Nick Redfern (on his "Contactees" book)

Contactees, Cryptoterrestrials, and Mac [Tonnies]

Nick Redfern’s latest book: CONTACTEES

Press Kit

Anthony Bragalia ISN"T retiring!

A few web-sites and blogs -- UFO Mystic (for one) -- have "reported" that Tony Bragalia is leaving the UFO field -- retiring as it were from UFO research.

This is not true.

Mr. Bragalia has taken a short respite to complete another interesting and thought-provoking piece for this blog about Roswell.

We look forward to many more provocative and insightful postings from Tony Bragalia, and will present them here, as usual.

Which Socorro symbol is the accurate one?

 


Which is it?

What is the exact symbol that Lonnie Zamora saw and reported/drew after his encounter with the Socorro craft in April 1964?

Why the discrepancies?

The Socorro event is either a hoax (as Anthony Bragalia has reported), a Hughes Aircraft/Raven Industries prototypical craft (as the RRRGroup has contended), or an ET intrusion that the unexplained-UFO advocates (Ray Stanford, David Rudiak, et al. seem to indicate).

A clarification of the symbol is a must, in our estimation, as it is a major clue as to whom or what promulgated the Socorro event.

N.B. The two symbols at the top of this post appeared at the UFOaliens.info site.

The Fourth Kind muddies all the waters

The movie The Fourth Kind faked lots of things:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9065770

The REAL Socorro Insignia?

Frank Stalter elaborates on the Socorro hoax

The Socorro UFO Hoaxers

Rest in Peace Officer Lonnie Zamora

THE SOCORRO UFO: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE POINTS TO A PRANK (Part 3) by Anthony Bragalia

A review of decades-old documents points to the involvement of pranksters in the famous 1964 Socorro, NM UFO sighting. Overlooked details about the sighting witnessed by police officer Lonnie Zamora suggest a prosaic explanation that involved student trickery. Recently discovered material clues hint at a hidden hoax. Physical evidence (reports of which have been previously missed or ignored) offer damning indications of deception. This evidence has remained unconsidered, until now:

- "Charred cardboard" and particulate was discovered by military officials in the very area of the landed craft.

- "Footprints from teenagers" were found at the site by government investigators immediately after Zamora's encounter.

- Burned brush that was seen at the site was caused by "pyrotechnic ignition" according to experts.

- The "whining frequencies" heard by Zamora may have come from novel, sound-producing pyrotechnics.

Previous articles on the Socorro sighting provided clues to a college caper:

- An archived document revealed that in the 1960s, renowned scientist and NM Tech President Dr. Stirling Colgate wrote to Nobel laureate Dr. Linus Pauling that the Socorro UFO was a prank. He told his friend Pauling (whom I had earlier discovered had conducted secret UFO studies) that the "student who engineered the hoax" had "already left the College."

- In 2009, Dr. Colgate (now at Los Alamos as Scientist Emeritus) emailed this author confirming that the event was a hoax; that in fact one of the involved students is his personal friend. He said of the hoaxer "he and the other students did not want their covers blown." He added that it was all "a no-brainer" and that he would see if the pranksters would now come forward.

- Two eminent NM Tech Professors support Colgate. They attest that they had heard from trusted sources at the College that the incident was a hoax that involved students. One added that the students did not like Lonnie Zamora at all. Another explained that the school had a world-class explosives facility and that other labs may have provided advanced balloons, inflatable materials and "white coverall" lab suits that were strikingly similar to what Zamora had observed.

- Two former NM Tech students revealed the existence of a deeply secret "techno-geek" hoax society and culture operating at the school since its inception. Highly organized, its sole purpose involved pranking people. In the 1960s this fraternity of pranksters created hoaxes so advanced that they even fooled military. Many of these pranksters had no regard for safety or legality. Some of these staged events involved creating faked flying saucers.

These articles are available here and here.

Prior investigation by this author has offered up credible testimony, authenticated documentation and strong circumstantial evidence of a planned prank. As this investigation of the Socorro sighting continues, additional evidence has emerged that supports a hoax scenario. This time the evidence is physical:

THE "CHARRED CARDBOARD" CLUE



A former NICAP investigator provided to this author the original, official Air Force report on Socorro, titled: "USAF Investigation Report Socorro, NM" It lists as authors "Investigators Hynek, A.; Quintanilla MJR." These authors are of course famed investigators Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Hector Quintanilla. An attentive reading of this document reveals something that is very telling. In the 17th paragraph (lines 44 and 45) the investigators wrote:

"A closer USAF investigation of the site revealed a fair amount of charred particles mixed with dirt, and some charred cardboard was also found."

This single buried sentence speaks volumes. The "charred cardboard" found at the site by AF investigators is an extremely important detail that does not seem to have ever been brought up by "civilian" UFO investigators who support Soccoro as an ET or secret aerocraft event. And of course the reason for this is obvious: such mundane material should not be there if it were ET or if it was an experimental vehicle. Instead, this "find" is indicative of something very terrestrial. This is because "charred cardboard" makes complete sense when considering the event as a student-created hoax:

Pyrotechnics could very well account for the found material. Such cardboard tubes or "casings" are used in shell inserts, bottle rockets and fireworks. When ignited, such spent explosives leave a a distinct charred cardboard appearance upon cooling. Burned cardboard and cardboard powder char are left in their wake.

Not coincidentally, NM Tech had the most advanced Explosives Lab of any college in the country at the time. One 1960s NM student said that the ease of obtaining "cool pyrotechnics" from the school "was like getting candy from a baby."



Or perhaps the charred cardboard came from the "craft" itself. One NM Tech Professor speculated that the "craft" seen by Lonnie was a large white balloon. In fact, Lonnie's immediate reaction was to characterize it as a balloon. He even radioed to his partner: "It looks like a balloon." The Professor believes that this balloon may have been "over-fitted" with white coated craftboard (or light cardboard) to create the "landing struts" and other features. Such cardboard or craftboard material may well have ignited and charred at the bottom- potentially leaving such cardboard residue as was observed by AF investigators. The College's Atmospheric Sciences department had every manner of inflatable and balloon known- and they had an abundance of lightweight craft materials to create kites, balloon cargo holders, framing- or even landing gear for a "spaceship."

THE SOUNDS AT SOCORRO: A WHINE FROM WHAT?



Investigators concentrate on the sights that Zamora saw- but they do not say much about the sounds that Lonnie said that he heard as the craft was in flight. And what he heard sounds suspiciously like the whines and whistles of advanced pyrotechnics!

Lonnie speaks of 1) high and low frequencies that changed or oscillated 2) thumps 3) whines 4) changes in loudness of the sound; 5) a kind of roar and 6) sudden silence. This "aural accounting" is the sum total of what is known about the sounds that Zamora had reported hearing at the site.

Lonnie is interviewed by AF invetigator Dr. Hynek after Zamora's sighting: "He hardly turned around from his police car when he heard a roar- it was not exactly a blast but a very loud roar. It was not like a jet - he knew what a jet sounds like. It started out quickly at low frequency then rose in frequency from loud to very loud. Simultaneously, he saw flame under the object...a kind of orange color at the bottom." From a NICAP recounting of the event we learn that what he heard was in the span of a matter of seconds and that: "The low frequency roar changed to a high frequency whine then to silence." Lonnie says more about what he heard: "I heard two or three loud thumps, like someone possibly opening or shutting a door hard." Zamora says that the thumps were a few seconds apart from one another.

Now look and listen to the videos of pyrotechnic whistles and whistle rockets appearing below. Each of the videos is only a few seconds in length. I purposely provide examples of amateur, homemade pyrotechnics. Professionals can create far more advanced noise features. And NM Tech had one of the most advanced Explosives Labs in the nation. Note the thumps and roars; the changes in high and low frequencies and the "whines." Related videos on Youtube show that pops, thumps and booms can result from both the ignition and explosion of pyrotechnics. Some pyrotechnics (called "fart bombs") use "stops" to produce "staged" ignition, producing two or three muffled booms or pops seconds apart. Were these the sounds heard at Socorro?:





Did you hear low frequency roars, changed frequencies, whines and then silence? That's what Lonnie heard. Did you hear a couple of pops or thumps at any point? Thats what Lonnie heard. Try listening with your eyes closed with the volume up loud. Explore related videos of other kinds of pyrotechnic whistles on Youtube to hear more examples.

A post by a member of the APC (Amateur Pyrotechnics and Chemistry) Forum is highly instructive: "The roars and whines of pyrotechnic whistles have a sound all their own. We can even change them up and make them sound like they are from another world."

Without mentioning a UFO connection, this author contacted Bill Bahr, President of the Pyrotechnics Guild International industry group. I related Zamora's testimony of what he heard, simply saying that these sounds were associated with the observation of a "lift off" of something and brief "flames" seen in an "area of wide expanse." I asked Bahr what he thinks that these sounds might describe. Without missing a beat, Bahr replied that the description sounds "a lot like a pyrotechnic whistle."

The "charred cardboard" evidence found at the site -combined with Lonnie's description of what he said he had heard- supports the idea that some type of pyrotechnics were likely involved in the execution of a hoax. But to cap it off, we also learn (as detailed later in this article) that burned brush and shrub were found at the site, leaving a distinct tell-tale pattern that is known to be caused by pyrotechnic ignition!

But first, lets look at the found footprints:

FOOTPRINTS THAT PROVIDE A TIP-OFF

I have earlier suggested that the "figures" reported by Lonnie near the craft were likely of students in white lab suits that were obtained from the college. Lonnie reported that the figures (which were seen only for seconds, and possibly without glasses) were of a "normal shape." He said that were about the size of "boys or small adults." Lonnie indicated that the figures were wearing "white coveralls." The figure in the middle looks especially like what Lonnie described:



Supporting this idea are overlooked statements made at the time of the event by investigator and White Sands Army Captain Richard T. Holder. Holder was called to inspect and study the UFO landing site by FBI Agent Arthur Byrnes. Immediately after Zamora's sighting, Holder and Byrnes went out to the landing area and closely examined it by flashlight, where Holder stated that he had found footprints. Holder related: "The footprints were similar to the size of the footprints that a bigfooted teenager would make."

Captain Holder described the footprints that he discovered in very down-to-earth terms. He said that they were like what a young person wearing big shoes would make. Taken together, what Lonnie and Holder described sounds very much like short college kids wearing white labwear and big lab safety boots. Nothing about these figures and footprints seemed "alien." Even Lonnie used the phrases "of normal shape" and "the size of small adults" when describing the figures. Holder said it reminded him of "teenagers."



A Lab Safety Boot would nicely account for the description of the "bigfooted teenager" footprints left at the site that were found and reported by Captain Holder. In fact nothing about the reported figures reported by Zamora -or the footprints that they had left that were discovered by Holder- seemed at all alien. There was nothing about them that suggested anything other than humans. Young humans wearing hefty boots.

THE BURNING BUSH TELLS A TALE



Interestingly, Captain Holder also noted that he had found burned brush at the site that was only affected on one side. He said that it was entirely dissimilar to what one would expect from "an object that blasts off by rocket or jet propulsion." Something else had lit the bushes. Holder described the brush as "flaky" - and mentioned that only one side had scorched. According to experts, explosions from pyrotechnics leave very similar patterns as described by Holder.

Bill Bahr is both the President of the famous Red Dragon brand of fireworks as well as the Executive Director of the Pyrotechnics Guild International, a worldwide industry trade group. He states that the effect on plants as described by Zamora "is classic to pyrotechnics." He agreed, "When certain pyrotechnics are set off in a clearing that is surrounded by brush- the damage to vegetation is flaky. It often just grazes and powders the tips of surrounding plants, or it can carve out larger sections." The resulting damage can range in color from dark black to very light grey or whitish. He says, "This kind of flash damage is typically very localized to the point of just searing one side of a shrub or bush- on the side where the ignition of the pyrotechnic material occured."

By contrast, he explained (just as Captain Holder had noted) that an outright explosion, or an applied flame or a jet or rocket blast would have thoroughly incinerated any plant material. It would not have left such a flaky, half-sided scorch effect like the brush that was observed at the Socorro site. But pyrotechnics certainly would.

A UNIVERSITY LEFT UNINVESTIGATED


NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

The Air Force and other investigators at the time of the Socorro sighting apparently did not even consider or explore the possibility of a hoax perpetuated by engineering students at NM Tech. It does not appear that there is any record of any type anywhere that shows official interviews by these investigators of College administration or students at the Institute. A re-examination of the extant literature on the Socorro UFO -as well as recent inquiries to NM Tech itself- show no indication that any official had ever discussed the matter with the school.

Clearly these investigators were entirely unaware of the College's even-then longstanding history of complex hoaxes and pranks. They did not think about the role that the combination of brilliant but bored college students, an Explosives Lab and a Balloon Atmospherics Lab at the University may have played in devising such a hoax.

High-schoolers were considered...but not college students. Documents show that Harvard Astronomer Donald Menzel at one time suggested that Zamora was the victim of a prank "by high school students who planned the whole thing to get Zamora." Other reports confirm that Hynek talked to townsfolk about the possibility- including a teenager employed at a local gas station who said that no teens were involved to his knowledge.

But no one appears to have gone a step further to investigate the possible involvement of older and wiser students- like NM Tech students. NM Tech was, at the time, "separated" from the town. There was friction between the townies and the Techies. This may account for why investigators ignored the Institute. And perhaps investigators had assumed that such fresh-faced, smart and upstanding, tie-wearing, scientists-in-training would never perpetuate such a hoax...but that high-schoolers might. The fact that the "not-from-town" government officials did not examine the NM Tech connection was a serious omission of investigation. But nearly a half-century later, the investigation continues...



ET has visited Earth. But the Socorro UFO had nothing to do with people from the stars above. It had everything to do with the free-spirited young amongst us. Many things tell us this. The circumstances, means and motive are very telling. Prominent NM Tech administration, professors and students have revealed much. And we now have physical evidence that speaks to us through old documents and reports. The time approaches to put out the flames that light our beloved campfire story. The Sighting at Socorro was not a display of ET nor of man's secret science. Instead it appeared as a flashy fraud that continues to bedazzle us all.

UFOs and The Divine Milieu

The great Teilhard de Chardin proposed in his treatise, The Divine Milieu, that human beings – actually the souls of human beings – make up the “mystical” body of Christ; that is, we humans comprise the actual corporeal structure of Christ, who is manifested by the living Universe.

Christ (God) is the Universe, and a corporeal body – a real physical presence, biologic in nature or essence.



And human beings make up the cellular structure of that Universe or, rather, the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Universe -- the total reality.

If this is so, and we accept it as a firm (beyond theology) possibility, then we might conjecture that UFOs are viral or bacterial intrusions – infections as it were – within the Body of Christ.

This would account for the various configurations of UFOs; they are various kinds of viruses or bacteria, and appear in many forms (even mimicking solid structures).



We don’t mean to imply that UFOs, in our hypothesis, are metaphorical. We, like Teilhard, assume UFOs to be tangible artifacts – biologic entities, some benign and some not.

The intrusions of UFOs in the Earth’s biosphere are infections of a kind then. Will they ultimately bring about illnesses for Earth and the Body of Christ, or will they be counteracted by a kind of immunity as yet to be discovered or experienced?

At present, the pursuit of UFOs cannot be fruitful. They may likened to such viral infections as HIV or the AIDs virus, not amenable to cure or understanding.



UFOs cannot be inoculated against apparently, and the lack of explanation of UFOs over the years, confirms this.

But a profound medical-like approach to ridding the world of UFOs or, at least, understanding the phenomenon, might be undertaken by those who truly wish to resolve the riddle they have provided.

Mac Tonnies gone?

Greg Bishop notifies readers of UFO Mystic that the brilliant and young Mac Tonnies has died (of natural causes).

This is a loss to science, science fiction, and ufology that is immeasurable.

We only knew Mac indirectly, but considered him one of the bright stars of ufology and all things avant garde.

This is a great loss.

Rest in peace, buddy…..

Nick Redfern's tribute

Roswell, White Sands and the V-2 Saga: The Controversy Continues by Nick Redfern

On Saturday, October 17, 2009, Kevin Randle posted to his blog - A Different Perspective - a new article titled The Roswell UFO and Jesse Marcel.

The article has generated a tremendous number of comments, including one from Bob Koford, who cited a link to a British website that referenced the crash of a V-2 rocket near Roswell, New Mexico on July 4, 1947 - a rocket containing a "biological payload."

The relevant data can be found at:

http://www.rocketservices.co.uk/spacelists/sounding_rockets/decades/1944-1949.htm

The "biological payload" should not be construed as having any connections with alien bodies, human bodies or monkeys, however (at the time at issue, rats, insects and other small creatures were very much the order of the day with respect to the payloads aboard the V-2 flights out of White Sands). And, indeed, it must be stressed that Bob K did not imply that the payload was anything out of the ordinary.

What is worthy of further comment, however, is that this is not the first time the V-2 crash at issue has been linked with the events that have become known as "The Roswell Incident."

Up until now, however, the story I am about to relate has remained curiously absent from the ufological research field. Why, I do not know; since those who had an awareness of it all those years ago could have easily spilled the beans back then.

Many readers of this post will be very surprised to learn that, around a decade ago, select portions of a draft-document of questionable origins were made available to a number of UFO researchers across the United States - a document supposedly having been written by (and "leaked" by) a CIA source known as the "Blue Boy." I was not one of those researchers; however, a copy of the draft was made available to me six or seven years ago.

Highly dubious of its validity, however, I have not highlighted it until now.

Eight-pages of the document - which is titled UFO Reports and Classified Projects: The CIA Perspective - have been made available thus far; one section of which references the events at Roswell, and the aforementioned V-2 crash.

The relevant section states:

"...Another rule of secrecy was: You always camouflage your operations from prying eyes. It was not widely known to many that the Air Force and Navy were conducting classified rocket-launched reconnaissance payloads from White Sands, New Mexico, which failed to reach orbiting altitudes and subsequently crashed off range and generated considerable public interest in the United States and abroad.

"As part of a top secret Air Force atomic weapons detection project called MOGUL involving radiation dispersal in the atmosphere, selected monitoring sites across the United States were not acknowledged to by the Air Force and Central Intelligence Group (CIG) and as a result, wreckage from one of the payloads was accidentally discovered by a sheep rancher not far from the Air Force’s Roswell Army Air Field.

"Also, another fact not widely known among military intelligence was that CIG had planned to utilize artificial meteor strikes as decoy devices ejected from V-2 warheads at 60 miles above the earth to record dispersal trajectories and possible psychological warfare weapons against the Soviets in the advent of a war in Europe.

"One of the projects underway at that time incorporated re-entry vehicles containing radium and other radioactive materials combined with biological warfare agents developed by I.G. Farben for use against allied assault forces in Normandy in 1944.

"When a V-2 warhead impacted near the town of Corona, New Mexico, on July 4, 1947, the warhead did not explode and it and the deadly cargo lay exposed to the elements which forced the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project to close off the crash site and a cover story was immediately put out that what was discovered was the remains of a radar tracking target suspended by balloons.

"In 1994 and again in 1995, the Air Force published what it considered the true account of what lay behind the Roswell story but omitted the radiological warhead data for obvious reasons.

"It may also be pointed out here that this kind of experiment was very similar to those conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and the military in the late 1940’s. It was known in the CIA that the Soviets were conducting the same kind of radiological and biological warfare experiments in the early 1950’s after their successful detonation of a [sic] atomic bomb based on stolen documents and materials from Los Alamos forwarded to Moscow by communist espionage agents in the United States."

And there ends the relevant section of the "Blue Boy's" initial draft. Of course, leaked documents, unauthenticated documents, and those of questionable and unidentified origins, are the absolute bane of Ufology..

Do I think that the above-document answers all of the hard-to-resolve questions pertaining to what really happened at Roswell on that fateful day way back in July 1947? No, I do not - at all. Rather, I think it's just yet another carefully-crafted paper designed to provoke utter confusion.

Of course, it's interesting that the "Blue Boy" suggested - as do most Roswell authors and researchers - that the Roswell events involved more than one crash-site: in this case, however, one involving a V-2 rocket and one involving a Mogul balloon; but both in the same time-frame, and relatively close proximity.

Whether the work of (A) disinformation specialists from the shadowy world of officialdom, (B) private purveyors of fakery with unknown agendas, or (C) pathetic Walter Mitty-type fantasists with low self-esteem, I know not. I merely present the above because the story of the V-2 crash of July 4, 1947 - as it relates to Roswell - is once again being discussed in a ufological forum.

It's perhaps apt to close with the words of Sir Walter Scott: "I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me."

FOTOCAT Project

Dear UFO colleague:

The FOTOCAT Project's has just been updated and it is available at:

http://fotocat.blogspot.com/

With a current database comprising 9,650 cases, the blog contains the following topics, among others:

* Links to 3 new pdf publications by the author
* Footage (3 videos) displayed for 2 cases finally solved, and a number of -not previously known- military documents
* News: FOTOCAT archives receive a copy of the Michel Monnerie files
* Statistics of 2,000 photographic reports for the 1990 decade
* Data acquisition status for ball lightning project
* Information on new books and publications that we recommend

Good reading!

Sincerely,

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos

THE REVEREND AT ROSWELL: A CHAPLAIN AT THE CRASH? by Anthony Bragalia

The enormity of suddenly being confronted with sky-fallen craft and beings from another world near Roswell, NM in July of 1947 was no doubt spiritually shattering. The psychological impact of such an event had to have been deep and lasting. Everything must have come into question relative to man's place in the universe. Newly-acquired information indicates that the Roswell Base Chaplain at the time -Reverend Elijah H. Hankerson- may have provided needed support to those that were not prepared to deal with such a momentous event. There are three telling elements to the Hankerson saga:

- Just days after the crash Reverend Hankerson was shipped out of Roswell Army Air Field and was replaced by a Catholic priest of higher rank
- Hankerson and his wife Annie kept from their children the fact that he was ever even stationed at Roswell. The family is stunned.
- Hankerson may have made a "silent confession" to them at the end of his life, possibly hinting at his involvement

THE CHAPLAIN AND THE TRAUMA

We can only guess at the "coping mechanisms" that had to be instantly developed by those who viewed the crash. The Chaplain would have likely been there to help cope with this sudden trauma. Chaplains in the U.S. armed services have a special role in our nation's military. Two very important functions of the Chaplain are to provide spiritual counseling and assistance in emergency situations. Required to be available whenever called upon, they help individuals in times of continuing crisis as well as in ministering to those distraught by a sudden and recent event causing physical or mental challenge. In the 1940s. there were no "trauma psychologists." This role was assumed by men of the cloth. As part of the team of "first responders" to an air accident, they provide needed support, hope and encouragement. They pray over the dead- and they calm and assure the living who are suffering from a traumatic incident.

What could have been more traumatic than seeing dead non-human pilots who commanded a craft of entirely unknown construction, spread out in pieces on the desert floor?

The trauma was measurable.

- Dee Proctor, the child-witness to the crash with rancher Mac Brazel died a morbidly obese, divorced, raging alcoholic who rarely spoke and hid behind his mother Loretta for decades like he was still a child. Dee died young of coronary attack, holding in his heart a secret to great to bear.
- CIC Agent Sheridan Cavitt (at the scene with Marcel) was affected. His lawyer-son Joseph Cavitt said his father would get angry whenever the Roswell incident was brought up. He said his father had "issues" and that "it was like having half of a father."
- Other psychological casualties included RAAF Intelligence Agent Jesse Marcel Sr. himself. In his recent book "The Roswell Legacy" Marcel's son Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr. revealed for the first time that Roswell had impacted his father adversely- Marcel Sr. became an alcoholic after the crash!
- Rancher Mac Brazel left the area after the crash moving to Tularoosa. Many (including interviewed ranch hands) said that Mac was never the same afterwards. He "steamed" when the crash was brought up -even years later- refusing to utter a word about it.
- Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox appears like a "deer in the headlights" in a photo of him appearing in the Roswell Daily Record after the crash. He never ran for office again, never sought another term. Deputies B.A. Clark and Tommy Thompson said that he was never the same. Inez Wilcox ran for the office instead- loosing the election and her husband's attentions after the crash. Neighbor Rogene Cordes told me that George was "a changed man with a changed marriage because I understand he was made to do things he did not want to do."

But what of the military men at the scene? In the newly revised "Witness to Roswell" book, author Tom Carey relates the story of PFC Elias Benjamin. Benjamin replaced an MP for guard duty that has seen the bodies. Benjamin said the MP "had gone crazy." Scars were left and emotions were tattered. Memories were forever emblazoned with the sight of the unearthly- and lives were forever changed in an instant.

REVEREND ELIJIAH H. HANKERSON



The role of a Chaplain at Roswell was an aspect that was not considered or examined by early Roswell researchers. Though military officers, ranchers and others were contacted about their possible knowledge of event surrounding the 1947 crash, no one ever considered the Chaplain, and what he knew. Given the significant role that a Chaplain would have played, I decided to track down any information that might lead to the identity of the Roswell Army Air Field Base Chaplain at the time.

Recently, through working with the US Army Chaplain Corps -and with assistance from the Executive Director of the US Army Chaplain Museum at Ft. Jackson, SC- I have conclusively identified the Base Chaplain at RAAF in July of 1947 as Reverend Elijiah H. Hankerson. Rev. Elijah Hankerson was a Black man and a National Baptist. Hankerson began his military career in 1944 and passed in 1990. However, I have located and contacted his daughter- Esther.

Elijah and his wife Annie lived off-base at 601 E. Summit in Roswell. Though Hankerson is mentioned in the RAAF Yearbook, he is not pictured.

Hankerson was replaced as Base Chaplain of RAAF on July 10, 1947 (just days after the event.) Hankerson was shipped out to a location in the South Pacific after the crash. He was replaced by a Catholic Priest, Captain/Father William B. Benson. Benson spoke five languages. His appointment to the base to replace Hankerson was sudden and not planned. The timing of this is interesting, to say the least. Less than a week after the crash, Hankerson was told he had to leave- and base officials brought in someone new.

THE HANKERSONS-
AND WHY THEIR FATHER WAS REPLACED AT ROSWELL



The late Mrs. Annie Hankerson, wife of Rev. Elijah Hankerson of RAAF

I began an extended dialog with Esther Hankerson (daughter of Annie and Elijah) to see if she or other Hankerson family members could shed light on Elijah's time at Roswell.

This was a problem. She and her brother Tommy were entirely unaware that Annie and Elijah had ever even lived in New Mexico! Her father and mother had never even told her or her brother (both born after the crash) that they were stationed at RAAF in 1947! Esther was astounded to learn of the fact when she was contacted by me. She was uncertain how it was at all possible that this could be! She indicated that "the later '40s was a time my parents never spoke about- it was as if someone had taken an eraser to that time period. I have no photos of them during that time- and I've always wondered why. I know about the rest of their lives, but not about this!" She asked me if I had photos of him during this period. Family records and photos somehow simply "skip" this entire time frame. Esther was hugely overwhelmed by all of this when confronted by me with the evidence that her own father was there at RAAF during the time of the crash. Esther (who says that she and her family had been aware of the Roswell incident since the 1980s) stated: "If I ever had known what I know now, I would have asked him about it!" She adds though, that it may not have mattered. Her father was both a military officer and a Reverend.

She indicated that her father (and mother Annie) were the types that could be entrusted to keep secrets. He took his military oath and his Chaplain oath very seriously and her mother Annie also honored this.

Father Benson (who replaced Hankerson directly after the crash) was confirmed by Chaplain Corps records to have been in NJ at Camp Kilmer through July 3, 1947. Records indicate that his first day at RAAF was on July 10, 1947 when he was named the new Base Chaplain. When Father Benson left military service he became pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in Baldwin, LA. His last residence is listes as the Sacred Heart Rectory. The current pastor of the church, Father Gregory Cormier, was also not aware that Father Benson had ever been stationed at RAAF. Like the Hankerson's, Benson seemed to want to keep his assocation with the base during that time period to himself. Father Cormier states, "I do not think that your phone call about this is unusual. I believe that life exists throughout the universe, reflecting God's glory. I am familiar with Roswell and I think I can add to why Father Benson was brought in to replace a Baptist Chaplain. Catholic priests take confessions."

Incredibly, Father Cormier indicates that he had a parishioner many years ago who has since passed who told him that he was stationed at Roswell during 1947. He said that the parishioner (who was close to Father Benson) would always ask of Cormier, "Do you believe in life on other planets? How does the Church feel about this?"

THE SILENT CONFESSION?



Esther Hankerson recounts how, when she was a child, she remembers her father having been "called out at all hours" to act as a "first responder" to air accidents. He did tell her about these events and it left an impression on young Esther. Esther herself became a "first responder" and became certified in administering pre-hospital care for medical emergencies! She laments though that he, and mother Annie, never mentioned Roswell. She says that "he would have to have been involved. Given what he did on other bases when I was growing up, it would have been his job -his duty- to respond to the Roswell crash. Why didn't he tell us he was at Roswell?"

Asked if there is anything that he ever said during his life that would possibly indicate his knowledge of the Roswell incident, Esther thought about it and replied, "Yes, there is. Towards the end of his life in 1990, before he became entirely unable to speak, he said some things over and over that made no sense at the time. But they do now."

Asked what it was that her father said that she found unusual, Esther replied: "There were a few things that he kept repeating as he drifted in an out. My father kept saying over and over "I'm just a Man. But in my Father's house there are many mansions." When she asked him "what do you mean?" he replied to her, "Dear, knowing too much is not always a good thing." This was something she did not understand at all. Her father had a PhD and was also a Doctor of Divinity. She said that her father kept on referring to "the Universe and man's place in it. He kept on repeating to us, "I'm just a Man, but the Universe, oh the Universe..."

She never knew what to make of these statements, they made no sense- until now. Clearly upset by the implications, Esther said, "Oh dear God, I'm realizing that he was trying to say something to us without saying. My father kept his oath till the end!"

SOCORRO UFO HOAX PART 2: GETTING CLOSER TO THE CULPRITS by Anthony Bragalia

New investigation reveals that the likely culprits behind the Socorro UFO hoax in 1964 were part of a highly secret group of student pranksters at NM Tech. It is now learned that so extreme were some of these Techie "pranks" during the 1960s that they even caused physical endangerment. One especially sophisticated UFO hoax at that time led to the severe reprimand by U.S. military base officials of a Techie whose prank had caused the emergency scrambling of jet interceptors! This intensely private group existed at the College under various code names and leaders for decades.

A co-conspirator to many hoaxes at the NM Tech in the 1960s now details the remarkable "flying saucers" that were created by students during that time- and how they were made. A former Techie prankster offers a stunning clue about the true nature of the "aliens" sighted by Officer Lonnie Zamora. Other "insider insight" provided by NM Tech alumni furthers the case that the Socorro UFO was one of the most extraordinarily engineered hoaxes in history. This "extreme prankster" cabal reflects a technological "caper culture" that was unique in all the world and that has remained hidden- until now.

SOCORRO REDUX



OFFICER ZAMORA (LEFT) EXAMINES LANDING SITE WITH USAF

In April of 1964, Socorro Police Officer Lonnie Zamora reported sighting a landed craft outside of town. In pursuit of a speeder, Zamora was diverted by an explosion he had heard that led him over a hill. There he viewed an egg-shaped 20 foot in size craft the color of "aluminum white" that was "smooth" and which had a red insignia or emblem on its side. Zamora reported two small figures clad in white nearby the craft. Zamora says that the figures "jumped from view" and the craft rose with a roar and out of view.

In an earlier article by this author that can be viewed here, the discovery of a letter was related. It was written to Nobel-Laureate Dr. Linus Pauling. The letter was found buried within the Pauling Archives at Oregon State University. The letter was from Dr. Stirling Colgate, President of NM Tech in Socorro in the 1960s, Los Alamos legend and associate of such luminaries as Oppenheimer and Teller. Colgate wrote to his friend Pauling (who had taken an interest in the case) explaining that the Socorro UFO sighting was a hoax that "was engineered by a student who has left the college."

In an email to this author written 40 years after his letter to Linus Pauling, Dr. Colgate (who still maintains a Los Alamos office at age 84) confirmed the letter's authenticity and then stated a bit more:

- He knew the event to have been a prank. It was he called it, a "no brainer"
- One of the pranksters was in fact a personal friend of his
- That friend and the other students "didn't want their covers blown"
- He would see if they would now come forward

Dr. Colgate had no idea that his knowledge of the incident would be made public many decades later. He would never have imagined that his private communication to Pauling would be openly revealed. He was "caught" by me and had no choice but to reply- sparingly. Dr. Colgate is not "guessing" about this, a friend of his is the hoaxer. He writes with the certainty of a scientist. He is either 1) a liar 2) believes liars or 3) is telling the truth. There really is very little "wiggle" room to draw any other conclusion. I do not believe that Colgate would lie to his associate Pauling- and continue to lie about this to me in the winter of his life- if it were not true. And why would his personal friend (himself now elderly) continue to lie over decades to Colgate that he "and others" were the hoaxers? That leaves us only with option number 3- Colgate is telling the truth.

Two other noted NM Techies, Dr. Frank Etcorn (who is the inventor of the Nicotine Patch) and Dave Collis (who directed NM Tech's renowned Energetics Lab) related their understanding -gained from their lengthy time at NM Tech- that the Socorro UFO was in fact a student-perpetuated hoax.

Etscorn's grad student (for a credit project to study the incident) had located a suspected hoaxer who admitted the prank but would not allow use of his name. Collis was told in 1965 in confidence by his trusted NM Tech Professor that the famous sighting of a landed UFO in Socorro from the year before was a hoax devised by a Techie prankster. Collis explained that this was not his Professor's "guess"- the Professor had personal knowledge of the perpetrators. Only 45 years later did Collis break the confidence to tell what he learned from his Professor.

A PERSONAL NOTE

As a vocal advocate of ET visitation, this author struggled with release of this information. I did not look for this story, it fell upon me when I discovered Linus Paulings's archived secret UFO studies. I did not intend on dousing this campfire story. It is hoped that in reporting this, readers understand that I am simply following the evidence where it takes me. I am obligated to report what I find and have no "hidden agenda." I remain firm in my conviction that life from elsewhere visits Earth. But I am also firm in my conviction that many UFO researchers simply do not appreciate the extent and sophistication with which UFOs are pranked by our nation's college youth. This was especially true in the 1960s at places like NM Tech:

"STUDENT SAUCERS" IN THE SIXTIES



John W. Shipman came to NM Tech in the Summer of 1966 as a Freshman. John -an admitted serial prankster- remains so enamored of his college experience that he recounts events of the time in an online blog. John offers keen observations about this most unique school in the mid-1960s: "The spirit of technological uproar rubbed off on the students. With limited opportunities for recreation, the happiest students were the ones that made their own fun."

John mentions his accomplices to hoaxes- with code names "Joe Hat" and "Harry Hat." Both he says, were extremely competent with electronics. Shipman says, "They were nerds long before the term was invented." Shipman says that during that summer, the Hats bought a surplus radar and began working on it. The school paper featured them on the cover with the caption, "They've Landed." Harry had found out that jets from Holloman AFB often used Socorro Peak as a radar target for simulated bombing runs. Apparently the Hats were able to devise a jamming device and then left it on a nearby mountain to the base. Shipman says that the bombing scores "all went to hell" because of this jamming device. Shipman explains that the Air Force had tracked down the problem. As Shipman understands, two MPs came into the Tech classrooms and physically hauled Harry to the Base Commander. After over an hour of scolding, an officer admitted to Harry Hat that, after graduation, he would like to hire Harry because he was better at radar research than most of his people at the base!

Shipman recounts that "Harry also experimented with making Flying Saucers, a popular diversion for dorm residents." He says that an even more impressive student-made "saucer" was "specifically designed to upset the folks at White Sands." Shipman explains, "the envelope was a surplus weather balloon filled with natural gas. The payload consisted of a highway flare, a hundred-foot surveyors measuring tape made of steel, and a long fuse. The measuring tape was weighted at one end rolled up and secured with a piece of waxed string. After the prevailing wind had blown the balloon out over the north end of the range, the fuse burned to the end and lit the highway flare and burned the string around the steel tape. The radar operators were rather upset when a hundred-foot long radar target appeared suddenly on their screens. They scrambled several interceptor jets. The interceptors never found what they were looking for."

Though Shipman came to NM Tech a couple of years after the Socorro UFO event, the information he provides is invaluable in understanding how such a thing could have ever happened. From Shipman we learn that in the 1960s, Techies were making "Flying Saucers" that even fooled military men. This brand of brilliant "merry pranksters" was of an entirely different order then found then or now at other schools.

The Techies of the 1960s were so "ballsy" and rebellious -and had such little regard for safety or legality- that they would even jam sensitive radar and disrupt military exercises! To cause a "hub-bub" with town cop Zamora paled by comparison!

THE SCHOOL OF PRANK TECHNOLOGY



Mr. Thomas Jones graduated from NM Tech with a degree in Physics. For a period of time in the 1980s and 1990s, Tom led a closed group of Techie pranksters called "Stealth Beta Force." The groups "memorial site" can be viewed at www.spril.com/StealthForceBeta/ or simply Google keywords Stealth Force Beta. His site is an extraordinary read. The complexity and technical sophistication of the pranks he and his team accomplished is nothing short of astonishing. The organization had rules, code names and a "magician's code" of secrecy. Its an illusion, but never own up to it- and never tell how it is done, that is how they worked.

Jones time at NM Tech was years removed from the Socorro event. But he is considered even today by the NM Tech Public Information Office to be the foremost expert on the history and breadth of NM Tech pranking. We gain needed insight into that unusual and special world by listening to Jones.

We learn from him that such hoaxing at NM Tech was a pastime from the school's very inception up through his time at the school. Jones indicates that today such physical pranking has given way to "digital pranking." Though such grand physical pranks are rarer on campus now, the spirit of the prank remains in digital form. The "glory years" of such physical pranks ran from the 1960s through the early 1990s. There is a certain "comraderie through the generations" when it comes to such Techie pranking. There is silent homage given by pranksters today at the school to the illustrious who walked those same prankster steps at NM Tech before them. Like a geek "Skull and Bones" society, these Techies made tight, secret circles.

Tom said to me that -given his intimate understanding of the school and his inside knowledge of the institution of pranking there- "I think it is highly likely that Tech students hoaxed the Socorro UFO incident." Tom adds cryptically, "and there was institutional memory of the Socorro UFO hoaxers at NM Tech."

We can all learn from Tom's instructive ideas on how this all even have happened: "If you haven't lived in the environment of a top-tier science school, it may be very difficult to understand the culture. You get used to weird things happening all of the time. Students built long-range water cannons, explode bombs made of butane and model rocket engines, build collosal armor-piercing toys, and handle radioactive rocks- just because its interesting. And thats only the tip of the iceberg." He says, "Many pranks are deliberately configured to appear that they were done by others- rival schools or space aliens." Retaliation is often a motive, he explained. Zamora was intensely disliked by students at the school at the time.

He adds that NM was a strange and wonderous place "for a kid from Maryland." Even the landscape itself lent itself to thinking about the surface of other celestial bodies. Space pranks were a natural at a place like Tech, he says. Tom says that the school is very small, very protective of its own and that "outsiders" simply cannot ever understand the intense techno-geek culture that would lead to such a prank as the Socorro UFO. They cannot appreciate the psychology of these closed circles of "brilliant and bored kids" who loved to fool the foolish.

Speaking more specifically of Socorro, Tom says that one of the things that frustrates him is that people have the idea that the area is flat and featureless, leaving no possibility for escape of the hoaxsters. But Tom says that the area is in fact filled with arroyos, rolling and rocky hillettes, and large brush and shrub. He told of a pastime at Tech- playing "hide and seek" in the maze of such arroyos outside town. Staying out of view of others out there was easy, he says.

Tom also explained certain elements of the Socorro UFO mystery that can be accounted for by campus-based activities:

CLUES FROM THE ATMOSPHERE



It was enlightening to learn from Tom that in the 1960s NM Tech was looking for funded research opportunites "on the cheap." They wanted to expand their mining and geology science programs to include the Atmospheric Sciences. The decision was made to create within the Physics Department a much more formalized group to study Atomospheric Physics. Graduate degrees in the discipline would now be offered and grants would actively be sought for such research. The school would obtain military funding and expand its work in the field. It received an incredibly vast array of balloons and floating devices that were used in weather, radar and related research.

By 1964, the College had every type of "inflatable" available in the world at the time. This new influx of balloons, gases and inflatable materials was known to have been a "new source for play" for these 1960s student scientists. Tom said that it without doubt that these advanced inflatables caught the attention of the prank-minded.

LONNIE'S "ALIENS"

Tom gives a hint about the "aliens" that were viewed by Lonnie. Zamora described the two "beings" walking outside the craft as:

- Short in stature (the size of boys or small adults)
- Clad in white "coveralls"
- of "normal shape" (like a human)

Tom and I discussed what could possibly account for such a strange sight. The explanation -though unfamiliar to Zamora- was very "down to earth." Early laboratory outerwear very much resembles today's lab suits. From head to foot they cover laboratory workers in white, appearing like space-age attire. They are used to help prevent contamination of the individual -and the specimens- when conducting laboratory experiments. Radiological suits (as were found at NM Tech in the 60s) were even more elaborate affairs.



EARLY PHOTO OF PHYSICS LAB TECHIES

Examine the above photo. Squint while viewing and move back a bit from the screen- Lonnie was at a distance from the craft. Remove your eyeglasses if you have them- Lonnie lost his. Note the shortest figure in the middle. Is this an "alien" - or is it a "short in stature" student scientist of "normal shape" who is clad in "white coveralls" as described by Lonnie Zamora? Next try covering up the other figures in the picture with your hands so that only the middle figure remains in view. Squint and place yourself a distance from the screen. The "alien" -precisely as described by Zamora- will appear even more vividly.

In a future article I hope to conclusively identify the white clad students who walked the arroyos outside Soccoro in 1964 - fooling a town, a nation and the world for decades.

THE SOCORRO UFO HOAX EXPOSED! (Famous 1964 sighting was a college prank) by Anthony Bragalia

Copyright 2009 InterAmerica, Inc.

After 45 years the truth is now revealed- one of the most famous UFO sightings in history was a hoax. The recent confession of an elderly College President -and a newly discovered document- indicate that the 1964 sighting of a landed UFO by Socorro, NM policeman Lonnie Zamora was the result of an elaborate school prank. This incredible story is publicly recounted for the first time ever by individuals who have held the secret of Socorro for decades.

THE SOCORRO UFO STORY



OFFICER LONNIE ZAMORA

Socorro Policeman Lonnie Zamora was performing his town patrol duties on Friday, April 24, 1964. But this would be unlike any other patrol Sgt. Zamora had ever experienced. At about 5:50 PM Sgt. Zamora started pursuit of a speeding car. But the chase was broken off when Zamora heard a loud explosion. He thought perhaps it came from a dynamite shack nearby. He then observed a cone of flame traveling over a hill. Once over the hill, Zamora stopped his car about 100 feet away from what he reported as a strange landed, 20 foot "aluminum-white" oval object resting on structured "legs." The ovoid had a red insignia about two feet wide on its surface. Though the artistic rendition of the UFO above depicts an opening- Zamora had reported the object as smooth, without any windows or doors. Zamora also noticed what appeared to be two figures "the size of small adults or large kids" and "normal in shape" wearing "white coveralls" walking around the object.

As Zamora started to approach the object on foot, the figures jumped away from his view. As Zamora left his car, he bumped it and his glasses fell off. He reports that a flame from the underside of the craft then appeared and the object roared away. Zamora heard a high-pitched whine and then silence. The object traveled very fast over him, and then just three feet above a nearby shack- and finally out of view over another hill. Left at the site were four "landing impressions" as well as areas of burnt creosote bush near where the object has rested.

Zamora, shocked, then radioed to another officer what he had just observed. When the officer asked Zamora "What does it look like?" Zamora responded, "It looks like a balloon." Zamora would later state that he did not know exactly what it was -it could have been a secret military experiment or even ET. Zamora has remained reluctant to offer his opinion on the specific nature or origin of the craft. He says it was strange and frightening. But he leaves the analysis to others- and only indicates that he was sincere in reporting what he had observed. And Zamora was sincere. And he was extremely cooperative with investigators. But he was also hoodwinked.

The period following the sighting in 1964 found Socorro a town turned upside-down. It was also an active one for Lonnie Zamora. He was visited by many journalists and UFO researchers. This included officials from the US Air Force Project Blue Book, investigators from the civilian UFO study group NICAP and noted skeptics. The story received national and international media attention. To this very day Socorro remains one of the most well-known UFO incidents in history. Still living, long retired and exhausted of the matter, Zamora now avoids any talk about the event.

THE INCRIMINATING DOCUMENT

A former New Mexico Tech President affirmed in the 1960s in a letter to renowned scientist Dr. Linus Pauling that the Socorro UFO was a hoax.

A letter from Dr. Linus Pauling located within the Special Collections of Oregon State University (where the Pauling papers are archived) provides insight into the true nature of the Socorro sighting. In a 1968 letter to Dr. Stirling Colgate -the President of New Mexico Tech- Pauling inquires about the Socorro sighting. Colgate replied to Pauling by sending back Pauling's letter with a handwritten notation at the bottom. Dr. Colgate writes: "I have a good indication of the student who engineered the hoax. Student has left. Cheers, Stirling."

This telling letter can be viewed here:

Letter

Dr. Pauling (a multiple Nobel-Prize winner) was very interested in the UFO phenomena. An earlier article by this author details Pauling's secret UFO studies. He was researching the Socorro-Zamora landing case and decided to write to his friend, Stirling Colgate, President at New Mexico Tech to see what he might have known about the incident. Dr. Colgate's blunt reply leaves little doubt that tricksters were involved. But to allay any further doubt, I contacted Colgate.

THE COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S CONFESSION



DR. STIRLING COLGATE

As well as having been NM Tech's President, Dr. Stirling Colgate was a world-famous astrophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Considered a science visionary, he specialized in plasma and atmospheric physics. His discoveries in these fields are acknowledged as monumental. His associates included such luminaries as Oppenheimer and Pauling. Colgate still maintains an office at Los Alamos at age 84! This author emailed Colgate to see what his thoughts are today on the Socorro UFO and to see if he would shed additional light on the event. In my email to Colgate I attached the Pauling letter from 1968 with Colgate's handwritten notes on the Socorro UFO.

Colgate took several days to reply to me. In his email, Colgate answered very cryptically and sparingly:

- To the question, "Do you still know this to be a hoax? His reply was simple: "Yes."
- When asked, "Today, decades later, can you expand on what you wrote to Pauling about the event?" He wrote: "I will ask a friend, but he and other students did not want their cover blown."
- He offered that the hoax, "was a no-brainer."
- When asked "Specifically how did they do it?" He just answered, "Will ask."
- When queried, "Have you ever publicly commented on this?" he replied "Of course not."

It has been some time now, and I have never heard back from Stirling Colgate. He indicated that he would "make some inquiries" to see what more could be detailed on the event. Perhaps his "friend and the other students" who he alludes to are still not ready to come forward and be identified. As Colgate puts it, maybe they still do not "want their cover blown."

Or perhaps Colgate was stunned that the Pauling letter was ever discovered- and knows that he has already said too much. Colgate is likely conflicted about having known about the hoaxers -and the truth about the Socorro UFO- for decades. He said nothing publicly then- and prefers to not say a whole lot more now.

THE COLLEGE PROFESSOR'S CORROBORATION



NEW MEXICO TECH

Dr. Frank T. Etscorn was a Psychology Professor at New Mexico Tech from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s. Dr. Etscorn is famously known for being the inventor of the Nicotine Patch. A wing of the College was dedicated to Etscorn in 1993. Etscorn had known about the Socorro UFO event from the decade before he began work at the College- and it had always intrigued him. This author had learned of his interest and contacted Dr Etscorn to see if he had ever found out anything about the sighting and what had really happened. In a recent telephone conversation, Dr. Etscorn related:

"As a project, a former student of mine had examined the case in the mid 1980s. Using yearbooks and networking, she began calling alumni who were at Tech in 1964. She somehow located one of the former students believed to have been involved. He would not expand on the hoax or have his name used- but she found out it was a hoax. My memory of her investigation is spotty- it was 25 years ago. But I remember that she found also found out through records that coincidentally a rear projection device was stolen from the campus the day of the UFO sighting."

Etcorn was a noted psychologist. He said that the psychology of these Techies was such that they liked to fool those who they thought were foolish.

We discussed how the pranksters may have incorporated 1) a large helium balloon resting on the desert floor to appear "landed" and then released up into the air on cue. Perhaps it was a reflective white colored balloon or a balloon fitted over with glossy-white craft paper- with added "landing struts" and a red insignia drawn on its side 2) "roaring" or "whining" explosives, pyrotechnics, model rockets, thrown flares or a flame device 3) smaller students dressed in white lab coats acting as the "aliens" and 4) the digging out of "landing depressions" and burning of nearby bushes. Soil or rock in the area may have been "salted" with silicon or trinitite from the school's Geology Lab. And perhaps it was intentional that Zamora was led to the landed craft by a speeding car. One of the students may have purposely engaged Lonnie in a car chase to lure him to where the hoax was staged. Zamora reports that he "broke the chase" to investigate the UFO- just as the students knew that he would.

Though these ideas about how the hoax may have been accomplished are strictly speculative, Dr. Etscorn reminded me of an important fact: Nothing that was reported was beyond the abilities of "smart Techies" to create.

WHAT A TECHIE LEARNED

Dave Collis was a freshman at New Mexico Tech in 1965, a year after the Socorro UFO incident. Collis went on to become a published scientist helping to lead the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center at NM Tech. He is considered a world expert in researching blast effects and explosives.

Collis explained that he himself enjoyed planning pranks when he was a student at Tech. In 1965, he and his friends had planned a "paranormal" prank and shared the plan with one of his trusted Professors. The Professor (who had been with Tech for years) told him that NM Tech had a long history of pranking- and that one of them was especially noteworthy. Collis then said that the Professor (whose name he does not remember or does not wish to offer) had "confidentially told me that the UFO sighting by the town cop was a hoax done by Techie students." Collis did not want to press the Professor on who did it -or how. Collis says, "he was telling me this in confidence, so I didn't ask for the details and he didn't offer." When asked if the Professor could have been making up the hoax story, Collis replied that in the context of his conversation with him- there was no reason for him to lie. The Professor had told him the truth about the hoax, of that he was sure. Collis, when told about Stirling Colgate's confirmation that it was a hoax said, "Colgate is a brilliant man and he was a great College President. From what I was told by my Professor, it was a hoax. And if Colgate also says it was a hoax, it was." Collis (who is a pyrotechnics expert and often directed NM Tech's July 4 Fireworks) said that it always has surprised him that people didn't seem to realize just how "terrestrial" the reported Zamora UFO seemed to be in the first place.

THE REASON FOR THE HOAX

Collis also explained that Lonnie Zamora had a reputation for "hounding" the Techie students during that time. The students and the Socorro police did not have a particularly good relationship back then. He said that there was "a lot of friction" at the time between what were felt to be "elitist and educated Techies" versus the "under-educated and simpler town folk." Zamora was always harassing the students for seemingly no reason, and at every opportunity. Many of the college kids just did not like him. What better way to "get back" at Zamora than for them to fool a fool?

Little known is that Zamora himself had worked at New Mexico Tech as a mechanic for seven years before becoming a patrolman. He had developed an insiders view of these college kids' world- a world that was very different than his own. When he left to join the town police, he was then in a position to exert his "influence" on these same kids. Collis further explains that Zamora was known as being "not especially educated." Supporting this are the observations of USAF investigator Dr. J. Allen Hynek. He wrote in his report of his interview of Zamora, "I would conclude that Zamora, although not overly bright or articulate, is basically sincere."

PRANKS AND GEEKS



As readers of my articles well realize, I am convinced that ET has visited Earth. But I am also a critical thinker. I recognize the role that pranks and hoaxes have played when it comes to things UFO. I am not happy to report the results of my investigation- but it is a story that must be told. It is an obligation to history and truth. The compulsion to prank is a reality we must always bear in mind in evaluating all UFO reports.

Neil Steinburg's classic study on college pranks, "If At All Possible Involve a Cow: The Book of College Pranks" is very instructive relative to the Socorro hoax. Steinburg's hypothesis is that college pranks happen because there are many young creative minds that feel "stifled." And these minds are looking for release- a little fun. And there is a "geek" connection. Complicated and sophisticated pranks are often pulled off by engineering or science students who have the technical know how. The many well-known stunts by students at MIT and Caltech show that the grander the stunt- the more highly educated the students. The "fun" of such pranks does not come from admission to them, it comes from the reaction to them.

I recall two pranks that were pulled off by others during my own college days when living in Boston. MIT students had perfected two stunts that were mind-boggling. The first involved taking an enormous promotional prop "cow statue" (weighing a quarter-ton) from the lawn of a suburban steakhouse. Somehow the students were able to hoist the huge cow figure on top of the famous MIT "dome buiding." They removed it the following day -and returned it to the steakhouse lawn- without anyone ever having seen them. To this day, no one has ever owned up to the prank- and no one has ever come forward stating that they saw the stunt being carried out. It is still unknown how this was accomplished without use of a heavy construction crane. The second prank involved a high-tech catapult. Somehow the MIT students were able to hurl large clear water balloons made of very thin material up and over two city streets. The water balloons were sent careening across the block with precision to land exactly at the entrance of another college's building. When people went to open the door, invisible "water bombs" hit them out of nowhere- causing them to get soaked. Visibly stunned, they had no idea where the water burst came from- and had to go to class soaking wet.

THE SOCORRO HOAXERS TODAY

Great jokes can be carried out with great planning and calculation. But great jokes can also backfire. Perhaps the Socorro UFO hoaxers continue to get a "big laugh" over the whole thing and revel in their prank done decades ago. But it is more likely that the New Mexico Tech pranksters -who perhaps became famous scientists- are today oldsters in retirement struggling with what they did. They played a trick on a community, a nation and the world. They are keenly aware that they had involved the Air Force, media, scientists and many others. They know that Zamora's life was made difficult by the event. He was made a spectacle and suffered hugely from the unwanted attention. They must ponder their youthful folly- and how much time, effort and money was expended in the prank's long aftermath. It was "a prank gone wild." It had escalated beyond what they could ever have imagined. Often pulling off a brilliant prank "traps" the pranksters. They create the illusion, but they never receive the "credit." And no credit was ever sought by those who engineered one of the greatest hoaxes in UFO history.

Why Kevin Randle is a lousy researcher/writer

Here is some of what Kevin Randle has placed on his blog, 9/21/09:

“Not too long ago, I posted an article about the "Old Geezers" in Ufology. A critic had suggested it was time for the old guys to get out of the way because we had failed to solve the riddle of the UFO. Once before he had suggested it was time for us all to die because we were inhibiting the younger, smarter, more rational researchers.”

What Randle writes is not quite right. The RRRGroup did have a piece a few months back that indicated that the old-guard would, indeed, die, because they are old. No one wrote or wished that any one of those men die.

Everyone is going to die, eventually, and our writer merely set down that inevitable maxim.

But Mr. Randle, as he probably does with his Roswell and UFO research, conflates our writing and intent for some personal reason that adjusts his agenda, whatever it may be.

Then he writes that he missed the boat with a key Roswell witness, a man named Easley, whom he talked with by phone, and who indicated that Randle’s extraterrestrial scenario about Roswell was on the right path.

Unfortunately, Mr. Randle didn’t have a tape recorder handy, and only took notes, missing a chance to get that witness’s ET suggestion down in a format that others could hear:

“There are some who said that the very instant that Easley made that admission, they would have gone out, bought a tape recorder and called him back. While I thought about it, I believed, at the time, I would have an opportunity, several opportunities to discuss all this with him again. I did not anticipate his illness. If I had it to do over again, I would have called him the first chance I got and hade him repeat the information.”

This is one of those botches that the RRRGroup chastised in its Old Geezers posting that spurred Mr. Randle’s current and earlier broadside.

Then Mr. Randle gives away his modus for his UFO obsession – to make money. Here’s what he writes at the end of his latest blog posting:

“As a final thought... if those who wish that the old geezers would get out of the way, I say this. Buy my files, records, tapes, microfilms and photographs for one million dollars, meaning that after taxes are paid, I have one million dollars, and I’m gone. I won’t write anymore UFO books, I won’t appear at anymore [sic] conferences or symposiums as a speaker, and I will take down this blog. Then you youngsters can have the open field. Just let me know when you have the money.”

If this isn’t an admission of a mercenary modus, we don’t know what is. That Mr. Randle is now seeking a million bucks for his efforts tells us why he’s been at the UFO game all along, and we’re embarrassed for him and by him.

We understand his attempt to make us look like nasty buggers, who wish death upon him and others in the UFO community, but that he would admit that his work is up for sale at a price goes to the heart of an effort that deserves research, not for money but for truth.

Shame on you Mr. Randle…shame, shame, shame….

Stalked by a Saucer Skeptic by Anthony Bragalia

The "will to disbelieve" in the extraterrestrial can be disturbingly strong. I know this because I am being stalked by a UFO skeptic. The secrets learned from this "extreme skeptic" provide telling insight into just how far some will go when they feel compelled to defend their doubt. A UFO skeptic who fashions himself as the new incarnation of the late arch-skeptic Phillip Klass has revealed why such doubters are so rabid. He provides keen insight into the mind of the "morbidly skeptical." He helps us to define the essential difference between a "critical thinker" and a "cynical skeptic."

In the most recent edition of Mr. Tim Printy's skeptical e-newsletter entitled SUNlite, he attempts to "deflate" or "demolish" recent UFO and Roswell-related research by this author. He has devoted pages upon pages to skeptical rants about my work. This commentary appears in current and past issues of his newsletter; within his blog; on various internet forums; and in endless, scathing emails to this author and to others within the UFO research community. But the backstory on Mr. Printy reveals a skeptic who does not wish to arrive at truth. Instead he fears it. And like his predecessor Phil Klass- he will obfuscate the truth by any means necessary. Like a child unable to accept something that he does not like, Printy protests too much. In his vehemence, he reveals his real concern: the evidence that I have brought forth on Roswell may be true. Printy has been compelled to resort to misrepresentation, omission and assumption. Exasperated, he has finally degenerated to name-calling and outright lying.

In Printy's latest issue of SUNlite, he offers his skeptical "solutions" to three of my recent stories about UFOs and Roswell. These stories have appeared on the UFO Iconoclast blog and have been reproduced on websites worldwide:

FAMOUS LIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS ROSWELL CRASH REVELATION



Famed LIFE photographer Allan Grant related to this author that he had been flown by military from LA to New Mexico on July 7, 1947 to photograph what he was told by military was a "big meteor crash." When he got there, he was issued a gun by his Air Force pilot escort. They searched and found nothing. When he returned, he realized that he that had either "landed in the wrong place at the wrong time" - or that the military had used him as a potential cover and diversion for the crash that he had learned was a disc near Roswell.

Full Story Here

THE SKEPTIC'S "SOLUTION"

Printy "solves" the case by telling his readers that Allan Grant and his widow were old people who were confusing dates. Printy makes the "discovery" that the Grants are really referring to a documented trip to Shiprock, NM during a November, 1947 "meteor hunt" that Grant had made, meeting with Dr. Lincoln LaPaz and Boyd Wettlauffer. The Grants somehow confused this as being associated with Roswell.

THE TRUTH

Printy makes much about this "solution" by reproducing a page from an archived Albuquerque newspaper that mentions Grant and this November 1947 meteor hunt. He pretends that it is an original "finding." He implies that this is "the answer to the mystery." The Grants were simply confused about dates.

What Printy did not know is that this author had already discussed this very Shiprock, NM visit with the Grants in email correspondence over two and a half years ago! Once he was provided this correspondence, Mr. Printy was stunned silent. He had tried to play a game of "Gotcha!" and it had backfired. This is because in a March 17, 2007 email to this author, the Grants had already explained what Printy had thought had never been discussed. The Grants clearly state in that email: "Just four months after Roswell, Allan was sent to Shiprock, N.M." Printy now admits his error and has assured me he will add this clarifying information in his next newsletter.

In follow-up correspondence I asked the Grants if there was any way possible that they were confusing the Shiprock, NM meteor hunt in November with Allan's flight to the Roswell area in July of 1947. I asked this because I had known that Allan was involved in many photography assignments to New Mexico over the years. It was important to know if he could make the distinction between the two trips and events. Grant remained clear and steadfast- that these were in fact separate events that had occured at two distinctly different times and places- one in July and one in November of 1947. During the July flight, Grant indicated that he went alone with a pilot- and that he was not met by others. He also was issued a gun. In the Shiprock visit in November, Grant explained that he was not alone- he was met by Dr. Lincoln LaPaz and Boyd Wettlauffer. And he was not issued a gun, as he was in July. Grant was very aware of the Green Fireball phenomena and of the Meteor Hunt and Balloon projects of the time period. He had confused nothing.

Printy fails to tell the Grant's complete account. Mrs. Grant confirmed that throughout the decades of their marriage they had identified Allan's flight in July of 1947 as the "Roswell flight." Allan remembered the fuss about the press release of the RAAF finding a crashed "disc" and then later stating that it was a balloon. This was precisely when Grant remembers being flown by military out to a site he was told was near Roswell.

Nor does Printy tell his readers the Grant's true feelings about what had happened in July of 1947. In emails in 2007 they write: "The Feds knew all along that it was something more than a meteor, and what better way to deal with it than to invite the prestigious LIFE magazine to come in and take a look. You take them to the spot and show the world there's nothing there. Everybody is happy and relieved, and you can go about your business. Additionally, you can keep all other media out by saying that LIFE had already been there and found nothing." Printy omits what the Grants belief that meteor hunts -like balloons- could be used as a very effective diversionary tactic. As a photographer for America's leading pictorial, Allan Grant lived by the clock for a living. He was very detail-oriented and even maintained a website late in life chronicling his long career. He knew what he did, when and where he did it- and for whom. Mrs. Grant allows that the photograph of her husband on their website that pictures him in a volcanic-looking terrain may not be of the Roswell visit. Printy -even after being forwarded Mr.and Mrs. Grant's 2007 emails to me- stubbornly maintains that they are gravely mistaken.

Mr. Printy never makes his readers aware that Allan Grant wrote about his July 7, 1947 trip to the Roswell area over two decades ago! In 1997 Mr. Grant's story was published in the Los Angeles Times. Grant is very clear about the specific date and the circumstances surrounding the event. Twenty years later he and his wife repeated the same details to me. Mr. Printy purposely omits such details so that his analysis "fits" - even if he has to force it.

Printy believes that the Grants were mistaken about Roswell in 2007. He believes that they were mistaken two decades prior and throughout their decades of marriage. Printy has a penchant for belittling the elderly. In numerous emails to me he has implied that the elderly are weak-minded and that they are "easily led." This is especially interesting in that Printy has privately admitted to me that he has never himself conducted even a single interview of a witness - elderly or otherwise - during his entire "career" as a skeptic!

ROSWELL FIREMAN CONFESSES- IT WAS A FLYING SAUCER!



In 2008 this author spoke with the last-living 1947 Roswell Fire Department fireman. This was done because numerous Roswell crash accounts relate the involvement of the Roswell firemen, including of fireman Dan Dwyer. Witness Frankie Rowe is the daughter of Dan Dwyer. She and her sisters confirm Dan's story of going to the crash site and viewing a crashed disc and non-human corpses. Because Dwyer is now deceased, I wanted to see what the remaining Roswell fireman would say about the crash event. The fireman (now 90) confirmed to me -and in a later conversation- with author Kevin Randle, several stunning things about the Roswell crash in 1947. He said that: 1) An intimidating Colonel from the Roswell Army Air Field visited the Roswell Fire Department after the crash. They were told that an unknown aerial object had crashed outside of town (the Fireman said that it was "unidentified- a flying saucer.") They were told not to respond to any calls about it or to go out there- that it was to be handled by military 2) The Roswell City Manager also came to the Department to warn them it was serious military business and not to get involved. 3) Dan Dwyer did go out to the crash on his own and saw strange activity near the site, including armed guards.

Full Story Here

THE SKEPTIC'S "SOLUTION"

Printy "solves" this case by simply comparing the Fireman's testimony to acknowledged fraudulent Roswell "witnesses" such as Frank Kaufmann and Gerald Anderson. Printy just decides to "lump" together any witness testimony that is troubling to his skeptical analysis with unrelated witness testimony that has been proven not credible. In other words, if one witness lied or embellished about Roswell- then every single witness before or since has done the same.

THE TRUTH

For Printy, it does not matter if you were a world-class photographer or if you are were a life-saving fireman. If you are old and you are telling a Roswell story- then you are either misguided or a liar. As mentioned before, Printy has admitted to me that in his many years of "skeptical analysis" he has never himself interviewed a single witness. In an email to this author, Printy said that only if you were with an organization such as the CIA would you have the ability to conduct such interviews to determine if a witness was telling the truth! Mr. Printy analyzes those of us who interview witnesses, but he admits that he has himself never conducted such an interview!

Unlike such frauds as Kaufmann and Anderson as pointed out by Printy, the Firemen is unquestionably who he says he was. And the Fireman was sought out - he did not come forward- to tell his story. These are essential differences.

And what Printy also does not tell his readers is that the Fireman was referred to me by the son of Rue Chrisman, the Fire Chief at the time of the Roswell crash. Chrisman's own son not only confirmed that the crash was that of a UFO (his words) but that the last-living Fireman knew much more. Author Kevin Randle also spoke with the Fireman. I wanted another person to confirm what the Fireman had told me. The story was confirmed by Randle, but this time the Fireman said that he would prefer not to be identified or to be bothered about the matter again. Living out the remainder of his life at age 90, this is understandable. But strangely, Printy seems to find this to be an indication of fraud.

Printy makes much of the fact that Karl Pflock had briefly contacted this Fireman many years ago. What Printy does not tell his readers is that I was the one who made Printy aware of that very fact! I made Printy aware of this because I wanted him to know that the Fireman was not fictitious (as Printy also implied.) In fact, Printy's own friend had interviewed him! And what Printy fails to explain is that the Fireman remembered this interview. It was Karl Pflock who kept hammering the Fireman with different variations of the same question. Pflock was obsessed that fireman Dan Dwyer would not have gone out to the crash site because the Roswell Fire Department did not make runs outside of city limits. The Fireman (a man of few words by nature) did not offer anything that Pflock did not ask.

Two decades later, I located this same Fireman and mentioned to him that I was referred to him by Rue Chrisman's son. I knew that Chrisman and the Fireman's family went to the same church. A brief but friendly dialog ensued. I asked him very specific questions as well as more open-ended ones. The Fireman told his story sparsely, somewhat reluctantly and without elaboration. He knew that I had already talked with the son of his former Fire Chief- and what the son himself knew about the reality of Roswell. There was not a hint of misdirection or embellishment. The Fireman was of clear mind and told the story as he remembered it. And he remembered it well.

ROSWELL MEMORY METAL RESEARCH



In a multi-part series of articles the case was made that in the months immediately following the Roswell crash, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base contracted Battelle Memorial Institute to begin studies on Roswell-like "memory metal."

These articles can be read through the links below:

Roswell Debris Confirmed As Extraterrestrial
Roswell Metal Scientist: The Curious Dr. Cross
The Final Secrets of Roswell's Memory Metal Revealed
Scientist Admits to Study of Roswell Crash Debris

THE SKEPTIC'S "SOLUTION"

Printy believes that all of the timing, events, documents and individuals identified in the Battelle-Roswell article series are "coincidental." He maintains that I have "connected dots" where they should not be connected and that I "read into things." He believes that I confuse standard aeronautical metals research with non-existent ET metals research.

THE TRUTH

Printy lacks even a sophomore-level understanding on researching the history of science. He admits that his critique of my work is limited to simple "Googling" -something that he had accused me of doing. Unlike him, I have engaged the expert opinion of metallurgists, utilized FOIA and subscription-based technical databases and I have contacted archivists of DoD and their contractors.

His skeptical "analysis" dances around several fundamental facts:

1) Backtracking the history of scientific literature on shape-memory alloys leads to work done by Battelle in the late 1940s under contract to Wright-Patterson AFB (where the Roswell debris was reportedly flown.) Memory metal reports conducted by military years later reference a once-restricted Battelle 1949 report on novel Titanium alloys (including on Nickel-Titanium, the basis for today's Nitinol memory metal)
2) A former General at Wright-Patterson implicates "specially-processed Titanium alloy" as part of what comprises the Roswell debris.
3) Another General (after the Roswell crash) states in a Secret Memo that a lightweight intermetallic material of unusual fabrication is a "material of construction" of UFOs.
4) A Battelle scientist named Elroy Center (whose story was publicly told in 1992) claimed in 1960 to have analyzed ET metal when at the Institute.
5) The Battelle 1949 report (obtained under FOIA this year) suspected to be related to Roswell was found to have been co-authored by Elroy Center. Center is the very same scientist who confessed decades earlier to having studied crash disc material. Another of the report's co-authors reported to Battelle Titanium scientist Howard Cross. Cross was found to have conducted secret UFO studies on behalf of the US government.
6) The official "co-inventor" of Nitinol (Nickel-Titanium) memory metal conducted "mind over matter" tests on the material to see if a psychic could "morph" it.
7) The official history of Nitinol memory metal is riddled with holes and contradictions.
8) There exists clear evidence that Battelle (and NASA) continue to "seed" shape-memory technology.

Printy has specific "gripes" about certain aspects of this research. They include:

Battelle Scientist Confessor Elroy Center:

Printy says that the story of Elroy Center is second-hand. He states that the person who related Center's story was the boyfriend of Center's daughter. He also says that Elroy's involvement in the Battelle metals report does not prove anything. What Printy does not tell readers is that the Center family friend was a middle-aged adult professional when he told Dr. Irena Scott about Center's confession. Printy also does not make clear that Dr. Scott was herself a PhD scientist employed at Battelle! Though he acknowledges that Center's family confirmed Elroy's intense interest in UFOs and ET, he does not explain what I had told him- that this is an ongoing investigation and that others may be coming forward to affirm Elroy's confession.

Printy fails to comprehend that a Battelle scientist related a story of ET metal analysis. And that it was this same scientist who authored the very report that was long suspected to relate to Roswell metal analysis. It was not known that Center was the co-author of this report until August, 2009 when his report was released under FOIA. Center made his confession in 1960. Center's report is later referenced in four military-sponsored studies on memory metal. These are "coincidences" that Printy simply cannot handle.

Earlier Titanium Research "Disproves" the Roswell Metal Thesis:

Printy offers up Titanium technical reports completed before the Roswell crash. He wants his readers to believe that I think that it was only after the crash that Titanium became of interest to military. What I actually maintain is that a novel Titanium alloy comprised some of the debris found at Roswell.

Wright Patterson Air Force Base Commander General Arthur Exon implicated "specially processed" Titanium as part of the debris composition. Battelle's chief Titanium expert (Dr. Howard Cross) was proven to be a secret UFO researcher for the US government. Elroy Center, who confessed to ET metal analysis, is shown to have been expert in Titanium purity. General George Schulgen wrote that the "materials of construction" of UFOs were of lightweight intermetallics of "unusual fabrication." Memory metal (such as Nitinol) is a lighweight, specially-processed Titanium intermetallic.

I am keenly aware that Titanium was being explored for its application in jets and aeronautics, with strictly terrestrial inspiration. But I am also aware that such Titanium alloys (like Nitinol) can comprise material that closely resembles the kind reported at Roswell. That a unique Titanium alloy should be part of an ET craft should not be that surprising. Titanium is one of the most abundant elements in the universe.

Skeptics have said that Titanium and Nickel were used as early as 1939. But I acknowledge in the very first article in this series that "the earliest known combination of Titanium and Nickel reported in the scientific literature was in 1939 by two Europeans." But this crude sample was a by-product of entirely unrelated research. Any unique alloy work was not performed or noted. No tensile tests for "maximum bend radius" or "elongation" were conducted (as they were for the Battelle report.) And the 1939 scientists would not have been able to melt and purify the Titanium to sufficient levels at that time (as they did at Battelle when the report was written) and they would not have known about the energy requirement needed to create the effect.

In the months after the crash the Battelle report shows- they began to conduct first-ever, sudden and intense development of these new Titanium alloys. This included chemical tests and phase diagramming. Swiftly -and all at once- they started a veritable obsession with "intermetallics." They were examining ways to melt these novel alloys effectively; increase their purity and "mixability" levels; and analyze their crystalline structures.

The "Nickel Ratio" of the Battelle Report Does Not Equate to the "Nickel Ratio" for Nitinol:

Printy says that because the Nickel content of Titanium-Nickel alloy found diagrammed in the Battelle report is not at 50% (as it is with Nitinol) that this proves my thesis is incorrect. What Printy does not inform his readers is that in my very first article on this subject I specifically note: "Although Nitinol is not identical to the Roswell debris material, it represents our best attempts at recreation of the found memory metal." I explain that shape-memory alloys are Roswell-inspired. But they are not themselves the morphing metal found at Roswell.

I even had emailed Printy new NASA research showing that by varying the Nickel content of shape memory alloys (and by including small amounts of other elements) certain desired characteristics can be brought out in shape memory material. The Roswell material was likely a specially processed material. Perhaps it was fabricated in the gravity-free vacuum of space where ultra-high levels of purity and "mixability" can be achieved. It was a highly-novel intermetallic that incorporated Titanium as one of its elements.

Psychic Uri Geller Was The Psychic Tested by Nitinol Scientists:

The "official" co-inventor of Nitinol (Dr. Fred Wang) was proven to have conducted bizarre "mind over matter" Nitinol experiments in the early 1970s. His associate at the US Naval Lab (Eldon Byrd) confirms there was a report generated on psychic influence to morph Nitinol. When I included the report's title, author and year of publication, I did not name the specific psychic who was tested. Printy feels that because the psychic (Uri Geller) was not named, that I in some way do not really believe the report. But Printy misses the point: I do not need to "believe" or "disbelieve" Uri Geller. The point is that -at that time- government scientists did conduct these strange tests and they wanted to see if Geller could influence a morph in Nitinol metal using mental energy. During this same time frame Geller was also documented to have been psychically tested at the government think-tank Stanford Research Institute. I knew that the inclusion of Geller's name in my article would a distraction that would be "hopped on" by skeptics as a reason to disbelieve the Nitinol tests, and I was right.

The Battelle Report Doesn't Mention ET:

Printy points out that the FOIA obtained document does not mention ET material. There is nothing to indicate that anything other than terrestrial materials were being studied.

But such comments show a complete lack understanding of the two fundamental concepts of military intelligence- and of how such science would be reported. These are the concepts of "Compartmentalization" and "Need to Know." "Compartmentalization" of sensitive information assures that fewer people know the details or scope of a particular mission or task. "Need to Know" is a security criterion that requires an individual to establish the need for such information in order to complete an assigned activity. You only reveal parts of the story- and never give the backstory. Or tell them a plausibly deniable story. For instance, tell them that the ET material was "Russian or German." Blend the information so that it does not appear to be anything other than part of existing areas of research. And it is clear that the release 1949 Battelle report is part of a larger study. Prior work on the material may have been finely "segmented" out to various groups so that no one group knew the full story. This is precisely how captured enemy MIG aircraft, for instance, were reverse-engineered. These science reports never mention the "backstory" of the craft's "who, what, when or why."

CRITICAL THINKER vs CYNICAL SKEPTIC



Never have your head in the sand- you'll only get your ass kicked. Printy's morbidly skeptical approach has come back to bite him. In a prior SUNlite newsletter, Printy implies that I conduct this research for "fame and fortune." What Printy does not know is that I have never taken (nor sought) any compensation for any of my research. He speaks without knowing. He says that I am motivated by a want for notoriety. He does not tell his readers that for many years I have quietly provided UFO researchers with leads and stories without receiving or seeking attribution or credit.



Critical thinkers are welcome. They encourage us to view all aspects of a problem to arrive at solutions and truth. Cynical skeptics are another matter. As Maya Angelou wisely observes, "There is nothing so pitiful as a cynic- because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing."

UFOs and VITAMIN C - Linus Pauling's Flying Saucer Secret by Anthony Bragalia

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling -physicist, chemist and controversial advocate of Vitamin C therapy- was a secret UFO researcher who authored intriguing confidential studies on the flying saucer phenomena. Recently acquired information also reveals that Pauling may have provided his technical expertise to Battelle Memorial Institute in the study of Roswell-like memory metal in the years after the crash!

Emerging research reveals that Pauling was intensely studying UFOs and that he had a special relationship with Battelle- a research and development contractor known to have been active in UFO study through its work with the USAF's Project Blue Book. Battelle has also been implicated in the study of the Roswell UFO crash debris "memory metal." Battelle's involvement in the debris analysis has been previously reported in articles by this author archived on the UFO Iconoclasts website. It is now known that Pauling was invited by Clyde Williams, the Director of Battelle at the time of the Roswell crash, to discuss "intermetallics" - a class of materials which are the basis for "shape memory" alloys!

LINUS PAULING'S GENIUS

A truly multi-disciplinary scientist, Pauling is distinguished as one of only four individuals to have won multiple Nobel prizes. He is the only scientist to have ever been awarded his prizes without sharing it with another recipient. Named in the list of the "20 Greatest Scientists of All Time" by New Scientist magazine, Pauling held a PhD in Mathematical Physics and Physical Chemistry from Caltech and also held degrees in Chemical Engineering.

Francis Crick, the co-inventor of the DNA model, was a close Pauling associate. Crick acknowledged Dr. Pauling as one of the world's "greatest minds" and to be "The Father of Molecular Biology." Crick was also the architect of the theory of "Directed Panspermia" which holds that the "seeds of life" were spread through the Universe through extraterrestrial action. Crick -like his friend Linus Pauling- shared deep interest in intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.

PAULING'S VITAMIN C DISCOVERY



Pauling is most well-known by the general public for his advocacy of high doses of Vitamin C to help lessen the duration and severity of the common cold. Today millions consume the vitamin for the prevention and treatment of colds and in the improvement of health.

Pauling personally consumed 3 grams of Vitamin C every day of his adult life. He died in 1994 at the age of 93. Pauling believed that an adjunctive cancer therapy could be found in mega-doses of Vitamin C delivered by IV. In 2007, the National Academy of Science in its journal Proceedings vindicated Pauling. The journal reported that cancer survival rates were subtantially improved with IV-delivered Vitamin C. Phase I Clinical Trials are expected to begin shortly.

FROM WAR SCIENTIST TO PEACNIK

Holding Top Secret clearance during WW II, Pauling advanced military research and development in ways that are only now being discovered. When WW II began, Dr. Pauling offered the U.S. Government the use of his laboratory and services as an R&D consultant. He devised many inventions for our defense departments including life-safety systems, explosives and missile propellants.

However Pauling -with his belief in ET clearly established, as shown in the next section of this article- then abruptly eschewed his military R&D work in favor of becoming a vocal peace advocate. He championed nuclear disarmament and was an opposer of the militarization of outer space. Pauling was quoted, "It is my opinion that the militarization of space is sheer folly." Pauling was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963.

PAULING'S CONFIDENTIAL UFO STUDIES



Pauling's lifelong dedication to scientific discovery included the intense study of the flying saucer phenomena and of extraterrestrial intelligence. He believed it to be likely that we have been visited by beings capable of interplanetary travel.

Within documents that were located in the Special Collections library at Oregon State University (where Pauling earned a degree in Chemical Engineering and where his papers are now archived) are found portions of UFO studies by Pauling that he composed in July of 1966. He marks these papers as "CONFIDENTIAL." It is unknown if these were private studies- or if Pauling was conducting his analysis on the phenomena secretly on behalf of an agency or contractor of the U.S. Goverment.

Pauling examines several aspects of UFOs and offers ideas about the phenomena that were advanced many years later by others. He explores "evidence of present-day observers," "a study of historical reports," and a "study of the possibility that extraterrestrial sentient beings have been in contact with the earth over a long period of time." Interestingly, he also alluded to the idea of Panspermia- a concept advanced by his friend, DNA discover Francis Crick, years before Crick did so. Pauling envisions "the extraterrestrial origin of man and some or all of the organisms on earth." Portions of these studies are shown below:

PAULING UFO STUDY PG 1)

PAULING UFO STUDY PG 2)

When Pauling died, it was discovered that he had maintained a massive library of UFO books. The archivist at Oregon State University who now stores these volumes characterizes them as "well-worn." They include such titles as Incident at Exeter, The Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects and The Flying Saucer Story.

PAULING, BATTELLE AND THE ROSWELL MEMORY METAL



Leads that were acted on by this author and that were provided by UFO enthusiast Frank Stalter are very revealing. It has been discovered that Pauling was a close friend of Clyde Williams, the Executive Director of Battelle Memorial Institute in the 1940s and 1950s. Williams and Pauling shared a unique research interest in "intermetallics" which are especially complex metal alloys that are associated with "shape memory" or the ability to "morph."



A personal calendar that Pauling maintained throughout his working life is also archived at the Oregon State University library. The January 11, 1951 entry of Pauling's calendar refers to a letter that was received by Pauling on that date from Battelle's Executive Director, Clyde Williams. During this precise time period, Williams' organization was contracted by Wright Patterson Air Force Base to conduct scientific analysis on the UFO phenomenon in support of the Air Force's Project Grudge (later Project Blue Book.)

Incredibly, Williams (who was Battelle's Director at the time of the UFO crash at Roswell) indicates in the letter that he wanted to meet with Pauling (whose interest in UFOs was know at that time) because he "would like an opportunity to visit with an old friend." Williams wanted to tap Pauling's needed expertise about the "principles of determining the structure of intermetallic compounds." Dr. Pauling's genius apparently extended to exotic metals. Three years after the Battelle letter requesting Pauling's analysis of intermetallic structures was received, Dr. Pauling would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The prize was awarded for his "research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application in the elucidation of complex substances." In fact by the 1950s, Pauling was thought to be the premier materials chemist in the entire world.

Pauling's expertise in "intermetallics" may have profound implications. Intermetallics constitute a then-novel (and highly unusual) class of materials. They are mostly compounds of metals whose crystal structures are different from those of constituent metals. The best known representatives of intermetallics are the shape memory alloys (SMA's.) Shape memory metal was reported as a "morphing material" found at the reported UFO crash at Roswell in 1947. The best known of these shape-recovery materials is Nitinol. Nitinol has been historically traced by this author as having its origins in Battelle studies that were contracted by Wright Patterson AFB, where the crash material was reportedly flown to. These studies commenced immediately following the Roswell crash. See archived articles on the UFO Iconoclasts website that detail these findings.

Pauling was at that time one of our nation's only experts on X-Ray crystallography. He had also developed groundbreaking research in "quantum chemistry" - a branch of theoretical chemistry which straddles the border between chemistry and physics. It is especially useful in determining unknown material and in characterizing the phases of matter. It is clear from the Oregon State University archives of Pauling's work that Pauling had a prior association with Battelle.

As an "old friend" of its Executive Director, Pauling likely had ties to Battelle extending back to the 1940s. His work in the examination of crystalline structures and chemical technical analysis would have been very valuable in studing intermetallics such as shape recovery metals. Pauling's strong professional interest in flying saucers makes this an intriguing -and perhaps telling- connection to the UFO debris found at Roswell.

Buried within the pages of Pauling's personal copy of the 1966 bestseller Flying Saucers:Serious Business (also archived at the Oregon State University library) is a copy of a letter from Pauling to the President of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology that concerns UFO study. This letter was found folded into the section of Frank Edwards' book that mentions the UFO crash at Roswell and includes the statement, "There are such difficult cases as the rancher near Roswell, New Mexico..."

THE LINUS PAULING LEGACY



Linus Pauling -one of the most brilliant scientists in all history- was accomplished in ways that we may never fully realize. Pauling is most well known for his work in Vitamin C nutrition and improved human health. But perhaps it is his work on UFOs and exotic metals - and his subsequent promotion of global and interplanetary peace- that may well prove to be his greatest legacy.

A New Nick Redfern Book

Visit the Redfern site for more about the September release:

Science Fiction Secrets