| EDITOR AND STILL SUPREME COMMANDER: James W. Moseley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
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NON-SCHEDULED NEWSLETTER Volume 50, No. 7 August 10th, 2003 (Whole Number 363) OUR FIFTIETH YEAR! |
MAILING ADDRESS: P. 0. Box 1709 Key West, FL 33041 |
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THE TIME FOR THE GLORIOUS 2003 NATIONAL UFO CONFERENCE (NUFOC) IS DRAWING NEAR!
Speakers will include internationally-known abductee Travis Walton; Robert Wood of MJ-12 fame; Local host(ess) Ann Druffel, speaking on her new book "Firestorm", about the life of Dr. James McDonald; Derrel Sims; Dr. John Miller; Terry Hansen; Brian Boldman; Rev. Harrison Bailey; Jim Moseley of "Saucer Smear"; and others.
Unfortunately our efforts to obtain William (Bill) Moore as a speaker have been in vain. Moore introduced the original group of MJ-12 documents to the world at a NUFOC conference in 1987, and then retired abruptly from ufology two years later. He still keeps in touch with us by mail, fairly regularly.
To learn more about this unique convention, contact Ann Druffel at anndruffel@aol.com.
Bielek's version of events is that he and a half brother named Duncan Cameron jumped overboard when things started going heywire on deck, and they landed in the year 1983 - forty years into the future, and on dry land at the Montauk Air Force Base at Montauk, Long Island, N.Y. What followed was a period of extensive sci-fi sounding adventures that included everything from time travel to mind control.
In spite of the fantastic nature of these claims, Bielek has many Believers. This may change now, as recent research by three civilian investigators has shown that Bielek stole the identity that he claims he had when all these adventures began. The details are extremely complicated, but the fact is that Bielek's story just doesn't hold water when carefully scritinized. (The Net version of this research is very long, and was kindly sent to us by both Kenn Thomas and Tom Benson a few days ago.)
We have met Al Bielek and heard him lecture. In spite of his amazing claims, he speaks intelligently and seems to be rational. Not so in the case of Carlos Allende (born Carl Allen), who was a spokesman for the Philadelphia Experiment a generation ago. Allende, like Bielek, claimed to be a survivor of the U.S.S. Eldridge disaster. It was he who wrote strange comments in three different handwritings in the famous annotated edition of one of Morris K. Jessup's UFO books. Therein lies another complex story.
Allende was seldom seen, but corresponded with various ufologists including the late Gray Barker. Your "Smear" editor happened to be visiting Barker in Clarksburg, West Virginia one weekend many years ago, when Allende appeared on the scene unannounced. Barker made a long tape recording of Allende's ravings, and sold same to his saucer mailing list without cutting Allende in on the proceeds. Carlos Allende was indeed a madman, from our direct observation of him, and worst of all, he made us pay for his food & lodging during his brief visit to Clarksburg. (Maybe he wasn't so crazy after all, come to think of it!) Oh, those were the days!
All long-time saucerers have heard of Phillip J. Klass, the arch-skeptic who has written
several anti-UFO books, and who publishes a quarterly newsletter called "Skeptics UFO
Newsletter" or "SUN". Although Klass has been in the UFO field since the '60s, "SUN" was not
begun until 1989, when its author became deeply interested in the ufological goings-on in Gulf
Breeze, Florida, centered around a man named Ed Walters.
Phil did his bit to expose the Walters story as a hoax, and your "Smear" editor became greatly involved, as well. Walters has since disappeared completely from the UFO scene, whereas in our opinion "real" abductees/contactecs almost always stay connected with the subject for the rest of their lives.
For many, many years Klass was a writer and editor for the prestigious semi-official publication out of Washington, D.C. called "Aviation Week and Space Technology". Since Klass lived in Washington and mingled with government people there, it is no wonder that many saucerers have assumed that his anti-UFO views were part of an official disinformation Plot. Klass was thought to be a paid tool of the CIA, or worse!
In any case, Phil Klass (now 84 years old) has been in failing health for the past several years, after having been an avid skier and boat devotee for most of his life. Recently he has become almost totally bedridden, and has received information for his zine mainly from the (cursed) Internet. Thus he has decided, as of the current Summer 2003 issue, to cease publication of "SUN". Your editor has been friends with Klass for a long time, though w differ on many important points. We are therefore truly sorry to see him pass from the scene. Ufology needs a "Devil", and Klass cheerfully accepted that role!
Klass' last issue closes with a somewhat crytpic remark: "While I am politically 'neutral', I can not imagine a successful UFO coverup by many U.S. administrations and the diverse governments of the world for more than half a century - nor that period of time without the landing or crash of a single extraterrestrial craft."
We don't quite know what Klass means by "politically 'neutral'", but we have infuriated many in the UFO Field by agreeing with Klass that there is no organized official cover-up (other than bungling & contradictions in policy), and we agree that there have not been any saucer crashes, at Roswell or anywhere else. However, Klass and your editor disagree strongly on the question of whether or not there is a genuine UFO mystery. Klass, as a founding member of the dreaded CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), is of the opinion that all saucer cases (and the paranormal as well) could be explained if only enough information were available. He thus does not admit to any mysteries at all, other than those being investigated by mainstream science.
Even though they disagreed with him vigorously, many pro-UFO people, such as your editor, subscribed to "SUN" or received it as an exchange. Klass was/is an excellent writer, with a good sense of humor. He will certainly be missed.
Phil has told us on the phone that he soon will be moving from Washington, D.C. to Florida, where he will live somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Kennedy. Perhaps we will still be able to visit him from time to time, as we have done in the distant past.
According to the story, a convoy of army trucks made its way to the epicenter of the crash site, and then the army threw a cordon around the whole area. Even the police and crash investigators were kept away. A nurse who lived near the crash site told reporters that she walked up to one of the dead bodies there, and realized it wasn't human. As might be expected in this sort of tale, the nurse was Silenced by the military, and she later "vanished into obscurity", whatever that may mean. Other details in the article make it clear that there is much exaggeration and speculation here, but there seems little doubt that an unsolved crash of some sort did indeed take place...
The first, on the Si/Fi channel, aired on June 24th, and was called "Tuesday Declassified - Out of the Blue". Among the topics touched upon were the Phoenix (Arizona) lights of March 1997; the mysterious "Foo Fighters" of World War II; Roswell (of course), featuring good old Stanton Friedman and also the late, largely discredited Col. Phillip Corso; a supposed saucer landing filmed at Edwards Air Force Base many years ago, attested to indirectly by astronaut Gordon Cooper; a UFO which in 1967 hovered near an air base in Montana, allegedly disabeling a group of about twenty of our guided missiles (in that they could not have been launched at that time); A Russian cosmonaut who had a close UFO sighting while a passenger in a plane; The Bentwaters (RendleSHAM) case from England in 1980; A videotape of a daylight sighting over England, declared to be authentic (though we're not sure by whom); The famous Michigan flap of 1966; Major Donald Keyhoe and his long fight for Congressional hearings, many years ago; the University of Colorado study, where several of the sightings studied were admittedly unexplainable, even though their official conclusion ignored this fact; the insignificant sighting (probably Venus) by former president Jimmy Carter; and finally, the recent semi-official French UFO report called COMETA, which was favorable toward UFO reality, but which has never really been published in the U.S.A., for various non-conspiratorial reasons.
In all, we found this to be a stronger and more rational pro-UFO program than we usually see, though our esteemed Contributing Editor was less favorably impressed. Different strokes for different folks!
Then on July 1st, "Larry King Live" carried a (groan!) new Roswell show, which the above-mentioned Karl Pflock didn't bother to watch, as he says he has finally had enough of Roswell. He did the right thing, because the format of the show was disjointed and badly organized. There were live interviews, remotes, telephone call-ins, film footage, etc., all mixed together. Many of the usual suspects were present, including (groan!) Glenn Dennis and Walter Haut of the International Museum at Roswell; Julie Shuster, current director of said Museum; Jesse Marcel Jr; and endless ramblings from Don Schmitt, who obviously is Julie's favorite researcher.
Dr. Bruce Maccabee appeared briefly on tape, and Dr. William Doleman was heard from, he being the scientist in charge of the recent archaeological dig at Roswell. It was a joy to hear Doleman's carefully-worded statements. When asked if the dig, from which numerous possible anomalies were removed for further study, would eventually provide more evidence in favor of the Roswell case, Doleman said, in effect, that there is no evidence so far, i.e., anything discovered would be the first tangible scientific evidence to emerge. Only careful listeners would have picked up Dr. Doieman's precise meaning. As for Maccabee, his bit part was a throw-away.
Strangely, one interviewee spoke about the Kecksburg, Pennsylvania UFO crash, many years after Roswell, and having absolutely no connection to it. Even more strangely, no mention at all was made of the annual Roswell Festival, which occurred as usual on July 4th weekend. The timing of the show was obviously to promote this event, but though the Museum was publicized, the festival wasn't!
It occurs to us that it was been a very long time since any pro-Roswell show has mentioned the now infamous Alien Autopsy Video, which was never definitely proven to be a blatant hoax (though there was at least one confession), but which is generally taken to be evidence of nothing. Even Stanton Friedman doesn't believe it. Perhaps Linda Molton Cowe does!...
"BLOW THE WHISTLE ON BUSH'S 'GULF OF PERSIA' RESOLUTION: History shows that presidential lying constitutes an impeachable offense. If Bush has lied to the world about his No. 1 reason for waging war against Iraq, then he should be impeached...Let's demand that Bush undergo a lie-detector test on this issue!"Although it has nothing whatever to do with UFOs, Bryant apparently refers to the fact that clear evidence of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMD) still has not been found in Iraq. However, we of "Smear" have absolute faith in our beloved president, and we are sure this evidence will eventually be found, even if it does not yet exist.
We have talked to Larry by phone, and he professes not to fear retaliation for his bold stance. All we can say is - he's definitely one of a kind!...
Now, after all these years, a former Air Force military policeman named Kevin Conde has come forward to say that it was the lights on his patrol car near the forest that caused the sightings. Conde says that he and another airman shone a spotlight covered with red and green lenses through the trees and made weird noises on the car's loudspeaker. This was done as a prank on a security guard at the nearby Royal Air Force base. Air Force personnel who saw and heard this claimed that an unknown object was transmitting pulsating lights which sent nearby farm animals into a frenzy.
Conde goes on to say: "It was fertile ground for a practical joke, and practical jokes are a tradition among security police. We just drove through the forest flashing the lights through the fog. It wasn't a UFO, it was a 1979 Plymouth Volare." Conde claims that he was transfered back to the U.S. shortly after the incident and did not realize till years later what a sensation he had caused. (We find this very hard to believe!)
The Rendlesham sightings were very complex, and included an object above the trees that appeared to be a structured craft. The mystery goes on, in spite of this belated confession. (Our thanks to Rob MacGregor for this one.)...
According to the text, "The Sirius Traveling UFO Museum has the aim of informing not only Turkish citizens but also millions of tourists coming to Turkey from all over the world, about the UFO phenomenon. This project will raise public awareness regarding extraterrestrial life, starting from ancient times up to the present. This will be done by means of written and visual materials, photographs, documents, video clips, models, and animations."
We can't resist asking - are they Sirius????...
Of all the many messages in his many books, perhaps the greatest is tolerance - even suggesting we replace the English word "is" with "maybe". Wilson has been a consistent critic of the dreadod CSICOP organization for this reason!
There is a brief introduction, and illustrations on the front and back covers. Other than that, the book consists only of the slightly edited text of Gray's columns in Ray Palmer's newsstand magazine called "Flying Saucers". The column was called, appropriately enough, "Chasing the Flying Saucers". The book includes only the first five of these articles, from 1957 and 1958. As always, Hilberg deliberately fails to make a separation space between the end of one column and the beginning of the next, thus making the text a little harder to read than need be!
"Flying Saucers" magazine is long defunct; Ray Palmer and Gray Barker are now long gone and nearly forgotten, sadly. Your "Smear" editor knew Palmer slightly, and found him to be a surprisingly intelligent man. As for Barker, old-time ufologists know that he and your editor were close friends for over thirty years. We always used to read Gray's own "Saucerian" magazine, but we never read much of his work in "Flying Saucers" till now.
Hilberg correctly states that Barker was "probably one of the finest writers that the UFO field would ever see", and that he was "an important pioneer of the UFO movement". Barker believed little if anything of what he wrote, but he loved to indulge in what he called "purple prose" - of which his book "The Silver Bridge" is probably the finest example.
It's well worth eight bucks to go back in time, to see what tho UFO field was really like in those early days.
In the last "Smear" I lamented that the fascinating fannish ufology sideshow is lurching toward its deathbed (confessions encouraged!) Yet there are those merry pranksters who joyfully carry on, to the chagrin of virtually everyone in the mostly humorless ranks of Serious Ufology. One such ufological carny is the irrepressible Timothy Green Beckley, aka "Mr. UFO"and "Mr. Creepo".
Beckley has been involved in and pusher of, in his words, "what they want" to UFO fandom since his 1960s teen years, when he was managing editor and advertising manager of "Smear" ancestor "Saucer News", and editor-publisher of his own "Interplanetary News Service". Seemingly always in costume, the former UFO/Fortean/New Age convention impresario continues to thrive today as a schlock UFO and New Age publishing magnate (Mr. UFO), soft-to-medium-core slash-and-gore porn producer and star a la Hitchcock (Mr. Creepo), and sometime wrestling promoter (Mr. Semi-WWF?). As Jim Moseley and I observed in "Shockingly Close to the Truth!", over the years "Tim has peddled every outrageous point of view imaginable about UFOs and kindred subjects, even though he believes very little of it himself - giving them what they want in the tradition of the late, great Gray Barker."
A recently recycled and "greatly expanded" example of what with good reason Mr. UFO thinks many (enough) saucer fiends want is "MJ-12 and the Riddle of Hangar 18: The New Evidence", semi-written by Beckley (abetted by Sean Casteel) and published by Beckley's own Global Communications (P.O. Box 753, New Brunswick, N.J. 08905 - Price: $30.) In keeping with the thrifty Editorial approach used to grind out earlier editions ('81, '83, '85, '88, and '89), this one was updated by stapling on about 50 additional pages and wrapping the result in a new cover, featuring what looks like a badly hung-over, somewhat pissed, lipstick-wearing alien (no easy trick with no lips!)
The new pages present an "exclusive interview" with bogus MJ-12 documents promoter Ryan Wood, and facsimile examples of those documents created - uh, excuse me, supplied - by California rent-a-cop Tim Cooper. (See my "Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe" for the real Cooper scoop.) At last this scam has found its ideal venue!
Most of the recycled balance of the book is taken up by accounts of famous and not-so-famous crashed-saucer yarns, from hoary old Aztec through Jim Moseley's own Wrong Field Story and the delusions of Robert Spencer Carr, to the inevitable Roswell. Most of these "special reports" are cribbed - uh, reprinted - from the works of others. The best stuff was penned by Gray Barker, with a few Beckleyian introductory lines pasted on. Marvel at the incredible, infamous Tomato Man photos - actually showing the horribly burned body of an unfortunate earthly aviator - that don't tell anyone and spoil tho fun. Gasp at Barbara Hudson's account of the Great Central Park UFO Shootdown and Military Hush-Up - which back in the '60s was a mere landing (see "Shockingly...) Gaze in wonder upon the Alien Glove, marked "large" - in English, not Reticulian. And that's not all, ladies and gentlemen'...
We'll let Tim Beckley have the last word, from his inscription to Jim Moseley in our review copy: "There must be something to MJ-12 - look at the size of this book!"
"I thought you would find. the enclosed little nugget of news highly entertaining. It seems that Erik Beckjord is selling a 'first generation print from the Patterson Grimlin Bigfoot Film' for a cool million dollars on the (cursed!) Net. Why someone so clearly devoted to the big hairy beast would part with such a rare piece of memorabilia is confusing to me. The only logical conclusion I cam come up with is that he is still trying to pay off all those attorneys' fees from the copious amount of litigation he has involved himself in over the years!"Keep up the good work, Commander!"
"...Surely you don't believe that they can't find Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq because of incompetence! I am a bit surprised that they haven't planted any yet, but then again, why should they bother? The war is over!"As for Roswell, read the article by Jim Martin in the new issue of Steamshovel Press, and tell me that we haven't at least said something new about it. I think Jim found the smoking gun for the existence of MJ-12, and it has very little to do with Stanton Friedman. (By the way, he's not alone in having a financial interest; witness every other cover of 'Skeptical Inquirer' with a gray alien on it!) And the idea that interest in Roswell trailed off after the late 1940s, until Friedman and crew revived. it, is belied by the fact that Wilhelm Reich went there looking for aliens in 1953. So the history of the thing doesn't stop with the Mogul balloon. You know I did a book on the Maury Island UFO case, right? Did I send you one of those?..."
We'd love to see the Maury Island. book. We differ with Thomas & Martin on many points about Roswell, but if you really enjoy conspiracy, you'll love Steamshovel Press! - Ed.
"Your July 5th 'Smear' was yet another good issue. I was surprised you didn't take the opportunity to alter the photo on the back page, so that Jasmin was holding a copy of 'Shockingly Close to the Truth!' But then that might indicate you were desperate for book sales! Kidding aside, do the Rosweli supporters really think that using Jasmin will add credibility to their case??..."I'd like to thank you for sending me the 'Fortean Times' review of the book titled 'Twin Telepathy' by Guy Playfair. If some of the key issues raised by the book are accurate, this might be viewed as support for your 3-D Theory (= guess) re UFOs. I strongly suspect that Playfair does not live up to his name and that the data is not consistent with the theme of the book. With that said, I feel it fair for me to reply by sharing a couple of articles that have recently come across my desk that support a more complex and prosaic view of our world, i.e., how many factors, some in conjunctction and some individually, can produce seemingly inexplicable phenomena.
"I share your fascination with the UFO phenomenon and I hope you'll not take this letter as criticism of your bizarre 3-D 'Theory', but as a sharing of ideas, so that we may better view not only individual events but the 'big picture' as well."
There is nothing bizarre about a 3-D theory. Michael must be referring to our tonguein-cheek "3«-D Theory", purporting to be a fair compromise between 3-D and 4-D. - Ed.
"...I've begun going to the local (Milwaukee, Wi.] UFO-group meetings again. They are small but enthusiastic. Heidi Hollis, a young contactee and author of a book on a secret war between good and bad aliens, is a kind of rallying figure for this group. She remarks that her viewpoint that there are gocd aliens out there keeps her off the circuits controlled by the aliens-are-bad orthodoxy...Re twin telepathy, t don't blame the young twins' mother for keeping a close watch co this strange visitor (= you). It would be interesting to see if other paranormal investigators have come across the phenomenon of anomalously low numbers of hits as a result of people trying unconsciously or consciously to foil the investigation. I've noticed a similar scene in my neighborhood, incidentally: A suspiciously low number of UFO sightings - in fact none at all! Nothing could explain it except that the aliens must be deliberately concealing themselves!..."
Chris refers to the fact that the twin girls we tested guessed no cards right at all, in the short test we gave them. This is contrary to the laws of chance! - Editor.
"Another MJ-12 update to annoy! It turns out that on December 8th, 1950 (two days after the so-called Texas/Mexico UFO crash in EDB), Truman met with MJ-12 members Gen. Bedell Smith and Adm. Sydney Souers, along with NSC James Lay, 'off the record'. Adm. Souers resigned from the NSC in January 1950, but remained as a 'special consultant to the Executive on security matters'. More such 'off the record' meetings occurred between these three later during the Truman administration."Concerning the sad state of 'Saucerdom' as expressed by Pflock in the July 5th 'Smear', I have consulted with the late, great detective Charlie Chan. He replied, and I quote: 'Ufology is like a three bowl chili lunch - make a big stink after awhile.'"
"...I am apparently being 'blackballed' by various so-called UFO investigating groups because I continue to expose obvious deceptions like Al Bielek and his Philadelphia Experiment claims. One big group in Florida (FURST) calls me another Phil Klass because I do not accept anyone's claim without proof of some sort."Anyway, I enjoyed your book. I hope it sells better than mine, which doesn't take much!"
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