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UFO conspiracy theories

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UFO conspiracy theories argue that various governments, and politicians globally, most notably the officials of Washington, D.C., are suppressing evidence of extraterrestrial unidentified flying objects and alien visitors. Such conspiracy theories commonly argue that Earth governments, especially the Government of the United States, are in communication and/or cooperation with extraterrestrials despite public claims to the contrary, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.[1]

Various UFO conspiracy ideas have flourished on the internet and were frequently featured on Art Bell's program, Coast to Coast AM.[2] According to MUFON, the National Enquirer reported that a survey found 76% of participants felt the government was not revealing all it knew about UFOs, 54% thought UFOs definitely or probably existed, and 32% thought UFOs came from outer space.[3]

Notable persons to have publicly stated that UFO evidence is being suppressed include Senator Barry Goldwater, British Admiral Lord Hill-Norton (former NATO head and chief of the British Defence Staff), Brigadier General Arthur Exon (former commanding officer of Wright-Patterson AFB), Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (first CIA director), astronauts Gordon Cooper[4][5] and Edgar Mitchell,[6] and former Canadian Defence Minister Paul Hellyer. Beyond their testimonies and reports they have presented no evidence to substantiate their statements and claims. According to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry little or no evidence exists to support them despite significant research on the subject by non-governmental scientific agencies.[7][8][9][10]

Chronology

1930s

On the night before Halloween in 1938, Orson Welles directed The Mercury Theatre on the Air live radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's classic novel, The War of the Worlds. By mimicking a news broadcast, the show was quite realistic sounding for its time, and some listeners were fooled into thinking that a Martian invasion was underway in the United States. Widespread confusion was followed by outrage and controversy. Some later studies[citation needed] have argued that the contemporary press exaggerated the extent of the panic, but it remains clear that many people were caught up, to some degree, in the confusion.

In other countries, reactions were similar. In 1949, part of the script for The War of the Worlds was read out over the radio in Quito, Ecuador without announcement, as if it were a major piece of breaking news. Huge crowds of people emerged onto the streets and sought refuge inside churches with their families. When the radio station was informed of this, its announcers broadcast the fact that no invasion was happening. An angry mob formed and burned the station to the ground, causing between six and twenty deaths. Many other countries also experienced problems when broadcasting The War of the Worlds.

According to U.S. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt,[11] the Air Force's files often mentioned the panicked aftermath of the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast as a possible reaction of the public to confirmed evidence of UFOs; however, the files have not been made available to corroborate his assertions.

1940s

Donald Keyhoe later began investigating flying saucers for True Magazine. Keyhoe was one of the first significant conspiracy theorists, asserting eventually that the saucers were from outer space and were on some sort of scouting mission. Keyhoe claimed to derive his theory from his contacts in Air Force and Navy intelligence. Project Sign, based at Air Technical Intelligence Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and its successors Project Grudge and Project Blue Book were officially assigned to investigate the flying saucers. Edward Ruppelt's book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects,[12] reports that many people within these research groups did in fact support the hypothesis that the flying saucers were from outer space.

Keyhoe later founded NICAP, a civilian investigation group that asserted the US government was lying about UFOs and covering up information that should be shared with the public. NICAP had many influential board members, including Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, the first director of the CIA. To date no substantiating evidence for NICAP's assertions has been presented beyond accounts that are anecdotal and documented hear-say or rumor. [7]

The Great Los Angeles Air Raid

Main article: Battle of Los Angeles

"The Great Los Angeles Air Raid" also known as "The Battle of Los Angeles" is the name given by contemporary sources to the imaginary enemy attack and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late 24 February to early 25 February 1942 over Los Angeles, California.[13][14]

Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox speaking at a press conference shortly afterward called the incident a "false alarm." A small number of modern-day UFOlogists have suggested the reported targets were extraterrestrial spacecraft.[15]

When documenting the incident in 1983, the U.S. Office of Air Force History attributed the event to a case of "war nerves" likely triggered by a lost weather balloon and exacerbated by stray flares and shell bursts from adjoining batteries.[16]

Ghost rockets

Main article: Ghost rockets

In 1946 and 1947, numerous reports occurred of so-called ghost rockets appearing over Scandinavian countries, primarily Sweden, which then spread into other European countries.[17] One USAF top secret document from 1948 stated that Swedish Air Force Intelligence informed them that some of their investigators felt that the reported objects were not only real but could not be explained as having earthly origins. Similarly, 20 years later, Greek physicist Dr. Paul Santorini publicly stated that in 1947 he was put in charge of a Greek military investigation into reports of ghost rockets sighted over Greece [Timothy Good 1988, p 23; Donald Keyhoe, p 142].[17] Again, they quickly concluded the objects were real and not of conventional origin. Santorini claimed their investigation was killed by U.S. scientists and high military officials who had already concluded the objects were extraterrestrial in origin and feared public panic because no defense existed.[18]

Roswell Incident

Main article: Roswell UFO Incident

In 1947, the United States Air Force issued a press release stating that a "flying disk" had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico. This press release was quickly withdrawn, and officials stated that a weather balloon had been misidentified. The Roswell case quickly faded even from the attention of most UFOlogists until the 1970s. Speculation persisted despite the official denial that an alien spacecraft crashed near Roswell. For example, retired Brigadier General Arthur E. Exon, former commanding officer of Wright-Patterson AFB, told researchers Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt[19] that a spacecraft had crashed, alien bodies were recovered, and the event was covered up by the U.S. government. Exon further claimed he was aware of a very secretive UFO controlling committee made up primarily of very high-ranking military officers and intelligence people. His nickname for this group was "The Unholy Thirteen" (see also Majestic 12)[20]

In the 1990s, the US military published two reports disclosing the true nature of the crashed aircraft: a surveillance balloon from Project Mogul. Nevertheless, the Roswell incident continues to be of interest in popular media, and conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist. Roswell has been described as "the world's most famous, most exhaustively investigated, and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim."[21]

Mantell Incident

Main article: Mantell UFO incident

The 1948 death of Air Force pilot Thomas Mantell (the so-called Mantell Incident) may have contributed to a distrust of governmental UFO studies. Mantell died when his airplane crashed following the pursuit of an aerial artefact he described as "a metallic object...of tremendous size" (Clark, 352).[22] Project Sign personnel investigated the case and determined that Mantell had been chasing the planet Venus, a conclusion which met with incredulity (Keyhoe, 47).[23] Later this theory was changed to include a Skyhook balloon instead of Venus, an explanation which continues to be debated to this day.[citation needed]

Project Sign

Main article: Project Sign

The U.S. Air Force may have planted the seeds of UFO conspiracy theories with Project Sign (established 1947) (which became Project Grudge and Project Blue Book). Edward J. Ruppelt, the first director of Blue Book, characterized the Air Force's public behavior regarding UFOs as "schizophrenic": alternately open and transparent, then secretive and dismissive. Ruppelt also revealed that in mid-1948, Project Sign issued a top secret Estimate of the Situation concluding that the flying saucers were not only real but probably extraterrestrial in origin. According to Ruppelt, the Estimate was ordered destroyed by Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg.[11]

Project Sign's final report, published in early 1949, stated that while some UFOs appeared to represent actual aircraft data were insufficient to determine their origin.[24]

Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit

Some UFOlogists have claimed the existence of a U.S. government group called the "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" allegedly established by General Douglas MacArthur that was "supposedly formed to investigate crashed and retrieved flying saucers".[25]

1950s

The 1950s saw an increase in both governmental and civilian investigative efforts and reports of public disinformation and suppression of evidence.

The UK Ministry of Defence’s UFO Project has its roots in a study commissioned in 1950 by the MOD’s then Chief Scientific Adviser, the great radar scientist Sir Henry Tizard. As a result of his insistence that UFO sightings should not be dismissed without some form of proper scientific study, the Department set up the Flying Saucer Working Party (or FSWP).[26]

In August 1950, Montanan baseball manager Nicholas Mariana filmed several UFOs with his color 16mm camera. Project Blue Book was called in and, after inspecting the film, Mariana claimed it was returned to him with critical footage removed, clearly showing the objects as disc-shaped. The incident sparked nation-wide media attention.

Frank Scully's 1950 Behind the Flying Saucers suggested that the U.S. government had recovered a crashed flying saucer and its dead occupants near Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948. It was later revealed that Scully had been the victim of a prank by "two veteran confidence artists".[27]

Donald Keyhoe was a retired U.S. Marine who wrote a series of popular books and magazine articles that were very influential in shaping public opinion, arguing that UFOs were indeed real and that the U.S. government was suppressing UFO evidence. Keyhoe's first article on the subject came out in True Magazine, January 1950, and was a national sensation. His first book, Flying Saucers Are Real also came out in 1950, about the same time as Frank Scully's book, and was a bestseller. In 1956, Keyhoe helped establish NICAP, a powerful civilian UFO investigating group with many inside sources. Keyhoe became its director and continued his attacks on the Air Force. Other contemporary critics also charged that the United States Air Force was perpetrating a cover-up with its Project Blue Book.

Canadian radio engineer Wilbert B. Smith, who worked for the Canadian Department of Transport, was interested in flying saucer propulsion technology and wondered if the assertions in the just-published Scully and Keyhoe books were factual. In September 1950, he had the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. arrange contact with U.S. officials to try to discover the truth of the matter. Smith was briefed by Dr. Robert Sarbacher, a physicist and consultant to the Defense Department's Research and Development Board. Other correspondence, having to do with Keyhoe needing to get clearance to publish another article on Smith's theories of UFO propulsion, indicated that Bush and his group were operating out of the Research and Development Board.[28] Smith then briefed superiors in the Canadian government, leading to the establishment of Project Magnet, a small Canadian government UFO research effort. Canadian documents and Smith's private papers were uncovered in the late 1970s, and by 1984, other alleged documents emerged claiming the existence of a highly secret UFO oversight committee of scientists and military people called Majestic 12, again naming Vannevar Bush. Sarbacher was also interviewed in the 1980s and corroborated the information in Smith's memos and correspondence. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Smith granted public interviews, and among other things stated that he had been lent crashed UFO material for analysis by a highly secret U.S. government group which he wouldn't name.[29]

A few weeks after the Robertson Panel, the Air Force issued Regulation 200-2, ordering air base officers to publicly discuss UFO incidents only if they were judged to have been solved, and to classify all the unsolved cases to keep them out of the public eye. In addition, UFO investigative duties started to be taken on by the newly formed 4602nd Air Intelligence Squadron (AISS) of the Air Defense Command. The 4602nd AISS was tasked with investigating only the most important UFO cases having intelligence or national security implications. These were deliberately siphoned away from Blue Book, leaving Blue Book to deal with the more trivial reports. (Dolan, 210-211)[30]

In 1954 an automatic working station for UFO monitoring was installed at Shirley's Bay near Ottawa in Canada. After this station detected the first suspicious event, all data gained by this station was classified as secret, although the cameras of the monitoring station could not make any pictures because of fog.[31]

1956 saw the publication of Gray Barker's They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, the book which publicized the idea of sinister Men in Black who appear to UFO witnesses and warn them to keep quiet. There has been continued speculation that the men in black are government agents who harass and threaten UFO witnesses.

Also in 1956, the group Foundation for Earth-Space Relations, led by film producer Tzadi Sophit, tested their own flying saucer outside the Long Island town of Ridge Landing. It is speculated in Robertson's "The Long Island Saucer" that an FBI cover-up silenced witnesses. [32]

On January 22, 1958, when Donald Keyhoe appeared on CBS television, his statements on UFOs were precensored by the Air Force. During the show when Keyhoe tried to depart from the censored script to "reveal something that has never been disclosed before", CBS cut the sound, later stating Keyhoe was about to violate "predetermined security standards" and about to say something he wasn't "authorized to release". What Keyhoe was about to reveal were four publicly unknown military studies concluding UFOs were interplanetary including the 1948 Project Sign Estimate of the Situation and a 1952 Project Blue Book engineering analysis of UFO motion presented at the Robertson Panel. [Timothy Good, 286-287; Richard Dolan 293-295][17][30]

Astronaut Gordon Cooper reported suppression of a flying saucer movie filmed in high clarity by two Edwards AFB range photographers on May 3, 1957. Cooper said he viewed developed negatives of the object, clearly showing a dish-like object with a dome on top and something like holes or ports in the dome. When later interviewed by James McDonald, the photographers and another witness confirmed the story. Cooper said military authorities then picked up the film and neither he nor the photographers ever heard what happened to it. The incident was also reported in a few newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times. The official explanation was that the photographers had filmed a weather balloon distorted by hot desert air.[33]

1960s

Throughout much of the 1960s, atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald suggested—via lectures, articles and letters—that the U.S. Government was mishandling evidence which would support the extraterrestrial hypothesis.[34]

1970s

Clark notes that many UFO conspiracy theory tales "can be traced to a mock documentary, Alternative 3, broadcast on British television on June 20, 1977, and subsequently turned into a paperback book." (Clark, 213–4)[22]

Holloman Air Force Base

Clark cites a 1973 encounter as perhaps the earliest suggestion that the U.S. government was involved with ETs. That year, Robert Emenegger and Allan Sandler of Los Angeles, California were in contact with officials at Norton Air Force Base in order to make a documentary film. Emenegger and Sandler report that Air Force Officials (including Paul Shartle) suggested incorporating UFO information in the documentary, including as its centerpiece genuine footage of a 1971 UFO landing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Furthermore, says Emenegger, he was given a tour of Holloman AFB and was shown where officials conferred with Extraterrestrial Biological Entities (EBEs). This was supposedly not the first time the U.S. had met these aliens, as Emenegger reported that his U.S. military sources had "been monitoring signals from an alien group with which they were unfamiliar, and did their ET guests know anything about them? The ETs said no" (Clark 1998, 144).[22] The documentary was released in 1974 as UFO's: Past, Present and Future (narrated by Rod Serling) containing only a few seconds of the Holloman UFO footage, the remainder of the landing depicted with illustrations and re-enactments.

In 1988, Shartle said that the film in question was genuine, and that he had seen it several times.

In 1976 a televised documentary report UFOS: It Has Begun[35] written by Robert Emenegger was presented by Rod Serling, Burgess Meredith and José Ferrer. Some sequences were recreated based upon the statements of eyewitness observers, together with the findings and conclusions of governmental civil and military investigations. The documentary uses a hypothetical UFO landing at Holloman AFB as a backdrop.

Paul Bennewitz

The late 1970s also saw the beginning of controversy centered on Paul Bennewitz of Albuquerque, New Mexico.[36]

1980s

MJ-12

The so-called Majestic 12 documents surfaced in 1982, suggesting that there was secret, high-level U.S. government interest in UFOs dating to the 1940s.

Linda Moulton Howe

Linda Moulton Howe is an advocate of conspiracy theories that cattle mutilations are of extraterrestrial origin and speculations that the U.S. government is involved with aliens.[37][38][39][40]

Milton William Cooper

In the 1980s, Milton William Cooper achieved a degree of prominence due to his conspiratorial writings.[41]

Bob Lazar

In November 1989, Bob Lazar appeared in a special interview with investigative reporter George Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS to discuss his alleged employment at S-4.[42] In his interview with Knapp, Lazar said he first thought the saucers were secret, terrestrial aircraft, whose test flights must have been responsible for many UFO reports. Gradually, on closer examination and from having been shown multiple briefing documents, Lazar came to the conclusion that the discs must have been of extraterrestrial origin. He claims that they use moscovium, an element that decays in a fraction of a second, to warp space, and that he has since met Grey aliens from the "Zeta Reticuli" star system. According to the Los Angeles Times, he never obtained the degrees he claims to hold from MIT and Caltech.[43][44]

UFO Cover-Up?: Live!

On October 14, 1988, actor Mike Farrell hosted U.S. UFO Cover-Up: Live!, a two-hour television special "focusing on the government's handling of information regarding UFOs" and "whether there has been any suppression of evidence supporting the existence of UFOs".[45]

July 1989 MUFON Convention

The Mutual UFO Network held their 1989 annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 1, 1989.

Bill Moore (ufologist) was scheduled as the main speaker, and he refused to submit his paper for review prior to the convention, and also announced that he would not answer any follow-up questions as was common practice. Unlike most of the convention's attendees, Moore did not stay at the same hotel that was hosting the convention.

When he spoke, Moore said that he and others had been part of an elaborate, long-term disinformation campaign begun primarily to discredit Paul Bennewitz: "My role in the affair ... was primarily that of a freelancer providing information on Paul's (Bennewitz) current thinking and activities" (Clark, 1998, 163).[22] Air Force Sergeant Richard C. Doty was also involved, said Moore, though Moore thought Doty was "simply a pawn in a much larger game, as was I." (ibid.)[22] One of their goals, Moore said, was to disseminate information and watch as it was passed from person to person in order to study information channels.

Moore said that he "was in a rather unique position" in the disinformation campaign: "judging by the positions of the people I knew to be directly involved in it, [the disinformation] definitely had something to do with national security. There was no way I was going to allow the opportunity to pass me by ... I would play the disinformation game, get my hands dirty just often enough to lead those directing the process into believing I was doing what they wanted me to do, and all the while continuing to burrow my way into the matrix so as to learn as much as possible about who was directing it and why."(ibid., 164)[22]

Once he finished the speech, Moore immediately left the hotel. He left Las Vegas that same night.

Moore's claims sent shock waves through the small, tight-knit UFO community, which remains divided as to the reliability of his assertions.

1990s

On November 24, 1992, a UFO reportedly crashed in Southaven Park, Shirley, New York.[46] John Ford, a Long Island MUFON researcher, investigated the crash. Four years later, on June 12, 1996, Ford was arrested and charged with plotting to poison several local politicians by sneaking radium in their toothpaste. On advice of counsel Ford pleaded insanity and was committed to the Mid Hudson Psychiatric Center. Critics say the charges are a frame-up.

The Branton Files have circulated on the internet at least since the mid-1990s. They essentially recirculate the information presented above, with many asides from "Branton", the document's editor.

Philip Schneider of the patriot movement, an engineer and geologist formerly working for the U.S. government, made a few appearances at UFO conventions in the 1990s, espousing essentially a new version of the theories mentioned above. He claimed to have played a role in the construction of Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs) across the United States, and as a result he said that he had been exposed to classified information of various sorts as well as having personal experiences with EBEs. He claimed to have survived the Dulce Base catastrophe and decided to tell his tale.[47] He died by suicide on January 17, 1996, after a series of lectures given in late 1995 on topics including the Black Budget and underground alien bases. Others believe that Schneider did not take his own life and that he was actually murdered by the government. [48]

In 1999 a group in France published a study, "UFOs and Defense: What Must We Be Prepared For?" Among other topics, the study concluded that the United States government has withheld valuable evidence.[49]

2000s

2003 saw the publication of Alien Encounters (ISBN 1-57821-205-7), by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman, which primarily re-stated the notions presented above (especially Cooper's) and presents them as fact.

MoD secret files

Eight files from 1978 to 1987 on UFO sightings were first released on May 14, 2008, to the National Archives' website by the British Ministry of Defence. 200 files were set to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent to government officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The information can be downloaded.[50] Copies of Lt. Col. Halt's letter regarding the sighting at RAF Woodbridge (see above[where?]) to the U.K. Ministry of Defense were routinely released (without addition comment) by the USA's base public affairs staff throughout the 1980s until the base closed. The MoD released the files due to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.[51] The files included, among other things, alien craft flying over Liverpool and Waterloo Bridge in London.[52]

Disclosure

In the early 2000s, the concept of "disclosure" became increasingly popular in the UFO conspiracy community: that the government had suppressed information on alien contact and full disclosure was needed, and was pursued by activist lobbying groups.

In 1993, Steven M. Greer founded the Disclosure Project to promote the concept. In May 2001, Greer held a press conference at the National Press Club in D.C that demanded Congress hold hearings on "secret U.S. involvement with UFOs and extraterrestrials".[53][54][55] It was described by an attending BBC reporter as "the strangest ever news conference hosted by Washington's August National Press Club."[56] The Disclosure Project's claims were met with by derision by skeptics and spokespeople for the U. S. Air Force.[57][58]

In 2013, the production company CHD2, LLC[59] held a "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure" at the National Press Club in D.C from 29 April to 3 May 2013. The group paid former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel and former Representatives Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Roscoe Bartlett, Merrill Cook, Darlene Hooley, and Lynn Woolsey $20,000 each to participate, and to preside over panels of academics and former government and military officials discussing UFOs and extraterrestrials.[60]

Other such groups include Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, founded in 1977.

Allegations of evidence suppression

Allegations of suppression of UFO related evidence have persisted for many decades. Some conspiracy theories also claim that some governments might have removed and/or destroyed/suppressed physical evidence; some examples follow.

On July 7, 1947, William Rhodes photographed an unusual object over Phoenix, Arizona.[61] The photos appeared in a Phoenix newspaper and a few other papers. An Army Air Force intelligence officer and an FBI agent interviewed Rhodes on August 29 and convinced him to surrender the negatives, which he did the next day. He was informed he wouldn't be getting them back, but later he tried, unsuccessfully, to retrieve them.[62][63] The photos were analyzed and subsequently appeared in some classified Air Force UFO intelligence reports. (Randle, 34–45, full account)[19]

A June 27, 1950, movie of a "flying disk" over Louisville, Kentucky, taken by a Louisville Courier-Journal photographer, had the USAF Directors of counterintelligence (AFOSI) and intelligence discussing in memos how to best obtain the movie and interview the photographer without revealing Air Force interest. One memo suggested the FBI be used, then precluded the FBI getting involved. Another memo said "it would be nice if OSI could arrange to secure a copy of the film in some covert manner," but if that wasn't feasible, one of the Air Force scientists might have to negotiate directly with the newspaper.[64][65] In a recent interview, the photographer confirmed meeting with military intelligence and still having the film in his possession until then, but refused to say what happened to the film after that.[66]

In another 1950 movie incident from Montana, Nicholas Mariana filmed some unusual aerial objects and eventually turned the film over to the U.S. Air Force, but insisted that the first part of the film, clearly showing the objects as spinning discs, had been removed when it was returned to him. (Clark, 398)[22]

According to some conspiracy theorists, during the military investigation of green fireballs in New Mexico, UFOs were photographed by a tracking camera over White Sands Proving Grounds on April 27, 1949. They claim that the final report in 1951 on the green fireball investigation claimed there was insufficient data to determine anything. Conspiracy theorists claim that documents later uncovered by Dr. Bruce Maccabee indicate that triangulation was accomplished. The conspiracy theorists also claim that the data reduction and photographs showed four objects about 30 feet in diameter flying in formation at high speed at an altitude of about 30 miles. According to conspiracy theorists, Maccabee says this result was apparently suppressed from the final report.[67]

On January 22, 1958, when NICAP director Donald Keyhoe appeared on CBS television, his statements on UFOs were pre-censored by the Air Force. During the show when Keyhoe tried to depart from the censored script to "reveal something that has never been disclosed before," CBS cut the sound, later stating Keyhoe was about to violate "predetermined security standards" and about to say something he wasn't "authorized to release." Conspiracy theorists claim that what Keyhoe was about to reveal were four publicly unknown military studies concluding UFOs were interplanetary (including the 1948 Project Sign Estimate of the Situation and Blue Book's 1952 engineering analysis of UFO motion). (Good, 286–287; Dolan 293–295)[17][30]

A March 1, 1967 memo directed to all USAF divisions, from USAF Lt. General Hewitt Wheless, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, stated that unverified information indicated that unknown individuals, impersonating USAF officers and other military personnel, had been harassing civilian UFO witnesses, warning them not to talk, and also confiscating film, referring specifically to the Heflin incident. AFOSI was to be notified if any personnel were to become aware of any other incidents. (Document in Fawcett & Greenwood, 236.)[68]

John Callahan, former Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA, Washington D.C., also a Disclosure Project witness, said that following the Japan Air Lines flight 1628 incident that involved a giant UFO over Alaska, recorded by air and ground radar, the FAA conducted an investigation. Callahan held a briefing a few days later for President Reagan's Scientific Study Group, the FBI, and CIA. After the briefing, one of the CIA agents told everybody they "were never there and this never happened," adding they were fearful of public panic.[69]

According to one theory related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the CIA killed Kennedy in order to prevent him from leaking information to the Soviet Union about a covert program to reverse-engineer alien technology (i.e., Majestic 12).[70]

Nick Cook, an aviation investigative journalist for Jane's Information Group and researcher of Billion Dollar Secret[71] and author of The Hunt for Zero Point[72] claims to have uncovered documentary evidence that top-secret US Defense Industry technology has been developed by government-backed Defense Industry programs, beginning in the 1940s using research conducted by Nazi scientists during WWII and recovered by Allied Military Intelligence, then taken to the U.S. and developed further with the collaboration of the same former German scientists at top-secret facilities established at White Sands, New Mexico, and later at Area 51, allegedly resulting in production of real-world prototype operational supersonic craft actually tested and used in clandestine military exercises, with other developments incorporated later into spy aircraft tasked with overflying hostile countries: the UFO story that evidence of alien technology is being suppressed and removed or destroyed was generated and then promoted by the CIA, beginning 1947, as false-lead disinformation to cover it all up for the sake of National Security, particularly during the Cold War, at a time when (his investigations found) the Soviet Union too was developing its own top-secret high-tech UFO craft. Cook's conclusions, alleging suppression of evidence of advanced human technology instead of alien, together with what he presents as declassified top-secret documents and blueprints, and his interviews of various experts (some of doubtful reliability), was developed and broadcast as a feature documentary on British television in 2005 as "UFOs: The Secret Evidence" and in the US in 2006 as a two-part episode on the History Channel's UFO Files, retitled "An Alien History of Planet Earth", with an added introduction by actor William Shatner. The History Channel program teaser promised "...a look at rumors of classified military aircraft incorporating alien technology into their designs."

In 1993, Steven M. Greer founded the Disclosure project to promote the concept of disclosing allegedly suppressed evidence of extraterrestrials. In May 2001, Greer held a press conference at the National Press Club in D.C that featured "20 retired Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence officers" who demanded that Congress begin hearings on "secret U.S. involvement with UFOs and extraterrestrials"[53][54][55]

In 2013, Sen. Mike Gravel claimed that the government was suppressing evidence of extraterrestrials.[73]

Benjamin Radford has pointed out how unlikely such suppression of evidence is given that "[t]he UFO coverup conspiracy would have to span decades, cross international borders, and transcend political administrations" and that "all of the world's governments, in perpetuity, regardless of which political party is in power and even among enemies, [would] have colluded to continue the coverup."[74]

In fiction, television programs (The X-Files and Stargate), films (Men in Black and Independence Day) and any number of novels have featured elements of UFO conspiracy theories. Fictionalized elements may include the government's sinister operatives from Men in Black, the military bases known as Area 51, RAF Rudloe Manor or Porton Down, a rumored crash site in Roswell, New Mexico, the Rendlesham Forest Incident, a political committee dubbed "Majestic 12", or the successor of the UK Ministry of Defence's Flying Saucer Working Party (FSWP).[75] The novel The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon includes a UFO conspiracy in its plot.[76]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Paul Harris: Cold War hysteria sparked UFO obsession, study finds
  2. ^ Genoni Jr., Thomas C., Peddling the Paranormal: Late-Night Radio's Art Bell, Skeptical Briefs, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, volume 8, issue #1, March 1998 http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/peddling_the_paranormal_late-night_radios_art_bell/
  3. ^ John F. Schuessler (January 2000). "Public Opinion Surveys and Unidentified Flying Objects 50+ years of Sampling Public Opinions". Mutual UFO Network. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ David, Leonard. "Gordon Cooper Touts New Book Leap of Faith". Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Martin, Robert Scott. "Gordon Cooper: No Mercury UFO". Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Dunning, Brian. "Skeptoid #218: The Astronauts and the Aliens". Skeptoid. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  7. ^ a b CSI | UFOs and Aliens in Space
  8. ^ Michael Barkun (15 August 2013). Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. University of California Press. pp. 85–. ISBN 978-0-520-95652-0.
  9. ^ Barna William Donovan (20 July 2011). Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious. McFarland. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-0-7864-8615-1.
  10. ^ Joe Nickell (24 October 2001). Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 120–. ISBN 0-8131-7083-4.
  11. ^ a b Ruppelt: Roswell UFO Cover
  12. ^ The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday Books
  13. ^ Caughey, John; Caughey, LaRee (1977). Los Angeles: biography of a city. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03410-5.
  14. ^ Farley, John E. (1998). Earthquake fears, predictions, and preparations in mid-America. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-2201-5. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  15. ^ Documents Dated Prior to 1948 The Majestic Documents
  16. ^ San Francisco virtual museum article
  17. ^ a b c d Ghost Rockets:
  18. ^ Ghost Rockets: list of External links to sources.
  19. ^ a b Roswell: Randle and Schmitt
  20. ^ "Brig. Gen. Arthur E. Exon".
  21. ^ Gildenberg, B.D. (2003). "A Roswell requiem". Skeptic. 10 (1): 60. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Clark, Jerome, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, Visible Ink, 1998 ISBN 978-1-57859-029-2
  23. ^ Keyhoe, Donald, The Flying Saucers Are Real, Fawcett Publications Inc, 1950 ISBN 978-1-59605-877-4
  24. ^ Blum, Howard, Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials. Simon and Schuster, 1990
  25. ^ Stephen J. Spignesi. The Ufo Book of Lists. Citadel Press; 2000. ISBN 978-0-8065-2109-1. p. 24–.
  26. ^ Nick Pope, UFOs: An Official History.
  27. ^ J. P. Cahn exposé, True Magazine, 1952.
  28. ^ Roswell Proof: Smith Papers
  29. ^ Presidential UFO.com Archived 2009-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Roswell Proof.com
  30. ^ a b c Richard M. Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover-up 1941–1973, 2002, ISBN 1-57174-317-0.
  31. ^ Canada's UFOs, Shirley's Bay, Ontario, Project Magnet, 1952, Library and Archives of Canada.
  32. ^ "Long Island's UFO plot Trial: A flying saucer true believer must answer charges that he intended to kill three people he believed were covering up alien landings". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  33. ^ "McDonald, 1968 Congressional testimony, Case 41" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-06-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ see James E. McDonald: External links.
  35. ^ UFOS: It Has Begun, Producer Allan F. Sandler, Director Ray Rivas, Writer Robert Emenegger, 1976, Featuring Rod Serling, Special Appearances by José Ferrer and Burgess Meredith – VCI Sci-Fi DVD Double Feature: UFOs: It Has Begun / UFO Syndrome, Distributed by VCI Entertainment http://www.vcient.com
  36. ^ see Paul Bennewitz: References and External Links.
  37. ^ Peter Knight (2003). Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 125–. ISBN 978-1-57607-812-9. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  38. ^ Michael Barkun (4 May 2006). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. University of California Press. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-0-520-24812-0. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  39. ^ Nancy Lusignan, Editor (1 September 1998). Fear Itself: Enemies Real and Imagined in American Culture. Purdue University Press. pp. 415–. ISBN 978-1-55753-115-5. Retrieved 18 October 2012. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  40. ^ Richard Landes (6 July 2000). Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements. Taylor & Francis. pp. 731–. ISBN 978-0-415-92246-3. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  41. ^ see Milton William Cooper: References.
  42. ^ KLAS-TV: 8 News Now: George Knapp, Investigative Reporter: "Bob Lazar The Man Behind Area 51: NEW: Area 51 Exposed retrieved 21 March 2013
  43. ^ Los Angeles Times: May 6, 1993, Rivenberg, Ray, "Unusually Fanatical Observers Ike Struck Deal With Aliens!"
  44. ^ The Presidents UFO Website: The True Story of Area 51: A Look at the Actual Evidence, Written by Grant Cameron, Monday, 03 October 2011 18:29 retrieved 21 March 2013
  45. ^ "UFO Cover-Up?... Live (1988". Turner Classic Movies. Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  46. ^ UFO Crash At Southaven Park at www.ufocasebook.com
  47. ^ "The Phil Schneider Story". APFN. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  48. ^ "Message from ex-wife of Phil Schneider". www.apfn.org. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  49. ^ UFO Evidence : COMETA Report at www.ufoevidence.org
  50. ^ UFO files from The National Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
  51. ^ "Files released on UFO sightings". BBC News. 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  52. ^ afp.google.com, The truth is out there: Britons 'spotted' UFOs, records say Archived 2013-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  53. ^ a b Duin, Julia (11 May 2001). "Government is covering up UFO evidence, group says". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2001. Retrieved 8 March 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  54. ^ a b "They're Here; UFO watchers to reveal proof that aliens have visited Earth". The Daily Record. May 9, 2001.
  55. ^ a b Katelynn Raymer; David Ruppe (10 May 2001). "Group Calls for Disclosure of UFO Info". ABC News. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  56. ^ "UFO spotters slam 'US cover-up'". BBC News. May 10, 2001.
  57. ^ Kehnemui, Sharon (May 10, 2001). "Men in Suits See Aliens as Part of Solution, Not Problem". Fox News. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  58. ^ McCullagh, Declan (May 10, 2001). "Ooo-WEE-ooo Fans Come to D.C." Wired News. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  59. ^ "The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure". Official Citizen Hearing on Disclosure website.
  60. ^ "Visitors From Outer Space, Real or Not, Are Focus of Discussion in Washington". New York Times. May 3, 2013.
  61. ^ Rhodes_Phoenix
  62. ^ http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-913
  63. ^ http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-920
  64. ^ http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB90-218
  65. ^ http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB90-219
  66. ^ Strange rocket-like UFO over California/Nevada, June 24, 1950
  67. ^ NCP-12: The White Sands Proof – Maccabee
  68. ^ Lawrence Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood, The UFO Cover-Up (originally Clear Intent), New York: Fireside Books (Simon & Schuster), 1992, ISBN 0-671-76555-8
  69. ^ UFO Evidence.org documents
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  71. ^ Review of Billion Dollar Secret and The Hunt for Zero Point, "Into the Black" by Frank Bures, The Atlantic magazine.
  72. ^ Review of "The Hunt for Zero Point" by Kurt Kleiner at Salon.com
  73. ^ "Out there: Former Sen. Mike Gravel says White House suppressing evidence of ETs". Yahoo! News/ABC News. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  74. ^ Radford, Benjamin (2018). "The Phantom Menace of UFO Revelation". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (4): 28–29.
  75. ^ David G. Robertson (25 February 2016). UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age: Millennial Conspiracism. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-1-4742-5321-5.
  76. ^ "THE DOOMSDAY CONSPIRACY by Sidney Sheldon THE DOOMSDAY CONSPIRACY". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Media LLC. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

Bibliography

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