M U T U A L U F O N E T W O R K

UFO JOURNALIULY 1997 ~f NUMBER 351 $3

THE PHOENIX "V" FORMATION

M U F O N U F O J O U R N A LO F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E M U T U A L U F O N E T W O R K S I N C E 1967

JULY 1997

THE PHOENIX LIGHTS

RANDLE RESPONDS TO JEFFREY ON ROSWELL

MY WEEK WITH THE WEEKLY WORLD NEWS

UFO LANDING vs. FAIRY RINGS

THE UFO PRESS

READER'S CLASSIFIEDS

THE AUGUST NIGHT SKY

CONFERENCE CALENDAR

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE

NUMBER 351

Richard F. Motzer 3

Kevin Randle 7

Greg Sandow 1 1

Walter H. Andrus, Jr. 14

KarlT. Pflock 16

21

Walter N. Webb 22

22

Walter Andrus 24

COVER — Enhanced video frame of the Phoenix V Formation.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL(USPS 002-970)

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EDITOR

Dennis Stacy

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Walter H. Andrus, Jr.

COLUMNISTS

Walter N. WebbJohn S. CarpenterT. David Spencer

ART DIRECTOR

Vince Johnson

Copyright 1997 by the Mutual UFO Network. All Rights Reserved.

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL

THE PHOENIX LIGHTS, THE REAL INVESTIGATIONby Richard F. MotzerField Investigator for Arizona MUFON

I n the May issue of the MUFON UFOJournal, there appeared a very mislead-ing article by Bill Hamilton on the

Phoenix Lights of March 13, 1997. That ar-ticle represented a biased judgment ofevents and incorrect facts. Now, with thesefacts in mind, I am presenting the true infor-mation of the still ongoing investigation.

At about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the 13th ofMarch, Peter Davenport at the UFOReporting Center in Seattle, WA, started re-ceiving calls, first from the northwest partof Arizona, of a formation of lights movingsouth toward Prescott, AZ. These lightsformed a basic triangle with as many as sixor seven lights per side with two red lightstrailing.

The real time line for this event is some-where around 8:00 p.m. MST. As the callskept flowing in, the description changed asto how many lights were involved. Someeven said there w.ere no lights at all, butthey could see a black mass blocking outthe stars as it passed between the viewerand the sky. The general description was ofa V, but it also resembled a crown withlights that formed ah upward triangle. Theselights were not like aircraft landing lightsbut more like stars. This description wouldchange as the objects moved into thePhoenix area. The only consistent propertiesof the object/objects would be that therewere no sound and very slow movement.However, if there was only one object, itcould not have covered that distance in sucha short time. This is a real "Catch-22," butmay be the key to the solution. I know ofthree V formations that night and there maybe more.

As the readers may know, all of this wasbroadcast worldwide at 11:00 PST on ArtBell's Coast-to-Coast talk radio program. Iknew it would be a very busy day for methe next morning, so I retired.

I was involved with the videos of thisevent even before it happened. I received acall from Tom Taylor, our state director forMUFON, that a person in Paradise Valleyhad been taping lights west of the TV tow-ers on South Mountain for over two years,suggesting that I make contact with her toview the footage. I did so and set the next

Wednesday, the 12th at 9:00 a.m., for her tocome to my home to view the tapes. Due tothe death of Mr. Taylor's mother, I changedthe meeting date to the 14th, Friday, the dayafter the events of the 13th. While talking toher on the phone, I discussed the idea thatshe might be seeing flares from the GilaBend Gunnery Range. She felt this was notthe case, so we met Friday around 10:15a.m. Even before her arrival, the news me-dia were at my house getting my reaction tothe events of the night before. I had onlyseen one video, the formation shot byChuck Rairden from Apache Junction. I toldthem that in a few minutes I would have asecond video for all of us to see, becausethis lady had caught the event, too. Thenews programs broke the story with their4:30 p.m. edition. From that time on, thephones never stopped ringing and the newspeople kept coming.

I started to collect all the videos I couldfind and interviewed other witnesses. Thefirst videos I obtained were of lights that ap-peared to be over the city of Phoenix and itwas those videos that made the news pro-grams. It would be some days later before Icould obtain the only video of five lightsflying to the south taken at 56th Street andCarefree Highway. I have been involved inthe collection of data, returning calls, anddoing the interviews, which now numberover seventy witnesses, of which I found 53to be credible. The real investigatingdoesn't start until the last reports come in.One of the best investigation tools was atwo-hour talk show I did with Bill Strausson KTAR radio. Mr. Strauss is a very fairtalk show host and allows the callers to telltheir stories.

It was during that show that I realizedthat the people who saw the V formationsflying overhead out-numbered the peoplewho saw the lights near the EstrellaMountains by a very high ratio. The V for-mation lights looked like stars with thebrightness of Sirius, whereas the lights overthe Estrella Mountains appeared as superbright landing lights. This was very puz-zling, because I had the video of the flyingV formation where the lights are barely no-ticeable. So, why did 98% of the sightings

The news

programsbroke thestory withtheir 4:30

p.m. edition.

From thattime on, the

phones neverstopped ring-ing and the

news peoplekept coming.

July1997Number 351Pages

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

The final key

to the solu-

tion was also

the biggest

mystery. Why

did all videos

of 3-13-97 at

10:00 p.m.

have a differ-

ent number

of lights, dif-

ferent order

of starting

and decay,

and shapes?

^*- • ' - -f,fV{*~- "-•""•••"•> -̂

. - : - , ' • , \ EL.89001 ,•>,jflfc ••' •.">• . -:•'•-:.

July1997Number 351Page 4

pertain to the V formation? Four things areresponsible for this:

\. People were outside looking to thenorthwest to see the Hale-Bopp Comet.

2. The best time to view Hale-Bopp wasbetween 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. MST.

3. It was in motion flying toward them.4. The altitude didn't matter as long as

you were outside. You had to be at a higherelevation and have a clear view to thesouthwest to see the lights above and behindthe Estrellas.

We wi l l come back to the V formationagain. Now we needed to find out

why we had seven videos of the Estrellalights, but only a few witnesses.

At this point, all of the TV stations wererunning the same video clips. People werebeing confused and thought the videosshowed the V formation, which they didn't ,but instead showed the lights to be over thecity of Phoenix and that is what I mistak-enly thought, too.

I don't know how many times I looked atthose tapes and couldn't find the commonthread. I received a call from a family far tothe west of Phoenix where they, too, had

taped the lights the night of the 13th andmany other times. I made the long drive outto 222nd Avenue and Jackrabbit Blvd. toview the tape. The tape did not impress mebut the people did. They said that the lightsappear between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.. werealways in the same place and would driftlaterally. They also said that a lot of heli-copter and fighter aircraft traffic was ob-served at times when these lights appeared.The highest activity was in the mid-part ofthe month and the most common days wereMonday through Thursday. The other keyitem was that a large area of Bureau of LandManagement land had been cordoned off inthe direction of the lights. The woman's fu-ture son-in-law could see the land below thelights being illuminated like daylight. Thiswas one of the keys, but I couldn't see howit would fit into the puzzle at that time.

The next key was the person who tapedboth the Estrella lights and the V formation.He had some airline pilots, "off the record,"mark on the map the location and estimatedelevation of the Estrella lights. Since I couldnot talk to them directly, I simply noted thison my map.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

/fun1 ivWef) fry Mike Krzyston from lop of Ml. Ridge.

The final key to the solution was also thebiggest mystery. Why did all videos of 3-13-97 at 10:00 p.m. have a different numberof lights, different order of starting and de-cay, and shapes?

It was really dependent upon the observa-tion point of the witness in the Phoenix areaand, most important, how high their view-ing point was. It turned out that the lightswere not over Phoenix, but near the EstrellaMountains to the southwest. This determi-nation was made after viewing all the videotapes and going to all but one of the sitesand shooting 35mm film in daylight. Usingthe point marked by the pilot, I drew a linefrom each of the sites where the Estrellalights were taped. On the Rairden tape thereare nine lights, but only eight lights on theMoon Valley footage. I re-ran the MoonValley footage and just in the early part yousee a light form briefly which then goes out,but did it really? No, something must haveblocked it out, but it was still there in theRairden footage. As the lights drifted down-ward, some lights were blocked out by themany small peaks making up the Estrellarange.

In the videos that I acquired, there weretwo people who had been recording theseEstrella lights for months. What I wanted tofind was footage where a tripod was usedand the zoom lens was left in one spot. To

my surprise there were several clips thatmet these specifications. What I did nextwas to mark at the end of each segment theground position on a monitor and the endingposition of each light. When I ran the editorvideo deck in reverse, I could see each lightrise in altitude and drift to the right or to theleft. In all the video clips the results werethe same. Just before each light went out,there was an increase in the descent of eachlight.

So what did this prove? Going back tothe first newscasts, they ended by say-

ing the Army National Guard said that justbefore 10:00 p.m. on March 13, 1997, theyshot off target flares for training. We haddismissed this at first because the witnessesfelt certain these lights were in front ofSouth Mountain and over the city. Thiscaused the early confusion of the V forma-tion with these lights. The flares are verybright even at a distance of 50 miles andwill overload a camcorder chip. They alsohave a parachute attached to them. As theflare is positioned and ignites, the heat fromthe flare heats the air above, which istrapped in its parachute, causing it to slowdown its descent. Toward its final phase, be-fore extinguishing, the heat output de-creases and the flare will start to fall faster.It will also have a lateral motion due to its

Toward its fi-

nal phase,

before extin-

guishing, the

heat output

decreases

and the flare

will start to

fall faster. It

will also have

a lateral mo-

tion due to itsdelivery sys-

tem, either

hindered by

the prevailing

winds or ac-

celerated. All

the videos

that I tested

for that night

or other

nights

showed this

feature.

July1997Number 351Pages

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

What was thisV formation

seen by so

many across

the state of

Arizona theevening of

the 13th? If

you use the

42 second

video clip tomake a judg-

ment, you will

see the lastlight on the

western side

move to therear and

maintain itsalignment.

July1997Number 351Page 6

delivery system, either hindered by the pre-vailing winds or accelerated. All the videosthat I tested for that night or other nightsshowed this feature. Even the control towerpeople at Sky Harbor Airport said they sawsmoke emanating from the flares.

Let's quickly review the evidence for thecase for flares behind the Estrellas.

1. These events have been going on forsome time, three months or more.

2. The color is bright amber.3. Smoke was seen by some.4. The on to off time of each light is very

consistent.5. The general time lines and dates are

repeated (for that night they occurred at8:30, 9:25, and 10:00 p.m.)

6. Mostly week nights.7. The Gila Bend Gunnery Range hours

match the time line.8. All drop vertically and move in a lat-

eral direction consistent with flares.9. All video tapes that have the complete

cycle, that is, from start to finish, show this.10. Two videos, shot at close range, seem

to show smoke flowing around them.11. On one of the tapes, the person asks if

they are flares.12. The Army National Guard said they

shot-off these flares.13. Six news programs announced that

the military said they were flares and tworeports were from military pilots who lo-cated them at the Gila Bend Gunnery Rangebehind the Estrella Mountains.

Due to the multitude of events that nightand the confusion of these lights with

the V formation, I didn't concentrate on thisevent. In fact, if these nine flares hadn'tbeen fired off that night, the real big story—the one that needs to be solved—would nothave made the TV news. The reason is thatthere is only one video, so far, that has beenbrought forward, and even though it wasshot with a Sony Hi 8, the lights can barelybe seen. I had to stretch the light scale inAdobe Premier for it to be used on the firstStrange Universe show.

Flares, then, appear to be the answer forthe lights near the Estrella Mountains. Jour-nal readers may have seen these videos onthe national TV news coverage. However,they cannot be the answer for the V forma-tion.

What was this V formation seen by somany across the state of Arizona theevening of the 13th? If you use the 42 sec-

ond video clip to make a judgment, you willsee the last light on the western side moveto the rear and maintain its alignment. Ifyou drew lines through the points to make afive-point V, the sides appear to be slightlybowed to the outside. You hear no sound butonly the person taking the video and hiscomments. The night was hazy at that loca-tion so no stars appear in this video clip.

Luke AFB floated four stories about theV formation:

1. It was a flight of Blue Angels comingfrom Nellis AFB in Nevada. (Linda M.Howe said that a formation of five was alsoseen over Las Vegas heading southwest.The Blue Angels were not due for anotherday.)

2. It was a squadron of A 10s on a night-training mission heading back to Tucson.

3. None of ours!4. A private plane with a skilled pilot fly-

ing between restricted air corridors with astring of lights a mile long. I like that onemyself — yeah, right!

The question is why did Luke AFBchange their stories? The Army NationalGuard didn't.

Even though the V formation may ormay not prove to be a real UFO after athorough investigation, the other so-called"sightings of the decade" may well fade intohistory.

As Paul Harvey says, "Now you knowthe rest of the story." In the meantime, thereal investigation is still going on ...

Please see the map which shows the di-rections in which the witnesses were ob-serving the flares beyond the EstrellaMountains. Thomas R. Taylor, StateDirector for Arizona, supports this investi-gation and preliminary report.

UFOs, MJ-12ANDTHE GOVERNMENT:

A Report on GovernmentInvolvement in the UFO Crash

Retrievals (113 pages)by Grant Cameron and T. Scott Grain

Price:$19 plus $1.50 for postage and handling.

Order From:MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, TX 78155-4099

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Randle Responds to Jeffrey on Roswellby Kevin Randle

K:nt Jeffrey, in his latest article, essen-ially challenges those of us who be-ieve that something crashed outside

of Roswell in July 1947 to prove the case tohim. To do so, he suggests that we mustdeal with seven points that he brought up atthe end of his article. He raises other ques-tions in his article which are easily chal-lenged, and he accuses us of selective re-porting of the data. Let's take a quick lookat some of that, and then answer his sevenpoints one at a time. Please remember that Ido not have endless space in which to ad-dress his comments and therefore have se-lected some of them for response but notothers.

Kent writes, about the men of the 509thBomb Group, "Most of them heard nothingabout the supposed crashed-saucer incidentuntil years later, after all the publicitystarted. The few men who did recall hearingabout the incident at the time of its occur-rence said that the inside word was that thedebris was from a downed balloon of somekind and that there was no more than onewheelbarrow full."

Overlooking the fact that highly classi-fied events would not be discussed amongthe officers because they were, by defini-tion, highly classified, let's look at a state-ment by Colonel (later brigadier general)Thomas DuBose. According to him, andrecorded on video tape (August 10, 1990),"He (Major General Clements McMullen,deputy commander of SAC) called me andsaid... Nobody, and I must stress this, noone was to discuss this with their wives, mewith Ramey, with anyone. The matter, as faras we're concerned, it was closed."

What we have here is evidence of orders,coming from the headquarters of theStrategic Air Command that the officers ofthe Eighth Air Force and the 509th BombGroup were not to discuss this matteramongst themselves. Those who were notinvolved would not be told about it becauseof the high classification.

And those former members of the 509thwho believe that had something like thishappened they would have heard about itmust rethink their theory. Many militaryunits have secrets that are shared only with

those who have a need to know. To suggesta sharing of classified material with thosewho are not cleared to hear it reveals a mis-understanding of how this works. And, re-member, DuBose acknowledged that an or-der had been given. Kent also uses the testi-mony that was published by William L.Moore in The Roswell Incident and later byMoore and Jaime Shandera in their articlesabout the debris taken to Brigadier GeneralRoger Ramey's office. I have suggested allalong that the debris photographed was notthe real stuff. Kent, however, writes,"Among Marcel's responses were Theytook one picture of me on the floor holdingup some of the less-interesting metallic de-bris... The stuff in that one photo was piecesof the actual stuff we had found. It was nota staged photo.'"

Kent does not report the rest of the quotewhich tends to refute his contention that thedebris on the floor was never switched.Marcel supposedly also said, "Later, theycleared out our wreckage and substitutedsome of their own. They then allowed morephotos. Those photos were taken while theactual wreckage was on its way to WrightField. I was not in those."

If that wasn't enough, when we check therecord, we find that Moore and Shanderahave published three versions of the originalquote, each altered to fit the circumstancesas they were developing during various in-vestigations. Moore provided a transcript ofthe February 1979 interview with Marcelthat now said, "General (Roger Maxwell)Ramey allowed the press in to take two pic-tures of this stuff. I was in one, and he andCol. DuBose were in the other. [Emphasisadded to show the difference in the quote.]"

In their article "Three Hours That Shookthe Press," Focus, New Series Vol. 5, nos.7-9, September 30, 1990, Shandera andMoore write, "In his interview with Moore(The Roswell Incident) Maj. Marcel main-tained that the debris in the two photos ofhim is the real stuff [Emphasis added]."

So we see that the quotes by Moore andShandera referring to the number of picturestaken in General Ramey's office, who wasin those pictures, and the situation aroundthem, can't be trusted. In fact, Marcel him-

So we see thatthe quotes by

Moore andShandera re-

ferring to thenumber of

pictures taken

in GeneralRamey's of-

fice, who wasin those pic-

tures, andthe situationaround them,

can't be tru-

sted.

July1997Number 351Page?

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Jeffrey rejects,out of hand,

all referenceto the craft

and bodies,weakening

his argument

considerably.You can't re-

ject testimony

simply becauseyou don't like

it. If you can

offer a rea-sonable mo-

tive for thatrejection,

then you can

proceed withyour case.

July1997Number 351Pages

self has been quoted by a disinterested thirdparty. Reporter Johnny Mann accompaniedMarcel to Roswell in 1980 to interview himabout the UFO crash. Mann found the pic-ture of Marcel posed by the weather balloonand told him, "Jess, I gotta tell you. Thislooks like a weather balloon."

According to Mann, Marcel said, "That'snot the stuff I found on the ranch." In otherwords, the only ones to report that Marcelwas photographed with the "real" debriswere Moore and Shandera. All evidence tothe contrary was apparently overlooked byKent as he attempted to prove that what wason the floor in Ramey's office was the mate-rial found out on the Foster ranch. Kent alsowrote, "Rancher Mac_Brazel is quoted astalking about sticks, foil, and tape withflower patterns." But Kent doesn't quote thelast, and possibly most important part of theJuly 9, 1947 story. Speaking of the balloonexplanation, the newspaper reported,"Brazel said that he had previously foundweather observation balloons on two otheroccasions... but that what he found this t imedid not in any way resemble either ofthese."

But, if what was found was a ProjectMogul balloon as alleged, or just any sort ofballoon as Kent suggests, then it wouldhave been exactly like those. That is whatwe are talking about when we talk of MogulFlight #4. It was a cluster of regular weatherballoons and contained nothing to foolBrazel, Marcel, or anyone else.

But, with space running out, let's look atKent's seven points that must be ad-

dressed according to Kent himself. Hewrote, "A machine with unimaginable tech-nological sophistication and consequent in-credible reliability would have simply bro-ken down and crashed."

Even if the "perfect" machine could bebuilt, there are always the human factors (inthis case alien factor, unless you want to be-lieve them infallible, too), and the environ-mental factors in this extremely weak argu-ment. In today's world, aircraft are designedto withstand strikes by lightning. However,according to a recent PrlmeTime Live onABC, lightning was a contributing factor inthe recent destruction of a commercial jet.

Yes, the mean time to failure has im-proved. Yes, our computers, electronics, andmachinery all operate much longer, but theydo still break. And when they don't breakon their own, there is always someone thereto make a mistake causing them to break. Inother words, this argument is without foun-dation. Kent next wrote, "The only knownwreckage from this sophisticated vehicle,capable of interstellar travel, would haveconsisted solely of a few short beams,pieces of foil-like material, and small piecesof thin plastic-like material."

Yes, that is basically the debris as de-scribed by those who were on the Fosterranch. I would add the fiber optics de-scribed by Bill Brazel, Jr., but that doesn'talter Kent's point. There is not the range ofdebris you would expect from a crashingcraft.,

Of course, that doesn't cover the craftand bodies found elsewhere. Kent wasquick to tell me, angrily, that there was nocraft and there were no bodies and thereforehis point remains valid. He rejects, out ofhand, all reference to the craft and bodies,weakening his argument considerably. Youcan't reject testimony simply because youdon't like it. If you can offer a reasonablemotive for that rejection, then you can pro-ceed with your case. If you reject it becauseit is inconvenient, then your point is notvalid. Kent has ignored the statements byMajor (later full colonel) Edwin Easley,Major (later full colonel) Patrick Saunders,Brigadier General Arthur Exon, Dr. W.Curry Holden, reporter Johnny McBoyleand many others. Each spoke of the secondcrash site in first-hand terms.

Kent's next point is "Despite the fact thatthis would have been the most spectacular

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

event in recorded history, and despite thefact that word was already out that some-thing had happened (because of Lt. Haul'spress release), there was absolutely no con-temporary discussion or talk about such anearthshaking event among the pilots andnavigators of the close-knit 509th BombGroup."

This is absolutely ridiculous when it isremembered that these were trained officerswho were schooled in keeping their mouthsshut and when it is remembered, accordingto General DuBose, orders had been issued.When the 509th was formed, with the pur-pose of dropping the atomic bombs, themen were brought to the base and told thatthey would be involved in a special assign-ment. They were told to tell no one of this.As a security check, they were allowed toglimpse "special" equipment, or "special"orders. They all were given a leave beforehaving to report back for training.

Herculean efforts were made to trackeach of these men, engage them in conver-sation, and to see just how much they wouldtalk about their "special" assignments, orthe "special" equipment they saw. Each whomentioned anything was dismissed from theunit and returned to his original assignment.The point is, these men knew that youdidn't talk out of school to anyone who didnot have "A NEED TO KNOW." Kent thenwrote, "West Point graduate and retiredgeneral Thomas DuBose, would have hadlied nine times in an interview when hestated that the debris (definitely that from anML-307 radar reflector) shown in the pic-tures in Ramey's office was not substitutedmaterial and was "real debris" recoveredfrom the ranch northwest of Roswell."

This is one of the weakest arguments thatKent has made. First, he accepts, as com-pletely accurate, Shandera's interview withDuBose, but according to DuBose and hiswife, Shandera took neither notes nor madea tape recording. In other words, we aretreated to Shandera's version of the eventswith no corroboration.

But, when DuBose was asked if he hadseen the Roswell debris, he said, "Never."After the publication of Shandera's inter-view, he was asked again if he had ever seenthe real debris and in a letter, he wrote,"NO!" Billy Cox, a disinterested third partyand a writer for Florida Today, interviewedDuBose for an article he wrote for theNovember 24, 1991 edition of that newspa-per. Cox reported that DuBose told him es-

New Revelations About.The UFO Crash Coverup

50 Years Ago

sentially the same story as outlined in UFOCrash at Roswell. In a letter datedSeptember 30, 1991, Cox wrote. "I wasaware of the recent controversy generatedby an interview he (DuBose) had withJamie Shandera, during which he stated thatthe display debris at Fort Worth was gen-uine UFO wreckage and not a weather bal-loon, as he had previously stated. But Ichose not to complicate matters by askinghim to il luminate what he had toldShandera; instead, I simply asked him.without pressure, to recall events as he re-membered them... he seemed especiallyadamant about his role in the Roswell case.While he stated that he didn't think the de-bris was extraterrestrial in nature (though hehad no facts to support his opinion), he wasinsistent that the material that Ramey dis-played for the press was in fact a weatherballoon, and that he had personally trans-ferred the real stuff in a lead-lined mailpouch to a courier going to Washington... Ican only conclude that the Shandera inter-view was the end result of the confusionthat might occur when someone attempts topress a narrow point of view upon a 90 yearold man. I had no ambiguity in my mindthat Mr. DuBose was telling me the truth."

1 Jl Fhat we see here is that DuBose didn'tV w lie nine times. We have a disagree-ment between what Shandera reported aboutwhat DuBose said, and the video tape and

Jeffrey ac-cepts, ascompletelyaccurate,

Shandera'sinterview

with DuBose,but according

to DuBose

and his wife,Shanderatook neither

notes nor

made a taperecording. Inother words,

we are

treated toShandera'sversion of the

events withno corrobora-tion.

July1997Number 351Page 9

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

"Why would

these men

create thisstory if it was

not true?"

They did not

seek the

spotlight asso many oth-

ers have.They did not

expect amonetary re-

ward for their

information.

In fact, they

gained noth-ing by sug-

gesting therewas anything

true to the

story of thecrashed

saucer.

July1997Number 351Page 10

reporters' notes of what DuBose actuallysaid. The problem is not DuBose butS Handera.

Next Kent wrote, "Major General C.P.Cabell, Director of Intelligence for the AirForce at the Pentagon, who prepared a re-port on the unidentified flying object situa-tion for the Secretary of Defense, astound-ingly, would have been preparing the reporttotally ignorant of the fact that the Air Forcewas in possession of a crashed flyingsaucer."

Actually that is not exactly true. Can wefind any instances in which military officerswrote to civilian representatives of the gov-ernment and lied? Yes. Senator JeffBingaman asked the Congressional InquiryDivision, Office of Legislative Liaisonabout Project Moon Dust. LieutenantColonel John E. Madison wrote, "In addi-tion there is no Project Moon Dust orOperation Blue Fly. Those missions havenever existed." This is not an accurate state-ment.

More importantly, when Madison's state-ments were challenged, Colonel George M.Mattingley, Jr. wrote that Moon Dust hadexisted, but it was never used. Mattingleyhad to know that Moon Dust had been de-ployed. He gave Bingaman a history ofMoon Dust. Therefore, Mattingley knowinglied to a United States Senator, as didMadison.

This is not exactly the same situation asdescribed by Kent but it does establish aprecedence. Yes, military officers haveknowingly lied to the civilian governmentalrepresentatives when they believed nationalsecurity was at stake. Finally Kent wrote,"Three retired Air Force colonels, all formertop officials at the Foreign TechnologyDivision at Wright-Patterson Air Force Basewould have been lying to me — unnecessar-ily wasting inordinate amounts of their ownpersonal time in a protracted game of cha-rades."

Again, this argument is weak on the faceof it. If we look at history we find many ex-amples of military officers serving in criti-cal positions but not in possession of com-plete information. During the Second WorldWar we had broken a number of theJapanese codes and were reading inter-cepted messages under the code nameMagic. Very few knew about it. I believethat MacArthur's staff in the SouthwestPacific contained two people who were"Magic" qualified, MacArthur and

MacArthur's chief of intelligence. To sug-gest that Magic didn't exist because other,high-ranking members of MacArthur's staffhad said they heard nothing about it isridiculous. If you interview those men,would they be lying if they said Magicdidn't exist, because, to them, it didn't?Finished with that, Kent asked, "What basisis there now for postulating the existence ofa crashed UFO?"

Simple. The testimony of Edwin Easley,himself a retired colonel who told me thecraft was extraterrestrial. The testimony ofPatrick Saunders, himself a retired colonelwho wrote on the flyleaf to The Truth Aboutthe UFO Crash at Roswell that "Here's thetruth and I still haven't told anybody any-thing!" which he then .signed. And the testi-mony of Arthur Exon, himself a retiredbrigadier general, who talked of two distinctsites, and who talked of the people atWright-Patterson who had examined the de-bris and bodies of the alien creatures. Mytwo colonels and one brigadier generaltrump Kent's three colonels.

The question that can be asked here, insort of a reverse on what Kent has written is"Why would these men create this story if itwas not true?" They did not seek the spot-light as so many others have. They did notexpect a monetary reward for their informa-tion. In fact, they gained nothing by sug-gesting there was anything true to the storyof the crashed saucer. Would they spendtheir time lying to me? Exon and I even atelunch in the Wright-Patterson officers' club.

I had hoped, in reading Kent's article, Iwould find something that was persuasive. Ihad hoped that there would be a revelationthat would suggest a good reason for Kentto so radically alter his position. That Ididn't find. Kent has written that the case isclosed. To his mind, he has solved it withinterviews he conducted and his analysis ofthe situation. But such isn't the case becausehe dismissed too much of the testimony thatdoesn't fit with his view. As I said, youcan't reject inconvenient testimony untilyou provide a proper framework for that re-jection. He has failed to do so and thereforehis reasons for rejecting the Roswell UFOcrash are less than persuasive.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

MY WEEK WITH THE WEEKLY WORLD NEWSby Greg Sandow

One day, browsing through UFO-re-lated e-mail, I found this from EdKomarek, of Operation Right to

Know. It wasn't addressed specifically tome—it was part of a large UFO e-mail sub-scription list—but it did catch my eye, espe-cially the part that read:

"I would like to see a book written explor-ing the interactions and relationships be-tween such debunkers as Karl Pflock, KalKorff, Col. Weaver, Phil Klass, JamesOberg, Carl Sagan, Donald Menzel etc. Iwould also like to see investigations of CSI-COP and the tabloid press particularly theWeekly World News."

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on thislaundry list of UFO enemies, but I do know athing or two about the Weekly World News.When I was critic-at-large for EntertainmentWeekly, I wrote a feature on it, got to knowthe editors, and even worked in its office fora week.

I'm sure most of us know the paper. It'sthe tabloid in garish black and white, withheadlines like "Alien Backs Clinton," "Two-Headed Woman Has Two-Headed Baby,"and "Woman Eaten By Fur Coat." This last, Ithink, was their best ever. A woman checkedinto an inn somewhere in Romania, I believe,wearing an expensive mink. The next morn-ing her body was found, badly chewed, thecoat was missing — and there were traces ofmink saliva in the victim's wounds!

The Weekly World News, for those whowant to know the true story, is owned by theNational Enquirer. Many years ago, theEnquirer was a truly trashy tabloid, printedin black and white and running stories aboutweird and paranormal events, alongside (Ithink — I wasn't reading it then) celebritygossip. It also did some reasonably reputableUFO reporting, probably on the theory thatits readers wouldn't know the difference, sowhy not give it a shot?

But then came a push for fame, and, morethan anything else, I'm sure, fortune, and theEnquirer went respectable. It purchased colorpresses, conceived a plan to elevate itself byconcentrating on celebrities, and conceivedthe Weekly World News mainly as a way tokeep making money from the old black andwhite presses, which were still around, and

might as well be put to use. The result, fromthe Enquirer's point of view, is the eminenceit enjoys today. We, as we ponder the mys-tery of alien tunnels under Dulce, NewMexico, may scoff. But the Equirer is notonly rich, but respected in journalistic circlesfor the unfailing accuracy of its celebrity dirt,something the mainstream press finally ad-mitted after the O.J. Simpson trial, during themany months of which the New York Timesand the Washington Post found themselveson the same beat as the Enquirer, and had topublicly admit that the Enquirer did it better.(The Enquirer did miss the boat with the de-licious Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford scan-dal, but nobody's perfect.)

Meanwhile, sitting off in a corner of theEnquirer's building in Lantana, FL (a low-rent neighbor of Palm Beach), are the 20-oddfolks who put out the Weekly World News,good souls who've learned to grin and bear itwhen Enquirer staffers pass by, holding theirnoses to ward off the disreputable stench.After all, as one Enquirer stalwart said to me,with disdain in her voice, "They don't checktheir stories!"

Don't check them? Hell, as you'd thinkthe whole world knew by now, they makethem up, except for a few that they actuallydo go out and report, or rehash from wireservices. These are mostly about gore or sen-timent—human bones found in a bus stationlocker, let's say, or a Texas cowboy buried,as he'd wished, with his boots on. You canalways tell which stories these are. Just com-pare the bylines with the Weekly World Newsmasthead. If the writer is listed, the story istrue, or at least as true as anything you'd readin a mainstream newspaper. If the writercan't be found, then the story is fiction—or"freelance," as the expression goes at theWWN, the conceit being that the really juicyitems are submitted by freelance correspon-dents, and the reality, of course, being that"freelance" is office shorthand for "fic-tional."

So who runs this operation? The higher-level staff-writers and editors (as of threeyears or so ago) fell into two main cate-gories: Good ol' boys from southern newspa-pers, some continuing at the WWN after re-tirement, and educated northern types who

The Weekly

World News,

for those who

want to know

the true

story, is

owned by the

NationalEnquirer,

mainly as a

way to keep

making

money from

their old

black and

white

presses.

July1997

Number 351Page 11

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

By RANDY JEFFRIES / Weekly World News

MOSCOW — Russian scientists have kept the liv-ing severed head of a space alien on life-support for40 years!

ALIEN HEAD!As I quickly

learned, one

semi-official

rule at the

WWN was

that really

wacko scien-

tific stuff had

to be credited

to researchers

abroad, in a

country where

English isn't

the native

language, so

readers

couldn't eas-

ily check on

it.

July1997Number 351Page 12

somehow fell off the journalistic career lad-der, and ended up in Lantana. The top twoeditors reflected these two types very neatly.Eddie Klontz, the editor in chief (and does heever want you to feel his authority!) speaksin the buttery tones of North Carolina, exceptwhen he barks orders across the office. WhenI first met him, he refused to use a computer,sporting proudly instead a Remington type-writer that looked like it had been throughWorld War II in combat! You used to be ableto find Eddie's self-caricature in the ravingrightwing "Ed Anger" column, which hewrote, pretending to be the ultimate pro-America redneck.

Sal Ivone, who used to be the managingeditor, is from Brooklyn, NY, and — when Ifirst visited his apartment in South PalmBeach — had a copy of Foreign Affairs mag-azine on his coffee table, right next to the lat-est issue of the WWN (a pairing I'd thinkisn't very commonly duplicated, except pos-sibly in my own place). Sal had a seriousstreak to match Eddie's manic wildness, andgot very concerned, when I first met him,when I told him I was interested in UFOs. Icould see from the dubious look in his eyewhat he was thinking —"This nutjob be-lieves our stories, and that's why he camedown from New York to write about us!" Ilaughed, and assured him this wasn't thecase, and from then on we got along just fine.(Especially when the bartender at the RitzCarlton in Palm Beach, where we happenedto be, started telling us about his own fairlyserious UFO sighting, which fascinated Salas much as it fascinated me.)

But I digress. Life at the WWN was oftenentertaining, at least when Eddie wasn't on atear. I couldn't help but giggle when I sawSal and a couple of other grown or semi-grown men bending over a computer-con-cocted picture of a dinosaur on a Nevadahighway, trying to decide whether the beastshould be moved a little further to the right.When I worked there — an adventurecooked up by Sal and Eddie, who suggested Itake a vacation working for them, and not

only paid me, but gave me a room at their fa-vorite hangout, a motel right on the beach,and a (tiny) rental car, as part of the deal —I'd find Eddie ordering all the writers tocome up with "five freelance shorts" by theend of the afternoon. A "freelance short" wasWWN jargon for a made-up story one to four-sentences long, the more outrageous the bet-ter. One day Susan Jimison, tall and weath-ered (though she swore revenge when I usedthis word about her in print, and I had to sendher flowers), got on a roll, and kept announc-ing things like: "I think I'm going to say thatyodeling is an aphrodisiac. I'll cite researchby Swiss scientists!" (Susan's now theManaging Editor. One small step for awoman?)

The Swiss scientists, though, were morethan local color in a story like that. As Iquickly learned, one semi-official rule at theWWN was that really wacko scientific stuffhad to be credited to researchers abroad, in acountry where English isn't the native lan-guage, so readers couldn't easily check on it.That's why the woman who got eaten by hercoat met her demise in Romania. And when Icame up with an item about a little girl whocould read two books at once, one with eacheye, I put her in a tiny Bulgarian village. (Ieven consulted an atlas to find a real one.)That allowed me to introduce a scientist fromthe university in Bulgaria's captitol, whocould speculate that the eager little scholarmight—could it be?—have two brains!

Nor was the disdainful staffer from theEnquirer quite right when she said the WWNdoesn't check its information. As I learned,the News practices a kind of anti-fact check-ing. Often, writers are given headlines, andasked to invent the story. One day I washanded something about tourists who visitedAlcatraz seeing the ghost of the famous"Birdman" who was locked up there. I gavethese frightened visitors names and a hometown; they became Walter and DebbieZazeela, of Macon, Georgia. But before theeditors signed off on my work, I had to call

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

RUSSIAN government wants to cut fundingand costly life-support for alien head.

directory assistance in Macon, to determinethat no such people were actually listed!

I also learned that even the WWN has lim-its. In my Alcatraz story, I had Walter andDebbie say that they recognized the ghost,because it looked just like Burl Lancaster inthe Birdman of Alcatraz movie. That gotblue-penciled, because it was too much evenfor the Weekly World News. So was my com-ment, in a story headlined "Hubble SpaceTelescope Discovers Twin Earth," that thisother planet resembled ours in absolutelyevery detail, except that Rush Limbaugh waspresident. High spirits are allowed, butyou're not allowed to stray over the edge intooutright parody. You're supposed to write theway you would at a genuine newspaper, ifthe stories really were true.

The readers. I found, mirrored the staff.Many come from the less educated, morerural parts of the country, and write letters tothe News in pencil, on lined paper. Othersare hip college kids, who read the paper forlaughs, and wrote in just as enthusiasticallywhen the WWN asked readers to help locatean escaped creature who. supposedly, washalf-bat, half-human. The difference was thatthe college kids typed their letters, and didn'tbelieve what they wrote. (This "Batboy," oneof the college types said, loved to eat pome-granates. Maybe the Birdman ate them, too.)What amazed me most, though, were thesackfuls of mail that arrived each week forthe imaginary psychic who used to appear inthe News, "Serena Sabak." Her column was

concocted by Eddie Clontz's brother Derek,at that time the paper's third in command.Derek boldly told readers exactly how tosolve their problems — "Your lost bracelet isin the third drawer on the right of your bu-reau, under the socks." And still the readerswrote in avidly, never once complaining, heswore to me, that his advice had provedfalse.

But now for the meat of my invesitgation.What's the relation between the WWN

and the government?It would be a mistake, I must firmly insist,

to say that it doesn't have any governmentrelationships. Quite the contrary! During the1992 presidential campaign, the WWN ran aseries of stories about a political space alien.First it met with George Bush, then withPerot, and finally with Bill Clinton, who—with an unerring instinct about which waythe American people were leaning—it de-cided to support. If I remember correctly,each of the three candidates actually com-mented on these stories. After the election,the News declared that five senators werealiens, named them and got real, on therecord reactions from each of their offices!("Only five? The real total is MUCHhigher!")

Not only that, but Sal used to tell me,shaking his head in dismay, that the FBI usedto call from time to time, objecting when theWWN took its name in vain. ("How can yousay we were involved in an investigation of awerewolf in Alabama? We demand that youstop!") "Don't they have anything better todo?" Sal would ask, truly amazed.

But is the WWN underwritten by counter-intelligence slush funds? Here we get ontohighly speculative terrain, to say the least,but I will rush out on a fragile limb and takea wild guess-that the paper doesn't receiveany such support. When I wrote my featureon the enterprise, and had to look into suchtedious details as circulation and profitability,I got every sense — especially when I talkedto a high executive of the Enquirer — thatthe WWN was purely a business proposition,expected to pull its own weight, and not al-ways doing so, at least not to the Enquirer'sspecifications. Like every mainstream publi-cation I've ever known about, the WWN'snewsstand sales are meticulously tabulated,and attempts are made to figure out which

Continued on Page 20

During the

1992 presi-

dential cam-

paign, the

WWN ran a

series of sto-

ries about a

political

space alien.

First it met

with George

Bush, then

with Perot,

and finally

with Bill

Clinton,

who—with an

unerring in-

stinct about

which way

the American

people were

leaning—it

decided to

support.

July1997Number 351Page 13

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

UFO LANDING SITES VS. FAIRY RINGSby Walter H. Andrus, Jr.

In the

Delphos,

Kansas UFO

landing trace

case, the

analysis of

the soil was

the most sig-

nificant fac-

tor as it re-

lated to the

possible

power source

of the UFO.

July1997Number 351Page 14

One of the most highly investigatedand analyzed UFO landing tracecases occurred in Delphos, Kansas,

on the Durel Johnson farm on November 2,1971. Ted Phillips was the prime investiga-tor starting on December 3, 1971, however,Frank E. Shrimplin, Valley Falls, KS, aMUFON state section director, producedcolor photographs of the scene on themorning of November 3, 1971. WaltAndrus continued the investigation until1987, revealing among other rare events,the growth of mushrooms on the outsideedge of the eight foot diameter ring thatwas about one foot in width. The authorwas given samples of the small brownmushrooms and photographs depictingtheir growth and configuration.

When Durel Johnson was asked ifmushrooms had ever been observed any-where on his property, he replied in thenegative. William Hurtig, a Methodist min-ister, accompanied Frank Shrimplin to thesite on November 3, 1971. He advisedWalt that his parents, Mr. and Mrs. AlfredHurtig, had lived on this same farm (whereRev. Hurtig had grown up) from 1942 untilJuly 1958, and they had no memory of see-ing mushrooms on the farm.

In the Delphos, Kansas UFO landingtrace case, the analysis of the soil was themost significant factor as it related to thepossible power source of the UFO. RonnieJohnson and his dog, Snowball, witnesseda UFO hovering close to the ground onlyten feet away when he stepped out of thesheep shed. Since there are spores thatbreed mushrooms in most soil that is notcultivated for long periods of time, it re-quires a triggering action of the properamount of moisture and temperature tocause them to grow and literally popthrough the soil. Apparently, just the rightamount of moisture was present in thesheep lot, coupled with the heat and possi-ble microwave radiation from the UFO.This caused the mushrooms to sproutthrough the soil just outside of the bakedand dehydrated soil in the eight-foot ring.

On May 5, 1997,1 received a telephonecall from Mr. Hugh Fairly of Martindale,Texas, advising me that a 46 foot diameter

ring, two feet wide with large white mush-rooms growing in the ring, was found on afriend's farm/ranch northwest of SanMarcos, Texas, on May 4th. He had madephotographs of the scene when the ownerand close friend had called him. Theyseemed to have all the characteristics of a"fairy ring." Knowing what I had learnedat Delphos, Kansas, however, the prospectof a UFO landing had possibilities. On theafternoon of May 6th, I met with Mr. andMrs. Fairly and Mr. and Mrs. Williams toview and investigate the unique ring in theWilliams' pasture (a meadow one milelong surrounded by hills and trees).

The grass, a mixture of bermuda, "KR"(King Ranch) and others, had turned to abrown/purple color in the ring. There were18 white-colored mushrooms varying insize from nine inches in diameter down totwo inches (five were in the 6 1/2 to 7-inchdiameter range). To determine if radiationexisted in the ring, a Radiological SurveyMeter OCDM Item No. CD V700, Model5, manufactured by Anton ElectronicLaboratories, Inc., Brooklyn, NY, was usedby the author. There was no indication,whatsoever, of radiation at the site.

After taking appropriate measurements,photographing the site, and bagging a sam-ple mushroom, soil samples were taken ofthe soil in the ring and both outside and in-side of the ring. In the ring sample, aboutone inch below the grass roots, the soil hadan organic substance that was a bright blueor blue/grey in color. Samples taken out-side and inside of the ring were a normalblack moist soil. White or beige-coloredfungus strings were imbedded in the bluesoil. Soil samples were taken in three dif-ferent areas of the ring in an equilateral tri-angle pattern. All showed the same bluefungus substance. On May 12, 1997, thir-teen fresh mushrooms appeared in the ring.The original large mushrooms dried up andformed "brown puff balls" or powder.

There is no evidence that a UFO couldhave hovered over the cattle pasture. TheWilliams' home sits three-eighths of a mileaway on a hill within a grove of trees, pre-venting them from observing this pastureeither day or night.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

One of the questions on the MUFONField Investigator's Examination is: "Oftenmistaken as a UFO landing trace, the dis-tinctive feature of a fairy ring is a roughlycircular configuration of fungi growth."So, what is a fairy ring and how is it cre-ated?

I n order to learn more about fairy rings, Istarted by calling the Guadalupe County

Extension Agent in Seguin, TX, wherethey accept soil samples from farmers todetermine what elements and minerals areneeded to improve the soil's growing prop-erties. I then contacted CassandraMcDonough, a MUFON ResearchSpecialist, at Texas A&M University forassistance and recommendations since shehad previously been active in crop circleresearch. After speaking to several profes-sors and heads of laboratories at TexasA&M, I was referred to Larry Barnes,Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist,who heads up the Disease DiagnosticLaboratory. Every person contacted wasnot only very friendly, but very coopera-tive when we discussed fairy rings.

Webster's Ninth New CollegiateDictionary defines a fairy ring as a "ring ofmushrooms produced at the periphery of abody of mycelium which has grown cen-trifugally from an initial growth point."The key word here is mycelium, which isdefined as: "the mass of interwoven fila-mentous hyphae that forms especially thevegetative portion of the thallus of a fun-gus and is often submerged in anotherbody (as of soil or organic matter or thetissue of a host)." Fungus, per the diction-ary, is "Any of the major group (fungi) ofsaprophytic and parasite lower plants thatlack of chlorophyll and include molds,rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, andyeasts."

Mr. Barnes pointed out that the originalspore started in the middle of the circle andgradually moved outward in all directionsforming a ring of decomposing organicmatter as a natural environmental event tocleanse the soil. The triggering of mush-room sprouting is a very complicatedprocess, but hinges upon the correct mois-ture and heat occurring at the same time.Texas has had more than average rainfallthis spring and the temperatures havereached 90 degrees.

The farm/ranch owner told me that hehad never seen fairy rings in the 51 years

that he has lived there. The conditions nowmust be very conducive for fairy ring pro-duction, since a new ring was found onMay 19th that is elliptical in shape, mea-suring 31 by 36 feet. Thirteen large mush-rooms, up to 12 inches in diameter, andfive small ones, have appeared in the samepasture as the original, about 800-900 feetto the northwest. The same blue soil is pre-dominate in the ring area, which furtherconfirms that these are fairy rings and notUFO landing sites.

This article is being published to supple-ment the information in the fourth editionof the MUFON Field Investigator'sManual as a means of identifying fairyrings. Of course, the species of mushroomthat appears will be native to your own lo-cality. The large white variety is native tosouth central Texas and is called amanita(death angel), being highly toxic.

Samples of mushrooms with Mrs. Williams on leftand Mrs. Fairly on right.

The trigger-

ing of mush-

room sprout-

ing is a very

complicatedprocess, but

hinges upon

the correct

moisture and

heat occur-

ring at the

same time.

Texas has

had more

than average

rainfall this

spring and

the tempera-

tures have

reached 90

degrees.

July1997Number 351Page 15

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Before con-sidering

Corso's

claims, it isimportant to

note that, de-

spite his pub-

lisher's un-substantiatedhype about

"documents

newly declas-sified throughthe Freedom

of Information

Act," He pro-

vides ab-

solutely noth-ing to backup his claims

about crashed

saucers andalien tech-nologies .

Nothing.

July1997Number 351Page 16

THE DAY AFTER ROSWELLby Philip J. Corso, Lt. Col., U.S. Army(ret.), with William J. BirnesForeword by Senator Strom ThurmondPocket Books. 1997, he, 351 pp., $24.00

Reviewed by Karl T. Pflock

/ did not, and would not. pen the fore-word to a book about, or containing, a sug-gestion that the success of the United Statesin the Cold War is attributable to the tech-nology found on a crashed UFO. I do notbelieve in UFOs. do not believe that theUnited States is in possession of such a ve-hicle, and do not believe that there has beenany government cover-up of a UFO crash.— United States Senator Strom Thurmond,June 5, 1997, press release ("RightForeword, Wrong Book")

Phil ip Corso's The Day After Roswell is"deja vu all over again."

The crashed-saucer-book genre was bornand its basic themes established in 1950with the publication of Frank Scully's best-selling Behind the Flying Saucers. In 1949,Scully was approached by two veteran con-fidence men, Silas Newton and LeoGeBauer, posing respectively as a Texas oilman and a U.S. government scientist andauthority on magnetics. Inspired by news-paper accounts of a publicity hoax perpe-trated by the producer of the 1949 science-fiction film The Flying Saucer, Newton andGeBauer—"Dr. Gee" in Scully's book—told the credulous Variety columnist asaucer had crashed near Aztec, NewMexico, in March 1948, killing the 16 "littlemen" aboard. Soon after, they claimed, twomore saucers crashed in Arizona, alsokilling their hapless crews.

Newton and GeBauer said the craft andbodies were recovered and spirited away bythe U.S. Air Force, which was working touncover and exploit the secrets of the alientechnology. GeBauer, who claimed to haveparticipated in the recovery operations, toldScully the saucers had no engines or fuelsuch as we know them, and "probably flewon magnetic lines of force." Their crewssubsisted on heavy water and "little

wafers," though the smallest of the threeships had no food or water stores and lackedthe sleeping and toilet facilities of the largertwo.

When the Air Force carted the saucersaway, GeBauer retained some parts of thecraft for research, "a tubeless radio, somegears, some small disks, and other itemsthat could be carried in one's pocket."Scully was shown these materials, andwrote, "More than 150 tests had failed tobreak down the metal of the gears," whichwere "of a ratio unfamiliar to engineers onthis earth" and "had no play, no lubrica-tion."

One of the early fruits of GeBauer's workon these extraterrestrial goodies was a "doo-dlebug," an oil-detection gadget, the heartof which was an alien magnetic device.When Newton and GeBauer's tale was toldin Scully's bestseller, touting them as hav-ing access to literally out of this world tech-nology and the highest of official secrets,their credibility soared with potential in-vestors in their phony oil-finder.

Donald Keyhoe, investigating flyingsaucers for True magazine and his book TheFlying Saucers Are Real, looked into theyarn, quickly concluding it was a hoax.Two years later, J. P. Cahn conducted an in-depth investigation, unmasking Dr. Gee asGeBauer, revealing the doodlebug scheme,and exposing Newton's and GeBauer's longcriminal histories (True, September 1952).Yet today there are those who still take thestory seriously—not to mention varioustransmutations of it.

The Day After Roswell is Behind theFlying Saucers audaciously tricked out inX-Files finery. In this case, however, theflimflam artist has eliminated the middleman and, with a little help, written the bookhimself. And there's no doodlebug beingpeddled, just books, a reported 80,000-copyfirst printing.

Before considering Corso's claims, it isimportant to note that, despite his pub-lisher's unsubstantiated hype about "docu-ments newly declassified through theFreedom of Information Act," other than re-ferring to some of the real and bogus docu-ments long known to UFO researchers, heprovides absolutely nothing to back up hisclaims about crashed saucers and alien tech-nologies . Nothing. Nada. Zip. He relieson the credibility implied by his army careerand testified to in the foreword to his bookwritten by a distinguished U.S. senator, and

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

says in effect, "Trust me. How could a guylike me be lying?"

A review of Corso's records confirms heretired from the U.S. Army in 1963 as alieutenant colonel after 21 years' service,principally as an intelligence and artillery(anti-aircraft missiles) officer. He seems tohave served about four years on theNational Security Council staff during theEisenhower administration and was onGeneral Mac Arthur's staff in Japan duringthe Korean War. He has testified beforeCongress concerning Korean and Vietnamwar POWs and other Americans believedstill to be held in Russia, Korea, China, andVietnam. From 1961 unti l his retirement,he served in and was at least for a fewmonths chief of the Foreign TechnologyDivision of army research and developmentin the Pentagon, reporting directly to thelegendary Lt. Gen. Arthur Trudeau, chief ofR&D and former head of army intelligence.It is Corso's alleged adventures during thislatter assignment which are the focus of thebook.

Corso plays upon '90s paranoia aboutgovernment cover-ups. A la Newton

and GeBauer, he is inspired by and exploitsnot only all of the various versions of theRoswell non-crash-retrieval (a laughablygarbled conglomeration of which begins thebook), but also vir tual ly every UFO-relatedtheme and notion, old and new: cattle muti-lations, the Robertson Panel, harvesting ofhumans and human genetic material, NikolaTesla, abductions. Star Wars as an anti-UFOdefense, alien invasion by infiltration,

Project Blue Book as a public-relationsfront and "Moon Dust" and "Blue Fly" asthe real UFO projects, Paul Biefeld andTownsend Brown, the Santilli alien autopsyfilm, aliens as genetically engineered artifi-cial life-forms (our old friends the EBEs,extraterrestrial biological entities), RobertSarbacher and Wilbert Smith, MJ-12, etc.,even alien collaboration with the Nazis—presenting a veritable unified field theory ofpractically everything "ufological."

While on army R&D's foreign technol-ogy desk, Corso claims, he was responsiblefor the army's "Roswell Files" and seedinginto American industry the alien technolo-gies they contained. However, it was manyyears earlier—to be exact, on the night July6, 1947—that Corso says he got his firstinkling of Roswell. As he made his roundsas the post duty officer at Fort Riley,Kansas, an enlisted bowling buddy "pis-sted" him into the fort's old veterinarybuilding to look at the cargo of a truck con-voy headed from Roswell to Wright Field,Ohio. Corso forced open a crate and saw analien being floating in a large glass con-tainer. Somehow he knew it was from outerspace. His mind reeling, he tells us, theyoung Corso continued his rounds, desper-ately forcing from his mind this chance pre-saging of his FTD assignment decades later.

In 1961, as Corso was taking up his FTDduties of analyzing and evaluating foreignmilitary technologies, Gen. Trudeau handedhim a far more important job. He was en-trusted with a locked file cabinet containingnot only reports on the crashed engine-less,fuel-less, food-bed-toilet-less, magnetic-field-riding Roswell saucer and medicalevaluations of the ship's dead geneticallyengineered crew, but also actual fragmentsof fabulous technologies from anotherworld. It seems these wonders had not beenexploited for various bureaucratic and secu-rity reasons, and Gen. Trudeau was deter-mined to push things forward. Corso's jobwas to insinuate these technologies intogovernment and industrial R&D through ex-isting defense contracts and programs, al-lowing them to be absorbed and developedwhile knowledge of their true origins dis-solved like the morning dew.

Corso tells us he set about his mission ea-gerly. He worked long into many Pentagonnights writing reports for Trudeau, settingout his evaluations of the alien technologiesand his brilliant insights into their workingsand potential applications, something for

While on

army R&D'sforeign tech-

nology desk,Corso claims,

he was re-

sponsible for

the army's"Roswell

Files" andseeding into

American in-dustry the

alien tech-

nologies they

contained.

July1997Number 351Page 17

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Corona was a

100% CIA-Air

Force pro-ject; NASA

and the army

had nothing

to do with it,

not even to

providecover. It be-

gan in 1958,

three years

before Corsowas assigned

to the

Pentagon. It

was a "black"program hid-

den insidethe Air

Force'sDiscoverer

space-medi-cine research

project, ex-

pressly cre-

ated as acover for

Corona.

July1997Number 351Page 18

which his two years of college-level indus-trial arts studies well qualified him, ofcourse. He donned mufti and showed up atsuch places as IBM, Bell Labs, DowCorning, and army research labs at FortBelvoir, Virginia. Like a stealth nuts-and-bolts Johnny Appleseed, he presented hisgifts to awestruck and eternally grateful sci-entists and engineers, then faded back intothe Pentagonal woodwork.

If Corso's egoistic fever dreams are takenas fact, he is responsible for nothing short ofmaking possible the cornerstones of thetechnological revolution of the second halfof the twentieth century—the integrated-circuit chip, lasers (a hand-held cow-slicerwas found at Roswell), fiber optics—plusmany other militarily and scientifically im-portant capabilities—night-vision systems(a "two-piece set of dark elliptical eyepiecesas thin as skin" was in Corso's file cabinet;see the Santilli film), Kevlar armor, stealth,the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or StarWars), high-speed, nap-of-the-earth nightflying. And on and on and on. His workmade it possible for the West to win theCold War while keeping our kids enter-tained with video games.

But wait, that's not all. Corso also per-sonally and privately briefed AttorneyGeneral Robert Kennedy on the strategicsignificance of space. He did not tellKennedy about the alien threat, but he knewthe president's brother understood there wasmore to the story than merely thwartingSoviet designs. Corso is certain this led toPresident John F. Kennedy's commitment toput a man on the moon before the sixtieswere out. Oh, yes, and Corso's musings onthe need for. mankind to train and adapt forspaceflight, inspired by his knowledge ofthe Roswell aliens, led to the establishmentof NASA's Space Camp for kids.

But wait, there's more! Not only did thetechnological revolution, notably SDI,

spawned by Corso's secret labors win theCold War, it won the far more sinister warwith the aliens, turning their own technolo-gies against them. For some reason theshadowy aliens, who lurk menacinglyaround the fringes of Corso's narrative to beinvoked when he needs them to pump upthe drama, did not press their advantage for14 years. Then, with Corso on the job, itwas too late.

But wait, there's even more! You see, thenaughty CIA was actually in cahoots with

the Soviet KGB and worked diligently tothwart Corso's efforts and learn the secretsof Roswell. But Corso stood up to them:"The CIA had a tail on me all throughoutmy four-year tenure at the White House....Then, when I came back to Washington in1961 to work for General Trudeau, they putthe tail back on and I led him down everyback alley and rough neighborhood in D.C.that I could. He wouldn't shake. So thenext day,...I led my faceless pursuer right toLangley, Virginia [CIA headquarters], past asputtering secretary, and straight into the of-fice of my old adversary, the director ofcovert operations Frank Wiesner, one of thebest friends the KGB ever had. I toldWiesner to his face that yesterday was thelast day I would walk around Washingtonwithout a handgun. And I put my .45 auto-matic on his desk. I said if I saw his tail to-morrow, they'd find him in the Potomac thenext day, with two bloody holes for eyes;that is, if they bothered to look for him."

What a guy! Of course, what else couldwe expect from someone who tells us henumbered J. Edgar Hoover among his bestfriends and, in a career-ending move, tippedoff U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating ("one ofmy friends") to Soviet intermediate-rangeballistic missiles in Cuba (this may be oneof the few true exploits in this unintention-ally very funny book).

The litany of Corso's earth-and mankind-saving works goes on and on, but moretelling are the many things he gets wrong.A few examples:

• He claims he and Gen. Trudeau playeda major role in developing and launchingCorona, the world's first spy-satellite pro-gram, because they wanted a means to de-tect UFO landings in the Soviet Union. Hesays they "slipped the Corona photo-sur-veillance payload directly into the ongoingDiscoverer program, reverse-engineeringDiscoverer to make the payload fit," andidentifies Discoverer as a NASA project.He also tells us of the "jubilation at thePentagon" when the photos from the firstCorona mission were developed.

Corona was a 100% CIA-Air Force pro-ject; NASA and the army had nothing to dowith it, not even to provide cover. It beganin 1958, three years before Corso was as-signed to the Pentagon. It was a "black"program hidden inside the Air Force'sDiscoverer space-medicine research project,expressly created as a cover for Corona.The first mission, launched on February 28,

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

1959, more than two years before Corsowent to work for Trudeau, failed and didn'teven have a camera aboard. The first pho-tography was provided by the fourteenthmission, Discoverer 14, code named"Limber Leg" and launched on August 18,1960, almost a year before Corso joinedarmy R&D.

• He claims such advanced, Corso-seeded Star Wars technologies as missile-launched high-energy lasers and directed-particle-beam weapons have been deployed,thwarting the evil aliens' designs on earth,which Corso tells us was the secret purposeof SDI. No such deployments have takenplace.

• A retired army officer, Corso at leasttwice misidentifies the Wac-Corporal, anold army research rocket, as a navy system,saying it was the rocket that blew up on thepad in an attempt to put the first U.S. spacesatellite in orbit in December 1957.Actually, this was Vanguard, a navy-devel-oped system.

• He says the B-2 stealth bomber wasspawned by Lockheed. It is a Northrop cre-ation. This is a notably odd slip-up, as else-where in the book Corso hints broadly thatan earlier U.S. flying-wing bomber, theNorthrop YB-49, was a product of AirForce exploitation of Roswell technology:'The YB-49's quadruple vertical tail [sic]fins were so uncannily reminiscent of thehead-on Roswell craft sketches in our filesthat it was hard not to make a connectionbetween the spacecraft and the bomber."(By the way, for those who were wondering,Corso reveals the Air Force ultimatelystashed and studied the Roswell saucer andsome of the bodies at Norton Air ForceBase, California. Another saucer, whichCorso claims was forced down by an armymissile in Germany in 1974, went to NellisAir Force Base, Nevada, where no doubt itis secreted at Area 51.)

• He claims the F-117 stealth fighter is"almost crescent shaped...uncannily like thespace vehicle that crashed into the arroyooutside of Roswell" (hint, hint). The F-117is arrowhead shaped and employs rathermundane and obsolescent technologies towork its stealthy wonders.

• He says Willy Ley, the late sciencewriter and spaceflight enthusiast, was aGerman rocket scientist and part of Wernhervon Braun's team at AlamogordoAVhiteSands in 1947. He was neither.

• Corso claims the "Backfire," a super-sonic Soviet swing-wing jet bomber wasoperational in the 1950s, and his Nike mis-sile battalion in Germany (1957-58) andothers like it were there to defend againstthis threat. The Backfire, the Soviet equiva-lent of our B-l, was not deployed until the1980s.

One would think a military technologyand intelligence whiz like Corso, who re-members precisely and at length the text ofmemos and the details and nuances of con-versations 35 and more years after the fact,could get such simple things straight. Butthese lapses pale beside his greatest failing,one of honor.

I was flabbergasted when I discoveredSenator Strom Thurmond, president protempore of the U.S. Senate, chairman of theSenate Armed Services Committee, longestserving U.S. senator, retired army reservemajor general, D-Day paratrooper,American political legend and icon hadwritten a brief foreword to Corso's book,praising Corso as a patriot and commend-ing him for his service to his country, butincluding not a word about the book s con-tent. My surprise grew when I read Corso'saccount of an alleged 1960s-vintage conver-sation in which, according to Corso'stelling, Senator Thurmond winkingly sig-nals his knowledge of the intrepid colonel'swork with alien technology.

Icalled the senator's press secretary andlearned Corso, who had put in two short

stints on Thurmond's staff in the 1960s and1970s, had asked the senator to write a fore-word to his memoirs, / Walked with Giants:My Career in Military Intelligence, not abook about his Roswell-related exploits andU.S. government cover-up of a UFO crash.Quoting Senator Thurmond from his June 5press release on the matter: "The outline of'I Walk[ed] with Giants' provided to me byMr. Corso indicated he was writing a bookof his recollections and observations on top-ics such as World War II, the Korean War,the Vietnamese Conflict, intelligence, espi-onage, and counter-espionage operations.There was absolutely no mention, sugges-tion, or indication that any of the chaptersand subjects listed dealt with UnidentifiedFlying Objects and government conspira-cies to cover-up the existence of such aspace vehicle." (Emphasis in original.) As

Corso says

Willy Ley, the

late science

writer and

spaceflight

enthusiast,

was a German

rocket scien-

tist and part

of Wernher

von Braun's

team at

Alamogordo/

White Sands

in 1947. He

was neither.

July1997Number 351Page 19

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Tommy

Williams in-

side the Fairy

Rings on his

farm. The

Ring's diame-

ter was 46

feet.

•pp^4r;;:::> :̂ -^ ̂ 9c-''-^^^^v;^^H

^^^•^^^^^^M^^^^^^^t^^^^^^^HTomin\ Williams inside the Fain Kings on hisjann. The King's Jiaitieier \\tii, Jf> Jem.

this is written, the senator is seeking correc-tive action by the publisher.

Corso pulled a bait and switch. Yes, howcould a straight-shooting guy like PhilCorso be lying? Wherever they are, theshades of Silas Newton and Leo GeBauermust be chuckling and smiling approvingly.

Copyright © 1997 Karl T. Pflock

July1997Number 351Page 20

Karl Pflock is a former deputy assistantsecretary of defense who helped developStar Wars testing policies, senior congres-sional staffer, and CIA intelligence officer(he swears he had nothing to do with tail ingLt. Col. Corso down the back alleys ofWashington, although he did work withCorona imagery at the NationalPhotographic Interpretation Center). Awriter and UFO researcher, he is the authorof Roswell in Perspective (Fund for UFOResearch. 1994). In January 1994 he spentseveral hours with Lt. Col. Corso in andaround Roswell, New Mexico, where Corsotold him he was "refreshing [his] memo-ries" for his memoirs.

SANDOW - Continued from Page 13

cover stories tend to sell. Hence all the re-peats—the alien with each of the candidates,and then, after the election, taking Clintonfor a spin in space — though everyone wouldgrumble that the followups never sold as well

as the original did. From all of this I emergedwith the definite notion of an operation con-ducted with an eye—sometimes a worriedeye — firmly on the bottom line. If CIAmoney is being funneled in, it's happening ata level higher than the Enquirer's chief finan-cial guy.

Besides, you'd think an intellgence opera-tion would do a better job. I went through thephoto files one day, and found the outtakesfrom the alien/president photo shoots. What apathetic alien — you could see, in half theshots, flagrant cracks in the papier mache.Similarly, I doubt that intelligence agenciesinfluence the paper's content. They'd hardlyhave to: as I've said, on a good day, the staffhas an uproarious time thinking these thingsup. Besides, if the stories in the News aresubtly shaded by government agencies,someone forgot to tell the FBI.

Such luxury? To take an hour out of abusy day to tell stories about the WeeklyWorld News. And there's more...the piles andpiles of mail from people who thought they'dseen Elvis, heartlessly destroyed when theyshould have been donated to a folklorearchive...the soldier who wrote to the two-headed woman with the two-headed baby,quite seriously proposing marriage...someonecould write a book about this stuff. But unti lthat book appears, I hope that I've shed somelight on a matter of at least minor importanceto ufology. And maybe now Ed Komarek cansleep a little easier.

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

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Over 10,000 documents! Pages on each ufologist. Linksto al l other UFO si tes by topic. A s t o u n d i n gdepth!...Supported by UFO/Area 51 bookstore. For print-ed catalog call 702-729-2648 or write: Area 51 ResearchCenter, Box 448, Rachel. NV 89001.

LITTLE GREYAlien oriented merchandise and books. From the whimsi-cal to the hardcore. Little Grey is your source. Celebratethe 50th anniversary of modern ufology and beyond withus. Send $2.00 for our price catalog. It's expanding every-day to offer you more. Little Grey, Box 490, Portland, TN37148.

THE UFO-FBI CONNECTIONHistory of early AF coverup. Learn why Air Force in t e l l i -gence told the FBI that top Air Force officials thoughtUFOs were interplanetary. Autographed manusc r ip tmailed for $15. Order from Bruce Maccabee, 6962 EylerValley Flint Rd., Sabillasville, MD 21780. Celebrate the"Glorious 24th" (of June) with "the real X Files."

THE EXCYLESMia Adams' true story about her contacts wi th ETs &romance wi th intelligence agent. Included is the agent'sreport o u t l i n i n g the agendas of alien confederations onEarth & intelligence agencies network created to deal withthem. Send $16.95 + $2 s/h to Excelta Publishing, PO Box4530, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33338.

FREE TRIAL ONLINE UFO NEWSLETTER!!CNI News is a t w i c e - m o n t h l y electronic newsle t te raddressing UFO phenomena, claims of human-alien con-tact, space exploration and related issues. CNI News ist ime ly , accurate, global news, edited by Michael P.Lindemann. Email: CNINewsl@aol .com for two freetrial newsletters. Website http://www.cninews.com

VIDEO/AUDIO TAPES on UFOs, crop circles, aviationmysteries, NDE, Face on Mars & other fascinating topics.Free l ist & sample newsletter from The EclecticViewpoint, Box 802735-M, Dallas, TX 75380. Future lec-ture hotline (214) 601-7687.

LOOKING FOR SYMBOLS & ALPHABETS. Seriousstudy underway. Need all symbols, signs and alphabetsseen during UFO sightings or abductions. Send anyinformation to George Wood, 8511 Maple Ridge Drive,San Antonio, TX 78239-4078.

NATIONAL UFO CONFERENCE

September 6 — 34th Annual National UFO Conference,Springfield. Ohio. Speakers include Dr. Bruce Maccabee,Stanton F r i edman , Dr. David Jacobs, Dr. M i n d yKopolow, Robert Galganski & Rich Hillberg. For infor-mation write National UFO Conference, P.O. Box 375,Springfield, OH 45501-0325 or email at laputa@world-net.att.net.

R E S E A R C H PROJECT: Looking for Christ ianabductees/experiencers. Al l inquiries confidential .Contact CE 4 Research Group, Inc. Tel: (407) 631-4393.Email: wclark59@bv.net.

ARE UFOs IN THE BIBLE? Absolutely. God has theanswer to the big question. Why are they here? Read TheAgenda by B. Fox. Scriptures & references by JohnMack, Travis Walton & others. Send check or moneyorder for $12.50 to B. Fox, Offer #101, PO Box 6057,Walker Branch, Roswell, NM 88202. Rechargeable tele-phone card free with each order.

IF YOU'VE SEEN A UFO and/or its occupants in N.C.or S.C. and will give permission to use your report in myupcoming 50 year historical Carolinas UFO book Iwould welcome them. George D. Fawcett, 602Battleground Road, Lincolnton, North Carolina 28092.

YOUR AD HERE!Reach more than 5000 readers and fel low ufologists.Advertize your personal publications, products, researchprojects, local meetings or pet peeves here. Fifty words orless only $20 per issue. Add $10 for box and bold head-ing. Send ad copy & check, made out to MUFON, toDennis Stacy, Box 12434, San Antonio, TX 78212. Mustbe MUFON member or Journal subscriber.

July1997

Number 351Page 21

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Walter N. Webb - ?

August 1997

Bright Planets (Evening Sky):

Venus (magnitude -4.0) is low in the W at dusk, settingabout 9 PM in mid-August. It is near the lunar crescent onthe 5th and 6th. The southern states get a higher and betterview of the brilliant planet.

Mars (1.0). in Virgo, is also low in the WSW at twilight,now setting soon after 10 PM in midmonth. The red planetstands 2° above the star Spica on August 2.

Jupiter (-2.8), in Capricornus, reaches a point opposite theSun on the 9th, therefore remaining visible all night. Theconspicuous giant rises in the ESE near sunset and moveseastward to due S at midnight.

Saturn (0.4), in Pisces, rises in the E about 10 PM in mid-August and then continues across the SE sky. The worldwith rings begins retrograde motion on the 2nd. It can befound near the gibbous Moon on August 21.

Bright Planets (Morning Sky):

Jupiter advances across the SW heavens, finally setting inthe WSW near sunrise.

Saturn moves to a point high in the S at dawn.

Meteor ShowerAfter the quarter Moon sets about midnight on the night ofAugust 11-12, the Perseid meteors achieve maximum num-bers of between 50 and 100 per hour toward dawn. This re-liable annual display produces very fast and bright meteors,a third of them leaving behind smoky wakes which maypersist several seconds before fading. The shower continuesin lesser numbers from late July to late August.

Moon Phases:

New moon—August 3

First quarter—August 11

Full moon—August 18

Last quarter—August 24

Co

3

The Stars:

This month it is well worth the effort to find a dark opensite away from city light pollution in order to glimpse thesubtle beauty of the Milky Way. This vast river ofstarlight—the edge-on view we have of our wheel-shaped

home galaxy—arches across the sky from N to S. Along itspath at 10 PM lie (from N to S) the constellations Perseus,Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Aquila, Sagittarius, and Scorpius. Thecenter or hub of this gigantic wheel of stars is in the direc-tion of Sagittarius, where the Milky Way brightens andbroadens considerably.

July 1-6 — Third Annual Rosweil Days, 50th Anniversary. For fur-ther information and schedule of events write to International UFOMuseum, P.O. Box 2221, Rosweil, NM 88202.

July 11-13 — Twenty-eighth annual MUFON International UFOSymposium, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, Michigan.Theme: 'The Fiftieth Anniversary of Ufplogy." For further informationwrite to MUFON 1997 Symposium, 3628 Aragon Drive, Lansing, Ml48906-3508.

August 3-8 — Ancient Astronaut Society 24th Anniversary WorldConference at Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida. For furtherinformation contact Ancient Astronaut Society, 1921 St. John'sAve., Highland Park, IL 60035-3178.

August 10-16 — International UFO Congress 1st Annual "SummerSeminars." Theme: Beyond Hale Bopp: Hidden Human History -Modern Suppression & Control - The Prophecies. Gold RiverResort, Laughlin, Nevada. For information contact the UFOCongress, 9975 Wadsworth Parkway #K2-274, Westminster, CO80020. Phone/Fax (303) 543-9943.

September 6 — 34th National UFO Conference, The Marketplace,Springfield, Ohio. For information write to National UFOConference, P.O. Box 375, Springfield, OH 45501-0375.

September 13 & 14 — Seventh Annual UFO Conference at theYokens Convention Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Forinformation write to New Hampshire MUFON, P.O. Box 453. Rye,NH 03870.

October 4 & 5 — Second Scandinavian ET Conference, Oslo,Norway.

October 11 & 12 — 'The UFO Experience" at Holiday Inn in NorthHaven, Connecticut. Contact Omega Communications, P.O. Box2051, Cheshire, CT 06410.

October 17-19 — Australian International UFO Symposium 1997 atCarlton Crest Hotel, Brisbane, Australia. For further informationwrite to Glennys Mackay, P.O. Box 2183, Mansfield MC, Brisbane,OLD 4122, Australia.

October 31 - November 2 — 4th Annual Tampa UFO Conference.Camberly Plaza Hotel, Tampa, Florida. For information write ProjectAwareness, P.O. Box 730, Gulf Breeze, FL 32562.

November 22 & 23 — 5th Symposium on Ufology and Exobiology.Sindipetro, Santos, SP Brasil. For further information call 55 (043)336.3719 or 55 (011) 5513.7107.

December 7-14 — First World UFO Forum, Brasilia, D.F. Brazil atParlamundi Convention Center. Sponsor is Legiao da Boa Vontade(LBV) and Coalition of Leading Brazilian UFO researchers. For.information write to Caixa Postal 2182, 79008-970 Campo Grande(MS) Brazil.

July 1997 Number 351 Page 22

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE - Continued from Page 24

statement that was designed to be released by June 24,1997. to take advantage of the 50th Anniversary of themodern era of ufology. State Directors may customizethe press release by enclosing a short statement signedby yourself, including your name, title, address, andtelephone number as a statewide reference and con-tact. The results of such a campaign can be over-whelming in a positive manner for the scientific studyof UFOs and the promotion of the Mutual UFONetwork.

MOTTO CONTESTJudging of the motto contest is still continuing. We

are searching for a motto that best exemplifies MU-FON's goals and objectives, that is serious, intriguing,eye-catching, meaningful, and is indicative of our mis-sion in ufology. Considering the hundreds of sugges-tions submitted, we have had difficulty finding onethat meets our express purpose. We may revise one ofthe best, making a slight change and award the prizeto that person. It is imperative that the motto selectedis one that we can be proud of and will reflect posi-tively upon MUFON.

MUFON IS BACK ON COMPUSERVEMichael G. Curta resigned as Director from the

MUFON section of CompuServe (Encounters) onMay 17, 1997.1 was flooded with requests from activeparticipants in the MUFON UFO Forum to reestablishour presence on CompuServe. I am happy to reportthat MUFON is up and running after a few brief daysthrough the fine work of Rebecca Schatte ofHouston, TX, and assisted by Terry Blanton andTheresa Carlson. For our computer friends, simplyget on CompuServe, using the address "GO: MU-FON" will put you in touch with the MUFON UFOForum.

FUTURE MUFON UFO SYMPOSIAWith the 1997 Grand Rapids UFO Symposium now

a fond memory, we can look forward to future sym-posia. Michael G. Curta and Colorado MUFON in-vite everyone to Denver for the 1998 symposium onJuly 3, 4, and 5 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. TheHyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington,Virginia, at Washington, D.C. National Airport will bethe locale for the 1999 symposium on July 2, 3, and 4,hosted by Northern Virginia MUFON. In the year2000, Missouri MUFON will play hosts to the annual

symposium in St. Louis, followed by Orange CountyMUFON (Calif.) in 2001. We are scheduled to travelto Atlanta. Georgia, in 2002 to be guests of GeorgiaMUFON.

MUFON COMMUNICATIONNUMBERS

MUFON Headquarters: Seguin, TXTelephone: (830)379-9216

Fax: (830)372-9439

MUFON UFO HOT LINE 1-800-UFO-2166

THE INTERNET -mufon.com

MUFON e-mail address --mufonhq@aol.com

MUFONET-BBS (901)327-1008

MUFON Amateur Radio Net40 meters - 7.237 MHz - Saturday, 8 a.m.

Eastern Time

A CATALOG OFUFO-RELATED

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTSby John F. Schuessler

400 reported medical cases, 105 pages$15 plus $2.00 for postage and handling.

Order From: MUFON, 103 Oldtowne RoadSeguin, TX 78155-4099

MUFON 1996 SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS"UFOLOGY: A Scientific Enigma"

Fourteen papers — 308 pagesPrice: $25 plus $1.75 for postage and handing, in U.S. funds

ORDER FROM:MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX 78155-4099

July 1997 Number 351 Page 23

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Walter Andrus

NEWS FROM AROUND THE NETWORK

MUFON 1997 UFO SYMPOSIUMMUFON's twenty-eighth International UFO

Symposium was held July 11,12, and 13, 1997, at theelegant Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids,Michigan, hosted by Michigan MUFON.Congratulations for a job well done to David E. Toth,the symposium coordinator. Bill and Linda Murphy,Co-State Directors, and the entire symposium com-mittee. All of the extra innovations made the FiftiethAnniversary of Ufology event a delightful and enjoy-able affair. We must also express our appreciation tothe outstanding speakers on the agenda that, after all,are the major reasons for attending the symposium tolearn the latest information available in the field ofufology from the experts.

For those of you who were not so fortunate to havehad the opportunity to attend this fantastic sympo-sium, copies of the MUFON 1997 International UFOSymposium Proceedings (300 pages) will be availableJuly 22, 1997, for $25 plus $1.75 lor postage and han-dling. The 50th anniversary edition cover is printed ingold and black on plum-colored leatherette stock.Orders may be placed prior to that date.

MUFON LAPEL PINSThe new MUFON lapel pins were placed on sale

for the first time at the Grand Rapids symposium. Theoval-shaped-pin has the MUFON logo in blue on awhite background outlined in gold. The one-inch longpin has a pin clasp on the back suitable for fasteningto clothing. These attractive pins were very popularitems at the symposium. You may order yours fromMUFON in Seguin, Texas, for $5 plus $1 for P&H.This is an opportunity to let people know that you area MUFON member by proudly wearing our new lapelpin.

NEW OFFICERSRoss L. Fox (Chattanooga) has been promoted to

Tennessee State Director. He will continue as the StateSection Director for four counties until a new personis selected. Ronald H. Penrod (Helena) resigned asState Director for Montana and appointed Larry A.Deshner (Great Falls), presently a State SectionDirector, to fill this vacancy. A new Assistant StateDirector will be selected by Mr. Deshner to replace

July 1997 Number 351 Page 24

o o

Thomas B. Danenhower. Virgil C. Staff (Berkeley).State Director for Northern California, made somemajor revisions in his State Section Director's areas ofresponsibilities. The following new or revised assign-ments were made: Karen E. Larkin (McKinleyville)for Humboldt County; Michael F. Lovell (Madera) forMadera, Merced, and Tuolumne Counties: Laura M.Steiger (San Francisco) for San Francisco County;Jean A. Bilodeaux (Cedarville) for Lassen andModoc Counties; and Josh Goldstein (Boulder Creek)for Santa Cruz. Monterey, and San Benito Counties.

Berne L. Bennet, Ph.D. (Durham, NC), presently aConsultant in Chemistry, has accepted the position ofState Section Director for Durham, Wake, and OrangeCounties. Likewise, M. Wayne Smith, D.D.S.(Greenwood. IN) became the State Section Directorfor Johnson and Morgan Counties.

NEW CONSULTANTS AND RESEARCH SPE-CIALISTS

Four new Consultants volunteered their support thismonth: Andrew M. Elizaga, M.D. (Seattle, WA) inMedicine; Kazimierz E. Florek, Ph.D. (Northlake,IL) in Mathematics; Tom Watson, III, D.Sc.(Independence, MO) in Computational Physics; andJames D. O'Leary, J.D. (No. Attleboro, MA) in Law.Four new Research Specialists joined the MUFONteam: C. Richard Whelan, M.A. (West Palm Beach.FL) in Philosophy; Raj Nair, M.S. (Chandler, AZ) inElectrical Engineering: Roberto Santillan, M.A.(Marysville, CA) in Family Counseling: and KarenWear, M.S.W. (Donnellson, IA) in Social Work.

UFO ANNIVERSARY PRESS RELEASERobert H. Bletchman, Director of Public

Relations, has prepared a MUFON press release titled"50 Years After Kenneth Arnold and the RoswellUFO, Where Do We Go From Here?" that was distrib-uted both locally and nationally to the printed andelectronic media during the month of June. Copieswere provided to all State/Provincial and AssistantState Directors so they might reproduce and mail suf-ficient copies to the appropriate press contacts in theirstates or provinces. MUFON will provide additionalcopies to those states having a long press contact list,upon making a request to Seguin.

Mr. Bletchman has done an outstanding job com-posing this informative, concise, and hard-hitting

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