Mulder, Scully, Fact & Fiction, Pt. 1-3

Mulder, Scully, Fact & Fiction, Pt. 1

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•  February 4, 2016
  
•  Nick Redfern
  

 
Now that the new series of The X-Files is already halfway through its brief return to television, I figured it would be a good time to address an issue that often crops up in conversation. And particularly when I’m lecturing on the “government files” angle of the UFO controversy. Namely, does the real FBI have its very own X-Files department? Well, the short answer is “No. It does not.” That’s not to say, however, that the FBI hasn’t played a significant role in the investigation of the kinds of mysteries that would have Mulder drooling at the mouth and Scully rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
When it comes to the matter of investigating UFOs, there’s no doubt that the most active period for the FBI was the summer of 1947. This is hardly surprising, since June 24, 1947 was the date on which Kenneth Arnold had his famous sighting of a squadron of UFOs at Mt. Rainier, Washington State. In no time at all, the term “flying saucer” was coined. As was another term, one which was often used by the FBI at the time, “flying disc.”
Two weeks after the Kenneth Arnold sighting, Brigadier General George F. Schulgen, Chief of the Requirements Intelligence Branch of Army Air Corps Intelligence, met with FBI Special Agent S.W. Reynolds. The purpose: to determine if the military could secure the FBI’s assistance in its investigation of the quickly growing number of UFO reports. Schulgen said to Reynolds that “every effort must be undertaken in order to run down and ascertain whether or not flying discs are a fact and, if so, to learn all about them.” Schulgen also shared with the FBI man some of the more credible reports which had reached the Army Air Corps from other military sources.
Assuring Reynolds that he would guarantee the FBI “all the facilities of [my] office as to results obtained,” General Schulgen outlined a plan which would involve the FBI in both locating and questioning witnesses, to ascertain whether they were “sincere in their statements that they saw these discs, or whether their statements were prompted by personal desire for publicity or political reasons.”

Records released under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act show that the FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, had a few concerns about getting involved. The primary one being the extent to which the FBI would play a role. Memos make it clear that Hoover wanted the Bureau to have a highly visible, proactive role – or no role, at all. So, from early July through August 1947, the FBI was heavily involved in interviewing witnesses, chasing down stories, and liaising with the military. For a while it all went well, and the FBI secured a large number of undeniably impressive reports. They came from the public, police-officers, civilian pilots, and the military itself.
Hoover, however, was still unsure of what was afoot, since rumors were then flying around the FBI that the UFO phenomenon was the result of a highly secret, domestic program of the U.S. military. Indeed, and on this very matter, Special-Agent Reynolds (surely the Mulder of the 1940s) met with “…Lieutenant Colonel [name deleted] of the Air Forces Intelligence.” Reynolds offered his opinion (or, perhaps, his suspicion) that UFOs were the work of Uncle Sam. Reynolds was intrigued by the colonel’s reply. In an official memo of August 19, 1947, we have the following: “Mr. Reynolds was very surprised when Colonel [deleted] not only agreed this was a possibility, but confidentially stated it was his personal opinion that such was a possibility.”
Reynolds, quite naturally, pointed out to the colonel that if flying saucers/flying discs were indeed the products of the U.S. military, then it would be wholly unreasonable for the FBI to be expected to “…spend money and precious time conducting inquiries with respect to this matter.” The colonel concurred, indicating that it would be “extremely embarrassing” to Air Force Intelligence if it was shown that the saucers were American in origin.
Files demonstrate that Hoover became more and more exasperated by the whole situation, and particularly so in regards to the “secret weapon” angle, and also because he felt the FBI faced playing second fiddle to the military. Hoover spelled out his thoughts in a memo to D.M. Ladd, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division: “It is felt that the situation regarding these flying saucers and flying discs is very similar to the situation which was previously encountered by the Bureau during the past war in handling complaints arising out of the sighting of Japanese balloons.”

Hoover continued to Ladd: “You will recall that at the inception of these complaints the Bureau conducted considerable investigation and located numerous balloons as a cooperative measure for the Army and that after considerable work had been done, the Army then informed that these were military weapons and that they would take over the handling of them completely. This they did and in an extremely short time issued a big press release as to the splendid work of the Army in locating these Japanese balloons.”
In other words, when it came to UFOs, Hoover didn’t want to be upstaged. By late August 1947, it was clear that the the original plans for the FBI and the military to work together was not going to work. The FBI scaled down its involvement and let the military do its thing. It’s important to note, however, that the available FBI files on UFOs are of significant value. The records in question are packed with fascinating accounts. And they demonstrate the nationwide nature of the phenomenon in those initial months after the Kenneth Arnold encounter.
The FBI was not completely done with UFOs, however. Indeed, as we’ll see in part-2 of this article, other related issues loomed large in the late-1940s and the early-to-late 1950s. Namely: crashed UFOs and the Contactee/”Space Brother” movement.


Thanks to: http://mysteriousuniverse.org

Mulder, Scully, Fact & Fiction, Pt. 2

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•  February 5, 2016
  
•  Nick Redfern
  

 
Part-1 of this article began as follows: “Now that the new series of The X-Files is already halfway through its brief return to television, I figured it would be a good time to address an issue that often crops up in conversation. And particularly when I’m lecturing on the “government files” angle of the UFO controversy. Namely, does the real FBI have its very own X-Files department? Well, the short answer is ‘No. It does not.’ That’s not to say, however, that the FBI hasn’t played a significant role in the investigation of the kinds of mysteries that would have Mulder drooling at the mouth and Scully rolling her eyes and shaking her head.”
Part-1 was focused on how the FBI became embroiled in the heart of the UFO phenomenon in the summer months of 1947. In fact, directly in the wake of the famous encounter of Kenneth Arnold at Mt. Rainier, Washington State. While the FBI significantly scaled down its UFO investigations in the post-August 1947 period, its personnel were certainly not done with UFOs. Far from it. All of which brings us to the matter of crashed flying saucers. Nope, we’re not talking about Roswell. Our attention is focused on the Aztec, New Mexico crash of March 1948. Or, depending on your opinion, the utterly bogus UFO crash at Aztec.

Frank Scully
According to information related to the author Frank Scully in the late 1940s (and subsequently published in his best-selling 1950 book, Behind the Flying Saucers), as a result of a number of separate incidents in 1947 and 1948, the wreckage of four alien spacecraft, and no fewer than 34 alien bodies, had been recovered by American authorities, and were being studied under cover of the utmost secrecy at defense establishments in the United States.
As Scully reported, the majority of his data came from two individuals: Silas Mason Newton (described in a 1941 FBI report as a “wholly unethical businessman”) and one “Dr. Gee,” the name given to protect eight scientists, all of whom had supposedly divulged various details of the crashes to Newton and Scully. It turns out that the FBI has a far-less-than-flattering file on Newton (which is hardly surprising, given his business shenanigans), one which you can download from the FBI’s website, The Vault.
The FBI says the following of Newton: “Silas Newton (1887-1972) was a wealthy oil producer and con-man who claimed that he had a gadget that could detect minerals and oil. He was cited as an authority in Frank Scully’s book Behind the Flying Saucers, a work that claimed to report on several UFO crashes in the area of New Mexico. In 1950, Newton said that a flying saucer crashed on land he leased in the Mojave Desert; however, he revised his claim in 1952, saying he never saw a flying saucer but had only repeated comments he heard from others. These files detail the FBI’s investigations into Newton’s fraudulent activities between 1951 and 1970.”
According to Scully’s sources, one such UFO was found in Hart Canyon, near the town of Aztec, in March 1948. According to others, however, the entire Aztec story was cooked up by Newton, along with a cohort named Leo Gebauer. The FBI knew all about Gebauer, too. Indeed, his FBI file runs to hundreds of page – not all of which has been declassified. The file on Gebauer shows he referred to Adolf Hitler as nothing less than “a swell fellow.” He added that the United States would benefit from having “two men” to run the country, in much the same way that Hitler ruled Germany.

The files in question make it very clear that the FBI was carefully watching all of the prime players in the Aztec story: Newton, Gebauer, and even Frank Scully (whose FBI file is also now in the public domain). Don’t get too excited, though: yes, the files undeniably tell a fascinating story. It’s a story filled with tales of crashed UFOs, dead aliens, shady characters, dubious claims, and larger than life figures. There is, however, no smoking gun. The files provide entertaining and illuminating information on the early years of Ufology – and of the people in it. But, if you’re looking for proof that a UFO crashed at Aztec, New Mexico in March 1948, you won’t find it in the FBI’s files. You will, however, have a good time reading up on all the Aztec-themed claims, convoluted tales, and antics that went down between 1948 and the early 1950s.
Moving on, certainly the most fascinating (for me, at least) aspect of the FBI’s investigations into UFO-related matters revolves around the Contactee/”Space Brother” movement that began in the early 1950s. It went on to dominate much of Ufology in that particular decade. Some may find it hard to believe that just about all of the Contactees of that era became the subject of FBI files. We’re talking about, for example, the “three Georges.” Namely, Adamski, Van Tassel, and Hunt Williamson. Files were also opened on Frank Stranges (of the Valiant Thor saga), Truman Bethurum (who got to hang out with shapely space-babe, Aura Rhanes), Daniel Fry, the odd duo of Karl Hunrath and Wilbur Wilkinson, and Orfeo Angelucci.
It was, primarily, the politics of the Contactees that caused the FBI to keep tabs on them – and, of course, because they were speaking to and influencing large numbers of people, whether at gigs or via book-sales. That several of the Contactees – and particularly so Adamski – championed the Soviet way of life didn’t go down too well with J. Edgar Hoover. As a result, the FBI’s files on the people who claimed to have met long-haired aliens remained open for years. Indeed, Van Tassel’s ran from 1953 to 1965.
In the third part of this article, we’ll take a look at the FBI’s X-files of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, which veer into matters relative to ESP, cattle-mutilations, the infamous MJ12 documents, and much more.


Thanks to: http://mysteriousuniverse.org

Mulder, Scully, Fact & Fiction, Pt.3

• 0 Comments
  
•  February 5, 2016
  
•  Nick Redfern
  

 
The opening paragraph of part-1 of this three-part article began with the following: “Now that the new series of The X-Files is already halfway through its brief return to television, I figured it would be a good time to address an issue that often crops up in conversation. And particularly when I’m lecturing on the “government files” angle of the UFO controversy. Namely, does the real FBI have its very own X-Files department? Well, the short answer is ‘No. It does not.’ That’s not to say, however, that the FBI hasn’t played a significant role in the investigation of the kinds of mysteries that would have Mulder drooling at the mouth and Scully rolling her eyes and shaking her head.”
So far, we’ve addressed the FBI’s files on UFOs in 1947, an alleged UFO crash in 1948, and the Contactee/”Space Brother” controversy that began in the early 1950s. Now, it’s time to move on. Covering the period from 1957 to 1960, we have the FBI’s [url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Extra-Sensory Perception]files on Extra-Sensory Perception[/url], ESP. Of this very interesting document collection, the FBI says: “ESP is considered a perception of information about events beyond what may be discerned through the five physical senses or deduced from past experience or knowledge. This release consists of cross references to ESP found in FBI files from 1957 to 1960. Several of the documents concern William Foos, a proponent of ESP. Others concern claims that ESP could be used in espionage investigations. The FBI found no scientific support for this or other claims and did not pursue the matters raised in these references.”
Predating the more well-known “Remote Viewing” programs of the early 1970s onward, the ESP file shows how, for a while, officialdom got quite excited by the idea of potentially employing psychic 007’s to spy on the likes of the Reds.

Without doubt, the weirdest mystery that the FBI found itself involved in during the 1970s was that concerning so-called “cattle mutilations.” The FBI’s file [url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Animal Mutilation]is titled “Animal Mutilation.”[/url] The FBI says of this particular dossier: “In the mid-1970s, reports of scattered animal mutilations in western and mid-western states concerned many people. The FBI was asked to investigate, but was unable to do so because of a lack of jurisdiction (except when such mutilations were found on Indian lands). These files consist mainly of press clippings and correspondence concerning the issues between 1974 and 1978.”
Indeed, it’s the correspondence that is particularly notable. The file is filled with New Mexico State Police reports of case after case of very odd – even macabre – cattle mutilations. Many of the incidents occurred in and around the New Mexico town of Dulce – a place with a notorious tie to Ufology. The files tell of animals found dead with their legs broken, as if they had been dropped from significant heights. There are reports of black helicopters skulking around. Aliens, secret bio-warfare operations, satanic cults, and predators all come under the scrutiny of law enforcement officials. To call the reports real-life X-Files would not be wide of the mark. It would be right on it. Now, let’s head on to the 1980s.

It’s time to turn our attentions to Jack the Ripper. What on Earth does the world’s most infamous serial-killer have to do with the Bureau? The answer comes from the FBI: “In 1888, a series of unsolved homicides in London, England were attributed to a serial killer called ‘Jack the Ripper.’ In 1988, Supervisory Special Agent John Douglas of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime performed an analysis of the case for the Cosgrove-Meurer Production Company. [url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Jack the Ripper/]This release consists[/url] of his analysis.”
Also in 1988, the FBI found itself embroiled in the controversy surrounding the notorious “MJ12 documents.” “Leaked” to certain figures within the UFO research community a handful of years earlier, the supposedly Top Secret documents tell of a UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947, and of a highly-classified group tasked with overseeing the matter: Majestic 12. Or, MJ12. Of this file, the FBI tells us: “In 1988, two FBI offices received similar versions of a memo titled [url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic 12]‘Operation Majestic-12…’[/url] claiming to be highly classified government document. The memo appeared to be a briefing for newly-elected President Eisenhower on a secret committee created to exploit a recovery of an extra-terrestrial aircraft and cover-up this work from public examination. An Air Force investigation determined the document to be a fake.”

Indeed, a meeting occurred in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 1988 between agents of the FBI and agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, in which the FBI was told that the MJ12 documents were a “fabricated hoax.”
And there we have it: probably the closest thing to the fictional X-Files of a certain TV show now making a comeback. You may be interested to know I could have made this article a 4- or even 5-part one, such is the extent of the “weird files” held by the FBI. Those I didn’t touch on include files on sci-fi author Philip K. Dick; Spontaneous Human Combustion; Nicola Tesla; Wilhelm “Orgone” Reich; and rocket-pioneer and Aleister Crowley disciple, Jack Parsons. And, indeed, there may be others, still awaiting declassification.


Thanks to: http://mysteriousuniverse.org

I LOVE the X Files!! When we watched the episode of this new series I was like OMG we have all ths info at OOM lol!!!