A Skeptical Look at the 2017 UFO Congress - Part 5 (last)

Paul Stonehill

Paul Stonehill spoke on UFOs and USOs in Russia and the USSR. For some reason, USOs (Unidentified Submerged Objects) were popular this year, mentioned by several speakers. Both UFOs and USOs have been spotted by the Soviet Navy. Some USOs, he said, have been spotted on the same day as an earthquake.

Nanotechnology found in the Ural Mountains, he said, goes back 100,000 years to ancient aliens. Then he presented a long, tedious list of UFO sightings reported in Russia and the USSR, including Cosmonaut UFOs.

"Dr." Ken Johnston Sr. presented "Exclusive NASA Photos of Alien Bases on the Moon," with his colleague Brett Shepherd. He represents himself as a former "civilian astronaut" and "NASA Scientist," but in reality he was hired by NASA contractor Grumman as an assistant electrician to check the wiring in the Lunar Module. He also worked as a projectionist for NASA's photo lab. He was never an "astronaut trainer," let alone any kind of astronaut. As for that "PhD," Ken has a "Doctor of Metaphysics" diploma from something calling itself The Reform Baptist Theological Seminary in Denver. This is not an actual school. It is not accredited in any way. It does not have a campus, or instructors, or offer courses. Just diplomas.

Thornton Page and James Oberg at NASA, 1978.

Johnston said that while he was working as a projectionist for Dr. Thornton Page and other scientists at NASA in Houston,  he projected a 16mm film from Apollo 14, showing a pentagonal cluster of alien domes in the crater Tsiolkovsky (which is on the moon's far side, and never visible from earth). He claimed that Page and the other scientists made some knowing comments when they saw this - they all knew about the supposed alien bases. Within 24 hours, NASA had altered the film, removing the alien bases. In fact, he claims to have met people in NASA's photo lab whose job it is to paint over alien artifacts. Apparently it's an occupation that keeps them quite busy.

Johnston portrayed Page as a rabid UFO debunker, but that is not accurate. Dr. Page was mostly of the same mind as Dr. J. Allen Hynek. For example, Page wrote, "UFO sightings show some statistical patterns that can be fitted to a theory based on the hypothesis of "extraterrestrial civilizations which know far more physics than we do, and have developed materials, energy sources, and field devices that we have not yet invented." " (See the photo I took in 1978 of Thornton Page and James Oberg, caught in the act destroying UFO information at NASA).

Johnston says that "professional debunker" James Oberg was wrong in claiming that Apollo 14 never filmed the Tsiolkovsky crater, and claims to have documents to prove it. Oberg replies that Apollo 14 never filmed Tsiolkovsky with its 16mm movie camera, which is what Johnston claims to have seen, although the Apollo 14 astronauts did photograph Tsiolkovsky late in the mission using a hand-held still camera. 

Shepherd explained how we were "warned off" from the moon by aliens, which is why Apollo 18, 19, and 20 were canceled. He showed a list of possible ET types, including Nordics, Valiant Thor, Interdimensionals, etc.

Johnston said that he brought 250 copies of his book Ken's Moon to the UFO Congress, and sold them all. He remarked, "tomorrow I leave for India." Actually, he had been in India a short time before, and was returning. While in India, Johnston seems to be representing himself as a real astronaut. If you've seen a photo of Johnston in a space suit, the suit belongs to astronaut Michael Collins. Ken borrowed it for a bit of Cosplay.

Panel: "The Future of Abduction Research," or, "Venting." Kathleen Marden is upset because the media misrepresent the fact that Barney Hill had conscious recollections of Beings, and not just hypnotically-regressed memories. In fact, she is quite angry about that. Yvonne Smith said similar things, but more in sadness than in anger.

Marden said that abduction cases are less evidence-based than before. We have less evidence today, no good abductions (deserted-road type). Just people being abducted in their beds. [Thanks, Budd Hopkins]. These two ladies are not happy campers. Since this panel was the last event, I didn't stay to hear them whine to the bitter end, and started home.

I should have mentioned earlier that in the "Meet the Speakers" event on the first evening, rocker Tom de Longe, formerly of Blink 182, was awarded the "Researcher of the Year" award for his work in promoting 'UFO disclosure.' He has reportedly conferred with several high-ranking military officials who want to coordinate the release of supposed UFO secrets. One of them allegedly told him, "We found a life form." Some of De Longe's emails about UFOs were found in the Wikileaks release of John Podesta's emails.

De Longe was not able to attend the Congress to accept his award, but he submitted a short acceptance video. (Open Minds has now placed this award video, and De Long's acceptance of it, on its YouTube channel.) In it he explained how he did his research, staying up all night for twenty years reading books on Roswell, Serpo, etc, and so, he said, I now know it all. (This is what passes for "research" in UFOlogy: listening to Coast to Coast AM, and reading conspiracy-oriented books.) He said that there is "big shit" coming, a big announcement in about sixty days. (Thirteen of those days have now passed. His deadline is about April 15.). He hinted that on its surface the announcement might not seem all that dramatic, but if you study it with your knowledge of UFOlogy, you will understand its significance.

On the Way Home - The UFO Motel in Gila Bend, Arizona.