Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
The Book Corner: Free To Read On Line UFO Books (PDF Format)
'The Book Corner'
Free To Read On Line UFO Books
PDF Format
http://nicap.org/mantell.htm
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NASA Releases Free E-Book About Contacting Aliens
› Kindle readers: MOBI [2.8 MB]
› All other eBook readers: EPUB [3.8 MB]
› Fixed layout: PDF [1.7 MB]
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NASA Releases Free E-Book About Contacting Aliens
› Kindle readers: MOBI [2.8 MB]
› All other eBook readers: EPUB [3.8 MB]
› Fixed layout: PDF [1.7 MB]
Nick Pope: Advisor To The Games Industry, Harmless Fun Or Damage To His Credability
Published on 25 Jul 2013 By ITN
Reporter tries to access the real Area 51 and chats with a UFO expert ahead of the release of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified on August 23. He made a short video as he tried to get close to the top secret US facility after touring other key UFO locations in the Nevada desert, just a few weeks before The Bureau: XCOM Declassified hits shelves.
The game comes out on August 23 and will be available on all current gen consoles and on PC. Report by Mark Morris.
The game comes out on August 23 and will be available on all current gen consoles and on PC. Report by Mark Morris.
Published on 24 Jun 2013 By IGN
Nick Pope used to investigate UFOs for the British government. Now, he's helping with XCOM. His stories are creepy.Saturday, 27 July 2013
Spacing Out! Ep. 55 - UFO video from Australia & the 2013 MUFON Symposium
Published on 26 Jul 2013 By openmindstv
We go to Las Vegas, NV for the 2013 MUFON Symposium. We also discuss alien robot space probes, UFOs in Australia, and other space and UFO news on this episode of Spacing Out!
MUFON’s best UFO video case of 2012
At the Mutual UFO Network‘s 2013 annual symposium they handed the media a press release outlining the top 10 UFO cases of 2012 as determined by their newly formed science review board. MUFON’s Science Review Board is headed by their Director of Research, Robert Powell. It consists of scientists with degrees in physics, chemistry, geology and electrical engineering. The board’s work experience includes working with NASA and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and many leading high-tech companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Of the 10 cases, one of them is an intriguing UFO video case that took place in Ball Ground, Georgia, a town about 50 miles north of Atlanta. The witness wrote, “We saw a black, bird like shaped object that made no noise along with blinking lights in the sky.”
The MUFON science review board agreed that the object does appear to have flashing lights along its perimeter. They describe the object as circular, and say that the object in the video has yet to be identified and is currently under study.
The sighting lasted about 30 minutes, and the report included 3 videos the witness says were taken from cell phones.
The witness says she was in the driveway with her two children and her best friend when one of her daughters spotted a large black object just above the tree line across the street. She says the object was slowly moving towards them. She described the object as “a dull, black color with a curved, wing like shape on either side.”
She says:
We watched it slowly ascend until it seemed to be close to the height of where a commercial airplane could be. There were some faint clouds very high up in the sky and eventually this object ascended into them. Before it became unnoticeable…We will keep an eye out for any further updates from MUFON on this case. We will also have a summary of the top 10 cases from the MUFON Science Review Board up on our website soon, so stay tuned to OpenMinds.tv for more.
UFO Sightings in Portland, Oregon On July 4th Probably Chinese Lanterns
Published on 6 Jul 2013 By AlienPeace1 - There is GOOD out there
Source: http://www.katu.com/news/local/What-w...
On July 4, 2013, many people in Portland, Oregon witnessed strange white lights hovering in a perfect triangle formation. These "orb triangle" UFO sightings are occurring all over the world.
On July 4, 2013, many people in Portland, Oregon witnessed strange white lights hovering in a perfect triangle formation. These "orb triangle" UFO sightings are occurring all over the world.
Spherical UFO Over Equator Ecuador
Published on 26 Jul 2013 By jmhz71
Este objeto que nos proporciono el Usuario Mel Tamariz grabado el 19 julio ,Para investigar Y
Hacer una comparación con ,el objeto Personalmente grabado Aqui El linck
Bing translation:
Hacer una comparación con ,el objeto Personalmente grabado Aqui El linck
Bing translation:
This object that you provided us the user Mel Tamariz recorded on 19 July, to investigate and
Make a comparison with the personally engraved object here the linck
UFO Planet Ep. 48 - 10 UFO Sightings from Scotland, Arizona, England, Australia, Canada, USA & Argentina
Published on 24 Jul 2013 By Darin Crapo
Take a journey into the unknown and examine UFO sightings from Scotland; along an Arizona freeway, Australia, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Object hovers over a Colorado music festival, UFO spotted in both Argentina and Chile, Alien escaping from a house, education video on how many fake UFO videos are created and a feature interview with Bob Figueria, UFO Planet Specialist who shares information on how to make contact with a UFO and what kind of equipment he uses to record sighting.
Unknown Luminous Object Allegedly Grounds flights At Chinese Airport
Published on 15 Jul 2013 By misterio canal
En beijing se captó un ovni luminoso en forma de espiral cerca de un aeropuerto por el cual tuvieron que suspender los vuelos el cual fue transmitido por noticieros.
Bing translation:
Bing translation:
Beijing is captured a UFO light spirally near an airport which had to suspend flights which was shown on newscasts.
Topic UFO: Aliens in the Backyard: UFO Encounters, Abductions Synchronicity
Published on 26 Jul 2013 By Topic UFO
Host Rick Scouler welcomes New York Times Best Selling Author Rob MacGregor and his wife Edgar Award Winning Author Trish MacGregor to the program for a discussion of their new book - Aliens in the Backyard: UFO Encounters, Abductions, & Synchronicity.
In the early morning hours of March 28, 2011, Charles and Helene Fontaine experienced something that they thought was only real in the movies and on television. The synchronicities that followed their UFO encounter shattered their beliefs about the nature of reality.
One evening in 1981, Connie J Cannon was on I-75 with her young son, en route to their new home in Florida, when they suddenly found themselves on a military base, with a man in uniform holding a gun to her head as three Grays stood nearby.
In 1970, pilot Bruce Gernon was chased by something through the Bermuda Triangle and he has been talking about it ever since - to UFO Hunters, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, the Sci-Fi channel, and all their foreign counterparts. For Gernon, the synchronicities have appeared in the aftermath with at least 20 sighting or encounters with UFOs.
In the early morning hours of March 28, 2011, Charles and Helene Fontaine experienced something that they thought was only real in the movies and on television. The synchronicities that followed their UFO encounter shattered their beliefs about the nature of reality.
One evening in 1981, Connie J Cannon was on I-75 with her young son, en route to their new home in Florida, when they suddenly found themselves on a military base, with a man in uniform holding a gun to her head as three Grays stood nearby.
In 1970, pilot Bruce Gernon was chased by something through the Bermuda Triangle and he has been talking about it ever since - to UFO Hunters, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, the Sci-Fi channel, and all their foreign counterparts. For Gernon, the synchronicities have appeared in the aftermath with at least 20 sighting or encounters with UFOs.
Friday, 26 July 2013
Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Worried That Humans Are Too Stupid For Aliens
Published on 13 Jul 2013 By businessinsider
"Maybe they have visited us in Times Square," Tyson tells us. "But no one noticed because everybody who hangs out in Times Square is just a little crazy."
A more serious concern, though, is that maybe humans are so stupid and uncivilized that aliens have decided we're not worth encountering.
Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about aliens and why it actually might be a good thing that aliens haven't visited Earth yet.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/
UFO Captured On camera Over U.K.
Published on 25 Jul 2013 By danielofdoriaa
"UFO Excellent Amazing catch of weird kind an unknown creature! Make viral all UK!! "
UFO's Over North Carolina Make TV News
Published on 14 Jul 2013 By AlienPeace1 - There is GOOD out there
Source: http://www.wwaytv3.com/2013/07/12/ufo...
Story aired July 12, 2013.
Two men in Shallotte, North Carolina have been experiencing and recording UFO sightings on a consistent basis since 2012.
UFO Inside Lightning Cloud Over L.A.
Published on 21 Jul 2013 By UFODisclosureIreland
Revisiting Roswell: Jesse Marcel, Jr. Returns to UFO Crash Site
Published on 17 Jul 2013 By Roswell Sighting
On the 66th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident, we returned to the original crash site with a rare firsthand witness.
In 1947, Major Jesse Marcel brought home pieces of the infamous UFO that crashed outside of Roswell. His son, Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr., still remembers the strange material. We drove into the desert to hear his story, and returned to his childhood home to see the floor where his father showed him the wreckage.
Researcher Frank Kimbler shows debris he's found in the area, currently undergoing testing for proof of extraterrestrial origins.
UFO TV: APOLLO 16 - The Untold Story - The Moon, Men and Memories / ALIEN CONTACT - A Global Phenomena / ANCIENT ALIENS HIDDEN PLANET OF THE INCA / SHIPS OF LIGHT 2
APOLLO 16 - The Untold Story - The Moon, Men and Memories
This program profiles the mission of Apollo 16, and presents FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME interviews with ALL THREE astronauts who went on that mission, Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke, and Command Module Pilot TK Mattingly. Apollo 16: The Men, Moon and Memories is an engaging, unique, and definitive one-hour documentary, looking at this historic mission through the eyes of those who participated in it.
The successful Apollo 16 Manned Lunar Landing Mission was the second in a series of three science-oriented missions planned for the Apollo program. The major objective of the mission was to investigate the largest area ever covered of the lunar surface thanks to the newly created Lunar Rover which gave the Astronauts the ability to cover miles of turain in a short amount of time.
SHIPS OF LIGHT 2
MUFON announces leadership change and alliance with French UFO agency (Video)
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the largest UFO investigation organization in the U.S. and possibly the world, recently held its annual symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The theme was Science, UFOs, and the Search for ET. The conference featured presentations from several Ph.D.s and scientists.
Among the news announced at the conference was a new Executive Director for MUFON, and the partnership between MUFON and France’s GEIPAN. GEIPAN is France’s official UFO investigation organization. It is a part of the CNES, France’s space agency, similar to NASA here in the US.
Dave MacDonald, the current Executive Director for MUFON, says his job was always meant to be temporary. Beginning on August 1, 2013, Jan Harzan, a long time MUFON volunteer and member of the board of directors, will take over. Harzan says that he was actually asked to take over the head position at MUFON when their last director, Clifford Clift, had to step down due to family health issues. However, Harzan needed to wait until retirement to take on the position. Now that he is retiring, Harzan is free to head the busy organization.
One of the things MUFON has been busy with is increasing their international presence. MacDonald and MUFON’s Director of Investigations and International Affairs, Ruben Uriarte, have been working hard to gain footholds in countries throughout the world. Uriarte says MUFON now has active members in over 30 countries and are working to forge relationships in parts of the world they rarely communicate with, such as Asia.
An international relationship that has been particularly exciting for MUFON has been the forging of formal relations with France’s GEIPAN. MacDonald was able to visit France and meet with GEIPAN administrators and form a working relationship that allows the groups to share best practices and aide each other with investigations. The keynote speaker at the symposium was Francois Louange who has a doctorate in signal processing, has worked for CNES, and is a consultant for photo analysis for GEIPAN.
Open Minds was there to cover the conference, and interview speakers and MUFON personnel. We will be posting more interviews and news from the event, so stay tuned to OpenMinds.tv for more.
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Friday, 12 July 2013
Spacing Out! Ep. 54 - UFO poll at the 2013 Vans Warped Tour (Video)
Published on 12 Jul 2013 By openmindstv
We venture to the Phoenix stop of the Vans Warped Tour to talk with bands and fans about their views related to UFOs and intelligent extraterrestrial life. We also discuss a collaboration between UK astronomers to search for extraterrestrials. That and other space and UFO news on this episode of Spacing Out!
ET UFO DISCLOSURE Astronaut Edgar Mitchell calls FOX NEWS
Published on 2 Jul 2013 By UFOnewsUK
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLuRBC...
Recently American Astronaut Edgar Mitchell and others informed the President of the United States Barack Obama in writing about the existence of Extraterrestrial Life visiting Earth. How will the US GOV and President react to this bold move on behalf of what could be the most credible testimony on the existence of alien life visiting our planet.
Recently American Astronaut Edgar Mitchell and others informed the President of the United States Barack Obama in writing about the existence of Extraterrestrial Life visiting Earth. How will the US GOV and President react to this bold move on behalf of what could be the most credible testimony on the existence of alien life visiting our planet.
Your Need to Know: Canada's Official UFO Studies
By openmindstv
The next episode in our series is titled Canada's Official UFO Studies. We will explore two of Canada's UFO reporting agencies: Project Magnet and Second Story, both established in the early 1950's. Also we will examine some details of the infamous Shag Harbor UFO incident. This case is one of the very few where a government agency formally acknowledges an unidentified flying object. It was determined that no known aircraft was involved in the incident, so the source remains unknown to this day.
Spherical UFO Hovers Above Encinitas, California
Published on 7 Jul 2013 By justa4t
Interesting footage of a metal unidentified flying object (OVNI) over Encinitas, California - Friday, July 5th, 2013
Witness report:
Black orb seen from distance without movement, appeared like balloon but flashed multiple colors before surise, stopped flashing after sunrise
My mother and I work every day at four in the morning in a bar in Encinitas. When we arrived, I did not notice the orb. Normally, the sky is dark and there are no signs of stars because it is either too misty or too cloudy. Nearby, there is a 7-11 where I get a cup of coffee. Before I leave to get coffee, I do a bit of cleaning and head back to the car to retrieve the cup. When I went to get it, I noticed a faint display of colors, rotating in the sky. From the distance, it appeared to be a helicopter or an airplane, but there are no airports in the area. I brushed it off and opened the door to the car and grabbed the cup. When I looked back up, the lights had changed from orange to blue to white and so on. Then I could make out a dark shape that seemed to be changing in shape. I didnt understand, so I went and told mom about it. She came out with me, thinking I was crazy. When she looked into the sky, all she said was "Wow! What is that?" I didnt know what to tell her, but she took out her phone to take pictures. As dawn approached twilight, the shape was beginning to show more and more. Shapeshifting, it was hard to make out what it was doing. Below it, maybe some 20ft away, we saw a green light, blinking as if following it. Through moms phone, all we saw was the green light, but not the orb with the colors. We wondered for minutes what it meant. I took out my own phone, but the camera is old and it made out nothing. Several times, we went back and forth, going in then coming back out to check up on it. Not once did it move, even drift, so it couldnt be a balloon. An hour later, when twilight arrived, we made out a pure spherical object. It shone blue/black and there was a blinking white light under it, no longer in colors. It also appeared to be rotating, with little bumps on the sides. Finally, sunrise, and I was able to take video with my camera but all you can see is a dot in the sky. Today, July 6th, we went to work again but we saw no sign whatsoever of the orb.
Author (source: mufon)
Visionary Predicts Roswell Crash, UFO Disclosure, Lays Groundwork for Thought on Alien Life
Seattle, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/11/2013 -- It's ironic that UFO sightings are surging just at a time the British Ministry of Defence is closing its UFO hotline. While the Vatican, in no less than five public statements, recently declared the alien phenomena to be real, while the U.N. holds not so secret meetings on the subject, while investigative organizations like MUFON are receiving the highest level of UFO sightings ever, while the Canadian former Minister of Defence, Paul Hellyer proclaims the U.S. is hiding UFO encounters, the official stamp is "silence," on the subject. So it is a good time to reflect on the "father of awareness of the alien encounter," H.G. Wells.
Wells' visions were astounding and the accuracy of his predictions are even more magnificent. Wells was a British writer (1866-1946) who, through his writing, foresaw world war, modern mechanized artillery, the use of poison gas as a weapon and the fall of the British Empire. But UFO enthusiasts and believers might be more interested to reflect on an important aspect of Wells' work. That Wells' writings were the first step to wake up the world that we are not alone. In his novel, The War Of The Worlds, Wells wrote of the crashing down of an alien craft from another world and the revelation to humanity that we do not run the universe.
He introduced poison black gas as a deadly weapon as later used in WW1, heat-rays, like the microwave super weapons quietly in use now. He described the aliens as being of a different composition than us and with different tolerances to gravity, atmosphere, sunlight and bacteria, much like scientist are discussing now in relation to the discovery of exoplanets and their possible life forms. Virtually all he predicted has come true. The dark but necessary question is, what about his visions of alien invasion?
His book has been made into movies and radio plays many times but has always been altered to virtually unrecognizable. Now a new movie, War OF The Worlds The True Story, takes the unique approach to Wells' first ever alien contact premise and treats the material as if it actually happened in the year 1900. The movie is presented as a straight up war docudrama -- a war docudrama between Earth and invading aliens. War OF The Worlds The True Story has just been released on DVD and internet On Demand streaming rental to glowing reviews.
Ain't It Cool News said of War Of The Worlds The True Story, "Highly recommended." The Los Angeles Times said, "'War Of The Worlds The True Story' is clever like Wells. Hugely inventive and ambitious."
The Hollywood Reporter called the movie, "Impressive." You Won Cannes said, "Ever since the 1953 movie adaptation of War Of The Worlds there have been numerous other translations of Wells' novel, even a 1988 short lived TV series, but of all the ones I have seen the only two-yes, only two-I find worthy of repeated viewings is the '53 film and this new 2013 docudrama." Steven Rose Jr. of the Sacramento Examiner gave the movie 5 out of 5 stars and said, "'The True Story' carries the suspense and drama of both the 1953 movie and Spielberg's 2005 version but in a more realistic manner through its documentary style."
Without Wells' visionary idea, who knows how long it would have been before we awakened to the possibility, and now the likelihood, that we are not alone? War Of The Worlds The True Story is rentable right from the Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/waroftheworldsthetruestory. The movie is on DVD with special features and extras through the War Of The Worlds The True Story official website http://www.waroftheworldsthetruestory.com and can be rented in online streaming through Vimeo as well. War Of The Worlds The True Story is coming to Amazon later in July.
Google Doodle celebrates 66th anniversary of Roswell UFO incident
By
Search engine giant Google commemorates the 66th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident which took place back in 1947.
Generations of UFO enthusiasts along with conspiracy theorists have claimed that US military had captured a crashed alien aircraft outside Roswell in July 1947, but authorities insisted that the incident merely involved the recovery of debris from a top secret surveillance balloon, reports the Guardian.
The US Air Force had closed the case and denied the reports about aliens and said that what witnesses saw as aliens were actually life-sized anthropomorphic test dummies.
The doodle errs on the side of humour and allows users to control a small animated alien figure as it goes about a series of tasks on a Roswell-like landscape, the report added.
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Crew completes filming for Maury Island UFO incident movie
A production crew recently wrapped shooting on an upcoming short film about the 1947 Maury Island UFO incident.
The Maury Island Incident poster. (Credit: South King Media)
The short film is based on the true story – taken directly from declassified FBI documents – of Harold Dahl’s June 21, 1947 UFO sighting near Maury Island and the first reported ‘Man In Black’ encounter that happened the next day. An investigation followed that resulted in a mysterious crash of a B-25 carrying “slag” evidence from the encounter, which killed Capt. William Davidson and Lt. Frank Brown (this film will be dedicated to them). This case went all the way up to FBI Executive Director J. Edgar Hoover, who expressed personal interest in it.The film is now moving into post-production where it will be edited and assembled into the final product. Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber explains that the makers of The Maury Island Incident intend to enter the estimated twenty-to-fourty-minute film into various film festivals. And they also plan to use the film to pitch the idea of a feature film or TV series based on the event.
Producer/Director Scott Schaefer. (Credit: MauryIslandIncident.com)
The film’s director and producer is Scott Schaefer, recipient of three national Emmy Awards for his writing work on shows including Bill Nye the Science Guy. Having worked in television for more than twenty-seven years, his directing credits include The Arsenio Hall Show and America’s Funniest People. According to Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, Schaefer became interested in ufology “in the early 1990s, when he worked in Hollywood as a field director of a television show called ‘Sightings,’ which delved into the mysteries of flying saucer sightings.” Schaefer explains, “Let’s just say I went into that show as a skeptic, and came out a non-skeptic.”
Now that the film has entered post-production, the filmmakers are hoping to premiere the film by the end of the year.
For more information about The Maury Island Incident movie, visit the film’s website at www.mauryislandincident.com.
Topic UFO: Bret Oldham - Children of the Greys
Bret Oldham, alien abductee and author of the new book Children of the Greys, joins host Rick Scouler to discuss his life long connection with the Greys. Also discussed, is Bret's recent episode on Monsters and Mysteries in America, as seen on the Destination America channel.
Free Issue of: UFO Magazine (PDF Format)
By UFO Magazine
Enjoy!
New Crop Circle Discovered In Italy
Crop circle Robella Asti
Published on 4 Jul 2013 By Aereovisione
Riprese aeree del cerchio nel grano a Robella d'Asti ( Località : Cavallo Grigio, Robella, Asti ). apparso nel luglio 2013 , il team Aereovisione sorvola il campodi grano con i droni e realizza il video del crop circle dall'alto , crop circle asti , crop circle Robella. buona visione in Full HD 1080p.
Translation:
Aerial photography of crop circle to Robella d'Asti (location: Grey Horse, Robella, Asti). appeared in July 2013, the team typically reserves over the grain Aereovisione with drones and produces the video crop circle from the top, crop circle, crop circle Robella. enjoy in Full HD 1080 p.
Crop Circle Robella Asti July 2013
Published on 5 Jul 2013 By Diana Dentinger
Curiosity and openness help you meet wonderful people. Here I am chatting with the owners of the field where the latest crop circle appeared. For you, a piece of our talk... in English and Italian.
Morgan Freeman doesn’t think aliens will eat us
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman revealed in a recent interview that he doesn’t believe extraterrestrials who visit Earth will eat humans.
Freeman, who is currently the executive producer and host of the Science Channel’s popular series Through The Wormhole, was recently interviewed by HuffPost Science. When asked if extraterrestrial life exists, Freeman responded with the seemingly trendy, go-to answer: “If you look out into the universe, there are just billions of galaxies, and each galaxy contains billions and billions of stars. So it’s ludicrous to imagine that there aren’t other populated worlds.” But when asked if he thinks intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, he answered, “I think life itself is intelligent. All life has intelligence. Otherwise it doesn’t exist.”
And when HuffPost Science asked Freeman if he worries about carnivorous extraterrestrials coming to Earth and eating humans, he replied, “Noooo. Suppose they are carnivorous. Does that mean they eat us?”
(Credit: Science Channel)
Through the Wormhole is currently in its fourth season on the Science channel.
You can read the full interview with Morgan Freeman on the Huffington Post website.
UFO TV: Top 100 UFO Videos Of All Time From 16 Countries / UFO Disclosure In Russia
By UFOTVstudios
Published on 9 Jul 2013
Now featuring the ultimate UFO Video Archive with of over 100 of the best UFO Videos ever caught on tape, from 16 countries and from Earth Orbit by NASA and the Russian Space Authority, set to music with an Eclectic and Diverse, Original World Beat Music Soundtrack by the band Warless Society. Each UFO Video includes the location, date, time and the name of the person who filmed the UFO. All of the UFO Videos in this film are presented in the order they were filmed and represent the best selection of authentic UFO Videos ever made public.
Published on 13 Oct 2012
EBE Award Winner - This film represents an important chapter in Ufology and Disclosure history and is considered by many to be an underground classic.Join UFO investigators on this historic occasion, as they meet for the first time with High Ranking Russian Military Officials and Representatives from the former KGB, at the Russian Anti-Aircraft Academy of Defense in Tver, Russia, to examine UFO evidence collected by the Russian Government in a free and open détente as Russia officially joins the UFO disclosure movement. This program includes filmed evidence from the Russian Military and the Russian Space Program, that proves that there is an unexplainable UFO presence in our skies. Includes photos and video of alien spacecraft.
UFO Experts Nick Pope And David Clarke Have One Thing In Common: They Hate Each Other
By Lee Speigel
Last month, the British government released 4,400 pages of previously unreleased documents. It's the last of the so-called UFO files that had not been available to the public.
But is the public really being told the truth? The answer depends on who you ask.
Britain's top UFO authorities are hardly in agreement. In fact, the only thing they have in common is disrespect for one another.
In one corner, we have Nick Pope, the former Ministry of Defense (MoD) employee who worked on the official UFO desk in the early 1990s.
In the other corner, we have David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University, who has been the official consultant to the National Archives for its just-concluded five-year program to release more than 50,000 pages of MoD UFO files.
Gentlemen, let's see a fair fight. Keep your gloves up. Let's see no shots below the belt. In case of a knockdown, go to a neutral corner.
The recent slugfest began with Pope's comment on the UFOs and Nukes site: "Some people would probably use the term 'useful idiot' to describe [Clarke's] parroting the MoD 'no defense significance' sound bite, which was designed solely to keep Parliament, the media and the public off our backs."
Clarke's response: "Pope's condescending description of me as a 'useful idiot' is not only personally insulting but gross hypocrisy, coming from a man who has himself 'parroted' the official MoD line on UFOs whilst employed by them until 2006 and even continues to do so today when it suits his purposes and/or his audience. Therefore, by his own definition, he was a useful idiot but more likely is now just an idiot," Clarke told The Huffington Post in an email.
The National Archives first started releasing the files in 2008 -- leading up to the official closing of that country's UFO desk in 2009. The U.K. ended its public investigation of UFOs after officials decided, after more than 50 years, "no UFO sighting reported to [MoD] has ever revealed anything to suggest an extra-terrestrial presence or military threat to the U.K."
The five-year grand total of 209 files of approximately 52,000 pages has led to a strong undercurrent of disagreement between Pope and Clarke, the two individuals who have been the prime purveyors of information to the public about the nature and significance of the UFO files.
Pope, seen above, was employed by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) between 1985 and 2006. For three of those years -- 1991-1994 -- he worked in an MoD division where he investigated UFO reports. Because his internal work at the MoD included pouring through many UFO accounts, Pope was sought out by media outlets in 2008 when the UFO files began to be released to the public.
"[Clarke] is a folklore buff who's interested in fairies and goblins and I've been told he privately thinks some UFOs and alien abductions may represent 'some sort of supernatural phenomenon,'" Pope stated. "He keeps this opinion to himself, presumably because he's worried people would think he's a nut. So he's no sinister debunker -- just a slightly odd hobbyist, reading out the government press release."
Clarke, a senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, teaches media law and investigation skills. He also has a Ph.D in Folklore. Starting in 2000, he used the Freedom of Information Act to campaign and finally persuade the British government to release all of its UFO material.
"Quite frankly, Nick Pope is suffering from a bad case of sour grapes and his claims -- for example, that I am a folklore 'buff' who secretly believes in alien abductions -- sound increasingly like the rantings of a deranged man who has realized the game is up and there are no more MoD gravy-trains to hitch a ride on," Clarke said.
On the surface, it might seem that both Pope and Clarke would ideally present the U.K. UFO information to the public in a collaborative spirit designed to assure the public that the truth is out there.
But that's not been the case. Here's more:
"Clarke is one of the small number of British Ufologists who are absolutely obsessed with me to the point of putting in multiple FOIA requests to the MoD, to monitoring everything I say in any interview and then repackaging it as his own," Pope told HuffPost in an email.
"I think it's a matter of public record that there are two or three Ufologists in the U.K. who follow my every word and deed, take apart every statement I make and just obsess over me. And I think that part of this is because I did this for the government and they are obsessed with the idea of what MoD does or doesn't know about this."Whenever a new batch of UFO files had been released over the past few years, Pope and Clarke, seen below, were the go-to guys for information about the files. Yet, they've often given opposing points of view about the material, causing a sense of confusion to the public.
Clarke's response: "I have put a lot of effort into the campaign to first persuade MoD to release these files and then spent five years working with the press team at The National Archives to open them to public scrutiny.
"As a skeptic, I never expected any praise from the UFO believer camp for my efforts, but I have been taken aback by the venom and pure malice directed at me personally that has greeted the completion of this disclosure project," Clarke said.
"Let me put it this way," said Pope. "I learned about UFOs at the MoD. It was my government job. David Clarke learned about it because he was a member of the British UFO Research Association. It was my government job and his hobby. That being the case, I'd done it from the inside, he looked at it from the outside. It doesn't surprise me that we come to different views."
And Clarke's retort: "I find it incredible that he continues to peddle the lie that he was the public face of the [UFO] project and I was just some clerical assistant brought to cover when he was too busy getting his face on TV. This is demonstrably untrue and I find it even more incredible that some people across the pond appear to believe him without bothering to check the facts -- just logging onto the National Archives UFO website is all that is needed."
One big issue that continues to drive a wedge between these two is the question of whether or not all U.K. UFO documents were actually released. Clarke says yes. Pope says no.
Pope: "By the MoD's own admission, Defense Intelligence staff files on the [military multi-witness] Rendlesham Forest incident were 'inadvertently destroyed.' MoD stated that a ship's log for HMS Manchester, that might have contained details of a UFO seen during a NATO exercise, was blown overboard by a 'freak gust of wind.' Gun camera footage of UFOs taken by RAF jets in the 60s, as well as UFO photos that were on my office wall for many years, have been 'mislaid.'
Clarke: "Fact: there are no other substantial papers being withheld. The onus on anyone who claims there are is to say what these documents are and which agency is holding them. The ones mentioned by Pope, i.e. Defense Intelligence files from the '50s and '80s, and gun camera footage, etc., were destroyed years ago and Pope knows this, so he is once again playing fast and loose with the facts, knowing that he has to keep making money out of this subject, and if there are no more mysteries, he has to find another way to earn his living."
One other item in this ongoing war of words is worth mentioning. It involves a story told by Pope in his 1999 book, "The Uninvited," in which he recounts an alien abduction that allegedly happened in Florida to someone named "Peter."
Clarke believes that it was, in fact, Pope who experienced this bizarre encounter and who has been trying to hide that fact from the world ever since it happened.
"Is it me or Nick Pope who is actually a repressed believer in alien abductions? The evidence suggests Pope is talking about himself and is so scared of being labeled a nut that he has gone to extraordinary lengths to play down this story. Was it because he was ordered to do so by his employers at MoD? We will never know because he has asked MoD not to release the files that contain his correspondence with them on this issue."
Pope's response: "Some Ufologists took exception to the fact that I used some pseudonymous cases in my alien abduction book. I replied that witness confidentiality applied without exception and added something like 'even if it was me,' as a joke. The joke spread and I replied that I could 'neither confirm nor deny' (NCND) the rumor. NCND is a Ministry of Defense in-joke, just as 'I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you' is an in-joke in the intelligence community. This was simply a bit of harmless fun at the expense of some of the Ufologists who take such an obsessive interest in me. I've never seen a UFO -- let alone from the inside!If there are any losers here, it must be the public, for the confusion this has brought up. After tens of thousands of pages of UFO files have been released by the U.K., who are we supposed to believe about how significant (or not) those documents really are?
"What I have, though, dealt with MoD about and asked them to withhold was all the private papers that have to do with the media work I do."
It's probably too much to hope for Pope and Clarke to sit down together and iron it all out. But maybe all is not lost as Pope offers a bit of an olive branch to his opponent.
"'Useful idiot' is an old Soviet term for someone fooled into spreading propaganda, so it means somebody who's been duped and not somebody who's an imbecile. If Clarke was unaware of this, misunderstood my remark and took offense, then I apologize unreservedly."
At least that's a start.