'I Know What I Saw' a top UFO documentary

James Fox made a top flight UFO documentary for History Channel in 2010, "I Know What I Saw," (full movie linked). It's a comprehensive treatment from first days to very crest of hysteria in 1952, resulting in largest press conference since WWII. The classic 1966 Michigan UFO sightings are covered that resulted in J Allen Hynek attempt to dismiss some sightings as 'swamp gas'. The remarks by Hynek misrepresented in the press by leaving out qualifier (some), made national headlines to secure permanent place in popular culture.  The Rendlesham Forest 1980 Sightings get thorough treatment, and results, in communicating deep meaning events still holds in lives of its participants even today. 1997 Phoenix Lights and former governor Fife Symington play significant roles as well as coverage of 2007 UFO Conference at the National Press Club.

1966 michigan sightings

Multiple UFO sightings in March, 1966 in southeast Michigan provide a classic episode when J. Allen Hynek dismissed the sightings as "swamp gas" in marshlands outside Ann Arbor. The Hynek entry in Wikipedia gives some sense how his vain attempt, entered popular culture, when Hynek's "swamp gas" became focus of 'national derision" and repeated "ad infinitum". The present writer attests the commentary was everywhere! You can relive mid-sixties pop culture with a Walter Cronkite narrated CBS REPORTS in either short version or in its entirety: "UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy". An interesting aspect is the public's reaction to Frank Manor's report of an UFO with ridicule and vandalism. It appears to be an ignorant reaction, but was certainly the predominate one of the period. You had to be a kook to see a UFO! Was it a psyop at work on the public? Manor is asked by a reporter in the CBS show, "are you sorry now that you did tell people what you saw?" Manor clearly regretted ever making the UFO report. The exchange encapsulates the sixties reaction to UFOs in a nutshell. A bit of Americana in a retro-UFO show, provided for your viewing pleasure!

jacques vallee: pentacle memorandum and project stork

An article by Philip Coppens, "A Missing Pentacle," delves into government's role as gatekeeper. Computer scientist and astronomer, Jacques Vallee discovered in 1967 a secret memorandum, while attempting to organize the UFO files of Dr J Allen Hynek. The two-page memo, dated January 9,1953 and stamped "SECRET," led Vallee to an unsavory conclusion. The US Government used UFO sightings as a tool of psychological warfare. The Pentacle Memorandum, as it became known, was a nickname used by Vallee for the memo's author. A Battelle Memorial Institute memo written by Dr Howard C Cross, was addressed to Miles Goll at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. What Vallee found was a reference to screening of, "...what can and what cannot be discussed at the meeting in Washington on January 14-16 concerning our preliminary recommendation to ATIC". The meeting was the Robertson Panel organized in response to numerous UFO sightings in the Washington DC area.

Project Stork seemed to Vallee to be, "...a key determinant in what the panel could discuss – and what not, i.e. what would be kept away from the panel. By preselecting the evidence, the conclusion the scientists would reach could thus be known in advance." Vallee brought the memo to Hynek's attention, who was rebuffed, when he asked Cross for an explanation. "Though the memo never received the impact Vallee thought it would have from a public point of view, the memo did have an important effect on both Hynek and Vallee; both realised that they had been pawns in a game which they never were able to control, if only because both were too timid to shout “conspiracy” from the rooftops."  Vallee said it was main reason he returned to Europe in 1967, he related, "it had shattered his innocence". 

The US Government role as a gatekeeper of knowledge allowed to reach the public, and literally, shape the public's reality is evident. Vallee was disillusioned with knowledge waves of UFO sightings were created and managed. You may want to read a previous post, "weapons of mass deception," if you're wondering why? A voice inside your head may be saying, "I Want to Believe"in UFOs and extraterrestrials, but it's somewhat like finding out Santa Claus doesn't exist!