Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Over the decades, a few documents relating to the Roswell UFO crash (or the Roswell events if you wish to remove UFO from the discussion) have been found. One of those developed after Army Brigadier General George F. Schulgen asked for FBI help “...in locating and questioning individuals who first sighted the so-called flying discs...”

On July 10, 1947, an FBI memo was created by D. M. Ladd for E. G. Fitch, outlining the Army request. That request was forward to Clyde Tolson, the number two man in the FBI at the time. Tolson endorsed the memo, writing on July 15, “I think we should do this.”

Hoover then endorsed the endorsement (seen here). He wrote, “I would do this but before agreeing to it we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance, in the La. case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.”

But Hoover’s handwriting was sloppy and the crucial point, the location, as “in the La case” has been disputed for years. It seems that it can also be read as Sw or Sov or 2a. Of course, if it said, “Sw” then that could refer to the Roswell case.

Tom Carey and I have been discussing this through email for a couple of weeks. I am of the opinion that Hoover wrote “La” and this refers to a case from Shreveport, Louisiana. It is clear that the Shreveport report is a hoax, given that the disc was recovered and examined.

According to information from the Project Blue Book files, the Headquarters, Air Training Command, the office of the AC of S, A-2 [Assistant Chief of Staff, Air Intelligence] Barksdale Field, LA, had received a report that a “Flying Disc [had been] found in Shreveport, Louisiana [on] 7 July 1947.”

In the course of their investigation, they found that the disc was small (seen here), there was an electronic starter attached to it that came from a fluorescent light and two condensers from electric fans. The man who built it, and whose name had been removed from the file, also said that he had used a torch to put soot on the edges so that it looked as if the disc had been spinning.

In other words, the evidence of a hoax is well established.

But there is more.

According to the documentation available, the FBI was alerted to the Shreveport case and FBI agents did interview one of the sources. The FBI memo on the case also said that the Army had taken the disc into their possession.

This case seems to fit facts and it is an “La.”

There is another piece to this. On July 24, 1947, there is another FBI memo. This one mentions the Hoover note but now it is typewritten. It says the same thing but the term has been identified. The crucial sentence says, “For instance, in the La. case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.”

That seems to end the discussion, but Tom isn’t as sure as I am. He believes that J. G. Fitch, who provided the typewritten version, in his memo might have suffered from the same problems as the rest of us, meaning that he wasn’t sure what Hoover meant and that question remains open. Tom wants to pursue this a little further to see if he can find a concrete answer.

Tom plans to chase this using a couple of resources he has developed over the last few years. He thinks it is important enough to invest a little additional and effort in finding a solid, final conclusion. And that, really, is the purpose of the Team. To find final, solid answers to the questions that remain about the Roswell case.

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Abduct cows and destroy puny human tanks with your UFO's enormous swinging claw in FGOL's iOS actioneer Grabatron

Do you like arcade destruction games like Death Worm and Super Mega Worm?

How about we throw in UFOs and rope physics too?

That's the world of Future Games of London's latest project Grabatron, which has just been released in separate iPhone and iPad versions.

It came from above

It's a typical arcade experience that has you tilting your iOS device to move your UFO left and right over the 2D landscape, then tapping when the UFO is overhead to pick up objects such as cows, trucks, tanks, scientists, oil tankers etc with your enormous retractable claw.
Then you can swing them around, swiping to let go and throw them into buildings, down chimneys, causing explosions and the like.

Mission critical

There's also a level structure that gives you certain tasks - collect 10 cows, destroy 5 armoured vehicles - but the fun is really about tossing things around and making them go bang. You can even roll huge boulders down hills, crushing everything in its path.

Adding some difficulty are nasty soldiers, tanks, helicopters etc who will shoot at you, while replayability is provided with secret levels to explore and 30 power ups to collect.
You can also use in-app purchases to directly buy items such as nukes, ship upgrades and the harder Insane mode.

Grabatron is out now, for iPhone price 99c, €0.79 or 69p or $2.99, €2.39 or £1.99 for the iPad version.

Check out the video to see how it plays.