X-Zone Broadcast Network - Alejandro Rojas

Alejandro Rojas

This week I spoke with Alejandro Rojas, a UFO researcher, writer and broadcaster with a wide range of interests and a long history in the UFO field. I did have an agenda in mind, but as so often happens, the direction of the discussion was dictated by the answers to the questions. We didn’t make it to a couple of the things that I thought would be interesting. You can listen to it here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/12390203

(And, as always, if the link doesn’t work, look to A Different Perspective on Youtube with the guest’s name attached and that should get you there.)

This is not to say that the show wasn’t interesting. We talked about Alejandro’s investigation of the Stan Romanek’s UFO sightings and his video and photographs of an alien creature. Getting Alejandro’s personal insight, from someone who spent time with Romanek and his family is interesting.

We also delved into MJ-12 and his conclusions about the validity of the documents. He seems to think about them the same way that I do, and which, I believe, the majority of those who have looked at the case think. In other words, the evidence for a hoax is overwhelming and in the world today, it’s fairly clear who created those documents and the reason behind them.

Anyway, the show was side ranging and filled with information that should be interesting to a cross section of the listeners.

Next weeks’ guest: Peter Robbins

Topic: UFOs and Disclosure.

The Pteranodano and Billy Meier

Because it isn’t time for the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 7, and I have nothing better to do, I thought I’d kick another sleeping dog (sorry of that analogy offends). For laughs, I took a look at the Pteranodano photograph that was allegedly taken by Billy Meier during a July 1975 trip to a world some 9.38 billion light years away which is about halfway across the known universe. It’s a badly focused picture with little real detail that is actually somewhat reminiscent of those first photographs taken in the early 19^th century but you can recognize the flying dinosaur.

Billy Meier

This photograph wasn’t published in any of Meier’s books as near as I can tell, but was shown around the United States as part of a program about Meier’s space and time travels. I wanted to find a way to connect it to Meier as the photographer because some of what I had seen didn’t provide any real source. I did find a connection at:

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/05/billy-meier-%E2%98%85-time-travel-photos-ufo-alien-time-travel-pictures-billy-meier-dinosaur-pictures-2965218.html

In the course of the presentation, it was said that Meier had taken the picture, as he had those of other dinosaurs. We were even treated to a picture of Meier in a spacesuit walking about on another planet, outside the spacecraft so that he could get the pictures (which has been identified as a picture from a science fiction movie).

Karumudi Mahesh Chowdary tells me the video showing two people flipping through an album containing Meier's space and time travel photographs are Wendelle Stevens (flipping the album) and Randolph Winters (holding camcorder) in 1989. Winters and Wendelle are just flipping through Meier’s album taking pictures of the pictures Meier had taken. But as I say this established a link between Meier and the picture of the Pteranodano.

Note that the alleged trip was in July 1975. That date is important because various researchers and interested parties found a much clearer illustration of that particular dinosaur in a book about dinosaurs. The illustration was apparently painted in 1960 and appeared in a book published in 1972, or some three years before Meier took the picture. This would seem to prove, in at least one case, Meier had attempted to pass off a poor photograph of a painting by an Earth-based artist as a real photograph of a dinosaur. You can see the photographs at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCEENBqGvlw

The dinosaur pictures, both the painting and the alleged photograph (yes, I know it is a real photograph but it is a photograph of a painting) can be found beginning at 6:31 in this video.

Well, not so fast say the champions of Meier’s claims. This has all been explained though not as clearly as I would like. It might be that the translation I was reading wasn’t as good as it could have been so we can overlook some of the technical problems. I found my way to:

http://www.billymeierufocase.com/dinosaurphotodeconstruction.html

That provided another look at the illustration and the photograph that didn’t add much information to what I had already learned. However, there was a button at the bottom of the page that took me to:

http://futureofmankind.co.uk/Billy_Meier/FIGU_Special_Bulletin_20

Here we learn that Meier didn’t take the photograph, but it was in with those that he had taken. Now the story becomes a little more complicated, but I think I have sorted it out. We are told, “In their blindness and their investigative delusion, BEAM’s [BEAM being Meier’s initials or in other words, it is Meier] opponents stubbornly and firmly maintain that the aforementioned photo was personally taken by ‘Billy’ on the space journey in July of 1975, without concerning themselves, however, with the true history of its origin and the actual contexts of the picture.”

Well, we did see a video of that claim being made. That the picture had been taken by Meier, so those who are suggesting it have a good case. But, again, there is another twist here. “After the freshly developed dinosaur pictures were in the hands of ‘Billy,’ these were seen and inspected by Quetzal [Quetzal was Commander of all Plejaren stations in our solar system]. During this, dozens of pictures were noted by him, which quite clearly could not have come from the world NEBER [the planet Meier visited in July 1975] and, therefore, had not been taken by ‘Billy,’ about which Quetzal got very angry. It was obvious that false and manipulated pictures had been foisted on BEAM once more by a foreign hand. Many of the pictures had obviously been photographed from a book and were to have been smuggled into BEAM’s photo collection as so-called cuckoo’s eggs.”

So Meier had them in a photo album that itself was photographed by Horn and Stevens. While that doesn’t seem to match with the later tale, we learn, “Before the original photos were removed and destroyed by Quetzal, however, the foundation member of FIGU, Guido Moosbrugger, came into the possession of some copies. However, he had to make the promise to the Plejaren and ‘Billy,’ never to make the copies available to the public or to get rid of these in any way because the falsification from a foreign hand was also among the preserved photos. Should he fail to comply with the instruction, the pictures would have to be immediately confiscated and destroyed by the Plejaren, as this also happened with the originals of ‘Billy.’ To this day, Guido Moosbrugger feels bound to his promise and has always kept the pictures under wraps.”

But, of course, he didn’t because somehow the picture was released, even if only on a poor-quality video made of the pictures in Meier’s photo album. But that still doesn’t actually explain where they originated. The excuse:

The Plejaren’s investigations into this incident yielded the following: Since the “Men in Black” organization, which committed itself to “Billy,” couldn’t eliminate him after several failed assassination attempts (ultimately 21 of these overall), it very strongly forced individuals who were cooperating with “Billy,” like the aforementioned photographer Schmid, to bring BEAM into discredit. So they meticulously planned their intrigues and defamation for the long run; consequently, the effects of their machinations should have first begun to work themselves out in the near future. Several times, the “Men in Black” also tried to achieve their goal at the Semjase Silver Star Center with attacks on the vehicles of the members or by intimidations and kidnapping attempts of the children, etc. In this form, also the photographer Schmid, whom “Billy” had incorporated with the permission of the Pleiadians/Plejaren, was forced by the "Men in Black" to produce falsifications of the photographs. On several occasions, pictures that Schmid had received from “Billy” were falsified from the ground up or replaced by forgeries, as this also happened with the Asket and Nera photos and with the aforementioned dinosaur photo. In this way, Eduard A. Meier, already at the beginning of his contacts with the Pleiadians/Plejaren, received false slides, negatives or manipulated photos back from Schmid unnoticed. This photographer has passed away in the meantime and, therefore, is no longer able to provide any information at all on these machinations. [Isn’t that convenient?]

Ironically, it seems that:

The fact is that the opponents of “Billy” never concerned themselves in an honest form with the true origin of the purported dinosaur pictures and did not investigate the actual source. Otherwise, they would have discovered that the purported pictures were not put into circulation by FIGU or “Billy” Meier but by a malevolent, foreign hand [Michael Horn and Wendelle Stevens?], with the intent to harm him. Many allegedly notable UFO researchers and self-proclaimed Meier experts, in their investigative delusion, have jumped on the train of falsification and prevarication, without examining the true sources. This practice can be found on the Internet in innumerable articles about BEAM. Nevertheless, the actual truth about the photo will one day let so many ufologists leap over the shadow of embarrassing disgrace. In actual fact, no sound evidence exists, which proves that the aforementioned photo was taken by “Billy” Meier. With not a single word or written testimony has BEAM ever claimed this on his own, and indeed, because of the simple fact that the aforementioned picture of the pterosaur, along with many other forgeries, had not been taken by “Billy” Eduard Albert Meier himself but had been foisted on him by a foreign hand [though on the video, that claim is made]. These facts correspond to the truth, even if the truth doesn’t want to be accepted by his opposition – as is the case so often.

Finally, to explain all of this, we learn:

The truth about the so-called dinosaur photos will hardly be published by the notorious occupational critics because through the aforementioned photo, a certain inconsistency in the Meier UFO Case can actually be found – an inconsistency that certainly makes sense since the image does, in fact, concern a forgery. To the disappointment of all the glorious investigative specialists, the forgery was, however, not created by BEAM but rather by his opposition – completely in line with: BEAM’s Men in Black opponents hoodwink BEAM’s ufologist opponents. There, two drunks probably beat on each other’s fingers[whatever the hell that means]. But at least a good job must be granted to BEAM’s opponents, with regard to the discovery of this forgery. The book found to have been used for this is not a bad achievement and is also of good use for FIGU. As a critical, searching, and inquiring human being - even in the case of “Billy” Meier – I am fully aware of a certain sense of achievement in investigation. I must admit, however, that I much prefer to use my time and energy for an argumentation in favor of the true truth about BEAM than for superficial and blind faultfinding.

But that’s not all. According to Matt Knight in a comment to this blog, the copyright date on the book had been changed as just another way to discredit Meier. Knight wrote to my earlier post, “I've finally realized what Mahesh's [another of those posting a comment] problem is. He obviously has never experienced life in a culture where making backdated books to fool the public would be taken very seriously by authorities and would be a punishable crime if it were true [I’m not sure what crime this would be]. Switzerland is not the kind of country where anyone can make cheap knock-off T-shirts, passports, websites, or, blogs and claim they have real value.”

In case it wasn’t clear there, Horn added, “To follow up on Matt's correct assessment of Mahesh's problems in part stemming from lack of experience with a culture such as Switzerland, Mahesh fails to understand the mechanism of pre-digital book publishing, where it was common for books to take a year - or even years - to be published.”

So now we have a couple of excuses for way the fake picture was claimed to be one that Meier had taken. First, it wasn’t taken by him but slipped into a bunch of other pictures that he had taken as a way to discredit him. The Men in Black did it or maybe it was the CIA.

Now we learn that the book that held the actual illustration, had a faked copyright date on it. A backdated book to fool the public so that we can see the vast conspiracy out there attempting to discredit Meier.

Then Horn chimes in with the fact that books, back in the old days which, of course, was the last part of the 20^th century, sometimes took months and even years to be published. This would be relevant if the book was copyrighted at the time of submission of the manuscript, but that’s not the way it worked. The copyright date was the month and year in which it was published.

What we are left with is evidence that Meier had taken a picture of a Pteranodon that was an illustration from a book published two years earlier. Caught with this problem, we learn that Meier hadn’t taken the picture but some unidentified organization whose mission it was to discredit Meier had taken the picture and slipped it in with all the others that Meier had taken on that day in July. It’s not completely clear how they might have done that, only that they had.

That picture, identified as a fake by Quetzal, and who demanded that it be destroyed, failed to get that done, and the next thing we know it is being circulated by Meier’s pals, Horn and Stevens, as the real thing. But when it is discovered that it was part of another, earlier book, we learn that this was not a picture taken by Meier but someone else. You just have to ask if any of this makes any sense at all.

These are the facts as presented about this picture. Is this alone enough to discredit Meier, or was it really some conspiracy cooked up by the Men in Black. I believe this does suggest something about the reliability of the Meier testimony. Others, I guess, will disagree.

The Lost Adams - Part Two: The Apaches Attack

(Blogger’s Note: Given the response to the articles on Snake Island and Oak Island, I thought this tale, from New Mexico, might excite those interested in treasure. Given the numbers of those who have read it, and the lack of response, it seems that I was wrong about that. However, for those of you who like a good story, one that seems based in fact, though those facts might not be what you think, I’ll continue with this to the very end.)

The malpais north of the canyon of gold. Photo
copyright by Kevin Randle

Eight days after the provisioning party had left, they were expected to return, but they didn’t. On the ninth day Adams, and his bunk mate, sometimes identified as Dutch Davis but most often as Jack Davidson, decided to ride out to meet them. As they neared the entrance to the canyon, they heard shooting. As they crept closer, they saw that the Apaches had attacked the provisioning party and they were all dead, the supplies scattered.

Or, according in other versions, when he and Davidson arrived at the entrance to the canyon, they found the supply party had been killed, the supplies either stolen or dumped out on the ground. For some reason, Adams would claim they hid the five bodies before heading back to the camp. They didn’t find the body of Brewer, however.

That finished, Adams raced back to warn the other but before he could get there, the miners were attacked. Adams, along with Davidson, hid among the rocks and trees, watching as the remaining prospectors fought to save themselves. One of them broke from the defense and tried to reach the cabin, but the Apaches caught him far short of it. There were a few in the cabin, but the Apaches set it on fire.

As the fighting tapered, Adams knew there was nothing he could do to save the few miners remaining. If he and Davidson stayed where they were, they might survive. They could hear the Apaches, in the distance, celebrating their victory.

In one of those other versions, Adams and Davidson were again too late. The other miners had been killed. Now the Apaches, which included both warriors and women, were celebrating the victory. They were dancing around the smoking remains of the cabin with the heads of the miners on poles.

Adams knew the Apaches weren’t stupid and it was clear that they had been watching the prospectors from the moment they arrived in the canyon. They knew how many men had entered and how many had left for supplies and they would soon discover that at least two of the men had slipped away to hide somewhere. The German, Snively was either hiding as well, or had left before the attack. The point was that the Apaches should have known that three or four men had somehow gotten away.

Adams and Davidson remained where they were, through the heat of the day, trying to ignore the celebration near the cabin. Once it was dark and there were no more signs of any Apaches, he and Davidson sneaked back to the cabin. Under the hearth, was a container filled with gold nuggets. Adams thought it held about a hundred thousand dollars, and that it was worth the risk to recover it.

Adams would tell those who listened to his stories that after midnight, “The first thing we did was make our way back to the cabin. I thought we might be able to get the gold hidden there.” But the cabin still smoldered and it was too hot to get close enough to recover the gold. Instead, they filled their canteens from the stream, and as they were getting ready to leave, Adams remembered that he had hidden a couple of nuggets in a tree stump on the first day of prospecting. He thought he could find them without additional risk.

They escaped from the mine, worked along the zigzag canyon, climbed down to the plateau with the pumpkin patch and crossed it. By that time, it was beginning to lighten and Adams didn’t want to travel in the daylight. They found a place to hide and attempted to remove any traces of their passage. Adams would later say that one group of Apaches had passed close to them, but didn’t find them. Late in the afternoon, another group passed them, and again failed to find them.

When it was dark, Adams and Davidson left the plateau, worked their way down to the dry stream bed and finally came out in the open desert. As the sun began to rise, Adams seemed to be convinced they had eluded the Apaches and decided they should keep going. Adams now believed that it was important to reach civilization as quickly as possible. They didn’t have any food, limited water, and the area was alive with now hostile Apaches.

For the next week they traveled, resting in the heat of the afternoon, eating wild grass, acorns and weeds. They found enough water to survive. Twice more they dodged Apache scouting parties. On the seventh day, they were spotted by a third, but Adams was too tired, too hungry and too discouraged to care. They just kept moving but these Indians were friendly. As darkness fell, they entered the friendly camp.

Adams remained in the friendly village for weeks, regaining his strength and when he felt up to it, he returned to Los Angeles. There he told his story to anyone who would listen to him, drew maps for those who asked, but didn’t seem interested in returning to New Mexico himself.

In a slightly different version of the tale, Adams and Davidson stumbled through the New Mexico desert for a week or ten days. When their horses collapsed, the men shot them, boiling the meat for something to eat. They walked until the soles of their boots wore out. The found the wagon trail that had been pointed out and that would take them to Fort Wingate, but Adams didn’t know which direction to take. Apparently, he picked the wrong one but eventually saw horsemen in the distance which was a roving cavalry patrol from Fort Apache.

After recuperating, Adams showed the doctor who had cared for him one of the nuggets he had picked up. He shared with the doctor all the information he had about the canyon, the landmarks and the massacre. The doctor said that he might try to find the gold himself someday. That was the thing about Adams. He was always ready to supply directions to those who thought them might want to find the gold. Of course, he said that he was going to return for it as well, but it would be years before that happened.

Next we’ll look at the Lost Baxter.

X-Zone Broadcast Network - Don Ecker

Don and Vicki Ecker

My guest this week was Don Ecker. We talked about his entry into the UFO field and sort of his exit from that same field. We covered a wide range of topics. You can listen to the interview here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/12290911

Don mentioned some of the things he had been investigating in the UFO field including the possibility of human mutilations. He talked about some of the things he had observed in the field as he continued his work and how his position as a police officer opened a few paths that were not available without these law enforcement connections. And I mustn’t forget that he did mention that he lived in Southern California.

Don and I also talked about some of the trouble faced by MUFON and some of his trouble with them over the years. He related a run in with Walt Andrus, one-time International Director of MUFON in Las Vegas in 1989.

Next week’s guest: Alejandro Rojas

Topic: UFOs today (more or less).

MUFON, Billy Meier (and Michael Horn) and Me

In the course of discussing the problems faced by MUFON, I was contacted by Michael Horn, who is the US representative of Billy Meier. Meier is, of course, the

Billy Meier

man who claims contact with alien creatures going back to 1975, or maybe even earlier depending on whether you count his alleged childhood contacts in that number. I told Horn in the initial conversation that I was not a fan of Meier, knew something of the case, but found Horn’s claim about MUFON ignoring Meier to be of interest in what I was doing.

Horn had told me that MUFON refused to book him into their Symposium (which, of course, is their right) but did book others with equally dubious claims. I mean, I can’t believe that some of those in the leadership of MUFON are comfortable with time travelers and claims of a secret space program that has apparently solved the problems of interstellar flight but will reject Meier. If, as Jan Harzan, MUFON’s Executive Director, said, they are interested in providing the information to the membership so that they can decide for themselves what they wish to believe, then why not provide Meier, or Meier’s American representative, with the same platform. I was commenting on the lack of consistency but not endorsing the claims of Billy Meier. (Of course, Harzan is right in not giving Horn a platform at the Symposium or any other MUFON venue but that’s a whole other argument.)

This resulted in a barrage of emails and comments by Horn filled with links to Meier supporting sites, and one-sided arguments about the reality of Meier’s claims. I followed the links which is why I know that. I didn’t find them particularly persuasive. I had looked at the Meier claims in the past and even mentioned that I had Kinder’s book, Light Years, to prove that I had been aware of Meier for a long time and his claims of contact were unproven, at least to me.

This, apparently, annoyed Horn. Censorship was his claim, but it was more of editorial decisions because I can’t publish everything and I don’t want to publish something I don’t believe, unless of course, I’m using it to show how outlandish some stories can be. Without editorial comment, it was a direction I did not want to go. Oh, I’ve given others a chance to respond to my criticisms without me making changes or deleting sections of their responses. Those have been by invitation, such as saying, “If the so and so wishes to respond, I will publish that response without comment.” Sometimes that just seems to be fair.

Horn upped the ante then with other allegations which were little more than a transparent attempt to manipulate me. To prove I wasn’t the things he said I was, I would have to publish his comments, even when those comments were not relevant to the original post. In other words, he was attempting to hijack part of the blog. He wanted to turn it into another propaganda tool for him and Billy Meier.

Well, that’s not going to happen.

Instead, I decided to update my knowledge of Meier and see what others had to say. The consensus seemed to be that the Meier contact claims were not based in reality. I fear mentioning names of those commentators here because I don’t think those others need to be bombarded by emails from Michael Horn.

However, I looked the Meier case up in Jerome Clark’s UFO Encyclopedia, 2^nd Edition. It was surprising neutral in tone which is a compliment to Jerry’s reporting. It is certainly skeptical but not filled with the vitriol that sometimes passes for reasoned analyses.

I did note that Jerry had reported, “To prove their reality to skeptical human beings, Semjase [one of Meier’s alien women] said the Pleiadians would make their ‘beamships’ visible to Meier, in turn Meier was to take as many photographs as he could manage.”

This struck me as silly because if the Pleiadians were interested in proving their existence to the skeptics, why not make their beamships visible to a huge crowd assembled for the purpose. With TV cameras rolling and hundreds taking pictures, that would pretty much prove the case… with one man taking the pictures at some secret location as some unspecified time without corroborating witnesses, the pictures themselves proved nothing.

Following in that theme, I found website run by New Mexico skeptics, which attempted to explore some of the Meier claims. You can view the website here:

http://www.nmsr.org/ufocomp.htm

(You might need to add the title, “MICHAEL HORN’S FAILURE PROVES THE MEIER CASE IS FAKE!” to get to the right page.)

The article was written by Anthony Wharton, St Helens, Merseyside, UK, in 2009 (which is why I mentioned his name). Wharton had, some five years earlier or in 2004, asked Meier and Horn to produce some hard-physical evidence, which in the world today Horn claims had been reviewed in proper scientific arenas. But, Wharton wrote:

I very recently spoke to Meier and Horn, and asked them why, in almost five years, they had failed to meet my challenge. Their response was that they had put forward enough UFO physical evidence, and to put forward any more would be pointless. They went on to speak about the metal alloy samples that they put forward in the 1970's, which were looked at by scientists at the time. In my response [Wharton] I pointed out that Meier had not put forward a single scrap of new photographic evidence in well over 25 years. Why not? I also reminded Meier and Horn that their metal alloy samples came back from the science laboratory with an official report. This report concluded that the samples were 100% terrestrial in origin, and could be very easily replicated by simply melting down some metal alloy and adding some glass, crystals and quartz. Basically, the samples were of no use what so ever to either the UFO or scientific communities.

This is the sort of answer, suggesting they had already done it and were not interested in doing again, is what I expect from those who simply don’t have the proof they claim. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have asked someone for their military records to support their claims of military service and get a similar answer when they say that they have done so and to do so again is pointless. I will also note when challenged I do produce the military records to prove my claims. Here, rather than produce the evidence, they refuse with a ridiculous excuse. If you wish to prove something that is outside the mainstream you must expect repeated requests for the evidence. That’s science. Repeatability.

Wharton concluded, “As regards Billy Meier's and Michael Horn's ultimate failure to meet my challenge, the Billy Meier UFO case can now only ever be regarded as, at best, a work of fiction. Let's not forget that Meier and Horn still claim that Meier is in constant contact with the Plejarans to this very day, [emphasis in the original] so this challenge should literally be a walk in the park for them. What Michael Horn and Billy Meier fail to realize is that, by failing to meet my challenge, it is actually they who have proved that the Billy Meier UFO case is fake.”

There are some other ways to investigate this. For example, and according to Skeptics Guide to the Universe, it was shown, contrary to what had been claimed for Meier, he had not predicted the Paris terror attacks many years earlier. You can see the full article here:

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/billy-meier-did-not-predict-the-paris-terrorist-attacks

You can read about the Meier prediction and rebuttal here:

http://theyflyblog.com/2015/11/16/the-reason-for-the-paris-attacks-billy-meier-1958/

Rather than drag this out, I’ll let you all go to the sites to read both articles. I will note, however, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that Meier did anything other than make some vague statements that could be adapted to any of a number of world events. It is not unlike saying there will be a major earthquake in 2017 (remember you read it here first). I will add that I’m sure that Horn will respond with a long list of other, supportive websites, so I feel no obligation to do so here.

In fact, for those interested in all this, there are any number of websites either endorsing or rejecting Meier’s claims. MUFON is unneeded to give this nonsense a platform because many others have done so, as seen by the number of websites devoted to the Meier case. And while I know that I will now join the ranks of the other “liars and deniers” of the Meier claims, I will also note that I haven’t called anyone a name, suggested they were cowardly, had no integrity, but have tried to provide all the information for those not familiar with a case to come to an informed opinion.

Although Kal Korff has discredited himself repeatedly with his antics, he accurately wrote, in his book Spaceships of the Pleiades, “The Billy Meier ‘evidence’ is now a money-making machine that shows no signs of slowing down.” This says it all.

Let the blow back begin.

X-Zone Broadcast Network - Mark O'Connell

This week I spoke with Mark O’Connell about his authorized biography of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, called The Close Encounters Man. It is a work that not only spanned his career as an astronomer, but his association with the Air Force as their scientific consultant dealing with UFOs. You can listen to it here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/12291049

Although I had lots of questions, as usual, the time got away from us. We talked about how Hynek ended up as the scientific consultant to the Air Force’s various projects and his evolution from arch-skeptic to a point where he began to think in terms of possibility. That means, rather than rejecting all sightings that had no ready explanation as impossible because there was no such thing as interstellar travel, to the idea that some sightings had no easy explanation no matter how in depth the investigation might have been.

And, of course, there was talk of Hynek’s training as an astronomer and some of the innovations that he implemented. Although his idea of a balloon-borne telescope lifted above the Earth’s atmosphere was scrubbed by the Air Force before he could get the telescope off the ground (pun intended and yes it has been difficult to write about that without littering the commentary with puns), it was an idea before its time. While most of us know Hynek as the UFO guy, it is clear that he had a fine career as an astronomer as well.

Next week’s guest: Don Ecker

Topic: His travels through the world of UFOs and his troubles with MUFON.

MUFON Blowback

There are those who don’t seem to understand that I have nothing against MUFON and that I have great respect for the thousands of members who volunteer their time, resources, effort, education and experience to the organization. I certainly understand that when you have a full-time job, a family, and all sorts of other obligations, it is tough to find time for UFOs. I get all that.

And, I understand the First Amendment. It allows us to say any damned stupid thing we want. It just doesn’t guarantee freedom from consequence. If you post a racist rant to your Facebook page, you can expect that it will offend many, and they, operating under the same First Amendment guarantees, have the right to condemn that rant for what it is.

This is sort of the situation that exists today at the top of MUFON. Please note here that I am referring, not to the rank and file, but to specific members of the leadership of that organization who are found in the Inner Circle. The first reaction to that rant by the man at the very top, Jan Harzan, the Executive Director, was to condemn those who found the rant as offensive as “haters.” His purpose was to support a colleague, which is not necessarily a bad thing to do, but by labeling those who objected to the racist comments as haters he just poured gasoline on the fire.

Once the offensive post was noticed, then the proper action was to condemn it and not those who objected to it. It might seem that Harzan did not have the authority to unilaterally fire the offending party (though he did), but he certainly could have made that clear rather than do what he could to offend more people. Eventually, when it became evident that this was not something that could be brushed aside, Harzan removed the man, John Ventre, from his position as a State Director. I did invite Ventre on my radio program but he declined the offer.

As I was researching this first problem, I learned of MUFON’s the Inner Circle, and discovered that the main qualification for membership there was five thousand dollars handed over yearly. I did a little additional research and learned that another member of that elite group had also engaged in some rather disgusting racist rants. Harzan seemed unconcerned, telling me that if she had been a State Director, he would have fired her… but no indication that he would refund her money or remove her from this Inner Circle.

Listening to Harzan, it seemed that the Inner Circle has no influence over the activities of MUFON, so that it something of a non-issue. Harzan said that it is a donation level. Of course, according the page on the MUFON website, “Inner Circle members provide advisory guidance [emphasis added] to MUFON,” which certainly sounds like there is more to it than just handing over five grand each year. Although Harzan downplayed it, the conclusion I draw is that the Inner Circle does have influence and given that, it would seem that a review of the qualifications might be in order. Please note here that I am not suggesting that all members of the Inner Circle are a problem, only a couple of them who have expressed attitudes that don’t seem to be reflected by the mainstream of America.

Since I posted the material about this controversy, I have received a number of emails from MUFON members, some of them holding important positions. The attitude of them seems to be that Harzan has done a lot of good for MUFON and that he had brought in a great deal of money.

But I have to ask, “At what expense and is that the only important criterion?”

First, take a look at how some of that income has been raised. We are treated to Hangar 1, which can only be described as fiction with a shaky base in reality. It is similar to those movies that are labeled, “based on a true story,” which means that a name or two might be real or an event that was sort of the same took place at some point, maybe. When you check out the facts, you see that the film makers veered into the weeds early on and never got out of them. You might say that any similarity to a real event is more accident than intent.

Some of those who wrote to me privately suggested that some of the Hangar 1 episodes were very good, but I’m thinking that the general population, who is not immersed as deeply in UFOs as we are might not make that distinction. When confronted with the tale of the boy abducted to serve in an alien army for twenty years only to be returned to his bed some fifteen minutes later might conclude that all the information of that particular series is bogus. The excuse is that MUFON couldn’t control what the producers were doing, but there was nothing to separate MUFON from that tale. MUFON, according to the latest issues of the Journal (which used to be the MUFON UFO Journal) seems to still embrace the series.

In fact, it seems that they doubled down with their symposium about a Secret Space Program. Now taking the stage are two men who claim involvement in this secret program, and who have traveled through space and time. They are being given a platform from which to tell their incredible tales. The excuse? Well, we just want to let the membership decide for themselves if these stories are to be believed. Really? There isn’t a conclusion to be drawn at this point about the reality of these tales? Ten seconds after hearing about the time travel aspects, the conclusion should be obvious.

But the bottom line here is the bottom line. These sorts of sensational stories bring in people to listen to them. It’s not about revealing a secret space program, but about bringing in money. This is entertainment but certainly not science.

That’s the thing that I’ve heard most often in defense of Harzan and the MUFON leadership. He has brought in money and brought in new members like those who responded to the Hangar 1 program. MUFON is receiving more UFO reports today than it has in years past but is all that a good thing? If you are doing that at the expense of scientific research and the claims of scientific methodology, then haven’t your violated your stated mission?

If you are interested in science and serious investigation of UFOs, then how can you support a symposium program that has no basis in fact? We have these incredible tales but no evidence any of them are true and yet the reason these people are given a platform is allegedly so the membership can make up its mind about the truth. But doesn’t this also require that there be truth in what is being said rather than a story that is more science fiction that science fact? By giving them a platform, isn’t the MUFON leadership suggesting that there is some credibility to what they are saying, even if it involves time traveling men with absolutely no evidence they traveled in time. At what point should the membership just say, “No,” and then return to the original concept of scientific investigation of sightings of unusual things (not wanting to bias the argument I used generic terms but we all know what I mean)?

The other thing that I have heard and think is hilarious is that others, politicians of the past, have made similar if not worse racist comments and some of them even belonged to the KKK. But we’re talking of events more than a half century old not something that was said or done last month.

Earl Butz

I’m not going to spend any more time on this but ask, “How does that apply in today’s world? Haven’t we all grown a great deal since then?” This sort of defense of the racist rants by members of the Inner Circle shouldn’t be tolerated not in 2017. There is enough hate out there, enough of the racism out there, that an organization devoted to UFO research must not allow it in its ranks.  Yes, as I have said, there is free speech but there are also consequences for that speech and while some suggest that racism in the past was acceptable, I remind those that Earl Butz told a racist joke in 1978 that resulted in his resignation from the President Ford’s cabinet. You would have thought that we all would have learned from that, but apparently not.

I’ll make one final comment for the rank and file membership. You end up with the organization you deserve. By not speaking up, you allow the organization to deteriorate into a parody of itself. If you find listening to time travelers telling you about a secret space program that allowed them to visit distant planets, then you are in the right place. If, on the other hand, you desire a program that might resolve the riddle we all find so fascinating, then let the leadership know because, at the moment, they don’t seem to care.