WINDS OF CHANGE

 [1952-2000]

David Calvert

By 1952, in places as far apart as Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, sightings of UFOs had almost reached epidemic proportions. In all its manifestations it had become a global phenomenon, with literally hundreds of sightings reported monthly. At its height those figures gradually stretched into thousands.

Daylight Discs and Lights in the Sky

These were common and reported by people from just about every walk of life, from two military guards and an F-49 Starfire fighter pilot at Chorwon, Korea, who observed a UFO with a dull centre and bright lights and bright rim darting about the sky; to literally hundreds of witnesses who reported sightings of UFOs of all shapes and sizes in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Perhaps the most dramatic part of the 1952 global wave, however, took place in Washington DC on 19-20 July and 26-27 July.

The Events of 19-20 July occurred between 11:40 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. when radar picked up eight UFOs flying in restricted air space over the capitol. Their rate of speed was judged between 100 and 300 m.p.h. (160-480 km/h), suddenly accelerating to phenomenal velocities. At about this time airline pilots had begun to report strange lights in the sky over the capital. Jet interceptors were vectored to the area; arriving at 3: 30 a.m. Unfortunately the UFOs had disappeared, only to reappear after the jets had departed.

Radar controllers at Andrews Air Force Base, who had been following the events, became stunned when a large orange sphere hovered over their base. Several days later on 26-27 July, from 9:00 p.m, up to twelve UFOs began performing similar manoeuvres. When interceptors were scrambled from Wilmington, Delaware, and came within radar range the UFOs again vanished from sight and their radar screens. They returned ten minutes later when the planes had all left the area. Nevertheless, at approximately 3: 20 a.m. a fresh flight of fighters arrived and this time the UFOs remained visible. A ring of huge blue-white lights that flew away before he was given permission to open fire on them surrounded one of the fighter pilots, Lt. William Patterson.

Such encounters were eventually to be dubbed by the renowned Dr. J. Allen Hynek as daylight discs (DDs) and nocturnal lights or lights in the sky (LITS), though the DDs category is somewhat misleading as it covers craft that are not necessarily disk-shaped. His classification scheme, however, was the first of its kind and despite recent additions remains the foundation for any serious ufological study.

Radar visuals (RVs) also fall under the Close Encounters of the First kind (CE I) category. The Patterson encounter falls under the second category as CE II (Close Encounter of the Second Kind), the objects appearing to interact with him.

Photographic Evidence

In the main the photographic evidence for CE Is and CE IIs has changed little, despite the advent of the camcorder and advances in photographic analysis and computer enhancement techniques. Colonel Wendelle Stevens, USAF, is still of the opinion that “Photographs are poor evidence because there are so many things we can do to technically produce images.”

However, optical physicist for the Surface Weapons division of the US Navy, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, who specialises in photographic UFO cases, argues that there are sufficient numbers of impressive cases where it can be established with reasonable conviction that some kind of extraordinary craft have been photographed.

 

As intriguing as photographic evidence of UFOs may be, it frequently comes down to little more than a light in the sky. This inconclusive phenomenon will never establish absolute proof of alien visitors. The ultimate evidence would be close-up shots of the interior of a UFO. Even though many alleged abductees, from the 1950s onward, have claimed to have been taken inside UFOs none have managed thus far to come forward with the ultimate photograph.

Encountering Otherworldly Entities

Before the term “alien abduction” was coined people were claiming contact with otherworldly creatures that came to visit Earth to pass on messages of goodwill and hand out sound advice. But what are we to make of such claims? On the one hand they are improbable to the point of absurdity, whilst on the other hand they are told with remarkable uniformity and passion.

Of all the early contactees, Polish immigrant George Adamski is probably the most well-known. His story began on 20 November 1952 when he and several friends allegedly spotted a huge cigar-shaped craft gliding silently into view over the Mojave Desert, California. Hoping to get a better view of the object, and perhaps even some photographs, he and two companions drove off into the desert. It was here he claimed to have seen and photographed the now famous saucer-shaped “scout ship” and encountered a 1.6 metre tall entity called Orthon who told him he was from Venus and had come to Earth to warn mankind of the dangers of nuclear energy and pollution – a common theme that persists up to the present day.

Adamski was later to receive worldwide celebrity status as the world’s first alien contactee. He recounted wild tales of travelling through space and of visiting the Moon, which was peopled by lunar citizens. However, humanity’s first tentative steps out into the solar system eventually proved his claims to be false. Although regarded as an out-and-out fraudster by many, there are a few ufologists such as Timothy Good who see merit in at least some of his claims.

The Abduction Experience

The contactee era of the 1950s gradually spilled over into the 1960s, with sightings of UFOs and their occupants becoming increasingly common, as did the abduction scenario. One of the best-documented cases of abduction is that of Betty and Barney Hill.

The characteristic nature of abduction cases ultimately began with the Hills in the 1960s, contrasting sharply with the infamous contactee cases of the 1950s.

The Hill’s story began late one night on 19 September 1961. The couple, which lived in New Hampshire, USA, were returning home from a short holiday when Betty saw a bright light close to the Moon. As they drove it appeared to be getting brighter so they pulled over and took a closer look. Barney thought it was an aeroplane so they drove on, but the object seemed to draw closer and got brighter and seemed to be circling the car. He pulled over again, and they watched the object drop behind some nearby trees. When Barney got out and walked towards it he saw a disc-shaped object with what appeared to be windows through which he glimpsed some strange-looking occupants. He returned to the car in a panic and drove home.

When they arrived at their destination they discovered the journey had taken two and a half hours longer than it should have. As well as the “missing time” episode they began to experience other symptoms: they were both exhausted and had nightmares and high blood pressure. The doctors who tested and examined them could find nothing wrong. Eventually a reputable scientist put them under hypnosis and revealed a classic abduction story.

According to the evidence retrieved through hypnotic regression, the UFO had landed beside the road and rendered the Hills semiconscious. Small beings – similar in appearance to the alien entities called Greys – then took them forcibly on board the craft where they were separated and given medical examinations. Barney had semen extracted, and Betty underwent the painful experience of having a long needle inserted into her abdomen, as a form of pregnancy test she was told; a similar procedure that was carried out on Betty Andreasson Luca in 1967. Interestingly, although Betty Hill has always maintained her examination was non-sexual, some observers have speculated that the Hill’s case is one of the first to indicate an interest in our genetic makeup by the aliens.

One of the main aims of alleged alien visitation appears to be genetic experimentation, to create some type of hybrid baby, part human, part alien. As a result of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction, which is now considered a landmark in UFO history, ufology itself began to acquire greater discipline and credibility through the adoption of more systematic research methods.

Hybrid

Many extraordinary patterns have emerged concerning alien abduction, but the one most guaranteed to needle sceptics is that of alien implants – miniature devices that are inserted into the frontal part of the brain via the nose, the back of the head, through and just behind the ears, in the forearms and wrists and just about any other private parts of the human anatomy.

The Richard Price implant was unusual to say the least, in that he claimed it had been implanted into his penis by extraterrestrials.

In late autumn of 1964 he confided this to his girlfriend, who betrayed his trust and told his high school classmates. This earned him the nickname “spaceman”. Their incessant badgering of him resulted in him threatening another student and he was sent to a mental hospital for observation. Seventeen years later he was examined by Neal Rzepkewski, M.D., who discovered a subcutaneous “foreign body” roughly 4mm long and 1mm in diameter. His recommendation was that no further action be taken unless it caused him pain or discomfort.

In the spring of `81 or `82 Price experienced three hours of missing time while driving a taxi. It was later revealed, under hypnotic regression, that his taxi had been raised into a UFO. By 1989 the top of the implant was protruding slightly from the top of his skin and he called David E. Pritchard, PhD. Physics, on several occasions explaining his story. By August of that year it had dislodged, causing a sense of electric shock, and fell into Price’s hand. He placed the implant into a clean film container and delivered it to Pritchard.

Exhaustive tests were carried out on the artefact and it was discovered the implant had a uniform core of a brownish translucent material, partly covered with a whitish layer through which a number of appendages projected. It was roughly cylindrical, about 1mm in diameter and 3mm long. Interior examination of the core through a microscope revealed a crystalline material. This became considerably harder after being exposed to the air for several months; so hard in fact that a scalpel blade broke while trying to cut the core material.

Two small fragments of the core were mass analysed and the results showed mainly carbon and oxygen with all other elements including nitrogen, below the 2. % level. The appendages, revealed under higher magnification and scanning electron microscope, showed various other features. One of the appendages showed a threefold structure at the end, one of which was a hook. Another showed a flattish cross-section with random twisting. The ends of several appendages were noted to be red in colour. These structured ends had an overall size of 10 to 30 microns and were witnessed at the ends of four of the appendages. Pritchard looked for similar objects in different micro worlds. His conclusions were based on a professional scientific and clinical study of the highest order. His analysis showed nothing unterrestrial about the Price artefact. It did not appear to be fabricated, but bore the overall characteristics of something that grew. Its elemental and chemical constituents were also consistent with earthly biological origins.

For cynics this is proof positive that there are no such things as alien artefacts. However, in his conclusion Price also stated that it was possible that aliens could be clever enough to make devices that serve their purpose yet appear to have a prosaic origin as natural products of the human body.

Some questions still remain unanswered. Chiefly: how did Price predict the morphology of his implant before it was noticeable, and what function did it serve? Physician, Dr. Roger Leir’s examination of an alleged T-shaped implant, taken from an abductee, led his co-worker and electrical engineer, Bob Beckwith, to speculate that their artefact, which had a peculiar band of silicate crystals completely encircling the vertical rod, could be equated to a crystal radio receiving set.

The EBE Development

Reports of contacts with and abductions by EBEs (Extraterrestrial Biological Entities) form the High Strangeness band of the UFO spectrum. This stems from the fact that there is almost a total lack of consistency in reports of alleged contact. Over the last 50 years the EBE morphology has been described variously as tall, small, thin, fat, human-like, grotesque, saintly, covered in fur, hairless, with long arms, short arms, hands, claws, large heads, headless, friendly, indifferent, aggressive, appear solid, able to pass through solid objects, and levitate.

EBEs and their purported messages range from the bizarre to the comical, can be benevolent, uncaring or even sinister, but according to one of Britain’s UFO researchers, Peter Hough, they will always be outrageous, because to our computerised and regimented way of thinking, in the final analysis, it all appears insane.

Military and Government Involvement

Stanton T. Friedman’s book Top Secret/Majic is undoubtedly the most explosive book yet written on the subject of covert governmental involvement concerning UFOs and their occupants. Despite the assurances by the US military and government that their interest in the phenomenon ceased in 1969 with the closure of the old Air Force Project Blue Book – the most extensive and more or less unclassified study of UFO sightings – there is a growing body of evidence which suggests otherwise.

The Cash/Landrum incident of 1980 is just one of many cases in which unmarked military aircraft are seen to be interacting with UFOs. Serious illness and death followed in the wake of this encounter.

In Britain, too, there appeared to be an ongoing government cover-up regarding the Rendlesham Forest incident, in which a triangular-shaped craft reportedly landed near a US military base.

 

The incident was examined by former under-secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Ralph Noyes, who rounded on his former employers saying that they had lied about the case, and had covered it up.

The small town of Dulce, New Mexico, came to prominence in the late 1980s following a series of alleged abductions in which sensational reports of covert liaisons with “alien greys” and factions of the US military were made public. The reports suggested the US had basically traded land and facilities for alien technology, and that several projects had been activated between the two parties, including genetic experimentation for the purpose of creating alien/human hybrids.

The Coming of the Hybrids

At the Project Awareness UFO and Metaphysical Convention in Tampa, Florida, David M. Jacobs, an Associate Professor of History at Temple University in Philadelphia, and a leading academic authority on UFOs and abductions, gave his wide-ranging assessment of the UFO abduction phenomenon to John Chambers. Jacobs believes that in the beginning it was a random selection from all ethnic groups who had nothing particularly in common either physiologically or mentally. The children of the abductees would themselves become abductees and so the term random selection no longer applied.

This immediately became an intergenerational phenomenon. Through normal population growth you then get a spreading out, a cone-like effect throughout society. What once started out as small gradually becomes larger and larger as the generations grow, until you get more and more people coming forward with their abductions stories. A conservative estimate given at the time was around two million people. However, polls and questionnaires suggested as many as five million – a very large phenomenon. As to human/alien hybrids, Jacobs had this to say: “This is a programme that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Our best guess is that we are in the end point of the programme, and that the end point will be relatively soon, perhaps as little as the next twenty years.”

In that context he cited three changes that have taken place. The frequency of abductions has increased greatly. And, very importantly, there has been a great increase in adult hybrid activity in UFOs and on Earth. The adult hybrid activity on board UFOs, he explained, consists of helping the smaller grey aliens with their procedures, acting as assistants or aids. But, in some cases, hybrid directed abductions have been reported.

What the goal of this alien agenda is remains highly speculative, but the more Jacobs learns about the phenomenon the more pessimistic his view of the future becomes. When asked what we could do about it his reply was, “Absolutely nothing. The aliens have an incredibly advanced technology. They can do what they want to do. That’s the bottom line.”

Changes of Perspective

Possibly the greatest changes to have taken place in alien abduction/contact cases over the last half-century has been in the way they are perceived. Despite their being numerous alternate theories, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) has remained popular ever since the Kenneth Arnold sighting, due largely to the media having ignored them and the promotion of TV programmes such as the cult sci-fi series The X Files.

One of its central themes is that aliens are visiting the Earth, and that humans are being abducted by some of them on a regular basis. “This is not simply a product of the programme-maker’s imagination,” writes Michael White, “but an idea that has become so entrenched in a range of Earth cultures as to have become almost a cliché. The only thing so far missing”, he continues, “is hard irrefutable proof to support the idea.”

Thanks largely to the likes of scientists such as Michael Persinger, et al; the long overdue and serious scientific study of the UFO phenomenon is now being redressed. As with all hypotheses theirs, too, possess both strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, however, the UFO dilemma is now subject to rigorous scientific criteria and, as Persinger himself declared, “can be resolved by precise numerical analyses.”

© David Calvert 2011

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