-
- UFO writer Whitley
Strieber challenged both the scientific
community and news media Monday
to focus more attention on what he described
as the
"ever-increasing" evidence of encounters with extra-terrestrial
beings.
-
- Backed by recent video footage of apparent sightings,
Strieber,
a native San Antonian, made his plea before more than 300 people
at a
Mind Science Foundation-sponsored lecture at McAllister Auditorium.
-
- "We are
depriving ourselves (of) an incredible amount
of resource that is out
there," Strieber warned. "There is a
filter (of skeptical
scientists and media workers) that is preventing us
from learning
more."
-
- During the lecture, Strieber acknowledged alien encounters
are
as common as they were centuries ago. However, because of vastly improved
technology " particularly in video cameras " UFO sightings have
received more attention than ever before, eliciting more interest and
scrutiny
in the process.
-
- Strieber showed videotape footage from three separate
incidents of purported visits from out of this world.
-
- The videos included UFO
sightings that appeared at the
same place in California three years in
a row each Nov. 22. That footage
showed a round, bright object that
seemed to self-destruct after a brief
appearance.
-
- Strieber said he believes the
annual sighting actually
is a "theatrical" performance
conducted by intelligent life from
space seeking human
attention.
-
- "They are goading us to interact with them in whichever
form we can," Strieber explained.
-
- Another video tracked a smaller
object, also round and
bright, as it made its way around a Sao Paulo,
Brazil, neighborhood. A
7-year-old boy shot the footage, which
reportedly later was authenticated
by Brazilian authorities.
-
- Perhaps the most
intriguing image of the night was taken
aboard a 1996 NASA space
shuttle mission.
-
- On the video it appears as if astronauts focused their
attention on circular objects hovering above the Earth's atmosphere. The
camera zooms in on these unexplained objects, including a number that
zigzagged
in and out of focus immediately above Brazil.
-
- Some audience members
gasped or shook their heads incredulously
during the video. Strieber
seemed appalled that NASA officials have refused
comment on the video
allegedly smuggled out of the agency's Jet Propulsion
Lab.
-
- A controversial giant
within the UFO community, Strieber
claimed in his breakthrough book
"Communion" that aliens had
been abducting him regularly
since 1985.
-
- His first-person account of being studied, probed and
mind-scanned inside alien "clean rooms" brought hundreds of
other
"abductees" out of the closet when it became a best
seller in
1987.
-
- More notably, Strieber's accounts " whether true
or not " have been widely recognized as boosting the acceptance and
discussion of UFOs into mainstream America's psyche.
-
- On Monday, Strieber spoke very
little of his own experiences
" for a man who has gained so much
attention for personal interaction
with aliens.
-
- His only personal insight came
late in the evening as
he discussed an apparent implant found behind
his left ear.
-
- Strieber said doctors tried once to remove the object,
but it
moved suddenly when a scalpel touched it. The surgical procedure
was
featured during a NBC special broadcast earlier this year.
-
- Strieber said the
implant still is lodged in his ear.
|
