Closing the Kecksburg UFO Case Opened Another Mystery – Pt 1

Introduction to the Kecksburg Mystery

It was Thursday, December 9, 1965. Something odd in the sky caught the attention of thousands of people as it pierced the Earth’s atmosphere. Observers who looked toward the sky that day were treated to an anomaly. Individuals from Canada, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania experienced a unique object in the heavens—and on the ground— that embodied phenomenal qualities. Following is a synthesis of several eyewitnesses’ statements about what they saw:

Dr. Bob Wenzel Gross The UFO Chronicles © 8-29-17

The projectile was brilliant. At times, this fireball glowed intensely, and gave off tints of color, as it shot across the sky. The airborne anomaly was afire and southeasterly bound. Its tail was a display of flames that left traces of smoke hanging among the clouds (Gordon 2001). The smoke outlined a dynamic, irregular trajectory.

The object didn’t maneuver like an ordinary meteor or piece of space junk. To the contrary, this red-hot contraption slowed, stopped, stood still, and changed course on its sinuous way to Kecksburg. Unquestionably, the brilliant object qualified as a UFO because of its unique appearance and strange movements.

It made weird noises too. This thing boomed and blasted at times, and it hissed as well. In addition, as this peculiarity flew above Pennsylvania readying itself to land, it seemed to morph. By the end of its journey, the oddity had changed shape—from a blazing ball to a fiery four-pointed star (Ventre and Eichler 2015). Over a densely wooded section of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, the quirky craft glided from above the treetops to the forest floor in a controlled manner.

Alerted by the local news media’s announcements about the potential UFO crash, masses of people started for Kecksburg. The crowds that amassed were hoping to see a wrecked aerial phenomenon. At one point, a police spokesman appeared and stated to the gathering that an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) had indeed landed in the woods (Farrell 2004).

Although it broke a few trees on its way to the ground, the objet touched down almost completely undamaged. It came to a halt after plowing through the woodland’s rich soil. At the end of a mud furrow, the anomaly was partially buried and reclining on its side. Grounded and motionless, the thing had a shape like a large acorn. This particular huge acorn, however, was shiny, seamless, and the color of honey.

The big acorn was giving off flashes of bright arcing light (Ventre and Eichler 2015). In addition, the golden, smooth metallic object had a protuberance on its front. The protuberance resembled a burnt orange trashcan (Robinson 2017). The craft had a raised band around its base. The band was marked with an arrangement of unfamiliar symbols.

Local citizens, police, members of the media, and some Air Force investigators gathered at the landing site (Farrell 2004). Within a short period of time, uniformed individuals representing various branches of the military joined up with members of the local police force to rope-off part of the forest. The scene was busy. Even the then President of The Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Eric Walker, joined the others at the Kecksburg crash site (Camron 1991).

Soon individuals wearing radiation protection suits showed up. They operated Geiger counters and wandered into the woods searching for something. Other similarly dressed people were walking around the area carrying a large box. (Ventre and Eichler 2015).

Later that night, a small convoy of trucks (at least one truck was displaying an Army insignia) entered the area. A flatbed semi-trailer truck left carrying an object covered by a tarp. The item underneath the tarp was acorn-shaped and about the size of a VW Beetle (Gordon 2017). Regardless, by the next day (Friday, December 10, 1965), local newspapers were reporting that searchers had failed to find any suspicious objects in the woods . . . .

My Kecksburg Backstory

For more than fifty years, Kecksburg, Pennsylvania was famous. It was the site of one of the most important Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) events in modern history. As time would have it, the incident continues to impact my life. After more than five decades, the Kecksburg case remains special to me for the following four reasons:

Reason One: Early in my life, I heard the Kecksburg UFO incident unfold in front of me through the medium of live radio. I vividly remember it as if the riddle started to develop yesterday. The 1965 Kecksburg mystery had an impact on how I conducted the rest of my life.

It was Thursday, December 9, 1965 and the Pittsburgh Area was progressing toward evening. I was at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania. I wasn’t alone. I was with my twin brother, Rick.

But, unlike Rick, I wasn’t inside the church. I was in the church’s parking lot—seated in the front bench seat of my parents’ 1965 Chevrolet Impala. As I recall, our mother had ordered us both to the church to confess our sins to a priest before Sunday’s mass. I had made my confession with haste. But Rick was still inside the confessional bragging to the priest about his recent blameworthy accomplishments. Freed of my wrongdoings, I sat in the great car alone and prepared to listen to a radio station of my choice.

If Rick would have made his confession first, I would have had to suffer through his ritual as the lucky driver of the trendy family car. He’d open the hood and unscrew the wing nut on top of the big engine’s air filter and carefully remove the unpopular particle absorbing device. Then he’d tuck the bulky silencer away in the trunk. Next, he would jump into the driver's seat; start the engine; and pump the accelerator—revving the engine anywhere from 3 to 30 times.

But, this month I was the first twin to make it to the car. Thus, instead of gunning the engine, I quietly dialed through several stations on the analog car radio hunting for my standard target—Pittsburgh’s channel KDKA. As KDKA's signal began to emerge out of the radio’s background noise, an announcer was in the midst of broadcasting a breaking news bulletin. The broadcaster reported that an incident was unfolding near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. It seemed as if a bright aerial anomaly—a genuine UFO — had been observed falling near there. Reports were being received by KDKA indicating that people may have seen the object crash land.

Kecksburg was about an hour away from the church parking lot where I sat. When my brother finally dashed out of the church and jumped into the car, I told him all about the subject of the recent radio broadcast. We decided to go to where the action was. So, I quickly drove us to our home which was a couple of miles away. When we arrived, we begged our parents for permission to drive to the alleged crash site. It didn’t work.

Because of our past driving records, my parents could not, with straight faces, permit my brother or me to make the 53 mile trek to Kecksburg. Sadly, I thought for sure that the Kecksburg case had ended for me then and there. I was wrong.

Later, in 1966, I graduated from Har-Brack High School and started attending Duquesne University in Pittsburg where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970. Soon after that, I started teaching music in the Cambria County public schools. At the same time, I enrolled in graduate school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where I received a Master of Education Degree in 1974. By 1975, I had enrolled at Penn State University to study filmmaking. In 1977, I was accepted into one of Penn State’s doctoral programs where I studied acoustics, aesthetics, and research design, among other subjects.

As a young professional music educator, I taught in Pennsylvania’s public schools and held concurrent adjunct positions at Penn State University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1980, I co-wrote a children’s musical play about a supernatural being known as a goblin. This musical theatre work was entered in a national competition sponsored by the Open Court Publishing Company. Open Court awarded the musical play second prize. More importantly, writing a musical about the supernatural provided me with firsthand knowledge related to the popularity of rare and mysterious experiences. Furthermore, the second place award involved a summer studying musical play writing at Illinois Wesleyan University.

By 1984, I had earned a Doctor of Education Degree from Penn State University—a highly rated research facility. My thorough approach to advanced research was a direct result of The Pennsylvania State University Graduate School awarding an excellent rating to my dissertation. Soon, I acquired a reputation as a researcher, scientist, writer, lecturer, and educator who began his professional career as a musician. Thus, I was an artist who worked with music by nature. However, out of necessity, I was a scientist.

In 1985, mostly because of the success of the earlier kid’s goblin musicale, I decided to write another children’s musical play. During the mid-1980s, popular topics for children’s stories included extra-terrestrials, spaceships, and battles in outer space. The films E.T., Star Wars, and Star Trek were extremely popular. Accordingly, planning a musical play with a UFO-related plot seemed in order. Therefore, in preparation for writing this second musical play, I decided to learn as much about the UFO phenomenon as I could.

Reason Two: I may have been the first professed researcher of unexplained phenomena to hear eyewitnesses to the Kecksburg incident volunteer live public testimonies. In 1987, to gain a sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge about UFOs for my upcoming children’s musical, I attended a UFO data-gathering event known as National UFO Information Week. The event was jointly sponsored by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) of Seguin, Texas and a Pennsylvania clearinghouse for UFO sightings.

It was almost twenty-two years after the strange event had happened at Kecksburg. To my knowledge, no eyewitnesses had yet come forward to offer details about that occurrence. While National UFO Information Week was allegedly designed as an effort to make all UFO sightings public, the event could also serve as a platform for latent Kecksburg eyewitnesses.

The UFO affair was held in a shopping mall in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. This mall featured an enclosed shopping area that accommodated several stores. The main floor of the galleria was designed in the shape of a large cross. A huge courtyard was at the center of this comfortable indoor market. The courtyard was more packed that day than on a typical Saturday in August. Pedestrians and shoppers were all over the place.

On that specific Saturday, my personal mission was to get an intense exposure to UFO culture. Therefore, I spent a considerable amount of time looking into the UFO-related exhibits on display and I courteously engaged professed UFO witnesses in stimulating conversations about the behavior and appearance of the odd objects they had seen in the sky. During other times, I strolled along the mall’s walkways—reflecting and briefly talking with passersby, shoppers, or pedestrians who were visiting the unique gathering.

During one of my meanders that day, I recall my breath and heart rate increasing as I overheard an alleged eyewitness describe a UFO that landed near Greensburg in 1965. As it turned out, he was describing what had happened in Kecksburg. That was the first time I had experienced anybody offer precise details about the Kecksburg incident in a public gathering. The experience literally took my breath away. Following is what happened:

I was walking around the mall in an area that was rather far away from the UFO exhibits. While roaming around that space’s walkways, I noticed people naturally gathering into clusters. In each assembled cluster, people were freely talking about UFO-related topics. Eventually, I wandered upon one sizeable group of people who had gathered themselves into a formation that roughly resembled two Socratic circles. One small circle had formed inside a larger circle and a solo speaker was standing in the middle of the smaller circle. As I recall, the smaller inner ring was made up of at least ten people, while the larger outer ring held twenty or more individuals. I wedged into the outer ring.

After elbowing my way through the crowd and squeezing myself into the larger circle, I used my listening skills to focus on what the speaker in the center of the two concentric circles was saying. Since most of the people around me were taller than I was, I couldn’t get a real clear look at the presenter at first. But, I could tell this speaker’s voice belonged to a male. From what I could see, he appeared to be moderately built, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, and had brownish colored hair. However, I didn’t know if the speaker was a formal presenter sponsored by MUFON, or if he was an impromptu speaker who had actually experienced a close UFO encounter.

This speaker said that the thing he saw on the ground that day was a big piece of metal and was sort of burnt orange in color. It was partially buried in the mud after tearing a trench into the dirt while landing. In addition, this object was giving off very bright sparks or flashes of light.
At that point in his testimony, I wasn’t really sure about where this speaker’s UFO experience had taken place. Then suddenly, another male speaker spoke up. This second speaker was standing in front of me and off to my left. He was part of the smaller (or inner) Socratic ring. Since I was standing in the larger (or outer) Socratic ring at that time, I could hear him and see him clearly. He was about 6 feet tall, dark haired, and had a moderate build.

The second speaker interrupted the first speaker by shouting: That was us! After the initial interruption, he went on to say that the bright flashes the first speaker described were probably from the flashbulbs on the cameras he and his friends were using to take photographs that evening. He went on to say that he and some of his friends had driven to Kecksburg that December—twenty-two years ago—shortly after hearing about the UFO through the media.

Supposedly, he and his friends had flashbulb-equipped cameras with them when they ventured into the woods at around sundown. While wandering among the trees, he and his group came upon a rather large, smooth, shiny, acorn-shaped object. He said it was the color of honey. The thing was resting at the end of a mud furrow.

Allegedly, the second speaker and his group took several snapshots of the unidentifiable object before leaving the woods. The second speaker also maintained that the bright bursts of light the first speaker saw were probably from their flash cameras. Additionally, the second speaker maintained that he and his buddies were on the opposite side of the object from where the first speaker was standing.

Next, a third man in the crowd (who was standing outside of both Socratic circles and off to my right) spoke out. He asked the second speaker if he had reported his alleged UFO incident to anyone. The second speaker said: No. As a result, the third male speaker hurriedly approached the second speaker. The two men talked briefly, and then walked off together toward the area of the mall where UFO artifacts were being exhibited.

At that point, I recall becoming ecstatic when I realized I had just heard two potential genuine eyewitnesses to the Kecksburg incident give live verbal testimonies about the famous episode. Again, to my knowledge, no eyewitnesses had come forward since 1965 to testify about the Kecksburg case. Thus, on August 15, 1987, I may have been the first individual—who was admittedly researching unexplained phenomena—to hear living testimonies about the Kecksburg incident.

Hearing the above mentioned real-life verifications, confirmed in my mind at least, that Pennsylvania was a bona fide UFO hotspot. As a curious UFO researcher who lived and worked in Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1992, I’ve spoken with several people who have allegedly experienced UFOs while living in that eastern state.

Between late 1989 and early 1990, my career as a professional music educator began to pick up. I was publishing articles in professional journals and lecturing at state and national music education conferences. My attendance at events related to the UFO phenomenon declined. The children’s musical play that I had been writing fell to the wayside.

Reason Three: The Kecksburg event was the first UFO incident that I prepared and presented a formal talk about. That talk consequently led to speaking engagements with an established lecture circuit. The circuit was based in Texas and included established UFO researchers such as: Stanton T. Friedman, Travis Walton, and Noe Torres.

Because of the Great Recession of 2007, I was forced into semi-retirement during the summer of 2010. As a result, I moved to McAllen, Texas because of its strong economy and burgeoning arts scene. However, severe underemployed drew me back into my favorite kind of work—research. Fortunately, my employment situation afforded me sufficient time to revive some stimulating research I had put on the proverbial back burner decades ago. For several years, I’d been enamored with how humans grappled with mysteries.

Regardless, by 2011, I was really getting bored. So, I joined an organization known as the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). I contacted MUFON’s Texas State Director and asked for information about any active UFO researchers in my area that might be able to use my assistance. I was put into contact with Mr. Noe Torres, the director of MUFON in South Texas. I emailed Noe a brief history of my UFO studies including my personal research regarding the Kecksburg crash. Mr. Torres responded and claimed he had been fascinated by the Kecksburg case for years. In fact, he had written about the Kecksburg crash and recovery in a couple of the UFO books he had published.

Since I had been essentially working on this case since 1965, my new MUFON director acquaintance encouraged me to give a brief overview about the Kecksburg happening at an upcoming presentation he was scheduled to give for a public library in Alamo, Texas. Thus, in 2012, I began conducting research for my impending Keckburg talk. I reviewed my existing files on Kecksburg and I initiated additional research that uncovered more recently de-classified information on the topic. I found lots of information related to the Kecksburg mystery by searching the internet.

From that point on, I served as a participant in a Southern Texas UFO lecture circuit. I was introduced to several respected UFO researchers and countless sincere eyewitnesses—some of which possessed hard evidence. Noe’s initial encouragement caused me to return to researching and lecturing about UFOs and anomalies in general.

Prior to my 2012 Texas research spurt, I had served as the multimedia assessment specialist for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Arts Education Consensus Project in Washington, DC. That project lasted from 1992 to 1998. As the project’s assessment specialist, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Howard Gardner. Dr. Gardner, a psychologist from Harvard University, developed the theory of multiple intelligences (MI). His MI theory explained how people perceive the world through each of their intelligences. In 1999, Dr. Gardner wrote about the possibility of expanding his multiple intelligence theory to include existential intelligence.

People with a strong existential intelligence have the capacity to think about why things exist and if there is intelligent life throughout the Universe. Also, they need the freedom to ponder, conceptualize, and hypothesize, as well as analyze and think about questions that do not have clear answers. Individuals with a strong existential intelligence also wonder about how variables interact, and evaluate how concepts relate to one another (Gangi 2011). I have a strong existential intelligence.

A March 2013 phone call led to a rejuvenated correspondence with Dr. Howard Gardner. I initiated a probe about starting up an independent research project related to existential intelligence. Through phone calls and emails, I proposed launching a scientific study to investigate how encounters with unexplained phenomena might shape the human brain. Dr. Gardner provided valuable guidance about such a study. Thus, almost immediately I initiated an independent research project that explored potential links among existential intelligence, aesthetic experiences, anomalies, and the paranormal.

Through the process of conducting research for this independent study, I was introduced to neuroaesthetics. Neuroaesthetics is a relatively new subfield of neuroscience that merges neuroscience with observed aesthetics. Since my preferred career path at that time—educational administration— had abandoned me during the recession, I felt I had nothing to lose by chasing a research topic that captured my curiosity.

Reason Four: On or about June 1, 2016, I declared that the Kecksburg case would be my inaugural attempt at unraveling an established (fifty year old) UFO mystery. I gathered and analyzing new relevant data from the existing literature. Thus, I closed the Kecksburg case, once and for all, by applying scientific methodology to aggressive research. I strongly believe I solved the Kecksburg enigma—beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Several months earlier, in 2015, I had reviewed an article published by MUFON. The article addressed the Kecksburg case. The authors of the piece mentioned that a December 9, 1965 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California of a Thor Agena-D rocket took two days to recover after an erratic attitude (Ventre and Eichler 2015). That was essentially all they wrote about Corona satellites.

The authors of the MUFON-recognized article essentially dismissed the Corona satellite launched on December 9, 1965 as a candidate for the Kecksburg UFO. As an aggressive researcher, I found it troubling that MUFON-associated researchers fundamentally ignored a spacecraft launched from California (on the same day as the Pennsylvania incident) as a Kecksburg UFO contender. Then and there, I decided to carry out my own research study related to the Kecksburg event.

* Dr. Bob Wenzel Gross is a semi-retired researcher and writer with a forthcoming non-fiction memoir entitled: In Pursuit of Anomalies: How Great Music and Real UFOs Can Save the Human Race. Dr. Gross has worked as a researcher, field investigator, scientist, writer, lecturer, educator, administrator, change agent, turnaround specialist, and professional musician.

Dr. Bob Wenzel Gross is an artist who works with music by nature—and he is a scientist out of necessity. Dr. Gross holds a Doctorate from Penn State University where his solid approach to advanced research resulted in PSU’s Graduate School awarding his dissertation an excellent rating. Moreover, he has 40 years’ experience as an educator at all levels of instruction and has been an adjunct professor at Penn State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, New Mexico State University, and South Texas College. Email: rwgross98@hotmail.com.

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Closing the Kecksburg UFO Case Opened Another Mystery – Pt II

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See Also:

After Fifty Years, Kecksburg UFO Mystery Solved?

Kecksburg UFO 'Was Not' GE Mark 2 Reentry Vehicle

NASA Ordered To Turn Over 'Kecksburg UFO Files!'

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

John Callahan & The JAL-1628 UFO Encounter; FAA Credentials Finally Confirmed -pt1-

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By Paul Dean ufos-documenting-the-evidence.blogspot.com 8-28-15

      One of my favourite UFO cases is the infamous Japan Airlines flight 1628 event which occurred on November 17th, 1986, over Alaska. So wide spread was the media coverage of this incident that even people who know little to nothing about the UFO matter have at least vaguely heard of it. For anyone who doesn’t recognize the case, put simply, a cargo flight from Paris to Tokyo encountered three UFO’s for a duration of 31 minutes, all of which were picked up, to varying degrees, by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) primary radar and United States Air Force (USAF) primary radar. The voice tapes of the radio communications, target data print outs, Air Traffic Controller statements, etc were all released in 1987 and make for some of the most powerfully compelling evidence found regarding the UFO matter. Probably the best report on the event was written by retired United States Navy physicist Bruce Maccabee. His final report can be viewed here: http://brumac.8k.com/JAL1628/JL1628.html

Adding even more weight to the event was the testimony of retired official John Callahan who was, in 1986, the FAA’s Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations Division Chief. Callahan came forward and blew the whistle in 2001, and, came forward with hitherto unknown paper records, video tapes, voice tapes and other material to back up his claims. Since then, Callahan has participated in two documentaries, three “disclosure” style conferences, and made numerous statements for researchers concerning his involvement with the JAL 1628 case – and the cover-up of the event, as we shall see.

The JAL 1628 case is, to me at least, a key event in UFO history. I have periodically – as anyone who knows me would expect – studied it at some length. One issue key to the case has, however, troubled me for some time: Despite the wealth of information, much of it official record, about this extraordinary event, it seems that no one thus far has been willing or able to actually verify John Callahan’s exact role at the FAA. Some armchair debunkers have even claimed he may even be a fraud. In both this post, and a sequel, I shall present an appraisal of Callahan’s employment with the FAA, and the various high level positions he held in the late 1980’s. Through substantial digging, plus lengthy discussions with Callahan himself, I am now entirely satisfied with his public statements and assertions.

For those who are unfamiliar with John Callahan’s side of the story, the long-and-the-short of it is this: Firstly, no one in FAA officialdom outside Alaska was aware of the incident until the pilot of the JAL flight, Kenji Teriuchi, decided he would no longer stay silent. In early-December, weeks after the UFO encounter, Teriuchi contacted the huge Kyoda News Agency for a private meeting in his London hotel room. Kyoda subsequently contacted the FAA’s Alaska Region Headquarters on the 24th of December. They were informed by an off-guard Public Information Officer at Anchorage, Paul Steucke, that a UFO event had indeed taken place. Throughout the last days of December and throughout January, 1987, the story exploded across the worlds press. As this played out, Alaska Region HQ contacted John Callahan, who, as stated, was the Division Chief of Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations in Washington DC. Callahan had been entirely unaware of the UFO incident and told the Alaskan FAA officials to inform the media, and anyone else who came knocking, that “the event was under investigation”. Callahan further asked Alaska Region to forward the relevant data to the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, where he and his superior, Harvey Safeer, analysed the evidence, and, most importantly, played back the radar data on a Plan View Display. The radar data was matched in with the voice tapes of the conversation that had occurred between the pilot and Air Traffic Controllers from both the FAA and the USAF. This playback and tie-in was filmed on a video recorder for later use.

The same day Callahan and Safeer briefed FAA Administrator Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen. Adm. Engen initially gave them five minutes of his time. When he realised the gravity of the event he started cancelling his upcoming meetings. Engen watched the whole of the video recording that had been made earlier in the day, and, furthermore, instructed Callahan and Safeer not do discuss the situation with anyone to prepare an encompassing presentation, or “dog and pony show” as Callahan likes to call it, for various officials the following day at the FAA Round Room. Engen had even spoken to the President to facilitate the attendance of the upcoming meeting by Presidential scientific and technical staff. This presentation went ahead as scheduled and was attended by a number of FAA technical specialists, plus, perhaps more ominously, three representatives of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), three representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and three scientists from President Reagan’s Scientific Study Team, among unknown others. At the end of the meeting, one of the CIA staff stated:

“This even never happened. We were never here. We are confiscating all this data, and you are sworn to secrecy.”

Moreover, the same CIA staff instructed Callahan that they were taking all the data, the paperwork, the video tape, any-and-all material that the FAA had accumulated. What no one knew was this: Callahan kept copies, in some cases originals, of everything, including the primary radar target printouts, the video tape of the first analysis on the Plan View Display, the pilots report, the first FAA report, first generation copies of the voice communications tapes, etc. Callahan has allowed serious researchers to study this material, and is willing to further testify that all of what he, and his documented evidence, says is true.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, John Callahan’s employment history and career credentials, especially his claimed role as Division Chief of the FAA’s Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations area, have barely, if at all, been verified. I wished, this year, to change that. Without detailing every investigative step, I have variously searched for records – in US Government directories, FAA press releases, etc both the existence of a John Callahan ever being at the FAA in the 1980’s, and, the existence of an “Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations” branch or division within the FAA in the 1980’s. Worryingly, only a handful – and by that I mean literally four – referances came up for a John Callahan being at the FAA, and none of them really matched his claimed “Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations” area. In fact, all I could find was a John Callahan who was “Quality Control Branch Manager” of the “Quality Assurance Staff” under the “Associate Administrator for Air Traffic”. Below is a capture of one such listing.

Not knowing how to track down Callahan directly, on the 10th June this year I got in contact with author and journalist Leslie Kean who has spoken to him at length. The JAL 1628 story appears in Kean’s excellent book “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record”Luckily I had been in contact with Kean previously, so it was not an issue for me to ask her for a favour: Get Callahan to contact me, and iron this FAA employment issue out once and for all. Within a day, she got back to me and indicated that she would ask Callahan if I could contact him. He was agreeable to this, and on the 12th of June I introduced myself via email, and outlined some of the questions I would be presenting him in the future. Over the next few months – and indeed even to this day – Callahan and I have been in contact, and we have covered a lot of ground regarding his role at the FAA and the infamous Japan Airlines 1628 case itself. In my next blog post I will detail, with documentation, Callahan’s FAA career; especially during the mid-1980’s when the UFO event occurred. For now, a teaser – I am entirely satisfied that Callahan is the real deal, and hopefully all of you will be too.

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

John Callahan & The JAL-1628 UFO Encounter; FAA Credentials Finally Confirmed -pt2-

FAA Division Chief John Callahan Details The Pursuit of a 1986 Japanese Airlines 747 Flight by a UFO | VIDCAST

“The Famous JAL 1628 [UFO] Sighting By Capt. Terauchi On Nov. 17, 1986”

UFO Spotted By Japanese Jet & US Radar | UFO CHRONICLE –1986

UFO Sighting Confirmed By FAA, Air Force Radar | UFO CHRONICLE – 1986

Pilot says UFO Dwarfed His 747 Jet | UFO CHRONICLE – 1987

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

The Myth of MJ-12: Appendix A –Pt 1

By Kevin Randle A Different Perspective 6-29-14

      Although the story of the Majestic-12 (MJ - Twelve, MJ-12) is often reported to have started in December 1984,¹ it seems that the first comprehensive description of it came years earlier and was in the context of an unpublished novel rather than a government report.² The first public mention of MJ-12 with the names of the original members attached was in an issue of Just Cause in December 1985.³ That information came from Lee Graham, a California a technician⁴ at Aerojet ElectroSystems Division in the aerospace industry and a UFO researcher. He said that his information had come from a military source.⁵

Tracing the history of the first mention has become difficult with most of those still researching MJ-12 forgetting about or ignoring the Aquarius Telex.⁶ This was a single page document that was allegedly classified as secret and was a “request for photo imagery interpretation your msg [message] 292030Z Oct 80 [meaning 29 Oct 80 at 8:30 in the evening, Greenwich Mean Time].”⁷ There is a single line in this official looking document that said, “Results of Project Aquarius is still classified Top Secret with no dissemination outside official Intelligence channels and with restricted access to MJ- Twelve.”⁸

This provided, according to the various researchers, the first hint of some sort of secret project, handled at the highest levels of both the civilian government and military commands. It was designed to exploit the find of the alien craft outside of Roswell and has operated in secrecy until documents about it began to leak into the public area. The original documents are now thought of as the Eisenhower Briefing Document, the Truman Memo and the Cutler-Twining memo. These documents are wrapped in controversy and a complete examination of the history of them, how they entered into the public arena, and what steps have been taken to authentic them will provide the answers about the reality of them.

The History of the Aquarius Telex – An Early Form of MJ-12

According to William Moore, he had been handed the Aquarius Telex in February, 1981 with the intention that he would give it to a New Mexico businessman and trained physicist, Paul Bennewitz. Bennewitz was convinced that he had detected electromagnetic signals which extraterrestrials were using to control and monitor the humans they abducted.⁹ He was also seeing, and filming, what he believed to be alien spacecraft over the Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility and the Coyote Canyon test area near Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.¹⁰

Bennewitz contacted the Air Force at Kirtland AFB, and was taken seriously. On October 24, 1980, he contacted Richard Doty of the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, suggesting that he had evidence that something might be threatening the Manzano Storage Facility. His information was taken down, and eventually resulted in a report signed by Major Thomas A. Cseh, who commanded the base investigative detachment.¹¹ His report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) said:

On 26 Oct 80, SA Doty, with the assistance of JERRY MILLER, GS-15, Chief, Scientific Advisor for Air Force Test and Evaluation Center, KAFB, interviewed Dr. BENNEWITZ¹² at his home in the Four Hills section of Albuquerque, which is adjacent to the northern boundary of Manzano Base. Mr. MILLER is one of the most knowledgeable and impartial investigators of Aerial Objects in the southwest. Dr. BENNEWITZ has been conducting independent research into Aerial Phenomena for the last 15 months. Dr. BENNEWITZ also produced several electronic recording tapes, allegedly showing high periods of electrical magnetism being emitted from Manzano/Coyote Canyon area. Dr. BENNEWITZ also produced several photographs of flying objects taken over the general Albuquerque area. He has several pieces of electronic surveillance equipment pointed at Manzano and is attempting to record high frequency electrical beam pulses. Dr. BENNEWITZ claims these Aerial Objects produce these pulses… After analyzing the data collected by Dr. BENNEWITZ, Mr. MILLER related the evidence clearly shows some type of unidentified aerial objects were caught on film; however, no conclusions could be made whether these objects posed a threat to Manzano/Coyote Canyon areas. Mr. MILLER felt the electronical [sic] recording tapes were inconclusive and could have been gathered from several conventional sources. No sightings, other than these, have been reported in the area.¹³

All this is important because it put Bennewitz into touch with Doty. As it would play out later, Doty seemed to be the conduit from the military to Bennewitz, acting through Moore. The Aquarius Telex with its early mention of MJ-12 according to Moore was given to him so that he would pass it along to Bennewitz with the hope that Bennewitz would take it to the media. Once he had done that, then the Air Force could denounce it as a hoax, ending any credibility that Bennewitz had.¹⁴

The Aquarius Telex then, and according to Moore, was a disinformation ploy to damage Bennewitz. Bennewitz never used the document and didn’t reveal it to anyone and didn’t take it to the media. If it was truly a disinformation ploy by the Air Force, it failed.

Moore did circulate the memo inside the UFO community.¹⁵ Or it was through his carelessness that it entered into the mainstream media. Some of the information that Moore had was passed to Tracy Torme, who in turn passed it along to members of the Canadian UFO Research Network (CUFORN) who published it in a report they called, “Information For Those With A ‘Need To Know’ Clearance Only”.¹⁶

According to the CUFORN report, “Bill Moore told us that when he left his briefcase unlocked for a minute or so in San Francisco International Airport in early 1983, a copy of the stolen teletype mentioning Aquarius was taken from the briefcase. Peter Gersten, the attorney representing Citizen’s [sic] Against UFO Secrecy [CAUS], must have taken it from the case, because only a few days later, Gersten was on ABC-TV’s ‘Good Morning, America’ show and showed the teletype on camera in a brief interview…”¹⁷

Moore himself had a different version of this, according to what he wrote. He said, “In September of 1982, insofar as I was aware, there were only three copies of this document in existence. One of these I had passed on to Bennewitz, a second was in safekeeping, and a third was in my briefcase during a trip I had made to San Francisco. While there, I had a morning meeting with a man who turned out later to be an associate of UFOlogist Peter Gersten of New York. That same afternoon, my car was broken into and my briefcase was stolen. Four months later, a copy of that same document, complete with notations I had penciled on it, turned up in the hands of none other than Gersten himself. To this day I have never received a satisfactory explanation of how he received that document.”¹⁸

The controversy didn’t stop there. Moore had suggested, in his later explanations about the Aquarius Telex, that he had seen another AFOSI telex about the same event. An Air Force officer, only identified at the time as “Falcon” showed Moore the original. Moore wrote, “At a meeting with ‘Falcon’ on that date [March 2, 1981]¹⁹ Moore was shown the original ‘AD’ [Aquarius Document], which appeared to be a typical government telex on thin computer paper with perforated edges. After examining it, Moore asked if he could keep it. ‘Falcon’ said no, that Moore was only being given the opportunity to read it; at which point Moore proceeded to re-read it while making a conscious effort to imprint as much of it as possible upon his memory in the process. Immediately following that meeting, he wrote out some notes on a legal pad. (For the record, Moore had already been told of the alleged existence of Project Aquarius during an earlier meeting with ‘Falcon’ in December, 1980 and had filed a FOIA request on it with HQ/USAF dated 29 December, 1980…”²⁰

That wasn’t the last time that Moore would see a version of the document. According to him, at a meeting with both Falcon and Doty in Albuquerque weeks later, Moore was given a different and what he called, “a retyped” version. He noticed that it had some differences in it and pointed those out. He was told this was to “sanitize” it and then was told that he could keep that copy and that perhaps Bennewitz might like to see it.²¹

Moore claimed that he knew that the version he now held had been retyped and he didn’t give it to Bennewitz for a number of months. He marked up a copy so that he could identify it later and then, with a caveat to Bennewitz that the document might not be authentic, handed it over. Bennewitz never did publicize the document.²²

The story takes another turn here. Since Bennewitz didn’t use it, no one had heard about it until Gersten began to circulate a copy inside the UFO community. Moore said that his briefcase was stolen on September 13, 1982 and that the crime was reported to the San Francisco police.²³ Now Moore suggests that Gersten became a target because of the various FOIA requests he had made and that those on the inside might have targeted him in the same way that they had targeted Bennewitz. Gersten, however, didn’t do anything to make the document public, so his credibility remained intact.²⁴ This, of course, suggests that Zechel’s claim that Gersten showed the document on national television is not true.

There is a corollary to this story, however, and that revolves around who retyped the original AFOSI document and inserted the line, “Results of Project Aquarius is still classified Top Secret with no dissemination outside official Intelligence channels and with restricted access to MJ-12.” Dick Hall, in a letter dated March 20, 1989, wrote, “Unfortunately, I think Bill [Moore] has engaged in some minor ‘manipulations’ of his own which may be coming back to haunt him ( e.g., censoring the uncensored MJ-12 document without saying so; retyping the AFOSI document without saying so)…”²⁵

Hall was describing a meeting held by the Fund for UFO Research in which Moore had said that the original copy of the telex was very poor and difficult to read. He had retyped it and pasted on the headings to that it had the appearance of the original message. Hall wrote, “My recollection is that the original simply was of poor quality for reproduction and so he re-typed it, the ‘cut and paste’ job referring to various rubber stamps and symbols from the original document.”²⁶

Hall would modify this later. He would write that he didn’t remember if Moore had actually said that he had re-typed it, or if the version he had had been retyped by someone else. It was clear, however, that the document that was being circulated inside the UFO community was an actual AFOSI telex that had been modified to include the statement about Project Aquarius and the Majestic Twelve.

The important fact in this is that Moore said that he received the altered memo on March 2, 1981, some three years before the MJ-12 documents that included the Eisenhower Briefing and the Truman memo arrived at Shandera’s home. It resets the clock on these matters and suggests that Moore, Shandera and Doty all had seen a reference to MJ-12 in 1981. And it is something that has now disappeared from the discussions of the MJ-12 documents.

Project Aquarius (MAJIK 12) – The Novel

Bob Pratt had been on the National Enquirer UFO beat for a number of years. He was a careful researcher and though he had once worked for a grocery store tabloid, he was careful about what he published, verifying the information before writing.²⁷ His expertise about UFOs ranged far beyond the six years he worked for the National Enquirer, and saw him author books with J. Allen Hynek, and with Brazilian UFO researchers. Pratt was respected throughout the UFO field.

According to Pratt in a letter to UFO researcher Robert Todd, “The original idea behind the book was Project Aquarius. In January 1982, I happened to be in Houston and flew out to Phoenix to visit Bill at his request. He wanted to talk to me about something he couldn’t discuss on the phone… I sat in a chair and took notes as he told me about Project Aquarius, MJ-12 and a number of other things.”²⁸

Pratt wrote, “My working title was MAJIK 12, but I wanted to call it I. A. C., for identified alien craft, supposedly the name government insiders use for UFOs. However, when I got the finished manuscript back from Bill, he had put The Aquarius Project on the title page.”

Ironically, Pratt wrote, “When this MJ-12 business broke in 1987 or whenever, I wrote to Bill saying that if there was anything to it, we ought to dust off our manuscript and try to sell it again. He never answered.”²⁹

Pratt described, in some detail for Todd, the plot of the book, which was going to be a novel because they couldn’t prove Moore’s claims about the reality of the information. Pratt wrote:

Our “hero” was an AFOSI agent who scoffed at UFO reports, etc., but comes to believe because he has to investigate what you [Todd] call the “infamous Ellsworth AFB incident”³⁰ and later has his own UFO encounter. Because he realizes UFOs are real – knowledge that most AFOSI agents don’t have – he is assigned to keep tabs on people and things in the UFO world from his new posting at Kirtland. To give him a thorough understandings of the phenomenon, the Air Force sends him to Bolling Field in Washington, DC, where he is given access to a number of secret UFO files, and it is there he first learns about Project Aquarius.

Hero goes back to Kirtland and in carrying out his job he does a number on a number of people, making sure some people, including ex-military types, don’t talk about their experiences, masterminding disinformation plots, and so on. Somewhere in doing all of his dirty deeds, the hero’s conscience takes over and he finds himself rebelling against official policies (“the people have a right to know…”). He winds up a dead hero, his body shipped off to planets unknown on a UFO operated by aliens in cahoots with the government.³¹

All of this sounds suspiciously like that tales that Moore would be telling over the next few years as he chased the insider information he was promised for his cooperation with the AFOSI. But Project Aquarius was about to move from fiction into nonfiction. In early 1983, Moore would have an opportunity to photograph documents that were consistent with Aquarius. In April 1983, Linda Moulton Howe, a documentary film maker and UFO researcher would see something similar to that shown to Moore, which she would attempt to authenticate.

Project Aquarius – The Presidential Briefing

Bill Moore would say that in early March, 1983, he received a telephone call telling him that he would have an opportunity to see some important information, but that he would have to travel to get it. He was told that he would receive instructions and that he had to follow them carefully or there would be no revelation.³²

According to Moore, he made his way across the United States until he ended up in a motel in up-state New York. At 5:00 p.m., a person, Moore didn’t reveal the gender of the “courier,” came to his door and handed him a manila envelope. He was given nineteen minutes to examine the contents. He could do anything he wanted with them, but at the end of the time he was required to return the material to the person who had brought it to him.³³

There were eleven pages in the envelope and the document was labeled “Executive Briefing, Subject: Project Aquarius.” It was dated July 14, 1977. Moore took photographs of the pages, using a quarter at the bottom of each page to provide perspective. When he finished that, he began to read the document into his tape recorder, saying “line” at the end of each line, and verbally noting each punctuation symbol.³⁴ When the time was up, the courier collected all the pages, counted them, stuffed them back into the envelope, and left.³⁵

Moore reported, “The documents themselves seem to be transcription of notes either intended for use in preparing a briefing, or taken down during one and typed later. Much of the information therein is highly controversial in nature and is of such esoteric quality there seems to be no real way to verify much of it.”³⁶

Portions of the documents have been released and have appeared in a number of books and articles.³⁷ These have been identified as the Carter Briefing and suggests that Aquarius Project began in 1953 “by order of President Eisenhower, and was under the control of MJ-12. … The purpose of Project Aquarius was to collect all scientific, technological, medical and intelligence information from UFO/IAC sightings and contact with alien life forms. This orderly file of collected information has been used to advance the United States Space Program.”³⁸

Within weeks, Linda Moulton Howe, who had a contract with HBO to produce a documentary on UFOs, would have a chance to review the handwritten notes of what was clearly the Carter Briefing.³⁹ While in New York to sign the HBO contract, Howe met with Gersten and Patrick Huyghe, a science writer and publisher of The Anomalist, for dinner. Gersten mentioned an AFOSI special agent named Doty who claimed some very interesting things about UFOs and said that Doty might say some of them on camera. Gersten said that he would attempt to set up a meeting between Howe and Doty.⁴⁰

Howe and Doty met on April 9, 1983 and they drove out to Kirtland AFB, to a small building that Doty described as his boss’ office. Inside, he asked her to sit in a specific chair because “eyes can see through windows.”⁴¹

He then said to her, “My superiors have asked me to show you this.” He took an envelope from a drawer, opened it, and handed Howe several sheets of paper. He told her that she couldn’t copy them, she couldn’t take notes, but she could read them.

The document was called, “A Briefing for the President of the United States on the Subject of Unidentified Flying Vehicles.” There was no date on the report, and the president wasn’t named. Howe didn’t know for which president it had been prepared, though later information from others, would suggest that this was part of the Carter Briefing.⁴²

The documents read by Howe confirmed the Roswell UFO crash in 1947⁴³ and it suggested that one of the extraterrestrial crew had survived to be taken to a “safe house” at Los Alamos National Laboratory. According to this document, the alien bodies were those of small, gray humanoids about three and a half to four feet tall, with oversized heads, large eyes and no nose. The survivor was befriended by an Air Force officer and the creature died on June 18, 1952.⁴⁴

Howe, in her descriptions of what she saw, mentioned other projects such as Snowbird,⁴⁵ Sigma,⁴⁶ and Aquarius, which were the same projects that Moore had mentioned in his partial release of information later, and, of course, were part of the documents that have since been printed.⁴⁷

There was also a mention of Project Garnet which had been created to investigate alien influences on human evolution. Unnamed government sources suggested that the “grays,” aliens from a nearby solar system had manipulated the DNA of primates at various intervals including 25,000; 15,000; 5,000 and 2500 years ago. It was also claimed that the aliens had created an individual some two thousand years ago to teach humanity about love and nonviolence. In other words, according to these documents, Jesus Christ had been created by the aliens.⁴⁸

According to the documents seen by Howe, Project Blue Book had been a public relations operation that was supposed to divert attention from the real investigative projects. Doty, in his conversations with Howe at that time, mentioned MJ-12 but suggested that “MJ” stood for “Majority” rather than “Majestic.” Whatever the real name, it was a committee of twelve high-ranking government officials, military leaders, and top scientists who set policy for the exploitation, cover-up, and dissemination of UFO information and the government interest in UFOs. They were also responsible for the disinformation about UFOs that was circulating through the media and the UFO community.⁴⁹

All of this could be seen as corroboration for Moore’s tale of his clandestine meeting with the stranger in a hotel room in New York. If Moore had been inventing a tale, complete with a briefing in an envelope, surely Howe wouldn’t invent a similar tale. It is clear from the timing of events that Howe didn’t know about Moore’s meeting or what Moore had learned. Moore’s meeting had taken place only a couple of weeks earlier, at least, according to what Moore had reported.

But there is a link. Moore, of course, knew Doty. They had been working together for some time. Although Moore claimed that Falcon was an Air Force colonel, he said that Doty, known as sparrow, was his go-between to the colonel. Doty, as Ronald L. Davis, was a silent partner in the book that Moore was writing with Bob Pratt about the AFOSI agent and UFOs. Doty was mentioned by Pratt as a silent third partner, so that even if Doty wasn’t Davis, there is a connection.⁵⁰ Much of what Doty was giving to Howe was part of the novel about Project Aquarius. Since both Moore and Howe knew Doty, that is the connection that suggests the information wasn’t corroborative, but simply the same information from the same source given to two different people.⁵¹

All of this suggests that the Carter Briefing as shown to Moore, the presidential briefing shown to Howe, and Project Aquarius, is nothing more than a hoax. Some have argued that it was all part of a government disinformation scheme to lead UFO investigators away from the truth.

That was where everything stood for a long time. Howe, promised many things for her documentary, was unable to obtain any of them. Inside the UFO community there were was little talk of MJ-12, and attempts to prove this with documentation, such as the Aquarius Telex, failed to gain any sort of public release.

But there were many indications that someone knew about it long before the Eisenhower Briefing Document arrived. As early as 1981, there were mentions of both Aquarius and MJ-12. It wouldn’t be until the end of 1984 that the critical document allegedly arrived, and it would be some three years before the documents themselves would be released, though rumors would circulate as early as 1983.

The Eisenhower Briefing Document

On December 11, 1984, Shandera, whose association with UFOs was through Bill Moore, received a taped, manila envelope that had no return address, but was post marked in Albuquerque on December 8.⁵² Inside that envelope was a second that was heavily taped, and when that was opened there was a third envelope with the Marriott Hotel logo on it. Inside that was a canister of undeveloped Kodak Tri-X, black and white, 35 mm film. When developed, the film showed eight pages of a document that would become known as the Eisenhower Briefing Document and a one page memo on White House stationery, now known as the Truman memo. All the documents were duplicated a second time and the rest of the roll was blank.⁵³ They took the negatives to a photo lab to be printed and both Moore and Shandera were there, in the darkroom when the prints were made.⁵⁴

There is a second version of this story. As Howard Blum told it, Shandera was at home shortly after noon, when he heard the mail arrive. He found the package, as described, and opened the three envelopes until he came to the plastic container that held the film cartridge. Since he was supposed to meet Moore for lunch, he took the canister with him. When he showed it to Moore, they left the restaurant without eating.⁵⁵

“Bill Moore used a kitchen glass to measure the developer,” according to Blum. “He [Moore] didn’t have much photographic flair, but when the two friends left the restaurant, it was agreed that it would be quicker – and more secure – if he developed the film himself.”⁵⁶

Moore, with Shandera’s help, then made contact sheets for the negatives.⁵⁷ Apparently they didn’t know how long to expose the photographic paper or how long to leave it in the fixer so that they had to make guesses. Once they had washed them, they took them into another room and using clothes pins, hung them up to dry.⁵⁸

Once they had examined what they had, they called Stan Friedman to tell him. They all agreed that they couldn’t release the documents immediately because they didn’t know if they were legitimate. They would have to search for confirmation, and that was something that could take years.⁵⁹

Moore, it seems might have had some advance knowledge of the Eisenhower Briefing Document. Moore wrote that:

“More recently (1984) a confidential informant who is still in government employ, has stated that there were four bodies recovered at Roswell, but that all were badly decomposed and had been attacked by predators before their discovery. According to this source, who claims to have seen the bodies, the occupants of the craft apparently ejected just before it exploded, and were killed when they struck the ground. (The assumption being that the ejection apparatus failed to operate properly.) There were discovered by aerial reconnaissance several miles southeast of the Brazel ranch crash site, and were recovered in a somewhat separate operation. This individual has also stated that the propulsion and control systems of the craft were almost totally destroyed by the explosion.”⁶⁰

The MJ-12 document, which would allegedly arrive at the end of 1984, said, “During the course of this operation, aerial reconnaissance discovered that four small human-like beings had apparently ejected from the craft at some point before it exploded. These had fallen to earth about two miles east of the wreckage site. All four were dead and badly decomposed due to action by predators and exposure to the elements during the approximately one week time period which had elapsed before their discovery.”⁶¹

Although Moore refused to name the source for the revelation about the four alien creatures killed, it is clear that he had the information prior to the receipt of the Eisenhower Briefing document. The two paragraphs, while not an exact match, contain the same information. The timing is such, based on what Moore claimed, he had the information months before the EBD arrived, in the worst case.

Moore continued this, though it can be said that he was now sharing information that came through the EBD. He began to hint to others about those involved in the exploitation of the find. According to Barry Greenwood, just a year after Shandera had received the undeveloped film, Moore was told by Lee Graham about some of it, and Graham began to make inquiries into MJ-12, which had been mentioned on the Aquarius Telex.⁶²

Greenwood noted that as the final stages were completed on Clear Intent, the book he wrote with Larry Fawcett, they had collected documents relating to UFO sightings around Kirtland AFB. Greenwood wrote:

What wasn’t inserted in to the book was a document, allegedly a government document, which had made the rounds in the so-called UFO grapevine. It told of an analysis performed by the Air Force of the “Dr. Bennewitz” photographic data, which had been part of the subject matter in the confirmed AFOSI file release on Kirtland. It concluded that some of the photos were “Legitimate negatives of unidentified aerial objects”. The document went on to discuss, very briefly, a top-secret “Project Aquarius” and something called “MJ12”. These terms meant little to us at the time so inquiries were launched to determine the origin of the terms and the document.⁶³

No government agency had any knowledge of the matter and the alleged originator, AFOSI (Air Force Office of Special Investigations), said that the document was a “fabrication”. Since we had no evidence to prove otherwise and since the document came from a source other than the FOIA I chose not to use it in CI [Clear Intent]. My copy of the “Aquarius” document contained several misspellings and irregularities in format, further adding to my suspicions but I did not rule out the possibility of this perhaps being a retyped version of the original, legitimate document by a “mole” in the military. The piece was filed and remained in limbo for a time.⁶⁴

Greenwood also mentioned that during the summer of 1985, Graham was also doing some research into MJ-12. Greenwood, “… California UFO researcher Lee Graham was conducting inquiries into MJ12, apparently based on specific information from an unknown individual in the government.”⁶⁵

Friedman later identified Graham’s source as Moore. He wrote, “Graham… claimed he had been given Just Cause the MJ-12 list, which had been shown by a source in the military. He had not been allowed to copy the list but he had taken notes. (As far as I know, the source was actually Bill Moore, who was not in the military and does not work for the government, but has a fondness for playing games. As a joke Bill once pulled out a MUFON identification card, flashed it at Lee, and indicated that he was working for the government. Lee bought it.”⁶⁶

It wasn’t until 1987 that the Eisenhower Briefing Document began to circulate throughout the UFO community. In the spring of 1987, Moore and Shandera learned that they document was about to be published in Europe.⁶⁷ According to Friedman, one of the insiders who warned Moore was Doty. On May 31, 1987, Martin Bailey, wrote an article, “Close Encounters of an Alien Kind – And Now if You’ve Read Enough About the Election, Here’s News from Another World.”⁶⁸ It showed some of the Eisenhower Briefing Document.

When Moore learned that the documents had been released in Europe, with the story having been picked up by Reuters and then published in North American newspapers, he reacted. Using Focus, his publication of the Fair Witness Project, he published the documents, but these were heavily censored, including black markings through the security classifications on each page. He would later suggest that the markings were made based on instructions from his inside contacts.⁶⁹

Apparently it was British author and UFO researcher Timothy Good who was responsible for the leak. He showed a copy of the Eisenhower Briefing Document to the press which resulted in the Observer article.⁷⁰ He wrote, “My copy of the document was sent to me by an intelligence source in the United States in March 1987, specifically for inclusion in Above Top Secret. I published the document in the conviction that it was probably authentic.”⁷¹

Good clarified this in his book, The UFO Report – 1990. He said that the source was CIA.⁷² That would mean that Good had received the documents from someone other than Moore, and that there were two sources leaking material into the civilian world.

Barry Greenwood, however, believed that the source of Good’s copy was Bill Moore. Greenwood noticed what he called a “telltale fingerprint” on the copies of the Eisenhower Briefing Document. These are markings left by the copy machine when it duplicates documents. The machine Moore used left a characteristic smudge on the page and since the smudge “floated” it can be deduced that it was an artifact of the machine and not something on the original copy. Greenwood identified the smudge on the copies used by Good and that meant the Good’s copies came from Moore… or someone who used the same machine as Moore.⁷³

The problem then, was that there was no provenance for the Eisenhower Briefing Document. It had arrived, anonymously in the mail with only a postmark to indicate the source. Because it arrived on film, rather than as direct copies, or even original documents, there wasn’t much in the way of forensic evidence available. The film was ubiquitous, and had nothing distinguishing about it. The wrappings, meaning the sealing of all the flaps on the envelopes was typical of the way classified information was sent through the mail, but provided no hint as to who had sent it. Without a provenance, any attempt to authentic it was greatly reduced. Without a live source to be questioned, without original documents, with nothing but the photographs of the documents, there was nothing to be learned.

Friedman thought that the lack of provenance was not a big issue. On February 13, 2001, he wrote, “Lack of provenance is bothersome, but understandable. Whoever filmed the EBD and/or planted the CT [Cutler-Twining memo] was violating security by the filming and the release. Having a classified document is not against the law. Being an authorized recipient who leaks it to uncleared personnel is very much a violation. One might suggest that the lack of provenance is an indication of genuineness.”⁷⁴

John Alexander, a retired Army colonel who worked with classified material and on classified projects disagreed with this assessment. He wrote:

Begin with the source. As far as is publically available today, the source of the documents remains unknown to everyone, including the people who released them. Rather than meeting under a bridge late at night, the perpetrator sent an anonymous envelope, not even indicating what the film related to, even the general topic. There have been no face-to-face meetings between the reporters [Moore, Shandera and Friedman] and their confidential source, nor was there any way to vet him or her.⁷⁵

This lack of provenance might have led directly to the next document in the MJ-12 mystery. This was the Cutler-Twining memo that had been found in a box of declassified documents held by the National Archives. That would be an attempt to end one avenue of discussion.

¹ Stan Friedman, Top Secret/Majic, 1996 p.20, Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, Second Edition, 1998, p. 310, Philip Klass, “The MJ12 Crashed-Saucer Documents,” Skeptical Inquirer, Winter 1987-88, p. 38; Stan Friedman, “MJ-12: The Evidence So Far,” International UFO Report, Sept/Oct 1987, p.14; Jacques Vallee, Revelations, 1991, p. 38

²Brad Sparks and Barry Greenwood, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origin of MJ-12” in 2007 MUFON Symposium Proceedings, p. 95 – 100; Kevin Randle, Case MJ-12, 2002, p. 207, Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, 1998, p. 308, Linda Moulton Howe, An Alien Harvest, 1989.

³Larry Fawcett (publisher) and Barry Greenwood (editor), “MJ-12: Myth or Reality, Just Cause, December, 1985, p. 1-2.

⁴He has been described by various sources as an employee, technician and an engineer working in the aerospace industry including Philip Klass’ SUN Newsletter available at: www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/klass_files_volume_44.

⁵Stan Friedman in Top Secret/Majic, p. 57, reported that, “As far as I know, the source was actually Bill Moore, who was not in the military and does not work for the government, but has a fondness for playing games.” See also, Dolan, Cover-Up, p. 407

⁶There is no mention of either the Aquarius Telex or Project Aquarius in Friedman’s Top Secret/Majic, Ryan Woods Majic:Eyes Only or Friedman’s 1991 report on Mj12, Final Report on Operation Majestic-12 published by the Fund for UFO Research in April 1990. In a February 2001 letter, Friedman wrote, “I am not sure what you mean by the Aquarius Telex and don’t even mention it in Top Secret/Majic or Final Report…”

⁷For copies of the document, see William Steinman and Wendelle Stevens, ⁷⁰, 1986, p.625: William Moore and Jaime Shandera, The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report, 1990, Appendix C.

⁸Ibid.

⁹Jerome Clark, ⁷⁰, Second Edition, 1998, p. 303; Vallee, Revelations, pp. 78 – 82; Richard Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed, 1973 – 1991, 2009 pp. 225 - 231.

¹⁰Timothy Good, ⁷⁰, 1988, p. 406

¹¹Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, 1998, p. 303

¹²Although addressed throughout as “doctor” and Bennewitz studied physics, he never completed the work for his doctoral degree according to Jim Campbell who interviewed Bennewitz. The interview is published online at:
http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2005/11/final-of-interview-with-paul-bennewitz.html.

¹³Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, p. 303

¹⁴Moore and Shandera, MJ-12: An Analytical Report, p. 8

¹⁵W. Todd Zechel, “The MJ-12/Aquarius Hoax,” privately published, 1989, p. 4. It is in this document that Zechel claims that Bennewitz came up with the term, “Extraterrestrial Biological Entity” (EBE), which would figure prominently later in the Eisenhower Briefing Document.

¹⁶Zechel, MJ-12/Aquarius, p. 8

¹⁷Zechel, “MJ-12/Aquarius,” p. 9.

¹⁸Moore and Shandera, ⁷⁰, p. 9

¹⁹Although it was widely reported that this meeting took place in February 1981, Moore claimed that he found the correct date in his notes. In his MJ-12 Analytical Report, page 10, he wrote it was March 2, 1981.

²⁰Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 10

²¹Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 10

²²Ibid. pp 10 – 11.

²³Ibid., p. 11

²⁴Ibid. p. 11

²⁵Letter in the files of Kevin Randle.

²⁶Ibid. See also, Robert Hastings, “The MJ-12 Affair: facts, Questions, Comments,” The MUFON Journal No. 254, June 1989, p. 8.

²⁷Richard Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover Up Exposed, 2009, p. 146; Pratt had also served as the editor of the MUFON UFO Journal. See also: http://www.mufon.com/bob_pratt/obit.html.

²⁸Letter from Pratt to Robert Todd, February 20, 1989, copy in Randle’s files. See also, Sparks, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12,” MUFON UFO Journal, September 2007, p 6.

²⁹Ibid.

³⁰This is a reference to a carbon copy of an alleged official Air Force incident report that was sent to the National Enquirer and eventually to Bob Pratt about an event at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Pratt noted in his letter to Todd, “As for the Ellsworth incident, it never happened (although I understand Doty claims it really did – which I take to be more disinformation on somebody’s part). See also, Bob Pratt, “Truth about the Ellsworth Affair,” MUFON UFO Journal, January 1984, pp. 6 – 9

³¹Pratt Letter, February 20, 1989

³²Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 31; Randle, Case MJ-12, pp 205 – 207.

³³Ibid.

³⁴Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 31

³⁵This is a ridiculous scenario. It is more appropriate in a movie than in real life. Moore was left with nothing that could be verified as authentic and he had no provenance for the documents because he didn’t know who the courier was or where the documents originated. In other cases of leaked classified documents, there is enough information available for an independent review of the authenticity. With MJ-12, the trail stops before any of the insiders are identified and the documents authenticated.

³⁶Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, pp. 31 – 32.

³⁷See, for example, Steinman and Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, pp. 612 – 618.

³⁸Quote from both Moore and Shandera’s released documents, and from example of documents circulated in the UFO field, including a representation in Steinman and Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, pp. 616 – 618. Also see Just Cause, June 1987, p. 3

³⁹Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, pp. 307 – 310; Randle Case MJ-12, pp. 208 – 212, Linda Moulton Howe, letters dated May 10, 1983, November 15, 1987, March 16, 1988; Robert Hastings, “The MJ-12 Affair: Facts, Questions, Comments,” March 1, 1989

⁴⁰Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, pp. 307 – 310.

⁴¹Randle, Case MJ-12, p. 209; Timothy Good, Alien Contact, Top-Secret UFO Files Revealed, 1993, p. 114 – 115; Vallee, Revelations, pp. 41 - 43

⁴²Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, pp. 307 -310; Dolan, Cover-Up Exposed, 299 - 309.

⁴³This doesn’t mean there is documentation for the Roswell crash because it is clear that the document is fraudulent. Roswell was mentioned with other crashes known to be hoaxes including the December 6, 1950 El Indio – Guerrero crash, the Aztec crash of March, 1948 and the Kingman, Arizona crash of May, 1953.

⁴⁴Clark, UFO Encyclopedia. p. 308; Randle, Case MJ-12, pp. 207 – 209; Vallee, Revelations, pp. 41 -43; See also, UFO Crash at Aztec, July 1998, p. 21.

⁴⁵Snowbird was an actual project and has been described by Barry Greenwood as a “Joint Army/Air Force peacetime military exercise in the sub-arctic region in 1955, according to Gale Research’s Code Name Dictionary, 1963.” See MUFON UFO Journal Number 236, December 1987, p. 12

⁴⁶Project Sigma, according to Greenwood in MUFON UFO Journal Number 236, December 1987, p. 12, had nothing to do with UFOs, but was a top secret project, by the Air Force in conjunction with Rockwell International.

⁴⁷Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, pp 32 – 34, Steinman and Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec, pp. 612 – 618.

⁴⁸Howe, Linda Moulton, An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking Animal Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life Forms, 1989. Also mentioned in November 15, 1987 letter from Howe.

⁴⁹Vallee, Revelations, 63 – 75; Randle, Case MJ-12, p. 211

⁵⁰Letter from Bob Pratt to Robert Todd, February 20, 1989, p. 1

⁵¹For a comprehensive analysis of the disinformation theory, see Sparks, “The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12, MUFON UFO Journal, September 2007, pp. 3 – 10, and MUFON UFO Journal, October 2007, pp. 3 – 11.

⁵²Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 43; Timothy Good, Above Top Secret, 1988, p. 257; Good, Alien Contact Top-Secret Files Revealed, 1993, p. 124; John Alexander, UFOs Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, 2011, pp. 122 – 123, Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, p. 310; Vallee, Revelations, pp. 38 - 39.

⁵³Stan Friedman, “Final Report on Operation Majestic 12”, Fund for UFO Research, April 1990, p. 2, Friedman, “MJ-12: The Evidence so far, International UFO Reporter, September/October 1987, pp. 13 – 20.

⁵⁴Moore and Shandera, MJ-12 Analytical Report, p. 44. It should be noted that this makes no logical sense. The danger is in developing the negatives. If an error is made, there is no way to recover. If a print is ruined, another can be made from the negative. It would be more logical to have the film developed professionally and then make the prints at home.

⁵⁵Howard Blum, Out There, 1990, pp. 239 -241.

⁵⁶Ibid., p. 241

⁵⁷Friedman, in a letter to Joe Nickell on October 9, 1987, wrote, “To the best of my knowledge there is no set of contact prints anywhere. What purpose?”

⁵⁸Ibid. p.241

⁵⁹Friedman, Top Secret/Majic, p. 56

⁶⁰Bill Moore, “Crashed Saucers: Evidence in the Search for Proof,” in Crashed UFOs: Evidence in the Search for Proof, William Moore Publications; June 1985, June 1986, June 1987, pp. 50 –

⁶¹From the Eisenhower Briefing document, p. 1

⁶²Greenwood, “Just Cause,” December 1985, p. 2

⁶³At last, at least according to the various accounts of the Aquarius Telex and the mention of MJ-12, someone thought enough of it to make some inquiries. Prior to Greenwood pointing it out in 1985, it seemed that everything revolved around the authenticity of the document and no one seemed to see the other avenue for investigation, that is, to find out if there was a Project Aquarius and an MJ-12.

⁶⁴Greenwood, Just Cause, December 1985, p. 2

⁶⁵Ibid.

⁶⁶Friedman, Top Secret/Majic, pp. 56 – 57

⁶⁷Ibid.

⁶⁸Martin Bailey, “Close Encounters of an Alien Kind – And Now if You’ve Read Enough About the Election, Here’s News from Another World,” London Observer, May 3, 1987, p. 1

⁶⁹Friedman, Top Secret/Majic, pp. 58 – 59

⁷⁰Clark, UFO Encyclopedia, p. 310.

⁷¹Good, Alien Contact, p. 123

⁷²Barry Greenwood, “On Timothy Good’s Source of the MJ-12 Briefing Paper,” dated February 18, 1990; see also, Timothy Good, The UFO Report – 1990, 1990.

⁷³Letter from Barry Greenwood to Kevin Randle, 1993, including copies of Eisenhower Briefing Document. Greenwood explained that the “large format copies are from Moore’s Apr 87 Focus and the small format from Good’s book.”

⁷⁴Randle, Case MJ-12, pp. 170 – 171; Letter from Friedman to Randle, February 13, 2001.

⁷⁵Alexander, UFOs: Myths, pp. 125 – 126

See Also:

The Myth of MJ-12: Appendix A –Pt 2

The Myth of MJ-12: Appendix A –Pt 3

"Appendix A: The Myth of MJ-12" An Annotated Commentary By Barry Greenwood

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