UFO Potpourri No 293

Magazine Overview

Title: UFO POTPOURRI
Issue: no. 293
Publisher: JOHN F. SCHUESSLER
Country: USA
Date: Undetermined

This issue of UFO POTPOURRI delves into two significant aspects of UFO phenomena: claims of a "Cosmic Watergate" in the United States and the Soviet Union's official investigation into unidentified flying objects.

Earth's Cosmic Watergate

The lead article, "EARTH'S COSMIC WATERGATE," presents the assertions of Stanton F. Friedman, a Canadian nuclear physicist. Friedman claims that evidence of UFOs being real extraterrestrial spacecraft has been deliberately covered up for over twenty-five years. He presented photographs, reports, and statistical data to support his argument. Friedman, who consults on Canadian agricultural applications of nuclear energy, suggested that current technology could enable travel to other planets, making interstellar visits feasible. He cited early U.S. nuclear rocket tests as evidence of rapid technological advancement.

Friedman's presentation included data suggesting that over 2,000 UFO landings in 64 countries have been collected and analyzed. He also claimed to possess over 3,000 reports of human-like aliens, 3,000 visual UFO sightings by trained pilots from 40 nations, numerous radar sightings, and photographs that have passed rigorous fraud examinations. Furthermore, he mentioned dozens of reports of humans being abducted by aliens.

A poll cited by Friedman indicated that people who believe in UFOs outnumber those who do not, and that higher education correlates with a greater belief in UFOs. He stated that 69 percent of polled engineers and scientists accepted UFOs as real. Friedman emphasized the global similarity of UFO reports, asserting that they "know no boundaries," which led him to coin the term "Earth's Cosmic Watergate."

Russia Investigates UFOs

Another major article, "Russia Investigates UFOs," reports that after years of alleged cover-ups and accusations of UFOs being a capitalist plot, the Soviet Union has established a commission to investigate unidentified flying objects. The Russian newspaper TRUD (Labor) reported that the commission would be headed by former astronaut Pavel Popovich.

Popovich acknowledged hundreds of sightings annually in the Soviet Union, but stated most could be explained away. However, he conceded that some sightings, particularly those involving technically trained observers, could not be easily dismissed.

The article details a specific incident on March 27, 1983, near Gordy, where air traffic controllers detected a craft flying in their direction and not responding to radio signals. As the object approached the airfield, controllers observed it visually. It was described as steel-gray, cigar-shaped, the size of an airliner, but without wings or tail. It was flying at an altitude of 3000 feet at 125 miles per hour. The object then flew south, turned, and returned north before vanishing, remaining on Soviet radar for 40 minutes.

TRUD quoted Anatoly Logunov, vice-president of the Academy of Sciences, who stated that Soviet scientists take the subject seriously and admit there are occasional reports that cannot be explained. The appointment of an astronaut to lead the program suggests a belief that some of these objects may originate from space.

Lights Over Alaska

The article "LIGHTS OVER ALASKA" recounts a sighting by a woman and her brother from Wasilla, Alaska, on October 29, 1985. They observed a fiery object hovering over trees. Initially skeptical, the woman was convinced by her brother's insistence that it was a UFO. The object, described as a leading cylindrical shape firing off smaller bolts with trailing bluish-purple tails, passed by in what felt like an eternity but was estimated by the woman to be only 2 or 3 minutes. The sky was silent, but dogs were howling. Other reports came from Cantwell and Soldotna, with some people calling radio stations and police.

Federal Aviation Administration controllers initially dismissed these reports as meteor showers. However, Katherine Cormier, an Air Force spokesperson from Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, provided an official explanation: the UFO was the final booster stage of the Soviet Cosmos 1699 satellite. This stage had circled the Earth for five days before reentry.

The object entered the atmosphere at 17,000 miles per hour over McGrath, Alaska, at 10:26 pm. Fifty seconds later, it was over Anchorage, where witnesses saw burning pieces breaking off and leaving fiery trails. The article notes that the satellite, Cosmos 1699, remains in a stable elliptical orbit between 106 and 218 miles above Earth. The Soviet news agency Tass stated its purpose is "to continue ourter space research." The Soviet rocket's last pass over Earth took 87 minutes and 29 seconds, with its lowest point at 85 miles and highest at 116 miles. The article concludes that this UFO has been "IDENTIFIED."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine consistently presents UFO phenomena as a subject worthy of serious investigation, contrasting official skepticism with witness accounts and scientific claims. The "Cosmic Watergate" article highlights a perceived pattern of government secrecy and public disbelief, while the "Russia Investigates UFOs" piece suggests a shift towards official acknowledgment and study, even within a rival superpower. The Alaska incident serves as an example of how seemingly inexplicable aerial phenomena can have mundane, albeit technologically advanced, explanations. The editorial stance appears to be one of open inquiry into UFO reports, acknowledging both the possibility of extraterrestrial origins and the likelihood of misidentification or conventional explanations, while also documenting the efforts of individuals and governments to understand these events.