This
week I was lucky enough to talk with Don Ecker who has been around the UFO
field for a very long time. Many will remember him as one of those behind UFO
magazine and the host of a number of radio shows dealing with UFOs. Of course,
you can listen to the our discussion here:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/45054526
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/45054531
We
did talk about a wide range of topics. One of the interesting subjects was Dr.
Eric Davis and Admiral Thomas Wilson who supposedly had a secret meeting a number
of years ago. Don added an interesting perspective to this tale. For those
interested, you can read more about it here:
http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2020/09/x-zone-broadcast-network-joe-murgias.html
http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2020/06/dr-eric-davis-and-admiral-thomas-wilson.html
I did write more about Davis, but much of it dealt with Davis’ claim that the Del Rio UFO crash was real. If you wish to pursue this line of thought, just type Eric Davis into the search engine and you’ll probably learn more than you care to about Davis and his claims about Del Rio.
Don and I also delved, slightly, into tales of stolen valor and those who claim Vietnam service when it is clear they never served in Vietnam. That, of course led us to Cliff Stone and his somewhat tall tales about his experiences in Vietnam. True, Stone did serve in Vietnam but not the four tours he claimed and it is clear that he was a clerk and not an infantry soldier. Some of that service seemed to be in the theater of operations but might not have been actually in Vietnam.
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| Don and Vicki Ecker and a pal. |
In the second show, we enter the realm alien abduction, including possible explanations for it and some observations about it. This moves us to Rendlesham Forest and the information provided by Jim Penniston and John Burroughs about their experiences and possible hypnotic and chemical regressions. Terry Lovelace and his experiences are also discussed. I outlined those in UFOs and the Deep State.
In
the two shows, we tried to cover some of the aspects of the UFO field as it
exists today. We both have military back grounds and both had high-level
top-secret clearances so that we can speak was some authority on how those
things work. We provide some insights that should be useful to those who wish
to engage in additional research. I try to ensure that there is enough
information for those others to begin their work.
Next
up are Jacques Vallee and Paola Harris to talk about their book, Trinity: The
Best Kept Secret. If you have questions, put them in the comment section. I’ll
review them and try to get them answered, though I have many questions myself.
I totally agree with Don's assessment of Penniston.
ReplyDeleteThe guy keeps ramping up his story because he had come to crave the attention.
I've seen some of the conferences where he struts onto the stage like he's a rock star.
Can't tell you the satisfaction I got from watching that youtube video where some reporter absolutely tore him to shreds over the extra pages of binary code that he decided to share with us...in time for the 30th anniversary.
No doubt, all the main players had their minds messed with in the "de-brief", but I don't know what kind of chemical interference of his thought patterns would make him want to come up with that nonsense, 30 years later.
One thing's certain,,,if the debrief/interrogation was designed to make all the witnesses seem totally unreliable, then it was a massive success.
Halt couldn't even get the damned date correct when he wrote his report.
As for Clifford Stone, I think Timothy Good summed him up pretty well when he said that Stone simply "knew too much".
ReplyDeleteThe point being that the concept of compartmentalisation of the information didn't seem to have applied to Stone...he was "in the loop" for absolutely everything.
Paul Young: Have you read The Rendlesham Enigma: Book 1: Timeline by Penniston and Osborn? Have you read The Halt Perspective by Col. Halt and Hanson? I ask because they are the fullest accounts to date of what happened in and about Rendlesham Forest on the first and third nights, respectively, of the December 1980 encounters.
ReplyDeletePlease note: I do have problems with Penniston's binary code -- namely, how a long series of zeros and ones translates into the spectacular message from time travelers of the future that Penniston and Osborn claim it to be ...
Also, while it is unfortunate that Colonel Halt did get the date wrong on his Memorandum, it is hardly dispositive. This Memorandum was not meant to be anywhere near as important as it has come to be taken. It is an incomplete summary meant to put the event to bed. And in that it failed.
Addenda: "The Timeline and Aftermath of the Rendlesham Forest Incidents of 1980" by Ronnie Dugdale contained within Weaponization of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon by Burroughs and Worrow is a concise account of all three nights (and the best I've seen of Night 2).
Sorry, Paul, but Clifford Stone was not in any loop. He was making it up as he went along. I spent many hours listening to him spin his stories from being a 16-year-old who was involved in the Kecksburg crash, to seeing the alien autopsy film by peeking through a gap in the curtains of a classified briefing (and yes, the alien autopsy is an admitted hoax), to his exploits in Vietnam. His records do not bear this out and he had no college training, there is nothing in his military records to suggest any specialized training or special information, and he kept expanding his story. I don't know why people believed him. In fact, I sat in his living room and discussed all this with him once...
ReplyDeleteAnd, there was the time that both Don Schmitt and I were at his home when he said he had to get something out of the car. He came back with some papers with a top secret cover sheet on them. I said to Don that if that was classified information, he was going to jail because he had just violated a number of regulations for the protection of classified material. Timothy Good was wrong... Cliff Stone didn't know much of anything that the rest of us didn't know. As I said. He just made it up.
Kevin -- What a wonderful couple of interviews between two venerated sages of the UFO field! Thank you so much for having Don Ecker on your show.
ReplyDeleteP.S. And hearty congratulations on scheduling Dr. Vallee and Ms. Harris for a discussion of their new book. This should prove most interesting.
Thank you.
Kevin, my post was poorly written.
ReplyDeleteI (and Tim Good, seemingly) absolutely agree with your thoughts on Clifford Stone being a charlatan.
I was (trying) to be ironic. The point being that Stone's tall tales implied himself to be too "in the loop" for it to possibly be true.
I'm very much looking forward to your talk with Jacques Vallée
Thanks, John Steiger...I've got the The Rendlesham Enigma: Book 1 but, as of yet, I haven't read The Halt Perspective. (I will have to get round to it.)
ReplyDeleteThe Rendlesham "timeline" has been a problem from the very start and totally hampered the early investigations by the likes of Brenda Butler and Jenny Randles, etc. I know that the more recent investigators like Gary Hestletine have tried to nail the timeline once and for all, but it's such a frustrating case.
Me? I've given up with Penniston. All this Hy-Brasil nonsense has holed his credibility below the waterline...
Saying that, I do believe that on the first night, him and Burroughs did come across a landed UFO. It's just that the egos and infighting between almost all the main players has destroyed what is one of the best UFO cases in the UK.
Paul Young - Thank you for your response. We disagree a bit on Penniston as I believe the binary code translation is separable from the other points of his and Burroughs first night experience. That said, I am attempting to patiently wait for The Rendlesham Enigma: Book 2 to see if he and Osborn can come up with a rational explanation for their binary code translation. Admittedly I have some doubts.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you are correct in that the early investigators Butler, Street, and Randles (among others) did not have a complete grasp of the case when they first wrote. As for Mr. Heseltine, I have seen him lecture twice -- back in 2010 and 2013 as I recall -- and he was most impressive THEN. However, Gary has subsequently taken up the cause of Larry Warren, and his credibility in my view has virtually vanished as a result. Don't know what got into him to go into league with LW (?)