Hello dear
Internet readers it has been quite some time since last we spoke. I
had originally planned to come to you today in order to tell you of
an interesting alien encounter that I learned about on ATS. However
as I researched the topic a bit more I discovered something else that
was at once more fascinating and at the same time a bit more
disturbing, and also slightly disconcerting if the process is
widespread. Now to be fair, it may be that I haven't spent enough
time tracking down more info. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what it
is that I'm seeing. Or, as I fear, I may be on to something. I don't
think I really know the full implications for what it is that I'm
going to be discussing. I just know that it doesn't seem right to me.
Maybe I'm wrong or I have the wrong impression. If so please feel
free to let me know in the comments section! After all I'm only
human! (At least I think........)
Our tale begins
a few days ago when I was busy at work. And by busy at work I mean to
say, busy trying to stay awake at work while to my mind-numbingly
boring data entry job. As is my usual custom while on the job, I was
busy searching for new UFO/Alien stories. One of the sites I go to
far more often than I should is Above Top Secret. I was looking at
what they had to say about Bruce Rux. Rux had just recently been on
Tim Binnall's Binnall of America podcast. Rux is the author of two
UFO books; Hollywood vs. Aliens (which I own and have read) and
Architects of the Underworld (which I should be receiving from my
wonderful girlfriend Ashley [and no this isn't just a test to see if
she reads my blog :)]). So, Rux had been on my mind and I often like
to get what I call the “ATS-view” of a topic. When I put Rux's
name into ATS's search bar, a number of posts came up. However there
was only one that really caught my attention. It was entitled “TheTinfoil Alien”. This had me written all over it. Of course I was
envisioning some kind of Shroud of Turin, except instead of Jesus it
would be a classic Grey, and instead of being on some kind of cloth
it would be tinfoil.
In reality it
was an alien encounter account with which I had some familiarity with
as I had read about it in Faces of the
Visitors, of
which
I
have
spoken
about
in
the
past.
The
case
in
question
is
called
a
number
of
things,
but
it's
typically
denoted
by
the
date
and
location
of
the
sighting.
According
to
Faces of the Visitors,
it
was
called
'The
Police
Chief
Photo'.
The
sighting
took
place
on
October
17,
1973
in
Falkville,
Alabama,
which
for
those
keeping
track
at
home
is
only
6
days
after
the
Hickson-Parker
Abduction
took
place.
The
story,
which
you
can
read
in
some
detail
here,
is
that
Police
Chief
Jeffrey
Greenhaw
aged
26
was
apparently
phoned
around
10
pm
that
a
UFO
had
landed
nearby.
The
following
is
from
the
account
found
on
the
UFO
Casebook
site:
This
strange account began when Falkville, Alabama police chief Jeff
Greenhaw (that is correct, there is no s after the n) received a
phone call from an excited lady who said that she had witnessed a
"spaceship" land in an open field not far the town proper.
Greenhaw
took off like a shot, taking along his trusty Polaroid camera. Dark
had fallen several hours earlier, and the police chief was armed for
anything. It would be about 10:00 P.M. when he made it to the
location of the alleged landing.
After a
cursory look around, he found no trace of a spaceship. As Greenhaw
continued his search of the area, he was taken aback by the sight of
an alien-like creature standing just off the side of the road. The
being appeared to be wrapped in aluminum foil as it began to walk
toward Greenhaw.
"It
looked like his head and neck were kind of made together... he was
real bright, something like rubbing mercury on nickel, but just as
smooth as glass-different angles give different lighting. I don't
believe it was aluminum foil."
The tinfoil
alien's movements were very "mechanical" like. An antenna
was attached to his head. Though in shock, he managed to snap off
four pictures of the odd looking alien. When he flicked on his
headlights the alien was obviously frightened, as it began to make
its escape.
Luckily(?)
Greenhaw had the forethought to snap a photo of the 'entity'. Which
can be viewed below. As I was reading this story, I was thinking to
myself that this would make a great post on either Forteania or as an
article for my Fortean Ramblings column. But before I typed anything
up I wanted to do a bit more research in order to see what different
versions of the story had to say, or if perhaps there was more to the
story. The thread over at ATS originally linked to the version quoted
above from UFO Case Book site. At the UFO Casebook site it had the
original source as NICAP's website, as the case was originally
investigated by NICAP. As many in the field are aware, NICAP was
disbanded in 1980 which is about the same time that CUFOS bought all
of their old case files. And apparently through some kind of
agreement NICAP (the website) is able to post some of the old NICAP
(the organization) case files online. One of which is the case in
question. So when I looked up the case file on the NICAP website
imagine my surprise when I saw the source for the information on the
NICAP website. It was the UFO Casebook site.
Definitely, probably not just a guy in a firefighter's suit |
So we have
the UFO Casebook site referencing the NICAP website as the source of
the account, while the NICAP website referenced the UFO Casebook
site. This strikes as very strange for some reason. It has caused me
to wonder, surprisingly for the first time, how many other accounts
are like this. Where the sources are all referencing each other.
Which wouldn't be too big a deal, I suppose, if one could easily have
access to the original sources. The implications in this are much
wider than just Ufology of course. Perhaps other places are simply
siting one another as references without anyone actually having the
original information. At the end of the day however, I did only do a
cursory amount of research. And did it on the Internet no less. I
admit it's entirely likely that other, better, sources exist for this
account. But as far as what was available online, all I could locate
was the self-referential loop of uhh loopiness.
I would
like to think that people would do a better job of looking for
sources of material before writing about it. But I must admit that I
myself have been guilty of this in the past. There has been more than
one post on this blog that I haven't done a whole lot of researching
on before posting, but for the most part I attempt to find as many
sources as I could. Oh and before I forget, apparently the original
investigators on the case after doing some investigations pretty much
ruled this case a hoax. As it turns out, if one takes a fireman's
silvery suit and photographs someone in the dark with a flash on
their camera the resulting image strikingly resembles the original
alien photo. With that I leave you for now, if I'm wrong for thinking
this is weird or unusual be sure to leave me a comment and let me
know! Also if you happen to know some better places to find old NICAP
files online (because after a fairly thorough Google search I didn't
turn anything up) please let me know.
4 comments:
Hiya Tony, you can read the NICAP investigation in issues of the 'The UFO Investigator.' Greenhaw's case is in issues November 73, October 74, January 77 and April 77.
The guy really had a bad time in the aftermath. Divorced, unemployed and his mobile-home burnt down! Rough huh?
http://www.ufodocarchive.org/nicap/UFO_Investigator/
Hey Kandinsky,
Yeah if he hoaxes it as ha been suggested, it certainly didn't pay off as he might have intended it to.
Along thanks for the link and the comment!
NICAP were fairly sure he hoaxed it with help from a friend. The local rumour mill seemed to implicate him. Chances are he was playing a practical joke and it blew up in his face as the publicity got out of hand.
It's a rare blogger who admits to reading ATS! There's some small nuggets of gold buried in the crap over there.
Well I take ATS like most things on the Internet with a grain of salt. I agree with you, there are some diamonds in the rough at that site.
Post a Comment