Paranormal Effort Takes A Public Turn
Source: The Deseret News
Date: Aug 10 1998
Sub-head: Nevadan seeks Uinta Basin's input on UFOs
Byline: Zack Van Eyck
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Two years ago, Terry and Gwen Sherman were
trying to unload a 480-acre Uintah County cattle ranch they said was
rife with UFO activity and other bizarre occurrences.
Millionaire philanthropist Robert T. Bigelow came to the rescue,
buying the ranch and moving in a team of researchers and surveillanceequipment.
Bigelow, 54, a Las Vegas native who amassed a fortune in real
estate development, had for years funded private research projects on
the far fringe of mainstream science.
The Sherman ranch was exactly what he was looking for - a
secluded location with a history of phenomenal events where his
nonprofit National Institute for Discovery Science could gather
extraordinary data.
As a condition of the purchase, however, the Shermans agreed to
keep quiet about what they reportedly had witnessed - the mutilated
and disappearing cattle, UFOs the size of football fields, circular
doorways that appeared in midair and floating balls of light that
allegedly incinerated the family dogs.
Bigelow and his staff also dodged media inquiries, saying
public knowledge about their observations would be premature and not
in keeping with es- tablished scientific methods. Even today, two
years later, Bigelow will not discuss specific incidents that have
occurred on the ranch and the surrounding area.
But the strange airborne activity and unusual animal deaths
have continued, Bigelow confirmed in a lengthy, face-to-face chat
with the Deseret News - the first interview he has granted to discuss
his regional pursuit of aerial phenomena.
"We wouldn't be there just for the weather," he said.
When the impressive team of scientists Bigelow has assembled
can say something definitive about what is going on in the skies
around Fort Duchesne, Randlett and beyond, they will, Bigelow
promised - on the NIDS Web site at www.accessnv.com/nids.
"We know so little in terms of what the overall scope of these
phenomena is all about that it's just embarrassing to try to make
conclusions at this point," Bigelow said.
And it's still too early, he said, to determine whether the
curious activity poses any threat to Uinta Basin residents.
"Should people be fearful of anything from NIDS? Absolutely
not. But I think the jury is way, way, way out and a long way from
coming back on whether or not we know enough to say that they
shouldn't have something to fear from the phenomena," he said, then
added somewhat humorously,
"We haven't had any of our staff eaten or anybody else that we know of."
Bigelow said the National Institute for Discovery Science needs
the help of Uinta Basin ranchers and residents. He asks anyone who
discovers an unusual animal death or spots an unidentified object in
the sky to call NIDS at 1-888-433-6500. When an animal mutilation is
reported, NIDS veterinarians can respond to perform a necropsy.
"It will cost him (a rancher) nothing to try to find out what
happened to his animal," Bigelow said.
The recent interview in Las Vegas was an intriguing departure
for Bigelow, a confident and articulate self-made man who has kept
the lowest of low profiles over the years - prompting some paranormal
researchers to suggest he has a hidden agenda or government
connections.
Bigelow said he retained a private persona while conducting his
own research into the UFO field primarily to protect his sources. But
now, with NIDS sponsoring an international essay contest to pique the
mainstream science community's interest in the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence, the time is right to assume a more
public role - even if he doesn't allow his photograph to be taken.
As for the government, Bigelow said his staff has no evidence
the government has any interest in the Sherman ranch or similar "hot
spots" NIDS has investigated in New Mexico and Colorado.
People shouldn't be worried that he is part of a covert
government group, Bigelow said, but instead should ask themselves why
the government, politicians, religious institutions, educators,
scientists and the media are not taking UFOs and the possible
existence of extraterrestrials more seriously.
Bigelow, in fact, said one reason he spends more than a million
dollars a year on NIDS research is to do what he feels the government
and other institutions should be doing - preparing America and the
rest of the world for eventual ET contact. That revelation, if
confirmed suddenly and dramatically, Bigelow believes, could have a
devastating psychosocial impact on global civilization.
"There are aspects of this phenomena that are going to be
disturbing to the average person," he said. "It's more complex, more
diverse than I think is commonly recognized.
"We've been exposed to some things that are significantly
different than the traditional body of information that you read
about or that you watch (on TV, movies), and that increases the
dynamics, the scope of what has to be digested."
Bigelow's interest in the paranormal stems from his youth. At
the time, Las Vegas was, by comparison, a sleepy little hamlet. There
wasn't much for locals to do in the 1950s except drive down the
street for an ice cream cone after dinner.
Off on one of those evening cruises, Bigelow's grandparents had
a close encounter that not only had a profound impact on them, but -
when he was told the story two years later - strongly affected their
10-year-old grandson.
"This ball of light that appeared to be on flames was coming
right at them," Bigelow recalled. "They swerved the car off the road
in a pretty dramatic way and kind of ducked, waiting for this impact
and there was no impact. Instead, it made a 90-degree turn. It came
right at them and went voooom - it just went the opposite direction.
"It not only shook them up because they thought they were about
to die, but then it gave them something to think about for weeks,
months and years after."
Ditto for their grandson.
Bigelow retained his curiosity about that event and other
Vegas-area UFO sightings for three decades while building his real
estate empire. In 1988, with money to burn, he began an intense,
personal quest for an answer to the question: "Are we alone in the
universe?"
That led to the formation of NIDS, established in '95 to
investigate both aerial phenomena and another of his interests - the
survival of consciousness after bodily death.
A year later, word of the Shermans' plight brought Bigelow to
the Uinta Basin, where hundreds of UFO sightings have been cataloged
by former Roosevelt schoolteacher Joseph "Junior" Hicks, beginning in the early
'50s.
NIDS isn't likely to leave the area anytime soon, either - as
long as research can be conducted without interference. Bigelow and
Colm Kelleher, NIDS' deputy administrator, worry that too much
publicity may attract undesirable attention.
"If you had a tailgate, football-stadium kind of atmosphere out
there, and everybody's out there with hot dogs and hamburgers, and
they're barbecuing and waiting for the UFOs to come down, I don't
picture it (continuation of the activity) is going to happen."
From: Gerry Lovell / Far Shores
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
***************************
SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL INC. (A Non-Profit Organization)
Administrative: Membership:
Postings/Mailing
PO Box 900393 PO Box 801 PO Box 2154
Palmdale, CA 93590-0393 Leander, TX 78646-0801 Elk City, OK
73648 USA
Skywatch International Inc. and this list service are
not responsible for content or authenticity of posts.
Skywatch International, Inc. endorses no political candidate for office
due to the organization's status as a non-profit corporation."
"What could be stranger than the truth?"
To post send your message to skypost@unix.ltlb.com
--
New Discussion List called PARA-DISCUSS
To Subscribe mail to majordomo@tje.net
In body put subscribe para-discuss
Come and "POST" On Our New Message Board!
"Tis-Strange but true:
For truth is always Strange!
Stranger than Fiction!
News? Go to "What's Up Doc?" at:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/5518/
American Patriot Friends Network
Esoteric World News Contents Page
If anyone knows Mr. Bigelow and he wants some stories, tell him I've offered one of his researchers stories years ago ~ even talked with her later ~ and she didn't come or call to collect them. I've got lots of stories!!!!!
In fact, I saw a mother ship over Panaca, NV about two months ago or less ~ AND at least 15 others saw it within that same 2-week period. They're scanning the area to come and take us away before Y2k gets the good guys, I'm sure (the Nordics, I would say). The mother ship was one of those 5-mile x 1 mile ships at least 15 stories high and so low I could see the lights in the rooms. It was like the city of New York floating above my car with only about 1" of the sky showing to the horizon on 3 sides and the 4th side was above my car. It had flashing colored lights on the front, mostly big bright orange, it started to float away, came back, let me see the front, turned toward the east and took off in a flash, like a jet plane and disappeared way high and far in less than 10 seconds, I'd say.
lorraine@theesotericworldnews.com
ICQ #10813051
Last updated on 11/20/2006 03:11 AM
|
|
