Page 26 - 20120708 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - July / August 2012

65 Years After Alleged Roswell Incident On 65th anniversary of a handful of children being used as pilots, elephants kicking balls into nets or forced to do Roswell ‘UFO’ crash, whose distorted bodies resembled aliens. handstands; chimpanzees dressed up and paraded on TV. In many cases the dignity of the Believe it or not, but despite decades of questions remain analysis and theories, many simply refuse to animals is being completely ignored, and they’re being forced to do things that are totally believe the official Air Force explanation, issued in 1994, that the event at Roswell was unnatural to them and in some cases are causing Fox News simply a weather balloon. them to suffer.” "’Aliens’ observed in the New Mexico Like Fox Mulder, some people still want to desert were actually anthropomorphic test Can it really harm the animals? believe. dummies that were carried aloft by U.S. Air Sure, it’s a bit undignified, but animal On July 8, 1947, a crash in Roswell, Force high-altitude balloons for scientific prognostication is just a bit of fun, right? Not so, N.M., was the spark that started UFO fever research,” explained a report from the Office of said Benazir Suraiya, of PETA India. “These burning in the U.S. And for some, that passion the Secretary of the Air Force. intelligent, sensitive animals are not props or is just as intense today as when they first “Claims of ‘alien bodies’ at the Roswell toys to be used for entertainment,” she told the learned that a crash in the desert had been Army Air Field hospital were most likely a Wall Street Journal, adding that zoos and others labeled a UFO -- and quickly re-labeled a combination of two separate incidents: a 1956 who make animals perform tricks in “desperate weather balloon by government officials. KC-97 aircraft accident in which 11 Air Force bids to bring business through the door” are "It was not a damn weather balloon -- it members lost their lives; and a 1959 manned causing the animal more confusion and stress was what it was billed when people first balloon mishap in which two Air Force pilots than necessary. For example, Big Huat, an reported it," Chase Brandon, a 35-year CIA were injured.” arowana fish from Singapore, suffered a “bad veteran, told the Huffington Post. His “Case closed,” the report concluded. case of nerves” during his meet the press comments came on July 8, 2012 -- 65 years Area 51 is still officially a military moment when he was frightened by the camera after the Roswell Daily Record newspaper ran a secret, unmentioned by name, Jacobsen notes. [] flashes. front page article claiming “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.” Pet prognosticators out of It’s to promote conservation, not make "It was a craft that clearly did not come control, have animal money from this planet, it crashed and I don't doubt for Paul the psychic celephod’s fame a second that the use of the word 'remains' and rights groups worried brought thousands of visitors to a small 'cadavers' was exactly what people were talking aquarium in Oberhausen, increasing awareness about." of the octopus and other sea creatures. Brandon claims to have seen The Periscope Post Prasertsak Boontrakulpuntawee, chief of the photographs and written material in a special Chiang Mai Zoo’s panda research project, told section of CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., After Paul the Octopus shot to fame in 2010 the Wall Street Journal, that these kinds of called the Historical Intelligence Collection that with his accurate World Cup predictions, animal publicity events are meant to promote conclusively proved to his mind that the crash owners the world over are trying to recreate his conservation and draw attention to the plight of was alien. psychic magic – and animal rights groups are these animals. And Paul seemed to survive his Brandon refused to explain what he had angry. brush with fame – despite earning himself the seen, however, and with the government opprobrium of none other than Mahmoud classification, his persistent belief was The background Ahmadinejad, president of Iran – though he understandable. Hard facts have been hard to Two years ago, Paul the psychic octopus later died of natural causes (we believe). come by; many of the documents are still accurately predicted the results of Germany’s officially redacted, such as the July 8 teletype eight World Cup matches – and now, animal Who’s making predictions? from the FBI Dallas field office advising that owners across the globe are trying to recreate •Emma the pig from Freiburg, who the “flying saucer” was officially just a the phenomenon with their own pets around accurately predicted Germany’s semifinal loss “weather balloon.” Euro 2012, much to the consternation of animal to Italy, has so far had the best record Others see the event differently, notably welfare groups. •Ferret and Mormel, otters from a zoo in Annie Jacobsen, whose 2011 book “Area 51: Thankfully for the German would-be pet Aue, Germany, who have been spotty in their An Uncensored History of America’s Top psychics, Germany lost to Italy 1-2 Thursday accuracy Secret Military Base” offers a very different night, likely putting an end to the mania there, •Traudl, a goat who has landed a job at a view of events. and the Euro 2012 is due to wrap up on July 1. Bavarian radio station Jacobsen, a contributing editor and But in the meantime, is it cruel to use your •Tik the seal from Bangkok investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times hamster to predict the outcome of a sporting •Citta the elephant in Poland Magazine, interviewed dozens of former Area event? •Funtik the pig, in Ukraine [] 51 employees in 2008 and 2009 -- a total of 74 scientist, pilots and engineers -- shortly after the Pet prophesy is out of control CIA declassified much of the work they had Elephants to alpacas, pythons to pigs are done, including countless pages of redacted being forced to “predict” the results of the Euro memos and declassified reports. 2012 football championships currently They revealed what really went on in underway in Kiev. Lin Ping the panda, at the the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand, mauls the flags of reactions to building super-secret, supersonic countries she predicts will win the match; Ado jets to pursuing the war on terror. And that book the python was asked to choose between two explained that test flights of the U-2 spy plane, rats, one representing Germany and the other built at the mysterious Area 51 test site, were Denmark, by an internet radio station in its bid often confused for UFOs -- fueling the stories to harness his innate animal psychic powers. surrounding the facility. Reported The Guardian, animal rights groups “As soon as the U-2s started flying out worry that the animals are being forced to do of Area 51, reports of UFO sightings by things “unnatural” to them just so their owners, commercial airline pilots and air traffic or the TV or radio stations promoting them, can controllers began to inundate CIA earn a bit of publicity. Marius Tünte of headquarters,” Jacobsen’s book explained. Germany’s Deutscher Tierschutzbund told the Her book also offers a bizarre paper, “There’s hardly an animal that’s not explanation for the 1947 event: unspeakable being used as a prophet. From pigs and parrots German experiments during World War II led to to hamsters to dogs, everyone’s at it. We’ve got