ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050022
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB SHELL
AS THE PRINCIPAL technical investigator involved in researching the alien-autopsy film, I was displeased to see your Dec. 28 Extra section article by Joel Achenbach, "Does the government have E.T. on ice?" This is a typical case of poor journalism that doesn't take a subject seriously, and thus doesn't do a proper job of investigation.
Yes, something did crash in the vicinity of Roswell, N. M., in July 1947. The author got that much of the story right, but nearly everything else in the report is wrong. Whatever came down crashed on the Foster Ranch, which is nearer to Corona than Roswell. Mac Brazel, ranch foreman at the time, found the debris and notified the sheriff. After the debris was examined by Army Air Force personnel, Walter (not William) Haut was told to issue a press release saying that the Army Air Force had the wreckage of a flying disk. The wreckage, whatever it was, was treated with the highest security, and the crash site was very carefully cleared of all traces of debris. Not the way the Army Air Force would handle a "weather balloon,'' which is what they claimed the debris to be.
Recently, the Air Force changed the story. No, it wasn't a weather balloon, but a special, secret "Mogul balloon.'' This doesn't explain why this particular debris was handled as it was, since other Mogul balloon crashes were handled with no particular security, and some weren't even recovered at all, even though it was known where they had come down. Maj. Jesse Marcel, the Army Air Force officer assigned to the recovery, said it wasn't any sort of balloon. Marcel later was put in charge of the secret Mogul project, so he certainly knew what these balloons looked like. But he maintained to his dying day that what he found on the Foster Ranch wasn't any sort of a balloon and wasn't of earthly origin. Although he's dead, filmed interviews with him make it clear that he didn't find a balloon.
The alien-autopsy film that Ray Santilli owns, which I'm investigating, has absolutely nothing to do with this "Roswell event.'' The man who shot the film of two different autopsies of alien bodies and debris of the crashed craft says that this crash took place on May 31, 1947, more than a month before the "Roswell event,'' and more than 100 miles away at a site 10 miles southwest of Socorro. The cameraman wishes to remain anonymous more from fear of the media circus than the government, which certainly knows who he is. Achenbach uses "Kodak" as though there's only one Kodak. In fact, the film expert seen on the Fox television program is Lawrence Cate, who works for Kodak in Hollywood. The Kodak source quoted by the London Sunday Times works for Kodak UK. Kodak specialists in several countries have stated that the film is quite probably from 1947. We hope to be in a position soon to do some sophisticated chemical tests to verify this. Also seen on the Fox program was the curator of motion picture film for the George Eastman House Museum, who considers the film to be of the proper age.
Philip Klass was wrong about the telephone. As reported recently in Time magazine, the phone shown in the film was introduced in 1946, and the coiled cord was available as an option from 1939. The Shure microphone shown in the film has been verified as of the correct vintage, as have the medical instruments and other paraphernalia in the autopsy room. There are no historical anachronisms in the film.
I've spent more than six months in detailed analysis of the film, which has included frame-by-frame analysis of the second autopsy, filmed on July 3, 1947, and which was used in the Fox program. There's also another autopsy, filmed on July 1, 1947, of a different creature, and I'm doing preliminary study of that now. There's also some film footage shot on the morning of June 1, 1947, when the recovery operation was just beginning, showing technicians performing an emergency medical procedure on yet another alien being. In addition to these films of alien creatures, there's film of debris from the crash, some of which was briefly shown on the last Fox program.
I don't yet know if this film is a monumental hoax or the most important film footage in human history. This research is very much in its preliminary phases. At this point, publishing poorly researched, dismissive articles is just as nonproductive as publishing tabloid articles that believe everything. It's important to step back and keep an open mind on this matter while the research proceeds.
It may also be worth noting that Lawrence Rockefeller has funded the research and preparation of a lengthy study that is said to prove that the Army Air Force, and later the Air Force, maintained a cover-up about what happened at Roswell. This study report will be presented to Congress, as well as other important government officials, with the goal of ultimately getting a full-scale congressional investigation of this incident. Everyone who wants to know the truth of this matter should keep an eye on the response to this study report.
Bob Shell, of Radford, is a photographer and author.
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