Tales of two centenaries – The Damned & the identified.

It is fitting and wonderful that in the centennial anniversary year of the publication of Charles Fort's iconic work “The Book of the Damned” in 1919 that a 402 page (A4 size) book, “Redemption of the Damned” by Martin Shough with Wim van Utrecht, has appeared. Published by Anomalist books it is further described as "Vol.1: Aerial Phenomena" and subtitled "A Centennial Re-evaluation of Charles Fort's ‘Book of the Damned.’ I see “Redemption of the Damned” as the best book of 2019 focusing on research and investigation of UFOs.  It should be studied intensely by anyone who investigates UFOs and UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).

Fort began his provocative book with the memorable proclamation. “A procession of the damned. By the damned, I mean the excluded. We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded.”

Charles Fort was our first ufologist, in that he not only collected reports of strange aerial apparitions, lights in the sky, aerial phenomena and anything odd in the sky, he also speculated about what they were. His speculations about the aerial oddities he collected were often playful, often somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but he was more about stirring up conventional thinking, rather than trying to explain the reports.  Hence we were exposed to wild ideas like armies of giant space vampires and “superconstructions” travelling between the planets. While Fort’s “aerial fodder” was mainly from the 19^th century and American and Euro-centric, they anticipated the popularisation of “aerial phenomena” into “flying saucers” by 1947 and into the UFOs and UAPs of today. 

Scottish based research Martin Shough brings to Forts “procession of the damned” his wide eclectic knowledge and intense UFO/UAP research experience, seen admirably in his collaboration with Chris Aubeck in “Return to Magonia – Investigating UFOs in History” (2015). With “Redemption of the Damned” he is ably assisted by Belgian based researcher Wim Van Utrecht, best known for his CAELESTIA project, which sort to find explanations for anomalies, rather than promoting mysteries.

The authors examined all 82 of the aerial mysteries described by Fort in his Book of the Damned.  They bring a huge amount of research to focus on these “damned” anomalies, focusing on a wide range of contextual material, modern day thinking and a vast amount of data. The result seems at first to be hardly the “redemption of the damned” of the book title, as they come up with convincing explanations for most and possible explanations for the balance that still frustrate certainty.  Some of their explanations might be a stretch, but it’s the detail, the process and the exploration that is laid out, that impresses.

Thus we see a clear reflection of the UFO/UAP controversy that exists today and here lies the books greatest benefit.  It should be the focus of everybody that calls themselves UFO or UAP researchers and/or investigators to undertake such detailed investigations, with a focus to explain.  It’s the approach I have always used, namely that most “UFO or UAP reports” are probably explainable and those that are not become the focus of ongoing investigation to determine if that are consistently UFO or UAP material. That sort of approach ensure that what remains are probably our best candidates for determining whether a consistently unexplained phenomenon or phenomena emerges. 

“Redemption of the Damned” reminded me most of Allen Hendry’s 1979 book “The UFO Handbook” in which the IFO (Identified Flying Object) becomes the central message. More appropriately they are an effective calibration of all the aerial and associated mysteries we focus on as researchers and investigators. 

There is much to fascinate, learn and enjoy in this wonderful study “Redemption of the Damned.” Vol. 2, “Sea and Space Phenomena” from Fort’s Book of the Damned is planned, so there is more more to look forward to from this highly recommended collaboration of Martin Shough and Wim van Utretch.

The only Australian entry is a 1879 event which I also described in my 1996 book “The OZ Files – the Australian UFO Story” with this opening caveat:  “With the advent of white colonisation, documented accounts of UFO sightings began to appear. Most of the early accounts could probably be explained if more information was available. A number, however, seem to defy easy explanation.”

“A ‘REMARKABLE METEOR’

“In 1879 Mr S. Worsley Clifton, Collector of Customs, at Fremantle, Western Australia, forwarded the following account of a ‘remarkable meteor’ to R.J. Elleig of the Melbourne observatory. Elleig in turn passed it on to the science journal Nature, which published the following account of the apparition: ‘A small black cloud on a clear day appeared in the east, travelling not very swiftly towards the north-west. It burst into a ball of fire with an apparent disc the size of the full moon, blood-red in colour. It left a train of black or dark-coloured vapour across the heavens which was visible for three-quarters of a hour. No sound was heard, sky perfectly clear, and the thermometer, 100 degrees Fahrenheit, in the shade.’”

Martin Shough and Wim van Utretch are limited here in their study. They highlight that Nature might have erred, in that the witness was most likely Leonard Worsely Clifton.  They describe him in a bit of detail. I agree that Fort’s “explanation” is imaginative: “that around something coming from the intense cold of inter-planetary space--that is of some regions: our own suspicion is that other regions

are tropical--the moisture of this earth's atmosphere would condense

into a cloud-like appearance around it… Or that something with the velocity of an ordinary meteorite could not collect vapor around it, but that slower-moving objects--speed of a railway train, say - may.” 

I’m inclined to agree with Martin Shough and Wim van Utretch that its most likely ‘a slow daylight fireball” but like the best of anomalies further study may verify this or may make this explanation more contentious.

As I entitled this piece “Tales of two centenaries – The Damned & the identified”, by way of a slight Dickensian flourish (namely playing with the title of his famous novel “A Tale of Two Cities”), let me elaborate the other centenary that attracted me.  

A great deal of attention has been given here in Australia this year (2019) to the great England to Australia Air Race of 1919, which was won by a flying team of 4 – pilots Ross and Keith Smith and their mechanics Walter Shiers and James Bennett. A new book “Anzac & Aviator – the remarkable story of Sir Ross Smith and the 1919 England to Australia air race“ by Michael Molkentin, and documentary “The Greatest Air Race” narrated by Aussie astronaut Andy Thomas, tell the the amazing and wonderful story.

What has that got to do with our focus here?  Well it comes down to this early 1947 letter that appeared in the Advertiser newspaper of Adelaide South Australia months before Kenneth Arnold’s sighting in June 1947, 25 February 1947 to be precise..  The letter was in response to “aerial phenomena” sightings in South Australia.  These were also described in “Return to Magonia.”

‘Objects in the sky.


To the Editor


Sir- When the late Sir Ross Smith was covering the last phase of his epic flight from England to Australia, and was scheduled to arrive in Adelaide during the early afternoon, the late Harry Butler left Adelaide in his small monoplane, nicknamed the Red Devil to meet the big Vickers Vimy over the Adelaide Hills, being a little ahead of his schedule, Harry Butler filled in his time with aerobatics and stunting. Most of which occurred over our nurseries situated just S.E. of Mount Barker. 

While watching him very intently, two large black objects travelling at terrific speed in a parallel course, passed very high above him, travelling from north to south. These were quite large and were very high but nevertheless their speed was such as to make Harry butler’s machine appear as if it were stationary. 

The day was cloudless and for a moment I thought my eyes were playing tricks, but subsequently my foreman, who was half a mile away at the time, asked me what the two black things were that passed Butler’s machine. During the evening of the same day, my father in law who lived about a mile away asked an identical question. Both these people gave the same description and direction of flight which exactly coincided with my own observations. 

The speed and density of the objects definitely precluded any possibility of there being a mirage.


H N Wicks.


Balhannah Nurseries Balhannah.’ 

I described my research and investigation into this intriguing story on my blog “The Search for Historical UFO reports” back on 25 December 2015, from my report to a November 2011 Magonia Exchange & Project 1947 discussion:

http://australianhistoricaluforeports.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-probable-explanation-for-recollection.html

Our intrepid 1919/1920 "Knights of the Air."

Captain Ross Smith

“I have now had the opportunity to look at the Adelaide Advertiser around that date. The coverage of the events leading up to the Vimy landing (The Smith plane) suggests that the 1947 recollection by H.N. Wicks of the 1920 events may be confused. The "two large black objects" may well have been the biplanes being flown by Captains A.R. Moore and Captain Loftus. These planes eventually escorted the Vimy piloted by the Smiths - the stars of the day's spectacle - called "Our Knights of the Air" by the local paper. Elsewhere in the papers coverage we see reference Captain Butler having a delayed take off, finally leaving sometime after 1pm. The planes of Moore and Loftus appear soon after, preforming "evolutions" over the aerodrome. The Vimy was first seen at 1.45 pm not far from Mount Lofty. It was soon joined by the two local planes piloted by Moore and Loftus, finally landing soon after 2.12 pm. As for Captain Butler's plane, it seems his flight was 

a matter of some anxiety. He turned up at 2.45 pm, saying he had been unable to "pick up" the Vimy, described elsewhere in the coverage as "a mammoth compared with the other machines." He put his inability to find the Vimy down to the mist in the hills. 

So I suspect that the various observations of Mr. Wicks recollected in the 1947 letter to the editor, were of Captain Butler flying over the area and the other two objects sighted were the two other local pilots Moore and Loftus. 

Happy to hear of any other suggestions. So far I haven't picked up on any March 1920 accounts or letters suggesting mysterious objects flying around that day.” 

In the spirit of “Redemption of the Damned” I rest my case (for the moment, pending further research of the Wick’s account) and leave you with this piece - “Tales of two centenaries – The Damned & the identified.”

Merry Christmas & best wishes for a happy new year

Merry Xmas & a happy new year. This is my Xmas card to all my friends, fellow travellers, associates & pals with maybe a little of Billy's irreverent excesses thrown into the mix. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWRV0dCg7c&fbclid=IwAR2kO9eNta7uEIWdtMMO4sFw5gmB7Ve7K6dpnXTP_vqtGayJ3W0pSC7-cOA
and Bill Nighy having a lot of fun inhabiting the role of an ageing rock star with a new number one which he calls "crap":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXMF1enKjjo
I hope your Christmas is a safe one & a happy one. Rather than snow we would be happy for some awesome rain to put those terrible fires out and wind to blow the smoke away.
Bring on the new year - I hope its a good one

"UFOs and the Paranormal in Focus Today" lecture by Bill Chalker

My lecture for AIPR on 30 November 2019:

"UFOs and the Paranormal in Focus Today"

Bill Chalker

UFO Researcher and Author, Sydney, NSW

The linkage of UFOs with paranormal phenomena will be examined in this lecture. UFOs have had a lot of attention lately from the mainstream press. The New York Times and Politico broke a story about a secret Pentagon UFO program which received massive and sustained attention. Consciousness is being described as a big factor. Remote Viewing pioneer Dr. Hal Puthoff is deeply involved. What lies behind Robert Bigelow’s Skinwalker Ranch? Is this a tipping point in UFO research and the paranormal? Bill Chalker will take you behind the headlines and reveal a story with a focus on UFOs and psychic phenomena.

The full programme:

The Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, Inc.

with the support of the Cardigan Fund

presents

The AIPR Mini-Conference 2019

Venue: North Sydney Community Centre

(The Morton Room, Ground Floor)

220 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW (rear of Stanton Library; near North Sydney Station)

(car-parking, 200 spaces)

Date: Saturday, November 30th, 2019

Time: 1:00pm to 5:30pm

Donation $20 (Concession $10)

UFOs, Hauntings, and Remote Viewing

Chaired by Dr. Tony Jinks

School of Psychology

Western Sydney University

(Penrith Campus) Kingswood, NSW

*    *    *

Mini-Conference Programme

Lecture 1 (1:00pm to 2:00pm)

"UFOs and the Paranormal in Focus Today"

Bill Chalker

UFO Researcher and Author, Sydney, NSW

The linkage of UFOs with paranormal phenomena will be examined in this lecture. UFOs have had a lot of attention lately from the mainstream press. The New York Times and Politico broke a story about a secret Pentagon UFO program which received massive and sustained attention. Consciousness is being described as a big factor. Remote Viewing pioneer Dr. Hal Puthoff is deeply involved. What lies behind Robert Bigelow’s Skinwalker Ranch? Is this a tipping point in UFO research and the paranormal? Bill Chalker will take you behind the headlines and reveal a story with a focus on UFOs and psychic phenomena.

Lecture 2 (2:00pm to 3:00pm)

"Haunted Port Arthur: An Analysis of Over 1000 Reports"

Dr. Tony Mowbray

                             Psychologist, Researcher, Melbourne, VIC.

Presently, haunt phenomena at Port Arthur in Tasmania are still experienced in multiple locations across the site and documented by both patrons and staff, making Port Arthur a suitable place to investigate these experiences. This talk will present some of the findings from a qualitative analysis of over 1000 documented reports of haunt-type experiences at the site of Port Arthur.

*    *    *

Tea Break - 1/2 hour (3:00pm to 3:30pm)

*    *    *

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Dr. Tony Jinks and Mr. Attila Kaldy Preview:

TRACK: Search for Australia’s Bigfoot

*    *    *

Lecture 3 (3:45pm to 4:30pm)

"Haunt and Poltergeist Clearing in Australian Residences”

Lance Storm & Robb Tilley

Paranormal Researchers & Investigators

BRIEF REPORT: Lance Storm and Robb Tilley present the findings of their clearing study.

*    *    *

Lecture 4 (4:30pm to 5:30pm)

"The Science and Applications of Remote Viewing”

Sandra Hilleard

Remote Viewer, Remote Viewing Trainer and Researcher, Perth, WA

PART 1: Sandra’s journey into the field of Remote Viewing (controlled extrasensory perception; ESP) began after she personally experienced spontaneous ESP a number of times, to the point where she could no longer deny the reality of this human ability. She is currently the only active researcher in RV in Australia. She has successfully assisted law enforcement agencies around the world. In her talk, Sandra will present the science and applications of RV, and she will share both her current research project as well as some of the amazing cases she has worked on.

[Short Break]

PART 2: In this second session, Sandra will demonstrate RV techniques with the active participation of the mini-conference audience.

Project Rainfall - The Secret History of Pine Gap ... and UFOs?

Tom Gilling, author of numerous books such as the wonderfully strange "The Sooterkin"and true crime & history collaborations and outings such as "Evil Life", brings a welcome external look at "Australia's most secret place," with his book "Project Rainfall - The Secret History of Pine Gap" (Allen & Unwin, 2019).
Part of the interest here is that given Gilling has access to newly released data, the memoirs of NSA spy David Rosenberg and others, and the contributions of academics and activist such as the late Prof. Des Ball - my own original pathway to the secrets of Pine Gap with "A Suitable Piece of Real Estate - American Installations in Australia" (1980) and "Pine Gap"(1988) and his collaboration with Dr. Jeffrey Richelson - "The Ties that Bind" (1985) - along with a whole lot of other material.

Author Tom Gilling (image ex Text Publishing)

Tom Gilling touches all the appropriate bases and even dives into a final chapter entitled "A saucerful of secrets", tipping the narrative arc into "a twilight zone between information and speculation that made it irresistible to UFO fantasists." (Gilling, page 72).  To quote Gilling, "The cloak of secrecy the CIA had thrown over its flying saucer investigations also covered its spying operations at Pine Gap, and with similar results: in both cases, the public suspected the agency was up to more than it would admit.  The mystery surrounding both UFOs and Pine Gap convinced many Australians that the two were linked." (Gilling, 288)

Tom Gilling then offers a parallel narrative where a real linkage seems thin indeed on the evidence he plays around with, but we have been down this path before.  See my October 2011 post "Pine Gap - a reality check" where I described more explicit Pine Gap UFO "connections," along with my interview with former NSA electronic intelligence agent David Rosenberg.  I contacted David about Tom Gilling's book.  He had heard of it but had not yet read it.  Should he share some takes on the book I'll update this blog accordingly. David Rosenberg book "Inside Pine Gap - the Spy who came in from the cold" (2011) was redacted in part due its NSA overview, with some relaxed, and other materials included in the 2018 edition "Pine Gap - the Inside story of the NSA in Australia" which emerged with the ABC drama series "Pine Gap."

David Rosenberg ex NSA/Pine Gap with Bill Chalker in 2011

I mentioned JIB's Bob Matham's 1966 get together with 3 CIA officials Albert Wheelon, Carl Ruckett & Leslie Dirks at the future Pine Gap site in my 2011 post and in my contribution to the 2012 UFO History group's opus "UFOs and government" which I had located in Jeffrey Richelson's excellent book "The Wizards of Langley - Inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology" (2001). Tom Gilling errs slightly in attributing a 1965 CIA memo entitled "Evaluation of UFO's" to Bud Wheelon. He concurs with the memo by way of signing off on it, but the author is actually Donald Chammberlain, assistant director , Scientific Intelligence. Bob Matham's assisted me with some correspondence and helped me find his JIB nuclear intelligence head Harry Turner who ran his own "UFO wars" within the clandestine worlds of Australian scientific and military intelligence - see my contributions "The OZ Files" (1996), "Hair of the Alien" ((2005) for a chapter on Turner's secret investigations into an early Australian abductee - Vicki Klein) and the 2012 "UFOs and Government" Australian chapter. 

 Bob Mathams, JIB

 Albert Wheelon CIA

Carl Ruckett CIA

Leslie Dirks CIA

Tom Gilling's dance through the Pine Gap & UFO "connection" is largely driven by Gerald Haines' "CIA 's role in the study of UFOs, 1947-90: A die-hard issue" and Australian files available through the archives. He dwells on the 1972 Benstead photos over Lake Hume. UFOIC's Bill Moser passed the photos onto CSIRO scientists Dr. Keith Bigg who ultimately felt they were a double  exposure. The coverup contention is tenuous at best, particularly given Norman Benstead never saw anything UFO like when he took the photo.  It may have been a nice lens flare perhaps, but Dr. Bigg's suggestion that he destroy his recreation shots make have contributed to the "cover-up" claim, where there was none.  It was Dr. Bigg who told me back in the 1970s, when I was cordially discussing with him a UFO landing case with ground traces from Emerald Beach in 1970, "Never admit that your interest is in UFOs or you'll get nowhere.  You're more likely to get cooperation in hunting witches.  Think up a "scientific" reason." Hmmm, I'm a long way passed that, but science has been a guiding approach in my UFO research and studies.

I recommend Tom Gilling's open study of Pine Gap, but there are some caveats on the ramble into UFOs. See my "Pine Gap- a reality check" for a look in that murky area.

Kary Mullis - the PCR Nobel Prize laureate and the "alien racoon"

Kary Mullis (1944-2019)

 from evilleeye

 from karymullis.com

I was sadden to hear of the passing of Kary Mullis, who I had interviewed in my research of the Peter Khoury case.  I was interested in the man who had contributed to revolutionising biochemistry with the discovery of PCR and the strange story he told of a weird night up at his northern Californian cabin, and the bizarre fallout of the experience.  Here is my account of his experience:

From my “Hair of the Alien” manuscript (2005)

The Nobel Laureate

Thanks to Kary Mullis for his information and interview, and of course for his remarkable PCR concept that ultimately transformed the field of biochemistry. Thanks for the invitation to relax with a beer and “watch the boats go by” some day in California, but just the same I think I’d like to hang out for a while at his Mendocino county property “racoon” hunting, if the opportunity arises. 

The PCR DNA scientific work would not have been possible without the Nobel Prize winning discovery of the concept by Dr. Kary Mullis.  His indirect contribution via his PCR concept discovery to the work carried out by biochemists working with me as part of the Anomaly Physical Evidence Group (APEG) should at least be alluded to.  There is however a rather remarkable aside that directly involves this famous and controversial scientist in the general alien abduction controversy.  I spoke directly with Kary Mullis to verify what follows.

On a Friday night in April 1983, Dr. Kary Mullis a biochemist was driving up to his cabin in Mendocino county in northern California.  During that drive to his Anderson Valley cabin Mullis conceived one of the great discoveries of modern chemistry - the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a surprisingly simple method for making unlimited copies of DNA, thereby revolutionising biochemistry almost overnight.  Kary Mullis described his discovery in Scientific American.[i]  Mullis was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery.

On another Friday night, during the summer of 1985, Kary Mullis drove up to his cabin.  Arriving around midnight after driving for about 3 hours, Mullis dumped groceries he bought on the way, switched on the lights (powered by solar batteries) and headed, with torch in hand, to the outside toilet located about 50 feet west of the cabin.  He never got there that night.  Quoting from his 1998 book “Dancing naked in the mine field” Mullis encountered something extraordinarily weird on the way.  “...at the far end of the path, under a fir tree, there was something glowing. I pointed my flashlight at it anyhow. It only made it whiter where the beam landed.  It seemed to be a raccoon.  I wasn’t frightened.  Later, I wondered if it could have been a hologram, projected from God knows where.”

“The raccoon spoke. “Good evening, doctor,” it said.  I said something back, I don’t remember what, probably, “Hello.”

from globalgreyebooks

“The next thing I remember, it was early in the morning.  I was walking along a road uphill from my house.”

Mullis had no idea how he got there but he was not wet from the extensive early morning dew.  His torch was missing.  He was never able to find it.  He had no signs of injury or bruising.   The lights of the cabin were still on, along with the groceries on the floor.   Some 6 hours had gone by unaccounted for.  Later in the day he found that an area of his property - “the most beautiful part of my woods” - had inexplicably become a place of dread.  A year or so later Mullis exorcised this fear John Wayne style shooting the wood up. While his attempt at psychotherapy proved successful it did not help him find out what had happened that night in the summer of 1985.   Mullis would become the only known Nobel prize laureate to claim an experience of what might be an alien abduction.

 from my friend Dr. Horace Drew

Kary Mullis describes himself as “a generalist with a chemical prejudice”. Others have described him as “Hunter Thompson meets Stephen Hawking” or  “the world’s most eccentric and outspoken Nobel Prize-winning scientist”. It is not easy to dispose of Mullis’ experience as a drug or alcoholic hallucination.  Mullis states he was not affected by either, that midnight.  In turned out he was not the only one to have experienced strange events at the cabin.  

His daughter, Louise, disappeared for about 3 hours after wandering down the same hill.  She also reappeared on the same stretch of road.  Her frantic fiancée was about to call the local sheriff.  Mullis had told no one of his experience until his daughter called to tell him to buy a book - Whitley Strieber’s “Communion”.  She was ringing to also tell her father about her strange experience.  By coincidence when she rang, Mullis had already been drawn to the book and was up to the point where Strieber reports strange “owls” and little men entering his house.

In his book, Mullis concluded, “I wouldn’t try to publish a scientific paper about these things, because I can’t do any experiments. I can’t make glowing raccoons appear.  I can’t buy them from a scientific supply house to study.  I can’t cause myself to be lost again for several hours.  But I don’t deny what happened.  It’s what science calls anecdotal, because it only happened in a way that you can’t reproduce.  But it happened.”

Kary Mullis confirmed all this and more when I spoke with him in 1999.[ii]  Another person encountered a “glowing raccoon” between the cabin and the toilet. This was a friend of Mullis, who did not know of the “raccoon” story and was a first time visitor, during a party at the cabin after the announcement of the Nobel Prize win in 1993.  This man did not stick around and fled up the hill towards the house.  On the way he encountered a small glowing man, which then suddenly enlarged into a full sized man who said something like, “I’ll see you tomorrow”.  The man, who was not experiencing a drug or alcohol induced hallucination left with a friend without informing anyone.  They returned to their hotel at a nearby town.  That night the man inexplicably found himself outside in the hotel car park troubled and terrified by the impression he had somehow been back at the Mullis cabin.  He and his friend returned the following night to the Mullis cabin.  The celebratory party was carrying on from the previous night.  As the man arrived he was shocked to see the “full sized man” seen as an enlarging apparition the night before drive up in a car.  This was too much for the first time visitor.  He left in a panic, holding Mullis somehow responsible for the previous nights events.  Sometime later in tears he revealed the full story to Mullis, who identified the man his friend he had seen as his elderly neighbour.  Mullis checked with his neighbour and sure enough he had come to the party on the second night, arriving to be seen by the terrified visitor.  However he was certain he was not there on the first night, not in person and not lurking as a glowing raccoon or a small glowing man that enlarged into a vision of himself.  

Given this sort of activity on his property it perhaps isn’t surprising that Kary Mullis told me he thinks the nature of his experience is even stranger than abducting ETs.  Instead he speculates about multi-dimensional physics (a la Michio Kaku’s “Hyperspace” (1994))[iii]at a macrocosmic level - “like anything can god-damn happen and the speed of light is not really the limit in terms of interactions with other cultures or whatever.  This stuff about grabbing people or subjecting them to all kinds of experiments - its just anthropology at a level we don’t understand quite yet”.  As for PCR testing of biological samples from abductee experiences he indicated, “You might imagine that I thought of that myself.  As for instance in “you can have some of mine, if I can have some of yours”.”  He feels that the idea of an alien culture needing our DNA to survive is very unlikely and an alien presence on a scale suggested by some of the bleaker takes of the alien abduction scenario seem improbable. Mullis had become aware of “The Threat – the secret agenda: What the aliens really want … and how they plan to get it”, a 1998 book by historian and abduction researcher David Jacobs that argues for an alien secret agenda to create alien-human “hybrids”, which are in the process of integrating into our planet and supplanting mankind.[iv]  Kary Mullis speculated with me that any culture that could conquer the barrier of space-time could have easily conquered the far simpler problems of complex biochemistry and would not need us in the manner described in the grey alien - human “hybrid” agenda theories.  

The very strange nature of the experiences that befell Kary Mullis, his daughter Louise, and his friend remind us of the bizarre dimension of this alien abduction controversy.  Strangeness and reality unbound are the siren calls of this phenomenon. Discontinuities of memories feature aplenty.  Extraordinarily bizarre recalls are often ignited by seemingly innocuous events or by revisiting ground zero.  Sometimes memory is seemingly contorted, manipulated or just shut down during a person’s engagement with this strange phenomenon. The boundaries of reality and the unreal become blurred. Sometimes it seems our world is intersecting or interacting with a bizarre quantum hyperspatial playground.   

---

[i]“The Unusual Origin of the Polymerase Chain Reaction”, by Kary Mullis, Scientific American, April 1990. The complex evolution of the PCR process and Kary Mullis’ role is covered in the book “Making PCR – a story of Biotechenology” by Paul Rabinow (University of Chicago Press, 1997). A briefer account in the context of the extraordinary contribution of DNA analysis is described in “The Improbable Origins of PCR”, a chapter in “Blood Evidence” by Dr. Henry Lee & Frank Tirnady (Perseus Publishing, 2003).

[ii]This is the extent of the story Kary Mullis told in his book “Dancing Naked in the Mind Field” (Bloomsbury, 1998), Chapter 13 “No Aliens allowed.” The rest of his story came out in my interview with him on April 4 1999.

[iii]See Michio Kaku, “Hyperspace – a scientific odyssey through parallel universes, time warps, and the 10thdimension” (Oxford University Press, 1994).

[iv]See David Jacobs, “The Threat” (Simon & Schuster, 1998)

The Great UFO Death and Resurrection Show continues - Wyong RSL - 4th August, 2019

The Tuggerah Lakes UFO Group Inc is hosting a lecture by leading Australian UFO researcher, author of “The OZ Files - the Australian UFO Story”, “Hair of the Alien” and the Australian chapter author of the massive UFO History Group study “UFOs and Government” at Wyong RSL, 2 pm, 4th August: 

“The Great UFO Death & Resurrection Show: UFO History, Fact & Fiction”

UFOs are big News - the New York Times, Politico, the History Channel’s “Unidentified” and “Project Bluebook”, the US Navy issues new directives to make it easier for their pilots to report their many strange encounters with “UFOs” or “UAPs”.  What’s going on? What secrets are being revealed?

Bill Chalker billozfiles@tpg.com.au 0450 892 558

http://theozfiles.blogspot.com

Joann Kanda

Tuggerah Lakes UFO Group Inc

The Great UFO Death & Resurrection Show: UFO history, fact and fiction

A rough cut summary of my earlier version of this talk (Penrith, UFORIA in the West, 7th April, 20190) will be greatly expanded at the Wyong RSL presentation: 

The New York Times piece from December 2017 which highlighted both the secret Pentagon UFO programme AATIP, revealing its project head Luis Elizondo, and an extraordinary UFO encounter back in 2004, the USS Nimitz encounter, also revealing one of the key witness Commander Fravor, was a watershed of a huge amount of mainstream news coverage.

The turbulent interface of UFO history, fact and fiction - the media’s wild dance with UFOs - case study of Dr. Allen Hynek and the History Channel’s 'Project Blue Book' and the religious impulse - Dr. Diana Pasulka’s 'American Cosmic - UFOs, Religion & Technology'.

Rock star Tom Delonge, Dr. Hal Puthoff and To The Stars Academy.

The phenomenon: UFOs & 'solid light' - case studies: Kiama, NSW, Australia and Port Jervis, USA.

Using science to try to understand what’s really going on - DNA & forensic investigation - case study: 'Hair of the Alien"

My presentation – a sort of personal rough “estimate of the situation” – an overview of what’s been happening and what my take is covered in this photo essay:

The "death" of ufology and the numerous terms we make to hide the "elephant in the room"

 The December 20017 New Times story, Luis Elizondo, Robert Bigelow & the Nimitz imagery

 The SCU report and clarifying imagery

 details from the SCU report

 The David Beaty documentary, the Dr. Masters "time travel" dive & the Nimitz Hollywood "time travel" saga for the lighter side of things?

 The TTSA milieu and the Unidentified branding of TTSA "science"?

 Prof Diana Pasulka's take on UFOs, religion & technology but lets not forget Jacques Vallee's advice to her.  The blind-folded trip into the desert and her account of the properties of the item found are a long way from a scientific account of the provenance and nature of the find.

Here is an excellent example of twisting and distorting real history - the History channel's "Project Blue Book" - Mark O'Connell, who wrote the Allen Hynek biography was not impressed.  While ignorance is bliss - perhaps one can just accept it blindly as entertainment, I couldn't. I spent time with Allen Hynek back in 1984 at his Chicago home.  I doubt he would have been impressed, beyond the initial tilt at celebrity.  Try reading his book "The Hynek UFO Report" for a more accurate take on Project Bluebook.

 Science & UFOs is a hard slog - slow careful investigations of intriguing evidence (such as my Kiama "solid light" investigation" and the Peter Khoury case investigation):

without avoiding the stranger aspects of the phenomenon - abduction claims, "Strange Evidence", apparitional accounts & paranormal dimensions.

Lets not forget the weight and impact of UFO history

A good start is Jerome Clark's mammoth undertaking

"The UFO Encyclopedia"

I was pleased to be a part of it,

but it was a rushed job.

THE USO CONNECTION

Given the location - Wyong, Tuggerah Lakes on the great Central Coast of New South Wales, lets consider the water connection - the USO enigma - Unidentified Submarine Objects:

Much of my lecture focuses on the Nimitz encounter and attempts to understand it.  

I address this in my previous post:

http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-ufo-science-redux-scu-nimitz-report.html

A “UFO science redux” – the SCU Nimitz report: “A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven’s Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle” 

Thanks to Robert Powell of the SCU – the Scientific Coalition for Ufology – which advocates “scientific Inquiry of UFOs, USOs and UAPs” – I have had an opportunity to review SCU’s excellent study of the popularly called Nimitz encounters that occurred in 2004. I highly recommend the SCU study which can now be read in full on their site at:

https://www.explorescu.org/papers/nimitz_strike_group_2004

along with some of SCU’s interviews with key witnesses Kevin Day, Jason Turner and Gary Voorhis. 

The report - “A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven’s Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle” is authored by Robert Powell, Peter Reali, Tim Thompson, Morgan Beall, Doug Kimzey, Larry Cates, and Richard Hoffman.  

Its format is an excellent template for future case studies – namely that of a peer reviewed scientific report with detailed referencing, documentation and extensive appendices backing up the content of core 21-page report.  Given that the total document is 270 pages long the SCU Nimitz report will serve as a foundational reference point for the debate, discussion and further research. 

I have using lecture “The Great UFO Death & Resurrection Show:UFO history, fact and fiction” and the SCU Nimitz report as entry points into a commentary on the winds of change that have dominated the UFO scene since the December 2017 New York Times story.  The story was a dramatic awakening for mainstream media and the general public on the UFO phenomenon and a staging point for the “abduction” of the current trajectory of the evolution of the UFO story by the Luis Elizondo/Tom Delonge and To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) team. The recent History Channel “Unidentified” series unde (I’ve seen the whole series and plan to write further on this.  For starters consider ("Unidentified", TTSA & the paranormal stew 2 July 2019) the Nimitz story of 2004 is being revealed in more detail by the TTSA investigation. 

The TTSA investigation as revealed in the History channel’s programme “Unidentified” proceeds as a fairly standard UFO investigation, despite TTSA general take that the UFO research that occurred prior to the arrival of the secretive Pentagon UFO programme AATIP and the somewhat opaque TTSA agenda, was just a tasty entrée.  The TTSA seem to posit that now all that really is important is the story that TTSA are revealing.  The manner in which they are revealing it is troubling as it lacks the in depth availability of detailed data.  So far it seems that the limited data that TTSA has released on the Nimitz case along with the elaboration of it on the History channel’s “Unidentified” is going to be TTSA’s version of “scientific ufology” – the new TTSA mediated UFO/UAS era. One hopes for more transparency and a great deal more substantive data anchored in open scientific scrutiny. The closest we have got to that preferred position is in the “UFO science redux” I previously alluded to, namely the Scientific Coalition for Ufology (CSU) Nimitz report: “A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven’s Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle.” 

I was forced to wonder where was the full scientific reporting of TTSA on the Nimitz affair. The outing their coverage is receiving in the “Unidentified” series is intriguing, such as the USO (Unidentified Submarine Object) connection along with the UFO/UAP activity concentrations that focused at the coordinates that the Princeton petty officer Kevin Day describes – 28.91 degrees N 118.26 degrees West – namely Guadalupe Island off the Baja Pennisula coast of Mexico – the alleged destination of the Nimitz encounter UAPs/UFOs – according to Day.  Whether this connection and the full complex details of the Nimitz affair get more fully documented, way beyond the popular media presentations (such as the show “Unidentified”), will for me, at least, be the measure of credibility and responsibility of TTSA’s dive into “UFO science.” 

Of course the whole USO angle is nothing new in UFO research.  
Ivan T. Anderson trawled this era in some detail in his 1970 book “Invisible Residents – A Disquisition upon Certain Matters Maritime, and the Possibility of Intelligent Life under the waters of This Earth.” It became the focus of Carl Feindt’s UFO research, first through his www.waterufo.net website and his subsequent book “UFOs and Water.” Sadly Carl passed away recently but his book and research is a wonderful legacy.  One would hope that TTSA has examined this research.

I’m no stranger to this aspect as well. I wrote the following in an OZ Files blog back in June 2006:

“UFOs and water – the USO Enigma.

“Recently I worked with the History Channel in the preparation of a programme on Unidentified Submarine Objects (USOs). I described a number of Australian examples, such as the January 1962 encounter between the HMAS Voyager and a large and deep USO that was tracked by sonar doing some 100 knots. The local camera man told me of his own experience while working for BBC TV on a programme on RAF Leuchars base in Scotland. There he saw a map with multiple recorded UFO sightings in the area. He was told by one of the fighter pilots that encounters with UFOs were common. In an informal moment a RAF pilot showed the camera man a photo of a UFO with what appeared to be an entity shape in what seemed to be a dome cupola. The pilot claimed he had taken the photo from his jet cockpit as the UFO flew along side his aircraft. This experience appears to have occurred back in the 1960s, which puts it in the same era as a USO incident that alleged to have taken place off the Scotland coast. In that case a USO was "flushed" off the sea bottom and rose at speed out of the ocean in sight of the crew of a number of RN ships. This story emerged in an investigation I did into a striking Nowra NSW area close encounter which featured RAN interest, alleged radar interference, and a possible attempt to retrieve a UFO/USO! The USO enigma is an enduring and potent part of the UFO phenomenon.”

 Filming for the History Channel USO outing

 in front of the Sydney Harbour Opera House

Given the outing that the USO is having via TTSA and the History channel’s “Unidentified” series, it is worthwhile to describe the striking Nowra event alluded to in my 2006 blog. This account emerged from a UFOIC investigation I undertook with Robb Tilley and Dominic Kelly back in 1992. I also described it in my 1996 book “The OZ Files – the Australian UFO Story.”

                     AN EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR NEAR NOWRA

Elizabeth C. and her family regularly took their Christmas holidays on the South Coast of NSW.  One evening, Elizabeth stated she was driving an old Valiant car carrying 4 other people (her ill husband - who was asleep and under medication, and had no involvement in the incident; her two daughters, Jennifer (ca. 17) and Robyn (ca. 11 - 12); and Jennifer's boyfriend, Trevor G. (ca. 23, an off duty army officer) and a dog, on the Princes Highway, heading north.   The group was returning from an outing at Darris South, to their holiday spot at Shoalhaven Heads.

The date of the incident was originally estimated as the Christmas period of either 1972 or 1973.  Further information has confirmed the likely date as around early January, 1973.  The approximate time of the incident was 3.30 am. The duration of the event was approximately 15 minutes or more - the time it takes to drive at moderate speed along the Princes Highway, from the turn off to Sussex Inlet to just before the turnoff road to the Royal Australian Naval base, HMAS Albatross (Air Naval Station, Nowra) - a distance of approximately 24 kms.  This estimate is most likely understated as collectively the witnesses refer to durations between 15 to 30 minutes.

The encounter appears to have begun just as the group passed the turnoff to Sussex Inlet.  The seating arrangement in the car was as follows: Mrs. Elizabeth C. (r.h.s front - driver seat), Mr. C. (asleep in the l.h.s front), Mr. Trevor G. (l.h.s rear seat), Jennifer C. (middle rear), and Robyn C. (r.h.s rear).   The dog was on the floor in the rear.  Jennifer C. indicated that she remembers changing seats at various times with Trevor G.  Trevor was fairly certain that he had been located at the l.h.s rear window.

Mrs. C. drew the attention of the others to the presence of a light ahead.  To Elizabeth it appeared to look like the light from an approaching semi-trailer. Then it seemed to move to her left (the western side of the road) and approached the car, like an aircraft passing by.  It was as the object approached them on their left that the events took on an extraordinary turn.   The object, until then, largely perceived as a bright light source, appeared to reverse direction and take up a parallel flying position in the groups travelling direction.   This represented a 180^ochange in direction for the UFO.  At this point the object appeared to be very large, at very low level (virtually at ground level) and quite close, off the road to their left. It maintained a parallel course with them for approximately the next 24 kms.

Mrs. C. described the object as large, with red lights under what looked appeared to be portholes.  The red lights looked like a thin ribbon of light.  Mrs. C. said the night was very dark.   At that point the UFO was apparent as a large disc-shaped object with possible “window” features along its length.  There appeared to be a distinct “searchlight” like beam effect that rotated around the bottom of the object.   At least one of the witnesses, Trevor,  the army officer, who was in the best position to see the extraordinary display, was certain that there were figures that could be seen in the windows of the object.

At a point near the turnoff to HMAS Albatross Naval base, the object seemed to suddenly vanish.  It appeared to have instantly relocated to a high altitude and moved in a large arc around Nowra and then headed out to sea, where it was lost to sight.

Later that morning one of the group investigated a disturbance at their campsite at Shoalhaven Heads.  She joined a large number of holidaying campers at the ocean edge. The disturbance was apparently due to a number of helicopters passing low over the campsite, heading out to sea. The member of the group observed the helicopters over a fiery mass in the water.  It was alleged that this object was UFO related and that the helicopters were involved in an attempted retrieval!

Because of their earlier experience and the campsite events, 3 members of the group - Mrs. C., her daughter, Jennifer, and Trevor - went to HMAS Albatross to report their experience.  Instead of a light hearted or unwelcome reception the group were the subject of an apparent high level and detailed interview.  They were told they seemed to be the closest people to the UFO, which seemed to have had numerous witnesses.  The army officer was certain he was told that the base radar had been affected by the UFO during the incident.  He also indicated that after he had returned to his army unit he was interviewed about the south coast experience by intelligence officers.

In company with Dominic Kelly and Robb Tilley, I interviewed Mrs. C. in detail at her residence during August, 1992.  We found her to be an impressive and compelling witness.  We were left in no doubt that she was describing what appeared to be an extraordinary experience to the best of her abilities.  I was subsequently able to interview Trevor G. and Jennifer C. and I was impressed with their testimony.  There seems little doubt that something extraordinary happened but to date official confirmation has alluded us.  Unfortunately nothing substantial was confirmed in official enquiries.  

Getting back to the “great UFO death & resurrection show” that seems to be afoot of late – the Nimitz saga, the nature of the TTSA insertion into the UFO story, the convoluted ATTIP story, the Bigelow NIDS/BAASS enquiries, the “new” religious impulse divined in the UFO subject via Diana Pasulka’s “American Cosmic – UFOs, Religion, Technology,” the media’s wild embrace of UFO fact and fiction (for example the History channel’s colourful “Project Bluebook” series riding on Dr. Allen Hynek’s more compelling UFO legacy), and even the so-called “UFO leak of the century” – the alleged Wilson/Davis “leak”, and even US President Trump’s nods to the subject – all these and many more are like unresolved jigsaw puzzles raining from the sky.  We don’t even know if we are collecting and collating pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle.  But the ongoing efforts to tease out the detail, depth and legitimacy of all these different aspects, let alone the steady occurrences of UAP/UFO phenomena, seems to ensure that there will be a fascinating UFO controversy continuing to develop beyond the limited picture the media are embracing. We live in interesting times.

“Anime Girl & Jigsaw Pieces Sky Art” by Kiro Horime