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Cover Ups, Paranormal, Mysteries, UFOs, Aliens, Conspiracies, Horror, Bizarre.
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.g our (ustome15 pfele' t0 c0llKt issues by plac rg a ';;": ' : ' : i ' *irh
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.!l fditofial:Annable
Development EditorSt. rohnston
Brenda Marshalllditor: Jayne Swanson
Craig Glenday,Reid,
Richmond
Derign: Steve Horton,Wendy KwokPicture Research: SophieMortimer, Angela Parmanlenior Produrtion [ontroller:Terence Strongmanl'larketing: John Balmondllead of Cucrlation:{hris Jenner
ACKI{OWTEDGEMEHTSS:iaffon Friedman, Fergus
Rob lrving, Graham Hancock,
lalet Lyndon Parker/lli Piaure libnry.West (topJ. lmutran.to thank all those who lnlpd ia tk
qre used a5 a balii
.:t=::..1-:, at:;::;
,==.,;
ii
orilY -*ry
Shrnrr -
*," ." '
., tlP srtici,.":,,:i,,i_..^
;jl:1""".c.: "..,_,., ., .. ".,...".,.,,..,
;ui*+ltCt*.**_t""!"ft "i.,,,ffii"ffi$:iii".i,::ffi '"*s ,Er+,s
:a-:1"
n December 1984,.Jaine Shancle l t .a Holl;wood movie proclr.rcer rrncl
UFO researcher, re ceivecl anreunu\ual packaue lhrc,rrglr t l r . port .
Inside was just one rol l of lrndeveloped
.15 rr.rm black and white film. There \a-as 1lo
-.-ccompanying letter or ret l l rn address.t-)nlr- the postmark gave a clue to its ori-
: .n:: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
\\hen processed, the f l lm contained
r:r{at ives of r 'vhat appeared to be an eight-' .- , .rse brief ing-paper, prepared on t 8
\, ' \ 'elrber 1952, for President-elect Dr,vight
,t Eise nhower. A warning on the f irst page
:.,r1. 'This is a TOP SECRIT - E\ES ONLY
I ,, . i rr . ]re nt containing compartmental ized
: ,r-nr:rt ion essential to the natior- lal secu-
. . ' , i the United States. ' On page t\ ,vo was
., - . ' . , , f I2 inf luential US scientists, n'r i l i tary
: . . l r- i> ancl ir-rtel l igence advisors. I t lvas not' . : . . . - lese three that the subject of the
r , r , . r bcc:rme clear: the recovery of a
cr-ashcci f lr ' ing saucel ancl alien bodies nearRosrrell, Nerv N'Iexico, inJuly 1947.
The last paee of the briefins paper was amemorandum, dated 24 September 1947,from President Harr,v Truman to hisSecretary of Dei'ence , .fames Forrestal. Init, Truman instructs Forrestal to proceedwith 'Operation Majestic-l2', but si1'es ncrhint at rvhat that might be.
STARTLING REVETATIONS
Alone, the Forrestal memo lvas meaning-less. But, rvhcn reacl alons rvith the 1952briefing paper, the storv behind thembecame clear: in Jul,v 1947, a 'f lying disc-shaped aircraft' crashes near Rosrvell, NervMexico, and'extra-terrestr ia l b io logicalent i t ies ' (EBEs) are recovered by therni l i tarr" . When President Truman isinformed about the crash, he atrthorizesDefence Secretarv Forrestal to set up acornmittee to deal with the sitr.ration.
A In 198O, during his
reseorch for o UFO
movie, film producer
Jqime Shonderq mode
o number of confocfs in
rhe milirory. Could one
of these insiders hove
leoked rhe Moiestic-12
popers to him?
ltrflm. toi 6ttls8'! ttr@
il-*l" trtdd 8E !' trt'G
-Ucl- . --- . r6Arocl#tG*t l
E ads@t It t"brr G
tr *ra*L.
) Anolysis hos shown
thot one MJ-I2
memo is prinfed on
onionskin poper, o
type ordered in bulk
by lhe government
belween 1953 ond
197O. The document,
known in UFOlogy os
the Culler-Twining
memo, wos found of lhe
Notionol Archive, ofter
reseorcher Bill Moore
reteived o postcord
hinring ot where it
wos hidden. Didq conscientious insider
plont ir there, hoping
lo reveol rhe truth?
--6i*tp
lspv' ir l
Uffiffike"'"-*'*
In 1952, when Eisenhower becomesPresident-elect, he is briefed on OperationMajestic-12. The briefing paper l ists the1Z-man committee and gives details of thesaLlcer crash. The final paragraph stressesthe need to 'avoid a public panic at allcosts', confirming that the government iscovering up the truth about UFOs. Thequestion is, are the documents real?
SEARCH FOR TRUTH
In the UFO research community,opinion is split. In the pro-Majestic camp are researchers
such as nLrclear phvsicist
Stanton T. Friedrnan, rrho
has dedicated over ten
years to f inding t l .re
truth, and his fellorvUFOlogists Bill Mooreand Jaime Shandera.Their strongest oppo-nents are researchelssuch as Kevin Randle,Armen Victorian andPhil ip Klass, all ofwhom hal'e reason tobelieve the papers areclever fakes.
To add to themystery surroundingMajest ic-12 (also
NTAJIC), a number of other packaqcr ir i r c
been pushecl through the rnai lbore. ,r f
researchers over the past feu'r,eals. Thc hlst
\vas a postcard del ivered to Bi l l \ Ioo|c in
I985. Postrnarkecl Nerv Zealand, i t sussest-
ed he search ner,r''lv declassified files ar rhe
US National -\-chives. Moore and S1-ranclcl ir
did so. ancl found a memo confirming the
existence of \ lJ-12. rrr i t ten bv Eisenhorter 's
Special - \ssistrrrr t tol National Secr-rr i tr ' ,
Robert Clutler'. ancl lrclclressed to Nathan
Twining, the L S -\il Frilcc Uhief of Staff.
Between 1992 ancl 1!)!)t i . another UFO
researcheq Tint C.ooper-. rcceivcd a number
of MJ-l2 documents. al l r .r1 rr j r ich he quiet ly
sharecl with Friedrlan. Ser elel r ' cr-e ploved
hoaxes but, accorcl ing to ( .oo1rer- and
Friedman, two sinule-pirte ciocuments
appear to be senuine. The f ir .st rs a br- ief
instmction to General Nathan T\\ ininq- ( all
al leged MJ-12 member) concenrins his
Reor AdmirolRoscoe Hillenkoe*er,first Direcfor ofCentrol Intelligence
'1947-501, In 1960,he ocknowledgedthere wos o UFOcover-up.
Dr Vonnevor Bush,Chtrirmon of theJoint Reseorch ondDevelopment Boord
11945-491. Advisorto the President. ondkey ployer in olomicbomb development.
Jomes Forrestol,first US Secreloryof Defunce. ln 1949,he hod mentolbreokdown ondcommitfed suicide. ,Reploced by @enerolWolter Bedell Smirh.
ooo
;oo
.9!
: ' known as M|-12, or
{ Ar rhe time of the Roswell
crosh, Eisenhower wos lhe
Army Chief of stoff. Crirics soy
he would hove known obout
the crosh, ond would not hove
needed fo reod o briefing
poper when elected president.
This, however, wos common
proclice ot the White House.
Dr JeromeHunsoker,renowned oircrqftdesigner ondChoirmon of theNotionol AdvisoryCommiitee onAeronoulics.
Reor AdmirolSidney Souers, firslDirector of CentrolIntelligence (1946).Appioinred firsfExecutive Secreloryof Notionql Security€ouncif in 7947.
Gordon GroyAssistont Secretoryof fhe Army. Becomefhe NolionolSecurity odvisor ondDirector of €lA'sPsychologicolSfrotegy Boord.
&
..-,..:.,..:.;,."l:,,..
r,,'::i.i.
ecrir jr ie: dlrr ins a July 1947 tr ip to New
\lcr lc, r . the site of the crashed saucer.
1. . , . r r u l l ( l r locrrment is a memo to
P: t . .c icr i t Trtr rnan, dictated by US
>r-r ' : 'Lr: ' . , of State Ceorge C. Marshall to
l-:- FxccLrt i le Secretary, R. H. Humelsine.r , i : r : . t rher-e is no direct ment ion of MJ-I2
-rr l :re me1ro, the reference at the top
r r-.rlr: \L\fIC EO 092447 NU-l2'.
THE TATEST EVIDENCE
T:re most spectacular new MJ-l2 document',.,.i: posted in 1994 to Don Berliner-, zl lon5f-:ime UFO investigator and science rvriter.The anonymous roll of film contained 23pases of a 'Majestic-l2 Gror,rp SpeciirlOperations Manual', dated April 19r 1. Itrras a detailed instruction r.nanlral eltt it led:'Extra-terrestrial Entities and Tecl-rno1ogr.Recovery and Disposal. '
Because most of the MJ-l2 clocumentsare on film, the original paper or ink can-not be analysed. But there are many factualdetails that can be checked. such as the
.: '.. - :
: .ia::: ,t::t:,:aa.:a
. : .
backsround of the 12 members of thecommittee. the dates of r.r-reetings, the sty'eand format of sir.nilar docnments, and thevalidity of the signatures.
Clearly, MJ-l2 had arr all-star cast: as wellas Secretary of Defence Forrestal, therewere the first three Directors of CentralIntel l igence. an Air Force General . anArmy Ceneral, the Secretary of the Armyand five of the I.fS's most influential scien-t ists. This was lhe cream o[ rhe US'smi l i tary. scient i f ic and intel l igence com-munities. If there was ever to be alop-secret governmenl group invesr igat ingUFOs, this would have been it.
SECRET HISTORY
The only MJ-12 member who seemed outof place was Dr Donald Menzel, a HarvardUniversi ty asrronorrer. He had wri t tenthree ant i -L 'FO books and many papersdebunking flr'ing saucers. All but Menzelrr 'ere knou rr lo hai e high- level secur i ryclearances, and because he was listed :aspart of MJ-12. researchers were incl ined tothink the docurnent was bogus.
ln Apr i l 1986. however. SlanlonFriedman made an important discovery.After gett ing wr i t ten permission fromMenzel's wife and tlvo University officials,he was al lowed access to Menzel 's papers at
lrlqthon Twining,Commonder of Airfilaerbl Gommondcrr WrQht Field ond,krter. Choirmon of rheJoinr €hiefs of sfoff,tfre US's highestmifitory position.
Dr Donsld lt{enzel,
. Fl.orvard profussor ofostrophysks, onddebunker of UFOs.Held o Top SecretUltro <leorqnce ondwos serurity odviserto severol presidents.
Generol HoytVondenberg,Chief of MilitoryIntelligence duringWorld Wor ll ondsecond Director ofCenirql Intelligence
1r946-471.
Dr Detlev Bronk,biophysicisr. Heodof the NotionolAcodemy of Science)ond Choirmon of lheMedicol Advisoqy ..Boqrd of rhe NromicEnergy Commiftee.
Dr lloyd Berkener,Exqpgtive Secretoryof the JointReseorch <rndDevelopmentBoord. Member ofC|A-funded UFOcommitlee in l95Os.
l: i:::::t:
:: :,";':'::4.::.. ..:',:'l:a,:a::::l.. ,- t..ttrtlt::i:::.
'' ": jj-'
Moior GenerclRoberf Montogue;'head of the SpeciolWeopo4s Proiectqt the dftomicEnergy Commissionot Albuquerque,New Mexico.
oE
-,i
@ffmwgBg_try'nin 111'" 'ner \f-,r
#cryffi'%ili:.{tuii
':: the Harvard University Archive. From thisinformation, he learned that Menzel had a3O-year association with the National
nl
:.:.:::i4,.....: y digging furrher, Friedman also
discovered that Menzel had a 'Top SecretlsLUVCl C( l Lr ld l lv lct lzc l I ld( l d r up JCLI c L
Ultra' clearance with the CIA; did highly
,... ,, classified consulting
' **4# .^,^.1 r^. mc,r . , m-i^-
. ffi ..*- """:'o -ffi ::-"
t"'.maltr m1jo1. US corporations; had
close connect ions
niently, none of thern cor-rld be askeddirectly about their role. Br-rt their comingsand goings could be tracked from manr'sources: telephone logs, correspondence.minutes fiom meetir-rgs, and other papersstored in the presidential l ibraries and theLibrary of Congress Manuscript Division.
The earliest reference to Majestic is inthe memo supposedly sent by Truman tohis Secretary of Defence, James Forrestal.The memo - which names the President'sscience advisor Vannevar Bush - was dated
24 September ).947. This happens to bethe only day between May and Decemberon which Truman met with Bush. Forrestalalso met with Bush that day, a fact only dis-covered by Stanton Friedman after manymonths c-rf research.
DEAD CERTAINTIES
This date is also significant in that itwas the duy after Nathan Twining,Commanding General of the Air MaterielCommand (AMC), sent a secret memo tothe Pentagon relating to 'f lying discs'. In it,Twining states that, 'The phenomenonreported is somethins real and not vision-ary or f ictit ious.'
In addition. a fl ight 1og fiornJuly 1947shorr's th:rt Trrining had florvn to New\Ier ico on 7. ]u l r 19-17. - \ccording to thebriefrnq paper. this rvas the sarne dav that,'a secret operatioll $-as begun to assurereco\rery of the wreckage... for scientif icstudy.' Could this be just coincidence ?
.foe Nickell, a document analyst andwriter for Shepti c al En quirer magazine, thinksit is coincidence. He is positive the docu-ments are hoaxes, claimins 'it is not what iscorrect that matters nearly so much as whatis wrong, as even a novice forger can be
XW 5o i r 'ccrnt ' r i rhar
"ff i
4- --+. \ lerzel rt icl hare
<affi#, o--
_6 -.
r)e riece\sr'r'hacl-
G3=#I g-s€-:- ,**E/Lc-- - y,u(r , , (r ,u , , r
;= E €=
rrr \ urerr Pr" \e(r
-:a number of tripsto New Mexicodurins 7947 and1948 on govern-ment. expenses.
Could this havebeen related tcrthe 19.17 cr-ash inNerr \Icxico clis-cussed in the
l, This mogozine
cover from 1958
depicts o UFO crosh
in Mexico. The MJ-12
popers refer lo such
o crosh in El Indio,
Mexico, in I950.
ln 1995, reseorchers
from the Mutuol UFO
Network decided to
invesiigote this crosh.
lf they con prove it
hoppened, it rwould
go o long wqy to
oulhenticoting the
MJ-I2 popers.
As yet, little evidence
for the crqsh hos
been found.
Mf-12 clocuments?The other alleged members of the
group also checked out. All had worked ontop-secret projects and were members ofvarious research and development boards.The last-surviving member of the commit-tee clied just three months be{bre .faimeShandera receivecl the fi lm. so" conve-
b\
: . a- : : i r : . : i r ! : . E.rr b l3Ut alrrr l t to{ tu l j .e i h i lo !A!1on:: : : r , a;r ! - : . :1, at lu6 U8b!! .a?o! tb! ! ! r ?.- |@!. .
: .
- . ._r j ; : -3g' .
d!3.
: ; f - :cr l ! unsor! but coD.E!st . ! ef lo l t t r b. lqi . r : . . : : - . : : : r ! i lp nclact ! t ecto: I ' ,ou.r ! r N!r .
r : : : : r 1s colr iuo!€l ty r lo l r l r .o sbt . , lu l lorMn,: : : !c: ! 11;d11qlc. .
.' :. ..:::i:i!it,*ji:ifi..t:,:l:':: *s.',:'":;::,."
,,:'";i: :ll j'*:;ili:i"';';::;l, " :;'-.' --'r"I!.Hli:!:ii'.i.'Iri :ii- - ..- +lll,iltltt*iilli:iletii:ffi i:i.',iri:d.i$'i*'i":"""i'.+;f'l{h"-i: i*t*it;fi r'31iiri;i
ii''",:.'"::l.:ll'':,i:"illui:'li*if l:r:'*:.*':;:*ii.:'":;;:'':'''
*#WWfiffilffi:.; Bycon-centrating on the format and presentationof the documents, Nickell has highlighted anumber of 'serious problems'.
One of the most obvious problems,\ickell claims, is the Truman signature. Bystudying known-to-be-authentic Trumandocuments, he has shown that the signa-ture on the MJ-i2 memo is positionedrlrongly on the page. Also, the sisnatureappears almost identical to that on anar-rthenticated Truman memo found, ironi-cally, by Stanton Friedman.
EYE FOR DETAIT
\ickell also points to the date formats, then'pefaces, and the style of language used inthe documents. Again, by studying authen-ticated papers, he has shown that certaindetails are different in the MJ-l2 papers.
Nickell 's conclusion is that 'the manyanomalous and suspic ious elementscletected in the MJ-12 papers c lear lvdernonstrate the documents are forseries.'But Friedman disagrees. He has spent ten-,ears investigating Nickell 's claims, and.:i l l reckons the papers are genuine. 'I
l .are r€l lo hear a convincing argumelt t=iainst MJ-l2,' Friedman states. 'Frankly,I :,rnsider this ensemble of documents the:r-,, ' :t irnportant classified documents ever.r-.-.e d to the public. '
L'enuine or fake, the MJ-12 documents.:e certainlv the most intriguing to have.u:-faced in the history of UFOlogy. In his
-,ist.: oler 30 details not known by anyone
outside the government before the docu-
ments were received. So, if they are fakes, it
is likely they were written by someone with
inside knowledge. If they are genuine, they
prove that the sovelnrneut is r l i l l f i r l l l
cor.ering l lp the inrt l t about UFOs.
Resear-chers on borh sides of the MJ-12
fence can produce evidence to support
tireir arguments. But at the end of the day,
a hard-core of facts stand irresolute at the
heart of the documents - the facts as
they relate to the UFO crashin New Mexico, inJuly 1947.
In Lhe next issue, LIFO FIIE inuestigates thelegendarl tvash nertr Roswell, I{ew Mexico. Wasthis the start of the great UI-O couerup?
A Horry Trumon3 .,. '.''
s ignolure on rhe MJ-12..r:
memo (top) is olmost
identicol lo one on on
outhenticoted memo fiom
I October 1947 (boffom).
Since no two signolures
ore ever the some, lhis is
proof, soy critics, thot the
MJ-I2 popers ore foke* ,.,r
But tvould on otherwise ri.:,
coreful forger moke such
on obvious mistoke?
.:::;.ii'.:l:':::::l.l::l
, _:i:
'. r.,'. ' i:l:.I
r j . .i
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E
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WnTn Egoln BRoKE oUT oF AFRIcA AND
ILANDED IN THE US, IT PROVED THERE ARE
SAFE HAVENS FROM DEADLY DISEASES.
THERE ANY HOPE IN THE WAR AGAINST
,:THE MICROSCOPIC flUrnS?a one-storey building owned bvHazleton Research Products, rvhichspecalized in importing animals formedical research.
The monkeys had had a longjourney. From their home in thetropical rain forests of thePhil ippines, they had been crated
and flown to -\n.rsterdarn. From
Amsterdam. thev u-ere flown to
New York's.JFK -\rport. At JFK,thev rrele transferred to the back
of a tnrck and driven to Reston.
BTEEDING TO DEATH
Bv the time the monkeys arrived atthe quarantine unit, two of themrvere dead. This was nothingunusual. Animals often died frornthe stress of travel. Soon, horrer"er.the survivors started to look ill. BvI November, another 27 hacl bleclto death.
Reston's director. Dan Dalgarcl.became worried. Tire nonker s
to theUnit -
-crxaai
\rere dying sometimes two in a day.Could it be simian haemorrhagicfeler (SHF) ? If so, he was introuble. Although this diseasecannot be caught by humans, SHFcar-r decimate monkey colonies.
On 2 November, anothershipment of monkeys arrived fromthe Phil ippines. Dalgard wascareful to house this consignment>eleral rooms away from theinfected batch.
On 13 \ovember, Dalgard didan autopsv on one of the casualtiesand sent a spleen sample to theCenters for Disease Control (CDC)
in -\tlar-rta - the world's leading
research institute on killer viruses.He had to know what he wasdealing with.
. Four days later, as thecorpses continued tomount, Dalgard had thewhole of the first groupof monkeys put down.Then, on 25 Novembeqthe new shipment startedto die. Even moreworrying, two of thecaretakers reported sickwith flu-like symptoms.
On 27 November, theCDC had an answer forDalgard. It seemedimpossible, but the monkeyswere infected with Ebola.
This killer disease had sofar been restricted to Africa.The Reston monkevs came
from the Phil ippines. Moreover, itwas thought that the deadlr,
o
co
F
o
oU.9
U
s3
*=3
.rua.
ll::lii
8( 1eOur qbil ity to detecf,contoin, ond prevenfemerging infect ious
diseoses is in ieopordyDr Dovid Sotcher,
Centers for Diseose Conhol
f f iDUn
'filovirus' was transmitted byblood-to-blood contact onll'. l,g1the new batch of monkeys wereinfected with Ebola. And so,apparently, were the caretakers.
AIRBORNE DISASTER
Suddenly, the situation verged oncatastrophe. This new strain ofEbola was airborne and could bespread by a sneeze - just like fluand the common cold.
The CDC acted swiftly. Theyformed a crack biohazard teamwith the US Army MedicalResearch Institute of InfectiousDiseases. The sickly caretakers
were isolated in hospital and themonkey house was sealed off amidutmost secrecy.
The Army team. wearing specialprotect ive sui ts, moved in. Their
task was to kill, autopsy anrl.;11;:ttttl1incinerate every monkey inbuilding. They did so
desoi te one scare when a
escaped from its cage - an, 'amonkey can bite clean throu$iiiir,rilllthe toughest protective suit. Theyfound Ebola in every specimenr.'":iri:l:r.
With Ebola on the loose, the,,,.illlil';iljlliArmy team sealed every possibleopening to the outsid. **ld, .,l.,1:1,:l:tl:::,,:::They scoured the walls, floors.and:r,tlt,:r::r
NON-FATAL STRAIN
It was thought that Reston was no-wsafe. But on l2January t990;,,;::,t,t,l11tmore Philippine monkeys cdor,r.n with the deadly diseasC1.:tltime thev closed the buildingl,iil*.,..,,;.1;let the r-irr-rs do its lvork. All ther:
",,,,,:.,,,:rl:i:ttmonkevs died and the building , ,,,1was pronounced safe again. ...r,,,:..1t.
Meanrr,hile, the caretakers mada,,,,,a complete recovery. ey a miraCle..,:,,,,,,their immune svstems hadsuccessfully fought the Reston,,'i :.l,..;l.llltrl,iili
t r
4I
strain of the disease. The CDCreal ized that, as rhe virus had
. mutated ancl become airborne. i t
had also become norr- latal to Marr.r r4u 4lDU ucl l
As rhe Resron incic lerr t proved.our abi l i ry to deal wirh such ki l lerv i ruses is l r ighreningl l inadequate.They mutare so swifr ly rhar rhere isno common lactor at whichscient ists can rarger a drrrg.Al though we ralk hopefrr l lv abotrrrfeatments for the Humanilmmuno-deficiency Vims (HIV) -itLevel Two on the virus danger
'scale - scientists acknowledge theimpossibility of finding a cure for:&e Level One common cold. So*hui *rl possibly be done ro:,gombat Level For.rr viruses?
the
that Ebola and its sister diseaseshave yet to learn. The sheer speedat which they kil l means tharoutbreaks tend to burn out beforedeveloping into epidemics. This iswhy HfV has spread to all parts ofthe wor ld - i r takes a long r ime rodie f rom ir . g iv ing rhe virus moretime to move on.
Another point in our favour isthat scientists have successfullyo\ercome one Level Four v i rus.Variola, the smallpox virus, kilied
A The Centre for Applied Microbiology
ond Reseorch is Bri toin's most highly
secured loborotory. The deodly viruses
fhot scientisfs investigote here ore
kept sofely locked owoy in steel ond
ormoured Perspex cobinets.
mil l ions before ir r 'as clefeated by
the developmenr of :r laccine from
cowpox. Scienti ,sts hope rfrev rr ' i l l
eventual lv f ind sinri lar raccines for
Ebola and i t : re lar i re.
MAN-MADE PROBTEM
Ironicallr-. r-nodern n-redicine andtechnologl r.nar be responsible forinadr,ertentlr spreadir.rg thesediseases. The re is no certainty that'emer-gin9 r' iruses are a tlewphenornenon. Thev may haveexisted in lemote corners of thervorld for nii l l ions of years,creepir-rg out to destroy anderadicate before retreating to theirhost environment.
The only'emerging' factor isour wil l ingness to distribute rhem.As global demand for medicalresearch heats up, increasir-rgnumbers of monkeys trappecl inAfrica and other parts of the rlorldare bringing'new' diseases or_rt ofthe jungle. In seeking cures for old
,l',.,','
oI
3
-so
ao
I
I_.9
-ooco
o
diseases, we may well be exposing
ourselves to new ones.
Until the monkeys from thePhil ippines, which died at Reston,rvere diagnosed with Ebola,rrobody thought the v i rus was
present in South East Asia.Scientists are still guessing how thedisease got there from Africa.
IMPENDING DISASTER
The most frightening aspect ofthese kil ler viruses, however, is
their ability to mutate. The Restonincident demonstrated graphically
to scientists that if a Level Fourr i rus becomes airborne, i t is
almost impossible to control.
Fortunately, the Reston strain ofEbola mutated in such a way as tobe harmless to humans. But whatif Ebola Zaire, which kills nine outof ten infected people, evolvedinto an airborne strain? If thiscoincided with an increase in thegestation period - so that thehuman host took longer to die and
$.1rWe stqnd on fhe brink
of o globql cr is is ininfect ious diseqses.. .no country con qny
longer offord to ignoretheir threot
Dr Hiroshi Nokoiimo, Director Generol ofthe World Heolth Orgonizotion
t r t f ihad more time to spread the virus- then the death rate would be ofstaggering proportions.
And what if terrorisrs were [oget hold of the diseases? The AUMShinrikl.Lr cult, which unleashednerve gas on the Tokyo subway
system in March 1995,'n'as alsoder,eloping bioloeical \reapons.
That same montl-r. Larrv Har-r-is. amicrobiologist ar-rd rnerrber of.\n'an Nations, a rvhite
supremacists grollp, rvas arrestedin the US for i l legal ly procur ingfreeze-dried bacteria that cause
bubonic plague.The 'what i f ' scenar ios are as
varied as they are terrifying, but weare still more likely todie from almostanything other than aLevel Four virus.
{ Filipino vets exfroctblood from o monkeylo lesl for possible
Ebolo infection. Similor
monkeys, used for
medicol resecrch, hove
been the innocent
corriers of the diseose
os it spreods from
Africo to lhe West.
\ Ialzir ia. measles, meningit is,
cancer - u'hich ma-v also be causr-d',,1,,:.1
br-rintses - are far more ii..i,:,,t:,tt:,,trt,:a:.:probable killers. :,.::,,',a1.-,:,1,;,,:;:,,;,,,1,r;;'.,:r;,1;,.r.,,
TIME IS SHORT ' i ' . , i , r : , i : i ' : . : : l i i : l i i : t : : i.::::.i:;:i
Still, there is no room for ;1-;', '
complacency. In a speech inNovember 1994. Nobel Pr ize
wi n ner Joshua Lederbergwarned of the increasing threatfrom microscopic predators.'We're not alone at the top o[ the
food chain,'Lederberg *yt. 'W. 1'1..1.1,;;have been neglectful of the :,.,,, ,,,,,,tt,ttimicrobes, and that is a recurrent
theme that is coming back to,iil1:':.,;,;,;.;l.l.il:r.;;l
haunr us.' ...ij.i::l.l:i],]i:]i].,::]i.
Scientists are now racing agai{i$f:i::,time to find cures for these ne14r,.i':.i.'r:i.:l::r
..t :,.r:r:l :.l:::::l:i:.r:::a
killers, just as 'old' diseases, sucn,,.,11111,.1111
as tuberculosis and malaria, are':lil.'':.::i:l::li:'il;i
proving resistant to ant ib iot ics.
The world's fate rests withthe 'd isease cowboys' .
o
{o
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5o
:rc
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oj=oo
'o
I
To
$ffiffxwspKcfANDREw GREEN, THE MAN
BRITAIN,S INSTITUTIoNS
CALL IN WHEN THINGS GO
BUMP IN THE NIGHI SHARES
HIS SCIENTIFIC THEORIES ON
GHOSTS, POLTERGEISTS AND
THE PARANORMAL
ndrev- Green's ghostly investigations havetaken him from council houses to castles andhave included the Ror-al A]bert Hall and the
:::=:t:*: Old Bailer'. Since he decided to specialize inthis area in 1972, he has rrriften l5 books, editedthree more and given coundess lectures and courses.
His interest in ghosts began tn 1944, when he wasjust 16, with an incident that nearly cost him his life.While exploring a reputed haunted house in Ealing,which had been the scene of 20 suicides and onemurder, he felt an uncontrollable urge to throwhimself from the top of a 20-metre high tower. Onlythe timely presence of his father averted the tragedy.
A true English eccentric, who entertains himself andhis guests with dramatic voices and gestures, the69-year-old has a coherent, rational point of vielv onthe paranormal. In his cosy country cottage, sitednext to a church graveyard in rural Sussex, he politeh-runs tbrough his theories on spooks and spectres. Butwhatever you do, don't call him a ghostbuster.
FF€ ffi t can't bust shosts. I don't er-en hnnt rherllI like to think of myself as a rational inr estigator.a psychological consultant, an ar,rthor and adulr rlrior-- any one of those. The Teleg'aph nerr'spaper calle dme a 'spectre inspector' - I 'm quite for.rd of that.
Whot first sporked your inferesl in ghosts?In 194-1. I r-isited a derelict house at 16 MontpelierRoad. Ealirrg, London. I went there with my fatheq
',tho had requisitioned it for storing furniture frombor.r.rbed properties. It was built in 1833 and betweenthen and 1934 there had been 20 suicides and onemurder - all from the top of the 20-metre-high tower.
Whot did you experience inside the house?-\t the top of the tower I had a strong desire - I'mreluctant to say this - to walk out of the window intorhe garden. I had the utter conviction that I wouldn'thr-rrt myself. I had one leg out when I felt a firm handon the scruff of my neck and heard my father saying,'rrhat the hell do you think you're doing?' As we left,I turned and took a photograph of the empty house.
Whor wqs on rhe phofogroph?\\'hen I went to pick up the prints, the chemist asked'rvho's the girl at the window?' I thought this can't be,I knew the place was empq/. I later discovered that agirl of 12 called Anne Hinchfield had fallen from thetower in 1886. I thought, hello, hello, hello, have I infact taken a picture of a ghost?
Did you check this out?I sent the print, the negative and the camera toKodak. I got a very nice letter back confirming it wascompletely genuine and there's no reason whyI shouldn't take a photograph of somethingI couldn't see - provided nvo criteria are met.
Which qre?
The camera should not have blooming on the lens
[a filter to prevent dazzle] and a special film -Yerichrome - has to be used. I'd fulfilled theseconditions, so the photographic emulsion couldregister an image between 380 and 440 millimicronsof the infra-red portion of the light spectrum.I thought this then is the formula for a ghost. I sentthe whole lot to Ilford to be checked. The same lettercame back, except with a PS at the bottom, 'If you'dused Ilford film, it would have been a better image.'
How ore ghosts creqfed then?If a policeman came to the front door right now andsaid. 'Mr Green, terribly sorry, but we've just foundr our rtife murdered,' what comes into my mind?
An imoge of your wife?Eractlr I -\nd what's that made oP
Your imoginotion?\o. lt's nade of electromagnetic energy of between 380and *10 millimicrons of the infra-red portion of theliel.rt spectmm. This image is transferred to where I last
saw her and can be replayed by specially sensitivepeople, such as clairvoyants. Ghosts are t'?ically seen for25 to 35 seconds because this is the length of time that aperson's mind will be in turmoil after hearing bad news.
ls fhis hoppening every time someone dies?It usually happens when people have died suddenlyand unexpectedly. Otherwise, battle sites would beflooded with ghosts. They're not, because death inwar is common. I have yet to find the ghost ofsomebody who's died peacefully and expectedly.
Con only people become ghosts then?It can be a domesticated animal, too. We get ghosts ofdogs, cats, the occasional ghost of a dead horse.People say, 'what about the ghost of a car or a bus?'Sure, as these might be associated with accidents.
But whot obout noises ond things beingmoved qround?Poltergeist activity caused by psychokinetic energygenerated by fear or stress. Very different from Eghostly images which are quite harmless.
:i
Whqr do others soy n ,**l *obout your theory? .l-"";";:;Only one professor, in the ;;.}i1960s. has taken me up on \ \ . . , i i . \it. He carried out lab +r !;! ,l."-.-'..c G* )experiments u'ith no
*.j. -,::+1b, ., -r.-. *,,i ,. o":,
response. I pointed ro the ." , ' - - '=_--=:-1. ' 1 ' J-rr .*letters from Kodak and
"*o"r. _-..-. ,,.,1,- _*:':;,,l l ford and also to )y,- i { f i " . .Rc* c 6. , .evidence trom NASA f the '$q * ' * . * . , - . - " :J, : _, .US space agencyJ. '.*. gr-Jl-* ;; :{* *a1 .}.q
They've taken satellite ,.3:^: * r eFi> €e,r$ r.
photos of aircraft. cars... n,':" ,n**
) ,-"* ) r 'i
thar weren't rhere when F:-*__-=* : _,. t ' -r r
the camera went c l ick. I '
suggested he take his ,:::r:rrirtilxlty*!*llx.rxru,,,',.testequipmenttoaplacethatr-'i 'rrr:rirriirrrr::r:':rrirr':r'rrrlir:rrr:rr:::i: 'r:::::':
least was reputed to be haunted.I've heard nothing since.
How often do you findgenuine ghost cqses?Of the 10 to 12 cases I investigateeach year, about halfinvolvephenomena where there issomething to be seen. More oftenthan not it 's poltergeist activity -lootsteps are heard. things moveabout. I'm always suspicious whena pub calls up and says we've got aghost, because it might be forpublicity to boost takings.
A In 1956, Green
investigoted o poltergeist
cose in Botlerseo. Shirley
Hitching, the | S-yeor-old
girl ot the centre of the
cose, colled the
poltergeist Donqld.
Al one poinl, Donold
wrote o letter lo Green.
This enobled Green lo
be listed for severol
yeors in the Guinness
Book of Records as lhe
only holder of o leiter
from o poltergeist.
7/,'{I
they are. Find out about the incident theyexperienced. I ask permission to speak to thedoctor, i t l feel so f i t . For .# Sexample, there was tne lase or a & & .1
Aport from fhe Albert Holl, whot ofherfEmous ploces hove you investigoted?At the Old Bailey, all I was able to establish was tharsome members of the staff had heard inexplicablenoises and footsteps in an area near a former Romanwall. Apparently, this was beside the walk thatcriminals woulcl take after they'd been told they weregoing to hang. I also investigated the Theatre Royal,Drury Lane, where an actress had seen an apparitiongo through a dressing room.
How do you conduct your investigotions?First I meet the rvitnesses. Assess what sort of people
explain because it breaks all the rules. I come rosome sort of conclusion on whether it is a ghost. puta report in and say, 'it's up to you, what do yolr \\'autdone?' Most people are happy to leave it at that.Chosts don't do anything, as I keep underlining.
Whqt fype of equipment do you use?The basic detecting equipment - common sense andand a sense of humour. Otherwise, I usuallr. take ahigh-frequency recording unit; a digital rherrnomererand clock so that I can record temperature and timetogether; a ruler, so that I can measure horr'distantsounds are; a tape recorder and a camera - both ofwhich sometimes work and sornerirnes don't. Thingsjust pack up because of the build-np of static. So I
also take a static electricity
dispersal trnit .
accepted. Sorne people wil l say, 'you must belier.ebecause I'r 'e seen the ghost of Aunt Matilda at thebottom of the garden.' \Ahy the hell should I?
Whot qbout other explqnqtions, such qs thotghosts ore the spirits of rhe deod?Self deception! I've come to this conch,rsior-r aftergoing to mediums, attending seances, reading thepapers. I may be wrong. If I drop dead tomorrorr'. Imay come back and haunt you, and the spiritualistscan then say, 'he was wrong all along the l ine.' Br,rt Ibelieve, personally, that ghosts and apparitions areforms of electromagnetic energ\. benveen 380 and440 millimicrons of the infra-red porrion of rhe == =light spectrum - and that is all. "= 5
family
woman in Birminsham who said Sometimes, just the id,ea of a ghostshe had been plagueo*fl
i.:1"" can frigirien peopte. nit *Erl, con you prove lhot there
l".tllT;l?il:ili$11',,',n. th,ey slee.ihem .lflgt.rnoiiiu tiulu', ore shosts?wrons drrrgs. rt;,,,t,...i";"
"'' nothing to befnghtened of ;:;,:iT :J,T'::*:ersonar:,"ff:ffd3'i'"Ti'iffi :"'* -n
l F F :::il:'",'i"# ;"": :,"A kind of non-religious exorcism?Exactly. \Arhat was worse in this case is that she hadgone through all the spiritual gambits. She'd had thechurch and two separate spiritualistic groups - one ofwhich said the place had been cursed by a six-foot-highnegro, the other by a 12-year-old mentally deficientgirl. They had tried their best to help, bur had endedup making things worse because of a lack of commonsense and knowledge of what makes people tick.
But whqt if there is evidence of o ghost?I go where the incidents occurred. Sometimes, Irecord static or a drop in temperature. At the AlbertHall, there was a rise in temperature. which I can't
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Certain aspects of the shots - the high-lightecl f lags. ri.re Llinar \Iodules rvithoutcraters, the cantera s cross-hair disappear-ing behind the image. the abnormal lydistinct t lre tracks and footprints - aredi f f icrr l t to exp).r i r r auar complerely. Burperhaps the rrost irrtriguing question is; ::,.'i:.::: :.". ::.liLr; ffisrvhether or not Man a<
cl id land on the moon
In the next issue, INSIDE STORY inuestigate.szul21 i/AS might haae faked its moon shots andthe claims that astronauts were told, neuer kt reuealwhat thq real$ saw on the moon.
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t
overed with gold and surmountedwith rwo golden-winged Cherubimfacing each other, the Ark of the
cffiS#4 Covenant must have been an awe_some objecr ro behold. But i r was what layinside that made i t rhe hol iest - and mostpowerful - of religious objects.
The Ark was bui l t ro conlain the tabletsof stone on which God had inscribed theTen Commandments and, as such, wasbelieved to wield supernatur*l powers. TheBible describes how, blazing with fire andl ighr. i r inf l icred cancer- l ike rumours andsevere burns on the enemies of Israel, lev-elled mountains, stopped rivers and laidwaste to whole cities. It was rhe biblicalequivalent of the atomic bomb.
But. berween 900 ancl 500gc, rhe Arkvanished from Jerusalem's Firsr Temple -its purpose-built resting,,,,place since KingDar-id conquered Palestihe and created
Israel around l000BC. Withno mention of the Ark and itswhereabouts macie in theScr iptures. i rs ' loss' is re-garded as one of the grearesrmysteries of the Bible. But notto the Ethiopians.
VIGILANT GUARD::'ji]r:1rJ1i:|r;:',1;]!,1rll]ffi
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church worshipsa rel ic which they bel ieve ro be rhe rrueArk. It rests in the Church of Saint Mary ofZion in the town of Axum. It is protectedby a Guardian - a Copt ic pr iesr who neverleaves i ts s ide. and never al lows anyone tosee it, not even the Emperors of Ethiopia.The country's other 20,000 churches keepa repl ica of the Ark. in a room known a.the Holy of Holies. Indeed, a church with_out one is considered unconsecrated.
Best-sel l ing aurhor Graham Hancock
A Guordion of lhe
Ark Abbo Tesfo
Miriom will prcfecr'
what he believes to
be the holy relic
(inser) for the rest of
his life. Only on his
deofhbed will he
nominote his
successor. Coplic
Christion priests
hqve been guording
the Ark in Axum for
l,6OO yeors.
j=
.9
=t
first heard of this lesend in 1983, whilewri t ing a book aborr t Ethiopia. He foundthe earliest account of the Ark coming toEthiopia written in a Sacred book calledthe Kpbra ,\agasl. or Glory of Kings.
The book tel ls how the Queen of Shebaconceived King Solomon's child while on avis i t toJerusalem. On her return to Arum.'she gave birth to a son, named Menelik.Some 20 years later. Menel ik r is i ted
Jerusalem and spent a year at his father'scourt. On his departuie, he stole the Arkand carr ied i t of f to Axum.
During his initial r.isit to Ethiopia in1983. Hancock made a point of v is i r i r rg thqchapel in Axum; and asking the Guardianabout the legend of the Ark.
' l t was broughr ro Ethiopia. ro th issacred ci ty. . . here i r has remaincd eversince,' the Guardian told Hancock. Couldit possibly be:,true?
SIFTING FACT FROM FICTION
After leaving Axum. Hancock decided rofind out if the story had any substance. Hisinvestigation, at first, did not'prove promis-ing. Professor Richard Pankhurst, a lead-ing histor ian on the area. to ld Hancockthat whi le the legerrd ol Solomon andSheba had an ancierlt pedigree inEthiopia, Sheba hadtalmost certainly comefrom Arabia, not Ethiopia. .
More damning,was that Axum did notexist when Menelik was alive. In fact, it wasnot founded until at least the 3rd centuryBC - about 700 years af ter h is dearh.
Hancock put his quest on hold, but heremained inrr igued by' rhe lacr rhat rherecould be a grain of t rurh in the legend.Seven years lateq he re3umed his seirch for
V The route of the Ark of the Covehont:
Grohom Honcock's seqrch troced the Ark
on its iourney - sponning 3,OOO km ond
1,50O yeors - from Jerusolem, to
Elephonrine (insef) ond finolly ro Erhiopio.
EGYPT
Elephonfine
?
SAUDIARABIA
:
lqke TqnE
ETHIOPIA
) The Church of
Soint Mory of Zion
in Axum is reputed
fo house fhe originol
Ark of the €ovenoni,
Guording the relic it-.
o responsibility not
roken lightly. ln the
l98Os, o priest
refused the 'honour'
ond wos choined
inside the church
for mony monlhs
before finolly
occepting his tosk.
* g%:5.dT\ -esr!€F wi
SUDAN
the Ark by going to the primary source ofdata - rhe Bible.
Scrol l i r rg r l r lorrgh a hi- tech computer-ized rels iorr of rhe Old Testamenr, hefourrd more lhan 200 relerences ro the Arkup lo the reign oF Solomon (970-93 IBC).It rvas not mentioned again until around620sc. rrhen two passages seem ro conve)that i t rvas no longer in rhe First Temple. lnother tvords, there is' a period of slightlymore than 300 years during which the reliccould have been spirited away.
Using a powerfrr l 'search-and-f ind' toolon the computer, Hancock lookecl forwords, or sequences of words, that hadorr ly ever been merrt iorred with rhe . \ l 'kear l ier in the rext . His reasoning \^as thulany occurrences of these phrases clrr r i r rgthe three centuries that the relic rvas notmenl ionecl would const i tute porrerf t r l .
indirect evidence lor i ts whereaborLr.s.By using this technique, Hancock rvas
<"
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J
lpt ' : ,i r i : : - ." ,
A The Dome of the
Rock, in Jerusolem,
stonds on the site
where Solomon built
the First Jewish
Temple fo house fhe
Ark. The mosque is o
socred site of lslom,
so orcheologistsihove
been unoble to study
the ruins of the
Jewish Temple.
able to establ ish that the Ark had pr.rbablrremained in the First Temple unti l at least70 lBC. Ih is meant that i t could onl l have
gone missing in the relal ively br ief 80-year
period between 701 qld 620Bc.
ARK TAKES FTIGHT
rrA4ry shorr ld i t have gone missing therr?Further research suggested that the Ark
cor-ild have been taken during the reign ofKing Manasseh (687-6428C). He was anotorious sinner who had turned his back
on Judaisfn.In 1990, Dr Menahem
Haran, of Jerusalem'sHebrew Universi ty. to ldHarrcock l hal pr iestsloyal to the Judaic faith
could have taken the Ark'from
Jerusalem around650BC. This was whenManasseh installed apagan idol in the
Tempfe. Horrif ied at the
prospect of the Ark
being polluted by thepresence of this idol, the
pr iests may have taken i t
i to some other place,t away from the idol, for
'r,;i
srr lekeepirrg. \ \here th is other placc mightbe, Dr H3ran refused to speculate. Br.rt afel ' n-eeks after i l l terviehrins Haran,
Hancock for-urd a possible ansrver fromGerman archeologists err a ia{ i r rg a s i le on
Elephantine, an island irr the Nile. Theytold Hancock lhat rct ord. had been [ourrd
during the excavatior-r indicirtins that a
Jewish temple had been built around6508C by priests fleeing from Manasseh.
At that t ime, th is was lhe only JewishTemple in the world outsideJerusalem. TheBible states that the Temple inJerusalem wasbuilt to serve exclusively as 'an house of restfor the Ark of the Covenant'. Was it notpossible that the temple oir Elephantine hadalso been designed for that same purpose?
The next clue was also provided by rhe
German archeologists. They said that afterstanding for approximately 200 years. rheTemple had been destroyed in the 5thcentury BC, as a result of a conflict with thelocal Egrprian cornmuniry. At the same time,the Jews living on Elephantifrdj..-haddisappearecl. There \ras no evidence thiithey had been mas.acrecl . They seemedsimply to hare picked rrp rheir belongingsand left. The archeologists had no idea asto where they might hale gone. bnt Hancockhad his own theories
ISTAND HIDEAWAY;,W=:::=:::
In November 1989, Hancock had carriedout a.thorough reconnarssat.rce of LakeTana in Ethiopia, the source of the BlueNile. This"gigantic stretch of r.ater. 1.830metres above sea-level, is dotted .,iith hun-dreds of hard-to-reach islar-rcls - the idealhiding places, perhaps, for the fleein,qJerrsof Elephantine? :'
On the is lands, Hancock erplor edmonasteries that have tieen there since the
ff5
A Priests on the
islond of Tono
Kirkos soy their
church is builr on rhe
spof where the Ark
wos once kepf.
They believe their
predecessors
socrificed onimols in
front of $e Ark.
## rs ;: .,----' After he tokes ip his post,theqchosen monk hos no l ifeoutside fhe Ark. He exists to
serve if... fo be.before itconsfontly
Friest ot Church of Soint Mory 6f 113' ! .y.-r .
t ime ctf Ethiopia's conr ersi,-rn toChristianity in engOO. On c,ne of thereniotest of these islands. Tana Kirkos. hewas told an unusual varianr of rire familiarlegend of how the Ark carre ro Elhiopia.
The monks at Tana Kirkos r: ' isisred thatwhen the sacred relic hacl arrived inEthiopia, it had not been taken srraight toAxum, as most of the Ethiopian ciergl,said,but had been bror-rght first to their islbnd.
Could i t be possible ih.rr . to) lor t ing thedeslruct ion oI rhe renrple orr Elephanr inb,the Jewish migrants fled south. carryingthe precious relic rlith tlremj If they fol-lowed the Nile river svsrem through thedeserts.of the Sr-rdar-r ancl then into thehighlands of Ethiopia. thev rvould haveended up ar Lake Tana.
'The Hoh .Vk srared here on TanaKirkos for 800 r'ears,' one monk toldHancock. Later, King Ezana, who helped
,=:::-:.'r'r..='.
q
E
F
;o
convert Ethiopia to Christianity in the 4th
cehtur\, AD, took the Ark to Axum an{
placed it in the church in that city.
The f inal p iece of the j igsaw puzzle s lot-
ted into place. I l 'King Ezana had brought
the Ark from Tana Kirkos to Axum in
around AD 300, and. if the Ark had rested at
Tana Kirkos for 800 years pr ior . to that
date, then it must have arrived. on the
is lancl in Lake Tarra c l r r r ing the 5th century
BC. This was the sanle t ime the Temple on
Elephant ine had beerr destroyed.
RETURN TO AXUM| r@.. . : : - l
The Cr,rardian's lastn-ords to him rvere:'It perfonns miracles
ancl i t is in i tsel f . . . amiracle. It is a mira-
cle macle real. .\rd
thar is a1l I u'ill sar'.'
* . The rrert everr i r rg.1i!
Hancock u,itnesiedthe Timkat ceremonv. The priests carried abulky rectangular chest, draped in thickblue cloth, ernbroidered r'r,'ith the emblemof a dove. Bur the chest \\,as not covBred in
,gold and there were no cherubim on top.l t d id not look l ike the . \ k as descr ibed intheBible.
Throughout the procession, Hancocklooked out for Gebra Mikail, the Guardianof the Ark. Not for a single moment duringthe rwo-dav ceremon\ did rhe Guardianleave the chapel. \4-hat rvent on outside wasof no interest to him. He remained by theHoly of Holies inside the chapel, fulfillingthe sacred trust bes(owed on him.
THE GTUEST ENDS
Hancock's quest had taken eight years and
had come full circle, starting and finishingin the ancient city of Axum. Was this tliereal Ark of the Covenant under the watch-ful gaze of the Guardian in the Holy ofHolies? Or, does it still lie hidden,waiting to be discovered elsewhere?
E
ooo
o
InJanuary 1991, armed rvith his new-found
facts. Hancock returned to . \xrrm. At th is
t ime of year. the Ark is srrpposedlyremoved from the Holy of Holies, to becarried in a religious procesS-ion during
the annual ceremony of Timkat.' Ihe Guardran Hancock had met on his
first visit had long since clied. The currentincumbent was called Gebrafuikail - a tall.
grey-haired. heavily-built man, perhaps 60
years old. with deep-sel eyes clouded by
cararacts. Hancock told Cebra'Mikail thathe had come a long way in the hope of see-
ine the Ark for h imsel f .'Then I regret that you have wasted y,our
journey. ' the Guardian told Hancock.'because you wi l l noI see i t . '
Despite Hancock's fr-mther persistence,
he was unable to get m6re informafion.
A The Ti{nkot
ceremony in Aium is
s/mbolic of the Ark's
originol procession
into Erhiopio, os
depicred in mony
pcintings (inset).
Locols ore fiercely
proud of their Ark
trodition. In 1988, the
Ethiopian government
oftempted lo remove
the Ark from Axuni,
but the lown rose up
ogoinsr the ormy ond'\'',.:
siopped them.
j
. i
Caru A BoDYINTO FI.AMES
BURN TO ASH
lrrlTHlN rwruurrs?AN EX.POTICEMAN
WITH FORENSICS
TRAINING PROVIDES
fs
n n a fieezing day, earlv in
I I Januarv 1980,John Herlrer.
V o scenes-of-crime officer'r fiom the Crin.rinallnvestisation Department (CID) .was called to investigate a 'death
by burnine' at Ebbw Vale inGwent, Wales. On entering theIounge of the house, he u'asamazed to find that the room wasradiating considerable heat andthe atmosphere was very humid.There was a strange unearthlyquality to the light, which wasreddish-orange in colour.
On the carpet was a mass ofbrilliant white ashes, at one endof which lay a pair of human male
! -'1
't^r
' . . - :- : ' . -t : .
feet clot l ' red in socks. At the other
end lal a blackened skul l . Such
\rere the remains of 73-year-old
Henrl 'Thomas.
FIERY ENIGMA
Apart from two-thirds of thewooden-framed armchair in l.hichThomas had been sitt ing, norhingelse in the room had burned. Theorange glow was a result of lightfrom the naked electric bulb ar-rdthe daylight, both being fi l teredthrough a sticky deposit ofcondensed, vaporized flesh rvhichclung to everything in the room.
Despite being saturated l'ithmelted fat, the mat and underlying
. l1"o
1li.,t
F
b
!9
BURST
AND
tl.PROOF THAT IT CAN
=a
( This scches-of-crime
by CID officer John Heymer,
shows lhe extent of Henry\ ; " 'e*r"- ' * ' !
Thomos' burning. Evidenib',*"'''
of sponloneous humon
combustion (SH€) rwos rrirhheld
ot the inquest, snd it look six
yeors for the story to moke
the locol newspdpet the
South Wales Argus (inset).
carpet beneath the body n''ere
charred onlr to a ferv cerr l imel les
beyond the ashes. How could
a body, which contains around
45 litres of wateq be reduced t<-r
ashes when highly flammable
material such as the carpet and
couch were relatively untouched?
A forensic scientist at the scene
confirmed that the armchair had
burned only while in contact with
the body. \{rhen the chair collapsecl- depositing the flaming bocly on
the floor - it stopped burninp;. The
surroundins furnishings failed to
burn because the oxy5;en in the
room was quickly exhausted in the
initial {lare-up. Also, the door to
the room was sealecl by a draueht
exch.rder, ancl there \{as not
enotrgh ox\ '{re rr to support furthe r
crornbustion. So u'hv cl id the bodv
c.rnt i [ue bLrrning to zr rr-hite
porrclerr' :rsl-r?
The forensic scientist thcorized
that Thornas, a non-smoker', hacl
fal len head { irst into the open coal
f i re. set t i r rg his hcad al isht . Hc
then supposedly lifted himself
from the fire without disturbing
the burning coals, the I ire irons or
the pi lc of chopped st icks in the
hearth. He sat back in the
armchair, strctched out his less in
front of the television set and then
burned to cleath.
THE OFFICIAT VERDICT
The coroner, Cokrncl I icnneth
Treasure, acceptecl this tl-reorv and
gave the cause of cleath irs brrrning.
Heymer was shockccl at the vcrdict.
With his backgrouncl in folensics.
he coulcl see no basis for truth i lr
the pathologist's repolt. ,\{tcr.
rveighing r.rp the evidencc. Hernrcr'
was convinced he lvas vierl ing the
aftermath of Spontaneotrs Hrrnuur
Combustion (SHC). \{ 'hen he
informed his superiors, thel
dismissed his suggestion, claimine
the death was straightforwar-d.But if Thomas fell into the
fireplace , why dicl he then sit :
dor,r,n in his armchair instead:o.f 't ry ing to douse the f lames in the
nearbr k i tchen? I l he did not fa l l
i r r to thc f i re, where did the f i resrarr i And whl was nothing else in
The totol number ofcoses of SHC in rhe UK
might be in the region of2OO people per yeorJohn Heymer, former CID of f icer
Thomas was reduced to ashes?
SHC can provide answers to al l
these qr.restions, but is there uoy,,, 'hard evidence for this flaming ,rr:,phenomenon? "..:.:a..,:,:a
One of the strongest argumeRts 'for the existence of SHC is the fact
lhal nol even cremalor ia can
reduce corpses completely to
ashes. The burncd bones resulr ing
fi'om cremation must be ground
up in a machine known as a
cremulator. This produc"r ,h. .. ,.,,:_,,.,.
' r rshes' . rvhich are grey in colour,nr ) t \vhi le. The ashes of Henry
Thomas were pule whi te.
i r rd i t at i rg a heat far hotter than
r l re 900'C of a cremator ium.I
The remains of Thomas are
o
_.qo;o
s
Ed-
I
o
. ' : l i r rr l ' . : , . r : r i l :.i,I it - ; lci
3
FF3
lhe room burned when Henry
33 'LG
is a good source of oxr-gen.
then the vict im does not elen
have to be obese.
UP IN SMOKE
A u'ell-documented case of thewick effect was investigated byProfessor Gee in 1965, at LeedsUniversity Hospital. It concernedan 85-year-old woman whosustained a stroke or heart attackand fell into a roaring coal fire.She was not discovered for somehours. But, while she had burnedaccording to the wick effect, hercharred remains showed differentsigns to those of alleged SHC.
'Sceptics make the mistake ofinsisting all instances of SHC arecases of the wick effect,' states
John Heymer. 'I have found thatthere are major differences. Inmost wick-effect cases, the victimsare dead before coming intocontact with an obvious source ofignition. Clothes are flammable intheir own right and burn to asheven on portions of the body thathave not burned. Also. the
-9o=d1o
E
s
-o
UJ
66
o
-.9p
;.u
o
-o
;i
{ Published for ihe first
fime in 1995, in Lorry
Arnofd's book Abloze,
rhis photogroph shows
fhe remoins of Helen
Conwoy, o 5l-yeor-old
grondmother from
Pennsytvonio. Uke mosf
ofher coses of SHC, fhe
fire wos confined fo her
body ond did not offect
the extremities - in this
cose, the legs. When o
body burns in normql
circumstonces (inset),
lhe extremities ore
usuolly lhe first fo burn
to dork osh.
5&year-old healthy man - who.ironically, was a rerired fireman -
burning process requires 24 to 48hours to effect results similar tothe Henry Thomas case.'
Heymer is one of the world'sleading SHC researchers. Anotherimportant figure is Larrv Arnold,head of ParaScience Interuational.
affected - even a box of matchesclose to the body had nor ignited.
d, to death in his New Yorkall,that remained of him
bones and 2 kg ofash.:itany of these cases,
g else in the house had been
To reduce a body to ash so
q:ilverage house fire, which canol a whole building, reaches
y about 200"C.
HE WICK EFFECT
e scient i f ic communir l th inks i rp-lain SHC with the 'wick
,theory. This states that if ady is suitably obese and clorhed
ient layers of flammableing. then the burning clorhes
iact as an external wick and the
will b.,r., like a candle. lt the
i!.in continuing contact with
i!!ent$ hot flame, and rhere
l,,completely, a fire would need a
;,-fe:l4pecture of around 2,500'C.
a paranormal research group in
the US. Both men have
independently amassed aninvaluable body of evidence that
points firmly away from the rvickeffect as an explanation for SHC.This evidence proves that, incer la in cases, the f i re or ig inatesinside the body, and thetemperatures are high enough toreduce bone to ashes - fivo factorsnot explainecl by the wick effect.
EXPTOSIVE THEORY
Har,ing searched for a caltse ihrt i
f i ts rvi th al l the knoi ln eridence.
Hevmer is nor'v convinced t l-rat
SHC results from the lelci ir- ,n of
hydrosen and orr-gen i ' i r l ' r in the
bodv at a cel l r . r lar lerc1. Trc porr 'er
of the r is l r t 111611, ret l - , , \ \<( t l-^ "" " : " " - :mixture can be :ce r-: r1-. t lc Space
Shutt le rockets. r ih:. :r ' -rrc lhe tr lo
elements : rs a t le l i . , r ' l : i : rching.
So, there is t to c i , , i t i r : : l : . . . : ihe
hydrogen-oslgen l-era -- i , i l ci i l r
produce heat strf f iclcr i t , ' r-echlce
human bones to \ ' l r : 'c . , . : ' .
According to - \ , t . \ . ' , ;
magazine of 4 \ Iav l !r ! , ,1. Helr lrer
'bui lds the best possiblc ce.e t irr
the phenomenon . \ 'er :he rc .rr-e
many other theor-ies f c,r- SHC -
most of which Hevner his i(r .rncl
no evidence for - incltrci lnl bal l
l ightning, magnetic force.. ancl
even 'phosphinic farts' caused byignited gut methane. An argumentby the cynics, however, is that nomatter what the cause, no-one haswitnessed SHC from start to finish- and speal ins to v ict ims isdifficult for obvious reasons.
There are, howeveq manypeople who have witnessed firesthat defy explanation. One suchwitness is firemanJack Stacey, whowas called to a fire in a derelicthouse in London. There was noevidence of fire damase to the
he came across the burning body, .1of a tramp, known locally as Bailey,'
house but, as Stacey looked inside;
THE FIRE WITHIN
'There was a s l i t about four incheslong in the abdomen,' Stacey '. "'remembers. 'The f lame was
coming through there at force;..:.:,,;:1:like a blow lamp.' To douse th,fierce flame, Stacey resorted:.li
feeding the firehose into the:;r,;r
tramp's body, extinguishin$ tf i re. he c la imed. at i ts source.
,;:,a.a:l:
!ri.f
l f ,,tI
'There is no doubt whatsoever thatthe f i re began inside that body, '
In 1982, in Edmonton. London.
Jeannie Saffin. a 62-year-old
tial cause of the fire was
ry..unu" There was no gas oreiiq in the building, and no
were found. Even if thcad dropped a lit cigarette
imsel f , exper iments havethis would be insuff ic ient to
such a destructive flanre.
rental ly disabled woman. bursr
flames while sitting on a
,:::
wooden chair in the kitchen of herhome. Her father, who was seatedat a nearby table, became aware ofa f lash of l ight . On turning ro
Jeannie, he saw that she wasenveloped in flames, mairrlyaround her face and hands.
Jeannie did not cry out or move.Her father pulled her over to thesink and called to his son-in-law,who ran into the kitchen to see
A The tromp, Boiley, hod sunk his
teeth inlo the mohogony stoircose,
suggesting he wos olive ot the
stqrl of SHC. Firemen needed o
crowbqr to prise oport his iows.
misadventure or open lerdict. '
\Arhen he was later a-sked about this,
Burton said that 'misadrentur-e \\ 'as
the same as'accidental ciearl ' r ' and
that he had no intentiorr ,r f
discussing it further. But hor' can a
death bejudged accidental r ihen
the cause is not krroir n?
Did the authorities suspecr the
cause of death to be SHC.- Thir
could explain why r-ro exhatrstir.e
enquiries were made. \\hen
commenting on the lack oi forensic
enquiries, Jeannie's sister. F athleer-r
Carroll, said, 'For all ther klorr. rve
could have done her in oursehes. '
THE SHC COVER-UP
It is strange that the auth, rr i t ies
should accept the storie: of nr 'o
men who say that a ment:r l l r '
disabled woman burst into f lames
and died from her btrnrs.
' I f SHC does not c-rccur. and no
source of ignit ior.r can be found,'
Heymer explainr. ' then I, as an
ex-police officer. find it very odd
that the lr len \\ere1r t questioned at
great lencth to ensl lre that they
hadrr ' t .ct I rer a l ight . I t seems to
be a le rr eas\'\rav in which to
commit murcler - burn a person to
death then srlear they combusted
spontaneollslr, and the authorities
rr i l l insist, n-i thout any evidence,
that the burning was accidental. '
Despite this, the case ofJeannie
Saff in, t ike al l others of
reported SHC, remainr.tor.a. ffi
33-The flomes were coming
from her moufh like odrogon ond rhey weremoking q rooring noise
Donold Corrol l , SHC witness
j=E
I:
u\ , ,
Jeannie standing with flamesroaring from her face andabdomen. They dowsed the flames,butJeannie died later in hospital.
The inquest intoJeannie's deathwas adjourned so that the policecould ascertain how she caughtfire. The constable detailed tomake the enquiries found no causeand reported to that effect. He told
Jeannie's relatives that he believedher to be a victim of SHC. Jeannie'sbrother-in-law, Donald Carroll, gaveevidence at the inquest, stating thatshe had died as a result of SHC.
DENYING THE FACTS
The verdict ofJeannie's inquestwas misadventure. To the family,the coroneq DrJ. Burton, said,'I sympathize with you but I cannotput down SHC because there is nosuch thing. I will have to put down