by Don Ecker
In the last forty years of UFO research, one of the most baffling questions that have plagued researchers has been “Is the UFO Phenomenon dangerous to humanity?” Over the years, there have been numerous cases where the phenomenon has figured into human deaths, but as a rule, most cases have been officially ruled accidental. When speaking of cases where death has resulted, usually most assume cases where military pilots have died as a result of “chasing” the phenomenon. One of the most famous of these military chases that is discussed when ever the subject of death and UFOs is raised, is the famous “Mantell Case“. This case is so well known that I will not discuss it here, but there are many others. In one of the less well known cases, during the mid 1950’s, a military jet interceptor was observed on radar being “absorbed” into a UFO over the Great Lakes. No trace of pilot or aircraft was ever found. In another case reported in the excellent work “Clear Intent” was the case of the “Cuban MIG Incident”. In this case a Cuban MIG was locking on his weapons radar when the aircraft exploded in mid*air. The wing man was certain that the UFO had fired some type of weapon, but other than the jet exploding, no other smoke, flame or other obvious weapon firing was observed.
The matter of either overt or covert hostility on the part of UFOs has always been treated warily by serious researchers. On the one hand, if the enigma is hostile, then several questions must be faced. What if anything should the powers in authority tell the public? Is the government capable of handling a threat of this type? Is the public ready to face an issue as potentially terrifying as a “possible threat from somewhere else?” Other than incidents involving military involvement, have there been cases where civilians have been injured or killed during some type of UFO encounter? Is it possible that the reported cases of UFOs and their occupants abducting unwilling humans for some type of medical or genetic experimentation could be true? Now, if any of this is factual, then what ramifications do the Human Race face in light of the above?
According to Mr. Phil Imbrogno, during the research that led to the writing of “NIGHT SIEGE The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings” by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Philip Imbrogno, and Bob Pratt, Imbrogno has stated that on several occasions, Hynek specified that he wanted no mention of the dozens of human abductions that they had already uncovered at that time, to be mentioned in the book. Hynek was afraid of the adverse publicity if word of this aspect leaked out to the public. After Hyneks death, Imbrogno stated publicly on CompuServe and other public forums, facts of abductions, animal mutilations, and EVEN several cases of mysterious deaths of humans, that he indicated COULD possibly be linked to the UFO Phenomenon.
While researching several stories for UFO Magazine, I interviewed a number of prominent UFOlogists, over the last several months, and in each case, the question of human deaths, in connection with animal mutilations, invariably was raised. Most readers of this text will be familiar with Mr. John Keel, who many regard as the last of the Great UFOlogists. From the earliest days of modern UFOlogy, Keel has been a force to reckon with. The author of numerous books that address various aspects of UFOlogy, and magazine articles too numerous to mention, Keel has a unique slant on the subject that most will never experience. According to Keel, the phenomenon has always had an unexplained hostility towards humans, that have led to untold numbers of deaths. While Keel will be the first to explain that he rejects the ET hypothesis, he does not doubt the phenomenon a bit. In what many UFOlogists consider as one of Keels best works “The Mothman Prophecies”, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1975, Keel related report after report of animal mutilations involving cattle, dogs, horses and sheep, and also related what were called “vampire killings” of four humans in Yugoslavia, were the victims were “mutilated and drained of blood”.
After having spoken to John Ford, the Chairman of the Long Island UFO Network, for a news story for UFO Magazine, I became even more convinced that the aspect of potential UFO hostility should be investigated. Ford relayed a numbing number of animal mutilations, human disappearances, human abductions, covert Federal involvement in areas that suffered high numbers of animal mutilations, and even armed military helicopters that chased UFOs over civilian communities. Ford, who is a officer of the Federal Court system, did investigations into the disappearances of mostly young adults over a year period, in areas of high UFO overflights, and after having several personal friends who were police officers of the local municipalities look into the situation, came to the conclusion that the facts were being suppressed. The reason given was that there was “no need to panic the public.” Although no iron clad proof can be made for direct UFO intervention, the circumstances are extremely suspect.
After growing up in an age where the entire human race can be decimated by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the human race somehow manages to keep slogging on. I have seen more people “panicked” over a shortage of gasoline than imminent nuclear holocaust, yet somehow when the subject of UFOs crop up, the government doesn’t want to panic anyone. It really makes me wonder what they know, that I should. I really don’t think that they are going to talk to anyone soon, as you shall soon see.
In January, 1989, it came to the attention of the MUFON State Director of Idaho, Mr. Don Mason, that cattle mutilations had occurred once again in the southeastern section of Idaho. After an investigation by a MUFON investigator, the facts were as follows. The animals ( two cattle, same night, but each owned by different ranchers ) were “somehow” killed, sexual organs removed, body fluids drained, patches of hide “surgically” removed. All the appearances of what is today considered to be a classic case of animal mutilation. As of this date ( February 15, 1989 ) the final lab reports are not back yet, but already the Sheriffs Department has labeled it a “cult killing.” No tracks, tire or human, around the animals even though it had just rained, no unusual activity reported by the ranchers that evening, and one animal was found next to an occupied house. One of the ranchers admitted that this was the second time he had been “hit” by the mysterious mutilators. The last incident had only been a bit over a year previously, and they were worried enough that all had their “deer rifle” within easy reach.
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In the new issue of UFO Magazine, I have written an update on the investigation of what appear to be more mutilations involving humans.
During the November 1989 Omega conference hosted by John White, Whitley Strieber castigated UFO Magazine for running my story on human mutilations in Vol. 4 Number 3. In that news story, I related the results of an investigation I was conducting on what appeared to be a series of human deaths that greatly resembled animal mutilations. Also, I included a report from Wm. “Bill” Knell of the Long Island Skywatch organization. Knell had been conducting research into an inordinate number of missing children in the area of Westchester County. According to Strieber, he had received “hundreds” of phone calls from concerned citizens about the story. ( That in itself is suspect, as anyone knows who has ever tried to call Strieber. Strieber has an answering service or secretary that screens each call, takes a message and then Whitley decides on whom he will speak with. ) Anyway, I digress. Knell has many police contacts, and after checking with them, there were no contacts from Whitley. ( One could surmise that what really had Whit in a snit was the way the print media had lambasted his flick, Communion, and his recent books, such as Majestic. He had just called all journalists – prostitutes. )
According to Knell and officers from the New York State Police, and the Connecticut State Police, the reported figures were in no way accurate, but the weirdest happening was when Knell received an inquiry from an Asst. Medical Examiner from Westchester County. The Asst. ME wanted to know everything Knell could relate on humans that had been mutilated. When Knell pursued this, it turned out that 3 morgues ( 2 in New York, 1 in Connecticut ) had been “hit” in the middle of the night. Newly arrived human cadavers had been mutilated by removal of face, genitals, eyes, parts from the stomic, rectum, thyroids, etc. The morgues were immediately investigated by the police, but nothing could be placed on the employees. There were reduced staff at that time of night, and the events occurred in different areas. High strangeness indeed. According to the Asst. ME, the incidents were immediately concealed from the media and public. More than likely the reasons were that there was no explanation, nor were the incidents going to be solved in the near future. As an aside, there were also quite a few animal mutilations that were occurring in New York and Connecticut, and once again no solutions were forthcoming for these events.
The Satanic explanation was examined, and according to the reporting witness, did not hold water.
Any ideas from the membership? Needless to say, the investigation is ongoing.
Don Ecker
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After having been personally involved in an investigation of cattle mutilations as a police officer back in 1982, I was very familiar with the “cult” theory of perpetrators. The Idaho Department of Law Enforcement drags it out every time there is a new rash of mutilations. The problem is, and every one is aware of it, that no one has yet been brought to trial, or arrested yet for these crimes. Out here in the west, people know that you are flirting with a ranchers bullet if you are caught fooling around with the ranchers cattle. They are his livelihood, and he will defend it. Yet, the mutilations keep occurring, and no one is any the wiser, or are they?
With the subject of animal mutilations fresh in everyone’s mind, I was once again speaking to Don Mason, when he informed me that the investigator that had been assigned to the above mentioned case had come across a very mysterious death of a man back in 1979. According to the report, two hunters in the Bliss and Jerome area of Idaho had literally stumbled across the nude body of a man that had been hideously mutilated. The body was in the literal middle of nowhere, nude except for a pair of underpants, his sexual organs had been removed, his lips sliced off, and several other classic mutilation cuts. Although he was in very rugged country, his bare feet were not marked as if he had walked in that terrain, but yet no other tracks, animal or human were evident anywhere. After the police were notified, an intensive search was mounted, and miles away, the mans possessions were recovered, yet no one yet knows how the body ended up where it was found, or even more importantly, what happened to him. It should be noted that this area also had over the years, many unexplained UFO reports and cattle mutilations.
Now I must explain that I had very mixed feelings about whether I wished to attempt to explore this subject any further, or allow sleeping dogs to lie. On the one hand, I wanted more than anything to discover just what was occurring, and on the other, I realized that this had the potential to backfire on someone that disturbed the status quo. I was familiar with reports of human abductions and mutilations that had surfaced in the last several years in reports such as the Lear documents, Grudge 13 reports and others, but yet I was not sure what I believed, or even if there was anything to believe. I ran across a friend that was still employed with a police department in this area who was a detective. I had mentioned to him the recent cattle mutilations, and what I suspected in the above mentioned case of a human that had been mutilated. Scot had also been involved in the last several years with several cases of mutilations that he had been called upon to investigate, always with negative results.
He was as curious about this phenomenon as I was, and since he was still an active duty police officer, he had access to the department computer, to access the NCIC system that is maintained in Washington D. C. by the FBI. After giving Scot the criteria for a search of unexplained human deaths, that involved factors of mutilation, I asked that the search go back to at least 1973, involving this area of the Northwest. Scot ( not his real name ) ran the request through the department computer. As he mentioned at the time, he had expected to get realms of reports back that we would have to wade through, to get to the reports that would be are further study.
Scot ended up requesting that the inquiry be run back to 1970, and involve not only Idaho, but also Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington states. Because of the magnitude of this search, Scot stated that it would take about one week to get the results back into his department. As a side note, for anyone that is not familiar with the NCIC system, it is a national data bank for Law enforcement agencies all across the United States. It is maintained and controlled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at FBI headquarters, in Washington D. C. On the 14th of February, Scot contacted me in person, and appeared very troubled. His exact words were that “something is really screwy, Don.” “I got the request back from NCIC on Monday, and there has got to be something wrong.
They told me that they had NO unsolved murders at all, zero, that met that criteria. THAT ANY FURTHER REQUESTS WILL HAVE TO BE MADE BY VOICE, TELEPHONE CALL, WITH PROPER AUTHORIZATION. Somebody is sitting on something, big as Hell.” I also knew that something was as screwy as hell. After all, anybody that has had any dealing with law enforcement knows about the “Green River Killer” in Washington state. This serial killer is credited with at least 30 to 40 murders of young women, and to this date, the case is as big a mystery as ever. Many of the killings showed some types of mutilation, and if nothing else, at least some of these homicides should have shown up.
Once more, as a side note, I had been warned by a prominent UFOlogist, that there was a lid “screwed down tighter than you would believe in regards to human mutes.” I also was warned that in order to break through the secrecy, was going to be a long and sometimes weary job, but that if enough persistence was applied, then it was possible to get to the bottom of this facet of the UFO enigma. Do I think that this can be solved, along with the rest of the puzzle? Yes, I do, because I think that the secrecy can only be maintained for so long, and then no longer. I also believe very strongly that only if the entire UFO community works in concert will this be accomplished, and the infighting and arguments MUST CEASE for the good of us all.
On the ParaNet system and on CompuServe, I wrote and uploaded a file entitled LIGHT.TXT, and in UFO Magazine Vol. 3, No. 5 I called for a UFO summit to be held in order to get the UFO community organized and to present a unified front. Only by a unified front, and calling for Congressional hearings, will this lid ever get torn off, and the truth that is suppressed be brought to the light of day.
Any help from the members will be greatly appreciated, and I can be reached at ParaNet RHO at the following number: 1)208)338)9187. Also I can be reached on CompuServe by Email, and my user number is: 74270,3360. Anyone with ANY INFORMATION is requested to contact me at the above addresses as soon as possible. The secrecy game has gone on long enough. It is past time to get to the bottom of this. Forty years IS LONG ENOUGH.
Don Ecker