UFO ENTHUSIASTS SAY FRAUDS LIMIT THEIR CREDIBILITY

July 7, 1996
Source: Reuter
UFO Enthusiasts Say Frauds Limit Their Credibility

By Andrew Hay

ROSWELL, N.M. (Reuter) - Even though the smash hit movie ''Independence Day'' may prompt renewed interest in whether there is life on other planets, UFO enthusiasts meeting here by the thousand believe frauds in their ranks will limit their credibility.

Even the most serious believers that beings from another planet have visited the earth say there are many frauds, and some say the number of fake claims is very high.

For example, private investigator Bill McDonald says his research shows the cause of serious research is hurt by people who invent stories of meeting aliens for personal gain.

``Out of every 100 people who claim to have information on UFOs, six are legitimate, 50 are after either sex or cash, and the rest have mental illnesses,'' he said.

McDonald is one who believes that the remains of an alien craft are stored by the U.S. military in Colorado Springs and were used as inspiration in designing high-tech airplanes like the Stealth bomber.

For decades people who have reported seeing UFOs, meeting aliens or getting kidnapped by extra-terrestrials have been subjected to ridicule. Serious scientific research into their claims has been lacking, some said.

``Millions of people are having experiences but the fact is that most can't rigorously say what their experience was,'' said Michael Lindemann, an author and lecturer on extra-terrestrials and UFOs. ``We need a lot more good science, a lot more open consensus to look at this and call it what it is.''

Lindemann said he believes the U.S. government is looking closely at the evidence and may sooner or later gently open the door for further research by suggesting that some things have not been adequately explained.

``To simply say 'Oh yes, its all true,' is like throwing a giant monkey wrench in the clockworks. It's a very risky thing to do,'' he said.

Others, however, said they don't need government help in coming to terms with their cosmic experiences.

``Seeing is believing,'' said Melinda Leslie, an office manager from California who says aliens have abducted her about 30 times and taken eggs from her ovaries to create half-human, half-alien babies.

She says U.S. military officers are intercepting her mail and monitoring her telephone calls.

Roswell is a mecca for UFO enthusiasts who believe a UFO crashed on rangeland outside this small cattle and oil town of 50,000 people July 4, 1947 and that the government then conducted a coverup by disposing of the wreckage and the bodies of its alien crew.

While some came over the weekend dressed as locust-like aliens and ``Star Trek'' crew members to compete in events like the ``Crash and Burn'' non-motorized space-craft race, others said their interest was purely scientific.

The Air Force has said the ``Roswell Incident'' was more likely the crash of a balloon launched as part of Project Mogul, a top secret effort to detect Soviet nuclear weapons by using balloons with radar detectors and acoustic sensors.

But researchers who gathered here said a General Accounting Office report released last year showed that documents on the incident had been destroyed, and that the government knows more than it is prepared to admit.

``There is a preponderance of evidence that the Roswell Incident was a real event and I have enough faith in witnesses to believe they were really there and they really saw a UFO crash,'' said McDonald.

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