Ah shoot .. this column was from August 2005 ... it's currently August 2010 ... why not?
Decker
I Get The Last Word
By Don Ecker
Greetings, *UFO readers. Here in southern California, the August sun continues its brutal summer assault. My AC is presently on the fritz but I managed to save the day while writing by bringing in my living room fan. Now on to this issue’s rant.
I actually knew what my subject would be back in late June. A buddy of mine had called me asking if I’d caught Nick Redfern’s appearance on Noory’s Coast To Coast radio program, and Redfern’s explanation of what really occurred almost 60 years ago at Roswell, New Mexico. I hadn’t, but my friend made an MP-3 recording and sent it off to me immediately. Aha! Once again, the final explanation? My mind raced back to 1997 and the Pentagon’s “The Roswell Report: Case Closed” explanation. Having endured what then seemed like an endless spate of radio and television interviews, I was totally familiar with the Air Force’s “spin-doctoring.”
The day the report was released by the U.S. Air Force, I was sitting in NBC’s Burbank studios waiting to be interviewed for MSNBC, watching the televised Air Force press briefing. The Air Force spokesperson was once again giving the final word on what “really happened” in Roswell way back in 1947. (Unfortunately, I didn’t receive my copy of the Air Force report document until *after I appeared on this program. What I could have done with *that!) And remember, by the time this explanation was laid on the American public, the Air Force had already claimed “we got a disc,” in 1947; “Oops, nope, not a disc, but actually a weather balloon!” later in 1947, and then fast-forward 40-plus years and it’s “Nope! It was *really a Project Mogul balloon!” in the 1990s. Oh goody -- now they’re going to give us one last good old college try.
I listened to this poor Air Force colonel coyly talk about how even he might have been fooled, had he been driving somewhere down in the southwest U.S. and had come across something like this! Quick camera shot to page 45 of the “Report,” showing a Viking space probe from 1972! Of course, not a word on how somebody in 1947 could have seen a NASA probe from 25 years into the future! Another unforgettable moment was when this guy was asked a question about the bodies a number of witnesses had claimed to see. Hey, no problem. The Air Force was ready with what I somewhat cynically thought was another “instant” explanation.
Starting in 1953 and running until 1959, the Air Force conducted high altitude parachute experiments using anthropomorphic test dummies, dropping them from altitudes as high as almost 100,000 feet. The experiments made sense; in fact, one officer, Captain Joseph Kittinger, Jr., jumped from an altitude of 102,800 on August 16, 1960. This is still a world’s record. But I can already hear you asking me, “Hey Ecker, the Roswell event, or whatever in hell it was, was in 1947. You said these tests started in 1953. What gives?” Well, you’re right. What gives? According to the ever-facile Air Force, it was an example of “time compression!” In other words, all those folks who claimed they saw bodies at the Roswell event really were simply confused, because what they really saw were Air Force test dummies in about 1953 or so. For just a brief second, I tried to think what would have happened with my dad, had I ever tried to convince him that what he remembered from the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 -- the cold winter, the snow, the Germans, etc., -- he had really confused with his later experiences as a troop in Korea at the start of that war. I think my ears are still ringing! Yeah, time compression. That’s the ticket.
So, I got a copy of Nick Redfern’s Coast to Coast interview and listened to it, then I called him. As he details in his new book, *Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth At The Heart Of The Roswell Story, Redfern was able to locate a number of now 80-plus year-old former government workers, who over the years claimed that through their jobs, they stumbled over what really happened in Roswell in 1947. After speaking with Redfern, I must say he was most even handed about what he dug up. As he told me, there was always the possibility that this information might be disinformation. But his sources claim that what came down was terrestrial debris and human beings from an ultra-secret experiment that had its origins in Imperial Japan.
[FONT="] As we all know, near the latter days of World War II, the Japanese launched hundreds of what were
called Fugo Balloons, which carried bombs that the Japanese hoped would reach the U.S. via the jet
stream. Upon reaching the west coast of the U.S., the balloons would release the bomb load and
(according to Japanese hopes) raging fires would erupt. Some bomb loads did make it here, and a
small number of civilians even became causalities, but this was successfully hidden from the Japanese
military. Redfern went on to tell me that had the war not ended in August of 1945, there were plans
being made for a very large array of balloons carrying a Horton type glider, crewed by Japanese
Kamikaze pilots to be sent over here carrying biological weapons to release over American airspace.
Redfern’s speculation, buttressed by his unnamed sources, posits that much like Operation Paperclip,
U.S. Intelligence brought Japanese officers to the United States from their biological warfare units,
so as to study their research. The suggestion was that the U.S. tested the concept that the Japanese
came up with, to launch this Horton-type craft from a balloon manned by Japanese pilots. According
to Redfern’s speculation) the device crashed, the balloon debris falling on the Brazel ranch and the
Horton type device with the Japanese pilots crashing elsewhere. [/FONT][FONT="] Of course, over the last few years, almost as many “explanations” for Roswell have been proposed
as years have gone by. I thanked Nick Redfern for his research on this seminal case, and that while
I disagree with his speculation, we can never have too many researchers looking at the Roswell event.
Now, with the passage of almost 60 years, I question whether we will truly know the truth. But for me,
the ET explanation seems to answer most of the questions about what went down there. Over the years
I’ve spoken with several first hand witnesses and they were totally convinced that what crashed there
in 1947 was an alien ship. Who am I to disagree with them?[/FONT]
*Don Ecker is research director for *UFO Magazine and author of *Past Sins, a novel that has nothing whatever to do with UFOs.
Ecker host's Dark Matters Radio Monday thru Friday on CyberstationUSA from 10:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time until the Witching Hour. Tune in and drop by!
Decker
I Get The Last Word
By Don Ecker
Greetings, *UFO readers. Here in southern California, the August sun continues its brutal summer assault. My AC is presently on the fritz but I managed to save the day while writing by bringing in my living room fan. Now on to this issue’s rant.
I actually knew what my subject would be back in late June. A buddy of mine had called me asking if I’d caught Nick Redfern’s appearance on Noory’s Coast To Coast radio program, and Redfern’s explanation of what really occurred almost 60 years ago at Roswell, New Mexico. I hadn’t, but my friend made an MP-3 recording and sent it off to me immediately. Aha! Once again, the final explanation? My mind raced back to 1997 and the Pentagon’s “The Roswell Report: Case Closed” explanation. Having endured what then seemed like an endless spate of radio and television interviews, I was totally familiar with the Air Force’s “spin-doctoring.”
The day the report was released by the U.S. Air Force, I was sitting in NBC’s Burbank studios waiting to be interviewed for MSNBC, watching the televised Air Force press briefing. The Air Force spokesperson was once again giving the final word on what “really happened” in Roswell way back in 1947. (Unfortunately, I didn’t receive my copy of the Air Force report document until *after I appeared on this program. What I could have done with *that!) And remember, by the time this explanation was laid on the American public, the Air Force had already claimed “we got a disc,” in 1947; “Oops, nope, not a disc, but actually a weather balloon!” later in 1947, and then fast-forward 40-plus years and it’s “Nope! It was *really a Project Mogul balloon!” in the 1990s. Oh goody -- now they’re going to give us one last good old college try.
I listened to this poor Air Force colonel coyly talk about how even he might have been fooled, had he been driving somewhere down in the southwest U.S. and had come across something like this! Quick camera shot to page 45 of the “Report,” showing a Viking space probe from 1972! Of course, not a word on how somebody in 1947 could have seen a NASA probe from 25 years into the future! Another unforgettable moment was when this guy was asked a question about the bodies a number of witnesses had claimed to see. Hey, no problem. The Air Force was ready with what I somewhat cynically thought was another “instant” explanation.
Starting in 1953 and running until 1959, the Air Force conducted high altitude parachute experiments using anthropomorphic test dummies, dropping them from altitudes as high as almost 100,000 feet. The experiments made sense; in fact, one officer, Captain Joseph Kittinger, Jr., jumped from an altitude of 102,800 on August 16, 1960. This is still a world’s record. But I can already hear you asking me, “Hey Ecker, the Roswell event, or whatever in hell it was, was in 1947. You said these tests started in 1953. What gives?” Well, you’re right. What gives? According to the ever-facile Air Force, it was an example of “time compression!” In other words, all those folks who claimed they saw bodies at the Roswell event really were simply confused, because what they really saw were Air Force test dummies in about 1953 or so. For just a brief second, I tried to think what would have happened with my dad, had I ever tried to convince him that what he remembered from the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 -- the cold winter, the snow, the Germans, etc., -- he had really confused with his later experiences as a troop in Korea at the start of that war. I think my ears are still ringing! Yeah, time compression. That’s the ticket.
So, I got a copy of Nick Redfern’s Coast to Coast interview and listened to it, then I called him. As he details in his new book, *Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth At The Heart Of The Roswell Story, Redfern was able to locate a number of now 80-plus year-old former government workers, who over the years claimed that through their jobs, they stumbled over what really happened in Roswell in 1947. After speaking with Redfern, I must say he was most even handed about what he dug up. As he told me, there was always the possibility that this information might be disinformation. But his sources claim that what came down was terrestrial debris and human beings from an ultra-secret experiment that had its origins in Imperial Japan.
[FONT="] As we all know, near the latter days of World War II, the Japanese launched hundreds of what were
called Fugo Balloons, which carried bombs that the Japanese hoped would reach the U.S. via the jet
stream. Upon reaching the west coast of the U.S., the balloons would release the bomb load and
(according to Japanese hopes) raging fires would erupt. Some bomb loads did make it here, and a
small number of civilians even became causalities, but this was successfully hidden from the Japanese
military. Redfern went on to tell me that had the war not ended in August of 1945, there were plans
being made for a very large array of balloons carrying a Horton type glider, crewed by Japanese
Kamikaze pilots to be sent over here carrying biological weapons to release over American airspace.
Redfern’s speculation, buttressed by his unnamed sources, posits that much like Operation Paperclip,
U.S. Intelligence brought Japanese officers to the United States from their biological warfare units,
so as to study their research. The suggestion was that the U.S. tested the concept that the Japanese
came up with, to launch this Horton-type craft from a balloon manned by Japanese pilots. According
to Redfern’s speculation) the device crashed, the balloon debris falling on the Brazel ranch and the
Horton type device with the Japanese pilots crashing elsewhere. [/FONT][FONT="] Of course, over the last few years, almost as many “explanations” for Roswell have been proposed
as years have gone by. I thanked Nick Redfern for his research on this seminal case, and that while
I disagree with his speculation, we can never have too many researchers looking at the Roswell event.
Now, with the passage of almost 60 years, I question whether we will truly know the truth. But for me,
the ET explanation seems to answer most of the questions about what went down there. Over the years
I’ve spoken with several first hand witnesses and they were totally convinced that what crashed there
in 1947 was an alien ship. Who am I to disagree with them?[/FONT]
*Don Ecker is research director for *UFO Magazine and author of *Past Sins, a novel that has nothing whatever to do with UFOs.
Ecker host's Dark Matters Radio Monday thru Friday on CyberstationUSA from 10:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time until the Witching Hour. Tune in and drop by!