OMNI

Magazine Overview

Title: OMNI
Issue Date: January 1984
Price: $2.50
Cover Headline: COMPUTERS THAT CAN FILM INSANITY

This issue of OMNI magazine, dated January 1984, features a striking cover with the OMNI logo, a bright celestial display, and a futuristic vehicle. The cover headlines highlight articles on "COMPUTERS THAT CAN FILM INSANITY," "VIDEO SUPERGAMES," "THE WORST SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF 1983," and "SECRET MANTRAS."

Anti-Matter: UFO Update

The "ANTI MATTER" section, specifically the "UFO UPDATE" subsection, delves into alleged UFO crash retrievals and encounters. It presents the story of E.L., a carpenter's mate from Hawaii, who claims to have witnessed a landed UFO surrounded by four-foot-tall humanoids in green uniforms. E.L. describes a violent encounter where one humanoid attacked him with a swordlike weapon, only to be killed by its companions. The humanoids then reportedly spoke of their world, located 21 light-years away.

Further accounts are drawn from "UFO Crash Retrieval Status Report III," which compiles testimonies of crashed saucers, humanoids, and alleged government suppression. One witness, R.T., claims to have been present during the recovery of a crashed UFO by the Marines, after which he faced harassment and was forced to leave the state. Another case involves C.M., a freelance writer who asserted she could provide film of a crashed alien craft, but her source was purportedly "silenced" before the transaction could occur.

Leonard Stringfield, a retired public-relations director and author of "Situation Red: The UFO Siege," is presented as the collector of these anecdotes. Stringfield cites the testimony of two medical sources who, under government auspices in the 1950s, allegedly studied an alien body. He claims to know the researchers' identities and workplaces but respects their wishes for anonymity.

Stringfield also shares theories, including one from a pathologist who purportedly performed an autopsy on an alien body. This pathologist theorized that early humans might have been genetically altered or hybridized with aliens of superior intelligence, suggesting that primeval Earth served as an experimental ground for a new race requiring periodic observation.

However, the anonymity of Stringfield's sources is identified as a major hurdle to credibility. UFO expert and skeptic James Oberg agrees, stating that the evidence presented has been selectively chosen and altered, and he dismisses the idea of a fascistic government cover-up as absurd.

To challenge these claims, Oberg has pledged $1,000 to the defense fund of anyone facing prosecution for revealing information about alien corpses, hidden saucers, or UFO "secrets."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of OMNI appears to engage with themes of advanced technology (computers, video games), the fringes of scientific understanding (worst scientific achievements, secret mantras), and particularly, the persistent fascination with UFO phenomena, alien encounters, and potential government cover-ups. The "Anti-Matter" and "UFO Update" sections suggest a willingness to explore controversial and speculative topics, while also including skeptical viewpoints, as represented by James Oberg's comments and challenge.