This holiday weekend ended up being pretty wonderful, Vicki and my daughter-in-law brought over our 3 grandchildren (all boys ages 4-8-10) and Vicki and I took them out for dinner last night. I took a couple of photos of the boys (Roy-Gus- and "Mad" Max) and this AM put the pictures up on FB with a note about how much we enjoyed the visit. A number of friends then put up "Likes" and a couple of notes but then I got this one from a guy on FB, and it said ...
"Don please take back UFO Magazine so it can be a readable periodical again. Thanks and your grandkids are adorable."
Boy, that gave me pause. It has been over 4 years ago that I stepped away from Vicki and my "baby" and both of us have had periodic pains about that over the years. The magazine has taken a wide turn from what Vic and I did with it in terms of investigations, articles, and the direction that she and I took it in. When we published it we poured heart and soul into the effort and now it seems all for naught. Thinking about it I found an article I wrote when the mag turned 20. If you are interested, you might find this interesting.
UFO Turns 20!
by Don Ecker
In the almost twenty years that I’ve been involved in UFO research, I’ve witnessed a lot of change and a lot that has stayed the same. I became fully involved in 1988 while attending college taking a number of computer courses. Actually in December of 1987 I was online with the old Compuserve Network, and a member of the Issues forum. At that time a brand new file had been uploaded to Issues called MJ 12. I recall downloading the file (using a 300 baud telephone modem) and reading the file with a great deal of amazement. The file, placed on Compuserve, came from William Moore and Jaime Shandera, two UFO researchers out of southern California. This file was alleged to be a formerly Top Secret briefing document (written in 1952) written for incoming President Dwight Eisenhower. The document was about a UFO crash that reportedly occurred in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, and it spoke about the crash, bodies recovered and a top secret cabal of American military and scientists put together by President Harry Truman.
I did not know, of course, if this was real or not but the implications were breathtaking. If true, what this document stated was that not only were off-world visitors coming here, but the American government was aware of it, and perhaps even had some type of dialog with the aliens.
Literally on the heels of the MJ 12 papers was another document placed in the Issues forum written by one John Lear, son of famed aviation legend William Lear. William Lear was the designer of the Lear Jet and many other electronic devices that Americans took for granted. John Lear was a pilot, had worked as a contract pilot for the CIA in South East Asia, and seemed to carry a great deal of credibility. The Lear paper was placed up on the Issues forum by Jim Speiser, founder of the ParaNet Computer system and at the time one of the leaders of the Issues forum.
The Lear paper however sounded like a plot from a science fiction horror story. As Lear later told me, it was a combination of information he and a friend (later identified as John Grace, a then active duty NCO in the Air Force) had pieced together, and it was enough to give you nightmares. Lear alleged that aliens were abducting human beings, killing some, mutilating cattle and other animals, and the United States Government was in collusion with the ETs.
With both the MJ 12 papers and Lears paper, the American UFO scene (and soon researchers all around the world) erupted into warring camps. UFO research over the next 10 to 15 years promised to never be the same.
As this warring mix became even more vocal another voice that came from ParaNet surfaced that stirred the pot to boiling. His name was William “Bill” Cooper and he claimed that while an enlisted man in the US Navy, he sighted a UFO while on a cruise while a member of a diesel submarine. Soon Cooper was sending a number of very provocative files, uploading them to ParaNet. Initially Jim Speiser was supportive of Cooper, and Cooper seemed to support the claims in the John Lear paper. During the month of October, 1988, a two hour television event aired on FOX called “UFO Cover-Up Live” that featured among others Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera. Infamous today, at the time the show sent shock-waves and also laughter throughout the UFO research field. One of the “highlights” was when a supposed government operative, in electronic blackout, claimed that the aliens currently here on planet Earth liked Tibetan bell music and were fond of strawberry ice cream. But soon the laughter would de-evolve into loud and angry voices.
Cooper (Bill that is, not Vicki!!) at first claimed that Bill Moore’s information was right on the money! However is was not too long before Cooper began changing some of the highlights of the MJ 12 papers claiming that Moore and Shandera were actually government disinformation agents sent out to disrupt and obfuscate the UFO field. After a series of abrupt changes in Coopers story about his involvement in UFOs during his military service, and Coopers increasing display of anger Jim Speiser ejected Cooper (and also John Lear) from the ParaNet Service.
Over the next several years the American UFO scene became more and more a total shambles. More bizarre claims surfaced while exciting new cases (regardless of whether these cases were real or not) like the Bob Lazar claims were presented. Talk radio also helped stir the pot as the internet continued to mature. Programs like the Billy Goodman show, and later the Art Bell show continued to present the drek of the UFO scene as well as genuine new and mysterious cases. Television, always looking for the next trend to hook the viewing public suddenly re-discovered UFOs. “A Current Affair, Hard Copy, Oprah, Mo Gaffney, Encounters” just to name a few TV shows all featured the UFO topic in the early 1990’s. UFO Magazine often found itself featured in many of these programs. We always tried to present the subject in a very legitimate manner, but TV will always be TV.
In the twenty years that we’ve covered the UFO beat we were there reporting on every story that circulated throughout the UFO field. During the 1990’s when I was doing my UFO talk show, UFOs Tonite!, we often crossed over from the magazine to my show. One thing that is nice about doing a talk show is that you can concentrate on the topics that really hold your interest. My interest has always been the UFO phenomena that was off Earth in near space. The Moon and Mars are two prime examples of coverage that seeped from the magazine to the talk show and vice versa. Mars was always a very hot topic that we covered extensively. Going back to the very first issues of UFO, “the Face on Mars” was a very hot topic, and later on stories like the 1993 Mars Observer probe that disappeared just a couple of days out from Mars were covered by going to the spokespeople at NASA, independent researchers, and the things that should have made international news, but didn’t, were reported here and on UFOs Tonite!. Do you remember that when the Mars Observer was going to be launched that that massive hurricane swept into Florida and the launch was delayed. When it was all said and done and the launch was re-scheduled, a checked was conducted on the capsule to make sure no damage was incurred and it was found to be totally contaminated! The capsule was pulled for cleaning an repair and what was discovered was shocking. A grease like substance was discovered smeared on the camera lens, all kinds of debris was found in the capsule container that “appeared” to have been dropped in by someone! An attempt to sabotage by a person or persons unknown? Remember that this was at the very height of a public campaign to get NASA to re-photograph the Cydonia area on Mars.
We covered questions about the Moon and claims of lunar artifacts that appear to be of un-earthly origin. We covered these stories in both UFO Magazine as well as on UFOs Tonite!, and if you had questions about these stories you would have been very hard pressed to find the information anywhere else! Lunar phenomena is an old story and we’ve covered it almost since the beginning of UFO Magazine.
We broke stories before anyone else, including the mainstream media on cloning, new types of renewable energy, nuclear power plant over flights and security incursions, what was the real story of Gulf Breeze, what you never heard from anyone else about Wythville, Virginia. During the 50th anniversary of the Roswell event we reported on why the US Airforce’s “The Roswell Report: Case Closed” report was so much drek and another example of the Air Force’s “smoke and mirrors.” We appeared on MSNBC and even the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokow to report on our findings.
During a number of appearances on the Larry King Live talk show, we broke several stories that mainstream news refused to touch, stories that should have made international news. The STS 48 space shuttle video and the former Soviet space probe Phobos II’s encounter with a huge unknown in Mars orbit were all covered in UFO. You read or heard about it first in the pages of UFO Magazine.
To sum up our first twenty years of publishing, UFO Magazine has been at the spear-point of UFO reporting, relaying information that is almost impossible to get anywhere else. And!, as long as we continue to publish UFO, we will continue to get the information out to you that you will not get anywhere else!
"Don please take back UFO Magazine so it can be a readable periodical again. Thanks and your grandkids are adorable."
Boy, that gave me pause. It has been over 4 years ago that I stepped away from Vicki and my "baby" and both of us have had periodic pains about that over the years. The magazine has taken a wide turn from what Vic and I did with it in terms of investigations, articles, and the direction that she and I took it in. When we published it we poured heart and soul into the effort and now it seems all for naught. Thinking about it I found an article I wrote when the mag turned 20. If you are interested, you might find this interesting.
UFO Turns 20!
by Don Ecker
In the almost twenty years that I’ve been involved in UFO research, I’ve witnessed a lot of change and a lot that has stayed the same. I became fully involved in 1988 while attending college taking a number of computer courses. Actually in December of 1987 I was online with the old Compuserve Network, and a member of the Issues forum. At that time a brand new file had been uploaded to Issues called MJ 12. I recall downloading the file (using a 300 baud telephone modem) and reading the file with a great deal of amazement. The file, placed on Compuserve, came from William Moore and Jaime Shandera, two UFO researchers out of southern California. This file was alleged to be a formerly Top Secret briefing document (written in 1952) written for incoming President Dwight Eisenhower. The document was about a UFO crash that reportedly occurred in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, and it spoke about the crash, bodies recovered and a top secret cabal of American military and scientists put together by President Harry Truman.
I did not know, of course, if this was real or not but the implications were breathtaking. If true, what this document stated was that not only were off-world visitors coming here, but the American government was aware of it, and perhaps even had some type of dialog with the aliens.
Literally on the heels of the MJ 12 papers was another document placed in the Issues forum written by one John Lear, son of famed aviation legend William Lear. William Lear was the designer of the Lear Jet and many other electronic devices that Americans took for granted. John Lear was a pilot, had worked as a contract pilot for the CIA in South East Asia, and seemed to carry a great deal of credibility. The Lear paper was placed up on the Issues forum by Jim Speiser, founder of the ParaNet Computer system and at the time one of the leaders of the Issues forum.
The Lear paper however sounded like a plot from a science fiction horror story. As Lear later told me, it was a combination of information he and a friend (later identified as John Grace, a then active duty NCO in the Air Force) had pieced together, and it was enough to give you nightmares. Lear alleged that aliens were abducting human beings, killing some, mutilating cattle and other animals, and the United States Government was in collusion with the ETs.
With both the MJ 12 papers and Lears paper, the American UFO scene (and soon researchers all around the world) erupted into warring camps. UFO research over the next 10 to 15 years promised to never be the same.
As this warring mix became even more vocal another voice that came from ParaNet surfaced that stirred the pot to boiling. His name was William “Bill” Cooper and he claimed that while an enlisted man in the US Navy, he sighted a UFO while on a cruise while a member of a diesel submarine. Soon Cooper was sending a number of very provocative files, uploading them to ParaNet. Initially Jim Speiser was supportive of Cooper, and Cooper seemed to support the claims in the John Lear paper. During the month of October, 1988, a two hour television event aired on FOX called “UFO Cover-Up Live” that featured among others Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera. Infamous today, at the time the show sent shock-waves and also laughter throughout the UFO research field. One of the “highlights” was when a supposed government operative, in electronic blackout, claimed that the aliens currently here on planet Earth liked Tibetan bell music and were fond of strawberry ice cream. But soon the laughter would de-evolve into loud and angry voices.
Cooper (Bill that is, not Vicki!!) at first claimed that Bill Moore’s information was right on the money! However is was not too long before Cooper began changing some of the highlights of the MJ 12 papers claiming that Moore and Shandera were actually government disinformation agents sent out to disrupt and obfuscate the UFO field. After a series of abrupt changes in Coopers story about his involvement in UFOs during his military service, and Coopers increasing display of anger Jim Speiser ejected Cooper (and also John Lear) from the ParaNet Service.
Over the next several years the American UFO scene became more and more a total shambles. More bizarre claims surfaced while exciting new cases (regardless of whether these cases were real or not) like the Bob Lazar claims were presented. Talk radio also helped stir the pot as the internet continued to mature. Programs like the Billy Goodman show, and later the Art Bell show continued to present the drek of the UFO scene as well as genuine new and mysterious cases. Television, always looking for the next trend to hook the viewing public suddenly re-discovered UFOs. “A Current Affair, Hard Copy, Oprah, Mo Gaffney, Encounters” just to name a few TV shows all featured the UFO topic in the early 1990’s. UFO Magazine often found itself featured in many of these programs. We always tried to present the subject in a very legitimate manner, but TV will always be TV.
In the twenty years that we’ve covered the UFO beat we were there reporting on every story that circulated throughout the UFO field. During the 1990’s when I was doing my UFO talk show, UFOs Tonite!, we often crossed over from the magazine to my show. One thing that is nice about doing a talk show is that you can concentrate on the topics that really hold your interest. My interest has always been the UFO phenomena that was off Earth in near space. The Moon and Mars are two prime examples of coverage that seeped from the magazine to the talk show and vice versa. Mars was always a very hot topic that we covered extensively. Going back to the very first issues of UFO, “the Face on Mars” was a very hot topic, and later on stories like the 1993 Mars Observer probe that disappeared just a couple of days out from Mars were covered by going to the spokespeople at NASA, independent researchers, and the things that should have made international news, but didn’t, were reported here and on UFOs Tonite!. Do you remember that when the Mars Observer was going to be launched that that massive hurricane swept into Florida and the launch was delayed. When it was all said and done and the launch was re-scheduled, a checked was conducted on the capsule to make sure no damage was incurred and it was found to be totally contaminated! The capsule was pulled for cleaning an repair and what was discovered was shocking. A grease like substance was discovered smeared on the camera lens, all kinds of debris was found in the capsule container that “appeared” to have been dropped in by someone! An attempt to sabotage by a person or persons unknown? Remember that this was at the very height of a public campaign to get NASA to re-photograph the Cydonia area on Mars.
We covered questions about the Moon and claims of lunar artifacts that appear to be of un-earthly origin. We covered these stories in both UFO Magazine as well as on UFOs Tonite!, and if you had questions about these stories you would have been very hard pressed to find the information anywhere else! Lunar phenomena is an old story and we’ve covered it almost since the beginning of UFO Magazine.
We broke stories before anyone else, including the mainstream media on cloning, new types of renewable energy, nuclear power plant over flights and security incursions, what was the real story of Gulf Breeze, what you never heard from anyone else about Wythville, Virginia. During the 50th anniversary of the Roswell event we reported on why the US Airforce’s “The Roswell Report: Case Closed” report was so much drek and another example of the Air Force’s “smoke and mirrors.” We appeared on MSNBC and even the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokow to report on our findings.
During a number of appearances on the Larry King Live talk show, we broke several stories that mainstream news refused to touch, stories that should have made international news. The STS 48 space shuttle video and the former Soviet space probe Phobos II’s encounter with a huge unknown in Mars orbit were all covered in UFO. You read or heard about it first in the pages of UFO Magazine.
To sum up our first twenty years of publishing, UFO Magazine has been at the spear-point of UFO reporting, relaying information that is almost impossible to get anywhere else. And!, as long as we continue to publish UFO, we will continue to get the information out to you that you will not get anywhere else!
