nivek
As Above So Below
The U.S. Government's Secret Project That Follows Alien Abductees
By Nick RedfernIt's a very little known fact that for a long time certain elements of the U.S. government and military operatives have carefully watched alien abductees. With that said, let's have a close look at some of the most intriguing and fascinating examples. We'll begin with one of the world’s most famous alien abductions of all time, that of Betty and Barney Hill. They were abducted on the night of September 19, 1961, while returning to their New Hampshire home, after a vacation in Canada. Like so many abductees, the pair was subjected to stressful, intrusive medical procedures on-board a UFO. Their abductors were non-human things with penetrating, staring eyes. The U.S. Air Force soon opened a file on the Hill affair, a copy of which details their extraordinary experience. It’s an almost legendary story that took place on the night of September 19, 1961 and involved a married couple, Betty and Barney Hill, of New Hampshire.
On the night in question, the pair was driving back from a vacation in Canada. The sky was black and filled with stars, the roads were winding, and a backdrop of huge mountains dominated much of the drive. A good time was had over the border and great memories were made: a visit to Niagara Falls was just one of the many highlights. Little did Betty and Barney know it at the time, though, there was about to be another highlight, a deeply disturbing one. Indeed, it was filled with nothing but terror and trauma. As they negotiated the shadowy, dark roads on their return to New Hampshire, the Hills were about to encounter something unearthly and fear-filled. It was an event that was destined to radically alter and dictate the rest of their lives.
New Hampshire, at around 10:30 p.m., they noticed something in the skies above them, and not at all far away. Whatever it was, the brightly lit vehicle was certainly no regular aircraft. Nor was it a helicopter. So, what was it? A sense of anxiety mixed with puzzlement and foreboding enveloped the pair - and in quick time, too. The Hills could only speculate on what it was – and to try and get a better view of it, too. Betty, already intrigued to the max by the presence of the futuristic-looking vehicle, suggested to Barney that he should pull the car over to the side of the road, and grab his pair of binoculars, which he had taken with them on the vacation – which was most fortuitous, to say the very least.
It was at a picnic area near Twin Mountain that Barney was able to stop the vehicle and see that whatever the object was, it definitely was no aircraft, even though it did have porthole-type windows which could be seen fairly clearly. Betty excitedly looked carefully through the binoculars, too – she too was convinced that the craft was definitely out of the ordinary, to put it mildly. The pair sat, almost in awe, as they concentrated on the mysterious craft that was already provoking thoughts in their minds of UFOs and alien creatures from a faraway world – maybe even from a faraway galaxy. Adrenalin was pumping and tension was rising. Something was clearly going down and the Hills were caught right in the middle of it. Not a good thing.
As they approached Franconia Notch, which is a pass in the vast White Mountain National Forest, the two got an even better look at the craft. It moved silently and effortlessly above giant firs, pines and spruces. The Hills looked on amazed as the clearly rotating object performed all manner of astonishing maneuvers in the sky: it briefly hovered, then raced away at high speed, and finally returned to hang ominously in the air near their car. The pair continued to look on when two wings emerged from the sides of the craft, giving every impression that it was about to land. It turns out that their instincts were right on the money: creatures from another world were about to put in an appearance and turn the lives of the Hills upside down and inside out. A close encounters of the third kind? Undeniably. Let's have a look at some cases where abductees have been watched by government personnel.
There's the May 23, 1973 alien abduction experience of Judy Doraty, who, while driving near Houston, Texas late at night, encountered a disk-shaped UFO. Following a series of bad dreams, it became clear there was a period of “missing time” in Doraty’s recollections of what happened to her. Upon being hypnotized by UFO researcher Dr. Leo Sprinkle, Doraty recalled the portion of the event which had been almost completely erased from her mind. She described seeing a calf being taken aboard the UFO, “like it’s being sucked up.” Doraty also recalled being taken on board the craft. In no time at all, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico opened a secret file on Doraty and her experience – something which was prompted by the unique nature of her kidnapping. Namely, that Doraty was abducted because she had stumbled upon a so-called “cattle mutilation” event. The implication being that the ETs tried to wipe her memory clean, as a means to prevent her from revealing what she had encountered. The AFOSI was deeply concerned by the cattle mutilation/alien abduction connection, as will become apparent.
And, there was Charles Hickson's and Calivin Parker’s late-night kidnapping from the banks of the Pascagoula River in October 1973. They recalled, under hypnosis, being taken on-board a UFO by creatures with “lobster-like claws.” The pair became the subject of intense scrutiny by military personnel at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. Intelligence staff at Keesler kept a careful watch on Parker and Hickson for months, secretly monitoring their activities. Myrna Hansen’s encounter of May 5, 1980, which occurred as she was heading to Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico, after a road trip to Oklahoma. Hansen experienced a classic alien abduction experience. Notably, and just like Judy Doraty seven years earlier, Hansen saw a young cow being “sucked” into the UFO. More intriguing, Hansen recalled being taken to an underground facility, where aliens implanted her with a sophisticated tracking device. When Hansen described the appearance of the facility, it quickly caught the attention of the AFOSI at Kirtland Air Force Base.
There was a very good reason for this: the facility she described was an off-limits, underground bunker at the base’s weapons storage area; the implication being that the military and the ETs may have been secretly working together, deep underground. Extensive files were opened on Hansen’s experience. In the mid-1990s, UFO researcher Greg Bishop struck up a friendship with the late alien abductee, Dr. Karla Turner, who was the author of a number of books on her experiences, including Into the Fringe. As this was, largely, the pre-Internet era, the pair corresponded by mail. As Greg revealed after Karla’s death, mail sent to and from the pair arrived already opened – torn and resealed. On other occasions, the letters weren’t even resealed. Both Greg and Karla were convinced this was all part of some mind-manipulating program, a government-driven operation designed to psychologically destabilize the pair by letting them know that the government was watching them.
For years, numerous abductees have reported close encounter with not just UFOs and aliens, but with what have become infamously known as “black helicopters.” These usually unmarked craft are reported flying over the homes of abductees. On occasion, they will hover over the same homes for minutes at a time, and at precariously low levels. Typically, they turn up within a day or two of an alien abduction experience. All of the evidence suggests that the helicopters are piloted by “black-ops” teams who have three, primary agendas: (A) to try and determine the range and scope of alien abductions; (B) to frighten the experiencers into staying quiet on their experiences; and (C) to figure out the true nature of the extraterrestrial agenda.
The black helicopter-based experiences of numerous people have been addressed deeply, including those of abductee Betty Andreasson, one of the most famous figures in Ufology. Such was the huge number of intrusions in the skies above the Andreasson home, Betty’s husband, Bob, fired off a letter to the Army’s Office of the Adjutant General, insisting that someone provide answers. No-one in officialdom would own up to anything. The mystery remained a mystery. Then, there is Ed Conroy. In 1990, Conroy, a journalist, wrote a book on the alien abduction experiences of Whitley Strieber, the author of a 1987 bestseller, Communion. Conroy’s book was titled Report on Communion. The more that Conroy delved into the experiences of Strieber, the more he became a victim of black helicopter invasions. Then, there were mysterious problems with Conroy’s answerphone – as if someone had tampered with it. On one occasion, while Conroy was out of town, his answerphone message was inexplicably changed. An attempt by shadowy figures to intimidate Conroy and dissuade him from digging into the Strieber affair? Almost certainly.
Not only all that, there are claims that deep within the heart of the Department of Homeland Security, there exists a small group that secretly, and actively, monitors the alien abduction issue. Much of this is undertaken by keeping a careful watch on social media (primarily Facebook and Twitter), as well as websites, blogs, lectures, conferences, and books. The DHS group is secretly compiling an extensive database of alien abductees in the United States. On occasion, DHS agents have visited the homes of abductees, warning them not to talk about their UFO abduction experiences. In recent years, such actions may have been interpreted as so-called “Men in Black” encounters. Now, how about a careful examination of the “MILAB” phenomenon, which has been escalating in the 21st century. It means: “military abductions.”
Many abductees report that after being kidnapped by ETs, they are soon abducted by other forces. Not aliens, but military personnel who are usually dressed in black “SWAT”-style outfits. Those who have reported such experiences describe being taken to underground installations, where they are interrogated and questioned about their encounters. Military personnel reveal to the abductees the government’s belief that the aliens are creating “underground armies” of abductees who, when fully mind-controlled by the aliens, will one day turn upon the rest of the population. In other words, at the heart of the MILAB phenomenon is a worrying belief that the alien agenda is based around massive mind-manipulation and control.
Now, let's go into some more, deeper affairs. Evidence of serious, government concerns about the real alien abduction phenomenon continued into the 1950s, specifically in 1959. That was the year in which a young American soldier found himself caught up in a very strange saga that, to a degree, still disturbs him to this very day. It all went down on a chilly night in Utah’s expansive desert. Private Bernard Gerry Irwin was the man whose life took a turn of the decidedly unforeseen type. February 20, 1959 began as a regular day for Irwin, but, it most definitely didn’t end that way. At the time, Irwin was driving to Fort Bliss, Texas, from Idaho – the former being the facility at which Irwin was stationed, and the latter his home state. As night set in, something completely unforeseen and paradigm-shifting happened to Irwin. He was about to be confronted by the UFO phenomenon in spectacular and mysterious fashion.
The night was dark, silent and all but empty of vehicles. As desert highways so often are well after sunset. But, for Irwin this was a night he would never forget – which is somewhat ironic, as a result of the fact that certain portions of his memory were forever erased from his mind. As he drove along the winding, curving road, Irwin was suddenly distracted by a bright light in the night sky – but at a distinctly low level – which descended below a looming ridge. A meteorite? No. A flare, perhaps? Wrong again. Maybe an aircraft in trouble? That was Irwin’s first thought and, with that in mind, he brought his car to a stop at the side of the road, and turned on the blinkers. He quickly got out, and left a note for passing drivers. It read: Have gone to investigate what looks like a plane crash about one-quarter mile to my right. Notify state police immediately. Wearing his Army coat and armed with a flashlight, Irwin headed off into the unknown. Irwin headed for what he suspected – and feared – just might be the site of a plane crash, only to find himself in an even greater nightmare.
The next thing Irwin remembered was waking up in a hospital bed in Cedar City. Where and why, he didn’t know. A doctor and a nurse were standing around the bed, and were soon joined by a local county sheriff. Irwin was confused and scared, which is not surprising. The other three were far more interested in finding out what had gone on. Irwin kept muttering about “survivors,” asking the nurse and the doctor if there were any. Were they all killed? Who “they” might have been, it seems that no-one really knew. That included Irwin, whose mind was in complete turmoil.
The doctor then broke the news: Irwin had been unconscious for a full day and night. It was only thanks to a passing warden with the Fish and Game Commission, who came across Irwin’s car, that Irwin was found. The police were soon on the scene, and Irwin was finally found, completely unresponsive, around a quarter of a mile from the road. It was in the early hours before Irwin was finally resting in an unfamiliar bed. Irwin was kept under observation for several days, but remained unable to recall any of the events of that strange night. Military personnel soon appeared on the scene to fly Irwin back to Fort Bliss, where he was placed under additional observation by a military medical team.
The night of October 10, 1973 was one that Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson would not forget. And it all began in a perfectly normal, relaxed fashion. Forty-two-year-old Hickson and Parker – who was nineteen - worked together and often spent time fishing on Mississippi’s Pascagoula River. It was around 9:00 p.m. on a dark and fateful night when their world came tumbling down around them. For a while the fish were biting. It would, however, not be long before the two men would find themselves reeled in. “Hauled in” might be a better piece of terminology. As they sat on the banks of the river, the two could not fail to see that there was an odd, blue, flickering light in the distance – odd in the sense that it seemed to be following the contours of the river, but slightly above it.
Both Hickson and Parker stared at it, trying to figure out what on Earth it was. Earth may very well have had nothing to do with it. They wondered: helicopter? But, there was no noise. An aircraft? Way too low and slow. Someone’s idea of a joke? If only. When the strange whatever-it-was got closer, a stark realization quickly hit both men: this was like nothing they had ever seen before. There was, however, something else: government interest in the pair. In no time at all after contacting the police, Parker and Hickson were whisked off to Keesler Air Force Base, which is in Biloxi, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They were driven there by a local police-officer: Deputy Tom Huntley, who later made an intriguing statement: “We were in an unmarked car but the guards were expecting us and waved us through the moment I said who I was. I looked back through my rear-view mirror, and damn if two cars full of air police hadn’t fallen in behind us. They had more air police stationed at each crossing all along the road.”
Officer Huntley eventually revealed much more, too: on being directed to one particular building, a team of medical personnel were already there, waiting for the arrival of Hickson and Parker. Huntley said that after he and Parker and Hickson were directed into the building, a series of tests quickly began. Of the doctors, Huntley added that they “looked like space creatures – all wrapped in white and masked and gloved.” Both men had a Geiger-counter ran over them. Their fingers and shoes were swabbed – with each swab carefully placed into separate bottles. John Keel, of The Mothman Prophecies fame, said something notable when the story of the military’s involvement got out: “It was clear the Air Force doctors knew what they were doing and had probably done it many times before. After the examination was completed, Huntley, Hickson, and Parker were escorted to another building.”
Of this other facility, Officer Huntley stated: “It was something. Armed air police at each door and all along the route. Four of them in the conference room. And the brass – colonels, majors – the whole base command must have been there. And a heap of doctors.” Back to Keel: “The intriguing part of this is the extensive security measures taken. It sounds as if the whole base had been put on alert for the occasion, and the two contactees were so closely guarded during their visit that it seems as if the air force expected them to blow up the base. To me, this Keesler Air Force base investigation was far more interesting than the UFO contact itself.” In light of all the above, one has to wonder just how many secret dossiers on Parker and Hickson were created by the Air Force on that strange and mysterious day.
In 1993, said Whitley Strieber, and after having been given apparently classified information on where the U.S. Government’s top secret UFO data could be found, “Spooks started prowling around my neighborhood upstate. A business associate was accosted on an airplane by a group of young men who flashed badges, claimed to be with the National Security Agency, and questioned him about our activities for a couple of hours.” Of course, Strieber is one of the most well-known alien abductees. Those same agents were reportedly looking at attempted penetrations of Department of Defense computers. Then, on one occasion in the following year, 1994, someone managed to stealthily get into Strieber’s cabin, skillfully disabling his security system in the process, and checking out the contents of his computer. Clearly, Strieber was a person of deep interest to more than a few people in the shadowy world of government espionage and clandestine operations. And, it wasn’t just Strieber, his family, and that friend accosted by the NSA who felt the brunt of all this.
Now, more about Ed Conroy. In 1989, he wrote a book titled Report on Communion. It was an independent study of Whitley Strieber and his incredible experiences. In taking on the project, Conroy didn’t realize what he had got himself into. At least, not at first he didn’t. What began as an impartial investigation into Strieber’s claims, soon mutated into something very different: Conroy found himself under similar intimidation to that which would eventually hit the Strieber family. Weird phone calls, secret surveillance and – even – visits from our old friends, those mysterious black helicopters, whose crews keep more than a careful watch on alien abductees, abounded. It was in the latter part of 1986 that Conroy was given a copy of the original manuscript of Communion. Initially, at least, Conroy didn’t display too much enthusiasm for the book. That is, until he read the book – as well as various other books from Strieber, too, including the truly chilling 1984 book, Warday, which is a hair-raising tale of a disastrous, limited nuclear exchange between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Conroy was now interested; very interested.
Conroy was clearly destined to dig further, which he did. That Strieber was from San Antonio and Conroy worked there, made things easier, too. Conroy did an extensive interview with Strieber in April 1987, followed by a face to face meeting three months later. Conroy was, initially, planning to write an article or several on Strieber. He quickly realized, though, that there was enough material for a book – a book that would address the many and various intricacies from a detached, open-minded perspective. Conroy was destined not to remain detached though, and particularly so when he too was caught up in a definitive maelstrom of mystery and conspiracy.
On one occasion, at the height of his research into Strieber’s story, Conroy encountered in his very own bedroom what he described as “a kind of shadow man, completely black, poised in the classic pose of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker.’” This sounds very much like what, today, are known as the Shadow People – malevolent, supernatural entities that have clear and undeniable links to the equally sinister Men in Black, who, as we have seen, have nothing to do with the government (despite what the phenomenally successful Men in Black movies might say…) and everything to do with the UFO phenomenon itself. Strange noises plagued Conroy, waking him from a dead sleep, almost in a manipulative, playful fashion, but which bordered upon the unsettling. Then, there was the matter of those infamous copters.
It was one particular morning in March 1987 that Ed Conroy found himself a target of whoever it is that flies the mysterious helicopters. It appeared to be a Bell 47, said Conroy, and it lacked an identifying markings – which is very curious, but absolutely typical of the helicopters of the phantom type. Notably, said Conroy: “What was remarkable about this particular helicopter was the inordinate amount of attention it seemed to be paying to my building.” In no time, and shortly after the Bell 47 finally exited the area, a totally black helicopter was on the scene too. Follow-up visits occurred – something which prompted Conroy to contact the Federal Aviation Administration for answers. No luck there.
Things got even more intense in 1988 when Conroy was practically seeing helicopters here, there and everywhere. And particularly, again, in the direct vicinity of his apartment, including the huge, double-rotor, military Chinooks. Conroy even saw some of the helicopters vanish – as in literally vanish. Some kind of stealthy, cloaking technology, perhaps? Then, in June 1988 something else happened: while Conroy was out of town, someone changed the message on his answerphone, in his apartment. And it was changed again. And again. Clearly, someone was screwing with Conroy – perhaps even trying to plunge him into states of paranoia and fear.
One of the most famous of all alien abductees is Betty Andreasson, whose encounters with large-eyed, diminutive extraterrestrials have been chronicled in a number of books, most notably The Andreasson Affair. For years, Andreasson and her family have been plagued by unwanted visits from black helicopters. Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood, who, in the early 1980s, spent a great deal of time addressing the many and varied intricacies of the Andreasson case, said of Betty and her husband, Bob Luca: “They reported that their home was over flown numerous times by black, unmarked helicopters of the Huey UH-1H type and that these helicopters would fly over their homes at altitudes as low as 100 feet.
The Luca’s described these helicopters as being black in color, with no identifiable marking on them. They noticed that the windows were tinted black also, so that no one could see inside. During many of the over flights, Bob was able to take close to 200 photos of the helicopters.” Angered and frustrated as to what was going on – and, more importantly, why – Luca fired off a communication to the U.S. Army’s Office of the Adjutant General. Luca demanded answers. All he got was a brief, and hardly satisfying, reply: “It is difficult to determine what particular aircraft is involved or the owning unit.”
Debbie Jordan, whose alien encounters are detailed in her book, Abducted!, said of her very own run-ins with the black helicopters: “These could be seen almost daily around our houses. They are so obvious about their flights it’s almost comical. On occasions too numerous to even remember, they have hovered around my house, above my house, and above me for several minutes at a time, not trying to hide themselves or the fact that they are watching us. “Even when I am outside and obviously watching back, it doesn’t seem to bother them. They just sit there in midair, about sixty to ninety feet above the ground, whirling and watching. They are completely without identification and are always low enough so that I could easily see the pilot, if the windshield were clear glass. But the windshield is smoky black, with a finish that makes it impossible to see who’s inside.”
So far, we have seen the various agencies of government and the military acting very much as what we might call a combined voyeur: carefully watching, listening, logging, probing, and collating data. How many secret files on alien abductees might be stored in vast warehouses, or in underground vaults, across not just the United States but the world itself, is anyone’s guess. All we can say for sure is that as long as the alien abduction phenomenon continues, highly classified files will continue to be compiled, studied, and stored in secure vaults. Black helicopters will continue to fly over the homes of American citizens, looking for leads and answers. Abductees will continue to be grilled and threatened by those running the military side of the situation: the MILABS. And, a vast secret – that something unearthly is harvesting our souls and bodies for reasons not fully understood – will grow ever greater in size and scope, as governments struggle to hide the terrible, complicated truth from all of us. It’s a truth which officialdom won’t come clean on – because they are deathly frightened to admit they don’t know how to tell us.