Timothy Good - Alien Contact - Top-secret UFO Files Revealed

Page 1

t

.I > | H

%

■■H

JJ

jgPfak

H

;

14


ISBN 0-688-12223-X

FPT $22.00

TOP-SECRET UFO FILES REVEALED

TIMOTHY GOOD Following his international best-seller Above Top Secret, which proved with official documentation that many governments throughout the world have covered up information on UFOs, Timothy Good now reveals the startling truth about extraterrestrial visitation: Contact has been established. Alien Contact contains astounding new evidence, supported by interviews with key military, scientific, and intelligence personnel. Among its disclosures: • Confirmation by two former U.S. Intelligence directors and other intelligence personnel that extraterrestrial craft are in possession of the government. • Revelations by a physicist and military personnel that alien craft have been test-flown at a top-secret installation in the Nevada desert. • Reports from intelligence officers describing communications with aliens and alien anatomy, and the medical examination of a live extraterrestrial by a respected doctor. • A former NASA engineer’s visit to a top-secret North American Aerospace Defense Command installation where extraterrestrial spacecraft are tracked regularly, and his firsthand experience of alien technology in use by NASA. • New evidence—including official FBI and police reports—linking UFOs with disturbing animal mutilations. • President Rom Id Reagan’s UFO sighting and his discussion with President Gorbachev regarding the possibility of an extraterrestrial tlireat. • Evidence of an alien base in Puerto Rico. • The top-secret project to educate the (continued on back flap)


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC '

I'1

,,

i-w

mm

wSQe-fR-S&J*

m

mi

|I

m

DO NOT REMOVE CARDS FROM POCKET

.vr.fw v -

-j.

< | '*■ • - -

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

-

MVW'

X-'Tsa

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA 46802

You may return this book to arty agency, branch,

or bookmobile of the Allen County Public Library. .

0EW1C0 0. ;f,

nKMVWMMg

.


M. ■■

f

'

1 , >wp

mmm %w i

wm mmm ]-:■'■

m

m*.

-.•

SM ym

Mmm

m

ws-m.

®»

'■a

a

iHSH A'i-i .-' '$8*

-a |

Si®

Piti

%:Vl-:'j

;

••

-::V

••..

mm

- -a

•gm.

mm M .

is? SH sas fa

mim i-m-m

mi

mit •-

-- c^.

&

;,f ;• ■■■' m.

IH

§®S vf#s

:

,

WM11

Jefe3

-

m wm

an

;VS

8® swmsa vs.

SSf;

a

w

ass

r>;^;

;

sii

■ST.

fa

% fiifSSIftl

m

if®

;

■’■•-•-.:•• - -•

:

-.

:■-

'. -

'

' . :-

'

--;

. -

■-

®

.

•; '

v •' a. s

■•:■■

S

r-.vi,,-.

,. :

-'

-y

/ ' ■:'-

VV:-'\

; ■:1'-"' - '

Mi

-

S

s-

f '

~

'•

f ; . -.

< T

>


ALIEN CONTACT


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780688135102


Also by Timothy Good Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up The UFO Report



TOP-SECRET UFO FILES REVEALED .

*

TIMOTHY GOOD WITH A COMMENTARY BY ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET, THE LORD HILL-NORTON GCB, CHIEF OF DEFENSE STAFF, 1 9 71-1 9 73


Ubrsi Alien County Pu900 Wcbste 1 P0 Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 463011,22 1

■°r

\ J •.

51

Copyright © 1991, 1993 by Timothy Good First published in Great Britain in 1991 by the Random Century Group as Alien Liaison: The Ultimate Secret Revised edition published in 1993 by William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechnical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Permissions Department, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10019. It is the policy of William Morrow and Company, Inc., and its imprints and affiliates, recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, to print the books we publish on acid-free paper, and we exert our best efforts to that end. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Good, Timothy. Alien contact : top-secret UFO files revealed / Timothy Good ; with a commentary by Admiral of the Fleet, the Lord Hill-Norton. p.

cm.

Published in Great Britain as Alien liaison : the ultimate secret Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-688-12223-X 1. Unidentified flying objects—Sightings and encounters. I. Title. TL789.3.G66

1993

001.9'42—dc20

92-26856 CIP

Printed in the United States of America First U.S. Edition

123456789

10

BOOK DESIGN BY GLEN M. EDELSTEIN


11

COMMENTARY

13

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

17

INTRODUCTION

1

Aerial Confrontation

21

2

A Question of Need?

41

3

62

Colorado Breakthrough 4 5 6

111 138

Dreamland

169

Alien Technology? 9

10

96

Hardware

Project Aquarius 7

8

73

Alien Liaisons

190

Containers

214

Cosmic Journey NOTES APPENDIXES INDEX

246 261 281



To Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton GCB


u

r c

c

r

C

<

c c c

(


Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton GCB, Chief of Defense Staff, 1971-73

ten years, during which I have formed the opinion that he is both honest and reliable. I am quite sure that he is not a “nut case,” and equally sure that his long and diligent investigations have been efficiently conducted, and the results carefully and accurately reported. All this makes the astounding revelations in this book impossible, certainly for me, to dismiss, unless or until they are equally publicly disproved. The plain fact is that either what he reports here is true, or it isn’t. If his accounts of recovered UFOs, and their alien occupants, being in the hands of United States Government agencies (and perhaps those of the former Soviet Union, too) are not true, then it seems that many important and distinguished former public servants have perhaps lied, or have been grossly misreported. In the latter event, one must expect and hope that they will take the appropriate legal action to set the record straight. In the same way, the apparently hard evidence of all sorts of other UFO information given by dozens of people, many of them prominent persons in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the former Soviet Union, is either true, or they are lying, hallucinating, or (again) have been grossly misrepresented. Since most of them are named by Tim Good in this book, they must now either put up or shut up.

I HAVE KNOWN TIM GOOD FOR OVER


12

COMMENTARY

Some of those prominent persons in the United States to whom Good has referred have denied what he reports them to have said. I find it significant that they have taken no other action, either publicly or in the courts. No doubt readers of this edition will draw their own conclusions. Hill-Norton April 1992


thanks to the following individuals and organizations who—either directly or indirectly—have contributed information and material contained in this book: Jeffrey x\costa, Tom Adams, Dr. John Altshuler, Gerald Anderson and the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader, Walter Andrus and the Mutual UFO Network, Associated PressATopham Picture Library, Ron Banuk, Ron Bartels, Andrew Basiago, Timothy Green Beckley, Paul Bennewitz, Howard Blum, Robert Bowker, Curt Brubaker, Larry Bryant, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Burgess, Grant Cameron, Ellen Carney and the Idaho State Journal, the Central Intelligence Agency, Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), Colonel William Coleman, Robert Collins, Gordon Cooper, Vicki Cooper and UFO magazine, Riley Crabb and the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, T. Scott Crain, Gordon Creighton and Flying Saucer Review, Marie-Therese de Brosses and Paris Match, Colonel Wilfried De Brouwer, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Richard Doty, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fund for UFO Research, Peter Gersten, Barry Goldwater, James Goodall, Billy Goodman and KVEG Radio (Las Vegas), Stan Gordon, John Grace and the Nevada Aerial Research Group, Lee Graham, Gerard Grede, Barry Greenwood, Dr. Richard Haines, William Hamilton III, Robert Hastings, Everett Hineman, Alan Holt, Mike Hunt, Raymond Ingraham, Robert Kirchgessner and Kenneth Feld Productions, John Lade, Bill Lear, Nikolai Lebedev, Elsa Lee and Quest International, Tania Long, Beverly McKittrick, General Igor Maltsev, Dr. Jesse Marcel, A1 and Elizabeth Merritt, Michael I WOULD LIKE TO RECORD MY


14

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Michaud and Headline Book Publishing, Norman Miller, the Ministry of Defense, Dr. Henry Monteith, Charles Moody, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Security Agency, Bob Needham, James Nelson, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the Office of Naval Intelligence, Hans Petersen, Bob Pratt, the Public Record Office, Ronald Reagan (Hon. KBE), Madeleine Rodeffer, Gary Schultz, William Scott and Aviation Week and Space Technology, Elias Seixas, Rear Admiral Sumner Shapiro, Paul Shartle, Wilson Sosa, Leonard Stringfield, Robert Suffern, Christa Tilton, Robert Todd, Harry Tokarz and the Canadian UFO Research Network, Admiral Stansfield Turner, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Gabriel Valdez, Dr. Jacques Vallee, William Veenhuizen, Dorothee Walter, Philip Waterhouse, and others too numerous to mention here but who are credited elsewhere. I am especially indebted to my friend Bob Oechsler, who gave me so much of his time and invaluable information (at considerable personal risk); Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, for making the acquisition of some of that information possible; Bob Lazar, for what could be the story of the millenium (if true); Gene Huff, for his kindness in helping me with additional information on the Lazar material; John Lear, who gave me a lot of his time, introduced me to Bob Lazar, and provided me with photographs and material relating to Groom Lake/Area 51 (“Dreamland”); George Knapp of KLAS-TV (Las Vegas), for giving me much valuable information and for the use of copious material from his excellent programs on the subject, as well as from his private interview with Bob Lazar; Linda Howe, for allowing me to extract so much information from her book on the animal mutilations, An Alien Harvest; Bob Emenegger, for helpful information, as well as for the use of the Holloman AFB story from his book, UFOs Past, Present and Future; Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera, for the use of lengthy extracts from their interviews with “Falcon” and “Condor” and for information from their publication, The MJ-12 Documents; Michael Seligman and Lexington Broadcast Service, for extracts from the pioneering TV documentary UFO Cover-up? Live; Drs. John Derr, Leo Sprinkle, and Peter Van Arsdale, without whom the “Colorado Breakthrough” chapter could not have been written; William Steinman and Wendelle Stevens, for the use of important cases relating to “Dreamland,” extracted from their book, UFO Crash at Aztec; Daniel Fry, for his hospitality, as well as for extracts from his book, To Men of Earth; Nicholas Redfern, for giving me many documents he ob-


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

15

tained from the FBI on the cattle mutilations, and other documents from the Public Record Office and the DLA; Robert Dorr, for helpful information on the U.S. Government’s flying disc project; Dr. Leopoldo Diaz Martinez, for his cooperation, and Michael Packer of WOAI Radio (San Antonio), for extracts from his interview with Dr. Diaz; Travis Walton, for his time and for extracts from his book, The Walton Experience; Jorge Martin, for his research into the Puerto Rican UFO incidents, and for arranging for me to meet the witnesses; Beverley Bean, her mother, and sisters, for sharing information about Melvin Brown’s involvement in the Roswell incident; Ralph Noyes, for generously allowing me the use of his word-processor when mine packed up; and Admiral of the Fleet, the Lord Hiil-Norton, for his outspoken Commentary. Finally, I am indebted to those who contributed but cannot be named.



So VAST is THE COMPLEXITY OF THIS multifaceted subject that it resists a single, all-encompassing hypothesis to account for the many inherent paradoxes that confront us. In Alien Contact, I have chosen to concentrate on those facets of the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) enigma which I hope will shed new light on the overall picture. As far back as 1952, the then director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell Smith, recognized the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the subject. “It is my view that this situation has possible implications for our national security which transcend the interests of a single service,” he wrote in a memorandum to the executive secretary of the National Security Council. “A broader, coordinated effort should be initiated to develop a firm scientific understanding of the several phenomena which apparently are involved in these reports. ...” Thousands of documents on UFOs have been released under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the United States, by agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DLA), Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Air Force, Army, and Navy intelligence branches. The fact that research into UFOs by these and other agencies was long denied (with a few exceptions), and that thousands more documents remain classified and therefore exempt from disclosure, is proof—if proof were needed—of just how seriously these matters are taken. While my last book, Above Top Secret, proves beyond any doubt that a massive cover-up has been in effect since the late 1940s, Alien Contact


18

INTRODUCTION

takes us one stage further by partially exposing what has been hitherto withheld, that is: Some UFOs are indeed extraterrestrial in origin; that alien bodies have been recovered; that a few craft have been testflown; and that contact has been established—even at an official, if restricted, level. Since these claims are certain to be misrepresented, let me emphasize that only a relatively few people in governments and the intelligence community are aware of this situation. The most sensitive information about UFOs is handled at a “need-to-know” level, restricted to those with very high security clearances—in one case, as we shall learn, allegedly as high as thirty-eight levels above Top Secret. Given that there is truth behind these allegations, I readily concede that even the knowledgeable elite remain baffled by the bewildering diversity of reports with which we are regularly confronted, and I am certain that considerable confusion exists in high circles as to the nature of the more bizarre encounters. I have not shied away from these reports, such as the animal mutilations (Chapter 2) and the extraordinary but illuminating experiences which befell several witnesses on a ranch in Colorado (Chapter 3). Much of this information is controversial and disturbing. Alien Contact does not go into an in-depth analysis of either abduction or contact stories, except in those cases I have cited that reflect my own bias in support of certain relevant hypotheses. The stories I have selected stretch the boundaries of belief, and although skepticism is warranted, it should never be forgotten that many extraordinary technological and other human developments which we now take for granted were initially regarded with disbelief or ridicule. How many of us would have believed, for example, that the Soviet Union would collapse in 1991? When marvelous events are said to have happened, the natural tendency is to disbelieve, pardy because we do not want to appear gullible, but also because we are simply confounded when presented with unfamiliar concepts. I am certain, therefore, that the concept of extraterrestrial visitation will become increasingly acceptable in due course. As described in Chapters 6 and 10, the American intelligence community (Appendix 1) has made several attempts at indoctrinating the public about some of the realities involved in the UFO phenomenon. Although what has been revealed is undoubtedly diluted with disinformation intended to confuse and deceive, it is important to stress that official disinformation on the UFO subject would be poindess if there was nothing to cover up. In addition, both covert and overt


INTRODUCTION

19

disinformation usually incorporate a certain amount of genuine information that sometimes provides signposts to the truth, as we shall learn in the concluding chapters. It is my belief that there is a sincere desire on the part of those in authority to release certain unequivocal material, but that there continues to be a reluctance to do so, owing to economic, political, religious, and sociological considerations. Perhaps the revelations made available to me for publication in Alien Contact will facilitate the official release of some of this material in the not-too-distant future.



IT WAS A CLEAR NIGHT IN the early summer of

1947. The young

pilot was growing tired as he cruised in his Lockheed P-38 Lightning at nine thousand to ten thousand feet, en route from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Los Angeles, where he was due to participate in the Bendix Trophy Race the following day. Shortly after passing over the Colorado River near Blythe, California, he was alerted by something so startling that it has left an indelible impression to this day. Bill Lear described the incident to me as follows: Suddenly, I looked off to my left side and I saw a round fuselage, with round windows in it. And of course, at that time, the only commercial airliner that was flying that had round windows was a DC-4. And instantly, judging from my position in relation to that body, I judged that I was about fifty feet from running into the trailing edge of the wing of that airplane. So, no matter how hopeless it seems, you always try to avoid something. I was gaining on it, so I immediately racked the P-38 over into a 90-degree bank to the right and pulled as hard as I could, almost with my eyes closed, expecting to crash into the wing of that airplane. And to my astonishment, nothing happened! I breathed a sigh of relief, and when I figured I was about 90 degrees off the westerly heading, which would have put me north, I rolled out. And as I rolled out, I looked to my left, and it was still there! And this is out over the desert—I’d already


22

ALIEN CONTACT

passed all the lights behind me—and there it still was, with the little round windows, looking for all the world like DC-4 windows. But the light behind the windows was not white; it was a bit yellowish. And here I was, in exactly the same position as I had been before, and I thought, This is totally impossible. But the brain won’t accept that. When you’re about to die, and when you’re about to crash into the trailing edge of the wing of another airplane, you don’t stop to think how the hell did it get there, you just get out of there! There’s no time to think. So, I simply executed the same maneuver, rolled to the right again in a 90-degree bank, pulled as hard as I could again, thinking to myself, My God, what is happening? That DC-4 can’t follow me! But nonetheless, there it was. And when I rolled out the second time, heading east, it was gone. But there was no question, if it had been an aircraft, I would—on the first occasion—have plowed into the trailing edge of the wing. The second time, there was no way it could have been an aircraft. In 1947, I had not read anything about any flying saucers or the cigar-shaped things. I was so relieved that I hadn’t run into any airplane. Nothing could have stayed pace with me like that thing did. I couldn’t explain it, and I was so tired that I simply made a 180 [-degree turn] and continued on to the west and landed in California. Bill Lear is a son of the late William P. Lear, designer of the Learjet, and together with his brother John—also a pilot—has done a considerable amount of research into UFOs, as I soon learned when we discussed the subject in his London home in 1990. One aspect of the 1947 sighting bothered me, however. “Bill, the skeptic would say that you were just overfatigued and were hallucinating,” I remarked, after listening to his account. cc When you’re flying along and you see something that you recognize, you suddenly come very much awake,” he replied. “I mean, the adrenaline starts pumping. And I was awake, standing right on my tiptoes in the airplane, practically, because that really gets your heart started! To see something casually, OK, I’ll buy hallucination— possible hallucination—because of fatigue. Or you misinterpret lights on the ground for something that might be flying next to you. But when you turn into the black sky at ten or eleven o’clock at night, and there are only stars above you, and there are these round windows, that fuselage that you can make out the shape of, and those round


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

23

windows with very pale yellow lights behind them, and you don’t know what the hell it is, except the only thing you recognize is if it’s got a fuselage, it must have wings, and you’re about to plow into the trailing edge of the wing—you move, and get the hell out of there! “OK, the first time, you panic and break right, and if there’s nothing, OK, you just saw some lights on the ground and you were tired and perhaps had a mild hallucination. Second time—black sky—still there—no way!”1 Sightings by pilots cannot easily be dismissed. According to Dr. Richard Haines, who has devoted much of his professional career as an aerospace scientist to investigating the mysteries of human vision and perception, there have now been well over three thousand sightings of UFOs by military and civilian pilots.2

NEAR MISSES WITH HELICOPTERS THANKS TO ELSA LEE, OF QUEST INTERNATIONAL, WHO FIRST

uncovered the basic details of the case, I interviewed a helicopter pilot who had an alarming near miss with an unidentified flying object in England in 1988. Because the name of the witness is internationally known, he has requested anonymity, and I have deleted certain names and places from the following report. The incident occurred on February 21, 1988, at 1850 hours, in the vicinity of Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire, as the pilot, accompanied by his wife, was flying a Bell JetRanger en route from Bakewell, Derbyshire, to his home in a southern county. His report states as follows: . . . passed five miles west abeam Daventry VOR at 2,200, 1033. First noticed extremely bright red flashing light from the southwest. Initially thought to be an aircraft, but light looked too bright and wasn’t moving relative to the background illuminations. Then thought to be a beacon marking the top of the mast, though seemed to be far too bright and high. I continued on 170 track and after an estimated three minutes, during which time [my wife] had been continuously watching the light, we suddenly appeared to be on collision course with the flying object carrying this light. I immediately commenced descent, maintaining 120 knots airspeed, but the object appeared to be homing in on us and also descending.


24

ALIEN CONTACT Throughout this the object had been at approximately two o’clock. The object continued to appear to home in on us until I had descended to 1,300, closing at an estimated speed of 300 to 400 knots, when it suddenly commenced a turn to the rigU, ending up on a track parallel to my own and perhaps 800 yards to the west. At this point, I estimate my position to have been five miles northeast of Banbury [Oxfordshire]. Once the object moved approximately half a mile ahead, it appeared to stop and then reverse direction on a reciprocal to my own at an estimated 1,800 feet, again approximately 800 yards to the west. The object had a very bright red light and two dimmer white lights each side of it and was very large; estimated size 300 feet long. The speed of its reciprocal and final seen course was estimated 500 knots relative to my own. I then climbed to 1,800 feet and continued en route. . . .

The witness immediately reported the near miss to London Information. Subsequent inquiries about conflicting traffic to London Information, Luton, Cranfield, Birmingham, Coventry, Brize Norton, Upper Heyford, and Hurn (Bournemouth), established that none £C had any traffic that was even remotely likely to have been in the area at the time.” (Following receipt of a UFO report, air traffic controllers are required to contact London Air Traffic Control Center immediately, and to submit a written report to the Ministry of Defense.3) Visibility had been excellent at the time—thirty miles-—the pilot told me. He was unable to determine precisely the shape of the object, but indicated that it could have been rectangular. The red light flashed in a regular sequence, while the white lights remained constant, yet he is absolutely convinced that the object he saw bore no other resemblance to any conventional aircraft. The red light was far too bright for a normal anticollision light, and he added that he could think of no plane that could change direction or stop so quickly.4 Another incident involving a helicopter’s near miss with a UFO took place in the vicinity of Nalchik Airport, Kabardino-Balkar, on March 7, 1990, when the crew of an Mi-2, commanded by V. Silka, was ordered to investigate a low-flying unidentified object that had been tracked on radar since 10:40 A.M. The helicopter was at three thousand feet when visual contact was made with the object, which was flying at a lower altitude. Described by the crew as spherical in shape and about three meters (eleven and a half feet) in diameter, the


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

25

UFO then ascended to the same height as the helicopter and began to move away, but the helicopter soon caught up. Suddenly, the UFO turned and approached the helicopter at high speed. The pilot made a 90-degree turn to avoid a collision, and the UFO made the same maneuver. An immediate descent by the helicopter was not reciprocated by the UFO, however, which stopped and then returned to its original position before disappearing. The air traffic controller reported that both the helicopter and UFO could clearly be seen on radar until the moment the helicopter began to make its approach from a distance of three and three-quarter miles, at which point both “targets” disappeared from the screen for about twenty seconds. The incident, lasting twenty-three minutes, was also tracked by an air defense radar station.5

ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION ALTHOUGH CASES INVOLVING THE DISAPPEARANCE OF AIRCRAFT

during confrontations with UFOs (such as that of the young Australian pilot Frederick Valentich in 19786) are rare, there have now been a sufficient number to warrant serious concern. And in two incidents that occurred in Puerto Rico in 1988, both thoroughly investigated by Jorge Martin, witnesses came forward who claim to have actually observed these dramatic events as they happened. On the evening of November 16, 1988, Yesenia Velazquez observed a huge ball of yellow light in the municipality of San German. She summoned her family, and they all then witnessed an extraordinary sight. “Suddenly, two jet fighters appeared from the south, chasing the object,” recalled Yesenia’s father, Santiago. “The UFO stopped in midair . . . and the jets began flying over it, under it, and all around it. Then suddenly, they seemed to enter the object from underneath it, and disappeared! We couldn’t see them anymore, and the sound of their engines couldn’t be heard anymore. Then two smaller balls of light came out of the UFO and shot away at great speed. After that, the [main object] also disappeared at high speed.” Then, on December 28, 1988, many witnesses in the Cabo Rojo area observed a huge, triangular object, similar to that reported by over twenty-six hundred Belgian witnesses in 1989-1990. Reported Wilson Sosa:


26

ALIEN CONTACT

It was enormous, blinking with many colored lights. I ran and got my binoculars and could then clearly see that it was triangleshaped and slightly curved at its rear side. It made a turn back and then came over lower, appearing much larger. It was then that we noticed two jet fighters [F-14 Tomcats] right behind it. . . one tried to intercept it and passed right in front of it, at which point the UFO veered to the left and made a turn back, reducing its speed. The jets tried to intercept it three times, and that’s when the UFO slowed down and almost stopped in midair. . . . The second jet remained at the right side of the UFO and the other one positioned itself at the left rear side. Then—I don’t know exacdy what happened—if the jet entered the UFO by the rear, by its upper side, or what. That was when we all yelled, because we were afraid there would be a collision and maybe an explosion. The jet in the back just disappeared on top or inside of the UFO, because I was observing everything through my binoculars and it didn’t come out from the rear, the upper side or the other sides. The second jet remained very close to the right side of the UFO. It looked very small alongside that huge thing. As the UFO flew a little to the west, the jet disappeared, as well as its engine sound. . . . After “trapping” the jets, the UFO lowered its position and came close to the ground over the Sam an Lake. “It stood still in midair for a moment,” Sosa continued, “then ‘straightened’ its corners and gave off a big flash of light from the central ball of yellow light. It then divided itself in the middle into two separate and distinct triangular sections. . . . That’s when they both shot away at great speed. You could see red sparks falling from it when it divided itself.”7 Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the United States Navy have denied that any American aircraft were lost or destroyed in this incident. “There were no aviation mishaps or mysterious incidents involving U.S. Navy aircraft during that time frame,” wrote Rear Admiral David Rogers, Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare), in response to an inquiry by a member of the House of Representatives. “A top priority during aircraft accident investigations is obtaining all available eyewitness statements as quickly as possible after an event to help establish the cause factors of the mishap. Since the event did not involve U.S. Navy aircraft, no attempt


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

27

to contact the parties of this story is anticipated. I regret that the Navy cannot shed any greater light on the mystery observed by the people in Puerto Rico.”8 However, Jorge Martin subsequently obtained confirmation from a United States Navy source, who said that there were radar tapes showing what had happened, which were immediately classified and sent to Washington, D.C. “We were able to see what happened on the radar systems of the ships that were stationed nearby,” the Navy source revealed. “We saw when the smaller targets on the radar, which represented the jets, merged with a bigger one. After that, the big target seemed to split, and shot off at great speed. A lid has been placed on the whole incident. Many things like this have been happening, but we are not allowed to comment on anything.”9 During my first visit to Puerto Rico in August 1990, I visited the areas where these incidents had taken place. Jorge Martin introduced me to the principal witnesses, all of whom impressed me with their sincerity. It is also worth noting that the State Agency of Civil Defense takes these matters seriously. In a 1991 directive, Director Jose Nolla stated that “we judged it fitting and necessary that the Civil Defense of Puerto Rico should investigate and study the cases of sightings of unidentified objects with the purpose of guaranteeing that the same do not represent a threat to the safety of the Puerto Rican people. The study . . . will be the responsibility of a special committee comprising the State Director, Assistant State Director, Head of Geographical Intelligence, Head of Government Operations, the Representative of the Observatory of Arecibo, the Representative of the Department of Natural Resources, and the Representative of the National Guard of Puerto Pico. Other Government representatives . . . will take part in the study should the need arise. . . .”10 A copy of this internal directive was obtained by Jorge Martin, who learned that the study was initiated by the U.S. Department of Defense. Furthermore, Colonel Jose Nolla was at one time a military liaison officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency and has stated under oath in a hearing before the Puerto Rican Senate that he, the military, and the State Agency of Civil Defense had investigated numerous UFO sightings—as well as mysterious animal mutilations linked with them—in his country. Incidents involving military aircraft and UFOs continue to be reported in Puerto Rico. On April 28, 1992, for instance, Freddie Cruz, director of the Civil Defense Agency of Lajas, together with other


28

ALIEN CONTACT

witnesses, observed a “flying saucer” being chased by a U.S. Navy jet in that area. “The saucer was metallic, silvery, and highly polished, and it seemed to be playing with the jet,” he told Jorge. “It would continually stop in the air suddenly, then just as the jet was about to catch up, it would move away quickly. . . . Finally, as the jet was about to close in once again, it suddenly split in two, then each part flew away. ...” Cruz has witnessed other sightings in southwest Puerto Rico, particularly in the Laguna Cartagena area. “We have seen brightly coloured ovoid and round objects as they overfly the area, making right-angled turns, and sometimes they enter the lagoon and disappear underwater. The UFOs are there, they really are. So that’s why I can’t remain silent while others ridicule those who have seen these things. ...” Do these events signify hostility, or could something even more sensational be involved? While I was in Puerto Rico, I heard rumors to the effect that the United States Government could be engaged in some type of liaison with the aliens. An outlandish suggestion, of course, but there is no doubt that some very odd happenings are reported to have occurred in this area, as we shall learn in Chapter 10.

OFFICIAL RUSSIAN RECOGNITION IN AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT MADE IN APRIL 1990, GENERAL IGOR

Maltsev, former Chief of the General Staff of the USSR’s Air Defense Forces, admitted that over one hundred observations of UFOs had been reported to him on March 21 that year. Fie stated: According to the evidence of eyewitnesses, the UFO was a disc with a diameter from 100 to 200 meters. Two pulsating lights were positioned on its sides. When the object flew in a horizontal plane, the line of the lights was parallel to the horizon. During vertical movement it rotated and was perpendicular to the ground. Moreover, the object rotated around its axis and performed an “S-turn” flight, both in the horizontal and vertical planes. Next, the UFO hovered above the ground and then flew with a speed exceeding that of the modern-day jet fighter by two or three times. All of the observers noticed that the flight speed was


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

29

directly related to the flashing of the side lights: The more often they flashed, the higher the speed. . . .

The object was observed as a “blip” from a radar target on the screens of aircraft gunsights, as well as on several ground-based radar units, Maltsev added. The newspaper in which this information appeared commented that General Maltsev’s testimony was important confirmation for claims that UFOs are piloted craft, contradicting theories that they are merely atmospheric phenomena. Maltsev provided a report from a Soviet Air Force pilot of the incident, which took place in the vicinity of Pereslavl-Zalesskiy, about eighty miles northeast of Moscow:

I, Lieutenant Colonel A. A. Semenchenko, received the command to go on an alert exercise. At 2138 hours, I received the command for takeoff. In the air, in the region of Pereslavl, I received my task of detecting and identifying a target at an altitude of 2,000 meters. I visually detected the target, designated by two flashing white lights, at 2205 hours. I was following a true course of 220 degrees and it was ahead and to the right, at an angle of 10 degrees. The target altered its altitude by amounts ranging up to 1,000 meters and changed its direction of flight. With the permission of the command center, I locked my sights onto the radiation after checking to be sure the weaponry was switched off. The target did not respond to the “identify—friend or foe” request. In addition to the target, three or four regularly scheduled airliners could be observed on the screen. As ordered by the command post, I carried out a banked turn. While completing the turn, I observed a luminous phenomenon, reminiscent of the aurora borealis but with a weak intensity, to the north and northwest. I approached the target to within about 500 to 600 meters. I passed above the target, trying to define its character. I observed only two bright flashing white lights. I briefly saw the silhouette of the target against the background of the illuminated city. It was difficult to determine its nature and classification, due to the limited lighting. At the order of the command center, I ended my mission and returned to the airfield.


30

ALIEN CONTACT

Another official report confirms that the UFO was tracked at a radar center near Pereslavl-Zalesskiy: At 2155 hours the object disappeared at an azimuth of 240 and a range of 40 kilometers . . . At 2159 hours there was an observation of an airplane at an azimuth of 250 degrees, a range of 30—50 kilometers, and a course of 330 degrees. The object turned and, at great speed, approached the airplane. After an approach to a distance of about twenty kilometers, the object disappeared from the field of observation and appeared again to the rear and above the plane. The object moved in an arc at azimuth 270. At 2201 hours, the object hovered in place at an azimuth of 190-200 degrees and a range up to 100 kilometers. At 2203 hours, a fighter aircraft appeared ... at an azimuth of 240 degrees. While the fighter was approaching the object, the latter disappeared. At 2205 hours, the object appeared at an azimuth of 190-220 degrees, hovered, and after one to two minutes, disappeared. “The object looked like a flying saucer with two very bright lights along the edges,” reported another observer, Captain V. Birin. “Its diameter was approximately one hundred to two hundred meters (judging by the shining lights). A less intense light, which looked like a porthole, could be seen between the two bright lights. . . . The trajectory depended on the flashing of the bright side lights—the more often they flashed, the faster the speed of the UFO and vice versa. While hovering, the object extinguished its lights almost completely. At 2230 hours, the object headed off in the direction of Moscow.” “The movement of the UFO was not accompanied by sound of any kind and was distinguished by its startling maneuverability,” commented General Maltsev. “It seemed that the UFO was completely devoid of inertia. In other words, they had somehow ‘come to terms’ with gravity. At the present time, terrestrial machines hardly have any such capability.”11 A number of additional Soviet Air Force UFO incidents have been brought to my attention by Nikolai Lebedev, a leading Russian researcher. On October 8, 1990, for example, two huge unidentified targets were tracked on radar over the vicinity of Groznyy, ChechenIngush, according to S. Prokoshin, commander of the local air unit, and an interceptor jet was sent to investigate.


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

31

“At 1127 hrs. I was given the coordinates of the target and the task of finding it,” reported the pilot, Major P. Riabishev. “According to information from the command unit, the object was at an altitude of 4.5 kilometers. The weather was cloudless and visibility fine, but the search proved to be in vain. I informed the command unit then made a turn and headed back to base. Suddenly, something forced me to turn round. Behind me and to the right, I saw two cigar-shaped objects, of considerable dimensions. The length of the first was about two kilometers, the length of the second about four hundred meters. They were positioned one beside the other and were clearly visible. The smaller object was streaked with silver, reflecting the sun, while the larger one looked dull. “I noticed that the UFOs were moving sideways at great speed. I made a turn and began to approach them, but suddenly both targets disappeared instandy from my field of vision, although traces of the targets remained on the radar screen.”12 Glasnost has led to a relatively open attitude toward the subject of UFOs in the USSR (now the Commonwealth of Independent States). In January 1989, for example, I was invited to express my views openly in an interview on Leningrad television, whereas on previous visits, such an opportunity would not have been available. I was also surprised when, in the space section of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements in Moscow, I came across a UFO stand featuring a display of photographs, books, and magazines—including Britain’s FSR> one of the leading journals on the subject.13 In response to a question about UFOs from a group of workers in the Urals in early 1990, former president Mikhail Gorbachev stated that “the phenomenon ofUFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously ”14 Times have changed, but I must point out that the Committee for State Security (KGB) and its successor organization (the Russian Security Ministry and Foreign Intelligence Service) has maintained a firm control over the dissemination of information on the subject. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to note that two Hollywood film companies currently own the rights to certain aspects of the KGB’s study of UFOs.

HIDE-AND-SEEK IN BELGIUM USSR, THE BELGIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY has now openly admitted that unexplained aerial objects have intruded IN ADDITION TO THE


32

ALIEN CONTACT

Fig. 1.1 One of the aerial devices seen over Belgium by several thousand witnesses, including pilots and police, between 1989—90. This object was seen over Mazy on 11 December, 1989. (Gerard Grede)

into its airspace. Since November 1989, over three thousand witnesses, including military personnel, pilots, police, air traffic controllers, engineers and scientists, have reported sightings in Belgium. The UFOs are usually described as huge, triangular- or rectangular-shaped devices (Figure 1.1 and Appendix 2). On the night of March 30-31, 1990, ten days after the Soviet Air Force incidents, several police patrols and other witnesses reported a UFO, which was confirmed by radar units at Glons and Semmerzake. Two Belgian Air Force F-16 fighters were sent to intercept, guided by police on the ground. The pilots succeeded in “locking on” to the target with their radar. At first, the object had been moving very slowly—as low as 25 miles per hour—but suddenly, it accelerated at an incredible speed, and dropped from an altitude of 7,500 feet to below 750 feet in the space of a second! On three occasions that night, the F-16s locked on to the target, and each time the object took evasive action, playing hide-and-seek with the planes by diving to below 750 feet—out of radar range— then leisurely climbing back into radar range.


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

33

“There was a logic in the movements of the UFO,” declared Belgian Air Force Chief of Operations, Colonel Wilfried De Brouwer, who ruled out meteorological or electromagnetic phenomena as the source of the radar echoes. The incidents, lasting for seventy-five minutes, were observed by many witnesses on the ground, including twenty policemen. Thanks to Belgian Defense Minister Guy Coeme, tapes from the F-16 “black boxes” have now been made available, clearly indicating the target (which was close to the planes) as it was automatically tracked by computer.15 Although the Air Force refused to allow the pilots to give interviews, in order to avoid unwelcome publicity, Colonel De Brouwer nevertheless fully endorses their reports. “They’re young guys, and they think it was something special,” he remarked. “TheyTe convinced that it was something.”16 In an unprecedented degree of official cooperation, the Belgian Air Force placed a number of aircraft, including a British Aerospace 748 twin-turboprop equipped with infrared and other sophisticated sensors at the disposal of a UFO group, the Societe Beige d’Etude des Phenomenes Spatiaux (SOBEPS), during an extensive skywatch held during the Easter 1990 weekend. Over one thousand citizens, together with police patrols, were involved, and although a number of observations from the ground were made, each time the aircraft arrived on the scene, the mystery intruder descended to rooftop level, which, combined with poor weather, made interception impossible.17

THE FLYING COMPLAINTS FLIGHT THE BRITISH MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WILL BE AMONG THE LAST,

I am sure, to acknowledge openly the fact that our airspace is being intruded by unidentified, intelligently controlled aerial devices, although they have never denied the existence of UFOs per se. In 1991, for example, full-page advertisements for recruiting Royal Air Force fighter controllers appeared in major British newspapers. Headed UFO OR VIP? above a picture of “blips” on a radar screen, the ad included a paragraph that stated: “Whether it is reporting on unidentified objects, guiding fighter pilots, or checking on thousands of manmade objects orbiting the earth, Fighter Controllers are maintaining the defense of their country in one of the most high-pressure environments there is.”


34

ALIEN CONTACT

As disclosed in Above Top Secret, the Royal Air Force has been engaged in clandestine research into UFOs for many years, and together with the Defense Intelligence Staff and the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, investigations are allegedly carried out by a secret “lodger” unit, sequestered under the Flying Complaints Flight, based at Royal Air Force (RAF) Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire, headquarters of the Provost and Security Services (P&SS). A new independent source has subsequently come forward with corroborative details, as well as additional relevant information. My new informant, a former special investigator for the Provost and Security Services, has learned that certain UFO sightings are initially investigated by the Provost and Security Services special investigators attached to the Flying Complaints Flight at Rudloe Manor. I have been given to understand that the unit is staffed by senior noncommissioned officers and officers trained in all aspects of special investigations and counterintelligence. Reports are forwarded to the director of security and provost marshal (RAF) at the Metropole Building in Northumberland Avenue, London, then to the appropriate department within the Ministry of Defense—most probably DI55 of the Defense Intelligence Staff, as the Ministry of Defense has admitted to me. Interestingly, it was in the Northumberland Avenue building that Gordon Creighton was working as an intelligence officer in a certain department when he had several opportunities to discuss the subject with CIA and United States Air Force personnel who were liaising with their British counterparts in the Air Ministry on top-secret investigations into the phenomenon. Creighton learned that the Deputy Directorate of Intelligence (Technical) employed full-time researchers during this period (the 1950s), a fact consistently denied by the Ministry of Defense. And in 1957, Reynolds News revealed the existence of Room 801, on the ninth floor, where all reports were collected and analyzed. Room 801, it was claimed, was top secret, its interior never seen by unauthorized persons.18 A former noncommissioned officer who also worked as a senior investigator with the Provost and Security Services confirmed to my source that the Flying Complaints Flight dealt with UFO reports and that these were forwarded to the provost marshal’s office, then to the appropriate department in the Ministry of Defense. Prior to moving to Rudloe Manor, the Flying Complaints Flight operated from an office in Government Buildings, Bromyard Avenue, in Acton, London, I was informed. A former counterintelligence in-


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

35

vestigator (whose name is known to me) revealed to my informant that although he was security-cleared to the highest category, he was denied access to this office during the period he worked there, from 1963 to 1965. CC I had access to every Top Secret file there was, except Low Flying, because I understand they dealt with UFOs,” the investigator disclosed, adding that the unit was small, situated in a well-locked office at the end of a corridor. ccWe could get in anywhere, but not in that department. I remember they used to have an Air Ministry guard in the passage—you couldn’t get past them. We could see the provost marshal’s Top Secret files, yet I couldn’t get into the place dealing with UFOs. . . .” Rudloe Manor does not serve as a twenty-four-hour “tracking station,” as I had been told by an earlier source, but Royal Air Force police investigators there do operate a twenty-four-hour service for UFO reports, as well as at a number of other P&SS units around the country. “From my personal experience as a serving member of the RAF Provost and Security Services,” my source concluded, “also from the information obtained from my two informants, I am sure beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt that all initial investigations into UFOs are carried out by investigators of the P&SS, who are serving in a small secret unit with the Flying Complaints Flight based at FIQ, P&SS, Rudloe Manor. I believe the activities of this unit to be so secret that fellow investigators serving in the Special Investigations and Counterintelligence sections of the RAF are not fully aware of the activities of the FCF. ...” My informant went on to elaborate on the possible operational procedures involved in the handling of UFO reports:

1. UFO incident reported and chaneled through Flying Complaints Flight (FCF). 2. File opened and investigation activated. 3. Notification sent to provost marshal’s office, Northumberland Avenue, followed by regular reports. 4. Provost marshal’s office forwards memos and copies to DI(55), who in turn issues memos/instructions etc. back to the provost marshal’s office, who in turn instructs FCF. There would be no general direct contact between DI(55)B and FCF, but on occasions, in very important cases, FCF and


36

ALIEN CONTACT

DI(55)B staff could well work together. The Security Service (MI5) could also become involved in certain cases. 5. DI(55)B would in any event report to the Security Service (MI5) HQ, Curzon Street, London, who would in turn liaise with the Prime Minister, depending on the nature of the investigation. 6. Throughout any UFO investigation, it is most likely that private UFO research groups, as well as witnesses, would be subjected to an official monitoring operation. None of this shows, of course, that Her Majesty's Government has established contact with aliens, nor indeed does it prove that the phenomenon is even extraterrestrial in origin. What it does show is that the government takes the whole issue a great deal more seriously than we have been led to believe, and in company with the American intelligence community classifies its findings at a highly secret level.

SECURITY THREAT I SUGGESTED THE PROBABILITY THAT THE British Government liaises with a number of American agencies on UFO research, including the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency; the former, via the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and the latter via the Defense Intelligence Agency Liaison branch at the Ministry of Defense (DIALL). Evidence for the involvement of the DIALL has now been provided for me by researcher Nicholas Redfern, who in 1990 received some material from the DIA via the DIALL at Ministry of Defense’s Main Building in Whitehall, as is clearly marked on the envelope. Nicholas Redfern has also provided me with a number of recendy released Royal Air Force reports dating back to the 1950s, many of which had been forwarded to the Deputy Directorate of Intelligence (Technical). A 1953 memo from headquarters, Southern Sector, for example, states: IN ABOVE TOP SECRET

It has been decided that sightings of aerial phenomena by Royal Air Force personnel are in future to be reported in wridng by Officers Commanding Units immediately and directed to Air Ministry (DDI [Tech.]) with copies to Group and Command Headquarters. ... It is essential that the information should be


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

37

examined at the Air Ministry and that its release should be controlled officially . . . personnel are to be warned that they are not to communicate to anyone other than official persons any information about phenomena they have observed, unless officially authorized to do so.19 During his inquiries into the RAF Topcliffe incident of September 1952,20 Redfern was advised by the Public Record Office that although it was possible that some records of the Ministry of Defense’s Scientific Intelligence Branch may become available for inspection in 1991, “because of the nature of these files, many will be under extended closure and so closed for fifty, seventy-five, or one hundred years.”21 In my previous book, I cited a number of incidents involving civilian witnesses who had been approached by government investigators and asked not to communicate their reports to the media. A Ministry of Defense spokesman disclaimed Ministry responsibility for these visits when I discussed the matter with him, yet I continue to receive information from both military and civilian sources indicating that such requests have indeed been made. Shortly after five-thirty A.M. on December 2, 1982, Elizabeth Merritt was driving to work in Bury St. Edmunds from her home in Honington, Suffolk, when she was surprised by an unusual sight. She described the incident to me as follows: I had just passed Troston, and as I approached the junction where The Bull public house is, there were three bright white beams of light coming straight down. There was no shape behind the lights; they seemed to be in a triangle, but not particularly symmetrical. I couldn’t believe it, so I stopped my car, turned off my radio, and opened the car door. I couldn’t hear anything. I thought I must be imagining it, so I carried on driving, put the radio back on, and took the right junction. After that, it’s a straight road. And this contraption followed me up the road—I could see the bright lights moving along in the rear mirror. My heart was absolutely thumping by that time. It was so real. I’ll admit I wasn’t very brave—I was really shaking. But I’m a very cool-headed person in emergencies. Then this thing veered off to the right—and the lights were gone. And I thought it must be just my imagination—it’s not a spaceship, it’s nothing peculiar. So I drove on to the office in Bury St. Edmunds. I was a bit unnerved, but I said nothing to anybody.


38

ALIEN CONTACT

The following morning, Mrs. Merritt left home at exactly the same time and took the same route, stopping her car in the same locations as the previous morning, but no lights diat might have accounted for the sighting could be seen. “I just wanted to make sure that I hadn’t imagined it,” she told me. Returning home at lunchtime, Mrs. Merritt asked her husband, who worked at nearby RAF Honington, to check at the base if there had been any helicopter movements during the time in question, then went on to recount the sighting to him. “So he rang up air traffic control. They wanted to know why he was asking, and he explained that I thought I had seen helicopter movements. And they didn’t say yes or no.” Shortly afterward, an intelligence officer from the base telephoned to ask Mrs. Merritt for precise details of her sighting. “I know what I saw, and I know I didn’t imagine it,” she told him, “and this is why I asked my husband to confirm that there were no helicopter movements, because they’re the only aircraft that would have such bright lights shining down to the ground like that.” The flight lieutenant made no comment, but phoned back later the same day. “He asked me to go over the story again,” Mrs. Merritt said. ‘Well, I have a very good photographic memory, and I went over it line for line. And he said, ‘Now, I don’t want you to go to the media about this.’ I said, Well, I’m not interested in the media, but can you confirm that I didn’t imagine it?’ I never got a yes or no.” The following Monday morning, December 6, as A1 Merritt was working at RAF Honington, an interesting message was relayed over the Tannoy system. “It was to the effect that if anyone had seen anything unusual in the sky, they were to see the intelligence officer and were not to communicate with anyone else about it,” Mr. Merritt told me, adding that in his opinion, the announcement was direcdy related to his wife’s sighting and subsequent interview.22 In a 1989 letter to Member of Parliament Andrew Mitchell, regarding an inquiry on the subject by Nottingham constituent Bob Needham, Michael Neubert, parliamentary under-secretary of state for defense for the armed forces, responded (in part) as follows: . . . the Ministry of Defense’s sole interest in these matters is to establish whether or not reported sightings of UFOs present a threat to the security and defense of the United Kingdom, using a judgment based on military expertise and an analysis of the available information. Unless we judge that they do present a


AERIAL CONFRONTATION

39

threat, and this is not normally the case, no farther attempt is made to investigate or identify the phenomenon. Moreover, I am sure you will appreciate that we do not have the resources to undertake in-depth studies and that we could not justify the use of defense funds on scientific investigations unless a clear threat to the security of the UK had been identified. . . . The MoD does not possess any positive evidence to suggest that “alien” spacecraft have landed or crashed on the planet nor are we aware of any form of communication with extraterrestrials. . . ,23 [My italics] The fact that threats to Britain’s security are “not normally the case” implies that such threats have indeed occurred. And as to the lack of defense funds to undertake in-depth investigations, I have learned otherwise. Via an academic source who was involved in secret research for the Ministry of Defense, I was informed that in 1978, for example (a year of intensive UFO activity), no less than twenty-one million dollars had been appropriated. The same source confirmed that secret research by the Royal Air Force had determined the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs, and furthermore suggested that the origin of humankind was in some way connected with the visitors. Unfortunately, I am unable to substantiate these claims except in apocryphal terms. Hundreds of people throughout the world—and I have personally interviewed many—claim to have had actual communications with extraterrestrial beings, and the theme of genetic links with humanity is a recurrent one. I have yet to find any convincing evidence that alien spacecraft have crashed in the United Kingdom, although in 1958, Dr. Olavo Fontes was informed by naval intelligence sources in Brazil that one such incident had taken place. No details were given.24 But there is ample evidence that crashes and retrievals have occurred in other countries, particularly in the United States, as will be discussed in later chapters.

A “DEAL”? JOHN LEAR IS THE ONLY PILOT TO HOLD EVERY AIRMAN CERTIF-

icate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, and has not only flown more than one hundred sixty types of aircraft in over fifty countries, but has also flown many missions worldwide for the Central Intelligence Agency. He first became interested in UFOs in early 1987,


40

ALIEN CONTACT

after talking with United States Air Force personnel who had witnessed the landing of a UFO outside the USAF/RAF bases at Woodbridge/Bentwaters, England, in December 1980.25 Based on his research, drawn from a number of independent sources and blended with published material, Lear believes that during 196971, a secret United States Government group made a “deal” with an alien species, called “Extraterrestrial Biological Entities,” or “EBEs,” as they are referred to in the spurious “Majestic-12” briefing document allegedly prepared for President-elect Eisenhower in 1952 (see Chapter 6). The “deal” supposedly stipulated that in exchange for technology which the aliens would provide us with, the government agreed to “ignore” the abduction of humans and suppress information regarding the mutilation of animals. The abductions were alleged to be for the purpose of monitoring the development of our civilization, while the mutilations—involving the extraction of enzymes or hormonal secretions—were said to be essential to the aliens’ survival. There is more to this unbelievable scenario, including the allegation that the abductions turned out to have a more sinister purpose: the insertion of probes in the abductees, posthypnotic suggestions to carry out certain specific activities, and genetic experiments, including the impregnation of human females and early termination of pregnancies to secure crossbreed infants;26 theories proposed, for example, by Budd Hopkins in his books on the abduction phenomenon.27 John Lear’s statements have naturally provoked a great deal of outrage, effectively alienating him from the mainstream of “serious” UFO research. He has now admitted to me that some of his sources have proved to be unreliable and that he has occasionally made rather extreme statements. Yet, he maintains that the scenario is basically true. And in one respect, at least, he could be right. The idea that aliens could be involved in animal mutilations goes back several decades, and is now inextricably woven into the fabric of UFO lore. But is there any truth to this bizarre and disturbing theory?


9, 1967, A THREE-YEAR-OLD colt named Lady was found dead near Alamosa, in the San Luis Valley area of southern Colorado. The entire head of the animal was stripped clean of all flesh and muscle, and the brain, organs, and spine were missing. No signs of blood or tire tracks near the animal could be found. Fifteen circular “exhaust” marks were discovered in the vicinity, and a three-foot circle of six or eight holes in the ground, each about four inches across and three to four inches deep, was found near a damaged bush forty feet away from the animal’s body. A Forest Service ranger checked with a Geiger counter and found evidence of radiation around the “exhaust” marks, but the radiation count decreased the closer he approached the horse’s carcass.1 Dr. John Altshuler, currently assistant clinical professor of medicine (hematology) and pathology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, investigated the case ten days later and was profoundly shocked by what he found: ON SEPTEMBER

When I got close to the horse, I could see that it was also cut from the neck down to the base of the chest in a vertical, clean incision. At the edge of the cut, there was a darkened color as if the flesh had been opened and cauterized with a surgical cauterizing blade. The outer edges of the cut skin were firm, almost as if they had been cauterized with a modern-day laser. But there was no surgical laser technology like that in 1967. . . . I cut tissue samples from the hard, darker edge. Later, I viewed


42

ALIEN CONTACT the tissue under a microscope. At the cell level, there was discoloration and destruction consistent with changes caused by burning. Most amazing was the lack of blood. I have done hundreds of autopsies. You can’t cut into a body without getting some blood. But there was no blood on the skin or on the ground. No blood anywhere. That impressed me the most. Then inside the horse’s chest, I remember the lack of organs. Whoever did the cutting took the horse’s heart, lungs, and thyroid. The mediastinum was completely empty—and dry. How do you get the heart out without blood?

As he further describes in Linda Howe’s book on the animal mutilations, An Alien Harvest, Dr. Altshuler was also witness to a sighting of UFOs in the Great Sand Dunes National Monument park, shortly before becoming involved in the mutilation investigation. He had heard about sightings in the vicinity and one night went into the park by himself. “About 2-3 A.M., I saw three very bright, white lights moving together slowly below the Sangre De Cristo mountaintops,” Dr. Altshuler reported. “I knew there were no roads up on those rugged mountains, so the lights could not be cars. . . . Those lights were below the tops of the mountain range and moved at a slow, steady pace. At one point, I thought they were coming toward me because [they] got bigger. Then suddenly, they shot upward and disappeared. ...” So shocked was Dr. Altshuler by both the sightings and the subsequent investigation of the mutilation that he refused to allow his name to be associated with either. “I was unbelievably frightened,” he said. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I was so afraid I would be discovered, discredited, fired, no longer would have credibility in the medical community. My experience in 1967 was so overwhelming to me, I denied the experience to everyone, even to myself. . . .”2 I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Altshuler during the Ozark UFO Conference in Arkansas in 1990, and was struck by the sincerity of the man. He let me handle preserved samples of tissue taken from a mutilated cow and tissue that had been cut with a laser, and the difference is readily apparent. The Alamosa case was the first to attract worldwide attention, and thousands of similar cases have been reported since that time. In about 90 percent of cases, cattle are involved, but horses, sheep, goats, and other animals (including domestic species) have been found mutilated


A QUESTION OF NEED?

43

in similar circumstances. The phenomenon is by no means restricted to the United States.3 In many cases, sex organs are removed from the animals (Appendix 3), and this has fueled speculation that satanic cults are responsible. While this may be so in some cases, it is doubtful if such cults would be able to excise the organs with such immaculate precision, leaving no signs of blood or other traces. Neither has anyone yet been caught in the act, although large rewards (as high as forty-five thousand dollars) have been offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible. Predators have also been blamed for the mutilations, but, as we shall see, this theory can only apply in a minority of cases. A more plausible theory is that the mutilations are done as part of a secret United States Government research project, such as germ warfare experimentation. Again, while there are definite indications of government involvement in some cases, such as is described in the following account, evidence of direct government responsibility remains tenuous.

A MILITARY CONNECTION IN 1988, I RECEIVED SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION FROM A

man whose superficial investigation of the Alamosa mutilation led to a curious sequel with the military. Raymond Ingraham was a sophomore engineering student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the fall of 1967 when he met Mike Kellenbarger, a keen student of the UFO subject who was a member of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). During the Christmas break that year, Raymond, Mike, and another friend decided to travel to the San Luis Valley, where further animal mutilations and UFO sightings had occurred. “Quite frankly, it was more of an adventure than a serious research effort,” Ingraham told me. The distance from Boulder to the San Luis Valley is about three hundred miles, and on the way, the group stopped in Colorado Springs to pick up some food supplies from the United States Air Force Academy, where Mike’s father was an officer. Then they proceeded on their journey. “We arrived in the Valley very late on a Friday evening and merely pulled off the road, as we were in a camper. The evening was bitter cold, but uneventful.” The following day, the group was fortunate to


44

ALIEN CONTACT

meet the farmer whose family owned Lady (presumably Harry King, who had discovered the carcass). Ingraham continued: Although initially very suspicious and somewhat hesitant to even speak to us, he gradually warmed up to our visit, and spoke freely of the experience. He took us to the spot where Lady was found, and even then, so many months after the event, one could plainly see the outline of the horse, as nothing would grow there. It was at this time that I noticed a gray station wagon about a quarter-mile down the road from the farmhouse. I had my camera with me and had an 80-210mm zoom lens on it. As the farmer was talking, I raised my camera up and slowly panned toward the car. As I began to zoom in and focus on the car, it abruptly started up and raised a cloud of dust, obscuring the vehicle completely. The farmer stated nonchalandy that that sort of thing happened dll the time, and had increased manyfold since he reported the horse mutilation. But he went on to state that it had happened prior to the mutilation as well, after he had complained to the Air Force about unmarked helicopters skimming across the valley, shooting at coyotes, and sometimes frightening livestock. He stated that B-52 bombers from an Air Force base in New Mexico would come in low at night and do mock bombing runs at the sand dunes, creating deafening noise and disruption. Returning to the house, the farmer told us several unbelievable tales of lights, strange vehicles, and saucers that were fairly common in the area. Quite frankly, the isolation of the farm and the strangeness of the farmer led me to believe that he wasn’t completely sane, but on the other hand, his tale of harrassment by the press and the Air Force was not totally unbelievable. He seemed to be sincerely sorry that he had reported the mutilation in the first place. During this trip, on one other occasion while in Alamosa, we spotted a gray station wagon parked down the street from us while we were refueling our truck. We never were sure if they were watching us, although there was a person in the driver’s seat even when it was parked. The trip was, other than the interview with the farmer, fairly uneventful. We saw no unexplainable phenomena, even though we spent two nights scanning the skies with binoculars and cameras. We all agreed that the San Luis Valley would be an ideal


A QUESTION OF NEED?

45

spot for UFOs to hide, as the vastness of the area is difficult to describe. We journeyed back to Boulder. Over time, we all went our separate ways. I dropped out of school in 1969, and lost track of Mike. I received my draft notice in January of 1970, and after shopping all the armed services, elected to enlist in the U.S. Army, and was accepted in the Army Intelligence section, with a specialty in photo reconnaissance. I proceeded to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for my basic training. In my initial screening/ clearing interview, I was asked point-blank why I had gone to Alamosa in 1967 and what was I doing there. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted (a) that they knew I was there and (b) why on earth it concerned them. When the discussion of APRO ensued, they asked me if I had joined, to which I honestly replied “No.” This apparently satisfied them. Due to a preexisting stomach ulcer I never got into Army Intelligence, and was discharged in March 1970. . . .4

OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE LATTER DAYS OF THE AIR FORCE’S PROJECT BLUE BOOK

UFO investigations (1952-1969), Dr. J. Allen Hynek was asked by Major Hector Quintanilla of the Blue Book office to interview a farmer who had written to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara immediately following a UFO/cattle incident in February 1968. The farmer, who lived about thirty miles north of Kansas City, Missouri, had been awakened at 3:20 A.M. by the bawling of his cattle. Outside, he saw the cows staring up at an illuminated object that appeared to be at least a hundred feet in diameter, hovering about twenty to twentyfive feet off the ground, making a pulsating, swishing noise. The farmer explained that his cows scattered, and the object eventually took off rapidly. “I have been losing a cow or two now and then, undoubtedly stolen without trace,” he wrote to McNamara. “On seeing the craft, I remember thinking, cNo wonder I have found no evidence! They are being hauled off by air!’ ” Dr. Hynek conducted an interview by telephone and was impressed by the witness, though he regretted not having conducted a personal interview. “Blue Book did not, of course, consider it worthwhile to expend time and money for me to visit this witness,” he reported. The case was simply filed away as “unexplained.”5


46

ALIEN CONTACT

In April 1973, United States Attorney Allen Danielson asked the FBI to launch an intensive investigation, following a spate of mutilations in Iowa. Although an agreement was reached to cooperate with the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation and several county sheriffs,6 the FBI appears to have been reluctant to investigate cases. Another request was made to the FBI two years later. In August 1975, following one hundred thirty cases of cattle mutilations in a two-year period, confirmed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Senator Floyd Haskell wrote to the FBI requesting assistance. In his letter, Haskell noted that some rural residents had reported being chased by helicopters and that ranchers were arming themselves to protect their stock and families. “I talked with FBI Director Clarence Kelley and also with his chief assistant in Washington, and they looked into possible grounds for the FBI to enter the case,” Haskell reported. “But since there is no evidence of interstate movements in connection with the reported mutilations, the FBI concluded that it has no jurisdiction. Although the FBI assistance would have been welcome, after talking with CBI [Colorado Bureau of Investigation] officers I am satisfied that agency is conducting a thorough investigation. I am hopeful that, with the cooperation of local law enforcement officials, the CBI will be able to learn who or what is behind the mutilations and put an end to the fears of rural Coloradans.”7 By 1974, ranchers in Nebraska had become so angered by the mutilations that they armed themselves with rifles and shotguns and formed vigilante groups. “Fve never seen anything like this,” Nebraska State Senator Jules Burbach commented in September 1974. “Folks are almost hysterical.” Since so many unmarked helicopters had been seen in the areas where the mutilations had occurred, the ranchers began shooting at them. After two bullets penetrated the canopy of a utility-company helicopter checking power lines, the Nebraska National Guard ordered its pilots to cruise cross-country at higher altitudes than normal to avoid being fired on by irate ranchers and farm hands.8 In some areas, helicopters were grounded. In addition to the helicopters, strange lights and UFOs continued to be seen by the ranchers. “I have had reports of UFOs in this area, but have never seen any myself,” said Sheriff Richards of Cochran County, Colorado, in the spring of 1975. “The people who have been reporting this all tell the same story. It is about as wide as a two-lane highway, round, and looks the color of the sun when it is going down and has got a blue glow around it. When these people see this thing,


A QUESTION OF NEED?

47

in two or three days we hear about some cows that have been mutilated.”9 Later that year, Colorado’s Governor Richard Lamm expressed his anger during a meeting of the state’s cattlemen’s association. “The mutilations are one of the greatest outrages in the history of the western cattle industry,” he announced. “It is important that we solve this mystery as soon as possible. The cattle industry already is hard hit from an economic point of view. From a human point, we cannot allow these mutilations to continue.”10 In early 1975, the Coryell County deputy sheriff and Department of Public Safety (DPS) officials investigating the mutilation of a calf near Copperas Cove, Texas, discovered that, typically, the sex organs had been removed bloodlessly. Peculiar markings were found near the carcass, consisting of concentric circles pressed into the hard ground, and in an open field about forty yards from the calf, an area about thirty feet in diameter was scarred by similar markings. Clumps of dried grass had been pressed down in a circular pattern as if by some tremendous force, which had dug up the ground and moved small rocks. Some of the clumps of grass seemed to have been “rotated” so fast that they had been uprooted. The DPS officials speculated that an aerial vehicle had been used in the operation. It was later learned that several residents near Copperas Cove and Killeen had observed a yellowish-orange light hovering over the farmland at around the same time as the mutilation.11 With the FBI’s initial refusal to become involved, investigations were mostly left to local law enforcement officials. The following abridged official report (released by the FBI) by Officer Gabriel Valdez of the New Mexico State Police provides an interesting example of an official investigation into the mutilations. The incident had occurred on June 13, 1976, at a ranch owned by Manuel Gomez near Duke, New Mexico: At the scene, writer examined carcass of a three-year-old black White-Faced cow which was lying on its right side. The left ear, the tongue, the udder, and the rectum had been removed with what appeared to be a sharp precise instrument. No traces of blood were left on the skin of the cow. . . . Other evidence on the cow was a small puncture on the brisket. No other evidence was available as to cause of death. Investigations continued around the area and revealed that a


48

ALIEN CONTACT

suspected aircraft of some type had landed twice, leaving pod marks positioned in a triangular shape. The diameter of each pod part was 14". The perimeter around the three pods was I6V2' (6' X 5' X SV2). Emanating from the two landings were smaller triangular-shaped tripods 26" apart and 4" in diameter. Investigation at the scene showed that these small tripods had followed the cow for approximately 600 feet. Tracks of the cow showed where she had struggled and fallen. The small tripod tracks were all around the cow. Other evidence showed that grass around the tripods, as they followed the cow, had been scorched. Also a yellow oily substance was located in two places under the small tripods. This substance was submitted to the State Police Lab. The Lab was unable to detect the content of the substance. . . . On 06-17-76 writer contacted a Mr. Howard Burgess from Albuquerque, N.M., to proceed to the scene and conduct a radiation test. This was three days after the incident had occurred. His findings were that around the tripod marks and in the immediate tracks, the radiation level was twice the normal background reading. Mr. Burgess’s qualifications may be checked as he is a retired scientist from Sandia Lab, Albuquerque. It is the opinion of this writer that radiation findings are deliberately being left at the scene to confuse investigators. . . . The cow had a three-month-old calf which has not been located since the incident. This appears strange since a small calf normally stays around the mother cow even though the cow is dead... . Officer Valdez noted that in all the cattle mutilations that had occurred in New Mexico and surrounding states at that time, “the object of the mutilations has been the lymph node system.” And he reported that on one of the mutilated cows, “a high dosage of Atropine insecticide was analyzed in the blood system.” Since Atropine is a tranquilizing drug, this would imply that either government agents or private individuals were responsible in this case, yet the presence of the drug need not necessarily be related to the mutilation, and investigations into later cases failed to confirm the presence of such drugs. During his investigations, Valdez studied several theories for the mutilations, including “Satan worshippers” and predators. “Both have been ruled out due to expertise and preciseness and the cost involved to conduct such a sophisticated and secretive operation,” Valdez noted in his report. “It should also be noted that during the spring of 1974,


A QUESTION OF NEED?

49

when a tremendous amount of cattle were lost due to heavy snowfalls, the carcasses had been eaten by predators. These carcasses did not resemble those of the mutilated cows.” In one of the New Mexico mutilated cows, a substance analyzed showed the presence of “an ion exchange resin and Vitamin B12.” Valdez concluded in his report that investigations had narrowed down to those theories which involved (1) the experimental use of vitamin B12, (2) the testing of the lymph node system, and (3) what was involved in germ warfare testing, and the possible correlation of these three factors.12 In another case reported by Manuel Gomez of Duke, involving the mutilation of an eleven-month-old Hereford-Charolais bull on April 24, 1978, Officer Valdez reported some additional unusual findings: Investigation showed that this . . . bull [had been] dropped by some type of aircraft north of Mr. Gomez’s ranch house. . . . The rectum and sex organs had been removed with a sharp and precise instrument. . . . The bull sustained visible bruises around the brisket, seeming to indicate that a strap was used to lift and lower the animal to and from the aircraft. . . . Prints were found . . . north of the slain animal. These fourinch-diameter round footprints led to the animal and . . . apparendy returned to a hovering aircraft. The imprints appeared to be quite heavy, since the ground was dry and hard. . . . These imprints appeared to have scraped the ground as they moved. The liver and heart of this animal were removed by this writer. Both the liver and heart were white and mushy. Both organs had the consistency of peanut butter. The carcass was dehydrated. The heart was taken to the Los Alamos Medical Laboratory to be analyzed and the liver was taken to three different laboratories. . . . The liver was checked against a healthy food-market liver, which showed a difference from the mutilated bull’s liver. The bull’s liver contained no copper, and four times the amount of phosphorous, zinc, and potassium. No explanation for this condition is available at the present time. . . . Also, the blood which came off the bull’s nose when it was presumably dropped, was light pink in color. . . . The hide on the animal was brittle and . . . flesh underneath the hide was pinkish in color. A probable explanation for the pinkish blood is a control type of radiation used to kill the animal, according to radiation experts. The red corpuscles are destroyed


50

ALIEN CONTACT leaving the pale pinkish color. ... It is believed that this type of radiation is not harmful to humans, although approximately seven people who visited the site complained of nausea and [illegible]. However, this writer has had no such symptoms after checking approximately eleven mutilations in the past four months. The only entrance to this mutilation site is through Mr. Gomez’s front yard. No vehicle was seen or heard entering the pasture. . . . However, a Mr. Martinez, who was visiting his son-inlaw Mauricio Gomez (brother of Manuel Gomez), heard a lowflying aircraft in the vicinity of where the mutilated bull was found at approximately 3:00 A.M. on 4-24-78. . . . Investigation of these strange mutilations has been hampered by an inability to find laboratories which will perform tests and report accurate findings. ... It is writer’s opinion that these animals have been marked for some time before they are mutilated. ... It is writer’s theory that these animals are picked up by aircraft, mutilated elsewhere, and returned and dropped from aircraft. This is indicated from bruised marks and broken bones on cattle. Identical mutilations have been taking place all over the Southwest ... no eyewitnesses to these incidents have come forward. . . . One has to admit that whoever is responsible for the mutilations is very well organized, with boundless technology and financing and secrecy. . . .13

SUBSTANCES TESTED DR. HOWARD BURGESS, THE RETIRED SANDIA LABORATORIES

scientist who conducted a great amount of research into mutilations in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, including, as confirmed in the preceding report, those that had occurred on Manuel Gomez’s ranch, pointed out in 1979 that up to that time an estimated ten thousand cases had taken place in the United States. “To the general public, the term mutilation has come to mean a crude sex operation done by some unknown cult,” he commented. “This is not true for the animals we are examining. In these animals, the same parts of the lymphatic and digestive tract are removed from each animal in a very precise and bloodless operation. The operation is generally performed in the air and the dead animal dropped. Many times the animals appear to have received some form of radiation.”


A QUESTION OF NEED?

51

Burgess discovered that 90 percent of the mutilated cattle were fourto five-year-old cows and heifers of less than one year old. Theorizing that the animals had perhaps been “marked” in some way, Burgess arranged for ultraviolet-light tests to be run on a herd of live cattle belonging to Gomez’s ranch on the Apache Indian Reservation near Duke. Late on the night of July 5, 1978, one hundred mixed cattle were checked, using five different types of ultraviolet lamps ranging through the spectrum, which were put in place over a narrow chute into which only one animal could pass at a time. “To our amazement,” Burgess reported, “three four-year-old cows and two young heifers had bright fluorescent splashes on their backs or top sides, fitting the pattern of animal types being mutilated in that area at that period. No markings were found on their sides, underneath, or lower parts. We were not able to find any liquid or solid in the corral or pasture that glowed with the same color or brilliance as the marks on the animals. The fluorescent marking was not from material picked up locally. If the animals were marked in advance, how was it done? When? By whom?” Near midnight, Tribal Police Chief Raleigh Tafoya of the Apache police stopped by to see how the operation was going. “Did you see the orange light moving around in the sky a while ago?” he asked. “It was the kind that always shows up when there’s a mutilation. Maybe they’re watching you tonight.” Later that night, two mutilations occurred a few miles away on a remote mountain slope. About four weeks after the fluorescent hair—containing some apparently metallic, organic material—had been removed from the animal (for analysis by the Schoenfeld Clinical Laboratories in Albuquerque), the fluorescence suddenly and inexplicably “turned off.” Four days before the ultraviolet test, on July 2, about twenty witnesses observed a disc hovering directly above a state-highway inspector’s pickup truck, outside his home in Taos, New Mexico. The object was described as being about twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter, glowing a brilliant pinkish-orange and emitting a “crackling” noise similar to that of an electrical high-tension corona discharge. As the witnesses watched, flaky material from the UFO showered down to the ground, some falling on the truck. The small light-gray flakes, averaging about one-sixteenth of an inch by about three-sixteenths and as thick as heavy paper, resembled chips of dried paint. Leroy Graham, the highway inspector, collected a substantial amount of the substance in a sterile fruit jar, and Dr. Burgess (after having learned


52

ALIEN CONTACT

of the incident six months later) arranged for an analysis to be conducted by the Schoenfeld laboratory. Dr. Robert Schoenfeld found twenty-two elements that generally occur in organic material, plus trace elements of europium, lanthanum, yttrium, platinum, and vanadium. In addition, substantial quantities of magnesium and potassium were found.14 Dr. Schoenfeld told journalist Larry Statser that the substance he tested was of the same chemical composition as the substance discovered on the cowhides he had analyzed previously. He explained that the material was similar to “slivers or chips of gray paint” with an “extremely high” quantity of potassium and magnesium. In fact, the potassium content was about seventy times higher than the normal amount for earth samples in the Taos area. A test under a spectrometer showed the substance to be similar to Teflon in composition, although both samples proved to be basically organic, “as opposed to a metal compound such as used on aircraft,” Schoenfeld said.15 Perhaps coincidentally, a mutilated animal, fitting the general age pattern of those marked, was found later that year (or possibly 1979), a short distance from the point where the UFO had hovered over Leroy Graham’s home in Taos. On the night before the mutilation, a similar UFO to the one reported in July was again observed in the area.16 In a report to the FBI director alluding to the Taos incident, retired FBI agent Kenneth Rommel, Jr., who came out of retirement to head a fifty-thousand-dollar FBI investigation established in early 1979 (the Animal Mutilation Project), concluded as follows:

Some of the individuals that are most vocal to the media have inferred that these flakes are identical with a substance that was taken from cowhides in a controlled test conducted in the Dulce, New Mexico, area ... I have not been able to locate a sample of the substance reportedly collected in the Dulce test, but it has been described as a fluorescent material. I have to date been unable to confirm any connection between these two substances, and have been told by those that have seen both that they are not identical. However, I would appreciate it if through the use of a G.S. Mass spectroscopy test or any other logical test, these flakes can be identified. This in itself would go a long way to assisting me to discredit the UFO-Cow Mutilation association theory. . . ,17


A QUESTION OF NEED?

53

The FBI Laboratory Report identified the material as a “white enamel paint typical of an acrylic latex/emulsion-type exterior house paint” which “appears to have originated from a wood substrate,” but that the “particular origin and/or manufacture of this paint cannot be determined.” Commenting on the animal mutilations in general, Rommel concluded that “most credible sources have attributed this damage to normal predator and scavenger activity”18 (Appendix 6), a conclusion he reaffirmed in his 297-page final report in June 1980. But critics, including Officer Valdez, pointed out that Rommel had failed to investigate the “classic” cases, concentrating instead on those cattle that had obviously died more naturally, and had not bothered to talk with the ranchers and investigators who were most familiar with the problem. Valdez complained that the report “looks very convincing because it comes from an FBI agent, but everything he put in the report was speculation.”19 Another critic was New Mexico Senator Harrison Schmitt, whose request to the United States attorney general had led to the FBI investigation (Appendixes 4 and 5). Senator Schmitt, a former astronaut with a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard, is reported to have declared earlier: “To date, the mutilations have been as mysterious as they’ve been grisly. Either we’ve got a UFO situation or we’ve got a massive, massive conspiracy which is enormously well funded.”20

AN ALIEN CONNECTION? INEVITABLY, CHARGES OF A COVER-UP WERE MADE, PARTICU-

larly since ranchers and other investigators had found scant evidence of predator or scavenger activity. In most cases, in fact, predators would not go anywhere near the mutilated carcasses. And in numerous instances, sightings of unidentified flying objects, including mysterious helicopters which behaved in an unconventional manner, continued to be reported in areas where mutilations had occurred. By 1980, researcher Tom Adams had compiled a catalog of about two hundred mutilation incidents that involved sightings of UFOs or helicopters. In late 1975, the Federal Aviation Administration began an official investigation into sightings over northeastern New Mexico, but in response to Freedom of Information requests made some years later to various FAA offices, the FAA denied having any information about the mystery helicopters and UFOs, or any investigation thereof


54

ALIEN CONTACT

In the early fall of 1976, following twenty-two confirmed mutilation cases in Madison County, Montana, between June and October, a hunter from Bozeman, Montana, observed an unmarked black helicopter as it disappeared below a hill in the Red Mountain area near Norris. Climbing to the top of the hill, the hunter saw a black helicopter (which appeared to be a Beil JetRanger) on the ground, its engine still running. Seven men had disembarked from the craft and were walking up the hill toward the witness. As the hunter waved and shouted greetings, he noticed that the men all appeared to be “Oriental,” with slanted eyes and olive skin, and were talking among themselves in an undecipherable language. Suddenly, they headed back to the helicopter, and the hunter followed. As he came to within about six feet, the “Orientals” broke into a run, jumped into the helicopter, and took off.21 Shy Asian tourists, perhaps? A conventional explanation is suggested in this particular case, even if puzzling questions remain. Other cases are completely puzzling, especially those involving more “conventional” UFOs. In one of many incidents cited by Linda Howe in An Alien Harvest, rancher Pat McGuire and his cousin Mark Murphy sighted a large, orange-glowing object hovering near a ridge on McGuire’s ranch in Bosier, Wyoming, in late 1976. Cows could be heard bellowing in the distance. Viewing the object from 1.8 miles away through a rifle hunting scope, the men could see red, yellow, blue, and white lights rotating around the top and bottom of the object. Suddenly, the cows became silent. Frightened, the men did not investigate until the following morning, when it was discovered that a cow was missing.22 Linda reports that witnesses in the ranching community of Sterling, Colorado, frequendy observed a large, hovering white light, with smaller lights that appeared to be entering or leaving it. The sightings continued “almost nightly” between November 1976 and the spring of 1977. Logan County Sheriff Harry “Tex” Graves tried to get closer to the objects in a light aircraft, but was always unsuccessful. “No matter how we tried, we could never get closer than five miles to it,” he told Linda. “Several times we observed smaller lights come out of this big [light] and then come down toward earth. This huge brilliant light would hang in the air and then when it would move, it could move up and down, backward, forward, travel very rapidly, and after a while,


A QUESTION OF NEED?

55

these smaller lights would join up with the larger one and then they would disappear.”23 Graves, who by April 1977 had exchanged information on the mutilations with law enforcement officials in twenty other states, was informed by Deputy Sheriff Keith Wolverton of Cascade County in Montana that on one occasion, a UFO was observed on radar, hovering at twenty-one thousand feet before climbing to forty-four thousand feet—in the space of three and a half seconds.24 Bill Jackson, a reporter from the Sterling Journal-Advocate, succeeded in taking a number of photographs of the strange object with telephoto lenses (reproduced in An Alien Harvest), and had several close encounters with UFOs. One cloudy night, a huge object flew toward him as he was driving north on Colorado Highway 61, about thirty miles from Sterling: I pulled to the side of the road thinking I was really going to be on a big story—maybe a 747 coming down in the prairie. I stood outside my car and watched it fly right over me. It was completely silent—not a sound. . . . There were all kinds of lights—green ones, white ones, red ones, orange ones—maybe a hundred of them. I couldn’t see any definite shape, but the lights seemed to run in lines, maybe like a rectangle or an oval. It was as big as a football field, at least 300 feet long, and moving slowly below the clouds.25 During his extensive study of the mutilation phenomenon, Dr. Henry Monteith, a retired Sandia Laboratories engineering physicist, found that Indians were so terrified of the mutilations that they buried the carcasses immediately and were reluctant even to discuss the subject. “They don’t say anything about it because they know it’s being done by ‘star people,’ ” he is quoted as stating in a 1979 interview. “They know why they’re doing it, so therefore we should leave it alone. Those are their exact words . . . the ‘star people’ know what they’re doing and should be trusted.”26 Monteith was convinced that the mutilations were part of an “environmental testing program” by aliens who were able to make themselves invisible, thus frustrating all efforts at catching them.27 In an interview with Linda Howe, Sheriff Lou Girodo, who was chief investigator of mutilations for the district attorney’s office in Trinidad, Colorado, also admitted that aliens could be responsible.


56

ALIEN CONTACT

“It’s possible that these mutilations are being done by creatures from outer space,” he declared. Girodo also volunteered his opinion that the mystery helicopters could be spacecraft “camouflaged as helicopters.”28 The idea is not as absurd as it seems. Mysterious unmarked aircraft have long been associated with the UFO phenomenon, and it seems to me to be entirely feasible that aliens might disguise their vehicles or even produce facsimile aircraft (sometimes of preposterously unaerodynamic design), as well as render their craft and themselves invisible, in order to keep us in a perpetual state of confusion. A clue to this deception is provided by a number of reports from New Mexico describing UFOs that imitate helicopter sounds. During 1978, Howard Burgess reports, a Taos city policeman heard what he thought was a helicopter hovering over his police car. Stepping out of the car, he observed a large wingless cigar-shaped vehicle hovering motionless above him. It then took off and disappeared over mountains. In another incident, a witness reported seeing a large round object near Dulce which made a noise like that of an old two-cylinder tractor!29 Yet, it is equally possible that in many cases, United States Government helicopters have been involved in secret investigations into the mutilations, and as a counterintelligence operation, make a point of being seen in areas where mutilations have occurred, thus drawing attention away from the actual perpetrators. This theory is endorsed by one of the principal witnesses in the Colorado ranch case, as we shall learn in the following chapter.

LITTLE GREEN MEN OTHER THEORISTS ALLEGE THAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERN-

ment is involved with the mutilations as part of a clandestine liaison with the aliens. I first learned about this bizarre theory from Paul Bennewitz, who in 1980 had taken some 8mm movie films of UFOs near Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico—described in Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) documents—and who had intercepted and monitored some unusual low-frequency radio signals, which he believed were communications from the aliens. Whatever the nature of the signals, they were sufliciendy sensitive to necessitate counterintelligence measures directed against Bennewitz in order to discredit him, according to William Moore, who was himself


A QUESTION OF NEED?

57

asked by the OSI to monitor the progress of the disinformation that Bennewitz was fed. “Bennewitz was the subject of considerable interest on the part of not one but several government agencies,” Bill Moore discovered. “I was personally aware of the intelligence community’s concerted efforts to systematically confuse, discourage, and discredit Paul by providing him with a large body of disinformation on the subject of UFOs, the malevolent aliens who allegedly pilot them, the technology they employ and the underground bases they supposedly possess and occupy. ... I watched Paul become systematically more paranoid and more emotionally unstable as he tried to assimilate what was happening to him.”30 Perhaps some of that disinformation is contained in one of Bennewitz’s letters to me in 1985: Research and computer communications would indicate that humanoids are made from the specific cattle parts. . . . The humanoid is apparently green. ... A deal was made between the Government and the aliens. I can only surmise what it was, but based upon my evidence we helped build the base—gave them the land—-in trade for the atomic ship and technology. . . . We agreed to the cattle mutilations and lately are or were apparendy helping in unmarked helicopters. . . . The “green humanoids” are supposedly manufactured by the aliens, one of whose bases is said to be under the Archuleta Mesa near Duke, New Mexico (where, interestingly, a preponderance of mutilations has occurred), and the “atomic ship,” I was told, is the alleged “Snowbird” craft, which during a test flight in December 1980 (escorted by more than twenty helicopters), was observed by Betty Cash and two other witnesses in Huffman, Texas. Whatever that craft was, it undoubtedly irradiated the witnesses and made them very ill.31 In 1985, Bennewitz invited me to fly with him and photograph evidence of this alleged base near Duke, but regrettably, chose to cancel the visit. In July 1989, however, I was shown some of Bennewitz’s photographs by his friend Colonel Ernest Edwards, who had been in charge of security at the Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Area at Kirtland Air Force Base at the time of the 1980 sightings. Edwards confirmed the sightings to me, and pointed out where they had taken place, but neither of us was able to distinguish any unusual evidence in the photographs.


58

ALIEN CONTACT

This is not to say that I reject totally the scenario presented by Bennewitz. In order to be effective, disinformation should contain some elements of truth, and the following story—if true—confirms at least one aspect of the “green humanoids” scenario. In April 1980, near Waco, Texas, a rancher who had been searching for a missing cow that was ready to calve encountered two 4-foothigh “creatures” in a clearing between mesquite trees about a hundred yards away. “They was wearin’ some kind of tight-fittiff green clothes like the color of mesquite leaves in the spring,” the rancher told Linda Howe. “Even the feet was covered. The hands was shaped like eggs, with the pointy end down toward the ground. Between them they was carryin’ a calf. Their arms swung back and forth right together. The hands was the same color as everything else, all sort of greenish. No other color on them.” The rancher said the beings looked like small adults, neither fat nor skinny, but slighdy muscular. No noses or hair could be distinguished. Suddenly, their heads turned in unison and the rancher was able to see the eyes, which were angled upward and pointed at the end. They were “sloe-eyed,” he reported, “like big, dark almonds. I was afraid of them seein’ me. Eve read all about them abductions and I didn’t want them takin’ me away in some flyin’ saucer! I took off down the hill pretty fast. ...” The rancher was so disturbed by the experience that he remained silent about it for two days. Finally, he confided in his wife and son, and together they returned to the site where he had seen the beings. There, on the hill, was the remains of the calf, presumably the same one carried by the two beings, with its hide pulled back over the skull and folded inside out on the ground. No blood was in evidence, and a complete calf backbone—minus ribs—was found about a foot away from the empty hide.32

THE HARVEST CONTINUES MANY RESEARCHERS REJECT THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE ANIMAL

mutilations could be caused by alien or nonhuman intelligences, and favor less exotic hypotheses. George Erianne, for example, a private investigator who spent seven years investigating the subject, concluded in 1982 that the United States Government was conducting a secret


A QUESTION OF NEED?

59

germ-warfare study that necessitated the random selection of cattle (supposedly to attract less attention). According to Erianne, helicopters were used to transport the tranquilized animal to a location where laser surgery removed the organs and the blood was drained for testing. He pointed out that the reproductive systems of beef and dairy cows closely resemble those of humans, and that other physiological similarities include the extremely sensitive mucous membranes in the eye cavity, coronary system, and lungs. Erianne claims to have received death threats when he publicized these findings, which would seem to indicate that he was on the right track.33 But why would government agencies risk exposure by mutilating so many cattle on privately owned ranches, when they could surely conduct such experiments on their own land? And why has no one been caught? Furthermore, many experts remain puzzled by the fact that traces of blood are seldom found at the mutilation sites or in the carcasses. Questioned about this by Linda Howe, Dr. Albert McChesney, a Colorado State University pathologist, responded: CT would say that it would be virtually impossible to withdraw not even all of the blood from an animal without leaving some telltale mark that blood vessels had been cut or that the animal had been killed in this manner.” Dr. McChesney added that closer examination of the carcasses might have revealed the presence of blood that had gravitated to the deeper organs or the down side of the animal, but he confessed to bewilderment about the blood-draining (exsanguination) technique used.34 The animal mutilations have continued to occur in America, Canada, and other countries, but in the majority of cases, no UFOs are reported. In August 1987, however, a security guard patrolling the grounds of a large corporation in Denver, Colorado, saw a large circle of stationary lights over a pasture a few hundred feet away. He was loath to report the incident at the time for fear of losing his job, but later came to regret this decision when the following morning he watched a farmer collect a couple of dead and mutilated cows from the pasture. ccWhat kind of technology are we talking about?” he asked Linda. “I never took my eyes off those lights. There was no beam, no sound—nothing. How did they do it?”35 A particularly gruesome multiple mutilation occurred on or around March 10, 1989, when five pregnant cows were found dead by L. C. Wyatt on his property near Hope, Arkansas. On arrival at the scene, reporter Juanita Stripling noted that the cows seemed to have dropped


60

ALIEN CONTACT

dead in their tracks. “One cow was lying on her right side,” she reported. “There was a large, round cut-out area with the calf lying just outside the cow and still in the embroyo sac. . . . There was no blood on the ground or on the body of the cow or calf. There was also no dampness on the ground of water or body fluids.” Pathologist and hematologist Dr. John Altshuler, whose comments and photomicrographs of samples from these cows are published in Linda Howe’s book, stated that “one would have to conclude that the surgical procedure performed on these animals took place quickly, probably in a minute or two, and utilized high-temperature heat (for example, laser) as a cutting source applied in a fine probe or cutting instrument.”36 A sales engineer claims that a laser required to make the type of cuts on these animals would be the size of an average office desk and weigh about five hundred fifty pounds. Using existing laser equipment, the engineer believes, surgery on one cow alone would take about an hour.37 The unlikelihood of government mutilators is further reinforced by these findings, although it is certain that new and secret types of laser equipment have been developed by the military. Even as far back as 1983, IBM announced that it had developed an ultraviolet excimer laser which is able to cut without charring and operates at low temperatures and “breaks selective bonds between atoms,” thus producing smaller molecules that vaporize at a lower temperature. According to IBM, however, there were problems with aiming the tiny beam precisely.38 And even if a perfected device was used to mutilate the cows at Hope, we are still left with Dr. Altshuler’s findings (for example, indications of Inpfh-temperature use), as well as a complete lack of evidence for human intrusion at the mutilation site. Dr. Chris Oates, an Idaho veterinarian who performed an autopsy on a mutilated steer in December 1989, found not only organs and blood missing, but also diccovered that the heart appeared to have been given a powerful electric shock. “I opened it everywhere,” she said. “I’ve thought about it a lot and I can’t explain it.”39 I can’t explain it, either. Perhaps we should remain open to the possibility that some alien intelligences require certain substances from animals, either for their own sustenance, or for genetic experiments— or both. After all, do we humans not abuse animals for similar reasons? In 1984, I discussed the question of mutilations with Dr. Pierre Guerin, the French astrophysicist, as we enjoyed a steak in a Paris restaurant. “The testimonial facts are always doubtful,” he said, “but


A QUESTION OF NEED?

61

the material facts, independent of the witnesses—as in the case of the mutilations—are of a superior degree than testimonial evidence.” Dr. Guerin shares my opinion that the mutilations are a manifestation of extraterrestrial activity, and is unequivocal in his condemnation of the official FBI “Animal Mutilation Project” report, which he regards as proof of the deliberate intention of the American authorities to deceive public opinion on the UFO phenomenon. 40


with the animal mutilations are relatively rare, there have now been a sufficient number, in my opinion, to justify the hypothesis of alien, or at least nonhuman, involvement. The following case provides us with an excellent example, highlights some complex aspects of the multifaceted nature of UFO encounters, and provides us with important clues as to the nature of the phenomenon and its interaction with human beings—and animals. The case was investigated for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization by Dr. Leo Sprinkle, a University of Wyoming psychologist; Dr. John Derr, a seismologist; his wife Janet; and Dr. Peter Van Arsdale, an anthropologist. As a prerequisite to relating their experiences, the witnesses insisted on anonymity and requested that the precise location of their ranch in Colorado not be divulged. The principal witnesses were “Jim,” a former United States Air Force security officer and public relations officer with professional training in physical and biological sciences; “John,” who at the time held a management position in a large corporation; his wife “Barbara,” and their teenage sons; and a law officer. Prior to the experiences, John and Barbara had pooled their financial resources together with Jim in order to purchase the ranch, which is located in the Rocky Mountains area. The property included grazing area, woods, and springs feeding a pond near the ranch house. After settling in, unusual events began to occur, including untraceable humming sounds, electrical power failures, sounds of someone or something walking around outside the house, sightings of UFOs and ALTHOUGH REPORTS OF ALIEN BEINGS ASSOCIATED


COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH

63

humanoids, “Bigfoot”-type creatures observed in the woods, “messages” broadcast on the radio and stereo systems—and cattle mutilations. On approximately October 16, 1975, during the night, Jim noticed that the cattle were braying loudly, and went outside to see what was disturbing them. “We have a large coon hound that was watching the property,” Jim recounted, “and the dog was extremely afraid of something. He was on the porch and wanted in, and I grabbed a gun and went out. “Range cattle do not usually come close to you, [but they] were packing me so tight that I could hardly get through the middle of the herd. I walked about halfway to the dam, and above the dam was a large lighted object. It was orange and trapezoidal-shaped. I was going to see what it was, and I got about halfway there when I realized that whatever it was, I didn’t need to know! That was during the cattle mutilation days and I had a small-caliber rifle and I decided to leave well alone.” Jim later learned that a large reward for the arrest of the cattle mutilators had been offered, and one night decided to go hunting for them with a 12-gauge shotgun. But he found himself unable to move from the couch he had been sitting on. “It was like paralysis,” he said, “like I was drugged.” Simultaneously, Barbara experienced an increase in heart rate, accompanied by a sense of panic, a change in her “thinking pattern,” and a flood of memories (in common with the sensations described by Bob Oechsler in Chapter 10). “I remembered things that I had completely forgotten, and that frightened me,” she explained. “And by that time I was screaming and Jim came to from whatever his problem was—-he couldn’t seem to talk. Shortly after that, John showed up. I started to tell him what happened, but I couldn’t talk about it. Every time I started to, I would stutter. Jim then started telling him what happened, and then I was able to talk about it. That was the first strange thing ... it had never happened to me before in my life.”

THE FIRST MUTILATIONS SOME TIME LATER (DATE NOT GIVEN) JOE, THE ELDEST SON,

To-

gether with some friends, discovered a mutilated cow about two hundred yards from the house. “They came back in a panic,” Jim said.


64

ALIEN CONTACT

“It was snowing heavily and we decided the first thing to do was get into town and get the law officer. The boys were pretty upset. . . because they felt that something was following them. I assumed it was a natural paranoia. We went out and I followed the route and we found huge footprints that had followed them all the way from the cow to the horse barn, and the footprints were even in the soft manure inside the horse barn. They were, I guess, eighteen inches [long]. I didn’t measure them, but they were quite large—what I guess you would call a ‘Bigfoot’ footprint.” The cow exhibited classic signs of mutilation. “The udders were removed surgically—the sac under the udders wasn’t perforated,” explained Jim. “One eye was missing. One ear was missing. And that was it. There was no blood—all the blood had been removed. And there were no tracks in the snow around the cow . . . the rectum was also removed.” Jim reported the incident to the law officer, who promised to investigate a few days later. He never showed up. Two weeks later, a second mutilation was discovered, although the animal (a bull) did not belong to the ranch. Its head was twisted back and various organs and parts of the body removed as if by surgical operation. Jim drove into town and called on the law officer, who suggested meeting in a restaurant. “I asked him why I hadn’t heard from him and why he wasn’t trying to solve this,” Jim said. “He explained to me that they knew what the mutilations were and they had known for some time. They only report one in four, and in this county alone, there had been over four hundred reports by that time. It was being done by extraterrestrials, and they had spoken to the FBI about it. I told him that I couldn’t believe it, that if he couldn’t solve the crime, at least don’t blame it on something like that. I made an enemy of the man and I frankly didn’t care, because we had lost two cattle.”

NO KNOWN SPECIES ONE NIGHT, AT ABOUT TEN O’CLOCK, TWO VISITING FRIENDS AND

a neighboring rancher heard a strange noise emanating from the cistern southeast of the house and about sixty yards up a slope. “All of a sudden, after listening to this noise,” Jim told the investigators, “a huge, dark object pushed its way through the barbed wire and came straight at them down the hill. They all came running into the


COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH

65

house. ... We subsequently went back and traced the route and sure enough, there were some footprints. “I removed some hair from the fence, noticing that it [had] pushed its way through the barbed wire; it didn’t jump the fence, but just by force alone, spread it and went through. There were long strands of hair. . . .” Jim collected the hair and took photographs of the footprints. Samples of the hair were sent to a biogeneticist in Denver, who reported that it matched “no known species.” “By then I was getting more and more upset about the activities,” Jim related. “One law officer was encouraging me to keep my mouth shut about it because he didn’t want a full-scale panic in the county. I told him I wasn’t interested in panics—I was interested in finding out who was mutilating my cattle.”

A CREATURE SHOT? BY THIS TIME, AS TENSIONS MOUNTED, EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE

had become fearful and depressed. Jim began to sleep near the front door, with a gun beside him, staying awake for most of the night, hoping to catch the “culprit.” “I was beginning to suspect that somehow the real-estate man was involved; that he was trying to make us break the contract so he could resell the house.” Alerted by a humming sound at about two A.M. one night, Jim looked out of the window and saw a disc-shaped object flying slowly past the front of the house and up the gully. On other occasions, Jim saw a hairy creature running near the house. “I was tolerating it to a certain degree. One night I didn’t. I went out and one was running beside the corral and I shot it. Barbara came running out, and when Harry and Roger came back from town, we went tracking to see if we could find what I had shot. It didn’t seem to hurt it at all. There was a little flinch—I’m a good shot so I know I hit it. There was no blood—no traces, no signs. We pursued it on to the property next to us. Then I heard this most unusual sound, like a double sound: It was a whine with almost a beeping noise intermixed.” Nothing was found, however. “We returned to the house, and I notified the law officer that I had shot one. He gave me hell and told me I was lucky this time, and he didn’t want anybody killed.”


66

ALIEN CONTACT

FURTHER INTRUSIONS ONE NIGHT, FOLLOWING FURTHER DISTURBANCES, JIM LOST HIS

temper and stormed outside the house. “I don’t remember exactly what I said, but most of it can’t be repeated. I think I threatened that if we can’t have the land, then you won’t either—I’ll blow the whole thing away. I meant it, too: I would have destroyed it before I would have moved right then.” Jim returned to the house and calmed down, then later, went outside again. ccWhile outside,” he said, “this voice just came out of nowhere and said four words: “Dr. Jim, we accept.” I think that was the first time I was really shaken—-rather than it just angering or disorienting me. That was all. [It was] just like FM stereo; it came from everywhere. “There were many smaller incidents that were unnerving. We had several friends come out who were harassed one way or the other and terrified. I went in and talked to the law officer again. If he really felt we were in any danger, I would move the boys. He said that nobody he knew of had been hurt. They had lost horses, a lot of cattle and animals of one kind or another, and people had been terrified. The mutilations were going on at a much heavier rate during this period— this was 1976, [and] they were occurring weekly.” Also during that period, two airline pilots came out to the ranch, asking if they could put an airstrip on the land in exchange for Jim’s use of their plane. Jim consented to the plan. About three weeks later, one of the pilots and two others were killed in a crash nearby. Others who had inquired deeply into the mutilations, Jim learned, had disappeared mysteriously, including the editor of a magazine. Jim also learned that two Air National Guard interceptors, sent up to pursue UFOs in the vicinity, had crashed. The next night, two squadrons of interceptors circled the area. “I was with Air Defense Command,” Jim said, “and I know that when they bring them out, they are nuclear-armed and they don’t fly them around for games.” He counted twenty-six aircraft, which appeared to be surveying everything, presumably in an effort to locate parts of the crashed planes. “All this was a little unnerving, so I decided I was going to stop my inquiry,” Jim told the investigators. “I was going to just quiedy mind my own business.” One night, at about two A.M., nine discs allegedly landed in the front yard, observed by Jim, Barbara, and Harry, a friend. David, another friend, was asleep upstairs, but did not respond when called. Jim bravely walked out of the house and approached the objects.


COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH

67

Curiously, although he and Barbara clearly saw disc-shaped devices, Harry saw “large, dark football shapes, as if they were blocking part of the view.” As Barbara watched this incredible scene, her face pressed close to the window, she was suddenly struck forcibly in the forehead by something, knocking her senseless to the floor for a short time. While the others attended to her, the objects disappeared. “I thought about it subsequently and wondered why they didn’t do it to me since I was the one walking toward them,” Jim commented. “But then I began to understand that they did the most practical thing that could be done to get me back inside and get both people away from the window. And I think I really began to respect how clever they were. Then I began to suspect that maybe the government was doing it to us. Except that there were a lot of unusual things. For instance, David had been paralyzed during the incident; he could hear us callings but couldn’t get up until it was over. But then he went out walking with me and what we call ultrasonics—the extremely highpitched sounds—were going on out there and continued through the night. David was sick for three days. The sound would sometimes give us headaches, but not all of us at once—to different individuals at different times.”

THE BROADCAST AT ABOUT TWO A.M. ONE NIGHT, IN THE PRESENCE OF GUESTS,

the lights went out in the house and a mechanical-sounding voice was heard coming from all the radio and TV speakers. “We were sitting right in front of a console stereo,” said Jim, “and the voice came out of it. I can almost recite the words exactly. They are burned in my memory: ‘Attention. We have allowed you to remain. We have interfered with your lives very little. Do not cause us to take action which you will regret. Tour friends will be instructed to remain silent concerning us.’ ” One of the guests, Dan, a computer and electronics specialist, was determined to find a rational explanation for the mysterious broadcast, and dismantled the stereo set. “He went through the whole unit and said he couldn’t figure it out,” Jim related. “He checked and the stereo was off; the phonograph was on when the lights went off, but the radio receiver part was off—it was on phono. We found that the type of transmitter it would take, from even close range, to cause a signal


ALIEN CONTACT

68

of that intensity to go through the house, would be beyond our means to ever put up.”

THE BLACK BOX IN

ANOTHER

CONVERSATION

WITH

THE

LAW

OFFICER,

JIM

learned about a bizarre incident involving a strange “box.” “He said he was out on patrol one night and he saw, in a group of trees, this box that was blinking. He didn’t want to go in alone, so he raced back to town and picked up another law officer. When he got back, the trees were gone, the box was gone—everything was gone. He thought they had gone into the ground; he had seen things go into the ground before. I’ve never seen that happen.” But Jim did see one of the boxes. Together with John’s older son, Joe, Jim, on a compulsion, drove up one night in January 1977 to the top of a hill to where a thirtyfive-foot circle had been for some time, and nothing had grown there. In the trees, a yellow light could be seen, apparently shining on the car. “We got out and walked over, and there was a box on the ground,” Jim said. “I told Joe to stay back about ten feet. It was making a buzzing sound and there was a light, like inside it but not on it— hard to describe. It was night, but there was a full moon, and as I walked to about four feet from it, it changed its tone entirely. It sounded like a bunch of angry bees. The sound went up, so I backed away and told Joe to go back to the car and watch me as I walked up to the box. We then walked back to the car, and I told Joe that whatever happens, do not leave the car. Then I walked back and the box was gone!”

CONTACT LATER THAT NIGHT, JIM NOTICED ANOTHER LIGHT IN THE TREES.

I told Joe to go on to the house, and I walked down into the trees. And I think that’s the closest I ever came to being afraid. I had to force my legs to take me down, because I didn’t know what I would see.


COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH I walked down to the light and there were two individuals waiting for me in the light. The light didn’t come from anywhere—I can’t describe it—it was just light. They obviously weren’t nervous, and as soon as I walked up, they spoke to me by name and told me—I can quote that exactly: “How nice of you to come.” It was just as though I had been expected. Down below, possibly fifty to sixty feet from us, was a disc on the ground. It was lighdy lit, just light enough to see. And I had no doubts that these were two men. They were approximately five feet six inches tall, I would say. They had on tight-fitting clothing, you know, like a flight suit. I noticed the clothing changing colors, from brown to silver, but I don’t know how. They were very fair, had large eyes, and seemed perfecdy normal, completely relaxed. They had blond hair with something over the head, but I could still see their hair. The hair was obviously blond and wasn’t long; it didn’t make much of an impression. The thing that impressed the most was the eyes. . . . Their facial features were finer. They were almost delicately effeminate [and] completely self-assured. I was up there maybe five minutes. They apologized for the inconveniences they had caused us, and told us that a more equitable arrangement would be worked out between us, whatever that means. I wanted to ask a lot of questions but found that I didn’t—you know, like, ccWhere are you from?” I didn’t ask any of that. There are several things they asked me not to repeat that have no significant meaning at all. I think maybe they were just checking to see if I would keep my mouth shut. I told them that if they were mutilating cattle, it was very foolish to do so and draw that much attention to themselves. They didn’t give me any earth-shattering information or even admit they were mutilating the cattle. The only thing I found out for sure is that this big fuzzy thing, “Bigfoot,” obeys the commands. They mentioned the box and that I did the right thing backing away from it—it was what I called an implied threat. They nodded, and approximately twenty to thirty feet away, “Bigfoot,” as I called him, got up and walked toward the box. The box changed tone and he dropped. They said, “As you can see, they are quite lethal.” They said that they would come back and talk again. There were no good-byes; I just somehow felt it was time to go. They

69


70

ALIEN CONTACT did tell me that my memory wouldn’t be tampered with. I thought about all of the things I would have liked to have asked ... I hadn’t decided they came from space and I’m still not sure of that. They looked enough like people . . . that was my first thought; that somehow the government was trying to do this. They were completely self-assured; they spoke vernacular English. I was pretty rocked, because I did see the disc and it was quite clear. I walked on back to the house ... I was excited over the “more equitable arrangement.” I guess I had some illusion that they were going to give me the cure for cancer, or a billion dollars or something. ... I couldn’t figure why they had even bothered to talk to me. It was obvious that I was supposed to come. They didn’t say anything that would indicate why, except “a more equitable arrangement.”

PURPOSE JIM FELT SURE THAT SOME KIND OF PERMANENT ALIEN INSTAL-

lation was located on the ranch. “Our ranch overlooks a military installation; we have a perfect view,” he explained to the investigators. “I can only assume that they are watching us—watching our military potential.

I’m reasonably sure that they play rough. It’s not big brothers from space who are interested in us as spiritual beings or whatever. I’m absolutely convinced that they couldn’t care less if we live or die. We’re nuisances, although I think they may be more humanitarian than we are. I have no doubts that they are mutilating the cattle—none at all. The cattle are being lifted into the air, they are being drained of blood, they are being mutilated, and they are being lowered. If they wanted to do just biological research on cattle, they could have disposed of the remains without them being found. It is obviously some intent to instill fear and it has been quite successful. I figured out early in the game that the government is sending in helicopters in large numbers from several sources, but they are doing it to cover what is really happening. I’m absolutely sure that the helicopters have nothing to do with the mutilations. And the helicopters are not of sufficient size to lift a twenty-six-


COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH

71

hundred-pound bull. Also, you could hardly carry a bull away in a helicopter in a manner so that it wouldn’t be seen. During a discussion about the mutilations with an officer at the nearby Air Force base, Jim learned that the base had had its share of troublesome UFO incidents, and that directives existed on how to deal with them. The officer also asked Jim if he had experienced any trouble with “Bigfoot.” (In fact, about twenty people witnessed them on various occasions at the ranch.) Apparently, the Air Force had directives on these elusive creatures, too.

A RATIONAL EXPLANATION? “IT IS POSSIBLE IT COULD HAVE BEEN A TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE

experience,” Jim rationalized, in summing up these and other extraordinary experiences at the ranch. “Even with all of us, it could have been hallucinations. It could have been a lot of things. Maybe none of it happened. Maybe everybody there was deceived in some way. I can’t picture how, but just because I can’t picture it, doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”1 I asked Dr. Leo Sprinkle, one of the investigators, for his impressions of the witnesses. “My initial reaction was one of doubt,” he replied. “The witnesses seemed so cautious, even evasive. However, later, I viewed them as reliable and sincere. Perhaps the initial meeting with three Ph.D.s was intimidating—[the wife] worried about their experiences being publicized and affecting her husband’s business relations ... I conducted no formal psychological testing. However, my impressions—and those of the other investigators, John Derr and Pete Van Arsdale—support the view that the witnesses described events as accurately as they could; they truly were puzzled by the events—as were we!”2 The investigators all agreed that the witnesses were intelligent, articulate, and perceptive. “The intellectual and emotional doubts (and courage) which are experienced by these witnesses are apparent in their conversations and in the way they have conducted themselves in the interviews,” they concurred at the time. “The witnesses seem to be patriotic Americans, and yet are convinced that CU.S. military operations’ is not sufficient explanation to account for the strange events which they have experienced.” This exceptional case incorporates so many facets of the UFO


72

ALIEN CONTACT

enigma that it lends itself to any number of interpretations. Hardheaded rationalists will undoubtedly invoke psychological explanations, such as mass hallucination. Yet, there seem to me to be sufficient grounds for assuming that at least some of the incidents have a basis in objective reality, even if we are unable at present to comprehend the nature of that reality.


“I have just returned from Muroc. The report is true—devastatingly true!” The letter, from Gerald Light to his friend and colleague Meade Layne of the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, described sensational events that he claimed to have witnessed over a two-day period in April 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base, Muroc Dry Lake, California. “I made the journey,” Light continued, “in company with Franklin Allen of the Hearst papers and Edwin Nourse of Brookings Institute (Truman’s erstwhile financial adviser) and Bishop McIntyre of L.A. (confidential names, for the present, please). cc When we were allowed to enter the restricted section (after about six hours in which we were checked on every possible item, event, incident, and aspect of our personal and public lives), I had the distinct feeling that the world had come to an end with fantastic realism. For I have never seen so many human beings in a state of complete collapse and confusion as they realized that their own world had indeed ended with such finality as to beggar description. The reality of ‘otherplane’ aeroforms is now and forever removed from the realms of speculation and made a rather painful part of the consciousness of every responsible scientific and political group.” The “otherplane aeroforms” were supposedly craft flown by the “Etherians,” as the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation called the occupants of UFOs, which had landed at Edwards AFB some time prior to Gerald Light’s visit, and had allegedly given startling dem-

“MY DEAR FRIEND,” THE LETTER BEGAN,


74

ALIEN CONTACT

onstrations to various different groups of scientists and other carefully selected individuals, including President Eisenhower in February that year. “During my two days’ visit,” Light claimed, “I saw five separate and distinct types of aircraft being studied and handled by our airforce officials—with the assistance and permission of The Etherians! I have no words to express my reactions. “It has finally happened. It is now a matter of history. “President Eisenhower, as you may already know, was spirited over to Muroc one night during his visit to Palm Springs recently. And it is my conviction that he will ignore the terrific conflict between the various ‘authorities’ and go directly to the people via radio and television—if the impasse continues much longer. From what I could gather, an official statement to the country is being prepared for delivery about the middle of May.” Needless to say, no such statement was forthcoming. But a mystery remains about Eisenhower’s whereabouts on the evening of February 20, 1954. The President, who had been staying with his friend Paul Roy Helms at the Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs, ostensibly for a golfing holiday, “disappeared” for four hours, causing considerable confusion and leading to pandemonium at the subsequent press conference. The official explanation given was that Eisenhower had merely lost a cap on his tooth while chewing on a chicken leg, and had to be taken to a local dentist for treatment. No evidence for the dental trip (such as White House memos) has ever emerged, however.1 Light implies that the demonstration he witnessed in April 1954 included dematerialization and materialization, a process with which he had become familiar during his research into the paranormal, and he describes the reactions of the scientists and others alleged to have been present: “I watched the pathetic bewilderment of rather brilliant brains struggling to make some sort of rational explanation which would enable them to retain their familiar concepts,” he wrote.2 The letter (Appendix 7) is apparendy genuine, but the sensational disclosures contained therein are harder, if not impossible, to substantiate. Gerald Light is now dead, as are the other witnesses mentioned, none of whom ever spoke about the matter publicly and refused even to acknowledge receipt of letters sent by various investigators. Nevertheless, others have come forward with testimony indicating that some remarkable events did indeed occur at the time. During a visit to California in the summer of 1954, British writer Desmond Leslie spoke with an Air Force man who claimed to have


ALIEN LIAISONS

75

seen a disc one hundred feet in diameter land on the runway at Edwards on a certain day. Men coming back from leave were suddenly not allowed back on the base and were given orders to “get lost.” The saucer was allegedly housed under guard in Hanger 27, and President Eisenhower was taken to see it during his Palm Springs vacation.3 Further details have subsequently come to light. Lord Clancarty, better known as Brinsley Le Poer Trench, the pioneering UFO researcher and author, has spoken with a former American test pilot (now a retired colonel) who claims to have been present at Edwards Air Force Base during the Eisenhower visit on February 20, 1954. “The pilot says he was one of six people at the meeting,” Lord Clancarty told a reporter. “Five alien craft landed at the base. Two were cigar-shaped and three were saucer-shaped. The aliens looked humanlike, but not exactly,” he said, adding that they had the same proportions as humans and were able to breathe our atmosphere. They did not say where they came from. The aliens spoke English, and supposedly informed the President that they wanted to start an “educational program” for the people of Earth, then reportedly demonstrated their paranormal powers by making themselves invisible, causing Eisenhower considerable embarrassment.4 The retired colonel, who had been sworn to secrecy, refused to allow his name to be disclosed, and I have been unable to persuade Lord Clancarty to reveal it to me, which of course leaves us with just another unsubstantiated story to add to the collection of rumors about the Edwards AFB story. There are other similar accounts of the aliens’ knack of rendering themselves and their craft invisible. My favorite is a report by the South African contactee Ann Grevler, who claimed to have encountered a human-type extraterrestrial in the Eastern Transvaal in the 1950s. Prior to a trip in a spacecraft, the alien made her car invisible with a small rodlike device, and when Grevler walked incredulously to where her car had been, she gashed her leg on the invisible license plate. Fortunately, the spaceman was able to administer first aid, accomplished by directing his gaze to the wound, which promptly healed. He explained that although it was possible to render objects invisible by the power of thought, it was a rather exhausting business and gadgets were normally used for the job.5 In a more recent incident, during a series of landings witnessed by adults and children at Voronezh, USSR, in late September and early October 1989, one of three giant, silver-suited space beings reportedly


76

ALIEN CONTACT

“zapped” a boy with a beam of light from a fifty-centimeter-long tube, so that the boy vanished totally from the scene, to reappear only after the alien craft and its occupants had departed.6 As a postscript to the Edwards AFB affair, it is worth noting that Gordon Cooper, the ex-astronaut, disclosed in an interview with Lee Spiegel that in either 1957 or 1958, while he was project manager of the Flight Test Center at Edwards, a flying disc landed at the base. Cooper said that it was “hovering above the ground, and then it slowly came down and sat on the lake bed for a few minutes.” A camera team in the area filmed the entire scene. “There were varied estimates by the cameramen on what the actual size of the object was,” Cooper said, “but they all agreed that it was at least the size of a vehicle that would carry normal-size people in it.” Although Cooper did not witness the sighting, he did study the film. “It was a typical circular-shaped UFO. Not too many people saw it, because it took off at quite a sharp angle and just climbed out of sight... I think it was definitely a UFO. However, where it came from and who was in it is hard to determine, because it didn’t stay around long enough to discuss the matter—there wasn’t even time to send out a welcoming committee!” The film was sent to Washington, D.C., and nothing more was heard about it. Cooper also revealed that “there were always strange things flying around in the air over Edwards.”7 And on several occasions in 1951, while serving as a pilot with the Air Force in Germany, Cooper chased groups of metallic, saucer-shaped vehicles. In a letter to Ambassador Griffith of the Mission of Grenada to the United Nations, read out to the U.N. General Assembly during a debate on UFOs in 1978, Gordon Cooper stated as follows:

... I believe that these extra-terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets, which obviously are a little more technically advanced than we are here on earth. I feel that we need to have a top level, coordinated program to scientifically collect and analyze data from all over the earth concerning any type of encounter, and to determine how best to interface with these visitors in a friendly fashion. We may first have to show them that we have learned to resolve our problems by peaceful means, rather than warfare, before we are accepted as fully qualified universal team members. This acceptance would have tremendous possibilities of advancing our world in all areas.


ALIEN LIAISONS

77

Certainly then it would seem that the UN has a vested interest in handling this subject properly and expeditiously . . .8

A BRITISH CONNECTION IN SEPTEMBER

1962, Swiss

RESEARCHER LOU ZINSSTAG RE-

ceived an interesting letter from her friend Waveney Girvan, a publisher who was editor of Flying Saucer Review at the time: ... a colleague at the office where I work—an important editor of one of our women’s papers—approached me with a sensational story. She hadn’t previously realized that I was interested in the subject. Her brother, she tells me, is an extremely important expert with one of our famous aircraft firms. Five years ago, he was invited to the United States with several of his colleagues in the industry to inspect a landed saucer and to meet its pilot. He went, and the pilot was exacdy as [George Adamski, one of the first to claim contact with aliens] has described such a person; he communicated by telepathy and he told those assembled that beings like himself had infiltrated among us . . .9 Further details of the alleged 1957 meeting were revealed by Girvan’s friend and colleague John Lade, in a letter to Richard Hall, then secretary of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in the United States: Waveney Girvan wants me to tell you that we have had a leak of information through a man who a few years ago was called to an international meeting on your side to view a saucer, of the type resembling two saucers one above the other. The pilot (who was long-haired, ski-suited, and one of distincdy Aryan appearance) addressed the gathering of scientists and aeronautical experts telepathically, and we are told that it was an extraordinary experience to hear the audience break through the silence by laughing together sometimes, thus proving that they were receiving successfully. However, as the pilot proceeded to describe the motive power of the craft, the audience lost grip and even the most advanced scientists present could no longer follow the concepts offered to them. . . .


78

ALIEN CONTACT

Ross Hall, the aeronautics expert (whom I have been unable to trace), was dismayed to learn that his sister had related the story, having signed an oath of secrecy in the United States, and on July 11, 1963, when John Lade met him at the De Havilland Aircraft Company, Hatfield, England, he denied everything. As Lade wrote to Zinsstag: I told him of my active interest in getting at the truth of our subject and my reason for approaching him, ending with the question if the story Waveney heard was true. At first, he avoided my question and began to give his views on saucers which were rather primitive, but I felt he was treating them seriously and I brushed them aside to return to the question. He did not admit to having pulled the leg of his sister but he confessed that he regarded her as being connected with the newspapers and he might have said something to her, but he confirmed that he had never seen a saucer on the ground, nor heard a lecture, nor had his visits to America had anything to do with the subject. When he left he said he would speak to his sister and I felt he meant he would put things right.10 If Ross Hall had merely teased his sister, he did a good job. Waveney Girvan had been impressed with the fact that she had been genuinely perplexed and interested in the subject, and had never spoken about the matter with anyone else as far as he knew—certainly not to the press. If it were not for the fact that I have spoken with a number of completely honest “closet contactees� around the world, who claim to have had similar experiences, I would have rejected such stories long ago. In 1963, for example, a close friend of mine whom I have known since 1952 and whose account is the most convincing I have come across, observed the landing of a flying disc in the north of England and subsequently made contact with two extraterrestrials. The meetings lasted over a period of about a year, usually in the presence of a few scientists who were liaising with the aliens on a highly secret project. On one occasion, my friend had the opportunity of seeing one of the craft at close quarters, but was not allowed to go inside. Apart from a barely noticeable difference in the eyes, the aliens were very similar to humans. A great deal of information was given during the course of these meetings, as well as a few demonstrations of tech-


ALIEN LIAISONS

79

nical and mental abilities which transcended those of normal human beings. At no time did they reveal their origin, but they did mention that they had bases on Earth. They also refused to discuss the purpose of their current visits with my friend, other than to admit that they were “obviously not for entirely philanthropic reasons.” They did reveal, however, that on several occasions, over a long period of time, they had been responsible for genetically upgrading the human species. It was implied that other, less evolved beings were also visiting our planet. Though highly evolved spiritually, these people were “down to Earth” in the sense that they enjoyed creature comforts. And—thank heavens—they had a sense of humor. Naturally, I am unable to prove that these events actually occurred, nor would I wish to do so in this particular case—even if I could. The extraterrestrials seem reluctant to establish contact with humanity at large, preferring to keep us at a safe distance. And who could blame them? Yet, I am convinced that contact has been established with many individuals and groups throughout the world.

PRESIDENTIAL KNOWLEDGE A

NUMBER OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS HAVE MADE POSITIVE

statements about the UFO subject, most notably Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. In 1976, Carter admitted during his campaign that he had seen a UFO while he was governor of Georgia in 1969. “If I become president,” he added, “Til make every piece of information this country has about UFOs available to the public and the scientists.”11 Carter, a graduate in nuclear physics, was thwarted in his attempts to reopen investigations, and it is also likely that he may have changed his mind when presented with a presidential briefing on the subject (see Chapter 6). If extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, many ask, why do they not land on the White House lawn and establish direct contact with the president? They have not landed on the White House lawn, of course, (although UFOs have appeared above Washington’s Capitol area on several occasions), but there is circumstantial evidence that some presidents may have had contact. One of the earliest contactees is Daniel Fry, a former pioneering rocket engineer who claims to have been taken for a flight aboard an unmanned craft on July 4, 1949, when he was working with the


80

ALIEN CONTACT

Aerojet General Corporation at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Communication was established via an intercom with an alien who claimed that some of his ancestors had lived on Earth tens of thousands of years ago, and that his race was now essentially independent of planetary existence, preferring to spend most of their time in huge, fully equipped spaceships. Their life expectancy was said to be about two and a half times that of ours. In 1976, I spent several days with Dan Fry at his home, then in Tonopah, Arizona. He told me that he was contacted physically by the visitor in 1954, five years after the initial encounter (perhaps coincidentally the year of the alleged Edwards Air Force Base incidents). According to “Alan” (the name he used), it had taken five years to become acclimatized to our environment and to establish certain terrestrial credentials, including, of course, a birth certificate and passport, which had supposedly been acquired with the aid of a cooperative official. Alan assumed the identity of an “international businessman” and subsequendy established a liaison with a number of high officials—including some American presidents.12 These claims are outrageous, of course. But Dan has shown me a letter from President Reagan, which at least shows that the two men were on friendly terms. It is also known that Reagan has a keen interest in the subject, having observed UFOs on two occasions. One incident took place when Reagan was governor of California, during a flight one night in 1974. “I was the pilot of the plane when we saw the UFO,” reported Reagan’s pilot, Bill Paynter. “Also on board were Governor Reagan and a couple of his security people. We were flying in a Cessna Citation. It was maybe nine or ten o’clock at night. We were near Bakersfield when Governor Reagan and the others called my attention to a big light flying a bit behind my plane. It appeared to be several hundred yards away. It was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate, then it appeared to elongate. Then the light took off. It went up at a 45-degree angle . . . from a normal cruise speed to a fantastic speed instandy.” Reagan himself described the incident to Norman Miller, then Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. According to Miller, Reagan ordered his pilot to follow the object. “We followed it for several minutes,” said Reagan. “All of a sudden, to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it. And we read up on the long history of UFOs ”


ALIEN LIAISONS

81

Miller then asked Reagan if he believed in UFOs. “When I asked him that question, a look of horror came over him. It suddenly dawned on him what he was saying—the implications, and that he was talking to a reporter. He snapped back to reality and said, ‘Let’s just say that on the subject of UFOs I’m an agnostic. . . .’ “I didn’t report the conversation at the time,” said Miller. “Reagan didn’t go into detail about the research he and his wife had done, because it was at that point that I asked him if he believed in UFOs, and he clammed up.”13 During a screening of the film E.T. at the White House in the summer of 1982, President Reagan is reported to have whispered to producer Steven Spielberg: “There are probably only six people in this room who know how true this is.”14 In addition, Reagan has publicly stated on at least three occasions that a threat from outer space would have a unifying effect on the world’s nations, and he has raised the matter with both the former president Gorbachev and Edvard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister. According to Fred Barnes, senior editor of the New Republic, during a luncheon in the White House with Shevardnadze in September 1987, Reagan wondered aloud about what would happen if the world faced an “alien threat” from outer space. “Don’t you think the United States and the Soviet Union would be together?” he asked. Shevardnadze said yes, absolutely. “And we wouldn’t need our defense ministers to meet,” he added.15 Since Reagan’s comments have been dismissed as purely hypothetical speculation, let me quote from a speech given by Mikhail Gorbachev at the Kremlin, during which he commented on the 1985 summit conference: At our meeting in Geneva, the U.S. President said that if the Earth faced an invasion by extraterrestrials, the United States and the Soviet Union would join forces to repel such an invasion. I shall not dispute the hypothesis, though I think it’s early yet to worry about such an intrusion. . . .16

“THE BOYS UPSTAIRS” MAJOR HANS PETERSEN, WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF AIR TRAFFIC

control for the Royal Danish Air Force from 1949 to 1976—the first


82

ALIEN CONTACT

such military controller in Denmark—has seen UFOs on a number of occasions, including some that were remarkably similar to those photographed by contactee George Adamski and others. And on one occasion, in about 1960, he tracked up to twenty-two unknown targets on radar and personally gave the order to scramble four jets to intercept. But of relevance here is a letter that Petersen received from a U.S. Army brigadier general (now deceased) describing his alleged liaison with extraterrestrials, whom he called “the boys upstairs.” Although I have had a copy of the text of the letter for many years, it was only in 1990 that Hans kindly sent me a copy of the original, with the name, address, and date deleted. The relevant extracts are as follows: What I am about to impart to you, I am asking you as a fellow Veteran not to divulge the source of—you are free to repeat it, but not the source. . . . I was contacted late one night 11 years ago, while working late in my shop to finish a printing job. True, like most intelligent beings, I was interested and curious, but had no expectation of a contact. They came to my shop door, insisted on my opening it, came in, looked around a bit, spoke no word, motioned me to come outside. As I did so I became aware of a large object, a few feet overhead. I was taken aboard, and had my first experience of positive telepathy; a very informative few minutes. They left saying they would return soon. They kept their word and they returned, I think I can honestly say a few hundred times since, in the past 11 years. They have requested that I act as their physical earth-man contact with quite a number of our national and religious leaders, and my identity and nationality must remain a strict secret, except with their permission as in your case. You can understand, that if my identity and work were to become known, I would never have a single moment’s rest, and would soon become worthless to both them and the problems I attempt to handle. . . . Among their own people they use thought only, but. . . they have learned to speak our language so perfectly that if one of them was to step up and speak to you . . . you would not recognize him from one of your own people, and in appearance, probably the greatest difference you would note would be his handsome features and perfect proportions physically. . . .


ALIEN LIAISONS

83

The brigadier general explained that “the boys upstairs” had mastered the languages of those they contacted by means of their close proximity to Earth over a period of two thousand years, but in cases where difficulties arose, they made use of a translating device, which they were helping us to develop. “In this manner, too,” he explained, “they can speak to us ... if they are near to their ships; the difference being that they can transmit by thought to their machines and have it speak vocally. I know these things work, because I have used them. ...” The remainder of the letter contains material similar to that disseminated by the typical contactees of the 1950s, some of which I have difficulty accepting: for example, that our solar system (comprised of twelve planets) is fully populated! This would tend, of course, to discredit everything else in the letter. Maybe the retired general had simply lost his marbles—or maybe he was lied to. I don’t know. If it were not for the fact that I have spoken to so many apparently honest witnesses who have made similar claims, I would have discarded the story long ago. Human-looking aliens are not currendy as fashionable as the litde bug-eyed beings most frequendy associated with abductions. Pardy because of the association with contactees, reports of encounters with the human variety tend to be discarded or overlooked. In addition to the sometimes ludicrous points of origin given, the banal and evangelical tone of the “messages” sometimes (but not always) dispensed to many of the contactees is another reason why we tend to discard such reports. Yet, the difference may be only academic. Plenty of abductees have been given silly messages by the bug-eyed beings, and numerous witnesses claim to have been abducted by the more human variety. Both types (as well as other beings) continue to be reported, and in some cases have been observed simultaneously during a close encounter. In the Colorado ranch case, we learned how the “Bigfoot” entities were associated with human types. Let us now look briefly at the case of Travis Walton, who encountered both human-appearing and other beings—a contact involving no communications at all.

AN ALIEN COOPERATION? THE INITIAL STAGES OF WALTON’S ALLEGED ABDUCTION IN AN

Arizona forest on November 5, 1975, were witnessed by six people, when he was knocked senseless to the ground by a beam of light from


84

ALIEN CONTACT

a hovering UFO. The others fled from the scene in terror, and on returning later, found no trace of Walton. When he recovered consciousness, in considerable pain, Walton found himself in a strange room with three humanoids a little under five feet in height, dressed in one-piece coveralls. The beings had bald, oversized heads, with almost chalk-white, slightly translucent skin. “They had bulging, oversized craniums, a small jaw structure, and an undeveloped appearance to their features that was almost infantile,” Walton reported in his book. “Their thinlipped mouths were narrow, and I never saw them open. Lying close to their heads on either side were the tiny crinkled lobes of their ears. Their miniature rounded noses had small oval nostrils.” The most noticeably different features were the eyes. “Those glistening brown orbs had irises twice the size of a normal human eye . . . The iris was so large that even parts of the pupils were hidden by the lids, giving the eyes a certain cat-like appearance. There was very little of the white part of the eye showing. They had no lashes and no eyebrows . . . Their sharp gaze alternately darted about and then fixed me with an intense stare—a look so piercing that it seemed they were seeing right through me.” No communication of any sort took place as Walton wondered how to make his escape, having already struck one of the beings. Eventually, as he was on the point of attempting to throw himself at them, they turned and hurriedly left the room. Walking around the craft, Walton came across an unusual chair, with a console and screen on the arms. The closer he approached this chair, the darker the room it was in became, apparently showing the darkness of space through an increasingly translucent wall. (Dan Fry reported that the entrance of the craft he traveled in was rendered opaque by a beam of light, enabling him to see outside.) After playing around with the console, which caused apparent movements of the craft in relation to the stars, Walton was confronted by what he took to be a human being standing in the doorway. The man was about six feet two inches tall, muscular, with a tightfitting bright blue one-piece suit and a transparent helmet. Walton felt a sense of relief, assuming the man to be from NASA or the Air Force, and remonstrated with him, begging him to explain what was happening. But the man remained silent. “Fie had coarse, sandy-blond hair of medium length that covered his ears,” Walton wrote. “He had a dark complexion, like a deep, even tan. He had no beard or mustache. In fact, I couldn’t even see stubble


ALIEN LIAISONS

85

or dark shadows of whiskers. He had slightly rugged, masculine features and strange eyes. They were a bright, golden-hazel color—but there was still something else odd about those eyes that I could not quite place.” The man then took Walton on a guided tour, merely smiling tolerantly in response to further questions. They came out of the craft into a large hangarlike enclosure, where two or three other craft were parked, slighdy smaller than the one he had presumably arrived in. On entering a room beside the hangar, Walton was surprised to see two more men and a woman, dressed identically to the first man but without helmets. “The woman also had a face and figure that were the epitome of her sex,” said Walton. “They were smooth-skinned and blemishless . . . They looked alike in a family sort of way, although they were not identical. They all had the same coarse, brownish-blond hair. The woman wore hers longer than the men, past her shoulders. She did not appear to wear makeup. They seemed to all be in their midtwenties, perhaps older. They all had the same intense, golden-hazel eyes. Whether it was the brightness of their eyes or some other feature, something was definitely odd about their eyes; I just could not tell what it was.” Walton was put on a table, the woman approached him with what looked like an oxygen mask without tubes, and the next thing he remembers is waking up on a pavement west of Heber, Arizona, watching a circular object rising from the road and departing silently. As it transpired, five days had elapsed since the initial encounter.17 Walton’s case inevitably led to considerable controversy—as all such cases do—but a number of psychiatrists and polygraph examiners testified that he had been telling the truth. “Our conclusion, which is absolute, is that this young man is not lying, that there is no collusion involved, and no attempt to hoax,” stated Dr. Rosenbaum, one of three psychiatrists who examined Walton.18 A Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory conducted by Lamont McConnell indicated “no deviations that would point to psychosis.” In October 1978 I interviewed Walton in his hometown of Snowflake, Arizona, and was impressed by his sincere and reserved manner. I also spoke with a few neighbors (including a priest) who told me that Walton was totally truthful and had suffered from the ridicule heaped on him. It is important to emphasize that everything Walton describes as having happened to him during the five days was recalled fully con-


ALIEN CONTACT

86

sciously, and although he was subsequendy hypnotically regressed, no further information has come to light so far (or at least, up to 1978). “Do you think that the time will ever come when the subconscious memories will come out,” I asked him, “or would you rather they remained buried forever?” “Someday, maybe,” he replied. “I just know that Fm not ready now. The knowledge to be gained, curiosity to be satisfied is one thing, but then, you know, there is the difficulty of what I may have to deal with—the memories or whatever . . . Fm open to any possibility, and I don’t claim to be an expert on it. All I know is what happened to me.”19 The inference from Walton’s experience is that there is some kind of liaison between human-type aliens and others that look like nothing on Earth. Whether or not the others are related in any way, or are biological robots, is open to debate. “Who was cooperating with whom?” Walton asked. “I saw nothing to indicate the answer to that question. In fact, I never saw the two types together in one place at the same time. There was nothing to indicate that one type was a bred-up slave of the other. Further, there was nothing that would indicate friendly cooperation, either. . . . But then again, the aliens and the human type might have been cooperating with each other in my abduction from the very start. There might exist an interaction and cooperation of all intelligent life-forms in space. . . .”20

AN AIR FORCE CONTACT A

DESCRIPTION OF ALIENS REMARKABLY SIMILAR TO THE NON-

human types reported by Walton was given by a United States Air Force mechanic, Sergeant Charles Moody, who claims to have been taken on board a craft near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on August 13, 1975, three months prior to Walton’s experience. “The beings were about five feet tall and very much like us except their heads were larger and had no hair, ears very small, eyes a little larger than ours, nose small and the mouth had very thin lips,” he consciously recalled later. “There was speech, but their lips did not move ... It was like they could read my mind, and I believe they did because the elder or leader would speak sometimes before I would ask something.” At one stage, the “leader” touched Moody’s back and legs with a


ALIEN LIAISONS

87

rod-type device. ccWhen I asked what he was doing he said there had been a scuffle when they first made contact with me and he only wanted to correct any misplacement that might have happened,” Moody explained. The contactee was told that our radar interferes with their navigational system (a claim also made by William Herrmann, who was abducted by similar beings in a series of incidents commencing in 197821). During the two-hours-and-forty-minute encounter, Moody was allegedly shown the drive unit, contained in a room about twentyfive feet across. “In the center was what looked like a huge carbon rod going through the roof of the room; around the rod were three what looked like holes covered with glass. Inside the glass-covered holes or balls were what looked like large crystals with two rods, one on each side of the crystal. One rod came to a ball-like top, the other one came to a CT’ type top. . . . There were no wires or cables.” Moody then observed what looked like a large black box on the side of the room. “I asked about it and was told what it was but then was told not to ever reveal what the black box was for. I have really tried to remember but I can’t remember about the black box, only that it was there.” It will be recalled that a “black box” features in the story of multiple phenomena on the Colorado ranch (Chapter 3), although it would be pure speculation to ascribe a similar application to the one mentioned here. Moody was told by the aliens that the craft they were on was not their “main craft,” which was then four hundred miles above the Earth and utilized a different drive unit. “It’s not only just one advanced race that is studying this planet Earth, but a group of them,” Moody was supposedly informed, “and within three years from now they will make themselves known to all mankind. I can also say that it will not be a pleasant type of meeting, for there will be warnings made to the people of the world. Their plan is for only limited contact, and after twenty years of further study and only after deeper consideration will there be any type of close contact. . . . Their intent is a peaceful one, and if the leaders of the world will only heed their warnings, we will find ourselves a lot better off than before, and at this time it5s not up to us to accept them, but for them to accept us!”22 As with many similar contact accounts, such prophecies usually turn out to be false. But does this necessarily mean that the contactees are lying? A psychological stress evaluation (PSE) of Charles Moody by


ALIEN CONTACT

88

Charles McQuiston (coinventor of the PSE) indicated that the witness was telling the truth. Moody held a high-security clearance at Holloman Air Force Base and was involved in the Air Force’s Human Reliability Program (HRP) where he had been carefully screened by a psychiatrist and declared free of emotional disorders. Moreover, his supervisor at the base, Sergeant Wright, confirmed that Moody was reliable and trustworthy.

A GOVERNMENT LIAISON? IN

THE

PHILADELPHIA

EXPERIMENT;

COAUTHOR

WILLIAM

Moore cites die interesting case of Robert Suffern, of Bracebridge, Ontario, who, on the night of October 7, 1975, encountered on the road ahead a dark saucer-shaped object about twelve to fourteen feet in diameter. “I was scared,” he later told a reporter. “It was right there in front of me with no lights and no signs of life.” Before he stopped the car, the object ascended vertically and disappeared. No sooner had Suffern turned his car around to head back home when a four-foot-tall humanlike figure with very wide shoulders, “out of proportion to his body,” and wearing a silver-gray suit and a globelike helmet, walked right out in the road in front of the car. Suffern braked and skidded, coming to within inches of a collision with the figure, who immediately dodged, ran to the side of the road, and disappeared effortlessly over a fence, “like he was weightless.” After arriving home, he again saw the UFO, flying slowly close to the road before disappearing vertically. The following year, during a lengthy interview with Harry Tokarz of the Canadian UFO Research Network (CUFORN), Suffern disclosed that two months after the encounter, on December 12, he and his wife were visited by three officials, who arrived in an Ontario Provincial Police car by prearranged appointment. The three men, in full uniform, bore impressive credentials from the Canadian Forces in Ottawa, the United States Air Force, Pentagon, and the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. The officials allegedly showed Suffern a number of gun-camera photographs and other data on UFOs, and implied that the United States and Canadian Governments had known all about UFOs since 1943 (supposedly as a result of a United States Navy experiment involving radar invisibility—the so-called “Philadelphia Experiment”),


ALIEN LIAISONS

89

stating that they had been cooperating with the aliens ever since that time. They said the incident witnessed by SufFern was “a mistake,” claiming that a malfunction in the craft had brought it down. Furthermore, the officials knew the precise time of the landing, which had not been revealed to anyone at that time. The Sufferns were also impressed by the fact that the three officials answered all their questions unhesitatingly and authoritatively, and insisted that the men were legitimate government agents whose identities could be proven. SufFern was unwilling to disclose further details, however, preferring to comply with the government’s desire for secrecv.23 j

A MEDICAL EXAMINATION DR. LEOPOLDO DIAZ MARTINEZ, A PEDIATRICS AND ANAESTHESIA

specialist, was executive director of the Hospital del Ferrocarril del Pacffico in Guadalajara, Mexico, when the following incident is alleged to have occurred. On October 28, 1976, Dr. Diaz noticed an unusual man waiting in his office. He was short—about five feet two inches—with extraordinarily white skin, “almost the color of milk.” The stranger requested a physical examination—blood pressure, heart, lungs, and so on— because, he said, he “traveled a lot” and therefore required regular medical examinations. Dr. Diaz asked the man to take off his clothes. The man was normal in every way, apart from being hairless—with the exception of his head, where a small growth of black hair encircled the temples—and the eyes. As the doctor approached him, he noticed that the color of the man’s eyes was “almost impossible to describe . . . like violet,” and that the iris was wider than normal. Since it is necessary to relate blood pressure to age, Dr. Diaz asked the man how old he was and received the reply that he was eightyfour. The doctor was incredulous, because the man appeared to be in his forties or fifties, judging from the mature expression on his face, although no wrinkles could be discerned. He was, said Dr. Diaz, “a good-looking man . . . very well constructed.” Heart and blood pressure proved to be normal (120/80), as did the lungs and other vital organs. Suddenly, the man explained that the true purpose of his visit was to impart some important information: “I am not from this planet, but don’t be nervous,” he began. “It is


90

ALIEN CONTACT

necessary that you people recognize that many of us are here intermingled with you, and trying to help, because you are very close to having tremendous problems on your planet... You are misusing energy sources and it is necessary for you to learn to find another source of energy. We are trying to give you this information because you are polluting the atmosphere: You are contaminating not only your planet but even space, and are very close to being destroyed. . . .” Dr. Diaz questioned why he was being given this information, rather than government officials and scientists, and was told: “We have approached your government people and your scientists, but many are very arrogant. They don’t want to hear; they don’t want to change. We are trying to help, but only in the way you want to receive this help. We cannot force you to accept. . . .” There followed a lengthy discourse on cosmology, theology, and physics. The alien’s comments on the energy crisis were particularly apposite. “It is necessary for you to find another energy source,” he said, “and it is very easy. For that which you call electricity is an eternal energy ... it is free. It is possible to get tremendous energy if you know how to dissociate electrons, for in this way you can have the free energy you need, without contamination or pollution, and this is what we use to travel space. . . .” The stranger revealed that his people had discovered more subatomic particles than we had, hence their ability to tap this source of energy. Before the man left the office, Dr. Diaz attempted to learn his origin, but other than saying that our solar system has twelve planets, the alien merely stated cryptically: “The only thing I can tell you is that I come from beyond the sun. . . .” At the conclusion of this conversation, held in Spanish, the stranger left the office. Dr. Diaz attempted to follow, but by the time he reached the corner of the block, the man had vanished. At first, Dr. Diaz related this experience only to a few close friends and relatives, but subsequendy he was introduced to the UFO Education Center in California, where he learned that others had claimed to have had encounters with extraterrestrials. In the realization that he was not alone, he felt secure enough to make the story public— and even to make a special trip to New York, where he related the details to a United Nations delegation. There will be those who will arbitrarily reject this sensational account without further consideration. Others will cast aspersions on the doctor’s state of mental health or integrity, accusing him of fab24


ALIEN LIAISONS

91

ricating the story for self-aggrandizement. But it is hardly likely that a highly respected doctor, who up to that time had been in practice for over twenty-five years, would risk his professional reputation with such a story unless it had actually taken place. When I spoke with Dr. Diaz by phone in 1980, he struck me as being completely truthful, and gave me the names of some of the United Nations delegates with whom he had spoken in New York. The meeting had taken place in the office of Robert Muller, under secretary of economic and social development, and accordingly, I telephoned him at the United Nations. Mr. Muller confirmed the meeting with Dr. Diaz, but when I asked what the United Nations proposed to do about it, he replied: “Nothing—nothing at all. I circulated it to some people who might be able to do something about it and I had not a single response.”25

A GERMAN CONNECTION CC

WE

FIND

OURSELVES

FACED

BY POWERS WHICH ARE

FAR

stronger than we had hitherto assumed, and whose base of operations is at present unknown to us,” Dr. Wernher von Braun is alleged to have stated in 1959, in reference to the deflection from orbit of a United States satellite. “More I cannot say at present. We are now engaged in entering into closer contact with those powers, and in six or nine months’ time it may be possible to speak with more precision on the matter.”26 Whether Von Braun had aliens in mind may never be known, but in view of information I have acquired over the years from reliable sources, indicating that contact has been established with a number of scientists, the possibility cannot be discounted. A colleague of mine, for example, learned from a scientist friend in the 1970s that the director of a German/American space research center (located in West Germany) was of allegedly extraterrestrial origin. This knowledge was restricted to a quorum of scientists at the base, and the information apparently supplied by the director proved to be invaluable in their research effort. Just another wild, unsubstantiated story? Perhaps. But I have to add that my colleague had the opportunity of meeting the director in London in the 1980s (together with his scientist friend) and is satisfied as to the director’s “credentials.” Even Germany’s great space pioneer Dr. Hermann Oberth is reported to have endorsed the suggestion of alien liaison. “We cannot


92

ALIEN CONTACT

take the credit for our record advancement in certain scientific fields alone; we have been helped,” he is quoted as having said. When asked by whom, he simply replied, “The people of other worlds.”27 To my great regret, I neglected to ask Oberth about this when I met him in 1972, but I recall that he did not reject the possibility that aliens might have established bases here on Earth.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS BUT ALIEN CONTACT IS INFINITELY MORE COMPLEX THAN THE

scenario suggested here. Having spent over thirty years interviewing many witnesses throughout the world, it is evident to me that we are confronted with a diversity of UFO occupants, and I see no valid reason for discarding one type of report on the basis of its failure to fit in with our preconceived notions of alien appearance and behavior. Nor are all the contactees lying. The aliens themselves are not averse to spreading disinformation, as I have remarked elsewhere. Many encounters are so puzzling that they will probably remain beyond our comprehension for centuries to come. And many reports suggest that not all the visitors have our best interests at heart. The x\merican journalist Bob Pratt has investigated some disturbing cases, including abductions, that took place in remote areas of northeast Brazil during the 1970s and 1980s and involve witnesses who typically claim to have been struck by beams of light from UFOs, in some instances causing serious injury. In an incident that occurred on April 23, 1976, Luis Fernandes Barros, a businessman and rancher from Quixada in the state of Ceara, was struck by a beam of light from a hovering aerial object. Initially, Barros suffered from nausea, diarrhea, headaches, and vomiting, and doctors and psychiatrists who examined him could only conclude that he had a brain lesion. His speech began to deteriorate, and three months after the incident, his hair turned white. Six months later, he had lost all his mental faculties and regressed to the age of a one-yearold child.28 Dr. Jacques Vallee, the distinguished researcher and astrophysicist, has also interviewed a number of witnesses in northeast Brazil, and concludes that most are truthful, though he rules out an extraterrestrial source for the UFOs.29 It is also in Brazil, of course, where Antonio Villas Boas was ap-


ALIEN LIAISONS

93

parently twice seduced by a four-and-a-half-foot-tall alien female aboard a spaceship in October 1957. The space-suited humanoids who kidnapped Villas Boas very sensibly took the precaution of taking a blood sample before presenting him to the naked female, who was described as “beautiful, though of a different type from the women I had known,” with very fair, almost bleached hair reaching halfway down her neck. Her eyes were “large and blue, more elongated than round, being slanted outward.” She had high cheekbones, making the face look wide, but narrowing sharply and terminating in a pointed chin. Her lips were thin and barely visible. The ears, though small, were no different from ours. Her body was more beautiful than that of any women Antonio had seen, with “high and well-separated breasts, thin waist, and small stomach, wide hips, and large thighs.” Interestingly, the hair in the armpits and pubic area was described as very red. “Obviously, I would not exchange our women for her,” said Antonio. “I like a woman with whom you can talk and converse and make yourself understood, which wasn’t the case here. Furthermore, some of the grunts that I heard coming from that woman’s mouth at certain moments nearly spoiled everything, giving the disagreeable impression that I was with an animal.” Following intercourse, the woman pointed at her stomach and then at the sky, and Antonio was escorted off the craft by the other aliens. Subsequently, he began to suffer from what can only be described as a type of cosmic “clap”: severe headaches, burning and watering of the eyes, then excessive sleepiness followed by the appearance of various lesions on his body. Dr. Olavo Fontes, who later examined and interrogated Villas Boas, concluded that he was completely truthful. The physical symptoms described, he said, “suggest radiation poisoning or exposure to radiation, but unfortunately, he came to me too late for the blood examinations that could have confirmed such a possibility beyond doubt.”30 Unlike the majority of abductees, Villas Boas’s experience was recalled fully consciously. Other abductees, whose experiences are normally brought to light during hypnotic regression, believe that blood, ova, or sperm have been extracted from their bodies. While in Brazil in September 1988, Dr. Richard Haines and I interviewed Elias Seixas, a witness who claims to have been abducted with two other men (one of whom was his cousin) in the state of Goias, northwest Brazil, on September 25, 1980. Although able to recall consciously only the initial and final stages of his abduction (the


94

ALIEN CONTACT

witnesses managed to get some film of the craft, though the quality is poor), the more disturbing memories emerged only under hypnotic regression. Certain key elements in this lengthy and complex story are worth recounting here. Seixas told us that the beings he encountered were about six feet five inches tall, with slightly Asiatic, violet-colored eyes, the white part more gray than normal. They had no eyelashes or facial hair and their heads were covered with tight caps. Not content with twice pulling Seixas’s hair painfully to get samples, the sadistic spacemen apparendy shoved needles (attached to thin wires) in his fingertips and between his fingers. They claimed that in addition to a genetic purpose, they needed Seixas to educate people about their visits, and said they would plant something inside his skull that would later help them to locate and communicate with him. The naked Seixas was allegedly placed on a table, where the aliens proceeded to arouse him sexually by provoking erotic images in his mind, and then introduced a tube over his penis and extracted semen. So disturbing was this experience that Seixas told me he was unable to have sexual relations for months afterward, and that both he and to a lesser extent his wife, whom I also met, hear strange noises in their heads at certain times. Despite the outrageous nature of this story—which, of course, guarantees that it will not be believed—Dr. Haines and I remain impressed with Elias Seixas’s integrity and intelligence.

ALTERNATIVE REALITIES SOME OF THE MORE BIZARRE ENCOUNTERS, SUCH AS THOSE RE-

ported by Whidey Strieber and others, have prompted several leading researchers to argue that all “aliens” are extradimensional rather than extraterrestrial in nature. Such arguments are predicated on the false, in my view, assumption that the two hypotheses are mutually exclusive. Gordon Creighton, one of the most learned scholars in this field, suggests that some aliens are interdimensional beings indigenous to planet Earth, who may have coexisted with us for thousands of years. In many ways, this is an attractive hypothesis which could explain the inconsistencies inherent in the phenomenon. Many of the reported abductions, for example, seem to take place in a different level or dimension of reality, seemingly making a nonsense of the physical examinations, extractions of blood, sperm, and ova that are said to


ALIEN LIAISONS

95

have taken place, and are more in line with the subject of demonology (particularly encounters with incubi and succubi). While I accept that parallels can be drawn in many cases, there is no way such a theory can be applied in all cases. First, it is impossible to reconcile the hypothesis with reports of recovered vehicles and bodies, as well as with those accounts involving an ongoing physical interaction. Second, although many encounters may seem “supernatural� to us, we should never underestimate the mental and technological potential of advanced extraterrestrial species, who in my opinion, may be able to manipulate space and time in such a way that they can function in other dimensions. Unbelievable? Of course! So was manned flight, television, the atom bomb, space travel, microchip technology, and many other terrestrial achievements which we now take for granted. By the same token, extraterrestrial abilities may be unbelievable and indistinguishable from magic. But there is evidence that some of our scientists have already gained an insight into alien technology at least, thanks partly to the acquisition of extraterrestrial craft.


a considerable amount of new information relating to the retrieval of crashed UFOs and their occupants has come to light, adding weight to the growing body of evidence that there is a factual basis for what has hitherto seemed a fantastic improbability. Above Top Secret includes details of the following cases: Corona and the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico (1947); Paradise Valley, Arizona (1947); Aztec, New Mexico (1948); Mexico (1948 or 1949); Kingman, Arizona (1953); New Mexico (1962); and examinations of alien bodies and craft at Wright-Patterson AFB in 1959 and 1962, as well as at an undisclosed base in Arizona during the 1970s. Leonard Stringfield and other researchers have published additional cases which have been reported not just from the United States, but also from countries such as France, Germany, Puerto Rico, South Africa, and Spitsbergen (Arctic Ocean).1 In the majority of cases where bodies are recovered, the aliens are described as being of the small variety, and of all such reported incidents, the so-called Roswell incident of July 1947 has become one of the best-documented and thoroughly investigated cases in UFO history. Stanton Friedman and William Moore have now contacted over one hundred and sixty witnesses who were directly or indirectly associated with the incident, and other researchers, such as Leonard Stringfield, Kevin Randle, and Donald Schmitt, have located additional witnesses, including aircrew members who transported the wreckage, bringing the total number of witnesses to over two hundred.2 IN THE LAST FEW YEARS,


HARDWARE

97

The evidence now suggests that there were two separate crashes in New Mexico during the first week of July 1947, and that both possibly involved the recovery of alien bodies. In the best-known incident, scattered wreckage was discovered on “Mac” Brazel’s ranch near Corona, seventy-five miles northwest of Roswell, as has been confirmed by Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer from Roswell Army Air Field who was in charge of the recovery operation. Marcel found no bodies at this location, but stated emphatically that the material he handled was like nothing on Earth. One piece of a metal foillike material was so durable, he said, that it could not be dented with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer, despite its incredible lightness.3 Marcel’s son, Jesse Marcel, M.D., also handled some pieces of the wreckage that his father had brought home with him, as he described to Lee Graham in 1981: ... the crash and remnants of the device that I happened to be present to see have left an imprint on my memory that can never be forgotten. I am currendy undergoing training as a Flight Surgeon in the Army Air National Guard, and have examined the remnants of many conventional aircraft that have undergone unfortunate maneuvers, and what I saw in 1947 is unlike any of the current aircraft ruinage I have studied. This craft was not conventional in any sense of the word, in that the remnants were most likely [of] what was then known as a flying saucer that apparently had been stressed beyond its designed capabilities. I’m basing this on the fact that many of the remnants . . . had strange hieroglyphic-type writing symbols across the inner surfaces. . . .4 Strange “hieroglyphic-type” symbols have been reported in other cases, such as the incident involving the recovery by the military of an unidentified object that was found half embedded in the ground near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 1965, following sightings by numerous witnesses of a UFO heading toward that vicinity. The case has been throughly investigated by Stan Gordon and other researchers, and one of those who observed the object at close quarters described a ring or bumperlike structure about eight to ten inches wide that seemed to cover the circumference of the “acorn-shaped” object, and had what looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics on it: characters of broken and straight lines, dots, rectangles, and circles. Asked by Leonard Stringfield if the symbols could possibly have been Rus-


98

ALIEN CONTACT

sian, the witness, Jim Romansky, replied, “No way! Pm of RussianPolish descent and can read Russian. It was not Russian, nor American. I’ll stake my life on it: The object was not man-made.”5 Slowly but surely the evidence is accumulating that the various extraordinary incidents associated with the Roswell case have a basis in fact. Following publication ofAbove Top Secret in 1987,1 have been contacted by several people who have provided me with new information. One of my informants is former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bowker, who at one time had been with the Communications Division of the Air Technical Intelligence Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “Over the years,” he wrote, “I have heard rumors galore, fully substantiating my belief in the reality of UFOs and the sometimes pitiful efforts of the Establishment to cover them up, and I have seen two myself. Recendy, I sent a copy of the MJ-12 document [see Chapter 6] to a friend in Arizona, who showed it to another gent there [whose] uncle worked at Wright-Patterson AFB as a welder at the time that artifacts from the 1947 NM crash were being analyzed, and was given a piece of it to melt with his equipment. He was unable to produce a flame hot enough for the task!” The much-maligned Frank Scully, author of the 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, described how he had handled some “gears” that had come from a recovered craft. “More than 150 tests had failed to break down the metal of the gears,” he wrote. “The gears themselves were of a ratio unfamiliar to engineers on this earth; had no play, no lubrication.”6 It is therefore illuminating to learn of corroborative evidence supplied to me by Robert Bowker. “Years ago, I had an engineer at Wright-Patterson AFB approach me while I was on Active Duty and tell me all about an investigation he was involved in of a gear fragment that turned out to entail Rare Earth elements in a quantity impossible on this planet for gear manufacture, and [was] not of the mathematical (cycloid) design our gears use, but one using a strange 3-level digital form.”7

THE NEW MEXICO ALIENS 1947 CRASHES WERE ALLEGEDLY recovered near Magdalena, on the Plains of San Agustin, west of Socorro, New Mexico, about a hundred and fifty miles west of Brazefs ALIEN BODIES FROM ONE OF THE


HARDWARE

99

ranch near Corona. One witness was Grady L. Barnett, a civil engineer with the United States Soil Conservation Service, who was on a military assignment at the time. Barnett claimed to have come across a metallic, disc-shaped aircraft, about twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, together with apparently dead bodies. “They were like humans but they were not humans,” he reported. “The heads were round, the eyes were small, and they had no hair. The eyes were oddly spaced. They were quite small by our standards and their heads were larger in proportion to their bodies than ours. Their clothing seemed to be one-piece and gray in color. You couldn’t see any zippers, belts, or buttons. . . .”8 Sergeant Melvin E. Brown was stationed at Roswell Army Air Field at the time of the crashes in July 1947. Not only did he stand guard outside a hangar where the recovered material was temporarily stored, but also claimed to have observed some alien bodies, as Beverley Bean, one of his daughters, related to me: Dad was reading this article in the Daily Mirror in the late 1970s, I think, and he said, “I was there!”—pointing to this article. He said it was all true, apart from one fact. He told us afterward that any men available were taken to this site. They had to form a ring around whatever it was they had to cover, and everything was put on trucks. They were told not to look and to take no notice, and were sworn to secrecy. I can remember my dad saying he couldn’t understand why they wanted refrigerated trucks. And him [sic] and another guy had to sit on the back of a truck to take this stuff to a hangar. They were packed in ice. And he lifted up the tarpaulin and looked in, and saw two, or possibly three bodies. He told us they were nothing to be scared of. They were friendly-looking and had nice faces. They looked Asian, he said, but had larger heads and no hair. They looked a yellowy color. He was frightened a bit, because he knew he shouldn’t be doing it, so he only had a quick glimpse. But he said they could have passed for Chinese—they had slanted eyes. And he had to stand guard duty outside this hangar, and his commanding officer came up and said, “I want to have a look in. Let’s both have a look inside!” So they both went into the hangar, and they didn’t see anything, as everything was packed away for storage to be flown out the next day.


100

ALIEN CONTACT

Melvin Brown only occasionally discussed the incident with his British wife and three daughters, and always regretted having done so. “He’d shut up if we questioned him about it,” Beverley told me. “He wanted to tell people about it, but when you started asking questions, he was completely off it. He was in a state about it when he was dying in 1986. Even when he was asleep he was mumbling about it. . . Dad was absolutely no liar. He was a smashing bloke and loved his country.”9 The family was initially reluctant to allow me to publish the story, in case of official reprisal, but in the last few years they have become more comfortable about discussing it openly, as additional military witnesses have come forward to confirm various details of the Roswell story. Beverley gave me copies of her father’s military records, which prove that he was stationed at Roswell at the relevant period. They do not prove, of course, that he saw alien bodies, but they do at least show that he had an unblemished career in the United States Army and Air Force. His World War II army awards included the American Defense Service Medal; American Campaign Medal; Asiatic Pacific Campaign

Fig. 5.1 Membership card proving that Sergeant Brown was a member of the NonCommissioned Officers Club at Roswell Army Air Field during the time he claimed to have been involved in the recovery operation.


HARDWARE

101

Medal; Victory Medal; and Good Conduct Medal (Appendix 8), and he was later recommended for promotion (Appendix 9). Melvin Brown was additionally engaged in espionage work, according to a relative, although no details are available. He also knew both Major Jesse Marcel and General Nathan Twining, Commanding General of Air Materiel Command at the time of the Roswell incident.

SURVIVORS? 1989, FORMER NASA ENGINEER BOB OECHSLER INTERviewed Samantha De Los Reyes, a stepdaughter of a now-deceased civilian employee who had been assigned to one of the New Mexico retrieval operations. Following a dispatch from Roswell Army Air Field, Burl Cassity, who held a Top Secret clearance with the Army Corps of Engineers at the time, was ordered to take heavy transport equipment to the site, where a craft and alien bodies had been discovered. “There were a lot of people around, including press and photographers, with the military running around trying to prevent them from taking pictures,” Bob recounted to me. “There were four aliens—two dead ones and two live ones. One of them who was alive was walking erratically and apparently had internal injuries. The other one was apparendy unharmed. And they had a bus and several trucks and a bulldozer, and he helped to put the two dead aliens on the bus, followed by the live ones.” Cassity was ordered to paint the windows of the bus with black paint, and assisted in retrieving some components from the craft, one of which was what looked like a control panel made out of an unknown clear material. “He said it was not glass and it was not plastic,” Bob told me. “I don’t know what it was made of, but it apparendy took two of them to lift it—they really had to strain to put it on the bus. They collected as much as possible of the small debris and loaded it onto the trucks.” The larger pieces, of which there were about fourteen, were all cataloged, Bob was told, and Cassity was ordered to dig a trench with a bulldozer and bury them on-site, presumably for recovery later. In the process, he inadvertendy drove over a piece. “It didn’t do any damage,” Bob said. “They were totally awed and shocked by what they saw. He learned that the alien that was injured died either before or shortly after arrival IN


102

ALIEN CONTACT

in Alamogordo [possibly Alamogordo Army Air Field]. They were unable to save him. The other one apparendy survived for a few years at Los Alamos” (see Chapter 6). Eighteen years later, Bob was informed, Cassity died in an unusual accident at the White Sands, New Mexico, missile test range. He was found on a ravine where he had been digging a long trench for one of the tests. “They found him lying down, with his arms at his side, face up, with his glasses on, and he had been run over by the tracks of the bulldozer—feet first. Samantha’s husband, who was a state police trooper, had gone to White Sands and managed to get a look at the sealed file. The coroner’s report indicated that he had died of a heart attack.”10 The death may have been entirely coincidental, of course, however puzzling the circumstances. And in some other respects the story seems unlikely. If there were reporters and/or photographers at the site, for example, why has no one yet come forward? Samantha told Bob that one of the cameras was confiscated by the military, so it is possible that others were confiscated, too, and the photographers silenced. Over twenty-five years have elapsed since Cassity died, and it is likely that Samantha may have forgotten or confused some of the details. But another witness has now come forward who claims to have observed a craft and bodies, as well as a military presence, near Magdalena, New Mexico. Although only five years old at the time, Gerald Anderson has a vivid memory of the incident, now enhanced by hypnotic regression. Researchers John Carpenter and Stanton Friedman are both impressed with the sincerity of this witness and the amount of corroboration he has provided, although his claims are disputed by others (notably Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, in UFO Crash at Roswell11). Anderson, a former police chief and deputy sheriff, was visiting the area to look for moss agate stones, together with his father, brother, uncle, and cousin (all now deceased), on July 5, 1947, when the incident is alleged to have taken place. “We came around a corner and right there in front of us, stuck into the side of this hill, was a silver disc. We all went up there to it. There were three creatures—three bodies—lying on the ground underneath this thing, in the shade.” The creatures were about four feet tall, with disproportionately large heads and almond-shaped, coal-black eyes. “Two weren’t moving, and the third one obviously was having trouble breathing, like when you have broken ribs,” Anderson re-


HARDWARE

103

ported. “There was a fourth one next to it, sitting there on the ground. There wasn’t a thing wrong with it, and it apparently had been giving first aid to the others. It recoiled in fear, like it thought we were going to attack it.” The adults repeatedly tried to communicate with the creature, but there was no audible response to greetings spoken in English and Spanish. A few minutes after the Andersons arrived, five college students and their teacher (reported by Grady Barnett to have been from the University of Pennsylvania), who had been on an archaeological dig a few miles away and had been alerted the previous night to what they thought was a meteor fall, came on the scene. The professor, a Dr. Buskirk, tried several foreign languages in a further unsuccessful attempt at communication. “It was 115 degrees out there that day,” Anderson recalled. “But around the craft, when you got close to it, it was cold. When you touched the metal, it felt just like it came out of a freezer.” Anderson also touched one of the creatures lying motionless on the ground, and it too was coid. A pickup truck then arrived on the scene, and a person believed to be Barnett joined the onlookers. Anderson approached the creatures once more, and as he did so, became aware of a strange sensation. The upright creature “turned and looked right at me, and it was like he was inside my head, as if he was doing my thinking—as if his thoughts were in my head,” he claims. Anderson remembers a sensation of falling and tumbling. “I felt that thing’s fear, felt its depression, felt its loneliness. I relived the crash. I know the terror it went through. That one look told me everything. ...” A contingent of armed soldiers then arrived. The creature, which had calmed down after its initial fright, “went crazy.” Anderson lost sight of it as the soldiers surrounded the craft, which was described as being about fifty feet in diameter. Anderson recalls shouts and threats by the military. “The soldiers ushered us out of there very unceremoniously. Their attitude, to say the least, was very uncivilized. They told my dad and my uncle, who also worked at Sandia [Laboratories], that if they were ever to divulge anything about this—it was a secret military aircraft, they said—then us kids would be taken away and they’d never see us again. . . . These people had machine guns and you listened to what they said.”


104

ALIEN CONTACT

The soldiers did not appear unduly surprised by the craft and bodies, Anderson recalls. “They were very cognizant of what they were looking at. They knew what it was.” There was a battalion of soldiers on the scene by the time Anderson and his group arrived back up on the hilltop where they had left their car. “There were trucks, there were airplanes—they had the road blocked off and they were landing on it. They had radio communications gear set up. There were ambulances, and more soldiers with weapons.” Anderson believes there is a link between the scattered wreckage found at Corona and the barely damaged craft found on the Plains of San Agustin. “There was a gash in the side of the disc we saw, like it had been crushed in,” he reports. “The contour of the craft would fit into that gash perfectly, like another one of these things had hit it. I think two of these discs had a midair collision. One exploded and fell in pieces near Roswell, and the other crash-landed where we found it.”12 (Further details of this case are published in Crash at Corona, by Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner.12)

THE JACKIE GLEASON STORY IT IS NOT WIDELY KNOWN THAT THE GREAT COMEDIAN JACKIE

Gleason, who died in 1987, had a serious interest in UFOs. He possessed an extensive library on the subject in his Florida home and subscribed to a number of journals, including Just Cause, the newsletter of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy.13 He even named his Peekskill, New York, residence “The Mothership” and designed it to resemble a flying saucer. According to Beverly McKittrick, Gleason’s second wife, her husband came home one night in 1973, visibly shaken. He told his wife that he had just returned from a visit to Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, where, thanks to his friend President Richard Nixon, who arranged the trip, he was shown a top-secret repository where the bodies of aliens were stored. The visit was conducted under extremely tight security. Larry Bryant (of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy) sent a Freedom of Information request to Homestead Air Force Base to gain access to all official records pertaining to the repository and to the visit, but was told that no such records existed. While waiting for a response to his FOIA request, Bryant sent a draft affidavit to Gleason, asking


HARDWARE

105

him to execute it as further support for the growing body of evidence then being gathered as part of a forthcoming FOIA lawsuit to force the government to release its records on UFO crash/retrievals. “Though I never heard from Gleason,” Bryant reported, “I did learn that he had been approached by a third party in the film industry. At this confrontation, Gleason chose neither to confirm nor deny the story, saying that he’d prefer not to discuss it at all. The way I see it, Gleason easily could have set the record straight in a reply to my proposal or in an explanation to the inquisitive film-industry representative. If the story was a fabrication or misinterpretation on the part of his wife, he now had every opportunity to say so. That he chose not to merely deepens the mystery.” Larry Bryant, who is a civilian employee editor of the Army News Service, also sent an advertisement to the Homestead AFB newspaper, soliciting the testimony or evidence of anyone who could shed light on the Gleason story. The base’s public affairs officer denounced the advertisement, however, and forbade its publication.14

SCIENTIFIC AND MILITARY CONFIRMATION HOWEVER ABSURD THE STORIES OF RECOVERED FLYING SAUCERS

and alien bodies may seem, it is important to mention that in a letter to William Steinman in 1983, Dr. Robert Sarbacher, a highly respected scientist who was a former consultant to the government’s Research and Development Board and president and chairman of the board of the Washington Institute of Technology, acknowledged that the United States had indeed recovered both craft and bodies, and confirmed names of some of those involved at a high level. “About the only thing I remember at this time,” he added, “is that certain materials reported to have come from flying saucer crashes were extremely light and very tough. . . . There were also reports that instruments or people operating these machines were also of very light weight. . . .”15 In his handwritten notes, made after a meeting at the Canadian Embassy in Washington in September 1950, Canadian Government scientist Wilbert Smith wrote that Dr. Sarbacher had confirmed that the facts reported in Frank Scully’s book were substantially correct; that the authorities had been unable to duplicate the performance of the discs, and that “it is the most highly classified subject in the US Government at the present time.”16 General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff in World


106

ALIEN CONTACT

War II, is also reported to have confirmed that, as of 1951, there had been three incidents involving accidents that had proved disastrous for the occupants, and that communications had been established with the aliens.17 In July 1990, a group of investigators and witnesses involved in the Roswell incident were invited by the Fund for UFO Research to a meeting in Arlington, Virginia, in order to discuss the latest developments and to record videotaped depositions for selected members of Congress and the media. The objectives of this endeavor were to seek immunity from prosecution for current and former military employees who are naturally reluctant to discuss their involvement, and to explore the possibility of closed-door hearings. Among the ten witnesses interviewed were Jesse Marcel, Jr.; Walter Haut, the public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field who issued the original press release confirming the recovery of a flying disc; Robert Shirkey, a flight operations officer at the base who recalls seeing some of the wreckage loaded on a B-29 with Major Marcel, headed for Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas; John Kromschroeder, D.D.S., and William Lounsberry, close friends of Captain O. W. (“Pappy�) Henderson, the pilot who flew wreckage and alien bodies to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio; and Verne Maltais, a close friend of Grady Barnett, who reported finding a crashed saucer and alien bodies on the Plains of San Agustin.18

USSR 1988-89 NIKOLAI LEBEDEV, A LEADING RUSSIAN RESEARCHER, INFORMED

me during a visit to London in 1990 that there have been a number of incidents relating to recovered UFOs reported in the former USSR. In one incident, said to have occurred in the late autumn of 1988, military witnesses flying in a helicopter near Dalnegorsk, Dalniy Vostok, observed a strange object on the ground, and landed in order to investigate. The object, described as cylinder-shaped and approximately six meters (about twenty feet) in length, was definitely not part of a conventional aircraft. After an unsuccessful attempt to lift the device, the team decided to return early the following spring with proper equipment, by which time the object had disappeared. According to Valeri Dvuzhilni, who has investigated the case, Soviet Navy personnel observed a glowing object enter the sea off the coast in the Dalniy Vostok area in the spring of 1989. A naval officer


HARDWARE

107

disclosed to Dvuzhilni that a recovery operation was immediately initiated, and a device, described as egg-shaped and about twenty feet long, was retrieved from the seabed and brought ashore. “They tried to penetrate the device with an oxyacetylene flame, but without any result,” Nicolai told me. “The naval officer informed Valeri that the object was later transferred to Vladivostok and then Moscow. I asked Valeri to try and obtain more information, but he told me that the officer refused to speak anymore, as it was a topsecret matter.”191 have been informed that the Soviet Navy had specific instructions for reporting anomalous objects. In the case of landing traces, damage to military equipment, and so on, details were immediately to be telegraphed to the following units: Leningrad, military unit 62728; Mytishchi, military unit 67947.

AUSTRALIA 1958-59 THE FOLLOWING FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT WAS RELATED TO ME BY

a witness who has requested anonymity. Employed as a radio technician at the Weapons Research Establishment, Salisbury, South Australia, from 1956 to 1960, the witness made a number of trips to the Woomera Test Range, which had been set up joindy with Britain in 1946 to test military missiles, and subsequendy the Blue Streak, Black Arrow, and Black Knight launchers. “My class was unique,” the witness wrote to me in 1990. “We were the first trained in Australia in transistor theory, and so were often the only ones able to work on missile equipment under trial. I was cleared for access to all parts of the range, and to all but a few projects. I was predominandy employed on Black Knight telemetry.” Numerous sightings of UFOs were made at Woomera during this time, apparendy, but were seldom reported for fear of persecution. “I made a sighting and never reported it because of the pressures that existed as a result of sightings that had been reported by others,” my informant continued. “A point of interest is that the sighting frequency rose dramatically whenever high-altitude trials were in preparation and readiness. “While I was at Woomera, the Americans were there in force for a number of reasons: We wanted them to use the range more; they wanted to sell us die Sidewinder [missile]. One particular man who I saw regularly in the plotting room was never seemingly employed on the actual trials, he was just there, perhaps, as an observer. I one


108

ALIEN CONTACT

day broached the subject of UFOs with him. He said in part (my quotes, but actual words were very close to the following): “ £We lost a pilot to one recently. It was sighted over Fort Knox and he was sent to intercept. He reported that he was diving on it, reported opening fire, and then the aircraft was seen to crash in flames. We have no idea of the cause. . . ” While working at Woomera in 1958 or 1959, my informant revealed, an object was recovered on the range, outside any trials zone, by a helicopter involved in a search for a missing girl. “The object eventually turned up in the workshop I was employed in at the time, because of its presumed ancestry. I am telling you that I saw this, touched it, worked on it” he emphasized, and went on: It was a sphere about two feet nine inches in diameter. Its color was a mid-gray-metallic, somewhat darkened, perhaps by extreme heat. It was very light. I have never been a good judge of weight, but it was disproportionately light, easily lifted by one person, easily supported from underneath by one hand. The initial assumption was that it was part of Black Knight, for that was the only missile here at the time that could have contained anything of the size, and it was left to languish uninvestigated for several days until one of the Black Knight experts disclaimed it. We then assumed it to be Russian or American, and had a closer look. Quite simply, there was not then the technology to produce what we had in our hands, and I frankly doubt that there is yet. We tried to cut it, and could not even mark it with hand tools— saws, drills, hammers, chisels—nothing. We heated it with an oxy torch, and could put a hand on it the minute the torch was removed. I did, several times. Oxygen applied at cutting volume made no difference—not that one would expect it to as we could not get it anywhere near oxidizing heat. By this time we were curious, to say the least, and examined it much more closely. Please remember that while we were dealing with an unknown, we had no doubt at this time that it would be explained by investigation. To the naked eye, and in any way we could measure, it was a perfect sphere. No dents or bumps, however tiny. It appeared as one piece. There were no joins, no rivets, no weld marks, no sign of weld marks having been polished off. There was nowhere that pipes could have been connected, no sign of any opening. It had


HARDWARE

109

no radiation—a Geiger counter registered zero—not even background, although we were later told it was a faulty instrument, and background was normal. Disinformation, perhaps? At this point, we sought advice from on high—I don’t know who; that was handled by an engineer. The next thing I knew was that it was removed by the Range Security staff, along with the American I mentioned earlier. Some weeks after it had been removed, I asked the engineer what the object had been. He told me that the Americans had claimed it as part of their space debris, and that it had been returned by them to the States—to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Some years later, I encountered by chance another of the people who had seen the object, but who, unlike me, was still employed at Woomera. I asked him about it. He told me that as far as he was concerned there had never been such an object, and strongly advised (that is, warned, not threatened) me to adopt the same line if ever I was asked. The finding of the sphere was briefly reported in the Adelaide Advertiser, and some months later, another similar find in South Australia was mentioned in the same newspaper, the witness recalls, although he cannot remember the dates. And during the 1960s yet another sphere was apparently discovered in southwest Queensland and reported in the Brisbane Courier-Mail. The latter finding was not linked with the other two, he remembers. The witness left the electronics industry and joined the police force, rising to the rank of inspector, and was put in charge of the governorgeneral’s security until retirement due to injury in 1982. “I put it to you that my specialties of VIP security and counterterrorism must suggest that I am both a skilled observer, and stable,” he emphasized. “Perhaps this is foolish, but for many years now I have believed that what we held in those several days was not merely space debris, was perhaps not even some material left by a UFO, but that it was perhaps some form of UFO itself. . . .”20

PINE GAP LOCATED TWELVE MILES FROM ALICE SPRINGS IN AUSTRALIA’S

Northern Territory, Pine Gap is a highly secret communications base run by the National Security Agency. Ostensibly a “Joint Defense


110

ALIEN CONTACT

Space Research Facility” sponsored by both American and Australian defense departments, Pine Gap serves principally as a downlink for geosynchronous SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) satellites.21 There are rumors that the National Security Agency, which has a long history of involvement in monitoring the UFO phenomenon and is withholding many documents on the subject at an above Top Secret level, also monitors communications from UFOs, as we shall learn later. Interestingly, there have reportedly been a number of sightings in the Pine Gap area. In December 1989, for example, the American researcher John Lear received a letter from a university professor in Australia, in which it was stated that three witnesses, returning from an all-night hunting trip at four-thirty A.M., observed a camouflaged door open up in the grounds of the base, and a metallic, circular disc ascend vertically and soundlessly into the air before disappearing at great speed. a The three witnesses are reliable,” the professor reported, “though understandably rather reluctant to discuss what they saw. I am trying to arrange for a polygraph test for them, as well as getting sworn statements. ... We have an immense tract of empty territory ideal for UFO activity. In fact, this state has more UFOs coming and going, I guess, than anywhere else in Australia.” I have subsequently been in touch with the professor, and he has reaffirmed the reliability of the witnesses. From another reliable source, a friend who claims to have had contact with a group of extraterrestrials in England during 1963-64 (related in Chapter 4), I learned that communications had been established by that time with a number of scientists worldwide and that bases had been constructed in several countries—including Australia. The purpose of the liaison was not disclosed, nor the precise location of the bases, but the description of the camouflaged door and UFO at Pine Gap raises the possibility that such a base could be or may have been located there. Let us now turn our attention to the various attempts by the United States Government, during the period from 1973 to 1988, to indoctrinate the public with these complex and controversial matters. The incredible revelations which follow are necessarily diluted with disinformation, yet nevertheless seem to incorporate a significant amount of truth, as we shall discover.


1972, FILM PRODUCERS ROBERT EMENEGGER and Allan Sandler were considering various subjects for a documentary on defense-related programs when they were approached by United States Air Force officers who asked if they would be interested in making a documentary on a secret Government project. The producers were surprised to learn that the subject matter dealt with UFOs, since they had assumed that the matter had been resolved with the closure of Project Blue Book in 1969. Having expressed serious interest, Emenegger and Sandler were invited to the Pentagon, where they met with a few high-ranking Air Force personnel, including Colonels William Coleman and George Weinbrenner, who had both been involved with Blue Book. The Air Force was now ready to release all the facts, the producers were told. To their astonishment, Emenegger and Sandler were shown photographs and film not just of UFOs but gray-skinned alien beings— alive and dead. Bob Emenegger told me that he saw a 16mm film of an alien in the company of an Air Force officer. The alien had supposedly survived a crash in 1949 and subsequently had been kept at a “safe house” in Eos Alamos, New Mexico, until his death of unknown causes in 1952. In early 1973, Emenegger and Sandler were invited to Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino, California, where they met with the then head of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and Paul Shartle, former head of security and chief of requirements for the audiovisual program at Norton. It was learned at this meeting that IN LATE


112

ALIEN CONTACT

in April 1964 (or in May 1971, according to what Emenegger told me) a spacecraft had landed at Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, by prior arrangement. Alien beings supposedly came out of the craft and communicated with a team of scientists and military officers. All this had been filmed, and Emenegger and Sandler were promised eight hundred feet of film for inclusion in their documentary, as well as several thousand feet of additional material.1 Emenegger told at least one investigator that he was allowed to take some of the film home, but denied this to me during one of our several conversations in Los Angeles. In any event, permission to use the film was suddenly withdrawn by Colonel Coleman. The timing was politically inappropriate, it was explained, due to the Watergate scandal. However, permission was given to proceed with the documentary— UFOs: It Has Begun—on condition that the Holloman story was presented only as a hypothetical case. In Emenegger’s 1974 book, UFOs Past, Present and Future, the Holloman incident is described as follows: At about five-thirty A.M. on an unspecified date, the phone rang in the control room at Holloman Air Force Base and “Sergeant Mann” was informed that an unidentified aircraft was approaching the base. In the radar hut, several “blips” appeared on the screen. “HI repeat again,” the radar operators announced. “Unidentified approaching objects—on coordinate forty-niner—34 degrees southwest following an erratic approach course.” Back in the control tower the radio operator attempted to communicate with the unknown aircraft. “This is Holloman Air Force Base control tower. Identify yourself. You are encroaching on military air space. Warning . . . What is your tail number? You are in a restricted military air corridor.” There was no response. The base commander, “Colonel Horner,” issued orders for a red alert to be sounded and checks were made with Wright-Patterson AFB and Edwards AFB in an attempt to discover if there were any experimental aircraft in the vicinity. Two interceptor jets were sent up to escort the intruders out of the area. By chance, cameramen, a technical sergeant, and a staff sergeant of the base photographic team happened to be in an airborne base helicopter at the time, and took movie film of three strange objects as they approached Holloman. One of the objects broke away and began descending. Another photographic team, using high-speed cameras that had been set up to film a test launch, shot about six hundred feet of 16mm film as the craft came in to land.


PROJECT AQUARIUS

113

The object (shaped like a “bathtub” in the real film, Emenegger told me) hovered about ten feet off the ground, “yawed” like a ship at anchor for nearly a minute, then landed on three extended legs. The base commander and two officers, as well as Air Force scientists, had by now arrived on the scene. A panel in the side of the craft slid open and out stepped three “men” dressed in tight-fitting jumpsuits, and described as “perhaps short by our standards, with an odd blue-gray complexion, eyes set far apart. A large pronounced nose . . .” (In conversation with Linda Howe, Emenegger recalled that the three aliens were five feet two inches in height, with eyes that had vertical pupils like those of a cat.I 2) They wore headpieces of what resembled “rows of a ropelike design.” The commander and two scientists stepped forward and communicated with the visitors, who appeared to be using some type of translation device. The group then retired to an inner office in the King 1 area before being led to the end of Mars Street to the west area building No. 930.3 The Holloman scenario, as described in the documentary, is of course a reconstruction of the “real” events, omitting and distorting certain allegedly factual details. But what about the actual Holloman film? It is tempting to dismiss this as a staged production, either for official training purposes or perhaps as part of an official public indoctrination program. Yet there is now some evidence that it could well be the “real thing.”

CONFIRMATION? I SAW AND HEARD WAS ENOUGH TO CONVINCE ME THAT the phenomenon of UFOs is real—very real,” Bob Emenegger commented during the 1988 documentary UFO Cover-Up? Live, a conviction he has reaffirmed to me. In the same documentary, Paul Shartle also emphasized that the film seemed real enough: “WHAT

I saw footage of three disc-shaped crafts. One of the craft landed and two of them went away ... It appeared to be in trouble because it oscillated all the way down to the ground. However, it did land on three pods. A sliding door opened, a ramp was extended, and out came three aliens . . . They were human size. They had odd gray complexions and a pronounced nose.


114

ALIEN CONTACT

They wore tight-fitting jumpsuits, thin headdresses that appeared to be communication devices, and in their hands they held a translator, I was told. The Holloman base commander and other Air Force officers went out to meet them. . . . “I was told it was theatrical footage that the Air Force had purchased to make a training film,” Shartle continued. “It was too real. ... If it were a theatrical film, why didn’t they have a record of this? It was my job to keep accurate records of all audiovisual purchases. . . .”4 While researching material for a projected documentary on UFOs in April 1983, Linda Howe visited Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque and interviewed Richard C. Doty, a counterintelligence officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Doty’s military records (provided for me by Victoria Lacas) do not tell the story of his covert intelligence work, for obvious reasons, and it is probable that they contain disinformation (it has even been suggested to me that his real name is not Doty). He retired from the Air Force in the grade of master sergeant in 1988, but was assigned to Retired Reserve for ten years. Linda was astonished when Doty confirmed the Holloman incident, which had occurred on April 25, 1964—not May 1971, he insisted— twelve hours after the famous UFO landing at Socorro, New Mexico, witnessed by Deputy Marshal Lonnie Zamora. The Socorro landing was a “mistake,” Doty claimed, explaining that communications had been established, but that either the aliens or our own military personnel had mistaken the time and coordinates. “We got it corrected and they came back to where they were supposed to be at Holloman the next morning at six o’clock,” Doty said. Thus prepared for the event, cameramen had taken film with five cameras, some from airborne helicopters. One of three UFOs landed while the other two remained in the air as if for protection. Linda was told that the United States Government returned some dead preserved bodies to the aliens and that “something” was returned in exchange. “I was to be given the film for inclusion in the [Home Box Office] documentary with support by official Government confirmation,” Linda recalls. “Doty said he would call me and use a code name: Falcon. His call would be followed by others, including a ‘Torn.’ Arrangements would be made for me to screen all the footage on the east coast.” As time passed, Linda grew worried. Doty phoned to say that release of the Holloman film had been delayed for “political reasons,” but


PROJECT AQUARIUS

115

that he had received the go-ahead for Linda to interview a colonel who, he claimed, would talk on camera about his contact with an “Extraterrestrial Biological Entity55 (EBE-1) who had survived a crash in 1949. Doty asked Linda to provide photographs of herself and the film crew, so that security clearances could be obtained. But it was to no avail. Appointments for the interview were repeatedly made then cancelled, and the interview never took place.

THE PRESIDENTIAL BRIEFING PAPERS DURING THE INITIAL MEETING AT KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE,

which lasted three hours, Doty told Linda that he had been asked by his “superiors55 to show her a certain document, but that she was not allowed to make a copy or take notes. “I took the papers and read the top page,55 she describes. “It was entitled ‘Briefing for the President of the United States of America5 on the subject of unidentified and identified aerial craft or vehicles. I don’t remember a president’s name or date.55 The document included brief information on a number of UFO crashes that had happened in the United States. The “Extraterrestrial Biological Entities” were allegedly taken to various secure Government facilities, such as Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico (in a facility designated YY-11, some claim), and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The bodies were gray in color, between three to four-and-a-half-feet tall, with long arms, four long fingers, clawlike nails, and webbing between the fingers. Instead of a nose and ears, there were only holes, Linda remembers reading. Following a crash near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1949 (not to be confused, apparently, with those in 1947), six aliens had been recovered, one of whom survived. An Air Force officer, later promoted to colonel (the one with whom Linda had been promised an interview), established communications with the creature (EBE-1) at Los Alamos until its death, of unknown causes, on June 18, 1952. Later, contact was established with other beings (EBE-2 and EBE-3). EBE3 was allegedly living in secret at a certain base. It was learned that the alien civilization originated from a planet in a binary star system about fifty-five light years from Earth, and that we had been visited for at least twenty-five thousand years. Doty told Linda that there was a group called MJ-12—“MJ” meaning “Majority,” he claimed—whose function was to act as a


116

ALIEN CONTACT

policy-making committee, and whose twelve members comprised high-ranking scientists, military, and intelligence personnel. The briefing paper also listed a number of United States Government projects that had been established in order to study the alien question. These included Project Garnet, which had studied (and apparently resolved) all questions relating to the evolution of mankind; Project Sigma, an ongoing project, initiated in 1964 (presumably following the Holloman landing), dealing with alien communication; Project Snowbird, a continuing research effort into the development and implementation of alien spacecraft technology; and Project Aquarius, an overall project devoted to the accumulation of all available information about “Alien Life Forms.” Linda recalls that the briefing paper alluded briefly to another alien group, referred to as the “Tails,” which she believes are the more human-type species frequently reported. Pressed for further information, Doty explained that there was some kind of “friction” between the small gray species and the taller ones. “They tolerate each other,” was his only comment. According to the paper, the aliens have on various occasions manipulated the DNA in terrestrial primates—and perhaps other species as well. “To the best of my memory,” Linda recalls, “the time intervals for this DNA manipulation specifically listed in the briefing paper were 25,000, 15,000, and 2,500 years ago.” One paragraph, Linda recalls, mentioned that two thousand years ago the aliens had created a being who was placed on Earth to teach mankind about love and nonviolence.I * * * 5 In a letter to researcher Barry Greenwood, Doty admitted to the meeting with Linda (which, he said, was “monitored” by his “supervisor”) to discuss material for her projected documentary, but denied having shown her the briefing paper or promising any film material:

I can tell you, without a doubt, that I never showed her any such document. First of all, I was not in a position to obtain any presidential briefing documents. Secondly, I would not allow a person without a security clearance to see any such document ... I do not recall mentioning any Government plans to release documents or film to Ms. Howe for her documentary. I would not have been in a position to authorize or even discuss such a release. . . . Finally, I know of no secret Government investigation of UFOs. . . .6


PROJECT AQUARIUS

117

Linda subsequendy signed a notarized declaration testifying that Doty did indeed show her the document, and in our many conversations on the matter, she has left me in no doubt who is telling the truth about the Kirtland Air Force Base meeting. But we are agreed that this does not necessarily validate the information given by Doty or seen in the briefing paper. Doty was a counterintelligence specialist, and it is my opinion that Linda was fed disinformation—along with some factual information—as had been done with Paul Bennewitz. But for what purpose? At the beginning of the interview at Kirdand, Doty made an interesting comment regarding Linda’s documentary on the animal mutilations, which may shed light on the reason. “You know,” he said, “you upset people in Washington with your film A Strange Harvest. It came too close to something we don’t want the public to know about.” (Yet Emenegger’s documentary—which presumably was officially vetted—also included extensive material on the UFO-mutilations link.) Pressed for further information on the mutilations, Doty (who held a Top Secret clearance) remarked that the subject was classified beyond his “need to know.”7 Was there a determination on the part of OSI and others to ensure that Linda’s next documentary never got off the ground? If so, the plan succeeded. In 1983, only weeks before Linda’s meeting at Kirtland Air Force Base, researcher William Moore, who has developed a number of highlevel contacts in the intelligence community since 1978 (including Richard Doty), received a phone call telling him that some information was to be made available to him, but that he would have to go and collect it in person. “You will be receiving some instructions,” the caller said. “You must follow them carefully or the deal is off.” The instructions were convoluted, involving directions given on the phone at various airports as Bill made his way across the United States from Arizona. At the final destination, a motel in upstate New York, Bill was instructed to be ready at five o’clock. At precisely that time, an individual came to the door carrying a sealed brown envelope. “You have exactly nineteen minutes,” the man said. “You may do whatever you wish with this material during that time, but at the end of that time, I must have it back. After that, you are free to do what you wish.” Inside the envelope were eleven pages of what purported to be a “TOP SECRET/ORCON” document, entitled “Executive Briefing. Subject: Project Aquarius,” dated June 14, 1977 (that is, during the Carter Administration). Bill asked if he could photograph the docu-


118

ALIEN CONTACT

ment and read its contents into a tape recorder. “Both are permitted,” replied the courier. “You have seventeen minutes remaining.” Bill adjusted the table lampshade and photographed each page, placing a twenty-five-cent piece on the lower left corner of each page for scale, then read the text (including punctuation marks) into his pocket tape recorder in case the photos did not come out well. (The pictures did come out, but unfortunately, all are of low contrast and some are out of focus.) When the prescribed time had elapsed, the courier collected and counted the pages, then replaced them in the original envelope. The document appears to be a transcription of notes, either intended for use in preparing a briefing for President Carter or taken down during one and typed later. Bill is inclined to the view that it contains some important elements of truth, but that it was probably shown to him for purposes of disinformation.8 With this in mind, let us examine a few extracts, taken from the recently “uncensored” document.

[From page 1] (TS/ORCON) (PROWORD: DANCE). Contains 16 volumes of documented information collected from the beginning of the United States Investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and Identified Alien Crafts (IAC). The project was originally established in 1953, by order of President Eisenhower, under control of NSC and MJ12. In 1966, the Project’s name was changed from Project deem to Project Aquarius. The Project was funded by CIA confidential funds (non-appropriated). The Project was originally classified SECRET but was upgraded to its present classification in Dec 1969 after Project Blue Book was closed. The purpose of Project Aquarius was to collect all scientific, technological, medical and inteligence [sic] information from UFO/IAC sightings and contacts with alien life forms. This orderly file of collected information has been used to advance the United States Space Program. . . .

[From page 2] In late 1949 another Alien aircraft crashed in the United States and was recovered partly intact by the military. One Alien . . . survived the crash. The surviving Alien [called EBE] was male and . . . was thoroughly interrogated by military intelligence personnel at a base in New Mexico. The Alien’s language


PROJECT AQUARIUS

119

was translated by means of picturegraphs. It was learned the Alien came from a planet in the Zeta Reticula star system . . . EBE lived until Jun 18, 1952, when he died [of] an unexplained illness. During the time period he was alive, he provided valuable information regarding space technology, origins of the Universe, and exobiological matters. . . . [From page 4] (TS/ORCON). In 1958, the United States recovered a third Alien aircraft from the desert of Utah. The aircraft was in excellent flying condition . . . apparendy abandoned by the Aliens for some unexplainable reason, since no Alien life forms were found in or around the aircraft. The aircraft was considered a technological marvel by United States scientists. However, the operating instrumentation of the aircraft were [sic] so complex that our scientists could not interpret their operation. The aircraft was stored in a top security area and analyzed throughout the years by our best aerospace scientists. The United States gained a large volume of technological data from the recovered Alien aircraft. . . . [From page 8] ... it was estimated the Alien’s technology was many thousands of years ahead of United States technology. Our scientists speculate that until our technology develops to a level equal to the Aliens, we cannot understand the large volume of scientific information the United States has already gained from the Aliens. This advancement of [our] technology may take many hundreds of years. [From page 9] 1. (TS/ORCON) PROJECT BANDO: (PROWORD: RISK). Originally established in 1949. Its mission was to collect and evaluate medical information from the surviving Alien creature and the recovered Alien bodies. This Project medically examined EBE and provided United States medical researchers with certain answers to the evolution theory. (OPR: CIA) (Terminated in 1974) 2. (TS/ORCON) PROJECT SIGMA: (PROWORD: MIDNIGHT). Originally established as part of Project Gleem in 1954. Became a separate project in 1976. Its mission was to establish communication with Aliens. This project met with positive success when in 1959, the United States established primitive


120

ALIEN CONTACT

communications with the Aliens. On April 25, 1964, a USAF intelligence officer met two Aliens at a prearranged location in the desert of New Mexico. The contact lasted for approximately three hours. Based on the Alien’s language given to us by EBE, the Air Force officer managed to exchange basic information with two Aliens (Atch 7). This project is continuing at an Air Force base in New Mexico. (OFR: MJ 12/NSA) 3. (TS/ORCON) PROJECT SNOWBIRD: (PROWORD: CETUS). Originally established in 1972. Its mission was to test fly a recovered Alien aircraft. This project is continuing in Nevade [sic]. (OPR: USAF/NASA/CIA/MJ12) 4. (TS/ORCON) PROJECT POUNCE: (PROWORD: DIXIE). Originally established in 1968. Its mission was to evaluate all UFO/IAC information pertaining to space technology. PROJECT POUNCE continues. (OPR: NASA/USAF)9 In Above Top Secret, I alluded briefly to the then censored Carter document, mentioning that efforts to identify the projects listed therein had met with a limited degree of success, and cited a letter from the National Security Agency to an inquirer, which confirmed the existence of Projects Aquarius, Sigma, and Snowbird. The NS A acknowledged that it had a Project Aquarius, not related to UFOs, and requested a fifteen-thousand-dollar search fee for records pertaining to the project! Later, when the inquirer had narrowed down his Freedom of Information Act request, the NSA’s director of policy replied that a document they had located “is classified because its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security [and] no portion of the information is reasonably segregable.” In fact, several projects named Aquarius have now been identified, although considerable confusion surrounds their purpose. In 1982, Bill Moore learned from one of his sources (“Seagull”) that a Project Aquarius exists within “Control Channel Baker” (that is, a “black” project, the existence of which is officially denied) and is classified above Top Secret. This particular project allegedly comes partly under the Naval Intelligence Support Center at Suitland, Maryland, and also under a branch of the Defense Intelligence Agency (see later in this chapter). Although never officially carried into effect, there was a Project Pounce which was definitely UFO-related. It was proposed by the Sandia Laboratories at Kirtland Air Force Base in 1953 in connection


PROJECT AQUARIUS

121

with the “green fireballs,” which had been reported in the Southwest since the late 1940s,10 but it is unlikely that it relates to the project referred to in the alleged briefing paper, since the date there is given as 1968. Both Projects Snowbird and Sigma have been officially identified as having nothing to do with UFOs (Sigma involves a laser weapons project), but that does not necessarily rule out the possibility that other projects with the same name could be UFO-related, or that a branch of the official project houses a UFO research program. As to Project Snowbird, Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera (a Hollywood film producer who is also in contact with highly placed individuals in the intelligence community) believe that there may well be such a project to test-fly alien craft in Nevada. And, as we shall learn in Chapters 79, a considerable body of evidence has now emerged which tends to confirm this extraordinary claim. “ORCON,” Bill has learned, means “Dissemination and Extraction of Information Controlled by Originator,” and is used mainly by the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and United States Air Force Intelligence. “OPR” is an acronym for “Office of Primary Responsibility,” and the use of “prowords” is the correct form for documents pertaining to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). (There is also reported to be a category known as ESI—Extremely Sensitive Information.) Whether or not the other project names, as well as the prowords, are factual, remains to be seen. Bill and Jaime remain skeptical of the alleged Carter briefing paper, pointing out, for example, that it has a generally sloppy appearance and contains misspellings (as well as grammatical errors). But they remain open to the probability that some truth is contained therein.11 I concur. My conviction is that the document is bogus, in the sense that it is certainly not the original (if such exists) and that the disinformation includes a number of important omissions (such as the primary role of the Office of Naval Intelligence in the study of recovered alien vehicles). Irrespective of the document’s authenticity, Bill Moore told me that the individual who showed it to him got into trouble, and Bill himself was the subject of an FBI investigation; an investigation which intensified following release of the alleged MJ-12 briefing document for President-elect Eisenhower. Of sixty-one pages relating to that investigation, only six have been released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the remainder being exempt from disclosure.


122

ALIEN CONTACT

ABOVE TOP SECRET 1983, Richard Doty claimed to have been briefed on the UFO subject with briefing papers similar to those used for presidents-elect,12 which, if true, suggests that he must have held a very high security clearance. Is it remotely possible that the document he showed Linda Howe— which seems to have been similar in some respects to the briefing paper shown to Bill Moore by another source—was based on the “real thing,” and that there was a genuine desire on the part of the intelligence community at that time to introduce the public to some authentic material, just as there seems to have been in 1973, but that on each occasion the plug was pulled out—ostensibly for political reasons? There is no question, for instance, that Senator Barry Goldwater was informed many years ago by General Curtis LeMay, a former Air Force Chief of Staff and head of Strategic Air Command, that a plan existed to release information on UFOs to the public. As Goldwater remarked in a letter in 1975: IN CONVERSATIONS WITH LAWYER PETER GERSTEN IN

About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information is stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still classified above Top Secret. I have, however, heard that there is a plan under way to release some, if not all, of this material in the near future. . . .13 [Emphasis added] Although there have been no sensational revelations of an official nature to date, a great deal of long-denied information has now been released by the intelligence community under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Thousands of pages of reports dealing with UFOs have been and are continuing to be released by agencies such as the CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, and the Air Force, Army, and Naval intelligence branches. Although the most sensitive reports are being withheld in the interests of national security, it is clear that Senator Goldwater was correctly informed.


PROJECT AQUARIUS

123

OPERATION MAJESTIC 12 IN ABOVE TOP SECRET;

I TOOK THE RISK OF PUBLISHING A

document which purports to be a preliminary briefing paper prepared in 1952 for President-elect Eisenhower by former CIA director Vice Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter. The document, classified TOP SECRET/MAJIC/EYES ONLY, summarized what the so-called Majestic-12 committee—supposedly established by President Truman in 1947—had learned about the UFO problem up to that time, and included information on the 1947 Roswell crash and the subsequent recovery of four alien bodies. From a historical perspective, much information suggesting that the document (or at least its contents) could be authentic has now been uncovered, notably by scientist Stanton Friedman, who devoted a number of years to the project with the aid of a sixteen-thousand-dollar grant from the Fund for UFO Research.14 My copy of the document was sent to me by an intelligence source in the United States in March 1987, specifically for inclusion in Above Top Secret. I published the document in the conviction that it was probably authentic. However, valid objections have now been raised, including the fact that the signature on the memo from President Truman to MJ-12 member James Forrestal (dated September 24, 1947, and authorizing “Operation Majestic Twelve”), is practically identical to a known-to-be-authentic signature on a Truman memo to Dr. Vannevar Bush, dated October 1, 1947. Although Stanton Friedman argues that there are some differences in length and ratio, such differences could easily have been effected by a forger. Furthermore, in the examples of Truman’s signature that I have seen, Truman’s signature almost invariably overlaps the typed text, which is not the case with the Truman/Forres tal MJ-12 memo. I do not propose to get bogged down in the controversy of the MJ-12 document in this book. Those interested should avail themselves of Stanton Friedman’s painstaking report, as well as the exhaustive study by Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera into typefaces and security markings, and, for a balanced perspective, the papers by Barry Greenwood, Robert Hastings, Philip J. Klass, Joe Nickell, and John Fischer.15 Suffice it to say that even if the entire document turns out to be fraudulent—which I now believe to be the case—some information contained therein, at least, is essentially factual. Moreover, there is now evidence that there was a Majestic-12 committee dealing with


124

ALIEN CONTACT

UFOs. Dr. Eric A. Walker, for example, a highly distinguished scientist whose former posts include the executive secretary of the Research and Development Board, chairman of the Naval Research Advisory Committee, chairman of the National Science Foundation’s Committee for Engineering, chairman of the (highly secret) Institute for Defense Analysis, and president of Pennsylvania State University, has confirmed the existence of MJ-12 and his attendance at meetings regarding recovered alien vehicles and bodies at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and, apparently, that there has been contact with aliens.16 Further evidence for the existence of MJ-12 is presented in the final chapters of this book. It is perhaps significant that the MJ-12 document was first received anonymously in the post in December 1984 by Jaime Shandera, and that the envelope was postmarked Albuquerque. This has led some critics to assume that Doty was the sender, particularly since he showed Linda Howe a similar document in 1983—at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. Doty has denied this, and has suggested that the document “originated” with a source in the Defense Intelligence Agency and was sent for the purpose of discrediting both Jaime and Bill Moore. Although the Albuquerque postmark does not necessarily mean that the document originated there, Bill Moore claims to have developed a number of intelligence contacts in Albuquerque (including “Condor”) and has readily admitted to me the possibility that he (and Shandera) may have been fed false information. Bill and Jaime have contact with about twelve highly placed individuals within the intelligence community, all of whom have been allocated code names of birds. During the UFO Cover-Up? Live documentary, two such individuals—“Condor” and “Falcon,” with their faces blacked out and voices electronically modulated—came out with some sensational information—or disinformation, as the case may be. Among various topics, the officers confirmed the existence of MJ-12. Established by President Truman, Falcon claimed, much of MJ-12’s function entailed keeping track of all information pertaining to UFOs. “MJ-12 functions as a policy-making group relating to extraterrestrial activities and contacts and UFO activities within the United States,” Falcon began. “They make the policy, obtain presidential approval, and then . . . implement the policies . . . Part of their job was scientific advancements, but their primary purpose was to keep track of the information coming in on UFOs, and to analyze the information both scientifically and in a way that would advance our technology.” Falcon went on to explain that various government officials and


PROJECT AQUARIUS

125

elected officials were aware of the MJ-12 program. “These officials include the President, the Vice President, as elected officials; the director of Central Intelligence, and the director of the National Security Agency,” he said. MJ-12 headquarters were situated at the Navd Observatory in Washington, D.C., he claimed. “The United States Navy has the primary operational responsibilities of field activities relating to MJ-12 policies. All information gathered in the field—not necessarily by Navy personnel—is transmitted to the Navy for analysis.” The extent of alleged covert involvement by the United States Navy is a subject I shall be returning to later. The dearth over the years of UFO-related documents released by the Navy under the Freedom of Information Act has misled researchers into assuming that there has been little or no involvement. As we shall learn, this is far from being true. Bill and Jaime, commenting on Falcon’s disclosures, added that other government agencies fed information to MJ-12 through a topsecret cover project—Project Aquarius. “MJ-12 connects selected individuals within the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House intelligence unit, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency,” Jaime reported. “The research is conducted, the data classified and cataloged, all under the umbrella of strictest national security.” One of the functions of Aquarius, Falcon claimed, was to act as a sort of communications umbrella through which various interested parties could pass and receive data, without revealing specifics about themselves in the process. At the apex of the umbrella was the MJ12 group. Some years ago, Bill Moore learned of the existence of a special interest group within the DIA which comprised two distinct branches feeding data to Project Aquarius. One was lodged at the DIA’s imagery division (DC5C) and operated from the Melpar Building in Falls Church, Virginia, with an additional presence at the Digital Imagery Processing Service (DIPS) in the Naval Intelligence Support Center (NISC), Suidand, Maryland. “The group oversaw a small ‘black’ budget appropriation and need-to-know access was maintained by probably not more than a dozen individuals at any given time,” Bill reports. “Over a space of several years, I only ever heard three names of people reportedly associated with it. These were Colonel R. ‘Donny5 Phillips, perhaps the leader of the group; Master Sergeant Theodore Zahrodney, who I understood did some of their field work; and John


126

ALIEN CONTACT

W. Westerman, an imagery specialist reputed to be DC5C’s liaison with Aquarius ... I have been led to understand since then that the group, now referred to as a ‘working committee,’ underwent something of a reorganization in the latter part of 1986, and as far as I know, it continues to function. One of the results of that reorganization was the establishment of a computerized data base and communications net known, curiously enough, as ‘MJ-SETI.’ ”17 In Out There, journalist Howard Blum identifies a “Colonel Harold E. Phillips” of the Defense Intelligence Agency as being involved with a “UFO Working Group” established in 1987, and claims that a “Project Aquarius” was supervised by the DIA’s Directorate for Management and Operations. Discussing the FBI’s classified investigation into the authenticity of the MJ-12 document, Blum reveals that the FBI had supposedly looked into the possibility that the working group was “responsible” for the document, but that this had been denied by the group. An FBI agent in Los Angeles expressed the agency’s frustration at failing to find the source of the document. “We’ve gone knocking on every door in Washington with those MJ-12 papers,” he allegedly told Blum. “All we’re finding out is that the government doesn’t know what it knows. There are too many secret levels. You can’t get a straight story. It wouldn’t surprise me if we never knew if the papers were genuine or not.”18 I have to add that there are some factual errors in Blum’s book which do not inspire confidence in the reliability of his reporting, and the “UFO Working Group,” in the sense that he describes it as a topsecret group established in 1987 to determine if there is life “out there,” seems unlikely to me, in view of all the accumulated evidence indicating that such a determination was made in 1947.

FALCON AND CONDOR HAVING CHECKED AND VERIFIED FALCON’S CREDENTIALS, JAIME

and Bill are satisfied that the intelligence officer is indeed highly placed, with access to the MJ-12 infrastructure, and that his disclosures are officially sanctioned. Peter Leon, an executive producer for a Los Angeles television station, has also met Falcon. “I’m satisfied at this time that he is who he says he is,” he confirmed during the documentary. But who is Falcon? It will be recalled that Special Agent Bichard Doty used the code name “Falcon” when liaising with Linda Howe. Bill and Jaime insist


PROJECT AQUARIUS

127

that Doty's code name is “Sparrow,” and that Doty acted as the gobetween in arranging meetings with the real Falcon. Doty, too, denies the charge. “I am not the person code-named ‘Falcon,5 55 he wrote in 1989 to Robert Hastings, a researcher from Albuquerque. “I have underwent [sic] two extensive Government investigations regarding this claim. I have been exonerated by the Government on both occasions. My name was connected with Falcon to cover up the true identity of Falcon. However, the Government knows the true identity of Falcon and that person (employed in Washington by DLA) is presently under investigation.”19 Michael Seligman, producer of UFO Cover-Up? Live, quite properly refused to break his promise by revealing the identity of Falcon to me when I questioned him in 1990. But coproducer Curt Brubaker told me without any hesitation (although he never met him) that Doty is indeed Falcon. Bill Moore has informed me otherwise. As to the identity of Condor, veteran researcher Leonard Stringfield claims to have been contacted by him several times in 1985, while Condor was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “Expressing interest in my research and sources, he claimed to know a colonel with sensitive information relative to my work,” Len reports, “but his proposal for me to meet with this source fell through and I heard no more. Later I learned that he confided with a member of the Fund for UFO Research and after that with Bill Moore, etc.”20 Robert Hastings shares my opinion that Condor is Robert M. Collins, a former United States Air Force captain who was assigned to the Plasma Physics group at Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, until his retirement in 1988.21 Significantly, Collins was actively involved in the promotion of UFO Cover-Up? Live. Although Michael Seligman refuses to disclose the identity of Condor, he nevertheless confirmed that he is a bona fide scientist. “I know where he was working and did check that out,” Seligman told me. “He was very credible, and I really believed everything he told me.” Interestingly, Michael Seligman also informed me that it was evident from the way that Condor and Falcon conversed with each other that they had not met before.22

PROJECT BLUE BOOK INTERVIEWED

ON

SELIGMAN’S

DOCUMENTARY,

CONDOR

RE-

vealed that Project Blue Book was merely a low-level effort by the Air


128

ALIEN CONTACT

Force to gather information, with a minimal staff of one officer, a noncommissioned officer, a secretary, and a scientist. “The interesting and most exciting reports that came into Blue Book were often syphoned off by moles within the [MJ-12] organization. Those reports were pulled out of the files and never returned, and just simply sent forward. . . . The effort of Blue Book was to minimize the effects of these reports and to try and explain away as many as they could. And of course, it worked [in that] it closed down Project Blue Book and terminated official Air Force involvement.” Colonel William Coleman, who had served with Project Blue Book and had been an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, allowed me to interview him in Florida in 1989 regarding his own report of a UFO sighting which subsequently “disappeared” from Blue Book files. The incident occurred in the summer of 1955 when Coleman was flying a B-25 Mitchell bomber from Miami, Florida, to Greenwood, Mississippi. Together with the rest of the crew, Coleman sighted an unidentified object in the sky, and eventually gave chase over Alabama. “Finally, we were down about two hundred feet off the ground, just going across the treetops,” he told me. “I mean, in that section of Alabama, there is nothing. We crossed one farm and one highway . . . there wasn’t a vehicle in sight. We saw no people. The only thing we saw was animals, which got disturbed—naturally, they would be, with that B-25! We were within an eighth of a mile of it, and there was this perfect round shadow of this thing, going over the treetops!” Coleman and his crew lost sight of the object during a maneuver, so climbed to fifteen hundred feet to try and find it. Nothing could be seen at first. “Then I looked over into a big field, freshly plowed— southern Alabama has a clay-type loam, and it was very dry—and I saw it. It was going across this plowed field, right on the deck. What made me notice it was that it was leaving twin vortices of this red dust swirling up.” Coleman immediately descended to a lower altitude to give chase, but at this stage only the trail could be seen. “The trail continued all the way across the field. We made several turns out there, but never saw it.” As the B-25 began its descent into Greenwood, the object was seen briefly, moving at speed without any contrail at twenty-five thousand feet. On landing, the crew submitted independent reports of what they had seen. Some time later, when Coleman was about to be assigned to Project Blue Book, he asked Colonel Robert Friend to look up his report in the files. It was nowhere to be found, so another


PROJECT AQUARIUS

129

search was made. “But it was not there, and there was no record that it had ever arrived there,” Coleman told me. “You are aware,” I asked, “that those UFO reports affecting national security were rerouted?” “Yes,” he replied. “Fm damn aware of that. Certainly.”23 Brigadier General Bolender is another Air Force official who has confirmed that UFO reports “which could affect the national security ... are not part of the Blue Book system.”24 What this means, in effect, is that the negative conclusions reached by the University of Colorado study (commissioned by the Air Force and based on Blue Book records), which account for the United States Government’s official position on the subject, are based on a deception—as Falcon confirms. In an interview with Jaime Shandera, Falcon described how MJ-12 decided toward the end of the 1960s that Project Blue Book had served its purpose and was to be discontinued: “[MJ-12] were afraid at the time that if they continued with Project Blue Book, some of the information—some of the guarded secrets that the Americans obtained from the investigations of UFOs—would get out into the public, so they decided to end Project Blue Book. And they did that with an investigation by the University of Colorado—the so-called Condon Report—which basically stated that there wasn’t anything to the sightings; that there were some unexplained, but basically everything was explained ... the government had decided to go underground with the investigation and that’s when it was transferred from Blue Book by the U.S. Air Force to another intelligence agency, which started a domestic investigation of UFOs in the United States.”

COVERT INVESTIGATIONS “WE ARE CONTINUING THE INVESTIGATION OF UFO SIGHTINGS

and landings in an official capacity, sanctioned by the government, but clandestinely, without the knowledge of the public, and, I must say, without the knowledge of a lot of other government agencies,” Falcon continued, and went on to explain that the United States could ill afford to risk losing technological data that had been obtained from the sightings and landings, “and the information that we have obtained independendy from alien crafts.” Another chief concern was fear of public reaction. “In some ways,”


130

ALIEN CONTACT

commented Falcon, “the United States is afraid that the public would panic if they knew the real story—the whole story.” “But couldn’t the government just admit that this is a legitimate classified area of information?” asked Jaime. “Because of our democratic society,” replied Falcon, “everyone has a right to freedom of information, except for what’s exempted under certain paragraphs of Tide 5, U.S. Code. But the public would continue to ask for information, continue to pry into the investigations, and eventually, they would harm the process that the government has taken to obtain the information from the aliens.” Asked how the covert investigations were carried out, Falcon replied that the process was the same as that of an intelligence operation, involving the recruitment of various “cooperating individuals,” in much the same manner that an intelligence officer would recruit an agent of a foreign country. ccWhen they gave us information [on] a sighting or landing, then we would either use them or ourselves in a cover capacity, or identify ourselves as some other person, to investigate that sighting. We’ve used newspaper personnel, wittingly and unwittingly, and we’ve used scientists, or we have posed as scientists.” The collected information is then passed to Washington, D.C. “It would go through the director of Central Intelligence, who is of course the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but he is also the director of all the intelligence agencies within the United States Government. And then from there it’s filtered to the appropriate individual for analysis and filing. ... If the information contained actual sightings and contacts, that’s normally classified at a level of Top Secret that is specially compartmented.” According to a source who worked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s office at the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center (NMCC), a secret, centralized command structure dealing with UFOs has been in operation since the mid-to-late 1970s and continues to handle the UFO situation from the ranks of the NMCC, the level at which the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in conjunction with the White Flouse “war room,” deploy American military forces worldwide. The UFO situation is apparently considered so serious that it warrants a “consolidated oversight mechanism and planning force, on a par with management for global conflict.”25 How did Falcon feel about deceiving the public? “Well, sometimes when you deceive the public, you’re protecting the public,” he responded. “And I would certainly protect the public in deception op-


PROJECT AQUARIUS

131

erations if it was for their own good. But some aspects of these UFO investigations that have occurred over the years have no reason to be withheld from the public. The general knowledge that there were aliens that landed on Earth back in the fifties, late forties, and that we have had some type of communication with them since, shouldn’t be kept from the public.” “You’ve said that one of the reasons the government is conducting these ongoing investigations in a covert manner is their concern about the public reaction to this,” said Jaime, “yet we’ve had a great number of science fiction movies that really address some of these critical key questions right now. In view of that, are we getting closer to the point where the government is going to say, We’ve been doing this, we want to come clean about it’?” “I think, since the early 1950s, the first movie that I can remember about the subject, The Day the Earth Stood Still, until the most recent movie, E.T., the United States Government is conditioning the public into just determining their reaction to aliens and the subject of extraterrestrials. The government wants to know how the people would react, and I believe that this information—or the government believes that if this information is released over a period of time, the public would readily accept it more than they would if it was all shoved out at one time,” Falcon explained.

THE EBEs IF FALCON AND CONDOR ARE TELLING THE TRUTH, IT IS A SAFE

assumption that they are principal collaborators in the government’s plan to release the facts gradually to the public. Disinformation is involved in this plan, of course, but there may well be good reasons for it. Supposing the facts are unpalatable; that some aliens are hostile, for example, and that we have no control over the situation? We can hardly expect our leaders openly to acknowledge such a scenario. Instead, would it not be easier to soften up the public by promoting the concept of cooperative little aliens with whom we have managed to establish friendly communications, but occasionally hinting that we are not in complete control? With this in mind, let us examine the most controversial disclosures by Condor and Falcon: the alleged contact with “Extraterrestrial Biological Entities” or “EBEs,” as revealed in the documentary and in additional interviews with Jaime Shandera and Bill Moore. Much of


132

ALIEN CONTACT

the information, it will be noted, is similar to that given and shown to Linda Howe by Richard Doty in 1983. Falcon claims to have acquired most of his information about the EBEs from firsthand descriptions as well as films and photographs, but on one occasion he was shown an alien craft. “It was in a security area,” he told Jaime and Bill. “Even with a security clearance as high as I have, I did not have access to that, to the close proximity of it, but I was observing it from a distance. It was up on a platform. It was circular-shaped, had an opening on one side, and had a battery of lights on the top. I was within maybe a hundred and fifty yards of it.” “Was there any indication of weapons on board?” “No—not to the best of my knowledge. There was a—I should say the aliens have a defensive system, but it’s not an offensive weapon; it’s a defensive system that would cause an electrical interference to any incoming rockets or missiles.” “Has there ever been any indication that the aliens could be dangerous to mankind?” “Earlier, in the fifties, there had been some jets [that] chased aliens. The jets crashed, and there’s reason to believe that it wasn’t anything intentional on the part of the aliens, [who] were probably just as mystified as we were, and that they therefore made some type of defensive gesture which caused our aircraft to be destroyed.” Falcon was shown a film of an alien that was supposedly “exchanged” sometime in the 1970s. “I don’t know the exact date,” he said, “but I saw a videotape of an interview being done by an Air Force colonel. It was shown to a group of us in Washington, D.C.” The film showed an exchange of information from a particular alien given the name “EBE-2” (EBE-1 having been the first to arrive in 1949). EBE-2, claimed Falcon, “voluntarily came over to be examined and spoken with” for this purpose. But how was communication initially established with EBE-1 ? “It took a year or so before the military intelligence personnel were able to communicate with him,” Falcon explained. “But once they did communicate with him, he told them the basics of his knowledge of his planet’s exploration of planet Earth. His knowledge wasn’t totally complete, because he was basically a mechanic ... I wouldn’t say he knew it all, and I think that was the consensus of the intelligence personnel who were investigating and interviewing him.” “And what planet did he come from?” asked Jaime.


PROJECT AQUARIUS

133

“He was in the Zeta Reticuli star group—the third planet—and it had a binary sun [system]—two suns together.”26 “Just how did they exchange information?” “In 1951 or 1952, sometime after the alien was recovered, this doctor devised a way of planting a device in the throat of this alien in order for him to speak words,” Falcon explained. “He learned the English language, Pm told, very rapidly. . . . Although it was not always recognizable, you could most of the time understand the words he was speaking.” The EBEs wore clothing, “but they apparently don’t require the type of clothing that we would require.” Falcon went on to describe how the entire history of the United States’ communications with the EBEs is contained in a very special book, known as the “Bible” in the intelligence community (and kept at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia). “It’s a very, very thick, detailed account of the investigations that have been conducted from about 1947. . . . Every so often it’s updated with additional information, and I read the document in 1977. I had access to it. I didn’t read the entire document, but I read extracts, and that’s where I obtained this information from.” The “Bible” contains information on “everything that occurred from the Truman era up through to the three aliens being guests of the United States Government; technological data gathered from the aliens; medical history gathered from dead aliens that were found in the desert; autopsies; and information obtained from the extraterrestrials regarding their social structure and their information pertaining to the universe.” “As of the year 1988,” Falcon said, “there is one extraterrestrial being [EBE-3] who is a guest of the United States Government, and he’s remained hidden from public view.” Also part of an “exchange program,” EBE-3 has been a “guest” since 1982, Falcon claimed. During the documentary, Falcon alluded briefly to another book, known as the “Yellow Book,” which supposedly had been written by EBE-2. “The book relates to the alien’s planet, the social structure of the aliens, and the alien’s life among Earthlings. What was most intriguing, in my experience with the aliens, is, I believe, an octagonshaped crystal, which when held in the alien’s hand and viewed by a second person, displays pictures. These can be of the alien’s home planet, or pictures of Earth many thousands of years ago.” Asked by Jaime for a physical description of the EBEs, Falcon responded as follows:


134

ALIEN CONTACT

The ones that I saw pictures of and the videotapes that I observed, and the information they obtained from the medical examination of the aliens, describe the alien as a creature about three feet four inches to three feet eight inches tall. Their eyes are extremely large, almost insect-style. Their eyes have a couple of lids, and that’s probably because they were born on a planet that had a binary sun [system]. The days are extremely bright, probably twice to three times as bright as our sun, I think. They have just two openings where our nose would be. They have no teeth as we know it—they have a hard gumlike area. Their internal organs are quite simple. They have one organ which encompasses what we would refer to as a heart and lungs; it’s one pulmonary sac which does the job of our heart and lungs. Their digestive system is really simple. They only have liquid wastes and not solid wastes. . . . Their skin structure is an extremely elastic skin, and hard, probably hardening from their sun. They have some basic organs. Their brain is more complex than ours; it has several different lobes than ours have. Where our eyes are controlled by the back of the brain, theirs is [sic] controlled by the front of the brain. Their hearing is quite better than ours, almost better than a dog’s, [and the ears are] small areas at the side of their heads. . . . They have hands without thumbs—four fingers without thumbs. Their feet are small, weblike. Their sexual organs—they have males and females. The female has a sex organ similar to our females. There’s some difference of the ovary system. And their kidney and bladder is one organ. They excrete waste. They have another organ which—I don’t know if our scientists determined what it was for, but I believe it’s to transfer the solid wastes into liquid wastes. . . . They don’t require very much liquid. They transfer all the food that they eat into liquids. The body extracts the liquids out of the food . . . but they have been able to eat some basic food products—vegetables and fruits—that we would eat. But I believe that they have^problems digesting meat products, and I don’t believe they eat meat on their planet.” *

During the documentary, Falcon claimed that the EBEs’ life span was approximately three hundred fifty to four hundred years. “It’s my understanding that the aliens have an IQ of over two hundred,” he added. “They have a religion, but it’s a universal religion. They believe


PROJECT AQUARIUS

135

in the Universe as a Supreme Being. The aliens enjoy music—all types of music—especially ancient Tibetan-style music.” And then Falcon came out with a comment that must have amused but alienated millions of viewers. “They like vegetables. And their favorite dish or snack is ice cream—especially strawberry.” At a stroke, credibility in Condor, Falcon—and the aliens—probably evaporated. The inclusion of such a comment was a serious misjudgment on the part of those behind the scenes. Unless, of course, one takes the view that it was all part of a disinformation program to discredit the subject. In any event, the ice cream comment provided light relief. And who knows, maybe the aliens do like ice cream! In the private interview with Jaime and Bill, Falcon claimed that more than one species of aliens are visiting Earth. We have reason to believe there are more than one species. In the last ten years, there’s been a number of sightings, landings, and contacts with an alien that was quite different than the EBEns—the smaller ones. These were larger, and they had hair, whereas the EBEns had no hair on their body. . . . They were still [of an] almost insectlike appearance, but they had hair and they were relatively tall... a number of sightings listed them as almost five feet tall. . . and this is one reason why the domestic collections people within the intelligence community [are] investigating sightings, because we have reason to believe—we have knowledge that there’s at least one other alien race visiting this planet. . . . One of the MJ-12 people told me that in the last twenty-five years they believed there had been nine different species of aliens visiting this planet. But that’s basically all I know on the subject.

NSA COMMUNICATIONS NINE DIFFERENT SPECIES VISITING EARTH? IT SEEMS PREPOSTER-

yet those of us who have studied the hundreds of reports from all over the world of encounters with UFO entities are well aware of the bewildering diversity of occupants described by witnesses. These range from creatures that look like nothing on Earth to beings remarkably similar to Homo sapiens, as we have learned earlier. And in 1990, I was informed independendy via a National Security Agency OUS,


136

ALIEN CONTACT

linguist that the NSA allegedly has a signals intelligence (SIGINT) operation to monitor nine separate alien groups. Interestingly, Falcon also said that the NS A is involved in a communications program. Asked by Jaime Shandera to describe how communications were established with the aliens prior to landings (as part of an ongoing “liaison”), Falcon made an intriguing reply. “To the best of my knowledge—that’s limited I must say—the National Security Agency has devised a system for communicating with the aliens [which is] some type of electronic or pulse sound system. [The aliens] send a signal to a certain location on Earth—and Fm not sure where that receiving point is. I believe one is in Nevada and one is in California. Anyway, the sound or the communication is translated in the computer and the aliens give the landing coordinates to us, so we know the location of known landings. Now, what we investigate are the unknown landings; the ones where they’re not telling the United States that they’re landing.” “Do nations other than the United States communicate with aliens?” Jaime inquired. “I have limited knowledge that the Soviets have communicated with aliens—at least attempted to communicate with them in the early fifties, and also recently, in the early eighties.” "Would you say the United States is in the forefront of this communication ? ” “I would say they were—many years ahead of them in communications with the aliens. Yes.”

PROJECT SNOWBIRD IN DECEMBER

1980,

THREE WITNESSES WERE IRRADIATED BY AN

unusual aircraft as it flew slowly above them near Huffman, Texas, escorted by over twenty helicopters. The witnesses subsequently sued the United States Government for twenty million dollars in damages, but the case was dismissed on the grounds that no such object was owned, operated, or in the inventory of the Air Force, Army, Navy, or NASA (experts from each were represented in court). “The craft that was observed was an alien craft piloted by military aircraft pilots,” Falcon claimed during UFO Cover-Up? Live, as the principal witnesses, Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum, listened attentively in the studio. “Although they had been trained and were somewhat familiar with the craft, they found that the aircraft did not 27


PROJECT AQUARIUS

137

respond to certain controls. They radioed that they thought the craft was going to crash—standard procedures for the military in any situation where an aircraft was going to crash—the military would send up search-and-rescue helicopters. The helicopters were following the craft. The craft experienced severe problems. It was thought that the craft was going to crash. However, this craft did not crash. . . .” Both the alleged briefing papers seen by Linda Howe and Bill Moore, it will be recalled, contained brief references to Project Snowbird, which (according to Bill’s document) had been established in order to “test-fly a recovered Alien aircraft.” The project was said to be “continuing” in Nevada. Falcon claimed on the documentary that the aliens had “complete control” of a base located in Nevada, while Condor explained further: “From what we understand, an agreement was signed between our U.S. Government and the extraterrestrials [which says that] we won’t disclose your existence if you do not interfere in our society, and we allow you to operate from a designated piece of the United States. It’s in the State of Nevada, in an area called Area 51, or ‘Dreamland.’. . .”28


Is THERE ANY TRUTH AT ALL to the statements of Falcon and Condor? Diluted as they may be with disinformation, sorting the wheat from the chaff presents a daunting task. Yet, I have been encouraged by the accumulation of corroborative evidence in support of some of the claims, at least, including significant and intriguing information relating to “Dreamland.” According to an increasing number of witnesses, the United States Government has been test-flying some very unusual aircraft for many years in the remote Nellis Air Force Range and Nuclear Test Site in Nevada, and particularly at the top-secret Groom Dry Lake area and its environs, usually known as “Area 51” or “Dreamland,” located about eighty miles north-northwest of Las Vegas (see Chapter 8, Fig. 8.1). “Dreamland” is the radio call sign for the Nellis air traffic controllers who maintain the highly restricted airspace in this vicinity. Although it is known that extremely advanced and unconventional secret aircraft are test-flown in the area—more advanced than the remarkable Lockheed F-117A stealth plane, based (until 1992) with the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing at the top-secret Tonopah Test Range Airfield (TTR),1 which abuts the northwest corner of the vast Nellis complex, one hundred and forty miles north-northwest of Las Vegas—little is known about other more secret “black” projects. “We are test-flying vehicles that defy description,” aviation writer James Goodall was told by an Air Force officer. Another of GoodalFs informants, a retired colonel, concurred. “We have things that are so


DREAMLAND

139

far beyond the comprehension of the average aviation authority as to be really alien to our way of thinking,” he reportedly stated. Furthermore, Goodall has heard rumors that these new projects involve “force-field technology,” “gravity-drive systems”—and even “flying saucer5’ designs.2 But does anything substantial lie behind these rumors? Jim Goodall has informed me that Ben Rich, the recently retired vice president and general manager of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects division (the “Skunk Works”), who was largely responsible for the F-117 program, has disclosed a belief in both extraterrestrial and man-made UFOs. “Fm a believer in both categories,” Rich told John Andrews of the Testor Corporation. “I feel everything is possible. Many of our man-made UFOs are Un-Funded Opportunities.”3 Interestingly, there is (or was) a unit at Nellis Air Force Base, eight miles northeast of Las Vegas, called the Alien Technology Center. This unit, I was told by aviation writer Bill Gunston, relates solely to the testing of foreign, but conventional, aircraft. The Air Force’s secret 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron (“Red Hats/Red Eagles”) has flown more than a squadron of Soviet-built aircraft from the Groom Lake and Tonopah test ranges. But is it possible that more advanced craft, of truly “alien” origin or design, have been flown? The editor of the American military magazine Gung-Ho, Jim Shults, lends credence to the possibility. “The [Alien Technology] Center is rumored to have obtained alien (not Earth) equipment and, at times, personnel to help develop our new aircraft, Star Wars weaponry, etc.,” Shults wrote in 1988. “Yes, I know I sound crazy, but the rumor is awfully solid! The Alien Technology Center is for real. Something remarkable has caused the Russians to suddenly want to play ball, and I personally believe this could be it. . . .”4

PROJECT RED LIGHT IN THE EARLY 1960S, MIKE HUNT, WHO AT THE TIME HELD A

“Q” clearance from the Atomic Energy Commission and an interagency Top Secret clearance, claims to have seen a saucer-shaped aircraft in Area 51, while engaged in radio maintenance. “I only saw the UFO one time,” he related to researcher David Dobbs in a letter (a copy of which is in my possession). “It was on the ground and partly hidden behind a building and at first I thought


140

ALIEN CONTACT

it was a small private aircraft until I noticed it had no wings or tail. I was probably half a mile or further from it but I would guess it was twenty or thirty feet in diameter and sort of a pewter color rather than bright polished aluminum.” Hunt claimed to have been present on a number of occasions when the “flying saucer” was taking off or landing, although he was never allowed to observe it. “The reason that I knew take-offs and landings were occurring was that I would be told something like TT will be landing in [so many] minutes’ or We will be taking IT out of the hangar,’ etc. I remember that any referrals were to TT.’... I was always taken inside and out of view of the runway at these times,” he explained, “and at no time did I hear anything that sounded like a conventional or any other kind of engine. ...” Hunt related that on a number of occasions the radio sets he was working on suddenly “died” inexplicably, then just as suddenly began functioning normally. He paid little heed to this at the time. Richard Shakleford, a radar operator from the radar section at the north end of the test site near Tonopah, also mentioned to Hunt that he frequently tracked UFOs over the test site, but was told to ignore them. Mike Hunt believed that a highly secret program—known as “Project Red Light” or “Redlight”—connected with flying discs, was in operation at Area 51 at the time, and that this area was not controlled by Nellis AFB. “I always had the impression that the flight-test area was from Area 51 north, because there is a natural valley that runs in that direction for two hundred miles or so,” he told David Dobbs. “Also, I entered Area 51 from the north and there were a couple of times that I was questioned about whether I had 'noticed’ anything on the way in ... I was reminded constantly that no matter what I saw, I could be in serious trouble if I ever talked about any of it. I can’t stress too much how tight the security was. . . .”5 Additional rumors concerning Project Red Light have surfaced over the years. In UFO Crash at Aztec, authors William Steinman and Wendelle Stevens (a former Air Force lieutenant colonel) cite a number of similar stories from independent sources. In one case, Stevens was approached after a lecture by a former medical corpsman who had been at a Navy Auxiliary airfield within the Atomic Energy Commission test site in 1951, at a time when all the base personnel, with the exception of the base hospital staff, had been transferred to other units. A Navy construction battalion was moved in and began extensive dismantling work, prior to constructing an underground facility.


DREAMLAND

141

By the end of 1951, Stevens was told, the battalion had completed their work and a Project Red Light team moved in. This team grew to eight hundred or a thousand men, who remained on permanent duty at the base, which was reportedly protected by three separate perimeters and later guarded around the clock by a detachment of Blue Berets. According to Stevens’s informant, many leading scientists with top security clearances were involved in this maximum-security research program. “Although no statements were released and nothing was said of this in official papers,” Stevens reports, “the research was said to cover UFO propulsion, UFO weaponry, and examination and description of UFO hardware. There were even rumors of attempted repair or reconstruction of captured UFOs . . . and attempts to fly the captured craft or copies of them. . . . The facility was said to have at least three captured UFOs, two nearly complete, and one dismantled. One of the operational UFOs was said to have exploded in flight with two American test pilots aboard. “As if that wasn’t enough to swallow,” Stevens continues, “he said that a special habitat had been prepared during the reconstruction of the facility, and that two humanlike alien beings that had been kept alive in special environments were moved to the new habitat facility. At the time of this story, one of them had died in the habitat shortly after being moved there. . . . The aliens were described as small-size humans of a grayish-white to parchment-white color. . . .” Wendelle Stevens cites two other instances when witnesses approached him following lectures, both claiming to have been employed at the Navy Auxiliary base south of the Tonopah Test Range. One witness said that during the reconstruction in 1951, parts of the existing runway were dug up and most of the new facility was installed underground, after which the runway was relaid to appear as it did before.6 Captain Nunnallee, of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing, Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, has spoken to a guard who claims to have seen an extraordinary aircraft kept in a hangar at Dreamland. The guard disclosed that all area lights were shut off when the hangar doors were to be opened, researcher Tom Adams was told. “On one occasion, he saw the doors open during the night and saw an unusual object come out and take off straight up.” Described as “disc-shaped with dull tone lights,” it was rumored that the craft had been given to the United States by aliens.7


142

ALIEN CONTACT

A SAUCER AT NELLIS AFB, 1953 AFB/ Area 51 vicinity is reported by journalist Robert Dorr, an Air Force veteran, who claims to have been told about a recovered saucer witnessed by a member of an Air Technical Intelligence Center team assigned to the Nellis test base in April 1953. The saucer had reportedly been recovered on the East Coast. “It was a perfect saucer, thirty feet three inches in diameter,” Dorr was told, “with thickness ranging from one foot around its circumference to nine feet at its center. It had a raised cockpit similar to that of a fighter plane and an enclosed area beneath, five by five by seven feet. Its propulsion system had been totally destroyed and most of the instrumentation and wiring, although involving familiar materials, was almost incomprehensible. No one ever seriously believed this was an interstellar star ship. The feeling was, it was a small craft designed to operate from a mother ship in orbit around the earth. Judging from its dimensions, and from the battered wreckage of acceleration couches, it was designed to carry two crew members, apparently with humanlike limbs, but considerably smaller than human beings. It took months of work to redesign the thing so a human pilot could fit into it.” Dorr was informed that there had been lengthy debate at Nellis over whether or not the craft could actually be flown. “Metallurgy experts understood the composition of the machine, and actually identified new alloys that we had under development. But nobody could figure out what held it cup’. . . Since there was no 'airfoil’ built into the saucer shape, it was assumed that it did not operate on the principle of 'lift’ but, rather, was moved solely by its propulsion source. ...” The craft was supposedly fitted with two Wright J65 jet engines, and Dorr was told by another source that it was test-flown at Nellis between 1953 and 1955. The tests, of brief duration and at low altitude, were said to have yielded little of practical value, since “most of the alien technology had been lost in the original crash.”8 Since Robert Dorr worked for a certain intelligence agency before retirement, I asked him if perhaps the Nellis story had been concocted for purposes of disinformation. “None of the information in the article is invented,” he replied. “It is as accurate as it was possible to make it. Disinformation, as the word is used on this side of the Atlantic, means false information intentionally disseminated by someone in authority for the purpose of deceiving. It is against the law for a United YET ANOTHER STORY OF A FLYING DISC SEEN IN THE NELLIS


DREAMLAND

143

States Government agency to put out disinformation and in my opinion there is no reason to do so. To the best of my knowledge, there is none in the article.”9 Disinformation, of course, is standard practice in the world of counterintelligence, even if not legally sanctioned. But in view of additional evidence that the United States Government has actually test-flown disc-shaped aircraft of exotic origin, there may well be an element of truth contained in Robert Dorr’s report. While conceding that some unexplained UFO reports have been made by trained military pilots and others, Dorr points out, however, that “This does not make them spaceships and it does not mean the Air Force is holding a little green man in a bottle in Nevada. “Above all,” Dorr continued, “it does not mean that the United States Government is engaged in some massive conspiracy to hide the arrival of the little men from space. If you knew more about the government, you would know that it is almost impossible for CIA, DIA, and Air Force, etc., to cooperate on anything—let alone to pull off a massive conspiracy. There is no organ of the U.S. Government which possesses either a reason or the competence to conspire in such a manner.”10 Even so, some of Dorr’s comments in his article are at variance with these statements. The Avro-Car, or VZ-9, was a disc-shaped, jet-propelled vehicle designed by John Frost and built by A. V. Roe Ltd. of Canada in the 1950s and was first “flown” in 1959. Following some unsuccessful trial hovering flights, it was cancelled a few years later, despite extravagant claims made for its performance. A 1955 CIA memorandum includes the interesting statement that “Mr. Frost is reported to have obtained his original idea for the flying machine from a group of Germans just after World War II. . . .”n That the Germans were engaged in research into disc-shaped flying vehicles during World War II is undisputed, yet the available records suggest that they did not get very far. But supposing that they did, and that subsequent research yielded positive results, as has been claimed by a number of sources? Could it be that the stories of extraterrestrial flying saucers are no more than a cover for highly secret tests of terrestrial craft? I do not entirely discount the hypothesis, yet there is another possibility which I find more convincing. Robert Dorr confirms that man-made saucers had been under consideration by the United States Air Force for years, but had repeatedly proven impractical. He cites the opinion of Colonel Robert Gammon, an Army historian, who said that he had always wondered why a


144

ALIEN CONTACT

“joint” Army—Air Force project was initiated in the mid-1950s to develop a new, man-made saucer. “Neither service had a pressing need,” Gammon reportedly stated. “In the aftermath of the Korean War, purse strings were tight and funds were urgently needed for more practical aircraft. The Avro VZ-9 man-made saucer was an interesting idea, but there was no clear requirement for it.” In his intriguing article, Dorr suggests that there could indeed have been a “clear requirement55: Was the Avro VZ-9 . . . also known as “Weapons System 6Q6A” . . . intended as a smoke screen to shift attention away from the real saucer—the alien spaceship? If there was any other purpose behind the VZ-9, it has become obscured by questions this project raised from the start. Why the “weapons system55 designation, when the craft was never designed to be armed? Why, at a time when the United States aerospace industry led the world, did Army and Air Force purchasers go to a Canadian firm . . . ? Why was die VZ-9 extensively publicized when first announced in 1955 (while the real saucer was allegedly being flown) and yet not publicized when it finally made its first testflight on December 5, 1959? Why was the test program halted after a few, unsatisfactory tests? Did the Air Force need the VZ-9 only long enough to cover up its testing of an alien spaceship, then lose interest when those tests ended in 1955?12 Lieutenant Colonel George Edwards (USAF, retired), claims that he and others involved in the VZ-9 project were aware from the outset that it would never be successful. “Although we weren’t cut in on it,” he reportedly stated, “we knew that the Air Force was secredy testdying a real alien spacecraft. The VZ-9 was to be a ‘cover,5 so the Pentagon would have an explanation whenever people reported seeing a saucer in dight.”13

RED FLAG AFB PLAYS HOST TO “RED FLAG,” A six-week mock air war between players from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and NATO forces, in which pilots engage in “combat” with “enemy” aircraft. Researcher Tom Adams has been given a fasFOUR TIMES A YEAR, NELLIS


DREAMLAND

145

cinating account by an F-111D pilot who inadvertently flew over Dreamland during a Red Flag exercise. The pilot, First Lieutenant Parrish, of the 522nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 27th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, claims that when his plane was picked up on radar, interceptors were sent aloft and he was ordered to land on the dry lake. Both pilot and navigator were detained for three days, during which time they were repeatedly asked what exactly they had seen. Parrish reportedly refused to talk.14 Most of the aircraft and personnel involved in Red Flag exercises are made up of “Blue,” or “friendly,” forces, while the “Red” force consists of “enemy35 aircraft and equipment. According to a January 1986 report supplied to me by John Lear, a part of Emigrant Valley near Groom Lake—most probably the area known as S-4, which will be described in the following two chapters—is stricdy off limits to overflights, including those made by the Red/Blue teams that simulate dogfights over the northern part of this area. These teams are only permitted to fly over the southern areas when there is heavy overcast, and even then, under rigidly controlled conditions. The report cites the case of a “Red” pilot flying an F-5, simulating a Soviet MiG fighter, on an occasion in the mid 1970s—possibly 1976 or 1977—when there was cloud cover. He decided to drop below the clouds and take a quick look before returning to Nellis Air Force Base, only to be chased out of the area by what he described as UFOs, which seemed to have come up from below to meet him. On his return to Nellis, the pilot was met by an Air Force officer who took him away for a debriefing. The following day, the pilot reportedly acted as if the incident had never occurred. Wendelle Stevens relates a similar story of an unnamed Air Force officer of a Tactical Air Command combat squadron, who in 1977 had been assigned to a Red Flag exercise and sent on a “strike” mission against the “enemy55 airfield (Tonopah Test Range). The pilot headed out on a course designed to confuse the “enemy55 radar, and decided to bend the rules by giving himself an advantage, cutting across the forbidden Atomic Energy Commission reservation area to make his approach to the “enemy^5 airfield from an unexpected direction. As the pilot entered the reservation area from what he considered to be below radar scanning levels, cutting across north of Area 51, he observed a disc-shaped aircraft, about sixty feet in diameter, flying to the south of his position. A voice on the emergency channel almost immediately ordered him to abandon his mission and land at Nellis Air Force Base.


146

ALIEN CONTACT

Taxiing to the parking place, the plane was surrounded and the pilot met by uniformed and plainclothes personnel who escorted him to a security office in the bunker area. One of the civilian interrogators produced an FBI badge. The pilot was allegedly held for two days and questioned about everything he had seen. When he mentioned the flying disc, everything was done to persuade him that what he had in fact seen was merely a water tower. After signing a statement to this effect, the pilot was allowed to return to base. A few days later, the pilot was transferred to another squadron and warned not to discuss the incident. Later that year, however, he told his father, from whom Stevens obtained the story.15

FURTHER REPORTS MANY OTHER STRANGE OCCURRENCES HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN

the Nevada Test Site. The January 1986 report cites a claim by Colonel “L,” who in 1970 was involved with setting up seismic instrumentation in connection with underground nuclear tests west of Area 51. The assignment included placing seismometers in an old mine shaft. The security guard who accompanied “L” warned him to be out of the area by ten o’clock because, he said, unusual things had happened and a number of guards and technicians had simply “disappeared.” On this particular night, a technician who did not return until sunrise the following day reported that at about eleven o’clock, the lights and engine of his vehicle failed, and he was unable to drive back until two in the morning. During preparations for the next nuclear test, in a different location about thirty miles from the boundary of Area 51, “L” was told by another security guard that UFO activity occurred in the area “almost nightly,” mostly between ten and twelve o’clock, and there had been several occasions when guards had simply disappeared during those hours. According to “L,” a guard—who after seven years was no longer able to take the strain of working under such conditions—applied for a job in his unit, but discovered that all his employment records had vanished from official files. He had been working for “L” on unclassified material while waiting for clearance for the job he had applied for, but clearance was refused, according to the Defense Investigative Service, owing to an unaccountable seven-year gap in his life. Shortly afterward, the guard disappeared without trace.


DREAMLAND

147

Steinman and Stevens cite the case of a Navajo Indian who on an unspecified date in 1978, in a remote canyon area close to the nuclear test site, encountered a large military helicopter which at intervals broadcast warnings to those who might be in the vicinity that they should make their presence known, since a dangerous military test was about to take place. The witness decided to remain where he was, and sheltered among the rocks. The helicopter flew off, but returned fifteen minutes later, repeating the warning. Half an hour later, two helicopters came into view, apparendy escorting a large, dark-gray disc-shaped aircraft. “It was smooth-skinned, metallic, and circular in form, with a raised dome on top, and flew steadily in the formation,” Stevens was told. All three aircraft then flew out of sight. About ten minutes later, the two helicopters returned, without the disc, and eventually flew back the way they had come. Suddenly, the disc reappeared, flying at great speed down the middle of the canyon, apparendy following the same track as on the “outbound” flight. Later, the Indian related his experience to the tribal elders, who cautioned him to remain silent about it, and then to Mitchell Uribe (Stevens’s informant), who had been recording a list of similar sightings reported by the tribe.16 There have also been reports of animal mutilations in the vicinity. Former State Senator Charles Lamm has lost two prize bulls to the mystery mutilators, according to a 1989 television report. “Like many ranchers, he is self-reliant and didn’t bother to file police reports,” the journalist commented. “His Lincoln County ranch sits adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, so he’s seen his share of unusual things over the years. But he hasn’t got a clue about who is carving up catde. Lamm has several neighbors who have also lost catde. Most of these weren’t reported either.” One of the Nevada mutilations occurred just yards from the home of Jane Bradshaw. She saw nothing, and surmised that “devil worshippers with dart guns” were responsible. ccWe cut down into the animal,” an expert said. “The ball joint was completely gone off the shoulder, and just a perfect flat cut inside—no bone chips. I don’t know how it was cut.”17


148

ALIEN CONTACT

THE GROOM MOUNTAIN RANGE 1984, THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ILLEGALLY seized eighty-nine thousand acres of public land, known as the Groom Range, in order to further restrict access to Area 51. The decision to control access was made after consultation with local Bureau of Land Management officials and after USAF Headquarters had conferred with the Air Force Secretariat. Following the seizure, briefings were arranged for the appropriate personnel in the offices of the secretary of the Air Force and the secretary of defense, as well as for members of the National Security Council. In August 1984, during a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Lands and National Parks in the House of Representatives, a heated exchange took place between the chairman, John F. Seiberling, and John Rittenhouse, representing the Air Force: IN EARLY

Seiberling: Rittenhouse:

Seiberling: Rittenhouse:

Seiberling: Rittenhouse: Seiberling: Rittenhouse: Seiberling: Rittenhouse: Seiberling:

Is it true that the Air Force has already acted to restrict public use of the Groom Range area? Yes, sir, it is true. We have asserted the right to control the surface access and egress to the extent of requesting people not to go in and out. We have people posted on the roads and at certain times we do not. We ask their cooperation. Under what legal authority was that done; that right asserted? As far as I know, sir, there is none; except decisions were made at a much, much higher level than mine that that be done. There is no higher level than the laws of the United States. No, sir. I understand, and we can describe that further if you would like, sir. I would like. In closed briefing. Why would that have to be in a closed briefing? I can’t discuss it, sir. Shades of Watergate. All I am asking you is under what legal authority this was done. I am not asking you the technical reasons. That certainly is not classified.


DREAMLAND Rittenhouse:

Seiberling: Rittenhouse:

149

As I stated earlier, originally we had no legal authority but we asserted the right to request people not to enter that area. Now? We legally did not have the authority.18

Outraged local residents gave vent to their feelings during a public hearing at Alamo, Nevada, in November 1985. “If the public safety and the national security would be jeopardized,” asked a Mr. Benezet, “why did the Air Force not tell us so in 1981 when they withdrew the Nevada Test Site?” “Td like to know how the military can hide behind the guise of national security,” another resident objected to the Air Force spokesman, “when you have broken all of the rules that’s [sic] supposed to ensure this country’s freedom, denying our access, holding us at gunpoint when you feel necessary, not telling people you’re withdrawing it for our own good. ... You can’t tell me why you’ve broken all the rules? And you say it’s national security.”19

ADVANCED AIRCRAFT SECURITY SURROUNDING GROOM LAKE IS FORMIDABLE. THE

area is protected by motion detectors, laser sensors, and highly mobile security personnel reputedly recruited from the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and police agencies, trained by the elite Delta Force. I have been told by an informed source that even civil aircraft overflying the area can be shot down if warnings are not heeded. But is this just to protect the airspace where top-secret aircraft are flown—such as the Shadow (a disc-shaped, 6-foot-diameter, ducted fan-powered, 300-m.p.h. unmanned aerial vehicle20); stealth aircraft (including the Northrop TR-3A Black Manta21; and the hypersonic spy plane possibly code-named Aurora)—thus ensuring that sightings of such aircraft, either on the ground or in the air, are kept to a minimum? In October 1990, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported on a number of reliable observations of unconventional aircraft in Nevada and California, including a triangular-shaped, quiet aircraft seen with a flight of F-117 planes (believed to be a demonstrator or prototype of the now-scrapped A-12 Avenger, or possibly, in my opinion, the TR-3A Black Manta), as well as a high-speed aircraft that makes a loud, rumbling roar, leaving a thick-segmented contrail or smoke in


150

ALIEN CONTACT

its wake (almost certainly the Aurora project spy plane, which has superseded the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird22). Certainly, these activities require maximum secrecy, but I am convinced that the existence of other even less conventional aircraft is another reason for the high level of security. Of particular relevance here is Aviation Week's commentary on reports of unusual aeroforms, including “a high-altitude aircraft that crosses the night sky at extremely high speed. Normally, no engine noise or sonic boom is heard. The vehicle typically is observed as a single, bright light—sometimes pulsating—flying at speeds far exceeding any other aircraft in the area, and at an altitude estimated to be above 50,000 feet. Such aircraft have been reported by both ground-based and airborne observers. . . .” These types of “black” aircraft appear to employ relatively conventional propulsion systems, although more advanced than those available to the “white” world, Aviation Week commented, but added significantly that “there is substantial evidence that another family of craft exists that relies solely on exotic propulsion and aerodynamic schemes not fully understood at this time. Data pertaining to this type of vehicle are being studied by Aviation Week and several consultants.”23 [Emphasis added] Researcher William Hamilton III contacted the writer of the article, Bill Scott, who has a background as a flight test engineer and is a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School. Scott admitted that the “exotic propulsion” system he referred to could be an antigravity unit, and mentioned that he had heard of these crafts ability to move from extremely low speeds (fifteen to twenty miles per hour) to supersonic speeds.24 According to Mark Barnes, who works at the Federal Aviation Administration’s long-range radar station at Angel Peak, strange radar echoes have occasionally been picked up over the Groom Mountain area, indicating the presence of an object hovering for periods of up to fifteen minutes. “It mostly stays put,” said Barnes in 1990. “It doesn’t move in range or azimuth very much and uses a stationary code that we normally use for a test function.”25

BREAKTHROUGH ? 1989, A PHYSICIST WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN EMployed at a test site near Groom Lake revealed on a Las Vegas TV interview that not only had the United States Government test-flown IN MARCH


DREAMLAND

151

highly advanced disc-shaped aircraft, but that he himself had been involved in the research program. Given the pseudonym of “Dennis,” the scientist, with his face darkened, spoke guardedly about his involvement in the super-secret project. “Exacdy what’s going on up there?” he was asked by interviewer George Knapp. “Well, there’s several—actually nine, er, flying saucers—flying discs—that are out there that are of extraterrestrial origin,” the scientist replied. “They’re basically being dismantled. Some are, well, in various stages of completion, built from other parts, and they’re being testflown, and basically just being analyzed. Some of them are 100 percent intact and operate perfectly. The other ones are being taken apart. I was involved mainly in propulsion and the power source. ... As far as I can remember, about half of them do operate, and the other half are just being torn down, basically to analyze the components.” ‘Where did we get these saucers? How did they come into the hands of the government?” asked the interviewer. “I haven’t the slightest idea, and you have to understand that the information is very compartmentalized, and I was only allowed information that pertained to what I was involved in.” “But I mean, couldn’t our government have made them, as opposed to getting them from some alien beings?” asked Knapp. “Totally impossible,” replied Dennis. “The propulsion system is a gravity propulsion system; the power source is an antimatter reactor. This technology does not exist at all. In fact, one of the reasons that I’m coming forward with this information [is that] it’s not only a crime against the American people, it’s a crime against the scientific community, which I’ve been part of for some time, actively trying to duplicate these systems. Yet, they are in existence now and basically in the hands of the government.” ‘What would happen to you if the government learned that you were giving us this information?” “Anything could happen. I don’t know. ...” ‘Well, you referred to getting into trouble. Have you had some repercussions already?” “Yeah. I’ve been threatened with being charged with espionage, I’ve had my life threatened by them, my wife’s life threatened by them, and—I mean, I don’t know where else you can go from there.” “Will the government ever tell us about the testing, and do the Soviets know about this?” “The Soviets were involved at some specific point,” Dennis contin-


152

ALIEN CONTACT

ued. “They were kicked out of the program rather abruptly—in the middle. I don’t know why that was, or what happened. They5re not very happy about it, and as far as them revealing it, I’m sure that they have every intention of claiming that all the technology was developed here [on Earth], which it was absolutely not.” “If the Soviets were kicked out of this testing program, why wouldn’t they tell us about it?” “I have no idea. They weren’t allowed all the information. Apparently, they had some, and we were basically trading with them. As far as whether they have discs or not, I don’t know. I don’t even know if they had knowledge that we actually had any there, but they were involved to some extent, and I don’t know how much.”26 “What about aliens? Any of those up there at Groom Lake?” “Er, I really want to steer away from that right now.” “Is the ‘Star Wars’ program in any way related to what’s going on up there? I know some believe that maybe we’re building Star Wars for something other than the Soviets.” “This directly taps out of the Star Wars budget, which is very hard to follow, because it requires huge amounts of money,” the scientist replied. “It also taps out of a lot of other places, too, that would be very hard to track down. But yes, Star Wars is directly related to it. The United States Navy is the part of the government that really maintains control over this.”27 Thus ended the preliminary interview with “Dennis,” who later revealed his real name. Is his story a simple hoax or a fantasy—or a mixture of factual and false information, as part of an elaborate indoctrination program? In another series of interviews in 1989, and with me in 1990, Robert Scott Lazar elaborated on his alleged involvement at the world’s most secret test site in the remote Nevada desert.


The Laguna Cartagena area, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, where many strange events are reported to have occurred, including the disappearance of United States aircraft. COPYRIGHT © TIMOTHY GOOD

July 23, 1989, Wayan, Idaho. Rancher Steve Somsen with a mutilated cow, from which the teats and part of the jaw had been excised with immaculate precision. COPYRIGHT © ELLEN CARNEY/IDAHO STATE JOURNAL


July 17, 1989, Maple Valley, Washington. Six-year-old pregnant cow owned by Bill Veenhuizen, with oval excision of mouth and jaw tissue, teeth, tongue, vagina, and rectum. COPYRIGHT © WILLIAM VEENHUIZEN

mm

Excision of rectum and vaginal tissue from Bill Veenhuizen's cow. COPYRIGHT © WILLIAM VEENHUIZEN


November 27, 1989, Red Cloud, Nebraska. Excision across cow abdomen and removal of belly hide, udder, vagina, rectum, and internal organs. COPYRIGHT © RON BARTELS

Sergeant Melvin "Brownie" Brown {left) on retirement from the United States Air Force, at RAF/USAF Chicksands Priory in 1964. Brown claimed to have been involved in an operation involving the recovery of alien bodies in the New Mexico desert in July 1947. COURTESY UNITED STATES AIR FORCE


Colonel William Coleman, who chased a UFO at low level above Alabama in 1955, flying in a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. Years later, when Coleman worked with the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book, he was unable to obtain the file on his report, and now admits that UFO reports affecting national security were not filed with Blue Book. COPYRIGHT © TIMOTHY GOOD

Colonel Coleman's sketch of the side view of the UFO. COPYRIGHT © WILLIAM COLEMAN



f

*

WmllmmMm

A 1968 satellite photo of Groom Dry Lake/Area 51, Nevada. S-4, where Robert Lazar worked, is located about ten miles south of this position, close to Papoose Dry Lake. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, EROS DATA CENTER


Dr. Edward Teller, "the father of the hydrogen bomb," responding in a private interview in 1990 to questions regarding his alleged recommendation of Robert Lazar for a job with the ultra-secret extraterrestrial research project at S-4.

Sketch

by

Lazar of the craft he claims to have worked on at S-4.

KLAS-TV


Artist’s impression of part of the alleged S-4 facility near Papoose Dry Lake, Nevada. TANIA LONG, BASED ON A SKETCH PROVIDED BY TRI-DOT PRODUCTIONS

A Boeing 737-200 belonging to EG&G, parked at McCarran Airport (1990), one of several such aircraft that are used to fly employees to Groom Lake. COPYRIGHT © TIMOTHY GOOD


.3

J*!

COPYRJGHT © TIMOTHY

ir\

Cqj U §

Q

O


Robert Lazar, the nuclear physicist who claims to have been employed by Naval Intelligence to conduct research into the propulsion system of an extraterrestrial spacecraft at the ultrasecret area in the remote Nevada desert known as S-4. COPYRIGHT Š TIMOTHY GOOD

Lazar in a private interview with George Knapp of KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, in 1989. KLAS-TV


A frame from the 8mm movie film taken on February 26, 1965, by George Adamski, in the presence of Madeleine Rodeffer and other witnesses, at Silver Spring, Maryland. The film provides confirmation for Robert Lazar's claim that some extraterrestrial craft use a gravity propulsion system that distorts the space around it. Distortion is apparent at the right side of the vehicle, and is even more apparent in certain other frames. The film has been authenticated by William Sherwood, a former Kodak optical physicist, who has calculated that the craft is about twenty-seven feet in diameter. COPYRIGHT Š MADELEINE RODEFFER


A rare photo of part of the Groom Lake/Area 51 complex, looking west, taken in 1978. In the enlargement below, a Soviet-built MiG-21 of the USAF's secret 4477th Test & Evaluation Squadron can just be seen, parked outside the central hangar at the north end of the facility. COPYRIGHT Š JOHN LEAR


Enlargement of a photograph taken on Wednesday, February 28, 1990, at approximately 9:00 P.M., by Gary Schultz, in the presence of his wife, at the "mail box road," 29^ mile marker, Highway 375, Tikaboo Valley, Lincoln County, Nevada. Schultz is convinced that the aerial object is a "human piloted alien craft" on a test flight from S-4. COPYRIGHT

Š1990

GARY SCHULTZ


The Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier (EG&G) building at McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, where Robert Lazar was interviewed for the job at S-4. COPYRIGHT © TIMOTHY GOOD


Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, the former director of the National Security Agency and Naval Intelligence, from whom Bob Oechsler obtained guidance on the acquisition of sensitive information relating to extraterrestrial craft in possession of the United States Government. COPYRIGHT © ASSOCIATED PRESS/TOPHAM


Robert Oechsler, the former NASA engineer whose contacts with the United States intelligence community and the Cosmic Journey project have led to a wealth of sensational information. COPYRIGHT Š TIMOTHY GOOD

The National Security Agency's supercomputer facility for the Institute for Defense Analysis at the University of Maryland Science and Technology Center, where Bob Oechsler met Admiral Inman during the ground-breaking ceremony in May 1988. COPYRIGHT Š TIMOTHY GOOD


in March 1990 by John Lear, who had met him in 1988 through his friend Gene Huff, a real-estate appraiser. I found Bob to be a soft-spoken, unassuming young man, who over a period of several days answered my questions patiently and politely. I first queried him on how he came to be interviewed for the alleged job at the test site known as S-4, south of Groom Lake. The two interviews had taken place at the EG&G (Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier) administrative headquarters at McCarran Airport, Las Vegas, in late 1988. “I had sent resumes to several places, and they returned my call and set up an interview. But it wasn’t with EG&G,” Bob explained, “it was just at the building.” EG&G is a huge company employing more than thirty thousand personnel at over one hundred fifty establishments worldwide. For the United States Government, EG&G manages many vital programs for NASA, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and many other agencies. The company developed a strong relationship with the Atomic Energy Commission (now DOE) and continues to conduct top-secret research at the frontiers of physics. EG&G’s Special Projects Division, now based at Nellis Air Force Base, provides field and laboratory support to Department of Defense agencies on “programs of a sensitive nature,” and most of its technical support work is conducted at the Nevada Test Site.1 John Lear, as mentioned in Chapter 1, has flown over one hundred sixty types of aircraft, and at one time flew missions for the CIA. He BOB LAZAR WAS INTRODUCED TO ME IN LAS VEGAS


170

ALIEN CONTACT

has become a well-known figure in Las Vegas, particularly when he began giving a series of lectures which dealt with the more sensational aspects of the subject, occasionally making rather extreme statements. Even so, I know that he has cultivated a number of legitimate sources of information in the military and intelligence communities. Since he had acquired a considerable amount of information about Area 51, and had met Lazar prior to the interview at EG&G, it occurred to me that the S-4 story might have been “set up.” The fact that the two knew each other gives rise to a number of suspicions. Surely, for example, the relationship would have caused concern to Lazar’s employers? I put this to Bob. “In fact, that’s what I told John,” he replied. Interestingly, the name of John Lear was immediately brought up at the first interview. “The first question, the day when I went out to EG&G for my first interview, was, What is your relationship with John Lear?’ Thinking that that was going to be a problem right away, my answer was, ‘John is just an acquaintance.’ And he was. I had met him through Gene Huff. I said that he’s a guy who sticks his nose in places where it doesn’t belong. And that was the last time they ever asked about him or said anything about him at all. At that time, John was just showing me pictures of stealth and SR-71 planes.” Lazar made it clear that he does not subscribe to John’s views, insofar as the “big picture” is concerned. “I didn’t buy any of this stuff before I got into the program,” he assured me. “In fact, John was giving a speech on UFOs and a friend wanted me to go. I just laughed and I told him what a waste of time it was.” Bill Moore claims, however, that the first time anyone outside of a very small circle had ever heard of S-4 was when he mentioned the existence of an “S/FOUR” to John Lear sometime around the end of 1987 or beginning of 1988, and that John then added an “S-4” to his large map of the area and began telling others—presumably including Lazar and Huff—about it, and that when Lazar first spoke about his experiences, he referred to an “S-4,” and not “S/FOUR,” which Moore believes to be the correct appellation. Bill’s interpretation is that Lazar subsequently concocted his story after hearing about S-4.2 But alternative interpretations should be considered. For example, according to a few independent sources, there are two (or possibly three) S-4 test sites in the Nevada ranges, perhaps one being S/FOUR and another S-4 (or S4). (Bob told me that one S-4 is a reactor in the nuclear test site proper.) I asked Gene Huff to comment on Bill Moore’s allegation. “That’s


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

171

untrue,” he insisted. £CI was there the first day and the second day when John met Bob. John did not know what S-4 was; he didn’t mention it, he didn’t act like he knew what it was, and it was not on his map—that was only after Bob told him. Now, if Bill Moore did say that to John, he either didn’t hear it or forgot it.”3

THE LOS ALAMOS CONNECTION S-4 GO BACK to 1982, when he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, conducting experiments with the Meson Facility’s medium-energy linear particle accelerator, concentrating on polarized proton-scattering experiments. He was also employed in the Weapons Division, where his work centered on high-energy particle beam accelerators for use in space, in connection with the Strategic Defense Initiative—SDI, or “Star Wars.” Following Lazar’s disclosures on local television and radio, the Los Alamos National Laboratory repeatedly denied that he had ever been employed there. When proof of employment, in the form of Lazar’s entry in the internal phone book, was presented to the laboratory by TV journalist George Knapp, an exasperated official grudgingly conceded that Lazar had in fact worked there on “nonsensitive” projects. But Knapp told me that he has spoken with a number of Lazar’s former associates who confirm his involvement in top-secret SDI work. On June 28, 1982, Lazar met Dr. Edward Teller, the “father of the hydrogen bomb,” during a seminar that Teller was giving at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. “I had built a jet car, and they put it in the local newspaper on the front page,” Lazar related to Knapp. “And as I walked up to the lecture hall, I noticed Teller was outside sitting on a brick wall reading the front page. And I said, £Hi, I’m the one that you’re reading about there,’ and he said. That’s really interesting.’ And I sat down and had a little talk with him.” The meeting turned out to be fortuitous, since Teller was one of those to whom Lazar sent his resume in 1988, at which time Teller gave Lazar the name of someone to contact, and this led to the interviews at EG&G. Confronted by a television reporter, Dr. Teller denied knowledge of Lazar and Area 51/S-4. “Look, I don’t know Bob Lazar,” he responded, but added, perhaps ambiguously: “All this sounds fine. I probably met him. I might have said to somebody that I met him and I liked him, after I met him, and if I liked him. But I don’t remember THE ROOTS OF LAZAR’S ALLEGED EMPLOYMENT AT


172

ALIEN CONTACT

him ... I mean, you are trying to force questions on me that I simply won’t answer.” 4

MAJESTIC CLEARANCE? AT THE FIRST INTERVIEW, LAZAR WAS TOLD THAT HE WAS OVER-

qualified for the job they had in mind and would quickly get bored with it, but that they might have something in the near future that would really interest him. 'They continued questioning me, mainly on my interests outside of work,” Lazar told George Knapp. "They seemed to be really concerned about that. They said, 'You work on little projects?’ and I said, c Yeah, I have a particle accelerator in my master bedroom, and things of that sort.’ That’s what really impressed them. And some time went by and they called me back in. There was a senior staff physicist who was leaving this organization, and they basically interviewed me for that job. They didn’t mention anything about flying saucers; they didn’t mention anything specific as far as what was going on. We got on to a discussion of gravitation and things of that sort, and they kind of looked at each other and said, 'You’d be interested in this.’ And I had a feeling that it had to do with some kind of field propulsion system, or just a very secret project that would be out in the middle of the desert.” Lazar explained to me that as soon as the interviews began, his Top Secret “Q” clearance (normally issued by the Department of Energy or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission), which had been deactivated when he left Los Alamos, was reactivated, and a more intensive investigation (known as a Special Background Investigation—or SBI) ensued. Tt’s a more in-depth, personal look at your background and your life,” he said. uThe clearance, as far as any ties to any adversary of the United States or any strange things in your background, is already done on CQ’ clearance. The rest is trying to determine whether or not you’re a stable and sane person. And one of the reasons I didn’t get my final clearance was disruptions in my family life.” Lazar claims that he was eventually given a security clearance “thirtyeight levels” above “Q” clearance, a claim which is disputed by Mike Majowicz of the Defense Investigative Service, who is reported as stating that there are no security levels above “Q.” Bob himself was under the impression that “Q” was the highest civilian clearance. “That’s what I was told, and that’s what I’d always believed,” he told 5


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

173

George Knapp. However, “above” Top Secret levels—or “compartments”—do indeed exist within the intelligence community, in order to restrict particularly sensitive information to those with a “need to know,” for which “special access” is required. Compartmentalization was introduced during World War II, and the system is now referred to as SCI—“Sensitive Compartmented Information.” As former CIA director Admiral Stansfield Turner explains: “An individual is allowed to know only those details of a secret operation with which he must deal directly. Others know only their portions. In this way, if there is a leak or a defection, the chance of an entire operation being exposed is reduced. . . . Only a few people at the top will know all parts of the operation.”6 According to the writer William Burrows, more than thirty SCI categories existed within the American intelligence community by 1986.7 In spite of his lack of final clearance, Lazar began work at S-4, and claims he was given a white security badge with a light-blue and darkblue diagonal stripe on the top left corner and MAJ—for “Majestic”— printed sideways down the right side. This seems too good to be true, especially since Majestic clearance had been exposed with the publication ofAbove Top Secret in 1987. Although Bob admitted to me that this could have been some kind of an inside joke, he is insistent that everyone at the site wore badges with MAJ displayed, with the exception of his supervisor, Dennis Mariani (hence Lazar’s “Dennis” pseudonym), whose badge had MAJESTIC on top. Below Bob’s photo appeared the Department of Energy contract number, “E-6722MAJ”; “U.S. Department of Naval Intelligence”; and along the bottom edge, “S4” and other area/project codes, with a star-punch through S4. Whatever the truth about the security badge, most of these claims are apparently substantiated on Lazar’s W-2 Wage and Tax Statement for 1989 (see Chapter 9, Figure 9.1), which also shows that he was employed by the United States Department of Naval Intelligence (normally referred to as the Office of Naval Intelligence), as will be discussed in the following chapter. Lazar states that even the President of the United States does not possess Majestic clearance. “The President doesn’t have the highest clearance in the United States,” he explained to George Knapp. “There’s no reason for him to know everything. Certainly, the President has clearance high enough to know about specific things that many people don’t. . . . Those who are involved with this project, of course, don’t have a clearance to know what the President knows; everything’s compartmentalized all the way up to the President.” Lazar


174

ALIEN CONTACT

nonetheless believes that George Bush, as a former director of Central Intelligence (and therefore head of the entire American intelligence community), does in fact have a lot of knowledge of the project at S-4. “Do you get the feeling that this is a government project, or is it a 'Cabal5 within the government?” Knapp asked. “It’s not an overall government project. It5s not something that Congress appropriates money for—say two billion for this, fifteen billion for flying saucers, eight billion for Star Wars. It doesn’t go like that. I don’t believe [Congress] has any knowledge of it at all. And I believe that, from what I understand, this project, because of its potential magnitude, was given executive power in the late 1940s, and in itself they could appoint, seal off information, or whatever was necessary, and that’s how it kind of ran on a parallel road by itself.” “Do you believe perhaps that some of the money for this comes out of the Star Wars budget?” “Yes, that’s my own personal belief.” “Based on anything at all?” Oh, little hints here and there, but nothing that I can document and say, look, this is absolutely true.” But you also believe that to be true because of your experience with Star Wars?” “Right. Which is classified, and should remain that way.”

S-4 THERE WAS NO SET ROUTINE FOR LAZAR’S JOB AT S-4, AND IN

total, he spent no more than six or seven days there between December 1988 and April 1989. He would be called by phone and told when to go to McCarran Airport, where a Boeing 737 (probably a 737200 belonging to EG&G) would fly him and others to Groom Lake. From there, after waiting briefly in a cafeteria, a bus with blockedout windows drove the remainder of the journey along a dirt road to an area estimated to be ten to fifteen miles south of Groom Lake, adjacent to Papoose Lake. On first arriving, Lazar was impressed by the extraordinary hangars at the site, which were built into the base of the Papoose Mountain Range, with doors sloped at an approximately 60-degree angle and covered with textured paint that looked like sand. “It’s made to look like the side of the mountain that it’s in, possibly to disguise it from


175

ARIZONA| UTAH

ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

Fig - 8. i Map showing location of the Nuclear Test Site and Nellis Air Force Range (above) and the Nellis AFB Military Operations Area (below). The S-4 facility is allegedly located at Papoose Lake. (Tania Long, based on a graphic by Teresa Ligon)


176

ALIEN CONTACT

satellite photos,” he said in 1989. “The hangars are all connected together and there are large bay doors between each one.” The whole scene reminded him of a James Bond movie set. Lazar saw only this part of S-4 for the duration of his employment, and was escorted at all times by his supervisor and a security guard. “The installation takes up a whole range of mountain,” he explained to me, “and I’m allowed into a little office area here, and all I know is the corridor that connects it.” About twenty-two scientists worked at S-4, but the number of security personnel was over three times that amount, Lazar told me. Security was formidable, and various methods of intimidation were used to ensure that there were no violations. Bob also believes that his memory was affected by the use of drugs and hypnosis. Even conversations were forbidden, except with the supervisor. On one occasion, a gun was pointed at him and someone slammed a finger into his chest, screaming into his ear at close range. “It’s really not a good place to work,” he commented dryly. £C When did they start to use this form of psychological conditioning?” I asked. “Oh, as soon as my security briefings started. But you’ll hear that from people in much less secure positions. They’ll take someone in camouflage to stand in front of you, an inch in front of your nose, and yell at you as loud as they possibly can, and intimidate you.” Lazar was taken into an office beside his assigned hangar and given about a hundred and twenty briefing papers to read. The papers, in blue folders, covered many aspects of the UFO subject and supposedly contained a lot of astonishing information, which he pored over during his visits, trying to remember as much as he could. Owing to compartmentalization, he did not learn everything, and doubts that anyone there was aware of the complete picture. “They don’t brief you on every aspect of what’s going on, though they do give you a rough idea. But specifically, I had to deal with propulsion and the physics of the intricate litde workings of what was going on.” Lazar learned that the United States had acquired a number of extraterrestrial spacecraft, although in what circumstances was not explained. He also claims to have seen autopsy reports as well as blackand-white photographs of alien bodies (the typical “grays,” weighing twenty-five to fifty pounds, with large, hairless heads), and photos of various organs (some cross-sectioned) spread on a table, with weights and densities listed. “I was completely shocked,” he told George Knapp. “I couldn’t believe it. But I was fascinated. . . .”


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

177

The scientist believes that he was gradually being prepared for what was to follow: actual “hands-on” experience with one of the spacecraft, which first took place, he thinks, during his second visit to S-4.

THE CRAFT LAZAR HAD BEEN PUZZLED BY A NUMBER OF POSTERS DISPLAYED

at the site, showing a photograph of a disc hovering about three feet above the dry lake at S-4, with “They’re Here!” written below. As it turned out, the craft depicted was the one he was to work on. “It was exciting. What else can you say?” Lazar remarked in 1989, commenting on his first sight of the craft. “Of course, I couldn’t say whether it was an alien device or just an interesting craft that we had been developing. So it was a little while before I ascertained that it was an extraterrestrial craft.” The disc was originally estimated to be thirty-five to forty feet in diameter and fifteen feet high, resting on the ground inside its hangar. No landing gear of any sort was visible (Figure 8.2). “I was told to walk by it and keep my eyes forward,” Bob told me. “And I slid my hand along it, and they yelled at me!” He did not know what the alloy was. “I’m not a metallurgist,” he told George Knapp. “It seemed brand new—if I know what a new flying saucer looks like!” The shape was similar to one of the craft shown in some of the dubious photographs taken by contactee Eduard (“Billy”) Meier in Switzerland,8 and Lazar refers to it as the “Sport Model,” owing to its sleek shape. “It’s a slim disc with ridges in it [not shown in the diagram], and bears an incredible resemblance to [Meier’s photo]. It’s like it’s pressed out of one piece of sheet metal. At the top there are some things that look like small portholes,” he reported in 1989. cc Were they portholes or something else?” I asked. “Well, I don’t know. When you’re close to the disc you can’t see the top,” Bob replied. “It’s only either walking away from it and glancing back, or walking to it, that you can just see them before they’re covered up. [The disc] has got little ridges and those ridges will kind of eclipse those portholes. It could have just looked like it because they were black. I didn’t see through them so I really can’t say what they were. But there was certainly another level up there ... I always assume that was where the nerve center was, as far as the electronics, control, navigation, and whatever else might be in there.


178

ALIEN CONTACT

5^/VLE'.

\/A" =

\'o"

Fig. 8.2 Diagram of the alleged craft at S-4, based on information provided by Robert Lazar. The central section of the craft houses the “antimatter reactor” (Fig. 8.3), and the “gravity amplifiers” are located in the lower section. Measurements are approximate, and the external structure is more accurately depicted in Lazar’s own sketch (see photo section). (© Mark Dickenson, for Tri-Dot Productions)

I was always interested to see what was up there, but I was never allowed, and I had no idea how to get up that high.” (He is now convinced that the “porthole” hypothesis is totally inadequate.) Lazar was only allowed to go inside the craft on one occasion. “It was all the same color as the outside: I guess a dull aluminum finish is the best way I could describe it,” he reported in 1989. “There’s a central column that goes right up the center of the disc.I * * * * * * * 9 The wall inside—the inner skin of the ship—has [sloped] archways in it, almost like Spanish-style homes, that go all the way round the wall. Whether that’s bracing or not, I don’t know. There were some components removed, like a console of some sort was taken off. There were just a few chairs and another console that was left inside, and the reactor.” “How did you enter the craft?” I asked. “Presumably there was a door or something?” “No, the door was removed, and there were no hinges that were obvious. When you’re entering a craft, you don’t look and see how the door was attached; it’s far more interesting what’s in front of you! [The edges] were layered, so maybe something could fit in there. And there were a couple of steps leading up to that that were not provided


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

179

by the craft. And when you first walk in the craft, that opening extends beyond the first floor. In other words, if you were looking straight into the door, you would see the honeycomb, bottom level, which you could grab on the side and lift up, and that provides access down.” Lazar was puzzled by the internal structure, particularly the lack of any sharp edges—a feature reported by many contactees. “It was beyond being rounded,” he explained to me, “it was like it was almost melted.” In an earlier interview, he elaborated: “It looked like it’s made of wax and heated for a time and then cooled off. Everything has a soft, round edge to it; there’s no abrupt changes in anything. It looked like everything was cast out of one piece.” Especially puzzling were the seats. ccThe chairs are only like a foot or foot and a half off the ground. It looked like it was made for little kids!” The hangar contained an overhead crane (rated at twenty thousand pounds), “typical tools,” and “extensive electronic equipment,” including a machine with an X-ray emblem on it. The equipment was marked with a black number “41” surrounded by a white circle, Lazar reported in 1991. Is it not more likely that the craft was manufactured here on Earth? Lazar is adamant on this point. “The disc that I saw close up was not made by the United States,” he said in 1989. “It was definitely extraterrestrial. I don’t know the exact history of them, but they’re certainly alien craft, produced by an alien intelligence with alien materials. We were trying to see if we could duplicate what was there, with earthbound material and technology. You start with a finished product and you try and find out how it was built.” The latter process is known as “reverse engineering.” According to some independent reports, the United States has already succeeded in duplicating alien technology. A friend of mine, Ron Banuk, for example, was driving to Minneapolis on the night of December 30, 1973, at the height of the second gas-rationing frenzy, when he heard an announcement on the radio that a recently retired Air Force general had stated that the United States Government had unlocked the secret of UFO propulsion and had duplicated it. “In vain did I search the newspapers on subsequent days to find a confirmation, explanation, or retraction of that statement,” Ron told me. “The radio waves were also mute on the subject.”10 Lazar says he was never told how the craft arrived at S-4. “I don’t know where we got it from or how long ago it was, or anything,” he pointed out in 1989. “I don’t know if they were flown here and given

*


180

ALIEN CONTACT

to us or if they were crashed and repaired. I don’t think they crashed. I only had a chance to work on one, and it was in perfect operating condition. I don’t know what the alloy was on the craft itself, but certainly we can manufacture something like that. [But] technical aspects, power source, and things of that sort—those we can’t duplicate. And that’s what we’re most concerned with.”

THE ANTIMATTER REACTOR BOB LAZAR LEARNED THAT THE POWER SOURCE OF THE CRAFT

he worked on is allegedly an “antimatter reactor.” “There’s a [hollow] central column that goes right up the center of the disc that’s a wave guide: the gravity wave is channeled through there. The bottom of that connects to the antimatter reactor, [which is] a half of a sphere on the floor of the craft.” The central column or wave guide extends to the top of the craft and retracts upward to remove the reactor (Figure 8.3). The reactor itself is about the size of a basketball, Lazar claims. “It Fig. 8.3 The antimatter reactor. (Robert Lazar)


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

181

doesn’t get warm. It produces a bizarre field around it when I saw it operating,” he told George Knapp. “You can push on it; it’s almost like pushing together two magnets of like poles. Through some reaction, it produces a gravity field that’s not completely understood, and one of the things they were teaching was the physics that connects all this together.” The fuel element is even more bizarre, Lazar explained in another interview. “On the periodic chart it would be 115 [the highest atomic number listed is 106]. It’s always been theorized that up around Element 113 to 114, they become stable again. This is a stable element, and there are certain ‘magical’ combinations of protons and neutrons which make up the elements, and this is apparently what is being used. On bombardment with protons it kicks it up to Element 116 and then releases antimatter, and that’s reactive with matter in [what is] called an annihilation reaction. And it appears they have something like a 100 percent efficient thermocouple of sorts that produces power, and some sort of standing gravitational wave that propagates up through the wave guide, and then they use that excess power to do whatever they need.” In this connection, it is worth mentioning that Dr. Olavo Fontes was informed by Brazilian naval intelligence officials in the late 1950s that research into the propulsion system of alien vehicles (six of which were alleged to have been recovered in various parts of the world by that time) had led to the discovery that the discs were propelled by an extremely powerful “rotating and oscillating high-voltage electromagnetic field,” producing “some type of gravity field not completely understood.” Our scientists could build such a craft, Dr. Fontes was told, “if they knew some method to change the energy released into a nuclear reactor directly into electrical power.”11 In his 1991 video, Lazar goes into some details which may shed further light on the technology involved:

Inside the reactor, Element 115 is bombarded with a proton which plugs into the nucleus of the 115 atom and becomes Element 116, which immediately decays and releases, or radiates, small amounts of antimatter. The antimatter is released into a tuned tube which keeps it from reacting with the matter that surrounds it. It is then directed toward a gaseous matter target at the end of the tube. The matter and antimatter collide and annihilate, totally converting to energy. The heat from this reaction is


182

ALIEN CONTACT

converted into electrical energy in a near 100 percent efficient thermoelectric generator. . . . The craft does not create an “antigravity” field, as some have surmised. “It’s a gravitational field that’s out of phase with the current one,” Lazar explained in a 1989 radio interview. “It’s the same gravitational wave. The phases vary from 180 degrees to zero ... in a longitudinal propagation.” Among the new scientific discoveries resulting from research, it was learned that the theorized zeta particle and the graviton do not exist. Element 115 does not exist on Earth and cannot be synthesized, Lazar states, because it is a “superheavy” element. “All indications are that it’s found naturally, and it seems that it would have to occur naturally, in a place where there would be a much larger star—maybe a binary star, in an area where there’s been a supernova—someplace where there’s been a sufficient energy release to synthesize such a heavy element. ... To go so high up the chart, it really can’t be produced artificially in any way I can see. To make even a lighter element, like 103, takes a huge amount of money, and involves putting on a lighter element at the end of an accelerator and bombarding it with protons, trying to get them to plug into atoms, and you wind up with micrograms of the substance after an incredibly long period of time.” The disc allegedly uses 223 grams of Element 115, and on one occasion, Bob told me, he tested a sample at his home. ccWe put it in a cloud chamber, which is used to track the paths of nuclear particles— alpha particles in particular—over the top of the 115, showing that its gravitational force would change the path of the particle. We got that and filmed it on video. I didn’t steal it from the site! That was not in fact even taken from S-4; it went through a different national lab that was actually machining the substance into a [triangular] configuration necessary to power the craft, and it was offered to me.” Five hundred pounds of Element 115 is alleged to be available for top-secret research. The material is orange and extremely heavy, Bob told me, and its melting point is 1,740 degrees Celsius.

SPACE-TIME DISTORTION MANIPULATION OF SPACE AND TIME IS POSSIBLE, LAZAR MAIN-

tains, by virtue of the propulsion system. In the “Sport Model,” the lower compartment contains three “gravity amplifiers” or “genera-


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

183

tors.” These are mobile and can be “focused” independently (in what is called the “Omicron” configuration), or collectively (“Delta” configuration). The amplifiers are “pulsed” and do not stay on continuously. (For a description of the properties of gravity as they relate to the propulsion system, see The Lazar Tape.12) For the layman, Lazar offers the following simplified explanation of space-time travel: Assuming they're in space, they will focus the three gravity generators on the point they want to go to. Now, to give an analogy: If you take a thin rubber sheet, say, lay it on a table and put thumbtacks in each corner, then take a big stone and set it on one end of the rubber sheet and say that’s your spacecraft, you pick out a point that you want to go to—which could be anywhere on the rubber sheet—pinch that point with your fingers and pull it all the way up to the craft. That’s how it focuses and pulls that point to it. When you then shut off the gravity generator [s], the stone (or spacecraft) follows that stretched rubber back to its point. There’s no linear travel through space; it actually bends space and time and follows space as it retracts. In the first mode of travel—around the surface of a planet— they essentially balance on the gravitational field that the gravity generators put out, and they can ride a “wave,” like a cork does in the ocean. In that mode they’re very unstable and are affected by the weather. In the other mode of travel—where they can travel vast distances—they can’t really do that in a strong gravitational field like Earth, because to do that, first of all, they need to tilt on their side, usually out in space, then they can focus on the point they need to with the gravity generators and move on. If you can picture space as a fabric, and the speed of light is your limit, it’ll take you so long, even at the speed of light, to get from point A to point B. You can’t exceed it—not in this universe anyway. Should there be other parallel universes, maybe the laws are different, but anyone that’s here has to abide by those rules. The fact is that gravity distorts time and space. Imagining that you’re in a spacecraft that can exert a tremendous gravitational field by itself, you could sit in any particular place, turn on the gravity generator, and actually warp space and time and “fold” it. By shutting that off, you’d click back and you’d be at a tremendous distance from where you were, but time wouldn’t even have moved, because you essentially shut it off. It’s so far-


184

ALIEN CONTACT

fetched. It’s difficult for people to grasp, and as stubborn as the scientific community is, they'll never buy it that this is in fact what happens. Although theoretical research is being conducted into various advanced propulsion concepts for space travel, including systems involving reduced gravity, antimatter-matter/antiproton annihilation, and even “space coupling propulsion”—which, according to M. G. Millis, could react with space-time itself to generate propulsive forces13—none of these concepts (at least, officially) has been applied in practice and, with the exception of the latter, all involve, essentially, the expulsion of a reaction mass to induce motion—which is apparently not the case in alien propulsion systems. On his own admission, Lazar’s claims read like something out of Star Trek, but some scientists nevertheless believe that time travel into the past and instantaneous journeys by spaceships to distant parts of the universe may be feasible for a sufficiently advanced civilization. In 1988, Dr. Michael Morris, together with professors Kip Thorne and Ulvi Yurtsever, speculated that “worm holes”—holes in the structure of space and time—exist at a submicroscopic level but could be “enlarged” by an advanced technology as a means of traveling instantaneously, bypassing the speed-of-light limit.14 NASA physicist Alan Holt also believes firmly in the feasibility of “hyperspace” travel. He speculated in 1980 that with the frequency of UFO sightings and the different types of beings that have been observed, one must assume that a number of different civilizations are visiting us, but this makes no sense whatever unless the speed of light is exceeded. He has proposed several hypotheses for surmounting this problem. By artificially generating a certain electromagnetic pattern, for instance, a gravitational field could be generated that could nullify Earth’s own gravitational field. “You’d select an energy configuration that has a resonance with the location you wanted to go to, and travel through a type of hyperspace, or a higher dimensional space,” he stated. Asked if the shape of the spacecraft would be a determining factor, Holt made an interesting reply: “I think the shape of the spacecraft can be quite important. Elliptical or saucer-shaped would be the shapes I’d start out with. I hate to use those words because of the connotations. But what you’re trying to do with the artificial energy pattern is overwhelm the natural mass energy pattern and exist in the material of the spacecraft itself. So a saucer is probably best. I don’t think it’s


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

185

an accident that the UFO phenomena we see are, by and large, saucershaped.”15 In his Field Resonance Propulsion Concept, published by NASA, Alan Holt further speculated on hypothetical UFO propulsion: If the speed of light is a true limit of velocity in space-time, then the potential extraterrestrial visitors must utilize a form of transportation which transcends space and time to keep the trip times short. UFOs are often observed to disappear instantaneously. In a subset of these cases, the UFO later reappears at a nearby location, implying a disappearance from and a reappearance into space-time. The high-speed, right-angled turns, abrupt stops or accelerations of UFOs, and the absence of sonic booms despite calculated speeds of 22,000 m.p.h. or more, suggest that UFOs may generate an artificial gravitational field or otherwise use properties of space-time which we are not familiar with. UFO propulsion systems appear to involve electromagnetic or hydromagnetic processes, as evidenced by radiative effects on the environment, such as burns, dehydration, stopping of automobile engines, TV and radio disruptions, melting or alteration of ground and road surfaces, power disruptions, and static electricity effects. . . ,16 According to Lazar, the propulsion system he worked on at S-4 gives rise to certain peculiar effects, including invisibility of the craft. You can be looking straight up at it, and if the gravity generators are in the proper configuration you’d just see the sky above it—you won’t see the craft there. That’s how there can be a group of people and only some people can be right under it and see it. It just depends how the field is bent. It’s also the reason why the crafts appear as if they’re making 90-degree turns at some incredible speed; it’s just the time and space distortion that you’re seeing. You’re not seeing the actual event happening. In The Lazar Tape, Bob reports that during the time he spent inside the craft, and when it was “energized,” one of the inner archways in the center level became transparent, allowing him to see beyond it, almost as if a window had suddenly appeared. “After the panel had been transparent for a while, a form of writing, which was unlike any alphabetic, scientific, or mathematical symbols I’ve ever seen, began


186

ALIEN CONTACT

to appear on the transparent archway, and I was never informed as to how all this was achieved. ...” This description correlates with the claims of Daniel Fry and Travis Walton, who, while inside the craft, observed areas which were rendered temporarily translucent (Chapter 4).

THE SUPERBOMB FACTOR LAZAR IS RELUCTANT TO RELEASE FURTHER DETAILS OF THE PRO-

pulsion system. “The entire concept I have no problem bringing forth, but the inner workings and details I still believe should remain classified,” he told George Knapp. “You have to understand that a lot of the reason these systems are being kept quiet is that everything is being looked at from a weapons point of view. I have no intention, and never have, of releasing precisely how everything works.” He suggests that possibly the main reason for maximum security is the potential for construction of a “superbomb,” as well as for an advanced propulsion system. With regard to the latter, his work at S-4 involved an attempt to duplicate the reactor, using terrestrial materials, something which, he believes, is impossible. “They were trying to use a normal nuclear generator, fueled with plutonium, and that was really a futile attempt,” he said. (Perhaps the Snowbird project was one such attempt.) Antimatter is the most potent energy source known, Lazar says. “Just as a rough guesstimate, a kilogram of antimatter is equal in energy to forty-seven 10-megaton hydrogen bombs.” Element 115 is not antimatter itself, of course, but under certain nuclear reactions it becomes highly explosive. “Essentially, all you need to do is bombard it with protons, which is an easy device to make—something to accelerate protons. It would be extremely easy to make a very, very powerful bomb. You’re talking about hundreds of megatons off a small piece of it. It sounds incredible, but a total conversion of matter to energy does release that amount of power. So it’s not something that you’d want to [have] fall into someone’s hands.” Lazar believes that he was recruited to work as a staff physicist at S-4 in order to replace one of three scientists who lost their lives in a tragic experiment that had taken place at the Nevada Test Site in May 1987. “I guess they were proceeding along with tests on [an] antimatter reactor, and for some reason they decided to cut the reactor open while in operation,” he told me. “They brought this down to


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

187

the nuclear test site and did it in a vertical tunnel, with the blast doors, because they thought there might be an explosion. Something went wrong and the thing just detonated, killing all three guys. From what I understand, it took out the first door, which rarely ever breaks, and vaporized a couple of hundred thousand dollars of equipment.” “So this is why you were brought in?” I asked. “That’s exactly what they said. And it was almost tongue-in-cheek, like, ‘Maybe you can find a litde bit better way to investigate what’s going on here than cutting it in half with a chain-saw!’ ”

TEST FLIGHT S-4, ALL THE CONNECTING BAY doors inside the hangar were opened, allowing Lazar a distant view of nine apparendy different types of craft (including the one he was familiar with). Like the “Sport Model,” he gave names to those which he was able to see clearly, such as the “Top Hat” and the “Jell-O Mold.” “You said in your initial interview that you thought about half of them were functional?” I reminded him. “Now, that’s a rough guess. You have to think of the great distance here that is involved, because those hangars are big and stretch out fairly far, and just at a quick glance it would really be tough to see what would operate and what wouldn’t. I’m just counting the one that kind of looked like a top hat, which had a large hole in the side. I’m assuming that that didn’t fly because it was in a nonfunctional condition. There was a four- or five-inch hole in the ‘brim’ of the ‘Top Hat,’ and the metal was bent upward like a projectile had gone through it. It is possible it could have been something else, but that’s what it looked like to me; like it was shot from underneath. That’s the only thing that ever put the seed in my mind that perhaps they weren’t all given to us, because that looks like a fairly offensive move—unless they just stood it up on its side to see how impenetrable the metal was and fired at it, or some other ridiculous test!” But the most spectacular experience for Lazar came when he allegedly witnessed an actual test flight of the Sport Model, as he described to George Knapp: DURING THE THIRD VISIT TO

It was just about dusk. I came out of the door that was outside the hangar, which led to a hallway, came out of there, and the


188

ALIEN CONTACT

disc was already outside. Whether they carted it out or flew it out, I don’t know. It was sitting on the ground. Right off to the side there was a guy with a scanner. The first thing I was told was to stand by him and not go anywhere else. And he was in communication with the disc. I said, “That’s strange: It looks like you’re on a normal frequency on a two hundred megahertz band,” and he said, “Yeah.” And I said, “Isn’t it encrypted or coded or something?” and he said, “No.” And that just surprised me and I said, “What a breach of security, because you could just stand outside the base and listen to what’s going on.” The disc sat out there for a period of time, then the bottom of it glowed blue and it began to hiss, like high voltage does on a round sphere. It’s my impression that the reason they’re round and have no sharp edges is to contain the voltage. ... It lifted off the ground, quietly, except for that litde hiss in the background, and that stopped as soon as it reached about twenty or thirty feet. It shifted over to the left, shifted over to the right, and set back down. I mean, it doesn’t sound like much, but it was incredibly impressive, just—mind-boggling. It’s just magic!

But who was on board? “I don’t know,” Bob told me. “I saw the radio set up when they were in communication with the craft, but I only heard instructions beingjjiven; I never heard anything come back, because I wasn’t there for a long enough amount of time.17 So I assume there were people in the craft.” “Sitting on those little seats?” I asked incredulously. “Or they could have been on the upper section of the craft. It was amazing enough to see it operate; you really didn’t care what was going on inside, just the fact that it was operating!” Lazar has elaborated on what he learned about, and to a limited extent witnessed of, the bizarre effects produced by the propulsion system: “If the crafts look like they’re flying at seven thousand miles per hour and they make a right-angled turn, it’s not necessarily what they’re doing. They can appear that way because of the gravitational distortion. I guess a good analogy is that you’re always looking at a mirage— [it’s only when] the craft is shut off and sitting on the ground, that’s what it looks like. Otherwise, you’re just looking at a tremendously distorted thing, and it will appear like it will be changing shape,18


ALIEN TECHNOLOGY?

189

stopping or going, and it could be flying almost like an airplane, but it would never look that way to you.” “How close do you think you have to get before time distortion takes place?” I asked. “It’s tough to say, because it depends on the configuration of the craft. If the craft is hovering in the air, and the gravity amplifiers are focused down to the ground and it’s standing on its gravity wave, you would have to get into that focused area. If you’re directly underneath the craft at any time there’s a tremendous time distortion, and that’s in proportion to the proximity of the craft.”19 The disc is allegedly capable of erratic maneuvers, and “two- to three-mile drops in a second to zero velocity.” Great caution is exercised during the test flights, which are restricted to Earth’s atmosphere. At that time, the tests were conducted only on Wednesday nights, Lazar revealed, because statistically, it was the night of least traffic in that area. And so it was that on a Wednesday night in March 1989, Bob took his wife, Tracy, John Lear, and Gene Huff, to an area about fifteen miles from the remote test site, hoping to prove the reality of at least some of his sensational claims.


22, 1989, THE TEAM, traveling in John Lear’s recreational vehicle, arrived a little later than anticipated and parked on a road with a commanding view. I have been out to this vicinity on two occasions (in 1986 and 1990) and the landscape is truly awe-inspiring and majestic. Unfortunately, I have never seen anything unexplainable, probably because I was there at the wrong times. But John, Gene, Bob, and Tracy—with advance knowledge of the test-flight time—were luckier. While John was in the process of setting up his telescope, a light came very slowly over the horizon from the direction of the test site. A plane or satellite perhaps? “Then the object jumped” Gene told me. “It jumped a long way to the right. Then we got the telescope on it. At that time, John was the only one who viewed the elliptical-shaped light through the telescope. The disc just flew around and then went down back to the mountains, south of where we were looking.” The sighting, lasting about seven minutes, was hardly conclusive proof, although Bob had predicted that the craft would appear to make “jumps,” owing to the bizarre nature of the effects produced by the propulsion system. But the following Wednesday night, March 29, Bob went out to the same viewing point, together with Tracy, Gene, and another friend, and this time, they were all rewarded with a more substantial sighting. “We were looking to the mountains to the south,” Gene recounted, “and it came up very slowly and glided around very gently, in a strange ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH


CONTAINERS

191

movement. Through the telescope it was an elliptically shaped light. And then it did some very, very strange moves, like a ‘step5 move. It would be sitting there and it would go, then sit, then drop down to mountain level. And it came up the mountain range, and glowed. Bob told me that the glow of the disc is just by virtue of the way it’s energized; it’s not like you can turn this light on and off. And it came up toward us, stopped and hovered, and not only did it glow, it glowed brighter and brighter. Finally, it glowed so bright that we started backing up behind the car. We thought it might explode, but it didn’t. It went back down, went back above the mountain range gently, went down and hovered for a while, and went down as slowly as it came up.” Gene had never seen any object move like that before, he told me. cc When it came up the mountain range it covered some distance to get to us. It’s not the same as if there’s a car coming on the highway, and there are the lights and you know it’s coming. It’ll just be there and all of a sudden it’s a lot closer, then a lot closer. That’s kind of an alarming thing.”1 The group had a video camera, and some of these maneuvers are clearly visible on the film. Bob Oechsler, a former NASA engineer who has had a lot of experience in analyzing video films (including Ed Walters’s remarkable film taken in Gulf Breeze, Florida, in 1987), is convinced that the film provides powerful evidence in support of Lazar’s claims, as he explained to me: With a VCR, you’re looking at an electronic reproduction of what the eye sees. In other words, you’re looking at it through a series of horizontal bars, so essentially, half the image is cut out. What you’re looking at in this particular video of March 29, is a [light] that moves perhaps one third of the total distance of the screen, but it does so in a series of jumps. In other words, the light’s on, it’s off: You can do it frame-by-frame, which I’ve done, and you’ll find that the light actually disappears, then reappears at another location to the left of the original location, has a luminosity-characteristic signature, then it goes out again and jumps to another location. The point is that it absolutely verifies the principle that Bob Lazar offered as to how the system works. It adds great integrity to his allegation that if you focus the gravity-wave amplifiers on a specific point in space, you intensify a gravitational field, “pull” that point of space to you, in essence, and when you shut off the


192

ALIEN CONTACT

amplifier, you snap back to that point with it. In other words, you disappear and reappear at that point, as far as the eye would see, looking at it from any distance. So what you’re seeing is a series of “hyperspace” jumps on the videotape. And to me, it is the most extraordinary piece of video footage that I’ve ever seen in terms of UFO films. Unfortunately, there are no reference points. You only have the witnesses’ perspective to go on, and that perspective gives only some definable characteristics; that. . . the light came up from below a mountain range a certain distance away.2

THREATS BOB LAZAR WAS TAKING ENORMOUS RISKS BY BRINGING FRIENDS

to an area where they would have an opportunity of viewing the test flights. And finally, on the night of April 6, 1989, they got caught. While Lazar, together with his wife, sister-in-law, John Lear, and Gene Huff, were waiting for another expected test, a security vehicle approached. “Bob didn’t want to get caught with us, so he went out in the desert,” Gene related. “We turned around and pulled up that dirt road and stopped. So then they started up again and we went up farther, stopped, and pulled the telescope out.” They pointed the telescope at Jupiter, hoping to allay suspicion, but it was to no avail. “The security guys came up, all dressed in camouflage, but with no markings. They had pistols on them, and machine-guns, which they left in their vehicle. And they radioed back to the base security station that we said we were out there looking at the stars. They just told us that they would prefer that we weren’t there, but that it was public land; they couldn’t make us leave but they wanted us back up on the highway. “So we didn’t leave for a while, and Bob came back over and we were joking around. As it turned out, they were watching Bob and us all the time through night-vision binoculars. So then we pulled up on the highway and went the other way to watch for a while. As we understand it, we actually stopped the test this night because they had so much trouble with us.” As they began the long drive back to Las Vegas, the sheriff stopped them, having been alerted by the security personnel, and asked each member of the group for identification. “Lear had left his wallet in the trunk, and he opens the trunk, and


CONTAINERS

193

there’s a video camera, a big telescope, and a Geiger counter, of all things! And the sheriff says, What are you doing out here with all this stuff)’ Well, we wouldn’t say anything. He tried to bluff his way into allowing the car to be searched. We didn’t want it to be searched, because we had a gun in the trunk—for no other reason than that there are rattlesnakes in the desert. So he radioed the base station and took all our IDs and it was put into a computer base at Area 51. He detained us for about fifty minutes, and it’s only legal to detain you sixty minutes if they don’t arrest you or tow your car in. So he let us go and said not to come out there anymore.”3 The following day, Lazar was ordered to go to Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, about thirty-five miles northwest of Las Vegas, for a debriefing, which was attended by an FBI agent. “Needless to say, they weren’t happy that I had told a group of people what was going on and brought them down to show it,” he told George Knapp. “They threatened me, put a gun to my head, and went over the security—the level of security that they had originally briefed me with. They did everything but physically hurt me [and said things like], We have the power to kill you right now. No one’s going to know about it—we can come up with a thousand excuses.’ I mean, just picture a guy with his face this far away from you, just screaming at you. It’s bizarre. c We had a story all made up as to why I was out there, about me being dropped off at the stop sign at the top of the hill, and that I really didn’t go out there, and I didn’t want to, and all that. And the first thing that they said when I got in was, ‘Forget about the stopsign story.’ We had only talked about that on the phone, and it’s all too obvious it was tapped.” During the interrogation, the guards from Area 51 who had caught the group were brought in. “It was kind of funny,” Lazar told Knapp, “because obviously, they didn’t know what was going on; they didn’t know about the existence of the crafts or anything. I purposely made a point of saying, What? Are you referring to the flying discs?’ And the two guys—their eyes got really big, and they were shocked at what was going on. The FBI guy husded them out of the door and was kind of upset that I had mentioned it.” It was during this period that Lazar decided to go public with his story and give the interview, in silhouette, with George Knapp on KLAS-TV, Las Vegas. “I used the name Dennis, which was my supervisor’s [first] name. He called immediately after that, and was really pissed off. ‘Do you have any idea of what they’re going to do to you?’


194

ALIEN CONTACT

he said. Well no, I don’t,’ I said. Since then, I’ve had other threatening phone calls, saying they’re going to kill me. The chances are they’re going to do nothing. I mean, I’m no hero or anything of that sort; I’m not foolhardy either, but if you’re really going to kill someone, you don’t tell them.” Lazar described for me an alarming experience he had when someone took a shot at his car, following the initial television broadcast. “I was getting on the Interstate 15 freeway, north from Charleston Boulevard [Las Vegas], and when I turned the corner, a white car drove up alongside, pulled down the window, and fired a shot. At the time, I had to go into a turn to get onto the freeway, but instead, chose to keep going straight, and just hoped that he would go away and take the turn, so I just drove off into the dirt and kept going. The shot hit the brake section in the wheel and snapped part of the rear brake and shot the tire. I just continued on and stopped in the dirt, and he continued driving and rolled up the window.” In January and February 1990, Nippon Television filmed interviews with Lazar in Las Vegas. Further interviews in Japan were planned, but the day before Lazar was due to leave, he received a threatening call from his ex-boss. “You’ll never make it back,” he was warned. One of the many rumors circulating about Lazar at that time is that he had pocketed the cash for the interview in Japan, and that Nippon TV had sued him for breach of contract. The truth of the matter is that the company producing the show for Nippon had agreed to pay two thousand dollars on arrival in Japan, three thousand dollars having already been paid for the extensive interviews in Las Vegas. After the alleged threat, Lazar decided that he could not risk his life. Nippon TV was accordingly informed that he would be unable to make the scheduled visit, and the final payment was never made.

BREAKING SECURITY WHY DID BOB LAZAR DECIDE TO RISK EVERYTHING BY GOING

public with the secrets of S-4? “One of the reasons I’m coming forward with this information,” he said in 1989, “is that it’s not only a crime against the American people, it’s a crime against the scientific community, which I’ve been part of for some time. It’s just unfair not to put it in the hands of the overall scientific community. There are people who are much more capable of dealing with this information, and by this time, would have


CONTAINERS

195

got a lot further along than this select, small group of people working out of the middle of the desert. They don’t even have the facilities, really, to completely analyze what they’re dealing with.” Lazar was also frustrated at being unable to discuss the sensational nature of his work. “You really can’t say anything. Like when you get home and your wife says, cHi. What happened at work today?’ You can’t say you worked with some stuff from another planet! It’s ridiculous. You need someone to talk to—it’s just a tremendous thing to keep on your shoulders. How anyone else does it is beyond me.” Another reason was the working environment, which Lazar found oppressive and restricted. He particularly resented the harassment that he underwent as part of the security procedure, which of course increased once it became evident that he had broken his security oath. Following the debriefing at Indian Springs, he was asked to go to work at S-4 but refused. “Are you officially refusing?” he was asked, to which he replied in the affirmative. “And that was the end of it. I left on a sour note. I was never officially fired and my clearance was never officially taken away. At that time, there was a lot of tension, a lot of worry, and the last place I wanted to get trapped was where no one could get to me, so I officially refused to go back. There was no communication after that.” But Lazar’s main purpose in coming forward, he claims, was to protect himself. “I tried to protect myself in several ways. One of them was going on the air and getting some of the information out, because that would be the only thing they would want to try and prevent. And once that was done—unless they do things for revenge, and I don’t believe that they operate that way—there would be no reason to hassle me anymore. Any action on their part right now would guarantee what I’m saying is true, so I think it’s going to be a ‘handsoff policy. “I’ve essentially accomplished what I wanted to. I don’t want to run out and prove everything to everyone, because frankly, I don’t really care if anyone believes anything I say at all. The only thing is to confront them with things they can’t deny. No matter what I say, no matter how much proof comes out, more people from S-4 need to come forward, because we have to come forward as a group. Just one person doesn’t cut it. “Where are the limits to national security? There has to be some sort of moral guideline where you have to draw the line and say, you know, it’s our responsibility to let everyone know about this, and we have to let national security kind of hang in the balance ... I did not


196

ALIEN CONTACT

believe that this should be a security matter. Some of it, sure, but just the concept that there’s definite proof and that we even have articles from another world, another system, you just can’t not tell everyone.” Asked if he felt comfortable about breaking security, Lazar replied, “No. To some degree I regret it, but it’s tough to backtrack now.”

SUPPORT KVEG Radio in November 1989, a man claiming to be a construction worker from a company based in Mercury (Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company of EG&G), at the southern part of the test site, nervously offered some support. C£ We’re all kind of fed up with what’s going on,” the anonymous caller began. ccWe are the construction workers; we put things together and take them apart. We heard about your situation. People are meeting in small groups and we’re trying to organize support for you to back you up. At the meeting we had yesterday of seven people, two will come forward and support you in what you saw, or what they’re involved with, but the other guys are just scared to death. And I’m a little scared myself. . . . It’s kind of hard to talk to you like this, but the guys are for you. Everybody wanted to do something a long time ago, but nobody knew what they had to do.” “Do you think these people would come forward if there was some sort of Congressional amnesty for them?” Lazar asked. “Weif I don’t know. But we all know a lot. . . . Like when you walked into those hangars there. I mean, somebody had to put them up, right? It’s frightening. It scared the heck out of a lot of us. We’ve just got together now to see whether we’re going to do something. We could form some sort of a picket, or make some kind of announcement on the street. ...” “You start making a ruckus like that,” Lazar said, “and these guys can lose their jobs right away. There’s a ten-year jail term and a tenthousand-dollar fine for divulging information like that. There’s an awful lot to lose.” Lazar told me that he had no idea how genuine the caller was, since a number of cranks had called him during the radio interviews. In any event, nothing came of the offer of support. DURING ONE OF THE INTERVIEWS WITH BOB LAZAR ON


CONTAINERS

197

POLYGRAPH TESTS THE RESULTS OF POLYGRAPH TESTS UNDERTAKEN BY BOB LAZAR

are generally encouraging, if inconclusive. According to examiner Ron Slay, for example, Lazar appeared to be truthful on one test and deceitful on another. Slay recommended that a second examiner be brought in, and Terry Tavernetti, a former Los Angeles police officer, put Lazar through four tests and concluded that there was no attempt to deceive. Tavernetti sent the results to a third polygrapher, who corroborated the findings, and to another examiner, who did not, stating his belief that Lazar might have been relating information that he had learned from someone else. Tavernetti, however, remains convinced that Lazar was telling the truth, as he explained during a television interview in 1990: He gave absolutely no physiological indications of attempted deception. . . . My personal thoughts [on] the pretest interview of three and a half hours, the test itself, and the posttest interview, showed absolutely nothing to deter my thought that Bob Lazar was truthful. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a subject matter here where fear, on behalf of Mr. Lazar, of reprisal, might far exceed just the threat of losing his credibility as a scientist, which would make polygraph tests maybe totally ineffective. Significandy, Tavernetti’s boss received a telephone call from a certain government agency wanting to know why Tavernetti was getting involved in “something he shouldn’t be.” “I asked what agency and what [they] said that identified themselves, and that I’d be happy to talk,” said Tavernetti. “And I was refused this information, and told that he didn’t know.” Perhaps coincidentally, Tavernetti, who has retained the tapes and printouts from Lazar’s polygraph tests, had his home broken into in January 1990.4

CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE I MET WITH A NUMBER OF BOB Lazar’s friends and associates, including George Knapp, who had first interviewed Lazar in March 1989. George is a TV journalist and former anchorman for KLAS-TV, Channel 8, Las Vegas, and after DURING MY VISITS TO LAS VEGAS,


198

ALIEN CONTACT

he had interviewed me in March 1990 for his second UFO documentary,5 he talked about his impressions on meeting Lazar and the subsequent evidence he has uncovered which tends to support Lazar’s extraordinary claims.

I felt real impressed. The first meeting that we had of any substance was when I took my news director to John Lear’s house to meet him. My boss was ultraskeptical going in. Coming out, we just looked at each other and he said, cOK. Ten minutes a night, and as much time as you need. Go for it!’ He was that impressed with him. It’s just a story that’s made the rounds here in Nevada for a long time that nobody has really bothered to look into. We know a lot of secret stuff goes on in Area 51; we know the nature of some of those programs, and there’s been this lingering, nagging voice floating around at the test site for many years that something else, something alien, was up there, but no one’s ever bothered to check it out. But Bob is the first to come forward to say anything about it—to have inside knowledge. I’ve spent almost a year on the Lazar story. We’ve gone over every aspect of the story again and again. Knowing him really sells a lot of it, because he’s not out to impress anyone and he’s not trying to make a million dollars with this. He’s not trying to spill the secrets of the universe or blow himself up to be more important than he is, and he tells you when he doesn’t know something. The story has been consistent again and again. . . . The checks into his background have been difficult. If you know Bob, you realize how lackadaisical he is about these things; he’s like your typical absentminded professor. Details of his life he just disregards. We’ve talked to his coworkers and the guy he used to work with at Los Alamos, who took us into these top-secret areas. A number of people have come forward with little bits and pieces of information. There was a security guard at the test site. I pursued him for a couple of months, but he would not talk to me. There was another security guy, who claimed to have seen Lazar up there. He thought Lazar hadn’t seen the whole picture, and he agreed to meet with me and he was going to provide some material. The meeting didn’t come off. I got a call at home, and he said, “Something’s wrong with your phone, because my


CONTAINERS

199

house was broken into. The materials were the only things that were taken.” A second guy called me who claimed to have done the tax returns over a number of years for people that worked at 51, and he’d picked up a number of bits and pieces about the saucer program up there. Well, the morning after he calls, he gets a visit by two guys saying they’re Secret Service and they want to ask him about some old records. He related to me that it was pretty clear to him that it was an attempt of intimidation; that they just wanted to get a look at him, get a photograph, and let him know they didn’t appreciate him talking to me. “Have you spoken to people who’ve seen craft up in the area?” I asked. Sure. There was another fellow—actually, a guy who used to work here at this station as an engineer. Before he worked here, he worked at 51. He inadvertendy walked into a hangar and saw one of these discs under a big tarp. I called him to arrange an interview, to do it in limbo, and the morning after he agreed to do the interview, there’s two guys sitting out at the front of his house in a car, with a radio. They follow him to work and follow him home again. And that’s the last I heard from him. He communicated with me through another party that he wouldn’t do the interview.6 George Knapp has learned that it is common knowledge among those with high-security clearances that extraterrestrial craft are kept at the Nevada Test Site. A Las Vegas man who was once stationed there claimed to have seen a flying disc land outside the boundaries of Area 51. And an airman who worked at one of the Nellis Air Force Base radar installations said that he and his fellow servicemen watched unusual objects flying over the Groom Mountains for a period of five nights. The radar images indicated that the objects zoomed into range at seven thousand miles per hour and would then “stop on a dime.” When word of the sighting leaked out, the airman was told to keep quiet about the matter and that “it didn’t happen.”7 Another highly placed informant who was going to give George Knapp information on crashed discs, recovered bodies, and alien technology, was visited at her home by a man who identified himself as a government agent, warning her that any release of information would


200

ALIEN CONTACT

lead to trouble, and reminding her that she did a lot of traveling and that “accidents can happen.” Her family could also be harmed, he warned. The existence of an S-4 area on the Nellis test range has been confirmed to George Knapp by a spokesman for the Nellis Air Force Base Public Affairs Office, who admitted that the military “operates certain equipment at S-4,” but of course refused to divulge where S-4 is located or what equipment is tested there. Further sightings have been reported in the area. On February 21, 1990, for example, Norio Hayakawa, accompanying a Nippon Television Network crew, witnessed and videotaped “a flight maneuver of a brightly lit orangish-yellow light making extremely unorthodox flight patterns, including sudden acceleration . . . and even zigzag-type movement.” Hayakawa has seen mysterious objects in the area on various other occasions, together with witnesses, including Gary Schultz, who has led several expeditions to the vicinity and who, during the night of December 5-6, 1990, observed eight distant disclike objects which “glowed with an amber-orange light and flitted about like fireflies.” The last disc was followed by a black helicopter which later veered away from the disc and apparently landed on Bald Mountain.8 A similar disclike object was photographed by Gary Schultz on February 28, 1990 (see photo section). On April 20,1992, NBC Nightly News included a report of unusual aerial objects seen in the Groom Lake vicinity, and showed a brief video film of “something that seems to defy the laws of physics,” taken at night by an NBC camera team. “Hundreds of witnesses have seen the bright light hovering motionless over the mountains, then move quickly across the night sky at high speed—like a flying saucer,” it was reported. During his research into the Stealth program, Jim Goodall, the wellknown aviation writer and photographer, spoke with a number of sources who have added substance to the growing body of stories about Area 51, including a master sergeant who did three tours of duty at Groom Lake. “He said that the United States Government and the military have things out there that you can’t describe as airplanes, that are literally c out of this world,’ ” Goodall revealed in 1990. “He emphasized ‘out of this world’ and said, ‘And they’re alien to anything that you’ve ever seen.’ And I tried to press him some more, and he says, ‘Look, I can’t comment. I’ve gone much further than I should already.’ ”9


201

CONTAINERS

W-2 NATURALLY, IT HAS BEEN A FORMIDABLE TASK TO TRY AND PROVE

that Bob Lazar actually worked at S-4. Naval Intelligence officials denied any knowledge of him, yet an extensive investigation by Bob Oechsler into the authenticity of Lazar’s Wage and Tax Statement (W-2 form) for 1989 (Figure 9.1), allegedly mailed from Washington, D.C., in July 1990, has yielded a substantial amount of corroborative evidence. Although blank W-2 forms are readily available and Lazar could have filled it in himself, the following information tends to negate this possibility. The United States Postal Service in Washington, D.C., was unable to identify the zip code for the “Department of Naval Intelligence” (20038), believing it to be as yet unassigned. But a Naval Intelligence official in Suidand, Maryland, confirmed that it belonged to them, even though such a department does not exist officially. The Naval Intelligence branch is referred to as the Office of Naval Intelligence, while the Navy, per se, is known as the Department of the Navy. The most likely explanation, in my view, is that the “Department of Naval Intelligence” could well be a front.

Fig. 9.1 Robert Lazar’s W-2 Wage and Tax Statement for 1989 (after deductions), for a total of five non-consecutive days’ work at S-4. Evidence of his employment by Naval Intelligence is shown, as is his alleged security clearance - “MAJ”. (I have deleted Lazar’s social security number and part of his address.) 1

Control number

E-6722MAJ

0MB No. 1545 0008

2

3

Employer's name, address, and ZIP code

United States Department of Haval Intelligence Washington, DC. 20038 8

Employee’s social security number

9 Federal income tax withheld

Employer's identification number

46-1007639 5 Statutory Deceased employee

□ 6

Employee's name, address, and ZIP code

Robert S. Lazar Las Vegas, NV.

N/A

Pension plan

Itfil rep.

Allocated tips

10 Wages, tips, other compensation

958ell

168.24 12

4 Employer's stele 1.0. number

9«2 emp.

Subtotal Oelerred Void compensation

□ □ 7 Advance EIC payment

□_

11 Social security tei withheld

71.94

13 Social security wages

14 Social security tips

16

16a Fringe benefits incl. in Box 10

89128 17 Slate Incdme tax

18 Slate wages, tips, etc.

19 Name ol slate

20 Local income tax

21 Local wages, lips. etc.

22 Name ol locality

Nevada ro.mW-2

Wage and Tax Statement 1989 Employe* J and employer! copy competed

Q]

Cony 2 To bo tiled «lth amployM* State, City, er Local Income lt» return.


202

ALIEN CONTACT

An Internal Revenue Service spokesperson explained to Oechsler that the first two digits of the employer’s identification number (46) represent the assignment state of the employer; in this case South Dakota (Aberdeen). It was learned that the number can also be assigned out of Ogden, Utah, where another regional IRS office is located. Oechsler’s inquiries at these two offices (after Lazar had provided authorization and a notarized signature) elicited the response that the information required was “classified,” but that all indications were that the W-2 form was “legitimate.” Oechsler pursued his investigations with a Department of Energy official, who confirmed that the Office of Management and Budget number on the W-2 form (E-6722) is a Department of Energy contract number, and that the 6700 series contract numbers were managed out of Albuquerque, New Mexico (possibly Kirtland Air Force Base/ Sandia National Laboratories). The MAJ is a “point of contact”— supposedly, in this case, referring to “Majestic,” though this was not confirmed. Finally, the Social Security Administration office in Baltimore, Maryland, told Oechsler that it had no records in Lazar’s account from 1983 onward, but they were able to validate the payments he claims to have received for the 1982-83 period (while working at Los Alamos National Laboratory), though when trying to access the name of the contractor, a “Security Violation” notice came up on the computer records, for reasons of national security, indicating that Lazar had been employed in sensitive work at the lab.10

CONTROVERSIAL BACKGROUND AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE OF LAZAR’S REVELATIONS WAS

that attempts were made to discredit him. To begin with, it has proved extremely difficult to substantiate his educational background. This is partly due to the fact that he left behind many papers at his house in Las Vegas, following the tragic death of his first wife, Carol Strong, and that Lazar tends to be absentminded at times. But there is evidence that certain officials have gone to great lengths to ensure that as few records as possible were located. When George Knapp contacted the hospital where Lazar says he was born, in Coral Gables, Florida, no records could be found. And when Knapp contacted the schools and universities where Lazar claims to have studied, he was informed that they had never heard of him.


CONTAINERS

203

Bob told me that he attended Pierce Junior College, California, then the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech), and California State University at Northridge. A period of employment by Fairchild was followed by a return to Cal Tech. He claims to have obtained master’s degrees in physics (his thesis: Magnetohydrodynamics) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and in electronics from Cal Tech. To date, no evidence for these degrees has been forthcoming. Although physicist Stanton Friedman has been able to verify that Lazar did indeed attend both Pierce Junior College and California State University, he drew a blank at MIT. “There’s no trace of him at MIT and no record of him having attended any course. Maybe he took a lot of courses but didn’t get a degree—that’s a possibility.” While Lazar’s unverifiable qualifications cast suspicion on the rest of his claims, there seems no doubt that he was employed as a physicist by Los Alamos National Laboratory, engaged in sensitive work, and currently, his company has a contract with the laboratory, manufacturing and repairing alpha radiation detectors. Lazar is the first to admit that his colorful background has augmented his reputation as a maverick scientist. At Los Alamos, for example, police frowned on his noisy jet car, which had led to a number of complaints in the neighborhood. Yet, the car is a testimony to his ingenuity as an engineer. The engine (installed in a Honda) was made of stainless steel and titanium and fueled by liquid propane. In tests at a dry lake bed near Los Angeles, the car reached over two hundred miles per hour, using its kerosene-powered afterburner. The conventional gasoline-powered engine was used to take the Honda up to a certain speed before the jet would be fired. Unlike most jet engines, Lazar’s design did not incorporate bulky compressors and used relatively little fuel. Prior to the car, he had designed a jet-powered bike which reached up to a hundred miles per hour. (“The cops saw that and put a stop to it for fear of safety.”)11 More recently, Lazar has built another jet car as well as a rocket. “There’s a tremendous amount of things I’ve been involved with over the years,” he said on television in April 1990. “Just because I have a wide variety of interests, a lot of it can be misconstrued and taken out of context. I’m sure it can be used to make me look pretty bad. There again, maybe that’s one reason they looked at before hiring me. I’m an easy person to hammer into the ground. . . . It did not take long. During the same interview, Lazar responded to rumors that he had been involved in illegal drugs, that he had a methadone lab in his home, that he was selling women to South


204

ALIEN CONTACT

America, and that he was involved with prostitution. All the stories were demonstrably false—with one exception: He openly admitted that he and his first wife Carol had owned a legal brothel (the “Honeysuckle Ranch”) in northern Nevada in the early 1980s, and that more recendy, he had installed some video equipment and helped with computer software and accounting for a friend who owned an illegal brothel in a residential area of Las Vegas, for which he had received payment. His involvement had lasted only a matter of weeks, he said, and the business was operating before he came on the scene.

ARREST THE POLICE REACTED SWIFTLY TO THE TELEVISED ADMISSION,

since it posed an embarrassment for the Las Vegas Metro Vice Squad and the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. The brothel owner, Toni Bulloch, had stated previously that the Vice Squad had come to an arrangement with her, whereby they would turn a blind eye to her operation if her girls did not make outside calls to hotels, and she had agreed also to act as an informant for the Squad, several of whose officers were alleged to have been clients. Within hours, officers raided the brothel, and Bulloch was arrested and charged with pandering, living off the earnings of a prostitute, conspiracy to commit prostitution, and “keeping a disorderly house.” Bulloch blamed Lazar for setting up the operation, and he was served with a search warrant at his home and charged with pandering (“pimping”), which in Nevada carries a sentence of from one to six years and a possible fine of five thousand dollars. On June 18, 1990, with some coaxing from his attorney, Lazar reluctantly pleaded guilty in the Las Vegas District Court, and on August 20, he was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence and one hundred fifty hours of community service. It was also recommended that Lazar, who is divorced from his second wife, should see a psychiatric counselor, in view of his “negligent circumstances.” I have a video of the proceedings, and it is relevant to mention that nobody had a bad word to say for the defendant. (I would also like to add that Lazar had no previous convictions.) Both the Las Vegas Vice Squad and the district attorney had requested that Lazar should not be sent to jail, and even prosecutor John Lukens commented that Lazar did not fit the profile of a typical panderer. Judge Lehman expressed surprise that Lazar’s partial involvement in the operation


CONTAINERS

205

had not been plea-bargained down to a gross misdemeanor, and that Toni Bulloch was not in court as a codefendant (she had previously been charged only with “keeping a disorderly house,” a misdemeanor statute dating back to 1911). The judge also took account of the fact that Lazar had lost his job with Naval Intelligence (the W-2 cited as proof of employment) and therefore needed to earn money.

FURTHER SUPPORT IN SPITE OF THE SUSPENDED SENTENCE, LAZAR’S CREDIBILITY

has suffered a severe blow, and one that he will not easily live down. Many will wonder why I have included his story here at all. The point is that we have evidence of his involvement in what possibly could be the most secret project ever undertaken on this planet, and to dismiss his claims solely on the basis of his involvement in prostitution is, in my opinion, shortsighted. Perhaps, as he admits himself, he was recruited to work at S-4 precisely because of his colorful background the better to discredit him should it prove necessary. Other experienced researchers who have met Lazar testify to his apparent honesty, including Dr. Jacques Vallee, who is not predisposed to a belief in UFOs as extraterrestrial spacecraft. “He seems very credible,” he commented on television in 1990. “I think that he was in the places that he described. He also seemed to have concern with remembering some parts of the things that went on there. We asked him if he felt that his memory might have been tampered with. Now, that is something . . . Could it be that he was exposed deliberately to certain things, perhaps to distract attention from other things ? But I’m certain of the opinion that he’s not lying, and that he’s talking the truth, and that he’s genuinely concerned with finding out what happened to him.”12 In his 1991 book, Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception, Vallee reaffirms his belief in Lazar’s sincerity, but states categorically that the events at S-4 were “pure theater,” staged for purposes of disinformation, and have nothing whatsoever to do with alien technology. (If true, this would imply a vast and expensive set, involving some very convincing actors and props.) Vallee cites, for instance, the lack of sophisticated tools used by Lazar when working on the reactor (a digital voltmeter and an oscilloscope). “Where were the X-ray inspection systems, the multichannel analyzers, the signal generators that are the standard tools of the high-tech trade?” he asks, not unreason-


206

ALIEN CONTACT

ably. Indeed, such a lack of high-tech gear used by Lazar does seem absurd, though, as we have learned, Lazar told me that he tested a sample of Element 115 in a cloud chamber at his home, and in his video presentation, he now makes reference to extensive electronic equipment in the hangar, including a machine with an X-ray symbol, which, I understand, he did not see being used. cTm no research physicist,” Lazar told Vallee during their two-hour meeting in March 1990. “If those were really alien discs, they should have had the best scientists in the country working on them. Instead they gave us these briefings and just told us to try anything we liked. . . .”13 On his own admission, Lazar had access to only one of the nine hangars at S-4, so it is logical to suppose that the other twenty or so scientists employed at the facility were more qualified. Furthermore, Lazar told me that additional research work was done elsewhere. Vallee is equally suspicious about Lazar’s medical treatment at S-4. At an infirmary at the back of the facility, he was given a number of tests by a female doctor and a nurse. An “awful lot” of blood samples were taken (though only on one occasion, I have learned), said to be necessary because of the things he was working on, and on another occasion, he was given a glass of yellow liquid that smelled like pine,14 and claims to have been hypnotized several times, adversely affecting his memory. Certainly, Lazar has had difficulty in recollecting clearly all the events that took place. Although he recalls most of what happened, there were a few days when all he could remember was flying out to the test site and getting on the plane to fly back to Las Vegas. Regression sessions with clinical hypnotist Layne Keck tend to indicate that Lazar had indeed been administered a drug and was subjected to periods of regimented hypnosis, including harassment, the purpose of which was to instigate a fear of breaking security. In my view, the hypnosis would have been equally effective in ensuring that those who did break security disclosed a perhaps confused account of the activities at S-4. Whatever the case, Keck has commented positively on Lazar’s truthfulness. “His subconscious mind believes, totally, all of these things,” he affirmed in 1989.15 In June 1990, former astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell visited Lazar and spent three days talking with him. Afterward, Mitchell stated his conviction that Lazar had indeed been involved in a high-level “black” project, owing to his level of knowledge on these matters, and subsequently, he made his own investigations into the allegations about S-4.16 During an Oprah Winfrey show in 1991 which featured some


CONTAINERS

207

of the Apollo astronauts, the subject of UFOs cropped up. Dr. Mitchell, following the rather negative comments of his former colleagues, rejoined: “I do believe that there is a lot more known about extraterrestrial investigation than is available to the public right now [and] has been for a long time It’s a long, long story. It goes back to World War II when all of that happened, and [it is] highly classified stuff.” I wrote to Dr. Mitchell and asked if he was prepared to elaborate on this statement. “I really have little that I can add to what I have already said, for frankly I know very litde,” he replied. “My own assessment after years of skeptical observation is that the evidence has become so consistent and overwhelming that it can hardly be ignored. This being the case it will sooner or later break open and we will all be pleased to know the results.”17 If Lazar’s story stood alone, we might be justified in dismissing it as a fantasy or a hoax, but further support for his claims has recendy been brought to light. According to Andrew Basiago, a West Coast investigative reporter and lawyer, a similar claim was made as far back as the 1970s by a former CIA officer, Marion Leo Williams. Williams confided to a relative that, when he was working as a CIA consultant to the Lockheed company during that period, he had visited Dreamland and learned that Lockheed was supplying equipment to a supersecret laboratory researching the technology of recovered alien vehicles and the biology of their occupants. Williams’s career in intelligence began during World War II when he worked for the Office of Strategic Services (which subsequently became the CIA). In 1953, after graduating with degrees in engineering and history from the University of Kansas at Wichita, he participated in numerous operations for the CIA, in Burma, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. During the 1960s and 1970s, Williams returned to the United States, where he specialized in counterintelligence and was involved in protecting United States defense intelligence bases from penetration by the KGB. Williams claimed that, as part of his assignment for Lockheed, he had been transported to Dreamland in aircraft and buses with blackedout windows. Much of the site, he said, was underground or recessed into the surrounding terrain. Security was formidable. His job was to acquire parts from foreign manufacturers to secure and outfit the base. Williams developed cancer and died in 1989. He first began to discuss his experiences with the relative (whom Basiago spoke to in 1981 and found to be “highly credible”) in 1976. “The theme of the


208

ALIEN CONTACT

ailing CIA agent’s revelations,” wrote Basiago in 1992, “was that because he was dying and had no reason to fear retaliation for breaking his secrecy oath, he wanted his relative to know that the Earth is being visited by a nonhuman intelligent species, that American government researchers are busy conducting genetic studies of intact Jien corpses recovered from crashed alien spacecraft, and that design principles from the saucers have been utilized in the Stealth bomber.”18

AN ALIEN PRESENCE? IT WILL BE RECALLED THAT DURING BOB LAZAR’S INITIAL IN-

terview in March 1989, he was asked if any aliens were present at S-4. “I really want to steer away from that right now,” he responded. I asked Bob the same question during one of our interviews. “I don’t know, 1 really don’t,” he replied. “You know, if you’re walking by a door and glance in and think you see something, and when you walk by it again there’s nothing there—the people, the configuration has changed in the room—how much credit can you put in that?” Bob was more forthcoming in a private interview with George Knapp in 1989, although equally reluctant to confirm that what he saw could have been an alien, emphasizing how he disliked talking about aspects of his experiences at S-4 that he was unable to verify personally. “I walked down the hallway at one time I was working down there, and there were doors [with] a nine-inch- or twelve-inch-square window with little wires running through it, just about head level. And as I was walking by, I just glanced in and I noticed—at a quick glance— there were two guys in lab coats, facing me toward the door. And they were looking down and talking to something small, with long arms. I was just surprised as I walked by and I only caught a glimpse. But I don’t know what on earth that was. “Now, UFO proponents say right away, That was an alien—you saw an alien!’ I don’t know. I mean, there were so many weird things and they play so many mind games there. Maybe they stuck a doll in front of these guys and made me walk by it and look at it, just to see what my reaction would be. But, when we did turn around to do something, and walk back, it was gone, and the two guys were gone. So, I don’t know what I saw.” In the 1988 documentary UFO Cover-Up? Live, Condor and Falcon


CONTAINERS

209

claimed that the aliens not only operated from a base within Dreamland but had “complete control” of it. Bob was skeptical when I put this to him, but did not totally discount the possibility of an alien presence, at least. “The installation takes up a whole range of mountain, and [apart from the hangar] I’m allowed into a little office area here, and all I know is the corridor that connects it,” he explained. “The rest of it could be an alien haven for all I know. Maybe they never did open the door to let me into the whole bag. It could be tremendous. So who am I to say? I don’t think that was the case. I don’t know if there are any aliens running around. And then, what a waste of time this [research effort] would all be if there were!”

THE BRIEFING PAPERS BOB LAZAR MAY NOT HAVE SEEN ANY ALIENS RUNNING AROUND

S-4, but he learned a great deal about them in the one hundred twenty or so briefing papers that he was required to read. “On your own admission, this subject is so compartmentalized— so how come you had access to all these documents?” I asked him. “That I don’t know. I have no answer to that, and they were—well, they were not in-depth at all. There was no reason to give me that information. A lot of it I didn’t even understand, and [I had] only a brief amount of time to look through them. Most of it did pertain to what I would be working with, and why anything else was there, I don’t know.” “Were they stamped in any way?” “No. They were not stamped in any way. They were just blue folders, and very brief overviews. . . . Each time I read something new, but the first time I went out I was given a tremendous amount—a pile of stuff to read.” In his private interview with George Knapp, Lazar explained further: “They were monitoring what I was reading and what they updated me on, and the reason they gave was, We need to get you up-to-speed as quickly as possible, so as we move your clearance up, we check things out.’... In fact, as it turned out, they put me to work before my clearance had come through.” The papers allegedly dealt with a number of highly classified projects, including “Galileo” (gravity propulsion), “Looking Glass” (research into the possibility of seeing back in time), and “Sidekick” (a


210

ALIEN CONTACT

beam weapon with a neutron source, focused by a gravity lens), all under the umbrella of “Project Overview.” Since Bob did not have time to read everything, he concentrated mosdy on those papers that dealt with his own area of expertise. The information in the documents is highly controversial and is remarkably similar to the information (or disinformation) disseminated by Falcon and Condor. “Is it true,” I asked, “that there was an interchange of information between the aliens and some scientists at the site at one time, and that there was an altercation resulting in many deaths—according to what you read in the briefing papers?” “Bight, that’s according to what I read, that’s what was going on. And I believe the altercation came about in 1979, or some time like that. And I don’t remember exactly how it was stated, but it had something to do with the security personnel. The aliens were in a separate room. I think it had something to do with the bullets [the security guards] were carrying, and somehow, they were trying to be told that they couldn’t enter the area with the bullets, possibly because it was hazardous—the bullets could explode, through some field or whatever. “I actually remember very little about the story, but either someone attempted to come into the room with the bullets, or had a gun in his hand or something, and the security people were killed—by head wounds. And it was very nondescriptive past that. And I think then that the scientists were all killed also.” The incident is said to have led to the termination of an alien liaison at the site—although we were left with the craft. I had heard an almost identical tale from Paul Bennewitz, who claims to have established communications with aliens via his computer (see Chapter 2). “In 1979, something happened,” he wrote to me in 1985. “The alien through the computer said [there had been] an argument over weapons . . . sixty-six were killed, forty-four got away.” The incident supposedly occurred at an alien base in Duke, New Mexico— not at the Nevada site. Since Bennewitz had been fed liberal doses of disinformation, I put it to Bob that the briefing documents might have contained false information, too. He did not deny the possibility, but pointed out that everything he saw on paper pertaining to his own specialized field turned out to be factual, so he assumes therefore that everything else he read could have been equally valid. There were references in the reports to “The Kids”—presumably the little fellows who had manned at least one of the craft at S-4—


CONTAINERS

211

whose origin was said to be Reticulum 4, the fourth planet out from Zeta Reticuli 2. (Falcon referred to the same star system during the 1988 documentary, but said that the home planet was the third out.) A day on Reticulum 4 was said to be ninety hours. The two stars that comprise the Zeta Reticuli system are thirtyseven light years from Earth, separated from each other by a distance of about three hundred fifty billion miles and requiring possibly over one hundred thousand years to orbit their common center of gravity. Although the stars are believed to be of a similar type to our sun,19 this is disputed by Daniel Bonneau of the Calern Observatory in France, who in 1988 pointed out to Robert Collins (believed to be “Condor”) that “the two stars are definitely at a different evolution stage than the Sun.” Furthermore, as I have mentioned in the notes to Chapter 6, Bonneau claims that these stars are not binaries.”20 (Binaries are two stars gravitationally attracted to each other, so that they revolve around their common center of gravity, thus forming a “double star.”) The aliens evidently have a preference for Latin, for our Sun is referred to as “Sol” and Earth as “Sol 3” (the third planet). Lazar read that humankind is the product of sixty-five genetic “corrections” by the aliens. This is a considerable advance on the figure given in the alleged presidential briefing paper shown to Linda Flowe by Richard Doty. Linda recalls that the “time intervals for this DNA manipulation specifically listed . . . were 25,000, 15,000, and 2,500 years ago” (see Chapter 6). Lazar is healthily skeptical about the religious information he read in the briefing papers. “It’s easier to swallow things you can put your hands on and touch and then work with,” he explained to George Knapp. “That’s no problem. But when you get a lot of spiritual stuff and religion . . . that we were made by progressive corrections in evolution and that sort of stuff. . . it’s tough to accept without hardcore proof. The only hard-core thing is that there is an extremely classified document dealing with religion, and it’s extremely thick. But why should there be any classified documents dealing with religion?” Knapp pressed Lazar for further information. “Oh, come on, that’s so weird. . . .” “I’m not asking you to say what you believe to be a fact; I’m asking you to say what you read in a report that is distributed at what may be the most top-s^ret’facility in the world.” “It’s just so far out. . . .” “All right. Your objection has been noted! What does it say?”


212

ALIEN CONTACT

“That we’re ‘containers.’ That’s supposedly how the aliens look at us; that we are nothing but containers.” “Containers of what?” “Containers. Maybe containers of souls. You can come up with whatever theory you want. But we’re containers, and that’s how we’re mentioned in the documents; that religion was specifically created so we have some rules and regulations for the sole purpose of not damaging the containers. ...” “We’re containers for souls that they’re going to use at some other point?” “Right.” Supposedly, Jesus and two other spiritual leaders were genetically engineered, in the sense that “they were implanted in people on Earth and their births were closely monitored.” Again, a similar claim was made (specifically about Jesus) by Richard Doty, in conversation with Linda Howe. The idea is hardly new, and has been proposed by a number of writers. The Bible does contain several passages which, although open to alternative interpretations, nonetheless suggest the possibility of an out-of-this-world origin for Jesus, such as: the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, informing her of an unusual conception; the star of Bethlehem which guided the wise men to the place of birth; the physical ascension into “heaven”; and Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, when Jesus apparently spoke to him from a “great light” in the sky. In addition, one could adduce Christ’s extraordinary abilities, which parallel some of those attributed to the aliens, and the occasional cryptic statements referring to his origin, such as the following, recorded in John’s Gospel: “You belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world.”21 Is the idea so far-fetched? Not according to Dr. Barry Downing, at least, a theologian with a degree in physics, whose book The Bible and Flyinpf Saucers traces the evidence for extraterrestrial liaison with humankind throughout biblical history.22 Robert Lazar’s story should be judged not on what he read in the briefing papers, however, as he is the first to admit, but on the merits or otherwise of his alleged experiences at S-4. Although his recollection of events may have been intentionally distorted, and the briefing papers probably included disinformation, it is my opinion that his story is substantially true. If so, I believe that his exposure to some of the activities at S-4 could have been part of a public indoctrination process,


CONTAINERS

213

in that those who recruited him were well aware that he would break security by disclosing his experiences. Even if Lazar’s story turns out to be completely bogus, we are still left with a considerable amount of independent corroboration—including further evidence to be presented in the final chapter—that tends to support the seemingly fantastic claim that extraterrestrial craft and bodies are in possession of the American intelligence community. tc Well, I am telling the truth—I’ve tried to prove that,” Bob Lazar insists. ccWhat’s going on up there could be the most important event in history. You’re talking about physical contact and proof from another system—another planet, another intelligence. That’s got to be the biggest event in history—period. And it’s real, and it’s there.” 23


13, 1988. ADMIRAL BOBBY RAY INMAN had just completed the keynote address at a ground-breaking ceremony for the National Security Agency’s new top-secret supercomputer facility for the Institute for Defense Analysis, of which Inman was a former director. Standing outside the speakers’ tent at the University of Maryland’s Science and Technology Center was former NASA engineer Bob Oechsler, waiting for an appropriate opportunity to approach the retired intelligence chief, who in his distinguished career had been a director of both the National Security Agency and Naval Intelligence. The admiral bade his farewells and, fortuitously, headed in Oechsler’s direction. “Excuse me, Admiral,” said Oechsler, handing over his business card. “I would be deeply appreciative if at some point you’d have someone contact me about how I can get closer to MJ-12.” Inman studied the card, which briefly detailed Oechsler’s specialty in robotics and mobilized security surveillance systems, then looked Bob straight in the eyes. With a knowing nod and a half smile, he placed the card neatly in the breast pocket of his jacket. “OK,” he replied. The two men shook hands and Inman quickly departed, leaving Oechsler with the firm impression that Inman knew precisely about the nature of the inquiry. Admiral Inman’s impressive background in the intelligence community, his involvement with government technology-related projects and organizations such as the Brookings Institution, the Council on IT WAS MAY


COSMIC JOURNEY

215

Foreign Relations, the Defense Science Board, and the Institute for Defense Analysis, had prompted Oechsler to make his request. ctI can think of no other individual in the entire United States of America who is more qualified to manage the most important covert operation in the history of mankind,” he believes.1 Born in 1931, Bobby Ray Inman graduated with a B.A. from the University of Texas in 1950 and entered the United States Navy (Naval Reserve) in 1952, serving for two years on aircraft carriers, and occasionally working in London and Paris. From 1965 to 1967, he served as assistant to the naval attache in Stockholm, and during this period became an analyst for the National Security Agency's Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office. In 1972, he was appointed assistant to the Chief of Staff of Intelligence, Office of the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Two years later, Inman became the director of Naval Intelligence, a post he held until 1976, when he was made a vice admiral. Following a year as vice director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he served as director of the National Security Agency until 1981, when he advanced to the rank of admiral and was appointed deputy director of the CIA.2 Inman retired from government service in 1982. Among the positions that he currently holds is that of chairman, president, and CEO of a Texas-based company specializing in microelectronics. In July 1990, he was appointed to President Bush’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The son of an Air Force pilot, Bob Oechsler (pronounced “X-ler”) interrupted his education at the University of Maryland to join the Air Force in 1968, serving with the American Forces Radio and Television Service in the continental United States and in Southeast Asia. During die Vietnam War, he served in Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. Some of his work during this period required a Top Secret clearance, when each month he was flown into the demilitarized zone by helicopter to film classified prototype weapons systems. On returning to the United States, he spent a year and a half at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. After leaving the Air Force in 1972, he returned to the University of Maryland, then in 1974, began to work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a specialist in Missions Technical Analysis. Among the projects he was involved in were the International Ultra-Violet Explorer and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Now retired from NASA, Bob runs his own company, Robots Internationale, Inc. He has pioneered the field of mobilized security


216

ALIEN CONTACT

surveillance, and as a robotics expert in field application technologies he has addressed the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., as well as the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. He is listed in several Who’s Who publications as well as the International Book of Honor, and has acted as technology consultant to ABC News science editor Jules Bergman. As a UFO specialist, Bob Oechsler is assistant state director for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Maryland, and he devotes much of his time to research, including technical analysis of photographs and video films. Since 1987, he has hosted a nationwide program, “UFOs Today,” as part of the 21st Century Radio, with Drs. Robert and Zoh Hieronimus. He has appeared on all the major American television networks, as well as on many European and Japanese programs, and is regularly consulted by producers of documentaries on the subject. There had been no word from Admiral Inman nor any developments arising from the meeting in May 1988, so, at my suggestion, Bob reestablished contact by telephone in July 1989. In addition to reminding the admiral of that meeting, the purpose was to seek guidance on our mutual research effort, the ultimate objective being to gain access to an extraterrestrial craft for technical research and perhaps public display. I was also seeking guidance on behalf of Admiral of the Fleet, the Lord Hill-Norton, a former British chairman of the NATO Military Committee and chief of the Defense Staff (a position comparable to that of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), who has been frustrated in his efforts at penetrating the shield of official secrecy surrounding the subject. When Bob first called from his home (in my presence) on July 14, Inman was away on business, but Tom King, his executive assistant, took the message. I advised Bob to explain that the matter he wished to discuss involved “SCI” (Sensitive Compartmented Information), a term I deemed appropriate in the circumstances. King said that the admiral would call on his return. On July 20, at 8:00 A.M. EDT (after I had returned to England), Inman telephoned Bob. After excusing himself in order to fetch some notes (and to switch on his tape recorder, a routine he had adopted for note-taking purposes), Bob returned to the phone. cc Do you remember who I am?” he began. “Unfortunately I do not—I apologize,” replied Inman. “OK. Well, we met at the University of Maryland, Science and Technology ...”


COSMIC JOURNEY

217

“I do pull out now, thank you,” said Inman. “I was looking for some guidance that I hoped you might be able to afford me, in giving some kind of direction in how I can assist in this project,” Bob continued. cTve been spending a great deal of time researching the phenomenon, and technologically, I think I might have some very interesting things to offer. ... I certainly would like to get some guidance in a number of different areas. . . . On behalf of Admiral Lord Hill-Norton and Mr. Good, the best I can do there is, I have no idea what the level of security crossing countries happens to be. And I really don’t want to get too much involved in that end of it; I’ll leave that to your discretion. . . . Admiral Lord Hill-Norton is quite furious with his inability to gain knowledge on the issues. ... I had suggested to [Timothy] that the only individual I knew that possibly would be able to help him—if it was indeed possible to gain any information across country borders—would be . . . you. And I suggested that that contact be made.” “What is the general area of interest?” Inman asked. “Two things,” replied Bob. “One, it is my feeling from my research that there is a dichotomy of sorts, one in which there seems to be an indoctrination program to educate the public to the realities that are involved here. The other must be a problem relating to security measures and the need-to-know level. I have the ability to [influence] a great mass of the public. I have a nationwide, regular radio broadcast on the subject matter. ... I am connected with all the major organizations. I’ve spent eighteen months investigating the Gulf Breeze situation. ... I have focused a great deal on the technological end. . . . and I’ve studied a great deal of the things that have been going wrong along in the Chesapeake Bay, in connection with the Electromagnetic Continuity Analysis Center and with the EMP [Electromagnetic Pulse] projects.” “All of those are areas in which I am vasdy out of date,” Inman responded. £CWhen I made the decision to retire seven years ago, I made a conscious decision to sever ongoing ties with the U.S. intelligence community. I have had some exposure on limited occasions to some areas of activity over the succeeding seven years, when I did the Embassy Security Survey as a consultant to the Defense Science Board. But overwhelmingly, my efforts in these seven years have been focused on industrial competitiveness on the application of science and technology in the commercial world. So for many of the things— at least as I sort of infer from the conversation, of the interest of Mr. Good and Peter Hill-Norton—they are areas where, while I had some 3


218

ALIEN CONTACT

expertise, it’s now, you know, seven years old. And the pace at which things move in the field, the odds of my being accurate are increasingly remote, in understanding those things.” “Is it your understanding that there is a cultural dialogue going on—today?” Bob asked. “Well, I guess I’d have to ask, with whom? Between what parties?” cc Well, between any of the parties that presumably are behind the technology in the crafts?” “I honestly don’t know. I have no exposure at all. So I haven’t a clue whether there are any ongoing dialogues or not. I’m trying to think who there is in the Washington area that is at least much closer to the issues, who might be able to at least give you some guidance. . . . “The deputy director for Science and Technology at CIA is named Everett Hineman,” Inman continued. “He is in fact getting ready to retire in the very near future. That may make him somewhat more willing to have dialogues than he otherwise would have had. When I knew him in the period seven to ten years ago, he was a person of very substantial integrity and just good common sense. So, as a place to start, he would clearly be high on the list. In the retired community of those who nonetheless were exposed to the intelligence business and stayed reasonably close to it, there is a retired rear admiral, a former director of Naval Intelligence named Sumner Shapiro, who has been a vice president of BDM. I think he just retired. . . . His level of competence again is very high, his integrity is very high. Whether he has any knowledge in the areas you are working on, I don’t have a clue, because I don’t have any ongoing dialogue with him. But those are at least two thoughts for you that are there in the area where you are located, and who have a prospect of still having some currency. I don’t know that they do. In my case, I don’t have any.” “Do you anticipate that any of the recovered vehicles would ever become available for technological research—outside of the military circles?” asked Bob. “Again, I honesdy don’t know,” relied Inman. “Ten years ago the answer would have been no. Whether as time has evolved they are beginning to become more open on it, there’s a possibility. Again, Mr. Hineman probably would be the best person to put that kind of question to . . .” 4


COSMIC JOURNEY

219

CIA HEADQUARTERS BOB OECHSLER ARRANGED TO MEET EVERETT HINEMAN AT THE

Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on August 10, 1989. During a stay at his Annapolis, Maryland, home in October 1989, Bob related the details of this meeting to me. “I was escorted to a security room on the first floor when I first got inside the building,” he began. “They summoned for an escort from the Office of Science and Technology, and she took me up to the sixth floor, and without much delay, I found myself in the office of the deputy director for Science and Technology.” Bob had brought to the meeting a large portfolio of the extraordinary color photographs of UFOs taken by Ed and Frances Walters in Gulf Breeze, Florida, which have been the subject of much controversy since publication of their book, The Gulf Breeze Sightings: The Most Astounding Multiple Sightings of UFOs in U.S. Historyf and he began by discussing the technology of one of the craft, gleaned from his extensive study of the photos, keeping a close eye on Hineman to observe his reactions. “Not only did he indicate he had no knowledge of the events in Gulf Breeze,” said Bob, “but he didn’t even know where it was. Visibly, it did not appear as though he had ever seen the pictures before, although I’m not sure how that could have possibly been the case. He had to have known, in my opinion, that the Joint Chiefs of Staff met at Pensacola Naval Air Station in August 1988, amidst an invasion of UFO activity.” Bob then raised the Lazar/S-4 story, discussing the alleged “antimatter reactor” and “gravity generators.” But again, Hineman appeared to know nothing about S-4 or Area 51. “It didn’t even seem to strike a chord when I said Area 51 of the Nellis test range. But he seemed most interested in S-4, and intrigued by my suggestion that the government had flying saucers—operational flying saucers at that. In fact, during that part of the conversation, he reached back over his desk and grabbed a phone and briefly chatted with his secretary; something about arranging for transport to Las Vegas. He even made the comment that he was going to check it out.” Hineman seemed nervous throughout the meeting, Bob recalled. “I got the feeling he was real uneasy about the subject.” As well he might be. Assuming that he had any knowledge of these matters, Hineman would have been unlikely to disclose any sensitive


220

ALIEN CONTACT

compartmentalized information to one who did not have the requisite clearance. Bob had hoped to receive guidance on a number of related issues. One of his objectives, which had been proposed by the now-late Dr. Dan Overlade, was to try and establish a conduit for psychologists and scientists involved with abduction cases, so that they might gain some insight into the nature of the phenomenon. “The problem is that they have no idea of what the source of the problem is,” Bob explained to me. “Are we dealing with a purely psychological phenomenon, a physical phenomenon, or are we dealing with something totally outside the realm of psychiatric practice?” Bob expressed the hope that either verbal or documentary information could be passed on to the investigators, or that a phone number could be given for them to contact those CIA personnel who were best informed on this aspect of the phenomenon. Hineman responded that he would make inquiries. Another of Bob’s proposals was to suggest the need for an independent historical account to be written about the government’s involvement in the UFO controversy, emphasizing that, in his opinion, the decisions that had been made and the actions that had been taken by the government were all justified. “I volunteered to conduct such a historical perspective,” Bob told me, “pointing out that I would need clearance to have access to all UFO-related activities, and that I would work closely with them in order to maintain accuracy in my accounting of events.” These may seem rather naive proposals, but it must be borne in mind that the meeting with Hineman had been suggested by Admiral Inman, one of the most well-informed people in the intelligence community, specifically in order that guidance could be offered. In Hineman’s case, it seemed that these kinds of decisions were most probably beyond his realm of influence. “The bottom line, from the forty-five minutes I spent with him, was that he tried to conclusively give me the impression that he didn’t know anything about flying saucers,” Bob said. “But he indicated that either he or someone else would get back to me within the next week.” After a reminder, Hineman called back on September 1, the day he was due to retire from the CIA. “I don’t see any prospects for doing any business on the idea that you had when you were in here,” he began. “I’ve done some checking with some folks, and there’s no need for anything along these lines; at least at this time. I thank you for your interest and I appreciate your coming by.”


COSMIC JOURNEY

221

“Did you get out to the Las Vegas area?” asked Bob. “I did not myself, no.” “Well, then you were able to substantiate, I presume, the issues I was bringing up?” “No. I come to different conclusions than you do.” “Oh, really?” “Yes. So I thank you for your interest.” Bob was frustrated by the response to his proposals. “It was surprising that he didn’t reference the specific proposal about the psychologists,” he said, “because in my opinion, that was the most important issue that I had raised there that I thought needed some action on their part, and I was somewhat disappointed that there didn’t seem to be anything forthcoming on that. I was also really surprised by his remark about the Lazar case, since I didn’t know that I’d offered any conclusions. All I did was offer data that was given to me, so I’m not sure what that was about. ...” In retrospect, Bob now believes that Hineman’s comment about S-4 might suggest that Bob Lazar was an unwitting participant in a plan to release information regarding the United States Government’s involvement with extraterrestrial hardware, perhaps as part of an elaborate indoctrination program.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE BOB’S TWO MEETINGS WITH RETIRED REAR ADMIRAL SUMNER

Shapiro, the former director of Naval Intelligence, proved to be considerably more productive. Shapiro’s career included two years as assistant naval attache at the American Embassy in Moscow (1963 to 1965) and two years as Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (Office of Naval Intelligence), in London (1967 to 1969). After serving as Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, for the United States Atlantic Fleet, he was appointed deputy director of Naval Intelligence in 1976. From 1978 to 1982, Shapiro served as director of Naval Intelligence, and on retirement from the Navy, he worked as a business executive with BDM International. Shapiro seemed to have knowledge that the United States was in possession of extraterrestrial space vehicles, and gave every indication of having studied one at close quarters. “He’s an engineer by background,” Bob told me, “and I could tell


222

ALIEN CONTACT

he had a fascination with certain aspects of the technology. He had ‘hands-on5—there’s no question about that. He told me how they would take them apart, pack them up, and ship them around in trucks to different laboratories. He never told me specifically where things were taken; he was very careful about obvious breaches of security of [what appeared to be] classified information.” I asked Bob if the retired intelligence chief had confirmed the existence of an antimatter reactor, as described by Lazar. “Well, I guess you could say it was confirmed, because he had a real fascination with [what I referred to as] the antimatter reactor and described to me pretty much what it looked like, and its size and weight. He said it was really heavy for that size. But there’s nothing I’ve learned so far from the people in the intelligence community that would tend to corroborate anything Lazar has said, other than the reference to the power source. “One of the things that was fascinating was the discovery of how they had the interlocking components of the craft. The whole thing comes apart in pieces, and apparendy when it’s locked together, it’s like one of those Oriental puzzles . . . everything has to be done in a specific sequence in order to get it to come apart. It’s a real intricate process of putting things together, but I suppose it’s relatively easy once you know how.” In his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, Frank Scully reported that a craft retrieved in the United States was eventually discovered to be assembled in segments, which fitted in grooves and were pinned together around the base. The craft was ingeniously put together, he wrote, and great care had to be exercised when dismantling it.6 In the previous chapter, I referred to some information provided by Dr. Olavo Fontes, who learned from Brazilian naval intelligence officials in 1958 that at that time, six flying discs had been recovered worldwide. Dr. Fontes was told that three of the craft had come down in the United States (two of them “in very good condition”), and that the others had crashed in the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the Sahara Desert. The craft were all saucer-shaped with a cabin on top, of varying diameters (thirty-two, seventy-two, or ninety-nine feet), and “were made of a light metal which was assembled in segments that fitted in deep grooves and were pinned together around the base. There was no sign of this on the outer surface of the ships.” Dr. Fontes was quick to point out that although these details correlated with those described by Scully, it was of course possible that “that book helped my Navy ‘friends’ in the description of imaginary


COSMIC JOURNEY

223

discs that exist only in their minds. It could be, but it seems a remote possibility, under the circumstances already reported. . . .” (Fontes, who had been visited by the naval intelligence men following his meeting with an official at the Navy Ministry, was intimidated, told not to publish any of the information he had been given, and warned that he would be discredited if he did so. Interestingly, he was also informed that there was a regular exchange of top-secret information on the subject between Brazilian and American naval intelligence officials.)7 I asked Bob if he had learned anything from Rear Admiral Shapiro regarding the alleged test flights of alien vehicles. “Well, I don’t think he ever made any reference to any kind of test flights or anything relative to operations,” he replied. “You know, I thought it was pushing it already as it was, and to start getting into questions about operational dynamics, navigational aspects and things like that would have been a little premature! There wasn’t really anything discussed about die total craft or operational characteristics, other than the specific component operational characteristics.” While the first meeting with Shapiro (at a Virginia restaurant in late 1989) had been cordial, it was less so at the second one, which took place in Shapiro’s Virginia home on June 21, 1990, and concluded rather abrupdy. “To put this into perspective,” Bob explained, “it was evident that Shapiro had not consulted with Inman regarding the specifics of my research prior to our meetings. In order to draw a link between the technology and its nonhuman source, as one might ordinarily pass a business card, I displayed a small hologram of laser artwork depicting the head of an alien creature. Shapiro became visibly upset, pacing about his living room, and expressing concern about his failure to reach Inman for confirmation of the recommended meeting, and he wondered aloud why Inman had not directed me to the current director of Naval Intelligence. He decided to terminate the meeting at that point, suspecting that I was there under false pretenses.” At the Ozark UFO Conference held in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in April 1990, Bob told me that he had invited Admiral Inman to give the keynote address, either in person or on video. Inman declined the invitation, and during the ensuing correspondence and phone calls, made it clear (via his executive assistant, Tom King) that any public discussion of the information which Bob had acquired from the former intelligence community directors would be in “violation of national secrecy laws.” It is hardly surprising, therefore, that since publication of the British edition of this book, all the allegations regarding alien


224

ALIEN CONTACT

vehicles in the possession of the United States intelligence community have been strenuously denied, and attempts have been made to discredit Bob, and to a lesser extent, myself. Having acknowledged that these issues are covered by national secrecy laws, Admiral Inman has been obliged to deny any knowledge of such matters. Nonetheless, he has now conceded (in a signed letter) that the subject matter of the conversation between himself and Bob Oechsler involved “unidentified flying objects.”8

THE COSMIC JOURNEY PROJECT IN SEPTEMBER 1989,1 RECEIVED A LETTER FROM ROBERT KIRCH-

gessner, the director of a “Special Development Group” associated with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey International, a huge entertainment corporation run by Kenneth Feld Productions which is particularly well known for its circuses. Kirchgessner mentioned that one of his colleagues had been present at my lecture during the Mutual UFO Network convention in Las Vegas in July that year. “Our corporation is doing extensive research on the subject,” he wrote, “as we are involved in preparing an International Touring Presentation which will include accurate information as well as be entertaining. We would appreciate if you could let us know, as soon as possible, if we could meet with you and have further discussions on the UFO CoverUp.”9 In replying, I expressed my reservations regarding the association of the UFO subject with a circus company, but agreed to discuss the matter further. Kirchgessner’s reply came by return of post: Organizations, such as NASA, United States Government, Rockwell International, have agreed to work with our corporation to develop the main portion of this show, the future of space and the technical advances predicted over the next 100 years. Their reluctance at first was not the fact we owned circuses, but on how die UFO subject is going to be tastefully handled. We have now satisfied their concerns. . . .10 Following further discussion by telephone, I was invited to become the “Official Consultant on UFO research” to the Special Development Group. A personal meeting in Orlando, Florida, was a prerequisite, Kirchgessner said, and since I was due to visit Gulf Breeze during a


COSMIC JOURNEY

225

coast-to-coast trip to the United States in the fall, I made arrangements to fly to Orlando on October 12. Unfortunately, difficulties with airline scheduling arose, allowing inadequate time for the trip, and I was obliged to postpone the meeting. On my return to England, Kirchgessner made it clear to me over the telephone that the exhibition program had reached a critical stage. “We are looking for a manner and a form to develop our UFO portion of this particular exhibition,” he explained, “and we are in a position now where we are trying to decide what is the best method to go forward with a postshow exhibit of five or six thousand square feet on UFOs, and we need to make sure that if our discussions were fruitful, you can be of assistance to us on this or give us a name or supply somebody that could help us to develop this properly.”11 I mentioned that my friend Bob Oechsler was uniquely qualified to assist the group, not only because of his competence as a UFO researcher, but also owing to his background as a NASA engineer. (I learned later that Jun-Ichi Yaoi, the well-known television director and UFO researcher, who had become involved as a consultant and had been asked to assist with the exhibition in Japan, had also recommended Bob.) Kirchgessner thanked me for the recommendation, and Bob contacted him later. I never heard from the Special Development Group again. As it transpired, Bob was more suitably qualified for the position than I, partly because of his NASA background, which had immediately endeared him to the NASA team involved with the project. Perhaps his Air Force background was another contributory factor leading to the decision to employ him, as well as his contacts in the intelligence community. Bob and I had often discussed the various official attempts at indoctrinating the public about the UFO phenomenon, which invariably have been aborted for one reason or another, such as the approaches to Robert Emenegger, Finda Howe, and Bill Moore. When I discussed the exhibition project with Bob, he agreed with my idea that this could be another such attempt. As it turned out, we were right. Bob met the Special Development Group in Orlando on November 1-2, 1989, and after signing a nondisclosure agreement, was given a briefing on the project—known as “Cosmic Journey.” The exhibition was to be a review of, and a future look at, the space programs of the United States and the Soviet Union, and the board of advisors included the former astronauts Alan Bean, Eugene Cernan, Charles Conrad, Alexei Leonov, and Thomas Stafford. The project had the


226

ALIEN CONTACT

approval of President George Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, and the National Space Council. (The Council, established under executive order by the President in 1989, is chaired by the Vice President, who serves as the President’s principal advisor on national space policy and strategy. Other members of the Council include the director of Central Intelligence, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense.12) With the cooperation of NASA and Rockwell International, the exhibition was to include a full-scale mock-up of the space shuttle orbiter (named Ambassador), a fifteen-thousand-square-foot “space camp,” representations of alien life-forms, a six-hundred-seat movie theater-in-the-round, and much factual information on UFOs displayed in case-history kiosks. Additionally, the project was to involve a trilevel educational curriculum for twenty-five thousand schools in the United States, due to commence on January 1,1990. The traveling exhibition was originally scheduled to be ready in September that year. “Their interest in me was multifaceted,” Bob told me, “with focuses on my contacts in the intelligence community regarding UFOs, my NASA background, with particular interest in my limited involvement with the mechanical-arm assembly created for the shuttle project [in conjunction with] a Canadian firm, and a keen interest in my robotics expertise regarding sophisticated remote-control devices for character robots, of which they planned extensive use as guides for the traveling exhibition.”

THE PENTAGON MEETING 13,1989, BOB REPORTED TO THE PENTAGON FOR a meeting with a general who was the intelligence community contact for the Cosmic Journey project. The security check included walking through an unusual type of electronic screen. Bob explained: ON NOVEMBER

It resembled an airport-security metal detector, but left me with a series of strange sensations, such as the feeling that I had just passed through a physical mesh of some sort, similar to the perceived feel of walking through a screened door or window, if one could do such a thing. There was a residual tingling sensation experienced in the cortex area of the cerebellum, and apparently affecting the pons area of the brain stem: both cerebellar hemispheres were equally affected. In somewhat of a groggy state, but with equilibrium pretty


COSMIC JOURNEY

227

much intact, I approached the general’s office with the security guard. The office was not far down the corridor from the security station, and on the same level. . . . The general greeted me with a genuine smile and offered me a chair next to his expansive cherrywood desk. I recognized him immediately from the photographs of the project team that were shown to me at the Cosmic Journey meeting at Orlando. My first remarks related to the concern I had about going through that machine at security. “What was that?” I asked. He laughed, dismissing my inquiry by saying, “That damn thing gave me headaches the first two weeks I was here!” He immediately got into a discussion about the exhibits for the Cosmic Journey project. He wanted to know where I was planning to get material for the kiosks to show photographs and case histories of UFO events and encounters, what military archives, and so on. I indicated that we hadn’t come that far in the planning and that I was hoping to get his guidance on that and other issues. He indicated that NASA and NPIC (the National Photographic Interpretation Center) would be good places to start.

(The NPIC, located in Washington, D.C., was established by the CIA in 1961, principally to evaluate photographs and film taken by spy planes and satellites, and until recently was staffed by CIA as well as DIA analysts. The CIA now uses its own facilities at Langley, Virginia, I have been informed by an agency source.) Bob continued: One of the more intriguing elements of the discussion involved an exhibit showing an alien/ET corpse. As a reference, the general showed me an eight- by ten-inch color photo of what appeared to be an alien in a cryogenic tank; a space-age-looking coffin with blue tube lighting inside the clear lexan cover, propped up at an angle so it wouldn’t look so much like a casket. It was difficult to see too much in the way of detail, so it’s virtually impossible to know if this was real, and the general didn’t enlighten me. My presumption was that this was something real they actually had, and that it had been autopsied, but I could be wrong. It looked Hike one of the so-called “gray” types, but the chin was much more sharply pointed than is usually described. I could see evidence of the “bug” eyes, but there was a sort of covering over them. They were a darker color than the rest of the skin but you


228

ALIEN CONTACT

couldn’t tell from the two-dimensional image if they protruded or not. It seems that the general was concerned about using the real thing versus a mock-up, however, and he queried me at length about my thoughts on public perception, and whether or not the public would believe such an exhibit was real, or how could it be authenticated with official plaques of some sort. I suggested that a companion autopsy report with color photographs might help the credibility aspect. The idea of exhibiting an actual alien corpse was proposed quite seriously. As a matter of fact, I got the impression they had a lot of bodies to choose from! The general also had the same concerns about showing a real, versus a mock-up, craft, and tended to doubt the feasibility of altering a real vehicle to show a cutaway view. I suggested that the real thing would be preferable if on-board access for the public could be achieved. The objective of the project was to provide hands-on experience and to be interactive. The other primary areas of discussion involved my robotics expertise and the minor role that I played in the development of the space shuttle arm, which was initially designed to provide life support to astronauts and a diagnostic instrument for repairing satellites in orbit. . . . This was the genesis of a subsequent training trip to Houston and my involvement with reconfiguring the shuttle arm from a zero-gravity environment to a gravity environment [and limiting its mobility] on the shuttle mock-up—the centerpiece of the Cosmic Journey project. We also discussed the UFO preshow and theater concept. . . I have no doubts that he knew far more about the subject matter than I. It was clear that he was trying to get my reaction to things, and I freely gave it. The single surprise was my awakening to the level of intelligence that I was dealing with. It had not occurred to me that the general was perhaps tied in with the establishment that could monitor my every move and conversation. I was very taken aback when he casually blurted out that since I was going to Dallas that weekend, he’d have someone from Carswell Air Force Base meet with me. I don’t know if it was clear that I would be met at the airport or later during my stay, but I was absolutely certain that I had not made mention to anyone of my travel plans. . . . Although I had expected further contact from the general,


COSMIC JOURNEY

229

there have been no further meetings or calls to date. Having a local area consultancy practice, the general no doubt aborted further work on the project when the funds were halted. In fact, the only time Fve heard his name mentioned was when I arrived at (NASA) Ellington and my orders were reviewed by the duty officer. I have not seen him since that meeting at the Pentagon.13 There is no doubt, in my opinion, that Bob’s contacts with the intelligence community and his involvement in the Cosmic Journey project had made him a target for surveillance. And although the general’s comment had alerted him to the possibility, he was totally unprepared for the next development. No one from Carswell Air Force Base showed up in Dallas, but what occurred on the first evening there was so bizarre that Bob began to question his sanity.

ALIEN INTRUSION? ON NOVEMBER

17, 1989,

WHILE RELAXING IN A DALLAS COCK-

tail lounge with his friend Melanie King, Bob Oechsler suddenly experienced an almost indescribable sensation, similar to that reported by a witness in the Colorado ranch case (Chapter 3). Lasting no more than thirty seconds, the sensation began with a series of “waves” of energy at the back of his head, simultaneously inducing a sense of acute panic. “It was as if a whole range of memories, information, and emotions was being retrieved or generated at tremendous speed,” Bob tried to explain. Melanie, sitting beside him, felt nothing, but realized something was wrong by the look of panic on Bob’s face. He then became aware of a man standing some distance away, whom he somehow felt convinced was responsible for the mental “intrusion.” The man appeared to be in his late twenties, was around six feet tall, with fair hair and “real clean, reddish-tanned skin,” Bob said. “I jumped up and pointed right at him and said. That’s him!" And Melanie took off toward the entrance where the guy turned to walk out—she ran out and caught up with him. I was really scared, just looking for security, like a mouse in a corner, looking for a way out. A little while later she came back, and I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was real stunned. She said she caught up with the man, went past him, stopped, and looked him right in the eyes. But he didn’t look at her; it was like she was not even there—he walked


230

ALIEN CONTACT

right past her. In fact, she was doubting herself when she came back. c That can’t be,’ she said. cHis pupils were diamond-shaped—laterally— you know, like a cat’s would be vertical, these were horizontal.’ ” The sensation in the back of Bob’s head reminded him of the security machine at the Pentagon, which had induced a “tingling” sensation at the back of his head. Was there some connection, perhaps? The immediate consequence of Bob’s encounter, however, was an incessant itching on his forehead, which lasted about thirty minutes; a sensation which had not occurred at the Pentagon. The impression left with Bob was that the man was “searching” for a certain piece of information—and that he had retrieved it. On his return to Maryland, Bob began to experience severe difficulties with his short-term memory. “I would have a telephone conversation with somebody in the morning, for example, and they’d call me back about an hour later and would be referring to something that we had talked about an hour earlier and I had no recollection of even talking to this person. It got so bad that I had to record every single phone call. It was a frightening experience. It slowly started to get better after a week or so, and after ten days, I was fully back to normal.” In addition, Bob experienced temporary enhancement of perception, enabling him to anticipate events and read others’ thoughts.

THE MICROGRAVITY CHAMBER BOB’S WORK WITH THE COSMIC JOURNEY PROJECT ENTAILED A

period during the second week of January 1990 when he was billeted at NASA Ellington Field (also known as Ellington Air Force Base), near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The problem he was asked to assist in solving was how to reconfigure the mechanical arm in the shuttle, which is configured to operate in a zero-gravity environment. The mechanics associated with the manipulation of the arm are significantly different in a gravity environment, he explained, and the project requirements dictated restricting the normal mobility of the manipulator arm. But first he had to get accustomed to how it works in a microgravity environment. In order to become accustomed to microgravity, Bob, together with some astronauts and engineers, was flown by helicopter to a NASA facility about twenty miles southwest of Ellington. No roads led to the building. On arrival, he went into what he assumed was a “clean


COSMIC JOURNEY

231

room,” where dust and dirt particles were removed automatically from his clothes, and changed into special clothing in preparation for entry into another room. He had no idea what to expect. “I stepped through this hatch into this other room—and I was airborne! I mean, I took a step and—wow!—it was weird, because it’s like the loss of balance and equilibrium and everything. I was totally unprepared for this. Obviously, the astronauts had done a lot of training; they were so accustomed to it, and they were laughing at me. “The first step you take, you’re airborne, and there’s a tendency to fall forward. The boots you have on have a natural attraction for the material on the floor, but you could never use your whole foot for traction. You learn to skip around. It takes about fifteen minutes to become accustomed to the biomechanics: The muscle forces change. It feels almost similar to getting into a pool of water—the arms tend to swing out. “I was working on a model—a series of mechanical arms—and there were several different devices that measured the energy calories required to do each motion, which were all registered on computer. Then you had to compute what it took to turn so many screws, and so on. It was essentially a workshop facility in a weightless environment.” No more than about eight astronauts or engineers worked on a variety of projects in the chamber at any one time, and sometimes only four, Bob told me. A biophysicist, for example, was engaged in working with protein crystals, possibly for developing materials used in superconductivity experiments. “Everyone was wearing the same clothing. Several of the others I knew, but they really wouldn’t let us talk among ourselves. It was pretty much forbidden to talk about anything that had to do with what we were doing.” The chamber was rectangular in shape, measuring about thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and nine feet high. Recessed in the ceiling was a strange, plasmalike light, which Bob felt was responsible for generating microgravity. He had never heard of such a device before and none of his NASA contacts had ever mentioned it to him. Although unable to divulge certain information, Bob nevertheless assures me that the device employs advanced technology acquired as a result of studying recovered alien vehicles. “No question about it,” he said, “because I knew where it was being generated from, right there in the ceiling. You could hardly look at it for long; your eyes would start burning like you were in chlorine.” Another visit was to a bunkerlike building north of Houston, where Bob learned how to operate a peculiar panel that he believes must


232

ALIEN CONTACT

have come from an alien craft. “It had a series of vertical cylinders made of multicolored lights that terminated in a hood about four feet above the panel. When one inserts a hand to break the beam, and then raises or lowers the hand, a comparable action takes place with what appears to be some kind of clear-looking cylinder that resides in the base of the console corresponding to each beam. It was some kind of control panel—that was all I learned. I think it was being considered for use in the UFO exhibit area of Cosmic Journey.”

THE NORAD PLATFORM 1990, FOLLOWING HIS TRIP TO THE bunkerlike building, Bob Oechsler was invited to visit an interesting North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) installation in the Gulf of Mexico. Three helicopters made the trip, of a highly advanced type. “They were black and extremely sleek,” Bob said, ccwith black windows, and showed no seams. You couldn’t see where the door was until it popped open.” Additionally, it was relatively quiet in flight. “There was noise, but it was more like a humming noise, and certainly a lot quieter than you would get inside a commercial jet.” Bob believes that a highly advanced and secret type of propulsion system was being utilized in the helicopter, and further speculates that some other aircraft—such as experimental prototype versions of stealth planes—might likewise incorporate an auxiliary device of unconventional type, possibly derived from the study of alien technology. “I was just along for the ride on this trip,” Bob explained to me, during a visit to London with his wife and daughter in September 1990, which had been arranged specifically in order to clarify and elaborate on the details of his remarkable experiences. “The trip was for the benefit of two other guys, who seemed to be state-of-the-art radar technicians. The technology they were discussing was way over my head, other than that it had something to do with computer software configurations. The computer system they were working on dealt exclusively with optical fiber communications. “Our pilot was wearing a black jumpsuit with a white helmet, and on the left pocket of his jumpsuit was a black patch with a white circle around it, and inside it had NO RAD embroidered in white. The N was exactly like the NASA N. We left at twilight from Ellington, flew out across Galveston Bay and out into the Gulf” ONE EVENING IN JANUARY


COSMIC JOURNEY

233

The flight lasted no more than thirty-five to forty-five minutes, Bob estimated, which astonished him, since a distance of over five hundred miles had been covered. The helicopter began its descent shortly after passing Mobile, Alabama, and landed on what looked like an oil-rig platform, possibly twenty miles south of Pensacola (and of course Gulf Breeze), Florida. Our group was the first to land. The two fellows who had come with us were immediately whisked off down a corridor and we didn’t see them again. We went through a hatchway with NORAD written in black, on white. Inside, we went down a corridor, passed to the left, went down a ladderway and on to a mezzanine level where you could look out over what looked like a very typical control room, not unlike the facilities at Johnson, really—a series of consoles. Everyone was dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and black tie, and some even had black jackets. There was an enormous screen that was many times the size of a normal cinema screen, and curved. It had a three-dimensional quality to it with a great deal of depth, so that in effect you could see up-range. They had it on what I estimate would be a thirtyfive-degree angle. We were looking at a quadrant of the United States, which included the lower Gulf, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and on up to about halfway up the States. I would say it covered roughly a third or fourth of the southeastern quadrant of the United States. It had altitude to it as well, and the entire area was covered with a grid that was moving: It appeared to float. On the grid was a “vortex” area, with a sort of “weakening” area to it, in the general area of Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. And it was in that area that I noticed a series of blips on the top of the screen that moved laterally to the left. There were five, as I recall, and all of them slipped down through this vortex, and they were labeled, like a typical radar screen where blips usually designate aircraft. In fact, there was ground movement as well, that was also coded and numbered. But these particular ones that were up top were all labeled ASC. They didn’t have any specific numbers—just ASC. I overheard someone say, “Alternative Space Craft.” And they came down and spread out—all five of them. Two immediately went off the screen to the northwest and one came around the Gulf “horn,” meaning to the east, and then down to the south, almost as if they were following the shoreline. There was one—


234

ALIEN CONTACT

possibly two, I forget—that stopped what looked like just across the border of Florida into Georgia—somewhere in that area. And as soon as it stopped, it glowed; there was like a red glow that came off of it. I don’t know what that meant. There was another one that moved to the left... I guess over Texas—the area we had come from in the choppers. . . . I guess we were there probably about forty-five minutes. Shortly after that, we went into a holding room for about twenty minutes, waiting for the pilots to come back. And then we left and headed back. . . .

“NORAD SECRET” THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE SCENARIO DESCRIBED BY BOB OECHS-

ler are that NORAD keeps regular track of extraterrestrial, intelligently controlled vehicles, designated as “Alternative Space Craft” (ASC), and that these are clearly differentiated from more prosaic unidentified flying objects. NORAD has never denied that it tracks thousands of objects each day with the Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) and the Naval Space Surveillance System (NAVSPASUR), and acknowledges that a certain percentage relate to “uncorrelated observations.” A number of documents relating to the intrusions of UFOs over Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases, including nuclear missile bases in the United States and Canada in 1975, have been released under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, but many more are being withheld. When Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) filed a request for this data in NORAD files, they were quoted a search fee of over $155,000!14 More recendy, CAUS has obtained further information regarding NORAD’s Unbiown Track Reporting System (NUTR). An extract from the Directory ofDatabases (Appendix 10) defines the scope of the NUTR as follows: The NO RAD Unknown Track Reporting System records details of all air traffic declared unknown in North America and the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom Gap. Data are used by a wide variety of users in NORAD, USAF, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Canadian NDHQ, and region commanders in a continuing assessment of airspace sovereignty.


COSMIC JOURNEY

235

The NUTR document states that seven thousand trackings of unknown objects had been recorded since 1971 (a nineteen-year period), but details are classified Secret.15 As a result of further Freedom of Information requests for data by Robert Todd, CAUS was informed by the Air Force Space Command (AFSPACECOM) in February 1990 that no such records existed. Then in May 1990, the Air Force’s FOLA Manager, Barbara Carmichael, confirmed that the records did indeed exist, but were exempt from disclosure in the interests of national security. In June 1990, W. M. McDonald, director of Freedom of Information and Security Review for the office of the assistant secretary of defense, explained that a decision to release NUTR tracking records had been made, and Robert Todd was supplied with five examples. The released documents—classified £CNORAD SECRET” (see Appendix 11)—are almost completely censored, however, providing further proof of the extreme secrecy attached to the subject.16

LOCAL INTRUSIONS MORE SURPRISES WERE IN STORE FOR BOB OECHSLER. ON THE

early morning of January 25, 1990, he observed an unusual aerial object from his Maryland home. ctI first saw it at a distance, then it moved out straight toward me over the field behind my house. After about thirty seconds, it took off—straight up.” The object looked rather like a “golf ball sitting in a dish” when at a distance, Bob related, and at its closest approach a kind of Celtic Cross was clearly visible underneath. On March 18, 1990, alerted by the sound of low-flying helicopters while working in his study, Bob went outside to take a look. One of the dark green helicopters circled about a hundred yards from the house, and appeared to be scanning the street. “It stopped, nose pointed down between my house and the house next door,” Bob told me. “They were probably waiting for clearance to land at the nearby Lee Airport.” Fie went back inside and returned to work. “About fifteen minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring. My wife and daughter had gone to the shopping mall, so I ran upstairs and pulled open the door. There was this big burly colonel with a big bushy mustache, with no hat on, and real thick hair. I got the impression he was a little older than I am—probably fifty or late forties. He was wearing a dark-green fatigue-type uniform, but the material was


236

ALIEN CONTACT

a summer-type similar to what I had worn in Southeast Asia, but with long sleeves, which I hadn’t seen before. It had ‘U.S. ArmyI * 3 embroidered on it. There were two other guys in the driveway, but I never got a good look. I saw no vehicle. “This guy got my attention immediately. He said, We’d like you to stand by on the report for a few days.’ I couldn’t figure what he was talking about, so he said, We’d like you to stand by on that Walters report for a few days.’ So I said, T wasn’t planning on delivering a report yet: I was planning on giving an overview this afternoon at a reception.’ ‘That’s OK. We’d appreciate it if you would stand by on that report for a few days.’ And it was still unclear as to whether it was OK to give the condensed synopsis or not. “This guy really scared me. Only Ed Walters knew what was in that report, which was an update on my field investigations in Gulf Breeze. So either my phone or Ed’s is tapped. I’m not sure what in that paper was of concern. Anyway, I did not release the report. ...” Bob waited a while after the colonel had left, then grabbed his video camera and three fully charged batteries, jumped in his car, and headed for Lee Airport, hoping to get some film of the helicopters leaving. As he drove up to the airfield, the video camera went dead.

I went down the road beside the airfield, turned around, reloaded the batteries, and turned the camera back on. As I turned to go down the flightline, the car stalled, and I stopped my camera to try and get the car running. Halfway down the flightline, the car stalled again. And then I saw a bright light down in a gully. It was like the sun rising up out of a valley down at the end of the airfield about a hundred yards away, except it was bright white, not yellowish. It was extremely bright, but it had kind of darkened areas, rather like the dimples on a golf ball, and it was set in a dishtype thing, and the bottom part was crystal clear, like a Celtic Cross—identical to the object I had seen on January 25. It came swooping up, not more than about thirty feet in altitude and twenty feet to the left of the car. At that point, the video went dead again, although I had changed the batteries a second time. So I was unable to get any videotape of it. It left in an arcing fashion. It moved slightly to my left, increasing very quickly in altitude, and arced back in the direction it had come from—only up. And in a matter of a little more than a second, it was out of sight.


COSMIC JOURNEY

237

Was the UFO sighting connected in any way with the helicopters and the colonel’s visit? Bob prefers not to speculate, though remains puzzled by the extraordinary series of coincidences. As for the helicopters, he was unable to locate them at the airfield or hear them taking off, so assumes they did not land there. A couple of hours later, Bob and his wife, Mary, drove to Virginia to meet with Ed Walters, who was doing a book-signing in Crystal City, Virginia, and yet another incident occurred that is typical in certain cases of UFO encounters. ccWe were followed the whole trip by a black Mercedes,” he told me. “We could never lose him. There was only a driver. Unfortunately, we were never close enough to determine if he was the same guy who came to my door earlier in the day.” Although Bob Oechsler’s contacts with the intelligence community have been curtailed, for obvious reasons, he still retains several connections. On October 2, 1990, for example, he went to the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, and gave, together with Dr. Bruce Maccabee (a United States Navy optical physicist, well known for his exemplary UFO research), an illustrated talk on the mysterious cropfield circles and pictograms that have proliferated around the world. The talk, arranged by the Office of Scientific and Weapons Research, was attended by about fifty agency personnel.

THE END OF COSMIC JOURNEY? PLANS FOR THE COSMIC JOURNEY EXHIBITION WERE TEMPORAR-

ily shelved in early 1990, ostensibly for budgetary reasons. The project directors have now denied that they ever had plans to exhibit anything other than mock-ups of aliens or flying saucers, and state that Bob Oechsler was never even employed by the project. NASA, too, categorically denies that Bob visited the places he claims to have visited. Given the sensational nature of Bob’s disclosures, and the high level of secrecy attached to this sensitive subject, such denials are perfectly understandable. On June 5, 1991, I had a brief meeting with Colonel Simon Pete Worden, who until recendy worked for the National Space Council (Advanced Concepts, Science and Technology). The meeting took place in the council’s offices at the Old Executive Office Building adjoining the White House. I asked the colonel if he knew anything about the fate of the Cosmic Journey project, and if he was aware of


238

ALIEN CONTACT

any plans to include “extraterrestrial hardware” in the exhibition. He replied that he knew nothing about such plans, but would keep me informed if he was able to learn anything. I never heard from him. In February 1992,1 wrote to Vice President Dan Quayle (chairman of the National Space Council), requesting information on the status of the project, and mentioning the alleged plans to feature an extraterrestrial body and/or craft. My main question was: “Is any part of the planned Cosmic Journey exhibition to be included in the forthcoming Expo ’92 in Seville, Spain. . . ? Expo ’92 promises ‘Tomorrow’s Technology—New Life Forms . . .’ etc.” I did not receive a reply from the Vice President (nor did I expect to), but my letter was answered by Jack Schmid, NASA Exhibits Coordinator. “There were plans to have the exhibition at Expo ’92,” he confirmed, “but negotiations between Feld Productions, Inc. and a group of Spanish investors were not successful. At that point further development of the exhibition was terminated. . . .”17

THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY A

REASONABLE ARGUMENT AGAINST THE SORT OF CLAIMS PRE-

sented in this book is that, if NASA and other agencies already have proof of the existence of at least one extraterrestrial intelligence agency right here on Earth, why are large amounts of money spent on the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program? Certainly, if there is proof, the SETI program would seem to be something of an anachronism. The evidence suggests, however, that much larger sums of money are spent on top-secret extraterrestrial research (funded by “black” budgets), and that information about these Special Access Programs is highly restricted. Consequentiy, securing funds for the SETI program is relatively easy (though Congress has on several occasions cut off NASA’s funding, then restored it). The money spent on SETI is a fraction of the black budget: NASA requested $12.1 million in its fiscal 1991 appropriations bill for the SETI program, for example, while the fiscal 1993 Department of Defense requests include a total of almost sixteen billion dollars for black programs alone! Finally, the SETI program is entirely justified in any case, because there will always remain a need to search for signs of life and communications from the extraterrestrial intelligence community, which in my view is widespread throughout the universe.


COSMIC JOURNEY

239

But even if contact has been established, we are still confounded by a bewildering diversity of sightings, landings, contacts, and abductions, Some idea of the variety of UFO occupants reported may be gleaned from the following brief selection, covering the 1987/1989 period: The small bug-eyed being wearing a type of helmet and shield, who harassed Ed and Frances Walters in December 198718; silversuited humanoids seen by three witnesses in Kiev, Ukraine, in July 1989, described as having long, golden hair and large, radiant eyes (and who said they took one person from Earth each day!); silversuited spacemen, about nine feet tall, accompanied by a robot, going for a walkabout in Voronezh, Russia, observed by a considerable number of witnesses in September—October 1989 (the reports endorsed by TASS and local officials); the four-foot-tall fluorescent-green figure inspecting a parked aircraft, seen by soldiers in Kecskemet, Hungary, in October 1989; ten-foot-tall figures “moving as if they were chess pieces,” observed by a soldier at the Tarnaszentmaria barracks, Hungary, in November 1989; and the seven-foot-tall guy with a bald head and catlike eyes seen wandering around a parking lot by a security guard in Miami, Florida, in December 1989.19

AN ALIEN BASE IN PUERTO RICO> ANOTHER ENCOUNTER WITH ALIENS OCCURRED DURING THE

small hours of August 31, 1990, in the Laguna Cartagena, Cabo Rojo area of southwest Puerto Rico, where many unusual incidents have taken place. Ten carloads of witnesses reportedly observed five humanoids walking down a dirt road, heading in the direction of the Laguna Cartagena. One of the witnesses, Miguel Figueroa, pursued the beings in his car, but as he approached them, their eyes “lit up,” and he was somehow prevented from getting any closer. When the light dissipated, Figueroa again gave chase and managed to get a better look. He described the figures as skinny and gray, varying between three and four feet in height, with pear-shaped heads, large slanted eyes, long pointed ears, long arms with three fingers on each hand and three toes on their feet! The following day, there were reports of discs flying out over the Laguna Cartagena.20 What makes these particular reports frustrating for an investigator such as myself is that I was actually in that very area on the afternoon of August 31, together with Jorge Martin and other investigators. We


240

ALIEN CONTACT

saw nothing, of course, and the reports did not come to our attention until later. Further encounters with alien creatures in the Laguna Cartagena area have been reported, most of which involve small beings with large, elongated black eyes and hardly any nose, mouth, or ears. Jorge has also informed me that as far back as 1956, several local residents reported sightings of disc-shaped, luminous craft, with translucent domes, entering or leaving the lagoon. In 1964, Quintin Ramirez began to have a series of contacts there with human-looking aliens he described as very tall, with long blond hair and of rather feminine appearance, similar to those described by a principal witness to the Colorado ranch incidents (Chapter 3), as well as by other contactees. It is rumored that an alien base is located in this vicinity and that liaison has been established with American military personnel. Such rumors are bound to circulate, given the large number of sightings, combined with the presence of American monitoring and communications stations in the area, as well as the fact that much of the land there—including the Laguna Cartagena—has been appropriated by the federal government. And according to Jorge Martin, George Bush made a clandestine visit to the Cabo Rojo area prior to becoming President. Several witnesses, including a high-ranking military officer who cannot be named, claim to have visited an underground alien base located in the Sierra Bermeja, close to the Laguna Cartagena. Carlos Manuel Mercado, whom I met briefly in 1990, told Jorge that in June 1988 he was taken by the aliens to their base deep within the sierra, and was informed that they meant no harm but merely wanted him and others to know that they intended establishing more direct contacts with the people of the Earth; contacts that would be beneficial to both parties, they claimed. The wave of sightings in Puerto Rico in the late 1980s seems to have increased dramatically following a powerful explosion and earth tremor in the Cabo Rojo area on May 31, 1987. Cracks appeared in people’s houses as well as in the ground, from which a peculiar bright blue smoke emitted. Local residents reported sightings of unidentified aerial vehicles prior to and following the tremor. The Laguna Cartagena area was cordoned off, and various personnel were observed there, most dressed in military fatigues or anticontamination suits. The latter could be seen collecting samples of water, soil, and plants. Freddie Cruz, director of the Civil Defense Agency of Lajas, whose observations of UFOs entering and leaving the Laguna Cartagena (as well as a sighting of a UFO being chased by a jet) are described in


COSMIC JOURNEY

241

Chapter 1, has commented on clandestine late-night visits to the area by NASA trucks escorted by military jeeps. He does not accept the official reason that the visits are connected with the antidrug war. To me, there’s an alien base around here,” he told Jorge in 1992. “The authorities know about it, and they don’t want anyone else to. . . . Although the alleged disappearance of United States Navy jets during close approaches to UFOs seen over this area in 1988 could have sinister implications, we should consider the possibility however bizarre—that some kind of liaison with aliens has been established, and that the pilots survived the experience. ccWe know where they are,” Jorge was told by a Navy source. According to an officer stationed at the United States Army Reserve Base at Fort Allen, in Juana Diaz, southern Puerto Rico, shortly after midnight on July 18, 1990, the base perimeter was suddenly illuminated by a powerful white light. At that moment, a high-ranking officer gave an order over the base intercom for everyone to stay indoors and not to come out of the barracks or any other base facilities under any circumstances. The officer, however, managed to observe the phenomenon through a window. “Just over the base and a litde to the south, there was a brighdy lit disclike object,” the witness related to Jorge Martin. “It was circular and metallic-looking, as if it was made of aluminum. It had what seemed like many windows on its center edge, with yellowish-white lights revolving around them. At the underside of the object there was a round turbinelike protrusion with many colored lights around it, and from underneath the object came a very bright beam of pinkishwhite light, as if searching for something. That same light was the one illuminating the base perimeter.” The officer was transfixed for a moment, not believing his own eyes. “I heard the loud sound of jet engines, and two jets flew at high speed over the base ... of the F-18 Hornet type, and were scrambled from somewhere to check on the UFO. As soon as the jets headed in the direction of the UFO, the object departed at speed to the west with the sound of rushing wind, followed by the jets. . . .” The officer also claimed that, together with other military personnel at Fort Allen, he had been shown several video films which left them in no doubt as to the reality of UFOs: They showed us an old black-and-white film about a UFO crash that supposedly happened in New Mexico many years ago. We all saw the craft, which was semiburied in the ground at a


242

ALIEN CONTACT

45-degree angle, and there were several bodies of the crew. According to what we were shown, these bodies were about five feet tall, thin, very pale, and had large bald heads. They had big round eyes and a small nose, but I don’t recall any mouths or ears. They also showed us another video of UFOs filmed by them around the island. They wanted us to know that UFOs are real, but they wouldn’t elaborate when asked for more details. It seemed to me that they wanted us to know this was real and that the beings were not perfect: they are fallible, their crafts crash and they also die. . . . Apparendy, they wanted to condition us to the idea that they exist, and to accept the possibility of someday having to [deal] with them. The officers wouldn’t say that these were alien crafts or anything like that, just that they were real and that the government is keeping a close eye on them. Finally, they told us that they are expecting something big; they wouldn’t explain what, but it had to do with all this, and if that happened we would have to deal with the situation—and with the public.”

This extraordinary report was subsequently confirmed by two other independent military sources, who informed Jorge Martin that special military groups in Puerto Rico have been receiving briefings on the UFO situation since 1988 (when the UFO/jets incidents first occurred). There is no doubt that something very unusual has been happening—and continues to happen—on that island. Just after midnight on March 17, 1991, for instance, a huge circular UFO hovered low above an electrical substation in Carraizo, Trujillo Alto, observed by over one hundred witnesses in the surrounding area. The object appeared to be drawing power from the substation, causing an extensive power blackout, as well as burning out the transformers and other equipment, causing $355,000 in damages.21 In October 1991,1 visited the repaired substation and spoke with a nearby witness, whom I found to be completely genuine. “I sometimes wonder,” says Jorge Martin, “if Puerto Rico has been selected as a place where open contact with an alien species will be tested, to check on the psychological and sociological reactions of such a contact. We must remember that Puerto Rico is a United States territorial possession, and it is very possible that ‘someone’ could have selected the island for such a test because it is under American jurisdiction, and this would provide for a close scrutiny by the government on the developing situation, with the advantage of not risking the


COSMIC JOURNEY

243

mainland’s citizens and any unforeseen effect that might come out of the experiment.”22

CULTURE SHOCK OUR OWN GALAXY—ONE OF AN INFINITE NUMBER—is COM-

prised of several hundred billion stars, and statistically, it is probable that life has evolved on some planetary systems to the extent that space travel and colonization are commonplace. In assuming that the lifetime of advanced civilizations is ten million years, science writer Ian Ridpath has speculated that there could be as many as one million advanced civilizations “like ourselves or more advanced” in our galaxy, and surmises that the main interest of an old and advanced civilization may be in the “developing creatures of the Galaxy, as the anthropologists of the Western world are increasingly fascinated by the stoneage societies that remain on Earth.”23 Dr. Bernard Oliver, of NASA’s SETI project, has remarked on the possibility that an “interconnecting galactic community of advanced cultures already exists.”24 Although some astronomers and exobiologists concur that we may have been visited in the distant past, and are certain to be visited in the future, present-day visits are out of the question. The logic of such reasoning escapes me. The fact that contact has been restricted to relatively few people so far, rather than being on a wide scale, may be for a number of sound reasons—not least of which the cultural shock that would be engendered. “For us this could hold more danger than the combination of nuclear arms, energy shortages, overpopulation, dwindling resources and pollution,” believes Edward Ashpole, author of The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.25 Some visitors may not want us to know what they are doing here, and in any event, can probably go about their business with none of us any the wiser (particularly if they are able to function in another dimension!). It is therefore likely that those who have been contacted are fed a certain amount of false information. Disinformation could well be an inevitable consequence of contact. Others may be so advanced, technologically, culturally, and spiritually, that contact with our relatively retarded species might be seen as disadvantageous to both parties. In this regard, the comments made by Daniel Fry’s alleged extraterrestrial friend in 1949 are worth recounting. “We will never attempt to thrust either our knowledge or


244

ALIEN CONTACT

our culture upon your people,” he said, “and we will never offer it unless there is substantial evidence that they desire it, and that it would be advantageous to them. There is certainly no such evidence at the present time. “It is also true that the purpose of this visit is not entirely philanthropic, since there are some materials upon your planet which we could use to the advantage of both our peoples; materials which you have in abundance but which are rather scarce elsewhere in this solar system. While the use of some of these materials would be of assistance to us, our services to your people will not be made contingent upon such use. Any knowledge or aid which we can give will be freely offered. . . . “If we took steps to force the acceptance of our reality upon their consciousness,” Fry was told, “about 30 percent of the people would consider us as gods, and could attempt to place upon us all responsibility for their welfare. This is a responsibility we could not be permitted to assume, even if we were able to discharge it, which of course, we are not. Most of the remaining 70 percent would adopt the belief that we were potential tyrants or dictators, who were planning to enslave their world, and many would begin to seek means to destroy us.”26 Regardless of whether or not we believe Daniel Fry's contact story to be pure fiction, the sentiments expressed by the alleged extraterrestrial accord well with some modern-day thinking. The perceptive writer Michael Michaud, former director of the Office of Advanced Technology at the United States Department of State, for example, points out that we are likely to project our hopes, fears, and prejudices on to a hypothetical alien culture. “At one extreme,” he writes, “we think of aliens as altruistic teachers, who will show us the road to survival, wisdom and prosperity, or God-like figures who will raise humanity from its fallen condition. At the other, we see the aliens as implacable, grotesque conquerors whose miraculous but malevolently applied technology can only be overcome by simple virtues. ...” Michaud goes on to speculate that contact would probably cause many people to attribute events to alien intervention, citing the present cultural response to the UFO phenomenon as an example.27 And in discussing other problems of contact, Michaud also comes remarkably close to the truth, as I see it. He reasons that individual nations or special interest groups might try to conduct exclusive dialogues with the aliens in order to exploit the contact, and continues:


COSMIC JOURNEY

245

Political and governmental leaders would be concerned about the impact that contact could have on their populations, and might try to let through only those ideas they considered safe. National security policy-makers might argue for classification of the contact and the information received. Some scholars, particularly those personally involved in the first contact, might be equally possessive about the information and the channel, especially if they distrusted governments and held a low opinion of the general population. 28

As Bob Lazar stresses, although advanced alien technology could be put to use for the benefit of all, the same technology could equally well be used for destructive purposes, such as the construction of a superbomb. Michael Michaud foresees another problem relating to the acquisition of alien technology: that it could undermine our “spirit of invention and independent initiative, forcing massive readjustment and unemployment, and threatening existing economic institutions.” I take the view that those few within governments who are aware of the situation are acting in our best interests by gradually presenting the information in such a way that it will lessen the political, economic, religious, and psychological shock. But eventually, the ultimate secret will be revealed. “The truth about UFOs may be painful for us to face, and this might provide a continuing rationale for the government to maintain secrecy,” says the astrophysicist Dr. Brian O’Leary. “But the truth will and must be known eventually. Continuing our denials and fears, in my opinion, [is] only adding to the problem. We are all in this together.” The evidence available to me suggests that we are being visited by a number of extraterrestrial groups. Some could be here for less than benign purposes, others perhaps visiting as anthropologists or even tourists. But it seems logical that some groups, motivated by a vested interest in the survival of our planet and its species, have established contact with a relatively small number of our people, partly perhaps to lend us a helping hand as we reach, falteringly, toward the stars. Let us hope that the advantages of contact will ultimately outweigh the disadvantages, leading to a more complete and profound understanding of our place in the universal scheme. 29

30

31


CHAPTER 1 AERIAL CONFRONTATION 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

9. 10.

11. 12. 13.

Interview with the author, February 16, 1990. Letter from Dr. Richard Haines to the author, October 4, 1990. Manual of Air Traffic Services, Part 1, Amendment 31, July 5, 1984. Interview with the author, May 6, 1988. Izvestia, March 26 and April 2, 1990. Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (New York: Quill/William Morrow, 1988), pp. 175-81. Jorge Martin, “U.S. Jets Abducted by UFOs in Puerto Rico,” The UFO Report 1991, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990), pp. 192-204. Letter from Rear Admiral David N. Rogers, U.S. Navy Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare), to Congressman J. J. Pickle, House of Representatives, July 10, 1990. Martin, op. cit. Investigative Directive No. 1-91, from Jose A. Nolla, director, State Agency of Civil Defense, U.S. Commonwealth State of Puerto Rico, to the Inspector General, the head of Government Operations, the head of Geographical Intelligence, the coordinator of Operational Areas, the coordinator of Special Areas, October 7, 1991. Workers Tribune, Moscow, April 19, 1990. Ibid., October 20, 1990. Published by FSR Publications, P.O. Box 162, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP13 5DZ, Eng.


NOTES

247

14. Soviet Youth, May 4, 1990. 15. Marie-Therese de Brosses, “A UFO on the F-16’s Radar,” Paris Match, July 5, 1990 (trans. Gordon Creighton). 16. Tom Walker, “Could Be It’s Full of Martians Hoping to Get In on 1992,” Wall Street Journal, October 5, 1990. 17. Lucy Kellaway, “Flying Triangle Has Belgians Going Round in Circles,” Financial Times, April 18, 1990. 18. Good, op. cit., p. 49. 19. Memo from Flight Lieutenant C. P. B. Russell, for Senior Air Staff Officer, Headquarters No. 11 Group, December 16, 1953. 20. Good, op. cit., pp. 31-2. 21. Letter to Nicholas Redfern from the Public Record Office, Kew, September 21, 1990. 22. Interview with the author, October 4, 1990. 23. Letter to Andrew Mitchell, MP, from Michael Neubert, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defense for the Armed Forces, Ministry of Defense, London, April 19, 1989. 24. Letter from Olavo Fontes, M.D., to Coral Lorenzen, February 27, 1958. 25. Good, op. cit., pp. 79-96. See also Jenny Randles, Prom Out Of The Blue: The Incredible UFO Cover-Up at Bentwaters NATO Air Base (Global Communications, Box 753, New Brunswick, NJ 08903). 26. Statement by John Lear, December 29, 1987, revised March 25, 1988. 27. Budd Hopkins, Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions (New York: Richard Marek, 1981); Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods (New York: Random House, 1987). Another important book is Secret Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions by David M. Jacobs, Ph.D. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992).

CHAPTER 2

A QUESTION OF NEED? 1. Linda Moulton Howc. An Alien Harvest, 1989 (Linda Moulton Howe Productions, P.O. Box 538, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-0538), p.2; Gene Duplantier, The Night Mutilators, 1979 (SS&S Publications, 17 Shetland St., City of North York, Willowdale, Ont. M2M 1X5, Can.), p. 30. 2. Howe, op. cit., pp. 2-5. 3. Duplantier, op. cit. 4. Letter to the author from Raymond C. Ingraham, July 22, 1988. 5. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report (London: Sphere Books, 1978), pp. 193-95.


248

NOTES

6. Charles Harpster, “Burgeoning Losses Bring FBI into Rustler’s Probe,” The Des Moines Register, Iowa, April 19, 1973. 7. Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs, September 24, 1975. 8. Newsweek, September 30, 1974. 9. Howe, op. cit., p. 22. 10. Ibid., p. 23. 11. Tommy Roy Blann, “The Mysterious Link Between UFOs and Animal Mutilations,” UFO Report, Vol. 3, No. 1, April 1976, pp. 70-72. 12. New Mexico State Police Report, December 15, 1976. 13. Ibid., July 31, 1978. 14. Howard Burgess and Lovola Burgess, “Close Encounter at the Old Corral,” True UFOs and Outer Space Quarterly, Summer 1979, pp. 2833; Jim Lorenzen, Cattle Mutilations—The UFO Connection, APRO Symposium, San Diego, November 16-18, 1979; Larry Statser, “Cattle Mangled by UFOs?” Amarillo Globe News, May 1979. 15. Statser, op. cit. 16. Burgess and Burgess, op. cit. 17. Letter to the FBI director from Kenneth M. Rommel, Jr., director, Animal Mutilation Project, Office of the District Attorney, First Judicial District, Espanola, NM, March 5, 1980. 18. Ibid. 19. APRO Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 11, 1980, Vol. 30, No. 4, 1982. 20. William Barnhill, Bob Pratt, and David Wright, “FBI Joins Investigation of Animal Mutilations Linked to UFOs,” National Enquirer, June 5, 1979. 21. Thomas R. Adams, The Choppers—and the Choppers, 1980 (Project Stigma, P.O. Box 1094, Pans, TX 75460). 22. Howe, op. cit., p. 46. 23. Ibid., pp. 35-6, 43. 24. Dorothy Aldridge, “Do UFOs Fly in Colorado?” Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs, April 24, 1977. 25. Howe, op. cit., p. 36. 26. Barnhill, Pratt, and Wright, op. cit. 27. Bill Jackson, “Mutilations—Predators ... or UFOs?” Greeley Tribune, Greeley, CO, November 2, 1980. 28. Howe, op. cit., pp. 44-5. 29. Burgess and Burgess, op. cit. 30. William L. Moore, UFOs and the U.S. Government (Part 1), MUFON Symposium, Las Vegas, July 1, 1989 (William L. Moore Publications, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505). 31. Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (New York: QuilFWilliam Morrow, 1988), pp. 303—5. 32. Howe, op. cit., pp. 83-84. 33. Arizona Wildcat, University of Arizona, September 14, 1982.


NOTES

249

34. A Strange Harvest, videotape, 1980 (Linda Moulton Howe Productions, P.O. 538, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-0538). 35. Linda Moulton Howe, “1989—The Harvest Continues,” The UFO Report 1991, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990). 36. Linda Moulton Howc. An Alien Harvest, pp. 94-103. 37. Little River News, Ashdown, Arkansas, April 20, 1989. 38. Science Digest, October 1983. 39. Andrew Garber, “Mutilated Cattle Baffle Idaho Ranchers, Police,” The Idaho Statesman, Boise, June 10, 1990. 40. Good, op. cit., pp. 136-9.

CHAPTER 3

COLORADO BREAKTHROUGH 1. Dr. John S. Derr and Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, “Multiple Phenomena on a Rocky Mountain Ranch,” AFRO Bulletin, Vol. 27, Nos.1—7, 1978—79. 2. Letter to the author from Dr. Leo Sprinkle, July 18, 1990.

CHAPTER 4

ALIEN LIAISONS 1. Information supplied to the author by William Moore. 2. Flying Saucers at Edwards AFB, 1954 (Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, P.O. Box 429, Garberville, CA 95440-0429); Charles Berlitz and William Moore, The Roswell Incident (London: Granada, 1980), pp. 119-28. 3. Valor magazine, October 9, 1954, and confirmed to the author by Desmond Leslie. 4. John Picton, “Eisenhower Was Visited by UFO, British Lord Claims,” Toronto Star (undated, but story confirmed to the author by Lord Clancarty). 5. “Anchor” [Ann Grevler]: Transvaal Episode, (Corpus Christi, TX: The Essene Press, 1958), pp. 19—21. 6. Gordon Creighton, “The UFO Landings at Voronezh,” The UFO Report 1991, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990), pp. 67-8. 7. Timothy Green Beckley, MJ-12 and the Riddle of Hangar 18, 1989 (Inner Light Publications, P.O. Box 753, New Brunswick, NJ 08903), pp. 13—14. 8. Letter to Ambassador Griffith, Mission of Grenada to the United Na-


250

NOTES

tions, from L. Gordon Cooper, Col. USAF (Ret.), Astronaut, November 9, 1978. 9, Letter to Lou Zinsstag from Waveney Girvan, September 17, 1962. 10. Letter to Lou Zinsstag from John Lade, July 11, 1963. 11. Ian Ball, “Flying Saucer Seen by Down-to-Earth Carter,” The Daily Telegraph, London, June 2, 1976. For further information on Carter’s attempt to reopen official investigations, see Above Top Secret. 12. Interviews with the author, August 1976. 13. The Reagan sighting was first mentioned in Landslide: The Unmaking of the President, by Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus (London: Collins, 1988), p. 402; and a follow-up report, based on interviews with Bill Paynter and Norman Miller, appeared in an article by Alan Smith and Ken Potter in the National Enquirer, October 11, 1988. 14. Information supplied to the author by Michael Luc km an. 15. Fred Barnes, “Reagan Reaps Arms-control Harvest,” The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, October 11, 1987. 16. Speech by Mikhail Gorbachev at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, February 16, 1987, published in Soviet Life (supplement), May 1987, p. 7A. 17. Travis Walton, The Walton Experience (New York: Berkley, 1978), pp. 105-26. 18. ABC News, November 18, 1975. 19. Interview with the author, October 24, 1978. 20. Walton, op. cit., pp. 160—1. 21. Wendelle C. Stevens and William J. Herrmann, UFO: Contact from Reticulum, 1981 and 1989 (UFO Books, Box 1053, Florence, AZ 85232). 22. APRO Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 12, 1976. 23. Charles Berlitz and William Moore, The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility (London: Souvenir, 1990), pp. 173-7. 24. Interview with Michael Packer, WOAI Radio, San Antonio, 1978; interview with the author, May 5, 1980. 25. Interview with the author, May 6, 1980. 26. Neues Europa, January 1, 1959. 27. Robin Collyns, Did Spacemen Colonise the Earth? (London: Pelham Books, 1974), p. 236. 28. Bob Pratt, “Disturbing Encounters in North-East Brazil,” The UFO Report 1991, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990), pp. 117-18. 29. Jacques Vallee, Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact (New York: Ballantine, 1990). 30. Gordon Creighton, “The Amazing Case of Antonio Villas Boas,” The Humanoids, ed. Charles Bowen (London: Neville Spearman, 1969), pp. 200-38.


NOTES

251

CHAPTER 5

HARDWARE 1. Leonard Stringfield, “UFO Crash/Retrievals: Is the Cover-Up Lid Lifting?” The UFO Report, ed. Timothy Good (New York: Avon Books, 1991) . (Leonard Stringfield’s six status reports on UFO crash/retrievals are available from the author at 4412 Grove Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45227); William Moore, Crashed UFOs: Evidence in the Search for Proof 1985 (William L. Moore Publications, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505); William Steinman and Wendelle Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, 1987 (UFO Books, P.O. Box 1053, Florence, AZ 85232). 2. The latest books on the 1947 New Mexico crashes: Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell (New York: Avon, 1991); Stanton T. Friedman and Don Berliner, Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO (New York: Paragon House, 1992) . 3. Charles Berlitz and William Moore, The Roswell Incident (London: Granada, 1980), pp. 67-72. 4. Letter to Lee Graham from Dr. Jesse Marcel, October 21, 1981. 5. Leonard Stringfield, op. cit.; Stan Gordon, “The Kecksburg UFO Crash JMUFON UFO Journal, Nos. 257-8, September-October 1989; Stan Gordon and Vicki Cooper, “The Kecksburg Incident,” UFO, Vol. 6. No. 1, January-February 1991. 6. Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers (New York: Henry Holt, 1950), p. 137. 7. Letter to the author from Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Bowker, USAF (Ret.), November 22, 1987. 8. Charles Berlitz and William Moore, op. cit., pp. 57-63. 9. Interviews with the author, January-March 1988. 10. Interview with the author, April 6, 1990. 11. Randle and Schmitt, op. cit. 12. Mike O’Brian, “Noted Expert Finds Account Convincing,” The NewsLeader, Springfield, MO, December 9, 1990. 13. Just Cause, P.O. Box 218, Coventry, CT 06238. 14. The Journal, Alexandria, VA, July 9, 1987. 15. Letter to William Steinman from Dr. Robert Sarbacher, Washington Institute of Technology, Palm Beach, FL, November 29, 1983 (reproduced in Above Top Secret). 16. Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (New York: QuilFWilliam Morrow, 1988) p. 397. 17. Ibid., p. 414. 18. Summary Report, September 19, 1990 (Fund for UFO Research Inc., P.O. Box 277, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712). A videotape produced by


252

NOTES

the Fund, “Recollections of Roswell (Part 2),” includes the testimony of twenty-eight individuals who relate their involvement in the New Mexico retrievals of July 1947. 19. Interviews with the author, December 1990. 20. Letter to the author, June 27, 1990. 21. William E. Burrows, Deep Black: The Secrets of Space Espionage (London: Bantam, 1988), p. 190.

CHAPTER 6

PROJECT AQUARIUS 1. Linda Moulton Howc. An Alien Harvest, 1989 (Linda Moulton Howe Productions, P.O. Box 538, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-0538), pp. 137-42; Jerome Clark, “UFO Crashes,” Fate, January-June 1988; interviews with the author. 2. Howe, op. cit., p. 140. 3. Robert Emenegger, UFOs Past, Present and Future (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974), pp. 127-9. 4. UFO Cover-Up?Live, prod. Michael Seligman, dist. Lexington Broadcast Service (LBS), October 14, 1988. 5. Howe, op. cit., pp. 143—55. 6. Letter to Barry Greenwood from Richard C. Doty, March 3, 1988. 7. Howe, op. cit., p. 147. 8. William L. Moore and Jaime H. Shandera, The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report, 1990 (The Fair Witness Project, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505). 9. The text of this document was first published in its entirety (with misspellings corrected) in UFO magazine, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1992, pp. 8—10. I have included a few of the original misspellings. 10. The mysterious “green fireballs” that have been reported over the years are predominantly luminous green aerial objects of various sizes, moving at various speeds, and sometimes exhibiting erratic flight patterns. An increase in sightings in the American Southwest in the late 1940s led to official investigations: see Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (New York: Quill/William Morrow, 1988). See also “Green Fireballs,” by Erich A. Aggen, Jr., MUFON UFO Journal, No. 271, November 1990. 11. Moore and Shandera, op. cit. 12. From Barry Greenwood’s notes on Peter Gersten’s meeting with Richard C. Doty, January 1983. 13. Letter to Shlomo Arnon from Senator Barry Goldwater, March 28,1975 (reproduced in Above Top Secret, frontispiece).


NOTES

253

14. Stanton T. Friedman, Final Report on Operation Majestic 12, 1990 (Fund for UFO Research, P.O. Box 277, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712; also available from the author at 79 Pembroke Crescent, Fredericton, N.B., Can., E3B 2V1). 15. Robert Hastings, The MJ-12 air: Facts, Questions, Comments (published privately); numerous articles by Barry Greenwood in Just Cause (Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), P.O. Box 218, Coventry, CT 06238); Philip J. Klass, “New Evidence of MJ-12 Hoax,” The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 14, No. 2, Winter 1989, pp. 135—40 (Box 229, Central Park Station, Buffalo, NY 14215); Joe Nickell and John Fischer, “The Crashed Saucer Forgeries,” International UFO Reporter, Vol. 15, No. 2, March-April 1990 (J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 2457 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, IL 60659). 16. Grant Cameron and T. Scott Crain, Jr., UFOs, MJ-12 and the Government: A Report on Government Involvement in UFO Crash Retrievals (Mutual UFO Network, Inc., 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, TX 78155-4099). 17. William L. Moore, “UFOs and the U.S. Government: Part IV,” Focus, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-3, March 1990, p. 18 (Fair Witness Project, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505). 18. Howard Blum, Out There: The Government’s Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), pp. 265-7. 19. Letter to Robert Hastings from Richard C. Doty, March 20, 1989. 20. Leonard Stringfield, “UFO Crash/Retrievals: Is the Cover-Up Lid Lifting?” The UFO Report, ed. Timothy Good (New York: Avon, 1991), p. 181. Stringfiekfs six status reports on UFO crash/retrivals are available from the author (4412 Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45227). 21. Robert Hastings, op. cit. 22. Interview with the author, September 13, 1990. 23. Interview with the author, July 12, 1989. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Colonel Coleman and the United States Air Force for inadvertent misrepresentation in Above Top Secret on p. 289 (QuillAVilliam Morrow edition). Air Force Manual 190-4 does not include the following paragraph: “By this order, the Secretary of Air Office of Information must delete all evidence of UFO reality and intelligent control, which would, of course, contradict the Air Force stand that UFOs do not exist. The same rule applies to A.F. press releases and UFO information given to Congress and the public.” This error was due to my confusing the quotation marks in the NICAP Bulletin of August 1962. The above information was allegedly supplied by Colonel Coleman in a letter to Kurt Zeissig, a former NICAP member. Bill Coleman has denied knowledge of this letter, however. Owing to circumstances beyond my control (as Coleman is aware), these corrections were not included in the second and current Morrow edition. 24. Memorandum from Brigadier General C. H. Bolender, deputy director


254

25. 26.

27. 28.

NOTES of Development DCS/Research and Development, USAF, October 20, 1969. James Neilson (pseudonym), “Secret U.S./UFO Structure,” UFO, Vol. 4, No. 1, January-February 1989. Interestingly, prior to the UFO Cover-Up? Live program, Robert Collins (almost certainly “Condor”) wrote to French astronomer Daniel Bonneau at the Calern Observatory, requesting information on Zeta Reticuli 1 and 2. “It is clear that these stars are not binaries,” Bonneau responded in April 1988. “Our last observations by speckle interferometry fail to confirm the close companion of Zeta 2 Reticuli. ...” (See Cameron and Crain, op. cit., in which Bonneau’s letter is reproduced.) Good, op. cit., pp. 303-5. UFO Cover-Up?Live, and interviews with “Falcon” conducted by William Moore and Jaime Shandera (latter on videotape: William Moore, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505).

CHAPTER 7

DREAMLAND 1. The two squadrons of F-117A Nighthawk aircraft based at the Tonopah Test Range Airfield were relocated to Holloman AFB, New Mexico, in 1992. For fascinating information on the F-117, Groom Lake, and Tonopah, see Bill Sweetman and James Goodall, Lockheed F-117A: Operation and Development of the Stealth Fighter (Motorbooks International, 729 Prospect Ave., Osceola, WI 54020); and James Goodall, F-117 Stealth in Action (Squadron/Signal Publications, 115 Crowley Dr., Carrollton, TX 75011-5010). 2. James Goodall (writing as “A1 Frickey”), “Stealth—and Beyond,” GungHo magazine, February 1988, pp. 38-43. 3. Letter to the author from James Goodall, February 9, 1990. 4. Jim Shults, “Stealth—and Beyond,” Gung-Ho, February 1988, p. 43. 5. Letter from Mike Hunt to David Dobbs, April 20, 1980. 6. William S. Steinman and Wendelle C. Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec: A Well-Kept Secret, 1986 (UFO Photo Archives, P.O. Box 17206, Tucson, AZ 85710), pp. 426-7. 7. Report by Tom Adams on file. 8. Robert F. Dorr (writing as “Rufus Drake”), “Air Force Tests Captured Saucer—Also Flies Own\” Ideal’s UFO Magazine, No. 3, 1978. 9. Letter to the author from Robert F. Dorr, February 27, 1990. 10. Letter to the author from Robert F. Dorr, January 26, 1990. 11. Memorandum from W. E. Lexow, Chief of the Applied Science Division, Office of Scientific Intelligence, CIA, October 19, 1955.


NOTES

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

255

Robert F. Dorr, op. cit. Ideal’s UFO Magazine, No. 4, 1978. Steinman and Stevens, op. cit., pp. 568—9. Ibid., pp. 383-4. Ibid., pp. 384-5. KLAS-TV, Channel 8, November 1989 (P.O. Box 15047, Las Vegas, NV 89114). 18. Hearing before the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, August 6, 1984. 19. Public Hearing for Renewal of Groom Mountain Range Land Withdrawal, Alamo, Nevada, November 20, 1985. 20. Focus, Vol. 5, Issues 3-5, March 31, 1991 (Fair Witness Project Inc., 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505). 21. Bodi the Black Manta and the Shadow (as well as the Aurora project spy plane) are believed to have been deployed during the Gull War. 22. In 1989, Bob Lazar revealed that the Lockheed SR-71 replacement aircraft (code-named Aurora) has a liquid methane propellant and requires the entire three-mile runway at Groom Lake to take off. It sounds like a continuous explosion,” he reported—a description subsequently confirmed by independent witnesses. He was told that the aircraft can fly as high as two hundred and fifty thousand feet and at speeds of up to Mach 10, although aviation experts have arrived at more conservative estimates. 23. Aviation Week & Space Technology, October 1, 1990, p. 20. 24. William F. Hamilton III, “Flying Wings and Deep Desert Secrets,” MUFON UFO Journal, No. 271, November 1990. 25. UFOs: The Best Evidence? KLAS-TV, Channel 8, Las Vegas, 1990. 26. No further information is available about the alleged Soviet participation in, or knowledge of, the disc program, but it is possible that such an exchange of information took place during the 1980s, when Soviet scientific and military personnel were invited to visit various facilities in the American Southwest. In early 1988, for instance, a delegation of Soviet scientists visited the Nevada Test Site to observe typical preparations for a nuclear test, and on August 17 that year, the first stage of the Joint Verification Experiment (an agreement designed to slow down the arms race by sharing details of the yield of nuclear explosions) was conducted by American and Soviet scientists and technicians at the test site, when a nuclear weapon was detonated 2,020 feet beneath Pahute Mesa (as reported by Ginny McNeill of EG&G’s Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company in EGG Ink, Issue 2, 1988). 27. Interview on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, Las Vegas, March 1989.


256

NOTES

CHAPTER 8

ALIEN TECHNOLOGY? 1. EGG Ink, Issues 4/1979, 1/1984. 2. Vol. 5, Issues 10-12, December 31, 1990, Fair Witness Project Inc., 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505. 3. Interview with the author, June 22, 1992. 4. Private videotape made available by Gene Huff. 5. Focus, Vol. 5, Issues 10-12, December 31, 1990. 6. Admiral Stansfield Turner, Secrecy and Democracy: The CIA in Transition (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1986), p. 46. 7. William E. Burrows, Deep Black: The Secrets of Space Espionage (London: Bantam, 1988), pp. 22-3. 8. Meier’s photographs can best be seen in UFO: Contact From the Pleiades, Vols. I and II (Genesis III Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 32067, Phoenix, AZ 85064); Gary Kinder, Light Years: An Investigation into the Extraterrestrial Experiences of Eduard Meier (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987) also includes a few of the photos. I remain unconvinced by much of Meier’s material, but do not doubt that he has had some genuine experiences and that some of his photos could be authentic. When I first spoke with him in 1965 (having heard about him in India the previous year), he seemed sincere, but on meeting him at his home in Switzerland in 1977 and examining the evidence that he had since accumulated (including film and photos), I became suspicious. 9. Many contactees, the most notable being George Adamski, have reported a central column running down the center of flying discs. A more recent example is that reported to me by Alfred Burtoo, who in 1983 claimed to have been taken aboard a craft in Aldershot, England: see Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up (New York: Quill/ William Morrow, 1988). 10. Letter to the author, November 1, 1987. 11. Letter to Coral Lorenzen from Olavo Fontes, M.D., February 27, 1958. 12. The Lazar Tape (Tri-Dot Productions, 1324 S. Eastern, Las Vegas, NV 89104). 13. M. G. Millis, “Exploring the Notion of Space Coupling Propulsion,” Vision 21: Space Travel for the Next Millenium, NASA/Lewis Research Center, April 1990, pp. 307-16. 14. Adrian Berry, “Time Travel May Be Possible Via Worm Holes’ Say Scientists,” The Daily Telegraph, London, November 23, 1988. 15. Connie Stewart, “Star Wars Travel Might Be Only 12 Years Away,” Herald Examiner, Los Angeles, June 5, 1980. 16. Alan C. Holt, Field Resonance Propulsion Concept, NASA, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, August 1979, p. 3.


NOTES

257

17. Lazar now recalls that the man with the scanner was wearing headphones. 18. A perfect example of such apparent changes of shape is visible in the 8mm movie film taken by George Adamski and Madeleine Rodeffer in February 1965 at Silver Spring, Maryland. (See photo section and Above Top Secret.) 19. Interviews with the author, March-April 1990. Additional interviews with Bob Lazar were conducted by George Knapp of KLAS-TV (mosdy in private) and Billy Goodman on KVEG Radio, Las Vegas, in 1989. I have also used some material from The Lazar Tape.

CHAPTER 9

CONTAINERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20.

Interview with the author, March 30, 1990. Interview with the author, September 5, 1990. Interview with the author, March 30, 1990. KLAS-TV, Channel 8,1989, (P.O. Box 15047, Las Vegas, NV 89114). UFOs: The Best Evidence? KLAS-TV, 1990. Interview with the author, March 30, 1990. KLAS-TV, 1989. William F. Hamilton III, Cosmic Top Secret: America’s Secret UFO Program, 1991 (Irmer Light Publications, P.O. Box 753, New Brunswick, NJ 08903), pp. 87, 140-1. UFOs: The Best Evidence? KLAS-TV, 1990. Interview with the author, September 26, 1991. Terry England, “LA Man Joins the Jet Set—at 200 Miles an Hour,” Los Alamos Monitor, June 27, 1982. UFOs: The Best Evidence? KLAS-TV, 1990. Jacques Vallee, Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991), pp. 206—7. Ibid., p. 207. KLAS-TV, 1989. Information supplied by Gene Huff, who met Dr. Mitchell during his meetings with Bob Lazar. Letter to the author from Edgar D. Mitchell, Sc.D., April 21, 1992. Andrew D. Basiago, “Dreamland and the CIA,” MUFON UFO Journal, No. 291, July 1992, MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX 781554099. Astronomy magazine, December 1974. Letter to Robert M. Collins from Daniel Bonneau, Observatoire du Calern, St. Vallier de Thiey, France, April 19,1988, reproduced in Grant


258

N OTES

Cameron and T. Scott Crain, UFOs, MJ-12 and the Government (Mutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, TX 78155-4099). 21. The Gospel According to John, 8:23. 22. Dr. Barry H. Downing, The Bible and Flying Saucers (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1968). 23. Interviews with the author, March-April 1990. Additional interviews with Bob Lazar were conducted by George Knapp of KLAS-TV (mosdy in private) and Billy Goodman on KVEG Radio, Las Vegas, in 1989. I have also used some material from The Lazar Tape (Tri-Dot Productions, 1324 S. Eastern, Las Vegas, NV 89104).

CHAPTER 10

COSMIC JOURNEY 1. Bob Oechsler with Debby Regimenti, The Chesapeake Connection: An Implication of Corporate Involvement in the Cover-Up, 1989 (The Annapolis Research and Study Group, 136 Oakwood Rd., Edgewater, MD 21037). 2. Various sources, including Directors and Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence: Dates and Data 1946-1983 (by the History Staff, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC 20505). 3. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is one type of radiation generated by nuclear explosions. In order to protect the electronic circuitry in planes, tanks, and ships, from being disabled by it, the Pentagon conducted a lengthy series of EMP experiments, many of them in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, area. According to The Washington Post (May 15, 1988), the Soviets had developed a “zap gun” that would use EMP radiation to kill troops and disable vehicles, and the Pentagon wanted to develop a similar weapon. “Since the Soviets were based right there in the Chesapeake Bay where the tests were being conducted,” Bob Oechsler told me, ccwhom are we supposed to think the weapons were designed to be used against? A ‘threat from space,’ perhaps, as hinted at by President Reagan on several public occasions?” (For further details, see The Chesapeake Connection.) 4. Interestingly, BDM International (a defense contractor) was behind the conference on cattle mutilations, organized by Senator Harrison Schmitt in 1979. 5. Ed Walters and Frances Walters, The Gulf Breeze Sightings: The Most Astounding Multiple Sightings of UFOs in U.S. History (New York: William Morrow, 1990). 6. Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers (New York: Henry Holt, 1950), pp. 132—3.


NOTES

259

7. Letter to Coral Lorenzen from Olavo Fontes, M.D., February 27, 1958. 8. Letter to Armen Victorian from B. R. Inman, Science Applications International Corporation, August 5, 1991. 9. Letter to the author from Robert Kirchgessner, director, Special Development Group, Ringling Bros, and Barnum and Bailey International, August 31, 1989. 10. Letter to the author from Robert Kirchgessner, September 21, 1989. 11. Communication with the author, October 17, 1989. 12. The National Space Council, created by an act of Congress in 1988, was established by President Bush’s Executive Order No. 12675 on April 20, 1989. 13. Letter to the author from Bob Oechsler, January 24, 1991, plus additional clarifications, September 1992. 14. Lawrence Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood, Clear Intent: The Government Cover-up of the UFO Experience (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1984). 15. Just Cause, Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, December 1989 (P.O. Box 218, Coventry, CT 06238). 16. Ibid., June 1990. 17. Letter to the author from Jack Schmid, exhibits coordinator, NASA, Washington, DC 20546, April 8, 1992. 18. Walters and Walters, op. cit. 19. ‘World Round-Up of Selected Reports,” The UFO Report 1991, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990), pp. 214-39. 20. Jorge Martin, “Puerto Rico’s Astounding UFO Situation,” The UFO Report 1992, ed. Timothy Good (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1991), pp. 105—9. 21. Martin, op. cit., pp. 103-5. 22. Ibid. Although purely coincidental, it is worth noting in this connection that the giant radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was one of the first used to transmit a coded message to the stars (the Ml3 cluster in Hercules), in 1974. 23. Ian Ridpath, Messages from the Stars (London: Fontana, 1978), pp. 17-18. 24. Ibid., p. 24. 25. Edward Ashpole, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (London: Blandford Press, 1989), p. 158. 26. Daniel W. Fry, To Men of Earth (Merlin, OR: Merlin Publishing, 1973), pp. 98-9. 27. Michael Michaud, “A Unique Moment in Human History,” First Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, ed. Ben Bova and Byron Preiss (London: Headline, 1990), pp. 243-4. 28. Ibid., p. 248. 29. Ibid., p. 249.


260

NOTES

30. Press release by Dr. Brian O’Leary, New York, October 6, 1989. 31. According to Robert Dean, a retired United States Army command sergeant major, a Cosmic Top Secret study conducted by NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) concluded in 1964 that Earth was under extensive surveillance by several advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. Regrettably, neither Admiral Lord Hill-Norton (a former chairman of the NATO Military Committee) nor I have been able to substantiate this claim to date, despite our intensive inquiries at SHAPE (Belgium), as well as in England and France.



APPENDIXES

262

Appendix 1 Structure of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Tania Long, based on a graphic published by the CIA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

ARMY INTELLIGENCE

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

NAVY INTELLIGENCE

IJFOFFICES FOR COLLECTION OF SPECIALIZED NAT L FOREIGN MARINE CORPS INTELLIGENCE j INTELLIGENCE

V

AIRFORCE INTELLIGENCE

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ELEMENTS

DEPARTMENT OF INTELLIGENCE ELEMENTS (Other than DoD)

INDEPENDENTAGENCY


APPENDIXES

263

Appendix 2 A Defense Intelligence Agency report relating to the Belgian UFO sightings described in Chapter 1. DJA

PAGE:0011 INQUIRE=DOC10D ITEM N0=00508802 ENVELOPE CDSN = LGX391 MCN = 90089/26558 TOR = 9009010*18 RTTCZYUW RUEKJCS5049 0891251-CCCC—RUEALGX. ZNY CCCCC HEADER R 301251Z MAR 90 FM JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC INFO RUEADWD/OCSA WASHINGTON DC RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC RUEACMC/CMC WASHINGTON DC RUEDADA/AFIS AMHS BOLLING AFB DC RUFTAKA/CDR USAINTELCTRE HEIDELBERG GE RUFGAID/USEUCOM AIDES VAIHINGEN GE RUETIAQ/MPCFTGEORGEGMEADEMD RUEAMCC/CMC CC WASHINGTON DC RUEALGX/SAFE R 3012H6Z MAR 90 FM

TO RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC INFO RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC//DAT-7// RUSNNOA/USCINCEUR VAlHINGEN GE//ECJ2-OC/ECJ2-JIC// RUFGAID/USEUCOM AIDES VAIHINGEN GE RHFQAAA/HQUSAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE//INOW/INO// RHFPAAA/UTAIS RAMSTEIN AB GE//INRMH/INA// RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK RUFHNA/USDELMC BRUSSELS BE RUFHNA/USMISSION USNATO RUDOGHA/USNMR SHAPE BE RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUFGAID/JICEUR VAIHINGEN GE RUCBSAA/FICEURLANT NORFOLK VA RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC RUEADWW/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC RUFHBG/AMEMBASSY LUXEMBOURG RUEATAC/CDRUSAITAC WASHDC BT CONTROLS

SERIAL:

(U)

BODY COUNTRY: SUBJ:

(U)

HR 6 807 0136 90.

BELGIUM (BE).

HR 6 807 0136 90/BELGIUM AND THE UFO ISSUE (U)

WARNING:

(U) THIS IS AN

INFORMATION REPORT,

NOT FINALLY


APPENDIXES

264

PAGE:0012 EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE.

REPORT CLASSIFIED

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

DOI:

(U) 900326.

SOURCE:

A- (U) LA DERNIER HEURE,

20 MAR,

DAILY FRENCH

LANGUAGE PAPER, CIRC 100,000; B- (U) LE SOIR, DAILY FRENCH LANGUAGE PAPER, CIRC 213,000;

26 MAR,

SUMMARY: (U) NUMEROUS UFO SIGHTINGS HAVE BEEN MADE IN BELGIUM SINCE NOV 89. THE CREDIBILITY OF SOME INDIVIDUALS MAKING THE REPORTS IS GOOD. SOME SIGHTINGS HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED BY NATURAL/MANMADE PHENOMENA, INVESTIGATION BY THE BAF CONTINUES.

SOME HAVE NOT.

TEXT: 1. (U) NUMEROUS AND VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF UFO SIGNTINGS HAVE SURFACED IN BELGIUM OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS. THE CREDIBILITY OF THE OBSERVERS OF THE ALLEDGED EVENTS VARIES FROM THOSE WHO ARE UNSOPHISTICATED TO THOSE WHO ARE THE WELL EDUCATED AND PROMINENTLY PLACED. 2.

(U) SOURCE A CITES MR LEON BRENIG,

A 43 YEAR OLD

PROFESSOR AT THE FREE UNIVERSIY OF BRUSSELS (PROMINENT) IN THE FIELD OF STATISTICS AND PHYSICS. HE CLAIMS TO HAVE TAKEN PICTURES OF THE PHENOMENA WHICH ARE STILL BEING DEVELOPED BUT WILL BE PUBLISHED BY THE BELGIAN SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SPACE PHENOMENA IF THEY ARE OF GOOD QUALITY. 3. (U) MR BRENIG WAS DRIVING ON THE ARDENNES AUTOROUTE IN THE BEAUFAYS REGION EAST OF LIEGE, SUNDAY, 18 MARCH 1990 AT 2030 HOURS WHEN HE OBSERVED AN AIRBORNE OBJECT APPROACHING IN HIS DIRECTION FROM THE NORTH. IT WAS IN THE FORM OF A TRIANGLE ABOUT THE SIZE OF A PING-PONG BALL AND HAD A YELLOW LIGHT SURROUNDING IT WITH A REDDISH CENTER VARYING IN INTENSITY.

ALTITUDE APPEARED TO BE 500

- 1000 METERS, MOVING AT A SLOW SPEED WITH NO SOUND. DID NOT MOVE OR BEHAVE LIKE AN AIRCRAFT. 4.

IT

(U) MR BRENIG CONTACTED A FRIEND VERY NEAR THE AREA

WHO CAME OUT AND TOOK PICTURES OF 400 ASA FILM.

IT WITH A ZOOM LENS AND

BOTH INSISTED THE OBJECT COULD NOT BE AN

AIRCRAFT OR HOLOGRAMME PROJECTION AS THE SKY WAS CLOUDLESS. 5. (U) THE SOURCE B ARTICLE WHICH DISCUSSES A BELGIAN TELEVISION INTERVIEW WITH COL WIL ((DEBROUWER)) , CHIEF OF


APPENDIXES

265

PAGE: 0013 OPERATIONS FOR THE BAF, MQST LIKELY WAS THE RESULT OF A FOLLOW-ON ACTION TAKEN BY MR BRENIG WHEN HE CONTACTED LTGEN ((TERRASSON)), COMMANDER, BELGIAN TACTICAL (OPERATIONAL) COMMAND. GEN TERRASSON CATEGORICALLY ELIMINATED ANY POSSIBLE BAF AIRCRAFT OR ENGINE TEST INVOLVEMENT WHICH COL DEBROUWER CONFIRMED DURING THE 25 ADMIN BT #50*19 NNNN


266

APPENDIXES

PAGE:0014 INQUIRE=DOC10D ITEM N0=00503294 ENVELOPE CDSN = LGX492

MCN = 90089/26566

TOR = 900891502

RTTCZYUW RUEKJCS5049 0891251-CCCC—RUEALGX. ZNY CCCCC HEADER H 301251Z MAR 90 FM JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC INFO RUEADWD/OCSA WASHINGTON DC RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC RUEACMC/CMC WASHINGTON DC RUEDADA/AFIS AMHS BOLLING AFB DC RUFTAKA/CDR USAINTELCTRE HEIDELBERG GE RUFGAID/USEUCOM AIDES VAIHINGEN GE RUETIAQ/MPCFTGEORGEGMEADEMD RUEAMCC/CMC CC WASHINGTON DC RUEALGX/SAFE R 301246Z MAR 90 TO RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC INFO RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC//DAT-7// RUSNNOA/USCINCEUR VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ2-0C/ECJ2-JIC// RUFGAID/USEUCOM AIDES VAIHINGEN GE RHFQAAA/HQUSAFE RAMSTEIN AB CE//INOW/INO// RHFPAAA/UTAIS RAMSTEIN AB GE//INRMH/INA// RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK RUFHNA/USDELMC BRUSSELS BE RUFHNA/USMISSION USNATO RUDOGHA/USNMR SHAPE BE RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUFGAID/JICEUR VAIHINGEN GE RUCBSAA/FICEURLANT NORFOLK VA RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC RUEADWW/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC RUFHBG/AMEMBASSY LUXEMBOURG RUEATAC/CDRUSAITAC WASHDC BT CONTROLS SECTION 02 OF 02 ■■■■■ [0504c

SERIAL:

(U)

HR

6

807 0136 90.

BODY COUNTRY: SUBJ:

(U) BELGIUM (BE).

IIR 6 807 0136 90/BELGIUM AND THE UFO ISSUE (U)

MAR TV SHOW.


APPENDIXES

267

PAGE:0015

6. (U) DEBROUWER NOTED THE LARGE NUMBER OF REPORTED SIGHTINGS, PARTICULARLY IN NOV 89 IN THE LIEGE AREA AND THAT THE BAF AND MOD ARE TAKING THE ISSUE SERIOUSLYBAF EXPERTS HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO EXPLAIN THE PHENOMENA EITHER. 7.

(U) DEBROUWER SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSED THE POSSIBILITY

OF THE OBJECTS BEING USAF B-2 OR F—117 STEALTH AIRCRAFT WHICH WOULD NOT APPEAR ON BELGIAN RADAR, BUT MIGHT BE SIGHTED VISUALLY IF THEY WERE OPERATING AT LOW ALTITUDE IN THE ARDENNES AREA. HE MADE IT QUITE CLEAR THAT NO USAF OVERFLIGHT REQUESTS HAD EVER BEEN RECEIVED FOR THIS TYPE MISSION AND THAT THE ALLEDGED OBSERVATIONS DID NOT CORRESPOND IN ANY WAY TO THE OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF EITHER U.S. AIRCRAFT. 8. (U) MR BRENIG HAS SINCE ASSURED THE COMMUNITY THAT HE IS PERSONALLY ORGANIZING A NEW UFO OBSERVATION CAMPAIGN AND SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS THE HELP OF THE BELGIAN MOD. RELATED A SIMILAR UFO SIGHTING

9>

WHICH

APPARENTLY HAPPENED TO A BELGIAN AIR FORCE OFFICER IN THE SAME AREA NEAR LIEGE DURING NOVEMBER 89THE OFFICER AD HIS WIFE WERE ALLEDGEDLY BLINDED BY A HUGE BRIGHT FLYING OBJECT AS THEY WERE DRIVING ON THE AUTOROUTE. THEY STOPPED THEIR CAR, BUT WERE SO FRIGHTENED THEY ABANDONED THE VEHICLE AND RAN INTO THE WOODS. THEY COULD NOT PROVIDE A DETAILED DESCRIPTION BUT WHATEVER IT WAS DEFINITELY APPEARED REAL TO THEM. UNDERLINED THEIR CREDIBILITY AS SOLID. [COMMENT. HE COULD PROVIDE COMMENTS: 1 VERY LITTLE CONCRETE INFORMAITON EXCEPT TO VERIFY THE LARGE VOLUME OF SIGHTINGS AND THE SIMILARITY OF SOME^ DURING NOV

?_

—iTutr

BAF

HAS RULED SOME SIGHTINGS WERE CAUSED BY

INVERSION LAYERS, LAZER BEAMS AND OTHER FORMS OF HIGH INTENSITY LIGHTING HITTING CLOUDS. BUT A REMARKABLE NUMBER OCCURRED ON CLEAR NIGHTS WITH NO OTHER EXPLAINABLE ACTIVITY NEARBY. BAF IS CONCERNED TO A POINT ABOUT THE UFO INFORMATION THEY ISSUE AND IS TAKING ACTION TO INVESTIGATE DOES ADMIT, HOWEVER, THAT HE IS NOT HAVE. OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RESOLVING THE PROBLEM.

3

MB [THE

n

^PBIFIELD COMMENT.

-

THE USAF DID CONFIRM TO THE BAF

AND BELGIAN MOD THAT NO USAF STEALTH AIRCRAFT WERE OPERATING IN THE ARDENNES AREA DURING THE PERIODS IN


268

APPENDIXES

QUESTION. THIS WAS RELEASED TO THE BELGIAN PRESS AND RECEIVED WIDE DISSEMINATION.

ADMIN PROJ: (U) INSTR: (U) US NO. PREP: ACQ: DISSEM: (U) FIELD:- AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS (DCM) WARNING (U) REPORT CLASSIFIED

BT

#5049 NNNN

PAGE:0016


269

APPENDIXES Appendix 3

,

,

•»

A small selection of New Mexico State Police reports on the cattle mutilations.

FBI uClie D'j 1'

OWNER*

.J-J-,

t-'i i'j

Sam Britt ~ 33 miles West of Clavron, New Mexico

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

ORGAN’S TAKEN:-.

OWNER:

Right side

None stated

Frank Best

October 13, 1975 Alvin Stocton - Raton, New Mexico

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

ORGANS TAKEN:

OWNER:

1975

Right side

Scrotum,

TRACK EVIDENCE: INSPECTOR:

Bull

October 11,

POSITION FOUND IN:

DATE:

1^*00-1500 lbs.

Scrotum, penis, rectum

TRACK EVIDENCE:

DATE:

3 years,

36-48 hours before October 11

POSITION FOUND IN:

INSPECTOR:

Hereford bull,

testicles, penis and end of sheath

Only those made by Mr. Stocton, Sheriff Grubilnik, and Ben Wooten

Ben Wooten

October 15,

1975

W. F. Martin - Springer, New Mexico

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

Black bull

October 15,

1975

POSITION FOUND IN: ORGANS TAKEN:

Rectum, penis,

TRACK EVIDENCE: INSPECTOR: DATE: OWNER:

testicles

None stated

Harold Gilbert

October 18,

1975

Rock Ranch - Kara Visa, New nexico

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

Found October 16 - had been dead seven to eight days pr

POSITION FOUND IN: ORGANS TAKEN: TRACK EVIDENCE: INSPECTOR:

Black angus cow Laying on back

Rectum and vagina None noted

Dwayne Massey


270 L>A

APPENDIXES IE:

OWNER:

May 19,

1y/ o

Sharp Ranch - Corona,

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

May

Black angus

15.

DATE: OWNER:

Left side on back

Testicles removed

TRACK EVIDENCE: INSPECTOR:

None

Claude Foster

June 29,

1976

Tony Lamb -

ANIMAL DESCR.IPTION: DATE DIED:

Yearling steer

48 hours prior to date

POSITION FOUND IN: ORCANS TAKEN:

INSPECTOR:

Left side

Right ear and right eye, the tongue, circ 1 e cut out at his navel, penis was gone, and he had also been cut around his rectum.

TRACK EVIDENCE:

DATE:

bull

1976

POSITION FOUND IN; ORCANS TAKEN;

New. Mexico

None stated

Harold Gilbert

July 10,

1976

OWNER: ANIMAL DESCRIPTION:

Buffalo calf

DATE DIED:

1976

July 10,

POSITION FOUND IN: ORCANS TAKEN: TRACK EVIDENCE:

DATE: OWNER:

July 1,

Tongue, testicles and penis. Cut at also gone was large intestine.

A white helocopter was seen the morning of July 81976

Stanley Cisneros - Questa ,

ANIMAL DESCRIPTION: DATE DIED:

POSITION FOUND IN:

TRACK EVIDENCE: INSPECTOR:

New Mexico

Solid red cow - pregnant

June 29 or June 30,

ORCANS TAKEN:

the rectum,

1976

Laying on right

Left eye,

side

udder was cut off

None

Milton Culbertson


APPENDIXES

HA:-:; I

'.o:> ..ut.-4i.ii

i

271

•'

NEW MEXICO

COV.MITTCE ON COMMERCE.

sciEsch.ANQTRANSPORTATION

OjCnxicb

CGMMITTCC ON BANKING

percale

WASHINGTON. D.C.

20510

MOUj.NG. ANO URBAN AFFAIRS

SEV.ECT COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

Deceniber 21,

1978 / •" *

'•

i

The Honorable Griffin B. Bell Attorney General Department of Justice 10th and Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr.

Attorney General:

During the past several years, ranchers throughout the West, including my home state of Mew Mexico, have been victimized by a series of cattle mutilations. As a result, these ranchers have as a group and individually suffered serious economic losses. These mysterious killings have been the subject of at least two articles in national publications, copies of v/hic'n are enclosed. Mr. Cockburn's article in the December 1975 issue of Esquire states into this matter, the investigation mutilation per, se

that there had been a federal investigation but it was dropped. Mr. Cockburn implies may have been terminated because cattle is not a federal offense.

vrhile an individual cattle mutilation may not be a federal offense, I am very concerned at what appears to be a continued pattern of an organized interstate criminal activity. Therefore, I am requesting that the Justice Department re-examine its jurisdiction in this area with respect to the possible reopening of this investigation. Enclosed are copies of my files on this subject. While awaiting what will hopefully be a favorable reply, I shall continue to gather materials that could be of help in such an investigation. If you need further information in studying this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely,

Harrison Schmitt

co

HS:jri Enclosures i /

Appendix 4

.

.

Letter regarding the catde mutilations from Senator Harrison Schmitt to the U.S. Attorney General. FBI


272

APPENDIXES January 10,

197 9

Honorable Harrison II. Schmitt United States Senate 1251 DS02 Washington, D.C. 25010

Dear Senator Schmitt: As X tcld you over the telephone yesterday, X have asked Philip IJevnann, head of the Criminal Division, to look into our jurisdiction over the cattle r.u tile tier/ proolem with which you are concerned. !7e will be in touch with you at an early date. I must say that the materials sent me indicate the existence of one of the strangest phenomenons in tv memory. ~ Warn regards. Sincerely,

Griffin B.

Bell

Cgg bcc:

w/materials

to Terry Adamson Kay Calamaro Phil Heymann -

Please have

someone

look

into

this matter at an early date. Sen. Schmitt is our fre^nd and there have been about 60 mutilations in New Mexico recent months.

Appendix 5 Letter from the U.S. Attorney General to Senator Harrison Schmitt. FBI

in


273

APPENDIXES ffice of tijc ^Bretrirf jAltomog Juiririal ^btriri

Cipiiano Padilla Kenneth M. Rommel, Jt. Dnxcur

Animal Mutilation Project

WCJdjk TSKTi

Pod Office Box 1209 • i Expanolx, New Mexico 87532 *

Diana S. Moyle

Telephone: (305) 75>-713l 127-2195

ir

Coctdinuiog Secnttry

March 5,

1980

4

/,WK

00307063

Director Federal Bureau of Investigation J, Edgar Hoover Building Washington, D.C.

P, ^Attention:

F.B.I. Laboratory

'iinc/.C-rv

>3evo

C>

ies,erO*T'’9'Jj7*e>$j

meyfc o /

Jy'y ./fZAl—_

Z o ^jfent^£tDen:

-^03

cJor background information,

I refer to your Albuquerque origin matter entitled

F3 ^ LUs follows: ITJ —* ^

Spcj

Mutilation* of Animals on Indian Lands-.In Hew-Mexico Crime on Indian Reservation.

u-l I— ^ ^ ^Closed for examination is one vial containing several flakes of an unknown 3 an " ^ ffl&terial rjaterial which which this this orr: office would like to have identified in connection with an i_— Ltl ^^ficial investigation.

Of)

For your information, since approximately 1975, New Mexico and other statesV—S primarily t;hose located in close proximity to New Mexico, have had incidents referred to by many as "the cattle mutilation phenomena." Stock animals, primarily cattle, have been found dead with various parts of the carcass missing such as one eye, one ear, the udder, and normally a cored anus. Most credible sources have attributed this damage to normal predator and scavenger activity. However, certain

segments of the population have attributed the damage to many other causes ranging from U.F.O.s to a giant governmental conspiracy, the exact nature of which is never fully explained.

f

No factual data has been supplied

In May, 1979, responding to pressure from his constituents, thejpistrict Attorney, First Judicial District of New Mexico, applied for and wa?~Swa one year L.E.A.A.

grant to investigate these mutilations. 6

I retired after twenty-eight years as a special agent of the F.B.I. this investigation.

t

17

iQ^

to direct

As previously stated, there are those that have attempted to make a connection between cattle mutilations and U.F.O. sitings.

0

5 9 APR 171980

Appendix 6 Letter regarding the cattle mutilations from Kenneth Rommel, Jr., to the Di rector of the FBI. FBI


274

APPENDIXES Director Federal Bureau of Investigation

March 5, 1980 Page -2-

In July, 1978, a U.F.O. was reportedly observed by a resident of Taos, New Mexico, reportedly hovering over a pickup truck. The next morning, the enclosed powder flakes were reportedly recovered from the roof of the aforementioned pickup. Some of the individuals that are most vocal to the media have inferred that these flakes are identical with a substance that was taken from cowhides in a controlled test conducted in the Dulce, New Mexico area. Dulce, New Mexico, which has been the site of several reported mutilations, is located approximately seventy miles from Taos, New Mexico. I have not been able to locate a sample of the substance reportedly collected in the Dulce test, but it has been described as a florescent material.

7

I have, to-date, been'able to confirm any connection between these two substances, and have been told by those that have seen both that they are not identical. However, I vjould appreciate it if through the use of a G.S. Mas spectroscopy test or any other logical test, that these flakes can be identified. This in itself would go a long way to assisting me to discredit the U.F.O. — Cow Mutilation association theory. If need be,.the flakes can be destroyed during your examination. Your cooperation in this investigation is appreciated. Sincerely,

KMR/dsm enclosure


APPENDIXES^

275

GERALD LIGHT 1054$ SCENARI6 LANE 10$ ANGELES 24. CALIFORNIA.

ÂŤo ^C=

l/'-V

to*

Mr.Meade Layne . San Diego,California My dear Friend: I have just returned from Huroc. devastating!/ true.'

The report is true

I made the Journey in company with Franklin Allen of the Hearst papers and Edwin llourse of 3rookings Institute (Truman's erstwhile financial adviser) and Bishop MacIntyre of L.A. (confidential names, for the present,please.) When we were allowed to enter the restricted section,(after about six hours tu which we were checked on everr possible itea, event, incident and aspect 3Hof our personal and nuhlic lives) I had the distinct feeling that the world had come to an end with fantastic realism. For I have never seen so many human beings in a state of complete collapse and confusion as they realized that their own world had indeed ended with such finality as to beggar description. The reality of "otherplane11 aeroforms is now and forever removed from the realms of speculation and made a rather painful part of the consciousness of every responsible scientific and political group. During my two days visit I saw five separate and distinct types of aircraft being studied and handled by our airforce officials—-with the assistance and permission of The Etheriansi I have no words to express my reactions. It ha9 finally happened.

It is now a matter of history.

President Sisenhower,as you may already know, was spirited over to Muroc one night during his visit to Palm Springs recently. And it is my conviction that he will ignore the terrific conflict between the various "authorities" and go directly to the people via radio and television if the impasse continues much longer. From what I could gather, an official* statement to the country : i3 beirg prepared for delivery about the middle of Ma I will leave it to your own excellent powers of deduction to construct a fitting oicture of the mental and anotional pandemonium that is now shattering the consciousness of hundreds of our scientific "authorities" and all the pundits of the various snecialized knowledges that make up our current physics. In some 'instances I could not stifle a wave of pity that arose in my own being as I 1 wtached the pathetic bewilderment of rather brilliant brains struggling to make 1 some sort of rational explanation Thich would enable than to retain their familiar theories and concepts. And I thanked my own destiny for having long ago !pushed me into the metaphysical woods and compelled me to find my way out. To !wtach strong minds cringe before totally irreconcilable aspects of "science" is I not a pleasant thing. I had forgotten how commonplace such things as the dematerialization of "solid" objects had. become to my own mind. The coming and going of an ethe ric, or spirit,body has been so familiar to me these many years I had just forgotten that such a manifestation could snap the mental balance of a man not so conditioned. I shall never forget those forty-eigit hours at MupocJ

Appendix 7 Part of the 1954 letter from Gerald Light to his friend and associate Meade Layne, describing his experiences at Muroc Air Base, California. Borderland Sciences Research Foundation


APPENDIXES

276

ENLISTED RECORD AND REPORT OF SEPARATION HONORABLE DISCHARGE 1

LAST NAME

-

FIRST NAME

BROWN 6.

-

MIDDLE INITIAL

MELVIN

2.

E

ARMY

SERIAL

NO.

6 S78 7S1

ORGANIZATION

7.

743RD AAA GUN BN

DATE

OF

RED 1

BOX 219

ADDRESS FROM

CHICO

CALIF

MARITAL

TE

MARRIED

STATUS

(specily)

OTHER

cr

19.

o

RACE NEGRO OTHER (specily)

5.

YES

CITIZEN

COLOR

OF

INDUCTION

23.

_JL_

DATE OF

11 2 6. REGISTERED

SELECTIVE M SERVICE £;> p DATA

YES

ENLISTMENT

DEC

24.

i 1

2'e.

COM TON L N 7

CAC

RA

FT MACARTHUR CAI | F

11.

OCT

i6 COLOR HAIR

25.

PLACE

OF

BIRTH

DEL RAY

BROWN NO.

IS.

CAI IF

HEIGHT

17.NO

$l.£"

PLACE OF

ENTRY INTO

DEPEND

130 i.

0.

SERVICE

FT MO DOWFI 1

DEC

29.

HOME

ADDRESS AT

TIME

CAI 1 F OF

ENTRY

INTO

SERVICE

NO ■k

GR1DLEY

060 AND

6.

HISTORY

COUNTY AND STATE

COOK BATTLES

SERVICE

SEPARATION

EYES

14.

OR

X.CQK

31.

32.

OF

CIVILIAN OCCUPATION AND

DATE OF ENTRY INTO ACTIVE SCRVICC

79

27. LOCALS.6. BOARD NO.

ARM

NO

MILITARY DATE

21.

PLACE

BIRTH

BLUE

18.

22.

OF

i4 13.

4.

SEP CE N

DATE

NONE V^ITE

fi.

2 DEC 4p

WHICH EMPLOYMENT WILL BE SOUGHT

GRADE

TEC B

SEPARATION

10.

12.

3.

XXPGRT

CAMPAIGNS

CAI IE

MILITARY Q U A LIF 1C

Ml

CARR INF

NORTHERN SOLOMONS ”■ DECORAT,ONS AN°C,TAT,0N9 AMER I CAN DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL AMERICAN CAMPAIGN MEDAL' ASIATIC PACIFIC CAMPAIGN MEDAL PHILIPPINE LIBERATION RIBBON WITH 1 BRONZE STAR GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL VICTORY MFPAI 34. WOUNDS

RECEIVED IN ACTION

NONE LATEST SMALLPOX

IMMUNIZATION

TYPHOID

DATES

TETANUS

SERVICE OUTSIDE OTHER

(speciiy)

DATE

PLAGUE DEC 42 37.

MAR 42

MAY 47'

SFP

TOTAL LENGTH OF'SERVICE

CONTINENTAL YE* RS

3

30.

SERVICE

MONTHS

PHION

DAYS

FOREIGN YEARS

DEPARTURE

23 JUN 43

4B

HIGHEST C^ADE HELD

SERVICE

MONTHS

2_

6_ -23-

38.

OF

DAYS

_2$_

4

SCRVI

9 NOV 45

S SGT

CONTINENTAL

U.S.

AND

RETURN

DESTINATION

DATE

ASIATIC PACIFIC THEATER UNITED STATES

OF

ARRIVAL

l8 JUL 45 22 NOV 4§

NONE 40.

REASON

AND AUTHORITY

FOR SEPARATION

THF

GOVERNMENT—61^-36^

IS DEC 44 AND CIR 310 '42. 42.

COOKS ft BAKFRS SCHOOl

3

PAY LONccvITY

43.

31

FOR

PAY

44.

PURPOSES

m_

MUSTCRINO

OUT

PAY

IMPORTANT mrUHlANl 48,

KIND

OF

Nat. Serv.

INHJWANCt

U.S. Govt.

4».

None

RA^D

XL

DATA

NONF INSURANT

PREMIUM 18 NOT TO THE TitEASUUEll

lr

R.

4 5. SOLDIER DEPOSITS 46.

mL.. -aMMtNT

»

— 47. TOTAL

TRAVEL PAY

NCINF

AMOUNT.

-& 406

NAME

IB

HOW PAID Direct to V. A.

80. EWctly D.U of Allot.

SI. Dai. of N.xt Premium Ou,

ment Dlacontlnuanc*

(One (One month month alter alter Stl) SO)

PREMIUM DUE EACH

EACH

MAJ-I-M

MONTH

E—F B 1 FPlMA M M

°NEY

aj

**•

REBARK

*

0

fAPT

rpl

°RDERS— PAYABLE

^C' OF VETERAN TO INTENTIONI OF Continue Continue Only I Discontinue

* 54.

College

n

VUII timvn OF DISBURSING OFFICER

PAID U WHEN DUE OKPORWAKD WITHIN THIUTY-ONE DAYS SUBDIVISION. THEUEA FT till IKSUKANCK win IAI>CCOF THE U. 8. AND TO COLLECTIONS VErSC^S ^^N^n?Vl^N W . ^sm^ON°

Allotment

(

High School

rnriR

MONTHS

WD(YearS) 4s Year£)

EDUCATION

I

(Thu .pace lor complehon o/ above items or entry ot other items specilied in W. D. Directives)

ASR SCORE (2 SEP 44)~91 HONORABLY DISCHARGED FOR THE CONVENIENCE OP THE GOVERNMENT TO ENLIST IN THE REGULAR ARMY WD CIR 310 1945. DISCHARGED AS TEMPORARY TECHNIC 1 FIFTH GRADE AUS, PERMANENT PRIVATE REGULAR ARMY. B6.

SIGNATURE

OF PERSON

BEING SEPARATED

87.

PERSONNEL

omcER

M E HOET 1ST LT AC WD.ACO

FORM

53 - 55

This lorm

(Type name, grade and organization

- signature)

X

supersedes all pr

wu

nonoraoie uiscnarge, which will not be used alter receipt ot this revision.

Appendix 8 Military record (1945) of Melvin Brown, who claimed to have stood guard over the wreckage of a flying disc at Roswell Army Air Field and to have been involved in the recovery of alien bodies from the New Mexico desert in July 1947. U.S. Army


APPENDIXES

277

HEADQUARTERS TASK UNIT 7.4.I AIR TASK GROUP 7.4 (PR07) FWD APO IO7-I, c/o Postmaster San Francisco, Californio 7 May 1948 EUBJECTi

Rocammciidation for Promotion of Billeted Han

TO 1

Commanding Officer Squadron "D" 509 th. Airdrome Group Walker Air Force Base Boswell* New Mexico

1. Pursuant to AR 635-5, as amended, and Department of the Amor Circular 51, dated 26 February 1948 > 1 recommend that Sergeant Melvin E. Brown, AF 6578751, be promoted to the grade of Staff Sergeant, 2. Sergeant Brown has diligently and industriously performed all duties assigned to him while on duty with Task Unit 7*4*1 • During the peculiar enfl tedious circumstances resulting from this project, he clearly demonstrated the qualities and abilities desired of a Staff Sergeant. 3. Sergeant Brown's Service Record indicates no record of previous conviction by Courts-Martial. His WD AGO Form 20 indicates that he has a primary SEN of Mess Steward (824) and a Duty of Cook (0b0)« His Foma 20 further verifies the facts that he enlisted 3 De®xber 1945 for a period of three (3) years and received the MOS of 824 c® 10 April 1943. He was appointed to the grade of Sergeant 4 February 1947* HiB AGCT is 97 an1 he is skilled in his MOS. Sergeant Brown has met a Board of Officers at this headquarters and is recommended for this promotion.

JACK J. GA3TCN Lt Col, US&F Commanding

Appendix 9 Letter recommending promotion of Sergeant Brown, May 1948. U.S. Air Force


278

APPENDIXES

Ax cession Number 339

Directory of Databases

ACCESSION NUMBER: 339 Database Name

NORAD Unknown Traci Reporting System

Acronym

NUTR

Update Frequency

Monthly

Beginning Date

1971

Size

7,000

Producer Name Address

North American Aerospace Defense Command HQ NORAD/NPY, Peterson AFB, CO 80914-5001

Coo tact

Wingcard. R. O.

COMMERCIAL

AUTOVON

(303) 554-3758

692-3758

Distributor Name Address Coo tact

North American Aerospace Defense Command HQ NORAD/NPY, Peterson AFB. CO 80914-5001 Wingcard, R. O.

COMMERCIAL

AUTOVON

(303) 554-3758

692-3758

Generator Name Address Coo tact

North American Aerospace Defense Command HQ NOR AD/NT Y, Peterson AFB. CO 80914-5001 Wingeard. R. O.

Aval Lability

Limited

Database Type

Alphanumeric

Program Language

Pascal

Computer

Zenith-150

Documentation

Available

C Lass Lfi cal ion

Secret

Online Access

No

COMMERCIAL

AUTOVON

(303) 554-37 5 8

692-3 7 5 8

Cost Military Sponsor

Au Force

Descriptors

Air Force; Aircraft; Greenland; Iceland; Identification; Latitude; Longitude; North America; Number of Unknowns; Region; Scramble Actions; Scramble Bases; Soviet Traffic; Tracking; United Kingdom

Abstract

The NORAD Unknown Track Reporting System records details of all air traffic declared unknown in North America and the Greenland- Iceland-United Kingdom Gap. Data are used by a wide variety of users in NORAD, USAF, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Canadian NDHQ, and region commanders in a continuing assessment of airspace sovereignty.

Appendix 10 An extract from the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Directory of Databases, relating to the NORAD Unknown Track Reporting System. 7,000 unknown objects were tracked from 1971-1990, but details are classified Secret (see Appendix 11). NORAD/Citizens Against UFO Secrecy


APPENDIXES

279

Appendix 11

NORAD SECRET**"

****NORAD SECRET*'

Censored information from the records of NORAD’s Unknown Track Reporting System. NORAD/Citizens Against UFO Secrecy


280

APPENDIXES

JANUARY MM

Appendix 12 A Defense Intelligence Agency security poster, 1984. Robert ShupinglDlA


abductions: blood samples, 93, 94 genetic experiments, 40 government knowledge of, 40 hybridization, 50 hypnotic regression, 40, 86, 93, 94 implants, 40, 94 messages, 83, 87, 94 nature of, 40, 94, 95, 220 sexual encounters, 92-94 Adams, Tom, 53, 141, 144 Adamski, George, 77, 82, 256, 257 Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), 43, 45, 62 Aerojet General Corporation, 80 Aggen, Erich A., 252 aircraft disappearances, 25-27, 241 Alamogordo Army Air Field, 102 alien anatomy, 89, 113, 115, 134 alien autopsies, 176, 227 alien bases, 57, 70, 79, 92, 110, 137, 208-209, 210, 240-241 alien “deal,” 40, 57, 137 alien infiltration, 77, 78, 80, 90, 91 “Alien Life Forms,” 116 Alien Technology Center, 139 Allen, Franklin, 73 alpha particles, 182, 203 “Alternative Space Craft” (ASC), 233, 234 Altshuler, Dr. John, 41-42, 60 Anderson, Gerald, 102-104 Andrews, John, 139 animal mutilations: Alamosa (Colorado), 41-42, 43—44 aliens, sightings of, 40, 55-56, 57-58, 62, 64, 69, 70 Animal Mutilation Project (FBI), 52, 61 Atropine, use of, 48 attitude of Indians, 55 Bosler (Wyoming), 54 cellular changes, 42 Clayton (New Mexico), 269 Colorado ranch case, 63-64, 66

Copperas Cove (Texas), 47 Corona (New Mexico), 270 Denver (Colorado), 59 DPS investigation, 47 documentaries on, 117 Dulce (New Mexico), 47-50, 51, 52, 57 enzymes, 40 exsanguination, 59 FAA investigation, 53 FBI investigations, 46, 47, 52-53, 61, 64, 273-274 Freedom of Information requests, 53 genetic experiments, 57, 60 germ warfare tests, 43, 59, 70 government involvement, 40, 43, 44, 45, 48, 5859, 70 helicopters, 44, 46, 53-54, 56, 57, 59, 70-71 Hope (Arkansas), 59-60 hormonal secretions, 40 imprints, 41, 44, 47, 48, 49 Kansas City (Missouri), 45 laser surgery, 41, 42, 60 Lincoln County (Nevada), 147 liver analysis, 49 lymph nodes, 48, 49, 50 Madison County (Montana), 54 markings on catde, 50, 51 Nara Visa (New Mexico), 269 photomicrographs, 60 predators, 43, 48-49, 53 Puerto Rico, 27 purpose of, 40, 60 Questa (New Mexico), 270 radiation, 41, 48, 49-50 Raton (New Mexico), 269 rewards, 43, 63 Satanic cults, 43, 48, 50, 147 spectroscopic tests, 51, 52, 53 Springer (New Mexico), 269 Sterling (Colorado), 54—55 substances, 48, 49, 51-53, 60 tissue samples, 41-42 UFO sightings, 27, 42, 43, 45, 46-47, 51, 52, 53, 54-55, 56, 59


282

INDEX

animal mutilations (cont.) ultraviolet-light tests, 51 vigilante groups, 46 Vitamin B12, 49 Waco (Texas), 58 anomalous atmospheric phenomena, 29, 33 antimatter, 181-182, 184, 186 “antimatter reactor,” 151, 180-182, 186-187, 219, 222 Apache Indian Reservation (Duke, New Mexico), 51 Archuleta Mesa (New Mexico), 57 Area 51/Groom Lake (Nevada), 138, 170, 171, 174, 175, 193, 198, 199, 209, 219, 254, 255 alien base, 137 alien habitat, 141 cattle mutilations, 147 disappearances of personnel, 146 land seizure, 148-149 Red Flag exercises, 144-145 research into recovered discs, 141, 142, 143, 144 secret aircraft, 138, 149-150 security, 140, 141, 145, 146, 149, 150, 192-193, 207 sightings of discs/UFOs, 139-140, 141, 145-146, 147, 199, 200 Soviet aircraft, 139 underground facility, 140-141, 207 see also Nevada Test Site; S-4 Arecibo radio telescope, 27, 259 Ascension, the, 212 Ashpole, Edward, 243 Atomic Energy Commission, 139, 140, 145, 169 Aurora project, 149, 150, 255 Australian Defense Department, 110 Aviation Week & Space Technology, 149-150 Avro-Car (VZ-9), 143-144 Banuk, Ronald, 179 Barnes, Fred, 81 Barnes, Mark, 150 Barnett, Grady, 99, 103, 106 Barros, Luis Fernandes, 92 Basiago, Andrew, 207-208 BDM International, 218, 221, 258 Bean, Alan, 225 Bean, Beverley, 15, 99-100 Belgian Air Force, 32-33, 264, 265, 267 Belgian Defense Ministry, 31-32, 267 Bell, Griffin B., 272 Bell JetRanger, 23, 54 Benezet, Mr., 149 Bennewitz, Paul, 56-58, 117, 210 Bentwaters AFB, 40 Bergman, Jules, 216 Berliner, Don, 104 Bible, the, 212 “Bible” (CIA), 133 “Bigfoot,” 63, 64, 65, 69, 71, 83 Birin, Capt. V., 30 black box (alien device), 68, 69, 87 black budget, 125, 238 Black Knight rocket, 107, 108 black programs, 120, 150, 238 Blue Berets, 141 Blum, Howard, 126 Boeing 737, 174 Bolender, Brig. Gen., 129 Bonneau, Daniel, 211, 254 Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, 73 Bowker, Lt. Col. Robert, 98 Bracebridge (Ontario) encounter, 88-89

Bradshaw, Jane, 147 Brazel, “Mac,” 97, 98-99 Brazilian Navy Intelligence, 39, 181, 222-223 Brenig, Dr. Leon, 264, 265 British Aerospace 748, 33 Brookings Institution, 73, 214 Brown, Sgt. Melvin, 15, 99-101, 276-277 Brubaker, Curt, 127 Bryant, Larry, 104-105 Bulloch, Toni, 204, 205 Burbach, Senator Jules, 46 Bureau of Land Management, 148 Burgess, Dr. Howard, 48, 50-52, 56 Burrows, William E., 173 Burtoo, Alfred, 256 Bush, Dr. Vannevar, 123 Bush, President George, 174, 215, 226, 240 Buskirk, Dr., 103 California Institute of Technology, 203 California State University, 203 Cameron, Grant, 253, 254, 258 Canadian Government, 88, 105 Canadian National Defense Headquarters, 234 Canadian UFO Research Network (CUFORN), 88 Cannon AFB, 141, 145 Carmichael, Barbara, 235 Carpenter, John, 102 Carraizo (Puerto Rico) sighting, 242 Carswell AFB, 106, 228, 229 Carter, President Jimmy, 79, 118 Carter document, 117-120, 121, 122, 137 Cash, Betty, 57, 136 Cassity, Burl, 101-102 Catton, Lt. Col. Jack, 277 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 17, 34, 39, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 125, 130, 133, 143, 169, 174, 207, 215, 218, 219, 220, 226, 227, 237, 258, 262, 263 Cernan, Eugene, 225 Chipping Warden (U.K.) sighting, 23-24 Christ, 116, 212-213 Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), 104, 234, 235 Clark, Jerome, 252 Coeme, Guy, 33 Coleman, Col. William, 111, 112, 128-129, 253 Collins, Capt. Robert M., 127, 211, 254 Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 46 Committee for State Security (KGB), 31, 207 compartmentalization, 18, 121, 130, 151, 173, 176, 209, 216, 219-220 Condon Report, 129 “Condor,” 124, 127-128, 131, 137, 138, 208-209, 210, 211, 254 Conrad, Charles, 225 Cooper, Gordon, 76-77 Corona (New Mexico) recovery, 96-97, 104, 106 see also Magdalena; Roswell Cosmic Journey project, 224-229, 230, 232, 237-238 see also National Aeronautics; Space and Administration Council on Foreign Relations, 214-215 Cram, T. Scott, 253, 254, 258 Creighton, Gordon, 34, 94 cropfield circles, 237 Cruz, Freddie, 27-28, 240-241 Dalnegorsk (USSR) recovery, 106-107 Danielson, Allen, 46 Day the Earth Stood Still, The, 131 Dean, Robert, 260


INDEX deaths of scientists, 186-187, 210 De Brouwer, Col. Wilfried, 33, 264—265, 267 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), 17, 27, 36, 120, 121, 122, 125-126, 127, 143, 215, 262, 263, 280 Defense Intelligence Staff see Ministry of Defense Defense Investigative Service, 146, 172 Defense Science Board, 215, 217 De Havilland Aircraft Company, 78 De Los Reyes, Samantha, 101-102 Delta Force, 149 demonology, 94-95 “Dennis,” 151-152, 173, 193 Department of Defense, 27, 110, 169, 172, 238 Department of Energy (DOE), 169, 173, 202, 262 Department of Justice, 271, 272 Department of Public Safety (DPS), 47 Department of State, 17, 244, 262 Derr, Dr. John, 14, 62, 71 Derr, Janet, 62 Dfaz Martinez, Dr. Leopoldo, 89-91 disinformation, 18—19, 57, 92, 109, 110, 114, 117, 118, 124, 130-131, 135, 138, 142-143, 205, 210, 212, 243 Dobbs, David, 139, 140 Dorr, Robert F., 15, 142-144 Doty, Richard C., 114—117, 122, 124, 126—127, 132, 211, 212 Douglas DC-4, 21, 22 Downing, Dr. Barry, 212 “Dreamland” see Area 51/Groom Lake Duke (New Mexico), 47-50, 51, 56, 57, 210, 274 Duplantier, Gene, 247 Dvuzhilni, Valeri, 106—107 Edwards, Col. Ernest E., 57 Edwards, Lt. Col. George, 144 Edwards AFB, 73—75, 76, 80, 112, 277 EG&G (Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier), 169, 170, 171, 174, 196, 255 Eisenhower, President Dwight, 40, 74, 75, 118, 121, 123, 277 electrical damage by UFOs, 242 electrical interference/power failures caused by UFOs, 62, 132, 146, 185, 236, 242 Electromagnetic Continuity Analysis Center, 217 Electromagnetic Pulse Project (EMP), 217, 258 electromagnetism (in UFO propulsion), 181, 184, 185 Element 103, 182 Element 115/116, 181, 182, 186, 206 Ellington Field see National Aeronautics and Space Administration Embassy Security Survey, 217 Emenegger, Robert, 14, 111-112, 113, 117, 225 Erianne, George, 58-59 E.T., 81, 131 Exhibition of Economic Achievements (Moscow), 31 Expo ’92, 238 Extraterrestrial Biological Entities (EBEs): abductions, purpose of, 40 anatomy, 115, 133-134 autopsies, 133, 134, 176 communications with, 115, 1F8-M20, 132—133 defensive system, 132 diet, 134, 135 EBE-1, 115, 118-119, 120, 132 EBE-2, 115, 132, 133 EBE-3, 115, 133 “exchange program” with, 132, 133

283

genetic manipulation by, 116, 211, 212 government “deal” with, 40, 57, 137 language difficulties, 118-119, 133 life span, 134 medical examinations, 119, 134 music, 135 origin, 115, 119, 133, 134, 211 recoveries of, 115, 118, 119, 133 religion, 134-135, 211-212 survival of, 115, 118, 119 “Falcon,” 114, 124-125, 126-127, 129-131, 132135, 136-137, 138, 208-209, 210, 211 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 26, 39, 53, 150 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 17, 46, 47, 5253, 64, 121, 122, 126, 146, 193, 262, 273274 Feld, Kenneth, 224 Feld Productions Inc., 224, 238 Figueroa, Miguel, 239 Fischer, John, 123 Flying Complaints Flight see Royal Air Force Flying Saucer Review, 31,77 Fontes, Dr. Olavo, 39, 93, 181, 222-223 Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 215 Forrestal, James, 123 Fort Allen (Puerto Rico) sighting, 241 Freedom of Information Act, 17, 53, 104-105, 120, 125, 130, 234, 235 Friedman, Stanton, 96, 102, 104, 123, 203 Friend, Col. Robert, 128 Frost, John, 143 Fry, Daniel, 14, 79-80, 84, 186, 243-244 Fund for UFO Research, 106, 123, 251-252 Gammon, Col. Robert, 143-144 General Dynamics F-16, 32-33 General Dynamics F-lll, 145 General Dynamics/McDonnell Douglas A-12, 149 genetic manipulation (by aliens), 39, 40, 57, 60, 79, 116, 211, 212 German disc research, 143 Gersten, Peter, 122 Girodo, Lou, 55-56 Girvan, Waveney, 77, 78 Gleason, Jackie, 104—105 Goldwater, Senator Barry, 122 Gomez, Manuel, 47, 49, 50, 51 Gomez, Mauricio, 50 Goodall, James, 138-139, 200, 254 Goodman, Billy, 257, 258 Gorbachev, President Mikhail, 31, 81 Gordon, Stan, 97 Government Communications Headquarters (U.K.), 36 Graham, Lee, 97 Graham, Leroy, 51-52 Graves, Harry, 54-55 gravitational distortion, 183, 185, 188-189, 191-192, 257 gravitons, 182 gravity amplifiers/generators, 178, 182-183, 185, 189, 191-192, 219 Great Sand Dunes National Monument (Colorado) sighting, 42 Green Berets, 149 green fireballs, 120-121, 252 Greenwood, Barry, 116, 123 Grevler, Ann, 75


284

INDEX

Griffith, Ambassador, 76 Groom Lake see Area 51 Groom Mountain Range, 148-149, 150, 199, 200 Groznyy (Chechen-Ingush) sighting, 30-31 Grumman F-14, 26 Guerin, Dr. Pierre, 60-61 Gulf Breeze (Florida) sightings, 191, 217, 219, 236 Gunston, Bill, 139 Haines, Dr. Richard, 23, 93, 94 Hall, Buchard, 77 Hall, Ross, 78 hallucination, 22-23, 71, 72 Hamilton III, William, 150 Haskell, Senator Floyd, 46 Hastings, Robert, 123, 127 Haut, Walter, 106 Hayakawa, Norio, 200 Helms, Paul Roy, 74 Henderson, Capt. O.W., 106 Herrmann, William, 87 hieroglyphs (alien), 97-98, 185-186 Hieronimus, Dr. Robert, 216 Hieronimus, Dr. Zoh, 216 Hillenkoetter, Vice Adm. Roscoe, 123 Hill-Norton, Adm. Lord, 11-12, 15, 216, 217, 260 Hineman, Everett, 218, 219-221 Holloman AFB, 88, 112-114, 116, 254 Holt, AJan, 184-185 Homestead AFB, 104, 105 Hopkins, Budd, 40 “Horner,” Col., 112 House of Representatives, 26, 148-149 Howe, Linda, 14, 42, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 113, 114117, 122, 126, 132, 137, 211, 212, 225 Huff, Gene, 14, 169, 170-171, 189, 190-191, 192193 Huffman (Texas) sighting, 57, 136-137 Hunt, Mike, 139-140 Hynek, Dr. J. Allen, 45 hyperspace travel, 184-185, 192 hypnosis (as a security measure), 176, 206 hypnotic regression, 86, 93, 102, 206 IBM, 60 “Identified Alien Crafts” (IAC), 115, 118, 120 incubi, 95 Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, 175, 193, 195 indoctrination program, 18-19, 111, 113, 122, 131, 212-213, 217, 221, 225, 245 Ingraham, Raymond, 43-45 injuries from UFOs, 57, 67, 83-84, 92, 93 Inman, Adm. Bobby Ray, 14, 214-215, 220, 223224 Institute for Defense Analysis, 124, 214, 215 Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 202 invisibility of aliens and craft, 55, 56, 74, 75-76, 185 Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation, 46 Jackson, Bill, 55 Jacobs, Dr. David M., 247 Joint Chiefs of Staff, 125, 130, 216, 219, 234, 263, 278 Joint Verification Experiment, 255 Just Cause, 104 Keck, Layne, 206 Kecksburg (Pennsylvania) recovery, 97-98 Kecskemet (Hungary) encounter, 239

Keesler AFB, 233 Kellenbarger, Mike, 43, 45 Kelley, Clarence, 46 KGB see Committee for State Security Kiev (Ukraine) encounter, 239 Kinder, Gary, 256 King, Harry, 44 King, Melanie, 229-230 King, Tom, 216, 223 Kirchgessner, Robert, 224-225 Kirtland AFB, 56, 57, 114, 115, 117, 120, 202 Klass, Philip J., 123 KLAS-TV (Las Vegas), 14, 150, 193, 197, 255, 257 Knapp, George, 14, 151-152, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176, 177, 181, 186, 187, 193, 197-200, 202, 208, 209 Kremlin Palace, 81 Kromschroeder, John, 106 KVEG Radio (Las Vegas), 196 “L,” Col., 146 Lacas, Victoria, 114 Lade, John, 77-78 Laguna Cartagena see Puerto Rico Lamm, Governor Richard, 47 Lamm, Senator Charles, 147 Landrum, Vickie, 136 Las Vegas District Court, 204 Las Vegas Metro Vice Squad, 204 Layne, Meade, 73, 277 Lazar, Carol, 202, 204 Lazar, Robert, 14, 219, 221, 245 amnesia, 176, 206, 212 arrest, 204-205 as a participant in an indoctrination program, 212213, 221 Aurora project, knowledge of, 255 background, 172, 202-204 blood tests, 206 breaking security, reasons for, 194-196 corroborative evidence for claims, 137, 138-144, 145-146, 147, 150, 181, 190-192, 198-200, 201-202, 207-208, 213, 222 court case, 204-205 debriefing, 193, 195 “Dennis” pseudonym, 151, 152 designing and engineering skills, 203 discrediting efforts, 194, 202, 203-204, 212 drugs and hypnosis, 176, 206 hypnotic regression, 176, 206 interviews for job at S-4, 169, 170, 172 intimidation and threats, 151, 176, 193-194, 195, 206 IRS findings, 202 meeting with Dr. Edward Teller, 171-172 official denials of claims, 171, 201, 202 polygraph tests, 197 prostitution, involvement in, 204-205 qualifications, problems with, 202-203 relationship with John Lear, 169, 170 security clearances of, 172-173, 209 Social Security Administration findings, 202 Special Background Investigation, 172 W-2 form, 173, 201-202, 205 see also S-4; Area 51/Groom Lake Lazar, Tracy, 189, 190, 192 Lear, Bill, 21-23 Lear, John, 14, 39-40, 110, 145, 169-171, 189, 190, 192-193, 198


INDEX

Lear, William P., 22 Lebedev, Nikolai, 30, 106, 107 Lee, Elsa, 23 Lehman, Judge, 204-205 LeMay, Gen. Curtis, 122 Leningrad television, 31 Leon, Peter, 126 Leonov, Alexei, 225 Le Poer Trench, Brinsley, 75 Leslie, Desmond, 74-75 Light, Gerald, 73-74, 275 Lockheed-Califomia Company, 139, 207 Lockheed F-117A, 138, 139, 149, 254, 267 Lockheed P-38, 21 Lockheed SR-71, 150, 170, 255 London Air Traffic Control Center, 24 Los Alamos Medical Laboratories, 49 Los Alamos National Laboratory, 102, 111, 115, 171, 172, 198, 202, 203 Lounsberry, William, 106 Luckman, Michael, 250 Lukens, John, 204 Maccabee, Dr. Bruce, 237 McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas), 169, 174 McChesney, Dr. Albert, 59 McConnell, Lamont, 85 McDonald, W. M., 235 McDonnell Douglas F-18, 241 McGuire, Pat, 54 McIntyre, Bishop, 73 McKittrick, Beverly, 104, 105 McNamara, Robert, 45 McNeill, Ginny, 255 McQuiston, Charles, 88 Magdalena (New Mexico) recovery, 98-99, 102-104 see also Corona; Roswell Majestic-12 (MJ-12): briefing document, 40, 98, 121, 123, 124 clearance, 172-173, 202 dubious provenance of document, 123 FBI investigation, 121, 126 MJ-SETI, 126 organization, 115—116, 118, 120, 123—124, 125, 128, 135, 214 Majowicz, Mike, 172 Maltais, Verne, 106 Maltsev, Gen. Igor, 28-29, 30 “Mann,” Sgt., 112 Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Area (New Mexico) sightings, 57 Marcel, Dr. Jesse, 97, 106 Marcel, Maj. Jesse, 97, 101, 106 Mariani, Dennis, 173, 193—194 Marshall, Gen. George, 105-106 Martin, Jorge, 15, 25, 27, 28, 239, 240, 241, 242243 Martinez, Mr., 50 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 203 Meier, Eduard (“Billy”), 177, 256 Mercado, Carlos Manuel, 240 Merritt, Al, 38 Merritt, Elizabeth, 37-38 Miami (Florida) encounter, 239 Michaud, Michael, 244-245 microgravity, 230-231 Mil Mi-2, 24 Miller, Norman, 80-81, 250 Millis, M.G., 184 Ministry of Defense (U.K.): approaches to witnesses, 37

285

attitude to UFOs, 24, 33, 38-39 budget for UFO research (1978), 39 CIA liaison, 34 Defense Intelligence Agency Liaison (DIALL), 36 Defense Intelligence Staff, 34, 35-36 Deputy Directorate of Intelligence, 34, 36-37 Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, 34, 37 Government Buildings (Acton), 34—35 Main Building (Whitehall), 36 Metropole Building, 34, 35 top-secret UFO investigations, 34-35, 36, 39 USAF liaison, 34 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality, 85 Mitchell, Andrew, 38 Mitchell, Dr. Edgar, 206-207 Monteith, Dr. Henry, 55 Moody, Sgt. Charles, 86-88 Moore, William, 14, 56—57, 88, 96, 117—118, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 131, 132, 135, 137, 170-171, 225 Morris, Dr. Michael, 184 Muller, Robert, 91 Muroc Air Base see Edwards AFB Murphy, Mark, 54 mutilations see animal mutilations Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), 216, 224 mystery aircraft, 56 Nalchik Airport (Kabardino-Balkar) sighting, 24-25 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 214, 225, 226, 231, 232, 238 activities in Puerto Rico, 241 Ambassador (shuttle mock-up), 226, 228, 230 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 215 “bunker,” 231-232 Cosmic Journey project, involvement with, 224, 225, 226, 227, 230, 232 denial of claims by Bob Oechsler, 237 Ellington Field, 229, 230, 232 Goddard Space Flight Center, 215 International Ultra-Violet Explorer, 215 Johnson Space Center, 230, 233 microgravity chamber, 230—231 protein crystal experiments, 231 SETI budget, 238 SETI program, 215, 238, 243 space shuttle orbiter, 226, 230 National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), 77, 253 National Military Command Center (NMCC), 130 National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), 227 National Science Foundation, 124 National Security Agency (NSA), 17, 36, 109-110, 120, 121, 122, 125, 135-136, 214, 215, 262 National Security Council (NSC), 17, 118, 125, 148 National Space Council, 226, 237-238, 259 NATO see North Atlantic Treaty Organization NBC Nightly News, 200 Nebraska National Guard, 46 Needham, Bob, 38 Nellis AFB, 138, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145-146, 169, 199, 200 Nellis Air Force Range, 138, 140, 146, 199, 219 Nevada Test Site, 138, 146—147, 149, 169, 170, 175, 186-187, 199, 255 see also Area 51/Groom Lake


286

INDEX

New Mexico State Police, 47, 269-270 Nickell, Joe, 123 Nippon Television Network, 194, 200 Nixon, President Richard, 104 Nolla, Col. Jose, 27 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), 232-235, 278-279 North American B-25, 128 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 144, 216, 260, 263 Northrop B-2, 208, 267 Northrop TR-3A, 149, 255 Norton AFB, 111 Nourse, Dr. Edwin, 73 Noyes, Ralph, 15 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 172 Nuebert, Michael, 38-39 Nunnallee, Capt., 141 Oates, Dr. Chris, 60 Oberth, Dr. Hermann, 91-92 Oechsler, Mary, 237 Oechsler, Robert, 14, 63, 101-102, 222 alien encounter, 229-230 background, 215-216, 225, 226, 228 “bunker” visit, 231-232 CIA visits, 219-221, 237 conversations with Admiral Inman, 214, 216-218 conversations with Rear Admiral Shapiro, 221-222, 223 on Electromagnetic Pulse Project, 258 followed by car, 237 helicopter incident, 235, 236, 237 helicopter ride, 232-233 investigations into Lazar’s W-2 form, 201-202 involvement with Cosmic Journey project, 225, 226-229, 230, 232, 237 memory problems, 63, 229, 230 microgravity chamber visit, 230-231 NORAD platform visit, 232-234 official denials, 223-224, 237 Pentagon visit, 226-229 UFO sightings, 235, 236, 237 on videotape analysis, 191-192 visit by Army colonel, 235-236, 237 Office of Strategic Services, 207 Old Executive Office Building, 237 O’Leary, Dr. Brian, 245 Oliver, Dr. Bernard, 243 Ontario Provincial Police, 88 Overlade, Dr. Dan, 220 Papoose Dry Lake (Nevada), 174, 175, 176, 177 Papoose Mountain Range, 174 paralysis (by aliens), 63, 67 Parrish, Lt., 145 Paynter, Bill, 80, 250 Pensacola Naval Air Station, 219 Pentagon, the, 88, 111, 128, 130, 144, 226-229, 230, 258 Pereslavl-Zalesskiy (Russia) sighting, 29-30 Petersen, Maj. Hans, 81-82 Philadelphia Experiment, 88 Phillips, Col. Harold E., 126 Phillips, Col. R., 125 Pickle, Congressman J. J., 246 Pine Gap (Australia), 109-110 polygraph tests, 85, 197 Pratt, Bob, 92 Project Aquarius, 116, 118, 120, 125, 126 Project Aurora, 149, 150, 255

Project Bando, 119 Project Blue Book, 45, 111, 118, 127-129 Project Galileo, 209 Project Garnet, 116 Project Gleem, 118, 119 Project Looking Glass, 209 Project Overview, 210 Project Pounce, 120 Project Red Light, 139-141 Project Sidekick, 209-210 Project Sigma, 116, 119, 120, 121 Project Snowbird, 57, 116, 120, 121, 136-137, 186 Prokoshin, S., 30 Provost and Security Services see Royal Air Force Psychological Stress Evaluation (PSE), 87-88 Public Record Office (U.K.), 37 Puerto Rico: aircraft disappearances, 25-27, 241 alien base, 240, 241 alien encounters, 239, 240 alien liaison, 28, 241, 242 blue smoke, 240 Cabo Rojo sightings, 25-28, 240-241 Department of Natural Resources, 27 earth tremor and explosion, 240 electrical blackout/damage, 242 Fort Allen sighting, 241 Geographical Intelligence, 27 Government Operations, 27 Laguna Cartagena mcidents/sightings, 28, 239-241 NASA activities, 241 National Guard, 27 Observatory of Arecibo, 27, 259 official responses, 25-27 Senate hearing, 27 State Agency of Civil Defense, 27, 240 U.S. Army briefings, 241-242 U.S. monitoring stations, 240 “Q” clearance, 139, 172 Quayle, Vice President Dan, 226, 238 Quintinilla, Maj. Hector, 45 radar cases, 24-25, 27, 29-30, 31, 32-33, 55, 82, 112, 140, 150, 199, 233, 234-235 radiation from UFOs, 41, 48, 49-50, 57, 93, 136, 185 Ramirez, Quintin, 240 Randle, Kevin, 96, 102 Randles, Jenny, 247 Reagan, Nancy, 80 Reagan, President Ronald, 79, 80-81, 250, 258 Redfern, Nicholas, 14—15, 36, 37 Research and Development Board, 105, 124 “reverse engineering,” 179 Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company, 196, 255 Riabishev, Maj. P., 31 Rich, Ben, 139 Richards, Sheriff, 46 Ridpath, Ian, 243 Ringling Brothers and Bamum and Bailey International Inc., 224 Rittenhouse, John, 148-149 Rockwell International, 224, 226 Rodeffer, Madeleine, 257 Rogers, Rear Adm. David, 26-27 Romansky, Jim, 98 Rommel, Kenneth, Jr., 52-53, 273-274 Rosenbaum, Dr., 85


INDEX

Roswell Army Air Field, 97, 99, 101, 106 Roswell (New Mexico) recovery, 99-100, 101, 115 see also Corona; Magdalena Royal Air Force (U.K.) CIA liaison with, 34 Deputy Directorate of Intelligence, 34, 36 Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, 34, 37 fighter controllers and UFOs, 33 Flying Complaints Flight (FCF), 34-36 Provost and Security Services, 34-36 RAF Honington, 38 RAF Rudloe Manor, 34, 35 RAF Topcliffe, 37 top-secret UFO investigations, 34-35, 36, 37, 39 U.S. Air Force liaison with, 34 see also Ministry of Defense Royal Danish Air Force, 81-82 Russian Security Ministry and Foreign Intelligence Service, 31 Sandia National Laboratories, 48, 50, 55, 103, 120, 127, 202 Sandler, Allan, 111, 112 Sarbacher, Dr. Robert, 105 Saul’s conversion, 212 Schmid, Jack, 238 Schmitt, Donald, 96, 102 Schmitt, Senator Harrison, 53, 258, 271-272 Schoenfeld, Dr. Robert, 52 Schoenfeld Clinical Laboratories, 51, 52 Schultz, Gary, 200 Scott, William B., 150 Scully, Frank, 98, 105, 222 “Seagull,” 120 SEALs see United States Navy Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), 238, 243 Secret Service, 199 Security Service (U.K.), 36 Seiberling, Congressman John F., 148-149 Seixas, Elias, 93-94 Seligman, Michael, 127 Semenchenko, Lt. Col., 29 Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), 121, 173, 216 S-4 test site, 145, 169, 170, 171, 173, 185, 186, 195, 201, 206, 212, 219, 221 alien presence, 152, 208-209 as “pure theater,” 205—206 as “set-up,” 170 as “S/FOUR,” 170-171 briefing papers, 176, 209-212 claims of construction worker, 196 confusion with other S-4 test sites, 170 deaths of personnel, 210 equipment at site, 179, 205-206 hangars, 174-175, 206 location of, 174, 175, 176, 200 presence of other craft, 151, 187 security, 176, 188, 206 “Sport Model,” 177-179, 180-181, 182-183, 185-186 test flights, 187—188, 189, 190—191 Shadow (UAV), 149, 255 Shakleford, Richard, 140 Shandera, Jaime, 14, 121, 123, 124, 126, 129-130, 131, 132-133, 135, 136 Shapiro, Rear Adm. Sumner, 218, 221—222, 223 Shartle, Paul, 111, 113-114

287

Shevardnadze, Edvard, 81 Shirkey, Robert, 106 Shults, Jim, 139 Silka, V., 24 “Skunk Works” (Lockheed-California), 139 Slay, Ron, 197 Smith, Gen. Walter Bedell, 17 Smith, Wilbert, 105 Social Security Administration, 202 Societe Beige d’Etude des Phenomenes Spatiaux (SOBEPS), 33, 264 Socorro (New Mexico) encounter, 114 Sosa, Wilson, 25-26 Soviet Air Force, 28-31 Soviet Government, 11 communications with aliens, 136 Soviet Navy, 106-107 Soviet Union, collapse of, 18 Soviet/U.S. cooperation, 139 alien technology, 151-152 alien threat, 81 EMP project, 255 nuclear test monitoring, 255 Space Coupling Propulsion, 184 Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS), 234 space shuttle orbiter see National Aeronautics and Space Administration space-time distortion, 95, 182-185, 189 see also gravitational distortion “Sparrow,” 127 Special Access Programs (SAPs), 173, 238 Special Background Investigation (SBI), 172 Special Development Group (Kenneth Feld Productions), 224-226 speed of light, 183, 184, 185 Spiegel, Lee, 76 Spielberg, Steven, 81 Sprinkle, Dr. Leo, 14, 62, 71 spy satellites, 110, 227 Stafford, Thomas, 225 Star of Bethlehem, 212 Star Trek, 184 “Star Wars” see Strategic Defense Initiative Statser, Larry, 52 stealth aircraft, 138, 139, 149-150, 170, 200, 208, 232, 254, 267 Steinman, William, 14, 105, 140, 147 Sterling (Colorado) sightings, 54-55 Stevens, Lt. Col. Wendelle, 14, 140—141, 145, 146, 147 Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 139, 152, 171, 174 Strieber, Whitley, 94 Stringfield, Leonard, 96, 97, 127, 251 Stripling, Juanita, 59-60 succubi, 95 Suffern, Robert, 88-89 “superbomb,” 186, 245 Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), 260, 263 Tafoya, Raleigh, 51 Taos (New Mexico) sightings, 51, 52, 56, 274 Tarnaszentmaria (Hungary) encounter, 239 TASS news agency, 239 Tavernetti, Terry, 197 telepathy (with aliens), 77, 79, 82, 86, 103, 229, 230 Teller, Dr. Edward, 171-172 thermoelectric generator, 182 Thome, Dr. Kip, 184


288

INDEX

time distortion, 182-184, 189 time travel, 182, 183, 184, 185 Todd, Robert, 235 Tokarz, Harry, 88 Tonopah Test Range Airfield (TTR), 138, 139, 140, 141, 145, 175, 254 translation devices (alien), 83, 114 translucence (in alien technology), 84, 185-186 Troston (U.K.) sighting, 37-38 Truman, President Harry, 123, 124, 133 Turner, Adm. Stansfield, 173 Twining, Gen. Nathan, 101 UFO Education Center, 90 “UFO Working Group,” 126 United Kingdom Government, 36 United Nations, 76—77, 90, 91 United States Air Force (USAF), 44, 62, 71, 74-75, 76, 84, 86, 88, 100, 111, 113, 114, 115, 120, 122, 127, 128, 129, 136, 139, 143-145, 148149, 150, 215, 225, 253, 263, 267, 277, 278 Air Defense Command, 66 Air Force Academy, 43 Air Force Manual, 190-4, 253 Air Force Space Command, 235 Air Materiel Command, 101 Air National Guard, 66 Air Technical Intelligence Center, 142 Air Technical Intelligence Command, 98 Alien Technology Center, 139 author’s apology to, 253 bases, indexed, separately Groom Lake, see Area 51 Groom Range land seizure, 148-149 Human Reliability Program (HRP), 88 Intelligence, 17, 34, 56-57, 121, 122, 262, 263 Office of Special Investigations (OSI), 56-57, 111, 114, 117 Project Blue Book, 45, 111, 118, 127-129 Red Flag, 144-145 Strategic Air Command (SAC), 122, 234 Tactical Air Command, 145 27th Tactical Fighter Wing, 141, 145 37th Tactical Fighter Wing, 138 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 139 United States Army, 82, 100, 136, 143-144, 235236, 276 Army Air National Guard, 97 Army News Service, 105 Army Reserve, 241 briefing on aliens, 241-242 Intelligence, 17, 45, 122, 262 United States Chamber of Commerce, 216 United States Congress, 106, 174, 196, 253 United States Government, 11, 15, 28, 40, 43, 56, 57, 58-59, 81, 88-89, 105, 110, 111, 114, 116, 127, 129, 130, 131, 136, 137, 138, 142-143, 150-151, 169, 174, 179, 200, 224, 242 United States Intelligence Community, 18, 36, 57, 117, 121, 122, 133, 135, 170, 173, 174, 213, 214, 217, 220, 222, 224, 225, 226, 229, 237, 262

United States Marine Corps, 144, 262 United States Navy, 88, 125, 136, 144, 152, 201, 215, 221, 237, 241 “Department of Naval Intelligence,” 173, 201, 205 Naval Intelligence Support Center, 120, 125 Naval Observatory (Washington, D.C.), 125 Naval Research Advisory Committee, 124 Naval Space Surveillance System, 234 Navy Auxiliary, 140-141 Office of Naval Intelligence, 17, 88, 121, 122, 125, 173, 201, 205, 214, 215, 218, 221, 223, 262 Sea-Air-Land units (SEALs), 149 United States Postal Service, 201 United States Senate, 271, 272 University of Maryland, 214, 215, 216 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), 149 Uribe, Mitchell, 147 Utah (recovery), 119 Valdez, Gabriel, 47-50, 53 Valentich, Frederick, 25 Vallee, Dr. Jacques, 92, 205-206 Van Arsdale, Dr. Peter, 14, 62, 71 Velazquez, Santiago, 25 Velazquez, Yesenia, 25 Villas Boas, Antonio, 92-93 Von Braun, Dr. Wemher, 91 Voronezh (Russia) encounters, 75-76, 239 Waco (Texas) encounter, 58 Walker, Dr. Eric A., 124 Walters, Ed, 191, 219, 236, 237, 239 Walters, Frances, 219, 239 Walton, Travis, 83-86, 186 Watergate scandal, 112, 148 Weinbrenner, Col. George, 111 Westerman, John W., 125-126 White House, 74, 79, 81, 17 130, 237, 263 White Sands Missile Rang Jd, 102 Williams, Marion Leo, 207-208 Winfrey, Oprah, 206-207 Wolverton, Keith, 55 Woodbridge AFB, 40 Woomera Test Range (Australia) recovery, 107-109 Worden, Col. Simon Pete, 237-238 “worm holes,” 184 Wright, Sgt., 88 Wright-Patterson AFB, 96, 98, 106, 109, 112, 115, 122, 124, 127, 215 Wyatt, L.C., 59 Yaoi, Jun-Ichi, 225 “Yellow Book,” 133 Yurtsever, Dr. Ulvi, 184 Zahrodney, Mast. Sgt. Theodore, 125 Zamora, Lonnie, 114 Zeissig, Kurt, 253 zeta particles, 182 Zeta Reticuli, 119, 133, 211, 254 Zinsstag, Lou, 77, 78




(continued from front flap)

public about alien visitation, including plans to exhibit an alien craft and body. Already known for offering compelling evidence that the intelligence communities of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and other nations have channeled millions of dollars into secret “black” projects for UFO research, Timothy Good now takes his conclusions one step further. Alien Contact provides sensational new evidence obtained from his worldwide investigation into the ultimate secret—at a level of serious enquiry impossible to ignore.

Born in London in 1942, Timothy Good first became interested in UFOs in 1955. Now regarded as a top authority, he has broadcast and lectured on the subject throughout the world, and has conducted extensive investigations in the United States for many years. Timothy Good is also a professional violinist and was a member of the London Symphony Orchestra for fourteen years. Nowadays he is involved in free-lance session work for films, television, and recordings with pop musicians. In 1980 he was elected to the Royal Society of Musicians. A Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

Foreword by Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton GCB, Chief of the Defense Staff (1971-1973) and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (1974-1977). Jacket design by Robert Aulicino Front jacket photograph by the Stock Solution William Morrow & Company, Inc.

1350 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10019 Printed in U.S.A.


“The hottest topic among UFO enthusiasts is what they describe as the federal government’s experience with aliens....Timothy Good and a group of investigators in the United States...have documentary evidence that the government hid its knowledge....The charges are contained in Mr, Good’s bookAbove Top Secret....” —The New York Times IjT

^

“[The] Bible for UFO watchers” —The Wall Street Journal “A noteworthy contribution to the field” —Kirkus Reviews

“One of the best-documented UFO books ever written” —Booklist “A startling story of not only UFOs, but of government coverup and involvement at high levels” —Bookwatch “A valuable contribution to UFO literature and a fascinating read because it is well written, carefully researched, and packed with amazing accounts of UFO sightings.” —The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee “The entire idea of a worldwide cover-up is incredible... [but] the evidence for such a cover-up is convincing, and sets it out in great detail.f —The Virginian-Pilot “It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the most significant book ever written about UFOs.” —The Toronto Star X “Timothy Good’s stimulating and brilliantly structured book is a masterful detective story worthy of Agatha Christie or Franz Kafka....Good’s book may, in fact, be regarded by history as one of the most interesting books on any subject to be written in the last ten years.” —Ottawa Citizen

l

17D4


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.