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.!l fditofial:Annable

Development EditorSt. rohnston

Brenda Marshalllditor: Jayne Swanson

Craig Glenday,Reid,

Richmond

Derign: Steve Horton,Wendy KwokPicture Research: SophieMortimer, Angela Parmanlenior Produrtion [ontroller:Terence Strongmanl'larketing: John Balmondllead of Cucrlation:{hris Jenner

ACKI{OWTEDGEMEHTSS:iaffon Friedman, Fergus

Rob lrving, Graham Hancock,

lalet Lyndon Parker/lli Piaure libnry.West (topJ. lmutran.to thank all those who lnlpd ia tk

qre used a5 a balii

.:t=::..1-:, at:;::;

,==.,;

ii

orilY -*ry

Shrnrr -

*," ." '

., tlP srtici,.":,,:i,,i_..^

;jl:1""".c.: "..,_,., ., .. ".,...".,.,,..,

;ui*+ltCt*.**_t""!"ft "i.,,,ffii"ffi$:iii".i,::ffi '"*s ,Er+,s

:a-:1"

n December 1984,.Jaine Shancle l t .a Holl;wood movie proclr.rcer rrncl

UFO researcher, re ceivecl anreunu\ual packaue lhrc,rrglr t l r . port .

Inside was just one rol l of lrndeveloped

.15 rr.rm black and white film. There \a-as 1lo

-.-ccompanying letter or ret l l rn address.t-)nlr- the postmark gave a clue to its ori-

: .n:: Albuquerque, New Mexico.

\\hen processed, the f l lm contained

r:r{at ives of r 'vhat appeared to be an eight-' .- , .rse brief ing-paper, prepared on t 8

\, ' \ 'elrber 1952, for President-elect Dr,vight

,t Eise nhower. A warning on the f irst page

:.,r1. 'This is a TOP SECRIT - E\ES ONLY

I ,, . i rr . ]re nt containing compartmental ized

: ,r-nr:rt ion essential to the natior- lal secu-

. . ' , i the United States. ' On page t\ ,vo was

., - . ' . , , f I2 inf luential US scientists, n'r i l i tary

: . . l r- i> ancl ir-rtel l igence advisors. I t lvas not' . : . . . - lese three that the subject of the

r , r , . r bcc:rme clear: the recovery of a

cr-ashcci f lr ' ing saucel ancl alien bodies nearRosrrell, Nerv N'Iexico, inJuly 1947.

The last paee of the briefins paper was amemorandum, dated 24 September 1947,from President Harr,v Truman to hisSecretary of Dei'ence , .fames Forrestal. Init, Truman instructs Forrestal to proceedwith 'Operation Majestic-l2', but si1'es ncrhint at rvhat that might be.

STARTLING REVETATIONS

Alone, the Forrestal memo lvas meaning-less. But, rvhcn reacl alons rvith the 1952briefing paper, the storv behind thembecame clear: in Jul,v 1947, a 'f lying disc-shaped aircraft' crashes near Rosrvell, NervMexico, and'extra-terrestr ia l b io logicalent i t ies ' (EBEs) are recovered by therni l i tarr" . When President Truman isinformed about the crash, he atrthorizesDefence Secretarv Forrestal to set up acornmittee to deal with the sitr.ration.

A In 198O, during his

reseorch for o UFO

movie, film producer

Jqime Shonderq mode

o number of confocfs in

rhe milirory. Could one

of these insiders hove

leoked rhe Moiestic-12

popers to him?

ltrflm. toi 6ttls8'! ttr@

il-*l" trtdd 8E !' trt'G

-Ucl- . --- . r6Arocl#tG*t l

E ads@t It t"brr G

tr *ra*L.

) Anolysis hos shown

thot one MJ-I2

memo is prinfed on

onionskin poper, o

type ordered in bulk

by lhe government

belween 1953 ond

197O. The document,

known in UFOlogy os

the Culler-Twining

memo, wos found of lhe

Notionol Archive, ofter

reseorcher Bill Moore

reteived o postcord

hinring ot where it

wos hidden. Didq conscientious insider

plont ir there, hoping

lo reveol rhe truth?

--6i*tp

lspv' ir l

Uffiffike"'"-*'*

In 1952, when Eisenhower becomesPresident-elect, he is briefed on OperationMajestic-12. The briefing paper l ists the1Z-man committee and gives details of thesaLlcer crash. The final paragraph stressesthe need to 'avoid a public panic at allcosts', confirming that the government iscovering up the truth about UFOs. Thequestion is, are the documents real?

SEARCH FOR TRUTH

In the UFO research community,opinion is split. In the pro-Majestic camp are researchers

such as nLrclear phvsicist

Stanton T. Friedrnan, rrho

has dedicated over ten

years to f inding t l .re

truth, and his fellorvUFOlogists Bill Mooreand Jaime Shandera.Their strongest oppo-nents are researchelssuch as Kevin Randle,Armen Victorian andPhil ip Klass, all ofwhom hal'e reason tobelieve the papers areclever fakes.

To add to themystery surroundingMajest ic-12 (also

NTAJIC), a number of other packaqcr ir i r c

been pushecl through the rnai lbore. ,r f

researchers over the past feu'r,eals. Thc hlst

\vas a postcard del ivered to Bi l l \ Ioo|c in

I985. Postrnarkecl Nerv Zealand, i t sussest-

ed he search ner,r''lv declassified files ar rhe

US National -\-chives. Moore and S1-ranclcl ir

did so. ancl found a memo confirming the

existence of \ lJ-12. rrr i t ten bv Eisenhorter 's

Special - \ssistrrrr t tol National Secr-rr i tr ' ,

Robert Clutler'. ancl lrclclressed to Nathan

Twining, the L S -\il Frilcc Uhief of Staff.

Between 1992 ancl 1!)!)t i . another UFO

researcheq Tint C.ooper-. rcceivcd a number

of MJ-l2 documents. al l r .r1 rr j r ich he quiet ly

sharecl with Friedrlan. Ser elel r ' cr-e ploved

hoaxes but, accorcl ing to ( .oo1rer- and

Friedman, two sinule-pirte ciocuments

appear to be senuine. The f ir .st rs a br- ief

instmction to General Nathan T\\ ininq- ( all

al leged MJ-12 member) concenrins his

Reor AdmirolRoscoe Hillenkoe*er,first Direcfor ofCentrol Intelligence

'1947-501, In 1960,he ocknowledgedthere wos o UFOcover-up.

Dr Vonnevor Bush,Chtrirmon of theJoint Reseorch ondDevelopment Boord

11945-491. Advisorto the President. ondkey ployer in olomicbomb development.

Jomes Forrestol,first US Secreloryof Defunce. ln 1949,he hod mentolbreokdown ondcommitfed suicide. ,Reploced by @enerolWolter Bedell Smirh.

ooo

;oo

.9!

: ' known as M|-12, or

{ Ar rhe time of the Roswell

crosh, Eisenhower wos lhe

Army Chief of stoff. Crirics soy

he would hove known obout

the crosh, ond would not hove

needed fo reod o briefing

poper when elected president.

This, however, wos common

proclice ot the White House.

Dr JeromeHunsoker,renowned oircrqftdesigner ondChoirmon of theNotionol AdvisoryCommiitee onAeronoulics.

Reor AdmirolSidney Souers, firslDirector of CentrolIntelligence (1946).Appioinred firsfExecutive Secreloryof Notionql Security€ouncif in 7947.

Gordon GroyAssistont Secretoryof fhe Army. Becomefhe NolionolSecurity odvisor ondDirector of €lA'sPsychologicolSfrotegy Boord.

&

..-,..:.,..:.;,."l:,,..

r,,'::i.i.

ecrir jr ie: dlrr ins a July 1947 tr ip to New

\lcr lc, r . the site of the crashed saucer.

1. . , . r r u l l ( l r locrrment is a memo to

P: t . .c icr i t Trtr rnan, dictated by US

>r-r ' : 'Lr: ' . , of State Ceorge C. Marshall to

l-:- FxccLrt i le Secretary, R. H. Humelsine.r , i : r : . t rher-e is no direct ment ion of MJ-I2

-rr l :re me1ro, the reference at the top

r r-.rlr: \L\fIC EO 092447 NU-l2'.

THE TATEST EVIDENCE

T:re most spectacular new MJ-l2 document',.,.i: posted in 1994 to Don Berliner-, zl lon5f-:ime UFO investigator and science rvriter.The anonymous roll of film contained 23pases of a 'Majestic-l2 Gror,rp SpeciirlOperations Manual', dated April 19r 1. Itrras a detailed instruction r.nanlral eltt it led:'Extra-terrestrial Entities and Tecl-rno1ogr.Recovery and Disposal. '

Because most of the MJ-l2 clocumentsare on film, the original paper or ink can-not be analysed. But there are many factualdetails that can be checked. such as the

.: '.. - :

: .ia::: ,t::t:,:aa.:a

. : .

backsround of the 12 members of thecommittee. the dates of r.r-reetings, the sty'eand format of sir.nilar docnments, and thevalidity of the signatures.

Clearly, MJ-l2 had arr all-star cast: as wellas Secretary of Defence Forrestal, therewere the first three Directors of CentralIntel l igence. an Air Force General . anArmy Ceneral, the Secretary of the Armyand five of the I.fS's most influential scien-t ists. This was lhe cream o[ rhe US'smi l i tary. scient i f ic and intel l igence com-munities. If there was ever to be alop-secret governmenl group invesr igat ingUFOs, this would have been it.

SECRET HISTORY

The only MJ-12 member who seemed outof place was Dr Donald Menzel, a HarvardUniversi ty asrronorrer. He had wri t tenthree ant i -L 'FO books and many papersdebunking flr'ing saucers. All but Menzelrr 'ere knou rr lo hai e high- level secur i ryclearances, and because he was listed :aspart of MJ-12. researchers were incl ined tothink the docurnent was bogus.

ln Apr i l 1986. however. SlanlonFriedman made an important discovery.After gett ing wr i t ten permission fromMenzel's wife and tlvo University officials,he was al lowed access to Menzel 's papers at

lrlqthon Twining,Commonder of Airfilaerbl Gommondcrr WrQht Field ond,krter. Choirmon of rheJoinr €hiefs of sfoff,tfre US's highestmifitory position.

Dr Donsld lt{enzel,

. Fl.orvard profussor ofostrophysks, onddebunker of UFOs.Held o Top SecretUltro <leorqnce ondwos serurity odviserto severol presidents.

Generol HoytVondenberg,Chief of MilitoryIntelligence duringWorld Wor ll ondsecond Director ofCenirql Intelligence

1r946-471.

Dr Detlev Bronk,biophysicisr. Heodof the NotionolAcodemy of Science)ond Choirmon of lheMedicol Advisoqy ..Boqrd of rhe NromicEnergy Commiftee.

Dr lloyd Berkener,Exqpgtive Secretoryof the JointReseorch <rndDevelopmentBoord. Member ofC|A-funded UFOcommitlee in l95Os.

l: i:::::t:

:: :,";':'::4.::.. ..:',:'l:a,:a::::l.. ,- t..ttrtlt::i:::.

'' ": jj-'

Moior GenerclRoberf Montogue;'head of the SpeciolWeopo4s Proiectqt the dftomicEnergy Commissionot Albuquerque,New Mexico.

oE

-,i

@ffmwgBg_try'nin 111'" 'ner \f-,r

#cryffi'%ili:.{tuii

':: the Harvard University Archive. From thisinformation, he learned that Menzel had a3O-year association with the National

nl

:.:.:::i4,.....: y digging furrher, Friedman also

discovered that Menzel had a 'Top SecretlsLUVCl C( l Lr ld l lv lct lzc l I ld( l d r up JCLI c L

Ultra' clearance with the CIA; did highly

,... ,, classified consulting

' **4# .^,^.1 r^. mc,r . , m-i^-

. ffi ..*- """:'o -ffi ::-"

t"'.maltr m1jo1. US corporations; had

close connect ions

niently, none of thern cor-rld be askeddirectly about their role. Br-rt their comingsand goings could be tracked from manr'sources: telephone logs, correspondence.minutes fiom meetir-rgs, and other papersstored in the presidential l ibraries and theLibrary of Congress Manuscript Division.

The earliest reference to Majestic is inthe memo supposedly sent by Truman tohis Secretary of Defence, James Forrestal.The memo - which names the President'sscience advisor Vannevar Bush - was dated

24 September ).947. This happens to bethe only day between May and Decemberon which Truman met with Bush. Forrestalalso met with Bush that day, a fact only dis-covered by Stanton Friedman after manymonths c-rf research.

DEAD CERTAINTIES

This date is also significant in that itwas the duy after Nathan Twining,Commanding General of the Air MaterielCommand (AMC), sent a secret memo tothe Pentagon relating to 'f lying discs'. In it,Twining states that, 'The phenomenonreported is somethins real and not vision-ary or f ictit ious.'

In addition. a fl ight 1og fiornJuly 1947shorr's th:rt Trrining had florvn to New\Ier ico on 7. ]u l r 19-17. - \ccording to thebriefrnq paper. this rvas the sarne dav that,'a secret operatioll $-as begun to assurereco\rery of the wreckage... for scientif icstudy.' Could this be just coincidence ?

.foe Nickell, a document analyst andwriter for Shepti c al En quirer magazine, thinksit is coincidence. He is positive the docu-ments are hoaxes, claimins 'it is not what iscorrect that matters nearly so much as whatis wrong, as even a novice forger can be

XW 5o i r 'ccrnt ' r i rhar

"ff i

4- --+. \ lerzel rt icl hare

<affi#, o--

_6 -.

r)e riece\sr'r'hacl-

G3=#I g-s€-:- ,**E/Lc-- - y,u(r , , (r ,u , , r

;= E €=

rrr \ urerr Pr" \e(r

-:a number of tripsto New Mexicodurins 7947 and1948 on govern-ment. expenses.

Could this havebeen related tcrthe 19.17 cr-ash inNerr \Icxico clis-cussed in the

l, This mogozine

cover from 1958

depicts o UFO crosh

in Mexico. The MJ-12

popers refer lo such

o crosh in El Indio,

Mexico, in I950.

ln 1995, reseorchers

from the Mutuol UFO

Network decided to

invesiigote this crosh.

lf they con prove it

hoppened, it rwould

go o long wqy to

oulhenticoting the

MJ-I2 popers.

As yet, little evidence

for the crqsh hos

been found.

Mf-12 clocuments?The other alleged members of the

group also checked out. All had worked ontop-secret projects and were members ofvarious research and development boards.The last-surviving member of the commit-tee clied just three months be{bre .faimeShandera receivecl the fi lm. so" conve-

b\

: . a- : : i r : . : i r ! : . E.rr b l3Ut alrrr l t to{ tu l j .e i h i lo !A!1on:: : : r , a;r ! - : . :1, at lu6 U8b!! .a?o! tb! ! ! r ?.- |@!. .

: .

- . ._r j ; : -3g' .

d!3.

: ; f - :cr l ! unsor! but coD.E!st . ! ef lo l t t r b. lqi . r : . . : : - . : : : r ! i lp nclact ! t ecto: I ' ,ou.r ! r N!r .

r : : : : r 1s colr iuo!€l ty r lo l r l r .o sbt . , lu l lorMn,: : : !c: ! 11;d11qlc. .

.' :. ..:::i:i!it,*ji:ifi..t:,:l:':: *s.',:'":;::,."

,,:'";i: :ll j'*:;ili:i"';';::;l, " :;'-.' --'r"I!.Hli:!:ii'.i.'Iri :ii- - ..- +lll,iltltt*iilli:iletii:ffi i:i.',iri:d.i$'i*'i":"""i'.+;f'l{h"-i: i*t*it;fi r'31iiri;i

ii''",:.'"::l.:ll'':,i:"illui:'li*if l:r:'*:.*':;:*ii.:'":;;:'':'''

*#WWfiffilffi:.; Bycon-centrating on the format and presentationof the documents, Nickell has highlighted anumber of 'serious problems'.

One of the most obvious problems,\ickell claims, is the Truman signature. Bystudying known-to-be-authentic Trumandocuments, he has shown that the signa-ture on the MJ-i2 memo is positionedrlrongly on the page. Also, the sisnatureappears almost identical to that on anar-rthenticated Truman memo found, ironi-cally, by Stanton Friedman.

EYE FOR DETAIT

\ickell also points to the date formats, then'pefaces, and the style of language used inthe documents. Again, by studying authen-ticated papers, he has shown that certaindetails are different in the MJ-l2 papers.

Nickell 's conclusion is that 'the manyanomalous and suspic ious elementscletected in the MJ-12 papers c lear lvdernonstrate the documents are forseries.'But Friedman disagrees. He has spent ten-,ears investigating Nickell 's claims, and.:i l l reckons the papers are genuine. 'I

l .are r€l lo hear a convincing argumelt t=iainst MJ-l2,' Friedman states. 'Frankly,I :,rnsider this ensemble of documents the:r-,, ' :t irnportant classified documents ever.r-.-.e d to the public. '

L'enuine or fake, the MJ-12 documents.:e certainlv the most intriguing to have.u:-faced in the history of UFOlogy. In his

-,ist.: oler 30 details not known by anyone

outside the government before the docu-

ments were received. So, if they are fakes, it

is likely they were written by someone with

inside knowledge. If they are genuine, they

prove that the sovelnrneut is r l i l l f i r l l l

cor.ering l lp the inrt l t about UFOs.

Resear-chers on borh sides of the MJ-12

fence can produce evidence to support

tireir arguments. But at the end of the day,

a hard-core of facts stand irresolute at the

heart of the documents - the facts as

they relate to the UFO crashin New Mexico, inJuly 1947.

In Lhe next issue, LIFO FIIE inuestigates thelegendarl tvash nertr Roswell, I{ew Mexico. Wasthis the start of the great UI-O couerup?

A Horry Trumon3 .,. '.''

s ignolure on rhe MJ-12..r:

memo (top) is olmost

identicol lo one on on

outhenticoted memo fiom

I October 1947 (boffom).

Since no two signolures

ore ever the some, lhis is

proof, soy critics, thot the

MJ-I2 popers ore foke* ,.,r

But tvould on otherwise ri.:,

coreful forger moke such

on obvious mistoke?

.:::;.ii'.:l:':::::l.l::l

, _:i:

'. r.,'. ' i:l:.I

r j . .i

,,::.,i2:,,.,,r",:,:,..

:i::,:.,

::'ll:

..::

E

::o>

WnTn Egoln BRoKE oUT oF AFRIcA AND

ILANDED IN THE US, IT PROVED THERE ARE

SAFE HAVENS FROM DEADLY DISEASES.

THERE ANY HOPE IN THE WAR AGAINST

,:THE MICROSCOPIC flUrnS?a one-storey building owned bvHazleton Research Products, rvhichspecalized in importing animals formedical research.

The monkeys had had a longjourney. From their home in thetropical rain forests of thePhil ippines, they had been crated

and flown to -\n.rsterdarn. From

Amsterdam. thev u-ere flown to

New York's.JFK -\rport. At JFK,thev rrele transferred to the back

of a tnrck and driven to Reston.

BTEEDING TO DEATH

Bv the time the monkeys arrived atthe quarantine unit, two of themrvere dead. This was nothingunusual. Animals often died frornthe stress of travel. Soon, horrer"er.the survivors started to look ill. BvI November, another 27 hacl bleclto death.

Reston's director. Dan Dalgarcl.became worried. Tire nonker s

to theUnit -

-crxaai

\rere dying sometimes two in a day.Could it be simian haemorrhagicfeler (SHF) ? If so, he was introuble. Although this diseasecannot be caught by humans, SHFcar-r decimate monkey colonies.

On 2 November, anothershipment of monkeys arrived fromthe Phil ippines. Dalgard wascareful to house this consignment>eleral rooms away from theinfected batch.

On 13 \ovember, Dalgard didan autopsv on one of the casualtiesand sent a spleen sample to theCenters for Disease Control (CDC)

in -\tlar-rta - the world's leading

research institute on killer viruses.He had to know what he wasdealing with.

. Four days later, as thecorpses continued tomount, Dalgard had thewhole of the first groupof monkeys put down.Then, on 25 Novembeqthe new shipment startedto die. Even moreworrying, two of thecaretakers reported sickwith flu-like symptoms.

On 27 November, theCDC had an answer forDalgard. It seemedimpossible, but the monkeyswere infected with Ebola.

This killer disease had sofar been restricted to Africa.The Reston monkevs came

from the Phil ippines. Moreover, itwas thought that the deadlr,

o

co

F

o

oU.9

U

s3

*=3

.rua.

ll::lii

8( 1eOur qbil ity to detecf,contoin, ond prevenfemerging infect ious

diseoses is in ieopordyDr Dovid Sotcher,

Centers for Diseose Conhol

f f iDUn

'filovirus' was transmitted byblood-to-blood contact onll'. l,g1the new batch of monkeys wereinfected with Ebola. And so,apparently, were the caretakers.

AIRBORNE DISASTER

Suddenly, the situation verged oncatastrophe. This new strain ofEbola was airborne and could bespread by a sneeze - just like fluand the common cold.

The CDC acted swiftly. Theyformed a crack biohazard teamwith the US Army MedicalResearch Institute of InfectiousDiseases. The sickly caretakers

were isolated in hospital and themonkey house was sealed off amidutmost secrecy.

The Army team. wearing specialprotect ive sui ts, moved in. Their

task was to kill, autopsy anrl.;11;:ttttl1incinerate every monkey inbuilding. They did so

desoi te one scare when a

escaped from its cage - an, 'amonkey can bite clean throu$iiiir,rilllthe toughest protective suit. Theyfound Ebola in every specimenr.'":iri:l:r.

With Ebola on the loose, the,,,.illlil';iljlliArmy team sealed every possibleopening to the outsid. **ld, .,l.,1:1,:l:tl:::,,:::They scoured the walls, floors.and:r,tlt,:r::r

NON-FATAL STRAIN

It was thought that Reston was no-wsafe. But on l2January t990;,,;::,t,t,l11tmore Philippine monkeys cdor,r.n with the deadly diseasC1.:tltime thev closed the buildingl,iil*.,..,,;.1;let the r-irr-rs do its lvork. All ther:

",,,,,:.,,,:rl:i:ttmonkevs died and the building , ,,,1was pronounced safe again. ...r,,,:..1t.

Meanrr,hile, the caretakers mada,,,,,a complete recovery. ey a miraCle..,:,,,,,,their immune svstems hadsuccessfully fought the Reston,,'i :.l,..;l.llltrl,iili

t r

4I

strain of the disease. The CDCreal ized that, as rhe virus had

. mutated ancl become airborne. i t

had also become norr- latal to Marr.r r4u 4lDU ucl l

As rhe Resron incic lerr t proved.our abi l i ry to deal wirh such ki l lerv i ruses is l r ighreningl l inadequate.They mutare so swifr ly rhar rhere isno common lactor at whichscient ists can rarger a drrrg.Al though we ralk hopefrr l lv abotrrrfeatments for the Humanilmmuno-deficiency Vims (HIV) -itLevel Two on the virus danger

'scale - scientists acknowledge theimpossibility of finding a cure for:&e Level One common cold. So*hui *rl possibly be done ro:,gombat Level For.rr viruses?

the

that Ebola and its sister diseaseshave yet to learn. The sheer speedat which they kil l means tharoutbreaks tend to burn out beforedeveloping into epidemics. This iswhy HfV has spread to all parts ofthe wor ld - i r takes a long r ime rodie f rom ir . g iv ing rhe virus moretime to move on.

Another point in our favour isthat scientists have successfullyo\ercome one Level Four v i rus.Variola, the smallpox virus, kilied

A The Centre for Applied Microbiology

ond Reseorch is Bri toin's most highly

secured loborotory. The deodly viruses

fhot scientisfs investigote here ore

kept sofely locked owoy in steel ond

ormoured Perspex cobinets.

mil l ions before ir r 'as clefeated by

the developmenr of :r laccine from

cowpox. Scienti ,sts hope rfrev rr ' i l l

eventual lv f ind sinri lar raccines for

Ebola and i t : re lar i re.

MAN-MADE PROBTEM

Ironicallr-. r-nodern n-redicine andtechnologl r.nar be responsible forinadr,ertentlr spreadir.rg thesediseases. The re is no certainty that'emer-gin9 r' iruses are a tlewphenornenon. Thev may haveexisted in lemote corners of thervorld for nii l l ions of years,creepir-rg out to destroy anderadicate before retreating to theirhost environment.

The only'emerging' factor isour wil l ingness to distribute rhem.As global demand for medicalresearch heats up, increasir-rgnumbers of monkeys trappecl inAfrica and other parts of the rlorldare bringing'new' diseases or_rt ofthe jungle. In seeking cures for old

,l',.,','

oI

3

-so

ao

I

I_.9

-ooco

o

diseases, we may well be exposing

ourselves to new ones.

Until the monkeys from thePhil ippines, which died at Reston,rvere diagnosed with Ebola,rrobody thought the v i rus was

present in South East Asia.Scientists are still guessing how thedisease got there from Africa.

IMPENDING DISASTER

The most frightening aspect ofthese kil ler viruses, however, is

their ability to mutate. The Restonincident demonstrated graphically

to scientists that if a Level Fourr i rus becomes airborne, i t is

almost impossible to control.

Fortunately, the Reston strain ofEbola mutated in such a way as tobe harmless to humans. But whatif Ebola Zaire, which kills nine outof ten infected people, evolvedinto an airborne strain? If thiscoincided with an increase in thegestation period - so that thehuman host took longer to die and

$.1rWe stqnd on fhe brink

of o globql cr is is ininfect ious diseqses.. .no country con qny

longer offord to ignoretheir threot

Dr Hiroshi Nokoiimo, Director Generol ofthe World Heolth Orgonizotion

t r t f ihad more time to spread the virus- then the death rate would be ofstaggering proportions.

And what if terrorisrs were [oget hold of the diseases? The AUMShinrikl.Lr cult, which unleashednerve gas on the Tokyo subway

system in March 1995,'n'as alsoder,eloping bioloeical \reapons.

That same montl-r. Larrv Har-r-is. amicrobiologist ar-rd rnerrber of.\n'an Nations, a rvhite

supremacists grollp, rvas arrestedin the US for i l legal ly procur ingfreeze-dried bacteria that cause

bubonic plague.The 'what i f ' scenar ios are as

varied as they are terrifying, but weare still more likely todie from almostanything other than aLevel Four virus.

{ Filipino vets exfroctblood from o monkeylo lesl for possible

Ebolo infection. Similor

monkeys, used for

medicol resecrch, hove

been the innocent

corriers of the diseose

os it spreods from

Africo to lhe West.

\ Ialzir ia. measles, meningit is,

cancer - u'hich ma-v also be causr-d',,1,,:.1

br-rintses - are far more ii..i,:,,t:,tt:,,trt,:a:.:probable killers. :,.::,,',a1.-,:,1,;,,:;:,,;,,,1,r;;'.,:r;,1;,.r.,,

TIME IS SHORT ' i ' . , i , r : , i : i ' : . : : l i i : l i i : t : : i.::::.i:;:i

Still, there is no room for ;1-;', '

complacency. In a speech inNovember 1994. Nobel Pr ize

wi n ner Joshua Lederbergwarned of the increasing threatfrom microscopic predators.'We're not alone at the top o[ the

food chain,'Lederberg *yt. 'W. 1'1..1.1,;;have been neglectful of the :,.,,, ,,,,,,tt,ttimicrobes, and that is a recurrent

theme that is coming back to,iil1:':.,;,;,;.;l.l.il:r.;;l

haunr us.' ...ij.i::l.l:i],]i:]i].,::]i.

Scientists are now racing agai{i$f:i::,time to find cures for these ne14r,.i':.i.'r:i.:l::r

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

killers, just as 'old' diseases, sucn,,.,11111,.1111

as tuberculosis and malaria, are':lil.'':.::i:l::li:'il;i

proving resistant to ant ib iot ics.

The world's fate rests withthe 'd isease cowboys' .

o

{o

_9o

5o

:rc

€

oj=oo

'o

I

To

$ffiffxwspKcfANDREw GREEN, THE MAN

BRITAIN,S INSTITUTIoNS

CALL IN WHEN THINGS GO

BUMP IN THE NIGHI SHARES

HIS SCIENTIFIC THEORIES ON

GHOSTS, POLTERGEISTS AND

THE PARANORMAL

ndrev- Green's ghostly investigations havetaken him from council houses to castles andhave included the Ror-al A]bert Hall and the

:::=:t:*: Old Bailer'. Since he decided to specialize inthis area in 1972, he has rrriften l5 books, editedthree more and given coundess lectures and courses.

His interest in ghosts began tn 1944, when he wasjust 16, with an incident that nearly cost him his life.While exploring a reputed haunted house in Ealing,which had been the scene of 20 suicides and onemurder, he felt an uncontrollable urge to throwhimself from the top of a 20-metre high tower. Onlythe timely presence of his father averted the tragedy.

A true English eccentric, who entertains himself andhis guests with dramatic voices and gestures, the69-year-old has a coherent, rational point of vielv onthe paranormal. In his cosy country cottage, sitednext to a church graveyard in rural Sussex, he politeh-runs tbrough his theories on spooks and spectres. Butwhatever you do, don't call him a ghostbuster.

FF€ ffi t can't bust shosts. I don't er-en hnnt rherllI like to think of myself as a rational inr estigator.a psychological consultant, an ar,rthor and adulr rlrior-- any one of those. The Teleg'aph nerr'spaper calle dme a 'spectre inspector' - I 'm quite for.rd of that.

Whot first sporked your inferesl in ghosts?In 194-1. I r-isited a derelict house at 16 MontpelierRoad. Ealirrg, London. I went there with my fatheq

',tho had requisitioned it for storing furniture frombor.r.rbed properties. It was built in 1833 and betweenthen and 1934 there had been 20 suicides and onemurder - all from the top of the 20-metre-high tower.

Whot did you experience inside the house?-\t the top of the tower I had a strong desire - I'mreluctant to say this - to walk out of the window intorhe garden. I had the utter conviction that I wouldn'thr-rrt myself. I had one leg out when I felt a firm handon the scruff of my neck and heard my father saying,'rrhat the hell do you think you're doing?' As we left,I turned and took a photograph of the empty house.

Whor wqs on rhe phofogroph?\\'hen I went to pick up the prints, the chemist asked'rvho's the girl at the window?' I thought this can't be,I knew the place was empq/. I later discovered that agirl of 12 called Anne Hinchfield had fallen from thetower in 1886. I thought, hello, hello, hello, have I infact taken a picture of a ghost?

Did you check this out?I sent the print, the negative and the camera toKodak. I got a very nice letter back confirming it wascompletely genuine and there's no reason whyI shouldn't take a photograph of somethingI couldn't see - provided nvo criteria are met.

Which qre?

The camera should not have blooming on the lens

[a filter to prevent dazzle] and a special film -Yerichrome - has to be used. I'd fulfilled theseconditions, so the photographic emulsion couldregister an image between 380 and 440 millimicronsof the infra-red portion of the light spectrum.I thought this then is the formula for a ghost. I sentthe whole lot to Ilford to be checked. The same lettercame back, except with a PS at the bottom, 'If you'dused Ilford film, it would have been a better image.'

How ore ghosts creqfed then?If a policeman came to the front door right now andsaid. 'Mr Green, terribly sorry, but we've just foundr our rtife murdered,' what comes into my mind?

An imoge of your wife?Eractlr I -\nd what's that made oP

Your imoginotion?\o. lt's nade of electromagnetic energy of between 380and *10 millimicrons of the infra-red portion of theliel.rt spectmm. This image is transferred to where I last

saw her and can be replayed by specially sensitivepeople, such as clairvoyants. Ghosts are t'?ically seen for25 to 35 seconds because this is the length of time that aperson's mind will be in turmoil after hearing bad news.

ls fhis hoppening every time someone dies?It usually happens when people have died suddenlyand unexpectedly. Otherwise, battle sites would beflooded with ghosts. They're not, because death inwar is common. I have yet to find the ghost ofsomebody who's died peacefully and expectedly.

Con only people become ghosts then?It can be a domesticated animal, too. We get ghosts ofdogs, cats, the occasional ghost of a dead horse.People say, 'what about the ghost of a car or a bus?'Sure, as these might be associated with accidents.

But whot obout noises ond things beingmoved qround?Poltergeist activity caused by psychokinetic energygenerated by fear or stress. Very different from Eghostly images which are quite harmless.

:i

Whqr do others soy n ,**l *obout your theory? .l-"";";:;Only one professor, in the ;;.}i1960s. has taken me up on \ \ . . , i i . \it. He carried out lab +r !;! ,l."-.-'..c G* )experiments u'ith no

*.j. -,::+1b, ., -r.-. *,,i ,. o":,

response. I pointed ro the ." , ' - - '=_--=:-1. ' 1 ' J-rr .*letters from Kodak and

"*o"r. _-..-. ,,.,1,- _*:':;,,l l ford and also to )y,- i { f i " . .Rc* c 6. , .evidence trom NASA f the '$q * ' * . * . , - . - " :J, : _, .US space agencyJ. '.*. gr-Jl-* ;; :{* *a1 .}.q

They've taken satellite ,.3:^: * r eFi> €e,r$ r.

photos of aircraft. cars... n,':" ,n**

) ,-"* ) r 'i

thar weren't rhere when F:-*__-=* : _,. t ' -r r

the camera went c l ick. I '

suggested he take his ,:::r:rrirtilxlty*!*llx.rxru,,,',.testequipmenttoaplacethatr-'i 'rrr:rirriirrrr::r:':rrirr':r'rrrlir:rrr:rr:::i: 'r:::::':

least was reputed to be haunted.I've heard nothing since.

How often do you findgenuine ghost cqses?Of the 10 to 12 cases I investigateeach year, about halfinvolvephenomena where there issomething to be seen. More oftenthan not it 's poltergeist activity -lootsteps are heard. things moveabout. I'm always suspicious whena pub calls up and says we've got aghost, because it might be forpublicity to boost takings.

A In 1956, Green

investigoted o poltergeist

cose in Botlerseo. Shirley

Hitching, the | S-yeor-old

girl ot the centre of the

cose, colled the

poltergeist Donqld.

Al one poinl, Donold

wrote o letter lo Green.

This enobled Green lo

be listed for severol

yeors in the Guinness

Book of Records as lhe

only holder of o leiter

from o poltergeist.

7/,'{I

they are. Find out about the incident theyexperienced. I ask permission to speak to thedoctor, i t l feel so f i t . For .# Sexample, there was tne lase or a & & .1

Aport from fhe Albert Holl, whot ofherfEmous ploces hove you investigoted?At the Old Bailey, all I was able to establish was tharsome members of the staff had heard inexplicablenoises and footsteps in an area near a former Romanwall. Apparently, this was beside the walk thatcriminals woulcl take after they'd been told they weregoing to hang. I also investigated the Theatre Royal,Drury Lane, where an actress had seen an apparitiongo through a dressing room.

How do you conduct your investigotions?First I meet the rvitnesses. Assess what sort of people

explain because it breaks all the rules. I come rosome sort of conclusion on whether it is a ghost. puta report in and say, 'it's up to you, what do yolr \\'autdone?' Most people are happy to leave it at that.Chosts don't do anything, as I keep underlining.

Whqt fype of equipment do you use?The basic detecting equipment - common sense andand a sense of humour. Otherwise, I usuallr. take ahigh-frequency recording unit; a digital rherrnomererand clock so that I can record temperature and timetogether; a ruler, so that I can measure horr'distantsounds are; a tape recorder and a camera - both ofwhich sometimes work and sornerirnes don't. Thingsjust pack up because of the build-np of static. So I

also take a static electricity

dispersal trnit .

accepted. Sorne people wil l say, 'you must belier.ebecause I'r 'e seen the ghost of Aunt Matilda at thebottom of the garden.' \Ahy the hell should I?

Whot qbout other explqnqtions, such qs thotghosts ore the spirits of rhe deod?Self deception! I've come to this conch,rsior-r aftergoing to mediums, attending seances, reading thepapers. I may be wrong. If I drop dead tomorrorr'. Imay come back and haunt you, and the spiritualistscan then say, 'he was wrong all along the l ine.' Br,rt Ibelieve, personally, that ghosts and apparitions areforms of electromagnetic energ\. benveen 380 and440 millimicrons of the infra-red porrion of rhe == =light spectrum - and that is all. "= 5

family

woman in Birminsham who said Sometimes, just the id,ea of a ghostshe had been plagueo*fl

i.:1"" can frigirien peopte. nit *Erl, con you prove lhot there

l".tllT;l?il:ili$11',,',n. th,ey slee.ihem .lflgt.rnoiiiu tiulu', ore shosts?wrons drrrgs. rt;,,,t,...i";"

"'' nothing to befnghtened of ;:;,:iT :J,T'::*:ersonar:,"ff:ffd3'i'"Ti'iffi :"'* -n

l F F :::il:'",'i"# ;"": :,"A kind of non-religious exorcism?Exactly. \Arhat was worse in this case is that she hadgone through all the spiritual gambits. She'd had thechurch and two separate spiritualistic groups - one ofwhich said the place had been cursed by a six-foot-highnegro, the other by a 12-year-old mentally deficientgirl. They had tried their best to help, bur had endedup making things worse because of a lack of commonsense and knowledge of what makes people tick.

But whqt if there is evidence of o ghost?I go where the incidents occurred. Sometimes, Irecord static or a drop in temperature. At the AlbertHall, there was a rise in temperature. which I can't

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Certain aspects of the shots - the high-lightecl f lags. ri.re Llinar \Iodules rvithoutcraters, the cantera s cross-hair disappear-ing behind the image. the abnormal lydistinct t lre tracks and footprints - aredi f f icrr l t to exp).r i r r auar complerely. Burperhaps the rrost irrtriguing question is; ::,.'i:.::: :.". ::.liLr; ffisrvhether or not Man a<

cl id land on the moon

In the next issue, INSIDE STORY inuestigate.szul21 i/AS might haae faked its moon shots andthe claims that astronauts were told, neuer kt reuealwhat thq real$ saw on the moon.

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t

overed with gold and surmountedwith rwo golden-winged Cherubimfacing each other, the Ark of the

cffiS#4 Covenant must have been an awe_some objecr ro behold. But i r was what layinside that made i t rhe hol iest - and mostpowerful - of religious objects.

The Ark was bui l t ro conlain the tabletsof stone on which God had inscribed theTen Commandments and, as such, wasbelieved to wield supernatur*l powers. TheBible describes how, blazing with fire andl ighr. i r inf l icred cancer- l ike rumours andsevere burns on the enemies of Israel, lev-elled mountains, stopped rivers and laidwaste to whole cities. It was rhe biblicalequivalent of the atomic bomb.

But. berween 900 ancl 500gc, rhe Arkvanished from Jerusalem's Firsr Temple -its purpose-built resting,,,,place since KingDar-id conquered Palestihe and created

Israel around l000BC. Withno mention of the Ark and itswhereabouts macie in theScr iptures. i rs ' loss' is re-garded as one of the grearesrmysteries of the Bible. But notto the Ethiopians.

VIGILANT GUARD::'ji]r:1rJ1i:|r;:',1;]!,1rll]ffi

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church worshipsa rel ic which they bel ieve ro be rhe rrueArk. It rests in the Church of Saint Mary ofZion in the town of Axum. It is protectedby a Guardian - a Copt ic pr iesr who neverleaves i ts s ide. and never al lows anyone tosee it, not even the Emperors of Ethiopia.The country's other 20,000 churches keepa repl ica of the Ark. in a room known a.the Holy of Holies. Indeed, a church with_out one is considered unconsecrated.

Best-sel l ing aurhor Graham Hancock

A Guordion of lhe

Ark Abbo Tesfo

Miriom will prcfecr'

what he believes to

be the holy relic

(inser) for the rest of

his life. Only on his

deofhbed will he

nominote his

successor. Coplic

Christion priests

hqve been guording

the Ark in Axum for

l,6OO yeors.

j=

.9

=t

first heard of this lesend in 1983, whilewri t ing a book aborr t Ethiopia. He foundthe earliest account of the Ark coming toEthiopia written in a Sacred book calledthe Kpbra ,\agasl. or Glory of Kings.

The book tel ls how the Queen of Shebaconceived King Solomon's child while on avis i t toJerusalem. On her return to Arum.'she gave birth to a son, named Menelik.Some 20 years later. Menel ik r is i ted

Jerusalem and spent a year at his father'scourt. On his departuie, he stole the Arkand carr ied i t of f to Axum.

During his initial r.isit to Ethiopia in1983. Hancock made a point of v is i r i r rg thqchapel in Axum; and asking the Guardianabout the legend of the Ark.

' l t was broughr ro Ethiopia. ro th issacred ci ty. . . here i r has remaincd eversince,' the Guardian told Hancock. Couldit possibly be:,true?

SIFTING FACT FROM FICTION

After leaving Axum. Hancock decided rofind out if the story had any substance. Hisinvestigation, at first, did not'prove promis-ing. Professor Richard Pankhurst, a lead-ing histor ian on the area. to ld Hancockthat whi le the legerrd ol Solomon andSheba had an ancierlt pedigree inEthiopia, Sheba hadtalmost certainly comefrom Arabia, not Ethiopia. .

More damning,was that Axum did notexist when Menelik was alive. In fact, it wasnot founded until at least the 3rd centuryBC - about 700 years af ter h is dearh.

Hancock put his quest on hold, but heremained inrr igued by' rhe lacr rhat rherecould be a grain of t rurh in the legend.Seven years lateq he re3umed his seirch for

V The route of the Ark of the Covehont:

Grohom Honcock's seqrch troced the Ark

on its iourney - sponning 3,OOO km ond

1,50O yeors - from Jerusolem, to

Elephonrine (insef) ond finolly ro Erhiopio.

EGYPT

Elephonfine

?

SAUDIARABIA

:

lqke TqnE

ETHIOPIA

) The Church of

Soint Mory of Zion

in Axum is reputed

fo house fhe originol

Ark of the €ovenoni,

Guording the relic it-.

o responsibility not

roken lightly. ln the

l98Os, o priest

refused the 'honour'

ond wos choined

inside the church

for mony monlhs

before finolly

occepting his tosk.

* g%:5.dT\ -esr!€F wi

SUDAN

the Ark by going to the primary source ofdata - rhe Bible.

Scrol l i r rg r l r lorrgh a hi- tech computer-ized rels iorr of rhe Old Testamenr, hefourrd more lhan 200 relerences ro the Arkup lo the reign oF Solomon (970-93 IBC).It rvas not mentioned again until around620sc. rrhen two passages seem ro conve)that i t rvas no longer in rhe First Temple. lnother tvords, there is' a period of slightlymore than 300 years during which the reliccould have been spirited away.

Using a powerfrr l 'search-and-f ind' toolon the computer, Hancock lookecl forwords, or sequences of words, that hadorr ly ever been merrt iorred with rhe . \ l 'kear l ier in the rext . His reasoning \^as thulany occurrences of these phrases clrr r i r rgthe three centuries that the relic rvas notmenl ionecl would const i tute porrerf t r l .

indirect evidence lor i ts whereaborLr.s.By using this technique, Hancock rvas

<"

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J

lpt ' : ,i r i : : - ." ,

A The Dome of the

Rock, in Jerusolem,

stonds on the site

where Solomon built

the First Jewish

Temple fo house fhe

Ark. The mosque is o

socred site of lslom,

so orcheologistsihove

been unoble to study

the ruins of the

Jewish Temple.

able to establ ish that the Ark had pr.rbablrremained in the First Temple unti l at least70 lBC. Ih is meant that i t could onl l have

gone missing in the relal ively br ief 80-year

period between 701 qld 620Bc.

ARK TAKES FTIGHT

rrA4ry shorr ld i t have gone missing therr?Further research suggested that the Ark

cor-ild have been taken during the reign ofKing Manasseh (687-6428C). He was anotorious sinner who had turned his back

on Judaisfn.In 1990, Dr Menahem

Haran, of Jerusalem'sHebrew Universi ty. to ldHarrcock l hal pr iestsloyal to the Judaic faith

could have taken the Ark'from

Jerusalem around650BC. This was whenManasseh installed apagan idol in the

Tempfe. Horrif ied at the

prospect of the Ark

being polluted by thepresence of this idol, the

pr iests may have taken i t

i to some other place,t away from the idol, for

'r,;i

srr lekeepirrg. \ \here th is other placc mightbe, Dr H3ran refused to speculate. Br.rt afel ' n-eeks after i l l terviehrins Haran,

Hancock for-urd a possible ansrver fromGerman archeologists err a ia{ i r rg a s i le on

Elephantine, an island irr the Nile. Theytold Hancock lhat rct ord. had been [ourrd

during the excavatior-r indicirtins that a

Jewish temple had been built around6508C by priests fleeing from Manasseh.

At that t ime, th is was lhe only JewishTemple in the world outsideJerusalem. TheBible states that the Temple inJerusalem wasbuilt to serve exclusively as 'an house of restfor the Ark of the Covenant'. Was it notpossible that the temple oir Elephantine hadalso been designed for that same purpose?

The next clue was also provided by rhe

German archeologists. They said that afterstanding for approximately 200 years. rheTemple had been destroyed in the 5thcentury BC, as a result of a conflict with thelocal Egrprian cornmuniry. At the same time,the Jews living on Elephantifrdj..-haddisappearecl. There \ras no evidence thiithey had been mas.acrecl . They seemedsimply to hare picked rrp rheir belongingsand left. The archeologists had no idea asto where they might hale gone. bnt Hancockhad his own theories

ISTAND HIDEAWAY;,W=:::=:::

In November 1989, Hancock had carriedout a.thorough reconnarssat.rce of LakeTana in Ethiopia, the source of the BlueNile. This"gigantic stretch of r.ater. 1.830metres above sea-level, is dotted .,iith hun-dreds of hard-to-reach islar-rcls - the idealhiding places, perhaps, for the fleein,qJerrsof Elephantine? :'

On the is lands, Hancock erplor edmonasteries that have tieen there since the

ff5

A Priests on the

islond of Tono

Kirkos soy their

church is builr on rhe

spof where the Ark

wos once kepf.

They believe their

predecessors

socrificed onimols in

front of $e Ark.

## rs ;: .,----' After he tokes ip his post,theqchosen monk hos no l ifeoutside fhe Ark. He exists to

serve if... fo be.before itconsfontly

Friest ot Church of Soint Mory 6f 113' ! .y.-r .

t ime ctf Ethiopia's conr ersi,-rn toChristianity in engOO. On c,ne of thereniotest of these islands. Tana Kirkos. hewas told an unusual varianr of rire familiarlegend of how the Ark carre ro Elhiopia.

The monks at Tana Kirkos r: ' isisred thatwhen the sacred relic hacl arrived inEthiopia, it had not been taken srraight toAxum, as most of the Ethiopian ciergl,said,but had been bror-rght first to their islbnd.

Could i t be possible ih.rr . to) lor t ing thedeslruct ion oI rhe renrple orr Elephanr inb,the Jewish migrants fled south. carryingthe precious relic rlith tlremj If they fol-lowed the Nile river svsrem through thedeserts.of the Sr-rdar-r ancl then into thehighlands of Ethiopia. thev rvould haveended up ar Lake Tana.

'The Hoh .Vk srared here on TanaKirkos for 800 r'ears,' one monk toldHancock. Later, King Ezana, who helped

,=:::-:.'r'r..='.

q

E

F

;o

convert Ethiopia to Christianity in the 4th

cehtur\, AD, took the Ark to Axum an{

placed it in the church in that city.

The f inal p iece of the j igsaw puzzle s lot-

ted into place. I l 'King Ezana had brought

the Ark from Tana Kirkos to Axum in

around AD 300, and. if the Ark had rested at

Tana Kirkos for 800 years pr ior . to that

date, then it must have arrived. on the

is lancl in Lake Tarra c l r r r ing the 5th century

BC. This was the sanle t ime the Temple on

Elephant ine had beerr destroyed.

RETURN TO AXUM| r@.. . : : - l

The Cr,rardian's lastn-ords to him rvere:'It perfonns miracles

ancl i t is in i tsel f . . . amiracle. It is a mira-

cle macle real. .\rd

thar is a1l I u'ill sar'.'

* . The rrert everr i r rg.1i!

Hancock u,itnesiedthe Timkat ceremonv. The priests carried abulky rectangular chest, draped in thickblue cloth, ernbroidered r'r,'ith the emblemof a dove. Bur the chest \\,as not covBred in

,gold and there were no cherubim on top.l t d id not look l ike the . \ k as descr ibed intheBible.

Throughout the procession, Hancocklooked out for Gebra Mikail, the Guardianof the Ark. Not for a single moment duringthe rwo-dav ceremon\ did rhe Guardianleave the chapel. \4-hat rvent on outside wasof no interest to him. He remained by theHoly of Holies inside the chapel, fulfillingthe sacred trust bes(owed on him.

THE GTUEST ENDS

Hancock's quest had taken eight years and

had come full circle, starting and finishingin the ancient city of Axum. Was this tliereal Ark of the Covenant under the watch-ful gaze of the Guardian in the Holy ofHolies? Or, does it still lie hidden,waiting to be discovered elsewhere?

E

ooo

o

InJanuary 1991, armed rvith his new-found

facts. Hancock returned to . \xrrm. At th is

t ime of year. the Ark is srrpposedlyremoved from the Holy of Holies, to becarried in a religious procesS-ion during

the annual ceremony of Timkat.' Ihe Guardran Hancock had met on his

first visit had long since clied. The currentincumbent was called Gebrafuikail - a tall.

grey-haired. heavily-built man, perhaps 60

years old. with deep-sel eyes clouded by

cararacts. Hancock told Cebra'Mikail thathe had come a long way in the hope of see-

ine the Ark for h imsel f .'Then I regret that you have wasted y,our

journey. ' the Guardian told Hancock.'because you wi l l noI see i t . '

Despite Hancock's fr-mther persistence,

he was unable to get m6re informafion.

A The Ti{nkot

ceremony in Aium is

s/mbolic of the Ark's

originol procession

into Erhiopio, os

depicred in mony

pcintings (inset).

Locols ore fiercely

proud of their Ark

trodition. In 1988, the

Ethiopian government

oftempted lo remove

the Ark from Axuni,

but the lown rose up

ogoinsr the ormy ond'\'',.:

siopped them.

j

. i

Caru A BoDYINTO FI.AMES

BURN TO ASH

lrrlTHlN rwruurrs?AN EX.POTICEMAN

WITH FORENSICS

TRAINING PROVIDES

fs

n n a fieezing day, earlv in

I I Januarv 1980,John Herlrer.

V o scenes-of-crime officer'r fiom the Crin.rinallnvestisation Department (CID) .was called to investigate a 'death

by burnine' at Ebbw Vale inGwent, Wales. On entering theIounge of the house, he u'asamazed to find that the room wasradiating considerable heat andthe atmosphere was very humid.There was a strange unearthlyquality to the light, which wasreddish-orange in colour.

On the carpet was a mass ofbrilliant white ashes, at one endof which lay a pair of human male

! -'1

't^r

' . . - :- : ' . -t : .

feet clot l ' red in socks. At the other

end lal a blackened skul l . Such

\rere the remains of 73-year-old

Henrl 'Thomas.

FIERY ENIGMA

Apart from two-thirds of thewooden-framed armchair in l.hichThomas had been sitt ing, norhingelse in the room had burned. Theorange glow was a result of lightfrom the naked electric bulb ar-rdthe daylight, both being fi l teredthrough a sticky deposit ofcondensed, vaporized flesh rvhichclung to everything in the room.

Despite being saturated l'ithmelted fat, the mat and underlying

. l1"o

1li.,t

F

b

!9

BURST

AND

tl.PROOF THAT IT CAN

=a

( This scches-of-crime

by CID officer John Heymer,

shows lhe extent of Henry\ ; " 'e*r"- ' * ' !

Thomos' burning. Evidenib',*"'''

of sponloneous humon

combustion (SH€) rwos rrirhheld

ot the inquest, snd it look six

yeors for the story to moke

the locol newspdpet the

South Wales Argus (inset).

carpet beneath the body n''ere

charred onlr to a ferv cerr l imel les

beyond the ashes. How could

a body, which contains around

45 litres of wateq be reduced t<-r

ashes when highly flammable

material such as the carpet and

couch were relatively untouched?

A forensic scientist at the scene

confirmed that the armchair had

burned only while in contact with

the body. \{rhen the chair collapsecl- depositing the flaming bocly on

the floor - it stopped burninp;. The

surroundins furnishings failed to

burn because the oxy5;en in the

room was quickly exhausted in the

initial {lare-up. Also, the door to

the room was sealecl by a draueht

exch.rder, ancl there \{as not

enotrgh ox\ '{re rr to support furthe r

crornbustion. So u'hv cl id the bodv

c.rnt i [ue bLrrning to zr rr-hite

porrclerr' :rsl-r?

The forensic scientist thcorized

that Thornas, a non-smoker', hacl

fal len head { irst into the open coal

f i re. set t i r rg his hcad al isht . Hc

then supposedly lifted himself

from the fire without disturbing

the burning coals, the I ire irons or

the pi lc of chopped st icks in the

hearth. He sat back in the

armchair, strctched out his less in

front of the television set and then

burned to cleath.

THE OFFICIAT VERDICT

The coroner, Cokrncl I icnneth

Treasure, acceptecl this tl-reorv and

gave the cause of cleath irs brrrning.

Heymer was shockccl at the vcrdict.

With his backgrouncl in folensics.

he coulcl see no basis for truth i lr

the pathologist's repolt. ,\{tcr.

rveighing r.rp the evidencc. Hernrcr'

was convinced he lvas vierl ing the

aftermath of Spontaneotrs Hrrnuur

Combustion (SHC). \{ 'hen he

informed his superiors, thel

dismissed his suggestion, claimine

the death was straightforwar-d.But if Thomas fell into the

fireplace , why dicl he then sit :

dor,r,n in his armchair instead:o.f 't ry ing to douse the f lames in the

nearbr k i tchen? I l he did not fa l l

i r r to thc f i re, where did the f i resrarr i And whl was nothing else in

The totol number ofcoses of SHC in rhe UK

might be in the region of2OO people per yeorJohn Heymer, former CID of f icer

Thomas was reduced to ashes?

SHC can provide answers to al l

these qr.restions, but is there uoy,,, 'hard evidence for this flaming ,rr:,phenomenon? "..:.:a..,:,:a

One of the strongest argumeRts 'for the existence of SHC is the fact

lhal nol even cremalor ia can

reduce corpses completely to

ashes. The burncd bones resulr ing

fi'om cremation must be ground

up in a machine known as a

cremulator. This produc"r ,h. .. ,.,,:_,,.,.

' r rshes' . rvhich are grey in colour,nr ) t \vhi le. The ashes of Henry

Thomas were pule whi te.

i r rd i t at i rg a heat far hotter than

r l re 900'C of a cremator ium.I

The remains of Thomas are

o

_.qo;o

s

Ed-

I

o

. ' : l i r rr l ' . : , . r : r i l :.i,I it - ; lci

3

FF3

lhe room burned when Henry

33 'LG

is a good source of oxr-gen.

then the vict im does not elen

have to be obese.

UP IN SMOKE

A u'ell-documented case of thewick effect was investigated byProfessor Gee in 1965, at LeedsUniversity Hospital. It concernedan 85-year-old woman whosustained a stroke or heart attackand fell into a roaring coal fire.She was not discovered for somehours. But, while she had burnedaccording to the wick effect, hercharred remains showed differentsigns to those of alleged SHC.

'Sceptics make the mistake ofinsisting all instances of SHC arecases of the wick effect,' states

John Heymer. 'I have found thatthere are major differences. Inmost wick-effect cases, the victimsare dead before coming intocontact with an obvious source ofignition. Clothes are flammable intheir own right and burn to asheven on portions of the body thathave not burned. Also. the

-9o=d1o

E

s

-o

UJ

66

o

-.9p

;.u

o

-o

;i

{ Published for ihe first

fime in 1995, in Lorry

Arnofd's book Abloze,

rhis photogroph shows

fhe remoins of Helen

Conwoy, o 5l-yeor-old

grondmother from

Pennsytvonio. Uke mosf

ofher coses of SHC, fhe

fire wos confined fo her

body ond did not offect

the extremities - in this

cose, the legs. When o

body burns in normql

circumstonces (inset),

lhe extremities ore

usuolly lhe first fo burn

to dork osh.

5&year-old healthy man - who.ironically, was a rerired fireman -

burning process requires 24 to 48hours to effect results similar tothe Henry Thomas case.'

Heymer is one of the world'sleading SHC researchers. Anotherimportant figure is Larrv Arnold,head of ParaScience Interuational.

affected - even a box of matchesclose to the body had nor ignited.

d, to death in his New Yorkall,that remained of him

bones and 2 kg ofash.:itany of these cases,

g else in the house had been

To reduce a body to ash so

q:ilverage house fire, which canol a whole building, reaches

y about 200"C.

HE WICK EFFECT

e scient i f ic communir l th inks i rp-lain SHC with the 'wick

,theory. This states that if ady is suitably obese and clorhed

ient layers of flammableing. then the burning clorhes

iact as an external wick and the

will b.,r., like a candle. lt the

i!.in continuing contact with

i!!ent$ hot flame, and rhere

l,,completely, a fire would need a

;,-fe:l4pecture of around 2,500'C.

a paranormal research group in

the US. Both men have

independently amassed aninvaluable body of evidence that

points firmly away from the rvickeffect as an explanation for SHC.This evidence proves that, incer la in cases, the f i re or ig inatesinside the body, and thetemperatures are high enough toreduce bone to ashes - fivo factorsnot explainecl by the wick effect.

EXPTOSIVE THEORY

Har,ing searched for a caltse ihrt i

f i ts rvi th al l the knoi ln eridence.

Hevmer is nor'v convinced t l-rat

SHC results from the lelci ir- ,n of

hydrosen and orr-gen i ' i r l ' r in the

bodv at a cel l r . r lar lerc1. Trc porr 'er

of the r is l r t 111611, ret l - , , \ \<( t l-^ "" " : " " - :mixture can be :ce r-: r1-. t lc Space

Shutt le rockets. r ih:. :r ' -rrc lhe tr lo

elements : rs a t le l i . , r ' l : i : rching.

So, there is t to c i , , i t i r : : l : . . . : ihe

hydrogen-oslgen l-era -- i , i l ci i l r

produce heat strf f iclcr i t , ' r-echlce

human bones to \ ' l r : 'c . , . : ' .

According to - \ , t . \ . ' , ;

magazine of 4 \ Iav l !r ! , ,1. Helr lrer

'bui lds the best possiblc ce.e t irr

the phenomenon . \ 'er :he rc .rr-e

many other theor-ies f c,r- SHC -

most of which Hevner his i(r .rncl

no evidence for - incltrci lnl bal l

l ightning, magnetic force.. ancl

even 'phosphinic farts' caused byignited gut methane. An argumentby the cynics, however, is that nomatter what the cause, no-one haswitnessed SHC from start to finish- and speal ins to v ict ims isdifficult for obvious reasons.

There are, howeveq manypeople who have witnessed firesthat defy explanation. One suchwitness is firemanJack Stacey, whowas called to a fire in a derelicthouse in London. There was noevidence of fire damase to the

he came across the burning body, .1of a tramp, known locally as Bailey,'

house but, as Stacey looked inside;

THE FIRE WITHIN

'There was a s l i t about four incheslong in the abdomen,' Stacey '. "'remembers. 'The f lame was

coming through there at force;..:.:,,;:1:like a blow lamp.' To douse th,fierce flame, Stacey resorted:.li

feeding the firehose into the:;r,;r

tramp's body, extinguishin$ tf i re. he c la imed. at i ts source.

,;:,a.a:l:

!ri.f

l f ,,tI

'There is no doubt whatsoever thatthe f i re began inside that body, '

In 1982, in Edmonton. London.

Jeannie Saffin. a 62-year-old

tial cause of the fire was

ry..unu" There was no gas oreiiq in the building, and no

were found. Even if thcad dropped a lit cigarette

imsel f , exper iments havethis would be insuff ic ient to

such a destructive flanre.

rental ly disabled woman. bursr

flames while sitting on a

,:::

wooden chair in the kitchen of herhome. Her father, who was seatedat a nearby table, became aware ofa f lash of l ight . On turning ro

Jeannie, he saw that she wasenveloped in flames, mairrlyaround her face and hands.

Jeannie did not cry out or move.Her father pulled her over to thesink and called to his son-in-law,who ran into the kitchen to see

A The tromp, Boiley, hod sunk his

teeth inlo the mohogony stoircose,

suggesting he wos olive ot the

stqrl of SHC. Firemen needed o

crowbqr to prise oport his iows.

misadventure or open lerdict. '

\Arhen he was later a-sked about this,

Burton said that 'misadrentur-e \\ 'as

the same as'accidental ciearl ' r ' and

that he had no intentiorr ,r f

discussing it further. But hor' can a

death bejudged accidental r ihen

the cause is not krroir n?

Did the authorities suspecr the

cause of death to be SHC.- Thir

could explain why r-ro exhatrstir.e

enquiries were made. \\hen

commenting on the lack oi forensic

enquiries, Jeannie's sister. F athleer-r

Carroll, said, 'For all ther klorr. rve

could have done her in oursehes. '

THE SHC COVER-UP

It is strange that the auth, rr i t ies

should accept the storie: of nr 'o

men who say that a ment:r l l r '

disabled woman burst into f lames

and died from her btrnrs.

' I f SHC does not c-rccur. and no

source of ignit ior.r can be found,'

Heymer explainr. ' then I, as an

ex-police officer. find it very odd

that the lr len \\ere1r t questioned at

great lencth to ensl lre that they

hadrr ' t .ct I rer a l ight . I t seems to

be a le rr eas\'\rav in which to

commit murcler - burn a person to

death then srlear they combusted

spontaneollslr, and the authorities

rr i l l insist, n-i thout any evidence,

that the burning was accidental. '

Despite this, the case ofJeannie

Saff in, t ike al l others of

reported SHC, remainr.tor.a. ffi

33-The flomes were coming

from her moufh like odrogon ond rhey weremoking q rooring noise

Donold Corrol l , SHC witness

j=E

I:

u\ , ,

Jeannie standing with flamesroaring from her face andabdomen. They dowsed the flames,butJeannie died later in hospital.

The inquest intoJeannie's deathwas adjourned so that the policecould ascertain how she caughtfire. The constable detailed tomake the enquiries found no causeand reported to that effect. He told

Jeannie's relatives that he believedher to be a victim of SHC. Jeannie'sbrother-in-law, Donald Carroll, gaveevidence at the inquest, stating thatshe had died as a result of SHC.

DENYING THE FACTS

The verdict ofJeannie's inquestwas misadventure. To the family,the coroneq DrJ. Burton, said,'I sympathize with you but I cannotput down SHC because there is nosuch thing. I will have to put down