There's a new thriller out this weekend, concerning the 18th Apollo mission to the moon (and the scary things which, in 1974, allegedly occurred there), and there is some speculation on the part of its producers as to whether the footage is "real" or not. Okay, Messrs. Weinstein, fair enough. We'll run with that. I've had a look at the trailer for Apollo 18 and, apart from its outer space setting, it features a montage of two lunkheads going crazy and yelling and smashing stuff. Either this is a movie about a covert lunar landing gone horribly awry -- or it's a metaphor for what happens when you blindly pick a roommate off Craigslist.
But anyway, they wouldn't show us Apollo 18 in advance -- and it seemed a stretch to review the excellent They Might Be Giants album of the same name -- so instead I spoke with author (Unsolved UFO Mysteries, Star Trek Cookbook), behavioralist/sociologist and extraterrestrial scholar (publisher of UFO Magazine, host of History Channel's UFO Hunters) William J. Birnes, who enthusiastically answered my questions as to whether or not there are really any nasty bugaboos wandering around on that big pretty orb in the sky where we humans fleetingly used to go but mysteriously don't go anymore.
Mr. Birnes proves immediately engaging, as this material falls well within his best-known field of expertise. The man also knows his movies (we talk classics: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Invasion of the Body Snatchers), thus it is with considerable effort that I withhold my Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz question, and instead ask him whether or not the U.S. government covertly sustains a presence on the dark side of the moon.
Here's what we know for fact -- that the dark side of the moon is very different topographically, and probably geologically, from the side of the moon that faces us. There is very good science behind the theory that Earth -- many, many, many moons ago, obviously -- had two moons: our moon that we have today, which was different then than it is now, probably a lot closer; and another, much smaller moon, that because of its erratic orbit, at the formation of the solar system, crashed into the moon we have now, which is why the dark side of the moon is kind of elongated, and different geologically from the side of the moon that faces us.
The celebrated UFO-ologist then cites his book, The Day After Roswell, regarding the U.S. Army planning a fully functional lunar military base ("Project Horizon") on the dark side of the moon, dating back to 1954. Intriguing! (Plus we get a cool Space: 1999 nod in there.) But oh, does it get better. Let's talk aliens.
"I do believe that at least part of what those plans were about," continues Mr. Birnes, "was for a strategic planetary defense against UFOs. And you'll say, 'Bill, you're out of your mind. What are you saying? Where's the evidence?' Well, here's the evidence: In 1952 -- again, this is not speculation -- there literally was a flying-saucer invasion over Washington, D.C." Referencing another of his books (Aliens in America), the watcher-of-skies recounts USAF General John Sanford telling America the UFOs were bogus; then, four years later, Project Blue Book leader USAF Captain Edward Ruppelt refuting Sanford's alleged cover-up, telling America that, yes, indeed, the invasion was real. Mr. Birnes also assures me that Eisenhower (with Churchill in tow) personally observed (and covered up) a UFO encounter over the North Sea. (Incidentally, be warned: You can blow a whole day viewing clips of this stuff on YouTube.)
But I want to know about the aliens. Do they like us? Do they hate us? Do they think we're merely stupid primates, placed here to entertain them?
William J. Birnes deftly deflects my (standard-issue) question regarding why, if aliens are real, they don't just land in suburbia in broad daylight and say hello. (He figures they're not terribly interested in us. Perhaps they've seen Jersey Shore?) But moreover -- and this actually makes some strange sense -- he espouses the theory that there are many species of alien, some benign, some hostile, intermingling with our collective human experience. These tangents prove fascinating -- Biblical, Native American, even genetic -- however I must steer us back toward the moon.
Former NASA photo-lab employee Donna (Teitze) Hare comes up, as Mr. Birnes notes her testimony that NASA routinely airbrushed out any and all alien details (spaceships, lunar buildings); and further, that the aliens made it very clear to NASA not to return to the moon -- especially to its dark side. Back in the mid-'60s, an Air Force technician friend of Mr. Birnes (whom he protectively grants anonymity) is cited to have lucked into viewing more photos of structures on the moon. I want to know: alien or terrestrial construction? "Well, that's the thing!" exclaims the specialist. "They were kind of circular, dome-like structures -- it didn't look like the campus of Microsoft. Did they look alien? Yeah, they looked ultra-modern, like beyond Frank Lloyd Wright." Further, the tech's very life may have been endangered by viewing the highly classified materials. Spooky!
But we're talking about a movie here. I bring up the theory that perhaps the first manned lunar landing was a clever hoax (Please, Mr. Aldrin! Just theorizing! Ow!) -- you know, that it was simply Stanley Kubrick filming the astronauts on a soundstage -- which is, um, exactly what the movie Apollo 18 is; minus Kubrick; plus director Gonzalo López-Gallego (Please, Mr. Weinstein! Just stating facts! Ow!) -- and Mr. Birnes has astute words for this notion as well.
"I don't believe those arguments that we never made it to the moon," he says. "There's another theory that we actually made it to the moon, did secret stuff on the moon, but Stanley Kubrick filmed other things as a cover for the secret stuff we were doing. I think that's more likely."
Alien lunar bases? Covert U.S. government lunar bases? Both? Does one hand (NASA) not know what the other hand (the military) is doing? I don't know, and Apollo 18 didn't have a midnight screening -- but Mr. Birnes does have some strong feelings about humankind going back to the moon:
Obviously there's some policy reason we're not doing it -- whether it's, 'We don't want to fight with the extraterrestrials,' or whether Obama is leading from behind, and letting the Russians, the Indians and the Chinese go first, you know: 'You guys get your ass kicked! Why should we?' My attitude is, I think that when you look at the missions that are being contemplated now -- 2025 to an asteroid; and 2030 to Mars -- it would've been far more efficacious for us to have kept going to the moon! Build that moon base! Establish a permanent base on the moon! Why fight with the Russians and the Chinese? C'mon, guys! You've got money! We all want the minerals. We're not gonna kill each other. We've had nuclear weapons aimed at each other since 1948, we haven't used 'em, why would we use 'em on the moon? That's dumb. Let's all make some money here! I mean, the moon's great! I would've continued on the moon. I would've built international spaceships, and I already would've been exploring some of the solar system by now -- thirty, forty years after the last Apollo mission. It makes absolutely no sense that we stopped going to the moon.
Now, with thanks to Mr. Birnes and noting of course that I am quite happily an Earthling, herein delivering an entertainment piece entirely devoid of any personal opinions on the subject of aliens and those shady government guys who love to tussle with them, I invite our HuffPost readers to opine about Apollo 18 and associated topics in the Comments section.
One thing I am very skeptical of, is how so many "investigators" are more concerned with generating income than exposing scientific facts. Many come off like snake oil salesmen, and give the legitimate investigators a bad name. There are many highly qualified investigators, like Stanton Friedman, making a serious effort to enlighten, but there are far more who see an opportunity to make an easy buck. So if you want me to believe you, don't ask me to subscribe to your website or to send money for any reason. And like the government, don't pee on my boots and try to tell me it's raining.
There is MASSIVE RELUCTANCE on the part of Extraterrestrials to engage with human beings - other than a miniscule minority who CAN / ARE WILLING to handle the "contact" openly, harmlessly, peacefully and honourably.
For YEARS We 've been alerting people to the increasingly precarious / disastrous State of Affairs/State of Environment on Planet Earth - YOUR rightful home planet and where YOU HUMAN BEINGS HOLD THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT ALL.
YOU have the free wills / choices. WE are willing to assist - ONLY where the assistance IS freely WELCOMED and where you honourably treat US well for bothering to make the effort. It does NOT WORK if on one hand, you want to take anything /everything you can get, take, steal - but on the other hand, treat US like a bunch of Cosmic (fill space with four letter word starting with "S"). ETs are NOT self-sacrificial beings , willing to forfeit their integrity in order to benefit/serve yours. Human beings NEED TO GROW UP. IF human beings are unable/unwilling to do this, then it is Cosmic "Law" that WE do NOT override the individual/collective choices - even IF those choices are disastrous for the human being. WE are NOT Saviours/Messiahs. WE are WILLING to assist YOU to be your OWN Saviours/Messiahs.
Put your vast positive energies into focusing on the rapidly disintegrating Life on Planet Earth - which shows ALL signs of cracking apart at the seams.
ELOHIM
That's what's on the record. As for what is still classified & off the record, well that's anybody's guess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_Orbital_Laboratory
Enjoy the mystery!
In 100,000 years, IF humanity has survived, in their most basic history instruction, there will be much discussion about perhaps 3 of the most important moments in human history:
1. When man began using his tools to make better tools.
2. When man establishes permanent, self-sufficient offworld colonies, thereby ensuring the effective immortality of the species.
And
3. First contact with a sentient technological species not originating from human worlds.
There is considerable evidence that points to the idea that the third event has begun, and is BEING HIDDEN from humanity at large by power-mad, self-interested parties, behind disinformation and ridicule of any who would even seriously ask the question.
That is a crime against human knowledge and understanding that makes the burning of the library of Alexandria seem like a toddler tearing up her 'Where's Waldo?' book in a fit of childish anger.
We understand that most people believe it's all jokes and hoaxers, but it's been 60-70 years since this subject became widely discussed, and the alleged prank on the world supposedly began. So after all this time, I have to ask: Do you see us laughing?
@ Khameleon808 -- I am beside myself with astonishment that you could be so incredibly exact in your outlook, seeing things as you do... and so precisely... one hundred and eighty degrees out of phase!
You don't need all of a puzzle's pieces to see the overall picture once you assemble what's there.
And finally, your comment about paranoia implies that there aren't countless documented and confirmed examples of precisely why the U.S. government cannot in any way be held as trustworthy. And further, consider the bumper-sticker wisdom of:
"Just because you're acting paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
It's a cliche for a reason, you know...
Read Here:
www.turkeyufocase.blogspot.com
http://turkeyufocase.blogspot.com/p/tubiak-report.html
This is yet another reason why anyone interested in the subject of the UFO has to avoid mainstream commentary. The continued infantilization of the subject is nauseating. Rather than UFO celebrity Bill Birnes, might I suggest a talk with journalist Leslie Keane, or the Disclosure Project's Dr. Steven Greer? Unless, of course, you'd rather keep the suject fit only for sarcastic derision (not, gee wiz, that that was your intent, holy cow, heaven forbid!!).
I believe there is ample evidence of the existence of unidentified craft having been in our skies regularly for the past six decades. But I only give credence to those who put their very valuable reputations and their jobs at risk by making such reports... pilots, ground controllers, police officers, etc.
I wouldn't believe Bill Birnes if he told me the sun was coming up tomorrow morning... and to anyone who takes that as an extreme comment, just take a look at a few issues of his magazine.
'Ancient Aliens' by Giorgio Tsoukalos - now *there's* a great series.