this August 2006 No. 460 issue $4.00

MUFON Director-elect ames Carrion, right, Mutual UFO ~6twork resent's MUFON Award )r Excellence in retiring Director John chuessler, page 13. ames McDonald's files rchived at University of .rizona Library, p. 5.

. Independent confirma- on adds credibility to 'alifornia cases, p. 11.

MUFON Forum: a yeti !lit, p. 12.

Calendar, p. 12.

2006 Symposium pre- ntations available, p. 17. Marketplace,- p. 23 Columns John Schuessler 2 Filer's Files 15 Ted Phillips 18 Stan Friedman 20 Gavin McLeod 24 The sighting of this object fr as only the beginning of n Midwestem erlcozrnter which involved strange odors, physical traces, and possible illness. The article begins on page 3. August 2006 umber 460

MUFON, .. r? John & Kathy Schuessler receiving accolades from members all to retire UFO Journal - over the world. After six years at the helm of At the annual July meeting of the I. (USPS 002-970) MUFON. Kathy and I have decided it Business Board we discussed succes- (ISSN 0270-6822) is time to step down. sion planning for key MUFON person- As you all know. MUFON now has nel. This was stimulated by my notifi- Mutual UFO Network an announced cation back in January that Kathy and I Post Office Box 369 Mission with would like to retire by the end of 2006. Morrison, CO 80465-0369 Goals and It was clear that all board members Tel: 303-932-7709 Strategies were capable of running MUFON, but Fax: 303-932-9279 aimed at keep- many of them were not in a position in ing MUFON their careers that they wanted to make International Director on track. the change right now. John F. Schuessler, M.S. . And the or- Finally. after thorough deliberation. - Tel: 303-932-7709 ganization is the board concluded that my successor now guided by should be James Carrion of Bellvue. [email protected] ' an excellent CO. ' -. - Jolrtr Schrressler Business Board This decision was made by examin- lnterntional Director .Elect of Directors. MUFON is financially ing the needs of MUFON, where our James Carrion,. . M.S.' stable and funds are being allocated for strategic plan was aiming to take the special projects like the Pandora docu- organization in the future. and how well Editor: ment scanning project. James' background matched the Dwight Connelly, M.S. We have an outstanding new Direc- MUFON needs. 14026 Ridgelawn Road tor of Investigations who will imple- With James also living in Colorado. Martinsville, IL 62442 ment a host of improvements in the in- we can coordinate the hand-over of the Tel: (217)382-4502 vestigations realm. Our MUFON UFO International Director's job from me to [email protected] Jo~tnlnledited by Dwight Connelly is (Continued on page 22)

i ' Columnists:. Change of address and subscription/extra copies inquiries should be George Filer,: M.B.A. sent to MUFON, P.O. Box 369, Morrison, CO 80465-0369. - Stanton Friedman, M.S. Copyright 2006 by the Mutual UFO Network. All Rights Reserved

Gavin A. J. McLeod No pan of thls document may be reproduced In any form w~thoutthe wr~nenpermlss~on of the Copyr~ght . Ted Phillips Owners. Perm~ss~onIS hereby granted to quote up to 200 words of any one article p~owdedthe author IS credited. and the statement. "Copyr~ght2006 by the Mutual UFO Network. P.O. Box 369. Morrnson. CO 80465-0369" 1s included Staff artist The contents of the MUFON UFO Journalare determ~nedby the editor. and do not necessar~lyreflect the othc~alposlt~on of the Mutual UFO Network. Oplnlons expressed are solely those of the lnd~vldualauthors and John Egerton - column~sts.and do not necessar~lyreflect the oplnlon of the edltor or staff of MUFON. The Mutual UFO Network. Inc IS exempt from Federal Income Tax under Sectlon 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON IS a publicly supponed organ~zat~onof the type described In Sect~on509 (a) (2). Donors MUFON staff photographer. may deduct contr~but~onsfrom the~rFederal Income Tax Bequests, legacies. dev~ses.transfers. or g~hsare also --NickRoesler deduct~blefor estate and g~ttpurposes. provided they meet the apphcable provlslons of Sectlons 2055.2106. and 2522 of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON IS a Texas nonprof~tcorporation. The MUFON UFO Journal~spubl~shed monthly by the Mutual UFO Nerwork. Inc . Morrison, CO. Second MUFON on the internet: Class postage pald at Versailles. MO. 1 lnd~v~dualMembership $45/year U.S . $55 outslde the U S http:~/www.mufon.com Famdy members $10 per person addmonal Student (18 years and under) $35 U S and $45 outs~detne U.S Donor: $1 001year. Profess~onal8250lyear. Patron: $500/year - MUFON e-mail address: ' Benefactor (Lifet~meMember): $ 1,000 Flrsr class Journal dellvery (in envelopes) U S and Canada only 8121year addltlonal mufonhq @aol.com - Air Mail Journal dellvery to all other countries outslde the United States. 935lyear addmonal

- s - - Postmaster Send form 3579 to adv~sechange of address to MUFON UFO Journal. P 0 Box 369. Morr~son. MUFON ~mateurkadio Net: CO 80465.0369 40 ,meters -. 7.240 MHz Sundays noon EST or EDST MUFON's mission is the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit - bf humanity--- through investigation, research; & education. , - .z , ! Sighting, odors, physical traces, & illness in Midwest encounter By William Puckett MUFON Field Investigtor bizarre adventure awaited Dottie and Danny Phillips Aupon embarking on a trip from Eagle Rock. MO, to a resort near Mount Gilead. OH. They left home in their truck and camper at about 3 PM on Aug. 23, 2005. By midnight they were heading east on 1-70 a few miles west of India- napolis. Dottie (primary wimess) was driving, and noticed what appeared to be a fire to the north. (See the encounter 1 lo- towards the east-northeast. red blotches over her skin. She also cation on map.) She saw lights rising Effects of encounters noticed that black flakes would fall when from the fire which appeared to follow Dottie noticed that her new shoes, she brushed her hair. their vehicle. which were never worn before the trip, Danny had similar symptoms. Dottie She immediately noticed a strong had begun to peel after the first encoun- had some pre-existing medical prob- odor similar to creosol, burnt tar, and ter near Indianapolis.' After the second lems, but these problems were differ- sulfuric acid. encounter, the surface of the shoes be- ent. She finally saw a physician on Oct. They continued their journey, and a gan to flake and peel. (See photo on 11, and told the doctor about her UFO couple of hours later pulled off the side following page.) encounters. of the road to get some sleep. They The day after the second encounter, The doctor was not surprised, and awoke around daylight and continued black residue from the shoes collected seemed to have knowledge of physical their journey, stopping for breakfast and on a carpet of a relative's house. effects caused by being in the vicinity running a few errands along the way. The couple returned home to Eagle of UFOs. (He worked for NASA un- They arrived at the Ohio resort about 2 Rock on Aug. 30. Dottie reported her der a grant for the University of Arkan- PM. incident near Indianapolis to the FBI sas to find evidence of extraterrestrial At about 6 PM on Aug. 24 the couple office in Indianapolis. life.') left the resort and drove to Danny's The FBI said that no fire had oc- He diagnosed Dottie's illness as father's house in nearby Marion, OH. curred on the date and location seen by chemical pneumonia and severe kidney They arrived at about 7 PM and left the couple, and they criticized Dottie infection. He told her that any radia- about 10:45 PM. Eastbound on high- for not reporting the incident sooner. tion effects "from these kinds of things way 95, they noticed a large light to the Dottie then called Homeland Secu- will be the dissipating kind." north. rity and reported both incidents. Home- Dottie visited the same doctor two They turned north onto highway 61. land Security said that they couldn't in- weeks later, and the treatment which had It was about midnight, and they were vestigate, due to being involved with been prescribed by the doctor was five miles down the road when they saw Hurricane Katrina. working. Recently, however, both a large craft directly ahead of them and Dottie also reported the incidents to Dottie and Danny have become quite over the highway. (See front cover, and the local sheriff, and was met with skep- ill. note the encounter 2 location in the ticism. Dottie has been diagnosed with a map.) The medical diagnosis neural disorder that apparently can be They passed directly underneath the Both Danny and Dottie were not feel- caused from chemical exposure. Danny craft. Again they smelled a very strong ing well when they returned to Eagle is also having severe digestive problems. odor similar to that from their first en- Rock. Dottie had severe digestive Chemical analysis of the shoes (see -counter. The craft was moving slowly problems, was coughing a lot, and had discussion below) suggests that phenols August ,2006 MUFON UFO Journal 3 could have been the substance respon- Irnmergut's The Polynrer HandboohA sible for leaching of the material from lists only four materials known to at- the surface of the shoes. tackldissolve poly(urethane). Some of the symptoms experienced "These are phenol. m-cresol (a phe- by Dottie (and Danny) are characteris- nolic derivative). formic acid. and sul- tic of inhalation exposure to phenols.?.' furic acid. Formic acid and sulfuric Physical effects from close encoun- acid were eliminated by pH tests. ters with UFOs are not common. but "This leaves the phenols, which is do occur. The encounter of Betty Cash, supported by the witnesses' descrip- Vicky Landrum. and Vicky Landrum's tion of the odor. Also. phenolics sub- grandson (Colby) on Dec. 29. 1980, in lime, and would have been long gone Texas is well known.' Also, the case by the time the shoe was received for , of Steven Michalak getting burned by a analysis. UFO near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, "For the second (less likely) specu- Canada on May 20,1967, 5.6 has been The shoes. lation, I offer that the shoe became wet well publicized. tions of molecules. during the encounter. This caused a Analysis by Puckett The particular set of vibrations of a loss of adhesiveness due to improper I requested that Dottie mail the shoes molecule gives rise to specific spectral bonding of the urethane glue to the fake to me when she first reported the en- absorption bands, often referred to as suede during manufacture. Partially un- counter. I asked her to pack the shoes the "fingerprint" spectrum. cured urethane adhesive was found in in a sealed plastic bag in order to pre- Phyllis also tested the boots for ra- the boot." serve any traces resulting from the en- diation. The results of her analysis and Dottie said that the only rain on their counter. conclusions follow: trip occurred near Springfield, MO, Upon receipt of the shoes I irnrnedi- "1.No unusual materials were de- where they stopped to eat. This was ately photographed them and tested for tected on the shoe. The shoe is cov- early on the trip on Aug. 23. She said radiation and magnetism. Radiation ered with fake suede, i.e. polyester ure- that Danny parked the truck close to was not significantly above back- thane MBI (MBI = Methylene the restaurant so they wouldn't get wet. ground, and there was no appreciable Bisphenyl-isocyanate), which is one of The National Weather Service in magnetism. the monomeric units of the polymer. Springfield, MO, reported 0.14 inches The plastic bags which contained the "The outer surface of the suede also of rain on Aug. 23.9 Given that Dottie shoes were filled with black flakes peel- has some polydimethylsiloxane, which and Danny were parked close to the res- ing from the shoes. I also tested the is commonly used as a water repellent. taurant, and that only light rainfall was bags for the above properties, and did Soil particulates were found on the sole reported, it is likely that only the soles not find any unusual readings. and heel of the boot. of the boot would have become wet. I then contacted Phyllis Budinger of "2. Black particulates found in the ~urnmary~conclusion Frontier Analysis Ltd to see if she plastic bag containing the shoe are fake This case is strengthened in that we would analyze the shoes. She ex- suede polyester urethane MBI, obvi- have physical evidence that something pressed interest, and I immediately ously from the shoe. unusual appai-entlyhappened to the new mailed one of the shoes to her. "3. Though not analyzed, I specu- shoes to strip them of surface material. Analysis by Budinger late the black substance reported to be The suggestion that phenolic-type Mrs. Budinger conducted a thorough on the relative's carpet was also some compounds may have been the cause analysis to determine the composition of the shoe material. is in itself bizarre. As with all UFO of the boots, and to see if there was "4. It is most unusual that the poly- cases, much of the validity of this case any unusual residue on the boots. Her urethane "suede" came off the shoe. rests with the credibility of the wit- complete report is available on the With the absence of any unusual for- nesses. No other witnesses besides UFOs Northwest website.' eign substances, I can offer two specu- Danny and Dottie have been found. The shoes were subjected to infra- lations why this occurred: I have had several interviews with red spectroscopic analysis, pH tests, "The witness described a creosol, Dottie, and believe that she is credible. and UV fluorescence. sulfuric acid, and tar odor during the I have also been able to verify informa- Infrared spectroscopy is used for the event. This is an important clue. Creo- tion provided by her, such as the back- molecular structure identification and sol contains phenolic-type materials, ground of her physician. quantitation of solids,, liquids, and among other things. I did not interview Danny because gases. An infrared spectrum is the re- "If the shoe was exposed to these he has a condition that would make in- sult of light (in the 2 to 25 micron wave- materials, there is a very real possibility terviewing very difficult. Dome told me length range) interacting with the vibra- they caused the adhesive to fail.

4 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 that Danny did suffer some of the same Papers, reports, audio tapes archived at UA symptoms that she did. Currently both Danny and Dottie are not in good health. Dottie has been di- Scientist, ufologist James McDonald's agnosed with a neural disorder similar to multiple sclerosis. Danny has severe voice speaks again to researchers digestive disorders. By Ann Druffel, Vincent Dottie's doctor thinks that the neural tions began taking up the subject ear- disorder could be due to chemical ex- Uhlenkott, & Ralph McCarron nestly. posure from the August, 2005, encoun- From Apri,l 1966, through Febru- Then, in April, 197 1, our entire re- search field was shocked and saddened ters. ary, 1971, the UFO research field was when we learned that Jim McDonald Like many UFO cases, this case gen- blessed with the presence of a presti- gious scientist, Dr. James E. had apparently taken his own life in the erates more questions than answers. McDonald, an internationally-re- desolate desert outside his home city What was this craft? Why did the wit- nowned atmo- of Tucson. AZ.' nesses have two encounters on succes- spheric physicist The loss of Jim to our field was in- sive nights and experience the same and climatologist. estimable, but we never forgot the "strong odor"? Alone among "McDonald years," as those five years This case is ongoing. For updates scientists at that between 1966 and 1971 came to be on this case, please visit the UFOs time, Jim called. Northwest web site.' McDonald, as he Slowly, however, the interest of the References: was known to us scientific community which McDonald 'Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. in the field. had had inspired faded away without the Available http://asgc.ualr.edu/ the courage to benefit of his physical presence, his un- 2CaliforniaOffice of Environmental speak out openly, McDonald limited persistence, and his ability to Health Hazard Assessment. Available stating that his retrieve previously-unknown empirical http://www.oehha.ca.gov/air/hot-spots/ own private research into UFO evidence of the reality of UFOs from index.htm1 sightings by the public and military military and governmental sources. W.S. EPA. "Integrated Risk Infor- sources had convinced him that the During the McDonald years, of mation System, Phenol." Available http:/ UFO phenomenon was a serious ques- course, Jim never neglected his own /www.epa.gov/iris/subst~0088.htm tion that was being badly neglected by professional work; his voluminous con- 4Schuessler, John. The Cash- the scientific community at large. tributions to cloud physics and climate Landrum UFO Incident. Texas: Geo For five unforgettable years, the sci- modification continued. Graphics Printing Company, 1998. entifically-oriented lay research field He was active on numerous govern- 'Berliner, Don and Streiber, Whitley. had an invaluable and unforgettable ment research commissions, and many UFO Briefing Document: The Best colleague, working side by side with of his projects were funded by grants Available Evidence. New York: Dell investigators from NICAP (National In- from the National Science Foundation Publishing, 1995, pp 81-86. vestigations Committee On Aerial Phe- (NSF), the Office of Naval Research nomena) and other objective groups. (ONR), The National Academy of Sci- 6Dolan, Richard. UFOs and the He also worked privately with a few ences (NAS), NASA, and other top National Security State. Virginia: scientists in the field who could not agencies. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, come out openly with their UFO inter- He had simply added UFO research 2002, pp 324-326. est for fear of damaging their own ca- to his already crowded schedule. 'Puckett, William. "Woman is Sick- reers and reputations. McDonald's basic personality could not ened by Two Encounters With UFOs Perhaps most astonishing of all, allow him to let any scientific problem on Successive Nights, Shoes Sustain McDonald began actively interacting he encountered go unstudied, and ev- Severe Damage." Available http:// with numerous other scientists in the erywhere he spoke, or met with UFO www.ufosnw.com/ind-oh-aug2005.htm, Establishment, who crowded to hun- colleagues, whether lay or scientific, his April 20,2006. dreds of talks he gave at scientific con- humorous, vital presence enlivened the 81mmergut, E.H. et al. Polymer ferences, symposia, and other scientific room. Handbook, Fourth Edition, 1999. meetings at military installations and In the early 1990s, through a syn- 9National Weather Service, Spring- other governmental venues. chronistic occurrence, this author field, MO, "Local Climatology For The He convinced many in the Establish- (Druffel) re-established contact with Missouri Ozarks and SE Kansas." http:/ ment that UFOs did, indeed, need to Betsy McDonald, Jim's widow, who /www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/climate/. be studied seriously, and a few of the still lived with some of the members of most prestigious scientific organiza- their family in their Tucson home. August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal 5 It was learned that McDonald's UFO spent two weeks studying the R-V files to copy the R-V files. At fust it seemed archives were still being carefully there. he was actually going to attempt to ex- guarded in a special room there, which He was astonished and excited by tract the data which McDonald felt the family lovingly referred to as "the the wealth of data in them that had not could provide a type of "physical evi- UFO room." been revealed. It was information like dence" so badly needed in the UFO During re-contact with Betsy these R-V files, which he realized field. McDonald, which at fust involved a would never be archived by any of his Suddenly, however, the scientist screenplay Druffel had written about academic colleagues, that prompted was offered a large grant, apparently McDonald's UFO research, the idea of him to write to Betsy: from the Australian government, to archiving Jim's UFO files came to the "My present best suggestion is that pursue an entirely different project, and fore. [my UFO files] be archived at the UA he dropped his interest in UFOs. McDonald's atmospheric physics Library, though maybe they'll view that Betsy McDonald became engrossed and climatology projects had been care- as presumptuous. Actually, for some- in her own work pursuits, which took fully preserved at the University of one who came along later, that's a mine her to various out-of-state cities for Arizona at Tucson at the Institute of At- of UFO material, and library archiving years at a time, and could no longer mospheric Physics (IAP), where he had is in many ways the cleanest. screen the numerous persons who re- taught and conducted research. "It's at least not destroyed, even if quested access to the files, and NICAP UFO files not archived only boxed away for years .... Its sci- had essentially been destroyed by 1970 Although his "scientific" work had entific value is, I think, quite large..... a by government agents who had infil- been carefully archived and preserved, collection of reflerence] material on a trated top administrative positions. his UFO files had not. subject still controversial, worked on Access ended After the Condon Report was pub- by one UA professor, and possibly des- By the mid-1970s, she cut off ac- lished in 1969, apparently dismissing tined to assume very considerable im- cess to researchers who approached all the evidence McDonld and the UFO portance later on-particularly as sci- her, because the changes which were field .had gathered over the years, he ence-history source materi al..... I'd sure occurring in the UFO field disturbed had planned to take a sabbatical and hate to see all that stuff burnt...."' her. write a book which would be a full re- NICAP personnel and the UFO field She felt that the field had become buttal of Condon's illogical "report," as in general never recovered from the loss chaotic, particularly the attention being well as a general text outlining the ex- of this remarkable man. After the sci- paid to "abduction" reports which could treme urgency that the UFO phenom- entific community quietly dropped their not be scientifically verified, and that enon be accepted as a legitimate sub- interest in UFOs, which McDonald had the strictly objective approach which ject for interdisciplinary study. inspired, all that was left were his files. McDonald had employed was no longer His 17 years of study (including Limited access dominant. eleven years of private research in and At first, Betsy McDonald permitted So the files lay unused for over 15 around the Tucson area between 1954 a few UFO researchers limited access years until re-contact in the early 1990s and 1965) had convinced him that the to them, including Richard Greenwell, by Druffel, who had known and worked UFO problem was one of the most se- who assisted her in arranging the files with McDonald in conjunction with rious scientific questions of our times. and books into more convenient form. NICAP activities, particularly South- Shortly before McDonald died, he Paul McCarthy then accessed some ern California sightings and photo wrote a letter to Betsy, stating his con- of the files for a doctoral thesis, and cases. cern that his voluminous UFO files not shortly afterwards, David Jacobs used Betsy shared McDonald's letter in be simply burned after his death, but some of the files while writing his book, which he had expressed the deep hope archived in some form so that capable The UFO Controversy in America. that his UFO files could be archived researchers could use them in further During this period an Australian sci- and made accessible to future research- studies on the UFO phenomenon. entist inquired about the Blue Book ers. R-V files which had so enthused Dr. A. Richard Kassander, former Of particular concern to him were 1.5 hundreds of Blue Book radar-visual (R- McDonald. director of the IAP and McDonald's V) sighting files which he had acquired Betsy, herself a highly educated per- good friend, made initial contact with

in 1970 at Maxwell AFB, a few months son, obtained proof from this scientist the University of Arizona Library, Tuc- C' after was officially that he possessed the necessary exper- son, and the Special Collections Sec- ended. tise in atmospheric physics, astronomy, tion agreed to house them. The cura- Dismayed by the possibility that the and radar systems which McDonald felt tor there, Mr. Roger Myers, gave in- Air Force would simply destroy all Blue was necessary to extract the data ef- valuable help and encouragement dur- Book files because the Condon Report fectively. ing this process. had brushed off the entire subject as not After he had demonstrated' his ex- The Fund for UFO Research being of scientific value, McDonald pertise in these fields, she allowedhim (FIJFOR) generously granted $2,400 MUFON -UFOJournal August 2006 Ann DnrfSe1 with Betsy McDonald at her home amid the 29 boxes of McDonaldkfiles, audio tapes, and record- ing equipment, May, 1996. to archive the files. Archiving required McDonald's living room-were moved those originally selected by McDonald. acid-free file folders, plastic Mylar to the Special Collections Section of the The collection continues with the 580 sleeves for photos, and special storage library. Project Blue Book R-V files photocop- boxes for other materials in order to Druffel's husband, Charles K., pay- ied by McDonald at Maxwell AFB. insure their preservation. ing all of his own expenses, accompa- These are in four boxes, filed chro- As the work continued, involving nied her on this trip and helped with nologically by date, as McDonald origi- five trips from the Druffel home in some of the final archiving duties. nally arranged them. The dates on Pasadena, CA. to Tucson. McDonald's In addition to the boxed materials. these R-V files begin with "June 1947, contributions to UFO research proved the collection includes computer list- Hamburg, NY," and end with "July 11, even more immense than anyone had ings of McDonald's.400-book UFO li- 1968, Nielson AFB, Alaska." realized. brary and an itemized catalog of the There is also a collection of 16 large All together, there were about 1,200 1,200 file folders. vinyl binders. Binder #6 might be of files, each on a different UFO-related Handwritten journals special interest, as its contents seem to subject. The collect~on also includes be a preliminary outline of the book Besides the voluminous files in the McDonald's four handwritten journals, which McDonald had planned to write, "UFO room," McDonald's former sec- dated 1958 through 1971, which out- rebutting the Condon Report. retary, Margaret Sanderson-Rae, then lined his 17 years in the UFO field.3 The other binders contain Projects a publications editor. found many other Two of these had been fully tran- Sign, Grudge, and Blue Book sightings UFO-related items at the IAP which scribed by Druffel, with Betsy and other materials related to AF in- were added to the original collection. McDonald's invaluable help. These volvement in UFO research. Other academic colleagues at IAP, journals, prior to the archiving, were Box #21 contained eight thick maga- including Dr. Benjamin Herman and totally unknown to anyone in the field. zine holders, in which McDonald had Dr. William Sellers, searched out other The UFO archives are housed in the placed miscellaneous information, in- items in storage which were added to Personal Collections Section, where cluding propulsion theories related to McDonald's UFO files. they are available to the public in a care- UFOs. In all, the archiving took four years. fully-guarded Reading Room Biographical material includes the As the complexity of the files became They include hundreds of files con- Memorial Resolution prepared and clearer, additional archival materials taining McDonald's research on UFO signed by several of McDonald's IAP had to be obtained, and the Fund for cases, classic and otherwise, as well as colleagues upon the event of his death. UFO Research graciously increased correspondence and other materials Thls remains the most fitting biographi- their grant to $3,500 to cover various connected with his numerous seminars cal sketch to describe McDonald's aca- unexpected expenses. and symposia talks before scientific demic life and scientific contributions. In May, 1996, 29 boxes compris- groups.This section filled 15 storage Also included is a biographical ar- ing McDonald's entire UFO files- boxes alone. ticle by AM Druffel, published in IUR which filled an entire comer in the The file names are, for the most part, (International UFO Reporter), a quar- August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal terly publication of the J. Allen Hynek books is included in these archived Center for UFO Studies in Chicago, IL. materials to facilitate the searcher in Soon to be published is a 600-page locating desired volumes. biography of McDonald's involvement Requests for permission to publish in the UFO research field based mainly materials From this collection should be on materials archived here.' discussed with the Personal Collections A very large cardboard box. #29, curator. Credit should be given at all contained special materials which were times to Dr. James E. McDonald when- impossible, at the time, to actually ever applicable." "archive." for it contained McDonald's The audio tape project numerous audio tapes and his Sony tape The memory of the audio tapes. . recorder. which could not be made available to . These tapes included numerous in- researchers because of their fragile con- terviews held with witnesses. many of dition, continued to haunt certain mem- his talks at scientific conferences and bers of the UFO field. symposia (including Q & A sessions), This included Vincent Uhlenkott, a and private conversations with col- prominent veteran ufologist in the Los leagues and military personnel. McDonald S handwritten journals Angeles area, longtime field investiga- Sixty-one reel-to-reel tapes were in detailing years of UFO research. tor and former Director of MUFON- his own Steelmaster File, which So. CA. McDonald had labeled "No. 1." Most long before researchers, including some Uhlenkott and Druffel applied for of these were interviews with UFO prominent in the field, began to flock another grant from FUFOR in order to witnesses. to the site. have Jim McDonald's invaluable au- A second Steelmasterfile drawer, la- The archives comprise a collection dio tapes converted to modem technol- beled "No. 2," contained dozens more of approximately 1400 labeled files ogy, which could then be accessed at tapes with subjects ranging from radio1 with handwritten and typed case inves- the Library by interested parties. TV appearances, more conference1 tigations on UFO sightings by military FUFOR was again most generous, symposia talks, taped letters, suspected pilots, tower control officials, law en- and another grant was approved in the "UFO sounds," and other data relating forcement officers, fellow scientists, early 2000's. Uhlenkott took on the task to specific sightings. and other reliable and credible citizens, of finding the most suitable, technically- Most were dated and identified; oth- 1945-1970, and some investigations in- proficient professional to accomplish ers are identified but undated; others clude photoslsoil samples, etc. the daunting task. are neither identified nor dated. They UFO cases concern mostly Ameri- At first it was thought best to trans- included 7-inch, 5-inch, and 3-inch can, Canadian, Australian, and New fer the 1966's reel-to-reel tapes onto reels. Zealand sightings, and some European audio cassette. After discussing the The entire aggregate of Jim cases. project with several experts, however, McDonald's UFO files, including the The files include McDonald's cor- it was decided that newer and better audio tapes, was donated to the Library respondence from 1958- 197 1 with technology was becoming available, by Betsy McDonald in May, 1996, and various government and military and it was eventually decided to use the copyright to the entire collection is officialsand other scientific and profes- CDs. now held by the Board of Regents of sional civilian UFO researchers This first step took several months. the University of Arizona. Also included are papers and talks Druffel journeyed to Tucson together Some of McDonald's tapes were (printed and recorded) before various with husband Charles K. to bring all of plainly audible when played on his scientific conferences and symposia McDonald's tapes back to Los Ange- small, portable recorder at his Tucson and other academic groups, 1966-1970. les. home; others were almost inaudible due Blue Book reports This was a daunting task in itself, 1'1 to static and hum. Case files include photocopies of ap- since it involved persuading the airline At the time of delivery of the ar- proximately 580 Project Blue Book personnel to fit them into the interior of chives, however, Curator Roger Myers (Air Force official investigations) sight- the plane itself so that they could be 5 determined that, since these 25-year old ing reports, mostly by military and ci- carefully watched during the flight. reel-to-reel tapes were very fragde, they vilian pilots and airborne and ground Once the tapes and equipment ar- would not be available to the public at radar verification. rived safely in the Los Angeles area, it that point. McDonald's collection of more than took several weeks to find a skilled McDonald's paper files, however, 400 books on UFO and related topics person to transfer the tapes onto CDs. as described above, were ready to be are incorporated into the main Univer- Badie Youssef was known to accessed by the public, and it was not sity Library, but a catalogue of these Uhlenkott, and this accomplished tech- 8 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 nician felt he had the spare time neces- and that the Fund would reimburse its sary to complete the task. cost. We all realized that the FUFOR For each tape. McCarron used 1-7 Slde162 grant could give only a minimal pay- 7 om Reel Speed 3 W bm Druffel's original notes associated with ment for such difficult work. but Tmm 88 $2 the tape collection to make sure the Youseff was a generous individual. as names. spellings. and dates associated is necessary for almost everyone who with each recording were correct. works in the UFO field. And on most of his tapes. McDonald When he began the transfer, how- himself would state the date. the time, ever, he realized that some of the tapes the location. the event. and in the case were almost unintelligible. due to hum. of personal sighting interviews he static, and other electrical interference. spelled out the name of each witness. Youseff spent considerable time At times, Swiatek of FUFOR and searching for modem means to clean Richard Hall (also at the time with them up. He eventually found software FUFOR) would help out with names One of the modern discsproduced that would do a fairly good job, but the and dates. editing proved very time-consuming. by Ralph McCarron from the fragile On some of the tapes, however, no Youssef managed to convert some tapes. pre-information had been recorded, but of McDonald's 3-inch reels, and al- Internet web design. As it turned out, unless it was a famous UFO case, or though some of the resultant CDs were however, we had grossly underesti- known to Druffel, Uhlenkott, Hall, or acceptable, the quality of many others mated the size of the task, including Swiatek, nothing could be found about was not. He persisted, however, began additional tape recorder problems it, even on the Internet! to get better results, and accomplished which arose in McDonald's 1960s As a result, some spellings of per- sons' names may be incorrect in the fin- the transfer of 25 tapes in acceptable equipment. form. Altogether, the work comprised: ished product, but in those instances a question mark is added next to the name A problem arises Eighty-three 1 718 ips (inches per + or date. . Then an unexpected occurrence in second), 3-inch reel to reel tapes, 166 On recordings with even less infor- California interrupted the process: the hours of record time. mation, the file will read, for example, California Department of Water and +Ten 3 314 ips, 5-inch reel to reel "Dr. James McDonald Interviews Un- Power (DWP) experienced what be- tapes, 20 hours of record time. known Man" or "Dr. James McDonald came known as "the energy crunch." +Twenty 3 314 ips, 7-inch reel to reel Interviews Frank (Last Name Un- Since Youseff was a high-level em- tapes, 80 hours of record time. known). ployee at the DWP, the power company The difficulties encountered during gave him additional responsibilities McCarron discovered an easy way the "cleanup" of the reel-to-reel tapes to name the files so that they could be needed to handle the then-unprec- can be regarded as either devastating organized easily. so that each file (CD) edented crisis. No longer did he have or humorous, depending on the attitude any spare time at all! - corresponds with the original reel-to- of the reader. reel tape. Generously, Youseff returned a It is vital. however. to understand- great portion of the FUFOR money that That way, looking back at the origi- ing particular problems encountered nal WAV files, one could determine had been forwarded to him after he early on in the audio-transfer, since found that his DWP professional re- from whch reel and which side the re- these difficulties add to the extreme cording came. sponsibilities made it impossible for value, and appreciation of, the final re- him to continue the transfer. In order to complete the job within sults to the UFO community and to in- the FUFOR funding grant, it was nec- Uhlenkott discovered that Ralph dividualresearchers who will use them McCarron, a professional audiolvisual essary for McCarron to work at his in future UFO research. regular self-owned business, and expert who is on the Board of Direc- After some time, Uhlenkott's tape tors of MUFON-LA and extremely squeeze in the transferring tasks when- playerlrecorder also started having active in the UFO field, thought he ever there was spare time. playback problems. He changed the would have the time for the job. Once finished, the project ended up belt, and for a while the unit worked He accepted the task of converting being archived on 110 CD-R's for play- McDonald's reel-to-reel tapes to digi- well, but soon it developed similar dif- back on various types of equipment ficulties which McDonald's recorder tal format, using state-of-the-art tech- available at the U. of A. Library. had displayed. nology available in his self-owned com- In addition, the original uncom- pany, Wolf Video. Rob Swiatek, who handled the grant pressed (WAV) files were backed up funds for FUFOR, agreed that another This firm does video editing, video on 18 data DVD-R's. production, CDIDVD authoring, and recorder could be purchased on eBay, Then, to complete the work to true August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal state-of-the-art technology, these 18 data DVD-R's were processed into Are comets life's Windows Media Audio (WMA) files and MP3 files. . The WMA or MP3 files could be building blocks? used (should the Board of Regents later The University of Maryland-led decide) for streaming off a web server NASA mission that smashed into the for Internet playback. Also WMA and mostly coal black surface of Tempel-1 MP3 files can be played on most new comet this past July 4. found water ice media players like the iPod or any other on the surface. current DVDICD players. This is the first time ice has been The beauty of the WMA and MP3 detected on the solid body of a comet, files is that roughly 81 gigabytes of according to the journal Science. McDonald's complete audiotape ar- Deep Impact Principal Investigator chives have been compressed to fit on Michael Ahearn states: "We can con- one (1) DVD, being less than 4.5 clude that most of the water vapor that gigabytes ! escapes from comets is contained in ice McCarron was the only one receiv- particles found below the surface." ing money from our limited FUFOR Comets are described as "frozen grant after Youseff's departure from the The completed archives of balls of dlrty ice," but the findings from team, since Druffel and Uhlenkott gave McDonald's tape recordings are Tempel- 1 indicate that it is made of bro- their time during those years from 2002 packaged in attractive folders. ken up rocks that contain clays and car- to 2006, and paid over $100 in postage bonates-the minerals of limestones and accrued during those years. ally the Board of Regents might decide seashells that are formed only in liquid The total FUFOR grant had that McDonald's priceless tape collec- water. amounted to $3,495, and by the time tion will someday be made available "How do clays and carbonates form McCarron completed the project, his from the University of Arizona Library in frozen comets where there isn't liq- total remuneration was less than over the Internet to the UFO field and uid water?'asked Dr. C.M. Lisse, a $3,000-also standard procedure for to the interested public at large. Mission scientist; "Nobody expected technical professionals who are cur- REFERENCES this," he said. rently active in the UFO research field.5 'See biography described in Refer- The Spitzer space telescope also However, the happiness McCarron ence 4 (below) for differing hypotheses detected in Tempel-1 crystalline sili- feels at having been given the oppor- re. the circumstances of McDonald's cates-a form of the mineral that re- tunity to have cataloged this amazing death. quires at least 1300 degrees Fahrenheit five years' work (in audio form) by Dr. 2Private letter to Betsy McDonald, temperatures to form. McDonald have more than made up for written 22 March 197 1. "How do you put that stuff into a any inconvenience.. The same honor is 31t is hoped that someday soon the comet that forms out by Pluto?'asked felt by Uhlenkott and Druffel. transcribed versions of McDonald's the puzzled Dr. Lisse. How, indeed, do The main thing here to consider, four handwritten journals can be made you get mineral-melting temperatures however, is really not how long it took available to interested readers in UFO in a region of absolute cold? the project to be completed, but, in- research. Dr. Lisse, of John Hopkins Univer- stead, the absolutely beautiful and pro- 4Firestorm! Dr. James E. sity, and other scientists expanded the fessional way in which it was accom- McDonald's Fight for UFO Science, list of Earthlike components discovered plished. by Ann Druffel, Columbus, NC, Gran- in the comet to include chemicals as- By using state-of-the-art technology, ite Publications, Wild Flower Press was sociated with living organisms. most of the hudstatic and other inter- finally published in July 2003, 609 They listed clays, silicates, carbon- b ference on McDonald's priceless au- pages ates, iron sulfides, alumina, and com- L= dio tapes was entirely eliminated. 51t is estimated that the entire job of pounds called PAHs, which are among When Druffel and Uhlenkott first converting McDonald's 113 tape reels many organic chemicals that show up .a>, heard the results in McCarron's studio, into the (finalized) 110 CDs would in living organisms on Earth. it was as if McDonald, himself, was have cost at least $30,000 if it were Another reported surprise: The team speaking in the room! done on a regular cornrnercialltime ba- has detected an unexpectedly high con- Now that same excitement can be sis, without any editing or sound centration of methyl cyanide. experienced by anyone who accesses cleanup at all. The project, as com- Biologists say methyl cyanide is a the tapes in the Special Collections Sec- pleted, must be considered essentially key player in reactions that form DNA. tion in Tucson. It is hoped that eventu- priceless. (Christian Science Monitor). . 10 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 Independent.confirmation adds credibility for witnesses, investigators in UFO cases By Preston Dennett The only thing more exciting for a UFO investigator than discovering a hot new case is getting independent con- firmation of that same case. That kind of validation and corroboration can add considerable credibility to the case. While doing research for my latest book, UFOs Over Califontin(Schiffer Publishing. 2005). I was able to un- cover additional information to help corroborate several famous and/or little-known California UFO events. Playa Del Ray One outstanding example of this concerns the Playa Del Rey UFO land- ing case of Nov. 6,1957. This incred- ible case was covered in several news- papers and featured in Charles Bowen's classic book, The Humanoids. What follows is a brief summary of the inci- dent. peared to be speaking a foreign lan- sightings, local police stations in Long At 5:40 on that morning, General guage. After a few moments, the fig- Beach received more than 100 calls Telephone Company employee Richard ures went back into the craft, which from concerned Long Beach citizens Keyhoe was driving along the Pacific then took off and disappeared. reporting UFOs. I Coast Highway when his engine mys- Once the object was gone, the car Clearly, the Playa Del Rey landing , teriously stalled. engines started running again. Joe Tho- was not an isolated ev,ent! As he got out of his car; he noticed mas was so unnerved by the incident - Point Magu sighting that the engines of two other cars had that he reported it to the local police, Another good example is Blue Book also stalled, and their passengers were which was eventually leaked to the Case #2361. also exiting their vehicles. media, forever establishing the incident When UFO activity was reported by At that point, Keyhoe and the two as a "classic case." base personnel over Point Mugu Na- other drivers, Ronald Burke of Here is where the new information val Base on the evening of Jan. 28, Redondo Beach and Joe Thomas of comes in. Unknown to any of the three 1953, Blue Book officers were brought Torrance, observed a large "egg- witnesses, events were still in progress. in to investigate. After interviewing the shaped" object surrounded in a "blue About ten hours later, at 350 PM, witnesses, they labeled the case "uni- haze" landed on the beach only a few and less than 50 miles to the south, a dentified." yards away. commanding officer and 12 airmen Apparently unknown to the Blue The object was "tan or cream in color from an Air Force weather detachment Book officers, however, was that the with two metal rings around it, upon at Long Beach sighted six saucer- Point Mugu sighting was the tail end which the object apparently rested." shaped objects zoom across the sky, just of a much larger case. As they watched, two human-look- under a 7,000-foot cloud cover. Immediately prior to the incident and ing figures with "yellowish-green skin" If that's not enough, about two hours about 50 miles further south, intense and wearing "black leather pants, white later, between 6:05 and 7:25 PM, ad- UFO activity was reported over the cit- belts and light colored jerseys" exited ditional officers at the Los Alarnitos Na- ies of Newport Beach and Long Beach. the object and began asking questions val Air Station reported seeing "numer- At 9 PM that evening, personnel at of the stunned witnesses. ous" unidentified objects zoom over- the El Toro Marine Base control tower Keyhoe and the others were unable head. observed an unknown object in the to understand the occupants, who ap- Finally, at the same time as the above nearby vicinity. 'At the same time, August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal observers in the Long Beach Airport seem like isolated events, in fact they Most UFO researchers agree that the control tower also observed the object. are usually part of a larger chain of vast majority of witnesses do not re- Marine jet pilot Maj. Harvey Patton occurences. Although UFO witnesses port their encounters. Clearly, in many was scrambled after the mysterious may think they are alone with their ex- cases, we are still seeing only the tip of visitor. He was able to pursue the UFO, perience, often they are not. the iceberg of what is really going on. which was described as "a large fiery I uncovered many other' such ex- red disc-shaped object." amples of independent confiiation of (Excerpted by author from UFOs After four minutes of pursuit, Maj. California UFO events. One can only Over California: A True History of Patton was unable to close the distance wonder how many other people are Extraterrestrial Encozmters in the between him and the object, and there witnesses to the same extraordinary Golden State. Schiffer Publishing, the case seemed to end. Instead, as we UFO event, but don't know who to tell. 2005 .) have seen, the object apparently con- tinued on towards Point Mugu. The Van Nuys case A third example involves a little- known UFO landing case in Van Nuys. CA. In mid-June, 1955, Ted Kettridge, a young electrician, told reporters that he was awakened in the middle of the the photos we took inside the dark night by the barking of his dogs. A yeti relic monastaries did not turn out well. Exiting his home, he was amazed to I would like to comment on an ar- There would be no reason for these see' a gigantic gold-colored sphere in ticle by Stan Gordon a few issues back. monks to pull a on us, as having a hi's front yard. Standing next to the In his article he mentioned that the wit- letter from his holiness in that area was object were three seven-foot-tall hu- ness had a close look at the creature. like having a letter from God. I believe man-looking figures. The witness stated, 'The head of the the British team came up empty on their They appeared friendly, had long creature seemed to be cone-shaped." quest. flowing hair, and spoke flawless En- This I think is a key observation. Here's -Roger Sugden glish, "as if they had memorized thou- why I say that. Assistant State Director, Indiana sands of conversations and were repeat- In 1988 I was part of an expedition ing the words on tape." to the Himalaya. We had a letter fron Says Kettridge, "[The] men ap- His Holiness The Dali Lahma. This let- proached me without hesitation and told ter allowed us access to areas that me not to be frightened." The visitors would otherwise never have been open Sept. 16-17-Mothman Festival, then imparted a few brief philosophi- to us. Point Pleasant, WV, 740-286-4772, cal messages and left. We were in Nepal in the Everest re- www.mothrnanlives.com; Says Kettridge, "I was really scared. gion, as was a British expedition. The Oct. 28-Mysteries of Space & Sky In fact, the whole thing seemed like a British expedition was there looking for III, near Annapolis, MD, featuring Don dream, only I know it wasn't. Several the elusive yeti. Berliner, RobISue Swiatek, Anna- other people in the valley had seen the We were there to document the Ti- Jamerson, Dr. Charles Ernmons, and same thing, even talked with the men. betan lifesyle, and while we were in one conference organizer Dr. S. Peter Resta I just hope I never see it again." of the monastaries there were a few ([email protected]) 410-360-1 168 X 8. The above incident was uncovered items that were brought out for us to Nov. 3-4-National UFO Confer- by investigator Timothy Green Beckley. see. ence, Hollywood, CA, 858-523-1068, Charles Bowen uncovered the follow- One of these items was what the www.nufoc.org. ing related case. monks told us was a yeti scull cap. The Nov. 10-12-UFO Crash Retrieval One month later, on July 20,1955, a yeti is a sacred being in the Himalaya, Conference, Las Vegas, NV; 720-887- "huge ball-shaped object" landed in the and it was kept inside the monastary 817 1, www.ufoconference.com. . immediately adjacent town of Pan- away from the trekers and tourists. Nov. 17-20-Crop Circles & Keys to orama City. It was covered with hair, and was Higher Consciousness, Tempe, AZ, Witnesses from three neighboring indeed cone shaped, or to be more pre- featuring J.J. Hurtak, Russell Targ, Wil- homes observed "three beings approxi- cise, it curved up from the widest part liam Henry, Jim Marrs, Linda Moulton mately 6 feet 8 inches in height, with to the top, looking like it had two sides. Howe, Francine Blake, Nancy Talbott, long blond hair and tight green suits." However, if you looked at it from a Flordemayo, Philip Gardiner, Bert Two of the witnesses reported that the different angle it would certainly look Janssen, Heather Clewett, & Chet & beings made "gestures of friendship." cone shaped. I will see if there are any Kallista Snow. www.chetsnow.com, While many UFO encounters may photos that we took of this, as many of 928-204- 1955. 12 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 John Schuessler retiring as Director; * James Carrion chosen as next leader By Dwight Connelly Journal editor John Schuessler, who has served as International Director of MUFON for the past six years, is retiring, and James Carrion. director of MUFON's Pandora Project. will be the new director. While Schuessler's retirement was news to the public and most MUFON members, Board members have been aware for some time of his desire to reduce his role with MUFON. "I have had some health problems." he explains. "and just don't have the energy to keep going seven days a Retiring MUFON International John Schuessl~who has served week. Kathy and I feel we have earned some time for ourselves." Director John Schzresslel; right, con- zrfology for more than 40 years as re- He noted, however, that he will re- gratulates International Director- searcher, author, .and leader, was main as active with MUFON as his elect James Carrion on his selection presented MUFONS first annual health pennitsin whatever capacity that by the MUFON Board. Award for Excellence in Ufology. best suits the needs of the organization. Schuessler says that Carrion, who lias served as a member of the Board, My lifelong interest in UFOs will do a great job as director. By James Carrion I was also actively involved with re- "James is smart, a hard worker, re- When I was a young boy of 11, I searching Chupacabra activity and all liable. a team player. and a success in was fascinated by stories of aliens, of the Laguna Cartagena UFO sightings. the business world," says Schuessler. UFOs, and related phenomena, and One of my father's dogs was even the "He will not only continue the projects began my own news clipping collection. possible victim of a Chupacabra attack. now underway, but will utilize his con- My mother subscribed to all the ma- Even to this day, Puerto Rico is a hot- siderable talents to expand MUFON's jor tabloid publications, and they pro- bed for UFO activity. role in ufology." vided many of the news articles in my I left Puerto Rico to join the U.S. The transition from Schuessler to collection. Army, where I worked as a Russian lin- Carrion will take place over the next My family moved to Puerto Rico guist and signals intelligence analyst, four or five months, with Cariion ex- around this time, and it was there that I and I was stationed for two years in pected to assume full responsibility in had my first exposure to others inter- Augsburg, Germany. November or December in a gradual ested in the subject. In 1987 I left the military and moved shifting of roles. There was a local UFO group that to Tallahassee, FL, to attend college. As Carrion becomes familiar with was actively involved in going to El While living there, I became fascinated the duties of Director, Kristen Yunque, Puerto Rico's national park and with the story of the Gulf Breeze six, a Kennington will be learning the office rain forest, where they attempted to group of young soldiers who went procedures currently being carried out communicate and meet with alien spe- AWOL from their base in Augsburg, by Schuessler's wife, Kathy. cies. Germany, to search for UFOs in Gulf Ms. Kennington has been assisting Unfortunately, my father did not al- Breeze. Canion with the Pandora Project, and low me to accompany the group, as he All six of these soldiers were also assisted Kathy at the recent sympo- believed that UFOs were evil and de- military intelligence analysts (from a sis- sium. "Kristen is detail oriented, and monic in nature. According to other ter unit), and I was intrigued as to what will make a great office manager," says group members, their communication would cause a group of young, intelli- Camon. attempts were successful. gent, and psychologically competent August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal I individuals (having achieved top secret My goal is to put together the largest clearances with special background in- UFO database in the world that can be James Carrion resume vestigations) to pursue their quest while easily accessed by our own research 1996 - Present: M o'u n t a i n knowing they could face possible prison teams for data-mining purposes. View Systems, LLC, Bellvue, CO, time and charges of treason. After reviewing most of the files Chief Executive Officer and founder. One of the Gulf Breeze six even at- MUFON has amassed over the years, I Manage a private computer training tended the MUFON symposium that am still in awe at the dedication and pro- company that specializes in accelerated was being held in Pensacola at the time. fessionalism shown by the many computer technical training and com- That was the first time that I heard of MUFON investigators who took their puter based tutorials (CBTs). Lead instructor and curriculum de- MUFON. investigation work so seriously. My goal signer. Winner of the 2005 and 2006 In 1996 I moved to Greeley, CO, with is to make their my wife Lisa so she could attend gradu- Information Technology Professional ate school at the University of Colo- magazine award for best accelerated rado. technical training. I quickly found myself attending the 1995-1996: Florida State Univer- MUFON Denver meetings, and joined sity. Tallahassee, FL. Computer Ser- MUFON soon after. I traveled with vices manager. Responsible for com- MUFON Colorado members to the cel- puter support for all university admin- ebration of the 50'" anniversary of the istrative departments. . Managed a staff of 20 computer , ,i That same year I passed my MUFON revised 1;' ... technicianslengineers. as well as a help investigator exam and was assigned as MUFONmis- I . . desk that provided excellent customer state section director for Northeastern sion statement 1. .' ' service and technical support to com- L. . -. .- puter end users. Responsible for evalu- Colorado. When I moved to Bellvue, and goals. I Carrion CO, I vacated that position and took was asked to ating, purchasing, and implementing over as the Northwestern Colorado sec- join the board soon after, and have multi-million dollar computer network tion director. proudly sewed on it since. hardware and software systems. In 2003 I proposed to the board the I consider myself a skeptical believer - 1994-1995: Datafex, Inc., Talla- Pandora Project, and after board ap- in UFOs-skeptical from the point of hassee, FL. Computer technical trainer. proval began work on it. view that I don't take a UFO sighting at Taught Microsoft and Novel1 technical Since the files were in Denver, it was face value, but believe that each case training classes to computer profession- difficult to remotely manage what is es- should be rigorously investigated with als. Provided computer consulting ser- vices. sentially a very hands-on volunteer- an open but - scientifically discerning based project. In 2005 I moved the mind. 1987-1994: Florida State Univer- sity, Tallahassee, FL. Computer sup- MUFON files to my home in Bellvue At the same time, I believe that the port engineer. so I could have more of an active role. UFO phenomenon is real, and although 1983-1989: United States Army Since then, I-along with a paid part- I have never had a UFO sighting my- time worker-have processed all of the (active and reserve). Signals intelli- self, I can't discount the thousands gence analyst/Russian-Spanish linguist. U.S. files. upon thousands of sightings experi- This is a very time intensive task of Responsible.forinterception and analy- enced by others. separating out discreet cases, assign- sis of foreign voice communications for ing each case a unique Pandora num- I also sincerely hope one day within the National Security Agency (NSA), ber which is entered into a computer my lifetime that UFOLOGY will be My targeting the former Soviet bloc coun- database, and then placing each case in embraced by most mainstream scien- tries prior to the end of the cold war. a new labeled folder. tists instead of being treated as a pseudo Flight crew member on voice inter- The files are then scanned by a third science and an object of ridicule-and cept missions (flights) between Key party imaging company. Thus far, more that MUFON will be the major catalyst West, FL, and Guantanarno Bay, Cuba. than 9,000 U.S. cases have already been in accomplishing ths. Education scanned and archived on DVD. The In order to reach this and other 1989- 1991 : Florida State Univer- remaining international and other mis- MUFON goals, I plan to stress solid sity, M.A. International Affairs. cellaneous files will be archived soon. research, expanded educational activi- 1987-1989: Florida State Univer- I believe, as Dr. Hynek did, that if ties, more involvement of young people sity, B.A. Russian Language with a we collect enough sighting data and put and women, international cooperation minor in Spanish it in the proper electronic format, we with other reputable groups, and high 1983- 1984: Defense Language In- will start to see patterns emerge that we ethical standards. stitute, Monterey, CA, 47-week inten- did not previously notice. sive Russian language course. 14 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 Note: These reports are presented in or- but he was a charming child and a bless- watch over the children. A swimming der to keep readers informed of some of the ing to each person who met him. Many pool is 14 times more likely than a vast number of sightings being reported. were touched by Georgie's love and motor vehicle to be involved in the However, these cases have not been officially happiness. death of a child age 4 and under. investigated, unless noted. He would give a rock to his school I asked God, why take someone so bus driver each day, flowers to his young and loving? I like to think God Drowning our youth mother, and little seashells to, his has a greater need for him in Heaven. This month I have dedicated these friends. His Golden Retriever was his Alex, who is Georgie's sister, told me Files to the accidental drowning of my constant compan- he is watching over us right now. grandson. Georgie. ion, and even but- Georgie and I ask that you help save Georgie's gift of life terflies would some other child. so you may be spared Every so often you see a bright shin- land on his fin- the grief of losing a child you love. ing star in the skies. Georgie's light of gers. When you go to Heaven, expect to see love and happiness was here for five It was one of Georgie greeting you and saying, "We years. the greatest love you, BE HAPPY, let me show you George A. Filer V was my son's son, shocks of my life my room." who was the happiest and sweetest kid to lose such a pre- I'm looking for your help in spread- you would ever want to meet. cious gift as ing information about Georgie's gifts I announced his birth at the Wash- George. I have and the danger in our pools. Please con- ington National Press Club Disclosure George cried more in the tact me at [email protected] Briefing to 150 reporters in May of last few days than I have in my whole 2001. Because of Georgie, I agreed to life, and have promised to give a warn- testify about UFOs. I'm devastated to ing to others. Lights over Phoenix report he drowned in his mother's par- When George died, he gave his eyes Don Ecker interviewed photojour- ents' pool on July 6,2006. to another child, who can now see. nalist Jeff Woolwine, who filmed a He always ran up to hug me and give I am asking for your help so Georgie rather amazing piece of footage over a big happy kiss to my wife and me. will not be forgotten-that he has not Phoenix on July 4,2006. Jeff believes He was the loving star of our family, died in vain. these lights to be "individual entities." and he had the nickname of Prince He died in a swimming pool acci- A spokesman for Dark Matters Ra- George. dent, one of about 1,450 young chil- dio says, "We're inclined to believe that He would sit on my lap and want dren, most under five years old, who this is a singular large aircraft, currently me to read him stories. He particularly die each year from drowning, typically of unknown origin, that is banking to liked Spiderman, race cars, and Tho- in backyard pools. the right and pivoting on its nose." mas Trains. I often wondered how he To put this in perspective, we lost According to Jeff, the Air Force has could be so happy. He would give me about 1,000 soldiers fighting in Iraq and already made a statement that these a hug ind a kiss and say, "Love You," Afghanistan last year. We lose a third lights were nothing more than flares. or tell you his favorite saying, "Be more of oudittle children in our pools, This singular event is spectacular for happy!" yet I see only explosions or terrorist two reasons: this is the second sighting His personality was exuberant and bombs on our newscasts. over the Phoenix area in recent history loving, and he often wore his No warnings about the death traps that has been captured by video, and Spiderman costume, who has breath- in our pools and spas. Yours or your no one is paying attention-again. taking battles with fearsome criminals. neighbor's. pools can cause death just Without a doubt this is an important Virtually everyone liked or loved as deadly as roadside bombs. event and deserves more attention and him. He was born with a smile and Tell your friends about Georgie, and research than it is currently getting. So showed love for all those around him. warn them to watch their children ev- tell everyone you know, your email list, He liked to snuggle in your arms. ery minute when near water. It is very your message board favorites, your His life was a very short five years, important that someone is in charge to neighbor, and perfect strangers to visit August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal the Dark Matters website and get this footage. Thanks to Dark Matters Ra- dio. ww,w.darkmattersradio.com.

Illinois CHICAGO-The witness reports, "I was over Illinois, flying to Minneapo- lis from the Southeast on June 6,2006. I was looking out the airplane window and spotted a triangle. The object was flat black in color. very large (best esti- mate 300-400 yards long), and feature- less. "It remained motionless in the top of a cloud. I had feelings of disbelief. awe, and, strangely, very calm. I lost sight of the object when the plane fi- nally flew past it." Thanks to MUFON CMS. Paraguay object photographed Argentina bovine incisions AMAMBAY-Here is a photograph taken by Alejandro Rom in of the ENIG- LA PAMPA - Cattle Mutilations: MAS production group during their visit to Amambay in May, 2006. The image a report from Raul Oscar Chaves. "In was sent to me by Ricardo Gonzalez, researcher and director of the Legado late June, 2006, on the edge of Route # Cosrnico web site. 7, five bovines were found dead, pre- senting clear signs of mutilation. and still dark, so unfortunately there cover of King Pacal's templeltomb "The carcasses showed signs of was no way of filming the event. shows him apparently sitting in a rocket missing udders, ears, and tongues, and "After realizing there was a small or UFO taking him into space. incisions to the genital region. The mi- light on the horizon over the jungle in mals were predominantly black Aber- Palenque, my father and others became Oklahoma UFO dives in pond? deen Angus and Short Horn cattle. curious. Eventually the light came si- FLAGLER-"On June 27, 2006," "Many mutilations are not reported lently zigzagging towards them. They says the witness, "five of our grandchil- because livestock buyers are reluctant were directly at the bottom of the dren were fishing in our pond about 3 to make purchases from estates on Temple of Inscriptions setting up. PM when they saw a big splash on one which mutilation episodes have oc- "As the light came closer, it suddenly side of the pond. curred." Translation (c) 2006. S. sped up and zoomed towards their po- "When it hit the water there was Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Raul sition, where it 'stopped on a dime,' in steam that went up from the object, then Oscar Chaves. my father's words. He had no belief the object disappeared to reappear in whatsoever in UFOs, and had never another area. Everything became still, Hovering object in Mexico really looked at the evidence, despite and the pond became like glass as the PALENQUE-Elliot Lemmon my pleas. object sank. writes, "I live in New Zealand, and my "Now this light had stopped directly "Then they saw a whirlpool in the father, who is a professional director of above them, and its luminescence went pond about 8 to 10 feet across that photography, was filming a BBC se- out to reveal a solid oblong kind of moved very fast across the pond to- ries in Palenque, Mexico, called 'Spir- shape, perhaps a couple thousand feet wards them. One of the children got in its of the Jaguar' back in '96 when he, up and the size of a large truck. My a boat that was at the bank, and she along with two or three others, had the father described it as pretty much brick- could see lights around the sides. The sighting. like. object looked like metal. "What really blows me away is the "The craft's light came back on, and "Two other children said they saw apparent interest the UFO had either it shot off to the horizon again at an the lights, but two of them said it looked in the people viewing it or in King impossible speed! One of the things my yellow under the water. Two were still Pacal's tomblpyramid. father still finds hard to fathom is the watching it when they saw the water "Basically, they were setting up their complete silence of the craft." Thanks and grass around the pond next to them equipment; camera, etc. for the day's to Elliot Lernmon start to move violently, so they got shoot. It was only 4:00 or 4:30 AM, Note: The carved stone grave vault scared and ran to the house.

MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 "They were very disturbed by what they saw, and it took three hours be- Presentations by4 2006 Syxnposium4 A fore they would tell us what had hap- pened. ~heyrangefrom7to13years SpeakerSavailable in many forms old, and all had the same story. O "The next day we drove around and Those who'missed seeing and hear- dence of UFO Technology." found truck-like tracks that led towards ing this year's symposium speakers in The Proceedings also includes an ar- the pond, but stopped before they got person may still learn what they had to ticle by Symposium emcee and Satur- 5. to the water. There was a circle where say. Video, DVD, and audio tapes are day luncheon' speaker John the grass had been bent down in an arc available, as is the 37th Annual Inter- Greenewald, Jr. on "UFOs and the shape at the edge of the pond as it national Symposium Proceedings. Small Screen: A Production Tale." It splashed into the pond. Speakers and their topics include: does not include Jesse Marcel, Jr.'s re- "They said there was a cloud over Jesse Marcel, Jr., the Friday dinner marks. them that was swirling. The older chil- speaker, "Evidence from Roswell"; The cost for this year's Proceedings dren thought it might be a tornado that Kenneth Storch, "9 11 UFO: UFOs is $33 in the U.S. and Canada, and $42 sounded like a muffled lawn mower. I and Police Officers"; elsewhere, including postage. asked the OSU Extension Agency to Steve Reichmuth, "The MUFON Audio tapes of each session are $6, check for contamination. They in- UFO Weather Maps-a Year of Evi- or $60 for all 12 speakers; audio CDs formed me there had been two other dence in Review"; are $8 to $10, or $90 for all 12; VHS similar incidents." Thanks to MUFON. Ronald Regehr, "The Iranian UFO video tapes are $20 each, or $200 for Encounter"; all 12; DVDs are $25 each, or $240 Two-part object in the UK Ruben Uriarte, "Border Crossings of for all 12. ALEXANDRA PALACE, LON- the Third Kind," which deals with UFO Shipping and handling is extra, based DON- "What I observed high in the activity in Mexico; on format and destination, unless the sky," says the witness, "was an object , "UFO Crash order exceeds $200. Colorado residents comprised of at least two parts appear- Retrievals-U.S. Government Policy of must pay 7% sales tax. ing to languidly move across my plane Denial in the Interests of National Se- Contact: UFO Congress, 6160 of vision on June 24,2006, at 1 PM. curity"; Firestone Blvd., Suite #104-373, "It seemed to be one vertical cylin- Marshall Summers, "The Men Firestone, CO 80504-6427; phone 303- drical object with a silver-colored Agenda and the Ethics of Contact"; 65 1-7 136; [email protected]; sphere attached to it, but which moved Ted Phillips, "The Physical Evidence www.ufocongress.com: in regular motion and time from the for Unidentified Flying Objects"; Carl Feindt, "Physical Influences of bottom of the cylinder to the top. Twichell's UFO ' television "The cylinder stayed at the side of a UFO on Water"; the object, giving the appearance of David Marler, 'Triangular UFOs: A program expands to radio sliding up and down the cylinder evenly. Detailed Analysis of the Historical David Twichell's "We Are Not "Before it eventually disappeared out Record"; Alone," a half-hour TV show explor- of view, two aircraft-one near and one Ryan Wood, "Big Proof: Examina- ing the UFO phenomenon, has also be- distant-came into view that gave me a tion of UFO Crash Retrieval Cases"; come a one-hour radio show on WHFR reference for whatever it was I was Brian Boldman, "Angel Hair: Evi- - 89.3 FM. It will air at 10 AM EST on watching, so I estimate it was very high alternate Sundays. and relatively large." The TV show will continue, but Books by Dr. Leir world renowned scientists and ufologists now also share their latest Dr. Willy Smith dies Dr. Roger Leir's newest book, evidence in support of the UFO reality UFO Crash in Brazil, $14.95, with on radio and the Worldwide Web. after short illness an interview of an orthopedic sur- If you are unable to pick up WHFR's Dr. illy Smith, who worked closely geon who operated on an Alien Being, is available, as is Casebook- signal in your area, go to http://wtikfml with Dr. J. Allen Hynek on the The show premiered on Sunday, July UNICAT UFO data base, died July 11 , $7.00, Dr. Leir's second book on Alien Implants. 2, and was repeated on July 16, with a after a short illness. new show each month. The TV ver- "He was a good ufologist, and hon- Videos also available. Add $2.50 shippinghandling sion is now in its sixth ye&-. est in all that he did and said," says Twichell is a researcher and author, Virgilio Shchez-Ocejo of the Miami fee. Mail check or money order to: A&S Research, 3801 Old Conejo and serves as editor of the ~ichi~an UFO Center, who reported the death. Road, Newbury Park, CA 9 1320 MUFON Newsletter The website is "He was also a good friend of mine." http://www.ufoimplications.com August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal ! 1 I Ph~sicalTraces

I By Ted Phillips

Marley Woods-bovine incisions feet'to the west. The horse would not farm, as if landing. They drove toward In previous columns I discussed go into either of the rings. the area to see if they could find the some of the strange sightings related to He found in these fields two gates object, but all was dark. The object had an area of Missouri which I call Marley of the same construction as the May 8, descended into the area of the old build- Woods. 1999, event located a mile south. ings on Witness 53's property. As I investigated, more and more The gates were forced to the ground, The next day they arrived at the farm, reports came in over a period of time and the pivot pins were turned to the and, as they were watching the place as area residents came to know and horizontal. The gates were still chained while Witness 53 was gone, they had trust me. The strangeness did not stop. together and were not marked or dented keys to the gates. It was noon, a clear, In June, 1999, by impact. The gates cannot be reached calm day. a second area of by vehicle without unlocking two sets There is an old mobile home 40 feet activity became of gates to access the fields. SE of the house, which is also quite old known as the There have been numerous sightings and in bad shape. The entire area was cabin owner was by Witness 53 and his father over the grown up with high weeds. Witness 73 visiting with his years in this area. A brilliant globe was stopped the car 20 feet from the house neighbor. Wit- seen on the ground, and video was and walked to the mobile home to check ness 53. taken of it by Witnesses 11 & 12 from it. This site is lo- their home 2,000 feet away. His wife, Witness 74, watched from cated 4,500 feet June 7, 1999: Witnesses 8 & 9 saw the car: she is a very large person, and south of the orange lights at 10 PM from their farm it is difficult for her to enter or exit the cabin, and is one Phillips south of the cabin. car. Her view was of the mobile home of three farms June 16,1999: at the cabin, the care- to the right, and the house to the left. owned by Witness 53. taker and two other people saw six of She watched as her husband walked He was reluctant to discuss such the orange lights. One of the lights was from the mobile home toward the old things, but finally became curious due east over the old barn, followed by house. Suddenly he fell to the ground. enough to talk. In June, 1999, he had three more in a triangular pattem. The His wife, fearing he had a heart at- been finding numerous cattle dead un- other two were single lights in the north- tack, left the car and headed for the path der odd circumstances. east. to the house. She called to him and The animals were found in the area June 24, 1999: at the cabin, three asked if he was okay. It took him sev- of an old farm house located on the next witnesses took videos of large white eral seconds to reply in a very weak high hill south of the cabin. He would light at 9:21 PM. As'the object moved voice. find a calf just born with the mother, across the sky they could see small A strange force and the next morning the calf would be lighted objects racing toward the larger She asked him if he could get up, picked clean of its flesh, the mother still one. The display was seen for ten min- and he said he wasn't sure. When she close to it. utes. got closer to him she could see that he This was strange enough, but over a At 10: 10 PM another large. white was face down. As she reached him she period of several days this continued, light moved south, and again smaller felt a "force" or pressure against her and each time he would find a large ring white lights were videoed as they raced upper back and shoulders and was also a short distance away from the calf. The toward, and then from, the larger light. pushed to the ground, falling next to her soil in these rings appeared baked, but July, 1999: Witnesses 73 & 74, both husband. the center was normal. The rings were in their mid-6OYs,live 2,000 feet west They managed to help each other off about 20 feet in diameter. of the second farm owned by Witness the ground. He said he was walking - Near the end of June he was riding 53. One evening in early July the wife between the house and the mobile home his horse when the animal reacted to saw a "craft" with lights passing over when he was suddenly "pushed" vio- something, reared up, and almost their house. lently straight ahead. Both reported they

' tossed him off. He calmed the horse and She called to her husband, and they felt two distinct "blows" before falling. found two more 20-foot rings identical both watched as the object slowly de- He suffered a bloody right leg from to the 8 other rings located some 800 scended into the woods on Witness 53's the hip to the foot, developed a blood MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 clot above his right knee, and spent sev- direction and flew away at high speed. The ring of swirled foliage was com- eral days in the hospital. July 20, 1999: at the cabin. Owner pressed by a very high pressure of some This couple is highly regarded in the R reported, "Today at about 2:15 PM sort, applied from above. The central community. They have not reported or while I was driving a cow through the area was exposed to less force. discussed the event with anyone except 12-foot wide fence alley to my corral, I The swirled area is circular, but 1. a close family friend, and she told R happened upon a large circular area of slightly elongated east to west. It mea- and me about it. They refused to talk flattened and swirled grass between the sured 9.3 feet north-south, 8.95 feet with us, even though they have known alley fences. I called Ted on my cell east-west. The alley fences are 12 feet R for many years. phone, and he arrived at my farm at apart, and the ring edges were: 6 inches The husband was an avid hunter his 7:30 PM." from the west fence, and 30 inches from entire life, and he not only stopped hunt- The ring is located 245 feet north- the east fence. ing, but rarely leaves his house. east of the cabin, halfway down a slop- Samples were taken from the site. July 7, 1999: at the cabin, at 8:16 ing field toward the area where the There were no compass deviations PM one larger amber light seen by three gates were impacted earlier. The story across the area, and a metal detector witnesses. pieced togther is as follows: indicated negative. July 8, 1999: at the cabin, at 9:21 On the evening of July 19,1999, at CBP 1400 moisture tests on site and PM two witnesses saw one amber light I1 PM, the caretaker heard the farm control showed no difference. in the southeast. dogs "going crazy" to the northeast of No radiation was detected, no glow- July 13,1999: at the cabin, two wit- the cabin. He saw a large white light in ing effects noted at night, normal in- nesses saw a large white light from the the low east, and went back to bed. sect population in area, and there were south at 9:30 PM. R took video for three The next day, the caretaker called the no marks or discoloration in the area. minutes as it moved toward the cabin. cabin owner to tell him of a cow trying No additional swirled areas were At one point it stopped. hovered for 15 to birth a calf. and she was having prob- found. and there had been no high wind to 20 seconds, and moved away at high lems. The owner called the local vet, for the past three weeks. speed due east. and joined him at the farm. Cattle react . Enormous object The calf had to be removed from the On Aug. 8,1999, the owner tried to July 14, 199: at the cabin, at 9:37 cow, and was dead. The head was de- drive 166 cattle through the alley. As PM two witnesses saw "an enormous formed, as was one front leg. The calf the herd approached the swirled ring object moving very slowly across the was "mummified"-the word used by they suddenly bolted and tried to get sky from east to west. The object was the vet. through the barbed wire fences on each longer than it was wide, and it was cov- The vet stated that he not seen this side, rather than cross the circle. ered over the entire surface with vari- condition before, and it was "very odd." The owner and three helpers forced ous dim (not blinking) lights. The property owner and caretaker the cattle back and away from the area. "It made a very low humming sound herded the cow through a fenced alley Then they attempted to drive them as it traveled, and when it was west of to put her in a barn. The alley has gates through the ring area in groups of ten, us, it appeared to split in half, with the at each end allowing no access to cattle single file. . . right half continuing west and the left or vehicles. The cattle went by the ring, single half traveled southwest." A swirled circle file, stepping only in the 30-inch area Video was taken, but only a few of They walked up the alley and found between the east fence and the edge of the lights could be seen; the dark shape the swirled circle in the high grass. The the ring. Not one touched even the edge is not visible. The object was seen for fescue around the circle measured an of the swirled circle. more than five minutes. average of 40 inches in height up to the This ring is located 330 feet south- July 17,1999: at the cabin, Witness edge of the disturbed area. west of the gates that were pushed 21, caretaker of the property, reported The fescue was tightly swirled in a down earlier. seeing two of the large orange lights clockwise pattern, flat to the ground. "Normal" sightings continued in appear in the east in the direction of the Plants were not broken, scorched, or July, with observations on the 22, 24, old barn. dehydrated. There was no sign of heavy 29, and 30, all witnessed by two to 8 Shortly after their appearance, a weight or crushing effects. There were people. bright white light moved across the sky no visible imprint marks. August, 1999: Only one observation from north to south, then stopped for The center was two inches higher during the month-five witnesses saw a two minutes east of the old barn. than the outer ring-it was swirled, but large white light. July 18,1999: at the cabin the owner appeared to be somewhat pulled up September, 1999: observations on saw a large white light straight over- also. We attempted to duplicate the ef- 4th, 13th, 16th, 21 st, 22nd. head. He braced his video camera on fects with boards, feet, and a large tire. October, 1999: 30 "normal" the windmill framework, and as he When rolled down the fescue would sightings, two significant events. taped the object, it instantly reversed spring back up. (Continued next month) August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal . . - C _' '^ - . By Stanton T. Friedman

Plasmas and UFOs It was completed in 1955, and 21.5% tions could stand up to careful scrutiny. As Yogi Berra once said, "It's d6jB of the cases could not be explained, Klass had even explained away the vu all over again." separate from the 9.5% which had "in- Betty and Barney Hill sighting of Sep- There was a lot of discussion the first sufficient Information." tember, 1961, as a plasma phenom- two weeks of May about the soon to Did they really not know about enon! As might be expected, he came be widely released United Kingdom Project GrudgeBlue Book Reports 1- up with at least one other explanation Ministry of Defense UFO Volume: 12? Or the Congressional Hearings later. "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (246 pages) of July 29,1968, with tes- Jim dealt carefully with all aspects (UAP) in the UK Air Defense Region." timony from 12 scientists including Carl of Klass' theories, such as pollution The work in the report had actually Sagan, J.Al- being related to the plasma phenom- been done between 1996 and 2000, and len Hynek, enon, about meteor-produced plasma some had been classified SECRET be- James Har- blobs. etc. cause of some still censored informa- der. James E. The simple fact of the matter, which tion about radar. McDonald, was particularly impressive to me, hav- A freedom of information request to myself, et al? ing worked on plasmas related to the the UK Ministry of Defense by four UK These nuclear fusion propulsion system we researchers seeking a copy had finally were all gov- were examining at Aerojet General hit paydirt. For a week before the for- ernment- Nucleonics in the early 1960s, was that mal release on the internet, news ar- sponsored Klass was shown to be wrong in every ticles appeared. reports in, instance. Plasmas as the source of many All stressed that the classified study English. UFO reports simply don't cut it. consisting of more than 450 pages Stan Friedman U~OSas Plasmoids as sources for UFOs was would be posted on the internet on May plasmas is also a topic pursued diligently in an 15. Supposedly the study had found that hardly a new notion. UFO appendix of the Condon Report, "At- UAPs (They didn't like the term UFOs) Philip Klass had published two articles mospheric Electricity and Plasma In- did not present a threat to the security in Aviation Week and Space Technol- terpretations of UFOs" by Martin of Great Britain. Most, it was said, ogy in 1966 suggesting a plasma ex- Altschuler. could be explained as various blobs of planation for most UFO sightings. He It covered 32 pages, included 108 plasma. elaborated in detail in his first debunk- references, and did not conclude that Frankly, I was incredulous. One ing book, UFOs Identijied, published many sightings could be explained by blurb noted that there was supposedly in 1968. the plasma phenomenon. a claim being made that this was only McDonald's work In my Congressional Hearings pa- the second government-sponsored re- Dr. James E. McDonald, who was a per, I, too, had discussed plasmas and port in English about UFOs. professor of physics in the Institute of UFOs, noting that indeed some plas- The University of Colorado "Scien- Atmospheric Sciences at the Univer- mas might have been involved if they tific Study of Unidentified Flying Ob- sity of Arizona, had already been dig- were located in the boundary layer jects," done under the direction of ging into UFOs for a couple of years. around a moving in the physicist Edward U. Condon and usu- He discussed Klass' strange totally atmosphere. ally referred to as the Condon report, unscientific hypotheses in great detail Benefits of created plasma .was the other one. in 19 pages of his outstanding 40-page Many papers had been published The latter volume was finished at the paper "UFOs: an International Scien- showing the great benefit that might be end of 1968. Careful review indicates tific Problem" presented in Montreal obtained if one created such a plasma that 30% of the 117 cases studied in on March 12, 1968, at the Canadian and interacted with electric andlor mag- detail could not be identified. Aeronautics and Space Institute Astro- netic fields produced on board the craft. Were the authors really unaware of nautics Symposium. Experiments 'indicated that one Project Blue Book Special Report 14 There are 38 references in this pa- might control lift, drag, heating, radar with its more than 240 charts, tables, per. Jim used quantitative science tech- profile, and sonic boom production. graphs, and maps discussing 3,201 niques to show that none of Klass' Plasmas were of great military con- sightings? many plasma and plasmoid explana- cern because rocket nose cones enter- 20 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006 ing back into the atmosphere would be very loose. If there was an earthquake natural events could also be causes." going so fast that they would ionize the (even if only a magnitude 2 or 3) within And I could win the big lottery. air, creating a plasma. Obviously it 300 miles and a few months of a sight- Or "No evidence exists to suggest would be important to know how this ing, to him that meant correlation! that the phenomena seen are hostile or would influence the drag and heating There are about a million earth- under any type of control, other than on the nose cone. quakes per year, and many thousands that of natural physical forces." Would Targeting nose cones accurately re- of sightings, so correlations are easy if somebody cleared only to Secret be quires that one know the drag and also one gives enough leeway in the timing aware of any hostility? the heating. I had a technical report lit- and location. Christopher Rutkowski of Secret versus Top Secret erature search done in 1969 while at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Of particular significance is the McDonnell Douglas on the topic has published detailed rebuttals of simple fact that the study had only been "Magnetoaerodynamics." Persinger's theories. classified SECRET. Those who have It included 900 items, 90% of which Obviously, many UFOs observed looked at the almost completely (about were classified. There has obviously from aircraft many thousands of feet 95%) redacted 156 National Security been a great deal of technical research above the Earth are not produced by Agency UFO documents "released in done on plasmas and the atmosphere. earthquakes. 1997 know that they were classified Many will recall that when the Many people are not aware that plas- TOP SECRET UMBRA. Apollo spacecraft returned from the mas are very important in all our lives. The 4 CIA UFO documents found Moon there was a communications The Sun and all stars are not masses of by the NSA, which it took me 5 years blackout because of the plasma region burning gas, but are plasmas: "electri- to obtain from the CIA under FOIA, all produced adjacent to the spacecraft as cally conducting fluids." were classified TOP SECRET CODE it entered the atmosphere. Fluorescent light bulbs have plasmas Word and were very heavily censored. None of this was covered in the UK inside. Much radio wave propagation Wilbert Smith's 1950 TOP SECRET report. Instead they talked about mete- is produced by reflection from an ion- report indicated that UFOs were the ors producing "buoyant plasma" that ized layer of the atmosphere. Scien- most classified subject in the USA. The would move around and be mistaken tists studying nuclear fusion work with FBI said the military considered the for flying saucers! plasmas all the time. problem TOP SECRET. Ball lightning not a match They vary greatly in their character- As rioted in my MUFON 2005 pa- Ball lightning was noted, though any istics. Marconi's early transmission per "Government UFO Lies," it is clear comparison of size, color, and duration (1901) of radio waves across the ocean, that orders had been given to shoot between the many reports of ball light- rather than being limited to the line of down UFOs if they didn't land when ning and UFOs, as noted in BBSR 14, sight between transmitter and receiv- told to do so. shows that the two groups don't match. ing antenna, was made possible by a Gen. Bolender stated, "Reports of Klass had not made the comparison, layer of plasma about 60 miles above UFOs which could affect National Se- although he liked BL as an explanation the Earth, the ionosphere. curity were not part of the Blue Book for many reports. Some of the comments made in the System." The point is that no such ma- Of special importance is the fact that advance publicity based on th'e sum- terial could be covered in a Plain Va- ball lightning is normally less than 2' mary were truly ludicrous, such as nilla Secret document. in diameter and rarely lasts more than UAP do exist and are "usually de- It is unfortunate that the author of a few seconds .... And is essentially scribed as coloured lights and some- the report has remained anonymous. It never noted where there haven't been times shapes," which leaves out most is thus impossible to know whether he storms. sightings that are investigated and turn was just ignorant and an unwitting pawn, Meteors do ionize the air, which is, out to be unidentifiable! or intentionally trying to deceive. generally speaking, why we see the ion- Or "reports occur because they com- Supposedly the title given the docu- ized air rather than the usually small prise unfamiliar and unexpected lights, ment, the "Condign" Report, is just a piece of rock or metal that is actually shapes and patterns, in the context in random selection of letters! My dictio- zooming along. which the observer sees them." nary says Condign means "well de- The MOD report also focuses on the This doesn't really cover most pilot served, suitable... usually applied to pun- work of Michael Persinger at sightings of nearby craft, obviously ishment." Laurentian University in Sudbury, metallic, and intelligently controlled, Anybody who buys this balderdash Ontario. He early on claimed that there nor the few thousand physical trace or the Condon report as the final word was a connection between earthquake cases collected by Ted Phillips wherein on UFOs or UAP deserves to be pun- lights produced by friction in rocks at craft are seen on or near the ground ished for being naive. about the time of quakes and UFO before taking off. -fsphys @rogers.com sightings. Or "Rare weather, atmospheric con- www.stantonfriedman.com His correlation was, to say the least, ditions or other 'barely understood' August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal Director's Message

(Continued from page 2) Firestone Blvd., Suite #104-373, Investigator's Exam and are now James, and the hand-over of the office Firestone, CO 80504-6427. Their tele- MUFON Field Investigators. operations from Kathy to Kristen phone number is 303-651-7136 and All Field Investigator Trainees are Kennington by the end of 2006, with their. FAX number is 303-65 1-7137. urged to self-study the MUFON Field a major milestone occurring at the end Email: ufocongress @ msn.com. Web Investigator's Manual and take the of October when the headquarters of- site: www.ufocongressstore.com. exam. fice operation will shift from the Den- We owe a big, big thank you to Bob, The manual is available from ver area to Bellvue, CO. Teri, Nicole, and the whole UFO Con- MUFON Headquarters for $25 plus I am not leaving MUFON, and I will gress team for their outstanding audio- $3.50 p&h in the U.S. Total price for continue to be a member of the Busi- visual support to the symposium. It is delivery outside of the U.S. is $49.50. ness Board of Directors. a real pleasure to work closely with It may also be purchased on the Internet I have served two three-year terms them. at www.mufon.com using PayPal. as International Director and have ac- complished many of the goals I person- Position Announcements New Lifetime Members ally had for MUFON. It is a pleasure to announce that Ri- It is a pleasure to recognize two That made the year 2006 a good time chard W. Beckwith of Rock Springs, members who became MUFON life- to make the change. Further details of WY, has accepted the position of State time members at the 2006 MUFON the change may be found in the article Director for Wyoming. We appreciate International UFO Symposium in Den- by Dwight Connelly elsewhere in this the assistance we have received from ver. They are William Davis of issue. Colorado State Director Leslie Vamicle Grandview, MO, and Roger Stutz of in the oversight of the MUFON activi- Los Alamos, NM. New Office Contact Information ties in Wyoming prior to the appoint- We are extremely grateful for this Effective Nov. 1. 2006, MUFON ment of Richard. vote of confidence and outstanding level will be operating from Bellvue, CO. George E. Lund IJI, State Direc- of support for MUFON. The address will be: Mutual UFO tor for North Carolina, has appointed Network, Inc., Post Office Box 279, Jeff Cochrane of Charlotte, NC, to the 2007 MUFON International Bellvue, CO 805 12-0279. Phone: 970- position of Senior-Investigator for NC. UFO Symposium 221-1836 (221-1UFO). FAX: 970- He also appointed James E. Sutton of We hope you will start planning now 221-1209., Newport, NC, to the position of State to attend the 2007 symposium in Den- Until that time, official correspon- Section Director for all counties east ver, CO, on the weekend of Aug. 10- dence, memberships, merchandise or- of 1-95. 12, 2007. In addition to an outstand- ders, etc. should continue to be sent to ing slate of speakers, you will be able MUFON, P.O. Box 369, Momson, CO New Field Investigators to assist James Carrion with his new 80465-0369. Kathleen Marden, Director of MUFON initiatives and projects. It will Field Investigator Training, has an- be another excellent event. 2006 MUFON International nounced that Russell Barrett of Okla- UFO Symposium homa City, OK; Richard W. Beckwith SeptemberIOctober The 2006 MUFON International of Rock Springs, WY; Kyle Boyat of Director's Messages UFO Symposium was held in Denver, Esko, MN; Steven Clark of Aurora, James Carrion and I-will issue a CO, on the weekend of July 14-16. It CO; Fletcher Gary of Huffman, TX; joint Director's Message for the Sep- was a well-attended event and received David A. Henninger of Greenfield, tember and October issues of the lots of local and national press cover- IN; Noel McClean of Arnold, CA; Lia MUFON UFO Journal as I phase out age. L. McVicker of Lodi, CA; Monte of the International Director position. The theme of the symposium, "Un- McDonald of Las Vegas, NV; James will also be providing articles conventional Flying Objects: The Best Michelle Schwartzfisher of Eagle, for the journal describing his plans and Evidence," was reinforced over and MI; Michael Stack of Deerfield, IL; initiatives. over as the slate of outstanding speak- John Stampfli of Anaheim, CA; ers provided their packages of evi- Martha Upton of Burlington, IA; Gre- Estate planning dence. gory M. Von Schleh of Seattle, WA; Planned giving can be beneficial both Symposium DVDs, videos and au- Vivian Walker of Carrnichael, CA; to MUFON and to your own tax and dio CDs are available from the Inter- and Shirley M. Wheeler of Lodi, CA, estate situation. Please contact national UFO Congress, 6160 have passed the MUFON Field MUFON headquarters for details. MUFON UFO'Journal August 2006 The Cash-Landrztm UFO Incident By John Schuessler (forward by Bob Pratt), 323 pages, soft cover, 5 112 X 8 112. $20.00 plus $2.50 post. Please add $4 additional for shipping outside the - U.S. Available from MUFON, Box 369, Morrison, CO 80465-0369. 2006 Ozark Conference tapes Video tapes featuring sessions by Forest Crawford, Norman liver. Linda Moulton Howe, Grant Cameron, Dr. Paul Von Ward. Wendelle Stevens. Dr. Rudy Schild. Joe Lewels, speakers ~anel.and Sunday morning mini-session are available for $20 :ach, or $80 for the full set. including 4th Class shipping. Make :heck payable to: Ozark UFO Conference Fund. Mail to: 3zark UFO Conference, #2 Caney Valley Drive, Plumerville, AR 72127. 501-354-2558. [email protected]

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August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal 23 L

By Gavin A. J. McLeod

September sky Moon phases Full Moon Sept. 7 (largest apparent size for 2006) Last Quarter Sept. 14 New Moon Sept. 22 First Quarter Sept. 30 Bright planets (evening sky) Mercury (magnitude 1.37 to 1.38 to 1.33): Moving from Leo to Virgo. For northern hemisphere observers, Mercury will be difficult to see this month. For southern hemisphere ob- servers, Mercury will emerge into the evening twilight sky in the west during the second half of the month. Mars (magnitude 1.8 to 1.7): In Virgo. For northern hemisphere observ- ers, Mars will not be observable until December. For southern hemisphere observers. Mars will become lost in the evening twilight by midmonth. Jupiter (magnitude - 1.9 to - 1.8):In Planetary grouping Sept. 20, 2006, before s~rnrise. Libra. For northern hemisphere observ- ers, Jupiter will be very low in the west- hemisphere observers, Saturn will of the Moon. southwest durihg evening twilight, and emerge in the morning twilight in the Sept. 24: Spica 0.5 degrees north of will set in the west-southwest about 2 east-northeast during the first half of the the Moon. hours after the Sun. For more favored month, and by month's end will stand Sept. 26: Jupiter 5.0 degrees north southern hemisphere observers, Jupi- less than 10 degrees high at the begin- of the Moon. ter will stand about 35 degrees high in ning of morning twilight.. Sept. 28: Antares 0.5 degrees north the west at the end of evening twilight Zodiacal light of the Moon. and will set about 4 hours after the Sun Zodiacal light will be visible in north- in the west-southwest. ern latitudes in the east before the start Bright planets (morning sky of morning twilight from Sept. 21 to Venus (magnitude -3.8): Moving Oct. 5. The phenomenon is visible only from Leo to Virgo. For northern hemi- from very dark locations. sphere observers, Venus will be very Zodiacal light is sunlight bouncing low in the east-northeast during mom- off dust grains in our solar system. Look ing twilight. For southern hemisphere for a pyramid of light in the morning observers, Venus will become lost early sky somewhat like the light from a city in the month in the bright east-north- or town just over the horizon. east mornlng twilight sky. Conjunctions and occultations: Saturn (magnitude 0.4 to 0.5): In Sept. 1 Antares 0.5 degrees north Leo. orthe them hemisphere observ- of the Moon. ers, Satu.m will continue to rise higher Sept. 5: Venus 0.8 degrees north of in the morning sky. By month's end Regulus. Saturn w@ stand about 25 degrees high Sept. 19: Saturn 2.0 degrees south in the east at the beginning of morning of the Moon. twilight. For less favored southern Sept. 24. Mercury 1.8 degrees north

MUFON UFO Journal August 2006