UFO

Alien Baby found... Could it be real?

2010-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Is this bizarre creature really an alien baby or just part of an elaborate hoax – and was it the cause of a mysterious revenge death? Mexican TV revealed the almost unbelievable story – in 2007, a baby ‘alien’ was found alive by a farmer in Mexico. He drowned it in a ditch out of fear, and now two years later scientists have finally been able to announce the results of their tests on this sinister-looking carcass. At the end of last year the farmer, Marao Lopez, handed the corpse over to university scientists who carried out DNA tests and scans. He claimed that it took him three attempts to drown the creature and he had to hold it underwater for hours.

Tests revealed a creature that is unknown to scientists – its skeleton has characteristics of a lizard, its teeth do not have any roots like humans and it can stay underwater for a long time. But it also has some similar joints to humans. Its brain was huge, particularly the rear section, leading scientists to the conclusion that the odd creature was very intelligent. But it has seemingly left experts stumped. And in a further mystery, Lopez has since mysteriously died. According to American UFO expert Joshua P. Warren (32), the farmer burned to death in a parked car at the side of a road. The flames apparently had a far higher temperature than in a normal fire! Now there are rumours that the parents of the creature Lopez drowned were the ones who in turn killed him out of revenge.

There are frequent UFO sightings and reports of crop circles in the area where the creature was found. Perhaps it was left behind deliberately by aliens. Mexican UFO expert Jaime Maussan (56) was the first to break the story. He claimed it was not a hoax. Farmers also told him that there was a second creature but it ran away when they approached.

T0 watch a video on the story click Here.

A Mystery UFO Over China

2010-07-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

On July 7, something unusual happened near the Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou, China. An oddly shaped bright light appeared, forcing the airport to close down and delay 18 flights. Things are now back to normal, but people are wondering, what was that "thing"?

An ABC News article on the mysterious sighting explains that some who witnessed the light are calling it a UFO. But, keep in mind, a UFO doesn't necessarily mean little, green men.

There is plenty of speculation on whether or not the object was some sort of military aircraft or missile. The ABC article explains that a day following the sighting, "an anonymous source told China Daily that authorities already discovered the identity of the UFO after an investigation but could not publically disclose the information because 'there was a military connection.'"

Authorities are continuing to look into the incident, but no public conclusions have yet been made. Despite, or perhaps because of the mystery, Web searches on "china ufo" quickly soared 576%. Related queries on "china ufo video 2010," "china ufo sightings," and "hangzou china ufo" also posted triple digit gains. Even now, a week after the sighting, online lookups remain high.

Something weird happened. Nobody knows what it was. And if they do, they aren't saying. Check out the still photograph and judge for yourself.

NASA Coverup - Apollo Moon Conversations

2010-02-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

The following excerpt of conversations from Apollo Astronauts on the Moon to Mission Control - which show that the Astronauts came across some strange and hard-to-explain structures and unusual sightings of unidentified craft - while on the surface of the Moon. These unusual findings, when added together with the anomalies which Richard Hoagland has shown to exist on Apollo Moon photographs, provide compelling evidence for an ongoing NASA coverup of what the Apollo Astronauts really discovered on the Moon from 1969 to 1972.

The following Apollo Astronaut conversation was taken from the out-of-print book "Our Mysterious Spaceship Moon" by Don Wilson (Dell, 1975):

Apollo 11: "I say that there were other spaceships!"

Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin was the first Apollo flight to land on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. While Collins flew in orbit around the Moon in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module, landing in the Sea of Tranquillity at 4:17 P.M.

According to hitherto un-confirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after that historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a "light" in or on a crater during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard.

The following astonishing conversation was picked up by ham radio operators that had their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets. At this time, the live television broadcast was interrupted for two minutes due to a supposed "overheated camera", but the transmission below was received loud and clear by hundreds of ham radio operators:

According to Otto Binder, who was a member of the NASA space team, when the two moon-walkers, Aldrin and Armstrong were making their rounds some distance from the LEM, Armstrong clutched Aldrin's arm excitedly and exclaimed:

Armstrong: What was it? What the hell was it? That's all I want to know!"
Mission Control: What's there?... malfunction (garble) ... Mission Control calling Apollo 11 ...

Apollo 11: These babies were huge, sir!... Enormous!... Oh, God! You wouldn't believe it! ... I'm telling you there are other space-craft out there ... lined up on the far side of the crater edge! ... They're on the Moon watching us! ...

Vallee System

2009-12-16T15:54:00.001-08:00

Jacques Vallee has devised a UFO classification system which is preferred by many UFO investigators over Hynek' system as it is considerably more descriptive than Hynek's, especially in terms of the reported behavior of UFOs.

Type - I (a,b,c,d)- Observation of an unusual object, spherical discoidal, or of another geometry, on or situated close to the ground (tree height, or lower), which may be associated with traces - thermal, luminous, or mechanical effects.

a - On or near ground
b - Near or over body of water
c - Occupants appear to display interest in witnesses by gestures or luminous signals
d - Object appears to be "scouting" a terrestrial vehicle
Type - II (a,b,c) - Observation of an unusual object with vertical cylindrical formation in the sky, associated with a diffuse cloud. This phenomenon has been given various names such as "cloud-cigar" or "cloud-sphere."

a - Moving erratically through the sky
b - Object is stationary and gives rise to secondary objects (sometimes referred to as "satellite objects")
c - Object is surrounded by secondary objects
Type - III (a,b,c,d,e)- Observation of an unusual object of spherical, discoidal or elliptical shape, stationary in the sky.

a - Hovering between two periods of motion with "falling-leaf" descent, up and down, or pendulum motion
b - Interruption of continuous flight to hover and then continue motion
c - Alters appearance while hovering - e.g., change of luminosity, generation of secondary object, etc.
d - "Dogfights" or swarming among several objects
e - Trajectory abruptly altered during continuous flight to fly slowly above a certain area, circle, or suddenly change course
Type IV (a,b,c,d) - Observation of an unusual object in continuous flight.

a - Continuous flight
b - Trajectory affected by nearby conventional aircraft
c - Formation flight
d - Wavy or zig-zag trajectory
Type V (a,b,c)- Observation of an unusual object of indistinct appearance, i.e., appearing to be not fully material or solid in structure.

a - Extended apparent diameter, non-point source luminous objects ("fuzzy")
b - Starlike objects (point source), motionless for extended periods
c - Starlike objects rapidly crossing the sky, possibly with peculiar trajectories

Vatican: It’s OK to Believe in Aliens

2008-05-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."

Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best. The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.

FORMER ARIZONA GOVERNOR ADMITS SEEING UFO

2007-08-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ten years after the Arizona UFO incident known as the "Phoenix Lights," former Arizona Republican Governor Fife Symington, III, now says that he himself was a witness to one of the "craft of unknown origin," even though he originally did not say so publicly. In an exclusive interview by Leslie Kean, an investigative reporter with the Washington-based Coalition for Freedom of Information, released today in the Prescott Daily Courier, Symington now admits that he saw an enormous, inexplicable craft that evening.

On March 13, 1997, during Symington’s second term as Governor, thousands saw gigantic triangular and V-shaped unidentified objects, gliding slowly and silently across the sky. Witnesses throughout the state estimated that the eerie, lighted vehicles were bigger than many football fields, up to a mile long.

They reported that these were clearly solid, technological flying machines that blocked out the stars - not merely lights. The objects were seen earlier than the row of lights near Phoenix, videotaped and shown repeatedly on television, which were most likely flares.

Symington was well known for ridiculing the incident at a spoof press conference, so his statement marks a dramatic turnaround. According to his comments to Kean, he wants to make amends to his constituents and set the record straight.

The former Governor, a cousin of the late Missouri Senator Stuart Symington, states that the incident remains unsolved, and should be officially investigated. The U.S. Government has never acknowledged that something was in the sky that night, despite official documentation of a very similar flying craft of unknown origin investigated in the 1990’s by the governments of England and Belgium.

Date of Sighting: May 27, 2007

2007-07-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Times of Sighting: 1st Sighting at 11:30 PM EDT & 2nd Sighting at 11:50 PM E
Date Sighting Reported: May 29, 2007
Duration of Sightings: Unknown
Location of Sighting: Breezewood, Pennsylvania Latitude: 40.0 Degrees North
Longitude: 78.25 Degrees West
Number of Witnesses: One
Weather: Clear Skies. Visibility 3 Miles in Ground Fog

Description (In Witness's Own Words): I was sitting outside watching the clouds roll in on May 27, 2007. The clouds were still just a light haze, and the stars were dimly shining through, when a bright light appeared almost directly above me at 11:30 PM. The light grew brighter and brighter until it became almost as bright as the moon. As it dimmed out, it began to move slowly to the Northwest, passing one of the stars that I could still see through the haze. Twenty minutes later, at 11:50 PM another green light appeared heading north. This object slowly pulsated, dim then bright, with a bluish glow at its brightest. As it moved, it began dimming out, while still pulsating.

Investigator's Notes: The most interesting aspect of this sighting is the picture that the witness drew presumeably depicting what he saw. I have not yet received a response from the witness regarding some follow-up questions. The witness's drawing and verbal description certainly indicate that he saw an unconventional craft.

Date of Sighting: June 29, 2007

2007-07-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Time of Sighting: 4:00 PM EDT
Duration of Sighting: Object Was Only Visible For About 10 Seconds in the video
Date Sighting Reported: June 29, 2007
Location of Sighting: Ancaster, Ontario, Canada (About 25 Miles WNW of Buffalo, NY)
Number of Witnesses: Two

Description (In Witness's Own Words): This was all I caught from the sighting we saw in Ancaster today at 4:30. Use the scroll bar to view the object at the bottom of the picture frame by frame and notice how the object disappears and reappears. This is no plane. Notice the dark field around the object.

Investigator's Notes: The witness apparently had a better view of the object than the video shows. He said that the object was no airplane and had no wings. It is difficult to say what the object in this video is. This same witness took a video of a similar object on April 20, 2007 in the same city

4/08/07 Boston

2007-06-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

2007-I thought you might like to see this picture... I was watching the haze cams tonight, Blue hill, Boston, etc... I was looking at the Hartford, Connecticut, web cam and this caught my eye... it was at 10:45 pm 4/08/07.

It really didn't look like a plane to me. It was out of the picture at 11:00pm. I caught quite a few different pics on those cams tonight... but, this one really caught my eye

2007 Flying Object

2007-06-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

The photos I’m now sending to you were taken in February of 2006 from my country house located in a village named Amarantina, in the surroundings of the city of Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. They’ve not been diffused yet because I have tried to prevent myself from being exposed to the prejudice of the skeptics. I used a 5MB DSC f-717 Sony digital camera.

This flying object shot by the camera is quite clear and features a very modern and aerodynamic design with a round shape reservoir or tank underneath. The first photo is the original one, and the second one has been enlarged and trimmed, however no further adjust, improvement or editions have been made.

2007 Arkansas UFO

2007-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Van Buren, Arkansas-Taken by retired Air Force pilot Col. Brian Fields from his backyard. "At first I thought they were landing lights from an aircraft," he said. "As I continued to observe them they began to slowly disappear, then suddenly one reappeared, followed by two, then three. On at least one occasion four or five appeared. Each time they would slowly fade and eventually disappear. This occurred several times and when they would reappear they might do so in differing numbers and in different positions, sometimes in a triangular shape, sometimes stacked on top of each other, sometimes line abreast, etc. When the objects appeared they might stay illuminated 10 or more minutes."

UFO research: Findings vs. facts

2007-05-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

For decades now, eyes and sky have met to witness the buzzing of our world by Unidentified Flying Objects, termed UFOs or simply flying saucers. Extraterrestrials have come a long way to purportedly share the friendly skies with us.

UFOs and alien visitors are part of our culture -- a far-out phenomenon when judged against those "low life" wonders Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. And after all those years, as the saying goes, UFOs remain a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why so? For one, the field is fraught with hucksterism. It's also replete with blurry photos and awful video. But then there are also well-intentioned and puzzled witnesses.

Scientifically speaking, are UFOs worth keeping an eye on?

There have been advances in the field of UFO research, said Ted Roe, Executive Director of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP), based in Vallejo, California.

"The capture of optical spectra from mobile, unpredictable luminosities is one of those innovations. More work to be done here but [there are] some good results already." NARCAP was established in 2000 and is dedicated to the advancement of aviation safety issues as they apply to, what they term Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

Roe said that a decade from now, researchers should have even better instrumentation at their disposal and better data on UAP of several varieties. His forecast is that scientific rigor will prevail, demonstrating that there are "stable, mobile, unusual, poorly documented phenomena with quite unusual properties manifesting within our atmosphere," he told SPACE.com.

Paradigm shifting

NARCAP has made the case that some of these phenomena have unusual electromagnetic properties. Therefore, they could disrupt microprocessors and adversely effect avionic systems, Roe explained, and that for those reasons and others UAP should be considered a hazard to safe aviation.

"It is likely that either conclusion will fly in the face of the general assertion that UAP are not real and that there are no undocumented phenomena in our atmosphere," Roe continued. That should open the door, he said, to the realization that there's no good reason to discard outright the possibility that extraterrestrial visitation has occurred and may be occurring.

"Physics is leading to new and potentially paradigm shifting understandings about the nature of our universe and its physical properties," Roe said. "These understandings may point the way towards an acceptance of the probability of interstellar travel and communication by spacefaring races."

As UFO debunker Robert Sheaffer's Web site proclaims, he's "skeptical to the max." He is a fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and a well-known writer on the UFO scene.

Being an equal-opportunity debunker, Sheaffer notes that he refutes whatever nonsense, in his judgment, "stands in the greatest need of refuting, no matter from what source it may come, no matter how privileged, esteemed, or sacrosanct ... sacred cows, after all, make the best hamburger."

Sheaffer told SPACE.com, in regards to the cottage industry of UFO promoters, there's a reason there are still so many snake-oil sellers.

"It's because nobody, anywhere, has any actual facts concerning alleged UFOs, just claims. That allows con-men to thrive peddling their yarns," Sheaffer said.

"UFO believers are convinced that the existence of UFOs will be revealed 'any day now'. But it's like Charlie Brown and the football: No matter how many times Lucy pulls the football away or the promised 'disclosure' fails to happen -- they're dead-certain that the next time will be their moment of glory."

Trash from the past

"I would have to say that we're stuck in neutral," said Kevin Randle, a leading expert and writer on UFOs and is known as a dogged researcher of the phenomena. There's no real new research, he said, and that's "because we have to revisit the trash of the past."

Randle points to yesteryear stories, one stretching back in time to a supposed 1897 airship crash in Aurora, Texas, long proven to be a hoax by two con men -- yet continues to surface in UFO circles.

Then there's the celebrated Thomas Mantell saga, a pilot that lost his life chasing a UFO in 1948. There are those that contend he was killed by a blue beam from a UFO, Randle said "even though we have known for years that the UFO was a balloon and he violated regulations by climbing above 14,000 feet without oxygen equipment. I mean, we know this, and yet there are those who believe that Mantell was killed by aliens."

Randle's advice is to the point: "We need to begin to apply rigorous standards of research ... stop accepting what we wish to believe even when the evidence is poor, and begin thinking ahead."

"I've no doubt that UFOs are here to stay," said Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. "I'm just not convinced that alien craft are here to stay ... or for that matter, even here for brief visits.

"First, despite a torrent of sightings for more than a half-century, I can't think of a single, major science museum that has alien artifacts on display," Shostak said. "Contrast this paucity of physical evidence with what the American Indians could have shown you fifty years after Christopher Columbus first violated their sea-space. They could have shown you all sorts of stuff -- including lots of smallpox-infested brethren -- as proof that they were being 'visited,'" he said.

When it comes to extraterrestrial visitors in the 21st century, the evidence is anecdotal, ambiguous, or, in some cases, artifice, Shostak suggested.

Calling it "argument from ignorance", Shostak pointed to the claim that aliens must have careened out of control above the New Mexico desert simply because some classified government documents sport a bunch of blacked-out text. "How does the latter prove the former?"

Sure, the missing verbiage is consistent with a government cover-up of an alien crash landing, Shostak said. "But it's also consistent with an infinitude of other scenarios...not all of them involving sloppy alien pilots," he added.

Shostak said that it is not impossible that we could be visited. It doesn't violate physics to travel between the stars, although that's not easy to do.

"But really, if you're going to claim -- or for that matter, believe -- that extraterrestrials are strafing the cities, or occasionally assaulting the neighbors with an aggression inappropriate for a first date, then I urge you to find evidence that leaves little doubt among the professionally skeptical community known as the world of science."

Why is there precious little to show the world of science that UFOs merit attention?

"Obviously there is not a simple answer, but part of it is reluctance of the scientific community to support such research," explained Bruce Maccabee, regarded as a meticulous researcher and an optical physicist using those talents to study photographs and video of unexplained phenomena.

Signs of water seen on planet outside solar system

2007-05-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Evidence of water has been detected for the first time in a planet outside our solar system, an astronomer said on Tuesday, a tantalizing find for scientists eager to know whether life exists beyond Earth.

Travis Barman, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, said water vapor has been found in the atmosphere of a large, Jupiter-like gaseous planet located 150 light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The planet is known as HD 209458b. Other scientists reported in February that they were unable to find evidence of water in this planet's atmosphere, as well as another Jupiter-like planet.

"I'm very confident" Barman said in an interview. "It's definitely good news because water has been predicted to be present in the atmosphere of this planet and many of the other ones for some time"

Lowell Observatory, a privately owned astronomical research institution, announced the finding, which has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The research was backed by NASA, it said. The detection of the presence of water vapor was possible because this planet, from the vantage point of Earth, orbits directly in front of its star every 3-1/2 days, allowing crucial measurements to be made. It is what is known as a transiting planet.

Scientists searching for signs of life beyond Earth are keen to learn about the presence of water on other planets -- both in and beyond our solar system -- because water is thought to be fundamental to the existence of life. Barman noted that a Jupiter-like gaseous planet such as this one, as opposed to a rocky one like Earth, is highly unlikely to harbor life, and said the finding about water vapor in its atmosphere does not answer one way or another questions about the existence of extraterrestrial life.

'PART OF PUZZLE'

The findings, he said, "are not adequate to really address a question as deep and profound as the existence of life elsewhere. We're not there yet"

"Certainly this is part of that puzzle -- understanding the distribution of water in other solar systems is important for understanding whether or not conditions for life are possible. The presence of water does not exclude the possibility of life, but it doesn't mean it's there, either" Barman added.

He said his findings do provide good reason to believe other planets beyond our solar system also have water vapor in their atmospheres. The conclusions stemmed from an analysis of Hubble Space Telescope measurements by Harvard University's Heather Knutson and new theoretical models developed by Barman, Lowell Observatory said.

Water is plentiful on Earth and has been found elsewhere in our solar system, for example in large deposits of ice at the north and south poles of Mars. Planet HD 209458b also was the first planet outside the solar system found with an atmosphere and the first detected transiting planet. There are more than 200 known planets outside our solar system.

UFOs: The Physical Evidence - Overwhelming

2007-04-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Summary: Any scientific study of the UFO enigma seems inevitably to result in frustrating ambiguity and contradiction. Really worthwhile UFO reports are frequently characterized by high strangeness, evasiveness, resistance to scholarly investigation and a seemingly unavoidable, bewildering array of conclusions. It would appear that the best prospect for achieving a meaningful evaluation of relevant hypotheses is likely to come from the examination of physical evidence.

Any scientific study of the UFO enigma seems inevitably to result in frustrating ambiguity and contradiction. Really worthwhile UFO reports are frequently characterized by high strangeness, evasiveness, resistance to scholarly investigation and a seemingly unavoidable, bewildering array of conclusions. Writer K. Phillips, in an essay on The Psycho-Sociology of Ufology, notes that in addition to this elusiveness, "it can be shown that the UFO phenomenon has a religious, historic and folkloric dimension, the implications of which are only just beginning to be appreciated by those who are willing to sift the evidence.... moreover, by inspection of the tens of thousands of reports from all over the world, it would seem that ¾ paradoxically ¾ while the UFO phenomenon gives every indication of being impossibly remote from us, at the same time it displays facets that indicate that it is intimately close."

We may well ask the question: why is it, if UFOs leave real, quantitative physical evidence, as many cases seem to indicate, that there is still little understanding of their physical qualities? One explanation is that the irregularities and seeming inconsistencies of these many reports have not come under the scrutiny of cross-disciplinary study until relatively recent times. Of course any such study is beset by the differences in the way that physical and social scientists tend to view the application of scientific methods in their respective fields. The special nature of the UFO subject raises subtle and often unique problems that members of either group might see in differing perspectives.

So, does this mean that our hunt for explanations and solutions ends in smoke? Hardly, as we shall see. Where possible, the separation of physical evidence into defined categories, followed by interdisciplinary examination, slowly but inexorably yields a degree of clarity to our still murky understanding of what it is we are dealing with, or more correctly, is dealing with us. After many years of bitter experience, we know that, as far as this subject is concerned, recorded data of an event, even from an official source, is simply not acceptable. An accumulation of such evidence has had little impact on the sceptics. Again, a large part of the problem is brought about by the only filters and hurdles acceptable in the eyes of orthodox science. In order to be convinced of the reality of phenomenon, science requires that it should be capable of reproduction and prediction in a laboratory. We all know that there are many aspects of our world which cannot be understood within accepted terms of reference.

In this context, UFO historian Richard M. Dolan, in his monumental UFOs and the National Security State, writes, "Not only must we ask what constitutes proof, but who is authorized to deem it so. This is not so easy to determine. Certainly, an acknowledgment of aliens would have to come from a major spokesperson of official culture ¾ the President, perhaps. The matter is more political than scientific. UFO evidence derived from a grass roots level can never survive its inevitable conflict with official culture (fifty years of failure have borne this out). An acknowledgment about the reality of the UFO phenomenon will only occur when the official culture deems it worthwhile or necessary to make it. Don’t hold your breath. As a result, the easiest thing to do with UFO evidence is to ignore it, which is what most people do."

It would appear that the best prospect for achieving a meaningful evaluation of relevant hypotheses is likely to come from the examination of physical evidence. Setting out with this objective in mind, a review panel composed of nine scientists of diverse expertise and interests, convened a four day workshop in New York, from 30 September to 3 October, 1997. More on this undertaking later, but for now let’s look at the categories of physical evidence that were presented to these scientists by UFO investigators. The evidence was associated with particular UFO reports and included: photographic evidence; luminosity estimates; radar evidence; interference with both automobile and aircraft functioning; apparent gravitational or inertial effects; ground traces; injuries to vegetation; physiological effects on witnesses; and analysis of debris. An American space science textbook in use at the Air Academy up to 1970, listing classification systems common to UFOs, included : electro-magnetic effects; radiation; ground disturbances; sound; vibration; smell; debris; inhibition of voluntary motion by observers and the sighting of creatures or beings.

One can only wonder why the category of ‘debris’, was left out of the material presented to the 1997 panel. According to Timothy Good in Beyond Top Secret, Canadian government official and engineer Wilbert Smith, admitted that a number of fragments from UFOs had been recovered and analysed by his research group, including one that had been shot from a UFO near Washington, DC, in July 1952. Smith reported that, "A glowing chunk flew off and the pilot saw it glowing all the way to the ground. He radioed his report and a ground party hurried to the scene. The thing was still glowing when they found it an hour later. The entire piece weighed about a pound [454 grams]. The segment that was loaned to me was about one third of that. It had been sawed off.... There was iron rust... the thing was in reality a matrix of magnesium orthosilicate. The matrix had great numbers ¾ thousands ¾ of fifteen-micron spheres scattered through it." Smith was asked if he had returned the piece to the US Air Force when he had completed his analysis. "Not the Air Force. Much higher than that," he replied. "The Central Intelligence Agency?" asked the interviewers. "I’m sorry gentlemen, but I don’t care to go beyond that point," said Smith.

Good writes that according to information supplied to science journalists, NASA may be in possession of physical evidence relating to extraterrestrial materials. In 1974 a Polish biophysicist and engineer contracted to NASA, was a member of an international team of English, French and Italian scientists which was given some odd metallic and plastic-like material, supposedly originating from the Soviet Union, to analyse. Under analysis with an electronic microscope, the team found small pyramid structures in the nanometre range (ie: one thousand millionth of a metre), showing a kind of super reflectivity. They found alloys that could only have been made in conditions of weightlessness. Other tests showed traces of unusual Kapton and Kevlar-type synthetics. This was in the early 1950s and those materials had not existed at that time. The melting point of the metal samples was above two thousand degrees centigrade, and tests using helium, neon and ruby lasers had no effect. The foil seemed to possess a ‘memory’, like current memory metals, but to a factor of one thousand or better. (Several witnesses of the Roswell crash described a metal with similar qualities.)

So much for alleged debris. Rather than looking at UFO cases highlighting individual categories of physical evidence, let us instead move on to look at three of the best documented and researched events, each involving not one, but a number of physical effects. Let’s begin with one of ufology’s classic cases, that of fifty-two year old mechanic and quartz prospector, Stefan Michalak, who, just after noon on 19 May 1967, saw two cigar-shaped objects, glowing red and flying at high speed above the wilderness of Falcon Lake in Manitoba. The objects became more disc-shaped as they came closer, when suddenly one stopped in mid-air, before departing towards the west, while the other landed behind some bushes at a distance of about 160 feet [fifty metres] from Michalak. Assuming it to be an experimental American aircraft, he estimated it to be about thirty-five feet [ten metres] in diameter and about twelve feet [three and a half metres] high. He observed the object through welding goggles for a period of about half an hour, noting a smell of sulphur. He then decided to approach closer and at sixty feet [eighteen metres] distance heard the muffled sound of voices and the sounds of a motor and a rush of air. He first called out in English, but when there was no response, Michalak, who was multilingual, tried Russian, German, Italian and French and Ukrainian without any success. He decided to look inside the craft. In his own words, "the inside was a maze of lights. Direct beams running in horizontal and diagonal paths and a series of flashing lights, it seemed to me, were working in a random fashion, with no particular order or sequence. I took note of the thickness of the walls of the craft. They were about twenty inches [fifty centimetres] at the cross section." Suddenly the opening was sealed by three panels, so Michalak began to examine the craft’s exterior.

He noticed no welding joints and that the surface was highly polished like glass. When he touched the surface with his glove, he found that the rubber coating melted. Suddenly the craft changed position slightly and a blast of hot air struck his chest, setting his shirt and vest alight and causing severe pain. He tore these off and the object began to ascend in a rush of air, leaving a fifteen foot [four and a half metre] diameter circle on the ground. Michalak felt dizzy and vomited for a number of days and lost twenty pounds [nine kilos] over the next few weeks. Admitted to a hospital in Winnipeg, he was treated for minor burns to his face and severe burns to his chest. His hands swelled considerably and he experienced intense headaches and rashes. Tests by the Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment showed no radiation above the background level.

For several days after the incident, Michalak was unable to eat, his blood lymphocyte count was down from twenty-five to sixteen per cent and he continued to feel weak, dizzy and nauseous. Timothy Good reviewing the case in Above Top Secret, writes that, "A haematologist’s report indicated that Michalak’s blood had ‘some atypical lymphoid cells in the marrow plus a moderate increase in the number of plasma cells’." Altogether Michalak was examined by a total of twenty-seven doctors, most from official sources including the departments of Health and Social Welfare and National Defence. They were unable to offer a full explanation for the cause of his symptoms.

An investigator for the Department of Health and Social Welfare found a small contaminated area at the landing site, no larger than one hundred square inches [twenty-five centimetres square], that gave a significant level of radium 226. On 30 June, Michalak, searching with another person, found the landing site complete with outline of the landed object and the remains of his shirt. When the Royal Canadian Air Force searched the site on 28 July to collect samples, their representative described ‘a very evident circle’. They also found a high level of radiation in some samples, considering the site to be ‘a possible health hazard.’

In March 1983, GEPAN, France’s equivalent of NASA, submitted a sixty-six page report put together by a committee of seven scientists on a UFO landing near the village of Trans-en-Provence, on 8 January 1981. This proved over time to rank as one of the most convincing physical evidence cases ever studied. Not only were physical traces collected by the gendarmerie within twenty-four hours, but several government laboratories were involved in their examination.

Farmer Renato Nicolai saw a flying object making a whistling sound descend rapidly to land in his yard. Shortly afterwards the object rose to tree height, emitting a whistling sound and headed in a north-easterly direction. Nicolai, who was close to the site, saw four small openings on the underside of the object, which had been on the ground for some ten seconds. He examined the landing spot and noticed a six foot [1.8 metre] diameter circular imprint, with several abrasion areas prominent in the circle. He noted that the object was metallic grey in colour, had a thick band around it and had a diameter of eight feet [2.4 metres] and a height of six feet [1.8 metres].

The gendarmerie in Draguignan took photographs and samples on the morning of 9 January. The French National Centre for Space Research was immediately alerted and the samples delivered to GEPAN, while samples of vegetation from the landing area and surroundings were sent to the National Institute for Agronomical Research. It is important to know that, as the taking of samples is naturally critical to any study. In this case GEPAN had been able to provide law enforcement officers with detailed instructions for the gathering of samples, which were then divided amongst several French laboratories for double-blind study. Their tests included physico-chemical analysis, electron diffraction, mass spectrometry by ion bombardment and biochemical analysis of vegetable samples.

The summary of these analyses confirmed that strong mechanical pressure had been applied to the soil by a heavy weight, causing erosion, striation and heating (not exceeding sixty-six degrees centigrade) and chlorophyll pigment in the leaf samples was weakened from thirty to fifty per cent. Importantly, the GEPAN result stated that attempts to duplicate these changes were unsuccessful. A strange result of the analysis of alfalfa leaves at the landing site prompted INRA to report: "From an anatomical and physiological point, they had all the characteristics of leaves of an advanced age ¾ old leaves! And that doesn’t resemble anything that we know on our planet."

Beyond the effects of the phenomenon on soil and plants, scientists are left to consider the impact on human witnesses. In the case of Stefan Michalak we looked at the dramatic physiological effects that he suffered as a direct result of his close encounter. Our final case, which Jacques Vallee described as, "the best-authenticated close encounter incident in continental Europe", includes not only hard traces, botanical data and physiological data, but detailed descriptions of beings associated with the UFO. It came to be known as ‘The Valensole Case’. Not only is it one of the most thoroughly investigated close encounters on record, but examination by French government agencies began on the day of the event.

During early morning of 1 July 1965, Maurice Masse, a French lavender farmer, was working in his field in the village of Valensole, near the lower Alps, when he suddenly noticed an object that had landed in his lavender field. At first glance from a distance, he thought that it was a helicopter or some sort of experimental prototype, but as he approached closer to the object, he saw that it was oval shaped and rested on six curved legs and some type of central pivot. Through an opening in the craft he thought that he could see two back-to-back seats. Suddenly he saw two beings, less than four feet [1.2 metres] tall, wearing grey-blue-green suits but without any type of breathing devices. One of them pointed a small tube at the farmer, which immediately paralyzed him. Although lying on the ground, he remained fully conscious, noting that as they looked at him, with what he later described as ‘concerned expressions’, they made strange gurgling sounds from deep within their throats as they communicated with one another. Masse saw that the two beings had large hairless heads, smooth white skin, large eyes that slanted away, pointed chins and small mouths without lips. After their brief dialogue, they entered the craft through a sliding panel and the object took off, leaving a deep crater and an area of moisture that later became as hard as concrete.

After about twenty minutes Masse was able to move his arms and legs, but four days after the incident he collapsed and his sleep pattern was dramatically altered for several months. Rather than his usual five or six hour sleep break, he was sleeping for periods of twelve hours or more and his wife and father noted distinct behavioural changes. Masse was a former Resistance fighter, an astute farmer and regarded as ‘absolutely trustworthy’ by police investigators. Lieutenant-Colonel Valnet, Maitre Chautard, leading the gendarmerie and the Mayor of Valensole, in fact everyone who investigated the case, concluded that Maurice Masse was telling the truth.

Investigators found that the ground where the craft had landed was soaked with moisture, although no rain had fallen. Geometrically spaced indentations covered the area and the plants were affected by the proximity of the phenomenon, appearing to decay in direct proportion to their distance from the central column of the craft. The calcium content of the soil at the landing site was found to be much higher than in samples taken from other areas in the field.

Famous UFO writer and researcher Dr Jacques Vallee, returning to the scene of the incident in 1979 and meeting with Maurice Masse and two of his close friends, makes a number of interesting observations. He notes that Masse was reluctant to give all the details of his experience to investigators as well as to his own family at the time, including the fact that he believed that some type of silent communication took place between himself and the beings. From the beginning he wanted to minimise the impact of the experience, not wanting publicity, amongst other reasons. Like many experiencers of this phenomenon, he had changed in many ways as a result of the experience, including the belief that some form of contact, once established, continued in subtle forms. Vallee concludes, "Throughout these discussions with Mr Masse I had the feeling that I was in the presence of a very intelligent man, capable of deep emotions and rational thought. He is also quite humble; he has declined to appear on a television documentary with a nationally known journalist.... I had brought with me a photograph of similar traces left after another case. Mr Masse looked at me with a mixture of amazement and relief that someone else was aware of these particular marks. He told us that he sometimes found them in his field; that’s how he knows that ‘they’ have come back. He always erases the traces immediately."

As promised, let us now return to the 1997 workshop, with a panel of nine scientists reviewing purported physical evidence associated with UFO reports and funded by Mr Laurance S Rockefeller. Unfortunately the panel was extremely limited by the time allocation of just three days. Compare this with, for example, the two year long Colorado Project that was supported by both the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency. Chairperson Professor Peter Sturrock quite rightly points out in his report, with respect to the limiting time allocation, "It would certainly be highly unreasonable to expect such a panel to solve, in only a few days, a problem that has remained unsolved for fifty years."

Time was only one of the limitations that the panel faced that would hinder their progress in reviewing evidence in this whole area. UFO research teams have long been familiar with these difficulties. For example, with respect to photographic evidence, the panel noted, "photographic evidence can contribute to a better understanding of the UFO phenomenon.... it is highly desirable that the photographic evidence be accompanied by strong witness testimony, but it is very difficult to meet these requirements (as in the case of remotely operated scientific monitoring stations) because of the unpredictable nature of UFO events." Again, on the subject of radar records, "the panel concludes from these presentations that the analysis of radar records requires the service of radar experts. The panel also notes that information from military radar can be obtained only with the cooperation of military authorities, and that most military authorities do not offer this cooperation." Surprise surprise!

On the subject of cases involving vehicle interference, the panel found, "these reports to be intriguing. In order to contribute to the analysis of such cases, however, scientists would wish to have available evidence of a variety of types, certainly including narrative accounts, but also involving more concrete information such as radar records, tape recordings, etc." One can only ask the obvious question, as these records exist in enormous quantities, why were they not made available?

As a final example of the difficulties inherent in marrying UFO events to the requirements of orthodox science, we note the panel’s report on one of the better documented cases involving a helicopter of the US Army Reserve en route to Cleveland, Ohio, on 18 August 1973 at 11.00pm. The four man helicopter crew were returning from Columbus at approximately 10pm on a clear, calm night with fifteen mile [twenty-four km] visibility. The helicopter was cruising at ninety knots at an altitude of 2500 feet [760 metres]. Suddenly the crew saw a single, steady red light which appeared to be pacing the helicopter. The light continued its approach and the commander took over the controls from his copilot and put the helicopter into a powerful descent of approximately five hundred feet per minute. He made contact with Mansfield control tower but, after initial radio contact, the radios malfunctioned on both VHF and UHF. When the red light increased its intensity and appeared to be on a collision course at a speed estimated to be above six hundred knots, the commander increased the rate of descent to 2000 feet per minute.

With a collision seeming imminent, the light suddenly decelerated and hovered in front of the helicopter. The crew reported seeing a cigar-shaped grey metallic object that filled the entire windshield. It had a red light at the nose, a white light at the tail and a distinctive green beam that shone from its underside. This light swung over the helicopter bathing the cockpit in green light. There was no noise or turbulence from the object. Suddenly the object made a forty degree course change and left. While the object was still visible, the crew noted that the altimeter read 3500 feet with a rate of climb of 1000 feet per minute, despite the fact that the main power control was in the full down position. The commander raised the controls and the helicopter climbed nearly another three hundred feet before positive control was regained. Radio contact was then immediately resumed. In other words the helicopter ascended from 1800 feet to 3800 feet even though its controls were set to descend.

The Mansfield helicopter case involved not only the testimony of the helicopter crew but that of five ground witnesses, plus related evidence from an airline pilot, who before the event, reported unidentified traffic and a strong blue-green light source. The panel’s comment: "The panel finds reports of this type quite interesting, but without any existence of any solid physical evidence (such as analysis of the magnetic compass might have provided), it is difficult for a panel composed of physical scientists to draw any conclusions." The panel also found it curious that the commander did not know where to report such an extraordinary event. Yet again, we see how another strong case with impeccable witnesses, can be dismissed by some scientists because they will always find some filter through which it will not fit.

Despite the enormous limitations imposed by the brevity of its meeting time, Professor Sturrock and his panel of scientists were introduced to enough evidence to induce them to make a number of recommendations and suggestions in their Summary Report which are of extreme importance to UFO research. Some of these suggestions are: that the UFO problem is not simple and should receive more attention, with an emphasis on physical evidence; that regular contact between UFO investigators and the scientific community would be helpful, as also would institutional support; and that the possibility of health risks associated with UFO events should not be ignored.

The panel was greatly impressed by the work of GEPAN and there is no doubt that the best prospects for real advance in our understanding of the UFO problem would be the creation of similar projects in other countries. The most important change that could be made by scientists is to become curious. In view of the fact that modern UFO reports began in 1947, in view of the emergence of clear patterns in UFO reports and in view of great public interest, it is remarkable that some members of the scientific community have exhibited so little curiosity in the past.

It is likely that more scientists at universities would take an interest in the problem if they felt that their activities would receive the same recognition and level of support as their more conventional research. Moreover, students would become better informed if there were occasional lectures or seminars on this subject. Investigators could help this process by developing resource material for such seminars.

The UFO problem is very complex and it is impossible to predict what might emerge from research into this area. But the same is true of any real and exciting area of scientific research. As the panel remarked, "Whenever there are unexplained observations, there is the possibility that scientists will learn something new by studying those observations." What is learned may bear no relation to the concepts that were entertained when the research was undertaken. We venture to hope that more scientists will take an interest in this curious subject so that there will be more progress in the future. There could hardly be less. In conclusion, one can only applaud the panel’s recommendations, but also wonder how they could be so unaware of the fact that many scientists, mostly connected to secret programmes, have indeed been closely involved with the UFO phenomenon since early July 1947.

Black triangles

2007-03-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Artist's concept of a typical black triangle object.Black triangles are the name given to a series of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) with several common similarities that have reportedly been observed since the 1940s (and possibly earlier) to the present day. They have appeared more commonly over cities of the United States and England, but have been spotted worldwide, including a mass sighting over St. Petersburg, Russia on February 19, 1997.

Since that event, hundreds of observers have reported enormous, totally silent, black triangular craft hovering or slowly cruising at low altitudes over cities and highways, usually at night and making no attempt to evade detection. The craft are even described by many observers as having some sort of "running lights", either bright white lights or flashing colored lights. These lights usually appear at each corner point of the triangle. Sometimes a red pulsating light is seen at the center.

These objects are also sometimes known by the names "Big Black Deltas" (BBDs) or "Flying Triangles."

Reported sightings
Unknown to many, triangular-shaped UFOs have been reported since the 1940s. Accounts of flying triangles, wedges, or boomerangs have increased dramatically since the 1990s. The sightings report clearly visible objects over densely populated areas and highways, many over the United States and England, as well as other parts of the world. A geographic distribution of U.S. sightings has been correlated by a currently inactive American-based investigative organization, the National Institute for Discovery Science, which led to a July, 2002 report that suggested that the craft may belong to the U.S. Air Force; however, a subsequent report in August, 2004 by the same organization (NIDS) found that the rash of sightings did not conform to previous deployment of black project aircraft and that the objects' origins and agendas were unknown. One has recently been found photographed on Google Earth at coordinates 30°30'38.44"S 115°22'56.03"E in Australia. On the other hand, the director of NUFORC, Peter B. Davenport, claimed that the object was a radio tower: It is a radio tower. You can see the shadow of the tower at the "8:30" position. [1]

Claimed triangle UFO photographed over Australia on Google Maps

Typical sightings

B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.Most black triangle reports indicate that the craft are at least 200 ft (60 m) long and similar to the dimensions of a typical football field in width. They typically appear silently and seemingly "out of nowhere", drifting a few hundred feet or less above the ground. Black triangles are usually described as moving very slowly or hovering in one place for varying periods of time, sometimes even landing. The craft are also sometimes reported to be capable of sudden, rapid acceleration, as is often mentioned in descriptions of other types of UFOs.

Some triangular UFO reports are likely sightings of one or more black projects under development by the U.S. military and contractors. However, the fact that triangles are usually reported in and around populated areas, and the fact that they putatively make no effort to evade detection, casts doubt on whether such sightings are of military craft. This in comparison to the F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit stealth aircraft, which were sighted only occasionally during testing over sparsely populated areas of the Southwest such as Groom Lake (Area 51), usually at night and by dedicated civilian observers of military aircraft.

Illinois police sighting incident

On January 5, 2000, beginning shortly after 4:00 am, five on-duty Illinois police officers in separate locations sighted and reported a massive, unidentified triangular aircraft. Two of the five officers reported flight characteristics that do not conform to currently known technologies, as the object appeared to move at incredible speeds without making any sound. Sightings occurred in Highland, Illinois by a civilian who first reported to the local police department and subsequent sightings took place in Lebanon, Summerfield, Shiloh, Millstadt, Dupo and O'Fallon, Illinois. Local Scott Air Force Base public relations office denied any knowledge of the event. The incident was featured in Peter Jennings' final ABC television special, "UFOs: Seeing is Believing". The event has been addressed by several U.S. cable television programs and one independent documentary.

This story was also featured in 2005 on a segment of the SciFi Channel paranormal investigation series "Proof Positive" (episode #108). To substantiate that the police officers did in fact witness the same unexplained aircraft, and their reports correlated together, all five were given a lie detector test and asked various questions about the incident. All five officers passed the test and the show gave the story a "proof positive".

A Pyramid shaped craft was reported to have landed during the December 27, 1980 Rendlesham Forest UFO incident near an American air base in Suffolk, England. Military personnel even reported to have approached at least one of the landed craft in the forest and observed it in great detail before it once again took flight. Another craft was observed landing in an open field near the base and then taking off at incredible speed. Between 2002 and 2005, reporter Bryant Gumbel hosted a series of exclusive SciFi Channel documentaries, one of which was entitled, UFO Invasion at Rendlesham, and focused on this incident where he interviewed some of the men involved with the sighting. The documentary toured some of the various scenes and attempted to gather evidence that something landed in the forest.

Phoenix lights incident

One of the more famous appearances of these craft was during the event known as the "Phoenix Lights", where multiple unidentified objects, many of them black triangles, were spotted by the residents of Phoenix, Arizona and videotaped by both the local media and residents with camcorders across multiple evenings beginning on Thursday, March 13, 1997. Some lights drifted as low as 1000 feet and moved far too slowly and silently for conventional aircraft. If they were helicopters, they produced no sound. Some of the lights appeared to group up in a giant "V" formation that lingered above the city for several minutes. Many residents reported one triangle to be over a mile wide that drifted slowly over their houses blocking out the stars of the night sky. Other reports indicated the craft were spotted flying away from Phoenix as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California.

An official report made by the Air Force about the incident concluded that the military had been testing flares launched from conventional aircraft during that time. Eyewitnesses confirmed military jets were scrambled from nearby Luke Air Force Base, but instead of launching flares, they were seen chasing after some of the objects.

The next few nights, in an attempt to recreate the incident, local pilots flew prop-planes over the city in a "V" formation, but the sounds of their engines were easily heard. The original lights made no sound. Flares were also deployed above Phoenix. Comparison of the video taken of the lights (which appeared at night) against daytime images of the same scene show that the lights "disappear" at the exact moment they are shown to fall behind a mountain range. The mountains were invisible against the night sky. There were also no reported radar sightings of the objects which is consistent with the flare theory.

See Phoenix Lights for more details.

[edit] The Belgian Air Force report
On March 30, 1990, citizens of the city of Ans, Belgium spotted a large black triangular craft that hovered silently over the city for several minutes. Local police officials arrived on the scene and reported observing the object as it hovered over apartment buildings. One officer reported the object released a red glowing disk of light from the center that flew down to the ground and darted around several buildings before disappearing. The larger craft eventually took off at high speed.

The Belgian Air Force scrambled F-16s to pursue the craft once it was spotted on ground radar systems. Both the fighter pilots and radar operators reported the object would dart ahead at incredible speeds every time they finally had a radar lock on the craft. One pilot reported the object's speed at over 900 knots. After 9 confirmed target locks the object finally vanished off their screens.

The Belgian Air Force has gone on record with the details of its Black Triangle pursuit.[citation needed] It released its radar video footage and its conclusions, ruling out the following origins of the object in question:

Balloons. Impossible due to the highly variable speeds (confirmed visually and by radar).
ULM. Same as for balloons.
UAV. Impossible due to the hovering characteristics.
Aircraft (including Stealth). Same as for RPV. No noise.
Laser projections or mirages. Unlikely due to lack of projection surface (no clouds). Light spots have been observed from different locations. Light spots moved over distance of more than 15 nautical miles (28 km). Form of unlighted part of spots has been observed with spectacles. Laser projections or mirages can not be detected by radar.
The report concludes that the Belgian Air Force was "unable to identify either the nature or the origin of the phenomenon."

It should be noted that some subsequent studies present a much more cautious and sceptical view of the events discussed in the Belgian Air Force report - disputing both the accuracy of some of the statements made in that report, and the interpretation of the events described (see for example the detailed summary at http://members.aol.com/TPrinty/Belg.html, which also provides references to other sources).

Moscow Night Sightings

An especially interesting sightings occurred near Moscow on March 12, 1990. Several groups of UFOs were seen, some of which were spheres and discs, and some of which appeared to be huge triangular-shaped craft. Many local people spent the night on their rooftops watching these silent objects dart through the sky. In fact, during the spring of 1990, it appears that Russia had more, and more spectacular, UFO cases than did Belgium. The CIA retained several accounts of this wave from the Soviet-Russian media,[citation needed] although CIA reports themselves, assuming they exist, have yet to be released.

The TR-3A and TR-3B

A speech given at the International UFO Congress in Laughlin, Nevada in 1998 by Edgar Rothschild Fouche, (an engineer who claims to have worked at Area 51), suggests that the Black Triangle is a Top Secret, experimental, U.S. Air Force vehicle known as the TR-3B, code named "Astra."

According to Fouche, the TR-3B is a 600-foot-wide (180 m), triangular aerospace vehicle that utilizes a nuclear reactor to generate an intense magnetic field that negates Earth's gravitational forces on the mass of the vehicle by 89%, rendering it extremely lightweight. It also manipulates this field for propulsion and can maneuver on the spot, vertically and horizontally, at incredible speeds up to Mach 9, and climb to an altitude of 120,000 feet (36.6 km). The aircraft is also equipped with advanced Electromagnetic Counter Measures ECM systems that render it nearly invisible to radar, or make the craft appear as an aircraft of smaller size than it really is.

There is also mention of the TR-3A, code named "Black Manta", which is reported to be similar to the 3B but smaller in size, with a boomerang-shaped wingspan of 60 feet (18 m) and a tapered length of 45 feet (14 m).

If it exists, the TR-3A/B may be the most classified aerospace development program in existence. Fouche reported that the development of the crafts was funded by black project monies, and overseen by the NRO, CIA, and NSA. Design of the vehicles was part of the Aurora Project, and was spawned by technologies developed in the 1980s for other classified aircraft such as the SR-75 Aurora. Some speculate the technology behind such crafts was the result of reverse engineering captured or exchanged alien technology, such as that believed by many to have been retrieved after the Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash incident in 1947.

Criticisms of the Theory

Due to the extreme secrecy that such a project would be surrounded in, it is impossible to verify any of Mr. Fouche's involvement. Further, there are a number of questionable scientific claims in the account. Specifically, magnetic and gravitational forces have no effect on one another in any mainstream physical models, and so it is unclear how an "intense magnetic field" could possibly alter gravity's effect on the craft. Also, if a conventional nuclear reactor is used, it would have to be designed in an unconventional and otherwise unheard of way: the reactor would need bulky shielding, and the heat produced would have to be converted into electricity to run the coils that produce the magnetic field used to levitate the aircraft, making all the needed machinery probably too heavy for flight.

Additionally, the sheer magnitude by which the TR3A/B is said to exceed the flight capabilites of all known aircraft leads many skeptics to question why none of the obviously great advancements in aerospace technology have been put to use in other applications.

Finally, while the TR-3A/B allegation has been exercised by some as an explanation for many triangle sightings, no evidence has been presented that this theory accounts for the hundreds of reported similar sightings of triangular-shaped aircraft with odd aerodynamic flight characteristics that have been documented as early as the 1930s.

Other theories

There are several other possible explanations for the sighings:

that they are previously unknown American aircraft, manned or unmanned, which are being deployed in a 'high-visibility' fashion, but without public notice for some reason;
that they belong to some nation or organization other than the United States, which wishes to display itself in this fashion;
that they are of extraterrestrial origin;
that they are some sort of common error of identification of one or multiple 'conventional' modern aircraft, and/or that many sighters' imaginations and memories are influenced by hearing of similar UFO reports, either of which would explain why the high rate of sightings began in the 1990s.
One sometimes-voiced theory is that the craft represent some form of advanced technology lighter than air craft, possibly a rumored "stealth blimp." This would account for their size, low speed, low altitude, and silence. Such a vehicle would be advantageous in terms of payload size, fuel efficiency, extended time aloft, and ability to remain close to a location on the ground or a ground vehicle or group of vehicles for long periods. However, this would not explain why they would be displayed so freely, but with no official comment of any kind, nor the reports of sudden high acceleration as in the Illinois case [1]. This possibility must, however, be weighed against the "Belgian Triangle" sightings involving Black Triangles similar to the objects sighted in American airspace. These Belgian Triangles demonstrated flight performance characteristics beyond the fighter jets used by the Belgian Air Force in their attempt to intercept them. The Wallonia Triangles were photographed, filmed and tracked on radar, ruling out mass delusion as the source of at least that sighting.

Other theories, such as these sightings being either genuinely 'paranormal' in some way, or, conversely, merely some sort of unexplainable mass delusion, open the door to much broader speculation. Until more evidence of a different kind appears, or an American military or other group officially claims and demonstrates responsibility, what really lies behind the American reports cannot be definitely known.

1870-Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

2007-03-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

This photo is dubbed, "the oldest UFO photograph ever taken." This item was the subject of bidding at Ebay in 2002, when finally the photo was purchased for $385.00 by Samuel M. Sherman, who was the president of Independent-International Pictures Corp. This was originally a "stereo" photograph. Certainly it was difficult to manipulate photos at that time, and remember, there were no flying objects then; at least, not from this world.

2005-Louisiana

2007-02-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

My co-worker’s 13-year old son was in his back yard in Westwego, LA, taking a picture of the sunset on 04 Mar 05. When he downloaded his pictures to his computer he noticed a spot in the top center of the photo. When you enlarge the area you see a triangle with lights on each tip (second photo). If you look even closer, you can see a black dot to the right and above the triangle (close-up of this in third photo). Westwego is directly across the Mississippi River form New Orleans. This, another rare photo of a triangle.

2004-April, 23. Long Island New York

2007-02-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

This very impressive image of lights was taken by a lady who is identified only as Marjorie. Early morning, she took her camera and captured some 25 photos of the sky that day, using a welder's glass to keep her eyes from the sun's harm. They were taken with a JVC digital camera. An avid photographer, she was shocked to see the object in the sky.

2005-February 13

2007-02-04T01:01:00.001-08:00

This exceptionally beautiful UFO photo was taken with a cellphone camera, and is an example of a type of photo that is likely to appear more often now that cameras in cellphones and personal digital assistants that people carry with them all the time are becoming more and more common. The individual who took this picture writes: "I took this photo when I was driving to work at about 5:00 AM. The light was coming from the southwest. The cell phone camera that I used was a Sanyo 8100. I am not sure what this light was, but I thought it was amazing and I am very glad I had my phone with me. If it helps any, the light looked like it was about 1/4 mile away from me. I noticed in the photo it looks a lot farther away."

2007-Van Buren, Arkansas

2007-02-04T00:59:00.001-08:00

Taken by retired Air Force pilot Col. Brian Fields from his backyard. "At first I thought they were landing lights from an aircraft," he said. "As I continued to observe them they began to slowly disappear, then suddenly one reappeared, followed by two, then three. On at least one occasion four or five appeared. Each time they would slowly fade and eventually disappear. This occurred several times and when they would reappear they might do so in differing numbers and in different positions, sometimes in a triangular shape, sometimes stacked on top of each other, sometimes line abreast, etc. When the objects appeared they might stay illuminated 10 or more minutes." © Col. Brian Fields

Small Humanoid Creature

2007-01-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

On October first of 2002, while vacationing in the Southern Chilean city of Concepcion, a group of family members found what appeared to be a small humanoid creature. The miniscule being measures about 7.2 centimeters long. It has a relatively large head, two arms with long fingers, and two legs. The discovery was first reported by "Mega News Service", which is the local news channel in the Santiago area.According to previously gathered evidence and interviews conducted by journalist Rodrigo Ugarte, the bizarre creature was found among bushes by one of the children during an outdoors trip. The child allegedly picked it up and wrapped it with a piece of paper. The child claims that it stayed alive for about eight days, and in some instances, it even opened its eyes.Nevertheless, after supposedly being dead for a few days, the small creature displays signs of advanced decomposition; it even appears to be in a strange state of mummification.Specialists from the University of Chile pointed out to a possibility that it might be a fetus from local wild life, such as a wild cat. However, they have not reached a conclusion to determine the exact species the supposed fetus could be scientifically associated with. They expect to carry out DNA testing in order to come up with a conclusion.

Aliens in Nepal 12,000 years ago!

2007-01-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

It seems that Egypt is not the only place that has been visited by Aliens in ancient times. This plate called 'The Lolladoff plate' is a 12,000 year old stone dish found in Nepal. It clearly shows a disk shaped UFO (top of pic, hard to see from the angle of the plate however). There is also a figure on the disc looking remarkably similar to a Grey. Notice the spiral galaxy shape as well, with the alien inside it and the ufo at the begging of it. Galaxies come in spiral shape and through out India, Egypt and Peru and other ancient sites the spiral shape is very often seen. This galaxy spiral is probably there to tell us that they flew here from another galaxy, or the spiral shape could signify energy or eternity, other meanings attributed to the spiral by Egyptians and other ancient cultures with inexplicable advanced methods in astronomy and spirituality.

cigar-shaped UFO

2007-01-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

This cigar-shaped UFO was photographed by Mr. Raul Garza at the Sierra Madre Oriental fire on 14 April 2006 in Monterrey, Mexico. Raul reports, "Suddenly an unexpected visitor appeared...it was like an enormous neon tube illuminated with an intense white light." His camera was mounted on a tripod and set to the 'program' mode. A telephoto lens with a range of 25-70 meters was used, set to 70 meters. photograph depicts the object to the left of the fire, whereas it appears immediately over one of the smaller burning areas in the photo. notes: UFO activity in Mexico increases when the main volcanoes near Mexico City are close to eruption.

25th of October in Plymouth, New Hampshire

2006-12-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

Joy P. was in the middle of a train trip. While observing the landscape, she decided to take photographs of the passing scenery. One of her pictures of red deer in a forest would show a strange, flying craft of a trianglar shape.
According to the Joy's statement on CNN, when making the series of photographies, she never observed anything out of the ordinary while taking the landscape pictures. The lens of camera was checked out and cleaned before taking the photos, and any possibility that a reflection from a window pane was involved was dismissed since the unknown object appeared in only one photo. None of the other passengers on the train had seen anything unusual during the trip.

OH My God, Aliens do exist!

2006-12-17T01:37:00.000-08:00

After settling down to fish, Robert unexpectedly decided to experiment with the new digital camera he just got. He reached into his bag of supplies and took out the camera, then both he and his son began walking along the shore of the lake looking for things to photograph. Mike suddenly stopped and asked his father, "Did you hear that?" He admitted to himself: it was very strange sound indeed. It was high pitched, something like a whistle, and not very loud. They followed the sound making their way between shrubs and after traveling only a few meters come to a small beach. There before them was the source of the sound and Robert was stunned! The following photographs were shot by Lt. Colonel Robert G. (retired) at Lake Zywieckie in Poland.

A huge shining disk, suspended in mid-air, hung over the lake. It reminded him of a flying saucer typically seen on TV.His first reaction was to run to get away...to escape. He never gave a thought to their fishing equipment or supplies. Grabbing mike's hand they began to leave when his son screamed, "Dad, Stop! It is a UFO."

Robert was scared, disorientated, shivers ran down spine and he was covered in cold sweat. He couldn't breathe. He head felt empty and his brain wouldn't function. His heart was pounding madly and he realized he had to calm down, take control. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the object moving slowly, spinning on its axis like a toy top.

mike turned the camera on and asked his father to take a photo. Taking the camera from his son he centered the view finder on the craft and clicked the shutter as it moved slowly to his right. "We'll show Mom," his son exclaimed.
Trance-like, the father, continued to take photos. The world was gone - only the object remained. The flying saucer had stopped maneuvering and was swinging side to side, its movements reminding Robert of a leaf floating in the air. A thought now crossed Robert's confused mind: Good God, Aliens don't exist! Just then the craft vanished. Robert hurriedly searched the sky, but there was no sign of the craft.

It was then, only then, after the craft had disappeared that Robert discovered he had wandered in the water taking pictures. He noticed people on the opposite bank and wanted to call to them...but didn't. He knew how people reacted to stories of UFOs and didn't want to become the brunt of one their jokes.

Looking at the camera he was amazed to discover that the camera's memory was completely filled and realized he had continued taking photos of the lake and the sky long after the craft had gone. He didn't actually remember taking the shots, just knew that he did.

Mentally exhausted he sat down on a tree trunk with his son and asked, "mike, what was it?" Gesturing with his arms to describe the object he replied, "UFO, I just said it! Let's quickly go home and tell Mom about it." We packed up the poles and gear and went home.

The Face on "EARTH"

2006-12-04T22:41:00.000-08:00

We have all heard of the face on Mars. In July, 1976, Viking Orbiter 1 was acquiring images of the Cydonia region of Mars as part of the search for potential landing sites for Viking Lander 2. On 25 July, 1976, it photographed a region of buttes and mesas along the escarpment that separates heavily cratered highlands to the south from low lying, relatively crater-free, lowland plains to the north. Among the hills was one that, to the Viking investigators scrutinizing the images for likely landing sites, resembled a face.

Now thanks to satellite images of Earth, a face or what appears to be an Indian head has been discovered in southwestern Canada. And upon further inspection, he appears to listening to an Ipod. Placed by aliens?

The land sculpture can be found 180 miles SE of Calgary. About 70 miles north of the U.S. border. Exactly 50° 0'38.20"N 110° 6'48.32"W for those who want to check it out themselves personally, or more easily with Google Earth.

The above picture is at 4500ft making this thing about ¼ mile across

At 12000 feet the Indian head is still quite visible. The "Ipod earphones" are actually a road that end in a large hole. Looks like it could be a mine. I wonder if the people that drive on this road even realize what it is.

The Evidence

2006-11-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

UFO researchers and writers today are tantalized by the increasing reports of alien abduction, photographs of alien beings, UFO crashes, possible debris, and implant removals. In a way we have become spoiled; expecting the sensational. This desire for ultimate proof has caused us to overlook the seemingly mundane, everyday reports of night lights, which were at one time sensational in their own right. With the ever growing technology of our era, pictures and video are often times called into question because of the ease of manipulation and creation afforded computer graphics experts. Called into question, that is, by those who are waiting in the wings to debunk any and all visible proof of UFOs as suspect of being hoaxed.

This is especially true in cases with one or two photos taken by one witness. This has always been a pitfall to researchers who scratch and claw for authentication of a particular photograph or video. There are, however, those cases which have multiple photographs of the same object, taken by many witnesses. This type of case carries the heaviest weight to those who remain on neutral ground. One of the best of these is the Phoenix, Arizona lights case of 1997. Supported by many photographs and videos, this fantastic event is still discussed and analyzed today.

The Lights Appear

Evidence points to March 13, 1997 as the onset of this extremely compelling account of various and sundry phenomenal lights which moved over the state of Arizona. These lights, though referred to as the "Phoenix Lights," were actually witnessed in at least five other cities. Phoenix has the distinction as the first Arizona city to report the unknown light sources, which were initially spotted over Superstition Mountains, east of the city, at about 7:30 PM. The first reports indicated an object of six points of light, immediately followed by a report of eight connected lights, with a separate ninth, which moved in unison with the eight.

The formation was seen again over the Gila River just before 10:00 PM. In a matter of minutes, the enormous, lighted structure had made its way over the southern part of the city of Phoenix. At this time, literally thousands of people witnessed the object or objects. It was at this time, that the first photographs and videos were taken. The final sightings of the night were in Rainbow Valley. Witnesses there reported a distinct "V" formation. This sighting occurred at about 2:00 AM on March 14.

Whitley Strieber

2006-11-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

Whitley Striebers one of the most well known UFO researchers in the area of alien abduction, and alien implants. His well known book, "Communion" is a UFO classic. It was also made into a movie by the same name.
In upper state New York over the 1985 Christmas holidays, Strieber was staying in his isolated cabin with his wife and son. At this time, Strieber was already a well know writer. He had become somewhat suspect of potential intruders, and had recently installed a high tech alarm system in the cabin.

At approximately 11:00 PM on the 26th of December, he activated the system, and the family retired for the night. After a couple of hours, he was awakened by an unusual sound. He felt that the security of his cabin had been breached. He was soon shocked to see a creature in his bedroom. After this, the next thing he knew he was sitting in the woods which surrounded his cabin. His memories of what had occurred were fragmented. Eventually, to reestablish memories of that night, and understand what had really happened, he would undergo regressive hypnosis by Dr. Donald F. Klein.

The hypnotic regression would uncover many of the details of his experience. He recalled that he had been "floated" out of his bedroom and into a waiting UFO. He would see four different types of alien beings, one a small, robot type of being, secondly, a short, stocky type, the third was very slender and weak looking. It had mesmerising black eyes that slanted, and the last being had black, button eyes.

He was subjected to medical testing by these aliens. One of these was the insertion of a needle into his brain, and another involved an object being inserted into his rectum. The beings took a blood sample from him by making an incision in his finger. The recounting of the most bizarre facts, caused Dr. Klein to diagnose Strieber with "temporal lobe epilepsy." This condition can cause one to have hallucinations. Strieber did not accept the diagnosis, and recounted his abduction as a real event. He would eventually establish a foundation as a support group for alien abductees.

August 1, 1952 US Coast Guard

2006-11-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

The US Coast Guard released a photograph of unidentified aerial phenomena (i.e. a UFO), taken by a 21-year old CG photographer on 16 July at the Salem Coast Guard Air Station. Coast Guard Officer Shell R. Alpert snapped the photograph of four UFOs. The UFOs were also witnessed by Coastguardsman Thomas Flaherty.

07-19-06-Lubiana [Pomorskie]

2006-11-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

July 19th 2006, 14:28
The presented photograph was taken on 19th July 2006 in Lubiana [located Pomorskie Wojewodztwo] in Northern part of Poland. The author, Mr. Piotr Gierszewski stated that he was about to take some photos of strange looking clouds. The witness didn't notice anything extraordinary.

“I became interested with disc-shaped clouds, so I decided to take some photos. Viewing them on my PC screen I noticed some object that looks like UFO if magnified. The enhancements were done in FotoOffice 3 and I applied also a zoom tool available in the program.”
“Photos were taken with Digital Camera FinePix F10 at 14:28 on 19th of July 2006. The date in the camera was set incorrectly – it was in June, not July.”

video broadcast on the 28th of September 1997

2006-10-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

This image is from a program called "Tercer Mileniooe" hosted by Jaime Maussan. Maussan is a well-respected Mexican Ufologist. This program is on every weekend in Mexico. On it you see a huge UFO hovering over a building. He estimated its size at 20 meters.

You can clearly see the UFO is rotating over its axis. It has a very peculiar motion, as if earth's gravity is affecting it as it flies. For a few seconds the UFO stays fairly static, then it begins to move. It travels from left to right and goes behind a building, reappearing again on top of the same building. It keeps travelling at a slow pace until it goes behind a second building and we never see it again. On the audio you can hear the voices of two guys very excited, shouting and screaming as they tape the UFO. Maussan analysed the video by testing various display modes with a computer and by zooming digitally on the image. He concluded it was highly likely that is was genuine. The following week on his television broadcast of October 5th he continued the investigation. He went to the site where the video was shot and found several witnesses that corroborated the event. He was calling it the Supreme evidence of the UFO Phenomena. He said that it was the best video in existence of a UFO, and that he would continue with the investigation.

Greys

2006-10-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

These creatures need little introduction to followers of Ufology. They are commonly reported in `alien abduction cases such as the Betty and Barney Hill case and the Travis Walton story ( See Alien Abductions ) and perform surgery, often extracting sperm, ovaries and foetuses from helpless victims before returning them to the location they were taken from (usually there bedroom). It is hypothesised from the tales told by abduction victims that they are carrying out some sort of crossbreeding of human beings with their own kind to produce a new hybrid breed.

They boast telepathy via there hypnotic black eyes, and often wear silver suits and helmets. They are reported to come from either the Zeta Reticuli, Orion, other dimensions and even from underneath the Earth…

They seem to be emotionless (by human standards) and therefore are seen as cruel in their treatment of human beings.. They are able to take human lives without any regard for that individual. They apparently can use certain substances of the human body for their sustenance and therefore appear to be carnivorous in regards to humans. (I also read that they extract fluid from some part of the human brain during intense emotional response [fear] and are able to use it like a recreational drug.).

June 1965 Astronauts

2006-10-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Astronauts Ed White (first American to walk in space) and James McDivitt were passing over Hawaii in a Gemini spacecraft when they saw a weird-looking metallic object. The UFO had long arms sticking out of it. McDivitt took pictures with a cine-camera. These pictures have been released for the first time here on UFO BLOG.

Sunday 25 January 2004 Norfolk Island in the South Pacific

2006-09-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

The shot was taken 2:56:34 PM. The photo was taken at the far end of Emily Bay. I am a sales executive who travels regularly to the Island which is situated 1.45 hours flight north of Auckland, New Zealand. I did not personally see the object. I was taking random shots of the beach while lying down; my digital camera has a viewing screen that I was using to see the scene in front of me. There were 5 taken, all about 20 seconds apart. No other shot shows anything else unusual in the scene. There as such were no witnesses to the object. The weather was great, there was a good amount of cloud periodically passing over head and it was a very warm, humid day, about 26 degrees Celsius.

I would say there was about 20 people on the beach as you can see in the shot (full size image), there would have been about 30 people on the other side of the trees across the bay at Slaughter Bay. To my knowledge no one saw anything. There are only two flights a week into the Island; Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning. There were no aircraft in the area at the time the photo was taken; I checked with the airport on the island. I carry the camera everywhere and just take random shots.When I download the pictures to my laptop is when I see the results. When I was checking the images after downloading them was when I saw the object on screen. I made contact with a local on the island who is a UFO follower.

I emailed him a copy and he spent some time on it on Tuesday evening blowing the image up to clarify what it was. To to us it looks very similar to images taken of UFO's in Kaikoura in New Zealand in the 1970s by local pilots. There was a book published in New Zealand relating to this story. It is called "UFO's over Kaikoura."

That's about all the details I can give you at this stage. The Islands have had landings in the past according to locals. There is only a population on the islands of 1800 people and many tell of sightings in the area, and have images taken in the past with objects on the photo.

Paranormal Phenomena

2006-09-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

Researcher Robert Connolly photographed this strange elongated skull in 1995. It was found in South America and is estimated to be tens of thousands of years old. Apart from its obvious abnormalities, it also exhibits characteristics of both Neanderthal and human skulls – impossible in itself, according to anthropology texts, since Neanderthals did not exist in South America. Some believe that the unusual shape of the skulls might be the result of a primitive practice known as "skull binding" in which a person's head is tightly bound with cloth or leather straps throughout his lifetime, causing the skull to grow in this dramatic way and offcourse there are those who think these are findings of aliens from another planet.

National UFO Reporting Center

2006-09-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

March Sightings 1995

Traditionally, the Center identifies a given sighting by assigning to it the name of the nearest city, or other geographical feature or landmark. It the case of the cluster of sighting reports we received over the Hotline on the evening of March 15, l995, so many states and cities were involved, we are going to borrow a line from Shakespeare regarding the possible perils of that date...
The first call we received was from Cannis City, FL, reporting that two males were walking along railroad tracks near that town and were stunned to see a luminous, white disc-shaped object streak across the sky, pass below or near several aircraft in the night sky, appear to ascend back up into the sky, and disappear to the north. The report seemed to be sincere, and bore several of the hallmarks that the Center knows to be characteristic of legitimate reports. However, it was so much like so many other reports the Hotline receives on a regular basis that we were not yet alerted to the possibility that other reports were soon to follow...
The third call we received minutes later from a gentleman in Jackson, TN, who reported witnessing a blue-green "cloud of light" hovering in the night sky. He had seen it streak from the northwest beneath, he thought, almost solid overcast, hover for approximately 30 or 40 seconds, during which time he could almost see some kind of object apparently imbedded in the cloud of light. The object then began to drift generally to the southwest, the caller reported, at which time it belched out a large "cloud" of sparks, and then streaked southwest, quickly disappearing from sight.
Minutes later, we received a call from a sergeant in the Missouri Highway Patrol communications headquarters in Jefferson City ("Troop F"). The officer had been on duty that night at his station on the east side of Jefferson City, when together with two Jefferson City police officers, he witnessed an intensely bright, green light hover in the sky over Jefferson City for approximately 5-7 seconds. The object began to descend slowly, at which point its color changed to yellow, and then it simply disappeared from sight instantly, like a light being switched off. The patrol officer reported that their "911" emergency dispatch telephone line had taken many reports from citizens regarding the same object, and one caller reported that his cellular phone and radio went dead while the object was near his vehicle.
While I was speaking with the patrol officer, another call came in from a retired commercial airline pilot, who resides in Vienna, VA. He and his wife were driving back to their home in Vienna, just a few miles west of Washington, D.C., after having picked up their daughter at National Airport. Their daughter is an airline pilot for the same airline that her father had flown for, and from which he had retired.
As they were driving west (at a heading of approximately 250 degrees magnetic) on Westford Avenue (?), approaching the exit for Chain Bridge Road, the father and daughter both simultaneously observed an bright object, apparently at some distance from them, streak down out of the sky almost directly ahead of them, descending at approximately 70-80 degrees from the horizontal plane. They both expected to observe some kind of explosion when the object reached ground level, but nothing happened! Rather than explode, the object simply disappeared from sight--uneventfully-- when it reached the horizon...
The next call came from Fairmont, WV, perhaps a hundred miles (or more) to the northwest of Vienna, VA. A young woman called to report that, after visiting with her mother in Westover, WV, she had just sat in the driver's seat of her car to leave, when a bright light had streaked silently over her car at a breath-taking velocity. She added that as she glanced up at the light, she thought she could make out the outline of an "egg-shaped" object imbedded in the orb of bright light. The back portion of the object was bright yellow.
Many other calls were received that night, and over subsequent days, regarding what appears to us to be the same sighting. Thousands (!) of calls reportedly were received by radio stations and "911" facilities in St. Louis, MO, after the object passed over that city, and we received two very convincing call from western Illinois, as well.
In summary, it appears that one or more egg-shaped objects, radiating intensely bright green, blue-green, and yellow light, and periodically spewing out a cloud of sparks, streaked over at least seven states, stopping from time to time, and the whole event occurred in a matter of minutes!!

Ancient Egyptian paintings

2006-09-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

The picture on the left comes from Ancient Egyptian paintings on walls in temples in Egypt. Notice the black arrow pointing at a bizarre looking (Egyptian) with big almond shaped eyes and a strange body. What is this creature doing in this ancient Egyptian temple. This is not a doctored photo, you can look up this picture in Egyptian books. This is clearly not a human, yet he is right there in front of us. Do you deny what is right in front of you just to satisfy your vision of what is normal?

Engraving in Ancient Egypt

2006-09-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

The next picture is an engraving in Ancient Egypt, notice the hats worn by the two adults, could they be covering their large heads and skulls? Notice the 2 babies, one on the left has an elongated skull, so do the 2 on the right. Could all these facts be just coincidences? Of course not? We are not all that gullible to keep accepting all these foolish arguments for all these obvious alien things we see around the world. Egypt, Peru, Mexico, Easter Island, we have been fed a bunch of baloney about the origins of all these incredible works and their builders.

We are told in schools that the great pyramid of Egypt took 40 years to build and it's purpose was to bury a pharoah. Come on now, are we that gullible and were the Egyptians that gullible? Of course not, who would spend 40 years of hard labor building a pyramid just to stuff a dead body in it after 40 years of hard work. That hardly sounds logical for such an obviously advanced culture as the Ancient Egyptians. They invented their own language for god sakes, are we to think they were dumb enough to spend 40 years sweating their guts out for only burying 1 body. That is the stupidest thing we have been fed by Egyptologists to date.

In Mexico the group of pyramids including the pyramid of the sun are known by people in Mexico by legend as "Place where the gods touch the earth." In all evidence this probably means where the aliens landed. Where they touched the Earth... Think about it, the pyramids are large stone monuments in Mexico with steps going down the sides. What better purpose for the steps than to allow the aliens to climb down the pyramids to the ground. That is the most logical reason for their construction.

Alien Life? Astronomers Predict Contact by 2025

2006-08-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

Earthlings could make contact with extraterrestrial beings by the year 2025, two astronomers predict in a new book. The authors say it's unlikely space aliens look like Hollywood's ET—little, green, and hairless—and that while aliens are highly unlikely to pay Earth a visit, they may be sending radio signals across space to let us know they exist. The book, Cosmic Company, "is an explication of why we think they're out there, how we're looking for them, what they must be like, and a little bit of what it might mean" to find life on other planets, said co-author Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in Mountain View, California.

The institute conducts research in astronomy, the planetary sciences, and evolution. Past research projects have been funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and numerous universities and foundations. Beyond Our Galaxy Shostak and co-author Alexandra Barnett, an astronomer and executive director of the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California, base their predictions on a number of factors. They include the billions of years in which extraterrestrial life could have evolved and the abundance of planets and stars elsewhere in the universe that are likely to mimic environmental conditions found on Earth. "It's a matter of statistics, really," said Barnett. "Depending on who you talk to, the universe is 12 to 15 billion years old. Humans have only been around for 40,000 years. We really are the new kids on the block. It would just be too tough a pill to swallow to believe that nothing else has evolved in all that time and space." The universe is indeed vast. In 1924 astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that there are galaxies beyond our own. "More than a half century later, the Hubble telescope has shown that there are at least 100 billion such galaxies," said Shostak. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is home to at least 100 billion stars. Planets are also plentiful. Since 1995, when the first Jupiter-sized planet outside of our solar system was found, astronomers have been able to identify about 100 more planets, all of them around 300 times more massive than Earth. "Planets really are as common as phone poles," said Shostak. "Right now, we know that there are planets out there [orbiting] ten or twenty percent of the stars we look at. So far, only huge planets have been found, but it would be a big surprise if there were only big ones. I don't think anyone expects that to be the case." Until now, the search for intelligent life has been somewhat hampered by inadequate technology—too few stars surveyed at too low a sensitivity by Earth and space-based telescopes. But in 2007, NASA will launch the Kepler Mission, a satellite probe able to detect smaller planets the size of Mercury, Mars, or the Earth.

The mission is specifically designed to look for planets in what scientists consider the habitable zone: the distance from a star where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. Projects like the Kepler Mission and the new Allen Telescope Array, located near Mount Lassen, California, which will enable astronomers to survey 100,000 stars by 2015, should increase the odds of finding a radio signal broadcast by alien life, say the astronomers. "The bottom line is that there is an enormous amount of real estate, and there doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about our neighborhood. The star that's our sun is nothing special. The Earth is just a rock," said Shostak. "To think anything else is to once again put ourselves at the center of the universe, and scientists are very [wary] of doing that. We've done it before and been proven wrong." Searching for Intelligent Life The building blocks of life on Earth—complex organic compounds and amino acids—are abundant in the universe and can be found in meteorites, comets, and interstellar gas and dust. "There's a growing realization that there may be some other biology in our solar system," said Shostak. "There are deep oceans on the moons of Jupiter, and some evidence that Mars in its early days really should have had some life.

So if there are two or maybe even three instances in this solar system alone, where life could have emerged, it's not unreasonable to consider that similar situations arose in other solar systems." Of course, there is a difference between life and intelligent life, and scientists disagree about the likelihood of intelligence evolving on another planet. Some believe that it takes very special conditions for intelligence to evolve. The late Stephen Jay Gould, the preeminent Harvard University evolutionary biologist and paleontologist, wrote that the creation of intelligence was a freak occurrence, requiring a number of specific events to occur that could never be replicated again. Shostak and Barnett believe differently.

They argue that there are evolutionary mechanisms that encourage intelligence, particularly among social beings. "For instance, if you can intuit the actions of the males next to you—they're about to steal your food or your mate, say—then you're going to have increased breeding success, so the next generation is going to have more ability to live in a social environment," said Shostak. "This is very general behavior—it's not miraculous—you see it in the great apes, of course, but you also see it in dolphins, whales." "JO Alien" As to what an intelligent alien life-form might look like should such a thing exist, it's anyone's guess.

Shostak and Barnett created "JO Alien," an animated character for a planetarium show at the National Space Centre in Leicester, England, to explore the question. "It's the poster child of aliens," said Shostak. "A very conventional kind of alien—grey and smooth and humanoid—very anthropomorphic. Not what we really expect." However, the genderless JO does demonstrate some of the basic principles of physics and engineering that might dictate what another life-form might look like. "An alien would probably have to be bigger than a rat because rats have quite small brains, and an intelligent life-form would need a bigger brain," said Barnett. "So bigger than a cat, but not bigger than an elephant because there are limitations on how much weight a body can support." JO Alien has two eyes, based on the assumption that an alien life-form would be found on a planet circling a star. Everything on Earth that lives in light has developed eyes. Why two instead of one? Two gives you the evolutionary advantage of being better able to catch your next meal, said Barnett. Why not ten eyes? It would take an enormous amount of brain-power to process all the signals, she said, with little or no extra benefit. As far as limbs are concerned, the pair speculate that an extraterrestrial would have more than one, particularly if it's building radio telescopes, but a score would be a stretch. Again, it would require a great deal of brain-power to coordinate all 20, Barnett said. Given the enormous distances between the stars, measured in terms of trillions of miles, Shostak doesn't expect a visit. "There's a tremendous amount of interest in alien life, mostly from the point of view that we've been visited," he said. "I don't believe that, and I don't think most scientists do. What we'd most like to convey is that there's a possibility they exist even if they haven't visited, and we're searching for them'.

Advanced Aliens:

2006-08-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

Why ET Will Be More Advanced than Humanity

Movie aliens are often like distant relatives: they resemble us in an unpleasant sort of way. This is hardly a surprise. Hollywood creates characters that audiences can identify with, and that’s why its aliens are so anthropomorphic (and why Donald Duck looks more like a human than a duck.) But appearances aside, cinema aliens have another implausible attribute: they’re nearly always at our level of technical sophistication. We frequently trade gunfire with them or chase them around in dogfights. This is silly, of course.

Any beings capable of bridging the vast distances between the stars would be able to clean our clock when it comes to science and engineering. Visitors from other worlds – should any appear – would be enormously ahead of us from a technological viewpoint. It may surprise you to learn that the same is true for any aliens we might tune in with our SETI experiments. Why is that? Why will our listening experiments – if they succeed – find only highly advanced aliens? The reason is this: our chance of detecting societies that are sending high-powered radio signals or intense laser beams our way depends on their average longevity – how many years they stay "on the air." Imagine for a moment that the city you live in is the Milky Way Galaxy. Let’s further assume that you’re looking for signs of life in this urban agglomeration.

It’s raining and you can’t walk the streets, so you decide to hunt for company from home by monitoring a short-wave radio. You hope that some of the life out there is on the air, either as radio hams, CB users or whatever. Clearly, the longer the average time that the broadcasters spend blathering into the microphone, the greater the chance that you’ll stumble into a transmission as you twist your antenna and tune the dial. In SETI circles, this dependence on a society’s technological lifetime is represented by the factor "L" in the famous Drake Equation. Fair enough. But now take a deep breath and consider some representative numbers. In the next two decades, the SETI Institute hopes to use new telescopes (including the Allen Telescope Array) to check out as many as a million Sun-like stars.

If we find a signal in that sample, then we’ll know that approximately one in a million solar-type stars has a planet where broadcasters are active. Suppose that sometime in its 10 billion-year lifetime, every Sun-like star eventually cooks up some sophisticated beings. (This is highly unlikely, of course, but hold on…) Since each of these stars will last for roughly 10 billion years, then every civilization has to be on the air for 10,000 years – on average – in order for one in a million of them to be broadcasting now.

If we suppose that only one in 10 of the Sun-like stars eventually produces a transmitting society, then they have to be on the air for 100,000 years for one in a million of them to be broadcasting now. And so forth. In other words, even if we are wildly optimistic about the fraction of Sun-like stars that produce sophisticated beings, our chances for SETI success in the near term depend on broadcasting activities that last for at least 10,000 years, and undoubtedly much longer. On Earth, we’ve been transmitting high-powered, high-frequency signals for 50 years or so. That’s 0.5 percent of 10,000 years. In other words, the chances are better (probably much better) than 99.5 percent that any ET we detect in the next decade will be ahead of us, scientifically. Ahead of us by many thousands of years. To them we will be the technological equivalent of club-wielding Neanderthals. So forget about movie aliens, who always seem keen to engage us in aerial combat or invite us aboard their ships for unpleasant personal experiments. Any aliens we overhear will be considerably beyond that.

Physical Evidence

2006-08-02T00:07:00.000-07:00

Related to UFO Reports (Sturrock Panel):

Injuries to Vegetation

In some cases that involve an apparent disturbance to the soil, there may also be an apparent injury to vegetation. Velasco stated that four such cases have been investigated by GEPAN/SEPRA: the "Christelle" case of November 27, 1979; the "Trans-en-Provence" case of January 8, 1981; the "Amarante" case of October 21, 1982; and the "Joe le Taxi" case of September 7, 1987. In the Christelle case, in which grass was flattened in a uniform direction, plant physiology analysis was subsequently carried out by Professor Touze of the Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale de l'Université Paul Sabatier (the Center for Plant Physiology, Paul Sabatier University), Toulouse. The Trans-en-Provence case will be discussed later in this section.

In the Amarante case, that took place near Nancy, grass was lifted up, the amarante leaves withered, and the amarante fruit seemed to have exploded. The plant physiology was examined by Professor Abravanel , also of the Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale de l'Université Paul Sabatier (the Center for Plant Physiology, Paul Sabatier University), Toulouse. In the Joe le Taxi case, birch leaves were affected by the incident, and a biochemical analysis was carried out by Professor Michel C. L. Bounias of the Biochemistry Laboratory at INRA (National Institute of Agronomy Research), University of Avignon.

In the Trans-en-Provence case of January 8, 1981, discussed also in the previous section (Bounias, 1990; Vallee, 1990; Velasco, 1990; see Section 15), the Gendarmerie took one sample 1.5 meters from the center of a ground trace on January 9 and another sample, 20 meters from the center, on January 23. On February 17, 1981, investigators from GEPAN/SEPRA visited the site and took a series of samples beginning at the center of the ground trace and ending 10 meters from the center. Bounias examined the samples in his laboratory.

The principal procedure for biochemical analysis was that of determining the chromatograms of the pigments. This yielded information for a number of biochemical components (chlorophylides; xanthines; oxychlorophylls; lutein; chlorophyll A; chlorophyll B; pheophytins; and ß carotene). In samples taken from the periphery of the ground trace, the chlorophyll A content had been reduced by 33%, the chlorophyll B content by 28% and the pheophytin content by 31%. Bounias also found that the ß carotene content had been reduced by 50-57% and the violaxanthine content by 80%.

The above changes, which normally occur as the result of aging of a plant, were found both in the samples removed by the Gendarmerie within one day of the event, and by the samples taken by the GEPAN/SEPRA investigators 40 days after the event. As one may see from the article by Bounias (1990), the biochemical changes show a strong correlation with distance from the center of the event. It appears that the magnitude of the effect is associated with a specific quantity (the difference in free enthalpy) associated with the biochemical change.

According to Bounias, the glucide and amino-acid content of very young leaves had been changed to become nearer the content characteristic of old leaves. Bounias carried out certain experiments to try to determine what form of trauma may have been responsible for these biochemical changes. As a toxicologist, Bounias rejected the hypothesis that the changes could have been caused by a deliberate act involving chemical poisons. Bounias also found that some of the changes could have been caused by powerful microwave radiation. However, microwave radiation by itself would not explain the photosynthetic breakdown or certain other characteristics of the injuries. Bounias found no evidence of effects that one might expect to be produced by ionizing radiation. This is consistent with the fact that there was no trace of radioactivity at the site.

Velasco also reported the GEPAN/SEPRA investigation into the "Amarante" case that occurred at Nancy on October 21, 1982. The witness, who is a biologist, reported that an ovoid object descended into his garden but did not descend lower than 1 meter above the ground. The witness observed the object for 20 minutes before it took off vertically into the sky. The witness did not hear any sound or feel any heat during the encounter, nor were there traces on the ground. However the witness reported that, just before the object departed, the grass blades stood up straight. Subsequent investigations showed that this phenomenon could be reproduced in the laboratory by using very intense electric fields (several tens of kV/m). The GEPAN/SEPRA investigators found that the amarante plants located near the object had become desiccated whereas similar plants further away were in normal condition.

The fruit of plants from the vicinity of the object looked as if they had been cooked. Further biochemical analyses of the samples gave results consistent with what one would expect of plants that had been dehydrated. The panel was impressed by the detailed information that can be obtained by laboratory investigation of samples of vegetation taken from the location of a claimed UFO incident. It appears that a great deal more could be done in the way of laboratory experiments to study the effects of various kinds of radiation and other forms of trauma upon vegetation.

One should also examine the kinds of effects that could be produced by techniques that might be involved in a hoax, such as chemicals, heat from a blow torch, etc. Such studies would help identify a hoax, if it has been perpetrated, or the studies may lead to the conclusion that a hoax is a very unlikely explanation of the traces. In the latter case, it may or may not be possible to identify the type of technological device that would produce the radiation, or combination of radiations, necessary to produce the identified injuries to the vegetation.

If UFOs are real, shouldn't they produce

2006-08-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

The answer is that they do. There are rather well-authenticated cases spanning a wide variety of "physical effects." Car-stopping cases are one important class. UFOs have repeatedly been associated with ignition failures and light-failures of cars and trucks which came near UFOs or near which the UFOs moved. I would estimate that one could assemble a list of four or five dozen such instances from various parts of the world. Interference with radios and TV receptions have been reported many times in connection with UFO sightings. There are instances where UFOs have been reported as landing, and after departure, holes in the ground, or depressions in sod or disturbed vegetation patterns have been described. In many such instances, the evident reliability of the witnesses is high, the likelihood of hoax or artifice small.

A limited number of instances of residues left behind are on record, but these are not backed up by meaningful laboratory analyses, unfortunately. A physical effect that does not typically occur under conditions where the description of events might seem to call for it, relates to sonic booms. Although there are on record a few cases where fast-moving UFOs were accompanied by explosive sounds that might be associated with sonic booms, there are far more instances in which the reported velocity corresponded to supersonic speeds, yet no booms were reported.

A small fraction of these can be rationalized by noting that the reporting witnesses were located back within the "Mach cone" of the departing UFO; but this will not suffice to explain away the difficulty. One feels that if UFOs are solid objects, capable of leaving depressions in soil or railroad ties when they land, and if they can dash out of sight in a few seconds (as has been repeatedly asserted by credible witnesses), they should produce sonic booms.

This remains inexplicable; one can only lamely speculate that perhaps there are ways of eliminating sonic booms that we have not yet discovered; perhaps the answer involves some entirely different consideration. If we include among "physical effects" those that border on the physiological, then there appear to be many odd types. Repeatedly, tingling and numbness have been described by witnesses who were close to UFOs; in many instances outright paralysis of a UFO witness has occurred. These effects might, of course, be purely psychological, engendered by fear; but in some instances the witnesses seem to have noted these effects as the first indication that anything unusual was occurring.

A number of instances of skin-reddening, skin-warming, and a few instances of burns of very unusual nature are on record. These physiological effects are sufficiently diverse that caution is required in attempting generalization. Curiously, a peculiar tingling and paralysis seem to be reported more widely than any other physiological effects. A person who is almost unaware of the ramifications of the UFO evidence may think it absurd to assert that people have been paralyzed in proximity to UFOs; the skeptic might find it inconceivable that such cases would go unnoticed in press and medical literature. Far from it, I regret to have to say, on the basis of my own investigations.

I have encountered cases where severe bodily damage was done, or where evident hazard of damage was involved, yet the witness and his family found ridicule mounting so much faster than sympathy that it was regarded wiser to quietly forget the whole thing. At an early stage of my investigations I would have regarded that as quite unbelievable; UFO investigators with longer experience than mine will smile at that statement, but probably they will smile with a degree of understanding. I could cite specific illustrations to make all this much clearer, but will omit them for space-limitations, except for a few remarks in the next section.

UFO Facts

2006-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

Disclosure: Military and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History

This is a summary of witness testimony on UFO facts taken from the book Disclosure, compiled and edited. The testimonies in the book were taken verbatim from video interviews with the witnesses, which include astronauts, generals, admirals, other top government and military officials.

THE COVER-UP: UFOs

US Army, Brigadier General Stephen LovekinOne afternoon when we were just about ready to finish up training, Colonel Holomon brought out a piece of what appeared to be metallic debris. He went on to explain that this was material that had come from a New Mexico crash in 1947 of an extraterrestrial craft, and that was discussed at length….I got an opportunity to travel with the President [Eisenhower]. He was very, very interested in the shapes and sizes of the UFOs and what made them go….But what happened was that Eisenhower got sold out. He realized that he was losing control of the UFO subject. He realized that the phenomenon was not going to be in the best hands. That was a real concern….It had been discussed with me on numerous occasions what could happen to me militarily if I discussed this. Threats have been made and carried out. This [UFOs] being the biggest security situation that this country has ever dealt with, there have been some erasures….He said, “You will be erased—disappear.” Those threats have been made and carried out. Those threats started way back in 1947. They will go after not only you, they will go after your family. pp. 33, 230-237.

US Navy Pilot, Lieutenant Frederick FoxThere is a publication called JANAP 146E that had a section that says you will not reveal any information regarding the UFO phenomenon under penalty of $10,000 fine and ten years in jail….I never reported anything to FAA or the military. A lot of pilots just did not want to get involved in this because of peer pressure and ridicule. So the secret has been kept. pp. 45, 146.

Director of CIA, Vice Admiral R.H. HillenkoetterIt is time for the truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings. Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense. To hide the facts, the Air Force has silenced its personnel. p. 58, quoted from New York Times, February 28, 1960, p. L30,

Deputy Chief of the Belgian Royal Air Force, Major General Wilfred de BrouwerThe Air Force has arrived [at] the conclusion that a number of anomalous phenomena have been produced within Belgian airspace. Not a single trace of aggressiveness has been signaled. p. 60.

Apollo 14 Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell, Ph.D. (Aeronautics, MIT, sixth man to walk on moon)Yes, there have been ET visitations. There have been crashed craft. There have been material and bodies recovered. There has been a certain amount of reverse engineering that has allowed some of these craft, or some components, to be duplicated. And there is some group of people that may or may not be associated with government at this point, but certainly were at one time, that have this knowledge. They have been attempting to conceal this knowledge or not permit it to be widely disseminated….Perhaps a large part of the activity that’s classified as UFO abductions may very well not be due to ET activity at all. I would suspect if any is due to ET activity, it is a rather small part. A larger potion is due to human activity in a very clandestine fashion….People in high level government have very, very little, if any, valid information about this. Most have no more knowledge than the man in the street….[As to] the question, “How could it be kept secret?” It hasn’t been kept secret. It’s been there all along. But it has been the subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and create confusion so the truth doesn’t come out….I believe it is a very important effort that we get Congressional oversight of all this. But so far that hasn’t happened. pp. 61-64.

Edgar Mitchell and Dwight Williams, p. 212.Vatican Theologian, Insider Close to the Pope, Monsignor Corrado BalducciWe can’t anymore deny that something is happening here in this field of ufology. Not just flying saucers, but there might be actual people, beings, extraterrestrial beings. p. 64.

FAA Division Chief of Accidents and Investigations, John CallahanThis particular incident started with a phone call from the people in Alaska….I said, “What’s the problem?” He said, “Well, it’s that UFO. The UFO was bouncing around the 747 here”….They brought in three people from the FBI, three people from the CIA, and three people form Reagan’s scientific study team. Well, I’ve been involved in a lot of cover-ups with the FAA. When we gave the presentation to the Reagan staff, they had all those people swear that this never happened. But they never had me swear it never happened….For those people who say that if these UFOs existed, they would some day be on radar and that there’d be professionals who would see it, then I can tell them that back in 1986, there were enough professional people that saw it. What I can tell you is what I’ve seen with my own eyes. I’ve got a videotape. I’ve got the voice tape. And I’ve got the reports that were filed that will confirm what I’ve been telling you. pp. 79-85.

Mercury & Gemini Astronaut, Colonel Gordon CooperAt Edwards Air Force Base I was having some of the cameramen film precision landings. A saucer flew right over them, put down three landing gears, and landed out on the dry lakebed. They went out there with their cameras towards the UFO. It lifted off and flew off at a very high rate of speed….I had a chance to hold it [the film] up to the window to look at it. Good close-up shots. There was no doubt in my mind that it was made someplace other than on this earth….In my opinion they were worried it would panic the public if they knew that someone had vehicles that had this kind of performance. So they started telling lies about it. Then I think they had to cover it with another lie. Now they don’t know how to get out of it. pp. 225 - 229. pp. 80 - 91, 194 - 200.

US Air Force, Sergeant Chuck SorrellsIn those days [1965], every base had what they called a UFO officer. p. 98.

US Air Force, Sergeant Michael W. SmithI was on the radar, and NORAD called me and informed me that there was a UFO coming up the California coast. I said, “What do you want me to do?” And they said, “Nothing. Just watch it. Don’t write it down.” I believe the technology they [secret projects based on UFO technology] have could enable us to stop burning our fossil fuels and stop the damage to the ozone. p. 45, 109.

US Navy, Commander Graham Bethune[The UFO] was very large. It came up to 10,000 feet like that—a fraction of a second. I thought it was going to go right through us. So I disengaged the autopilot, pushed the nose over, because I was going to go under it at the angle that it was coming toward me….We were not supposed to tell even our wives of our encounter….My boss told me that they had a craft back there, and they did have ET bodies. Now he’s not the first one that ever told me that. p. 113, 117, 118.

Mexico City Senior Air Traffic Controller, Enrique KolbeckWhen you have the view of the airspace and the radar screen [and] you see the UFOs go around twenty or thirty miles a second—that is very real. They can turn suddenly almost 90 degrees in a second or half a second. The UFOs can go vertically straight up very quickly. p. 129.

NASA Research Scientist (Gemini, Apollo, Skylab), Dr. Richard HainesAir Catalogue is a rather extensive library I’ve been collecting for almost 30 years from commercial, private, and test pilots. I have over 3,000 cases. My estimate is that for every pilot who does come forward, and makes a confidential or a public report, there are 20, 30 other pilots who don’t. p. 131.

US Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Dwynne ArnesonI was a top secret control officer. I happened to see a classified message go through my com [communications] center which said, “A UFO has crashed on the Island of Spitsbergen, Norway, and a team of scientists are coming to investigate it.” p. 176.

US Navy, National Security Agency, James KopfThe UFO incident occurred on the USS John F. Kennedy in the summer of 1971. We observed a large, glowing sphere over the ship. It looked huge. I would say it was anywhere from three or four hundred feet to a quarter of a mile depending on how high it was. A few days later, the Commanding Officer looked at the camera – and I will never forget this – and he said, “I would like to remind the crew that certain events that take place on board a major combat vessel are considered classified and should not be discussed with anyone without a need to know.” p. 203.

US Navy Atlantic Command, Merle Shane McDowWe had contact with an unidentified flying object that had entered our air space. The order was given by Admiral Trane to get this object forced down out of the sky if at all possible, by whatever means possible….Two gentlemen began to question me about this event. They were being pretty rough. I remember literally putting my hands up and saying, “Wait a minute fellows. I’m on your side.” My logbook, I never did see that again. pp. 241 - 244.

Canadian Transport Department, Senior Radio Engineer, Wilbur SmithFlying saucers exist. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the US Government, rating higher even than the H-bomb. p. 272.

Marine Corps, Lance Corporal Jonathan WeygandtIt was buried in the side of a cliff. When I first saw it, I was scared. It [was] real strange. I think the creatures calmed me. It was weird. I think they were trying to communicate with me, like, I guess, telepathically. It is really weird, and I don’t believe in any of that stuff. [Immediately after this] I was arrested. I thought they were going to kill me. He was saying, “Are you a patriot? Do you like the Constitution?” I’m like, “Yeah.” He said, “We are on our own program. We don’t obey. We just do what we want.” And he said, “You have got to sign these papers. You never saw this. I don’t exist. And if you tell anybody, you will just come up missing.” pp. 275 - 277.

Air Force Intelligence Officer, Major George A. Filer IIII was met by the head of the command post. He was very specific about the fact that an alien from outer space had been shot at Fort Dix, and that he had run away after being wounded, and headed for McGuire….One interesting thing is that many of the key personnel on the base at that time who had a connection with the event were quickly transferred—from the wing commander on down—indicating that if you knew something, they tended to split you up, so you couldn’t talk about it….At times I used to carry nuclear weapons. In other words, I was mentally fit to carry nuclear weapons, but I’m not mentally fit if I see a UFO. This criticism and this ridicule have done more to keep the story [from] coming out than almost anything else. pp. 284 - 288.

British Ministry of Defense, Nick PopeI was posted to a division called Secretariat Air Staff. My duties there were to research and investigate the UFO phenomenon for the UK government. There have been a steady stream of good-quality cases which I think would convince any open-minded observer who actually looked at the data, that there was something here which went significantly farther than just lights in the sky. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe some of these UFOs may well be of extraterrestrial origin. pp. 289 - 296.

United Kingdom Admiral Lord Peter Hill-NortonI have frequently been asked why a person of my background—a former Chief of the Defense Staff, a former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee—why I think there is a cover-up of the facts about UFOs. Governments fear that if they did disclose those facts, people would panic. I don’t believe that at all. There is a serious possibility that we are being visited—and have been visited for many years—by people from outer space, from other civilizations. It behooves us to find out who they are, where they come from, and what they want. This should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation, and not the subject of rubbishing by tabloid newspapers. pp. 305-307.

US Air Force Security Officer, Larry WarrenThey said, “We are going to show you a film that might help you put into perspective what you gentlemen have witnessed.” They ran the film….The best clip on it showed the berets of the Fifth Special Forces in Vietnam with low scrub brush and a guy with a camera. He turns the camera and this giant, green, delta-shaped thing rises out of the brush very slowly and deliberately, below where they are, up to face level, camera level. Shrubbery and brush is falling off this massive thing. I’ll never forget that in my life!…The only reason I have my records is because I was advised to steal some of them by an Air Force Colonel, because he said they would vaporize you. pp. 316 – 320.

US Army, Sergeant Clifford StoneCan any government keep secrets, let alone the US Government? The answer is unequivocally yes. The National Reconnaissance Office remained secret for many, many years. The mere existence of the NSA remained secret. The development of the atomic weapon remained secret until once you exploded one. I had classified documents the Air Force acknowledged. When I got members of Congress to help me open up more files, they were immediately destroyed, and I can prove this. I am prepared to state that I have been at locations where there were craft that did not originate on the face of this planet. While I was there, we saw living and dead bodies of entities that were not born on this planet….They are not hostile toward us. We are the enemy in this instance. It is not a scary story. The ETs have a perception of God. They are living, breathing creatures as mortal as you and me. They have families. They think, they have loves, they haves likes, they have dislikes, they have social culture. If we do not grow spiritually, we are forcing the situation where the entities will eventually make themselves known….Not more than two dozen UFOs had been retrieved by 1969 when I was briefed first….The entity was a little bigger than the 3, 3 ½ foot tall entities that are a lot of times reported. I looked right into the eyes of this little creature. And you know, it’s like you are seeing it but everything is being pulled from your mind. He was reading my whole life. It is hard to describe what I really felt there—your life up to that point goes by in seconds. And I mean you were feeling everything. pp. 327 – 337.

US Air Force, Sergeant Karl WolfeWe walked over to one side of the lab and he said, “By the way, we’ve discovered a base on the backside of the moon.” I was a little terrified, thinking to myself that if anybody walks in the room right now, I know we’re in jeopardy because he shouldn’t be giving me this information. Then he pulled out one of these mosaics and showed this base on the moon which had geometric shapes—there were towers, there were spherical buildings, and things that looked somewhat like radar dishes, but they were very large structures. I didn’t want to look at it any longer than that, because I felt that my life was in jeopardy. pp. 415 - 418.

Defense Intelligence Agency, Military Intelligence Analyst, John MaynardI said, “Now this is supposed to be a system that tracks radar anomalies on Earth, right?” He says, “Yep, that’s what it does.” So I ask, “Then why are half of them pointed toward outer space, towards the moon, towards areas that are just blank space? What are they looking for?” He says, “Well, you’ve got to have a need to know to know about that”.…We go back to a comment made by one of the astronauts when he stepped on the moon. It was the day after they got there. It was the original flight, and he says, “You’re right, they’re already here.” It got out on the airwaves. I know several people who recorded it. It was quickly taken out of all tapes that were public broadcast. pp. 424 – 427.

NASA, Department of Energy, Harland BentleyI was in a facility in California doing classified work. Our astronauts were doing a loop around the moon. I heard them say they had a bogey coming in at 11:00. It was another type of ship. There were portals there that they could see in. They could see beings of some sort. They just took photographs. After a few thousand miles, they took off from the capsule and went away. This happened before the lunar landing. This event was unedited because of where I was. p. 431.

McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Engineer, Dr. Robert WoodI had access to special libraries, so we could go up to the library that the Air Force ran and sort of paw through top-secret material. Since I was interested in UFOs, I’d look to see what they had. For about a year, I was getting quite a few hits. Then, all of a sudden, the whole subject material vanished. The entire classification for the subject just vanished. pp. 434 - 435.

Stanford Research Institute, Senior Policy Analyst, Dr. Alfred WebreI worked on the 1977 Carter White House Extraterrestrial Communication Project. It called for creation of central and regional databases under independent control on UFOs and EBEs—that is Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. The full management staff and the research institute had signed off knowingly on the proposal….I flew back from my meeting with the White House, at which this final approval had been given. And when I arrived back at my offices at SRI (Stanford Research Institue), I was called back into the office of the senior SRI official. The project was to be terminated. They had received direct communication from the Pentagon that if the study went forward, SRI’s contracts would be terminated. These contracts were a substantial part of SRI’s business at the time. The senior Pentagon liaison stated that the project was terminated because, “There are no UFOs.” Here we have a President of the United States who came to office under a pledge to open up the UFO issue, and an open study in the White House, and that was squelched. pp. 441 – 446.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Secretary, Denise McKenzieSophia Hoffer asked me to come work at SAIC. I came in and there wasn’t any paperwork to fill out. She just said, “You have the job.” I didn’t even know what department it was at the time….These supervisors were playing games on their computer. There was nothing on their desks. A supervisor gave me letters to respond to. He said, “Oh, you know, just put a letter together and send it off.” I opened up the files and even the letters that were in there were backdated several years saying the same exact form letter. And it was talking about sometimes millions of dollars in contracts. It looked like there had never been any activity on it. That struck me as very odd. Sophia was in the position of one of the head scientists, which I thought was interesting, because I had met her working at a fabric store. They were getting a lot of money for doing nothing, and I didn’t know where the money was going. Later, I put her last name in a computer to do a search, and it took me to this DEA site. There was a picture of her with a different first name, same last name. But this was the deceased site for DEA or CIA agents. I was shocked. This person is supposed to have been dead for years. pp. 451 – 455.

Roswell Army Air Base Public Information Officer, Lieutenant Walter HautThe story I put out was very simple, to the effect that we had, in our possession a flying saucer. It was found on a ranch up north of Roswell. It was being flown to General Ramey’s office. The information was given to me, almost verbatim, by Colonel Blanchard. He said, “I want you to give it to the local newspapers and radio stations, and do it post haste”.…The cover-up was pretty well orchestrated. I think the thought of handling it that way came down from Washington, through channels. We were told that we were all wrong, that it was just a weather balloon. p. 478.

UFO MESSAGE: DON’T MESS WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

US Air Force, FAA, Captain Robert SalasMy security guard says, “Sir, there’s a glowing red object hovering right outside the front gate—I’m looking at it right now. I’ve got all the men out here with their weapons drawn”.…The nuclear-tipped warheads went into a “no-go” condition, meaning they could not be launched. That morning we lost anywhere from between 16 to 18 ICBMs at the same time UFOs were in the area and were observed by airmen. Bob Kominski headed up the organization to look at all aspects of these shutdowns. He was told by his boss that the Air Force said, “Stop the investigation. Do no more on this, and do not write a final report.” This is very unusual, especially in light of the fact that headquarters was stating that this was of extreme importance. pp. 168-171.

US Air Force Lieutenant, Professor Robert JacobsSo this thing [UFO] fires a beam of light at the warhead, hits it, and then it moves to the other side and fires another beam of light, and then moves again and fires another beam, and another. And the warhead tumbles out of space. What message would I interpret from this? Don’t mess with nuclear warheads….After an article [about the incident], I would get telephone calls all night long. People would call and start screaming at me. One night somebody blew up my mailbox. pp. 184, 185, 187.

US Air Force, Atomic Energy Commission, Colonel Ross DedricksonWe were getting reports of visits by UFOs over the storage facilities and even some of the manufacturing facilities. That went on continuously. We found that formal reports were few and far between. Security people were reluctant to report because of the protocol and the bureaucracy involved in reporting them. They just avoided reporting….I learned about incidents involving nuclear weapons. Among these incidents were those where a couple of nuclear weapons that were sent into space were destroyed by the extraterrestrials. There was one incident when we exploded a nuclear weapon over the Pacific in ’61, I believe. This was one that the extraterrestrials were really concerned about because it affected our ionosphere. In either the very end of the ‘70s or the early ‘80s, we attempted to put a nuclear weapon on the moon and explode it for scientific measurements. [This] was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials. They destroyed the weapon as it went toward the moon. The idea of any explosion of a nuclear weapon in space by any Earth government was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials. That has been demonstrated over and over. p. 191-193.

COVER-UP: ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FROM UFOS

US Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Lieutenant Colonel Charles BrownWe had objects with four-way confirmation—ground visual, ground radar, airborne visual, airborne radar. It doesn’t get any better than that! In my following of unusual aerial phenomena for the past 50 years, there seems to be some reason to discredit very viable and very reputable witnesses when they say something is unidentified….By humidifying air, I was getting 20 to 30% improvement in efficiency over a car engine. I started selling these devices. The Federal Trade Commission performed an illegal act. I lost my vehicle, about $100,000 worth of equipment, and a test vehicle was stolen. So in three weeks, psychologically I was wiped out. pp. 247 - 251.

Russian Space Communications Center, Major General Vasily AlexeyevAs a rule, [places where UFOs appear] are objects of strategic significance—rocket complexes, scientific test establishments—in other words, there is a high concentration of advanced science and to some degree danger. I know that in some places they even learned to create a situation which would deliberately provoke the appearance of a UFO….They came up with a table with pictures of all the shapes of UFOs that had ever been recorded – about fifty – ranging from ellipses and spheres to something resembling spaceships….The study of UFOs may reveal some new forms of energy to us, or at least bring us closer to a solution. pp. 345 – 347.

US Air Force, NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), Master Sergeant Dan MorrisEisenhower wanted somebody to be in charge. The CIA was working primarily for itself. Most of the military intelligence directors were working for themselves….So, it was organized, but the name of the NRO was kept secret for years….The National Security Agency—the killers work in that. Secretary of Defense Forestall was the first powerful person that was eliminated because he was going to release information [on UFOs]—and nobody has ever paid for that crime….Who was stationed at Roswell? The only nuclear bomb squadron in the world. We focused several powerful radars on the UFOs, and it caused two of them to crash. One of them had two aliens on it. One of them was wounded or hurt, the other was alive then, but before we could get him anywhere, he had passed on….I would interview people who claimed they had seen something, and try to convince them they hadn’t, or that they were hallucinating. If that didn’t work, another team would give all the threats—threaten them and their family. They would be in charge of discrediting them, making them look foolish. Now, if that didn’t work, there was another team that put an end to that problem, one way or another….UFOs are both extraterrestrial and manmade….Even back in Tesla’s time, we had free energy. All you had to do was put up an antenna, put a stake in the ground, and you could light this house and have all the energy you wanted….It’s not that our government doesn’t want us to know that there are other people on other planets. What they don’t want us to know is that this free energy is available to everybody. That’s the greatest secret. So secrecy about the UFOs is because of the energy issue….Some would like for us to believe that the aliens are our enemy now. There’s no proof that I have ever read in any official document where—unless they were attacked—they ever shot. We don’t have a threat from Russia anymore, but if we keep shooting at those aliens, we might have a threat from them. We should quit that. We should demand that our government stop trying to shoot down those aliens. pp. 358 - 366.

US Air Force, Lockheed Skunkworks Engineer, Don PhillipsThese UFOs were huge. They would just come to a stop and do a 60 degree, 45 degree, 10 degree turn, and then immediately reverse this action….During the Apollo landing, Neil Armstrong says, “They’re here. They are right over there and look at the size of those ships. And, it is obvious they don’t like us being here”.…When I was working with the Skunkworks, we signed an agreement with the National Security Agency, and the National Security Council, as well as the CIA. And we kept very quiet about this. Anti-gravitational research was going….We know that there were some captured craft from 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. And, yeah, they were real. And, yes, we really did get some technology from them. And, yes, we really did put it to work….We knew each other from what we call unseen industry. We can term it black, deep black, or hidden. The knowledge I have of these technologies came from the craft that were captured here. I didn’t see the craft, nor did I see the bodies. But I certainly know some of the people that did. There was no question that there are peoples, or beings, from outside the planet. Are these ET people hostile? Well, if they were hostile, with their weaponry they could have destroyed us a long time ago….We got these things that are handheld scanners that scan the body and determine what the condition is. We can also treat from the same scanner. Are these things real? Well, I can tell you personally that we’ve been working on them. And we have ones that can cure cancer. Yes, diagnose and cure. Politics, and God bless them, the FDA, and other people whose financial interests could be damaged by the release of certain technologies keep these out of view….One of the purposes for founding this technology corporation that I did in 1998 was to bring forth these technologies that can help get rid of the toxins—that can clean the air, that help get rid of the need for so much fossil fuel. Yes, it is time. I can tell you personally that it has already started. pp. 375 – 383.

US Marine Corps, Captain Bill UhouseThe simulator wasn’t actually functional until around 1958. The simulator that they used was for the extraterrestrial craft they had, which is a 30-meter one that crashed in Kingman, Arizona, back in 1953 or 1952. I was inside the actual alien craft for a start-up. Over the last 40 years or so, not counting simulators—I’m talking about actual craft—there are probably two or three dozen, and various sizes that we built. pp. 384 – 387.US Air Force, Aerospace Illustrator, Mark McCandlishThis craft was what they called the Alien Reproduction Vehicle. It was also nicknamed the Flux Liner. This antigravity propulsion system—this flying saucer—was one of three that were in this hangar at Norton Air Force Base. We have found a patent filed by James King Jr., and this patent looks just like this system, except that instead of having a dome for a crew compartment, it has a cylinder in the center. It has the same flat bottom and sloping sides. The patent was filed initially in 1960 and was secured in 1967….There is a scientist in Utah by the name of Moray B. King—he wrote a book called Tapping the Zero Point Energy. Zero-point energy is actually what keeps the electrons energized around the atomic structure of everything in the universe. There’s enough of this flux, this electrical charge in the nothingness of space, that if you could capture all the energy that was embedded in just a cubic yard of space, you’d have enough energy to boil the oceans of the entire world. pp. 501, 508.

US Army, National Security Council, Colonel Philip J. Corso, Sr.I went back and there were five crates. I lifted one up and here’s this body floating in fluid. First, I thought it was a child because it was small. Then I looked at its head and all. The head was different. The arms were thin. The body was gray. So right at that moment I figured I don’t know what this thing is….The one ET craft I saw was at one of the airbases….General Trudeau created the Foreign Technology Division and put me in charge of it. There I started getting the autopsy reports of ETs, and I started getting other crash reports and the artifacts from the crashes….We gave information about the ET technologies out and insisted the corporations take the patents. We put the integrated circuit out. The general said, “let’s keep a secret, but when I die, I relieve you of my oath.” pp. 459 – 462.

McDonnell-Douglas, Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, Dr. Paul CzyszWhen I was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, we had flying saucers that covered the distance from Columbus to Detroit in the equivalent of about 20,000 miles per hour….Zero-point energy represents about 40-50 megawatts of power per cubic inch of space. That’s a lot of power. If you could tap it at will, then no one would have to sell gasoline or oil anymore…Depending on the secrecy level, you have to go through a significant background check. When you do that, if you’re in a very tight compartment, you sign a statement that you will not divulge the existence of the project or even answer a question that could acknowledge the existence of the project. I know people today that worked on one of the things I worked on, and if you asked them about it, they would say, “No, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” They’re in their seventies now, but they still absolutely would never admit that they even know what you’re talking about. If there were non-earthbound sources of information, the people who were doing the design or analysis work would never have any idea of where it came from. pp. 511 – 519.

US Army, Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas E. BeardenSome of the breakthroughs in the past have been deliberately suppressed. T. Henry Moray was inspired by Tesla’s work. There was absolutely no question that he had a system that produced 50 kilowatts out of a 55-pound box. There are all kinds of skullduggery that happened there. The Russians even tried to kidnap him at one time. Gabriel Crone invented a true negative resister, working on a Navy contract for Stanford University. He was never permitted to reveal the exact way that he constructed it. There is real stuff in cold fusion. 600 experiments worked, for goodness sake. Probably 50 inventors have invented free energy systems….What we have is a situation where the entire structure of science, industry, and the organizations of science and the patent office are against you. I’ve been a victim of quite a bit of suppression. So has any other legitimate researcher in the area. And behind this, we have a few people who are quite wealthy and who own these things. The more powerful the agency, the more they will resort not only to legal, but to extra-legal means to suppress their competition. Lethal force is used. And it is not one cartel. It is many, many groups in energy. And each one does not wish to see simple little electrical taps pulling out enormous energy from the vacuum. They would much rather see you burning a lot more oil. If we use this system where we extract energy from the vacuum, we can clean up this biosphere. pp. 534 – 542.

MIT Chief Science Writer, Dr. Eugene MalloveI was the Chief Science Writer at the MIT news office when the cold fusion story out of Utah broke on March 23, 1989. It turns out the cold fusion effect was real. In fact, what Pons and Fleischmann found was only the tip of an iceberg. There are huge quantities of technical literature published by proponents, and a much smaller amount by the people who found so-called negative results….One day while at MIT, I inadvertently was looking through some piles of paper by physicists doing their repeat of the Pons-Fleischmann experiment. To my utter astonishment, I can remember sitting at my desk and actually seeing two sheets of paper, one dated July 10 and another July 13. The July 10 control experiment showed in the raw data excess heat. But then, on July 13, it was shifted completely. It was altered. Clear fraud—no question. I asked for a review at MIT. I got nowhere. Yet today, MIT data is held up. There has been an extraordinary abrogation of legal responsibility at the Patent Office and the Department of Energy on the matter of cold fusion. There is serious criminal activity going on that ultimately must be rooted out if the cold fusion and new energy revolution are to go forward. pp. 544-546.

UFO sighting, Tehran, Iran 19 & 20 Sep 1976

2006-07-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

IRAN - 1976
US Department of Defense

This report forwards information concerning the sighting of an UFO in Iran on 19 September 1976. A. At about 1230 AM on 19 Sep 76 the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) command post received telephone calls from citizens living in the Shemiran area of Tehran saying that they had seen strange objects in the Sky. Some reported a kind of Bird-like object while others reported a helicopter with a light on.

There were no helicopters airborne at that time, the command post called BG Yousefi, Assistant Deputy Commander of Operations , after he told the citizen it was only stars and had talked to Mehrabad tower he decided to look for himself, he noticed an object in the sky similar to a star bigger and brighter, he decided to scramble an F-4 from Shahrokhi AFB to investigate. B. At 0130 HRS on the 19th the F-4 took off and proceeded to a point about 40 NM North of Tehran, due to its brilliance the object was easily visible from 70 Miles away. As the F-4 approached a range of 25 NM he lost all instrumentation and communications (UHF and Intercom).

He broke off the intercept and headed back to Shahrokhi. When the F-4 away from the object and apparently was no longer a threat to it the aircraft regained all instrumentation and communications. At 0140 HRS a second F-4 was launched, the backseater acquired a radar lock on at 27 NM. 12 O’Clock high position with the VC (Rate of closure) at 150 NMPH. As the range decreased to 25 NM the object moved away at a speed that was visible on the radar scope and stayed at 25 NM. C. The size of the radar return was comparable to that of a 707 tanker.

The visual size of the object was difficult to discern because of its intense brilliance. The light that it gave off was that of flashing strobe lights arranged in a rectangular pattern Blue, Green, Red and Orange in color. The sequence of the lights was so fast that all the colors could be seen at once. The object and pursuing F-4 continued on a course to the south of Tehran when another brightly lighted object, estimated to be one half to one third the apparent size of the moon, came out of the object.

This second object headed straight toward the F-4 at a very fast rate of speed. The pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile at the object but at that instant his weapons control panel went off and he lost all communications(UHF and Interphone). At this point the pilot initiated a turn and negative G Drive to get away. As he turned the object fell in trail at what appeared to be about 3-4 NM. As he continued in his turn away from the primary object the second object went to the inside of his turn then returned to the primary object for a perfect rejoin. D. Shortly after the second object joined up with the primary object another object appeared to come out of the other side of the primary object going straight down at a great rate of speed.

The F-4 crew had regained communications and the weapons control panel and watched the object approach the ground anticipating a large explosion. This object appeared to come to rest gently on the earth and cast a very bright light over an area of about 2-3 kilometers. The crew descended from their altitude of 26 M to 15 M and continued to observe and mark the objects position. They had some difficulty in adjusting their night visibility for landing so after orbiting Mehrabad a few times they went out for straight in landing. There was a lot of interference on the UHF and each time they passed through a MAG. Bearing of 150 degree from Mehrabad they lost their communications (UHF and Interphone) and the INS fluctuated from 30 Degrees – 50 Degrees. The one civil airliner that was approaching Mehrabad during this same time experienced communications failure in the same vicinity (Kilo Zulu) but did not report seeing anything.

While the F-4 was on a long final approach the crew noticed another cylinder shaped object (About the size of a T-Bird at 10 NM) with bright steady lights on each end and a flasher in the middle. When queried the tower stated there was no other known traffic in the area. During the time that the object passed over the F-4 the tower did not have a visual on it but picked it up after the pilot told them to look between the mountains and the refinery. E. During daylight the F-4 crew was taken out to the area in a helicopter where the object apparently had landed. Nothing was noticed at the spot where they thought the object landed (A dry lake bed) but as they circled off to the west of the area they picked up a very noticeable beeper signal.

At the point where the return was the loudest ws a small house with a garden. They landed and asked the people within if they had noticed anything strange last night. The people talked about a loud noise and a very bright light like lightening. The aircraft and area where the object is believed to have landed are being checked for possible radiation.

THE INVESTIGATION

2006-07-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

Unclassified Unidentified flying objects are not a new phenomenon. In 593 B.C. Ezekiel recorded a whirlwind to the north which appeared as a fiery sphere. In 1254 at Saint Albans Abbey, when the moon was eight days old, there appeared in the sky a ship elegantly shaped, well equipped and of marvelous color. In 1520 in France there were sighted a round-shaped object with rotating lights and two fiery suns. In 1874 in Texas a farmer reported seeing a dark flying object in the shape of a disc cruising in the sky at a wonderful speed. These are a mere sampling of the many such events recorded by historians. The modern era of UFOs, however, can be dated from 24 June 1947, when a flyer made some strange observations which national news coverage and authors with a poetic license so played up as to excite public entertainment of a notion that our planet had been visited by unknown vehicles from outer space.

Supersonic Saucers On that 24 June, Kenneth Arnold was out flying in his private plane. He was looking for a Marine transport that was supposed to have crash-landed somewhere on the southwest side of Mt. Ranier. First he flew directly toward the mountain from the west at an altitude of approximately 9,500 feet, searching all of the various ridges for the downed plane. Then he made a sweep back to the west, found nothing, and headed again toward Mt. Ranier. The air was so smooth that it was a real pleasure flying; he trimmed out the aircraft and relaxed, admiring the crystal-clear sky and the terrain. There was a DC-4 to his left and rear at approximately 14,000 feet. He hadn't flown more than two or three minutes on this course when a bright flash reflected on his airplane. He couldn't find where the reflection came from, but to the left, north of Mt. Ranier; he did observe a chain of nine peculiar-looking objects flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 feet. They were approaching Mt. Ranier very rapidly, and he at first assumed them to be jet aircraft. Every few seconds two or three of them would dip or change course slightly, so as to catch the sun at an angle and reflect brightly. They were too far away for him to determine their shape or formation. As they approached Mt. Ranier, however, he observed their outline quite clearly-except that, oddly, he could not find their tails. He watched them pass the southern edge of Mt. Ranier flying directly south-southeast down the hog's-back of a range. Their elevation seemed to vary by as much as one thousand feet, but they remained very near the horizon, therefore around his own elevation. They flew rather like geese, in a diagonal chain as though they were linked together. They seemed to maintain their orientation while swerving in and out of the high mountain peaks. Arnold estimated the distance from him to the objects at approximately 25 miles. Using a Zeus fastener and a cowling tool, he estimated their size to be about two-thirds that of the DC-4. Watching them pass a high snow-covered ridge between Mt. Ranier and Mt. Adams, he saw that as the first object was leaving its south crest the last one was entering its northern crest. Later the length of this ridge, and therefore that of the chain of objects, was determined to be about five miles. Arnold timed their flight from Mt. Ranier to Mt. Adams, 47 miles, at 1 min. 42 sec., a speed of 1,659 miles per hour. In a subsequent interview with newsmen, Arnold described the objects as appearing like saucers skipping on water. This description, shortened to "flying saucers" by newsmen, gave rise to the popular term for UFOs. The sighting, like most, was not reproducible for purposes of investigation; it involved uncontrollable atmospheric conditions. The Air Force was left with one man's subjective interpretation of what he had experienced. Scientists who reviewed Arnold's sighting concluded that the objects were a mirage. The smooth, crystal-clear air that he noted indicated the very stable conditions which are associated with inversions and a high index of refraction of the atmosphere. Although Arnold's experience could not be reproduced, another phenomenon in some respects similar and observed in the same area found a satisfactory explanation. Navy Commander W. J. Young reported in November 1948 that on several occasions he had seen over the Willamette valley and the plains of eastern Washington and Oregon what could easily have been mistaken for flying discs. One striking example occurred over the Willamette valley on a clear sunny day when the ever-present blue haze seemed somewhat thicker than usual. His aircraft was flying at altitudes between 1,000 and 5,000 feet when bright flying objects appeared, some on his beam and others on the bows or dead ahead. From time to time they would disappear and new ones appear. Young finally determined that what looked to be aircraft at various altitudes were reflections of the sun from the aluminum roofs of farm buildings at great distance from his plane. The perspective of the land converging with the sky on the horizon, with limited ground visibility, made it appear as though the roof reflections were actually airborne at various altitudes in the haze. Thus one UFO sighting was solved by the observer himself. Although there is no uniform pattern among reported UFO phenomena, some characteristics of one may be found in others, as in Young's and Arnold's. Sign and Grudge Newspaper publicity for Arnold's flying saucers started an avalanche of other sightings. The Air Force began receiving reports from people in all walks of life. Before December 1947 no specific organization was responsible for investigating and evaluating these. Without any basis in measurable data or controlled experiment, the reported phenomena were variously assessed, even within the military structure, as due to a new aerodynamic configuration, to natural occurrences, to misinterpretation of conventional objects, or to space ships under intelligent control. The military interest touched the fields of air defense, R&D, and intelligence, responsibilities vested in many different organizations. To end this confusion, the Chief of Staff directed on 30 December 1947 that a project be established to collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute within the government all information concerning sightings which could be construed as of concern to the national security. Responsibility for the project, assigned the code name "Sign," was given to the Air Technical Intelligence Center. In February 1949 Project Sign, having completed its evaluation of the 243 UFO cases submitted to it, issued a report: No definite and conclusive evidence is yet available that would prove or disprove the existence of these unidentified objects as real aircraft of unknown and unconventional configuration. It is unlikely that positive proof of their existence will be obtained without examination of the remains of crashed objects. Proof of non-existence is equally impossible to obtain unless a reasonable and convincing explanation is determined for each incident. . . . Explanations of some of the incidents revealed the existence of simple and easily understandable causes, so that there is the possibility that enough incidents can be solved to eliminate or greatly reduce the mystery associated with these occurrences. . . . Under wartime conditions, rapid and convincing solutions of such occurrences are necessary to maintain morale of military and civilian personnel. With the backlog of cases disposed of, the project was continued on a reduced scale and under a new code name, "Grudge." Project Grudge completed its evaluation of 244 reports in August 1949, relying heavily on the work of university scientists and other outside consultants, as well as the USAF Air Weather Service and the U.S. Weather Bureau. The Grudge Report concluded that the UFO sightings signified nothing that would constitute a threat to the national security of the United States, that they were chargeable to misinterpretations of conventional objects, a mild form of mass hysteria or war nerves, and fabrications for the sake of hoax or publicity. Special Report No. 14 The soothing conclusions of Project Grudge caused very little comment, and the project was continued on a reduced scale. Nevertheless, the fringe of people that still believed in extraterrestrial visitation was growing with the popularity of science fiction articles and magazines. In December 1951 a contract was let to an industrial firm for a detailed study, unclassified, of the UFO cases on file. It took three years to complete this study. Meanwhile, in March 1952, the project was given its present name, "Blue Book." During this period numerous books were written about the UFOs. Some representative titles are The Coming of the Saucers, Space, Gravity, and the Flying Saucer, Is Another World Watching, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Flying Saucers from Outer Space, and Flying Saucers Come from a Distant World. UFO hobby clubs were formed throughout the country. Most professed to be studying the phenomena scientifically, but few, if any, had physical or behavioral scientists on their so-called evaluation committees. During the early fifties it became fashionable to accuse the Air Force of censorship or of withholding UFO information from the public. In January 1953, while the three-year contract study, was still in process, a Scientific Advisory Panel was formed to make an authoritative quick evaluation. It was composed of civilian scientists outside the government with well-known and respected names-H. P. Robertson, Luis W. Alvarez, Lloyd V. Berkner, S. A. Goudsmit, Thornton Page. Following is an extract from their report: The panel . . . has reviewed a selection of the best documented incidents. . . . We firmly believe that there is no residuum of cases which indicates phenomena which are attributable to foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts, and that there is no evidence that the phenomena indicate a need for the revision of current scientific concepts. The panel further concludes that the continued emphasis on the reporting of these phenomena does, in these perilous times, result in a threat to the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic. We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority. The panel recommended: That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the unidentified flying objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired. One action taken on this recommendation was to establish, within the Office of Information at the Air Force Secretary's level, an office to answer public questions and release information regarding UFOs. Throughout the years, the responsibility for releasing UFO information to the public has remained with the Office of Information, Secretary of the Air Force. When the unclassified contract study was ready at the end of 1954, it was immediately released to the news media. It was released under ATIC cover, because the competent company which produced it wished to remain anonymous in this field of research. It is commonly referred to as Special Report No. 14, the first 13 having been administrative progress reports. Special Report No. 14 reduced and evaluated all the UFO data held in the Air Force files. It contains graphs showing the frequency distribution of sightings by time, date, location, shape, color, duration, azimuth, and elevation. It records an attempt to build a model of the typical UFO and an ultimate finding that UFOs come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. It concludes as follows: It can never be absolutely proven that "Flying Saucers" do not exist. . . . Scientifically evaluated and arranged, the data as a whole did not show any marked patterns or trends. . . . A critical examination of the distributions of the important characteristics of sightings, plus an intensive study of the sightings evaluated as unknown, led to the conclusion that a combination of factors . . . resulted in the failure to identify as Knowns most of the objects classified as Unknowns. An intensive study aimed at finding a verified example of a "Flying Saucer" or at deriving a verified model or models of "Flying Saucers" led to the conclusion that neither goal could be attained using the present data. It is emphasized that there was a complete lack of any valid evidence consisting of physical matter in any case of a reported unidentified aerial object. Thus, the probability that any of the unknowns considered in this study are "Flying Saucers" is concluded to be extremely small, since the most complete and reliable reports from the present data, when isolated and studied, conclusively failed to reveal even a rough model, and since the data as a whole failed to reveal any marked patterns or trends. Therefore, on the basis of this evaluation of the information, it is considered to be highly improbable that any of the reports of unidentified aerial objects examined in this study represent observations of technological developments outside the range of present-day scientific knowledge. Investigation Procedures The objectives of the UFO program, outlined in 1953 by Air Force Regulation 200-2, remain unchanged: (1) To determine if UFO phenomena present a threat to the security of the United States. (2) To determine if UFO phenomena exhibit any technological advances which could be channeled into U.S. R&D. (3) To explain or identify the stimuli which caused the observer to report a UFO. Our Project Blue Book office at Wright-Patterson has a complement of only one officer, two sergeants, and one civilian stenographer. The initial investigation of all UFO sightings is therefore undertaken by the commander of the nearest Air Force base. In its subsequent analysis of UFO cases, also, the project office is assisted by many organizations and' professional individuals. Project Consultant for the past eighteen years has been Dr. J. Allen Hynek, astrophysicist and Chairman of the Dearborn Observatory, Northwestern University. It is Dr. Hynek, obviously, who has maintained continuity on the project, in addition to evaluating all suspected astronomical cases. We have used the services of Dr. Charles P. Olivier, head of the American Meteor Society, in evaluating some suspected meteor cases. For help on suspected aircraft sightings we have gone to Federal Aviation Agency offices, local airports, the Strategic Air Command, and the Air Defense Command. In suspected balloon sightings we have called upon local airports, local weather stations, the U.S. Weather Bureau, Holloman AFB Balloon Control Center, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, General Mills, Raven Industries, Sea Space Systems, and colleges and universities conducting balloon research. For suspected satellite sightings we use the printed Echo schedules, NASA satellite reports, the Smithsonian North and South Equatorial Crossings, and the professional services of the Space Detection and Tracking System. For suspected missile observations we go directly to Cape Kennedy, Vandenberg AFB, Point Magu, Wallops Island, Eglin AFB, Holloman AFB, and Green River. For radar analysis we contact one of our internal organizations. For photo analysis we use an internal organization but also Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. On physical specimens we have used the services of the Air Force Materials Laboratory, Battelle Memorial, the Food and Drug Administration, Libby Owens, Corning Glass, Institute of Paper Chemistry, and the Northwestern Geology Department. Numerous other organizations and individuals have helped the project in the past. No individual, government agency, or industrial group has ever refused assistance. As indicated above, UFO sightings are classified according to the suspected real event that gave rise to each report.

The characteristics of these different categories are sketched below. Propeller Aircraft Regular scheduled airliners fly in air corridors, are usually controlled by FAA. Lighting will probably be typical red and green wing lights with rotating beacon. They use landing lights on takeoff as well as in landing pattern. Sighting report may include hovering or stationary period if the aircraft is in a turn or approaching the observer. Total duration should be consistent with flight maneuvers, not likely to exceed five minutes unless some series of maneuvers is being performed. Landing light, blotting out the red and green flashing lights, is often reported as a single light at night. Experimental and unusual lighting effects can vary with the lighting configuration of each aircraft. Color most often reported as white, can be red. Objects reported in straight flight at certain altitude can be checked against local flight corridors; then FAA can be checked if there remains doubt that an object is an aircraft or if positive identification of a specific flight is required. There may or may not be sound associated with the visual effect reported. If near an airport, this type of object is not classed as a UFO; moving lights in and around airports which could be caused by aircraft are assumed to be aircraft. Private or non-scheduled flights have the same characteristics in general. Speeds may be slower and duration longer. Altitude usually lower. No sound if the wind is blowing away from the observer. Duration should not exceed seven or eight minutes unless maneuvers can account for additional time. Normally flight is cleared from some local airport and not carried on radar plots through FAA; hardest type to make positive identification of. Evaluation made on reported flight characteristics consistent with aircraft Jet Aircraft Airliner and high-altitude missions are similar to conventional flights in visual characteristics with the following exceptions: (1). The color is most often reported as red. (2) No sound is associated with the object. (3) Flight is usually straight or with one turn. Duration is about three to five minutes, depending upon the length of are visible. FAA has designated airways for these flights. Special low-level military missions are flown at 2,000 feet in known air corridors. Sighting is usually brief, one minute or less. May be reported hovering if flight is directly toward the observer. May include a sudden burst of speed. No sound if wind is away from observer. Usually reported as a single light, but may be more than one. Sightings are at night; during the day these aircraft can be seen too well to be misinterpreted. Special test or training missions, varying from a single plane to multiple flights or major air operations, may give rise to reports. These flights can be determined by contact with local, regional, or major air commands. A jet with afterburner in operation, viewed from the side, may give the appearance of a short flame. It is usually reported as blue and tapering. When the afterburner is cut off, the object may be thought to have either just vanished or zoomed off into space. Duration is usually brief. The sighting is frequently during climb. As viewed from the rear, the jet may be reported red or orange with some yellow and of no distinct shape. Here again the disappearance may be sudden. If at high altitude, only a nondescript light may be reported. Refueling Missions Here lights on the tanker and the multiple aircraft engaged add new visual characteristics. Sightings are at night only; daylight operations would be recognized for what they are. They may be at low or high altitude. Multiple lights will be moving around, in formation, going on and off. The basic light formation will fly straight for a set distance, then may make a 180-degree turn. Duration in an area may run as high as 15 minutes, but any single pass should not last more than four or five. Lights may be seen going one way and then appear on their return path later. The 922 Air Refueling Squadron at Wright-Patterson furnishes information on the visual characteristics of night refueling operations, and SAC recently photographed a refueling mission for the benefit of UFO analysts. Refueling operations are controlled and conducted in specific areas. A "Flight Planning Guide" issued by the Aeronautic Chart and Information Center gives the location of these areas and the agency controlling each. A phone call to the controller will determine whether an area was in use at a particular time and what squadron flew the mission. Then communication with the squadron will give the number and type of aircraft flown and their entry and exit times. Photo Aircraft Aircraft using flare drops for photo work are most often reported simply as flares. Similarly, aircraft using strobes to illuminate their target, which may work at either low or high altitudes, are reported as a series of evenly spaced flashes. Duration of these sightings is usually less than two minutes, more frequently 30 seconds. Infra-red photo planes have turbine generators to drive their equipment. These make a whining noise which can be heard above the noise of the engines. Not many agencies do this work, which is often classified. The planes used are rather slow, less than 125 mph. Much of the work is done early in the morning, with landing lights on because of the low altitudes flown. Advertising Aircraft Planes towing targets or banners during daylight hours are not usually misinterpreted unless they remain at such a distance that the observer cannot distinguish the tow vehicle and sign. Frequently in such cases the reports are accompanied by drawings picturing the towed banner as part of the UFO. Duration is longer than for other aircraft sightings, and the flight generally includes maneuvers. The frequently used loud speaker would presumably not be heard unless the flight were close enough for correct identification. Local investigators can check for these aircraft, since FAA regulations require a permit for such flights. Aircraft with electrically lighted signs have the same essential characteristics except that they are normally sighted at night. On occasion the sign lights have been mistaken for windows of a much larger craft. Flights are relatively slow, characteristically maneuvering back and forth in one area. One usually operates over the same area for more than one day and can be viewed on successive nights, weather permitting. Helicopters Motion slow, may or may not hover. It needs to be far enough away from the observer to escape daylight identification. It may be reported as a black speck moving back and forth, up and clown. During the night weird effects can be caused by the red rotating beacon flashing through the canopy. Motion will be erratic if the flight includes hovering. Positive identification is usually simple to obtain by checking the flight schedules of military and civilian helicopters in the area. Balloons Flight characteristics here are affected by meteorological factors. Wind data is obtained from the Weather Bureau. An Air Weather Service liaison officer assists in evaluating the meteorological data. Low-level weather balloons are described in sightings as round or oval, occasionally oblong. The flight may be reported as hovering, rising, zig-zag, or erratic, but the object must be moving with the wind. It will be picked up by radar only if a radar reflector is attached. A frequent time for sightings is at dusk, before the balloon disappears into earth's shadow. It is rarely sighted at night: its small white lights are not visible to ground observers from above 10,000 feet without optical aids. The sighting from planes is usually very brief, and on occasion even experienced pilots have attributed unusual motion to balloons. An upper-air balloon may be described as round or oval, usually silver during the day and orange at dusk. It will appear stationary or in slow motion. Actually, it moves with prevailing winds at the altitude six months to the east and six to the west. It will probably be picked up on radar and remain in the area long enough to be identified by aircraft scrambled or diverted for this purpose. Sudden disappearance is to be expected at dusk, and may be reported as a zooming off into space. The sun's reflection through folded panels can give unusual flashing effects. Every effort is made to pin to a specific launch any reports attributable to upper-air balloons; this practice has assisted the scientific community in recovering some of them. Upper air research balloons are launched by military and civilian agencies for cosmic ray and other studies. These are about 100 feet in diameter, usually of polyethylene. They can be programmed to fly at various altitudes between 80,000 and 125,000 feet or higher. Their appearance may vary with the equipment suspended below and other attachments, but what is visible from the ground without optical aids is generally the same for all. The speed will vary with the wind, from hovering in the same area for some days up to 200 mph in jet streams. At night the balloon will descend as the gas cools and the next day go back up to the programmed altitude. It usually carries a radio beacon which is followed by tracking stations, as well as running lights and radar reflectors. Occasionally, multiple balloons are used to carry heavy equipment. Pilots scrambled to check on this kind of balloon cannot reach its altitude but can get close enough to identify it. At dawn the balloon may appear suddenly, as it moves into sunlight, and similarly disappear at dusk. Earth Satellites In order for a report to be evaluated as deriving from an artificial satellite, the following criteria must be met: (1) Time of sighting must be at night and at such an hour that the vehicle can reflect the sun's rays. (2) Object should resemble a star in visual characteristics. (3) Direction of flight can have a westerly component only in the case of retrograde satellites. (4) Duration (considering the degrees of are through which the object is observed) must be consistent with satellite orbital velocities. Satellites are normally reported as star-like moving lights, most frequently white but occasionally yellow, green, blue, orange, and even red. Motion may be steady, hesitating, or zig-zag; portions of the flight may be seen as hovering or stationary. The path may be reported straight or arching, and a turn may be ascribed to it at the beginning or end of the flight. The object may appear or disappear suddenly. The speed should be about 15° of are per minute, the average duration three to six minutes. When a known satellite has a flight path over the observer's area at the time of the report (only Echo and Pegasus schedules are screened), and the above considerations are fulfilled, the sighting is evaluated as of that specific vehicle. There are more than 30 satellites in orbit visible to the naked eye. When a reported object does not correspond with Echo or Pegasus passages but displays the required characteristics, it is then evaluated as a probable or possible satellite. Astronomical Events The most common UFO reports are of astronomical sightingsbright stars, planets, comets, fireballs, meteors, auroral streamers, and other celestial bodies. When observed through haze, light fog, moving clouds, or other obscurations or unusual conditions, the planets, especially Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, have been reported as UFOs. Stellar mirages are also a source of astronomical reports. Other Categories There are three other classifications used for UFO reports. An Insuflicient Data category takes care of those in which one or more elements of information essential for the evaluation are missingfor example the duration of the sighting, the date, time, location, or position in the sky, weather conditions, and the manner of appearance or disappearance. If there is any indication that such a sighting may be important from the viewpoint of security, scientific or technical value, or public interest, every attempt is made to obtain the additional information necessary before placing the report in this category. Another category is a catch-all labeled Other. It includes missiles, reflections, mirages, searchlights, birds, kites, spurious radar indications, hoaxes, fireworks, and flares. And finally, a sighting is considered unidentified when a report apparently contains all the data necessary to suggest a valid hypothesis but its description cannot be correlated with any known object or phenomenon. Through 1965, 10,147 UFO reports had been disposed of and classified in one or another of the seven categories. In 1964, a fairly average year, the figures were as follows: Astronomical...............................................................123 Aircraft....................................................................71 Balloon.....................................................................20 Insufficient Data...........................................................99 Other.......................................................................88 Satellite..................................................................142 Unidentified................................................................19 Total......................................................................562 Policeman's Report One intriguing, classic case of the 19 listed above as unidentified will also illustrate how widely government agencies, industrial firms, and individuals cooperate in the UFO project. On 24 April 1964 at approximately 1745 hours, a Socorro, New Mexico, police officer, Lonnie Zamora, was headed south chasing a speeding automobile when he suddenly heard a roar and saw a flame in the sky to the southwest. He decided to let the speeder go in favor of investigating the flame, because there was a dynamite shack in that area and it might have blown up. He turned right onto a gravel road that ran by the shack. As he was driving slowly along the road, Zamora saw above a steep hill just ahead a funnel-shaped flame, bluish and sort of orange. The base of the flame was hidden behind the hill; there was no smoke connected with it. He had trouble getting the car to the top of the hill because of loose gravel; he had to try three times before he made it. As he reached the top of the hill he saw a shiny object to the south, this side of the dynamite shack, about 150-200 yards away. It was off the road to the left in an arroyo, and at first glance itlooked like a car turned over; but when he drove closer, it appeared to be aluminum color, not chrome, and oval-shaped like a football. Zamora drove about 50 feet along the hill crest, radioing back to the sheriff's office, "10-44 [accident], I'll be 10-6 [busy out of the car] checking a wreck down in the arroyo." From this point, seated in the car, he could not see the object over the edge of the hill. As he stopped the car, he was still talking on the radio, and while he was getting out he dropped the mike. He picked it up and put it back and started down toward the object. Just then he heard a very loud roar, not exactly like a blast but not steady like a jet engine. It was of low frequency at first and then became higher. At the same time be saw a light blue flame, sort of orange at the bottom. Zamora believes this flame came from the underside of the object; he could see no smoke but some dust in the vicinity. He panicked; he thought the object was going to blow up. In his own words (with slight rearrangements for the sake of clarity): As soon as saw flame and heard roar, . . . ran away from object but did turn head towards object. Object was ( ) in shape. It was smooth-no windows or doors. As roar started, it was still on or near ground. Noted red lettering of some type like ( ^ ). Insignia was about 21/4 inches high and about 2 inches wide, guess. Was in middle of object, like ( . ). Object still like aluminum white. [Running], bumped leg on car-back fender area. Car facing southwest. . . . Fell by car and [sun] glasses fell off, kept running to north, with car between me and object. . . . I guess I bad run about 25 feet when I glanced back and saw the object . . . rise to about level of car, about 20 to 25 feet, guess. Took, I guess, about six seconds when object started to rise and I glanced back. . . . It appeared about directly over the place where it rose from. I was still running, . . . [then] about 50 feet from car 1 ducked down, just over edge of hill. . . . I stopped because I did not hear the roar. I was scared of the roar, and I had planned to continue running down the hill. I turned around toward the object and at the same time put my head toward ground, covering my face with my arms. . . . When the roar stopped, heard a sharp tone whine and the whine lasted maybe a second. Then there was complete silence about the object. That's when I lifted up my head and saw the object going away from me . . . in a southwest direction . . . It did not come any closer to me. It appeared to go in straight line and at same height-possibly 10 to 15 feet from ground, and it cleared the dynamite shack by about three feet. Shack about eight feet high. Object was traveling very fast. It seemed to rise up, and take off immediately across country. I ran back to my car and as I ran back, I kept an eye on the object. I picked up my ... sun glasses, got into the car, and radioed to Nep Lopes, radio operator, to look out the window, to see if you could see an object. He asked, what is it? I answered, it looks like a balloon. I don't know if he saw it. If Nep looked out his window, which faces north, he couldn't have seen it. I did not tell him at the moment which window to look out of. As I was calling Nep, I could still see object. The object seemed to lift up slowly, and to get small in the distance very fast. It seemed to just clear the Box Canyon or Mile Canyon Mountain. It disappeared as it went over the mountain. It had no flame whatsoever as it was traveling over the ground, and no smoke or noise. Feeling in good health. Last drink-two or three beers-was over a month ago. Noted no odors. Noted no sounds other than described. Gave direction to Nep Lopes at radio and to Sergeant MS Chaves [of New Mexico state police at Socorro] to get there. Went down to where the object had been, and I noted the brush was burning in several places. . . . I got my pen and drew a picture of the insignia on the object. . . .

Then Sgt. Chaves came up, asked me what the trouble was because I was sweating and he told me that I was white, very pale. I asked the Sgt. to see what I saw and that was the burning brush. Then Sgt. Chaves and I went to the spot and Sgt. Chaves pointed out the tracks. When I first saw the object (when I thought it might be a car) I saw what appeared to be two legs of some type from the object to the ground. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to . . . the two legs. The two legs were at the bottom of the object, slanted outwards to the ground. The object might have been about three and a half feet from the ground at that time. . . . Diagnosis: Unsolved There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora's reliability, He is a serious police officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. This is the best-documented case on record, and still we have been unable, in spite of thorough investigation, to find the vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic. During the course of the investigation and immediately thereafter, everything that was humanly possible to verify was checked. Radiation in the landing area was checked with Geiger counters from Kirtland AFB. The Holloman AFB Balloon Control Center was checked for balloon activity. All local stations and Air Force bases were checked for release of weather balloons. Helicopter activity was checked throughout the state of New Mexico. Government and private aircraft were checked. The reconnaissance division in the Pentagon was checked. The White House Command Post was checked. The Commander at Holloman AFB was interviewed at length about special activities from his base. Down-range controllers at the White Sands Missile Range were interviewed. Letters were written to industrial companies engaged in lunar vehicle research activity. The companies were extremely cooperative, but to no avail. The Air Force Materials Laboratory analyzed soil samples from the landing area. The findings were altogether negative. No other witnesses could be located. There were no unidentified helicopters or aircraft in the area. Radar installations at Holloman AFB and at Albuquerque observed no unusual blips; but the down-range Holloman MTI radar, closest to Socorro, had been closed down for the day at 1600 hours. There was no unusual meteorological activity, no thunderstorms; the weather was windy but clear. There were no markings of any sort in the area except the shallow "tracks" Chaves and Zamora found. The soil analysis disclosed no foreign material. Radiation was normal for the "tracks" and surrounding area. Laboratory analysis of the burned brush showed no chemicals that could have been propellant residue. The object was traveling at approximately 120 miles per hour when it disappeared over the mountain, according to Zamora's best guess of the time it took. Not an interplanetary speed, at any rate; and the findings are also negative for any indication that the Socorro UFO was of extraterrestrial origin or that it presented a threat to the security of the United States.

Roswell - July 1947

2006-07-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

Executive Summary The "Roswell Incident" refers to an event that supposedly happened in July, 1947, wherein the Army Air Forces (AAF) allegedly recovered remains of a crashed "flying disc" near Roswell, New Mexico. In February, 1994, the General Accounting Office (GAO), acting on the request of a New Mexico Congressman, initiated an audit to attempt locate records of such an incident and to determine if records regarding it were properly handled. Although the GAO effort was to look at a number of government agencies, the apparent focus was on the Air Force. SAF/AAZ, as the Central Point of Contact for the GAO in this matter. Research revealed that the "Roswell Incident" was not even considered a UFO event until the 1978-1980 time frame. Prior to that, the incident was dismissed because the AAF originally identified the debris recovered as being that of a weather balloon. Subsequently, various authors wrote a number of books claiming that, not only was debris from an alien spacecraft recovered, but also the bodies of the craft's alien occupant. These claims continue to evolve today and the Air Force is now routinely accused of engaging in a "cover-up" of this supposed event. The research located no records at existing Air Force offices that indicated any "cover-up" by the USAF or any indication of such a recovery. Consequently, efforts were intensified by Air Force researchers at numerous locations where records for the period in question were stored. The records reviewed did not reveal any increase in operations, security, or any other activity in July, 1947, that indicated any such unusual event that may have occurred, Records were located and thoroughly explored concerning a then TOP-SECRET balloon project, designed to attempt to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, known as Project Mogul. Additionally, several surviving project personnel were located and interviewed, as was the only surviving person who recovered debris from the original Roswell site in 1947, and the former officer who initially identified the wreckage as a balloon. Comparison of all information developed or obtained indicated that the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of the Mogul balloons that had not been previously recovered. Air Force research efforts did not disclose any records of the recovery of any "alien" bodies or extraterrestrial materials. INTRODUCTION Air Force involvement in the alleged UFO related incident popularly known as the "Roswell Incident" began as the result of a January 14, 1994, Washington Post article (Atch 1) which announced Congressman Steven Schiff's intent to initiate a General Accounting Office (GAO) effort to resolve this controversial matter. Having previously been involved in numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Congressional requests on "unusual aircraft," to include Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), The Director, Security and Special Program Oversight, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, (SAF/AAZ) believed the Sir Force would become involved in any GAO effort involving this subject. Thus, in late January, 1994, SAF/AAZ directed its research/declassification team, SAF/AAZ directed its research/declassification team, SAF/AAZD, to attempt to locate any official records relative to this matter. These initial research efforts focused on records at the Air Force Hostorical Research Agency (AFHRA), Maxwell AFB, AL, the Air Force Safety Agency (AFHRA), Maxwell AFB, AL. the Air Force Safety Agency (AFSA) at Kirtland AFB, NM, and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). On February 15, 1994, the GAO officially notified Secretary of Defense William J. Perry that, it was initiating an audit of the Department of Defense (DoD) policies and procedures for acquiring, classifying, retaining, and disposing of official government documents dealing with weather balloon, aircraft, and similar crash incidents (Atch 2). This notification was subsequently passed to the Department of Defense Inspector General who in turn officially notified the Secretaries of the Services and other affected parties of the audit in a February 23, 1994, memo (Atch 3). This memorandum indicated that the "GAO is anxious to respond to Representative Schiff's request and to dispel any concerns that the DoD is being unresponsive." These were the first official US Government documents that indicated that the purpose of the GAO was to review "crash incidents involving weather balloons and unknown aircraft, and (2) the facts involving the reported crash of an UFO in 1949 (sic, 1947) at Roswell, New Mexico ... (and an) alleged DoD cover up." An entrance meeting of potentially concerned parties was held in the offices of the DoD Inspector General on February 28, 1994. During this meeting it was learned that, while the audit officially would be reviewing the records of a number of DoD (and possibly other Executive Branch entities), the bulk of the effort would be focused on Air Force records and systems. The audit was officially given the GAO code 701034, and entitled "Records Management Procedures Dealing with Weather Balloon, Unknown Aircraft, and Similar Crash Incidents." Although this official title appeared rather broad, there was no misunderstanding that the real purpose was to attempt to locate records and/or information on the "Roswell Incident." This incident, explained later in more detail, generally dealt with the claim that in July of 1947, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) recovered a flying saucer and /or its alien occupants which supposedly crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. When the USAAF ultimately became the United Stated Air Force (USAF) in September, 1947, the USAF inherited equipment, personnel, records, policies, and procedures from the AAF. In this particular case, the Air Force also inherited the allegation that it had "covered up" the "Roswell Incident" and has continued to do so for the next 47 years. Within the Air Force, the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (SAF/AA) is responsible both for information management procedures (SAF/AAI) and security policy and oversight (SAF/AAZ). Because of this organisation, SAF/AA was the logical entity to assist the GAO in its audit and SAF/AAZ was officially named as the Central Point of Contact for this endeavour (Atch 4). Subsequently, the then Administrative Assistant, Mr. Robert J. McCormick, issued a tasking memorandum dated March 1, 1994 (Atch 5), to a number of current Air Staff and Secretariat offices that might possibly have records related to such an incident if, indeed, something had actually occurred. This search for records was purposely limited to Air Force records and systems since: (a) The Air Force had no authority to compel other agencies to review their records; (b) The Air Force would have no way to monitor the completeness of their efforts if they did; and (c) The overall effort was the task and responsibility of the GAO -- not the Air Force. During the in-briefing process with the GAO, it was learned that this audit was, indeed, generated by the specific request of Congressman Steven Schiff of New Mexico. Earlier, Congressman Schiff had written to the Department of Defense Legislative Liaison Office for information on the "Roswell Incident" and had been advised it was part of the former UFO "Project Bluebook" that had previously been turned over to NARA by the Air Force. Congressman Schiff, apparently perceiving that he had been "Stonewalled" by the DoD, then generated the request for the aforementioned audit. It is within this context that the following research and assistance efforts were conducted in support of the GAO. This report is intended to stand as the final official Air Force response regarding this matter. THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT" WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY REPORTED IN 1947 The modern preoccupation with what ultimately came to be called Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) actually began in June, 1947. Although some pro-UFO researchers argue that sightings of UFOs go back to biblical times, most researchers will not dispute that anything in UFO history can compare with the phenomenon that began in 1947. What was later characterised as "the UFO wave of 1947" began with 16 alleged sightings that occurred between May 17 and July 12, 1947, (although some researchers claim there were as many as 800 sightings during that period). Interestingly, the "Roswell Incident" was not considered one of these 1947 events until the 1978-1980 time frame. There is no dispute, however, that something happened near Roswell in July, 1947, since it was reported in a number of contemporary newspaper articles; the most famous of which were the July 8 and July 9 editions of the Roswell Daily Record. The July 8 edition reported "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region," while the next dayÃƒÂ¢Ã‚Â€Ã‚Â™s edition reported, "Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer" and "Harassed Rancher Who Located 'Saucer' Sorry He Told About It." The first story reported that the Intelligence Officer of the 509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell AFF, Major Jesse A. Marcel, had recovered a "flying disc" from the range lands of an unidentified rancher in the vicinity of Roswell and that the disc had been "flown to higher headquarters." That same story also reported that a Roswell couple claimed to have seen a large unidentified object fly by their home on July 2, 1947. The July 9 edition of the paper noted that Brigadier General Roger Ramey, Commander of the Eighth Air Force at Forth Worth, Texas, stated that upon examination the debris recovered by Marcel was determined to be a weather balloon. The wreckage was described as a "..bundle of tinfoil, broken wood beams, and rubber remnants of a balloon... The additional story of the "harassed rancher" identified him as W.W Brazel of Lincoln County, New Mexico. He claimed that he and his son, Vemon, found the material on June 14, 1947, when they "came upon a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper, and sricks." He picked up some of the debris on July 4 and ."..the next day he first heard about the flying discs and wondered if what he had found might have been the remnants of one of these." Brazel subsequently went to Roswell on July 7 and contacted the Sheriff, who apparently notified Major Marcel. Major Marcel and "a man in plain clothes" then accompanied Brazel home to pick up the rest of the pieces. The article further related that Brazel thought that the material: "..might have been as large as a table top. The balloon which held it up, if that how it worked, must have been about 12 feet long, he felt, measuring the distance by the size of the room in which he sat. The rubber was smoky grey in colour and scattered over an area about 200 yards in diameter. When the debris was gathered up the tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks made a bundle about three feet long and 7 or 8 inches thick, while the rubber made a bundle about 18 or 20 inches long and about 8 inches thick. In all, he estimated, the entire lot would have weighed maybe 5 pounds. There was no sign of any metal in the area which might have been used for an engine and no sign if any propellers of any kind. Although at least one paper fin had been glued onto some of the tinfoil. There were no words to be found anywhere on the instrument although there were letters on some of the parts. Considerable scotch tape and some tape with flowers printed on it had been used in the construction. No string or wire were to be found but there some eyelets in the paper to indicate that some sort of attachment may have been used. Brazel said that he had previously found two weather balloons on the ranch, but that what he found this time did not in any way resemble either of these." EVOLUTION OF THE EVENT FROM 1947 TO THE PRESENT General Ramey's press conference and rancher Brazel's statement effectively ended this as a UFO-related matter until 1978, although some UFO researchers argue that there were several obtuse references to it in 1950's era literature. Roswell, for example, is not reported in Project Blue Bluebook or its predecessors, Project Sign and Congressman Schiff subsequently learned when he made his original enquiry). In 1978, an article appeared in a tabloid newspaper, the National Inquirer, which reported the former intelligence officer, Marcel, claimed that he had recovered UFO debris near Roswell in 1947. Also in 1978, a UFO researcher, Stanton Friedman, met with Marcel and began investigating the claims that the material Marcel handled was from a crashed UFO. Similarly, two authors, William L. Moore and Charles Berlitz, also engaged in research which led them to publish a book, The Roswell Incident, in 1980. In this book they reported they interviewed a number of people who claimed to have been present at Roswell in 1947 and professed to be either first or second hand witnesses to strange events that supposedly occurred. Since 1978-1980, other UFO researchers, most noteably Donald Schmitt and Kevin Randle, claim to have located and interviewed even more persons with supposed knowledge of unusual happenings at Roswell. These include both civilian and former military persons. Additionally, the Robert Stack-hosted television show "Unsolved Mysteries" devoted a large portion of one show to a "re-creation" of the supposed Roswell events. Numerous other television shows have done likewise, particularly during the last several years and a made for TV movie on the subject is due to be released this summer. The overall thrust of these articles, books and shows is that the "Roswell Incident" was actually the crash of a craft from another world, the US Government recovered it, and has been "covering up" this fact from the American public since 1947, using a combination of disinformation, ridicule, and threats of bodily harm, to do so. Generally, the US Air Force bears the brunt of these accusations. From the rather benign description of the "event" and the recovery of some material as described in the original newspaper accounts, the "Roswell Incident" has since grown to mythical (if not mystical) proportions in the eyes and minds of some researchers, portions of the media and at least part of the American public. There are also now several major variations of the "Roswell story" For example, it was originally reported that there was only recovery of debris from one site. This has since grown from a minimal amount of debris recovered from a small area to airplane loads of debris from multiple huge "debris fields". Likewise, the relatively simple description of sticks, paper, tape and tinfoil has since grown to exotic metals with hieroglyphics and fiber optic like materials. Most versions now claim that there were two crash sites where debris was recovered; and at the second site, alleged bodies of extraterrestrial aliens were supposedly retrieved. The number of these "alien bodies" recovered also varied. These claims are further complicated by the fact that UFO researchers are not in agreement among themselves as to exactly where these recovery sites were located or even the dates of the alleged crash(es). Consistently, however, the AAF was accused of securing these sites, recovering all the material there from, keeping locals away, and returning the recovered wreckage (and bodies) to Roswell under extremely tight security for further processing and later exploitation. Once back at Roswell AAF, it is generally alleged that special measures were taken to notify higher headquarters and arrangements made to have recovered materials shipped to other locations for analysis. These locations include Ft. Worth, Texas, the home of the Eighth Air Force Headquarters; possibly Sandia Base (now Kirtland AFB), New Mexico; possibly Andrews AAF, Maryland, and always to Wright Field, now known as Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. The latter location was the home of "T-2" which later became known as the Air Technical Intelligence Centre (ATIC) and the Air Materiel Command (AMC), and would, in fact, be a logical location to study unknown materials from whatever origin. Most of the Roswell stories that contain the recovery of alien bodies, show them being shipped to Wright Field. Once the material and bodies were dispersed for further analysis and/or exploitation, the government in general, and the Army Air Forces in particular, then engaged in covering up all information relating to the alleged crash and recovery, including the use, of security oaths to military persons and the use of coercion (including alleged death threats) to others. This, as theorized by some UFO researches, has allowed the government to keep the fact that there is intelligent extra-terrestrial life from the American public for 47 years. It also supposedly allowed the US Government to exploit recovered extraterrestrial materials by reverse engineering them, ultimately providing such things as fiber optic and stealth technology. The "death threats," oaths, and other forms of coercion alleged to have been meted out by the Army Air Forces personnel to keep people from talking have apparently not been very effective, as several hundred people are claimed to have come forward (without harm) with some knowledge of the "Roswell Incident" during interviews with non-government researches and the media. Adding some measure of credibility to the claims that have arisen since 1978 is the apparent depth of research of some of the authors and the extent of their efforts. Their claims are lessened somewhat, however, by the fact that almost all their information came from verbal reports many years after the alleged incident occurred. Many of the persons interviewed were, in fact, stationed at, or lived near Roswell during the time in question, and a number of them claim military service, Most, however, related their stories in their older years, well after the fact. In other cases, the information provided is second or third hand, having been passed through a friend or relative after the principle had died. What is uniquely lacking in the entire exploration and exploitation of the "Roswell Incident" is official positive documentary pr physical evidence of any kind that supports the claims of those who allege that something unusual happened. Conversely, there has never been any previous documentary evidence produced by those who would debunk the incident to show that something did not happen; although logic dictates that bureaucracies do not spend time documenting non events. SEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY To insure senior Air Force leadership that there were no hidden or overlooked files that might relate to the "Roswell Incident;" and to provide the GAO with the best and most complete information available, SAF/AAZ constructed a strategy based on direct tasking from the Office of the Secretary, to elicit information from those functional offices and organizations where such information might logically be contained. This included directing searches at current offices where special or unusual projects might be carried out, as well as historical organisations, archives, and records centers over which the Air Force exerted some degree of control. Researchers did not, however, go to the US Army to review historical records in area such as missile launches from White Sands, or to the Department of Energy to determine if its forerunner, the Atomic Energy Commission, had any records of nuclear-related incidents that might have occurred at or near Roswell in 1947. To do so would have encroached on GAOÃ¢Â€Â™s charter in this matter. What Air Force researchers did do, however, was to search for records still under Air Force control pertaining to these subject areas. In order to determine parameters for the most productive search of records, a review was first conducted of the major works regarding the "Roswell Incident" available in the popular literature. These works included: The Roswell Incident, (1980) by William Moore and Charles Berlitz: "Crashed Saucers: Evidence in search of Proof," (1985) by Moore; The UFO Crash at Roswell, (I 99 1) by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt; The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell, (1994) by Randle and Schmitt; The Roswell Report: A Historical Perspective, (1991), George M. Eberhart, Editor; "The Roswell Events," (1993) compiled by Fred Whiting Ã¢Â€Â“ Crash at Corona (1992) by Stanton T. Friedman and Don Berliner, as well as numerous other articles written by a combination of the above and other researchers. Collectively, the above represent the "pro" UFO writers who allege that the government is engaged in a conspiracy. There are no specific books written entirely on the theme that nothing happened at Roswell. However, Curtis Peebles in Watch the Skies! (1994) discussed the development of the UFO story and growth of subsequent claims as a phenomenon. There has also been serious research as well as a number of detailed articles written by so called "debunkers" of Roswell and other incidents, most notably Philip J. Klass who writes The Skeptical Inquirer newsletter, and Robert Todd, a private researcher. The concerns and claims of all the above authors and others were considered in conducting the USAF records search. It was also decide, particularly after a review of the above popular literature, that no specific attempt would be made to try to refute, point by point, the numerous claims made in the various publications. Many of these claims appear to be hearsay, undocumented , taken out of context, self serving, or otherwise dubious. Additionally, many of the above authors are not even in agreement over the various claims. Most notable of the confusing and now ever changing claims is the controversy over the date(s) of the purported debris and the extent of the wreckage. Such discrepancies in the claims made the search much more difficult by greatly expanding the volume of records that had to be searched. An example of trying to deal with questionable claims is illustrated by the following example: One of the popular books mentioned that was reviewed claimed that the writers had submitted the names and serial numbers of the "over two dozen" personnel stationed at Roswell in July, 1947, to the Veterans Administration and the Defense Department to confirm their military service. They then listed eleven of these persons by name and asked the question "Why does neither the Defense Department nor the Veteran's Administration have records of any of these men when we can document that each served at Roswell Army Air field." That claim sounded serious so SAF/AAZD was tasked to check these eleven names in the Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Using only the names (since the authors did list the serial numbers) the researcher quickly found records readily identifiable with eight of these persons. The other three had such common names that there could have been multiple possibilities. Interestingly, one of the listed "missing" persons had a casualty report in his records reflecting that he died in 1951, while the writers claimed to have interviewed him (or a person of the exact same name) in 1990. While the historical document search was in progress, it was decided to attempt to locate and interview several persons identified as still living who could possibly answer questions generated by the research. This had never been officially done before, although most of the persons contacted reported that they had also been contacted in the past by some of the listed authors or other private researchers. In order to counter possible future arguments that the persons interviewed were still "covering up" material because of prior security oaths, the interviewees were provided with authorisation from either the Secretary of the Air Force or the Senior Security Official of the Air Force that would officially allow discussion of classified information, if applicable, or free them from prior restriction in discussing the matter, if such existed. Again, the focus was on interviewing persons that could address specific issues, raised by research and no consideration was given to try and locate every alleged witness claimed to have been contacted by the various authors. For example, one of the interviewees thought vital to obtain an official signed, sworn statement from was Sheridan Cavitt, Lt Col, USAF (Retired) who is the last living member of the three persons universally acknowledged to have recovered material from the Foster Ranch. Others were also interviewed as information developed (discussed in detail later). Additionally, in some cases survivors of deceased persons were also contacted in an attempt to locate various records thought to have been in the custody of the deceased. Even though Air Force research originally started in January 1994, the first official Air Force wide tasking was directed by the March 1, 1994, memorandum from SAF/AA, (Atch 5) and was addressed to those current Air Staff elements that would likely repository for any records, particularly if there was anything of an extraordinary nature involved. This meant that the search was not limited to unclassified materials, but also would include records of the highest classification and compartmentation.

** UFO **