Branson Balloon Hoax

 

Idly looking through UFO: The Continuing Enigma, published by Reader's Digest, 1991. Among the contributors in this volume: Peter Brookesmith, Hilary Evans, Jenny Randles, John Rimmer, Dennis Stacy.

Page 55: Physical Fakes:

April Fool's Flying Saucer
"Early morning commuters driving on a freeway outside London, England, on March 30, 1989, soon after 5:00 a.m. could scarcely believe their eyes. Hovering above them was a glowing spacecraft. Extraterrestrials were also visible aboard the craft. Soon the police were inundated with calls from people saying what they sad seen.

This alien visitation proved no more sinister than British entrepreneur, and keen balloonist, Richard Branson, rehearsing a stunt for an April Fool's Day prank. The spacecraft was a saucer-shaped hot air balloon, 100 feet wide, complete withflahsing lights. The "aliens" were Branson and two co-pilots dressed as Martians."

Daily Grail Blog: What ever happened to Bob Lazar? | TDG - Science, Magick, Myth and History

smapdi's blog at The Daily Grail asks: What ever happened to Bob Lazar?

Lazar now lives in the southwest, New Mexico or Arizona, I believe. I find Bob Lazar's UFO Area 51 legacy, juxtaposed with the fact he is now a military contractor, extremely interesting.

Old UFO Magazine Cover

I've been going through and rearranging a room -- fondly called The Room of Doom, or Hell --  we use as a study/library. Such a mess! But getting better. I found this issue of UFO Magazine from 1987. vol. 2, no. 2. Pretty groovy cover!

I remember this very well. It was the first issue of UFO Magazine I bought. I found it at Eugene's then only New Age bookstore, called Perelandra. They were on east 11th, right by the University, and a few doors down from a movie theater. The bookstore later moved to the downtown mall about a mile or so west, and the theater closed down. (Now we have only multi-plexes at the two shopping malls.) Later, Perlandra closed its doors, which was sad. We still have one New Age bookstore in this town; Stargate, though, on my last visit which was a few years ago, they didn't have much in the way of UFO material.

About the bookstore Perelandra: I remember they used a different spelling, but don't recall how they spelt it. I think it was Perlandra, but not sure.  I do remember asking the owner about it once, she told me they had spelled it that way intentionally and changed the spelling because of a numerology reading she had done regarding the bookstore.

This issue has a Bigfoot-UFO article and a letter to the editor from John Keel!:

Thank you for sending your fine magazine. BUT your point of view is very restricted. Try presenting some of the many, many facts of this bewildering and fascinating subject.

I wish you very success with this project. If there is any way i can help you here in the Big Apple, don't hesitate to ask.

                                                               John A. Keel

                                                              New York, N.Y.

I also remember thinking that some day, I would love to write for a magazine like that. And now I do!

Insidious Round About Book Banning

A law that was passed in January seems to be strangely under reported. That law concerns vintage children's books; it's illegal to sell them. Vintage meaning any book printed before 1985.

The reason given for this law has to do with lead content in ink.

This law has caused great confusion among libraries, book sellers, etc.

It's not as straight forward as it might seem; there's much more to this just below the surface.

For more, read what my article on my blog Octopus Confessional. And so some research of your own; I think you'll be startled at what you find.

Ann Druffel on BOA

This is a bit overdue, I just haven't had time until today to listen to the interview, but Tim Binnall's recent guest on Binnall of America is Ann Druffel. This is one interview you cannot miss! Ann is co-author (with D. Scott Rogo) of The Tujunga Canyon Contacts, and FIRESTORM: DR. JAMES E. McDONALD's FIGHT FOR UFO SCIENCE, published in 2003. Tunjunga Canyon was one of the first books I read on the UFO/abduction subject, and it was one of the books that threw me into this area.

Ann Druffel, and this interview, is a great resource into UFO history. Her ideas and experience, her insights, into the abduction phenomema are very interesting and refreshing.

Ann has been invovled in NICAP, and so much more. You can listen to the interviews here. Ann's website is here.

Going Through the Files: Melinda Leslie

I was going through my files and found all kinds of things I'd forgotten about. Like this flyer promoting an appearance of Melinda Leslie, abductee, at the local community college (Lane Coummunity College, where I got my associate degree so long ago.) I didn't make it but held on to the flyer. I'm not sure when this is from, but I'd say the late 1980s.

And here's a link to an interview with Tim Binnall and Leslie on BOA from 2006.

Whitley Streiber and Communion

You can watch the movie Communion, (in TEN parts, broken up into ten, separate clips.) on Alien Casebook. Streiber recently wrote about his experiences that began more than 20 years ago, on December 26, 1985.

This is what Whitley has to say about now, regarding his experiences:

Friday December 12th, 2008 - By Whiteley Streiber
It is late here, midnight passing. December has come again, and for the past few months I have been enduring the same demonic nights that I experience every year at this time, as my spirit relives the hard pilgrimage that led to the night of December 26, 1985.

The feelings are so complex, the fears so deep and the love, too, so deep, that sometimes, even after all these years,the whole emotional avalanche of having the visitors emerge into my life threatens to drown me.

You can read more from Streiber on his site Unknown Country. And here.

Return of Phantom Clowns

Clowns digust me and creep me out, always have, and I realized something; my distaste has only become stronger over the years, which is a curious thing. Hmmm, wonder if it has anything to do with all of my UFO experiences?

Loren Coleman has a post on his Copycat Effect blog about the return of Phantom Clowns, a true classical-Fortean phenomena.

"They Live"

Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you! ~ The Preacher man, from They Live.

John Carpenter's 1988 They Live is a combination of bad 1970s type TV show, and scary documentary. (There are some similarities to Roger Corman's 1963 The Man With the X-Ray Eyes, with Ray Milland, for example, the idea that glasses, eye drops, etc can alter someone's vision, allowing them to see the "hidden" reality.)

The plot, for those unfamiliar, goes like this: man finds pair of glasses that, when worn, reveals who is, and who isn't, an alien. Without the glasses, the aliens look, speak and behave like humans. With glasses, you can see their creepy repto skull like faces. The aliens are greedy and ruthless and have subliminally plastered messages everywhere: "OBEY," "CONSUME," etc. These aliens have joined with some humans, who are repaid for their treachery with money. Tons of money.

Sounds painfully just like what's really going on out here in reality land. A lot of the dialogue in the movie is eerie, for its spot on statements about global corporatism, etc.

I'm not a big John Carpenter fan, but I realize I don't get him like others do; he's supposed to be campy, etc. I did like his version of The Thing, and have to say, I loved his 1998 Vampires movie.

As silly as Carpenter's They Live is, or maybe "dated" is a better term, it does have cool music and the movie itself, as a horror aliens take over the planet theme, works. I say, watch it and have a good time, in spite of the fact it's closer to the truth than we might like.

1988 Alien Abduction

From Phantoms and Monsters: Video: Amaury Rivera Toro Alien Abduction Case - 1988.

From Blue Alien: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs

The Blue Alien the hive blog has a piece by Gerald K. Haines: CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90: A Die-Hard Issue.

Gulf Breeze

The date for the Gulf Breeze sightings is a little later than I usually comment on, (I have, as my arbitrary cut off date, 1980) but I think the events at Gulf Breeze are interesting enough that it’s worth revisiting.


Here’s an article, link found on UFO Review, from the Miami Herald:GULF BREEZE: Town recalls heyday of UFO sightings
Two decades ago, the area around the Florida Panhandle town of Gulf Breeze was the center of sightings of unidentified flying objects, byline Dusty Ricketts.

County Commissioner John Broxson saw something in Gulf Breeze in 1987:
Something bright was hovering above his home, a parade of lights of different colors and intensity. He quickly had his wife, Christina, and their friends come out to see it for themselves. No one knew what they were watching.

The unidentified flying object hovered for several moments before quickly flying straight until it was out of sight.

As the article points out, Ed Walters wasn’t the only witness to the UFO sightings. Hundreds of witnesses saw these things.

Between 1987 and the end of 1993, when most of the sightings ended, Ware said hundreds of people reported seeing UFOs in Gulf Breeze. Walters and others took more than 125 photographs of supposed UFOs just between Nov. 11, 1987, and May 1, 1988, Ware said.

The distraction of “proving” or debunking Walters, from his character to the model of a flying saucer found in his home, doesn’t address the real issues surrounding the Gulf Breeze events.

Walters described weird beeping, electronic type noises coming from one of the robotic type “aliens” he saw. It reminds me of older cases in many ways; of humanoids and robotic beings, of Mothman type electronic sounds. In other weird events, like some Hairy Biped encounters, strange beeping or electronic sounds occur.

As already mentioned; hundreds of witnesses observed UFOs in the area at the time.

Many of the images Walters took of the UFOs are similar to the clunky flying saucers from the 1950s, like Adamski’s images.


Walter's UFOs

Contactee George Adamski's flying saucer, 1952

The paper model of the UFO found in Walter’s home after he moved out seems ridiculous; why leave such damning evidence behind? Why stick it where it wouldn’t be easily found, yet found it was?

Then there was the strange story that appeared in the news around the same time; something about three (if I remember it right) G.I.’s who went “crazy,” and talked about UFOs, among other things. There was a Gulf Breeze connection there; I don’t know if they were from Gulf Breeze, or went there on a “mission” listening to some voice they heard, or what. I tried to find some links to this but didn’t find anything. (Plus, I was in a hurry.) If anyone recognizes what I’m talking about, I’d appreciate the info.

As far as hoaxes go, the article quotes Barry Karr, Director of CSI (formerly CSICOP) who supports the late Philip Klass’s belief Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax:

'I really don't think there's any question the Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax,'' Karr said.`There are things in the sky that can't be identified, especially near an air base. Just because it can't be identified doesn't mean it's a visitor from another planet.''

This is typical chronic skeptic disingenuousness; while it’s true that it’s an assumption, and only an assumption, that these UFOs and entities are extraterrestrial, there’s still a whole lot of strange things going on that validate investigation.

(I also wonder at Karr’s syntax: he says “there’s (no) question the Gulf Breeze sightings were a hoax,” which implies intentional deception, but in the same breath says “There are things in the sky that can’t be identified, especially near an air base. Just because it can't be identified doesn't mean it's a visitor from another planet.''
Which is it, a hoax, or misidentifications, or misperceptions, of military craft? It’s as if Karr is trying to cover all bases; hoax, assumptions, misinterpretations/misidentifications -- it’s all bunk, no matter the reason. Just dazzle them with blanket dismissal and move on.)


Personally, I think the entire Gulf Breeze events were military experiments on an entire town, and Ed Walters was their prime guinea pig. If this is true, it’s almost as astounding as entities from outer space. To brush the thing off as mere lights in the sky that can’t be identified ignores this possibility.

Sources
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/317768.htm
UFO Casebook
http://www.ufocasebook.com/gulfbreeze.html
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Adamski

Zolar X

The blog Power Pop, which I just discovered by way of UFO Review, has a little item on Zolar X, who were active around 1973 to 1981. There’s a bit more on them and a YouTube video. Love that glam outer space 70s/80s rock!