Alternate Perceptions Magazine, December 2024
Challenges Regarding UFO and Contact Research and Investigation over the past Sixty-Four Years
November 20, 2024
by: Kathleen Marden
Photo of Kathleen Marden (L) and Brent Raynes ( R ) at the AlienXpo conference in Knoxville, TN., in August 2019.
I was drawn to the UFO mystery on September 20, 1961, because on that afternoon my mother had a conversation with my aunt Betty Hill regarding her concern over the possibility of contamination resulting from her and my uncle Barney’s close encounter with a silent, hovering “flying saucer.” It had occurred the previous night when they were returning to their seacoast home through upstate New Hampshire. They had sketched artistic renderings of it from memory and were concerned that they might have been exposed to radiation or some kind of contamination because the craft had hovered very close to them. When they arrived home they felt “clammy,” far dirtier than they should have, so they took long showers to remove possible toxins. Within a couple of days, my father drove my family to the Hills’ house where Barney sat quietly with my father. Later, my father informed me that Barney clearly described distressing figures dressed in black shiny uniforms. A month later, he informed NICAP scientific investigator Walter Webb that they were “somehow not human.” On September 22, 1961, Barney was awaiting call from Pease Air Force Base regarding a radar report that suggested there might be a relationship between it and the Hills’ close encounter.
My mother, brothers, and I talked with Betty about the details of their unusual event and her newly broken watch. She led us outside where we observed the new shiny spots on the trunk of Betty’s 1957 Chevy Bel Air that had not been there the previous day. They were in the precise location where she and Barney had heard codelike buzzing sounds a little after midnight on the 20th and again on a stretch of highway thirty to thirty five miles south of their previous location.
Over the ensuing years I became aware of organizational and military lies concerning my family members’ UFO experience. Individual investigators and military officers believed their event was real, but officially their sighting was misrepresented and debunked. This was frustrating. I could not understand why my government would lie and operate a disturbing psychological operation against two decent, honest, outstanding citizens characterizing them as perceptually deficient, credulous believers in something that didn’t exist. Why were they vociferously denying the evidence that was in their own reports? Only later did I learn of the CIA’s involvement in the coverup.
However, I knew that unofficially, military officers, UFO abduction investigators, and scientists had a serious interest in their experience. I took solace in the knowledge that a retired US Navy rear admiral, USAF officers, and scientific investigators were quietly supportive and highly curious about their event.
In 1966 Dr. James Harder, a professor of civic and hydraulic engineering at UCLA and Director of Research at APRO was one of six esteemed scientists who testified to the House of Representatives Committee on Aeronautics and Astronautics regarding scientific evidence of the UFO and extraterrestrial presence. In turn, skeptical scientists offered their alternative hypotheses. I met Jim in the mid-1970s when he made several trips to Betty’s home and interviewed family members. He hypnotized my mother and me. He remained in my life for many years, returning to New Hampshire periodically.
That same year, Philip Klass joined forces with Dr. Donald Menzel and other bold disinformants in an effort to explain away all UFO sightings, to ostracize scientists who had a serious interest in the study of UFOs, and to further enforce the 1953 Robertson Panel’s directive to reduce public interest in UFOs through ridicule, character assassination, and deductive reasoning that weather phenomena, deception, misperception, or kookiness could explain all UFO sightings and ET contact events.
There was great hope for disclosure among NICAP members when the Condon Committee began their scientific investigation of UFOs. But soon Dr. Condon exhibited a dismissive attitude and told hilarious tales of comical human witnesses that induced uproarious laughter among members of the press. Archival evidence reveals that he knew the outcome of the study prior to its inception. Drs. David Saunders and Franklin Roach, co-principal investigators of the Condon Committee, discovered “The Trick Memo” authored by Project Coordinator Robert Low in the office file cabinet. They were so shocked by the unsettling deception that they passed it to meteorological physicist Dr. James McDonald, the leading academic scientific investigator of his time, and he passed it to investigative journalist John G. Fuller. In 1968 Fuller authored an article for LOOK Magazine of the half-million dollar trick to make Americans believe the Condon Committee was conducting an objective investigation when in fact it was anything but objective. It triggered an uproar among members of the UFO community and the public.
In the mid-1970s and into the 1980’s there was intense public interest in UFOs and several high profile UFO abductions. The Condon Committee and the National Academy of Sciences had recommended allocating research grants, not to the investigation of UFOs, but for social scientists who might explain why a broadening segment of our society was prone to this delusion. False memory syndrome, confabulation through hypnosis, sleep paralysis, the accusation of scientific naivety, et cetera were offered as explanations for what was officially deemed impossible. This carried into the 1990s and deceived many novice UFO investigators and the public regarding claims of UFO abduction.
Paul Kurtz, a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at SUNY, and professional skeptic founded the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. It was not openminded or scientifically oriented. It was a debunking group that wreaked havoc on the scientific investigation of UFOs and the paranormal. Its objective was to discredit scientific investigators, significant UFO and paranormal events, and dissuade scientists and academics from investigating topics they considered taboo. They had a media presence where they used trickery and false information to debunk claims of the paranormal. In the 1990s the weight of UFO evidence was building, and the majority of investigators and UFO groups were nuts and bolts oriented and sufficiently skeptical. SCICOP was breathing down the necks of UFOs and abduction investigators and launching ad hominem attacks on esteemed scientific researchers, credible UFO witnesses, and abductees alike. Skeptical investigators interrogated abductees seeking any possible explanation for their improbable memories. Without physical evidence, many UFO investigators did not believe and sometimes derided witnesses who reported UFO abductions. This attitude discouraged abductees from seeking help from UFO organizations because they were likely to be ridiculed. For this reason, they sought assistance from Budd Hopkins, Dr. James Harder, Dr. David Jacobs, Dr. John Mack, Dr. Leo Sprinkle, Barbara Lamb, a licensed psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, Yvonne Smith, a certified hypnotherapist, and others too numerous to mention.
I too was a nuts and bolts oriented investigator working independently and as a member of MUFON. My aunt Betty Hill and I were vocal opponents of the dismissive claims offered by members of SCICOP and naïve members of UFO investigative groups who believed in government lies and SCICOP’s gross distortion. I authored several articles in support of the truth. However, the strength of SCICOP and the military’s suppression of the truth were powerful. This overwhelming official effort to suppress UFO reality played out among serious UFO researchers, who often disparaged one another, and created a coterie of insiders who expected unquestionable loyalty. Blue Ribbon Panels of SCICOP members versus respected scientific investigators, challenged UFO evidence and defamed witnesses even when there was indisputable evidence. It caused immense suffering for abductees who were already traumatized and sometimes physically harmed as a result of their abductions. SCICOP members titled scientific investigators “biased believers” whereas they claimed objectivity. It was a lie.
I realized that we were taking the wrong approach. Abductees were my highest priority and needed support and confidentiality. Too many had been harmed through intentional violations of confidentiality or when their identities were inadvertently disclosed. I knew that it was imperative to create a safe environment for them where they could gently come to terms with their experiences and learn to collect evidence for scientific analysis.
During the next decade I learned that military intelligence agents had infiltrated UFO groups, and this had also happened to NICAP. A man with a prominent position in a UFO organization sold confidential information to a defense contractor who passed it to military intelligence. Allegedly, the experiencers’ identities were confidential, but this man’s assistant informed me that he had supplied a separate coded document with each person’s identifying information. When my level of insider knowledge increased, I authored or coauthored several books on these or related topics and was the recipient of ad hominem attacks by so called former intelligence agents, skeptics, and religious crackpots. Television productions continued to minimize evidence of the ET presence and invite SCICOP (CSI members after it shortened its title) to offer false and dismissive statements at the end of the show. This happened in several of my televised interviews and was extremely frustrating.
20011-2021 hailed a new era of scientific inquiry. The number of the vocal, nasty disinformants had deceased and my colleagues and I gained traction in the serious investigation of abductions and contact with nonhumans. We collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of responsible researchers, academics from around the world, psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors of various specialties, in search of answers, without censorship or the exclusion of vital evidence. We conducted major research studies on the commonalities that experiencers share and the uncomfortable presence of a paranormal overlay, including glowing orbs inside experiencer’s homes that appeared to have intelligence, and the sensation that something unseen was walking on the bed. Despite efforts to undermine our achievements, we prevailed in the acquisition of extraordinarily important knowledge. We also developed a trustworthy program for experiencers who were seeking assistance on a confidential basis.
For approximately ten years, televised productions offered accurate insight into UFO phenomena, including photographic evidence, physical evidence, and multiple witness testimony. Respected researchers informed the public of positive contact events. It was important for the public to know that not all contact was cold and exploitive. Researchers felt comfortable with the idea that they could present their evidence and be treated with respect. We were not subjected to criticism and false testimony by a throng of professional skeptics. But new conference speakers were making irrational, unsupported claims that sounded more like disinformation than truth, and unfortunately, they were attracting huge crowds. Luis Elizondo ushered us into a period of renewed official interest in UFOs, when he introduced us to convincing evidence of the Pentagon’s secret interest in incursions into US airspace by highly advanced transmedium craft with characteristics that serious UFO researchers were aware of but had been officially repudiated for decades. Congress was funding an investigative group through the Department of Defense, and we learned of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s inquiry into the nature of what they termed UAPs. The uninformed public received cautionary remarks that these craft might represent Earthly technology from one of our adversaries.
Behind the scenes prominent, seasoned UFO investigators and collectors of FOIA documents were attempting to verify Elizondo’s claims and were lied to or stonewalled by the Department of Defense. However, Elizondo’s colleagues testified on his behalf. Additional military witnesses to UFOs stepped up to the plate and testified regarding their encounters. On May 17, 2022, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led by Tim Burchett initiated its inquiry into the military’s reports on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). He said there were 144 reports from military personnel of possible UAP encounters, eleven of which were near misses. He added, “There are plenty of videos of potential UAP encounters that the Pentagon can’t explain away. I believe that if this technology already belonged to Russia or China, one of them would have already attacked us with it.” He continued, “In June 2021, the Pentagon released a report that was supposed to clear up our questions about the possibility of UAPs, but it was totally bogus. We can’t get straight answers from the Pentagon. Our highest ranking leaders don't want American citizens to know the truth. The Pentagon and all our elected leaders need to do everything we can to destigmatize reporting on UAP encounters. The brass at the Pentagon will continue to be evasive, and the American public will remain in the dark unless Congress asserts its role as an oversight body and demands truth and accountability from defense officials and the rest of the executive branch.”
These revelations initiated new hope among UFO researchers and the interested public. For the first time in fifty years, an official government inquiry regarding the Department of Defense’s UFO files was launched through sworn testimony from high ranking former military officers.
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves, retired pilot of an FA-18 Super Hornet testified the UAP sightings are not rare or isolated. But the stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security.
Commander David Fravor, who on November 14, 2004, observed a whitish oval object the size of a commercial aircraft and chased it in his Navy FA-18F aircraft from the aircraft carrier Nimitz off coast of San Diego, testified. He said that it dropped from 28,000 feet to zero in .28 seconds. He added that near the end of his sighting it executed a maneuver in a manner that is inconsistent with current principles of aerodynamics, and possibly indicative of a vacuum environment.
Former USAF Intelligence Officer and official David Grusch under oath testified that he had conversations with unnamed officials that led him to believe that the U.S. federal government maintains a secretive UFO (or UAP) recovery program and is in possession of nonhuman spacecraft along with their "dead pilots". Promptly following his testimony, he received death threats and was subjected to leaks from former colleagues, regarding his medical treatment for PTSD, in a savage attempt to discredit him. This debunking effort is not uncommon when non-human biologics and UFO crash retrievals are revealed.
In his defense, Jonathan Grey from the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center, has confirmed the non-human intelligence phenomenon to be real and global, with hidden legacy programs within multiple agencies.
Pushback from the Department of Defense has hampered the House Oversight Committee’s attempt to gain access to its records. It has issued bogus reports and failed to meet an order to turn over its documents to the National Archives. The DOD has indicated that it does not want additional funding for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s investigation of UAPs or the Congressional Oversight Committee’s investigation.
It appears that recent hearings have enforced stringent censorship on sworn statements by Luis Elizondo, et al. Although the public and members of the US Congress continue to push for answers, UAPs are being propagandized as a threat to national security. On a positive note, the debunking threat was mentioned as an issue that must be addressed. It seems more than a coincidence that some recent television productions are featuring debunkers and disinformants who criticize expert witnesses and imply that they are ignorant and misinformed. It portends a return to older policies that promote a dismissive attitude regarding the UFO presence.
In May 2024, the Mutual UFO Network altered its protocols regarding experiencers of ET contact who desire confidential, compassionate support. They must first undergo an intrusive investigation, not by an abduction specialist, but by a seasoned, sometimes skeptical UFO investigator who will pass judgement on them and then determine whether they will be permitted to have a conversation with a supportive specialist. The multidisciplinary team of abduction investigation specialists, academics from around the world, scientists, medical doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists has lost its authority, as the organization returns to nuts and bolts UFO investigation. High strangeness phenomena associated with ET contact has been suppressed and members are forbidden to speak of it. As an experiencer advocate I fear for the safety and well-being of individuals who have been contacted by technologically superior nonhumans. Additionally, some highly visible civilian investigators and abductees have been subjected to verbal and biological attacks that have required hospitalization. I am a supporter of the highest level of confidentiality for the protection of ET contact experiencers.
These recent policy alterations may indicate a trend toward greater censorship by the Department of Defense and a refusal to comply with the House Oversight Committee’s demands. On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the public of the increasing power and threat of the military-industrial complex. We did not heed his warning. Their level of authority and obfuscation of the truth should be challenged by those who pay their salaries: the American taxpayers. Although there is solid evidence regarding the presence of a vastly superior technological and intelligent biological presence if anything it is being propagandized as an existential threat. This new enemy, although it had not intentionally harmed us, is now viewed as a danger. It seems to be a ploy to build new defense systems. Additionally, the Department of Defense opposes the civilian investigation of UAPs. If it wins this battle, the public will be thrust into a new era of ignorance and UFO investigative groups will become the enemy or follow the path of NICAP. We are in a time of crisis, and, at the present time, there is no clear victor.
