INSIDE UFOLOGY September 1988

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INSIDE UFOLOGY

September 1988

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GULF BREEZE UPDATE

        ParaNet Alpha 09/14 -- There seems to be no end in sight to the

        turmoil being stirred up by the already-legendary Gulf Breeze,

        FL photographic case. If the matter were settled tomorrow one

        way or the other, it will still take years to repair the rifts

        it has caused in many ufological camps.

        Several resignations have reportedly come in the wake of Walt

        Andrus' firing of Robert Boyd. At least one, that of National

        Public Information Director Marge Christensen of Tucson, was

        headed off at the last minute by Andrus, who reportedly promised

        her he would cease and desist from further "unscientific"

        statements in the MUFON Journal, which statements implied

        all-out endorsement of the case as real. In the monthly MUFON

        Newsletter, a semi-private organ circulated to State Directors

        and other key researchers, Christensen complained of being

        "dismayed by what I consider to be unprofessional and certainly

        unscientific conduct...and comments in print...in regard to

        speculation about privately held views of members of CUFOS." But

        after speaking with Andrus and Deputy Director Dan Wright,

        Christensen agreed to a leave of absence until after the

        November Presidential elections. But privately, she holds out

        little hope of rejoining the organization. "Walt seems bound and

        determined to make this case a cause celebre," she told ParaNet.

        "I hope he is really listening to reason, and not just

        sweet-talking me to keep me in MUFON."

        But other resignations may follow. Richard Hall, Deputy Director

        for Publications and author of the recent "Uninvited Guests,"

        told ParaNet he is "spearheading a campaign" to get MUFON to

        look more closely at its Gulf Breeze investigation, and to be

        more responsible in its public statements about the case. Hall,

        one of Ufology's savviest practitioners, reportedly called for

        an "extraordinary meeting of the Board" of MUFON via

        Teleconference, and it is said he will resign if the group

        continues its present course. According to various sources, that

        course may include a major media thrust in the near future,

        possibly including a press conference timed to coincide with the

        upcoming TV documentaries that will showcase the UFO situation.

        At least one of those documentaries, the NBC program "Unsolved

        Mysteries," to air on October 5th, is said to be "very pro-Gulf

        Breeze." The other will apparently be more balanced, but one of

        the producers of that program, Tracy Torme, is very taken with

        the case. "I went there [to Gulf Breeze] 85% convinced that its

        real, and after talking to Ed for two days, I'm now 99%

        convinced. I'm leaving the door open for the slight possibility

        that all of the witnesses, including Ed's wife and teenage

        daughter, are lying." Torme will appear in a live nationwide

        computer conference on CompuServe Sept. 18th.

        In other developments:

        - UFO debunker Phil Klass got wind of the fact that ParaNet was

        snooping around to find out whether CSICOP was behind the Gulf

        Breeze affair. He called us to deny any knowledge of such a

        "constructive hoax." "Certainly CSICOP has nothing to do with it,

        and, while [fellow debunker Amazing] Randi DOES live down there,

        I highly doubt he has anything to do with it either."

        - Klass has found a flaw in one of the photos that may be

        significant. While a streetlight in the shot can plainly be seen to

        be blurred in such a way as to indicate camera movement, the UFO

        remains perfectly focused and sharp-edged. Photoanalyst Bruce

        Maccabee explains that Ed was "tracking" the moving object with

        the camera; however, Klass doubts that such can be done so

        clearly with a one-second time exposure in low ambient light.

        - ParaNet spoke with the Mayor of Gulf Breeze, the honorable

        Edward Grey. Grey, a long-time friend of "Mr. Ed," the main

        percipient, claims the whole thing is a hoax. "Ed is a heck of a

        nice guy, very charming, but it is totally consistent with his

        personality to pull off a stunt like this." When asked if it was

        also consistent with the personalities of Mrs. Ed or Ed's

        daughter, the Mayor replied, "Well, I wouldn't know about that."

        When asked about the other 135 witnesses reported to have seen

        the object, Grey is doubtful. "When you have a lot of publicity

        attached to something like this, people are bound to look up in

        the sky and report any strange thing. They may have seen UFOs,

        but to my knowledge no one is seeing or experiencing the things

        that Ed is supposedly seeing. And in all this time, no one on

        Ed's block has seen a thing." The Mayor seemed unaware that Ed's

        across-the-street neighbors have reportedly had a sighting of an

        object very similar to Ed's -- despite the fact that they don't

        know that their neighbor Ed is the famous UFO witness being

        talked about.

        - Grey complained that neither of the two documentaries had been

        in touch with his office. Nor, for that matter, had any of the

        MUFON investigators. We understand now, however, that the

        producers of "UFO COVER-UP" (Oct. 14th) have made an appointment

        to interview the Mayor live during that broadcast (partially,

        perhaps, at our urging).

        For some undefinable reason, it seems many people are looking to

        October, the month of the TV expose's, as the time when the case

        will be resolved. Perhaps because it would be a perfect time for

        a debunker, or Ed himself, to jump up and yell "Gotcha!" Or

        perhaps because, with the increased scrutiny such national

        exposure will bring, a competent investigator will stumble

        across the "string in the photos" -- or the smoking gun that

        shows it to be genuine. Whatever the reason, the general feeling

        seems to be that this "can't go on much longer."

MORE ON THE OCT. 14TH EXPOSE'

        Although we have been in constant contact with the producers of

        "UFO COVER-UP: LIVE," sad to say we cannot divulge much of what

        we have been told. We can, however, pass along two exclusive

        tid-bits. First, a host has been chosen: it is Mike Farrell, he

        who portrayed B.J. Hunnicut in the "M*A*S*H" TV series.

        Second, one particularly fascinating segment will feature a live

        interview with Col. William Coleman of Indian Harbor, FL. Col.

        Coleman is a retired Air Force bomber pilot and former Public

        Information Officer of Project Blue Book. As reported in this

        column two months ago, Col. Coleman is also a witness to a

        high-strangeness UFO encounter, back in the early fifties -- an

        encounter he was forced, by dint of his position, to DENY for

        many years. Sit back and think for a second...a former Air Force

        Officer, once charged with custody of the government's public

        UFO study, will go on the record as having sighted a metallic,

        saucer-shaped object that maneuvered at speeds of up to 25,000

        mph. And he will do it ON LIVE TV TO A NATIONWIDE AUDIENCE. Is

        the dam starting to break?

MEANWHILE, BACK AT MJ-12...

        Citizens Against UFO Secrecy is going to print an item in their next

        issue dealing with Prof. Ronald Westcott. You may recall that

        Westcott is the highly-touted "linguistics analyst" from

        Princeton who checked out the Eisenhower Briefing Document (the

        main MJ-12 document) and concluded it could indeed have been

        written by the Admiral. The Moore team, which is pushing the

        documents as possibly real, made a big to-do about Westcott's

        credentials and impartiality. Well, the credentials are in

        place, but according to the CAUS story, the impartiality may be

        in question. Westcott's name is alleged to be connected with

        Brad Steiger's Star People movement, and supposedly he has

        written on several New Age issues in the past.

        Stan Friedman is not impressed, however. "I recall [Westcott]

        writing some less-than-complimentary things about the ET

        Hypothesis," says the MJ-12 researcher. He also told us that the

        Hillenkoetter document is now in the hands of a questioned

        documents analyst, for further verification.

                --Jim Speiser