Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Letterman and the UFO Expert
I'm not the first (and certainly not the last) to comment on Jeff Peckman's appearance on Letterman last night. Despite exhaustion from a hard day of work, I stayed up long enough to watch the debacle.
Apart from his being completely inaccurately described as a "UFO Expert," the segment with him was appalling in other ways. I would have laid good money that Letterman would have mocked him, but instead, he sat there feeding him reasonable questions.
Peckman stated he had knowledge (or at least, such knowledge that he had been given by Stan Romanek) that there had been at least 4,000 physical trace landings from UFOs, and that the US government had knowledge of "57 different species of aliens." He also opined that UFOs are here to instruct us in better use of "clean energy" technology, like the device he hypes on his own websites.
There was so much wrong with the segment, I can't even think where to begin. The obviously-fake UFO video that Romanek pawned off onto Peckman? The fact that Romanek was described as legitimate, when many serious ufologists wouldn't go near him?
As for the "facts," Peckman was semi-close on the trace cases. Ted Phillips actually had more than 4,000 trace cases on file years ago, and the number may be somewhat higher today. His CPTR website on Angelfire hasn't been updated in a while, but there's a new site (http://www.ufophysical.com/) that seems to have replaced it. It only claims about 3,000 physical trace cases, however.
As for the "57 species of aliens," this is traceable to Clifford Stone, a retired Sergeant from the US Army. At a media conference held by the Disclosure Project, he stated he had firsthand knowledge of military research into UFOs and aliens and that there were
In an interview with Paola Harris in 1998 (http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2005/05/clifford-stone-interview.html), Stone stated:
"A lot of people believed an Independence Day scenario was possible. But in reality, an invasion of hostile forces from Space or from other powers was under way, and I'm not talking about one race, but 57 different races."
57 different races?
"Yes, we have identified 57."
Is this documented?
"Yes it is, but in documents which will never be published, unless they manage to force open the archives. Do you know how we know all of this? There's only one possible way: using so-called 'interactions', or 'interface exchanges'. Anybody who worked in this field and revealed they knew about these secrets was told: 'You have a special mission to carry out'. In any, case, if I told you everything I've done, you'd find it hard to believe me."
No kidding.
Ufologist James Harder, who was interviewed by a California newspaper in 1998 about aliens and UFOs: http://www.ufomind.com/misc/1998/nov/d08-001.shtml, repeated Stone's claims, disseminated them even wider.
Excerpt from article:
For example, a large number of witnesses say there are 57
extraterrestrials while under hypnosis that they would have no way of
knowing otherwise.
"There are 57 members of the Galactic Federation," says Harder.
"Many subjects seem to repeat that number."
According to Harder, the Galactic Federation is similar to the
United Nations except the members consist of extraterrestrial groups.
Stone is not believed by everyone. In a 200 issue of Saucer Smear (http://www.martiansgohome.com/smear/v48/ss011101.htm), James Moseley noted:
STONED AGAIN!
Former Army Sergeant Clifford Stone has become one of the most vocal and sensational supporters of former M.D. Steven Greer, according to recent material on the Net. When we met Stone a few years ago, he was working as a security guard in a shopping mall in Roswell, N.M. We had a pleasant, lengthy interview with him, and he told us of several military ufological angles he was researching regarding UFO secrecy. However, he definitely did not mention any personal experiences with aliens, or anything of the sort!
Apparently the wild-eyed atmosphere of Roswell has finally gotten to the good man, because now he has remembered several personal experiences from years earlier, when he was on active duty around the age of 19. About 1969 (he's not sure of the year), Stone was allegedly on duty in Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania, when he was called upon to take radiation level readings from what appeared to be a heel-shaped crashed spacecraft. There were four dead aliens inside it, according to Stone's story.
On a different occasion, Stone and another soldier helped a live alien to escape from the military, as they felt sorry for the creature. Stone does not give any details at all about this incident, nor about why he was not courtmartialed if the story is true!
We are told that the first-mentioned incident involved details very much indeed like those given by Roswell witness Frank Kaufmann. This, by Saucer Logic, is confirmation, as it shows that almost identical spacecraft have crashed in at least two widely separated parts of the country! Wheee!
I tried to call Stan Friedman to ask about this, but he's unavailable until tomorrow. I called Grant Cameron, who runs the Presidential UFOs website, because he speaks often with the real movers and shakers on retrieval ufology. I asked him about Clifford Stone, and he said: "I don't think anyone takes him seriously." (Cameron also said that he had spoken with Peckman this week before his appearance on Letterman, trying to convince him to make some comments about Hillary Clinton and her interest in UFOs, but he declined, wanting to see how the interview went and play out his own agenda.)
And there, on Letterman, was Peckman reiterating Stone's claims about UFOs and aliens, and being labeled a "UFO Expert."
As if ufology needed less credibility.
Apart from his being completely inaccurately described as a "UFO Expert," the segment with him was appalling in other ways. I would have laid good money that Letterman would have mocked him, but instead, he sat there feeding him reasonable questions.
Peckman stated he had knowledge (or at least, such knowledge that he had been given by Stan Romanek) that there had been at least 4,000 physical trace landings from UFOs, and that the US government had knowledge of "57 different species of aliens." He also opined that UFOs are here to instruct us in better use of "clean energy" technology, like the device he hypes on his own websites.
There was so much wrong with the segment, I can't even think where to begin. The obviously-fake UFO video that Romanek pawned off onto Peckman? The fact that Romanek was described as legitimate, when many serious ufologists wouldn't go near him?
As for the "facts," Peckman was semi-close on the trace cases. Ted Phillips actually had more than 4,000 trace cases on file years ago, and the number may be somewhat higher today. His CPTR website on Angelfire hasn't been updated in a while, but there's a new site (http://www.ufophysical.com/) that seems to have replaced it. It only claims about 3,000 physical trace cases, however.
As for the "57 species of aliens," this is traceable to Clifford Stone, a retired Sergeant from the US Army. At a media conference held by the Disclosure Project, he stated he had firsthand knowledge of military research into UFOs and aliens and that there were
In an interview with Paola Harris in 1998 (http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2005/05/clifford-stone-interview.html), Stone stated:
"A lot of people believed an Independence Day scenario was possible. But in reality, an invasion of hostile forces from Space or from other powers was under way, and I'm not talking about one race, but 57 different races."
57 different races?
"Yes, we have identified 57."
Is this documented?
"Yes it is, but in documents which will never be published, unless they manage to force open the archives. Do you know how we know all of this? There's only one possible way: using so-called 'interactions', or 'interface exchanges'. Anybody who worked in this field and revealed they knew about these secrets was told: 'You have a special mission to carry out'. In any, case, if I told you everything I've done, you'd find it hard to believe me."
No kidding.
Ufologist James Harder, who was interviewed by a California newspaper in 1998 about aliens and UFOs: http://www.ufomind.com/misc/1998/nov/d08-001.shtml, repeated Stone's claims, disseminated them even wider.
Excerpt from article:
For example, a large number of witnesses say there are 57
extraterrestrials while under hypnosis that they would have no way of
knowing otherwise.
"There are 57 members of the Galactic Federation," says Harder.
"Many subjects seem to repeat that number."
According to Harder, the Galactic Federation is similar to the
United Nations except the members consist of extraterrestrial groups.
Stone is not believed by everyone. In a 200 issue of Saucer Smear (http://www.martiansgohome.com/smear/v48/ss011101.htm), James Moseley noted:
STONED AGAIN!
Former Army Sergeant Clifford Stone has become one of the most vocal and sensational supporters of former M.D. Steven Greer, according to recent material on the Net. When we met Stone a few years ago, he was working as a security guard in a shopping mall in Roswell, N.M. We had a pleasant, lengthy interview with him, and he told us of several military ufological angles he was researching regarding UFO secrecy. However, he definitely did not mention any personal experiences with aliens, or anything of the sort!
Apparently the wild-eyed atmosphere of Roswell has finally gotten to the good man, because now he has remembered several personal experiences from years earlier, when he was on active duty around the age of 19. About 1969 (he's not sure of the year), Stone was allegedly on duty in Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania, when he was called upon to take radiation level readings from what appeared to be a heel-shaped crashed spacecraft. There were four dead aliens inside it, according to Stone's story.
On a different occasion, Stone and another soldier helped a live alien to escape from the military, as they felt sorry for the creature. Stone does not give any details at all about this incident, nor about why he was not courtmartialed if the story is true!
We are told that the first-mentioned incident involved details very much indeed like those given by Roswell witness Frank Kaufmann. This, by Saucer Logic, is confirmation, as it shows that almost identical spacecraft have crashed in at least two widely separated parts of the country! Wheee!
I tried to call Stan Friedman to ask about this, but he's unavailable until tomorrow. I called Grant Cameron, who runs the Presidential UFOs website, because he speaks often with the real movers and shakers on retrieval ufology. I asked him about Clifford Stone, and he said: "I don't think anyone takes him seriously." (Cameron also said that he had spoken with Peckman this week before his appearance on Letterman, trying to convince him to make some comments about Hillary Clinton and her interest in UFOs, but he declined, wanting to see how the interview went and play out his own agenda.)
And there, on Letterman, was Peckman reiterating Stone's claims about UFOs and aliens, and being labeled a "UFO Expert."
As if ufology needed less credibility.
# posted by rutkows @ 7:41 AM 
