Author: admin

I painted this en plein air (on location) in 2009 in Mill Valley California while living in Tiburon in 2009. I recently decided that this painting (hanging in my spare bedroom) needed a UFO. It is framed, oil on gesso board 18″ x 24″. If you are interested in purchasing, click the image, it will redirect you to the shopping site. Use the code “UFO” at check-out and you will get 50% off with free shipping in the Continental US.  ~ Martin Willis

By Charles Lear

  In November of 1957, there was a major flying saucer flap that began with a case that remains a favorite among UFOlogists.  Starting on the night of November 2, and going into the early morning hours of November 3, there were a series of extraordinary encounters in and around the small farming community of Levelland, Texas.  Besides the quantity and quality of the witnesses, there were reports from other areas in the Southwest that supported the Levelland accounts.  The Air Force conducted an investigation that was cursory at best and offered explanations that could have been pulled out of a hat.  The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena had their own man on the case.  That he might have been biased towards an unearthly explanation for the reports is an understatement.  Whether one was biased or not, based on the witness reports, what was seen was not easily explainable in terms of natural phenomena or the technology of the day.

November in Levelland was a peak period for the cotton harvest and the work was round-the-clock.  For this reason, there were many people awake during the night and early morning hours of the dates under discussion.  Patrolman Abraham John Fowler was working the evening shift at the Levelland Police Department when the first of what would be a series of unusual calls came in.  Just before 11:00 p.m., a farm worker, Pedro Saucedo, called to report a very strange encounter that left him and his co-worker, Joe Salaz, shaken and mystified.  According to Saucedo, they were in his pickup truck, on their way to a farm ten miles northwest of Levelland.  At 10:30 p.m., they turned off Route 116 (now Route 114) four miles west of Levelland, onto a side road.  Off to their right, in a field, they saw a bright blue flash, which drew their attention.  The source of the light was a cigar or torpedo-shaped object around 200 feet long.  As they watched, the object, glowing blue-green, lifted up and came towards the truck.  As it did so, its color changed to bright yellow-white.  As it passed over the truck at high speed, the engine stalled and the headlights went out.  Saucedo, afraid that it would hit the truck, jumped out and hit the dirt.  Salaz remained inside and, fortunately for him, there was no collision.  The object gave off a roaring sound, its color changed to red, and air rushed in behind it as it flew off, leaving the truck rocking.  Saucedo described feeling an intense heat from the object and estimated that it traveled at 600 to 800 mph to the east.  As the object moved off, the truck engine started back up on its own and the lights came back on.  Saucedo then drove to the town of Whiteface, ten miles away, which was the location of the nearest payphone. Read more →

By Charles Lear

In late 1957, Americans’ minds were on space.  On October 4^th of that year, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the very first satellite to achieve a successful orbit.  This was followed by Sputnik 2 on November 3^rd.  This satellite carried a dog, Laika, who tragically died on the fourth orbit.  This was due to overheating after the air conditioner unit malfunctioned.  The Soviets were pulling ahead of the United States in the space race and American anxiety was high.

The rest of that November, flying saucer reports increased dramatically.  This caused particular concern for the Air Force because public frenzy over flying saucers was considered a threat to national security.  In 1953, a C.I.A. convened panel of advisors, “The Robertson Panel”, expressed concern that communication channels could be overwhelmed by flying saucer reports.  This would have provided the Soviets with an opportunity for a surprise attack.  The recommendation was to make flying saucers go away and this became part of official Department of Defense policy.

While the Soviets were causing headaches for all branches of the U.S. military at the time, the Air Force had some extra stress added on courtesy of one Donald A. Keyhoe.  Keyhoe was a former Major who served in World War II in the Naval Aviation Training Division of the U.S. Marine Corps.  After his service, Keyhoe became interested in flying saucers and wrote a hugely popular article for True magazine, “Flying Saucers are Real”, published in the January 1950 issue.  He expanded the article into the 1950 book, “The Flying Saucers are Real”, which was the first to be published on the subject.  He’d been helped in his efforts with cooperation from the Air Force but, after 1953, that turned to evasion and eventually into outright stone walling.  Keyhoe sensed that there was an officially directed cover-up.  He was outraged that people were providing reports to the Air Force in good faith, only to have them dismissed with often implausible and insulting explanations.  Keyhoe’s outrage fueled his zealousness and, in 1957, he was given the opportunity to channel that zealousness when he was made director of the group he’d co-founded, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena.

Read more →

by Charles Lear

  Reported police encounters with UFOs have been a common occurrence throughout modern history.  Records show that police have seen them in the sky, hovering above the ground and landed.  They’ve chased them, been hit by them and been taken aboard them.  As police officers are usually the first responders to citizen UFO reports, the frequency of their involvement makes sense.  For an officer to go on the record with his or her encounter takes courage in light of the fact that fellow officers are quite likely going to have a few laughs at their expense.  Quite often, however, they are supported by their fellows and superiors when facing public scrutiny.  Public reaction can be brutal and in the case of Patrolman Herbert Schirmer, it was particularly so.

On December 3, 1967, 22 year-old Schirmer was making his rounds in the town of Ashland, Nebraska at around 2:30 a.m.  He was driving on Highway 63, just past the intersection with Highway 6, when some flashing red lights caught his attention.  He thought they might have been coming from a truck and went closer to investigate.  His headlights revealed a classic flying saucer with a polished metallic surface.  A catwalk went around it and the red lights he’d seen were blinking through its portals.  It was hovering six to eight feet above the ground and then it rose while emitting a siren-like sound.  There was a flame-like display on the underside and Schirmer watched with his head out the open door of his patrol car as it moved almost directly overhead.  It then shot suddenly out of sight.

Read more →

By Charles Lear

There was a period from the early 1950s into the 1960s when more than a few people (more than one of which were named, George) came forward saying that they’d been in direct communication with humanoid beings who were not of this earth.  They are referred to as, “The Contactees” and they were individuals who claimed they were chosen by our space friends to deliver a message to humankind.  In other words, contact with single individuals was the norm.  Then, in 2007, a man in Italy, engineer and university professor, Stefano Breccia, came out with a story of alien interaction with a large group of Italians that began in 1956 and continued until 1978.  This became known as, “The Friendship Case” and, in spite of its dubious nature, the case attracted a lot of press and people came forward to support the story.

According to Breccia, his friend, writer, theologian and psychologist, Bruno Sammaciccia, asked him to listen to a story he’d been keeping secret and to write it down.  As Sammaciccia died in 2003, this could be said to have been the confession of a dying man.  Breccia said that he spent a month at his friend’s house and granted his wish.  According to Breccia, in 1956, Sammaciccia and two friends were visiting the Pia Fortress overlooking Ascoli Piceno, when they were approached by two beings that appeared human but one was a little more than one meter tall, and the other was almost three meters tall.  Speaking perfect Italian, the two beings told them they were extraterrestrials and that they were here to help humankind.  The men were later taken to an underground base to meet others like them, all of varying heights.  They revealed that there were representatives from six different civilizations from our galaxy and others, that there had been an e.t. presence for over two centuries and that there were over 200 of them in underground and undersea bases throughout the world.  These bases were made with “a particular mechanism” which would compress the surrounding earth as a space opened up.  When they were done using the base, “all you had to do is flip a switch” (apologies if this is too technical) and the earth would return to normal.  One base under the Adriatic Sea was described as being so big, it had its own climate.  The e.t.s were concerned that humans were destroying the planet, which was precious as a place that produced life, and they were also concerned  about atomic weapons.  They described love as a powerful source of energy and promoted moral, as opposed to technological development.

Read more →

Alejandro Rojas & Martin Willis

by Charles Lear

As more and more researchers are coming to the conclusion that “the government” is as clueless about UFOs as the rest of us, it’s easy to forget how crazy things got in UFOlogy in the later part of the 20th century.  There’s a cast of characters floating around the internet in old videos who told some scary stories.  Their dark tales seemed to confirm people’s worst fears about our government, shadowy organizations and aliens.  There were some wild claims made by people who had impressive backgrounds that included military service and work with intelligence organizations.  Their credentials seemed to have absolved them of the need to back up their claims with proof in the minds of many and the noise they made is still clouding the signal today.

On January 1, 1986, Jim Speiser created a forum called, “ParaNet” within a Bulletin Board System devoted to the paranormal called, “The Other Side.”  The purpose was to bring UFO believers, skeptics and those undecided together for an intelligent exchange of ideas and offer access to information.  It was here, in 1987, that a newcomer to UFOlogy, John Lear, had a file in the form of a press release posted containing the statement that,  “The United States Government has been in business with little gray extraterrestrials for about 20 years.”  He referenced MJ-12, crashes in New Mexico at Roswell and Aztec, and stated that MJ-12 had made a deal with ETs.  The terms of the agreement were that the ETs would provide technology in exchange for a governmental laissez faire policy when it came to abductions and cattle mutilations.  According to Lear, the mutilations and abductions were for the purposes of feeding and breeding.  Cattle parts and human parts were mixed in vats at an underground base in Dulce, NM to extract “an enzyme or hormonal secretion” that the ETs absorbed for sustenance.  When not used as foodstuff, human females were impregnated and the resulting crossbred offspring were taken.  Lear went on to state that, in 1979, there was an “altercation of sorts” where 66 soldiers were killed trying to free “our people” who had become trapped in the facility after learning its secrets.

Read more →