The nuttiness of the "contactee" movement was a counterpoint to most of UFO investigation in the 1940's and the 1950's and its presence helped the debunkers - the U.S. A.F. and other agencies - to denigrate many sightings or witnesses. On more than one occasion, the Air Force even used a contactee experience to cover or divert attention from other events that were a lot harder to explain.
November of 1957 was a tense time for the Air Force. In fact, the entire year had been filled with a lot of really hard to explain events that stretched the creative faculties of the investigators and the higher ups. IN October the Antonio Villas Boas incident occurred in Brazil where he claimed seduction by a lovely alien female. Then Ella Louise Fortune, who was a nurse on the Mescalero Reservation close to Three Rivers, NM snapped a picture while driving along Hwy 54. The glowing ovoid disc like object appeared to be hovering over Holloman AFB. It was a photo that would be reprinted in newspapers across the country. Then to make it all worse was the "Lights at Levelland" in Texas on Nov. 2-3. For more than 20 miles in all directions of the Texas town communities reported incidents (Clovis on the NM border, Canadian, Midland, in Texas). Reports included an egg shaped object, blasts of heat, and torpedo shaped UFO (remember that one mentioned photographed over Holloman?). Sheriff's and their deputies were reporting these as well as red, brilliant, lights that blocked roads and whizzed by overhead.
One can almost hear the relief in the typed communications and press releases once the story of just a couple of days later emerged. Nov, 5, 1957 a grain buyer's life was forever changed when he encountered an otherworldly craft - and the occupants. You can read his mimeographed story here. His Project Blue Book case file can be found here.
The Air Force listed his report as "hallucination." Long discussions with mental health experts provided them with enough material they were able to hold this case as the standard against which all other events of the time should be measured.
As a result, the awkward issues raised by a host of witnesses in New Mexico (with sketches of disc shaped saucers and odd bullet shaped projectile crafts) and similar reports from Texas around Levelland and beyond, the Kearney case allowed them to lump them all together under the same damning umbrella. It is hard to tell what you have seen when every word is being weighed and compared to a man who was believed to be best housed in a mental institution.
No comments:
Post a Comment