LA-CSETI Files 1992 -II:
The Team is Organized, LA Fieldwork Begins.
At five
in the afternoon on August 29, 1992, with a feeling of excited anticipation the
CSETI workshop participants prepared for the nightÕs fieldwork. Over 40 of us,
mostly from Southern California, had spent the entire day at the Warner Center
Hilton, learning the contact protocols under CSETI director Dr. Steven Greer.
In 1990 he had founded the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial
Intelligence. At the time of our
workshop he had already facilitated a number of Close Encounters of the Fifth
Kind, that being the term he coined for human initiated contact with
Extraterrestrial Intelligence. His extraordinary tract record as organizer of
these multiply witnessed human empowered events, gave us reason to hope we too
might have a major sighting during that nightÕs demonstration of CSETI contact
procedures.
During
the public meeting held the night before, with almost 200 people in attendance,
I had again viewed the remarkable videotapes of the March 15, 1992 CSETI Gulf
Breeze encounter. Although I had seen those tapes previously, they still were
impressive. They showed how on the North Florida coast, after a CSETI workshop
just like the one we were attending, something quite remarkable had taken
place. The video footage documented the appearance of no less than 4 typical
Gulf Breeze UFOs at Dr. GreerÕs research site on Navarre Beach. These home
videos of this CSETI encounter dramatically portray how the craft had
interacted with over 40 prospective researchers who had assembled on the beach.
These objects were definitely not candles on hot air balloons; the event had
transpired while forty mile per hour winds were reportedly blowing in from the
Gulf of Mexico.
Just 4
months later in July 1992 ,while doing research in the Crop Circle region of
England, GreerÕs methods had met with even greater success. With three other
witnesses present, he had Ōvectored inĶ a 100 foot across flying saucer. The
event took place close to midnight during stormy weather. The craft while
hovering just 10 feet above the ground at the end of a wheat field, had
signaled at the CSETI team before moving off. This dramatic encounter as well
as the one at Gulf Breeze were described in a Fox Network ŌSightingsĶ program.
It originally aired in January of 1993 and has been re-broadcast a number of
times. With this impressive tract record of recent interactions with the Ets,
the workshop participants had reasons to believe that we too were going to make
some kind of contact.
The
research site that I had selected was in the Santa Susana Pass, a high desert
locale linking the San Fernando Valley with the bedroom community of the Simi
Valley. Large boulders and spectacular rock outcropping studded the arid hills
on both sides of the pass. I explored this rugged terrain with the assistance
of my medical partner Dr. Daniel...(a pseudonym). He owned a four-wheel drive
vehicle and was an experienced backpacker.
For an
additional reason Daniel was an invaluable assistant in my search, with the
approval of his department chief, he was conducting an informal survey
concerning sightings of UFOs by patients and workers at our medical center. His
study indicated that about 10% of those he interviewed at our facility had
sightings of what they considered to be UFOs. By the time he was chauffeuring
me around in his truck, he had interviewed almost 1000 individuals as part of
survey. In the process of asking about sightings, he had inadvertently
developed a network of informants who faithfully took it upon themselves to
contact their respected doctor concerning ongoing encounters with UFOs in our
area. Through Daniel I had tapped into a veritable gold mine of intelligence
about the territory I was supposed to cover for CSETIÕs CE-5 Initiative. As I
bounced around in the back of his truck, Dr. Daniel enthusiastically described
the various UFO sightings he was diligently documenting as part of the ongoing
study. Some of the local sighting
had taken place in the very same places we were exploring as possible research
sites!
One
deserted trail looked particularly promising to Daniel. It was located on Old
Santa Susana Road near the Rocky Peak Exit from the 118 Freeway. The path
initially moved down into the canyon. Not a very encouraging course as the
lower parts of the ravine was loaded with rattlesnakes hunting in preparation
for the winterÕs hibernation.
However after marching along the rocky trail for 5 minutes, the path
began to climb. This was indeed looking more promising. As we reached the crest
of the hillside my heart was pounding, not just from the climb, but also from
the excitement at what we saw from the top of the ridge. Below us, spread out
on a ledge 400 feet long and 200 feet across, was an enormous site with a
spectacular view of the entire southwestern portion of the San Fernando Valley.
We had found what we had been looking for, the perfect research site!
There
was no housing in the immediate vicinity and the siteÕs location on a football
field sized ledge provided ample room for a regiment of UFO researchers. The
area was fairly level and while doing the protocols we would be perched 300
feet above the foothill community of Chattsworth. The majestic Santa Monica
Mountains were just ten miles to the south. They stood before us on the horizon
like a wall of mighty sentries. Beyond that wall lay an endless expanse, the
Pacific Ocean. At our backs over a slight rise, the hill we had just scaled
provided us cover from the spying eyes of passerbys on the 118 freeway. Without
such a shield, our contact efforts employing powerful lights would definitely
attract a lot of attention. As vehicles slowed on the 118, during the climb
past Rocky Peak State Park, our team if not shielded might appear to be doing a
remake of SpielbergÕs ŌClose Encounters of the Third Kind.Ķ Although some in
our contact team worked for Ōthe industryĶ i.e. Hollywood and perhaps one or
two dreamed of stardom, Ō Show biz be damned!Ķ As Working Group Coordinator I
was determined to find a secure and secluded site as called for by our CSETI
training manual.
Daniel
and I checked the location out for signs of sociopaths. The few corroded beer
cans that we found were obviously several years old. Pop bottle fragments
gratefully had a weathered appearance to them with sharp edges smoothed out by
years of rain. If this were once a local party place, it was likely to have
been so during a previous era, before the locked gate had been placed at the
trailhead. Without such a barricade, open access to a secluded glen with a
spectacular view would have certainly brought on hordes of young people seeking
romantic close encounters of a passionate kind.
We also
carefully checked the ground for the presence of shell casings or bullet
riddled targets. With a sigh of relief I found not even one, thus assuring me
that the area was not likely frequented by gun enthusiasts. This is always an
important consideration in selecting a CSETI research site, since our safety
and most importantly the invited Extraterrestrial visitorsÕ safety, are of
paramount importance.
The
stage was now set for the awaited moment, Dr. GreerÕs demonstration of what he
called Ōthe contact triadĶ, the use of sight, sound and consciousness
techniques to summon the UFOs. We car-pooled up from the Warner Hilton to the
rocky foothills that formed the Santa Susana Pass. More than 30 of us piled out
of the vehicles and started up the trail towards the site. We were eager for
our first taste of CSETI research. In a monthÕs time half the group would drop
out from our team. Only the most dedicated investigators would be able to
handle the rigorous program of fieldwork that we were about to embark on. The
prospective researchers arrived on site well before sundown as CSETI protocols
dictated. We couldnÕt afford to have fresh recruits tripping around in the dark
during their first outing.
The
temperature at sundown was only 70 degrees and was dropping fast. It was surprisingly cool and windy.
This was something I hadnÕt counted on. Fifteen to twenty per mile hour winds
kept the heavens clear for our sky watch activities, but the thirty to forty
miles per hour gusts blasting through the canyon quickly chilled many of us who
had expected milder weather. I was learning an important lesson about fieldwork.
If you are to persevere you simply must keep warm!
Near the
edge of a sharp drop off we formed a large circle. Steven Greer put us through
the preliminary paces. We oriented ourselves to directions with a compass, and
reviewed protocols for how best to describe both conventional and anomalous
flying objects. If an actual ET craft landed, our boarding party was selected
Documentation personnel, cameras and microphones in hand, were assigned the
task of recording what we hoped might be the event of the millennium. We all
knew that an actual landing and boarding was an incredible long shot. Nevertheless, after CSETIÕs recent
success in Southern England in July of 1992, where a large saucer shaped craft
hovered near GreerÕs team in a wheat field, we prayed we would be ready for
anything.
Soon the
powerful gusts of wind forced us to move away from the edge of the cliff where
we had first formed our circle. We retreated about 200 feet north to the base
of the hillside that separated us from the 118 freeway behind us. There in
relative safety from the wind we had a number of sightings.
Soon
after night fall at about 9 PM, a bright circular slow moving amber light
appeared in the southwest along the ridge line. It appeared truly anomalous in
that in had no associated wing lights, nor a strobe. There was no rotating
beacon. It moved without a sound. The yellow light was comparatively large for
it to be a celestial object, several times larger than the brightest planet
could be. It was approximately half the size of the distal phalanx of a finger
when viewed at full armÕs length distance. Importantly, it was clearly seen to
be moving sideways, something planets definitely donÕt do. The entire group
observed it for about 30 seconds. As soon as Dr. Greer trained his 500,000
candlepower light on it, the yellow light flared bright and then quickly faded
out. Its apparent response to GreerÕs light signal by fading out is typical of
what often happens during sightings that occur as part of CSETI fieldwork. When
dealing with true unknowns, this type of abrupt action suggests an interactive
response. It is my assessment that this amber colored object was not a
conventional craft. Although landing lights of jetliners at a great distance
can sometimes have an yellow appearance when viewed through air pollution so
ubiquitous in Southern California, if you track such objects carefully, the
silhouette of a plane will eventually appear as the jet passes overhead. If
such a conventional craft changes course, and the landing lights appear to fade
out as it moves away from your line of sight, conventional wing, rotating
beacon, or strobe lights should become visible when viewed through binoculars.
For skywatchers in general and for CSETI investigators in particular, an
additional teaching point should be made. Amber or yellow objects, particularly
when they appear circular or discoid with well demarcated edges, warrant
special attention. Possessing such characteristics makes a UFO more likely to
be an Extraterrestrial Spacecraft. When such an object fades out in association
with signaling at it, it strongly suggests some kind of interaction has just
occurred. Thus it is my judgment that we did have a UFO sighting and many on
the team including a professional pilot with us were impressed by it.
Later
that night two high flying points of light were seen rapidly going overhead.
The winds had died down somewhat. The sightings occurred separately between
11PM and midnight. The overall conditions in sky had turned to a slight
overcast and the tremendous light pollution emanating from the metropolis below
us made only the brightest stars visible. There were no associated conventional
aircraft lights on them. They moved without an audible sound. They were both
seen moving south to the north and covered the entire horizon to horizon sky in
about 1 minutes. Several pilots in the group had difficulty identifying the
type of craft involved because their estimated speed seemed well over a
thousand miles an hour. This estimate is derived from the fact that there was
no associated silhouettes (they were apparently far too high), that they both
moved silently, and they covered the entire sky very quickly. Although somewhat
anomalous, these rapidly moving solitary points of light were felt to be most
likely military craft, apparently flying in violation of FCC regulations
prohibiting such high speed over flights of cities. They were deemed likely not to be satellites because of the
late hour and the considerable amount of light pollution present that was
reflecting off the smog. (To visibly track satellites, itÕs best to see them
within two hours after sunset or two hours before sunrise, under clear
conditions.)
Demonstration
of FieldWork Concludes.
Some time
after 12:30 AM individuals and small groups started hiking down from the site.
The main group led by Dr. Greer departed about 2AM. On a lonely stretch of Old
Santa Susana Pass Rd. we gratefully found all our vehicles safe and sound.
After hugs and fond farewells we ended the demonstration of CSETI fieldwork at
about 2: 45 AM, August 30, 1992. Doctor Greer returned home to Asheville North
Carolina later that day. I was now a CSETI Working Group Coordinator with a
team of my own. I had no way of knowing what strange events were to transpire
our very next outing. They included strangely silent lightning like flashes
that appeared from an unknown source, powerful mysterious lights that signaled
at us from a deserted mountainside and a high strangeness event that appeared
to be linked to consciousness. Stay tuned!
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