Tag: William Moore

What Happened at Roswell, the Birthplace of the Flying Saucer Legend?

July 2, 2020                                      (timesnownews.com)

• On July 7, 1947, when ranch worker William Brazel, discovered unusual debris 75 miles north of the town of Roswell, New Mexico, he wouldn’t have believed that this would be the first incident in a long sequence of events, spanning over seven decades, to form a rich and mysterious conspiracy theory that continues to fascinate and bewilder UFO theorists today. The ‘Roswell Incident,’ as it has now come to be called, provided to many the proof of extraterrestrial visitation and spawned a cultural movement.

• In 1947, stories of ‘flying discs’ or ‘flying saucers’ had already been circulating in the national press. So when Brazel discovered the debris, did the previous news of flying saucers lead him to believe that this may have been of an extraterrestrial origin? Brazel informed Roswell’s sheriff, who, in turn contacted Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field. The following day saw the RAAF issue a shocking press release confirming that a “flying disk” had, indeed, crashed at a ranch near the town of Roswell.

• As scientists arrived to the area, a press conference was hastily put together to explain that debris tinfoil, sticks and rubber strips was no more than that from a fallen weather balloon. The Roswell Daily Record newspaper which initially claimed that the debris came from a UFO, corrected their story to fit the RAAF’s weather balloon narrative.

• The incident faded from the news until 1980 when authors Charles Berlitz and William Moore published a book called The Roswell Incident. This book alleged that the weather balloon story was nothing more than a cover-up. Then in 1994, the US Air Force released a report claiming that the debris actually came from a spy device designed to fly at high-altitudes over the former USSR to detect sound waves, called Project Mogul, with the purpose of monitoring the Soviet Union’s efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

• But the USAF report did not address the eyewitness accounts of bodies seen at the crash site. So a follow up report was drawn up in 1997 to debunk the theory that alien corpses were discovered and transported by the US government to a top secret facility, saying that the figures were merely parachute test-dummies.

• To many, the reaction of the US government remains suspicious. Some have contended that, in attempting to originally claim one version of events, and then immediately backtrack on it, the government’s response had the unintended effect of attracting even greater attention to, not just the incident, but the covert operation as well.

• Roswell has since become the unofficial UFO capital of the world, and houses the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Since 1996, Roswell has also been the home of an annual UFO festival that sees thousands of tourists congregate at the little town to conduct scientific experiments, workshops and seminars, perform plays, experience its planetarium and even dissect fake alien corpses as part of the spectacle.

 

The little town of Roswell, New Mexico has been made famous for an incident that took place in 1947 that several conspiracy theorists maintain was

Major Jesse A. Marcel with tinfoil, sticks and rubber strip “debris”

proof of extraterrestrial visitation.

When ranch worker William Brazel, discovered what he thought to be unusual debris 75 miles north of the little town of Roswell, New Mexico, on that fateful day of July 7, 1947, he wouldn’t have, in his wildest dreams, believed that his was to be the first incident, in a long sequence of events, spanning over seven decades, forming a rich and mysterious conspiracy theory that continues to fascinate and bewilder UFO theorists even today. The ‘Roswell Incident,’ as it has now come to be called, has spawned a cultural movement, that has defied both, reason and time.

A whole host of conspiracy theories have made their way into the mainstream over the last few decades, and, it appears that we may never actually learn the full truth, amid all the cacophony. Nevertheless, some facts of the tale remain undisputed beginning with Brazel’s discovery.

Stories of ‘flying discs’ or ‘flying saucers’ had already been circulating in the national press that year, and, perhaps, these may have been what led Brazel to believe that the tinfoil, sticks and rubber strips he uncovered, may have had extraterrestrial origins. He soon informed Roswell’s sheriff of his discovery, who, in turn, contacted Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF).

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Terrifying UFO Encounter That Led to $20 Million Lawsuit Remains a Mystery

by Robbie Graham                   April 5, 2019                      (mysteriousuniverse.org)

• On the evening of December 29, 1980, Betty Cash (52) and her friend Vickie Landrum (57), along with Vickie’s grandson, Colby Landrum (6), went out for a drive on two lane road on the outskirts of the little town of Huffman, near Houston, Texas. As they rounded a bend, they saw a huge, blindingly bright, unidentified flying object hovering over the road, intermittently emitting flames downward. Afraid, they stopped the car. Betty stepped out of the car in attempt to get a better look at the object. Soon, the object lifted up and slowly flew away. Then they saw what they assumed were military helicopters trying to surround the object to either to pursue it, or perhaps escort it. Afterward, they all went home. This has become known as the ‘Cash-Landrum Incident’.

• After she dropped Vickie and Colby off, Betty went home and went to bed with a terrible headache. This was the beginning of a lengthy illness that resulted in her hospitalization. Vickie and Colby also reported flu-like symptoms, milder than Betty’s problems. Betty’s hair loss and flu-like symptoms caused the physicians to check her for radiation exposure, but the results were negative. The cause of her health problems was not determined.

• Due to Betty’s lingering health problems, she suspected that her encounter with the strange object on the night of December 29th may have been the cause. Betty reported the incident to the National UFO Reporting Center. This led to news coverage and a civilian investigation.

• In 1981, Betty wrote to Texas senators who advised her to file a complaint at Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin, Texas. Military investigators interviewed the witnesses, but concluded that it was ‘improbable’ that the event occurred. US Congressional Representative Ron Wyden asked for an investigation into whether US aircraft had been involved in the incident. The Department of the Army investigated, yet found no indication to support the ladies’ claims that any military helicopters had been involved.

• The ladies hired attorney Peter Gersten to file a $20M lawsuit against the government. Gersten stated that the chances of winning were “slim and none,” but he wanted to use the suit as a means of forcing the government to disclose UFO documents. The judge dismissed the case on August 21, 1986 for lack of evidence. The complainants had failed to prove that US aircraft were involved in the incident or that it was responsible for causing the alleged injuries.

• Next, the media got hold of it. ABC’s Good Morning America gave it national exposure as a UFO story. The press presented a simplified narrative of the incident, and before long, the witnesses were telling a homogenized version based on what they’d read about their own story. It also attracted other less-credible witnesses to seeing the UFO/helicopters that night. The Aerial Research Phenomena Organization (APRO) decided to investigate the incident, only to have one of its own employees sell the story to a tabloid. Others such as the deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network John F. Schuessler, William Moore and Richard Doty used the Cash-Landrum story to promote their own agendas.

• A leading expert on UFO mysteries, legends, and hoaxes, Curt Collins, took on the Cash-Landrum case. But the more he researched, the more he discovered that the real events had been obscured by misinformation and rumors to the point that the real story began to vanish. But after learning more about the requirements for equipment and personnel, the military helicopters aspect of the story was implausible.

• Then Vickie Landrum was quoted as trying to comfort her grandson, Colby, by telling him that the UFO was “Jesus”, and “He will not hurt us”. Religious zealots have clung to the UFO phenomenon since ‘extraterrestrials’ first came into the public limelight in 1947. Since then, god-like aliens have become a fundamental UFO belief in some circles. Collins warns that we should not waste time hoping that “parents” from space will come down and solve our problems.

• Collins concedes that we may never know exactly what happened on that Texas roadway the night of Dec. 29, 1980. More information has surfaced over the years from government documents to researchers’ archived files and correspondence, and there’s probably more to come. “It’s a fascinating UFO puzzle.”

 

One of the world’s leading experts on the Cash-Landrum case is Curt Collins, the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, a website focused on UFO mysteries, legends, and hoaxes. In 2015, Curt was on the investigative team that exposed the BeWitness “alien” photo fiasco, the Roswell Slides Research Group; his detailed accounting of this exposé was featured in my 2017 book UFOs: Reframing the Debate. More recently, Curt launched The Saucers That Time Forgot with Claude Falkstrom, focused on unearthing “tales that UFO history has overlooked or would rather forget.” Curt has spent many years retrospectively investigating the Cash-Landrum incident. Here, Curt separates the fact from the fiction as he talks to me about this fascinating yet hugely problematic case.

     Vickie Landrum (left) and Betty Cash

RG: Summarise the Cash-Landrum incident for us.

According to the story that surfaced, Betty Cash (52) and her friend Vickie Landrum (57) were out for a drive on the evening of December 29, 1980. Along with them was Vickie’s grandson, Colby Landrum, just shy of seven years old. The location was near Houston, Texas, on a two-lane country road in a sparsely populated area on the outskirts of the little town of Huffman. They rounded a bend and found a huge, blindingly bright, unidentified flying object hovering over the road. It intermittently emitted flames downward, and the witnesses were afraid and stopped. Betty stepped out of the car in attempt to get a better look at the object, but the other two quickly returned to the car. Shortly afterwards, the object lifted up and slowly flew away. The witnesses saw helicopters following it, and they had the impression they were military helicopters trying to surround the object, either to pursue it, or perhaps escort it. Once the aircraft had passed, they continued their drive home. Betty dropped Vickie and Colby off, and went home, where she went to bed with a terrible headache, which was the beginning of a lengthy illness that resulted in her hospitalization. Vickie and Colby also had flu-like symptoms and reported similar, but milder problems than Betty’s. None of them initially connected their illness with the UFO sighting, but, due to Betty’s lingering problems, came to suspect it may have been the cause.

RG: You’ve spent many years of your life researching the Cash-Landrum incident; what is it about this case in particular that you find so compelling? Why is it so significant?

CC: I was interested in the whole of UFO history, but drawn to focus the C-L story due to its reputation for being one of the best-documented and credible cases. The reported involvement of the military made me think that there must be further evidence to be uncovered, from declassified documents or perhaps from new witnesses such as retired helicopter pilots. However, as I dug in, I learned that the real events have been obscured by misinformation and rumors to the point that the real story has begun to vanish. A great stroke of luck was finding Christian Lambright who had independently interviewed Vickie Landrum twice in 1985, uncovering important differences in the witnesses account from the way ufologists were packaging the UFO story. This fueled my desire to dig beneath the mythology to find exactly what could be documented about the case.

RG: Did the US government ever provide an official explanation for the incident?

CC: No. There has never been any tangible proof that there actually was an incident.

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The MJ12 Documents: The Government’s Position

by Nick Redfern         December 9, 2017           (mysteriousuniverse.org)

• In 1980, William Moore co-authored the book,The Roswell Incident. Soon thereafter, Moore was contacted by intelligence insiders who would covertly pass along intelligence information. In 1984, Moore’s friend, tv producer Jaime Shandera received a roll of film of photos of MJ-12 documents. Moore, Shandera, and Stanton Friedman studied and attempted to authenticate the documents for 2 ½ years.

• MJ-12 or Majestic 12 is a clandestine UFO/extraterrestrial oversight group, above the President, created in 1947 in the wake of the Roswell crash. It was/is comprised by twelve elite military, scientific, and intelligence officials.

• In 1987, Timothy Good published his book, Above Top Secret, and revealed the existence of MJ-12 along with leaked copies of MJ-12 documents. With the release of Good’s book, William Moore released his information on MJ-12 as well and it all went public.

• According to Jacques Vallee, when the FBI were given these MJ-12 documents, they turned away in disgust, professing no interest in the matter. When UFO debunker Philip Klass contacted the FBI about the alleged MJ-12 documents in 1988, the FBI opened an investigation. Also in 1988, an unauthorized Air Force agent gave the Dallas FBI office a file of MJ-12 documents. The Air Force immediately told the Dallas FBI that the documents were part of a number of these fake documents circulating around the United States. They told the Dallas FBI office to close the investigation.

• In 1993, the Air Force told this article’s writer, Nick Redfern, that they never had any MJ-12 documents in their possession and that MJ-12 doesn’t exist. Furthermore, the Air Force had never discussed MJ-12 with the FBI. The Air Force could not, however, provide any documents or evidence showing that they actually investigated the matter. Today, the FBI’s investigation into MJ-12 is officially “closed”.

• In the 1990s, investigator Timothy Cooper brought to the FBI hundreds more pages of MJ-12 documents, but they never made it to the public domain.

• Redfern ponders: ‘how was the Air Force able to determine that the papers were faked if no investigation on their part was undertaken?’ Was it just an opinion based on the unlikely nature and content of the documents?

• [Editor’s Note] Amazingly, Redfern takes the side of the Air Force cover-up, agreeing that the MJ-12 documents (presumably all of them) are bogus fakes. He considers the Air Force’s arbitrary dismissal of such a clandestine deep state government UFO committee to be “both understandable and reasonable”. Redfern ends the article flippantly, saying “[it] is time, methinks, for the rotted corpse to be laid to rest, once and for all,” the rotted corpse being the very existence of an MJ-12 oversight committee. It was all just a rumor. Really Nick?

 

It has been thirty years since the original, so-called “MJ12 documents” surfaced. In 1987, Timothy Good’s bestselling book Above Top Secret was published. One of the most-talked-about aspects of Good’s book was the mention of a supposed top secret research and development group established in 1947 to deal with highly classified UFO data. Referred to as either Majestic 12 or MJ12, it was said to have been created in the wake of the notorious events at Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. It was said to have been comprised of military personnel, scientists, and the elite of the U.S. Intelligence community. Not only that: Good published copies of what were said to be leaked MJ12 documents that told of (a) the establishment of the group; (b) the apparent crash of a UFO, complete with alien bodies, at Roswell; and (c) a briefing given in 1952 on the matter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Shortly after Good’s publication of the documents, additional copies surfaced in the United States. They came from the then research team of well-known ufologist Stanton Friedman, William Moore (the co-author, with Charles Berlitz, of the 1980 book The Roswell Incident) and Jaime Shandera (a television producer). Moore had been working quietly with a number of intelligence insiders who had contacted him shortly after publication of The Roswell Incident. From time to time various official-looking papers were passed onto Moore, the implication being that someone in the U.S. Government, military or Intelligence Community wished to make available information on UFOs that would otherwise have remained forever outside of the public domain.

It was as a result of Moore’s insider dealings that a roll of film negatives displaying the MJ12 documents was delivered in the mail to the home of Shandera in December 1984. Moore, Friedman and Shandera worked carefully and quietly for two and a half years in an attempt to determine the authenticity of the documents. With Timothy Good’s release, however, it was decided that the best course of action was to follow suit. As a result, a controversy was created that still continues to this day. At least, it continues to a small degree. Most people in Ufology have moved on from the MJ12 documents. But, they still occasionally cause a brief raising of eyebrows, such as when the latest batch surfaced earlier this year. Who remembers them now? I try not to.

Jacques Vallee, UFO author, investigator, and former principal investigator on Department of Defense computer networking projects-stated in his book Revelations that the FBI turned away from the MJ12 documents in “disgust” and professed no interest in the matter. Papers and comments made to me by the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, however, reflect a somewhat different scenario. It was in 1988 that the FBI’s investigation began – after the late UFO skeptic/debunker Philip Klass contacted the FBI and told them all about the supposedly leaked, highly-classified documents and who had put them in the public domain.

We also know – thanks to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act – that what was possibly a separate autumn 1988 investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Foreign Counter-Intelligence division (operating out of Washington and New York). Some input into the investigation also came from the FBI office in Dallas, Texas – the involvement of the latter confirmed to me by the Dallas office in the early 1990s.

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