lot of people report them years later. They will say, 'Back in 1976, I saw this thing.'"

Petty did say that someone reported a similar sighting that same night, several miles away, on a southern stretch of Interstate 495 in the Worcester County vicinity.

He hopes others who may have witnessed something unusual will come forward in an effort to help the investigation and will e-mail him at MassMUFON@aol.com or visit the Web site, www.massmufon.com.

Billerica police said they did not receive any reports of an unusual sighting in the sky Dec. 12, but said from time to time, they, like all police departments, do get calls from concerned residents of a strange light or sound. Usually, it's easy to figure out what the person is seeing.

UFO network chapters are volunteer-driven, and members come from many walks of life, from astronomers to factory workers, Petty said. The network trains and certifies volunteers who wish to investigate UFO reports, teaching them skills that include interviewing witnesses and looking at data on celestial activity. The Massachusetts network has more than 120 members.

In a written statement, Greg Berghorn, the state director of the Massachusetts network, said he sent a team of four investigators, led by Petty, to conduct interviews and survey the area of the reported sighting.

According to Berghorn, the network has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Aviation Administration to acquire radar tapes and phone reports. The network may also review police logs, newspaper articles and Internet findings in search of clues.

Petty said someone also reported seeing something peculiar in the sky over Billerica around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 and reported the incident to the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Wash.

That report describes "a very large, circular, bright-white light above the clouds going around and around in a very large circle" at high speeds. The report said the witness looked out again and saw the same light about an hour later and insisted it wasn't a search light or plane.

Without ruling out any possibilities, Petty said the light may have come from an area business, such as a gym in nearby Tewskbury.

By strictest definition, a UFO is, simply, an unidentified flying object. Petty said 95 percent of reported objects turn out to be ordinary things - a satellite or aircraft, or a planet or star that appears to waver because of atmospheric conditions.

"Lots of times, they are planes, meteors, something like that, or a reflection from the ground," Petty said, adding that the luminous planet Venus is the top-ranking culprit in UFO sightings.

Another factor in a possible area sighting is the presence of nearby Hanscom Air Force Base.

But among the annals of the Massachusetts Mutual UFO Network's cases remain about 5 percent whose origins have not yet been explained, said Petty.

Investigators will, from time to time, receive reports of aberrations such as a lighted object in the sky making several 90-degree turns, or blinking out and then reappearing in another part of the sky, Petty said.

There have also been reports of indentations in the soil that may or may not suggest an unusual craft landed there and even so-called crop circles - or unusual and seemingly deliberate patterns cut into the grass or ground.

"Then we have people who actually see what they describe as a craft," Petty said. "The ultimate goal is to try and find and answer as to what a UFO is."

To date, no smoking gun - a crashed vessel or vessel parts, or dead or wounded alien - exists to offer compelling evidence of interplanetary tourists.

Although the idea of a UFO sighting may conjure images of a spaceship landing in an open field in the Midwest, Petty said Massachusetts has its share of stories of unexplained occurrences.

Petty cited information from the National UFO Reporting Center indicating 412 reports of UFO sightings in the state. The earliest dates back to around 1638, when a strange light was reported flying back and forth over the Boston area.

Petty, who graduated from Billerica Memorial High School, now lives in Nashua, N.H. and works in marketing for a high-tech firm. Although he has no science degree, Petty said, "I've always been curious about it, ever since I was a child." He added, "I have always liked science, the sky and astronomy."

The Mutual UFO Network trains investigators on how to talk to people about what they may have seen and to collect information in an unbiased fashion, Petty said. Investigations may include questioning of those who say they witnessed something unusual, as well as their neighbors; looking at police logs and consulting with astronomers' records of celestial activity.

In short, he said, volunteers strive to make their work reflect the scientific process, in which a hypothesis must be tested and skepticism is a must.

But so is an open mind. Petty said for his part, he remains neutral on the subject of extraterrestrial visitors because he has never found incontrovertible proof for or against their existence.

He does, however, believe in the possibility of life on other planets, perhaps in distant galaxies.

It's an idea he has in common with the late astronomer Carl Sagan. In his acclaimed television series, "Cosmos," Sagan pondered the possibility of civilizations, both advanced and primitive, from other worlds.

Sagan was a professor at Cornell University, which runs the world's largest single-dish radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. There, astronomers are listening for possible communications from distant space travelers, although this work accounts for a small percentage of their research.

Despite his belief in the possibility of extraterrestrial life, Sagan lamented the speculation over tales of alien abductions by short, surly creatures with large heads and dour black eyes.

The public's fascination with these stories peaked in the 1990s, with the television series, "The X-Files," appearances on talk shows by alleged abduction victims and even a best-selling book, "Communion," by novelist Whitley Strieber.

Sagan complained that the public's fascination with such stories deflects attention from the many advances in science.

Here, Petty and Sagan part company. Petty said a curiosity about UFOs led him to study astronomy and take a greater interest in science.

"Anything that sparks curiosity in the sciences, whether it be a hobby such as UFOs, I think is a good thing," Petty said. "I think the schools do not teach enough hard sciences. Anything that sparks curiosity is a good thing."
 

February 3, 2005

Iowa State University Daily

Visitors... From Space

By Katie Piepel

If the National UFO Reporting Center is correct, aliens visited the United States 148 times in January.

Once again, a scientific space advancement has stirred up debate over the existence of extraterrestrial beings.

January marked the landing of the European Space Agency's Huygens probe on the creamy, mud-like surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, says Titan is not suitable for life, even though it shares similarities with Earth.

"It's too cold for Titan to have carbon dioxide in gas form, and it's too cold on Titan to have water as a liquid or as a gas," he says. "Titan is much, much colder than Earth ever was, so that means most things that are liquids or gases in Earth's atmosphere or oceans today are in solid form on Titan."

Gonzalez says there was a time when he believed in extraterrestrial life and UFO sightings, but it was during his years as a graduate student that he started to see things differently.

"I just started looking into all the factors you need to have life, especially complex life, on a planet," he says. "When you start listing all the factors and multiplying them out, it turns out that the probabilities become very small very quickly."

But Steven Kawaler, professor of physics and astronomy, says the idea that intelligent life is common in the universe is something he finds very difficult to ignore.

"Given what we've learned over the last 200 years about the development of life on Earth - chemistry, biochemistry, astronomy and so on - it looks like the process that produces life on Earth is a fairly common process," he says.

Although Gonzalez says he is confident that Earth is the only planet in our galaxy able to sustain life, the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence existing outside of our galaxy is something he cannot deny.

"I'm not ready to say that we're alone just because we don't know the probability as well enough," he says.

Kawaler, however, says that since we have not proven this galaxy gives life only to humans, it is still open for debate.

"If you wanted to say we are the only intelligent, technologically capable civilization in the galaxy, the only way you could deal with that is to prove it wrong," he says. "And to prove it wrong you have to find another intelligent, technologically capable civilization in the galaxy. That hasn't happened yet, but people are looking."

Over the years, the media have portrayed extraterrestrials as unpleasant, eerie creatures conspiring against planet Earth in hopes of overtaking our civilization and using up our resources, like in the 2002 film "Signs" or in Orson Welles' infamous radio dramatization of "War of the Worlds."

Kawaler says evil aliens make good stories, but not a lot of sense.

"If they have the technology to solve problems that we think are absolutely insoluble, like how to travel faster than the speed of light, they really don't need to come to Earth," he says.  "[Instead] it would be out of curiosity to see how we work."

Bob Hopp, senior in mechanical engineering and vice president of the Ames Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, says he believes in the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence and agrees with Kawaler that aliens have no need to visit Earth.

"It seems plausible that they would come to take our planet for its resources, [but] it also seems plausible that, when they're advanced enough to get to us, they'd be advanced enough to not need anything that we have," he says.

Hopp says despite the physical representations we see in the media, he thinks aliens would not have human characteristics.

"I don't think there's any reason to believe that they would be humanoid," he says. "I imagine that the biggest reason that they look humanoid in movies is that we need actors to play them."

If extraterrestrial intelligence does exist in our universe, Gonzalez says, we do not yet have the capabilities to find it.

"The other galaxies are so far away from us that we couldn't detect their signals if they are there," he says. "But I think we're getting a better handle on the probabilities every year as we learn more about stars and star formation and planetary processes. I think within maybe 20 to 30 years we'll be able to say, with much greater confidence, whether or not we're alone in the entire universe."

Whether the idea seems plausible or not, Gonzalez and Kawaler agree it won't be long until the big question can finally be answered: Are we alone?

Famous UFO Cases

- The 1947 "Roswell Incident" - The U.S. Air Force discovered the remains of a "flying disc" near Roswell, N.M. The Air Force said the object was part of Project Mogul, a top- secret government experiment involving weather balloons.

- The 1982 Hudson Valley Sightings - Between 1982 and 1995, the Hudson River Valley of New York was home to more than 7,000 documented sightings of "boomerang-shaped" objects moving over New York and Connecticut. The UFOs were said to be as big as a football field. This is one of the most widely witnessed and investigated cases in history.

- The 1997 "Phoenix Lights" sightings - a cluster of lights were seen in the sky over Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Hundreds of witnesses reported seeing a gigantic triangular-shaped object with many lights. Military personnel said the event was caused by "military flares" from an Air Force A-10 aircraft.

- The 2000 Illinois UFO Sighting - Four police officers and more than a dozen others reported seeing a triangular-shaped object flying low over Highland, Ill. The officers traced the object.
 

February 3, 2005

Independent (London)

The truth is out there: declassified reports of UFO sightings reveal 88 sightings last year

by Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent

Details of Britain's most recent UFO sightings are revealed in previously secret documents disclosed to The Independent.

The files, released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that, last year, the Ministry of Defence's UFO unit received 88 reports from military staff and members of the public worried about unexplained objects in our skies.

The classified files help to complete a picture of the scale of UFO sightings first revealed by this paper last month. These updated "X-files" show the most recent observations were made on 15 January this year following two separate reports from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, and Whitstable, Kent. The reports refer to "strange lights seen in the sky".

Other sightings give more detail. A report from Devizes in Wiltshire on 24 September last year records an object that: "Looked liked a big ball of fire coming down from the sky with a tail and sparks coming off the end of it." Another, from Somerset the week before, states: "The object looked like a great bright light and was really intense, like a ball of fire coming down from the sky, rapidly moving towards the ground."

Although such reports might be discounted as meteor showers or other astronomical phenomena, other sightings are not so easy to dismiss. A report from Surrey on 20 May last year describes a UFO as having "grooves and windows" but no room for humans. Even the MoD inspector notes that the "witness had seen the object so clearly".

Many of the other sightings refer to UFO's changing colour, speed and shape. The most common colours are yellow, orange or black.

A report from Goole, East Yorkshire, recorded in April last year, noted: "The object looked like a boomerang and was stationary over a power station. An aircraft was circling the object."

In the same month, a UFO observer from Seaforth, Merseyside, noted: "I saw a UFO with a cluster of four bright lights in a ring shape on it. Three beams of white light shone upwards and disappeared."

These latest files to be declassified by the MoD are not as complete as reports from mid-1976 and 1977 released last month.  Hundreds of documents previously kept secret by the Ministry of Defence's special UFO department, known as S4F, detail many reports of a possible visit by extraterrestrial life-forms. One is made by an RAF pilot and two NCOs at RAF Boulmer, Northumberland.

In July 1977 Flt-Lt A M Wood reported "bright objects hanging over the sea''. The MoD document adds that the RAF officer said the closest object was "luminous, round and four to five times larger than a Whirlwind helicopter". The UFOs were reported to be three miles out to sea at a height of about 5,000ft.

The officer, whose report is supported by Cpl Torrington and Sgt Graham, said: "The objects separated. Then one went west of the other, as it manoeuvred it changed shape to become body-shaped with projections like arms and legs." The report describes Flt-Lt Wood as "reliable and sober".

That account was deemed so sensitive to the national interest that the MoD had delayed its release for an extra three years.  But under the Freedom of Information Act, which came into force on 1 January, the file has been declassified
 

February 1, 2005

Bolton Evening News (Lancashire, UK)

Here's Why I Believe In UFOs

by Fred Shawcross

Do you believe in UFOs? Have you ever seen one? Do you know someone who has? That might not be the most discussed topic among your family and friends but it certainly beats Celebrity Big Brother and who is doing what to whom in Emmerdale.

Those of us fascinated by, and possibly a little apprehensive about alien visitors, have read and heard details of revelations contained in Britain's X-files, the thousands of classified documents relating to reports of UFOs, recently released under the Freedom of Information laws.

The more "believable sightings" documented in the 1970s - a thinly-veiled reference to those credited to people more likely to be accepted as reliable witnesses - were reported by RAF personnel, British Airways pilots and senior police officers. These were more or less similar in that the objects first hovered, then moved at colossal speeds.

They were mostly saucer-shaped and surrounded by, or displaying, very bright lights. It is also worth mentioning that on one occasion, a sighting by RAF servicemen was supported by reports that unidentified objects had been spotted on defence radar screens.

I'm glad that these sightings of UFOs have been made official because it gives me a chance to go public on an incident which, though it happened more than 30 years ago, still causes the hairs to rise on the back of my neck.

And it is the absolute truth. I was travelling home from Park Hall, Charnock Richard, where I was a member of the resident band. It was my turn to drive, so I was alcohol-free. My two companions had had a few scoops but were by no means "bombed".

It was early morning in mid-summer. The sky was clear and with little else on the road, we were chugging along, talking amicably, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I became aware that there was something above my vehicle, to the right.  It was round, very brightly lit and appeared motionless, as if sizing up the car. I didn't need to tell my two friends. They had spotted it and looked as scared as I was.

Being beamed up and transported to the Planet Zog without a tearful goodbye to the wife and kids, or a change of underwear, isn't a particularly enchanting prospect, though it would probably be considered a Godsend by all parties these days.  However, I digress. After what seemed an eternity, but could only have been minutes, the UFO zoomed off at an incredible speed and vanished. We all saw it. The UFO could not have been imagined or an alcohol-fuelled illusion.

Those of us who believe in extra-terrestrials theorise that if men can reach the moon, and put unmanned spacecraft on planets light years from Earth, what reason is there for doubting life forms from other solar systems are dropping in to have a look at us?

They could land in Emmerdale [a British TV Soap locale]. What an interplanetary experience that would be. A close encounter of any kind with the Dingle clan would be enough to abort that mission and bring a premature end to plans for a global take-over.
 

January 24, 2005

Newcastle Upon Tyne Journal (UK)

X-files

by Daniel Thomson

A North pilot's close encounter with a UFO off the coast of Northumberland has been revealed in long-hidden military files.

Newly-released reports contain numerous UFO sightings by British airmen, including details of a possible visit by extraterrestrial life-forms to the North, witnessed by a pilot at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland.

In July 1977, Flight Lieutenant AM Wood of RAF Boulmer reported seeing "bright objects hanging over the sea" including an object that was "luminous, round and four to five times larger than a Whirlwind helicopter".

North UFO-watchers last night welcomed the release of the report on the incident, which has been the subject of local rumour for years.

The official reports, which have spent more than 25 years under lock and key in the Ministry of Defence's UFO department - SF4 -have just been released under new Freedom of Information measures.

In the classified report, Flt Lt Wood, described by superiors as "sober and reliable", said: "The objects separated, then one went west of the other. As it manoeuvred it changed shape to become body-shaped with projections like arms and legs."

The sighting of the UFOs, which were reported to be three miles out to sea at a height of about 5,000ft, was supported by a Cpl Torrington and Sgt Graham of RAF Boulmer, who were positioned at a picket post at the station.

They also observed the strange objects for an hour and 40 minutes and reported the sighting to their commanding officers.

The MoD report confirmed that the objects had been visible on radar at RAF Boulmer as well as the base at Staxton Wold, North Yorkshire.

It said: "On seeing the objects on radar, the duty controller checked with the SRO as to whether he could see the objects on radar supplied from RAF Staxton Wold."

Researcher of the paranormal Alfred Dodds, 66, of the Northumberland UFO Research Centre, said last night: "There have been quite a few sightings of UFOs in Northumberland over the years, with several in the vicinity of RAF Boulmer.

"And I had heard rumours of this particular incident, so it is very interesting to hear that it has been officially confirmed.  Hopefully, we will see more incidents come to light as further classified UFO documents are released under the Freedom of Information Act."

The account of the sighting has been kept secret by the MoD since 1977 - but under the Freedom of Information Act, which came into force on January 1, the file has been reviewed and declassified.

An MoD spokesman last night confirmed a number of classified reports had been released and explained the ministry's policy on Unidentified Flying Objects.

He said: "Some reports have been released that were deemed to be in the public interest. But the majority of documents on contentious subjects will not start to be released until after February 1.

"The MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of UFOs and flying saucer matters, or to question the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded.

"The MoD examines any UFO reports it receives solely to establish whether what was seen might have some defence significance. But to date the MoD knows of no evidence, which substantiates the existence of these alleged phenomena."
 

January 22, 2005

Independent (UK)

Uncovered At Last: The Sightings Of Strange Flying
Objects Found In Britain's 'x-Files'

by Robert Verkaik

They contain Britain's very own X-Files: thousands of classified documents detailing credible observations of unidentified flying objects reported by RAF personnel, British Airways pilots and senior police officers.

Now under the Freedom of Information laws, files previously held by the Ministry of Defence's special UFO department, known as SF4, are being released to the public.

Among the most credible reports of a possible visit by extraterrestrial life-forms is one made by an RAF pilot and two NCOs at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland.

In July 1977 Flt Lt A M Wood reported "bright objects hanging over the sea''. The MoD document adds that the RAF officer said the closest object was "luminous, round and four to five times larger than a Whirlwind helicopter". The UFOs were reported to be three miles out to sea at a height of about 5,000ft.

The officer, whose report is supported by Cpl Torrington and Sgt Graham, said: "The objects separated. Then one went west of the other, as it manoeuvred it changed shape to become body-shaped with projections like arms and legs." The men who were positioned at the picket post at the RAF station were able to observe the strange objects for an hour and 40 minutes.

At the same time a radar station detected the objects in exactly the same position as the men had observed them. It registered them to be between 30 to 35 degrees before they disappeared from the screen.

The report describes Flt Lt Wood as "reliable and sober". It adds: "Two contacts were noted on radar, both T84 and T85, at RAF Boulmer. They were also seen on the Staxton Wold radar picture which is relayed to West Drayton... On seeing the objects on radar the duty controller checked with the SRO at RAF West Drayton as to whether he could see the objects on radar supplied from RAF Staxton Wold."

This account was deemed so sensitive to the national interest that the MoD had delayed its release for an extra three years.  But under the Freedom of Information Act, which came into force on 1 January, the file has been reviewed and declassified.

Some of the other reports are equally compelling. A British Airways Tri-Star on a return flight from Portugal in July 1976 was involved in an incident which led to the scrambling of fighter jets.

The MoD report says that the Tri-Star captain reported "four objects - two round brilliant white, two cigar-shaped" 18 miles north of Faro. The captain was so alarmed by what he and the passengers had seen that he reported the sighting to air traffic controllers at Lisbon and Heathrow. The report says that fighters were immediately scrambled from Lisbon.

Shortly afterwards another Tri-Star crew on the same flight path reported a similar unexplained sighting. This time they said there was a "bright object with two contrails" between Fatima and Faro. It remained stationary before moving north and then "changing in length".

In another incident in the same month two Tri-Star co-pilots and five of their cabin crew reported "passing underneath a bright white circular object".

The files also contain reports compiled by police officers of their first-hand experiences of observing UFOs. On 8 April 1977, Superintendent Cooper of West Yorkshire Police described a sighting while on duty in a patrol car in Laisterdyke. He said: "I looked to my right and through the side window of the car I saw a bright silver light. At first I thought this was a bright star. It was low in the sky, a long distance away... then I thought that this light was moving. The light was visible just over the rooftops of the houses on Ferrand Avenue at the junction with Hambledon Avenue."

Superintendent Cooper continued to observe the object as it moved along the rooftops until the light "suddenly vanished". He said: "The light went out and I could see nothing whatsoever in the sky where the light had been. I then contacted Operations who reported no other sightings recorded."

MoD officers working at the UFO unit have often made reference to the credibility of the person making the reports. Observations made by former servicemen appear to be taken more seriously than others. An MoD report sent from RAF Cosford on 14 July 1976 noted that the 66-year-old woman from Wolverhampton, who claimed to have seen a "white, bar-shaped" object in the night sky, was married to a retired RAF pilot but later the report added dismissively: "He did not observe anything from his seated position."

But the veracity of the reports is brought into question as soon as there is any suspicion of alcohol influencing the observations. Several sightings between 2 and 5 September 1977 are dismissed even though the informants are adamant they saw a "pulsating bright light, emitting a vapour trail" near Derby. The file ends: "Four witnesses had been imbibing at the local hostelry and their sightings were discounted."

Scepticism creeps into the MoD reports if it emerges that it is not the first time a person has seen a UFO. Between 7 and 8 August 1976, a Rotherham man reported four sightings to his local radar station. The comment on the UFO file reads: "He evidently runs a UFO sightings club and has been logging UFOs for three years."

British UFO hunters will no doubt use these sorts of comments to help support the theory that the Government has been suppressing evidence of a visit by extraterrestrial life.

However, some of the sightings strike a rather salutary note. A white, bright light that caught the attention of a woman in Tenterden in September 1977 was immediately reported to Ashford police station and her observations duly noted.

But in the MoD file, the officers find a more mundane explanation for her experience. The officers says: "She saw a long white light in the front with a flashing red light at the rear. The informant states: 'like a jumbo jet'."

Leading article, page 42

UFO 'SIGHTINGS'

Chief Superintendent Hobson, Manchester Police, 3 July 3 1976

Routine traffic patrol on A62, Manchester Road: "We watched the light for about two minutes. I then followed in a police vehicle along the A62."

Flight Lieutenant A M Wood, Corporal Torrington, SACs Hughs, Goddard and Graham, July 1977

RAF Boulmer: "Two bright objects hanging over the sea. As it manoeuvred object changed shape to become body shaped."
 

January 10, 2005

York University Excalibur (Toronto)

Close Encounter Of The York Kind

by Dan Verbin
Technology Editor   

A probing conversation with York's very own UFO enthusiast. Is the truth really out there?

[Photo]

Have you noticed that the students in your early morning classes are always yawning and, nine times out of ten, look tired? Well, according to Nick Balaskas their drowsiness could be due to the fact that they were being prodded by aliens during the night.

"There's a lot of evidence that alien abductions are very real and they are being done, whether it's by our government or whether it's by aliens or whether abductions are by both, I don't know," he says, adding that academics and high ranking members of government that have gone public with allegations of an alien cover-up have died suspiciously.

"Statistically, if you take this small group of experts and you see what the percentage of fatal accidents is, there is a strong suggestion that maybe there is something real going on that somebody doesn't want the rest of the public to be aware of."

Balaskas, a lab technician in York's physics department and the co-host, along with Brad Snell, of the Glendon Radio (CKRG 89.9FM) program Cosmic Horizons, is York's resident alien expert - a man who has spent the better part of his life in search of the extraterrestrial and the unknown.

Not surprisingly, his cramped Lumbers Building office is full of UFO-related material, from books to photos to a fragment of "Starchild" - a skull that he believes may be alien-human hybrid in origin.

One could justifiably call him York's very own Fox Mulder, except he doesn't have that "The Truth Is Out There" poster hanging on his wall and his office is not in the basement.

Born in Greece 50 years ago, Balaskas immigrated to Montréal with his family when he was two and a half, moving to Toronto during his high school years and eventually earning a BSc in physics at York. After graduating, he embarked on various projects in astronomy and seismology until landing in his present position 11 years ago.

Balaskas' interest in the paranormal began early. He recalls being fascinated with UFOs as a young boy, passionately watching science fiction movies about "Martians attacking Washington DC" on TV.

So how did he go from a childhood fascination with The Day The Earth Stood Still to pondering about E.T. for real?

It wasn't until his next door neighbour translated her German copy of I Know the Secret of the Flying Saucers by Major Donald E. Keyhoe into English, so Balaskas could understand it, that he became hooked for life.

"I was so fascinated because now something that I was watching on television actually had a basis in reality," he says. "I thought, ‘This is incredible.'"

After studying the alien phenomena for years, Balaskas believes without a doubt that the American government is actively involved in a UFO cover-up. And he further believes the Canadian government is in on it too.

During his time as a UFOologist, he says that he has uncovered vast amounts of evidence that leads him to conclude that earthly alien visitations are being kept secret from the public in order to avoid a mass panic.

To further his work, he was recently in Washington DC in search of proof that over half a century ago former president Franklin Delano Rooselvelt stored a crashed flying saucer, along with its dead alien occupants, in the sub basement of the Capitol Building - a basement that he claims he was told does not "officially exist".

While Balaskas remains skeptical about many UFO sightings, he feels that aliens may be travelling to Earth through other means, and in all probability could be here at this very moment, undetected. Unfortunately, he has never had a close encounter of the third kind, so he has been unable to find out first hand if his theory holds up.

"Personally, I have not knowingly met any aliens," he says. "[Aliens] could be inter-dimensional travellers and actually project themselves on our three dimensions from the real four dimensions that are out there."

Interestingly, Balaskas notes that his generation is the first one to be cynics when it comes to the otherworldly.

"People don't realize that many cultures, including our parents and grandparents, took for granted that there were extraterrestrial beings. They had different names for them, like angels, but they talked about them coming from the heavens. It's now, this generation, that seems to be very skeptical and they should be justifiably so. Because at least in the public domain we don't have any proof that there is even any life [in outer space]."

Though some of his theories may seem a little out there, Balaskas is quick to point out that most UFOs are witnessed by otherwise reliable sources.

"[UFOs are a] phenomena that is real, real in the sense that objects are still being observed in the skies by credible people and not only credible people - like police officers for example - but also by experienced people, astronomers or airline pilots who obviously see something they have never seen before and report it."

Balaskas explains that it is fallacious to believe that all UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin. There are many new technologies that are still classified, and so not in the public domain, and these can easily be mistaken for crafts of alien origin.

"They're not alien or even based on alien technology but they won't be revealed until much later," he comments.

The SR-71 Blackbird is an example of this phenomena. The jet -which began secret test flights in the '50s and had the ability to travel three times the speed of sound - may account for many UFO sightings of the period. With planes able to travel at much faster velocities today, he says that many sightings may just be experimental or top-secret government projects.

So what does Balaskas want people to get out of all his UFO research?

"I just want to make other people aware of certain facts and if they're interested in them and if they think they're worthy of further investigation, allow them to actually pursue it."

Balaskas is trying to accomplish this goal with Cosmic Horizons. Besides aliens, the program has recently discussed topics such as the real age of the universe, why the Mayan calendar mysteriously ends at the year 2012, Nostradamus, and evidence that the Holy Grail actually resides in Canada.

"We'll have guest experts on a variety of topics, some of them very controversial and some of them even silly. Nevertheless, the whole premise of the show is to let the students be exposed to different points of view and come up with their own conclusions. We don't try to be dogmatic," he remarks.  "Listeners can call in and ask our guests questions. We want it to be stimulating and provocative but most importantly informative."

While he does not watch much TV anymore, it is quite obvious that he has a huge appetite for the unusual, as one is hard pressed to get a word in edgewise once Balaskas begins discussing UFOs or his unconventional views on science and religion.

"From my experience, it seems that usually fiction mimics fact.  But reality is much more interesting and much more fascinating than any of the few X-Files or Outer Limits episodes that I have ever seen," he says.

"I used to watch these movies about flying saucers on television but it wasn't until my neighbour actually introduced me to a book that suggested that what I was watching on television, that was fictitious, was in fact based on real life [that I got interested in UFOs]. And when I investigated a lot of the cases that were mentioned in the book, I found that they were even more fascinating than what was in these movies."

Does Balaskas know of any UFO hotspots in Ontario? Do we have our very own Area 51? He remains mysteriously elusive on the matter and will not reveal much.

"UFOs are attracted to certain areas, nuclear power plants for example. They have been recorded there in the past," Balaskas explains while noting that the vast majority of GTA sightings are really just airplane lights refracting off of the Great Lakes.

So, if you are up for some good old-fashioned alien hunting, the Pickering Power Plant sounds like a good place to start.
 

December 30, 2004

Leeds Today (Yorkshire, UK)

Flying Saucer? No, It's The Filey Triangle

by Howard Williamson

The genteel east coast resort of Filey has been named as the unlikely UFO hot spot of the British Isles.

The claim is made by an independent research group called the British UFO Hunters.

They say more sightings of mysterious objects are made there than anywhere else in Britain - with Selby and Fife as distant runners-up.

The UFO Hunters base their findings on evidence from Filey Ufologist Russell Kellett who founded the International UFO Network eight years ago.

"Yes, this is the UFO capital," he said, "and it has taken over from Bonnybridge, near Falkirk in Scotland.

"So far we have 48 recorded sightings in Filey this year. The next nearest is Selby with 20.

"People are coming here from places like Newcastle, Leeds and Hull because they have heard about its reputation.

"Some people think that because researchers like me are active in these towns, we attract these mysterious objects in the sky. We are like conduits for them."

Mr. Kellett said the most spectacular sighting in Filey this year was late at night in June when a couple walking their dog saw a flying triangle soar out of the sea and up into the sky.

He said: "I have also been in touch with a young woman living on the outskirts of the town who says she met a tall alien in her home. She has no memory of how he left."

The UFO Hunters claim that the North Sea is an experimental area for top-secret US aircraft.

But Mr. Kellett dismisses the idea that UFO sightings near the coast are of man-made craft.

"They would not come so close to the town," he said. "The US Government does not like people to see its new technology."

Mr. Kellett has a large library of UFO video footage, some of which will be included in a documentary being made for the Cannes Film Festival.

He and his fellow researcher, Jody Holden, of Selby will be featured on the Bravo TV channel next month in Video Vigilantes, a programme about their work.
 

December 14, 2004

Petaling Jaya Star (Malaysia)

A Guide Into The UFO Wilderness

by Ahmad Sayuthi

The subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and close encounters with extraterrestrial beings never fails to create a lot of interest and controversy. Believers and sceptics are equally passionate, with each having their own references to either advocate or contradict a given cause – with neutrals in between not knowing who or what to believe.

With the advent of the Internet, even more material is now made available for everyone to analyse in the hope of gaining a better understanding of the subject. But there is a problem: The researcher is usually left dazed and confused with so much raw information swamping him. A guide is needed to show him the way through the complicated world of the UFO phenomenon.

The World Internet UFO Directory (ISBN 89-5563-057-3) might do just that.

Published by South Korea-based Lingua Franca (e-mail:info@linguastudy.com), it is the product of a project team that spent countless hours sifting through and evaluating the resources available. Those selected were then compiled to provide a concise and convenient reference to several hundred reference points for the phenomenon.

Project leader David Ritchie, from the United States, said the large amount of new information about UFOs was the main reason for producing the book. Despite the enormous task of sifting through all the material, the team decided to take up the challenge. "We thought there was a real need for an overview of this information and to show Internet users where to find it,” he said.

Getting an overview does not mean simply selecting anything that sounds interesting. Hoaxes are plenty when it comes to UFOs and anyone can put up just about anything on the Internet. 

Ritchie said the information had to be authenticated with different sources before being selected. However, he readily agreed it was not a bulletproof method in the hotly-debated subject. 

"It’s a challenge to compile a factual reference about a mysterious phenomenon where the difference between information and misinformation may be impossible to establish,” he said. 

The best that the team could do was to try. 

The book was also compiled to counteract a perceived bias toward reports and case studies from a small number of countries such as the United States and Canada as well as west European nations. In many UFO compilations, the rest of the world apparently does not exist. UFO Directory plans to change that, with reports coming from all over the world, including Malaysia.

Readers here might be flattered to know that Malaysia is regarded as "outstanding in the field of UFO studies...” 

This comes about due to the activities of the little-known Centre for Malaysian UFO Studies (CENMYOFUS, www.geocities.com/cenmyufos), which is highly regarded by its
peers.

The book also points out something interesting and unique about Malaysia – the high number of sightings involving tiny humanoids of around 15cm since 1953. The descriptions of these Awang Kenit are also consistent despite coming from different locations.

The case in Kampung Gobek, Kelantan, is also mentioned. It is of significance due to the statements of multiple witnesses and the physical evidence from an alleged UFO landing site in 2000.

The topics covered in UFO Directory are certainly wide-ranging. The reference points are convenient and helpful for different audiences, whether they are dedicated students of the UFO phenomenon or a general audience seeking leisure reading.

For example, under Humanoids, it is explained that this term refers to alleged aliens having the same basic bodily structure as humans (head, trunk, legs and arms) but different in other respects, such as the length of limbs and proportion of head size to body size. Descriptions of close encounters follow, with discussions and speculations of what they are, where they came from and why they came here. 

Other relevant reference points like the Adamski Case, Men In Black, Montauk Project, Malaysia, Hallucinations and Hoaxes are highlighted for further followup for readers to gain a deeper understanding.

UFO Directory is not limited to just sightings of UFOs and extraterrestrial life forms. It excels by also providing articles and bibliographic references that introduce readers to other facets of the phenomenon which were previously unknown to many. Readers will feel a sense of breadth and complexity where the book also involves subjects that include astronomy and astrophysics, physiology, religion, psychology, history and folklore.

And the entertainment world is not given a miss either as the book looks at the material on radio, television and in the movies that were inspired by the phenomenon over the years. Among them are 2001: A Space Odyssey, The X-Files and Independence Day, to name just a few. For many people, the entertainment world has been their main source of influence when it comes to interest in the UFO phenomenon.

UFO Directory is certainly not a one-sided sympathiser aiming to convince readers of the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life forms, as one might suspect at first. Although the book is heavy with accounts of UFO and encounters with humanoids and such, it comes with its fair share of UFO critiques too. Hoaxes and fakeries are revealed and articles expressing scepticism and suspicions of some sightings and encounters are also included to provide balance.

Ritchie said the editors had avoided taking sides in specific controversies and have attempted to include a broad range of opinions.

He is well aware that different groups and individuals have different beliefs and can be passionate and emotional about them. Debates can sometimes get acrimonious as a result. This he blames on individuals having a poor understanding of the UFO phenomenon. 

According to Ritchie, this will only change when people get more acquainted with the different viewpoints, which the book attempts to do by providing a diverse range of topics and opinions.

Closet UFO buffs who have kept their interest hidden for fear of being mocked and ridiculed will be encouraged to know that it is now accepted as a legitimate field of study. Ritchie said the phenomenon of UFOs runs deeper than simply being the exclusive domain of people who are generally regarded as weird.

"It is no longer viewed entirely as a preoccupation of eccentrics and fantasists. Ufology has become part of mainstream culture and is acceptable to millions,” he said.

And with UFO Directory serving as a guide, their search for the truth – which is said to be "out there” – might yield an encounter which is out of this world.

Sample links from UFO Directory:

UFO Cults
religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/ nrms/ufos.html

UFO/Aliens: Malaysia
ufos.about.com/library/bldata/bl5mala. htm

Humanoid Encounters In Malaysia
www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1038.htm

Kidnapped by UFOs? – Interview with Carl Sagan
www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc19.htm

December 10, 2004

Frome & Somerset Standard (UK)

Is it Aliens or Tests of Advanced Technology?

The truth is out there, and it could be in Wells if reports of a flying saucer over the city are to be believed. Early on Friday morning, an unidentified flying object was spotted hovering over Underwood Quarry in Wells, owned by top defence system manufacturers Thales. Reports of the sighting soon began to appear on the Yahoo web forum, GWell.

One contributor described the phenomenon saying: "It was at 7.50am. It was a white, disc-shaped object that not only hovered but then did a banked circle around an area.

"Some shimmering emanation was seen coming from below the craft and then it shot impossibly out of sight.

"The area was to the left of the mast as seen from Glastonbury Tor, over Underwood Quarry. Is it aliens or Thales' advanced technology?"

Thales are denying all knowledge of the flying objects.

Peter Spencer, sales and marketing director for Thales, said: "We are not launching UFOs from our facilities, nor am I aware of what the sightings might be, nor am I at liberty to comment on what we might be doing at that facility."

BBC weatherman Richard Angwin said: "From the descriptions we have received, the most likely explanation is that it is some sort of meteor or broken up space debris in the atmosphere.

"Often dust particles will travel at such a speed that they will burn up and appear more impressive than they really are.

"There is so much space junk floating around in the upper part of the atmosphere. A meteor is the most likely explanation."

However, Glastonbury-based UFO expert Alan Foster remains sceptical of this explanation.

Mr Foster said: "I have not heard any reports of this UFO, but meteors and space debris are always the explanations put forward. If people say that they have seen an illuminated disc at close quarters then that is what they have seen.

"People are not stupid. This is a serious subject and there are a number of people working on it at a high level. Even the Pope has recognised the existence of extra-terrestrial activity."
 

December 10, 2004

Florida Today

1952 Military Engagement With UFOs Myth Or Mystery?
Port Orange man details the day in 1952 when Air Force took on UFOs

By Billy Cox

In an account of a military engagement sure to leave critics scoffing, a UFO investigator claims more than a dozen U.S. Air Force jet fighters were destroyed by flying saucers on a single day in 1952. But not before their guns and rockets crippled several UFOs that wound up making emergency landings in rural West Virginia.

"I know how it sounds," says Frank Feschino, the Port Orange artist whose new book attempts to reconstruct what would be the biggest dogfight since the Marianas Turkey Shoot in 1944. "But I think it's going to come out real soon. There's a lot of guys out there who know what happened but are too scared to talk."

Feschino's book - "The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed" (Quarrier Press, $29.95) -revisits a mystery that has been a part of West Virginia lore for more than half a century.

At its core are a dozen eyewitnesses to a strange, robotic creature that appeared on a hilltop following the crash of an alleged meteor on the evening of Sept. 12, 1952. But following an investigation that took 14 years to research and write, Feschino claims the beginning of the incident involved a UFO air battle that began in Florida, shifted to the Eastern seaboard and ended in an Air Force whitewash.

Thirty five years ago this month, the USAF officially terminated its UFO study, called Project Blue Book, by concluding there were no national security aspects to the phenomenon. Arguably the most hectic phase of Blue Book's 22-year existence was 1952, when a record 1,501 reports were logged. July was the busiest month. Warplanes were scrambled to chase nocturnal UFOs that buzzed Washington, D.C., on consecutive weekends.

Even Patrick Air Force Base got splashed by the wave on July 18 of that year, when seven on-base airmen observed a series of silent amber-red objects approaching restricted air space late one evening. One UFO passed directly overhead before pulling a 180-degree U-turn and disappearing to the west. According to the Blue Book reports, none of the objects were spotted on radar and no planes were dispatched to confront them.

Blue Book ruled the avalanche of UFO sightings across the southeast on Sept. 12, 1952, could be attributed to a meteor.

But no meteor showers were scheduled for that night, and the Harvard Meteor Project, which tracked 2,500 cosmic fireballs from 1952 to '54, recorded no activity on that date.

Feschino also quotes Indian Harbour Beach astronomer Hal Povenmire, author of "Fireballs, Meteors and Meteorites," as dismissing the meteor explanation. Povenmire declined to comment on Feschino's book, but he reiterated his stance for FLORIDA TODAY: "It definitely wasn't a meteor."

Retired Air Force Col. William Coleman, chief spokesman for Blue Book in the 1960s and head of the USAF's Public Information Office from 1969 to '74, wasn't around for the 1952 investigation, and could only speculate on the meteor theory.  "Occasionally, you'll get a loner when you're not passing through a belt," he says from his home in Indian Harbour Beach. "It'll come in on a flat trajectory, which means it'll be exposed to a longer burn in the atmosphere and leave a longer trail."

But Coleman is emphatic about one thing: No military aircraft were ever destroyed during UFO encounters.

"Of all the (12,618) reports we collected, only 105 cases were what we'd call 'worrisome,' from a military point of view," says Coleman, who chased a UFO in a bomber in 1955. "These might involve pilots seeing things in the air that also showed up as solid objects on radar. Sometimes they'd pace our planes, sometimes they'd depart abruptly. But we never lost anything to hostile activity."

Speaking during a book-signing tour in Charleston, W.Va., where sales are brisk, Feschino says he began looking into the Flatwoods Monster case in 1990. Ten local kids and an adult, Kathleen May, were alerted when a flaming, low-flying object apparently went down early one Friday evening on a hilltop outside rural Flatwoods. After hiking to investigate, they stumbled upon a "monster," reported to be 12 feet tall, lurking in a tree. It glided away upon an apron of flames, but not before dribbling what appeared to be an oily fluid onto the ground and their clothing.

Feschino says he grew more intrigued when he read scores of old newspaper clippings about other UFO activity that night, from Pennsylvania to Florida. Many reported objects trailing tails of fire, following three separate westward trajectories from the Atlantic Ocean. Especially compelling were newspaper reports concerning the loss of an F-94 Sabrejet fighter over the Gulf of Mexico earlier in the day.

Flying out of Tyndall AFB near Panama City with three other jets, Lt. John Jones, the pilot, and radar operator Lt. John DelCurto apparently got separated during bad weather, were ordered to land at Moody AFB in Georgia before losing radio contact, and presumably crashed after running out of fuel. Their bodies were never recovered. Feschino doesn't buy that story.

When he attempted to locate official records of the incident through military archives, Feschino says he got a bureaucratic runaround and was informed paperwork on those pilots doesn't exist. (Feschino interviewed DelCurto's brother in Oregon, and took a photo of Jones' memorial marker in Ocala.) Upon matching additional air defense activity that day with the numerous UFO reports, Feschino began assembling time lines, integrating them into maps, and produced a unified field theory that "as many as 20" American planes attacked, and were shot down by, UFOs.

"The Braxton County Monster" goes into exhaustive - not to mention inferential, unsourced and highly speculative - detail to support Feschino's other premise, that multiple sightings over the Flatwoods area on Sept. 12 was a "rescue mission" to salvage a damaged spacecraft.

"Of course you could cover this up," insists the Connecticut native. "They do it all the time. Look at all the planes that got shot down during the Cold War on missions that didn't supposedly exist. They made up cover stories and told the families back home all sorts of lies."

That's true, says historian William E. Burrows. But the author of "By Any Means Necessary: America's Secret Air War" doubts UFOs were in the mix.

The director of New York University's graduate program for science and environmental reporting says up to 166 U.S. servicemen were shot down over Russia, China and North Korea in 16 attacks between 1950 and 1969.

"They would always attribute it to navigational errors or typhoons, because they had to say something to the wives and kids," Burrows says. "It always bothered me, because these guys were brave men who were made to look like nitwits. But I don't believe in UFOs. And as soon as the Cold War ended, the UFO sightings ended."

Feschino says Flatwoods had nothing to do with the Cold War. He interviewed retired Army colonel Dale Leavitt who, on Sept. 12, 1952, said he got an order from the Air Force to investigate the West Virginia crash site. Then with the National Guard, Leavitt said he led a 30-man detachment to the area, where they found minor debris and burned vegetation, which they forwarded to the USAF. Before his death, Leavitt told Feschino he never learned the results.

"I find it very strange that the military would send troops out to investigate a meteor," Feschino says. "That doesn't make any sense."

Feschino's efforts notwithstanding, the Flatwoods case will likely remain the stuff of legend, pending military eyewitness testimony. But that may not happen soon. Despite Blue Book's assertion that the military is no longer interested in the phenomenon, UFOs continue to fall under the cloak of national security, according to John Greenewald.

A television producer who posts UFO-related government documents on his Web site - www.blackvault.com - Greenewald showcases Air Force manuals instructing pilots on how to report unidentified flying objects. The system is called Communications for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings (CIRVIS), and reports are forwarded to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which tracks unidentified objects entering U.S. and Canadian air space.

"They're hard to get," says Greenewald, "because NORAD says they're exempt from FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests."

Contact Cox at 242-3774 or bcox@flatoday.net

Available online

The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed - by Frank Feschino (Quarrier Press, $29.95) The book can be ordered online at www.flatwoodsmonster.com

December 7, 2004

Tri-Valley Herald (Pleasanton, CA)

Some Things Are Just Not Discussed

I ran into Don Hewitt recently in downtown Pleasanton and asked if he had a story for my column.

"Sure," he said, "but I don't expect you to believe it."

Don explained that only a handful of people had heard the story he was hesitant to tell.

In fact, what he finds interesting is not so much the story -which happened to him and two friends in 1991 - but how people like him and his friends will choose not to talk about an incident others won't believe.

"What the heck are you talking about?" I asked him.

Don told me that he and his buddies were up in Washington state driving at night along the Columbia River when something caught their attention.

"We pulled over, got out of the car, and watched what was clearly a UFO hovering brightly just across the river," Don said.

"After a few moments, it zipped away like a scene from a sci-fi movie. We just stood there and stared for a while."

Eventually, he and his friends got back in the car and drove on without saying anything.

"What could we do?" said Don, shrugging his shoulders. "When you discover we're not alone in the universe, you don't just start telling everyone."

People who know Don Hewitt, who works in the software industry, and whose wife, Frances, works for the Pleasanton Downtown Association, will tell you he's not the type to make up a story like this. And he's not the type to float conspiracy theories.

In the several years I've known him, he has never mentioned terms such as "UFO" or "Area 51" or even "Art Bell." And he's had plenty of opportunities, since our social calendars line up quite often.

"It's just human nature not to talk about that evening," Don said.

"It's easier than dealing with people who assume we're mistaken or who just can't believe us."


Jim Ott is the CEO of a community credit union and an English professor at Las Positas College. He welcomes your comments and interesting stories. Contact him at jott@unclecu.org
 

December 6, 2004

Australian (Sydney)

Flashing Lights Hover Over Darwin 

Even the sceptics are questioning the origins of a strange light that hovered over Darwin on Saturday night.

Several readers phoned the Northern Territory News late on Saturday night to describe the unidentified flying object that captured their attention.

But neither the RAAF or the airport were able to shed any light on the flashing green, blue and red lights witnesses saw.

Laboratory technician Julie Lynn was relaxing on the balcony with husband Nigel at their Leanyer home when they noticed the UFO about 8.30pm.

A self-described sceptic, Mrs Lynn believes there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why the UFO hovered above Darwin - she just has no idea what it could be

"It was fascinating to watch," she said.

"I was quite looking forward to curling up on the couch and watching a movie but it had our attention until we went to bed after midnight.

"It hovered in the one place for at least two hours but had moved significantly when we checked on it again before we went to bed.

"I can't believe there are UFOs or little green men out there - there must be an obvious explanation.

"And we weren't drinking so it wasn't something we imagined."

The UFO was described as being shaped like three connected ball-shaped spheres that flashed blue, green and red from as many as six different light sources.

It first appeared in a south-easterly direction and was moving northeast.

Department of Defence spokeswoman Kelly Cooper said the UFO was definitely not a secret military aircraft or RAAF-related.

The airport also denied the UFO could have been a plane waiting to land in Darwin.