The “Scattered Castles” of Forbidden Science - examining the "material references" (continuing)

The publication of “Forbidden Science 6 - Scattered Castles – The Journals of Jacques Valllee 2010-2019” (Anomalist Books, January 2025) apparently draws to a close, more than 6 decades of Jacques Vallee’s journey through the labyrinths of mysteries, forbidden science and life. He writes, “these journals may represent the only on-the spot, continuously curated record of the results achieved among brave people on the swampy fringes of Academe … (giving) some idea of the day-today process of innovative research, stumbling through bureaucracies, shredding obsolete beliefs, and harnessing the high technology rush that lit up this decade to define the future.” (FS6, 8) The subtitle “Scattered Castles” was inspired by “a federal system (of the same name) … a wonderful code name for the newest database of classified access”, upon which Vallee logs his personal data. (FS6, 19) The title also resonates with the diverse locations in which he records his activities.

 

Beginning in 1992, through to 2007 in various editions, with Volume 1, covering the period 1957 to 1969, then 2008 with Volume 2 (1970 to 1979), by 2016 with Volume 3 (1980 to 1989), by 2016 Volume 4 (1990 to 1999), in 2023 Volume 5 (2000 to 2009) and now with this apparent final outing, Vallee shares more than 6 decades of life experience engaging with the mystery of UFOs (UAPs) and the paranormal.  

 

From his May 1955 witnessed observation (at age 15) of “a gray, metallic disk with a clear bubble on top” hovering over a local church, in his home village in France, the thrall and continuing deep embrace with the UFO/UAP controversy and attending mysteries, to the sobering reality checks and debates engendered by the suite of material samples, ostensibly from these strange aerial things, he had brought together for examination and analyses by scientists such as Larry Lemke and Garry Nolan by 2019, Vallee’s journals gives us a fascinating and extraordinary narrative of one of the greatest and most alluring mysteries of our times, all from his own particular perspectives, often embolden with his own direct involvement with key event

 

The decade (2010-2019) begins with the BAASS (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies)/AAWSAP (the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program) officially ending by December 2010.  Efforts to re-establish themselves, such as “Kona Blue” within the Department of Homeland Security, failed to take shape, with ultimately a more informal science group collective, given the joke name “Lone Stars” with European funding from familiar connections, carrying on with the likes of Kit Green, Eric W. Davis, Hal Puthoff, John Schuessler, George Hathaway, Colm Kelleher, Bob Bigelow, and later with Dr. Garry Nolan. Vallee is a witness, or direct participant, to much of this, but he is increasingly disenchanted with programs with military intelligence and/or commercial business links (particularly with his database warehouse initiative CAPELLA), and starts to return to his own independent research efforts, which include research visits, with his old friend Bill Calvert, to Brazil and Argentina (the former highlighting concerns and uncertainties with earlier BAASS/AAWSAP enquiries in Brazil, and the latter, in Argentina, allowing him to revisit a striking 1978 case, and participating in an excellent documentary on the affair - a potent expression of the "psychic" or "transpersonal" impact of the UFO experience is seen in "Witness of Another World" a documentary film by Alan Stivelman (2018, with a wider release in 2019 - a really wonderful film). Jacques Vallee investigated this 1978 Argentine close encounter during 1980.  A "strange fog" features in this episode - rather than "the fog of war" it is "the fog of close encounters" to be penetrated here in the transformative journey of young Juan Perez to the man he became.  

Earlier in 1978 I was trying to penetrate my own "fog of close encounters" so richly reflected in what I referred to as the Bakers Creek Falls encounter.  1978 was a memorable year for UFO activity in Australia. Activity had been building up all year. The year got off to a spectacular start with the vivid and prolonged close encounter at Bakers Creek Falls, near Armidale, NSW.  I covered these and other matters in a lecture I gave in November 2019: “UFOs and the Paranormal in focus today – Murmurations of the UFO Phenomenon” and include a few of the relevant slide images. In the image below I have included the first page of my investigation report of the case and a montage of photos showing me pointing out the Falls and the witness drawing of the UFO he saw coming out of yet another "mysterious fog."

There are many events described in this volume that I am drawn to, which I hope to address in detail in later commentaries, but as I am a chemist by training I am strongly drawn to a continuing strong narrative - “the devil in the detail” only hinted at in the limited information drops on those UFO/UAP samples Vallee describes in FS6. These are intriguing, fascinating and full of conflicting and beguiling information, but to date we only have limited expansive data on the 1977 Council Bluffs sample, per the Progress in Aerospace Sciences journal 2022 paper “Improved instrumental techniques, including isotopic analysis, applicable to the characterization of unusual materials with potential relevance to aerospace forensics,” by Garry P. Nolan, Jacques F. Vallee, Sizun Jiang, and Larry G. Lemke. 

Much more of this sort of detail please.  

Council Bluff analysis via Garry Nolan of samples provided by George Knapp et al 

report Investigation Alien November 2024

(I plan to further scrutinise the journal further to try to draw together the essential details of the material references, but for now this is a preliminary sweep – a work in progress – Because of the possible incomplete nature of these references, it is difficult to be certain about the full range of material. That awaits a more complete and formal reporting from Vallee, Nolan, Lemeke, et.al. - BC)

 

For now, apart from glimpses of material data in the SOL Foundation conference outings, and other media presentations (such as Ubatuba data), we have at least the FS6 extracts of information, informing or hinting of possible things to come, such as:

 

21 August 2014:

Vallee from Stanford University takes "the stack of plastic boxes that contain our seven most relevant UFO samples (the slag from Council Bluffs, the aluminium from Bogota, the three magnesium samples from Brazil that Peter Sturrock had given me, and some others)" to the NanoSIMIS facility meeting with Mike Angelo, spending the day running them through the CAMECA elemental and isotopic microanalysis unit, after preparing them with 10 nanometers gold coating, with the support of Dr. Hitzman, the laboratory director.

A material study colleague in the material study had just advised Vallee that the hardware tested by Lockheed had been able to measure and observe "the highly unique nano-structures inside ‘recovered’ samples", with its nanostructure convincing the Lockheed analysts "the samples were … not from here."  They were "bits, pieces, and chunks of recovered items" via a ‘client’ request for "analysis and exploitation".  Those efforts were unsuccessful, apparently due shortcomings in replication using circa 1980s human technology (FS6, 263)

8 November 2014:

Repeating his CNES presentation in Austin, the isotope ratios (via Angelo at Stanford) of the "pieces of metal, slag, aluminium, magnesium" were to date indicating "terrestrial elements". (FS6, 278)

 

5 July 2016:

Via an  Internet link Garry Nolan revealed to Vallee his weekend analyses on the (non-radiative) "Saint Augustin sample", on the new prototype MITI machine: "the strange knitting pattern of wires", the thickness of 1/5th a human hair., with around 210 atomic mass, possibly containing (non-natural form) polonium, and bismuth, (and rather incongruously, given its unstable nature -B.C.) astatine. The presence of yttrium, zirconium, and strontium was suspected by Nolan. There seemed to be significant presence of aluminium and nickel, with silicium and calcium as possible contaminants, as "the stuff" had apparently been embedded for years in the desert dirt.  Vallee suggested writing all this up and consulting again with Frederico (Faggin).” (FS6, 364,365)

(I presume here with the spelling of “silicium” versus silicon, the reference maybe to the biomedical form of silicon, that is Silicon in the form of Monomethylsilanetriol (MMST) microencapsulated in acacia gum for superior absorption and bioavailability. If so, its an unusual contaminant. “Silicium” was Davy’s original term for what became known as silicon – BC)

 

 8 July 2016:

While Vallee went on ahead to see Faggin in Los Altos, Garry Nolan went home to pick up “the honeycomb" (FS6, 365)

(There is no elaboration on the proposed “honeycomb” discussion with Federico Faggin during that day’s entry – BC)

19 July 2016:

Vallee indicates he hears from Nolan that he just recovered "some strange material during a New Mexico trip” which was footnoted that after Garry showed him the material Kit Green found a man-made solution after surveying about 5,000 images over a science library terminal, apparently a failed radar reflecting fabric project around 2010 from two Copenhagen companies which went bankrupt (FS6, 367).  Vallee wondered how the "crash" material had ended up in New Mexico - an "Artifact" (A "fibre fabric?" "with its white fibres, grey knots, and cross-latched chemical microscopy ... pristine, high ordered." 

25 August 2016:

Dr. Nolan shows Vallee the Plains of St. Augustine analysis details on his laptop, "especially the ‘wires,’ made up of aluminium and silicon, apparently doped with titanium and other organics.  The resin substrate is of the same composition.” (FS6, 371, 372)

3 June 2018:

Vallee reports no progress on "the (Nolan) analysis of our 20-odd UFO samples loaded on the plate" as the Stanford mass spectrometer is still broken (FS6, 454)

18 June 2018:

Vallee reports good news that Nolan's “clever students" have been able to repair  "the device", so the analysis was run back around 11 June. (FS6, 455)

13 November 2018:

After 6 months, Vallee is writing, “There’s never been anything like Dr. Garry Nolan." Meeting with  Federico Faggin, he shows him "the new binder with our records of 31 samples" Meanwhile Nolan is continuing plans for his "Atomscope, a device that will image the tiniest bit of molecules and could enable science to comprehend protein structures that have eluded medical research.” (FS6, 473)

14 November 2018:

Dr. Peter Sturrock entrusts Vallee with his Sierra case (Fe and Ti containing) samples, plus a paper that detailing the chain of evidence. (FS6, 473)

13 February 2019:

Nolan sends "encrypted videos of honeycomb microscopic details" to Vallee in France. (FS6, 483)

29 October 2019:

Larry Lemke, well informed of technology history, after examining the past record for "analogies to the unusual structures we’ve found, particularly the now-famous honeycomb recovered in New Mexico" told the team that "such hexagon structures came into the aviation factories about 1938, the first being experimented by Martin in 1945.  Later Hexcel, formed at UC Berkeley, offered the first viable product", including his laptop shots of "the weaving and knots of those mysterious ‘wires” that so perplexed" the team. Vallee commenting on the obvious in Lemke's findings: "What we are looking at is not extraordinary material from Alpha Centauri, only human hardware, exploded.  But that’s not all.  It’s unlikely that the honeycomb technology with the nylon thread fixing the epoxy would have been in common use before the 1950s.  Who planted it at the 1947 crash site? Garry will have some questions for Tyler. The next step must be a full review of our recent run through our entire collection.” (FS, 508)   

 

Given that “Tyler D” (TT) took Dr. Diana Pasulka and Dr. Garry Nolan to the fabulous or notorious “gifting field” blindfolded and provided the specially calibrated metal detectors to aid their search, that led to the discovery of the material, a lot more transparency, critical thinking and research may well be needed.  A more credible detailing in explicit and factual terms of its actual chain of custody might help the processes and deliberations along a bit.  Likewise, for the rest of the collection of materials.

 

Hopefully that “full review” mentioned by Jacques Vallee in October 2019, included a wider, more open, collegial sharing of data on “the now-famous honeycomb” (2019) (and indeed the other material), particularly where decades earlier practical lessons were learnt on other “alien honeycomb” (such as back in the 1980s, down under in the land of Oz – Australia that is).  I will leave it to Jacques Vallee, Garry Nolan and the others involved to determine if the Australian “honeycomb” story is of any relevance to their study.  I would certainly like to have their collegial feedback.  

Scenes from James Fox's "The Phenomenon" documentary

showing Dr. Nolan, his equipment and Jacques Vallee's samples

The study of such material is complex, controversial and challenging. Widening the information pool and broadening the collegial discussion will assist this process.

 

From my blog “The OZ Files”, June 25, 2023, in a post entitled “The Ultimate Secret and the Australian experience” I quote my experience with “alien honeycomb”: 

http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-ultimate-secret-and-australian.html

 

“The “Alien Honeycomb” affair - “Not so alien honeycomb”

The "honeycomb" samples siting on the cover of Pinkney's book are from my sample collection 

to show the cross section of material recovered from Greenbank

“The “alien honeycomb” story was one of my earlier collisions with Australian “crashed UFO” tales.  But, this was one that would ultimately illuminate a cautionary tale for our current hunt for mysterious alloys, meta-materials and UFO “ejecta.” Given the current controversies and intrigues about mysterious “alloys”, “meta-materials” and such, in the custody of the likes of the Pentagon, Robert Bigelow and others, and “the Artifact” – a centrepiece in Diana Pasulka’s book from Oxford University Press “American Cosmic – UFOs, Religion, Technology”, being examined by people like Garry Nolan, Jacques Vallee and Hal Puthoff & Luis Elizondo of TTSA, and others, it is worthwhile to retell this cautionary tale. In the absence of detailed analytical data, prosaic possibilities need to be carefully considered before “alien” associations are obsessed with.  Should the results merit extraordinary claims, lets see the detailed data, contexts and analyses? What follows is what happens if caution is not followed along with attempts at verification and peer review.

 

“John Pinkney (1934 - 2018), journalist, writer (including the vampire novel “Thirst” which was the basis of the 1979 film of the same name), puzzle-maker and co-founder of the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society with Peter Norris & Kevin Arnett back in 1957, had a long career in journalism. His October 1978 headline media story on the Valentich story drew a lot of attention. He started writing paranormal and unexplained mystery columns that appeared in magazines like Pix-People. Through those he would get a lot of stories from readers and these would provide content for his many later books (such as “Haunted” (2011), “Great Australian Mysteries” (2003), “A Paranormal File: An Australian Investigator’s casebook” (2000) and “Alien Airships over old America: Plus 18 other tantalizing mysteries” (2011)). But it was his first UFO book in 1980 “Alien Honeycomb – the first solid evidence of UFOs” that really caught my attention.

 

“As an industrial chemist it quickly became evident to me that a prosaic answer seemed likely for the “Alien Honeycomb.”  Pinkney and I undertook a debate on the topic within the pages of the magazine he then wrote a column for (Pix-People) – “the Great UFO Debate” – the editor’s title to our exchanges over 2 issues, although I had concluded that the material had nothing to do with UFOs – a position that put John and I in conflict at the time. 

 

“If only John had considered a fascinating and sobering anecdote in R.V. Jones remarkable book “Most Secret War”. During the Swedish “ghost rocket” flap of 1945-46, as then Director of British Scientific Intelligence, Jones stated, “since there had been allegedly hundreds of (ghost-rocket) sorties, there ought to be at least several crashed bombs already in Sweden, and yet nobody had ever picked up a fragment.  I therefore said that I would not accept the theory that the apparitions were flying bombs from Russia until someone brought a piece into my office ….”  It turned out that the Swedes had several pieces of a “bomb.” “When I asked whether it had actually crashed, the answer was that it had not, but that various pieces had fallen off it,” Jones wrote.

 

“These fragments were forwarded to British Intelligence.  Among them was “a lump 2 to 3 inches across that was hard, shiny, grey and porous.” Although Jones knew what it was, he sent it to the Chemical Analysis Section at Farnborough.  Many people in intelligence believed in the reality of the Russian flying bombs, and jumped upon the resultant analyses of one of the fragments: “… one of the lumps consist of more than 98 percent of an unknown element!”

 

“Jones got in contact with the head of chemistry at Farnborough, who confirmed the startling result.  “I then asked him whether he had taken a good look at the lump, and whether it had not struck him as being remarkably like an ordinary piece of coke.  There was a gasp from the other end of the telephone as the penny dropped.  No one had stopped to look at the material, in an effort to get the analysis made quickly, and they failed to test for carbon. The other lumps had similarly innocent explanations.”

 

“"Alien Honeycomb - the first solid evidence for UFOs" by John Pinkney and Leonard Ryzman was published during 1980.  It professed to tell the story of a UFO explosion near Greenbank, Queensland, which led the authors to recovering some of the debris.  They claimed it contained "unknown elements and configurations".  The book revealed no details about chemical analyses and the authors resisted any attempt at confirmatory, independent analysis.  They were only prepared to have their material examined by the United Nations.   The story that allegedly connects the debris to a UFO is fragmentary and dubious.  In fact, not enough information was given to verify a clear correlation.  Subsequent investigation indicated the original discovery of the material by locals was covered by the Brisbane Telegraph on November 13th, 1970.  The authors tried to link the debris with a sighting of a "flare" like "UFO" back in about 1966.

 

“Pinkney and Ryzman indicated that most of the material was retrieved by RAAF officers, and then clandestinely dispatched to Pentagon testing laboratories.  They presented absolutely no evidence to back that statement up. The only reference to "Alien Honeycomb" I found in the RAAF files were internal memoranda from 1980. DEFAIR CANBERRA wrote to HQOC - SOINT on August 1st, 1980, regarding "Confirmation of Data in Book 'Alien Honeycomb'":

"The text of the book is sufficiently vague to make tracing information from service records a very tiring and difficult task.  A check of files held at Air Force Office has proven negative.

"Unfortunately, a 'no comment' or 'no information' response from the RAAF is only going to encourage this type of journalism. Accordingly, it is requested that HQOC initiate a check of records (including those of HQ AMB (Amberley - B.C.) for data which could relate to this matter". 

A telex dated September 5, 1980, and categorised as "unclassified/routine", from HQOC to DEFAIR Canberra, stated:

"Further to ref A the following is retrans of info received from HQ AMB. Quote:

"1.  Summaries of unidentified aerial sightings prepared by Dept of Air between mid 1968 and mid 1969 have been checked for mention of the case.  No mention of that particular sighting appears in the summaries.

"2. This is unusual because it is our understanding that the summaries were comprehensive and not edited lists of reported sightings.

"3. Unless requested by command the HQ does not propose to take this matter further".

 

“I didn't see any evidence of a dark, pervasive cover up there.   Other RAAF files refer to retrieval of mundane debris, but none refer to the Greenbank "alien honeycomb".  More likely the key to this affair is languishing, not in a UFO or UAS file, but in aircraft accident files. Greenbank is not far from Amberley RAAF Base).

 

“As an industrial chemist and someone who was promoting serious research into possible physical evidence for UFOs, I was interested in finding out more when the book first appeared. The authors did not assist independent research into their material.  Based on visual assessments, I had felt it was most likely of man-made manufacture, but I couldn’t quite place it.  So I contacted a fellow industrial chemist from Ciba Geigy, who helped me out.  From information and discussion, I concluded the material was probably AEROWEB high strength honeycomb, some of which is made from fiberglass - a clearly human-sourced material.  Soon other researchers, such as Paul Hebron, of UFO Research (Queensland) (to who I owe the heading “Not so alien honeycomb”), had acquired samples of the material from the site in question.  A researcher working for sceptic Dick Smith received some of the "alien honeycomb" from the same person who provided the “Alien Honeycomb” authors with their material.  A clear relationship was established between this material and the material held by Pinkney and Ryzman.  Dick Smith financed an analysis through Unisearch laboratories, and not surprisingly confirmed that the "alien honeycomb" was not so alien - it was fiberglass!  So much for "the first solid evidence of UFOs."  More compelling examples of unusual debris or material related to UFO events have been documented.  However, in this case it was clear that the material had nothing to do with UFOs.”  

See Chris Fowler's comments on UFO Updates quoted in the comments below.  I've included imagery from those comments here as my comments section would not include the photo: