Although
this might be considered kicking the sleeping dogs and stirring the pot
unnecessarily, I think it important to address this issue one more time. I
have, previously, denied that I was involved in the investigation of the slides
that allegedly show the body of an alien creature. When I said that I hadn’t
participated in the investigation, some saw that as a lie on my part, but the
truth then, as now, is that other than a few limited enquiries made prior to
learning more of the story, I did not investigate.
To
recap, about a year ago, rumors began to circulate that members of the Team had
learned of two slides that showed an alien creature on a gurney. At that time,
I knew nothing about this and the claim that we all were obligated to remain
silent because of some kind of nondisclosure agreement (NDA) was untrue. Nick
Redfern seemed to have some information about that and I called him. He told me
the story and I had no reason to doubt what he was saying which is not to say
that it was accurate. Nick was telling me what he had been told without
investigation on his part (sort of the same thing I’ve been saying).
I
emailed the members of the team, telling them what I knew and that I had signed
no NDA. I was surprised to learn that Nick's information was accurate. There were
two slides and an NDA had been signed. At this point, realizing that anything I
said publicly could be construed as a violation of the agreement, meaning
simply that the man holding the slides would believe that either Tom Carey or Don
Schmitt had told me about the slides violating the NDA. This was not
true. I would have liked to publish on my blog that information because my
source on it was Nick Redfern, but I was afraid that the slide owner would not
believe I had learned about them from another source.
That
was the extent of my “investigation.” I learned that others were working on
this and that anything I did could compromise their working relationship with
the source. Once in a while, I would hear something new, mostly from Nick or at
Rich Reynolds’ UFO Iconoclasts blog. But I was getting no new information from
those involved in the investigation and was offering no advice, other than to
suggest that I thought the whole thing problematic. There was no provenance for
the slides and no one really knew who the photographer was. This is the same basic
problem that haunted the MJ-12 nonsense for years.
At
one point late last summer, after suggesting these problems, I was shown a
research protocol for validating the slides. I did not solicit the document. I
was provided with it because of a negative comment I had made in another arena.
At the time, I thought the document was telling me about things that been done,
but on rereading it, realized it was merely a proposal for investigation.
All
this is just a preliminary to remind those who have not been paying attention
the circumstances of this dust up. I had told many that I wasn’t involved in
the investigation and I mentioned to a few that I knew some of the details but
not all of them. In fact, when Nick said that the “nether” regions of the alien
were covered, I thought he meant by a cloth, not by a hand-lettered sign. Such
was my knowledge of the slides and my “investigation” into them.
Just
a few days ago I received a copy of UFO
Today. Philip Mantle supplied it to me and I found the article “Do Slides
from 1947 Show A Roswell Humanoid,” written by Tony Bragalia. It is a recap of
the investigation into the slides and how Tom and Don came into possession of
them. It was similar to a piece he had published last year. Tony wrote, “My
research associates, pioneer Roswell investigators and authors Tom Carey and
Don Schmitt, began a dialog with…” Well, for my purposes here, the rest of the
sentence is irrelevant (oh, okay, it said, “…with a brother and his sister, a
onetime estate-cleaner.” See? It was irrelevant.).
At
that point Tony tells how the unnamed brother and sister got their hands on the
slides and how the discovery of them eventually reached Tom and Don. He goes
into some detail about the woman who originally owned the slides, supposedly, I
guess, inherited from her husband and the like. For those interested, check out
the UFO Today web site to learn how
you can acquire that issue of the digital magazine.
Later
in the article, Tony wrote, “Anyone who may know more about Ray [the man who
owned the slides] (or his professional colleagues) are encouraged to contact a
Roswell investigative team member – Tom Carey, Don Schmitt, David Rudiak or
this author with any relevant information.”
See,
once again my name is left out. Why? Because, I was not involved in the
investigation. These four were working on it without consulting me. This
article, I believe, proves that I wasn’t involved in it. I was knowledgeable
(as were several others), but not involved.
True,
I had some inside knowledge, but that isn’t the same as participating in an
investigation. I have inside knowledge of Project Blue Book (well, not so
inside anymore) but I didn’t investigate UFOs for the Air Force or Project Blue
Book. Yes, I know that this will do nothing to convince those who believe I
lied about it that I did not. But maybe some of those who are sitting on the
fence will understand that sometimes situations are just not black and white
and sometimes people just make errors.
I
hope that information from one of those who did participate and are
participating in the investigation will be good enough but I know it won’t. They
are too deeply invested in the idea that I was a participant in the
investigation. Sometimes you just get caught between the rock and the hard
place and there isn’t much you can do about it. This is not the first time that
something like this has happened to me… guilt by association… but I can hope it
will be the last.
