I thought about posting this news at my new blog, but decided that I should post it here, on what was always a UFO-centered blog. Sadly, this kind of information is the only reason I would post here again.
Stuart was one of the truly good guys in ufology. I had corresponded with him for a number of years prior to 2006, when he invited me to speak at a UFO Conference that he was holding in Altrincham (you can read a local news article on it here). Nick was going to be there as well, and I was headed to the United Kingdom to interview Nick Pope in London for my documentary Best Evidence, so I thought it sounded like a great idea. The problem was that Stuart couldn't pay me, which was fine (I've never taken a speaker's fee), but Best Evidence was on a tight budget, and my cameraman Findlay Muir and I had no place to stay in the Manchester area. No problem, said Stuart - we could stay with him, along with Nick and his wife Dana. And so we did, for several days after the conference was over, and had a grand time. It was at that conference back in 2006 that I met my good mate, Dave Sadler, with whom I went ghost hunting in 2009 in the Manchester area for Ghost Cases.
Stuart and Nick on Stuart's patio - 2006.
While I was at his house, I thought it would be fun to interview Stuart for Best Evidence. It didn't make the final cut, but I posted a transcript of it here a couple of years ago. In the introduction to that post, I wrote:
Stuart makes a great cup of tea (or sometimes a vat, if he’s using one of his super-sized cups), he probably knows more about motorcycles than anyone in ufology, he has a lovely family, a very friendly dog named Molly, and he enjoys his stogies. He is articulate, knowledgeable, and opinionated, which always makes for a good interview.
If I have a problem with Stuart, it’s that he's too modest (all of it genuine) about his own role in ufology. UFO Review is one of the best places to go for a comprehensive summary of the news of the day in the world of the paranormal, and his bi-monthly e-zine of the same name, which usually exceeds a hundred pages of content, is a must-read. His monthly UK reports on the Strange Days… Indeed radio show are always a good listen, and he’s to be commended for having the guts to put on a UFO conference at a time when attendance for conferences is down across the board. In short, he’s an important person within ufology, and makes, in his own way, a very significant and worthwhile contribution.
I later posted a clip from that interview, wherein Stuart discussed the Rendlesham Forest case (the clip also features Stan Friedman, Nick Pope, and Dick Hall, another good friend who passed away in 2009).
There is so much I could say about Stuart, with whom I was supposed to have lunch in 2009 when I was in the Manchester area shooting Ghost Cases. He was super keen to get together, but I just couldn't quite find the time, busy as I was filming, something I regretted then, and regret even more now. Time is the one thing you can never get back.
Stuart's great mag Alien Worlds, for which I wrote.
Sadly, he could only keep it going for 4 issues.
I'll leave you with my fondest memory of Stuart.
I was at the Conference, and things weren't going well. The English football team was playing that day in the 2006 World Cup, which meant that Stuart's timing couldn't have been worse. Looking around the room, I could tell that with only 15 to 20 paying customers, he was going to lose money... probably a fair bit of money. I felt bad for him, so while one of the speakers was giving his lecture, I sidled up to Stuart, who was standing next to the refreshment counter / bar, watching the man speak. It was perhaps 11 am.
"Tough sledding," I said. Trying to buck up his spirits, I added: "I bet there'll be more people here in the afternoon."
He just shook his head. "No," he replied. "There's probably going to be fewer people here by then."
I didn't quite know what to say, so I just stood there with him for a couple of moments, both of us silent. Then he walked behind the bar, poured himself a beer, and then poured another for me. He walked back around to the front of the bar, handed me my beer, smiled, and simply said "Fuck it." Then he took a long drink and laughed, and we both proceeded to have a no-holds barred chat about life, UFOs, and good English beer.
This excerpt from the interview Errol Bruce-Knapp conducted with Stuart, Nick and I later that evening (and it was very late in the UK), sums up the hijinks that we were up to that grand day in Altrincham in May, 2006 - and shows what a wonderful fellow Stuart was (Nick offers his own thoughts on Stuart here; Errol comments here).
Stuart Miller was a genuinely good man, full of joie de vivre, wit, humour, and a true spirit of adventure and humanity. He will be missed by all who were lucky enough to know him.
One of the best things that happened to the UFO scene in 2008 was the arrival of Stuart Miller's magazine Alien Worlds. Alas, the magazine only lasted four issues, but in that time Stuart gave a number of writers the opportunity to talk about UFOs from some very interesting perspectives. I was one of those writers, and I'm proud to have been part of Stuart's adventure. Of the four columns I wrote, the following was my favourite. I've edited it slightly, only to take account of the passage of time.
ABOVE AND BEYOND by Paul Kimball “The Seven Wonders of the Ufological World”
To many people, the UFO subject is a super-secret, paradigm-altering, world-changing excuse to be Grade A sticks-in-the-mud. Who are they? Well, you’ll know them when you see them, or more likely hear or read them, because they never get out and experience the real world. The rest of us, however, realize that you can study the UFO phenomenon seriously, and have some fun at the same time, and the world will not come to an end.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to enjoy oneself is travel. I figure that if the “real world” can have "Seven Wonders", the world of UFOs and ufology can have its own “Seven Wonders” - places that everyone interested in the subject of UFOs should visit before they shuffle off of this mortal coil. Some are related to actual UFO cases, some are related to the cultural phenomenon that is ufology, but all are worthwhile visits.
#7 The Aetherius Society HQ - Los Angeles, California, USA You may not have heard of the Aetherius Society, which is a shame, because they’re an interesting bunch (featured prominently in the classic 1992 documentary Farewell Good Brothers). The organization was founded by the late George King in London in 1955 as the result of what King claimed were contacts with advanced extraterrestrial intelligences. The group's tax exempt status was recognized by the US in 1960, which was decades before the recognition of Scientology, and a decade before Rael hit the scene, which makes the Aetherians the first UFO- religion. Through what they call Operation Prayer Power, they claim to be able to store prayer energy in a Spiritual Power Battery. This spiritual energy, invoked through prayer, can be directed under tremendous concentration and released at a later date to areas of the world in need… or so they claim. The great thing is that every Thursday night, whether you believe or not, you can pop by their headquarters and participate in Operation Prayer Power! Also, since 1955 the Aetherius Society has offered free “Spiritual Healing” treatments to all who request it. They claim that this is a natural healing method, based on ancient principles of metaphysical science, to bring relief to those who need it. Who knows? You may even be able to commune with one of the Space Brothers. If not, their Los Angeles HQ is only a few minutes from Hollywood Boulevard, where you can always find some strange creatures!
# 6 International UFO Museum - Roswell, New Mexico, USA Personally, I don’t really like Roswell – the UFO case, or the city. I think the focus on the Roswell case by UFO researchers has been bad for the serious study of the phenomenon as a whole. As for the city, let’s just say that if aliens did come down in that area, it must have been a crash, because I can’t imagine that they would have picked Roswell – either then or now - as a tourist destination. It’s harmless enough, mind you, in the “United States has a thousand other cities like this” kind of way, but there’s nothing special about it, especially in a state where the much more interesting places to visit, such as Taos and Santa Fe, and even Albuquerque, are father north. Still, it’s Roswell, which has become, much to my chagrin, the Holy Grail of ETH-centric ufology, so a trip there is probably going to satisfy that group, as well as conspiracy theorists. The best place to start is the International UFO Museum, which takes UFO kitsch and runs with it, but in a way that doesn’t make you feel dirty when you leave. The good news is that the time to visit Roswell is in the traditional summer vacation month of July, when the UFO festival is in full swing – it still attracts a fairly large crowd, and is a fun event. The bad news is that the worst time to visit Roswell, unless you like extremely hot and uncomfortable weather, is also in July (and August), so if unremitting heat isn’t your thing, you might want to skip the festivities and pop by in the fall.
# 5 International UFO Congress Convention & Film Festival - Aquarius Casino & Resort, Laughlin, Nevada, USA Next to the Colorado River on the Nevada / Arizona border, Laughlin, Nevada is a town that I like to call “mini-Vegas” – it has casinos and hotels and glitz, but not so much in the way of glamour…. which is why I find it charming. That, and the fact that in late February and early March you can travel to Laughlin and hang out for a full week at the Aquarius Casino and Hotel with hundreds of other UFO-buffs, believers, aficionados, and the occasional skeptic, at the annual Convention & Film Festival of the International UFO Congress. At the 2007 conference, if you wandered down to the hotel bar late at night (or more likely early in the morning), you might have been able to have a few drinks with former MoD UFO guru Nick Pope, abduction kingpin Budd Hopkins, Rendlesham investigator and raconteur extraordinaire Peter Robbins, author Richard Dolan, or even yours truly. While the Convention features its fair share of speakers who are evidentially-challenged (including the obligatory bunch of Billy Meier hoax supporters), it’s a week with good-natured people who share an interest in fantastic stories, and maybe even a bit of truth. The film festival features some pretty good stuff, as well as some laughably bad groaners, and the closing gala is always a good time. Also, if you have a car, pop across the state border and over the mountains to Kingman, Arizona, which is the starting point for a nice hour-long jaunt along legendary Route 66, and which is where a crashed UFO was supposedly recovered by the USAF in the 1953 (the locals love it when you ask about that). Best of all, a ten minute drive will take you up into the mountains, where you can pull off to the side of the road, park the car, sit on the hood, and stare into the clear-as-a-bell night sky looking for UFOs!
# 4 UFO Landing Pad - St. Paul, Alberta, Canada In honour of Canada’s 100th anniversary as an independent nation, the town of St. Paul, Alberta, decided to do something special in 1967 – indeed, it was something so special that it might even be said to be out of this world! The good citizens undertook, as a privately-funded centennial project, to build the world’s first UFO landing pad! Dedicated at the time by the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, and visited since by myriad dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth II and Mother Theresa, the landing pad has endured for over forty years as a symbol of the hopes of St. Paul’s residents for a better tomorrow… and as a pretty unique tourist attraction! In 1993 the town added a flying-saucer shaped building which serves as St. Paul’s Chamber of Commerce, which should make it a first stop for any extraterrestrials stopping by Earth to check on trade opportunities. In 1996, an addition was built to the existing Tourist Information Center to house a UFO Interpretive Display, which shows photographs of UFOs, crop circles and cattle mutilations. Purchased from the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, it even shows ingenious methods to hoax the public, and is one of the two such displays in North America. What makes all of this even weirder is that St. Paul is also the home of Fern Belzil, a retired cattle rancher who is Canada’s leading cattle mutilation investigator. Pop by the Restaurant Chezlyne for lunch, and you may just catch Belzil there, always ready to chat about cattle mutes… although you might want to wait until after you have your hamburger!
# 3 Rendlesham Forest - Woodbridge, United Kingdom Not only is Rendlesham Forest the site of one of the most famous UFO cases of the 20th century (it was voted #3 in my film Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Sightings), but it's also a genuinely creepy place that has supposedly been home to all sorts of other weird incidents, from devil dogs to ghosts. Make your way to the charming town of Woodbridge, and then head out to the Forest, which is a few miles away. There you will find a UFO walking trail that takes you past the key places from the classic 1980 case, including the old Bentwaters airbase. As I said, the Forest is still very spooky, even if it isn't the same as it was at the time of the UFO incident due to damage wrought by a subsequent hurricane. The wind whistles through the trees, and it's no stretch to say that if you're there anytime near dusk you don't want to be alone! Even better, if you get lucky like I did when I was there in May, 2006, you'll get buzzed by a black helicopter, which will come in low and tight over the treetops - the sound echoes throughout the Forest as it approaches, which was actually pretty unnerving. There's a nice campground right next to the Forest that can serve as an overnight place to stay near all of the action for the really adventurous. Who knows - if you wander into the Forest at night, maybe you'll run into whatever Charles Halt and his men ran into almost three decades ago!
# 2 Area 51 - southern Nevada, USA Area 51 is a remote tract of land in southern Nevada. Situated on the southern shore of a dry lakebed is a large military airfield, one of the most secretive places in the world. The base, which lies within the United States Air Force’s vast Nevada Test and Training Range, has as its primary purpose the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. Other names used for the facility include Dreamland and Groom Lake. The intense secrecy surrounding the base, the very existence of which the US Government barely acknowledges, has led it to become the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and UFO stories, thanks to the tall tales of people like Bob Lazar and Dan Burisch, many of which hold that the base contains crashed alien spacecraft, and even extraterrestrial beings, one of whom was supposedly named J-Rod. Of course, given the uber-secret nature of the base, you can’t actually get on it to have a look (and if you try the use of deadly force is authorized), but you can drive around the outskirts on the Extraterrestrial Highway, where you can make a stop in Rachel, Nevada, to visit the Little A’Le’Inn, which contains a small motel, gift shop and restaurant, where locals will regale visitors with stories of little green men… or grey men… or tall whites… or… well, you get the picture. Finally, if you really want a good bird’s eye view of Area 51, take a trip to the top of the Stratosphere Tower on the Las Vegas Strip. At 350 metres, the Tower is the tallest free-standing structure in Nevada, and the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United States west of the Mississippi River, and is capped by the Top of the World restaurant, a rotating flying-saucer shaped section from where you can get a great view of the areas surrounding Sin City, including, on a clear night, Area 51. Who knows what you’ll see flying around?
# 1 The Integratron & Giant Rock - Landers, California, USA For many in ufology, the Contactees were simply frauds and con artists. For some others, their stories were real, and they actually came in contact with aliens from other worlds. To me, they are best described as UFO performance artists – harmless, entertaining, and in a few cases true UFO bards, spinning fantastic tales that would have wowed the folks at King Arthur’s court. I don’t for a minute believe that they had actual contact with aliens, but I also don’t discount the possibility that a few might have had some experience, maybe even with aliens, any more than I discount the possibility that someone who tells me they felt the Holy Spirit might have had a real experience. Who can say? As with all things essentially spiritual, I remain a hopeful agnostic. Regardless, there is little doubt that the Contactee Movement had a profound effect on the development of ufology, and how the general public came to view the UFO phenomenon. From a cultural and sociological standpoint, it is an important piece of American history, in that it tells us a great deal about the people and attitudes of the 1950s and early 1960s. One of the most important Contactees was George Van Tassel, who in 1954 commenced building -- but never quite completed -- the Integratron, in the desert town of Landers, California. It was supposedly a domed time/energy machine based partially upon the theories of Nikola Tesla that was created to recharge and rejuvenate people’s cells, at the behest of an advanced entity with whom Van Tassel claimed to communicate telepathically. Not far away, Van Tassel lived at Giant Rock, which is exactly what the name indicates – a giant rock in the middle of the desert. Van Tassel hosted The Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention annually beside the Rock, from 1953 to 1978, a gathering that at its peak in 1959 attracted as many as 10,000 attendees. The history of Giant Rock and the Integratron is too rich to describe in detail here – the best way to discover it is to visit them yourself. Giant Rock is a bit worse for wear these days - a large chunk broke off a few years ago – but it’s still standing, as is the Integratron, which you can visit, and where you can experience a “sound bath” in the upper chamber that is great if you’re into meditation. You can even arrange to stay overnight, where you can sit in the courtyard and stare up at one of the clearest night skies you’ll ever see, and ponder whether Ashtar is waiting.
And there you have it – the seven wonders of the ufological world. There are other interesting places related to UFOs and ufology, of course (Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia pops to mind given its proximity to my home), but these seven are at the top of my list, and you won’t go wrong if you put them on yours too. So, when you sit down to plan your next vacation, skip Cancun or the Riviera, and take a trip that is truly “above and beyond” the norm… and maybe even out of this world, depending on who, or what, you might meet!
You often hear pro-ETH UFO researchers in the West state something along the lines of, "It's time to end the cover-up of the ET presence on Earth - it might have made sense 60 years ago, but we're a more mature society now, and we could handle the news". Stan Friedman has said words to that general effect at almost every lecture I've ever heard him give, for example.
I think that they're wrong. I think if we were really faced with certain proof of the existence of ET (like a flying saucer landing on the White House lawn), things would pretty much go to hell in short order. The view that things would be just fine (a few hiccups, perhaps, but we would adjust quickly) is informed by an educated, middle to upper class, very Western way of looking at the world - in other words, guys like Stan. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the planet's population is not educated to the degree someone like Stan is, and they're not members of the middle or upper classes, and they don't live in the relative comfort (both physical and ideological) of postmodernist and largely secular Western society.
The view of people like Stan that we're ready for the knowledge of ET's existence (should ET exist and be here) is also at odds with human history, where every time an advanced society came into contact with a less advanced society, there was chaos, with the end result that the less advanced society suffered greatly as a result of that contact.
I think Stuart Miller, in a recent post at his blog Alien Worlds Magazine, hits upon the more likely outcome. Here is an excerpt:
My opinion is that there would be substantial elements of world wide hysteria which couldn’t be ignored, for it would inevitably impinge on the calmer elements. The most un-endearing quality within the psyche of the human spirit is arrogance. Our world is full of strutting little despots, be it militarily, politically, administratively, the religious realm, or even in our personal lives. People full of their own self importance and power, without humility or empathy, who would seize the opportunity to terrify and manipulate. Martial law in some quarters would be a real possibility. After all, this would be an event of a life time. [Full article here]
Bingo - and as Stuart notes later in the column, this is what would probably happen if we just got a signal from SETI. It would be far worse if ET was actually here, and even worse again if ET was hostile.
Guys like Steven Bassett talk about a "paradigm shift" should the "truth embargo" ever be lifted. They're absolutely right, but for the wrong reasons. They see a sunnier future for humanity - a leap into a brave new world, where we would happily walk hand in hand with our space brothers and sisters, and all would suddenly be fine on Planet Earth.
Like Stuart, I see a different result, because I've spent years studying the world and its people, not as we might like them to be, but as they actually are. If the "government" is really covering up the "truth" about an ET presence here on Earth, I say "good - keep it up". Because as I look around, the truth is that we're not ready for it. We're not even close. And to reveal it now would be as disastrous as it would have been sixty years ago - perhaps more so.
We don't need alien "gods" to come down and solve all of our problems - we need to solve them ourselves. Only then, when all people are capable of seeing the world like Stan Friedman sees it will we be ready for First Contact, with any ET species, either here or "out there".
If ET really does exist, and is smart enough to get here from there, and is as benevolent as some people think, then I'm pretty sure they see things the same way I do, and that's why they choose not to reveal themselves. And if they aren't that benevolent, and resemble more an ET version of Cortez, then eventually we're all screwed, aren't we?
Does this mean that people should stop investigating UFO cases? No. Does it mean people should stop writing and talking about UFOs? Of course not. Because at the moment, the idea of ET UFOs are like the idea of God - maybe they exist, maybe they don't, who can say? You can believe if you want, or not. You can believe in one type of alien, or another, or none at all. You can explore other theories if you want. You can ignore the whole subject, as the vast majority of people do. You can even pretend that you're practising "citizen diplomacy" with aliens if you want. To each their own.
You can even pester the "government" for the "truth", but you'll find that it's a pretty futile slog, because they either don't know the "truth" (which is the far more likely answer, in my opinion), or, if they do and the truth is "ET is here", they aren't going to reveal it, for the reasons outlined above.
Some clips from interviews I conducted for the 1980 Rendlesham Forest case for "Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Cases", which premieres on Space in Canada on May 10, 2007.
Included are UFO Review publisher Stuart Miller, UFO researcher / author / lecturer Stan Friedman, former UK Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope, and UFO researcher / author Richard Hall.
