Read an Excerpt
THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER ONE
MY intention in writing this book is to provide a clear, concise account of how I applied my medical skills to a phenomenon that has not been looked at seriously by the scientific establishment. By doing this, I think I have come up with some of the most astonishing findings of any UFO research to date.
Fifty years after the modern UFO era began, mainstream science and medicine still regard the UFO phenomenon as foolish pseudoscience. If UFOs were taken seriously, there would be multimillion-dollar funding of a well-planned and coordinated global research effort. Instead, ufology gets along as best it can with minimal funding, raised largely by public membership in various UFO organizations and by small grants to individuals from daring philanthropic individuals.
The story of my own research efforts is one of coincidence, curiosity, and struggle against many obstacles. This is the story of how a doctor and scientist got interested in the field of UFOs.
I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine in 1964. After graduation, I trained in surgery, and became podiatric director of residency
training at Simi Valley Doctors Hospital and chief of the Diabetic Foot Clinic at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. During this period I opened a private practice, where I still work today.
My interest in ufology dates back to July 1947. I can vividly recall my father walking into our kitchen and announcing to my mother that the United States Army Air Force had just captured a flying saucer. He was referring to
the famous UFO crash at the air force base in Roswell, New Mexico. He showed
her the newspaper headline and proceeded to explain his views on the subject of UFOs, discussing in depth his belief in extraterrestrial visitors. He also expressed his opinion that the government was keeping the phenomenon secret.
I have never forgotten his sincerity and the passion he had for this subject, so years later, when a friend asked me if I would be interested in attending a local MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) lecture, I told him I would, and accompanied him to the next meeting. The presentation was so interesting that I decided to attend future lectures, and I eventually became a member of MUFON.
Coincidentally, at this time my close friend and first cousin, Dr. Kenneth Ring, had just finished his book The Omega Project. I was amazed to learn that he had written about the link between UFOs and near death experiences, or NDEs, because I had personally experienced an NDE that challenged my scientific assumptions and opened my mind to concepts such as extraterrestrial visitations. Ken had discovered that both abductees and those who returned to life, after a traumatic experience or during an operation, saw the same beings and had some of the same experiences and aftereffects. Because of my new interest in UFOs, I found this fascinating.
My NDE occurred on August 16, 1973. My recollection is vivid, because this incident was so traumatic that it changed my life.
On a warm summer evening my close friend Jack, my wife, and I arrived at Van Nuys airport about 5:30 p.m. We were going to fly to Bakersfield for dinner. I am a licensed pilot, and had made arrangements with the fixed base operator to have an aircraft ready and waiting. We parked, locked the car, and walked to where the FBO had promised to leave the key and the logbook for the aircraft. We made our way to the parked airplane and proceeded with the preflight inspection. To my dismay, I found the fuel tanks almost empty. Never before had I rented an aircraft with so little fuel on board. I went to the nearest pay telephone, called the FBO at the other end of the field, and arranged for the gas truck to meet us. We climbed into the plane. I started the engine, called Ground Control for clearance, and taxied
toward the north end of the airport. In a few moments we arrived there, met the waiting truck, and issued instructions for the type and amount of fuel needed. At that point I made my way to the pilots' lounge and checked the weather for our visual flight rules from Van Nuys to Bakersfield. The weather was reported as clear, with light winds and unlimited visibility.
The flight would take about an hour. I considered this a short hop, one I had done many times before. My passengers and I climbed back into the waiting aircraft, secured our sea belts, and settled in for a pleasant, routine dinner-hour flight. Jack sat to my right, in the copilot's seat; my wife sat in the right rear seat. The preflight check had been carried out. I started the engine and tuned in the Van Nuys ATIS (Air Terminal Aviation Service) radio station. When I had the necessary information, I changed frequencies and called Van Nuys Ground Control for clearance to taxi to the active runway. We proceeded with our taxi roll to the run-up area just short of the active.
All that was left to do was to finish the preflight checklist and the final engine run-up. One by one I went carefully over the list. All lights were on, all instruments checked and set. We were ready for takeoff.
Night was rapidly falling. I called the tower for take-off clearance. Permission was given, so I taxied into position on the runway and slowly advanced the throttle until the engine was running at full take-off speed. I carefully pulled back the stick, and instantly we became airborne. After we started to climb, I commented to my passengers that it appeared we were going to be late for dinner.
The atmosphere aboard was relaxed, the departure uneventful and routine. I headed the nose of our aircraft directly toward the predetermined compass heading. I set the navigational side of the radio to the halfway point of our destination. The needle slowly began to center and at a cruising altitude of
ten thousand feet I leveled the nose of our little bird for a calm and smooth flight.
Everything was functioning normally. It was the beginning of a beautiful flight. We were starting to see lights below as the dusk melted into the blackness of night. The panorama appeared crystal clear, just as the weatherman had predicted. I asked Jack and my wife if they were enjoying the flight. They seemed relaxed and in awe of the beautiful scene below.
Time passed quickly, and soon the needle on the Omnigator started its slow swing from the indicted "to" to a "from" configuration. I reset the radio to a Bakersfield frequency, but nothing happened. This didn't disturb me, because there had been previous times when this had happened. I simply tuned
Van Nuys back in and continued on my original heading toward Bakersfield. But then, much to my surprise and dismay, I realized we were experiencing complete radio failure. The only noise was a continuous popping sound over the speaker system.
It was now evident that we had lost all communication. I looked ahead and still could not see any light emanating from the Bakersfield area. This was strange, because at our altitude it should have been visible. "Perhaps there's ground fog in Bakersfield," I thought. If that was the case, I did not want to attempt a landing without radio communication with the ground.
