Billy Meier Predictions - The Short Version

To recap, this all started when I made what I thought was a fairly innocuous statement. I said that I didn’t believe the Meier contact claims. Didn’t say then that they were a hoax. Didn’t say that anyone was lying, merely suggested that I didn’t find the evidence persuasive. I will say that I don’t believe a conspiracy murdered John Kennedy, and I don’t believe most of those who claim to be Vietnam

Combat assault in Vietnam. Photo copyright by
Kevin Randle, sort of proving my Vietnam
Service.*

Veterans. I have learned that the vast majority of those claiming service in Vietnam did not serve there and many weren’t even in the military. It means that if they have the proof, then I will believe their claims. But with all the frauds out there, I have to see the proof… unless, of course, I happened to have served with them in country. And given what I have learned in the last few months, I am now convinced that Billy Meier has not been in contact with alien creatures but I was willing to re-evaluate the evidence…

Michael Horn, offering some evidence said about Meier’s predictions: “Well, I have a few things to say. First, the fact is that no one on earth, in all of recorded history, actually has produced anything even remotely close to Billy’s stunning record of unparalleled prophetic accuracy. Since he hasn’t made any erroneous predictions that we are aware of, there’s no relevance to the idea of hedging one’s bets; how do you hedge bets when you accurately foretell specific events, locations, etc. years, even decades, in advance of “official” discovery or occurrence?”

But it is often said by Meier critics that many of those predictions are plagiarized. For example:

1. Baba Vanga, who died in 1996, predicted that in 2014 – Most people will suffer skin cancer and other skin diseases (a consequence of chemical warfare).

Meier predicted - Chemical warfare will cause horrifying and atrocious skin diseases, and biological warfare will produce festering sores and many other ills, not to mention vicious human freaks, etc.

2. Vanga predicted that in 2028 – Creating a new energy source (probably a controlled thermonuclear reaction). Hunger is gradually being overcome. Launched a manned spacecraft to Venus.

Meier predicted - Venus will be particularly interesting for terrestrial human beings during this period, and for this reason Man will contemplate sending a manned space capsule to the volcanic planet. Simultaneously, Man will avail himself of a new energy source by exploiting the Earth’s interior energies.

3. Vanga predicted that in 2033 – The polar ice [caps] are melting. Greater levels of the oceans.

Meier said - With the melting of the polar caps there also looms for Earth in the not-too-distant future another severe economic crisis that will spread throughout the globe.

4. Vanga claimed that in 2046 – any bodies (organs) can be manufactured (cloning?). Replacing the bodies is becoming one of the best methods of treatment.

And Meier said - Terrestrials will develop the capability of allowing human organs to “regrow” for organ transplants. These organs will always be adapted to the particular body in need of the organ. As a result, the danger of organ rejection is eliminated.

These are only four the many, many examples of predictions that Meier made that can be found in the works of others. Doesn’t this suggest the source of his information is, in reality, terrestrial works and not information supplied by the Pleiadeans?

Following are some of the predictions are alleged to be highly accurate:

Meier claimed to have received the information on 25 Feb. 1975, and later on 16 Sep., that atomic testing was, at least partially, responsible for the hole in the ozone layer, according to his contact notes. First independent verification of that claim came in either 1979 or 1980 upon publication of those notes.

Horn reported on his website, www.Theyfly.com that there was verification in a variety of scientific journals and other publications that scientific evidence suggested this was true… Although here, in 2017, that theory has been challenged as inaccurate.

However, articles in the NYT of 6 Sep 1974 and 17 Oct 1974 (months earlier) had already reported that. Science on 25 Oct 1974, reported the same thing.

Interestingly, the NYT reported on 28 Feb 1975 (three days after Meier’s alleged revelation using his name) that Dr. Michael B. McElroy of Harvard was one of those scientists… I find that interesting, especially when there is no independent verification of the 25 Feb 1975 as the true date.

I found a reference in a 1960 movie, Beyond the Time Barrier to atomic testing as destroying the protective layer around the Earth, meaning, of course, the ozone layer, which also predates the February 25, 1975, date.

The counterclaim is that Meier wrote a letter to 3000 world leaders, scientists and organizations dated Sep 1951, mentioned this problem. This, it is claimed, predates any reference that I can find, at least according to them.

There is no independent corroboration for that 1951 date. All copies of the letter were apparently lost or destroyed by all 3000 recipients back in 1951. But, incredibly, one of Meier’s Pleiadean pals retained a copy and gave it to him so that we do have the text. The problem is that wasn’t published until after 2005. Besides this, no one has adequately explained how he made those 3000 copies in a time before Xerox machines and home computers, how he paid for the 12 reams of paper, the 3000 envelopes or the international postage so that he could contact all those various leaders.

The real point is that here was an alleged claim made in 1951 but there was no way to verify that date because the letter only surfaced long after that and wasn’t published until 2005. The best that can be said is that the evidence shows the predictions are no older than 2005. In other words, there is no evidence that the predictions claimed by Meier and his pals were made on the dates claimed.

Some of this has been explored in more detail in blog postings over the last several months. All can by accessed by typing Billy Meier into the search engine provided on the left side.

*Sure, the picture has little relevance to the discussion here, but, I did mention Vietnam, so there you go.

The New Season of Curse of Oak Island Begins

Oak Island, of course.

Well, the new season is off and I wasn’t disappointed. By that I mean that the same sort of hyperbole that has inflected the first seasons has returned. We have overblown hype and then the big letdown. We are told, almost from the beginning of this new episode, that storms during the winter have battered Oak Island and done damage. The road that lead around the perimeter of the island has been eroded to the point of nonexistence and that will prevent them from getting the big equipment in to location of the old Money Pit.

We see parts of the road that look little more than a narrow levee keeping the sea at bay (yeah, I did that on purpose). We are told that this might just wreck their plans for the season, but, of course, we all know that’s not true because here we are at the beginning of the new season. They do manage to repair the road so that they can bring in all the big equipment.

There wasn’t much else in this show. There was a recap of what has happened in the past. We are reminded about all the “major discoveries” which included a Spanish coin, evidence of an English camp, the that strange, gold, metallic thing they had seen on a camera sent down one of the boreholes. Now, they send a diver down into that area again to see if he can find it. I have to admit that I wouldn’t do that. Seems to be too dangerous, but then the diver seemed to know what he was doing and was able to get out alive. But he didn’t find that bit of gold, whatever it might have been.

They also used a metal detector to reexamine the material brought to the surface during those boring operations (and yes, I did that on purpose too). In it they found a long spike that they thought might be evidence of a ship or something. They don’t often think that what they find might have been left by all those who were searching for the treasure during the 220 years since the discovery of the alleged Money Pit. It could easily have been part of the structures erected during all that digging on the island. It could be parts of the numerous shaft dug all over the place. It could be nothing of importance, except in the show, anything found seems to be of overwhelming importance.

I probably wouldn’t have bothered with even mentioning these new episodes that kicked off the season except for the tragedy that hit the Tester family. We learn that Craig Tester’s 16-year-old son, Drake Tester, had died just a few weeks before the Laginas and their team returned to Oak Island. I can’t image the pain of losing a child. The tribute done at the end of the broadcast was touching and gave all of us watching a different look at those who have attempted to learn the truth about Oak Island. I am saddened by the loss and wish the family the best in the future.

Zamora vs People

Last night, while appearing on Martin Willis’ Podcast UFO (see http://podcastufo.com/about/) to talk about Encounters in the Desert, I had a chance to speak with Ray Stanford. I believe Ray is the last surviving investigator or witness who was on the site of the Socorro UFO landing in the days that

Martin Willis

followed. He provided some interesting insight to what he had seen and done but there was one point that he made, which is that Lonnie Zamora had never used the word “people” to refer to the figures he had seen near the landed craft.

I did know, based on my research, that FBI agent Arthur Byrnes had suggested to Zamora that he might not want to mention those creatures because he might find himself the butt of jokes. UFOs in the sky were fine, and landed craft were okay, but the actual sighting of the crew on the outside was just too hard for some to accept. This gave rise to the idea that Zamora had only seen white coveralls in the distance and had seen no real detail.

While I suggested that the official file did provide a number of words for the crew, Ray insisted that people wasn’t one of them. He objected strongly to that word, though I’m not sure why. He did say that in his discussions with Zamora, only the word “figures” had been used.

As they often say, “Let’s go to the video tape,” which, of course, doesn’t exactly apply here but we can go the documents created at the time. What do they say about this?

Coral and Jim Lorenzen had been in Socorro within 48 hours of the landing and had the opportunity to interview Zamora. In the May 1964 issue of The A.P.R.O. Bulletin, she wrote that she had asked Zamora about what he had seen. He said he hadn’t seen any “little men,” which is not the word people but does move us beyond “figures.”

When Lorenzen pointed out that he had already described them in the press and that description had been published, he expanded on it, saying that they looked like “young boys” or “small adults.” I will go out on a limb here and point out that the quotation marks are used in that article suggesting that they are the words of Zamora. Still not people, but moving us even closer.

In the Project Blue Book files there are various reports written by a number of men. In one of those documents, dated May 13, 1964, written just over two weeks after the event, it says, “At this point he saw two people in white coveralls…” That moves us directly to the use of the word. The document was written by Colonel Eric T. de Jonckheere. His name surfaces in a number of reports of UFOs besides the one in Socorro.

But the use of the term is not in quotation marks and it could be argued that de Jonckheere had interpreted what Zamora said to mean people although he hadn’t used that specific word. Fair enough.

In a report written by Major William Connor, who has been identified as the Public Information Officer at Kirtland AFB but whose job was probably a bit more significant, wrote in his report that Zamora said, “The only time I saw these two persons was when I stopped… These persons appeared normal in shape – but possible they were small adults or large kids.”

In another document, either written by Zamora, or dictated by him, he said, “Saw two people in white coveralls very close to the object. One of these persons seemed to turn and look straight at my car and seemed startled…”

Although it was argued that these weren’t exactly Zamora’s words, they are in quotation marks that suggest that they were. In that document, which is a partial transcript of what Zamora had told those first investigations, it seems that he did use “people” to describe the beings.

Other documents, however, seem to cloud the issue. T/Sgt David Moody, the Air Force investigator on the scene, wrote in his undated report, “…it [the craft] appeared to be a thing on four pronged legs and the two white things (described as coveralls) were no longer visible.”

This, of course, moves us away from people, but by the time Moody had arrived, Zamora had become reluctant to talk about seeing anything at all. But the newspapers were not reluctant to print stories about the landing. The Alamogordo Daily News reported that Zamora “saw two ‘men’ adjacent to it wearing white suits.”

The Albuquerque Tribune, on April 25, the day after the sighting, reported, “Moving close he [Zamora] saw two figures…”

Interestingly, the Albuquerque Journal reported on April 27, “Zamora denied that he had seen any little creatures around the object…”

Later in that same article, however, Zamora talked about seeing white coveralls near the craft. According to the article, “…whether anything was in them he did not know.”

Now we have moved from a debate about whether Zamora ever said “people” in relation to the figures he had seen to a denial that he had seen anything other than the craft and white coveralls. This, of course, reflects the confusion of the time and the suggestion by Byrnes that Zamora might be better off he said nothing about the alien beings.

The El Paso Herald-Post, reinforced the white coveralls without anything in them on April 27. According to that article, “Zamora said he also saw what looked like white coveralls but could not tell if anyone – or anything – was in them.”

Finally, the Socorro Defensor Chieftain reported that Zamora has seen two persons near the object in a gully. Given that it was the local newspaper, you would think that one of their reporters or the editor would have interviewed Zamora, but there are no direct quotes from him, though others, such as Captain Richard Holder are quoted. The only thing about the beings in quotation marks are the words, “child-like.’”

The point here, maybe unnecessarily, is that according to the documentation from 1964, within days of the sighting, Zamora had used a number of words to describe the beings he saw. One of those documents, in the Project Blue Book files, is a transcript of Zamora’s testimony and while it might not have been tape recorded, it is a transcript of his words. He said they were “people.” He also said they were “child-like,” and said they were “persons,” but he also said they were figures, and it is clear that after he talked with the government officials, he said that he had only seen “white coveralls.”

But the real point, one that is missed as we drive deep into the weeds, is that Zamora said he saw two beings, two humanoids, standing near the craft and that once they returned inside, it lifted off with a roar. We can argue about the precise words, but that only hides the real issue. Zamora was talking about something that was very strange and it frightened him badly.

You can read the full Socorro landing story and review the words of Lonnie Zamora here:

https://www.amazon.com/Encounter-Desert-Alien-Contact-Socorro/dp/1632651130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508096455&sr=8-1&keywords=encounter+in+the+desert

No Socorro Solution by Chief of Project Blue Book

Rick Baca holding the illustration of the Socorro craft as
described by Lonnie Zamora. Photo copyright by
Rick Baca.

In 1964, Hector Quintanilla was a captain in charge of the Air Force’s UFO investigation known as Project Blue Book. It would become clear that the mission of that project was to explain UFO sightings rather than actually investigating them. On April 24, there was a sighting in Socorro, New Mexico, by police officer Lonnie Zamora that involved a landed craft and two humanoid creatures. Quintanilla would later write in his memoirs, that this was a sighting that he really wanted to explain.

In his unpublished manuscript, Quintanilla described his investigation into the Socorro landing. He wrote that he was determined to solve the case and decided that he had to talk with the base commander at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, not all that far from Socorro, Colonel Garman. According to Quintanilla, Garman told him that he, Quintanilla, could go anywhere and visit any activity on the base that interested him as his orders had cleared him to review the classified projects on the base. Quintanilla said that he spent four days talking to everyone he could find and spent time with the down range controllers at White Sands. Quintanilla wrote, “I left Holloman dejected and convinced that the answer to Zamora’s experience did not originate and terminate at that base.”

See below for link to the book.

But that might not have covered the Lunar Lander. Quintanilla knew that some of the research had been carried out at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, so when he returned there, he asked to be briefed on those projects. He learned that it wasn’t operational in 1964. That ruled it out, but the Lunar Lander isn’t quite the same thing as the Lunar Surveyor. Is that ruled out as well?

The published logs showed some sort of test on April 24, was carried out at White Sands. The trouble here is Richard Holder. He was the commander of the Stallion Station at White Sands and his duty location, meaning where he actually worked was closer to Socorro than it was to the White Sands Missile Range main complex which is near Alamogordo. Had the answer been that simple, Holder would have known about a test that had left the range for whatever reason, or he could have learned about it with a few telephone calls. Such information would have been in his report written early on the morning of April 25 after his interview with Zamora but nothing like that is mentioned. Holder was as puzzled as the rest of them.

Skeptics will say that Ockham’s Razor eliminates alien visitation because any explanation that requires the invention of interstellar flight is not a simple explanation. The terrestrial answers are simpler because there isn’t that requirement. But Ockham’s Razor also mentions something about covering all the facts, not just those that are convenient for an explanation. Quintanilla, after all the work he had done, all the explanations he had tried, and all the experimental aircraft and space craft he reviewed, and after all the letters he had written to various governmental agencies and defense contractors who might have has something going on, came up empty.

Quintanilla wrote, “I labeled the case ‘Unidentified’ and the UFO buffs and hobby clubs had themselves a field day… Although I labeled the case ‘Unidentified’ I’ve never been satisfied with that classification. I’ve always felt that too many essential elements of the case were missing. These are the intangible elements which are impossible to check, so the solution to this case could very well be lying dormant in Lonnie Zamora’s head.”

You can read about this and more in Encounter in the Desert: The Case for Alien Contact at Socorro. The book can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/Encounter-Desert-Alien-Contact-Socorro/dp/1632651130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508096455&sr=8-1&keywords=encounter+in+the+desert

X-Zone Broadcast Network - Derek Bartolomaus (Billy Meier)

Derek Bartholomaus

This week I spoke with Derek Bartholomaus about the Billy Meier UFO contact case. I had asked him how he had gotten drawn into this and it came about through his day job. He became interested in the photographic evidence and tried to obtain the negatives for examination. Yeah, that does sound like an imposition on Meier. Why would he turn over the original negatives for examination? You can listen to the reasons for that and the rest of the interview here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13223595

We focused the discussion on the photographic evidence that had been offered to prove that Meier had been contacted by an alien species. One of the photographs, of two of these aliens, have been identified as dancers from the old Dean Martin Show. Although it was originally claimed that picture had been taken by Meier, it is now suggested that the MIB or the CIA somehow intercepted or replaced that picture, as well as many others, with fakes, to discredit Meier. You can read more about this at Bartholomaus’ website here:

http:billymeierufocase.com

and on this blog here:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-pteranodano-and-billy-meier.html

This interview, was, of course, from the perspective of a skeptic of the Meier claims. He hasn’t been involved for a while. He gives, what seems to be, solid reasons for his skepticism and frankly, the arguments do make sense. But, of course, there is another side to all this and we’ll explore that in the weeks to come.

Next guest: Michael Horn

Topic: Billy Meier (and this is from one of the leader supporters of the Meier contact claims.

Tom DeLonge and Alien Writing

Isaac Koi alerted many of us to an interview that Joe Rogan had with Tom DeLonge about DeLonge’s announcement about his UFO research. For those of us who have been around for more than ten minutes, some of the things that DeLonge believes are quite disturbing. You can watch the whole interview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n_3mnJfHzY

Koi pointed out some of the trouble with this interview and I would be remiss if I hadn’t checked just to be sure, though Koi is reliable and careful. He noted, for example, that at the one hour, two minute and forty-two second point in the interview, DeLong begins to talk about Atlantis and how some of the survivors, a small number of them, escaped. These people had been directing… maybe influencing, human development.

But then he slips off the rails and talks about Greek writing found on the Roswell wreckage. They, Rogan and DeLonge, say you can look it up online. Just type in Roswell Wreckage and you’ll see Greek writing on the I-Beam. The photo they bring up at that point is a shot of the I-Beam (actually more of an H-Beam) as shown in

Jesse Marcel, Jr. and the mock up
of his I-Beam. Photo copyright by
Kevin Randle

the old alien autopsy video which allegedly showed some of the Roswell wreckage. That whole thing is an admitted hoax.

I did type Roswell Wreckage into Google and didn’t get to the alien autopsy footage immediately. I first found the symbols as described by Jesse Marcel, Jr., with an illustration of what he had seen, which, by the way, looks nothing like Greek writing. You can see that here:

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/anna_jones1/roswell_hieroglyphs.html

I did, eventually, get to another URL that showed footage from the alien autopsy, but this isn’t what DeLonge had talked about. You can see that here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce98itRdOg

I finally just typed Roswell Symbols into my search engine and came up with a site that had all sorts of pictures of all sorts of symbols that related to Roswell. You can see that here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=roswell+symbols&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIoMjg5JjXAhWIOCYKHdciDKMQ7AkIMw&biw=1706&bih=816

The actual link that they found, which seems to be the one shown on Rogan’s YouTube video of the program can be found here:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftrowbridgeplanetearth.com%2FALI%2Fgraphics%2FIBeam.gif&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftrowbridgeplanetearth.c

And to really complicate all of this, the main photo in that sequence actually links to another site which doesn’t seem to agree with the alleged translations given by Rogan and DeLonge. You can see it here:

http://trowbridgeplanetearth.com/ALI/ROS/Wreck.html

To make it worse, if possible, the symbols on the H-Beam are from the alien autopsy and were created by Spyros Melaris as part of the alien autopsy hoax. The point, however, is that the image shown by Rogan and DeLonge were clearly part of the long-discredited alien autopsy. That doesn’t bode well for the quality of the research that has been conducted by DeLonge and his fellows.

I was going to end it at this point, but then remembered their discussion of the discovery of Pluto. Fortunately for them, they had access to the Internet which provided the information they didn’t have. They then suggest that the Sumerians knew about Pluto. They find a picture that seems to show the sun surrounded by a number of circles they call planets and use this to prove that the Sumerians knew about Pluto long before we, in the modern world, knew.

You can read the whole article about the artifact so that you can put it all into some sort of context here:

https://subharanjangupta.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/case-for-nibiru-the-sumerian-angle/

The sun symbol is between the two standing
figures with the circles surrounding it.

As you’ll see, there is nothing to suggest that the small circles that surround the alleged sun were the planets of the Solar System. Those names shown by Rogan were obviously added later, much later, and include not only the planets that were visible to the unaided eye, but those dwarf planets that have been discovered in the last decade or so. This way everything is labeled, but it is not evidence that the Sumerians knew, not only of Pluto, but several of the other dwarf planets. It’s all wild speculation that looks and sounds good until you take the time to look at the evidence.

Here's the real point. We have an opportunity to listen to Tom DeLonge talk about what he knows about alien visitation, ancient history and UFOs. What we see is that he has not subjected this to any critical thought but rather talks of inside sources who know all this and who have shared it with him but he fails to identify those sources. Even a cursory search of various websites seems to indicate that little of this is true, and if this is the direction of his research and his new organization are taking, then there is little hope that it will accomplish anything except make money for a few people involved in it.

Josh Gates, the Ramey Memo and Me

As many of you know, I have been involved for years in an attempt to decipher the Ramey Memo. Many consider this the “smoking gun” which will prove that aliens have been visiting Earth. The problem is that the Memo is just beyond the range of our ability to read most of it. There have been various interpretations about what it says but there isn’t much in the way of consensus.

Me on the left and Josh Gates on the right. All photos on the
blog are copyright by Kevin Randle.

Last spring, I was contacted by the producers of Expedition Unknown starring Josh Gates. I have, over the last several years turned down opportunities to appear on various television shows, but this one had Josh Gates. I had been watching him since he had been doing Destination Truth on the Sci Fi Channel, now called Syfy for some reason that I don’t understand. (Well, maybe it was to move them from Science Fiction into some other realm so they could air programming that isn’t really Science Fiction.)

Expedition Unknown was going to do a segment on the Ramey Memo and asked for my help. My first thought was to tell them to call David Rudiak. I mentioned that David had spent years in his analysis of the Memo and would have some interesting insights into it. I told them that he had been to Fort Worth, to the Special Collections at the University of Texas at Arlington Library, in his attempts to read the Memo.

Josh Gates and Brenda McClurkin in the cold vault
reviewing the filing system for the negatives
kept there.

I don’t know if they contacted him or not, but they did say they would like me to help them. I told them that Brenda McClurkin, at the library was the person they needed to contact. I think they might have already chatted with her about getting into see the original negative of General Ramey holding the Memo. I also mentioned that here was a document with a provenance that could be clearly established. I mean, Ramey is holding it in his hand and we have a documented date for the photograph.

The producers arranged for me to meet Josh Gates at UTA to review the Ramey Memo scenario. On the morning that we were to go to the Special Collections, I was in the lobby waiting for a ride and began talking with Michael Primeau, who had been hired for the forensic analysis of the Memo. He had used the latest of the scans, supplied by UTA, but that had been created by David Rudiak and another team as part of another attempt to clarify the message on the Memo. That had taken place about two years earlier.

Josh Gates and Michael Primeau in the Library at the University of Texas, Arlington.

While we chatted, Michael mentioned that he didn’t know anything about the context of the Memo, only that he was asked to determine what he could see. The thinking had been to avoid bias. Yes, context is important when attempting to validate a document, and certainly context can help provide clues about what a document said if the lettering was obscured in a fashion similar to that on the Memo. We had learned years ago that priming, that is, giving people a little information about the Memo did influence their interpretation of it. That influence wasn’t universal, but it was a factor.

Cold Storage filing system in the basement of the library.

We did tour the cold vault where the negative is kept. It is filed with somewhere between 4 and 5 million negatives, some of them going back to the beginnings of photography in the late 19^th century. The cold is said to help preserve the negatives, especially those that are so old. People at the library had noticed that some of the older negatives were beginning to deteriorate, so the facility was created that should kept them in good shape for the next several centuries.

But, of course, the real interest was in what the negative had revealed on those earlier scans that had been made with Brenda and David contributing to the process. It had taken several days to get

Entrance to the Special Collections at UTA.

those necessary scans in that earlier attempt, and then Michael had subjected those scans to forensic analysis using his equipment. I want to make it clear that this is what he does for a living and has testified in various courts about his work and how his analyses had been made and his professional interpretation of the results. He is one of those expert witnesses that you often hear about.

The critical word or phrase, the one that had been identified by many of those who have looked at the Memo, is “victims of the wreck.” Others, in the last few years have suggested the critical word, “victims,” is actually, “viewing.” The difference in the two is important because one implies a flight crew who would be the victims and the other suggests that officers at the scene had merely viewed the wreckage. You can read about this in earlier postings at:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/search?q=viewing+the+wreck

(The problem is that this actually brings up several different articles about the Memo. To get to the specific article, just type “viewing the wreck,” into the search engine on the blog and that should narrow it down to the main article.)

This question, was it victims or viewing, was the one that interested me the most. True, Michael had clarified, to his satisfaction, other aspects of the Memo, much of it merely the mundane language you would expect in a military teletype message. But he was convinced that “viewing” was the correct word.

I add parenthetically, that I found the lack of military jargon in the Memo a little disturbing. I mean, I have seen documents so filled with jargon that they were nearly incomprehensible and others that contained little or no real jargon. I just mention this because it is one of many considerations.

While we were there in the Special Collections area of the library, sitting behind Michael’s computer and watching as he changed filters and manipulated the Memo with contrast and the like, I saw the word “viewing” clearly, but as he changed things, I could also see the word “victims.” Not overly helpful from my point of view and certainly not answering the question.

That seems to be where we are on this. I give the nod to “viewing,” simply because it seemed to be clearer on some of the filtered images. “Victims,” was often less clear, but then, there are those who believe they can make a case for it. It was interesting to watch as Michael took us through his analysis, it was interesting to see the cold vault where the negative is stored and it was nice to meet, in person, some of the people I had talked with and emailed over the years but in the end, we only moved a little closer to an answer about the content of the Memo which had been the point. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t a consensus on some of the critical words and we are left with the hope that at some near future date the technology will improve to the point where we can see, clearly, what the Memo says. 

X-Zone Broadcast Network - Robert Powell and the SCU*

Robert Powell

This week I spoke to Robert Powell, one of the forces behind a new organization named Scientific Coalition for Ufology (SCU). According to their press release, and to what Powell told me, the mission is to “conduct, promote and encourage rigorous scientific examination of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), commonly known as Unidentified Flying Object (UFOs). You can listen to the interview here:

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/13125719

I did ask about the effect that Tom Delonge’s announcement, made not all that long ago about his organization, would have on the SCU. I learned that they had reached out to Delonge’s group but they had also attempted to incorporate others as well including the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies. Powell said that the emphasis here would be on investigation and the scientific method. That is something that would sometimes get lost by the UFO groups in the past. You can learn about the SCU here:

http://www.explorescu.org/

and here:

https://www.facebook.com/explorescu/

Part of our discussion centered around a UFO incident that involved Navy and Marine fighter pilots from the USS Nimitz. It was the same case that one of those associated with DeLonge had mentioned as well. Radar in one of the ships associated with the Nimitz battle group picked up an unknown object and fighters were directed to intercept. The pilots reported seeing something that resembled a “Tic-Tac,” that was maneuvering near the ship. Addition fighters were launched and the object eventually left the area. You can read the details here:

https://fightersweep.com/1460/x-files-edition/

We did, during the interview, discuss the difference between UFO and UAP, a notation that goes back to the 1960s. Powell said that UFO didn’t mean spaceship though that was the way it was interpreted by many. I said that I liked the term “flying saucer,” to mean spaceship. There would be no confusion there.

Next week’s guest: Derek Bartholomaus

Topic: Billy Meier

* Thanks to those folks over at the Anomalist for pointing this out to me. I sometimes do that. In Iraq I sometimes referred to the IED as IUD. Don't know why I do this, but hey, we all make mistakes...

Project Horse Fly - The Documents

My posting about General Exon and the project known as “Horse Fly” inspired one of those who visit here to file a FOIA request. Here is what he wrote:

Bombastic Bill has left a new comment on your post "Arthur Exon and the Investigative Teams":

So I recently filed a FOIA for Horse Fly for Wright Pat in the years listed above and I have received a reply from the Air Force: "A thorough search for these records by Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR) has not produced any responsive records relating to your request" So I don't know if Horse Fly is a bogus name or there was something I missed in filing the FOIA but as for the 1st time filling out a FOIA it was just nice to get a response! 

The question, I suppose, is how far back do their records go and do they retain any files that were part of Project Blue Book. We know, based on what Carmon Marano told us, that while the “official” files were sent to the Air Force Archives and later onto the National Archives, the “unofficial” files were going to be destroyed. He saved them and eventually they ended up in the hands of Rob Mercer.

Okay.

But it was in the Project Blue Book files that I found the reference to Horse Fly and the creation of teams to investigate UFO sightings. The documents were part of the administration files that were included with the Blue Book material. I found them on my microfilm and using my IPad, took several photographs off the microfilm reader. Not the best way to do it, but the way I could preserve the information for easy reference. More importantly, that provides the documentation seen here. These are the photographs.

They prove, only that the documentation exists, that FTD was involved and that there was a suggestion of creating the teams. When I get the chance, I’ll try to put up more of these documents.

X-Zone Broadcast Network - Brad Steiger (Yes, that Brad Steiger).

Brad Steiger

This week, after months of frustrating attempts to coordinate our schedules, Brad Steiger and I were finally able to talk about UFOs and the Paranormal. After Brad said some very complimentary things about me, we launched into the interview. I had thought we would talk about some of the strangest of the UFO landing reports including bizarre looking aliens. We began, however, with a short description of the Socorro landing described by Lonnie Zamora and what he said that he had seen in 1964. I did surprise Brad by mentioning that there were additional witnesses to the case, as documented by a report made on the night of the sighting, though that evidence is somewhat thin. All that is laid out in detail in Encounter in the Desert which is, of course, my book about the Socorro landing. You can listen to the

interview here:

https://youtu.be/lYHkNcFMM0E

Our conversation, which seemed to be way too short for me, delved into some aspects of the UFO, but as Brad pointed out, there are alternative explanations for many sightings that don’t involve alien visitation. Brad suggested there might be some interdimensional contacts as well as alien visitation.

We also noted that descriptions of the aliens were not uniform, meaning that those in other countries didn’t see the same sort of aliens that we, here in the US, did. Some of those descriptions seemed to come from science fiction films such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. A photograph of one of those aliens from the movie, as described in a sighting from Argentina is seen at the left. We talked about the evolution of those descriptions from aliens who seemed to be wearing spacesuits (environmental suits?) complete with breathing apparatus, to the aliens of today who might be wearing flight suits but are breathing our atmosphere.

The other thing that would be of interest is the discussion of the publishing industry and how it was back forty or fifty years ago. I said that I had read his book, Strangers from the Skies in a high school study hall which dated both of us. Some of that discussion showed how things have evolved and proved this was a wide-ranging discussion.

Next week’s guest: Robert Powell

Topic: SCU (Yes, you’ll have to tune in to learn that that is.)

Curse of Oak Island - Season 5

Yes, I have seen the promos for the new season of Curse of Oak Island and it is filled with the same sort of hyperbole that has been teased in past seasons. Yes, they show an old key that unlocks an old chest but, of course, we don’t see the contents. And, yes, we hear the Laginas boys say that they have found the money pit. I still believe that if something truly spectacular had been found, the informtion would have leaked and the suspense would have been killed at that point.

Let’s unpack this and see what we can deduce.

Take that chest… we don’t know if they found it buried on Oak Island, though I suspect if it was, that would have been mentioned. It seemed that it was too good, meaning that a wooden chest buried for two hundred plus years would have deteriorated, especially in the environment of Oak Island. Too much water permeating the soil. It is difficult to believe there would have been much more than a pile of rotting wood and whatever was contained in the chest, unless it was clothes and books and the like. If the contents were metallic, they probably would have survived with the rotten wood collapsed on them.

Take the coin they find… once again it’s on the surface and looked like a blank disk in the promo. We’re told it’s from the 1600s but that doesn’t prove much of anything since it was apparently on the surface. This just fits in with what we’ve seen in past seasons. Coins found on or near the surface that are very old and look as if they have been out in the environment for a long time.

Take the claim they found the money pit… which could very well be true. But. They could be referring to the first excavation dug in 1795 by the boys who began digging there. It doesn’t mean that there is treasure at the bottom of the money pit, only that they know where that first pit was dug so long ago and have identified that location to their satisfaction.

In other words, the tease is just that… a tease. When we get into Season Five, which begins November 7, we’ll see the same thing that we’ve seen in the past. Remember the sword they found… that turned out to be a relatively modern replica? Remember the single coin they found that they took to Florida for someone to identify as being of Spanish origin in the 17^th century? Remember the campsite from British soldiers that proved… what, British soldiers had once camped on the island? Remember Bole Hole 10X with its chest at the bottom guarded by the remains of a human? Remember how they showed that over and over until the diver proved that there was no chest or human remains?

I will predict that when we get to the end of the season, there will be no treasure, except for the 1.5 million that Nova Scotia provided for the production. There won’t be a big treasure hidden by pirates or Knights Templar or the French crown jewels or the manuscripts of Shakespeare. There will be just another hole dug deep into Oak Island that will yield nothing of real value.

And yes, I would love to see them recover a treasure but does anyone think that

Joy Steele

those in the 17^th century could have dug a pit 200 feet deep with a series of booby traps to protect their treasure? The engineering problems seem to be just too great for this to have been done. The water table on the island suggests that there are no real booby traps and that would mean that the pit couldn’t have been dug so deep.

This will be another season with great teases but no payoff. They might have reached the “end game,” but that end game won’t provide treasure. Joy Steele probably found the real answer to this, as mentioned in my interview with her about this on the X-Zone Broadcast Network (xzbn.net). The money pit is the remains of a ship’s stores operation and not any sort of treasure. You can read my original post about it here:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-mystery-of-oak-island-solved-by-joy.html

and, of course, listen to the interview with Joy Steele here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIwY6yiuN1w

But, as I say, I’ll be watching the new season and will undoubtedly be disappointed in what I see. But then, isn’t reality television about unreal situations?