UFO Events & Issues

Hosted byGeorge Knapp

UFO Events & Issues

About the show

George Knapp discussed the UFO phenomenon with a cavalcade of guests, beginning with Needles object witness Frank Costigan (KLAS TV news report) in the first hour. Following that, retired Air Force Capt. Robert Collins talked about UFO disinformation during the second hour. Then, author William Birnes discussed a number of issues related to the field of Ufology for the remainder of the program.

Talking about his investigation into the Needles UFO case, Frank Costigan detailed how, since the incident, numerous people have reported sightings of the infamous Men in Black in the area. "We've gotten hundreds of reports of this group," said Costigan. He speculated that the object which crashed in Needles was "something that the US government was testing." To that end, he noted the quick response time by the government recovering the object, which suggests foreknowledge of its impending crash. Ultimately, he said, the residents of the area "want answers" and that there is "no doubt in the general minds of people in Needles that this is a true event."

During the 2nd hour, Robert Collins discussed UFO disinformation and denied allegations that he had taken part in the spreading of falsehoods regarding the UFO phenomenon. He claimed that some of his insights into UFOs are gleaned from his days in the Air Force foreign technology division at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the 1980's. There, he said, he "picked up information" from "people who knew about the subject." Collins was skeptical that the government is disinforming the UFO community in contemporary times. Instead, he suggested that there is a cloak of silence around the subject created by the media and perpetuated by the general public. He theorized that if there is a government disinformation program at work today then it is "extremely low key."

UFO Hunters and the Morristown UFO hoax were two of the many topics discussed by William Birnes in the latter half of the program. On the subject of UFO Hunters, he noted that the show is very popular with young people and that aspect of the program is particularly exciting to him since some of them are discovering UFOs for the first time. Regarding the Morristown UFO hoax, Birnes said that "the facts in the story have all but disappeared" in the wake of the frenzied media coverage of the deception. He refuted claims that UFO Hunters were duped by the hoaxers, saying "we never called these things flying saucers. We said the lights were unidentified."

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The SETI Institute has begun a new project which asks people to submit their message to send into space and then correlates them to, ultimately, determine just what Earthlings wish to say to potential visitors to our planet. More information on the "Earth Speaks" project can be found here.

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