I was going thru some files on my network drive this morning and came across a number of former columns I wrote while I was still Director of Research for UFO mag. Here is one from Sept.-05 and if you all would like me to continue to occasionally pop another in here, let me know. If not, no sweat.
Decker
I Get The Last Word
09/2005
by Don Ecker
Sitting down to write this column I suddenly realized that the “Fall Equinox” just arrived the other day, and the end of 2005 is fast approaching. Suddenly summer is gone, the fall season has arrived and before we realize it, Christmas will ambush us. Suddenly my mind drifted back years ago and I dejectedly (once again) accepted the fact that the UFO field has not evolved with all this passage of time.
I was recently doing some research on an aspect of the UFO field and for the first time in months dug out all my Major Donald Keyhoe books. Vicariously through Keyhoe’s writing, I again re-lived his and NICAP’s glory days in the 50’s and 60’s while I searched for the desired information I needed. In hindsight of course, I smiled as I read some of Keyhoes guarded barbs concerning the frauds then in the UFO field. ( And not unsurprisingly these folks still have followers today!) The George Adamski’s, the Dan Fry’s, etc., the names have changed but the game goes on. As a matter of fact, I just got hit in the face with it two nights ago as I write this, with a fraud UFO Magazine covered not long ago, and a well known researcher who is going to address the Orange County MUFON group … about this fraud! So I am sure you’re asking who is this fraud and the researcher promoting him. Well … the folks in question are Dan Burish aka Dan Crain and UFO researcher Bill Hamilton. Depressing yes but not unexpected.
All the way back in Volume 7, number 3 of UFO Magazine (May-1992) I did an expose on one Mel Noel aka Guy Kirkwood and his imaginary adventures as an Air Force pursuit pilot in the 1950’s chasing and photographing UFOs. Actually this was an old hoax, having been exposed several times. However gentle readers, why let the “facts” of a “good story” intrude? This hoax surfaces from time to time, and at the time I had Guy drop by my house where I showed him the story ahead of time. I then told him that all he had to do was to produce his military discharge papers and we would not run the story. He promised to get his military discharge papers to me asap … and I am still waiting. He never did, but Bill Hamilton jumped on the band wagon defending Noel/Kirkwood. He took a couple of shots at me (yeah I know, but it comes with the job) claiming I “got all my facts wrong!” When I challenged him to tell me what facts I got wrong on a public UFO mail list, he finally said I got Noel/Kirkwoods middle names wrong. ( Well geeze, at the time we had three names for Noel/Kirwood. Who the hell knew which one was right? But at anyrate, cutting to the chase, I asked Hamilton about Noel/Kirwood’s discharge papers. He claimed he saw them, shown by Kirkwood, but he had no obligation to have Noel/Kirkwood get them to me. Hamilton was a believer! Hey, twas a great story! I suppose the Burish saga is a good story too.
Dr. Dan Burish, with his non-existent degree, with his miracle non-existent cancer cure and his nefarious activities at Area 51 make one hell of a good story. Just the right formula to convince the “straight” scientific community to take a look at our subject. But lest you think I’m picking on Hamilton, he is by no means the only figure to get taken in.
Linda Moulton Howe has been around the UFO arena for almost 25 years. I first encountered her work in Denver way back in the early 80’s when she reported on her “Strange Harvest” documentary. I recently saw her presentation an the 2005 NUFOC conference and was quite amazed by what she had to say. Well, not that I should have been surprised.
A.J. Gervard, Editor of the Brazilian UFO Magazine perhaps said it best at http://www.ufowatchdog.com/ajbrazil.html. Howe has been promoting a known Brazilian fraud by the name of Urandir Fernandes de Oliveira. This is another guy with one hell of a story which includes but is NOT LIMITED TO, encounters and abductions with blond ET’s and another 38 alien races, but he even claims to have met Jesus Christ! Stick that on your UFO resume … Bunky! Most recently Linda was discussing the alien bio-threat that the Roswell Crash presented. Whew! Some more unsubstantiated doom and gloom!! And to think that “mainstream UFOlogists” are upset that nobody seems to take us and UFOs seriously! Science?? Nope, P.T. Barnum!
Don Ecker
Decker
I Get The Last Word
09/2005
by Don Ecker
Sitting down to write this column I suddenly realized that the “Fall Equinox” just arrived the other day, and the end of 2005 is fast approaching. Suddenly summer is gone, the fall season has arrived and before we realize it, Christmas will ambush us. Suddenly my mind drifted back years ago and I dejectedly (once again) accepted the fact that the UFO field has not evolved with all this passage of time.
I was recently doing some research on an aspect of the UFO field and for the first time in months dug out all my Major Donald Keyhoe books. Vicariously through Keyhoe’s writing, I again re-lived his and NICAP’s glory days in the 50’s and 60’s while I searched for the desired information I needed. In hindsight of course, I smiled as I read some of Keyhoes guarded barbs concerning the frauds then in the UFO field. ( And not unsurprisingly these folks still have followers today!) The George Adamski’s, the Dan Fry’s, etc., the names have changed but the game goes on. As a matter of fact, I just got hit in the face with it two nights ago as I write this, with a fraud UFO Magazine covered not long ago, and a well known researcher who is going to address the Orange County MUFON group … about this fraud! So I am sure you’re asking who is this fraud and the researcher promoting him. Well … the folks in question are Dan Burish aka Dan Crain and UFO researcher Bill Hamilton. Depressing yes but not unexpected.
All the way back in Volume 7, number 3 of UFO Magazine (May-1992) I did an expose on one Mel Noel aka Guy Kirkwood and his imaginary adventures as an Air Force pursuit pilot in the 1950’s chasing and photographing UFOs. Actually this was an old hoax, having been exposed several times. However gentle readers, why let the “facts” of a “good story” intrude? This hoax surfaces from time to time, and at the time I had Guy drop by my house where I showed him the story ahead of time. I then told him that all he had to do was to produce his military discharge papers and we would not run the story. He promised to get his military discharge papers to me asap … and I am still waiting. He never did, but Bill Hamilton jumped on the band wagon defending Noel/Kirkwood. He took a couple of shots at me (yeah I know, but it comes with the job) claiming I “got all my facts wrong!” When I challenged him to tell me what facts I got wrong on a public UFO mail list, he finally said I got Noel/Kirkwoods middle names wrong. ( Well geeze, at the time we had three names for Noel/Kirwood. Who the hell knew which one was right? But at anyrate, cutting to the chase, I asked Hamilton about Noel/Kirwood’s discharge papers. He claimed he saw them, shown by Kirkwood, but he had no obligation to have Noel/Kirkwood get them to me. Hamilton was a believer! Hey, twas a great story! I suppose the Burish saga is a good story too.
Dr. Dan Burish, with his non-existent degree, with his miracle non-existent cancer cure and his nefarious activities at Area 51 make one hell of a good story. Just the right formula to convince the “straight” scientific community to take a look at our subject. But lest you think I’m picking on Hamilton, he is by no means the only figure to get taken in.
Linda Moulton Howe has been around the UFO arena for almost 25 years. I first encountered her work in Denver way back in the early 80’s when she reported on her “Strange Harvest” documentary. I recently saw her presentation an the 2005 NUFOC conference and was quite amazed by what she had to say. Well, not that I should have been surprised.
A.J. Gervard, Editor of the Brazilian UFO Magazine perhaps said it best at http://www.ufowatchdog.com/ajbrazil.html. Howe has been promoting a known Brazilian fraud by the name of Urandir Fernandes de Oliveira. This is another guy with one hell of a story which includes but is NOT LIMITED TO, encounters and abductions with blond ET’s and another 38 alien races, but he even claims to have met Jesus Christ! Stick that on your UFO resume … Bunky! Most recently Linda was discussing the alien bio-threat that the Roswell Crash presented. Whew! Some more unsubstantiated doom and gloom!! And to think that “mainstream UFOlogists” are upset that nobody seems to take us and UFOs seriously! Science?? Nope, P.T. Barnum!
Don Ecker