OK, since I'm no longer tied to masturbating over photographs which may or may not be real/edited and derived from a laughably archaic interplanetary propulsion system let's throw the discussion open to the issue of extra-terrestrial life and specifically the ubiquitous UFO.

Up to at least my teens I firmly believed in their presence within earth's atmosphere and likely extraterrestrial origin. Back then there really was a burgeoning SF literature and film industry as well as any number of popular paranormal publications such as "The Unexplained" (which IIRC was pushed by Arthur C. Clarke), the Erich von Dannekin series etc. etc. Now, I can't really comment on the value of the latter (I only browsed a few episodes of The Unexplained and I never read Von Dannekin) - but my point is that back then the idea that earth was being visited by strange craft piloted by extra-terrestrial beings didn't seem particularly far-fetched.

At some point during the eighties the axe seem to drop. Yes, there were still books and films. But whereas previously even the mainstream media was prepared to at least countenance the possibility of ET suddenly the whole topic seemed to be one big joke in the press. It was around then that I began to drift away from the idea and I've maintained the same position until only very recently.

Which really makes no sense when you think about it because despite what counter-intelligence would have us believe human beings are very good witnesses. Sure, folk tell lies, embellish stories and such. But if eye-witness testimony were of no value it would never have been used as one of the fundamental pillars of trial law.

Many, many thousands of highly-credible witnesses have reported encounters with what they believed to be extra-terrestrial visitors. And there have been perhaps ten times that number who have talked about seeing craft in the skies whose behavior doesn't match known human technologies and is suggestive of an origin outside of our solar system.

Are all these cases true? Of course not. I'm sure most can attributed to any number of mundane explanations. I also believe that so-called "dark" projects such as the highly-classified aerospace program as well as MKULTRA have a lot to answer for in this department. However, I think it's safe to say there exists a core group of cases which really do stretch one's abilities to find an "ordinary" explanation. So even whilst I largely gave up on the idea of UFOs cases such as these have always lurked somewhere at the back of my mind.

Why the sudden volte-face on this question?

I guess the first chink in the armour came with reading the UK government's official 400+ page report into what took place at RAF Bedford on the 26th of December 1980 (also known as the Rendelsham Forest Incident). The history of this report is very interesting. When the UK government made a big fuss out of transferring all of its UFO-related files to the United States archives a few years ago there was uproar over the omission of Rendelsham. I vaguely recall hearing something about this fuss but I didn't pay it any attention. What almost NOBODY knew at the time was that they'd ALREADY slipped the report out on the quiet - completely declassified - in 2006. When researchers finally cottoned on and sourced a copy they were astounded by what they found. I STRONGLY recommend that everyone read this report very carefully. Yes, it gets a bit dry and technical at times but to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence it's patently obvious that not only did they take this incident very seriously at the time - they even went so far as to analyse in forensic detail many of the strange phenomena which took place over the three consecutive evenings. But it was whilst reading one subsection in which government scientists start talking about weird rays which induce all manner of not just physical but MENTAL phenomena that my jaw literally hit the floor.

However the real deal-breaker for me was watching Linda Moulton Howe's 1981(ish) Emmy Award-Winning documentary "Strange Harvest". Now, I had heard stories about curious incidences of cattle mutilation before. Many times. But I never really looked into it. I put it down to a few cranks and weirdos with the odd greedy farmer embellishing his story for compensation.

I can't recall exactly why I watched that film but when I did the debate was effectively over. For those who don't know - since AT LEAST 1952 there have been reports throughout the world of cattle and wild animals being discovered in a horrifically "mutilated" condition. I've used inverted commas because these injuries really don't conform to any kind of explicable behaviour. Major organs both internal and external are excised in ways which not only defy explanation but also current technological capabilities. Typically these organs are removed through impossibly small orifices which invariably show the telltale signs of cauterisation - as if made by some kind of high-energy beam.

Now, the usual response people offer involves animal predation, "satanists" or secret government or corporate bio-research projects. Experienced human and animal pathologists completely rule out the first explanation. Predators such as wolves or foxes kill in a recognisable fashion with the corpse typically showing signs of tear and/or bite wounds. There are no such wounds inflicted on these animals. But more importantly - there is almost always no sign whatsoever of blood and the same certainly cannot be said about the scene of a predatory kill.

Satanists? Well, I completely agree that such people exist - but the important point to remember here is that no Satanists to my knowledge have ever been arrested or even suspected of carrying out these killings. But even if they did - they must be awfully busy and have an extremely long reach because it is the sheer MAGNITUDE of these killings which is astounding. Recorded cases now number in the many thousands, spread all across the globe. If we are to believe that satanists are afoot (presumably driving around in Winnebagoes packing state-of-the-art surgical tools) on this kind of scale without ever being caught or arrested then we really do have a problem on our hands.

I don't believe this - which means the only other explanation is some kind of government/corporate (very) "dark" research project. Now, don't get me wrong - I wouldn't put it past the likes of the major biotech companies or such to get involved in this kind of stuff. Indeed, I wouldn't expect anything less. But if we are to believe this then there are some obvious questions which need to be addressed. For instance, why return the bodies? Why risk exposure? Why not buy the cattle and conduct said research within the privacy of their own facilities? It doesn't make any sense.

But it's the GOVERNMENT reaction to the animal mutilation question which I think gives the game away. Farmers up and down Britain have universally complained that not only does the British government provide almost no help in protecting and/or investigating these crimes - they have even gone so far as to SUBVERT further investigation. Time and time again there have been stories of farmers seeing unidentified government suits turning up and snatching the carcases with a "My way or the highway" attitude. Then they suddenly discover all manner of special-forces types tramping across their land completely uninvited and unannounced.

Then there are the even more concerning stories of human bodies turning up with exactly the same wounds. Now, I have to be careful talking about this because the evidence is nowhere near as concrete. For years there were rumours about people being found with similar injuries but from what I can discover they are largely that - rumour. However, there was at least ONE confirmed case in Brazil which was comprehensively examined by experienced pathologists in an extensive report. That report makes very interesting reading.

IMO, based on the number of cases, the diversity, the bizarre wounds which if current technology is capable of inflicting today - the technology of 1952 certainly was not, the curtain of silence and a host of other factors I really don't have time to mention I can arrive at only one conclusion.

I mean, if someone can come up with a better one I'm all ears. But whether the answer is terrestrial or not - we have a problem here. A big one. A problem which no one seems to want to talk about. Questions to MPs are either completely ignored or the senders are given the runaround. And let's not forget - farmers up and down Britain really are hopping mad about this. No farmer can tolerate 17 sheep snatched, butchered and killed in one evening without some kind of explanation.

Did governments across the globe and the mainstream media drop the UFO question because they don't believe they are capable of protecting the people?

What we do know is that up until at least the mid-sixties the US government took the question of UFOS VERY SERIOUSLY. There are countless official reports of nuclear installations being "buzzed" by such craft. The Russians have even claimed that not only was one of their silos visited by a craft of unknown origin - it even went so far as to initiate LAUNCH PROCEDURES. Nations as paranoid as the US & the USSR can only consider such encounters to constitute a grave threat to national security and so it is reasonable to suggest that they may want to suppress further knowledge.

We are told that the US government just gave up on the question of UFOs. I don't think that's true. Indeed, I strongly suspect it has been the cornerstone of the United States' seemingly inexplicable spending on national defence. That said, I also believe that we are now seeing the first steps taken toward some kind of disclosure. I think the Rendalsham Forest report forms at least part of this process. How much disclosure we'll get I'm not sure. But I think it's likely some kind of limited announcement will be made within ten years. Maybe sooner.

OK, since I'm no longer tied to masturbating over photographs which may or may not be real/edited and derived from a laughably archaic interplanetary propulsion system let's throw the discussion open to the issue of extra-terrestrial life and specifically the ubiquitous UFO.

Up to at least my teens I firmly believed in their presence within earth's atmosphere and likely extraterrestrial origin. Back then there really was a burgeoning SF literature and film industry as well as any number of popular paranormal publications such as "The Unexplained" (which IIRC was pushed by Arthur C. Clarke), the Erich von Dannekin series etc. etc. Now, I can't really comment on the value of the latter (I only browsed a few episodes of The Unexplained and I never read Von Dannekin) - but my point is that back then the idea that earth was being visited by strange craft piloted by extra-terrestrial beings didn't seem particularly far-fetched.

At some point during the eighties the axe seem to drop. Yes, there were still books and films. But whereas previously even the mainstream media was prepared to at least countenance the possibility of ET suddenly the whole topic seemed to be one big joke in the press. It was around then that I began to drift away from the idea and I've maintained the same position until only very recently.

Which really makes no sense when you think about it because despite what counter-intelligence would have us believe human beings are very good witnesses. Sure, folk tell lies, embellish stories and such. But if eye-witness testimony were of no value it would never have been used as one of the fundamental pillars of trial law.

Many, many thousands of highly-credible witnesses have reported encounters with what they believed to be extra-terrestrial visitors. And there have been perhaps ten times that number who have talked about seeing craft in the skies whose behavior doesn't match known human technologies and is suggestive of an origin outside of our solar system.

Are all these cases true? Of course not. I'm sure most can attributed to any number of mundane explanations. I also believe that so-called "dark" projects such as the highly-classified aerospace program as well as MKULTRA have a lot to answer for in this department. However, I think it's safe to say there exists a core group of cases which really do stretch one's abilities to find an "ordinary" explanation. So even whilst I largely gave up on the idea of UFOs cases such as these have always lurked somewhere at the back of my mind.

Why the sudden volte-face on this question?

I guess the first chink in the armour came with reading the UK government's official 400+ page report into what took place at RAF Bedford on the 26th of December 1980 (also known as the Rendelsham Forest Incident). The history of this report is very interesting. When the UK government made a big fuss out of transferring all of its UFO-related files to the United States archives a few years ago there was uproar over the omission of Rendelsham. I vaguely recall hearing something about this fuss but I didn't pay it any attention. What almost NOBODY knew at the time was that they'd ALREADY slipped the report out on the quiet - completely declassified - in 2006. When researchers finally cottoned on and sourced a copy they were astounded by what they found. I STRONGLY recommend that everyone read this report very carefully. Yes, it gets a bit dry and technical at times but to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence it's patently obvious that not only did they take this incident very seriously at the time - they even went so far as to analyse in forensic detail many of the strange phenomena which took place over the three consecutive evenings. But it was whilst reading one subsection in which government scientists start talking about weird rays which induce all manner of not just physical but MENTAL phenomena that my jaw literally hit the floor.

However the real deal-breaker for me was watching Linda Moulton Howe's 1981(ish) Emmy Award-Winning documentary "Strange Harvest". Now, I had heard stories about curious incidences of cattle mutilation before. Many times. But I never really looked into it. I put it down to a few cranks and weirdos with the odd greedy farmer embellishing his story for compensation.

I can't recall exactly why I watched that film but when I did the debate was effectively over. For those who don't know - since AT LEAST 1952 there have been reports throughout the world of cattle and wild animals being discovered in a horrifically "mutilated" condition. I've used inverted commas because these injuries really don't conform to any kind of explicable behaviour. Major organs both internal and external are excised in ways which not only defy explanation but also current technological capabilities. Typically these organs are removed through impossibly small orifices which invariably show the telltale signs of cauterisation - as if made by some kind of high-energy beam.

Now, the usual response people offer involves animal predation, "satanists" or secret government or corporate bio-research projects. Experienced human and animal pathologists completely rule out the first explanation. Predators such as wolves or foxes kill in a recognisable fashion with the corpse typically showing signs of tear and/or bite wounds. There are no such wounds inflicted on these animals. But more importantly - there is almost always no sign whatsoever of blood and the same certainly cannot be said about the scene of a predatory kill.

Satanists? Well, I completely agree that such people exist - but the important point to remember here is that no Satanists to my knowledge have ever been arrested or even suspected of carrying out these killings. But even if they did - they must be awfully busy and have an extremely long reach because it is the sheer MAGNITUDE of these killings which is astounding. Recorded cases now number in the many thousands, spread all across the globe. If we are to believe that satanists are afoot (presumably driving around in Winnebagoes packing state-of-the-art surgical tools) on this kind of scale without ever being caught or arrested then we really do have a problem on our hands.

I don't believe this - which means the only other explanation is some kind of government/corporate (very) "dark" research project. Now, don't get me wrong - I wouldn't put it past the likes of the major biotech companies or such to get involved in this kind of stuff. Indeed, I wouldn't expect anything less. But if we are to believe this then there are some obvious questions which need to be addressed. For instance, why return the bodies? Why risk exposure? Why not buy the cattle and conduct said research within the privacy of their own facilities? It doesn't make any sense.

But it's the GOVERNMENT reaction to the animal mutilation question which I think gives the game away. Farmers up and down Britain have universally complained that not only does the British government provide almost no help in protecting and/or investigating these crimes - they have even gone so far as to SUBVERT further investigation. Time and time again there have been stories of farmers seeing unidentified government suits turning up and snatching the carcases with a "My way or the highway" attitude. Then they suddenly discover all manner of special-forces types tramping across their land completely uninvited and unannounced.

Then there are the even more concerning stories of human bodies turning up with exactly the same wounds. Now, I have to be careful talking about this because the evidence is nowhere near as concrete. For years there were rumours about people being found with similar injuries but from what I can discover they are largely that - rumour. However, there was at least ONE confirmed case in Brazil which was comprehensively examined by experienced pathologists in an extensive report. That report makes very interesting reading.

IMO, based on the number of cases, the diversity, the bizarre wounds which if current technology is capable of inflicting today - the technology of 1952 certainly was not, the curtain of silence and a host of other factors I really don't have time to mention I can arrive at only one conclusion.

I mean, if someone can come up with a better one I'm all ears. But whether the answer is terrestrial or not - we have a problem here. A big one. A problem which no one seems to want to talk about. Questions to MPs are either completely ignored or the senders are given the runaround. And let's not forget - farmers up and down Britain really are hopping mad about this. No farmer can tolerate 17 sheep snatched, butchered and killed in one evening without some kind of explanation.

Did governments across the globe and the mainstream media drop the UFO question because they don't believe they are capable of protecting the people?

What we do know is that up until at least the mid-sixties the US government took the question of UFOS VERY SERIOUSLY. There are countless official reports of nuclear installations being "buzzed" by such craft. The Russians have even claimed that not only was one of their silos visited by a craft of unknown origin - it even went so far as to initiate LAUNCH PROCEDURES. Nations as paranoid as the US & the USSR can only consider such encounters to constitute a grave threat to national security and so it is reasonable to suggest that they may want to suppress further knowledge.

We are told that the US government just gave up on the question of UFOs. I don't think that's true. Indeed, I strongly suspect it has been the cornerstone of the United States' seemingly inexplicable spending on national defence. That said, I also believe that we are now seeing the first steps taken toward some kind of disclosure. I think the Rendalsham Forest report forms at least part of this process. How much disclosure we'll get I'm not sure. But I think it's likely some kind of limited announcement will be made within ten years. Maybe sooner.

On the subject of animal mutilations, Richard Hall made a half-decent short film which specifically looks at cases in the UK

Now, we can agree or disagree on Hall's interpretation of these incidents. But what can't be denied is that they are taking place with alarming frequency and the injuries seem to match those shown in the Moulton-Howe documentary.

We know the police know about this. Yet for some reason they are completely unwilling to or incapable of pursuing the matter. Which is precisely the same attitude we see in other nations.

WTF is going on here?

On the subject of animal mutilations, Richard Hall made a half-decent short film which specifically looks at cases in the UK

Now, we can agree or disagree on Hall's interpretation of these incidents. But what can't be denied is that they are taking place with alarming frequency and the injuries seem to match those shown in the Moulton-Howe documentary.

We know the police know about this. Yet for some reason they are completely unwilling to or incapable of pursuing the matter. Which is precisely the same attitude we see in other nations.

WTF is going on here?

Who knows? Does this help, from South Yorks Police?

Who knows? Does this help, from South Yorks Police?