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MUFON UFO JOURNALNUMBER 256 AUGUST 1989

Founded 1967. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF JMTCIFOAf/ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, INC.I ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

MUFON1989 INTERNATIONAL UFOSYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS

THE UFO COVER UP:A Government Conspiracy?

June 3O,

Julyl&2

Las Vegas,Nevada

$2.50

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

(USPS 002-970)(ISSN 0270-6822)103 Oldtowne Rd.

Seguin, Texas 78155-4099 U.S.A.

DENNIS W. STACYEditor

WALTER H. ANDRUS, JR.International Director and

Associate Editor

THOMAS P. DEULEYArt Director

MILDRED BIESELEContributing Editor

ANN DRUFFELContributing Editor

ROBERT J. GRIBBLEColumnist

ROBERT H. BLETCHMANPublic Relations

PAUL CERNYPromotion/Publicity

MARGE CHRISTENSENPublic Education

REV. BARRY DOWNINGReligion and UFOs

LUCIUS PARISHBooks/ Periodicals/ History

T. SCOTT CRAINGREG LONG

MICHAEL D. SWORDSStaff Writers

TED PHILLIPSLanding Trace Cases

JOHN F. SCHUESSLERMedical Cases

LEONARD STRINGFIELDUFO Crash/Retrieval

WALTER N. WEBBAstronomy

NORMA E. SHORTDWIGHT CONNELLY

DENNIS HAUCKRICHARD H. HALLROBERT V. PRATT

Editor/Publishers Emeritus(Formerly SKYLOOK)

The MUFON UFO JOURNAL ispublished monthly by the Mutual UFON e t w o r k , I n c . , Seguin, Texas.Membership/Subscr ipt ion rates:$25.00 per year in the U.S.A.; $30.00foreign in U.S. funds. Copyright 1989by the Mutual UFO Network. Secondclass postage paid at Seguin, Texas.POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 toadvise change of address to TheMUFON UFO JOURNAL, 103Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, Texas 78155-4099.

FROM THE EDITORThe new slick cover stock gracing this issue is one of several

cosmetic changes scheduled for the Journal in the near future,time, energy and money, of course, permitting. The 28 pages,however, are a temporary matter, partly to compensate for myexpanded coverage of the Las Vegas symposium. Eventually, wehope to be able to redo the Journal's entire format, a painstakingprocess that will hopefully reflect not only our own growing, iflimited, prosperity, but also that of the field of ufology itself. Wemention this not to boast of any achievement before its time, butto let you, the reader and subscriber, know that much goes onbehind the scenes of every issue that you may not normally beaware of, in addition to the everyday business of editing,proofreading and layout. Our aim, as always, is to bring you thebest UFO journal available.

Occasionally, we are late in our obligations, as happenedwith the July issue. If it's any consolation, I'm happy to say it wasbecause of circumstances beyond our control. Our lineup thismonth is as follows.

In this issueTHE 1989 LAS VEGAS SYMPOSIUM Dennis Stacy 3CLOSE ENCOUNTER AT ELIZABETH Walter Webb 13MAJESTIC & MOORE: NOT GUILTY! Jean Sider 14THE UFO PRESS Dennis Stacy 17"ALIEN HARVEST" REVIEWED Larry Hebebrand 19IN OTHERS' WORDS Lucius Parish 19LOOKING BACK Bob Gribble 20THE AUGUST NIGHT SKY Walter Webb 22LETTERS Wright, Friedman, Overall 23FUFOR FIRST QUARTER REPORT 25DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE Walt Andrus 28COVER ART by Donald R. Schmitt

Copyright 1989 by the Mutual UFO Network, Inc. (MUFON), 103Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Texas 78155-4099 U.S.A.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDNo part of this document may be reproduced in any form by photostat,microfilm, xerograph, or any other means, without the written permissionof the Copyright Owners.

The Mutual UFO Network, Inc. is exempt from Federal Income Tax underSection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON is a publiclysupported organization of the type described in Section 509(a)(2). Donorsmay deduct contributions from their Federal Income Tax. In addition,bequests, legacies, devises, transfers, or gifts are deductible for Federalestate and gift tax purposes if they meet the applicable provisions ofSections 2055, 2106, and 2522 of the code.

The contents of the MUFON UFO JOURNAL are determined by the editor, anddo not necessarily represent the official position of MUFON. Opinions ofcontributors are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, thestaff, or MUFON. Articles may be forwarded directly to MUFON. Responses topublished articles may be in a Letter to the Editor (up to about 400 words) or ina short article (up to about 2,000 words). Thereafter, the "50% rule" is applied:the article author may reply but will be allowed half the wordage used in theresponse; the responder may answer the author but will be allowed half thewordage used in the author's reply, etc. All submissions are subject to editing forstyle, clarity, and conciseness. Permission is hereby granted to quote from thisissue provided not more than 200 words are quoted from any one article, theauthor of the article is given credit, and the statement "Copyright 1989 by theMutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, Texas 78155" is included.

MUFON Las Vegas SymposiumArticle and Photographs by Dennis Stacy

Choosing a theme for the annualMUFON symposium is always a gam-ble; some turn out as loose as a limplariat, while others are as tight as aknot. This year's conclave, with atheme of "The UFO Cover-Up: AGovernment Conspiracy?" definitelyfell into the latter category. Chairedby John Lear and vocally orches-trated by the melodious basso pro-fondo of Hal Starr, the symposiumwas fraught with controversy fromthe start. By Saturday evening, temper-atures inside the Aladdin Hotel andCasino lecture halls almost matchedthose of the sun-baked Las Vegas"Strip" outside, where the thermome-ter regularly reached 105 degreesFahrenheit and more.

The usual Friday evening get-acquaint-ed and cocktail hour was preceded bya press conference held that morningand a meeting of MUFON state direc-tors moderated by Dan Wright. Pre-registration packets were available inthe foyer outside the main 600-seatauditorium, along with a photo displayand tables of various literature. Theevening cocktail hour itself transpiredin a cavernous hall that did little todampen spirits.

Following Saturday morning intro-ductions from Lear, Starr and inter-national director Walter Andrus, Jen-nie Zeldman, MUFON's co-ordinatorof technical analysis, updated eventsin the Coyne Helicopter case, recip-ient of a $5000 award from theNational Enquirer in 1973, for bestUFO case of the year.

Coyne Copter Case

The encounter with what thenCapt. Lawrence J. Coyne, the aircraftcommander, described as a cigar orsubmarine-shaped object occurred onOctober 18, 1973, near Mansfield,Ohio. A four-man crew was onboard.At first showing only a red light, theobject reportedly paced the helicopterMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

Aladdin Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas

along the eastern horizon, then "des-cribed a zig-zag flight path as it main-tained a position above and in front ofthe helicopter, and then resumed itswestward course," disappearing onthe NW horizon. "At closest approach,"Zeidman said, "the object was seen tobe submarine-shaped, opaque andsharply defined, with two preciselypositioned lights and an intense greenmaneuverable spotlight. Anomalies ofcontrols, instruments and radios, andunexplained altitude gain of the helic-opter were noted. Five witnesseshave been found who were nearlydirectly below the encounter point."

Zeidman herself has authored aprevious lengthy report on theCoyne encounter and continues tocollect data on the case, includinginterviews with two ground witnesseswho only recently surfaced. However,Zeidman's talk was only half aimed atactual events in the Coyne case; theremainder, the tart part, was reservedfor what she characterized as the lessthan half-hearted investigation con-ducted by UFO skeptic Philip Klass,

who continues to catalog the Coyneobject as a probable meteor. Hermain objection is that Klass has nevertroubled to interview Coyne person-ally, nor bothered to talk to at leasttwo of the other three crewmen; infact, his interrogation of those aboardthe chopper seems to have beenlimited to three telephone calls. A fewslightly more acerbic darts were alsohurled in the direction of Mr. Klass,who seems to delight in being thetarget of such barbs. As it turned out,Jennie was only the first of severalspeakers who would not disappointhim.

New Patterns in Car Pursuits

Dr. Donald A. Johnson of NewJersey, MUFON's consultant in re-search psychology, addressed the issueof UFO cases in which apparent elec-tromagnetic interference with a vehi-cle's ignition system played a promi-nent role. Johnson has collectedsome 200 such cases, dating fromMarch of 1949 to July of 1978, consi-

3

Jennie Zeldman

dered on the completeness of data.To be included in his vehicular inter-ference catalog, such incidents had tocontain pertinent information as tothe reported UFO's size and distance,as well as to the duration of the over-all event.

The general conclusion Johnsonwas able to draw from a statisticalanalysis of such interference cases is"that UFOs of similar appearancebehave in a similar manner." Butother inferences could be made aswell. "The most prevalent patterninvolving the pacing of a vehicle by aUFO," according to Johnson, "can becharacterized as involving a domed,disk-shaped object, approximately ninemeters (35 ft.) in diameter, with thepresence of a humming sound.

"Physiological effects are usuallyaccompanied by the mention of some4

type of light beam emanating from theobject and the presence of a bluecolor." Oddly, although police vehi-cles account for fifteen percent of allnon-interference cases, they contrib-ute very few incidents in which stal-ling or stopping is recorded. Johnsonsaid this "could probably be explainedby the fact that in a number of thesecases the police were actively pursu-ing the UFO, and not the other wayaround." It appears, he continued,"that the UFO EM ignition effect itselfis something that is selectively appliedrather than some uniform force result-ing from a hypothetical propulsivesystem or unexplained natural force."

Crash/Retrieval Plan?

Aside from the controversy ofwhether any UFOs have crashed and

been covertly retrieved by the govern-ment, is the matter of whether or notan emergency retrieval program existswithin the confines of a governmentor military context. It might be worth-while, argued aviation writer Don Ber-liner, a member of the executivecommittee of the Fund for UFOResearch, to consider what such aprogram might look like from the out-side. How would it function in the realworld? What kind of experts wouldcomprise its ranks? And what wouldits goals be?

If such a plan is presently in effect,noted Berliner, it conceivably couldhave had its beginnings in events dur-ing or near the close of WW II. Twolikely candidates for such an impetus,he suggested, were the reports of"Foo Fighters" and the "ghost rocket"scare that swept Scandanavia shortlyafter the cease of hostilities. Bothwould have provided ample opportun-ity for any government/military agencyinterested in retrieving samples ofeither. Then there was the allegedcrash of a UFO near Roswell, NewMexico, in the summer of 1947, iffurther emphasis were needed.

The obvious point here is that of anumber of alleged crash-retrievals, allhave remained effectively secretedfrom the average citizen. Berlinerpostulates that a wide network ofhuman and electronic sensors mustbe employed if the C/R Control teamis to be "first on the scene" and effec-tive. He even suggests that the coun-try's police forces might be involved. Ipersonally find that idea difficult tocountenance: Too many individualswould have knowledge of any appli-cable orders. Sooner or later, one ofthem would be almost certain to haveleaked pertinent documents or infor-mation to the media, resulting in apublic row.

The make-up of any such organiza-tion, however, would be fairly com-plex, although not necessarily unwield-ly, said Berliner. Several differenttypes of equipment would be required,including metal and radiation detec-tors, digging and transportation devi-ces, medical supplies, recording equip-ment, security staples and packingmaterial, perhaps even body bags.

After the site has been renderedsecure, other equally important fac-

MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

tors come into play. From the top ofa pyramid structure on down, a varietyof personnel would be needed, from a"retrieval" commander, to "grunts,"or guards. In-between, communica-tion, technical and scientific personnelof various sorts would be required.The great majority of these would bedifferent from those in charge of theactual removal of material, whichwould account for another body ofpersonnel.

Once the physical and perhaps bio-logical remains are safely removed toa secure site, the work of decipheringcould begin in earnest. Among theareas Berliner suggested such a teamof experts might conceivably investi-gate: construction of the craft itself,propulsion system(s), flight controland navigation mechanisms, commun-ication and life support systems, crewfacilities, maintenance and repair tech-niques, and of course the nature ofthe crew itself and their "mission," orintensions.

Even so, such a highly secretivestructure as a C/R Control teamwould still be confronted with oppor-tunities for snafus, some of whichmight obviously lie outside their abilityto contain. The most potentially dam-aging of these, of course, is the pos-sibility of a messy crash in full view ofthe public. Security leaks and unantic-ipated foul-ups, like a piece of wreck-age falling off a flatbed 18-wheeler inSt. Louis, would also have to be antic-ipated, and might be a job for aseparate damage-control team.

"Though much of this is theory andspeculation," Berliner admitted, "itmay serve as a starting point fromwhich further thought may lead togreater knowledge of the crash/re-trieval system, and perhaps to methodsfor re-directing it to the service of thepublic."

Chesapeake Connection

After lunch, Bob Oechsler, MUFONstate section director for Maryland,intrigued the audience with a talkentitled "The Chesapeake Connec-tion: An Implication of CorporateInvolvement in the UFO Cover-Up."Oechsler presently hosts a nationwidebroadcast on the airwaves of theAmerican Radio Network called "UFOsMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

Philip Klass

Today." He has been involved in boththe photographic analysis of the GulfBreeze case, and the apparently spur-ious voice recording "broadcast" bythe space shuttle Discouery.

Following a series of sightings oflarge lighted objects near the Chesa-peake Bay Bridge in March of 1988,some of which reportedly lasted up tofour hours long, and none of whichelicited an obvious military response,Oechsler and other active membersof the Annapolis Research and StudyGroup formed the Chesapeake Con-nection hypothesis, the basic tenetsof which are as follows:

• UFOs exist, and the technologyand obvious intelligence behind thempresent a valid and far-reaching con-cern.

• Individuals and groups, both with-in the government and private sec-

tors, respond to such knowledge byimposing a justifiable cover-up whichis still in existence today.

• Our advanced defense technol-ogy programs do not appear to bedirected at a traditional enemy. Theevidence simply does not supportsuch a conclusion. The focus setting,in fact, is extraterrestrial in nature.

While Oechsler's group was engagedin tracing the corporate connection toassumed events like the Roswell inci-dent and the formation of MJ-12, heand his fellow researchers were inun-dated with a wave of local UFOreports, including frequent sightingsof growing numbers of helicopters,both marked and unmarked. Theyalso uncovered evidence of curiousgoings on in the Bay area, the coun-try's longest estuary, just east ofWashington, D.C. These activities

5

included, among other things, a bargeapparently engaged in a Navy pro-gram testing or monitoring the elec-tromagnetic pulse effect (EMP) asso-ciated with nuclear blasts. Accordingto Oechsler, such experiments mayhave severely damaged at least onebridge, and could have resulted in theloss of at least one small private planeand its two occupants.

Oechsler explains corporate invol-vement in the UFO cover-up not onlyas a consequence of the incestuousrelationship among top level CEOs,government officials and civilian "thinktanks," but also out of a need corpo-rations have to maintain a stablesociety of consumers. Having them flyinto a fit of panic over the realizationthat "we are not alone," in otherwords, would not be good for business.

So great is corporate concern, infact, that the larger players havebanded together to bombard consu-mers with subliminal messages aimedat effecting a gradual assimilation ofthis potential earth-shattering concep-tion into society as a whole. To thisend, the corporate power structureincreasingly employs suggestive hintsof an extraterrestrial presence, bothin commercials, TV programs andmovies like E-T and Close Encountersof the Third Kind.

Despite the wealth of documentedand illustrated material Oechsler andthe Annapolis Research and StudyGroup have compiled, this writer, atleast, kept wondering if the carthadn't gotten before the horse insome of the examples cited. Applyingthe same logic to the popularity ofvampire movies and images, for in-stance, would force one to concludethat movie magnates were somehowintent on preparing society to acceptblood-sucking bats as an underlyingreality.

Something of the same sort of criti-cism could be made about certainallegations leveled in connection withthe Roswell incident. Is it fair, on theone hand, to tout New Mexico as thenerve center of American militaryweaponry research and development,then express surprise and discoveryon the other when high-level generalsand government officials pay a visit?One would think, after all, that thatwould be their business. In the same

"UFOs exist Individualsand groups, both withinthe government and pri-vate sectors, respondedto such knowledge byimposing a justifiable cov-er-up which is still inexistence today."

context, it never seems to haveoccurred to Oechsler that the Districtof Columbia itself is a similar hotbedof government, military and related in-telligence activities by virtue almost ofdefinition. The baby should not bethrown out to dry with the bathwater,and admittedly Oechsler scores manyinteresting points. But his approachalso demonstrates that with such anall-encompassing, conspiratorial hypoth-esis, almost any single piece can beaccommodated to fit the puzzle.

An Alien Harvest

An equally perplexing puzzle waspresented by Linda Moulton Howe, aregional Emmy Award-winning pro-ducer of TV documentaries, mostly inthe realm of environmental sciences.Her symposium talk was an out-

growth of research that originatedwith the 1980 video documentary, "AStrange Harvest," which focused onanimal mutilations. Such mutilationscontinue down to the present day,said Howe, who brought startlingslides taken only this spring with herto prove her case. Howe was accom-panied by two confirming witnesses.The complete story of her mostrecent research and involvement withboth mutes and UFOs can be foundin her massive self-published book,An Alien Harvest (448 pages, $60,including postage), available from LMHProductions, 3208 East Fremont Drive,Littleton, CO 80122.

Howe's most recent case, and oneof her more remarkable ones, comesfrom Hempstead County, Arkansas,where on the morning of March 10,1989, an L.C. Wyatt found five dead,pregnant cows on his property, laidout along a straight line. One cowhad her belly cut open from an 18-by-22 inch incision, accomplished by ahighly-heated cutting instrument ofsome sort, a technology that wouldseem to be beyond the means andcapabilities of the "average" satanicor other cult. The unborn calf wasstill within the unbroken embryo sac;there was no blood or amniotic fluidon the cow, calf or ground.

Linda Howe and Host, John LearMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

"// these mutilations and human abductions areproviding sustenance and genetic experimentationfor the alien beings, it is a one-way trade route.What is taken is not paid for. And what is leftbehind is fear, anger, dead animals and traumat-ized people."

Arkansas, particularly the southw-est corner, had been plagued the yearbefore by a series of sightings of alarge object or objects known locallyas "Big Bertha." Numerous photo-graphs of nocturnal lights were takenduring the winter of 1987-88, many ofthem by Jim Williamson, editor of theLittle River News. An embossed ver-sion of one of Williamson's more

v dramatic pictures, a 30-second timeexposure showing a light executingtwo right-angle turns, adorns thecover of Howe's Harvest. The nightbefore the five dead mutilated cowswere discovered, Williamson, return-ing from a basketball game, spotted a"golden glowing" light similar to thosehe had already photographed, aboutfifty aerial miles from the Wyatt farm.Williamson, who was present andjoined Howe on the stage during herpresentation, .also took samples fromthe dead animals, which he preservedand express-shipped to Howe in Colo-rado. Howe then had the specimensexamined by veteran veterinarian Dr.John Altshuler, who also joined thepresentation in person. It was Alt-shuler, with the aid of color photomi-crographs of the incised area, whowas able to demonstrate that "thecutting was done quickly with a hotinstrument of some kind," probably inexcess of 300 degrees Fahrenheit,and indicative of either laser or hotneedle surgery.

Howe also presented evidence, pri-marily from the two abduction cases,and obtained under regressive hypno-sis, which seems to indicate an inti-mate involvement of the allegedabductors with animal mutilations. "Ifthese mutilations and human abduc-tions," Howe concluded, "are provid-ing sustenance and genetic experi-mentation for the alien beings, it is aone-way trade route. What is taken isnot paid for. And what is left behindMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

is fear, anger, dead animals and tra-umatized people."

Above Top Secret

Howe was followed to the speakers'platform by Timothy Good of Lon-don, author of the near-encyclopedieAbove Top Secret: The WorldwideUFO Cover-Up, published in thiscountry last year by William Morrow

& Co. By the time you read this, thepaperback version from Morrow'sQuill imprint may well be available.

As indicated by the title of his bookand talk, Good dealt mainly with awealth of official documentation indic-ative of a reluctance on the part ofmajor world governments to reveal to,their various publics what they knowor suspect about UFOs. One of theearliest such indications stems from anighttime "invasion" of Los Angelesthat took place on February 25, 1942,over the 5-hour course of which morethan 1400 artillery shells were firedwithout apparent effect. At least onepoor photograph was taken of anobject caught in a searchlight beam,shells exploding harmlessly all around.In 1946, unidentified "ghost rockets"were seen and photographed over theScandanavian countries; the following

Timothy Good

It soon became evident that part of Moore'sexchange with Falcon would involve supplying thebig bird of prey with information about the activi-ties of APRO and certain individuals, one of whomwas Paul Bennewitz.

year, Greece suffered similar over-flights. That country's leading scient-ist, Professor Paul Santorini, wasasked to investigate. "But before wecould do anymore," Santorini advised,"the Army, after conferring with for-eign officials, ordered the investigationstopped."

That same year, the UFO pheno-menon broke in the United States,and since then virtually every countryin the world has at one time oranother been visited by similar reports.And in most instances, their respec-tive government and military bodieshave publicly denied active knowledgeof or interest in the subject. Privately,their reactions have usually been analtogether different matter, as Good'sslide illustrations of various docu-ments showed. On rare occasion, ahigh-ranking official even goes onrecord. During the 1973-74 Frenchflap, Robert Galley, the Minister ofDefense, said in a radio interview that"if listeners could see for themselvesthe mass of reports coming in fromthe airborne gendarmerie, from themobile gendarmerie, and from thegendarmerie charged with the job ofinvestigations, all of which reports areforwarded by us to the National Cen-ter for Space Studies, they would seethat it is all pretty disturbing."

"UFOs are an embarrasment to theEstablishment," Good added. "We arepractically powerless, and thereforehave no control over the situation. Itis not simply a matter of one race ofbeings coming to this planet. Thereappear to be different groups, not allof whom are benevolent."

Good closed with an observationthe psychologist Carl Jung once madeto Donald Keyhoe, to the effect that ifthe government truly was withholdingknowledge of UFOs from the public,it was "the most unpsychological andstupid policy one could invent. It isself-evident that the public ought to8

be told the truth, because ultimately itwill come to light. There can hardlybe any greater shock than the H-Bomb and yet everybody knows of itwithout fainting."

Saturday Night Live

For awhile, however, it appeared asif some people would rather fight thanfaint in the wake of several startlingrevelations made by William Mooreduring the course of his over two-hour speech Saturday evening. Moorewas originally scheduled to addressthe symposium at 7 pm, to be fol-lowed by Stanton Friedman, and apanel of speakers that were to havequestions put to them by members ofMUFON's board of directors.

But when Moore had not arrived atthe auditorium by seven, Friedmanled off with his own talk, an update ofongoing investigations into the MJ-12and related documents. Friedman man-aged to elicit a nice ring of laughterwhen he asked if anyone had seenthe TV documentary, "UFO Cover-Up ... Live!" "Good," Friedman said."You only wasted two hours. I wastedthree days." More to the point,Friedman recounted that thus far thecontroversial MJ-12 briefing document,along with the so-called Cutler-Twiningand Truman-Forrestal memos, contin-ued to hold water. Friedman, as mostof you are probably aware, wasrecently awarded a $16,000 grant,ufology's largest, from the Fund forUFO Research (Whitley Strieber andMUFON also contributed), specifi-cally for the purpose of delving intothe authenticity of said documents. Acomplete report will probably beavailable by year's end, or shortlythereafter.

In the meantime, Friedman con-tinues to wend his way through thelabyrinth of presidential papers, inter-viewing survivors from the beginning

of the MJ-12 era, or their family orassociates, in the search for data thatwould either confirm or dismiss theMJ-12 documents altogether. In theprocess, Friedman managed to add athousand dollars to the MJ-12 pot,thanks to an ill-considered wager onthe part of Philip Klass. Klass hadoffered Friedman $100 for each genuineCutler memo in pica type that hecould produce, up to ten items. I'msure Friedman and ufologists every-where welcome Klass's contribution;but given the ongoing disupte betweenthe two, I confess to a surprise disap-pointment: I had expected Friedmanto flash a slide of Klass's canceledcheck.

Probably the most unexpected de-velopment thus far is Friedman'suncovering of the second "secret"career of one Dr. Donald H. Menzel,the late UFO debunker and Harvardastronomer, whom the MJ-12 docu-ments identify as one of its originalmembers. In fact, Menzel was quitedeeply involved with security andintelligence matters, even while author-ing or co-authoring three books dis-missing and debunking UFOs. If Fried-man was not the first researcher tomake this revelation public, he wasalmost certainly the first to bring it towidespread attention. We look for-ward to seeing Friedman's final report,and on the side, we bet Mr. Klassdoes, too.

Moore on Moore

Shortly before Bill Moore was sche-duled to go on stage, I met him in thefoyer outside the main lecture hall.He was as boyishly buoyant as I'veever seen him, but admitted he wasabout to make a confession. Notknowing what the context might be, Icould only resort to the standardcliche. "Well," I noted, "they're saidto be good for the soul."

Still, along with the rest of theaudience, I had no idea what he wasabout to reveal, nor the impact itwould ultimately have. In fact, I'm notsure I have any better handle on itnow. But for the record, from myseat, several rows from the front,here's what transpired.

"In early September, 1980," Mooresaid, "I was approached by a well-

MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

placed individual within the intelli-gence community who claimed to bedirectly connected to a high-levelgovernment project dealing with UFOs."This individual, according to Moore,he subsequently code-named "Falcon."Moreover, Moore claimed, this per-son was not Air Force Office of Spe-cial Intelligence agent Richard C.Doty, as some have claimed. Doty, infact, was only the liaison man betweenMoore and his feathered friend; Dotyhimself was supposedly referred to as"Sparrow," which is a smaller birdaltogether than a falcon.

Moore, at the time, was on theboard of directors of APRO, theAerial Phenomena Research Organi-zation, operated by Jim and CoralLorenzen of Phoenix. It soon becameevident, said Moore, that part ofMoore's exchange with Falcon wouldinvolve his supplying the big bird ofprey with information about the activ-ities of APRO and certain individuals,one of whom was Paul Bennewitz ofAlbuquerque, a physicist who had hisown small electronics company nearKirtland AFB, the Manzano NuclearStorage Facility, and Sandia NationalLaboratories, site of the Saturn machine,a gigantic circular device used in EMPtesting. Bennewitz, already deeplyinvolved in UFOs, was about tobecome ensnared in ways even hisfertile brain would have been hardpressed to predict at the time. (It wasrumored that he eventually suffered anervous breakdown and eventuallyhad to be hospitalized under psychi-atric care. According to another source,Bennewitz's son later denied his fatherhad ever been committed; it is true,however, that his business suffered,and his own physical and mentalhealth underwent drastic decline dur-ing the ordeal.)

Bennewitz not only claimed to filmand photograph UFOs regularly fromhis roof top, he also said he was ableto monitor the low frequency EM sig-nals whereby the aliens communi-cated with surgical implants placed inhumans during abductions. Moreover,he had written his own computerprogram whereby he was able totranslate these "control" signals. Ap-parently, it was Bennewitz's electronicmonitoring of these low frequencysignals that attracted the attention ofMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

Bennewitz not only claimed to film and photographUFOs regularly from his roof top, he also said hewas able to monitor the low frequency EM signalswhereby the aliens communicated with surgicalimplants placed in humans during abductions.

the Air Force Office of Special Intelli-gence (AFOSI). Presumably, thesesignals, which could hardly be shielded,were associated either directly orindirectly with any one of a number ofStar Wars or related technologies.And seemingly, the AFOSI approachedBennewitz and asked him to voluntar-ily cease his activities, an actionwhich unwittingly convinced Benne-witz that he had indeed stumbledonto some "secret" of great signifi-cance. His reaction instead was "toget on the horn," according to Moore,calling and writing letters to everyonefrom fellow ufologists and representa-tives of various media, to congress-men and the president of the UnitedStates. In addition, said Moore, Ben-newitz proved a most persuasive per-sonality in person. Eventually, hisinfluence spread far and wide withinthe community of UFO researchersand writers. Unfortunately, Bennewitzhimself, again according to Moore,was also under the influence, in thiscase of the AFOSI and their col-leagues. "They were actively trying todefuse him," Moore allowed, "bypumping as much disinformation throughhim as he could possibly absorb."Being a very small part of that pro-cess, Moore added, "gave me some-thing of an advantage, and it becamemy intention to play that advantagefor all the information I could get outof it."

By this time in his talk, Moore wasbeing vocally challenged by differentaccusers in the audience, who inter-rupted on several occasions. I, per-sonally, was transfixed, as I'm surewere others, by the tale unfolding. Acouple of people even stumbled outof the lecture hall, gripped by a com-bination of shock, anguish and tears.It would have taken a very large pinto have been heard over the ensuinghubbub.

When order was restored, Moore

went on to say that the campaign ofdisinformation aimed at Bennewitzsucceeded far beyond anyone's expec-tations. More than a few misunder-stood Moore to say that he willinglyand knowingly participated in the dis-persal of disinformation, which includ-ed the distribution of counterfeit doc-umentation. Moore said later -that hewas not aware the documents werefalse at the time, and that he with-drew from participation sometime in1984, when he learned the full extentof the deception.

By this time, however, another gearhad been added to the disinformationtransmission, and the cog caught inits turning was Linda Howe. Her owndisappointing dealings with a decep-tive Doty eventually resulted in HomeBox Office canceling her contract toproduce a UFO documentary for thecable channel. Again, the reasonseems to have been that Howeintended using Bennewitz as a princi-pal source. Other researchers whoavailed themselves of the temptingand sometimes convincing conduit ofUFO "information" Bennewitz repre-sented were duped as well, with theconsequence that much of what wasintended to discredit Bennewitz per-sonally subsequently surfaced as an"inside scoop" among a few incestu-ous ufologists, whereby it graduallyspread out to infect almost the entirecommunity.

The entire Bennewitz scenario, Mooreclaimed, was essentially intact as earlyas the middle of 1982. Among otherelements, it contained the notion thattwo groups of aliens are present onthe planet, one benign, and one, the"greys," not so benign. The latter, infact, were said to be "responsible forthe cattle mutilations, for humanabductions and the implanting of sin-ister control devices in humans, forhaving first made and then broken asecret treaty with the U.S. govern-

9

Dr. Jacques Vallee

ment, for maintaining a secret under-ground base under Archuleta Peak near

Dulce in northwestern New Mexico,and for having supplied the U.S. govern-ment with alien space hardware andweapons which ultimately proved defec-tive or were made to crash, thus leavinghuman civilization virtually defenselessagainst invasion."

Both Moore and Friedman directeddisparaging remarks at the article byRobert Hastings which appeared in theJune issue of the Journal. But similarallegations and insinuations aboutMoore's activities had been circulatingfor sometime. It might be presumptuousto suggest that their open airing resultedin his remarkable statement; maybe itwas only one of many straws. Whatremains to be seen, however, is whetherMoore's symposium speech clears upor muddies further ufology's already10

murky waters. Hopefully, it will leavethe lake a whole lot less contaminatedwith the pollutants of rumor, innuendoand deliberately doctored data. At anyrate, Moore left the stage through arear door, counseling patience, andpromising all would be revealed in duetime. Whether it will come as any moreof a shock or surprise than what hehad to say on a hot Saturday night inLas Vegas, also remains to be seen. (Aword-for-word transcript of his revealingtalk can be obtained by ordering thecurrent issue of Moore's newsletter,Focus. $10, from 4219 W. Olive Ave.,Suite 247, Burbank, CA 91505; thepaper is not included in the publishedMUFON symposium Proceedings.)

An Alternate Agenda

Early Sunday morning several speak-

ers who were not on the officialagenda had the opportunity to pres-ent their own views on the UFO phe-nomenon and possible governmentinvolvement with same. These includedJohn Lear, William Cooper, DonEcker and Bill English, who have theirown ferverent following. In fact, any-one thinking that Moore's revelationsof the night before might have defusedwhat this group had to say wouldhave been disappointed. The affair, towhich an additional $10 admission feewas charged, was well attended. I wasunable to stay for the entire program,so it may be somewhat unfair tocharacterize most of what I heard aslong on assertion and short on evi-dence. But clearly the cadre of con-spiratorialists has its own hardcoresupporters, with or without any "offi-cial" sanctions anything as looselydefined as ufology has to offer orwithhold.

I was intrigued by much of what Idid see, but still found it hard tocommit to a galloping string of unsup-ported assertions that included state-ments like a) a group of 80 dissidentscientists opposed to the alien/U.S.government diplomatic treaty weremassacred in a single day, and b)President John Fitzgerald Kennedywas assassinated by his own SecretService chauffeur because he wasgoing to reveal "the truth aboutUFOs." Again, it seemed to me per-sonally that even internal logic wasabsent from many of the statements.On the one hand, there is a fawningbefore uniformed authorities like Gen.Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Ros-coe Hillenkoetter, whenever their wordscan be used in support of a particularconspiracy or theory; and on theother hand, there is a complete dis-dain of official statements by authori-ties of similar standing when thosepronouncements do nof substantiatesame.

I'm reminded of the line uttered infrustration by Joker Jack Nicholsonin the movie, Batman: "Where doeshe get those wonderful toys?" Wheredo Lear and Cooper, among others,get their wonderful inside knowledge?How do they know all these things?Was Cooper a covert secretary onthe staff of the Bilderburg or someother secret society at the apex of

MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

world power? Is he personally privy tothe private thoughts of the TrilateralCommission? Inquiring minds like minewant to know. Because if the foun-tainhead of their secret sources is onePaul Bennewitz, Moore convincinglydemolished whatever pretension toauthority it might have once had.Maybe, like the Joker, Cooper andLear will yet have the last laugh. Butfrom this corner, anyway, that appearshighly doubtful.

Jungle UFOs

It is a jungle out there, but in rarecases that can be a distinct advan-tage, claimed Jacques Vallee, authorof Dimensions, which was recentlyreleased in a Ballantine paperback.Vallee took the analogy literally, tra-veling to Brazil to investigate a seriesof anomalous reports involving lightbeams, physical injuries and evendeaths. The main advantage is thatany luminous phenomena in the nightsky is unlikely to be attributable tothe usual contaminants found in moreindustrialized countries like the Uni-ted States and Europe. For the mostpart, there simply are no airplanes,helicopters, weather balloons, or evenelectrical lighting to contend with.The interior of Brazil is predominantlyjungle. Roads are few, and travelamong the locals is most often accom-plished by river vehicles or on foot.

Vallee's on-site investigations, under-taken over two weeks in July of lastyear, centered in a region of the Braz-ilian interior known as Parnarama.Former Journal editor Bob Pratt wascredited with having laid the ground-work by his own journeys into theremote region. UFOs are knownlocally by the name "chupa." Becauseof native hunting habits, it is notunusual for the heads of householdsand other potential witnesses (or vic-tims) to be active at night, even in iso-lated areas without lighting. Meagerearnings have to be supplemented byliving off the land, which entails agood deal of fishing and hunting fordeer and other mammals. The mostcommon practice is to string a ham-mock across an animal trail and waitfor the victim to arrive. Unfortunately,UFOs seem to employ' the sametechnique, with the hapless nativeMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

In one case a hammock-hunter died unexpectedlyafter a light was seen in the same area. Two circu-lar, reddish-purple marks were found on his neck,about two inches below one ear.

hunters often the prey.A typical encounter of the kind

investigated by Vallee begins with thesighting of a distant light, as in thecase of Jose Morais da Silva and his10-year-old son. The light, sometimesas intense as lightning, comes closerand emits a beam of illuminosity thatseems to probe for humans like ahovering searchlight. In the da Silvacase, he and his son sought shelterfrom an object which landed on theembankment above them. A soundlike a car door slamming was heard,followed by voices that spoke an uni-dentifiable language. "At 6:00 a.m.,"da Silva said, "it went away, and wefound large footprints where it hadlanded." When struck directly by thebeam of light, da Silva felt an intensepain, and was unable to open hiseyes. The pain remains present, fouryears after the sighting.

Long duration encounters seem tobe common. In the case of a prospec-tor named Manuel, the victim waspursued by a light beam almost theentire night, from 10 p.m. until five inthe morning. Manuel reported a weakfeeling when struck by the beam, anda foul odor which affected him evenmore than the light, penetrating likeburning sulphur, and forcing him tocontinually clear his throat. Whatsaved him, he thought, was coveringhis nose with a piece of cloth. Cha-racteristically, the object itself wasrefrigerator-shaped, emitting a beamof red light out of the middle of oneside.

Vallee also investigated two deathsthat may be associated with chupas.In one case a hammock-hunter diedunexpectedly after a light was seen inthe same area. Two circular, reddish-purple marks were found on his neck,about two inches below one ear. Inthe second instance, though, thedeceased hunter was accompanied bya companion who witnessed a beamof light, and dove for cover. The vic-tim fell out of his hammock, breaking

an arm, but his body was also foundto bear similar purple-red circles. Val-lee indicated that similar reports oflights and beams continued in thearea until very recently.

Apparently in response to Moore'srevelations the night before, Valleealso offered some pointed advice forufologists in general. "MUFON woulddo well," he said, "to initiate a policyof only talking to people who claim toactually have seen aliens, not tofriends-of-friends, or friends-of-friends-of-friends. This would do a great dealto cut down on the clutter and confu-sion." It would also help sort outsources from pseudosources, and re-duce some of the rumors runningrampant. In fact, this is precisely whycourts of law do not allow "hearsay"testimony as evidence.

Mars Face

On the Cydonia Mensa region ofthe planet Mars sits what is either ageological Rorshach test or a genuineextraterrestrial artifact of staggeringproportions and implications. What isnow known as the famous "Marsface" was originally discovered by Dr.Tobias Owen on frame 35A72, takenby the Viking planetary probe of1976. The same prominent feature isalso shown on frame 70A13, taken ata slightly closer range of 1724 kilome-ters, or 1070 miles.

Much speculation has since cen-tered on whether the configuration isnatural or artificial. Like Hobson'schoice and pregnancy, the case isclearly either or, all or none. Thosewho line up against the face being anartificial structure, like Carl Sagan,have orthodox history and distanceon their side. Those like Dr. John E.Brandenberg, a theoretical plasmaphysicist, also have distance on theirside, along with informed speculationand enthusiasm, which is at least con-tagious if not convincing. Along withVincent DiPietro and Gregory Molen-

11

aar, Dr. Brandenburg is a member ofMars Research and coauthor of Unu-sual Martian Surface Features, fourthedition.

One may of course approve ofBrandenburg et al's speculations whilesuspending agreement with their con-clusions, namely that within the last500,000 years Mars was inhabited bya "Bronze Age" civilization that, likeEarth's Egyptians, engaged in theconstruction of massive monuments,including the Sphinx-like face andassociated pyramids. Unlike manytheories in ufology, the Cydonianhypothesis, the subject of Branden-burg's talk, is at least falsifiable, ortestable. In fact, to my way of think-ing, it will probably be proved conclu-sively one way or the other within thenext decade, so why the rush tojudgment?

Of all the subjects discussed at theLas Vegas symposium the Mars face,in retrospect, now seems the leastcontroversial. On this issue, at least,we can comfortably sit back and waitfor the boob tube to eventually revealthe answer. As for the other mattersraised? Well, that's why MUFON isholding another symposium next sum-mer in Pensacola, Florida, not farfrom Gulf Breeze. Hope to see youthere.

(Photographs from top to bottom).Stanton Friedman greets the elec-tronic media. Speakers (1-r) Dr.John Brandenburg, Dr. DonaldJohnson, Don Berliner (FUFOR),and Dr. Jacques Vallee. RobertSwiatek accepts a $500 checkfrom Fred Whiting of the FundFor UFO Research in place of Dr.Bruce Maccabee, recipient of theAnnual MUFON Award for themost outstanding contribution tothe UFO field for 1988-89.

SUPPORTUFO

RESEARCH

12 MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

Close Encounter At ElizabethBy Walter Webb

Webb authors our monthly NightSky column.

Early in 1989 I had given a copy ofa magazine article (containing anaccount of my Buff Ledge Camp,Vermont, CE-IV investigation) to theExhibits Secretary at the BostonMuseum of Science, Nancy DiCiac-cio. Nancy formerly was the Planeta-rium's Administrative Assistant; I amthe Planetarium Assistant Head. ExhibitDesigner Deborah Sovinee, 35, hap-pened to glance at the article and tell.Nancy about her own UFO closeencounter when she was 17 and livingin Elizabeth, New Jersey. Nancycalled my extension March 21, but Iwas unavailable. The next day Planet-arium Secretary Jeanette Alabiso not-ified me about the call. I called Nancyand then contacted Debbie. An inter-view was arranged for March 23.After our meeting, the witness agreedto get further details from her mother(who also observed the UFO) and tofill out a MUFON form. I questionedDebbie again on March 28 and 31.

On April 15 I called Debbie'smother, now living in Toms River,New Jersey, and obtained informationwhich both confirmed and altered herdaughter's remembered version of theexperience. At the same time I alsowrote the Elizabeth Daily Journal,asking for a copy of the news storyallegedly reporting the UFO. When Ididn't hear from the newspaper'slibrarian after a month, I telephonedMay 16. The librarian said he hadn'treceived my letter. But he promisedto check his files for the UFO storyand then call me back the next day.However, I failed to hear from him. Icalled again May 19 and left myaddress and telephone numbers withsomeone. Still no response. Finally,on June 12 I was able to contact thelibrarian again. He reported that hehad conducted a search of his filesfrom April to July 1971 and hadn'tMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

found any news item relating to thesighting.

Mrs. Servilla returned her com-pleted MUFON form May 17. The fol-lowing account incorporates the tes-timony of both Deborah Sovinee andher mother, Stella Servilla.

The Encounter

Both women recalled that the sight-ing happened around the middle ofMay 1971 and about the middle of theweek at a time when Debbie attendeda livesaving class. (This would placethe date around either May 12 or 19.)

Mrs. Stella Sovinee (now Servilla)had driven her daughter home fromthe class at the Y and had pulled intotheir driveway at 5 Gibson Place, Eli-zabeth, New Jersey (1970 pop. 112,654).The time was about 10:30 p.m.(EDT), according to Debbie, and"after nine or after ten," according toher mother.

The Sovinee home was located inthe middle of a short, dead-end sub-urban street about a block long, withfive houses on each side. (Althoughboth witnesses agreed that the streetran approximately north and south,Mrs. Servilla implied that their resi-dence stood on the west side of thestreet while Debbie thought it was onthe east side.)

The two observers recalled that itwas a warm, clear night. Debbiebelieved others on the street wereoutdoors at the time and assumedthat there were at least three or fourother possible eyewitnesses to theanomalous event, including neighborssitting on the porch across the street.Her mother stated that she didn'trecall if there were others outside andwas unaware of any other witnessesto the event on their street.

As Debbie and her mother got outof the car and walked toward thefront of their house, they were stunnedto see a strange object hovering nearly

overhead. "I was almost in shock,"Mrs. Servilla asserted. At first theythought it was a blimp but quicklyruled that out.

According to Debbie, it was an"absolutely soundless" oval (not per-fectly circular) object encircled by acentral row of many, small, round,white, very bright lights. She des-cribed seeing a pulse of light movingalong the row of lights, brighteningeach source in the row sequentially.The witness referred to this pulse asa "chase light."

Mrs. Servilla's recollection differedsomewhat. She thought the objectmas circular with a row of manybluish-white, round lights around themiddle which were blinking on and offlike the lights on a Christmas tree.She also said she perceived a faintsound coming from the UFO, like a"faint motor" or the hum of anair-conditioner.

Both agreed that the object's lightswere bright enough to illuminate andreveal its outline. The witnesses saidthe UFO appeared to be at a lowheight off to one side of their roof.(Debbie indicated an elevation angleof perhaps 60°.)

Dimensions

I asked each observer to attempt toestimate the object's height, usingtheir three-story house as a knownsize marker. Debbie guessed that itmight have been about 75 to 100 feetabove the ground. Mrs. Servilla thoughtit was perhaps twice as high as thehouse (or around 60 feet up), althoughshe felt very uncertain.

When requested to hold a quarterat arm's length in order to estimatethe UFO's apparent size (an almostimpossible and perhaps meaninglessexercise 18 years after the actualevent), Debbie guessed that the coinwas possibly "1/5 or 1/6" the size ofthe object. This means that the UFO

13

might have subtended 12.5 to 15°, orapproximately 25 feet across if 100feet above the observers. However, ifthe object actually were higher thanestimated, say 200 feet (assuming thesame angular diameter), the UFO'strue size becomes approximately 45to 50 feet, matching Debbie's descrip-tion — "bigger than a helicopter" or"about the same size as my house."Mrs. Servilla would not hazard aguess as to the object's true dimensions.

After hovering for perhaps "a min-ute or two," according to Debbie's mother,the UFO moved off toward thesouthwest in a "side-to-side, snake-like" motion and was gone withinseconds.

Debbie herself had great difficultyin recalling the precise nature of themotion and the sequence of events.Before she telephoned her mother,she thought she had remembered firstseeing the UFO in motion, racingfrom one end of the street to theother and then halting near herhouse. But now she agrees with hermother's version that it was station-ary at first. Debbie, however, recol-

lected the wavy departure path differ-ently. She said the object proceededto move across the street and backagain in a "figure 8" before accelerat-ing northward on a straight course,vanishing from sight within a second.

Afterwards, Mrs. Servilla said shecalled the police to report the sight-ing. The police did state that they hadreceived a few other calls but explainedthe object as an advertising blimp.The next day the Elizabeth news-paper, according to Debbie's mother,confirmed that "people had seensomething in the sky, possibly anadvertising blimp." Mrs. Servilla saidshe was familiar with both advertisingblimps and night ad planes, and theobject was neither. However, thelibrarian of the Elizabeth Daily Jour-nal was unable to find any story relat-ing to the sighting. Debbie didn'trecall any media publicity about thesighting, either in the newspaper oron radio or television.

Evaluation

Based upon my interviews with

Deborah Sovinee and her mother, Ifind no compelling reasons to doubtthat the New Jersey UFO encounteroccurred approximately as describedby the witnesses. The variations inthe testimonies of the two observersare to be expected in view of the 18years of elapsed time since the actualobservation.

The aerial event described in thisreport bears no similarity to any IFOthat this investigator is aware of,including the advertising blimp ornight ad aircraft referred to above.The unknown object's appearanceand flight behavior place it in theUFO category.

I believe this episode should beclassified as an unknown. I alsoassign it a Paranet/Hynek Strangness/Probability Rating of S4/P4 (Strangeand not conforming to known princi-ples/Credible and sound).

Deborah Sovinee lives at 687 NorthGary Street, Brockton, Massachusetts.Mrs. Stella Servilla resides at 66 Vir-gin Islands Drive, Toms River, NewJersey.

Majestic & Moore: Not Guilty!

Sider is a French ufologist. Thefollowing article was translated byDr. Thomas E. Bullard of Bloo-mington, Indiana.

The ongoing saga of MJ-12 hasbecome one of the most controversialissues in UFO history. Through the1980s William Moore, Stanton Fried-man and Jaime Shandera have accumu-lated evidence for government inter-est in UFOs at the highest levels, andgovernment coverups with equallyhigh-reaching sanction. The most spec-tacular revelation came late in 1984when Shandera received in the mailfrom unknown sources a briefingdocument allegedly prepared for Presi-dent-Elect Eisenhower.

This 1952 document made matter-of-fact reference to two crashed sau-cers in government hands, one fromRoswell, New Mexico, in 1947, the14

By Jean Sider

other from the Texas-Mexico borderin 1950. Bodies of beings described as"extra-terrestrial biological entities"were recovered and in governmenthands. A need for strictest secrecywas stressed. Almost as remarkableas the text itself was the introductionof Majestic-12, a top-secret intelli-gence group responsible only to thepresident and manned by twelve lead-ing military and scientific figures ofthe day. One member's name standsout as especially unexpected by ufol-ogists — Donald Menzel, the Harvardastronomer who was archenemy ofUFOs throughout the 1950s and1960s. Moore published a reproduc-tion of the MJ-12 document in theMUFON UFO Journal No. 231 (July1987), pp. 11-13.

If valid, this document was the"smoking gun" of proof that thegovernment had known and hidden

the truth about UFOs for thirty years.But was the document valid? EnterPhilip J. Klass with two articles inSkeptical Inquirer (Winter 1987-88,Spring 1988, pp. 137-146, 279-289). Heargues that the documents are fakes,and cites as one piece of evidence animplausible mixture of civilian and mil-itary styles in the format for dates."By a curious coincidence," he says,the style is the same one used byMoore in dating all his correspon-dence with Klass. By implication,Moore faked the documents.

There are indeed important clueswhich hint that a fraud has been per-petrated, but more probably by agovernment agency than by Moore.To be frank, I cannot give formalproof of this charge, but I will setforth the evidence and let readersjudge for themselves.

The case for the "prosecution"MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

18 NOVEMBER, 195218 NOVEMBER, 1952.24 September, 194722 May, 194901 August, 195024 June, 194707 July, 194719 September, 194730 November, 194706 December, 195030 NOV. '47.19 SEP' 47.30 JUN '52.31 JAN '48.31 JAN '49.September 24, 1947

P. 1p. 2

p. 3

P. 4//

p. 5p. 6

p. 7, Truman memo

consists of three anomalies of style inthe writing of dates included in theMJ-12 document. I reproduce thosedates above in order of their appear-ance in the text, taking care to dupli-cate their arrangement and punctuation:

Note carefully these dates. Onlythe last is different in style because itbegins with the month, a standard butnot systematic military practice duringthe 1947-1952 era. All others beginwith the day, a practice which wasless current but not extraordinary.

Page 7 is not a part of the MJ-12document itself, but a note signed byPresident Truman. As evidence forthis conclusion, the typewritten lettersare those of another machine —notice that among the capital letters,for example, the downstroke of the"M" is lower in the Truman memothan in the MJ-12 document — andthe stamp "TOP SECRET EYESONLY" likewise differs on the twopieces. So in principle, and untilproved otherwise, the Truman memocan be taken as authentic because noconvincing suspicion to the contraryhas surfaced.

Returning to the dates in the MJ-12document proper, note that not onlydo they all begin with the day, butthey are all furnished with a commaafter the month, whenever the monthis written in its entirety. This form ofwriting is normal in Canada, but atyp-ical of American style. In America,when the date begins with the day, acomma is not placed after the month.MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

This is the first significant anomaly.Next, notice a zero placed before

the day digit, whenever it is less thanten. The military style of writing formessages during this era included azero, the day being followed by hoursand minutes; but the style for letterswas quite different. Whenever theywere drafted, this peculiarity was notrequired. This is the second signifi-cant anomaly.

An informer called these two flies inthe ointment to the attention of PhilipKlass, but I have found yet another:

See how all the dates on page 6consist of a date with the year abbre-viated. In place of the 19, there is anapostrophe. Yet I have not found thismanner of writing the year among thedeclassified documents of which Ihave photocopies in my files.

Recall now the three peculiarities ofstyle noted in the form of dates writ-ten in the MJ-12 document divulgedby Moore:

• A comma after the month.• A zero before the day when it is

less than ten.• An apostrophe in place of the 19

in the year.Now, as Klass's informer specified

at the time of his denunciation, theseuncustomary forms of writing turn upagain in dates on letters from Moore.

But there is a hitch. And the"hitch" occurs thrice. I can furnishthe proof, because I have had occa-sion to exchange mail with WilliamMoore, who seems to me to be more

a victim than a culprit in this affair.I possess two personal letters from

Moore, where the dates and punctua-tion are written as follows: 12 Sep-tember, '87 and 02 DEC. '87.

Klass has presented letters fromMoore with the dates drafted as fol-lows, punctuation included (SkepticalInquirer 12/2, p. 143): 14 May, 1984,06 June, 1985, and 17 June,1985.

I also possess a copy of an olderletter from Moore, addressed to Mr.Charles W. Hinkle, Director of F.O.I,and Security Review, Office of theAsst. Secy, of Defense, Washington,D.C., typed with comma like this: 21January, 1981 (and another date inthe text, as follows): 30 December,1980.

In light of the dates in letters fromBill Moore, I will make the followingstatements:

• He puts the day before themonth.

• He puts a comma after themonth.

• He places a zero before the fig-ure for the day when less than ten.

• He sometimes abbreviates theyear, using an apostrophe in place offigures for the century (19). Klassdoes not seem to have had any let-ters including this arrangement, whichdoes not appear in the examples citeduntil 1987. However, I have disco-vered that Moore made use of thisstyle earlier, in the 1982 ' MUFONSymposium proceedings. On page 85he writes: May '81 - May '82. Anotherexample can be found in the 1983MUFON proceedings, page 100: (Jan'82); in those for 1985, at the bottomof page 132: (or '49), and at the top ofpage 133: ('40 or early '50s). MyAmerican colleagues doubtlessly canfind other examples.

These examples show that the writ-ten form most typical of Moore wasevident throughout many years in hiswritings, even before he divulged theMajestic 12 document in 1985. As aresult, this form could be noted easilyenough by a forger intending toimitate it.

I will offer the proof to show thatMoore's style was copied deliberatelyby a third party, and that the deedwas not Moore's. In copying the writ-ten form of the California researcher,the eager forger became quite care-

15

less and committed two blunders whichdefinitively acquit Bill Moore. Judgefor yourself:

• When the month is typed inthree capital letters on page 6, theforger does not put a period after.Moore does.

• When the year is typed in twofigures preceded by an apostrophe onpages 6, the forger puts a periodafter. Moore does not.

Forger: 30 NOV '47.Moore: 02 DEC. '87Here is proof that perfection does

not exist even in matters of fraud.

Set-Up?

In order to take advantage of thetwo main characteristics of Moore'sstyle in dating his letters, it would benecessary to have read many of themin order to establish whether thisstyle is accidental or recurrent. Itwould be all the more necessarybecause the zero placed before thefigure for days less than ten can befound only in letters typed betweenthe 1st and 9th of each month, which,in terms of proportions, reduces theopportunities to only nine out of 30per month.

I am willing to bet that the corres-pondent most honored by lettersfrom Moore is a major governmentalagency, either the Defense Depart-ment or the U.S. Air Force. I myselfhave carried on more correspondencewith these organizations than withprivate researchers. Now, it is reaso-nable to suppose that Moore's inves-tigations of the Roswell crash provedespecially embarrassing to the credi-bility of the official position on theUFO problem, so someone employedby this governmental agency mighthave decided to discredit this research-er. This person was then able to useMoore's letters to that agency inorder to copy the style, notably thewritten form of the dates so peculiarto Moore, and contrive a phony doc-ument accordingly.

To return to Philip Klass. It is cur-ious to note that this famous Ameri-can debunker was the first to denouncethe two principal faults in the dates ofthe document. He did not make thisdiscovery personally; an informer sethim on the track. This informer has16

taken care to protect his identity. It isquite reasonable to imagine that thedenouncer just might be the imitatorhimself. The fact that he gave this con-fidence to Klass, always the granddenier of the UFO phenomenon, is yetanother indication of his intentions.Klass has clamored long and loud thatthe MJ-12 documents are "clumsycounterfeits." The speed with which heresponded to Moore's announcement,demonstrates as well that he really didnot have the time to properly researchhis debunking, compose a file, draft awell-substantiated text, and send it tothe editor of the Skeptical Inquirer. Thefirst part of his article was published atthe end of November 1987 (vol. 12, no.2), whereas Moore released his docu-ment at the end of June that same year.

It should be noted that according toStanton Friedman, Klass does practi-cally no research at the major nationallibraries, despite the fact that he lives inWashington, D.C., where they are plen-tiful! Moreover, Jim Moseley in his bul-letin Saucer Smear (vol. 34, no. 7, p. 2)suspects that Klass borrowed largelyfrom the file compiled by British research-er Christopher Allan in writing theSkeptical Inauirer article cited above.Klass credits Allan with pointing out thecomma and zero anomalies (p. 140),but Allan's familiarity with Moore's styleis doubtful, since in that same issue ofSaucer Smear Allan asks the readers tocheck their files and report any findingson date format.

Another important point: Before theMJ-12 document was divulged, no onein the ufologjcal community knew thatDr. Donald Menzel, who denied theUFO phenomenon in three books (thethird in collaboration with Ernest Taves)held a Top Secret Ultra security clear-ance with the U.S. Navy (see Interna-tional UFO Reporter Jan.-Feb. 1988, p.21-22). A forger among private research-ers (Klass included) would never havehad the idea of including Menzel in ahighest-security group, all things consi-dered. Therefore the imitator had insideinformation, and had to be "the rightman in the right place." He must havecontrived his fake document startingwith a grain of truth, such as the nameof Dr. Menzel.

Conclusions

A review of the findings shows the

following:• The MJ-12 document revealed by

Moore is a put-up job by a governmen-tal agency to mislead the Californiaresearcher, debunk MJ-12 (a namewhich had appeared in two other doc-uments prior to its becoming known toMoore), torpedo the activities of Ameri-can ufologists and ridicule them in theeyes of the media and public.

• The group Majestic-12 seems tohave had an actual existence. TheTruman memo, typed with anothermachine, a normal date style, and pro-vided with different classification stamps,can provide the proof. Mention of MJ-12 also figures in the Cutler memo,which has been authenticated by analy-sis of the original onionskin paper. Thepaper belongs to the right era, and hasnot been manufactured since the begin-ning of the 1970s (my informationcomes by a phone call from J.L. Riverain New York in 1988, who found outfrom Moore). Furthermore, I haveobtained two confirmations of the exist-ence of this ultra-top-secret group dedi-cated to the UFO problem. One comesfirst-hand from a retired Americanscientist, the other second-hand from afriend, himself an official, who receivedthe information from a high-ranking mil-itary officer still on active duty.

So, in ascertaining the truth aboutthe MJ-12 document, I have been ableto establish not only that it is mostlikely a fake, at least in part, but thatMajestic-12 had an actual existence,despite the misleading clues. Here theissue stands, barring further evidence tothe contrary.

Now to close with an anecdote: Oneof my friends, a still-active scientist, hasattested to me that whenever Dr. Men-zel participated in a congress of astro-physicists, he had a habit of drawingduring the speeches. All these drawingsshowed flying saucers and small huma-noids with large heads, provided withwhimsical details — ladders against thesaucer, antennas on the heads of thebeings, etc. One would think that Dr.Menzel must have been especially fasci-nated by the problem of UFOs andextraterrestrials. Were these drawingsmerely a visual way of letting off steam,or the minor eccentricity of an absent-minded professor?

Continued on page 18MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

The UFO Pressby Dennis Stacy

In the wake of his remarkablespeech Saturday night at the LasVegas symposium, William Moore didnot stick around to answer questions.A good deal of the talk, however,consisted of a question-and-answersession conducted by Moore himself.Among the sixteen questions he askedand answered was, "What do I thinkof Whitley Strieber and his claims ofbeing a UFO abductee?"

"At first," Moore said, "I was highlyskeptical and admittedly somewhatjealous of Whitley." But in the pro-cess of getting to know Strieber bet-ter, in order to assess things for him-self, Moore confided, "he has earnedmy respect, my admiration and myfriendship ... He has come very closeto the truth in a number of ways,and, although still somewhat baffledby his experiences, has found a veryacceptable way of accommodatingthem into his life." Moreover, "if onemakes a conscious effort to removeWhitley's emotional reactions and takesa good hard look at the remainingcore of information, the result isinsight into what gives every appear-ance of being a real situation."

Moore concluded his remarks aboutStrieber by saying that "in any event,I certainly wouldn't dismiss this mantoo lightly. We're going to hear a lotmore from him before it's all over."

Several salvos have been heardalready, or soon shall be. The movieof Communion, starring ChristopherWalken as Strieber, comes to thesilver screen either later this summeror early fall. In the meantime, Strieberand associates have instituted theCommunion Foundation. The firstsample of the Foundation's quarterlypublication, The Communion Letter(four issues, $20/yr, Box 1975, Boulder,CO, 80306-1975), is a handsome, 8-page example of the desktop publish-ing art, edited by Dora Ruffner. Whi-tley's wife, Anne, is executive editor.Most of the first issue is occupied byMUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

the usual background and start-upmatters. "Future Flights," however,promises a forthcoming article on"How to contact the visitors and do Iwant to do it? You can get in touchwith 'them, and even draw them intoyour life. But is that wise?"

September 11 will see the officialpublication date of Majestic, Strieb-er's newest novel, from G.P. Put-nam's Sons, New York, 319 pages,$18.95. With all due respect, it did notimpress this reader as one of Strieb-er's more gripping tales. Or maybeI'm simply jaded from having read toomany UFO books.

The title, of course, refers to Majicor Majestic-12, the alleged superse-cret, government-military UFO cover-up agency alluded to in the "presiden-

tial briefing" papers mailed anonymous-ly to LA TV producer Jaime Shandera,a colleague of both Moore and Stan-ton Friedman. The point of origin forthe book's plot is the Roswell Incidentitself, and in fact, Strieber visited thearea in Moore's company, and wasable to interview some of the majorwitnesses involved.

Strange, then, that with an on-sitebackground briefing and his ownexperiences as an abductee to drawon, Majestic remains oddly anorexic,not quite fully fleshed out, as it were.Plot and treatment are a composite,composed of different measures offact and fiction, including official quotesfrom several former UFO players onone hand, and informed speculationon the other. The story itself is told in

Creatures From Space?Well, They Have Antennae

Sightings of unidentified flying ob-jects have been blamed on everythingfrom bright stars and meteors to air-planes and falling space debris.

But now a biophysicist has con-cluded that some unidentified flyingobjects glowing in the night sky couldbe swarms of migrating insects.

"A lot of night sightings of U.F.O.'sare just lit-up insects riding stormfronts." the scientist, Phillip Calla-han, said in a statement issued re-cently by the American Ins t i tu te ofPhysics. Dr. Callahan, a retired re-search professor at the University ofFlorida and a biophysics consultantin Gainesville. Flu., said the stormsgenerate electrical fields tha t cancause insect antennae to glow.

A study comparing spruce bud-worm moth migrations wi th U.F.O.sightings seems to support the hy-pothesis, he said. Many insects mi-grate after dusk", riding a storm front ,u f l cn in saucer-shaped swarms. Ac lump of migra t ing budworins canextend (or 5 or 10 miles, wi th insectson the outer edge f ly ing back in to theswarm, giving a ha/y outline.

Charles Waller

In the course of his researcn oncrop pesis, Dr. Callahan found thatwhen insects were placed in an elec-trical f ield, ihe spines in the antennaewould light up. He likened the e f fec tto St. Elmo's f i r e , a f laming electricaldischarge sometimes seen around achurch steeple or ship's must on astormy night In a swarm of insects,the scionusl s.ud, this e f fec t producesan aura of blue, gieen and yellowlight.

But Phi l ip J Klass. who has wr i t t enseveral books on ihe U.F.O. phenome-non, saul insects might explain "onlyone out uf a thousand" sightings.Most, he said, arc traced to other phe-nomena

17

flashback form from the eyes of bothinvestigative reporter, Nicholas Duke,and one Wilfred Stone, an agent forthe Central Intelligence Group, theCIA's forerunner. The latter charac-ter's admissions and well placed careerallow the reader an inside view of theretrieval of the original Roswell object,the subsequent cover-up, and theformation of MJ-12 itself. They alsoallow us to meet such conspiratorialUFO luminaries as Roscoe Hillen-koetter, James Forrestal and HarryTruman, who emerge as little morethan cardboard cut-outs, though theymay look imposing enough in thecinematic version of Majestic, if thereis one.

Forrestal, for example, would seemto have been any fictioneer's dreamgift horse: "Secretary of DefenseLearns Secret About UFOs and JumpsOut Window!" Yet, his secretive sui-cide lapses in passing. And instead,we are treated to the exploits ofStone himself.

A sense of verisimilitude is soughtby the extensive quotation of "official"government documents, including an"Intelligence Estimate on Flying DiskMotives," which repeats two widelydiscredited stories in the literature ofanomalies: the disappearance of DavidLang and the supposed 19th centuryencounter of one "Robert Loosely"(the actual perpetrator of this book-length hoax was an English physicist)with an alien robot probe. In a workof fiction, why rely on such discre-dited "facts," when they could havejust as easily been fabricated out ofwhole cloth? Instead of bolstering asense of reality, their presence deflatesone's willing suspension of belief likepin-holes in the fabric of a balloon.

Abductions occur with unhistoricalabandon, too, but it's still not clear tothis reviewer what Strieber means toimply about their ultimate nature. Ifthey are the product of some sort ofspecies of avenging angel, as Strieberseems to indicate, their meaning stillremains murky after a reading ofMajestic. On the one hand theyappear to dispense a sort of cosmicjustice; on the other they seem intenton a revelation of personal signifi-cance or enlightenment. Either way,these omniscient angels emerge asoddly impotent and ineffective, while18

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primitive, warlike earthlings persist-ently misread their motives, whateverthey are, throughout. Are they con-strained by the rules of the game, orthe nature of the unsubmitting beast,or a combination of both?

After the imaginative success Strie-ber had in breathing alien life forms tolife in Wolfen and The Hunger, theallegedly real aliens of Majestic areanything but. At their center, behindtheir fascinating almond eyes, rings ahollow resonance. If they are sup-posed to be a mirror held up tohumanity, as sometimes suggested,the reflection found in Majestic is apale one indeed.

Maybe Strieber himself was con-strained by what he knows. Ormaybe the problem of portrayingangelic, or near angelic, life forms isan almost insurmountable one, aseven the critics of Paradise Lose havebeen forced to concede. Lucifer, orSatan, the Prince of Light, is simplymore psychologically interesting thanhis heavenly counterparts.

Finally, if I may be so sanctimon-ious and presumptuous at a singlestroke, a warning. With Majestic,Whitley Strieber firmly anchors hisyacht to that bobbing buoy knowncollectively as MJ-12. Even if oneshould sink and the other swim, itcould become increasingly difficult forsociety at large to distinguish between

the two. And society, after all, asJung noted, has accepted, if notnecessarily understood, the awesomeimplications of the hydrogen bomb.So the social body as it is can take orleave the revelations embodied by theauthenticity of MJ-12. It's the inau-thenticity of MJ-12 and its conse-quences I'm worried about. And thesociety likely to be affected is a lot

MJ-12, continued

smaller than that which makes upMcLuhan's global village. It is, in fact,a society of one or two, more or less.

The reader can analyse this surpris-ing situation for himself, taking into ac-count the facts as he now knowsthem, to draw the right conclusions.Unless our dear colleagues, the socialpsychologists, have a slant on theMenzel mystery and go to greatlengths to explain it to us from everypsychological perspective, doubtlesswith two or three hundred referencesto Freud, Jung and other greatthinkers, we must assume that thebehavior of the celebrated astrophysi-cist was normal.

CREDITS(Page 17) New York Times(Above) The Sharper Image

MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

"ALIEN HARVEST"REVIEWEDBy Larry Hebebrand

Linda Moulton Howe, a writer, edi-tor, producer and director of docu-mentary films, including A StrangeHarvest, put ten years of researchinto her book, An Alien Harvest, pub-lished this year by her productioncompany located in Littleton, Co-lorado.

An Alien Harvest is not jus tanother book or story about cattlemutilations, but a true account ofallegedly horrifying events of not onlythe mutilation of cattle, but also pos-sibly humans. Other animals such asdogs, cats, sheep, goats and the likehave also been reportedly found withstripped skin, sexual organs removedalong with eyes, tongues and jaws.Occasionally, strange lights are ob-served before, during and after thediscovery of the mutilated animals.

The contents of this book do notdeal solely with mutilations, but usesthem as a stepping stone to a morecomplicated, highly intriguing story ofalien intervention into human life.There are numerous photos of themutilated cattle, accounts of alienconfrontations, copies of alleged U.S.Government documents ranging incontext from confirmed contact withEBEs (Extraterrestrial Biological Enti-ties), to intrusion of air space andlandings at U.S. Government installa-tions, to an outstanding and compell-ing report of a statement about a TopSecret/Majic Government Document... Project Aquarius. Project Aquariusexplains all of the projects related tothe government's involvement withEBEs.

Also included in the appendix ofthe book are 71 pages of transcriptdealing with two different hypnoticregression sessions conducted by Dr.Leo Sprinkle, formerly the Director ofthe Division of Counseling and Test-ing at the University of Wyoming,Laramie, Wyoming. Judy Doraty ofTexas, an "eyewitness" to a cattlemutilation event, covers 39 pageswhile a Cimarron, New Mexico moth-er and her young son's sessions con-sist of the remaining 32 pages.MUFON UFO Journal, No. 256, August 1989

Calendar of UFO Conferences for 1989August 25, 26, 27 — Ancient Astronaut Society, Schaumburg Marriott Hotel, Schaum-burg, Illinois.

September 15, 16 & 17 — 26th Annual National UFO Conference, Quality Inn West,Phoenix, Arizona ,

October 21 — The Show-Me UFO Conference, Harley Hotel, Earth City, Missouri(near St. Louis)

October 26, 27, 28 & 29 — International UFO Conference, Frankfurt's Airport Conven-tion Center, Frankfurt, West Germany

November 11 & 12 — The UFO Experience, Ramada Inn, North Haven, Connecticut

"An Alien Harvest" should be con-sidered recommended reading for theserious UFOlogist. The data andissues raised here concern all of us asthis mystery continues to plague ourentire planet. The 464-page book ispriced at $55.00, plus a small postage

charge, and all copies are autographedand numbered in this limited printingthat is surely to become a collector'sitem. The book may be purchasedthrough Arcturus Book Service, P.O.Box 831383, Stone Mountain, Georgia30083-0023.

In Other's WordsBy Lucius Parish

The "Anti-Matter/UFO Update" sec-tion of OMNI's July issue has areport by Jerome Clark on the mys-terious lights which appeared in theHessdalen Valley of Norway duringthe period of 1981-1986. The lightsdisplayed all the characteristics nor-mally associated with UFOs, werephotographed over 200 times andwere tracked by radar at speeds upto 32,000 kilometers per hour. Thereis the usual amount of speculation asto their origin, but no definiteanswers.

A recent videotape, UFOLOGY:AT THE TURNING POINT, presentsextracts from lectures given in Febru-ary 1989 by Budd Hopkins (alienabductions), Bill Moore (the Aztec,N.M. case) and Stanton Friedman(MJ-12 controversy). The 2-hour ver-sion of the tape is priced at $39.95and a six-hour unedited) version isavailable on three tapes for $99.95.Please specify VHS or Beta formatwhen ordering tapes. These are avail-able from: RAD Productions Ltd. —8306 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 972 , Bev-erly Hills, CA 90211 (California resi-dents add 6.5% sales tax.)

Recent paperback reprints include

THE TUJUNGA CANYON CON-TACTS by Ann Druffel and D. ScottRogo (revised edition) from NewAmerican Library/Signet Books; THEFELLOWSHIP by Brad Steiger (Berk-ley Books); and DIMENSIONS byJacques Vallee (Ballantine Books).The latter reprints an interview withVallee which originally appeared inthe April 1988 issue of the Journal.

A complete list of both audio andvideo tapes from the Ozark UFOConference #1 is now available fromRainbow Video, P.O. Box 6681, FortSmith, AR 72906; telephone (501) 646-5599. The dates for the Ozark UFOConference #2 are April 6-8, 1990, atthe same location as the 1989 Confer-ence.

In addition to the forthcoming booksby Ed Conroy (REPORT ON 'COM-MUNION') and Edith Fiore (ENCOUN-TERS), Whitley Strieber has a UFONovel, MAJESTIC, due out in Sep-tember from Putnam's. The motionpicture version of Strieber's COM-MUNION is also due out in Sep-tember. A quarterly COMMUNIONLETTER is now available for $20.00per year from Dora Ruffner, P.O. Box175, Boulder, CO 80306-1975.

19

Looking BackBy Bob Gribble

FORTY YEARS AGO - August1949: Two desert prospectors report-ed that a "whizzing disc-shaped craft"crashed near Death Valley, Californiaon the 19th and that two little menjumped out and disappeared in thesand dunes. Buck Fitzgerald andMase Carney gave the following des-cription of the event: "This flying disc,which was about 24 feet in diameter,whizzed past us going about 300miles per hour. It crash-landed andtwo little men jumped out and startedrunning when they saw us. The menlooked human but they were verysmall — like dwarfs. We chased themover a sand dune but lost them. Idon't know where they went." Thetwo prospectors allowed that with atemperature of 138 degrees, it wastoo hot to chase the little men for anygreat distance.

***

THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO —August 1954: On the first, park offi-cials in Sequoia-Kings National Park,California, watched as Air Forceinterceptors pursued a huge disc-shaped craft estimated to be 1000 feetin diameter. Three Air Force jetspursued a large UFO over Moscow,Idaho on the night of the ninth. It wasdescribed by Ground Observer Corpsobservers as a glowing disc-shapedcraft 200 feet in diameter. On the19th, a small, round object, flaminglike red hot iron, descended from thesky over East New Haven, Connecti-cut, at a high rate of speed., leveledoff, streaked past cars and pedestri-ans, pierced a metal billboard, angledsharply upward, streaked over thetrees and out of sight. Investigatorsfound copper deposits on the billboard.

Two women, Mrs. Aasta Solvangand her sister Edit Jacobsen, saidthey not only had a close look at aspacecraft, they talked to its "dark-skinned, long-haired" occupant near20

Mofjell, in northern Norway on the20th. This was the sisters' account:"We were picking berries when sud-denly a dark man with long hair, butotherwise looking very much like anordinary human being, came out frombehind some bushes. We were fright-ened at first but the man appearedvery friendly, and stepped toward us."One of them addressed him in Eng-lish, French, German, and Norwe-gian. "He didn't seem to understand aword." The stranger then attemptedto communicate by drawing "circlesand what looked like heavenly bodies"on a piece of paper. The occupantfinally led them to his craft whichlooked like "two deep table saucerssandwiched together rim-to-rim," about15 feet across. The man opened ahatch and crawled into the disc.Moments later the craft "rose fromthe ground and began rotating, firstslowly, then increasingly faster." Then,suddenly, it disappeared at an "incred-ible speed."

***

THIRTY YEARS AGO — August1959: A former Navy pilot was flyinghis Cessna 170 from Hobbs to Albu-querque, New Mexico on the 13thwhen he noticed that his Magnesynelectric compass was revolving insteadof indicating the course of his aircraft.Thinking the Magnesyn must be "hay-wire," he looked at the standardmagnetic compass. "It was spinningso crazily I couldn't read it," the pilotreported. A moment later he wasstartled to see three oval-shaped craftin close echelon formation pass direct-ly in front of the Cessna. They weregray in color and identical in shape,like two bowls rim-to-rim, but withbottoms rounded instead of flat. Thepilot estimated their diameter at abouteight feet. Since the craft were cir-cling the plane at nearly 250 mph, noother details could be noted, except

that they left a short, wispy tail.As the strange vehicles circled the

Cessna, the Magnesyn compass con-tinued to revolve, precisely indicatingthe vehicle's bearing. Holding thesame tight formation, the unknowndevices finished another circle, pass-ing in front and then disappearing tothe rear. The Magnesyn then came torest near its original heading, and thestandard magnetic compass finallystopped its "crazy spinning" andreturned to normal. Upon landing atKirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque,the pilot was "hustled to an office andinterrogated for about two hours byan Air Force major, the UFO Officerat the field." The major told the pilotthat "if anything unusual happened, ifhe had any unusual illness in the nextsix months, to get to a governmenthospital right away." The Air Force,the major said, would take care ofhim.

A strange occurrence was seen offPrince Rupert, British Columbia, Can-ada, on the 27th by two ship captainshomeward bound from Alaska toSeattle, Washington. A pillar of blind-ing light plunged straight downwardfrom the night sky, said Captain OtisD. Treiber of the cruise yacht SeaOtter. It appeared just as the watchwas about to change, he said, andCaptain Arne Monson was beside himin the pilot house. The greenish-yellow light faded, Treiber said, andfrom its base "a black disc about afourth the size of the moon" hurtledaway at right angles. "It was as ifgravity repelled the disc," he said. "Itwas lighted in front by a crescent-shaped greenish light. There were yel-low streamers of light extending backfrom the disc." The sighting lasted 10-15 seconds.

***

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO -August 1964: Several adults and one12-year-old girl observed several hund-red UFOs while driving on Highway26 near Royal City, Washington, onthe sixth. Said one women whostopped her car to watch: "It was justabout sundown. Looking toward Sad-dle Mountain we saw 300 to 500 grayspheres come over the crest of themountain and soar toward the high-

MUFON UFO Journal. No. 256, August 1989

way. They were coming at a terrificspeed! I stopped the car and twoother cars stopped behind us towatch. The little girl in my carscreamed, covered her head with herarms and threw herself onto the floor.She and her mother were passengers.For a minute or more the objectswere easily visible against the back-ground of brown grass on the moun-tain.

"We sat there spellbound! Onesphere came so close that I thought itwas going to hit the car. That onelanded on the gravel at the side of theroad. I turned to look back at theothers, but they were gone fromsight. The landed sphere also disap-peared. When we first saw them theymust have been three or four milesaway. It all happened so quickly andthey disappeare