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September 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 29/09/2010 10:59 PM Page 15 Truth Behind UFO Sightings and USAF 15 The Truth Behind UFO with them. Of course, the Air Force would have Assault of the Sasquatch (on Sightings and the U.S. Air a schedule of the U2 flights and be able to tell if DVD) Is So Bad It's Hilarious what the person saw was indeed a U2. By Force talking to all these supposed UFO witnesses, the There are a lot of things happening in CIA could assess how visible the U2 was. Assault of the Sasquatch. To start, three stereotypical backwoods 'Mirage Men' author Mark Were the Soviets a target for this? hunters are looking for bear. Two cops nearby Pilkington discusses how the There are other, more subtle motivations are staking out poachers. The hunters kill a bear, military used UFO stories to from the U.S. side. One is the idea of a super the rangers exchange pleasantries, and a Sasquatch gets caught in a bear trap, then kills keep aircraft projects secret weapon. If unfriendly nations believe that you one of the hunters (the other two aren’t too harbor alien technology that you have integrated By Alex Kingsbury into your own weapons systems and aircraft, terribly upset; ka-ching). One of the hunters then they have good reason to be afraid. contacts a “collector” who is jetting somewhere, Are UFOs a mirage, conjured up by the and all this happens before the opening credits Air Force to obscure classified flight projects? What happened in 1952 over Washington, play out. In part, argues Mark Pilkington, a British D.C.? Once the movie starts, a body falls, and journalist and filmmaker who writes about two nerds try to pick up a hooker, while two society's oddities. In Mirage Men: An The first incident took place early one cops chase a suspect down the street. Switch to Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, morning in July. It was reported extensively in two college students in a dorm room. There’s a Psychological Warfare, and UFOs, he makes a the newspapers that a number of unknown train wreck down by the river. The rangers take persuasive case that much UFO-logy canon was objects appeared on radar screens around the surviving poacher to the police station for started or encouraged by the government trying Washington. Now, it looks very plausible to me booking, and take the hunter’s truck which just to conceal Cold War military projects. He that the Washington incident was a happens to have the Yeti in the back. While the recently chatted with U.S. News about the demonstration of a technology from the Defense hunter raises a ruckus in jail, Bigfoot escapes origins and effects of UFO mythology around Department, known as Project Palladium, from the truck and invades a greenhouse. the world. Excerpts: which allowed the operator to project radar Here’s where it gets interesting. Three blips onto other radar screens. Later on, the young men are at a pizzeria table; one walks out How has the UFO story been shaped by the technology became very sophisticated to the with a pizza, sits down outside, passes out face government? point where you could change the shape of the first into the pizza. Sasquatch steals the pizza. blip and its speed and so forth. We go on in the The nerds are following Bigfoot around These ideas do generate themselves to book at length about the evidence that suggests with a videocam, Bigfoot is peeping into some extent, but there is evidence that they were that the Washington radar incident was a windows, watching a girl undress, the girl gets specifically shaped in some instances. I don't planned operation. in the shower, Bigfoot goes into her house think this is some long-running grand where a little dog in a dress is keeping watch conspiracy, I just think that the UFO story has Do UFO fanatics know it may be they're (The best scene in the entire film is the shot of been deployed and used at times when it was duped? the dog’s expression when Sasquatch picks her convenient. Just about everything that is up—unfortunately Bigfoot stomps the dog.). popularly believed about UFOs has been Certainly. I'm not the first person to tell The power goes off in the police station exploited, shaped, and, at times, generated by them this. UFO lore has transcended to what has (where most of the major characters are) after people working for the U.S. Air Force and the become a religious matter for many of those Colletti (the suspect who was being chased intelligence community. The idea that UFOs involved. We talk to a man called Bill Moore, down the street) escapes from jail. Because crashed on U.S. soil, that the U.S. government who in the 1980s was one of the most respected there’s a rampaging Sasquatch outside, most of was harboring and hiding UFO technology, that people in the UFO community. He was co-opted the cast barricades itself inside the police it was denying its citizens the right to know that by Air Force intelligence to act as a mole station, and guess what? Cell phones can’t get a aliens have come here and visited—all these passing information to the Air Force about what signal. Has any plot device gotten more mileage things have been deliberately seeded into the people were researching and to pass or achieved such rapid popularity as inoperable culture. disinformation back into the UFO community. cell phones? When he came clean about all this at a UFO Assault of the Sasquatch is about as Why would the government "seed" these convention in 1989, people ran out crying into serious as a Sasquatch movie recorded with a ideas? the hallways. But what happened to the larger videocam, featuring a cheesy Big Foot costume, UFO lore? Nothing. can be. Are there any surprises? Yes. Scenes of UFO stories are used as a cover story for the women talking amongst themselves are the flight-testing of experimental and Is this a worldwide phenomenon? surprisingly natural, and that train wreck that clandestine aircraft. If you look at the places was the talk of the town never plays a part in the where UFO sightings are frequent, they are also The UFO story is a global one, but I rest of the story. the places where the military tests its think it has its origins in American culture. Not The performers are all earnest, if not experimental aircraft. For the first few years long ago there was a major UFO wave in Iran. unexceptional, and convince us that they think that UFOs circulated in popular culture Not surprisingly, all the UFO incidents they are acting in a serious production. after World War II, the public didn't talk about happened near the country's known nuclear Despite some overly gory scenes, UFOs as being alien. Rather, they were talked sites. Initially it was odd lights in the sky, then Assault of the Sasquatch was not meant to be about as advanced U.S. or Russian aircraft. over a few days, the stories started getting more taken seriously, and it offers many opportunities dramatic. They were describing small robots to laugh. It’s bad and it’s silly which translates How long has this been going on? hovering in the skies. I read an interesting to a movie to watch with some friends, some article recently that described the impact of the beer, and a lot of popcorn (half of which will be Much of it dates to the first flights of the drone use over Pakistan and Afghanistan. The thrown at the screen). DVD extras include U2 spy plane back in the 1950s. The CIA's in- villagers describe the drones as being spiritual “Banshee!!! Trailer,” bloopers, “Don and house journal had a story about 10 years ago beings with a life of their own that live in Murph Behind the Scenes,” and “Booty Poppin’ that said that one of the functions of Project bedrooms in space and come to feed on women Music Video.” If you only watch one of them, Blue Book [the official Air Force investigation and children. It is fascinating to watch, because be sure it’s the music video. Hilarious. Bottom into UFOs] was to monitor how visible the U2 I feel like I've seen it all before. It will be Line: Would I buy/rent/stream Assault of the was to people on the ground. Someone would different for every nation, as they develop. Sasquatch? I would watch it, but I wouldn’t pay see what they thought was a UFO and then the Perhaps every nation will get the aliens it to do so—after all, I have to save my money for Air Force would send someone around to talk deserves.[] all that popcorn. []