Wednesday, May 03, 2023

The Truth about Vallee's Trinity: The Best Kept Secret

Those of you who visit here often know that I’m not a fan of Jacques Vallee’s latest book, Trinity: The Best Kept Secret, because it is poorly researched, filled with irrelevant details and lacks even rudimentary corroboration. It is based on the stories told by two men who claimed, as children, they had witnessed the recovery of a UFO in August, 1945. That story is filled with contradictions, mistakes, and invention. Without some sort of additional testimony or evidence, it is just another wild tale told to promote the tellers into the mainstream of UFO research and pull the spotlight toward them for convention invitations (and yes, I know that only one of the two is left to tell the tale).

You can read my analysis, of the first edition of the book, and listen to my interview with Vallee here:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2021/06/trinity-best-kept-secret-critique.html

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2023/01/trinity-ufo-crash-uaps-and-jacques.html

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/45140594

What should be the stake in the heart of this tale is now available. Douglas Dean Johnson has done the research into the story that Vallee and Paola Harris should have done before publishing the information. And there is one part of Johnson’s work that shows this better than any other. That is the claim that New Mexico State Police officer, Eddie Apodaca, was part of the adult witnesses (all conveniently unavailable) who saw the craft. Rather than lay all this out in my own words, let me direct you to the website created by Johnson so that you can read this whole sorry tale. I believe that once you consider the evidence that Johnson provides, which reaches way beyond the Apodaca insight, you’ll realize that Vallee, for some reason, climbed on the bandwagon and in doing so, tarnished his own reputation.

Jacques Vallee


You can read Johnson’s work here:

https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/crash-story-the-trinity-ufo-crash-hoax/

I will note that the sort of sloppy research engaged by Vallee is one of the reasons that we, in the UFO community, see little respect in the real world. Before the book was published, Vallee and Harris should have done the work that Douglas has now done. This tale is a hoax and it should be noted that it was we, inside the UFO community, who had worked to expose it. 

11 comments:

William G. Pullin said...

Thank you Kevin. I spoke with James Clarkson last week, and our thoughts on the matter reflected your thoughts, and what the data shows. We both are at a loss as to why Vallee would embrace such an obvious hoax. It boggles the mind.

edward said...

Douglas 's research is impressive but there is one probllem. There was a UFO crash
on May 31 1947 in Nogal Canyon, about five miles from San Antonio. Some person from those families saw the event, maybe Reme, but their claims are entirely possible, maybe not exactly correct. I believe the cameraman's story. The boys saw something. It's silly to dismiss their story.
Ed

James Clarkson said...

Thank you for endorsing the work of Douglas Dean Johnson to expose TRINITY for being a HOAX. What makes it so much worse are the issues of Stolen Vaqlor. Jose Padilla's credibility is based upon his claim of being a retired California Highway Patrol Officer wounded in the line of duty and supposedly he carries a bullet inside from a violent encounter with a suspect.
Mr. Johnson has been very careful to get multiple sources to includes CHP retirees to check records - there are NO RECORD of SERVICE for Jose Padilla.
Padilla also claims that he is a wounded Korean War Vet, thus he is carrying a second bullet in his body. He would have been 14 at the time of his enlistment; He claims that in New Mexico they were so short of people they allowed you to enlist at 14.
Then there is a real Officer Apodoca who supposedly witnessed the crashed UFO and the two boys, Baca and Padilla at the scene. Later Apodoca supposedly accompanied the boys back to the UFO. (This is the first ever crashed UFO I have heard of where the military secured the scene when they felt like, and then left the alien technology unguarded so that Padilla could tear off a piece of the UFO from an interior wall. The metal is very terrestrial aluminum casting material and the alleged alien artifact is the same shape as a replacement part for a windmill designed to pump water for cattle.
The big mystery is how or why Jacques Valle became part of all this.I wonder if he and Paola Harris have an opinion about Stolen Valor? Perhaps there is some deeper counter-intelligence purpose being played out here?
Anyway, I am proud that I help Douglas Johnson with background material.

John Steiger said...

The "Truth about Vallee" is that apart from his earliest works, the gentleman's contribution to the UFO field of inquiry is greatly overrated.

Philip Mantle said...

Hi Kevin, I read the book TRINITY and could not believe that Vallee had signed off a definite hoax. Harris I can believe as she seems to believe in most things. The book was dreadful. I've read the research by Douglas Johnson and it proves without a doubt that the case is a hoax. But money talks and bullshit walks.

Capt Steve said...

This is the sort of self-defeating behavior that we've seen time and time again in the area of UFO research. I never thought I'd see Vallee fall into this trap; not only am I disappointed by this but now I have a little voice in my head asking me how much of his older work is tainted as well.

I know that last thought is unfair. Vallee has done really good work and to me he's been one of the most trusted sources. I hate to see him tainted by this.

starman said...

I heard about the San Antonio case several years ago and never believed it.

Paul Young said...

I recently listened to Vallee on Rogan's podcast and he totally crumbled whilst being probed over whether or not a piece of metal, that allegedly fell off a UFO, could possibly have been forged on Earth.
It became uncomfortable to listen to.
He couldn't (or wouldn't) give a straight "yes" or "no" to a fairly straight forward question.
I can only imagine that his age has caught up with him and affected his judgment in getting involved in the Trinity business in the first place, and secondly, not having the enthusiasm and energy to vigorously investigate the case before putting his name to it.
Sadly, I expect, this will damage his legacy.

BrianB said...

Kevin it's his age. Simple. That plus Harris simply leveraged his reputation to get his name on her book. The story is mostly hers. Even Vallee said that in your podcast from a year or more ago. He didn't do any of the work. She did it all and she has a very bad reputation for accuracy.

Zak MacKracken said...

Here is an article by Vallee reacting to Johnsons article

https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=pfbid0PQRcF92z4siJcz9Kjwc9TFPurXKKCmNLxyw3ukR2LQbXKhRVNUmouH5wd37umddBl&id=680411343

Alex Foyle said...

Thanks for posting a link to Mr. Johnsons excellent research. Vallee has posted an embarrassing "rebuttal" since then, https://visions13.wixsite.com/journo-jottings/post/jacques-vallee-hits-back-at-hoax-claims-over-trinity-ufo-crash-book, just when you thought it couldn't get worse.