A documentary about the event will be shown at the festival. This film also includes sections on the Mothman craze in Point Pleasant, West Virginia (circa 1977) and the Flatwoods Monster case of 1952. The entire film will air in a two-hour special on the Sci-Fi channel sometime in October. We look forward to it eagerly! (Credit: Karl Pflock)...

This new development is the equivalent of the U.S. Air Force sitting down with representatives of MUFON, CUFOS, etc., and volunarily opening up government files to them. Obviously, it is not likely to happen here!

An amusing sidelight is that far-out U.S. researcher Linda Moulton Howe has tried to distort the breakthrough in Brazil, and give full credit to a wild abductee named Urandir Fernandez de Oliveira. This is the farmer who, a few years ago, received a lot of publicity when he claimed to have been abducted from his bedroom by aliens. He tried to convince people of his story with some burned bed sheets and small burns to the ceiling of his room. He was allegedly taken to a mothership, where hw encountered 39 alien races and even met Jesus Christ. This story is quite understandably regarded in Brazil as a hoax, and Oliveira is not taken seriously as a UFO researcher...

The brochure mercifully leaves out the endless Biblical & religious ravings found on the net, and sticks pretty much to the facts. One of the sponsors is Steve Currey from Utah, who is apparently a Mormon. Steve claims to have made sensational river trips in various remote parts of the world. Now he is going to charter a Russian nuclear ice-breaker, equipped to carry one hundred passengers in luxury, for a cost of about $20,000 each. There is also a crew of 140. About 40 passengers have already signed up!

The opening into the Hollow Earth is thought to be at 84.4 north latitude, 141 east longitude. However, the brochure states that "there are NO GUARANTEES that this expedition will actually reach the Inner Earth". Elsewhere it states that if the Inner Earth is reached, some people may want to stay behind with the friendly (how do we know that?) people who live there. Thus it would seem that the termination date (July 19) is very flexible.

We spoke by phone to Rodney Cluff, co-sponsor of the expedition, who is also a Mormon and a True Believer in the Hollow Earth. He plans to stay there, with his wife. He says that living conditions are ideal, like in the Garden of Eden, and the Inner Sun gives day and night, just as our sun does. There is a monorail leading to the capital city and other goodies that we did not take time to ask about. One source for these beliefs is "The Smoky Cod"; written in 1906 by George Willis Emersonl and yes, there are UFOs, according to Mr. Cluff.

Why do we discuss all this in a saucer zine? Well, our friend Dennis Crenshaw, former editor of "The Hollow Earth Insider", has a keen interest in this - and, there's perhaps one chance in a million that UFOs, friendly people, and gawd knows what else can actually be found somewhere far beneath our feet. At least it's an intriguing idea!...

This loss in court brought about the following impassioned response, apparently from one of Morton's hard-core fans. Note how easily New Age "Sweetness and Light" degenerates into gutter insults! (Our thanks to non-subscriber Jerry Lucci for this item.)

"A huge floating reef made up of millions of disposed condoms has been discovered in the mid Pacific. The condom mass is - - - feet long, up to sixty feet deep, and in places so tightly compacted that a small plane could be landed on it.

"The mass was discovered by the Australian Oceanographic Laboratory outpost on Macquarie Island in the South Pacific. Scientists there explained that the accumulation, which - - - almost exclusively of condoms, is explained by a principle of physics called 'like aggregation'. 'Like aggregation' is caused by the massing of similar objects by ocean currents and winds, the response of the objects to the earth's magnetic field, and other factors...

"The Australian scientists are mapping the reef by satellite because it is a - - - marine hazard. The world disposes of an estimated 300 million condoms a - - - . This could be an environmental catastrophe.

"You get news here you won't find anywhere else..."

Yes, we doubt if we could get this news anywhere else! It obviously doesn't have anything to do with UFOs, and appears to be nothing more than an amusing hoax. Or, does Strieber actually believe this? We hope not! We tried to phone him for comment, but what used to be his private number is now devoted entirely to a robot which peddles his various wares!

It seems that Rick received a telephone call from a man he calls John (real name on file), who told him of an unnamed friend he knew back about 1952, who was mysterious in some of the ways that a legendary "Man in Black" might be, e.g., very precise English, astounding knowledge of machinery & technical matters, unusual ability at chess, etc. One day this unnamed friend showed John a photo of a crashed saucer, with two bodies lying on the ground near the craft. He put the photo away after inviting comments from John, and never referred to it again. John thereafter lost touch with his friend, and when he eventually went back to the man's house, someone else was living there who had no idea what he was talking about when he described the missing man. The woman said she had lived there most of her life, and had never known any such person!

This story reminds us of a very strange "Man in Black" kind-of guy whom we met in New York City back in 1963. He called himself "Alexander", with no last name. Just as in the above story, there was weirdness, but no proof of anything. There are indeed some strange people in this world, some of whom may (or may not) have inside knowledge about UFOs. To learn more about "Alexander", you would have to read Pages 172-174 of "Shockingly Close to the Truth". To do that, you would probably have to buy the book, at $30 per shot, including shipping costs, etc. And yes, we do happen to have a few copies left, here at "Smear" Headquarters. (How's that for a thinly disguised ad??)...

You may remember that in our last issue we mentioned that a black preacher who calls himself Prophet Yahweh is going to appear at our NUFOC convention in Hollywood, California (Labor Day weekend) and attempt to call down a flying saucer. He recently appeared to do this successfully for a Las Vegas TV channel, as described on Page 4 of the last "Smear".

Now we learn some very disturbing facts about Yahweh's religious views. Bibleufo.com tells us that his real name is Raymond Watkins, and that his belief system, as posted on the net can be summarized as follows:

"(1)There is a Messiah, but the Messiah's name is not Jesus. (2) Jesus is a fictional character created by producing 'forged' documents called the Gospels. (3) These forgeries were part of a conspiracy by an unnamed, homosexual, child-molesting 'Luciferian' cult to deceive mankind and turn it away from the true ancient 'Yahwehian' religion first given to Adam. (4) These doctrines and practices of this ancient 'Luciferian' cult have been passed through history, and are now being practiced by the homosexual and child-molesting leaders of what is now the Christian church - including all Catholic and Protestant denominations, and the leaders of all other of the world's religions."

It is apparently Mr. Watkins' mission to destroy these beliefs and practices. How this ties in with bringing down UFOs on demand, we do not know; but Christians will understandably be offended by his wild religious speculations! Bibleufo.com concludes by stating: "We would call this intellectual trash, but there's nothing intellectual about it."

For this and other reasons, Lisa Davis, director of the NUFOC, has decided not to have Yahweh on the convention program after all. Among the other reasons is information she has obtained, showing that Yahweh cheats in his UFO summoning sessions by having a confederate send up balloons at the appropriate time. Apparently this is how he fooled the Las Vegas TV channel.

Can ufology sink any lower than this???...

The speakers list is now finalized, and will include: Richard Dolan; Nick Redfern; Linda Moulton Howe; David Sereda; Farah Yurdozu; Dr. Lynne Ketei; Greg Bishop; Terry Hansen; Grant Cameron; and Leslie Kean.

There will also be (hopefUlly) a brief presentation by your humble "Smear" editor, following the dinner on Saturday night. There we will try an experiment in teleporting money from your wallet to pay ($30) for an autographed copy of our 2002 book (with Karl Pflock) called "Shockingly Close to the Truth".

As already mentioned, Prophet Yahweh will not be at the convention after all. We will leave him to play with his balloons somewhere else!

"...Thanks to over 80% of our clientele not ordering from our May catalogue, we have delays in supplying books ordered in May, and we lack money to bring in books we would have liked to have for June. It is nearly the end of the line, people, and quite frankly, I'll be glad when the ride is over.

These last few years of thankless frustration have completely convinced me that the 80% of chronically disinterested and loutish 'customers' are not worth the effort I foolishly waste on them. Unfortunately, I can no longer live on the healthy 20%, and so the day is quite near when I will chuck Arcturus into the landfill and take my chances elsewhere."

Arcturus Books can be reached at 1443 S.E. Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St. Lucie, F1.34952.

"I'm of two minds about Karl Pflock's two-parter about his UFO experience in 1951/2, in part because he seems of two minds about it. He asks for a down-to-Earth explanation if he's missed any, but then he doesn't. Well, one idea did spring to mind as I read it, and he definitely missed it if the explanations he said were considered in the May 1st column were the only ones - but he did consider 'etc.' among the possibilities, so I can't be sure. UFOdom needs Mystery, not explanations, he warns. Who could disagree? Far be it for me to be a spoilsport, particularly if specifically uninvited, but he did invite explanations before he specifically didn't. Ail too two...

"Betwixt you and me, though, I will tell you my idea. The 5-degree rapid Jumps, the non-scintillation color changes, the right and left and down and up motions: It all reminded me of a kite. Certain varieties of kites maneuver quite impressively and typically hover for brief periods. Often different surfaces have different colors, and depending on the nature of the kite, will cycle through colors in the manner described. The brilliant flares of light can have several explanations. Depending on how deep into twilight we are and what may be around, the possibilities include, (1) A partner shining a multi-cell flashlight at the kite, to better watch it. (2) A light of some sort dangling on the kite's tail... (3) Auto headlights or other light sources in the vicinity accidentally being reflected off of shiny kite materials. (4) Etc.

"This said, Pflock would come up with details that will disprove this idea - except for (4). Ten says he would turn personal to boot. So, keep it a Mystery. Ultimately, it's ! fifty years plus, and the aliens never landed / invaded /or did much of anything useful.

Yawn on."

Understandably, Pflock disagrees with this conclusion. -Editor.

"...Did you hear about that UFO sighting in Australia back in March, complete with a videotape of the unknown device? A triangular object was spotted hovering in the sky over a town called Dubbo; the local police didn't know what it was. This UFO would suddenly shift position, darting a bit from side to side. It was observed for about five hours, even after the sun had set. The woman who reported the object said parts of it would light up in the evening sky.

"This story made the news - and a father and son came forward about what had really happened. No, they weren't trying to fake a sighting; they were just flying their kite. When it was dark, they would sometimes shine a flashlight to check it out, the beam illuminating its multi-colored bands...

"One net item I've enclosed pertains to Prophet Yahweh, the man who claims to pray and cause UFOs to appear. As you can see, there is a photo of someone who looks like the Prophet holding weather balloons! I watched one of the UFO-summoning videos via the net. The videographer didn't have his camera on a tripod. When he zoomed to the telephoto setting, he had a hard time keeping his camera steady with the increased magnification, and so any details of the object were obscured. If I had to guess what the 'UFO' was with such a shaky image, I would say a weather balloon..."

"I have read with interest Mr. Stanton Friedman's response to remarks made about him in 'Smear' by Mr. Klaus Webner of Germany. Did anyone besides myself notice how many times Stanton Friedman used the words I and me in his answer to Mr. Webner?

"There is no one on a bigger ego trip in the field of ufology than Stanton Friedman. (However, I will agree that Kevin Randle comes in a close second.) For over 20 years Friedman has supported the MJ-12 documents and proven absolutely nothing. Maybe if the Fund for UFO Research had not given so many grants through the years to their good buddy Stanton Friedman, they would not now find themselves on hard times...

"Mr. Stanton Friedman appears in his response to Mr. Webner to be saying he did major research on the Ed Walters Gulf Breeze (Florida) sightings. This is definitely not a true statement. Stanton has accepted the word of Dr. Bruce Maccabee, his good friend, that the Gulf Breeze Case is a good case. Bruce Maccabee received at least $38,000 directly from Mr. Ed Walters for his support of the Gulf Breeze sightings...

"In closing, it is my opinion that Mr. Stanton Friedman has done absolutely nothing to aid the field of ufology in solving the UFO mystery.'"

Jerry Black recently paid to have Bruce Maccabee take a lie detector test regarding the money he received from Ed Walters. The results of the test were inconclusive. In our opinion, the Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax, just as Black claims, but this was many years ago and it is time to move on! -Editor.

"Greetings to the Listarians!

"Why send a 'Love Offering' to James Moseley, when real research materials you can actually use are available?

Volume 13 in the Audio History of Ufology Project is now available to researchers. If you get a thrill about humanoids getting run over by a car, serving pancakes and getting arrows shot at them, then get ready! Entitled 'Humanoids', this 13+ hour / 34 track MP3 audio compilation contains many formerly unknown CE III cases, as well as important recordings of classic cases. It is more 'Shockingly Close to the Truth' than Moseley could ever dream of offering.

"Thanks to all the wonderful patrons whose support allows for the audio history of ufology to continue. The project has now made available over 150 hours of recordings to the research community, to supplement the written history; and hundreds more to come!

"Details and ordering info for the Humanoids MP3 compilation are available for viewing at www.fadeddiscs.com."

"Robert Sheaffer's position on James Randi is ridiculous. Any logical thinking person can see that Randi's challenge is a farce. He is not going to lose, not as long as he controls everything. If he wanted a legitimate challenge, he would set up a double-blind experiment in which he is not the judge.

"For example, you take ten pictures of ten locations. Seal the photos in separate envelopes. Someone not associated with the experiment picks four of the envelopes, which are given to the remote viewer, who then proceeds to draw each of the four locations without touching or opening the envelope. Then the four drawings and the ten pictures are shown to one or more people who know nothing about the experiment, and they are asked to match each drawing to a photo. If the matches are correct, the remote viewer wins. Of course Randi won't do it, because he can't control the end results. It's also too scientific for him."

Rob MacGregor is the author of "Psychic Power: Discover and Develøp Your Sixth Sense at Any Age", due out in September 2005. Incidentally, Randi has an article in the July/August issue of CSICOP's "Skeptical Inquirer". It is very badly written and is apparently merely a transcript of a lecture he gave somewhere. At the end of it, he admits that "it would hurt" if he ever had to pay out the million dollar reward for proof of psychic powers. And it isn't even his money! - Editor.

"Hold the phone, Supreme Commander! You are way off base! I am referring to your 'editorial' comments in the last issue of 'Saucer Smear', where you whine about the Randi challenge. I have no complaint with you voicing objections to Randi regarding what you feel are First Amendment Rights. I do object to your twisted logic about his 'prize'.

"The one million dollars (OK, it is mostly pledged money from other sources) is for anyone capable of demonstrating they have a paranormal power. The person making the claim identifies the nature of their paranormal ability. Once the 'power' is identified, a test is developed with the agreement of the claimant. What's the problem?

"A friend of mine here in Seattle has done pre-qualifying tests on claimants for the Randi prime. On both occasions my friend developed a test procedure (Randi was not involved) to which the claimants agreed. He then suggested they test themselves prior to the 'official' screening test (so as not to embarrass themselves should they not be able to perform). They both withdrew before the official qualifying test, admitting their powers had disappeared.

"Despite your 'save face' remarks, I think Robert Sheaffer won the argument."

"...Congrats on your inclusion in the roster of the Million Most Influential People in Ufology, as published in the still highly classified Fate 2005 UFO Special Issue. You did indeed make the grade, having been included with such stellar Beings as Dan (the Man) Akroyd, Steven (ET) Spielberg, Edgar (They Want To Make Me An As-tro-Naut?) Mitchell, Lisa (She's sooo Hot!) Davis, and of course the esteemed Uncle Phil (Klass) and the old Jadoo Wallah his-self, John (the Moth. man) Keel. Then again, none of this really matters much, since Fate is really a front for the CIA, operated by former KGB agent Phyllis Galde and her legion of undead slaves. (Phyllis made them undead after they tried to form a union.)"

"I attended the MUFON-Ohio meeting last Saturday (May 28th). It wasn't a convention, just a regularly-scheduled meeting.

"I had a great time! There were about fifty people in attendance, and Rick Hilberg made the drive from Cleveland.

"The featured speaker was a woman by the name of Donnie Blessing, from Cincinnati. She has started a research group called SOAAR - Southern Ohio Alien Abduction Research. Donnie stays in contact with thirty-five people from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana who claim to have been abducted. Interestingly, all of these people are of American Indian heritage.

"One of the abductees, a woman named Missy, and her ten year old son Luke, made the trip here from Portsmouth, Ohio...What stories they told! Everything from seeing 'translucent blue entities, to shadow creatures, to Asian-looking MIB driving black SUVs with U.S. Government license plates.'

"It was all pretty amazing stuff. Classic stuff, actually, according to Rick. The stories were great examples of how the phenomenon adjusts to the era in which it appears."

ORDER OF MERIT Police in Montenegro were hunting a gunman who burst into a classroom of the Maritime School in the town of Kotor and forced teachers to give pupils top marks in their exams, lhe youth insisted on the grades being put in writing and sent to the exam board - and said he would retum a month later if the grades were not honored. Metro, 27 Jan, 2004.	PHANTOM GOLFER For three years, residents of Huntercombe Lane North in Slough, Buckinghamshire, have been bombarded with golfballs, despite living nowhere hear a golf course or park. Ron Greer said he got 20 or 30 a year. His neighbour Richard Baylis said' "Some weeks you get none and some weeks you get half a dozen." Slough & South Bucks Express, 6 May 2004.	LEGLESS ESCAPE Francois Johannes Pieterse, serving a lO-year sentence in Durban, South Africa, for fraud and impersonating a doctor, was taken to hospital in July, but escaped "unnoticed" even though he has no legs. "Two months later he is still 'on the run' and the authorities appear to be stumped," the Saturdoy Star reported. Adelaide Sunday Mail.

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