| Former US Air Force Security Policeman Richard L. Barth emailed me recently, after having watched my September 2024 interview on Australian journalist Ross Coulthart’s Reality Check podcast, during which I had discussed my five-decade-long investigation of UAP activity at US nuclear weapon deployment sites and test ranges. Barth summarized an intriguing experience he had while in the US Air Force involving Non-Human Intelligences (NHI) and provided me with his military service record, known as a DD214, which verified that in 1964, he had been stationed at Vandenberg AFB, California, assigned to the 4392nd Combat Defense Squadron, |  The UFO Chronicles © 11-15-2025 |
The best-known UAP case at Vandenberg during that era was the September 15, 1964 Big Sur UFO Incident, involving the inadvertent filming of a domed-disc craft that paced a dummy nuclear warhead in flight, before shooting it down with plasma-like beams of light. The astounding encounter was first publicized in 1982, by former USAF Lieutenant (now Dr.) Bob Jacobs, who had headed-up the telescopic photography team.
Shortly thereafter, the reality of the event was verified by retired Major Florenze Mansmann, who had been Vandenberg’s chief photo analyst in the early 1960s. Much later, in 2023, former Department of Defense counter-intelligence officer and special agent Lue Elizondo publicly confirmed that he had watched the dramatic film footage, on a DVD, while he was director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) at the Pentagon.
Now, in light of Richard Barth’s recent revelations—which I believe to be credible—it appears that another remarkable, UFO/NHI event occurred at Vandenberg in September 1964.
Following his October 18, 2025 email to me, I called Barth and he provided additional details about his experience. Later on, additional emailed exchanges between us yielded still more information. Below I have integrated the statements that he made in his initial correspondence with those excerpted from all of the other communications:
I was assigned to Vandenberg AFB on July 1, 1964, after washing-out of an undergraduate navigator cadet program, due to failing night celestial navigation. The condition of my Air Force enlistment was that I could be discharged from active duty after serving out my [two-year] selective service obligation. I was not planning to make the military my career so I selected guard duty at Vandenberg which required minimal training, rather than reenlisting in a field of my choice.
The Combat Defense Squadron was composed of four [groups called] flights. After finishing a cycle of three swing-shifts, three nights, and three days, followed by three days off, each flight was reassigned to a new sector, such as the Thor missile sites in F sector. During the month of September 1964, my flight—A Flight—was assigned to the Minuteman sites in D sector, where the incident took place.
I was on the night shift at site D5, where an active, unarmed missile was being prepared for a later launch. The coast where D sector is located was covered by a dense fog. The site was illuminated by a bright light similar to the ones on sports fields. The effect was that I was inside a dome, roughly 50-feet in diameter, surrounded by a thick wall of fog.
Around 2:00 a.m., shortly after the duty sergeant left, having delivered my box lunch, I became aware of a presence, and could make out the shadow of a human figure just inside the wall of fog. My first impression was that the duty sergeant had returned on foot to my post, but as the figure became clearer, it appeared to be an officer dressed in an Air Force-issue rain coat and garrison cap with a rain cover.
As the figure moved closer, I suddenly had the strong sense that he was penetrating my mind! Although I don't recall the entity communicating with me telepathically [at that point], I did feel that it had full control of my body, I became frightened and tried reaching for the 38 cal. Colt pistol carried by most of the guards while on duty, but my arm was suddenly paralyzed. As the figure continued to approach, a feeling of terror overcame me. In my mind, I can clearly see the entity approaching me, but I cannot recall its face. I'm sure the terror I experienced had something to do with its appearance but, to this day, if try to recall the face, it's blanked out. Perhaps that's a defense mechanism protecting me from further trauma.
I backed into the guard shack behind me, but realized that I was trapped. I pushed so hard against the shelf at the back of the shack, trying to get out, that I could feel excruciating pain. Then I blacked-out.
When I came to, I found myself on my knees in a dark room, facing a hole in the floor about three feet in diameter. All I could see through the hole was a gray fog. I sensed a figure next to me on my right. I wanted to look at it, but I was getting a message, telepathically, not to look and to keep looking through the hole. Although there seemed to be no cover over the hole, such as glass or acrylic, the room felt warm and comfortable. I did not feel afraid but I was curious about what was going on.
After a few moments, the fog beyond the hole parted, and I could see—from above, as if I was in the air—the entrance to site D11, which was located across the road and about a thousand yards to the south of site D5. As I watched, a flatbed truck loaded with pipes pulled up to the gate. A guard came out of his shed, approached the right side of the truck, apparently talking to the men inside, then proceeded to open the gate and allowed the truck to enter the site. No one seemed aware of our presence above them. From what I could figure, site D11 was being refurbished after a recent launch. The fog then reappeared, obscuring the scene visible through the hole. To this day, I have no idea why I was shown site D11.
I then lifted my head and looked across the room above the hole, even though I sensed that I was not supposed to. I could see the silhouettes of four small figures sitting on a bench that seemed to be made from a mold of the same material as the room. Because the room was dark, and the figures were dark-colored and backlit from light seemingly emitted from the wall, I could not make out much detail, although I could discern that they had large eyes, were bald, with large heads and short thick necks, making them look like newborn babies. The figures were silent and just seemed to be observing me.
The next thing I remember is waking up lying prone on the floor of the guard shack with my head on the lap of an entity that seemed human. I kept my eyes tightly shut, as if by command, and did not try to look at him. The entity was telepathically communicating that he was sorry that I had been traumatized, but it was necessary for them to gain intelligence about the missile silo—stating that they needed to find a way to prevent the launch of our missiles in the event of nuclear war.
He also stated that the Earth was a valuable asset for them, and they would not allow us to destroy it. He stated there were more than one species of aliens, some not so benevolent as his, and that they were restrained by a treaty among themselves not to intervene in human affairs unless we put the planet at risk, such as by a nuclear holocaust.
The implication, as I understood it, was that the various groups of entities did not get along well among themselves, and that in the event they had to intervene, they might end up in conflict among themselves over who would take control in the aftermath. I felt relieved that we would not be allowed to annihilate ourselves, but was not optimistic that in the event they had to intervene, things would bode well for our species.
Then a feeling came over me that I shall never forget. I began to feel a hundred times safer and more secure than a newborn baby in its mother’s arms. It was pure love. The entity left, but I kept my eyes shut for another ten minutes or so, savoring the feeling imposed upon me by him. When I opened them, the sun was beginning to shine over the ridge of hills to the east, leaving a slight yellow glow on the ocean.
I noticed a chipmunk gnawing on something he picked up from the grass. He looked straight at me, and I felt a deep love for him, and all living things. Shortly after, my relief arrived, and I rode back to the base in the bed of one of the dark blue pickup trucks used to transport the guards to and from their posts. By the time I got back to the base, all memories of the night before had been erased.
However, two weeks later, early in morning, shortly after I awakened, the events of that night came flooding back. Some will claim it was a dream, but I know the difference between dreaming and reality. This was real. I looked over to my roommate, wondering whether I should tell him what I experienced, but he was still asleep. I thought of reporting the incident, but to who? And then I thought what if they would deem me crazy, leaving me with a medical rather than an honorable discharge, creating a stigma that would follow me forever.
At that moment, I felt a strong telepathic command that I was to tell no one of the incident, and for the next 20 years I kept it to myself, although I became a strong UFO buff, hoping to find the answers to what happened that night.
Eventually, I began telling a few friends I trusted who would not think that I was being a little fanciful. I even called the radio show, Coast to Coast, after Art Bell interviewed the author of a book that specifically covered UFO sightings at nuclear sites and missile bases, including Vandenberg. Several years later, during another show, my call was taken by George Noory, who now hosts Coast to Coast, while interviewing a guest with a similar book. [RH: I believe that I was the author in this case. Noory interviewed me a few years ago.]
I am 82-years-old now, and not in the best of health. I have had a fulfilling career as a Registered Nurse, and as an adjunct Nursing instructor at the local colleges here in Palm Desert, California. I am not seeking notoriety, nor am I interested in writing a book on Ufology. I earnestly believe my experience at Vandenberg AFB in 1964 was real, and that it can contribute to the database of overwhelming evidence that, in spite of all the shortcomings of the human race, we are being watched over by entities far in advance of ourselves.
During each of my interactions with Barth, I found him to be candid, articulate and convincing. His level-headed and understated manner lent credibility to his narrative and I subsequently put him in touch with Dr. Bob Jacobs, who was equally impressed with him.
One obviously important aspect of Barth’s abduction account involves the participation of a human-appearing entity, apparently dressed in US military garb, clearly working with the other non-human entities he saw, who we now generally refer to as the Grays. Given that the “military man” spoke to Barth telepathically almost certainly means that, despite outward appearances, he was not actually human. As some readers will know, the abduction literature database contains numerous reports of this particular phenomenon—abductees witnessing human-like aliens working together with other types of NHIs—so Barth’s story is not unique in this respect. (Travis Walton’s account is another example.)
Significantly, of the 169 military veterans whom I’ve interviewed about their involvement in nuclear weapon systems-related UFO incidents, seven—Barth now makes eight—have also reported experiencing abductions by NHIs. Of those, one individual reports having seen two figures dressed in US military uniforms associating with Grays; another describes witnessing either humans or human-like entities in unidentifiable uniforms of some sort, also working with them.
A second important element in Barth’s account involves what can be only be described as a transcendent, spiritual outlook that abruptly overwhelmed him—apparently implanted in his mind by the human-like entity, as Barth’s head rested in its lap—whereby he experienced an intense sense of love for all living creatures. This instant, inexplicable mental transformation has also been reported in other abduction accounts, with abductees describing how they suddenly, profoundly understood the connection between all sentient beings in the universe. Many further report that this mystical afterglow lasted the remainder of their lives. So, Barth’s description of this particular aspect of his experience is in fact echoed by other abductees.
(To be sure, a great many accounts in the abduction literature are anything but spiritual in tone, with the experiencers expressing a feeling of pure terror throughout the entirety of the encounter, as well as having a sense of foreboding afterward that future abductions were possible, if not certain.)
Regarding Barth’s receiving a telepathic message from the human-like entity, in which he was told that the NHIs monitoring our planet would not allow the superpowers of that era—the United States and the Soviet Union—to engage in nuclear war because “the Earth is a valuable asset” for them, this assertion reflects my own opinion about a possible motivation underlying the entities’ now well-documented, decades-long surveillance of, and occasional interference with, American and Russian nuclear missile systems.
That is, if one or more NHI groups have a permanent presence here—perhaps in bases under the ocean—and engage in ongoing activities of one kind or another relating to their plans and goals, then one would expect them to take steps to safeguard their own interests. For example, performing technological feats such as knocking large numbers of ICBMs offline, to forcefully make a point, so as to get the attention of those controlling the nukes in the US and USSR. Several of the military veterans whom I’ve interviewed over the years say that these missile-shutdown events have occurred repeatedly.
Such provocative but essentially covert actions would selectively let the governmental leaders of each country know about the entities’ presence and pointed displeasure with our having and threatening to use nuclear weapons. But, at the same time, due to the secrecy imposed on the missile-shutdown incidents by the military, the vast majority of humans would remain in the dark regarding these shocking developments. If the NHIs were not ready to fully reveal themselves to all of humankind, this strategy would permit them to express their concern regarding the potential for nuclear war, and yet effectively preserve the status quo, in terms of the public remaining oblivious to their presence.
If this scenario has merit, one hopes that in addition to protecting their own interests, the entities would also have, at least to some degree, an altruistic impulse toward our own species and all of the other lifeforms on Earth that would be catastrophically impacted by a large-scale nuclear exchange.
As for Barth being told that there is more than one species of NHI operating here, the anecdotal data support this claim, if one accepts the validity of various experiencers’ independent reports of having encountered different types of aliens—ranging from human-like to reptilian—during their abduction experiences.
Further, given what Barth personally witnessed, as well as similar accounts by other abductees, it seems that in some cases two different species of NHI are indeed working together, at least in their operations involving abducting humans. For example, Grays and “Nordics” or Grays and the Mantis-like beings.
While I understand that none of these reports from experiencers even remotely constitute scientific evidence, the occurrence of widespread and ongoing accounts of alien abduction is undeniable and, I have no doubt, this phenomenon will be accepted as “real” at some point. Of course, as an abductee myself, who has repeatedly experienced the physical reality of these amazing encounters, I am admittedly biased about the prospect of this realization materializing sooner or later, among our species as a whole.
Finally, Richard Barth had a second UAP-related experience at Vandenberg some six months after his abduction encounter, involving a dramatic orb sighting, which will be the subject of a forthcoming article.
