Ufologists: Are You Being Watched?

That's the question I ask in a new, 2-part article. Yes, you probably are. But, it may not be for the reasons you suspect...

Here's part-1.

And here's part-2.

Part-1 starts like this...

"Is it just paranoia to suspect that agencies of government might take an interest in you for researching and writing about UFOs? Well, no, actually, it’s not. Not at all. The Freedom of Information Acts (FOIA) of more than a few nations have demonstrated time and again that, yes, elements of the UFO research community have been watched. And not just for years, but for decades. It’s very important to keep things in perspective, however. And I’ll explain exactly what I mean by that.

"On more than a few occasions, a UFO researcher who we can prove has been the subject of official files, has also spent time digging into other potentially sensitive areas that might attract the attention of agencies of government, the military, and/or the intelligence community. This is an issue I wrote about extensively in my 2006 book, On the Trail of the Saucer Spies. It’s worth noting, however, that a great deal more (and relevant) data has surfaced since the publication of my book, and which demonstrates how and why they watch us.

Saucers and Special Branch

Certain people in Ufology laughed and were highly skeptical when, in 2006, I wrote a book called On the Trail of the Saucer Spies, in which I mentioned how a retired British police source told me that, back in the 1990s, the British Police Force's Special Branch opened files on two UFO researchers in the UK, namely Matthew Williams and Robin Cole.

Those same certain people should have kept their mouths firmly shut.

The files on Cole and Williams (or, rather, some of the files; others still remain classified to this day) were finally officially released in 2012, showing that Special Branch was indeed watching both men, demonstrating that the data provided to me years ago was accurate. 

When, in 2012, the documents were declassified, the National Archives prepared the following statement concerning their contents:

"File DEFE 24/1984/1 (p294) contains a 1996 Parliamentary Question from Martin Redmond MP asking on how many occasions MI6 and GCHQ have monitored UFO investigations. This was interpreted to mean 'have the agencies been keeping watch on UFOlogists.' A background briefing says 'neither agency in fact undertakes such activity, though GCHQ cannot rule out the possibility' they had monitored 'in other contexts individuals who have made a study of UFOs'. The MP was told the government do not comment on the intelligence and security agencies (p298). File DEFE 24/1987/1 (p262-65) reveals that in 1997 Special Branch took an interest in a UFOlogist who became obsessed with rumours of a secret UFO facility beneath RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire. The base had become known as the British equivalent of the secret US military airbase 'Area 51' among conspiracy theorists. An internal note said 'Special Branch…do not believe he poses a specific threat to security, but they are alert to the risk that others may use him as a conduit for their activities.'"

Well, since the summary failed to note the names of the people in question, I will. They were, of course, Cole and Williams - as I had been told during the course of writing On the Trail of the Saucer Spies.

Back in 1997, Robin Cole, of Cheltenham, England - the home to GCHQ (the Government Communications Headquarters) - wrote a fascinating report on the agency's involvement in the UFO phenomenon. And, for those who may not be aware, GCHQ is the UK equivalent of the US National Security Agency.

After Cole's report was published, he was visited by two representatives of the UK's Special Branch. And since the pair announced their visit in advance (via a phone-call), Robin had the good sense to clandestinely and quickly set up his tape-recorder in his living-room and taped the entire conversation, much of which revolved around Special Branch's interest in a UFO researcher and Crop Circle maker named Matthew Williams - who just happens to be the "UFOlogist who became obsessed" with RAF Rudloe Manor, as referenced by National Archives staff above.

Now we see further evidence of Special Branch involvement in the UFO subject.

Not in terms of what UFOs are (or are not), but in relation to things that, in many ways, are far more interesting, thought-provoking, and alternative.

This was precisely the reason for the Cole/Williams surveillance issue too - namely, Special Branch's concerns that both the UFO controversy and the people that investigate it could be used as tools of manipulation by hostile groups with controversial, political agendas.

Saucers and Sources

My latest Mysterious Universe article focuses on one of those ufological issues that most people have an opinion on - the matter of using sources that (for a variety of reasons) don't want to speak out on the record.

Much of the article focuses on my book On the Trail of the Saucer Spies and how, and why, it's actually not a problem to use unnamed sources...

 

 

 

 

 

Paranormal Cannock Chase

Here's some excellent news!

A new blog has been created by British paranormal researcher, Lee Brickley. The theme is the many and varied tales of paranormal activity, strange creatures, UFOs, and much more of England's Cannock Chase - an expansive and captivating area of very dense woodland and heath.

As you may know I've written extensively on the Fortean "things" of the Cannock Chase.

My book, There's Something in the Woods, has a chapter on the "Chase Werewolf of the German Cemetery" saga of 2007. Wildman includes a wealth of material on Bigfoot-type creatures seen on the Chase. One chapter of On the Trail of the Saucer Spies is devoted to a reported UFO crash somewhere on Cannock Chase in 1964. And Monster Diary delves into a strange saga filled with dark rituals and occult masses in the woods after sunset.

When, from the mid-80s to the early-90s, I worked as a van-driver and forklift driver for a local paint-and-wallpaper company, my daily deliveries often took me across the Chase, something which made me look at the place in a new light.

The reason being that every now and again I would hear tales of high-strangeness from some of the customers who knew of my paranormal interests. Sightings of big-cats, wallabies, and wild boar on the loose were typical topics of just a few of those tales.

In other words, the Cannock Chase is quite a place, which is why I'm very pleased that Lee has decided to create a blog solely devoted to studying, and reporting on, this particular locale - which is only a short journey from where I lived as a kid.

Lee already has three posts up at his blog (one on the werewolf controversy, a second on orbs and triangular-shaped UFOs, and the third being his introduction to the blog and its aims and goals).

If you are already familiar with the Cannock Chase, or are wondering what's really afoot, check out Lee's Paranormal Cannock Chase blog, which you can find right here...

 

All the photos above are from my own collection and show various places of paranormal interest on and around the Cannock Chase.

UFOs: "They" Are Watching You...

If you are into UFOs and suffer from paranoia, you might not want to read my latest Mysterious Universe post. Then again, you might! Anyway, it starts like this:

"There are a number of intriguing disclosures contained in one of the batches of declassified British Government files on UFOs that surfaced in 2012. Among them are the notable (and lengthy) references to, and papers on, certain people within the UK-based UFO research field who had been secretly watched by officialdom. In some cases, they were watched for a very long time and by more than one agency or arm of the British Government. Interestingly, the 'saucer spying' was undertaken by agencies outside of the Ministry of Defense. Yet, we have, for years, been led to believe that the MoD is the only agency that plays a meaningful role in the UFO issue when it comes to the British Government.

"Governments distorting and hiding the facts? Really? Surely not?! And should we be surprised to learn that other UK departments, beyond the MoD, are also implicated in the UFO puzzle? No, of course we shouldn’t be surprised! In fact, nothing should surprise us when it comes to official secrecy and saucers in the sky."

Want to know how in UK-Ufology was watched and why? Read on!

The Williamson File

Why, in the 1950s and 1960s, was the FBI keeping a close and secret watch on controversial Contactee and friend to the Space-Brothers, George Hunt Williamson?

Well, the answer is a very interesting one, and revolves around such issues as crashed UFOs, communism, a hot space-babe, and international smuggling.

No, I'm really not making this up!

And here's the proof: my latest article at Mysterious Universe...

Road in the Sky Reprinted

Not too long ago, I wrote a post here on a recent, weird, and synchronicity-filled weekend I had in Los Angeles.

While there I hung out with good mate Greg Bishop, who very kindly made available for me copies of the FBI's file on 1950s Contactee, George Hunt Williamson, which had been declassified via the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, but which I had previously never seen.

(As readers of my On the Trail of the Saucer Spies and Contactees books will know, the FBI spent years watching the early Contactees such as George Adamksi and George Van Tassel.)

Well, it so happens that securing the file from Greg turned out to be very useful.

In another of those curious situations born out of synchronistic oddities (well, I consider them odd!), Tim Green Beckley contacted me recently and told me he was just about to republish one of Williamson's old books, Road in the Sky.

Tim's reason for contacting me about this was to inquire if I wanted to submit an article on Williamson for the book. But it would have to be something new, largely unseen and that added something significant to the saga.

I had, of course, the perfect thing: the FBI file on the man in question, as provided by Greg only weeks before!

Tim, of course, was highly enthused by this and, as a result, my article on Williamson and what J. Edgar Hoover's finest knew about the man appears in the new edition of Williamson's old tome.

And here's Tim to tell you more about the Road in the Sky and that file...

A STRANGE SAGA OF SAUCERS, SPACE BROTHERS, SECRET AGENTS AND ALIEN ASTRONAUTS THROUGHOUT ANTIQUITY George Hunt Williamson – known as “Brother Philip” throughout the highlands of Peru, the jungles of South and Central America, and the arid plains of the Southwest – traveled the longest highway in the world, leading him to discover a vast road into the sky that can be linked to the arrival of visitors from elsewhere in the universe throughout the ages. Within these pages are the stories of the Hopi Sun Clan, including the legends of the “Giant Star.” The secret of the Stone Tablets of Peru. The Time Spanners. The Beacon of the Gods. The Martian Miniatures. Fossils, Footprints and Fantasy. Evidence for the existence of the “Silent World,” and the reality of the Unholy Six. Also this is the book that gives: * Williamson’s behind-the-scenes battle with the FBI and the Silence Group. * His investigation into the mysterious disappearances of Hunrath and Wilkinson, who might have been murdered or abducted by UFOs. * The accusations of smuggling and his “association” with a sexy flying saucer pilot whom the FBI identified as a “ravishing woman commandant!” Williamson, sometime in his life, must have come to realize that, in America, if you try to buck the status quo or change the system you can easily be slandered and identified as a dangerous dissident, whether you are called a communist, a fascist, or a neo-Nazi. Many of the contactees of the early UFO/New Age communities were unduly slandered, as was the man aka “Brother Philip.” It was also suggested that Williamson was a “Mind-Controlled Soldier” of the Soviet Union, a label he found difficult to shake off during his years of embattlement with the “system.” How he persevered in spite of all this undeserved conflict makes for a story of true UFO heroism.

Show More

Show Less

A Strange Sunday

Well, I have had some strange days and nights in my time, but this past Sunday (the 5th) was spectacularly odd, even by my standards! I had flown out to California for a day of business, when distinct weirdness reared its odd head.

As I was being checked-in at the hotel I was staying in, I quite literally did a double-take when I noticed that the name-badge of the chap on the desk was - wait for it - Charles Fort! I was like: "WTF??!!"

It didn't end there. My room number was 1163. Only a day before my flight, I was working on an article on the JFK assassination and its alleged UFO links. When was JFK shot? November 1963. Or: 11/63. My room: 1163.

After crashing out for a while and pondering on the high-strangeness that was afoot, good mate Greg Bishop came over to the hotel and we drove back to his place, chatted, caught up, and then went and got an early dinner, as we were going to do Greg's radio show - Radio Misterioso - that night.

Before the show, Greg shared with me a veritable treasure-trove of UFO-themed material he had acquired some years ago, contained in which was a copy of the FBI's file on infamous Contactee, George Hunt Williamson.

I wish I had had this file when I wrote my On the Trail of the Saucer Spies book (since it told a great deal of how the US Government spied on the UFO community), but I will do a lengthier post on the entire file at a later date, as it contains some classic gems and hilarious nuggets of data from the early years of Saucerdom.

At this point, I should explain that although the file was titled "George Hunt Williamson" a significant portion of its pages were devoted to yet another Contactee - an equally controversial one - Truman Bethurum.

I wrote extensively about Bethurum in my Contactees book. He was the lucky geezer who claimed flirty encounters in the Nevada desert in 1952/53 with a hot alien space-babe known as Captain Aura Rhanes from the planet Clarion (yes, the usual wacky and absurd Space-Brother stuff that no-one should take literally - although I do believe something of a hypnagogic nature occurred to Bethurum).

Old Truman was quite taken by Aura, who he described as being "tops in shapeliness and beauty" and whose space-outfit "did fit so snuggly." There's really not much I can add to that, except...

It seems that the FBI was quite taken by Her Royal Hotness from the stars, too. In the papers on Bethurum, an FBI agent (whose name is blacked out on the available files) relates the story of how Bethurum met hotty Aura, who is described as - and I quote the Bureau - "...a ravishing woman commandant."

I have to wonder what was going through the mind of the agent writing that! (See the top of this post for an extract from the FBI files on Bethurum.)

Then, after digging into the file, it was time for Greg's show, in which we covered everything from the aforementioned oddness at the hotel, the Aura Rhanes saga, the state of paranormal-themed TV (a clue: it's all rubbish), and much more of a controversial and Fortean nature.

Finally, there was the trip back to the hotel, before an early Monday morning flight back to Dallas.

So, that was my weird weekend, one which involved an encounter with Charles Fort, the JFK assassination, a space-captain from a far-away world, and the FBI.

Do you even get the feeling that our "reality" is just a big joke on the part of some deranged computer-programmer in a strange and unearthly dimension of Matrix-style proportions? Perhaps I took too many red pills...

On The Trail Of The Saucer Spies

One of the most intriguing disclosures contained in the newly-surfaced Ministry of Defense files on UFOs is the reference to people in the UK-based UFO research field who had been secretly watched by officialdom.

The National Archive summarizes this information as follows:

"File DEFE 24/1984/1 (p294) contains a 1996 Parliamentary Question from Martin Redmond MP asking on how many occasions MI6 and GCHQ have monitored UFO investigations. This was interpreted to mean 'have the agencies been keeping watch on UFOlogists.' A background briefing says 'neither agency in fact undertakes such activity, though GCHQ cannot rule out the possibility' they had monitored 'in other contexts individuals who have made a study of UFOs'. The MP was told the government do not comment on the intelligence and security agencies (p298). File DEFE 24/1987/1 (p262-65) reveals that in 1997 Special Branch took an interest in a UFOlogist who became obsessed with rumours of a secret UFO facility beneath RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire. The base had become known as the British equivalent of the secret US military airbase 'Area 51' among conspiracy theorists. An internal note said 'Special Branch…do not believe he poses a specific threat to security, but they are alert to the risk that others may use him as a conduit for their activities.'"

Well, since the summary fails to note the names of the people in question, I will.

Back in 1997, Robin Cole, of Cheltenham, England - the home to GCHQ (the Government Communications Headquarters) - wrote a fascinating report on the agency's involvement in the UFO phenomenon. And, for those who may not be aware, GCHQ is the UK equivalent of the US National Security Agency.

After Cole's report was published, he was visited by two representatives of the UK's Special Branch. And since the pair announced their visit in advance (via a phone-call), Robin had the sense to clandestinely set up his tape-recorder in his living-room and taped the entire conversation, much of which revolved around Special Branch's interest in a UFO researcher and Crop Circle maker named Matthew Williams - who just happens to be the "UFOlogist who became obsessed" with RAF Rudloe Manor, as referenced by National Archives staff above. And that's Matt below, photographed by me in Vegas four or five years ago:

I wrote extensively about the very (and I do mean VERY) weird affair of Cole and Williams in my 2006 book, On the Trail of the Saucer Spies, including the Special Branch saga as it related to both Matt and Robin.

It's an extremely strange story filled with phone and house surveillance, possibly illegal entry into someone's home, the Royal Air Force's Provost and Security Services, and much, much more.

At the time the book was published, certain people in Ufology said it was laughable to think that Special Branch and GCHQ might be involved in watching UFO researchers (even tangentially), but I'm very pleased to see that six years after On the Trail of the Saucer Spies was written, the files finally demonstrate the story was correct.

And Matt and Robin were far from alone in being watched - and that goes for UFO researchers on both sides of the Atlantic...

Strange Tales of the MIB

As some of you (but probably not many, at this stage) will know, I am currently working on yet another book on the Men in Black puzzle, for which I've got about 30,000 words complete so far. And in terms of final word-count, this is likely to be a very big one, and is significantly different to my earlier MIB-themed output.

Its title: Strange Tales of the Men in Black.

My earlier MIB-based titles have all been filled with files, witness reports, and data, but it was very much the case that I interviewed people, transcribed their accounts, and then presented the data in chapter format, partly in their words, and partly with me relating their accounts in summarized format.

But, it’s fair to say that my latest book on the Men in Black is somewhat of a radical departure from that format, in the sense that I am specifically letting the witnesses – certainly, the most important people when it comes to trying to understand the nature of the MIB phenomenon – tell their own stories, solely in their own words, and regardless of whether that's 500 words or 5,000.

And there won't be any chapters, as such. Rather, each case will have its own section - whether long or short. After all, there's no rhyme or reason to the MIB, so I figured why not have that reflected in the layout of the book?!

My role, in this new book - Strange Tales of the Men in Black - is merely to introduce you to the plethora of players in the seemingly never-ending saga of the Men in Black, have them relate the amazing facts - in wholly unedited and uninterrupted form - and then I;ll try and come to some form of conclusion with respect to each and every case cited in post-case "Comments from Nick"-style sections.

So, if you have (A) had a MIB experience, (B) have a theory about who or what they might really be, and/or (C) want to offer a comment or observation on anything MIB-linked, and are willing to share that info, do let me know, and I will be very pleased to hear from you.

I wish I could afford to pay each and every one who is willing to have their account included, but (despite what some have said and even written!), the field of a freelance writer is not a rich one! I will, however, send every contributor a free, signed copy of the book on publication, thank them in the Acknowledgments, and include any web links/blog links etc that the person may like to have included.

And if that appeals: You can reach me right here.

And for a bit of background about how I got interested in the MIB controversy and my previous output on the subject, here you go:

I was eleven years old when I was introduced to the menacing and macabre world of the enigmatic Men in Black. It was a typically bleak and windswept English evening in the late autumn of 1976 when they first darkened my door.

On the night in question – wide of eye and full of youthful excitement and anticipation - I eagerly began reading the disturbing pages of John Keel’s classic title, The Mothman Prophecies, which told of distinctly strange goings-on at Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the mid-to-late 1960s.


Strange goings-on? Hell, outright supernatural foulness and malignancy would be far more apt terminology! A glowing-eyed, winged-monster, surreal reports of contact with enigmatic alien intelligences on lonely, moonlit, tree-shrouded roads, occult phenomena plaguing the town, and lives manipulated and transformed in ways near-unimaginable were the order of the day - as was the brooding, predatory, and repeated manifestation of the dreaded MIB.

For reasons that I have never truly been able to fathom, from that very day onwards I became particularly fascinated by the Men in Black, their silencing of UFO witnesses, their near-ethereal presence in our world, and, of course, their overwhelming and mysterious elusiveness.

Who, or what, were they? From where did they originate? What did they want of us? Why were they so deeply intent on preventing Flying Saucer-seekers from learning the truth about UFOs? Even as a child, such questions plagued and tormented my mind. And, the further and deeper I dug into the world of Forteana, the more I found myself attempting to penetrate the veil of unsettling darkness and hostility that seemed to forever surround the MIB.

In the immediate years that followed my reading of John Keel’s legendary study of Mothman, I sought out just about as many works on the MIB as was conceivably possible. And, at the absolute top of my list – in joint first-place - were Gray Barker’s 1956 title They Knew Too Much about Flying Saucers and a small, overwhelmingly bizarre book titled Flying Saucers and the Three Men. It was penned in 1962 by a curious and undeniably paranoid character named Albert Bender, without who there simply would be no MIB puzzle – period.

Barker, a skilled, atmospheric writer with a flair for all-things dramatic, gothic, dark and stormy, was the perfect person to address the MIB mystery. But, he would never have been in a position to do so had it not been for the eccentric Bender – who, in 1953, was allegedly silenced by a trio of black-garbed, glowing-eyed entities from some strange netherworld after getting too close to the truth about Flying Saucers.

For someone now just barely in their teens, I found both Barker’s and Bender’s books and tales to be even more captivating than those of Keel. Of course, as my teens became my twenties, and then my thirties, my views on the MIB phenomenon changed, in some ways subtly, but in other ways far less so. But there was one thing that never did alter: My earnest wish to solve the puzzle of the true nature, origin and intent of the Men in Black.

Since those now-long-gone days of my childhood, I have pursued the MIB on a scale that has far exceeded my quests for Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, and the truth about Roswell combined.


My first book, A Covert Agenda, which was published in 1997, detailed a number of curious MIB-style encounters in the British Isles from the 1950s onwards.

One year later, my follow-up title The FBI Files, detailed what the Bureau knew about the MIB puzzle.

My 2003 title, Strange Secrets, included a chapter on the little-known issue of government documents on the Men in Black.

Three years later, I penned On the Trail of the Saucer Spies, which was a full-length study of the secret surveillance of certain elements of the UFO research community by MIB-type characters in government.


In 2010, I contributed material to Curse of the Men in Black: Return of the UFO Terrorists, penned by John Stuart and Tim Beckley.

Then, in 2011, my The Real Men in Black hit the bookshelves. This latter title specifically addressed the paranormal side of the MIB phenomenon, with a great deal of page-space focused upon the possibility that the darkly-clad ones might be time-travelers, energy-sucking vampires, Tulpas, Trickster-style entities, or even demons from Hell – or maybe all of the above!

And, in that same year, I was very pleased to be asked to write a new Foreword to an updated edition of Gray Barker’s 1983 book: M.I.B.: The Secret Terror Among Us.

In other words, while I have never been fortunate enough to have received a late-night visit from the MIB (Yes, I would consider such a visit to be fortunate, as I might then be able to finally answer the riddle of who they really are!), they have certainly got their grips into me in other ways.

Having written about, and pondered so extensively on, the Men in Black, would I consider my research in this area to be a full-blown obsession? Maybe so; I can’t really deny such a possibility, as much as I would dearly prefer to.

But, if an obsession it is, then I’m certainly not the first – nor will I probably be the last – to be pulled, magnet-like, into the eye of the MIB hurricane. Bender, Barker, Keel: they all came before me, and all three became truly enveloped by MIB high-strangeness.

Will Strange Tales of the Men in Black be my last word on the MIB mystery? I'm 100 percent certain it won't!

   

MIB: Development and Perception

Loren Coleman has a very good new post on the MIB, titled MIBs: Silencers vs Killers, which shows the fascinating way in which the imagery of the MIB has developed and evolved over the years.

Indeed, a solid argument can be made that the MIB of old - the pale, scrawny and menacing types that seem far more like Nosferatu than James Bond - have been eclipsed by the "secret agent" angle.

Of course, much of that results from the phenomenal success of the Men in Black movies. But, it's worth noting that - as Loren's article makes very clear via providing us with good imagery of the MIB - there has been a definite change in perception regarding the Men in Black.

I also think a good argument can be made that - as I note in my The Real Men in Black and On the Trail of the Saucer Spies books - there are at least two category of MIB: government and "something else."

And, I think officialdom has some degree of knowledge of this "other" group, even if they don't have all the answers regarding who or "what" they are. And just to confuse things even further, there seems to be evidence that the Intel/military world is not beyond occasionally exploiting and using the weirder MIB motif to hide and camouflage its own actions.

More on all this in a later post...