The Warminster 2015 Conference

By Warminster Ufo Skywatcher

In the early 1960s, Warminster was a quiet, unremarkable town. Arthur Shuttlewood, a journalist on the local paper, the Warminster Journal, had little to report except court cases, local meetings, small crimes, and so on. For Shuttlewood, and for Warminster, things were about to change.

In the early hours of the morning of 25th of December, 1964 a "sonic deluge broke with full fury" on some residents of the town. The reports of these sounds found their way to Shuttlewood, and then into the pages of the local newspaper, the Warminster Journal.

In August 1965, a meeting was held to discuss the Thing. There was a lot of talk, but no answers as to its nature.

That it was unsolveable only added to the mystery. For the next decade or so, skywatchers came to the hills to look into the sky and wonder. Warminster provided a perplexing mystery, that continued to baffle and amaze for over a decade.

The Warminster 2015 conference marks and celebrates fifty years of an enduring mystery. Veterans of the local hills will talk about how Things were. Other ufologists and skywatchers will talk about their experiences with their own mysteries. The conference will be held in Warminster on Saturday, 29th August, 2015.

The Warminster 2015 Conference will be held in the Old Bell Hotel, in Warminster.

The Old Bell, 42 Market Place, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 9AN.

The Old Bell is a 14th Century coaching Inn and is quite possibly the oldest licensed premises in Warminster. It is situated within easy reach of central Bath in the rolling Somerset countryside, and a 25 minute journey south will bring you to the Historic town of Salisbury.  Nearby is the famous Longleat estate and Stonehenge, Avebury and Glastonbury are all within easy driving distance away.

Because the hotel has listed status, there is no disabled access to the conference room. We will endeavour to offer assistance for those who require any help, depending on crew and hotel staff availability.

Please be aware that the crew and speakers will be staying at the hotel; we urge that you find alternative accommodation in the area.

Tickets:

The ticketing process has yet to be cofirmed; we want to make this as smooth an operation as possible for you. While we seek the best solution, tickets cannot currently be obtained; you can, however, register your interest by emailing warminster2015@yahoo.co.uk We will then contact you when the ticketing process becomes available.

The Waminster mystery became intimately associated with skywatches. People came to Warminster and gathered on the local hills to watch for UFOs, and to drink in the atmosphere and explore the mysteries that might be seen and heard there.

Every year since 2007, a skywatch has been arranged on Cradle Hill for the Bank Holiday weekend.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the first Bank Holiday skywatch, in August 1965. On that weekend thousands of people were drawn to the hills around Warminster.

After the conference on Saturday night, the annual skywatch will be held on Cradle Hill. If you have never been on a skywatch before, this is your opportunity to experience the suspense, the sense of expectation, the cameraderie, the bad jokes, and, possibly, the chill in your bones as you stand on the hill, waiting for some Thing.

Cradle Hill, the traditional viewing spot for skywatches, is about a mile to the north east of Warminster. You can walk to it from the centre of Warminster in half an hour, or you can drive there. The hill affords views to the south, east and west. Views in a more northerly direction are obscured by the ridge between Cradle and Arn Hills, and by Cradle Hill copse.

Cradle Hill copse features strongly in the lore of the Warminster mystery, and for those who have the energy, worth the walk. In the dark, the trees enclose you, but offer glimpses of town-lights through their trunks and branches. If you walk out of the copse to the north or north-west, you will have fine views to the west over Westbury, Trowbridge and the Vale of Pewsey.

Much of the land around and including Cradle Hill is managed by the Ministry of Defence. We advise that you strictly adhere to the notices and warning signs you will find around the hill. The annual skywatch is tolerated by the MOD given that we respect the local restrictions.

The more adventurous can make their way to Cley Hill, further out of town and for which motor transport would be required. There are striking views in all directions from this hill, although more strenuous walking is required to reach its summit.

Group Website: http://www.warminster2015.uk/index.html

Science Channel will screen UFO shows at the International UFO Congress

By Alejandro Rojas

The Science Channel will be screening some of their UFO TV shows at the International UFO Congress to help promote Are We Alone? Week, including a sneak peek at the first episode of the second season of NASA’s Unexplained Files.

Yesterday we gave you a sneak peek at the Roswell alien slides, today we are announcing a sneak peek at the International UFO Congress of a couple of the Science Channel’s UFO documentary TV shows. Both of which feature UFO experts who are presenters at the UFO Congress this year.

You can also visit their table at the International UFO Congress for free giveaways!

National UFO Alert: January reports up 44.5 percent

By Roger Marsh

Domestic UFO sighting reports for the U.S. were up 44.5 percent in January 2015 over December reports filed.

Wyoming was the high reporting state by population with 3.47 sightings per million population and registering as a UFO Alert 2, according to witness reporting statistics released February 1, 2015, from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

New Mexico was the next highest reporting level by population – also earning a UFO Alert 2 with 3.36 sightings per million population.

Alaska was the only state rated a UFO Alert 3 with 2.73 reports per million population.

Four states were rated a UFO Alert 4 with the following statistics based on per million population: Oregon, 2.56; Utah, 2.45; Arizona, 2.44; and Missouri, 2.16. All other states received less than 2 sightings per million population and were ranked a UFO Alert 5.

As the highest reporting state per million residents, Wyoming received two reports.

There were a total of 575 U.S. reports filed in January 2015 compared with 398 in December 2014. Total worldwide sightings were 721 for January 2015 and 498 for December 2014.

The UFO Alert Rating System is based on five levels – 1 through 5 – where states with 4.01 or higher reports per million residents are rated an Alert 1; 3.01 – 4.0 reports are an Alert 2; 2.51 – 3.0 are an Alert 3; 2.01 – 2.5 are an Alert 4; and those states with 2.0 or lower are rated an Alert 5.

Disregarding populations, the top reporting states for January 2015 with 16 or more reports were: California, 90; Florida, 51; Texas, 37; Pennsylvania, 29; Arizona, 28; New York, 22; Oregon, 20; Illinois, 20; and Missouri, 18.

The sphere remains the most-reported UFO shape with 133 January cases. Other shape reports include: Triangle, 87; Star-like, 71; Circle, 66; Disc, 59; Unknown, 53; Other, 48; Fireball, 34; Oval, 31; Cylinder, 21; Boomerang, 17; N/A, 16; Square-Rectangular, 15; Cigar, 13; Blimp, 11; Diamond, 9; Chevron, 8; Flash, 8; Egg, 7; Saturn-like, 4; Teardrop, 4; Cone, 3; and Bullet-Missile, 1.

The object’s distance from the witness includes: Less than 100 feet, 102 cases; 101 to 500 feet, 101 cases; 501 feet to one mile, 152 cases; over one mile, 168 cases; unknown, 237; and no value stated, 25.

In addition, there were “26 landings, hoverings or takeoffs reported and 0 entity observed.”

The most interesting UFO reports do not necessarily come from high reporting states – but those states with higher numbers do account for some of the most interesting evidence to study. While UFO sightings seem to pop up randomly around the country, this list is meant to offer a small insight into where Americans are filing reports.

Infographics for this reporting period were created by Outerplaces.com and include: Most Witnessed Shapes by State, Sightings By Country, Sightings By State, and Sightings Per Million People.

Former Obama aide Podesta regrets not disclosing UFO files

U.S. President Barack Obama walks on the Ellipse with White House counselor John Podesta near the White House in Washington May 21, 2014. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

By Fox News

It looks like we won’t be seeing the real-life Mulder and Scully anytime soon, as least according to recently departed White House adviser John Podesta.

“Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files. #thetruthisstilloutthere,”he tweeted on Friday, his last day in the White House.

Podesta’s love of the “X-Files” TV show, along with his fascination with all things extraterrestrial, is well documented.  Back in 2002 Podesta even discussed the importance of disclosing government UFO records at a conference organized by the Coalition for Freedom of Information. “I think it’s time to open the book on questions that have remained in the dark, on the question of government investigations of UFOs,” he said. “We ought to do it, really, because it’s right, we ought to do it because the American people, quite frankly, can handle the truth, and we ought to do it because it’s a law.”

More recently, Podesta wrote the foreword to Leslie Kean’s 2010 book “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.”

The public’s appetite for information on UFOs remains strong. Earlier this year, for example, a slew of UFO files hit the Web when UFO enthusiast John Greenewald posted declassified records from Project Blue Book -- the U.S. Air Force’s records on alleged UFO and extraterrestrial sightings -- on an online database. Greenwald had spent decades filing Freedom of Information Act requests on the topic.

However, scant reference is made to Roswell, New Mexico, in the database.  The alleged 1947 Roswell incident continues to be a source of controversy, with conspiracy theorists claiming the U.S. military found and covered up evidence of an alien spaceship crash.

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Obama advisor still frustrated by his inability to force 

UFO file disclosure

By Jason McClellan

John Podesta has concluded his service as Counselor to President Barack Obama.

In January 2015, he announced that he would be stepping down from his White House position to work with Hillary Clinton on what many suspect to be a presidential campaign.

President Obama and John Podesta. (Credit: Center for American Progress Action Fund)

On Friday, February 13, Podesta posted on Twitter, “My last day as Counselor to President Obama. It’s been a tremendous privilege to serve a great President and the country for this last year.” But, more interesting is his Tweet that reveals his “biggest failure of 2014,” which he says was “not securing the disclosure of the UFO files.”

Podesta is a known sci-fi enthusiast and big fan of the TV show The X-Files. But his interest in the UFO subject goes beyond simple sci-fi TV show fandom.

He served as Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff, and was charged by the administration with the task of declassifying millions of government documents. Podesta even spoke at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC about the importance of declassifying UFO files. He stated, “It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old, and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.”

Although Podesta’s Twitter post about his inability to force UFO disclosure being his “biggest failure” was likely made in jest, he remains a proponent of government disclosure. After trying with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, maybe he’ll have more luck under Hillary’s administration.

Metallic orb sent by aliens? - Spacing Out! Ep. 104

By Open Minds Production

Scientists recently discovered a tiny metal orb they believe is extraterrestrial in origin. We also speak with the co-director of the upcoming alien thriller "The Three." And, we talk with attendees at the Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest about UFOs and extraterrestrial life. That and other UFO news on this episode of Spacing Out!

Area 51 Whistleblower Speaks At UFO Conference

By Knpr News

In 1989, the world was given a glimpse into a secretive military installation in a remote swath of the Nevada desert, commonly known as Area 51.

With one interview, Bob Lazar, a physicist who worked at the military research site, made Area 51 a household name and raised questions about what’s really going on out there.

Lazar told investigative reporter George Knapp there were nine saucers located in a hangar that was built to blend in with the surrounding desert.

Lazar was thrust into public scrutiny, and there are people who believe he made up the entire story. In a 25-year anniversary interview with Knapp, Lazar said he wished he had never done the interview.

Next weekend, Knapp is speaking at the annual International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Ariz., before a question and answer session with Lazar himself.

Knapp, a longtime reporter with a raft of journalism awards, including two Peabodys – the TV equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize – has also done his own research.

Knapp produced and directed a series of documentaries, “UFOs The Best Evidence,” which presents information from scientists, journalists and other researchers about UFO sightings and government cover-ups.



Even before Lazar started talking about Area 51, Knapp started pursing the topic and has always treated it like he does any other story.

“I’ve tried to approach it like any other news story,” Knapp said, “That is what it has always been to me. It’s not a campaign. It’s a news story and it’s a really good news story.”

The skepticism of his colleagues is one of the reasons he has stayed focused on the often-maligned topic. Although he admits much of what is talked about in the field is “complete nonsense,” he believes there is at the very least intriguing evidence.

Col. John Alexander, Ret., who authored “UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities,” agrees there is evidence of life outside the planet, but looking into it is “not a career builder.”

They both point out that many Americans and respected scientists believe in extraterrestrials but the science establishment does not, which shuts down research on the topic.

“I think we need to do this research without risk of losing your reputation and livelihood,” Alexander said.

The topic is a difficult one not only because of the almost religious zeal that supporters bring to it, but also because the pieces do not always fit together.

“You always come up with conflicting data and scientists frankly don’t like that,” Alexander said.

Knapp agrees the evidence of extraterrestrials exists. He points to a paper trail of documents and studies done by military and intelligence agencies.

“Those documents paint a pretty dramatic picture that they do take this stuff seriously, or they did at one point, that they do have a pile of information that they can’t explain,” Knapp said.

But he doesn’t believe there is one central figure or agency that is suppressing information.

In the end, despite his interest in the topic, when asked if he has personally seen a UFO, Knapp replied, “Not that I can remember.”

GUESTS

George Knapp, chief investigative reporter, KLAS Channel 8
John Alexander, retired U.S. Army Colonel, author, “UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities”

Mars One Update

The calling to discover Mars is hard to ignore. Mankind has been seeking discovery since the dawn of life on Earth. Hear from the Mars One astronaut hopefuls as they discuss their feelings around traveling to and living on Mars. This video series created by Mars One volunteers highlights the dreams, fears and desires of our amazing Mars Astronaut hopefuls on their journey through our selection process.

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Mankind’s destiny is to reach to the stars. Engage with Mars One astronaut hopefuls as they dream of our ascension to Mars and beyond. Listen to the passion as these people from all around the world talk about the importance of Mars One’s mission for permanent settlement on Mars. This video series created by Mars One volunteers highlights the dreams, fears and desires of our amazing Mars Astronaut hopefuls on their journey through our selection process.



From the beginning, mankind has been preparing for history’s Greatest Adventure. Prepare yourself as we journey through the adventure of Mars One’s mission for permanent settlement on Mars. This video series created by Mars One volunteers highlights the dreams, fears and desires of our amazing Mars Astronaut hopefuls on their journey through our selection process.



Meet the Mars 100. These men and women from around the globe face the third round in Mars One's Astronaut Selection Program.
Who has what it takes to colonize Mars, never to return? This year we'll find out...

Ufo filmed by television crew over Puru

By Noticias Caracol

Google Translate:

The journalistic production and Peruvian television program Alto crime team claims to have seen a UFO in the midst of recording.

In fact, a video uploaded to YouTube by user Eduardo Chavez shows suspended for a few minutes in the firmament of Miraflores, Lima object.

Renzo Reggiardo, congressman and host of the program, interrupted his presentation to observe what was happening behind him. He and his staff expressed their surprise against unidentified object.

Some Netizens who have seen the piece dare to say that this is a drone, but no one could confirm it.

Scientists mull broadcasting ‘come find us’ signal for aliens, but dangers lurk

By  RAVI MANDALIA

Astrophysicists and scientists over at Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in California are planning to send out a ‘come find us’ transmission into space in a hope that alien races will pick up the message and come looking for us.

Nothing has been inked in paper about this possible plan, but SETI will be discussing the new initiative at the annual meeting of the American Association of Advancing Science next week. The need for such a transmission arises from the possibility that all alien races are just listening for radio transmissions and none of them is actually sending out anything.

“There could be many civilizations out there but if they are all listening and no one is broadcasting then nothing will happen,” astrophysicist and SETI’s chief executive, David Black, told the Sunday Times.

“One question is…if we go ahead, what message should we send? Should it be the work of a few scientists or should we involve the whole world, perhaps through the internet?” Black added.

“For half a century SETI has been searching for something that we ourselves do not produce: Deliberate transmissions towards distant worlds,” director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute, Douglas Vakoch, said.

If the project does get a green signal, the messages will be sent to planets within a radius of up to 20-light years from Earth.

One of the major questions that needs to be answered is how much information will be sent out. Scientists have been considering sending the entire Wikipedia to help aliens understand human life. This will be one of the talking points in the upcoming discussion.

As with any new proposal, scientists have grouped themselves in two camps – those that are in favour of such a trasmission and those who are not.

Prominent among them is Stephen Hawkins, who has been advocating against calling the aliens as he believes that it would be a bad idea. Hawking in 2010 documentary said: “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”

US scientist and NASA consultant David Brin has warned that contact with aliens would “transform human destiny, and that the it should only be conducted if the entire world is onboard.

Few other harmful scenarios envisaged by scientists include the possibility of humans contracting new diseases, risk of enslavement, environmental damage, risk to humans’ biological make-up among other things.

UFOs ABOVE TOP SECRET HD - Secrecy, Tesla, Energy, Antigravity & Interstellar Travel

Published on 11 Feb 2015

This film explores the history of our modern technological age, advances in science, the question of UFOs, and how our world governments have controlled the flow of information to the public regarding the truth about UFOs. Nikola Tesla, Free Energy and Antigravity are also investigated. Includes a fantastic collection of interviews from top scientists and researchers from around the world and incredible photos and video of UFOs in flight.

Why Does Everything In The Universe Spin?

The Earth and the Milky Way are constantly rotating, but why?

UFO encounter in Brazoria County lives on

Kevin Reece, KHOU 11 News

HOUSTON - On the back roads of Brazoria County, somewhere between Damon and West Columbia along Highway 36, they still talk about a pair of purple and blue lights.

It's the story of Brazoria County Deputy Bob Goode and Chief Deputy Billy Edwin McCoy. It was September 3, 1965.
McCoy's son Kevin was eight years old at the time.
"I remember the excitement," he said. "Dad said what he remembered more than anything is he said it just absolutely scared the hell out of them."

The story, heavily detailed in Brazoria County lore but also in government documents, goes something like this. It was 11 p.m. The deputies were driving from Damon to West Columbia together in a Brazoria patrol interceptor. They saw mysterious blue and purple lights on the horizon. The lights eventually grew so close and so intense they filled the inside of their squad car. And they swore they saw some form of spaceship a football field long. Both men would eventually draw almost identical sketches of the object for investigators to see.

"They were just scared to death whenever this thing came and they were screaming, go, go get out of here," said Kevin McCoy who said his dad was absolutely convinced what he saw was real.
"He firmly from the time he saw it to the day he died it was real, no doubt," said McCoy.
We missed our chance to talk to the men about the UFO. Goode was 50 years old at the time of the unexplained event almost 50 years ago. Billy McCoy, at 86, died just last year.
But at the Brazoria County Historical Museum, Billy McCoy has his own file. And it includes his own voice: a tape recording from 1985. The two hour interview, 20 years after the UFO incident, was part of an oral history program by the museum to document and record the experiences of some of its noted residents.

McCoy discusses his life in Brazoria County and his career as a chief deputy and as a businessman. And several pages of the transcript are devoted to the UFO encounter of 1965.
"That thing was right on top us," McCoy told the interviewer. "The inside of our car was totally illuminated with that purple light."
"Of course there was quite a bit of excitement in our car, quite a bit of hollering and yelling. Some words there that probably shouldn't be repeated on this tape," he said with a laugh. "Bob, he showered down on the gas and we took off from there just as fast as that police interceptor would go. I could see it move and it went straight back at a much slower speed then what it came up on us and it just, when it got back over in the area of the Bernard River it just shot straight up in the air and disappeared."

"If anyone ever sees what we saw that night, there won't ever be any question in your mind about something being there. It's so vivid in my mind, I think I could live to be 150 and I'd never forget it!"

We asked UFO investigator Chuck Stansburge, with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) what he thought of the Brazoria incident. Stansburge, also a former law enforcement officer in Colorado now retired and living in Rosenberg, says the Brazoria deputies had to deal with a skeptical government, just like every other person in the more than 12,000 UFO sightings investigated for Project Blue Book: program designed to document UFO sightings, but disprove them as lights reflecting on fog or figments of everyone's imagination, and thereby calm a nervous public in the wake of the Roswell incident and the 1950's and 60's fears of communist Russia.

"From what I've read they seem pretty adamant about what took place," said Stansburge of the deputies. "Too many people in this world know that they (UFO's) exist. And yet the governments, some of the governments, especially ours, say no they don't exist."
In that archived audio interview, Billy McCoy talked about that too.
"There's not a thing that I have said was a figment of anybody's imagination, is not a concocted story any extent. The things happened just as I said they happened. I don't believe it could possibly be anything from this earth."
And what makes the story live on these 50 years later is that both men were well-respected. McCoy was a successful high school athlete, a Golden Gloves boxer, a chief deputy, a businessman who kept telling his tale and taking on any critics who might doubt his honesty.

"I think that he was cool with it. I think that he firmly believed it. And any time anyone brought it up he loved talking about it," said McCoy's son Kevin. "He never questioned himself, he never said maybe. I never heard him say anything other than absolutely we saw something."

And it's something they still talk about in Brazoria County. And in a way, Billy McCoy still talks about too – to anyone still willing to listen.

 

Ancestry website won't let you borrow its UFO records

By Jon Fingas  / Engadget UK

You wouldn't think that genealogy websites would have much need to defend copyrights, but they're apparently quite zealous -- so long as you're interested in alien spaceships, at least. Ancestry.com has forced enthusiast site The Black Vault to take down legions of declassified US records on UFO research because some of them were taken from its Fold3 subsidiary. While the documents are public domain, their digital copies supposedly aren't -- Black Vault has to either get permission or digitize the records itself in order to post this content online, a spokeswoman says.

Black Vault owner John Greenwald maintains that Ancestry.com abused the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and otherwise acted in bad faith. It reportedly asked him to take down everything through an "evidence-less" claim that assumed his guilt, even when it involved material that wasn't on Fold3. Also, it was only going to let him keep images if he paid to become an affiliate; that's not very practical for an enthusiast site.

Some of Greenwald's arguments are tenuous (linking to image sources doesn't always give you a free pass), but an attorney speaking to Motherboard says that Ancestry.com might not have a leg to stand on. Whether or not Fold3 scanned these flying saucer files, they're still reproductions of public material -- the site may have a hard time claiming exclusive rights over what amounts to a set of photocopies. Greenwald hasn't signaled an intention to fight the takedown in court, but he might have little to worry about if he reposts his extraterrestrial material.

Bradford resident records ‘UFO’ before it allegedly flies away

By Yorkshire Standard

The bright circular object was recorded in the sky yesterday on the 7 February by a man walking home from the shop.

The uploader narrated in the video: “As I was just walking home from the shop something zigzagged about in the sky… unfortunately I was coming back from the shop and had to go in and get a camera.

“It’s hard to explain to people. It can’t be a star because of the zigzagging it was doing. The only thing I can see in the sky is the aeroplane trail and a cloud, but there are no stars at all.

“It’s so dark out there that I can actually see the trails of aeroplanes, and they’re going right through where this thing is.”

The alleged UFO was stationary and moving at times whilst it was being recorded but it also did a small ‘loop-de-loop’ off-camera.

It was supposedly in the sky for an hour.

“Roswell Slides”: What Will They Prove / Spying on the Roswell Slides

By Nick Redfern

Well, my previous article on what have become know as the “Roswell Slides” has provoked a flurry of comments, via Facebook, Twitter, and email. Several of the writers took me to task for suggesting that even if the slides are the real deal – or are perceived to be so, even by highly credible individuals – it won’t make any difference to Ufology, or in relation to clearing up what happened at Roswell. I still stand by my position, and I’ll tell you why.

For the sake of argument and clarification, I’m going to play devil’s advocate and suggest that the slides just might be the real deal. Let’s say that careful study of the slides proves them to be of 1947 vintage. Let’s also say that there is a consensus amongst those qualified to comment, that the body is not a model, or a deformed human, but of an unknown life-form…an extraterrestrial.
That’s all well and good. But, if that’s all there is, and at that point the story stalls, and hits the proverbial brick wall, we have major problems – regardless of the positive opinions made in relation to the slides. Think I’m wrong? I’m not. Take, for example, the infamous film-footage taken in 1967 by a man named Roger Patterson that alleges to show a Bigfoot.

The Patterson film – as it’s known - has the support of a number of credible people, with credentials. But, even so, it hasn’t changed the world. Why? Because the film stands alone, that’s why. It has not been supported by the recovery of a dead or a living Bigfoot that can be compared to what the film shows. In other words, it remains an intriguing bit of film – and that’s all. The very same situation could occur in relation to the “Roswell Slides.”

Unless, or until, someone provides us with a real alien body that can be compared to the body in the slides, then the images will forever be the UFO equivalent of the Patterson film. Only hard physical evidence of what happened at Roswell - for comparison – will change things. But, I don’t think that will happen, and I’ll tell you why.

I am going to play devil’s advocate again and suggest that yes, maybe, aliens did crash at Roswell. But, if they did, what, precisely, did the U.S. military of 1947 actually recover? There are more than a few reports from old-timers from Roswell (both military and civilian) who talked about the recovery of unusual, small bodies, and the discovery and subsequent retrieval of a huge amount of strange, foil-like material.

If, however, you go back and carefully review the published material, you will see very few references to a craft – intact or even semi-intact – having been found on the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, New Mexico, in the summer of 1947. There is no talk – even from the old-timers – of the military scooping up futuristic power-plants, weird landing gear, “engines,” etc. It’s all about the odd bodies and the equally odd “foil.”

Playing devil’s advocate for no less than a third time, let’s say that this is all the military found – and it’s all that the keepers of the secret have today: namely, four or five preserved bodies (in varying degrees of quality), and a mass of curious metal. If that’s so, it’s highly possible that only a very limited amount of work could be undertaken to try and figure out what had fallen into the hands of the Human Race – or, rather, into the hands of a small, elite, number of the Human Race.

Within the field of Ufology, there are numerous accounts of government agencies, the military, and private corporations “back-engineering” alien technology at places like Area 51. Check out the controversial story of Philip Corso, in his The Day After Roswell book, as a perfect example – or take a look at Independence Day. I sometimes wonder if all these tales of advanced, back-engineering programs were merely the concoctions of Cold War-era generals and strategists, doing their utmost to freak out the Russians and have them believe we had cracked the key to understanding alien technology.

But, what if, in reality, we haven’t made any advances – at all? Such a scenario is not in the slightest bit implausible. If all that was found really was just a bunch of bodies and a mass of foil, then it may be the case that nothing has been achieved beyond two things: (A) confirming that something intelligent, something that is not of the Human Race, has visited us; and (B) realizing that their technology is so bizarre that their vehicles appear to be comprised of strange foil and of absolutely nothing else.

Faced with that, what else could you do, say, or conclude? Certainly, you could periodically bring in expert individuals to examine the bodies. Likewise, you could have some of the finest minds on board to periodically study the so-called “memory-metal” found at the crash site. But, faced with so little material to work with, those overseeing the secret of Roswell (and I’m personally sure that someone is overseeing something!), may, by now, have reached the point where no more meaningful advances can be made.

In that sense, the Roswell evidence (the bodies and the memory-metal) may have gone from being a secret that was once dedicatedly studied to a secret that, today, is dedicatedly hidden.  And that’s all. Skeptics often say that it’s absurd to believe that “the government” could hide the truth of Roswell. Their reasoning: thousands of scientists would be involved in the study of the recovered evidence, and some of them would blow the whistle.

Those same skeptics, however, are working from the mindset that the Roswell materials would have to be the subject of a massive, decades-long investigation. But what if that’s not the case? What if the truth is even stranger than that? Namely, that the keepers of the secret have so little to work with (just deteriorating corpses and a pile of foil), that what was, in the immediate aftermath of the crash, a bustling lab-type environment, is now the equivalent of a grim, mausoleum, where things are merely stored, rather than studied?

In that sense, it would be very easy to hide the evidence, simply because…no-one is doing anything with it. Which brings me back to the “Roswell Slides.” Maybe they are the real deal; I don’t know. But even if they are, we need more than just slides to make a solid case that aliens crashed in New Mexico in the summer of 1947. We need materials. We need body-parts.

Granted, if the materials are being studied and back-engineered here, there, and everywhere, then, yes, we would stand a chance of someone coming forward with at least something. If, however, the truth is as I suspect it could be - that the Roswell material is locked away because nothing has been learned from it and, now, no-one knows what to do with it, beyond hide it - our chances of vindicating things are slim to none.

And that’s not being pessimistic or defeatist. It’s being what more people in Ufology need to be: realistic.

----------------------------------------------------------

Spying on the Roswell Slides

Well, the various articles I have recently written here at Mysterious Universe, on what have become known as the “Roswell Slides”, have resulted in a lot of questions coming my way. One of them has surfaced more than any other. It basically goes like this: Do I think that the key players in the saga of the slides are “being watched”? You know: by the dreaded “them.” Or, to get straight to the point: “the government”?

It is indeed an interesting question. I should stress that I have no data – at all – suggesting that such surveillance is going on. But, I can speak of something very strange that happened in the summer of 2014, and which has at least a bearing on this matter of someone snooping around.

It goes like this: last summer one of the “Dream Team” members investigating the slides, Tony Bragalia, was hacked. The hacker was someone using a safemail account and the name of “A Glass Darkly.” It turns out that AGD got into Bragalia’s emails and god knows where else, too.

On top of that, my emails and those of Rich Reynolds – of The UFO Conjecture(s) blog – were also compromised. Whether that was because we were directly hacked, or because we had email exchanges with Tony B, and which may simply have allowed AGD to read our emails via Tony’s In-Box, I don’t know. But, what I am in a position to say is that the hacker was real, his actions were real, and he did access Tony Bragalia’s email account.

As a result, and hardly surprisingly, the FBI was contacted on matters relative to this. I am not sure where that all stands right now. But no matter, because another push is being made to have the world of law-enforcement (specifically those people whose work covers cyber-security) take a renewed look at this entire situation, which is filled with intrigue and high-strangeness.

It became very clear from AGD’s words (he actually inserted himself into my and Rich’s emailed conversations by replying…) that he was interested in the Roswell slides. What AGD did in his quest for the truth of the slides was to 100 percent cross the line in terms of what is acceptable or legal. He chose to voyeuristically snoop through our emails (and possibly through files and folders too), in search of anything and everything relevant to the slides. I’m sure AGD was hoping that one of us, or all of us, had copies of the slides on our laptops, tablets etc. We did not, however – none of us.

As for who AGD was/is, that’s the bigger question which requires answering. Some people have said that they suspect it’s actually all the work of the Dream Team itself. In other words, there was/is no real hacker using the alias of A Glass Darkly.

In this scenario, the Dream Team concocted and stage-managed the entire caper to add to the ever-growing interest in the slides, and to generate yet more publicity. I have to say I completely reject this theory, for the very simple fact that the FBI was contacted. No-one on the Dream Team would be so stupid as to create a non-existent hacker and then try and get the FBI involved in an investigation relevant to that same non-existent hacker.

I also rule out the idea that this was the work of “the government.” The idea that any agency – of any government in the world – would need to create a safemail account to access the emails of three people (me, Reynolds, and Bragalia) is ridiculous. Such hacking could have been achieved quite easily, and without the need to hide behind a safemail account – or behind any email account.

I predict the real Roswell slide will be at least as blurry as this artist rendition. ~ Ed

My personal opinion? The hacking was done by someone in the UFO research community; someone who was overly eager to be the first with the most. Of course, now, and as of a couple of days ago, you can see one of the images right here. What it shows, I don’t know. Many who have looked at it are underwhelmed. From what I see too, I can’t say I’m particularly excited either.

In a couple of months from now, we may have more answers regarding what the slides show. I doubt those revelations will have a bearing on who A Glass Darkly was, however.  But, I’m hoping that certain things which are in motion – right now – may provide us with the real identity of AGD. Stay tuned. Whatever the Roswell slides show (or don’t show) the story – and the curious, behind-the-scenes things, like the AGD-hacking saga – is going to run and run.

The truth about UFOs and aliens is out there

By Mike Hallowell

DURING a recent radio interview, the presenter asked me why, if UFOs exist, no one has produced any definitive evidence to prove it.

I assured him that there is a veritable mountain of proof – for those who have eyes to see.

As I’ve mentioned before in this column, UFO researchers and political lobbyists have an annual convention explicitly dedicated to getting the evidence out there.

The first thing that even diehard sceptics have to acknowledge is that there is an awful lot of eyewitness testimony to be had, and any rational person who takes the time to look at it would have to acknowledge that either the thousands of witnesses are deluded or lying, or we are indeed being visited by non-human intelligences from elsewhere.

DURING a recent radio interview, the presenter asked me why, if UFOs exist, no one has produced any definitive evidence to prove it.

I assured him that there is a veritable mountain of proof – for those who have eyes to see.

As I’ve mentioned before in this column, UFO researchers and political lobbyists have an annual convention explicitly dedicated to getting the evidence out there.

The first thing that even diehard sceptics have to acknowledge is that there is an awful lot of eyewitness testimony to be had, and any rational person who takes the time to look at it would have to acknowledge that either the thousands of witnesses are deluded or lying, or we are indeed being visited by non-human intelligences from elsewhere.

Ah, but that’s not “scientific evidence”, say some. “Eyewitness testimony is unreliable.”

Well, I’d agree that eyewitness testimony might be unreliable within the field of science, but that doesn’t make it unreliable per se.

If 1,000 independent witnesses tell me they’ve seen a donkey running down the middle of King Street, odd though that may be, I’d be pretty tempted to believe them.

Why? Because the idea so many people would independently decide to tell such a fib without any apparent motivation is far more difficult to swallow than the idea of a donkey running down the street.

“It’s not just lights in the sky these people are seeing”, said Ricardo Reyes.

“They’ve seen ET hardware, top-secret documentation and, in some cases, biological material which is alien in nature.”

And that’s the point. If a witness sees a bright light in the sky it could be any number of things other than an alien spacecraft.

However, if they should see a classified memo from the Vice-President of the USA stating that UFOs really exist, then there is simply no wiggle-room.

Either the witness is lying, the document is fake, or the document is real. It’s that simple.

Now it’s true that there are faked UFO documents out there, and I once had the pleasure of personally exposing one.

But some are real and have been stamped as authentic by world-renowned document analysts.

In 2013, there was a Citizens Hearing held in the USA on the UFO subject.

Respected lawyers, scientists, journalists, and others all testified under oath that they had seen incontrovertible proof that some UFOs were indeed alien spacecraft and that contact with their occupants was made in 1947.

The organisers have a database of hundreds of people – astronauts, astronomers and physicists amongst them – who are prepared to disclose what they know as long as they are given immunity from prosecution.  

Copies of this database, along with copies of restricted documents signed by very high-ranking individuals, have now been sent to every Member of Congress in the USA.

The objective is to force a full Congressional Hearing on the UFO enigma.

The Citizens Hearing itself was steered by a committee which contained US politicians of real calibre, and there can be no doubt that the real truth about the UFO phenomenon is being withheld from the public.

As former Director of the CIA, Roscoe H Hillenkoetter, noted, “Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs.

“But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.”

It’s ironic that while sceptics are bleating about the need for “scientific proof”, hundreds of the scientists they revere so much claim to have the proof they seek but are being prevented from presenting it due to draconian laws concerning national security.

So, the sceptics want to see the evidence made public and so do the campaigners.

Unlikely bedfellows they may be, but the sceptics should be supporting the campaigners in their efforts as they purportedly both want the same thing; the truth.

Behind the official denials, a growing number of people around the globe, including a former Canadian Defence Minister, are now saying, “Enough is enough; it’s time we told the people the truth”.

Next week we’ll take a closer look at what they have to say.

• Seen something strange? Tell Mike at wraithscape@mikehallowell.com

Diamond shaped UFO over Tepotzotlán Mexico

Published on 3 Feb 2015 by jmhz71

UFO Diamond shaped in Tepotzotlán Mexico 02/02/2015

Air Force UFO files in the spotlight - Spacing Out! Ep. 103

By Open Minds Production

Published on 23 Jan 2015

Files from one of the U.S. Air Force's official investigations of UFOs are in the spotlight. Although these files have been available for decades, they were recently added to a website in a much more user-friendly manner. Also, astronomers detected a strange radio signal that has them perplexed. These stories and more on this episode of Spacing Out!

UFO Planet Ep 120 - Stephen Bassett Interview

Published on 25 Jan 2015 By Darin Crapo

Stephen Bassett is a political activist and a leading advocate for ending the 68-year government imposed truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race. He is the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group (PRG) which recently produce a "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure" at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Stephen has spoken to audiences around the world about the implications of formal Disclosure of the extraterrestrial presence. He has given over 1200 radio and television interviews, and PRG's advocacy work has been extensively covered by national and international media. On November 5 PRG launched a Congressional Hearing Initiative seeking the first hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the ET issue since 1968. The 6th "Disclosure Petition VI - Congressional Hearings" was submitted to the White House on January 7 and is currently gathering signatures on the White House website. PRG Websites: www.paradigmresearchgroup.org www.faxonwashington.org www.citizenshearing.org www.citizenhearingfoundation.org www.disclosurepetition.org www.exopoliticsworld.net www.x-conference.com www.worlddisclosureday.org www.x-ppac.org

PRG media coverage: www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/articles/P­RGarticles.html

CHD media coverage: www.citizenhearing.org/press.html 

PRG speaking archive: www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/speaking&a­mp;eventschedule.html

USAF UFO Project Blue Book files go online for free and are then forced to be taken down

The United States National Archives Building in Washington D.C. (Credit: The United States National Archives)

By Alejandro Rojas

Finally, decades after the United States Air Force closed their official investigations into the UFO phenomenon, the files are online in their entirety for free.

Project Blue Book is regarded as the third  UFO investigation project by the USAF. The first was Project Sign, which began in 1947, then Grudge, which ran from 1949 to 1951, and the final project, Blue Book, ran from 1951 to 1969. The files surrounding the investigation of the sightings are all included in the Project Blue Book files. That is, unless, as some suggest, there are secret investigations that the public still does not have access to.

Either way, although these files have all been declassified, since the close of Project Blue Book, it has taken a trip to the National Archives to get full access to them. Some websites have put up portions of the files, and one website, Fold3, finally posted all of them a few years ago. However, visitors could just view them and had to pay a membership fee to download them.

Note: Apparently you can download the files at Fold3 for free now, but it is one page at a time, and in the jpeg picture format. The Black Vault offers the files in PDF documents, making it much quicker and easier to download. Many of them are also searchable. 

Now researchers and UFO enthusiasts, including myself, can save some money. The files have been placed online by John Greenewald who runs a website called The Black Vault. Greenewald has been submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests since he was a teenager to get the government to share what it knows about UFOs and other clandestine matters.

He has posted these files online, and over the years has amassed the largest online repository of such materials. He has over one million pages hosted there. Now that he has finally finished the daunting task of making the Blue Book files available, he now has over 130,000 more.

The staff of Project Blue Book. Sitting in the center is Hector Quintanilla, 

the last chief officer of Project Blue Book.

I interviewed Greenewald to ask him some of his thoughts about posting the Blue Book files.

Why did you decide to post the files?

Greenewald: Plain and simple, they are UFOlogical history.  There are a few sources for these records out there, some of which are incomplete, while others are harder to navigate or are not geared towards the actual researcher. So, I wanted to compile these in a straight forward, easily searchable database, and that in itself is unlike what is out there and makes this new site powered by The Black Vault a bit unique.

Why do you think these files are important after all of these years?

Greenewald: Project Blue Book (along with Sign and Grudge) holds a special place in UFO history. Whether or not it TRULY investigated UFO sightings in the sense we wanted it to, it doesn’t matter.  It is a project that lasted for over 20 years, and they investigated thousands of cases. Sure, many of them they claimed were all explanatory, but you still have a few gems that remain a mystery. But further, you can use this data to compare and contrast to what it is today and start drawing conclusions, or rather, maybe pose new questions that investigators haven’t thought of yet.

For years, this data sat on microfilm in the National Archives.  Now with the power of the internet, they were brought online, but in ways that were not easily used, incomplete, or plain and simple, didn’t get the exposure it deserved.  I hope this new resource changes that, spotlights this era in UFO history, and offers a research point that those in the coming years of UFO investigation can learn from, utilize, and reference.

Why have they not been available online for free until now?

Greenewald: To convert and archive 130,000 pages is no easy task.  There are some sites that tried to create the archive… but really didn’t gear it towards the researcher or the investigator.  Some charge for the information (if it’s even complete), others make it hard to download or read, and others are just incomplete.

I tried with this new site to ensure that everyone could use it and learn from it.  When I started The Black Vault when I was 15 years old, I was stunned by the lack of information on the internet. Now, nearly 2 decades later, many sites have caught on and archiving the data – but they want to charge you for it.  Almost 20 years later, and roughly 1.5 million pages that are given away for free, I am happy to say I have kept the promise I made to myself to never charge anyone to learn.

– End of Interview –

I know for myself, and for other researchers and journalists, the posting of these files will make it much easier to explore some of the hidden gems in the files. There are hundreds of files that the USAF regarded as genuine “unknowns.” The exact number is somewhat murky.

The USAF claims that Blue Book included 12,618 sightings reports, 701 of which remained “unidentified.” This would account for about 5.5% of the files. However, official lists of these “unidentified” cases only include 560 or so cases. Other researchers have gone through the files and found there are actually more like 14,000 cases, with about 1600 “unknowns.”

The National Archive’s page on UFOs. (Credit: Archives.gov)

As the debate over how many USAF UFO investigation cases were truly never explained continues, due to Greenewald’s work, the citizen researcher now has the ability to peruse the files without having to travel or subscribe to a membership.

You can find the Project Blue Book cases all at this link at: TheBlackVault.com

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USAF UFO Blue Book files forced to be taken down

The news was ablaze with the story of files regarding the U.S. Air Force’s investigation into the UFO phenomenon being posted online at The Black Vault website. Most news outlets neglected to report that these files were not new to the internet, but that what was new was that they were in a PDF format, and much more accessible than they had been previously.

Regardless, interest in the files soared, and many local media outlets combed the files for UFO cases in their neck of the woods. This spawned many stories about UFO sightings the U.S. Air Force took an interest in when they were officially investigating UFOs from the late 40s to the late 60s.

However, now, unfortunately, the files at The Back Vault have been forced to be taken down. Fold3, a site that posts military files and is a subsidiary to Ancestery.com, has claimed they have a digital copyright over the files.

John Greenewald, owner of The Black Vault, has sent out this statement:

The Black Vault’s Statement on the Project Blue Book Files

January 29th, 2015 – It is with great frustration to announce, that Ancestry.com, and their subsidiary Fold3, has laid down a claim to copyright on the Project Blue Book material – which has long been labeled as “public domain” by the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA).

Ancestry.com is claiming ownership to the digital version of this material – despite me having records that Fold3 doesn’t even have in their archive and I received under the FOIA starting back in 1996.  They simply claimed it was 100% theirs and I was forced to remove it.

Because of my attempt with properly crediting Fold3 with a DIRECT LINK to their site as partial credit for some of the material, they used that show of proper credit by me to issue a copyright claim under the Digital Copyright Millennium Act (DCMA). Anyone who knows anything about the law can attest; you are “guilty until proven innocent” so this was the beginning of the end. I never hid from Fold3 as a source, and even brought them up in some media interviews I did take part in, which were all cut out. No one cared about that part of the story – this new archive was what they wanted to report on because it was simple, straight forward, easy and free. And people loved it.

Based on an evidence-less claim I was forced to remove the entire site.  That’s right, there was ZERO evidence submitted to my web hosting provider of ownership or copyright or license, but rather, they simply placed the accusation which is all it takes.

In good faith, I took the site down in hopes a compromise could be reached. They already had credit given on the front page of the site for some of the material, and that link alone resulted in a 12%+ increase in their entire statistics since they posted records in 2007, and my link multiplied their weekly hits by 10x, yes ten times, in only 5 days (statistics are posted on their page, so I am not guessing on those statistics but rather took notes).

I stated there was much more information here than is cited to Fold3, but they didn’t care.  I offered giving them a full 100% “share of voice” banner ad to advertise Fold3 (in addition to the link already driving them traffic), or to sell ads with no profit share to me, and they didn’t care. I asked if they would work with me on any capacity, because CLEARLY interest was being generated by my audience (and obviously not by theirs) but they didn’t care.

In the end – they offered I become a member of their affiliate program – and offer a link to them in exchange for a portion of sales generated. ie: You have to sign up with them, pay a membership, and they give me a percentage.  I quickly declined.

This is public record material, and it should remain so. To lay ‘exclusive’ claim to it in the digital world, when both sites (my site and theirs) offer it for free – is ludicrous and a waste of time and money for everyone.

But at the end of the day, I am proud to have brought attention to information that although has been available for quite some time – the public at large never knew it existed.  I will let Google Trends prove my point.  Here is the popularity of Project Blue Book, since 2005, and a graph relating to people searching for information on it.

See that spike?  Yes, The Black Vault did that… and I am proud to be the one who caused such an uproar of interest by the public and the media (despite some erroneous facts in the reporting).

Did some media outlets misreport? Yes, and if this page was still up, there was a message on the front page setting the record straight.

But, call it corporate greed, a legal loophole, or a grey area in the copyright law, all of that is gone in the name of getting your personal information, and your credit card, by a corporation that has a wallet much thicker than mine. I’ll let you decide what the right label is to put on this entire mess.

Does all of this upset you? Me too!  And I invite you to express your thoughts to Ancestry.com, Fold3, and anyone else you’d like to express your disappointment:

Fold3

355 South 520 West

Suite 250

Lindon, UT 84042

Ph 1-800-613-0181

support@fold3.com

Ancestry Inc. Corporate Headquarters

360 West 4800 North

Provo, UT 84604

Ph 801-705-7000

Fx 801-705-7001

support@ancestry.com

In 18+ years, I’ve never seen anything like this, and it is a sad day for the world of public domain, public information, public record and the idea of “Freedom of Information”.

I have vowed from day 1, never to fall into the pit of desire of placing a price tag on PUBLIC information. It’s a shame I am very much alone in that belief.

Sincerely,

John Greenewald, Jr.

The Black Vault

http://www.theblackvault.com