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| EDITOR AND STILL SUPREME COMMANDER: James W. Moseley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
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NON-SCHEDULED NEWSLETTER Volume 48, No. 2 February 20th, 2001 |
MAILING ADDRESS: P. 0. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041 |
Yes, Prometheus is the publishing arm of the dreaded CSICOP organization which we have discussed frequently over the years. And yes, they do publish books by people like Phil Klass and James Randi. But they have over fifty categories of books, including juicy ones like "Human Sexuality'' and "Gay and Lesbian". They are not the stuffy sort of organization that we imagined, and we look forward to working with them. Most of all, we look forward to publicity tours and appearances on the media. Unfortunately, it will be about a year before the book is completed and actually published.
The title, as we've told our readers many times, is "Shockingly Close to the Truth!" Suggested subtitle: "Confessions of a Grave Robbing Ufologist". Our second book (if we last that long in this incarnation), also with Karl Pflock, will be titled "Grave Robbing for Fun and Profit". This will focus on our strange activities in Peru in the late 1950s.
The above information obviously supersedes the "Very Important Announcement" on Page 8 of our March 15th, 2000 issue. Though Moseley and Pflock continue to work with Phyllis Galde, editor of Fate Magazine, the contract with her separate entity called Galde Press did not work out after all.
Three days after the "2001" monolith appeared, and after it had been seen and touched by a number of curious members of the public, it disappeared mysteriously, only to re-appear on a small remote island that is used as a bird sanctuary. Again, no one knows for sure just who did this and how they did it. Apparently there is a spiritual message involved, related to the above-mentioned classic movie.
Sir Arthur Clark, who together with the late Stanley Kubrick, was responsible for "2001" back in 1968, has been receiving a lot of attention this year, and from what we have read he is understandably enjoying it. We of "Smear" hope that the renewed interest in the movie will lead to a renewed interest in space travel, which of course can easily lead to a renewed interest in UFOs. Could 2001 be the Year of the UFO? As the late George Adamski might say, time will tell!
Present-day ufologists in general either know little about Adamski's claims or discount them on general principles. Few realize that (as admitted by historian Jerry Clark) the definitive expose on Adamski was written by your humble "Smear" editor. It is the most thorough bit of serious research that we have ever done, and it was published in October, 1957 in a Special Adamski Expose Issue of the old "Saucer News".
The reason we bring this up now is that Adamski had, in his later years, a much younger co-worker named C.A. (Carol) Honey. Honey based his belief in Adamski mainly on the famed "Desert Contact" of 1952, which is the very same event that we investigated very thoroughly and disproved.
We then paid much less attention to Adamski's subsequent books and activities, whereas it was during this later period that Honey collaborated with him, even ghost-writing some of his material. Honey eventually came to realize that some of Adamski's claims were fabricated (notably his alleged March 1962 trip to Saturn), but Honey still, to this day, has not lost faith in the authenticity of the "Desert Contact".
We assumed that C.A. Honey was deceased by now, as we had not heard from or about him in many years. But just a few weeks ago he surfaced, and is interested in rehashing the Adamski story at this late date - mainly because a still-existent George Adamski Foundation has recently accused him of stealing a lot of Adamski's material for his own.
Honey has published a series of 36 neatly printed pamphlets, some of which discuss in detail his complex relationship with George Adamski. These can be obtained at little or no charge by writing to the author at: 2456 South Woodlark Drive, Ontario, California 91761.
Unfortunately, the 20-page Special Adamski Expose Issue of Saucer News has long been out of print. However, photostatic copies can be obtained for ten dollars each by writing to: Tom Benson, P.O. Box 1174, Trenton, N.J. 08606. Benson also has all of our other back issues through 1995, at lesser prices.
The January 2001 issue contains a number of items worth commenting on, beginning with Page One, which consists of a blurred (Smeared?) version of the cover of Dick Hall's new book, "The UFO Evidence, Vol. II".
The lead article (Page 3), by one Paul Thompson, is an excellent comparison between the mythical MJ-12 group of ufological fame, and the real World War II project with a similar name, which was successfully devoted to breaking the Japanese code. Thompson does not believe in the authenticity of MJ-12. In his discussion he makes a point which your "Smear" editor has argued endlessly over the years, vs. Stanton Friedman, William Moore and others - namely that there is no reason to believe the late Professor Donald Menzel of Harvard University was or could have been a member of MJ-12, if indeed it ever existed! Read this article!
Next we would comment on "Stress Management for Ufologists", a rather silly article written by John Schuessler, the new International Director of MUFON. Among the most important causes of ufological stress, he lists: Too many UFO reports; Too few UFO reports; Debunkers; Critics; Experts and their egos; and Government cover-up. It's just too much about too little; and this 4-page article is due for a follow-up in the next issue!
On Page 13 comes a new feature called "Ufology Profile", consisting of two and a half pages of Ego for (former) nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. (We wonder when our turn will come??) When asked which wellknown ufologists he is not impressed with, Friedman gave a short list that starts with Kevin Randle. Interesting, because Friedman and Dr. Randle agree generally about the authenticity of the Roswell Incident, and have worked together in the past. However, we are aware of the fact that there is currently "bad blood" between them.
Further along, there's a dreadfully egocentric column in which Dick Hall reviews his own book; and finally there is an excellent article about crop circles by England's Jenny Randles. There are also a few other items not worth mentioning. Conspiciously absent, once again, is any mention at all of the festering controversy regarding John Carpenter, MUFON's esteemed Director of Abduction Research.
See also John Schuessler's letter to the editor, further along in this issue of "Smear"...
You too can receive the MUFON Journal or even become an active MUFONite by writing to P.O. Box 369, Morrison, Colorado 80465. Membership has been slipping badly in recent years, for various reasons, and the organization needs all the help it can get!
Krassner has been a supporter, in one way or another, of nearly every leading counter-culture figure of our times, and we admire him for it!
We met Krassner once long ago, on an all-night radio talk show in New York City. Our ex-wife, who apparently knew Krassner slightly, had asked him to write an expose of us. Krassner assured us that he wouldn't, saying, "Frankly, you're not famous enough to expose." He was right!
Some brief gems from the Final Issue: When asked about his own spiritual path, Krassner replies: "Developing an intimate relationship with the deity I don't believe in .... I believe that existence has no meaning, and I love every minute of it. The only thing to do is enjoy the mystery. I mean, if life is not a mystery, what the fuck is it?"...
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense." - Mark Twain
I've just had the pleasure of reading a very interesting and entertaining new book by British Fortean Hilary Evans and his American colleague Patrick Huyghe, "The Field Guide to Ghosts and Other Apparitions", illustrated by Harry Trumbore (Quill/HaperCollins, trade paperback). The most recent in the Field Guides to the Unknown series conjured Up by Huyghe, it's not a routine ghost book. Moreover, quoting Bob "Arcturus Books" Girard, it's a work "any ufologist worth the label will want to study to see if ghosts have any characteristics in common with ufonauts (and purported UFOs, too - KTP)."
In their fascinating, thoughtful, and delightfully written introduction and afterword, the authors offer new slants on and a new typology for ghostly phenomena. These they flesh out (heh, heh) with 50 illustrated cases, mostly drawing upon firsthand testimony spanning he globe and a couple of millennia.
As Evans and Huyghe see it, ghosts are by no means just shades of deceased humans. There are ghosts (?) of the living and not-yet (?) living, as well as of animals, things, and places, including ghost buildings and airfields. There are crisis and non-crisis spooks, and time-slips and harbingers, too. There are even experiencers who, from the perspective of the ghosts and ghostly elsewheres and elsewhens they report having seen or somehow traveled to, may themselves have seemed to be ghosts - or UFOs and ufonauts. (Here, a friendly tip of the hat to the esteemed Lex Mebane. See his letter in the Dec. 1st "Smear".)
How can all this be explained? Are ghosts merely figments of the mind's eye, or are they real in an objective, material sense? Are they perhaps visitors from some alternate reality or universe or the products of eddies in the stream of time, in both cases UFOs of a sort?
The authors consider these and other possibilities, but in true Fortean fashion offer no firm conclusions of their own about the "reality" of ghosts. Instead, they note that, whatever form of existence ghosts may have, the ghost experience - what people "say they saw, heard, maybe even smelt or felt" - is "real enough". They point out that this is what laymen usually mean when they talk of ghosts, whereas scientists rightly concern themselves with matters of existence, physical, measurable attributes. The trouble is, ghosts rarely offer up anything for scientists to get their calipers on and so are dismissed as images born of undigested bits of beef and the like.
Sound familiar, saucer fiends?
"I'm relieved that the CIA and/or the MIB and/or the Illuminati let the copy of my new book 'Extraordinary Encounters' reach your mailbox unmolested. Clearly, the system isn't operating as effectively as formerly."Be doubly grateful that you got a free copy. I see that the publisher is selling my deathless prose for $75 (gulp!) Not being sophisticated about these things, I confess I have never understood the economics of reference publishing. I'd be happy if the book were a trade paperback for $14.95, freely (or almost freely) available to the masses; but then, who asked me?
"A second point: The other day, skimming through the opus, I saw only one reference to you in the index and had the feeling that I'd mentioned you more than once. I did. You're also on page 270. I am not responsible for the index, which was done by (so I was told) 'professionals'. Next time, I'll do it myself..."
We intend to review Jerry's fine new book either somewhere in this issue or the next one, depending on Space - Editor.
"Your Jan. 10th, 2000 issue of 'Saucer Smear' has an inaccuracy on Page 7. This is in regard to the email response to the MUFON member who asked for the names of our Board members. While I did note that we publish the list annually in the Proceedings, I did not say 'buy it'. As you can see from the enclosed copy of the list, I did give the names & titles. Contrary to some people's statements, we do care about our members at MUFON."This is the first time we have ever seen the sacred list of the MUFON Board of Directors. It's almost as thrilling as the first time we saw the list of the twelve original members of MJ-12! We note there are 3 vacancies on the Board: Director of Investigations, Director of Fund Raising, and Director of Membership. Enough said! - Editor.
"I don't read much of what is posted on the internet, but I did notice one recent piece entitled 'Three chapters that twisted UFO history', written by Paul Davids. The three chapters he refers to are the ones added by Edward J. Ruppelt to his famous book 'The Report on UFOs', published in 1956. The extra chapters were added three years later and reversed Ruppelt's original open-minded views on UFOs."Paul Davids says that Ruppelt had 'an abrupt and unexpected death' and that he died at 'an extraordinarily young age'. Elsewhere Davids speculates that Ruppelt was dropping a hint to his readers that he was writing his revision under duress (i.e., being under pressure from the Air Force to debunk UFOs) when he gives an explanation for the Lubbock Lights case that, to Davids, is clearly nonsensical. Davids even resurrects the folklore that perhaps Northrop Aircraft, where Ruppelt worked after he quit the USAF, was secretly developing new super high tech aircraft from knowledge gained from back-engineering recovered alien technology!...
"All this sounds like the usual paranoia, and Davids implies that the deaths of James McDonald, Congressman Schiff and Col. Philip Corso also belong in the 'suspicious' basket. This despite all three deaths being attributed to known causes!
"It is wrong to claim Ruppelt died unnaturally or unexpectedly. He had had at least one heart attack before his fatal one, and had written to Major Donald Keyhoe about this. There was nothing unexpected about his death ....
"There is not the slightest evidence to suggest Ruppelt revised his book under duress from the USAF or anyone else. However, there is certainly evidence that Ruppelt, then residing in C alifornia, had encountered the 'lunatic frige' of the contactee cults, then so prevalent in ufology, to such an extent that he was sickened of UFOs and decided to get out before being driven insane by it all! Hence the revised chapters..."
"Dear El Supremo:
"I was very surprised to read of my demise at NIDS in your recent publication, and appreciate the correction in the January 2001 issue. It was probably wishful thinking on someone's part. A simple phone call could have answered that question but I suppose conspiracies are more fun. It does help to fill space. Since Art Bell is coming back on the air in February, the conspiracy theory folks should have more to talk about. For accurate info about NIDS, watch for periodic updates on Coast-to-Coast...
"For those who follow both UFOs and Remote Viewing (you have to be doubly crazy to do both!) there will be an annual conference 13-17 June 2001 at Texas Station here in Las Vegas..."
"...Regarding the Valentich case, in my latest book, 'Unearthly Disclosure', I cite another similarly disturbing case, involving the 1980 disappearance of two young pilots and their light aircraft while flying from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, shortly after reporting an unknown object which caused them to lose course. Excerpts from the National Transportation Safety Board official transcript are reproduced for the first time. Also published for the first time is the astonishing aerial 'displacement' experienced by Graham Sheppard while flying a light aircraft in Puerto Rico in 1993."Readers interested in purchasing a signed copy of 'Unearthly Disclosure' can send a check for $36 (to cover air mail postage) payable to me in U.S. dollars, please, and addressed to 247 High Street, Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AB, England, U.K.
"Incidentally, both Graham Sheppard and I will be speaking at the Ozark UFO Conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, April 6th - 8th, 2001. For conference details contact 501-354-2558; www.ozarkufo.iwarp.com ..."
"I have turned your attempt to extort money from me under the threat of smearing me over to the appropriate federal authorities, for prosecution under the laws against extortion by mail. I will also turn over such evidence as will support their case against you. Our attorney will handle the proper legal and civil remedies once the government's action has taken place..."This letter is absurd. Zechel has no money to extort, by mail or otherwise! - Editor.
"Your last missive of the second millennium's last month arrived on the third day of the third millennium's first month. Sounds like a tongue twister, but deals strictly with facts."I think you should incorporate some real tongue-twisting factual trivia into your not-yet-written Roswell book, 'NAKED ALIEN SEX ORGIES IN ROSWELL'. When readers can read indisputable facts in your yet-unwritten book on Alien Sex in UFO Roswell, you'll sell tons of books. You'll be appearing on everything from Jay Leno to the Today Show, and that's just for starters. Paul Bennewitz may even invite you to Albuquerque to interview him and meet his wife, Cindy!..."
"Dear James Moseley:"Near the top of page 5 of the January 10, 2001 issue of 'Saucer Smear', Karl Pflock finally publicly admitted that he is married to a Welsh terrier named Buttdo.
"Perhaps that explains why Pflock selected Prometheus to publish his new book on Roswell, because Prometheus also published 'The Horseman: Obsessions of a Zoophile' (a book promoting bestiality).
"Will Oiseau now allow 'Smear' to publish pictures of Pflock's connubial bliss, a la David Huggins?
"Sincerely, Harry Slime"
And the horse you rode in on, sir/madam'. "Slime" is as slime does, as your letter - which speaks volumes about your proclivities - demonstrates. - Buddtu.
"In regard to the AIDS-ET Connection hypothesis...I publicly state the following: The human race has made progress over time; at least I have not been legally tried and threatened with burning at the stake if I did not recant (Giordano Bruno did not recant and was burned). I am an old man, my health is not good; I do not expect to live much longer; but in the time left to me I plan to continue trying to speak the truth as I see it -a truth which harms no one, which can only benefit humanity, and which is to the possible detriment of only those gray ETs who abduct people and mutilate cattle. And who may well be the creators of HIV. And the exterminators of humanity!..."
"Dear Smeghead: "I am still quietly interested in UFOs. It is a lonely place between the Pompous Armchair Captain Windbags of NICAP and the New Breed who think they have solved the UFO mystery in six to eighteen months of internet research. The former wish to kiss up to a scientific community who considers them to be cranks and hobbiests. And the latter are cranks and hobbiests. If there is a Cover-Up, God how these people have made it easy!"As for the comments by the elusive William L. Moore (Nov. 10th 'Smear' Link Here), I can confirm that Hynek did in fact work as a consultant for Wright-Patterson after the close of Blue Book in 1969. It is also interesting to note his interest in the Crash Saucer research of the late Len Stringfield at the same time he was moving away from the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. Does anyone Care?"
Brian tells us that "Smeghead" is an insult used in the British Science Fiction Comedy series "RED DWARF". We are relieved to learn that it is not a real insult! - Editor.
"...If these aliens are so good at orgasm producing, I don't know if women will ever want to have sex with mere mortals again. Frankly, I'm jealous!"
"Thanks for the sample copy of 'Smear'. It was the funniest, most entertaining read I've had in ages. (And informative too!)"Being a true saucerphile, I've come across references to 'Saucer Smear' in the literature, and it made me curious. It appeared to be a rather dubious source of information .... Who is this guy, anyhow? An anti-UFO fanatic? No, his sense of humor is too good for that. And then, as I read more via the internet, I found points of view so refreshing in their honesty and intelligence that I was amazed.
"Mr. Moseley, you need to write a book!.. Who could possibly write a better book about one of the greatest phenomena of modern times?..."
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 Please note that letters for Smear editor James Moseley should be snail-mailed to PO Box 1709, Key West, FL 33041, insofar as Cdr. Moseley is proudly computer-illiterate and determined to stay that way. |
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