1995: THE YEAR SAUCERS "BROKE"
by Glen Boyd

In 1992, something very strange and, depending on your point of view, wonderful happened in the rock music world. After years of existing just below the surface of rock's mainstream, which had been dominated for years by aging acts from the sixties and seventies such as Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen; the angry voice of "punk rock" broke through to the mainstream in a big way. The success of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, dethroning no less a force than Micheal "King of Pop" Jackson from the top of the charts, paved the way for "grunge" and "alternative" -- punks illegitimate twin children -- to begin a dominance which has continued throughout the decade. Rock critics immortalized 1992 as "The Year Punk Broke."

So, what does that have to do with UFOs? Well, aside from the fact that former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's band is called Foo Fighters (their album is also on the Roswell Records label)... probably not much. However, as I sat down to write my UFO "Year In Review" Wrap-up for 1995, I couldn't help but notice that this year was truly the year that Flying Saucers "Broke" through to the mainstream of American consciousness.

Like their musical counterparts in punk rock, students of UFOlogy have long endured the snickers of being associated with a fringe area. Not long ago, the only media exposure the subject received was in the tabloids. UFO stories were strictly the beat of "A Current Affair" and the "Weekly World News."

But in 1995, you couldn't escape media coverage of UFOs if you tried. They were everywhere. The major networks all featured UFO stories at one point or another during 1995. Subjects such as Area 51, Russian KGB files on UFOs, and Roswell showed up on places like ABC World News Tonite (a report on 51 by Peter Jennings) and the various news magazines. And unlike what would have been the typical treatment of this material just a few years ago -- remember how Dan Rather could barely hold back the giggling when he reported on the Russian sightings at Voronezh a few years back -- no one was laughing anymore. The reports were for the most part objective, in depth, and quite serious in nature. And apparently, they were good for ratings.

Nobody seemed to get the message that UFOs and other paranormal topics drew viewers in 1995 more than FOX television. Once the network of homeboy humor like "In Living Color" and bimbo fests like "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills 90120," FOX could almost make a legitimate claim as the "Alien Network" in 1995. It's greatest success story in this area was, of course, the fictional (but some would argue "reality-based") cult hit "The X Files" where special agents Mulder and Scully battle paranormal forces and government stooges each Friday night in a quest to prove "The Truth Is Out There." A lot of UFO researchers out there could probably relate pretty easily.

BEYOND "THE X-FILES"
But beyond "The X Files," FOX offered a veritable smorgasbord of UFO-related fare -- both fictional and fact-based. "Sightings," the on-again, off-again "Encounters," several new "Alien Nation" movies (with more on the way), "Space: Above and Beyond," and of course the infamous "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction" broadcasts (more on those in a minute). If the aliens weren't here in 1995, somebody better alert the FOX Network quick!

The increased media exposure combined with the numerous rumors and speculations spawned by the self-publishing explosion in cyberspace, led many to openly wonder if a government-sanctioned conditioning of the population toward ET-reality was occuring. And, while some of the speculating bordered on the ridiculous, others carried a heretofore unheard tone of credibility. And occasionally, a single voice could summon both extremes... such as Richard Boylan. Boylan first broke the story of the Rockefeller sponsored "When Cosmic Cultures Meet" (WCCM) conference held in Washington, D.C., in June. The conference, which was to bring together political, religious, and cultural leaders together to address the possibilities of alien contact with humans did in fact happen, but on a much smaller scale than planned and without the participation of such people as President Clinton and Pope John Paul II. By the end of the year, Boylan was posting stories about Clinton actually making test runs in the Oval Office on his "ET Reality" speech to America.

Indeed, if some sort of government acknowledgment of ET-reality was forthcoming, the signals from government itself were a mixed bag. New Mexico congressman Stephen Schiff launched a congressional General Accounting Office investigation of the Roswell Incident which seemed to promise that the truth on the nearly 50-year-old, crashed-UFO mystery would finally come to light. As the investigation began, the Air Force responded by changing it's 50-year-old "official version" of the Roswell Incident from a crashed weather balloon to a crashed super-secret spy balloon. Not many were convinced. Meanwhile, the final results of the GAO investigation were unable to reach a definite answer to the mystery because official records of the event, as it turned out, had been "destroyed."

ALIEN AUTOPSY
But, if the story of a crashed UFO in the New Mexico desert 50 years ago continued to represent the proverbial holy grail for ufology, the surfacing of what was purported to be a film of an autopsy performed on an alien being from that crash was the top story of the UFO year, 1995.

The "Alien Autopsy" film as it had come to be known was still a rumor confined to UFO buffs as 1995 began. By the end of the year, Ray Santilli and his now infamous film had aired on television around the world (including several FOX television specials), and become the single most talked about subject in UFOlogy -- debated at UFO conferences, and in newsgroups and web pages throughout the Internet.

To try and summon a conclusion on the film and on Mr. Santilli himself will require another article completely, but I'll try and paraphrase it some....

The Official Story: British rock and roll promoter, Ray Santilli, went to America looking to secure rare film footage of Elvis. Instead, he happened across several film cannisters containing footage purported to be from a UFO crash site and subsequent autopsy of alien bodies. Santilli's contact is said to be the cameraman, a military man still alive whose job was to record the events. Santilli never reveals the cameraman's name though it is widely reported elsewhere to be a Jack Barrett or Barnett. Stories fly around that the footage includes, in addition to the autopsy, wreckage footage of the UFO, dead aliens clutching "black boxes," and even President Truman touring the site. The general public is first exposed to some of the still photographs via the Internet. The pictures show a bald being, apparently female, with six fingers and six toes, black coverings over her eyes (which are removed to reveal human looking eyes) and a protruding stomach. The being is shown being dissected in what is apparently an "Alien Autopsy."

Portions of the film (graphic images of the autopsy itself) are later shown on television and the debate rages. On a later "updated" edition, new footage from the wreckage is shown. I-Beams with strange symbols are displayed, but the most provocative footage shows what apparently are "control panels" from the ship. They are molded to fit six fingered hands. As of this writing, neither footage of Truman or aliens at the site have materialized and it appears unlikely they will. In addition, efforts by the UFO research community to authenticate the film have been met with negative or no response from Santilli and his group. Santilli, somewhat to his credit, has made no effort to hide his motive for "Alien Autopsy", which is profit, plain and simple. To his detriment however, he has neither welcomed nor accepted any offers to authenicate it one way or another, casting considerable doubt on the film's authenticity. The timing of the "Alien Autopsy" film is also curious, virtually coinciding with Congessman Schiff's investigation. This leads many, including myself, to wonder aloud if there isn't a disinformational "monkey wrench" hiding somewhere in the proverbial ointment of Ray Santilli's "Alien Autopsy" film. Although later dismissed, initially the "Alien Autopsy" film was widely known as the "Roswell" film. Ray Santilli continues to market the film on his own Web Page, "The Roswell Centre." My own thoughts on that will be the subject of a future article here.

To rehash: the "Hoax vs. Real" debate raging about the "Alien Autopsy" film in the UFO community is pointless here. Except maybe to say that the debate will no doubt continue to rage in 1996. If disinformation does indeed prove to have played a role in this story, the divide the debate has produced could well prove to have been one of it's aims.

Food for thought as we begin UFO Year, 1996....