162 lines
9.0 KiB
Plaintext
162 lines
9.0 KiB
Plaintext
#: 118698 S10/Paranormal Issues
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18-Jul-87 14:12:52
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Sb: MUFON Conference (1/6)
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Fm: Sysop Jim Speiser 72135,424
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To: All
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The MUFON Symposium in Washington was billed as "The Woodstock of Ufology,"
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bringing together some of the biggest names in the field, and in that respect,
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it didn't disappoint. In most other respects, however, it left a little to be
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desired.
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Some of the luminaries in attendance, which yours truly got to "Commune" with:
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Whitley Strieber, Budd Hopkins, Bill Moore, Stanton T. Friedman, Jamie
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Shandera, Gary Kinder, Peter Gersten, Charles Hickson (of Pascagoula fame),
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Kathy Davis (of Intruders fame), Dr. Michael Swords, Dr. David Jacobs, Walt
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Andrus, and organizer Dr. Bruce Maccabee (and oh, yes, this little bald-headed
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fellow named Klass.) What made it more enjoyable was seeing some of my friends
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there, such as Hal Starr and Marge Christenson of Arizona MUFON, Tracy Torme'
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(who is making quite a name for himself in the abduction field, and is doing
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some excellent work on the Travis Walton case), Tom Adams of Project Stigma,
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and ParaNet users Dale B. Wedge, Rick Dell'Aquila, and Clark Matthews.
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I spoke briefly with Whitley, asking him why, if he never had an interest in
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UFOs prior to his experience, his cousin would send him a book called "Science
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and the UFOs" just before his first remembered abduction. His answer was
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basically, "I can't explain it, its just one of those things." I can't tell if
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he's trying to look more honest by including information could lessen his case,
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or if her just really IS that honest. But one thing has become quite clear,
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thanks to an incident that occurred at the symposium: Whitley Strieber is
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mentally unbalanced. During a panel discussion with other "abductees," Strieber
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began reading from his polygraph transcript (which, it is a matter of record,
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he passed.) In the middle of it he turned to Phil Klass, who was standing near
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the stage, and began shouting the questions and answers at the top of his
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lungs, looking for all the world like he was going to become unglued. It was a
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very uncomfortable moment.
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Most people agree with me that Strieber is not firing on all thrusters,
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including...well, I won't name names. But the question arises as to whether he
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wrote "Communion" because he's bats, or he became bats because of what happened
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to him. I think it was the latter. Studies show that if the abduction
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phenomenon is real, it is happening to thousands of people (!). So far the case
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for abductions has been hung on the victims being sane, sober individuals, but
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the odds are that not ALL of them will be completely stable. It is possible
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that Strieber was a man who was on the edge to begin with, and his present
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quirkiness (there are MANY other incidents, which I am not at liberty to
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divulge) is a consequence of having undergone a profoundly mind-shattering
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experience. I've met other abductees, and I sometimes wonder how any of them
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can deal with ordinary everyday reality, go on talk shows and speak calmly,
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etc. I would be doing the paper dolls routine in a rubber room somewhere.
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A couple of Klassy stories: After the first presentation (an overview of the
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past 40 years by David Jacobs), I stepped outside for a cigarette and was
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joined by the arch-debunker himself, who is nearly a chain-smoker. We started
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talking about MJ-12, and he gave me his line about how people who distribute
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phony documents should go to jail. I put him on the spot, asking him if that
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meant that I should go to jail, having made the MJ-12 documents available to
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more people than anyone (through ParaNet and CompuServe). Without directly
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answering, he said that Moore and Shandera should stand trial if it can be
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shown they had any way of knowing the documents were fake (assuming they ARE
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fake, of course.) By this time, we were surrounded by 30 or so people, and a
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man stepped forward and asked Klass of he had ever met Shandera. Klass said no,
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he hadn't, whereupon the man stepped aside and there stood Jamie Shandera, arms
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folded, ready to do battle. Klass ran and got his tape recorder and camera, and
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proceeded to interview Jamie for about a half hour, during which time both men
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became abusive -- "That's not a pertinent question! Why don't you ask me a
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pertinent question?!" "I WILL ask a question if you'll shut your big fat
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mouth!" When it was over, there were more people standing around the two men
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than were inside listening to the speaker. Several people recorded the
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conversation, and Hal Starr is currently running dupes of the tape in his
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production studio for distribution to a couple of dozen people. It was a
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classic, historic confrontation, which Bill Moore later dubbed "The Comic
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Opera." 18-Jul-87 14:13:57
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Sb: MUFON Conference (4/6)
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Fm: Sysop Jim Speiser 72135,424
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To: All
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Another Klassic: At a panel discussion on government documents, the focus of
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which was MJ-12, Moore related to an audience of about 200 that Jamie Shandera
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(pronounced SHAN-derray) had interviewed Steven Spielberg, who told him a
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fascinating story. Prior to the release of the move "E.T.," Ronald Reagan had
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requested a private screening in the White House. When it was over, Reagan
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walked over to Spielberg, clapped him on the shoulder and said, "My friend,
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there aren't six people in this room who know how true that movie is." From the
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back of the MUFON audience, a semi-audible voice said, "Carter was President."
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Shandera, who was sitting behind me, turned around and said, "What was that?
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Speak up!" Klass stood up dramatically, poised to strike a death blow, and
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said, "In 1978, Jimmy Carter was President of the...." Moore cut him off with
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"E.T. was released in 1982, Mr. Klass. You stand corrected....AGAIN!" The
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audience exploded with applause, and Klass sank slowly back to his seat, a
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defeated man -- for the moment, anyway.
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[Continued]
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#: 118702 S10/Paranormal Issues
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18-Jul-87 14:14:27
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Sb: MUFON Conference (5/6)
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Fm: Sysop Jim Speiser 72135,424
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To: All
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As I said, the event was an overall disappointment in terms of actual
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information content. Most of the speakers were from the far corners of the
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earth, and spoke with heavy accents about sightings in their respective
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countries. We've had forty years of sightings, and most Ufologists are
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realizing that the data-gathering stage is practically over, at least as far as
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disks and lights in the sky are concerned. Its time to get on to the questions
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of who and why, and who else knows about it. That's why the panels on documents
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and abductions were so popular. There are movements afoot on several fronts to
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get the abduction ball really rolling. For instance, Peter Gersten has formed a
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group called Contact, with which he hopes to raise money to do in-depth
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investigations into abduction cases -with the ultimate goal of making actual,
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overt contact with the aliens. I had hoped to sit in on one of their meetings,
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but unfortunately, Gersten left the conference early and no meeting was held.
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And it was reported that Whitley Strieber has put up seed money to form another
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group with the same goal. Both gentlemen are very concerned with the fact that
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Budd Hopkins is absolutely swamped with letters from people around the world,
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desperately seeking hypnotic catharsis for their abduction experiences -- over
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700 letters at last count! The frustration lies in the fact that one of them
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just might hold the key that unlocks the whole mystery, but there are maybe a
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dozen people in the entire world that have the expertise to bring it out. I
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foresee abduction regression clinics springing up around the country, with
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quack operator getting into it for a fast buck. (Can you see some Beverly Hills
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type..."Let's see, I have a 10:00 appointment at the hairdresser, at two I see
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my therapist, at four my abduction regressionist, then I get rolfed....")
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[Continued]
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#: 118703 S10/Paranormal Issues
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18-Jul-87 14:14:47
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Sb: MUFON Conference (6/6)
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Fm: Sysop Jim Speiser 72135,424
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To: All
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The one thing that impressed me most of all about the symposium, and about the
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resurgence of Ufology's popularity in general, is the number of quite
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intelligent, articulate, and down-to-earth people who are starting to become
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interested. There are actually others like myself who are skeptics and
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disbelievers in other fields, but who recognize that this is a whole different
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ball game from spoon-bending and Creationism. A glance at the MUFON Board of
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Advisors shows that that body has more holders of Doctorates, percentage-wise,
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than CSICOP! True, there is still no shortage of kooks, cranks, quacks, and
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crooks, but the ratio is shifting noticeably. I think it is the most heartening
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sign of this whole, crazy summer.
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And what a crazy summer it is! Unlike its namesake, the Woodstock of Ufology
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promises to be only the beginning of a series of revelations, accusations, and
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perturbations, the end result of which is ANYONE's guess. There's only one
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thing we need right now, to really put the icing on the cake: a good,
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old-fashioned, jaw-dropping, jet-scrambling FLAP!
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Keep your eyes on the skies......
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Jim
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