ABSTRACTS

Kevin D. Randle - Does Pop Culture Affect Our Views?

A number of explanations for the origin of the abduction phenomenon have been advanced. Many of them have been dismissed out of hand by researchers. The truth is, however, that when we examine pop culture we find abduction is an artifact of pop culture, it is also true that such a conclusion can be drawn. If we are going to argue for the reality of alien abduction, we must be fully aware of how pop culture might have influenced those claiming abduction. To ignore this area is reckless and makes our arguments weaker.

Chris Styles - Shag Harbour in Perspective

If UFOs are real then why is there such a lack of credible evidence? That question weighs heavily upon that subset of ufology that deals with purported crashes of unidentified flying objects. In spite of the best efforts of many serious UFO researchers who have worked on classic cases such as Roswell , Kecksburg, and Rendlesham Forest , the type of hard evidence that would serve to squelch skeptics is still lacking. Control of UFO impact sites by various government agencies, subsequent manipulation of document release policies and threats directed towards the intimidation of eyewitnesses together serve as powerful and effective tools that prevent access to hard evidence.

I believe that the Shag Harbour Incident gives us "another kick at the can." The significant difference that Shag Harbour offers when compared to other UFO crash scenarios is its extensive and available government paper trail that serves to corroborate the observations of the many on-record eyewitnesses both in and out of uniform. There is also the possibility that future expeditions still on the drawing boards may yet locate artifacts that have evaded detection from earlier search efforts. Whether or not physical evidence is every found, I strongly feel that the Shag Harbour Incident and its many connected sightings and encounters will provide ufology with one of its most compelling arguments for UFO reality.

John W. White - UFOs - In Search of an Overview

NO ABSTRACT

Carlos A. Guzman Rojas - A Chronology of Ufology in Mexico

Recounts a brief history of the Mexican Ufology from Pre-Hispanic times to the present. Describes the evolution of the UFO Phenomenon and the early sightings described as: lights, fire balls, comets, giant starts, dancing moons, bright crosses, etc. Also talks about supernatural beings from the past that can be related with extraterrestrial phenomenon of nowadays. A parallelism between the Nahuales ability to transform into animals as it occurred in Katharina Wilson's experience with her aliens in her book The Alien Jigsaw . The lecture covers briefly from the late 40's emphasizing in every decade the main events that took place in Mexico . What is mentioned does not cover all the events that happened in Mexico , which is a vast amount to present in this symposium.

Philip Mantle - The Roswell Film Footage

Much has already been written about the UFO crash at Roswell in July of 1947, so I won't go over old ground. More recently a great deal has also been written about the Roswell film footage currently in possession of Mr. Ray Santilli, Managing Director of the Merlin Group in London . To verify my involvement with Ray Santilli and the film in question I would like to take this opportunity to put the facts straight.

Budd Hopkins - The Sixth Witness in the Linda Cortile Abduction Case

By the end of 1991, four independent witnesses at two different locations had contacted me about the November 30, 1989 , abduction of a woman ("Linda Cortile") from a Manhattan apartment building. All contacted me through having read by book Intruders. All had observed the hovering red UFO, the sudden appearance from twelfth-story window of a woman and three diminutive, non-human figures and their collective levitation up into the craft. A fifth witness - referred to me by another investigator - had reported her own abduction from an uptown location at precisely the same time and date as Ms. Cortile's, and similarly, at the East River . Like the other independent witnesses, she also described seeing a glowing red craft in the general area of the Cortile abduction. In 1993 another major witness came to light, reporting the red UFO hovering only a matter of feet from the Cortile's apartment. Cathy Turner described the very close sighting to her nephew, and the results of my subsequent investigation of her account added further probative weight to a remarkably solid case.

John S. Carpenter, MSW - The Significance of Multiple Participant Abductions

Multiple participant abductions are accounts in which two or more persons share the recall of a UFO abduction scenario, often having initially shared a simultaneous period of amnesia or "missing time." They can usually describe the same details of perceived events and observed beings, including bizarre procedures, confusing exams, and inexplicable behaviors which defy conventional laws of physics. Events are usually detailed in the same order and sequence. The participants can usually describe what each other was doing at any given moment as well as how they appeared or reacted emotionally. Each participant tells his recollections from his own unique perspective. This creates a set of details that will not perfectly match the accounts of the other participants 100%, but will overlap with their perspectives creating a remarkable and often impressive subset of matching details. It is this kind of correlating data that helps each participant feel that his bizarre and confusing recollections have really been shared and verified by another "eyewitness." These detailed correlations propel this data and these accounts of alleged UFO experiences beyond conventional skepticism and popular explanations.

The significance of these investigated cases of multiple participants occurs when attempting to apply traditional explanations and finding that the data refuses to support such theories. Herein flows a discussion of these considerations.

A.J. Gevaerd - The Current Brazilian UFO Wave

My lecture could be titled "UFOs in Brazil : A Comprehensive Survey of the Most Recent Cases, Including the Capture of Aliens by the Army." It will be divided into three points: (1) the astounding increase of UFO activity in the last ten months; (2) the attacks that aliens have performed on natives, for no apparent reason, resulting injuries and a few deaths (yes, people died!); and (3) the episode of capture of two ETs by the Brazilian Army, and its cover-up practice. Only an Urgent Press Release, dated 22 May 1996 , titled "Extraterrestrials Captured by Brazilian Army" is being published in the Symposium Proceedings, due to publishing time constraints.

Dr. Roger K. Leir - Medical and Surgical Aspects of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon

It would seem with quite some certainty that the UFO abduction phenomenon is not going away, as certain individuals would like it to. More and more data has been obtained and recorded from the individual abductees. Even with this onslaught of data, there still remains a preponderance of questions that continue to go unanswered.

This paper will illustrate how an attempt was made to answer some of these questions and help solve some of the mysteries by medical and surgical means. It will describe how a casual meeting of the minds between a 30-year Texas UFO researcher and a California doctor lead to the performance of surgical procedures for excision of three foreign bodies from two separate individuals. It will include the description of the meeting and the events that took place afterwards which culminated in the actual surgical event. In addition, a detailed description of the actual abduction history will be included.

To date, only a certain amount of the research data has been forthcoming. More data is expected pertaining to biological and metallic analysis. The author will include all the findings that have been acquired as of the time of this writing.

Jeffrey W. Sainio - X-(Files), Lies, and Videotape*: A Photo-Video Update

NO ABSTRACT

Bruce S. Maccabee, Ph.D. - Acceleration

Visual and photographic sighting of UFOs carrying out "impossible" high speed maneuvers are presented for study. For the first time we are able to quantify the amazing acceleration of these craft.

Vincent F. DiPietro - Evidence for Life Beyond the Mars Face

Having a background of image processing techniques, Mr. DiPietro has performed his independent image enhancements of selected VIKING data sets using digital tapes as the source. Several processes are demonstrated in the image analysis study that he has prepared, including one of his own inventions known as Starburst Pixel Interleaving Technique (SPIT). The digital image processes were used in the preparation of 35mm slides mostly over the Cydonia region of Mars where some interesting observations were made. The enhancements have revealed detail in an object of controversy - the FACE on MARS. The detail does not manifest itself clearly in the original archival photos, but is clearly seen in the slides. Mr. DiPietro and his associates have self-published a full description of this work in a book entitled Unusual Mars Surface Features - Fourth Edition. Other papers include the following: Cydonia Hypothesis - Journal of Scientific Exploration , Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-25 and Crater Lyot Impact on Mars - American Geophysical Union Conference in Baltimore in May, 1995. #P52-A3.

J. Antonio Huneeus - A Reference Guide to Foreign UFO Documents

A few general guidelines on UFO investigations and documentation by foreign governments are outlines. US Archives released under FOIA are examined: documents from CIA, FBIS, USDAO and State Dept., re UFO incidents/inquiries in Hungary , Portugal , Egypt , Uruguay , Brazil and Kazakhstan . Brief history of UFO investigations by Navy and Air Force in Argentina . Summary and references on official UFO studies in Australia , Belgium and Canada . Four eras of Brazilian Air Force UFO inquiries are identified: first UFO wave in 1954; landings and CE-III's in late 1968-69; hostile "cupa wave" in northern Amazon in 1977; radar/pilot cases in 1982-86. UFO photo taken by mapping aircraft; and CE-II's involving police vehicle interference in Costa Rica in 1980. UFO-airliner near collision in southern Chile in 1988. Brief review of documents from French Space Agency (CNES/SEPRA) with "physiological cases." Documents from Italian Air Force, including helicopters' case in Sardinia in 1977 and reconnaissance aircraft photo case in 1979; Statistical Study of 111 UFO reports for 1979-1990 period by Aeronautical General Staff (SMA) in Italy . History and research of Spanish UFO dossier, with radar scramble case over Motril airspace in 1979, in which child-like voices were heard on the plane's UHF Channel. Comments and references, re Ufology in Russia and former USSR . Statement by Gen. Tretyak, Commander of Air Defense Forces in 1990, and declassified KGB documents, cited. UK 's Ministry of Defense (MOD) limited one-man UFO investigation; Civil Aviation Authority (CA) Air miss Reports of Alitalia airliner in 1991 and British Airways 737 in 1995. Because this paper is a work-in-progress report, no general conclusions are offered beyond a few rules of thumb. Funding for a more thorough search/translation/digest effort of foreign official documents is suggested.