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foreign

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The National Enquirer UFO Blue Ribbon

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panel by Charles Lear many readers may

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not be aware that at one point in time

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the National Enquirer was associated

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with serious UFO Research In Spite of

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its reputation as a sensationalistic

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supermarket tabloid in 1972 The Enquirer

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put together what they called The

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National Enquirer Blue Ribbon UFO panel

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which was made up of five UFO

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researchers all of whom held phds The

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Inquirer was offering a fifty thousand

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dollar reward for proof by the end of

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the year that UFOs came from space and

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were not a natural phenomenon the panel

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was tasked with evaluating UFO cases to

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determine if any of them provided such

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proof the panel members included four

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consultants for the aerial phenomena

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research organization and Dr J Allen

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heineck a scientific consultant for the

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Air Force's UFO investigation for most

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of its existence all of them had good

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reputations within the UFO community and

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the reader May wonder why they would put

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those at risk by being associated with

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the inquire in such an Endeavor it's

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likely that the prospect of getting some

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of their research funded by The Enquirer

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may have helped them to put aside any

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aversions in the assignment in 1975 of

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Bob Pratt to The Inquirer UFO desk who

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became respected as an investigator in

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his own right may have encouraged them

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to continue their Association the

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January 1972 issue of the Opera bulletin

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has a front page article headlined

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Inquirer offers fifty thousand dollar

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reward according to the article William

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dick in the March 12th issue of The

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Enquirer announced that they were

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offering fifty thousand dollars to

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anyone who could offer proof that an

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unidentified flying object came from

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outer space and is not a natural

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phenomenon Dick had attended the APO

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Symposium at the University of Arizona

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and had talked extensively with Mr

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Lorenzen and the Consultants who

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participated in the Symposium this

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resulted in apro acting as a Consulting

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organization in this project and read

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ready to deploy field investigators if

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need be for apro Consultants were chosen

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to do the final judging the people

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making up the panel along with heinek

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were apro Consultants Dr Robert Cregan

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Dr James a harder Dr Frank B Salisbury

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and Dr R Leo sprinkle members and

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subscribers were encouraged to send in

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any good leads the March April 1972

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issue of the bulletin has an article on

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page six headlined Enquirer reward panel

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with a picture showing all of the panel

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members sitting at a table it is

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reported that the panel had recently met

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in Palm Beach Florida The Enquirer had

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offices in Lantana Florida to review the

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first group of applications for the

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fifty thousand dollar UFO proof award at

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this meeting the panel recommended an

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additional five thousand dollar reward

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for the best evidence short of

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conclusive proof and this was agreed to

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at The Enquirer the year went by in the

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fifty thousand dollars was left

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unclaimed before the year was out

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however a collaboration between apro and

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the national investigations committee on

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aerial phenomena was announced on page 5

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of the November December bulletin while

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nycap was under the direction of Donald

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Kehoe relations between the two groups

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were not very friendly with nycap now

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under the direction of Stuart Nixon the

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possibility of a Cooperative

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relationship had previously been

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discussed at a meeting in May of that

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year as was announced on the front page

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of the June 1972 issue of nycap's UFO

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investigator in an article headlined

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nycap and apro take major step toward

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improved relations in the midst of their

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improved relationship inquired General

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editor Brian Wells was able to get both

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groups to agree to work together in

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screening cases for The Enquirer John

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Acuff was the head of nycap at that time

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as UFO proof continued to be elusive The

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Inquirer announced in the June 3rd 1975

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issue that the award was being increased

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to one hundred thousand dollars then in

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the June 13 1976 issue it was announced

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that the award was being increased to

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one million dollars it was also

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announced that there was a judicial

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review board that would make the final

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decision regarding the payout this was

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made up of two people Tom C Clarke and

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Associate Justice on the U.S Supreme

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Court from 1949 to 1967 and U.S attorney

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general from 1945 to 1949 in Francis

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Bergen associate judge for the New York

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Court of Appeals from 1963 to 1972. the

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big money was never paid out but on

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several occasions the award for best

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evidence was notable cases include 1973

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the Delphos ring incident 1974 the coin

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incident 1975 the San Antonio

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International Airport sighting 1976 the

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Travis Walton case 1977 the Tehran UFO

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incident 1978 the Memphis triangle 1980

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the Val Johnson case the inquirer's

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involvement in the Walton case got Messi

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and did some damage to the credibility

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of apro in brief on November 5th 1975

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Travis Walton was working in the Apache

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sick Reeves National Forest near

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Snowflake Arizona on a U.S forest

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Service contract with the contract

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holder Mike Rogers and five other

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workers they were in a truck headed for

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home after work when they reportedly

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Came Upon a UFO Walton's co-workers

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claimed that he got out of the moving

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truck ran towards the UFO and was

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knocked back by a beam of light his

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co-workers fled thought better of it and

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Upon returning saw no sign of him or the

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UFO Walton was missing until shortly

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after midnight on November 11th he

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telephoned his sister from a phone booth

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and was picked up by his brother about

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30 minutes later what made this case

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significant was that Travis and his

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brother both passed polygraph tests

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arranged by apro on February 7 1976 and

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five out of six of Travis co-workers

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past polygraph tests on November 10 1975

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conducted at the Navajo County Sheriff's

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Office while they were under suspicion

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of murdering Walton Arch skeptic Philip

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class looked into the case and found out

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that abroad arranged for a polygraph

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test for Travis on November 15 1975 that

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was paid for by The Inquirer according

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to class Travis failed the test and it

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was covered up by both apro and The

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Inquirer class gave this information

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along with evidence to support it to

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nycap nycap reports on classes findings

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in a lengthy front page article

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headlined Walton abduction cover-up

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revealed in the June 1976 investigator

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according to the article class had

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physical proof which has been checked by

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nycap in the form of one the polygraph

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examination statement of consent dated

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November 15 1975 and signed by Travis

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Walton two the examiner's report to the

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National enquiry dated November 16 1975

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which includes its conclusion that the

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UFO account was a hoax three the voucher

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receipt from The National Enquirer

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payable to the examiner's Arizona

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polygraph laboratory dated January 14

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1976 for the agreement to conduct the

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test and Supply a report to the National

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Enquirer according to the article The

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Examiner was instructed by The Inquirer

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to keep quiet about the test it has

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added that apro failed to mention the

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test in the accountableton's case that

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was published in the November 1975

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bulletin the Blue Ribbon panel continued

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throughout the 70s and came to include

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members of the mutual UFO Network a

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group that had split off from April

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amidst a good deal of animosity after

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the panel faded away in the 1980s its

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place in UFO history seems to have also

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according to Isaac Coy who wrote an

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extensive blog on the panel the panel is

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rarely mentioned in modern discussions

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of ufology he offers 2 two reasons most

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ufologists are either one unaware of the

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work done by the National enquirer's

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Blue Ribbon pal including the

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considerable collaborative work by apro

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nycap mufon and several leading

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ufologists or two would prefer not to

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mention the National Enquirer due to its

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image this blog was inspired by Kirk

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Cullen September 2019 treatment of the

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subject posted on the saucers That Time

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Forgot Charles Lear is the author of The

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Flying Saucer investigators available at

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foreign