own consultant concerning UFOs, after studying them for a good
fifteen years, defected and came out saying that UFOs were "not
all hogwash." He felt there was a core of cases that could not
be easily explained in scientific terms and were definitely worth studying. He found himself forced to put his career on the
line to say this to the world, when most were very reluctant to
admit to other scientists, that they might be studying the topic
in a sincere fashion. 1 And why did they feel this way? Because,
many other scientists, not knowing the core data, were laughing
at the possibility these things could be real. As researchers are
painfully aware, some of them still are today. Fortunately, more
scientists today are taking up the challenge. More than this, we
cannot ask.
Dr. J.A. HynekHynek's 1968 letter to Colonel Sleeper, written before Blue Book closed, told Sleeper that it's 20 year study, the same study the Air Force was using to claim that the majority of UFO cases had been thoroughly, scientifically explained, was, in actuality, a "non-study." As previously mentioned, with the publishing of that letter in Hynek's book "The UFO Experience," the bedrock that UFO skeptics had to stand upon simply crumbled. The statistics quoted by the Air Force were, as Hynek put it, "a travesty." 2
Dr. E. CondonWe also learned, confirmed by Walter Sullivan, New York Times Science Editor, and reconfirmed by Dr. Hynek in that same book, that the "Condon Study" was also greatly influenced by this "fear of professional ridicule". Low's fateful memo had exposed the study as an exercise in pretending to study something it was afraid of. The heads of the study wanted, in Dr. Low's own words, as previously discussed,
" ...to describe the project so that, to the public,
it would appear a totally objective study but, to the
scientific community, would present the image of a group
of non believers trying their best to be objective, but
having an almost zero expectation of finding a saucer." 3 Additionally, we found that Hynek wasn't the only one that disagreed with the results of the "Condon Study." Other studies were performed. Other scientists and engineers, felt the data of the Colorado Study did not support Dr. Condon's conclusions and fifty scientists had signed a statement urging a congressional investigation of UFOs to no avail. Case material presented by Drs. McDonald and Hynek convinced those professionals that the conclusions Condon reached were not in keeping with the available facts. More study was definitely indicated. 4 - - - - - - - jc 7/1/2006
: Adding a links here to the on-line version of the Condon Study and to the Sturrock re-evaluation of same. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Now, with the major two studies on UFOs proven to have serious "flaws" (If you read "Oberg/Cooper rebuttal parts.3-5" you know I am trying to be kind), what did we have left? ...... the core of truly "unsolved" UFO cases which everyone had avoided focusing upon in the first place. The question was, how many were there, where could they be found, and who was going to do the looking? Unfortunately, not "mainstream science." This formidable task was thrust back upon none other than, you guessed it folks, the civilian UFO groups who had been attempting to collect whatever data they could on the phenomena all along, without the important resources of "mainstream science." (money, proper diagnostic tools,
etc.)
Richard HallOne excellent source of documented sightings was Richard Hall's previously mentioned manuscript "The UFO Evidence," published back in 1964 by NICAP' (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena). If you remember, Hall had compiled, edited and submitted it to numerous congressmen prior to its final publishing. 5 (jc 3/29/02: Hall has released The UFO Evidence #2)
NICAP was a relatively conservative UFO group. 6 It had an
excellent staff composed of impressive people of quite varied
educational disciplines, some of whom had been fairly high up in
military echelons. 7 It was not quick to claim any sightings were
valid and it's journal provided an excellent place to record these
unusual claims when they were reported. The journal was for the
most part, competent and lucid. Reports were taken, investigations conducted, investigator's comments added and finally entered into
the journal. Speculations were held to the minimum. Hall's manuscript contained an explanation of NICAP, its policies and a "reality of UFOs" statement by its Board of Governors. 8 It also contained, as previously mentioned, a listing of 746 documented sightings by Air Force, Army, Navy & Marine personnel, pilots and aviation experts, other military personnel, observations by professional scientists and engineers, including astronomers and aeronautical engineers. 9 They gave reasons why the objects that were seen appeared to be under intelligent control, not just floating debris, balloons, kites, etc. They also reported on electro-magnetic effects observed, radar cases, photographic evidence, physical and physiological effects. The majority of cases fell in the date range from 1942-'62. 10 This, then, was an important part of the evidence. A few cases could be found from some of the "Blue Book files that Hynek had presented" in the books he was writing. 11 Others could be found in the Blue Book files themselves, IF the Air Force would permit people to get at them. 12 Remember, Hynek stated they didn't let HIM peruse the files, and he was their "consultant." 13 - - - - - - -
jc Addendum 2006
: Just found this concerning an ongoing re-appraisal of Project Blue Book cases by Brad Sparks on Errol Bruce Knapp's Virtually
Strange website . . .
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2003/jul/m03-016.shtml or click here. * see important quote from Sparks below) jc 6/22/2006: Also, other important information Kelleher/Sparks (NIDS)
Blue Book files and accumulated UFO records available for supervised analysis ) - - - - - - -
Oberg/Cooper Rebuttal 6 - continued And yet most amazing of all, another important place some documented unknowns could be found was in the CONDON STUDY itself. 14 If one waded through the voluminous material therein, one could find cases actually listed as unknowns by the project's scientists and some others listed as "solved" that some outside scientists felt "very" strongly needed reexamining. Mind you, the project had not examined many of the best cases available, and yet this thought provoking fact remained; it still contained a fairly large percentage of unknowns (see #6), even larger than the Air
Force was claiming. In reality, as I mentioned previously,
researchers found the study's own data did NOT really support
Condon's conclusions. 15 Therefore, here was another solid
source for investigation, as one could readily see the
thoroughness or lack of same that was applied to each case. "Hidden cases" provided yet another more nebulous source. These were government cases which various researchers had heard rumors about but could not absolutely prove existed. Project Blue Book cases such as those illustrated by Dr. Hynek to Colonel Sleeper and others, including some from the Condon Study which McDonald brought to the attention of various science groups, were clues there were probably other "hidden" cases buried not only in Blue Book files, but also, perhaps, in government communications regarding same. 16 When the government passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a means of locating "some" of those cases via their "related memos" was opened. Find enough memos and you could possibly confirm their related cases. Needless to say, the UFO groups began filing both requests and, where necessary, lawsuits to search for what they were virtually positive had to be there. The Air Force and government had to know more than they were telling, and FOIA requests were seen as an excellent way to flush them out. As previously mentioned, the book "The UFO Cover- up" covers both this and more in great detail. 17 jc 3/31/02: Awhile ago, while I was surfing the net, I came
across a document written by Dr. Bruce Maccabee that covers this history exceedingly well and I've decided I must include a link to it here.
Bruce Maccabee
The paper is entitled "Still in Default" and was originallyPublished in the Proceedings of the 1986 MUFON INTERNATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM, pg 131. It is a long read but excellent. For the
section of the paper which tells us some information which
has become available since 1969 click here. With the preceding solidly documented history tucked under our belts, I can finally get to the specific cases I mentioned at the outset of these essays. These cases will give us an indication of the strength of some of the evidence at hand and demonstrate that Gorden Coopers claims may be more solid than certain researchers would have us believe. This evidence continues to mount, indicating that there is definitely something flying around our airspace whose characteristics preclude it belonging to our Air Force. (or any other that we know) The first two articles I'll present were the first I ever cut out of a newspaper. I eventually discovered material that led me to believe these reported events were more solid than I ever imagined. If they are a secret development of ours, it was developed back in 1957 when the following cases occurred. I don't believe we had an operating version of the "Stealth" at that time. What was seen was nothing like it anyway. You be the judge.