The Wider UFO Picture

     Sometimes it can be difficult to stay aware of the forest as we closely examine the trees. Details matter, of course they do, but what is the "takeaway" from some of our deep dives into UFO World?

The late Frank Wisner, who ran the
Office of Policy Coordination before
becoming Deputy Director of Plans

In Wayward Sons, I take extensive looks at some of the organizations involved in mid 20th century UFO shenanigans. They included NICAP, the FBI, the CIA, and some specific aspects of the Agency are explored, such as the Office of Policy Coordination and the Directorate of Plans. The actions of specific individuals are also examined, as compared to just suggesting the ever present "they" were up to something, because details matter. Indeed they do.

That stated, a more overarching plotline might be considered as well. The intelligence community, along with a media consisting of "journalists" who are uninterested in accuracy for a variety of reasons, acted in ways that cultivated unsubstantiated UFO-related beliefs. That is the case regardless of what legitimately interesting and unexplained phenomena might lie at the heart of an extremely small percentage of UFO cases.

UFO researchers, and the orgs they founded and represented, subsequently parroted and embellished the unsubstantiated tales of interplanetary visitors. While there are many different reasons for the credulous actions of UFO investigators, the fact will remain the cumulative effect was a poorly informed public. 

In spite of all the sensationalism, hundreds of conferences, thousands of books, and countless hours of podcasts and online presentations, there is very little established as fact about UFOs. As one contact once put it, "Everything we know about UFOs would fit on a postcard." Unfortunately, many poorly informed people think they know a whole, whole lot.

Researchers such as Greg Bishop, Mark Pilkington, and Adam Gorightly, to their credit, extensively explored the story of Paul Bennewitz. The saga orbited around the actions of such figures as Richard Doty, William Moore, Leonard Stringfield, and Myrna Hansen.

Greg Bishop's Project Beta:
The Story of Paul Bennewitz,
National Security, and the
Creation of a Modern UFO Myth

As the referenced researchers demonstrated, there is virtually nothing in the saga that can be accepted as true. The entire account of aliens kidnapping people, abusing cattle, and inhabiting an underground base in Dulce grew out of regressive hypnosis sessions and fabricated stories released upon an eagerly receptive UFO community. In their individual works, Bishop, Pilkington, and Gorightly tracked this down because details matter. 

What they also teach us, in addition to the details, is the saga contributed to the public becoming grossly misinformed about supposed UFO phenomena. Extremely important point: Many of the talking points first introduced during the Bennewitz Affair continue to be widely accepted today as truthful, as well as embellished upon, as if they were steps in a legitimate unfolding research process. Many people who subscribe to the beliefs simply could not tell you where the Dulce base legend, for instance, actually came from; they just unquestioningly accept "everybody" knows it.

James Carrion took deep dives into the UFO events of 1946-1947. His resulting research included extensive examination of official government documents, establishing such circumstances as the press being misinformed of R&D on a supposedly airborne weapon comparable to the atomic bomb. The referenced operation, Project Seal, was actually related to underwater explosives and had been discontinued before military officers promoted it as the latest and greatest flying weapon.

Similarly, Carrion documented how an intelligence analyst reported his assessment the "Ghost Rockets" story was a deception. The analyst, a Robert A. Winston, explained why he suspected the Swedes were aware of the origin of any such rockets. Winston further explained his reasons for concluding Swedish officers weren't worried about the rockets. Incidentally, Winston became a CIA officer and his story overlapped into my research of the 1960's scene surrounding NICAP as well.

Details matter, and we should indeed follow such lines of research as far as possible. A panoramic view of such circumstances, however, further reveals meddling in things UFO. 

I contend that the wider story from one instance and well-researched saga to the next is that the circumstances exist at all. We have clear and documented evidence the UFO topic has been manipulated since the outset of the modern phenomenon, 1940's to present. That's the case completely independent of the motives and intentions of the players, and it subsequently impacts the public, their beliefs, and their abilities to think critically. While it matters who the involved parties were and what they did, a relevant point that should not be overlooked is the very basis for much of the popular beliefs is grounded in demonstrably unreliable information. 

It's been that way from the outset. We would be wise to act accordingly.