The X Factor - Volume 2 (1996)

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Distributors PteLtd.

.!l fditofial:

Annable Development Editor

St.rohnston

Brenda Marshall lditor:JayneSwanson Craig Glenday, Reid, Richmond

Derign: SteveHorton, Wendy Kwok Picture Research: Sophie Mortimer, Angela Parman [ontroller: leniorProdurtion TerenceStrongman l'larketing: John Balmond lleadof Cucrlation: {hris Jenner

ACKI{OWTEDGEMEHTS S:iaffon Friedman,Fergus Rob lrving, Graham Hancock, lalet Lyndon Parker/lliPiaurelibnry.

West(topJ. lmutran. to thankall thosewholnlpd ia tk qre useda5 a balii

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n Dec em ber 1 9 8 4 ,.J a i n eSh a n c l let. a Holl;wood movie proclr.rcerrrncl UF O r es e a rc h e r, re c e i v e c l a n reun u\u al

p ack aue lhr c , r r glr t lr . por t .

Inside was just one roll of lrndeveloped .15 rr.rm black and white film. There \a-as1lo -.-ccompanying letter or retllrn address. t-)nlr- the postmark gave a clue to its ori:.n:: Albuquerque, New Mexico. \\hen processed, the fllm contained r:r{atives of r'vhat appeared to be an eight'.-,.rse briefing-paper, prepared on t 8 \, '\'elrber 1952, for President-elect Dr,vight ,t Eisenhower. A warning on the first page :.,r1. 'This is a TOP SECRIT - E\ES ONLY I ,,.irr.]rent containing compartmentalized : ,r-nr:rtion essential to the natior-lal secu. . ' ,i the United States.' On page t\,vowas ., -.'. , ,f I2 influential US scientists, n'rilitary : .. lr-i> ancl ir-rtelligence advisors. Itlvas not ' .:...- le se thre e that t he s ubjec t of t he r ,r,.r

bcc:rme cle ar : t he r ec ov er y of a

cr-ashcci flr'ing saucel ancl alien bodies near Rosrrell,Nerv N'Iexico,inJuly 1947.

The last paee of the briefins paper was a memorandum, dated 24 September 1947, from President Harr,v Truman to his Secretary of Dei'ence, .fames Forrestal. In it, Truman instructs Forrestal to proceed with 'Operation Majestic-l2', but si1'esncr hint at rvhat that might be.

A In 198O, during his reseorch for o UFO movie, film producer Jqime Shonderq mode

S TA R TLIN G

R E V E TA TION S

Alone, the Forrestal memo lvas meaningless. But, rvhcn reacl alons rvith the 1952 briefing paper, the storv behind them became clear: in Jul,v 1947, a 'flying discshaped aircraft' crashesnear Rosrvell,Nerv Mexi co, and' extra-terrestri al bi ol ogi cal enti ti es' (E B E s) are recovered by the rni l i tarr" . W hen P resi dent Truman i s informed about the crash, he atrthorizes Defence Secretarv Forrestal to set up a cornmittee to deal with the sitr.ration.

o number of confocfs in rhe milirory. Could one of these insiders hove leoked rhe Moiestic-12 popers to him?

) Anolysis hos shown

NTAJIC), a number of other packaqcr irir c

thot one MJ-I2

been pushecl through

memo is prinfed on

researchers over the past feu'r,eals. Thc hlst

onionskin poper, o type ordered in bulk

ltrflm. il-*l"

toi 6ttls8'! ttr@ 8E !' trtdd

\vas a postcard delivered to Bill \Ioo|c trt'G

,rf in

I985. Postrnarkecl Nerv Zealand, it sussest-

by lhe government

ed he search ner,r''lvdeclassified files ar rhe

belween 1953 ond 197O. The document,

the rnailbore.

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US National -\-chives. Moore and S1-ranclclir did so. ancl found a memo confirming the

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known in UFOlogy os

existence of \lJ-12. rrritten bv Eisenhorter's --6i*tp

the Culler-Twining memo, wos found of lhe

lspv' i rl

Special -\ssistrrrrt tol National Secr-rritr', Robert Clutler'. ancl lrclclressed to Nathan

Notionol Archive, ofter

Uffiffike"'"-*'*

Twining, the L S -\il Frilcc Uhief of Staff.

reseorcher Bill Moore reteived o postcord hinring ot where it wos hidden. Did q conscientiousinsider plont ir there, hoping lo reveol rhe truth?

Between 1992 ancl 1!)!)ti. another UFO

In 1 9 5 2 , w h e n Ei senhow er becomes President-elect,he is briefed on Operation Majestic-12.The briefing paper lists the 1Z-man committee and gives details of the saLlcercrash. The final paragraph stresses the need to 'avoid a public panic at all costs', confirming that the government is covering up the truth about UFOs. The question is, are the documents real?

SEARCH

researcheq Tint C.ooper-.rcceivcd a number of MJ-l2 documents. all r.r1rr jrich he quietly sharecl with Friedrlan. Ser elel r' cr-e ploved hoaxes but, accorcling to (.oo1rer- and Friedman,

two

sinule-pirte

ciocuments

appear to be senuine. The fir.st rs a br-ief instmction to General Nathan T\\ ininq- ( all alleged

MJ-12 member)

concenrins

his

FOR TRUTH

In the UFO research community, opinion is split. In the proMajestic camp are researchers such as nLrclear phvsicist Stanton T. Friedrnan, rrho has dedicated years

to

over

finding

ten tl.re

truth, and his fellorv UFOlogists Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera.

Their strongest opponents are researchels such as Kevin Randle, Armen Victorian and Philip Klass, all of whom hal'e reason to believe the papers are clever fakes.

To add to the mystery surrounding (al so M a j e s ti c -1 2 :' known as M|-12, or { Ar rhe time of the Roswell

Reor Admirol Roscoe Hillenkoe*er, first Direcfor of Centrol Intelligence '1947-501, In 1960, he ocknowledged there wos o UFO cover-up.

Dr Vonnevor Bush, Chtrirmon of the Joint Reseorchond Development Boord 11945-491. Advisor to the President. ond key ployer in olomic bomb development.

Jomes Forrestol, first US Secrelory of Defunce. ln 1949, he hod mentol breokdown ond commitfed suicide. , Reploced by @enerol Wolter Bedell Smirh.

Reor Admirol Sidney Souers, firsl Director of Centrol Intelligence (1946).

Appioinred firsf Executive Secrelory of Notionql Security â‚Źouncif in 7947.

Gordon Groy Assistont Secretory of fhe Army. Become fhe Nolionol Security odvisor ond Director of â‚ŹlA's P syc hol ogi c ol Sfrotegy Boord. &

r,,'::i.i.

crosh, Eisenhowerwos lhe Army Chief of stoff. Crirics soy he would hove known obout o o o

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the crosh, ond would not hove needed fo reod o briefing poper when elected president.

This, however, wos common proclice ot the White House.

Dr Jerome Hunsoker, renowned oircrqft designer ond Choirmon of the Notionol Advisory Commiitee on Aeronoulics.

ecrirjrie: dlrrins

a July 1947 trip to New \lcrlc, r. the site of the crashed saucer.

1.., .rr ull(l rlo c r r m ent is a m em o t o P : t . .cicrit

Trtrrna n,

dic t at ed

by

US

>r-r':'Lr:'., of State Ceorge C. Marshall to l-:- FxccLrtile Secretary, R. H. Humelsine. r, i:r:.t rhe r-e is no dir ec t m ent ion of M J - I 2 -rr l:re me1ro, the reference at the top

r r-.rlr: \L\fIC EO 092447NU-l2'.

THE TATEST EVIDENCE T:re most spectacularnew MJ-l2 document ',.,.i:posted in 1994 to Don Berliner-,zl lon5f:ime UFO investigator and science rvriter.

The anonymous roll of film contained 23 pases of a 'Majestic-l2 Gror,rp Speciirl Operations Manual', dated April 19r 1. It rras a detailed instruction r.nanlralelttitled: 'Extra-terrestrial Entities and Tecl-rno1ogr.

Recoveryand Disposal.'

Becausemost of the MJ-l2 clocuments are on film, the original paper or ink cannot be analysed.But there are many factual details that can be checked. such as the

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lrlqthon Twining, Commonder of Air filaerbl Gommond crrWrQht Field ond, krter. Choirmon of rhe Joinr â‚Źhiefs of sfoff, tfre US'shighest mifitory position.

Dr Donsld lt{enzel, . Fl.orvard profussor of ostrophysks, ond debunker of UFOs. Held o Top Secret Ultro <leorqnce ond wos serurity odviser to severol presidents.

Generol Hoyt Vondenberg, Chief of Militory Intelligence during World Wor ll ond second Director of Cenirql Intelligence

1r946-471.

Moior Genercl Roberf Montogue;' head of the Speciol Weopo4s Proiect qt the dftomic Energy Commission ot Albuquerque, New Mexico.

backsround of the 12 members of the committee. the dates of r.r-reetings, the sty'e and format of sir.nilardocnments, and the validity of the signatures.

Clearly, MJ-l2 had arr all-star cast:as well as Secretary of Defence Forrestal, there were the first three Directors of Central Intel l i gence. an A i r Force Gene r al. an Army Ceneral, the Secretary of the Army and five of the I.fS'smost influential scienti sts. Thi s w as l he cream o[ rh e US's mi l i tary. sci enti fi c and i ntel l i gence com munities. If there was ever to be a l op-secretgovernmenl group i nvesr igat ing UFOs, this would have been it.

Dr Detlev Bronk, biophysicisr. Heod of the Notionol Acodemy of Science) ond Choirmon of lhe Medicol Advisoqy ..

Boqrd of rhe Nromic Energy Commiftee.

Dr lloyd Berkener, Exqpgtive Secretory of the Joint Reseorch <rnd Development Boord. Member of C|A-funded UFO commitlee in l95Os.

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SECRET

o E

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H IS TOR Y

The only MJ-12 member who seemed out of place was Dr Donald Menzel, a Harvard U ni versi ty asrronorrer. H e had wr it t en three anti -L' FO books and many paper s debunking flr'ing saucers. All but Menzel rr' ere knou rr l o hai e hi gh-l evel secur ir y clearances,and because he was listed :as part of MJ-12.researchersw ere i nclined t o thi nk the docurnentw asbogus. l n A pri l 1986. how ever. Slanlon Fri edman made an i mportant di scover y.

A fter getti ng w ri tten permi ssi on f r om Menzel's wife and tlvo University officials, he w asal l ow edaccessto Menzel ' spaper sat

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the Harvard University Archive. From this information, he learned that Menzel had a 3O-year association with the National nl

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y

digging

furrher,

Friedman

also

discovered lsLUVCl C(l that Lrldl lvlct lzcl Menzel I ld(l d 'Top had a r up JCLI c L Secret

Ultra' clearance with the CIA; did highly classified consulting

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rt"'.maltr ^. m c ,r ., m - i ^m1jo1 ::-" US corporations; had

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niently, none of thern cor-rld be asked directly about their role. Br-rttheir comings and goings could be tracked from manr' sources: telephone logs, correspondence. minutes fiom meetir-rgs,and other papers stored in the presidential libraries and the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.

The earliest reference to Majestic is in the memo supposedly sent by Truman to his Secretaryof Defence,James Forrestal.

The memo - which names the President's science advisor Vannevar Bush - was dated 24 September ).947. This happens to be the only day between May and December on which Truman met with Bush. Forrestal also met with Bush that day, a fact only discovered by Stanton Friedman after many months c-rfresearch.

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l, This mogozine cover from 1958 depicts o UFO crosh in Mexico. The MJ-12 popers refer lo such o crosh in El Indio, Mexico, in I950. ln 1995, reseorchers from the Mutuol UFO Network decided to invesiigote this crosh. lf they con prove it hoppened, it rwould go o long wqy to oulhenticoting the MJ-I2 popers.

As yet, little evidence for the crqsh hos been found.

a number of trips to New Mexico durins 7947 and 1948 on government. expenses.

Could this have been related tcr the 19.17cr-ashin Nerr \Icxico cliscussed i n the Mf-12 clocuments?

The other alleged members of the group also checked out. All had worked on top-secret projects and were members of various research and development boards.

The last-surviving member of the committee clied just three months be{bre .faime Shandera receivecl the film. so" conve-

DEAD

C E R TA IN TIE S

This date is also significant in that it was the duy after Nathan Twining, Commanding General of the Air Materiel Command (AMC), sent a secret memo to the Pentagon relating to 'flying discs'.In it, Twining states that, 'The phenomenon reported is somethins real and not visionary or fictitious.'

In addition. a flight 1og fiornJuly 1947 shorr's th:rt Trrining had florvn to New \Ieri co on 7.]ul r 19-17.-\ccordi n g t o t he briefrnq paper. this rvasthe sarnedav that, 'a secret operatioll $-as begun to assure reco\rery of the wreckage... for scientific study.' Could this be just coincidence? .foe Nickell, a document analyst and writer for Sheptical En quirer magazine, thinks it is coincidence. He is positive the documents are hoaxes, claimins 'it is not what is correct that matters nearly so much as what is wrong, as even a novice forger can be

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before the documents were received. So, if they are fakes, it

centrating on the format and presentation of the documents, Nickell has highlighted a number of 'serious problems'.

One of the most obvious problems, \ickell claims, is the Truman signature. By studying known-to-be-authentic Truman documents, he has shown that the signature on the MJ-i2 memo is positioned rlrongly on the page. Also, the sisnature appears almost identical to that on an ar-rthenticatedTruman memo found, ironically,by Stanton Friedman.

EYE

FOR

is likely they were written by someone with inside knowledge. If they are genuine, they

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,ist.: oler 30 details not known by anyone

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DE T A IT

\ickell also points to the date formats, the n'pefaces,and the style of language used in the documents. Again, by studying authenticated papers, he has shown that certain details are different in the MJ-l2 papers.

Nickell's conclusion is that 'the many a n o m alous and s u s p i c i o u s e l e me n ts cl e te c t ed in t he M J -1 2 p a p e rs c l e a rl v dernonstratethe documents are forseries.'

But Friedman disagrees.He has spent ten -,ears investigating Nickell's claims, and .:ill reckons the papers are genuine. 'I l .a re r â&#x201A;Źl lo hear a c o n v i n c i n g a rg u me l tt =iainst MJ-l2,' Friedman states. 'Frankly, I :,rnsider this ensemble of documents the :r-,,':tirnportant classifieddocuments ever .r-.-.ed to the public.'

L'enuine or fake, the MJ-12 documents .:e certainlv the most intriguing to have .u:-faced in the history of UFOlogy. In his

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> prove that the sovelnrneut is rlillfirlll

A Horry Trumon3

cor.ering llp the inrtlt about UFOs.

signolure on rhe MJ-12..r:

Resear-cherson borh sides of the MJ-12 fence can produce

evidence to support

.,. '.''

memo (top) is olmost identicol lo one on on

tireir arguments. But at the end of the day, a hard-core of facts stand irresolute at the

outhenticoted memo fiom

heart of the documents - the facts as

Since no two signolures

they relate to the UFO crash in New Mexico, inJuly 1947.

ore ever the some, lhis is

I October 1947 (boffom).

proof, soy critics, thot the MJ-I2 popers ore foke* ,.,r But tvould on otherwise ri.:,

In Lhe next issue, LIFO FIIE inuestigatesthe legendarl tvash nertr Roswell, I{ew Mexico. Was this thestart of thegreat UI-O couerup?

coreful forger moke such on obvious mistoke?

WnTn Egoln BRoKEoUT oF AFRIcAAND ILANDEDIN THE US, IT PROVEDTHEREARE SAFEHAVENSFROM DEADLYDISEASES. T HEREA N Y H O P E I N T H E WAR AGAINST

MICROSCOPIC ,:THE flUrnS?

to the Unit -

a one-storey building owned bv Hazleton ResearchProducts, rvhich specalizedin importing animals for medical research.

The monkeys had had a long journey. From their home in the tropical rain forests of the Philippines, they had been crated

and flown to -\n.rsterdarn. From thev u-ere flown to

Amsterdam.

New York's.JFK -\rport. At JFK, thev rrele transferred to the back of a tnrck and driven to Reston.

BTEEDING

TO DEATH

Bv the time the monkeys arrived at the quarantine unit, two of them rvere dead. This was nothing unusual. Animals often died frorn the stressof travel. Soon, horrer"er. the survivors started to look ill. Bv I November, another 27 hacl blecl to death.

Reston'sdirector. Dan Dalgarcl. became worried. Tire nonker s

research institute on killer viruses.

He had to know what he was dealing with.

Four days later, as the . corpses continued to mount, Dalgard had the whole of the first group of monkeys put down.

Then, on 25 Novembeq the new shipment started to die. Even more worrying, two of the caretakers reported sick with flu-like symptoms.

On 27 November, the CDC had an answer for Dalgard. It seemed impossible, but the monkeys were infected with Ebola.

This killer diseasehad so far been restricted to Africa.

The Reston monkevs came from the Philippines. Moreover, it was thought that the deadlr,

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Our qbility to detecf, contoin, ond prevenf e mer ging infectious diseoses is in ieopordy Dr Dovid Sotcher, Centersfor DiseoseConhol

f f iDU n

3

* = 'filovirus' was transmitted by 3

\rere dying sometimes two in a day.

Could it be simian haemorrhagic feler (SHF) ? If so, he was in trouble. Although this disease cannot be caught by humans, SHF car-rdecimate monkey colonies.

On 2 November, another shipment of monkeys arrived from the Philippines. Dalgard was careful to house this consignment >eleral rooms away from the infected batch.

On 13 \ovember, Dalgard did an autopsv on one of the casualties and sent a spleen sample to the Centers for DiseaseControl (CDC) in -\tlar-rta- the world's leading

blood-to-blood contact onll'. l,g1 the new batch of monkeys were infected with Ebola. And so, apparently, were the caretakers.

AIR BOR NE

D IS A S TE R

Suddenly, the situation verged on catastrophe. This new strain of Ebola was airborne and could be spread by a sneeze- just like flu a n d th e common col d.

The CDC acted swiftly. They formed a crack biohazard team with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.The sickly caretakers were isolated in hospital and the monkey house was sealed off amid utmost secrecy.

The Army team. wearing special protecti vesui ts,moved i n. Their task was to kill, autopsy anrl.;11;:ttttl1 i nci nerateevery monkey i n building. They did so desoite one scare when a

escaped from its cage - an,'a monkey can bite clean throu$iiiir,rilll the toughest protective suit. They found Ebola in every specimenr.'":iri:l:r.

With Ebolaon the loose,the,,,.illlil';iljlli A rmy team seal edevery possible opening to the outsid. **ld, .,l.,1:1,:l:tl:::,,::: They scoured the walls, floors.and:r,tlt,:r::r

NON-FATAL

STRAIN

It was thought that Restonwas no-w safe. But on l2January t990;,,;::,t,t,l11t more Philippine monkeys c dor,r.nwith the deadly diseasC1.:tl

time thev closed the buildingl,iil*.,..,,;.1; let the r-irr-rs do its lvork. All ther: ",,,,,:.,,,:rl:i:tt

monkevs died and the building , ,,,1 .rua. was pronounced safe again. ...r,,,:..1t. ll::lii Meanrr,hile, the caretakers mada,,,,, a complete recovery. ey a miraCle..,:,,,,,, thei r i mmune svstemshad successfully fought the Reston,,'i:.l,..;l.llltrl,iili

tr 4 I

str ain of t he dis e a s eT. h e C D C re aliz edt hat , as rh e v i ru s h a d .

mu tate d a ncl b ecom e air bor ne. it ha d also 4lDU b ucll ecome nor r - lat al t o M ar r . rr4u

A s r he Res r oni n c i c l e rrtp ro v e d . o ur abilir y t o dea l w i rh s u c h k i l l e r vi r us esis lr ighr en i n g l l i n a d e q u a te .

They m ut ar e s o s w i frl yrh a r rh e re i s n o c om m on lac t o r a t w h i c h scient is t sc an r ar g e ra d rrrg .

Al t hough we r alk h o p e frrl l va b o trr rfeatments for the Human ilmmuno-deficiency Vims (HIV) itLevel Two on the virus danger 'scale - scientistsacknowledge the impossibility of finding a cure for :&e Level One common cold. So *hui *rl possibly be done ro :,gombatLevel For.rrviruses?

the

that Ebola and its sisterdiseases have yet to learn. The sheer speed at which they kill means thar outbreaks tend to burn out before developing into epidemics.This is why HfV has spread to all parts of th e w o r l d - i r takesa l ong ri me ro d i e fro m i r. gi vi ng rhe vi rus more time to move on.

Another point in our favour is that scientistshave successfully o \e rc o m e one Level Four vi rus.

Variola, the smallpox virus, kilied

A The Centre for Applied Microbiology ond Reseorchis Britoin'smost highly secured loborotory. The deodly viruses fhot scientisfs investigote here ore kept sofely locked owoy in steel ond ormoured Perspex cobinets. millions before ir r'as clefeated by the developmenr of :r laccine from cowpox. Scienti,stshope rfrev rr'ill eventuallv find sinrilar raccines for Ebola and it: relarire.

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Ironicallr-.r-nodernn-redicineand technologl r.narbe responsiblefor inadr,ertentlr spreadir.rgthese diseases.The re is no certainty that 'emer-gin9 r'irusesare a tlew phenornenon. Thev may have existed in lemote corners of the rvorld for niillions of years, creepir-rgout to destroy and eradicate before retreating to their host environment.

The only'emerging' factor is our willingnessto distribute rhem.

As global demand for medical research heats up, increasir-rg numbers of monkeys trappecl in Africa and other parts of the rlorld are bringing'new' diseasesor_rtof the jungle. In seeking cures for old

Fortunately, the Reston strain of Ebola mutated in such a way as to be harmless to humans. But what if Ebola Zaire, which kills nine out of ten infected people, evolved into an airborne strain? If this coincided with an increase in the gestation period - so that the human host took longer to die and

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We stqnd on fhe brink o f o globql cr isis in i n fe c tious diseqses... n o c ountr y con qny longer offord to ignore their threot Dr HiroshiNokoiimo,DirectorGenerolof the World HeolthOrgonizotion

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â&#x201A;Ź diseases,we may well be exposing o u rselv est o new on e s .

Until the monkeys from the Philippines, which died at Reston, rvere diagnosed with Ebola, rro b o dyt hought t he v i ru s w a s present in South EastAsia.

Scientistsare still guessing how the diseasegot there from Africa.

IMPE NDI NG

D IS AS T ER

The most frightening aspect of these killer viruses,however,is their ability to mutate. The Reston incident demonstrated graphically to scientiststhat if a Level Four ri ru s bec om esair bo rn e , i t i s almost impossibleto control.

had more time to spread the virus - then the death rate would be of staggering proportions.

And what if terrorisrs were [o get hold of the diseases?The AUM Shinrikl.Lrcult, which unleashed nerve gas on the Tokyo subway systemin March 1995,'n'asalso der,elopingbioloeical \reapons.

That same montl-r.Larrv Har-r-is. a microbiologist ar-rdrnerrber of .\n'an Nations, a rvhite supremacistsgrollp, rvasarrested i n th e U S for i l l egal l yprocuri ng freeze-dried bacteria that cause bubonic plague.

T h e ' w hat i f' scenari osare as varied as they are terrifying, but we are still more likely to die from almost anything other than a Level Four virus.

\Ialziria. measles, meningitis,

cancer - u'hich ma-valso be causr-d',,1,,:.1 br-rintses - are far more

TIME

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Still, there is no room for ;1-;',' complacency.In a speechin N ovember 1994.N obel P ri ze w in ner JoshuaLederberg warned of the increasing threat from microscopic predators.

'We 'r e n o t a l o n e a t t h e t o p o [th e

food chain,'Lederberg *yt. 'W. 1'1..1.1,;; have been neglectful of the

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Ebolo infection. Similor

Scientists are now racing agai{i$f:i::, time to find cures for these ne14r,.i':.i.'r:i.:l::r ..t :,.r:r:l :.l:::::l:i:.r:::a killers, just as 'old' diseases,sucn,,.,11111,.1111 as tuberculosis and malaria, are':lil.'':.::i:l::li:'il;i

monkeys, used for 'o

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{ Filipinovets exfroct blood from o monkey

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corriers of the diseose

p r o v i n g r e s i s t a n t t o a n t i b i o t i cs.

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The world's fate rests with the ' di seasecow boys' .

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Africo to lhe West.

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xwspKcf ANDREw GREEN, THE MAN BRITAIN,S INSTITUTIoNS CALL IN WHEN THINGS GO BUMP IN THE NIGHI

SHARES

HIS SCIENTIFIC THEORIES ON GHOSTS, POLTERGEISTS AND THE PARANORMAL ndrev- Green's ghostly investigations have taken him from council houses to castles and have included the Ror-al A]bert Hall and the :::=:t:*: Old Bailer'. Since he decided to specialize in this area in 1972, he has rrriften l5 books, edited three more and given coundess lectures and courses.

His interest in ghosts began tn 1944, when he was just 16, with an incident that nearly cost him his life.

While exploring a reputed haunted house in Ealing, which had been the scene of 20 suicides and one murder, he felt an uncontrollable urge to throw himself from the top of a 20-metre high tower. Only the timely presence of his father averted the tragedy.

A true English eccentric, who entertains himself and his guests with dramatic voices and gestures, the 69-year-old has a coherent, rational point of vielv on the paranormal. In his cosy country cottage, sited next to a church graveyard in rural Sussex, he politehruns tbrough his theories on spooks and spectres. But whatever you do, don't call him a ghostbuster.

FF â&#x201A;Ź ffi t can't bust shosts.I don't er-enhnnt rherll I like to think of myself as a rational inr estigator. a psychological consultant, an ar,rthorand adulr rlrior- any one of those. The Teleg'aphnerr'spapercalled me a 'spectreinspector' - I'm quite for.rdof that.

Whot first sporked your inferesl in ghosts?

In 194-1.I r-isiteda derelict house at 16 Montpelier Road. Ealirrg,London. I went there with my fatheq ',tho had requisitioned it for storing furniture from bor.r.rbedproperties. It was built in 1833 and between then and 1934 there had been 20 suicidesand one murder - all from the top of the 20-metre-high tower.

Whot did you experience inside the house?

-\t the top of the tower I had a strong desire - I'm reluctant to say this - to walk out of the window into rhe garden. I had the utter conviction that I wouldn't hr-rrtmyself. I had one leg out when I felt a firm hand on the scruff of my neck and heard my father saying, 'rrhat the hell do you think you're doing?' As we left, I turned and took a photograph of the empty house.

sawher and can be replayed by specially sensitive people, such as clairvoyants. Ghosts are t'?ically seen for 25 to 35 secondsbecausethis is the length of time that a person's mind will be in turmoil after hearing bad news.

ls fhis hoppening every time someone dies?

It usually happens when people have died suddenly and unexpectedly. Otherwise, battle siteswould be flooded with ghosts. They're not, because death in war is common. I have yet to find the ghost of somebody who's died peacefully and expectedly.

Con only people become ghosts then?

It can be a domesticated animal, too. We get ghosts of dogs, cats, the occasional ghost of a dead horse.

People say,'what about the ghost of a car or a bus?'

Sure, as these might be associatedwith accidents.

Whor wqs on rhe phofogroph? \\'hen I went to pick up the prints, the chemist asked 'rvho's the girl at the window?' I thought this can't be,

But whot obout noises ond things being moved qround?

I knew the place was empq/. I later discovered that a girl of 12 called Anne Hinchfield had fallen from the tower in 1886. I thought, hello, hello, hello, have I in fact taken a picture of a ghost?

Poltergeist activity caused by psychokinetic energy generated by fear or stress.Very different from ghostly images which are quite harmless.

Did you check this out?

I sent the print, the negative and the camera to Kodak. I got a very nice letter back confirming it was completely genuine and there's no reason why I shouldn't take a photograph of something I couldn't see- provided nvo criteria are met.

Which qre?

The camera should not have blooming on the lens [a filter to prevent dazzle] and a special film Yerichrome - has to be used. I'd fulfilled these conditions, so the photographic emulsion could register an image between 380 and 440 millimicrons of the infra-red portion of the light spectrum.

I thought this then is the formula for a ghost. I sent the whole lot to Ilford to be checked. The same letter came back, except with a PS at the bottom, 'If you'd used Ilford film, it would have been a better image.'

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Whqr do others soy obout your theory?

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Only one professor, in the 1960s.has taken me up on

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it. He carried out lab experiments

u'ith no

response.

I pointedro the lettersfrom Kodak and llford and also to evidence trom NASA fthe US space agencyJ. They've taken satellite photos of aircraft. cars... thar weren't rhere when the camera went click. I

suggested he take his

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least was reputed to be haunted.

I've heard nothing since.

A In 1956, Green investigoted o poltergeist cose in Botlerseo. Shirley

How ore ghosts creqfed then?

If a policeman came to the front door right now and said. 'Mr Green, terribly sorry, but we've just found r our rtife murdered,' what comes into my mind?

An imoge of your wife?

Eractlr I -\nd what's that made oP

Your imoginotion? \o. lt's nade of electromagnetic energy of between 380 and *10 millimicrons of the infra-red portion of the liel.rtspectmm. This image is transferred to where I last

How often do you find genuine ghost cqses?

Of the 10 to 12 casesI investigate each year, about halfinvolve phenomena w here there i s something to be seen. More often than not it's poltergeist activitylootstepsare heard. things move about. I'm alwayssuspiciouswhen a pub calls up and sayswe've got a ghost, because it might be for publicity to boost takings.

Hitching, the | S-yeor-old girl ot the centre of the cose, colled the poltergeist Donqld.

Al one poinl, Donold wrote o letter lo Green.

This enobled Green lo be listed for severol yeors in the Guinness Book of Recordsas lhe only holder of o leiter from o poltergeist.

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Aport from fhe Albert Holl, whot ofher fEmous ploces hove you investigoted?

At the Old Bailey, all I was able to establishwas thar some members of the staff had heard inexplicable noises and footsteps in an area near a former Roman wall. Apparently, this was beside the walk that criminals woulcl take after they'd been told they were going to hang. I also investigated the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where an actresshad seen an apparition go through a dressing room.

How do you conduct your investigotions?

First I meet the rvitnesses.Assesswhat sort of people they are. Find out about the incident they experienced. I ask permission to speak to the family d o c t or , it l f eel s o fi t. F o r .# S example, there was tne lase or a & & .1

explain because it breaks all the rules. I come ro some sort of conclusion on whether it is a ghost. put a report in and say,'it's up to you, what do yolr \\'aut done?' Most people are happy to leave it at that.

Chosts don't do anything, as I keep underlining.

Whqt fype of equipment do you use?

The basic detecting equipment - common senseand and a senseof humour. Otherwise, I usuallr. take a high-frequency recording unit; a digital rherrnomerer and clock so that I can record temperature and time together; a ruler, so that I can measure horr'distant sounds are; a tape recorder and a camera - both of which sometimeswork and sornerirnesdon't. Things just pack up because of the build-np of static. So I also take a static electricity dispersal trnit.

womanin Birminsham whosaid Sometimes,just the id,eaof a ghost shehadbeenplagueo*fl con you prove lhot there canfrigirien peopte.nit *Erl, i.:1"" ore

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A kind of non-religious exorcism?

Exactly.\Arhatwasworse in this caseis that she had gone through all the spiritual gambits. She'd had the church and two separatespiritualistic groups - one of which said the place had been cursed by a six-foot-high negro, the other by a 12-year-oldmentally deficient girl. They had tried their best to help, bur had ended up making things worse becauseof a lack of common senseand knowledge of what makes people tick.

But whqt if there is evidence of o ghost?

I go where the incidents occurred. Sometimes, I record static or a drop in temperature. At the Albert Hall, there was a rise in temperature. which I can't

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qbout other explqnqtions,

such qs thot

ghosts ore the spirits of rhe deod?

Self deception! I've come to this conch,rsior-r after going to mediums, attending seances,reading the papers. I may be wrong. If I drop dead tomorrorr'. I may come back and haunt you, and the spiritualists can then say,'he waswrong all along the line.' Br,rtI believe, personally, that ghosts and apparitions are forms of electromagnetic energ\. benveen 380 and 440 millimicrons of the infra-red porrion of rhe == = light spectrum - and that is all. "= 5

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Certain aspectsof the shots - the highlightecl flags. ri.reLlinar \Iodules rvithout craters, the canteras cross-hairdisappeari ng behi nd the i mage. the abnor m ally distinct tlre tracks and footprints - are di ffi crrl t to exp).ri rrauar compl er ely.Bur perhaps the rrost irrtriguing question is

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rvhether or not Man a< clid land on the moon

In the next issue, INSIDE STORY inuestigate.s zul21 i/AS might haaefaked its moon shotsand theclaimsthat astronautsweretold,neuerkt reueal what thq real$ saw on the moon.

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overed with gold and surmounted with rwo golden-winged Cherubim facing each other, the Ark of the cffiS#4Covenant must have been an awe_ so me o bjec r r o behold . Bu t i r w a sw h a t l a y i n si d e that m ade it r h e h o l i e s t- a n d mo s t powerful - of religious objects.

Th e A r k was built r o c o n l a i n th e ta b l e ts of stone on which God had inscribed the Ten Commandments and, as such, was believed to wield supernatur*l powers. The Bible describes how, blazing with fire and l i g h r. i r inf lic r ed c ance r-l i k eru m o u rs a n d severeburns on the enemies of Israel, levelled mountains, stopped rivers and laid waste to whole cities. It was rhe biblical equivalent of the atomic bomb.

But. berween 900 ancl 500gc, rhe Ark va n i sh e df r om J er us al e m' sF i rs r T e m p l e its purpose-built resting,,,,placesince King Dar-id conquered Palestihe and created

Israel around l000BC. With no mention of the Ark and its w h ereabouts maci e i n the Sc r i ptures. i rs' l oss' i s regarded as one of the grearesr mysteriesof the Bible. But not to the Ethiopians.

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VIGILA N T

A Guordion of lhe

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The Ethiopian Orthodox Church worships a re l i c w hi ch they bel i eve ro be rhe rrue Ark. It rests in the Church of Saint Mary of Zion in the town of Axum. It is protected b y a Guardi an - a C opti c pri esr w ho never l e a v esi ts si de. and never al l ow sanyone to see it, not even the Emperors of Ethiopia.

The country's other 20,000 churches keep a re pl i ca of the A rk. i n a room know n a. the Holy of Holies. Indeed, a church with_ o u t one i s consi deredunconsecrated.

Best-sel l i ngaurhor Graham H ancock

Ark Abbo Tesfo Miriom will prcfecr' what he believes to be the holy relic (inser) for the rest of his life. Only on his deofhbed will he nominote his successor.Coplic Christion priests hqve been guording the Ark in Axum for l,6OO yeors.

first heard of this lesend in 1983, while w r it ing a book a b o rrt Eth i o p i a . H e fo u n d the earliest account of the Ark coming to Ethiopia written in a Sacred book called the Kpbra,\agasl.or Glory of Kings.

T he book t ells h o w th e Qu e e n o f Sh e b a conceived King Solomon's child while on a vi s it t oJ er us alem .On h e r re tu rn to A ru m . 'she gave birth to a son, named Menelik.

So m e 20 y ear s l a te r. M e n e l i k r i s i te d Jerusalem and spent a year at his father's court. On his departuie, he stole the Ark a n d c ar r ied it of f to A x u m.

V The route of the Ark of the Covehont: Grohom Honcock's seqrch troced the Ark on its iourney - sponning 3,OOOkm ond 1,50O yeors - from Jerusolem, to Elephonrine (insef) ond finolly ro Erhiopio.

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SUDAN : <" During his initial r.isit to Ethiopia in 1 9 83.Hanc oc k m a d e a p o i n t o f v i s i ri rrgth q chapel in Axum; and asking the Guardian about the legend of the Ark. ' lt was br oug h r ro Eth i o p i a . ro th i s sa c r ed c it y . . . here i r h a s re m a i n c d e v e r since,' the Guardian told Hancock. Could it possibly be:,true?

SIF T I NG

FACT

FROM

F IC T IO N

Aft er leav ing A x u m. H a n c o c k d e c i d e d ro find out if the story had any substance.His investigation, at first, did not'prove promising. Professor Richard Pankhurst, a leadi n g his t or ian on th e a re a . to l d H a n c o c k th at while t he le g e rrd o l S o l o mo n a n d Sheba had an ancierlt pedigree in Ethiopia, Sheba hadtalmost certainly come from Arabia, not Ethiopia. .

More damning,was that Axum did not exist when Menelik was alive. In fact, it was not founded until at least the 3rd century BC- about 700 y e a rsa fte r h i s d e a rh .

Hancock put his quest on hold, but he re m ained inr r igu e d b y ' rh e l a c r rh a t rh e re co uld be a gr ain o f tru rh i n th e l e g e n d .

Sevenyears lateq he re3umed his seirch for

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E TH IOP IA the Ark by going to the primary source of data - rhe B i bl e.

S crol l i rrg rl rl orrgh a hi -tech computeri zed rel si orr of rhe Ol d Testamenr, he fourrd more l han 200 rel erencesro the A rk up l o the rei gn oF S ol omon (970-93IB C ).

It rvas not mentioned again until around 620sc. rrhen tw o passages seem ro conve) that i t rvasno l onger i n rhe Fi rstTempl e. l n other tvords, there is' a period of slightly more than 300 years during which the relic could have been spirited away.

U si ng a pow erfrrl ' search-and-fi nd'tool on the computer, Hancock lookecl for words, or sequences of words, that had orrl y ever been merrti orredw i th rhe .\l ' k earl i er i n the rext. H i s reasoni ng\^as thul any occurrencesof these phrasescl rrri rrg the three centuries that the relic rvas not menl i onecl w oul d consti tute porrerftrl . i ndi rect evi dencel or i ts w hereaborLr.s.

By using this technique, Hancock rvas

) The Church of Soint Mory of Zion in Axum is reputed fo house fhe originol Ark of the â&#x201A;Źovenoni, Guording the relic it-. o responsibility not roken lightly. ln the l98Os, o priest refused the 'honour' ond wos choined inside the church for mony monlhs before finolly occepting his tosk.

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A The Dome of the Rock, in Jerusolem, stonds on the site where Solomon built the First Jewish

a b l e to e s ta b l i s hth a t th e Ark had pr.rbabl r remained in the First Temple until at least 7 0 l BC . Ih i s me a n t th a t i t coul d onl l have g o n e mi s s i n gi n th e re l a li vel ybri ef 80-year period between 701 qld 620Bc.

Temple fo house fhe Ark. The mosque is o socred site of lslom, so orcheologistsihove been unoble to study the ruins of the Jewish Temple.

AR K T AK ES F T IGH T rrA4 rys h o rrl d i t h a v e g o ne mi ssi ng therr?

Further research suggested that the Ark cor-ildhave been taken during the reign of King Manasseh (687-6428C). He was a notorious sinner who had turned his back on Judaisfn.

In 1990, Dr Menahem H a ra n , of Jerusal em' s H e b re w U ni versi ty. tol d H a rrc o ck l hal pri ests loyal to the Judaic faith could have taken the Ark 'from Jerusalem around 650BC. This was when Manasseh installed a the pagan idol in Tempfe. Horrified at the prospect of the Ark being polluted by the presenceof this idol, the p ri e s tsmay have taken i t to s o me other pl ace, i t away from the idol, for

\\here thi s other pl acc m ight srrl ekeepi rrg. be, Dr H3ran refused to speculate. Br.rt a fel' n-eeks after illterviehrins Haran, Hancock for-urd a possible ansrver from German archeol ogi stserr ai a{i rrga sile on Elephantine, an island irr the Nile. They tol d H ancock l hat rct ord. had been [ our r d during the excavatior-rindicirtins that a

German archeologists.They said that after standi ng for approxi matel y200 year s.r he Temple had been destroyed in the 5th century BC, as a result of a conflict with the local Egrpriancornmuniry.At the sametime, the Jews living on Elephantifrdj..-had disappearecl. There \ras no evidence thii they had been mas.acrecl They . seem ed si mpl y to hare pi cked rrp rhei r belongings and left. The archeologistshad no idea as to where they might hale gone. bnt Hancock had his own theories

ISTAND

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A Priests on the islond of Tono Kirkos soy their church is builr on rhe spof where the Ark wos once kepf.

They believe their predecessors socrificed onimols in front of $e Ark.

ff5

HIDEAWAY

In November 1989, Hancock had carried out a.thorough reconnarssat.rce of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile. This"gigantic stretch of r.ater. 1.830 metres above sea-level,is dotted .,iith hundreds of hard-to-reach islar-rcls- the ideal hiding places,perhaps,for the fleein,qJerrs of Elephantine? :' On the i sl ands, H ancock er plor ed monasteriesthat have tieen there since the

Jewish temple had been built around 6508C by priests fleeing from Manasseh.

At th a t ti me , th i s w as l he onl y Jew i sh Temple in the world outsideJerusalem.The Bible statesthat the Temple inJerusalem was built to serveexclusivelyas 'an houseof rest for the Ark of the Covenant'. Was it not possible that the temple oir Elephantine had also been designed for that same purpose?

The next clue was also provided by rhe

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After he tokes ip his post, theqchosen monk hos no life outside fhe Ark. He exists to serve if... fo be.before it consfontly Fri estot C hurch of S oi nt Mory 6f 113 ' !.y .-r. ,=:::-:.'r 'r..='.

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; o

time ctf Ethiopia's conr ersi,-rn to Christianity in engOO. On c,ne of the reniotest of these islands. Tana Kirkos. he was told an unusual varianr of rire familiar legend of how the Ark carre ro Elhiopia.

The monks at Tana Kirkos r:'isisredthat when the sacred relic hacl arrived in Ethiopia, it had not been taken srraight to Axum, as most of the Ethiopian ciergl,said, but had been bror-rghtfirst to their islbnd.

C oul d i t be possi bl ei h.rr. to)l o r t ing t he desl ructi on oI rhe renrpl eorr E l ephanr inb, the Jewish migrants fled south. carrying the precious relic rlith tlremj If they followed the Nile river svsrem through the deserts.of the Sr-rdar-r ancl then into the highlands of Ethiopia. thev rvould have ended up ar Lake Tana. ' The H oh .V k srared here o n Tana Kirkos for 800 r'ears,' one monk told Hancock. Later, King Ezana, who helped

E

The Cr,rardian'slast convert Ethiopia to Christianity in the 4th n-ords to him rvere: cehtur\, AD, took the Ark to Axum an{ 'It perfonns miracles placed it in the church in that city. j i g s a w a n cl i t i s i n i tsel f... a The f inal piec e of th e p u z z l es l o tmiracle. It is a mirate d i n t o plac e. I l' K in g E z a n a h a d b ro u g h t cle macle real. .\rd the Ark from Tana Kirkos to Axum in thar is a1lI u'ill sar'.' around AD 300, and.if the Ark had rested at The rrert everri rrg.

Ta n a K ir k os f or 80 0 y e a rs p ri o r.to th a t *1i!.

Hancock u,itnesied date, then it must have arrived. on the the Timkat ceremonv. The priests carried a i sl a n c in l Lak e T ar r ac l rrri n gth e 5 th c e n tu ry bulky rectangular chest, draped in thick BC .This was t he s an l e ti m e th e T e mp l e o n blue cloth, ernbroidered r'r,'iththe emblem El e p hant inehad be e rrd e s tro y e d . of a dove. Bur the chest \\,asnot covBred in RETURN TO AXUM ,gold and there were no cherubim on top. l t di d not l ook l i ke the .\ k as descri bedi n InJanuary 1991,armed rvith his new-found theBible. fa cts .Hanc oc k r et u rn e d to .\x rrm. A t th i s Throughout the procession, Hancock ti me of y ear . t he Ark i s s rrp p o s e d l y looked out for Gebra Mikail, the Guardian removed from the Holy of Holies, to be carried in a religious procesS-ionduring of the Ark. Not for a single moment during the rw o-davceremon\ di d rhe Guardi an the annual ceremony of Timkat.

'Ihe G uar dr an Ha n c o c k h a d m e t o n h i s leave the chapel.\4-hatrventon outside was of no interest to him. He remained by the first visit had long since clied. The current Holy of Holies inside the chapel, fulfilling incumbent was called Gebrafuikail - a tall. the sacredtrust bes(ow edon hi m. grey-haired.heavily-builtman, perhaps 60 years old. with deep-sel eyes clouded by TH E GTU E S T E N D S cararacts. Hancock told Cebra'Mikail that Hancock' squest had taken ei ght yearsand he had come a long way in the hope of seehad come full circle, starting and finishing i n e the A r k f or him s e l f.

'Then I regret that you have wasted y,our in the ancient city of Axum. Was this tlie j o u rney . ' t he G ua rd i a n to l d H a n c o c k . real Ark of the Covenant under the watch'b e caus ey ou will no I s e ei t.' ful gaze of the Guardian in the Holy of Holies? Or, does it still lie hidden, Despite Hancock's fr-mtherpersistence, waiting to be discovered elsewhere? he was unable to get m6re informafion. |r@...::-l

o o o o

A The Ti{nkot ceremony in Aium is s/mbolic of the Ark's originol procession into Erhiopio, os depicred in mony pcintings (inset).

Locols ore fiercely proud of their Ark trodition. In 1988, the Ethiopian government oftempted lo remove the Ark from Axuni, but the lown rose up ogoinsr the ormy ond'\'',.: siopped them.

j

fs

!

't^r

'..-'1 -: -:'.t:.

.l

1" o 1l

., i

.i

t F b

!9

CaruA BoDYB U R S T INTO FI.AMESA N D B URN TO A S H

lrrlTHlNrwruurrs?

A N EX. POT I C E M A N W I TH F O R E N S I C S

tl.

TRA I NI NG P R O V I D E S PROOFTHAT IT CAN

n a fieezing day,earlv in n I I Januarv 1980,John H erl rer. o scenes-of-crime officer' V fiom the Crin.rinal r lnvestisation Department (CID) . was called to investigatea 'death by burnine' at Ebbw Vale in Gwent, Wales. On entering the Iounge of the house, he u'as amazed to find that the room was radiating considerable heat and the atmosphere was very humid.

There was a strange unearthly quality to the light, which was reddish-orange in colour.

On the carpet was a mass of brilliant white ashes,at one end of which lay a pair of human male

feet clotl'red in socks. At the other end lal a blackened skull. Such \rere the remains of 73-year-old H e n r l 'T h o m a s .

FIERY ENIGMA Apart from two-thirds of the wooden-framed armchair in l.hich Thomas had been sitting, norhing else in the room had burned. The orange glow was a result of light from the naked electric bulb ar-rd the daylight, both being filtered through a sticky deposit of condensed,vaporized flesh rvhich clung to everything in the room.

Despite being saturated l'ith melted fat, the mat and underlying

crornbustion. So u'hv clid the bodv

fireplace , why dicl he then sit dor,r,nin his armchair instead:o.f tryi ng to douse the fl amesi n t he nearbr ki tchen?Il he di d not f all i rrto thc fi re, w here di d the fir e srarri A nd w hl w as nothi ng else in

c.rnti[ue bLrrning to zrrr-hite

lhe room burned when Henry

room was quickly exhausted in the initial {lare-up. Also, the door to the room was sealecl by a draueht exch.rder, ancl there \{as not enotrgh ox\'{rerr to support furthe r

: '

porrclerr' :rsl-r?

The forensic scientist thcorized that Thornas, a non-smoker', hacl fallen head {irst into the open coal f ir e. s et t ir r g h i s h c a d a l i s h t . H c then supposedly lifted himself from the fire without

disturbing

the burning coals, the Iire irons or the pilc of chopped sticks in the

33

'LG

The totol number of cosesof SHCin rhe UK might be in the region of 2OOpeople per yeor John H eymer, former C ID offi c er

hearth. He sat back in the

=a

( This scches-of-crime

armchair, strctched out his less in

by CID officer John Heymer,

front of the television set and then

shows lhe extent of Henry

burned to cleath.

\;

" 'e* r " - '* '!

Thomos' burning. Evidenib',*"''' o

of s pon l o n e o u s h u m o n

combustion (SHâ&#x201A;Ź) rwos rrirhheld ot the inquest, snd it look six

_.q o

;

o

yeors for the story to moke the locol newspdpet the

s

South Wales Argus (inset).

E I

do

carpet beneath the body n''ere ch a rr ed onlr t o a f ervc e rrl i m e l l e s beyond the ashes.How could a body, which contains around 45 litres of wateq be reduced t<-r asheswhen highly flammable material such as the carpet and couch were relatively untouched?

A forensic scientistat the scene confirmed that the armchair had burned only while in contact with the body. \{rhen the chair collapsecl - depositing the flaming bocly on the floor - it stopped burninp;. The surroundins furnishings failed to burn because the oxy5;enin the

THE OFFICIAT

VERDICT

The coroner, Cokrncl Iicnneth Treasure,accepteclthis tl-reorvand gave the causeof cleathirsbrrrning.

Heymer was shockcclat the vcrdict.

With his backgrounclin folensics. he coulcl see no basisfor truth ilr the pathologist'srepolt. ,\{tcr. rveighing r.rpthe evidencc. Hernrcr' was convinced he lvasvierling the aftermath of SpontaneotrsHrrnuur Combustion (SHC). \{'hen he informed his superiors,thel dismissedhis suggestion,claimine the death was straightforwar-d.

But if Thomas fell into the

Thomas was reduced to ashes?

S H C can provi de answ ersto a ll but is there uoy,,,' these qr.restions, hard evidence for this flaming ,rr:, phenomenon? "..:.:a..,:,:a One of the strongest argumeRts ' for the existence of SHC is the fact l hal nol even cremal ori a can reduce corpses completely to ashes.The burncd bones res ulr ing fi'om cremation must be ground up in a machine known as a cremulator. This produc"r ,h. .. ,.,,:_,,.,. ' rrshes'rvhi . chare grey i n col our , nr)t \vhi l e.The ashesof H enr y Thomas were pule white. irrdit atirg a heat far hotter than

rl re 900' C of a crematori um.

I

The remains of Thomas are

.' :lirrrl'.:,.r:r

i,I i t- ;l

ci 3

F F

3

.

{ Published for ihe first fime in 1995, in Lorry -9

=o d 1 o

;i

E

Arnofd's book Abloze, rhis photogroph shows fhe remoins of Helen

s

Conwoy, o 5l-yeor-old

-

grondmother from

o

UJ

Pennsytvonio. Uke mosf ofher coses of SHC,fhe

6 6

o -. 9 p

;

fire wos confined fo her body ond did not offect the extremities - in this cose, the legs. When o body burns in normql

.u

circumstonces(inset),

o

lhe extremities ore

o

usuolly lhe first fo burn to dork osh.

is a good source of oxr-gen. then the victim does not elen

5&year-oldhealthy man - who. ironically,was a rerired fireman d, to death in his New York all,that remained of him bones and 2 kg ofash. :itany of these cases, g else in the house had been

affected- even a box of matches close to the body had nor ignited.

To reduce a body to ash so l,,completely,a fire would need a ;,-fe:l4pecture of around 2,500'C. q:ilveragehouse fire, which can ol a whole building, reaches y about 200"C.

HE WICK

EFFECT

e s c ient if icc o mmu n i rl th i n k s i r p-lain SHC with the 'wick ,theory. This statesthat if a dy is suitablyobese and clorhed ient layers of flammable ing. t hen t h e b u rn i n g c l o rh e s iact as an external wick and the will b.,r., like a candle. lt the

i!.in continuing contact with i!!ent$ hot flame, and rhere

have to be obese.

UP IN

SMOKE

A u'ell-documented caseof the wick effect was investigated by ProfessorGee in 1965, at Leeds University Hospital. It concerned an 85-year-oldwoman who sustained a stroke or heart attack and fell into a roaring coal fire.

She was not discovered for some hours. But, while she had burned according to the wick effect, her charred remains showed different signs to those of alleged SHC. 'Sceptics make the mistake of insisting all instances of SHC are casesof the wick effect,' states John Heymer. 'I have found that there are major differences. In most wick-effect cases,the victims are dead before coming into contact with an obvious source of ignition. Clothes are flammable in their own right and burn to ash even on portions of the body that have not burned. Also. the

burning process requires 24 to 48 hours to effect results similar to the Henry Thomas case.'

Heymer is one of the world's leading SHC researchers.Another important figure is Larrv Arnold, head of ParaScienceInteruational.

a paranormal research group in the US. Both men have independently amassedan invaluable body of evidence that points firmly away from the rvick effect as an explanation for SHC. This evidence proves that, in ce rl ain c as est,he f ir e o ri g i n a te s inside the body, and the temperaturesare high enough to reduce bone to ashes- fivo factors not explainecl by the wick effect.

EXPTO S I V E

T H EOR Y

Har,ing searched for a caltse ihrti fits rvith all the knoiln eridence.

Hevmer is nor'v convinced tl-rat SHC results from the lelciir-,n of hydrosen and orr-gen i'irl'rin the bodv at a ce llr.rlarler c 1. Tr c por r ' er re of islrt 11 - 11 "" r":" " 16 -^ the : ,t l- , , \ \ < ( t l mixture can be :ce r-:r1-.tlc Space Shuttle rockets. rih:.:r '-rrc lhe trlo elements :rs a tle l i.,r ' l: i: r c hing.

S o, the re is tto ci,,itir : : l: . . . : ihe hydrogen-oslgen

l-era--i,il ciilr

produce heat strfficlcri t, ' r-echlce human bo ne s to \'lr: ' c . , . : ' .

A cc ord ing to -\,t. \ . ' , ; magazine of 4 \Iav l!r!,,1. Helrlrer 'builds the best possiblc ce.e tirr the phenomenon

. \'er :he rc .rr-e

many other theor-ies f c,r-SHC most of which Hevner

his i(r.rncl

no evidence for - incltrcilnl ball lightning, magnetic force.. ancl

even 'phosphinic farts' caused by ignited gut methane. An argument by the cynics, however, is that no matter what the cause, no-one has witnessed SHC from start to finish - a n d s p e al i ns to vi cti msi s difficult for obvious reasons.

There are, howeveq many people who have witnessed fires that defy explanation. One such witness is firemanJack Stacey,who was called to a fire in a derelict house in London. There was no evidence of fire damase to the

house but, as Staceylooked inside; he came acrossthe burning body, .1 of a tramp, known locally as Bailey,' TH E

FIR E

W ITH IN

' There w asa sl i t about four i n ches long in the abdomen,' Stacey '."' remembers.' The fl ame w as coming through there at force;..:.:,,;:1: like a blow lamp.' To douse th, fierce flame, Stacey resorted:.li feeding the firehose into the:;r,;r

tramp's body, extinguishin$ t fi re. he cl ai med.at i ts source.

,;:, a.a:l: !ri.f

lf, ,t I

'Ther e is no dou b t w h a ts o e v e th r at the f ir e began in s i d e th a t b o d y ,' tial cause of the fire was

ry..unu"There wasno gasor eiiq in the building, and no were found. Even if thc ad dropped a lit cigarette im s elf ,exp e ri m e n tsh a v e t his woul d b e i n s u ffi c i e n tto such a destructive flanre.

I n 1982,in E d mo n to n . L o n d o n .

Jeannie Saffin. a 62-year-old rent allydis able dw o ma n . b u rs r flames while sitting on a

wooden chair in the kitchen of her home. Her father, who was seated at a nearby table, became aware of a fl a s h of l i ght. On turni ng ro Jeannie, he saw that she was enveloped in flames, mairrly around her face and hands.

Jeannie did not cry out or move.

Her father pulled her over to the sink and called to his son-in-law, who ran into the kitchen to see

,:::

A The tromp, Boiley, hod sunk his teeth inlo the mohogony stoircose, suggesting he wos olive ot the stqrl of SHC. Firemen needed o crowbqr to prise oport his iows. misadventure or open lerdict.' \Arhen he was later a-skedabout this, Burton said that'misadrentur-e

\\'as

the same as'accidental ciearl'r'and that he had no intentiorr ,rf discussing it further. But hor' can a

33

death bejudged

accidental rihen

the cause is not krroir n?

The flomes- were coming from her moufh like o drogon ond rhey were moking q rooring noise D o n o l d C o r r o l l ,S H C w i t n e s s

u\

,,

Jeannie standing with flames roaring from her face and abdomen. They dowsed the flames, butJeannie died later in hospital.

The inquest intoJeannie's death was adjourned so that the police could ascertain how she caught fire. The constable detailed to make the enquiries found no cause and reported to that effect. He told Jeannie's relatives that he believed her to be a victim of SHC. Jeannie's brother-in-law, Donald Carroll, gave evidence at the inquest, stating that she had died as a result of SHC.

Did the authorities suspecr the cause of death to be SHC.- Thir could explain why r-ro exhatrstir.e enquiries were made. \\hen commenting

on the lack oi forensic

enquiries, Jeannie's sister. F athleer-r Carroll, said, 'For all ther klorr. rve could have done her in oursehes.'

THE

SHC

COVER-UP

It is strange that the auth, rrities should accept the storie: of nr'o men who say that a ment:rllr' disabled woman burst into flames and died from her btrnrs.

'If SHC does not c-rccur.and no source of ignitior.r can be found,' Heymer explainr. 'then I, as an ex-police officer. find it very odd that the lrlen \\ere1r t questioned at great lencth to ensllre that they h a d r r 't . c t I r e r a l i g h t . I t s e e m s to be a le rr eas\'\rav in which to commit murcler - burn a person to

D E N Y IN G

TH E

FA C TS

The verdict ofJeannie's inquest was misadventure. To the family, the coroneq DrJ. Burton, said, = 'I sympathize with you but I cannot E put down SHC because there is no I : such thing. I will have to put down

death then srlear they combusted spontaneollslr, and the authorities rrill insist, n-ithout any evidence, that the burning was accidental.'

j

Despite this, the case ofJeannie Saffin, tike all others of

reported SHC,remainr.tor.a.ffi