244 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
244 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS FILE: UFO2384
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11/07/93
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE
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The human-like face seemingly carved into the surface of Mars made news in
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August when a NASA mission to photograph the surface closeup failed. The
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subsequent protests that the space agency was covering up the secret behind the
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formation have died down.
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But mysteries such as that formation and innumerable others on this planet
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have kept Gene Phillips, 66, of Lake Forest and thousands of other people in
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the Ancient Astronaut Society busy for 20 years.
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Phillips founded the organization on Sept. 14, 1973, and it now numbers
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10,000 members in 93 countries, including 1,500 in the United States.
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Phillips, a lawyer who does corporate work through the firm bearing his name
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and who is president of the society, also is editor of its bimonthly
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newsletter, Ancient Skies, written at the headquarters of the organization at
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1921 St. Johns Ave., Highland Park, which is also Phillips' law office.
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What brings together these widely diverse people, ranging in age from 12 to
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90-plus, is their common zeal to find evidence of what they believe to be the
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truth of mankind's past.
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Many members believe the human race may be descended from or was given
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advanced technological knowledge by astronauts of a higher intelligence from
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other planets who visited Earth before written history.
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Other members believe certain human civilizations possessed sophisticated
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technology that has been lost and most evidence of its existence destroyed.
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Phillips subscribes to the former theory.
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Recently the organization held its 20th Anniversary World Conference in Las
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Vegas and attracted about 350 people from 15 countries, including theologians,
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astronomers, physicists, archeologists, aerospace engineers, philosophers,
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clergymen, doctors, lawyers, accountants, authors and journalists.
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In his address, Phillips told them of his belief that only the ancient
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astronaut theory can explain the sudden appearance on Earth of human
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intelligence.
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The theory, first popularized by Swiss writer Erich von Daniken in his
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international best-seller "Chariots of the Gods?" (Berkeley Publishing Group,
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$4.99 paperback), was the subject of a 1973 PBS television special called "In
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Search of Ancient Astronauts," which Phillips saw and found convincing.
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On the evidence of his background, Phillips does not seem like a man to be
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easily influenced. He is an honors graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute
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in Blacksburg, Va., with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a law degree
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from Northwestern University, where he was an editor of the Law Review and was
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awarded the Order of Coif for academic achievement. He is also a former Air
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Force officer.
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In other words, this man is neither stupid nor a wide-eyed flake.
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Nevertheless, when Phillips saw "In Search of Ancient Astronauts," almost
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immediately he became a believer.
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"What I saw on that television show answered many of my questions about
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religion and the origins of humankind," Phillips said.
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Born to a poor family in Beaver, W.Va., Phillips was raised as a Methodist,
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converted to Catholicism and has not gone to church in more than 20 years,
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except for an occasional wedding or funeral. By his own admission, he is not a
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religious man.
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Inspired by that television show, he founded the Ancient Astronaut Society
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"... to search for evidence to determine whether Earth was visited in the
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remote past by intelligent beings from outer space and whether a highly
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developed, technological civilization existed on Earth before our recorded
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history," Phillips said.
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That same year, 1973, Von Daniken came to Chicago to speak, and The Tribune,
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which had covered both Von Daniken and Phillips, arranged for them to meet.
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There was an immediate rapport between the two men.
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"We liked each other right away," Phillips said, "I guess because we had so
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much in common." Today, 20 years later, Phillips and Von Daniken are close
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friends, Von Daniken is an officer of the not-for-profit Ancient Astronaut
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Society, and he operates its European office in Feldbrunnen, Switzerland.
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In a phone interview, Von Daniken said, "Gene was always very, very correct
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and fair. Whatever we have done together in the society and in private, he is
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perfect.
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"In the beginning, he was very enthusiastic. He made the organization."
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Von Daniken added that in the early days, the two agreed that an
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international organization would be better than one limited to the United
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States. Now both are glad they took that direction, because European membership
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has been more active than the U.S. branch, prompted by Van Daniken's regular
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television show, "On the Traces of the Almighties," which airs on the German
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equivalent of an American cable superstation.
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For the next two decades, Phillips, an outgoing, well-informed, articulate
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and often humorous man, searched "for knowledge and truth," as he said, in
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remote corners of the Earth where he examined, photographed and speculated on
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the significance of archeological ruins and artifacts.
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When not traveling, he reads exhaustively on the subject. His library
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numbers 2,500 volumes and continues to grow.
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"Evolution does not explain how man could have evolved from the cave to the
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stars in such a short time," Phillips said. "And when you see the immense
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achievements of early civilizations, you have to conclude that they had
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sophisticated technological knowledge-architectural, engineering, astronomical
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and metallurgical, for example. That advanced knowledge had to come from
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another source, and that source appears to be extraterrestrial."
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To investigate firsthand and expand upon his theories, Phillips has taken
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thousands of color slides around the world at the sites of what he calls the
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"remnants of great civilizations . . . that utilized advanced technology which
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has long since been forgotten," in more than 30 countries, including Mexico,
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Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Easter Island, Malta, Jordan, Egypt, Russia and
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China.
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The Sarcophagus Cover of Palenque, found in the ruins of that ancient Mayan
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city in Mexico's Chiapas state, for example, is just one of countless
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archeological objects or artifacts that confirm, according to Phillips, the
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truth of his theory.
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The 5-ton slab of stone, 7 feet wide, 13 feet long and 10 inches thick, was
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identified by archeologists as a cover for the tomb of the Mayan king Pacal. It
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bears an intricately carved picture of what Phillips describes as an ancient
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astronaut in a spacecraft using hand controls and a foot pedal to operate the
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vehicle. An object attached to the figure's nose is thought by Phillips to be
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an oxygen mask, and what appears to be flames beyond the capsule look to
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Phillips like rocket exhaust.
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"Here's convincing evidence that ancient astronauts visited the Earth," said
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Phillips as he points out each pictorial element on an exact scaled-down
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reproduction of the sarcophagus cover, one of numerous original artifacts and
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reproductions he has collected over the years and displays in his home.
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"And how was it possible to carve so intricate and precise a design,"
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Phillips asked, "in a culture which archeologists believed did not to have
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metal tools? It was not possible. So obviously, they did have metal, and
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apparently the archeologists are wrong."
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But according to Lanny Bell, an Egyptologist and associate professor of
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archeology at the University of Chicago, most establishment archeologists
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dismiss the ancient astronaut theory. Bell, with a doctorate in Egyptology and
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30 years of experience and research in the field, said, "Nobody I know in
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archeology or Egyptology believes it. There just isn't any credible, scientific
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evidence. One of the problems in archeology is the interesting, isolated
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finding, which may be open to different interpretations. But if you look at it
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within the context of the development of an entire culture, the finding becomes
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understandable."
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What would convince Bell of the validity of the ancient astronaut theory?
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"If they were to find a mummified astronaut or a spaceship. Until then, it's
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all just harmless fun."
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In reply, Phillips laughed good-naturedly. "That's mild," he said of Bell's
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criticism. "We've been attacked by Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Thor Heyerdahl. It
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doesn't bother me. I'm used to it."
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Phillips was referring to a 1974 "Nova" show on PBS in which those
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well-known popularizers of science presented evidence to disprove the ancient
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astronaut theory.
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"Von Daniken and his ideas were getting too popular," Phillips said,
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explaining why the big guns of establishment science wanted his theories
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destroyed. But even some members of the Ancient Astronaut Society find it
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difficult to believe the proposition that Earth was visited by intelligent
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beings from another planet.
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Member Vince DiPietro, a senior systems engineer and image-processing expert
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at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight
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Center facility in Maryland, is known in Ancient Astronaut circles for the book
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"Unusual Mars Surface Features," which he co-authored. Among the formations the
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book discusses is the "Mars face," a mile-wide surface feature on Mars
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photographed in July 1976 by NASA's Viking I probe. The formation appears to be
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a human face, seemingly carved or formed in stone and looking to the sky.
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"The face indicates to me that an advanced civilization once inhabited Mars
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and became extinct," Di Pietro said in a telephone interview. "A half-billion
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years ago, Mars was teeming with life. There's chemical evidence to support
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this. Then life on Mars became extinct. I believe that life on Earth, because
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of pollution and the disappearing ozone layer, could be headed for the same
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catastrophe."
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But does Di Pietro believe that this advanced Martian civilization or any
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extraterrestrial civilization visited Earth in the past? His one-word answer
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was, "Negative."
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This diversity of opinion, according to Phillips, is what makes the Ancient
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Astronaut Society so interesting. At their 20th Anniversary World Conference, a
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vast array of professional and amateur experts spoke on such topics as gods in
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the image of ancient astronauts, ancient astronauts in prehistoric Ireland, new
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research on Noah's Ark, the war between Earth and Mars, and the spaceships of
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Ezekiel.
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Von Daniken lectured on proof of the ancient astronaut theory. Phillips
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presented a lecture using color slides he took at various archeological sites
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in Central and South America, Easter Island and China, showing ruins, glyphs,
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artifacts and stone figures that he claims support the theory that some ancient
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civilizations were highly developed technologically.
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Among the enemies in this quest for scientific respectability are the
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supermarket tabloids. For example, when they run lead stories saying that First
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Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has adopted an alien baby or that President Clinton
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has consulted with the infirm JFK (and you thought he had died!) about aliens,
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it tends to undermine the public's perception of organizations such as the
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Ancient Astronaut Society.
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"That kind of thing does give a bad name to our activities. There's a
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tendency to lump us all together," Phillips said.
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But what of Phillips the corporate lawyer, who by his own count has formed
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more than 500 corporations for doctors and dentists?
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Ancient Astronaut Society member Jimmy Onan, a construction firm executive
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who built and lives in a pyramid-shaped home in Wadsworth, said, "Gene is one
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of the sharpest lawyers I ever met. He's represented me on several occasions,
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and other lawyers have told me he's brilliant."
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One attorney who would agree with that assessment is John Bure of Deerfield,
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who has worked on cases with Phillips. "I've worked with him on a number of
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involved, sophisticated corporate matters. I don't think there's a better
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corporate attorney in the state of Illinois. He's technically skilled."
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Bure added that Phillips was ahead of his time even in the simple matter of
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office equipment. "Way before people had word processors, he had them," he
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said. "He was so mechanized."
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"It's very unusual for someone to be doing the Ancient Astronauts with his
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background," Bure added, explaining that this helps lend credence to his
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avocation. But in all the years Phillips has been involved with the
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organization, "he's never pushed me to join, and I appreciate that. He doesn't
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wear it on his sleeve."
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Despite Phillips' devotion to the Ancient Astronaut Society and his work as
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a corporate lawyer, his family life has not suffered.
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Married 38 years to wife Doris, they have four adult children: Carlos, a
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trader on the Chicago Board of Trade; George, an accountant in Barlett;
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Gregory, in the State Department diplomatic corps in Hamburg, Germany; and
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Pamela Talley, a homemaker in Albuquerque, N.M.. Doris and Gene have traveled
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together extensively over the years on Phillips' frequent expeditions to
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foreign lands.
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Doris, of Peruvian-Basque ancestry, is involved in the daily operations of
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the society as secretary of the organization and as Phillips' associate in the
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editing and publishing of the society's newsletter, Ancient Skies.
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"Our family life is good," Doris said, "because Gene has always included me
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in the activities of the society: meeting the people, going on the expeditions.
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I'm happy to be a part of the movement."
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Doris' four brothers, who are physicians, encouraged Phillips to study law
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when they were newly married and living in Rochester, Minn., where they met. At
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the time, Phillips owned a Chrysler auto dealership, which a friend at the
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Harvard Business School had helped him establish.
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But at his wife's urging, he decided to go to law school at Northwestern,
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bringing them to the Chicago area.
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Though Doris is a Catholic and raised the Phillipses' children in that
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faith, she said, "My belief in ancient astronauts poses no religious conflict.
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In fact, there are many Catholic priests and other clergy in the society."
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Phillips added, "Oddly enough, the religionists have not opposed us much.
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Most of our criticism comes from the scientific community. Eventually, in 50 or
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100 years, our theories will be proven and accepted.
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"As a minister told me once, Well, this just proves God is bigger than we
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thought he was.' "
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Even the late celebrated J. Allen Hynek, an astronomy professor at
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Northwestern who started as a debunker of UFO sightings, later became a
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believer in their existence and was described in his day as "the world's
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leading expert on UFOs."
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Writing of the UFO mystery and of Steven Spielberg's film "Close Encounters
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of the Third Kind," in which aliens visit Earth, Hynek said in his book "The
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Hynek UFO Report" (Dell, unavailable), "Spielberg has succeeded in capturing on
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film the essence of the UFO enigma, the mounting evidence that intelligence
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other than our own not only exists but, in a manner peculiarly its own, is
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making itself known to the human race."
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To that, Phillips might add, "Amen," if he were a religious man.
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Though Phillips believes strongly that there is life on other planets, he
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does not enjoy science fiction. Giving a capsule critique of the film "2001: A
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Space Odyssey," he said, "The ending was too far out."
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Next year Phillips intends to retire and devote himself full time to the
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Ancient Astronaut Society and also to write a book.
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But what of the question that has intrigued Phillips for more than 20 years
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and for which there is still no proof persuasive enough to convince
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establishment science? The answer, you might say, is still up in the air.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |