Dr. James E. McDonald: The Man, The Mystery

Dr. James Edward McDonald was an American physicist and historic ufologist. He independently researched UFOs during the 1950s and 60s until he passed in 1971 at the young age of 51. McDonald's interest in UFOs began after he spotted one in 1954. He and two meteorologists were driving through the Arizona dessert when they saw an unidentified flying object in the distance.

Now, if one PhD. physicist and two meteorologist can't find an explanation for a glowing object in the sky, than that's for sure a UFO. - Ok, now back to the information:

McDonald argued that the UFO phenomenon was a very real thing and that science was missing a big chunk of opportunity in not giving it further scientific investigation. He felt that a UFO, even if not of extraterrestrial origin, is still a UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and should be scientifically investigated as much as anything else. Discovering how UFO and UAP cases were being treated by scientists and the government was disturbing to McDonald. These important cases were being filtered to where only the ones that had explanations were being released publicly, while the other non explainable cases were kept completely secret.

For example, if a UFO report could be attached to a plane, weather balloon or will-o'-the-whisp sighting, then the story would be released as ,"UFO was actually this..."
If a UFO report could not be solved with a common explanation. It was kept secret if possible and not revealed to the public at any time.

This seems to be what Project Blue Book was in charge of. Project Blue Book was created by the US government in 1952 to scientifically study UFOs, but it seems like they did more covering up and PR control than anything else. According to McDonald, astronomer J. Allen Hynek, was the only scientist at the time studying UFOs for the US government. Hynek revealed that Project Blue Book was withholding all of the significant and outstanding UFO reports. If Hynek were to publicly reveal any of the reports himself, he would of been terminated from his position as consultant for Blue Book. 

Maybe some people thought McDonald was uncovering too much, because he was scrutinized at times for his pursue of information regarding UFOs and his goal to bring them to proper scientific studies. He uncovered a lot of truth that was being heavily concealed regarding the matter. In one public interview during the 60's , he states that the CIA made a law that if anyone in the Air Force releases top secret UFO information they could face a fine up to $10,000 or be placed in jail for 10 years.

At the time, because there were so many UFO cases and reports being witnessed widely by the public, congress put together the Condon Committee. A committee developed in 1966 based at the University of Colorado at Boulder and was named after the Committee Chairman, physicist   Dr. Edward Condon. The members were suppose to make thorough investigations into the UFO phenomenon. However, the Committee and it's chairman became questionable of it's true motives when Condon began making public comments to reporters with a dismissive attitude towards the subject matter.

What I find strange is that even though McDonald was very qualified to be on the committee, they denied him membership. 

The Condon Committee soon closed not short after a controversy regarding a document that McDonald got a hold of. He publicly released it's information stating that the Condon Committee was informed to downplay UFO reports. It's last public statement in 1969 was given by Dr. Condon himself informing the public that UFOs were nothing exceptional and could be explained by either hoaxes or natural phenomenon. Further scientific research was not worth it and should be discouraged.

Can you believe that?! The Condon Committee sounds a lot like the Citizen Hearing On Disclosure. It seems to have good intentions, but doesn't really get too far or find any sustainable answers. Although, it does give a public platform for people to tell their stories and experiences. 

McDonald continued his fight in bringing attention to scientific study of UFOs and UAPs. He delivered his lecture "Science in Default" in 1969 at The American Association for the Advancement of Science.  

Here is where McDonald's story takes a shocking turn for me. After reading up on all this information I discovered just two years after he gave that lecture, he killed himself! Apparently he died on his SECOND attempt to kill himself! His first attempt was not successful and he ended up blinding himself in one eye and was admitted to a psychiatric ward in Arizona. He started to gain vision again in his eye and was soon released from the psychiatric ward with plans to go back to teaching. But a few months later his body was found near a creek in Tucson next to a revolver gun and a suicide note. This makes such a strange conclusion to his biography. After being basically a pioneer in scientific UFO research he abruptly ends his own life. I don't know what the suicide note said, but why did he do it? It makes you wonder...is there a conspiracy with his death? Was he revealing too much information about UFOs to the public and someone didn't like it? Or did studying UFOs and the information he found out make him loose his mind? I will never know, but in his short lived life, he stood up for the truth and uncovered so much valuable information as to what exactly was or is still being hidden from the public.

Contact In The Desert

Beginning August ninth through the eleventh, Contact In The Dessert is a three day weekend of exploration into ancient aliens, human origins, UFO and extraterritorial sightings. This event will be held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in Joshua Tree, California. Steven Greer and Travis Walton are among the list of speakers.

As much as I would love to attend Contact In The Dessert and report it all back to you, tickets start at $200.00 a person! Yikes. I know it cost money to put on an event and to pay all the speakers that take time to travel and come speak, but $200 a person is out of my budget for UFO researching. I do all of my research voluntarily and for the desire of learning what has yet to be discovered.

However, I did enter the ticket sweepstakes on Facebook and hope I win! If you are interested in trying your luck, click HERE to enter. Or visit contactinthedesert.net to order your early bird tickets. Leave a comment if you are going!

Alien Artwork: The Greys by Vladimir Stankovic

Vladimir Stankovic is a talented graphic designer and illustrator from Serbia, currently based in Rovaniemi, Finland. He has created these amazing pieces of art titled, The Greys. I found them to be so amazing that I asked Vladimir if I could post a few of his pieces to Saucer Time! To which he kindly gave me permission. The UFO and extraterrestrial subject matter is one that has fascinated Vladimir since he was a kid. Visit his website here to learn more about the artist and his work. Enjoy!

Daft Punk: New Album, Random Access Memories, References UFOs

Electronic-disco-pop duo, Daft Punk, is releasing their fourth album May seventeenth. While I was streaming a preview of Random Access Memories,  I was surprised and excited to hear the last track on the album. The name of the song is Contact and it begins with an audio recording of astronaut Eugene Cernan speaking about a UFO he is seeing during the Apollo 17 mission.

"Hey Bob I'm looking at what Jack was talking about and it's definitely not a particle that's nearby. It is a bright object and it's obviously rotating because it's flashing. iIt's way out there in the distance. Certainly rotating in a very rhythmic fashion because the flashes come around almost on time. As we look back at the earth it's up at about eleven o'clock, about maybe ten or twelve diameters. I don't know whether that does you any good, but there's something out there."

Deathbed Confession From CIA Official: Roswell Alien Was Alive!

A former member of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has broken his silence on UFO's and extraterrestrials. His decision to do so was provoked by his age and declining health. He explains in the video below that his kidney's are failing and if his next treatment does not help him, then he only has a few months to live.

In the video below, the 77-year-old speaks of what he saw during his visit to Area 51 and of a Roswell alien that was still alive during 1958! 

The remarkable testimony was broadcast May 3, on the last day of the week long  Citizen Hearing on Disclosure 2013. 

UFO and Alien Hoaxes: Tips on How to Debunk a Hoax

One thing that does not help in the research of UFOs and extraterrestrials is hoaxes.  They cloud serious research with time being wasted on debunking them and in the end crush our hopes.

I suppose the only good thing that a hoax can do is provide it's audience with some form of entertainment.

For example, the famous Alien Autopsy. Yep, sorry to break the news, but it wasn't real. As much as I wish it would have been, the man that released the film, Ray Santilli, finally admitted it was a hoax in 2006. That's about ten years after it's release to television networks in the 1990's where it played in 32 countries.

It's a pretty good film. I've seen it before. I always watch it imagining it to be real and then it grosses me out, but then I wonder; "If Santilli would have never come forward admitting the film to be fake, would people still be thinking it's real?"

Further information revealed that Santilli was in procession of some modern quality photographs taken during the filming of the autopsy. He never handed them over to film experts because the photograph's clear quality revealed that the alien's body was made out of latex. So, maybe eventually the film would of been debunked had Santilli never said anything or maybe he was in danger of people from behind the scenes coming forward and admitting it to be fake. Watch the autopsy below and pretend it came to you with no explanation. Would you think it was real? Or can you spot mistakes in accuracy?

As I was searching for the Alien Autopsy footage to embed in to this post, I noticed that every version that had been uploaded to YouTube does not mention that it's fake or a re-enactment. Could there be people out there that still don't know? This is the kind of stuff that needs to be straightened out in order for people to get serious about researching UFOs and extraterrestrials.

Here is a list of tips that might help in debunking a hoax before the hoax gets out of hand.

• What or who is the source of the content?-  (example) Did it come from NASA or USAF? If so, then it might have a good deal of credibility. Did it come from someone with some strange sic-fi sounding screen name? If so, then there is a good chance it's probably fake...

• What is the back story or does it even have a story?- Usually a true story is very simple and straight forward. Not too much information or detail and not too less. Most of the time hoaxes have really elaborate backstories to go with their content because they are trying to sell it to the audience as being "real". Other times a hoax will have no explanation, no backstory which also could be a red flag. Someone doesn't want to say too much to ruin the illusion. 

• Is it accurate- This might be kind of a tricky thing to figure out. Sometimes debunkers have to consult video or photograph experts or experts in the respective medical and science fields, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to use your common sense. If something looks like a car's hubcap flying through the air, it probably is. 

• Research! The most important key to knowing the truth. Go ahead and google an unexplained photograph, video or story and add "debunked" on the end of your search. There is probably a whole forum of people who have already researched the content and found the truth. 

Don't be embarrassed if you find out something you thought was real turns out to be fake. It happens to us all. Also, don't be embarrassed if something you thought was fake, turns out to be REAL!

For fun, I have gathered together my favorite hoaxes because of their craftsmanship. I even added my own fake UFO photography to the mix. Although, the first time I published my fake UFO photographs, I made sure to let people know that they were fake. Enjoy:

Billy Meier photograph from 1975. His photos have 

never been officially debunked. However, I know it is

possible to create a fake UFO picture without using  

photoshop. I created the ones below with this technique.

My fake UFO photographs.