NATURE OF THE ALIEN : ET's, DEMONS OR GOV'T PLOT? : PT 13
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : June 23, 2007
Major Donald Keyhoe's Views On Aliens, Skeptic To Believer,
Keyhoe Exposes US Government News Blackout Regarding UFO's,
General Nathan Twining's UFO Memo To Pentagon, Not All UFO's
Are Astronomical Objects - Dr. Gerhard Kulper, General James
Doolittle And UFO Recovery, Admiral Delmer Fahrney On UFO's,
Maj. Robert White's UFO Encounter, Capt Thomas Mantell's UFO
Skyhook Balloon Story, Real UFO's Or Military Black Projects
In spite of the high level of disbelief expressed by Project
Blue Book and other US Government-sanctioned UFO researchers,
as we discussed earlier, there have been, and still are, some
individuals who have been associated with the U.S. military,
or other government bodies, who have been willing to step to
the plate, and declare that not only do they believe that it
is within reason to accept that intelligent life may exist in
other parts of our Universe, but also, that some of the more
advanced life forms may have already visited the Earth in the
past, or even in our current day.
On November 29, 1957, a news article appeared in the Casper
Morning Star. Entitled "Space Travel May Answer Saucers",
and written by Douglas Larsen, the article dealt with the
issue of how some NICAP officials, including Major Keyhoe,
believed that man's plunge into Outer Space would help to
answer some of the questions regarding the origin of UFO's.
Concerning his personal belief in intelligent life beyond
our planet, and UFO's visiting the Earth, Major Keyhoe was
quoted as saying:
----- Begin Quotes -----
"Russia and the U.S. have announced they are definitely
planning several space machines. So it's quite possible that
the first space ships or satellites may encounter other
interplanetary machines, manned or otherwise. Our space
devices may even be closely approached by such alien
machines."
"If this happens, our space devices could be equipped to
attempt automatic communication, by light or signals, or by
radio, when near UFOs. Any answer would be automatically
relayed to earth, and direct communication could then be
established from earth stations by remote control of the
communication systems."
"Since the U.S. and the Russians are planning moon bases,
it is not impossible that a race from some other planet
could already have set up such an operation base on the
moon."
----- End Quotes -----
The full weight of the previous quotes can only be understood
when one realizes that at one time, Keyhoe had been a sound
UFO skeptic. However, the mountains of credible, UFO-related
information to which he had access at NICAP, as well as the
countless UFO interviews he had conducted, made a believer
out of him. In fact, not only did Keyhoe become convinced of
the extraterrestrial origin of some UFO's, but he also came
to the conclusion that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
was primarily responsible for the UFO cover-up.
During that period of his life, Keyhoe was a regular writer
for "TRUE" magazine. In a 1967 article entitled "Down Down
Down With Censorship", he explained how he went from being a
UFO skeptic, to becoming a UFO believer. In his own words he
writes:
----- Begin Quotes -----
". . . let me tell you a little about myself and the basis
on which I ask your credence. I am a graduate of the U.S.
Naval Academy at Annapolis. Before and during World War II I
was a flying officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. My whole life
has been involved with aircraft, either flying them or
writing about them. I mention this to show that I'm in a
position to assess the facts when a pilot tells me about
something he has seen in the air. I'm familiar with mirages,
sundogs and other optical phenomena encountered by pilots,
and I know which optical illusions fool you and which don't,
and when."
"After the war I became a writer on technical aspects of
aviation. One day I was approached by the editor of TRUE. He
wanted me to investigate the so-called flying saucers that
were just then beginning to get into the news. Frankly, I was
skeptical. Flying saucers were just illusions, I thought. I
investigated anyway, out of curiosity. And after talking to
scores of people who had sighted UFO's - government officials,
pilots, scientists - I came away convinced that UFO's are in
truth what they seem to be: visitors from somewhere else in
the universe. I was so thoroughly convinced, that I became
director of an organization called NICAP, the National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, whose sole
purpose is to get to the bottom of the UFO mystery."
"The truth is, there is no longer any reasonable doubt that
alien spacecraft are visiting the earth. The statement may
sound startling at first, but when you think about it, it
actually becomes quite mundane. It is not much more startling
than the statement that, if you stand on a street corner,
sooner or later somebody will pass by."
"It would be arrogant of us to suppose that we are the only
intelligent beings in the galaxy, and just as arrogant to
think that we are the first to develop space travel.
Civilizations far older than ours may have orbited their
first satellites when human-kind was just learning to light
fires. Such a civilization would eventually send its
astronauts out to explore nearby space, and if they found a
planet that harbored intelligent life - a planet such as our
own - they would undoubtedly hang around and study it at
length."
----- End Quotes -----
In that same article, Major Keyhoe also explained how the US
Government resorts to ridicule, intimidation, and if it deems
it necessary, a complete news blackout when all else fails.
Following are a few portions of said article. You can find
the article in its entirety by searching the Web. It is quite
an astounding piece of work:
----- Begin Quotes -----
". . . in the past three years, unknown to the general
public, there has been a tremendous new wave of incidents in
which unidentified flying objects (UFO's) have been sighted
around the world, often near rocket test ranges, satellite
orbital pathways and airfields. The U.S. Government has been
aware throughout that time that enigmatic alien craft of
some kind are watching our outer-space operations. The new
wave of UFO appearances fully matches in magnitude the great
"flying saucer" scare of the late 1940's and early 1950's,
when it wasn't unusual for dozens of UFO sightings to be
reported in a single week. UFO activity slowed down somewhat
in the late 1950's. But now, suddenly, the UFO's are back -
their numbers greater, their origin as obscure, their
purpose as unfathomable as ever before."
"You haven't heard or read anything about this great new
wave. No. Back in the early 1950's the Air Force, charged
with investigating UFO's, adopted the posture of "debunking"
flying-saucer stories and ridiculing anybody who claimed to
have seen an alien craft. Now the tactic has changed. The
tactic is total suppression of news. By a strict Air Force
order, entitled AFR 200-2, Air Force personnel are forbidden
to talk in public about UFO sightings, and information about
UFO's is to be withheld from the press unless the thing seen
"has been positively identified as a familiar or known
object." The U.S. government can also exert indirect pressure
on employees of companies working in missile projects, on
airline pilots, and on others subject to some measure of
government control. Result: news blackout."
"Why the blackout? I can only guess. Perhaps the government
knows something so startling that it fears the public would
be panicked. Perhaps the Air Force is afraid that the public,
fed too many UFO stories, might come to believe UFO's are
unbeatable new Russian war weapons. Maybe the Air Force now
regrets a long-ago decision to hide the true nature of UFO's,
but fears that to admit the long cover-up would bring on a
storm of public anger."
"I don't know what the Air Force's motives are. But I do know
- I know beyond any possibility of doubt - that a great new
wave of UFO's has arrived to patrol our skies and our space
neighborhood. I don't know any more about these inexplicable
craft than anybody else. I know only that they are under
intelligent control and appear to have been produced by some
technology more advanced than our own. They are real. Whether
the Air Force admits it or not, they are definitely, patently,
inescapably here."
----- End Quotes -----
Allow me to remind you again that the previous remarks aren't
the ravings of a madman, or of some questionable UFO fringe
lunatic. They were made by a man who held a high position in
the U.S. Government, and who was respected by many people. He
was an educated, disciplined man, not given to fancy. Surely
Keyhoe was capable of distinguishing fact from fantasy; and
given his military background, he knew how to differentiate
between one aircraft and another. He also knew which were of
Earthly origin, and which were not.
Another example is General Nathan F. Twining. Following his
WW II service time in the South Pacific and Europe, Twining
served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, and later
as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the mid
to late 1950's. On September 23, 1947, at the request of Gen.
George Schulgen, who was then the Assistant Chief of Staff
for Air Intelligence, Twining is said to have sent a secret
memo to Pentagon officials. It's alleged that the memorandum
dealt with the UFO waves which had occurred from May to July
of that year, including the Kenneth Arnold sightings in June
near Mt. Rainier in southern Washington State, as well as
the now-famous Roswell crash incident. In that memo, Twining
stated in part:
----- Begin Quote -----
"This 'flying saucer' situation is not at all imaginary or
seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is
really flying around . . . The phenomenon is something real
and not visionary or fictitious."
----- End Quote -----
One man who apparently agreed with General Twining was Dr.
Gerhard Kulper, who in 1947 was the director of the Yerkes
Observatory, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA. In a
United Press article published on June 6th of that same
year, Kulper refuted the idea that all UFO's were natural
phenomena. He stated:
----- Begin Quote -----
"The description of their flight suggests radio-control . . .
If these things are real and not imagined, they must be man
made. There is absolutely no correspondence between the
descriptions given by any astronomical body, such as a
meteor."
----- End Quote -----
In that same memo, General Twining described how the flying
discs were large, metallic objects. He went on to explain
that they exhibited high maneuverability, were evasive, that
they flew in formation, and that they were capable of
extreme rates of climb.
General Twining was not the only American general to have a
keen interest in the UFO phenomenon. Another one was General
James "Jimmy" Doolittle, who served in the United States Army
Air Forces during World War II, and was rewarded the Medal of
Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Doolittle tested a
number of American aircraft, and is regarded as a pioneer of
the American aviation program. However, what many people may
not know, is that he had a direct hand in the investigation
of downed UFO's.
As we have already seen, the year 1947 was a very important
year insofar as UFOlogy in America is concerned; but strange
UFO-related events were happening outside of the US as well.
One such event occurred in Spitzbergen, Sweden. In May of
1947, journalist Dorothy Kilgallen reported that scientists
and airmen from Great Britain were excavating the wreckage
of a mysterious flying ship. According to the story, which
appeared in the American news media for only one day before
it mysteriously disappeared from public view, the Swedish
military acknowledged that the craft was of extraterrestrial
origin. Furthermore, seventeen bodies are alleged to have
been recovered from the crash site.
So what does General Doolittle have to do with this event?
Quite simply, it is said that Doolittle was sent by the U.S.
Government to examine the crashed flying disc. Although I
don't know the source, on one occasion, General Doolittle is
also alleged to have said:
----- Begin Quote -----
"Germany may have recovered a flying saucer as early as
1939."
----- End Quote -----
Another important American military figure who publicly
spoke about the UFO phenomenon was United States Navy Rear
Admiral Delmer S. Fahrney. In addition to serving as the
head of the Navy's guided missile program, Fahrney was also
one of the original members of the Board of Directors for
NICAP. In an article published in the New York Times on
January 16, 1957, Fahrney shared his views concerning the
unearthly speed and maneuverability of UFO's. He stated in
part:
----- Begin Quotes -----
". . . no aircraft, neither in the United States, either in
the Soviet Union, is currently able to achieve the speed
attributed to these objects from the radars and from the
observatories. These objects appear to be driven by an
intelligence the way in which they fly. According to reports
from scientists and technical personnel, these objects fly
in formation and finish maneuvers that seem to point out
that [they] are not completely driven from an automatic
equipment. These objects are in incontestable mode the
result of long investigations and highly technological and
exceptional knowledge."
"No agency in this country or Russia is able to duplicate at
this time the speeds and accelerations which radars and
observers indicate these flying objects are able to
achieve."
". . . there are objects coming into our atmosphere at very
high speeds."
----- End Quotes -----
Another highly credible statement comes from Air Force Major
Robert White. On July 17, 1962, as White conducted a test of
the X-15, a high-speed research aircraft which deployed from
Edwards Air Force Base, he had an amazing encounter with a
UFO. At an altitude of fifty-eight miles, he exclaimed over
his radio "There ARE things out there! There absolutely is!".
Later, when questioned about his experience, White added, "I
have no idea what it could be. It was grayish in color and
about thirty to forty feet away."
One enigmatic, and highly controversial, incident which has
stood out over the last six decades, occurred on January 7,
1948, and involved Kentucky Air National Guard fighter pilot
Captain Thomas F. Mantell. On that particular afternoon, an
unusual object was spotted not far from the Godman Army Air
Field, located near Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA. The object was
observed by literally dozens of people in the surrounding
region, both civilian and military alike, as it followed a
southerly course. Absolutely no one was able to identify the
slow-moving object; not even the base commander, Colonel Guy
F. Hix, who later said "It was very white and looked like an
umbrella . . . I thought it was a celestial body but I can't
account for the fact it didn't move . . . I just don't know
what it was".
According to a statement by T Sgt. Quinton Blackwell, who was
the Chief Operator in the Godman Control Tower at that time,
military and state police had informed him that the UFO was
"a large circular object from 250 to 300 ft in diameter". In
another signed statement, Captain Gary W. Carter, who was the
Operations Operator, described the object as being "round and
white (whiter than the clouds that passed in front of it) and
could be seen through cirrus clouds". In yet another signed
testimony, Lt. Paul I. Orner, who was likewise in the Control
Tower, stated that he "saw a small white object in the south-
west sky. This object appeared stationary. I was unable to
tell if it was an object radiating its own light or giving
off reflected light. Through binoculars it partially appeared
as a parachute does with bright sun shining on the top of the
silk, but there also seemed to be some red light around the
lower [part] of it."
At the time that this event occurred, Capt. Thomas F. Mantell
was leading four F-51 Mustang fighter jets from Marietta Air
Base, (located in Marietta, Georgia), to Standiford Field at
Louisville, Kentucky. They were flying at a standard ferrying
altitude. As they approached the Godman Army Air Field, they
were contacted by its control tower, and a request was made
to investigate the unusual object, and Mantell and his crew
obliged.
While three pilots were eventually forced to discontinue the
pursuit after about half an hour somewhere between 15,000
and 22,000 feet, Mantell was determined to get a closer look
at the strange object; even though he didn't have an oxygen
mask on board, which, according to military regulations, he
was required to use after passing the 14,000 feet elevation
mark.
According to newspaper reports published at that time, and
in later years, as well as information later released by the
military, Mantell made these comments as he chased after the
luminous object. The exact words of his radio communications
are debatable, being as, according to the military, no actual
record was kept of Mantell's transmissions, and at times, his
transmissions were garbled:
----- Begin Quotes -----
"The object is directly ahead of and above me now and appears
to be moving at about half my speed or faster . . . It seems
made out of metal and terribly large . . . it makes me think
of the reflection of the sun on the transparent canopy of an
airplane . . . it is shining and going up above me . . . I'm
trying to close in for a better look. It looks metallic and
of tremendous size. It's getting up now as fast as I am;
that's 350 miles an hour. I'm going up after it. At 20,000
feet if I'm no closer, I'll abandon chase."
----- End Quotes -----
The previous radio transmissions were the last time that the
control tower at Godman Army Air Field heard from Mantell.
When last seen alive, Captain Mantell was still climbing in
his jet, in pursuit of the UFO. Approximately five minutes
later, at about 3:15 PM, all radio communications ceased,
and visual contact with Capt. Mantell was also lost. Almost
two hours later, the wreckage of Mantell's fighter jet was
located, scattered over a half mile area, on a farm located
near Franklin, Kentucky. Mantell's body was still inside the
cockpit. Time of death was placed at 3:18 PM, based on the
time showing on his watch.
Without delving into all of the details concerning how the
military arrived at it final conclusions regarding the UFO
incident at Godman Army Air Field, let me just say, that in
typical military fashion, the accident report released by
the Army Air Forces appeared to be truthful in some regards,
but intentionally deceptive in others. For example, Captain
Mantell's death was attributed to his loss of consciousness
due to oxygen depletion, or anoxia, at approximately 25,000
feet in altitude. It is believed that his F-51 eventually
leveled off at about 30,000 feet, and then began a spiral
dive. It began to break up, and exploded, before it hit the
ground.
While these details seem quite reasonable, the part of the
report which dealt with the UFO, is what we should call into
question; particularly because of the way that the military
flip-flopped in its response. Let me remind you again that,
similar to the Roswell case, and other UFO incidents we have
been discussing, many of the witnesses to the Mantell event
were trained, professional individuals; in fact, military
personnel.
Having stated that, initially, military officials attempted
to sell the story to the general public that the object had
been the planet Venus. In fact, they tried this approach
several times. However, considering that the object had been
described as being metallic, 250 to 300 feet in diameter, and
increasing its speed to at least 350 miles per hour, it does
not seem likely that it was the planet Venus. For the very
same reasons, it could not have been a weather balloon. At
that time, a typical weather balloon's diameter was fifteen
to twenty feet, and trained military personnel would surely
know this. Furthermore, weather balloons don't move at 350
miles per hour. That is considerably faster that the most
ferocious hurricane force winds. As Major Donald E. Keyhoe
stated in his 1950 book, "The Flying Saucers Are Real":
----- Begin Quote -----
"The fast flight from Madisonville, the abrupt stop and
hour-long hovering at Godman Field, the quick bursts of speed
Mantell reported make it impossible. To fly the 90 miles from
Madisonville to Fort Knox in thirty minutes, a balloon would
require a wind of 180 m.p.h. After traveling at this
hurricane speed, it would them have had to come to a dead
stop above Godman Field. As the P-51's (sic) approached, it
would have had to speed up again to 180, then to more than
360 to keep ahead of Mantell."
----- End Quote -----
Ultimately, although it was not fully accepted by Ruppelt,
Keyhoe and others due to a lack of solid evidence, the Army
Air Force settled upon the idea that what Captain Mantell
had pursued that afternoon, was a Skyhook research balloon.
These balloons were used by the United States Navy Office of
Naval Research during the late 1940's to conduct very high
altitude experiments, because they were durable, and could
exceed altitudes of 100,000 feet. In fact, during 1948, they
were conducting research involving cosmic rays, among other
things. These balloons, which were launched from the Clinton
County Army Air Field in Ohio, were said to be approximately
seventy-three feet in diameter; and a little more than one
hundred feet in height. This may possibly explain why PFC
Stanley Oliver, who was on duty in the Control Tower that
afternoon, described the object as being like "an ice cream
cone topped with red".
For his part, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who, as you will recall,
was also associated with Project Blue Book, dismissed the
idea that Captain Mantell had mistaken the planet Venus for
a UFO. However, he did support the suggestion that it may
have been a Skyhook balloon. He stated:
----- Begin Quote -----
"It is possible that Venus was also a cause to this
sighting, and was observed by some of the witnesses on the
ground. However, the prime culprit is believed to have been
the Skyhook balloon released by the Navy. Captain Mantell
was attempting to close in on this balloon which was still
more than 40,000 feet above him."
------ End Quote -----
Another piece of the Mantell puzzle comes from Charles Moore.
A Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Physics at the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology, back in the 1940's, Moore
was the engineer in charge of the Navy's Project Skyhook. He
claims that he assisted in the preparation, launch and track-
ing of a Skyhook balloon, which lifted off from Camp Ripley
in Minnesota on January 6, 1948. Moore is certain that this
is the object that Captain Mantell pursued the following day.
In discussing the Mantell case, Moore stated:
----- Begin Quote -----
"It was a cosmic-ray balloon that carried a cloud chamber
designed to test high-energy particles that come in from
outside our atmosphere. It was not metallic. It was
polyethylene, like a garment-cleaning bag, about one one-
thousandth of an inch thick. But if you were at the right
angle relative to the sun, it could have appeared metallic.
Otto Winnzen (the project chief) essentially tracked the
balloon by reports of an unidentified object. He was quite
sure that the sighting over Godman field, Ky., was the
balloon."
"The Navy was not at all interested in having the idea put
out at the time that the flight that caused Captain
Mantell's death was a result of one of their experiments,
but we strongly believed it was so. My memory is that I was
cautioned by local Navy officers involved with the project
not to say anything about it. I deeply regret that someone
got killed; and I have a deep feeling against cover-ups. I'd
like to see my history correct."
----- End Quote -----
So is this what Mantell chased on January 7, 1948? Possibly
so, but not everyone is fully convinced, including Mantell's
wife and oldest son, Thomas Mantell III. On one occasion, he
stated:
----- Begin Quote -----
"The cover-up is the big thing. They were very vague with my
mom. She, like me, believed that he was too good a pilot to
have gone too high and blacked out from lack of oxygen. He'd
flown too many missions without oxygen, and he knew his
capabilities. I would really like to know the real cause of
the crash. That's what befuddles me more than anything."
----- End Quote -----
Personally, given the size of the mysterious object, which,
according to multiple witnesses, must have been two to three
times the size of a Skyhook balloon, plus the actual speed
of the object, as clearly stated in Mantell's transmissions,
and the fact that the object appeared to stop and start, and
make abrupt speed changes, I still have doubts regarding the
Skyhook balloon story. However, not being educated in these
matters, I will willingly admit that I could be wrong. In
the end, I guess we will never know with one hundred per
cent certainty what happened that day in January of 1948.
Over the decades it seems that a considerable number of UFO's
have appeared on, above, or near American military bases. In
light of this fact, we must ask ourselves: Is this because
the occupants of these unusual crafts possess a keen interest
in monitoring the progress of technology within the various
branches of the U.S. military? Or, is this close association
between military bases and UFO's clear proof that at least
some UFO's are not alien crafts at all, but rather secret
Black Projects being developed and tested on those very same
bases?
Please go to part fourteen for the continuation of this
series.
[ Click Me ] Go To Part Fourteen . . .