Ciclope la incognita del espacio

In May 2010, a blogger with eltiempo.com, Colombia’s leading newspaper, posted an interview with world renowned author Gabriel García Márquez about the UFO subject. Author of the hugely popular One Hundred Years of Solitude and many other novels, García Márquez is one of the world’s most prominent literary figures and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. The interview posted in eltiempo.com was picked up quickly by dozens of other Spanish language websites throughout Latin America, but it soon transpired that this was not a new interview, but an old one done by the Spanish publication Cíclope back in 1969, which I recalled buying in Buenos Aires during a trip in the 1980s and which I was able to find in my files.

Cíclope published in the late 60s a newsstand encyclopedia in 45 installments called “la incógnita del espacio” (The Enigma of Space), which covered the space race, life in other planets and ufology. Among its editors were the Spanish UFO experts Antonio Ribera, Eugenio Danyans and Mario Lleget. Issue Nº 16, “La gente opina” (People’s Opinions) included a number a short interviews about UFOs with both regular folks and cultural figures like writers, art critics, movie directors, etc. Most of these people like Terenci Moix, Joaquín Jordá, Mario Gas Cabré, etc., are virtually forgotten now, but one of them, the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, went on to become one of the world’s leading authors.

García Márquez was born in 1927 in the remote town of Aracataca in Colombia’s tropical Department of Magdalena. The rich geography and folklore of his hometown would later inspire much of his mythical town Macondo. While studying law at the University of Cartagena in the late 1940s, García Márquez became a journalist, a profession he continued to exercise for many years. In the early 60s he began to publish short stories, leading eventually to his phenomenal literary bestseller One Hundred Years of Solitude, published originally in 1967, and followed by other acclaimed novels like The Autumn of the Patriarch, Love in the Time of Cholera and The General in His Labyrinth. García Márquez was a master of the literary school known as “magical realism” which was very popular in Latin America in the second half of the 20th century.

“My most important problem was to destroy the demarcation line which separates what looks real and what looks fantastic,” he explained once, “because in the world that I was trying to evoke that barrier didn’t exist.” The Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, “for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent’s life and conflicts.” In a way it’s not surprising that the Colombia author would have an open mind about UFOs and other paranormal subjects, some of which are weaved in the rich fabric of his literary creations. I remember reading long ago one his newspaper columns in the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, which dealt with phantom hitchhikers.

As far as I know, the interview with García Márquez done by Cíclope has never been translated to English until now. We also reproduce the original in Spanish just as it was published in 1969. While some of it is perhaps a bit tongue in cheek, other ideas come across quite clearly. García Márquez believes that UFOs are “craft from other planets” and that “luminous discs” have been coming to Earth since Biblical times. He also believes that science should be more “clairvoyant” like alchemy used to be and less reactionary and dogmatic.

Gabriel García Marquez talks Nobel Prize (credit: Biografías y Vidas)

Translation of the Cíclope interview

Gabriel García Márquez. Born in Colombia. Won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Writer. His book One Hundred Years of Solitude became one of resounding world successes in recent years.

Q: What is your opinion about UFOs?

A: My opinion about UFOs is of common sense: I believe they are craft from other planets, but whose destination is not Earth.

Q: Do you believe in the existence of life in other planets?

A: The arrogance of those who assert that ours is the only inhabited planet is touching. I think that rather we are something like a lost village in the least interesting province of the Universe, and that the luminous discs that are passing in the night of the centuries are looking at us like we look at chickens.

Q: From where do you believe they come or who is directing them?

A: The UFOs must be manned by beings whose biological cycle is considerably wider and fruitful than ours. They are not concerned with us because they finished studying us thousands of years ago, when they conducted their last explorations of the Universe, and they not only know much more about us than ourselves, but they know even our destiny. In reality, the Earth must be for them like an emergency island in the hazards of space navigation.

Original Ciclope la incognita del espacio Interview in Spanish (click for full article)

Q: Do you think that the public is properly informed about this subject?

A: I don’t believe there is a conspiracy by the great powers to hide the truth about UFOs from us. That would attribute the owners of the world more intelligence than what they have.

Q: To what you attribute the persistence of some scientists to deny not only the possibility that extraterrestrial spacecraft could exist, but the [UFO] phenomenon itself?

A: What happens is that humanity wasn’t able to merit the wisdom of the alchemist, who considered the laboratory like a simple kitchen for clairvoyance, and now we are at the mercy of a reactionary science whose coarse dogmatism cannot admit any evidence that it doesn’t have inside a jar. They are regressive scientists who deny the existence of Martians because they cannot see them, without even asking themselves if the Martians could be the microbes which make war to us inside our bodies.

So long as science is experimental—and not clairvoyant as was alchemy and which in our times only poetry can be—humanity will continue to be part of the kingdom of the barnacles. We will continue to see with an open mouth those luminous discs which were already familiar in the night of the Bible, and we will continue to deny their existence if their crew sit down to have lunch with us, as it occurred so many times in the past, because we are the inhabitants of the most provincial, reactionary and backwards planet in the Universe.

Type I: Classic saucer configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

Starting in early June of 1947, these UFO’s were primarily reported in the Southwest. Measuring six feet in diameter, and as large as ½ mile across, the Type I configuration primarily consists of a primary disc with a central dome on top. This dome can be either opaque or transparent. The flight paths for these vehicles consist of multiple “hops”, and acceleration combined with sudden stops and 90 degree turns. A blue or red coronal discharge is sometimes reported with these UFO’s. Multi-colored lights are often seen around the outer circumference of these craft. “Portholes” or square openings are also associated with these vehicles. In many cases, a faint “buzzing” sound can be heard emanating from these UFO’s. The exterior appearance for Type I craft generally consists of a smooth polished aluminum or dull gray finish.

Type II: Oversized disc configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

These craft are generally identified by their overall diameter/height ratio. Being significantly thicker than the Type I craft, these UFO’s are often reported having either stationary, or a revolving band of multi-colored lights around their exterior circumference. Type II craft generally start at 100 feet in diameter, and can measure up to ½ mile across. These configurations have also been reported as departing at a high rate of speed. Although the Type II craft have been reported all around the world, they generally appear to originate from Alaska or the Northern Canada regions. Black panels associated with these larger craft prohibit witnesses from seeing any interior details.

Type III: Triangular/Boomerang configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

Modern reports of triangular craft date back to at least June 24, 1947 (just a few hours prior to Kenneth Arnold’s famous sighting). Type III craft can measure from twenty feet to over one mile across. These UFO’s almost always consist of a primary light in the center, and a single red light located on the extreme end of each corner. In some cases, hundreds of multi-colored lights are seen on the lower surface of these craft. Translucent panels are also reported to be located on the bottom of these craft which may facilitate VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing). Many times, “mechanical structure” consisting of pipes, tubes, and cross-beams have been identified in the interior sections of these vehicles. A faint hum or buzzing noise has also been reported.

Type IV: Bell/Acorn configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

Type IV craft generally measure approximately twelve feet across, and fifteen feet high. However, some reports indicate that these UFO’s can be as large as forty feet high. In many cases, the upper portion of these craft rotates along the central axis, while the lower portion remains stationary. A defining feature of the Type IV vehicles is a predominant “bumper” section along the lower rim of the craft. This unique feature is sometimes reported to have strange hieroglyphic writing or symbols wrapping around the entire circumference. A dull brown or copper colored exterior finish appears to be the most common color reported for these UFO’s.

Type V: Landing gear configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

The defining feature of the Type V craft are a series of “Lunar Lander” looking legs. There can be as few as two, or up to six legs reported for these vehicles. Each of these legs are almost always associated with a corresponding “pad” at the bottom. Type V craft generally have a cylindrical shape, and measure approximately twelve feet in height. Multi-colored pulsating lights are often reported with these UFO’s. In some cases, “box-like” protrusions can be seen around the circumference of these craft. Strange “hydraulic lines” have also been reported on the upper and lower surfaces. An unusual buzzing noise, complete with an alternating Blue, Orange, and Red colored exhaust has also been reported.

Type VI: Wild-card configuration

Illustrations by Michael Schratt

Type VI craft do not necessarily conform to any known UFO configuration. These vehicles include modified cigar shapes, faceted pyramids, and counter-rotating craft complete with transparent windows. A common feature of Type VI craft is a lower section of elongated exhaust ports. These specific UFO’s can measure up to 225 feet high, and 325 feet across. They may also serve as “Mother-ships” for smaller craft. Another prominent feature of Type VI craft includes verified reports of “rusted rivets” and “cross-beams”. Reports of humanoid looking beings wearing one piece flight suits are also common with these UFO’s

After examining a broad cross-section of known UFO configurations, it appears that they may be a mix of both man-made and extraterrestrial in origin. The fact that so many different shapes and sizes of UFO’s have been reported all around the world indicates that the phenomenon is much larger than something that both British and American defense contractors could produce. Ancient reports of “flying shields” and metallic wing shaped craft which date before the first flight of the airplane on December 17, 1903 support this assessment.

X-Files Poster

Back in 1993, when the show was gaining popularity in North America, I was contacted by the Sci-Fi Channel (a national cable TV network devoted to science-fiction). Their news program “Inside Space” was looking for real, authentic FBI documents on UFOs for a segment on “The X Files” and they were somehow referred to me. Yes, I said, I have a bundle of UFO documents from the FBI released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I added the great majority were generated in the early stages of the modern UFO era–1947 to mid-1950’s. A few documents were shown in the program, where I explained that the FBI normally does not investigate UFOs and other paranormal events unless there is a perception of a crime.

The FBI was created in the 1920’s by J. Edgar Hoover to fight criminal acts like kidnapping and bank robbery across inter-state lines; in time Hoover amassed immense power (he served under seven presidents until his death in 1972) adding counter-espionage and terrorism to its duties. For a brief period between July 30 and October 1 of 1947, the Bureau assisted the Army Air Force (later USAF) officially in their incipient investigation of UFO sightings, then known as flying saucers or flying discs. (The USAF coined the acronym UFO around 1950.)

The modern UFO era began over 50 years ago on a sunny afternoon on June 24, 1947. Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and businessman from Boise, Idaho, was flying a single-engine Callair airplane on the Cascade Mountains in Washington, searching for a crashed military transport plane around Mount Rainier. He observed a formation of nine silvery objects crossing the sky between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams at high speed. He described some of the objects as “flat like a pie pan and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror.” Arnold’s most memorable phrase was his remark to a journalist in Pendleton, Oregon. “They flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water,” said Arnold. The journalist called it a “flying saucer” and the word was soon all over the news headlines.

Kenneth Arnold (1915-1985) was a prominent citizen with a solid reputation in his community, as was soon discovered by agent Frank Brown of the Counter-Intelligence Corps. Arnold entered politics later in his career, running for Lt. Governor of Idaho for the Republican party in 1962. Arnold became also associated with science-fiction publisher Ray Palmer, writing with him the classic book, The Coming of the Saucers. In 1948, Palmer launched a new paranormal magazine called Fate with a cover story by Arnold himself. Although Palmer died many years ago and the magazine changed ownership, Fate still exists and for some years I was its UFO columnist and Consulting Editor.

The Arnold case was followed by a wave of sightings across North America and afterwards in other countries too. They included the now famous Roswell affair in New Mexico in early July, which was quickly and successfully debunked as a weather balloon; a few photographs; a number of hoaxes but also many sightings by pilots, military officers and professionals. The air force was overwhelmed and on July 9, 1947, General George Schulgen asked an FBI official for help. Assistant Director Ladd was opposed to the idea, but he was over-ruled by Hoover, who in a July 15 memo scribbled by hand, “I would do it [help the air force] but before agreeing to it we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the La. case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.”

Is this “blue gem”–as Hoover’s handwritten notes in FBI memos were later called–proof of the Roswell crash? Some ufologists have made the point, but others disagree. The word ‘La.’, where the Army supposedly “grabbed” a disc, makes no sense in the New Mexico context. However, La. is an abbreviation of Louisiana and, on July 7, a 16-inch aluminum disc with smoke coming out of it was found in Shreveport, La. It was a crude hoax but it was taken by the army. In any case Hoover was not a man to cross, so Gen. Schulgen assured the FBI in a new meeting that he would give instructions to field commanders “that all cooperation be furnished to the FBI and that all discs recovered be made available for examination by the FBI agents.”

UFO FBI Connection by Bruce Maccabee

The first batch of declassified FBI files–over 500 pages of documents–was obtained under the FOIA in 1977 by Dr. Bruce Maccabee. According to him, 40% are duplication of poor cases from air force files with many hoaxes, but “roughly 40% are teletype reports and transcripts concerning reasonably to very good UFO reports,” wrote Maccabee. The remaining 20% are FBI internal memoranda towards the UFO investigation, which shed additional light on the air force’s policies and attitudes. Dr. Maccabee has updated his earlier work in his book “The UFO/FBI Connection” (llewellyn Publishing).

An interesting memo from this period shows the discovery by the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Portland, Oregon, of a witness who saw a formation in the Cascade Mts. on the afternoon of June 24, 1947–exactly the same date of Arnold’s sighting! The Sept. 17, 1947 memo to Director Hoover is titled, “SUBJECT: REPORTS OF FLYING DISCS – SECURITY MATTER – X.” The X Files! Yet we must clarify the ‘X’ here is not related to alien activities, as in the fictional TV series, but to sensitive counter-intelligence. This was the beginning of the Cold War and Hoover was famous for his aversion of communist infiltration. The FBI saw “reds” everywhere and the Bureau amassed files on prominent writers, artists, jazz musicians, scientists like Einstein, pacifists, etc. So it’s not surprising many UFO memos are under the heading of “security matter-X,” “internal security” and “sabotage.”

UFO Memo from 1947 - credit: FBI

Back to the Portland memo, the SAC located a prospector who was that afternoon at a spot 5,000 feet above sea level in the Cascades. “He noticed a reflection, looked up, and saw a disc proceeding in a southeasterly direction,” wrote the FBI agent, adding the prospector observed one disc with telescope and later noticed five more. “He said the object was about thirty feet in diameter and appeared to have a tail. It made no noise.” The prospector was also carrying a combination compass and watch. “He noted particularly,” added the agent, “that immediately before the sighted disc the compass acted very peculiar, the hand waving from one side to the other, but that this condition corrected itself immediately after the disc passed out of sight.” The SAC finally added the “informant appeared to be a very reliable individual.”

The era of Air Force-FBI harmony, however, collapsed when the Bureau discovered a letter from Col. R. H. Smith of the Air Defense Command. It stated in part that, “the services of the FBI were enlisted in order to relieve the numbered Air Force of the task of tracking down all the many instances which turned out to be ash can covers, toilet seats and what not.” In other words, the military would go after the good cases and the Bureau was stuck with the garbage.

J. Edgar Hoover

Another reason the FBI was losing interest is that they didn’t find evidence of communist subversion in the saucers. A memo by Assistant Director Ladd noted: “The results of the investigation conducted by the Bureau Field Offices in this matter have failed to reveal any indications of subversive individuals being involved in any of the reported sightings.” Few UFO documents were collected by the Bureau in 1948 but by 1949 the situation began to change. Although the FBI was never again officially involved, as in the brief July-Oct. 1947 period, it continued to monitor certain UFO sightings and personalities (some contactees and researchers) until the mid-1960’s.

Many of these cases fell under the Bureau’s “Protection of Vital Installations” mandate to ward off potential spies and saboteurs. When UFOs were reported at top secret facilities like the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico or the Oak Ridge nuclear complex in Tennessee, the Bureau conducted background checks on witnesses to determine the danger of subversion or propaganda. None was found, but the authorities seemed worried. Beginning in 1948 and continuing until 1952, a sky phenomenon known as “green fireballs” was reported throughout the American southwest.

Not just anywhere, but by scientists, security guards and technical personnel at sensitive facilities like Los Alamos, White Sands and Sandia Base in New Mexico, and Fort Bliss in Texas. The subject was so highly considered that a total of 18 pages are devoted to it in the proceedings of the “top secret” Conference of “The Scientific Advisory Board to the Chief of Staff, USAF,” held at the Pentagon on Nov. 3, 1949. The prominent astrophysicist Dr. Theodore von Karman, founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the Chairman, and Prof. Joseph Kaplan the scientist who briefed on the “green fireballs.” A Conference of scientists attended by Dr. Edward Teller, among others, was also held in Los Alamos in Feb. 1949. Eventually, the Cambridge Research Laboratory set up for the USAF Project Twinkle, a system of tracking cameras to record the fireballs. Twinkle, however, was a failure and the phenomenon was never properly explained.

In 1950, the Bureau was busy again with a UFO flap at the Oak Ridge atomic plant in Tennessee. A Bureau log shows a total of 16 unidentified radar targets and visual observations by Atomic Energy Commission security patrols and other witnesses at Oak Ridge. Fighter aircraft were scrambled, witness depositions taken and scientific experts consulted, but in the end no “adequate explanation” was found. Similar incidents occurred also in 1950 at the Hanford AEC Plant in Washington state, and the Savannah River plant in South Carolina in 1952. UFOs were seen but no evidence of subversion was found.

Major Donald Keyhoe

One of the early UFO figures which preoccupied the Bureau in the 1950’s was the famous contactee George Adamski. I have over 50 pages of declassified FBI memos on Adamski. They mostly deal with meetings and complaints that started on March 17, 1953, when FBI and USAF agents visited Adamski at his house in Palomar Gardens, California. He was given a statement to sign, which he did, saying that neither the USAF nor the FBI “have approved material used in my speeches.” However, Adamski turned the tables later, using that meeting and waiving the document as proof of US Government interest in his contacts with the “space brothers.” This bothered the Bureau greatly, so in December 1953 Adamski was visited again by two FBI agents and one agent from the USAF Office of Special Investigations (OSI).

According to a Telex from the FBI office in San Diego, “Adamski was emphatically admonished that he was immediately to cease and desist in referring to the FBI or OSI as having given him approval to speak on flying saucers… Adamski was advised legal action would be taken against him if he persisted in inferring or making these statements.” Yet other documents from 1956 show that Adamski continued to make similar statements. Another reason the Bureau kept an eye on Adamski and other contactees was their anti-nuclear philosophy which, they claimed, was given by the “space brothers.” Opposition to nuclear weapons was considered back then potentially subversive, so when a small UFO group sponsored lectures by Adamski in Detroit in 1954, the local SAC opened a file marked, “Detroit Flying Saucer Club, Espionage – X.” Hoover was not impressed and ordered the SAC to stop obtaining “from captioned club or its members, material concerning flying saucers.”

We could go on citing more scattered UFO documents from the 1960’s and beyond, although there are very few. The Bureau was losing interest in the subject, public attitudes about the Cold War were changing and, finally, UFO watching or research was and is not a crime.

FBI UFO Files in Cyberspace

You can now download and read documents released by the FBI Records: The Vault. Inspired no doubt by the TV show, the Bureau has posted its real files under the general category of “Unexplained Phenomenon” divided in the sub-categories “Animal Mutilation,” “Majestic 12,” “Project Blue Book,” “Roswell,” “Guy Hottel,” “NICAP,” “Extra-Sensory Perception,” and “UFO.” The Roswell file contains only one page, the famous July 8, 1947 FBI telex from Dallas referring to an object resembling a “weather balloon with a radar reflector” being flown to Wright Field, Ohio.

Roswell FBI File (click to view full document) credit: FBI

The infamous, Roswell-related “Majestic 12” or MJ-12 documents (22 pages) fare even worse. The capsule description notes “this file relates to an FBI inquiry into the possible unauthorized disclosure of classified information when a document marked ‘Top Secret’ was made public. This investigation was closed after it was learned that the document was completely bogus.” The UFO sub-category, on the other hand, is huge (1600 pages), consisting of all the historical stuff discussed in this column. Check the documents by yourself. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader (also freely available on the net) to download the documents.

Krakow, Poland

Krakow, the second largest city in Poland, has had several multiple-witness UFO sightings in the last few weeks, according to the Polish UFO site INFRA.org.pl. The sightings took place on the 8th and the 9th of March 2011, and all involved large disk shaped objects.

The first sighting was in the town of Lyczanka, 9 miles south of Krakow, on March 8th. At about 7:20 pm the witness was driving home with his daughter when he noticed a large disk-shaped object hovering overhead. He stopped to take a closer look. He described the object as being around 50 feet in diameter and only about 100 to 150 feet off of the ground. It had white lights around its rim, green and red lights on the bottom, and was slowly rotating around its axis.

The second sighting that night took place at about 9:25 pm. On their way to Krakow, two women noticed a bright light. At first they thought it to be a small plane from the nearby Balice Airport. However, when they passed directly under the craft, they noticed it was a large metallic disk with red lights along its rim. After passing under the object they saw it again to their left. The witnesses were unsure if this was another similar object or the same one.

Drawing from the first witness on the 8th.

The next day, 7 miles west of Krakow in Kryspinów, a woman and her children all saw a large disk-shaped object from their vehicle. The object had a row of white lights “resembling light bulbs”. It stopped in mid-air for a moment and then took off to the north.

The object was seen again 10 minutes later over Krakow. The witness said that she heard a sound similar to a helicopter, but when she looked at the source it was a dark object with a ring of white lights around its rim about the same size as a plane. It was low to the ground, had two lights in the middle, and she said the object was such a dark color that it looked darker than night.

Some witnesses also said they noticed increased helicopter activity after their sightings. INRA.org.pl researchers contacted Balice airport officials and a military Air Transport base. Both reported they did not know anything about any “unusual aerial activity” on those days.

The researchers found all of the witnesses to be reliable.

Drawing from the second sighting on the 9th.

Balice Airport in Krakow.

You can read more about these cases and see the witness reports here.

Stanton Friedman (credit: StantonFriedman.com)

Friedman will be joined on the panel by Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at City University of New York; Zaghloul El Naggar, an Egyptian scholar and a member of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs; Nick Pope, formerly of Britain’s Ministry of Defence; and Jacques Vallee, astronomer and general partner at SBV Venture Partners. According to Friedman, he is “the only one of the five who has strongly stated a conviction that some UFOs are of alien origin. The others indicate that something of interest is happening, but they are unwilling to admit to the conclusion that aliens are visiting, as opposed to merely being out there.”

Friedman will also be appearing at the 20th anniversary of the International UFO Conference in February.

Cover (credit: The Royal Society)

Mazlan Othman (credit: Dan Birchall)

Unfortunately, as has been previously stated by theoretical physicist (and Royal Society member) Stephen Hawking, some scientists are suggesting that Earth needs to “prepare for the worst.” Simon Conway Morris, a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University, explains that life elsewhere will most likely have similarities to life on Earth, including “tendencies towards violence and exploitation.” Morris jumped even further with his assumptions by stating that, “If intelligent aliens exist, they will look just like us, and given our far from glorious history, this should give us pause for thought.”

In the Royal Society’s latest publication, scientists also examine how contact with extraterrestrial life might affect politics and religion.

The topic of extraterrestrial life is not a new one for the Royal Society. They have gathered several times in the past to discuss various issues related to extraterrestrial life, including one assembly that took place in January of 2010 where representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency, and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs were present to discuss the consequences for science and society if/when extra-terrestrial life is discovered, among other things.

The Royal Society is a Fellowship of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, according to their website.

However, it was Chuck Zukowski’s presentation that I found most interesting. Chuck delivered information related to recent investigations of the Roswell incident. His talk was filled with great photos from his investigations, and his delivery was extremely engaging.

Additionally, Chuck Zukowski was a guest last night on the fourth episode of Live From Laughlin. The show also contained a live interview with Barbara Lamb, and a video montage (created by Congress Production Manager Carlo Petrick) showing the first four days of the Congress.

Last night concluded with the popular Meet The Speakers cocktail party, and this year, the attendance was incredible with more than 500 people enjoying the food, the dancing, and the company.

Three more days remain!