I
am not sure why they bother to call the program Project Blue Book. This
season, the cases that have been examined are not part of Blue Book. In fact,
the only link is J. Allen Hynek, who was the science consultant to Project Blue
Book for years. Captain Quinn is an invented character, as are the two generals
that are running around guiding the Blue Book cover up. But in the whole history
of Blue Book, the officers did not investigate the Roswell crash nor were they
worried about Area 51,
and did little or nothing with alien abduction. In other
words, there is virtually no connection to what the Blue Book staff actually
did and what the show portrays.
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| Littlefinger |
I’m
not sure that analysis of the program, as a look at cases that are, more or
less, based on facts, is relevant. I can point to dozens of items that are
based on nothing more than a writer’s imagination and some of that isn’t all
that imaginative. Dozens of people walking the Roswell debris field. A rancher
shooting an alien. An autopsy that was faked but about to be broadcast
nationally anyway, except Hynek stopped the transmission because he recognized
the light pattern of the studio. A general about to water board a witness… I
could go on, but what’s the point.
Skip
ahead to this latest episode. It’s based on a report that an Air Force enlisted
man was killed by aliens and the officer with him is about to be accused of
murder. Total nonsense. This is the story of Major William Cunningham and
Sergeant Jonathan Lovette. I’m not sure that I even wish to repeat the details.
For those interested, here’s a link:
I
will, however, point out that the story was supposedly detailed in Blue Book
Special Report #13. No one has ever found a copy of it, most don’t believe that
it ever existed, and this particular tale was related by Bill English, who said
that he had been in the Army’s Special Forces (Green Berets) and that he had
been a captain. Unfortunately, English’s service record does not bear this out.
I reported on this here:
For
those who do not wish to read the entire article, here is the relevant section
that deals with English:
Now
for some of the other, worrisome, bits of this. Bill English, it seems, was not
a Special Forces officer as he claimed, and if the documents I have seen from
St. Louis Army Records Center are accurate, and this is the same guy, he was
not an officer and not in Special Forces. That certainly taints any information
that he supplied.
This
isn’t much, but it does tell the story. For those interested in more details,
here is English’s service record, such as it is, provided by the archives in
St. Louis:
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| Bill English's Service Record as supplied by NARA in St. Louis. |
The
point here is that the story about this mutilation is untrue, it is not part of
the Blue Book files that have been released, and, it comes from a source that
is dubious at best. Rather than giving us stories that have some sort of basis
in reality, we have drifted into the realm of science fiction. I use that term
advisedly because true science fiction is predicated on actual science and if
it is not, then it is fantasy. I realize that this is a very restrictive
definition and that some things that are called science fiction aren’t, but
that’s an argument for another time.
The
real point is that so far, this season, they have not dealt with anything that
is in the Project Blue Book files. They have drifted into that nebulous world
of UFO reporting that infects the Internet, but is often little more than
fantasy.
Next
week they are apparently heading to the Kelly-Hopkinsville for the home invasion
sighting. While there is information about it in the Project Blue Book files,
it is not considered an official case. The report is labeled as “information
only” which means there was no Blue Book investigation. It is a fine hair to
split, but one I thought I would split anyway.
I
now only watch this show because it seems that someone is always smacking
around Littlefinger… I’ll leave it to you to figure out the reference.
Kevin, I think we had this conversation a few years back, during the "Roswell Mummy" slide fiasco. I asked if the hype over the story wasn't damaging to the "real" serious ufologists?
ReplyDeleteYou thought it wasn't all bad, because the "real" ufologists were the first to point out the issues with the slides.
Now, does History's Project Blue Book put ufologists in a bad light? One would expect a show on History channel to be primarily historically correct, and yet...…
Just when people who study UFOs were gaining some credibility, we get this trash. Doesn't this just put us back into the giggle factor category again?
I thought that Mr.English's story was a B52 downed in S. Vietnam, found nearly intact. I also don't recall him giving actual names of the "victims". Did he provide the two actual names used on the show?
ReplyDeleteIf not, where did the History Channel get the names?
Thanks and have a great evening.
/Bob
Relax,this is not a documentary, it's fantasy. Yes, they use old historic cases very loosely.But younger generations know nothing on the subject. Some will begin to search for more info, who knows...
ReplyDeleteToday it was revealed that AATIP was interested in Blue Book files, that have not been made public. Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteZak -
ReplyDeleteGiven what we know, I'm not sure that there are Blue Book files that haven't been made public, which is not to say that there are secret files somewhere. I just don't think that some of the really good cases arrived at Blue Book. But Allen Hynek and General Bolender told us that the cases affecting national security were not part of the Blue Book system... and we know that some of the cases ended up with Project Moon Dust and many of those cases never made it to Blue Book.
George -
The problem is that the program is promoted as being based on actual facts and that seems to be a very loose definition of actual fact. I fear that many will not understand that this is really fantasy and we'll end up having to explain, repeatedly that some of the "facts" in the program were made up.
Interestingly, regarding other files not in BLUE BOOK, one of the GRUDGE reports mentions looking for other files they knew were at the Pentagon and one other location in Washington D. C. So there were files of cases spread around all over. We now know that the CIA Special Activities Division/Scientific Intelligence unit was also deeply involved.
ReplyDelete/Bob
ReplyDeleteNo one seems to ever mention Ruppelt’s “ Report …” ?
Wherein there’s nothing about Roswell - did he ever comment on the newspaper ‘reports’ ?
( I know he passed in 1960, but it’s odd he didn’t check it out?)
I still vividly remember reading his book ( which had been passed to me from a WWII fighter pilot’s nephew who knew I was interested in ‘flying saucers’ back in 1960) and thinking ‘wow, they’re real ’, then reading the ’addition’ and wondering ‘what the heck - just balloons and birds …? and waiting for the Condon Report - more of the same …
Yet it’s obvious from his book that Ruppelt wasn’t ‘getting all the reports’.
And it seems these TV shows are designed to give the impression that ‘it’s all just fiction anyway’ .
And anyone who ‘believes’ in this stuff IS a nutcase ! Code word Roswell .
What I thought was even worse about the Area 51 episode was the inclusion of aspects of Bob Lazars story into the episode. Like the hidden saucer base inside the side of a mountain that looked just like a mountain until the doors came up. I doubt Blue Book would of been visiting Area 51 at all. It wasnt all the old at the time the episode would of been taking place.
ReplyDeleteThe whole episode was just goofy, and then we got Maury Island in the MIB episode. It just seems to me that there are plenty of really interesting cases Blue Book did look at, that they could be focusing on. Instead of resorting to hoaxes or things that had nothing to do with Blue Book.