SPI News.
As many of you may now know, I have moved down to London and have started up a sister branch to SPI entitled, SPI ENGLAND. This will complement our main society (SPI SCOTLAND). Both societies together, will advance the information that can be generated to the public, into informing them that matters pertaining to UFOs and the Paranormal are credible and sincere subjects which demand Investigation. The following information concerns some recent activities that I have been up to during my early weeks down here in London.
I t is with regret that I recently resigned from BUFORA, (The British UFO Research Association). This was due to the controversy which surrounded me and my advocating that hypnosis is indeed a good tool for use on UFO abduction experiencers, but I have always said that it should only be used sparingly and with caution, and only on those individuals whom it can be verified know very little about the UFO abduction phenomenon. In this day and age of course, that would appear to be very difficult, as the climate of interest in matters pertaining to UFOs and space has been quite extensive over the past few years. There now 'seems' to be a change in this as a number of high street 'UFO Mags' have bitten the dust. Is this a true reflection of the feeling in this country regarding such matters, or are UFOs still a big interest with young and old alike ? I have been with BUFORA for over 18 years, and served them not only as a UFO researcher, but also in the capacity of their Scottish R.I.C. (Regional Investigations Co-ordinator). I was also their Scottish postal training officer as well.
My decision to leave BUFORA was probably a direct result of the heavy flak that BUFORA have taken, and are still taking, from researcher Kevin McClure (see previous SPI bulletins on this web site). I have no axe to grind with either Kevin or BUFORA. BUFORA have, over the past few years, outlawed the use of hypnosis on UFO abduction experiencers simply because they feel that it will not bring forward any useful information. If anything, it may in some ways destroy the case, making it more difficult to reach the truth after the witness has been 'tampered with' by this, 'de-focusing' of the mind. I admit, hypnosis has its flaws, I've always said so, and of course it may not be the best of tools to help in these sometimes traumatic experiences. But I do honestly believe that it should be given a try. I use the analogy of that of a workman. He doesn't go onto a building site armed only with a hammer. Of course not, he goes onto that building site armed with as many tools as possible to get the job done. Hypnosis is just another tool which 'might' prove useful in the study of the UFO abduction phenomenon.
Most people who know me, know how I feel on this issue, and I do not want to bring any more disrespect down on the shoulders of BUFORA, a group that I have respected and researched for, for many years, but as I am the only person within BUFORA who appears to be sticking my neck out on this issue, (that we should be using hypnosis, but very carefully), then I had no other option than to resign from BUFORA. So as from July 14th, I resigned from BUFORA, and will conduct no further investigations for them. I will however be prepared to give BUFORA lectures from time to time (if they so wish) and will occasionally write for their magazine. I don't think BUFORA have stopped freedom of speech and writing !! Incidentally, I used my re-membership fee to join LUFOS, (The London UFO Studies Group) run by Roy Lake, who have welcomed me with open arms and have taken me on as one of their investigators, so I am looking forward to working with Roy and his team, a team who like me, believe ever so strongly, that hypnosis, (with its pitfalls) has a strong role to play in the study of this elusive UFO phenomenon.
E nglish UFO researcher Philip Mantle, whom some have seen as a controversial figure in British UFOlogy, has resigned from the subject. In a statement issued by him on July 2Oth on the web site to many UFO researchers, he states that, due to a 'number of reasons', but more so due to his wife Sue having osteo-arthiritis, he feels that he must now give more time and attention to her, as it would appear that at some point in the near future, she may require a hip replacement operation. Added to this, Phil's eldest daughter has just auditioned for a scholarship with the Royal Ballet, and as well as her normal education, she attends a theatre school 3 or 4 times a week. This is becoming time consuming and it looks like Phil's youngest daughter aims to follow in her big sister's footsteps. All this, Philip informed us, takes up a considerable amount of his time, time which he cannot now devote to UFOlogy. Philip will honor those UFO commitments that he made for the remainder of this year, but after that he will be pulling out indefinitely. He also plans to scrap his e-mail, as this was time consuming, and his time he feels should be better spent with his family.
Phil mentions that this decision wasn't reached lightly, but it was something that he just had to do. His wife and family come first. I'm sure all of us would agree that Phil's decision was the right one under the circumstances. UFOlogy can take a grip on one's life, (don't I just know it!) I have been a good and personal friend of Phil's for many, many years now and I have nothing but respect for him. He took a lot of flak over the Roswell Alien Autopsy movie, (for having anything to do with it !), but if Phil hadn't stepped in there, no doubt somebody else would ! Phil has been a very outspoken and commanding UFOlogist, who in his own inimitable way, has upset a number of UFOlogists, (I should know, for I too would appear to have this ability !!). At the end of the day though, you can't have UFOlogy without the UFOlogists, and each and every one of us plays our own significant role. Phil, for me, has done a tremendous job in bringing forward UFOlogy to the people of this country. His two books, WITHOUT CONSENT (written by himself and Carl Nagaitis ) and BEYOND ROSWELL, (co-written by German researcher Michael Hessemann) have been instrumental in this education. I'm sure UFOlogy will miss Philip Mantle, just as he will miss UFOlogy. I can only hope that at some future date, we will see the return of Philip Mantle, when I, and many other of his Scottish friends, will welcome him back with open arms. We at Strange Phenomena Investigations hope that Phil's wife Susan regains her health, and that Phil's two children go on to get their scholarships at the Royal Ballet. We wish you all well.
I came across quite an alarming story in the Daily Mail of Thursday August 6th. It told that the British police will soon have rights to 'tap into' our e-mails !! Yes, that's right, just when you thought you could send your private e-mail onto someone, or in UFOlogy's case, important information about UFO sightings, this may soon be monitored by the police. The story related that senior police officers have brokered a deal with Internet service providers who provide e-mail facilities to gain access to the computers of Britain's eight million users from next year (1999). We are informed that this move is being done strictly to ensure that criminals do not take advantage of the Internet !!! I would be the first to accept that the Internet has its flaws, as I'm sure that anyone who has used it will soon see, that within the zillions of Giga-bytes of information that it has to offer, there is a seedy side to it as well, which obviously needs to be tightened up. But the fact remains, will we ever be sure that other people (i.e. UFOlogists) might not also be within the gaze of the police ? Some might think of this as being over dramatic, but I would not be too sure. We know for sure, through the Freedom of Information documents that have been released throughout the USA, that various agencies within America were secretly studying the UFO enigma, a fact which they wished to hide from the public. When an 'agency' is required to find out things, they will pull out all the stops to do so. I, for one, would be very cautious of this approach. I'm sure the police are indeed going to tap into our e-mails to see if they can uncover some criminals, but where does it stop? Do the prying eyes extend into the UFO community ? I'd think carefully before saying no !!!
S taying with the subject of the Internet, I was recently informed by Dean Ladds of SPI, about a web site by the famous Area51 researcher Glenn Campbell, PO Box 81166, Las Vegas, NV 89180 which concerns itself with those UFO 'happenings' above the small Scottish town of Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire. The site features numerous pieces of information gathered over the years from newspapers and magazine articles, all dealing with these UFO reports. The site must also be praised for having a link site to our own SPI Web Page, which is an added bonus for those seeking out further information. And I believe, though I haven't gone into it all, that there are other links into other Scottish UFO sites, in particular, the excellent site of Dave Ledger from Fife.
To gain access to this site click here, http://www.ufomind.com/place/uk/bonnybridge/
T his was the heading from the Daily Mail of August 6th, and one which angered me beyond belief !! Why ? Well one of the main reasons I voted for a Labour Government, was their pledge that if they got into office, they would seek to push through a Freedom of Information Bill, similar it must be said, to the bill that was introduced in America a number of years ago, through which we UFOlogists managed to retrieve many documents which clearly showed that the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the N.S.A., all departments of the U.S. government purporting to serve the people, were secretly involved in UFO study. Many UFOlogists in this country were looking forward to a similar bill being introduced here in the UK. Labour's manifesto, just prior to the election, stated, and I quote, "We are pledged to a Freedom of Information Act, leading to more open Government". Well now it would appear that the voting Labour supporters (of whom I 'used' to count myself as one), were lied to by the Labour Government lulling us into a false sense of optimism. This is but typical of a political party out to secure votes by stating things that they have no real intention of pulling-off. Apparently Home Secretary Jack Straw had led a fierce campaign of opposition to the proposed bill, believing that by passing this bill, it could be abused by crooks to outwit the police and law enforcement agencies, (echoes of my above statement about e-mail snooping!). Of course, there will be more to this than meets the eye, and no doubt the Labour Government will try and convince the British people that their re-think on the matter is in the best interests of us all. But to me, the voting public who put the Labour party in power, have been led down the garden path. This broken promise/pledge, call it what you will, has stuck in the throat of this UFOlogist. Just when we thought that here in Britain we might be getting access to important UFO files which would undoubtedly have helped our cause, the rug has been pulled from beneath our feet. George Orwell may have got it right; we are but puppets in this country of ours. We'll soon have no rights at all. Why do we bother voting on promises ? I'm gutted.
M oving down to England has given me opportunities to visit locations that probably I might otherwise have missed. One such location that I had never visited, until fairly recently, (see July News), had been the county of Wiltshire, and a few weeks ago (July 31st), Judith and I once more traveled down to Wiltshire, this time on the spur of the moment due to a phone call that I received from UFO researcher Matthew Williams. Matthew informed me that he had been assisting a Japanese T.V. crew who had set up their research caravan in the Vale of Pewsey, atop Adam's Grave, a mystical site of times gone by. He went on to say that during his time with them, they had managed to capture on film what could be termed as a UFO which came out of a cloud !! This was a direct result of someone in the party casting up a strong laser beam into the night sky, and that was the surprising response !! There had also been observations of numerous strange balls of orange light seen by the skywatchers. Moreover, there had also been a number of crop circles formed in the area and, according to Matthew, a silent black unmarked helicopter which seemed to show an interest in the activity on top of Adam's Grave. Incidentally, this area has been a focal point, or 'window area' as we say in UFO speak, for a number of years, with strange balls of light regularly being seen. In fact, we were informed by one of the local skywatchers that the hill over which the Japanese cameras had picked up the BOLs was known as "golden ball hill". Crop circles have been a feature of the landscape in this area since way back but were more of the singular variety as opposed to the now more commonly sighted pictograms and insectograms.
Matthew asked if we would like to come down. It didn't take too much thought to realise that it was
either a night in, in front of the T.V., or we could head off down through the night to Wiltshire and
look at a dark night sky. No contest !!! The night sky won. And so Judy and I threw a couple of duvets
into the car, followed by a pair of binoculars and my video bag and accessories.
We later realised that the suddenness of our departure was a little too hasty, for in our hurry to
set off, I had forgotten to check my video bag to ensure that the video batteries were in there.
As I usually ensure that they are, I didn't check.
Needless to say, the video batteries were not there. We had also forgotten to bring another major necessity,
a torch, not only to see our way around in the dark, but to flash up into the night sky, a common part of
today's skywatches. And to cap it all, our camera required a new roll of film. Isn't it great to be professional !! Setting off down the M4, with me as a co-pilot, we eventually reached our destination. Seeing some torch lights shining upwards from a hill, we guessed that we must be in the right location. This was confirmed when we negotiated our way into a car park etched into a field. It contained a number of cars and vans, and there were
several more cars parked nearby. Getting out of the car, we met a father and his two young girls. He was a
member of the Staffordshire UFO group, and this was his second visit of the day to this location.
Thankfully he had come well prepared, and his torch proved very useful in paving the way for us
all to negotiate the steep and pot-holed climb up the hill which took us to Adam's Grave.
When we finally arrived at the top of the hill we were met, eventually, by Matthew's friend, Paul Damon.
(Matthew Williams unfortunatly had other commitments that night and couldn't be there).
Paul too was assisting Japanese Television, although as we learned, they had left some half hour
before we arrived. There were a number of people in this caravan, each who had a role to play in assisting
the Japanese with the work that they were doing.
There were two video T.V. monitors inside this caravan which featured pictures being sent to them by two very expensive and highly sophisticated video cameras. One camera was located outside the caravan and was facing across the Vale of Pewsey, in which, down in the fields below, a very large crop circle had formed a few weeks previously. This extremely large circle, was in the shape of a snow flake. One of the skywatchers who
was working one of the outside cameras invited me to take over the camera, an offer I couldn't refuse, and
so I pointed the camera skywards and scanned the skies in hopes of sighting something untoward.
I didn't, and although I saw a few satellites, that was all. Judith and I then took a short walk up to the
top of this hill where Adam's Grave was located. A tremendous and commanding view of the
Pewsey Valley could be seen, an absolutely perfect spot for a skywatch, with a vast amount of sky
uncluttered by city or street lights. The sky had been fairly clear when Judith and I reached Adam's
Grave at around O1:OOam, but by O4:OOam, the sky had become heavily overcast, and so without
much ado, we decided to head back to the car and get some sleep. Before we did so, however, we
decided to trek up another famous skywatching hill in the area, Knapp Hill.
Arriving at the top, we were again confronted with another commanding view of the Pewsey
Valley. Sadly the night sky was still heavily overcast, and we decided to cut short our impromptu
skywatch and head back for some well earned sleep in the car. I awoke in the early hours of the
morning, to the sound of a micro-light aircraft buzzing overhead and looked down the valley to catch
my first glimpse of the snow flake formation that had been made (!!!),
appeared (!!!!), a few weeks previously. Truly impressive indeed.
No sooner had the small micro-light disappeared into the distance, than an Apache black helicopter flew over the formation and disappeared rapidly to the west. Driving out of the car park, (which had now seen a number of other vehicles, mostly German), we visited this snow flake formation. I must admit, being inside this formation was a bit of an eye-opener. One cannot realise the enormity of these circles until such times as one actually visits them oneself. It was enormous. And although I believe that the vast majority of these circles are cleverly man-made, this doesn't take away the 'awe factor' !
As we were in 'crop circle country', we decided that our next port of call should be the famous 'croppie pub', the Barge Inn. The Barge Inn is the pub which all crop circle fanatics visit during crop circle season (and out of it as well !). It is situated next to a canal, and this picturesque setting is like something out of a postcard, really beautiful. The back room of the Barge, is totally, and I mean totally, covered with photographs, drawings, illustrations and artwork, depicting the many crop circles that have been featured in this area. There is also a table which contains a number of UFO and crop circle magazines for interested parties to peruse.
The main focus point of the back room has to be the ceiling, for the ceiling is one big mural depicting crop circles, standing stones, UFOs, black triangular craft and much more. It truly is a work of art and undoubtedly will be a talking point amongst visiting 'croppies'. Judith and I had arrived at opening time, 11:00am, and soon the back room was so full that there just wasn't anymore room for people to come in. Deciding that we had seen enough, we left, and as we were driving out of the Barge, we both saw coming down the drive, a large white transit van full of people, with noted German UFOlogist Michael Hessemann speaking into a microphone to the people in the back. No doubt Michael was doing his tour-guide of the area and, like us, felt that one cannot come to Wiltshire without visiting the croppie pub of the Barge.
Our next port of call was the small town of Avebury, but before we arrived there, we had time to stop and view Europe's largest man-made earth mound, that of Silbury Hill. This impressive hill is dated (it's said), to the Lugnasadh Age, (around 1st of August period of about 266OBC, in the Neolithic Age). To all intents and purposes, it basically resembles a large upside down pudding bowl !! We had parked across the road from Silbury Hill and admired the tenacity of the afternoon's ramblers as they negotiated the steep climb to the top of this flattened earth mound. (We didn't venture up it ourselves !!). Moving on from there, we next visited another crop circle which, admittedly, did not look overly impressive from the road side. At first I assumed that what I was looking at was wind damage, for nobody had told us that there was a crop circle in this location. However, both Judy and I decided that we should check it out nonetheless, which proved to be a wise move, for as we approached ever nearer, it became clear that this indeed was quite a large crop circle, or insectogram, as I should call it. Apart from the one large main circle, it had smaller off-shoots to the sides. To me it looked like some form of insect, probably resembling an earwig ! This particular crop circle was much more impressive than the one that we had visited in the morning, this circle featuring an intricate woven pattern on the crop floor. Also, the edges appeared much more defined and did not look as damaged as the one that we had visited earlier.
In one smaller off-shoot circle, we found a pile of stones that previous visitors had placed, almost like a little cairn. Why ? Who knows? No sooner had Judy and I been sitting in the circle for a short period of time, than numerous other people started to make their way towards it. They, like us, were impressed by this circle, and we exchanged some small talk regarding it. One woman said that she believed this formation had been christened "the larva".
{Who gives crop-circles their wonderfully descriptive names anyway? I'd really like to know -Judith}. There is
no denying, as I've said before, that these crop circles are a work of art, but are they just that, a work of human
art, or are we really talking about some form of 'outside' influence, from wherever, which is making these things? Certain psychic channelers say that they are being made by extraterrestrials who are leaving us a message in the
fields throughout our world. To me, this sounds ludicrous, but then again, who are we to say what possibly
could be going on with any extraterrestrial or interdimensional agencies? I'd need to see some really substantial
proof in regards to an external source that is behind these crop circles before I would truly believe in them, and
at this point, I have seen nothing to suggest that they have to be made by any agencies other than our 'own folk'.
I mean, why are there not any circles appearing in the many crop fields of Scotland ?!! And although admittedly there have been some crop circles appearing throughout the world, Wiltshire and other English locations, appear
to be 'IT'.
Leaving this crop circle, we then headed off in the direction of Avebury, the town famous for its standing stones which almost completely encircle the town itself. As the weather had been extremely hot, there were many tourists out in force, and the various different dialects that we heard made me think that we were truly in a League of Nations !! But nothing could have astounded me more that day than seeing these enormous monoliths, some weighing several tons, all standing to attention like soldiers guarding the town. Not only that, but there was a deep ditch dug out around the outer edge of the large stone circle, a deterrant, it is said, to any advancing army which had desires on the town of Avebury. When you consider that there were no J.C.B. diggers in those days, then this amazing feat of excavation proves all the more incredible. I had heard much about the town of Avebury and its standing stones, but to be there and see them close up, well it really does take your breath away. Ancient man truly was clever.
All in all then, our trip to Wiltshire was most enjoyable. Not only had we participated in a skywatch, but we had visited locations which ancient man held in high esteem. Great Britain truly holds some amazing landscapes, landscapes not only of beauty, but of tantalising mystery. For those of you who have not as yet had the chance to visit Wiltshire, then I strongly recommend that you do so ---- you won't be disappointed.
For those who would like more information about Wiltshire, then try and obtain a copy of the recently published book, 'Walks In Mysterious Wiltshire' by Laurence Main, (see SPI Book reviews). Copies can be obtained for £6:95 from, Sigma Leisure, 1 South Oak Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, SK9 6AR, United Kingdom, Telephone, O1625 531 O35. Or why not check out the Sigma Press web site on, http://www.sigmapress.co.uk
W ell that's it for another month. Do remember that if you want to contact either Billy Devlin or myself, then you can do so by writing to us on the SPI Mail Address on our SPI Home Page, or, alternatively, you may write to us care of the address featured on this web site. We always welcome your comments, (good or bad !) Any information which you may care to relate about strange experiences that you have had will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Until next month --------.
SPI NEWS FOR AUGUST 1998, compiled by Malcolm Robinson, and ammended by Judith Jaafar. SPI Web Site Placements by Dean Ladds. (C) Copyright SPI, 1998.
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