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     . . . I do believe there is far more to be told about this story, I also believe it is the single most credible event in recent history, simply due to the overwhelming evidence that something did occur that evening....

Regarding the reports of activity in the 8pm-9pm time frame, in all honesty, I was not present during that time, and the base showed no signs of outward alert. The only aircraft in the air at the time would have been a few F-16's returning from training missions. After 9pm, activity around the base picked up, mainly via air control radar, as reports of "something" in the skies were filtering in, however the scramble did not occur until much later.

In regards to Frank's question, an "Alert Klaxon" is basically an alert warning that goes off in ready-intercept quarters. Usually, most regular USAF installations in the US (especially those close to border areas), will have two aircraft in a "ready alert" posture, armed and ready to get airborne in a few minutes after the initial alarm is sounded. At Davis-Monthan in Tucson, F-16 units rotate in from around the nation (though a mainstay is the Montana ANG), taking over the alert role (prior to 9-11, this was mainly interdicting drug smuggling aircraft), Luke would also perform this role.

The alert aircraft being scrambled is not uncommon. Anytime a small aircraft that is unidentified violates southern Arizona airspace, and does not answer radio hails, we will scramble fighters to intercept and ID the "bogey". What was unusual about that night were the contact reports from the first flight, and a second scramble of two additional aircraft. This is simply unheard of in day to day intercepts. This was by no means one of those......

I don't know much about the "V" shaped aircraft sightings over Phoenix in the 8-9pm time frame, other than what I have read elsewhere. I did not witness this phenomenon personally, or talk with anyone who did. However, I do know that USAF aircraft were chasing down something that night they could not positively ID, either on radar, or visually. Massive electronic interference occurred, knocking out the F-16's BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability, forcing the fighters to close at short-range. After brief contact, the "bogey" accelerated close to mach 2, and dashed south-southwest into Mexico.

The likelihood of this being a civilian aircraft is nil IMHO. The size of the object, electronic interference, and speed of mach 1.8 simply rules that out. If it was a military aircraft on a test run, then I would echo the sentiments of others, why test it over a major metropolitan area? Keeping the majority of the USAF in the dark, and causing a scramble to test stealth effects and jamming capabilities would make sense, however you can do that well away from a major population center, and be able to keep it quiet afterwards.

This.....well it simply does not have a rational explanation, and I am a VERY rational person. I don't go around looking for the unexplained, I deal with facts and tangibles. This event has left me mystified for nearly 12 years......

Labels: 310th Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Wing, AL, Alert Klaxon, Arizona, Bogey, Casa Grande, Davis-Monthan AFB, Luke AFB, Massive Electronic Interference, Phoenix Lights, Topol-M, UFO

     UFO archives are now readily available to the public, detailing sightings from over the last 30 years. The Danish Air Force published the archive online yesterday because it felt that ‘there was nothing secret in the files’.

The Air Force said that most of the sightings remained ‘unidentified’ because the details were not precise enough. However, some of the reports contained enough description to rule out the UFOs as aircraft, weather phenomenon or paper lanterns.

Not all of the sightings were centred over Denmark and one event over Greenland is attracting attention.

On the 5 January, 1981 at 12:50 a flaming, square disc was seen approximately 45 degrees over the frozen land near Thule Air Base. It then vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Coincidentally, radar stations at the American base recorded an unidentified flying object on its radar at 12:50.

Air Force Captain Thomas Petersen, who has an extensive knowledge of the files, commented that any unresolved sightings are handed over to the Scandinavian UFO Centre, if they request it.

He added that the Air Force's main mission was to defend Denmark against threat, 'and UFOs are not a known threat'.

Labels: Air Force Captain Thomas Petersen, Danish Air Force, Scandinavian UFO Centre, Secret UFO Archives

     A VETERAN NASA agent who says he processed the real X-Files has come clean with the inside story on the Roswell aliens.

Joseph Richard Gutheinz Jr, a practising criminal lawyer and decorated former NASA special agent, spoke out in defence of UFO hacker Gary Mckinnon last week. Having also spent the last four years on the Texas Criminal Justice Advisory Committee on Medical and Mental Impairments, he felt qualified to call on the US government to cease its unfair hounding of the UFO hacker.

But Gutheinz, it turns out, is himself a poster-boy for UFO conspiracists, just like McKinnon: he is famous for telling a mysterious tale of dead Roswell aliens being kept in Building 265 at NASA's Johnson Space Centre where he used to work in Houston, and of a sinister government cover up.

Gutheinz led a team of agents in NASA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG). They worked from a secret bunker with grass and trees covering it. It had cypher doors leading to secluded rooms furnished with nothing but a desk, a lamp and a single telephone. Beyond the steel doors to the outside world, astronauts were training for Space Shuttle missions.

"It was kind of a spooky building. People always wondered what went on there," Gutheinz told The Inquirer. "Except for Mission Control, it was the most highly secured building at Johnson Space Centre."

The OIG agents were so secret that even NASA wasn't allowed to know what they were investigating. "The joke at NASA OIG is that whoever was the producer of the X-Files picked the wrong agency, because nobody calls the FBI. They don't trust the FBI. What they do if they think they've been abducted or something like that, they used to call the criminal investigators at NASA, which is the Office of the Inspector General.

"As a senior special agent I used to get these calls on a regular basis where somebody says I've been abducted, I've got a chip in my brain, there's somebody following me around," he said.

"It's one of the things that interested me about the Gary McKinnon story because here's a guy who really thinks there's UFOs, who's going the extra step to prove it. I understood that, because I had dealt with so many of those individuals in the past," Gutheinz added.

The most prominent of those people was Jerry Alan Whittredge, who impersonated an astronaut and thought he was a CIA assassin. He blagged his way into Mission Control, was given Space Shuttle specifications and permission to fly jets. "That was a lot of the people that we used to get calls from," said Gutheinz.

OIG agents were involved in the seven-agency investigation that caught Gary McKinnon snooping around their systems for evidence of captured UFO technology. Typically, the OIG roots out internal fraud at NASA. That's why they have to be secret. What they don't do is interrogate aliens.

The truth
"Just so you know, so we are totally clear," said Gutheinz. "You can dig all over the place - there is no ET at NASA."

But it was Gutheinz who in the February/March 2005 edition of UFO Magazine wrote how he had been abducted by agents even more secret than his own; how, being unable to account for whole days, with only vague memories of brain chips, he stumbled across the desert outpost in New Mexico where the Roswell aliens had been autopsied and a terrible accident had turned NASA personnel to dust in their own biological suits.

"I had taken complaints from people who believed the government had placed transmitter/receivers in their brains before, and I had always assumed they were schizophrenics," wrote Gutheinz. "Even today I know many people who believe this happened to them probably are schizophrenics, but now I know some are telling the truth?"

But Gutheinz was only kidding. He wrote the story for fun. He now finds it embarrassing. His children and students take the mickey out of him. His wife thinks he'll never live it down. And it was just the transcript of a vivid nightmare that had merged his life in a secret NASA bunker with the calls he would get from conspiracy theorists. Just a transcript, cheekily submitted to a UFO Magazine with an introduction that asked, are these real memories or was it just a dream?

"I thought it was a great idea when I wrote it, because I understood it. But it was sort of like Andy Kaufman. His humour - you were the only one who got it some of the time. I got it when I wrote the thing. I thought it was novel," said Gutheinz.

The magazine wrote it up under the headline 'Alien Autopsy Expose - He knows where NASA hid the bodies'.

A self-confessed maverick, Guntheinz has a track record in causing mischief. What do you think he did with those calls he got about alien abduction at NASA?

"I hate to say it, but when I had a rascal instinct, I would find somebody at the FBI didn't like, and I would give them that phone number and have them call the FBI," confessed Gutheinz.

Won't somebody please come forward and reassure us that there really are aliens? That this fragile, lonely planet isn't all we have? Perhaps take some comfort here: the Disclosure Project, the UFO group that inspired McKinnon to hack into NASA systems in 2001, will tell us what we want to know. They only ask for money first.

Labels: Agent, Gary McKinnon, Joseph Richard Gutheinz Jr, NASA, OIG, UFO, X File

     The RAF has tried to shoot down UFOs under instructions by the Ministry of Defence, a former employee has revealed.

Pilots have took aim at Unidentified Flying Objects several times but failed to bring them down, Nick Pope claimed.

Mr Pope, who worked on the MoD's UFO section for three years, said the 'shoot down' directive had been in place since the 1980s.

'We know of cases where the order has been given to shoot down — with little effect to the UFO,' Mr Pope said.

Firing at UFOs was 'not automatic but happens when something in our airspace is deemed to be a threat' he said.

'In the case of UFOs, whether the object is causing a threat is very much a (pilot’s) judgment call,' he told the paper.

Mr Pope, a 43-year-old Londoner, said the rules of engagement were drawn up after dozens of encounters with unidentified craft.

He said: 'There was a faction in the MoD who said "We want to shoot down a UFO and that will resolve the issue one way or another".'

Mr Pope, who worked as a civil servant at the MoD for 21 years, claimed that witnesses had given statements about dozens of near-misses between UFOs and planes, RAF jets and police helicopters.

But details of such incidents would never be released, he said.

'The public won’t know unless it comes down in a heavily-populated area,' he said.

'I do believe we will bring one down. We’re developing increasingly sophisticated weapons.'

Mr Pope said the government has no way of knowing if the UFOs pose a threat because the cases are never fully investigated.

'They will try to play it down by talking about flying saucers and little green men. But there are MPs and ministers and a faction of the MoD who do believe in UFOs,' he added.

The MoD has refused to comment on Mr Pope's claims or the existence of any UFO-related directives.

Labels: Defence Chief, Directive, MoD, Nick Pope, RAF, Shoot Down, UFO

     It has been nearly 12 years since the incident known as the "Phoenix Lights" was shown around the world, nearly 12 years that something has been burning inside of me. When the official explanations of the incident were released (mainly the story about Maryland ANG A-10 "Flares" story), myself and everyone else that had anything to do with the incident itself were deflated, as we knew it was false.

In short, on the night of March 13, 1997, USAF personnel stationed at both Luke AFB in Glendale and Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson were a bit scared, as something was occurring over the skies of central and southern Arizona that night, and the on-duty personnel at both bases had no idea what it was. That night, Luke AFB scrambled two F-16C's from the 56th Fighter Wing, however, these aircraft were not vectored southwest of Phoenix towards the source of the lights, but directly south towards Tucson. What is known further, is that less than 10 minutes later, a second set of F-16C's from the 56th were also scrambled and sent south-east.

Radio reports from the first flight of aircraft indicated something "odd" was occurring, however the pilots never gave any indication or specifics (in the open at any rate), as to what that was. Both flights were kept away intentionally from the lights being seen near the Estrella range. It was obvious to all with access that there were other aircraft in the area, with orders to drop flares (whether this was the Maryland ANG is unknown). It was felt that this was indeed a "deception" measure to keep curiosity focused on one space in the sky, as flares were never used that far north of the Goldwater training range (as any Luke personnel can tell you, if they were, there would be weekly "Phoenix Lights" incidents).

The next morning, wing intelligence units at both Luke and Davis-Monthan were scrambling to compile information. No one knew what had occurred the night before, but for some top officers that were summoned in during or just after the incident, there was an element of anxiety (I would not say fear, though many were disconcerted). The "hush" order took a few days to trickle down, but it was not a complete wash-up. Because of the sheer amount of public scrutiny, focusing on the "flares" video and photos allowed for a convenient and plausible explanation. Few in the mainstream press talked about the "other" sightings that night, focusing on the large triangular craft that had passed over the Phoenix metro area, the outskirts of Tucson, and over Fort Huachuca before slipping in to Mexico.

Neither did anyone mention the F-16's at all. Even though we KNOW there were numerous civilian witnesses to the scrambles (and even a few mentions here and there), NO ONE in the media asked what we all hoped they would, if this entire incident was just "flares" dropped from ANG aircraft, why then were four F-16's in the air that night, with one pair flying all the way to the Mexican border before turning back to Luke?

The incident has quietly fallen down the memory hole for most, but not for many USAF personnel close to the incident that night. There is a considerable amount of information that was never leaked, and for an incident of this magnitude, the mind boggles as to why.........

Facts:

On the night of March 13th, 1997, an alert klaxon sounded at Luke, orders for two armed aircraft to perform an immediate take-off to 10,000 feet, and head south-east towards a radar sighting north of Casa Grande, Arizona. The first two aircraft, from the 56th Fighter Wing (310th Fighter Squadron), were armed only with 2x AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and 20mm Vulcan cannons each. Once the flight was airborne, the flight leader called in that something “odd” was occurring after he picked up a radar contact a few thousand feet below, and several miles ahead of his position. His radar was showing “clutter” common to stand-off jamming.

This led to two further F-16C’s from the 56th, that were being fueled and armed since the first flight was launched, being sent up. This pair, in addition to the armament as above, also carried 2x AIM-7M Sparrow medium range missiles as well. They were also vectored south-east towards Flight 1 (now over Marana, AZ and approaching Tucson) on full afterburner. Flight 1 leader was able to regain radar contact on something large and low that was beginning to accelerate rapidly. Flight 1 lost the contact approximately 7 miles south of Tucson, and was ordered to proceed close to the border and try to regain contact.

Once Flight 1 lost radar contact, Flight 2 was ordered back to Luke (Flight 2 had just approached the Tucson area). Once Flight 1 was on station, attempts were made to re-establish radar contact to no avail. After 10 minutes or so, Flight 1 was ordered back to Luke. ALL of this occurred as the “flares” were being taped and photographed south-west of Phoenix. No aircraft were vectored to that area to investigate.

Alleged Facts:

Further scramble of aircraft was initiated from Nellis AFB, Nevada (prior to the Phoenix sighting) and Holloman AFB, New Mexico (around 10 minutes after the Flight 1 scramble from Luke). F-16’s from Nellis, no word on aircraft type from Holloman (at the time it was the only F-117A “Stealth Fighter” base, with the Luftwaffe having a training squadron of Tornado aircraft, neither would have been used on an intercept mission).

Towers at several locations had tapes of the “event”. Radar at Luke and Davis-Monthan were picking up low level “noise” on several frequencies, similar to what had happened to Flight 1. This “noise” was consistent with active wide-spectrum jamming. It was highly unusual for this to occur in an area that did not have that type of (jamming) training environment (nearest place this was done was at the Nellis AFB range). According to many in the know, something physical was in the sky that night, with radar data providing the primary source of evidence. That “something” entered Mexican airspace and promptly disappeared. Maximum recorded speed was at Mach 1.8 past Tucson nearing Fort Huachuca.

The next day, intelligence units at both Luke and Davis-Monthan were abuzz. No one knew what had occurred, other than something physical was in the sky, an intercept was attempted, and there were thousands of eye-witness accounts (many of these being the flares). Orders were apparently given for a flare-drop near Phoenix by a unit returning from the Goldwater range. This was considered highly odd to say the least, as that order was given while the main event was unfolding. These aircraft were likely A-10’s.

Other than that, all I have is a lot of second-hand hearsay. Mainly stories people would tell while drinking, etc. The above information is from my self, and from close friends whom I trust a great deal. Other than the above, I would not speculate further, as it would take away from the facts and only fuel sensational speculation.

Labels: 310th Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Wing, AL, Alert Klaxon, Arizona, Casa Grande, Davis-Monthan AFB, Luke AFB, Phoenix Lights, Topol-M, UFO

     As I look back over my 67 years of existence on this “mud ball” we call earth, I’m sometimes amazed at what has transpired during that time. Several times it has concerned me; while at other times I have felt fortunate to be alive during this period. I have been blessed over the years with a childhood I’ll always remember, and three long, separate, unrelated careers. The first being playing professional music part time for some 38 years, finally giving it up with some reluctance, missing those I entertained with.

Next came what I considered my primary career, working in civil engineering, first in the U.S. Army, 815th Engineering Battalion, (1959-1962) with two assignments to Greenland (which I never forgave the Army for), and then 33 years with the Texas Department of Transportation, where I traveled to 37 states, Korea and South Africa to inspect materials for highway and bridge construction. It was late in this career that my interest in Ufology developed pretty much as a hobby. I read everything I could find on the subject, became a member of MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network), attended local chapter meetings, and realized I would soon begin what probably has become my final career.

Retiring from the Texas DOT in August 1995 at a young age of 54, I pursued continuing that type of work with resumes distributed all over the country, and was hired as an Engineering Technician, in of all places, Roswell New Mexico.

Back in 1996 the International UFO Museum was a small storefront operation at 4th and Main St. in Roswell. I began volunteering there on weekends and was enjoying the opportunity to share information with the visitors and started to meet some of the first hand witnesses and well-known researchers. Within six months I realized that UFO research would be my third career, leaving the civil engineering work behind forever, and began volunteering at the Museum, 9-10 hours per day, 7 days a week. Without an official title as a volunteer, the staff considered me as the UFO Investigator and Operations Manager for the Museum. I was one of a few volunteers that helped move the entire Museum operation to it’s current location in 1997, in record time closing the doors to the public for only one day.

I have many fond memories of visitors that I met at the Museum, and particularly the daily discussions I had with 1947 mortician Glenn Dennis and Public Relations Officer Walter Haut, who were two of three co-founders of the museum, and considered by many to have been closely involved with the 1947 Roswell Incident. Also during my short tenure with the Museum, I had the opportunity to work closely with researchers Don Schmitt, Wendy Connors, and my inspiration, Stanton Friedman, among others, interviewing witnesses, going to the crash sites, and searching for the truth about the Roswell Incident.

My relationship with the Museum came to an abrupt end in late 1998 when I was asked to sever my relationship with the Museum, and given my $1,000.00 lifetime membership back. To this day I don’t know why that decision was made and within the recent past a note was placed at the Museum Greeter’s desk by the now Director, stating, “Dennis Balthaser is not welcome at the Museum”. Looking back that was probably a blessing in disguise, as I was able to concentrate my research as an independent researcher as I’ve done for the past 11 years, respected for my honesty and dedication in searching for the truth.

Exposure to the media reached its peak for me during the 50th anniversary of the Roswell Incident in July 1997, when every known media outlet descended on Roswell to report on the 50th anniversary. It would be a few years later until I realized that the TV documentary media and their reporting techniques were not particularly interested in factual information as much as they were concerned with ratings and profits. Of the hundreds of interviews I have done, very few would be what I consider credible and honest reporting. Live radio interviews for me have been an exception, in that they are more enjoyable and the researcher in most cases is given the opportunity to share his or her research in an open forum, without the editing that takes place with TV documentaries. Another good outlet for me has been the 60 editorials I have written about my research every other month since 1999, which are posted on 32 websites and UFO magazine, and archived on my website.

Several people have been instrumental in this final career I have chosen, and in this article I will mention a few of them, knowing that I will omit some that I should have probably mentioned.

Because of the expense and time involved in doing UFO research, first on my list of influential people would have to be my wife Debby, who has allowed me to lose money every year, doing research, while understanding my passion for obtaining the truth.

My Webmaster, Fay Wylder in Albuquerque who has been my anchor since I started doing the research as an independent researcher back in 1999, has done magical things with our website with her artistic and organizational abilities, taking my written thoughts and creating an award winning website. I can never repay her for the interest she’s shown in helping me share my four areas of research; The 1947 Roswell Incident, Area 51, Underground Bases, and more recently the Pyramids of Giza.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of a few of the researchers I’ve been fortunate enough to work with during the past 11 years and the influence they have had on my own research. No school or books could come close to achieving what I learned from them. While I was with the Museum Don Schmitt and I interviewed many witnesses and made many field trips to crash sites learning more each time we went. I’ve not worked with him since my Museum days but he continues to find new witnesses.
A world-renowned researcher who has had my respect and has become a personal friend is Stanton Friedman, the nuclear physicist and original civilian Roswell researcher. Stan and I have worked together on many investigations of witnesses, done lectures at the same symposiums and conferences and had many hours of discussions on this subject of Ufology. Stanton advised me on how to handle the “Interception” experience I had in 1997 when I met with alleged United States Air Force Office of Special Investigation Agents in Oklahoma when I tried to obtain physical evidence about the Roswell Incident.

Another is Frank Warren who came on board to help me with the “Interception” in 1997 also, and has become an outstanding researcher in his own right with his www.theufochronicles.com website. Through Franks unending and dedicated research, we now believe that the “Interception” was a hoax, and I was just one of several people that was scammed by that individual. Franks interest in other UFO cases is of unsurpassed importance to the study of Ufology.

Scott and Suzanne Ramsey have brought new information forward about the 1948 Aztec, New Mexico crash that has caused many of us to take another look at that case. I was involved with the annual Aztec symposium with the Ramseys for the past 11 years, and a great deal of information will be revealed in their soon to be published book. Scott has been relentless in his archives research and witness interviews over many years, and they have become not only co-researchers but also dear friends.

Many others have had an impact on my research such as David Rudiak on the General Ramey memo, John Greenewald Jr. for his revealing Freedom of Information requests, Richard Sauder, PhD researching Underground Bases, Dr. John DeSalvo on the Pyramids of Giza, Chuck Clark on Area 51 and several others.

At this stage in my life, and not knowing how much longer I will continue doing this research, I felt an obligation to share some personal views, and thank some of those that have helped me to have a both rewarding and at times frustrating third career. I’m forever hopeful that some of these individuals I mentioned will, as I know they will, have a lasting impression on our young people, and encourage them to get involved in this research.

Labels: Area 51, By Dennis Balthaser, Career, Civil Engineering, Debby, Editorial, International UFO Museum, Pyramids of Giza, Research, Roswell, UFO, Ufologist, Underground Bases

In the summer of 1963, in Lyons, Kansas, around 930 p.m. two of my children, and the neighbor boy came rushing into the house to tell me what they had seen traveling about tree top level, down the street in front of the house, with small creatures that were peering outside, thru small porthole style windows. The craft was like a tiny bus, is how they described it.

I am able to date the year because when the children rushed in, I was feeding my youngest with a bottle of formula, and I told them to go back outside, and I would come immediately, to see what was going on. The younger child, I told to stay in the house and continue feeding the baby that I had lain down on the couch, and told her to not let the baby roll off. She did as told, and I immediately went outside and stood in the driveway, just looking in all directions for anything unusual in the air, accompanied by the 13 year old neighbor boy, and my 11 year old son. The neighbor boy and I were looking in the same direction, when I heard him gasp, and I was already looking at an object that silently was moving in a slightly descending trajectory, some distance from where we were standing. It was football shaped and was luminous, as if it was lighted all over from within. Like a silver opaque object, with no noise, that quickly disappeared behind trees which were in the area to the northeast of where we were standing.

This incident I reported to Blue Book Air Force authorities. In a few days an Air Force Officer knocked on my door, and introduced himself as having flown in from Denver, to take my report. He brought me forms from Blue Book to be filled out. He asked me if I held a dime at arms length, would the dime cover the object that I saw. I replied that it would, I thought.

I never did send the papers in, and run across them a few years ago, in some of my things. I think I still have them some place. I was given a little blue backed pamplet style booklet which I may still have, somewhere in my things that have been moved around so much over the ensuing years. That is the last that I have heard of this, but it is not the last encounter with an unidentified object.

About 10 years ago, a daughter, who was not even born when the above incident happened, saw a similar object pass by my home in the country, at Carneiro, Kansas. I was watching television, over an antennae reception system, and the television suddenly started switching channels, and turning itself off and back on. This was a grown daughter that saw the object that looked like a full moon that passed quickly near the house. A grown son was watching TV with me, and he did not see the moon type object either. This scared my daughter half to death. She lived down the road from my home about 250 feet, and it frightened her to think of staying at her home by herself, and it took some time for her to settle down over the incident. I did not report this to anyone, since I had come to the conclusion that our government was not interested in reports that other people have made over the years.

I want to make it clear that I do believe this earth is being visited by alien type beings. No, I don't consider myself as being a mental case, although I am nearly 77 years old, my mental faculties are working very well, as you should be able to tell from this communication with you.

I found you by looking on the net for other incidents that happened in 1963. I was curious as to what else was going on back then. One forgets. I KNOW THESE THINGS ARE REAL, I DO NOT KNOW WHERE THEY COME FROM, HOWEVER. This is NOT a figment of my imagination. I believe my daughter, too, since I saw what was happening to the television set, on the later incident that I have told you about. My daughter is a VERY TRUTHFUL PERSON, not prone to imagining something. Thanks for listening.

Labels: 1963, Air Force, Blue Book, Flying Saucer. Football Shaped, Kansas, Lyons, My UFO Experience, Porthole Style Windows, Small Creatures, UFO

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Labels: 10-29-1945, 2-25-1942, Battle of Los Angeles, BOLA, General DeWitt, Mystery Planes, Sub-Marine

     I am now 61 years old. I am a retired physician and Army Reserve Colonel; I have always been a skeptic about such things as UFO's. But when I was roughly 13-15 years old and playing football in the common backyards of several of my friends, one of my friends got our attention and directed our gaze to the blue sky. At the time, I lived in Wichita, Kansas, and I think it was summer.

A silvery object raced back and forth across the sky, leaving no vapor trail. It was too far away to recognize it as any shape. It seemed to fly perhaps twenty times faster than a jet, if not more. It raced east to west across the sky, repeating this several times. After maybe half-a-dozen passes, it flew off and quickly disappeared from view. The whole event lasted maybe ten seconds.

For decades, I've wondered what we saw. It was no balloon, but rather seemed purposefully flown, repeating its path back and forth. I can't even imagine what it was. No jet flies that fast, even today. I don't tell many people I watch UFO programs, but I do now and then.

Labels: Army Reserve Colonel, Kansas, My UFO Experience, Silvery Object, UFO, Wichita

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Labels: 11-23-1957, 4, Air Force, AISS, Disc Shaped, Flying Saucer, Joseph F. Long, Nevada, Pilot, Tonopah, UFO

     My first name is Bruce. I spent 20 years in the Air Force. The first nine years I served as an enlisted man and the last 11 as an officer. Initially I was very skeptical about all the “UFO nonsense.” In the fall of 1975 I was a Minuteman III Combat Crew commander on alert with my deputy “Sam” (a lieutenant who had prior enlisted service with TAC units). In order to stay awake that night we monitored radio communication between the topside NCOIC (“Sgt Jones”) and the cops - actually Security Alert Team or SAT. They were on patrol near one of our 10 missile sites which was south about 9 or 10 miles from the Launch Control Facility or LCF.

Sometime around 2 A.M. we heard Sgt Jones ask the two cops to stop the vehicle , look around and report anything that the saw that looked unusual. He gave no hints about where to look or what to look for. The response at first was that they didn't see anything. Then a few seconds later, they reported in an excited voice that they saw a pulsating white thing in the sky. They could see flashing red and blue lights between the pulsations. Jones asked where they saw it. The cops responded that it was to the north about 10 miles and that it looked very close to the main capsule. Now fully awake, Sam and I looked at each other and wondered what was going on. I called Jones on the hot line between us and asked him about the conversation he just had with the SAT. He said that right now above the LCF (100 feet or so) was a white pulsating light with red and blue lights visible between the pulsations. He also said it was shaped like a “fat cigar” and appeared to be about 50 to 60 feet long. He was looking at it while we talked on the phone. Jones reported that it moved away.

Sgt Jones called back in a few minutes and said that it appeared to stop a few miles away - very close to one of the missile sites. We ordered the cops to that missile site but they had to return to the capsule for batteries for their flashlights and other equipment. When they finally headed towards the silo, the pulsating light moved away before they got there. Over the next couple of hours the pulsating light made stops very close to several more missile sites. Each time we tried to send the cops to the site in question. Each time the cops said they had car problems and/or other equipment problems and never actually made it to any of the sites. According to Jones, some time around 4:30 AM it “whooshed away” and turned into a white dot within a few seconds. The white dot stayed in the sky for a few more seconds and then totally disappeared.

While this was going on, during one of our communication checks with all the other launch control capsule commanders in our squadron we mentioned the object and received some chuckles and ridicule. Within a minute or so one of the other commanders called our capsule said that he was told by his topside crew that they had the same sort of lights over their missile sites earlier that night but didn't want to say anything about it in the communications check for fear of ridicule. He said that he had not and would not report the incident to headquarters – again for fear of ridicule. Sam and I reported it to SAC and Warren Control center right after that call and were laughed at and told to call back if it “ate the cops” we had sent to check it out, which of course did not happen as they never got close to the sites. Even though we were laughed at each time we called, we made sure that it was officially reported with about 3 or 4 more calls to the Control center. On the final call we insisted that they include it in their log or we would wake the base commander. I wish we had.

The next morning after our alert we were relieved by a new crew and went topside. Sgt Jones was there curled up in a chair. He was wide awake and still quite upset and scared about his experience. We spent some time talking to him and trying to calm him down. Under promise that we wouldn't report the SAT actions, Sgt Jones also told us that the cops (SAT) were scared to death last night and had decided they were not going to drive to any of the sites that had “that thing” over it under any circumstances. That explained all their vehicle and equipment problems. To this day I am convinced that Sgt Jones believed that he saw something very unusual that night and was sincere in his description of the activity. I did not see Sgt Jones again on any other alert duty.

At the next several crew departure meetings all outgoing crews were briefed that this event never officially happened and not to talk to anyone about it. I did not recognize the individual who briefed us at that departure meeting. As a serviceman who followed orders for 20 years I have had reservations about mentioning this incident.

However, in the past several years I have read about or seen on the Larry King TV show cases where similar incidents have been reported by former military members. A former Missile commander - Robert Salas especially comes to mind. Since skeptics appear to have challenged their integrity as well as their memory I think it is time for all of us that have been silent to talk about what we observed.

Labels: 1975, Air Force, Bruce, LCF, Minuteman III, Missile, Pulsating Light, SAT, Security Alert Team, Sgt Jones, Silo, UFO

     I am sure that everybody who has been following the US election campaign is well aware that much of what has shown up on the Internet simply wasn’t true. Clearly some was intentionally posted to deceive. It has also been true that much that has been written about UFOs has been false. A fine example of ignorance or intentional deception appeared in a “skeptical” piece by Brian Dunning (BD) which appeared as Skeptoid No. 124 on October 21, 2008. It was sent to me by a guy who occasionally sends nasty comments after I appear on Coast to Coast. The title is “Betty and Barney Hill: The Original UFO Abduction.” It can be found on Skeptoid.com.

It is truly a splendid textbook example of propaganda and misrepresentation. BD does get the date right, Sept. 19, 1961, but very little else. “Near the resort of Indian Head they stopped their car in the middle of Rte. 3 to observe a strange light moving through in the night sky. The next thing they knew, they were about 35 miles further along on their trip and several hours had elapsed.” Talk about omissions. There was more than one stop. The large object (hardly a light) was within a few hundred feet. Barney observed it through binoculars from outside the car. He observed a double row of windows through which he could see about 10 individuals, red lights on fins on the outside, etc. This was conscious recall and was described to NICAP Investigator Walter Webb during a six hour interview on October 21, 1961. No hypnosis was involved.

“Then Betty began having nightmares two weeks later; in her nightmares she described being taken aboard an alien spacecraft and having medical experiments performed. As a result of these nightmares, Betty and Barney decided to undergo hypnosis.” This is absurd. Barney had developed hypertension, bleeding ulcers, was unable to sleep. He was in therapy . The original thought, that these symptoms were related to his having moved to NH leaving his sons, was dispelled by the therapist. At one session he noted that he and Betty had been searching for the location where they had seen the UFO. Then he was referred to Psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon, an early expert in treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder using medical hypnotic regression with amnesia induced after each session.

BD States “Innumerable books and movies were made about the Betty and Barney Hill abduction…you almost never hear a critical treatment of their story.” He mentions none of the books. I know of three (Ref. 1, 2, 3) and one movie, NBC’s 1975 “The UFO Incident” starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. There have been loads of very critical treatments, for example, by Carl Sagan in the bestselling “Cosmos” (Ref.4) and in an article in Parade magazine (Ref.5). BD goes on “Much of the Hill story is said to be based on these separate hypnosis sessions…In fact that turns out not to be case at all…It is important to note that that it was more than two years after the incident that the Hills underwent hypnosis. During those two years Betty was writing and rewriting her accounts of her dreams. All of the significant details you may have heard about the Hills medical experiments came from her two years of writing.” This is a total lie. There was no writing and rewriting as can be seen by reading what she wrote, for example, in “Captured!” and the comparative analysis between the dreams and the hypnosis material.

She did dream of a star-map, but it was on a roller like maps at school and was not 3D. BD has the gall to claim, “Betty probably told the story to Barney over and over again until his ears fell off over a period of two years before they ever had any hypnosis.” I have no idea what the source is for this nonsense. Nor for this ridiculous comment “When they first saw the light, Betty said she thought it was a spacecraft. Barney always said he thought it was an airplane.” Without hypnosis they described seeing it close-up near their car with a double row of windows and barely moving and without any noise. This is an airplane?

Dunning then notes that Betty’s written description of the beings in her nightmare was different from Barney’s under hypnosis But when reliving the moments together their descriptions of events matched: “After Betty Hill heard these sessions suddenly her hypnosis accounts began to describe the same kind of character.” The simple fact of the matter is that Betty and Barney were each hypnotized separately and amnesia was induced after each separate session so they could not talk with each other about what came out under hypnosis. Betty could not have heard any of these sessions until Dr. Simon finally played the tapes for them.

Dunning then tries to relate the characters described in the hypnosis session to aliens who appeared 12 days prior to Barney’s first hypnosis session in February 1964 to an experience on the Outer Limits TV program called “The Bellero Shield.” As a matter of fact, they do not match. Dunning admits “The Hills stated they did not watch it.” As with most of Dunning’s claims, no basis is given for claiming they did. It should be noted that nowhere does Dunning bother to note that Betty was a social worker and a supervisor in the Welfare Department of the State of New Hampshire. Of course he doesn’t mention that Barney was on the governor’s Civil Rights Commission. Nor does he give Dr. Simon’s name or background such as that he ran a 3000 bed hospital for shell shock war veterans and that he was featured in an army film “Let There be Light” about his successful treatment of these veterans, using hypnosis in the same fashion he used with Betty and Barney to recover missing memories.

Dunning claims: “Betty had commonly spoken of UFOs even before 1961, including one story she often told of her sister’s own close encounter in 1957.” Again no source is given. The fact is that her sister’s daughter, Kathleen Marden, co-author of “Captured!” has stated this is false. Betty mentioned it once to Barney and he didn’t believe in UFOs and that was the end of that.

Dunning then gives this strange summary: “So here’s what we have so far: A woman who clearly had an obsession with UFOs [no evidence whatsoever] saw a light in the sky that her husband described as an airplane [when it was farther away]. She then spent two years writing an elaborate story [totally false] and no doubt telling it and retelling it to her husband [totally false]. Later under hypnosis Barney was asked about the events described in Betty’s story, and surprise, surprise, he retold the story she already told him a hundred times [totally false] and added a dash from the Outer Limits.”

Dunning mentions radar sightings included in the Blue Book file and dismisses them naturally excluding some important data such as the supposed weather balloons having a very low radar profile. He tries to throw out measurements made on Betty’s dress by unnamed “crop circle enthusiasts” but ignores the important work done by analytical chemist Phyllis Budinger, employed by a major company for 35 years. He claims that anything found on the dress was the result of its being in the closet for 40 years. Phyllis actually had a very similar dress (her wedding dress) kept for that long and not having any of the same stuff on it.

Dunning is equally cavalier in trying to toss out the star map work done by Marjorie Fish. Surprisingly he mentions her by name, then totally misrepresents what she did. He says she read a book [Of course he doesn’t mention that it was John Fuller’s Interrupted Journey and that she visited Betty to get more data.] “It’s seven or 8 random dots connected by lines.” More nonsense, there are 15 dots. The lines make sense: nearest star to nearest star. “She then took beads and string and converted her living room into a 3-dimensional version of the galaxy based on the 1969 Gliese star catalog.” The fact of the matter is she built 26 different 3D models of the local galactic neighborhood, out 55 light years, at most, from the sun. The biggest model was a 3-foot cube, hardly living room size, and was used as a teaching tool by Dr. Walter Mitchell, Chairman of the Astronomy Department at the Ohio State University. He and Marjorie and Betty are all in the movie UFOs Are Real. (Ref. 6) The galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. Most of the work was done before the Gliese catalog was published. Nobody doing what she did before the Gliese was published could have identified the stars because the correct distance data had not been available. Of course he says Zeta Reticuli when there are 2 stars, Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli. (The constellation is Reticulum.) He makes no note of the facts that they are the closest to each other pair of sun-like stars in the neighborhood (1/8th of a ly apart), and a billion years older than the sun and 39.3 light years from Earth and that all the pattern stars are sun-like though only 5% of those in the neighborhood are, and that all the sun-like stars in the 3D volume represented by her models are part of the pattern and that they are all in a plane. He claims that anybody could have made a crude drawing using the Gliese data, not published until 8 years after the event!! He makes claims about Carl Sagan and other astronomers’ comments, but neglecting to say they don’t stand up to careful review such as provided by Astronomy writer Terence Dickinson. (Ref. 7 and 8)

He concludes this mockery of journalism and science: “The Betty and Barney Hill abduction story has every indication of being merely an inventive tale from the mind of a lifelong UFO Fanatic. It is unsupported by any useful evidence and is perfectly consistent with the purely natural explanation.”

I have been unable to find any biographical data about Dunning though there is a well known flautist with the same name. His piece (there are many other false claims besides those noted above) stands as a monument to laziness, misrepresentation, bias and ignorance. It is almost pure baloney, an inventive tale from the mind of an anti-UFO fanatic. No, I have no idea why he and other debunkers are so determined to ignore the UFO evidence.

References

1. Fuller, John The Interrupted Journey Dial Press, New York. 1966
2. Pflock, Karl and Brookesmith, Peter (Editors) Encounters at Indian Head: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Revisited 2007 Anomalist Books
3. Friedman, Stanton T. , Marden, Kathleen. Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. 320 pages, New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 2007, Autographed by both authors, UFORI, POB 958, Houlton, ME 04730-0958 $18.99 includes P & H
4. Sagan, Carl Cosmos TV Series and Book, 1980
5.Sagan, Carl UFO Abductions PARADE, March 7,1993
6.UFOs Are Real DVD 1979 93 minutes UFORI, $20.00
7.Dickinson ,Terence The Zeta Reticuli Incident Astromedia 1974
8. Dickinson, Terence Update on the Zeta Reticuli Incident, UFORI 1980 $1.00

Labels: Abdduction, Aliens, Barney Hill, Betty Hill, Stanton Friedman, UFO

- click on image(s) to enlarge -
     

Labels: Farmer, Grand Forks AFB, Major Joseph E Zainey, McHenry, Minot AFB, Minuteman II, Missile Silo, North Dakota, Report, UFO, Wright Patterson AFB

     These stunning images [at source] show mysterious columns of light streaming into the sky above the town of Sigulda in Latvia at the end of last month.

Taken by designer Aigar Truhins with a standard digital camera, the photographs have prompted excited online discussions among amateur astronomists all over the internet.

'My son exclaimed, 'The aliens are coming!'' Truhins was quoted as saying.

'It certainly looked that way,' he added.

But experts are agreed there may be a more prosaic explanation - ice crystals in the air.

The air above the town was notably cold and filled with suspended ice crystals.

It is believed that the columns were formed by those reflecting light from the bright streetlamps and other lights on the ground - beaming it back downwards again.

Skies all over Europe have been filled with such natural phenomena during the cold snap of recent weeks.

Scientists at the website spaceweather.com said: 'Truhin’s pillars are not the ordinary kind. Even eading experts in atmospheric optics can’t quite figure them out

'These pillars are mysterious. They have unexplained curved tops and even curved arcs coming from their base.

'Arcs in rare displays like these could be from column crystals to give parts of tangent arcs, others could be the enigmatic Moilanan arc or even the recently discovered reflected Parry arc.

'We do not know – so take more photos on cold nights!'

Labels: Aigar Truhins, Aliens, Ice Crystals, Latvia, Light Columns, Phenomena. Photographs, Sigulda

     My very close and very real experience took place in late December of 1978. The location was technically Valdosta, GA, the actual physical site was less than a 1/4 mile from the front gate of Moody Air Force Base.

The object was a dark (black) solid V (chevron shaped) metallic object. The object was solid and had rows of white colored light on each wing. There were no turbine engines or jet engines on the object. The white lights never dimmed or flashed out, but remained lit. The object was almost silent, it was dark, (kind of reflecting the dark night sky and ground) it did make noise but to this day i have no reference to what it sounded like.

The object moved slowly, perhaps at a speed between 10-20 miles per hour and was headed in the direction of Moody Air Force base and the object passed directly over head as i stood in a driveway (was shooting a basketball) when i looked up at the basket i saw the object.

The object traveled above the highway toward F4 fighter aircraft (Moody was a Tactical Air Command base in those days). I could hear the F4 Phantoms very well. The F4 aircraft were making there approach to the landing strip (counted a least 3-4 of them) descending for a landing. The V shaped object passed above the landing F4 aircraft. I don't know where the V shaped came from or who or what commandeered that craft, but if it was an Air Force plane, the pilot would have been busted and rifted to an airman for flying his craft into the path of other US government aircraft, and for endangering US Government property.

I believe the government knows more than it is letting on, perhaps the government is scared, perhaps the government is no longer in control of US air space. It's taken me 31 years to come to this conclusion, that being that our officals (elected and or choosen), are not the most intelligent or talented people, but they are in charge, and this is a mess and if they (government officals) are not in charge of the USA, then who is?

Labels: 1978, F4 Phantoms, GA, Moody Air Force Base, My UFO Experience, Tactical Air Command, UFO, V shaped, Valdosta