Speaker 1: Hello, This is Richard mclinsmith here Unexplained. Season seven has
Speaker 1: now finished, but we'll be back on Friday, September sixth
Speaker 1: to begin season eight. In the meantime, I'm replaying some
Speaker 1: of my favorite episodes from the archives. In the early
Speaker 1: hours of Saturday, July fourteenth, nineteen ninety, in Gulf Breeze, Florida,
Speaker 1: a young man is pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
Speaker 1: Little could anyone have predicted it would begin the unraveling
Speaker 1: of one of the most bizarre cases of desertion in
Speaker 1: the United States militaries entire history. The title of this
Speaker 1: episode is taken from a song by the Cure. It
Speaker 1: wasn't so much the lyric that reflected the themes of
Speaker 1: the episode, but more the title of the song. It
Speaker 1: was taken from Disintegration And so this is Unexplained Season five,
Speaker 1: episode four, How the end always is. Considering the amount
Speaker 1: of high strangeness that residents of Golf Breeze in Florida
Speaker 1: had become accustomed to over the past few months, a
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one VW van with busted tail lights was
Speaker 1: some way from unusual. It was back in nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: seven that the quiet town of Golf Breeze, nestled at
Speaker 1: the tip of Pensacola Bay in the northwest of Florida, became,
Speaker 1: for a brief moment, a hotbed of apparent UFO activity.
Speaker 1: In late November of that year, local resident Ed Walters
Speaker 1: brought a series of photographs he'd taken of an unidentified
Speaker 1: flying object to the attention of Dwayne Cook, then editor
Speaker 1: of the Golf Breeze Sentinel. The pictures, evocatively lit, dark,
Speaker 1: grainy polaroids, each with the same, almost comically saucer shaped
Speaker 1: object hanging in the sky, did little to convince Cook
Speaker 1: until that was he showed them to his parents later
Speaker 1: that night, who recognized it instantly as the strange object
Speaker 1: they'd seen in the sky a few days earlier. And
Speaker 1: they weren't the only ones. Over the next six months,
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty five people reported eighty different sightings,
Speaker 1: many congregating together in UFO watching parties at Shoreline Park
Speaker 1: to gaze out across the Gulf of Mexico and up
Speaker 1: toward the heavens. An excited anticipation of just what might
Speaker 1: be the sightings were lent a further air of credibility
Speaker 1: when in February nineteen eighty eight, city councilwoman Brenda Pollack
Speaker 1: revealed she too had witnessed something inexplicable while driving across
Speaker 1: Pensacola Bay Bridge. It was there that she had suddenly
Speaker 1: caught sight of a strange orange light hanging low over
Speaker 1: the town. The light appeared to be bob up and
Speaker 1: down behind distant trees, pulsating with no discernible rhythm. It
Speaker 1: was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was
Speaker 1: perhaps fitting that such an occurrence had taken place in
Speaker 1: this part of the world, being only ten kilometers across
Speaker 1: the bay from the pioneering US Naval Training School Naval
Speaker 1: Air Station Pensacola, having trained thousands of naval aviators in
Speaker 1: the years since its establishment in nineteen fourteen, it could
Speaker 1: count one Neil Armstrong among its most illustrative alumni. But
Speaker 1: let's get back to that van. It was sometime around
Speaker 1: three am in the early morning of Saturday, July fourteenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety but Golfbreys police officer Don Stephens cruised onto
Speaker 1: US Highway ninety eight and spotted the errant VW. Perhaps
Speaker 1: intrigued by its Tennessee number plate, Stephens had been keeping
Speaker 1: a close eye on the vehicle when it drew to
Speaker 1: a stop at a set of lights. Seeing then that
Speaker 1: the tail lights were broken, the officer flashed his own
Speaker 1: lights and pulled the van over. Stephens stepped out into
Speaker 1: the warm, humid air, and under that vast blanket of stars,
Speaker 1: cautiously made his way over to the vehicle. Shining his
Speaker 1: torch into the driver's side window, he picked out the
Speaker 1: nervous looking young man inside, his hands gripped uneasily around
Speaker 1: the top of the steering wheel. Stephens knocked on the
Speaker 1: window and motioned for the driver to wind it down. Evening,
Speaker 1: officer said the man. Squinting into the torchlight, Stephens noted
Speaker 1: the accent was some way off Florida, Wyoming. Perhaps maybe
Speaker 1: he was one of the eight hundred out of towners
Speaker 1: who had turned up the previous week end for the
Speaker 1: annual Moufon conference. He thought, the mutual UFO network having
Speaker 1: elected to have its conference there that year on account
Speaker 1: of the recent spate of sightings. License of registration, said
Speaker 1: the officer. The driver tensed, I'm afraid I don't have
Speaker 1: any idea on me, he said. Stephens stood for a moment,
Speaker 1: looking the driver up and down as the occasional car
Speaker 1: wushed past behind. He pointed the torch into the back
Speaker 1: of the van, but saw no one else inside. Name then,
Speaker 1: he said, the driver seemed to hesitate. Michael Hoigstadt, he replied. Finally,
Speaker 1: Stephens told Michael to sit tight while he get the
Speaker 1: station to run his name through the database. Please don't,
Speaker 1: pleaded Michael, catching Stephens off guard. Back in his squad car,
Speaker 1: Stephens waited on his colleagues at the station until finally
Speaker 1: they found a match, Michael Hoygstadt, nineteen years old from Farson, Wyoming,
Speaker 1: or rather private first class Michael Hoygstadt of the U. S. Army.
Speaker 1: Mike's name had come up because only a few days before,
Speaker 1: the United States Army had put out a worldwide plea
Speaker 1: to be on the lookout for him and five of
Speaker 1: his colleagues, all of whom had, for reasons unknown, gone
Speaker 1: a warm Stephens returned to the van and ordered Mike
Speaker 1: to step out. You don't know what you've done, said Mike,
Speaker 1: in despair. You've just signed my death warrant. Mike pleaded again,
Speaker 1: with the officer, even offering a bribe to let him go,
Speaker 1: but Stephens had no intention of doing so. After conducting
Speaker 1: a quick search of the vehicle, Stephens found a cachet
Speaker 1: of food enough to last for months, as well as
Speaker 1: camping gear and a hambook on how to survive in
Speaker 1: the wild packed in the back. Offering no further resistance,
Speaker 1: Mike was arrested and taken to Golf Breeze Police Station
Speaker 1: while station Sheriff Jerry Brown waited on word from the
Speaker 1: nearby Pensacola Naval Air Station on what to do next.
Speaker 1: It wasn't long before the call came in. You need
Speaker 1: to call Washington, said the official on the other end,
Speaker 1: as in the Pentagon. They want this guy bad, real bad.
Speaker 1: Brown was asked if Mike had told him where the
Speaker 1: rest of the deserters were, but he was refusing to cooperate.
Speaker 1: After making the appropriate calls, Brown was told only to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on the prisoner and that under no
Speaker 1: circumstances should he speak to him. That six soldiers would
Speaker 1: go a wall from the United States military was unusual
Speaker 1: enough in itself, but as the tiny scraps of information
Speaker 1: began to filter through, the story only got more and
Speaker 1: more strange. By the time it broke in the press,
Speaker 1: it could well be said to be the most bizarre
Speaker 1: case of desertion in the United States militaries entire history.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard Maclin Smith. What
Speaker 1: hadn't been revealed to Sheriff Brown at his colleagues was
Speaker 1: that nineteen year old Michael Hoygstadt was no ordinary foot soldier,
Speaker 1: but an information specialist. Trained at Corry Station, the US
Speaker 1: Navy's Center for Information Warfare, Hoigstadt had been instructed on cryptology, coding,
Speaker 1: and decoding communication, and for the past few months had
Speaker 1: been stationed in Augsburg, Germany, working as an intelligence analyst,
Speaker 1: intercepting and identifying non Morse coded communications. There he was
Speaker 1: assigned to the seven hundred and first Military Intelligence Brigade
Speaker 1: as part of U. S Army Intelligence and Security Command,
Speaker 1: on what at the time was the largest national security
Speaker 1: agency base in the world outside the United States. In Augsburg,
Speaker 1: Mike became friends with twenty year old William Setterberg through
Speaker 1: a mutual interest in meditation. At some point, the pair
Speaker 1: then became friendly with Vance Davis and Ken Beeson, two
Speaker 1: older colleagues with intriguing ideas about the capabilities of human beings.
Speaker 1: All four of the United States military employees were fundamentalists
Speaker 1: Christians committed to the beliefs of their church. Ken and Vance,
Speaker 1: both twenty six years old at the time, had got
Speaker 1: to know each other during their studies en route to
Speaker 1: working for the U. S. Army. Drawn together by their
Speaker 1: shared interests and Christian faith, they had then begun to
Speaker 1: open up to each other about their somewhat more unusual
Speaker 1: beliefs and experiences. When Ken was five years old, he
Speaker 1: was convinced he'd witnessed a ghost in his bedroom. A
Speaker 1: few years later, he started suffering continual night terrors due
Speaker 1: to what he believed were visions of an impending armageddon.
Speaker 1: He also became convinced that he'd lived in a previous
Speaker 1: life and had even once been sacrificed as an offering
Speaker 1: to the gods. As a teenager, Vance started to believe
Speaker 1: that the mind was an untapped resource of mystical power,
Speaker 1: and had even enrolled on a Silver mind control course
Speaker 1: in New York. The controversial course, developed by jose Silver
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, was designed to help focus the
Speaker 1: mind in order to improve memory, but also, as some belief,
Speaker 1: to help develop the power of extra sensory perception. After
Speaker 1: taking the course, Vance claimed he'd mastered the ability to
Speaker 1: hypnotize himself. Day, while placing himself in a deep trance,
Speaker 1: Vance believed he'd made contact with an alien entity who
Speaker 1: proceeded to explain to him that the human race was
Speaker 1: in grave danger and that an intergalactic war was raging
Speaker 1: throughout the galaxy. Shortly after joining the military and completing
Speaker 1: his intelligence training, Vance claimed he was posted to Fort
Speaker 1: Meade on account of his proficiency of the Silver mind
Speaker 1: control technique, and there he was tasked with conducting psychic research.
Speaker 1: Not a great deal is known about Davis's time at
Speaker 1: Fort Meade, nor if he really was stationed there or not. However,
Speaker 1: as improbable as his story may sound, Fort Mead may
Speaker 1: be familiar to some listeners as the headquarters of just
Speaker 1: exactly that kind of research. Established in nineteen seventy seven
Speaker 1: as the Gondola Wish Program would later become known as
Speaker 1: the Stargate Project, was a fully funded, twenty year effort
Speaker 1: to establish the potential for the use of psychic phenomena
Speaker 1: in warfare. The project's primary focus was in researching the
Speaker 1: use of remote viewing, with all the potential that offered
Speaker 1: for spying on people and events from great distances without
Speaker 1: the use of technology. The unit had been established in
Speaker 1: response to an insistent rumour that the government of the
Speaker 1: Soviet Union had been investing heavily in psychotronic research, researching
Speaker 1: whether it was possible to destabilize people's minds with the
Speaker 1: power of thought alone. After a series of startling results
Speaker 1: at the Stamford Research Institute under the guidance of physicist
Speaker 1: Russell Targ and engineer Harold Putoff, the team's research was
Speaker 1: soon brought to the attention of the U S Department
Speaker 1: of Defense. One prominent individual involved in the Stargate project
Speaker 1: was Major Stubblebs, who, as portrayed in the John Ronson
Speaker 1: book The Men Who Stare at Goats, had ambitions to
Speaker 1: create an entire army of soldiers trained in psychic warfare.
Speaker 1: As it happens, Stubblebyn had also spent time in Augsburg, Germany,
Speaker 1: where Vance Davis ken Beeson, Bill Setterberg, and Michael Hoigstadt
Speaker 1: were stationed. Shortly before moving to Augsburg, ken Beeson was
Speaker 1: reminded of those terrifying dreams he'd experienced as a child,
Speaker 1: fearful that they might in fact be real visions of
Speaker 1: an approaching apocalypse. He began researching ways to investigate them.
Speaker 1: It was sometime in April nineteen ninety that Ken purchased
Speaker 1: a wigiboart, intrigued by the possibility of seeking answers from
Speaker 1: the spirit world. After suggesting he and Vance try it out,
Speaker 1: they then asked Bill and Mike to join them, And
Speaker 1: so it was one night with the men gathered around
Speaker 1: the wigiboard in a private room in their barracks. Vance
Speaker 1: lit a candle and placed it in the middle of
Speaker 1: the table, then switched out the light. Mike took charge
Speaker 1: of an audio recorder as Bill readied himself with a
Speaker 1: paper and pencil to jot down whatever messages might come.
Speaker 1: As fundamentalist Christians, the four men were wary about the
Speaker 1: dangers inherent in the wigiboard should they actually find themselves
Speaker 1: contacting someone or something from the other side. For protection,
Speaker 1: the men said a short prayer together, asking Jesus to
Speaker 1: give them a sign if they should not proceed. Getting
Speaker 1: nothing in response, the men continued. Ken and Vance placed
Speaker 1: their fingers on the planchet. Then Ken asked softly if
Speaker 1: anybody was there. Mike gasped as the planchet began to
Speaker 1: slide slowly, but in a exorably toward the word. Yes,
Speaker 1: stop messing about, yelled Vance. I'm not, said Ken. Vance
Speaker 1: shot a glance around the room, suddenly feeling as though
Speaker 1: there was someone else in there with them stealing himself.
Speaker 1: He asked for the presents to introduce themselves. The planchet
Speaker 1: began to move again. S A F I R E. Sapphire,
Speaker 1: said Ken out loud. Within minutes, as Bill furiously tried
Speaker 1: to keep up taking notes, the planchet had spelled out
Speaker 1: that Sapphire had once lived in a town in Georgia, USA,
Speaker 1: and had died in the nineteen sixties at the age
Speaker 1: of eighty two. Her attention then turned to Ken. Why
Speaker 1: had he stopped believing in his visions, she asked. Ken
Speaker 1: looked troubled. Why they set back? In return, because they
Speaker 1: are true, came the response. The first session lasted three
Speaker 1: and a half hours, in which the apparent entity Sapphire
Speaker 1: elaborated on her shocking revelation. A cosmic battle between two
Speaker 1: alien species was being raged over Earth, she said, in
Speaker 1: which the human race were mere pawns. Only those with
Speaker 1: the correct knowledge, she insisted, would survive the resulting destruction.
Speaker 1: With the men thoroughly spooked by their first session, it
Speaker 1: was another two weeks until they could reconvene around the
Speaker 1: board once more, but this time Sapphire was not alone.
Speaker 1: Over the course of eight hours, the men claimed to
Speaker 1: have communicated with numerous entities, calling themselves everything from Tanach
Speaker 1: Prophet Sechariah, to Mark and Timothy of the Christian Bible,
Speaker 1: and the blessed Virgin Mary herself, all of whom attested
Speaker 1: to the approaching apocalypse. While the men struggled to process
Speaker 1: what was happening, Ken grew increasingly troubled. Needing more proof,
Speaker 1: he demanded that Sapphire provide some concrete evidence that she
Speaker 1: was who she said she was. She duly informed them
Speaker 1: that Ken's grandfather was with her, So what is his name?
Speaker 1: Then snapped Ken, but there was no reply. Then, after
Speaker 1: a five minute pause, the planchete began to move once more,
Speaker 1: spelling out the name John. Ken jumped from his seat,
Speaker 1: Pulling the board from the table. He tore it in
Speaker 1: half and threw it across the room as the other
Speaker 1: men looked on in terror. Before they could ask what
Speaker 1: he was doing, Ken was already running out the door.
Speaker 1: It was three days later when Vance had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to check in on his friend. He found Ken alone
Speaker 1: in his room in a somber mood. It's true, he
Speaker 1: told him his grandfather's name was John. It was clear
Speaker 1: to both of them that they needed to learn more
Speaker 1: from Sapphire. Over the next few weeks, the men gathered
Speaker 1: a further six times to commune with the apparent Sapphire,
Speaker 1: and were eventually joined by twenty year old Private first
Speaker 1: Class Chris Purlock and twenty two year old Sergeant Annette eccleston, who,
Speaker 1: having heard rumors of what had been going on, were
Speaker 1: eager to see it all for themselves. During the sessions,
Speaker 1: Sapphire explained further that one of the alien races battling
Speaker 1: for Earth were trying to save humanity, the other were
Speaker 1: trying to destroy it, and had even made a deal
Speaker 1: with members of the U. S Government to give them
Speaker 1: power in return for the opportunity to carry out a
Speaker 1: mass abduction of the Earth's human population. This would be
Speaker 1: preceded by a series of cataclysmic events that would effectively
Speaker 1: bring about the end of the world as they knew it.
Speaker 1: If the group took her advice, however, they could be
Speaker 1: taken off the planet and saved from this fate. Viewed
Speaker 1: through the prism of their fundamental Christian belief system, the
Speaker 1: group came to the conclusion that what Sapphire was detailing was,
Speaker 1: in actuality, the rapture which would make the impending destruction.
Speaker 1: She spoke of the Tribulation, a period of worldwide suffering
Speaker 1: and pain said to proceed or in fact, mark the
Speaker 1: end times, which would then be followed by the arrival
Speaker 1: of the second Coming of Jesus. Sapphire gave the group
Speaker 1: a series of predictions, a list of violent events and
Speaker 1: cataclysms that would take place over the next next decade,
Speaker 1: in an effort to convince them further of her warnings.
Speaker 1: The first prediction, an earthquake in Iran that would result
Speaker 1: in tens of thousands being killed or injured, would take
Speaker 1: place imminently. The group finally had what they were looking for,
Speaker 1: something concrete to lend credibility to the apparent entities improbable claims.
Speaker 1: All they needed to do then was wait. It had
Speaker 1: just gone past midnight local time in the early morning
Speaker 1: of June twenty first, nineteen ninety, when two hundred kilometers
Speaker 1: northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran. The ground shook with
Speaker 1: devastating fury, with the initial shake lasting sixty seconds. An
Speaker 1: earthquake measuring seven point four on the Richter scale ruptured
Speaker 1: a dam, tore off chunks of mountainside, and raised more
Speaker 1: than one hundred towns and villages to the ground in
Speaker 1: an earth shattering hail of bricks and mortar, burying thousands
Speaker 1: in its wake. In total, up to forty thousand people
Speaker 1: were thought to have been killed and upwards of one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand injured. Sapphire's prediction had come true. It was
Speaker 1: a few days later when Stan Johnson, a friend of
Speaker 1: Ken Beeson's, was at home in Bybee, Tennessee, when he
Speaker 1: received an unexpected phone call. It was Ken calling from Germany.
Speaker 1: The pair became friends shortly after. Ken had finished his
Speaker 1: army training in nineteen eighty seven, but had not spoken
Speaker 1: a great deal in recent months. Without wanting to go
Speaker 1: into too much detail about why, Ken asked Stan to
Speaker 1: find him a van big enough to fit six people
Speaker 1: in it. When Stan let him know he'd found one,
Speaker 1: Ken then told him to meet him at nearby McGee
Speaker 1: Tyson Airport in Knoxville on July sixth. Sure enough, on
Speaker 1: July sixth, Ken arrived in Knoxville, accompanied by Mike Hoigstadt,
Speaker 1: with Stand there to meet them. Together, they drove to
Speaker 1: the home of Bill Grant in nearby Morristown. Bill thought
Speaker 1: little of the men when they assembled on his driveway
Speaker 1: to inspect the van he was selling them and was
Speaker 1: happy to accept their money for it. It was only
Speaker 1: when he asked them shortly before they left what they
Speaker 1: planned to use it for that he was given pause
Speaker 1: for thought. Ken explained matter of factly that they needed
Speaker 1: the van to drive to Pensacola Beach to prepare for
Speaker 1: the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus,
Speaker 1: and if they didn't make it in time, they would
Speaker 1: not be taken into the Kingdom of Heaven. And with
Speaker 1: that they were gone. Back at their barracks and Augsburg, Ken,
Speaker 1: Beeson and Mike Hoigstadt, superiors of the seven hundred first
Speaker 1: Military Intelligence Brigade, were getting concerned. Though the pair had
Speaker 1: signed off on leave, a letter left behind by Ken
Speaker 1: seemed to suggest something unusual was going on to whom
Speaker 1: it concerns. It began, we are of sound mind and spirit.
Speaker 1: You will want to hide this letter, but we recommend
Speaker 1: that it be forwarded to the highest possible command. The
Speaker 1: following letter may sound wild, but what was said about
Speaker 1: the apostles in Christ's time? For it is said in
Speaker 1: the end young men will see visions of that to
Speaker 1: come and hide themselves away for the battle. May you
Speaker 1: take warning in this time has come for a decision
Speaker 1: to be made, and they made theirs. Their works will
Speaker 1: be known throughout the lands, and many will be murdered
Speaker 1: for knowing them. You will search for these and thousands
Speaker 1: more like them, but you will be searching for nought.
Speaker 1: For God takes care of his elect and those that
Speaker 1: follow them. It went on those of you who know
Speaker 1: of the truth and feel its pull, then leave all
Speaker 1: and search for the elect and their followers, as they
Speaker 1: are of God's chosen leaders. You of the world, listen carefully.
Speaker 1: The time is now to wake up your spirits and
Speaker 1: heed the warning. I'm the last to speak to you ever.
Speaker 1: Now the Elect take over the mission of the Apostles.
Speaker 1: Further search is uncovered the term end of world written
Speaker 1: on bits of paper belonging to one of the group.
Speaker 1: Realizing that Vance Davis, William Setterberg, Chris Purlock, and Annette
Speaker 1: Eggleston were also absent from the base, some of them
Speaker 1: without even the pretense of authorized leave. The army sounded
Speaker 1: the alarm on July ninth, they issued a worldwide alert
Speaker 1: to ascertain their whereabouts. Back at that police station in
Speaker 1: Gulf Breeze, Mike was still refusing to give up the
Speaker 1: whereabouts of the others in the group, whom some had
Speaker 1: begun referring to as the end of the World group. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: at the home of Anna Foster, a few minutes drive away,
Speaker 1: there was a knock at the door. Foster, a self
Speaker 1: described psychic, had befriended Chris Purlock and later Ken Beeson
Speaker 1: while they were stationed in Pensacola. Opening the door, she
Speaker 1: found two FBI officers waiting outside. Bursting into the property,
Speaker 1: the officers quickly located the rest of the group who'd
Speaker 1: been hiding out at Foster's apartment, with the exception of Annette,
Speaker 1: who was picked up soon after from a local campsite.
Speaker 1: The group's possessions, including four thousand dollars worth of cash, suitcases, briefcases,
Speaker 1: Foster's computer, and floppy discs, were all confiscated. Vance Davis
Speaker 1: alleged later that all The papers and notes pertaining to
Speaker 1: the Wigia board sessions were also confiscated. Strangely, the officers
Speaker 1: were under orders not to ask any questions, merely to
Speaker 1: arrest the deserters and have them delivered to the brig
Speaker 1: at Pensacola Naval Air Station, where they were joined soon
Speaker 1: after by Mike Hoigstadt. The following day, the group were
Speaker 1: flown two hundred miles to Fort Benning in Georgia for
Speaker 1: interrogation before being taken to Fort Knox in Kentucky for
Speaker 1: further questioning. With the press picking up the story soon after,
Speaker 1: Speculation was rife about just who the group were and
Speaker 1: what they were intending to do, as the public waited
Speaker 1: with bated breath to learn their fate, with the group
Speaker 1: having been in custody since July fourteen. The Pentagon gave
Speaker 1: a briefing on the incident on the seventeenth, describing the
Speaker 1: six as been part of an end of the World cult.
Speaker 1: Two days later, a relative of the group told the
Speaker 1: press they were actually heading to Florida to expose a
Speaker 1: government cover up of UFOs. Soon after, the Pentagon retracted
Speaker 1: their statement, with no more information forthcoming. Relatives of the
Speaker 1: group grew increasingly concerned about their well being. In response,
Speaker 1: Chris Purlock's mother began a public media campaign to help
Speaker 1: get them released. On July nineteenth, they were formally charged
Speaker 1: with desertion, a crime that ordinarily would lead to at
Speaker 1: the very least a dishonorable discharge from the army and
Speaker 1: a period of confinement for up to as much as
Speaker 1: three years. But then something strange occurred. On July twenty fifth,
Speaker 1: ten days after the group were apprehended, a strange message
Speaker 1: was sent to the Golf Breeze Sentinel, the local newspaper,
Speaker 1: and other news agencies. It read, ABC, NBC, CBS, ap
Speaker 1: UPI US Army free the Golf Breeze six. We have
Speaker 1: the missing plans, the box of five hundred plus photos
Speaker 1: and the plans you want back. Here is proof with
Speaker 1: close ups cut out. Next we send the close ups
Speaker 1: and then everything unless they are released. Answer code augs
Speaker 1: BB three c M. The note was apparently accompanied by
Speaker 1: two photographs purporting to show two unidentified flying objects. The
Speaker 1: following day, all of the Golf Breeze six were released
Speaker 1: without charge. Not only were they spared a trial by
Speaker 1: court martial, but they were also discharge with full honours.
Speaker 1: This was changed soon after, however, when Colin Powell, who
Speaker 1: was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time,
Speaker 1: felt duty bound to intervene, as if to draw attention
Speaker 1: away from the unusually lenient punishment, Powell removed their discharge
Speaker 1: with full honors, deciding instead to have them discharged with
Speaker 1: a loss of rank and one month's pay. Many have
Speaker 1: questioned the unusually soft outcome, suggesting that perhaps the group,
Speaker 1: in their capacity as intelligence analysts, had stumbled upon something
Speaker 1: genuine orbeit through rather unorthodox methods. Some have also suggested
Speaker 1: that perhaps the six were unwittingly being used as guinea
Speaker 1: pigs in a dummy psychic operation that ended up going
Speaker 1: a little further than intended. The following year, the seven
Speaker 1: hundred first Military Intelligence Brigade were awarded the agency's Travis
Speaker 1: Trophy for being the nation's top performing signals intelligence unit
Speaker 1: that year. That this was the unit the group belonged
Speaker 1: to suggests that whatever we might think about this bizarre escapade,
Speaker 1: they were certainly thought more than capable enough by the U. S.
Speaker 1: Army to be employed alongside their best intelligence analysts. Documents
Speaker 1: relating to the case were eventually declassified, including some of
Speaker 1: the group's personal records of the Wiga sessions they conducted. However,
Speaker 1: it has been reported that fourteen hundred pages out of
Speaker 1: the sixteen hundred relating to the case remain classified. I'd
Speaker 1: like to thank Patricia Cortez for introducing me to this
Speaker 1: week's story. Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions podcast created
Speaker 1: by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
Speaker 1: including the music, were also used by me. Richard McClean
Speaker 1: Smith Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories never before
Speaker 1: featured on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and
Speaker 1: other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
Speaker 1: heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of
Speaker 1: your own you'd like to share. You can find out
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