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It was October 11, 1973. Calvin Parker and I had gotten off from work at 3:30, and by the time I had dinner and got my fishing tackle together, I guess we must have got on the Pascagoula River a little

By Playboy January 1978

after five o'clock. It had become dusk by then and we were sitting on a small pier on the bank, fishing out into the river, when this noise–a hissing or zipping-like sound–attracted my attention. It was just like air or maybe steam escaping from a pipe. Anyway, I turned around, I saw these two blue lights. When I saw them, well, the sound seemed to go away. They were real close together and they were either flashing or pulsating not over 30 to 40 yards behind us. Almost as big as a car headlight and real bright.
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[...] It’s been 44 years and people are still wondering: is the Pascagoula

By www.stltoday.com 10-11-17

alien abduction all a hoax or were two fishermen really picked up by a UFO in Jackson County on October 11th, 1973? Retired Jackson County Deputy Glenn Ryder was working the night the call came into dispatch. “That boy was so upset, he was crying. He was scared to death and literally begging Charles not to talk to us.”

After 42-year-old Charles Hickson and 19-year-old Calvin Parker frantically told deputies they were just abducted by aliens, the two men were brought in for questioning in a room secretly rigged with a tape recorder. Ryder and other authorities left the two men in the room alone. “That boy was still crying, saying ‘don’t talk to them Charles. Those people are going to come back and get us. I’m scared. I’m scared.’ And I when I played it, I knew something was wrong.”
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Over the past 44 years I have interviewed more than 160 U.S. military veterans regarding their involvement in nuclear weapons-related UFO incidents. For an overview of their testimony please view CNN’s live-streamed coverage of my September 27, 2010 press conference, or watch my documentary film or read my book. Declassified documents relating to some of these incidents are also available. Many of the cases occurred at Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic

By Robert Hastings The UFO Chronicles 8-8-17

Missile (ICBM) sites during the Cold War era. Typically, a two-man team of missile launch officers at an underground Launch Control Center (LCC) would receive an alarm on their missile-status console, indicating a possible security breach at one of the ten, widely-scattered Launch Facilities (LFs) they controlled. A two-man Security Alert Team (SAT) would then be dispatched to that location to investigate.

Usually, upon arriving at the LF—commonly known as a “silo”—the SAT team would observe a UFO silently hovering directly over the site at low altitude. Depending on the case, the aerial object was described as a disc-shaped, or spherical, or triangular, or cylindrical-shaped craft. After a few seconds, the craft would leave the vicinity, typically at high speed. On occasion, as revealed by former missile maintenance personnel, the functionality of the ICBM would be disrupted during the incident, whether deliberately or inadvertently, requiring lengthy repairs.

In every case reported to me over the years, the SAT team members were debriefed upon returning to base and sternly warned never to discuss the incident. Sometimes they were required to sign national security non-disclosure forms which stipulated severe legal penalties for violating secrecy. Often, each team member was quickly transferred to another base, without his partner, probably to prevent them from discussing their experience between themselves and spreading stories about it within their squadron.

Recently, one such case was brought to my attention which appears to be far more dramatic in nature, in terms of its immediate and long-term impact on the security personnel involved. Indeed, based on the available information, it seems probable that the SAT team members were actually abducted by those aboard the UFO and transported—along with their vehicle—to a location some five miles away, where they were eventually discovered by other Air Force security teams.

What follows here is the written summary of that incident provided to me by USAF veteran Mario A. Woods Jr. who was stationed at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, from 1975 to 1979, as a member of the 44th Security Police Squadron. The narrative has been edited for the purpose of brevity and clarity:

In November 1977, while assigned to the November Flight Launch Control Facility (LCF), I was a Security Alert Team member on the night shift—6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.—paired with Sgt. Michael -------, who outranked me thus making him the team leader. I'm not certain of the exact date but Thanksgiving was approximately two weeks later and, as a newlywed, I was looking forward to being home with my wife. On that particular night it was clear and very cold and the ground was spotted in snow.

While at the LCF, I walked outside several times to stretch my legs, have a cigarette, and look at the stars. The clarity of the sky in South Dakota is like you've never seen. We were positioned just a few miles north of the small town of Newell.

On one occasion—I really didn't look at the time but I'm guessing it was around midnight—I noticed a very bright star that I had not seen before. I first thought it was a large helicopter or a B-52 bomber flying one of the low-altitude sorties they sometimes did out on the prairies, but it was not. It was hovering at about a 30-degrees above the horizon. The way it shimmered and pulsated led me to continue to watch it for some time, say 20 minutes.

I eventually walked back inside the LCF and made a comment about it to Sgt. -------. He laughed and said, ‘Sure’, whatever that meant. Then I told the Flight Security Controller (FSC), who acts as a go-between the response team and the Missile Capsule Crew Officers below ground. The FSC also keeps Wing Security Control (WSC) back at Ellsworth apprised of all activities on-site.

After perhaps 30 minutes, I walked back outside and saw no star so I thought, ‘Okay, it was a plane or helicopter.’ But as soon as I said that to myself, it lit up again, not quite in the same place but at the same elevation and more north. So, instead of being due east of my location, it was more northeast.

I thought for a minute and, all of a sudden, got the idea to flash the facility lights off and on as a signal. Why? I don't know. I guess because that's what is done at sea, from ship-to-ship. My father was a merchant seaman and I had sailed with him in my youth.

So, anyway, the LCF had approximately 15 sets of super bright spotlights, located on all four corners of the security perimeter fence and along the roofline of the main building—all controlled by one switch in the FSC's office. I walked inside and told the FSC what I was doing and he laughed at me. I think it was SSgt. ---- --------- from North Carolina. He said go ahead so I proceeded to flash the facility lights at this object, not knowing if it was anything unusual or just a plane or chopper doing night flying.

I was not following any particular sequence, like an SOS or anything like that. My SAT team partner, Sgt. -------, got curious and after I had flashed the lights six to eight times we walked outside together to look at the object. There it was, no change in its appearance or position but, a moment or two after ------- made some comment about the light, it went out! The night sky was clear as a bell, so I know it hadn’t gone behind a cloud. But ------- went inside, laughing at me. I somehow knew I needed to keep watching the sky and, just like that, it re-appeared to the north and seemed closer, as it was brighter.

I turned and walked in and flashed the facility lights six to eight times again and told them both about the object’s new position. Neither took me seriously. I then went outside one last time but the object was gone. So I went back inside, thinking how strange all that had been and feeling stupid about flashing the facility lights at it. I went into the day room and sat down to read or watch some TV.

At approximately 0130hrs we received a [Situation]-4 alert from LF November-5, which was the closest to our LCF and also closest to the town of Newell. Sgt. ------- and I donned our heavy winter parkas and cold weather gear and I placed my ditty bag in the F-150 pick-up police vehicle. I then went back inside to receive our USKAPP 55 code tables, weapons and ammo from the FSC and our safety briefing from the LCC crew underground. WSC back at Ellsworth was also contacted and our estimated travel time to and from the site was discussed.

A Sit-4 meant that the outer zone antenna on the missile site and the underground soft support building had been penetrated or had alarmed for some unknown reason. That was no problem as I had done this type of clearing and reset procedure many times at other locations.

We left the LCF and headed toward Highway 79. I was in the passenger seat and, as we were nearing the highway, I looked off in the distance and could see that the bright object was apparently near the missile site, which was seven or eight miles away. I immediately turned to Sgt. ------- and said, ‘Look man, that light is over November-5!’ He replied, ‘No way!’ but I could see his face and he was hoping not!

We didn't inform anyone about that on the radio, to the best of my knowledge, but I continued to view the object. As we approached Newell we made a right turn onto the road that led to November-5. As we did, we immediately saw the object hovering directly over the site. It made no noise and was a huge glowing, reddish-orange sphere. It was only 15-20 feet above the ground and it was roughly the width of a Wal-Mart building! I’ve thought a lot about its size and I think that estimate is fairly accurate. It was enormous!

Its surface was shimmering with the red and orange colors constantly swirling and churning. When I recently watched your documentary film [UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed] there’s one scene where a [computer-generated image of a] UFO is hovering over the front gate of an LCF at Malmstrom AFB and its colors are swirling around. What we saw looked just like that.

We stopped the vehicle and sat some distance from the security gate. There was no radio communication as neither of us really knew what to do. As we stared at this thing—it seemed like forever—all of a sudden I could not breathe, I mean I really could not breathe! It was like pressure on my chest. I could not figure out what was happening and turned to look at ------- and saw that both his hands were on the steering wheel and he was looking straight ahead with a blank stare on his face. Some kind of glow was all around him and I noticed that suddenly he too was gasping for air.

I carried a three D-cell Mag Light, a huge flashlight by today’s standards but the best back then. All I wanted was relief for me and him so, for some reason, I rolled the window down and pulled myself out and sat on the window frame and flashed the light at this object until the suffocating pressure seemed to go away. Then, after 15 to 30 seconds, I slid back into the seat. I remember my M-16 weapon was positioned between my legs so I guess I grabbed it as I sat back down.

At that point I didn't look at Sgt. ------- as I was in some kind of daze. But I saw something like shadows on the right side of the vehicle and I have a memory of voices in my head, more than one, saying , ‘Do not fear’, over and over. I think I remember small figures, maybe five or six, walking toward the vehicle. Standing behind them was a taller figure who I think was in charge. Then I believe I passed out.

The next thing I remember—and it seemed as if only a minute had passed—was the crackle of our radio and someone saying, ‘November-1, what’s your status?’ I turned to Sgt. ------- and said, ‘You get that and I’ll strike the site,’ but he said nothing. He simply stared off into the distance so I picked up the mike and informed our FSC that we would begin the strike and were positioning the vehicle. There was a long pause and then he came back and said, ‘Where are you located?’

This response seemed very odd and I said something to Sgt. ------- but again he said nothing. I asked the FSC to hold on as I didn't see the facility lights that were normally on at night. I put the mike down and stepped out of the vehicle only to find that we were somewhere other than at November-5. My first step was into wet mud; even though it had been really cold that night and the ground should have been frozen solid, the entire area was soft mud and our vehicle was almost in the middle of it.

But to my right, just feet away, was a tall concrete wall of some kind. The sun was just coming up and I could see that it was a dam that held water in a reservoir. It turned out to be located north of Newell, and is called Newell Lake, quite a few miles from the LF. We were parked next to a road that went past it. That made no sense to me!

The radio came back on and we were told to stay where we were. Our radio signal had been triangulated—something I knew very little about—and then the WSC came on and told me that our sister flights’ SAT teams had been dispatched to find us. A back-up sister team reached us first and I was told to follow them to the edge of their patrol boundary where we would be met by our November-1 back-up team.

When their vehicle arrived, I started asking them questions about what was going on but they told me that they had been ordered not to discuss the situation with us. I again tried speaking to Sgt. -------. I kept asking him if he was okay but he still would not respond.

Then it hit me like a chunk of lead: We or I never went onto the November-5 site! I didn’t understand why at that moment but I was certain that we never got past the LF’s security gate.

Because he was still just staring into space, I moved ------- over to the passenger seat; he was not a large man and I was in good shape. We maintained [radio] security checks for the entire ride back, met up with the sister team and proceeded to November Control.

The Flight Chief, MSgt ----- ------, and Assistant Flight Chief, TSgt. ---- ------, met us at the facility for a debrief. Sgt. ------- was in a pitiful condition and I later heard that he couldn't tell them anything; that he made no sense at all. He was removed from November Control and assigned to base duty for some time. Me, however, I remembered everything up to hearing voices and blacking out and everything after coming to and standing in the mud. Everything: the craft, the suffocating atmosphere, flashing lights at the object, not going onto the site and, yes, thinking only minutes had passed from first seeing this thing to being somewhere else.

During debriefing, I was told that nearly four hours had passed and that six security police back-up Alert teams had been searching for us. I did fill out an AF Form 1000 UFO sighting report and wrote all I knew about that night and early morning, before I was allowed to sleep.

The next day, I returned to Ellsworth and was interviewed by the 44th Missile Wing commander. There was a guy in civilian clothing with him who I think was from the [Office of Special Investigations]. Then I was also ordered to take a urinalysis at the base hospital, and two skin samples were taken—one from the back of my right hand and another above my right eyebrow—as I was sunburned for some strange reason.

Back home, as I slowly came to grips with all of this, I began to have strange dreams of that night. Every time, as something was about to happen or show itself, a great dread came over me. I would awake in a pool of sweat and afraid.

Two weeks went by and Sgt. ------- came by my apartment, out of the blue, and we sat down and talked about the incident in front of my wife. She just laughed at us. But he said one thing I’ll never forget: He had been terrified during the incident but didn't know why, as he had heard voices, many voices, saying not to be afraid. But he wasn't in the vehicle when he heard them, he was lying down somewhere.

Then he said something that shocked me: He said he saw my mittens on the floor, next to where he was lying down, as he was hearing the voices. I reeled when I heard this! It meant that I was probably there with him and that we were no longer in the vehicle. I had not even thought about the mittens after that night—those heavy Air Force-issue gloves with open fingers, so you could fire a weapon—but, when he said that, I ran to my ditty bag to check and they were not there. I got shivers when I saw that. I can’t explain why I didn’t miss them.

One more thing: I have two small puncture marks on my skin that I can’t explain. They’re identical; a perfectly round depression with a raised dimple in the center. One is under my left armpit and the other is on my left foot, above the ankle. I don’t remember any time or situation when I could have gotten them. (Woods subsequently sent me photos of these marks.)

After a few weeks, I was removed from November Control and reassigned to Kilo Control near Sturgis, South Dakota. I had the sense that I could pick that object out of the sky, find it among the stars, even at Kilo—it made no difference where I was—but I never saw it close up again. But it was out there visiting all of our bases. We heard stories about other flights seeing things near the LFs on many occasions. Also, National Enquirer had heard rumors about UFO activity in our region and was patrolling our areas looking for stories. We were told never to speak with anyone about any of this so I never did, as ordered.

Sgt. ------- was transferred somewhere else a month or so after the incident. I found out somehow. I remained at Kilo Command, working with a different guy, Sgt. --- -------, as a SAT team member, then leader, and then FSC. Stories about sightings were all over the missile complexes, even reports of cattle mutilations; I once saw two of the dead cows myself while traveling to Kilo-1.

Later in the year, when Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] came out, the mailbox scene freaked me out so badly that I had to get up and walk out of the theatre. (In the movie, Richard Dreyfuss’ character, Roy Neary, looks out his parked truck’s window and sees a rack of mailboxes violently shaking. A moment later, a UFO that had been hovering over him directs a beam of light onto his vehicle.)

Having spoken with Woods a number of times, I consider his recollections of his experience to be credible if incomplete. I of course have his DD-214 service record, which confirms his presence at Ellsworth AFB in 1977 and his service as a missile security policeman. I am attempting to locate others who were present that night, to see whether any of them remember the events he describes and, if so, are willing to talk about them.

Also, although the technique remains controversial, I have arranged for hypnotic regression sessions for Woods, to attempt to draw out still-suppressed or long forgotten memories about the incident. For example, I am curious to know whether he can remember his SAT team partner driving them to the reservoir, in a dazed state following their sighting at November-5, or whether the UFO had actually lifted and transported the security vehicle to that location. And, of course, it would be interesting to learn whether Mario Woods’ memories of voices and small figures approaching his security vehicle might be augmented via the regression technique.

A follow-up article is planned, to update interested readers on this matter.
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A Twin Falls attorney reported that a "Flying Saucer" swooped down on his ranch south of here Friday night and apparently made off with a 400-pound steer.

By Nampa Idaho Free Press 9-10-1956 From Curt Collins

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PASCAGOULA - When Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker told the world in 1973 they were abducted by aliens while fishing on the Pascagoula River, few people believed them. Now after 28 years, it appears they weren't alone in their experience on that Oct. 11 night.

By Natalie Chambers The Mississippi Press 10-21-01

A retired Navy chief petty officer recently contacted The Mississippi Press about the sighting that he can't forget.

Mike Cataldo of Rotonda West, Fla., said he was on the pre-commissioning crew of the USS Tunney under construction at Ingalls Shipyard. Dusk was setting in as he and crew mates Ted Peralta and Mack Hanna were on U.S. 90 heading to Ocean Springs. Peralta was driving, Hanna was in the front passenger seat and Cataldo was in the back seat.

"We saw a very strange object in the horizon going from northwest across Highway 90. It was going pretty fast. It went down into a wood area and into the marsh. It hovered over the tree line, I guess, maybe a minute. We actually pulled off the road and watched it. We said, 'My God, what is that."' Cataldo said.

"We saw it, no question about it. We talked about it. Was it a shooting star, a meteorite? This was very different," he said.

Cataldo said the object looked like a large tambourine with little lights flashing on it.

"As quickly as we saw it, it just vanished," he said.

Cataldo said he had a second sighting minutes later, this time in St. Andrews as he neared his home.

"It wasn't as high up as we saw the first time. It was real," he said.

Cataldo said he rushed and told his wife what happened.

"I was almost hyperventilating. I wasn't shook up, but I was excited I saw this thing," he said.

The next morning, Cataldo contacted his executive officer on the submarine and made a report.

The following Monday, he contacted Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi and left his telephone number, he said.

"My executive officer and crew members thought we were just lunatics, just whacked out," he said.

"It never came up again. Keesler never called or did anything," he said.

"It was the strangest thing. It was kind of scary," Cataldo said.

Cataldo retired from the Navy 19 years ago. He was last in Jackson County in 1974.

Cataldo said he has never met or talked to Hickson.

Hickson said neither he nor Parker wanted their story given to the media. Their only objective was to notify the proper authorities, the sheriff's department.

"I've had a few people who said they didn't believe it, but I've never had any ridicule and my family never had. That's one reason when this thing first happened to Calvin and I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want to be called crazy. But it seemed to me we had to tell the proper authorities," said Hickson, 70, who lives in Gautier.

The rest is history.

Hickson said he knows other people saw the space craft but wouldn't come forward.

"They would have sure helped us if they would have said something," he said.

Hickson penned a book about the encounter, was interviewed numerous times by the scientific community and made the circuit at seminars on extraterrestrial. In 28 years, he never deviated from his claim of the occurrence behind the old Shaupeter Shipyard building on the Pascagoula River - even under hypnosis.

Parker, who was 19 then, had trouble dealing with what happened. He is now living in Louisiana.

"He's not the same man as before. It just ruined him," Hickson said.

Hickson described the three creatures that floated out to them as pale, ghostlike and about 5-feet high. They had crab-like claws or pinchers and rounded feet. He said they appeared to glide rather than walk.

Hickson said he was taken aboard the oval-shaped, well-lit space craft and examined with some type of "eye."

"Some kind of way they examined me. I've had a feeling ever since it happened that they know where I'm at all times and what I'm doing," he said.

"These things are robots. I didn't see any eyes. They had no indication of breathing. They didn't have a mouth. It was a straight slit. It seems they had something to do and they just actually done it. Took us back out there, put us down and they left," he said.

Hickson said he does not know how long they were with the aliens but he would like another encounter with them.

"When it first happened, I wouldn't go in the night by myself. I would have nightmares. My wife really helped me get through this thing," he said. "Now the fear is all gone. I want to meet them again and see if they will take me to their world. I believe if they do, they'd bring me back. Our whole world here is getting into a terrible shape."

Glenn Ryder, sheriff's department shift captain that night the call came in from Hickson, said it was a busy night, around 11 p.m. when Hickson called from a pay phone and was insistent on talking to then-Sheriff Fred Diamond, who happened to be in bed.

Ryder said Hickson then asked for the second person in charge. That happened to be Ryder. Hickson told Ryder he had something to tell but feared Ryder would laugh.

Ryder told him to go ahead and when Hickson finished, he did laugh.

"I told him to wait there and I would come and talk to him. He said he was going back to his house and gave me the address so I could come there," Ryder said.

"Calvin Parker was just hysterical. He was having fits. I took them in the patrol car to the sheriff's office," Ryder said.

Hickson and Parker were questioned extensively apart and then put in a secluded room together where a tape recorder had been planted to catch them in a lie.

"That boy (Parker) was really shook up. Charles was composed. The boy had just come down here from Jones County had always lived out in the country. He kept telling Charles on the tape not to talk to us. He said if (Charles) told them anything about what happened they would come back and get them," Ryder said.

"One thing led to another. We went to the site at Shaupeter, where Colley Towing is now. He showed me where it landed and picked him up."

Ryder said no physical evidence of a landing - burn marks or footprints - were found.

He said after the story broke calls came in from across the United States, England and Canada.

"They were pretty well convincing something did happen to them," he said.

Ryder said there were other calls fielded about sighting of a streak of light that night, but only Parker and Hickson reported being taken aboard the space craft.
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Serious UFO-related journalism has often been hard to come by via the conventional media, especially in the U.S., but recent events may encourage more credible reporting of the seemingly incredible.

Mike Cataldo, now long retired from the Navy, served in 1973 as a chief petty officer in Mississippi. Like most of the country, he was familiar with the Hickson-Parker report and never met or spoke with either man, but for all the years that followed he shared with friends and family another side to the story, something of vital significance

By Robert Barrow robert-barrow.blogspot.com 4-25-07

that he finally decided to impart publicly late last year. He tried to locate a reporter in Pascagoula who wrote the original UFO story, and eventually was put in touch with Natalie Chambers of the Associated Press.

Chambers' interview with Cataldo appeared in The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal of October 21 last year, but it failed to make the coast-to-coast splash it should have, though even famed radio commentator Paul Harvey realized Cataldo's importance and devoted part of his Saturday, October 27 national broadcast to Natalie Chambers' shocker.

"When Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker told the world in 1973 they were abducted by aliens while fishing on the Pascagoula River, few believed them," her article began. "Now, after 28 years, it appears they weren't alone in their experience on that October 11 night." Indeed, at about the same time and in the same area as the UFO incident, Cataldo and fellow crew mates Ted Peralta and Mack Hanna were driving on U.S. 90, heading to Ocean Springs. Cataldo was in the back seat.

"We saw a very strange object in the horizon going from northeast across Highway 90," Cataldo recalled. "It was going pretty fast. It went down into a wood area and into the marsh. It hovered over the tree line. . .maybe a minute. We actually pulled off the road and watched it. We said, 'My God, what is that?'" Cataldo said the thing looked like a large tambourine with little lights flashing on it. "As quickly as we saw it, it just vanished." Some daylight still remained as dusk approached, so the men got a good look at the object. But Cataldo tells of a second sighting minutes later, this time in St. Andrews, as he neared his home. "It wasn't as high up as we saw the first time. It was real."

Almost hyperventilating when he ran inside to tell his wife, Cataldo knew he had to tell Navy officials. As a member of the pre-commissioning crew of the USS Tunney, under construction at Ingalls Shipyard, he reported for work the next morning and immediately contacted his executive officer to make a statement. After the weekend, he contacted Keesler AFB in Biloxi and left his phone number. However, if Cataldo expected tea and sympathy, he was mistaken. "My executive officer and crew members thought we were just lunatics, just whacked out," he told Chambers. "It never came up again. Keesler never called or did anything."

UFO researcher Kenny Young (Author's April, 2007 notation to this 2002 article: Mr. Young is now deceased) also contacted Cataldo following Natalie Chambers' article, also attempting - so far unsuccessfully -- to locate his two fellow Navy witnesses. Cataldo provided a few more details of the object, perhaps the most intriguing being that it "was less than half a mile away and looked as big as any big American airliner I've ever seen." He also confirmed that other motorists had slowed down to look at the seemingly inexplicable sky object. "We were the only ones on the road to stop and look at it though," he advised.

Importantly, Cataldo admitted, "I never knew of the Hickson-Parker abduction until days later. It happened on Thursday and it was not until the following Sunday that I saw the headline in the morning paper about two men taken aboard a flying saucer, I'm telling you I about died." He emphasizes that he can't be absolutely sure that his UFO and the fishermen's were the same, but the place and time were so close that the relationship must surely be taken seriously.
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Accounts of mysterious flashing lights in the sky, spacecrafts and encounters with “real” aliens reflect high levels of public interest in UFOs and the belief that there is “something out there”. However, many

theconversation.com 1-27-17

psychologists are less convinced, and think they can provide more down-to-earth, scientific explanations.

Belief in aliens has increased steadily since the birth of modern alien research in the 1940s and 1950s, following the news surrounding a classified US military project at Roswell Air Force Base, New Mexico. Surveys in Western cultures estimated belief in aliens to be as high as 50% in 2015. And despite the fact that it is considered rare, a significant number of people also believe they have experienced alien abduction.

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Our research interests may change as our horizons widen. This may ironically come about through honing in on specific aspects of reported UFOs and related phenomena such as alleged alien abduction. Focusing on finer points can result in studying potentially important yet often overlooked subject matter. In my experience, a working knowledge of some of the following topics is essential to understanding various theories and explanations offered. Whether or not we choose to pursue such theories, we simply will not understand them if we remain uninformed.

By Jack Brewer ufotrail.blogspot.com 12-14-16

This is square one. It may very well be among the most significant and least understood aspects of the UFO community. In my admittedly professionally unqualified opinion, symptoms of psychological trauma and the related emotional distress account for the vast majority of reports of alien abduction, high strangeness, military abductees (MILABS), targeted individuals (TIs) and similar titles applied. I have come to the conclusion we must accept that to be the case in order to proceed rationally and credibly.

That stated, I do not consider myself entitled to tell people what did or did not happen to them. People may interpret experiences as they choose and discuss them as they see fit. Psychological and physiological conditions, relevant as they may be, do not account for all reports. As researchers, we are best served to proceed cautiously, professionally, and respectfully.

Hypnotist Barbara Lamb, who "helps" people learn they are ET-human hybrids and presents them at conferences

My current point, please, is that if we do not make intentional efforts to adequately understand such inherently human conditions as emotional trauma and false memories, and how they pertain to ufology, we are left with substantially incomplete renderings of the very topic we claim to pursue. It is a given that many reports involve incorrect interpretations, so it is only reasonable to acknowledge that to be the case while taking the responsibility to learn more about how they manifest and encouraging others to do the same.

Additional reading:

Coping with Emotional and Psychological Trauma, helpguide.org

How childhood trauma could affect your life expectancy, relationships and mental health, Independent

Ethics of Exploring the Fringe, Part One: Sharon Weinberger and Nigel Watson on Responsible Reporting, The UFO Trail

Ethics of Exploring the Fringe, Part Two: Mark Pilkington on Deception Operations, Witness Claims and More, The UFO Trail

I recently browsed some UFO discussion forums and discovered participants who remain terribly under informed about topics such as memory functions and dynamics surrounding hypnosis. If you're considering reasons ufology gains no traction, this is a huge one.

Witness testimony is the least reliable form of evidence. I'm more than willing to reiterate it's not my place to accept and reject claims of personal experiences, but if we want to present testimonies as indicative of a preferred hypothesis, collaborating evidence is extremely helpful.

The work of such experts as Loftus, Shaw, Morgan, and what has now become the accepted paradigm of the entire scientific community demonstrates memories are riddled with inaccuracies. It's a characteristic of human memory. It's also been demonstrated again and again how easily people can be led to form memories of events that never happened.

Point for emphasis: A hypnosis subject does not have to be intentionally led in order to produce false memories. It can occur during a biased, ill advised hypnotic search for memories of aliens. Actually, it's extremely likely. That's a big part of the point. The same can be said for (non-hypnosis) interviews conducted by overeager "investigators."

Additional reading:

Memory Distortion and False Memory Creation, Elizabeth Loftus, PhD

People Can Be Convinced They Committed a Crime That Never Happened, Association for Psychological Science

Most of us recall events that never happened, Unexplained Mysteries

We've heard UFO witnesses explain, "It wasn't any kind of craft like I've ever seen. It couldn't have been one of ours."

The Lockheed Martin P-791 is an experimental aerostatic/aerodynamic hybrid airship

It should be apparent that unless a person is up on classified aircraft and related advancements, they're not in a position to offer such an assessment. There have been fascinating developments in manned and unmanned aerial vehicles over the years, and our eyes might play tricks on us when we see things we're not used to seeing, such as planes refueling during flight. Did you know, for instance, NOVA reported reported in 2013 about an airplane wing that changes shape as it flies?

At the risk of sounding cynical, this point has long perplexed me. I find it difficult to identify anything other than cultural conditioning (scifi, movies, questionable talk radio, etc.) as a primary reason one would suspect a flying object not to be made by humans.

To try to offer some context, isn't it kind of like not knowing the make and model of an automobile that drives past and then jumping to the conclusion it must have been manufactured by non-human beings? What would lead a person to think such a thing about aircraft? The answer to that question would be movies like Star Wars and stories like Lonnie Zamora, but I think my point is valid: If it's flying around and it's a physical craft, one should suppose it's made by humans until substantial reasons arise to think differently.

Additional reading:

One Nation Under Drones, The UFO Trail

Thought Drones Were New to the Skies? Think Again, The UFO Trail

One of Those Posts About Validated Conspiracy Theories, The UFO Trail

The problem with discussing the influence of the intelligence community in ufology is that many people who would challenge its significance do not have a working knowledge of its history and circumstances. While it is admittedly difficult to identify cause and effect in the often nebulous and confusing intersections of the intel and UFO communities, that doesn't change the fact many interested in the latter know nearly nothing about the former, and it doesn't change the fact those intersections are indeed easy to demonstrate.

What's more, the lack of knowledge of or interest in the IC is found throughout both demographics of what we might term believers and skeptics. It's okay if they're not interested, but it's unbecoming to attempt to argue about topics that they are obviously unequipped to meaningfully discuss in the first place.

In order to add constructively to such discussions, one should not only make efforts to understand specific points presented by others, but activities and context of the applicable era as well. Recent developments in the U.S. intelligence community serve as excellent examples of ways volatile and dramatic situations may arise, as well as the importance of understanding their significance when exploring events that surround them.

Additional reading:

Influence of the Intelligence Community in Ufology, The UFO Trail

Psy Ops and Mind Control: Then, Now and the UFO Community, The UFO Trail

In closing, I'd like to add that the same dynamics could be applied virtually across the board to UFO research: If it's not something you're interested in, and you haven't spent time researching it, perhaps you shouldn't try to explain it to others.

For example, my interest in UFOs - literal reports of unidentified flying objects - has admittedly decreased significantly in recent years. I have come to be much more intrigued by cultural aspects of ufology. You therefore won't find me going on at length about something I choose not to pursue and I recognize as an area in which others develop a substantial knowledge base.

I identify the differences between things I suspect and things which can be demonstrated to be factual. I'm willing to change my mind when facts dictate. I most respect the work and actions of others who show abilities to do the same, and those are the people I'm most willing to learn from and with. Partisan arguing is unbecoming and unproductive on either side of the aisle. Most importantly, it's not on the path to truth.
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A pilot who disappeared nearly 40 years ago after reporting a UFO is one of the inspirations for the plot of the new television drama series The Kettering Incident.

By Carol Rääbus www.abc.net.au 7-11-16

While the show revolves around fictional mysterious disappearances in the Tasmanian bush, the disappearance of Frederick Valentich was very real.

Valentich was a 20-year-old pilot who went missing over Bass Strait in 1978, leaving nothing behind except a mysterious radio transmission.

Historian Reg Watson has been researching the disappearance for many years.

"I've looked at it for gosh, three decades," he told Leon Compton on 936 ABC Hobart.

"I have to say, in my opinion, he had an encounter with a UFO — and I don't say that lightly."
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Many claiming to have been abducted by a UFO have described it as a terrifying experience. But for one alleged Teesside abductee, what should have been an

By Ian Johnson www.gazettelive.co.uk 6-26-16

ordeal simply turned into a trip to Durham.

Data disclosed by Cleveland Police has revealed details of all the 999 calls made by people who think they’ve spotted a flying saucer.

And in one incident last December, police found a missing Middlesbrough man “safe and well”.

However he couldn’t offer an explanation about his disappearance as he had apparently “been on a UFO to Durham”.

And he wasn’t the only Teessider to have a close encounter in 2015. ...
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Tyler Kokjohn, who holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, warned the UFO community that investigators' hypotheses should be tested and evolve accordingly, not chronically remain stagnant and unchallenged.1 Such tests could include the use of emerging genetic analysis technologies that could swiftly and cost effectively identify alleged genomic adulterations. Nonetheless, opportunities for such testing appears to be of minimal interest to investigators of alleged alien abduction who would potentially benefit enormously from the results. It seems reasonable to suspect such investigators failed to foresee and were unprepared for the current era in which scientific advances would allow them to actually validate or negate their fantastic claims. Rather than eagerly seek the potential validation of hypotheses, investigators often seem instead to fear those very tests and what the results would actually indicate.

By Jack Brewer ufotrail.blogspot.com 4-2-16

Microbiologist works with DNA samples

Addressing the alleged disappearing fetus syndrome of abduction lore, Kokjohn explained that, during gestation, mother and fetus exchange cells which may remain for years or even decades after birth or termination of pregnancy.2 Powerful genetic analysis methods now allow examination of such circumstances via a simple blood draw from the mother. This would obviously enable investigators claiming to know such women, as well as those who claim to have experienced such occurrences, to attempt to obtain supporting physical evidence. It is reasonable to critically question their apparent collective lack of interest.

Podcaster and former publisher of UFO Magazine Don Ecker addressed the topic of alleged missing pregnancies during an online discussion in early 2011.3 He explained that during the 1990's he and his wife knew a practicing gynecologist, Dr. Richard Neal. The doctor was very familiar with the work of Hopkins and Jacobs, Ecker indicated, including the alleged missing fetus syndrome. The gynecologist wanted to try to scientifically establish the extents of validity of the reported circumstances. He requested that Ecker and his wife introduce him to Hopkins and Jacobs, which they did. Explaining what happened next, Ecker wrote:

After the intro Neal told Hopkins and Jacobs that what he wanted to do was to interface with "abductees" that Hopkins and Jacobs were working with, that claimed having been pregnant and then the fetus disappeared. Neal wanted to speak and share information with the abductees [sic] doctors of record. The bottom line? (and I am not suggesting anything beyond what I am saying here...) neither Hopkins nor Jacobs had any interest in working with Neal nor introducing him to any of these abductees.

Ufology hypnotists and investigators continue to regularly make claims that have long since worn old in their simultaneous sensational content and complete lack of supporting physical evidence. In 2013 I emailed Barbara Lamb and inquired about her pending MUFON appearance in which she was scheduled to discuss her claim that “ET-human hybrids are real and they are here.”4 According to a series of MUFON promotional emails that were circulating and contained the assertion, Lamb had hypnotically regressed over 900 people, some of which, with her “help,” discovered themselves to be ET-human hybrids.

Barbara Lamb

I caught up with David Jacobs at the 2012 Ozark UFO Conference. The resulting interview was included in my three-part blog post, The Bizarre World of Doctor David Jacobs: An Interview and Review.5

Jacobs claimed, among other things, that hybrids have progressed through multiple stages. He was apparently referring to hybrids created directly by aliens and housed somewhere in Alien Land, as opposed to those that seemingly have birth certificates and participate in hypnosis sessions with Barbara Lamb. At this point, he asserted, they are “human in every way except for sleep cycle and ability to control others.”

Those are obviously some extremely questionable claims, considering we have no reasons to believe any of the beings have ever been physically examined. As a matter of fact, they cannot be demonstrated to so much as exist, but that did not stop Jacobs from confidently purporting to be qualified to inform me of their physical and mental conditions.

Jacobs may have been implying there were no reasons to attempt to obtain DNA and related evidence of the beings because they had become so similar to humans. Some people of course found that stance to be a rather convenient way of keeping one's hypothesis non-falsifiable, even if it does not actually make sense. I wrote at the time that I found such a notion – hybrids being physiologically nearly identical to humans - to be mentally unhealthy. I might add that I found it an insult to intelligence.

I urged Jacobs to comment on how he could perpetually be unable to obtain physical evidence of hybrids allegedly using a computer at the home of Elizabeth, one of his research subjects as described earlier. He offered me excuses such as Elizabeth lived 125 miles away from him, and that the curtains on the windows of her home did not allow anyone to see inside. He also mentioned there would be no fingerprints for some unspecified reason or other. I remain very unconvinced and found the lines of reasoning to be absurdly inadequate, as well as rather irrational directions to take.

The person lives 125 miles away and their curtains don't allow anyone to see inside? That's what makes it impossible to obtain supporting physical evidence of ET-human hybrids frequenting the premises? I will reiterate that I found many of Jacobs' claims to be insults to intelligence.


Jacobs has continued his assertions that a currently active wave of hybrids is virtually indistinguishable from human beings, at least physically.6 While that conveniently makes points related to purpose and procreation more convoluted and confusing than ever, numerous additional questions continue to arise.

How old are these alleged hybrids? If they are any older than mere children, say, in their 20's or 30's, that would mean they were being developed from pretty much the outset of when Jacobs began writing and lecturing on the topic. We might reasonably ask how he missed it all this time, or why he failed to mention the circumstances until recent years.

And what kinds of vaccination programs do these aliens administer to these hybrids that are physiologically just like humans? It's potentially pretty serious from an immunology standpoint to even travel from one continent to another, so I would think being released to earth from the mother ship could stir up some pretty nasty bugs. If the hybrids are physiologically just like us, let's hope their alien handlers know more about ebola than we do.

Would the antibody profile of such a hybrid reflect the full complement of vaccinations humans currently administer to children, or would it indicate pediatric vaccines licensed and available 20 to 30 years ago? Along the same lines of considerations, each encounter with a pathogen leaves a record in the immune system, so qualified examination of forensic evidence would still prove potentially important. The antibodies of such alleged beings would help reveal how long they have been hanging around our neighborhood.

Unfortunately for David Jacobs, his assertion that some hybrids are “human in every way except for sleep cycle and ability to control others” does not exempt his hypothesis from potential validation or falsification. Forensic evidence might very well continue to be extremely important, and his failure to take advantage of cost effective technological advances now available likely speaks volumes in and of itself.

Endnotes

1). JayVay: I'm Sorry, Your Hypothesis Appears to be Dead
https://jayvay.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/im-sorry-your-hypothesis-appears-to-be-dead/

2). JayVay: Try a New Hypothesis, Sherlock
https://jayvay.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/try-a-new-hypothesis-sherlock/

3). The Paracast: Hopkins Ex-wife Dumps
http://www.theparacast.com/forum/threads/hopkins-ex-wife-dumps.7891/page-2

4). Examiner.com: Barbara Lamb and MUFON: ET-human hybrids: They are real and they are here
http://www.examiner.com/article/barbara-lamb-and-mufon-et-human-hybrids-they-are-real-and-they-are-here

5). The UFO Trail: The Bizarre World of Doctor David Jacobs: An Interview and Review, Part One of Three
http://ufotrail.blogspot.com/2012/04/bizarre-world-of-doctor-david-jacobs.html

6). YouTube: Contact In The Desert - David Jacobs - New Findings In Abduction Research
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUMPDtD4hfA

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