ROSWELL AND THE QUEST FOR PHYSICAL EVIDENCE by Anthony Bragalia

Copyright 2013, InterAmerica, Inc.

Credible testimony that has been offered truthfully and that is corroborated by others continues to surface relative to the retrieval of aliens and their craft in New Mexico in July of 1947. This new round of declarations (gained in recent months by an assembled team of researchers) attest to the event having indeed been extraterrestrial in nature. What was said in revelatory ways will be reported on at a later date.

It is however, something that can be seen and touched that is the most coveted of alien crash evidence.  Such physical form evidence is termed the “Holy Grail” by researcher Tom Carey. Things that can be handled, examined and evaluated by independent experts are sought. Confirmation that is tangible and quantifiable is desired. We look for evidence that can be scientifically considered and evidence whose provenance and authenticity is unquestioned. It is this type of evidence -the ultimate evidence – that would definitively end the debate about Roswell forever. Has the pursuit of such proof borne fruit at last?  Has the Holy Grail finally been found?

Just as witness statements continue to be carefully evaluated for truth, so too are the claims of physical evidence.

ROSWELL AND THE TYPES OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

There are four primary types of physical crash evidence: debris, alien remains, photographs and documents. And at least one of these types may yet see the light of public day:

Crash Debris

The scattered, fragmented remains of the craft crashed near Roswell left a large debris field. It is possible that the craft lost materials of construction before it crashed- or that it may have even “skipped” to additional sites, leaving debris in its wake.

The types of people identified who would have most likely to have been out in the middle of the desert in July in New Mexico –and who could have had access to the debris and an opportunity to purloin pieces for private interest- would be:

1)       Ranchers (and their children)

2)       Archaeologists (on expedition)

3)       Geologists (on oil exploration)

4)    Servicemen from Roswell Army Air Field and /or other bases (assigned to debris field cleanup)

There have been many “false starts” when it comes to purported Roswell debris:

-          In 1996 Art Bell, a one-time paranormal radio show host, had received and reported on what became known as “Art’s Parts.” Touted by people such as Linda Moulton Howe, the “parts” were sent from an anonymous source and were square-like metal pieces that turned out to be primarily aluminum with traces of other metals.

-          Also in 1996, a man presented a piece of shard-like metal with an unusual swirling pattern to the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell.  It was later found that the fragment was actually a piece designed by a Utah jeweler and made in his studio.

-          In 1997 Dr. Roger Lier and Derell Sims held a press conference during the Roswell 50^th Anniversary to offer up a bluish stone-like artifact that was going to be tested for alien origin by “universities.” Nothing more since.

-          In 2004 a New Mexico gentleman named Chuck Wade found some seemingly unusual metal material buried in the desert using a metal detector. While the material does seem very heat resistant (and by eye is not immediately identifiable) the kind of testing required by a named and recognized laboratory to validate the material is for now lacking.

-          In 2011 New Mexico school teacher Frank Kimbler claimed to have found ET metal fragments in the desert. He claimed the material had “unusual” isotopic ratios.  But the truth is that such anomalies cannot be determined without use of extremely expensive and sophisticated analyzers made only by Thermo Electron Instruments. They are used to examine the isotopic ratios of such things as fallen meteors. They are found only at NASA, related government agencies and a very few universities. It is not believed that this is what Kimbler has done. Though he mailed off some of the material for some type of analysis, he later claimed that the material had mysteriously “disappeared” in shipping. Today, interest and discussion about his material has waned.

For any such debris or engineered material to be deemed of extraterrestrial origin would require one of the following:

1)       That it was composed of an element that is unknown to earth or science

2)       That it was composed of known elements but that occur in non-terrestrial isotopic ratio

3)       That the processes required to alloy or form the material are unknown to science

4)       That the physical properties exhibited by the material are not found in terrestrial material and are unknown to science. 

Alien Remains

There would be nothing more that we would like to do (and skeptics would like us to do) than to roll out a gurney carrying the corpse of one of the aliens fallen at Roswell.  Even a bone piece or tissue sample would certainly suffice.

But this of course is the very least likely type of evidence that would ever surface into the public domain.  Any such pathological evidence is likely held in preservation in guarded, highly secure facilities whose access is extremely restricted. 

Photographs

A picture image in the form of prints or slides of an object, person or scene that is related to the Roswell crash would be eye-opening evidence.  And such film could be in black and white or in color.  A genuine image of an alien corpse or of the Roswell retrieval operation in the debris field would be a very convincing item.

Perhaps of all of the types of physical evidence that might exist, this type (until recent efforts) has been the least researched. It also may be the one to prove most fruitful.

Cameras were not unknown to common folks in the late 1940s, and that included ranchers. If you were going to go out to see a fallen flying saucer, you would surely grab your camera if you had one. And professional people who may have been out in the desert at that time (such as archaeologists or geologists) would be equipped with a camera to document their finds. Or perhaps a serviceman surreptitiously photographed such film.

Personal Documents

Personal documents such as a diary from July of 1947 with entries relating to the Roswell crash could have been left by neighboring ranchers or their children, by involved servicemen or their families or by members of involved civilian agencies such as the fire department or sheriff’s office. Similar documentary evidence would include letters and written correspondence or saved printed materials.

Two Confirmed Examples:

1)       An historical personal document of this type is in fact confirmed to exist. Sheriff George Wilcox’s (of Lincoln County, NM where rancher Mac Brazel brought crash debris) had a wife named Inez. Inez did compose a memoir that touches on the Roswell crash. She called it "Four Years in the County Jail” and her family states that it was done with thought for publication in a national magazine. Now at the Roswell Historical Society, the memoir says:

"One day a rancher north of town brought in what he called a flying saucer. There had been

                many reports all over the United States by people who claimed they had seen a flying saucer.

The rumors were in many variations… Mr. Wilcox called headquarters at Walker Air Force Base formerly RAAF) and reported the find. Before he hung up the telephone almost, an officer walked in. He quickly loaded the object into a truck and that was the last glimpse that anyone had of it… However the officer who picked up the suspicious looking saucer admonished Mr. Wilcox to tell as little as possible about it and refer all calls to the base. A secret well-kept."

2)       Other documents that have surfaced include ones from reporter Frank Joyce. Joyce was in Roswell in 1947 and was a newsman with radio station KGFL. Joyce also talked to rancher Mac Brazel (who originally discovered the debris field) and Joyce maintained that Brazel told a very different story to him than Brazel had made publicly in the press after coercion from the military. Joyce had the feeling at the time of the crash event that things might be covered up or in some way ‘forgotten’ about the crash. So Joyce did something very unusual: He collected the UPI and news service teletypes received by the station about the crash as they were coming through the wire machine. And Joyce retained these original teletypes and showed them to researchers many decades later to provide documentation that something important really did happen that fateful day.

THE POSSIBILITY OF PHYSICAL PROOF

Claims of physical proof demands rigorous testing. Identifying experts and conducting such testing and authentication requires resources, time and money. But it may yet well be worth that effort, wait and expense as the stream of such claims continues and is evaluated by a team of Roswell investigators that now turn their attention to the tangible.

AJB 

THE MCMINNVILLE UFO “LADDER BOY” BROUHAHA

 

A McMinnville UFO article has stirred some up recently when I ran an image of Paul Trent’s boy standing on a ladder. The kid was perched up in the very area where his father had taken two UFO pictures. These pictures are believed my many today to have been hoaxed. The ‘ladder boy’ photo is a very provocative photo that could impact the authenticity of two highly controversial UFOs photos made in Oregon in 1950 by farmer Trent.

DUPED BY A SPACE JOURNALIST: SAUCER SKEPTIC ADMITS TO BEING THE SOURCE FOR THE ‘LADDER BOY’ PHOTO

James Oberg is a well-known space journalist who has professional ties to NASA .

Oberg admitted just earlier today to researcher Lance Moody that he is indeed responsible for having posted the incriminating ‘ladder boy photo’ on a website a long time ago. He has agreed that was wrong to have done so.

Moody has conceded that Oberg was “mistaken” to have posted the photo. We can all certainly agree that it has caused many problems.

Oberg is known to be rabidly skeptical about “things UFO.“ So much so that in 2009 Oberg deliberately planted a troubling photo on an ATS website forum. It was a picture of Paul Trent’s boy on a ladder. The kid had a mischievous grin and was posed directly under the area that a UFO had been captured on film by his father. Oberg is the first person to have ever placed this image on the net. When Oberg was asked about the origin of the photo, Oberg replied that LIFE had ‘bought the rights,’- that the image had been ‘acquired’ by them. Of course LIFE photographer Loomis Dean, who went to the Trent farm, was a LIFE employee. His pictures did not have “rights” that could be “bought” or “acquired.”

More importantly, Oberg did not post the other LIFE Trent farm images, just the ‘ladder boy’ photo. Why? He had to have known that there was a series of Trent farm photos, but he chose to selectively post only the one that would immediately suggest a hoax.

OBERG’S ERROR REPEATED

Oberg’s “mistake” was apparently repeated on another site some years later. I next saw the Oberg image posted this past summer on another well-known paranormal website, Unexplained Mysteries. A long-time, respected poster there had reproduced the ladder boy image, adding the statement: “from the same roll of film as the UFO photos.”

LIFE ARCHIVE

I reviewed the online LIFE gallery of work by photographer Loomis Dean before I had published the article. There were several wonderful LIFE photos that Dean did over the years, but nothing on McMinnville. An individual emailed me after the article had appeared. He explained that the reason that I could not access the Trent farm photos is because LIFE had since removed them from their site and had apparently archived them. I could not get what I did not even know existed.

THAT IS IT

That is it, the sum total on the matter. There was no ‘nefarious’ intent on my part despite what some have maintained (and in sometimes unprofessional and even profane terms.)

And despite Oberg having posted this very same image on the net before I did, no one had ever seen fit to correct him in the three years in which he did so. Lance Moody has asked me for an apology on this , I wonder if he asked the same of Oberg?

BOY ON A LADDER

The ‘boy on the ladder’ photo remains a provocative one, no matter the provenance. And if you examine the photos in the LIFE series of the Trent farm closely enough it becomes evident: it would be very easy place in which to fake a UFO. And a ladder and a helpful kid would certainly come in handy for a hoax…

AJB

MAKE-BELIEVE IN MCMINNVILLE: FAMOUS 1950 UFO PHOTOS FAKED?

Copyright 2012 InterAmerica, Inc. [Permission needed to reproduce, otherwise copyright infringement will be pursued)

Found clues point to a prank behind the most cherished UFO photographs in history. For over six decades the two images taken by Paul Trent of McMinnville, Oregon have continued to generate great debate about their authenticity. But investigation now indicates that the two Trent images were likely ones of invention. If so, how did a farmer fake so many for so long?

TRENT REDUX

Paul Trent and his wife Evelyn were farming folks who lived in a rural area of the Pacific Northwest. On May 11, 1950 Evelyn claimed that she had spotted a disk-like UFO in their backyard and she called out for her husband to retrieve the camera inside their home. Paul managed to run inside, run back out, and then snap two photos of a mysterious aerial object. Those images even today are emblazoned in the minds of those with UFO interest.

THE PHOTOS AND THE LIMITS OF PHOTO ANALYSIS

Though many UFO researchers (and even the Condon Committee) could see no obvious evidence of hoaxed images, other researchers did.

The essential fact is that the two photographs are gray and grainy. They are of low resolution and they are produced from a simple box camera. Endless techniques, technologies, enhancements and enlargements have been applied to test the veracity of the images by many individuals over many years to varying interpretations. But in real life one cannot always make lemonade out of a lemon.  Simply, the information that is gleaned from a given image can only be as good as the image. And these are poor images from which to work. Conclusively determining whether the object was suspended or thrown- or whether the UFO is actually a rear view mirror, a small scale model or a Dual record changer spindle part from 1940, or whether it is indeed an actual full-sized unknown aerial cannot be accomplished solely by technical analysis.

What we can do is to investigate the photos in a far broader context. We must examine the sequence of events and other elements of the story like this:

THE BOY ON THE LADDER: DADDY’S LITTLE HELPER

Trent Son on Ladder Where UFO Pictures Were Taken (Same Roll)

We must ask, for instance, things like this: What did the other photos taken on the roll containing the UFO photos depict? Well, a picture of Paul Trent’s son is within that roll- and it speaks proverbial volumes.

Often an accompanying image can tell a lot about images that are in question. And in this case, it surely does. On the very same roll that the UFO photos were taken we see a picture of a kid up on a ladder next to the very barn-like structure that was found in the UFO pictures.

And this young man is very interestingly positioned right where the saucer action was about to occur. He is directly under where the UFO was also captured on film.

Why is this kid on a ladder and being photographed in the “UFO spot”? And on the same roll?

And the Trents later contradictions on just when the photographs were taken can be accounted for when we understand that Trent and the boy probably spent a great deal of time extending throughout the day to do it just right. He couldn’t remember the precise time or he was not astute enough to realize the significance of accurately correlating your story to your image.

It is just beyond curious and headed to the obvious: The boy was acting as Daddy’s little helper, assisting in the preparation of the hoax set up in some way, perhaps serving to frame the photos- or helping to angle and position the “UFO.”

It is known that the other pictures on the roll were taken at a time well preceding the photo of the kid on the ladder and the UFO photos. And Trent waited until sometime after the UFO photos were taken to develop the film as he wanted to use up the film exposures that were left remaining on the roll.

The farm boy on the ladder certainly looks appropriately dressed for a cloudy, early day in May in the Pacific Northwest, the time the UFO pictures were taken. And the cloudy gray background sky above him appears suspiciously consistent with and similar to that of the UFO photos. That is, by the looks of things, they could have been taken on the very same day.

The fact that the photo of the child on a ladder (which is taken near the barn-like structure underneath the overhead wires) where a UFO would later also be photographed appears in the same film roll give one more than simple pause. This all clearly points to a prank. It almost appears that Trent was getting a lesson in forced perspective and how to take pictures when your “subject matter” is elevated in the air.

THE SAUCER AND FORCED PERSPECTIVE

With the boy high atop the ladder under the wires near the barn, Paul Trent could practice his UFO shot by looking through his viewfinder, aiming and framing and composing the shot of the UFO to come. This would be a dry run. To have taken practice exposures using the actual UFO model would of course be too damning.

And Paul may have noticed something about kneeling when taking a picture- you can force the desired perspective. The essential thing missed by most is that they assume that Trent was standing upright when taking the photo. But Trent, in taking shots of his small child off the ground, realized that you could create illusions from varying perspectives.

If Trent crouched down low with the boy high on a ladder, he could make the flying saucer look farther away than it really was:

By kneeling down even a little bit, and by shooting up from that position, he could force the perspective of the resulting photo to make it appear to have greater distance, yet remain reasonably sharp in focus.

And a disc-like object could easily have been thrown from that very ladder by his boy accomplice when the ladder was placed out of view of the shot. Or the ladder could have been used to suspend the object from the overhead wires. Take your pick. But whatever the choice, a ladder, a kid atop it and forced perspective somehow most certainly figure into the prank.

THE TRENTS WERE “REPEATERS”

Kim Trent Spencer, the Trent’s granddaughter, told journalist Kelly Kennedy of the Oregonian something of missed importance- the Trents were repeaters. That is, they had multiple UFO “experiences.” Kennedy reports:

“Kim remembers talking about the UFO pictures when she was young, but back then she didn’t know the details- but that her grandmother had said she has seen UFOs before.” And much ignored is that Mrs. Trent herself told the late researcher Philip Klass that she had seen UFOs both before and after the photos were taken.

As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “not that there’s anything wrong with that” –but when you combine her prior UFO interest and prior sightings, her later sightings, her family discussions about UFOs- with the fact that Mrs. Trent reported being the first to see the photographed UFO- it is Mrs. Trent who should have been given more attention when investigating the photos. Paul finally got his wife a photograph of one of her coveted UFOs. She was certainly one darn lucky “repeat witness.”

A STRANGE NOTE LEFT

An intriguing handwritten note has surfaced that was composed by an apparent friend of Paul Trent’s. Trent passed in the late 1990s. The note (in male writing) was directed to Paul and was attached to one of Paul’s UFO photos. The note-writer signs off to Paul by simply using his initials, “CM”- indicating that they knew one another well.

CM writes,

“Paul I wish I could have been there shooting with you on this day in 1950. If it’s real, then whoa! But if you faked it, that’s even cooler. We can’t really fake stuff anymore. Years later if it’s all fake… or maybe it’s all real. Same difference. Thanks for this though.” CM

I can’t of course agree with Paul’s letter-writer, CM. There is a big difference between what is fake and what is real- and it is our obligation to truth to distinguish the two. And strange that Trent’s own admirer CM cannot commit to certain belief that his friend is telling the truth.

THE REASON FOR THE HOAX?

The Trents have been described in the literature as having been “simple” farm folks.  In 1950 there were only 6000 residents in McMinnville. And the Trents were actually out in the sparsely populated hinterlands of Yamhill County, running their ranch.

“Fun” during those times, in that kind of place, may have encompassed playing around with a new camera, wanting to outwit the city folks, involve the family in some UFO entertainment and satisfy a wife’s saucer interests.

Though Paul Trent is always spoken of in “neighborly terms” as being salt-of-the-earth, Paul Trent was not an “unassuming man” without any interest in attention. He was not humble nor “meek and mild.” And he was not at all shy to pose for the press like an actor in these photos ops, ensuring his name in print and in history:

In fact it would be hard to fathom anyone doing today what Paul Trent did to publicize his photos: Just after the UFO photos were developed, Paul went to his local banker Frank Wortman and allowed them to be displayed in the bank’s window where a local passer-by and reporter would then spot them and have them published locally and wind up carried nationally. Paul never objected to the publicity.

This placement of photos in the window of a business reminds me of confessed UFO hoaxer and barber Ralph Ditter of Zanesville, OH. Ditter placed his UFO photos up in the window of his barbershop. Ditter too involved his child. His little girl wanted to see a UFO. So Ditter “made one” using a toy wheel and captured it on camera for her.

And some say of the Trents that no money was ever sought for the photos. But in reality, in 1970, twenty years later and realizing their accrued value, the Trents insisted on having their negatives back from the McMinnville Register, which held them. According to Register Editor Philip Bladine, the Trents were not shy to note to him that ‘they had never been paid for the negatives and thus wanted them back.”

In the end, a farmer had some fun. He wanted us to join along in the entertainment of trying to solve his puzzle. Thank you for that, Paul Trent. Because I too have enjoyed playing make believe in McMinnville. It was fun while it lasted. And it certainly lasted a very long time.

AJB

ROSWELL OFFICER SPEAKS FROM THE GRAVE: TAPED CONFESSION OF ET RECOVERY REVEALED

“It was a relatively small body…it was pretty well beat up.”

A Lieutenant  and Press Officer at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) in 1947 left a testament to the reality of fallen ET in a rare audio recording that was meant to be heard after his death. A portion of it is revealed in a tape/video held by  UFO archivist Wendy Connors.

It is in that taped message that Walter Haut (a decorated bombardier and Purple Heart recipient) first openly acknowledged his personal witness to an alien-piloted craft found on the desert floor in New Mexico. And people who knew Walter well have now come forward about what he had said about the matter very early on- and why he did not release all of this information until the winter of his life.

Walter would of course go on to sign a notarized declaration in December, 2002 of his full knowledge of the Roswell incident as a piloted, extraterrestrial event. This was famously reported in mainstream media based on the publication of the bestseller Witness to Roswell and the work of the book’s authors Tom Carey and Don Schmitt.

But it was four years before this in 1999 that Walter Haut had admitted for the first time to someone outside of a small circle what he knew about the entirety of the Roswell event. And he allowed it to be recorded.

Like the notarized affidavit, Walter did not wish this 1999 recorded confession released until some point after his death, which occurred in 2005 at age 83. This enabled him to honor his oath during his life to the ultimate secret: the recovery and retrieval of beings not from earth.

A Walter Redux

As Press Officer at RAAF in July of 1947, Walter Haut composed the famous Press Release that was dictated to him by Colonel William Blanchard, Base Commander and close personal friend.  Walter was made to state that the “flying disc” reported crashed near Roswell earlier was now known to be merely an errant weather balloon, initially confused as something more. The release was carried in the Roswell papers and the world over.

In 2002 Walter elected to come clean for history about what really had happened. None of the press reports he was made to distribute were true. Walt said that there was in fact a small craft that was piloted that had crashed. He saw it and the debris and one of the extraterrestrial beings.  This announcement made headlines and brought Roswell back in the news like never before in the preceding 60 years that the crash had occurred.

In 1999 pioneering New Mexico researcher Wendy Connors interviewed Walter in-person for the record about Roswell. She was tenacious in her questioning. She was accompanied by one of her associates at the time, Dennis Balthaser.

In the interview, tape running, Wendy Connors asks Walter about his knowledge of any beings that may have been associated with the craft that fell at Roswell. Walter hesitatingly replies to her that he remembered one, small body that looked beat up, and then refused to go further, as if he had said too much already.

In other parts of the tape (hopefully to be released in its entirety at a later date) Haut does say just a bit more.

He speaks of the childlike body having been partially covered by a tarp.

He also speaks of having personally witnessed the craft wreckage from the crash stored in a hangar at the base after the crash and offers details on this.

He makes mention that the bodies may have been taken to Lovelace Clinic afterwards.

Very little known is that Walter did give hints to the ultimate secret that he had held- to a very select few.

Robert Shirkey was the Base Operations Officer at RAAF in 1947. Before he passed, Shirkey told his son that back in 1989 Walter had personally confessed to him that he had he has personal knowledge that the object that crashed in the desert could only have been from another world, and that he had seen it.

Lloyd E. Nelson was a PFC who clerked for Haut in the RAAF Public Information Office in 1947. He remembers Walt coming into their office at the time and showing to him small pieces of wreckage debris including an I-Beam that was small and had writing on it. He was also shown a ceramic type piece of material that appeared broken off. Both Officer Jesse Marcel who was confirmed at the site and Walter told Nelson to say nothing.

This confirms details of Haut’s much later signed confession in 2002. In the early 2000s, Nelson called Walter to find out more about the material. Nelson said, “To my dismay, Walter would not confirm to me anything. He knew that I was there but he would not admit it, not even to me.”

Base Finance Officer Richard C. Harris told Roswell researcher and author Kevin Randle in the mid-1990s that Haut did know about the bodies from the crash having been stored in the base hangar. He knew this because Haut asked Harris at the time of the event if he would like to see them. Harris, apparently not wishing such a sight, did not.

Fred Wilcox (a civilian employee at Roswell Army Air Field in 1948) was an acquaintance of Haut. In 2000, Wilcox said that in 1955 a mutual female friend of theirs’ told him that Walt had confided in her privately that he was actually at the crash scene and that there were alien bodies.

Why Walter Didn’t Talk Until the End

Walt’s wife “Pete” Haut said that for years after the crash incident that Haut received visits from an Air Force Intelligence officer that he knew from his days in the service. Pete states, “Anytime that there was a ‘flap’ about UFOs in the news anywhere in the country, he would show up. He would always manage to talk about hos the Air Force had explained away this sighting or that.”

Towards the end of his life, Haut himself said that he would receive regular phone threats for many years after the incident. He said to one researcher, “There were so many calls I lost track of them- about 20 years of it.”  One of these calls was from the retired Colonel son of a late General who told Haut, “Lieutenants should know how to keep their mouths shut.”

Among Walter’s personal affects were found Christmas cards from the former head of the CIC intelligence at Ft. Worth, TX, Milton Knight. One of the cards read, “I still say that there were no bodies at Ft. Worth.”

Walter’s Truth Finally Revealed

One hears, in his own words, that Walter admits his personal witness to the ET reality of Roswell. And we note that others from his far past were priviledged to know his secret. This shows that Walter Haut was not in any way “coached” about his 2002 affidavit, as some critics suggest. It shows that he was of sound mind and that he offered the final secret of the found bodies willingly, if not reluctantly.

AJB

AS HIGH AS A KITE: UFOS AS FLYING PLAYTHINGS BY ANTHONY BRAGALIA

                 (Circa 1900)

Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly. And kites have surely ignited the imaginations of many, leading them to falsely believe that they have witnessed the unearthly- a UFO.

In fact the lowly and unconsidered kite may account for a hugely substantial number of such sightings throughout the world - and for well over a century!

A review of the hidden history of kites -and an investigation into today’s secret world of high technology kite play- is insightful. It shows that from the Great Airship Mysteries of long ago to present-day flying saucers and black triangles- kites have played a role in the phenomenon until now not fully appreciated. Kites must now rank with balloons, remote-control aerial toys and CGI in their ability to deceive even the most discerning when it comes to things UFO.

OF GRAHAM BELL, MAN KITES & MYSTERY SHIPS

The early ingenuity of kite design and performance rivals those of the 21^st century. From the early 1800’s to the early turn of the 1900’s, gliding and soaring was a global obsession. Their fascination with flight is hard for us to fathom today given that we live in a jet age. It was from this yearning that the fabled “Great Airship Mysteries” of strange flying contraptions was borne.

From Dr. Alexander Graham Bell to Marconi, many men of note (as well as hundreds of “amateurs” across the country) had developed very intense interest in “extreme” kites. They created and flew extraordinary, confounding kite configurations that surely bewildered anyone at the time that had the fortune to cast their eyes upon them.

Dr. Bell’s Kite (1901)

This perplexing, 12-sided, radial-winged, gigantic kite was tethered aloft to great heights by the man who invented the telephone.

The French Like Their Kite

This kite craze was not relegated to the US alone. In the late 1800’s and through the next two following decades, the French designed light frames that were sent aloft that were breathtaking in their very conception.

Pictured above is a kite demonstration in Biarritz, in the South of France in 1904, with the seaside class delighting in such aerial art spectacle.

Man Kites

This 1905 Biplane Glider Kite could carry a small sized person above the earth for short distances, akin to early hang gliders.

A “Black Triangle” in 1900!

Baffled-cell construction allowed for ultra-rapid ascent. “All-wing” and experimental triangular designs were of special interest from very early on in the optimization of kite configurations.

ARE KITES A PARTIAL ANSWER TO THE AIRSHIP MYSTERY?

As early as the 1880’s, pioneering inventor Laurence Hargrave had perfected and flown dihedral and cellular kite configurations. Some of these were of considerable size and went far-reaching into the skies above. In 1900, even Marconi began building prototypes for transatlantic kite gliders.

It is then easy to understand that this dizzying array of amazing aerials confused those at that time in human history who may not have known just exactly what it was that they were witnessing.

These contraptions were so high up -and so far away from their range of everyday experience- that those who saw them projected onto them what was within their imagination.

• The fact is that such early, fantastic kites and aero-foils as depicted in this article were largely meant to be seen for only the invited or privileged few- the learned, those of leisure and the scientific community. In an age before TV or widespread photography, there would be no frame-of-reference for those who saw these kites unbeknownst and if they had never had previous exposure to such things (which at the time was most all of America and Europe.)

• If such extraordinary aerial devices were seen high in the skies above them without seeing the man holding the strings behind the hill and out of their view, for instance, they may well have believed that they were viewing a “Mystery Airship.”

• And if such kite configurations were seen from a very far distance; or at certain deceptive perspectives or forced angles; or at dusk or at night; or in extreme sun glare; or in fog or in haze (or in any less-than-ideal viewing conditions) then even highly educated individuals at that time would have not been faulted if they reported that they had witnessed a “Mystery Airship.”

• And certainly not all such kites were able to be retrieved after their demonstration and field experimentation. These wonder kites did escape, as kites escape from us today. They came off of their tethers. They sometimes broke away from the grasp of their handlers. They then became airborne to points far and wide. And they surely would have been beheld as an “airship” by those below.

TODAYS HIGH TECH HOAXERS-THE UFO KITE CABAL

Engineered kites, or “high tech kites” may represent the truth behind far more sightings of flying saucers than the UFO community may ever care to consider. Such advanced light sail forms are now equipped with programmable LED lights, onboard computers and cutting-edge navigation and control systems. They are often configured in ultra-large, novel shapes. They can even appear to change shape, rapidly change color and disappear and reappear instantly in another part of the sky as seen in the following videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_YEmALNiU

High Tech Night Kite in Vancouver Fools Many

Two years ago hundreds were duped by an aero-geek’s LED UFO kite stunt. A confession was later obtained by a resourceful and inquiring local TV reporter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HZGRaAHZXY

Kite Caper Causes UFO Stir in Shanghai

$500 is what reporters say that it cost a hoaxer to build his LED craft, which stunned residents of one of China’s largest cities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEehIVy48Fo

Physically Impossible Flight Maneuvers Made Possible with “Extreme Kites”

Beginning at 0:58 of this short film one can see gravity-defying aerial movements that, if they were piloted craft, would break bones. If such a craft were aloft a couple of hundred feet above the earth at night and lit properly with LEDs, it would instantly wind up on YouTube and millions would “believe.”

Exploring the underbelly of the internet will yield search results to “kite clubs” with forums whose members advise one another on the latest illusions, visual effects, technologies and techniques to fool the unsuspecting. I suspect these sites are largely populated by enterprising science students or young engineers. These pranksters, like their brethren geek before, know the secret of the kite:

Kites make us look up.

THE VARGINHA BRAZIL ET: A HOAX EXPOSED

In 1996 the UFO community was reeling from the news that two extraterrestrial beings had been captured in Varginha, in southwest Minas Gerais state in Brazil. Spotted by three girls, the creature was later captured by the Brazilian Army, with assistance from the local police. The being was autopsied at a major hospital in Varghina and it was determined to be a creature that was unknown to science.

Though names of individuals and institutions were given in support of this event, a decade and a half later it can now be revealed that the entire “Varginha ET” affair was a hoax based on child hysteria and on the sightings of the deformed.

The supposed ET autopsy doctor, a Brazilian policeman and an original girl “witness” now weigh in on what really happened at Varginha.

ET AUTOPSY DOCTOR: IT NEVER HAPPENED!

Dr. Fortunato Badan Palhares

One of my research associates from Europe, Aurimas Svitojus, emailed the implicated alien autopsy MD and well-known physician, Dr. Fortunato Badan Palhares. Palhares was alleged by several UFO “investigators” to be in attendance to the autopsy of one of the creatures at University of Campinas. But none of them ever attempted to reach him directly and he has never spoken publicly until now.

Svitojus emailed Palhares on August 23, 2012, with some very pointed questions.  Svitojus asked Palhares directly about his involvement or any knowledge of an ET captured in Varginha in 1996.

Here is the Dr.’s reply (roughly translated by Svitojus from Portuguese) and received on August 24, 2012:

"Dear Mr. Aurimas:

 I am very glad to know that you have a university education and particularly from Kaunas University of Technology. Therefore it is easier to be quite frank.

When I read an article either in magazines or in books published without the bearing of a scientific outlook, I must first know who are the authors and the reliability of their given information.

Unfortunately, all of the information about the Varginha ET involving my name, are the fruits of fantasy authors and do not deserve any respect from me because they are liars.

In some discussions I've had with "UFOlogists" who claim to have studied this case, nothing, absolutely nothing they brought materialized that was credible. They are conjectures, inferences, perhaps even hallucinations.

I never discuss this issue with students, but when asked in lectures I have always said that: I DID NOT AND NEVER WAS CALLED TO DO ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING WITH THIS MATTER. Several reporters attended the occasion when these stories came out and visited the university where I worked but they had nothing of interest and never showed anything. Mr. Aurimas, there is nothing concrete, reliable and material about this. These stories about the Varginha ET for me do not deserve credit, that is my answer.

I hope I have satisfied your curiosity. I am a scientist and I do not need to hide such facts if they exist. I am not connected to any intelligence or defense agencies. I am a free citizen and unhindered to speak what I want and always acted this way in my personal and professional life. Nothing would stop me to say something if I was really involved."

The truth is that when one digs very deeply into the “affair” it becomes clear that all of the relevant testimony comes from such people as “nurses” and “guards.”  Often the names are withheld and sometimes when given, are very common names in Brazil.

TODAYS CLUES ABOUT YESTERDAYS HOAX AT VARGINHA

Today Varginha embraces the ET affair as “real” though is certainly seems to be a tongue-in-cheek “real.” And any “real” investigation of the event is not wanted here.

The city itself began to invest in “UFO tourism” after the event. Two of the landmarks there are:

The “Varginha ET” Statue, City Center

Varginha Water Tower, in the Shape of a Saucer

It has since been learned that one of the original girl witnesses to the creature (who has now married with a new name which will be withheld) has since converted to an evangelical religion and now dismissed the entire incident as youthful folly. But what of the ET? The girl was surely not the only witness to the event.  Was there an impetus to the sighting that had a far more earthly explanation?  Yes.

In the 1990s Varginha was home to a deformed homeless man, Little Luis. A local with disabilities, he would often haunch up in corners and he was often filthy and wet. In discussions with Lt. Col. Finholdt Pereira of the Varginha Police, it was learned that this is in fact who the police originally believed the three girls thought that they saw as an “ET.”  And Pereira was right:

Little Luis, The Varginha ET, Finally Revealed!

AJB

THE ULTIMATE SECRET OF SOCORRO FINALLY TOLD: NEW DETAILS ON WORLD-FAMOUS 1964 UFO HOAX

Copyright 2012, InterAmerica, Inc.

For over four and a half decades many around the world have wondered about the true nature of the sighting of a landed unidentified flying object that was reported on the ground and then taking off by Officer Lonnie Zamora in Socorro, NM in 1964. In the fall of 2009 this author’s investigation disclosed that the Officer had been victim to a hoax that was perpetrated by students at the New Mexico Institute of Technology.

Now, three years later, a more complete account of the hoax has finally emerged including:

-          The astonishing way the hoax was accomplished

-          The number of people involved in the hoax

-          Why they did not come forward

-          Remarkable film that visually documents how the college students constructed and flew the craft, according to the college’s President

-          The collective concern for Officer Zamora by the perpetrators and the college President in the wake of a youthful folly snowballed out of control

RETURNING TO SOCORRO

The story of the Socorro UFO sighting by Zamora, the aftermath and the hoax solution to the sighting were reported by this author in a three-part series on the UFO Iconoclasts website:

Socorro Hoax Exposed (Famous UFO Sighting Was a College Prank)

www.ufocon.blogspot.com/2009/09/socorro-hoax-exposed-famous-1964.html  

Socorro UFO Hoax Part Two: Getting Closer to the Culprits

http://ufocon.blogspot.com/2009/10/socorro-ufo-hoax-part-2-getting-closer.html

Socorro UFO Hoax: Physical Evidence Points to a Prank

http://ufocon.blogspot.com/2009/11/socorro-ufo-physical-evidence-points-to.html

Investigation and interviews had produced:

1)      A confession after 45 years had passed by renowned Los Alamos physicist Dr. Stirling Colgate who was the former President of New Mexico Institute of Technology (NMIT) that the event was a hoax by students that he knew. He also confirmed that he had explained this all decades ago to his friend, secret UFO researcher Dr. Linus Pauling.

2)      An acknowledgement by NMIT professor and philanthropist Dr. Frank Etscorn (who was the inventor of the nicotine patch) that it was a hoax

3)      A confirmation from a leader of the school’s Energetics lab (who as a student there in the mid- 1960s) that it was a hoax.

4)      Several former students and a school public information administrator offered astounding information on a long-standing tradition of technical pranks- and even a “society” devoted to the pursuit. (Of course one must ask why so many ranking NMIT administrators and illustrious men of science would implicate their own school after being approached if it were not so?)

5)      Little-known official reports at the time were surfaced that showed the presence of charred cardboard, footprints and evidence of pyrotechnic ignition at the UFO site.

COLGATE NOW MAKES THINGS CLEARER

Dr. Stirling Colgate is perhaps the greatest living physicist in the word. An associate of Edward Teller, at age 86 Colgate still reports daily to work helping to lead advanced physics for one of the most esteemed scientific institutions on the planet, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Colgate was the former President of NMIT and was known as very affable, likable administrator who was very close to his students. So much so that it is reported that he often shared drinks and gossip at Socorro’s Capitol Bar. It is in this air of academic conviviality that Colgate learned of his student’s involvement in the hoax on Zamora.

When a document was discovered in the Pauling archives that Colgate wrote to his friend multiple Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Linus Pauling that the Zamora sighting was a hoax, this author then contacted Colgate. Colgate confirmed the contents of the letter to Pauling and that, among other things:

1) He still knew the incident to have been be a hoax 2) He remains friends with one of the hoaxers 3) That person “does not want his cover blown” and that  3) accomplishing the hoax “was a no-brainer.”

Now, very recently, Colgate has made things much clearer.

In email replies received by this author from Dr. Colgate dated August 1, 2012 and on August 8, 2012 to further questions that I had of him much was learned about the “reasons and ways” of the hoax.

Dr. Colgate has I believe, truthfully and on his legacy, now graciously imparted to me further insight on the hoax scenario. In his words:

“It was a prank and I was very concerned for Officer Zamora.”

“No one would come forward on this, they were all embarrassed.”

“So many things were pressuring me and still are about this.”

“I did not feel that I could add anything by pressuring the students, and recognized it as a prank.”

“The students were embarrassed about the possible harm that could have come to Zamora (from the prank.)”

“No additional communication with Pauling(on this)”

“He too may have been embarrassed.”

Colgate says more to me in another email, whose additional replies from him are given below. But we learn from the above cryptic comments that Colgate and cohorts acknowledge the obvious, for they too are human:

They felt pressured about what to do, felt embarrassed of what they had done, and were sorry with concern for Lonnie.  Lonnie could have conceivably been fired from the police force, psychologically marred for life or other adverse things.

The hoaxers must have been uncomfortably conscience-stricken about all of this. It was never thought that the story would get so big. They did not mean it to snowball like that.

They were confused about what to do and were shamed life-long about what they had done. And really, who wishes to bring up to friends, family and work associates the youthful follies which we all wished had never happened? Should these perpetrators (who are now retired seniors) turn their world upside down and go public simply for our satisfaction?

We also find out that Pauling too, lost interest and never brought up the Socorro subject with Colgate, because he too wished not to suffer any potential professional embarrassment in being in any way associated with Socorro. Confirming Colgate, further review of the Pauling archives shows that there was indeed ever any further interest in the subject by Pauling.

COLGATE ON HOW THE STUDENTS HOAXED LONNIE

Beauty is often found in simplicity. And so it is with Socorro. For all of the speculations about the hoax involving such things as tethers, remote control and flame throwers- it needn’t be and wasn’t.

In the August 8^th email from Stirling Colgate, he opened up even a bit further about how the students had hoaxed Lonnie. I had of course always wanted to know from him just exactly how the deed was done.  How did the students do it?

I stated to Colgate that he must know how they did it- and directly asked of him:

 “How did they do it? What was the craft made of?”

His short but telling reply:

“A candle in a balloon. Not sophisticated.”

I also asked of Stirling how many were “in on the hoax?” Again, a short reply received:

“I’d say about 3-6”

Those who still steadfastly adhere to explanations other than “hoax” to the Zamora sighting will no doubt dislike what was said by Stirling.

But an amazing video by two college-age students from the UK (posted just months after my series on the Socorro hoax) may give us visual documentation of exactly what Dr. Colgate is referring to and how the hoax was performed.

Skeptics of my work on this simply do not wish to accept the truth that Lonnie Zamora first radioed his police partner that the white object “looked like a balloon.”

Here in the video below, two very clever British boys show us what Colgate means by how a simple “candle in a balloon” can also be an extraordinarily effective hoax and aerial effect (you can advance to 1:17 if you wish to go directly to the launch):

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjMn1diPIvo&feature=related

VIDEO ILLUSTRATIVE OF HOW THE HOAX WAS DONE

Now, not only does Colgate say it that was a “balloon candle” type affair, but he also says that there were a very small number of college students that were involved, perhaps three to six.

And he is again right. There would have minimally been:

TWO LAUNCHERS:

Two short students in white coveralls (actually white lab suits) acted as “aliens” and had launched from the ground Lonnie’s landed “UFO.” Lonnie never claimed that he saw the short people get into the “vehicle.” By that time he was escaping or planning his escape to really note where they went.

THE SPEEDER:

One additional student that was needed was a student speeder to lead Lonnie just out of town and near where the two “aliens” awaited Lonnie.  This should have been the most obvious clue of all to a hoax: Lonnie had to somehow be made to get to the hoax- and he was, by a freshman in the car like the above.

THE PYRO:

Another student was used to create the explosion that had diverted Lonnie on a direct path to the “staging area.” This student may have also created the roaring and high pitched sounds that Lonnie reported emitting from the UFO. The sounds that Lonnie reported were actually resultant from “pyrotechnic whistles” according to the President of the world’s leading fireworks association (see prior articles.)  All of this material was available at the school’s Energetics Lab which sponsors the annual July 4^th fireworks.

So Colgate is correct that about at least 3-6 students were involved in executing the prank.

A very large white candle balloon (with a red, draw symbol on its side) launched by lab-suited students are what Lonnie saw. The roars were provided by both the balloon-flame contraption and by pyrotechnic whistles. As shown in the UK video above, such devices, even when rather large, can travel very high and far- and quickly.

PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING

Many still will insist that no one could be fooled by such a lit balloon contraption. But one must consider several things about the sole witness to the event:

Lonnie was confused, stirred up and frightened:

In small town Socorro, Officer Zamora was often tasked to “deal with” the students at the school. A student speeder trying to “show off” his hot vehicle whisks by Lonnie and Lonnie is in hot pursuit. This is surely not how Zamora wished to be spending a Spring evening awaiting the leave of the students from the school, being stirred up and having to chase some smart and smarmy kid-speeder. Lonnie then is startled to hear an explosion “like from a dynamite shack.” He was confused by the unfamiliar flying thing and frightened to crouch of the flame, roar and whistles.

Lonnie had impaired vision and required corrective lenses, which he lost:

We do not know if Lonnie wore single vision or bifocal lenses, but the images of him available to us show very thick lenses. Such lenses mean that the wearer’s vision is seriously compromised relative to the ability to correctly estimate distance.  And at a critical point of viewing the “UFO,” we know that startled Lonnie had jolted his glasses, dropped them to the ground, and stooped to locate them, found them, placed them back on his head and then re-adjusted his position to locate the UFO to see it again.

Lonnie reported things as he saw them, did his utmost best to answer questions put forth of him and was a good person. But like all of us, he had his flaws…including the flaws with his powers of perception that dusky day. He was not “Saint Zamora of Socorro.” He was neither an educated man nor an articulate or especially intelligent man, as gracefully noted by the Air Force’s Dr. J. Allen Hynek in his interview report of Zamora.  Lonnie probably never had seen such an unusual thing and to his faulted perception that day, remained honestly and thoroughly confused. And remember also the context of the time, 1964, a time when satellites were like science fiction and man had barely even been in space, and not yet on the moon.

Combining all of these things, it is easy to see how this sole witness out in the arroyo could imagine that he was seeing something truly remarkable. But it really was not all that at all.

TRUTH TAKES TIME

Continued appeals to truth and to history sometimes pay off. Such persistence in doggedly pursuing such old folks to find that truth for history sometimes gets me in trouble on such old cases. I am called overly aggressive and “leading” by some.  Say what they will, but it often yields answers and the solutions to mysteries. I approach and re-approach witnesses to Roswell and in all my UFO investigation. When TV’s “Columbo” Peter Falk solved crimes it was always at the very end, after taking some time, and always with a “re-approach’ of someone with whom he had already discussed the crime. Waiting a few years perhaps got Dr. Colgate to thinking it was about time to tell as much of the truth as he could.

And so it is with Socorro. Time has finally told all.

AJB