10 sci-fi predictions that came true

Truth is stranger than fiction,10 Sc-Fi Predictions That Came True only supports the notion. Moon Landing predicted by Jules Verne more than 100 years before the moonwalk in his novel, "From the Earth to the Moon." The InnovationsNewsDaily article observes, "according to Jules Verne’s story..., the first mission to the moon was launched in December from a base in Florida. The crew consisted of three men who were seated in a large capsule constructed almost entirely from aluminum. After their moonwalk, Verne’s crew lands in the Pacific Ocean and is picked up by a U.S. Navy ship. Sound familiar?"

Jules Verne's ship named Columbiad and NASA's Columbia and referred to weighlessness in 1865! Wow! You may find the predictions exciting but a conspiratorial angle should be not be dismissed. Jules Verne was a Freemason and consider whether these were predictions, or somehow, preordained and predestined by the Order? Columbia is just a popular name? Florida launch site an overwhelming probability? You can listen to this amazing story, which influenced both space pioneers Hermann Oberth and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, on free mp3 download here--thanks to Librivox.

radio tales of the strange & fantastic

Another great website for old science fiction and fantasy in mp3 is Radio Tales of the Strange & Fantastic (RTSF). Universe, a 1941 novella by Robert Heinlein, published in 1951 as a popular paperback and already familiar to the public when it aired as an episode of X Minus One. On May 15, 1955, the audience listens to an exceptionally curious young man, Hugh Hoyland, who encounters a mutant leader and learns the ship's true purpose when taken to the bridge and shown the Universe. The story is an excellent allegory of purpose and falling into purposelessness and the drive to "finish the trip," as Hoyland put it. A complete script of George Lefferts' radio adaptation is available here and widely departs from the novella's plot. Are you a loyal believer or a heretic? Universe is well done, highly entertaining and a must listen at RTSF!

dawn closing in on vesta

Mission enters exciting phase as Dawn spacecraft closes in on brightest object in asteroid belt, Vesta. The image of Vesta (pictured) is from Hubble telescope, but according to Emily Ladawalla at The Planetary Blog, "By early June, Dawn's images will be higher-resolution than anything achieved from Hubble." A nice mission update with Marc Rayman provided at Planetary Radio. The lastest blog entry at Marc Rayman's Dawn Journal details approach phase to the giant asteroid. "It's a big place," according to Rayman.

officer herbert schirmer's 1967 abduction

Sgt. Herbert Schirmer, a 22 year old Ashland, NE policeman, reports a UFO sighting in the wee hours of December 3, 1967. Schirmer notices 25 minutes of lost time. The Herbert Schirmer abduction is considered alongside the Lonnie Zamora case of Soccoro, New Mexico in 1964 as major UFO encounters. It's reasoned law enforcement accounts lend crediblility to reports. The informal University of Colorado Condon Committee investigating UFOs, at the time, and to issue the Condon Report in 1968, asked Schirmer to come to Boulder, CO.

In "Badge of the Winged Serpent: The Herbert Schirmer Abduction, an article at Phantoms & Monsters, includes a reprint of a 1976 Vancouver Province article, "UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT - The Herbert Schirmer Case," where it's reported, "...shortly after his UFO experience, Herb Schirmer was interviewed by members of the Condon Committee, a research project at the University of Colorado funded by the U.S. Air Force. Among those who spoke with Schirmer was Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle,[a University of Wyoming psychologist]."

Sprinkle's hypnosis session, in another ariticle at UFO Casebook, results in Schirmer, "...able to recall even more details about the encounter. The beings were friendly, they drew energy from electrical power lines, and they had a base on Venus." Badge of the winged serpent is the emblem (pictured) the aliens, slightly reptoid in appearance, wore on their left breast as drawn by Schirmer in 1974. Schirmer's story can be heard on You Tube. Dr Leo Sprinkle, an early alien abduction investigator, can be heard in a 2009 interview here.

The young Ashland policeman suffered as a result of his experience, although promoted to Police Chief after the event he resigned in just months unable to focus on his job. "According to Schirmer, he was ridiculed by some of the townspeople, his car was dynamited, and his wife left him." Schirmer suffered headaches, a buzzing in his head and felt ill immediately after the encounter, suggestive of mental trauma and similar to the symptoms reported by Betty and Barney HIll in their 1961 abduction. Schirmer believes he was subjected to a trance, perhaps, due to a silver object placed by his neck where a red welt appeared later.

Two books by Eric Norman, "Gods, Demons, and Space Chariots," and "Gods and Devils from Outer Space," covered the abduction. There are even artistic creations inspired by the case, David Sankey created: "The Watchman," "Sister Ship" and "Serpent Insignia". Experts impressed by the 22 year old man without education, who seemed to describe things well beyond his experience, the winged serpent and its reptoid implications a part of the mystery.

leuren moret reveals google shocker!

You need wonder no further whether Orwell's vision came true! Leuren Moret, radiation expert, will drop a brick on your head!On Jeff Rense's program, Moret informs Microsoft, Google, Facebook social networking sites, Ebay, all have roots in military intelligence. Microsoft software insures backdoors into computers. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google founders, park their private jet at a NASA facility. Perhaps, most shocking, Moret reveals Google is doing DNA surveys from space! Whew! The Human Genome Project is just one means along with computing, medicine and the police state to establish a totalitarian scientific oligarchy with a depop agenda. If you still aren't convinced, Moret relates depleted uranium particles stick to DNA and mitochondria, which provides the body's energy! Moret credits Bertrand Russell with these ideas of control and believes sterilization is in most people's future,"...wild reproduction is no longer an option," according to Moret's recap of Russell's message! There's still more with human beings as electric transmitters with control integrated into the HAARP system! It's a can't miss program!

isaac asimov's foundation in mp3 audio

Thanks goes to SFFaudio for a link to 1973 BBC3 radio adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. Isaac Asimov began writing the Foundation series in 1942. "The first four stories were collected, along with a new story taking place before the others, in a single volume published by Gnome Press in 1951 as Foundation. The remainder of the stories were published in pairs by Gnome as Foundation and Empire (1952) and Second Foundation (1953), resulting in the "Foundation Trilogy", as the series was known for decades." An excellent production in audio .mp3 a direct link is available here!

x minus one: radio sci-fi classic

"Countdown for blastoff... X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one... Fire!" Science fiction on the radio--or currently on .mp3 audio--can be enormously entertaining! In fact, science fiction can exercise your imagination. X Minus One, a revival of Dimension X that ran a year in 1950, produced 124 episodes from 1955 through 1958. These episodes have stood the test of time and still retain the power to captivate listeners. They are simply classic, and also, as with the best things in life, are free for download here.

arizona shooting suspected to be staged psyop

The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a Tucson parking lot in January, has fallen under suspicion of two independent investigators, Ed Chiarini and Stephanie Sledge. A photoshopped mug shot of Jared Lee Loughner hints something is amiss? Is the photo a sinister psyop lending the alleged shooter an evil clown-like appearance, borrowed from Glenn Beck? Chiarini suspects a staged event, based on school shooting drill or Exercise Plan (ExPlan), a link is at Wellaware1.com. A drill resembling Tucson shooting, would be termed a Full Scale Event(FSE) in Chiarini's opinion. The investigation has led to Radian-Helix, a media company and its employees who resemble people at the scene. An early February interview of Chiarini is available here.

Sledge's website, The Government Rag, provides a wealth of videos, interviews and recent article, "Jared Lee Loughner Case begins to unfold in opposite direction". Power Hour's Joyce Riley follows the Sledge and Chiarini investigation closely with most recent interviews here and here.
These are brave souls to take on a politically volatile event. Chiarini hints at more conspiracy with reference to a full-size space shuttle model, also leaked report of problems with last mission. The last shuttle launch is scheduled for April 29th, whose commander is also Gifford's husband, Mark Kelly. It's a full plate and if Arizona shooting was staged, present writer hopes no one was killed as reported!

clyde lewis with douglas dietrich: battle for orbit

Clyde Lewis is back in a big way with guest Douglas Dietrich, who will rearrange your head. Clyde gets the description right of his guest's unique viewpoint: "'Douglas Dietrich will radically restructure our understanding of mankind’s twentieth century explosion into near-space as the “Battle for Orbit,' a lethal four-way conflict between American Astronauts, Soviet Cosmonauts, Nat-Zi Raummænner – and even Commonwealth Cannoneers! He will expose how and why the Third World War has been fought and won, even while the Second World War was doomed to inconclusive Stalemate. The New Front demanded control of a new High Ground; not so much our Moon as the five “Lagrange Points” integral to the Gravity Wells of our never-emphasized Binary Planet: the Earth-Moon System as well as much more…"


Dietrich was Clyde's guest back in February and discussed the Battle of Los Angeles and Nazi UFOs. The former militarian historian blew Clyde's audience away with information and perspective unheard of previously! You're missing out if you don't take it in: Clyde with Douglas Dietrich on KXL.

lost cosmonauts: airbrushed from memory

Grigoriy Nelyubov's disappearance from the photo (pictured), and similar strokes, brought suspicion on the Soviet space program. The mysterious deletions also stoked curiosity about the ultimate fates of these airbrushed souls! Nelyubov, a 1963 drunken brawl dismissed him from the program and banishment to Siberia, is referred to as a "suicide by train" in 1966 by most historical accounts. James Oberg, a US gatekeeper, provides details on some airbrushed ex-personages in this Wired Science article, "Soviet Space Propaganda: Doctored Cosmonaut Photos". Oberg's take on dead cosmonauts is in his 1988 book, "Uncovering Soviet Disasters". Chapter 10 gives readers an idea of the layers of deception and disinformation. Valentin Bondarenko, a young cosmonaut, is one of the first deceptions by deletion. Oberg's recap of cosmonaut Georgiy Shonin's 1977 book, "The Very First Ones," where readers are first fed "...the existence of eight 'dropouts'...clearly indicating that all eight had left the program alive".

The tragic reality runs counter to a "lived happily ever after" tale with grim accounts at "The Lost Cosmonauts website". A desperate woman's plea in Russian in a recording on YouTube, is perhaps, the most compelling! It sounds, certainly, like a cosmonaut and as observed by their sister, "it doesn't sound like a tea party," in a fine film on the Judica Cordiglia brothers, "Space Hackers," who recorded the communications. The brothers were sophisticated and stand accused of hoaxing. A retelling of events at the dawn of the space age still make a fascinating story--great stuff!

philip k dick: the adjustment team

The "Adjustment Team," a science fiction story by Philip K Dick, first appeared in fall of 1954 in Orbit Science Fiction. Ed Fletcher, the story's protagonist, misses the designated adjustment for sector T137 and is brought in front of the Old Man in the top administrative chamber. The Old Man, who everyone eventually meets, warns Fletcher he will be allowed to return without being de-energized and adjusted, only if he promises to not tell anyone what he's seen! The story is better understood by also reading a biographical profile of Dick. Dick never fully accepted the world we live in "as not up to his standards." A writer, who suffered in life, found possibilities missing in this world in science fiction. Philip K Dick just seems ahead of the curve much like George Orwell in questioning what is in front of us. Dick's stature has grown since his death in 1982 from heart failure, hastened by addiction to amphetamines. To question our reality and humanity is a "phildickian" notion. Adjustment Team in .mp3 audio is available for your listening pleasure.

The short story landed in the public domain when copyrights expired, an interesting tale itself. The Adjustment Bureau movie seems brought to production, as a result, of playing word games with copyrights? An Adjustment Bureau trailer is available. It is only the latest Dick story made into a movie, most notable is Blade Runner. Philip K Dick is an author anyone can relate, who has a beef with our de-energized and adjusted 21st Century lives!

japan elite hiding secret weapons program in nuclear plants?

Environmental writer Yoichi Shimatsu provides keen insight on Japan's disaster in article, "Is Japan's Elite Hiding a Weapons Program Inside Nuclear Plants?" A casual observer of the calamity cannot help but compare Japan's inept response to US government's similar ineffective efforts in 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster? Shimatsu comments, "Inexplicable delays and half-baked explanations from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) seem to be driven by some unspoken factor." There is an unsettling lack of response just as in the Hurrican Katrina disaster? Why? "The most logical explanation: The nuclear industry and government agencies are scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan's civilian nuclear power plants," concludes Shimatsu.

Perhaps, most damning are the following two revelations, "[unit 4] omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable material."

The second is equally explosive, "...bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable (or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the bodies of two missing nuclear workers—never before disclosed to the press— were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none dare name." Wow! A tip of the hat goes to Shimatsu for his incisive inquiry!

You can listen to Yoichi Shimatsu's most recent report here on the Japan disaster. Article is an education and interview makes a nice companion. It's great stuff!

great moon hoax of 1835

The New York Sun, founded in 1833 as a penny press paper, catered to a wide audience with narrative style and a cheaper price. On August 25, 1835, the first of six articles appeared  in the paper that became known collectively as, "The Great Moon Hoax".

The first article brought increased sales and entertainment. Supposedly, the series was reprinted from a science journal in Edinburgh, Scotland, which had already ceased publication. Articles reported "discoveries" by astronomer Sir John Hershel at new observatory in South Africa. Writing style of the day can also fascinate today's reader. A nice treatment of the hoax at Universe Today provides following description of the man bats (pictured). "...They averaged four feet in height, were covered, except on the face, with short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had wings composed of a thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs from the top of the shoulders to the calves of their legs.”

On April Fool's Day, 365 Days of Astronomy produced a great podcast of Moon Hoax, which makes for great listening! A tip of the hat goes to Universe Today for the link. Museum of Hoaxes website provides complete treatment and worth a visit. It's free sci-fi from 1835!

1953 kinross incident and the moncla memories

On the evening of November 23, 1953, Lt. Felix Eugene Moncla Jr., pilot, and radar operator, Lt. Robert Wilson were scrambled in a F-89C Scorpion from Kinross AFB while on temporary assignment on the upper Michigan peninsula in pursuit of an unidentified "bogey". Radar operators tracked the F-89 and the unknown blip until they merged in an apparent collision and then disappeared. The Scorpion's last known position, according to this account, "...was about seventy miles off Keweenaw Point in upper Michigan, at an altitude of 8,000 feet, approximately 160 miles northwest of Soo Lock".

The Air Force served up weak explanations such as Moncla suffered vertigo. The radar blips explained away as "phantom echos" from the plane. There is, also, the coincidence of another F-89C that crashed earlier in the day on a training mission from Truax Field, and the pilot, a Moncla friend. The F-89 introduced in the late forties was viewed reliable by 1953. The incident remains a mystery to this day.

The "Kinross Incident" takes quite a turn after Gordon Heath begins his personal research. Heath was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada nine months after the incident on the other side of Lake Superior. The Canadian relates a pivotal trip as a child to the top of a hill with a man on the lake's shore. The tale can be heard in this Out There interview. The researcher learned the man was Robert Wilson. Wilson revealed the F-89 disappearance was due to a UFO and he was the pilot. Heath's experience is so deep and extensive he had DNA testing done. This personal odyssey is documented in "The Moncla Memories". It's hard to dismiss as confabulation or mental illness on Gord Heath's part, the interviews and one hour documentary are fascinating!

the shaver mystery: primer 101

Richard Sharpe Shaver, writer and artist, created enough excitement in the heady days of paranormal phenomena and UFOs it's known as "The Shaver Mystery". Shaver wrote a letter to Amazing Stories magazine in 1943 with details of an ancient alphabet called Mantong. Ray Palmer, editor, published the letter to mark the beginning of a period of more than five years from 1943-1949, where Shaveriana produced stories and controversy. Palmer requested more from Shaver and resulted in a heavily edited book in 1944, which can be read in a free .pdf, "I Remember Lemuria". Shaver related memories and time living under the Earth's surface in a honeycombed world of caverns among deros and teros.

Deros and teros are abandoned survivors from an advanced civilization that fled Earth around 40th century BCE. The Sun's radioactivity was slowly killing the race known as Titan-Atlans. Deros are a shrunken group of evil dwarfs, who are insane, due to insufficient Vitamin D and radiation exposure. Teros are another group who survived but maintained health. Deros are a threat to surface dwellers and Shaver believed killed, both, his brother and wife. Teros try to help those on the surface.

Tim Swartz provides an excellent synopsis of the mystery in, "Richard Shaver's Inner Earth Mysteries". You can hear Palmer and Shaver on the Long John Nebel radio show from WOR, New York, circa 1958, here. You can see Palmer in a 1977 interview, which marked the 30th anniversary of UFO sighting by pilot Kenneth Arnold, whose account Palmer published in the first issue of Fate magazine. Shaver studied art and married his instructor, his "Visions of a Subterranean World," by Doug Skinner is a summary of Shaver's art and acceptance in the genre of outsider art.

Richard Sharpe Shaver is largely dismissed and forgotten, but there is just enough in his stories to leave a reader's mind with question marks. Shaver spent time in mental hospitals and suffered schizophrenia and depression. Palmer, whose stunted growth left him only four feet tall, found a home in science fiction for most of his life. These two outsiders helped create the science fiction market. Shaver would object to calling it fiction, however!

fukushima daiichi nuclear plant damaged by stuxnet?

Did Stuxnet infiltrate Fukushima Daiichi plant? The question is getting asked--and rightfully so! Fukushima plant uses Siemens Supervisory Control And Data Acquistion Software (SCADA), which Stuxnet is designed specifically to target. Is Stuxnet implicated in rendering, say, water pumps inoperable, a question asked recently on The Ugly Truth podcast? A Stuxnet link is also examined at whatREALLYhappened.com, "So now the difficulty the Fukushima nuclear plant operators faced in recovering control over their runaway reactors takes on a darker significance. Remember that the first problem following the quake was that the automated shutdown systems failed to operate at some of the reactors, because pumps failed and valves would not open even while running on batteries; the very sorts of mischief Stuxnet supposedly was designed to cause at Iran's power station." Multiple failures experienced at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant begs the question whether Stuxnet malware involved? Webster Tarpley's call for action seems truer than ever at the moment: get active--or get radioactive!

update: attack code for scada vulnerabilities released online

clyde lewis' battle of los angeles special

The Battle of Los Angeles Special with Matt Haley and John Horrigan on Clyde Lewis' Ground Zero Live is available here. What you say? You've never heard of the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles? You're not alone! You can get up to speed with the short version from a new Ground Zero Clips or read a previous article on this website, here. Haley, a comicbook artist, also directed a locally produced spoof of Star Wars, BLACKSTAR WARRIOR. You can catch Haley and his movie, March 5th, at the largest comic book convention of the Northwest in Seattle, WA at Emerald City Comicon. It's all good stuff: read, watch and listen--highly entertaining!

dulce underground base mystery

Over twenty years ago, the underground base at Dulce, New Mexico was first exposed to public view with The Dulce Book by Branton. The base suspected to lie under the Archuleta Mesa on the Jicarilla Indian reservation, is rumored to be manned by Reptilians, Greysand humans in tense working relationships. Later, in the nineties, Phil Schneider reported his version of a battle in the late seventies, AKA "the Dulce Wars", which broke out with the Greys and resulted in the death of over sixty men here. A wide range of questionable research takes place underground in utmost secrecy at Dulce. The study of auras, dreams, and telepathy to hideous bio-genetic experiments are conducted on the seven levels. Level Six is called "Nightmare Hall" because of the dark nature of the experiments. Cattle mutilations (mutes) were prevalent around Dulce in the mid-seventies and a possible cross-species fetus discovered in an opened cow's womb before it could be retrieved. Gabe Valdez, former New Mexico state patrol officer, related the discovery on a 2009 UFO Hunters episode.

Paul Bennewitz, a businessman who worked near Kirtland Air Force Base, became a UFO researcher after spotting lights over the Manzano underground nuclear storage area near his home. Bennewitz took pictures of saucers at Dulce when flying on business to the Denver area, he claimed also to monitor communications from the underground base. After bringing these claims to authorities attention, Bennewitz became the target of a disinformation campaign, grew increasingly paranoid and finally institutionalized. Bennewitz, who passed away in 2003, is credited with uncovering much of the Dulce story. Michael Salla provides an in-depth research paper on Paul Bennewitz at Exopolitics.


The Dulce book, as much a compilation of writings from Tal Levesque aka Jason Bishop, Val Valerian aka John Grace and John Lear as well as Branton aka Bruce Alan DeWalton, remains the best introduction. A 2009 UFO Hunters episode with Bill Birnes is well done and entertaining. A brief synopsis of the characters involved in the Dulce story, provided by Norio Hayakawa, are available here. Podcasts at the Jerry Pippin website covering the Dulce base are available here. Dulce fascinates like some tragic, horrible car accident where a person cannot seem to look away.

related: ufo files reveal 'rendlesham incident' papers missing

wilhelm reich: quack or threat?

Why was there a heavy-handed attempt to censor the work of Wilhelm Reich? The FDA dismissed Reich's idea of a life force or Orgone as quackery. Was the FDA protecting the public by destroying all references to Orgone? Reich remains a significant historical figure, once a student of Sigmund Freud, and himself, a noted psychoanalyst. Reich's work in biophysics and Orgone, however, "...has been stricken from the historical record".

Reich believed Orgone, an omnipresent energy similar to ether, to be the biophysical basis of Freud's libido. Orgone is visible to the naked eye, according to Reich, blue in color and responsible for the color of the sky, formation of galaxies and human emotional health. Neurosis, according to Reich, is the obstruction of this energy underlying a character armor that eventually becomes seated in the body to ward off the emotions of others and undesirable emotions from within.

In 1940, Reich constructed his first Orgone accumulator, "... a six-sided box constructed of alternating layers of organic materials (to attract the energy) and metallic materials (to radiate the energy toward the center of the box). Patients would sit inside the accumulator and absorb orgone energy through their skin and lungs. The accumulator had a healthy effect on blood and body tissue by improving the flow of life-energy and by releasing energy-blocks." Orgone accumulators caught the attention of the Beat generation. William S.Burroughs was a proponent of the research and treated heroin withdrawal with it. Jack Kerouac included a passage about an Orgone accumulator in his book, On The Road, as a sexual stimulant.

Reich believed a depletion of Orgone energy led to cancer. By replenishing the energy, a possible cure was suggested. Reich became a target alongside others who proposed alternative cures. A negative press brought the Orgone accumulator to the FDA's attention and eventually led to Reich's imprisonment. In 1952, an unannounced inspection at Reich's Orgonon research facility in Maine led to an investigation. An injunction was issued by 1954 against interstate transport of the devices. A violation of this ruling led to a 1956 trial, where Reich was sentenced to a year and a day. Just days before Reich was to receive a parole hearing, he passed away from heart failure on November 3, 1957.

An outgrowth of Orgone research was the Cloudbuster (pictured) that enjoyed, at least, anecdotal success. Maine farmers enlisted Reich's aid, when drought threatened their blueberry crop in this 1953 story. The last book written by Wilhelm Reich, Contact With Space, describes an ongoing siege with UFOs with a last chapter in the desert around Tucson, AZ in 1955. The Cloudbuster became a space gun when radium was added, converting positive Orgone energy to Deadly Orgone (DOR). It was a two front battle against both desert and UFOs. It's reported in a recent Tucson Citizen article, Reich was able to make the UFOs disappear and facilitate rain in an area without any for five years.

On August 23, 1956, over six tons of Reich's books, journals and papers were incinerated in New York City by court order in one of the largest and most egregious cases of censorship. Was it a sign of the times, a kneejerk reaction to Reich's past communist leanings? Alternatively, was Reich a perceived threat by cancer doctors?

Please enjoy a tribute to Wilhelm Reich as seen through the eyes of his son Peter in this 1985 video with Donald Sutherland and song by Kate Bush.

cloudbusting mp3 download

weapons of mass deception

Mark Pilkington, author of Mirage Men, writes an excellent account of early ufology, from an intelligence point of view, in a Fortean Times article, "Weapons of Mass Deception". Pilkington begins with the Air Forces' "Project Grudge, an early effort "to study" unidentified flying objects (ufos), but intended primarily to suppress public interest. The effort proved successful, until Donald Keyhoe wrote a 1950 article that exposed the Air Force coverup in True Magazine, and later, expanded into a book, "The Flying Saucers Are Real". Keyhoe transformed ufos into a respectable topic, "the era of scientific ufology was born", writes Pilkington.

The ufo myth, as we know it, took form from a series of events, according to Pilkington, the first a film release in September 1951 of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (link to full film) that "perfectly crystallised" the hopes and fears of the flying saucer movement, what an alien encounter could bring with Christ-like Klaatu's message of peace and his robot enforcer, Gort, capable of destroying the Earth. The film sparked a surge of ufo sightings and many within the armed services, which prompted the Air Force to issue JANAP 146(B), where servicemen could be imprisoned for up to ten years and fined 10,000 dollars for release of ufo information.


Another boost to ufology came from a Aprill 1952 Life Magazine article, "Have We Visitors from Space?", which surprised many by its pro-extraterrestrial message in light of the authors spending a year consulting with the Air Force.  US newspapers carried over 16,000 ufo news items in the first six months of 1952 alone. By this time, ufo phenomena made policymakers nervous, CIA Director Walter B. Smith wrote in a letter, "...problems associated with unidentified flying objects appear to have implications for psycho­logical warfare as well as for intelligence and operations.” Smith’s concerns would prove to be uncannily prescient." The nervousness--the result of a combination of technology and paranoia--that characterized the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. Authorities were at war with ufology.

"On two nights in July 1952, a number of unidentified objects blipped onto radar screens at Washington DC National Airport. At close to midnight on the first night, 19–20 July, seven objects were tracked 24km from the capital city, gradually homing in on the White House at about 160km/h. A bright, orange ball of light was seen from nearby Andrews Air Force Base, making “a kind of circular movement” according to an airman on the scene, before taking off at “an incredible speed” and disappearing. Six bright white, fast-moving lights were also spotted by the pilot of a passenger jet flying in the area," reports Pilkington.

The DC overflights resulted in a media flurry, a press conference called the largest since World War II. The event described by Edward Ruppelt, first head of the Air Force Project Blue Book and coined the term "ufo", as a chaotic affair in his 1956 memoir, "The Report on Unidentied Flying Objects".  A link to a .mp3 recording of Ruppelt's book, which can be downloaded for free, is available here  from Librivox--very nice.

Leon Davidson, a chemical engineer at Los Alamos in the late forties, is the lost prophet of ufology, according to Pilkington.  The engineer joined a ufo group at Los Alamos fascinated by the green fireballs seen in New Mexico.  Davidson came to believe "...secret military tests lay behind these and most other UFO incidents, including the Washington overflights."

Davidson recognized similarities between descriptions of radar blips over Washington DC and those created by electronic counter measures and felt he knew who was behind it. "ECM + CIA = UFO or How to Cause a Radar Sighting" was an essay written by Davidson to expose the intelligence source responsible for the sightings. A great case is made for an intelligence operation by the engineer and points out the DC event was predicted by a CIA scientist and related to Ruppelt just a few days before it occurred!

"So were the Washington UFOs an early attempt to put the galloping ghosts under human control,"  Pilkington asks rhetorically in conclusion?   The author believes the ufo community would look different today if it had paid attention to the lost prophet, Davidson!  Pilkington's conclusion is the sightings are black operations not aliens!  A great read--a story that just keeps on giving!