UFO UpDates Mailing List
From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 06:21:25 -0400
Fwd Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 06:21:25 -0400
Subject: The Carp Case - A Review (Part 3/6)
Part 3.
Originally published in
The MUFON Ontario Newsletter
Volume 1.3 - July 1994
The Carp Case - The MUFON Ontario Version
by Tom Theofanous & Errol Bruce-Knapp
The Carp Review - Part Three
On February 4, 1993 Graham and Oechsler went to the Labanek's
where Leanne Cuzak interviewed Bob Oechsler and Diane Labanek for
CJOH-TV, Ottawa.
During this interview Labanek claimed that "a lot of others had
seen the event that had transpired in my field". She didn't,
however, seem to recall any names and in talking to many
residents in the Manion Corners area, MUFON Ontario has not been
able to find any other witnesses to the 'UFO Landing'.
During the CJOH-TV interview that day Oechsler also claimed that
he too had received a large number of calls from 'witnesses'.
Graham wasn't aware of any calls to the Labanek's or anywhere
else other than a few to Oechsler's hotel.
Later that day, Graham Lightfoot and Oechsler met with a couple
of high school girls in Almonte, a short drive from the
Labanek's. They had called the Unsolved Mysteries Hotline, which
again Graham wasn't aware of, to report that they knew who
Guardian was. The name they gave wasn't Charlebois'. Oechsler
told them who Guardian was. Oechsler, despite vowing not to, was
blowing Guardian's cover'.
On February 24, 1993, Labanek told Graham and Oechsler about a
sighting that her mother had the previous week. Her mother had
seen a 'craft' hovering "not fifty feet from the house" but was
too scared at the time to call out to anybody.
Later Labanek claimed that her husband saw a 'craft' around the
same spot as the August '91 sighting. There were no explanations
as to when or if there were any traces of this second 'landing'.
Apparently, neither of these 'incidents' were of interest to
Oechsler and he has only mentioned them very briefly since and
only in passing!
If these two events were 'real' why wouldn't he have investigated
them too, instead of making such a fuss about the 'evidence' that
he'd found nine months after the August '91 'landing'? Labanek's
mother's and husband's 'experiences' would have surely produced
more witnesses and ground effects?!
Labanek has constantly complained about being harassed by
'low-flying' helicopters that blew shingles off her roof. When
close neighbours were questioned by MufoN Ontario investigators
about any low-flying choppers they might have observed, they only
mentioned the regular Air Ambulance flights that passed overhead
and the occasional military or Mountie aircraft. Not one
mentioned choppers flying at unusually low altitudes - below the
regulation five-hundred feet.
At the time of describing her mother's 'sighting' to Graham and
Oechsler, Labanek told of a white helicopter that passed over the
house the following day. Subsequent investigation showed that it
was a NATO aircraft on a training-exercise and that it too would
not have been flying below the standard five-hundred foot level.
Due to the proximity of the Labanek's neighbours it would be
impossible for a helicopter to fly low enough to blow the
shingles off one house and not be noticed by the residents of
neighbouring houses.
Labanek had told Graham that she knew nothing about UFOs, nor did
she care about them or talk about them with anyone. And yet, when
the Unsolved Mysteries show was being taped at her home, one of
the 'grips' on the crew setting up a scene (in which Guardian was
mailing a video) in Labanek's basement recreation room, found
"cupboards containing many UFO books".
On February 28, 1993 Graham wrote the following to Bob Kiviat,
producer of the Unexplained Mysteries segment on 'Guardian'.
Bob Kiviat, Producer
Cosgrove/ Meurer Productions
etc.
Dear Bob,
No doubt you've heard from Oechsler that there has been
another sighting at Labanek's... on Feb 17th '93. It
was Diane's mother who saw the event at 11:10 pm, very
close to the house. She was so frightened that she
didn't call to Diane and no one else saw it. She said
the craft was right over the garden which means it was
within 50 feet of the house. It hovered there for a
short while and moved south over the swamp, in the
direction that the 1989 'crash' light was seen. It came
back beside the house and then moved off out of sight
over the swamp. She described it as having a flashing
light on top and lots of light all around it. She
pulled the curtains from the window, but didn't wake
anyone else in the house. The next day a white
helicopter arrived and flew over the same course.
Oechsler may or may not have told you he is working with
the RCMP in trying to get Guardian's (Bobby Charlesbois)
fingerprints. He tells me he is trying to get the RCMP
to charge Bobby with a minor charge of forging DND
documents to scare him into an admission. This is
contrary to Oechsler's stated intent to Bobby, of not
disclosing Bobby's identity if he wished to remain
anonymous.
I am trusting you to keep my comments to you in
confidence from Oechsler as I will no doubt be working
with him again on this case. I have no problem working
with him at arms length, but his methods and rather
chaotic behavior bothers me. He has told me that he
wants to set up a 24-hours a day, two week watch at the
the Labanek's since he feels the sightings will re-occur
in the near future. He has no funding for this
operation and told me he will seek help from your
company in this regard.
This may all be a good idea, but my feeling is that
these things will run their course, with or without
24-hour surveillance. In fact I'd hazard a guess that
the event is less likely to occur with surveillance.
I've heard through the grapevine that the 'expert' on
the Sightings show claims he doesn't know who Oechsler
is, never met him. It seems Sightings showed the tape
to this 'expert' and he said he didn't know what it was.
Also MUFON is distancing itself from Oechsler after
their credibility suffered with the Gulf Breeze story.
It seems Oechsler wants to speak at their annual meeting
and they don't want him there.
Oechsler has a lot of background information and he
certainly has a lot of contacts that are invaluable in
doing research of this nature. He is persistent in
looking for evidence, yet at the same time he often
tries to build a case to fit his preconceived story
line.
This bothers me.
We have talked about his ego and wanting credit for
everything he learns. That's OK by me. In the Labanek
case he used a lot of material that I got for him. The
show implied that he found Labanek's place from the
Guardian map. He could have spent weeks looking for the
location on his own.
But what bothers me the most is his tunnel vision, that
only he can find the answers.
- Graham Lightfoot
On March 4, '93, Oechsler phoned Graham to boast that he had
asked the RCMP to apply pressure the Guardian suspect, Bobby
Charlebois, by charging him with forging Department of National
Defence documents.
In actual fact, the only way the RCMP would have paid any
attention would have been if a formal complaint was filed by a
Canadian Citizen.
What Oechsler didn't tell Graham was that a complaint was lodged
by the Labaneks who told the RCMP that they were being 'harassed'
by helicopters flying over their property, below the 500 feet
minimum set by the Federal Government.
March 8, brought a call from Labanek to Graham. She complained
about being 'harassed' by the RCMP. She said that they tried to
get her to sign a 'confession' ( her word ) that craft she saw
landing in her field on the night of August 18, 1991 was a
helicopter! She also claimed that Bobby 'Guardian' Charlebois
was also being 'harassed' by the Mounties and had hired a lawyer.
Graham, at the time, was convinced that Labanek was telling the
truth and felt that something should be done about her
complaints. He called Charlie Greenwell at CJOH-TV in Ottawa and
suggested that perhaps the station could cover the story on their
local news. A report aired three days later on the 6 O'clock
News.
CJOH-TV's news item infuriated Oechsler. On March 29, he blasted
Graham for giving the story to a TV station. This puzzled Graham
- why would Oechsler take exception to him helping Labanek expose
RCMP harassment?
What Graham didn't know was that the complaint to the Mounties
was lodged by the Labaneks, apparently at the urging of Oechsler,
to increase the credibility of the Carp Case.
A censored copy of the RCMP report on the case, obtained by
Christian Page of The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Quebec, told
a different story.
The Labanek's complaint was actually filed with the RCMP on
February 10, 1993! The purpose of the investigation was to:
[Quote from RCMP Report ]
1. ascertain if sufficient evidence was available to
support a prosecution under the Aeronautics Act,
Section 534 (2) (b) for flying below 500 feet
2. ascertain if in fact the object observed was an
aircraft
3. ascertain if the craft observed (by complainant) is a
UFO (as per complainant).
[End Quote]
The investigation by RCMP Constable De Haitre, started on
February 15, 1993 with interviews of the Labanek's neighbours.
De Haitre found that signs bearing the words 'Defence Canada',
'Killing Fields', and a 'Test Area' sign with a hand-painted tank
and 'Air-Wolf' helicopter on it had been seen in a field that
later proved to be owned by the Labanek's. Const. De Haitre
observed in his report that the lettering-style on the signs was
similar to those in the Guardian documents.
Constable De Haitre was told by one of the Labaneks neighbours
that another sign had the word 'Nuclear' mis-spelled as
'Nucleear'.
Oechsler then directed his energies toward De Haitre and Canadian
Airforce Major Patterson - which created more confusion.
Oechsler told Constable De Haitre about finding Titanium at the
'landing site' in the Labanek's field and showed him some of the
photographs that he had taken. He also told De Haitre that there
were no traces of Strontium, which there would have been had the
flares at the 'site' been of the military 'high-heat', type.
Later, in the February/March issue of UFO Library Magazine,
Oechsler wrote that he "had the smoking-gun in the pyrotechnical
mystery". He now claimed that there was evidence of Lithium
Carbonate which is not used in military flares, but rather in
"expensive fireworks displays" (or perhaps in roadside emergency
flares?). Fireworks that, of course, can be purchased at any 7-11
Store.
Isn't it strange that he would wait a whole year to tell the
world the results of his 'tests'?
Oechsler had results of a test that refuted his completely
baseless theory about military flares being used at the Carp
'landing site' and didn't publish them for over a year?
And what did he do during that time? He travelled the lecture
circuit making money telling people that the flares were
definitely military in origin because of the strontium residue
that he didn't find at the 'landing site'!
Oechsler tried to cement his relationship with the RCMP. He told
Constable De Haitre about his 'witnesses' and his 'analysis' of
the Guardian video and suggested that Bobby 'Guardian' Charlebois
be charged under the 'Fraudulent Cheque Act' for distributing
forged Government documents (the 'Canadian Department of National
Defence' documents). De Haitre concluded that no charges could be
laid.
De Haitre investigated Oechsler's claims about Titanium and
Strontium flare-residue and included the results about the
circumstances under which they could and could not be found and
where, in the final RCMP report on the case.
Several conversations and correspondence occurred between
Oechsler and Constable De Haitre, all of which the Mountie,
naturally, recorded in his notes on the case.
MUFON Ontario has recently acquired a 150 page package of De
Haitre's notes and correspondence from Oechsler to the RCMP. This
package will be published shortly, as an appendix, in The MUFON
Ontario Report on The Guardian Case.
End of Part 3.
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