We welcome your correspondence, pro or con, well-reasoned or otherwise, but please keep in mind that while Saucer Smear is on the Dreaded Internet, your humble editor is NOT! So, if you wish to receive a personal reply to your letter, or wish to have any chance of seeing it printed on Our Glorious Pages, please print it out, put it in an envelope, affix a stamp thereto, and SNAIL mail it to: James W. Moseley P.O. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041 It's simple and loads of fun! Ask your grandma if you don't remember how to do it! We thank you!

• MAY YOU HAVE AN EXTREMELY MERRY CHRISTMAS and PLEASE SEND MONEY!
• TIDBITS OF TRASH
• Pflock Ptalk - IS THERE A UFO INVESTIGATOR IN THE HOUSE?
• BRIEF BOOK BASHINGS
• LETTERS TO YE OLDE EDITOR

Purists may want to skip this part, but the book as a whole is definitely a fun read!...

In regard to our possible move (to a trailer very near Key West), the correct answer to the three choices given in the last issue is (b). In other words, we did sell our house but we're staying on in it as a tenant, probably for at least two years. Even if we eventually move, our mailing address and phone number should remain the same, till the last cup & saucer!...

Finally, you may have noticed that our last issue was printed on high-class glossy paper, and you may have thought this was an intentional improvement. Actually, it was an error by our printer, which made the paper harder to fold, and made the mailing cost higher due to the extra weight. Hopefully this will not happen again.

• Did you, like many of us, ever wonder whether or not we Americans really did land on the Moon several times, or maybe the whole thing was just a sound-stage job? Did you wonder why the American flag (god bless it!) flaps merrily in the breeze, when we all know there is no air on the Moon? If these and similar questions have disturbed you, then you are ready for a new book being published by our olde friend Jim Oberg of NASA.

  Oberg is noted as a UFO skeptic (or debunker), in the same camp with Phil Klass and Bob Sheaffer of the dreaded CSICOP organization. To his credit, Oberg sticks to debunking cases that are strictly in his personal area of expertise, which is space flight. He does not feel obliged to solve every last "Unknown" that has ever surfaced.

  Last year Fox television twice broadcast a show called "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Really Land on the Moon?" For this and other reasons, a sizeable percentage of our population (as much as 20%) are skeptical about the government's claim.

  Jim Oberg's opus was to have been put out as a government booklet, but now will probably come from a commercial publisher. Either way, the author has a guaranteed heavy sale, due to the advance publicity, such as the article we read recently in the Miami Herald. On the phone, Oberg told us that one reason for the book, which is as yet untitled, is that it will teach children how to deal with "strange claims". And yet the Moon landing syndrome is a strange claim, though probably true.

  Sometimes the antagonism between pro and anti Moon landing factions becomes really fierce. Last Sept. 9th, a man named Bart Sibrel, who had made an anti-Moon-landing film, confronted astronaut Buzz Aldrin at a Beverly Hills (California) hotel and demanded that he swear on a Bible that he had in fact walked on the Moon. A videotape of the incident shows Sibrel following Aldrin on the street with a Bible, calling him a "thief, liar and coward". The 72-year-old Aldin, who was the second man to actually walk on the Moon, thereupon punched the 37-year-old Sibrel in the face. Sibrel asked that charges be pressed, but prosecutors declined. Egads!...

• We almost overlooked this story, but in the Oct.-Nov. issue of "UFO Magazine" there is a fantastic article by a man named Yancy Spence (a pseudonym?), who comes forth after all these years as an eye-witness to the famed Linda Cortile (aka Napolitano) abduction case. The article is called "The Day Manhattan Stood Still". Long-time sufferers of Budd Hopkins' yarns will remember that this incident allegedly occurred about 3:15 a.m. on November 30th, 1989. Well, Yancy Spence was an employee of the New York Post, where Linda's husband also worked at that time. Yancy saw the line of limousines parked near the Post, one of which supposedly contained the then Secretary-General of the United Nations. Better still, Yancy was actually on the Brooklyn Bridge at the exact time Linda was abducted out the window of her nearby high-rise apartment by alien beings, and he saw the whole thing happening. For some strange reason he immediately forgot the incident completely, but now the details are coming back to him for some reason, after such a long time. Of course he has told Budd Hopkins about all this, and now he is telling the many, many readers of "UFO Magazine".

  As one who has long risked the ire of the volatile Mr. Hopkins, your Editor is pleased to report these latest developments in "The UFO Case of the Century". We do so as a Public Service!...

• We have a very unexpected follow-up to the item in the last issue about the Pennsylvania man who was apparently killed when a UFO sucked him up inbo its light beam. Whatever the truth of the story may be, the follow-up, under the heading "Alien Drug Pushers?" states that the man died of a cocaine overdose. This was the official verdict of the Northumberland County coroner, named James Kelley. The question remains - what about the witnesses who say they saw this man dangling in the air while the UFO's beam was on? Is there a cover-up here? Inquiring minds want to know!...

• Very few ufologists make it all the way to far-out Key West to visit your Editor at his intergalactic Headquarters; but one of these few is former teen ufologist Dale Rettig, who in real life is a San Francisco lawyer working for the dreaded U.S. federal government. In mid-November, Dale Spent a short vacation with us, and we reminisced about the NUFOC convention he sponsored in San Francisco back in 1977, where the main speakers were Dr. James Harder and (who else?) Stanton Friedman. Dale even attended the very first NUFOC in Cleveland, Ohio, in June of 1964. It was good to see him again, and he may be a speaker at next year's glorious NUFOC in Los Angeles...

• In order to promote a November 22nd Special about Roswell (which includes appearances by Karl Pflock and Kevin Randle), the science-fiction channel has brought forth a team of pro-UFO advocates who held a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 8th. One of those involved was John Podesta, a public relations expert who was Chief of Staff in the recent Clinton administration. The aim of this effort, besides boosting sci-fi channel ratings, was to make "a new effort to gain release of secret government records on unidentified aerial phenomena, commonly referred to as UFOs." Fortunately Stephen Greer and his band of UFO experiencers were not part of this particular scenario.

  Interestingly, one of the cases that this new group is pushing hardest about, is a legitimate unsolved incident from Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, which occurred on the night of December 5th, 1965. Something definitely landed; but the government later claimed it was merely a meteorite. Yet eye-witnesses say they saw a military truck hauling away an acorn-shaped large metal object, which most probably was a Russian spacecraft, in our opinion. Stan Gordon, who has researched the famed Kecksburg case for many years, was not even consulted by this group!

  On December 2nd the sci/fi channel will start running a Steven Spielberg series called "Taken", based on the abduction syndrome. Thus the Roswell special is just a preliminary booster for this much more extensive pro-UFO effort, which is the most ambitious sci/fi production ever undertaken for television! There will be more than twenty hours of storytelling on ten consecutive weeknights.

  Another hype for the Nov. 22nd show was a 6-day archaeological dig at one of the alleged Roswell landing sites, led by a team of real scientists from the University of New Mexico. And believe it or not, they really did find something, though they are sworn to secrecy till the show airs. "We found something there that totally surprised us and made me say 'Gee whiz", said Bill Doleman, the archaeologist who led the expedition which excavated the site. Even if aliens kidnap him and subject him to torture, his contract prevents him from revealing what he learned. This remark, from the Albuquerque, N.M. Journal of Nov. 5th, is intended to be facetious - or so we hope!

  Later: On the evening of Nov. 22nd your editor watched "The Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence" religiously, like a true Roswell junkie. In addition to Pflock and Randle, most of the "usual suspects" appeared one or more times. They include the team of (ugh!) Tom Carey and Don Schmitt, plus Walter Haut, Glenn Dennis, Jesse Marcel Jr., Bob Durant, Stanton Friedman, Bruce Maccabee, Prof. Charles Moore, and a newcomer named Richard Doland.

  Sadly, the long 2-hour program was actually just one more re-hash, containing very little new info in spite of the intriguing title. The "something" found at the crash site was an anomalous furrow which could have been caused by the Roswell "saucer" crash. Also found, among many other strange things, was a small piece of a weather balloon, which was only about ten years old, however. At the end of the TV show, the narrator admits that final proof of an extraterrestrial crash of any sort is still missing...

• Thanks to our olde pal Christopher Allan, we have a great story from London's Daily Mail newspaper, dated Nov. 14th. It seems that one Gary McKinnon, an unusually eccentric Brit, has earned the wrath of the American authorities for hacking into top secret Pentagon databases from his north London home, and thereby crippling vital computer systems at a naval weapons base. His motive was simply to find out if the U.S. government is hiding any information about flying saucers, a subject with which McKinnon is obsessed.

  As everyone should know, the American government has no sense of humor at all,these days, and the young man faces extradition to the Land of the Free and a possible ten year term in a U.S. prison! Although McKinnon has no connection with terrorism whatsoever, the incident is being taken as a terrorist threat. According to the article, this case has really shaken up American government officials, who will have to explain how a flying saucer fanatic from Britain was able to pierce the heart of American security systems!

• Finally, we have a hilarious story from the (cursed) Net, regarding "Doctor" William Levengood of BLT Research Team, Inc., a small group that has done a great deal of useful research on crop circles and cattle mutilations, with rather spectacular results.

  When Levengood's doctorate was recently called into question by Dr. Kevin Randle, (of Roswell fame) and others, LeVengood said that in reality he has a "Ph.D. equivalent" from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). This would be fine if it were true, but when that prestigious body was contacted, they made it known that the NAS is not a academic institution and does not issue "degree equivalents" of any kind. This sort of leaves "Dr." Levengood out on a limb!

  Another problem is that BLT's spectacular results have not been duplicated elsewhere, either because of lack of funding, lack of interest, or possibly because these results are not valid! We don't know who the "B" in "BLT" is, but the "T" is a lady named Nancy Talbott. We have met her and seen her slide show, and she makes a very good presentation indeed, based mainly on the research of "Dr. Levegood. Stay tuned!

The name of eccentric scientific genius Nikola Tesla almost always evokes mystery and therefore book sales, just like Nostradamus and a few other such names. Beckley (or Casteel) is on solid ground here. The book cover questions what we know about gravity, energy, and our place in the Cosmos, and then goes on to ask if Mars is still a mystery planet. Then comes this startling statement:

"Jules Verne - and other early science fiction pioneers - wrote what was then considered to be far-fetched stories about the exploration of the moon and the planet Mars. They based their classic literary works not just on their own fertile imaginations, but on 'wild rumors' circulating that such voyages had already been made, accomplished by a group of scientists - all members of the same secret society. They had tapped into an unknown power source, using it to facilitate the birth of flight, years before the Wright Brothers. Contacted by this secret fraternal order, Nikola Tesla furthered their cause, coming up with his own improved method of interplanetary travel, soon to be stolen and used by Adolph Hitler and the New World 0rder."

If you would like to know more about all this, send a mere $20 (which includes postage) to Global Communications, ll East 30th St., Suite #4-R, New York, N.Y. 10016.

This time, I give you a Mystery Guest column. What follows is the essential text of a letter I recently received from a prominent ufological figure, who insists on absolute anonymity. I present it here as a public service, to be considered, debated, denounced, or, most likely, ignored...

"I just read a letter to the editor in the new 'Skeptical Inquirer' (gasp! - KTP) from Robert Sheaffer. He says that several well-known UFO writers have admitted to him that they made up UFO stories and pedaled them to make a buck.

"...Sheaffer's revelation, unfortunately without naming names, got me to thinking about the big names of ufology and what they'd done to become big names. This led me to something interesting: some names have become big ones without any investigative work on UFOs, or not much to speak of anyway.

"Take Jerry Clark and Stan Friedman. A While back, I overheard another big name in ufology, who has done investigations, lots of them, say: 'I really have no respect for Clark. He never goes out and investigates anything. All he does is write about what those who do find out.'

"At first I thought the guy was exaggerating. But you know, after thinking about it and doing a little research, I found he's not far wrong...Jerry has made some big contributions to ufology, like his amazing encyclopedias. But what the beck has he ever investigated? Can you tell me? He spouts all sorts of words boosting Roswell (will Roswell ever go away?) and Budd Hopkins' goofy abductions 'research', making it seem like he's speaking from field experience, etc. But does he have any real experience like that?

"But Friedman is probably the worst. Until he got into Roswell, about all he ever did was lecture to college kids and UFO cons. He tried to take over the Betty and Barney Hill case and make people think he was a major investigator of that important affair when he wasn't. He even did a pre-emptive strike with Marjorie Fish's amazing work on Mrs. Hill's star map, by publishing an article in 'Saga' on it before Fish could get her own paper published. Pretty sneaky!

"Actually, I don't think Stan's ever investigated an actual UFO case himself, unless we count Roswell. And we know what he's done with that, and it's got nothing to do with learning about the UFO phenomenon. But it sure has made Stan a big name.

"Friedman's made some important contributions too, though not so many and not so important (as) he'd like us to think. But for a guy who keeps criticizing others for doing investigation by proclamation, he sure does a lot of proclaiming!"

There you have it, gentle readers. What do you think? Is that a mass yawn I hear, or is it the first whisper of the masses aroused? And on whose side? Stay tuned. (Yawn...)

• MILLER JOHNSON, of Ahjac Planetary Enterprises ("Earth and Beyond!") sends us the following delightful missive and accompanying photo:

  "Regarding the ??? Face in the Cydonia region of Mars: In 1976 Viking Orbiter l, during its photographic mission to the Red Planet, transmitted numerous low-resolution images back to earth. Among those was what appeared to be a giant humanoid face. Many still believe it to be an Alien Artifact. However, the 2001 Mars Global Surveyor high-resolution images have proven the face to be nothing more than a huge rock pile with shadows that give it facial features.

  "A recent venture to Mars by our own Surveyor Sleuthing Division, 'Ahjac Surveyor Reproductions' confirms the findings of the 2001 Global Surveyor. Further photographic exploration of the Martian surface has revealed something more than questionable Alien Artifacts. See high-resolution photograph at your right. This h-r image was taken along the Martian equator in the Valles Marineris region. It suggests that Martian entities or the crew of the saucer craft caught in this historic image have a wry sense of humor!"

  
  

• Science writer DAN COHEN writes us as follows, regarding remarks in our last issue:

  "Commander, you got it wrong. You were not even in the room at the New Jersey bash, when I told the story about what you were researching lo these many years ago. I checked, and you were nowhere to be found. You came wandering in after I had finished, so you never actually heard what I said; I said nothing about hybrid babies. What I said was - you called me to check on the contactee report that earth had passed through a galactic cloud which altered human gene structure, and all the children to be born in the future would be boys! Nothing about hybrids there - just straightforward genetic Armageddon!

  "Now I grant you that the incident I described happened over forty years ago, and we both know-memory fades. But damnit, the New Jersey convention was just a few weeks ago, and I damn well remember what I said then. Aside from that Quibble, I enjoyed myself. There were some hostile questions from the audience, but I was never actually in fear of my life!

  The point is that we remember no such incident from forty years ago, and fear that Dan has mixed us up with someone else. But it's an unimportant point in any case. - Editor.

• MUFON Field Investigator THOMAS LEE CURTIN JR. writes:

  "...I want to thank you for being a great influence on me in the UFO field. If there is ever a UFO hall of fame, names like Moseley, Pflock, Keel and Steiger are names that should be honored there. I tell any young wannabe UFO investigator, 'If you want to be a good investigator, read all the material these guys have out there to read!

  "I have to say that my interest in the paranormal fields has perpetuated since I was a young lad. I'm a good Christian, and I don't feel that my infatuation with all things Fortean has affected my faith; but I can see how it could affect some people. The more I have learned and studied about Bigfoot, UFOs, etc., the more I buy into the 'ultradimensional theory'. I still study things with a believing yet skeptical attitude. As a truly professional paranormal investigator one has to be a skeptic as well as a believer, because nothing is ever quite logically solvable. Answers lie somewhere in limbo or just out of reach. I suppose this is the allure of the paranormal field..."

• TOM BENS0N, former MUFON New Jersey State Director, writes as follows:

  "...Regarding your statement in 'Smear' that Bob Girard, the proprieter of Arcturus Books, has a new theory that crop circles are 'physical evidence left behind from man-made energy-beam experiments'. He says that someone, presumably the U.S., working closely with British partners, is mastering the precision-controlled beaming of (probably microwave) energy.

  "This type of theory is not new. In an article I wrote for the May/June 1992 issue of 'The New Jersey Chronicle' (a MUFON state newsletter), in a column covering the Society for Scientific Exploration's llth annual meeting at Princeton University in June 1992, I said: 'Jean-Jacques Velasco, of CEPRA-CNES, Toulouse, France, presented a theory called 'Towards a Physical Interpretation of Crop Circles in Great Britain'. Velasco believes that an infrared beam projected from an aircraft or dirigible at one kilometer altitude, using a two kilowatt laser testing & focusing device for a new electro-gun weapon system (a larger laser would be used later), creates the circle phenomenon, particularly the intricate pictograms. The rotational effects of the weapon creates the circle designs using only one watt per centimeter to affect the plant. A copy of my article is enclosed..."

  What was that? We're lost! - Editor.

• The illustrious STANTON FRIEDMAN writes:

  "...You really ought to send Mike Gensler back to Journalism School to redo his article about Flatwoods in 'Saucer Smear', Nov. 10th. He mentioned I spoke on Friday. But I also spoke on Saturday. No empty seats in the small hall for either! He eavesdropped on a conversation I had, but fails to mention that I was being interviewed by a reporter who had requested the interview, and I was responding to her questions. The price on my copies of Blue Book Special Report #14 was $20. The $25 price is for copies sent by priority mail to people ordering from UFORI, POB 958, Houlton, Maine 04730-0958. Not bad for 250 pages including all the tables, charts, etc.

  "Mike mentions a candlelight vigil Thursday night. Why no mention of the tour of the actual site, (50 years to the minute after the event) which includes the remains of the tree behind which the l0 foot 'Monster' had been before scaring Mrs. May and the boys, and, much higher, the flat area where the UFO had landed before moving down into the nearby gully? Being on site makes a big difference in understanding. Maybe the hill was too steep for Mike?

  "I only wish every UFO investigator had done anywhere near as much work on a case as Frank Feschino has on Flatwoods. He has collected a truly huge amount of evidence including taped interviews with National Guard Colonel Leavitt who was on site with 50+ guardsmen within hours of the event. They stayed overnight. He also interviewed on tape Journalist A. Lee Stewart Jr., who interviewed all the witnesses within hours and reported that the 'Monster' looked like a mechanical man - 3 days after the incident and before the TV program which had the Monster-man drawing. It wasn't a concoction of Frank's.

  "But I guess there is no point in digging, since Dr. Joe Nickell has 'proven' it was just a big owl and a 'landed' meteor. Though no crater or remnant! Joe, like Mike, hadn't talked to the witnesses nor visited the site. CSICOP has proclaimed. Why investigate?..."

• An ANONYMOUS fan from (shudder'.) Huntsville, Alabama, writes as follows:

  "...You should contact your cronies and tell them of some very strange happenings here in Huntsville - the home of the Redstone Arsenal and Marshall Space Flight Center. Many strange helicopter flights at night, strange lights in the sky and on the nearby mountain ridges, pet disappearances, and possible mutilations at the large Jones Farm in southeast Huntsville.

  "I am here for only a few years but the same problems were noted in Gainesville, Georgia, where I had lived previously. In addition, an unreported case of a small crop circle. The crop circle was actually on a large lawn east of Gainesville. Gainesville is known as the "Chicken Capital of the World". How true that is I don't know, but it really has no bearing on this case. I do know that while I lived there I often saw strange lights in the hills, sighted many military helicopter flights at night, many pet disappearances, and even my own puppies acting very strange and frightened. This activity seems to be occuring all over northern Alabama and Georgia...

  "Thanks again for an informative and entertaining book...Keep up the good work and don't let the bastards grind you down!..."

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