7012 Australian Flying Saucer Review no3 UFS and ESP

7012 Australian Flying Saucer Review no3 UFS and ESP

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Australian

# FLYING SAUCER REVIEW

CEI

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS
INTERPLANETARIOS

Number 3


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AUSTRALIAN FLYING SAUCER REVIEW -
No.3. (Dec.) 1970

Australian Flying Saucer Review is a non-profit educational publication produced by the Victorian U.F.O. Research Society, P.O. Box 43, Moorabbin, Victoria. The function of the society is to collate and disseminate information about the subject of Flying Saucers or Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

V.U.F.O.R.S. OFFICE BEARERS

PETER E. NORRIS. LL.B. President
JUDITH M. MAGEE. Tel: 92 2502 Vice President
DELMA CARSTAIRS. Secretary
ALBERT WILKINSON. Treasurer
WILLIAM STAPLETON. Sightings Investigations Officer
PAUL NORMAN. Public Relations Officer
KIT. FRANCES WILLIAMS. Minutes Secretary
DELMA CARSTAIRS. Membership Secretary
LES. BRISTOL. Librarian
JUNE HARRISON. Publications Officer

SUBSCRIPTION RATES
V.U.F.O.R.S.

Full Membership - ($4.20) per annum which includes free issues of magazine.

Pensioners and Juniors - ($2.10) per annum which includes free issues of magazine.

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Single copy of magazine (25c) Aust. plus 6c postage.

The Review welcomes articles for publication, letters and news clippings, in addition to sighting reports. Address all communications to:-
V.U.F.O.R.S., P.O. Box 43, Moorabbin, Victoria 3189.

Material appearing in this publication may be reproduced with appropriate credits.

Contributions published do not necessarily reflect the policy of the V.U.F.O.R.S.

EDITORIAL

Why must we always assess the intelligence of UFO-flying space travellers by our own limited knowledge and claim they utilize some complicated means of propulsion? Could they not already, centuries ago perhaps, have gone through the various 'ages' from which this planet has emerged, and now reverted to the simple medium of gravity for their driving force? Perhaps they create their own gravitational force by means of electro-magnetism, as they travel.

They have been seen to carry out manoeuvres far beyond the capability of any Earth-made machines at speeds of which we can only dream and they can come to an abrupt halt just when we think they are about to crash. Two such cases come readily to mind. The first case was reported to have taken place over a caravan park in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, and was witnessed by three people who observed a UFO behaving in a peculiar manner - as if in trouble. It was wobbling about the sky like a top that was running down. Then another object was seen to come in very fast and, just when it seemed about to collide, it came to a sudden stop after which the one apparently in trouble moved away very slowly. The second case concerns a number of UFOs, over New South Wales, which came in from different directions - on what we term a crash course. Just when it was thought they would hit, all stopped abruptly, paused and then flew off together in the same direction. Was this a meeting of the clans? Or were they generating current which would recharge their machines?

We all know the simple principles of electricity; that by cutting lines of force we generate electricity. When the UFOs cut across Earth's lines of force, do they utilize this form of power for travel within our atmosphere?

Flying Saucers are not new as some of our bewildered scientists are discovering. In the days of Alexander the Great, 'flying shields' caused his armies to be dispersed in fear on at least three occasions. In biblical days 'clouds' spoke to people and the beings who reportedly flew in these 'clouds' were depicted as having very large wings which would be useless for flight, as some Earthmen discovered according to our history, much to their sorrow --- and to the demise of some!

These reports of flying shields, clouds and fiery and flying chariots, as mentioned in the Scriptures and in other ancient literature, make us aware that a means of propulsion existed, and was obviously in use many centuries ago, which men of Earth have not yet discovered as a medium of flight. Whilst we are still sending our astronauts into space 'chased' by enormous 'fire crackers', the UFO-nauts have obviously found a means of propulsion which we should work overtime to discover - if only because of its possibilities regarding a means of transport. What it could save in the cost of fuel! What effect (continued page 3)

CONTENTS

Editorial. 1
Ion Engines. 2
Orthodoxy versus Heterodoxy. 4
A Consideration of the "Men In Black" Rumour. 9
UFOs and E.S.P. 13
Press Cuttings. 14 - 15
"Aviators" of Antiquity (Reprinted from CANADIAN UFO REPORT). 17
The Exploration of Space - and the possibility of life on other planets. 22
Are UFOs Extraterrestrial Surveillance Craft ? 27

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ION ENGINES

- A SPACE PROPULSION LECTURE -

AS PRESENTED TO A GENERAL MEETING OF THE VICTORIAN U.F.O. RESEARCH SOCIETY.

by L.E. Adam

1. REQUIREMENTS OF SPACE VEHICLE PROPULSION:

Two requirements exist, or rather two areas of requirements governed by environmental circumstances exist. Basically these are as follows:-

(a) The launch propulsion system and its attendant atmospheric environment;

(b) The space propulsion system and its attendant vacuumeric environment.

In actual fact phase (a) will overlap into phase (b) and thus the requirements evolve as one requirement totally compatible in either atmospheric or non-atmospheric conditions. In other words, as all combustible fuels require an oxygen supply in order to sustain their combustion it becomes apparent that for a fuel to burn in both an atmosphere and a vacuum it would be necessary for the vehicle to carry an adequate supply of oxidant.

Therefore, unlike a pure jet which derives its oxidant from the atmosphere, a space jet (which the so-called 'rockets' in fact are) must carry its own supply of oxidant, and subsequently the useful payload is reduced due to this additional loading.

This has, from the outset, been a limitative problem which has beset space engineers for quite a considerable time - particularly when evaluated in terms of dollars and cents which show an average deep space manned launch cost of $27 million. Payload then becomes a most valuable commodity. Thus, efforts have been made to extend the useful payload capability without increasing the launch costs.

Presuming that all equipment was necessary the obvious area for weight reduction would be the fuel poundage, and this has meant the careful investigation of methods of propulsion other than the traditional chemical system.

Out of this need, and with the valuable payload goal in view, scientists of the Space Propulsion Laboratories turned their attention to two possible alternatives.

Firstly, a nuclear system was examined but failed to produce a fully acceptable and fail safe method of sustained propulsion.

Then considerably more promise was shown in the experiments with a heavy light system. This method entailed the ionisation of a coherent beam of light causing the light to have 'body' or 'substance' and therefore, just as a stream of water will propel a garden hose about, so the 'heavy' beam of light would tend to propel the vehicle creating the beam.

This proved to be fine in theory but in practice had many anomalies. In the atmosphere the diffraction of the atmospheric light upon the beam caused a back pressure degener- (to page 3)

2

ION ENGINES (from page 2)

ation just as our previously mentioned hose would show should the same be experimented with under water. Also the enormous power requirement to generate a useful thrust posed innumerable problems of storage and generation.

However, these experiments were not wasted for out of them a hybridisation of the two systems investigated has begun to emerge as a very practical means. The Ion Engine.

2. WHAT IS AN ION ENGINE?

All known substances, to a greater or lesser degree, are capable of being electrically charged either positively or negatively. In this process the minuscopic particles of the elements accept the charge individually. These tiny individual particles are known as ions and the process of charging them electrically is called ionisation. The ions, in accordance with the charge being applied become negative (or cationic) in potential, or positive (or anionic).

Furthermore, as laid down in the mathematical laws of force, we know that when a conductor is passed through the field of a magnet a current will be caused to flow in that conductor. This is how electric motors and generators work. Therefore, it is apparent that magnetism exerts an influence over particles of matter in proportion to their conductivity. Also, by these same mathematical laws we know that when a conductor is surrounded by a magnetic field and a direct current is applied to it the conductor will be forced toward one direction or the other dependent upon the direction of the current flowing in the conductor. Hence it is not now difficult to see how a magnetic field surrounding suitably charged ions would cause those ions to be forced in one direction or the other according to the charge present (i.e., whether they are positive ions or negative ions).

To take this a step further we find that the forcing of these ions in a particular direction constitutes a useable thrust. This is due to two factors namely:-

(a) The ions are forced away from the field (to page 8)

EDITORIAL (from page 1)

it could have on the potential size of our space capsules! And consider this means of air transport instead of wheeled vehicles....!

We have learned that stars and planets give off radio signals which would mean that they also have magnetic fields of some strength. Perhaps the space travellers use these as 'homing beams' and tune in to these signals to guide themselves through space. As the UFOs appear to have been with us since B.C. they must, by now, have 'plotted' all or many of the stars and their signals. Do these frequencies alter and require replotting? And do the UFO entities return from time to time to plant new navigational markers? Is this such a far-fetched idea? Once upon a time, and not so long ago either, it was thought that heavier-than-air machines would not fly, that we would never send a man to the moon and that "space travel is utter bilge" to quote the Astronomer Royal. But note the results of persistent research!

If the U.F.O. groups keep plugging away at their research, even though at the moment UFO sightings may be somewhat scarce, perhaps in the not-too-distant future someone will, despite the oil companies, come into the open with an engine or a machine which will accomplish the same feats as the remarkable 'saucers'. If on the other hand, we continue to live as we do; building nuclear power stations willy-nilly, exploding atomic bombs and fighting wars among ourselves in headlong pursuit of global devastation, we may learn first-hand from a civilization which has been here before, brought with it its culture but departed too soon! ★

An English Doctor of Divinity, who is at present writing a book on UFOs and on the many aspects of the phenomenon, states "when you come near UFOs, you very nearly come near everything!"

It would seem that many people are coming to similar conclusions. One such writer, scientist Otto O. Binder, in his book 'Flying Saucers Are Watching Us', says that science, history and the Bible will come to revolve around the U.F.O.

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# ORTHODOXY VERSUS HETERODOXY

**W. G. Manifold**

Ufologists (horrible word!) are incensed that officialdom appears to suppress all knowledge of their pet subject. Understandably, they feel that there is a special effort directed against them: that it is the extra-terrestrial nature of their subject that brings out this antagonism or that there is an official conspiracy to keep this knowledge from the public because of its bearing on defence.

The logical mind always tries to find a logical explanation, even for governmental action. It would be altogether too traumatic for civilised man to have to revert to primitive explanations such as good or evil spirits, and even worse to descend into the complete chaos of no reason at all. So, while I believe it is not really important whether officialdom believes in UFOs or not (unless they go so far as to prosecute or persecute Ufologists) I do feel that it is important to take a look at this whole question of orthodoxy versus heterodoxy.

Humanity being what it is, medical matters must always have been of prime importance to our ancestors, but it has been only in historically recent times that orthodox medical circles accepted the two theories we now take to be so much their stock-in-trade as to seem practically self-evident: that of germs and that of circulation of the blood. But Lister had to fight for years against top-ranking surgeons who wore their dirty, blood-stained garments as status symbols, and Harvey similarly fought for years against the closed minds of his superiors.

Both these men had formulated their ideas from direct observation which could be repeated, whereas entrenched authority clung desperately to its quite untenable errors. The establishment had climbed to power in spite of the gangrene in its hospitals and in spite of oceans of blood-letting, so the new doctrines would seem somewhat irrelevant. It would be too much to expect the leaders to admit past errors, even though these errors were merely gaps in their knowledge for which nobody could be blamed.

It took 160 years for Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood to gain acceptance, whereas one would suppose the matter could have been demonstrated even in his day within a couple of hours.

To Medicine's credit, the modern heterodoxy Chiropractic has been much quicker to win converts. Numerous doctors readily accept it for the simple reason that it works, however contrary to orthodox theory, and it would seem that the two theories of dis-ease are rapidly reaching a stage of peaceful co-existence if not mutual acceptance.

True science is based soundly on the observation of facts and, while there is plenty of (to page 6)

4

VIETNAM

NAPALM

A BOMBS

U S A BLOODY RIOTS

MISSILES

ARAB JEWISH

APARTHEID

BIAFRA

W.A. STAPLETON

"IT WOULD BE FOLLY TO TRY TO CONTACT THESE BACKWARD AND PRIMITIVE BARBARIANS"


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ORTHODOXY VERSUS HETERODOXY (from page 4)

room for error in isolating the correct cause-effect relationship in the first place, it is the scientist's job to design experiments to demonstrate the true fact in isolation. That is why medical theories are difficult to prove one way or the other. There are so many factors which it is hard or impossible to isolate without killing the patient, and this leads to a type of experiment which begs the real question entirely, such as the celebrated method of proving that headaches are due to aspirin deficiency... It is, of course, necessary to be sure that the living body, the reality, is preserved, while the hypothesis (even when dignified by the name of theory) is mercilessly dissected.

Similarly, in Finance, it is possible to believe that interference of any kind is bound to be fatal owing to the number of interacting factors, but this again begs the question of what is the reality and what is the theory. Orthodoxy claims that the financial system works as it now is and that anyone who thinks it needs reform is a crank or a charlatan or both. When C. H. Douglas applied his engineer's mind to the matter 50 years ago, and produced his analysis of the Farnborough aircraft establishment's cost-accountancy, he too was ridiculed. Over the years orthodoxy has had to admit the truth of some of Douglas's discoveries but, in clinging to power, still manages to keep dark Douglas's proposals for making finance into mankind's servant rather than his master. The very great power of orthodox finance makes this particular struggle more one-sided than most ortho-hetero battles, but even so there are signs that orthodoxy, because of its failure to distribute the world's production, is on the retreat. It would seem particularly sad that, in refusing to accept Douglas's heterodoxy, finance will probably succumb to the complete antithesis put forward by Marx, with or without the help of his admirer Keynes. The present thesis, anyway, is borne out by the remark of one orthodox banker. "Events", he said, "seem to be in the pay of Douglas".

Mathematics is not generally understood to contain more than one doctrine, but there is room for doubt even here. Dunne points out that greater reality is given to the expression 1/3 than to .33 recurring, though both are supposed to be exactly the same. It is not, perhaps, the fault of Mathematics but Dunne contends that, by using the serial form in relation to the dimension Time rather than the finite form, new vistas of knowledge are opened up. His Serial Time accounts neatly for extra-sensory perception, ghosts and immortality in a perfectly scientific manner, complete with experiment to prove it, albeit statistically. Orthodoxy refuses acknowledgement. The easily repeatable experiment is ignored.

In Archaeology, similarly, de Perthes had to struggle for years to get recognition for his extraordinarily simple claim that human bones and artifacts which were found intermingled with prehistoric animal bones must have been contemporaneous with those artifacts and animal bones. Authority claimed that man just could not have been so ancient, and would not budge. As de Perthes wrote, "...They did not discuss my facts, they did not even take the trouble to deny them. They disregarded them".

To be fair, the Establishment was really taking the proper attitude in this case. It is simply a matter of what constitutes a fact and what does not, and whereas all discoverers and inventors believe that they are dealing in facts, there is no doubt that some of them have been mistaken. Further, for reasons of their own, men sometimes do try to deceive their fellows.

It may have seemed a long time to de Perthes, but in fact the archaeologists, as soon as they had repeated the same discoveries for themselves, accepted his claim and gave him full recognition. Amusingly enough, it was also proved that some of de Perthes' later diggings had been liberally 'salted' by his workmen!

But archaeologists may well be superior characters, being continually confronted with facts which contradict previously held theories. When Cartailhac, the acknowledged authority, was finally convinced that the Altamira cave-paintings were genuine and not some sort of hoax, he published a complete apology to the discoverer, de Sautuola, and, since the latter was by then dead, made a ceremonial visit of apology to his daughter. His mistake, it would seem, was his slavish adherence to Darwinism. He simply could not admit to prehistoric man having been an artist when, 10,000 years ago, he was theoretically little different from an ape. But it has taken a long time for Archaeology to discover, by painstaking observation of facts, that Darwin's theory was altogether too simple: that over some periods and in certain respects mankind has actually degenerated.

Again, possibly the most remarkable heterodoxy that has come to my notice concerns the diagnosis of human ailments. A device developed by one De La Warr in England produces a photograph of a patient's tumour or lesion or thrombosis or developing embryo or whatever it is 'tuned' for, from nothing more than a sample of his or her blood. The device has been demonstrated to all sorts of eminent scientists and doctors but they prefer to ignore it.

I asked a well-known Australian retired doctor and Professor of human physiology if he had heard about the machine.

"Oh yes!", he said, and told me that he had talked to some atomic scientists who had visited De La Warr from Harwell and who had seen the machine demonstrated. They told my friend that it was all perfectly genuine and that it did what the inventor claimed, but it was right outside their orthodox scientific knowledge so it was nothing to do with them. Further, they did not approve of the fact that De La Warr (who had no other income) was actually selling his machines. Such commercialism put him right outside the scientific pale!

Yet Science, to the non-scientific anyway, is the modern religion. There is nothing it does not know, nothing it cannot explain. The faith in which it is held by politicians and journalists and even by ministers of older religions is quite frightening, but the indeterminate areas are strictly off-limits to them. The continuing battle between Newton's corpuscular and Huyghens' wave theories of light and so on are tactfully kept in the cupboard, and the extraordinary hiatus in scientific knowledge when it comes to gravity is given the silent treatment.

It is not, perhaps, appreciated even by many Ufologists that Science regards gravity in much the same way as the ancient Greek civilisation regarded what we call electricity. To them, it was a property of some substances, notably amber, of attracting small particles to themselves after they had been rubbed. Their name for amber, elektra, thus became their only contribution to that vast field of knowledge which lay in hiding behind that insignificant little quirk of nature.

Today, Science is as completely in the dark about the mechanism of gravity as those Greeks were about the mechanism of their rubbed amber. And while our scientists can calculate to an un-dreamed-of accuracy the amount of attraction between a spacevehicle and the moon (as the Greeks might have calculated the attraction between those tiny particles and the amber), they still have not the faintest idea how it works.

It is, perhaps, this very knowledge of their own lack of knowledge which turns some people sour at the thought that others, possibly not even humanoid others, might have discovered the mechanism first and be using it to their own advantage just as we use electricity. But it was not my purpose to digress into Ufology itself other than as just one other example of anti-heterodox attitudes, and in this respect it would seem that the attitude of authority to UFOs has been certainly no more anti than one might expect from the earlier examples.

In passing, however, it may be worth pointing out that Michael Faraday would probably never have discovered the relationship between magnetism and electricity if he had been confronted with a nuclear power station right from the word go. He had to come upon it in the simplest form, the current-carrying wire and the compass, whence the principle could be seen free of complexities. Thus while UFOs, by demonstrating the fact of gravity-control, should spur us on, our task really lies with the fundamentals of gravity, mainly within the laboratory.

To conclude, then, what is so often taken for deliberate anti-heterodoxy is more often (to page 8)

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ORTHODOXY VERSUS HETERODOXY (from page 7)

than not either cautious good sense or sheer apathy, but there is still occasionally the deliberate attack.

We should realise that until Lister's observations had been accepted microbes, if they existed, were nothing to do with medicine nor, similarly, was Harvey's idea about the circulation of the blood. Neither, not so long ago, did economists think that the issue of financial credit (if there was such a thing) was within their province, nor do physicists and mathematicians yet feel that it is their job to include dreams in theirs.

Before we criticise these establishments too severely, we should learn their languages and respect their fields of activity. They have reached the tops of their respective professions because of rigid adherence to certain laws, and it would be naive of us to expect them to discard these now, particularly to bring in something they do not regard as their business anyway.

Neither the Government nor Science nor the Air Force are likely to sort out the UFO problem for us. Like Faraday or Harvey or Lister or de Perthes or Douglas or Dunne we must make our observations, formulate our theory and perform experiments to prove it. Then, and then only, can we expect 'Ufology' to take its place amongst the sciences, thereby transforming them.

As Leonardo Da Vinci stated: "Many will believe that they can with reason censure me, alleging that my proofs are contrary to the authority of certain men who are held in great reverence for their inexperienced (i.e. without experience) judgements, not taking into account that my conclusions were arrived at as a result of simple and plain experience, which is the true mistress". ★

**Bibliography:**

Encyclopaedia Britannica
"Economic Democracy" and "The Monopoly of Credit" C.H.Douglas.
"An Experiment With Time" Dunne.
"The Testimony of the Spade" Bibby.
"New Worlds Beyond The Atom" Langston Day and George De La Warr.

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ION ENGINES (from page 3)

generated within a stationary body thus causing an acceleration of the particles from zero motion to a velocity obviously proportional to the ratio between the magnetic field strength and the degree of charge present in the ion particles.

(b) As the ions are in fact particles of matter they therefore also have mass (i.e. body or substance, they exist, they are physical particles of matter that have weight). Thus if they have mass, and subsequently weight, an amount of kinetic energy must be expanded to cause their acceleration out of the field of magnetism. Now, as Newton's law expounds, "For every action (force) there is an equal and opposite re-action (force)."

Therefore, to put it simply, for each pound of force exerted by the field to thrust the charged ions away in one direction the same number of pounds of force will push (or tend to push) the magnetic field in the opposite direction.

Hence, in summary, an ion engine is simply a device to charge particles (i.e., it has an ionisation chamber) and a magnetic field to thrust the ionised particles away from it, thereby exerting a force upon itself in the opposite direction just as a jet engine does when the expanding gases are forced to exhaust in one direction only.

(to be concluded in the next edition.)

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BACK ISSUES OF THIS MAGAZINE ARE AVAILABLE

# A CONSIDERATION OF THE "MEN IN BLACK" RUMOUR

## Allen H. Greenfield

"He was working on his project
On a dark and lonely night;
How the lightning flashed and
Thunder roared outside.
His name was Al K. Bender
And he was to have a fright
From some visitors who
In the dark did hide...".

(from "The Three Men in Black" by Donny Barker, in Saucer News, Spring, 1970).

Albert K. Bender was not the only person connected with the UFO phenomenon who allegedly had an experience with strange visitors. In fact, an overview of the history of modern UFO investigations might indicate a web of such incidents - or rumoured incidents - stretching back to the very earliest events of 1947.

On pages 34-35 of The Coming of the Saucers by Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer (Amherst Press), one can read an account of a mysterious visitor appearing, as I understand it, at the time of the Maury Island mystery in 1947. In Flying Saucer Review's special "Beyond Condon" issue, pages 57-62, John A. Keel's article "The Cape May Incident" includes an account of a strange visitor who appeared in 1967.

The term "men in black" may be somewhat narrower than the actual scope of the phenomenon being dealt with; actually, mysterious visitors may come in various sizes and forms of attire. The 'black' reference, though, is perhaps a very real one, both with reference to the mode of dress of some of these visitors, and to the dark complexions they may reportedly have.

I have never, to my immediate knowledge, had an experience with anything so dramatic as three visitors coming to my door with eerie knowledge of the UFO mystery, telling me to cease research or face the consequences.

But then, there was that lady that sat out in the front of my old office while I and another UFOlogist 'talked shop'; and then there were those two telephone calls.....but more about my own experiences later. Right now, I am going to briefly quote a segment from an article by Rick R. Hilberg, a gentleman I have personally known for a number of years. The following paragraph is extracted from Saucer News, Spring, 1970, page 48, from an article entitled "The Enigma":

".....I myself became involved with this sort of cloak and dagger mystery during the summer of 1965 when two men dressed as Cleveland police detectives visited my home to ask me questions about my saucer activities, allegedly on request of a potential UFO MAGAZINE subscriber in Florida. They stayed about a half-hour and asked questions which only an 'insider' to the saucer mystery would know. They also had a substantial knowledge of local as well as national UFO personalities.....".

There is nothing unduly spectacular in the
(to page 11)

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WHAT'S THAT WEIRD NOISE? -SOUNDS LIKE MUSIC!

IT'S PROBABLY RADIO FREQUENCY MODULATION OR PARASITIC OSCILLATIONS

W. STAPLETON

A CONSIDERATION OF THE "MEN IN BLACK" RUMOUR (from page 9)

above incident. By the same token, there is nothing so incredible as to be unbelievable about it. Yet if this sort of thing does go on, we might do well to ponder the question of responsibility for such incidents. Who is doing it? The Government? If so, which government, and why? Is it the CIA?

In an article appearing in the Volume 3, Number 2 issue of my own publication, Alternate Horizons Newsletter, published some time ago, Richard S. Hack stated:

".......... In a book entitled UFOs Over the Americas, Jim and Coral Lorenzen put forth the hypothesis that many of the incidents attributed to strange persons in black clothing were really efforts of the Central Intelligence Agency and/or sundry other intelligence groups to keep a security lid on the subject in the national interest.

"My views parallel theirs in some respects, but differ in others. For instance, I believe that the authors make a good case for the existence of some sort of UFO interest by the CIA or some other national agency. There are several valid reasons for believing this. One is the fact that the CIA would presumably receive intelligence reports on the phenomena from the Air Force. Secondly, the Green Bay gentleman who inadvertently revealed that he had drawn up an intelligence estimate on the Lorenzens. Third, the OSI (Office of Special Investigations) dossier reputed to exist on the Lorenzens. Fourth, the intelligence report indicating close surveillance of the Lorenzens reportedly discovered by Dr. Olavo T. Fontes. Fifth, and finally, the Robertson Panel's comment to the effect that such organizations as APRO should be watched due to the possibility of their being subverted sometime in the future.

"However, from here my views sharply diverge from those of the Lorenzens. The later incidents they reveal seem to me to indicate a third factor - the one we call the Men In Black.

"For instance, they cite the case where deposits of angel hair were apparently deliberately destroyed by the supposedly 'accidental' dumping of fuel oil on the area. To me it seems unlikely that the CIA has enough personnel to maintain such a wide surveillance of individual investigators that within two days after a phone conversation with the Lorenzens concerning the incident, they were able to locate the investigator's angel hair site and arrange its destruction, simply to destroy 'hard evidence'. In other words, the effort expended seems disproportionate to the importance of the incident.

"Again, would the CIA track down witnesses to simple sightings all over the world and illegally threaten and even kidnap them solely to prevent their stories from leaking out? I maintain that the normal intelligence procedures cited by the Lorenzens do not include such fantastic procedures as dressing up in black suits and running around trying to look like aliens! If the Air Force isn't doing it, why ascribe omniscience to the CIA?

"Again, note that APRO admits that the Ohio Valley is crawling with such incidents, yet refuses to consider the possibility of a connection between this fact and the numerous phenomena uncovered by John Keel in this area.

"And the most devastating indictment of this CIA scenario is the physical fact of Men In Black - men with uniform descriptions and apparel who, to say the least, have strange abilities, some which may be considered outside the range of even the CIA. When a UFO witness gets crank calls within scant hours after his sighting, and before he even tells anyone of the event, it is hard to suggest CIA involvement without postulating that the CIA has ears in every wall.

"True, one may ask, 'Well, how can these MIB pull these things off, and why would they, if the same things are not rational when attributed to the CIA?' Sadly, I have no reply - except to say that at least the ring of truth, as it were, does not hang on the suggestion of such strange practices being the work of hidebound government bureaucrats - and that is what the CIA is run by, if the agents themselves are not.....".

Perhaps one of the most damning points against the men-in-black-are-all-government-agents concept is similar to an argument against UFOs being simply 'secret weapons' of (to page 12)

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A CONSIDERATION OF THE "MEN IN BLACK" RUMOUR
(from page 11)

quite earthly origin made on historical grounds: that UFOs have simply been around far, far too long for any conventional earthly government to be responsible. Men In Black-type cases may similarly be of extreme vintage, as indicated by my own research and discussed in the article "A Historical Perspective On The 'Men In Black' Legend", written by me and published in UFO Chronolog, 43 Richland Drive, Newport News, Virginia 23602, USA, January-February, 1970 issue, and also published in Quest UFO Report, 489 Krug Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, July-August, 1970 issue. The article suggests the possibility that Men In Black-type incidents may date back hundreds of years.

In my booklet, Extracts From Alternate Horizons Newsletter, I describe an incident which took place 'at' my office, then located in a local shopping center in Atlanta, Georgia USA, where I reside. The incident was at the time of a skywatch in August, 1968, for which my office was serving as communications headquarters. At about 10.15 in the evening a strange call came in; a voice speaking in monotone apparently stated, ".....you will discontinue this project or reap the result(s)". The voice was accompanied by a strange background noise. At a later date, this time at my home, I received another unusual telephone call, this one consisting of strange sounds quite distinct from the background sounds of the earlier call, and not accompanied by any voice. It is quite possible that the former incident could be a hoax of some sort, while the latter might have a natural explanation related to telephone problems -- or it could have been another hoax. On the other hand, if the former was a hoax, it might well be considered a 'technically quite professional' one; this was not the voice of a giggling adolescent playing a momentary prank, though this hardly proves it was not a hoax.

I titled this article "A Consideration of the 'Men In Black' Rumour". Perhaps this is the type of context that the rational UFOlogist should keep this problem in at the present; the Men In Black are a rumour connected with the UFO problem. There may be too much data associated with the rumour readily available to dismiss the matter lightly, but too little readily available to justify any unduly strong commitment to the concept that there are men in black. They may be, and they may not be. ★

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT WAS TAKEN FROM SPACEFLIGHT VOLUME 12 NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1970, PAGE 327, FROM "PERSONAL PROFILE" BY J. GORDON VAETH, SPACE ENGINEER.

Also at White Sands took place the UFO episode: Charlie Moore of General Mills Inc., contractor for our 9UJI balloon operation, and four enlisted personnel from the Proving Ground's Navy Unit had set up near Arrey, New Mexico, to observe local weather. At 10.20 on Sunday morning, 24th April, they released a pilot balloon to check the winds. Tracking equipment consisted of a ML-47 David White theodolite with 25-power scope.

With the balloon at $210^{\circ}$ azimuth and $45^{\circ}$ elevation a whitish object was suddenly noticed at the approximate same bearing, moving east at $5^{\circ}$ of azimuth change per second. Visible to the naked eye and filling the field of the theodolite scope, it appeared to be an ellipsoid about 2 1/2 times longer than wide and gleaming white except light yellow on its underside at the tail. Moving from south-west around toward north-east, getting slightly smaller as it did, the object held constant at about $20^{\circ}$ azimuth, its elevation angle increasing from $25^{\circ}$ to $29^{\circ}$. At that point, it was lost to sight. The sky was cloudless. There was no vapour trail or exhaust. The object made no noise. I found Moore and the others pretty excited when I drove up to their site a couple of hours later. A detailed report was filed. The incident has never been satisfactorily explained.

**********

For the above excerpt we thank
Dr. Paul Zeck.
Perth, W.A.

**********

12

# UFOS AND E.S.P.

## Otto O. Binder

It is the opinion of a growing number of people that global natural disasters are not only on the increase but are breaking all other catastrophe records. They claim, furthermore, that these events coincide with an increasing number of UFOs in our skies.

The following article was received in September 1970. Since that time a great tidal wave, which may turn out to be the greatest disaster in recorded history, has hit East Pakistan.

The writer of this article, Otto O. Binder, is also the author of two UFO books entitled "What We Really Know About Flying Saucers" and "Flying Saucers Are Watching Us". In a note, which accompanied his article, Mr. Binder wrote:

".....As to the predicted 'UFO Wave', I've heard from UFOlogists and newsclip gatherers that there were many sightings so far in 1970, reported only in small-town papers, never in metropolitan dailies where the government policy of 'no saucers exist' holds sway. Maine definitely had a flap, and probably Kansas.

"As for the 'disasters' prediction of Ted Owens, the Peru earthquake killing 50,000 was succeeded by a massive power-blackout in the middle Atlantic states 'greater than ever before' and the present-time raging prairie fires in California, the worst in history, burning out countless homes. Before the year is over, 1970 may well prove out Ted Owens' prophecy as one of the worst years for world-wide catastrophe."

By the time you read this you will know that the summer (northern hemisphere) of 1970 saw the grandaddy of all UFO waves --- if the prediction of Ted Owens was right. Ted Owens claims to be the 'mouthpiece' of the UFO-people, who are in constant telepathic touch with him, revealing their secrets and plans.

And Owens, as of 13th February 1970, predicted that a worldwide barrage of violence (storms, earthquakes, hurricanes, great blackouts and such) would be engineered by the UFOs to prove their powers to us. Along with that would come the most massive UFO wave in history and more landings than ever before. They would issue forth from the Bermuda Triangle and the Devil's Triangle in the Pacific Ocean, near Japan (as in my recent SAGA article).

From all indications, there might have been a giant UFO wave in 1970 but the Saucer Barrier of censorship kept it effectively smothered. Ted Owens cannot be blamed for that, nor his prediction denied. As for natural disasters these, including the Peru earthquake, did rumble through 1970.

Regardless of the saucer-riding contactees, this matter of ESP contact with the saucermen is rapidly gaining ground. I personally have corresponded with (and met) a lady who, though I am unable to identify her here, has in the past few years typed reams of messages from UFOs -- messages which contain scientific terms and concepts that seem entirely beyond her capacity.

(to page 16)

13


=== Page 9 of 17

# WAS IT A FLYING SAUCER?

From a special representative

TAMWORTH, Sat.--A mysterious saucer-like hole--scorched in the earth--has been discovered in a remote paddock, about seven miles east of Boggabri.

Many local residents fear the large hole has been made by a flying saucer.

They claim the hole is similar to others in south NSW and parts of Victoria where UFOs have been allegedly landed.

Already, officers from the Unidentified Flying Objects' Centre and Agricultural Department officials have visited the Boggabri site.

All say they are mystified about the indentation.

The hole was discovered in a paddock on Mr. Willoughby Erratt's property.

The hole is 6 ft. in diameter and about 6 inches deep with a large hole in the centre.

One nearby resident said the centre hole was the size of a small plate, but it was about 18 inches deep.

There are seven more smaller holes around the edge of the main indentation.

Residents claim the seven other holes looked as though they could have been made by the legs of a flying saucer.

One of the strangest things was a fine white powdery substance at the base of the hole.

They believe this could be a burn mark from a rocket blast.

A senior officer of the Soil Conservation Office said the land disturbance was "a very strange phenomenon."

"SUNDAY TIMES"

Perth, W.A.
22/11/70

# Someone up there spies me

PERTH. -- "I don't believe in little green men," the camp supervisor at a copper mine, Mr T. Murphy, said today.

But Mr Murphy and the miners are convinced that something, perhaps from outer space, is watching them work.

The miners work the remote Thaduna open-cut mine, 500 miles north-east of Perth.

The nearest town is Meekatharra, 120 miles to the south-east.

"HERALD"

Melbourne, Vic.
8/12/70

Mr Murphy said today that an oval-shaped "thing," colored white and orange, hovered over the mine for two hours yesterday.

"It gave off a loud hissing noise," Mr Murphy said.

"It was first sighted by nightshift workers about 3.30 a.m.

"They woke their workmates and we all watched it up there in the sky till about 5.30 a.m.

"Then it moved off slowly, passing over the north end of the cut to the south end.

"It just hovered there."

The sighting is one of several reported to the Department of Civil Aviation in Meekatharra in the past few weeks.

The last sighting was at Errabiddy station, about 120 miles west of Meekatharra.

Stockmen described it as orange and oval-shaped.

# "TELEGRAPH"

Brisbane, Q'land
18/12/70

# STRANGE FLASH IN SKY REPORTS

A mysterious explosion in the air was reported at Indooroopilly last night

Mr. R. F. Allen, resident janitor of the Indooroopilly State High School, said the explosion was accompanied by a vivid white light and was violent enough to shake his house and wake his wife.

"It happened at 11.17 p.m. I was awake and looking out my front window," he said.

"The explosion was preceded by a whine, increasing in volume, similar to a jet or a descending shell. But it was not an aircraft.

# VIVID WHITE

"I was an Army engineer during the war and saw plenty of planes go up. A plane exploding is orange colored because of the fuel and is accompanied by falling debris," he said.

"This was a vivid white and I saw nothing fall," he said.

"The explosion appeared to be about 1000 feet up.

"It was about a 40 degree angle to my line of sight as I faced towards the suburbs of Graceville, Sherwood and Gailes."

The sound of the explosion also was reported by a St. Lucia housewife.

DCA and Weather Bureau officials today said they had heard no reports of the explosion.

# Navy coming -- UFO at St Helens

A ST HELENS man who saw an unidentified flying object late last month will be interviewed by a Navy Department official.

Mr M. G. Beven said he was told by police on Monday night "that someone from the Navy Department was going to come up and interview me."

He said he was not sure when the interview would take place.

On October 28, Mr and Mrs Beven and their neighbours in Bowen St, St Helens, Mr and Mrs J. Riley, watched a cigar-shaped object moving across the sky.

"It was about 6.06 pm when I first saw it and I watched it for about eight minutes," Mr Beven said.

The object was travelling towards the north-east when he first saw it and then it turned around and moved from Eddystone Pt south along the coast towards St Marys.

"It was at a tremendous height -- about 50,000ft."

When he looked at the object through a pair of cheap field glasses he said he could make out the colours of red, white, and blue.

"It had small fins and could have been a rocket, but it was travelling too slow."

The object moved slower than a jet, made no noise, but left a long white vapour trail.

Mr Stan Glatty, of Binalong Bay, also saw the UFO and made a report to police.

"Mr Glatty said he saw the object come up out of the sea," Mr Beven said.

"MERCURY"
Hobart, Tas.
11/11/70

# 'FLYING SAUCERS' SEEN THROUGHOUT RIVERINA

Unidentified flying objects have taken the Riverina by storm, according to numerous reports by residents in the past two weeks.

More than seven reports of sightings of unidentified objects have been made by people over a wide area.

One woman, Mrs. Shirley Ryall, of Barmedman, was quite adamant that an object which "looked like a spaceship" landed in a paddock about a mile from her home last week.

Mrs. Ryall and her brother, Mr. Bevan Adams, said they sighted a strange light in the sky near Yiddah at about 8.45 p.m.

"It was lower than a star and it was moving," Mrs. Ryall said.

# Bright

"There was a bright yellow light and it appeared to have a tail.

"The tail was a smaller light that occasionally disappeared.

"This strange light seemed to follow us and it was still in the sky when we saw the "spaceship" about a mile from home.

"When we reached the top of a hill in our car we noticed the object in one of our paddocks, near the roadway.

"There was light emitting from several small windows in the spaceship and it had antennas on top.

"It was shaped like a football but there didn't appear to be any landing gear underneath.

"I did not stop the car. I was too scared and kept on driving.

# Griffith

"The object later flew over the top of our house and in the direction of Griffith," Mrs. Ryall said.

Mrs. Ryall said she was surprised her friends believed her when she told them what she had seen.

"They didn't think I was mad and I'm sure anyone would believe it if they saw it too," she said.

On the same night September 8, a Leeton woman, Mrs. Fay Bulgaries, said she also saw an object which looked like a spaceship.

# Floating

Mrs. Bulgaries said she saw the object floating in the area about 500ft above her home at 7 p.m.

An 18-year-old Narrandera railway employee spent about 10 minutes on Wednesday night watching an object in the sky.

The youth, Mr. Kevin McClure, said the object was about 150 feet to 200 feet above the ground and that it changed colour from orange to red and also emitted a blue light.

Also on Wednesday night a Yanco couple, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Tremellen, said they saw an unidentified object in the sky shortly after 9.40 p.m.

Mr. and Mrs. Tremellen said they had seen a bright light to the west of their home and as it descended it changed colour quickly, turning blue, green, red and white.

Late last week Mr. David Whybrow, of Junee, and Miss Nola Kelleher, of Harden, both saw an unidentified flying object in the sky near Junee.

They said the moving light appeared to change colours.

Five residents of the Nubba district also reported similar sightings.

Two of the residents, Mr. John Chapman of Murrumburrah, and Miss Alison Taylor, both saw an object which appeared to "meet with another object."

They could not identify the objects.

A vice-president of the U.F.O. Investigations Organisation of N.S.W., Mr. T. V. Homan, of Glebe, said the organisation was interested to hear of the Riverina sightings and would send some people questionnaires.

"On the whole it has been very quiet lately and there have been no sightings for several months," Mr. Homan said.

"When we get the reports back we will attempt to evaluate them and see if there is anything at the bottom of the sightings."

# Sceptics

Mr. Homan, an essential oil distiller said there had been numerous sightings throughout N.S.W. reported to the organisation in past years.

"Sometimes many of the sightings are eliminated after investigation but we think there is something at the bottom of all these sightings.

"People have claimed actual contact but we regard them as extreme sceptics," Mr. Homan said.

"ADVERTISER"

Wagga, N.S.W.
18/9/70


=== Page 10 of 17

UFOs AND E.S.P. (from page 13)

And it is significant, if you go back over old UFO reports, how many witnesses said they "heard words" in their minds from hovering UFOs or from occupants stepping out of landed craft. It is one of those too-many-times-repeated phenomena that have the ring of truth.

The lady previously mentioned has been receiving repeated warnings of some world-wide series of disasters to come (no date given) which will wipe out current civilization - because it is going downhill morally and decaying - and force mankind to make a new start. This is not unlike the messages and predictions received by other 'sensitives', even famed ones known nationally. There almost seems to be a concensus among prognosticators that some major catastrophe lies ahead for Earth, before the year 2000.

In fact, the implication is there (sometimes stated flatly) that the reason UFOs have appeared in massive numbers around our world for twenty-three-odd years is because this world calamity will occur. Whether they are here merely as observers, or as actual instigators, or as rescuers, is anybody's guess. At least the whole theory hangs together, ominously.

To add to the ESP factor - for years, while my newspaper feature OUR SPACE AGE ran, I received many letters mentioning such 'mental contacts' with saucermen. Another woman, in New Jersey, described three separate sightings in which "soothing messages" flowed into her mind. It is hard to believe that all those people simply have a superb imagination - they are often simple people who have little imagination about anything. Their experience always comes unexpectedly, shockingly, without any warning. Hardly the sign of a neurotic who has been 'hearing voices' all his life.

If the world was gripped by disasters, plus flocks of UFO sightings and landings galore in 1970, then Ted Owens will be vindicated and the case for UFO-E.S.P. will be wrapped up ---except, of course, for the professional disbelievers of The Establishment.

But even they will have to wonder! ★

16

# BOOK REVIEW

Written by Peter Kolosimo, NOT OF THIS WORLD is selling in Melbourne at $4.90.

I found this a 'meaty' book mainly because of the very nature of its subject matter - the historical aspect of UFOs and the visits to this planet in the past (and the present) by beings from other worlds.

The theme of the text is similar to that of Erich von Daniken's books - that the orthodox or traditional ideas on evolution are out of date and cosmic evolution is in, suggesting that we are the descendants of extra-terrestrial beings.

Because of the wealth of absorbing material contained in this book I advise readers to digest a chapter at a time rather than try to read the whole book quickly. (May I suggest that keeping a special notebook is a handy aid to summarizing the more important points in each chapter and thereby facilitating the retention of facts as well as providing a use-ful future reference to the contents of the book. These reference notebooks might also be prepared on all your UFO literature.)

Unfortunately this book does not contain an index or bibliography which, to me, are essential in a work of this type. The book is obviously well researched and the author well-read and knowledgeable which makes these omissions the more lamentable.

The contents, covering a wide variety of topics, are divided into two sections. The first section deals with ancient manuscripts, relics and legends about 'other beings'. It makes one want to read the author's earlier book 'The Timeless Earth'.

The second section concerns itself with ancient civilizations and their possible founding and destruction.

NOT OF THIS WORLD contains 33 interesting illustrations which add to the quality of the book and to its better understanding. ★

Michael McNamara

# "AVIATORS" OF ANTIQUITY

Reprinted from
CANADIAN UFO REPORT, BOX 758, DUNCAN, B.C., CANADA.
(Vol.1. No.8.)
by special permission of John Magor, editor.

An absorbing aspect of ufology is the study of evidence suggesting that advanced beings from space may have landed on earth in ancient times beyond record and had a part in the growth of our civilization. Possibly, in fact, they shared in our evolution.

Consider these words in Genesis V1-1: "...the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose."

Reference to the "sons of God" is frequent in the Bible yet there is no real certainty as to exactly who they were.

In his book 'Flying Saucers Are Watching Us' Otto Binder suggests this: "remember that all theologians do not agree that the words God, Jehovah, Elohim and such necessarily all meant the God. It is open to question whether in many cases a nondivine being was meant, a messenger from the sky. Reinterpreting the Bible freely, and more logically, the Adam and Eve story might really be a garbled account of how men in flying saucers landed on earth and intermarried with earthly women of some pre-historic type. Or even more likely, with a sub-human species more than a million years ago."

While it is hard to believe that beings so mature would have any taste for ape-like females, it is possible they used artificial insemination as part of some plan to colonize our embryonic planet with an intelligent species. Then perhaps returning long afterward as what were thought to be "sons of God", they were pleased with what they had wrought and took unto themselves wives.

It is theorizing of this sort that sends orthodox scholars groping for the nearest wall but these same scholars are often notably lacking in answers of their own. Here, for instance, are significantly unanswered questions concerning the biological development of man listed by Max H. Flindt in his studious work 'On Tiptoe Beyond Darwin':

A. Why did the race of Aurignacian Man (circa 30,000 B.C.) according to his fossil bones, have a brain case 100 cubic centimeters bigger than that of modern man with 1,300 cc capacity? Where did this huge brain case, three times that of a gorilla, come from? And was this large-brained sub-man one of our immediate ancestors, through some unknown bio-genetic program of interbreeding with men of space?

B. Why is a man's brain weight more than triple that of other animals, in proportion to body weight, with a thinking capacity ten times greater than any species of the primates?

C. Why did man alone, out of hundreds of rival mammalian species, develop this tremendous brain power? (Recent studies of the mental behaviour of dolphins indicate man may not have been alone. Possibly space visitors also carried out their experiment on aquatic life where diversity was infinitely greater - Ed.) All other creatures had just as many millions of years to evolve their
(to page 18)

17


=== Page 11 of 17

"AVIATORS" OF ANTIQUITY (from page 17)

D. Why is it that the fertilized ovum of the human female buries itself in the uterus wall, something that happens with no other creature on earth?

E. Why does man, unlike all other animals in nature, come in a wide variety of skin colors, statures, cranial shapes, color of head hair, and facial features? Why does man in that sense resemble domesticated dogs, cats and cattle, who have been bred by us - much as we may have been bred - into a great variety of types?

As Binder remarks: "None of these riddles is fully explained by the theory of evolution. Max Flindt quotes from Sir Arthur Keith, the great anthropologist, who states that 'thirty percent of man's structural details (of his body) are peculiar to man himself and not shared with any other of the primates.'"

While the theory of 'manipulated' evolution seems to answer such riddles, there is danger of over-simplification if we follow this line of thought without considering other riddles in man's development. To judge from the discovery of miraculously contrived artifacts far older than the most primitive kind of relics, man's growth has been a history of interruptions. There must have been periods of tremendous accomplishment followed by others of near extinction.

This view has been notably developed in the prodigious studies of scientist and historian Immanuel Velikovsky, and in issue no.2 we listed some of the remarkable relics tending to support it. But with the exception of the ancient Piri Reis maps showing areas of the world thought to be unknown to earthbound explorers, these particular examples gave no evidence that their creators were masters of flight - though some of the building feats suggested the use of flying craft.

(A friend of ours who recently questioned Velikovsky on the subject found that, understandably because of his preoccupation with other avenues of his immense study, he had not concerned himself with the possibility of manned flight in ancient times. Thus he has not paid particular attention to the controversy over UFOs. Interestingly, however, Velikovsky makes this statement in his 'Ages in Chaos': "With colorful imagination 'Kebra Nagast' recounts the bridal night of Solomon and the Queen of the South; among the presents he gave her there were 'a vessel wherein one could travel over the sea and a vessel where one could travel by air.'")

So now let's look at another centuries-old creation of skillful design where the involvement of flight seems unmistakable. In fact, more than anything it resembles a set of navigation aids for aviators arriving from great altitudes.

The scene is the unbelievably dry coastal desert about 250 miles south of Lima, capital of Peru. There, between the Ica and Nazca valleys, are vast tracings on the pebbly surface that obviously have a connection with astronomy as well as being symbols of an unknown culture. Mystifying as the tracings are for their design alone, the real puzzle is that their outline becomes apparent only when seen from the air. While for countless years travelers must have trudged right through them, they were hardly noticed until a commercial airline was established in the region. Passengers and crewmen observed a bewildering maze of designs covering the mesa-like uplands, and soon the tracings became a scientific curiosity.

The manner in which they were etched on the desert was simply explained. The originators had removed a thin layer of weather-darkened pebbles where they wished to show the outlines and piled these along the border of the exposed subsurface. The result was yellowish inner strips bounded by dark edges which were immediately noticeable when viewed from a height.

But how these early-day 'sidewalk' artists completed their enormous patterns if they had no help above ground level is so far unexplained. Now known simply as the Nazca Lines, the tracings in some cases represent huge men with arms aloft and bird-like creatures or insects. In other cases the drawings are geometric, with lines running parallel for miles or fashioned as triangles that seem to have a directional purpose. Some of the lines appear to go straight into the (to page 20)

18

**********

Desert tracings like these are unexplained.

**********


=== Page 12 of 17

"AVIATORS" OF ANTIQUITY (from page 18)

bases of mountains and come out again on the other side, at the same level and in complete alignment.

Still more mystifying is how several of the lines were given a precise astronomical bearing. First scientist to discover this remarkable fact was U.S. anthropologist Paul Kosok who went to Peru in 1940 to study the development of remote "irrigation societies". Having heard of the lines and thinking they might throw light on his subject, he went to investigate.

Like others before him, he failed at first to see any meaning in the designs. Then one evening on a second visit a year later Kosok and his wife were studying a series of lines at the top of a mesa when they were surprised to notice that the setting sun touched the horizon precisely over one of them. Immediately they recalled the date was June 22, the day of the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. Surely this was a solstice line!

From that chance beginning Kosok came to conclude that the markings were nothing less than the "Largest Astronomy Book in the World". Other commitments obliged him to leave the region before his work there was finished but in Lima he had the good luck to meet a German-born scientist, Dr. Maria Reiche, who was trained in both mathematics and astronomy.

Instantly captivated by what Kosok told her about the lines, Dr. Reiche became something of a miracle in her own right. Going to see the tracings for herself, she has never departed. Today she lives in a simple abode hut near the desert and spends her days charting and measuring the lines and comparing them with the positions of the stars and planets at different times of the year.

While Dr. Reiche, as far as we know, never assumed that space beings had a part in the history of the tracings, she did at one time admit by her own actions that height was needed to study the lines properly. This occurred when, to photograph the maze of drawings, she had herself strapped to the outside of an airplane so she would have an unobstructed bird's-eye view of all the configurations.

Speculation about why the drawings were ever put there usually proceeds from the premise that they were an aid to early inhabitants in forecasting seasons favorable to crops, with some religious connotation possibly included. Since no rain ever falls on those particular plains - which explains why the lines have not been erased - the people who would benefit were presumably those who lived in the valleys where irrigation was possible.

While this reasoning is probably correct to some degree, it fails to account for the seemingly endless complexity of the drawings. Although she is making a life-study of the mystery, Dr. Reiche still has not exhausted its astronomical possibilities. How simple farmers, even with the help of their more knowledgeable high priests could fare any better - to say nothing of creating the diagrams in the first place - remains completely unexplained.

So here again we run into the stiff academic attitude that if anything scientifically unacceptable, such as UFOs, must be introduced to solve a mystery, it is better to let the mystery remain.

If the Nazca lines were strictly a local feature, without anything similar elsewhere, it might be stretching the case a bit to suggest ufoperators found this particular spot for their navigational aids. But these strange drawings are not an isolated instance of their kind, though they are certainly the most complex. In the Zana and Lambayesque valleys of northern Peru there are "roads" similar to those in Nazca, while other drawings that take on form only when viewed from the air are located just outside Lima and in northern Chile. A 602-foot-high candelabra-like figure is carved into a cliff above the Pacific near Pisco, also in Peru. It points exactly north and south.

In the midwest U.S. there are unexplained mounds that are more apparent seen from above than on the ground, and there are giant pictographs on the sun-parched mesas of California. One hundred miles upstream from them, on the Colorado, is a mysterious rock "maze" consisting of many acres of ground covered with a patchwork of parallel roads of small stones, scraped together in small ridges. This is (to page 21)

20

"AVIATORS" OF ANTIQUITY (from page 20)

called the 'Mojave Maze' but the Mojave deny having built it, nor do they know who did.

The confusion of designs and forms suggests these puzzling relics of a time before recorded history had more than a single purpose. If we are bold enough to assume they were created by a civilization in space, we might also assume the creatures depicted are symbols of another world where such creatures exist. Perhaps they have a religious intent or perhaps they serve the more earthy purpose of identifying the region in which they are located, much as we identify our airfields by particular radio signals.

Going a step further with the idea of a relationship with space beings, we can wonder if the drawings so like direction signs on the changeless sands of South America have some connection with the UFO power-grid theorized by Captain Bruce Cathie of New Zealand and mentioned later in this issue. Could these signs be used to take bearings on important sectors of the grid? To orthodox scholars this may seem to be heaping wild guess on wild guess but at least it suggests a purpose that is so far utterly lacking.

There are two other pieces of evidence that may not fit into this particular puzzle but are so similar in format they might have been cut with the same jigsaw. One is this item from an article in 'Astroview' by Joseph F. Goodavage on lost continents and civilizations.

"Now, however, we have a newer, even more mysterious discovery (Goodavage had been discussing five miles of enormous submarine stairs off the northern coast of Puerto Rico) - the remnants of an ancient 'Atlantis' in the depths of the Pacific off the coast of Peru. These rock columns jut from the silt of the ocean's bed in the middle of a zone of submarine earthquakes and belching volcanoes that encircles the entire Pacific.

"Dr. Robert Menzies, director of ocean research at the Duke University Marine Laboratory, recently lowered his cameras from the research ship 'Anton Brunn' beneath a few thousand fathoms of water to within a few feet of the bottom and switched on his lights... Dr. Menzies' cameras accidentally photographed unnatural rock columns, several of them with engraving in some totally alien-seeming language.

'Was this some new Atlantis or Lemuria? There are no islands nearby from which they could recently have fallen; experts who studied the pictures believe they predate the ancient Inca civilizations by centuries - perhaps millennia! It happens that the people of ancient Peru had one of the most magnificent civilizations on earth when Europe was still in the Dark Ages. In addition to their well-known temples and pyramids, they also built what we call macadamized highways several miles long and suspension bridges!

The other bit of evidence that may help explain the strange desert patterns in Peru is contained in an article in 'Esquire' on mod movie director Dennis Hopper, of all unlikely people, who made a hit with 'Easy Rider'. Describing an interview with Hopper on location for shooting a movie in Peru, the article said:

"Beside him is the beautiful Pilar, staring moodily out at the dirt road, at brown Indians on muddy hillsides herding testy foolish-looking llamas, at the occasional brown cluster of roadside huts, and at the highest Andes jutting too abruptly and independently back-lot peaks painted on expertly stretched canvas.

" 'Dig those mountains, man. Far out. The Indians have seen flying saucers land up there.' "

This will not come as news to ufologists. The Andes, and in fact most of South America, are known by them to have a special attraction for our visitors from space. But the point is lost on orthodox scholars who try vainly to identify the ancient civilizations of that continent while ignoring our "ancestors" from other worlds.

In varying degrees of size and feature, UFO occupants have been observed to resemble ourselves. If there were not some relationship, the odds against this being so would be beyond calculation. So out in space, it would seem, is the connecting link between us and the great cultures lost in upheavals researched so carefully by Velikovsky. Evidently we have (to page 26)

21


=== Page 13 of 17

# THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE

## AND THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS

**P. G. Gittins**

**(continued)**

Part 3. What are the possibilities of life on other planets?

Before attempting to answer this question, it may be as well to define the term 'life'. By 'life' we mean a living organism, and to define this I quote from the Encyclopaedia Britannica:- "The necessary and sufficient condition for an object to be recognisable as a living organism, and so to be the subject of biological investigation, is that it be a discrete mass of matter, with a definite boundary, undergoing continual interchange of material with its surroundings without manifest alteration of properties over short periods of time and, as ascertained either by direct observation or by analogy with other objects of the same class, originating by some process of division or fractionation from one or two pre-existing objects of the same kind. The criterion of continual interchange of material may be termed the metabolic criterion, that of origin from a pre-existing object of the same class, the reproductive criterion."

Living things have the same characteristics:-

(a) Growth.
(b) Reproduction.
(c) Food requirements.
(d) Respiration.
(e) Metabolism - the sum total of all the chemical processes in a living thing.
(f) Sensitivity - stimulus and response to touch. light heat electricity atmospheric conditions.
(g) Adaption.

Having thus defined our terms, let us proceed. A quick look at the other planets of our solar system seems to reveal a poor prospect for life. Mercury and Venus appear too hot, Mars has almost no air, Jupiter and Saturn seem to be swathed in ammonia and methane. But can life exist on Earth?

A Martian astronomer, for example, would see a planet surrounded by a deadly gas, oxygen. It is well known that this very reactive element readily combines with almost anything, including the unstable compounds of hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, out of which living organisms are built. All signs of life on Earth must surely be quickly oxidised to dust and ashes. (Only Earthmen know the remarkable methods developed by our bodies for coping with oxygen so that it does not burn us up.)

Martian satellites despatched to photograph the surface from a couple of hundred miles up (as the Tiros and Nimbus weather satellites have done) would reveal no conclusive signs of life.

THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE (from page 22)

The biggest stir might have been caused by the observation that the Earth has suddenly become a powerful source of radio waves, a million times 'brighter' on medium wave lengths than Venus or Mercury. But how would they interpret it? Without domestic broadcasting of their own (and we haven't detected any) they might conclude that some unprecedented natural catastrophe was in progress. Arguments then, from one's own planetary experience, are thus tricky.

All this leads to the question: How can man determine if other forms of life exist in the Universe?

At his present stage of knowledge and technological development, man has four methods available to him. Let us consider each one in turn:-

(i) Statistical Arguments:

There are an estimated 150,000 million stars in our galaxy alone, a considerable proportion of which are similar to our Sun. There is no reason to believe our star unique. It is highly probable that there are thousands of millions of planetary systems similar to ours in our galaxy alone. On the basis of mathematical chances alone, some of these planets must be hospitable to life. According to Sagan of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the Russian Academician Josef Shklovskii of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, our Galaxy may contain at least 1,000 million habitable planets. The nearest promising stars, they say, are Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi and Tau Ceti. These are 10.3, 11.3 and 12.2 light years away respectively - in other words, a spacecraft travelling near the speed of light would take over a decade to reach any one of them.

The next question is how many of these myriad, if hypothetical planets are likely to contain life? And how many might contain 'advanced technical civilisations'?

In recent years a number of researchers have been releasing electric sparks, - miniature bolts of lightning - through mixtures of gases and vapours (water, ammonia, hydrogen, methane) which are thought to represent primitive planetary atmospheres. They have been gratified to discover in the resulting mixtures a huge variety of complex organic substances like sugar, amino-acids, urea and others associated with life.

The next step is to arrange for a complex molecule to reproduce itself. This too, has been done in a test tube, producing a simple form of nucleic acid, the genetic material which controls heredity. But there is a slight embarrassment: the reaction only works in the presence of an enzyme derived from a living organism. The enzyme is a protein - yet the synthesis of proteins is controlled by nucleic acids.

If it needs a protein to make a nucleic acid and it needs a nucleic acid to make a protein, then the prospect of life in the primitive planetary soup would be poor. We must assume therefore, that some nucleic acids are formed 'spontaneously'. From then on, one can imagine a gradual evolution, steered by natural selection, of evermore complex aggregates of molecules, leading eventually to cells and multicellular organisms.

Thus, in principle, life on Earth-like planets may be the rule rather than the exception. In practice we cannot do much more than guess. However, there is circumstantial evidence of biological processes on Mars: the 'waves of darkening' in spring and summer near the receding ice-caps, spectroscopic evidence that dark areas include organic molecules; and the curious fact that the red deserts appear to consist of an iron-rich compound containing much water and oxygen, normally found in the soils of hot, humid regions. Perhaps Mars was lushly tropical in the distant past?

Within five years there may be some more direct evidence. Capsules are to be deposited on Mars from space probes. One of their prime tasks will be to detect any signs of life.

Venus is covered in clouds and the nature of its surface is thus speculative. Sagan suggests it is "very like hell" with rocks glowing dull red in fierce heat trapped by the

22

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THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE (from page 23)

clouds above. The recent Russian space probe seems to confirm this. Other theories propose an oily smog-like atmosphere or oceans of soda water. Up in the clouds it would be cold - suitable possibly, for the evolution of aerial organisms of some kind.

Jupiter appears to have a primitive planetary atmosphere full of hydrogen, methane, ammonia, water and possibly frequent bolts of lightning - a promising scene indeed for some 'pre-biology' or for bizarre biological surprises.

The other planets look poor life prospects in terms of Earth-type life. Nevertheless, as a planetary system, we have at least one planet with life (Earth), one which quite possibly has life forms now and may have had more in the past (Mars), plus two possibly 'pre-biological' planets (Jupiter and Venus). Thus, if the galaxy contains 1,000 million potentially 'habitable' planets, the total actually inhabited by SOMETHING could be very large indeed.

(ii) By the study of meteorites:

Here I should like to quote two actual examples of research:-

(a) On 11th April 1925, a bright meteorite was seen above Southern Sweden, and a limestone ball landed near the small township of Bleckenstad, exploding on contact with the ground. The fall was observed by a number of witnesses and some fragments were subsequently collected by the assistant of Professor Assar Hadding of Lund University. Various circumstantial and none too convincing criticisms have been made of Hadding's identification - to disprove his claim that the limestone was of meteoric origin. This is, perhaps, not surprising, as it contained fragments of marine shells and of an animal resembling a tribolite. The limestone, however, was of a composition that does NOT occur in Sweden.

(b) A few years ago whilst working with one such lump that landed in Orgueil, France, in May 1864, three chemists (Professor Bartholomew Nagy and Douglas J. Hennessy of Fordham and Dr. Warren G. Meinschein of the Esso Research & Engineering Company) found certain organic substances in the meteorite's core. 'Biotic' forms were found - materials representing life already emergent, formed and functioning. These 'biotic' materials were in the form of waxy or paraffinic hydrogen and carbon atoms similar to the arrangements found in Earth life such as the skin of apples. The process by which these hydrocarbons end up in the rock is suggestive of how coal is formed on Earth. Organic life (plant life) grows, dies, decomposes, becomes mixed with sediment and is eventually transformed into rocks.

Like all important new discoveries, the findings raised some scepticism and yet more questions. One question in particular, of course, was: "Where did it come from?".

In February 1967, a press report appeared in the Melbourne "Sun" claiming that a Dr. Johnson of Berkeley, California, U.S.A., had found traces of chlorophyll - the green colouring found in grass and plants - in clouds of dust drifting in outer space. This is the substance which is vital to life on Earth, and from which many scientists believe life first came.

Dr. Johnson said: "The significance of my findings, if correct, is not only that a case for life chemistry in space can be inferred, but that the end product can be looked upon as a form of life similar to that on Earth.

If this chlorophyll reached the surface of a planet, it could produce, in combination with other factors, at least a simple plant form.

Commenting on this news item, Professor Alberto Mancinelli of Columbia University said: "I would say that if Dr. Johnson's claims are correct, he has discovered life in outer space."

(iii) Listening for radio signals:

Our own technical civilisation has existed for a very short time indeed on the cosmic time scale. Thus, if we are not unique, there should be many technical civilisations which are much older - unless it turns out to be a (to page 25)

24

THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE (from page 24)

universal property of technical civilisations that they destroy themselves early in life - perhaps with immature tampering with atomic energy.

But suppose they survive and flourish and are disposed to direct their skills and resources to cosmic exploration. Interstellar communication, let alone interstellar travel, sounds a desperately laborious business. Suppose that Epsilon Eridani boasts a civilised planet interested in communicating with us. Assume too, that the technical difficulties (which are formidable) are overcome. It would take ten years for a message to travel to Earth and another ten for us to answer back. To get some sense into the exchange would pre-suppose a mutually comprehensible code.

An American radio-astronomer, Frank Drake, in 1965 fabricated an 'interstellar message' of over 550 dots and dashes, and asked distinguished scientists to decode it. They had very moderate success, although they knew the decoded result would be pictorial and that the code derived from a human mind (i.e. Drake's). It was Drake who ran 'Project Ozma' which monitored Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti for 200 hours in 1960, with a sensitive receiver attached to a big radio telescope - but with no result.

Then on 13th April 1965, a report from the Russian News Agency, Tass, was published in London. It stated that a theory was held that intelligent beings were beaming radio waves to Earth. The source of the emission, known as CTA-102, was discovered in 1960 by two American astronomers. The basis for the Russian theory was the discovery by Gennady Scholomitsky, a Soviet astronomer, who claimed emissions from CTA-102 followed a regular flickering pattern repeated every 100 days. He said this suggested an intelligence responsible, rather than an 'accidental' source. Astronomers in Washington said the signals would need a lot more study, but they did not dismiss the possibility that there may be an 'intelligence' trying to communicate with Earth.

(CTA-102 is an invisible spot in space, too distant to be seen by even the most advanced optical telescopes. Only radio-astronomers have picked up its mystery 'radio waves' by using giant radio telescopes. Just how far away is CTA-102, cannot even be speculated, but it is certainly thousands, and possibly millions, of light years out in space.)

Both the Russians and the Americans have spent some time listening for 'sensible' radio signals from space - so far without result. In April 1966, Soviet astronomers proposed a new search for radio signals. They want to listen in to signals arriving from stars up to 1,000 light years away. Within this distance there are ten million stars. The suggested Russian experiment is to scan the sky continuously for from three to five years, using large radio telescopes.

The Russians, basing conclusions on calculations done on a computer, say that a radio transmitter of 1,000 million watts could send signals which could be heard distinctly 2,940,000 billion miles away. Such a transmitter, the professors say, is feasible in the light of present day Earth technology. Therefore there is no reason to suppose that the 'inhabitants of other worlds' have not built one - and may be using it.

The Russians proposed that the sky should be divided into segments, their calculations indicating that about 1,000 stars might be scanned this way. But how would a message be recognised? Nobody knows, but it would probably have a distinct pattern.

They calculate, that although it might seem more profitable to a distant civilisation to transmit signals in all directions - they would stand a better chance of being picked up - this would require too much transmitter power. It was considered likely then, that any 'messages' coming at us, would be directed as a thin beam - occupying a narrow band of frequencies. But which band of frequencies? The only way to be sure, argue the Russians, is to listen to all of them. But the finance for such a scheme would be astronomical. (No pun intended!)

One thing, however, is sure: because of the vast distances involved, one of the first qualities necessary for civilisations intent on cosmic communication, will be remarkable (to page 26)

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"AVIATORS" OF ANTIQUITY (from page 21)

been fathered or colonized not once or twice, but several times, by our other-world visitors.

In Peru, as elsewhere, the history of their earthly association is still being written. ★

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THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE (from page 25)

patience.

(iv) Space Probes:

This is a method we are starting to use to a much greater extent as our knowledge increases. With instrumented space probes man has already reached and photographed Mars and the 'other side' of the Moon, and made successful attempts in reaching the planet Venus.

Undoubtedly as our technology advances so will the space probes improve in range and ability, and many will be manned space probes.

(to be concluded in the next edition.)

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ARE UFOs EXTRATERRESTRIAL SURVEILLANCE CRAFT ? (from page 28)

our radar-fences and high-altitude radar-search systems see UFOs? If not of intra-solar-system origin, how could UFOs accomplish interstellar transits in reasonable times? Where could they be coming from? How is it possible that other military radar systems throughout the world have failed to detect UFOs if they are real? Why aren't they seen by airline pilots and military pilots? Why aren't they seen by astronauts in orbit? Why aren't UFOs seen occasionally by large crowds of people rather than by single witnesses? To these and related questions there exist some quite good answers and some possibly relevant speculative answers; to others of those questions, there exist no satisfactory answers, to date.

9) The first need in accelerating UFO research is for many more scientists and engineers to review carefully and critically the existing evidence in order to design new sensors. (Electromagnetic effects accompanying UFO sightings offer real promise herein.) Also, it is urgently important to exploit already existing radar networks. Data from the latter networks should be brought under scientific scrutiny to search for systematic patterns of UFO appearances and movements. Present anecdotal data, plus fortuitously revealed radar data, are inadequate to define such patterns accurately (due to the ridicule-lid effect acting as a non-random filter). Following design of sensor-networks specifically planned for UFO detection, a host of other investigations would naturally follow, as I have remarked in other contexts. A few specific examples of the latter will be cited.

10) As a low-cost, minimal-level precursor to such efforts to attain instrumental monitoring of UFOs, it is urged that various organizations and agencies take steps to establish exploratory UFO study programs, even if these involve only two or three scientists per organization. Any aerospace organization or agency that is interested in organizing such a small internal study can secure initial bibliography-assistance, etc., by getting in touch with me. The immediate need is to establish a broader base of scientific recognition of the astonishing nature of the existing UFO evidence. Scientific scoffing at UFOs has gone on long enough. Serious attention is long overdue. AIAA could perform a very useful role in stimulating new and vigorous examination of this intriguing, yet neglected scientific problem. (I am encouraged to learn that AIAA has, in fact, recently formed a UFO Subcommittee and am in touch with it.) Although only a percentually small number of scientists yet realize it, the past 20 years of yawning neglect of the UFO problem has become a scientific scandal, albeit still well-hidden. The sooner we take a serious new stance and confront the UFO question with adequate scientific talent and manpower, the less embarrassing will be the ultimate admission that we have, for two decades, been overlooking a problem of potentially enormous scientific importance to all mankind. ★

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# ARE UFOs EXTRATERRESTRIAL SURVEILLANCE CRAFT ?

## James E. McDonald

ABSTRACT OF A TALK GIVEN MARCH 26, 1968 BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS, INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, LOS ANGELES.

**********

If it were insisted that I limit my entire talk to a one-word answer to the question posed in that title, I should find it hard to choose between the safer answer, "possibly", and the riskier answer that actually comes closer to my present opinion, "probably". The ever-increasing weight of the evidence I have been examining would drive me to the latter answer, if I had to compress an hour's remarks into a single word.

Surely AIAA members would wholeheartedly agree that if there were even a slim possibility that the earth were under extra-terrestrial surveillance in any form, that would be a matter of the greatest scientific importance, warranting the most vigorous investigation. In fact, the evidence that seems to point to the conclusion that UFOs could be such devices is far from negligible; yet because of the history of official and scientific response to the earlier UFO reports, we continue to see mainly neglect or ridicule of this intriguing question.

After nearly two years of intensive study of many facets of the long-standing UFO problem, after examining around a thousand UFO reports and directly interviewing several hundred witnesses in selected UFO cases of outstanding interest, and after weighing alternative hypotheses, I find myself driven steadily further towards the position that the extra-terrestrial hypothesis is the most probable hypothesis to account for the UFO.

That hypothesis is, of course, not original with me; it has been urged for many years by persons knowledgeable with respect to the UFO problem, who spoke from outside scientific circles. Our collective failure to examine scientific aspects of the UFO problem will, I fear, be held against the scientific community when the full dimensions of the UFO evidence come to be recognized. And the latter date may not be far off.

The principal points which I wish to emphasize include the following:

1) For the past half-dozen years, our American space program has been keyed to "the search for life in space", yet the now impressive UFO evidence that "life" may, in some sense, already have found us is either scoffed at or wholly ignored, even within such space-oriented agencies as NASA. I speak from first-hand experience in making that observation.

2) Twenty years of USAF responsibility in handling UFO reports appear to me to constitute about that same number of years of superficial and scientifically incompetent response to the UFO problem. Aside from brief periods in 1948 and again in 1952-3, USAF investigat- (to page 28)

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ARE UFOs EXTRATERRESTRIAL SURVEILLANCE CRAFT ?

(from page 27)

ions of UFO reports have been perfunctory, aimed generally at finding any "explanation", however inadequately it might match the reported facts.

3) The principal reason that no other adequate scientific investigation has ever been initiated has been that, despite almost complete lack of any scientific expertise in the USAF program (Project Bluebook), public pronouncements have repeatedly given strong assurance that the investigations were drawing upon the best scientific talent available to the Air Force. Nothing could be further from fact. Examples will be cited to back up this point.

4) The present Air Force-sponsored study at the University of Colorado offered promise initially. However, repeated indications of negative bias in public statements by the Project Director, combined with lack of vigorous investigation of the most provocative types of UFO cases reported over the past 20 years, suggest that the Colorado program will fall far short of the required level of investigation. It is very desirable that some program be set up entirely divorced from Air Force affiliation, a conclusion underscored by recent developments at Colorado.

5) I have just returned from a visit to Canada where I discussed international scientific aspects of the UFO problem before the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute at their March 11-12 Montreal meetings. I emphasized the likelihood that UFO investigatory programs in countries other than the U.S. may have distinctly better chances of making rapid scientific progress towards clarification of the UFO question by virtue of the fact that they'd not be fighting uphill against the kind of thinking that USAF handling of the problem has engendered here. An encouraging new UFO investigation is, in fact, now being organized within the Institute for Aerospace Studies of the University of Toronto. I had an opportunity to confer with scientists beginning that study, on March 13. Quite recently, indications of a similar study being developed in France have appeared. The Russian position remains unclear. There are indications that a new level of official attention to UFO reports is appearing in other countries, but hard information thereon is still scant.

6) The types of UFO reports that are most intriguing, and point most directly to an extraterrestrial hypothesis, are close-range sightings of machine-like objects of unconventional performance characteristics, seen at low altitudes, and sometimes even on the ground. The general public is entirely unaware of the large number of such reports that are coming from credible witnesses, because ridicule and scoffing have made most witnesses reluctant to report openly such unusual incidents. When one starts searching for such cases, their numbers are quite astonishing. Also, such sightings appear to be occurring all over the globe, possibly with increasing frequency in the past year (an inference based on uncertain data because the "ridicule lid" seems to be lifting of late, and this may simply be bringing a larger fraction of such incidents to light). Examples will be presented.

7) Suggestions that such observations can be explained away in terms of meteorological optics (Menzel's principal thesis) or in terms of atmospheric plasmas (Klass' principal thesis) cannot be supported with cogent scientific arguments. The recently-published book by Klass ("UFOs - Identified") is filled with erroneous conceptions and with qualitative arguments that fall apart on assessing them in quantitative terms. Examples will be presented.

8) Many obvious questions and challenges can be, and must be, raised against the extraterrestrial hypothesis: How sure can we be that UFOs aren't some still poorly understood natural phenomenon? How can we be sure UFOs aren't secret test vehicles (ours or theirs)? If extraterrestrial, why no contact? Why no crashed UFOs? Why aren't there lots of good photos if UFOs are real? Why aren't UFOs seen in cities rather than in remote deserts and swamps? How can we be sure UFO sightings aren't hallucinations? How about hoaxes? Why no sonic booms? How can one account for non-inertial turns and maneuvers? Why don't optical-tracking programs, such as meteor-survey programs, photograph UFOs? Why don't

(to page 26)

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# STOP PRESS

Reported Incident No.1.

This occurred in Bairnsdale eighteen months ago on 21st. July, 1969, on the morning of the first moon landing. The time was about 5.10 a.m.

The witness, a 16 year old girl, had risen early to watch the event on television. She switched the TV set on as she entered the room, leaving the room lights off. She then saw the object standing on the front lawn of her home. It appeared to her as a tall, rectangular pole shape. About 15 ft. distant from her it appeared 6 - 8 ft. high and 10 - 12 inches wide. It glowed white and there was a wedge-shaped shadow on the ground beside it. It did not give off a ray of light. It glowed. There was no sound.

She watched for a moment and then, with the thought of being looked at through the window, she collapsed into a chair and huddled there for some time watching the TV. When other members of the family arose there was nothing to be seen.

She had not seen the object leave.

The only known substantiation of this sighting came next day when it was learned that, at the exact time the girl saw the object, the next-door neighbour heard sounds which suggested that someone was tampering with the car. Then that someone was on the back patio. Then that someone moved the blinds in the children's room. This the neighbour had gone to investigate but had found nothing unusual.

The girl is a quiet child, a teenager and rather shy.

Reported Incident No.2.

This occurred along the road between Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance on or about 1st. Sept. 1970. The time was about 8 p.m.

The witness who reported this sighting lives in Stratford and is a married woman and nurse.

She was travelling with two companions and was heading towards Lakes Entrance when all three persons in the car observed a light, with changing colours, converging on them from the south-west.

Stopping the car, they got out to watch the light more clearly. They then switched off the headlights. At this the light appeared to accelerate its approach towards them. Frightened, they quickly got back into the car deciding to return to Bairnsdale and abandon all thoughts of going to Lakes Entrance.

As they turned the car around the light stopped and changed its direction of travel going ahead of them much faster on a course which took it 3 miles or so south of Bairnsdale. It changed to a red colour as it went out of sight. There was no noticeable sound from the lighted object at any time.

Reported Incident No.3.

This occurred along the Princes Highway between Stratford and Bairnsdale on or about 23rd Sept., 1970, at 9.00 p.m.

The witness, who also reported Incident No.2. (see above) of three weeks earlier, is a nurse and was driving from her home in Stratford to the hospital in Bairnsdale where she was due on night duty.

She observed an approaching light in the rear vision mirror of her car and thought it to be a truck's headlights. As it came nearer she realized it was something flying at tree-top level. From 60 mph she slowed down to 45 mph so that she could safely look out of the car window at the light. The light was blindingly and brilliantly white and she was unable to say what shape or size she thought it might have been.

The car now refused to accelerate and would not go faster than 45 mph, the radio became filled with the sound of static and the interior of the car became hot and drummed with such intensity that the witness suffered severe headache and shock.

This situation continued for 24 miles (35 minutes) until she reached the first lights of Bairnsdale whereupon the light left her and flew off in a south south-easterly direction.

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FOR THESE REPORTS WE THANK
MR. DAN HAYLOCK OF PAYNESVILLE, VIC.


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CEI

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS
INTERPLANETARIOS

victorian
UFO
research
society

This society would appreciate readers' reports on U.F.O.s. Please forward to P.O. Box 43, Moorabbin, Victoria, 3189, Australia.