"The real trouble comes from the reference to the 1933 crash in Italy. I had not heard about this and I have spent decades researching claims of UFO crashes. The Italian story comes from documents, received anonymously in the mail by Italian researchers. This smacks of the tales of MJ-12, documents that were received anonymously in the mail by American researchers. Those documents are considered to hoaxes by the majority of UFO researchers today."
One of the problems we face after David Grusch began
his whistle blowing campaign is that he provided almost no information
about his sources, about the UFO crash retrievals he alleged were real
and provided no documents to support his claims. All that was coming but
given the rules, regulations and laws, he was unable to produce any of
the required information that would allow us to vet anything he said and
validate his tale.
However, we can deduce some of this by
comments he has made, especially during the interview that was broadcast
on one of the fledgling all-news cable channels.
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I’m going to ignore his comment about “The Program,” which might or might not
be the real name of a clandestine program because there just isn’t enough
information about it to make any analysis meaningful. I will say, however,
that we know about Project Moon Dust that had a UFO component, and that after
the name was compromised in the mid-1980s, the name was changed and we were
told that even the name was classified. Not that the project had been
cancelled, only that the name had been changed and was still gathering UFO
related material under umbrella of national security.
Grusch did name two UFO crashes. He mentioned both a crash in Italy in 1933
and, of course, Roswell. There was no danger in mentioning Roswell because of
the controversy wrapped around the story. While the government explanation was
Project Mogul, the available documentation eliminates that answer. I have
written about that explanation of Roswell for, literally, decades, and believe
there is no viable, terrestrial explanation for what was recovered. For those
who wish to pursue my reasons for that, I suggest typing Mogul into the search
engine here, or read either
Roswell in the 21st Century or Understanding Roswell.
The real trouble comes from the reference to the 1933 crash in Italy. I had
not heard about this and I have spent decades researching claims of UFO
crashes. The Italian story comes from documents, received anonymously in the
mail by Italian researchers. This smacks of the tales of MJ-12, documents that
were received anonymously in the mail by American researchers. Those documents
are considered to hoaxes by the majority of UFO researchers today.
Briefly, Grusch said that the UFO was retrieved in northern Italy in 1933, and
was recovered by Mussolini’s fascist government. The Pope learned about it and
told the US government. The material was recovered by the US after the end of
the Second World War.
The story of the 1933 crash, as told by Roberto Pinotti, an Italian journalist
and UFO researcher, was that the object fell in Magenta, Lambardy, Italy, on
April 11, 1933. The object was described as “saucer-like” and the event
resulted in an investigation by an Italian intelligence unit called RS/33
Cabinet. The UFO was stored in the hangars of SIAI Marchetti in Vergiate.
Mussolini believed the craft was a secret weapon of either the Nazis or the
Allies.
Pope Pius XII learned of the craft and may have been told about it by
Mussolini himself. When Mussolini signed a treaty with Hitler, the Pope
worried about the craft and told the US about the object. It was after the war
that the craft made its way to the United States.
Lue Elizondo, who was involved in UFO investigations, said that he had seen
documents from Mussolini’s office that he found, “compelling.” He seemed to
suggest that the craft might not have been alien but was some sort of advanced
craft using jet engines that had been developed by the Nazis. The timing,
however, doesn’t seem to fit. April 1933 is too early for the development of
the jet engines and the design might have been something created by the Horten
brothers attempts to build a “tailless” aircraft.
There were tales of bodies that made their way, and I say allegedly here, to
Wright Field. They were badly mangled, looking as if they had been in a car
wreck, but whose heads were fairly intact. They were seven feet tall, had long
blonde hair, clear blue eyes, small noses, small mouths, thin lips and no
signs facial hair. The conclusion, based on the examination of those bodies
was that they were not human.
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One of the gates to Wright-Patterson AFB. Photo by Kevin Randle
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Now here is a connection that will raise a few eyebrows. There is an account
from another source to corroborate some of these details. William Brophy, said
that his father, who was a lieutenant colonel, had seen the bodies at some
point and told him, the son, about them. Yes, this is the same Lieutenant
Colonel Brophy who supposedly flew over, or landed near, or was somehow a
witness to the 1945 UFO crash described by Jacques Vallee in this book about
the San Antonio (Trinity) crash. The younger Brophy’s entry into this case
taints it, just as it has the San Antonio crash.
At any rate, this is the tale of the 1933 crash, not cluttered up with any
sort of corroboration except for those documents that have been floating
around for decades. The trouble there, according to an Italian researcher,
Giuseppe Stilo, writing in UFO Rivista di Informazione Ufoligica, those
documents are faked. The documents arrived anonymously and were reported to
have originated in “archival sources that no one has been able to identify and
verify.”
Another problem is that those holding what has been termed “The Fascist
Files,” is that disinterested third parties, in this case the CISU (Centro Italiano Studi Ufogici, an Italian research group) requested an opportunity to examine the
documents but that has not happened in more than twenty years.
Also disturbing, is the lack of citation of the sources. We have dealt here,
on this blog, with anonymous sources in various public arenas and more often
than not, when the original source is identified the information attributed to
that source has been distorted, or worse, the source denied the information.
A second article, “Fascist files” Under Scrutiny, by Massimiliano
Grandi, published in UFO Rivista di Informazione Ufoligica (number 29)
provided more information on these documents. Published with the article are
photos of the documents which demonstrates there are documents, but that
doesn’t mean they are authentic because the originals have not been subjected
to independent forensic examination. This is the same problem we had with the
MJ-12 documents. The originals were not available for disinterested third
party examination.
Grandi provides additional arguments about the authenticity of the documents
and the failure to corroborate any of the sources or other information. He
concludes, however:
…we would like to firmly reiterate that despite the critical tones – the
intent of those who want to study such an affair cannot be to try to prove the
‘falsity’ of those papers. This would be illogical. This falsity is not proven
now, but it was intended to point out that there are numerous serious
weaknesses in the reasons made to support the importance of the documents.
On the basis of the evidence so far produced, we believe that an Abrahamic
faith is indeed required to condition the conclusions drawn by Pinotti and
Lissoni about the contents of these documents.
Or, in other words, they found nothing to indicate that the documents were
authentic and without additional information, the case for the 1933 crash and
retrieval is not proven. It is up to the supporters to provide that proof and
for more than twenty years they have failed to do so.
If this revelation about the 1933 Italian UFO crash is accurate, then it casts
a shadow over the whistle blower who suggested that he learned it from his
inside sources. It means that he accepted the original publication of the
material without critical thought or even making a basic Internet search
because he assumed that the information was accurate. It would seem that an
insider, with access to what must be highly classified information, would have
been aware of the controversy surrounding this case. He wouldn’t have
mentioned it as one of two that he believed to be authentic.
Since he didn’t mention the names of any of his sources, we are unable to vet
them and their reliability. We now enter an area of speculation. I have run
into information that Grusch had spent time at the Skinwalker Ranch. Jerry
Clark had mentioned to me that linking Grusch to Skinwalker as a way of
questioning his credibility was unfair. Many have traveled to Skinwalker. But
my point wasn’t about the paranormal research going on there, but who
conducted the research and who had visited there. That put Grusch in touch
with some formerly high-ranking government and military officials, not to
mention Bigelow Aerospace. Remember, Grusch had talked about some of the
evidence of the crashes and the recovery of material from those crashes had
been provided to corporate America. One of those specifically named by sources
other than Grusch was Bigelow Aerospace.
Given that connection, then it follows that we can deduce some of the names of
those involved, and we can deduce some of the other crashes that might have
been mentioned. Given where some of the information has recently surfaced that
included the names of Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, I believe that one of
those crashes is the 1945 claim of the recovery of a craft near San Antonio,
New Mexico. The story was told by two men, who had been boys in 1945, who saw
the craft crash, saw the wrecked craft on the ground, the alien creatures that
flew it, and the Army recovery operation.
Although the story has been accepted by some very smart people, some of them
who have been around the UFO field for decades, Douglas Dean Johnson, in a
comprehensive investigation that does cite sources and does provide
documentation, has thoroughly debunked the tale. The shifting nature of the
important features of the story suggest it is untrue. Tom Carey recorded an
interview with Reme Baca, one of those witnesses, before the story received
any wide spread treatment and the recording is of an event that doesn’t match
much of the later story. You can read Johnson’s research and listen to Carey’s
interview and analysis by other, disinterested third parties here:
Crash Story File: The Reme Baca Smoking-Gun Interview
Crash Story: The Trinity UFO Crash Hoax
www.davidhalperin.net
Given the direction of all this, I wonder if the Del Rio UFO crash in northern
Mexico, just across the border from Texas, isn’t on the list. This tale
appears in the MJ-12 Eisenhower Briefing Document as one of the authentic
crashes, though they have moved it from Del Rio to the south, in the area of
El Indio/Guerrero. There are those who believe the story because a retired Air
Force colonel was the one who told it and he signed an affidavit attesting to
the authenticity of his information. However, it turned out the witness,
Robert Willingham, was not an Air Force colonel and his story had more changes
than that of Reme Baca. You can read about how it unraveled
here
and that will also provide links to other Willingham and MJ-12 analysis:
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Researcher, author Stan Gordon
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I would guess that another of the crashes that Grusch might promote is the
Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, event of December 9, 1965. Stan Gordon has spent
decades in research of this case and is convinced that it was an alien
spacecraft that crashed. Leslie Kean, along with Gordon attempted to recover
records of the crash from NASA. Gordon has found many people who saw part of
the final flight of what he thinks of as alien spacecraft. I too, thought that
this was one of the best UFO crash stories, and Gordon has produced some
compelling evidence. However, in the world today, the answer for that event
might be a meteor. A bolide, which is a very bright meteor, fell about that
time, with remnants found in southern Canada.
I wonder if Shag Harbour might not be on the list. This case had many
witnesses who saw something fall into Shag Harbour in 1967. There was both a
law enforcement response as well as a military one. The object was not
recovered, and the evidence seems to suggest that it eventually managed to
leave the harbour for deeper waters. Not so much of a crash as an emergency
landing. There are many witnesses, as I noted, and there are many official
documents about it. Chris Styles and Don Ledger are responsible for finding
the documentation and the other information that suggests that this was an
anomalous event.
These are some of the obvious tales of UFO crashes that had received mention
in various books, magazine articles and TV documentaries. These are the
prominent ones that many accept as authentic crashes. There are some lesser
known crashes that might make the list such as the one over Las Vegas in
April, 1962.
There was a report of a “brilliant red explosion” over Las Vegas that was
witnessed by dozens, if not hundreds. Couple this to events in Utah of an
oval-shaped craft landing and then taking off, and there is a hint of a
“forced landing,” if not an actual crash. Sheriff’s deputies told me of a
search for the downed craft that was never located. At this point, my
investigation suggests that the Las Vega end of it was a bolide that exploded
in the upper atmosphere.
I suppose I could go on with this speculation, but without Grusch telling us
what specific events he had encountered, what he had heard from those
highly-placed sources, and what is on those documents that he has seen but
hasn’t produced, all we can do is speculate.
What I do know at this point is that Grusch’s mention of the Italian crash
calls part of his story and one or more of his sources into question. Insiders
would know the truth about this case, if they had heard about it. That casts
something of a shadow over his whistle blowing.
However, those of us who have been around the UFO field long enough have been
fooled by sources that seem to have inside information, only to learn that
their sources were no better than ours. The UFO field is littered with the
tall tales that, originally looked good but have fallen when better research
was presented. Four of the most recent examples are the MJ-12 documents, the
Alien Autopsy, the Project Mogul explanation for Roswell, and what I have
called the Roswell Slides. The truth about all these has been published and
you can read about it on this blog by typing in the keywords, or read about in
my latest books about Roswell mentioned earlier.
At this point, I’m hopeful that Grusch will be able to provide the information
we need to vet his tales, but as we said in the military, “Hope is not an
option.” All I can really say is there are a few red flags but these simply
are not enough to reject the information that Grusch has provided. As Jerry
Clark said to me, we do need to wait to see how this plays out and where the
truth finally is found.