What lies behind the abduction syndrome? Is the Roswell "autopsy footage" a fake? Did the British Ministry of Defence tried to hide information on UFO reports? Why is the Norwegian security police interested in UFO reports?
For the first time an International UFO Conference will be held in Scandinavia. The event is sponsored by UFO Sweden with its 2,000 members and the professional conference organization FMA. The conference will be located to Torslanda conference center outside Gothenburg on Sunday 27th of October.
The speakers are some of the most respectable and well informed researchers in the field of UFOlogy. Nick Pope, the only non UFOlogist, has recently published a book about his experiences as the official UFO researcher for the Ministry of Defence in Great Britain. The locality is carefully selected. Gothenburg has for a long time been a sort of Nordic meetingplace. We also look forward to invite representatives from the scientific community for a serious debate about the UFO phenomenon.
More information will be posted on UFO-Swedens web site http://www.ufo.se regularly from June 15.
The speakers are:
Jenny Randles. British ufologist and writer who is going to talk about "Mind Games: The dangerous search for the truth behind the alien abduction". In a precis Miss Randles describes her lecture as follows: "For 40 years reports of alien abduction have been spreading around the globe and growing in numbers to the stage where they are now of epidemic proportions. UFOlogists often rush into such investigations using dangerous and dubious techniques which not only serve to confuse the evidence and disturb the witness but have potentially disastrous long-term consequences on the mental health of the abductee. Britain and Sweden are the only countries in the world where the major UFO groups have outlawed these techniques. For seven years UFOlogy has had to survive without the methodology used almost everywhere else on a daily basis. What has been the outcome? Some strange reality seems to underpin the abduction evidence - be it on a physical, psychological or some other level of experience. Important clues can be grasped from a study of the data - finding links between abduction-prone witnesses, assessing the development of the phenomenon as it changes through time and space and interpreting the importance of the altered states of consciousness that permeate these close encounters. I call the symptoms of such a state the Oz factor and believe that its recognition points the way towards a clearer understanding of what may be going on."
Paul Fuller. From Great Britain. Long time researcher and editor of the "Crop Watcher" Mr Fuller investigates the much debated "Roswell autopsy footage" which purports to show the actual autopsy of an alien being, allegedly recovered from a crashed spaceship in the New Mexico desert in 1947. He calls his lecture "Roswell Autopsy Footage - Trial by Internet". Paul Fuller writes: "Over the past eighteen months black and white film footage has surfaced which purports tho show the actual autopsy of an alien being, allegedly recovered from a crashed spaceship in the New Mexico desert in 1947. Since this footage first hit the headlines in January 1995 a unique rearguard action has broken out as UFOlogists all over the globe have attempted to expose the footage as a fake. On the Internet UFOlogists have united by exchanging and debating evidence. I will describe how the autopsy film debate developed and how, step by step, the footage and its commercial promoters lost all credibility."
Nick Pope. Nick Pope was born in 1965. After having completed his education he undertook a number of temporary jobs before he joining the Ministry of Defence 1985.
During his career in the Ministry of Defence Nick has had a number of interesting and very different postings, and his duties have ranged from preparing briefing material for Defence Ministers, to involvement in the policy initiative enabling women to fly as pilots in the Royal Air Force. He has also been involved in work on the Gulf War and the situation in Bosnia.
From 1991 to 1994 Nick was responsible for investigating UFO sightings for the Ministry, and handling policy on this subject. His brief was to evaluate whether there was evidence of any threat to the United Kingdom. His conclusions were both startling and controversial, and he uncovered a number of cases which seemed to involve craft with technologies considerably more advanced than our own. He concluded that some UFOs were extraterrestrial in origin, and believes that this raises a number of serious defence and national security issues.
Nick also became officially involved in research into alien abductions, crop circles and animal mutilations, and has a good knowledge of the paranormal in general.
Nick still works for the Ministry of Defence, where he holds the rank of Higher Executive Officer, which equates to a Major in the British Army.
Although no longer researching the UFO mystery in an official capacity, Nick has kept up his interest in the phenomenon, and has written a book on the subject, Entitled "Open Skies, Close Minds", it gives an overview of the UFO phenomenon, coupled with an insight into his official research and investigation at the Ministry of Defence. The book - which was serialised in the Daily Mail - was published by Simon & Schuster in June 1996, and instantly became a top ten best-seller.
Nick is currently writing a book on the alien abduction phenomenon, and is actively investigating a number of interesting cases. He also planning a fictionalised account of the official response to a confirmed alien presence on Earth.
Nick is in frequent demand on the lecture circuit, and has given talks in both Britain and America on the general theme of official interest in UFOs. He has given a number of national television interviews, appearing on programmes such as "Newsnight", "The Andrew Nail Show" and "The Time É The Place". Nick has been featured extensively on the radio, in newspaper and magazines, and writes regular for a UFO magazine and on the Internet. There are a number of other media projects currently being planned.
NICK POPES UFO LECTURE - SYNOPSIS
My lecture will give a flavour of the three years that I spent from 1991 to 1994 as the United Kingdom Government's UFO expert, working in the Ministry of Defence. I will explain the British Government's policy on the subject and detail some of the varied UFO investigations that I was involved with.
The lecture will begin by explaining that the Ministry of Defence's interest in UFOs has its roots in Cold War concerns about foreign aircraft penetrating the UKÇs Air Defences, but became inextricably linked with the post-1947 "flying saucer" controversy. I will explain that the cornerstone of official policy is that UFO sightings are examined to ensure that there is no evidence of any threat to the UK.
I will go into details about how many reports I received, what sort of sightings or encounters they covered, and how I actually carried out of my official research and investigations.
I will explain that although most UFO sightings could be explained in terms of known objects and phenomena, some defied any conventional explanation, and appeared to involve craft whose technology went beyond the cutting edge of ours. I will argue that some of these are extraterrestrial craft.
I will then focus in depth on some British cases that I believe are both interesting and significant, and might support the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.
These include a fascinating wave of UFO sightings that occurred on 30/31 March 1993, involving hundreds of witnesses all over the country, many whom were military officers and police. I will describe my detailed investigations, as I tried to find an explanation for the mystery object, which flew directly over two key military bases.
I will focus on the defence angle to these sightings, stressing the importance of sightings reported by pilots, or visual sightings backed up by radar evidence.
I will also be dealing with allegations about the existence of an official cover-up, and dealing with the whole issue of the way in which the government and the military view the phenomenon.
I will conclude by explaining why I decided to go public with my views on UFOs, and what the reactions were to my writing a book based on my official experiences - a book which some people tried to ban.
Kent Jeffrey. Member of the American UFO organisations MUFON and CUFOS. His subject is "Roswell, an American Enigma", about the crash of an unknown vehicle in Roswell, New Mexico, of which he is a long time researcher. Mr Jeffrey writes: "The crux of the 1947 Roswell case comes down to which of the two press announcements made by the military on July 8, 1947, is true. The first stated that a crashed disk (UFO) had been recovered. The second, made about five hours later, claimed that the first announcement was a mistake and that what was recovered was actually nothing more than the remains of a common weather balloon and its radar reflector. Despite testimony from credible former military witnesses that the first press announcement was correct and the second a cover story, the case is far from proven, especially in the eyes of the skeptics and mainstream media. Unfortunately, much of what has been written on the subject, including the 1994 U.S. Air Force report on Roswell, is heavily biased toward either proving or disproving the case. Further complicating the issue are the inevitable charlatans and hoaxes, such.as MJ-12, phony debris, phony witnesses, and the Santilli film. It is my intention to present an objective overview of Roswell, including arguments made by those on both sides. I will also provide an update on the latest developments in the case as well as on the international grassroots effort to have the matter declassified. Even if one believes there is only a remote chance that the first July 8, 1947, press announcement was the correct one, pursuing the truth about the Roswell event is of the utmost importance. If established as true, it would indeed be the story of the millennium."
Per Andersen. Scandinavian UFO Information. Danish UFO cases and the psycho-social impact of UFO-observations. "Denmark - a small country with a long UFO history! Per Andersen updates you on the Danish UFO scene and details some of the most recent and astonishing events. These include a young man and his dog driving in Jutland, September 1995. At 21.30, the car started behaving erractically. The speedometer moved rapidly between 0 and max, the thermometer moved into the red zone, the windshield wiper started moving (even though they were not turned on). Suddenly a pulsating light "exploded" down over the car. The witness looked out and above the car was a large circular object of 12-15 meters in diameter and just 3-4 meters above the car. The presentation also gives the current status of Danish ufology."
Ole Jonny Braenne. Member of UFO-Norway. He is going to talk about the UFO investigations conducted by the Norwegian security police and defence. Mr Braenne describes his speech: "I will present an overview of the interest of the norwegian military and security police in UFO phenomena. I will also present results of my investigation into the subject matter".
A panel debate finishes the day and the audience have the chance to put their questions directly to the speakers. The UFO Sweden expo is also accessible for the visitors. They will have the opportunity to search in our UFO report archives with more than 12.000 cases on file; test our new CDROM with lots of Swedish UFO cases, pictures, films and articles; visit our new exhibition and of course surf for UFO material on Internet.
To reserve your seat at the conference please pay the equivalent of SEK 435 to UFO-Swedens postal giro 505060-4. For US residents please send payment to "Postgirot Bank AB, 105 06 Stockholm, Sweden" together with UFO-Sveriges postal giro 505060-4 and the code "PGS ISESS". Your post office can help you with further details.
If you want to know more about the conference, send a mail to: info@ufo.se or to the snail mail address: UFO Sweden, P.O. Box 175, S-733 23 SALA, Sweden.