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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SAUCER & UNEXPLAINED CELESTIAL EVENTS RESEARCH SOCIETY

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EDITOR AND STILL SUPREME COMMANDER: James W. Moseley

NON-SCHEDULED NEWSLETTER Volume 45, No. 10 December 1st, 1998

MAILING ADDRESS: P. 0. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041

• It's That Time of Year Again!
• Regarding Letters to the Editor from William Moore and Others
• Joyous Rehash of the 35th National UFO Congress
• Miscellaneous Ravings
• Letters to Ye Olde Editor

Once again, ace cartoonist Matt Graeber has joined us in our effort to persuade you-all to Chip In to the cost of producing this unique zine of ours. Matt's work can be seen above, below, and throughout this issue.

In this issue the lead-off missive is from William Moore, in answer to our editorial attacking him in the October 10th "Smear". We are more than happy to give Moore ample Space to reply here-in, but we would like to make the following comments on his letter:

1. The notion that Phil Klass had anything to do with the MJ-12 hoax is absurd. Klass is by no means the "boy scout" he claims to be, but hoaxing just isn't his kind of Thing!

2. We are fiendishly pleased that Moore admits in his letter that the inclusion of the late Dr. Donald Menzel in the list of MJ-12 members is somebody's idea of a joke. This is exactly what we have been saying for years, to Stanton Friedman and anyone who will listen. Sadly, Friedman will not listen.

3. It is worthy of note that Moore seems to have an unusual sense of humor himself. His letter was sent in an envelope taken from a hotel in Roswell, yet the postmark was from MArina Del Rey, California. This is just the kind of mind that might well be capable of including Menzel in MJ-12!

Now, ignore our cynical comments above and read Moore's letter with an open mind!

There were about one hundred paid attendees at the NUFOC this year, plus the speakers, hangers-on, hotel staff, etc. Primary credit for the success of the event goes to researcher Karl Pflock, who not only is an Internet fiend, but has a number of followers who were willing to pay to hear him speak. His topic was the classic 1952 Sonny Desvergers "saucer attack" case, although he is best known for his Roswell research, now contained in an updated book called "The Roswell UFO Mystery.- Legend and Reality".

By happy co-incidence, Pflock's Roswell book was sold to a French publisher called OP Editions, just the evening before the Convention began. (His other manuscript, co-authored with your "Smear" editor, is still unsold, unfortunately.) Pflock's literary agent, Cherry Weiner, was on hand for the announcement we made to the assembled masses, and at the same time Pflock was given - as previously planned - our coveted Ufologist of the Year Award. In the photo at right, Pflock is holding the plaque he was given, looking obviously pleased.

The speakers during the two-day program included your humble "Smear" editor and about fifteen others. We talked as usual about the several strange ufological and Fortean experiences we have had during our nearly half a century of saucer research. We also acted as Master of Ceremonies, making all the introductions from the podium, and there was even a wild rumor that a video tape would be made of just these rather unique introductions. (Don't hold your breath for it to actually appear!)

Other highlights were: Tom Benson, telling for the first time in public the full story of his 4-D type UFO abduction experience many years ago. Benson is a former state director for MUFON. Then, at the very end of the program was a delightful rant by parapsychologist George Hansen, who explained, among other things, how the prestige given to various UFO and psychic outfits in no way reflects the true value of their work.

And, earlier in the program, there was David Huggins with slides of his many paintings which describe the experiences he has had with attractive alien women from another planet or dimension of some sort.

Among those not heard: Pat Marcattilio ("Dr. UFO") himself, who chose to give his allotted time to someone else; NUFOC co-founder Rick Hilberg of Cleveland, who had to cancel because of illness; and Matt Graeber, who wanted to do a slide presentation of his cartoons, but received no encouragement at all from the local chairman.

Other speakers included Marshall Barnes, speaking on the famed 1943 "Philadelphia Experiment", who gave a fairly convincing case for the idea that the technology existed to make a ship invisible. (This would not mean it was teleported, however.)

Retired airline pilot Bob Durant (pictured below) spoke eloquently in favor of the Roswell Incident being interplanetary. In separate incidents, both your editor and Karl Pflock were unnecessarily rude to Durant (as we both are Mogul Balloon fans), and each of us later apologized to him separately for our bad manners.

Antonio Huneeus, "the man of a thousand slides", gave a world-wide ufological overview, and Curt Sutherly spun tales from his current Fortean book called "Strange Encounters". Dr. Richard Sauder ranted about underground bases, and conspiracy fan Peter Jordan of New York City sought the true meaning of the mysterious rash of animal mutilations in recent years.

Other speakers included Anna Hayes, Melanie Green, Michelle Guerin, and a couple of other people thrown onto the program at the last minute, whose names we did not get.

Over-all it was a very worthwhile event. The bar was busy and a good time was had by almost all. Now we are already starting to plan next year's convention, and we will keep you informed of our progress.

MEMORIES OF THE CONVENTION: Left: Pat Marcattilio ("Dr. UFO") relaxes in his NUFOC T-shirt; Center: Bob Durant in his pro-Roswell rant; Right: David Huggins poses with a painting of one of his interplanetary friends.

• We have just come across (thanks to Stanton Friedman) a hilariously garbled interview from a British magazine called "The X Factor". Last year, both Phil Klass and your "Smear" editor were speakers at Fortean Times' "UnConvention" in London, England. Though we hold similar view on many ufological matters, our views are not interchangeable, and our backgrounds are entirely different. Yet this interview, supposedly with James Moseley (pictured in a trench coat we've never seen before!), begins by saying "Jim Moseley was born and raised in Iowa". No, it is Phil Klass who was born in Iowa, poor man! The interview goes on that way. Some of the questions & answers obviously pertain to Klass, and some to Moseley. A reader might wonder why an electrical engineer who has been a senior editor at "Aviation Week" ( = Klass ) would bother to spend a lifetime editing "Saucer Smear". Whoever wrote this article was obviously on the 'Wrong Stuff' that day! ...

• Scientists at the California Institute of Technology claim to have completed the first "full" teleportation experiment. They said they have teleported a beam of light across a laboratory bench - not by physically transporting the beam itself, but by transmitting its properties to another beam, thus creating a replica of the first one. These scientists believe the experiment shows that quantum teleportation can eventually transform everyday life! ...

• From the dreaded Internet Tim Brigham (remember him?) has snagged an item headlined "'Little Alien' Hoaxes Continue in Israel". It describes the fourth in a recent series of hoaxes involving little creatures of presumed extraterrestrial origin.

  Mazal Maman of Moshav Keren Ben Zimrah was digging for fertilizer (no shit!) when, just under the surface of the ground, she allegedly found what appeared to be a human body, only about 3 inches in length. She said it looked like a human embryo, but (alas!) it had no sexual organs. A UFO researcher advised Ms. Maman to keep the creature in her freezer.

  After a day of media frenzy, the entity was exposed as a fake, though the article does not tell us how or why. Was Ms. Maman Silenced or forced to change her story? "Smear" will stay on top of this one, we assure you! ...

• In a 1998 book called "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field", Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis tells of an incident many years earlier, alone on his isolated property in California. He was walking through the woods about midnight on his way to the outhouse, when he came upon a glowing raccoon which spoke to him the words, "Good evening, doctor". The next thing he remembers, it was morning! Mullis quite rightly describes the incident as "extraordinarily weird"! (Our thanks to non-subscriber Lex Mebane for this one.)...

• An author/adventurer named Reinhold Messner has a new book out called "Yeti", in which he makes the case that the famed Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas is in reality a large bear. The book is said to contain photos taken during several encounters over a period of years. A number of European newspapers have cast doubt on his findings, but says Messner, "I can't help it if people expected King Kong and didn't get him!"...

• We have several interesting recent letters from John Ford, former head of the Long Island (N.Y.) UFO Network. He is still in jail, and for the second time he has been found incompetent to stand trial. He says this is "primarily because of my ties to the Israeli Intelligence Network and my belief in UFOS". His address is: Mid Hudson Psychiatric Center, P.O. Box 158, New Hampton, N.Y. 10958. - Ford claims to have inside information concerning certain alleged UFO crashes on Long Island a few years ago.

• Famed researcher WILLIAM MOORE writes as follows:

  "Once again, for the record, and in light of your comment in the most recent SMEAR: (a) My previous statement about MJ-12 still stands; and (b) I am not involved in any way with either Dr. Wood, or his sort, or Mr. Tim Cooper, or anyone else, in any investigation of additional MJ-12 papers or related matters, nor do I have any knowledge concerning the possible origin or purpose of these additional documents, or of whether or not they could be fabrications. IF they are fabrications, I did not fabricate them, nor do I have any particular opinion about who might have-- except as set forth in herein.

  Assuming, FOR THE SAKE OF DISCUSSION, that the original MJ-12 documents are fabrications, and with respect, to Dr. Posner's comment about whether Phil Klass should be considered as a possible suspect in the production thereof, I would like to say that I have never seriously considered such an intriguing possibility until now. Given Klass'(and some of his other skeptic-cronies') known involvement in similar underhanded, dirty-tricks operations in the past, and given that, at the time those documents first surfaced (i.e. December of 1984), Klass could well have harbored a desire to embarrass me publicly due to the hard time I was giving him over the Roswell Incident, perhaps Dr. Posner's suggestion is not so preposterous after all. Going further with such an assumption, the fact that I sat on those documents for two-and-a-half years rather than spreading them at once throughout the UFO community, plus the fact that when they did come out they were the subject of considerable publicity, may well have dissuaded Klass from coming forth with the truth because he then would have been painted (internationally, I might add) as an unscrupulous hoaxer and document fabricator while I would have come off only as a poor, unsuspecting victim or his duplicity. Imagine what a lawsuit that would have brought down (or could still bring down) upon him; not to mention the effect that something like that would have had on his then prestigious position with AVIATION WEEK, pluss any book publishing deals he had in process at the time. In addition, anyone familiar with Mr. Klass' well-known and often very perverse sense of humor will recognize that placing Donald Menzel's name on the list of alleged MJ-12 members is just the sort of thing he would find extremely funny.

  Given all of this, and after due reflection, I concede that Dr. Posner could well be onto something in spite of himself, and I, as a potentially aggrieved party here, hasten to urge him, and anyone else who might be interested, to investigate further. Somehow, however, I doubt that he will; or if he does and manages to discover that Klass was responsible, that he will ever say anything about it for fear of the pall such a revelation could cast on the rest of the skeptical movement.

  Before leaving this subject, let me reiterate that all of the above is only speculation on my part, and that, at least for the present, none of it is sufficient to in any way modify my previously stated position on MJ-12.

• BARRY GREENWOOD, editor of "U.F.O. Historical Revue", writes:

  ""If MJ-12 is indeed making its decade-later nostalgic comeback, then ufology deserves to go through such a foolish debate all over again, as a reminder of how giving credence to dopey claims invites such claims to grow and infest within an already volatile topic. Doesn't anyone in UFO research realize that much of what passes as 'scientific research' in this subject has all the impact of overgrown nose hair on one's face to those in the real world!"

• PHIL KLASS writes as follows, in answer to William Moore's letter:

  "I am flattered that Moore now suggests that I may have created the MJ-12 documents that he earlier claimed he had spent more than two years researching before their public release in mid-1987 and that his research indicated the MJ-12 papers were authentic. Within several months my own research revealed numerous naws and anomalies which showed the MJ-12 papers were counterfeit. One of the most significant was the fact that dates contained in the 'Eisenhower briefing document' used a very unusual date -format - -part military and part civil, with a 'surplus comma.' Moore himself had repeatedly used this unusual date-format in his earlier letters to me.

  If Moore did not type that MJ-12 document then the hoaxer had intentionally used Moore's unusual date format to implicate him as the forger. When I revealed this 'Moore date-format anomaly,' along with other flaws, in an article published in the winter 1987-88 issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, if Moore 'was innocent he should have written to thank me for discovering this anomaly which he had overlooked. Instead, Moore harshly attacked me and my article, and defended the authenticity of the MJ-12 papers, in the January 1988 issue of his newsletter."

• Famed British UFO author TIMOTHY GOOD writes as follows;

  "You write that, 'Amazingly, the gentle but gullible Timothy Good ... is one of the people who contributed to the Bob Dean expose'. Actually, I directed the three-year investigation, with the expert assistance of Lord Hill-Norton, former Chief of the Defence Staff and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, and a number of current NATO officials. (See 'The Unopened Files', No. 7, Summer 1998, available from Quest Publications, Lloyds Bank Chambers, West Street, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 9DW, U.K. - Price: $7.50, including postage; all major credit cards accepted.)

  "You continually refer to me as 'gullible', starting back in 1983 when I co-authored a book on George Adamski in which, for example, I lent credence to the bogus Straith letter. Times have changed. Over here, many of the new wave 'X Files' ufologists regard me as a debunker, and I'm even listed as a sceptic by several radio and television stations. I'll settle for 'occasionally gullible', please. We're all gullible when it comes to claims we either want to believe - or disbelieve in. Which brings me to Roswell:

  "Karl Pflock makes much of the fact that there is no reference to saucer crashes - or the recovery of material therefrom - in the Secret and Top Secret documents he cites; yet it is surprising that, as a former CIA officer, he fails to mention the fact that since World War II the United States intelligence community has ensured that highly sensitive information is compartmented within the level of Top Secret. Any such Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) - almost certainly including the alleged recovery of extraterrestrial vehicles and bodies - would therefore not be included in Secret and Top Secret documents. Moreover, any documents purportedly relating to such recoveries are likely to be exempt from disclosure under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act ... "

• On the other hand, MILLER JOHNSON, a former Board member of the Roswell Museum, writes:

  "I found the paragraph in 'Saucer Smear' Volume 45, No. 7 relating to the MOGUL tape hieroglyphics for the most part accurate. The exception is the '7 inches' measurement. The enclosed replica, approved by Professor Charles B. Moore for both color and dimension, measures 6.57 inches. Perhaps Mr. Herb Taylor could have avoided criticism by using a disclaimer of measurement being 'approximately' 7 inches.

  "I've come to respect Karl Pflock's theory of the Roswell Incident, beginning and ending as a terrestrial event. On the other hand, we have Jesse Marcel Jr.'s eyewitness account of the dinky little I-Beam. The symbols he describes are a different color, style and size. (See enclosure).

  Were Professor Moore and Dr. Marcel describing the same hieroglyphics from the same debris field? I would have to conclude: absolutely. Opinions through different agendas confuse the facts for many. Without tangible evidence, a UFO crash tale is nothing more than a vehicle to promote more of the same nonsense!"

  Space does not permit us to print the two conflicting sets of hieroglyphics, but we'll bet that Professor Moore is correct and thus Jesse Marcel Jr. is wrong. - Editor.

• CHRISTOPHER ALLAN writes:

  "I have some sympathy with the anonymous internet correspondent who attended a Stan Friedman lecture in Brisbane (Australia) and described his talk as 'crap'.

  "I once read a remark that because Stan was a nuclear physicist this somehow implied he was exceptionally well qualified to speak & write about UFOS. And if you look at his books & papers (and his CD-ROM) the description 'nuclear physicist' always appears on the title page. Why, I wonder, does he constantly refer to himself thus? I presume it is to impress readers and listeners, particularly the younger generation and those new to UFOS.

  "It is odd because Stan has also proclaimed himself as one of the very very few professional ufologists. He has also, by his own admission, 'reverse engineered' flying saucers. How should someone describe himself, being a former nuclear physicist who also spent time back-engineering flying saucers?

  "Perhaps being an ex-nuclear physicist is a pre-requisite for a true understanding of the significance of the MJ-12 documents!"

• Researcher ANNE DRUFFEL writes:

  "Thank you for your mention of my new book, 'How to Defend Yourself Against Alien Abduction', in the Oct. 10th 'Smear'. Most of the 70 'resisters' discussed in the book state that the nature of the 'abduction phenomenon' is unclear at this time. (The possibility that it might be involved with some type of psychological phenomenon is even mentioned.) But regardless of the abductors' true nature, the fact remains that the nine resistance techniques described in my book do work, when used by witnesses with a strong sense of their own rights....

  "In your 'review' of my book, your list of techniques and their explanations was taken directly from the back cover. I did not write the back cover; the editor did, as a sample of the info inside. I would think that a supplemental review of the interior of the book would be appreciated by your non-subscribers, because they might want to sidestep your original advice and buy the book anyway.,,

• Famed abduction researcher LEO SPRINKLE, Ph.D. writes as follows:

  "I appreciate your kind comments about R. Max Petersen. He was a wise and witty guy who corresponded on a variety of topics with a variety of correspondents. He was quick to praise the work of others and slow to criticize the traits of others. He characterized the best qualities of a UFO investigator and Cosmic Citizen ... May we all learn from his joyful, gentle, and peaceful path toward the UFO/ET mystery.,,

• The mysterious fellow who calls himself "V-2", who distributes all those cute little "no aliens" stickers, writes as follows:

  "... We are so saddened at the passing of our dear friend Max Petersen. He was an ardent S.T.W. (Spread The Word) supporter & devoted pen pal. We will miss his letters & passion for truth seeking. Thanks for honoring him in 'Saucer Smear"'.

• Parapsychologist GEORGE HANSEN writes:

  "Your last issue included a comment by one 'Kurt Peters'. The book 'Mute Evidence' by Summers and Kagan revealed that this was the name Kow Pflop used back when he was into cattle mutilations. Is your correspondent Kurt Peters really Kow Pflop?"

  Quite probably, if not certainly! - Editor.

• RONALD STORY, editor of a forthcoming UFO encyclopedia, writes:

  "As I was compiling the new list of entries, I noticed something curious. It was the good company you now share in the alphabetical scheme of things. Whereas in the original 'Encyclopedia of UFOs', your name fell between the 'Morel Encounter' and 'Mothman', in the new version, unless some unforeseen entry slips in that I haven't yet thought of, your name now falls between 'Morrison, Philip' and 'Moses'. I just thought you'd like to know how your stature has risen over the years!"

• Non-subscriber DENIS COREY writes as follows:

  "... John Ford's letter was a real hoot! I'm sure the county government deliberately set fires to cover up a UFO crash. Yeah, right! Talk about paranoia personified!

  "Where is this major UFO flap that Martin Kottmeyer is talking about? I haven't seen or heard anything on the subject ...

  Neither have we! - Editor.

• Author DON WEBB writes:

  "I am writing you for three reasons: (1) My love offering; (2) A gift for you; (3) A note to your readers.

  "My most recent novel, 'The Double' (242 pages, hardcover, $21.95, a murder mystery from St. Martins Press) not only features the Men in Black, but also explains the 'Mystery' of Travel, in addition to being a basic hard boiled murder mystery. It is sure to be a cult classic, as reviewers have already compared it to works by Pynchon, P.K. Dick and Satan.

  "Now, I don't expect you to run this note because of our long term friendship but because of the love offering...

• And, cartoonist MATT GRAEBER writes:

  ... I'm not sure if David Huggins' paintings are really art or not; but they are truly weird and fascinating illustrations of his very close encounters with amorous alien females and curious insectoids that seem to enjoy watching the on-board festivities. Yipee!"