Skeptics and Claims of "Earthquake Lights"

A very Happy New Year to all!

For some reason, in the first few days of this new Year, skeptics on Facebook seem to be gushing all over claims about supposed "earthquake lights," supposedly caused by piezo-electric effects of rocks being squeezed by seismic forces. Such lights, it is said, might explain many reports of UFO sightings.

You wouldn't know it from what skeptics are saying, but there is nothing new in this. Such claims have been circulating for years. In the 1970s, Canadian scientist Michael Persinger received much publicity for 

"his 1975 Tectonic Strain Theory (TST) of how geophysical variables may correlate with sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or Marian apparitions. Persinger argued that strain within the Earth's crust near seismic faults produces intense electromagnetic (EM) fields, creating bodies of light that some interpret as glowing UFOs or The Virgin Mary. Alternatively, he argued that the EM fields generate hallucinations in the temporal lobe, based on images from popular culture, of alien craft, beings, communications, or creatures."

Persinger's "correlations" between earthquakes and anomalous sightings were so loose that minor earthquakes hundreds of miles away, months previously, could be cited as causal factors.

Most of the recent postings refer back to news stories reporting on a paper in Seismological Research Letters by Robert Thériault, France St-Laurent, Freidemann Freund, and John S. Derr (for which the copycat bloggers don't bother to provide a proper citation. It is here.). I wrote about Derr in my Psychic Vibrations column, Fall, 1992 (page 69 of the book):

Elsewhere on the UFO front, geophysicist John S. Derr got much public attention this past April when he told the Seismological Society of America that some UFO sightings may be caused by impending earthquakes. Tectonic strain, says Derr, may cause luminous phenomena, known as earthquake lights, which can be manifested as a strange glow in the sky or even as mysterious-looking balls of electricity that float in the air near fault lines. Working from a computerized list of UFO sightings, after supposedly eliminating objects that were explainable in other terms, he claims to have found a correlation linking UFO sightings with the epicenters of future earthquakes.

Actually, the tectonic strain theory is nothing new. It was first popularized in the 1970s by psychology professor  Michael Persinger of Laurentian University in Ontario, with whom Derr collaborates. Persinger claims that tectonic strain correlates well with not only waves of UFO sightings, but other “Fortean events” as well. He explains that intense columns of electromagnetic energy may cause objects to move about in a manner suggesting “poltergeist activity,” while as the electromagnetic intensity increases we might see what are described as “animal mutilations,” or hear of people mysteriously electrocuted, giving rise to reports of  “spontaneous human combustion.”

More than twenty years have passed since this claim was made, and yet the proof still eludes us.

A claim is made, and one blogger copies another, who copies another, etc., each imagining that they are contributing something to the world's store of knowledge (but in reality are just doing this to get a few bucks from some on-line publisher). This is to be expected - but what's troubling is when skeptics plunge in to this, whole hog, without the least hint of proper skepticism. (I won't mention any skeptics' names - not this time).

This story contains a few 'red flags' that should have been caught by an experienced skeptic. For example, one of the papers cited in support of the hypothesis is from the Journal of Scientific Exploration, a non-skeptical publication that typically runs articles supporting fringe science claims. Kendrick Frazier, the editor of The Skeptical Inquirer, wrote that "The JSE, while presented as neutral and objective, appears to hold a hidden agenda. They seem to be interested in promoting fringe topics as real mysteries and they tend to ignore most evidence to the contrary. They publish 'scholarly' articles promoting the reality of dowsing, neo-astrology, ESP, and psychokinesis. Most of the prominent and active members are strong believers in the reality of such phenomena."

Most of the recent 'earthquake lights' stories refer to the above photo, said to have been taken in Tagish Lake, Yukon Territories, in either 1972 or 1973. WTF - we don't know for sure when that photo was taken? Then exactly how do we know these are supposed "earthquake lights"? Well, according to a paper co-authored by Thériault,

At the beginning of the 70’s, around 10 am on a Canada Day (1st of July) long weekend, a couple boating on the Taku Arm of Tagish Lake, southern Yukon, saw 7 yellow luminous globes on the nearby flank of Lime Mountain... in the early 70’s, the only years when Canada Day occurred on a weekend is in 1972 and 1973. In both years, a strong earthquake happened in July.

OK, an earthquake occurred that month. Good enough.

Of the two, the most likely candidate that could be linked with the observed globes of light is the Cross Sound earthquake (ML 6.7), as it happened on the 1st of July 1973 at 06h33 LT, hence just a few hours prior to the EQL sighting (if we assume that the latter were effectively seen on that day). This earthquake was followed the same morning by two aftershocks, first an ML 5.2 earthquake at 08h12 LT, followed by a ML 4.1 earthquake at 09h03 LT (AEIC, 2012).

If we accept the best-case result (1973), the epicenter of that undersea earthquake was approximately 160 miles from where the photo was taken, 3 1/2 hours later.

I changed the contrast & brightness on that photo (no photoshopping). That bottom light is in front of the trees! Oops. Also we picked up two more small lights on the right. I don't know what these little orbs are, but they sure as hell are not "earthquake lights"!

Other photos presented as supposed "earthquake lights" are even more obviously bogus.

 

Supposed "earthquake lights" seen in San Diego, several weeks after an earthquake!

Compare that photo to this one, properly labeled on the Weather Underground as an iridescent cloud!

Supposed "earthquake lights" from Santiago, Chile prior to a major earthquake

Compare the photo from Chile to this one, properly labeled "iridescent cloud"!

 

In each case, red on the top, blue on the bottom. Go to Google Images, and enter "iridescent clouds." You will see plenty of images like these, a phenomenon related to the colors seen in soap bubbles. Also check Wikipedia, "Cloud Iridescence," for more. Apparently checking Wikipedia, or doing any research, is too much trouble for supposed "science bloggers." Or for many "skeptics."

In 2007 the excellent Blog Forgetomori, from Brazil, posted a story about possible earthquake lights in Peru, followed soon afterward by the suggestion that these were very likely flashes from electrical transformers shorted out by the earthquake.  Frankly, they look like they could also be lightning flashes. It's truly remarkable how mutable "earthquake lights" are. Sometimes they look like small globes, climbing up a mountain. Sometimes they look like flashes of lightning. Other times they look exactly like iridescent clouds. Earthquake lights can look like anything at all, when you are avidly seeking evidence for them.

Here is a widely-posted YouTube video from China, supposedly showing earthquake lights (red on top, blue on bottom):

Compare that video of "earthquake lights" with this photo of iridescent clouds

A few of the uncritical recent articles about supposed "earthquake lights" are:

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2014/01/why-do-lights-sometimes-appear-in-the-sky-during-an-earthquake/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140106-earthquake-lights-earthquake-prediction-geology-science/

http://www.livescience.com/42311-earthquake-lights-happen-at-rifts.html

http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2014/01/earthquakes-lights-considered-real.html

http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2014/01/earthquakes-lights-considered-real-phenomena-2462294.html

I'm sure that you can find more. 

I am not saying that it is impossible there could be such a thing as "earthquake lights." What I am saying is that I have not seen any convincing proof that such things exist. I am aware that there exist copious anecdotal accounts of earthquake lights. I am also aware that there exist copious anecdotal accounts of supposed extraterrestrial spacecraft, angels, Bigfoot, etc. Until solid evidence is presented, I will regard all of the above alleged phenomena as highly dubious.  

Nor am I denying that there are likely as-yet unexplained phenomena associated with earthquakes. In fact, I will tell you about one. To the reader this is, of course, an anecdotal account, but I know it to be accurate. In April of 1984, I lived in the Silicon Valley, working in an office on the northeast side of San Jose, on Berryessa Road, east of First Street. On April 24 I went out for a walk after eating lunch, as I often did.  There was a seldom used, perhaps totally unused, railroad track crossing nearby. Suddenly, I heard the railroad crossing signal alarm start up. I had never seen any train go by there, so I walked quickly toward it to see the train. I arrived there - and there was no train. Very curious, I thought. As I continued my walk, I felt myself swaying and I thought I must be having an unexplained dizzy spell. Then I saw that nearby buildings were being evacuated, exactly as I had done in drills. I realized that we had just experienced an earthquake. At 1:15 PM, the Morgan Hill earthquake, magnitude 6.2, had struck. The epicenter was in the mountains east of San Jose, no more than about ten miles from my location. Apparently, some sort of pressure wave from the soon-to-erupt earthquake had triggered the railroad crossing signal. How much time had elapsed from the triggering of the crossing alarm to the earthquake? I cannot say for sure. It was not a long time, but more than a few seconds. I had time to walk to the crossing, stand there puzzled for a bit, then continue my walk. I would estimate the interval as perhaps two minutes.

For several years, I lived in a house whose back yard faced a mountain where, in the valley on its other side ran the San Andreas Fault no more than two or three miles away. I would often go outside to look at stars, but I never saw any earthquake lights. I figure that if they would be seen anywhere, they would be seen there. Not some place hundreds of miles from a fault.

"Psychic" Sylvia Browne (1936-2013) vs. the Bay Area Skeptics

So-called "psychic" and Grief Vampire Sylvia Browne died in San Jose, CA on November 20, at the age of 77. I thought she was a reprehensible person, willing to tell any lie, no matter how emotionally disturbing, to get money from a sucker. In fact, she seemed to think that truth is "whatever Sylvia says." There was no need for her "facts" to correspond to the real world. If Sylvia said it, that made it true.


Bob Steiner and I founded the Bay Area Skeptics in 1982, one of the earliest local skeptics groups, and for quite a while the most active. We felt that our location in the Bay Area conferred a special advantage, as the most famous of WooMeisters were right in our area. Targ and Puthoff were still at SRI in Menlo Park, and we did what we could to challenge their claims about Uri Geller's supposed Magic Powers. Sylvia (then) Brown's home and "Foundation" was then almost right in my neighborhood, in Saratoga. (Brown became "Browne" when she divorced her husband.) At that time I was living in west San Jose, near the Westgate shopping center, and Saratoga Avenue. According to a story in the Huffington Post, Saratoga has the third-most expensive housing in the U.S., with an average home listing price over $1,582,000. (When Sylvia complains in a letter linked below about not being really rich because she lives on Johnson Avenue, she is calling attention to the fact that she is not in the highest-priced zip code in Saratoga. So her house might be worth "only" a million or so today.)

In the 1980s, Sylvia was well-known locally, but not yet nationally, primarily because of her regular appearances on local TV stations to "prognosticate."  Viewers ate it up, no matter how bad her record, or how stupid her statements. So naturally we went after her in every way we could, challenging her claims.

We wrote letters challenging her to test her supposed "powers," and she replied that she was far too elevated to be tested by the likes of us. She also had some rather colorful things to say about us. Apparently she had never run across a skeptics' group before. I have scanned these challenges, letters, and other papers relating to Sylvia Brown, and placed them on my historical page on debunker.com. The direct link is here. Rather than describing their contents here, I invite you to read for yourself this unique collection of Sylvia silliness. She was making stuff up then, and continued to do so right up until the end.

A welcoming committee for Sylvia Brown'e Las Vegas gig,  assembling at The Amazing Meeting 2012,
South Point Hotel (at the horse's ass). Note Randi on the left, Susan Gerbic with arms extended on the right.

Between a Beer Joint and Some kind of Highway Warning Sign: the "Classic" Cash-Landrum Case Unravels

I have always felt that the famous Cash-Landrum case of  December 29, 1980 was perhaps the most puzzling and vexing UFO case on record. If the events actually occurred as reported, then no prosaic explanation was possible. On the other hand, there was no solid independent evidence to substantiate the witnesses' claims, despite years of searching. As the skeptical Fortean Peter Brookesmith said, "To ufologists, the case is perhaps the most baffling and frustrating of modern times, for what started with solid evidence for a notoriously elusive phenomenon petered out in a maze of dead ends, denials, and perhaps even official deviousness."

Vickie Landrum (left) and Betty Cash

This is a very complex case (like B&B Hill, Roswell, Rendlesham, Travis Walton, etc.), and space does not permit it to be fully described here. As summarized on about.com in its "best UFO case files," while the witnesses were driving about 9:00 PM near Houston, Texas,

They soon encountered a diamond-shaped UFO hanging over the road ahead. The two adults, Betty and Vickie, first thought that they were seeing a helicopter or airplane. [Colby, Vicki's seven year old grandson, was also in the car.] There were several airfields not too far from them. But this object was not like a helicopter, plane, or anything else they had seen before. The large, menacing UFO would from time to time shoot reddish-orange flames toward the asphalt road below.

Betty, though frightened, was somewhat fascinated by the other-worldly looking object. She was now out of her car, and watching the UFO as it hovered above and ahead of them. Suddenly, the skies were full of helicopters. Betty remarked: "They seemed to rush in from all directions... it seemed like they were trying to encircle the thing." 

The alleged UFO, surrounded by helicopters

 

Flames from the object were supposedly strong enough to make the car body too hot to touch. Reportedly, severe health effects began almost immediately, especially for Betty Cash. Wikipedia says,

That night, they all experienced similar symptoms, though Cash to a greater degree. All suffered from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized weakness, a burning sensation in their eyes, and feeling as though they'd suffered sunburns.

Over the next few days, Cash's symptoms worsened, with many large, painful blisters forming on her skin. When taken to a hospital emergency room on January 3, 1981, [Jerome] Clark writes, Cash "could not walk, and had lost large patches of skin and clumps of hair. She was released after 12 days, though her condition was not much better, and she later returned to the hospital for another 15 days."

This has given rise to the common belief that the witnesses were exposed to some sort of "radiation," and suffered its ill effects. However, on closer examination this does not hold up. Brad Sparks, certainly no UFO debunker, wrote in 1999 that "it does NOT appear that the Cash-Landrum symptoms were due to ionizing radiation or "radiation sickness" for the reasons listed below. I reviewed this case for APRO in the early 80's but was not able to publish the results of my analysis for various reasons.  Radiation oncologist and APRO consultant Dr. Richard Niemtzow reviewed my findings and agreed that the symptoms did not match those expected for ionizing radiation syndrome." Skeptic Gary Posner, M.D., looked at the reported symptoms, and came to the same conclusion. If radiation were involved, according to Posner, the reported symptoms would have indicated a fatal dose. Since both women lived many years after the incident, and Colby is still living, nobody received a fatal dose of radiation, and the reported symptoms, if correct, must be caused by something other than radiation (see his letter on page 16 of the April, 1983 MUFON Journal).

However, Betty Cash's medical records have never been released, on grounds of "privacy." Fair enough, but you cannot simultaneously cite alleged medical symptoms as proof of a UFO encounter while refusing to release the medical records that might confirm or refute the claim. So long as the medical records remain "private," anecdotal accounts of what they contain are worthless.

These claims of harmful effects led Cash and Landrum to file a $20 million in damages against the U.S. government in 1981. They were represented pro bono by UFO lawyer Peter Gersten, who attracted much attention in 2012 by his announced plan to leap from Bell Rock in Sedona at the moment of the winter solstice Mayan apocalypse  (but fortunately he had second thoughts, and is still alive). The suit was dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in 1986 on the grounds that U.S. government involvement had not been demonstrated. It ought to be quite straightforward to trace a fleet of 23 Chinook helicopters flying over the United States. Much effort has been expended to trace such helicopters, to no avail. The U.S. military simply didn't have a fleet of that many Chinook helicopters in one place, nor did any private firm.

the Chinook helicopter; 23 of these are supposed to have chased the UFO

 

This case has received extensive media attention, on That's Incredible (ABC-TV), UFO Coverup Live, Unsolved Mysteries, Sightings, and UFO Hunters, to name just a few. The principal investigator of the case has always been John F. Schuessler, a well-known MUFON Director, also affiliated with several other UFO organizations. He wrote a book The Cash-Landrum UFO Incident.

Curt Collins is a UFO researcher who, for the past year or two, has been gathering as much information as possible on the Cash-Landrum case. He has shared this information on his Blog, Blue Blurry Lines. Collins was a "contributing editor" helping the late, great James Moseley put out his semi-legendary newsletter Saucer Smear.

Collins titled his Blog posting dated Nov. 12, 2013, "The Cash-Landrum Incident: The Suppressed Case Files." You will have to read it carefully to understand its significance. Collins wrote,

The physical evidence in the Cash-Landrum UFO incident is much of what makes it such a compelling and enduring case. Another key factor is the reputation and expertise of the case’s chief investigator John F. Schuessler who had the difficult jobs of seeking evidence, promoting the case and protecting the witnesses. The medical records have been long protected by Schuessler, citing the privacy of the witnesses as reason for withholding them. What is less widely known, is that there was other case evidence that Schuessler chose not to share.

After the women went to the Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin to file a complaint, the Texas Department of Health’s Bureau of Radiation Control did an investigation into the matter. Collins writes,

The TDH report revealed that there was no residual radiation found along the road, but they were not dismissing the case. They made an important offer: they were interested in continuing the investigation, starting with their doctors examining the medical records. There is no documentation of it in the TDH files, but Schuessler refused or ignored the State’s offer to help the witnesses.

Claimed physical traces from the incident seem to be among the strongest pieces of evidence supporting  the case. Collins writes, "When discussing the case, Schuessler told how the witnesses were able to return to the precise location, and that the scene contained some identifiable, distinct features:"

“It is interesting to note, that although neither Vickie or Betty had been back to the site since the incident, they both were able to take us to nearly the exact same location. The separate site visits verify the location of the incident for us.”  -The Cash-Landrum UFO Incident, page 54

“They were able to point out a spot on the road that indicated that it had been heated to an extreme level of heating. It was burned, and it was very clear to the naked eye.”-Unsolved Mysteries (NBC) February 6, 1991

“We had a very large flying machine that that came over the road that actually left marks on the road, so you know where it was exactly.”   -Sightings (Sci-Fi Channel TV Series): “Physical Effects” July 31, 1992

There are, alas, no photographs or other evidence to show us these supposed UFO marks on the road. One wonders why?

Document from Texas department of Health

 

In the newly-revealed document, Collins notes that Texas Department of Health investigator Charles Russ Meyer wrote,

“I then asked Mr. Schuessler if he had pin-pointed the location of the siting [sic]. Mr. Schuessler stated that due to the late hour and the ladies’ emotional state they could only state that they believed they saw the object on the straight portion of FR 1485 between a beer joint and some kind of highway warning sign.”

In other words, neither Cash, nor Landrum, nor Schuessler had any idea where this incident actually took place! Collins remarks,

The Meyer report documenting that Schuessler and the witnesses not knowing the precise sighting location does answer some troubling questions. Now we can understand why there are no photographs of a scorched road or trees, and why soil/pavement samples were never presented as evidence. The claim that the sighting location was found and investigated was the foundation of his case. If this claim was false or inaccurate, the entire case is tainted. It raises other questions about how evidence was presented and just how much of it can be verified.

In other words, it appears that Schuessler simply made up the claim to have identified, and investigated, the sighting location, and found evidence there.

There is also the puzzling question of why the proponents of this case remain so utterly opposed to releasing any of Betty's medical records, even after her death, and especially after so much anecdotal data about her alleged medical conditions has already been discussed publicly.  "Schuessler refused or ignored the State’s offer to [medically] help the witnesses." Why?

While we were discussing this case via email, Gary Posner wrote,

"I recall a photo being shown [on the April 1, 1982, edition of ABC-TV's That's Incredible] of Betty's arms, with discrete, round, sunburn-type rashes that immediately caused me to suspect that she had created them by covering her arms with a garment containing circular cutouts and then exposing herself to sunlight (or a sunlamp)." 

There is no way that such discrete, round patterns could be produced by radiation from a distant object. What Dr. Posner is suggesting is that, like religious zealots of yore who fabricated their own symptoms of  "stigmata," Betty Cash created the discrete, round "radiation burn" patterns on her arms to be able to display impressive symptoms to her doctors.

Medical science has a term for this kind of behavior: "Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention, sympathy, or reassurance to themselves." While not terribly common, it is far from rare. And assuming that Betty Cash's medical records contain the words "Münchausen syndrome" or words to that effect, which seems quite likely, we now understand why the promoters of the Cash-Landrum case adamantly refuse to let anyone see her medical records. It would destroy all vestiges of credibility that this case ever had.

FINALLY! All Issues of Klass' "Skeptics UFO Newsletter" (SUN) are On-Line!

Several years ago I pointed out to CSI(COP) that the collection of Klass' influential and significant Skeptics UFO Newsletter (SUN) hosted on their website was incomplete. I was assured that the librarian would get right on it, but that didn't happen.

Then on October 23, 2013 UFO researcher and archivist Isaac Koi posted a plea on the UFO Updates mailing list, noting that

Luis R. Gonzalez (a Spanish researcher) has scanned his almost complete run of xerox copies of Klass' skeptic UFO Newsletter, and filled the gaps with the help of others. Only a small number of issues are currently available online, at the CSICOP website...  Perhaps CSI/CSICOP will give permission for me to share a link to a much more complete collection of SUN, as searchable PDF files, on a free file storage website; and/or (2) CSI/CSICOP may like to make this more complete collection available to download from its own website....I have yet to receive any positive answer to either of the above possibilities or any reasons for refusing the requests... If anyone has a good relationship with CSICOP then perhaps they could have a word with someone there.

As soon as I saw that I put together an email in support of Koi to the appropriate persons, and they began talking. Soon the matter was resolved, I think, to everyone's satisfaction. Koi has uploaded the complete collection of SUN #1 - SUN #76 to on-line storage, with a nice introduction and explanation here. He also links in a two-part YouTube video from 1987 by Ted Koppel interviewing Klass and Stanton Friedman. (You will note, to no one's surprise, that Friedman is given far more time to speak than Klass.)

SUN revealing the Gulf Breeze UFO photo hoax (Isaac Koi)

Soon after that, the full collection of SUNs was posted to the CSI(COP) website. Both of the scans appear to be searchable.

The on-line presence of SUN is a huge boon to serious UFO researchers of all stripes, as Klass was invariably the best-informed skeptical researcher, and the newsletter is filled with information concerning many famous (and less-famous) UFO claims. Klass was a meticulous researcher, and while you may not agree with his conclusions (even I do not agree with Klass 100% of the time), you can be confident that all of the facts he cites are correct and can be substantiated. You can then draw your own conclusions from that. "Write only what you know," Klass admonished me on more than one occasion. Don't state something as a fact unless you know that it is a fact, and can demonstrate it. 

Koi provides some nice examples above of what SUN contains. These searchable files are also a huge boon in making the skeptical viewpoint about UFOs available to interested persons.

I should mention that following in the footsteps of SUN today is Tim Printy's SUNlite, continuing Klass' tradition of meticulous and careful UFO investigation with a skeptic's eye. Tim puts out six issues a year, covering all manner of contemporary UFO claims and controversies.

Breaking Bad UFOs

Since the name of this Blog is Bad UFOs, it seems to me that anything whose name ends with "Bad" ought to have "UFOs" following it. (How many such names are there, anyway?) So in the spirit of Halloween, we now bring you: Breaking Bad UFOs. You can think of it, I suppose, as either "Breaking Bad" UFOs, or else Breaking "Bad UFOs."

If Walt doesn't get you, that UFO will!

Oh, no! The Mexican Cartel has built a spy drone!

Jesse doesn't believe in UFOs, so he's looking the other way.

Look out, Walt! That little bastard is going to steal your cash!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor alien invaders, stays these drug dealers from their appointed rounds.

The boys meet up with a new distributor - Mars needs methamphetamines!

The Martians didn't like it.

UFOs created using OVNICA, an Android app.

"Breaking Bad" name generator. 

NASA's UFO-Related Correspondence - Mostly from Schoolchildren!

When the British government released the last of its UFO files in June, 2013 (all except for “copies of MoD papers, records or other information relating to internal discussion, policy and/or briefings in response to public statements made to the media and via the release of Open Skies, Closed Minds by Nick Pope during the period 1995-96,” that Pope insists must remain hidden), much was said about the apparently frivolous nature of much of the correspondence  from the public. For example, "A letter from a school child in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, to the MoD, dated January 2009, asking if aliens exist after she had seen some strange lights, and including a drawing of an alien in a UFO waving." At that  time I wrote,

When my name was included on a list prepared by NASA of people who might have information on UFOs (since they did not), I used to receive dozens of letters like this from school children requesting information. I would usually reply with just a page or two of skeptical materials, but I suppose that was not what they wanted to receive.

Now it's time to look at the correspondence I received when I was listed by NASA (along with several other groups) as a source of information about UFOs.  Each and every such letter I received was from someone who had written NASA, asking for information about UFOs. NASA replied that they did not have any such information, but here is a list of organizations that do. The time frame is mostly about 1978-1983. Unfortunately the box where these letters were stored was damaged in a flood, resulting in much discoloration, but most of them are still readable.

Many letters were received from Latin America, most written in Spanish or Portuguese. Brazil was among the most avidly interested countries. Other letters were received from Poland, Austria, the UK, and even India. The foreign letters seemed to be from somewhat older correspondents, apparently college students. Some of the letters were from adults, but in a business-related context, not a personal one. This one, for example is from a Public Relations firm in Japan anxious to make money by promoting UFO sensationalism:

I have uploaded a much longer collection of the NASA UFO letters to the Historical section of my website Debunker.com.  

Why does this matter? We often hear UFO proponents advocating to have the government get back into UFO investigations and studies in one capacity or another. Supposedly this will lead to progress being made in finding out what UFOs 'really are.' Perhaps, but what we can be certain of is that a large part of the UFO Department's correspondence will look like this. And there will be a clamor for it to be released in full. Then accusations of a "coverup" when it is seen that the files contain little but trivial and foolish correspondence. If you were a government official, plugging away at your desk on some mundane administrative task, would you like to see your department plunged into the middle of this can of worms?

A "Bizarre Horror Show" at a UFO Conference

From August 9 to 11, 2013 "Contact in the Desert" was held at Joshua Tree Retreat Center, in Joshua Tree, California. Fortunately it was held indoors, because outdoors the temperature hovered around 110 degrees. Among the "luminaries" lecturing were George Noory, Steven Greer, Giorgio A. Tsoukalos [aliens!], David Wilcock, Jim Marrs, William Henry, Michael Salla, Jason Martell, David Sereda, Richard Dolan, and Travis Walton.

But not all of the heat was outside. A page on Unknown Country, the website of Whitley and Anne Strieber, has an article dated September 5, titled "William Describes a Bizarre Horror Show at a UFO Conference." It concerns William Henry, a promoter of woo who lectures about ancient Egyptian "stargates" and is a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM and Ancient Aliens.

William Henry tells a horrifying story of imprisonment of the audience at the Contact in the Desert Conference August 9--11. He says that David Wilcock came with a bodyguard, and that Steven Greer arrived with a whole group of bodyguards, who proceeded to lock the doors and allow nobody in our out during his presentation. If this happened, it was illegal, and we urge all UFO conference attendees to demand that they not be imprisoned during any performance for any reason.

David Wilcock is a psychic and best-selling author of loopy books on Consciousness. He claims to be the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce. UFO mega-celebrity Steven Greer needs no introduction (if you aren't familiar with Greer, enter his name into the search box at the top of the page).

I know someone who attended that conference, so I asked him if this was true and if he knew anything about it. Short answer: yes, it's basically true. He doesn't want his name mentioned, but here is what he wrote:

Have you seen the movie "Bruce Almighty?" Do you remember Morgan Freeman playing God where he was dressed in an all white suit? Well Wilcock came out wearing the exact same thing with his "holier than thou" attitude ( which, by the way, including him shoving aside a young woman who was merely asking for his autograph on his own book....I bet she won't buy another one of his books again). Anyhow, I got sick of hearing his bologna during his lecture so I walked out. Now here is where I may be wrong or Streiber is wrong but I believe it was Wilcock speaking when this incident happened: I'm outside talking to a friend at the coffee vendor when I hear some loud arguing with a familiar voice. The normally soft spoken Henry was livid & was walking from the side of the hall to the front with someone trying to restrain him. He banged on the door & a security guard opened the door & he went crazy yelling at the guard for not letting his wife outside to get some air. Apparently she has a condition of some sort & also was extremely hot yet the guards didn't open the door to let her out. The yelling lasted for a few minutes & as Henry walked away with his wife, he was still yelling back at the guard, loud enough to where just about everyone in the vicinity heard. He said everything from it being illegal to lock people in, a big lawsuit can arise if anyone gets hurt, etc...all valid points. One more thing I might add: Greer showed up with armed guards with "black ops security" written on their shirts. Wilcock not only had guards, he had a bomb-sniffing  dog with him!! Can you believe that? Anyhow, it was truly a fiasco....every bit of it.

Interplanetary Peace and Love at the Conference

I asked him how, if the doors were locked, did he manage to walk out of Wilcock's lecture. He replied,

It's weird what security was doing. When I was standing outside, I saw people grouping together at the door to get in rather than going in as they pleased. Apparently the security was only allowing people in at 10 minute intervals. When I was inside, I just so happen to be walking out toward the main entrance as they were opening the door for the others to come in. So you could say that had I not been coincidentally at the right place at the right time, they would have refused me leaving for up to 10 minutes. Also, I never saw Greer's lecture indoors (he did something outdoors too which they obviously couldn't control that but his armed "black ops security" guards were on stage with him). So it definitely was Wilcock's lecture that William Henry flipped out on although it's possible they used the same protocol for Greer (although Wilcock seemed to be the craziest one with his bomb-sniffing dog.....)

So apparently they were only letting people out when other people were being let in!

Here is a brief video my friend took showing Greer walking up to the stage at his outdoor event, flanked by his "Black Ops Security" guards. If you watch this carefully, full-screen, you can just make out the words "Black Ops" I seriously doubt that people who work in Black Ops wear shirts that say "Black Ops" on them. That sort of defeats the purpose of a Black Op, doesn't it?

[Added Sept. 23:]

On YouTube I found Steven Greer's lecture (indoors) at the Joshua Tree conference center on Aug. 11, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMuO4e7hlc

Greer's security men guard the exit doors

We can actually see three of his security men, wearing yellow hats, positioning themselves in from of the exits, and they remain there for the duration of the lecture. I have never seen security guards do this at any other conference! At first we see two security men in front of the exit on the right. At about 1:42 into the video, one of the men crosses quickly and (apparently) takes up a position in from of an exit at the far left. We see him (I think) ever-so-briefly at about 12:58.

Greer repeats the allegation that he was offered $2 Billion (not million!) to join the Conspiracy. He had made this allegation in previous lectures.

Greer's talk continues past the end of this video at 26:32, so we don't know if any security issues came up (like somebody trying to leave).


Anyone else who has first-hand knowledge of this matter, please share it with us. And surely somebody, somewhere, must have taken a photo of Wilcock's bomb-sniffing dog in action? I'd love to see that!