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foreign

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[Music]

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a UFO landing at Edwards Air Force Base

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by Charles Lear Gordon Cooper youngest

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of the original Mercury astronauts often

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spoke publicly about his UFO sightings

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and beliefs he appeared in documentaries

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such as James Fox's 2003 film out of the

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blue and famously wrote a letter dated

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November 9 1978 to ambassador of Granada

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to the United States George Ashley

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Griffith calling for the scientific

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collection of analysis and data from UFO

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Encounters in order to determine how

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best to interface with these visitors in

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a friendly fashion and out of the blue

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he is heard telling a story about a

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flying saucer with three retractable

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legs that was filmed Landing in 1957 at

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Edwards Air Force Base he didn't claim

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to have witnessed The Landing himself

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but did say he saw the footage there was

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an incident involving the filming of a

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UFO at Edwards that year and there's a

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Project Blue Book file on the case James

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McDonald found the witnesses and

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interviewed them in the late 1960s and

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wrote a report Cooper's name is not

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mentioned by McDonald and the incident

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as described by McDonald and in the Blue

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Book file didn't involve a landing Brad

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Sparks and Jan Aldrich both heavily

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involved in UFO research for many years

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had an email exchange discussing this

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and a record of it can be found at

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nycap.org there is an excerpt available

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online from Timothy Green beckley's 1981

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book mj-12 in the riddle of Hangar 18.

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Beckley describes Cooper's 1978

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appearance on the Merv Griffin show

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during which Griffin asked Cooper if a

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story about a spaceship Landing in

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Middle America with occupants that the

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US government was able to keep alive was

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credible and Cooper replied I think it's

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fairly credible I would like to see the

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time when all qualified people could

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really work together to properly

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investigate these stories and neither

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refute or disprove them according to

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Beckley Lee Spiegel called Cooper's

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office the next morning and managed to

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get through to him Cooper talked to

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Spiegel who was confirmed for us that he

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has this on tape and told him that in

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1957 or 1958 he had sent some

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photographers to an area around the dry

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lake beds at Edwards Cooper said that

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while the crew was there they saw a

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strange craft and started getting

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footage of it Beckley quotes Cooper

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saying the object was hovering above the

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ground and it then slowly came down and

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sat on the lake bed for a few minutes

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Cooper described it as a typical

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circular-shaped UFO he said he looked at

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the film repeatedly and then sent it to

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Washington and never heard anything

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about it this is likely to have been the

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first time Cooper told this story on the

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record Spiegel organized a presentation

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on UFOs in 1978 at the United Nations on

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behalf of prime minister bernanas or

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Eric Gary and his relationship with

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Cooper had developed to the point where

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Cooper was willing to write the

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aforementioned letter to Griffith a

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Project Blue Book file describes a

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similar if not the same incident that

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occurred on May 2nd 1957 at Edwards the

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report starts off with the information

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that the incident had received

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Nationwide publicity a story about it

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appeared in the May 9 1957 Los Angeles

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Times because it involved a UFO being

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seen and officially photographed over

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the so-called United States Secret

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testing grounds according to the report

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the object was seen by the camera Crews

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who took photos as it moved some

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distance away and described it as disc

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shaped a series of 32 photos were

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studied and the object was seen to

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change from round to Elliptical as the

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morning sun rays hit its surface its

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movements were determined to match up

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with a wind plot for that time and it

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was concluded that the object was a

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balloon the cases described as having

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been improperly handled because the

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Press got the story before Blue Book was

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informed with the Edwards Air Force Base

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public information officer stating that

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the object was unknown Dr James McDonald

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an atmospheric physicist who was one of

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the first scientists to speak publicly

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about UFOs managed to locate the

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photographers and their supervisor and

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interview them according to Sparks in

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his email exchange with Aldridge

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McDonald was speaking in Northern

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California and met Frank E Baker who was

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the supervisor of James D bittick and

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John R Gettys McDonald wrote a report

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that was submitted as part of his

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written testimony to the house committee

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on science and astronautics for the July

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29 1968 Symposium an unidentified flying

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objects it is identified as case 41 and

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the date is mistakenly listed as May 3rd

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1957. according to McDonald bitiken

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Gettys got to an area on the Edwards

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test range known as the escania number

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four site just before 8 A.M where they

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saw a disc shaped object with a dome

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about 500 yards away they described it

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as having a golden color and holes or

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panels around its Dome that bittick

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remembered as being Square both said

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that as it moved it seemed to Glow with

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its own luminosity and had a hazy and

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indistinct halo around its Rim the men

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took photos Gettys remembered it was

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about 30 and lost sight of the object

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when it was about five miles away they

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drove back to the base and processed the

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film and they along with Baker agreed

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that the shot showed a sharp image

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except for the hazy rim and that the

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portal slash panels could be seen

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according to McDonald the film was taken

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by base military authorities and never

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seen Again by The Three Men bittick and

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Carson McDonald likely wrote Carson

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instead of Gettys were later informed

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that they had seen a weather balloon

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according to McDonald they didn't agree

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with the conclusion because they saw

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weather balloons being released

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frequently there and knew what balloons

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looked like in Sparks and aldrich's

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email exchange they speculate as to why

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Cooper might have inserted himself into

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the story Aldrich thought there might

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have been two cases but Sparks disagreed

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Sparks offers two possibilities for

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Cooper's Story one storytelling

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mentality of exaggerating roles and

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details where no one can predict in

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advance how much alteration the story

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will get this is the most likely

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explanation Cooper probably did see the

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film and got a garbled story second or

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third or emphanded and exaggerated it

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even more in his mind in the retelling

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to Juice It Up 2. Cooper's exaggeration

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of a real case falsely turning it into a

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filmed Landing with landing gear

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retracting on takeoff is very similar to

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the pattern of Air Force office of

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special investigations Fabrications of

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other real UFO cases with false Landings

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and Aliens using Air Force officers

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usually at about the rank of Colonel and

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designed to discredit the case

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bentwater's 1980s the classic Cooper was

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an Air Force officer and I think retired

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at the rank of full Colonel Cooper first

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came out with his phony story about 1978

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exactly when afosi began a new wave of

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fabricated UFO stories in an effort to

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head off what was feared to be another

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massive UFO flap triggered by the

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Blockbuster ce3 movie so what have we

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learned one people sometimes exaggerate

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and make things up 2. Air Force Colonels

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telling UFO stories around 1978 are not

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to be trusted Charles Lear is the author

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of The Flying Saucer investigators

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thank you