Last Modified: Tuesday 30-Jun-2009 03:52:17 EEST by
UFO video documentaries - military and pilot UFO sightings
The Kelsey Bay, Vancouver Island BC, Canada Oct-1981 UFO seems to be a disk with a dome (this crop-out is grainy due to max magnification from 2nd generation negatives - full uncropped photo, magnified cropout).
Story: During a family vacation, Mrs McRoberts saw "a cloud over a mountaintop, suggestive of a smoking volcano" and snapped a photo of it. She didn't notice the UFO at the time the photo was taken, it was captured by chance.
More case details at ufobc, ufoevidence
APRO, Dr.Harder and Dr.Haines (a retired NASA scientist, who in 2000 established NARCAP - compiled a database of over 3000 UFO sightings by pilots - see documentary "Pilot UFO sightings") took an interest in the photo.
An analysis of the Kelsey Bay UFO photo (.PDF) is published in the scientific report of the Sturrock Panel 1997 (.PDF), funded by billionaire Laurance Rockefeller.
Dr.Haines considered the possibility that it was just a small frisbee near the camera, and argued that a frisbee wouldn't fly well if it had a dome on its top -as the Vancouver object apparently has- nor would it show up sharp in the photo due to its quick movement.
Reports of very close sightings of discoid UFOs with transparent domes, with "human-looking" UFO-occupants, include Mrs.Roestenberg, age 29 at the time, and her two sons over her home near Ranton, Staffordshire, England in Oct-1954 - sketch (ref: various video interviews, incl. one in Arthur C Clarke's "Mysterious World UFOs"). Extract from BBC's "Out of this world" 1977 (duration 6min):
Below: Another similar case near Cowichan Hospital, again in Vancouver Island BC Canada on New Year's Eve 1-Jan-1970 more:
Mr Fregnale, Auvergne, Lac Chauvet, France 1952 UFO Photos (2 of a total of 4) analyzed by GEPAN -later SEPRA- (official UFO study project in France) and considered genuine.
LAC CHAUVET, France 1952: Mr. Fregnale electrical engineer of Le Puy, was hiking in the area of Bessem Friday in search for geological study, near Lake Chauvet, when he saw a kind of disc that crossed the sky from West to East. He took 4 photos.
"I had the time to take four shots very quickly. I saw the machine approximately during 50 seconds and after having taken the photographs I observed the craft with binoculars. According to my observations and calculations I made afterwards, if the saucer were at 3.000 meters it was going at approximately 300 meters per second. If it were at 8.000 meters its speed was larger obvioulsy and could reach 800 meters per second. I heard absolutely no noise.
"The craft - as often told - had the shape of an oval saucer. Below and in the center it seemed that there is a light bulge, but I am not certain. Around the circular part, a brilliant circle appeared. I suppose that above the apparatus, a rotor, or some other gyroscopic system, rotated very quickly, which would explain the reflection that one very clearly sees on the photographs that I took."
-- Translated extract from report in French newspaper "Le Meridional", 1952
The latest study of the 1952 negatives was published by Dr. Guerin in 1994:
"... We have demonstrated that the photographs showed a disk-shaped object located at a large distance in the sky and, thus, having large dimensions ... The disk was flying along a straight and horizontal trajectory, keeping an inclination to the horizontal plane, about the axis trajectory and at an angle which remained between about 5 degrees and 12 degrees. The eccentric spot remained aligned along this axis during the observation, which makes unlikely the possibility of forgery by means of a model hung at the end of a wire or thrown into the air" -- SSE Vol.8, Num.4, Art.1 1994 "A Scientific Analysis of Four Photographs of a Flying Disk Near Lac Chauvet (France)" by Pierre Guerin, Institut d'Astrophysique, Paris, France
The Off Center Spot: Here certainly is a detail impossible to invent, at least by witnesses who have never heard of it. How could a number of people independently invent something apparently so meaningless a less-luminous spot moving about on a saucer at each "turn of the rudder"?
The spot in question can be seen quite clearly on the photograph taken by M. Fregnale at Lake Chauvet. And we can predict that in photographs of saucers one part of the object will be underexposed if the exposure is adjusted to its average luminosity: there will always be a dark shadow in the vicinity of the center [Michel, 1957].
French Gendarmerie UFO Files include a photo of a classic flat-bottomed disk (typical eye-witness descriptions: "upside-down saucer", "silver dome", "chrome hubcap" or even as "flying shields" in ancient times).
(bigger photo)
The witness was sitting on the passenger's seat, taking landscape photographs under the rain when suddenly a luminous disk appeared. The photograph is from the UFO files of the French Gendarmerie Nationale.
Even though photographed during daylight, there is a noticable luminous "ion cone" under the saucer, usually visible at night.
Indeed this "ion cone" effect is commonly reported for saucers.
As Paul Hill points out in his book, apparently air ionization is a secondary effect of the force field used for the UFO's propulsion system.
"Most ground heating data is from saucer-type UFOs, and these are the ones known to focus their ionizing radiations downward with considerable accuracy, because of the observed saucer ion cones and saucer (landing) ring data."
Todo: Add here the video interview of Russian Colonel Vyatkin Lev Mikhailovic (HistoryChannel "Russian Roswell" 34'48"), who describes an encounter with a disk-shaped UFO on 7-Aug-1967. His plane "shook" as its wing was hit by a "ray of light" emanating from the underside of the UFO above him.
Bold = highly recommended to watch
Summary: One of the problems which confronts anyone who wants to seriously study the UFO phenomenon is learning which books and documentaries on the subject can be trusted, and which books and documentaries are done by blindly partisan advocates (either "true believers" or "debunkers") or just for entertainment (some of the latest generation of fast paced, but low on content, cable channel type productions). This page aims to offer a selection of fairly decent UFO documentaries.
Keep in mind however that most UFO documentaries are meant to appeal to the broadest possible audience, and as such are quite generic i.e. don't do detail.
Watch a 10min long extract from the late Peter Jennings' Feb-2005 ABC Special "UFO: Seeing is believing":
featuring two cases from USA with multiple corroborating witnesses, a recent and a classic one:
[recent] St. Clair County, Illinois 5-Jan-2000 4:00AM police officers in five adjoining towns all independently report witnessing a large flying craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a very low altitude, with the unfolding of the incident recorded on radio transcripts. (Note: The Jennings clip gives the "5 minute briefing", a much more elaborate documentation of this case is offered at dbakertv and NIDSCI)
[classic] Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Oct-1968 (BlueBook case #12548) when 16 airmen on the ground witness UFOs hovering and zipping around ("darting very quickly one way or the other") near the Minuteman missile silos of the 91st Strategic Missile Wing of the base. Moments later, the crew of an airborne B-52 which was called-in to investigate, saw visually and also tracked on radar a huge (est. 200ft diameter and 100s of feet long) UFO pacing their plane.
Animated graphics were used to re-enact sighting accounts.
Extract (8 minutes long) from CBS TV's 1966 Special "UFOs: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?", narrated by Walter Cronkite, deals with the famous Michigan 1966 wave of UFO sightings.
You can watch the entire CBS 1966 UFO documentary at CBS video archive. Sponsored by no less than I.B.M., it features many high profile scientists incl. Drs Hynek, Menzel, Page, (young) Carl Sagan, military spokespersons and others.
In an attempt to explain the Hillsdale MI 1966 sighting, astronomer Dr J.Allen Hynek (in USAF's Project BlueBook payroll at the time) came up with the infamous "swamp gas" explanation, which remains to this day a national joke in USA. Jokes aside, Maj. Hector Quintanilla's (then the head of USAF's Blue Book) debunking of the Portage County 17-Apr-1966 case (when Ohio cops chased a UFO for over an hour, into Pennsylvania) as Venus, had a devastating effect on the carreers and family lives of the cops involved (the Portage incident was recently re-investigated by archaeologist Michel Nelson - video).
Note: Like many other TV specials about UFOs, CBS 1966 UFO special was criticized for "bait and switch" techniques, as well as inaccurate and misleading presentations. It "left the unmistakable implication... that those who report UFOs are either unreliable or mentally unbalanced", writes Terry Hansen in his 2001 book "The Missing Times: News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-up".
Recent UFO documentaries by independant film-makers who have a genuine interest in the UFO enigma:
2007 the 5-Year Anniversary Edition of "OUT OF THE BLUE: The definitive investigation of the UFO phenomenon" by US producer James Fox.
2008 "Best Evidence: Top ten UFO sightings" by Canadian film-maker Paul Kimball, looks into 10 compelling UFO incidents
Unexplained sightings by NASA astronauts seem to be particularly popular among the general public. Most people have watched US astronaut Buzz Aldrin talk about the "UFO" which the Apollo 11 crew saw on their way to the Moon. To UFO researchers however, the most compelling UFO case involving US astronauts in space, is the Skylab 1973 case:
2008 "UFOs: The secret history" by Canadian film-maker David Cherniack (who had his own sighting in 1959)
2009 "I know what I saw" (former working title was "Beyond the blue", as a sequel to "Out of the blue") by James Fox
Note however that many of the more substantive UFO documentaries were produced in the 1970s.
Selected UFO video documentaries and witness testimonies (simply click the links to watch; Hint: for long-duration videos, keep in mind that you can click on the "progress bar" to skip and access any parts of a video).
Out Of The Blue: The definitive investigation of the UFO phenomenon (2003, 2007) 90min.
Watch (old 2003 edition) online GoogleVideo (1hr30min 353MB) or buy from amazon or directly.
While it has some flaws, such as the inclusion of Col. Corso and references MJ12 lore (most corrected in the 2007 edition), it is a decent introduction to the UFO subject. This documentary takes a "pro-UFO" constructive approach; while it carefully avoids stating that UFOs are alien spacecraft, it does argue that UFOs are a "real" physical phenomenon.
Briefly covers UFO incidents in USA (Phoenix Lights 1997, the Big Sur filming Vandenburg AFB in 1964), Russia, Britain, France, Iran etc and studies like the French COMETA Report.
Features interviews with former astronauts (Gordon Cooper and Dr Edgar Mitchell), military pilots, radar operators, scientists. UFO initiatives by former US presidents Carter, Ford and Clinton etc.
UFOs it has begun (1976) 90min. Presented by Rod Serling and astronomer and UFO researcher Dr Jacques Vallee. Produced by Bob Emenegger, who in recent years has told the story that Pentagon was at the time considering releasing a video of a supposedly real UFO landing at Holloman AFB, as part of a "public education" campaign, but changed their minds at the last minute. A re-creation of such a UFO landing is included in the film, as a hypothetical event. Emenegger talked about this at the 1989 "UFO coverup Live!" TV special by Farrell.
Get it from amazon, or watch it at googlevideo, Youtube (playlist)
Note that by the 1970s, Vallee and Hynek (who worked closely together for some time) were leaning away from the ETH (Extra Terrestrial Hypothesis) of "nuts and bolts" craft, to the even more exotic "interdimensional" / "paranormal" ideas about the UFO phenomenon. This documentary includes some rather fanciful stories (telepathic "channelling", "automatic writing" and memories recovered under hypnosis of contact with a benevolent blonde human-looking "Nordic"-type robed UFO occupant). The strongest points of this documentary are its comprehensive coverage of the 1973 Coyne helicopter incident and the sinister "animal mutilation and exsanguination" phenomenon. Also interesting are Col. Coleman's discussion of USAF's early (1947-1952) look into the UFO problem and a panel with astronomer Dr Hynek (scientific consultant to USAF Project Bluebook for 21 years) and USAF Colonels Robert J. Friend and Hector Quintanilla (who both served as heads of Bluebook from the mid-1950s until its closure in 1969).
Watch 9min extract covering 1) the sighting of a cigar UFO by pilots of an Eastern Airlines DC-3 on 24-Jul-1948 [ufologie] 2) the early 1947-1952 era of the UFO problem (Col.Coleman on the Top Secret "Estimate of the Situation" and 3) DC area radar controller on the "Washington DC UFO Merry go round" of Jul-1952):
Pilot UFO sightings (44min) (googlevideo, amazon) Examines several pilot-UFO cases, both classic and less known ones. It is presented by retired NASA scientist Dr.R.Haines, who has been researching UFO sightings by pilots for 30 years and in 2000 established NARCAP. Its weakness is the (by today's standards) not-so-spectacular special effects / artist re-creations of the cases. You'll need some background in the UFO subject to appreciate this video, I think some people will find parts of it boring. If so, you can skip to 34'15" to 36'10" to hear Dr.Haines summarize.
Note: Among the UFO cases presented in this documentary, is the one by flight Japan Airlines JAL-1628 over Alaska in 1986. The Japanese pilot lost his job for reporting the incident to the public, but 15 years later, the story was corroborated by John Callahan, retired Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA.
According to Callahan, his boss FAA administrator Donald Engen briefed members of President Reagan's Scientific Study Team, the FBI and the CIA in Washington, D.C. We know the details today because Callahan attended the secret meeting and saved all audio and video evidence of the event. Watch his testimony at Disclosure Project's Press Conference in 2001:
ABC's Special - "Peter Jennings Reporting - UFOs: Seeing is believing" Feb-2005 (90min). Available from amazon.
Watch online Youtube video extracts from Peter Jennings' UFO Special: part1, part2, part3.
Fairly decent. Includes several compelling cases, with accurate recreations, interviews with eyewitnesses incl. pilots and cops. Main foul-up was the treatment of "Roswell UFO crash 1947" lore, which is summarily dismissed as "myth" with no credible witnesses. UFO researchers involved with the Roswell case are called "promoters" who are into it just for the money. Perhaps not suprisingly, Jennings was criticized by both UFO researchers and skeptics camps:
reviews, Friedman, Greer, Dolan and Haisch on ABC's UFO Special (.PDF). Dolan called it "spinning and deceiving" stuff. Others are more positive, e.g. Twitchell and J.Clark.
Where Are All the UFOs? (1996) 120min
amazon. A documentary on the "myth" of UFOs and phenomena such as alien abductions, crop circles. If you're interested in the social history of the UFO phenomenon, it does spend time on the "lunatic fringe" of the UFO phenomenon, such as the 1950s "contactees" craze (people who claimed to be in contact with the "Space brothers" and go on trips to remote planets).
It does have several good segments, such as the coverage of the Washington DC 1952 UFO wave (presented by Dr M.Swords), the Trindade Brazil 1958 photographic case, as well as an in-depth examination of the famous "Roswell UFO Crash" (which was in focus in mid-1990s). Extract on Roswell:
"British UFO Files" (GoogleVideo 47min 356MB), a so-so documentary. If you can overcome the hurdle of the sensationalistic spooky music and narration in the beginning, it offers several interesting bits of info lateron, e.g. a 1952 sighting when 2 British pilots (RAF pilot Michael Swiney and his Royal Navy student David Crofts who saw 3 flying saucers in formation with ground radar confirmation, on the 15'-21'). Physical landing trace case in 1952 with round scorch-marks left in the ground. Interest expressed by the Duke of Edinburgh and Earl Mountbatten was covered. And ofcourse the classic Bentwaters-Rendlesham case of 1980.
"Oz Encounters: UFO's in Australia" (1997).
Extract: Case of Gosford, New South Wales, Dec-1995:
NBC's "Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?" (1999). So-so, spooky music and narration, with a few interesting bits and pieces. 1hr30min 850MB
Extract on the UFO sighting by multiple policemen at Trumbull County, Ohio (note: water connection) - part1part2:
"UFO Coverup Live" 1989, also known as the "stawberry icecream alien" TV special.
UFO documentary reviews by Steve Johnson (!!!LONG AND HEAVY PAGE with many inline images!!!). Extensive summaries of several UFO video documentaries, some already linked here (if you want to get a quick overview before watching them)
Documentaries focusing on specific UFO cases:
NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries: UFOs" Vol 1-4 4xDVDs (Amazon or get from ED2K P2P). Other than the fact of spooky "Twilight Zone"-type background and that a couple of all the cases have later been discounted, it's quite decent. Covers UFO sightings (Belgian UFO flap 1989-1990, Phoenix Lights 1997 etc), alien abduction cases (Allagash, Travis Walton), crop circles etc. Features UFO segments, complete with re-creations of each incident by actors, many interviews with the witnesses and UFO researchers and occasional interviews with UFO skeptics. Overall a nicely put together and professionaly produced collection.
Sample on the Belgian UFO wave 1989-1990:
Note: In Nov-2007, retired Belgian Airforce MajGeneral De Brouwer recounts the events of 1991:
"The edge of reality: Illinois 5-Jan-2000" 45min. Produced by independent film-maker Darryl Barker. The incident was covered briefly (5min) in Peter Jennings' 2005 ABC Special (see video extract earlier on this page). This documentary goes into much more detail. Watch online at googlevideo. more on Illinois UFO case @ dbakertv
The very interesting case of an "acorn"-shaped (egg-shaped, with an annular band around the bottom) UFO crashing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania USA on 9-Dec-1965, has been drawing some attention in recent years. Considerable work has been done by UFO researcher Stan Gordon. In late 2007, NASA agreed to search for records after being ordered by a court, after a lawsuit by "Coalition for Freedom of Info" organization.
UFO Invasion - Rendlesham.wmv about the landmark case of UFOs visiting the nuclear-armed US military base at Bentwaters (Rendlesham forest) Suffolk, UK. UFO activity for several nights, then UFO landing near the base on 27-Dec-1980. The UFO(s) seen at close-range by base personell (base deputy commander, 4 airmen) and even touched by security police officer: a smallish triangular/pyramid UFO 3m (9ft) per side, 2.5m (8ft) high; craft skin smooth like black glass; "hieroglyphic" symbols engraved on left front (see Penniston testimony at 27'-33'). Documentary by SciFi channel (220 MB) 1hr30min (2003)
Larry P. Warren UFO Connection - The Woobridge / Rendlesham forest UFO Incident - Bentwaters. At the age of 19, he was member of the US Air Force Security Police stationed at the base in 1980 and a first-hand witness of the incident. Others witnesses of the case have speculated that Larry had been given Sodium Pentothal and "worked on" by the OSI (Office of Special Investigations).
Shag Harbour (Noca Scotia, Canada), occasionally called "Canadian Roswell". Long and detailed investigation by researcher Chris Styles has uncovered impressive documentation for this little known event. History Channel's episode: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5part 6
UFO at Voronezh, SE Russia, 27-Sep-1989 landed, occupants reportedly seen by tens of witnesses; this story has been put in doubt by Boris Shurinov in his book "Les Ovnis en Russie". (note: very poor video quality)
Roswell incident related:
The Roswell Incident, older documentary from Channel 4 in Britain shown in 1994, about the crash of a UFO in Roswell New Mexico in July-1947. Many interesting witness testimonies (Marcel Jr, Glenn Dennis the town's mortician) and some testimonies which have later been discounted (Frank Kaufman's and hoaxer Ray Santilli). At the end, includes complete footage of the fake Ray Santilli "Roswell Alien Autopsy" black-and-white video. (GoogleVideo 1hr4min 223MB)
Roswell debris tested comments by Dr Leir MD and Jesse Marcel Jr, a medical doctor/flight surgeon in reserve who served 1yr in Iraq in 2005 despite being 67yr old (son of Jesse Marcel Sr, the Intelligence Officer of the Roswell AirForce Base, who examined the debris field in July-1947)
Second part of "Secret NASA transmissions - The smoking gun" featuring footage by Martin Stubbs (a former cable TV station manager from Vancouver in Canada who, over a period of 5 years, used his station's satellite array to record on videotape over 2,500 hours of Space Shuttle transmissions via NASA's downlink. Since 11-Mar-2000, when some of Martin's footage was released in public, there has been considerable debate as to the origin and makeup of the phenomena seen in the footage.)
You can watch the complete 1hr30min version of "Secret NASA transmissions - The smoking gun".
Assorted stuff:
Compilation of UFO Video Footage and Testimony GoogleVideo (1hr 35min 329MB). Privately-(home)-produced. No speaking at all, just 60 minutes of raw UFO footage (from a selection of over 200 clips) and 35 minutes of witness testimony. With 80's music in the background. Same in more (2hr28min) of the same (but first one is better).
The Disclosure Project Witness Testimony (2001) Googlevideo (2hrs), part 1 of 2 (59min 230MB) and part 2 of 2 (1hr 240MB). Two hours long video distillation from 400hrs of raw video footage of dozens of retired USA intelligence, government and military persons testimonies on the subject of UFO and US government coverup. Quick text summary (.html) sample of such testimonies given in 1999-2000.
Note: There were mixed responses from the UFO research community towards Dr. Greer's Disclosure Project. The main points of criticism were against Dr Greer himself and to a lesser degree, against a few of the Project's witnesses whose stories are impossible to verify.
Also "The Disclosure Project 9-May-2001 National Press Club Conference" video (1hr56min), viewable online at GoogleVideo / YouTube where 21 former US military and government witnesses -in advanced years and most have passed away since- came forward to testify on the subject of UFOs; "to serve as catalyst for 'full, open Congressional hearings on the UFO/Extraterrestrial presence subject, including witness testimony with release from security oaths'" (NOTE: the NPCC video starts a bit "slow"/boring, you may want to fast-forward/skip the first 15min and go directly to Callahan-FAA-JAL1628 case)
Watch individual testimonies, e.g. Commander US Navy Graham Bethune (2min):
US Navy pilot Graham Bethune describes the encounter with a huge 300ft discoid UFO in 1951 on the way back from a classified mission to Iceland: "We had 31 people on board and a psychiatrist, we all witnessed it". NPCC 2001 (Googlevideo), more detail (2min) (Youtube). [story and drawings, more]
History Channel has produced many broadcasts on UFOs, the "UFO Files" and recently the "UFO Hunters" series.
Apparently HC has an extensive library of UFO-related video footage and witness testimonies, which they mix-and-match as needed. Quality varies greatly, some episodes are pretty solid, other episodes are a waste of time.
The "UFO Files" series consisted of about 50 episodes (torent). The "UFO Hunters" series was produced for 3 seasons (until the 2008/2009 season).
"Black box UFO sightings" pilot sightings documentary with real audio of communication between pilots and control tower GoogleVideo (43min)
Dr Ted Loder (Professor of Earth Sciences at the Univ. of New Hampshire) testimony on technologies being kept secret part 1, part 2, part 3. He tells the story of how he got involved with UFOs, after hearing the revelations of his first cousin, retired LtGeneral Stephen Lovekin (served in WHASA -White House Army Signalling Agency- which provided crypto secure communications and went everywhere it was needed, e.g. the White House basement, Camp David, Mount Weather). Lovekin was briefed about the Roswell UFO/ET while serving under President Eisenhower.
"Fastwalkers - Ufo and Alien Disclosure 2006" (src: youtube) Dec-2006 1hr37min. Documentary consisting entirely of interviews with UFO researchers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, "experiencers" / "contactees" etc. Some testimonies have an "esoteric" / "spiritualistic" bend, some are interesting, but several ones questionable and with inaccuracies (e.g. a testimony claiming $1.7trillion/yr US black-budget?! a more realistic estimate would be $25-50bn/yr) and a lot of pretty "far out stuff" which I don't know what to make of... Other sources: buy DVD, or torrent.
"UFO - The Best Evidence Ever caught on tape Part 2" documentary. Various (not particularly close-up / great detail) video footage of the 1990s from US, NASA, Mexico, China, Germany, Israel etc. Technical commentary by Bruce Maccabee and a special-effects (FX) guy. (174MB 44min)
Hon. Paul Hellyer At Exopolitics Conference (Toronto, 25-Sep-2005) Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Defense Minister (period 1963-1967) endorses the validity of LtCol Philip J Corso's Book "They Day After Roswell", which states that an extraterrestrial "flying saucer" crashed in 1947 in New Mexico and that in the early 1960s he, Corso, distributed debris to US companies for reverse-engineering. (GoogleVideo 31min 109MB). Personally I find it hard to believe all of Col.Corso's claims.
UFOs: 50 years of denial? 44min (1997) video documentary, by the same people who later produced the state-of-the-art UFO documentary "Out of the Blue" in 2003. Brief and concise introduction. Some new sighting stories, UFO raw footage, eye-witness testimonies etc. Features astronaut Dr.Mitchell, LtCol.Corso, Marcel on Roswell UFO crash and Robert Dean on the SHAPE/NATO Assessment on UFOs/ETs. Attempts to answer the question of how religion(s) and such beliefs would be affected if the existance of extra-terrestrial visitation (ETV) is acknowledged by officialdom. ED2K P2P src
UFO - Silently breaks up in several parts Silently breaks up in several parts (effect reminds of Colonel Halt's description of Rendlesham incident "like dripping molten metal") 2.5min
Retired USAF LtCol Wendelle Stevens (Foreign Technology Command of Air Materiel Command), who reportedly was involved in a UFO monitoring project in the Arctic in 1946-1949. By exchanging UFO pictures, he has compiled the largest library of UFO images, over 4000 pictures (how many authentic?). A controversial figure in UFO field, who has embraced the Billy Meier (Switzerland) "contactee" case, which most UFO researchers consider a hoax. He has also privately published books with several other "contactee" stories.
Interviews:
Video interview 1999:
older video interview (7min, 18MB) Video is very poor quality. Talks about USAF monitoring operations of UFOs over the Arctic in 1947-1949 using B-29s specially equipped with photo and video equipment, as well as radiation detectors, magnetic detectors, and RF emission scanners.
Makes some extraordinary statements, that their project photographed 2-3 UFOs every month in the Arctic, while he was there. More in his interview (2003) .html with "far-out" stuff...
"UFO The Greatest Story Ever Denied" (1hr34min) or buy DVD from official website. A lot of duplication as it includes in verbatim many testimonies from DisclosureProject (see above), but also some unique/interesting bits and pieces.
Extract with testimonies on NASA airbrushing structures ("alien bases") on moon:
Billion Dollar Secret.wmv mediocre documentary about US's "black-projects" taking about $40bn/year. On 25th minute has interview with researcher Boyd Bushman (who is either joking with Cook or has gone senile, as he demonstrates the Lenz effect as some form of anti-gravity). Covers black-project planes like the alleged "Aurora" etc. Tackles the UFO issue in connection with US military black projects (wrongly IMHO). Discovery Channel by Nick Cook, the Aviation Editor of Janes Weekly (Defense industry magazine) (116 MB 46min)
UFOs The Secret Evidence (Oct-2005) another mediocre production with Nick Cook. It seems to imply that many UFO sightings were secret US military aircraft, like U2 (!!!) and CIA kept the "myth" going as a disinformation campaign as a smokescreen for the Soviets. His reasoning suggests that US government encouraged a "UFO craze" in US, among its citizens, but targeting Russians so they "wouldn't see classified US technology but a vehicle of outer space" (referring to the U2 times! how anyone could mistake a U2/SR71 or even F117/B2/etc for a flying saucer is beyond me!). Facts and animations are often totally wrong e.g. in the Zamora case it depicts a flying saucer instead of the ovoid (egg-shaped) craft it actually was (on the other hand e.g. Unsolved Mysteries mentioned earlier had a remarkably accurate re-creation). Still the video has a handful of interesting parts, bits of info here and there and a short interview with abductee Travis Walton. My conclusion is "to a kid with a hammer everything looks like a nail". (1hr41min 352MB)
XCon 2005 - Seen From Above Military and Airline Pilot's Experiences with UFOs. Commander Graham Bethune, David Coote, Jim Courant, Don Daniels and Robert Durant.
"Riddle in the Skies" series by british Discovery Channel: Series #1 and Series #2 (not too bad)
As a final note, when watching any documentary (considering the abovementioned ones are some of the "better" ones), keep in mind the points made by producer Carol Rainey:
UFO documentaries and why they stink
"I often read here of people's great disappointment after a UFO documentary is aired - and their often justifiable sense that they, as vitally interested explorers in the realm, and also the participants featured in the show, were somehow duped. As a producer/director of 30 documentaries, most broadcast on PBS and cable networks, I wouldn't disagree with those feelings most of the time. The shows that have aired over the past decade are usually banal and simplified, reworking cases mined to death, and, by the end of an hour or two hours, the producers simply haven't done more than touch the tip of the submerged mystery. And that's a description of the 'good ones'!"
Forgive me for stating what may be obvious to some of you, but not apparent to others: television and film are inherently reductionist media. They don't do detail, make subtle distinctions, or usually address well the concerns of an informed subculture, like the Listserve. If you want that, read a good book on the topic, footnotes and all. Visual media's great for the gestalt of the thing, the feel, tone, and just a taste of whatever the subject is." -- src -- producer Carol Rainey Apr-2007
