On December 9, 1965 hundreds of eyewitnesses watched an amazing object streak across the sky, the object was witnessed from Canada all the way to Kecksburg, Pennsylvania where the object crash landed. Soon after it was reported to be a spectacular meteorite by military and other officials. Eyewitnesses who saw the object, claimed what they saw sitting in a ravine was certainly no meteorite, but rather an unknown object. I received an email from a gentleman who told me he had been witness to the crashed object at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. What I didn't realize was that this fellow, who was 15 years old at the time, and out hunting with his brother and a friend may have been the first eyewitness to actually see the crashed object.

*By Brian Vike The UFO Chronicles (© Brian Vike) 5-9-06

In the interview I have done with him, he goes on to tell of an amazing story and notes that later in life while serving in the military he came across a pilot who was scrambled to intercept the Kecksburg UFO. Because I feel that this is such an important piece to the puzzle I have decided to post the audio clip to my website where visitors can listen to the actual audio interview which can be heard at the link below.

I would like to give my many thanks to the eyewitness for his excellent report. Also I would like to encourage any other folks who have been witness to this event, or have any information to please contact me at: hbccufo@telus.net

I have written up the report which I have taken from the audio interview I did with the eyewitness today, October 22, 2005. The full report is below.

As mentioned above I called the witness on October 22, 2005 and took his statement of the events that he remembers happening in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. The man was very aware of what he saw, although this event took place so many years ago. He went on to explain why he was in the area at the time of the amazing experience and of course described what he saw.

The witness said it was a particularly warm night for December, by local standard it was rather balmy he told me. He, his brother and a friend decided to go raccoon hunting. They gathered up the three dogs and drove out to an area called Freeman Falls. From there the fellows all split up and had agreed to meet back at the truck. They were walking through the woods with quite a bit of space between them. Larry, the man I spoke with, was at the lowest end of the line, which had him closer to where the crash site was going to be. At one point, as he was moving through the woods, he looked back in the direction of Kecksburg because a bright light happened to catch his eye. His first thoughts were that it was a plane with a orange landing light on it, but quickly realized that the light was just to bright to be on a plane, and seemed now to be a plane on fire or in trouble. All of a sudden whatever it was, changed course 90 degrees very abruptly. At this point the object was heading directly towards his position but again it made another course change, moving away from him. Then suddenly its direction changed once more and seemed to be heading straight for him.

He stated that it appeared to maintain a certain altitude then all of a sudden made a sharp dip downwards from roughly 500 to 600 feet in altitude to approximately 300 feet and at a high rate of speed. Standing rather in shock, he assumed his brother and friend had also seen this due to it's brightness and flying at such a low level. But he told me that the other two people had not seen it, which may have been due to them being a distance away from him. From this point he watched it come down. He moved quickly threw the woods with one of the dogs to the area where the object had crashed and scrambled down into the ravine, thinking he might be able to help someone from the crash. He immediately noticed a small brush fire had started around the crash area. Once in the ravine and close enough to the crashed object, he quickly figured out that what he was looking at was not an airplane that he knew of. The object had partially dug itself into the ravine and he could see that approximately two to three feet of it was buried into the ground. He noted the back side of the object was flat and approximately five feet in diameter and the sides looked textured/rippled. Larry had with him a six volt dry cell light that he was using for raccoon hunting, he shone the light on the object and could see that it was steaming due to the intense heat it was giving off, plus some smoke due to the small brush fires that had been started.

With his light, he tried to see if there was any kind of opening or identifying markings on it, but saw a metal band about one foot up from the base. Larry could clearly see some kind of drawings or lettering on the band. It was maybe two inches wide. Still looking at the lettering or figures, to him they made no sense or were not any written language he had seen before. He said there were a series of dots, swirls, triangular shapes and some looked like crosses with two lateral lines running across them.

At the time, he was only about 15 feet away from the bronze colored object and seeing Larry was looking at something very unknown to him, his next thought was to go back to get his brother and then to seek or get to the phone to call for help. He climbed back out of the ravine, couldn't find his dog anywhere, then whistled and his dog did finally come to him. Running through the bush and yelling out his brothers name, he finally met up with his brother and the friend. The first thing out of Larry's brother's mouth was, "my god, what was it"? Larry took his brother and friend to the area where the object was embedded into the ground to show them, all of them at a bit of a distance and the other two could not figure out what it was either. Then the fellows all heard the fire engines coming in their direction from Kecksburg. Seeing the fire department was on the way, Larry's brother mentioned that there wasn't much they could do, so they left and took the dogs home.

(Note: Larry thought it was important to note that when the three of the fellows were standing looking at the object, and having their dogs with them all of the dogs were certainly agitated and had the hair standing up on their backs and sniffing the air. The dogs also kept trying to hide behind the fellows as the leashes were getting caught up in the guys legs).

After the brothers arrived home they told their parents about what they had seen and that got the boys father's curiosity going and they decided to go back for another look. Larry said at that time alot of folks were driving up to the area to see what had happened. Of course by this time the Mount Pleasant Fire Department was on the scene as they thought they were heading to a plane crash. Of course when the general public and Larry and his family arrived near the location where he saw the object, the Sheriff's department had already erected a barrier across the road and not allowing anyone to get close to the crash site. When Larry's father asked the Sheriff what had happened, he said he had no information other than the Fire Department was dealing with the incident.

Eventually they left and went back home, and watched the news later that evening but didn't hear anything really on what happened. But the next day Larry went to school and the teachers told the classes that they were not to talk about the event that took place the night before. Actually Larry went on to say that the teachers mentioned that what people saw, was no more than a meteor/meteorite that has crash landed. As Larry said, he found that rather odd that they weren't to talk about a meteor. Well he knew it wasn't a meteor as he had witnessed it up close and personal, and told his friends about what he witnessed.

(At this point in the interview Larry stated the reason why he was coming out with this now was he hoped that by telling what he saw in the ravine that night, it just might mend the rift that was dividing the community. He also stated that what hit the ground was certainly not a meteor, he wasn't claiming it to be a UFO as he just didn't have any ideas to what it was he saw. He even had thoughts of it being a Russian Space Capsule).

Larry spoke about the reproduction that was made of the object and which was placed on top of the Kecksburg Fire Department, it was very similar to what he saw in the ravine that evening.

As the months and years passed by and things settled down over the event that took place in Kecksburg, it was a few years later when Larry enlisted into the Airforce as a aircraft fighter mechanic, and was stationed at Hamilton AFB which is located in Marin County, CA. He was in the barracks one evening when the alert siren went off and some F106 jet interceptors were scrambled and had intercepted something over the Pacific ocean. He mentioned that this was common as the Russian and American aircraft would play this cat and mouse game. Over some time the aircraft mechanics and pilots became rather close, and they became good friends. Larry told me that one of the pilots stationed at the base was a very seasoned pilot, did two tours in Vietnam and the next day Larry asked the pilot who was a Major, you guys were scrambled last night, the pilot said yes. Larry asked were the Russian playing games again, and the pilot replied: Quote: "I don't know what the hell it was"!

Larry then started talking to him and related his story of what he saw in the ravine at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. Larry said the pilots jaw dropped almost to the ground. And asked, you actually saw it? Larry said yes and assumed he was the first person to see the object. Well it ended up that the pilot had a good friend who served with the Michigan National Guard back in 1965 who actually intercepted the object which fell in Kecksburg on the same night Larry saw the object. There were a number of fighter aircraft that had followed the object, or from their aircraft could track it. Larry assumed that the fighter jets had tracked the object for some distance before it hit the ground, but he said he had heard no aircraft on the night the object crashed. Later on after the Michigan National Guard pilots who followed the object returned to their base, they were told by base commanders that the object had landed in Western Pennsylvania and was nothing more than a meteorite. End of story!

Brian Vike asked Larry if he roughly knew when the military showed up in the town of Kecksburg. He said approximately one hour after the object crashed. I also asked how far away any military base would have been from the crash site. Larry said the nearest base was not all that far away. (Brian Vike is wondering how the military was able to arrive so quickly after the object crashed, and in force by the sounds of it. Then one looks at the fighter aircraft already being sent out and following the object, the military knew ahead of time where the unknown had come down, or at least the approximate location where to look. Of course Larry believed the military were also already on their way as well as they had to have been tracking it as it came in).

Larry said another thing he felt important to mention was, that night of the crash when they came back with their father to the crash area, the Fire Department were there along with the police who did have the road blocked off so no traffic was able to pass by as I mentioned in the report above. But then the next day the family traveled back to the area where the object came down, Larry said the military were everywhere! And in another hamlet called Mammoth the military were walking all over the area and with a barrier set up, and on the barrier there was a sign which read, "deadly force authorized beyond this point", "no admittance" and the soldiers were carrying M-14's weapons and Larry said they were pointing the guns in the direction of people. And of course the military still telling everyone in the community that all the object was, was a meteorite. As Larry said, why all the fuss and pointing weapons at folks if all it was, was a meteorite.

Larry also remarks, when the military really lost credibility, is when they said nothing had landed.

Anyway he went on to say it was the night of the second day of the crash, or the night after the crash the military removed what ever it was on a flatbed truck covered with a large tarp and rumors were saying it went to Wright-Patterson AFB.

Larry also said folks living at the junction at Meteor Road witnessed the military trucks (a number of them) moving into the area, one appeared to be a mobile command unit and pulling a trailer. A perimeter was set up all around the crash site.

Larry said about a year or two after the crash, and them still hunting in the area when his brother was coming over the top of a hill and walking through a hay field he came across a K- ration can. After his brother found the one K- ration, he kicked the ground a little bit and discovered a few more cans, of course military issue. The fellows investigated a little more to see if they might find any more trash left behind by the military, and Larry said nothing else was found. They swept the area in a circular pattern, but he thought it might be interesting if someone was to go to the area with a metal detector to see what, if anything, they might be able to find, which might provide an answer to how the area was cordoned off to the general public by the military.

So there we have an interesting report from a person who had an incredible experience, one I am sure he will never ever forget.

Remember, you can listen to this telephone interview at my website. I gave the link for the audio report near the middle of this story. It is well worth listening to.

I would also like to thank Larry for allowing me to do an interview with him for the audio portion, and also for a fascinating report.
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Bobby Mohon called the Jackson paper late Friday night from Crystal Springs with the story of how a flying saucer had struck a power company transformer on the night of May 12, causing an electrical outage in the city. He reported mangled bodies laying near the wreckage which had markings indicating it was an unusual military

By Curt Collins Saucers That Time Forgot 8-4-17

aircraft. In 1950, the term "UFO" had not yet come into usage, and "flying saucer" was used for unidentified flying objects of any shape. Mohon's saucer was actually described as cylindrical, and "definitely not an airplane." The Clarion Ledger scooped the nation with the saucer news, and credited the witness as co-author of the story, along with reporter Tommy E. Hederman.

The story was rushed to press and was on sale Saturday morning before all the facts were in. The investigation by Crystal Springs authorities was reported later the same day by other area news papers.
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Over the weekend President Trump commissioned a brand new aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, a massive, electronics-drenched sea vessel intended to ascend the heights of national and international security (though, as in other instances of digital technology, we hasten to estimate its electronics at a street value of only $1.50, should an electromagnetic pulsation device from either near or far destroy vulnerable instrumentation -- but we prefer to hope that exceptional EMP shielding will be effective. . .just in case).

By Robert Barrow The UFO Chronicles 7-25-17

The ceremony and ship itself serve as a fine tribute to President Ford's career, but if government authorities could somehow be imbued with a curious desire to honor Ford's memory to the max, they would re-initiate a scientific investigation of the UFO issue.

With more science and less government, if you know what I mean.

My 1968 letter from Ford, shown here (extracted from an article I wrote for what turned out to be the final issue of Argosy UFO magazine back in the seventies), represents a time when then-House Minority Leader Ford was inundated with demands for an investigation, as UFO reports poured in, not only from his home state of Michigan, but from across the country as well.

As press releases and TV interviews portraying Ford as nothing less than insistent upon a serious UFO inquiry saturated the national media, public interest eventually culminated in congressional hearings which led -- unfortunately -- to the inadequate and, dare we suggest, fraudulent government-funded Colorado University UFO project headed up by the late Dr. Edward U. Condon. Indeed, Mr. Ford's suspicions turned out to be justified, and Look Magazine's bombshell revelations about negative project conclusions intended, despite scientific evidence suggesting otherwise, proved accurate.

Then again, the roughly $300,000 dollars appropriated for the study were far from adequate for the scope of actions required.

If the United States government really wants to honor President Gerald Ford, a new UFO investigation, this time properly funded, should be considered.

A phenomenon observed time and again to put commercial and military aircraft passengers and personnel in danger during close encounters; a scientific enigma which repeatedly exhibits an apparent ability to produce electromagnetic-like effects on aircraft, automobiles and power grids; and a confounding mystery observed to leave behind instrumentation, radar, photographic, and ground indentation effects and other evidential traces remains wanting, crying out for a truly scientific inquiry.

Of all the congressional representatives who ever called for UFO studies, Ford was the most vocal. Forging ahead with a fair scientific project having no connection whatsoever to the sloppiness and dishonesty of the ill-fated Colorado project could be as important to a new scientific golden age as the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford should be to national defense.
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Astronomers say they have detected "strange signals" coming from the direction of a small, dim star located about 11 light-years from Earth.

By David Mosher Business Insider 7-15-17

Researchers picked up the mysterious signals on May 12 using the Arecibo Observatory, a huge radio telescope built inside of a Puerto Rican sinkhole.

The radio signals appear to be coming from Ross 128, a red dwarf star that's not yet known to have any planets and is about 2,800 times dimmer than the Sun.
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A California witness at Landers reported that a group of people at a UFO conference watched and videotaped a military jet “chasing” two lights sources that may have been two independent objects, according to testimony in Case 84123 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. The sighting occurred about 10 p.m. on May 21, 2017, at the conference in Joshua Tree, CA, that included one participant shooting video with night vision goggles.

By Roger Marsh www.OpenMinds.tv 7-13-17

“Luckily one of my participants caught this and many of our other sightings (from all three nights no less), with his black-and-white night vision video camera,” the witness stated. “His additional footage of some of the other incredible sightings will be posted at a future date once they are compiled.”

The witness described the event.

“At just before 10 p.m. (did not note exact time), some of my participants and I saw a large, amber-colored light low to the horizon just behind Giant Rock from where my whole group of about 50-plus people were gathered and using 15 pair of night vision goggles. A contingency of about 20 of us ran to get a better view of it. To the naked eye it appeared to be a large, orangish (amber) light, that, quoting some of the 20 people; ‘flew like a bumble bee.’”

One of the guests had a good look.


The group then heard the sound of a low flying jet from behind the hill.

“Suddenly clearing the top of the hill and right over our heads, came a very fast military jet chasing a faster, large, red-glowing light. The military jet had both red and white blinking strobe lights and glowing afterburners and was very loud as it flew directly above our heads. The large red light had no blinking lights and no sound at all. It became clear to all 50-plus witnesses, this was no jet. Those folks present who looked with the aid of the goggles said they were seeing either two lights, or one object with two light sources on it.”
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[...]      NASA has partnered with Robert Bigelow, who's an unconventional figure in the aerospace world. He's more at home on the Vegas strip

By Lara Logan CBS News 5-28-17

than at America's space agency, and he's obsessed with aliens and UFOs. In the spring of last year, he and NASA carried out an historic test to prove his high-flying technology is ready to support humans in space.


But on this canyon road just outside Las Vegas, Robert Bigelow's story takes a turn that some may find, to put it lightly, improbable. He told us this is where his grandparents had a close encounter with a UFO.

Robert Bigelow: It really sped up and came right into their face and filled up the entire windshield of the car. And it took off at a right angle and shot off into the distance.

The story sparked his obsession, and explains the alien looking out from the side of Bigelow Aerospace. And it made for the kind of conversation you don't ordinarily have with an accomplished CEO.

Lara Logan: Do you believe in aliens?

Robert Bigelow: I'm absolutely convinced. That's all there is to it.

Lara Logan: Do you also believe that UFOs have come to Earth?

Robert Bigelow: There has been and is an existing presence, an ET presence. And I spent millions and millions and millions -- I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject.
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The Air Force's experimental X-37B space plane announced the end of its nearly two-year mission by creating a sonic boom on Sunday that surprised residents along Florida's Space Coast. Officials have provided only vague details about the unmanned craft's more than 700-day mission.

By Bill Chappell www.npr.org 5-8-17

"Not much is known about the 30-foot-long robotic spacecraft or what it took to space," as member station WMFE reports.

The X-37B is an "orbital test vehicle" that looks like a miniature space shuttle — it even used the old shuttle runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center when it landed Sunday. To reach orbit, it rides on an Atlas V rocket.
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- click and or right click to enlarge -

May 21, 1952. Barcelona was making preparations for the International Eucharistic Conference to such an extent that the La Vanguardia Española discussed the arrival of the archbishop of

By Inexplicata 8-19-16

Ottawa as though he were a special guest. The possibility of some afternoon rain showers that Wednesday was in the forecast. Journalist Valentín García was among those who looked at the sky that day, but it seems he saw more than just a storm warning.

This is what a document declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attests. It forms part of a series of documents disclosed last February, a considerable part of them related to the likelihood of unidentified flying object sightings.

Valentín García, as the CIA reports, was crossing Avenida de Jose Antonio - the modern Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes - on the way to his newsroom when he saw something strange - too strange - up in the sky. "I saw a strange object flying at high speed from the Prat Airport, some 2000 meters over the ground, leaving a broad plume of smoke in his wake," the journalist told the news agency. García even made some inquiries about the object and ascertained that it was not an aircraft of which the El Prat and Sabadell Airports were aware. He also noted that there were differences with the so-called flying saucers because it did not emit "flashes or light, nor did it spin on an axis."

The reporter was not alone in seeing that craft, according to what is presented in the CIA's declassified pages. "My colleagues at the office saw the smoke, but not the object," said one document. A curious item of information is that when it was already over Badalona, the craft or whatever it was stopped expelling the eye-catching smoke and "vanished for a few seconds, reappearing once again kilometers later, issuing smoke. Telephones started ringing at the paper's newsroom, with people claiming having seen the same smoking vehicle that Valentín García mentioned.

There is something more, although all we have is a reference in the CIA papers. A photograph is known to exist, but unfortunately, it appears to remain classified because it does not appear in the raft of documents released on 21 February. It was taken by Francisco Andreu and according to the note, [the object] "presented a diagonal stripe." Oddly, it is said that the photo was taken on 17 May, even though the information is from the 21st of that month. Clerical error?

What is indeed certain is that this incident, whose existence is known thanks to a journalist in contact with the CIA, caught the attention of the U.S. intelligence services.
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An Idaho witness at Meridian recalled a UFO event from 1977 when a disc-shaped craft hovered over a nearby home and moved towards him, according to testimony in Case 75381 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database. The witness was driving home in his truck late at night on May 5, 1977, and noticed the UFO hovering just above a neighbor’s roof as he pulled into his driveway. The case was reported to MUFON on March 23, 2016, and is under investigation by Idaho STAR Team Investigator Charles Stansburge who provides the account details.

By Roger Marsh OpenMinds.tv 4-7-16

“As he looked up from the road ahead to view it he seemed to ‘hear in his mind’ an authoritative male voice saying, ‘This is not of this world,’” Stansburge reported.“He stopped the truck, got out and watched for 20 to 30 minutes. His passenger did not stay outside with him. She went immediately into their home, as she was concerned for the safety of the children there.”

The witness continued to watch the craft as it noiselessly and slowly approached where he was standing.

[...]

At first the witness did not see any detail under the craft, but when it passed nearer to him he saw pulsating, colored lights in rectangular panels on the underside of the craft.

“There was no noise, emission of any kind from the craft and the lights from it were very bright, but did not seem to illuminate the ground or adjacent buildings. The disc was still in the sky over the homes when the witness eventually tired and went inside.” [...]
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Well, I initially thought that it had happened again. Every time I had tried to post a link to ex-CIA executive Victor Marchetti’s 1979 article about the agency’s “very sensitive activities” relating to UFOs, my posts disappeared into some as-yet unexplained black hole in cyberspace. Most recently, when I tried to join the conversation at Roswell researcher Dr. Kevin Randle’s blog on the thread titled “Reports of the Roswell Crash before Jesse Marcel's Revelations”, Randle told me that he had not received my post. My comment follows here:

By Robert Hastings The UFO Chronicles 4-1-16

Again, Randle initially told me that he never received this post via the normal Google Blogger route and was only able to post my comment after I sent a back-up in the body of an email to him. Today, however, he told me that he had eventually located the post. So, in this instance, the difficulties I have had posting Marchetti’s revelations in the past do not seem to apply.

Nevertheless, the issues I described at the beginning of this article did in fact occur—which prompted my sending the back-up message to Randle in the first place. A year or so ago, when I tried to post Marchetti’s exposé at journalist Billy Cox’ UFO blog, I was unable to do so. Although my posting effort was seemingly uneventful, he never received it. After Billy indicated as much, I tried again, but the second attempt met the same fate. Cox subsequently tried to post my comments himself, to his own blog, after I sent them to him in an email. He later told me that he had encountered the same unexplained and unprecedented problem. He eventually ended up posting the full text of Marchetti’s article in a follow-up piece.

In any case, the key point here is that former high-level CIA insider Victor Marchetti’s important revelations about the agency’s “very sensitive activities” relating to UFOs—decades after it had supposedly lost interest in the phenomenon—deserve widespread public attention. Therefore, I am asking persons reading this piece to forward the Cox article containing Marchetti’s disclosures to as many UFO and social media websites as possible.
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J Allen Hynek has gleaned the 1,000 most interesting UFO cases from his catalogue of over 80,000 UFO sightings

Chicago Sun-Times 5-12-1985

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     First, this article has absolutely nothing to do with the bogus claims currently being made by the promoters of the so-called Roswell Slides, which allegedly show the body of a dead alien. (I predict that this latest, regrettable chapter in ufological history will implode in the near future.)

No, my title refers to a far more credible revelation. Although Victor Marchetti, the former Special Assistant to CIA Director Richard Helms, first published intriguing information relating to high-level discussion of recovered UFOs and dead aliens in 1979, in an article published in Second Look magazine, most people are completely unaware of it.

Indeed, an online search for the piece, titled “How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon”, yields very few results. While the Internet provides access to vast numbers of UFO-related documents, books, articles and blogs, one of the most important pieces ever written on the topic, authored by a knowledgeable government insider, has been almost completely overlooked.

Interestingly, when I attempted to post Marchetti’s informed disclosures at a popular blog operated by journalist Billy Cox, my comments and link to the article disappeared into the cybervoid. Repeated attempts met the same fate and, when I subsequently asked Cox to post them for me, he encountered the same problem.

Cox later told me, “I managed to get your post on my blog just now, but it took some doing. When I tried to do it normally, by putting your name and email address in the cue fields, it simply wouldn’t post; I kept getting a message saying it had already been posted, which obviously it had not. And of course when I try to reply to your messages lately, it bounces back as undeliverable. I wound up having to publish it under my name, then going in behind the post and replacing my name/address with yours. Very strange, Robert.”

I told Cox one might argue that efforts had been undertaken, by an unknown party, to block Marchetti’s revelations from being made more accessible online. Lest this charge seem too paranoid, I added that I had often had to endure such anomalies when attempting to communicate with my ex-military sources regarding their involvement in UFO incidents at nuclear weapons sites.

Furthermore, my attempts over the years to post those individuals’ disclosures at various blogs had frequently encountered the same sort of disconnects. Nevertheless, some of those dramatic revelations—involving UFOs shutting down American nuclear missiles—were livestreamed by CNN during my 2010 press conference in Washington D.C.:


In any case, Marchetti’s lengthy article contains important information about the CIA’s secret involvement, as well as its self-proclaimed non-involvement, with the UFO phenomenon. He writes, “I do know that the CIA and U.S. Government have been concerned over the UFO phenomenon for many years and that their attempts, both past and recent, to discount the significance of the phenomenon and to explain away the apparent lack of official interest in it have all the earmarkings of a classic intelligence cover-up.”

To give you a sense of the author’s importance, the agency once took Marchetti all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, to attempt to stop the publication of his tome, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, which subsequently became a best-seller in 1974. The disenchanted agency man had resigned from the CIA in 1969; his book was an unprecedented, historic exposé of his former employer’s numerous illegal activities—including spying on Americans, something forbidden by its charter—many of which were later investigated by Congress.

In short, Marchetti was especially dangerous to CIA simply because he knew so much about its operations, legal or not, and was willing to divulge them to the world as a hoped-for partial antidote.

While this same informed-observer status and careful, thoughtful analysis underpins Marchetti’s revelations about the agency’s relationship to UFOs, it must be remembered that CIA’s approach to all subjects is the use of compartmentalization, whereby any given individual’s knowledge is usually limited to one small part of a project or operation, to keep an overall understanding of the situation restricted to a very few high-level managers. The same was/is true with UFOs and, therefore, Marchetti can only report on what he personally knew, given that he was not involved with the agency’s apparent UFO projects/operations and had no need-to-know about them.

Nevertheless, his published comments are noteworthy. He writes:

During my years in the CIA, UFOs were not a subject of common discussion. But neither were they treated in a disdainful or derisive manner, especially not by the agency’s scientists. Instead, the topic was rarely discussed at internal meetings. It seemed to fall into the category of ‘very sensitive activities’...People simply did not talk about the UFO phenomenon.

There were, however, rumors at high levels of the CIA—rumors of...little gray men whose ships had crashed, or had been shot down, being kept ‘on ice’ by the Air Force at FTD (the Foreign Technology Division) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.1

Please note that Marchetti used the word “rumors”. Again, this is the result of his own non-involvement in whatever “very sensitive activities” CIA had going on relating to the UFO phenomenon. Consequently, whatever information Marchetti was privy to resulted from informal and undoubtedly unauthorized chitchat he had encountered in the corridors of CIA headquarters.

But if stories of crashed UFOs and the bodies of the crews being kept in cold storage were being discussed at “high levels” within the agency, one can infer that those rumors were taken seriously. One might also speculate that information about all of this had been secured by CIA agents, probably by spying on the U.S. Air Force.

One important aspect of Marchetti’s revelation is the timing of the discussion at CIA. Marchetti resigned in 1969, nearly a decade prior to the seminal disclosures by retired U.S. Army counterintelligence officer Jesse Marcel who, during a television interview in 1978, divulged that he had held in his hands wreckage from a craft “not of this Earth” that had crashed northwest of Roswell Army Air Field in July 1947.

Confirmation of this event originates with another credible person, USAF Brigadier General Arthur E. Exon, who has stated for the record that one or more plane-loads of that wreckage did indeed arrive at Wright Field (later renamed Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) shortly thereafter and was subjected to intense analysis by aeronautical engineers. During an audiotaped interview with Roswell researcher Dr. Kevin D. Randle, in 1990, Exon said:

...They knew they had something new in their hands. The metal and material was unknown to [everyone] I talked to. Whatever they found, I never heard what the [analytical] results were. A couple of guys thought it might be Russian, but the overall consensus was that the pieces were from space. Everyone from the White House on down knew that what we had found was not of this world within 24 hours of our finding it…Roswell was the recovery of a craft from space.2

All of Exon’s published comments regarding the matter may be read at roswellproof.homestead.com/exon.html.

A number of UFO debunkers have claimed that the Roswell UFO crash story is a “modern myth” that originated as a result of public fascination with the writings of Stanton Friedman, Bill Moore, and others in the 1979-80 time-frame, which incorporated Marcel’s candid remarks about his involvement in the discovery of the mysterious wreckage in 1947.

However, in light of Marchetti’s revelations, this simply cannot be true. Given his resignation from CIA in 1969, he had to have heard those high level “rumors” about crashed UFOs and dead aliens stored at Wright-Patterson prior to that time.

In his article, Marchetti theorizes that the primary reason underlying the U.S. government’s refusal to acknowledge the reality of UFOs, if indeed the craft are piloted by alien beings, results from its fear that existing power structures would be fundamentally undermined by such an admission. He writes:

...the U.S. Government, in collusion with other national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from the general public. The purpose of the international conspiracy is to maintain a workable stability among the nations of the world and for them, in turn, to retain institutional control over their respective populations. Thus, for these governments to admit there are beings from outer space attempting to contact us, beings with mentalities and technological capabilities obviously far superior to ours, could, once fully perceived by the average person, erode the foundations of the Earth's traditional power structure. Political and legal systems, religions, economic and social institutions could all soon become meaningless in the mind of the public. The national oligarchical establishments, even civilization as we know it, could collapse into anarchy. Such extreme conclusions are not necessarily valid, but they probably accurately reflect the fears of the "ruling class" of the major nations, whose leaders (particularly those in the intelligence business) have always advocated excessive governmental secrecy as being necessary to preserve "national security." The real reason for such secrecy is, of course, to keep the public uninformed, misinformed, and, therefore, malleable.3

Given that so much information, misinformation, disinformation, speculation, and general bullshit about UFOs is available on the Internet, one must of necessity carefully choose which material to ingest. Marchetti’s unique, informed, credible perspective should be added to the short list of must-reads.


1. Marchetti, Victor, "How The CIA Views The UFO Phenomenon", Second Look, Vol. 1, No. 7, May 1979

2. Randle, Dr. Kevin D., Roswell UFO Crash Update: Exploring the Military Cover-up of the Century, Inner Light - Global Communications, February 1995

3. Marchetti, Victor, "How The CIA Views The UFO Phenomenon", Second Look, Vol. 1, No. 7, May 1979
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Whistleblower Victor Marchetti charged the 'Clandestine Services' branch of the CIA with responsibility for keeping tabs on global UFO events/CREDIT: phil-mershon.blogspot.com

Before blowing the whistle on America's illegal covert Cold War activities, Victor Marchetti was a 14-year CIA veteran ultimately promoted to executive assistant to The Agency's Deputy Director. After resigning in 1969, he wrote two exposes -- 1971's The Rope Dancer, and The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence in 1974. The latter, which the federal government attempted to ban from publication, was among the many slings and arrows contributing to the formation of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearings in 1975.

In 1979, Marchetti stoked yet another controversy by providing a rare if not largely speculative glimpse into the mindset of The Agency's uneasy relationship with The Great Taboo. Titled "How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon," Marchetti's magazine piece took a cautious approach. "The topic was rarely discussed at internal meetings," he wrote. "It seemed to fall into the category of 'very sensitive activities,' e.g., drug and mind-control operations, domestic spying, and other illegal actions. People simply did not talk about the UFO phenomenon."

Thanks to an assist from UFOs and Nukes author Robert Hastings, De Void is posting the article in its entirely. It's a lengthy piece -- you probably won't have time to read it at your work desk. But it's worth your time to see how little has changed, even with nearly 36 years worth of additional data, the collapse of the USSR, and allegations of buried UFO material from yet another former CIA operator three years ago.

     There are many myths, few facts, and much speculation about what the CIA knows of the UFO phenomenon. These, combined with the public's distrust of the clandestine agency, have led to a strong popular belief that the CIA is at the center of a government-wide conspiracy to cover-up the truth about UFOs. It usually follows that the cover-up is designed to keep us ignorant, or at least confused and doubtful, about contacts or visitations by intelligent beings from outer space. Thus, if we only knew what the CIA knows, and is covering up, we would be better able to understand and deal with aliens. And that would be a good thing. I do not know from my own firsthand experience if there are UFOs. I have never seen one. Nor have I seen conclusive, empirical, or physical evidence that they really exist. But, I do know that the CIA and U.S. Government have been concerned over the UFO phenomenon for many years and that their attempts, both past and recent, to discount the significance of the phenomenon and to explain away the apparent lack of official interest in it have all the earmarkings of a classic intelligence cover-up. My theory is that we have, indeed, been contacted--perhaps even visited-- by extraterrestrial beings, and that the U.S. Government, in collusion with other national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from the general public. The purpose of the international conspiracy is to maintain a workable stability among the nations of the world and for them, in turn, to retain institutional control over their respective populations. Thus, for these governments to admit there are beings from outer space attempting to contact us, beings with mentalities and technological capabilities obviously far superior to ours, could, once fully perceived by the average person, erode the foundations of the Earth's traditional power structure. Political and legal systems, religions, economic and social institutions could all soon become meaningless in the mind of the public. The national oligarchical establishments, even civilization as we know it, could collapse into anarchy. Such extreme conclusions are not necessarily valid, but they probably accurately reflect the fears of the “ruling class” of the major nations, whose leaders (particularly those in the intelligence business) have always advocated excessive governmental secrecy as being necessary to preserve "national security." The real reason for such secrecy is, of course, to keep the public uninformed, misinformed, and, therefore, malleable. During my years in the CIA, UFOs were not a subject of common discussion. But neither were they treated in a disdainful or derisive manner, especially not by the agency's scientists. Instead, the topic was rarely discussed at internal meetings. It seemed to fall into the category of “very sensitive activities”, e.g., drug and mind-control operations, domestic spying, and other illegal actions. People simply did not talk about the UFO phenomenon. There were, however, rumors at high levels of the CIA.....rumors of unexplained sightings by qualified observers, of strange signals being received by the National Security Agency (the US Government's electronic intercept and communications intelligence collector), and even of little gray men whose ships had crashed, or had been shot down, being kept "on ice" by the Air Force at FTD (Foreign Technology Division) at Wright- Patterson AF Base in Dayton, Ohio. And there was the odd case of the lady from Maine who, while in a hypnotic trance, had allegedly communicated with a starship. Most of these rumors, I found to be unimpressive—except for the strange signals from outer space being received by NSA. Perhaps that was because I had once been an NSA officer. Or perhaps it was because I had frequent contact with that agency while serving with the CIA, and the little I learned of the signals was treated with extreme caution even by SIGINT standards. But let us assume that there have been contacts by intelligent beings from beyond the Earth. How would the CIA and US Government respond to such a phenomenon? The first order of business would be to determine whether UFOs were secret weapons of the Soviet Union or some other foreign nation. The task of coordinating this program would be given to the CIA because it is the President's personal intelligence organization and the nation's only non- departmental, or independent, intelligence component. As such, it is charged, among other things, with performing "services of common concern" which relate to "intelligence affecting the national security." However, the military intelligence services, NSA, and other agencies and departments would also participate in the collection and analytical efforts under the program. If it were concluded that UFOs were not of terrestrial origin but, rather, vehicles from outer space, the next step would be to assess their weaponry capabilities and the intentions of the aliens controlling the ships. At this point, the CIA and US Government, aware that the phenomenon was of a worldwide nature, would seek cooperation in the investigation from the Earth's other technically advanced nations, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and even the USSR. The CIA would function as the US Government's agent, just as the KGB would be the USSR's, MI-6 would be the UK's, and so on. These agencies, in addition to specializing in secrecy and deceit, are quite accustomed to cooperating with each other on matters of mutual interest. Cooperation in the intelligence business is not restricted to allies. There are times when the CIA and KGB have found it advantageous to work together. One example is the production and publication of Khrushchev Remembers, the "memoirs" of the former Soviet leader--a ruse on the public which is actively being continued to this day. Furthermore, both the CIA and KGB sometimes "declare," i.e. identify, their officers to each other in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of clandestine intelligence activities. Even the famous U-2 program was conducted with mutual understanding --until the Soviets shot down Francis Gary Powers. According to the Chief of the CIA's Clandestine Services it was an example of two hostile governments collaborating to keep operations secret from general public of both nations. "Unfortunately, there aren't enough of these situations," he said. But before full cooperation on the UFO phenomena was achieved, there might be a period of suspicion and perhaps competition, each government hoping to gain some advantage over the others through the use of aliens and their superior scientific knowledge. It would soon, however, become apparent to all the nations involved that this was not feasible and that the UFO phenomenon was a common problem. Thus, cooperation, secret cooperation, would become a fact. Later, after further study, if it were judged that UFOs were harmless, perhaps even unarmed, vehicles from outer space controlled by aliens seeking merely to observe the Earth and its peculiar inhabitants....like so many galactic Jane Goodall's studying chimps in their native environment....and, therefore, presented no direct, hostile threat to the Earth's power structure, then another collective decision would have to be made. Should the public be told the full and true story of the phenomenon ? It is unlikely, for the reasons mentioned earlier, that any government aware of the UFO facts would deem it necessary or wise to inform its people of the truth. Governments prefer an ignorant and gullible public because an unknowing public is much more easily manipulated. In fact, that is one of the major reasons for so much governmental secrecy and official disinformation. Once the international cover-up had been decided, the CIA and US Government would act pretty much the way they have with regard to the UFO phenomenon. There would be a prestigious scientific group (the Robertson Panel) convened to declare that UFOs were no threat to the national security. The fact that the panel's conclusions were not immediately made public is of no great consequence. Here, the primary consideration would be to turn off the speculation brewing among the military, bureaucrats, and other secondary levels (including the US Congress) of the governmental apparatus. The information would eventually filter down to the news media and public. But, because of the intensity of public curiosity, a formal investigation (Project Blue Book) would be launched, after a couple of false starts. And when public interest continued to build, another scientific panel (the Condon Group) was assembled to assure us that there were no such things as UFOs. With that accomplished the US Government--the Earth's spokesman on the issue--could call off all further official investigations, slamming the lid of secrecy on the problem. But despite governmental proclamations, the sightings--often by astronauts, professional pilots, and even prospective presidents--have continued. Public pressure is again building for an honest, authoritative explanation of UFOs. Of all the evidence that exist with regard to UFOs, the single, most impressive item (to my mind) is the Jimmy Carter experience. One night in Georgia in 1973, the man who was destined to become the President of the US and his son, Jeff, saw what they believed to be a UFO. Three years later when campaigning for the presidency , Carter promised to make "every piece of information the country has about UFOs available to the public." He never fulfilled that pledge. Nor has he ever again spoken out publicly on the subject. Meanwhile, his White House staff has parried all queries on the matter and both his Director of NASA, Robert Frosch, and Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, have officially dismissed the UFO phenomenon as nothing more than something that exists only in the public's imagination. This sequence of events can mean only one of three things. What Jimmy Carter saw in 1973 was:

• A) a reflection of a physical event which has since been explained to him:

• B) the testing of a secret weapon to which he is now privy, but for reasons of "national security" it is still a secret: or

• C) a UFO.

If what President Carter saw falls into category "a," there is no reason why he could not publicly say so. As presidents go, he has been relatively humble and honest on other matters of personal embarrassment. If it falls into category "b," there is again no reason why he should not admit to the fact. There is no way that such a weapon system could possibly still be a secret from the Soviets. But if what he saw was a UFO--and there is a secret international agreement among the great powers to withhold this information from the people--then Mr. Carter would act exactly the way he has. He is neither smart enough nor tough enough to override the pressures of the Establishment. Thus, the CIA would be called upon once again. This time to release to the public all the information it has regarding the UFO phenomenon.....after, of course, the usual and long ritualistic procedures of litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. We can safely assume, however, that the CIA would not disclose everything it knows or that it would reveal any data it believes would not advance the UFO cover-up. The CIA, like other intelligence organization, has little respect for the public's right to know. It is an attitude they all consistently display. Ironically, however, among the vast body of circumstantial evidence pointing to the existence of UFOs or contacts from outer space, the FOIA documents recently provided by the CIA have done more to make the public suspect there is an official conspiracy than any of the recent sightings or reports of encounters. In fact, the entire FOIA exercise has the same aroma of the agency's previous messy efforts to hide its involvement in drugs and mind-control operations, both prime examples of a successful intelligence cover-up. The CIA, under the scrutiny of Congress, admitted only to experiments and a few operational indiscretions which occurred mostly in the 1950's and 60's. There was little or no disclosure of the full operational use of drugs and mind control techniques. The stratagem employed by the agency was, as it is known in the business, a "limited hangout," i.e., admitting to a few past errors then declaring the program has ended and, therefore, there is nothing else to tell. With that, all investigations come to a halt. The FOIA/UFO exercise is stained with the same telltale spottiness. Furthermore, the conduct and conclusions of the Robertson Panel (1953) and the Colorado Group (1969) are suspiciously similar to those concerning another great mystery--the JFK assassination. The findings of the Warren Commission in 1964 and, for all practical purposes, those of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (1978/9) differ from the UFO studies only in that the former sought to promote a "lone nut killer" hypothesis while the latter offered a "multiple nut believer" explanation. Regardless of its shortcomings, the recently released CIA information does, however, tell us something...perhaps more than the government thinks. From the very beginning in 1947, the CIA closely monitored UFO reports on a worldwide basis. Although most of the FOIA documents indicate only a routine interest in the problem which was handled largely by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Foreign Documents Division, and the Domestic Contact Service--all innocuous, non-clandestine collection units--they also disclose by inference a standing requirement of the Directorate of Science and Technology for gathering UFO data. This, in turn, indicates other collection components, namely the Clandestine Services, the CIA's main directorate, was tasked with providing information from all over the world on the UFO phenomenon. However, few such reports were released--and that implies a cover-up ! By 1953, the US Government, acting through the CIA and using the vehicle of the Robertson Panel, had clearly decided to cap the persistent public rumors of UFO sightings and extraterrestrial contacts. The panel concluded that UFOs were not a direct or hostile threat to national security but that continued emphasis of the phenomenon could clog the communication channels of the establishment or cultivate a morbid national psychology which enemy propaganda might exploit. For good measure, the panel recommended that the public should be "educated" to recognize real hostile actions against the nation and the UFOs be stripped of their "mysterious aura." Very nifty. The tone and timing of the Robertson Panel were almost perfect. In early 1953, the nation was preoccupied with the Korean War in particular and the Cold War in general. Stalin was not yet dead. There were almost daily confrontations with Communists somewhere in the world. A new terror weapon had just been introduced into the arms race--the hydrogen bomb. General Curtis LeMay of the Strategic Air Command was warning of the "bomber gap." And Senator Joe McCarthy was scaring the bejesus out of everybody in Washington, including the CIA. Furthermore, there was no self-respecting accredited scientist prepared to risk his reputation by challenging the government's position on UFOs. Thus, the Robertson Panel provided an excellent opportunity to sweep the phenomenon under the rug of official secrecy. There is one other thing about the Robertson Panel that has always puzzled me. Nowhere in its report does the panel deny the existence of UFOs. The panel only addresses the question of UFOs as a "possible threat to national security" and concludes there is no direct evidence indicating such a threat. Could it be that the evidence showed that UFOs did exist, but the data revealed that the extraterrestrial contacts were of a benign nature, i.e., there were no "foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts" and, therefore no "direct physical threat to national security?" After the Robertson Panel, there was a curious development. The CIA, according to the FOIA documents, apparently faded into the background. The Air Force assumed responsibility for the UFO problem and initiated a series of reviews culminating in Project Blue Book and the Condon's Colorado Study. But the CIA continued "unofficially" to follow developments concerning the phenomenon...and to display an uneasy, overly cautious, even defensive attitude toward outside curiosity about its UFO work. In fact, during the preparation of the Condon Panel's report, the CIA reacted so skittishly in providing aid to the panel that one can only wonder if the agency was attempting to hide something from the Air Force.....not an unusual occurrence in the inter-tribal relations of the US intelligence community. The performance is reminiscent of how the CIA responded to the first public revelations that it was deeply involved in illegal drug and domestic spying operations. In December 1969, the findings of the Condon Panel were made public by the Department of Defense. Again, it was concluded that UFOs were no threat to national security, and we were given the added assurance that those sightings (roughly one-half of one percent) categorized as "unidentified" evidenced no technical capabilities beyond our scientific knowledge. A rather odd commentary. In addition, the panel stated there was no evidence that UFO sightings (not contacts or signals) represented extraterrestrial visitations. A flat statement that was supported by no empirical evidence.....only the panel's opinion. Were the panelists again begging the question? With the release of the Condon Report, Project Blue Book was canceled, and the Air Force, like the CIA , seemed to drop out of the UFO business. The timing of the Condon Report, like that of the Robertson Panel, was, to say the least, interesting. We were fighting--and losing--a war in Vietnam. There was severe domestic turmoil caused by the civil rights and peace movements. Again, the nation was not, at the time, much concerned with UFOs. Perhaps that is why the government opted for a flat denial. It was another excellent chance to stop all the speculation about UFOs and to further sweep the phenomenon under the rug of official secrecy. But ten years have gone by since the Air Force allegedly closed its UFO shop and more than fifteen years since the CIA claims to have lost interest in the subject. The sightings and contacts, however, continue --not only by questionable sources. Even the President of the United States thinks he saw a UFO. Thus, we are left with five possible conclusions.

ONE: The US Government is trying to keep certain super weapon systems secret from the Soviets. In this age of advanced electronic, photographic, and other intelligence sensors, when the testing of a new system begins by any nation, the other participants in the geopolitical game soon learn of it.

TWO: The US Government, in cooperation with its allies, is playing a game with such rivals as the USSR, trying to confuse them with false reports of UFOs. The state of the art in intelligence collection and analysis, as well as science, precludes the possibility of such a ruse.

THREE: The US and its allies are attempting to keep UFOs a secret from the USSR. The Soviets, however, are as astute in space science as we are. If we know about UFOs, so do they...and so do all the technically advanced nations.

FOUR: There are no UFOs, nor have there ever been any contacts from outer space. However, the amount of circumstantial evidence to the contrary (including indications that our planet may have been visited in the distant past by extraterrestrials) argues against this conclusion--or at least for further study of the UFO phenomenon. FIVE: There are UFOs or there have been contacts--if only signals --from outer space, but the evidence reveals the aliens are interested only in observing us. They have no hostile intentions and are no direct threat to any nation. But public knowledge of these facts could become a threat. If the existence of UFOs were to be officially confirmed, a chain reaction could be initiated that would result in the collapse of the Earth's present power structure. Thus, a secret international understanding--a conspiracy -- has been agreed to by the world powers to keep the public ignorant of and confused about contacts or visitations from beyond Earth.

Victor Marchetti was the executive assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA and is the co-author of "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence," the only book ever censored by the US Government prior to publication up to 1979. He lives in suburban Washington D.C.
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