Hot property from outer space
07/06/95
The Independent - London

It happened somewhere around the start of July 1947. Nobody can remember the precise date, but they do know that the winds howled and the thunder crashed. [...]

The matter was closed - until, startlingly, 31 years later. In 1978, Jesse Marcel said publicly on his retirement that the debris which had appeared in the newspaper photographs was not the same as the load that he and Mack Brazel had collected.

Discovering the truth of what happened has absorbed, frustrated and tantalised UFO watchers around the world, but, until March of this year, it had not divided them. Now a war is raging, mainly on computer screens via the Internet, the ferocity of which space-groupies have never seen.

The cause of the fracas is a film allegedly made by a former US military cameraman, who says he was summoned by the US government to Roswell in 1947 and who has kept hold of part of the film ever since. It shows, supposedly, an autopsy being conducted by humans in white radiation-type suits on aliens from the Roswell wreckage. The aliens are essentially human in shape, but they have no hair, a small nose and mouth; they have six fingers and six toes, and swollen stomachs. They appear to be female but have no breasts.

Alone among the world's UFO research groups, the British UFO Research Association, Bufora, headed by Philip Mantle, is making claims for the film. Mantle has shown stills on the Internet and will be screening the whole film at a large ufologists' conference in Sheffield, scheduled for 19-20 August. Channel 4 is also making a documentary based on the film.

"CERTAINLY, I DON'T HAVE CONCRETE EVIDENCE CLAIMING THAT THE FILM IS AUTHENTIC," Mantle says. "What is wrong with showing it and letting others decide for themselves?"

Mantle first got wind of the film just over two years ago from a British video producer, Ray Santilli, who encountered its octogenarian American owner while working in the US. "I PAID HIM CASH for a music film I needed," says Santilli, "and he asked if I would be interested in this other video, because HE SAID THAT HE WANTED MONEY to help to pay for his grand-daughter's wedding. I didn't have the money at the time and also I WANTED TO CHECK THE FILM OUT THOROUGHLY, so it wasn't until January of this year that I actually purchased it." The price is rumoured at POUNDS 100,000 - IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN EXPENSIVE WEDDING. [...]

According to Santilli, "UNTIL SOMEONE CAN PROVE THE FILM ISN'T GENUINE, THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE."

But the reaction among the international community of ufologists is that THIS FILM IS NOT ONLY A FAKE, BUT IS SABOTAGING THEIR WORK. They are complaining, in hundreds of passionate e-mail messages to each other, that they themselves haven't been allowed see any proof. For the first time, possible UFO material has been taken out of their circle and into the realms of international bankability.

"They have signed a pact with the devil," says Jenny Randles, who describes herself as Britain's only professional ufologist and is the BBC's adviser on UFOs. "THEY ARE ENDORSING THIS FILM FOR PURELY COMMERCIAL REASONS. IT IS UNDOING ALL THE WORK SERIOUS UFOLOGISTS HAVE DONE FOR 20 YEARS. I RESIGNED FROM BUFORA'S COUNCIL 18 MONTHS AGO BECAUSE OF THIS."

Randles' gripe stems from the fact that she and many of her American colleagues believe that in the past 20 years, they have changed ufology from a "crank's pastime" to a credible research programme of great value to the scientific world. "Our research has mostly led not to the discovery of UFOs, but to hitherto undiscovered scientific phenomena, which scientists take extremely seriously," she says. "In Roswell, above all, decent research has been done, which shows several reasons why the US government may have wanted to cover up the original wreck. We now know they were testing nuclear missiles with monkeys at Roswell which, had it been discovered, would have caused outrage even then. If this film is authentic, why can't we be shown proof of its authenticity?"

SANTILLI HAPPILY ADMITS THAT HE WITHHELD THE FILM FROM UFOLOGISTS AT LARGE PRIMARILY FOR COMMERCIAL REASONS. "The UFO community would have instantly copied the film, thereby making it worthless," he says. "They are a strange bunch and I did not want to get mixed up with them. But I needed Mantle's help, because when I was first shown the film, I had never even heard of Roswell. I needed someone to explain it all to me. I agreed that in exchange for his help, he could show it at his August conference."