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ufos and the national enquirer

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by charles lear stories of ufos and

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aliens have long been associated with

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tabloid newspapers

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often with ridiculous headlines dubious

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claims and photos that only the most

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credulous can take seriously

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while these might be considered

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innocuous pieces of entertainment by

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many

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for the serious ufo researcher they make

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it harder to convince a skeptical public

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that the subject is deserving of careful

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scrutiny

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one of the most famous and long lasting

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of the tabloids is the national enquirer

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and while it might not be considered to

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be a bastion of journalistic integrity

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it launched bob pratt who was a staff

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member for the paper

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into a lifelong occupation not always

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paid as a serious ufologist

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the national enquirer began life in 1926

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as the new york evening enquirer it was

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founded using a loan

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from william randolph hearst by a

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protege of his

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william griffin the paper became a place

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where pro-fascist and isolationist views

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were expressed in the years leading up

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to world war ii

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and the paper along with griffin was

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indicted in 1942 for sedition

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the charges were later dropped with its

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circulation falling

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the paper was bought in 1952 by generoso

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pope

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jr who turned it into the sensationalist

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tabloid

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with which most are familiar pope

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changed the name to the national

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enquirer in 1957

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and later became the first to get his

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tabloid placed in supermarket checkout

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lines in 1967

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in order to do this he replaced the

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stories of blood and gore which had

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originally increased the paper

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circulation

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with celebrity news tales of the bazaar

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and ufos

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in 1971 the paper's headquarters was

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moved to lantana florida

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and that was where bob pratt began

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working in 1973.

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pratt's career in journalism began in

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1951.

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he worked as an editor and reporter for

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several papers up and down the east

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coast from buffalo new york to florida

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according to pratt in i've never seen a

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ufo

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but an article posted by pratt on his

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website the bob pratt files

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he was skeptical of ufo stories to the

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point where he wouldn't allow them to

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appear in print

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when he was managing editor of a small

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daily newspaper in virginia

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pratt began work with the national

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enquirer as a writer

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he stayed in that position for almost

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two years and then worked as a reporter

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for six and a half years

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as a writer he took stories from the

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reporters and edited them down from

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thousands of words to hundreds

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occasionally he would work on ufo

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stories which he tells the reader he

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found

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grading it was his opinion that the

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reporters weren't asking the right

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questions

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in 1975 when pratt was working as a

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reporter

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the editor he was working for inherited

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the ufo beat from another editor who had

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just been promoted

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pratt's editor dropped 10 files on his

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desk and told him to pick

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two pratt ended up picking only one file

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but it seemed like it could turn out to

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be a good story

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a family east of superior wisconsin

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reported a ufo landing near their

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farmhouse

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pratt called half a dozen people in the

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area and the claim took on more

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credibility

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he was told that reports were still

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coming in of ufos flying south along the

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saint louis river

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and that some people felt that there

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might have been a base at the bottom of

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the bay

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with the possibility of a headline-like

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ufo base found

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pratt's editor told him to go to

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wisconsin and look into the story

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he spent a week there interviewed

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between 60 and 70 witnesses who reported

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sightings and encounters over the

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previous two years

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and became convinced that there was a

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genuine mystery

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according to him the trip to wisconsin

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changed his life

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and he ended up chasing ufos ever since

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pratt took a particular interest in

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south american ufo reports

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and made five trips there while working

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for the national enquirer

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and more than a dozen trips on his own

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afterwards he became fascinated with

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brazilian encounters around the village

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of coloris

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as most of the witnesses he talked to

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were terrified by their encounters

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to the point that they thought their

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lives were threatened he wrote about his

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brazilian investigations

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in his book ufo danger zone terror and

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death

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in brazil where next published in 1996

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by horus house press

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the chloris encounters were part of a

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flap from april 1977

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into 1978 over the amazon delta in the

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northeast section of brazil

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because it involved reports of attacks

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and injuries the brazilian air force was

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moved to put together a special

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operation to deal with it

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it was designated apparacio prato which

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is portuguese for

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operation plate the most intense

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activity

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was concentrated to the north around the

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village of coloris

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coloris then a village and now a city is

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located on coloras island

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there as with reports from elsewhere

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glowing forms of all shapes and sizes

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were seen to come in from the north

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after nightfall at times creatures were

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seen

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occupying the ufos were associated with

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them

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villagers were so frightened the women

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and children were sent away at night

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while the men kept armed vigils the most

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disturbing aspect

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was that people reported being hit by

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beams of light that paralyzed them

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momentarily

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and left them feeling enervated

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afterwards men were left with burns on

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the neck and women with burns on the

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chest

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tiny punctures were seen in some of the

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burns some suspected that they'd have

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blood taken from them

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and many villagers started calling the

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ufos tupas or

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chupachupas chupa means to suck in both

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spanish and portuguese

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pratt stuck with the story up until the

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year of his death he passed away on

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november 21st

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2005 and in may of that year the

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brazilian air force announced that they

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were releasing declassified documents

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relating to avaracio prato

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at a meeting with ufologists at military

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headquarters in brasilia

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pratt wrote a detailed blog in which he

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presented photos and documents

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as well as background information and

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details of his own

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boots on the ground investigation

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besides his involvement with the kolaris

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case

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pratt did extensive investigation in new

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york's hudson valley

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where thousands of people including law

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enforcement officials

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reported seeing huge football

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field-sized boomerang-shaped craft in

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the early 1980s

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he wrote about the case in night siege

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the hudson valley ufo sightings

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ballentine 1987

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along with dr j allen heineck and philip

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j

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imbrogno scientific consultant for

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project blue book

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and founder of the center for ufo

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studies died before the book was

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completed

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pratt was a member of the mutual ufo

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network and was editor

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of the mufon journal from 1983-1984

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mufon thought enough of him to include a

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pdf version of the bob pratt files on

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their website

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he was also well thought of in brazil

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and at a conference in the city of

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kuratiba in southern brazil on may 3rd

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2003 he was given a diploma naming him

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ufo logo brazillero honorario signed by

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78 brazilian ufologists

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for ufo skeptic who was forced into the

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field while working for a supermarket

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scandal sheet

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bob pratt made quite an impact meanwhile

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a recent search of the national enquirer

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for articles on ufos revealed no

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indication

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that the publication was still paying

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its reporters to travel long distances

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to look into ufo stories