Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies by Nick Redfern identifies Who's Who and What's What in that little corner of the conspiracy theory universe. Reading this opus is like being thrown out of an airplane without a parachute. The wild exhilaration of the freefall is offset by the horror of the ground rushing up to greet you. Redfern can be both today's casual read and tomorrow's well worn reference with a creased spine and dog-eared pages.
Creating the definitive reference book about the shadowy Area 51 hydra and its many tentacles of smoke and mirrors is a herculean task. Pulling no punches, Redfern jumps into the fray with forty-six chapters and four hundred pages. Readers are escorted through a labyrinth of murky passages and secret chambers that range from historical to hysterical and all points in between. Is there anything about the most controversial military base in the world that should be discounted out of hand? We may well be on fringes not only beyond belief, but beyond comprehension. The nets are cast far and wide.
One of the many fascinating chapters, "Termination and Terror," gruesomely illustrates the convoluted nature of our subject matter. Redfern chronologically relates the bizarre behavior of some employees and persons associated with the top-secret work of a defense company known as Marconi Electronic Systems. Where officialdom "sees" accidents and suicides, objective journalists and researchers might "see" murders made to look like accidents and suicides. Nineteen deaths are acknowledged in this chapter: three by car accident; one by shotgun; one by drug overdose; three by fatal falls; four by carbon monoxide poisoning; two by electrocution; one by suffocation; and two by drowning. Add to this the Marconi scientist that dies as a result of tying one end of rope to a tree and looping the other end around his neck and driving off at high speed. Yet another crashes his car, loaded with extra containers of gasoline, into the brick wall of an empty cafeteria and completes our death toll.
Here is a sampling of those suicides and accidents...
November 1985 - Jonathan Walsh, 29, "fell" from his hotel room in Abidjan, West Africa. He had expressed a fear for his life. Verdict: Open.
August 1986 - Vimal Dajibhai, 24, found below the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. Verdict: Open.
January 1987 - After narrowly escaping a 1986 Christmas accident when his car violently, and inexplicably, left the roadway, Dr. John Britton, 52, was found in his garage, a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. Verdict: Accident.
January 1987 - Richard Pugh, 37, found dead with his feet bound and a plastic bag over his head. Rope was tied around his body, coiling four times around his neck. Verdict: Accident.
February 1987 - Peter Peapell, 46, found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his Oxfordshire garage. Verdict: Open.
April 1987 - Shani Warren, 26, found face down in Taplow Lake, a noose around her neck, her mouth gagged with a blue scarf, her feet bound with tow rope, and her hands tied behind her back with spark plug cables. Verdict: Suicide.
April 1987 - David Greenhalgh, 46, suffered multiple injuries after a fall from a 40 foot high railway bridge on his way to work at Maidenhead, Berkshire. He died a few days later in the hospital.
August 1988 - Retired Army Brigadier Peter Ferry, 60, electrocuted in his company flat with electrical leads in his mouth. Verdict: Open.
August 1988 - Alistair Beckham, 50, found dead after being electrocuted in his garden shed with wires connected to his body and a handkerchief stuffed in his mouth. Verdict: Open.
It must be asserted here that "verifying" any "conspiracy theory" involves producing evidence, authenticating documentation, and evaluating statements and testimony.
Nick Redfern examines whistleblower testimony and deathbed confessions, official documents and secret memos, all in an effort to guide the reader safely beyond the warning signs, surveillance cameras, motion sensors, and armed guards at Area 51. Each page and chapter reveals history and secrets. Researchers and sleuths will find the bibliography and comprehensive index very useful.
There are primarily three types of enthusiasts studying the unknown and unexplained. "First Person" researchers seek to personally encounter paranormal phenomena. "Second Person" researchers directly contact other persons who have encountered the mysterious and often conduct on-site field investigations where these incidents have occurred. The largest group or "Third Person" researchers examine published accounts of mysteries. Some people fit into two or all three classifications of enthusiast.
Whatever your level of interest in the unknown and unexplained, you will find Area 51: The Revealing Truth of UFOs, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies a compelling and worthwhile read. Highly recommended.
For more information on Robert Goerman and his writings and research, click here.
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