Later encounters with foo-fighters led experts to assume they were German inventions of a new order, employed to baffle radar.
How close they had come to the truth, they learned only when the war was over and Allied Intelligence teams moved into the secret Nazi plants. The foo-fighters seen by Allied pilots were only a minor demonstration, and a fraction of a vast variety of methods to confuse radar and interrupt electromagnetic currents. Work on the German antiradar Feuerball, or fireball, had been speeded up during the fall of 1944 at a Luftwaffe experimental center near Oberammergau, Bavaria. There, and at the aeronautical establishment of Wiener Neustadt, the first fireballs were produced. Later, when the Russians moved closer to Austria, the workshops producing the fireballs were moved to the Black Forest. Fast and remote-controlled, the fireballs, equipped with kliston tubes and operating on the same frequency as Allied radar, could eliminate the blips from screens and remain practically invisible to ground control.
It is also interesting to note that in one of the first published accounts of the foo-fighter mystery, Jo Chamberlin reported in The American Legion Magazine (December 1945) that: “The foo-fighters simply disappeared when Allied ground forces captured the area East of the Rhine. This was known to be the location of many German experimental stations.”
Another theory is that the foo balls might have been a type of plasma, in the form of an electrical discharge, known as St. Elmo’s Fire. Both the Gennan secret-weapon theory and the plasma theory have their merits, whereas an extraterrestrial explanation seems unlikely.
—RONALD D. STORY
Fort, Charles (1874-1932). A former newspaper reporter and amateur naturalist who, for twenty-six years, collected strange, unexplained bits of information—including some of the earliest documented sightings of UFOs—culled from old newspapers, magazines, and even scientific journals.
A daring mind, Fort proposed various exotic solutions to weird mysteries ignored by science. Although Fort explored different ideas about a number of subjects, his postulations about unexplained aerial phenomena gave him enduring notoriety. Backed by an impressive documentary effort (some 40,000 notes), Fort’s writings have served to call attention to UFO activity that occurred between 1801 and 1930. Fort authored five books, the earliest of which, The Outcast Manufactures (1909), was a novel having nothing to do with his later preoccupation with bizarre events. The other four books contain the data and thoughts that have made Fort famous among students of the UFO riddle. Those are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932). The books were limited editions, having little public impact at the time. As for book reviewers, they were either baffled or exhilarated by Fort’s revelations. It was the American iconoclast’s small but influential following in literary circles that guaranteed the survival of his writings.
Just before the United States entered World War II, Fort’s four books on the esoteric were republished together (in 1941) in a single 1,100-page tome, a volume that has gone through many editions and is still widely used by UFO enthusiasts as a reference work; though close scrutiny reveals that Fort’s documentation was not always completely accurate, the data published in his books was not meant to be exhaustive. Considerable detail on UFO cases was deleted in favor of clownish and clever commentary. Many UFO reports, pinpointed by Fort, lacked extensive investigation.
Fort’s Book of the Damned is the richest of all four in UFO material. Besides mysterious lights and objects in the atmosphere, the book contains two episodes on a larger scale that are especially striking. There was the extraordinary telescopic discovery of a lunar-size body close to the planet Venus, which was observed at various times between 1645 and 1767. Astronomers called the little world “Neith,” but, to the consternation of the experts, the orb eventually vanished. Likewise, another smaller, spindle-shaped body was observed by astronomers in 1762, which remained inexplicable, but was noted by Fort, who named it “Monstrator.” To Fort, the data suggested space arks and cosmic mother ships—vast vessels that had dropped anchor in the solar system so they could probe closer to the abode of mankind.
After accepting the possibility that scout craft from a “super-Rome” were coming and going in the Earth’s atmosphere, Fort soon became stumped by a puzzle which still troubles modern-day UFO researchers. If the Earth was being visited, why was it not done openly? This “greatest of mysteries,” (Fort’s very words) he compared to civilized man’s contact with a primitive tribe. Would not visitors from a superior extraterrestrial culture be eager to sell earthmen “superwhiskeys, cast-off superfineries,” or proselytize us with “ultra-Bibles”? he asks. Perhaps, he suggests, mankind’s hostile behavior was considered so dangerous that possible contamination was feared, thus making the Earth a place to be avoided, at least as far as direct contact was concerned.
Another hypothesis proposed by Fort placed the Earth under the guardianship of some other superior beings. Unbeknownst to us, like a farmer’s pigs, geese, or cattle (which lack the sophistication to understand they are “owned”), man, with his own limited perceptions, does not realize that aliens have long ago quarreled over, and eventually divided up, the cosmos, and that our world is the property of some victorious extraterrestrial civilization, which occasionally checks on us, chasing away all unauthorized intruders.
New Lands, Fort’s second collection of weird data, also contains a considerable amount of UFO information. Significant sections relate events pertaining to UFO waves in England in 1905 and 1913, and UFO waves in the United States in 1897 and 1908-10. Giving his thousands of notes some thought, Fort wrote that he could conceive of many kinds of extramundanians, some of which might adapt to the conditions on Earth, although he assumed the surface of our world would be like an ocean floor to aliens from a radically different environment. And if such were to be the case, then that could be another reason why such creatures do not land.
Another fascinating line of conjecture was Fort’s suggestions that many mysterious occurrences classified as supposed psychic phenomena might actually be due to the unrecognized antics of alien visitors. (Interestingly, the noted Fortean investigator/author John Keel later suggested the exact reverse—that many reports of supposed alien visitors actually represent paranormal or psychic phenomena.)
The third work by Fort of interest to UFO buffs, Lo! is only sparsely sprinkled with UFO accounts, with the exception of a discussion of the English UFO waves of 1904-05 and 1908-09. Still, it contains some memorable “Fortean” suggestions on the UFO enigma.
For example: Could alien spies be living in the major cities of Earth, regularly reporting back to their home base on a distant world? Also, could it be that the Earth is actually at war with extraterrestrial powers? This curious Wellsian train of speculation he did not develop fully, nor does any sizable amount of data justify such a suspicion. Fort did, however, play with the notion that mysterious vanishments of ocean vessels and their crews, of which he gives numerous examples, may have been due to wanton seizures by spacemen.
In Lo! Fort expressed concern over the lack of public interest in UFO activity, of how people could not take such data and its implications seriously and seemed to suffer from strong preconceptions that such things were nonsense. Even if eyewitnesses were to number in the millions, he asserted, UFO phenomena would be explained away, or in his own words, “conventionalized.”
In a more humorous mood, he foresaw the possibility that even if real creatures from Mars were to land and, with much fanfare, parade up Broadway in New York City, disbelief would remain so great, some jokers could, after the aliens had departed, successfully proclaim they had plotted and carried out a grand deception.
Fort’s last book Wild Talents; has little of value UFO-wise but is laced with more of his views of how strange data can represent “gulfs of the unaccountable,” which the authorities “bridge with terminology.”
Although a timid man and, in general, content as an obscure author, Fort nevertheless penned four l
etters to The New York Times between 1924 and 1926, trying to alert the public to the fact that craft piloted by creatures from other worlds were patrolling the skies of Earth. He confessed in his letters that the possibility was difficult to accept, yet when its time came, the “great discovery” would amount to the “final perception of the obvious.” The publication of Wild Talents took place just before Fort died on May 3, 1932. On May 5th, Fort’s passing was reported in The New York Times. Instead of being recognized as something of a prognosticater, the Times tagged Fort a “foe of science,” an unfortunately distorted view of a man who, although critical of “scientists”—when they spoke ex cathedra—was really a true proponent of the scientific method in its purest form.
—LOREN E. GROSS
Fowler, Raymond E. (b. 1933). Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Raymond Fowler enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1952 and served a four-year term, first as a general radio operator and later with the USAF Security Service. In 1960, he received his B.A. degree (magna cum laude) from Gordon College of Liberal Arts (majoring in Bible and Greek studies) at Wehham, Massachusetts. After twenty-five years of service, he retired early from GTE Government Systems where he worked as task manager and senior planner for several major weapons systems, including both the Minuteman and MX intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Ray Fowler is a veteran UFO researcher (since 1947) and investigator. His investigative reports have been published in Congressional hearings, military publications, newspapers, magazines, and professional journals in the U.S.A. and abroad. Fowler also believes himself to be a UFO-abductee.
In addition to his interest in UFOs, Fowler is an avid amateur astronomer and teacher. In 1970, he built the Woodside Planetarium and Observatory, where he conducts both adult and children’s shows, supplemented by observation sessions with a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
Fowler has written eight books and a novel on the subject of unidentified flying objects. In order of publication they are: UFOs: Interplanetary Visitors (1974), The Andreasson Affair (1979), The Andreasson Affair-Phase Two (1982), Casebook of a UFO Investigator (1981), The Melchizedek Connection (1981), The Watchers (1990), The Allagash Abductions (1993), The Watchers II (1993), and The Andreasson Legacy (1997).
Address:
13 Friend Court
Wenham, MA 01984
U.S.A.
E-mail:
[email protected]
Raymond Fowler
POSITION STATEMENT: After years of study and personal on-site investigation of UFO reports, I am certain that there is more than ample high-quality observational evidence from highly trained and reliable lay witnesses to indicate that there are unidentified machinelike objects under intelligent control operating in our atmosphere. Such evidence in some cases is supported by anomalous physical effects upon the witnesses, electrical devices and the environment, as well as by instrumentation such as radar and Geiger counters.
I have also come to the conclusion through investigation and personal experience that the so-called UFOabduction experience is supported by strong circumstantial physical and anecdotal evidence. It has also become apparent to me that such experiences contain (for want of a better term) “paranormal phenomena.”
The reported objects appear to exhibit both physical and nonphysical characteristics. Radar-visual reports of UFOs indicate that they are able to appear and disappear at a point A and then reappear at a point B with no visible transit between these two points. UFOs sometimes behave as if they have little or no mass: They execute right-angle turns without a curve radius and exceed the speed of sound without causing a sonic boom.
In other instances they exhibit very little mass, as they appear to float and bob like a cork on water, descend like a falling leaf or move with an up-and-down motion as they encounter air resistance. At other times, however, UFOs do exhibit mass and weight. They reflect radar waves. Bullets are reported to ricochet off their surface. When UFOs land they physically affect the environment and leave traces behind indicative of great weight.
The reported “entities” exhibit similar abilities to materialize and dematerialize. They more often float rather than walk, and are able to pass through solid walls and windows. Other paranormal abilities of UFO occupants reported are the ability to: appear and disappear in a ball of light, communicate by mental telepathy, exercise physical and mental control over humans, know when humans will die, cause abductees to undergo OBEs and experiences identical to NDEs.
Abduction research, personal and family UFO/psychic experiences have led me to consider the possibility that UFOs are paraphysical in nature and perhaps just one of many other components of an overall metaphenomenon that is made up of a variety of other so-called paranormal phenomena. Such manifestations may be the reflection of a super technology, highly developed psychic abilities or a combination of both.
This is not to say that UFOs are not visitors from another star system. It just opens the possibility that multiple dimensions and other states of reality may exist throughout the universe and manifest their existence to us by what we term psychic or paranormal phenomena including UFOs. Such terms are merely descriptive words for things that we currently do not understand.
The seeming limits of the laws of physics as applied to short-term interstellar travel in our plane of existence may not be a limiting factor elsewhere. We may be dealing with intelligences with the technology not only to travel between star systems within other planes of existence, but also to physically interface from such existences with our planet and its lifeforms at will for their own purposes.
The very fact that UFOs appear to be paraphysical in nature and have exhibited a technology seemingly beyond the pale of science appears to be the reason why governments have been extremely reluctant to publicly admit their existence and capabilities. The UFO phenomenon is not predictable, and is therefore difficult to study using the scientific method. Its ability to outperform and neutralize our best military systems at will makes it a potential threat to international security. Government investigations may prove the physical existence of UFOs by radar, photographic and other types of instrumentation. But governments may still not have answers to their origin and purpose, nor the ability to mount a defense against them if they are hostile. Most likely officialdom believes that if these hard truths were officially made public, it would be very disruptive to the body politic.
Contrary to what I formally believed, I tend to agree. But, such impacts have taken place before in human history. Painful as they have been, we have survived. Such impacts to our belief systems are an integral part of humankind’s intellectual and emotional evolution. Officialdom can delay but not prevent cultural impacts caused by such disturbing truths. Thus both the public and the civilian scientific community currently are left to fend for themselves against official disinformation and denials of UFO existence.
Nonetheless, in spite of this current situation, no one can prevent UFO activity nor can witnesses be prevented from sighting UFOs and reporting UFO experiences. The results of polls taken over many years show that people have and are being conditioned to UFO reality and to mistrust of government in general. In the long run, it may be that no one will ever know what the UFO phenomenon is all about, unless the powers behind the phenomenon itself decides to overtly reveal that truth to us.
—RAYMOND E. FOWLER
Friedman, Stanton T. (b. 1934). Stanton Friedman is one of the world’s best known UFO-ET researchers. More than four decades of study has convinced him that “the evidence is overwhelming that the Earth is being visited by intelligently controlled vehicles from off the Earth.”
Friedman received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics from the University of Chicago, in 1955, 1956; his professional background as a nuclear physicist includes fourteen years of industrial experience in the development of nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and nuclear power plants for space and terrestrial applications.
Since 1970 Friedman has been a full-time U
FO researcher and lecturer. He is the author of two books: Crash at Corona (1992) and Top Secret/Majic (1996), as well as numerous articles published in both professional and UFO journals and magazines.
Address:
79 Pembroke Crescent
Fredericton,
New Brunswick,
Canada E3B 2V1
E-mail:
[email protected]
POSITION STATEMENT: There are no good arguments to be made against the conclusion that some UFOs are intelligently controlled vehicles from off the Earth. Some skeptics may be well intentioned, but they are almost always ignorant of the significant scientific data indicating UFO reality. They read the newspapers but not the solid information. They are unaware of the myriad of landing-trace cases the multitude of “critter” reports and earthling abductions, the numerous large-scale scientific collections of data, the many published scientific studies indicating that trips to nearby stars in our galactic neighborhood are already feasible without violating the laws of physics or invoking science fiction techniques.
Stanton Friedman
I can safely say that the “laughter curtain” has gradually been rising. Most people are ready to listen to the scientific data, which I present at lectures, and to agree with my conclusions. The notion that most people and most scientists do not believe in UFOs is pure fiction concocted and repeated over and over again by ancient academies, nay-saying newsmen, and fossilized physicists who form a very small, but very vocal, minority full of false platitudes, illogical reasoning, misinformation, and usually egotistical notions about their own knowledge and importance. They are sure that if flying saucers were real, they would know all about them, because the aliens would, of course, have already visited with them. Since these all-important persons have not been visited, UFOs must not be real There is every indication that the United States Government (and other governments as well) has covered up loads of the best cases involving data obtained by military radar and aircraft and not referred to Project Blue Book or its equivalent overseas. Such a coverup can be easily understood from the viewpoint of a nationalistically oriented planet and the search for better flying weapons delivery systems, though it does not make much sense from an earthling viewpoint. Having spent fourteen years as a nuclear physicist on advanced development programs, many of which were highly classified, I can safely state that the government can keep secrets. The whole UFO subject is a kind of “Cosmic Watergate” crying out for a Daniel Ells-berg and/or the same media effort that went into uncovering the political Watergate.
The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters Page 39
