UFO UAP encounters of the library kind

Libraries of all kinds hold a special fascination for me. Ah, yes, books … I’ll avoid a history of general literary delights, and here focus on some personal encounters of the library and book kind with UFOs and their current linguistic iteration – the UAP. While I am always motivated to do field investigations and direct enquiries into UFO UAP phenomena, I have encountered a lot of striking encounters of the library book kind.

 

It seems libraries and books have haunted my life, and continue to do so in fascinating, striking and delightful ways. 

 

For me personally one of my most amazing library discoveries was when I was apparently the first person to have examined in detail the “F.W. Birmingham Papers” in the University of Sydney Rare Books and Special Collections of Fisher Library on 2 August 2024, which had writing drawings and newspaper clippings gathered by 19^thcentury local surveyor, engineer and Parramatta council officer, Frederick William Birmingham, elaborating on the strange and remarkable experiences, I had first been alerted to way back in 1975. Birmingham had described seeing a mysterious flying “ark” landing in Parramatta Park, going inside the “machine to go through the air” with the apparent “ark” pilot – a “spirit” – being “like a neutral tint shade and the shape of a man in his usual frock dress”.  Further events followed, including an event seemingly described as actual day time witnessed observation of strange clouds with a strange aerial object in March, 1873. Other strange events like poltergeist and prophetic type incidents, were described, leading Birmingham to an obsession to learn the secret of “the aerial machine.”  It was an extraordinary moment for me to hold and examine Birmingham’s drawing of “the Rover”, his plan for a “flying machine” inspired by his “UFO vision” of 1868.  See my detailed account at 

https://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-birmingham-ufo-vision-manuscript.html

and UFO Truth e-magazine Issue 68 July/August 2024

 

Yet another wild UFO library momentum – “On the steps of a “magnificent obsession” – UFOs, UAP and the Mitchell Library” – “Here on the steps of a wonderful "magnificent obsession" is this group of people, many of whom have their own "magnificent obsession" with the UFO (UAP) subject.  The steps are the north western steps of the Mitchell Library in Sydney, located just to the right of the red arrow ("Mitchell Building entrance") on the State Library of NSW map. The date: Saturday 28 October 2023. In 2007 Brian Fletcher provide an excellent account of the story of the Mitchell Library, which was entitled "Magnificent Obsession."

“The group assembled on the Mitchell steps, had been there with a full house for the booked out Close Encounters Australia sponsored lecture event with Ross Coulthart, author of "In Plain Sight - An Investigation into UFOs and impossible science", now in a revised and updated edition (2 new chapters - "Lock your doors!" and "The Biggest Story Ever ...").

See my detailed account at

http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2023/11/on-steps-of-magnificent-obsession-ufos.html

 

“This most recent excellent UFO event at the Mitchell reminded me of past visits to the Mitchell and NSW State Library. Back in 1996 1954 Sea Fury pilot/UFO witness joined me and supported my book launch of "The OZ Files" on "a dark and stormy night" at the Metcalf Auditorium at the Mitchell/State Library - one of the worse storms to hit Sydney for a while - a wild launch indeed. While spending long hours in the Mitchell reading old newspapers and micro film searching for historical UFO/UAP reports, I met a fellow Fortean researcher Paul Cropper and we became friends from that point on.  I did a lot of research into the 1868 Parramatta "UFO vision" of Frederick William Birmingham after confirming at the Mitchell he was a real resident of historical Parramatta and they had some of his survey maps. There were many other UFO related threads and plus the hard copy availability of material on my first Australian ancestor William Chalker led me to the Mitchell/State Library. 

“Many magnificent obsessions have been nourished at the Mitchell/State Library.” 

 

The Society for UAP Studies, for which I am an advisor, has begun community reading circles, focusing on “a careful reading of current UAP Studies works in conjunction with more traditional academic and scientific work that can put the texts in UAP Studies in proper context. As the science and scholarship on the subject of UAP and related phenomena increases in appeal and acceptance, it is important to keep grounded in works that help foster a wider critical - and historical - perspective.” While time zone differences are often a difficulty for me, I recommend this ongoing book calibration activity. 

See: https://www.societyforuapstudies.org/community-reading-circle

 

I was pleased to see Bryce Zabel and Chrissy Newton started “a morning-show-style book club made for readers who want to explore the unknown with a hot drink in hand and curiosity on full blast” on 28 May 2025 with the 2021 book “The Believer – Alien Encounters, Hard Science and the Passion of John Mack” by Ralph Blumenthal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ORwjCiaL-Y

 

Back in 2021 I wrote about “The Believer” from personal, general and fascinated perspectives in a brief piece on my blog “The OZ Files” and in more detail in UFO Truth (48: March/April 2021 entitled “The Believer: a tale of 2 books & me”, stating: 

“Its unusual when 2 books come out about the same time, each with the same title, particularly when, in part, they share similar themes. In this case, we have: 

"The Believer - Encounters with love, death & faith" by Sarah Krasnostein (Scribe, Melbourne, Australia, 2021)

"The Believer - Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the passion of John Mack" by Ralph Blumenthal (High Road Books, an imprint of the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, USA, 2021)

 

I wrote, “What are the chances?” visiting American UFO
and Roswell researcher Don Schmitt was saying
to my friend George Simpson, a Melbourne based UFO researcher. George was on the way to Westall, in Melbourne with author Sarah Krasnostein along for the ride, the conversation and content for a book she was researching. George gives his passengers (Don and Sarah) the Westall ’66 UFO tour and story, describing the April 1966 Westall school UFO event. What drew Don Schmitt’s response, was what George was also telling him what Sarah Krasnostein would describe in her 2021 book "The Believer - Encounters with love, death & faith" as “one of the best stories I have ever heard.” See pages 225–229 of her book
“The Believer.” It’s a very strange story involving
a possible bizarre scenario that may have played out in the October 1978 disappearance of Frederick Valentich, while he was flying over Bass Strait. A South Australian farmer visiting Coonabarabran in NSW, who apparently had brought a property in the area, told a hardware store owner, that at his SA property back in October 1978 he had witnessed a UFO which had an apparently intact Cessna light aircraft Cessna attached to its side. 

 

“The story had the farmer scratching down the
call sign of the plane on his tractor. It allegedly matched the call sign of the Cessna Valentich was flying. Sarah Krasnostein quotes me in her book
as calling the account “extraordinarily bizarre
and unbelievable.” Frustratingly, the SA farmer’s account lacked a name, so no confirmation was possible. Unstated in “The Believers”, my research, assisted by George Simpson, found yet another farmer, who had an even more elaborate account, but one that was suppose to have happened on
his property in southern New South Wales. Similar elements were featured, making us wonder if he had somehow heard the original tale and made it his own. Yet another, ultimately frustrating story. 

 

“I described the story under the title “Strange days, strange tales – a Valentich connection?” in my UFO Truth column in the 3rd issue (September/October, 2013) and on my OZ Files site: https:// theozfiles.blogspot.com/search?q=Coonabarabran

 

Sarah Kranostein’s book had a much broader canvas than just UFOs and UAP. I wrote in 2021, “There is a broad brush of human experience - dying a good death, ghost investigations, creationists, a woman who murdered her abusive husband, a religious "cult" choir and UFOs. With the UFO aspect, Westall, the Valentich disappearance, Roswell and UFO believers are included.” 

 

Of Ralph Blumenthal’s “The Believer”, I wrote back in 2021, “In what could be seen as another “What are the chances?” moment”, another book with the same title by Ralph (co-author of the December 2017 New York Times UAP/UFO breakout story) came out in the United States
in a similar time frame: "The Believer - Alien encounters, hard science, and the passion of John Mack". I also have a small cameo in that book. Peter Khoury (the main subject of my 2005 book “Hair of the Alien”) and I got to know John personally and professionally during his visits to Australia. My My tribute to John Mack written in September 2004 - “John Mack’s Transpersonal Journey Continues” got into the question of seeking physical evidence:

“Like all of us I found the news of John Mack’s untimely passing very saddening.

While some of us might not have agreed with some of the directions John was taking the subject in, I think the field has been enriched by his involvement. When he was in Australia I supported his research into indigenous aboriginal abduction & UFO experiences — an area we both had a strong interest in, particularly its shamanic dimensions. On the hurdles he often encountered, particularly from mainstream academia, he once told me what he felt. Maybe his response was coloured by spending too much time in Australia, but clearly he enjoyed his time down down under. His response: “Fuck ‘em”. I smiled and wished him well. He was always a courageous and wonderful researcher. Full speed John on the rest of your transpersonal journey.”

 

My interest in UFOs developed as a young teenager growing up in the mid sixties with a strong interest in science and unexplained phenomena.  January 1966, saw my hometown, Grafton, in northern New South Wales, become the focus of widely reported UFO activity.  Many people, including local police, reported sightings. 

 

The afternoon Sydney “Sun” newspaper of June 5, 1966 carried the story:

“FOLLOW THAT SAUCER! 2 police in Grafton chase …”

“Two police constables “chased” a flying saucer around Grafton last night.  The object, which they said changed its colour from white to red, led the two men in a police vehicle all over the district for about two hours.  It then disappeared southwest of the city.

“Constables E. Mercer and P. Woodman were sitting in Grafton police Station at 8 p.m. when a man called, saying there was a “funny looking” thing in the sky.  The two policemen went outside and saw the bright object hoveringover Grafton.  They trained binoculars on the object, which had begun moving to the south of the city at slow speed.  By this stage, the police switchboard was jammed with calls from people who said they had seen the object.  The constables got into a police car and began following it across the city.  As it moved about 1500 ft above the ground its colour changed from white to red and then back to white.

“The policemen described the object as “just a large light without any apparent centre.”  They called their station and reported that they would keep on the mystery objects trail in case it landed.  After two hours, the object moved off at high speed and disappeared.  Constable K. Crossingham said today a similar object had been seen off Harwood Island, about 30 miles north-east of Grafton, last week.”

 

I can recollect that there was a great deal of excitement and interest locally.  Alas I was not among the witnesses, but the events did encourage more interest.  Long duration night time sightings often turned out to have some sort of astronomical explanation but in this case the usual suspects Venus, Jupiter and Sirius were not present in the night sky at the times and directions described.  The extent of the movements described, also seem to preclude an astronomical explanation.  Other possibilities such as balloons and other prosaic identifications also are difficult fits.  So it seems it was a mystery.  Other police in areas like Lismore and Casino figured in nocturnal UFO chases in the weeks and months that followed during what seemed an intense localized UFO flap.

 

My town had borne witness to the UFO mystery.  Through deepening research, I was just starting to learn of the scale of the UFO mystery.  

 

Within a few years I seemed to be bearing witness to a funeral – the death of the UFO mystery.  Looming towards that destination, I was devouring everything I could find on the UFO subject.  

 

I had found intriguing sources of UFO information in my high school library.  One day Mrs. Colleen Haigh, the Grafton High School librarian, noting my growing reading obsession, asked me what I was focusing on. I showed her that I was particularly reading through all the “Science & Mechanics” magazine articles that were running UFO and flying saucer articles many by writer Lloyd Mallan.  Much of this material was brought together in a 1968 paperback book “The Official Guide to UFOs”.  Within days, Mrs. Haigh called me over to her librarian desk. She gave me a book to keep, her own hardback copy of “Flying Saucers have Landed” by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski.  I was not much impressed by George Adamski’s tales of meeting spacemen, but Desmond Leslie’s eccentric accounts of flying saucers in centuries past intrigued me. I just had to check the original sources for his contribution to UFO history before 1947 and his embroidered ancient alien and flying saucer stories. I still have the school librarian’s gift in my own library.  During 2010 in a class of 1970 reunion visit to Grafton High School, former students were given a nostalgic tour, by the retiring principal and some current school students.  In the new library I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of my 1996 book “The OZ Files – the Australian UFO story.” I was photographed with the principal signing my own book, to perhaps increase its readership among current students. 

 

During the late 1960s and the beginning of the the 1970s, the Grafton town library was often my second home. It was there in 1969 that I encountered a hard back book copy of the “tombstone” of the UFO “funeral” – “The Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects” – the notorious Condon committee report.  I read through it many times, cover to cover.  Instead of finding a massive ode to a funeral for the UFO mystery, I was stunned to find that the body of case data and the conclusions seemed remarkably inconsistent.  About a third of the cases studied by the Condon committee were unexplained.  That didn’t stop the project’s director Dr. Edward Condon from concluding that there was nothing of scientific merit in the UFO problem.  Dr. Condon even argued for discouraging students from studying the subject.

 

I was by then a UFO student, developing a growing passion for science, who concluded the Condon report was bad science.  Some good data, but some troubling, skewed conclusions. Instead of discouraging me, it made me want to engage with the UFO subject more deeply.  I wanted to try to understand the extraordinary disconnection between massive worldwide human experience and this manifestation of mainstream science declaring that the UFO mystery had no merit. 

 

What I was starting to understand through all this early literature and case research was that this was no funeral I was witnessing.  Rather, this was a massive suppression of worldwide human experience of something extraordinary.

 

Given all this library and book interactions it is hardly surprising that I have developed a rather large library of my own, with a significant part of it being taken up by the mystery of UFOs and related matters.  I prefer the presence of actual books, rather than the digital book, but when space, availability and budgetary issues intrude, I’ve accumulated a large digital library.

 

I was asked to do a podcast interview for a local Sydney person James Caulfield during this month of June 2025.  His new developing podcast – The Caulfield - was not focused on UFOs, but seems to be like the average guy tracking down folks who are singularly focused on specific interests his first 2 guests were covering different things: 

Professor Geraint Lewis is a Cosmologist at The University of Sydneydiscussing stuff beyond Earth, but was of the “Rare Earth” school, namely we on Earth are it, in terms of intelligent life in the universe, a position I don’t agree with.  The idea that we are the most intelligent life form in the universe is problematic and somewhat depressing.

Professor Gigi Foster is an award winning economist, author, and outspoken public intellectual known for her work in behavioural economics and her commentary on public policy, education, and COVID-19 responses. The interview dives into her views on lockdowns, vaccines, society, and the role of critical thinking in public debate.

I gather our interview will be up during July 2025. Worth a look for diverse subject matters and different view points.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCaulfieldPod

 

To get an idea of his format I watched the first interviews, which I found interesting.  I thought, to drive our interview along, I would bring along a small focused part of my library.  Take a look at that mini-view of my library and where the interview goes.  I had fun.

 

The library book thing reared it head again, providing a good resource when I was finding it difficult to get a full copy of the special UAP (UFO) issue of the journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences 2025, Volume 156 – off to Macquarie University and their relatively new Waranara Library.  Despite not being directly affiliated, the library enabled my direct digital access to the whole journal, wading my way through what is a great “shot across the bow” to mainstream research – hey guys and girls, here is a scientific problem worth you focus, that you have largely ignored or marginalised.  Here-in are a huge array of sources to enable some serious catching up – a serious turning point in mainstream science and the need to really focus on the UFO UAP problem.  Time to get serious. I’ve been suggesting that now for 5 decades – what took you so long. The journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences 2025, Volume 156

Here are just 2 articles from of that UAP dedicated special issue:

“The New science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)” by Kevin Knuth et.al (meaning there are a lot of authors and a huge resource in data and digital referencing)

 

“Estimates of radiative energy values in ground-level observations of an unidentified aerial phenomenon: New physical data”
Jacques F. Vallée, Luc Dini, Geoffrey Mestchersky They have re-examined a case from the Condon Report.  Here is the abstract: 


"An exceptional observation of an anomalous object, recorded as ‘unidentified’ by the US Air Force and in the1969 final report of the University of Colorado (“Condon”) study of UAPs, has been re-examined by a Franco-American scientific team.

The observation took place on the evening of December 30, 1966, on an isolated highway traversing a forest near Haynesville, Louisiana. Early in 1967 the main witness, a professor of atomic physics named Louie A. Galloway, reported the case to Project Blue Book of the USAF. Pro-active investigation by one of the authors (JV) brought it to the attention of Professor Edward Condon, himself a noted atomist who had worked under Project Manhattan. Dr. Condon and his team had just begun an official re-examination of UFO (UAP) phenomena under funding of the US Air Force.

The case, which centered on a well-defined luminous object at ground level, led to energy estimates from 500 to 1400 MW, in the range of a small modern nuclear power plant. Significantly, it was one of a number of cases carried as ‘Unidentified’ in Dr. Condon's final report to the National Academy of Sciences in 1969.

Subsequent to that Academy report, significant work was continued at the site by civilian investigators who confirmed the data, augmented by night photography flights. The team returned to the area with the primary witness, located the exact place of observation and gathered new data, notably about the nature of burns evidenced on the trees, which had not been available to Dr. Condon and his assistants.

Samples of the burned and intact bark were obtained by our own team, and they were preserved until it became possible to properly analyze the material.

The burn analysis data presented here was obtained at the laboratories of the French Atomic Energy Commission in Saclay, France. We present our results with the understanding that the study will benefit from further discussion within the larger scientific community."

 

Ah, a UFO (UAP) physical trace case from 1966 – the year for UFO landings, such as Tully, Westall and Burkes Flat, and these are just some of the good ones from Australia – a focus I had been documenting and publicising for many decades. Good to see that mainstream science might actually be catching up.  The journal Progress in Aerospace Sciences 2025, Volume 156 special UAP issue will be a game changer, I think.

"Solid Light" review

Here is an extract from my lengthy “Solid Light Cases” entry in the mammoth 2 volume 4th edition of “The UFO Encyclopedia – The Phenomenon from the beginning” by Jerome Clarke with Brad Sparks, with further contributions by Thomas Bullard, Douglas Dean Johnson, Theo Pajimans, Thiago Luiz Ticchetti, Thomas Tulien, and myself.

I strongly recommend this major work to all who are interested in the UFO/UAP subject.  It is a rich and vast resource of information coming in at near 1700 pages.

“Solid light” cases describe a significant range of UFO/UAP events that have worldwide occurrence, across the full history of the phenomenon. They involve events in which UFOs appear to manipulate light beams or possible exotic analogues of what we understand as light beams, but do so so in ways that appear to be beyond our current capabilities and understanding.   These “light beams” have some intriguing characteristics.  Unlike light beams as we know them many of these UFO light beams are seemingly truncated, having a “sawed-off” appearance or a finite end. They often seemed to be projected in unusual ways, particularly demonstrating “slow progression”. Instead of immediate projection these beams often slowly project.  They are often non-divergent, with many reports of what appear to be solid light tubes.  They seem to be used in a variety of ways as transport or for picking up things like people or UFO entities – an alien variant of the tractor beam – a staple of science fiction - but they seem light years beyond the limited achievements we have made in this area. They are often involved in vehicle immobilisation events, which in UFO parlance have been referred to as EM car stop events, the EM referring to the proposition of a possible electromagnetic mechanism.  These cases represent a fascinating, but somewhat neglected body of remarkable international case data, which may provide some fascinating breakthroughs in how we can ultimately manipulate and utilise light in ways that seem like science fiction. 

The term solid light is possibly inappropriate as many cases implied that the strange light beams may not be solid in the way we judge phases of matter.  Indeed, it also seems in some cases what appears to be phase change occurs, seemingly like from possible analogues of what we view as solid, liquid and gas. The close study of these sorts of cases could add to science and maybe lead to breakthrough advances in technology. Maybe mainstream science is slowly catching up.  Bosen Einstein condensates and other newly developed states of matter, along with experimentation in a wide range of areas, have been helping us to manipulate light as we know it, in diverse ways, such as slowing light. These are like baby steps compared to what is reported in the range of UFO/UAP light beam reports that come under the tentative nomenclature of solid light. (for example see Clegg, 2001; Perkowitz, 2011)

The SOBEPS solid light catalogue

A preliminary catalogue of solid light cases by Claude Bourtembourg and Alice Ashton of the Belgium group SOBEPS, dated May 1976, listed 128 reports, but it was best viewed as a starting point, as its focus was broad (“straight beams (not dispersive)”, “beams described as if issuing from a powerful projector”, “a pennant hills historygroup of simple beams”, “docked” or “solid light” beams, “probing” beams, “beams assisting in certain humanoid activities”, “luminous projections of diverse forms” and “special cases” (in which UFOs seemed to affect our own light technology) and the listing contained errors.  The latter category of special cases, for example, had 3 different listings of the same Australian event – the famous bent headlight beam case from Victoria (Burkes Flat), which, while a striking event, was not an explicit example of UFO solid light, but it may still provide some data for assisting interpreting such cases. (Bourtembourg & Ashton, 1976) 

THE BUCHER SOLID LIGHT STUDY

Dr. Walter Bucher, went significantly beyond the SOBEPS listing, producing a German language 225 paged survey, publishing in a European MUFON-CES conference volume in 1978, but still included a rather broad range of case references, with the apparent intention of more accurately calibrating the solid light experience, and attempting some explanations involving such things as particle beams, and/or microwave and ultrasound beams. However, Bucher concluded, “It seems very probable that the solid light phenomena are based on physical principles still completely unknown to us.” He described the core phenomenon, “A solid light looks like a compact cylinder or cone radiating much more light to the slides than an ordinary light beam.  Frequently a solid light has an abrupt end and the length of the beam can be varied.” (Bucher, in Brand, 1978)

THE HEERING SOLID LIGHT STUDIES

Considerable debate and controversy, particularly among European researchers, of case data associated with the loose term of solid light, was focused on surveys undertaken by Dutch researcher Jan Heering, who undertook “a comparative analysis of 62 “solid light” beam cases” published in 1978. Heering’s abstract noted, “witnesses of UFO related events have repeatedly mentioned the fact that the anomalous objects observed by them emitted one or several solid looking, slowly propagating light beams (‘solid light’ beams). (The analysis showed) the characteristics of ‘solid light’ beams are remarkably constant: uniform luminosity; sharply defined edges; low propagation velocity; conical or cylindrical shape; and (sometimes) propagation along a curved path.”  

Heering concluded, “there is no lack of unsolved problems in connection with ‘solid light’ beams and it is no exaggeration to say that, except for certain phenomenological aspects, nothing definitive is known about them.”

However, doubts about some cases started to undermine Heering’s confidence and he started to carefully re-examine his solid light case collection.  He had already highlighted 4 cases (La-Roche-en-Brenil, France, 1954; Mendoza, Argentina, 1968; Olavarria, Argentina, 1969; and Tandil, Argentina, 1974) as unreliable. Despite some interesting theoretical exchanges in 1979 with SOBEP’s Auguste Meesen, a professor of physics, on the possible utility of proton beams to facilitate some of the characteristics of reported solid light cases, it seemed Heering was more concerned that more cases were unreliable, such as a dubious colour photo on the cover of LDLN No.138 – allegedly taken in France on March 23, 1974.  The dubious nature of the photo’s discovery should have already been concerning enough.  

NON-EVENTS?

In September 1980 Heering met with Ernest Berger (real name Alexander G. Keul), a Vienna based researcher, who had published on solid light cases in the Traunstein Austria area (featuring reports of objects emitting straight and curved “feelers of light”).  Despite being somewhat tangential or atypical of many solid light cases, Heering had considered them to be of significance.  Berger (Keul) was now informing him they were the result of “a naïve and unexperienced amateur” and that they were of little value, and that generally “UFO sightings had a psychopathological background.” This led Heering to deleting all cases from Berger. Heering felt uncertain about the remaining. 

HEERING’S EXIT

Writing in a letter in February 1985 to the editor of SVLT newsletter Wim van Utrecht, Jan Heering recollected his 1980 thinking, “How many of these hundred cases are reliable? Ten? Twenty? So many that the conclusions I have based on them are incorrect? Is there anything such as “solid light”? I think so. That’s about all I venture to say about it.” Over a period of 5 years Heering had focused on the physical aspects of the UFO phenomenon, concentrating on solid light reports, but would eventually destroy his UFO archives and end his UFO research.  (Heering, 1985)

CHALKER’S SOLID LIGHT REVIEW

Despite this somewhat mixed and bleak overview of some of the earlier research into so-called solid light, Australian researcher Bill Chalker began to try to systematically review the literature on such cases and to apply his scientific and vocational quality control background to carefully reassessing the available solid light case data. Through the assistance of many researchers around the world he concluded after extensive review, study and research, that there still was a significant body of well documented case material that supported his long held hypothesis that they represent a body of potentially remarkable data. It is an ongoing (perhaps unending) review with many issues and difficulties that are being addressed as best as resources allow. Chalker suspected they could provide some fascinating breakthroughs in how we can ultimately manipulate and utilise light in ways that seem like science fiction. The solid light UFO cases appear to suggest that the UFO/UAP reality is demonstrating that, whatever is behind them, UFOs have been doing many extraordinary things with light or its exotic analogues.

The possibility of breakthrough technologies, or perhaps more accurately, in terms of national security perspectives, disruptive breakthrough technologies are a critical pivot point in the long and circuitous pathway that the “national security” narrative has taken over more than 50 years of often myopic and toxic embraces from mainstream media, politics, the military, the intelligence world, and science. 

The 2012 book “UFOs and Government – A Historical Inquiry” by the UFO History Group, with primary authors Dr. Michael Swords and Robert Powell, provides detailed information on the long historical perspectives and the litany of lost opportunities of identifying and launching deep scientific investigations of potential breakthrough technologies, or indeed ones of the disruptive kind.

THE RED BLUFF USA CASE

In “UFOs and Government” Dr. Swords, a retired science professor of 30 years standing at Western Michigan University, highlighted a striking example of an impressive police witnessed encounter on the night of August 13 and 14, 1960 at Red Bluff, in California, which also featured possible solid light, but that detail was missing in its official investigation.

THE RED BLUFF SOLID LIGHT REVEALED

Michael Swords described “one very strange feature of the case” – the hidden aspect of solid light. “The light beam projected by the object seemed like what would be described today, as a big, fat laser beam. That is, it did not spread out or diffuse “properly.” But worse than that, the beam seemed to have an “end” to it. Even Carson, who was much the more verbal of the two officers, did not talk about this in the earlier reports. However, in a 1966 interview with McDonald, he had become comfortable enough that he said: “Its beam seemed to extend out a distance in the air, and then to end in some curious manner that [I] did not understand then or now.” McDonald, though a sympathetic interviewer, thought that this was probably impossible and tried to rationalize it on the basis of a limited area of dust in the air. But today 

there are dozens of other sightings mentioning this peculiar sawed-off light.”

The US Air Force investigators with Project Bluebook did not put in a serious, objective attempt at a focused scientific investigation.  Instead the police witnesses had to endure a myopic debunking exercise. Official attitudes caused the main witness, a highway patrol officer, to not describe the “light beam” to the USAF.  James McDonald, a noted atmospheric physicist, managed to draw out this remarkable detail, because he was actually interested in what the witnesses reported. But, unfortunately at the time he did not pursue this aspect.

However, genuine scientific skepticism, driven by a desire to question and carefully investigate an experience, at least captured this detail.  Michael Swords indicated in an end note in the book “UFOs and Government” that “sawed-off light” cases are “a peculiar feature of a smallish set of “high strangeness” UFO encounters.  As these encounters are widely spread across the world, this feature is surprising and difficult to explain on sociological grounds.” He indicated he had some 44 cases in his own files. (Swords, in Swords & Powell, 2012)

Bill Chalker, the author of the Australian chapter in “UFOs and Government” contacted Dr. Swords, highlighting he had already been conducting a detailed study of a larger collection of such cases, and requested a copy of his listing and any further solid light accounts he may have.  Swords subsequently expanded on his initial review arguing that “slow light” might be a better term for much as this case material. (Swords, 2012)

THE KIAMA AUSTRALIA SOLID LIGHT AFFAIR

A significant impetus for Chalker’s re-focusing on solid light claims developed from his ongoing investigations of a particular case.  In both of his books “The OZ Files” (1996) and “Hair of the Alien” (2005) Chalker refer to solid light cases (including a dubious case – the Gundiah, Queensland case of 4 October 2001, where he showed that “a forensic approach can draw some metaphorical blood” (Chalker, 2005)) and described an Australian case from Kiama, southern New South Wales from the early 1970s.  He had been looking into the case since learning of it in the 1990s and conducted a very detailed site investigation (mainly in 2012 & 2013) to determine if the observations reported by the primary witness were possible and to see if further information could be found.  Graham, the primary witness, has closely guarded his privacy and Chalker only had one face to face meeting with him, as well as many phone conversations, written statements and emails.  

Chalker’s investigations indicated the most likely date of the Kiama beach “solid light” case was 22 November 1970. He and his family were staying with his parents in law at a house on a headland that overlooks a prominent beach in the Kiama area. During the night his sleep was disturbed by light coming into the room. On the second occasion he saw a flying craft which projected at an angle “a light beam (“like a perfect cylinder of solid light”, about 30 feet long and about 2 and a half feet diameter) white in colour with a blue fluorescent tinge evaporating from it” and detached moving in a downward axis impacting with a caravan. “Upon impact the light behaved like water, pouring over the caravan, … and like fluorescent paint from an electro, airless spray gun… the caravan illuminated completely for about three seconds then the light faded away.” The craft now slightly to the left of its original position projects another “beam of light” which moves again in an axis at a very slow pace (3 feet per second), this time impacting on an amenities block at the beach camping site, in the same way as the caravan impact. A third light beam much longer in length detaches from the unidentified flying craft and is projected at about a 45-degree axis towards the beach briefly illuminating an area of sand 40 feet at its widest.  

Bill Chalker & the Kiama area beach event

Four people are present on the beach in this area – 2 men standing motionless looking up at the craft, a young woman who jumps up from a small beach fire and joins the 2 men, and another young woman running backwards “trying to brush the light off her arms and body.” She then stood separately from the other 3 people staring up at the craft. The light goes out and the beach is then in darkness. 

The witness apparently falls asleep standing, then awakens again, this time seeing the unidentified craft now above the headland street very near to the house, overlooking the beach. The witness blacks out. When he comes to, the witness sees that the craft is still in close proximity to the house. The witness sees through a window shape on the side of the craft and also sees a man enter the room in view via the “window.” He is joined by another man. The witness is then suddenly frightened when he sees the 2 men inside the craft are looking directly at him and smiling. He drops to the floor calling out to the others in the house, saying: "Everybody keep down. Stay out of the light." 

Pandemonium sets in with great noise and severe vibration of the fridge and washing machine.  He calls out, "Quickly get under the doorways, the house is going to fall." For the witness it seems like “the craft overhead sucked the electricity out of the house, then took off.”

This strange affair has several defined stages, but the evident discontinuities in awareness, argue both for a surreal, dream like quality and also reflect the paradoxical reality of some of the stranger elements of the UFO phenomenon.  The extraordinary behaviour of the "light beams" behaving as both solid and liquid has been reported elsewhere in Australia and overseas.  The apparent surreal display quality to parts of this experience (such as the UFO and its occupants displaying themselves up close to the reporting witness in the house on the beach headland) is reflected in many cases.  There seems to have been a number of gaps in the time sequence.   

FOLLOW UP ON THE KIAMA CASE

The main witness recontacted Chalker in 2012. He confirmed an aspect Chalker had long suspected as part of the experience, which he only originally hinted at in the vaguest possible way - an abduction recollection that was consciously recollected at the time, but he was extremely reluctant to share these details during the original discussions years before.   He recollects sitting in a curved hallway in a strange environment.  He heard a voice and turned to fine a woman.  She asked him, “Do you remember what happened in there?”  “No,” he replied. “Do you?” he asked. “Put it this way, I won’t be telling my husband.”  He doesn’t recollect much more, or he volunteered little further detail about this aspect of the Kiama encounter.  However, he did say he started to attend some UFO group meetings with the express purpose of seeing if he could find the woman he had encountered in the Kiama experience.  At one meeting he saw a woman who looked like the woman encountered in the strange environment, presumably on board the UFO.  When he started to talk to her he felt she was not the right person and did not persist with the conversation. (Chalker, 1996, 2005, 2019 & 2022)

RE-EXAMING CLASSIC CASES

The lessons of earlier investigations and research into these intriguing but controversial cases emphasise the need for careful reassessment and where possible re-investigations, with quality control of the data being a primary objective.  Sometimes such cases are difficult to identify and fully document, depending on the milieu they emerge from. 

Two cases, deemed classics of the solid light case type, required detailed reviews, as the data on each is rich, diverse, and sometimes conflicting – Trancas, Argentina (1963) and Taize, France (1972). Both cases are seen as either strong evidence for UFO solid light type events, or as explained in prosaic terms.  Chalker has examined data from both sides, in each case, and feels that each side of the debate deserves careful airing, which is beyond the scope of this limited review of solid light cases.  Each case has intriguing data that might suggest they are legitimate cases, but the explanatory models in each case inject a need for cautious evaluation. 

Some possible "solid light" events

TRANCAS ARGENTINA (1963)

The Trancas case, which is described as featuring objects (or a single object) near, or on, a rail line deploying solid light beams at the occupants of a farm house, and the appearance of an object in much closer proximity to the farm house. Some people from the house investigate and report encountering strange beams of light.  The case is best known through the work of Oscar Galindez (Galindez, 1971), but Roberto Banchs conducted a detailed retrospective investigation in the 1980s. Chalker examined the original investigations, the Galindez investigation in the 1970s and other data, as well as the Banchs investigation, which put forward an explanation involving military deployment of arc searchlights. Others argue that such military involvement has not been verified, and that many other elements of the claimed event are not explained. 

TAIZE FRANCE (1972)

The Taize case apparently involved people attending a religious retreat, who describe a large object with pillars of solid light projected downward, as well as encountering a mass that seemed to bend a torch light beam.  A weakness of the case, maybe, is that most of this information came from one witness. (Tyrode, J., 1973) Others present have not come forward.  The main reporting witness reports that the main object moved away and travelled some distance, seemingly landing at a more remote location, in which possible related ground traces were found. The explanation put forward revolved around a distant house, which had an outdoor home movie projection setup.  Data provided to Chalker by Gildas Bourdais from France seems to cast some doubt on this explanation, but as the case is largely based on only one of member of the group that was present, it remains inconclusive, despite its compelling content. (Chalker, 2013)

LIMA PERU (1958)

US researcher Tom Tulien drew to Chalker’s attention to a 1958 case, with some of the apparent known characteristics of solid light events from Lima, Peru, investigated in 1967-68 by Richard Greenwell for the APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), and provided him a copy of the investigation file from which the details are quoted:

“Witnesses to this observation are Eduardo Moll … and Juana Moll, his wife …. (Moll)

“Observation took place on February 1st, 1958.  Witness A (Eduardo) and Witness B (Juana) were still engaged.  Witness A was driving a 1953 Ford along a highway known as the Avenida Costanera, which runs north of the sea-front in the city of Lima … towards area known as La Perla, where witness B lived.  Time was approximately 9.20 p.m., and it was totally dark.  The area through which this highway passed was totally deserted.  At a certain point, witness A and witness B observed a red-orange light at low level at some distance ahead of them (… maybe 200 to 300 metres)

“Before long, the witnesses found themselves about 100 metres from the light source.  They realized that it was not any commercial advertisement.  It appeared to be a ball of fire, of red-orange colour, underneath of which was a bright white light.  Witness A continued driving at a slower rate until they came abreast of the light source and then turned off the ignition of the car and the headlights. Object was now being observed to their extreme right while it hovered at a distance and at an altitude of about 10 metres.  The object appeared to be also about 10 metres long (or circular?) and about 1.5 metres thick.  To their left, to the west, lay a cliff and the Pacific Ocean. To their right, to the east, over which the object hovered was an abandoned brick factory.  Several small adobe walls lay about…

Underneath the object, around its central area, a beam of light fell to earth.  

“This beam of light helped in determining the altitude of the object. The beam (totally white) was narrow at the top and widened out at the bottom.  Its edge was sharply defined and fell strictly on the area where it fell without illuminating the surrounding area.  … (no) perceivable noise coming from this object.

“After observing the object for a few minutes (perhaps 10 minutes), Witness A decided to get closer.  He stepped out of the car and walked towards the object.  To do this he had to step over the first small adobe wall on the edge of the highway.  When he was approximately 8 metres from the area where the beam of light fell, same “went out.”  Witness B says that the beam was “sucked up” into the object.  Witness A says this was not so, that the light simply “went out” and it would anyway be impossible for light to be “sucked up” in that manner.  This is the only point in which the witnesses do not entirely agree.”

  

Eduardo began to move closer, but the object began moving slowly east, away from the witness, and silently and vertically, and faster than the witness’ walking pace. It rose at about the speed of a slow moving car, at about a 15-degree elevation.  Eduardo return to the car, but as he was trying to drive into the area, “the object disappeared on the horizon.” (Chalker, from Tulien, 2013)

BOYUP BROOK AUSTRALIA (1967)

Here is a remarkable case that comes from official Australian government files. It took place near Boyup Brook in Western Australia on 30 October 1967. A Western Australian Police Department report on the incident, describes what took place:

“Report of: Leonard Johnson, Constable 2514

I have to report that at approximately 9.35pm on Monday the 30th October, 1967, Alexander Roy SPARGO, 37 years, shearing contractor of Great Southern Co….  called at this station and reported having sighted an unidentified flying object on the Kojonup-Mayanup Road, Kulikup approximately 10 miles from Mayanup at about 9.20pm 30th October 1967.

Spargo stated he was driving his 1967 Valiant Utility… , towards Boyup Brook from Kojonup at approximately 60-65 mph with headlights on high beam.

“When approximately 10 miles from Mayanup the car suddenly stopped - motor stopped - headlights went out - and became stationary without any sensation of braking or deceleration.

A tube of light descended close to the windscreen. The tube was about 2 feet in diameter. He looked up the tube and could not see anything but felt he was being observed.

The tube of light had descended from object shaped like a football, iridescent blue colour (lightning colour but stationary), with a pulsating glow appearance, and approximately 30 feet in diameter.

“Spargo stated he just sat looking at the tube of light and object for approximately 5 minutes. He felt no personal effect other than surprise and not being able to believe his eyes. He heard no noise.

“The object then moved off very quickly and disappeared in a 'flash.' When it had gone Spargo found his motor running, lights on, and again travelling at 60 to 65 mph (previous speed). He felt no sensation of acceleration.

“He stopped the vehicle and got out and inspected same but could find nothing unusual. He then continued on to Boyup Brook and called at the Police Station and made his report.

He stated he employed 60 men shearers and if they learned of his report he would be ridiculed.

“Prior to this sighting he had read of other people's sightings and he had regarded those people as 'cranks.'

“He travelled to Boyup Brook and stayed overnight at Bill Inglis' farm where he had a team of shearers working and returned to Kojonup on the 31st October. There had been a fairly severe electrical storm on Sunday evening the 29th with a great deal of lightning and thunder but little rain. On Monday evening the 30th the sky had become overcast and some lighting seen around 7pm.” (Basterfield, 2017)

A STRIKING CONFIRMATION OF THE BOYUP BROOK CASE

This primary source account of a credible example of a UFO deploying solid light and seemingly controlling a car, has a very striking confirmation that emerged from a book that was written focusing on bizarre events that mainly played out 10 years earlier. In 1957 the area experienced a sensational milieu of alleged poltergeist events in the form of falling stones, accompanied by reports of strange Min Min like lights (the generic term given to floating mystery lights around Australia) and other curious phenomena.  The events were described in Helen Hack’s book “The Mystery of the Mayanup Poltergeist.” As she had close family members involved in the affair, she also became aware of an event that would have otherwise might have never been shared. 

On the same night as the 1967 Boyup Brook event, on a property in nearby Mayanup, Grayden Pascoe, a local farmer, experienced a bizarre encounter with what may have been another example of solid light.  At his property on Whistler Road, Mr. Pascoe had been disturbed by terrible noise from farm animals. His enormous kangaroo dog cowered on the verandah. When Pascoe stepped onto the verandah he was blinded by an intense light. Instinctively putting up his hands to shield his shut eyes, Pascoe observed that the strange light was so intense it seemed to shine right through his hands and closed eyelids. Opening his eyes, Pascoe saw that his hand seemed to be transparent, with the veins showing up “in a blue network beneath the skin.” He stood for 5 or 6 minutes, trying unsuccessfully to determine where the light was coming from. During this period of time Pascoe indicated he was unable to move because of the blinding light. Then suddenly without any sound the light disappeared. (Hack, 2000)

DR. HYNEK’S BLUEBOOK CASE – NEWTON USA (1967)

Allen Hynek described investigating a case of this type in the dying days of the USAF study programme, in his 1977 book “The Hynek UFO Report” – his review of Project Bluebook. Just as the University of Colorado’s USAF commissioned Condon Committee study was being released, concluding there was nothing of scientific merit in studying UFO reports, Dr. Hynek was concluding otherwise. Bluebook case 12567 dated 23 November, 1968 and located at Newton, Georgia, had the following features: “Witness saw a brilliant light directly above the road about 200 feet ahead of him and 50 to 75 feet off the ground, as he rounded a bend in the road in his 1967 Ford. The area was sparsely settled.  There was no definite object, just light.  The car radio faded into static.  The light itself emitted a beam downward that illuminated the nearby trees.  Light was then retracted as if the beam were a ladder; it was five to six feet wide and well defined.  The main light was fuzzy on the edges.   Now the engine cut out as did the radio … Light then disappeared after a few seconds, going straight up.  Engine started by itself and the car had been left in drive gear.  Conclusion: Unidentified.” (Hynek, 1977)

THE IMPOSSIBLE PEARL – GAOYAU CHINA (SONG DYNASTY – 11th CENTURY)

The long history of Chinese UFO/UAP events provides a striking juxtaposition of possible ancient and modern solid light reports. One of Joseph Needham’s key historical sources for his monumental multi-volume series “Science and Civilisation in China” was Shen Kua, a Song (Sung) Dynasty scholar. In his fascinating example of the pi-chi form of Chinese literature – “Brush talks from Dream Brook” Shen Kua records “inside information” about a “strange occurrence” involving an extraordinary “pearl” that frequented the air above a number of lakes around Yangzhou in Jiangsu province in China, which at least on one occasion projected a strange form of fantastic light. 

Accurate translations of the story of the flying pearl of Gaoyau suggests it may describe an 11th century account of a UFO projecting solid light.  

Gaoyau or “West Lake” of Shen Kua’s account is more accurately referred to as “Slender West Lake” (aka Fanliang Lake) just north of Yangzhou. It should not be confused with the much better known tourist location to the south at Hangzhou, also known as West Lake, which I have also established has its own more mythic sky dragon/elusive pearl folktale.  

Two translations by esteemed US Chinese scholars describe “light shot out from the crack like a golden ray,” (Richard Bodman) and “a bright light emerged from its “shell”, like a single ray of golden thread” (James Hargett, who even suggested there may be many more UFOs to be found particularly in “pi-chi” (informative reporting style) essays that include anomalies). (Chalker, 2019)

Quoting Richard Bodman’s translation, which he titled “On a UFO”, in Victor Mair’s “The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature”:

“In the Chia-yu period, a pearl appeared in Yang-chou. It was very large and frequently appeared at night.  At first it emerged from the swamps of T’ien-ch’ang county. Later it moved to Pi-she Lake; and finally it was at Hsin-k’ai Lake.  For more than ten years, residents and travellers would constantly see it.

“My friend had a study by the lakeside and one night saw that the “pearl” was very near. At first it opened its door very slowly and light shot out from the crack, like a golden ray.  After a moment, it opened wider to the space of half a mat; within there was a white light like silver. The “pearl” was as big as a fist and so bright you couldn’t look at it directly. For over ten tricents, the trees cast shadows, exactly as when the sun has just come up. In the distance you saw only a sky reddened as if by a forest fire. All of a sudden it went far off, moving as if in flight, floating over the waves, shining like the sun.

“In recent years, it hasn’t appeared again; no one knows where it has gone. Fan-liang-chen is where the “pearl” used to appear, and when travellers reach there, they usually tie up their boats for a few nights to watch for its appearance. The pavilion there is called “The Playful Pearl.” (Mair, 1996)

CANGZHOU CHINA (1998)

On October 19, 1998, scientists and military personnel were gathered at a Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) missile base in Cangzhou, in Hebei province, testing China’s first “supersonic” drone, based on a modified J-711 fighter. A famous Chinese Defence scientist, Major General Zhao Xu, the “father” of China’s UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), was also present.  He and other scientists and military personnel witnessed a striking UFO encounter. The incident was verified by radar and PLAAF F-6 pursuit aircraft pilots. The base commander General Li, focusing on the testimony of his own pilots (Captains Liu Ming and Wu Shao Hun), and addressing their observation of the projection of two beams of strange light from the UFO, stated, “Surprisingly these two light beams of light were not as we normally see light beams, as has been according to the distance and spread, but as two light-emitting entities, sticking out from the bottom of the UFO ending on a certain length. At least today we have not got control of this sort of light technology.” (Chalker, 2019 & 2022)

Shen Kua, can be viewed as a proto-scientist and even an early Fortean researcher (a collector and chronicler of strange anomalies like Charles Fort), provided some “brush strokes” or “brush talk” that Chalker and other solid light researchers have built on into the modern age of flying saucers, UFOs, and UAPs.  

- Bill Chalker

Basterfield, Keith, Police report on the Boyup Brook encounter, uncovered, https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com 29 August, 2017

Bourtembourg, Claude & Ashton, Alice, SOBEPS – Research and Analysis – UFO Phenomenon – Solid Light Cases, Brussels, Belgium: SOBEPS, 1976

Bucher, Walter, Solid light, in edited conference volume by I. Brand, MUFON-CES Tagungsband (Conference Volume), Feldkirchen-Westerham, Germany: MUFON-CES, 1978

Chalker, Bill, The OZ Files – the Australian UFO story, Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 1996.

Chalker, Bill, Hair of the Alien, New York: Paraview/Pocket Books, 2005

Chalker, Bill, personal communications from Gildas Bourdias, 2013

Chalker, Bill, from Tulien, Tom, Special report on the Eduardo Moll case – Lima – Peru, 2013

Chalker, Bill, UFOs & the Solid Light Enigma, Melbourne: New Dawn Special Issue, Vol.13 No.1, pp.17-2, 2019

Chalker, Bill, Solid Light & the UFO/UAP mystery, Cottenham, UK: Out There – Newsletter of the International Mensa UFO SIG (Special Interest Group) No.5, 12-26, June, 2022   

Clegg, Brian, “Light Years – an exploration of mankind’s enduring fascination with light, London,: Piatkus, 2001)

Hack, Helen, The Mystery of the Mayanup Poltergeist, Carlisle, Western Australia: Hesperian Press, 2000

Heering, Jan, A Comparative Analysis of 62 “Solid Light” beam cases, UFO Phenomena, Vol. II, No.1, Editics, Bologna, Italy, pp. 11-50, 1978

Heering, Jan, Letter to the editor (Wim van Utrecht), SVLT, 3, 12, III-IV, 1985

Hynek, J. Allen, The Hynek UFO Report, New York: Dell, 1977

Mair, Victor, The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature, New York: Columbia University Press, 1996

Perkowitz, Sidney, Slow Light – Invisibility, teleportation, and other mysteries of light, London: Imperial College Press, 2011

Shipp, Martin, UFO-Car chase near Frome, The Probe Report, Vol. 4 Issue 2, October, 1983 

Swords, Michael, in Swords, Michael & Powell, Robert (primary authors), UFOs and Government – A Historical Enquiry, San Antonio, Texas: Anomalist Books, 2012 

Swords, Michael, “Slow light & UFOs”, http://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/2012/10/slow-light-ufos.html , 2012

Tyrode, J., Taize: A case right out of the ordinary, Flying Saucer Review (FSR), Vol. 19, No. 4, 16-21, July-August, 1973

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: