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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fergus Fleming,Tim Coleman, ,arlhon: 8.i!drall, (raig Glenday, David Guyatt, €olin Wilson.
iiliiiii: taroline Davies. I'ttPicture library. i.fiiipli!]lheldnke. to thankall those vho helped ir :*iiittd'like o{ The X Factor. lilkhigan,USA. 9ritishGeological S*rvey. fl4gaine,ladneyllowarth,Eastmar Pre* Thomas B.Allen. .
ou slorvlyopen your eyes. Your head feels slightly sore, vour throat is dry and your r
rvhole body feels numb, cold
.\s vonr eyes begin to focus properlv you see a man in what lonLs ll[e a sp ace su it peer ing c1or.'nat vou. He smiles. '\bu'r-e made it. Welcome to the !Jrth century.' Ir nral sound like science fiction
The theory behind cryonics is temptin gly straightforward. You die, you are frozen and then you are thawed out in a future world where every conceivabletechnical advance has taken place. AII your problems, including mortality, are solved at a stroke. Here, they can cure anything. One hundred or two hundred years after your 'death'you get up and walk.
A The quest for immoriolity hos
....r led to the science of cryonics, wlth:,1.-l the possibility thot we moy one doy live to unimoginoble oges (insef) or even ovoid deoth forevei.',.'
bui rodav there are those who are cloing nrore than just dreaming
P R E SE RV A TION
aboLrt living in the future. They
Cryobiology originated in the 1950s,when bull's sperm was fro z e n F o rarti fi ci al i nsemi nati on. It first seized the public imagination in 1964, when Robert Ettinger - an American physics teacher - discussedthe idea of
. rrc irrr e .Lirq time a nd m oney int o the scie nce of crvon ic s in t he hope tl-rat one dar', decades or e\-en centLrries after their 'death', ther can be cured ar-rdbrought b:rck to life.
and cryoni csenthusi ast.becam e thaCrct to be suspend.d,',l.:li..;1l.i.iiil, the first person tnl-recrrcnanAa,,l.r'r.li:il:.!llllrl::lla:::i::ill at ul tral ow te mp erature s after'tier,,t,.,,:,,i;:,1 died of lung cancer. Since tneq...l,'.;,.:,11. cryonics companies have arnaryadt,,l,,.'tt::r., hundreds of customers, most Of..it,',,i.:r,:r ilil nl
th e m s t ill aliv e oI c o u rs e . (Contrary to popular belief. Walt D i s neyi, . r ot u- on g th e m .) In c as eof ac c id e n t o r s u d d e n death, cryonics cuslomerswear a ading 'No autopsy or ing'. To avoid delay, there tails of who to contact at ftiliii,.,;ltottics organization. lii:ll.::
FREEZING
THE BODY
a body arrives at the cryonics ,r..,,,r,..once lab, the freezing processis relativelvsimple. First the blood is and replaced by a ,,',,,,,:removea
l,!!'quick-frozen, at a rate of degrees per second - slow ilrg causesthe formation of ri.cecrystalswhich puncture walls- unt il t h e te mp e ra tu re i:rriominus 196'C. This t em per at u rei s c ri ti c a l i t i s t he boiling po i n t o f l i q u i d nit rog en , the che m ic al us ed t o
. \..p the body frozen. Liquid nitrogen is used because.unlike o - -::r::L.-:lrai,:il:l:or ti'.t1i.,d;Fng erhbalming techniques, lti!,l:i1:doesnot cause the l:l:la:r::.i.'ri of the body. $*omposition frozen, the body is placed nless steel cvlindrical ji known
as a dewal
and
is battened down. Apart regular top-ups of nitrogen,
the dewar is not opened until the body is ready to be revived - which could be centuries from the time of death. Within this framework there are two basic choices - a full-body suspensionor a 'neuro', head or brain only. The most cautious choose the full-body, even though this involves the indignity of being stored upside-down - if the temperature rises only the feet will --
aa
tt.l ttWe don't know for sure whether we'll be brought bqck buf we're going to die knowing we've gof o chqnce MoureenMichoels,CryonicsCustomer
- n \r, be damaged before the problem is rectified. Those who accept cryonics' ultimate logic go for a neuro. In the future, they say,it will be possible to use the DNA in brain tissue to clone a new body, so there is no need to keen the old one. There are other reasonsfor choosing the head only preservation. Despite all precautions, the body could be
severelvdamaged by freezing and all the major organs may crack open and disintegrate. In addition to being cheaper to maintain than the full-body option, neuro suspendeescan be moved more easilv in an emergency. NEVER
SAY
D IE
Opti mi sm i s of pri me i mpor t ance in cryonics. People who have paid to become 'corpsicles', as the frozen bodies are sometimes rather dismissivelytermed, must believe that they will surl.ive both the freezing process and tharr'ing. They also need to have faith that the world in which thev emerge will have the means to restore them to health. (Cryogenics, with which cryonics is often confused, refers to all science that takes place at low temperatures.) Cryonics enthusiastscite as proof scientific experiments in
rvhich animals have been restored from a state of death using exactly the same cryo-technology as envisagedfor humans. In May 1992, for example, a baboon was anaesthetized and its blood replaced by a substitute solution while its body was placed in ice and its temperature lowered to below freezing. The animal rr'assuccessfully revived after an hor-rrand studied for any adverse after-effects. In another experiment, a Cerman Shepherd dog was subjected to four hours of freezing, its blood replaced with a s\-tlthericsolution, its heart and brain rr'avesstopped. Scientists a t th e - \ m er ic an c r y o n i c s organization Alcor were able to restore the dog to full health. Horr'eter, critics argue that freezing an animal for a few hours is one thing, but it can hardly be
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the deep freeze is moner-rr':rstecl. Some are even less diplonr:riic, Cryobiologist
Arthur
Rorte trtarle
a famous statement to tl-re effect that, 'Believine cryonics colrld reanimate somebody who hits b e e n f r o z e t t i s l i k e b e l i c r i t t g r , 'tt can turn a hambur5;er back irttrr a cow.'
experiments that have not worked. Th e c r y onic senl h u s i a s l s
.
d e a thswer e due t o i c e c ry s ta l s ca u sedby s low f r ee z i n pagn d th a t t-heproblem can be overcome. To s uppor t t heir b e l i e f. researcherspoint to the emerging sci enc eoI nanot ec h n o l o g ;.T h i s that a host of tiny robots, l*t:;;.;.i,;.,.:'.proposes of a molecule, will the size :i:l:lilill::il:rr,,:l::::*ach the body diagnosing *:;ii!}:t.,1,..;t l through as they go. Anrl cells mending ii:;..i1;1i1t11;..t.'..l,.:,.'lt"nd tt this is possible, according to the ::ll.t:,,,:,,t,,,,',':t,,,,,,'. .
most hopeful thinkers, the same technology will be able to rejuvenate a person. You can be reborn at any age you want. The age of choice seems to be in the mid-20s. W A ST E
OF
MON E Y
Others, however, hold cryonics to be unattainable from a scientific viewpoint. British biologists Peter and.fean Medawar are typical of a considerablenumber of scientists w h o d o not bel i evethat sci ence will ever find a way of restoring the cryonically preserved to life. 'In our opinion,' they say,'money invested to preserve human life in
Rowe's analow has beett attacked as absurcl - the crrortics organization Alcor arglres thiIt. 'The freezing techniques used in crvonics suspetrsion are basecl upon hundreds of publishecl str.rdies in rvhich scieutists have shown that mammalian cells. i r r c l r r d i r r g b r a i n c e l l s . c a r r 5 ri r \i \c freezing and thawing.'
MORAT
REVULSION
Cryonics has attracted contro\-ersv right from the start. Marx clergymen, for example, find the very concept morall;' unacceptable. They arsue that it is contrarv to Christian belief to
tl . , cheat death in this way, and that mankind was not intended to achieveimmortality on this earth. For the Christian Church, this scientifically-produced form of resurrection restsuneasily alongside the Biblical resllrrection of Christ. IDEN T I T Y
CRIS IS
TumorVictimLosesBid to FreezeHeadBeforeDeath i CryoricaiJds!r!s rcqulir is , lirnt sbt' l.yond rulinsnllovir! rrilirullyrl A{j.n.\ro
The phvsical restoration of a dead bodv is one thing, but whether or not the unfrozen individual will retain its individuality is unknown. The workings of the human brain, in particular how memory works, remains one of the greatest mvsteriesin human biology. If memory is nothing more than a se r iesof elec t r ic a lp u l s e s .th o s e pnlses will be long gone after a few centuries in a dewar. You could emerge from your sleep with the mind of a new-born baby, or be physically alive but brain dead. If memory is chemically-based, the chemicals may have fared no better than the electrical oulses.
and you will be back to square one again. Either way, if the old personality has no awarenessof having been reborn it mightjust as r'vellbe dead. If all goes accordirrgto plarr and vou are brought back to life r.r'ith mind and bod,vintact, there are
V Reseorchon onimols- notobly boboons,dogs ond cats- hos led mony scienliststo believe thot successful revivol of o humon being,without incurringbroin domoge,is possible.
. ::
further matters to consider. tUU.,,,,,, w el l w i l l vou surl i ve i n your new l i fe?W i l l yorr hare di sturbi ng fl ashbacks? \4 i l l l otr be i n physical or rnerrtalpai ni H ow w i l l you cope r l i t h a s o c i e t y s o f a r a d v a n c e d th a t it has been able to bring you back
to life? You could b..o-. a Rgure of lun. looked upon as a freak of nature. or be seen as a figure of fear. The bacteriayou .ui.y which, presumably, will also have,i,i,l'.., survived suspension - could be ones to which your saviourshave l ong si nce l ost resi stance. ...::: TIME TR A V E ttE R S
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acing due East, into the rising sun, r The Sphinx is soid the Great Sphinx of Giza, the largest stone statue in the world, has for lo have been builr centuries been the source of myths, 4,5(X) yecrs ogo. John l a b l e s a n d l e g e n d s .T h i s eni gmati c monuAnthony'Wesf (inset) l" 1 nlent - a symbol of Egypt - has alwaysbeen cloims it wos built I2,OOOyeors ogo. shrouded in an aura of mystery. : Historions believe thot CurreRt theory saysthat the Sphinx was b u i l t b y rh e Ph a ra o h I{ hafre around ot this fime Mqn hod nof even invented the 2500BC. So when, in 1991, geological eviwheel ond would d e n c e i n d i c a te d th a t th e S phi nx w as bui l t hove been incopoble at least as long ago as 6000BC- 3,000 years before Ancient Egyptian civilization began of such q construcfion. - it senl a shock wave of disbelief through the conservativeworld ol Egyptology. :i.. .: Although it was commonplace among
19th-century Egyptologists to state that the Sphinx was much older than the Pvrarnids, it was in the 20th century that its attribution to Khafre became accepted. Khafre reigned from 2520 to 2494sc.
votcE
o E Dt s s E NT
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It required 15 years of persistent effort by one man - American writer and selftrained Egyptologist,John Anthonv \Vest to begin to turn the tide of opinion against the establishedview.The reason established Eglptologists believe that the Sphinx was built bv Khafre is that its face matches that of a statue of the Pharaoh in the Cairo Museum. West highlighted serious flaws in
who ith the New, cs q Senior Artitt, esed his experience ond experiise to see if rhe face of the Sphinx motched thor of rhe
the sqme ongles ond iook meosurements of its foce (c5oie).
M a n y rradi ti o.nal E gyptotogi srs di sm i s s e d D omi ngo' s w ork. D r James R o m a n o l rom the B rookl vn Muserrm.N ew York, says art tvas 'not phorogralgyetiatr p h y ' b ut' i deal i zed real i ty' , and rhat Domingo was placing 'modern standargls o n a n ci ent aestheti cs' and. therefoi ?, Domingo's analysiswas not relevant. R A IN
IN
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D E S E R T?
= Since Domingo's evidence did not prove ;i
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the visual link between the Sphinx and Khafre by employing unusual methods. \Arest brought in the servic"ds 'of Lieutenant Frank Domingo, a forensic expert from the New York Police D ep a rrme n t who s pec ia l i z e d i n . re c o n structing faces where much of thebriginal detail has been lost or mutilated. Domilrgo compared the' face of the Sphinx nith the statue of Khafre in the musellm. From detailed sketches made,of ' both faces, he concluded that the two statues re p re s ent ed' s epar a te i n d i v i d u a l s ' . ,,"'Domilgo added, 'if at some future date irrefutable information proves the Sphinx was Khafre, then the artists wh@,duplicated t he i ma g e h ad t o be inept te c h n i c i a n s .'
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conclusively to the Egyptologists that the Sphinx was older than previously thought, West tried again. He proposed that the' erosion of the Sphinx was l-lot due to desertl,windo. *ni, but to rain waterlJ The last time Egypt had hear.y rainfall w a sa fte r the break up of the l ast Ice A ge. w h i c h b egan as l ar back as 12,000ec. West could only prove the water erosion th e o ry to tradi ti onal E gyprol ogi sts by obtaining'the co-operation of d respected a c a d e mi c geol ogi st w ho coul d confi rm that the rock had indeed been eroded by water. After a long search,.he finally found a n e x p e rt open-mi ndedenough to l i srenD r R o b e rt S choch of B oston U ni versi ty. Sc h g c h' s exami nati on confi rmed that th e b o d y of rhe S phi nx and rhe w al l sof rhe ditch it sits in exhibited classic signs of w a ter e ro si on.H e al sol ound that the monu m e n t and the nearby templ e compl ex had been carved out of the same rock. T h e re w as al so a strangeanomal y.The
A Frqnk Domingo mode trbcings of the Sphinx ond Khofre's slotue. He drew o line from the chin to the corner of the eye ond compored the ongles. The ongle on Khofre's foce (rop) wos I4o, while on the Sphinx {obove) it wos 32'.
Sphinx and its sur'rounding walls -were so severely eroded the;r had grooves cut into the rock one metre deep. In comparison, identical strata of rock tlose by were barely weathered at all. The implication was that the Sphinx had been carved in stTges, th e ear lies t c ar v in g b e i n g e x p o s e d to wa te r er os ion, t he la te s tto w i n d e ro s i o n .
ANSWERS ..]!.]v'1s1ss:$;*â‚Ź.1w
IN
THE EARTH
To add yet further weight to his theory, West wanted to know when the' rock around tJle Sphinx was first carved. In doing so, he would find out when''the Sphinx was built. He then brought'in Dr Thomas Dobecki, a seisinographyspecialist from a Houston based consultancv firm.
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By analysing the water erosion on the floor around the Sphinx, Dobecki could estimate when the rock was carved. The further down the water erosion goes. the longer the rock on the surface has been exposed to rainfall. Dobecki's experiments would show how far down the erosion affected the rock, and from there he could estimate the age of the Sphinx. Dobecki's seismographic experiments and Schoch's observations proved that the body of the Sphinx had indeed been carved out in distinct stages,and that the heavily eroded front of the monument predated the back end by around 3,000 years.
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c H A r y 9 ! I G F A -c_ ,7 Schoch's conclusion was that Khafre discovered the Sphinx in a partially completed state. Khafre repaired the Sphinx, and th e te m p l e s a ro u n d i t. b y pl aci ng grani te slabs"over the limestone. Schoch said that owing to the vast age of the Sphinx,.it must h a v e u n d e rg o n e m a n y repai r campai gns over thousands of years.A1so,because the head of the Sphinx is proportionately smaller than the body, it had probably been discovered by the Ancient Egyptians with a different face. They then carved the Sphinx into an Ee"vptianstyle.
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Dobecki's experiments" also revealed another Spcret - a number of unexplored tunnels and a large rectangular chamber fir'e metres belorv the front paws of the Sphinx. In Dobecki's professionalopinion, he believes this chamber to be man-made. Even more bizarre was the fact that the discovery of this chamber had been predicted nearly 60 years previously by Edgar Cayce, America's famous 'Sleeping P rophet' .On 29 October 1935,C a ycewent into a'trance and saw previous lives from Ancient Egypt. Cayce stated that survivors of Atlantis had come to Egypt in 10,500eC and had built the Sphinx and the Creat Pyramid within 100 years of their arrival. E V ID E N C E
.( The vriclls oround fhe ditch in which rhe Sphinx stonds hove been the focus of Robert Schoch'sobservolions becouse they hove nol been repoired since the stolue wos corved. The seismogrophic experimenfs corried out in front of the {phinx (inset) odded further evidence rhbt rhe erosion"wos coused by woter.
OF
A TIA N TIS ?
Most significantly, Cayce predicted that, before the close of the 20th century, 'a hall of records..:w oul d be found rvh er e t he ' line of shadow or light falls between the paws of the Sphinx.' Inside the chamber, according to Cayce, is a library of wisdom from the lost civilization of Atlantis. As a professor with an academic reputation to consider, Dr Schoch has gone on record saying the Sphinx was built no more than 8,500 years ago and r'vill not be draw n i nto arguments unconnec t ed wir h
'u., geology. West is less cautious. In his view the Sphinx is at least 12,000 yeiarsold. Eit her way .s c ien c es e e m sto p o i n t to th e Sp h i nx being builr l o n g b e fo re th e a c c e p ted date. And as yet, the traditional Egyptologistshave not been able to put up a lasting argument against Schoch's theory. But major qiiestions remain - who built it and how? A growing body of researchers, i n cl u ding bes t - s e l l i n g a u th o rs . Gra h a m .djh ,#' jr--ry; .rir
T h e r i d d l e o f th e S p h i n x i s, still unsolved... it is o riddle t hq t e n c o m p osse sfh e e n ti re Gizq necropolis GrohomHoncock.Author
ww
Hancock, Robert Bauval and Colin Wilson, believe the re-daring of the Sphinx is evidence in support of a lost civilization - pern a p s ev en A t lant ls . In 1993. W es t hi n te d s tro n g l y th a t th i s was the case. It resulted in a furious response from Dr Zahi Hawass, Director General of the Giza P;ramids, who banned West and his team from carrying out any further investigations. Si nc e t hen. r he re h a s b e e n a c u ri o u q
.q
change of heart on the part of the Eglptian authorities. In April 1996, a new licence for the continued exploration of the Sphinx was granted 'to Dr Joseph Schor, an American millionaire who has close connections with the Association for Research and Enlightenment (a vast organization u hi ch promotes the teachi ngso[ C avce).
A These compufer proiecfions, shown on the'U5 felevision documentory lhe Myste{y ol the Sphinx, illustrote hoW Robert Schoch believes the Sphini oged. He thinks o huge heod,
lFsIlIg" B:vEAr:E9__ }A.tthe same time,.Dr Schor and Dr Flawass a nnounced that there are secret tunnel s under the S phi nx and thar, i n the near future. they w i l l open thesechambersl i ve before a world-wide TV audience.' l l Lhl s happens. w e may drscover l l C ayce' s predi cti ons about A tl anti s are true. A nd i f the chamber contai ns evi dence about the age of the S phi nx.' new light might also be cast over what the monument guards - the Giza Pvramids.
In the next issue M\STERIOUS WORLD reuealseuidencclhal castsdoublsouprlhe trnditional idea that the Pyramids were rnerell tombsfor the Pharaohs.
possibly of o lion (top), wos built cl s lime when the Nile Volley wqs o green sovonnoh, 8,(XlO yeors . f ogo. Over thousonds of yeors, the heod wos re-corved to its iresent shcpe (bo?rom). _!
DOES FILM FOOTAGEOF TH E RO S WE L LA L I E N AUTOPSY PROVETHAT
WE ARE NOT ATONE?OR IS I T A HO A X D E S I G N E D
TO THROWUFOTOGISTS INTO DISARRAY? n 28 August 1995, ten million television viewers in the US watched stunned as pathologists carefully dissected what appeared to be an extraterrestrial lifeform. In a series of grainy, black-and-white film segments, the Fox Network documentary, Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, showed what was claimed to
be archive footage from 1947. By the end of the day, the film had been broadcast worldwide and, almost overnight, the one question being asked in some 42 different languageswas: is this for real?
FINDING
THE FOOTAGE
It was claimed that a London-based film producer, Ray Santilli, had bought the autopsy footage for f,l00,000. He had been researching material for a music documentary in summer 1993 in Cleveland, Ohio, when, by chance, he came acrosssome previously unseen Elvis Presleyfootage. After successfullyarranging a cash deal to buy the Presley film, the cameraman offered Santilli some 'valuable footage' taken during his time in the forces. The film was alleged to show a UFO crash sile, and an alien autopsy. Santilli viewed the
'. '. ',,, ;;f:-:
.: J a I yf
_ A Reol or nof,
of rhe UFO mosf phenomeno. The served s
purposes:
plocing UFOs in perception fhrough medio (insef).
.;
*I3tr*pSY
AISALY$ffi The story surrounding the rele<rseof the oulopsy film footoge moy be full of inconsistenciesqnd problems, but whot of rhe film itself? Does it, too, fqll oport on serious scrutinY? Opinions differ wildly throughout UFOlogy os to which scenesare the most importonf, but there ore certoinly o number of onomqlies which could suggest o hosx.
W I g"fo." the outopsy sequence, pieces of the debris ore shown lo lhe comero by o militory officer. â&#x201A;Źonveniently, his foce is never seen, ond neither is ony insignio, which would reveql his militory ronk.
*
! ehorogrophic expert Bob Shell wos given two strips of the the originol I6mm film showing whot oppeors to be c doorwcy presumobly to the ouloPsl ngom - ond q sloircose. These imoges <on be seen ol the stort of the oulopsy. When he wos osked lo quthenlicote lhe oge of the strips, Shell confirmed thot the film wos I6mm Cine Kodok Super XX ircm 7947. However, becouse lhe creolure connot be seen on the somples, there is obsolutely no guoronlee thol lhe outoPsy foologe.is from ihis dote.
film, and was impressed enough to raise sufficient funds to conclude the deal in November 1994. On returnitrg to the UK, Santilli took the film to the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA.), where the Director of Research, Philip Mantle, stated, 'The footage is r-rnique. It is the only knorvn instance of aliens on frlm.' In a press releaseclated26 March 1995, Mantle clairned that 'rve have hacl the film checked out by Kodak who confirm it is 50 years old... \ve no\{
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plan to have it examinecl br' fihn experts at Sheffielcl.' Other UFOlosists, horveveqrvere voicing concerns at horv the video, n i th o trt er i dettcc l o sl rpporl i ts authenticitr', rvas being promoted. Man,v expre ssed reservations thzrt established Roswell researchers lr,erebeing denied accessto the film and the facts behind the stor,v.
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With much of the UFO comrnunitl' norv doggedl,v inr.'estigating the storl', furthcr anomalies beglan to emerge. The most serious of thesc
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Wl"n rhe porhologists enter tfie â&#x201A;Ź4 room, lhey begin touching the creoture gingerly. During'reol' outopsies, the body musr be moved to corry out oll the procedures. Also, rhe film's doctors oppeqr ro be feeling for orgons
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approached by someone acting on Santilli's behalf. The salesperson was asked whether a square and triangle found on film-edge markings meant the year of manufacture was 1947. The salespersonchecked reference books and conlirmed that this was true. What the salesperson did not realize was that the same edge markings could be applied to film manufactured in 1927, 1947 or 1967.Also, as Kodak's Peter Milson pointed out to Ray Santilli, 'the date of manufacture does not confirm the date when the film
was shot or processed.' With the film's aurhenticity still in doubt, Kodak offered ro confirm its date. Two frames of the autopsy sequence were necessary to meet the required test criteria, but by the time the autopsy received its television premiere in Ar-rgust 1995, Kodak had received no footage. C ON F IR MIN G
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The X Factor :r.ret with Santilli and asked him to confirm the processes carried out by Kodak. He insisted that they had tested and confirmed the age of the footage. To veri{y this,
T-heX l-r.t,ctorthen spoke with Tony A mal o. the K odak mori orr- pict ur e specialist who would have overseen the authentication process.He stated that, despite promises from Santilli through a US intermediary, 'Kodak has never received a single fiame of Santilli's film.' Michael Hesemann, a German UFO researcher and magazine edi tor, carri ed oul hi s ow n invesr igation into the autopsy footase.
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ts 5 wh" is the figure behind rhe window? Before the autopsy film wos releosed, Roy Scnrilli cloimed rhot President Trumon could be seen so cleorly in the window that'you ccn ryq! his lips.' Not only does the mon nol speck, buf his idediry connol be mode out. And why is he weoring o mosk when he is stonding behrnd rhe observolion window?
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i;+i:|+ In his report, F'acts u Polemicsin the Alien Autoltsl liootage Debate, Hesemann reported that two threeframe segments were submitted fbr teststo Bob Shell, editor of the photography magazine Shutterbugand one-time photographic consultant for the FBI and US legal system. Based on a careful analysisof the film's chemical make-up, Shell confirmed the frames to be pre-1956. He also concluded that the type of film used was Super XX-Panchromatic Safety Film, an in-door, high-speed film with a short life span of no more than two years.
film the alien crash site and subsequent autopsr'.Ir-rit, Bartrett claims to have receiled a call instructing him to make his \\'avto the crash site splplane. of a Rr,rssiar-r 'Barnett' said that he flew from Washington DC to collect equipWH O S H OT TH E FItM? ment from Wright Patterson Air in Ohio, before leaving for film's Field on the authenWith opinion Roswell. From Wright Patterson, ticity still split benveen two camps, he flew to New Mexico, and then attentiorl turned to the cameraman travelled by road, across desert ter- who had been girren the pseudoRav Santilli. In rain, until reaching the crash site. by nym Jack Barnett' 1995, 'Barnett' produced a state- Although Barnett rvas vague about me n l d e tai l i ng the ci rcumsl ances the actual location of the debris, he l ater l ed researcher Michael surrounding his orders in 1947 to
Shell is positive that the film was exposed and developed within this two year period, dating the film, at the very least, as pre-1958. There wasjust one problem: the film segments did not show the actual alien.
,-'tr aft , quickly removing o few 49 internol orgon3, fhe pofhologisfs moye ro the heod. Agoin, os in the chest sequence, lhe scene showing the folding of rhe skin ofter incision is misring, hiding ony wrinkling rubber.
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Hesemann to a site llear Socorro. New Mexico, and claimed that the crash happened on 3i May 1947 not at RoswellinJuly 1947. Kent Jeffrey, head of the International RoswellInitiatiae, a UFO research group, attempted to verifli Barnett's statement. To help him, . he brought in retired combat cameramen from 1947.
*93:'l:tp*1t"t[|9].L_ The cameramen found by Jeffrey included Joe Longo, President of the International Combat Camera Association; Bill Gibson. responsi-
ble for filming the famous launching of the B-25 bombers on rheir wav to the 'Doolittle raid'; and retirecl Air Force Lieutenant C o l o n e l D a ni el A . McGovern, a motiorl-picture project officer for the Air Force, srarioned in Washington DC inJune 1947 - the same time and place as Santilli's cameraman, Barnett. The veterans - all of lvhom worked on highly classified projects - agreed that it made no senseto fly a cameraman to Roswell, New Mexico, from Washington DC. Qualified cameramen with top-
security clearances were stationed all over the country, including New Mexico. In the event of a UFO crash, cameramen could have been dispatched from Roswell Army Air Field itself. According to McGovern, who filmed a number of conventional autopsies in his career, all medical procedures were routinely shot in colour. Santilli's cameraman shot the autopsy scene in black and
white, without sound. Shaky, out of focus, and hand-held throuehottt, the quality of the camera work is considered by Longo, Gibson and McGovern to be appalling and . not even close to military standards. Suspectinethe film to be a fraud, Colonel McGovern has offered to authenticate the ca m er am an. M c Co v e rn re q u i re s th e c a meraman's full name and serial number sc, ': 'that he can veri$t his military service with the Air Force Records Centre. McGovern
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lf o n y b o d y i n my u n i t sh o t f il m i n f h o f mo n n e r, h e 'd b e b o c k s c r ub b i n g p o ts i n the kitchen Joe Longo,MilitoryComeromon
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will reveal only his conclusion. He promises to keep all other information, including the cameraman's identity, strictly confi dential. McGovern presentecl his offer to Ray Santilli, and The XFactor received a copy of Santilli's reply. In it he writes, 'I can state quite categorically that the last person the .. cameraman is going to place any confidence in is an ex-military serviceman... in the present climate the cameraman will be
doing himself and his family a disservice by going public... However good his credenti a l s.he will be t or n l i mb b y l i m b .' It is u nclea r wh et her t his is ev idenc e, as
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the critics claim, of Santilli deliberately attempting to obstruct the truth. It could, of course, be the genuine response from a cameraman eager to protect himself from the Roswell meclia circus a nd the i nevi tabl ei nterrogal i on that going public would involve. However, in light of the ongoing calls to have the footage tested, many researchers are beginning to adopt the scepticism that increasingly surrounds the Roswell incident. Indeed, one theory currently seeping its way through the UFO community is that the footage is a deliberately bad hoax perpetrated by 'the authorities' to cast a bad light over the actual Roswell incident, and steer public opinion away from believing the event happened.
A On 8 September 1947, iusr four rveeks ofter the otomic bomb wos dropped on Nogosoki, Jopon, militory comeromen/ including First Lieutenont Don McGovern (inset)
DIS IN FOR MA TION
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Civen the US government's past attempts to discredit many UFO photographs, perhaps this 'disinfbrmation' theory is not too incredible. In such cases,detailed analvsisof the original prints can usually determine whether the photographs shon' real flying saucers or conventional objects. Unfortunately, no-one has had the chance to analysea piece of autopsy film. And until this happens, UFOlogists wiil keep on searching for the truth.
In the next issue, (IF'O FIIE casts its qe oaer someof the mostfamous LIFOphotographsand asks: Does the cameraeuer lie, or do ue really ho.ueeuidence for extraLerrestriallife on film?
were senl in to shoot l6mm film of rhe devostolion. According lo McGovern ond other militory comeromen from the l94Os, rhe filming of the outopsy does nol follow the stondord militory procedures of the doy.
ffiKffireffi ON TTnanING THE NAME UnI
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oF BENTsPooNS.Bur, As HE POINT OUTS, THERE IS MORE TO HIS POWERS THAN MERE METAL BENDING n 23 November 1973, a Z7-year-old.Uri Geller first appeared on British television and caused s5*a stir with his amazing ability to bend spoons ia:t.:ta and mend broken watches with the power of his re; mind. As a result, switchboards were jamrned with calls from parents claiming their children had just That was the first time. Then I got a watch from my destroyed the family cutlery, and Geller became an dad and I could move the hands r,vithrny mind. Then overnight sensation. I bent the hands inside the glass.I n'as able to move Having already satisfied most of the world's the clock on the wall in my classroom. parapsychologists that he had a genuine talent, Geller psychokinetically, and demonstrare telepathr, u,ith spent the rest of the 1970s at the mercy of the media. fellow pupils by readirrs their rninds. Continually facing criticism and character attacks from a small band of sceptics determined to expose Where do you think this obility comes from? him as a hoaxer, he finally turned his back on the \1r' mothel corriesfrorl Sigrntrnd Freud's family - my media. He hired himself out to mineral companies as name is actualh'L li Geller Freud - and she thought I a dowser of oil and precious metals, and made vast inl-rer-itecl po\rers fron.r l-rirn.Not long ago I discovered sums of money. in a Celrnart magazine. Esotetica,that Freud actually With the wealth came the inevitable problems clicl telep:rtlrl experiments rvith Albert Einstein. in his case, bulimia and compulsive shopping disorder - but todayo surrounded by his family and crystals in Did something hoppen to trigger your his mansion-like home in a small Thameside village Psychicpowers? outside London, Geller is relatively safe from the I'm not srire, but when I was six weeks old, living in Tel rigour of life in the limelight. It is here, through a A'ir', bullets were fired into our window by an English constant barrage of interruptions from newspapers, soldier. The window would have shattered on me, but a publishers and media personalities, that Geller teddl'bear somehow moved acrossmy face, shielding reflecG on his life as the only trulv international me, and I wasn't hurt. Another time, I was playing in a psychic celebrity. garden when I heard a strange noise in the sky \\4ren I looked up, a light hit me and I passedout. I often wonder if this light came from a higher intellieence. FF fn. first time I discovered I had an unusual @@ power, I was sitting in my mother's kitchen eating An extroterrestriql infelligence? mushroom soup, and as I lifted the spoon to my It could have been. Andrija Puharich, the scientist mouth it started bending and actually broke in half. who took me to America, believecl that my powers
invited me to a party. Suddenly, the parties became more prestigious: from photographers to lawyers, lawyers to judges, judges to politicians. And suddenly there was flsrael'sl Prime Minister Golda Meir. She saw something in me and the next day, when she was being interviewed, she was asked what she predicted for the future of Israel. She said, 'Don't ask me, ask Uri Geller.' It was the biggest plug in my life because it came from the mouth of the Prime Minister. Then the phone started ringing, and managers were wanting me. I walked on to stage and started filling up auditoriums of between 3,000 and 10,000 people. It was unbelievable - mass hysteria in Israel.
How did you get noticed by the scientific communify? The scientist Andrlja Puharich saw me perform and said, 'If this is real, and if you're not a magician, then it's incredible.' He introduced me to Edgar Mitchell, the moon-walking astronaut, then to Hal Puthof and Russell Targ at the Stanford Research Institute tSRIl. I went to the Statesand was tested at SRI in the early 1970s.
Whof did the SRlrhink qbout your qbilities? came from an extraterrestrial source. I can't close the door to that totally - I can only say 90 per cent probably not - but I've got to leave it open a bit. How can I say no? I'm also a religious person and believe in God. I know under God there is no end, and in those infinite spacesthere are billions of stars and planets. One must have some form of intelligent life. Maybe some of them can travel to our planet, and maybe I was given power by some extraterrestrial. The explanation everyone wants to believe is that it comes from our mind - maybe I use a little bit more than the 10 per cent everyone else uses.Who knows?
How were you discovered? I believe it was synchronicity. I became a model after being injured in the Six Day War. One day, I bent a key for a photographer
and he
1 Uri Geller's Mind-Power Kit is o honds-on guide to reolizing your psychic
They validated my powers. It was written up in lttrature magazine, and having it in the most prestigious science magazine in the world gave me validation. Then the attacks started - some magicians safing it was trickery and fraud, laser beams,chemicals,sleight of hand... they said all kinds of things about me. At first I turned my back on the attacks and never sued. But when my children were born, I thought, 'Wait a minute, that's enough. I'm not going to let people lie about me any more,' and I took people to court. There are still sceptics- not only about me, but about everything. Some people believe in nothing.
Your fiercest crilic is rhe stoge mqg:ciqn Jqmes Rqndi... I don't even want to talk about him, mainly because I sued him. Some scepticsare miserable people, they missed the boat. They are patting each other on the back, giving awards to themselvesall the time. They're a tiny group and they'll gradually die out as more and more genuine paranormal and extraterrestrial reports come in. They're on a lost cause.And a gentle warning to some of them - I'll still sue if I'm defamed or libelled. That's because I have a family. And I'll protect them, my integrity and my reputation.
ond mentql obiliries. The kit comes wilh o cryslol, energized ink spot, ond oudio tope lo be used with rhe book's procticol exercises.
How did it moke you feel to be continuolly occused of fokery by fhe few sceptics? I got fed up with it. It felt like I was at the end of everyone's microscope. I quit the limelight and went on to work for oil companies, using my abilities to
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prospect for minerais. I became verv independent and wealthy from it, and I coulcl tell er-ervoneI didn't want to deal rrith to take a rr'alk. Br-rtmoney is not the most important thing for me - health is more important. It's good to have mone\'. It gives vor-ra Iittle time, a little comfort. and it gives vou the abilin' to tell people, 'I'm not interesred.' I was also recharging mlself spirituallr'. I \\ ent to Japan, under Mount Fuji, a verv spiritual place. ancl Iived there for a while. I've gone through r-rpsand downs in my life, so I had to sort things oLiI in m\' mind. \Ahat am I about? \A/tratis mr life for? \\-here am I going? I decided to take a break.
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New York, and that will be the end of speculations.I know governments are hiding things. I've known the astronaut Ed Mitchell for years,and he knows. I've worked with FBI and CIA asents, and there are ahvaysleaks.
5o is something going to hoppen soon?
Something major. NASA's announcement about possible life on Mars is incredible. I think that maybe in ten r.earsfrom norv there will be a real encounter. I started something in 1969 and it still hasn't stopped. I opened people's minds. Putting aside the little enclaves of o'nics rvith closed minds, you have the millions of people in benleen, the 'don't knorvs'.Then vou har.ethe billionsof believers,the dreamers. Thev are the ones Tuorldltas become more rtho'11make things happen.
I'm doing confidential, but As our positive,work for scientists. sophisti ccttedand complex,rue'ue They're not investigating me anymore. It's not'Is Uri Celler forgottentnan) of the abilities lf science hos proved you we oncehad... like telebatht genuine, ond people qre real or not?' it's 'What can we use this power for, how can we now more believing, etld leaitation h a rn es sit ?' Rec ent l y .I w a sa t a whot nexf? 'co n fer enc e.dem ons tra tin g my I can only tell you things I dream ,,1",' p o wer st o im por t ant s c i e n ti s ts . of. I call it a dream - a fantasy but I hope I met the Nobel prizewinner, BrianJosephson. it will become reality. We have to start thinking about how to disarm nuclear weapons. He's one of the most important physicistsin the \4re're under a constant nuclear threat, and there is UK, and he was really impressed with my abilities. It's p eople lik e him w h o a re g o i n g to m o v e th i n g s : going to be a major catastrophe - a terrorist organization detonating a weapon, or a nuclear people who are open-minded and willing to believe submarine leaking. I hope that the collective energy and go beyond. You can't get much higher than of two or three billion people can make it all stop. Nobel prizewinners. I am also busy running my magazine Encounters. How qre you going to orgonize such q
Do you rhink people's qftifudes towqrds the Porqnormol qre chonging? Absolutely. The millennium is important. People are ready for something. Personally, I always hope that a UFO will land - somewhere public, like Central Park,
lorge number of people? I'm trying to get a slot in the 2000 Olympics. It's too early to say,but doors are opening. The collective energy of billions of spectatorswill be staggering, and I can only pray for this to happen. F F
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N TI-{E TRAI FI THE EVEOF EXPOSINGA CRIMESYNDICATE ytNG SENTOR OFF|C|ALS/ US OOVERNMENT WAS FOUND DEADIN HIs HOTET JOURNATIST COSTHIM HIS ROOft'T.WNATTVERHE DISCOVERED uFE. BUT WAS IT SU|C|DE,OR WAS HE MURDERED?
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these fi gures to seni or l ranl e\ i rr organized crime. Toeetheq Casolaro believed, this group operated massive swindles and widespreadpolitical scandals. It was an explosive story. One final meeting with a new source would rvrap up the case. Despite recent death threats, Danny travelled to a motel in Martinsburg, l\,'est Virginia, to meet his informer. The next day, Saturday,10 August 1991, Casolaro was found dead in the bathtub of his motel room. Naked, his wristshad been slashedopen a dozen times. Local police officers rvere quick to arrive and, r'vith a clrrsory examination, concluded suicide.
A Donny Cosoloro died while investigoring links between moior conspirociessuch os the Lockerbie plone crosh, rhe deoth of Robert Moxwell qnd the BCCI bonk scondql. Jusl one week before his funerol (inset),Cosoloro told his fomily, 'lf onyrhing hoppens lo me, don'f believe it wos occidenlql.'
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U S D epartmenl of Jusri ce (D oJ), whose prosecutorsused the software to keep tabs on al l rhei r l egal casesrhroughout rh e US. In 1981, when Inslaw upgraded ware to a more powerful. 'Enhan sion, the DoJ became caught up in.d tractual dispute with Inslaw over whi sion they owned. In the end, the DoJ using the new version but refused to the $9.6 million asking price.
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Irr 1993.three monrhs i nto rhe di spu t ewit h rhe D oJ. B i l l H ami l ron recei ved a t elephone cal l from rhe C hi ef E xecu r iveo[ Hadron h'rc., Dominic Laiti. Hadron *u* ut,.'.,.i government cor-rsultingfirm controlled by 1
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refused to sell, Laiti claimed that he friends in government and threatened; havewaysof making you sell.' ShorrJyafterwards.Inslawwas lorced inro bankruptcyOn 9June I986, B i l l H ami l ron filed a $30 mi l l i on l arvsui tagai nsrthe D oJ i n r he bankruptcy court. Reviewing the evidence,,, Judge Bason ruled in favour of Inslaw.l Awarding Hamilton $6.8 million in aaiir. ages,he noted the DoJ had stolen PROMIS.; through' tri ckery. fraud and decei r' .
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Before his death, Casolaro had discovered that the many activities of The Octopus revolved around the theft of a comouter so fl w ar e pac k age k n o w n a s rh e Prosecutor's Management Information System(PROMIS). The program had been developed in the 1970s by Bill Hamilton, president of Inslaw, a Washington DC software firm. Designed as a law enforcement tool, PROMIS could collate information on court 'cases,criminals, judges, policemen and almost anyone else involved in the criminal justice system. One of the PROMIS customers was the
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1iiâ&#x201A;Źble*on cloimedrhor ,,ilpossenger plcnes were , used lo ship drugs from I'.rhe Middle Eost. When lrcnion suppliers felt .relotions wirh the US were furning sour, they ,:,. Ggedly swopped on the plone for
Judge Bason further observed that DoJ officials had forced Inslaw into bankruptcy in order that PROMIS would be made available at public auction. Once at auction, it could be bought by Hadron Inc., the company that had earlier threatened Inslaw. The DoJ appealed against the decision, but the Federal District Court upheld Judge Bason'sruling, noting that there rvas 'convincing, perhaps compelling support'
MICHA;LRICONOSCIUTO A brillionr child prodigy, Riconosciulo wos q whiz-kid with cutting-edge fechnology. He worked os q computer experl for the ClA, where he olso helped to develop o number of clqssified proiects, such qs gene-specificchemicol ond biologicol weopons (for torgeting specificrociol groups) qnd'Air Fuel Bombs', which were used to devqsfqting effect in Operofion Desert Storm. R.iconosciutowos feeding infiormqlion to Bill Homilton
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"f*. obout the rhefr of PROMIS. Ar the | 992 Congressionol Judiciory Commitfee heoring for the Inslqw cose, Riconosciufo tesfified rhqt he wos osked by the CIA to modify PROMISfor illegol intelligence purposes. Eight doys ofter testifying, Riconosciufo wos qrrested on q drugs hondling chorge cnd senlenced to 30'yeors in prison.
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for the findings. Later, the \\ ashinston DC Circuit Court of Appeals overtrirned the decision on a technicalin. \\'ith the Inslaw story assuming an increasing degree of notoriet\., Jack Brooks. f.hairn.ran of the CongressionalHouseJucliciarvCommittee, l arrnthed e three-\err i rrresti gati orr . S TOTE N
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Brooks \\'as concerned at the widespread allegationsof DoJ impropriety. He accused high-level DoJ officials and former Attornev Ceneral Dick Thornburgh of hindering the investigationand confirmed that' H i gh government offi ci als wer e involr'ed' in a conspiracy to steal PROMIS. In closing his report, Brooks suggested to the US Attorney Ceneral that an 'independerrt counsel' should investigate the DoJ. In 1992, the person chosen was retired Federal judge Nicholas Bua. However, becauseFederaljudges are paid by the DoJ, the DoJ, in effect, began investigating itself. The Bua report was released in June 1993, clearing DoJ officials of any impropriety in the Inslaw scandal. Inslaw's attorney, Elliot Richardson - a former Attorney General in the Nixon administration wrote a scathing 90-page rebllttal of Bua's findings. Well documented and factually accurate, the rebuttal offered a mass of evidence indicating Bua's report was rid-
â&#x201A;Ź
dled with errors and falsehoods. By this time, the hidden motives that held the key to the Inslaw-Octopus affair slowly began to untangle. Stories started circulating that linked factions within the intelligence community to the Mafia and organized crime. Hidden behind the veil of national secrecy,highJevel government figures were engaging in illegal, but profitable, activities, including widespread narcotic smuggling, gun running, money laundering and stock and financial market manipulations. Inslaw's PROMIS rvas kev to their developing plans. One of the earliest allegations surrounding the theft of PRO\IIS rvas in the 1 9 8 0 ' Oc to b e r Su rp ri s e' scancl al . The October Surprise centres on allegations
33 tR Cqsolqro's investigotion into lhe Inslow motfer brought h i m i n co n tq c f w:th o rg o n i ze d cri me ond the world of coverf infelligence Conqressmon lock Brooks,ThelnlsowAffoir V Centrol to The Octopus' octivities is the PROMIS softwore. Alrhough ir wos designed os o crime fighring tool, the CIA hod the vision to see wider opplicotions. Doto is doto, whelher it is obout criminols or money. so they odopred PROMISro keep trock of individuols ond money.
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that Earl Brian - a close associateof presidential candidate Ronald Reagan - secretlv r-regotiated to delay the release of US hostagesheld by Iran until after the forthcoming election. When he became president, Reagan was quick to announce that the hostageshad been released.As a payoff for his services, Brian received pirated copies of PROMIS, which he then illegally sold to Foreigncounlries. More worrying is the story told by Michael Riconosciuto. A CIA computer whiz-kid, Riconosciuto testified before the US CongressionalJudiciary Committee in March 1991, saying he had personally adapted PROMIS software for intelligence purposes, adding that a copy of PROMIS was provided to him by Earl Brian. At the hearing, Riconosciuto predicted he would be arrested for testi$'ing. Eight days later, he was hauled up on narcotics charges and sentenced to 30 years in Estill federal prison, South Carolina.
Israeli Mossad agent, Ari Ben
backed Riconosciuto'sallegatioaffi Congressional hearing. He stated,:,$ Brian had visited Israel in 1987 strate the up-dated PROMIS During that meeting, Brian Ben Menashe that all US Intelligeni -,.1li cies were using the software.
ETECTRONIC
BACK
DOOR
The Israeli spy went on to explain PROMIS was so important. RiconoSciu modifications included a telecommunii,at tions 'back door'. This was dat R i conosci utocl ai ms, to enabl e U S i nt gence to eavesdrop on those nation
organizations that had purch stolen softrvare.
Altogether, 88 nations are believed,li have acquired the modified PROM including Britain's intelligence and ty services.TheXFactorhas learned first intelligence use of PROMIS British and US nuclear. when it was used to collect and vital intelligence data between both
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It has also been revealed that the L o n don headquar te rso f th e n o w -c o l l a p s e d Credit and Commerce Bank ''' of (BCCI) also used a modified onal of PROMIS to track monev - and people - on behalf of intelliagencies. Just before its collapse, was also widely implicated in nari o ti c s s m ugglinga n d m o n e y l a u n d e ri n g . :",'.lr'Evidence provided by Ari Ben Menashe and others suggest that media tycoon, ,:'' Robert Maxwell, distributed PROMIS on ,:'behalf of Mossad. Maxwell's suspicious , ,ideath was, at the time, just the latest in a long list of questionable deaths that have been related to the shadowy activities of
FINANCIAT
GAINS
ibly the most explosive aspect of the S story is the secret use of the softlo m onit or w o rl d mo n e l m a rk e ts .A ,lt:tittrrce has told The Xlactorthat PROMIS is
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].$'eAUyleadingbanks. Members of The Octopus - by tapping i' into .the software's secret back door - are :',,able to predict financial patterns and l::'establish trends. By accessing time- and ,,,,'price-sensitiveinformation, they make ,:, short-term, risk-free investments. It is believe d th at th e pr of it s ar e enor m ous and
virtually untraceable. Us e of P RO M I S i n th i s l a s h i o n i s th e iia!. i.t insider trading. According to tiiiils attorney, Elliot Richardson, this t is so secretive and sensitive that disis restricted to the four statutory of the National Security Council: .'ii,'members the President, Vice-President, and the
A The releose of US hostoges in lron in l98O wos ollegedly deloyed by cssociofes of presidentiol hopeful Ronold Reogon. The so-colled 'Oclober Surprise'- finonced by rhe illegol sole of PROMIS- wos o successful qttempt ro foil the re-election of Jimmy Corfer.
Secretariesof State and Defence. Lester Coleman, a former operative for the Defence Intelligence Agencr- (DIA) , unveiled more aspects of the shadowy Octopus in his book Trail of The Octopus. His story focuses on the Lockerbie plane disasterof December 1988. Coleman claims that the Lockerbie flight was used by the CIA for smr-rguling narcotics from the Lebanon. Hoivever, fbllowing the US's bombing of an Iranian Airbus, the Iranians wanted revenge and secretly swapped the drugs on flieht 103 for a bomb. Following his pr.rblic revelations, Coleman and his familr- fled to Sweden after death threats from the US intelligence communit\,. ON .GOIN G
I N V E S TIGA TIO N
The PROMIS story refuses to die. Largely disregarded by the major media, it simmers away in the background. Inslaw's Bill Hamilton has a ner,vcourt hearing scheduled for December 1996.In the meantime, a few researcherscontinr,rethe work of the Iate Danny Casolaro, probing what may be the biggest story of criminality and highlevel corruption during the past two decades. Whatever else may ha ppen Casolaro's untimely death will not be forgotten.
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A The steps ore oll rhot is left of 32lO Bunker Hill Rood, Woshington DC - the house wos destroyed in o fire. But previously it witnessed the demonic possessionof o young boy. Fother Bowdern (inset) conducted on exorcism for q monlh, reoding from the proyer book The Roman Ritual, before the boy recovered.
obbie Mannheim led the life of an ordinary American 1 4 -year-ol d boy unri l hi s I Aunt Harriet died. Devastated,the boy tried to contact her usins a Ouija Board he and his aunt had spent hours trying to contact the dead when she was alive. Soon after, strange noiseswere heard in Robbie's house. Later, it became more frightening as the boy rook on a demonic personality, swore continuously and developed spontaneousbody cuts. His parents went to a doctor and a psychiatrist for answers,but they diagnosed Robbie healthy in body and mind. Frantic, the parents were convinced their child was possessedby the Devil. And so was a priest when he attempted to
rid the boy of rhe spirir by conducti ng an exorci sm i n a local hospital. As the priest chanted ' del i ver us from evi l ' the boy wriggled his hand free from restraining straps and, with a l oosenedbedspri ng,l ashedo ut . The priest needed more than 100 stitches for the wound that ran the. l ength of hi s arm. S W OR N
TO
SECRECY
This wasjust part of a four-month ordeal suffered fromJanuary to April 1949 by a boy whose real name remains a sworn secret. His family lived in Mount Rainier, a suburb of W ashi ngronD C . Newsof the boy's exorcism was printed in tjne Washington Poston 20 August, 1949, after a leaked srory appeared in The CatholicRruiew.The story
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The Rev.Neil-Smirhof Hompsteod, london, successfullycorried out thousondsof exorcismsover 30 yecrs, some even on TV.He once exorcizedo HellSAngel in o prisonchopel. inspired William Peter Blatry then a student at Georgetown University, to write his blockbuster novel The Exorcist. Blatty approached Father William Bowdern, one of the
priests involved in the exorcism. But the priest had promised to protect the family and refused to give any details of the case. However, Bowdern had kept a diary during the exorcism, and a copy of it ended up in the hands of writer Thomas Allen irr 1986. It had come via Father \{hlter Halloran, another priest rvho had h e l p e d i n R obbi e' sexorci sm. Allen read how a team of fesuit
priests had performed a series of exorcisms - praving and sprinkling the boy with holr'\\'ater over a one-month period at a relative's home and at the A-lexian Brothers Hospital in St Louis, Missouri. Robbie's possessionoccurred at night - he u,ould thrash wildly, and sltear and spit at the priests - and lasted until sunrise.The cuts that appeared on the boys chest grew more sinister. Looking like scratchesmade by thorns, the words HELL and SPITE appeared in blood. FIGH TIN G
TH E
D E VI T
The priests prayed almost continuously in Latin. They believed this would summon up Christ who would confront the Devil. On Easter Monday 1949 after 24 nights - Robbie recovered. He opened his eyesand said, ' H e' s Gone.' Medical experts who have looked at Robbie's case suggest
that he could have hreensuffering from one or more of the following psychological conditions: r Automatism - acting in a mechanical or involuntary manner, a feature of some forms of schizophrenia . Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome - a personality disorder, in which victims scream uncontrollably, grunt, twitch and involuntarily use foul language o ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder - this features frequent bouts of anxiety with little relevance to actual events, or recurrent strong urges to perform unnecessary or irrelevant acts. The doctors who examined Robbie had found no evidence ofany of these symptoms. Allen tracked down Robbie, now a married man in his 50s with his own children. Allen's conclusion was that Robbie was 'an innocent victim of horror... of
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| lt . lf , l O sqcerdos Christi, fu s c is m e e s s e d io b o l u m. Cur me derogos? Spokenin Lotinby RobbieMonnheim [O Priesfof Christ,you knowthot I om the Devil.Why do you keepbotheringme?]
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a strange,incomprehensible event, whose cultural and psychological roots are deeper than Christianity's.' Christianity in this century has a divided attitude to exorcism. On the one hand it has sought to distance itself from the practice by working closely with psychiatrists and doctors, and commissioning reports to shed light on the phenomenon. On the other hand, the Catholic church has covered up the practice in a cloak of silence, despite the fact that Pope John Paul II reportedly exorcized a young woman in 1982. Father Gabriele Amorth is one of the few exorcists prepared to
discusshis work. The Rome-based priest claims to have carried out 50,000 exorcisms, but thinks that only 84 were genuine possessions. He saysthe tell-tale signs include a person becoming unnaturally strong, xenolalia (speaking in a foreign language that he or she does not know) and revealing secret facts about people. THE
O F FIC IA T
V IE W
A report on exorcism was compiled for the Church of England in 1972by a commission that included Catholic representativesand a consultant psychiatrist. Although the report aimed to debunk possession.it endorsed the exorcism of places, saying that, o 'Demonic interferencc... rs I z common on desecrated E ,i sites...as well as in o connection with seances.' * 6.. Exorcisms of people, o.t however,were'extremely dubious'. According to the report, those who think they are possessed should see a doctor, and call in a priest only as a last resort. Canon Dominic Walker from Brighton, co-ordinates the Christian Exorcism Studv Grouo.
He is an experienced adviser on exorcism, but can only personally recall seven genuine casesduring his time as a priest. 'Normally, all that is required is counselling and prayer.' He believessome clerics can plant the idea of demonic possessionin the minds o[ those who come to them. Such was the casewith Michael Taylor of Ossett, Yorkshire. On 6 October l974,Taylor murdered his
A Michoel Toylor, from Yorkshire, endured o six-hour exorcism. He then relurned home qnd brutolly murdered his wife. The iury believed thot the exorcism hod mode him tempororily insqne qnd found him not guilty.
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wife, ripping her face off with his bare hands. Taylor, happily ma rr ied, had under g o n e a n all-night exorcism. Father Peter Vincent, of St Thomas's, Gawbeq near Barnsley.conducted the exorcism. helped by a Methodist mi n i s t er and his wife . T h e y T^- , 1^)^^ -,^ -^ :-^ f, ^t exorcized Taylor of 40 demons, ^t\ except one - murder.
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. ,':,,' murder-^. by reason of insanity. ,
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Taylor escaped prison, the judge, MrJustice Caufield ordering him to b e det ained in ho s p i ta l . Hi s l awy erblam ed ' a g ro u p ... w h o f ed neur os est o a n e u ro ti c and in a few days he was a h o mi c idal m aniac . ' InJanuary 1995,a 43-year-old Canadian woman, Ana Maria Canhoto, lorced her two-year-old granddaughter to drink water. Canhoto believed the child was possessedby the Devil and by drinking water, the child would be rid of the spirit. During the exorcism, the little girl choked on her own vomit. Canhoto was sentencedto two yearsin prison
for her granddaughter's murder. Recognizing such dangers, some religions are moving away from ritual exorcism towards substitute servicesof deliverance and blessing.At the same time, the increasingly popular Pentecostal and fundamentalist churches attract vast congregations to their
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The demon does not p h ysi colly inhobit the body; it possessesthe person's will. We hove to compel the thing to reveol itself FotherMolochiMortin,Exorcist
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'healing' services,which 'guarantee' instant deliverance from the Devil. Critics maintain that such servicesattract those who only want to draw attention to themselves.Similar arguments may
be used to explain individual cases, but they cannot account for the testimonies of r'ational people n'ho have witnessed more frightening, seeminglyinexplicable, events during an exorcism. According to Thomas -\ller-r. Father Bowdern's diarv of the 1949 caselists nineJesuit Priestsrrl-ro witnessedRobbie being possessed. Allen also discovered a Cl-mrch report on the exorcism tirat nas si gnedby 48 w i tnes' e:. IS
E X OR C IS M
R E A t?
Despite this rvealth of eridence, the Church retairrsarr impenetrable si l enceon the -\Ianrrhei mcase. Halloran, the priest rvho passed the diarl' to Allen, recalled a conversation $'ith Bowdern. 'They w i l l never sar nhether i t w aso r it wasn't la genuine exorcism],' B ow dern sai d.' but. you and I *n= knorr' it. \\-e rr'erethere.' HI