Monday, December 1, 2008

Online Psychic Spying

I recently wrote an article for issue 29 of Britain's Paranormal Magazine on the subject of so-called Remote-Viewing and the secret files on the subject that have been generated over the years by the governments, military, and intelligence communities of the former Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. Extracts from the article have just been posted online at the magazine's website, and can be found right here.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

007 & 666

As many of you who take an interest in the controversial world of official secrecy will know, the National Archive, London, is home to a not inconsiderable amount of wartime files on the activities of the infamous Rudolf Hess. In addition, a number of documents held at the Archive also focus upon official interest in the occult, witchcraft, and other matters of a similar nature.

And, with that in mind, I figured this was an ideal time to bring to your attention an article, titled 007 and 666: A True Tale of Spies and Sorcery, written by a good friend of mine, Micah Hanks.

As Micah says:

"A while back, I had begun working on an article that dealt with some of the more extraordinary (and in some cases, even paranormal) aspects of James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s career with British Intelligence Services during World War II. As most who have read the novels or studied James Bond’s history otherwise may know, many of Fleming’s experiences in real life later inspired the adventures of the world’s most famous secret agent. The article, however, was never published; therefore, I felt it was perhaps a good time, along with the release of Quantum of Solace in theaters, to present for the first time my original tribute to the 007’s classy creator. As the name implies, the following article, 007 and 666: A True Tale of Spies and Sorcery, is indeed based on real events that lead to the capture of the infamous Nazi Rudolph Hess. With a cast of characters that includes Maxwell Knight (then Fleming’s superior officer in MI5), the notorious Aleister Crowley, and Fleming himself, it is by far one of the oddest tales ever to stem from the annals of history."

And to read the rest of Micah's first-class piece, click right here.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Lightning Secrets

The new issue of Fortean Times magazine includes an article from me on secret files and research undertaken by the U.S. military since the 1940s to try and control - and utilize as a weapon - ball-lightning. As I point out in the article, there is little doubt that at least some UFO incidents can be traced back to these clandestine operations.

Secret UFO Files

Yet more stories on the newly-surfaced British Ministry of Defense's UFO files:

Secret files reveal Tyneside UFO sightings - ChronicleLive
Hemsworth driver's UFO encounter - Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express
Crop circle and UFO reports released - This is Wiltshire.co.uk
North Yorkshire UFO files released - The Press, York

Monday, October 20, 2008

UK UFO Files: More

On the issue of the British Ministry of Defense's newly-surfaced UFO files, my good friend Micah Hanks has the following to say:

"With news breaking today of a 4500 page document being released by Ministry of Defense officials in the UK regarding UFOs, my inbox was swarmed with emails this morning regarding how this might further affect Ufology.

"After looking at the news all morning, as well as considering that this year appears to be a landmark in the number of recorded UFO sightings not only in England but perhaps worldwide, such information may do just what folks are hoping, by leading to new avenues in the future of disclosure.

"Among those who were issuing reports this morning were Dakota Waddell of the 1917 Revolution blog, who sent me a link to the CNN Europe page describing a variety of curious public encounters described within the body of the MOD document in question. Shortly afterward, I also got a link from UFO and Fortean researcher Nick Redfern disclosing a complete list of news stories involving the release of this information at his Strange Secrets Blog.

"What I found to be one of the most striking stories disclosed in the MOD document involves an incident that occurred in 1957 where Milton Torres, a RAF Pilot stationed in Europe near Norwich, was instructed to shoot down a gigantic UFO the size of an airliner. Torres was ordered to shoot a full salvo of24 rockets at the object—an action which he recognized as 'the sort of thing that happened before a war'—and approaching the bogey at nearly 700 mph, he was shocked to see the large object depart at speeds clocked at nearly 10,000 mph. 'I think it was an alien spacecraft. It had a propulsion system that was beyond us - either magnetism or anti-gravity,' Torres said of the object."

Click here for the rest of Micah's post.

UK-UFO Secrets

As the British Ministry of Defense declassifies its latest batch of UFO files, the media goes into overdrive:

Pilot's 'UFO encounter' - Mirror.co.uk
US pilot told to shoot down UFO - The Age
Declassified UFO Files Reveal Military Engagement, Near-Collision - Gizmodo.com
Passenger jet's near-miss with UFO above Kent - Independent
Pilot's close encounter with UFO over Kent - Mirror.co.uk
MoD reveals real life UFO files - Glasgow Daily Record
US pilot was ordered to shoot down UFO - Reuters South Africa
MoD bans crop circle photos over UFO fears
County UFO sighting comes to light - Shropshire Star
UFO files reveal A272 sighting
New reports: Jet had near miss with UFO - East Anglian Daily Times
UFO sightings online: British archives released - International Herald Tribune

Monday, September 29, 2008

ESP Files

The new issue of Britain's Paranormal Magazine includes a feature from me on the subject of official interest in the fields of ESP, psychic phenomena and Remote-Viewing. The article uses declassified files from the archives of the FBI, CIA and British Ministry of Defense to tell the whole strange saga.

Monday, August 4, 2008

CIA Secret Files at Dallas Conference

On September 6, I'll be speaking at the Ancient Earth Mysteries conference at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Center in Dallas, Texas. The subject of my lecture: the CIA's secret files on its search for the remains of Noah's Ark. Truly a real-life conspiratorial mystery of Indiana Jones-style proportions! If you want to know what it's all about, here's the details.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The MoD & Remote-Viewing

Check out the Cosmic Spoon for the latest news on the British Ministry of Defense's Remote-Viewing files. This looks to be a very interesting development in the whole RV/secret-file saga.

Monday, June 23, 2008

UFOs and High-Strangeness...

Over at my Culture of Contact blog, I have a new post on a once-secret - and certainly strange - UFO file from the British Ministry of Defense of the 1960s.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The FBI & MJ12: The 1991 Documents

Although it has been reported in a number of books (including my own Body Snatchers in the Desert) that the FBI conducted an investigation - in 1988 - of the infamous Majestic 12 documents, much less well known is the fact that the FBI was tasked with looking into MJ12 again in 1991.

The 1991 files reveal that, somewhat oddly, on the morning of 18 October 1991 a man (whose name is deleted from the relevant FBI documents that have been declassified via the terms of the Freedom of Information Act) who lived and worked in Salt Lake City, Utah had been walking "through the lobby of his place of employment" when he found copies of the MJ12 documents "lying on the lobby floor." His response: he contacted the FBI.

As was the case in 1988, the FBI began asking questions - in this case, with the Department of Defense - as it sought to get the answers. As was the case in 1988, the FBI was informed that the documents were utterly bogus.

Rather tellingly, a comment on one of the internal FBI documents (that is now declassified) states: "The fact that this Airtel is dated on Halloween day is purely coincidental; it could have been worse and dated on the first of April."

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

UK UFO Files: In the Public Domain

Along with colleagues Joe McGonagle and Gary Anthony, British UFO researcher Dave Clarke has been at the forefront of a campaign to get the British Ministry of Defense to open up its UFO files. And now the MoD is doing so - thanks directly to the persistent actions of the trio.

Here's what Dave has to say about this important development:

http://www.drdavidclarke.co.uk/news2.htm

BRITISH X-FILES OPEN AT NATIONAL ARCHIVES
BY DR. DAVID CLARKE:

The UK Ministry of Defence has taken the first step in its long-awaited decision to release its complete back catalogue of UFO reports at The National Archives (TNA).

International media interest is expected to coincide with the public opening of the first eight files on May 14. Staff are preparing for up to 1 million hits on a special website they are using for the public launch. The newly-released files are now available to download free of charge for the first month. Further files will be added as the collection grows over the next three to four years.

The decision to release all the remaining MoD UFO files in chronological order was taken last year in response to a long-running campaign by myself and colleagues Joe McGonagle and Gary Anthony using the Freedom of Information Act.

Since the decision was made I have been acting as the TNA's consultant 'expert' on the historical significance of the files. For the duration of the press launch I will be helping TNA staff respond to Press inquiries both from the UK and across the world.

During the last month I have produced a detailed, updated Background Briefing to the entire collection of UFO records held at the TNA for those who wish to explore the papers further. Some 200 files, some of which date back to the First World War, have already been released and are available for research purposes. Plans are in hand to make scans of some of these early UFO papers available via the TNA website in future.

For the launch I have also recorded a podcast that summarises the content of the new files and the background to the releases. Both the Background Briefing and podcast can be downloaded from the TNA's new 'UFO' website that can be reached via the link on this page.

The first release covers UFO reports, policy and public correspondence between 1978 and 1987. Four of the eight files originate with the MoD Air Staff secretariats DS8 and Sec(AS). These have become well known to UFO researchers and the media as the MoD's 'UFO desk'.

The remaining four files originate with the Defence Intelligence Staff branch DI55, who provided behind-the-scenes technical and scientific assistance to the UFO desk. DI55 were also the MoD department responsible for the Condign report on UFOs, which drew upon these newly-released files for its database of UFO/UAP reports.

The UFO reports series in this first tranche begins in November 1981 and ends in November 1987. Readers will note that the files have been 'redacted', whereby personal details such as the names and addresses of witnesses and MoD staff are removed under Section 40 of the FOIA (which relates to the Data Protection Act).

Nevertheless, it is relatively easy to discern the identities of some of the MoD's regular correspondents, which include some well-known UFOlogists. Indeed, I was amazed to discover one file (DEFE 31/175) contains a copy of the first letter I wrote to the MoD's UFO desk in September 1987!

The first batch of files provides a snapshot of British UFOlogy from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, when the Rendlesham forest mystery first hit the headlines and crop circles were becoming the new UFOlogical obsession.

The papers contain several hundred individual reports, a number of them originating from civil aircrew and a few from military sources. Here are just two highlights chosen at random from the current release:

Rendlesham Forest incident

One file (DEFE 24/1925) contains a briefing on the famous Rendlesham incident (often described as 'Britain's Roswell') prepared by Sec(AS) for Lord Trefgarne, Tory Defence Minister, in September 1985. Trefgarne had agreed to meet with a retired Chief of Defence Staff, Lord Peter Hill-Norton, who was pressing the MoD to reopen their investigation of the incident.

The briefing is of interest because it provides a clear explanation for why MOD did not share Hill-Norton's concern about the possible defence implications of the report made by Lt Col Charles Halt, the USAF deputy base commander at RAF Woodbridge. It says on receipt of Halt's report on 15 January 1981 – two weeks after the events - checks were carried out by air defence staff but these "failed to reveal any radar trace of anything unusual in the area at the time".

As a result, they decided no follow-up was necessary because Lt Col Halt "does not ask for further investigation" in his memo that was forwarded to the Ministry by the RAF base commander, Don Moreland.

Lord Hill-Norton was told: "I think you will agree that it is highly unlikely that any violation of UK airspace would be heralded by such a display of lights. I think it equally unlikely that any reconnaissance or spying activity would be announced in this way...we believe that the fact Col Halt did not report these occurrences to MOD for almost 2 weeks after the event, together with the low key manner in which he handled the matter are indicative of the degree of importance in defence terms which should be attached to the incident."

British Army interest in the Crop Circles

Another item from the same file is a copy of a report compiled by the Army Air Corps of their investigations into crop circle formations that appeared in fields near Andover, Hampshire, in August 1985.

A team led by Lt Col Edgecombe photographed the central 40ft diameter circle from the ground and the air. They were alerted to the presence of the circles by the farmer who owned the fields in which they had appeared. He called the army helicopter base to demand "what on earth we [the AAC] were up to now".

In their report to Whitehall the Army team express their bafflement at the lack of traces and note how the wheat was "laid flat in a clockwise twist - as if a plank had been put with one end at the centre and then swept round in a complete circle."

The Army's interest in crop circles led to intense speculation by UFOlogists and 'cerealogists' about official cover-ups. These papers prove the military had no secret knowledge of alien forces at work in England's fields. Even DI55, who were consulted by Sec(AS) on the possible defence significance of the crop circles in 1985, were left grasping at straws.

In December 1985 a DI55 desk officer wrote that "something unusual has happened but just what remains a mystery".

He added: "From a purely defence viewpoint I don't think there is anything in the report to worry us - there does not appear to be a landing as such since the wheat is only depressed (not completely flattened), there are no tracks in the wheat and there does not appear to be burn or scorch marks - I lean to some kind of natural phenomena such as mini-tornadoes bouncing off the ground."

In hindsight we can see how easily the Army, the MoD and the intelligence services were fooled by the intricate handiwork of circle-makers just as easily as anyone else who visited the formations with an open mind.

It was another five years before hoaxers Doug and Dave came forward to confess they had created the first crop circles and unwittingly created a new UFO-related mystery which continues to grow in spite of its disconfirmation.

This is just a brief summary of two interesting highlights from the first collection of files released in May 2008. Many more releases will follow during the next three to four years, bringing the developing story of the MoD's involvement in the UFO mystery slowly up to date.

Eventually all 160 files covering UFO reports, correspondence and official policy from the mid-1980s up to the present day will form part of a unique new resource for UFOlogy.

Keep watching this space for updates.

The files can be downloaded as pdfs from:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos

Also see Joe McGonagle's page on the file releases at:-

http://www.uk-ufo.org/condign/di55docs.html

Monday, May 12, 2008

The Monster Archives

The new issue of Taps Paramagazine includes an article from me on British official (military, government and police) files relating to sightings of unknown animals. Titled The Creature Files, the article focuses on real X-Files on lake monsters, big cats and more. Maybe it's time for us to start sending out Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the FBI, CIA, etc. to see what they have? The results might be surprising...

As I note in the article:

"Replying in 2006 to a FOIA request from a member of the public with an interest in big cat sightings seen in the county of Hampshire, England between 1995 and 2005, the county’s Police Force released secret files that stated: 'Hampshire’s Constabulary’s Air Support Unit has been deployed to assist with the following reports: January 1995 – Black Panther like animal seen in Eastleigh. Two likely heat sources found by the aircraft, but nothing found by ground troops. March 1995 – Black Puma like animal seen in Winchester. One heat source found that could not be classified by the aircraft crew, kept running off from searching officers, search eventually abandoned.'"

And this just the tip of the iceberg...

Wartime Puzzles, Strange Formations, Official Files

This story - of unusual formations found in rural areas in the U.S. during the Second World War - eerily parallels one which had ties to Britain's MI5 (also during the Second World War), and which appears within the pages of Strange Secrets.

It seems that allied forces on both sides of the Atlantic were seeing weird field-formations and attributing them to sinister forces.

I've heard unsubstantiated stories (but which could well be true, given the above-stories) that similar speculation surfaced among certain elements of British Intelligence when a crop circle was found in the 1990s on land relatively near the perimeter of Britain's Porton Down installation.

True? Based on the above stories, I give the Porton rumors a careful "maybe."

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Animal Mutilations: The British Files

For those who may be interested in learning about the strange story of how British cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes came to acquire a batch of 1970s British Police Force files on British-based "animal mutilation" events, check out his book The Owlman and Others. Aside from Jon, very few people have delved into the issue of what may be known - at an official level - about animal mutilations in the UK. Definitely some "strange secrets" in the pages of this book!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Going Offline

I'll be offline from now until next Tuesday.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hearing Voices - Courtesy of the Military

Hearing voices in your head? Feeling hot and feverish? As this recently declassified official file demonstrates, you may be on the receiving end of some dastardly tricks of the military.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Nessie and the Government

What's the connection between Thatcher and Nessie? Read on...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Rendlesham UFO File: Abducted!

The latest news on the British Ministry of Defense's decision to remove its "Rendlesham Forest UFO File" from its website.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Secret Files: Hitler, Astrology and the British Government

Britain's spymasters became convinced that astrology could hold the key to the defeat of Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, it has emerged. Secret files released by the National Archives show how intelligence chiefs were hoodwinked into recruiting a bogus Hungarian nobleman to study the Nazi leader's horoscope in the hope of penetrating his military plans.

Here's the story - in all its bizarre glory!

And here's a second one that adds more details.

And a third.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Witchcraft in Warfare

The strange saga of Second World War witch Helen Duncan and the world of officialdom is a highly intriguing one. It's also a saga that is the subject of a number of formerly classified files held at England's National Archive. For those unaware of the facts, the rumors and the still on-going controversy, Duncan is back in the news....

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A Great Resource Tool

Check out Paperless Archives - they're a great source for all manner of declassified files - including some that fall into the "strange" category, such as files on UFOs, paranormal phenomena, and Jack the Ripper.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

A Mystery Blast

A weird file on an equally weird event that, to the best of my knowledge, was never really resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Unless someone out there reading this can fill in the blanks...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Battle of Los Angeles

If you're interested in the so-called "Battle of Los Angeles" - a strange event of the Second World War that a number of researchers are convinced has a genuine link to the UFO puzzle, check out this PDF that contains official files on the matter.

The New JFK Files

The newly-surfaced batch of files on that most mystifying of murders - the JFK assassination of 22 November 1963 - are the subject of comment at American Chronicle.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Remote Viewing at the Black Vault

For an interesting selection of files on psychic-spying - better known as Remote Viewing - check out the Black Vault.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Animal ESP Files In "TAPS Paramagazine"

The new issue of TAPS Paramagazine includes an article from me on previously-classified files that reveal how, in the 1950s, the U.S. Army undertook secret research to determine if animals could locate landmines via the use of ESP.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Project Twinkle and the Green Fireballs

The so-called Green Fireball phenomenon of the late 194os and early 1950s was one of the most intriguing - yet largely forgotten - facets of the early years of Ufology. On countless occasions these brightly-lit "things" would soar across the skies of New Mexico, apparently taking more than a passing interest in the nation's atomic energy installations.

The Air Force even set up a study program to investigate the puzzle that was named Project Twinkle. Many of the official records on Twinkle are now in the public domain. And for those who want to learn more about this odd facet of official interest in the UFO controversy, check out this great resource tool, and this new posting from mega-blogger Lesley.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Zombies: Coming Soon....Everywhere!

It's not exactly a secret now that the story is in the public domain, but it's definitely strange and it does concern the official world, so I'm going to mention it: namely, a project to understand "human fear" chemicals. Why? Why else: to use them in some fashion on the battlefield, of course! Did you really need to ask?

In view of this somewhat unsettling development, it can surely only be a matter of time before military boffins of a definitive Dr. Strangelove-style seek to understand the nature of "human rage" chemicals too. Then you just know what will happen: the creation of a rage-virus, as per 28 Days Later, that catastrophically breaks out of the confines of the lab and begins to spread wildly among the masses.

As a committed zombie fanatic, I heartily look forward to the day when I may actually get to do battle with cannibal zombies in the remains of some ruined city where the undead roam the streets and the struggling survivors...well, struggle to survive!

There is one good thing in all this, however: given that a high percentage of the population is now fat and diabetic, the real-life rage-people will be easy to outrun - unlike their marauding on-screen equivalents in the 28 Days films and the glorious 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

Roll on the Zombie Holocaust! Dead Cities! Armageddon! The World Collapses! Only Britain Soldiers On! Etc.

Remember this blog-post with fondness and nostalgia when you are barricaded in your home and the flesh-eating dead are tearing down the walls to eat your brain.

Atomic Sci-Fi Secrets

This a great, and highly intriguing, story that encompasses Second World War secrecy, super-weapons, once-classified government files and the world of Sci-Fi. A classic case of truth being stranger than fiction? Definitely!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Marilyn, The FBI & UFOs

In my book Celebrity Secrets, I included a chapter on the FBI’s secret surveillance files of dead Hollywood babe Marilyn Monroe.

In that chapter I devoted a brief section to a discussion of a controversial document that - if genuine, of course - suggests that Monroe had secretly been told aspects of the Roswell, New Mexico "crashed UFO" story by the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert - as well as other official secrets, too, such as plans to assassinate Cuba's Fidel Castro.

More disturbingly, the alleged CIA document refers to a threat by Monroe to spill the beans on what she knew; something that never happened, of course, as a result of her still-controversial death.

And while I only included a chapter on this affair in Celebrity Secrets, researcher Don Burleson wrote a whole book about it; and he has been interviewed about his research into the Monroe-UFO story.

The document falls into the gray area that most UFO data inhabits. Namely that it’s certainly intriguing, but actually proving anything is near impossible.

Friday, January 11, 2008

The Cosford UFO Files

The so-called Cosford UFO-"Flying Triangle" incident of March 1993 is one of the more controversial ones within the annals of British Ufology. And the fact that it became the subject of a lengthy official Ministry of Defense file makes it all the more intriguing. Needless to say, fifteen years after it occurred, the event still provokes deep controversy - with some people (such as Nick Pope, formerly of the MoD) suggesting the event may have had extraterrestrial origins; while others (such as Dr. David Clarke) argue that the case had far more down to earth origins. To learn all about the controversy, the official files, the theories and more, click here.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

More on the British Ministry of Defense's UFO Files...

More on the new development concerning the declassification of the British Ministry of Defense's UFO files (info supplied, with thanks, by Dave Clarke).

Friday, January 4, 2008

Nessie & JARIC

My Strange Secrets book includes a chapter on official files pertaining to the involvement of the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Center in analyzing alleged film-footage of the Loch Ness Monster.
As the 1960s-era documentation presented in the book shows, JARIC came to some intriguing conclusions...
For more information on the work of JARIC, here's where to go...

Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Weird Files, Part 12; The FBI and ESP

Most people reading this blog will, I'm sure, be aware of the Remote-Viewing research undertaken by various elements of the American Intelligence community and military in the 1970s.

But who knew that the FBI was engaged in such studies back in the mid-to-late 1950s?

The FBI has declassified its files on this particular topic and placed them online (here's where to get them in PDF format).

The FBI came away less than impressed by those who claimed to possess ESP; nevertheless the story is a fascinating one, full of skullduggery and Cold War spy-antics.

You can also read about my own analysis of the files in the anthology The Universe Wants To Play.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Weird Files, Part 11: UFOs And The Condign Report

During a policy review in 1996 into the handling of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sighting reports received by the British Ministry of Defence, a study was undertaken to determine the potential value, if any, of such reports to Defence Intelligence.
Consistent with Ministry of Defence policy, the available data was studied principally to ascertain whether there is any evidence of a threat to the UK, and secondly, should the opportunity arise, to identify any potential military technologies of interest.
The Ministry of Defence has released this report in response to a Freedom of Information request and has made it available to a wider audience via the MOD Freedom of Information Publication Scheme.
Where indicated information is withheld in accordance with Section 26 (Defence), Section 27 (International Relations) and Section 40 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Here's the link.