X Descending (22 page)

Generally speaking, any investigation of an incident, from a crime to a UFO sighting, sets out to determine Who, What, Where, When, and Why. These were certainly questions that I had in mind when I began to look into Paul’s experiences, as I am sure others did also. However, someone tasked with
keeping
the truth from investigators must anticipate these questions as well, but for the purpose of designing answers that will satisfy but mislead or deceive, anyone who comes to investigate. We will come back to these questions shortly.

During conversations I had with Paul in the mid-1980’s I was always uncomfortable with his matter-of-fact certainty that he had uncovered an alien presence. What could have convinced him to believe something like that so completely that he would accept it over other more 'earthly' possibilities? Paul was in contact with Jim and Coral Lorenzen of APRO, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization based in Tucson, Arizona and one of the most highly regarded UFO organizations in the world at that time. They certainly did not foster wild speculation about aliens. But Paul was apparently willing to talk to anyone who would listen and, for better or worse, that made him accessible.

In early 1980 he was still studying his films and photographs, with an eye on the technological aspects of the vehicles. Those original images were the only real proof he had that he had seen disc-shaped vehicles over the weapons storage area. Then, apparently during the first few months of 1980, something happened to shift his focus from the films and what was in them, to strange ideas of communicating with aliens, deciphering their signals, and coping with alien attacks aimed at him and those around him. Where he got such ideas and what fostered them is unclear, but by May, and notably in May, a scenario that could not have been better made to push an alien agenda began to play out at his home in Albuquerque.

In an amazing set of circumstances, a woman who claimed to have been abducted by aliens in northern New Mexico was led directly to him. Her arrival is significant because with her appearance came virtually all of the more bizarre aspects of Paul’s later claims. The full story of Myrna Hansen is not important here, the details can easily be found on the Internet (and in
Project Beta
), but the strength and believability of Paul’s rooftop sightings was suddenly weakend by a tale of potentially hostile aliens operating in northern New Mexico. Little more was heard about the vehicles he had seen and filmed as he became engulfed in a frightening scenario of implants, aliens projecting beams through walls, and the possibility that an alien race had built an underground base somewhere on the Archuleta Mesa. Needless to say, Paul’s credibility began to wane under the weight of these bizarre ideas.

The all too convenient appearance of people and information virtually tailor-made to catch and divert Paul’s attention should have been viewed with some degree of suspicion. At that time, only a few people outside Albuquerque knew about his experiences. Even today most people still think he did not come to the attention of the Air Force until later in 1980—but nothing is farther from the truth.

Most people have the common misconception that Paul first contacted the Air Force late in 1980. When he actually made that first call and spoke to Ernest Edwards is important because it is a marker of when his sightings occurred. It separates them from everything else. Some of the AFOSI documents do suggest it was late in the year, possibly in October. Jerry Miller and Richard Doty were also reported to have visited Paul’s home in October, which no doubt led many to assume that Paul must have contacted the Air Force not long before their visit. One document even stipulates that Paul had contacted Richard Doty in October about aerial objects over the weapons storage area. That wording can easily lead to the assumption that his sightings must have happened not long before. In fact, no mention is made of when he first contacted Edwards, when his sightings actually occurred, or that he had film showing vehicles actually landing inside the MWSA. Attachment D even states he had been filming "Aerial Objects" over Kirtland AFB during the last 15 months, a statement not only incorrect, but that generalizes Paul's reason for contacting Edwards. All of this might lead anyone to believe that Paul’s experiences, at least anything of interest to the Air Force, must have occurred late in 1980. That is not the case at all.

Ernest Edwards always gave the impression that the first strange events he reported were sightings by his own men on August 8th of that year. The first word of those sightings would eventually appear in the now infamous AFOSI Complaint Form, dated 2-9 September 1980, written by Richard Doty (Attachment A). From the wording in this Complaint Form it would be easy to think that the first time Doty had heard from Edwards was on the 2nd of September. Actually, the document only summarizes a series of events that
supposedly
occurred in August and September.

In a conversation I had with Ernest Edwards on December 6, 1985, soon after he had returned to Albuquerque from overseas duty, he commented that he had been working with Paul since 1980, then paused and added “October…somewhere along in that time frame.” Some time later, I learned that on October 31st, just a few weeks before I had spoken with him, Edward’s had met with two representatives from Sandia Security who had asked to speak with him on behalf of Senator Pete Domenici. Paul had sent me copies of several letters he had written to the Senator, and included with those letters was a brief summary of the October 31st meeting, a summary that had been written by Edwards himself, by then Executive Officer to the USAF Chief of Security Police. My copy of this briefing transcript “log entry” appears to be missing a page, perhaps more than one, but what is there is very revealing.

On October 31, 1985, Mr. Don Stone and Mr. Sam Ortega, of Sandia Security, arrived at 9AM and Edwards led them into an adjacent office to begin “the briefing”. Then, in a very surprising contradiction, the first two items listed in the document state:

First contact - Jan 80: Paul calls me at work (1608th SPS/CC, Manzano) and tells me he wants to talk to me about the “landings” on the mountain and in Coyote Canyon. I arrange meeting and go to his house. Observed equipment, ‘3aw (sic) photos, went out on deck and observed moving and stationary lights. Showed them photos Paul gave me of lights in Coyote.

Related to them what Paul had told me of his data collection. Measurement of disturbances in local magnetic fields and correlation to actual sightings. Explained use of linear recorders and showed them copy of strips dated 27 May 80, night of first full briefing by fireplace in Paul’s home; 31 May 80, night of heavy attack by alien; 1 Jun 80, night of visit by John warren, LASL; 6 Jun 80, day of call to White House; etc.

The implications are obvious. Whether or not Edwards immediately referred Paul to Richard Doty—through Edwards others in the Air Force hierarchy undoubtedly learned of Paul’s activities immediately after his call. This would all have happened within a few weeks at most of when the films were taken. The full briefing transcript (Attachment E) makes it clear that Edwards not only knew about Paul's activities but also what Doty and others were doing. He mentions disturbances in local magnetic fields correlating to actual sightings and, even five years after the events, he was apparently able to produce copies of several strips of data Paul had collected. These data strips had obviously been made on several occasions when something significant was taking place at Paul’s home. One strip is even attributed to an alien attack, which certainly suggests Paul’s frame of mind by that time. If counterintelligence agents had been aware of Paul for some time and were already taking steps discredit him, who can say what activity might have been staged to push these increasingly strange beliefs into him. Nevertheless, it is clear that Paul had been a known issue for months, though it would never be openly acknowledged in any of the documents that appeared later on.

In his meeting with Stone and Ortega, Edwards gave plenty of details emphasizing alien interpretations, implant victims, and the Archuleta ‘base’. What he told them shows that he knew quite a lot about what Paul's activities, information he almost certainly obtained directly from Paul. Curiously though, Edwards told them very little about Doty, only briefly mentioning his involvement. Also, for some reason Edwards specifically noted that he did not tell Stone and Ortega about a mysterious helicopter flight that took place almost immediately after the November 1980 meeting at Kirtland AFB. (Edwards later told me himself that he found out the flight had gone to the Archuleta Mesa, though he did not know who was onboard or what the purpose of it was.) Why Edwards would leave out some information and intentionally minimize Doty’s involvement, facts that Stone and Ortega might very well have deserved to know, is curious. They are certainly significant omissions.

It is also curious that Edwards mentions Coyote Canyon, even if he was simply referring to the general area. Based on the information I have available, Paul never mentioned lights or landings in Coyote Canyon at all. He knew of Coyote Canyon, and he had mentioned the possibility that the vehicles he had filmed could have traveled down the canyon to remain unseen. However, Coyote Canyon is not visible from Paul's home. The entrance to the canyon is on the opposite side of the Manzano Weapons Storage Area, hidden from almost all of Albuquerque. Of course, by the time Edwards met with Stone and Ortega, a questionable document had been circulating for some time alleging sightings in Coyote Canyon by several security guards. Suggesting that Paul had taken pictures of lights in the same canyon could serve not only to bolster the credibility of the document, but also to subtly blend Paul's claims in with all the other reports.

It should be pointed out that by 1985 Paul had in fact been into Coyote Canyon—driven there by Edwards himself. Paul had taken photographs while there, though to my knowledge they were daytime photos and of nothing that could be called ‘lights’. Perhaps Edwards was referring to those pictures, though they had absolutely nothing to do with why Paul had called him to begin with. Whatever the case, it would not be surprising if, by the time the gentlemen from Sandia Security met with Edwards, they were already under the assumption that Paul was simply one small part of a series of UFO stories that had circulated in the second half of 1980.

From my telephone conversations with Ernest Edwards, and having met him one time in Albuquerque, I have no doubt he is a conscientious and careful man. He always spoke very highly of Paul despite any apparent difficulties he might have had with some of Paul’s conclusions. Edwards did not strike me as a man to take a possible security problem lightly, as demonstrated in the same briefing transcript log entry where, near the end, he writes:

“…That ended the briefing and Stone and Ortega left at about 1020. At about 1100, I contacted Lt. Col Dick Emmons, local AFOSI DETCO, to tell him that I had re-established contact with Paul and that if AFOSI was still interested, I would keep them informed of any new developments. I also informed Brig Gen Scheidel, current AF Chief of Security Police that I needed to brief him on a subject of possible security interest.”

Clearly Edwards felt it was important in 1985 to advise AFOSI that he had reestablished contact with Paul, and to inform Brig. General Scheidel, the Chief of AF Security Police, of something he thought was of possible security interest. Is it likely that in January of 1980, when Edwards first learned of what Paul had seen and filmed, that he would not just as quickly have alerted whoever he was required to notify about
that
“subject of possible security interest”? Considering the potential security implications—not to mention that it would have been his duty to report it—it seems inconceivable he would not have. If Paul witnessed an operation conducted by our own military or government, then it is inconceivable that security plans would not have been in place in advance for just such a contingency. If he had in fact filmed repeated intrusions by truly unknown vehicles, then the existence of his films may have been of even greater concern, requiring an urgent response to assess and control the situation.

To drive home this point, according to Greg Bishop, Edwards immediately put Paul in contact with Richard Doty
⁵⁰
, who then paid a visit to Paul’s lab at Thunder Scientific. These statements are not attributed, but since Bishop did not interview Edwards, it almost certainly came from Doty himself—which suggests Doty was involved from the very beginning. If this version of events is true, such actions are far more in keeping with what would be expected from men whose jobs and careers depended on the proper response. But considering the spate of mysterious documents that materialized beginning in mid-1980, there are other documents conspicuous by their absence.

There are literally no incident reports, log files, or other documents available from the immediate days, weeks, or even months after Paul first contacted Edwards. It is as if nothing was happening at all, though it is obvious that Edwards was in communication with Paul and had even visited him at his home. Suddenly, three documents were written dating between September and November of 1980. All three of these were later released under the Freedom of Information Act and all three point to counterintelligence involvement.

An incident report written by Richard Doty, and two other reports signed by Thomas Cseh, Commander of the Base Investigative Detachment, all show notations that they went to the AFOSI Counterintelligence Security Operations Division (IVOS). Cseh’s first report, describing Jerry Miller and Richard Doty’s visit to Paul’s home, states flatly that, in Miller’s opinion, Paul’s electronic recordings were far less impressive than the photographic evidence—
evidence that clearly showed some type of unidentified aerial objects were caught on film
. So, why would this report have been written and sent to AFOSI Counterintelligence so late in the year, nine months after Paul’s initial telephone call to Ernest Edwards. A casual reader could easily assume that the report was describing the first time anyone had visited Paul to see what he had on film. Would Edwards, Doty, the Base Investigative Detachment Commander, or anyone in such a responsible position wait that long to follow up on what Paul had called about? This incredible lapse in time between Paul’s first telephone call and any written evidence of follow-up, investigation, or even mention of his name, is extremely curious. Could there be a reason for it?