Stan Friedman Retires

Stan Friedman is retiring.

Stan is the person who most shaped the course of modern ufology over the past fifty years, for both good and ill. While I didn't always agree with him (or even often agree with him), Stan remains one of my favourite people, and I wish him a long and happy ride off into the sunset. He's earned it.

The Daily Gleaner, the local newspaper in Stan's hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick, reported the news on the weekend.

The article is behind a paywall, but here is the text:

N.B. UFO EXPERT HANGING UP HIS TELESCOPE

Longtime UFO researcher Stanton Friedman of Fredericton is retiring.

"I'm turning 84 in July," Friedman said in an interview. "I'll look at the Internet, but enough is enough."

Friedman said he gave his first lecture on unidentified flying objects in 1967.

"That's a long time."

The author and former nuclear physicist began lecturing about UFOs while doing engineering consulting work, and his family moved to Fredericton in 1980 because his wife, Marilyn, was born in New Brunswick, he said.

He's travelled the world speaking about his belief in the existence of alien life, his views widely publicized at home and abroad through lectures, writings and his monthly column in the MUFON (The Mutual UFO Network) journal.

"One of my last events will be the Roswell International UFO Museum Festival in July in Roswell, New Mexico," he said.

Many believe a UFO crashed in the area in mid-1947, and that the United States military has covered it up ever since.

"I'm the original civilian investigator of the Roswell incident. I've been invited. I accepted."

Friedman said he will be giving several lectures at the event, which last year attracted 9,000 visitors for the weekend festival.

Retirement doesn't mean he won't be thinking about UFOs, he said.

Friedman said he has never doubted the existence of life beyond Earth, and the evidence of alien life visiting our planet has never been stronger.

"I came at it as someone who worked on far-out stuff. We now know that there are planets all over the place. In our own galaxy, they are in the billions."

The odds are very good that we're not alone in the universe, he maintains.

2017 East Coast Paraconference - August 11, 12, 13

If you're looking for a good time with some fascinating speakers talking about the paranormal and some down-home Maritime hospitality, then I hope you'll join me, Greg Bishop, Micah Hanks, Ryan Sprague, Chris Styles, and all the other great speakers next weekend at the 3rd annual East Coast Paraconference in historic Liverpool, Nova Scotia. The irrepressible Tim Binnall will also be popping by for the third year in a row, so it's kind of like a "New Cabal" gathering..

My good friend Greg returns for the second straight year, and will be speaking, in the loosest of ways, about Roswell's 70th anniversary, and what it means for the study of UFOs (which he tells me will get into his intriguing co-creation hypothesis). Ryan is best known for his interest in and work on the subject of UFOs, and he will no doubt work the subject into his talk "Beyond the Bermuda Triangle: Visiting Other Mysterious Triangles Around the Globe." Micah will be wading into some truly thought-provoking ideas with his presentation on "Magic, Mysticism, and the Molecule." Chris will, of course, be offering an extensive presentation on the Shag Harbour UFO incident, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this October.

Historic Liverpool, Nova Scotia, home of privateers, rum-runners, and plenty of ghosts!

Other speakers will be tackling subjects such as the Oak Island mystery, consciousness and remote viewing, and psychic mediums. The local Crossed Over Paranormal Society, who conduct investigations along Nova Scotia's very haunted South Shore, will also be there, presenting some of the things they have discovered and experienced over the years. They will also be running the evening ghost walks and paranormal investigations, which are always great fun.

I'll be kicking things off with the keynote presentation on Friday evening, where I'll be talking about my experiences over the past few months shooting the first season of our television series Haunted. I'll also be giving folks an exclusive preview of some of the most interesting evidence we collected, as well as some of our scariest moments when we were filming.

You can find out more about this year's festivities here. Hope to see you there!

Paul Kimball

All Of This Has Happened Before...

This Pittsburgh newspaper article about Roswell comes from 1997. You might recognize the names - they haven't really changed in decades (with the exception of poor Karl Pflock, who passed away several years ago from ALS).

The article can be viewed here as well.

As the saying went in the remake of Battlestar Galactica: All of this has happened before.

Paul Kimball

Karl Pflock sums up modern Ufology

My good friend the late Karl Pflock sums up what really drives modern conspiracy-oriented ufology, particularly Roswell researchers, in this clip from an interview I conducted with him on 9 September, 2001. 

Paul Kimball

Benson Saler - Evidence and The Roswell UFO Case

In this clip from an interview I conducted with him in 2001, anthropologist Dr. Benson Saler discusses the concept of evidence and how it has been applied to the Roswell UFO case by both believers and skeptics. With all the bluster from the "Dream Team" about the "Roswell slides," it's always nice to remind oneself of how a proper academic approaches the subject. 

 Paul Kimball

The Roswell "Dream Team" and the "Slides"

From my friend Jose Antonio Caravaca, who is part of the group of skeptical researchers looking into the Roswell slides. It sums things up nicely. From left to right, Bragalia, Randle, Carey and Schmitt.

Paul Kimball

Walter Haut & Glenn Dennis - The Roswell UFO Museum and Stan Friedman

Stepping away from the "slides" imbroglio for a bit, but remaining with Roswell, here is a clip from an interview I conducted with Glenn Dennis and Walter Haut in 2001 wherein they discuss the Roswell UFO museum and their relationship with Stan Friedman.

Paul Kimball

BREAKING NEWS - "Roswell Slides" in Shocking Video Footage

A secret source of mine within the NSA just sent this above top secret video clip of one of the aliens from the Roswell slides group - apparently one died in the crash, but his co-pilot survived and was integrated into American society without anyone in the general public knowing it. 

Shocking!!

Paul Kimball

The Roswell Slides - You Decide!

The Roswell slides are out now. Have your say - what do they show! I'll leave the voting open until the end of February. If you pick "something else," please leave a comment with what you think that "something else" might be.

The Roswell slides are:
	Pictures of a dead extraterrestrial being from Roswell in 1947
	A hoax
	Pictures of a human body with some form of physical deformity
	Something else (please leave a comment)

Personally, when push came to shove I voted for a hoax, but that's because I think the slides represent a human body with a deformity that the Dream Team are purposefully representing as a dead alien despite knowing better, which to me ultimately makes it a hoax, in a "meta" sense. I look forward to hearing what you think.

Paul Kimball

The New York Times' Roswell coverage in 1947

I was doing some archival research today on non-UFO related history at Acadia University, and I took the opportunity to check the New York Times on microfilm for their version of the Roswell "crash"... and here it is. What I found particularly interesting was the coverage the "flying disc" phenomenon was getting in the week before the Roswell incident, stemming from the Kenneth Arnold sighting in June, 1947. Flying saucers were certainly in the news, and imaginations were working overtime, which is probably the biggest reason why the people who jumped the gun and released the press release about the "Roswell crash" got it wrong... and then had to retract their error shortly thereafter and use the weather balloon cover story for what they had really found - the top secret Project Mogul. Anyone who thinks those kinds of things can't happen to even the best of us just doesn't understand human nature.

Paul Kimball

Kevin Randle - Ufologists as part of the Roswell story

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted with him in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in September 2001, UFO researcher Kevin Randle responds to the assertion by anthropologist Dr. Benson Saler that ufologists have inserted themselves into the Roswell story and therefore become as much a part of the story as the witnesses themselves.

Paul Kimball

Richard Dolan - The Early History of the UFO Phenomenon and the Government Cover-up

UFO researcher Richard Dolan talks about his research into the early years of the UFO phenomenon, from the Second World War until the end of the Truman administration, in this interview I conducted with him in Aztec, New Mexico, in 2003.

Paul Kimball

Karl Pflock - The Cutler-Twining Memo

UFO researcher / author Karl Pflock discusses the infamous Cutler - Twining Memo (part of the bogus MJ-12 documents) in this 2003 interview I conducted with him at his home in Placitas, New Mexico. He puts to rest the notion that there was no way that the memo could have been faked and then planted at the National Archives, as he reveals that he once did exactly that himself as an experiment.

I miss Karl. He was a good friend, and a rare voice of reason and common sense amongst "ufologists."

Paul Kimball

Karl Pflock - Witnesses and the Government response to the "Roswell Incident"

In this clip from an interview I conducted with the late Karl Pflock in September, 2001, the author of Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe, discusses the dearth of quality witnesses to anything "extraterrestrial" at Roswell in 1947, as well as the nature of the government's response to the incident, and UFOs in general, and how it points not to a cover-up of crashed spaceships but rather the opposite.

Paul Kimball

Kevin Randle - "Why Project Mogul doesn't explain the 1947 Roswell UFO crash"

In this 2001 interview I conducted with UFO researcher Kevin Randle, he outlines why he thinks that the explanation offered by the USAF for the 1947 Roswell Incident - Project Mogul - does not fit the facts. 

Paul Kimball

Stanton Friedman - Charles Berlitz and "The Roswell Incident"

In this clip from the interview I conducted with Stan Friedman in 2001 for the documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real, he discusses the writing of the 1980 book The Roswell Incident and his relationship with Charles Berlitz.

Paul Kimball

Stanton Friedman discusses Karl Pflock's "Roswell" book

In this clip from my 2001 interview for the documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real, Friedman discusses Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe, Karl Pflock's skeptical book about the 1947 Roswell incident.

Paul Kimball

Dr. Benson Saler on Stanton Friedman and the Roswell Myth

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted in 2001 with Dr. Benson Saler of Brandeis University (co-author of "UFO Crash at Roswell: The Genesis of a Modern Myth"), he discusses the role of Stanton Friedman in the creation of the Roswell myth, and contrasts Friedman's work with that of other Roswell researchers Kevin Randle and the late Karl Pflock. 

Paul Kimball

Kevin Randle on the UFO Cover-up

As part of a more comprehensive film project, I'll be spending the next couple of weeks going through all the tapes of UFO-related interviews I've shot over the years (well over 50 hours worth). The end result will be a series of more complete releases elsewhere, but I'll post a few clips here along the way. Here's one from 2001, featuring Kevin Randle talking about the UFO Cover-up.

Paul Kimball

"Where Did The Road Go" appearance - January, 2014

Something new for saucer fiends, as I took a little time off from shooting my new feature film to appear on the Where Did The Road Go show to discuss the Rendlesham and Roswell UFO cases in a not particularly flattering light... and the Shag Harbour case in a somewhat more positive light (at least as something interesting and mysterious). And other stuff...

Meanwhile, Seriah Azkath, the host of the podcast, just sent me this feedback he received on Twitter about my appearance, because he knew it would amuse me. 

"You take stupidity to an all time high talking about what UFO cases are more credible than others.Like all you debunkers You attack the person telling the story instead of actually providing any sort of actual evidence. Like retarded parrots You Do nothing but just puke out verbatim some scripted garbage that shows&proves nothing other than you can plagiarize you question Roswell&Rendelshem bc it happened "so long ago" yet you,like the vapid double talking idiotic lawyer you claim you are mention that the Shag Harbour case is a lot more credible bc and I quote : "It happened in the 60's&those witnesses aren't dead like Roswell". The level of hypocrisy in that statement alone should get you kicked off the podcast but I believe the following comment will win the case. You actually said having anonymous witnesses is better&makes this care more credible. My god who anyone takes you seriously is beyond me & just as a kicker you,as a film maker or whatever lawyer, debunker saying the guys from Rend. Forrest saw $ & thats what makes there story less credible proved you're most hypocritical thing ever.I have no prob with the other host but the debunking parrot does your podcast no favors"

For the record, I'm pretty sure I never said that having anonymous witnesses makes a case better because that's not something I would ever say (although I would say that having anonymous witnesses usually makes a case more entertaining because they are the ones who tell the craziest stories). Indeed, if I recall correctly, I was trying to differentiate between the witnesses at Shag which are not anonymous, and whose stories are relatively straightforward and grounded, and those whose stories are wilder but have chosen to stay anonymous, and who therefore can't be relied upon.

But I was definitely amused!

Paul Kimball