The Double Standards of Anthony Bragalia (and Roswell researchers in general)

Below is the text of an e-mail just sent to me from Dream Team member and all around nut-case Anthony Bragalia (I have kept the spelling errors and bolding to show you how it looked). Remember, folks, that all I did was publish the name of a witness to a fantasy tale so that people who are less inclined than Bragalia et al to accept every word uttered from someone who confirms their belief system could, should they want to, check this witness out and not have to rely on the Dream Team to filter the information. But for Bragalia, that goes too far.

" Kimball-

How dare you make public the name and location of an elderly man who was a witness to Roswell?

You have no filter- no care for others. This is an old man who does not need this. A pseudonym was used in the Witness book to shield him from unwanted calls.

If he begins to receive phone calls from strangers or visits to his home by strangers- we are calling the police and providing them your name.

Your actions are reprehensible and I swear that I am going to authorities if this man is harassed. Are you mentally ill? What do you not understand about publishing this man’s name and home? Are you trying to incite him? Harm him?

Why do you want to make this man miserable. He is nearing 90- you are really of-the-chain, and I am going to do something about it.

Tony Bragalia"

Apparently it's just fine for Roswell believers (and I use that term very, very loosely) to contact people, and to question them about their claims (and I use the term "question" very, very loosely as well), but not for skeptics to do the same. It's fine for them to demand to know everything, whether it's from the government that is supposedly hiding the truth, or from witnesses that know the truth, but they wish to keep their own secrets for themselves.

Let's remember that Mr. Benavides agreed to appear on Sci Fi Investigates, a network television show. He agreed to appear in Adam Dew's forthcoming film. His identity was known to these people. But they did not want you to know it. It is not as if the man has been hiding away in his house. He's been on television, for crying out loud.

No, this has nothing to do with them wanting to protect a frail old man from the  harassment of evil skeptics. Instead, it has everything to do with the true believers wanting to control the narrative that they are spinning.

An artist's representation of a typical Roswell "researcher," hoarding their secrets.

I suppose I don't blame them. Every time an independent, objective researcher looks into the witness claims out of Roswell, those claims (from Glenn Dennis to Frank Kaufmann to Jim Ragsdale to Gerald Anderson, and all point in between) fall apart. The claims have never withstood close scrutiny. The same kind of sturm and drang was raised when Robert Todd got access to Jesse Marcel's military records, and found discrepancies in his stories about his background. These "researchers" only want you to know their version of the story - a story that is worth a fair bit of money. The one thing they absolutely don't want you to know is the truth. Mr. Bragalia and his fellow travelers want to stifle dissent, and avoid at all costs having their claims cross-examined. They are the very antithesis of true researchers, and are as far away from being honest seekers of the truth as one can get.

Paul Kimball

The "Roswell Slides" Witness

Much has been made by the Dream Teamers of a military witness who confirmed for them that he saw the same body that is depicted in the two "Roswell slides," and that it was at Roswell in 1947 and it was alien.

Here is Adam Dew, the filmmaker behind all of this, talking about the "slides" on WGN 9 News in Chicago. The relevant part is at 4:42 when Dew states, "We did show them to a Roswell military veteran who was on site in 1947 who says he saw bodies and he says that the slides look like what he saw in July of 1947."

In the trailer for his Kodachrome documentary, Dew refers to the witness as a "Lieutenant." At 2:38 Dew states: "And then there's this guy, who was an army lieutenant at Roswell air force base in 1947."

That veteran does indeed exist. A source provided me with the name - Eleazar N. Benavides. He currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you go to Google you can track him down and see a photo of where he lives, which matches the location you see in the film trailer above (apparently interviewing witnesses standing in their driveway is Dew's style).

Thanks to researcher Tim Printy, who is part of an ad hoc, sub rosa group of skeptics who are looking into the slides (of which I am also an associate), here is a photo of a much younger Mr. Benavides in the Roswell base yearbook from 1947.

As you can see, at the time of the Roswell Incident, Benavides was indeed stationed at Roswell, so that much is true, but he was a Private First Class in the 390th Air Service Squadron. He was not, as Dew erroneously claims in the trailer, a Lieutenant.

In fact, he is also not a new "witness." He is the "Pfc. Benjamin" referred to in the book Witness to Roswell by Roswell slides promoters / "Dream Team" members Tom Carey and Donald Schmitt (see. pp. 209 - 217 - "Eli Benjamin" was a pseudonym used by the authors). He can be seen in an episode about Roswell on the short-lived Sci-Fi Investigates series in this clip:

Benavides is repeating the same sort of story that "witnesses" to the "creature" have repeated before. Is he lying, as other "witnesses" like Glenn Dennis were, or did he actually see a body that had been injured somehow, and after all of these years (and no small amount of prodding from Roswell researchers) he has conflated what he saw at some point in the past into the Roswell space aliens narrative? Who knows, although history and hard experience tells us that the former is by far the most likely possibility. The idea that he would be afraid he was going to lose his pension (ergo the pseudonym), but was willing to show his face on national television (and now in Dew's film) seems... well, let's just say that it requires a great deal of "belief suspension" to buy it. But it sure adds to the mysterious and secretive nature of the story that the Roswell myth-makers have used over the years.

Either way, Benavides, aka Benjamin, is the man that the Dream Team is hanging their hats on as a witness to validate the space alien nature of the "Roswell slides." Without him, they just have a couple of slides. Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, the work of skeptics continues in terms of debunking this con. Perhaps we should schedule a big reveal with the real story... on May 5th.

Paul Kimball 

Latest Trailer for the Dream Team!

Breaking news - I was just sent a super-duper advance look at the next trailer for the Dream Team's My 5th "Roswell Slides" release in Mexico City. What make this interesting is that all of the members are in it.

Enjoy!

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

Adam Dew - A New Ray Santilli for the 21st Century

Yes, I recognize that by posting this I am helping Dew's viral marketing campaign, but it's all so amusing from a cultural studies perspective that I can't resist. I actually admire his chutzpah. The only question that remains is whether or not the "Dream Team" are actors in the play that is unfolding, or whether they are merely props. 

 Paul Kimball

Steve Hudgeons of MUFON on the "Roswell Slides"

Steve Hudgeons is the Director of Investigations for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), an organization that is not exactly a paragon of skeptical thinking, as can be seen by the fact that it employs the likes of John Ventre and Roger Marsh in leadership positions (where they serve as de facto public spokespersons), and by the organization's involvement in the ridiculous television series Hangar 1. In short, MUFON is an organization that buys into the extraterrestrial hypothesis hook, line and sinker, no matter how much they might claim to pursue a scientific and objective stance when it comes to looking into UFOs. So while Hudegons might be a more reasonable sort than Ventre or Marsh, it's important to remember that in MUFON reasonableness is a sliding scale... it's like marking on the curve. The point is that Hudgeons is a key leader of an organization that is intellectually and institutionally committed to the notion that space aliens have visited Earth, and that a spaceship crashed near Roswell in 1947. He himself adheres to these beliefs. In short, he is part of the key foundational target market for the purveyors of the Roswell "slides".

Which makes what he wrote about the Roswell "slides" in a series of recent posts on the MUFON Facebook page most interesting:

two items red flag me……one it is “blurred" and...it is looking at the camera........
- not the eyes….the head…face....is pointed toward the camera.....that alone is a dead give away that it is fake to me
- you dont TOUCH an alien body…….unless you are well covered
- you dont pose an alien body for a camera……..to photo what you have…as it is....you want a different pose...you move the camera
- humans are not….special………a dead alien is.......you dont move them around
- a dead alien body will be frozen away out of any sunlight
- if you are of the opinion that this is real…..great…tell me why you think so
- if this is real…..great......
- also of note………look at the mouth…….this mouth is open.........all witnesses of Greys say the mouth is a small slit
- can you show me ONE witness that says the Alien they saw was ready to eat a foot long hotdog?
- Im not saying Aliens in general are non existant …I am saying that IMO this photo is fake  

[editor's note - all typos are from the original text]

It is important to note that Hudgeons doesn't say that the slides couldn't represent aliens because there is no evidence that aliens have never visited Earth (which is what a hard-core skeptic might lead off with) - indeed, as is clear from the exchange, he not only believes that aliens have visited Earth, but that they have crashed here, that the government has retrieved their bodies, and that there are procedures and protocols in place for handling those bodies.

In short, here you have a guy who is absolutely committed to the belief that the government is hiding alien bodies from the crash of a spaceship in 1947... and even he doesn't buy the Roswell "slides" story!

For anyone still wondering why the Dream Team hooked up with Jaime Maussan and is taking their dog-and-pony show to Mexico City in May, here is your answer in a nutshell - because they are so far out of the mainstream within pro-ETH, pro-Roswell American ufology that even someone like Steve Hudgeons can see that it's all bogus.

As Bart Simpson would say: "Ay caramba!"

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

"Hacking" the Roswell Slides

My good friend Nick Redfern has a new column written at Mysterious Universe wherein he discusses the alleged hacking episode of the broader Roswell slides story. Nick maintains that it's "impossible" that a Dream Teamers would be involved in the hacking, largely because, he says, they wouldn't hack their own e-mail and then call law enforcement. And yet, I know people who have done exactly that, from first-hand experience.

When I was stationed with the RCMP in northern Cape Breton years ago, we were called to investigate a crime - property destruction - where the owner wanted us to believe that his neighbour had done it. Indeed, many of the indications pointed to the neighbour, with whom the complainant had a long-running feud. The only problem was that unbeknownst to the complainant, the neighbour had an air-tight alibi for the night in question... at which point we started to smell something fishy. Eventually, the complainant admitted he had done it himself to try and get his arch-enemy in trouble.

Stupid? Perhaps. But it happens, particularly when one has a motive and potential reward that they judge outweighs any risk. It's a question of a cost-benefit analysis.

Which brings us back to the "hacking" case with the slides. Nick rightly dismisses the idea of government involvement. Unless you're the truest of true believers, then I'm sure you do as well. His prime suspect is some other UFO researcher. But that strikes me as unlikely. There's no motive, other than the possibility of finding the slides and then... what? Posting them? As soon as that happened, he would identify himself as the hacker, or if someone else did it for him it would be traced back pretty quickly. That would be truly stupid given that the payoff would be so penny ante.

No, the people with motive and opportunity would have been the Dream Teamers, because something like having your e-mail hacked is gold if you're trying to build a con based on a conspiracy narrative, which is what the slides story is really all about at its core. The payoff is potentially huge (that 10,000 seat arena in Mexico City just being the lucrative start). Given that, then someone on the Dream Team - and let's recall that Donald Schmitt has a proven record of underhanded activities, and now they have linked up with one of the most disreputable hucksters out there, Jaime Maussan - could easily have judged it worth any risk.

A report to the FBI might have been an unintended consequence, or maybe it was all part of the plan, to add a little extra juice. Because here's the real truth - unless the hacking involved terrorism or corporate espionage, the FBI was highly unlikely to do anything other than a quick pro forma "investigation" and then move on to more important things... particularly when they realized it was UFO nuts (in their eyes) making the complaint. And that seems to be exactly what happened, at least to me. When I conduct a cost-benefit analysis, the risks are just as low for Dream Teamers as any ufologist (and probably lower), while the rewards are the highest.

My friend Nick? An unwitting part of it all, who is giving the "hackers" even more of what I have no doubt they were after all the time. - publicity. They are no doubt sitting back and saying, "mission accomplished" as they plan their trip to Mexico City.

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

Reynolds on the Roswell Slides: Why Wait?

2014 Zorgy Awards

After a few years the Zorgy Awards have returned, as Aaron Gulyas joined me and Greg Bishop on Radio Misterioso to discuss the best (mostly) of the paranormal subculture in 2014, and what might be in store for the year to come. You can tune in to the podcast here.

Paul Kimball

Ghost Cases on Amazon Prime

My Ghost Cases co-host Holly Stevens and yours truly at the 2009 Atlantic Film Festival.

And now, a bit of shameless self-promotion. Looks like my old series Ghost Cases is finally available in the United States. It's not the greatest show ever made, but my co-host Holly Stevens and I approached our task with diligence and honest skepticism, and I'm proud of that. Plus, we had a rollicking good time and got paid for it. I call that a "win"!

You can find it here.

Paul Kimball

Ufology Unplugged - Rev. Barry Downing: The Bible and Flying Saucers

The third episode of Ufology Unplugged features an interview I conducted with Rev. Barry Downing in 2001. Downing is best known as the author of The Bible and Flying Saucers, one of the earliest and most influential works in the "ancient aliens" ouevre. In this interview he discusses his work and his theories, particularly the idea that the stories of the Bible may not be supernatural in nature but rather may represent tales of human contact with advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.

Paul Kimball

The Shag Harbour UFO case - What the people involved thought it was

Most people within ufology have seen the headline in the Halifax Chronicle Herald from Saturday, 7 October 1967, which read: "Could Be Something Concrete in Shag Harbour UFO - RCAF," largely because it is the more sensational one. But here is the follow-up reportage a few days later - still rife with speculation and uncertainty (understandable all things considered), but also showing that an ET spacecraft was the furthest thing from anyone's mind. The explanation that most people credited was a secret American craft of some sort... which is what Laurie Wickens, the first person to see the UFO and report it, still thinks it was, all these years later - and I agree.

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

Ufology Unplugged - Steven Greer: Disclosure

The second episode of "Ufology Unplugged" consists of a 2001 interview I conducted with Steven Greer, the controversial founder of the Disclosure Project, intermixed with a clip of Greer speaking at the 2001 MUFON Symposium press conference. Greer talks about the disclosure of what he claims is the cover-up of the reality of ET visiting Earth and reverse-engineered free energy that is being withheld from the human race by a secret cabal of government and corporate insiders. 

Paul Kimball

The Bookshelf

Most of my "weird" books are in boxes in a storage locker (at over 150 paranormal-related ones, it's just too much for my apartment) - these are some of the ones I have on hand. It's an eclectic bunch, that's for sure.

Paul Kimball

Ufology Unplugged - Randy Barnes: Contact Experiences

In this episode of "Ufology Unplugged" I present a 2003 interview I conducted with American contactee Randy Barnes in Aztec, New Mexico. Barnes describes his long history of what he claims are "contact" experiences with extraterrestrials, and offers some thoughts on what it might all mean. Besides his "contact" experiences, Barnes was one of the key research partners of Scott Ramsey in his re-investigation of the 1948 Aztec UFO hoax.

Paul Kimball

Rob Swiatek - FUFOR and "Final Report on Operation Majestic 12"

Rob Swiatek of the Fund for UFO Research talks about the early days of MJ-12 research and how FUFOR came to fund Stan Friedman's "Final Report on Operation Majestic 12" in the late 1980s. An excerpt from an interview I conducted with Rob in Aztec, New Mexico, in 2003. 

Paul Kimball

Dr. John Mack - Alien Reality and Humanity

From my video vault - John Mack speaking at the 2001 MUFON Symposium press conference about the media and UFOs, and anthropocentric humanism and how an alien reality would change the way we view ourselves, and the society that we have created. Stan Friedman makes a cameo appearance at the end. 

 Paul Kimball

Ufology Unplugged - Episode 1.2: Kevin Randle - Cattle Mutilations

UFO researcher / author Kevin Randle (The Abduction Enigma, The Government UFO Files, Case MJ-12, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell) discusses the cattle mutilation phenomenon, which he investigated in the 1970s for APRO.

Having looked into the cattle mutilation stories myself several years ago, I agree with pretty much everything Randle says here. The more interesting take-away for me from all of this is that most of what Randle says about cattle mutilation investigations, and investigators, is equally applicable to every other type of ufological investigation, whether it be "alien abductions" or crop circles... or Randle's own bread and butter, crashed flying saucers. His great failing is the blind spot that he has always had when it comes to that latter subject.

But as Karl Pflock always said, and it is a sentiment that Randle ironically echoes in this episode - belief can be a powerful thing.

Paul Kimball

Ufology... Unplugged - Pilot Episode

Feature films are my thing now, and I really enjoy it (my two latest films just screened at the Atlantic Film Festival last month to a great reaction and after a couple minor tweaks we'll have done by early November they'll be headed out to the broader festival circuit), but a small part of me remains fascinated by the subculture of Ufology. Fortunately, I've got hundreds of hours of interview footage that I accumulated over my years making documentaries, and I have some free time, so... behold - Ufology... Unplugged! A project I've been meaning to get to for some time. 

In the pilot episode I pull excerpts from two separate interviews with Stan Friedman. The first was in September, 2001 - Stan discusses his thoughts on Steven Greer and the Disclosure Project, which was the "big thing" in ufology at the time (and one could argue that it still is). In the second, which was conducted in 2003, Stan talks about his relationship with his former research partner William Moore.

Lots of interesting nuggets in here, but there are three that stand out for me. The first is Stan's line in the Greer interview that "I think that there should be plenty of secrets in the world," which might come as a surprise to some (particularly the forcefulness with which he delivers it here),. Second are his remarks about his disagreements with Moore about UFO Cover-Up Live and the failure of Moore to honour his commitments to people who ordered things from him via mail. Both point to Moore's intrinsic dishonesty (as does Stan's admission that Moore could be "tricky"), and yet he continues to maintain, in the face of everything we know about Moore and Doty, that the MJ-12 documents are bona fide because Moore could not have faked them. Finally, Stan offers a firm denial of the charge leveled against him over the years by Karl Pflock, Kevin Randle, and Brad Sparks, that Stan had discussed the prospect of faking documents with Moore and Shandera.

Paul Kimball

Stanton Friedman - William Moore and MJ-12

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted with him in 2003, Stanton Friedman talks about his relationship with fellow ufologist William Moore, who was his research partner on Roswell and MJ-12 for a decade from the late 1970s through the 1980s.

Much grist for the mill here, most of it centering on the cognitive dissonance of what Stan says about Moore's honesty - "Bill was a tricky guy," "He liked to float proposals, run them up the flag pole and see how people would react," he was committing mail fraud - and his blithe brushing off of the prospect that Moore created the MJ-12 documents by saying that Bill couldn't have know certain details so he couldn't have created the documents. What Stan ignores is the probability that Moore was working with someone else (or a small group of people) who could have found all the needed information, namely Moore's other "partner" in the 1980s - Rick Doty.

As for a motive, Stan details that as well, even as he ignores its implications - Moore's financial problems in the 1980s. Nothing like some fake documents to gin up interest in his cash-cow story (Roswell) which was starting to grow cold.

The MJ-12 story really is that simple. Stan has all the facts at his command, but he just can't see the forest for the trees - a triumph of belief over reason and common sense.

Paul Kimball

Kevin Randle - Alien Abductions

Kevin Randle (co-author of The Abduction Enigma) outlines his views on the "alien abduction" phenomenon in this short clip from an interview I conducted with him in 2001.

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

Nick Redfern - MJ-12 and the FBI

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted in 2003 with my good friend, author Nick Redfern, he talks about the interest that the FBI had in the MJ-12 documents, and the possible reasons for it.

Paul Kimball

Stanton Friedman - UFO frauds: Bob Lazar and Philip J. Corso

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted with Stan Friedman in 2001, he discusses frauds in UFO research, and focuses on two of the most egregious examples in the past thirty years - Robert Lazar, and Philip J. Corso.

Paul Kimball

Karl Pflock - The creation of the MJ-12 documents

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted with him in 2003, my friend the late Karl Plock (author of Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe) discusses the MJ-12 documents, and who he is convinced was responsible for faking them.

Paul Kimball

New Billy Meier "beamship" photo!!

This just in - a new "beamship" photo from Billy Meier!

Clearly this is further indisputable (and tasty) evidence of the Plejaren reality!

Paul Kimball

Bruce Maccabee - The UFO Cover-up

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted in 2003 with Dr. Bruce Maccabee, author of The UFO - FBI Connection, he talks about why he is convinced that the government knows more about the UFO phenomenon than it has told the public.

Paul Kimball

Karl Pflock - UFO photos and government interest

My good friend, the late Karl Pflock, who served in a variety of posts in the US government before he entered the private sector (including the CIA and the Department of Defence), is seen here talking about some of the conversations he had with people during his time in government about the UFO phenomenon. This footage was shot at the Meet & Greet session at the 2003 Aztec UFO Conference in Aztec, New Mexico, where I was filming a documentary.

Paul Kimball

Rev. Barry Downing - The Religious Implications of the UFO Phenomenon

In this excerpt from an interview I conducted with him in 2001 in Irvine, California, Rev. Barry Downing (the author of The Bible and Flying Saucers) talks about how various Christian religious traditions view the UFO phenomenon, and how they might react if UFOs were proven to be extraterrestrial.

Paul Kimball

2001 - Breaking Ufology

The 2001 MUFON Symposium press conference was one of the most surreal things I've seen in the 15 years I've been studying the subculture of ufology. Coming just two months after the Disclosure press conference in Washington of Steven Greer, the press conference at the MUFON Symposium (indeed, the entire symposium), revealed the growing fracture within ufology.

On one side, you had the "old guard" - people like Stanton Friedman, Robert Wood, Barry Downing, Ann Druffel, and Budd Hopkins - who had been researching and talking about UFOs for decades. 

On the other side you had the brash new "revolutionaries," epitomized here by Greer and his cohort Daniel Sheehan. Overtly political, they were willing to go far beyond the simple old flying saucer gospel of the Old Guard by tying the belief that the UFO phenomenon represented extraterrestrial visitation (which is what the Old Guard had been pushing for years) to a determined activist agenda that dealt with a wide range of topics that they saw as related to ET visitation. 

Towards the end of the 2001 MUFON press conference, those tensions / fault lines boiled over, as can be seen in this exchange about the Strategic Defence Initiative between Greer and Sheehan on one side, and an ineffective Druffel on the other. At the end, Hopkins stands up and takes a clear shot at Greer and Sheehan and others like them, to the approval at the end of Friedman (whose body language throughout tells you what he was really thinking about Greer and Sheehan). 

What the Old Guard failed to understand, however, was that the political activism and rampant conspiracism that was being put forward by Greer et al was a natural extension of the things the Old Guard had been talking about for years. In that sense, Greer et al were not a radical departure from traditional ufology, as Hopkins implies - rather, they were the logical result of a world-view that believed (a) aliens were visiting Earth and abducting humans, and (b) that the government was covering it all up. It is why I have called Friedman the Godfather of Exopolitics when I wrote:

Friedman is the de facto Godfather of Exopolitics - in large part, he created the "family" that is modern pro-ET, "Cosmic Watergate" ufology, but like Vito Corleone, he is incapable of taking what he has created and moving it into its next logical phase. Indeed, like the Don, it is a phase that he wants nothing to do with, even as others around him, who have been inspired by him, recognize the logical and inevitable implications of what Friedman has been saying all of these years, and are prepared to act on it, no matter how much he protests.

But while I singled out Stan, it implies to the others as well - Hopkins with his abductions, Wood with his MJ-12 documents, and so forth. If Stan was the Godfather, these other figures were his capos.

For anyone interested in the history of Ufology as a social movement of American society, the 20 minutes in this video are a fascinating look at the year where everything really changed (the 9/11 attacks accelerated the move two months later by fostering even more paranoia and conspiracism), and Disclosure and Exopolitics began their move to become the dominant theme within the subculture.

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

Steven Greer - The Disclosure Project (2001 interview)

My interview of Steven Greer at the 2001 MUFON Symposium in Irvine, California. He discusses the Disclosure Project, government secrecy, abductions, and other topics. I always edit an interview to delete my questions, but I left them in this time because I think watching Greer fidget when someone else is talking is instructive.

On the particular false claim by Greer of his "briefing" of former CIA Director James Woolsey, see Woolsey vs. Greer, which I wrote back in 2005. 

Paul Kimball

Bruce Maccabee: The UFO Cover-up Begins, 1947 - 1952

In this excerpt from an interview I shot in Aztec, New Mexico in 2003, UFO researcher/ author Dr. Bruce Maccabee (author of UFO/FBI Connection: The Secret History of the Government's Cover-Up) discusses the early days of the US government's alleged cover-up of the ET origins of the UFO phenomenon, culminating in the 1952 Washington, D.C. case.

Paul Kimball

John Mack - Hypnosis and "alien abduction" research

In this clip from footage I shot of the press conference at the 2001 MUFON Symposium in Irvine, California, Dr. John Mack answers a question about the efficacy of using hypnosis for "alien abduction" research.

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

Nick Redfern - Possible government involvement in the chupacabras mystery

In this clip from a 2005 interview I conducted with my good friend Nick Redfern (author of Three Men Seeking Monsters and Monster Files) whilst we were in Puerto Rico filming for my documentary Fields of Fear, he discusses possible involvement by the government in the creation of the chupacabra phenomenon / myths / legends.

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

Chris Rutkowski discusses Canadian UFO Report

Chris Rutkowski interviewed on August 15th about the recent Canadian UFO Survey, which covered the past twenty-five years. The radio station is 680 CJOB radio in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

Chris has a pretty low profile within "ufology," primarily because he is one of the rare UFO enthusiasts / researchers who is sensible, measured, professional and credible, which isn't what plays on UFO blogs looking for click bait and sensationalistic TV "documentaries" looking for aliens at every turn. As a result, he's one of the few people worth listening to within "ufology."

Paul Kimball

Real Research - The Canadian UFO Survey

The Canadian UFO Survey was released today, which covers the past 25 years here in the Great White North. No, it doesn't prove that aliens (or inter-dimensionals or anything else really weird) are coming to Earth. It isn't "sexy" like that, which means that you won't see many UFO blogs and websites posting about it, because it won't increase traffic for them (word to the wise - a blog or website that doesn't reference this study isn't serious about the UFO phenomenon. In that sense, it will serve as a good way for folks to tell whether a site is really worth visiting). And no, it almost certainly won't be the subject of a television documentary (which is a good thing, judging by the quality of UFO-related programming put out these days, like the execrable Hanger 1 and Chasing UFOs). But what it does represent is real research and data collection, which makes it far more worthwhile than any Citizens Hearing on Disclosure or "Roswell slides" or "Dream Team." Kudos to Chris Rutkowski and his colleagues for their hard work.

Paul Kimball

UFOs - Skepticism vs. Belief

In 2001 I interviewed skeptic Vaughn Rees from the Center for Inquiry - West for the documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real. In this clip that didn't make the film, Rees discusses what differentiates skepticism and skeptics from belief and believers, and why some people believe that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors.

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

Stanton Friedman on his interactions with the media

In this never-before-seen outtake from a 2001 interview with Stan Friedman (for my 2002 film Stanton T. Friedman is Real), he discusses his interaction with the media over the course of his career, and why it's had both its positive aspects and its negative aspects.

Paul Kimball

Greg Bishop - Cattle Mutilation investigations

In this clip from an interview I conducted with Greg Bishop in 2005, he discusses the investigation of alleged cattle mutilations, and how many "researchers" ignore the possibility of human involvement because they are wedded to an extraterrestrial / UFO explanation.

Paul Kimball

Stanton Friedman - UFOs and New Mexico in 1947

In this excerpt from an interview I did with Stan Friedman in 2003, he discusses why extraterrestrials would have been interested in New Mexico in 1947.

Paul Kimball

Cuckoo in the Clock and Roundabout to premiere at 2014 Atlantic Film Festival

Tangentially related to the world of the paranormal, I have two feature films premiering at the 2014 Atlantic Film Festival here in Halifax in September - the Cuckoo in the Clock, and Roundabout. If you're in town, come on down to Cineplex Park Lane on Thursday, September 18th, and check them out (and say hello)... or keep an eye out for them at a festival near you over the next few months.

Here are the festival write-ups for the films:

The Cuckoo in the Clock:

"Two desparate lovers, Eve and Lara, are on the run from the Mob and flee the city. They eventually take refuge in what appears to be an abandoned rural home. They soon discover that they’re not alone when they encounter Nick, the handsome and charming caretaker who offers them sanctuary. The situation quickly descends into a dangerous three-way dance of temptation and jealousy, until a terrifying secret is revealed that threatens to destroy Eve and Lara unless they can find a way to escape the hell that they have created for themselves."

Roundabout

"When Leda, a radio talk show host whose specialty is the para-normal, is haunted by the memory of her best friend’s death, a series of events begin to unfold that tears at the fragile nature of everyday reality. Starring Annie Briggs in a bracing performance as Leda, Roundabout is a feature film that blends science fiction, romance and politics and pits it all against a winterized East Coast land, sea and cityscape resulting in an intensely dramatic and richly visual experience."

Paul Kimball

2001 MUFON Symposium Press Conference - Excerpt

An excerpt from the press conference for the 2001 MUFON Symposium in Irvine, California that I shot while filming the documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real. Appearing in the clip are John Schuessler, Rev. Barry Downing, Dr. Robert Wood, Daniel Sheehan, Stan Friedman, the late Budd Hopkins, the late Bob Pratt, Ann Druffel, and the late Dr. Roger Leir. Unfortunately, our camera was not able to pick up the three other people on the panel - Ryan Wood, Joe McMoneagle, and the late Dr. John Mack.

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

Steven Greer on the origins of the Disclosure Movement (2001)

Here is an excerpt from Steven Greer's lecture at the 2001 MUFON Symposium, wherein he talks about how the "Disclosure movement" got started. Recorded while filming my documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real.

Paul Kimball

Rev. Barry Downing - Religion, Science and UFOs

Rev. Barry Downing, author of The Bible and Flying Saucers, discusses the difference between scientific and religious perspectives towards the UFO phenomenon in this excerpt from his lecture at the 2001 MUFON Symposium in Irvine, California, that I filmed while shooting the documentary Stanton T. Friedman is Real. 

 Paul Kimball

Stanton T. Friedman - Canadian Government and UFOs

 

In this never-before-seen outtake from an interview with Stan Friedman for my 2004 film Do You Believe in Majic, he discusses Wilbert Smith and the Canadian government's policy over the years towards UFOs, including its relationship with the US on the issue. 

Paul Kimball

Rev. Barry Downing - UFOs: Angelic or Demonic?

A brief excerpt from the Q & A session of Rev. Barry Downing's 2001 lecture at the MUFON Symposium in Irvine, California (I was there shooting Stanton T. Friedman is Real), wherein he talks about the nature of the UFO phenomenon, and whether it is good or evil... angelic or demonic... or something else entirely.

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

Somebody really is watching you... but it's not the Government!

Question du jour: How would you feel if you found out that a UFO "researcher" was conducting background checks, including criminal checks, on people who were just commenting on a UFO blog?

Maybe I'm out of touch, or just too old school, but I know how I view it: unethical and antithetical to a free and open debate in the new media era.

Paul Kimball