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sf lditorial: PictureResearch:
Annable SophieMortimer
:!d*or traig Glenday Editorial
Asistant:
Graham €oleman,
Edirorial: GeorginaStewart
l-ejacl 8en Way !eniorProduction
Controlhr:
[dior:Ray Leaning TerenceStrongman
LeeThompson l'larketing:
John Balmond
Hqmphrei.s-Davies lleadof Circulation:
Chris Jenner

ACKiIOWLEDGEMEI'ITS
authors:
Peter Hough, Fergus Day,
Vhite, Karl Shuker,Simon Richmond.
hatures. Irank Pirtures.
.lnser. .lpooner_
Picture
Johnston/l'1t Iibrary.
SteveLyne/Rex
like ro thankall thosewho helpedin dre
The X. Factor.
fdrnondson,
JaneJones andtlre
BoydiDangeruus Obt
77-85 tu*ramPalace
loffreJScobii.
Rob{{t ,
 c4 j;.l
'-..:sJ,
/"
,ffi
..
Lytt!r"rs"
rlms"tf.gf$i
poctwifi-DililI
hortly before Christmas Cullan - agreed to take part in a
1995, tno l5-year-old seance,and rverejoined b1'
schoolboyswere lured to McCallum's friend, rvhom rve shall I The Ouiio boord is often people's first E l..;t
the home of Londoner c a l l ' D e n n i s' . honds-on experience of rhe occult. But =a
rn
Davicl McCallum, a hear'y-metal for mony, rhis is rhe first siep on o
;
music fan, to 'rvatchvideos'. The SP EA K OF TH E D E V IL slippery slope lo depression, modness fi
nr'o bol's were led to McCallum's As the bo1,ssat around the ond even deorh (inser).
,tn=
bedroom, rvhich lvas littered with m a k e s h i ftal tar atternpti ngto F t;
Iron N{aidenand Metallica records contact the dead, McCallum asked 'You are not goins anpvhere until I-,.,+:.. ,
ar.rclbooks abor-rtthe mass the Oulja board: 'If you are Satan, have done rn1,master's rvill.' cried
,,...,.. 'i;;, . ,.'.1
mnrderer CharlesManson, and what is it you want me to do?' With his friend Dennis. McCallum then '---,
'
were told by the 20-year-old growing uneaser the two 15-1'ear- b c {a r r r t 'p c : r t c d l l s t a h b i n g E ar r i d g e
\'IcCalh,rm that he and his friend o l d s d e c i ded to end l he sessi on. rvith the 3,0cmcombat krrife.
' 'i\ti
u'orshippecl the devil. Br-rtbefore they could make their The frenzied attack, in which
hr the centre of the room stood escape,McCallum received the Earridge was stabbed eleven times..,...
a candlelit altar draped in a black answer to his question. endcd onl r uhcrr D errrri s
clotl'r,and a Ouija board. Despite \A,rhatever response he got, w hi spered' S top norv.D al i d. You
f'eeling Llneasl',the hvo boys - McCallum, suddenly brandishins a can be calm. He's deacl.' Luckily,
\'Iichael Earriclge and Stephen knife, pinned Earridse to the bed. Clullan escapedwith his life. The
 { Michael Eorridge wos the victim of mock-
riruol killing by Dovid McGollum (below),
who of?en used o Ouiio boord ond
cloimed to communicqte with ,the Devil,.

Ouijs
A The Ouiio boord hos
olwoys been morkeled os o
t
gome ond, despite pnessure
i fiom Christiqn gnoups, con
srill be bought in toyshops.

ff#tffrm
Mqnufoclurers, such qs Porker .
Gomes, cloim their boords can
be used by people fiom the
E
oge of eighr upwords (insetl.
=
:
A

waswrapped in bedclothes
;; wooden board with the letters
at a block of flats z of the alphabet arranged along
p
-east London. the edge in a semi-circle. On to
um was arrested and this is placed a small, heart-
lor the killing. Bur he was nol involving satanic rituals, and shaped board on castersor felt.
charged with murder; claiming scrawled on his television in marker 'Players' place a finger on this
qi that voicesin his head made him pen were the words 'Devil Man pointer, which moves apparently
do it, he receiveda charge of killer. 666 Slayer.Iron Maiden'. But of its own accord - or on the
manslaughter,and was senl to was his obsessionwith the Ouija direction of the dead - and spells
j" Broadmoor. a high-securirylaciliry board responsible for turning the out the answers to questions asked
the criminally insane. Z0-year-oldinto a killer? of the Ouiia.
was obviously The Ouija - which takes it name Interestingly, the Ouija board
by the macabre and the from the French 'oui' and was never officially intended as a
- much of tlre music he German ja', both meaning 'yes'- tool to contact the dead. Although
to contained lyrics usually consists of a flat polished the ancient Egyptians were known

2t
tt.lQ-
The words speh ouf by
rhe Ouiio qre often
.q concerned with deoth
o
ond blood. There's q
I
morbid curiosity... deoth
T
o
o
hqs some kind of lure
GordonWright,Counsellor
for OccultVictims

tB\
- ,,
to have used a similar device to
contacl thei r ancestors- a ring
suspended on a piece of thread
was held over a board etched with
symbols, and the dead supposedly
spelled out their messages- the
board as we know it today was
invented as a 'parlour game'. It
 Hw drr rhe OUIJA* Smrd wrki
( )l llA h" r',i
y,,u,.rll r' \0*c til
\Jgherher 'r Wr"'1, 'hcl l ) ( v\'l i l \i r l c 'rcll'-filrr
l u \ i a \ k r t a {u c {i i , n r n . l u '. r r t t.' se < w h .r t r r N $ cl
( ) r ',tl r -
srrhconscious.Yel there are
*ill reveal ri lou,

Y , , u a n . l t . , u r F n i l n r 'r \ t r i l r t , t - f, N r r r ' .r Jr - ,l r l n l r '.r r J. u r r l r r ' 'u r I r r ,ctn caseswhere the Ou'1jahas

l l , r r c J l 'r l , r l t , 'r , r l t n n - 'r g e r t r J r r l t 'r '( \ r t 'l ) ,r r 'N l '/,IR \r r i {r ''r t.r {
iun..t,r,,,.
'. n
h r r l , 'n r l x ' r nr l r ( r .r r h r r r l '' .r r r .l u a r r t. I th " r n ,l t r r 'r reoortedlv revealed i
to movc and l*girr to rereal the rnrtrr llrroilgh its frre*atga sindr)w Will
i t c l l v o u Y 8 5 . . . o r N O l Wi l i i t {i vt vo u a N U Il BER . o r $ fl l l ",tn
known to any of the pa
For brouglt rheir qucrticls to tlre l)UIJA hranl Andjudging from the n
rr re\;e,rl'rs l.cru&n rou-.rnJ rh.:
caseswhere the use of the
lelt playerstraumatizedand
l n Jn r n ,r
kr remove J!$l [nJ mdiihrr. l\ not mentally disturbed, there is
the 'game' than just muscle

GATEWAY TO HELL?
It may be only a game, but to
the Ouija is considered a
Ages dangeroustool w hen used i n
wrong hands. David Farrant,

8 to Adult :
3
s
E
of the British Psvchic and
Society.viewsthe Ouija as a
.Y
gateway to powerful]
.,i
(J
: forces. 'lf you tap into these
I
entities using the Ouija wi
q know i ng w hat you are doi ng,
o
can literally come to life anr
However, to many researchers- possessionof whoever is tr
and to those dabblers who have contact them.' .:
was the brainchild of William and experimented themselveswith the Farrant's casebook is
Isaac Fuld of Baltimore, Maryland, Ouija - it seems doubtful that these new spapercutti ngsand j ourn
who went into production of the slight spasmswould cause a hand to reportsdetai l i ng the mi suseof
boards in 1898. move over the Oulja board and spell Ouija. 'These forces actually
With the advent of the rr,vo coherent sentences.Also, this \Ahen I've been involved in the
world wars, the demand for Ouija theory presupposes that any use of rhe Oui i a, i t' s been done
boards increased - owing to the messagesreceived through the properly, under controlled
need for widows to contact their Ouija would come from the user's conditions. You need to be
husbands killed in combat - and
the Fuld brothers could barely
keep up with demand. Then, in
1966, the US games manufacturer
Parker Brothers bought the rights
to the board, and it has been
estimated that 25 million have
since been sold acrossAmerica
and Europe.

MIN D OVER M AT T E R ?
Significantly, the Ouija falls under
the category of paranormal
phenomena that can be easily
simulated. And even when not
faked, there may be other
explanations.James Randi, the
stage magician who is sceptical of
all claims of the paranormal, has
suggestedthat natural and
involuntary muscle twitches known
as ideomotor actions are
responsible for the movements of
the oointer across the board.
 Mattie that she should kill her
father to allow her mother to
marry'a cowboy'.

SP EL T IN G D IS A S TE R
In a more recent case,yet another
15-year-old,Colin Roberts, was
found hanged from a tree in the
grounds of a Belfast church after
the Devil allegedly spoke to him
. through the Ouija. The last thing
he told his friends before killing
"t
i himself was that he had made a
! pu., with the Devil and 'had a party

=33
j to go to'. This episode camejust

with supernolurol lhemes such

*-
Friday rhe l3th and, more recently, I felt os r hough I' d
Play 3, hove been blomed for ch o n ged ond begon to
deoth ond the occult, ond h e q r voices telling m e fo
disturbed ond unstoble ki l l my por ents. l' ll
over the edge. never dobble in the
occult qgqin.
l,u^r.o into rhe occul(.aud
Anonymous
Teenoger
ofterOuijo Session

*\
,,
" Far r anl' sobs erra ti o n ss e e m to one month after goats were found
I be borne out bv over hall a slain in a nearby Catholic church
..
centu ry o f [a ta] ca s es .O ne oF r he on rhe night of a full moon.
r epor t ed c laimso f p o s s e s s i o n But are these casesevidence that
the Ouija comes fiom the Ouija opens the floodgates for
15-year-oldMattie marauding entities to accessthe actions is that her mother moved
s hot and k i l l e d h e r l a rh e r. living world, as some claim? In the the pointer herself and spelled the
rme' of Ouija with her caseof Mattie Tr.rrley,a more instructions to Mattie to kill her
€R the 'spirits' spelled out to obvious explanation for her father. With her husband dead, the
mother was free to marry her
'cowboy'lover.
Howeveq in the case of Colin
R oberts.al l reports pai nt a p icr ur e
of an intelligent, pragmatic
teenager who was in no way
schi ,,ophreni c or suFferi ngf r om
any other mental illness. So could
Roberts have really used the Ouija
board to contact the Devil?
Father Dominic Walker, a
psychologist and former advisor on
exorcism to the Bishop of
Southwark, claims to have dealt
with over a thousand people whose
lives have been affected by the
paranormal. 'I don't believe that
Ouija boards contact spirits,'
Father Dominic told The X Fnctor,
 puttins thenrseivesat risk from .
their psvcholosicalpowers.' But
'br.rtI do believe that they contact the Ouija. By conducting one of the does he l ul c orrl rhe possi bilir y
material in our minds, which is largest survevs on the role of the that a ' spi ri t rvorl d' coul d be
why they're so dangerous.' occult in socief,', Bovd has responsible for the dangers?
Many other psychologistsand concluded that'sorne individtrals 'I don't preclude that as a
psychiatristsagree that dabbling in who step into the occult, l'ith its ill- possibiligv,'he claimed. 'People who
th e o cc ult c an be da m a g i n g to defined, confirsing and often are al readypsrchol ogi cal l on y t he
anyone who is potentially unstable contradictorv concepts of realitl,', border are those r'r,hotend to
mentalll'. 'I'r'e spoken to many mav lose themselves rvithin a become r,'ictims.For such people,
adults and children who have sllperlratural shaclon'lancl of mvth, dabbling rvith Ouija boards can
attempted suicide or have magic arrd morbiclinl Thev mav r,r,ell become an acldiction.'
mutilated themselves,' states be u,orking to activelv undermine For marrl peopl e. the obsession
Cordon Wright, a counsellor for their or,n psvcholoeical well-beins.' with the occult h:rs gone beyond
occult victims. 'They have playing r,r,itha Ouija. Incleed, it has
clescribednot an impulsive act but INSANITY CTAUSE become a rvayof life or a profession
something they feel almost drawn On the whole, it can be arguecl - a religion every bit as valid as .
to like a masnet. It becomes that the lessstable members of the Christianity or Islam -
obsessional:something they almost community are those affected for the particip:rnts.
have to do. And this has been most bv their clabblins in the :
linked to the occult.' occult. Dr (leoffrey Scobie, a
L'r his sround-breakins book, psvchologist fiom the University of Itr lhr ttctt issirr. IHE PARANORI4-AL
Da rtgerousObsession.s, writer and Glasgorv,sums up the debate: t'tttminn uhrtl hrtppens tt,hcndnbhlersin
researcherAndrew Boyd also 'highly suggestiblepeople, about lhr ,ttt'rrll lrrrtt ln .\ntnnistn,blnrh magzc
qnestions the paranormal power of ten per cent of the population, are atrd tltc sctiottstlQrh ttrls'

ry
s*rur*
 pr :

CHEMICATS
BEING
iD T O OU R D R I N K I N G
SINISTER
Evrosncr
STS THAT WE ARE
MEDICATED
SECRETTY
DRUGSTHAT MODIFY
OUR BEHAVIOUR

f it was suggested to you that, with-

out your knowledge, you were being
regularly medicated with a sub-
I stan ce more pois onous t han lead.
could lead to brittle bones, cancer
rd a c at alogueof o th e r i l l n e s s e sa. n d i s a
t r al ingr edient i n m i n d -a l te ri n gd ru g s .
would pr obab l l b e m o re th a n a l i l l e
a rm ed. Y et t his i s w h a t s o me q u a l i fi e d
t or s and healt h a d v i s o rsa re a l l e g i n g i s
h a p pening t o m illi o n s o l p e o p l e i n th e U K
a n d ar ound t he wo rl d . T h e o ffe n d i n g s u b -
stance?Fluoride in our drinking water.
.Most of us know fluoride as the 1950s
i:.discoverythat was to save teeth from decay.
wasadded to most UK toothpastesin
970s ,s uppos e d l yto re d u c eu n p l e a s a n r
Idhood visits to the dentist. Yet there is a
sinister side to fluoride's history.

TH DECAY
Er'idence suggests that fluoride can
...:
t
., . haiden the surface enamel of teeth, but
the chemical is also highly toxic, and has
--
b e e n link ed t o a la rg e n u m b e r o f p h y s i c a l
a n d m ent al ailm e n rs . Pu b l i s h e d s tu d i e s
h a ve s hown t hat h a l f th e a m o u n r o f
fluoride currenrlv added to UK drink-
i n g wat er ( hex afl u o ro s i l i c i c a c i d ) c a n
.u.lr. g.,-r"tic damage.
 Since World War II, no thorough gence. They corrsi deredfl uori dated wat er
research has gone into the potentially the i deal means of control l i nS
{ti 1a . non
lethal effects of fluoride. However, a num- ulations once their corrnlries had been
ber of s c ient is t s , inc lu d i n s Dr Hans i nvaded by Germarr forces. A nti cipar
Moolenbursh, one of the most victory in the war. the German chem
|||lf d | ||udGUUg vocal anti-fluoride campaigners man ufacturers I. G. Farben, b a se d
in the Netherlarrds, are deeply Frankl urt, became responsi bl efor m
c o n c e rn e d th a t marry countr.i es produci ng fl uori de for the death car
in the West are in effect enforc- and other possi bl efuture uses.
O4 ing a clangerous and sinister
$ mass-medication scheme first GtOBAt MIND CONTROT
developed in Nazi Germany. A t the end of \A orl d \A ar l [, the US sent
During the darkest days of Charles Eliot Perkins, a research worker in:.
World \A/ar II, hundreds of thou- chemistry, pathology and physiology, to...
sands of innocent people were study the mind-control technology of I. G.
exterminated in German and Farberr. P erki ns drew several shocking
R u s s i a n c o n c e ntrati on camD S .
Death from disease,starvation and
extreme brutality was an everyday
33 1$
occlrrrence, and this was regularly The reol purpose behind
woter fluor idotion is to
r, nffi$## compounded by the use of drugs
and chemicals.Nazi scientists,keen
to maintain a climate of fear, had
reduce the resistqnce of fhe
mq s s e s t o d o min q t io n qn d
found an easy method of controlling control qnd loss of liberfy
th e b e h a ri o u r o f c a m p i nmates. ChemicolEngineer .
ChqrlesEliotPerkins,

BR AIN D R AIN a\
Repeated doses of very small amounts of
,,
fluoride were discovered to affect the conclusions from his investigations in
brain, slorvly poisoning and narcotizins Germanl,'. He reporteci that 'when the.'*
people, making them submissive.Eager to Nazis, under Hitler, decided to go
exploit the effects <-rfthe drug, both Poland... the Cerman Ceneral Staff
Cerman and Russian camp commanders the R ussi anGeneral S taff exchang ed sci-
added fluoride to water supplies. entific and military ideas, plans
The effects of fluoridated rvater greatly sonnel and the scheme of mass c or
imoressed German and Russian intelli- through water

-
o
ai
o
o
.E
 a-
***i*
t{
" * *'

;;&:fl* '
medication was seized upon by Russran ) Young survivors
Communists because it fitted ideally into of the Auschwitz
their plans to communize the world...' concentrolion comp
.. ..., Perkins did not clirectly implicate Nlied owoif their releose os
inteltigence in his investigation of Russian Allied forces liberote
goUat mind control, but a closer investiga- lhe Nozi's prisoners.
ti o n of I . G . F ar b e n a n d i h e i r i rrd u s tri a l The Germons ond the
re l a t ionst hr ows up s o m e s rrs p i c i o u si rrte r- Russions'doctored'
national conr)ecrit-lns. rheir deorh comps'
...
woter supplies with
.WE S T E RN B A C K IN G
r":::' fluoride, which ocfed
'"I. G. Farben expanded massively in the qs q sedolive ond kept
1 9 2 0s as it m er s e d rv i th th e \A ' a l l Stre e t the prisoners possive.
co n c er ns ol t he l i k e s o l H e n ry F o rd ' s Despite rhis legocy,
motor company, f. P. Morgan's General fluoridoted woter is still
Motors and Stanclard Oil, o'u,ned bv the promoled in counlries
Rockefeller famill. oround the world todoy

: Millions of US dollars \,vereinvestecl in (below). Fluoride is olso

these concerns in the 1930s,and this rela- used os on qcfive
' tionship continued throughout \{orld \1rar ingredient in some of
II. Coincidentallv, it is interestins to note lhe most powerful
. that no I. G. Farben factories or plants tronquillizers (inser).
bombed, sabotageclor even damagecl
rwere
by the Allies during the war. It has been
.' cl a i m ed bv r es ear c h e ra rrd a rrth o r Ia n E .
Ste p hens t hat s pe c i fi c i n s trtrc l i o n s rre re
nrornrn
given to bombing mission commanders, ttf? wat
possibly from the higher levels of the US rfil
government, to avoid these buildings. But
(of,frD:tcr
for what reason? kuown that a number of influen-
k
; :Since the US economic depression of rNrr*y tial figures in US commerce and
&(or
the late 1920s, organizations sr.rchas the mi|or|r industry inr,ested a sr-rbstantial
R ockefe ller Fo un da t ior r and t he For c l f am - amount of time and monev in L G.
i l y wer e public ll e n c o rrra g i n g l o rrg -te rrn Farben projects before and after
in population control. It is also the rvar. Among them was the
Nlellon fanrilv
The \"Iellon family, fbunders of
the \'Ie11on Institute, established
i tsel f i rr l 9l 3 as an organ izat ion
i ndependentl v sponsori ng ad-
\rancesin scienceancl industry. The
institute \\'as also to 'discover' that
fluoricle was an 'amazing tooth-
decav preventative'.
..
FIN A N C IA T GA IN
Coincidentally., the Mellon family also
founded the Aluminum Company of
o
American (ALCOA). Fluoride is the highl,v
toxic byproduct of aluminium manufac-
_.9 ture (as well as of manv other industrial
o
processes),and ALCOA were frequentl,v -
o
o and successfullv- sued {br poisoning cat-
tle, crops and rvaterr'va;,s.Saf'e disposal
proved expensive, so r,r'hatcould be done
to eliminate these costsand, perhaps, even
 - " !...#@ * a* "

dental saviour.
To the alarm of' many scientists who
stronglv disputed the allesed health bene-
fits, the American Dental Association
launched a campaign to promote fluoride.
E rrdorscrncrrtbr tl re I rri rcd S raresPublic
Health Serr,ice (USPHS) strengthened
public confi<lencc in the new 'rvonder
d
drug', and b,v the mid 1940s a handftrl of t,';';,';,,;
rnaj or I S si ter Irad hcgrrn fl uori dat ing "

thei r' \\' al eI suppl i t,s. P ropaga ndist s

obtai ned ' errdols( l n( rrIs' from i rrstit ut ions
n'ho acceptcd the health claims without
question, irnd the sreenlisht was given for
r nal i on\ri de l l rrori rl l ti orrt anrpai €r r .
l
ME D IC A T D OU B TS :.:"
::.,1
Frorn thc late 1950s, thc USPHS chan-
o nelled millions of'US taxpavers'dollars to
p other corlntrics to promote fluoridation,
= and manr. n:rtions - including the UK -
o l eapt orr t. rhe l rl rndrvagorr.B rrt m ost
p
European conntries rejectecl fluoridation
out of hand, and others that tried it soon
E
stopped because clf adverse health effects
5
attrl gcrrcrali rrelIecti rt' nt' ss.
o
p
The cornmon ltclicf is that treatment
o
o
o r'r,ithfluoricle is cf'fcctive for a lifetime, yet

tunr in a profit lrom the $,astematerial?

ALCOA and other fluoricle-producins
industries funded research rvhicl't
appeared to inclicate that small quantiries
of the chemical \{ere not harmful to .g
e
humans. Eventualll', research suggested =
.q
that fluoride reduced tooth cavities. o
Promoters concentrated on rvhat thev sar,v
as health benefits,completelf ienoriug;the
knolr-r adverse cumulative efl'ects of this
highl,vtoxic substance.

SETE CT I V E RE S EA R C H
Scientistsworking for the American Dental
Association (ADA) on behalf of Alcoa con- ,9
T
tirrued promoting fluoride, despite its
o
abr-rsebv the Germans aud Russians. F

Although dozensof scientistsand pressure

organizations disputed the claims of the
pro-fluoride lobbl', public opinion quickl_v
desPt* payout
embracecl the alleged qualities of the nen,
K ride
BNIAbac \ d""91ff"ff*#Xtd:*
deniesliabi1'
-1- .^moany
gfr--
1a,
:,a.,a
 research sh ows th at any pr ot ec t ion dis ap-
pears be fore th e p er s on ent er s t heir 20s .
I n lact, a n umb er ol m edic al anc l dent al
s ay t her e i s n o e v i d e n c el h a t fl u o -
trenefits teeth at all
lhe a cu le e m bar r as s m ent of t he US
al Institr.rte of Dental Research
R) , indepen d e n t a n a l y s i so f a 1 9 8 8
r epor t on d e n ta l d a ta o f 3 9 .1 0 7U S
n showed that there was virtually no !
' -9
difference in the number of tooth cavities d
d

: in children from fluoriclated and non-fluo- 3

ridated areas. €
,,:.
i.. So what purposedoesfluoridatedwater €!
I
. se.ve?Its high toxicity is widely recognized, o

..".qa recent declassified documents

-,:ireleased in the US confirm that the mili- A According ro fluoride Diazepam (Valium)
u ru k n. * of f luori d e ' s a d l e rs e e ffe c tso n reseorcher lon E. produces a new,
re br ain as ear ly a s 1 9 4 4 . Stephens, Prime stronger tranquillizeq
... Minister Thotcher Rohypnol. Both are
AItABtE O N PRESCRIPTION (inser) rripled rhe manufactured by
into other uses of fluoride is woter-fluoridqtion Roche Products,
ng. S inc e Wo rl d \A' a rII. tra n q u i l l i z - budget in Northern another subsidiary of
ers, ranging from the mild sedativespre- lrelond during the I. G. Farben, al ong
scribedf or depr ess i o nl o th e p o te n t mi n d - mid-8Os. Stephens with other similar drugs. The porverful flu-
a l te r ing dr ugs , ha v e b e c o m e a m u l ri -m i l - speculoted fhor this oridated tranquillizer Stelazine is rtidelv
"lion dollar industry. wos nol motivoted by used in retirement homes and mer-rtalinsti-
-
Ov er 60 t r anq u i l l i z e rs o n th e ma rk e t concern for dentol tutions around the world.
heolth, buf on ottempt As more information about later fluori-
fo pocify poliricol dation is revealed, the more the public's
octivisfs in the oreo. anxiety appears to increase. Proponents
quote hundreds of studies proving fluo-
ride's effectiveness in negating tooth
decay, but the union of professional scien-
tists at the US Environmental Protection
Agency point to deliberate cover-ups of
grave risks to human populations and the
denigration - and even sacking- ofethical
scientistswho dare to speakup.

TR OU B TE D W A TE R S
To most dentists. flr-roridation is a 'won-
der drug' , counter-acti ng poor or al
hygiene arrd dietary problems. To others,
it is an insiclious and cynical method of
modifiing our behaviour and a means of
allon'ing industry to profit from a dan-
gerous naste product. Many lay people
regard fluoridation as enforcecl mass-
medi cati on. The del i berate denial of
risks by health officials has led others to
regard fluoridation as a form of social
control. They point to the history of fluo-
ridation and its clocumented links with
what is perhaps one of the most evil
regimes of this centurlr.
 icture the scene: a giant UFO hovers vast structures is a mystery, but theo-
over the desert. Laser beams extend ries for their use range from cosmic
from under the craft and manoeuvre transmitters to gatewaysto the stars.
ro huge stone slabs into position as Some enthusiasts of the ancient astro-
astonished nomads look on. Later, when naut theory even go so far as to suggestthat
the craft has left, three huge pyramids the human race itself was seeded by alien
remain in the sand. And for generations, visitors. These visitors, it is claimed, arrived
the confused and annazed tribes-people on the planet hundreds of thousands of
recount the events in their legends and years ago and gave evolution a nudge - as A The imcAd
their sacred texts describing the alien craft depicted in the opening scenes of Arthur 'flying'god
as fiery messagesfrom the gods, and their C. Clarke's novel 2001: A SpaceOdyssq. Aztec
pilots as angels in golden chariots. qnd the
According to some, this scene could A L IE N A N C E S TOR S Columbion
reallv have been enacted some 5,000 years These ideas are not new. The concept of
ago at Giza, the site of the great ppamid in advanced civilizations from the stars influ-
Egypt, and at different times elsewhere in encing human progress has been around represenlolionsl
the world - at Stonehenge in England, on since at least Victorian times when, mem- onci ent
Easter Island and in South America. bers of the Theosophy Society, an occult nol - os we
Precisely why an advanced civilization would group, imagined an alternative history for led to believe -
help the indigenous people to build these the human race. But the concept first made
]
.
,:,,:::t
 global headlines in the 1970s with here at the dawn of civiliza-
the work of the Swissauthor, Erich tion. But, what is the evidence?
von Diniken. Von Diniken has writ- At the centre of von Diniken's
ten a series of highly successful theory and the ideas of all enthusi-
o
c books, beginning wi*t Chariotsof the astsof the ancient-astronautstheory
Gods?in 1969, in which he presented is the remarkable consistencyof the
evidence for alien visitations in images and icons of ancient peo-
ancient times. ples. There is also a uniformity to
their legends and the characteristics
U N IF O R M IMA GE S of their gods that - believers insist -
Although much of von Dd"niken's could not be put down to chance.
work has since been discredited, They point to the similarity of
some UFOlogists believe that at the accounts from sources as diverse as
core of his findings is a nugget of the ancient Eglptians, the Maya and
truth - that advanced beings indeed the ancient Chinese, all of whom
visited earth and left their mark had no contact with each other.
 v *;

"it:'!
:,

t; +
.
i

,14"ll
I;!li

f;

One of the best descrip- one particularh' strikirrepassage: explodine, r'r.l.rich,because ne har.e
tions o1'u,hat some enthusiasts onlv recentlr, knoivn about such
belier,e to be alien visitors is to be A blazing mi.ssilepossessed of the radi- \ \ e a p o r ) s . h a s l c r l e r r t l r t r s i a s t sl o c( ) l r -
found in the ancient Indian text, anceof smokeless fre utasdischarged. A clr.rde tlrat the Virmartr,tsmust be of
the Maltahhara,tct. thick gloom suddenly encomltassedthe extraterreslrial origin.
hosts. All poinLs of the compctssuere
ANCIENT TEXTS stLdden\ enuelopedin darkness.Euil SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
At ser,eral points in the text, the bearing uinds began to blou. Cl,ouds Hower,er, this passaee - Iike so
authors describe $'hat are calied rearerl into the higlrcr ait; shozuering much of the lore behind ancient-
I'irnrunas, a rvord meaning 'fl,ving blood, The uerl elementsseemedt:on- astronauttheories- is entirelv open
machines'.In the text, the Virmanas fused. The sttn appearedto spin round. to interpretation. It is also possible
are sometimes described as flf ing The utorld, scorchedb1 the heat of that that this accoullt could have origi-
vehicles r"rsedfor military pllrposes uteapon,seemedto bein a feuer. nallv describeda natural phenome-
zrnd are often piloted b1' Indian non such as a rol cani c err r pt ion.
gods. One of these is called the At first glance, this could easil','be and the tale has been adulterated
.l q tte t n \ r eepon ar rd i t a p p e a rs i n interpreted as a nuclear \,\'eapon br numel ous rei rrterpretalior r s.
But, claim the enthusiasts, there is
plenty of other evidence.
According to some supporters of
the ancient-astronaut theory, primi-
tive man seems to have been
obsessed with space-suited figures.
Drawings of what look like astro-
nauts are to be found in cave
dwellings in the Americas, Europe,
Africa, the Far East and Australia.
To support this evidence,
claimants have researched what they
believe to be ancient landing sites
for UFOs. The best known example
is the Plain of Nazca in Peru, which
is only fully identifiable as an overall
 aaa

'i, '
.=

) 4

=:=.: :.+

a"

strllcture fiom aerial photographs. supporters of the alien visitation limit on interrstellal trar-el.
Orthoclox archaeologists insist tircorl' accept tirat the lrcaresl A rnor-e plobable theorv is that an
that the Nazca markings are Inca home for another cir,ilization rnrrst ach':incecl civilization - trar,elling rel-
roads, but this is harcl to reconcile be at least 4.2 light vears arv:rr'(the :rtivell slon'lr' - passed this rvav thou-
u,ith the fact thzrt these roads leacl llear es t s t llr t o o t r r S r r r i ) . sirncls o{ \'ears ago ell rollte to
norvhere. Thesc markings also colonising other rvorlds. Perhaps if
include some \rer)' odd configura- SCIENTIFIC PUZZLE aliens did r,isit the Pharaohs or the
tions - nothins like roads - lvhich Strch vzrstclistances mean thirt, even N,Ia1,a,thev hopped off their mother
the more determined enthusi:rsts if a cir-ilizatiort cliscovelecl a na\, of ship for a short time and left
have strguesteclcould be 'parking
ba1's'for aircraft or spacer,ehicles.
The bissest problem rvith the
trar,elling :rt close to the speecl of
light, it r'r,or.rld take them
-
or,er B :""ffi:i*:ll,-"'W&*
-vearsfbr a round trip harclly prac-
co n ce pl of ' alier r r is i l l rl i o rr.l rrrti c rrl ticai fcrr a casuzrl visit. One sllgges-
or modern, is the conundrun-i of tion is that adr,ancecl bcinss have [n. th,enext lssue, UFO FILE irLuestigates
horv aliens could tra",el vast inter- developed wavs to bend the lalvs of one of lhe most recen,t LIFO craslt
stellar dist:rncesto get here. Er,en phvsics that pr-rt an upper speed retrieuttls al \larghina, Brazil.
XNKF€K
*F-

Dn Knnl Snur:R
EXAM I NEST E G E N D SO F
WEREWOLVES
AND
TYCANTHROPYAND AsK!
ARE THEY MYTH, MAGIC
OR MEDICALCONDITIOII?

nly a ferv moie minutes and he

wo uld be h om e. s af e behind c lo; ed
doors. Only a few more *in.,t.t -
W but it was already too late. Above, a
l a yer oI c lot r dsdr if te d a p a rl - e x p o s i n g .i rr
all its m4jesty, the silent silver-hued moon.
As he yelled.in terror, his voice began to
change, transforming into the spine-chill-
ing howl of some primitive beast. But that
was not all. His howling mouth was itself a
changing, effortlessly stretching into a
long muzzle, fiIled with sharp rvhite teeth,
and surmounted by a "broacl nose with
bristling whiskers.
He was still runhing, but he was now on
all fours. and as he ran his body grew more
powerful, bursting, thr&rgh his clothes. He
was now entirely iovered in dense brorvn
fur. from his flattened head clorryn ro rhe tip
of the long, hairy tail. His transformation
into a wolf was complete. .

CHA NG E FOR THE W OR SE

Bodily transformation of a human inro a
wolf (or any other animal) is, of course, a
physical impossibitity. Yet belief in were-
wolvei was wid'bspread throughout
medieval Europe, with werewolf legends
 and lore emanating from Scandinavia,

tu France, Germany., Sicily. central and

eastern Europe, the Balkans and
Greece. .$nd long before',,flolumbus
reached the New \Aiorld, thJ-kqlive
American peoples feared their'oivff-
rverew ol fequi val ents.
It seemsmost likely that the werewolf
concept originated in the custom of pre-
hi stori c human hunters w rappi ng t hem -
selvesin wolf ski.4s-inthe belief that they
n'ould be irnbued with the hunting
prow essof thi s formi dabl e predato r .The
tradition persisted, albeit in an atrbphied
version, in later \{erel{olf legends, which
tel l oF horr' hrrmans coul d become r ver e-
t The belief \volves if they wore a magic belt or cloak
in werewolves - made Ii om' w ol f ski rr.
humqns possessing
the occult obility to CRY FOR TH E MOON
lronsform lhemselves Another werewolfi tradition, its transfor-
into wolves - slrelches mati on at ful l moon. probabl y ori ginat ed
bock fhousonds of in prehistoric times too. \Arhen humans
yeors, ond still exerfs began d6mesticatingwild wolf-like dogs to
o powerful hold over hunt with them,"gheywould have undoubt-
our imoginotions, qs edl y observedthei r dog!' del i ght i n howl-
lhe successof films i ng ar 1!remoon duri ng hunti ng fora ys.
surh os An American Thi 8ughout manki nd' s soci al de velop-
Werewolf in London ment, the moon, hunting, and wolves have
(inset) ottesfs. become entrvined within increasingly com-
pl ex nrrthoi ogi es. l n manr' l esends, t he
moor-rgoddessr,r'asalso a huntress (as tvith

j
o

.9
s

a
 t?l
:rdi
i
'il'li

##

th e R o m a n D i a n a , th e Greek A rtemi s. and

the Babylonian Ishtar), whose. hunting
' dogs were often men who had been magi
cally changed by her into wolves, so lead-
ing to the birth of the werewolf concept.

W E R E WOT F D ET U S ION
#!4* * *

V Severe ctrses of ckin A major influence ifl the werewolf con- throats in anLnconffiollable frenzy.
comploints.such os cept's evolution and .often wrongly Jhe hi stori cal chroni cl es bul g e wit h
impetigo, in oddition ass'fimed to be synonymous with were- we*wolf reports. which reachJ their
ro hoiry feofures, wolfum is lycanthropy (translating as 'the peak in the Middle Ages. This is vividly
could hove been wolf-man con{ition'). Yet whereas 'gen- demonstrated by the wnazing fact that in
"the
behind some of the uine' were*oFu., are confined to France alone, between 1520 and 1630, an
mony coses of realms of folklore; lycanthropy is a real, ipcredible 30,000 toup-garyu(werewolf) tri-
werewolves reportdd abnormai psychological condition, and als occurred. In reality, however, lycan-
in rhe Middle Aoes. was recognized as long ago as the 2nd thropy and other mental illnesses result-
] 'i
century AD by the i"g in cannibalism and.serial murder were
scholar Marcellus the true villains, Sponsored bry ignorance
Sidetes. dnd superstition.': l
A person so.
affli.cted (termed a B TOOD Y H IS TOR Y
lycanthrope) suf- Take, for example, the case of a teenage
fers from the delu- shepherd called Jean Grenier, from south;
sion that he ip a ern France's Bordeaux region. During hi$
wolf or that cari' trial in 1603. Grenier boasted that. after
turn himself into assumingthe guiseoFa wolf, he had slaugh-
o ne. D ependi ng tered and devoured over 50 children,'and
upon tne s-everrty claimed to=have acquired his shapesh'i{1ing
of the case, lycan- power froin a rnysterious dark stranger thaq
thropes will rip he had met deep in the forestsa few years
Apart raw , {neat earlier. The ,stranger, identified in many
with their teeth, accounts of this caseas the Devil, suppos-
howl and shriek at edly gave Grenier a salveand a woif skin -
the'full moon, and and when. at dusk. Grenier rubbed his
attack other, peo- body wi.th the salve and placed the skin
ple with ravaging over himself, he became a wolf.
bloodlust, tearing Detailed questioning during his trial,
at their victims' however, s,howed that Jean Grenier was
 A €hildren born with rhick fociol hoir, like
*.
two-yeor-old Abyss de Jesus, were once soid :
I
€
lo suffer from 'humon werewolf syndrome'.
,o

a t h a n b e i n g b u r n t a t t h e s t a k e . t h e fa te o f
c o u n t l e s s o t h e r l y c a nt h r o p e s .
One of the .n1ost tragic cases of lycan-
A Even in modern evidently half-witted, givdn to inventing all thropy occurred in'*'the village of
times, belief in the manner of wild stories and afterwards E c c f e s f u a l l ,S t a f f o r d s h i r e . I n A p r i l 1 9 7 5 . 1 7 -
.jft

obility of humons lo b e l i e v i n gth e m to b e tru e. A fter consul ti rrg year-ol tl apprenti ce j oi ner. Andr ew
chonge themselves with medical specialists,the judge decided Prinold, stabbed himself through the heart
into wolves persists, that Grenier was*not a werewolf but a lvith a knife, terrified that he was starting
esperiolly in lycanthrope. Accordingly, he ordered that to transform ir-rto a rverewolf.
srrongholds of Grenier should be given over to the care of
werewolf folklore. the monks at a Franciscan monastery in MA R K OF TH E BEAST
Bordeaux for the rest of his days rather The abundance of werewolf reoorts in
medieral"Europe no doubt stemmed from
the vast number of features by
which, according to folklore, a
person could be unmasked as a
werewolf. Tell-tale traits to look
out for w hen stari ngi nto th e f ace
of a suspectedwerewolf in human
o form included srnall pointed
o
ears.protrudi ng teeth.and br oad
3
eyebrows that joined on- the
A
bridge of the nose.Shaking a sus-
s pect'shand offered a good oppdrr
6
: tunity to check for
more clues, such as
'Ifuwolf hairy palms, long
curved fingernails
strikm fear tinged with red, and
an unusually long

nfoMim tn* .qt*d

third finger.
But how did one
becLrme a werewolf
in the first place?
'Ancient
legends provided f vu.*r, o, por- ) There.was o time
sibilities. Quite apart from deliberate when Yu Zhenhuon
activities such as wearing magical cloaks of would hqve been
w o l f s k ir ior par t i c i p a ri n gi n ma g i c a l ri ru - deemed on infont.
a l s. t her e wer e m a n y w a y s i n w h i c h th e werewolf by the more
u n war y c ould f al l v i c ri m to rh i s ma l i g n fonoticol members of
metamorphd'sis. society- Even bobies
Anyone drinking water from puddles born feet first, or those
formed in wolves' tracks, or from streams with pointed conine.*,'.
-
frecirlented by wolves, would surely leelh, ron rhe risk of '
become a werewolf;'So, too, might a per. being stigmotized cs
son hungry enough to eat the flesh or werewolves.
brains o[ a wolf. or even the flesh of a
sheep killed by a wolf. t
No doubr m ed i e v a l Eu ro p e a n s ro o k
h e a r t f r om t he c l a i m th a l w e re w o l v e s
could be kept at bay by the presence of a
sp ri g of wolf s ban e o v e r o r th e d o o r o f a r.

rabiesJinked origin,, because a

o

h o us e.A ls o, t hes ec re a tu re sw e re b e l i e v e d rabid wolf would certainly

o
.E
to be-mortal, and could be killed if shot froth at the mouth, and any-
wi th a bles s edbull e r. ' one bitten by.such a beast dur-
irg the medically-backward
RABID WOTF
Middle Ages would most likely
In modern times, a number of medical contract this liorrific illness
e xp lanat ions in a d d i ri o n to l y c a n th ro p y anq evenrual l y di spl a y t he
h a ve been of f er e d fo r b e l i e F i n w e re - same symi l toms.
wolves.Two supposed characteristicsof a f t ls aiso possible that, lrt
we rewolf ar e it s lo a m i n g m o u l h a n d i rs medieval times, peasantseating
a b i l ir y t o t ur n anyo n e i t b i te s i n ro a w e re - rye contaminated with ergot
wolf. This scenario is indicative o{ a fungus ma1'have suffered LSD-
like hallucinations that thev rvere actually
changing into ryoh'esor other animals.

GTAMOROUS CREATURE
Once,'the n'ererr'olflr-asa hideous. diaboli-
cal creatnre of dread. Todar', thanks to
i rnages creareclbv H ol l rrr' ooci ,i t has it s
place in poprilar culture. Like the movie
r-ampire. tire rr'ererrolfof the wide screen is
ir-rcreasinglr'slick, suave and sexually-
charsed - bnr hou,, and tvhy?
,$
h'r this technological age, the fears ancf
l arrci esof the rrrrsophi sri cated
past h ave no
place. Exposed as unrealistic. and ofren
do\rrr righ t I udicrous.werewolI legerrds have
been rend.e*'edsafe - still a little scary,$gr-,
haps, but nothing more. We now recognil'e..
that the true, shapeshiftingwerewolf existed
only in folklore - we are never going to be
assaulted by a licentiovs loup-gatou
Fiom ni$htmarish monster of the past
to errduri ng megastarof the present .and
probabl y the fl urure.the l ore o[ rhe wolf
has undergone a transformati on a s dr a-
matic as any accomplished bv the r**
r,rerewolf
in bygoneeras. Hf

,/
ffiffiffi

MANY UFOTOGISTS CRITICIZE

GOVERNMENTSFOR COVERING
UP THE .REALITY, oF ALIEN
LIFE. BUT THE REVEIATIONS oF
THE MOD'S NICK POPN HAVE
LED TO A REASSESSMENT
OF
THIS POSITION.

ince joining the Ministry of Defence (MoD) many UFO researchers see him as a brave individual.
at the age of lg, Nick Pope has filled a number Along the way, Pope has picked up his fair share of
of positions, from preparing briefing material admirers - who see him as a real-life Fox Mulder.
re for senior officers to involvement in the poliry spilling the beans on Britain's X Files - and critics,
initiative enabling women to fly as pilots in the Royal who view him as a minor government stooge with
Air Force. But it was his work between lggl and 1994 little of real importance to say.
that made Pope such a controversial figure. During fn a rare quiet moment during a UFO conference
that time, at the Ministry's Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a in tlre north of England, The X Factor caught up with
office, based in the MoD,s London headquarters in Pope and asked him how he got the job as the UFO
Whitehall, he was responsible for investigating UFO investigator at the Ministry:
sightings. His task was to evaluate whether or not
there was any evidence of a threat to the United
€,€
Kingdom, and his conclusions - that some UFOs = e I'd worked in some interesting jobs since
were indeed extraterrestrial in origin - were startling I joined the MoD in 1985, and I'm postecl to a
from one in an official capacity, and attracted a lot
different job every few years. I was due to be moved
of media attention.
in 1991 and was asked to be the Department,s
Pope still works for the MoD, where he holds the
resident expert on UFOs. I didn't even know there
rank of Higher Executive Officer, the equivalent of a
Major in the British Army. But he has kept his ties rvassuch a post.
with the UFO community, \ riting two books about his
MoD findings and appearing Whof wqs your opinion qbout UFOs before
at dozens of UFO you stqrted investigoring sightings officiolly?
conferences worldwide. \{hen I started the job, I didn't know much about the
Some of his MoD colleagues UFO phenomenon and had no strong views on the
call him'Spooky', while subject. My first question was why the Ministry
concerned itself with this subject at all. It turned out
Nick Pope'sbesrselling to be wrapped up with issuesof national security.
book, Open Skies,Closed
Minds, rells the story of Whor were fhe MoD concerned qbout?
his officiol reseorchinto All UFO reports are looked at to see whether there's
rhe UFOsphenomeno. any evidence of threat to the defence of the United
Kingdom. \ArhenI started looking back through the Fylingdales in Yorkshire, who could tell me about
files, there seemed to be an absence of investigation, satellite activity and any space debris re-entering the
and a reliance on sending out standard letters when a earth's atmosphere. I could also impound radar tapes,
report of a UFO arose. To me, this seemed strange - check weather balloon launches and try to correlate
how could anyone say that UFOs were not a threat if sightings with airship flight plans.
they didn't know what the objects were? I decided to
take a closer look. How mqny UFO reporfs did you fhink could
be sqfisfqcrorily exploined?
Whqt struck you most obouf your new iob? \Arhen investigated thoroughly, about 90 per cent of
The first thing that surprised me was how many sightings were explained as misidentifications of
reports we received. On average, known objects and phenomena.
there were between 200 and 300
## rs
e ver yy ear .and t hi s i s i n a s i tu a ri o n
But this left a hard core of cases
u,hich defied any conventional
where most people won't report a t-Inidentifiedflyin g objects explanation. The official position
sighting at all, either through fear arepotentially the most is 'Object Unexplained, Case
of ridicule or simply because they important issuecurrently Closed'. That is to say,we simply
don't know who to contact. The facing the human race don't know
reported sightings are undoubtedly
!r\
the tip of a huge iceberg. Those
who did report a UFO would FF But you werent
leove it ot thot...
confenl lo

normally contact the police or a military No. I was unhappv at ollr lack of successin these
establishment or a civil airport. These reports cases,so I launched a rarlge of initiatives to improve
eventually made their way to the MoD. the chance of finding some al-lsrvers. The main task
was making the public a\\'are that there rvassomeone
How did you investigofe o sighring? at the MoD who n-anred to hear about their sightings.
\Alhen a UFO sighting came to light, it was easyfor me I also plotted sightings on a map and looked for
to carry out detailed investigations because of my patterns. There were no real surprises there -
official position. I would check with civil and military sightings were concentrated around cities, where
air traffic controllers to see whether there were there are more people to see UFOs. I also forged
any aircraft in the area at the time. The Royal good working relationships with civilian UFO research
Observatory at Greenwich would see if there was any organizations, such as BUFORA fBritish UFO
astronomical explanation for sightings * meteors and ResearchAssociation] and Quest International, so we
fireballs have explained a number of could compare data.
reports. I liaised with the Ballistic
Missile Early Warning Centre at RAF How did your experiences
qffect your outlook on UFOs?
I'd begun the job with an open
mind, but by 1993 I believed that
some UFOs were extraterrestrial
craft. No single case changed my
mind, but rather the cumulative
effect ofall the evidence I
encountered: the witnesses,the
photographs, the videos, the radar
evidence. There were some UFO
sightings that included structured
craft displaying a technolosv - in
terms of manoeuvrabiliq, and
speed - that went way beyond the
cutting edge of even our best
prototype aircraft. \Arhat was the
craft that Belgian Air Force tried to
intercept in 1990?\A/hatwas the
craft that passed over an RAF base
one night in 1993, firing beams of
light? It all aclded up.
 .*Hfr!*:.|JSt,,,i.:.lJ:.nC
CD
vn{rp;ained
rigits ll Jd n 3 1

ffiffiffi K7 '
i , d ,d e r e f .

ls it unusuol for witnesses from the milirory How did your superiors qt fhe Minisrry reqct
to come forword? to your widely-publicized views?
Yes,the fear of professional ridicule seems to be a My views weren't popular with them. I was posted
major deterrent. But many RAF pilots have admitted elsewhere in the summer of 1994, but I've continued
to me that they've seen things in the sky that they're my research privately. As for the Ministry, I'm told
at a loss to explain. And their qualities as trained that many of my initiatives have been reversed, and
observers make them impressive witnesseswhen they that the Department have, despite the overwhelming
do encounter something unexplained evidence, effectively closed the investigations.
However, I still believe, like Fox Mulder, that the truth
Whtrr is the most convincing individuol cqse is out there.
you hove eyer dncounlered?
This occurred in Rendlesham Forest - in the heart Whor mokes you rhink you were top of the
of the Suffolk countryside - in 1980, near the RAF UFO lqdder? Who's to sqy your superiors
basesat Woodbridge and Benrwaters. When military didn't know whqt wqs redlly going on?
police from the US Air Force went to investigate If anything was being covered up, ir was only their
lights in the forest, they saw pulsating lights moving ignorance, their lack of knowledge.
through the trees.
On closer examination, the witnessessaw a Were they hoppy rhor you published q book
triangular, metallic object in a clearing in the forest. qbout your fime ct the Minisfry?
It was about 3 metres wide and 2 metres tall, and, Some of them were horrified, but most of nry
when they approached it, it took off into the sky.The colleagues supported me. I believe that if military
Deputy Base Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles figures are allowed to write books about the Gulf War
Halt, filed a report entitled Llnexplained, Lights in then I can write a book about my experiences.
January 1981, but the official investigation that
followed decided there was no threat to national Are you still involved in UFO reseqrch?
security and so the casewas closed. Yes,I'm still asked for my views on a wide range of
UFO-related questions. I'm often invited to speak at
Were you inyolyed in reseqrch for this cqse? UFO conferences, and I'm working with a number of
Not at the time, but I reopened the investigation. The people who claim to have been abducted by aliens.
Defence Radiological Protection Service confirmed to
me that the levels of background radiation measured Whqr is your conclusion qbouf qbductions?
at the landing site by the team of soldiers were ren I think this is the mosr fascinating part of the UFO
times higher than normal. I now truly believe it to mystery. After years of official and private research,
have been an alien landing. I've concluded that abductions are indeed real.
SS
SPACE,

n February 1996,Russia's
Proton rocket blasted apart
in the final stage of its
W jollrney into space.It was a
disaster for the Russian space
programme, but it rvasnotjust the
rocket scientistswho hung their
heads in dismay at this latest space
calamity. At least 200 large metal
fragments from the exploded
Proton were no\'vin orbit around
earth - all increasing the danger of
rockets and satellitesbeing
destroyedby space.junk.

sPA CE CO T LT ST ON
All spacecraft suffer impacts rvith
orbital debris. be it man-made
or natural. But the clire
consequencesof such a collision
were forcefullv brought home
when the Space Shuttle Columbia
landed at the Kennedy Space
Centre in Florida in November
1 9 95.Dr r r ing it s l6 -d a y mi s s i o ni rr
space,something had collided
with the shuttle car.rsinga crater
2 cm acrossand 6 mm deep.
A l - ewm illim et r esd e e p e r c o u l d
have been fatal for the seven
Columbia crer,vmember-s.
Later analysisrevealed that

) Theorbirer Columbioreturnslo
eorth in 1995 loodedwifh reseorch
somples.A mognifiedphotogroph
(inset)shows the domoge cousedby
tiny orbitol debris.Theimpoctof
lorger ilems of spoceiunk poseso
ierrible risk ro hugelyexpensiveond
fime-consuming spoceproiects.
 the shuttle had been hit by a piece ) This mini-croter
of electronic circuit board from a wos one of mony
rocket or satellite that had found on fhe
exploded in space.Travelling surfoce of the Solor
through space at 5 kilometres per Moximum Mission
second, it was extremely fortunate Sorellire (SMMS),
that the projectile did not cause an which returned to
air leak or an explosion by eorth in April 1984.
puncturing the shuttle. The holes were
coused by hyper-
GROW I NG DA N GE R
velocity impocts
Space missions have become so with loose flokes
common that the world hardly of poinr.
notices when rockets launch or
touch down these days. Every yeaq
around 100 new satellitesare sent jettisonecl or u'hen countries account nobody really knows how
into space and NASA runs eieht deliberatelr. destroy their old spy much man-macl e j unk i s hurtl ing
Sp a ceS hut r le m is s io n sO . n ro p o f satellites.as the Russianshave about i n space.The actual number
rh i s. ther e is a gr owin g n u mb e r o f been knorvn to. Like anything else, of obj ecrs i s rr^\
\ rJ rJ l i kelr/ y to be llli n tllc
ru uc the
private spaceventures to launch space hardl'are also wears away mi l l i ons,and thi s can onl y i ncr ease
satellites,such as the Iridium a n d b l e a k sdorrrrover ti me. as spaceexplorarion and sat-ellite
project for mobile telephone Sor.nespacedebris is so small _ Iaunchesconti nue.
communications. dust. in fact - that it can usually be Internati onal concern abou t
Even so, space flight is far frorn tackled bv protective shielding. But spacej unk i s srrong enough fo r
ro u l i n e. A par t f r om h a l i n g to such rneasriresare not enough on severalhigh tevel iniriativesto be
negotiate their rockets and their oln, especiallvnhen serious under way. Efforts are being made
satellitespast natural obstacles damage can be done bv a flake of to harmonize research activities ij
such as meteorites and asteroids, paint travelling at six times the between the UK, France, Germany '
sci e n ti s t shav e been aw a res i n c e speed of sound. and Italy, and there was a second
the early 1970sof an increasingly
E uropeanconferenceon the
unpredictable mass of man-made MA N .MA D E JU N K
problem at Darmstadt in Germanv
debris, too. While large chunks of debris can in March 1997. ',,,,,1'
Sp a c ejunk c om es ' f ro ma be spotted quite easily,once the In February 1g96,the W hi te
number of sources. Some of it has smaller particles are taken into House produced a report on space
been deliberately dumpecl in
space, like special casing designed

LE

l'm qfroid
- rhot fufure
qslronoufs will hove fo i
:=
fly through orbiring
minefields
A*hur C Clorke,outhorond spoceexoert

ffini;
,,
to prevent damage to sensitive
instruments during take-off and
bodily waste from pasr space
missions.Other.junk resultsfrom
explosionsin space.Some of these
are accidental, such as the proton
rocket. Other explosionsare
inter-rtional,such as when rocket
stagesfiom a satellite launch are

,;
 debris, outlining options to cut
down on spacejunk. The report
suggests,among other measures,
better rockel design to lessenlhe
creat ion of junk . a n d s h i fti n g o l d
;,'-,,spacecraft into 'graveyard' orbits
:tj ;t;f harm's way. But, although

33 rE
R.other thqn fhe cqscqde
reqcfion hoppening
wirhin lhe next 20 to 50
Yedrst we could exPecf
I

it perhops to occur in
lhe next I O to 2O yeors
K r c n o r o\ - r o w r n e r. ^o. .r. r n shDe fe n ce
^. t l^, 1
) Wolf CreekCroler,in Auslrolio,wos
ReseorchAgency
formed lhousondsof yeors ogo when
ryaufi o meteorilecroshed.Shootingstors
(inset)ore o sign thot spocedebris hos
l*om. redesigning will limit the enleredthe eorth'solmosphere.
ch anc esof s pac ec ra ftd e s l ru c l i o n .
th e ex per t s r ec ogn i z eth a t th e radar and laser beams.
possibility of disaster cannot be Once a dangerouspiece of
removed entirely. The report debris has been located bv raclar,
concludes that 'the overall debris ground based lasersrvould be fired
p o pulat lon wlll lnc re a s e . at the target, with the aim of
altering the junk's course, if not
PR O J E CT O RI ON destroying it altogether. The laser
At NASA's Marshal Space Flight is specially designed to take
Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, account of the distortion to the
D rJ onat hen Camp e l l i s h e a d i n g beam caused by passing throush
rProjec
TUJL LL tVlO r ion.
r v r l. Ilt
LDs d
a i m i s to ri d th e earth's atmosphereinto space.
.
heavensol dangerorrsspacedebris ' W e al readyhaveequi pment
;li;rt:ttfe;*L the use of sophisticated that would allow us to clear all
 UK. Griffiths also points out
Project Orion-rype lasersare also
potential an I i-satelliteweapons,
thus rai si ng the questi onof
internat ional security.

DOWN TO EARTH
Apart from worrying about
collisions with debris in space, ,.
scientistsare also mindful of the
consequences of such obj ects
l al l i ng to earth. A ccordi ng to
Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of
the Kaman SciencesCorp, there
have been over 15,000 re-entries
into earth's atmosphere since the
start of the space age, all of which ,
were sizeable,man-made objects.
In March 1996.a l ai l ed C h inese
spy satellite, the size of a small car:,.
and weighing two tonnes, caused .'.,
worldwide panic as it headed back
to earth. Scientistscalculated thai,..:
:0 the satellite would hit the ground' '
o
at 650 km/h, leaving a crater

V The Hoystock rodor ot Tyngsboro,

s
) Mossochusetts, USA,hos been usedby
I
NASAsincel99O to trock spoce
o
debris.lt con pinpoinrobiectsos smoll
i! os 5 mm ocross,IOOOkm owoy. ,i .

debris... below an altitude of 800

kilometres,' saysDr Campell. This
,t
would help protect many satellites
and manned space stations which
orbit at 500 km. The system could
also be adapted to destroy
hazardous meteorites. The only
problem is that it has yet to be
tested, so nobody knows for sure if
it rvill work as well in practice as on
paper. And it won't be able to cope
with large objects, such as an
a ste r oidor r ogue s p a c es l a ti o n .
'In the short-term, the only
economic method of dealing with
space debris is prevention,' says
Andrew Griffiths, a researcher with
the Department of Space Sciences
at the University of Kent in the
 30 metres wide and destroying
everything within 100 metres.
On this occasion the satellite
splashed down harmlessly in the
mid.-SouthAtlantic Ocean.
Similarly when the Skylab space
station crashed back to earth in
1979 it landed in remote western
Australia, causing no fatalities.
Indeed, the only death caused
so far by falling space debris was
that of a cow in Cuba in 1962.
The debris was from a prototype
of the American Saturn V rocket.
and the Cubans gave the cow a
full state funeral as a victim of
imperialist aggression.

AS T E RO I D A T T AC K
The potential for destruction
caus edby t he lar g e r m e te o ri te s
and asteroids colliding with earth,
though, is no laughing matter.
At least 200 craters on earth have
been caused by asteroid impacts.
It is believed that the dinosaurs'
rule on earth was brought to ar-r
.-a:;
abrupt end 65 million years aso,
when a 160km-wide asteroid, to an area nlore thaD 5(l knt :1cross,
travelling at 33,000 km/h, crashed In 1998,\-\SA plans ro iaunch o

off the coast of Mexico. And. in the Intentational SpaceStation.

1908,when an object estimated It rvill take fbur years to br-rildand o

to be just 30 metres acrossstruck will be in space for around ten

Tunguska in Siberia, it laid waste years, so engineers kno\,vthat it will
have to be tough enough to stand
V Among preventotive methods qre up to a barrage of space debris.
pclches which con repoir holes in Spoce To deal with this thev have
Stotions, ond o 'bumper' or outer sheet developed a 'meteor bumper' - shown the bumper to stand np
(inset) syslem which protecfs spocecroft. a metal sheet placed a ferv rvell to impact.
centimetres from the station's hull I r r N o r e m b c r ' | 9 0 9 . . c i e nti sts
to act as a shield. Tests so far have believe that earth rr'ill be struck by
a shor,verof over- 10,000 r.neteors.
The space statiolt can shift its
position so as to preseltt as small a
surface area to the oncoming
storm as possible, but it cannot be
protectecl contpietelr'.
It h:rs bercn calculated that
there is zi one in ten chance of the
space statiolr being punctured by
deblis chrring its l0-vear lifetirne.
z
6
T r r f a c t . s c r r n e\ c i c n t i s l s a r e co m i n g
5
J
around to thinking that the best.
ft,av to tackle such asteroid threats
.!
,i is to stase a nuclear
j
explosion in space.

ru