Michio Kaku on aliens, SETI

Kaku points out why SETI is truly a silly effort to investigate:

"We could be in the middle of an intergalactic conversation, and we wouldn't even know."

Bingo.

"We are so arrogant, we're so conceited, that we say they must visit us... I don't think so."

Bingo again!

Paul Kimball

The Thomas Mantell Case Reinvestigated

The Thomas Mantell UFO case has been re-investigated by ace historical researcher Brad Sparks (Brad was the primary consultant for Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Sightings). Brad's work, which disputes the official explanation for Mantell's crash, could well be the "bombshell" UFO revelation of 2008 - at the very least, it will reopen the debate about what really happened to Captain Mantell sixty years ago.

Here is an excerpt from Part 1, which Brad kindly sent to me.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the tragic death of the young fighter pilot, Capt. Thomas Mantell. Mantell crashed in his F-51D Mustang prop fighter plane while pursuing an unidentified object almost a hundred miles across the state of Kentucky, on the afternoon of January 7, 1948. He became known as the first fatality in a UFO encounter. He reported over the radio that he saw an object “metallic and tremendous in size,” a famous phrase that has become legendary in UFO history. He was just 25 and left behind a wife and two little children. The case has spawned 60 years of confusion, mystery, sensation, speculation, controversy and finally disdain.

At the time, the US Air Force and Mantell’s Kentucky Air National Guard (ANG) unit put the “blame” (actual word used) on Mantell for his crash because he pursued the UFO at too high an altitude without oxygen supply. The AF explained the sighting as merely the planet Venus then later changed the official explanation to a large Skyhook balloon, once it was admitted that Venus was difficult to see in daytime. Venus was very unlikely to trigger spontaneous sightings by large numbers of people in widely separated areas.

All this has turned out to be false, the no-oxygen claim as well as the official IFO explanations. The Mantell quote, “metallic and tremendous in size,” though sometimes doubted is in fact essentially correct, but his report was a bit more detailed than this. And, for whatever it is worth, the chief investigator of the Mantell accident speculated in the classified Accident Report on the possibility of an “outside force” causing Mantell’s crash.

If Mantell was not chasing after a Skyhook balloon, or Venus, then what was he chasing 60 years ago? Brad's work definitely makes for riveting reading.

Stay tuned. In the meantime, for more information on the Mantell case, you can check the NICAP website.

Paul Kimball

The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Fundamentalist Debunkery and Died-in-the-Wool Believerism

The creative scientist, eternally curious, keeps an open mind toward strange phenomena and novel ideas, knowing that we have only begun to understand the universe we live in. He remembers, too, that Biot's discovery that meteorites were "stones from the sky" was at first greeted with disbelief, and he hopes never to be guilty of similar obtuseness. But an open mind does not mean credulity or a suspension of the logical faculties that are man's most valuable asset.

The above is a quote made in reference to science in general, but also the UFO phenomenon in particular, and it is one that I agree with, at least in principle... even though it was written by arch-debunkers Donald H. Menzel and Lyle G. Boyd, in The World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Examination of a Major Myth of the Space Age, who clearly had no understanding of irony (how can one purport to embark on an objective scientific examination of something when one has already concluded that it is a "myth").

In their book, Menzel and Boyd dismissed the idea that some UFOs might be alien spacecraft. They also scoffed at the notion that there might be a UFO-related conspiracy, despite the fact that in their introduction they wrote that if aliens were ever to visit Earth:

All governments would feel their responsibility to protect the human race if necessary, and to establish diplomatic relations with the alien race if possible. The scientists would want to study, analyze, and try to understand the nature of both the ship and its occupants.

As with the first passage quoted above, this makes perfect sense. But to Menzel and Boyd, this would obviously be done in public-view, after an acknowledgement of our alien visitors by government:

If a spaceship from another planet should ever visit the earth, no one would be more eager to acknowledge it than our government officials and our scientists.

So, as no such acknowledgement has been forthcoming, there are, ergo, no alien visitors. As to a cover-up, the government would never do that, eevn though, as Menzel and Boyd indicate, they would want to study and analyze whatever they might find.

This is either breathtakingly naive, or monumentally stupid, and demonstrates in full measure the intellectual bankruptcy of Menzel and Boyd's debunkery. The government has covered up a great many things, and continues to do so, of far less potential import than alien visitation (or, even more significant perhaps, a recovered alien spacecraft), particularly during the Cold War when Menzel and Boyd were writing, and when the West was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Soviet empire during which they did many things, more than a few not according to the "rules", in order to protect their citizens.

If the United States, or any other country, had recovered a crashed alien spacecraft (and I am not convinced that they did), I have little doubt that they would have kept it secret, simply because they kept all sorts of other, lesser things secret... and because it's exactly what I would have done. As I've written elsewhere, I would probably still keep it secret, because I don't think humanity is ready for that knowledge - and here I'm talking about all of us, and not just the college-educated minority even within Western countries, who would be better equipped to handle such a revelation.

But fundamentalist debunkers, like died-in-the-wool believers, are never about the truth, which is usually coloured in shades of grey. They live instead in a world of black and whites - either "they" are here, or "they" are not; either the government is covering it up, or it is not. Neither position has anything to offer the free and rational thinker who is interested in facts and evidence, even when all that those facts and evidence leave us with a mystery... as has been the case with UFOs for over sixty years.

Paul Kimball

B-Movie Aliens, Vol. I

I love B-movies sci-fi, particularly the ones that involve aliens and beautiful women. One of my favourites is Roger Corman's 1988 remake of Not of This Earth, which starred former porn queen Traci Lords.

The plot was pretty simple - space alien vampire guy comes to Earth, kills people to get blood to sustain his planet. At one point, in my favourite scene, a stripper comes to his house by mistake (she had been hired to deliver a "stripogram"), and he hypnotizes her - after she disrobes, naturally - and sends her through a transdimensional portal that kills her. Classic!

Lords plays the space vampires nurse, who gives him regular blood transfusions! Here's a brief clip...



Stupid space vampire - he has the power to hypnotize Lords, and get her to do anything he wants, and he's just going to send her back to his world for her blood. No wonder his planet is dying - it's obviously populated by idiots!

Paul Kimball

Where is the alien Bach?

Every once and a while, someone asks the question: if there are aliens out there, and they are visiting us here, why haven't they shown us evidence of their cultural achievements, such as music, or art, or literature? In short, where is the alien Mozart, or Bach, or Shakespeare, or Monet?



Leaving aside for the moment the possibility that perhaps aliens have done exactly that, but in ways that we perhaps cannot comprehend or do not recognize as "art" or "literature" or even "music" (I wonder how many people in ancient Rome would consider the Sex Pistols to be "music", at least as they understood it), one should entertain two other possibilities - one rooted in the way we behaved when dealing with less technologically advanced cultures, and one that is rooted in the question of who, or what, might be coming here.

In terms of the former, it is useful to remember that when Western explorers landed on unfamiliar shores, art, literature and music were by and large the last things that they had in mind when dealing with the local populace. Power, as Mao observed, comes from the barrel of a gun, not from a toccata. Perhaps aliens are "human" enough to behave in much the same way that we once did. In other words, perhaps they are here to do with us what they want to do with us, and not give us a crash course in modern music on Zeta Reticuli.

More likely, however, is the prospect that any "aliens" who would be visiting here are artificial life forms - robots, to use the classic reference, or AI to use the more modern term. The so-called "finer things" in life may well be beyond them, or were not included in their programming or mission by whatever beings sent them on their way, in the same way that the plucky little Mars Rover isn't packing an IPod full of Paul Simon songs.

There is one final possibility - perhaps an alien culture would be, you know, "alien", in the sense that they would have vastly different priorities and concerns than we do. Maybe music, and art, and literature, are meaningless to them, in the same way that they hold little or no meaning for some human beings?

All of this is grist for discussion over a few beers, but when you read someone telling you that there can't be aliens coming here, because they have never shown us their "finer things", don't take it seriously.

As can be seen, we have no idea what their "finer things" are - one could just as easily ask why the aliens don't show us porn, which, judging by its prevalence on the Internet, is more popular than Bach.

Maybe, just maybe, we should be looking for an alien Jenna Jamieson ... and maybe, just maybe, given the number of alien abduction encounters that include a sexual element, we've already had one!

Paul Kimball

High Strangeness in Halifax - Retro UFO 3 clip

A clip from yours truly at Retro UF0 3, which was held in April 2008 at the Integratron in Landers, California. Here I recount the story of a UFO case investigated by the RCMP and later Canadian researcher Chris Styles that took place in Bedford, Nova Scotia.

Paul Kimball

Cultural Bias and UFO reports

A short clip from my lecture at the Retro UFO 3 conference in April, 2008, wherein I discuss the cultural bias that can be found amongst the media and many ufologists when it comes to looking at UFO reports - this was in response to a question about sightings by Mexican Air Force personnel, and why they aren't given more attention.

Paul Kimball

The Condon Effect And The Need For Scientific Research Into The UFO Phenomenon

Yours truly talking about a brief conversation at a Christmas party I had with Geoff Regan, at the time a Canadian cabinet minister, and how I used the opportunity to talk to him about real UFO evidence, a few top cases, and the history of Canadian governmental interest in UFOs, and why it stopped in the late 1960s (what I call "The Condon Effect"). One note: the last question about UFOs asked in the House of Commons was in the 1970s, not the 1960s as I mistakenly stated at Retro UFO 3. Hey - nobody's perfect!



Expanding on the ending of my clip, the late Carl Sagan, who was a great communicator and in many ways a visionary, had it absolutely right in this clip when he talked about how scientific research should be viewed by the people who fund it.



I absolutely agree with Sagan, although like Dr. Peter Sturrock I would extend his wisdom beyond the parameters that Sagan set, to include further scientific research into the nature of the UFO phenomenon.

Paul Kimball

Modern UFO Cases and Historical Perspective

Yours truly from the Retro UFO 3 conference. Here I was answering a question as to why the Phoenix Lights case wasn't in my film Best Evidence: Top 10 UFO Sightings.



The answer is simple - of all the experts I polled, only one picked the case for his or her top 10 list, and even then it was at #10. The case just hasn't been around long enough to merit consideration as one of the best ever - a point I tried to drill home here when talking about the need for historical perspective.

Paul Kimball

Paul Kimball at Retro UFO 3 - The Condon Report

Yours truly answering a question about the Condon Report at Retro UFO 3 in April, 2008, at the Integratron in Landers, California.



More to come from the Q & A.

Paul Kimball

Science, the Supernatural and Elitism

Food for thought from Science and The Supernatural, written by Professor John Taylor (King's College, London) in 1980, who wrote that people who are interested in the supernatural / paranormal are simply looking for answers that speak to them at a level they can comprehend, as opposed to serious science, which is beyond most people:

He or she will be searching for an answer to the unspoken question as to why they are here and what it all means. But it has to be a loud and clear answer and one that is short and sharp. That is presently absent from the more serious literature.

The supernatural would seem to give such an answer, either from the spirits of those who have "passed on," from the mouths of alien beings, from those who have lived many times or from "psychics" who are prepared to jump where angels fear to tread.

The answer I give here now is short and sharp: the mystery of existence is not to be gained by searching for strange paranormal powers possessed by humans. It is to be gained by looking more closely at the beautiful edifice of science, to see how the whole of existence - both of ourselves (all living beings) and of the material world - is to be understood in a unified manner. We, as humans, are at one with the rest of existence. The basis of all is energy, in its various manifestations. The question now to be answered is why those manifestations of energy are there in the first place.

I'm a big believer in science, and the scientific method, and Taylor raises some valid points in his book, which is an interesting and thought-provoking read. For example, he writes about the "levelling" element amongst those who are inclined towards the paranormal and supernatural - the belief that everyone's opinion is equally valid, and the antipathy towards "elitism". Taylor writes:

It is relatively easy for the man in the street to comprehend writings of a pseudoscientific nature about the supernatural. This is because such books do not require any knowledge of the vast body of scientific thought in order to understand the,. Truly scientific works, on the other hand, sadly often fall short of comprehension for many potential readers...

A second reason is the great interest of the man in the street in powers which he thinks he may himself possess and be able to develop quite rapidly. Such magical powers have always appealed to those with limited opportunities for self-advancement.

The second point can be clearly seen in the history of experiential religious movements, or mass political movements, which have generally found their greatest number of adherents amongst the dispossessed and disenfranchised of society.

I am an elitist, a state of affairs for which I never offer an apology, because there is nothing wrong with elitism, when the term is properly understood and used. Some people's opinions are objectively worth more than others in areas where they have developed a level of expertise or knowledge - that's why we have doctors performing brain surgery, as opposed to truck drivers (similarly, within their field of expertise, a truck driver will trump a brain surgeon). It's why I don't write a blog about biology, a subject I have never taken a single course in, even while in high school, and about which I know no more than the average person in the street.

This is true of the UFO phenomenon as well, which has myriad self-proclaimed "researchers," but relatively few true experts qualified to offer an informed opinion about various aspects of the phenomenon. This applies, however, not just to the UFO believers, but also to most skeptics, to judge by their lack of familiarity with the actual evidence. That's the great thing about elitism - it is an equal opportunity discriminator.

Speaking of which, and as a bit of a rejoinder to Professor Taylor's true-blue faith in science, here is a final word from one of my favourite comedians, Patton Oswalt, who riffs, in response to developments in science that allowed a 63-year old woman to give birth, as follows:

Sometimes science is fucking wrong and gives us shit we don't need...they might as well go, 'Hey, we made cancer airborne and contagious! You're welcome! We're science: we're all about coulda, not shoulda.'

So - does Oswalt have a point?

You be the judge. Just make sure your opinion is an informed one.

Paul Kimball

Faith-based Ufology

Memo to: UFO believers and disbelievers
From: Paul Kimball
Re: UFOs and faith

Just a short excerpt from an article titled "The Air Force and the Scientific Community" written by that notorious "apologist ufologist" Dr. J. Allen Hynek for The Saturday Evening Post back on December 17, 1966:

The question of UFO's has developed into a battle of faiths. One side, which is dedicated to the Air Force position and backed up by the "scientific establishment," knows that UFO's do not exist; the other side knows that UFO's represent something completely new in human experience. And then we have the rest of the world, the great majority of people who, if they think about the subject at all, don't know what to think.

The question of whether or not UFO's exist should not be a battle of faiths. It must be a subject for calm, reasoned, scientific analysis.

What Hynek wrote forty-two years ago was correct then, and it remains correct now.

Paul Kimball

The Decline of Serious UFO Research

As of late, I have come in under fire by certain lonely killjoys on the Internet, who clearly have nothing better to do with their time (like actual research) for seemingly combining research into UFOs with having a good time (aka "partying"). Oh, how I wish all of the rumours about me were true. Alas, not so much... although I did have a fair number of Stella Artois at ye olde local watering hole last night.

What's even more laughable is that he accuses me of "womanizing", presumably because I've given young Brittany Babakioff an opportunity to meet people like Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern who work in a subject she's interested in, and I've helped open a few doors with people in the UFO community for her, i.e. Stuart Miller at Alien Worlds, and I will hopefully be employing her in a research capacity sooner rather than later for future film projects (she's that good, folks). Shame on me for trying to get young people, especially women, involved in UFO research. I should be tarred and feathered! As for the lonely killjoy, I would say that he should apologize to Brittany, but he's not the apologizing kind (just ask Alfred Lehmberg, whose music can be heard below)... and Brittany has no idea who he is anyway (which makes her a member of a very large group of people).



However, even if I was partying up a storm here, there and everywhere, I doubt that serious UFO research would crumble - even I don't have a big enough ego to think that what I do or don't do could have that kind of impact!

But the aforementioned lonely killjoy's posts aren't really about UFO research, serious or otherwise - rather, they are simply the same old trolling that he has indulged in, both within the UFO research community and in other areas, for years now. Don't be fooled into thinking he has the best interests of UFO research at heart... as always, it's all about him. Once you know that, however, you can have some fun with him, because his responses are always so predictable! As a British friend of mine says, like a toy robot, the lonely killjoy is easy to "wind up"... although like a toy robot, he never really does anything different, which means that after a while you get tired of him, and move on to something more interesting. Then one day you remember that you have this toy robot in your drawer, and that it might be fun to wind it up and watch it go again, at least for a little while, until it gets boring again (note: my apologies to all toy robots everywhere for making this analogy).

Mind you, there are party animals related to UFOs. For example...



Now, if you don't have a sense of humour, you probably won't find this clip funny. Too bad for you, because I think it's hilarious (hat tip to my uncle Hollis Kimball for the lead).

I just hope that by posting it I haven't destroyed serious UFO research. ;-)

Paul Kimball

Ufology and Perspective

Three years ago, a well-known ufologist sent me a de-classified Top Secret memo from 1947 that read as follows:

16 December 1947

MEMORANDUM FOR DR. BUSH:

Subject: Preparation Against a Sneak Attack

1. At the meeting of the War Council on 18 December the following decision was reached:

Secretary Forrestal appointed a committee consisting of Dr. Bush, Mr. Souers, and General Gruenther, with Dr. Bush as chairman, to examine this problem in all its facets, particularly its relation to civil defense. This committee is to render a report covering the best manner of handling these problems from an organizational standpoint.

2. Your committee will be considered a committee of the War Council, and his office is prepared to furnish such personnel, funds, and other forms of assistance as may be required in the prosecution of the committee's work. As in the case of all committees of the War Council, your committee will be authorized to call on all agencies under the Secretary of Defense for such assistance as the committee may from time to time require.

3. I recognize that the problem before your committee is a difficult one and that it will require some time for you to prepare any recommendations. At the same time, I would appreciate it if you would keep the War Council periodically advised as to the progress which is being made.

JOHN H. OHLY
Special Assistant to the Secretary

Now, if you were to show this to anyone outside ufology even remotely familiar with the time period, they would no doubt tell you that the meeting was clearly designed to deal with a sneak attack from the Soviet Union, which is what all American defense planning was focused on in 1947, a very turbulent year at the beginning of the Cold War, where the risk of a "hot war" was very real indeed (see the Wikipedia entry for that period for a reasonably good summary of events).

The ufologist who sent this to me, however, saw it differently, as seen by the fact that he wrote "by whom?" in the margin next to the phrase "Preparation Against a Sneak Attack" - the implication being that the meeting may have been discussing a sneak attack by aliens, not the Soviets.

This... "interpretation" (to be kind) shows a complete lack of historical perspective and understanding. It also shows a ufologist who is sadly typical, particularly amongst the "Cosmic Watergate" group, i.e. one who is less concerned with logic, reason, and the truth, than he / she is about fitting everything into their very small "it's all about Roswell / ET / conspiracy" box. You can see the most recent manifestation of this way of "thinking" this week in Steven Bassett's paranoid ranting about how Google has censored his "open letter" to Senator Hillary Clinton (see here for the text of Bassett's press release).

This is what the ET / conspiracist types do - they filter everything through their own myopic world view. Unfortunately, this is the point of view that gets reported most often in the mainstream media, not because they are part of some over-arching conspiracy, but because the conspiracists themselves are the people amongst all UFO researchers who yell the loudest, and so therefore attract the most attention.

This is bad history, pure and simple - the kind that would get a person flunked out of a 1st year university course. But in the wacky world of ufology, it often passes as received wisdom from on high... which is a sad but telling state of affairs.

Paul Kimball

Retro UFO 3 - Recap

On April 26th and 27th Alien Worlds Magazine columnist Brittany Babakioff and I attended the Retro UFO 3 conference at the Integratron, in Landers, California, along with fellow cabal members Nick Redfern and Greg Bishop, and assorted other UFO and conspiracy authors and researchers, including Kenn Thomas and Adam Gorightly.

Conference organizer Barbara Harris put on a great show, and is to be commended for persevering even though pre-conference registrations were low. In the end, about 60 hardy souls braved the desert heat and made their way out for the two days of talks, screenings, and fun.

As with all UFO conferences, some of the presenters were on the wacky side, so I'll follow my dad's old dictum that if you can't say anything nice about anyone, best not to say anything at all. For my money, Retro UFO 3 was worth attending for the following reasons:

1. It was held at the Integratron, which is an important piece of not just ufological history but American cultural history - as a bonus, attendees could also venture out to Giant Rock, which is about 3 miles away, another landmark of ufological history, regardless of what one might think of the original Contactees, particularly George Van Tassel;

2. One had the chance to hear my good friends Nick Redfern and Greg Bishop deliver the kind of no-nonsense lectures that should be the rule, and not the exception, at UFO conferences.

Nick always gives an interesting and entertaining talk, and this time it was no different as he provided an informative overview of how and why the various intelligence agencies kept an eye on the leaders of the Contactee movement in the 1950s and 1960s (much of the lecture was based on material found in Nick's excellent book, On the Trail of the Saucer Spies). Nick also added a couple of interesting anecdotes about his own brushes with the intel agencies over the years, including Scotland Yard.

Nick is always hard to top, but at Retro UFO 3 it was Greg Bishop who gave the best lecture. As far as I'm concerned, Greg is the most underrated UFO researcher and author out there - he's thorough, knowledgeable, and thought-provoking, all while managing to avoid the petty infighting that sometimes distracts the rest of us. At Retro UFO 3 he provided the audience with a fascinating and eclectic overview of the alternate theories to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, from time travel to tulpas, and cryptoterrestrials to extradimensional beings, all while acknowledging the validity of the ETH as a hypothesis, but criticizing those who put it forward as an established and proven fact.

Other highlights of the conference were Ken Thomas' talk on legendary comic-book artist Jack Kirby's ties to the CIA and his role in the Iranian hostage crisis (Kenn's re-hash of the Maury Island hoax, in which he tried to tie it to the JFK assassination, would make a good Oliver Stone film, but stretched credibility beyond any reasonable breaking point, although it was well delivered), and a wild late-night show by Zamora the Torture King which featured fire-breathing and... well, what can only be described as self-torture, including a routine where Nick, Greg and Adam were conscripted from the audience to help Zamora (aka Tim Cridland) prove that mind really does trump matter where a bed of nails is concerned! Also, Nick Redfern demonstrated a real McGyver-like sense of ingenuity at the Friday evening party back at the motel where he managed to slice limes with a car key, and Brittany was 100% game when it came time to participate in the Tin Foil Hat contest on Sunday... as was a certain alien explorer named Zorgrot!



All in all, Retro UFO 3 was a smashing good time. Hopefully Barbara will hold a Retro UFO 4 next year, and hopefully more people will show up, because if you're even remotely interested in the UFO phenomenon, particularly the sociological and historical aspects, you should really try to make it out to the Integratron and Giant Rock at least once, and you should take every opportunity you can get to hear the likes of Nick and Greg speak, because they are among the best UFO researchers out there.

A final note - keep an eye on Brittany Babakioff, who impressed everyone at Retro UFO 3 with her energy, her enthusiasm, and most importantly her intelligent approach to the UFO phenomenon. If ufology is looking for the next wave, it starts with her.

Paul Kimball

P.S. Here are a few more pics from the conference!


Brit takes photos for Alien Worlds Magazine.



Nick takes photos for the CIA!

Kenn Thomas and Adam Gorightly discuss various conspiracies.


Inside the Integratron, where many of the lectures were held, and where Best Evidence was screened.



Nick Redfern and Adam Gorightly at the opening ceremony.

Yours truly at the opening ceremony.


Greg and Nick relaxing in the vendors tent.

UFO Celebrity Death Match - Results!

Here are the results from last night's UFO Celebrity Death Match extravaganza, which Greg Bishop and I called live for the UFO Radio Network, aka Radio Misterioso, which can be heard every Sunday evening from Midnight to 2 am AST on Kill Radio.

Match #1
Wild Bill Cooper vs. Marshall Applewhite: Cooper won this match, and the vacant World UFO Title belt, after Applewhite committed suicide just as the bout was about to start. Unfortunately, Cooper then opened fire on security personnel, and after a prolonged gun battle was killed. The Title belt was declared vacant again, and a series of elimination bouts ensued.

Elimination Bout #1
Nick Redfern vs. Mac Tonnies - Redfern won after he dragged Tonnies to a mosh pit and kicked his ass, punk rock style.

Elimination Bout #2
Art Bell vs. George Noory - Bell took this bout by default, as Noory couldn’t make it through the throng of angry Bell fans that had surrounded the arena.

Elimiation Bout #3
Bill Birnes vs. Stuart Miller - Birnes took this match of UFO-related magazine publishers. Despite the fact that Stuart was persistent, and kept getting up after being knocked down, Birnes just played dirtier and dirtier, until he finally managed to use a set of brass knuckles masquerading as reverse-engineered alien technology to knock Miller out.

Elimination Bout #4
Kevin Randle vs. Don Ecker - Randle took this prolonged battle of military vets, using some new weapons hidden at ringside that he had acquired while serving in Iraq.

Elimination Bout #5
Kal K. Korff vs. Michael Horn - This was a classic between two people who have no grasp on reality: Horn, the most ardent defender of the Billy Meier hoax, and Korff, the most ardent opponent (i.e. the only person who still cares). Korff ultimately used his size advantage (physical and ego) and some outside interference from his Israeli super-spy buddies to get the duke over Horn… who then proceeded to claim that his defeat was proof that the Meier case was real.

Elimination Bout #6
Tim Binnall vs. Jeremy Vaeni - Binnall took this return bout between podcast hots (Binnall torched Vaeni in the 2007 Zorgy Award voting) after an amusing battle that saw Binnall enlist the aid of some transvestites. After the battle, Vaeni retired to the nearest hot tub.

Elimination Bout #7
Stanton T. Friedman vs. Seth Shostak - The cagey veteran Friedman pinned Shostak, who came to the ring dressed as a Sleestak from Land of the Lost, after he polled the pro-Friedman crowd and obtained a 70% approval rating versus 30% for Shostak.

Elimination Bout #8
Steven Greer vs. Reality - This was perhaps the most exciting match of the night. Reality had a big advantage going in, but Greer slowly but surely undermined Reality at every turn, until Reality started to lose confidence in itself. It was at that point that Greer pulled out an alien baby, which used some strange foreign substance to stun Reality, which Greer followed with his patented “Disclosure Bomb” for the pin.

After this match, Greer easily defeated the other elimination bout winners in a battle royal, with Nick Redfern being the final contender to be eliminated over the top rope, to be declared the winner…

But then, just as he was about to accept the Title belt, Cooper and Applewhite returned as Zombies in an unholy alliance to challenge Greer to a handicapped match. Greer, perhaps cocky after his defeat of Reality, accepted, and the Zombies entered the ring. Greer immediately took both Zombies in his hands and lifted them over his head, in preparation for the delivery of The Disclosure Bomb. At this point, the Zombies Cooper and Applewhite revealed their devious plan - they had allowed Greer to lift them over his head, which positioned them perfectly to chomp into his BRAINS! As Greer spun them around, they struck… only to find that Greer had no BRAINS!!!

The stunned Zombies were then disposed of by the patented Disclosure Bomb, and Greer was declared undisputed Celebrity UFO Death Match world champion.

Paul Kimball

The Dark Side of Internet Forums and UFOs

The Internet is rife with forums that deal with various paranormal subjects, including the UFO phenomenon. While the vast majority of people who frequent these chat groups and message boards are good, sincere people, there is danger lurking there as well - especially when it's impossible to know who most of these people really are, because they usually use pseudonyms. It is especially dangerous for children who might wander by, and become involved with someone with bad intentions who uses their interest in the paranormal as a way of getting close to them. Ernst Zundel used to do this - he used young people's interest in UFOs as a way of luring them into his web of neo-Nazi hate (note: much of the bunk spread about Nazi UFO bases at the South Pole was propagated by Zundel). There have been other, even more egregious examples, however. One such case is that of Richard Romero.

In 1995, the then 36-year-old Romero "met" a 12-year-old boy in a "chat room" on the Internet devoted to UFOs and extraterrestrials. Romero posed first as a 15-year- old boy, then as his 20-year-old brother. He exchanged e-mails and phone calls with the 12 year-old throughout 1995 and into 1996. He said his father had been killed by government agents because he knew too much about UFOs. He asked the boy to join him in a mission to uncover secrets about aliens and UFOs. During the summer of 1995 Romero and the boy frequently exchanged letters and e-mails. The boy told Romero he was seeing a psychiatrist for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), that he was adopted, and that his parents were too restrictive and did not understand him. Romero sympathized with the boy's situation and told him that he, too, was adopted and having trouble with his parents. By the end of the summer the boy considered Romero to be his best friend.

Eventually, in March of 1996, Romero convinced the boy to run away with him. On March 14, 1996, Romero flew to Chicago and checked into the Ramada Inn under the name Ricardo Romero. The next morning the boy left for school but went instead to the Ramada Inn to meet Romero. After they met, Romero called a taxi to take them to the bus station. He told the boy not to talk to the taxi driver. At the bus station he purchased two one-way tickets to Florida with cash. He told the boy not to talk to anyone or draw attention to himself while they waited for the bus. Romero told the boy that it would be best for him to live in Florida and not return to his parents.

The two boarded a bus in Chicago bound for St. Petersburg. Some quick investigative work by the local police and the FBI foiled the trip, as Romero and the boy were intercepted at the Greyhound bus station in Louisville, Kentucky. Romero was eventually charged with four crimes: kidnaping and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity for inveigling the boy to leave his home and travel to Kentucky; traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a juvenile based on his trip from Florida to Illinois; and obstructing justice because of subsequent efforts to get people in Florida to destroy evidence of his interest in child pornography.

Romero was eventually convicted on the obstruction of justice, kidnapping and transportation charges. He was sentenced to 327 months in prison, a decision upheld on appeal.

Is Romero's case unique? Alas, no - there are others. Because the UFO subject tends to attract people who have a propensity to... suspend disbelief, it will always attract people who will use that fact to further their own nefarious purposes, whether it's neo-Nazi hate-mongers like Ernst Zundel, or sexual predators like Richard Romero. The anonymity that the Internet provides creates the perfect place for these people to lay their traps, which is why parents should carefully monitor their children's usage of a computer, and their participation in UFO and paranormal related forums and groups. There is also a responsibility on forum owners and moderators to keep an eye on message traffic, and look for patterns or behaviour that might be suspicious.

This is not to say that people shouldn't participate - even children - because most people on-line are good people. But one should always proceed with caution. Sadly, where anonymous internet users are concerned, the old X-Files mantra of "trust no one" is a good baseline piece of advice.

Paul Kimball

UFOs & Municipal politics

What happens when small town municipal politics and UFOs meet?

In 1997, in the city of Horseshoe Bend (pop. 2,271), Arkansas, Ruth Parks was elected the city recorder / treasurer, where she served with Mayor Robert Spear, who was elected to a four year term in January 1999. While the relationship between the two elected officials began well, a rift developed after a dispute over the city's contract for ambulance services. Parks expressed disagreement with the mayor on other policy issues, as well.

Shortly after the ambulance service disagreement, one of Spear's friends, David Perkins, began to drive by Parks's home at a high rate of speed, honking his horn. Parks believed that Spear had directed Perkins to undertake this annoying practice, and reported the incidents to Spear and Police Chief Fred Mitchell. Mitchell had Parks file an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Perkins, and Perkins was arrested for harassment. The state court entered a no contact order prohibiting Perkins from continuing the conduct. Nonetheless, Perkins continued to drive past Parks's home, honking his horn.

Perkins was tried in state court on the harassment charge; the state court also considered whether Perkins violated the no contact order. At trial, Parks and her husband, Arlon Parks, testified. During cross examination, Parks was asked if she believed in unidentified flying objects (UFOs), whether she had ever seen a UFO, and whether she had been abducted by a UFO. She testified that she believed in UFOs, and had seen them in the past. She stated she had never been abducted by aliens. The defense attorney asked Mr. Parks similar questions. Mr. Parks testified he believed in UFOs, but had never seen one. He denied he had been abducted by aliens, but stated his wife had been abducted by aliens, commenting that she had scars to prove it.

The trial court found Perkins not guilty of harassment, but concluded Perkins had violated the no contact order and held Perkins in contempt of court.

The local newspaper, The News, reported on the Perkins trial. Janice Fae Mitchell, the wife of Police Chief Mitchell and a member of The News staff, authored an article about the Perkins trial that was published in the The News. In the article, Ms. Mitchell recounted the testimony regarding UFOs. Specifically, the article noted that both Ruth and Arlon Parks testified that they believe in UFOs and had seen them in the past. It said they each denied having been abducted by aliens, but noted Mr. Parks's testimony that he believed his wife had been abducted by aliens.

Parks sued. She didn't challenge the accuracy of the article's account of the UFO testimony, but instead claimed the article, and others written by Ms. Mitchell about the Perkins controversy, were defamatory and designed to make her look foolish.

During the Perkins controversy, The News published a letter to the editor written by Parks. Underneath the letter, The News ran a cartoon lampooning Parks. Parks alleged the cartoon, which was published without attribution, was drawn by Police Chief Mitchell, although she never provided a factual basis for this assertion.

Subsequent to the Perkins controversy, Parks ran for re-election for recorder/ treasurer. Two candidates ran against her: Charles "Chuck" Simmons and Ann Shaw. Parks alleges Spear selected Simmons to run against her to silence her. Simmons, then the court clerk for the City of Horseshoe Bend, won the election, with Shaw receiving the second highest number of votes.

Parks filed a lawsuit in which she alleged that Spear, Simmons, the City and the Mitchells violated her constitutional rights by conspiring to prevent her re-election in retaliation for her vocal opposition to Mayor Spear. Parks claims the events described above were part of the alleged conspiracy.

The case was summarily dismissed, a decison upheld on appeal.

Only in America...

Paul Kimball

Would I Hoax a UFO Sighting?

Not too long ago, I was chatting with someone about UFOs, and they asked me if I would ever consider hoaxing some sort of UFO event. I thought about it for a second, and said, "absolutely".

For profit? Nope (any money made would go to charity). Instead, I would do it, maybe someday, to prove a point.

When might it happen? Probably on the day when I've finally heard so much stupidity and silliness with respect to the UFO subject that I couldn't take it anymore. I don't see that day coming anytime soon, but one never knows...

I certainly have the means, knowledge and ability to pull off a hoax. Given my education, training and background, it would probably be along the lines of some MJ-12 style documents, followed by a major media blitz. But who knows - maybe some clever pyro tricks of light, and a faked film? Or maybe... well, let's not give it all away.

Unlike other hoaxers, such as Billy Meier, or George Adamski, or Silas Newton, or Ray Santilli, or Rick Doty, I would quickly reveal all (I would also do a much better job). What fun is a hoax without a "gotcha" moment? Only wackos or disinformation agents keep it going ad infinitum.

So, what would be the point, you ask? First, to see if it could succeed with the selcted target (see below re: the initial target); second, to show that even after a hoax has been perpetrated, and then admitted by the perpetrator, it will live on... because I can guarantee you that even after I fessed up, there would still be people who would believe it was real, and that I had been made to recant.

Especially because I would never reveal how I did it, just that I did. Like a good magician, one should always leave them guessing.

Now, the only question is who would I target - the true believers, or the fundamentalist debunkers?

Easy answer - the fundies. The true believers would be like shooting fish in a barrell, and what fun is that? A fundamentalist debunker would be a much bigger challenge, and hence a much bigger reward!

Besides, the true believers will be there long after the hoax is over, keeping it alive, until the end of time.

Now, just in case anyone wants to get all huffy and self-righteous about the fact that I would even consider this, I can tell you that you would be surprised how often this topic gets bandied about by people who research the UFO phenomenon, and how many of them agree with me, and for the same reasons.

In short, trust no one. ;-)

Paul Kimball

The 2007 Zorgy Awards

Ladies and gentlemen, here are the results of the 2007 Zorgy Awards, and the 2008 inductees to The Other Side of Truth Halls of Shame and Fame, the voting for which took place in November and December of last year. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to vote - this was the second year for the awards, and "turnout" was higher than in the first year, which is always a good sign!


Best Website (Forums)
Book of Thoth - 153
Above Top Secret - 100
Department 47 - 64
The Paracast Forums - 53


Best Website (News Summary)
The Daily Grail - 1,058
The Anomalist - 193
The Debris Field - 63
UFO Review - 36


Top UFO Story of 2007
O'Hare UFO Sighting - 312
Walter Haut affidavit - 56
Kucinich sees a UFO - 52
Roswell's 60th anniversary - 38


Best publication (Print)
Fortean Times - 221
UFO Magazine - 92
Fate - 77
Saucer Smeared - 26


Best Cryptozoologist
Loren Coleman - 524
Nick Redfern - 76
Dr. Karl Shuker - 55
Jonathan Downes - 30


Top Podcast
Binnall of America - 306
Book of Thoth - 130
Strange Days... Indeed - 75
Culture of Contact - 31


Best Paranormal Blog
UFO Mystic - 161
The Debris Field - 151
Posthuman Blues - 76
Odd Things - 32


Best UFO / Paranormal Troublemaker
Alfred Lehmberg - 178
Jeremy Vaeni - 85
James W. Moseley - 72
David Biedny - 67


Best Ufologist
Stanton T. Friedman - 244
Nick Redfern - 131
Nick Pope - 62
Jerome Clark - 48


Hall of Fame Inductees
Art Bell - 110 votes (22%)
John Keel - 79 votes (16%)


Hall of Shame inductees
Kal K. Korff - 102 votes (23%)
Linda Moulton Howe - 72 votes (16%)

Note: Previous inductees can be seen here.


Congrats from both Rear Admiral Zorgrot and yours truly to the winners!

Paul Kimball