Alien Intrusion Read online

  However, the Soviet Union was having its own UFO flaps, though the West did not know much about them because little information flowed freely out of Moscow. It is reasonable to assume that, in turn, the Soviets could believe that UFOs were a result of secret U.S. technology. Ideas abounded in the USSR that the Americans deliberately orchestrated a saucer flap as a campaign of disinformation to cover up the truth about their own technological advances. After all, some of America’s own citizens were claiming this, and America’s UFO obsession was well publicized for all to see — including the Soviets.

  In the 1960s and 1970s, though, Soviet news channels started to report sightings of UFOs. This seemed incredible in a nation where all news was controlled by the state. In 1967, one detailed account told of a commercial Russian airline crew sighting a UFO that maneuvered around their plane.[23] UFOlogists seized upon this opportunity — “If the Soviets are reporting them, it must be true.” There were dozens of sightings, and in recent years, even the formerly state-controlled Russian newspaper Pravda (“Truth”) began referring to the KGB’s (Russian Secret Service) involvement and investigation into UFOs. UFOlogists in Western countries have picked up on these reports, and in some cases used them as evidence at UFO hearings in the U.S. Congress and the British House of Lords. Then, amazingly, no sooner than the Russian UFO wave started — it stopped. Private UFO groups in the Soviet Union were banned, and sightings ceased to be reported in the state media.[24] However, that did not mean that Soviet citizens no longer experienced such things. Years later, in 1979, an amazing Soviet government about-face occurred. A report was released by the Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Headed by astronomer Lev Gindilis and a team of investigators, the Gindilis Report concluded that no known natural or man-made stimulus could account for such phenomena. The implication was that it was something alien. Former NASA flight controller James Oberg investigated the strange goings-on in the former Soviet Union. He discovered:

  Like many other official Soviet government reports, the Gindilis Report turned out to be counterfeit science. In effect, and probably in intent, it served to cover up one of Moscow’s greatest military secrets, an illegal space-to-earth nuclear weapon. What the witnesses really saw back in those exciting days in 1967 were space vehicles all right, but not from some distant, alien world. They were Russian missile warheads, placed in low orbit under false registration names and then diverted back toward the planet’s surface after one circuit of the globe. As they fireballed down toward a target zone near the lower Volga River, they seared their way into the imaginations of startled witnesses for hundreds of miles in all directions… .[25]

  Although the tests themselves were not illegal, they were a trial run, intended to demonstrate the feasibility of launching nuclear weapons from space. This scheme itself was illegal under an international treaty forbidding orbiting nuclear weapons. Oberg adds:

  Pentagon experts soon dubbed this fearsome new weapon a “fractional orbit bombardment system,” or FOBS… . So when Russian UFO witnesses concluded that they had been seeing alien spaceships instead of treaty-busting weapons tests, Soviet military officials were all too willing to permit this illusion to prosper. [26]

  Unlike the USA, where the majority of rocket launches were well advertised, the Soviets conducted many tests under a veil of secrecy. Many of the UFO sightings can be attributed to rocket and missile launches, or the re-entry of vehicles back into the atmosphere. It is now known that the Soviets had many top-secret launch sites in their territories.

  The hostile and secretive political climate in the former Soviet Union has created an even more conspiracy-driven mindset than in the United States. Russian UFOlogists abound, and as with Roswell and so many other cases, the stories and events have taken on a life of their own. The Russian government, along with many individuals in that country, has also become a master of disinformation.

  The number of sightings in the former Soviet Union are probably second only to the United States, and some have remained unexplained to this day. One of the most famous that remained unsolved for many years was the “Cape Kamenny UFO.” Oberg’s account of it appears in the feature box.

  {See “One of the best” encounters}

  Another movie — a Russian UFO crash

  It was bound to happen. A supposedly Russian movie mysteriously appeared showing alleged secret KGB footage of a crashed alien saucer. Turner Network Television (TNT) achieved worldwide syndication for its documentary called The Secret KGB UFO Files (1999). It was narrated by Roger Moore (of James Bond movie fame and official goodwill ambassador for UNICEF), and it showed an autopsy being carried out on a deceased and badly mutilated alien body. In a very convincing fashion, uniformed Soviet soldiers paraded around a half-buried flying saucer that allegedly crashed in Sverdlovsky, USSR, in 1969.

  This was conspiracy theory at its best, but sadly done in a B-grade fashion, including a computer-altered voice of a former CIA agent who claimed to have infiltrated the Russian UFO team. One scene that was trumpeted as footage of secret Soviet rocket tests was actually footage from a test firing of NASA’s space shuttle solid rocket boosters.

  UFOlogists, like the pro-ETH Friedman, were canvassed for their opinion. One ex–NASA worker claimed to have in his possession secret Stalin documents that showed Soviet interest in the Roswell crash. Unfortunately, he did not produce them for the program and, to date, never has. Even if he did, it would not be surprising. After all, Roswell eventually demonstrated that the U.S. was spying on the U.S.S.R.

  However, the biggest clue about the authenticity of the “KGB-UFO” footage came from the disclaimers at the beginning and end of the show, which stated that the contents of the documentary “may or may not be true” and that the producers bore no responsibility as to the accuracy or truthfulness of the claims and sources.[27] So much for journalistic integrity!

  Von Däniken, aliens, and big business

  Many people fail to realize the popularity of the UFO phenomenon and dismiss it lightly. But as a gauge of common interest, one need look no further than the writings of Erich von Däniken.

  In 1968, while manager of a Swiss hotel, von Däniken wrote his first book, Chariots of the Gods. It was an instant smash success. The enormous appeal of von Däniken’s writings is that he has blended much of traditional religion with the ETH, claiming proof that the earth was visited by extraterrestrials in the distant past. These ETs, according to von Däniken, are “the gods” of ancient writings and religions, including Christianity. He quickly became the most high-profile advocate of this “ancient astronaut” theory. Many have latched onto these ideas as a means of understanding how religious beliefs may have arisen. They are uncomfortable with the idea that miracles, as recorded in the Bible, for example, could have occurred, because they are not scientifically verifiable today. In Chariots of the Gods, von Däniken proposes that many of these seemingly inexplicable supernatural events are descriptions by primitive cultures of advanced technologies — things that the writers could not comprehend. His theories also try to account for the origins of intelligent life on Earth.

  Researcher and editor of The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters (EEE) Ronald Story points out how today’s population is divided on the issue of origins. He says that (in Western nations) roughly 50 percent believe in the Darwinian doctrine of evolution, where, given enough time, simple matter gradually evolved, through chance, random processes, into complex organisms such as human beings (discussed in chapter 4). The other half believes that life is not the result of the accidental processes of “time and chance,” but of the will and purpose of a divine Creator, namely the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. He also describes another view called “astrogenesis,” which is in effect a marriage of the two ideas. That is, a type of space-age Book of Genesis that once again places man at the center of creation. However, this creation is a localized biological event that has been engineered by ETs, who triggered and oversaw the evolution of mankind.[28] Von Däniken (and
indeed Arthur C. Clarke) has been an advocate of this view, which is not only increasing in popularity in modern UFOlogy, but also among the general public — particularly among young people who have been raised on a diet of science fiction. Not surprisingly, von Däniken has usurped this appeal to great effect, and has a new generation of fans. To date, he has written 26 books, translated into 32 languages, which have sold over 60 million copies.[29] This makes him one of the most popular authors of all time, not just in the science fiction realm. In understanding this appeal, let’s consider what he wrote:

  Religious people, regardless what faith they belong to, hope for “salvation from above.” The greater part of the UFO followers do exactly the same. The Ancient Astronaut movement, however, sees the problem from the opposite side.

  The extraterrestrials were here thousands of years ago. They have left behind rules and regulations but also a promise to return in the remote future (time dilation). Considering that the “Gods” of ancient times did not always treat mankind gently and quite often became angry and punished brutally, a “hope from above” is not realistic. Rather the contrary! Mankind should be prepared technically and also morally for the return of the “Gods.”[30]

  Von Däniken is an ex–Roman Catholic and very hostile toward organized religion. He proposes that the judgments of God, as recorded in the Bible, were invoked by ETs to shape moral law. For example, he believes that the destruction of the city of Sodom (Gen. 19:1–28) was caused by space beings using nuclear weapons. Similarly, the story about the Hebrews under Egyptian slavery, as recorded in the Book of Exodus, is somehow supposed to be a human breeding experiment conducted by aliens, and man — in his ignorance — began to worship these beings. Von Däniken claims to be able to explain and support his ideas scientifically. However, he has a presupposition (a religious belief) that ETs have previously visited this planet. He sees his ideas of ancient astronauts as “true science” and uses this “UFO science” to discredit traditional religion.[31]

  Evidence of ancient astronauts

  To support his theory, von Däniken traveled the world looking at the archaeological records and artifacts of past civilizations. He has used rock carvings (petroglyphs), the Egyptian and Mayan pyramids, Stonehenge, the massive stone idols on Easter Island, plus any form of ancient technology to claim that primitive man could not have possessed the skills and technology to visualize and build what they did. Although von Däniken claims to use the scientific method, his theories, though popular, are very speculative. They show a distinct lack of understanding of operational science, and proper research is sadly lacking.

  The author showing the detailed carving from the lid of the tomb of the Mayan king Pacal, who died around 683 ad.

  One simple but glaring example is pointed out in archaeologist Dr. Clifford Wilson’s book Crash Go the Chariots (1972), a million-copy best seller, which is a devastating refutation of von Däniken’s claims. Von Däniken “sees” extraterrestrials all through the Bible whenever it refers to miraculous or angelic events. He states that Enoch, “according to tradition, disappeared forever in a fiery heavenly chariot.” However, the Bible describes Enoch as a righteous man in the eyes of God, and in Genesis 5:24, it simply states that “God took him away,” which just means that God took him to heaven, bypassing the process of death. There is no mention of a fiery chariot. It appears that von Däniken is relying on memory because he thinks the Bible says one thing, when in fact, it actually states another. Clearly, he is confusing the event of Enoch with Elijah

  (2 Kings 2:13) some 2,500 years later in biblical history, when Elijah disappeared in a fiery chariot.[32] This is a very poor and basic mistake, suggestive of dubious research, which seems to be endemic in von Däniken’s books.

  Two of the most enduring icons of von Däniken’s theories are the “Palenque astronaut” and the “Nazca lines.”

  The Palenque Astronaut

  In the ancient Mayan city of Palenque, Mexico, there is a large stone pyramid. Excavations after World War II revealed hidden chambers inside the structure, including a tomb for the Mayan king Pacal, who died around a.d. 683. On the lid of the tomb is a highly detailed carving. Von Däniken gives his impression:

  On the slab [covering the tomb is] a wonderful chiseled relief. In my eyes, you can see a kind of frame. In the center of that frame is a man sitting, bending forward. He has a mask on his nose, he uses his two hands to manipulate some controls, and the heel of his left foot is on a kind of pedal with different adjustments. The rear portion is separated from him; he is sitting on a complicated chair, and outside of this whole frame you see a little flame like an exhaust.[33]

  This is a grandiose description, and von Däniken clearly sees what he wants to see. A casual glance at the carving clearly shows that the man is naked and barefoot, except for a loincloth. If pictured in his spaceship, it hardly seems appropriate clothing for a technologically advanced extraterrestrial to be flying around the galaxy in. Moreover, there is no mask attached to his face — it is merely an ornament; the pedal is a seashell (a Mayan symbol associated with death); the hand controls are nothing of the sort and merely represent a panorama of the background view in the carving; and the exhaust appears to be a representation of the sacred maize plant. In short, the carving is simply a religious depiction to adorn the tomb of a deceased royal figure.[34]

  An illustration of the tomb lid showing more detail.

  The Nazca lines

  The mysterious Nazca lines are to be found near the ancient city of Nazca in Peru. Covering an area of some 37 square miles, von Däniken says:

  At some time in the past, unknown intelligences landed on the uninhabited plain near the present-day town of Nazca and built an improvised airfield for their spacecraft which were to operate in the vicinity of the earth.[35]

  On the Nazca plains, there are very long, and sometimes interconnecting, lines or markings (known as geoglyphs) covering a massive area. Some of the lines run for several miles, many are absolutely straight, others run parallel to each other and some are circular. Adherents to von Däniken’s beliefs refer to this as the “Nazca spaceport,” claiming that the full splendor and meaning can only be appreciated from the air. Von Däniken assumes that the feat of constructing such markings, let alone air travel, was beyond the ancient Peruvians, and so he invokes the ET factor once again, claiming that the markings are signals and landing strips for alien spaceships.

  An aerial photo of the Nazca lines in Peru.

  Many of the lines are only a few inches across. They are hardly big enough for a landing strip or runway. Although massive in scale, representations of animal figures, including a giant condor (a South American bird) can be clearly seen from the air. The lines themselves were not difficult (in the engineering sense) to construct, either. Many were made by simply moving stones and pebbles to one side to expose the yellow soil underneath. In an area that averages only half an inch of rainfall per year, they have remained virtually undisturbed for centuries. The meaning of the lines is not entirely clear, but further research is suggesting that they align with star constellations, and that some of these have been superimposed onto the animal figures. History has shown that the South American Indians had an amazing understanding of astronomy. In short, the huge lines were probably built for religious reasons. It is a ridiculous notion to suggest that extraterrestrials, who were capable of flying many light-years across the galaxy, needed some sort of markers on the earth to find their way around.

  In the semi-arid plains near Broken Hill, located in the outback of western New South Wales, Australia, local artist Peter Anderson single-handedly created the world’s largest piece of art. Covering an area of almost 5 million square yards (4 million square meters), using nothing more than a hand mower and a tractor, Anderson carved the impressive giant image of a smiling stockman. He was a lone operator who achieved the feat without the aid of satellite navigation (GPS), and he did so undetected. Yet, it requires a trip into the air to fully app
reciate the detail and grandeur of his work, as per photo on p. 206. Obviously, the Nazca Indians, with greater manpower, could have easily created the images despite not having the advantage of a tractor.

  The image of a smiling stockman known as Mundi Man in the Australian outback, see text.

  Von Däniken’s claims are extreme beyond belief with regard to the Palenque astronaut and the Nazca lines, and other claims too numerous to mention here. Besides Clifford Wilson, UFOlogist Ronald Story has also written two books dismissing von Däniken’s claims — The Space Gods Revealed (1976) and Guardians of the Universe (1980). Many other serious UFOlogists completely reject von Däniken’s evidences, although some do believe in the astrogenesis theory.

  On 22 occasions, publishers rejected Chariots of the Gods. After a science fiction writer helped rewrite the manuscript, it was eventually accepted and the rest is history, as they say.

  Honesty on trial

  A program on Britain’s Channel 4 TV reported that after finally gaining some success, von Däniken was arrested by Interpol for non-payment of £7,000 of business tax. Continued investigation by the courts revealed a further £350,000 of personal debts, and von Däniken was eventually imprisoned for three and a half years for embezzlement. Undeterred, he continued to write while in jail, which resulted in his second book, Return of the Gods. This time he claimed that the massive sculptures on Easter Island were built by aliens. Despite his personal reputation being in tatters, this book was another best seller.[36] They added: