Richard Dolan |
Given
that we have been discussing some of the testimony from Bill Brazel, and since
most of that information came from interviews that Don Schmitt and I conducted
on a number of occasion both in person and over the telephone, I thought we’d
make another run on chasing footnotes. In UFOs
and the National Security State by Richard Dolan, he wrote, “Bill also
claimed that sometime after the crash, he discussed the foil with some friends
in a Corona [NM] bar. Then in his words, “lo and behold, here comes the
military out to the ranch, a day or two later [which is not in the original
interview with Brazel… Friedman made the addition in parenthesis and Dolan left
those out in his quote… later, in a different interview, Brazel suggested it
was the next day].” They told him they had learned of his possession of “some
bits and pieces” of debris, and wanted him to relinquish them. They reminded
him that his father had turned over everything that he had found. The younger
Brazel gave up the pieces. The men told him that they “would rather you didn’t
talk very much about it.”
The
footnote leads me to Stan Friedman and Don Berliner’s Crash at Corona. There on pages 84 – 85 in a long section that
quotes Bill Brazel apparently verbatim. There is nothing in the Friedman book
to tell where, when, how or who conducted the interview. The impression seems
to be that either Friedman, Berliner, or maybe both had conducted the
interview. As happens so often Dolan’s footnote leads to another source, but
that is a dead end.
Of
course, I know the source of the interview. On February 19, 1989, Don Schmitt
and I met Bill Brazel in Carrizozo, New Mexico. We interviewed him for about an
hour or so, all recorded, with his permission, on audiotape. The interview was
first published in UFO Crash at Roswell,
providing the details of the interview. I don’t know why Dolan didn’t
acknowledge that because, from the bibliography in his book, it was clear that
he had a copy of ours.
The
point is that the footnote (endnote technically) in Dolan’s book leads to a
dead end. While it was certainly be appropriate to acknowledge Friedman’s book
in his footnote, it would be proper to provide the information leading to the
original source which, it turns out, is the more accurate source. Friedman
added to the interview without appropriate acknowledgement and Dolan quoted it
as if it was accurate. Such is the way too often in UFO research.
2 comments:
"Such is the way too often in UFO research."
Sad, but true, and rather disheartening at times. 8^{
When I first heard Dolan interviewed on one of the numerous UFO podcasts and read a few articles by him I was impressed. He seemed reasonable and level headed. But after learning more about him and especially after the Not Roswell Slides affair I have been disappointed in him. This is not a major thing like Slide Gate but it's sloppy work and he should know better.
Post a Comment