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Post by swamprat on May 29, 2017 8:40:21 GMT -6
Robert Zemeckis Headed To History Channel With UFO-Investigation Series “Blue Book” Posted by Bill Watters May 28, 2017
Expanding on the History Channel’s "are aliens real" programming, Back to the Future creator Robert Zemeckis has penned a deal to develop Blue Book, a series based on the original real-life U.S. Air Force investigations into UFOs. This would mark History’s fourth foray into scripted programming (following Vikings, Six, and Knightfall).
The real Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until 1970, and Zemeckis is sticking with that era and following various adaptations of investigations from that time. THE 10-EPISODE SERIES WILL FOLLOW DR. J. ALLEN HYNEK, a professor recruited by the Air Force’s lead investigator for Project Blue Book. Episodes will mine actual case files, weaving together theories with history.
A&E president Paul Buccieri in a statement: “Blue Book is inspired by the true covert events of an era in American history shrouded in mystery. Robert Zemeckis and the creative team have shaped an incredibly compelling narrative, building upon History’s unique, growing brand of fact-based scripted programming.”
Zemeckis, who has rarely ventured into the television space in the past, added:
“Rarely have I been associated with a project that is a perfect fusion of historical fact and extraordinary entertainment.”
Few people younger than 40 will likely recall that Project Blue Book had inspired an earlier NBC series titled Project Blue Book (also called Project UFO in some regions), which aired over two seasons from ’78-’79 but was never re-aired domestically due to a rights dispute.
The project ended without any statements of actual UFO discoveries, and after its 18 years of investigations came to the following conclusions:
No UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an indication of threat to our national security.
There was no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as “unidentified” represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge; and...
There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as “unidentified” were extraterrestrial vehicles.
www.bleedingcool.com/2017/05/28/robert-zemeckis-history-channel-ufo-investigation-series-blue-book/
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Post by swamprat on Oct 31, 2017 9:51:45 GMT -6
‘Blue Book’: Aidan Gillen Will Star In Robert Zemeckis-Produced UFO Series On History ChannelAidan Gillen’s work schedule becomes even more impossibly hectic with the Dubliner bagging a starring role as astrophysicist and UFO sceptic Dr. J. Allen Hynek in Blue Book, the History Channel’s 10-part delve into X Files territory.
by Nellie Andreeva October 26, 2017
EXCLUSIVE: Game of Thrones alum Aidan Gillen is set as the lead in History’s scripted drama series Blue Book, executive produced by Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis. In addition, Maleficent helmer Robert Stromberg, an Oscar and Emmy-winning production designer/special effects artist, is set to direct the first two episodes of the series, from A+E Studios and Compari Entertainment, a division of Zemeckis’ ImageMovers.
Created and written on spec by David O’Leary, the 10-episode Blue Book chronicles the true top secret U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ’60s, known as “Project Blue Book.” Gillen will play Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a brilliant astrophysicist, family man, and UFO skeptic who is recruited as the Chief Scientific Advisor to “Project Blue Book.”
O’Leary co-executive produces, with Sean Jablonski (Suits) serving as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Zemeckis, Jack Rapke (Flight) and Jackie Levine (Allied) are executive producers for Compari Entertainment.
Stromberg became the first production designer to win back-to-back Oscars for his work on James Cameron’s Avatar and Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. He also received a total of five Emmys for special visual effects for his work on Boardwalk Empire, John Adams, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation. His directorial debut, feature Maleficent, grossed over $750 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing live-action directorial debut ever.
Blue Book is one of two new History scripted series that are now casting, along with The Breach: Inside the Impeachment of Bill Clinton from producer R.J. Cutler.
deadline.com/2017/10/blue-book-aidan-gillen-lead-robert-zemeckis-produced-ufo-drama-history-1202194862/
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Post by auntym on Jun 22, 2018 12:27:59 GMT -6
www.highstrangenessufo.com/2018/06/ufos-blue-book.html?spref=tw High Strangeness BLUE BOOK"Ambiguity is more convincing than certainty" -- me What the critics are saying about "THE CLOSE ENCOUNTERS MAN" "A book that smartly refuses to simplify anything. The mystery of UFOs persists, as does the mystery of J. Allen Hynek. Yet thanks to Mark O’Connell, the latter is now a bit less mysterious.” (The Los Angeles Review)Thursday, June 21, 2018 UFOs: Blue Book!Posted by Mark OC / plus.google.com/117059859107236081409So, there's this new UFO TV series coming on the History Channel called Blue Book, and some lucky people have been getting sneak peeks at the show. I don't know a whole lot about the series, but my guess is that if you love the way the History Channel treats the UFO topic in Ancient Aliens I guess you'll probably love the new Blue Book show. If you're interested in a serious study of the UFO phenomenon, well, forget about the show and read my book. Would you buy a used UFO from this man?Sadly, this is what it's like for us UFO buffs. We're so happy to have something -- anything -- new about UFOs on TV that we'll accept whatever Hollywood foists on us and force ourselves to watch it. And I admit I will probably watch the show -- at least I'll sample it. And the whole time I'll be asking myself this: Would Dr. Hynek be proud of 'Blue Book'?Now, some readers may remember my close encounter with this show. About a year ago, shortly after my biography of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The Close Encounters Man, came out, I got a Facebook message from some guy who identified himself as one of the producers on the new Blue Book series. He wondered if I would talk to him about the UFO career of Dr. Hynek documented in my book, and my agent and I decided it would be okay for me to talk to him, but only in vague generalities. I have to admit, I was flattered that they came to me to learn more about Dr. Hynek, but when I talked with this guy on the phone I was shocked by how dopey and simple-minded his questions were. He was utterly clueless. He obviously knew nothing about Dr. Hynek, and so of course he was trying to do his basic research by talking to me. I shut him down pretty quickly and never heard from him again. (Side note: shortly after this phone call I discovered that my Evernote account had been hacked. Luckily, most of the research material in the Evernote account involved contact info for people I wanted to interview, so if the hacker was hoping to steal any of my secrets they would have been pretty disappointed.) So, anyway, now this Blue Book show is ready to go, and I've been super curious to see whether that "producer" who tried to poach materials from me last summer ever figured out what the show should be about. Well, the news is not good. I just googled "Blue Book" and discovered that the show is not about UFOs or Dr. Hynek at all! It's about used cars! Stranger still, the producers have inexplicably changed Dr. Hynek into a character named "Kelley." From what little I found on google, it appears that, instead of a UFO investigator, this Kelley character travels around the country for the Air Force appraising used cars. I have no idea why the Air Force would hire a scientist to appraise used cars, but leave it to the History Channel to uncover the most unexpected and fascinating stories about history that never happened. Now, used UFOs, that I would have believed! www.highstrangenessufo.com/2018/06/ufos-blue-book.html?spref=tw
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Post by auntym on Jul 18, 2018 17:40:41 GMT -6
www.cnet.com/news/project-blue-book-trailer-goes-all-in-on-ufos-for-history/ Project Blue Book trailer goes all-in on UFOs for History The truth is out there. by Amanda Kooser / www.cnet.com/profiles/akooser/July 18, 2018 First Look Trailer - HISTORY's new UFO drama series "Project Blue Book" starring Aidan Gillen ("Game of Thrones") and Michael Malarkey ("The Vampire Diaries"). Coming this Winter. Look! Up in the sky! It isn't a bird or a plane. It's probably a UFO, at least if you're watching History's upcoming Project Blue Book drama series. The series, which was inspired by real UFO studies conducted by the US Air Force starting in the early 1950s, debuts on the History channel this winter. But a first-look trailer shows off its cast, which includes Game of Thrones' Aidan Gillen as Dr. Allen Hynek and Neal McDonough, who plays Damien Darhk in Legends of Tomorrow, as Gen. James Harding. Hynek, a real historical figure, was a scientific adviser for the Air Force's UFO work. The trailer doesn't leave much to the imagination. We see lights moving in the sky, mysterious crop circles and a bizarrely elongated skull. It seems like it will be stocked with plenty of action, alien intrigue and stylish camera work. Don't mistake this for a documentary series. History says it will blend "UFO theories with authentic historical events from one of the most mysterious eras in United States history." You can delve deeper into the real history behind the television show on your own. The Project Blue Book files are available for anyone to peruse through the online Project Blue Book Archive. www.cnet.com/news/project-blue-book-trailer-goes-all-in-on-ufos-for-history/
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Post by swamprat on Jul 28, 2018 8:53:28 GMT -6
2018 PROJECT BLUE BOOK: HISTORY EXPLORES REAL UFO ENCOUNTERS — WITH A HEALTHY DOSE OF OPEN-MINDED CURIOSITY Contributed by Tara Bennett Jul 26, 2018
The History Channel presented their Project Blue Book cast and creators at the Television Critics Association (TCAs) press tour, to shed some light on how the scripted series will explore the work of Dr. Allen Hynek (Aidan Gillen) and covert government investigations into UFO sightings from 1952 to 1969.
Executive producers Sean Jablonski and David O’Leary said the core of the show is about exploring real cases from among the 12,000 that were reported and investigated during that time span.
O’Leary said of their research that inspired the first 10 episodes featured in the first season, “There are files where it’s just a photograph and everything else is redacted. I was struck by the sheer number and how credible the witnesses were, the totality of the reports as a whole.”
Those real experiences also trickle down to their own team, including Aiden Gillen, who admitted he had his own unexplained encounter. The actor said that in his youth he saw something in the sky. “It could have been a helicopter, but I don’t think it was. As it is with most people, they are afraid of being ridiculed [if they report it]. That was the case with me and my friends. We just left it.”
But in reading, and in playing out these cases, Gillen said, “Truth is stranger than fiction, so having the [episodes] based in reality take twists and turns you couldn’t make up. It’s important to bring up that for the audience. And for someone like Hynek, who questions and questions, what’s interesting to them and to me is, if [these things] didn’t happen, why are they doing this? What’s behind it? There are questions [in the series] that go beyond sci-fi, asking why this volume of people would make things up.”
O’Leary added that part of what makes the Project Blue Book series so different is that it’s not just about proving, or disproving, UFOs. It’s about exploring the scientific hypotheses that Hynek worked through, including alternate explanations. “It’s hard because we are looking at it through our our limited human experience. Hynek looked at interdimensional options, or that it could be mankind in the future. The more we learn about science, the more fascinating it all becomes.”
Project Blue Book will debut on the History Channel, possibly as early as this winter.
www.syfy.com/syfywire/project-blue-book-history-explores-real-ufo-encounters-with-a-healthy-dose-of-open-minded
NOTE: You can sign up with the History Channel to get notices about the Project Blue Book series, as well as updates and info on the premier: www.history.com/shows/project-blue-book
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Post by auntym on Nov 10, 2018 16:50:57 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Nov 13, 2018 12:27:51 GMT -6
January 8, 2019
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Post by auntym on Dec 19, 2018 14:44:21 GMT -6
Richard Dolan @richdolan 4h4 hours ago Richard Dolan will be live Wednesday 12/19 with David O'Leary, Creator of @historybluebook Right here 👉 bit.ly/2AsrSZ9 Come and chat #live at 12pm PST/ 3pm EST Subscribe and turn on notifications @history @aetv Join us on this special broadcast. #ProjectBlueBook
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Post by auntym on Dec 22, 2018 17:04:52 GMT -6
Michael Malarkey talks UFOs and Project Blue Book Michael Malarkey talks UFOs and Project Blue BookPublished on Dec 20, 2018 Michael Malarkey stars in HISTORY’s new series Project Blue Book. He plays Captain Michael Quinn; an air force officer determined to show the world there is nothing mysterious to the UFO phenomenon. However, his motivation may be more than pure skepticism. Project Blue Book was a real-life government program to investigate UFOs. It ran from 1952 to 1969. It was the third and last USAF UFO program, preceded by Project Sign and Project Grudge. The first began in 1947. In 1948 the USAF enlisted the help of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who thought the UFO subject was ridiculous. However, over the years Hynek found the UFO subject to be much more mysterious than he first thought. In HISTORY’s Project Blue Book Hynek is played by Aiden Gillen, and Malarkey plays a USAF officer tasked with keeping Hynek focused on solving UFO cases. That means coming up with mundane answers. The problem is Hynek finds many to be unsolvable. Like Hynek, Malarkey sees a genuine mystery in the UFO phenomenon, and in this interview, we talk about his views on UFOs and a potential government cover-up. Project Blue Book premieres on the History Channel on January 8, 2018, at 9 pm central. For more information about the show, visit: www.history.com/shows/project-blue-book
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Post by swamprat on Jan 3, 2019 17:08:49 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Jan 4, 2019 16:14:21 GMT -6
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Post by auntym on Jan 5, 2019 14:31:49 GMT -6
Truth is often stranger than fiction. Based on real UFO encounters, #ProjectBlueBook begins Tuesday at 10/9c on @history.
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Post by auntym on Jan 7, 2019 16:29:02 GMT -6
nypost.com/2019/01/04/history-series-looks-at-strange-but-true-search-for-ufos/ History series looks at strange but true search for UFOsBy Lauren Sarner / nypost.com/author/lauren-sarner/January 4, 2019 The cast of "Project Blue Book" includes, from left, Laura Mennell, Aidan Gillen, Neal McDonough, Michael Harney, Michael Malarkey and Ksenia Solo. Matthias Clamer/History Aliens and UFOs sound like science fiction — but that’s the subject of History’s surprisingly grounded new scripted drama “Project Blue Book.” The series, premiering Tuesday at 10 p.m., is essentially a more realistic “The X-Files”-type period piece. It stars Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger on “Game of Thrones”) and Michael Malarkey (“The Vampire Diaries”) as unlikely partners investigating UFOs for the US Air Force in the 1950s and ’60s. (It was a government initiative that really existed.) “My character is based loosely on Captain Edward J Ruppelt, who was the first and pretty much most recognizable directors of Project Blue Book,” says Malarkey, 35. “He’s kind of a conglomeration of several characters. We called him Captain Michael Quinn.” Military man Quinn is the more serious-minded partner, while Gillen’s professor character, Josef Allen Hynek, is the Mulder to Quinn’s Scully. To nail their dynamic, the two bonded offscreen during the Vancouver shoot. “We drank a couple Guinnesses,” says Malarkey. “I’m a recording and touring artist. [Aiden] has a real interest in music as well. Nick Cave is one of my favorites and also one of his. “So our initial bond was definitely on the music front.” To prepare for the role, Malarkey dove into researching the real-life Project Blue Book, which ran from 1952-1970. Naturally, this led to some wild findings. “There were 12,000 or so cases with Blue Book. Up to about 600 of them were unexplained, and they were from reputable sources,” he says. “A lot of the theories were surprising to me and also made me think. There’s theories that we’re actually all aliens — that aliens came to earth and mated with apes and we are the results of that. The thing is, the further you go into these things, the more they start to sound actually plausible!” And Malarkey didn’t just stop at reading crazy alien theories. Since his onscreen character flies planes, he decided he should do that in real life. His family is based in Ohio near the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is coincidentally where the real-life Project Blue Book was situated. “I actually took it upon myself, after a couple weeks shooting, to go back home in Ohio,” says Malarkey. “I decided, ‘I’m going to fly a plane.’ It’s been a while since I’ve been scared to do something, at least like that. I think it helped with creating the character. I was flying side by side with an Air Force dude, and he was like ‘let me know if you want me to take over.’ I didn’t want to take off or land the plane — I just wanted to fly in the air.” “Project Blue Book” Series Premiere Tuesday at 10 p.m. on History nypost.com/2019/01/04/history-series-looks-at-strange-but-true-search-for-ufos/
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Post by auntym on Jan 8, 2019 13:26:34 GMT -6
PROJECT BLUE BOOK Verified account @historybluebook / twitter.com/HistoryBlueBook?lang=en
The truth is closer than you think. #ProjectBlueBook, premieres TONIGHT at 10/9c on @history.
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Post by swamprat on Jan 8, 2019 15:48:18 GMT -6
Top-Secret UFO Program Revealed in TV's 'Project Blue Book'By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 8, 2019
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have long inspired curiosity and speculation, but when did our fascination with UFOs really take off? A new television drama explores the origins of the UFO phenomenon, drawing from the incredible true story of the U.S. government’s decades-long investigation of reported UFO encounters.
The secret program — dubbed Project Blue Book — launched in 1952 and was monitored by the U.S. Air Force until the project's termination in 1969. During that time, experts investigated more than 12,000 reports of UFO sightings, of which over 700 remain unexplained, according to records in the National Archives.
Now declassified, the most intriguing of these unsolved cases are revisited in the History Channel series "Project Blue Book." Premiering tonight (Jan. 8) at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT., the show offers UFO aficionados and skeptics alike a peek at how it all began.
Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger on HBO's "Game of Thrones") stars as Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the real-life professor and astrophysicist who acted as the science adviser for Project Blue Book, and who is known to many as the "father of UFOlogy," show creator and executive producer David O'Leary told Live Science.
In the series, Hynek joins Air Force officials to investigate and explain sightings of peculiar lights in the sky, mysterious glowing fireballs, "flying saucers" and even purported extraterrestrials, History Channel representatives said in a statement.
"The government had to respond to the fact that military pilots, commercial airline pilots, police officers — people with trained eyes — were seeing objects in the sky that they couldn't understand," O'Leary said.
But as "Project Blue Book" unfolds, Hynek comes to an unpleasant realization: His scientific curiosity about UFOs may run counter to a government agenda that wants to bury events that prove unthreatening, but nonetheless truly defy explanation, O'Leary said.
National security During the period in U.S. history that gave rise to Project Blue Book, global superpowers were testing the boundaries of military technology, the likes of which had never been seen before. For obvious reasons, the U.S. Air Force wanted to keep tabs on all UFO sightings — which could represent previously unknown weapons — in the interests of national security, according to O'Leary.
However, hundreds of the UFO sightings investigated by Project Blue Book proved impossible to explain at all.
An incident that took place Sept. 12, 1952 (and is featured in the series), involved three boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia, who witnessed a fiery red light streaking overhead, followed by a loud crash. A local newspaper reported at the time that when the boys approached the scene, they glimpsed "a 10-foot monster with a blood-red body and a green face that seemed to glow," later dubbed "The Flatwoods Monster," the History Channel recounted.
Another unexplained sighting was documented in Lubbock, Texas, on Aug. 30, 1951; a teenager photographed a V-shaped arrangement of lights in the sky, now known as the Lubbock Lights, according to the History Channel.
Other unnerving encounters with UFOs were directly observed midair by pilots, who are trained to recognize unexpected sights that may appear during challenging flight conditions. This makes their descriptions of UFOs harder to dismiss as delusional, and fueled Hynek's efforts to get to the bottom of these baffling events, O'Leary explained.
Credible witnesses Case reports dramatized by the show feature a range of witnesses, from lone civilians, to individuals representing the military and law enforcement, to groups of people all reporting the same sighting, executive producer and showrunner Sean Jablonski told Live Science.
"By the time you get to the finale, there's a mass sighting by credible witnesses that actually prompts the president to get involved. So you go, 'Well, that's just undeniable.' And it's historically accurate," Jablonski said.
Though the real Project Blue Book ended decades ago, interest in UFOs has scarcely dimmed. In fact, the U.S. government has continued to monitor and analyze UFO reports to this day, Live Science reported in 2018. The work took place under a secret program called the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP), and it spanned decades despite official statements that federal UFO investigations ended with the demise of Project Blue Book in 1969.
"UFOs are a mystery that's still unsolved at this point," Jablonski said. "Once you open your mind up to the idea of the UFO phenomenon, then you have to ask 'Who's flying them?' And then you have to talk about alien life. It unmoors you from a reality that most people live in their whole lives."
The first episode of "Project Blue Book" airs tonight (Jan. 8) on the History Channel at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT.
www.livescience.com/64443-project-blue-book-ufos-history-channel.html?utm_source=notification
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Post by swamprat on Jan 9, 2019 10:07:58 GMT -6
Frankly, I was a little disappointed. They are obviously catering to conspiracy lovers instead of historic accuracy.
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Post by auntym on Jan 10, 2019 14:48:55 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/01/project-blue-book-a-look-at-the-facts-behind-historys-new-ufo-drama-series/ Project Blue Book: A Look at the Facts Behind History’s New UFO Drama Seriesby Micah Hanks / January 10, 2019 After much excitement and anticipation, the new historically-themed television drama Project Blue Book debuted last night on History, the A&E Networks-owned digital cable and satellite television network. Project Blue Book, as UFO enthusiasts and history buffs are well aware, was the official U.S. Air Force inquiry into unidentified flying objects that ended in 1969. According to the website of the U.S. National Archives, “From 1947 to 1969, a total of 12,618 sightings were reported to Project BLUE BOOK. Of these 701 remain ‘Unidentified.’ The project was headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, whose personnel no longer receive, document or investigate UFO reports.” Based loosely on this USAF investigative study, the new History series is centered around American astronomer J. Allen Hynek, portrayed by actor Aidan Gillen, who is tasked with lending a scientific perspective to the Air Force inquiries into unidentified flying objects. Historically speaking, Hynek really was the primary scientific adviser to the Air Force study, and even after its closure in 1969, Hynek continued to advocate the scientific study of UFOs (see Mark O’Connell’s biography on Hynek, The Close Encounters Man, for further background on Hynek and his scientific work). However, from the outset of the first episode of Project Blue Book, it will be clear to those with some historical knowledge of the real USAF program that the series blends some actual historical characters and events with a healthy dose of myth and speculation, drawing from other UFO literature unrelated to Hynek or past USAF studies. Promotional image accompanying the release of History’s “Project Blue Book” (Credit: A&E Networks). Our intent here is not to “fact check” the program; it is, after all, merely a drama series which, as we will see, takes some pretty significant liberties with the actual historical facts (as much of History’s programming has done over the years). However, while obviously intended solely as entertainment, the inevitable result of programming like this is that it will be perceived by some viewers as a more accurate retelling of historical events than intended. Hence, it might be interesting to look at a few elements that appear in the first episode of the series and contrast them with actual historical facts and records. Majestic 12 One of the earliest tropes from UFO literature that appears in the Project Blue Book series is that of Majestic 12 (or MJ-12 as it is often called). Even prior to the program’s opening titles, viewers are shown a clandestine-looking smoky room where 12 men are positioned around a circular table, the surface of which details an arresting (but overstated) eagle with North America in the grip of its talons. As they sit watching The Day the Earth Stood Still (just the sort of thing you’d imagine an Above Top Secret, presidentially-appointed UFO study group would do), actor Neal McDonough explodes into frame as General James Harding, angrily shouting at someone off-camera to “turn that thing off!” The rationale given for why this group of government insiders would be watching such a film is that such “propaganda” helps to control the official public narrative on the idea of extraterrestrial visitation. While it makes for good storytelling, one of the problems with the Majestic 12 narrative is that it likely isn’t true, and therefore had little to do with the real-life Project Blue Book. Speculations about this secretive government group appointed by President Harry Truman are largely attributed to a series of documents that were anonymously sent to filmmaker Jamie Shandera in 1984. Analysis by ufologist Stanton Friedman led him to believe that at least some of the documents contained within the batch were real; however, a subsequent FBI analysis of the documents referred to them, famously, as “completely bogus,” and that the MJ-12 affair had been nothing more than a hoax. The origins of these documents remains a point of contention in UFO circles today, with many (including Friedman) arguing that while much of the information contained within is obviously fraudulent, certain other information from the batch could have some basis in fact. CONTINUE READING: mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/01/project-blue-book-a-look-at-the-facts-behind-historys-new-ufo-drama-series/
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Post by swamprat on Jan 10, 2019 17:19:34 GMT -6
"Based loosely on this USAF investigative study....." "... it will be clear to those with some historical knowledge of the real USAF program that the series blends some actual historical characters and events with a healthy dose of myth and speculation....."
True dat!
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Post by auntym on Jan 14, 2019 11:51:53 GMT -6
weekinweird.com/2019/01/13/history-project-blue-book-press-kit-hyneck-ufo/ History Channel’s “Project Blue Book” Press Kit is a Tribute to J. Allen Hynek, Loaded With Incredible UFO Easter EggsBy Greg Newkirk / weekinweird.com/author/greg/ 01/13/2019 History Channel’s Project Blue Book is scaring up lots of viewers with a highly polished Hollywood version of Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s work investigating UFOs, but they aren’t just making waves on tv – they’re killing the promo game with an incredible press kit. Anyone who works in the media, particularly when it comes to entertainment reviews, will tell you that the press kit is one of the best perks of the job. With each big budget production, networks put together special, press-only packages aimed at garnering the attention of busy reviewers. Typically, these kits contain a pre-release screening copy of the project for review purposes, some pertinent information about the creative team, and sometimes a bit of fun swag, like t-shirts or posters. The team at History Channel, however, has blown other press kits out of the water with their new Project Blue Book series. Presented in an aged leather bag sporting a tag which reads “Property of Dr. J. Allen Hynek”, History’s Project Blue Book press kit is a love-letter to UFO enthusiasts, loaded with nods to Hynek’s real-life work as science advisor to the U.S. Air Force’s secret UFO investigations. Stocked with mysterious glyphs scribbled on napkins, notebooks with memos about government conspiracies, and a top-secret Project Blue Book folder stuffed with redacted case files, historical photos, and screening copies of the first six episodes of the series, its one of the best press kits we’ve ever seen. We loved this kit so much, we had to share it with you. Dive in below to see what secrets the Project Blue Book press kit contains: At first glance, you might not realize that this bag contains a press kit, but look closer.. The Project Blue Book bag has been purposefully banged up and aged in order to replicate the bag Hynek carries on the series. Inside the A+E / History Channel branded travel tag is the first clue of what might be inside. First surprise: a notebook sporting the Project Blue Book logo. Inside the notebook are scribbles memos with nods to Project Blue Book‘s second episode, which tackles the appearance of the frightening Flatwoods Monster in rural West Virginia. CONTINUE READING & MORE PHOTOS: weekinweird.com/2019/01/13/history-project-blue-book-press-kit-hyneck-ufo/
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Post by swamprat on Jan 16, 2019 11:39:11 GMT -6
Sigh..... More "drama" in episode 2. Read this for a more accurate depiction of Dr. Hynek:The Secret Life of J. Allen HynekJohn Franch SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Volume 37.1, January/February 2013
According to legend, the astronomer J. Allen Hynek was a skeptic before becoming an outspoken UFOlogist, but is the legend true? This article takes a look at Hynek’s unusual life and career.
It was a “road to Damascus” experience for the Mad Men era. In 1966, the respected astronomer J. Allen Hynek had gone—seemingly overnight—from a determined debunker to an ardent apostle of the UFO gospel. A longtime consultant to Project Blue Book noted for his skeptical stance toward UFOs, Hynek suddenly began telling anyone who would listen that the UFO phenomenon merited serious scientific scrutiny. The great director Stanley Kubrick was among the many who listened. In a 1968 Playboyinterview promoting his science-fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick spoke approvingly of what he termed Hynek’s “belated but exemplary conversion” (Phillips 2001, 58).
In fact, the professor’s apparent trans¬formation from skeptic to UFO proponent was not quite the conversion event that it appeared on the surface. Since his teens Hynek had been an enthusiastic though closeted student of the occult. The French-born Jacques Vallee, a computer scientist and UFO author, was one of the few persons who knew Hynek’s secret. Hynek once told Vallee that he had become an astron¬omer in order to discover “the very limitations of science, the places where it broke down, the phenomena it didn’t explain” (Vallee 1996, 232). Nonethe¬less, the scientist’s public U-turn gave a big boost to the UFO movement, lending it a measure of credibility, and made Hynek into a celebrity as the nation’s “foremost expert on flying saucers” (O’Toole 1966). For two decades people could point to Hynek and say, “He’s a trained scientist, an astronomer no less: if even he believes in this UFO stuff then there must be something to it.”
Who was Josef Allen Hynek? He was born on Chicago’s West Side on May 1, 1910, only a little over a week after Halley’s Comet had swung around the sun. Hynek’s Czech-born father made cigars for a living while his mother, Bertha, taught at a local grammar school. Josef credited his mother for his early interest in astronomy.
“When I was seven, I had scarlet fever and was quarantined with my mother in our apartment at 15th and Ayers,” Hynek explained. “There was nothing to do except read, and since I was so young, my mother read to me. Pretty soon we ran out of children’s books and she started reading textbooks. Among them was a high school astronomy book. I guess it interested me the most” (Berland 1962).
Maybe astronomy textbooks didn’t give him the answers he wanted, and so, as a bookish teenager, Hynek began to study what he called “esoteric subjects.” After reading widely in the occult, he developed a particular fondness for the writings of the Rosicrucian secret societies, with their tantalizing promises of hidden ancient knowledge, and those of the so-called hermetic philosophers, especially Rudolf Steiner.1The high schooler spent over $100—roughly $1,300 in today’s dollars—to purchase the Canadian mystic Manly Hall’s massive, richly illustrated tome An Encyclo¬pedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy: Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings Concealed within the Rituals, Allegories and Mysteries of All Ages, better known simply as The Secret Teachings of All Ages. “All my student friends thought I was crazy: why didn’t I buy a motorcycle instead, as they all did,” Hynek later told Jacques Vallee (Vallee 2010, 64–65).
Hoping to discover “the very limitations of science,” Hynek decided on a career as an astronomer. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the Uni¬versity of Chicago in 1931, Hynek went on to pursue a doctorate in astron¬omy. He worked on his doctoral thesis—“A Quantitative Study of Cer¬tain Phases of F-Type Spectra”—at the Yerkes Observatory, a Romanesque temple of astronomy on the serene shores of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.
“The whole thing had a sort of mystical quality,” Hynek would later revealingly refer to his monastic existence at Yerkes. “One shouldn’t say that in connection with science, I guess, but I was so utterly absorbed in the life of the observatory that I had hardly heard of Hitler” (Ridpath 1973, 423).
Shortly after receiving his PhD in 1935, Hynek obtained a position as an instructor at Ohio State University and four years later became a professor there. He was still teaching at Ohio State in 1948 when a trio of Air Force officials approached him: They were looking for a scientist to help them with a puzzling problem that had recently cropped up (Ridpath 1973, 422–24).
On June 24, 1947, a salesman by the name of Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a formation of shiny objects pass in front of Mount Rainier while he was flying his private plane. In the weeks following Arnold’s alleged sighting, hundreds of persons claimed to observe similar “flying saucers.” Fearful that that these so-called “saucers” might be Soviet aircraft, U.S. Air Force officials formed Project Sign early in 1948 to investigate the phenomenon. Hynek was recruited to be the project’s astronomical consultant.
In his role as Project Sign’s scientific advisor, Hynek made periodic trips from Columbus to Wright Patterson Air Force Base (where Project Sign and its successors, Projects Grudge and Blue Book, were based) to examine the UFO case files. He proved to be a shrewd and relentless debunker, a Sherlock Holmes of sky phenomena. “I’d go through them and say, ‘Well, this is obviously a meteor,’ or ‘This is not a meteor, but I’ll bet you it’s a balloon,’” he recalled in 1985. “I was a thorough skeptic, and I’m afraid I helped to engender the idea that it must be nonsense, therefore it is nonsense” (Weintraub 1985, 74).
One of Hynek’s earliest efforts at debunking—and one of his most famous—concerned the 1948 case of Cap¬tain Thomas Mantell, an Air Force pilot who, while investigating a UFO, died when his P-51 Mustang crashed. In his report of the incident Hynek suggested that the UFO may have been Venus, even though, as he later admitted, the planet would have been too faint to be seen in the bright daylight sky (Ruppelt 1956, 41–47). The astronomer had another—probably correct—theory on that case: the UFO Mantell observed and pursued too high was a Skyhook balloon (Vallee 1987, 72).
Hynek at first figured flying saucer sightings were merely “a post-war craze that would disappear as quickly as the hula-hoop” (Hall and Connors 2000, 240). But the UFO reports kept on coming as Project Sign turned into Project Grudge in 1949 and then into Project Blue Book in 1952. During the latter year a wave of UFO sightings prompted Hynek to begin reconsidering his views on the subject. He openly speculated that UFOs might be a new kind of natural phenomenon he dubbed “nocturnal meandering lights” (Swords and Powell 2012, 191). The astronomer’s change of mind was so apparent that Captain Edward Rup¬pelt, the first director of Project Blue Book, judged Hynek to be “very much pro-UFO” (Hall and Connors 2000, 205, 212).
Hynek later attributed this shift in his thinking to two things:
One was the completely negative and unyielding attitude of the Air Force. . . . Everything had to have an explanation. I began to resent that, even though I basically felt the same way, because I still thought they weren’t going about it in the right way. Secondly the caliber of the witnesses began to trouble me. Quite a few instances were reported by military pilots, for example, and I knew them to be fairly well trained, so this is when I first began to think that, well, maybe there was something to all this. (Stacy 1985)
As early as 1960, Hynek had begun to argue behind the scenes that UFOs deserved serious scientific scrutiny. “I need only remind you,” he wrote to an Air Force official that year, “that less than two centuries ago the entire province of meteorites was kept out of legitimate astronomy because stories of ‘stones that fell from the sky’ were regarded as old wives tales. Had these accounts been given careful attention by the scientists of that day, the productive branch of astronomy which we now know as meteoritics would have been born well over a century earlier than it was” (Hynek 1960). Hynek would often cite this incident from the history of astronomy to justify himself when he later became an outspoken UFO proponent.
Hynek’s true views on UFOs were still unknown to the public when the astronomer, now teaching at North¬western University, first met Jacques Vallee in the fall of 1963. Taking a job as a computer programmer at North¬western, Vallee became a close friend of Hynek and soon they formed a UFO discussion group: The astron¬omer would eventually nickname this group “the Invisible College” (Vallee 1996, 270)—a term first used by the Rosi¬crucians in the early 1600s. Vallee began prodding Hynek to break with the Air Force and publicly admit that the UFO phenomenon was real and worthy of serious scientific investigation. Project Blue Book’s longtime scientific consultant—still known as a staunch UFO de¬bunker—stubbornly resisted this ad¬vice (Vallee 1996, 80–94).
Hynek had a lot to lose. He enjoyed a respectable reputation in the astronomical world: while he had a sizeable number of journal articles on stellar astronomy to his credit, he was better known for his work behind a desk than for his labors in front of a telescope. He had been a director of the McMillin Observatory in Ohio, a co-director of the Operation Moonwatch satellite tracking program, secretary of the American Astronomical Society, and the guiding force behind the Project Sky Gazer balloon astronomy program (Ridpath 1973, 422–24). He understandably wasn’t eager to risk his name—and his career—in the interest of UFOs. The astronomer was waiting, in Vallee’s words, for “the single big case that no one would be able to deny because the evidence would be overwhelming” (Vallee 1996, 96).
And then, on April 24, 1964, the single big case arrived, or so it seemed. In Socorro, New Mexico, police officer Lonnie Zamora was chasing a speeder in his squad car when he suddenly heard a roar and noticed a flame in the sky. Investigating, Zamora spotted an egg-shaped, “aluminum white” object with legs that extended to the ground, and he noticed two white-cloaked figures nearby. As the officer cautiously approached it, the object began to bellow, and Zamora high-tailed it back toward his car. The UFO then ascended into the sky and soon disappeared from view (Hynek 1972, 144–45).
Badgered by the news media, Major Hector Quintanilla, Project Blue Book’s director, reluctantly dispatched Hynek to Socorro to investigate the alleged sighting. At the landing site Hynek examined charred plants and four impressions that had been left in the ground and persuaded Zamora to reenact the events (Huyghe 2001, 317–18). The astronomer left New Mexico “more puzzled now than I arrived,” he confessed to a reporter, but he was convinced that Zamora had in¬deed seen something (Chicago Tribune 1964).2
Hynek and Vallee frequently discussed the Socorro case, but the astronomer was still unwilling to publicly come out as pro-UFO (Vallee 1996, 118). Things changed in the spring of 1966. On March 20 of that year, dozens of persons reported viewing glowing objects hovering over a swamp near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the following night, eighty-seven students at Hillsdale College, also in Michigan, claimed to have seen strange red, white, and blue lights. The Michigan sightings received massive media coverage, and Major Quintanilla once again sent Hynek out into the field. The professor rushed out to Michigan and conducted his investigation in an atmosphere of “near-hysteria,” dogged almost every step of the way by reporters and cameramen. After interviewing thirty-two witnesses and conferring with several University of Michigan professors, Hynek concluded that at least two of the Michigan UFOs may have been manifestations of swamp gas (Hynek 1966a, 20).
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Post by swamprat on Jan 16, 2019 11:41:05 GMT -6
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On March 26, Hynek announced his findings at a packed press conference in Detroit—supposedly “the largest in the history of the Detroit Press Club” (House of Representatives 1966, 6006). After suggesting swamp gas as a likely explanation for some of the Michigan UFOs, Hynek stressed that he could not prove “in a court of law that this is the full explanation of these sightings” (Los Angeles Times 1966). The media mostly ignored this qualifier and Hynek immediately became a national laughingstock for his swamp gas theory, lampooned in cartoons and lambasted in editorials as a puppet of the Air Force (Huyghe 2001, 9–10).
Hynek’s swamp gas theory also attracted the notice—and the ire—of Gerald Ford, the powerful Republican congressman from Michigan and future president. In response, Ford promptly requested the U.S. House Armed Services Committee to investigate the UFO phenomenon, believing that “the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force”—meaning the explanation given by Hynek (House of Representatives 1966, 6047). The wish of the House minority leader was equivalent to a command and so the UFO hearing took place only one week after Ford had made his request.
On April 5, 1966, Hynek made his first public break with the Air Force, boldly using the occasion of his testimony before the Armed Services Com¬mittee to do so. Stung by the “swamp gas” criticism, the astronomer apparently wanted to show that he wasn’t the Air Force’s or anyone else’s puppet. In a statement not cleared by Major Quin¬tanilla, the Project Blue Book director, Hynek told the sitting congressmen that there were aspects of the UFO phenomenon “worthy of scientific attention,” and he called for the creation of a panel of physical and social scientists to seriously analyze what he termed the “UFO problem” (House of Representatives 1966, 6007–6008).
“The swamp gas episode boom¬eranged like hell on me and the Air Force,” Hynek later explained his about-face. “I began to feel guilty about my skeptical attitude. And once you open the gates to the possibility that all these people can’t possibly be mistaken, then you see a lot of other cases in a totally different light” (Huyghe 2001, 33). As we have seen, Hynek’s “skeptical attitude” was in fact a façade for public consumption. A longtime student of the occult, he happened to be very open to outré notions: he, for example, believed that there were planes of existence beyond the physical, and he even endorsed alleged instances of “psychic surgery” and “psychic photography” (Vallee 1996, 240, 306). But it took the media furor over the “swamp gas episode” for an angry and embarrassed Hynek to publicly air his long-held views on UFOs.
It was a risky move for Hynek but not as risky as it would have been a few short years before. Since then his astronomical career had stalled in a big way.3 In 1957, Hynek launched in collaboration with the Air Force a program for balloon-based astronomy—later named Project Star Gazer. The plan was to send telescope-equipped balloons high above the image-distorting lower layers of the atmosphere. Un¬fortunately, a series of failed test launches prompted the Air Force to scrap Project Star Gazer in 1963. The decision was devastating for Hynek, who seems to have bet his professional career on the success of the project. In a scathing final report to the Air Force the astronomer didn’t hold back. “In any event,” he wrote, “the setting aside of a project which had engaged so many for such a length of time, at a time when success seemed assured, can only be listed in the scientific annals as a criminal act, and one carried out in a callous, cavalier manner without regard for the desires, objectives and ideals of the people involved” (Hynek 1966b). Was Hynek’s emergence into the open as a pro-UFO crusader partly an at¬tempt, whether subconscious or not, to get back at the Air Force for torpedoing Project Star Gazer?
As Hynek had recommended during his congressional testimony, the Air Force soon funded a scientific study of UFOs and the renowned physicist Edward U. Condon, of the University of Colorado, was chosen to direct it. After three contentious years, the Condon Com¬mittee concluded in 1969 that “further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be ad¬vanced thereby” (Hynek 1972, 192–93). Hynek predictably dismissed the committee’s report, calling it “a waste of time” (Kotulak 1969), but the Air Force went ahead anyway and closed Project Blue Book later that year. The professor was now on his own as a UFO investigator.
Back in 1966, Hynek had chosen the biggest megaphone he could find to announce his new career as a UFO advocate: He sent a bombshell letter to the prestigious and widely read journal Science in which he argued that UFOs merited scientific investigation. The Science editors grudgingly published the letter but only after the astronomer had leaked its contents to the Chicago Sun-Times (Vallee 1996, 222). Hynek subsequently wrote articles on UFOs for such national publications as The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker, and even Playboy, and he became a ubiquitous presence on television and radio shows. “Media men hire Allen as they would hire a guitar player,” Jacques Vallee wrote in his journal. “He rushes wherever he sees a spotlight, and if the spotlight moves, he moves with it” (Vallee 1996, 259).
Hynek’s fame came at a great cost: he lost the respect of his peers in the scientific community. “His colleagues’ attitude towards him is changing to the point of contempt, and this pains him,” Vallee noted in 1968. “He is no longer taken seriously among astronomers” (Vallee 1996, 339).
Determined to prove his colleagues wrong, Hynek began working on a book that he said would take a scientific approach to the study of UFOs. Pub¬lished in 1972, The UFO Experi¬ence: A Scientific Inquiry argues for the reality of the UFO phenomenon in a dry, matter-of-fact manner. The book is most noteworthy for its classification of certain UFO reports into Close En¬counters of the First Kind (sightings), the Second Kind (sightings with physical effects), and the Third Kind (sightings of UFO occupants) (Hynek 1972, 86).
Unfortunately for Hynek, The UFO Experience did further damage to his academic standing. According to an astronomer friend of Vallee, Hynek’s book “created antagonism among the (Northwestern) Faculty and made him a controversial figure. In spite of a fair review in Science Magazine, many professors have felt that the reputation of the school was tainted” (Vallee 2010, 156). Indeed, speaking for his faculty colleagues in 1982, the dean of North¬western’s College of Arts and Sci¬ences categorically declared to a University official: “We are not, have not been, and will not be proud of Hynek’s UFO affairs. There are many who think that what he’s up to has nothing to do with research” (Wein¬gart¬ner 1982).
Hynek may have genuinely wanted to restore his scientific standing, but his behavior during the 1970s certainly didn’t help matters. The bespectacled, goateed astronomer was a familiar sight to television viewers of the era, pontificating on the “UFO problem” on programs ranging from The Dick Cavett Show to In Search Of. Late in 1973, he endorsed the alien abduction claims of two Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard workers, saying the men had “a very real experience” (Los Angeles Times 1973). He joined a UFO panel formed by the National Enquirer: $50,000 was to be awarded to “the first person to prove to the panel that UFOs are from outer space and are not natural phenomena” (Dick 1972). Near the end of the decade Hynek even made an eight-second cameo appearance in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Huyghe 2001, 32). He was also a popular figure on the lucrative college lecture circuit. He later boasted to a friend “that each one of my lectures brings me more than my monthly pay from Northwestern” (Hynek 1978).
Hynek’s extracurricular activities did not endear him to the Northwestern University administration. In the fall of 1973, following a wave of alleged sightings, the astronomer formed the Center for UFO Studies to serve as a clearinghouse for UFO reports. He hoped that the Center could be located on the North¬western campus, but university officials adamantly rejected this idea. School administrators insisted that there be no connection whatsoever between Northwestern and the UFO center; Hynek was not even allowed to use his Northwestern mailing address for any Center-related correspondence. Eventually protesting, the professor fired off a series of angry letters. “Frankly, I am quite embarrassed to have to say that the University has been so conservative as to not see the potential here, both for science and for publicity,” he raged in one letter. “And, of course, I personally resent the implication that the subject is sheer nonsense and that anyone connected with it is a crackpot (speaking bluntly!)” (Hynek 1974).
After he retired from Northwestern in 1978, Hynek devoted much of his time to the Center for UFO Studies. Despite having a good track record as a fundraiser—he had obtained money from private donors for Northwestern’s Lindheimer Astronomical Research Cen¬ter—Hynek struggled to put his UFO center on a secure financial footing: Wealthy would-be benefactors frequently tantalized him with offers of monetary support only to let him down in the end. Finally in 1984, Hynek packed up his research files and relocated his UFO center to Scottsdale, Arizona, having been lured there by a rich Englishman with promises of money and the use of his “quite luxurious” home (Witt 1984). Once again the astronomer was doomed to disappointment: this particular patron “was only interested in keeping a few scientists in his entourage to promote his personal theories about the (UFO) phenomenon,” Jacques Vallee maintained (Vallee 1996, 423).
Hynek was often evasive when asked to give his own theories on the nature of UFOs. Despite his cameo in 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he had by then rejected the notion that UFOs were “nuts and bolts” spacecraft piloted by extraterrestrials (Gardner 1997, 247). His occult studies had pointed him in a very different direction. As early as 1967, he speculated that UFOs might be “observational devices that are materialized into our world by the denizens of another” (Vallee 1996, 306). He later offered a variation on this theory: UFOs as “psychic projections” created by an “extradimensional intelligence in some parallel reality” (Gardner 1997, 253). Speaking to the UFOlogist Jerome Clark, Hynek was more specific. The astronomer allegedly told Clark that he believed “elementals”—nature spirits—were behind the UFO phenomenon (Clark 1998).
It is easy to question the veracity of Clark’s startling claim, but it makes sense when one realizes that Hynek was strongly influenced by Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian mystic. Steiner argued that the hard sciences merely offer human¬kind “a vast amount of popular information.” By employing sense-free thinking, the enlightened individual, on the other hand, could “pierce the veil” and discover what lay behind the material world revealed by science. In Steiner’s view, elementals—spirits of air, earth, water, and the ether—dwelled in this hidden realm inaccessible to the senses. If Hynek did indeed believe that UFOs were nature spirits, he may have specifically identified them with this last class of elemental—the etheric “beings of the higher elements.” Steiner claimed that “what exists in the sky is not merely the physical sun, but that with the sun’s warmth and light etheric beings stream down to earth” (Steiner 1922). Did Hynek suspect that UFOs were Steiner’s “etheric beings” streaming down to Earth?
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Post by swamprat on Jan 16, 2019 11:42:54 GMT -6
Page 3
For those very few who knew of Hynek’s fascination with the occult, his 1975 piece on Johannes Kepler—the great seventeenth-century astrono¬mer—in the journal Vistas in Astronomy had an extra meaning. In this eye-opening, one-page article Hynek argued that science historians are wrong to dismiss Kepler’s practice of astrology as merely something he did to keep alive. “Both his [Kepler’s] astrology and astronomy grew out of and partook in large measure of his deep mystical outlook,” Hynek (1975) wrote. He went on to assert that modern astronomy, with its exotic concepts like quasars, pulsars, and black holes, offered “a broad playing field for the metaphysicist.” According to Hynek, there was a “tenuous bond” linking present-day astronomy’s metaphysical thinking and Kepler’s brand of metaphysics, with both systems of thought being “the repository of fundamental questions not entertained on the present playing field of physical science” (Hynek 1975, 455). Hynek apparently saw Kepler as a kindred spirit, and, in this article, he was defending not only Kepler’s beliefs but his own.
“I have never stopped thinking about what must lie beyond all this,” Hynek once remarked to Vallee in Colorado as he sweepingly gestured toward the Rockies and the Great Plains (Vallee 1996, 232). For the professor, UFOs represented the “beyond,” that point where science could not reach. Having become an astronomer in order to discover the limits of science, Hynek wanted, maybe even needed, to believe in UFOs. It was a case of wishful thinking.
Hynek died of a brain tumor at Memorial Hospital in Scottsdale, Ari¬zona, on April 27, 1986 (Folkart 1986). Halley’s Comet was then making its return appearance after a seventy-six-year journey through the solar system. Like Mark Twain, Josef Allen Hynek came into the world with the great comet, and he went out with it as well.
Notes
1. Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was an Austrian-born mystic who propagated a belief known as anthroposophy or spiritual science. According to Robert McDermott, the purpose of anthroposophy was “to bring to humanity an entirely new capability—knowledge of the spiritual world by conscious sense-free thinking” (McDermott 1984, 3). In his classic Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, Martin Gardner called Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society “the fastest growing cult in post-war Germany” (Gardner 1957, 169).
2. In a recently unearthed 1968 letter, the then-president of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology indicated to the chemist Linus Pauling that the Zamora episode was in fact a hoax perpetrated by a student (Sheaffer 2010, 25).
3. According to the SAO/NASA Astro¬physics Data System, out of the over 100 astronomical publications Hynek had to his credit, only about a dozen appeared after 1966. Nearly one-half of these dozen articles related to Image Orthicon—a ground-breaking system using television technology to boost the light grasp of telescopes that Hynek helped develop in the 1950s and 1960s (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observ¬atory/National Aeronautics and Space Admin¬istration, N.d.).
References Berland, Theodore. 1962. New look at the stars. Chicago Tribune (December 9). Chicago Tribune. 1964. Probe flying object reports in 2 states. (May 1). Clark, Jerome. 1998. UFO UpDates Mailing List, December 1. Online at www.cohenufo.org/Hynek/clark_re_hynk2.htm. Dick, William. 1972. Letter to J. Allen Hynek dated February 11. J. Allen Hynek Papers. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston. Folkart, Burt. 1986. J. Allen Hynek dies; led AF investigation of UFOs. Los Angeles Times (May 1). Gardner, Martin. 1957. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. 2nd ed. New York: Dover Publications. ———. 1997. The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938–1995. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. Hall, Michael David, and Wendy A. Connors. 2000. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt: The Summer of the Saucers—1952. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Rose Press International. House of Representatives. Armed Services Com¬mittee. 1966. Unidentified Flying Ob¬jects. 89th Cong., 2nd sess., Committee Print No. 55. Huyghe, Patrick. 2001. Swamp Gas Times: My Two Decades on the UFO Beat. New York: Paraview Press. Hynek, J. Allen. 1960. Letter to Brigadier B.G. Holzman dated February 17. J. Allen Hynek Papers. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston. ———. 1966a. Are flying saucers real? Saturday Evening Post (December 17). ———. 1966b. Scientific Report on Project Star Gazer: Final Technical Report. July. J. Allen Hynek Papers. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston. ———. 1972. The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company. ———. 1974. Letter to John E. Fields dated November 18. J. Allen Hynek Papers. North¬western University Archives, Evanston. ———. 1975. Kepler’s astrology and astronomy. Vistas in Astronomy 18: 455. ———. 1978. Letter to John E. Fields dated September 7. J. Allen Hynek Papers. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston. Kotulak, Ronald. 1969. U.F.O. report rapped as ‘waste of time.’ Chicago Tribune (May 18). Los Angeles Times. 1966. Air Force investigator blames swamp gas for ‘flying saucers.’ (March 26). ———. 1973. Recent UFO sightings: reports, answers—and a few mysteries. (October 18). McDermott, Robert A., ed. 1984. The Essential Steiner: Basic Writings of Rudolf Steiner. San Francisco: Harper & Row. O’Toole, Thomas. 1966. Can’t shrug off UFOs, says saucer expert. Washington Post(October 26). Phillips, Gene D., ed. 2001. Stanley Kubrick: Inter¬views. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. Ridpath, Ian. 1973. The man who spoke out on UFOs. New Scientist 58 (May 17): 422–24. Ruppelt, Edward. 1956. The Report on Unidenti¬fied Flying Objects. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Sheaffer, Robert. 2010. Famous Socorro ‘UFO landing’ a student prank? Skeptical Inquirer 34(2): 25–27. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/National Aeronautics and Space Administra¬tion Astrophysics Data System (ADS). N.d. Online at adswww.harvard.edu/. Stacy, Dennis. 1985. Close encounter with Dr. J. Allen Hynek. CUFON: The Computer UFO Network. Online at www.cufon.org/cufon/hynekint.htm. Steiner, Rudolf. 1922. The elemental world and the future of mankind. May 28. Rudolf Steiner Archive. Online at wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19220528p01.html. Swords, Michael, and Robert Powell. 2012. UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry. San Antonio, Texas: Anomalist Books. Vallee, Jacques. 1987. UFO’s in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon. New York: Ballantine Books. ———. 1996. Forbidden Science: Journals 1957–1969. New York: Marlowe & Company. ———. 2010. Forbidden Science: Journals 1970–1979. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Docu¬matica Research. Weingartner, Rudolph. 1982. Letter to Chuck Loebbaka dated May 11. J. Allen Hynek Papers. Northwestern University Archives, Evanston. Weintraub, Pamela. 1985. Interview: J. Allen Hynek. Omni 7(5): 70–76, 108–114. Witt, Howard. 1984. UFO expert moving to Arizona. Chicago Tribune (August 21).
John Franch John Franch is a freelance writer. He is the author of Robber Baron: The Life of Charles Tyson Yerkes and has written articles for such publications as Astronomy, Sky and Telescope, the University of Chicago Magazine, Illinois Alumni, and Chicago History. He can be reached at jfranch98@yahoo.com.
www.csicop.org/si/show/the_secret_life_of_j_allen_hynek?fbclid=IwAR3x588OopWgj2prUUPMWNES8fP9aDzSBjBxQoZkLyJN_qnODaCM_DvnHO8
ALSO, read the New York Times article co-authored by Leslie Kean:
www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/arts/television/project-blue-book-history-true-story.html?fbclid=IwAR31NkVm7IN6B697Dg02a2S4Z6ffTfuxckaOFryPW9mVi5O7-K-5NAACFzs
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Post by auntym on Jan 22, 2019 10:50:43 GMT -6
Dr. Hynek Tells The Truth About The UFO Blue Book Project
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Post by auntym on Jan 22, 2019 11:01:57 GMT -6
Leslie Kean on Project Blue Book then Joseph Farrell's 25th Dreamland!
Whitley Strieber
Published on Jan 18, 2019
Whitley Strieber's Dreamland explores the edge of science and reality. Expect to be amazed!
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Post by swamprat on Jan 24, 2019 19:36:22 GMT -6
As I've already said, Dr. Hynek is a hero of mine. Having grown up in northern Illinois, I had the opportunity to meet him and attend several of his lectures. Frankly, I have been somewhat disappointed in the Project Bluebook series so far. It seems to me they have chosen to emphasize drama rather than documentation of events. However, it IS a major step forward in public awareness. Now, I see Northwestern University itself has published a news piece on the series. It's good to see they've included comments from Hynek's son, Paul.NUFOs: New sci-fi TV series documents late Northwestern professor J. Allen Hynek’s research on UFOsCrystal Wall, Reporter January 24, 2019
From “Stranger Things” to the “Cloverfield” film franchise, there’s no shortage of blockbuster hits and Netflix series that bring aliens down from space and into our backyards. But one of the latest sci-fi installments tackling the topic of extraterrestrials and government secrets strips away the green face-paint and tacky costumes — instead, it becomes something rooted much deeper in reality, and American history itself.
J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer and ufologist who once graced the halls of Northwestern, is the central figure in the new History Channel production “Project Blue Book.” The show dramatizes the work Hynek did with the Air Force to conduct top-secret investigations into UFO sightings. But Hynek, who died in 1986, had made a name for himself long before he was recruited by the Air Force.
Paul Hynek described his father as the “little Czech boy” who did not speak English until kindergarten but had found his passion for astronomy by the age of seven. He then went on to earn his PhD in astronomy at the University of Chicago and teach at esteemed universities around the country. Hynek became the NU astronomy department chair and director of the Dearborn Observatory in 1960. “He was a big fan of popularizing science,” Paul Hynek said. “Part of his career was in the 50s, during the Space Race, and he was concerned that not enough people were studying math and science.”
Paul Hynek said his father is now most commonly associated with his work alongside the Air Force. In the midst of post-World War II hysteria, J. Allen Hynek was recruited to work at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to scientifically debunk flying saucer sightings — a mission coined Project Blue Book. J. Allen Hynek, once a skeptic, was eager to quickly explain away the cases. But even with his strong astronomy background and government resources, he deemed some sightings beyond the realm of scientific explanation.
Hynek and his team studied more than 12,000 cases in this project, but failed to solve about 700 of them — leaving Hynek with doubts about his beliefs. “Over time, my father came to realize there was something to the phenomenon,” Paul Hynek said. “Much to his frustration and surprise, he couldn’t explain them all.”
While Paul Hynek did admit that these unsolved cases are not necessarily proof of extraterrestrial visitation, he said his father always believed there are two types of people: those who like questions they can’t answer and those who like answers they don’t question. And despite scientific pressure, J. Allen Hynek didn’t dismiss the popular answer behind these bizarre sightings: extraterrestrials.
Fast forward a few decades later, and the question of humanity’s solitude in the universe — or lack thereof — still appeals to modern audiences and particularly show producer David O’Leary. After graduating from college, O’Leary moved to Los Angeles to pursue writing, where he began to delve deeper into the topic of extraterrestrials and the government’s secretive stance on the subject. One evening, O’Leary was struck by the idea that would marry his passion for writing with his passion for the unexplained.
“Over a glass of wine with my wife, it hit me — what if I wrote a TV series that went back and looked at all of the seminal cases of Project Blue Book? Essentially, a real life ‘X-Files’ set in the time of ‘Mad Men,’” O’Leary said. “It got me really excited and I still have the napkin where I scribbled this idea down.”
Though the show is a “historical drama in every sense” and embellishes some elements of the story, O’Leary said it still stays true to much of its namesake historical context. However, when covering a 17-year investigation in 42 minutes a week, he said some liberties must be made to tell a compelling story. Meredith Mackey, a SESP senior and former production assistant for the History Channel, echoed this sentiment.
“Most of the sci-fi, supernatural shows that are popular right now, like ‘Stranger Things’ or big superhero stories, are entirely fantastical and magical-realism and fictional,” Mackey said. “So, it’s cool, obviously ‘(Project) Blue Book’ is dramatized, but it’s based on a real story.”
While the events are exaggerated for entertainment value, Paul Hynek serves as a consultant for the series to ensure the production authentically paints his parents, portrayed by Aidan Gillen from “Game of Thrones” and Laura Mennell from “The Man in the High Castle.”
Hynek said he has reviewed scripts, visited the set and answered questions about his parents. These inquiries would include broad topics, like his father’s outlooks or how he would react to something, as well as easily overlooked details — like when Gillen asked how J. Allen Hynek would have pronounced Halley’s Comet. Hynek said his goal was to keep the series true to his father’s character.
“One of the things I’ve noticed in the portrayals of scientists is people tend to think of them as robots or Vulcans who just go about computing logic all day,” Hynek said. “One of the things we wanted to do was make sure they understood my father was a vibrant, fun individual who loved puns and was not thinking logically 24 hours a day.”
Even while sorting through his father’s nuances and traits for the production, Hynek said watching and working on a show dedicated to his father and his work is a surreal experience. He described watching dramatic representations of his parents as an adventure — simultaneously fun and unnerving. Most importantly, though, Hynek believes his father would have enjoyed the series.
“My father would like the show. I think he would think it’s a lot of fun,” Paul Hynek said. “He’d probably put on his slippers and cook up some popcorn and have a grand old time.”
dailynorthwestern.com/2019/01/24/ae/nufos-new-sci-fi-tv-series-documents-late-northwestern-professor-j-allen-hyneks-research-on-ufos/
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Post by swamprat on Feb 5, 2019 14:22:17 GMT -6
NEW EPISODE PROJECT BLUEBOOK
Tonight, February 5 at 10/9c Foo Fighters
Hynek and Quinn follow a series of strange clues leading them to a secret group who not only claim to have witnessed strange lights during combat called "Foo Fighters", but also claim to know a way to contact them. Based on the "Foo Fighter" incidents from World War II.
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Post by swamprat on Feb 6, 2019 9:27:19 GMT -6
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Post by swamprat on Feb 28, 2019 10:29:17 GMT -6
ForbesAidan Gillen Talks UFOs And His New Show 'Project Blue Book'Dana Feldman Feb 27, 2019, 03:13pm
Sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are nothing new, nor are government coverups, which are headlining today’s news cycle aplenty. This is the basis of HISTORY's new show Project Blue Book.
The 10-episode drama series, based on renowned astrophysicist Dr. Josef Allen Hynek, who studied UFOs, has quickly become one of the top shows of the year. The series, which is inspired by the personal experiences of Dr. Hynek, was listed as one of the top 10 most anticipated new shows of 2019.
Project Blue Book is based on the true top secret investigations into UFOs and related phenomena conducted by the United States Air Force from 1952-1969 when over 12,000 reported sightings of UFOs were being looked into. The government's program was code-named Project Blue Book and the show is based on the declassified government files from the resulting investigations.
Irish actor Aidan Gillen, who brilliantly portrays Dr. Hynek, is well-known for his stints as Lord Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in Game of Thrones, in addition to his time on The Wire as Tommy Carcetti.
In a phone interview Gillen discussed how it differs portraying a real person as opposed to a fictional character. “It’s both daunting and exciting, though more so exciting,” he says. Though this isn’t his first time delving into a real person onscreen, he explains the differences and the benefits. “With a real person, there’s a lot you can research, usually footage you can watch, which gets you off the hook a little.” But, he adds, it can’t just be an impersonation. “I do think about things like how would Dr. Hynek do this, or say that? He was a scientist that led this fascinating life and did these amazing things and we aim to capture that.”
He tells about a time in the early weeks of filming when one of Dr. Hynek’s children came to set and he felt a bit of trepidation. “I know I don’t look or sound like his father, but this is a drama, not a documentary and I think people understand that it’s ok to tinker with it and have some dramatic license. What’s important to me is to get the essence, spirit and intention of the person accurate."
Dr. Hynek was an American astronomer, college professor and ufologist recruited by the U.S. Air Force to spearhead this clandestine operation that researched thousands of cases, over 700 of which remain unsolved to this day. He’s most-remembered for his UFO research and role as a scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive projects: Project Sign, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book.
Ufology is the study of reports, visual records, physical evidence and other phenomena related to UFOs. Reports of UFO sightings have been the subject of various investigations over the years by governments, independent groups and scientists.
Each episode draws from the actual case files, blending UFO theories with authentic historical events from one of the most mysterious eras in United States history.
The show premiered January 8 and airs through March 12. Fans can't seem to get enough, which is a good thing since the series has received a second-season pick-up. Within the first two telecasts, Project Blue Book saw 3.1 million total viewers and has since grown with an average of 3.6 million Total Viewers in L+7.
Is Gillen a believer? “I’ve seen a couple of things,” he says. He describes a time he was with friends and they saw something in the sky they couldn’t explain. This wasn't long after seeing the 1977 classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “We were kids and we saw something inexplicable. It was also at a time when we were really looking for something.”
He adds that his mother saw something in the 1950s in rural Ireland. “That was at a time when UFOs were the topic of conversation on TV and on the radio. People were really looking for them and wanted to see them. I believe that it’s quite improbable that we’re alone in the universe, which is potentially infinite. It’s highly likely there are other civilizations and certainly communication is a possibility. It’s not impossible to believe in the existence of UFOs.”
The cultural relevance of the show is two-fold as it centers on possible government coverups, as well as UFO sightings that to this day, continue to occur all too frequently. Have you ever seen a UFO? Whether or not you have, this show is a must-see.
Executive produced by Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Contact), the show’s cast also includes Michael Malarkey, Laura Mennell, Neal McDonough, Michael Harney, Robert John Burke and Ksenia Solo.
'Project Blue Book' airs on HISTORY Tuesdays at 10/9 CST.
www.forbes.com/sites/danafeldman/2019/02/27/aidan-gillen-talks-ufos-and-his-new-show-project-blue-book/#6f3c56684220
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Post by swamprat on Mar 5, 2019 13:02:32 GMT -6
NEW EPISODE
Tonight, March 5 at 10/9c
S 1 E 9
Abduction
Hynek is drawn into a case he literally can't escape when a man arrives at Blue Book headquarters with his wife, claiming he was abducted by aliens, and with plans to hold Hynek and Quinn hostage until they find out the truth. Inspired by the Betty and Barney Hill Abduction case.
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Post by swamprat on Mar 15, 2019 13:09:00 GMT -6
Paola Harris interviews Dr. Hynek's son, Paul. This is a 20 minute video. The first seven minutes, Paola talks about her own association with Dr. Hynek. The interview with Paul starts at the 7.20 mark.
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