| EDITOR AND STILL SUPREME COMMANDER: James W. Moseley, J.S. |
NON-SCHEDULED NEWSLETTER Volume 43, No. 7 August 20th, 1996 |
MAILING ADDRESS: P. 0. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041 |
Leaders of this in-house revolt include Charles Flannigan, Florida State Director, as well as the State Directors for Louisiana and Alabama, and Tim Brigham, editor of the highly influential "Devil's Advocate" which is published in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Many of the suggestions would involve increased paperwork by MUFON officials. Among the other comments and recommended changes:
To our way of thinking, the most severe problem at MUFON, re the last item mentioned above, is the Cult of Personality, in that there is no process set up, as far as anyone knows, to replace International Czar Walt Andrus should he ever move on to a Higher Plane.
When we asked Walt recently what he thinks of the list of criticisms, he seemed unenthusiastic about it. As a mere Journal Subscriber (J.S.) in the vast MUFON organization, we do not know what, if anything, has been done or will be done to implement the items on the list. We would have a few rather severe recommendations of our own, were anyone to ever ask!...
Perhaps MUFON's biggest problem is its habit of accepting pro-UFO evidence which does not even remotely meet scientific standards. A case in point is that of artist Budd Hopkins, who has finally obtained a publisher for his "Case of the Century" (1989), involving Linda Napolitano of New York City - whom he still insists on calling Linda Cortile. This notorious case, in which Linda was actually floated out her apartment window by aliens late one night, is now one of the subjects of a book just out by Hopkins, called "Witnessed".
Hopkins' speech at the Convention was called "The Sixth Witness", refering to a recently-discovered woman who saw the alleged abduction while driving her car on the night in question. Her name is said to be Cathy Turner. The other five witnesses apparently are: Linda; pseudo-government agents Dan and Rick, whom no one has met; "the woman on the Brooklyn Bridge", who has since died; and Perez de Cuellar, who was at that time the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Perez de Cuellar was once interviewed and denied any knowledge of the incident; but in his lecture Hopkins claimed to have a letter from the man, negating this denial. We'd sure like to see that letter!
The tragedy is that Cathy Turner has also died, and thus would be difficult to interview. The only witness readily available is Linda herself, and indeed, she was at the podium with Hopkins, answering questions. As time passes, Hopkins has become increasingly bitter at those who simply cannot swallow this story!
Another questionable lecture at the Convention was "Medical and Surgical Aspects of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon", given by a real M.D. named Dr. Roger Leir. We might have given Leir the benefit of the doubt, had he not mentioned that he works closely with Derrel Sims of the Houston (Texas) DEC Network (HUFON). We have been provided with an in-depth expose of Sims published in the May 30th, 1996 issue of "Houston Press". The gist of this article is that Sims has the credibility of a snake oil salesman. (We will lend this long article to selected "Smear" non-subscribers if asked to do so.)
The most enjoyable lecture, in a purely non-scientific way, was the one by A. J. Gevaerd, MUFON National Director for Brazil. This centered around an alleged UFO landing in Brazil this past January (discussed further on in this issue). Though the evidence for this landing is purely anecdotal, Geveard expressed great enthusiasm, and even your sour "Smear" editor was swept up by enthusiasm (not belief). John Carpenter, MUFON Director of Abduction Research, calls it "a damn good case, equal to Roswell", and Harvard psychiatrist John Mack says he would stake his career and license on the story being true. Both Carpenter and Mack were speakers at this year's MUFON Convention.
If Geveard's talk was the most popular, the least popular "paper" was the one given by famed Roswell researcher Kevin Randle. Though he told us in private conversation that he still swears by the Roswell case, he mysteriously chose to give his talk on the subject: "Does Pop Culture Affect our Views?" The implied answer is yes and Randle went on to show that prototypes for various forms of aliens may well come from science-fiction. Of course no one wants to hear that, as it is "negative". Amusingly, since MUFON convention speeches are published in advance, and since Randle nappened to be the first on the Convention program, several other speakers included emotional rebuttals in their speeches!
Other "papers" included one by Philip Mantle of England, an excellent speaker (whom we largely disagree with), who admitted that the famous alien autopsy video is not connected with the Roswell crash, as the date is wrong.
The program was rounded out by: Our friend Antonio Huneeus, MUFON International Coordinator; Carlos Rojas of Mexico; Chris Styles of Canada; Jeffrey Sainic; Vincent DePietro; John White; and Dr. Bruce Maccabee of Gulf Breeze fame. Nuclear Physicist Stanton Friedman was conspicious by his absence.
There were no Voodoo items for sale at the Convention, but we did buy lovely "grey" alien dolls for two of our scientifically-minded grandchildren, aged 4 and 8.
Our most enjoyable experience was infiltrating the private party that Walt Andrus gave on Saturday evening for the lecturers and other "Inner Circle" people. We tried hard to behave, but we couldn't resist saying hello to Richard Hall of FUFOR, with whom we have not been speaking for well over thirty years. (Long story there!) We now know that Hopkins is hopelessly humorless, so we didn't even try to talk to him. Walt Andrus was pleasant to all. He may not be a scientist, but he is a gentleman.
Now we have a landing story said by some to equal the Roswell case, as desoribed in the June 28th Wall St. Journal & elsewhere: In a rather tongue-in-cheek manner, the Journal recounts how, last Jan. 20th, 3 young women in the town of Varginha spotted a oreature with oily brown skin, "rubbery limbs", and three rounded protrusions spousing from an oversized head. Just like this story, one ghastly whiff of the creature was enough to weaken the knees!
The women ran off in panic, and that should have been the end of it. But somehow, largely due to the efforts of a local UFO investigator, the sighting became linked to unusual military activity in Varginha that occurred at about the same time. No UFO was seen when the creature was encountered, but because of Brazilian paranoia about their armed forces, it is now believed that a flying sauoer was retrieved, plus several alien bodies, and that the United States military intervened to make sure the evidence was sent to our country so that the eternal cover-up can continue!
By co-incidence, an international UFO conferenoe took place in Brazil this past June, with John Carpenter, Stanton Friedman, and other leading MUFONites in attendance. John Mack of Harvard made a separate trip to Brazil at his own expense. All this plus the MUFON conference in July means that the Varginha case will take its place as a classic item in UFO lore. More on this in forthcoming issues.
Now a third member of the group named Edward Zabo has also been arrested. He was an electrical inspector at Northrop Grumman on Long Island and is suspected of stealing radium and other material from Grumman, possibly to pay a federal tax debt plus local fines for drunk driving. Mazzuchelli also has a criminal record. All three are being held without bail.
Can this mean that the next issue of John Ford's UFO newsletter will be unavoidably delayed for an indefinite period of time???...
Beckjord can be reached at - UFObfmuseum@value.net....
"Dear Reliable Observer:"As pre-announced in your June 1st issue, I had the great honor of roaming the State University of New York at Buffalo campus (packing a large bent spoon in my pocket) during CSICOP's June 20-23 World Skeptics Congress, in search of an explanation of how Uri Geller could have caused the spoon to, in your words, `bend on its own for. . perhaps thirty seconds without being further touched'....
"I did show the deformed utensil to several `magical' CSICOPpers for their expert opinions. They included Chip Denman, Ray Hyman, Jerry Andrus, Joe Nickell, and James Randi. None of the aforementioned magicians could come up with any explanation for how the spoon could possibly have continued to bend on its own, as you believe you witnessed. None was aware of any metallurgic technique that could have been employed. All believed that, with Celler's expert guidance, your eyes/brain had deceived you. A couple of them mentioned some weird substance (it sounded something like `alk-uh-hawl') that could have somehow been involved but, not being a magician myself, I couldn't quite follow..."
We are amazed that the Learned Elders of CSICOP can't even admit that ther~ could be a trick they are unfamiliar with. Total Knowledge must be a boring state of mind! - Editor.
"In your last `Smear' you published my letter in which I had mentioned that Col. McCoy (chief Intelligence officer at ATIC in 1947-1949) had said that, as of March 1948, there were `over 300' sightings by `very competent people' which had not been publicized in the news media. This number by itself is interesting, but it is not the point I wanted to make."A look at the Blue Book file shows that the AF had collected a paltry 135 or so sightings by that time.. The implication of McCoy's statement combined with the Blue Book record is that over 160 sightings never made it to the Blue Book file. The natural questions which arise are - why aren't they in the BB file, who were these witnesses, and what did they see?
"Assuming McCoy was telling the truth when he stated his wish for one to crash, which implies that none had crashed (or at least that he wasn't aware of a crash), then he was probably also telling the truth when he provided an approximate number (`over 300') of sighting reports. McCoy's statement provides the first quantitative evidence that the Air Force withheld sightings from the Project Blue Book file."
"I finally did it! After 22 years I just couldn't take CUFOS and it's IUR (`International UFO Reporter') outlet any more, so I quit. Enclosed is my CUFOS resignation letter and Jerry Clark's response to it. His remarks show that he just doesn't get it! Jerry, et al, simply refuse to face the real issues re Roswell. It's a damn shame. The pro-Roswell articles in lUR are pure garbage. The circus rolls on!"
"Unfortunately, in quoting my remarks in `The Jim Ragsdale Story' about the two versions of Roswell `witness' Jim Ragsdale's tale, you blended them together in such a way as to confuse what I actually wrote about what. It was the story as originally reported by Randle and Schmitt which I found `internally contradictory', with `all the earmarks of barroom tall tales', and situated in a most unlikely place for a tryst - the desolate high desert 35 miles NNW of Roswell. As for what Ragsdale told me on Sept. 9th, 1994, this is what I wrote in the book:`While in some respects (e.g. the location) the story is more plausible than that originally attributed to him, in many others it is equally suspect or more so.. The Jim Ragsdale story, as interesting and entertaining as it is, remains just that, an interesting and entertaining story and nothing more.'"
"Sorry, but I can't let this one go by unchallenged. George Hansen's remarks (in `Smear') about my mentor need addressing, and I'll throw in a few of my own:"Elisabeth Kubler-Ross did have a brief relationship with the Barhams but distanced herself as soon as she learned the facts. The fact is, the entire hospice movement in America was brought about by her efforts. She is internationally renowned for her work in helping people through extremely difficult transitions. As a result of my work with her, I was involved with Ann Dailey in establishing Children's Hospice International, dedicated to helping children facing life-threatening illness and their families. Thor that work President Reagan awarded me a National Award for Volunteerism. (I'm sure GH has similar ones!)
"As for my non-contributions to science, Aviation Week did make me an Aerospace Laureate, and last year the Department of Energy presented an Award of Excellence for contribution to specific programs. (Surely GH has similar recognition.)
"I do note that Walden University, a fully-accredited institution, advertises as stated. Of course that's alongside schools such as Penn State. Unfortunately, I was tied up on other matters for thirty-some years and didn't have time to devote exclusive effort to school. (Again, GH doesn't seem to have done so, either. Also, I didn't find him listed in my copy of `Who's Who'.)
"GH comments about `those in the know'. Here an old saying applies, `He who knows not, but knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him.'"
"Many thanks for publishing my letter on Alexander. A number of people are pleased that you didn't chicken out! I've received some very positive feedback on it."By the way, a small point: I am not a psychologist. Some of those who are would probably become extremely irate if I didn't write you to set the record straight."
"I think that Jerry Clark shows shades of envy in the Summer issue of lUR when he condemns Carl Sagan for reading `Timothy Green Beckley's collected works'. Since I started editing `UFO Universe' and `Unsolved UFO Sightings' in 1988, we have presented every angle of this mystery, often pro and con."Perhaps it was easier for Dr. Sagan to find my `collected works', since our publications have a readership of 50,000 as opposed to the less than 1,000 copies of lUR that get into circulation. Of course, FATE Magazine had tons of subscribers (way into the tens of thousands) and boasted a wide newsstand circulation before Jerry's editorship. By the time he left the job, FATE's readership had declined considerably. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was so busy attacking skeptics with features like the 23-page `Starbaby' article he ran, that he didn't realize that FATE readers might be more interested in true ghost stories and exciting close encounters, and eventually might seek out other sources for their information.
"Jerry seems to have plenty of time to make snide comments about me - and others! - in print, but he fails to mention his `roots', which were at the feet of the `Master'. Back in the 1960s he was the assistant editor of my `Interplanetary News Service Report', his `job' being to type the stencils of the first publication I published (which, by the way, later merged with SAUCER NEWS.)
"Now our dear friend doesn't want to `dirty his hands' and fails to mention me in the text of his rather one-sided self opinionated `encyclopedia'. Mind you, I'm not in the index of the third volume, but in plenty of the footnotes, when he chooses to use my source material in his `collected works' to fill in the blanks.
"Frankly, I don't care what J.C. (does he perhaps take these initials too seriously?) thinks of my `collected works'. He doesn't pay my bills. Ironically, I've published books by some of the authors he likes to praise so highly (i.e. Jenny Randles, Kevin Randle). I don't believe I've ever attacked anyone in print; its not my style. I've always been one for wanting to see the field progress. Perhaps we'd all get somewhere in our 'search' if we cut back on the name calling and spent our time in a more progressive manner.
"It's funny that a lot cf the Ufological matters that used to occupy so much of Jerry's time (including some rather mystifying Men in Black activities around his own howe) he likes to sweep under the rug in order to give his `collected works' a more scientific appearance. But where exactly are his degrees? I have just as many as he does - NONE!
"As far as I'm concerned, J.C. can take all those stones and sticks he likes to toss about and - - You get the picture!"
"...An author has no control over how a publisher decides to print a book. If they want to do a lousy photo section in a book - defeating the purpose of concise information - they have the right. ... I would have wanted a color photo section, since my photos are clear and in brilliant color (as are many of the hundreds of other photographs taken by other people at Pine Bush)..."The reason why I didn't buy a quartz or plastic lens should be obvious - money! A quartz lens costs close to $2,000; a plastic lens would have to be made up specially by Kodak, and we were once quoted an approximate price of $600. If anyone would like to give me the money I'd be glad to acquire these lenses...
"If you would have read the literature on `Silent Invasion', you would know that as of Jan. 1st, 1966, the book was put out of print by Marlowe & Co., to make way for the mass paperback coming this Fall from St. Martin's Press, with a redesigned cover. People can get the book from me at 1442 Hemlock Farms, Hawley, Pa. 18428..."
All we know for sure is that Friedman alone among current leading American ufologists chooses to accept the validity of the notorious "MJ-12" documents, which are the subject of this book. (Of course, Stan is now Canadian.) His legitimate background in Nuclear Physics makes his credulity all the more amazing! In our next issue we'll have more to say about all this. In the meanwhile, let's get to the really important facts: The book is available, soft cover, for $22.95 from Marlowe & Co., 632 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
Saucer Smear Index