390 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
390 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: ED'S ENCOUNTERS HAVE MADE HIS LIFE HELL FILE: UFO1260
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NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE
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DATE OF ARTICLE: January 30, 1989
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SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Tribune
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LOCATION: Tampa, Florida
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BYLINE: Jennifer Tucker
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========================================================
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(C) Copyright 1989 ParaNet Information Service
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All Rights Reserved.
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
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AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
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SERVICE
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PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE BBS
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PARANET ALPHA
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DENVER, COLORADO
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NOTE: THESE FILES ARE NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE
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OF THE PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE NETWORK
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========================================================
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'STATE OF SIEGE'
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ED'S UFO ENCOUNTERS HAVE MADE HIS LIFE HELL
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By Jennifer Tucker
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Tribune Staff Writer
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GULF BREEZE--Ed isn't the "UFO type."
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He's a WASPish baby boomer with a kid in college and a two
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car garage. As a custom home builder in a community full of
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custom homes, he depends on personal referrals for his
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livelihood.
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He doesn't seem to need the money he could earn from a best
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seller based on his experiences. Yet local sources indicate he
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has recently signed a book contract.
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Nevertheless, Ed is the guy who has taken all the
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photographs, made all the noise, caused all the fury. Just over
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a year ago, Ed says a UFO appeared in front of his house in Gulf
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Breeze and he immediately took several photographs of the craft.
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Ed walked into the street to get a closer look and a "blue
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beam" shot down from the ship, temporarily paralyzing him, he
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says. At the same time, Ed says he heard a loud "hum" and was
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instructed by an authoritative voice to "be still."
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Within seconds, he says, he was raised off the ground, then
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thrown to the concrete as the craft disappeared. From that
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moment on, Ed says, a resonant "hum" always preceded the
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appearance of the UFO.
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Seven months later, after 21 encounters resulting in more
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than 30 photographs and one videotape, Ed says he was abducted
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again. This time, the aliens removed the hum and he has not seen
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or photographed a UFO since, he says.
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To Ed, 42, this was no phantom object, no trick of nature or
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imagination. It was real. It made his life a living hell.
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And it forced him to defend himself, he says, not against
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the aliens, but against the people who call him crazy.
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WORDS POUND
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"Look," Ed says in one of a series of telephone interviews,
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his words pounding with the passion of a clenched fist. "Before
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Nov. 10, 1987, I wouldn't have believed in UFOs either unless one
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landed in my front yard.
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"Uh, no pun intended."
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Ed guffaws like Gulliver in a land of Lilliputians.
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If Ed has been enlightened with truths no scientist knows,
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then it is wisdom learned reluctantly. He can barely get through
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a sentence without revealing his fears or defending his position.
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He describes the experience as "a state of siege."
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Yet, he doesn't plead for understanding. And he doesn't
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expect it, really. Besides the photographs themselves, Ed's take
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it or leave it attitude is his most convincing argument.
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And it's an argument he can't win, critics say, not with a
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pocket full of Polaroids.
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Ed, meanwhile, has remained anonymous because he fears his
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fate. "I would always be known as the UFO guy."
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He'd rather be known as a good businessman, a good father
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and a good buddy to the kids he says he's kept off the streets by
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welcoming them into his home.
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"No, no, no. It was an awful experience. If you ever take
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a photograph (of a UFO), do not show it to anybody. Put it in a
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drawer and show it to your grandkids," he says wearily.
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Ed's story is lengthy and strange, and he knows it. He says
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his first encounter, in November 1987, resulted in five blurry
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color photographs he made with a 17 year old Polaroid camera.
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TAKE A PICTURE
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"Put yourself in the mood of peacefully sitting in your
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office and looking out your front window and you see something
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that...looks like it just escaped a Steven Speilberg movie," he
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says. "You figure you better take a picture of it."
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Ed's humor about his experience is as revealing as it is
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disarming. Like a schoolboy trying to explain a pock marked
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report card, Ed uses humor to cushion the blow. His laughter
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bounces and rolls like a runaway basketball, but his words slam
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into listeners' ears with the power of a Michael Jordan slam
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dunk.
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For months, Ed snapped dozens of pictures. Many were taken
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near his home, situated in the sleepy center of town next to a
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large, overgrown field.
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Others were taken at Shoreline Park, a spot facing the
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skinny barrier island called Pensacola Beach. Stray kittens
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crowd the wooded park, whose main features are a whitewashed
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gazebo and a good stretch of concrete.
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Still others were taken along deserted county roads, whose
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curves are familiar to Ed, the builder.
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Skeptics and believers agree--the photographs are remarkably
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unidentifiable. The craft (or crafts) captured on film are
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mostly spherical in shape, with dark, recessed points that Ed
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surmises are windows. Lights encircle the bottom of the craft
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and a round bulb is perched on top.
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In many instances, Ed snapped the pictures in what he
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describes as frenzied fear, at dusk or near dawn. Moreover, the
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craft maneuvered so rapidly that Ed says his opportunities for
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precise pictures were limited.
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ALIEN ENCOUNTERS
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He also was having alien encounters Ed says he couldn't
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capture on film. On several occasions, Ed says, he was pursued
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by a "blue beam" of light that shot from the craft.
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He says a bowl full of bubbling residue was found in his
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back yard after one late night visit. The Mutual UFO Network,
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which initiated investigation of Ed's claims, had the substance
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analyzed at independent chemical laboratories in Florida and
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Texas. These revealed a strange liquid high in magnesium and
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trace elements, Ed says.
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More frightening were face to face meetings with the aliens
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themselves--what scientists call an encounter of the third kind.
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The first time he saw one of the "creatures," Ed says he was
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awakened at 3 a.m. by the now familiar hum that preceded their
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visits. When he peered out the glass doors of his bedroom, Ed
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says, he was face to face with a childlike creature clad in gray.
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He says he saw more of these creatures at a later date, an
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experience that produced one of the most dramatic photographs in
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Ed's portfolio.
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In it, the craft is pictured hovering just above the road,
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lights reflecting on the wet pavement. Moments after he took
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this picture, Ed says he realized the craft was moving toward him
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so he slid from the truck and crawled underneath it.
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From his prone position, Ed says he could see a blue beam
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flash from the craft several times, each time depositing a
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creature on the road.
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He assumed the creatures were "after him" and, riddled with
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terror, he jumped back in the truck and sped away. He didn't
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even think about taking a picture, he says.
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OFFICIAL VISIT
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After Ed's photographs began to appear in the Gulf Breeze
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Sentinel newspaper--with his approval but without his name--Ed
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says he was visited by two men who identified themselves as U.S.
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Air Force personnel. Wielding badges printed with "Air Force
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Special Security Services," the visitors behaved "very
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aggressively" and demanded Ed turn over his photographs, he says.
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Ed refused, explaining they were in the hands of
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professional photographic analysts. (Many were; others were
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still in Ed's possession.)
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By spring, two major UFO organizations--the Mutual UFO
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Network and the Center for UFO Studies--had been in touch with
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Ed. So had dozens of media representatives, including the
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National Enquirer, which Ed says turned down the story because
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one analysis tentatively labeled the photographs a hoax.
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With that, the seed of suspicion was planted. And Ed, who
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states vehemently, "My word is my bond," was forced into a corner
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full of accusations.
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After taking 24 photographs with his old Polaroid, Ed began
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using cameras and film provided by UFO researchers--unbroken
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packages and factory perfect equipment. He produced 11
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photographs with the new equipment supplied by UFO investigators.
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Ed also built a so called stereo camera that allowed him to
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take two pictures simultaneously, creating a 3-D effect. With
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this camera, he took about eight photographs.
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"If I hadn't taken any pictures with these cameras, I would
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have been branded guilty by non photography," he says,
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sarcastically.
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By using mathematical equations, analysts studying the
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photographs could determine its distance from the camera and its
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size. Most often, these conclusions placed the craft 65 to 180
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feet from the camera, at an approximate size of 12 feet in
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diameter and 9 feet high.
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UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE
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These estimates correspond quite precisely to an unusual
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occurrence in Gulf Breeze during the spring. A circular patch of
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dead grass was discovered on the high school grounds, and lab
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analysis by UFO investigators revealed the grass wasn't killed by
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disease or suffocated by petroleum derivatives.
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The patch had a 12 foot diameter.
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In addition to providing his photographs for publication, Ed
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agreed to numerous psychological exams, a lie detector test that
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included a five hour interview, and an electronic voice analysis.
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In each case, investigators concluded Ed was sane and
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honest.
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"There was never any question that what happened, happened,"
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Ed says. "But I don't know why me--why I was privy to these
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things.
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"I didn't feel 'chosen,' I felt abused," he says. "I was
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tormented, a prisoner in my own house. I surrounded myself with
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people at work and family at home.
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"My kids never knew if Daddy was going to go away and not
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come back."
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Ed says he took the photographs to the local newspaper
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because he felt a kind of civic duty to warn nearby residents.
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Yet his reward from skeptics was name calling tirades that
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labeled him "everything from an agitated fool to a
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schizophrenic," Ed says.
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People trying to discredit him, he says, have played "hide
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and seek with the truth" while distorting the facts to fit their
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opinion.
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CLASSIC CAMPAIGN
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"What this is is a classic disinformation campaign by the
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debunkers in order to brand me as loony tunes," Ed says, his
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voice rising in defense. "They ran out of legitimate scientific
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criticisms of the photographic evidence. You have to keep in
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mind that none of these debunkers have ever talked to any of the
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other witnesses."
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Dozens of independent eyewitnesses in Gulf Breeze and
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Pensacola have reported seeing UFOs in the last year, and many of
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these reports coincide with the appearance of Ed's photographs.
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Yet Ed has been criticized for being alone in his torment--
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the only one able to take photographs of the craft.
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"Look, where are you at 3 a.m.? It would have been pretty
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bizarre to have a mass of people around me at 3 a.m.," he says.
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Moreover, Ed says his closest neighbors have seen the UFO.
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But they are afraid of ridicule.
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Currently, Ed says he has no plans to make his identity
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public or to sell the detailed, chronological log that he's
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written about the ordeal. (Sources in Gulf Breeze, however,
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report Ed has signed a lucrative book contract.)
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"I have no monetary motive here," he says. "Sometimes, I
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think a book might be the right thing to do for public education,
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but it might not be the right thing for my family.
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"What might be a lot of money to some people is not enough
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for me to sell my soul," Ed says.
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After long conversations, Ed's words are punctuated by sighs
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instead of laughter. He sounds less enthusiastic about the
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subject and more excited by the solitude he's enjoyed for several
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months.
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"Not to be frivolous, but I'm still the same old Ed. I've
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still got my feet on the ground.
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"But it has affected me almost daily," he says, chuckling
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softly. "I'll be doing mundane chores, like pumping gas or
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buying bolts at the hardware store. And I'll look around and
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wonder.
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"I wonder if they (the aliens) need gas. Or on a rainy,
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miserable day, I wonder if they are getting wet.
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"It's just...I know they are out there."
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=================================================================
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JOURNAL EXCERPTS REVEAL ED'S FEAR
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The Gulf Breeze Sentinel published many of Ed's photographs
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as he presented them, even creating a special edition to showcase
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these images. The following are excerpts from Ed's commentary
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that accompanied the photographs appearing in the special
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section.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"After taking those original five photos in my front yard,
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what was unreported was the UFO shot a blue beam that froze and
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lifted me from the ground. The blue beam keeps you from moving
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even your eyelids, and your chest cannot expand, so you have to
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pant to breath. While in the blue beam, the UFO can talk to you
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using telepathy."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"A strange hum began in my head...I really thought I was
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going crazy but when I went outside, I again saw the UFO appear
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in the same spot in the sky...Finally, there was a telepathic
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voice command that I 'step forward.' I thought to myself, 'No
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way' and took another picture. The voice said in another
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language, 'Photographs are prohibited.'"
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"The UFO was hovering at the back of the house as I went out
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with gun and camera in hand. I pointed the camera and the gun.
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I wasn't really going to shoot. I was just scared. The UFO
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winked out."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"At 3:30 a.m., we were in bed when I heard the dog bark. I
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jumped up and pulled up quickly the blind on the French door.
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There standing only 12 inches from my face was a shielded
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creature looking straight back into my eyes. I fell back and it
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turned to leave. When I recovered and ran out, the UFO was
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overhead...The UFO stopped me from following the creature so that
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the UFO could shoot over and beam the creature up in the blue
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beam."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"At 2 a.m., the hum returned and when we checked in the
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front I saw and photographed a totally different UFO, which
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seemed to have an energy veil shooting from the bottom."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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"The sightings have changed me and my family and, if given
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the chance, I would simply not have taken the first picture
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which led to the next and next, until my contact with the UFO has
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become overwhelming."
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=================================================================
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PHOTOGRAPHS IN QUESTION
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By Jennifer Tucker
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Tribune Staff Writer
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GULF BREEZE--The controversy in Gulf Breeze is not limited
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to a pocketful of Polaroids.
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It is made more puzzling by new explanations and startling
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accusations that threaten the credibility of Ed, the principal
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photographer of UFOs in Gulf Breeze.
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At the center of the debate is a teenager and his mother.
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And an old photograph that turned up several weeks ago.
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Seventeen year old Bill, who refuses to reveal his real
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name, was one of a group of kids who spent a lot of time at Ed's
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house during the last three years. He says they participated in
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games and activities designed to help forget the smallness of the
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city.
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Gulf Breeze has no movie theater, bowling alley or skating
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rink, and is situated in dry Santa Rosa county.
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Nevertheless, he and his friends used to have a lot of fun
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at Ed's house, Bill says. Among the activities were so called
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"spooky" games--seances, ghost stories and the like.
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Often, Bill says, Ed would take Polaroid photographs of the
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players and some of the pictures would reveal a "phantom...foggy
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thing" next to the image of the person.
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"It was all in fun," Bill says. "It got everybody spooked
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and stuff."
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"One time," Bill says, "Ed asked his house guests something
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like, 'Wouldn't it be great if we did an ultimate joke?'"
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Although Ed never revealed his plans, Bill believes the answer
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appeared in the form of a UFO.
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"Because I saw the pictures he took of the ghost thing, I
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figured this has got to be it...the prank," Bill says. "Ed never
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told anyone how he did the photographs. We all thought it was
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trick photography."
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Ed bristles at the notion that he has pulled a sophisticated
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prank.
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"First, I categorically deny that I ever used those exact
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words," Ed says. "There is nothing that I have ever done that
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can be construed as a prank."
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And that includes the 'ghost' photograph revealed only weeks
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ago, he adds.
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This photograph, of a young girl and a fuzzy white blur,
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were the combined result of a 17 year old camera, a film defect,
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and a game room full of mirrors and glass, Ed explains. He
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attributes the blur to reflections off glass.
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He did, however, take out of focus pictures when the kids'
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talk turned to ghost stories.
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"I did not recreate that photo repeatedly and intentionally
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at parties. No," Ed says. His rage also swells at the
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suggestion these gatherings were 'ritual seances.'
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"Kids like to tell ghost stories...and if that sounds like a
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ritual seance, I'll kiss your butt," he says, angrily.
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Bill's mother, Linda Chepult, says her son has been unfairly
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criticized for his honesty, and his reputation has been sullied
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by those who believe the UFO pictures are real.
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"The whole thing has gone to such an extreme that for an
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average person with reasonable intelligence, it's hard to
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believe," she says. "But I don't think Ed will ever come out and
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tell the truth because too many prominent people have supported
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him.
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"And besides," Linda adds, "I didn't like the seances and
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the blobs appearing over the kids' heads."
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Bill explains he has no reason to lie about what he saw or
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heard at Ed's house. "I believe in life on other planets," Bill
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says, "but I don't believe they are coming to Gulf Breeze."
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Ed, meanwhile, says he won't be labeled a liar so easily.
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"I'm standing up for my honesty," Ed says. "I'm not going
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to let somebody call me a liar without standing up and saying
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they are wrong.
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"Listen, the most important thing to me is my family. It is
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my first responsibility," Ed says. "Why would I want to make
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this up?"
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=================================================================
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5/89
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |