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[Music]

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ufos over with phil virginia by charles

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lear

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beginning in october 1987 there was a

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ufo flap in withville virginia thousands

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of people in the area reported seeing

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extraordinary things in the sky but the

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most commonly told story that came out

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of the flap centers around a single

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witness who it seems was singled out for

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harassment by some unknown entity or

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organization

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on october 7 1987 reporter danny gordon

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of radio station wyve called the county

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sheriff as he regularly did to see if

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the sheriff had any news for him that

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day the sheriff told gordon that three

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deputies all ex-military had reported

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seeing a ufo that day according to

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gordon in the course of his appearance

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in a segment devoted to the withful flap

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in season 4 episode 18 of unsolved

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mysteries the story was used as what he

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calls a haha piece at the end of that

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day's newscast after the newscast the

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station's switchboard was jammed with

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callers who reported seeing ufos

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themselves this went on until gordon

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felt compelled to devote the evening of

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october 19th to a call-in show for ufo

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witnesses gordon describes himself as a

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brass tax journalist and he investigated

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thinking you would find a prosaic

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explanation

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his first thought was that there was

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some military craft out of langley air

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force base being tested in the area but

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he was told repeatedly that there was no

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testing being done in the area as he

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called various military agencies and

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inquired as more and more people

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reported seeing strange sightings an

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explanation came out that they were

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seeing planes refueling according to the

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witness reports if this was the case the

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planes were refueling at low altitudes

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over populated areas gordon says he

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spoke with an air force general at the

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pentagon who told him that if the

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refueling was being done below 13 000

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feet somebody's butts in a sling gordon

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says he told military people he spoke

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with that if what the witnesses were

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seeing was military he would back off

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because he is a patriot each time he

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said this he was assured by military

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personnel that it's not us

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on october 21st gordon and a friend

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danny hall drove to the area where most

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of the reported ufos were said to have

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been seen which was south of withville

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they had two cameras with them a 35

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millimeter still camera and a video

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camera after seeing nothing unusual

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during a two-hour sky watch they headed

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home at about 8 45 pm as they were

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approaching withville on route 21 south

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gordon who was driving spotted something

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strange off to his left gordon pulled

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over and both men got out of the car

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gordon described seeing a large craft

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coming towards him that had no wings a

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dome on top and a multi-colored strobe

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light on its right side danny hall a

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former commercial pilot estimates that

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it was one thousand feet away from them

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at an altitude of one thousand feet and

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then its diameter was at least two

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football fields hall says there were

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what looked like three huge picture

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windows lit from inside on the back of

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the craft according to gordon a red ball

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of light approached the craft from the

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left and docked with the craft as the

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craft disappeared into some clouds he

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compares what he witnessed to watching

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images in a video game after the craft

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was out of sight both men realized that

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neither one of them had managed to get

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footage of the object the next night

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however they did manage to get pictures

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and with the pictures not yet developed

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organized a press conference the

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conference was held on october 23 1987

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and gordon says that during the night

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before he received a phone call from

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someone who told him that the cia was

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very interested in the ufos being

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reported in with county he says he

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continued to receive anonymous calls

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from people discouraging him from

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continuing his investigation and telling

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him it wasn't his place to be

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interfering with defense matters gordon

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reported that his house had been broken

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into after the press conference and he

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suspected that someone had been looking

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for the photos which when developed

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showed indeterminate streaks of light he

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then got a chance to take some better

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pictures on december 2nd when he his

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wife and daughter were walking to the

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family car in a mall parking lot a large

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object came into view in front of

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several witnesses in a school bus full

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of kids and gordon grabbed his camera

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according to gordon the single object

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became four flying disc shapes that

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disappeared as soon as they were

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photographed four photos that gordon

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presents show four distinct shapes going

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from teardrop to ball to flying disc to

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egg shape by the end of december there

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were over 1500 sightings reports reports

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include multi-colored carousel-like

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objects and objects that seemed like a

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cross between a helicopter and a plane

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with no noise gordon says he called the

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pentagon and talked with the defense

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spokesman who told him we do not deny

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ufos exist the government confirms they

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exist but we deny they pose a threat to

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the populace of with county gordon says

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he asked how they knew there was no

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threat and was told i can't tell you but

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there is no threat to you well it seems

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the ufos may not have posed a threat to

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the general populace of with county it

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seems someone posed a threat to gordon

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specifically gordon reported that on

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march 18 1988 as he was preparing to

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leave for a broadcaster's conference

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where he would be speaking about the

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with county ufos he received a phone

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call from a retired military

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intelligence officer the man told him

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that he should tape the conversation

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they were about to have so that if

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anything were to happen to him there'd

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be proof he'd been warned

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on a tape provided by gordon a man is

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heard telling gordon that because of his

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own investigations into ufos they had

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given his son leukemia which proved to

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be fatal the man said that he had

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information that the government was not

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happy with gordon's investigation and

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that they might use skin contact

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chemicals to cause harm to him or his

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family in spite of the warning gordon

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went and spoke at the conference he says

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that although there had been an outbreak

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of hepatitis while it was there he came

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back without contracting it he asserts

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that had he contracted it he and others

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would have believed that he had been

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gotten to

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gordon reported that less than two

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months later two men showed up at his

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door they gave their names said they

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were from the richmond gazette and said

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they wanted to ask him questions about

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the with county ufo sightings gordon let

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them in and one man asked questions

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while the other walked around and took

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pictures they stayed for about 45

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minutes and as they left they said

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they'd send gordon a copy of the article

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gordon never received anything from the

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paper and when he called to inquire he

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was told that the men never worked for

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the paper weeks later as gordon was

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organizing his photos he found that the

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negatives from the mall photos were

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missing he and some friends examined the

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developed photos and could not determine

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why anyone would have wanted to steal

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those particular negatives two months

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later gordon collapsed and was taken to

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the hospital where he was diagnosed with

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severe exhaustion he was advised to

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cease his ufo investigation and he

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followed that advice according to him he

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wouldn't report his sighting if he was

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given another chance his segment ends

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with him saying don't look up because

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once you look up and you tell somebody

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what you saw your life has changed

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forever because gordon's story involved

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threatening phone calls and mysterious

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visitors it's now included in

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collections of men in black tales what's

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been neglected is that his ufo story is

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just one of many that came out of with

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county at that time for those interested

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in exploring further links have been

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included in the written version of this