1 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: Strange Arrivals is a production of I Heeart three D 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: audio for full exposure. Listen with headphones. Have you brought 3 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: with you, um, some of those devices which would have 4 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: enabled the CEE i A to use this poison for 5 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: we have indeed for killing people. Just goal of fire 6 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: the dart, Yes, it does, Mr Chairman. The that the 7 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: round thing at the top is obviously the site. The 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: rest of it is what is practically a normal forty five, 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: although it's is special it however, it works by electricity. 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: There's in battery and the handle and it fires a 11 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: small dart so that when it fires, it fires silently, 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: almost silently. Yes, that very little. What range does it have? 13 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: Hundred meters? I believe about about a hundred yards a 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: hundred about a hundred meters rank and the dark itself 15 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: when it strikes the the the target. Um does the 16 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: target know that he's about that he's been hit and 17 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: about to die? That depends Mr Chairman on the particular 18 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: dardas there are different kinds of easily. I'm Toby Ball 19 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: and this is Strange Arrivals Episode ten. Enemy above Paul 20 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: Benowitz's suspicions that UFOs were present around Curtland Air Force 21 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico, began in the late nineties seventies, 22 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: as he filmed lights and picked up radio signals at 23 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: his house just outside the gates separating the base from 24 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: the civilian world. In the decades since the Condon Committee 25 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: rendered its final word on UFOs and Project Blue Book 26 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: was subsequently shut down, the American attitude towards the federal 27 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: government had changed considerably. In some ways. Many Americans now 28 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: felt the way UFO proponents had following the Robertson and 29 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: Condon reports that the government held secrets and was willing 30 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: to lie to the public in order to keep them. 31 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,399 Speaker 1: It brought a certain kind of conspiratorial thinking into the zeitgeist, 32 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: a suspicion that the government was involved in dark things. 33 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: In his book The United States of Paranoia, author Jesse 34 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: Walker describes five archetypal conspiracy stories, the enemy below, the 35 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: enemy within, the enemy outside, the enemy above, and the 36 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: benevolent conspiracy. In the nineteen seventies, the enemy above archetype 37 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: became more prominent. The enemy above is the kind of 38 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory that most people have in mind when they 39 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: say conspiracy theory. It's the fear of powerful institutions. It's 40 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: the fear of either the institutions themselves, the government, big business, 41 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: the idea that the people within these institutions are conspiring 42 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: against the public, or the idea that some sort of 43 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: subversive forces trying to take control of those institutions um 44 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: and use them as a tool to get whatever it 45 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: wants from the public, which often involves a sort of 46 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: a master slave relationship. So in general, you know, if 47 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: you hear people talking about a c I, a conspiracy 48 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: or something like that, that's the enemy above. And by 49 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: the late nineteen seventies there was no shortage of evidence 50 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: of real conspiracies coming from inside the government, beginning of 51 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: course with water Gate, and I think it you're also 52 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: aware that the President has refused to honor the subpoena 53 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: issued by this committee for tapes and including specifically uh 54 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: these two tapes won the September fifteen tape and the 55 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: Marks Point first tape. I think you're aware of that. 56 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: I am aware of that yet, and that his reason 57 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: for doing so has been on executive privilege and separation 58 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: of power and reasons. Yes. University of New Hampshire History 59 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: professor Kirk Dorsey it's not even so much to break in. 60 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: It's all the revelations that Nixon was not just breaking 61 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: into trying to find out about the Democratic Party, but 62 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: that he had the FBI, the I R S, and 63 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: the c i A all working against his enemies, that 64 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: he had an enemy's list, and then he had those 65 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: agencies actually working domestically. It indicated it wasn't just the president, 66 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't just one bad guy in the White House, 67 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: but actually that he was able to corrupt all these 68 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: other institutions. And if all those institutions could be corrupted 69 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: so easily by Richard Dixon and nobody would have found out. 70 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: You know, if they had hired good burglars, none of 71 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: this would have happened. And I think it reinforced people's 72 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: ideas so you can keep secrets and really big ones too. 73 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: Less well known now, but also important were the findings 74 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: of the Church Committee. We wouldn't have had the Church 75 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: Commity with that Watergate because part of the reason why 76 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: Senator Church has decided to run this investigation because the 77 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 1: Democrats controlled the Senate is Frank Church from Idaho, was 78 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: to basically say, we just found out that the president 79 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: was using the CIA illegally. So we're going to use 80 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,359 Speaker 1: our new power with the weakening of the presidency to 81 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: investigate the executive branch. And the CIA has never come 82 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: clean to Congress about what it's doing, so we're going 83 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: to start just piling up all the evidence we can 84 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: in The Church Committee investigated intelligence abuses by the CIA, 85 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: the FBI, the n s A, and the I r S. 86 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: And it did two things. One is it revealed all 87 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: these dark secrets that the United States have done overseas 88 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: and domestically, but then also revealed things that had seemed 89 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: to be successes that people knew about, like Guatemala and 90 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: Iran interventions from the mid nineteen fifties, actually were a 91 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: lot dirtier than they have been portrayed in the American people. 92 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: Here we are talking about the CIA instigating coups against 93 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: Jacobo are Bends in Guatemala in nineteen fifty four and 94 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: Mohammed mosadag in Iran in nineteen fifty three. The free 95 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: those taken prisoner earlier, and a storm the House of Massartic. 96 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: The Foreign Minister Fatimi gets through first to books that 97 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,799 Speaker 1: he was told to pieces had not been confirmed. Meanwhile, 98 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: the mob flopped the streets demanding the return of the 99 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: Shop Masodic and his government has swept from power in 100 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: favorite of General Zahidi, the man appointed by the Shop 101 00:06:55,080 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: in the first place, and assassination attempts against, among others, 102 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: Patrice La Mumba in the Congo, whose murder was not 103 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: conclusively tied to the CIA and Fidel Castro. And you know, 104 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: one of the particular things in the Church Committee wasn't 105 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,679 Speaker 1: revealed how the CIA and both the Nixon and Kennedy 106 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: administrations contracted with mafia killers to get rid of Castro. 107 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: They couldn't even claim it was, you know, law and order. 108 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: I think some of those documents from the Church Committee 109 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: showed that they were giving poison capsules to the mob 110 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: to use against Castro. So it's it's revealing a CIA 111 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: that's just out of control, not very smart, and hardly 112 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: the best and the brightest, And it just reinforces this 113 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: notion that the federal government was worse than incompetent. It 114 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: was corrupt and incompetent, which is a pretty bad combindation. 115 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: So what happens when you have a whole lot of 116 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: real life conspiracies revealed is it of course makes people 117 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: more willing to imagine further conspiracies. What it was revealed 118 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: the CIA had been doing a rug experiments, surreptitiously giving 119 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: LSD to unwitting subjects and recording their reactions and seeing 120 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: if this could be used, you know, in sort of 121 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: the circumststances of brainwashing, resisting brainwashing and so on. This 122 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: is the infamous Project mk Ultra. So once it's revealed 123 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: that the CIA is doing something like that, it becomes 124 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: a lot easier for people to imagine, well, maybe they 125 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: killed JFK. The imagination takes an extra leap forward. A 126 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 1: number of people were already thinking along those lines about JFK, 127 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: but this made that much more imaginable for other people. 128 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: This new strain of conspiratorial thinking began to show up 129 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: in popular culture a decade a decade and a half 130 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: before all these mid nineteen seventies investigations, Your average Just 131 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,439 Speaker 1: Spy movie was American Spy was almost certainly going to 132 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,319 Speaker 1: be the hero. You're gonna sympathize with him as he 133 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: struggles against either the Communists or some sort of imaginary 134 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: terror conspiracy like Specter in the seventies. Of course, you 135 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 1: have this big wave of conspiracy thrillers where the U. S. 136 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: Government is the enemy or is allied with the enemy. 137 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: Since the assassination, six of these people have died in 138 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: some kind of an accident. There is no evidence of 139 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: a conspiracy, and once that becomes a part of the conversation, 140 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: that in turn also makes it easier for people to 141 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: imagine real conspiracies. America has always been a home for 142 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: conspiratorial thinking, and the nineteen seventies didn't necessarily see an 143 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: increase in this thought. But instead of change and the 144 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: focus of these fears, it's that people's conspiracy theories were 145 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: more likely to start. Institutions like the CIA, the FBI, 146 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: of the White House, and if you look at the 147 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: polls that sort of look at the levels of public trust, 148 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,119 Speaker 1: you know, the US government itself and in different agencies 149 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: of the U. S. Government, I mean the CIA and 150 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: the FBI, They their numbers took a lunch. So it's 151 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,080 Speaker 1: important to understand the tenor of the times because when 152 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,679 Speaker 1: Paul Benowitz was contacted by Air Force Office of Special 153 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: Investigations agent Richard Doughty, he wasn't just vulnerable to influence 154 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: because of his belief in the reality of aliens visiting Earth. 155 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 1: He was also vulnerable because he lived in a society 156 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 1: that believed that the government did bad things in secret. 157 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: On October, Benewitz, acting out of a patriotic sense of duty, 158 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: called Curtland Air Force Bass head of Security, Major Ernest 159 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: Edwards and told him about what he had filmed and 160 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: recorded over the previous months. After this call, Major Edwards 161 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: got in touch with Richard Doughty, I was a counter 162 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: intelligence officer for the base. He gave me all the 163 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: information that Paul had given him. So I said, Wow, 164 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: that's interesting. So I made an appointment and went out 165 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: and talked to Paul. Paul told me the same stories, 166 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: shared everything that he had done. I immediately sent a 167 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 1: message up to headquarters. Headquarters said, started an investigation. Then 168 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: I got ahold of a man by the name of 169 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: Jerry Miller. Miller was a scientist and former Project Bluebook investigator. 170 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 1: We found that what the signals at Paul was gathering 171 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: was a very highly classified n S A project that 172 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: was occurring on base. It's no longer classified. We were 173 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: shooting lasers into the air when Soviet satellites were flying 174 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: over the base, and we were hitting the lens of 175 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: the Soviet satellites, blinding them, preventing them from taking pictures 176 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: of the base. Well, somehow Paul tapped into that. Paul 177 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 1: also was taking pictures of a highly classified drone project 178 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: that was being experimented with on the base. Back in 179 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,959 Speaker 1: drones were highly classified. What they did back in those days. 180 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: They would have a controlling aircraft that would launch these drones, 181 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: and they would control the drones from inside aircraft, so 182 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: the aircraft was always in close proximity to these drones. 183 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 1: So these drones would be flying close around these aircraft, 184 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: and it looked like there was some maybe danger or 185 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: hostility of these drones stores that aircraft, but actually that 186 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: aircraft was a controlling aircraft. This is probably as good 187 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: a time as any to reiterate my words of caution 188 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: about Rick Doughty from last episode. Doty spent years planting 189 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: disinformation in the UFO community, an effort we are looking 190 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: at in this episode in the next. It makes sense 191 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 1: to believe that anything that he says is in furtherance 192 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: of this goal, even though he is long retired. I 193 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: don't know why he would be any more honest with 194 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,040 Speaker 1: me than anyone else. Some of the things he says, 195 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: less sensational things are consistent with other accounts of the 196 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: same events. Other things, including the more sensational things, should 197 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: be treated as untrustworthy. With that in mind, here's Doady again. 198 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: So when we found all this out, the project I 199 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: was told to do was convinced Paul that what he 200 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: was seeing was in fact UFOs And it wasn't difficult 201 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: to do because Paul was a member of MUFON and 202 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: a pro. MOUFON and APRO were two civilian UFO investigation organizations. 203 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,839 Speaker 1: MOUFON is still active today. Paul had been a field 204 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: investigator for MUFON and APRO for a number of years. 205 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 1: Paul was already a believer in UFOs, so it wasn't 206 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: difficult for us to convince Paul that what he was 207 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: seeing with UFO, and that's what we wanted him to think, 208 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: to prevent him from maybe disclosing the fact that we 209 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: were testing classified drones or classified leisure project. In fact, 210 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: in addition to his documenting the Curtland Lights, he was 211 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: also focusing attention on a place called the Archiletta Mesa, 212 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: which rises up to over nine thousand feet in altitude 213 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: in northern New Mexico. Paul was a pilot. He had 214 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: a plane and he would fly all over. He flew 215 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: a person up to Dulcie, New Mexico once and and 216 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: when he was coming back, he saw some strange things 217 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: occurring in Archiletta Peak, which is east of Dulcie, very 218 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: strange things, and he flew up there a number of times, 219 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: photographing a lot of these strange occurrences. Paul was told 220 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: within the UFO community that there was an underground UFO 221 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: based up there, and so Paul was convinced it was 222 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: UFO related. I went up there with Paul once and 223 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: we saw some strange things happening up on top of 224 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: the Archiletta Peak, and I didn't know what it was. 225 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: So I started checking within the intelligence community, and I 226 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: found out there was a special unit at Fort Carson, Colorado, 227 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: near four Collins that was using that area. What Doughty 228 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: says he learned was that it was a Special Forces 229 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: training area and the lights have been planted in the 230 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: ground to guide incoming helicopters. Now, if you're standing below 231 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: down on the ground, several thousand feet down from the 232 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: top of the Archipelata Peak, you saw these lights turn on, 233 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: they look like especially if if they were hitting the cloud, 234 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: they looked like UFOs flying up there. So what Paul 235 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 1: was seeing wasn't actually just just lights that were built 236 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: into the MESA up there, and and and it had 237 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: nothing to do with the UFOs. Doty says that he 238 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: couldn't tell Bennewit's the truth about the area because the 239 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: project was classified. Whether that was the reason or not, 240 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: Doty used the lights to reinforce Bennewitz's suspicions about the MESA. 241 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: So that was another maybe disinformation statement I gave to Paul. Now, 242 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: remember Doughty was tasked with sewing disinformation, and I have 243 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: no reason to believe he didn't use our interview to 244 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: continue that work. With that in mind, he told me 245 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: this strange story. Now, another interesting thing occurred a couple 246 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: of years later. Paul was flying up to Dolcie and 247 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: he had a one of his employees seated with him 248 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: and and they had a camera. As they were coming 249 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: back about over where red Rivers located, baub Bennouits encounter 250 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: the UFO, a huge UFO that he took pictures of, 251 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: and he saw into the UFO he saw a little 252 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: creatures inside through the window of portals. When Paul got back, 253 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: he called me and said, you're not gonna believe what 254 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: I got. I said, what do you have? He said, 255 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,400 Speaker 1: I got pictures of a real UFO, A big UFO, 256 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 1: huge UFO that I almost collided with over Red River 257 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 1: in New Mexico. Paul had his own photo lap so 258 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: I said, yeah, I'll come over and let me come 259 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,199 Speaker 1: over and look at these pictures. I went over there. 260 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,440 Speaker 1: I looked at these pictures. That was astounded. I mean, 261 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: you know, I know of what I've seen in classified documents, 262 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: and this object was huge. And I said, well, gosh, 263 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 1: you you photographed are real and you all a huge one. 264 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,640 Speaker 1: He said, that's a mother ship. I know it's a mothership. 265 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: So I sent those pictures up the headquarters and they 266 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: were astounded by it, but they didn't have an answer 267 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: what they were. Where this scraft came from. Duty says. 268 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: He asked ben a Witz if he'd shared them with 269 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: the UFO community. He said, no, no, no, no, no, 270 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: no no no. I'm afraid it's too hostile. I don't 271 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: want anybody else to know about it. And I took 272 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: his pictures and I also took his negatives and we 273 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: sent him up to why Shehington of the chain And 274 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: of course people ask me today where are they? Where 275 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: are they? Well, they're up there someplace. Do you think 276 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: the government's going to release that stuff? No, they're not 277 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: going to release it. During this time, Bennowitz also took 278 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: photos of a crashed craft of some sort on the 279 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: mesa maybe an early version of the Stealth Fighter or 280 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:26,159 Speaker 1: a drone author Greg Bishop. So nobody knows exactly what 281 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: he took pictures of because all the pictures of an 282 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: actual crash were stolen out of his house, and Doty 283 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: said either he or somebody in the Air Force did 284 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: it because they didn't find him to have for his pictures, 285 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: So they would break into his house and like go 286 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: through it stuff and sometimes move furniture around just to 287 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: mess with him, which none of this is ethical or proper, 288 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: but that's what they did. I think they thought, especially 289 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: somebody like Dotie, thinks, you know, if I can accomplish 290 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: the mission, that you know, I can pretty much do 291 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: what I want. This effort came to include more direct 292 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: methods to amplify Bennewood his paranoia, which took a very 293 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:24,160 Speaker 1: dark turn. After the break, as the Air Force continued 294 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 1: its disinformation campaign against Paul Benowitz, they allegedly gave him 295 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: some new computer software that they said would help in 296 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,919 Speaker 1: deciphering the signals he was picking up from Kurtland. The 297 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,719 Speaker 1: translated messages were intended to further trigger his paranoia. Bennewitz 298 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: considered his work to be a kind of scientific study, 299 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: and he produced a report summarizing his conclusions, titled Project Beta. 300 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: It is, to say the least, a troubling document. In it, 301 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: Benewitz details his certain of a hostile, devious alien presence 302 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: and the existential threat that they presented. Here are a 303 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: few excerpts that give you an idea of the sense 304 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 1: of dread that pervades his writings. It is important to 305 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: note at the outset the alien is devious employees deception, 306 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,679 Speaker 1: has no intent of any apparent peace making process, and 307 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 1: obviously does not adhere to any prior arranged agreement. In truth, 308 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: they tend to lie. However, their memory for line is 309 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: not long, and direct comparative computer print out analysis reveals 310 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: this fact. They are picking up and cutting, as the 311 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: alien calls it, many people every night. Each implanted individual 312 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: is apparently ready for the pull of their switch. Whether 313 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 1: all implants are totally effective I cannot predict, but conservatively 314 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 1: I would estimate at least three thousand or more in 315 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: the US and at least two hundred million, if not more, worldwide. 316 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: They appear to be totally death oriented, and because of this, 317 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: absolutely death fear oriented. This is a psychological advantage. No negotiation, agreement, 318 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: nor peaceful compromise can be settled upon in any way. 319 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: No agreement signed by both parties will ever be adhered to, 320 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: nor recognized and respected by the alien, though they may 321 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: attempt to make us believe otherwise. This analysis has entered 322 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: the wilder realms of UFO folklore. Greg Bishop. The aftermath 323 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 1: of this is, you know, adulcie underground based rumors those 324 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: got started then, like aliens are here have making deals 325 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,439 Speaker 1: with the United States government in exchange for who knows what, 326 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,680 Speaker 1: you know, abduction rights or some thing like that. I've 327 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: seen a letter where somebody wrote to him and told 328 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: him that all spiritual teachers throughout history where either aliens 329 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,919 Speaker 1: or influenced by them or whatever. All these things that 330 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: were floating around in the late eighties and early nineties 331 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: being told to Paul Benewits. A lot of them ended 332 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: up in the UFO mythos, and it's still there a 333 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: lot of them. And I don't think there's any underground 334 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,120 Speaker 1: basis with aliens in them. There's certainly our underground basis. 335 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: There's tons of them, there's tons of underground facilities. But 336 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: as far as having anything to do with extraterrestrials, I 337 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:37,400 Speaker 1: seriously got that. If you search, they'll say aliens on Google. 338 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 1: You can read all kinds of wild stories about secret treaties, 339 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: reptilian aliens, and battles between humans and extraterrestrials and underground bases, 340 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: like I said, the fringes of UFO folklore. Eventually, Benewit's 341 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: got more and more paranoid, And there's a dispute as 342 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: to whether he was already sort of paranoid before he 343 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,119 Speaker 1: talked to the Airforce or not. I still think he was, 344 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: and that this episode just made it worse, and the 345 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: Air Force and the various intelligence agencies just made it 346 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:16,959 Speaker 1: worse by encouraging him and occasionally by feeding him disinformation. 347 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: Another story that comes out of the Benewit's affair involves 348 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: the passing of an altered document. According to this story, 349 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,600 Speaker 1: Doughty used a man named Bill Moore as an intermediary 350 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: to Benewitz. You might remember Bill Moore from the previous episode. 351 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: He was one of the authors of the book that 352 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: brought Roswell back to public attention. Anyway, Doughty again allegedly 353 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: gave more a document to pass to his friend Benowitz. 354 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: Bill Moore was told to give him a teletype that 355 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: mentioned UFO activity and interest around UFO activity, and actually 356 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,880 Speaker 1: mentioned one of the sightings that he had or a document. 357 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 1: And so Bill was told to give this document to Beneuits. 358 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,640 Speaker 1: And what Bill told me is he took it to him. 359 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: He said, this is the only thing he ever gave 360 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: to him. I trust him because Bill has never lied 361 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: to me. He said, he took this document down there, 362 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: and at night, after his company was closed, benewits his company, 363 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 1: he said, I have to talk to you. We have 364 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 1: to go in the supply closet. He went in the 365 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: supply closet, turned the radio out, and gave him the 366 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: document and yelled in his ear. I was told to 367 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 1: give this to you. Take it with a grain assault. 368 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: The document, which was made to appear as an official 369 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: government teletype, essentially said that while the Air Force was 370 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 1: no longer officially investigating UFOs, IT and other government agencies 371 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: led by NASA, we're continuing to investigate legitimate sightings in secret. 372 00:24:54,760 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: It also includes these two sentences. The official US REMNT 373 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: policy and results of Project Aquarius is still classified top secret, 374 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: with no dissemination outside official intelligence channels, and with restricted 375 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:16,679 Speaker 1: access to m J twelve. Cason Benewitz is being monitored 376 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: by NASA I N S who requests all future evidence 377 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: to be forwarded to them through a f O S 378 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: I I v O E. There are two interesting things here. 379 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,920 Speaker 1: One is that last sentence that indicates continued federal interest 380 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: in Benowitz's work. It must be there to further convince 381 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: Benowits that he is on the right track regarding UFOs. 382 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:48,439 Speaker 1: The second interesting thing is the allusion to Project Aquarius 383 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,119 Speaker 1: and m J twelve, which is the first mention of 384 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,679 Speaker 1: what would become a major part of modern UFO folklore, 385 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 1: with Bill Moore right in the middle. We will look 386 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: at this in the next episode. Doughty more or less 387 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: denies being behind the passing of this document to Benewitz. 388 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 1: Well number one, I never passed anything to Paul Benowitz. 389 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: That had anything new with him J twelve. I never 390 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: passed Paul Benowitz any classified documents. That's absolutely maloney. You 391 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: can parse this statement and note that he doesn't rule 392 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 1: out giving something to more to pass to Benewits that 393 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: involved MJ twelve, or that the memo might not have 394 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: been classified, and therefore he's not ruling it out for 395 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: that reason. But regardless of whether Doughty was behind it 396 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: or not, Benewitz received the document. I'll also note that 397 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: another reason for considering the possibility that Doughty didn't pass 398 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: on the memo is that the Air Force Office of 399 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: Special Investigations was not the only federal agency with interest 400 00:26:54,960 --> 00:27:00,200 Speaker 1: in Paul Benowitz. Myself, another agent and Jerry May were 401 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,879 Speaker 1: at Paul's house one night, the rainy night now Abuquerque. 402 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: His wife comes in and said there's a red light 403 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: in the house across the street. And we looked at 404 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,119 Speaker 1: her like, okay, what does that mean? And Paul says, 405 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: the house is vacant. So when we went out and 406 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: looked out his window, we could see a red light 407 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: and it's more or less like a camera light or something. 408 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:32,639 Speaker 1: Paul says, they're keeping track of me, and well, I 409 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: knew we weren't doing it, and I knew the FBI 410 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: wasn't doing it because we were FBI was closely involved 411 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: in this. I thought, hmm, well who's doing it? So 412 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 1: myself and this other agent go down and we were 413 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,919 Speaker 1: got guns, were federal agents. We go down and we 414 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,160 Speaker 1: walked over there. About that time we got there, these 415 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: two men were walking out of the house and we 416 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: confronted them. We identified ourselves and we said, who are 417 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: you guys? Well, they identified themselves too, as agents with 418 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: a national security agency. According to Doughty, there follows a 419 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,159 Speaker 1: classic scene where each group tries to assert their claim 420 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,959 Speaker 1: to priority in the case. So the next day I 421 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: went out and I knew the supervisor n s A 422 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: on the base as a highly classified location, and I 423 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: was I had a pass to give them as as 424 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: what the heck are you guys doing investigating Paul Benowitz? 425 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: Oh that's classified? I said, I'll give a crap what 426 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: classification is. You're gonna brief me right now because that's 427 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: our operation. You're interfering with our operation. And I just 428 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: sent a message up the headquarters. Oh let me get 429 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: you cleared. Let me get you cleared. Doughty was allegedly 430 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: cleared to be given information about the n s AS 431 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: interests in Benewitz, and this is where he says he 432 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 1: learned about the laser program to foil the Soviet satellites. 433 00:28:57,920 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: And about ten days later they sent me down and said, 434 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: you continue what you're doing. You are the lead agency, 435 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: not n s A, not the FBI. Paul Benewitz was 436 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: the subject of operations involving at least three government agencies, 437 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: and the pressure that this exerted on him led to 438 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: a deteriorating mental state. So anyway, eventually ben Benewitz gets 439 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: more and more scared, He gets more and more paranoid, 440 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: to the point at which he has to be His 441 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: family's fears for his health and puts him in a 442 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: mental health facility for a couple of months. People have 443 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: this idea that, oh, he was in he was in 444 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: the balloon, even for the rest of his life. Like now. 445 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: He went to a place for maybe a month or two, 446 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: he came out, and then he pretty much stopped the 447 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: level activity that he had. He was still interested in 448 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: the subject, but he realized if he got too close 449 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: he would probably fall over that cliff again, and him 450 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: and his family didn't want that anymore. And this is 451 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: the final part of the Benewitz legend, that he was 452 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: intentionally driven crazy by the government. And while you can 453 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: argue about whether he was already paranoid and all the 454 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: disinformation campaign did was to give him the final nudge, 455 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: there's really no disputing the reality that in order to 456 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: preserve some military secrets, government agents prayed on his mental health. 457 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: Author of the Unidentified Mythical Monsters Alien Encounters in Our 458 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: Obsession with the Unexplained, Colin Dickey, and then I came 459 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: across the story Paul Benewitz, and I was frankly flabbergasted 460 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: by the depths of cynicism and uh sort of disdain 461 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: with which a you know, a government operation would treat 462 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: not just an American citizen, but a veteran and someone 463 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: who worked for the government and deeply loved his government. 464 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 1: The Air Force could have called in Paul Benewits and said, 465 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: you know, look what you saw was classified, and you, 466 00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: being a good patriot, we're just going to ask you 467 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 1: to just stop sending up those images. And I have 468 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: no reason to think that Paul Benowitz, who's not only 469 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: was a patriot, but his livelihood he worked. His company 470 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 1: was Air Force Contractors, so there's no reason he would 471 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: have sacrificed his livelihood. But they don't do that. Instead, 472 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: they say, we are going to pump this guy with 473 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: an elaborate campaign of disinformation, this very bizarre and elaborate, 474 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: sustained campaign to take a you know, a law abiding 475 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: and patriotic American citizen and basically more or less drive 476 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,040 Speaker 1: him crazy, to like push him to the point where 477 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: nobody would take him seriously because he was advancing these 478 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: wild and unverifiable theories about aliens. It's a really sad 479 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 1: and tragic story. I mean, there's there's so much like 480 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: pathos involved in there, and also I think it does 481 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: speak to a kind of weird cynicism that seems to 482 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:55,320 Speaker 1: drive some levels of the U. S. Government and among 483 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 1: the people in the UFO community who knew the story. 484 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: It made the case that the enemy above thread of 485 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory wasn't just something they'd see on the news 486 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: or in the movies. It was something that could be 487 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: directed towards them. And they weren't wrong. You see, Paul 488 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: Benewitz wasn't the only person who Richard Dody in the 489 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: Air Force Office of special investigations targeted. One operation in 490 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,239 Speaker 1: particular would change the face of the UFO mythos and 491 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: lead to a public repudiation of the disinformation campaign Next 492 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: time on Strange Arrivals. Strange Arrivals is a production of 493 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: i Heeart, three D Audio and Grimm and Mild from 494 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. This episode was written and hosted by Toby 495 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: Ball and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Josh Thame, with 496 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:55,080 Speaker 1: executive producers Alex Williams, Matt Frederick and Aaron Manky, and 497 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: special thanks to Wendy Connors, creator of the Faded Discs 498 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: archive of UFO related to audio on archive dot org. 499 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: Learn more about Strange Rivals over at Grimm and Mile 500 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: dot com, and find more podcasts from my heart Radio 501 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 1: by visiting the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 502 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.