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!

• MORE ABOUT PHIL KLASS
• MISCELLANEOUS RAVINGS
• MISSIVES FROM THE MASSES

In his column in the latest "UFO Magazine", Don Ecker points out that Klass wrote a nasty letter about Stanton Friedman in 1980. He supposedly was "attempting to sabotage Friedman's imminent move to Canada. Klass wrote that an undesirable element was about to settle in that country."

We have long heard rumors about such a letter, and assumed it was written to Canadian immigration authorities. However, the letter is written to a scientific group - the Institute of Aerophysics, National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada. It is printed out in Ecker's column, but the type is too small to read without a magnifying glass!

Therein Klass condemns Friedman's "distortion of facts" but also says that Friedman is a "likeable chap with a good sense of humor". Obviously Klass is not really trying to prevent Friedman from moving to Canada, but only pointing out the man's alleged anti-scientific bias. Or, maybe Klass wrote other, more vicious letters about Friedman at about the same time. If so, we are not aware of them.

Klass also outed the fact that Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze UFO fame served time in prison in his youth, for forgery and/or car theft. However, to the best of our knowledge he never mentioned the fact that Walters was much later pardoned by the Governor of Florida.

And Klass is said to have caused the late James McDonald to lose a research grant, by telling the grantor that McDonald would use all or part of the money for flying saucer research. Ann Druffel, who recently published a biography of McDonald, no doubt has many more details about this matter.

And, Klass told us personally years ago that he contacted the FBI about William Moore's original group of MJ-12 documents, which Moore released to the press & public at a UFO convention in 1987. Moore is extremely bitter toward Klass, but he refuses to supply any details as to why. Was it just the letter to the FBI, or was there more? Moore will not say!

The upshot of all this is that Klass was obviously a gut fighter in his battle against what he considered superstition. It is a matter of opinion as to whether he was vicious or merely determined in his efforts.

ABOVE, left, we see Simone Mendez with arch-skeptic Phil Klass at a saucer convention back in 1994. Klass is now deceased, and Ms Mendez lives in Chcago in semi-retirement.

• We have on hand an article with the heading "Secret Saucer Base Found in New Mexico?" The answer is no but some very strange markings have been discovered in a remote part of the northern New Mexico desert. They are mysterious, in that they resemble crop circles and are only recognizable from a high altitude.

  It turns out that the markings are directly connected to the semi-mysterious Church of Scientology. They have built a compound on the desert that includes a huge vault built into a mountainside, where the writings of their founder L. Ron Hubbard are preserved on stainless steel tablets encased in titanium capsules. Hubbard was a mere science fiction writer in the 1950s before founding his Church - of which the actor Tom Cruise has become a very vocal spokesman of late. As shown to the right, the markings on the desert include interlocking circles and diamonds that match the logo of the Church of Spiritual Technology, which is affiliated with Scientology.

  All we know for sure is that the Church is determined that these writings will endure forever, come what may. But they are rather secretive about the whole thing.

  To us, Scientology is nothing more than an overgrown cult, but that's just our opinion. (Thanks to Vince Ditchkus)...

• We have a long article from "Soul Travel Magazine" (previously unknown to us) which states in some detail the exact locations of four underground extraterrestrial bases on our planet. These were supposedly seen by Remote Viewing during our government's secret experimentation with this very controversial science. U.S. government RV experiments are said to have ceased several years ago, although one cannot be sure of this.

  The four locations are: Mt. Perdido, in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain; Mt. Inyangani, the highest mountain in Zimbabwe, Africa; Mt. Hayes, Alaska; and Mt. Ziel in Australia's Northern Territory. The Mt. Ziel location is said to be by far the largest.

  Conspicuously absent from the list is Dulce, N.M., about which much has been written. Dulce ties in somehow with the ravings of the late Paul Bennewitz of Albuquerque, N.M.

  In our opinion Remote Viewing is a possibility that has yet to be proven useful in any way. (Again, thanks to Vince Ditchkus)

• Two items in the latest issue of Rick Hilberg's "Weirdology" are of special interest. Almost all of the stories live up to the magazine's title, but our attention was called to one which appears to show that the legendary Mothman has migrated from West Virginia to Tennessee. Or maybe it was Bigfoot, who seems to be in almost every state of the union.

  The description of the creature is unusually detailed. It was standing next to a 7 foot tall road sign when the witness drove by at about 40 mph. Although it was night time, he observed that the creature's head was human in shape but with a peculiar triangular appearance as well. The creature was slightly taller than the sign. The chest area tapered down to a very thin-looking waist. The face of the entity was shrouded in a shadow-like appearance. The arms were outstretched, and attached to the wrist of both arms was dark webbing that extended downward and attached at the knees. The color of the creature was "reflected red", which is quite unusual, even for an unknown animal!

  The sighting lasted several seconds, at very close range. The only problem we find is that the witness was alone, and he is a "noted abductee" named Sandy Nichols.

  Next we consider an item from the same zine called "Texas UFO Drains Swimming Pool?" It seems that an unnamed couple, who claim that they "do not drink or do any type of drugs" (pity!) were awakened one night recently by a peculiar vibration coming from a "single laser beam type of light" that was shining into their living room windows. An oval-shaped object, approximately 50 to 60 feet long was hovering over their swimming pool and back yard. It was about 25 feet tall and a golden glow was coming out from its bottom. The craft was almost transparent. The couple watched it for about 5 minutes, during which time there was a dull light on the swimming pool. When it left, it moved almost straight up.

  The next day when they went out to examine the area, they saw that the water level in their pool had dropped almost six inches!

  "Weirdology" is just one of several interesting publications put out by R. Hilberg Publications, 377 Race Street, Berea, Ohio 44017...

• Much is being made of the fact that a former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada has joined forces with three non-governmental organizations to ask the Canadian parliament to hold public hearings on "Exopolitics" - our relationship with extraterrestrial beings. One of these non-governmental groups is Dr. Steven Greer's Fell-known "Disclosure Project."

  The ex-minister's name is Paul Hellyer, and it seems that his heyday in Canadian politics was way back in the 1960s. Yet his prestige is great enough that his recent rants have received a lot of press attention here in the U.S. Says he: "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just had to say something."

  Hellyer goes on to say: "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them if they so decide." Hellyer has also stated: "UFOs are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

  It doesn't seem that Canada will hold public hearings about UFOs any time soon, but it would be very interesting indeed if they eventually do this. (Our thanks to Steven Dunn for this one)...

• We were sad to learn of the recent death of ufologist Bob Pratt, who died at his Florida home at the age of 79. Pratt was a loyal "Smear" non-subscriber, and his most recent letter to the editor was printed in our Sept. 15th, 2005 issue.

  Apparently Pratt got his start in ufology years ago by writing articles on the subject for the notorious National Enquirer. He was ridiculed for this because of the Enquirer's reputation for gross exaggeration; but Pratt's articles were authentic to the best of his ability. (The Enquirer no longer prints saucer stories at all, for some reason.)

  Pratt was co-author of "Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings" in 1987. His biggest interest was in Brazil, and he traveled there thirteen times, often at his own expense. In 1996 he wrote a book called "UFO Danger Zone: Terror and Death in Brazil Where Next?" Some of these incidents, told by uneducated people in the Brazilian jungle, are utterly bizarre, and needless to say they have never been explained. People like Phil Klass never even tried to deal with them!

  Pratt was seldom on the UFO lecture circuit, so we only met him a time or two. His definitive study of Brazilian UFO cases never received the attention it deserved. Yet he did his best to publicize an aspect of ufology that otherwise would not have been known in North America at all. He thus should be remembered as an outstanding unsung hero of the UFO movement...

• Well, it seems, doesn't it, that the old-time ufologists are dying off like flies! If only there was "new blood" in the field, of the caliber of J. Allen Hynek or even Stanton Friedman! Instead we have mostly people who make outrageous, unsubstantiated claims about government secrecy and/or their own ufological adventures. Somewhere out there lies The Truth, but it really doesn't seem we are going to find it any time soon.

  We still believe that UFOs are an aspect of the paranormal, not physical alien spaceships. Apparently there is a whole realm of very weird stuff that we come into contact with only very occasionally, all things considered. This is one of the reasons it is not of much interest to mainstream science. It does not affect the daily lives of most people. Crackpots and semi-crackpots abound; but we are determined not to lose our sense of humor...

• The controversy goes on regarding the classic Kecksburg Pa. UFO landing case of Dec. 9th, 1965. Though not nearly as well known as Roswell, this incident is of great interest to us because there were dozens of witnesses - most still living - and (unlike Roswell) there is overwhelming evidence that the military did indeed haul away a large acorn-shaped object of some sort. It may even have had hieroglyphic markings!

  The government has at various times claimed the object was a meteor or a Russian satellite, but these theories do not fit the evidence. Very recently a NASA spokesman has claimed that the thing was a Russian satellite but that "government records documenting it have been lost." This explanation is kind of hard to swallow, though theoretically it could be true. Representatives of the Science Fiction TV channel are currently suing the government for more information on this case.

  Not mentioned in our article is Stan Gordon, a nearby UFO researcher who has been on top of the Kecksburg case ever since it happened. He does not claim the object was a space ship, but he insists that the two above-mentioned explanations do not fit.

  On Dec. 9th, 2005, the good citizens of Kecksburg & surrounding territory celebrated the 40th anniversity of the event with a mini-convention. Mercifully, world-traveling UFO expert Stanton Friedman was not there. (Thanks to Vince Ditchkus)...

• Ace UFO investigator Martin Kottmeyer has sent us a gem from a Net posting by one Donald Worley called "Donald Worley: Nordic Alien Type Experiences". It seems that Nordic-looking aliens, though apparently much more rare than your standard Greys, are handsome creatures by Earth standards of beauty, and this can lead occasionally to torrid love scenes, as described below.

  A contactee/abductee identified only as "Diane, Missouri rural housewife" has had a lifetime of interactions with aliens. She describes one of her encounters with a sexy Nordic:

  "One time it was love for him and a sexual desire that went beyond anything on earth. I am purposely blocking out a lot of it for I now feel sadness and much guilt. I cheated on my husband. It's difficult to explain the sex we had together, for it seemed to be other dimensional. It was at his place and I remember the outside wall was glass. It went far beyond anything we can do on this earth plane. The orgasms were constant, fast, furious, and savage. I remember looklng up once at his beautiful face. God, I could have consumed him."

  WOW!!...

• A town in China called Guiyang, which is a provincial capital, has received $20 million from a private company to build a UFO research center. It seems that some people in Guiyang believe the town was visited by aliens on Nov. 30th, 1994, at which time massive trees were blown over, a huge truck moved 20 meters mysteriously, and other serious damage was done. Some residents blamed UFOs while others more reasonably blamed tornados and such.

  Said one supposed UFO enthusiast, "If aliens really came, they would more likely appear before our eyes politely rather than hide themselves." Yet the research center probably will be built in the near future. (Thanx to Dean Zevchek)...

• Still another UFO-related obituary! Walter Haut, a co-founder of the famed Roswell (N.M.) UFO Museum, has died of natural causes at the age of 83. We met him just once, at his office in the Museum, which he shared with another co-founder named Glenn Dennis.

  Haut was the press officer at Roswell Army Air Field in July, 1947, when something crashed nearby. The original headline in the Roswell Daily Record read: "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer", but this startling pronouncement was quickly changed to a weather balloon explanation. The whole matter was virtually forgotten until 1978, when several ufologists started digging into the case - and this research still continues.

  Haut did not claim to have personally seen alien bodies or debris, but rumor has it that he "enlarged" his recollections in an interview with our colleague Wendy Conners a couple of years ago. Hopefully she will release the text of this very interesting interview.

  Haut is survived by his daughter Julie Schuster, who happens to be the current CEO of the Museum. She has received much criticism, especially from our friend Dave Swink. (See the letters section of this Issue.)...

• One of our Fans has sent us an item from the Net about Michael Persinger, a scientist who for years has been doing brain wave experiments, some of which pertain to the UFO abduction syndrome. The point of the story is that Persinger has recently been locked out of his laboratory by Laurentian University in Canada, where he works. The complaint was that he mistreats the animals he uses in his experiments, but the real reason may be that they for some reason just don't like the nature of his research.

  There is more, but we have misplaced the article, here among our vast files. If any "Smear" reader has more info on this story, please send it along to us and we will print it in the next issue...

• Our olde friend Timothy Green Beckley has finally come out with a book which is a collector's item - 150 big pages of autobiographical material from the 1960s and 1970s. The book is called "Strange Saga - A Life-Long Hunt for UFOs & Aliens & Unknown Creatures, (and) The Truth About Government Cover-Ups". It sells for $20, together with a free CD in which Beckley is interviewed about his life-long Quest. Published by Inner Light, Box 753, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903.

  The part we liked best of all is his re-hash of a truly bizarre UFO-related event that occurred in Brazil in 1996. Originally published in our own "SAUCER NEWS" Magazine, this incident has never received the attention it deserves!

  It seems that two electronic technicians were found dead on an almost inaccessible hillside near Rio de Janeiro, shortly after a woman living nearby told police that she had seen a luminous object land in the vicinity. No UFO was found, but each body had a lead mask over the face, of the kind used in electronics to protect the eyes. Several coded letters were found on the bodies, as well as electrical charts, and nearby was blood not from either body, plus a lady's handerchief, a raincoat, sunglasses, a toothbrush, and other apparently meaningless clues.

  Your "Smear" editor is mentioned many times in this tome, especially in regard to our long-remembered NUFOC convention in 1967, at New York's Commodore Hotel. Also included are several of Beckley's columns for the late Ray Palmer's "Flying Saucers" Magazine. Plus there are numerous illustrations and accounts of sightings, miscellaneous strange events, etc. Tim Beckley was, and continues to be, a farce to be taken seriously in the flying saucer field!

  Again this month our esteemed Contributing Editor, Karl Pflock, is silent but we expect to have a column from him in our next glorious issue.

• GARY HEMPHILL writes:

  "Thanks for publishing Vol. 52, No. 10 of 'Saucer Smear' under the circumstances.

  I received it yesterday and have not had time to read anything except the 'X' on the envelope and the first five paragraphs. So here is my humble check. Please keep sending 'Saucer Smear'!

  "I never met or corresponded with either Gray Barker or Ray Palmer. However, over the years I have purchased some of their books and zines. I miss them too. I suspect that flying saucers would not have flown without Palmer and Barker. Keel is probably right when he credited Palmer with being the guy who invented flying saucers. Barker and you could always be depended upon to smell the saucer tracks and keep the interest alive.

  "So to you and your staff at 'Smear' - don't be lonely. It is all part of the pattern. The subject appeals to lonely kids who grew up into lonely old men. I know, as I am one of them.

  "Blessings on you and yours from whatever God, First Cause, A-Priori, Greater Power, Deity, Fetish, or Animal (real or imagined) and its proper end-of-year celebration in which you may participate."

• DAVID CLEWELL writes:

  "...and a nice tip of the hat to your late cohort Barker, who like your own good self never confused taking what one does too seriously - even when it was only serious fun! - with taking one's self oh-so-seriously. May the good Greys-in-the-heavens save us from the pompous solemnity of 'experts' defending their own shrinking parcels of turf."

• PATRICK HUYGHE writes:

  "Okay, Jim, I'll keep you on the payroll for another year. The UFO subject really sucks these days. Why don't you cover pornography or something more socially redeeming?

  "Happy Holidays:"

• The esteemed JERRY CLARK wrttes:

  "As I shivered around the fire this frigid December morning in Minnesota, I experienced sudden warmth on reading in 'Smear' that a production company is working on a documentary about the 1897 Aurora, Texas airship-crash legend.

  "This would be the second film based on the story. In 1985 a more or less direct-to-video, very low-budget drama, 'Aurora Encounter', was unleased on the world, starring the character actor Jack Elam and the country singer Dottie West. It isn't very good. It's essentially 'ET' set in the Old West and produced by people who don't know what they are doing - but the Martian is played charmingly, if unsettlingly, by a tiny 13-year-old kid, now deceased, named Mickey Hays. Mickey suffered from progeria, a terrible disease that causes premature aging (and death) in children. As the 'Dallas Times-Herald' movie critic remarked at the time, 'Mickey is tiny, bald, frail; it's tragic that with only a little putty in his ears, he genuinely looks as if he's from another world.'"

• MICHAEL DENNETT writes as follows:

  "...Your last issue of 'Saucer Smear' was terrific as usual. I was surprised that you didn't mention that J. Richard Greenwell passed away, but maybe he has been too long gone from the UFO scene.

  "I was pleased you included the decent comments by Gary Hemphill about Phil Klass. Phil was kind to me and we corresponded on many occasions, and mostly I thought his sense of humor was in good taste. I also thought it appropriate for you to publish William Moore's diatribe about Phil. Years ago when I edited a newsletter, someone wrote a 'letter to the editor' criticizing me. At first I thought of printing the letter with a rebuttal, but the more I looked at it, the way the letter was written with such contempt, I thought it reflected more against the writer than it did against me, so I just published it without comment.

  'Please keep up your efforts, and try not to let either the bad guys or the elements get you down...Please find enclosed something to keep me on your non-subscription list."

• Author & researcher ANN DRUFFEL writes:

  "The latest 'Smear' was fascinating, as usual. I read it all at once, the day it arrived. No other publication gets that much attention.

  "Please let me comment on my friend Dick Hall's letter/exit from FUFOR. He will be missed, because his bright and thoroughly objective-minded points mf view are sorely needed in the chaos our 'UFO research' field has become. I think 'Smear' readers should be reminded that FUFOR gave me the necessary grant funds in the 1990s that permitted me to archive James McDonald's invaluable 'UFO collection' in the Personal Collections Section of the University of Arizona Library in Tucson. Without their grants, Jim's files might still be lingering, practically unknown & unused, in the family's Tucson home, where they had been carefully guarded since his 1971 death.

  "Dick Hall made no mention of achievements like this, but your readers should know that, because of FUFOR, McDonald's UFO work is now available to the public, and (still) carefully guarded now by the Curator, Roger Myers..."

• Our friend DAVE SWINK of Roswell, N.M. updates us on the goings-on at the famous Roswell UFO Museums

  "...The UFO Museum here is now charging an admission price for a 'building fund' $2 for adults and $1 for kids. And, one of the perks for volunteers there has been eliminated. You used to get a $25 gift certificate for every 50 hours worked. There used to be about 40 volunteers seven years ago, and now there's about half a dozen. If I had a million dollar business with mostly free labor, I think I'd try to retain all the volunteers I could! I thine the Museum also collected $7,000 in Lodger's Tax money last year too - nice strategy for sure!..."

  Dave used to be a volunteer at the Museum, and as such he arranged our infamous lecture there in 2002. It is a murky question as to whether he quit in disgust or was eased out. - Editor.

• Ace cartoonist MATT GRAEBER writes:

  "I was somewhat surprised to read that Martin Kottmeyer (whose writings I usually respect and admire) has taken it upon himself to ask what is it about Dr. Carl G. Jung's contribution to ufology that causes intellectuals to get 'all soft in the brain'. Especially when Mr. Kottmeyer himself appears to have gone a bit soft-headed over the writings of anti-abductee Susan Chancy, who has applied her interpretation of Jungian concepts to her alien research.

  "Perhaps Mr. Kottmeyer has suffered some sort of romantic 'anima' and 'animus' confusion over the matter? Perhaps his 'shadow' has gotten loose? Or, worse yet, this normally mild-mannered 'introverted' farm fellow is attempting to break out into the 'extroverted world of contemporary ufoology? One wonders - would that make him a 'Trickster' of sorts?

  "Of course, it's entirely possible that Mr. Kottmeyer has simply and passionately surrendered to the fatal illusion of taking himself and Ms Chancy's book far too seriously - i.e., a projection and little more. So, if we apply a wee bit of Freudian thought to the matter, one might say 'Sex and Saucers' intellectual fantasy is at play here, but then again, that's a kind of 'totem and taboo', isn't it?

  Susan Chancy has recently written a basically anti-abduction book for the prestigious Harvard University Press. - Editor.

• CHRIS ROTH writes:

  "...Thanks for the latest 'Saucer Smear', though I will remind you that I am not a sociologist, as you refer to me, but an anthropologist. This distinction is a bigger deal within academia than outside of it. Nevertheless, I am one of thirty candidates for a job now at Lake Forest College, where I would teach both anthropology and sociology.

  "Last weekend, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C., I had a good long talk with a colleague who works with indigenous people in Siberia. He had interesting things to report about vampire beliefs and about individuals in the community he worked in who claimed to see orange ball-shaped UFOs and to speak with aliens visiting in spaceships."

• FRANK CONWAY writes:

  "I'm truly sorry to hear about the destruction you've suffered from Hurricane Wilma. The loss of so many papers and artifacts must have been devastating. In some ways I feel that the loss is as much ufology's as yours. I'm glad, however, that you yourself seem to have escaped unharmed...

  "Pat Marcattilio's latest convention went well. One of the speakers, Don Morse, is a friend of mine and I introduced him. His subject was Near-Death Experiences and it was very well received. I counted over forty people in the audience - not bad for late Sunday afternoon. Pat is already planning his Spring con, so apparently rumors of his retirement from ufology have been premature..."

• JOHN BARLOW writes

  "...I'm afraid I do have a large box full of 'Saucer Smears'. I've read every issue but I'm not sure why. In fact I always enjoy them. This certainly points to a need for therapy!

  "In my opinion there are two major problems that the UFO subject keeps encountering: (1) The person who unlocks the secret to flying saucers could conceivably become famous and esteemed beyond measure. This means that the subject attracts the ego-driven. (2) There are no qualifications to join, so anybody can and does join. Anybody. Yes, even the unqualified and ego-driven Supreme Commander has hung in there lo all these many years.

  "...I still feel that Howard and Connie Menger's story and views are absolutely charming. If only they would lighten up a little!"

  Yes, without egotistical drives, most saucers would not be able to fly at all! - Ed.

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