by Bill Murphy (of the Anomalist )
Note: “The Anomalist" is a daily review of world news on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries” online – the pro and the con. This “News Roundup” summarizes some Anomalist UFO-related articles. It reflects my opinions and not necessarily those of others at The Anomalist or other organizations to which I belong.
"What many of us feared inwardly, some mumbled about to ourselves and others, but Kevin Randle more than expected and wrote about from early on, powerful forces in The Establishment severely retarded progress towards more “openness” regarding UFOs and the U.S. government’s varied efforts to understand them."
The “Big Story of UFOs and Government” rather caught its breath in the latter weeks of November, after the November 8th Statement by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks that AARO Head Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick had announced his retirement from federal service in December. We’d noted the early November rumblings that Kirkpatrick would be “out” soon, as Daily Mail’s Matthew Phelan had reported as early as the 2nd and the Metabunkers had an interesting set of perspectives on the matter. While Politico's Lara Seligman said Kirkpatrick had "deferred his planned retirement last year" to head the AARO stand-up, many suspected the Kirkpatrick-David Grusch kerfuffle had something to do with the exit. Timothy A. Phillips has been selected as AARO's Deputy Director, and we’re told others have been interviewed for the AARO point-position. CUFOS President Dr. Mark Rodeghier weighed in on The Current Situation, while commentators continued to worry about how independent NASA’s UFO/UAP scientific effort would be vis-à-vis the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. And then on December 6th, House and Senate negotiators quashed the hopes of most in the UFO Community for the kind of transparency that Senators had promoted in the “Schumer Amendment” and for which vigorous and vocal House members had held the historic July 26th hearing with David Grisch, David Fravor, and Ryan Graves.
Sources: Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announcement: (https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3583248/statement-by-deputy-secretary-of-defense-kathleen-hicks-on-the-upcoming-departu/); Phelan: “Pentagon UFO Chief Dr Sean Kirkpatrick Will Be REPLACED by End of the Year as Whistleblowers Accuse Him of Lying to the Public and Ignoring Witnesses”: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12703835/Pentagon-UFO-chief-AARO-Kirkpatrick-REPLACED-whistleblowers-accuse-lying-public-ignoring-witnesses.html : Metabunk thread: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/is-sean-kirkpatrick-leaving-aaro.13243/. Seligman Politico: “Pentagon UFO Boss to Step Down Next Month”: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/07/pentagon-ufo-boss-00125883; Micah Hanks: “Pentagon Confirms Retirement of AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick, as New Deputy Director is Named”: https://thedebrief.org/pentagon-confirms-retirement-of-aaro-director-sean-kirkpatrick-as-new-deputy-director-is-named/; Mark Rodeghier/Billy Cox: “The Suit Doesn’t Matter”: https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/the-suit-doesnt-matter
And the AARO point-man may not have gone that quietly into the night, as he’d promised a “Volume I” of a two-volume AARO report would be published before he left. "[A] lot of" work on nearly-forty testimonies from people AARO has interviewed will be in that tome. Emma Crabtree says "Kirkpatrick described the information as 'educational material that will help inform the public.’” Kirkpatrick also made some probably off-hand about “concerning evidence in our backyard” remarks leading some excited folks to believe the outgoing Director had rather wanted to find an ET result. Billy Cox wasn’t fooled at all, and composed a hilarious faux-exchange between the outgoing AARO head and some theoretical press people perhaps more able than "two senior softball league journos" who as we had noted had floated high, slow, underhand pitch-questions to him in one “presser.” See also Marik von Rennenkampff’s “‘Aliens,’ or a Foreign Power? Pentagon UFO Chief Says Someone is in Our Backyard.”
Sources: Emma Crabtree: “Pentagon's UFO Chief to Quit after Warning of 'Concerning Evidence in Our Backyard' - and It Could Be 'Aliens'” https://www.the-sun.com/news/9606553/pentagon-ufo-chief-quit-after-warning-concerning-evidence/ ), Billy Cox: “Sean Kirkpatrick: Between Two Ferns,” https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/sean-kirkpatrick-between-two-ferns ; von Rennenkampff: https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4301944-aliens-or-a-foreign-power-pentagon-ufo-chief-says-someone-is-in-our-backyard/.
David Grusch took the offensive in person and by proxy to push his agenda. A November 21st 2hr 41-minute Joe Rogan interview (Episode #2065) of Grusch prompted a lot of coverage, including News Nation’s Joe Khalil reporting that David Grusch named names of Congressmen Mike Turner of Ohio and Mike Rogers of Alabama working against the likes of fellow Republicans Tim Burchett, Anna Paulina Luna, and Matt Gaetz to block UFO/UAP disclosure. Khalil reminds us to watch whether the strong pro-transparency language in the Defense budget remains as written when the Congressional spending package is finalized. Grusch also claims new threats since his Congressional testimony. The U.S. Sun’s Isabelle Hajek adds to this story as “Joe Rogan Grills UFO Whistleblower David Grusch on Alien Entities as Ex-Intel Officer Says 'Variety Interacting with Us',” with Grusch sketching out some of the additional details around but not directly describing the "entities" themselves. Not all commentators appreciated this move. Daily Caller News and Commentary Writer Kay Smythe headlined “Not Even Joe Rogan Can Make This UFO 'Whistleblower' Sound Convincing.” And Smythe includes an interview segment featuring the 1933 Magenta, Italy case that seems many attuned ufologists believe is an embarrassing "MJ-12-type hoax" whose data have "grown" over the years. Smythe uses this vid to paint the whole of the "UFO Community" in generalized, broad-brush, inaccurate strokes. Some of Smythe's observations would be stronger were Smythe better-grounded in ufological history. Smythe had struck at Grusch the day before in conjunction with a Grusch appearance at the inaugural Sol Foundation conference on November 17th and 18th. Commenting upon the Rogan podcast, plus Jesse Michels and Chris Lehto efforts, Rich Reynolds wonders “Why Would David Grusch ....” be talking to such plebeian audiences as they serve? Maybe because some of them vote for Congresspersons? But Jesse Michels’ “How I Know David Grusch Isn’t Lying” is passionately argued and has Rich’s support. And Grusch got some Congressional support as the Event Horizon podcast headlined “UFO/UAP Whistleblower David Grusch Clearance Reinstated with Rep. Eric Burlison.” Well, the "reinstatement" actually has some ways to go as it's an amendment tacked on by Burlison to an appropriations bill. Passage of this amendment would allow Grusch access to a SCIF to meet with Congresspeople. H/T Dr. Mark Rodeghier here. Eyes On Cinema reminds us that many came forth before David Grusch in “Area 51 Whistleblower David Adair’s First-hand Testimony about Advanced Alien Technology.” I'd not heard of Adair before. But if nothing else, his is a rather comprehensive early story replete with conspiratorial themes and famous people.
Sources: Khalil article: “UFO Whistleblower Calls out Congressmen in Joe Rogan Interview”: https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/david-grusch-on-joe-rogan-experience/; Khalil on pro-transparency language in Defense budget: “Pentagon Official Addresses UFOs Weeks before Leaving Post” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEONEUANEc. Hajek: https://www.the-sun.com/news/9695205/joe-rogan-podcast-ufo-david-grusch-aliens-whistleblower/; Smythe: https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/24/joe-rogan-experience-ufo-whistleblower-david-grusch-not-convincing/; Smythe on Sol conference: https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/23/catastrophic-leak-ufo-disclosure-experts-claim-karl-nell-hal-puthoff-david-grusch/; Rich Reynolds “Why Would”: https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/11/why-would-david-grusch.html ; Jesse Michels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH10mD9hQas; Rich Reynolds “How I Know”: https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/11/how-i-know-david-grusch-isnt-lying.html; Event Horizon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVd1WsNqIPw; David Adair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrsVengVOXA.
And in Congress the UFO Fight Played Out. By November’s close, matters in Congress were visibly problematic. On November 24th Liberation Times’ Christopher Sharp published “Black Friday: Republican Leadership Takes Axe to UFO Transparency Legislation.” Sharp points to "three of the four Republican members of the Gang of Eight, a group privy to classified intelligence briefings from the executive branch," as part of the anti-transparency group. Micah Hanks at The Debrief came out with “UAP Disclosure Act Receives Pushback from Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as Bipartisan Fight for Transparency Continues” on the 27th. Hanks has images of some of the actors and a very interesting chart showing recent donations to House Armed Services Committee members, as well as profiles of two men from very opposite political leanings who have banded together with others to advocate for the strong transparency language to remain. Mainstream Newsweek followed on the 29th, asking “Is Congress Suppressing UAP Disclosure? What To Know.” Ironically those ranged against that belief seem to be from the staunchest supporters' own party. Tom Norton describes the current status of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the Players, and the Prospects. Norton says "A growing number of politicians and commentators have alleged" a plot to stymie the stronger UFO/UAP elements in the Act, and provides context. Marik von Rennenkampff examined one current obstacle to progress in “Why Are Key Republicans Resisting Transparency on UFOs?” Some at least "significant Republicans" backed greater transparency, as shown by the November 30th Anna Paulina Luna-hosted press conference, in which Democrat Jared Moskowitz as well as five GOP members participated. While mostly non-partisan, it featured some differences between and within parties on specific matters. But the Congresspersons agreed that some in the DoD and Intelligence Communities; non-elected members of the Executive branch; non-elected staff and elected members of both congressional Houses; and shadowy figures in private industry have historically stymied the American People's Right to Know. Richard Dolan covered the current status of the UFO "Transparency Problem," how it came to be, and what might lie ahead. While some of Dolan's evidence and conclusions may be questioned, his seems a concise but comprehensive, coherent discussion.
Sources: Sharp Note: https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/black-friday-republican-leadership-takes-axe-to-ufo-transparency-legislation; Hanks: https://thedebrief.org/uap-disclosure-act-receives-pushback-from-lawmakers-on-capitol-hill-as-bipartisan-fight-for-transparency-continues/; Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/congress-suppress-uap-ufo-bill-disclosure-tucker-carlson-1847978; Von Rennenkampff: https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4329153-why-are-key-republicans-fighting-transparency-on-ufos/; press conference: https://www.youtube.com/live/cmBNb12xrY8?app=desktop&si=cC0dCWn3k3yxToYy; Dolan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WafipAPV0.
On the eve of the N.D.A.A. bill conference compromise publication, NBC’s Meet the Press Reports covered the pros and cons of the fight to expose what the government knows—or doesn't know—about UFOs. Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies Executive Board Member Robert Powell makes a strong case backed by his own research for the true anomalousness of fully-investigated UFOs. Former F/A-18 pilot Ryan Graves adds his experience, expertise, and beliefs, while both journalist Garrett Graff and Congressman Tim Burchett asserted strange stuff is indeed occurring, and for various reasons the government isn't "coming clean" about it. Marik von Rennenkampff dwelt upon the inanity (if not insanity) of one key Congressman's quibbles about the bipartisan Schumer/Rounds Senate amendment. A strong "takeaway" from von Rennenkampff's article is that a full international discussion of "'controlled' versus 'catastrophic' disclosure" is long overdue. Avi Loeb seemed somewhat "Pollyannaish" in downplaying the internal issues within the U.S. legislature/government and perhaps the global implications of the UFO problem, while he of course emphasized the primacy of instrumented data collection. And a European view came from UAP Check's Boris Taghin’s summation of the foregoing discourse/debate and overlying questions in a generally excellent reference source and thoughtful examination of Where We Stand.
Sources: Meet the Press Reports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig8hro2GI0Y; von Rennenkampff: https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4341947-powerful-members-of-congress-are-dead-set-on-killing-ufo-transparency/; Loeb: https://themessenger.com/opinion/science-space-technology-uap-ufos-search-for-answers-unifying; Taghin: https://www.uapcheck.com/news/id/2023-11-13-a-coming-revolution;
The new UAP language in the Compromised FY 2024 N.D.A.A. was published both by John Greenewald and Douglas Dean Johnson. John also includes the whole N.D.A.A. for downloading if you have zillions of storage space, while Doug has a “Quick Guide” summarizing what each provision and relevant Joint Explanatory Statement passage says. Billy Cox sets the defeat of serious UFO-transparency legislation into the greater historical context of Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex and Big Money solidly triumphing in the absence of a watchful, engaged, even particularly interested Press. It’s especially interesting in this regard to see the December 5th Ross Coulthart/Chris Cuomo dialogue which Coulthart began by jabbing at "a lot of the legacy media in the United States"...for "not realizing [UAP constitute] the biggest story unfolding before their eyes." With “Operation Kill Bill: How World-Changing UFO Language Was Killed And Sliced Up Into Little Pieces” Liberation Times’ Christopher Sharp has another hard-hitting article on the UFO and Government relationship, naming names and citing the weakened/expunged elements in the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Sharp notes a possible White-House/Chuck Schumer connection behind the Senate's original tough language. NewsNation's Stephanie Whiteside writes about the Senate Majority Leader “Schumer: Credible Sources Say UAP Info Kept From Congress.” Whiteside's article includes the Democrat Senator Schumer/Republican Mike Rounds colloquy that reflects their strong disappointment and continued intention to work towards appropriate transparency. H/T to Chris Frantz for these references. Seems even the (now former) AARO head couldn’t get the "skinny" on UFOs, per Baptiste Friscourt's “AARO Director Fails to Obtain Nimitz Case Data.” Friscourt's article raises other warning flags regarding sound data dissemination.
More context, anyone? Keith Basterfield asks us all, perhaps overwrought by Recent Events, to take a step back, a fresh breath or two, and look objectively at what is happening in the greater Scheme of Things Ufological. It seems impossible that anyone in this field has a better perspective than Keith. Daily Beast's Riley Rogerson posted “Congress is Taking a Huge Step Toward UFO Transparency—and Lawmakers Pushing for the Truth Aren’t Happy.” Glass half-empty, or half-full? Perhaps a larger context helps, as well? Tom McDonald's article about having “lost faith in our institutions” sets our UFO-focus against much larger societal bouleversements. If McDonald's trying to make us feel better, I'm not sure "I'm Lovin' It." McDonald quickly, if not tastefully, serves up journalist Garrett M. Graff's new tome as wrongheadedly blaming UFO conspiracies for "January 6th and the Big Lie in the 2020 election."
And John Greenewald provided the latest in "government disclosure" on December 2nd—aside from the fact John notes that Sean Kirkpatrick retired on December 1st. One may judge how useful the three “Case Resolution” reports are, and the "fishing net" one at least visually leaves some leeway for indecision. John's also produced the results of his efforts to-date on the “Range Fouler Debrief Forms and Reports.” What's that you ask? "U.S. Navy aviators define a 'range fouler' as an activity or object that interrupts pre-planned training or other military activity in a military operating area or restricted space." H/T Patrick Huyghe for the clarification.
So, what to do? UAP Check’s Guillaume Fournier Airaud reports on a claim by lawyer/UFO advocate Daniel Sheehan that a "UFO-like" weapon is not only under development by the now-in-the news Radiance Technologies, but that it's the product of—wait for it—studying a "non-human craft." And the rest of Airaud's article provides more support, even if not in the "absolute clinching the case" stage, including multiple "fun facts" about Representative Mike Turner and ... Radiance Technologies. We'll apparently have to see now whether Sheehan's professed intention "to reveal increasingly embarrassing information" actually comes to pass, as the "robust" NDAA UFO-language once in the bill seemingly won't. On December 12th we had “David Grusch Calls on Americans to Make UAPs [sic] an Election Issue,” according to Tyler Wornell, who includes a NewsNation interview in which Grusch suggests replacing Mike Turner as House Intelligence Committee Chair with Mike Gallagher. Note that a NewsNation interview aired the day prior (but updated on the 12th) imparted Grusch's plans "to disclose more of what he knows" in the coming weeks. And a “UFO Nonprofit Brings Together Hollywood Storytellers with Phenomena’s Researchers.” Seems "The Truth is Almost Here," and a gaggle of UFO advocates and entertainment industry folks with considerable clout are banding together to "Make it So."
Sources: Greenewald: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/uap-language-in-the-compromised-national-defense-authorization-act-for-fiscal-year-2024/ ; Johnson: https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/quick-guide-to-uap-related-provisions-in-the-final-fy-2024-national-defense-authorization-act/; Billy Cox: https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/rotten-to-its-core; Coulthart-Cuomo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxy6Qpyll0M; Sharp “Kill Bill”: https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/operation-kill-bill-how-world-changing-ufo-language-was-killed-and-sliced-up-into-little-pieces; NewsNation Schumer: Credible Sources: https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/schumer-sources-uap-kept-congress/amp/; Kirkpatrick couldn’t get information: https://www.uapcheck.com/news/id/2023-11-18-aaro-director-fails-to-obtain-nimitz-case-data; Keith Basterfield: https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-frustration-of-uap-research.html; Riley Rogerson: https://www.thedailybeast.com/congress-is-taking-a-huge-step-toward-ufo-transparencyand-lawmakers-pushing-for-the-truth-arent-happy; McDonald’s: https://www.lasvegasoptic.com/opinion/dispatch-new-mexico-lost-faith-in-our-institutions/article_c1e670b2-948c-11ee-80cd-e7754b6e8d78.html; Graff’s new book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1982196777/theanomalist; AARO file release: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/aaro-releases-3-case-resolution-reports-identifying-uap-ufo-cases/; Range Fouler reports: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/range-fouler-debrief-forms-and-reports/; Airaud: https://www.uapcheck.com/news/id/2023-12-6-is-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-being-hidden-from-the-us-congress; Grusch calls on Americans (Wornell): https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/david-grusch-uap-ufo-congress-voting-legislation/; Grusch on his further plans (Cassie Buchman and Wornell): https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/david-grusch-ufo-uap-congress-transparency/; Hollywood non-profit: https://deadline.com/2023/10/ufo-nonprofit-brings-together-hollywood-storytellers-phenomena-researchers-1235586705/ .
“Big Story of UFOs and Government” Short Items: Journalists Chris Sharp, Matt Ford, and Josh Boswell team up to report that the CIA's Office of Global Access (OGA) has organized at least nine truly anomalous material retrievals, "non-human" and otherwise. In the feature video the three journalists discuss how Sharp noted some leads, Ford drove the story forward, and Boswell championed the process by adding his sources to those his colleagues had developed and getting it into the Daily Mail. The effort supports David Grusch's allegations and further calls into question Congressional oversight of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, and indeed that any governmental institution has over any private industry that purportedly possesses the retrieved material. Jeremy Puech has a UAP Check take on that article. Christopher Mellon ruminated over “Disclosure and National Security: Should the U.S. Government Reveal What It Knows about UAP?” He hopes for "a graduated process of disclosure." The problem is, how would that happen? Acerbic skeptic Jason Colavito responded with “Chris Mellon’s Incoherent UFO Analysis Reveals a Millennialist Salvation Fantasy.” Brett Tingley reports that the US Space Force just published a new document detailing its concept of what "space domain awareness (SDA) is and how to establish and maintain it" by tracking ““abnormal observables’ with Unknown Origins in Earth’s Orbit.” That 49-page item is “Space Doctrine Publication 3-100: Space Domain Awareness: Doctrine for Space Forces.” Brett outlines the needs and current "gaps" in SDA. Sobering reading. Micah Hanks has "good reason to be more than a bit concerned" about the new AARO secure reporting system "that isn't equipped to collect any actual reports of UAP." Writing for UAP Check, Jeremy Puech has news about another “Potential UAP Interception above the Arctic Circle” last February. The information is multi-sourced and "explained" by NORAD; but it reflects Christopher Mellon's "much larger issue" about Air Force general paucity of UFO information.
Sources: “CIA’S Secret Office Has Conducted UFO Retrieval Missions on at Least NINE Crash Sites around the World, Whistleblowers Reveal”: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12796167/CIA-secret-office-UFO-retrieval-missions-whistleblowers.html; Puech on that: https://www.uapcheck.com/news/id/2023-11-29-the-united-states-allegedly-raiding-non-human-origin-vehicles-from-other-nations; Mellon: https://thedebrief.org/disclosure-and-national-security-should-the-u-s-government-reveal-what-it-knows-about-uap/; Colavito answering Mellon: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/chris-mellons-incoherent-ufo-analysis-reveals-a-millennialist-salvation-fantasy; Tingley: https://www.space.com/space-force-domain-awareness-abnormal-observables; SDA document: https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/Portals/2/SDP%203-100%20Space%20Domain%20Awareness%20(November%202023)_pdf_safe.pdf?; Hanks: https://thedebrief.org/the-pentagons-aaro-rolls-out-its-new-secure-reporting-mechanism-for-uap-sort-of; Puech on interception: https://www.uapcheck.com/news/id/2023-11-07-potential-uap-interception-above-the-arctic-circle .
Other UFO news: Neuroscientist Eric Haseltine says "The people who report UFOs or UAPs [sic] are probably different than you think." His points will discomfort skeptics, and one wonders how much his own experience a quarter-century ago informs his conclusion that "the few hearty souls who are ready are, as likely as not, going to be the type that... report seeing UFOs." Ready for what? "A radically different future when it arrives." A possible "end-run" around the AARO-influenced U.S. government efforts is described by Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, who challenges the mindset about the laws of physics as we understand them, and explains alternative ways she and her astronomer colleagues are using to identify near-Earth products of other galactic civilizations. Dr. Colm Kelleher notes that an initiative, entitled "Project Morrigan," has been proposed to establish an Irish research body to scientifically study UAP over Ireland. Dr. Michael Glawson is correct we should “think beyond the Science and National Security framework when it comes to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” and study UFOs or UAP in their larger context. Dr. Glawson states "Now is the time to begin taking this multi-spectrum view of these phenomena." He's right the field is disparate and uncoordinated, lacking a gravitational center of rationality. But he'd do well to review the rather long ufological history and work in all these facets; much of the best contributed by readers here. The Associated Press reports the Roswell, New Mexico UFO Museum has welcomed its 5,000,000th visitor. Remembering Kevin Randle's recent strong recommendation, sounds like the place's public historical value has been much enhanced. Jacob Roush has used National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) records to see whether objects of, in this case, a particular shape seem to "cluster together in space." Roush explains the process, which was done at an impressive probability significance level owing to the vast number of reports in the NUFORC database. "Reported shapes" may not quite correspond to "witnessed shapes"; it's possible people are more likely to report "triangles" when they see them than when ogling "crosses," "cones," or "rectangles." I’d like to see someone skilled in this kind of statistical analysis look at this.Sources: Haseltine: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/long-fuse-big-bang/202311/the-surprising-psychology-of-ufo-reporting; Villarroel: https://theconversation.com/ufos-how-astronomers-are-searching-the-sky-for-alien-probes-near-earth-218658; Kelleher: https://m.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/irish-scientist-with-top-secret-us-government-clearance-explains-why-we-are-not-alone/a215160076.html; Glawson: https://thedebrief.org/its-time-to-think-beyond-the-science-and-national-security-framework-when-it-comes-to-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena/; Roswell: https://mynorthwest.com/3941487/ufo-museum-in-roswell-new-mexico-reaches-5-million-visitors/; NUFORC spatial autocorrelation analysis: https://nuforc.org/spatial/.
Were it not for the NDAA disappointment, perhaps the most significant and enduring UFO development this news cycle was a November 28th press release announcing the “’Lost’ APRO Files Now at NUFOHRC.” In what is definitely "a megalodon event" (H/T Dr. Thomas Bullard) the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) holdings have been donated to the National UFO Historical Records Center’s Rio Rancho, New Mexico, headquarters, led by NUFOHRC Executive Director David Marler. Marler remarks "Never in U.S. history has such a vast quantity of UFO records (numbering in the tens of thousands) been centralized in one location." NUFOHRC has become a "gravitational center" for such acquisitions. Now the APRO, NICAP, and CUFOS records are united in one location, and "in the process of being digitized for electronic storage, analyzation, transfer, and ease of access." These and other additions past and future serve the nonprofit NUFOHRC's mission to "Collect, preserve, and provide historical UFO materials to the general public and interested parties." While grousing about the NDAA failure, Billy Cox lauded this acquisition, has NUFOHRC Executive Director Marler explaining the significance and purpose of this collection of paper, microfilm, audio, film and video material, and Billy seconds how these materials can "disclose what we already have in the public sector." A good example of this is “The Farmington, Mew Mexico, UFO Armada Discussed by Eyewitnesses,” a case that has been studied and discussed extensively by David Marler. This Eyes on Cinema video includes some of Dave's visual and audio-visual material. Curtis Segarra notes the National UFO Historical Center’s growth, its plans for physical expansion, and the role benefactors can play in this non-profit effort.This major coup also closely follows upon the unveiling of the new CUFOS website, whose International UFO Reporter, Journal of UFO Studies, and numerous other publications are now freely available there. Note: David Marler is also a CUFOS Board Member and its archivist. Keith Basterfield quickly noticed and enumerates many of the site’s components which make it an indispensable knowledge and research base for the UFO-interested of all levels. Besides the vast collections of primary and free secondary sources Keith details (including important Center book publications), site offerings include Frequently Asked Questions, "So You Want to be a Ufologist?" suggestions, and how to "Report a Sighting" to the organization. The "About Us" drop-down profiles Board Members, Consultants, and "Friends of CUFOS," numbering many of the important leaders in ufology, whose work is routinely reviewed by The Anomalist and therefore here. And we appreciate Curt Collins' placing the Center on his list of “UFO Information and Research – Sources & Sites.” Allowing for Sturgeon's Law, Curt directs the motivated student to a number of other locations, to which we'd add the National UFO Historical Records Center.
That progress is being made in the UFO field by people outside the DoD, IC, and highly-secret governmental and private sectors, as well as everyday individuals comes in Chris O'Brien announcing "citizen scientists" can now play a meaningful role in UFO/UAP tracking, thanks to Chris and others' hard work. Per Chris, “UFODAP [Unidentified Flying Object Data Acquisition Project] is the first and only UFO detection system commercially available and interest in this groundbreaking technology has skyrocketed worldwide with exposure on popular TV programs and documentary films.” Chris explains how this affordable system came to be, what its several versions can record, and how it works. The Center for UFO Studies is HQ for the complementary UFODATA organization, which “creates a cloud database for uploading and subsequent analysis of collected data.”
The Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) held its “Society for UAP Studies First J. Allen Hynek Lecture,” on November 11th, as Canadian poet/scholar Bryan Sentes noted. This was co-hosted by SUAPS Founder and President Dr. Michael C. Cifone and CUFOS President and Scientific Director Dr. Mark Rodeghier. The speaker was Dr. Massimo Teodorani, Long-time proponent of the scientific method towards UAP phenomena. SUAPS Board Member and CUFOS Consultant Dr. Teodorani discussed a wide variety of topics. These included instrumented data collection and results obtainable (with examples from his work on the Hessdalen Project and elsewhere), use of "lessons learned" in future observations, and "The importance of the witness and its possible interaction with the phenomenon."
The new Sol Foundation is garnering much attention, at least in the UFO Community. Keith Basterfield observed on November 13th that "We seem to have reached a 'tipping point' as regards the involvement of academia in UAP studies." The Sol Foundation Initiative for UAP Research and Policy held its invitation-only November 17th-18th event at Stanford University. Its speaker schedule contains Names You Know and topics appropriate to the Foundation's stated scientific mission/purpose. Micah Hanks got an invite, and offers an effusive but clear, comprehensive, engaging, and relatively concise narration of this first Sol Foundation public meeting. The recent "NDAA UFO failure" makes some of Micah's side-conversations and observations especially worth remembering. Lisa M. Krieger's "mainstream media" account centers around Sol Foundation and event co-principal organizer Garry Nolan. But Tanner F. Boyle ponders "the current condition of ufology or whatever the study would be called at this point." He worries about "The Sol Conference, Military and Intelligence Religions," and those last two communities' fingers in the UFO pie. These concerns probably seemed more "alarmist" before the FY 2024 NDAA language was finalized. Jason Colavito tosses some barbs at “Sol’s UFO Campaign Plans.” Jason's comments are in this context rather interesting. And Michael Cifone has two long treatises on the Stanford event containing his personal vicissitudes and expansions on live speakers' points, plus numerous nuggets of insight.
Sources: APRO files Announcement: https://www.facebook.com/100030333023078/posts/1063201268034297/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v; NUFOHRC website: https://nufohrc.org/; Billy Cox on NUFOHRC: https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/rotten-to-its-core; Eyes on Cinema video-Farmington, N.M.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goiRNIFxTPY; Segarra: https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/ufo-document-and-research-collection-growing-in-new-mexico/; CUFOS website: https://cufos.org/; Basterfield article: https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/11/updated-cufos-website.html; Curt Collins list: https://thesaucersthattimeforgot.blogspot.com/2023/11/ufo-information-and-research-sources.html; UFODAP: https://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ufodap-the-future-of-instrumented-ufo-research-is-now/; SUAPS Hynek lecture: https://skunkworksblog.com/2023/11/05/society-for-uap-studies-first-j-allen-hynek-lecture/; topics list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xDfz6qQmWTZEcakkBt7aSKlGT7SVhWkp10NG3vJrr9c/edit; for more on Dr. Teodorani see: https://massimoteodorani.com/; Basterfield on Sol: https://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-upcoming-sol-foundation-symposium.html; Hanks on Sol: https://micahhanks.com/podcast/2023/11/21/11-20-23-the-sol-foundation-academias-cutting-edge-uap-think-tank/; Krieger on Sol: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/11/19/how-a-stanford-professor-aims-to-organize-the-hunt-for-alien-life/; Boyle on Sol: https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/state-of-the-ufonion; Colavito on Sol: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/news-roundup-coultharts-jfk-conspiracies-and-sols-ufo-campaign-plans; Cifone on Sol: https://entaus.blogspot.com/2023/11/rising-sun-in-ufo-firmament-reflections.html; and https://entaus.blogspot.com/2023/12/zenith-final-reflections-on-sol.html.
Avi Loeb endured another attack upon his Papua New Guinea fishing expedition findings and branched out into ancient archaeology. In the first two weeks of November there were rustlings about an October paper published by the American Astronomical Society. Titled “Anthropogenic Coal Ash and a Contaminant in a Micro-meteoric Underwater Search,” Patricio Gallardo’s paper basically says Loeb’s expedition probably found the remnants of a solar system meteor that were subsequently adulterated by human-caused coal ash contamination. This challenges Loeb’s firm claim that his recovered remnants of "Interstellar Meteor 1" (IM1) are of extrasolar origin. And instead of Loeb’s ultimate goal—now somewhat tempered, but the basis for a return to the ocean site he believes contains more spherules and hopefully larger debris that could demonstrate ET technology—Gallardo says the surprising beryllium-lanthanum-uranium (BeLaU) levels were likely caused by that earthly pollution saturating the waters since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Theoretical Ph.D. astrophysicist Ethan Siegel rebutted four key "Loebian" contentions with Gallardo's data, indicating that a "null hypothesis of terrestrial contamination" cannot be rejected, and Ph.D. candidate astrophysicist and accomplished headline alliterationist Yoni Brande asked do these “Fossil Fuels Frustrate Fireball Find?” In a word, “Yep,” says Yoni. Loeb riposted with a kind of “preachy” blog post “New Knowledge Must Be Learned, Not Preached.” The Gallardo paper seems a bit spare. But Loeb’s immediate retort itself seemed long on hyperbole and short on specifics. Loeb has lately been commenting much upon issues relating to the Middle East, but on November 24th he assayed an essay on “Are UAPs [sic] Relics from an Earlier Technological Civilization on Earth?” Here Loeb’s combining UFOs with human prehistory of the potentially oldest kind. His "possibility would overcome the challenges associated with UAPs [sic] arriving on Earth through interstellar travel"; that's true. But that postulate seems to explain one "unknown" with another--something Dr. Thomas Bullard warned this reader against many years (but not eons) ago. And Loeb's own paper with AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick offered a much more "acceptable" scientific explanation for the UFO conundrum. Sensing easy pickings, Jason Colavito seized upon Loeb’s effort, remarking "I think Loeb enjoyed his time on Ancient Aliens too much."
Sources: Gallardo paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad03f9; Siegel article: https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/harvard-astronomer-alien-spherules/; Brande article: https://astrobites.org/2023/11/09/coal-ash-spherules/; Loeb “Relics” article: https://thedebrief.org/are-uaps-relics-from-an-earlier-technological-civilization-on-earth/; Colavito’s counter: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/avi-loeb-embraces-lost-prehistoric-civilization-as-possible-ufo-explanation. Note: In this regard Colavito helpfully mentions Gavin A. Schmidt and Adam Franks’ useful “The Silurian Hypothesis” (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/silurian-hypothesis-would-it-be-possible-to-detect-an-industrial-civilization-in-the-geological-record/77818514AA6907750B8F4339F7C70EC6).
Recent UFO-related reports include “Mystery Booms” and “Hums,” the former sometimes perhaps caused by the Orionid meteor shower, whose “viewing window” ran from September 26th to November 22nd, and the latter, “nighttime hum” by—what? Avi Loeb credits his Galileo Project’s AMOS suite for helping him calculate it was a meteor “about a meter in diameter.” A November 19th “UFO” incursion over the Indian Border State of Manipur’s international airport affected that airfield’s runway and local nerves, but successive Indian Air Force sorties failed to engage it. This rather vividly illustrates how publicly serious UFO events can be, particularly in sensitive geographic areas. But sometimes UFOs and their supposed occupants get drawn into terrible personal tragedies, as covered by KLAS 8NewsNow's Stephanie Overton in “’I Killed That Alien,’ Las Vegas Man Accused if Deadly Shooting Near High School Says.” Pondering such events as these might afford personal reflection and thanks at this time. Several articles bearing upon these events are listed below.
Sources: Booms: https://avi-loeb.medium.com/mystery-sound-of-an-unidentified-anomalous-phenomenon-09d1cb461cd2 (AMOS); https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/15/new-england-boom-sound-october-2023-meteor-ufo-avi-loeb/; https://www.wnct.com/news/north-carolina/mysterious-boom-heard-felt-in-hillsborough-orange-county-authorities-investigating/; https://boingboing.net/2023/11/15/massive-flash-and-boom-recorded-over-minnesota-remains-a-mystery-video.html. Hums: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a45853407/the-hum-what-is-mystery-noise/ -- H/T Anomalist News Editor Chris Savia. Indian airport overflight: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/2-rafale-jets-search-for-unidentified-flying-object-near-imphal-airport-4588652; https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-ufo-sighting-imphal-airport-rafale-jets-b2450811.html; Las Vegas murder: https://news.yahoo.com/killed-alien-las-vegas-man-214406662.html?guccounter=1;
Older UFO-related reports and information: How about going back to 1868? Bill Chalker describes an 1875 Australian account of a sighting/dream seven years prior by a man who recorded a subsequent claimed telepathic contact and another UFO experience. Bill also has an interesting article on an Australian UFO group and a Ross Coulthart presentation where Ross’ distinctions between the approaches of science and journalism are worth considering in this age in which the two have come together—on fronts more than just ufological—as never before. Fast forward to “The Kecksburg, Pennsylvania UFO Recovery 58 Years Ago Today [December 9th] and Still No Answers.” Stan Gordon succinctly recounts the events of that 1965 incident as his investigations running since that time have determined. Stan points out the similarities with apparent government "whitewashing" of UFO crashes at that time and other behaviors now, and requests anyone with information on that classic UFO event to contact him. On “crash-retrievals” and secret government studies thanks to Richard Thieme for the reference to “A Conceptual View of a UAP Reverse Engineering Program.” "Condorman" offers "insight into how a hypothetical UAP recovery and reverse engineering program that began in the late 1940's would have evolved over the last 75 years." This is an amazing creative sci-fi/reality-echoing tour de force "explaining most everything" since WWII. At the very least, a great "read."Kevin Randle offers some “New Documentation for Roswell: The Easley Letter.” UFO Talker’s Michael Ryan analyzes a mid-June 1968 two-night possible Vietnam War naval encounter that cost six lives as well as contention and confusion lasting to the present. This mystery brings back to many of us—especially at this time--powerful memories of those we lost or veterans whose lives were forever changed during that war. Remember also Tanner F. Boyle’s been doing some intriguing articles at Getting Spooked on Indrid Cold and Woody Derenberger, and is starting a new series on Jacques Vallee’s Forbidden Science journals, as published by Anomalist Books.Sources: 1868 “Vision” etc.: http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-1868-ufo-vision-of-frederick.html; UFO Group/Coulthart presentation: http://theozfiles.blogspot.com/2023/11/on-steps-of-magnificent-obsession-ufos.html; Kecksburg: https://www.stangordon.info/wp/2023/12/09/the-kecksburg-pennsylvania-ufo-recovery-58-years-ago-today-and-still-no-answers-december-9-2023/; “Condorman” hypothetical government retrieval/reverse engineering: https://condorman6.substack.com/p/a-conceptual-view-of-a-uap-reverse; Roswell letter: http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2023/11/new-documentation-for-roswell-easley.html; UFO Talker podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2010144/14087420; Boyle articles: https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/that-charming-man-indrid-cold-reconsidered-128; https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/that-charming-man-indrid-cold-reconsidered-c63; https://tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/forbidden-science-dispatches-1.
“Was the Calvine UFO Designed at Los Alamos?” A new look at an older case that’s been much-discussed of late includes witty professor Simon Holland's new explanation for the 1990 photographs of a UFO-Harrier jet confrontation in Scotland. Holland says "People tell me stuff," and this had led him to treating the controversial pictures as genuine and suggesting the object imaged was human-made. We learn something about BAE Systems, V.L.T.A.S. and "aerogel" along the way, and maybe the "goat-farmer in France" is on to something. H/T for this reference to Michael Ryan. But Simon says he’s been puzzling most over the spectacular description of the straight-upwards and nearly instantaneous disappearance of the diamond-shaped object in those photos. Using publicly-available documents, Joshua Bertrand and other UFO-sleuths have produced a challenging theory for much more than that. They explain the 2004 "Tic Tac" and other such mysteries by technology originated as far back as 1930, but now perfected into fully human hush-hush drone craft from multiple countries that are responsible for a good number of UFO sightings. What's more, the motive force just may be the key to--wait for it--Free Energy! This “Aerogel-The Secret Link” second video link presents the basic physics. It leaves some questions not completely resolved, and there's also a conjecture that David Fravor was a kind of "marked man" for a test. Joshua answers questions here and in the hundreds of comments accompanying this and the next, third video. Here it's Prof. Holland's turn to wear the NASA-themed "top" in “Aerogel Drones (Part 2) – Chinese Drone Recovered.” The famous "crash-recovered" and "layered bismuth/magnesium" piece connected with Garry Nolan could be what the Chinese use in their "drone balloons"! And in “Aerogel Drone SUPERPOWER” Holland explains how he believes such drones are employed. We owe these latter leads to Rich Reynolds' “Our Dear Pal Ron Offers Simon Holland’s Interviews with a Fellow “Researcher” about Aerogel “Balloons”—A Possible UAP [sic] Explanation,” which also contains useful observations. (WM)Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C18EuHvuzL0&t=1s; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEFeoRJkgEw; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O76IjyakRtI; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zBC6dke7OM; https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/12/our-dear-pal-ron-offers-simon-hollands.html.
Podcasts reported include: Michael Ryan’s UFO Talker episode “Was It a UFO or Top Secret Aircraft that Crashed in Llanilar, Wales, in 1983?” I’d never heard about this story that’s of course not the famous 1974 Berwyn Mountain “crash.” Some support for this may come from Emma Perry's “UFO Case Dubbed ‘UK’s Roswell’ Blown Open by New Evidence as Expert Reveals How Aliens COULD be Behind Baffling Mystery.” Ryan also did a podcast with Ray Szymanski, about the latter’s time at Wright-Patterson AFB, in which Szymanski announces a UFO symposium to be held on the WP grounds later in 2024. Ray makes this revelation about 39 minutes into the episode. The Paracast has a rather controversial interview with George Wingfield, in which the latter poses a personal “alt-Trinity Crash” midway between the Jacques Vallee/Paola Harris “real deal” and Douglas Dean Johnson (and now a bunch of others accepting Johnson) hoax. He’s also got a new Rendlesham book out that seems to steer between polar opposite camps. Plus, George says Whitley Strieber's late wife, Anne, admitted that Strieber's abduction cases were "all in his head," and he asserts Tony Bragalia is/was two different people! Another Paracast interview with Chris Aubeck concerns two historical books this reader was prompted to purchase. And we ran on November 10th an earlier noteworthy talk by Richard Thieme, thinker, author (Mobius: Out of Time, for instance), professional speaker, confessedly a good friend, and for four decades a ufologist. In “UFOs, Alien Life, and the Least Untruthful Things I Can Say” Richard makes a solid case that the U.S. Government has been concerned about UFOs since World War II, and that current media and public interest in the subject echoes the beginnings of this "modern UFO era." However, all along the United States Government has employed "illusion, misdirection, and ridicule" to "damp down" that wider excitement. To prove his points Richard employs primary sources—including USG—and expert colleague opinions, plus sections from UFOs & Government: A Historical Inquiry (Anomalist Books), a work to which he contributed. A powerfully factual, logical, and personal argument for "What We Do." Back to UFO Talker for a specific reason. Michael Ryan explores another avenue the DoD, NASA, and even The Galileo Project demean in “Two Halifax Policemen Encounter a Black Triangle UFO on Their Nightshift.” Two constables in the 1990s saw something rather "Out of This World"—completely different from the normal commercial and military traffic coursing above Nova Scotia between Europe and North America. The training, intelligence, and character of these public servants shines throughout the interview. Richard’s and Michael’s offerings here powerfully reinforce the importance of witness testimony.Sources: UFO Talker: Wales Crash: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2010144/14013209; https://www.the-sun.com/news/9711931/ufo-crash-wales-roswell-40-years/. UFO Talker: Wright-Pat: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2010144/14046608. Paracast: https://www.theparacast.com/podcast/now-playing-november-12-2023-george-wingfield-with-tim-swartz/; Wingfield Rendlesham book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906069239/theanomalist; Paracast Aubeck: Interview: https://www.theparacast.com/podcast/now-playing-november-26-2023-chris-aubeck-with-tim-swartz/; Aubeck Books: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CJXBM1CZ/theanomalist; https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0BL4VTB4B/theanomalist. Richard Thieme: Mobius Book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1736266357/theanomalist; Richard Thieme: Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWu14-EfucI; UFOs and Government: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933665580/theanomalist. Nova Scotia UFO: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2010144/13923286.
Books, Media: We here note Anomalist news editor Linda Powell's groundbreaking new biography Against the Odds: Major Donald E. Keyhoe and His Battle to End UFO Secrecy, published by Anomalist Books. This 486-page work is the first and likely will remain the standard for Keyhoe's "public and private life before and during his time as the world's best-known UFO advocate." UFO Talker Commentator Christine Scott says: "It's a landmark bio of Donald Keyhoe...He was the first person to be questioning the government and UFOs...a great read." And UFO Talker’s Joy Ryan also reads an excerpt from the book justifying that opinion. Jennie Randles calls Avi Loeb’s Interstellar "potentially a trailblazer." She suggests "the age of the ufologist is coming to an end and the age of UAP investigation by science has begun. That is how it always should have been." American Cosmic author Diana Walsh Pasulka's new book Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligence engenders a The European Conservative Rod Dreher interview with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington professor. But the dialogue ranges well beyond, delving into how Catholic scholar Pasulka's experiences have nuanced her views on rationalism and her own religious faith. Agree or not with certain of her conclusions, this intriguing interchange is an effective "promo" for what will be a controversial book in UFO studies. Not so sure about the Jesse Michels interview “UFOs & Religion: Vatican Reveals Hidden Link (ft. Diana Pasulka).” This article's headline might be a trifle "High and Mighty," and depending upon one's studies of and attitudes toward various belief systems might not please, but Pasulka’s personal journey is a useful case study in itself. Rich Reynolds' take is that “UFOs Have Nothing to Do with Angels or Demons but the UAP Crowd is Pushing for That Exclamation.” While appreciating Pasulka's arguments we'll await further support for her thesis. Jason Colavito's read the promotional copy for Lue Elizondo’s forthcoming book. Jason's hard-skeptical perspective aside, the "promo verbiage" itself for the upcoming tome is very generic and, as Jason makes plain, "uninspiring." Poppy Burton offers an appreciation of artist-experiencer David Huggins’ remarkable work and claims, covered in detail in Farah Yurdozu's Love in an Alien Purgatory: The Life and Fantastic Art of David Huggins, published by Anomalist Books.Garrett M. Graff is everywhere! He's the darling of mainstream media at the moment. Is it because his latest book UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There tries to steer a path midway between outright rejection and abject acceptance of the UFO phenomenon? And possibly because Graff realizes that conundrum is as much a human as it is an "Other" issue? We’ve not been “wowed” by some of the articles reporting incorrect “Graffian” positions like U2 spy plane flights being a "huge percentage of UFO sightings in the 1950s and early 1960s" and Gerald Ford as representing "a district in Michigan that had a spate of sightings in the late 1960s." They do not inspire confidence in the depth of the reading behind this book, though in some interviews Graff has come off rather well. Graff's Politico piece “We Have a UFO Problem. What We Don’t Have (Yet) Is a Serious Answer” repeats many ufological "truisms" but is a strong, almost lyrical call for open-mindedness on the subject. In Vanity Fair's “Why UFOs Freak Out the Government” Graff emphasizes that human component: "But mostly, this is actually a story about us. Mostly, this is a story about humans and US politics and geopolitics" and "Where do we fit in the universe?" Perhaps Graff's treatment epitomizes one view of current goings on with UFOs and Government: "Not what we'd prefer, but the best we realistically could expect." The new book gets no less than a Wall Street Journal review by James B. Meigs in “‘UFO’ Review: Outer Space, the Inside Story.” What Keith Basterfield has called "celebrity researchers" Meigs includes in "the motley clan of independent UFO investigators." (H/T Rob Swiatek for the WSJ reference.) So what are we to make of this article: “I’ve Seen Evidence an RAF Jet Opened Fire on a UFO over Syria…We’re Not Being Told the Whole Truth, Claims Investigator”? Perhaps some accuracy in both articles? And “NUB TV Launches New Channel to Reveal the Truth about UFOs,” per Celebretainment. And it's not just UFOs, but looks like All Things Paranormal Considered!! But ogling the image and reading further...perhaps we'll have to wait for the product itself to decide. Which brings up Rich Reynolds' worry that “For UFO [UAP] Information, We Have No Credible or Central Source to Obtain It.” We’ve already mentioned Curt Collins’ list of good sources, might differ with a few names on Rich's "fame-seekers" list in this article, but seems many of those last may be on "NUB TV's" want list. And Rich's point that "it will be the UFO events that resonate" is generally accurate.
Sources: Against the Odds: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1949501329/theanomalist; UFO Talker on Powell book: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2010144/14087420; Randles Magonia review: https://pelicanist.blogspot.com/2023/11/seeing-us-seeing-them.html; Interstellar book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006325087X/theanomalist; Pasulka book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1250879566/theanomalist; Pasulka/Dreher interview: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/dreher/ufos-and-aliens-are-probably-not-what-you-think-an-interview-with-diana-walsh-pasulka/; Pasulka/Michels interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS_64sTN5AU; Rich Reynolds response to that interview: https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/12/ufos-have-nothing-to-do-with-angels-or.html; Colavito on Elizondo “promo”: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/promotional-copy-for-lue-elizondo-memoir-offers-little-that-is-new-or-substantive; Burton on Huggins: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/artist-lost-virginity-extra-terrestrial/; Farah Yurdozu’s Huggins book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933665432/theanomalist. Garrett M. Graff book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1982196777/theanomalist; Graff in Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/16/us-government-ufos-military-00127376; Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/why-ufos-freak-out-the-government; Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ufo-review-outer-space-the-inside-story-47e8f94f; UFO over Syria claim: https://www.the-sun.com/news/9624789/evidence-raf-jet-ufo-syria-investigation/; NUB TV: https://themercury.com/lifestyles/entertainment/nub-tv-launches-new-channel-to-reveal-the-truth-about-ufos/article_7fc9078f-63e0-5e71-875f-56c43c50553d.html; Rich Reynolds on “No Credible Source”: https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/11/for-ufo-uap-information-we-have-no.html.
ET Life has been covered by Anomalist News Editor Chris Savia in numerous great articles, as the urls. will attest: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/9590657/where-astronomers-will-find-alien-life-decade/; https://www.space.com/searth-extraterrestrial-life-major-funding-boost-seti; https://www.iflscience.com/earth-was-much-more-detectable-to-aliens-during-the-jurassic-era-71454; https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/11/is-earth-experimental-laboratory.html; https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/11/25/aliens-uaps-scientific-evidence/; https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/are-aliens-real-evidence-contact-ufos-1234885613/; https://www.iflscience.com/it-may-take-400000-years-to-connect-with-alien-civilizations-scientists-say-71721; https://710wor.iheart.com/content/2023-11-28-is-there-alien-life-out-there-one-astronomer-says-theyve-been-here/; https://theconversation.com/seti-how-were-searching-for-alien-life-at-previously-unexplored-frequencies-218506; https://mindmatters.ai/2023/12/the-search-for-et-should-quit-claiming-earth-is-not-special/. Note the sources as well as the titles!
Our coverage since early November includes, of course, another (sort of) appearance of “Maussan’s Mummies” somehow brought into Mexico and recently displayed before the lower House of the Mexican Congress. On November 7th Reuters’ Cassandra Garrison reported the Mexican Congress had a second session, not with the controversial corpses, but with "a string of doctors [our emphasis] who all said the bodies were those of real, once-living organisms." It gets even weirder, too. Anthropologist Roger Zuniga said five similar [our emphasis] specimens were "real," but other claimant corpse "specimens were probably fake." The Associated Press noted that “Less than three weeks after Category 5 Hurricane Otis devastated Acapulco, a port of nearly 1 million people, the Chamber of Deputies spent more than three hours listening to journalist José Jaime Maussan and his group of Peruvian doctors.” One thing struck this reader: "Wawita" (Quechua for “little child”) in the number "1 of 4" screenshot has a cranium looking a lot more "human" than the threesome arrayed partially next to it and in full on the following slide. It would be interesting to learn what was revealed about that "little child." The December 1st U.S. Sun has it that Maussan apparently is back with more "information" on those two "Peruvian mummies." Now nearly a third of the mummies' DNA is claimed "not from any known species." Thus per reporter Juliana Cruz Luna, herself adding "But the remaining 70 percent has not yet been revealed." (And, coincidentally, is that a 44-years-younger Jaime Maussan doing interviews on an earlier controversy in the Eyes on Cinema video linked at Rich Reynolds' “USSR Space Probe Phobos II Photographed UFO near Martian Moon before Losing Radio Contact, 1989”?) We go to a similar “corpse claim” we thought had been laid to rest, as a “UFO Hunter Who Has Studied ‘Alien’ Mummy for Over a Decade Claims Remains Are an Ancient Species of Tiny, Cave-Dwelling Human.” Yep, it's little Ata, whom Garry Nolan and others had in April 2018 identified as a female child afflicted by multiple deleterious genetic mutations. That description was challenged by a September 2018 medical study concluding the "Atacama Alien" had "an ordinary, perfectly normal fetal skeleton." And Ata-owner Ramon Navia-Osorio Villar now claims Ata was part of an extinct Earth-originated population co-existing with the Andean Aymara at the time of the European Middle Ages. But all here concerned (versus ET-promoter Dr. Steven Greer) would claim "I'm not saying it's alien--because it's not alien."
Sources: Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-congress-holds-second-ufo-session-featuring-peruvian-mummies-2023-11-08/ ; AP: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-congress-extraterrestrials-peru-6deca7b00ff500225a2f58b6b9bdb325; Juliana Cruz Luna article: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/9761214/alien-mummies-peru-mexico-ufo-jaime-maussan/ ; An “Early Maussan”: https://ufoconjectures.blogspot.com/2023/12/ussr-space-probe-phobos-ii-photographed.html; “Atacama Alien”: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12735651/alien-mummy-Chile-Atacama-skeleton-remains-ancient-species-tiny-cave-dwelling-human-Maussan.html.
Fun, Miscellaneous, and/or Downright Weird: Coast to Coast reports that a “Man Claims UFO Sighting Featured on New Canadian Coin Was an Accidental Hoax.” The Royal Canadian Mint chose to feature the New Year’s Day 1970 British Columbia event as its sixth of an “Unexplained Phenomena” series. That’s included the 1967 Shag Harbour and Falcon Lake cases. Now Dan Hughes' tale conveniently lays the "blames" on two deceased folks and/or the apparently confused witnesses—if it's believed. Others have noted how odd it would be were the multiple witnesses, who saw the glowing object up close and one even reported two figures inside, fooled by a wooden cross with candles on each side and a dry-cleaning bag inflated by hot air draped over it. And what would the Royal Canadian Mint do now, if the revision were accepted? Next: how about “A Short History of the ‘Ancient Aliens’ Meme”? Kahron Spearman's article is not only entertaining, but the “Know Your Meme: Ancient Aliens” piece it references is an absolute scream. More frightening screams in Peru come from the Ikitu People supposedly besieged by “Seven-foot-tall-face-peeling Aliens” whose identity we’ve hoped for some time would be solved.Olivia Allhusen well-sketches the basics of an onsite investigation. However, the referenced “Peru Alien Attack Expedition Report” says nothing about the villagers being trained to use assault rifles; indeed the lack of dependable firepower for the people of San Antonio de Pintuyacu is marked, as are other deficiencies in their support. Non-invested viewers may have some issues with that video which seems a bit “Indiana Jones-ish.” This reviewer felt it literally "brought home" the apparent plight of these people, whatever the eventual resolution to this mystery. Could Anthony Bragalia be right that a “Discovery of Strange Form of Atmospheric Life May Explain Some UFOs?” Before one says "Nope!" to the resurrection of Trevor James Constable's "Sky Creatures," mark Anthony's review of his "Flying Plasmoids." And forget all the philosophizing and psychologizing and world-altering stuff; how about being “At the ‘UFO Capital of Kansas,’ a Celebration of the Weird and Wonderful”? Max McCoy's article is thoughtful and focused more upon the career of a local eccentric who left Geneseo an interesting UFO museum. But it also has us wondering just how many states still lack at least one "UFO Capital"!
Sources: BC “Hoax”: https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/man-claims-ufo-sighting-featured-on-new-canadian-coin-was-an-accidental-hoax/; “AA” meme history: https://www.dailydot.com/news/aliens-meme/; Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ancient-aliens; Peruvian Ikitu People attacks: https://www.the-sun.com/news/9663290/peru-village-terrorised-face-peeling-aliens-mystery/; Peru Alien Attack report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpCxDqvT7lg; Bragalia “Plasmoids” theory: https://www.ufoexplorations.com/; Kansas celebration: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/10/29/at-the-ufo-capital-of-kansas-a-celebration-of-the-weird-and-wonderful/.
Thanks to veteran researcher Douglas Dean Johnson for helpful advice. If readers have suggestions that might make these reports more useful, such would be appreciated. It is hoped that another shorter in compass and length report will be made soon after year’s close, and future reports will comprise a calendar month.