MUFON UFO JOURNALNUMBER 246 OCTOBER 1988

Founded 1967OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF JWC4!FOJV/ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, INC.

$2.50

Lincoln,Nebraska

June24,25 £26

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

PAUL CERNYPromotion/Publicity

MARGE CHRISTENSENPublic Relations

REV. BARRY DOWNINGReligion and UFOs

LUCIUS PARISHBooks/Periodicals/History

ROSETTA HOLMESPromotion/Publicity

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 ispubl i shed by the M u t u a l UFON e t w o r k , Inc. , Seguin, Texas.Membership/Subscription rates:$25.00 per year in the U.S.A.; $30.00foreign in U.S. funds. Copyright 1988by 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 EDITORReaders counting the number of pages, rather than issues,

in their subscription will remember we were four short with theAugust Journal. With this 28 instead of 24-page issue we nowstand caught up. Inside you'll find coverage of the Lincolnsummer symposium, an update on English "corn" circles andGulf Breeze, and speculative articles on UFO car-lift cases andthe kind of planet theoretical aliens might inhabit, along withmost of our regular departments. The November number willfocus on Whitley Strieber's experiences and UFO abductions ingeneral. Time and space permitting, we also hope to be able toget to our considerable backlog of correspondence. Until then ...

In this issueTHE 1988 LINCOLN SYMPOSIUM Dennis Stacy 3ADDITIONAL GULF BREEZE CASE Charles Flannigan 7THOSE CORNY BRITISH CIRCLES Ralph Noyes 8THE GOD HYPOTHESIS Rev. Barry Downing 10THE NEED FOR SKEPTICS Michael Rigg 13ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON! Lindy Whitehurst 15MAGNETIC ANALYSIS OF CAR LIFTS Robert H. Willsey 17LOOKING BACK Bob Gribble 20REAGAN'S UFO 22COMMENTS ON PHOTOGRAPHIC TRICKERY Foster Morrison 23OHIO MINI-CONFERENCE 25KENDALL COUNTY SIGHTING Eugene Zavodny 25THE OCTOBER NIGHT SKY Walter Webb 26DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE Walter Andrus 28(COVER ART by Donald R. Schmitt)

The Mutual UFO Network, Inc. is exempt from Federal Income Taxunder Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON is apublicly supported organization of the type described in Section 509(a)(2).Donors may deduct contributions from their Federal Income Tax. Inaddition, bequests, legacies, devises, transfers, or gifts are deductible forFederal estate and gift tax purposes if they meet the applicable provisionsof Sections 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 1988 by theMutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, Texas 78155" is included.

Editor's Page:The 1988 Lincoln Symposium

Article and Photographs by Dennis Stacy

Unfortunately, time and space con-siderations prohibit the sort of in-depth report of this summer's MUFONSymposium that I've undertaken inthe past. What follows, then, is morea litany of personal impressions thana blow-by-blow account of actualevents. Abstracts taken from the1988 Proceedings, for example, arereprinted instead of a summary of thespeeches themselves. The completeProceedings ("Abductions and the E-T Hypothesis," 241 pp) are availabledirectly from MUFON for $15 plus$1.50 postage and handling.

All talks and exhibitions took placein the 9-storey Nebraska Center onthe University of Nebraska campus,Lincoln, the weekend of June 24-26,while most of the Midwest wasgripped in a combined heat wave anddrought. The Center's air condition-ing was strained at times, but for themost part, accommodations were com-fortable and pleasant. Those in atten-dance probably numbered between250 and 300, and included GulfBreeze eyewitnesses Mr. Ed and wife,the usual raft of familiar faces, andarch UFO skeptics Philip Klass andRobert Baker, about whom morelater. The press, electronic and print,which descended like locusts on lastyear's Washington-based symposium,were for the most part absent,though at least one independentTV/video production team was pres-ent. Certainly, the atmosphere wasmore relaxed than at Washington.

William Moore was replaced at thelast minute by Los Angeles TV pro-ducer and MJ-12 confidant, JamieShandera, who handled himself extem-peraneously well at both a press con-ference and the speaker's podium.Anyone who may have wonderedabout his involvement in the MJ-12affair, contrasted with his previousanonymity within the UFO commun-ity, probably had any fears or suspi-cions laid to rest. The gist of Shande-MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

ra's presence was an impression thatMJ-12 related events may unfoldwithin the next two months, possiblyfrom within the intelligence comunity,and probably before Ronald Reaganleaves office. A growing frustration onhis and Moore's behalf was alsoexpressed. Should these indicationsof revelation not be made public dur-ing that time-frame, Shandera sug-gested, it may be the occasion fortheir returning to a more mundaneand better-paying pasttime than end-lessly pursuing MJ-12 and relatedevidence.

Unlike last year, when Communionand abductions in general held centerstage, this summer's background buzzwas provided by pictures and pur-ported events coming out of Gulf Breeze

well. They would seemingly have tohave pulled the wool over their owneyes, along with those of their inter-locutors. No one can deny that pos-sibility or disprove a negative, buttheir performance under pressurestruck this observer as honest andunrehearsed.

HUMOROUS TOUCH

But the matter hardly ends there,as anyone knows who has been keep-ing up with the case in the pages ofthe Journal. Too many other peoplein the Gulf Breeze area have reportedsimilar sightings of the same squatUFO pictured in Ed's photographs.

1 The analysis of those pictures fell toDr. Bruce Maccabee, whose findings

Unlike last year, when Communion and abductionsin general held center stage, this summer's back-ground buzz was provided by pictures and pur-ported events coming out of Gulf Breeze, Florida.

Florida. The two major eyewitnesses,Mr. Ed and wife, sat through an hourof questioning by the MUFON boardof directors during a private gatheringSunday morning. A close-up exami-nation of the personalities involvedusually helps dispel lingering doubts.Certainly, no new ones emerged onthis occasion. If anything, I had aneven harder time imagining the twoconspiring in the hall outside beforetheir appearance, whispering amongone another to get their storiesstraight. Subjective impressions, ofcourse, don't solve a case one way orthe other, especially one as contro-versial as Gulf Breeze is turning outto be. They did convey the feeling inthis instance, though, that if Ed andwife are engaged in blatant hoaxing,they are not only unsung amateurmasters at trick photography, butadept psychological manipulators as

and recounting of events in the Flor-ida panhandle were showcased Sat-urday night, and which take up pages114-204 of the published proceedings.Anyone wishing to comment on thecase one way or the other reallyshould familiarize themselves withMaccabee's exhaustive reporting.

A resounding note of humor, anincreasingly rare commodity thesedays both within and without thefield, was struck by the usually aus-tere laser physicist at the close of hispresentation, before answering ques-tions from the audience. Finishing histalk, Maccabee casually unloosenedhis tie, which only seemed approp-riate, given the night's heat andhumidity. The impromptu strip-tease con-tinued, as the good doctor not onlystripped off jacket, but shirt, too, toreveal a black "Twilight Zone" T-shirtunderneath. A pair of donned sun-

3

Walt Andrus, left, and Dr. Bruce Maccabee at MUFON press confer-ence.

shades capped off the surprisingsatorial transformation which caughtthe crowd with its collective pantsdown.

The humor, alas, was not to last.After speeches by Budd Hopkins andDavid Jacobs, I saw outside the aud-itorium with Mr. Klass and professorof psychology at the University ofKentucky, Lexington, Robert Baker,who accompanied him. Some havespeculated that Baker was beinggroomed by Klass as his UFO-skeptical successor, but I think oneneed not worry, if that's the word, onthis point, the introductions werepleasant enough, and I certainly heldno prior perception of Mr. Baker,aside from the obvious assumption,that being in Klass's company, hewas hardly likely to harbor any overtpro-UFO sentiments himself, of wha-tever stripe. Since I'm no proselytizerfor the phenomenon myself, however,I hold healthy skepticism, or for thatmatter, disbelief, against no one. Idid, though, proceed to operate underthe naive assumption that a friendlydialogue might ensue between allparties.

The topic of conversation wasturned by Klass, who wanted me toimagine myself the President's national

security advisor and respond accord-ingly to his (the imaginary Presi-dent's) questions regarding whetherthe MJ-12 material, if true and actual,should or should be released to thepublic. The mock conversation wenton in this way for a few moments,when Klass left to fetch Cokes. Sud-denly, I found Baker, a diminutive fel-low, looming over me in my chair,engorged with indignation, borderingon rage. Given the circumstances, allthe details of his outburst escape menow, but I do remember a verbalblast to the effect that "You don'tknow anything about human person-ality! You can't influence anyone!"

As best- I can judge, Baker's irewas up because he presumed me tobe an uncritical "UFO believer" per-sonally, who belonged to a field ofgullible fools puffed up with a falsesense of their own importance andthat of their subject, and specifically theargument that making public thealleged MJ-12 and government UFOcover-up would panic the public.Whether I even hold such beliefsmyself is moot, because the subjectof our conversation was entirely dic-tated by Baker's colleague, Klass, andwas never meant to reflect my ownopinion(s) about anything. I have,

however, pointed out to Klass in thepast that Orson Welles' 1938 radiobroadcast of H.G. Wells' War of theWorlds, by most accounts, upset asizeable portion of the listening audi-ence.

UMBRAGE

Baker seems to have taken extremeumbrage at the notion that anyone orgroup could significantly influence thethought or behavior of another, yethere he was, turning apoplectic beforemy very nose, presumably in responseto something I said and he then per-ceived and interpreted in his ownrather ungenerous fashion. "Well, Icertainly seem to have upset you withvery little effort," I finally managed toblurt.

This resulted in an escalation ofblood pressure I had not previouslythought possible, at least without fatalconsequences. "You couldn't panicthe country if I gave you a $100 mil-lion budget!" he shouted. My reply tothis was to offer to drop a hydrogenbomb on Oklahoma City, and returnhim considerable change. His responsewas to stalk off in high dudgeon.

I presume this is the sort of rea-soned objectivity and rational inquiry

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

Jamie Shandera

supposedly taught in the CSICOPfield manual, or is it confrontationguidelines? I would not bore you withthis now and here, were it not for thefact that reports have begun to filter .back to me from a few correspond-ents of Baker's own view of theabove events and conversation, andhow I am characterized therein. Insteadof an apology, which might be expectedunder the uncalled for circumstances,I understand that I continue to becalumnied as gullible instead. Calumnyis perhaps too strong a word here,given that Ben Johnson advises thatthe best answer to same is silence.

But it does cause one to questionthe overall holier-than-thou mindsetof the academic psychologist, whohas the blood of thousands of slainwhite rats on his hands, and to whatend, when their learning is so com-partmentalized, and so rarely directedto observing their own behavior?What good having read and studiedthe textbooks, when it still allows oneto make judgment calls of an individ-ual purely on the basis of the milieuin which he or she is encountered? Apreconception is a preconception,whoever holds it.

CSICOP as a whole seems tosuffer from the same mystical sclero-sis, which is a paralysis of the brainand nervous system when confrontedwith anomalous input. If my own viewis biased, then show me the ambassadorsof objectivity within that supposedlyMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

august group, the ones who are sup-posedly bent on discovery and know-ledge, instead of the camp-followersof high visibility personalities, thepower brokers who assume scientificand moral authority and deign to telleveryone else how things really are,and what can and cannot be. Doesthe panic scenario, in fact, extend toCSICOP as an organization?

Physics, which deals with the simp-lest basics in nature, cannot yetexplain how those foundations cameinto being, or for that matter, evenwhat electricity is. And biology, chem-istry and psychology are but immen-sely interwoven complications of those

four fundamental forces. How muchharder must they be to comprehend,then, given that you don't subscribeto The Skeptical Inquirer? Inquiringminds like mine want to know.

The editorial over, abstracts for thedifferent symposium speeches followin the order in which they appear inthe Proceedings.

BUFF LEDGE ENCOUNTER:A CASE HISTORY

Reports on an in-depth investiga-tion into a dual-witness UFO abduc-tion experience. This 1968 episodediffers from most other multiple-witness cases in that (1) neither indi-vidual communicated with the otherbetween the conclusion of the expe-rience and the initiation of the inves-tigation 10 years later, and (2) the 5-year probe into this incident makes itthe most thoroughly investigated anddocumented of any single UFO abduc-tion episode to date. Additionally,several potential secondary witnessesto the UFO's departure were located.

-Walter Webb

FOUR THEOLOGICALQUESTIONS

Presents findings of a survey ques-tionnaire mailed to 100 Christiantheological seminaries to determinetheir openness to the question ofUFOs and their awareness of issuesraised for theology. Includes analysis

Skeptic Philip Klass meets Gulf Breeze

Jerome Clark, left, with Budd Hopkinsof Biblical references to possible UFOphenomena and of theological issuesinherent in the data. Also examinesGovernment secrecy and its implica-tions for UFO research and theology.Argues the heed for theological semi-naries to consider the religious impli-cations of UFOs.

- Dr. Barry Downing

POST-ABDUCTION SYNDROME

Post-Abduction Syndrome (PAS) isa complex of physical and psycholog-ical symptoms that can have deleteriouseffects on its victims. Recognizingthese symptoms is an important stepin diagnosing abductions and provid-ing the help that abductees need toovercome PAS effects.

- David Jacobs

UFO ABDUCTIONS- THE SKELETON KEY

The search for a psychologicalexplanation of UFO abduction reportshas not been successful. Instead, evi-dence has emerged to support anopposite conclusion. Case histories of

CS/COP as a whole seems to suffer from the samemystical sclerosis, which is a paralysis of the brainand nervous system when confronted with anom-alous imput.

FALL AND RISE OF ETH

In the early years of the UFO contro-versy, UFOlogists believed UFOs tobe extraterrestrial spaceships — anidea already suggested by CharlesFort and held by members of theFortean Society. Forteans, who areinterested in a variety of anomalies,connected reports of unidentified aerialphenomena with other mysteriousevents. In the 1950s Fortean writerJohn Keel and scientist/countercultu-rist Jacques Vallee rejected the extra-terrestrial hypothesis but continuedthe Fortean practice of linking UFOswith folkloric creatures and parapsy-chological concerns. Eventually this"new UFOlogy" evolved into an inter-pretation of the UFO phenomenonwhich held it to be a modern form ofvisioinary experience. But such inter-pretations failed to deal adequatelywith the growing evidence for a phys-ical, technological (and seemingly extra-terrestrial) phenomenon. Moreover,such well-documented events as theRoswell incident caused American

UFOlogists to reconsider the once-discredited idea of a U.S. governmentUFO cover-up. The new UFOlogy —sometimes called "mixology" — con-tinues to dominate European UFOresearch but is no longer takenseriously in the United States.

- Jerry Clark

PUBLIC REACTION TOALIEN CONTACT

The question of how the generalpublic would react to an announce-ment of UFO reality has always beena matter of conjecture. With the pos-sibility looming ever larger that thecoverup of UFO information may becoming to an end, it is important toexamine how this news might influ-ence our society. This paper does notargue for or against the extraterres-trial origin of UFOs, but must — forthe sake of this study — assume aninterplanetary origin. A survey ofmental health care professionals pro-vides a glimpse into how contempor-ary society may react to news of aliencontact.

- Ray Boeche

subjects displaying various psycholog-ical problems, including phobias and"irrational behavior," are reviewed.They suggest the "skeleton key"effect: That UFO abduction expe-riences emerging during hypnotic regres-sion sessions used to explore lifeexperiences can explain unconven-tional psychological behavior in theabductee.

- Budd Hopkins

GULF BREEZE HISTORY

As of the time of this writing inearly May, the investigation continuesand new sightings by numerous wit-nesses have been reported. Thisreport is fundamentally a history ofthe events as stated by Ed and otherwitnesses. However, interpretive com-ments, discussions of preliminary tech-nical analyses and discussions ofobjections and criticisms are alsopresented. Although my present opin-ions about individual sightings arestated indirectly, I have no final opin-ion as yet.

- Bruce MaccabeeMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

Dr. David Jacobs

MJ-12 AND PHIL KLASSWHAT ARE THE FACTS?

During the year which has passedsince our release of these documentsto the public, the most vocal critic byfar has been Philip J. Klass, a manwho has been a well-known UFO-basher for more than twenty years.The thrust of this paper will be tolook at the various charges whichhave been levelled against the MJ-12documents by Klass, and to a lesserextent others, who have questionedtheir authenticity. What emerges fromsuch an examination is the inescapableconclusion that, to date, not one sin-gle point has been raised which, uponcompetent investigation, shows thesedocuments or the information thereinto be a hoax! Indeed, objectionswhich looked damaging at first glancehave later proved to be solid evi-dence for authenticity rather thanagainst it.

- Moore & Friedman

Additional Gulf Breeze CaseBy Charles D. Flannigan, S.S. Director

MUFON

SUBJECT: Pensacola, FloridaMUFON Case #8

TYPE OF REPORT: CE-1DATE OF REPORT: 8-20-88DATE OF INCIDENT: 7-8-88LOCAL EVALUATION: Great Sig-

nificance

At 4:54 a.m. on July 8, 1988, Dr.McConnell was sitting up in bed look-ing out over Pensacola Bay. (He typi-cally gets up this time each morningto begin his exercise routine.) As helooked out over the bay, he observeda lighted craft hovering above thewater. (The distance was later deter-mined to be approximately 330 feet.)He awakened his wife saying, "Quick,look out the window." Shirley McCon-nell immediately observed a roundcraft with lighted windows and a largewhite beam shining on the water.(Beam width later determined to beapproximately eight feet in diameter.)Shirley said it was the exact craft thathad been printed in the Gulf BreezeSentinel. The craft outline was clearlydiscernible because of internal lightsreflecting through windows and thelarge diameter white beam shining onthe water.

The McConnells observed the sound-less craft for approximately two tothree minutes before running to theopposite end of the house in anattempt to view the object from thebackyard. Upon entering the yardthey could clearly observe the samecraft from a different angle. Theywere now facing south/southeast.

Shirley was slightly behind herhusband when he said, "It's leaving".At this time the craft started movingslowly in a Westerly direction and atthe same altitude of 25-30 feet. Thecraft was now moving toward therotating beacon on top of the lighthouse at Pensacola Naval Air Station.The craft continued shining the whitebeam into the water as it crossedPensacola Bay. As the craft approach-ed the light house it changed direc-

tion and disappeared while movingNorth. There were no conventionalair or water craft observed during orafter this sighting.

Dr. McConnell is a well known andhighly reputable pathologist who isextremely skilled in detailed observa-tions. However, he was not wearingglasses during this sighting and hisdistant vision requires him to do so.Mrs. McConnell has excellent distantvision.

Mrs. McConnell has a Bachelor ofScience Degree in Food and Nutri-tion. She currently owns a PartyConsulting business.

Note of Interest — Several weeksprior to this sighting they decided tohave their annual house party onSunday, July 10, 1988. This year'sparty theme was "UFO Watch". Fivehundred thirty-five guests were invitedof which two hundred ninety-eightattended.

The guests arrived not knowing theMcConnells had closely observed anunconventional craft just two daysbefore. The McConnells said theypurposely avoided much discussionabout their sighting.

U.F.O. Watch

Sunday, July 10

4:00

103 Beach Drive

Gulf Breeze, Florida

Fenner and ShirleyMcConnell

Regrets932-4879 • 932-5066

Casual

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

Those Corny British CirclesBy Ralph Noyes

Noyes, a retired civil servant, isthe author of A Secret Property.His last appearance here was"Paradoxical Energy Levels" inthe June 1988 issue.

Since 1980 we Brits have beenwatching, with rather less than ourusual British phlegm, the occurrenceof some very odd patterns of distur-bance in fields of grain, mainly in thesouthern counties of Wiltshire andHampshire.

They were first noticed, almost atthe same time, by a cool-headedobserver of things anamalous — IanMrzyglod (Editor: Mrzyglod, as shown,believe it or not) — and an equallycool-headed scientist, Dr. TerenceMeaden, who edits the prestigiousJournal of Meteorology and directsthe internationally renowned TORRO(Tornado & Storm Research Organisa-tion).

In that first year — if "first" it was— three large circles turned up infields of grain near Westbury, Wilt-shire — quite close, as it happens, toour UFO-haunted Warminster in thesame county. It's worth defining "cir-cles" at this point because all thelater ones take a similar form. WhatMeaden and Mrzyglod observed (afterthe unfortunate farmer had beengiven some unwelcome publicity bythe local Press) was a preciselydefined area in the grain, delineatedas sharply as though a giant's biscuit-cutter had descended from above. Atthe edge of this area the grain stoodupright; within it the crop was flat-tened to the ground and swirledclockwise, though continuing to growas though nothing had happened.

One or two ufologists rapidly tookthis as evidence of visitation by ourspace brothers. Ian Mrzyglod veryproperly reserved judgement. Dr. Mea-den began to look for an explanationin terms of atmospheric physics. It is,after all, as every farmer knows, acommon hazard of arable farming8

that the wind and the weather andsummer whirlwinds tend to muckabout with one's fields and to leavepatches of damage. The only oddityabout the 1980 occurrences was theirhighly geometrical form and the factthat nothing quite comparable seemedto have been observed by competentscientists before that date. But life isfull of enjoyable surprises, and nosensible citizen was likely to loosemuch sleep over this entertainingquirk of nature.

RECURRING CIRCLES

In 1981 three circles turned up inanother field of grain near Winches-ter, about forty miles to the southeastof the 1980 occurrence. This time, wehad a large central circle, flanked bytwo smaller circles, all three lying in astraight line. The "swirl" in all threecircles was clockwise. UFO buffs andthe British Press had a good timeteasing each other. Theories began toemerge that mating hedgehogs mightbe responsible (perhaps even matingBrits). Responsible ufologists gatheredtheir skirts about them. Irresponsibleufologists gave way to wonderfulhypotheses, foreseeing the millenium.

Responsible meteorologists be-gan to elaborate their atmosphericphysics. Irresponsible armchair For-teans (including yours truly) had aquiet laugh.

Then the damn thing took off ... Abook will be needed to do justice tothe rich eccentricities which havesince overtaken us. For the moment,suffice it to say that every year hasbrought us a new surprise. Shortlyafter Dr. Meaden noted in his Journalthat only clockwise "swirls" had sofar appeared, we began to get anti-clockwise swirls. Then some learnedclown sagely suggested that only"simple" patterns were in question —immediately, we began to stumbleacross ringed circles, double-ringedcircles, circles arranged in an equilat-

eral triangle, quintuplets of circles,circles arranged in a quadrangle, anda triangular equilateral array embrac-ing a ringed circle.

As Charles Fort would have joyouslypredicted, hypotheses began to flowby the bucketful. Wiltshire, the countymainly blessed with these visitations,is rich in folklore, neolithic remains,rumors of the second coming of KingArthur, latter-day Druids in search ofthe summer solstice at Stonehenge,that fabulous intergalactic landing-ground at Warminster, .our own mag-ical UFO-maestro A r t h u r Shut -tlewood, and a multitude of Armyhelicopters. In addition to hedgehogs,people began to blame elves, pixies,"earth forces", witchcraft, "Dragonlines", unspeakable stoneage practi-ces and, of course, the military. Onenational newspaper perpetrated a hoaxin the hope of catching out anothernational newspaper. Somebody sug-gested that vixens might be makingnests for their cubs. It was mainly theJournal Of Meteorology that kept ussane. Dr. Meaden was able to dem-onstrate that helicopters could not bethe source of these very precise patt-erns of damage; and his meticulousmeasurement of something like 300 ofthe 400 or so circles which have sofar been reported entirely rules outthe hypothesis of hoax in most cases.

CONTROVERSY

But what on earth has this got todo with respectable ufology? Quitepossibly nothing ... Over here we'rein the middle of one of those fratrici-dal rows which make ufology soenjoyable to Fortean onlookers. Rightfrom the start BUFORA was verycarefully — and I'm sure rightly —distanced itself from jokey Pressattempts to ascribe the thing to LittleGreen Men. In 1986 BUFORA pub-lished a booklet by Paul Fuller andJenny Randies which carefully exam-ined all the evidence available up to

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

My own hunch is that the corn circles are one ofthe most interesting anomalies to have turned upin recent years. They are clearly generated bysome sort of transient energy.

the autumn of the previous year. Itreached no conclusion but leanedstrongly towards meteorology andheavily away from LGM. In the othercamp Colin Andrews and Pat Del-gado, who have spent a vast amountof time and effort in field researchand aerial reconaissance, have beenpublishing a series of fascinating arti-cles in Flying Saucer Review, stress-ing the peculiar tendency of at leastsome circles to turn up in what youmight call "UFO-haunted" country.To Fortean outsiders the ensuing,and increasingly passionate, polemicsbetween these protagonists has provednearly as enjoyable as the pheno-menon itself.

In MUFON UFO Journal No. 234of October 1987 you gave house-room to a letter from Jenny Randiesin which she indignantly swung herhandbag at the supposed UFO con-nection. (Some days I feel that, forJenny, the magic is beginning to goout of UFOs). In the May/June 1988issue of International UFO ReporterPaul Fuller sadly reflected on the gul-libility of ufologists when confrontedwith all these corny goings-on in cornfields. And while I was flying about .Hampshire and Wiltshire earlier thisyear, taking excited photographs ofincreasingly complex patterns in thefields, a celebrated ufologist I hap-pened to be with (author of a best-seller, indeed) remarked that supportfor the Extraterrestrial Hypoth-esis wasn't going to be found by wast-ing our time on this sort of thing.

Very strange, I thought ... We've allbeen praying for years for something— anything — which we could goand measure, and photograph, andargue with good scientists about —and the moment it turns up, severalhighly intelligent ufologists rush awayfrom it in panic! And it isn't asthough we yet have an explanationfor the circles in terms of currentscientific paradigms. Wonderful workMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

has been done year after year by Dr.Terence Meaden, and nobody whowants to study the phenomenon canafford to be without his series of arti-cles in The Journal Of Meteorology.But I don't think I'm misrepresentinghim when I say that the phenomenoncontinues to surprise a scientist ofeven his caliber (particularly by itsversatile ability to generate new patt-erns, year by year); and that we arestill some way from anything approach-ing a full explanation in terms of con-ventional atmospheric physics.

So where do we stand? My ownhunch is that the com circles are oneof the most interesting anomalies tohave turned up in recent years. Theyare clearly generated by some sort oftransient energy. Whether the studyof this energy "belongs" to meteorol-ogy, or ufology, or even the Societyfor Phychical Research (one of whosedistinguished members is taking aclose interest) or even, perhaps, to allthree! — will emerge in due time.Much light may be cast on all threefields of enquiry as a result. The onlyinexcusable thing would be to lookthe other way, or to pretend that itisn't happening or doesn't matter.

I'll merely end with two points.First, we — on this side of the Atlan-tic — will probably go on calling them"corn" circles: "corn" has a nicemythological ring for the anthropolo-gists and folklorists among us (and itso happens that the circles have infact tended to turn up mainly in fieldsof grain — oats, wheat, rye, barley —for which we Brits use the genericterm "corn"). Secondly, the subjectnow urgently needs a comprehensivebibliography. I've begun to compileone and will gladly send a copy toany reader who sends a stampedenvelope to 9 Oakley Street, LondonSW3-5NN, England — especially ifhe/she can suggest any references to

Continued on next page

be added to the list, and even moreso if any comparable occurrence canbe reliably documented from anycountry in which the MUFON UFOJournal circulates. (I will pass on anysuch information immediately to seriousresearchers.)

(Editor's Note: U.S. Postage on theenvelope is not acceptable in England.)

SUPPORTUFO

RESEARCH

The God HypothesisBy Dr.Barry H. Downing

Rev. Downing is the author ofThe Bible and Flying Saucers,recently scheduled for reprinting.

At the end of my article, "UFOsand Religion: The French Connec-tion," in the June issue of the Jour-nal, I asked the question: "CouldUFOs be a manifestation of the Godof the Universe? At this point itwould only be a hypothesis, of course."In this article I will explore why weneed the God hypothesis in our cur-rent UFO context.

As a Presbyterian Pastor I getasked to perform many weddingceremonies. I occasionally get a callfrom a couple who obviously hasnever darkened the door of a churchin their lives — but they want to getmarried in a church.

They really don't care what kind ofGod I believe in, or what my theologyis, as long as I "do the job." After thewedding ceremony is over, they willnever darken the door of a churchagain (at least while alive).

For over fifteen years I have been atheological and religious consultant toMUFON, and it has been a task Ihave enjoyed. My task has been seen10

by most as of marginal importance.After all, MUFON is an independentorganization devoted to the scientificstudy of UFOs, it is not a religiousorganization. The UFO subject hasbeen seen by most MUFON membersto be an essentially scientific animalwith a few religious warts.

My job has been to explain thereligious warts, if I could. If I couldn'tit wouldn't matter much, because theapparently religious warts would probab-ly turn out to be scientific in the endanyway.

In recent times, the religious warthas grown. A few MUFON readersmay begin to\ wonder more carefullywhat kind of a theological consultantthe MUFON UFO Journal has. Isone enough? Do we need more thanone brand? Do we really want thisguy in charge of the UFO-religionmarriage? I leave it to the MUFONboard of directors to ponder thesequestions, while I try to the best ofmy ability to describe how the reli-gious UFO wart looks to me.

In his introduction to the June 1988issue of the Journal, editor DennisStacy says, "Science and technology,religion and magic, would seem to be

separate pigeonholes and never thetwain shall meet." But in the Juneissue they do meet. Stacy says"We're not aiming to make convertshere to any particular cause, butrather to referee what otherwisemight be considered an unwieldy con-test between opponents who don'tusually square off in the same ring."

Stacy's disclaimer of "not aiming tomake converts" is one hint of howreligion makes the study of UFOseven more uncomfortable than italready is. Few readers of the Journalwould want it to become an advocatefor a Roman Catholic, or Methodist,or Presbyterian, or Hindu, or Jewish,or Islamic view of UFOs, whateverthat might be.

I would say that the Journal woulddo well to imitate the United StatesConstitution in its policy on religion:make no laws regarding the estab-lishment of religion, nor prohibitingthe free exercise thereof.

That is to say, no one religiousview should be the dominant or"established" view of the Journal, butat the same time I would not want tosee the Journal exclude discussion ofthe religious issues in regard to UFOsfrom its pages.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

The fact that UFOs are now moreopenly admitted to have a religiousdimension is due in a sense to the

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

growing confidence among MUFONmembers that UFOs are a legitimatescientific problem. This may seemlike a strange observation.

But in the early years of UFO stu-dies, those who took the UFO phe-nomenon seriously had to contendwith the view of scientists like Cor-nell's Dr. Carl Sagan and the lateHarvard astronomer Dr. Donald Menzel,who argued that UFOs were notreally a scientific problem, they weresome form of modem religious myth.

These arguments advanced by scien-tists, together with the "lunatic fringe"of ufology, the contactees who wentaround giving us messages from the"space brothers," made those whotook UFOs seriously from a scientificpoint of view want to keep religion asfar from the UFO debate as possible.

But with the developing data baseof UFO reports, the excellent scien-tific work of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, andDr. Jacques Vallee among others,together with mounting evidence of aworld-wide lie by governments todeny the existence of UFOs (seeFawcett and Greenwood, Clear Intent,Randies, The UFO Conspiracy, andGood, Above Top Secret), UFOresearchers now have the confidenceto believe that UFOs are a real scien-tific animal, and perhaps we ought tolook more closely at the religiouswarts on this animal — they may bean important clue in solving thescientific puzzle.

From my point of view, this is bothgood news and bad news. The goodnews is that my warts are now goingto get more serious attention. Thebad news is, the wart is bigger than Iwish it were.

UFOs, of course, are still not seenas a "religious problem" by mostUFO writers, though there are thosewho already worry about the possibil-ity. Thus Jerome Clark, in his article"Ufologists and the ExtraterrestrialHypothesis," is critical of Jenny Ran-dies for admitting that she is inter-ested in UFOs in part because shehopes UFOs "will change the worldand maybe help us get out of themess we are in."

Clark says, "To the overwhelmingmajority of ufologists, the investiga-tion of the UFO phenomenon is notanything remotely like a religiousMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 245, October 1988

pursuit."I would not want to argue with

Clark about what may be the motivesof those studying UFOs. What Iwould want to say to Clark, however,is that UFOs have a huge religiousdimension, and it is important that webe allowed to take this dimension outof the closet. I would also say that ifJenny Randies wants to admit in pub-lic that she has a kind of messianichope in regard to UFOs, she oughtto be able to admit this withoutridicule.

Clark's closing paragraph is inter-esting. He argues that many peopleare afraid of dealing with "CE3s,abductions and the ETH" becausethey are seeking "a comfortable, non-threatening alternative which reas-sures them that human beings andtheir gods are still the lords of thisearth."

RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS

I hope Mr. Clark recognizes thereligious dimensions of this closingstatement. Our emerging UFO sce-nario, including the abduction phe-nomenon, is that the UFO realityseems to be acting in a god-like waytoward humans. That is, UFO beingscan abduct humans, can control ourminds, may take sperm samples fromus, impregnate women, and appar-ently carry out breeding experimentswith us. In other words, as JacquesVallee has argued in Dimensions,UFOs are a control system. Theycarry on many of the functions theJudeo-Christian tradition used to ascribeto God.

Our culture as a whole has littleidea that many in the UFO field nowbelieve UFOs are acting in a god-likeway in regard to planet earth. Thegovernment lie about UFOs has keptthe media, and therefore our religiousinstitutions, from carrying on the reli-gious debate that the UFO conceptdemands.

Let us make no mistake about howrevolutionary an idea this will be toour religious institutions (and by our,I mean the Judeo-Christian tradition,the main religion of Western cultureand of America).

When Copernicus and Galileo sug-gested that the sun, not the earth,

was the center of our solar systems,the idea was seen as a huge threat tothe Roman Catholic faith. Yet, whenwe think about the basis of the Bibli-cal religion, the location of the sun inthe sky is really a minor issue.

Likewise, Fundamentalist Protestant-ism is still battling Darwin's theory ofevolution. Darwin does not fit wellwith a literal reading of Genesis.Roman Catholics and liberal Protest-ants have been willing to read Gene-sis in a more metaphorical way, andso Darwin did not cause a great crisisfor these "brands" of western religion.

But the emerging concept of UFOsas the controlling force directing lifeon earth, as Vallee argues in Dimen-sions, a force developing our religiousbelief systems, is a concept whichcuts right to the core of Western reli-gious faith. If Copernicus and Darwincould register a seven on the religiousRichter Scale, I cannot imagine whatnumbers we need to read the scale ofreligious revolution that will takeplace when the rest of the worldcatches up with current UFO studies.

On behalf of the Fund for UFOResearch, Dr. Thomas E. Bullardcompiled a study of over 400 pagesentitled, Comparative Analysis of UFOAbduction Reports. Bullard arguesthat the typical abduction victim goesthrough a sequence of eight stages:1) Capture, 2) Examination, 3) Con-ference, 4) Tour, 5) OtherworldlyJourney, 6) Theophany, 7) Return, 8)Aftermath.

He defines number 6, Theophany,as follows: "The witness has a reli-gous experience or receives a mes-sage from a divine being."

One of the most famous theophari-ies in UFO literature is the story ofBetty Andreasson, reported by Ray-mond Fowler in The AndreassonAffair, and The Andreasson Affair:Phase II. In this abduction reportBetty Andreasson confronts a beingwho seems to speak with the author-ity of God.

How are we to interpret this aspectof the UFO phenomenon? Here aresome possibilities: 1) We can putforth the hypothesis that all UFOabduction reports are mysterious psy-chological experiences, and the theo-phany in these reports is simply oneaspect of the whole psychological

11

// Copernicus and Darwin could register a sevenon the religious Richter Scale, I cannot imaginewhat numbers we need to read the scale of reli-gious revolution that will take place when the restof the world catches up with current UFO studies.

process. 2) We can suppose thatmuch of the UFO abduction report isreal, but the theophany aspect of thereport is a kind of natural humanpsychological response elicited bybeing in the presence of this frightfulbeing (see Whitley Strieber's reactionin Communion). 3) We can supposethat all of the abduction experience isreal, and that the theophany iscaused deliberately by the UFO beings,whoever they are, but their motive inpresenting us with this theophany isdeceptive: They want to give us theappearance of being God, but theyare not God. This is essentially R.L.Dione's argument in God Drives aFlying Saucer. More serious UFOresearchers, like John Keel and JacquesVallee, are fearful that UFOs areinfluencing our religious beliefs formotives we would not like if weunderstood them. 4) We can supposethat UFOs are, or represent, theultimate force behind the universe.UFOs are God, or are of God. Thisis the God hypothesis. This says thereason that theophanies occur inUFO abduction cases is because Godis behind the abductions.

This may be an unpleasant hypothe-sis. There may be insufficient evi-dence in favor of this hypothesis atpresent time for it to be given muchweight. But for the time being, that isbeside the point.

My main argument for now is thatthe God hypothesis ought to be seenas a legitimate scientific hypothesis.We have reached the point in UFOresearch where it should be consi-dered along with the ETI theory, andthe psychological theory, which arethe main theories now under considera-tion.

There is no logical reason why Godmight not be the ultimate case ofUFO events. I realize that this is anunpleasant thought to scientists withgood memories. Not long ago, the12

idea of God was used to explain whythe sun moved across the sky andwhy rain fell. Do we not have a rightto suppose that when the real truthabout UFOs is known, that onceagain we will find "God" is an unne-cessary part of the explanation? Wemay suppose this, but we do notknow if it is true at this point.

GOD CONCEPTS

There are many difficulties with theGod hypothesis, of course. The firstproblem is that when we use theterm God, we are thinking in West-ern culture of the God of Judeo-Christian tradition. Islam is also anoff-shoot of this tradition.

Hinduism does not have a compar-able concept of God, nor does Bud-dhism which grew out of Hinduism.Foster Morrison, in his article "UFOs— Science and Technology in theService of Magic," in the June issueof the Journal, says that "The uni-verse of UFOs is animistic. Exoticcelestial beings travel from world toworld. Life is everywhere and morediverse than in the Hindu pantheon."

Morrison further argues that "TheGods of the messianic faiths are sim-ilarly removed from human under-standing" in our scientific culture, inwhich science is our real religion,religion having the function of justify-ing "the prevailing political and socialsystem."

Thus from Morrison's point ofview, Western religion, which is mes-sianic, is of little use either in ourcurrent scientific culture, or in under-standing UFOs.

Morrison has arrived at this con-clusion in part because he has nottraced the God of Western cultureback to its two roots. Our idea ofGod is partly formed by the Greekphilosophy of Plato and Aristotle,who saw God not so much as person

as prime mover, or as being itself.This idea of God was blended by

theologians like Aquinas with biblicaltheology, the theology of a God whomade man in his own image, a biblicaltradition in which angels flew downfrom the sky, met with humans,intervened with "chosen people" likeMoses and Jesus, Messiahs whosaved us from Egypt or death.

Thus Western religion, messianicreligion, is by no means by-passed byour emerging UFO stories. Part ofJerome Clark's fear is that some kindof new messianic faith will emergefrom UFO studies. Jenny Randieshoping that UFOs will "help us getout of the mess we are in" may beonly the tip of the iceberg.

Whitley Strieber is clearly fearful ofthe messianic dimensions of the UFOstory. In his Forword to Vallee'sDimensions, Strieber says, "The onlything now needed to make the UFOmyth a new religion of remarkablescope and force is a single undeniablesighting. Such a sighting need lastonly a few minutes — just longenough to be thoroughly documented.It will at once invest the extraterres-trials channels, the 'space brothers'believers, and the UFO cultists withthe appearance of revealed truth."Vallee shares Strieber's fear that wehumans will be too quick to believe.

I would not deny that there is hugepotential for fanaticism in the UFOconcept. Furthermore, if Strieber's"one undeniable sighting" were tooccur, Christian fundamentalists wouldundoubtedly assume that the SecondComing of Christ is here. John Wei-don and Zola Levitt's UFOs: Whaton Earth is Happening? has alreadyled the way in that direction.

Let us suppose that the govern-ments of the world are not as dumbas we in the UFO field have beeninclined to think. Jerome Clark, Jac-ques Vallee and Whitley Strieber allsee tremendous danger in linkingUFOs and religion. They see a fright-ening potential for social disaster.

That is undoubtedly one of themain reasons our government haslied to us about UFOs. Like Clark,Vallee and Strieber, they fear socialand religious disaster if UFO informa-tion is released.

At the same time, Foster MorrisonMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

has argued rightly "The only identifi-able thing the UFO phenomenon isdoing is discrediting the scientific andpolitical establishments."

I have argued that the UFO phe-nomenon, through the "pillar of cloudand fire" during the Exodus, in thesame way discredited the scientificand political establishment of Pha-raoh's Egypt, and likewise the resur-rection of Jesus discredited the Romanpolitical and Jewish religious estab-lishment of his time.

I believe that the humbling of theestablished powers that UFOs arenow bringing about has occurredbefore. And although Jenny Randiesmay not have a lot of evidence tosupport her hope that UFOs may"help us get out of the mess we arein," at the same time what are we tomake of stories like those reportedby Fawcett and Greenwood in ClearIntent, in which UFOs hover aboveour nuclear silos, and reprogram thecomputers in the warheads? Is it notpossible that UFOs have used theirpower to cause the political andscientific powers of the world torethink their nuclear strategy? If so, is

this messianic activity God-like activity?I think we need the God hypothe-

sis. At the very least, many reportsindicate that UFOs are behaving in aGod-like way toward life on planetearth.

Speaking as a Christian, I have tosay that UFOs create a huge problemfor my theology if they are not God-directed. UFOs are reported in theBible that are very similar to modernUFOs. Fu r the rmore , modernUFOs, and their occupants, are report-ed to control human minds, andhuman speech (in the manner of Pen-tecost, Acts, chapter 2), they cancontrol human reproduction, and there-fore all biological development; reportsindicate that they can distort time aswell as space. They have the powerto heal human diseases, to overpowerhuman technology, and to confoundthe political and scientific powers ofthe world. Jacques Vallee has arguedin Dimensions that the main purposeof UFOs is to control our religiousbelief systems. The God of the Bibleis known by his ability to do all thesethings. I know of nothing in my theolo-gical training that gives me the ability

to distinguish between the work ofGod, and the work of the UFO real-ity. If UFOs are not of God, where ismy God, and how am I to know Him?

We need the God hypothesis becauseI don't think the governments of theworld can keep the UFO lie goingforever. It would be better for all ofus if the God hypothesis could bediscussed before world governmentsrelease their UFO information. Thisway the discussion could occur in amore rational atmosphere, rather thanin the face of the fear that those likeWhitley Strieber obviously felt so deeply.

At this point we need to raise theGod hypothesis in a scientific way. Isay in a scientific way because thereligious community is too fearful toexplore this concept in even a preli-minary fashion at this point. But theUFO community, as a scientific broth-erhood, can ask the theoretical ques-tion: If there is a God in the universe,and if this God were to be the causeof the UFO phenomenon, how wouldwe know it? This question is only aslight extension of the basic questionwe are all asking: Who are theseguys, and what do they want?

The Need For SkepticsBy Michael J. Rigg

Rigg is a MUFON state sectiondirector for Indiana.

What does UFO investigation needmost of all? The answer may surpriseyou — skeptics! That's right, skep-tics. It should be obvious to fieldinvestigators and trainees who haveread the MUFON Field Investigator'sManual that blind acceptance of theUFO phenomenon is just as danger-ous to UFOlogy as blatant debunking.

Debunkers are dangerous to UFOlo-gists because they can wrongly influ-ence the UFO outsiders who arealready slightly skeptical. Then they,in turn, become debunkers them-selves. Blind acceptors of the UFOphenomenon tend to feed on tabloidstories of three-headed monsters fromMars and fantasize brothers-from-MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

space stories about pyramid builders,all out of proportion, without consid-ering known facts, fallacies and tru-isms. Between these two radically dif-ferent stands comes a difficult zoneof skepticism and belief. Two believ-ing types are those who accept anal-ysis of UFO physical trace sightings,hypnotic recall, multiple witness reports,etc., and those who accept the hypo-theses of noted UFO writers. The lat-ter differ from blind acceptors in therespect that blind acceptors usuallyform their own hypotheses and gener-ally refuse to listen to others no mat-ter what their credentials.

I have formulated this discovery (ofthe four basic UFO belief types) sincejoining MUFON and listening to thoseinside — and why they joined — andthose outside — why they would like

to join. One thing we should keep inmind is that what a potential investi-gator's "belief type" is is just asimportant as having UFO sightingstyped and categorized.

These four basic types are 1) Theblind acceptor, 2) The hypothesizer,3) The Analyzer, and 4) The Rejec-tor. All of the following anecdotalinformation and theory comes fromhaving discussed UFOs with peopleof varying backgrounds. I find thistype system important because, as Imentioned earlier, some ways ofthought may be detrimental to thestudy of the UFO phenomenon.

TYPE ONE, The Blind Acceptor:One blatant Type One that I havehad the misfortune to meet was fondof philosophizing about the origins ofthe pyramids, the Devil's Triangle,

13

and man himself. Now, the one thingabout the Type One that I want tomake perfectly clear is that they donot change their minds and cannotbe swayed no matter what the evi-dence, or no matter how obvioussomething may seem. The Type OneI talked to had the following to sayabout IFOs:

I happened to be relating a storyabout an F-86 jet fighter that wasrocketing after a UFO that had sud-denly appeared over the horizon. Imentioned to this person thatalthough there have been realUFO/jet "dogfight" incidents, thistime the pilot was actually trying toattack the planet Venus! To this theType One replied, "How do youknow it was the planet Venus?" towhich I responded, "It was docu-mented as such, and the position ofthe light followed the exact path ofVenus and was seen on consecutivenights!" To this the Type One adam-a n t l y r e p l i e d , " T h a t ' s n oproof!"

If that isn't proof, then I don'tknow what is. It is important forinvestigators to keep a calm realiza-tion that well over 85 percent of theirinvestigators may turn out to be IFOencounters like the one I just des-cribed. As far as skepticism goes,Type Ones lose out because theyhave not one skeptical bone in theirbodies.

TYPE TWO, The Hypothesizes Idon't mean here to suggest that"hypothesizer" refers to "one whohypothesizes." On the contrary, theType Two believes in UFOs and inaddition may collect and accept morethan one hypothesis about their originor existence. The Type Two personis a walking library of UFO lore andcan reproduce practically any closeencounter case verbatim. The dangerthis type presents rests in his or herreluctance to engage in free thinking.The Type Twos I have met can talkall day about UFOs, but if I were toask, "Well, what's your opinion?" thequestion draws a blank. I was amazedto find that happened four out of fivet imes I conversed w i t h TypeTwos.

As far as becoming an investigatorgoes, Type Twos may have troublediscerning what a witness says with14

what he/she has read that soundsfamiliar. One Type Two that I havemet (who IS an investigator) becameextremely disheartened when his firstcase turned out to be an IFO. TypeTwos must realize that not everyonethey interview is going to become thenext Whitley Strieber, Betty An-dreasson, or Barney Hill. Once thisobstacle is overcome, any Type Twocould be molded into a fine informa-tion gatherer. All Type Twos lack is asprinkling of skepticism in the rightplace; they gear too far toward thedark, "unknown" end of the spec-trum without checking the light side.

TYPE THREE, The Analyzer: Thisis the perfect UFO investigator. Justas the MUFON Field Investigator'sManual suggests, this person is aconscientious hard worker who holdsoff on making snap judgments orhypotheses which can't be provenanyway, and concentrates instead ongathering the facts into reasonableform without emphasizing one pointover another. A Type Three will gointo a case without guessing before-hand what the sighting may turn outto be. A Type Three will weigh eachcase evenly, keeping in mind that CE-I may be an IFO, a CE-II may befungi growth, and a CE-III or IV maybe an overactive imagination.

The Type Three may have an ideaor two about where UFOs comefrom, how they work, etc., buthe/she would never let that get in theway of progress. Above all, the TypeThree must remain skeptical enoughto remain serious without gettingexcited when a case surfaces.

TYPE FOUR, The Rejector: AllUFOlogists have run into these atone point or another. Whether it's astubborn acquaintance, an opponentat a public debate, or just a famousUFO debunker between the pages ofa book, we've all had the misfortuneof meeting them. Type Fours are theenemies of serious UFO study, theKlasses and Menzels, and the pre-1969 Air Force project Blue Booklackeys. These rejectors live for theweather balloon, and go out of theirway (even to the point of construct-ing fake UFO projects that are actu-ally debunking machines) to under-mine UFOlogical study. Ray Fowler,author of The Andreasson Affair, has

some good books that deal in partwith Type Four run-ins. I recommendCasebook of a UFO Investigator andUFOs: Interplanetary Visitors. AsMr. Fowler puts it (and he puts itmuch beter than I), the best way tohandle these people is to simplyknow what you are talking about. Aslong as you are sure about what youare doing, there is absolutely no rea-son to fear the opinions of TypeFours.

So, the final analysis is simple.Type Three believers rate the bestmetal for UFO investigators. Weshould keep these traits in mind aswe surge forward toward the ever-distant UFO. If we can sidestep theType Ones, ignore the Type Fours,and recruit the Type Threes, UFO1-ogy may start making even largerleaps and strides than it is now.There are many good books on theshelves that can help the UFO inves-tigator become a well-oiled machine;aside from Mr. Fowler's books whichI've already mentioned and theMUFON manual, try Allan Hendry'sUFO Handbook. In the meantime,let's remember that keen interest isone thing, but zealous impatience isdeadly.

Dr. Bruce S. Maccabee(Alias "Joe Cool")

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

Elementary My Dear Watson!By Lindy Whitehurst

Geochemist Whitehurst offersthe following bit of whimsy aseducated speculation on the natureof a potentially alien-inhabitedplanet.

Perhaps if in the days of Sir ArthurConan Doyle's master detective, Mr.Sherlock Holmes, UFO sightings oc-curred with late 20th century fre-quency, then his "deductive reason-ing" abilities may have helped to shedsome light on our unearthly visitorsand deduce the make-up of theirplanet. As you read the narrative,imagine you hear the famous voice ofthe cinema Holmes, Basil Rathbone.Now let us place ourselves in themind of Mr. Holmes and reach acrosstime and light years of interstellerspace to look in on an alien world.

"I bid you greetings my dear readerfrom Victorian England. I have beenrequested to review the facts in thiscase, use my humble powers ofdeduction, and report my findings.First let me remind you of the aliens''modus operandi'. Great consisten-cies in reporting details of the huma-noids by hundreds of witnesses fordecades of your century have pro-vided us with biological benchmarksfrom which to make our deductions:1) Short slender bodies, 2) Large hair-less heads in proportion to theirbodies, 3) Very large black slantedeyes, 4) Small nostrils without notice-able nose bridge, 5) Thin close-fittingsuits, 6) Seldom an audible speech, 7)Medical examinations repeatedly per-formed, 8) Predominantly nocturnalsightings, 9) Quick movements ob-served, 10) Comparatively low physi-cal strength ... And now the game isa foot.

"My friend and associate, InspectorLastrade of Scotland Yard, an ama-teur anthropologist, tells me sinceelements and compounds needed forlife occur in meteorites, stars, andgalactic dust, we may assume theMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

chemistry for life elsewhere may bevery similar to our own and subjectto the same physical laws. Intelligentlife should be mammalian because ittakes a long time for intelligence tobe transmitted to offspring, andmammals are the only form we knowof that take care of their young forlong periods of time."

"I've noted since helmets are rarelyobserved, we can assume they feelcomfortable in your proportionaloxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, cleanerI dare say than the soot we Britishbreathe from our industrialization era,and it follows they must have anample supply of oxygen-producingplants and life-sustaining fresh water.Our earth comprises only one per-cent fresh water; the other 99 per-cent being in the salt water oceans. Ifwe assume nature allows only a smallfraction of fresh water on planetscapable of sustaining life, then greatsalted oceans and continents wouldalso be expected. Fresh water isformed when water vapor continuallyevaporating from the world's oceansforms clouds, and carried by thewinds causes fresh water to fall onthe land to be collected and used byits inhabitants. We would expectweather cycles on a life-bearing alienplanet not be greatly different fromour own and will henceforth use ourown carbon-based human form as areference point from which to 'evolve'their planet. Silicon-based life formswould be a somewhat remote possi-bility due to much longer evolutiontime.

"Although our respective civiliza-tions may have begun along differentevolutionary tracks, they also eventu-ally converged toward the approxi-mate humanoid form though theyneed not resemble the human bodytoo closely. Other intelligently-evolvedspecies would naturally differ becauseof the enormous number of chancecombinations of nucleotides in the

DNA structure with respect to theenvironment. We do, of course, sharethe basic humanoid shape: two arms,two legs, a head, two eyes, etc., andwould expect a central nervous sys-tem, a brain, sensory organs up front,and mobile with manipulative ability.Very small beings could possiblyevolve intelligence provided their an-cient ancestors weren't forced to useall their energies in competition withlarger and more powerful animals forsurvival, while a marine environmentwould be still less likely to evolveintelligence.

"If I may say, a key to their planet'ssize may indeed lie in the muscularityof their legs. While far too little isknown about their lower appendages,much has been said about theirskinny arms, and if we humans are tobe used as an example of proportion-ality, skinny legs would almost cer-tainly follow the trend. Slender legswould indicate they don't requirelarge muscles to comfortably walkabout their native world. This wouldmean a lighter gravity and a corres-pondingly smaller planet than ourEarth.

"The study of gravitational forces,discovered by one of my country'sgreat fellow scientiests, Sir IssacNewton, tells us the more massivethe planet, the heavier the gravity,and conversely the smaller the world,the lighter is its gravity, with slightermuscles needed to walk about. Toolarge a planet, possibly over twice thesize of the Earth, with high surfacegravity, would evolve so strong askeletal structure for compensationas to make sluggish creatures.

"Our slightly-built aliens, however,would find our heavier gravity some-what of a burden unless artificallyovercome, and after all, we do findnumerous reports of aliens apparentlyusing an artificial device to floatthemselves along as well as theirhuman captives.

15

PLANETARY PARAMETERS

"Your nineteenth century Americanastronomer and expert on the planetMars, Percival Lowell, reminded me iftheir world is a bit too small like Mars(one-third the earth's gravity), it wouldnot have had sufficient gravity to holddown its air and water; they wouldhave boiled away, and the air wouldhave become too thin to supportintelligent life as has been theorizedfor our red neighbor in space. Ourrequirements are for water as a sol-vent with an oxidizing atmosphere.We may choose to speculate themeasurements of an alien world forlight-gravity humanoids as somewherebetween that of Mars and of theEarth. Going to any astronomyhandbook, picking a diameter andgravity in the middle of the two, andapplying simple physics formulas tothe rest allows us some workingestimates. I direct your attention tothe accompanying chart.

"Our earth is about 150 millionkilometers, (93 million miles) from thesun, our star, but it would be difficultto make a good guess at the distanceof an alien world from its sunbecause stars have different sizes andtherefore varying comfort zones (dis-tances a planet revolving about itssun must be in order to provide acomfortable temperature to promotelife). If a planet is too close, such asMercury, tidal friction could syn-chronize or greatly diminish its rota-tion, alternately freezing and frying itssurface. Basic metals would exist onlyin melted liquid form, and waterwould not exist. If a planet is too faraway, its water would exist in frozenform. We can't place a numerical fig-ure on distance from its parent sun,but we may be able to determine,relative to the earth, if they live on aworld that is generally warmer orcolder than ours.

"Our Astronomer Royal tells us 86percent of all known stable "Main-Sequence" stars in the heavens areless luminous than our sun, and thismay at least statistically say our vis-itors may come from a smaller starwhose surface temperature would becooler than our sun's (below 5,600degrees Celsius) and would have asmaller warm 'comfort zone' about it.16

DIAMETER: 9780 km (6080 miles)

GRAVITY: 67 percent of earth's

CIRCUMFERENCE: 30,700 km (19,100 miles)

DENSITY: 4.8 grams / cubic centimeter or 87 percent of earth's

VOLUME: 45 percent of earth's

MASS: 39 percent of earth's

This would probably leave room onlyfor one habitable planet in their solarsystem. Large hot massive stars inthe 'O, B, and A' spectral classesrapidly exhaust their energies andextinguish long before planetary civil-izations have a chance to develop,while 'M, N, R, and S' classes are toosmall with very narrow habitablecomfort zones. That leaves the 'F, G,and K' classes of stars more nearlylike our own sun, indicating theirsun's color would range from yellow-white to yellow to orange. Thiswould effectively eliminate hotter blueand white stars and the cooler redstars. Within the 'acceptable' 'F, G,and K spectral classes, taking intoconsideration a smaller, cooler sun,statistics reveal the aliens' home starcould have a diameter as small as65% of our sun's or about 900,000kilometers (560,000 miles).

"Most of all stars in the sky arebinary or multiple and should beruled out because planet orbits wouldnot likely be stable enough to keepthem in a thermally habitable zone.Variable stars should also not beconsidered because of their drasti-cally changing radiation levels. Yourfuture planetary scientists have spec-ulated Mars Venus could lie justinside our larger sun's 'habitablezone' and could have possibly pro-duced intelligent life if not for theirextremely thin and dense atmos-pheres respectively.

JOLLY DIM & BLOODY COLD?

"Most outstanding of all are thelarge slanted eyes. For a dark planetreceiving less sunlight, and thus colderthan the earth because it is com-paratively further from its sun than

we are, evolution would have stepp-ed in to provide dimly-lit people withlarger eyes to absorb more light andthus to function adequately in build-ing a civilization. Their eyes appearable to work well in bright examina-t i o n r o o m s ,as ours accustom themselves to well-lit hospital operating rooms, witnessthe oft-reported bright (and cold)interiors of their ships.

"A different view may suggest theirplanet has a denser atmosphere thanours, screening out more sunlight andultraviolet rays and thus giving themlarge eyes. In this case, the planetmay be farther from its sun yet stillallow its denser atmosphere to actlike a greenhouse and trap morewarmth. Lungs and thorax regionswould be smaller with no need todevelop larger lungs with which tobreathe a thinner air. This scenariowould seem less likely, however, thanthe small, cold, thin-air planet theory.Noting the aliens' obvious lack ofmuscles indicates a smaller worldwhose lesser gravity would be less cap-able of retaining a large dense atmos-phere and creating a greenhouseeffect. One abductee was told if shestayed in their ship she would becomeill in about 30 minutes, as if theircraft's natural atmospheric pressurewas thin like a high mountain topwhich causes nausea after a period oftime. Still, ship air is sometimesreported as thick and heavy.

"In contemplating the large hairlessheads of our friends, biologists repeat-edly tell us the human race will reacha similar large shaped head configura-tion in the far distant future. Frommankind of the ancient Cro Magnonto the present, we see the brain sizeincrease and the amount of hair

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

sharply decrease. These trends leadus to believe we are dealing with acivilization not just a few hundred ora few thousand years ahead of us,but one probably in excess of 100,000years. We can only speculate withwild guesses, but if we are to con-clude a race of people have accomp-lished what our scientists say isimpossible, that is, effective faster-than-light star travel which is abso-lutely required to span the unimagi-nable distances, we would be imperti-nent not to conclude that we aredealing with an immensely sophisti-cated and older civilization. If faster-than-light travel has indeed beeninvented, whether it be by sheerspeed, traveling the short cut throughcurved space, or whatever treatsyour fancy, why should we limit theireffective speed to perhaps 10% fas-ter? Why not 100 times faster, 1000

times faster, or more? This meansthey may not originate in our stellarneighborhood at all.

"Considering the varying ages ofthe stars measured in billions ofyears, it would be most surprising tofind a visiting race a mere fewhundred or a few thousand yearsahead of us. We should probablybegin thinking in terms of millions ofyears.

"We wonder about the small slit,lipless mouths; whether evolution haschanged them and their function incomparison to our own. Do theyconsume large bulk foods, or do theytake liquid foods similar to types ourastronauts took into zero-G withthem? While we're on the alienmouth, we think of the many timesabductees tell us they believe theentities communicated with them tel-epathically, impressing their thoughts

directly to their minds. Only a rela-tively few mention strange audiblesounds. Perhaps their mouths haveevolved past speech with the largeheads and brains taking over partialdirect communication duties.

"Though considerations of potentialharmful native bacteria on both ourworlds, for which we have no naturalimmunity, may preclude any lastingphysical contact, a devilish a thoughtto me as my nemesis Professor Mor-iarty, it is my hope they will find usinteresting enough, and we will some-day share our secrets. I must say thismystery has become my most difficultto solve since Jack the Ripper, but itis now time for us to close the bridgebetween our two centuries and pushoff. I bid you farewell and God'sspeed."

Magnetic Analysis of Car LiftsBy Robert H. Willsey

MUFON member Willsey alsobelongs to the Los Angeles UFOResearch Group (LAUFORG).

At this writing, detailed accounts ofthree car lifts are available to me; theBurk car lift in Pennsylvania, theWinscher car lift in Missouri, and theKnowles family car lift in Australia.This analysis is based most directlyupon the Burk case due to the follow-ing reasons:

1) An estimate of the distancebetween the UFO and the vehicle atthe time of lifting is available. 2) Anestimate of the diameter of the UFOis also available. 3) The automobileheadlights flickered on and off in thisincident; therefore establishment ofthe operative field lifting this carwould then also provide an estimateof the threshold for shutting offheadlights.

The Burk case is well described inReference 1, and the Winscher caseis well in documented in Reference 2.Five additional car lift cases are cata-logued in Reference 3.

This analysis is based upon thehypothesis that the force which liftedMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

these cars, the Burk car in particular,is the same magnetic force wellknown to physicists and electricalengineers. Earlier research has consi-dered the possibility that certainother UFO effects were due to anelectromagnetic field. These effectsinclude the formation of Ruppelt rings(4), heating of finger rings (5, 6), mal-functioning of radios (7), and thestopping of cars (3, 8), among others.The idea that many of these effectsare due to electromagnetic fieldsassociated with the UFO has been

' around for a long time, almost from1947, as pointed out by Keith Baster-field (9).

Having chosen the Burk case foranalysis, a car similar to her 1976Chevrolet Malibu was located andweighed. The nearly horizontal metalsurface areas of the roof, trunk andhood were measured as a possiblemagnetic lifting surface and the totalarea was found to be about 8000square inches. The weight of the carwas a little more than 3200 pounds.Dividing these numbers easily estab-lishes that a lifting force of only 0.4pounds per square inch are required

to lift all four wheels off the ground.There are some similarities in the

Burk and Winscher cases. In boththe UFO did not touch the car ashappened in Australia, and only twoof the wheels were lifted from theground, two side wheels in the Burkcase and two rear wheels in theWinscher case. The indentations ohthe rear of the Winscher automobilemay indicate that the UFO did touchthat car, and may even be the meansby which the car was lifted. The latterpossibility is another reason the Burkcase was chosen for analysis. It isbelieved that in all three cases theUFO was directly above the carwhen it was lifted. In the Australiancase the UFO probably sat on thecar.

ATTRACTIVE

Since at least in both the Burk andWinscher cases the UFO was abovethe car when it was lifted, let usassume that a magnetic dipole, withits axis vertical, is contained withinthe UFO. This dipole could be direct-acting with either the north-seeking

17

pole or the south-seeking pole at thebottom, closest to the automobile,and in either case the force upon thevehicle on the ground would beattracting or upward. Instead of beingdirect, the dipole could be oscillatingback and forth in polarity at a lowfrequency, and the lifting effect uponthe automobile would still be attrac-tive or upward. The attracting effectof an alternating field is not obvious,even to electrical engineers. To betterestablish this low frequency AC fieldattraction effect, a direct quotationfrom Reference 10 is presented:

"The limitatioins of alternating-cur-rent magnets as compared to direct-current magnets, operating with thesame maximum flux density, aresummarized as follows:

"1) Force Limitation. For a givenpole face area, the average force onalternating current is only one-halfthat obtained with direct current.This applies to both single and poly-phase operation.

"2) Weight Limitation. For a givenforce and 'stroke the alternating-current magnet will be much heavierthan the direct-current one because(a) at least twice as much iron mustbe used to develop the same forceand (b) generally more copper isrequired to carry the large reactivepower for alternating-current operation.

"3) Volt-ampere Limitation. (Notpertinent.)

"4) Speed of Action. (Six non-pertinent lines omitted.) In general, adirect-current magnet can be designedto accomplish the same work in thesame time with a smaller peak volt-ampere input than on alternatingcurrent."*

The point to emphasize from theabove quotation is that an alternatinglow frequency electromagnetic fieldcan have as much attractive forceupon ferromagnetic material like acar body as a direct field. The detailsof the amount of iron and copperused in generating fields in conven-tional electromagnets does not applyto UFOs. In fact, UFOs probably donot use iron or copper at all ingenerating their magnetic fields dueto their finite losses.

To calculate the strength of the mag-netic field required to lift Burk's orWinscher's car, use is made of equa-18

The principal point is that the magnetic liftingforce exerted upon automobiles by UFOs in car liftcases could be direct-acting fields or low frequencyalternating fields.

tion (13-7) from reference 11.

B2A

2Uo

where F is the force generated innewtons, B is the flux density in tes-las, A is the area in square metersand Uo is the permeability of freespace. When the 8000 square inchesof body lifting area are converted tosquare meters, and the car weight of3200 pounds is converted first intokilograms and then into newtons andthese values are plugged into theequation, one can then solve for B.The result is B = .0833 tesla or 833gauss.

Page 424 of reference 10 has anequation which permits use of theweight in pounds and the area insquare inches.

B2

Average Force = Ibs. per sq. in.

72

The above equation is the averageuseful force generated by an AC lowfrequency magnetic field. The poundsper square inch are simply 3200divided by 8000 or 0.400. B is ther.m.s. flux density in kilomaxwells persquare inch. B2 = 72 x 0.400 = 28.8.

B = the square root of 28.8 = 5.367kilomaxwells per square inch. Tocompare with the earlier result wemust convert to maxwells per squareinch and then to teslas.

B - 5.367 x 1000 = 5367) maxwellsper square inch.

Next we divide by 6.452 to convertto maxwells per square centimeter.5367 divided by 6.452 = 832 maxwellsper square centimeter = 832 gauss.

Dividing by 10,000 converts gaussto teslas. The result is .0832 teslas,which is very close to the previousresult (.0833 teslas).

A fellow ufologist suggests theequations used here are too simple toaccurately represent such a complexsituation as magnetic lifting of anautomobile so he has performedsome calculations of his own. Hetook the case of a magnetic dipoledirectly over a large hunk of soft iron,representing a UFO over an automo-bile. He wrote the vector equationsfor the force between the dipole'smagnetic moment and the magneticmoment induced into the iron, andexpanded the vector equation into avector matrix equation. Consideringthe magnetic properties of soft iron,the distance between the dipole andthe iron, he derived equations for theforce acting upward on the iron forboth unsaturated and saturated cases.He used the same car weight, 1453 kilo-grams that I used above and a dis-tance of separation of 5 meters. Solv-ing for the magnetic flux density B hefound 1115 gauss or .1115 tesla. (12)These results are pretty close togetherand support each other. As anexample, if 1115 gauss is consideredto be the correct answer, then 833gauss is only 25% too low.

All the above calculations produceresults which are just sufficient toraise all four wheels off the ground,however in both the Burk and Winschercases only two wheels were lifted offthe ground. For only two wheels themagnetic flux density required is oneover the square root of two or .707times as large, and 833 gauss becomes589 gauss. These two values setupper and lower limits between whichthe actual value probably lies. That isfor magnetic flux densities above 833gauss all four wheels would havebeen lifted, while for values below 589gauss none of the wheels would havebeen lifted. For the other derivationand calculation the corresponding lim-its are 1115 gauss for four wheels and.707 x 1115 or 788 gauss for twowheels. The average value of these

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

last two numbers, 951.5 will berounded down to 950 gauss for use infurther calculations as a most likelycorrect value.

To calculate the magnetic momentat the disk, use is made of the heightabove the car of about 30 feet andthe .disk diameter of 24 feet as givenin the first listed reference 1. Thirtyfeet is about 9 meters, which becomesthe value r in the equation below,taken from page 9 of reference 8.

-72x10 M

B

This equation is accurate for dis-tances r which are large compared tothe source size, however in this caser is only slightly larger than thesource size, so the value obtainedcan only be considered an approxi-mation. With r equal to 9 meters andB taken as .0950 tesla (950 gauss) Mworks out to be 3.46 times 108

ampere meter2. The area of the diskis 42.1 square meters. Dividing yieldsa current of 8.2 million amperes withthe assumption that a single currentcirculates around the perimeter of theUFO.

Magnetic lifting force falls off by thefourth or seventh power of distanceof separation, requiring a very closemagnetic saturation occurs in theauto's metal, the fall off is to thefourth power, otherwise to the sev-enth power. In either case magneticlifting power decreases very rapidlywith increasing distance of separa-tion. This probably explains whythere are many times fewer car liftcases than car interference casesreported in the literature. For instance,5 lifts out of 441 cases in Reference 3.

While this report was being pre-pared another car lift case came tomy attention via Issue No. 3 of theItalian UFO Reporter December 1986.Investigator Moreno Tambellini report-ed the following incident under thelead "The Car That 'Went Mad'":

"On October 28th, 1986 at 6:15p.m., a couple driving near Viareggio(Lucca) noticed a 'huge triangle-shaped object' in the sky, hoveringabove the harbor. It was black orMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

very dark and had four bright yellowlights. As they passed underneath, aloud 'boom' shocked their car, which'went mad': the speed lowered from60 to 20 kms per hour, while theengine reved up and the back side ofthe car was 'lifted upwards', only tofall back down again suddenly as thewitnesses felt a sensation of 'void inthe stomach'. Then they saw theobject passing away towards themountains. They reported their expe-rience to the Carabinieri and thensuffered from headaches for somenights. A strange light in the sky wasalso reported at the same time to thepolice by anonymous callers in Via-reggio."

SIGNIFICANCE

The principal point of this paper isthat the magnetic lifting force exertedupon automobiles by UFOs in car liftcases could be direct-acting fields orlow frequency alternating fields. Tohelp decide which of these two alter-natives is most likely to be true, it isnecessary to consider how manyother of the various reported effectsof UFOs can be explained by each ofthese magnetic forces. Since micro-waves have been proposed as acausative factor in some of theseeffects it is necessary to include themin the analysis. The table below lists11 physical effects of UFOs that have

been ascribed to these three forms ofelectromagnetic radiation.

An X in a column indicates thatthat particular form of radiation iswell known to cause the physicaleffect indicated on that line. "Chargrass roots" and "Produce odors byheating" are from Reference 4. Sincealternating fields can do anythingpulsed magnetic fields can do, X'swere given to "Induce metallic taste"and "Spin compass needles" on thebasis of Reference 13.

Both direct and alternating mag-netic fields can lift cars, howeveralternating magnetic fields can per-form 7 other physical effects whereasdirect magnetic fields can only pro-duce one other effect listed in thistable. Since it is always desirable toexplain as many physical effects aspossible with the fewest hypotheses,it seems obvious that the low fre-quency alternating magnetic field isthe most likely single hypothesis.

Physical effects such as the 11listed in Table I are especially inter-esting since they offer solid supportfor the physical reality of at leastsome UFOs, and since mankind isnot capable of producing these effectsfrom aerial vehicles they offer indirectsupport for the extraterrestrial hypoth-esis. Any cases involving such physi-cal effects are important and shouldbe reported and published.

I do not know what significance to

Table I. Well Known Physical Effects

Low Freq.Direct Alternating

Magnetic MagneticFields Fields

Micro-Waves

Cause Sensation of SoundChar Grass RootsDe-Tune Car RadiosHeat Finger RingsHeat Human BodyInduce Bodily ShockInduce Metallic TasteLift CarsProduce Odors By HeatingStop Car EnginesSpin Compass Needles

X

X

X

X

XXXXXX

X

TOTALS19

attach to the fact that Mrs. Burk,Mrs. Winscher and the Viareggio wit-nesses all suffered headaches forsome time after their car lift experienc-es.

Thanks to Barbara Becker fordoing the investigation and initialwrite up of the Winscher case, and toStan Gordon for passing her letter onto this writer. Thanks also to LAU-FORG for suggestions and for theViareggio case.

© 1941 by Herbert C. Roters. Usedby permission of John Wiley andSons.

Readers with additional car liftcases, particularly those in which theauto is reported suspended below aUFO and perhaps transported somedistance, are requested to write theauthor at: 665 Ridgefield Dr., Clare-mont, CA 91711.

© 1988 Robert H. Wilsey. All rightsreserved.

REFERENCES

1. T. Scott Grain Jr. "UFO LiftsCar Upon It's Side," MUFON UFOJournal No. 189, Nov. 1983. StanGordon, "Update On The Bellwood,Pennsylvania UFO Car Lift Case,"MUFON UFO Journal, No. 200,Dec. 1984.

2. Letter Barbara Becker to StanGordon, Jan. 20, 1985. Bob Gribble,"Looking Back, Ten Years Ago - July1978": MUFON UFO Journal, No.243, July 1988.

3. Mark Rodeghier "UFO ReportsInvolving Vehicle Interference" Cen-ter For UFO Studies, Oct. 1981,cases for Jan. 25, 1969, July 1969,Nov. 30, 1969, Sept. 25, 1971 andJan. 16, 1973.

4. Joe Kirk Thomas "Ruppelt Rings— effects of low-frequency magneticfields," MUFON UFO Journal, No.197, Sept. 1984.

5. Joe Kirk Thomas "An Alterna-tive to the Microwave Theory of the HotRing Syndrome" MUFON UFO Journal,No. 194, April 1984.

6. James McCampbell "UFOs andHot Rings" MUFON UFO Journal,No. 189, November 1983.

7. James McCampbell "UFO RadioInterference", MUFON UFO Journal,No. 227 March 1987.

8. Joe Kirk Thomas "Vehicle Inter-ference Effects in the Laboratory"MUFON UFO Journal No. 233, Sep-tember 1987.

9. Keith Basterfield "Vehicle Inter-ference Effects: A Review", MUFONUFO Journal, No. 178, Dec. 1982.

10. Herbert C. Roters, Electro-magnetic Devices, Article 118, JohnWiley and Sons, Inc., New York,1961 Eighth printing, copyright 1941.

11. David A. Bell, Fundamentals ofElectric Circuits, page 251, RestonPublishing Co., Reston, 1978.

12. Joe Kirk Thomas, private com-munication.

13. James McCampbell, "A Tastefor UFOs," MUFON UFO Journal,No. 205, May 1985.

Looking BackBy Bob Gribble

FORTY YEARS AGO - October1948: It was 8:30 in the evening ofthe first and George F. Gorman — a25-year-old second lieutenant in theAir National Guard — was cominginto Fargo, North Dakota from across-country flight. He called thecontrol tower for landing instructionsand was told that a Piper Cub was inthe area. He saw the Cub below him.All of a sudden what appeared to bethe tail light of another airplanepassed him on his right. He called thetower and complained but they assuredhim that no other aircraft except theCub were in the area. Gorman couldstill see the light so he decided toinvestigate. He pushed the F-51 overinto a turn and cut in toward thelight. He could plainly see the Cuboutlined against the city lights below,but could see no outline of a bodynear the mysterious light. He gavethe F-51 more power and closed towithin 1,000 yards, close enough to20

estimate that the light was six toeight inches in diameter, sharply out-lined, and blinking on and off.

Suddenly the light became steadyas it apparently put on power; itpulled into a sharp left bank andmade a pass at the tower. The lightzoomed up with the F-51 in hot pur-suit. At 7,000 feet it made a turn.Gorman followed and tried to cutinside the light's turn to get closer,but couldn't do it. The light madeanother turn, and this time the F-51closed on a collision course. TheUFO appeared to try to ram the F-51, and Gorman had to dive to getout of the way. The UFO passedover his canopy with only a few feetto spare. Again both the F-51 and theobject turned and closed on eachother head-on, and again the pilothad to dive out to avoid a collision.All of a sudden the light began toclimb and disappeared. "I had the dis-tinct impression that its maneuvers

were controlled by thought or rea-son," Gorman said later. Four otherobservers at Fargo corroborated hisstory, Dr. A.D. Cannon, the PiperCub pilot, his passenger, Mr. Jensen,the senior air traffic controller, andthe assistant air traffic controller.

The official explanation was thatGorman was pursuing a weather bal-loon with a light attached. Theweather station at Fargo had releaseda lighted weather balloon approxi-mately 10 minutes prior to Lt. Gor-man's call to the tower. The balloon,however, was at all times in sight byMr. Sanderson of the weather sta-tion, moving slowly in a westerlydirection at an altitude of about 500feet. According to Mr. Jensen, thetower controller, "The F-51 was somedistance behind, and the light wastraveling fast enough to increase thespacing between itself and the fighter.The main identifying characteristic (ofthe UFO) ... was the high rate ofspeed at which it was apparentlytraveling."

The assistant tower controller said,"The object seemed to be about2,000 feet and appeared to be travel-ing at an excessive speed ..." Dr.Cannon, the Cub's pilot stated, "The

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

UFO was moving very swiftly, muchfaster than the F-51 ... I saw the lightand the F-51 at the same time. Thelight seemed to be outside of the cir-cles made by the F-51."

(Walt Andrus interviewed GeorgeGorman during a private dinner whenGeorge lived in New Braunfels, Texas.Mr. Gorman is now deceased.)

***

THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO -October 1953: On the 18th two Brit-ish airline pilots, Captain Peter Fletcherand First Officer R.L. Lemon, saw astrange craft flying over the EnglishChannel. It had the appearance oftwo table saucers placed togetherrim-to-rim. In his official report to theBritish Air Ministry, Captain Fletchersaid, "We have no doubt whatsoeverthe object was solid ... that it wasconstructed of metal..."

***

THIRTY YEARS AGO - October1958: On the third, freight trainnumber 91 on the Monon Railroadwas southbound through the littletown of Rossville, Indiana. At approx-imately 3:10 a.m., the fireman, CecilBridge, noticed a formation of fouroddly glowing white lights crossingthe tracks ahead of the train. Theengineer saw them also. Bridge sawthe lights turn and come toward thetrain at an estimated altitude of 2,000feet. He picked up the microphone ofthe radio intercom and alerted thethree other crew members in thecaboose. The conductor, Ed Robin-son, was in the cupola and hadalready spotted them. He said thatthe objects came as low as possibly200 to 300 feet, and swept the lengthof the train.

The UFOs changed color as theychanged speed, from white whenmoving rapidly to orange or deep redwhen moving slowly. After traversingthe entire length of the train, theobjects wheeled in formation andsped away to the east, then theycame rushing back and followed thetrain. Robinson said they were verylow at times, scarcely above the tree-tops. They appeared to be about 40feet in diameter, and 10 feet thick,MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

although no specific shape could bediscerned through the glow. At onetime, he said, they stood on theiredges behind the train, "looking likefour sticks stuck in the ground,except the outside two leaned outwardat a 45 degree angle." The four UFOsperformed around the train for onehour and 10 minutes and all fivemembers of the crew agreed on whatthey had seen and what had hap-pened.

***

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO —October 1963: At 2:30 p.m. on the31st, residents of Iguape, in Brazil'sSao Paulo province rushed out oftheir homes to see a silvery, disc-shaped object surrmounted by a lowdome moving overhead. The disc wasobviously in difficulty, for it movedjerkily and oscillated as it went, mak-ing a heavy pounding noise. The disclurched over the house of Mrs. Elidiade Sousa, beside the river. Barelymissing the structure, the disc shotforward and gave a palm tree a glanc-ing blow. The disc then zig-zaggedout over the river, losing altitude, andfinally plunged into the water. Accord-ing to the report made to the Brazi-lian government, about 50 people sawthe object plunge into the river,among them some local fishermen.

When the water began to boilwhere the disc had submerged, thefishermen drove stakes into the bankto mark the spot. It had gone intowater about 12 feet deep with anestimated 15 feet of soft mud on thebottom of the river. The Braziliangovernment rushed divers to thescene, and troops to maintain around-the-clock watch. Other govern-ment representatives removed a sec-tion of the palm tree. Witnesses toldthe government investigators that thedisc disappeared to be about 16 feetin diameter, with a low dome about40 inches high. It looked, they said,like a shiny washbasin upside down.

Day after day and night after nightthe divers searched the muddy bot-tom of the Peropava River. The Braz-ilian Navy brought various types ofunderwater detection gear to thespot, but after two weeks of search-ing, the project was discontinued. It

was decided that the disc had eitherbeen washed downstream and lost inthe mud, or that it had managed torepair itself while under water andhad slipped away during the night.That it went into the water as des-cribed was accepted by the govern-ment of Brazil without doubt. Butwhere it went after that is an unans-wered question.

***

TWENTY YEARS AGO — Octob-er 1968: A 16-year-old youth, deliver-ing the Washington Post in Bethesda,Maryland, reported a UFO on theground. The object was seen about 6a.m. on the 24th, and described asdisc-shaped with a cone-shaped pro-trusion which rested on the ground."It was quite large," he said, "about17 yards across the disc portion.There were alternating dim red, whiteand yellow lights around the center ofthe disc, and the object did notmove. Street lights behind the park,reflecting on the disc, made it appearthat it was a silver, metallic material."I just stood there and watched it fortwo or three minutes," he said,adding "I had to deliver the rest ofmy papers and when I came back inabout 20 minutes, the thing wasgone."

The carrier said he saw a hole inthe ground, about two feet by a footand a half, where the UFO had been.There was also a circular area ofscorched earth, about two feet wide,surrounding the hole. "I wasn't reallyscared," he said, "because if therewas anybody in that sophisticatedobject, they knew I was out there andthey didn't hurt me." He estimatedthat when he first saw the object, hewas standing about 150 feet away, inthe street. "I did feel kind of numb allover, just sort of stunned and Ithought There's somebody else here... that's for sure!' Our astronautswouldn't be scared if they saw life onother planets ... maybe if they comehere, they want to see what — andhow — we're doing."

***

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO — Octob-er 1973: A 43-year-old woman claimed

21

she was raped in a spaceship by abeing from another planet. BarryKing and Andy Collins, who carefullyinvestigated the case, are convincedshe is telling the truth. Some of thedetails tally with similar unrelatedaccounts from other parts of theworld. The close encounter of theintimate kind is said to have occurredat Langford Budville, England on the16th. The woman was driving to seeher sister about 11 p.m. when the carengine and lights cut out. She got outto see what was wrong and felt some-thing touch her. She turned to see a7-foot tall, robot-like figure. She fainted,and when she came around she andthe robot were outside a 40-foot highand 20-foot long vehicle with windowsaround its dome.

She passed out again, and whenshe came to was in a circular room.She was bound to a metallic tablewith a blue blanket covering hernaked body. The walls gave off aneerie glow and there was little evi-dence of color in the room except forgrey dials and buttons. The robotwas motionless in the corner whilethree men, all around five-feet, seven inchestall, with fair skin a/id very round,emotional eyes, all in pale blue tunics,skull caps and face masks, conductedan examination with a tubular devicewith two-inch-wide cubes, glowing redand green, to scan her body. Themen left, but one returned and placeda small pincer-like device to her thigh.She felt freezing cold. Then, withoutemotion or passion, he sexually assault-ed her. The woman passed out againand when she came to, was sitting inher car. It was 2 a.m. The engine

started and when she got home shetold her husband. Shortly thereafterthe British UFO Research Associa-tion was notified.

On the 17th, Mars Walker, 20,observed a doughnut-shaped objectdescend from the sky at 2 a.m. nearDanielsville, Georgia. The object —which was about 17 feet in diameter— was about 50 yards away when itstopped in mid-air. After five minutesof hovering, the siren-like sound com-ing from the object grew louder, "anda thing took shape within the doughnut-shape, in the hole of the doughnut."In another minute the thing wasclearly visible," a human-like being,standing erect, and it was a sea green— opaque like a hologram," Walkersaid. "He or it had a number of oddlyshaped objects that he wore on aplastic belt." He guessed these to besome kind of instrument with "anegg-shape with one end of the eggcut off." These changed in color, andthe figure appeared to take readingswith them, ignoring Walker.

When this was done, the thing wastaken back up into the "vessel".Walker noted a "medusa-head", ortentacle-like objects surrounding thebeing's head, and hands of three orfour fingers, but otherwise "human"characteristics. He noted no skincolor except the "sea green" lightwhich shone from the vessel. Theentire scene had the appearance of"an electrical field".

***

TEN YEARS AGO - October1978: Deanne Kearns had a close

encounter near Ord, Nebraska onthe morning of the 9th. She oberveda grey, metallic disc hovering 200 to300 feet off the ground and, as shewatched, a beam of light showndownward from the disc to theground and two "things" floated downto the ground in the beam. Theywere five to six feet tall, lookedaround, took some samples of shrubsand soil, and then ascended back intothe disc in the beam of light. Thetenth grade student described thetwo "things" as being blackish-brownin color, their heads were blob-like,and they had tentacles on their sides.After about ten minutes or so, thedisc shot straight up into the sky andwas out of sight in a few seconds.

NEW VIDEO TAPEFOR INVESTIGATORS"Interviewing the UFO Wit-ness," a 45-minute VMS video-tape produced by MichiganMUFON, Inc., is now availa-ble for $15.00 U.S. (includingpostage and handling). Nar-rated by MUFON Deputy Direc-tor Dan Wright, the programdepicts a field investigator ina variety of circumstances.Send orders to:

Shirley Coyne73 Borman

Flushing, Ml 48433

Reagan hinted he saw a UFO first-handBy Jane Mayerand Doyle McManus

In the summer of 1974, Norman C.Miller, then a reporter for The Wall StreetJournal and now national editor of TheLos Angeles Times, was told by then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan about hishaving sighted an unidentified flying ob-ject on a flight in his private plane.Reagan had persuaded his pilot to follow

the object, which was heading towardBakersfield. But then, he told Miller, "itwent straight up!"

Reagan soon told his wife about whathe had seen, and they did some personalresearch. Reagan related to Miller thatthey had found references to UFOs inEgyptian hieroglyphics. Reagan was ex-tremely animated as he spoke, and itbecame clear to Miller that the governor

really believed in flying saucers. Butwhen Miller asked him, "Governor, areyou telling me you saw a UFO?" he saidthat Reagan seemed to remember sud-denly that he was talking to a reporter."This look crossed his face," recalledMiller, who said that Reagan then re-plied, "Let's just say that I'm agnostic."This was also the answer Reagan gave in1988 when questions arose about wheth-er he shared his wife's belief in astrology.

22 MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

Comments on Photographic TrickeryBy Foster Morrison

Mr. Morrison is a mathemati-cian and president of Turtle Hol-low Associates, Inc. He has deve-loped theories in approximations,statistics, and non-linear dynam-ics for applications in geodesy,celestial mechanics, and forecast-ing. In addition to being an avidphotographer, he spent many yearsediting the translation journal,Geodesy, Mapping & Photogramme-try.

The recent article by Clive Tobin(1988) is far too negative about thevalue of photographic images (punintended!). It would be very difficultto create a photographic hoax thatwould fool an experienced photo-grapher and it would be an extraor-dinary feat to pull the wool over theeyes of a scientist experienced inimage analysis.

Let's start with Tobin's (1988)observation that "A statement wasrecently published to the effect thatthere are no films made for reproduc-ing negatives as negatives." Wherewas said statement published, in TheNew York Times, Modem Photography,or some specialized technical journal?More likely than not, the itemreferred to was my recent article inthis very journal. What I really saidwas, "There is no conuenfiona/ pro-cess for duplicating color negatives."[Emphasis added here.] I thought thatthis might stimulate a comment onthe existence of some kind of specialfilm or service available, as indeed ithas.

Actually, one could duplicate colornegatives using conventional or slideduplicating films. Never having triedthis, I have no idea how bad the colorshift would be.

Tobin's (1988) failure to cite myarticle or some other source of arecently published statement doesnot uphold the standards of magazinejournalism, let alone scientific publica-MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

tion. But let me leave this question inthe laps of the author, the editor andthe MUFON officers. The article byTobin makes a lot of assertions aboutphotography, of which I will addressonly a few of the major points.

Contrary to what most peoplethink, Hollywood's special effects arenot all that demanding. The resultsare flashed on the screen to anuncritical and untrained audience at24 frames per second. By contrast,still photography often is studied indepth by picture editors and critics.In the extreme case, photographsmay be scrutinized and measured byscientists and technicians. These activi-ties differ in intensity of analysis byorders of magnitude. To say that Hol-lywood could fool professional photo-grammetrists has to be a bad joke.Yes, it could happen, but it is notvery likely. Steven Spielberg's budgetsrun into the tens of millions of dollarsto produce crude images to entertainthe general public. Producing a fewreally good single frames to fool anexperienced photographer might costa little less; one good fake to deceivethe experts in the intelligence com-munity would likely cost as much asa whole season in Hollywood.

In the case of UFO research, wedon't have the resources of the CIA.So I will look at the case of hoaxingthe experienced photographer, whomay also have some scientific trainingand experience.

Small scale prints and Polaroidshots are about the lowest qualityyou can get. Reproduce them in anewspaper or the MUFON Journaland resolution and contrast dropeven more. Even so, Tobin's exam-ples are not very convincing. Thedisk looks like a silhouette and thedouble exposure is obviously justthat.

Serious research requires the origi-nal negatives or transparencies andeven the camera. Films have the

emulsion types recorded on the edges,except for some anonymous housebrands like Ritz Camera's Big Print (Iwas told it's Agfa). If the film isindeed Eastman 5249 (Color ReversalIntermediate), be very suspicious.

If the negatives are conventionalemulsions, look for color shifts andcontrast build-up. The same is true oftransparency films. Black and white ismore difficult to evaluate, but it willtend to loose shadow and highlightdetail on reproduction. Do go to see... Roger Rabbit. The scenes thatinclude the cartoon overlays are typi-caly muddy and suffer contrast build-up. This is partly disguised by thepoor quality of the rest of the movie'sphotography.

The Eastman movie films are grainyand otherwise very poor image mak-ers. They also fade rapidly. Theiradvantages are high speed, good tol-erance for color temperature varia-tions (corrected by filtration or pro-cessing), adaptability for push-process-ing, economy, and ease of use. Anumber of West coast photo labsspool the 5247, 5295, or Fuji equival-ents for 35 mm cameras. Try someyourself, dear reader! But I rememberreal Technicolor (color separation)movies and load Kodachrome intomy Pentaxes.

Experience and a practiced eye willeliminate at least 90 percent of thephotographs that should be discarded.Endless hours have been wasted byUFO investigators, including profes-sional scientists, on photographs thatany photographer would chuck in thewaste basket immediately. Most scien-tists have little or no experience inphotography or anything outside theirnarrow specialty. By contrast, theserious UFO investigator should buy adecent 35 mm camera, a fast tele-photo lens, and try all kinds of films.

The most remarkable thing aboutthe "Billy" Meier pictures is how goodthey are. The color shifts and con-

23

trast build-up are minimal for sup-posed second or third generationnegatives printed on a four-colorpress. All we can say is that Mr.Meier had a lot of skilled help stagingthose pictures, whether the UFOswere real or papier-mache.

The most recent detailed photo-graphs are from the Gulf Breeze, FLcase. All I have seen are copies of thePolaroids. Even on the cover of theAugust, 1988 MUFON Journal youcan see the high contrast and the typ-ical splotchy, uneven development.Yet this is one of the best docu-mented photos we have. The UFOs,frankly, look ludicrous. The lights onthe bottom are totally superfluous.They belong on Coney Island. Meier'sUFOs, by sharp contrast, remind oneof the no-nonsense construction of afighter-bomber, albeit with radicallydifferent technology.

This absurdity factor, as noted byVallee (1988), has been a means ofeluding the interest of the ScientificEstablishment and causing it no con-cern for its position; yet this alsoappeals to the masses because it isso non-threatening. This is very sophis-ticated psychological warfare. In thiscase, only the investigation [Ware &Andrus, 1988] gives any credibility tothe photos. The few good photos ofUFOs are those that have beenobtained by chance. Mr. Ed's photoopportunities obviously have beenstaged for the reasons I discussedearlier [Morrison, 1988]. The Meiercase has been so clouded by disin-formation and character assassinationthat it's beyond redemption with anyfeasible amount of effort, at least fornow.

One reason there are so fewdecent UFO photographs is that noone is making any concerted effort toproduce any. If National Geographicdepended on reader submissions, thequality and character of its photo-graphy would be markedly differentfrom what it is now. Putting a profes-sional photographer or a single scien-tific investigator in the field costs atleast $100,000.00 per year. Ufologyremains a hobby for all, except per-haps person or persons unknown inthe Federal Spook Works.

A ten-power glass and an expe-rienced eye will allow an investigator24

Ufology remains a hobby for all, except perhapsperson or persons unknown in the Federal SpookWorks.to screen out the flying hubcaps andeven most trickery up to the Holly-wood level. Anything left can be sub-jected to digitization and numericalimage analysis. Unfortunately, this iscostly and if you don't get a reportsigned by a recognized investigator, itis worse than worthless. The bestpractice is never to cite sources who re-fuse to be named. If someone hasanalyzed data and come to conclu-sions and refuses to acknowledgethis, I wouldn't take that person orhis conclusions seriously.

The same technology that makes itpossible to detect photographic hoax-es also facilitates making them. Exam-ples abound. In a recent copy of Pho-tomethods, William G. Hyzer (1987)discusses and illustrates some of thepossibilities. If you look at his sample(p. 25), the digitally-retouched modellooks glassy-eyed and plastic. Youdon't have to be an expert to discernthis. However, if you didn't have theoriginal for comparison, detecting andretouching would be far more diffi-cult. This is where experience helps.But expensive equipment is not alwaysessential.

Digital retouching and enhancementoften produce tell-tale signs in theform of excessive detail or textures.This occurs due to sidelobe leakagein Fourier transform computationsand the non-stationary character oforiginal images. A similar analogeffect can be seen in photographsscreened for printing twice, oftennecessary if the original is lost: theMoire pattern. To see one, place onepiece of window screen on top ofanother, rotate them and translatethem, and watch the strange patternsappear and disappear. Or look onpage 10 of the December, 1986MUFON Journal.

Some of these effects can be ame-liorated by processing the image insections. So one is really reduced tothe art of retouching as once prac-ticed with a brush, despite all thecomputers and high-powered mathe-matics. And often the "brushmarks"

can be spotted as well by eye as byautomated image analysis.

Whole scenes can be fabricatedusing fractal algorithms, and Hollywoodis doing more and more of this as thecosts of on-sight shoots climb out ofsight and revenues dwindle. A well-illustrated review of the state-of-the-art was done by George D. Levy(1988) for PC Computing. Moviesthat are completely computer-generat-ed, with no photography or cartoo-nists involved, are possible, but notvery convincing. (Was Disney's Tronthe first one?)

Mr. Tobin is, of course, very cor-rect in his general conclusion that aphotograph alone is of very limiteduse as either scientific or legal evi-dence. Scientific proof demands atestable hypothesis, which is a con-trolled experiment whose outcomedepends on whether the assumptionis true or false. Very little in "science"ever satisfies that stringent criterion.Most of it is useless make-work pro-jects intended to disguise collegeteachers and bureaucrats as "scho-lars." It is a fairly harmless form ofpork-barrel.

Unless an accident happens, theonly proof we shall have for the real-ity of UFOs is statistical. Phil Klass isdeliberately sending us off on a wildgoose chase to find the case that is99.9 percent sure of being genuine.We have several thousand that are atleast one percent sure. If you havetwo such cases, then the chance ofat least one being true rises to 1.99percent. As you add more cases youeventually reach 99.9 percent cer-tainty of at least one good case andkeep slowly adding 9's thereafter.This is not a proof of UFO existence,but a sufficient rational argument forserious investigation. This, of course,will never happen.

The issue is not one of reason, butof fear on the part of the Political andScientific Establishments. They fearthe loss of their power and authority,and the more it fades, the more terri-fied they become. When the 100.0

MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

percent UFO case happens, it maywell be the flying saucer on the WhiteHouse lawn. The President will beinside the disc, not unlike the haplessMoctezuma II in the clutches ofCortes [see, e.g., Orozco-Linares,1980]. And to quote John Lear's(1987/88) colorful press .release, " ...it is all over but the screaming ..."

REFERENCES

Hyzer, William G., 1987, By thenumbers, Photomethods, 30, 12 (Dec.),25-30.

Lear, John, 1987/8, Statement (inci-dents of publication unknown), releasedDec. 29, 1987, revised March 25,1988. 7 pp. Available from author at1414 Hollywood Blvd., Las Vegas,NV89110.

Levy, George Damon, 1988, Art atthe speed of thought, PC Computing,

1, 1 (August), 111-119.Morrison, Foster, 1988, UFOs —

science and technology in the serviceof magic, MUFON UFO Journal, 242(June), 3-6.

Orozco-Linares, Fernando, 1980,The Conquest of Mexico, trans, byElisabeth M. Plaister, Panorama Edi-torial, S.A., Leibnitz 31, Mexico 5,D.F., MEXICO, 257pp.

Tobin, Clive, 1988, Some notes onphotographic trickery, MUFON UFOJournal, 244 (August), 12-14.

Vallee, Jacques, 1988, Dimensions:A Casebook of Alien Contact, Con-temporary Books, Chicago, 304 + viipp. Consult the Index.

Ware, Donald M. and Walter H.Andrus, Jr., 1988, The Gulf Breeze,Florida photographic and CE IIICase, Part V, MUFON UFO Journal,244 (August), 6-8. See also the rest ofthe series.

MUFON-Ohio Mini-Conferenceand Investigator's Workshop

Richard Seifried and Fred Hays,Co-State Directors for Ohio, haveannounced their first MUFON-OhioMini-Conference and Investigator'sWorkshop to be held in Columbus,Ohio on Saturday, October 29, 1988from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at theCardinal Food Gallery. The speakerswill be Richard "Dick" Seifried, Jen-nie Zeidman, John Timmerman, IrenaScott, Dale Wedge, and Richard Del-1'Aquila. The Investigator's Workshop

will be conducted by Dan Wright,MUFON Deputy Director, Investiga-tions; George Coyne, Central Region-al Director; Shirley Coyne, State Direc-tor for Michigan, and Richard D. Seifried.

Registration for the one-day meet-ing is $9.00. For reservations pleasecontact the following people at thetelephone numbers indicated: FredHays, (513) 254-8747; Dick Seifried,(513) 233-4055, and Jennie Zeidman,(614) 866-5728.

Kendall County SightingBy Eugene Zavodny

Zavodny is a MUFON consul-tant in mechanical engineering.

Four young brothers were playingball in their backyard when one ofthem noticed an object hovering overa nearby empty chicken house. Allfour watched in amazement as theobject slowly drifted the length of thechicken house and out over a plowedfield. Sound like a balloon? The boyscertainly don't think it was.MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

The sighting occurred at approxi-mately 6:50 p.m. CDT, April 10, 1988in rural Kendall County, IL. The areais gently rolling, relatively open farmland with occasional farm houses andfarm buildings. The boys' house is onthe east side of the north-south Hel-mar Road; a pair of high-tensionpower lines runs parallel to the roadand about 250 yards west of it.

The object was first sighted by theoldest brother, Mike Chapman, age

17. He was approximately 50 feetwest of it at the time. He shouted tothe other boys, Jeff, age 14, Phil, age12, and Danny, age 10. When theyfirst observed the object it was sta-tionary and some five to 10 feetabove the roof of the chicken house.After a few seconds it began movingsouth at two or three miles per hour,approximately following the ridge ofthe chicken house roof. As it did so italso began to rotate about an imagi-nary east-west axis. Its motion resemb-led that of a large wheel rollingthrough the sky.

Mike walked up to the chickenhouse and then along with the objectpast the end of the chicken houseand for a short distance out into thefield. His closest approach to it wasabout 25 feet. It consisted of ametallic-looking, silver-colored boxabout the size of a small car with abent pipe protruding from the bot-tom. The component that resembleda saucer cut in half was attached tothe end of the pipe. A smaller saucer-shaped component was attached toone side of the box. All of the surfa-ces appeared to be smooth, with nobolts, rivets, or other protrusions evi-dent. The pipe had a longitudinalblack stripe on it.

The object made no noise. Twodogs, apparently asleep in the nearbybarn, did not notice it.

The object continued to movesouth across the adjacent field until itpaused momentarily over an equip-ment shed near another farmhouse,about 200 yards away. From there itmoved off to the southwest, acrossthe road and over the power lines. Itthen disappeared rapidly, appearingto shrink in size as it did so.

About the time the object was overthe shed to the south Danny ran intothe house to get the boys' parents.By the time they realized what wasgoing on and got outside, the objecthad disappeared.

The TV was on at the time of thesighting and no effect on it wasnoticed. No one was at home at theother house.

The entire family got in their carand drove south down Helmar Roadin search of the object but did notsight it. After they returned to thehouse, Linda Chapman, (the boys'

25

mother), along with Mike, Phil, andDanny, drove out again. When theywere about two miles to the souththey suddenly noticed a pair of lightsthat resembled the landing lights ofan aircraft. The lights were about 45°up from the horizon. Although thesky was still light enough that an air-craft should have been visible, noobject could be seen behind thelights.

When the car accelerated towardthem, the left light of the two sud-denly disappeared. A few secondslater the other light also disappeared.No object could be seen. As the skywas overcast, the lights could havemerely gone into the clouds.

After they were all back in thehouse the father of the boys, DaleChapman, had each boy sit downand draw a sketch of the object thatthey had seen over the chickenhouse without discussing it with theother boys. Three of the sketcheswere remarkably similar. The fourth,

.Jeff's was somewhat different. How-ever; Jeff was the most distant from theobject and viewed it from a differentdirection than the others. He wasmore behind the object relative to itsdirection of motion. His sketch of itfrom this angle is not contradictory tothe other sketches.

The boys gave every indication thatthey believed that they saw what theyreported. They were sufficiently frighten-ed by the sighting that they slepttogether in the living room that nightrather than upstairs in their bed-rooms. They also piled cushionsagainst the windows.

This investigator has no reason todoubt their sincerity. At this time theobject remains unidentified.

(This report was received by theNational UFO Reporting Center inSeattle, WA [Bob Gribble] and assignedby Walt Andrus to Dr. Zavodny forinvestigation on April 14, 1988)

MUFON103 Oldtowne Rd.

SeguinTexas 78155

THE NIGHT SKYBy Walter N. Webb

MUFON Astronomy ConsultantOCTOBER 1988

Bright Planets (Evening Sky):Although Earth separates from its neighbor Mars this month (the ruddyplanet fades a whole magnitude during October), the little world stillcommands our attention. In Pisces, it is low in the ESE at dusk in mid-October (then at -2.4 magnitude) and remains visible in the southern skymost of the night. Mars lies below the gibbous Moon on the 22nd andresumes eastward motion on the 30th.

Jupiter, brightening and once again surpassing Mars in brightness afterearly October, is found between the Hyades and Pleiades clusters in Tau-rus. Gleaming at -2.8 in midmonth, the giant rises in the NE about 8 PMand follows Mars across the southern sky during the night. Jupiter risesan hour earlier by month's end as it heads toward opposition inNovember.

Saturn, in Sagittarius, lies in the SSW at dusk, setting in the WSW about9:30 PM in mid-October. The ringed planet passes 1.1° north of the planetUranus on the 17th — the third and last conjunction this year betweenthe pair. Use binoculars or a telescope to view Uranus, which is morethan 100 times fainter than Saturn.

Bright Planets (Morning Sky):

Venus, at -4.1 magnitude, rises in the east about 3:30 AM in midmonthand is high in the ESE at dawn. On October 4 watch our brilliant neighborpassing only about %° south of the star Regulus. Even though Regulus is afirst-magnitude star, it is 160 times dimmer than the planet. Binoculars willhelp. Just two mornings later the crescent Moon lies just above the starand planet — a beautiful sight! And on the 7th the lunar crescent is belowthe pair. Look for the tiny orange planet Mercury about 20° below Venusthe last week of October.

Mars sets in the west before twilight begins in midmonth.

Jupiter stands high in the SW at dawn. The gibbous Moon is near theplanet on the 27th.

Meteor Shower:

The Moon will be out of the way after about 2:30 AM on October 21, thepeak date of the Orionid meteors. The rate builds that morning to about25 meteors per hour toward dawn. The shower radiates from Orion's clubin the south; the meteors are swift and mostly faint, although some brightfireballs can be expected.

Moon Phases:

Last quarter — October 2New moon — October 10First quarter — October 18Full moon — October 25 (Hunter's Moon)

26 MUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 1988

The Stars:

The stars of autumn increase in prominence this month, although theSummer Triangle remains high in the SW. Observers can find the GreatSquare of Pegasus well up in the SE at 9 PM. Pegasus, of course, is thefamous winged horse of mythology; the group of stars does look some-thing like a horse flying upside-down if you know which stars outline thehead, neck, and front legs.

What looks like the hind legs of the horse is really another constellation,the Princes Andromeda. In fact, the NE corner of the Great Square marksthe head of the woman, and two strings of stars extending outward formher body.

Just NW of Andromeda lies her mother, the W-shaped Cassiopeia theQueen. And west of the queen we find the faint and obscure Cepheus theKing, shaped like a house with a peaked roof.

MESSAGE, continuedin Los Angeles are to be congratu-lated for their professional filming ofthis ongoing event and my personalthanks to Kris Palmer for acceptingMUFON's recommendation.

The Michael B. Seligman Produc-tion's special two-hour TV documen-tary titled "UFO Cover-Up? Live!" isscheduled for airing on Friday, October14, 1988 from 8 to 10 p.m. EDST anddistributed by Lexington Broadcast-ing System (LBS) to independent tel-evision stations. Please consult yourTV guide and program schedule forthe station and time of viewing inyour immediate area. It is conceivablethat the general public will be impressedwith the startling revelations in thisfilm and take the UFO phenomenonmore seriously. Some U.S. govern-ment agencies may feel additionalpressure to take positive action toexpose their association and positionin this forty-one year old cover up.We sincerely hope so.

Audio cassette tapes of the speak-ers featured at the MUFON 1988International UFO Symposium, includ-ing the opening ceremony and mini-speakers are available from the For-tean Research Center, P.O. Box94627, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509. Theprice is $6.00 for individual speakersor $50.00 for the entire proceedings.($9.50 for either Dr. Maccabee's orWalt Andrus' individually, since theyare 1% tapes). Please make all checksor money orders payable to the For-tean Research Center.

The above is the good news. Thebad news is that the video tapesMUTUAL UFO Journal, Number 246, October 198

made were damaged by heat in theautomobile trunk of the photographerand will not be available. Video tapesof the recent Eureka Springs UFOConference in Arkansas are availablefrom Burke Hully, 1367 1-30 East,Suite 204, Garland, Texas 75043 ortelephone (214) 240-2691. Two 2-houredited tapes of the speakers are$50.00 and the entire conference, lessJennie Zeidman, is $200.00 for eighttapes. Please contact Mr. Hully if youare interested.

500 additional copies of the thirdedition of the MUFON Field Investi-gator's Manual are now available for$6.00 to members and $10.00 for non-members plus $1.50 for postage andhandling. The MUFON 1988 Interna-tional UFO Symposium Proceedings(241 pages) with published papers byall of the major speakers may be pur-chased for $15.00 plus $1.50 for pos-tage and handling.

A mini-symposium in Houston, Texason November 18 and 19th will featureBudd Hopkins, author of MissingTime and Intruders and John F.Schuessler, Deputy Director, Adminis-tration of MUFON and aerospace en-gineer. Please contact Max Wash-burn at (713) 776-2544 or Rick Holt,State Section Director at (713) 682-7745 for details. The program will berepeated on both days.

The First European Congress onAnomalous Aerial Phenomena: Physi-cal and Psychosocial Aspects will beheld November 11-13, 1988 in Brus-sels, Belgium. It will be hosted bySOBEPS and held at the SOBEPS

John R. Salter, Jr.State Director, N. Dakota

headquarters located at: Avenue PaulJanson 74, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.For more details write to either M.Theirry Pinvidic, 22 rue du Vert-bois, 75003 Paris, France or M.Henri Scornaux, rue des Cultiva-teurs 55, B 1040 Brussels, Belgium.Walt Andrus will present his slideillustrated lecture on the Gulf Breeze,Florida Case on Saturday evening,November 12, at the Congress. Eng-lish will be the working language. Wehope to meet with some of our Euro-pean representatives in conjunctionwith the Congress.

LATE NEWSITEM

The live portion of the 2-hour TV documentary"UFO CoverUp? Live!"will originate both inWashington, DC and GulfBreeze, FL followed by atelephone call-in poll.

27

's MessageBy Walt Andrus

John Lear, State Director forNevada and host chairman for theMUFON 1989 International UFO Sym-posium, is pleased to announce thatthe symposium will be held on theweekend of June 30, July 1 and 2,1989 in the Convention Center of theAladdin Hotel and Casino, 3667 SouthLas Vegas Blvd., in Las Vegas, NV89109. Hal Starr and the ArizonaMUFON organization have volunteeredto assist John Lear as an integral partof the symposium committee. WaltAndrus will coordinate the selectionof speakers and is presently seekingideas for the symposium theme fromour members. Plan your vacationnow to attend the symposium andindulge yourself in the glamorousnight life and beautiful sights in andaround Las Vegas. If you are soinclined, the Casino has an abun-dance of game machines (one-armedbandits).

Joe Santangelo's term as EasternRegional Director is expiring. He hasfulfilled two consecutive terms, there-fore he may not run for reelectionaccording to MUFON bylaws. Anyoneliving in the Eastern Region of statesconsisting of ME, NH, VT, MA, CT,RI, NY, PA, MD, NJ, DE, WV, VA,NC, SC, GA, FL, DC and PR inter-ested in being elected to this impor-tant position should advise their StateDirector so they may be formallynominated. State Directors may nom-inate themselves. The deadline forreceiving nominations is November30, 1988 in Seguin, Texas. This is anopportunity for a dedicated person tohelp influence the goals and objec-tives of MUFON and the future ofUfology. Please give this matter yourprompt and serious consideration,since no nominations have beenreceived as of September 15,1988.

***

Malcolm Robinson, an active mem-

ber of BUFORA, living in Sauchie,Clarkmannanshire, Scotland is thenew MUFON Representative for Sco-tland. Birch Pavelsky of Fairbanks,AK has been appointed Acting StateDirector for Alaska. John R. Salter,Jr., presently a Research Specialist inSociology and full professor andchairman, Dept. of Indian Studies,University of North Dakota in GrandForks has accepted the position ofState Director for North Dakota.John is filling the vacancy createdwhen Robert E. Engberg movedback to St. Paul, Minnesota, (Mr.Engberg is the former State Directorfor Minnesota.)

New State Section Directors appoint-ed this month are the following:Scott A. Caldwell, a computersoftware design engineer in Hunts-ville, Alabama for Madison, Jackson,Limestone, Morgan and Marshall coun-ties; Dell Christian, a retired nurseliving in Canton, for Madison, Yazooand Leake counties in Mississippi;Scott Didlake in Jackson, Missis-sippi was reassigned to Hinds, Ran-kin, Copiah, and Simpson counties;Sara Johnson Govemale, R.N. (North-western Univ. 1957), residing in Brad-ford, Tennessee, for Gibson andWeakley counties; and George A.Filer, (Major, USAF Retired) hasbeen reassigned to Burlington andCamden counties in New Jersey. Mr.Filer spent two weeks of his vacationconducting his own interviews in GulfBreeze while visiting his daughter inPensacola Beach.

Bruce W. Haupt, J.D., an attor-ney and consultant in Washington,D.C. volunteered to become a Con-sultant in Law. Mr. Haupt also holdsan extra class amateur radio operatorlicense K3MYI. Jennie Zeidman hasreceived the membership applicationsfor the following new Research Spe-cialists appointed during the pastmonth: Roland A. Frauchiger, M.A.,of Los Angeles, California in Psychol-

ogy; Anthony O. Constantino, M.Ed., living in Beverly, Mass, for Hyp-nosis (Tony will be working exclu-sively with Ray Fowler and WalterWebb on potential abduction cases.);Dan Bostanik M.S.E.E. of Oakland,California in Electrical Engineering;Jose L. Hernandez, M.S., residingin Glendale, California for Physics-Math; and Carol Ann Graham,M.A., of West Branch, Michigan inCounseling. In addition to a M.A. inGuidance/Counseling, Ms. Grahamholds a M.A. in Library Science.

***

Marge Christensen, Director ofPublic Education and Information,has taken a leave of absence fromher position until after the presiden-tial election in November. She andDavid have become very involved inthe campaign of one of the candi-dates in Arizona. Her MUFON New-sletter to State Directors will be sup-plemented by a similar communicationpublication from Dan Wright. Margehas been disturbed by the unscientificstatements made by investigators proand con on the Gulf Breeze Case.Official position statements publishedin the September 1988 issue of theMUFON UFO Journal by CUFOSand MUFON indicate essential agree-ment that Gulf Breeze is potentially asignificant UFO case that deservesfurther scientific study and investiga-tion before an ultimate decision maybe rendered.

Very favorable exposure was givento the Gulf Breeze Case on October5, 1988 when NBC-TV aired the one-hour program "Unsolved Mysteries"narrated by Robert Stack. This wasthe first opportunity for the populacein the U.S.A. and Canada to havedirect contact with this importantcase. Cosgrove/Meurer Productions

Continued on page 27