Saucer Smear - Vol 44 No 07 - 1997

Magazine Overview

Title: SAUCER SMEAR
Issue: Volume 44, No. 7
Date: August 5th, 1997
Publisher: SAUCER & UNEXPLAINED CELESTIAL EVENTS RESEARCH SOCIETY
Editor and Supreme Commander: James W. Moseley, J.S.

This issue of Saucer Smear, a non-scheduled newsletter dedicated to the principles of ufological journalism, heavily features coverage of the Roswell 50th Anniversary Festival and the release of the U.S. Air Force's second report on the incident. The publication maintains a critical and often skeptical tone towards official explanations while highlighting various perspectives and ongoing debates within the UFO community.

The Roswell Fiftieth Anniversary Festival

The editor, James W. Moseley, recounts his attendance at the Roswell 50th Anniversary Festival. He notes that while the anticipated large crowds did not fully materialize, the town embraced an alien motif. Moseley describes the confusion regarding event locations, which were spread across multiple venues including two UFO museums, the convention center, an auditorium at the New Mexico Military Institute, and the Roswell Inn. He mentions attending events simultaneously, making it impossible to cover everything, but managed to capture over one hundred photographs.

The festival featured speakers sponsored by the International UFO Museum & Research Center, including a tall young lady named Deon Crosby, and the well-known ufologist Lance Strong Eagle Crawford. Second-string speakers, such as Karl Pflock, Kevin Randle, and cinematographer Russ Estes, presented at the Roswell Inn and a nearby motel, sponsored by The UFO Enigma Museum, owned by John Price. Moseley notes that Price's museum is facing business difficulties, possibly due to competition from the International UFO Museum, and that Enigma may be taken over by Clifford Stone. A third group of eight speakers from the East also presented to small crowds.

Moseley recounts an encounter with time traveler Al Bielek and esoteric teacher Chelsea Flor at the Roswell Inn, who claimed their sponsor had gone broke and they were stuck in Roswell. A debate between Karl Pflock and Kevin Randle on whether the Roswell Incident was an extraterrestrial event or a Mogul balloon is described. Moseley agrees with Pflock's Mogul explanation, though Randle reportedly won the debate by dramatically presenting balloon material. Another highlight was a presentation by TV producer Paul Davids, involving a purported Roswell metal fragment, where principals left quickly to avoid press questions.

A July 4th dinner-lecture by Whitley Strieber was interrupted by a thunderstorm. The issue posits that the famous crash near Roswell may have occurred around the same time of day, fifty years earlier, though this theory is debated. The editor concludes that the Roswell Incident remains a legend that will never die.

Air Force Dummies Release a Second Report on the Roswell Incident

On June 24th, the 50th anniversary of the Kenneth Arnold sighting, the U.S. Air Force held a press conference to explain their new release, "The Roswell Report: Case Closed." This report, approximately 230 pages long, was presented by Col. John Haynes, who is described as nervous, arrogant, and ill-informed, having not read the report himself. When questioned about "dummies" being dropped years after the Roswell Incident, Col. Haynes responded, "I don't explain it."

The report is noted as being well worth reading, with only 600 copies printed and quickly sold out. The editor managed to obtain a copy through Captain Jim McAndrew, USAF Reserve, the author.

The report's explanation for the Roswell Incident is presented in two main areas:
1. Glenn Dennis's Testimony: The story of retired mortician Glenn Dennis, considered a key Roswell witness, is described as a combination of events from a 1956 aircraft accident (which killed 11 crewmen) and a 1959 manned balloon accident (which injured 3 crewmen). Dennis, who only began speaking about the incident around 1990, is accused of deliberately pushing these events back into the 1947 timeframe.
2. Air Force Tests: The report acknowledges hundreds of Air Force tests in the 1950s involving anthropomorphic dummies released from balloons, which personnel were sent to recover. The report suggests that people may have misjudged the time-frame when recalling stories of "weird bodies on the desert" or deliberately twisted facts.

The 1997 Air Force Report was prompted by the earlier 1994 report's failure to address the issue of bodies. While the 1994 report explained the "debris field" with the Mogul Balloon theory, the 1997 report attempts to explain the bodies, with the Air Force hoping to satisfy "True Believers," a goal the magazine deems unlikely.

The issue highlights the role of Karl Pflock, a researcher, in influencing the government's investigation. Pflock, who is chief of staff for Congressman Steven Schiff, arranged a meeting in 1992 that interested Schiff in the Roswell case. Schiff's subsequent requests for information, ignored by various government branches, eventually led to the GAO's involvement and the nearly 1,000-page 1994 report, which in turn led to the present report. Pflock and the Fund for UFO Research are credited with working through the system to bring about the "solution" to the Roswell Incident.

Pflock is also the author of an unpublished book about Roswell and co-author with the "Smear" editor of a forthcoming book, "Shockingly Close to the Truth."

Miscellaneous Ravings

This section covers various topics and opinions:

• Kent Jeffrey Article: The editor refers to an article by Kent Jeffrey, "Roswell Anatomy of a Myth," in the June 1997 issue of the Mutual UFO Network UFO Journal, noting that the advance copy was shorter than the final version.
• Kevin Randle Article: A "mediocre article of refutation" by Kevin Randle is mentioned in the July issue of the same magazine.
• Air Force Report Source: The advance information about the new Air Force Roswell Report, previously published as from a "semi-reliable source," is now deemed unreliable and inaccurate.
• Prometheus Books Lawsuit: Prometheus Books (associated with CSICOP) is involved in a threatened lawsuit from Ray Santilli's organization in England concerning the alien autopsy video. Dr. Paul Kurtz of CSICOP argues that if the footage is authentic, it belongs to the U.S. government and people, thus cannot be copyrighted.
• Mini-Convention in Clarksburg: The editor attended a mini-convention in Clarksburg, West Virginia, with researchers Karl Pflock and Tom Benson. The event featured showings of "Whispers from Space," a documentary about Gray Barker.
• Senator Strom Thurmond: Senator Strom Thurmond, who wrote an introduction for Lt. Col. Philip Corso's book "The Day After Roswell," has stated he was not informed the book was about UFOs and does not believe in them. The publisher has promised to remove his introduction from future editions.
• Arizona UFO Sightings: Sightings of a huge V-formation of UFOs in Arizona in March are mentioned, though they did not become national news until linked with the Roswell Festival. Some sightings are attributed to flares, while others remain unsolved.
• "Men in Black" Movie: The movie "Men in Black" is described as silly but based on ufological legends, referencing Gray Barker's book and Albert K. Bender's "hush-up."
• Air Force General's Statement: The July 22nd, 1997 issue of the "Examiner" tabloid is cited for a statement that in 1967, a high-ranking Air Force general admitted UFO sighters were threatened by unknown individuals posing as government agents.
• Dr. Steven Greer: Dr. Steven Greer of CSETI has claimed he and his female research director have contracted cancer, asking for donations.
• Shiela Franklin and Jordan Perez: Shiela Franklin, author of "The Excyles," reports the suicide of FBI agent Jordan Perez, who played a significant role in her book. Perez's last words were, "I can no longer tell the good guys from the bad."
• Mysterious Object in Kansas: John Schuessler of MUFON reports a mysterious object with no mass, traveling at almost the speed of light, was videotaped in Kansas in December and has baffled scientists.
• Tim Beckley Convention: UFO publisher Tim Beckley held a small convention in Colorado, which included a "Cookout Skywatch Music Come Party Your Alien Ass Off." Beckley has stopped sponsoring large conventions due to financial losses.

Book Review: "THE RANDLE REPORT UFOS IN THE '90s" by Kevin Randle

This review by the editor assesses Kevin Randle's book, "UFOs in the '90s." Randle, a former Air Force Captain, is described as prolific but perhaps not always accurate. The book primarily concerns cases that occurred before the 1990s and is characterized as written in haste but presenting several well-known cases. Randle has reportedly lost faith in Roswell witness Jim Ragsdale and includes a chapter titled "The Decline and Fall of Roswell." He rejects the Mogul Balloon explanation and the alien autopsy film, as well as the MJ-12 documents.

Randle is presented as trying to be objective and apologizes for the book's negative conclusions. He is inclined to disbelieve the Travis Walton abduction case, the Ed Walters/Gulf Breeze scenario, and chupacabra tales. He is undecided about the 1996 Brazil landing and views the STS-48 case and the 1967 Shag Harbor crash favorably.

The reviewer criticizes Randle's belief that UFO research has improved in the 1990s, attributing any improvement to objective professionals from outside the field, a category Randle is not placed in. Despite the critique, the reviewer appreciates the free copy of the book and forgives the absence of "Moseley" or "Saucer Smear" in the index.

Letters to Ye Olde Editor

This section features correspondence from various individuals:

• William (Bill) Moore: Moore offers his opinion on the "phony document controversy," finding assertions interesting but inconclusive. He reiterates that he is not responsible if documents are fabrications. Regarding recent events, Moore states he no longer believes the extraterrestrial explanation is the best for the Roswell event, though it remains a possibility. He also comments on Kal Korff's book, describing it as a mix of truth, exaggeration, and honest mistakes, and considers Korff a better skeptic than Phil Klass.

• Jerome Clark: Writing to John Rimmer of "Magonia," Clark supports Budd Hopkins' decision not to share a platform with Phil Klass, whom he characterizes as notorious for irrational excess, character assassination, and double-dealing. Clark believes giving Klass a platform legitimizes his extremism.

• Phil Klass: Klass responds with a proposed "Klass' First Law of UFO Investigation": "Proof that Bruce Maccabee could be the world's most credulous and gullible UFO investigator is not the same as proof that he is the world's most credulous and gullible UFO investigator."

• Robert Todd: Todd writes that debris from a New York University (NYU) balloon train launched for Project Mogul was the complete explanation for what W.W. "Mac" Brazel found on the Foster Ranch on June 14th, 1947.

• Erich Aggen, Jr.: Editor and publisher of "C-COM," Aggen thanks Moseley for a copy of "UFO 1947-1997: Fifty Years of Flying Saucers" and finds "Smear" unique and interesting, comparing Moseley's viewpoints to those of Ray Palmer.

• Matt Graeber: Cartoonist Graeber responds to remarks about aging ufologists, playfully suggesting a bit of fun for "under-achievers."

• Rex Salisbury: Salisbury reviews the new Walters/Maccabee book, calling it "deja vu all over again." He criticizes the book's validation process, where Mr. Ed's photos and stories are deemed true because Maccabee believes him. Salisbury notes that professional photo analysts have offered proof that Mr. Ed's photos are hoaxed, yet "True Believers" will likely accept them. He recounts an anecdote from an old neighbor of Mr. Ed, who stated that no UFOs or blue beams were seen from Mr. Ed's house on a specific date.

• Herbert Taylor: Taylor expresses interest in James Oberg's statement, suggesting that if Oberg is accurate, much of UFO history might be artificial and not real.

• Greg Bishop: Editor of "The Excluded Middle," Bishop notes that mentioning Moseley in his magazine results in a plug, and jokes about using a picture from Jerome Clark's "UFO Encyclopedia."

• Rob MacGregor: MacGregor writes about encountering Moseley and Phil Klass in Jim Marrs' book "Alien Agenda." He references a passage detailing how Moseley and Gray Barker, as a joke, concocted a letter implying an endorsement of Adamski's views on State Department letterhead, which Adamski widely publicized as genuine.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue revolve around the Roswell Incident, its 50th anniversary, and the ongoing debate surrounding its explanation. The magazine consistently questions official narratives, particularly the Air Force reports, and highlights the persistence of the "True Believers." There is a strong undercurrent of skepticism towards certain claims, such as the alien autopsy video and some witness testimonies, while also acknowledging the complexity and enduring mystery of UFO phenomena. The editorial stance appears to favor critical analysis and open discussion, often siding with skepticism over uncritical acceptance of claims, as seen in the commentary on Phil Klass and Kevin Randle's work. The magazine also engages with the broader UFO community by featuring letters and reviews, showcasing differing viewpoints and ongoing controversies.