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ACKI{OIVLEDGEMENTSContrbuting authors: Graham Birdsall, Fergus Fleming,Rob lrving, Simon Richmond.lront cover: Popular Scrence/[A Times !ynd cate. lnser: Popperfoto.Back rovrr: Dee lohnston/l'lC Pinure Library.Haps creared usiig I'tounrain High l'lapse (opynghr @ 1993

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dlvelop.nert of lhe X Factor.#,,0{.lcientifc Explontion, POBox,iiti@ire.corn Tel ool' 415 59ll

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Reetric-tedArca : .-: l : . .

-fo,-++,:. T:::'=

I 'lo*:r,-ki "

bout 190 km north-west of l-:rs\-egas, in the Nevacla desert, tl.reofficial map stops. There is plentr.

- there - roads, creeks, mountains.

,.rr ' : . bui ldings and a massive 9.5 km.-"-, - but on paper these things do nor

. I : i . as i f al l human activi ty has ceased.- .in area the size of Switzerland.

, ' . ,c access to this zone is forbidden.

. dcadlv force authorizecl ' , warn the

- - . airspace is the most sacred in the.

-. . . is Nell is Air Force Range and

-- Trst Site, more commonly knorvn

, - - i1 name given for one section of: old government maps).

A. EN TECHNOTOGY?

: 1!]5 1 as a secret base in rvhich:rc1 -\ir-craft Corporation couldir, ' , l) lalres for the Central: \1eno' (CIA), Area 51 is sti l l::.t ,rf the US's most futuristic

t ' t

proJects. The Stealth bomber was testedhere, along rvith other unconventionalaircraft. It has always been shrouded insecrecv - the US Air Force (USAF) onh.acln-rittecl its existence in 199.1 - because itrepresents the cutt ing edge of US mi l i tarvtechnologl. The onlr tr-otrble, according torecent controvelsial evidence. is that thetechnolopl is not Arner-ican. Nor are thetechnicians. Both are from outer space.

Ever since,\-ea 51 was established. oeo-ple have rcporrecl ocld- looking objecrs i r rthe sky above it. These claims were rub-bished by the authorit ies. But denialturned to embarrassment when one oftheir own men allegecl that not only werethere UFOs above Area 51, brrr rhe USAFwas actively working with alien technology.

Robert 'Bob' Lazar, a contract scientistwho worked on the base for five monthsfrom December 1988, broke the news ontelevision in May 1989. He revealed that

I b qbriJ b rfi. thr. n rdfrcttffiasih ot tha tr&on corri E *.bI t rUr€re&USd

Wlt s ti. h6{*is rf Dfffitrdfn p.opstt vt.t E*srH[ tAl*l

Trespqssers hove,.,,

been hondcuffud, - '.put in leg-irons qnd,.,.

strip-seorched for

ignoring rhe Arec 5;i

worning signs.- Fines '

up ro $6,000 ond

even o yeor rn, . . . i

prison con be :

enforced.6ome UFO.:

witnesses even clcirR,i

f9 hove iecei*d ' . '.'1,deoth threols. '

+{*

tr

u-

'3

. 13-

Us ci de*ry turcq ed***

the US government was

investigating nine flying

Saucers and was trying to

adapt alien technology toits own ends. He was

f i lmed in shadow, using

the alias 'Dennis', and his

voice was electronically dis-

torted. Lazar claimed both

he and his wife had received death threats.,, The secrecy did him little good. After the

interview the death threats increased andhis car was shot at.

, In November, to forestall further inter-

ference, he came into the open. This timeLazar described the top-secret 'S4' site,

r, next to Papoose Lake within Area 51,

: where the alien craft were stored. He

. revealed how he had been employed in a

team of 22 engineers to figure out how the

crafts' propulsion systems operated.

TNSIDE S4

According to Lazar, 54 was an under-

ground complex which occupied a whole

mountain range. At first he thought he was

working with highly-advanced man-made

technology. But when he entered one of

the discs. he became convinced it was from

another world because its form and dimen-

sions did not appear to be man-made.

'It has no physical seams, no rrelds orbolts or rivets,' Lazar said. 'Evervthing has

a soft, round edge to it... as if it's made or.rtof wax and heated for a time and ther-rcooled off.'

There were portholes, arches and tinvchairs only a foot or so off the gror-rnd. Ispropulsion unit was a baseball-sized object,which radiated an anti-gravity field througha hollow column that ran verticallv throughthe centre of the craft.

The briefing papers Lazar readconfirmed his suspicions. Thev included anastonishing mass of UFO information,among which were pictures of autopsies oflittle grey beings with large hairless heads.They stated that these aliens rr.ere from theZeta Reticuli star system. They also

Too

->

..sj

E

.9

o=

I Areo 513

Groom Loke

becomes o hive of

octivity in rhe deod

of night. Sometimes,

stronge crqft ore

seen in the sky

obove the

top-secrel bqse.

One such UFO

wos photogrophed

(inser) by resecrcher

Billy Goodmon on

28 Februory 1990.

( In 54, deod

oliens ore ollegedly

stored in conisters

(circled ot ?he bock

of this picture token

from Secrefs of the

Black World, o

video dorumenfory

obout Areo 5I ).

This groiny f i lm is

the best evidence

lhot ol iens ore

being kept on the

lop-secret bose,

ooN

.F

o

:oE

IEo

:

iI

.. NEVADA !t ,

Sqn Fronciscoo

rnasters desrees from two prestiuious US

universities remains unsubstantiated. He is

a bankmpt and has been convictecl of

involvement in runnitrg a brothel.

Lazar's motirres for going public are also

qr-restionable. He says he did it because he

thor,rght the secrecy 1'vas an insult to sci-

ence and US citizens. Yet his drawings of

the alien craft have been merchandized in

A Al fhe heort of

Areo 5I 's IO,OOO

sq km is Groom

Loke, where it is

believed olien croft

ore being lested.

The closesl people

cqn get to Groom

Loke is Highwoy

375 - renomed

Extroferrestriol

Highwoy in March

1996. Detoils of the

oreo's loyoul hove

been pieced

together by

reseorchers who

wont lhe USAF fo

come cleon oboul

octivities there.

model fbrm and he has sold the r igl ' r ts fbr

a movie based on l-ris storl'.

On the othcr hand, there is nothing

wrong rvith rraking rnoney, and a dodgY

record does not nccessarih' make him a

Iiar. In fact, the onh proven l iar is the US

government. Bet\ feen 1982 and 1984,

Lazar says he rvolkecl iit the Los Alarnos

National Laboratorv in \en'\ Ierico o1r the

'Star \ \ 'ars ' St lategic Def 'ence

Init iat ive. This l 'as f irmlv cLe niccl bl

the authorit ies rr 'ho sai( l there \rere

no records of l-r is e mplo\ I l )ent.

But l r 'hen . jour.nal ist Cieorge

Knapp investigated l ' re ir trncl ihat

Lazar's name appearecl on the inter-

nal phone directorr 'at l-oi - \ l i rnros.

Also, the go\rernmell t hrts never

denied that Lazar l'orkecl in -\'ea

51, a fact his tax ret lun fot ' that vear

also confirms.

More eyidence has si lce c,trnc to

l ight . In 1995, a ( ]et 'ur . rn f i lnr

companyreleasedar ideo. \ , 1 i , i , r , f th?

ts lark World. rvhich . r rPl t l icr l t t t , , t 'e

eviderlce to support l ,azar's stor-r. I t has

several wi tnesses whosc le\ l i l l lo l l i - l r lo\cthat something is going on in , \-ea :r 1.

VIDEO PROOF?

Norio Hayakawa of Nippor-r T\-. for.erample,

waited up al l night to catch :t f leeting

gl impse of an object r ise frorl - \ 'e :r 51. He

fi lmed a glowing l ight oler the urotttr tait-rs

and saw it skate through the ,skr. - \nalr sis of

the f i lm by state-of-the-art colrputcls led to

Hayakawa's conclusion that tl.re otr_ject rr-as,

'definitely no con\rentional air-crait ' .

Many other f i lms shoriecl r-r.rLrch the

same thing - a bright objeci rr i r ich hopped

through the skv at incr-ecl ible speeds and

performed impos-sible nrartoeLtt ' res. An

NBC TV cre\\' \ras actlrallr urpproached by

one of these objects. Tl 'rel came back with

radiat ion burns. Soneone went further

Los AngelesI

eo

T

Ei:

.q

_soo

',.=;,-.,.,::

t,:i_#ilil

_,.*€

DCATHh r98=urrkiig,qrd fesrnone o#

rq/sfel

Tlre

domoges

tlre csse hos fofittre existence ofrefused fo lqkg,,n{uries ond

v This series of

photogrophs of rhe

Groom Loke bose

v.rithin Areo 5l

wqs token from

o vontoge point on

Freedom Ridge -

off-limits to the

publ ic s ince Apr i l'I 995. The USAF

wonls lo ensure

+ic|l no more

p$<tures ore token

o{ th.e top-secrel

rqse ond its

rrommofh 9.5 km

r-nwcry. Experls

q,uesl"ion whot kind

e,f <rqft needs sUch

c ,o,ntg londing slrip.

l 'ot.rr\ff im',f*Desert &*ttle "u1E9g Gu,,-

Eii , ,

Nevada desert ,r''.t *oria^";'{; tii;;i i

*w;--

iffi,ffi."*, ,R;d,T,::ili:';;:l,1',i:ff f .*-_f

: r" '1. , . , 1: .1:*. f f i, , -

" -"" t '

tl::

still, allegedlv irtsicle Sl, :rnd fihnecl a times the speecl of sound. Goodall questions .roomful of cauisters itr lr 'hich deacl aliens whether srich speecls are possible with ,,were being sloled. human rechnologv.

Sadlv, thottsl-r, catching a UFO on film is An ex-Lockheed worker, interviewed. by lnot conclusive proof. Secrets ot'' the Black Goodall, said, 'We have things flying in the . ,World also sholr,s videos of two allesed

UFOs - one lookecl like a jet at low alti- Lucas fdirector of the movie Star Warsf ,,

tud.e, theotherwasabadI1.m9ntageddrooI ' ,Anclr , r ,herrGoodal laskedBenRich,sequence of a flying dustbin. former President of Lockheed 44uutr."6 :': -1."1,111

Stil l , 'something' is certainly happening Development, if UFOs existed he was told, ,:

deep in the Nevada desert. 'There are at 'Yes. I am a firm believer in UFos.'least e ight Black Programs l lv ing orr l ofArea 51,' says aviation writer.f irn GooclaltBlack Programs are ultra-secret go\-eln- \Ianv clismiss such statements aSt-:ment projects, such as the Stealth bornber', go\.ernrreltt-orchestratecl disinformationallegedly eating up $35 billion of public clesisned to cover-up nhat reallv is going on:.cash a year. They include ttttmantted Lazar said workers at 54 wore badgeJ,:,probes whose speed and rnanoeuvrability printedwith the cocle NtrU. Did this referto'could easily fool people into mistaking Majestic-12, the alleged top-secret flyingthem for flying saucers. saucer research group set up by

Goodall thinks there is more to it than the US president in 1947?that. The craft he is talking about are silentand incredibh'fast. such as the one whichflew out of Area 5 1 an d was later tracked by In the next lssze, UFO FILE inaestigates thethe Federal Aviation Administration Center Maiestic-12 documents. Are thel fakes orgoing in excess of 16,000 km/h - around 13 euidence that proues aliens haue land,ecl?' ":: '-

VISIOI\S oFTFIE

'.,....]TYIITUONS OF PEOPTE ON THE BRINK OF

.'.,,:DEATH REPORT IEAVING THEIR BODIES AND

:.,,] 'rvlslTlNc orHER woR[Ds. ls rHlS PROOF OF: l ;:,,,;,11.,,, ' ,," " '

I IFE AFTER DEATH, OR JUST THE FINAT

xlgoucHTs oF A DYINo eRalN?

. the tale he told when he recor-ered:

whi le 'dead' he had beett drarvn

His corpse was taken to a morgue

l1,'r:1.,'':l,',,. ,:ma quick-frozen until time was

',111..11',1'.:.i1; .f,ound to do an autopsy. Three days

Iater, as the pathologist s lar ted

. cuting i,-,to ihe body. Rodonaia's

eyes opened. The doctor closed

them and carried on cutting. The

e1'es opened again. Against all

odds, Rodonaia was al ive.

. Rodonaia 's survival was amazing.'

But even more extraordinarr r t 'as

into a world of light in which the

'1b$. of science had no place. He

Q did it properly. First they ran

him down in a car then drove over

him a second time to finish the iob.

could travel around the world. see

through walls, reacl people's minds

hen the KGB assassinated

Grigorievich Rodonaia,

a Georgian dissident, they

and journey through time.

Doctors would have scoffed had

his heightened perception, he saw

that the infant had a broken hip of

which the doctors were unaware.

The f i rst th ing he did on regaining

the power of speech - three days

after the attempted autopsy - was

to tell hospital staff about the child.

Ordinarily, Rodonaia could not

have known of the child's

existence, let alone its injury. But

X-rays proved him right. To this

day the only explanation of this

mystery remains Rodonaia's orr'n.

BODY OF EVIDENCE

Grigorier.ich Rodonaia. rtho'clied

in 1976 and is nor ' l i r i r tg as a

\'Iethodist mirrister in Texas. is

among a grorr'ing uuurber rr'ho

clairn to have }-rad a near.death

During his 'travels', he had heard a

new-born baby crf ng in a nearby

. hospital. Scanning the baby wirh

11,,rF.Grigorievich Rodonoiq suffered o

:t,,fii;**a skull ond snopped spine when

i*i1.,k.,*"t run down by o cor. After three

S-=s*{=

doys in q morgue fueezer, he recovered

wiih no losting inluries.

experience (NDE). Reduced to it*...,jbasics, an NDE occurs wh-en:a ., . . ",.':,person dies and has visions of anafterlife before being brought backto l ife. It has all rhe qualit iJs of agood lie: it's simple, it's unprovaHeand everybody wants 16 gslisys 'ii:, 1

But is it a l ie? , ,The sheer weight of evidenee.-..

suggests not. A 1992 survey ',,r,..:.: '

revealed that 13 million people inthe US alone had undergone someform of NDE. And studies haveunear lhed mi l l ions of others incounlr ies as distarrr as the UK andlndia. Chirra and Zaire. Notably.thev all recoll ltt ntlrch the samekind of expelience. irrespective ofrel igion or bel iefs.

: . , . , , ,: . . ' : i l l l

INTO THE t IGHT i , : , : , : . r

Tlre standard NDE begins wi th thedr ing persorr leaving their bodyarrd seeing the wor ld f rom abird's-eye vier.r '. They thendark tunnel, at the end ofa br ight l ight . He or she enl ight and feels a sensat ion of

I3=po

.9

peace, often associated with t#,:appearance of a God-lik. nguie..,..,l1,(For some .*p.ri"n..rr, r;ir;;$lis replaced by depict ions of hel l . i

Af ter enter ing the l ight . . thecxper iencer is asked quest ions:

lat have they learned? \A/hat

i:lone wrong? They arecome to the

that, because they stillto accomplish, they

n to their old body.they obey and return

tthere death holds no fearialism is replaced by a

r ing, spir i tual at t i tude.The simi lar i ty of the exper iences

€st that something real ishappening. Bur lhe quesr ion

ains: is this a spiritualtion or merely the result

sical changes?

..t .,: :a:a

TIYING BRAIN

Blackmore, a psychologist!,lUniversity of the West of

,' claims that many NDEsexplained by the effects ofan insulficienl f low of

&',the brain.en the brain is failing,'

states, 'it will keeping models o[ rhe world. but

they wrll come l-rom the memoryand imagination. not from thesenses. And if they are anything l ike

and recollections they couldbe- seen in a bird's-eye view.'

more's theories, however,

I hotly debated. Professortana, from the

) Mony NDEs cre

reporled ofter

life-threotening

surgery. Dr Peler

Fenwick (inset), o

London neurologist, is

currently reseorching

such cloims. He hos

been plocing obiects

on high shelves

within opercting

lheolres ond osking potients whocome ouf of surgery reporting on NDEto describe whot they sow. His onlycommenl so fan,'ll's loo soon lo scy.,

University of Minho, Portugal,points out that, ' in many NDEs,individuals report events whichwere new to them (notablymedical techniques) thar couldhardly have been constructedfrom memory or imagination.'

Also, experiments carried outon volunteers support Fontana'sargument. \A/hen placed in achamber with a reduced oxygensupply, the physical and mentalabilities of the volunteers becameimpaired - including the memory.And while some reportedhallucinations, none had theclarity of NDEs.

'Anoxia is clearly not rhe only\\iav to indr,rce an NDE,' Blackmore

tal l r t -

Cloims of poronormolvision during NDEs moycome from o mixfure ofinvention, exoggerotionqnd guesswork - peopledesperofely wonf proof

of on ofterlifeDr Suson Blockmore, Pcrcc-. . : - : ; : st

trEr

j

o

oE

-o-

Eo

s

_.9

:

:o

:

, ,

claims. 'The ansrier r:r"r - : t in the

release of endorphins. 'Thc:r are

morphineJike substl :rc e s

produced br.the brain al : inres of

stress - the same chert :c.-s rnhich

cause the 'rLtnner' : hi : i t : : td

prevent us feel ing imrrlei iale pain

when u'e break bl, tre> ir : : icci iertrc.

Therefore. the argunrel i i , ,rei.when vou are abc,ut to die. r ire

endorphins are nature s oi l lc 'rr for

the' long sleep' .

vrsroNS 0F HErrThe endorphin argur.nenr has itsrreak poirr ts. I f the hrairr i . r r i i r rgto cr,tshion us frorn pain it \\oulddo so irith pleasant imaqes. Bur not

- \DEs are pleasant: manv..,,h'e hideous visions.

{lrst as with near-death heavens.r,1r-cleath hells are remarkablv:ritorm. Dr Maurice Malvlings, a.,r cliologist, noted that a number

- ]ris heart patients reported sr,rch. .eclfr-rl places after their NDEs.

I fbund myself lookine down onr operating table,' recalled one

- r: is patients. 'Then I was jerked

: . ibll sicleways into a clark place, rf grittl', hot air. I lvas terrified.

., d a sense of things watching: - clernons or monsters maybe.. ' . , r led vel l ins to be let out . Then

. back in my bodv. I 'rn terrif iedlq' no\{. I even sleep with the

- 'n. and I 'm over 50. '

.HE RUNNER'S HIGH

:i(rrphin argument looksr:i11 rr'hen vou consider.ler's high'. As Prof'essor1 :1, )ir its out, \rerv f 'ew

' . . i ro erper ience thisr hiqh. in sports ranging

-' ' . in:Ltches to marathons,.::: \DL,s in the course

bcen knorvn fcrr' ic f i as lone sai lors

or lnour i ta in c l imbers to rcport

\DE-l ike episodes. the everr i tnesslcc.rur ls \ l lp l resl t l rat t l re c l t r )e L, f- - -5-- -" -* '

their experience \ras more to doI' it l-r the onset of death, not a' runner 's hish' .

Take the case ofjacqui Greaves,a climber who, in 1994, fell in

Scotland's Cairngorms and spent16 hours in an icy quarry. ' I just

seemed to get a very, very strangefeeling,'Jacqui recalls. ' I left mybody and was walking through a

beautiful blue land. It was

wonderful and the colclness leftme.' The experience also seen-rccl

to giveJacqui the ener-E'to builda sno\{ shelter:, u-l-rich helpecl hersurvive long enough to be rescued.

NDEs can also be explained asan hallucination triesered b1'the

brain's [eaction to drl lgs, or evenblood poisoning resulting from

kidney failure. Considering the factthat morphine and other suchhallucinogenic drugs are

administered to alleviate the painof dying, it seems a logical step tosuggest that this causes the effectsexperienced during an NDE.

In most NDE cases, though,drugs plav no part. And according

to Steven Ride nl-rour, a drug userrrho tried to replicate the effects ofhis \DE u-ith er-er,v possible illegal

snbstance, 'none of the drugsrtorked. They couldn't even come

close to matching my exper ience. 'In almost everv case of NDE.

the exper ier)cers are physical ly and

mentally clifferent afterwards.Doubters may dismiss these claims,brr t the evidence is hard to ignore.

MIRACTE CURE . : ) '

Li 1982, Mellen-Thomas Benedict, .,

a film cameraman, n'as diagnosad ,,,,..r r i th incrrrable cancer. He duly'd ied' and had an NDE n'hich

Iasted for 90 minutes. During this ri

t ime he experienced the standard . : lNDE effects before returning to

;1;ttil;;1r,.::,.,1 li{e.This episode could be

.tl'ii::ll'l.',l,l,"xptained by science except for-

" ' - r ' - " ' " - - l "" ' . - r ' ' " '

one detai l . \Ahen he came back lo

I i fe, h is ' incurable ' cancer hadcompletelv vanished.

-1 '

i,!ll':l::',::')'::,:;::,::',:,iX'..iul RESEARCH

{li, Ae,*cts recovery highlights the::'r::frii:,that, for a supposedly mental

i ltii:::::rlr-r:--.i.--.il "--rr-".--^/ ^-----

i:ti1'.ptta";menon, NDEs can cause12",',''physical changes. In two

..,.,..:'1,..1'.l., inaep.ndent research studies, the

:,,r,,:: conclusions have pointed to a wide,,:;:::.;::'uariety of such after-effects in 80 to"..::,,.".'.:':9A pet cent of respondents,

lt.::,:tt:l.]nCUai"g an increase in allergies,

i| ,r]otvered blood pressure, and ana::::::,tt:,:::-a:,.).:... .

intolerance of Ioud noises. bright

,r,li$hts- and household chemicals.

ii::::rr,|,rtire same research also points to):,:rlrllli:.lat2;+.;.- | oo- oi ti-,i *, p

^ " n^ -.r --

t.' ' .

electrical sensitivity. Respondents'

ieport l ightbulbs blowing (35 per

;l1y1et$f). computer malfunctions ( 20

:::::l::,::::,11 €i.,irlnt), TV di s tu rb an c e s ( 5 4 p e rr

cent) and many other symploms.including walches stopping andtelephones cul t ing of f .

So what is the t r r r th? Al l we

. know f lor certain is that the arrswerai:llL::l:,.::::.1)::a:l:.:'1"':. .: ' - :.tr twil l be revealed on the dar rre die.

Science can only explain so mrrch:

:,,:&O,xia, drugs and endorphins canaccount for many exper iences. but

cannol explain the 'paranormal '

) This pointing

by Durdono Khon

(inser) is of on NDE

she hod ot the oge

of two. Her

experience ol such

o young oge

refufes cloims thot

NDEs ore foniosies

bosed on posf

memories or ore

mode up from

knowledge of the

stondord NDE.

anomalies. For example, how didGrigorievich Rodonaia know aboutthe baby's hip? And what becameof Mellen-Thomas Benedict's'terminal' cancer? Not every casecan be explained away neatly.

That these experiences are realis unqr-restionable, but rr 'hatconclr.rsion can \\'e clral'? Elidencesuggests that uear-death

.,1'.. .autl*oiffiii cnd

:.;.:.:.., t.at was-who,:1;g*9 most dislrj:l:rtl.l:. !i :r---^-

-- L-:

o

oo

T

A

o

:

:i:ldr:ili:::::::,li:::::j.l :a)l::

',4::,,,4'..iaaal

exper iencers al l hale s i r r i i ; . , :

visions, regardless of theirreligious beliefs. Are theseexperiences, then, the restrlt , ,;

the mind letting go of the b,-,ch as

it approaches death? If so. coulc

this higher state of a\ \a len(-- rc

our psychic abilities?

NEW VIEW OF LIFE

In his book Death and f , '7 1 , 1,r i74'55,

parapsychologist Dalid H. L'-Lrd

suggests that, 'ESP rrorLlci :r t lnore

apparent when the in i l r l r : rce,r f

the brain diminishes .r: td : lcl

ceases al toget l rer ' . 'TIr i - - . l . , r

happens during an \DL -

consciousness tort i : . . r - t . . r i i r t '

the physical bodr ir :c1.,r i . :- . . ihe

brain) is redr,rndar:.

Soperhaps l l r . - , , : . - . rc r isht

after al l : NDEs nra'. - , 'c-, 1.,r : lc

resul t of o l r r brr t i l t cr-- : : : . B. t : t f the

dying l t r a i r r , r \ r . rkr : . . " . . : . . . L l t i t

abi l i t ies. t l ter t i t . : l r . : : - i - . : ' : .

experiencer i-ra> a ,{ i : lp:.- . : ' r l of

the afterl i fe. btrt of t i . ic: ' ' : ls ' . : ; lh

dormant psrchic sel lse! . l ' ; , . jsrr 'of

th i r . a l t l toLr" l r \DLr i r . . r . : : , ' t l r i r rgconcltrsive abolrt l i fe al ie: cicetfr.

;l,";lffi l?,':',::'il:1,::;' re

II{WKffiffiKffiLEADING RESEARCHER

SrANrOx FRTnoMAN SAYS wHY

HE BELIEVES GOVERNMENTS

.{RE COVERING UP THE TRUTH

.{BOUT FLYING SAUCERS

one dollor book bought in 1959 sporked oyoung Americon nucleor physicis/s inlrerest infhe sublect of UFOs. Neorly 40 yeors lofier,

''::i::i:E== Stronton T. Friedmon hos writlen Crosh atCorona, with Don Berlinel ('the definitive study of theRosweff fncidenfl, ond IOP SECRET/MNIC, obout thelilojestic | 2 documents ond US government efforts toconceol evidence of olien spocecroft. In over 700lectures oround the world he cloims to hove silencedoll but o hondful of hecklers.

Now living in Conodo, ond working on sciencereseorch proiects os diverse os food irrodiotion ondpollufion conFol, he is on onimoied speoker. He hosJittle time for non-believers in flying soucers, by whichhe meons'intelligently controlled exhotrerrestriolspocecroff. Even so, in his 6l yeors, Friedmon hosrrver saen o flying soucer himself.

*: :g e So how mqny people do you reckonhqve seen o flying squcer?I ask this at mr'lecrures. The hands go r-rp reluctantly,but they knor'r 'I 'm not going to laugh. Tvpicallv, it 'sten per cent of the audience. Then I ask 'hol' manyof you reported it?' I 'm lucky if i t 's ren per cent ofthe ten per cent. Sightings of flying saucers arecommon, reports are not.

Whor first sporked your interest in UFOs?I was ordering books by mail and I needed one moreso I wouldn't have to pay shipping charges. Therewas one on UFOs by Air Force Captain Edward

Ruppelt who was director of ProjectBlue Book fthe last official USgovernment invest igat ion intoUFOsI . I figured he ought to knowwhat he was talking about. I read thebook, and it was intriguing. I read 15more books, spent a couple of yearslooking into lots of information andit really got me rolling.

Whqf conclusions hove youcome to?The evidence is overwhelming thatour planet is being visited by

L ',nsressional hearings in I968 and at: i re L-ni ted \at ions in 1978.

ls being o scientist o help or ohindrqnce in UFO reseqrch?8.. : - .1 rrairred as a scient ist is very'-:.elul. -\ll vour work has to be

lerseen. Your boss and his boss have:' , be satisfied that you're being. ,rjectir-e, careful, honest, scientific..{so. because virtually everything Iir'orked on as a scientist was classified,I had a chance to understand how.ecurity works. I wrote classifieddocuments. I had a security clearance.Tl'ris rvas good training for searchinggolernment archives later.

Your lotest book is qbout rhe Moiestic | 2(ru-12) documenfs. Whot qre these?Thev could be proof that President Harry Truman setup a supersecret group of extremely importantpeople from the scientific, military and intelligencefields. Their task was to learn about alien spacecraft.I'r-e been researching for almost 12 years now, andhave trawled through 15 government archives lookingfor proof that the documents are real. Over and over

that the vounger gelteration, r,vhich rvas never alivenhen there rrasn't a space programme, would pushfor an immediate r.ierv of ourselves as earthlinss since,from an alien viewpoint, that's lr'hat we are.

Wouldn't rhqt be o benefit?But there's no government on earth that wants itscitizens to owe their primary allegiance to the planet.Fourth, certain religious fundamentalists loudlymaintain we're the only intelligent life in the

universe, that UFOs are the workof the devil. These guys havepolit ical influence and they'd beup the creek rvithout a religiouspadcl le i f prored urong. Fi f th.the uncertainn'r 'yould result ineconomic discombobulation.

again. I f ind l i t r le detai ls that 6tr 'gf lrro-one on the outside kner'r '. I 've @

'F

even collected $1,000 from onecritic for proving him wrongabout the typeface on one of the\IJ-12 documents. It was anabsurd challenge, since I 'd spent

'.ieeks searching through thearchives and he hadn't. It also

Despite the Freedom o-fInformation Act, papers arebeing withlteld. trio rationalpersbn can claim tltere's no

goaernTnent coaer-up

D\ 'ry #e Whot does thot meon?4f," ,# Even i[ there were to be anr.'pifi es the intellectual

rankruptcy of the pseudo-science of anti-UFOlogy.I'r'e vet to see a good anti MJ-12 argument.

Do you believe in olien obductions?Dependsl I 'm not a believer. I 'm a scientist who,:hecks out the data. Every abduction story must be::ken on its own merits. I know a lot of the:tsearchers. I have good faith because of my dealings''".::ir them. Yes, some people have been abducted, butr --i cannot make a blanket statement.

Why do you think informqlion on UFOs isbeing withheld from the public?I .:.ilk governments have five major reasons for

- -i:J this. First they want to figure out how the darn,,,::-: .aucers u-ork because they make wonderful', .:l:', 'ni clelir-erv and defence systems. Secondly, what

-: -"--t r:remr' figures out how they work before you

- : Third. if the information was released. I think

announcement, carefully done, not to panic people,not saying aliens are here to slaughter us or eat us, Ithink that still reasoning people would say, 'Hey,these guys are obviously more advanced than we are,they can get here, lve can't get there easily yet, thatmeans soon there'll be new energy sources, groundand air transport, computers and communications.'There goes the stock market, because uncertaingr isthe enemy.

So is the public reody to heqr the truthqbout UFOs?Of course we are. There are some people who Wouldobject, just as five per cent of the American publicdoes not believe we've been to the moon. Too bad.Yes, it has to be presented honestly, openly. I certainlydon't think we should put technical data about flyingsaucers out on the table, but our planet is beingvisited by intelligent aliens. It's time we grew

"O F F

r

t,;.,

f '*-$ fl$rb ff,d Ecs r .f i , j- rr

*H qJ.g'-L-j

:+;:+

A Antorctico, only

discovered in I820,

is rhe world's fifth

lorgest conlinenf,

ond remoins,

cccording to

experis ot the

British Antorctic

Expedition, lorgely

unexplored.

The Flem-Arhs ond

o growing number

of other reseorchers

believe thot buried

deep beneoth the

ice could be

evidence of q

civilizotion so

odvonced thot it

once ruled lhe

known world.

t was a beiurtifui liurd, inh:rbitecl bv

a seafar i r - rg c iv i l izat ion, l r ' i th

advanced engineerinu. motttl l l tett-

]:rr:]r:rt:t,jr::i tal architecture and a glitterir-ru

capital citl'. It was too perfect to lasl.

As the people becamc mater ia l is t ic arrd

corrupt, the stars shifted around in the

heavens and the sun rose from a different

angle. Earthquakes tore apart the ground

and volcanic eruptions spewed forth tor-

rents of lava. All tvas submerged in a

deluge ouf water, wiping the land off the

world 's drap for eterni t l .

rw ! .N.rY:YEA R Q u. !S r . . ,_. . . . . . . , -Such is the myth of Atlantis forged by the

Greek philosopher Plato in 4008C. Now,

2,000 years after Plato's storv first tanta-

lized mankind with visions of paradise lost,

a Canadiau couple - Rand and Rose Flem-

Ath - have assembled evidence that the cir'

ilization could have existed. Their investi-

gation into this ancient mystery lasted tll'o

decades and took them from their" l ' rott ter iu

Nanaimo, \ tancouver Island. ott the rr 'est

coast of Canada, to the reacl ir iq t ,rot l l of

the Brit ish Museum, in Lonclort,

I t was here, in the cradle oi si ,r t tc of t l le

world's most amazing disctx'el ic., ihat the

Flem-Aths made their orr ' t ' i l t lc. i i . : l t lol tgh.

By rvedding modern scicrtt i f ic cl i .coveries

to ancient manuscripts. I t t i l ] l \ . t t lc l inl lhs,

they found evideuce to \rrpl)ot t t l teir rad-

ical v iews. Their concl tL. iotr is tht i t s iuce

10,000BC1 the rer.nains oi Lhc lcrst civi l iza-

t ion cal led At lant is h:rc l beetr br i r ied

beneath the icc, '1 .Lt l . r t , t i t t .

According to P1ato. - \ t lant is lvas

destroved b! a catacl i stt t ic cl isaster around

9600eC - at least 1.()00 r 'ears before the

currenth' accepteci stalt of ntodern civi l iz-

ation. The Flem--\tl-rs were not the first

researchers to make the counectiotr rvi t l ' r

geologic:r l cl isaster stories that are pirrt of

manv dif ferent cultures. Through the leg-

ends of native Americatis. the nl ' tholr lgl of

o'

, t ' .*

i:

.a,#; ffi

THE FLElvl;4T}I5,'...,,.:.,],1:While reseorching,.,cllsc reen ploy in' 1;'976|Rond Flem-Ath' : : ::t:'::.' :::,.,',:,r"o6 q6or;"t ' "Hopgood's Maps

the Orient and the.fudeo-Christian Bible,

runs the thread of a similar tale: a land

suddenly smothered out of existence by a

catastroohic flood.

OLD TH EO RIES DISCARDED

The Flem-Aths discarded debunked theo-ries that put Atlantis at the bottom of the

Atlantic Ocean or in the l lediterranean

Sea and went in search of other possibil i-ties. Their starting point 'w'as a geolcigical

theory first put forward in 1953 bv

American academic Charles Hapgood, and

supported by no less an author iq tharr cel-ebrated physicist Albert Einstein.

Hapgood believed that, over time, the

growing weight of the polar ice caps tugs

the earth's crllst over the globe, like anorange peel slipping round the fruit. He

cal led th is earth crusl d isplacement. ' l f ind

your arguments very impressive and have

the impression that your hypothesis is cor-rect, ' wrote Einstein to Hapgood in

"*+S'i

encouragement. \Arhen Hapgood's book,T'he Earth's Shifting Crust, was published in1958. Einstein rvrote the foreword.

Scientists today call the phenomenon'continental drift ' and 'plate tectonics'.But the accepted timescale for srich shift-ing of land masses is no rnore than 16 kn-revert'mil l ion \-ears. Hapgood was suggest-i r rc somcthirrg rrrrrc l r rnole radical . He_^^- ' -^_^-__^_"- ' ' "__-believecl the earth s crust could shift, asone, sudclenh' anci

"'iifttt, u,'ith devastating

eflects - errough to make it seem as ifentire continents had disappeared

F r,!*1.!-r.9*,! !-G-tt .9.! 9-.u l!.D.._If there was such an advanced civilization10,000 years ago, it is possible that it fore-saw the disaster and made evacuationplans. Even if it did not, it is still possiblethat some people survived, escaping tohigher grolrnd, above the tidal waves thatengulfed their land. Such high-altitudehavens include Lake Titicaca in the central

oi the Ancient Sea Kings.fhe ideo thot on qncient

civilizotion could hqvelived in Antqrciicq tookhis breofh owoy ondstarted the Flem-Aths ontheir quest for Atlontis.

The couplecorresponded withHopgood for five yeorsbefore his deoth in 1982ond did much reseorchfor their book When lheSky Fell during lhe fouryeors they lived inLondon. A moior stepforword wos whenRond hod his poperon lhe development ofworld ogriculturepublished in lheAnth ropologieql J ou r nalol

1..:r,:_ _-,

o

-ti'

,.-, t-.-

EAAFR,EE

,.:.. ..

's,Eijj'STICA

. . . ' . ' . . . , , t Yt:''t"'

./I

AMAZON RIVER

-* - { . . . . - :

J

l,j

.-.: -:,- -,--- ' ::

=^t:- * ' '

. , QUEEN MAUD l. I .AND, ANTARCTICA

c 'r,o,t

o=

... t ,a. :

:#prffi$,F* ;"

W:_,'T&SS'","#i,ff,

. ','"#:i#,i,**'qN*rl,i[+*

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IIIIII

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49

o

.2

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!=

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JjJ

Andes, and the highlands of Thailand andEthiopia - a l l p laces where rhe ear l iesrforms of agriculture spontaneously devel-oped around 96008C. The Flem-Arhs wereintrigued that this was around the samedale at which Plato recorded rhe destruc-t ion of At lanr is. Could rhe farming klrow-how have been passed on to other races bythe surviv i ng At lanteans?

MYSTERY OF THE MAPS

Assuming somb people had survived, is itnot also possible that rhey would havebrought artefacts from their lost world withthem? Such possible fragments could havepassed through the hands of Piri Reis, aTurkish admiral , in 1513, as he usedancient charts lo draw up his own map. I twas npt unti l this map turned up onHapgoocl's desk in 1956 that irs true signif-icance becarie clear.

Hapgood wondered how rhe Reis mapcoulcl show the eastern coastline of SouthAmerica, when it had not been fullymapped in 1513. A,nd Antarctica - part ofwhich was also on rhe map - was not dis-covered unr i l 1820. He senr i r ro experrs in

r : : : : : . l t l re

lf [rhe flefrr-nths] oreProved correcf - or evenporfly correct - they wil l .hqve chonged our wholevierr of humon history

Colin Wilson, Author

the US Air Force iUSef), who were just asbewi ldered. Comparing the Reis map wirha 1949 geological survey o[ Antarcr ica.showing the continent as it was before itwas frozen over, the USAF experts foundthat the two were almost ident ical .

'This indicares rhe coast l ine had beenmapped before it was covered by the icecap. ' the USAF reporr concluded. 'The ice

:1p in th is region is now abour a mi le th ick.

We have no idea how the dara on this mapcan be reconci led wi th the stare of geo-graphical knowleclge in 1513.'

Then Hapgood unearthed yer another' impossible map' : that 'of OronteirsFinaeus, copied in 1531. It showed thewhole of Antarcr ica. wirh remarkably

'n

q,"i.

?

accurate details, including the location of

mountains. p la ins and r ivers. Al l these fea-

tures were present i r r Antarct ica according

to the 1949 survey.and in Plato's descrip-

tion of 2.000 vears earlier.?

Thes-e maps are genuine. The original

charts on which they were based must have

been drawn up by a people who had

attained a level of technological sophistica-

tion previously thought to have been only

ful ly achieved by Man this century. In

orcler for such a civil ization to develop it

must have been site d on a continent with a

temperate c l imate that could support a

growing populat ion. Shi f t Alrarcr ica 3.200

km norrh of the Antarct ic c i rc le artd the

land could have easily supported a seafar-

ing civilization.

ggJ,",R"T.JAN''s".-o*ll|.r.! cr ro NThe existence of a technologicallv det-el-

op.d .iuil iration before t0,00Ogc u"ould

help to explain ancient monuments

around the world, the construction- of

which still defies rational explanation.

These include ci t ies in South and Central

America, built supposedly by the Aztec and

Mayan civilizations. Could their achieve-

ments have been based on ancient knowl-

edge passed on from survivors of Atlantis?

The same theory can be applied to

Eg.1,pt which, after all. is where Plato's Story

of Atlantis came from. An ancient civiliza-

tion may have provided the technology

needed to build the pyramids. Recent

archeological evidence inclicates the

Sphinx to be far older than originally

rhought. its weather-beaten face the result

A The loyout of lhe

pyromids oligns wirh

the slors of Orion's

belt (mognified

phoiogroph inset),

os il oppeored

before IO,45OsC.

Such precision ond

knowledge ofqstronomy is q ctue

fhqt q technologicolly

odvonced people

roomed fhe eorth

well before currenl

history ollows.

:

of rain erosiott. possibh sttstait ted or er

10,000 \ 'ears ago. Horr ' cau this be rr 'hett the

Egvptian cirilization \\'as not thor-tshi tcr

have begun iintil after 4000eci

Further conf i rmat ion of t l - r is E5pt-

Ad$antis connection lies in the lavo'.it , ': :he

pyramids. Scientists have discovet'ecl :l.r;rt

the pattern duplicates that of ptrr.l ,ri lhe

Orion star group - ttoi as i1 i5 16,Ce',. blii as

it was in 10,4509c. The star-. trL-rDc.1r- to

move from year to vear becaltst : j l . earrh

does not rotate evenlt ' . btt t r ' , ,1:, ic> I, i l i l th '

on i tp axis. In fact, the stars l l l , "r . l l : clcle

that takes 2.600 years to curr r ' . : .q

i

s**[Jj lgJfsAsrER?This wobble of the glob. - '^. . - . ' . ' ts t l le

shi f t ing of the maglrei-L 'a - t . Everr .

500,000 years or so thc e ":- i t ' '

t :-- ;gt let ic

f ield f l ips, swapping i i ie :" . . ; . : , , , ; t l r t

magnetic poles. The l . : . : .-", ' - :- l - . i : .-- :- le tred

780,000 years ago. ! ( ) : . - r l l ' r : : : ) l t l ie ' ,e r ie

are well overdlte for i l te t l i \ : ' l l r .

This f l ip is l ikelr t , , bc : ' - . idcrl . c.,ssiblv

causing al l mantrer of i l ; . is:et 's. i i ' , ' t r l tnass

ext inct ious of cor-r f i r red n: i f : 'et i l l i :pecies

to f reak \ reather cotrdi : i , , t ts . Ther-e is spec-

ulat ion that i t n.r igfr i ;r lso re>r.r i l in I l lajor

shi f ts of the ealrh ' . t l t t . t - j r r . r , r . i r r

Hapgood's theorr. - \-e rre i t t attr better

posit ion to sLtrvi le t}-ran -\ t lantis. rr ' iped out

br a f r ighteninglr . inr i lar catast lo- f rz

phe? Orrh t i r r re * i l l te l l . t *

, '

r .

t's never pleasant when aman disintegrates. It's evenless so if you're with him in a

i'i,='::::j: cramped, 35-seat aircraft.The feelings of those who flerv rvitha man, who we shall call 'CharlesPapin', on that flight from LakeVictoria to Nairobi inJanuar,v l9g0haven't been recorded. But theswift, horrible death of papin has.

It began on lJanuarywhenPapin, a 56-year-old Frenchengineer, I'isited Kitum Cave on\'Iount Elgon in the Kenyanjtrngle. \44rat happened there willner-er be known, but a week lateqPapin developed a headache. It got\\'orse. He grew feverish and began

ro vontit. His eyes went red and hisf;rce tlrrned yellow, dotted withscar-let spots. The spots erew intobrlrises and his features fellstrangelv immobile. He becameirritable and confused, as if he hadliad a stroke. Baffled, his doctorspllt him on a plane to Nairobi.

BrAcK DF.AIH. .\Iid-flight, Papin began to vomirblack blood. His nose srartedbleeding uncontrollably. A viruswithin him was trying to reach anew host: it had almost f inishedwith the old one. Papin's facesagged as the tissue joining his skinto bone dissolved. His rnovements

-=.-'

. . Il , a

brain died. He was unaware of this.as he was unaware that his kidneys

::

had la i led and rhat his I iver wasl iquefying l ike thar of a corpse.

On landing. Papin was rushedto hospiral . There. he col lapsedinto a coma, blood pouring from l ',..,

t- ',

iii: t

-;

=

i , , : ' ' ' .

li

',

A The Morburg virus os seen under on l.:i:llelecfron microscope. Morburg offects thebody rother like rodiotion sickness,cousing severe hoir loss ond mqssive llibleeding of internol orgons.

became robotic as parts of his t l

a:'=

-ilrryFr%

-

-=

There is a system for gradingviruses. It starts at Level One, withthe common cold. HIV only makesLevel Two. Marburg is at the top atLevel Four. \Alhen it first broke out,it created a sensation. In 1967, itdevastated the workers in a vaccinefactory in Marburg, Germany. Thefactory used cells from monkeysimported from Uganda.

One of the monkeys wasinfected. Somehow - the exactroute is not known - the infectionspread to its handlers. Doctorswere horrified at what they sawThe virus seemed to concentratein grotesque places - inside theeyeballs and in the testicles. Of the31 people who caught the virus,seven died before the outbreak ranits course.

DEADTY OUTBREAK

Despite its horrific symptoms,Marburg is not the world's mostlethal virus. Nine years afterMarburg's debut, an even deadlieroutbreak occurred in Sudan,central Africa.

InJuly L976, a Sudanesebusinessman fell ill and died, withMarburgJike symptoms. Hisco-workers very soon succumbedto the same illness.

The disease spread relentlessly.It reached a town rvhere there wasa hospital. This had basic facilitiesand limited resources - syringeswere reused as a matter of course.Before long the hospital lookedmore like a morgue.

This new virus had a kill rate ofone in tlvo. Scared for their lives,the local population scattered intothe bush. Denied a new source of

{ The body of

Dinqroso Belleri, on

Itolion nun, is wheeled

to the locol cemetery in

Zqire in 1995.

Belleri wos one

244 victims struck. Jo*., by Ebolo in

i:r.rfhe oufbreqk during

victims, the virus was starved todeath. But barely two months lateran even deadlier variant surfaced,800 km to the west, in the rain,forest of northern Zaire. -Ihe

epicentre was Yambuku Hospital,a mission run by Belgian nunsnear the Ebola River. The sickness

, tl ! - - -G

The problem with theseviruses is thot, in their

eqrliest stqges, fhey conlook l ike norhing worsethqn flu. Yet you could

be deqd in o weekDr Grohom Lloyd, Centre

for Applied Microbiology Reseorch

, , ,

spread rapidly. As in Sudan, theYambuku hospital had fewspinges. Five were used each dayto in ject hundreds of pat ients.Within days, the virus erupted in55 nearby villages.

The entire zone was containedby road blocks, and the army wasgiven orders to shoot anyoneleaving the 'hot zone'. One by one,Yambuku's radio operatorsstopped signalling, and the areafell silent as the virus continued itsdeadly course. It was Sudan allover again - but worse. This timeonly one in ten survived.

NAMING THE VIRUS

Then suddenly, inexplicably, itstopped. The virus retreated,ieaving human debris in its wake.Doctors were stunned. They hadmanaged to identi$ and name thevirus - Ebola Zaire; its less deadlycousin was called Ebola Sudan -but otherwise were in the dark.

It would be two decades beforeEbola's next strike. In March 1995.Gaspar Menga returned homefrom working in the jungle nearKikwit, Zaire. He felt feverish. Tendays later he had bled to deathfrom a mysterious disease. Next hisson died and then his brother andother members of his family.

Within a few weeks the virus hadgripped Kikwit and the hospital

and friends where rhey l-ell.

was overflowing with helpless cate*rAs an in ternational team of ::l,,i::::,:ilirj:,

specialists were flown in tolocal doctors deal with theepidemic. panic gripped Kikwit.People screamed in the stre€$abandoned their stricke n',,1.'

greeting each other, the teafliltspecialists used the'Kikwitr:rf'rtt::rhandshake' , s imply touchingto elbow, thus minimizing contac

Doctors soon realized that thereligious beliefs of the people',,1helped spread the virus,funerals involved touching the

.llltrv 1995. corpses. From then on th€::

,,: ,!rs1s ,!v13pped in plastic and

dumped in hasti ly dug mass graves.

During the three months lhat

1,.'....t'.,' , f tris internationally-renowned

r,,::,:laboratory has 7,000 employees

11.lnd a budget of $2 billion per year.

;$: r' .ltrrThese viruses con

Peter Rodetsky Ph.D,Author Ihe lnvisible lnvoders

oftock onyone... theyremind us of something

we do our best toforget: our Yulnerobi l i ty

n lrom the Cenlers for Disease

,tiol (CDC) in Atlanta, US.

N\F

insects and plants. As vet, the

source has not been found.

The CDC's past research has

helped identifi' other deadly

viruses, including Crimean-Congo

Haemorrhagic Fever, Junin,Kyasanur Forest and \Iachupo.

There are 11 more on a growing

list, equally exotic sounding and

equally frightening. Some are

incredibly rare - there has only

been three recorded cases of

Sabia, a haemorrhagic fever from

the Amazon Basin - but this is no

cause for compiaceucr'.

Hantaviruses, another family of

deadlv bugs. rrere f i rst

encountered in the Korean War

when, benveen 1951 and 1954,

A A bleoch-sooked mop wos the only

line of defence ogoinsl lhe renr'orseless

onslought of the Ebolo virus in Kikwir's

hospitol in the Mcy 1995 outbreok.

they infected o\ e: -GIs.Of those. l l l " . . :

This distarr t . : : . . . .

zoomed into c l , , . t : - . '

Sin Nombre r t r ' - , : . :

o

€>- E-LA

- .3

t ' - : .111

. - - ' ; *

. ,1- tL\

: . .ue:

Y.T.?... of its Epidemic

Intel l igence Service are known as

the 'Disease Cowboys' since they

an effort to locate the source of

the virus. They carefully extracted

blood from animals and collected

hit New Nlerrcc, .r

wi th inminr-r tes, : : ldetectable s\r]jt'. :l

first victin-rs \rer c l-.:

g"JI OF coNTRoLIn New \ ler i t ' . I '

d iscovered the s . . : ' . , ' : ' , - : r ,L)

- a species 0l ' l r ' : : . - - . ' :

were able to t . ' - : . . . . ' . : . rn.

But evert thc ( I r ' i ' ' . , .

I imi ts. ' \ \e Lr .

conquer ir t ter:, - . i - . \ ' - - \- ' : .1-, i

Dr Dar id \ , , - , . . . .

d i rector. 'T: ' . - . . " . . ' : -cr

we cal l col l - : . ' -

SO \\ 'e Cal l \ ' ' - \ . . ' '

control or . : ._. :

infect iot- t r . . . . :

Or-r t o i : i : .

bodr' . the

t ' i ruses al-e

mauagea: ' 'e

Thev ca:r : t

ki l led sr,rr: . ' ' -r

r-r l tr i rr iole t l - : :- , 1,,

r -nore s lor , , l - , . . t t - r :holrr or irr 'o. b' ,

visit and collate data from viral

n"l.p__":t around^the gl"bj.. ,

ln Kikwit. the Disease Cowboys

set up a laboratory in the jungle in

e

slowly, in an hour or two, bybleach. Left to their own devices,they can survive at roomtemperature for more than five

weeks. In the body, however, they

are unstoppable.The respect the CDC has for

Level Four viruses is evident in itsmain laboratory, which is the most

secure viral containment unit in

the world. It operates undernegative air pressure to preventthe escape ofairbornecontaminants. Workers wearmassive body protection - medicalscrub suits then several layers of

-o

o^

5

rubber gloves and boots, taped atthe joins, on top of which goes abiological space suit complete n'ithits own air supplr'.

On entering and leaving, staffpass through a series of chemical

showers plus a bath of IJVlight. They cannot workalone. Two-man teams area mandatory minimum,each checking on theother, ready to tape overany splits which mightappear in their suits.Their workin g conditionsare so tight as to besuffocating. In thelaboratories where the

{ A biologist ot fheCenters for Diseose

Conlrol (CDC) renhrively

corries tesl lubes 'hol'with o level four

virus. The CDC wos

estoblished in

Atlonto portly

becouse Georgio

wos once o hol-bed

of infeclious

diseoses including

polio ond syphilis.

deadliest viruses are kept, every

crevice - including the gaps,ririiindlr.rlllY,ritiut.tpri:tiria::a,r at:tr t:i,.urit,u:trtt:

power points - are taped.,Monilois..,:';:1t.t:tr igger alarms if there is theslightest rise in air pressure. ':,:':'L,1,,:;1;;

.,.,,r:,rt,,tr.,ar.r:r,i,..i.:::,:riitt :ri:::a:,::l

As the CDC is aware, the onlt'i:irl::r.l.l11l..,.i:ll:'1;tl1

weapons against Level Four ti."sei'i.ut,titt:i.i'.;:;lare containment and isolationi''r.Ilitll:::::t,:::li::it::

the past these conditions wererelatively easy to achieve, trutnow. What was once isolated:'b,

geography has become, thanks;!d;;

air travel and tourism, an itqi!r':,:O

every door of the Global Vil lage..:,1;,;,;,.:;.;1:, ;:,,,,,,:;:;,::l;:;,11

ONE FTIGHT AWAY:: ' ' : ' ' ' : : .

HIV is thought to have hitched a

plane ride from Africa, proving

how easily diseases can spread,r::

worldwide. Papin, the Marbuig

victim of 1980, did not infect ,,,i,,,passengers on his flight to NtimiBut if he had been on an ii.,,',,,,,,,;,,,,,1,1,,1;1;

international flight, lt could,.,t;.;tt,lli;have been catastrophic. j

In the next essua, SCIENCE l.i ',l'.ii'llll:iFRONTIERS Looks at what hap\eni*;.':

when Ebola reached the US in 198, ;:::::::::,':::,and what is being done to find. cureg'.,..1:',;'

f ortheworld'sdeadliestdiseases;..'.:',:,:.."':':'::.':::.'.:::,.. lti'it,t::t:]l lltltlt,:ia,t]:l

i::i

l

il r '

V Documents T .,] f

hen the former Califbrnia police

releosed under the tllt commissioner Pat Price r'vas gir,en a

Freedom of I t series of map co-ordinates ancl askecl

Infsrmotion Act ro if they meallt anvthing, he repliecl

reveol fhe findings of lvith a five-page report. He described the

the US governmenf's landscape in question and the builclinq.

reseorch info Soviet rvhich stood there. He r 'r ,ent f i rr-the r.

poropsychology. providing a tour of each builciing. Hc r'cri-

The conclusions led further still, detailing the equipmcnt in e.1rlr

to o number of

lop-secrel CIA proiecls i. . loimed ot hornessing - .,*-**

psychic powers for dffi) ''""*.,'.'''

us milirory ond ffiuru*rr,*ou,

" ' ,intelligence purposes.

{rffi} , - -";;+:l'{:r'.ti'i-:!.:.

, ty

'

offT**D*-Yirq:;H

i l

t , t : . . . . : r rc: on desks. I t rvas onlv his

- : . . . . r . i . .1 or-cls thal seemed out of pl irce :' ( . : : . , . . F, , l r l bal l . Eightbal l . Side pocket. '

H, ' - ,- r 'crcl ins thc code-trames of f i les in a

. ,- -r

r : r l l>inet in one of the off ices.

H r ci ichr ' t know it , but Price hacl cle scl iberl

. , : i , l l - iccr-et National Securih' . \g'ei lcr \- \ \

a1,ninlunicat ious cetr t re 210 krt t , , . i i .111g

d

l l r -

\ \- ls1'r ington. He had never becn t lLcr .

l i r . . , r r td had r t r i t t t 'n his rep,,r r ' , r l

: ic le of the cont inent in Cal i f , r ' r : . . ,

Stanford Research lnst i tutc \Rl

questioners lvere shaken. -\ t tci - , ' . .

NSA. When thev hearcl of h. . r - r

quickly ordered a secru' i t l tcr . ' ,

For the nexl l \ \ 'o \c l r . . . '

1975, Pr ice stood at the l tc. , r

rnost extraordinir t ' r ' nr iL i l . , : '

moderrr t imes. Pr ,1, , \ .

Co-ordinate) r las : t st ' r . . . - ( - : - -

t r ia ls desigrre, i :

Percept iorr ,FSP . , - ' . .

l l l r ier t t t re l l . .L l t r r ' . : , , :

tLt t lc lL. l tct l L, l t t i t t .

l l l l l )

. : -c l

- - : . t

i i . .

l,

I

'L*l-'' ifffii..

G[f*.$s!i *]=:{i,r-r{;gift{:5 ncEilet W "r...-",...

$fffi*#tr-*gt-.$*ffiii*,:

.9o

_9o

.9

o

-o

own pendulum swingers who .wereproducins much better r.rg11s. , Ttie. ;Germans were dismayed, particularly as,,thdy..,,,r rere losing many U-Boats al that l ime.

It was in the Colcl War, howevei;t,@,,,,,,

psychic spFng really took off. Propaganda:i4..::.1.

those years makes it hard to separatn,1.:fr'..ii,,.,,1fiom fiction, but the Communist Bloc,1y,ry.r::,undoubtedly ahead of the West. It poriiedr.:,.thousands - some say millions - of doll"irt',,,,,,i nto mind-power programmes.

. . . .DEADTY EXPERIMENTS

The spending produced some unpleasaq!.:results, such as the ability to kill frogs by ',,,, ,r,:r',,:;1;mentalh, stopping their hearts - thb,, lspecialit-v of a St Petersburg psychic, Nint.1f ;Kulagina. The r.rltimate goal, according to nr :'it:tll:Mi lan Ryzl . a Czech biochemist whodefected to the US in 1967, and who had- ,visited Soviet psychic laboratories,,wa$1il: i:;1

they had succeeded in breaking a personls,,, .spine by psychotronic energ).

a.a.,:

lil:.|:)at::,:':::,:

o

€

o

-no

I

!o

A Potrick H. Price

(centre) celebroles o

successful qftempt ol

remole viewing with

Dr Hol Puthof (right)

of the Stonford

Reseorch Insfitute

ond Dr Christopher

Green of the ClA.

The results of the

CIA-sponsored lests

rvere impressive

enough for other

ogencies to secretly

pump funds into the

psychic spy

progromme.

The use of parapsychology for espionage

has a respected, if controversial, pedigree. In

the OId Testament, Elisha used his propheticabilities to save Israel from military def'eat.

Joan of Arc did much the same for Francein its battles against England. During World\Aiar I, the Czech army successfully used

dowsers to detect mines (as did the US armvduring the Vietnam war).

THE NAZI CONNECTION

World War II unleashed a torrent of

c la i rvoyance. In 1941, Stal in 's psychicadvisor, Wolf Messing, foretold the death ofHitler and the defeat of Germany (Hitler

promptly put a price on his head). In Berlin,

where Nazi High Command was obsessedwith astrology and the paranormal, aPendulum Institute was set up to detectenemy shipping by pendulum dowsing.

\{rhen news of this reached London, ayoung Naval Intell igence Commandernamed Ian Fleming - later to createJamesBond - leaked a storv that Britain had its

\

l=-:t=

rtrrgefs for Proiecr

psychics

':o crqshed Soviet

The CIA

to

the

wreckoge qnd obtoin

Army remote viewer. In bothexomples, on unknown

Whether

or not such stories

were true, the US \fas

not prepared to clismiss

psvchic power. in 1971, APollo 11

= asfonaut Eclgar Mitchell attempted ESP

$ from space - unsuccessfully trying to makeg telepathic contact with a ground-based

I psychic. The following year, the National

E Aeronautics and Space Administration

] (NASA) were intrigued enough to begin*

developing a machine to help astronauts

communicate telepathically.

The idea proved unworkable, but the

scientists hired for the project, Harold

Puthof and Russell Targ of the SRI in

California, continued with the l ine of

research, and NASA continued to partially

fund it. In those days, 70 per cent of SRI's

$90 mill ion budget came through

government contracts.

In 1972, Targ and Puthof, both quantum

physicists specializing in laser and microwave

technology, were approached by the New

York psychic and modernist painter, Ingo

Swann. As part of a research team at the

American Society of Psychical Research

.:,!i1:'.

l. As imoges enler fhepsychic's mind, he slorlt

]:

..'- :€g*

(ASPR), Swann was involved irt the sttrdr.

of remote viewing - a method of r.ierr'ir.rg

locations psychically. Targ and Puthof

realized the potential of this abilin' aud set

about developing a team of 'super psvchics'

headed by Srvann and the retired Burbank

police commissioner, Pat Price.

Bv their o\\'n accounts, Targ and Puthofs

espedments \rere a great success. And it was

not long before the intelligence community

became interested irr their f indings. In

October l9; : . d secret meet ing was

arranged betr ieetr Puthof and an

anonvmolls 'scientist . -\ccordittg to Ingo

Swann, the resr-rlt r ia: a 550.000 grant to

'f ind one repeatable phettonrertoll that

might have intell igetrce applicatrotts.'

TOP.SECRET FUNDING

This new sponsor tvas onlr- ever referred to

as the 'East Coast Challenger'. blrt it rr 'as

common knowledge that it rr'as tl.re CL\.

They gave SRI eight months to cierise a

method of ps,vchic spving. artd Targ ar.rd

Puthof began rt 'orkirts ort Project Scanate.

ByJul.v 1973, aftel ntonths of erperinlenLs

and trials, the SRI team finalil found a

'repeatable phenomenor-r' that rr'ould satisfi'

the CL\. Pnthof met \\'ith the 'East Coast

*-*reqor

rt ite"

I

:l:rll:rrrarrl:: I i

t.r::':l::rrrl:l:,:i:rl:tr,

:l:r:i,:t::i.r.::.r:.r.:r

A

-A One of the first

its top secref conlenls

before ir wqs found

by the Soviets.

Knowing only thot

rhe bomber hod

crqshed in Nodh

Africo, the nemote

REMOTE VIEWING

coined ilre term 'remoteviewing' (RV) fo describe theprocess of psychicolly viewingdistont locolions. Right ore twoexomples of remotety viewed;;T;;;;;;.;J;

'iri'

drowing ond mokingnousz bb-ffie facility...l-slrlolpd admin;

ogent urosgovernmenl qgency Providedrhe psyrhic with q photogrophof on ogent ond told him lo

'look'for lhe ogenl somewherein the US. In both cqses, lhepsychic wos oble to occurolelYdrqw the lorget's locqfion.

the odministrotionbuilding of LowrenceLivermore Loborotories,on otomic reseqrchcenh€ in Cqlifornio.

y'Dy:iy*-*

.::

*r,l$rf"iii*t=-t--";:*#ri'F:ffi, J €tffir *ffi*S#: E

]ozt

c

=s06

i -::1 ryF-u rrr't- ;

Challenger' and presented the research 5a Since rhe eorly findings. Within a week, Ingo Swannl98os, srories qbour received his first set of coordinates from thePentogon psychics intelligence agency. The psychic spyinghove been leoking programme was underway.to the press -olrhoughmqnyone THE COVER-UP BEGINSunlrue. An executive Supporters of remote viewing now had lessorder possed in trouble persuading sceptical pentagonApril l995by budgetmanagersofitsmilitarypotentiat.,AsPresidenr Bill reports of success multiplied, however, so tooClinton, however, did the secrecy surrounding the project.hos mode il eosier Then, in 197b, with the death of pat price,for reseorchers to came the announcement that the psychicoccess inlormolion spFng programme had come to an end.i l rOl woS onCe At least fh ic .^rr" rha ^fc- :^r l : -^ \ /^ . ^lfrol wos once At least, this was the official line. yet a January 19g0, when Iran wasclossified. I q?R qrrrr/A\/ eh^-,^.t l|. ^a ^,,+ ^r 1 / rro ,- -1978 survey showed that out of 14 US para- Americans hostage, ,t. gou.r;;

psychology labs, five had been approached rurned to sRI for help. ' -_.

r4uD, rrvE udu uccrl approacned turned to sRI for help. Ifor information by the government. And in Despite the denials, the US- ei

continued to finance psychicai1977, a new venture - prolect

provided US military and inagencies with their own team ofspies. A remote-viewing station wasat Fort Meade, Maryland, andtrained psychics from the army's,iand Securiry Command (I

OPERATION STARGATGrillflame officially ceasedactually continued secretly -simply transferred to rhe .

budget. The codename also chto Centerlane then Sunstreak thelStargate - and the project wasthe Defense Intelligence Agency,,(the objectives remained the same.

The authorities were impressedresults. Major General Edmundthen the US Army's Assistant Chie

__E:''i .'i

,begnl,,lha: rorger f or

,U3,,Arrhy,' psychics -

first in | 983, when

rernole viewers

were osked lo

. provide detoils on

his illicit orms deols,a:i:;ii::ti.

iid,ggcin before

in 1989.

fbr Intelligence, described how he wasconvinced that remote viewing was real: 'We

weren't so much interested in explaining itas in determining whether there was anypractical use to it.'

Although details remain highly classified,it is known that the Grillflame psychics sawactive service around the world. Successfulprojects included: searching for secrettunnels between North and South Korea;locating a Soviet bomber which had crashedin Africa; the assassination of President Parkin South Korea; nuclear testins in China;

capturing a Russian spy in China;producing detailed descriptions

of Middle Eastern trainingsites used by the Hezbollah

terrorists; and advisingstratesists on the whereaboutsof Libyan General Mu'ammarGaddafi during the US's air-

strike on Tripoli.Successful or not, the public

remained sceptical aboutpsychic spying, and a review was

conducted of the Pentagon's shadierprogrammes. \Arhat it concluded ofFort Meade's operations remainsclassified, but in 1986 Project Stargate

was effectively dousedOr was it? In 1995 came the official

announcement that Fort Meade rvasclosing - an odd thing to say about a place

that supposedly ceased functioning nineyears earlier. Given the past validity

'*w

Iikely that themilitary are still interestecl in plrr-"-psychology. Certainly the priratc .r

' After Fort Meade's 'official ' c. ' .of its star pupils, Army Major Eci tt..up a company called Psi-Tech i, '-the flow of psychic infornr..:,boasted an impressive clier:c

Monuel

hos fwice:iial:i:alai.al

:i:lil:l,tllti'

l;.;,,:;:;..'.;,.':.:a::.) .

- f - - f

: ra. . ic l

t_: , t - . ic

tf -.:l e .

r - 'a , r t l

whom was the US gor,ernrner:. F',-however. Psi-Tech went the \f.1'. , ,: l-'::-.: ;:r-.e .

Tbday, Dames teaches renr, ' .c- '"-: ' , ' --r .a : l l

Bever ly Hi l ls , Cal i fornia. \ : : , ' t l . r : : h is

projects is finding the mr.u-cit':':1r-,1:- ,:r :L -ihe

infamous O.J. Simpsolr c.r !c.

CIRCTE OF DECEIPT

Could the psvchic >p\ l l r , , ! r .u lme hale

arr ived ful l circle. a, i : i i l r ,per;rtec1 bv t1-re

private sector?Joseph \Ic\ lneagle, the frrsr

Army Intel l igence Oit icer to be trainecl for '

Cri l l f lame, thinks nr,rt : ' I can tel l vou botl t

from a ps1'chic st:urdpoir.rt al ld as a member

of the proeranrme. thzrt Gri l l f lame is closecl

and en.rphaticalh r l i l l not re-open. The

goverl l lnent l-ras ue\rer used col)tr. tct

psvchics ancl rron't in the future, prir .r .rari l r

because thev can' t control them. Thi : r .a:

otre of the reasons for creating the pr-r-r jrcti r r r l re f i rqt n l rce'" ' r -*- . - '

But perhaps the final word shoulci lie r'irl.r

Stanfield Tumer, former Director- oi theCLA.. \41-ren questioned in 199r abr-,tu thegovernment 's cot t t inued t tse of P.r r l r i r . . i restated: 'No intell igence offrcel rioLrlcl erertotally turn their back on rr'hat coLrldbe a valuable sollrce of infor matiorr. '

- .*L o[ such \ tatements' i t seems

#,.st