Early in the movie “Planet of the Apes,” human astronaut George Taylor is shot in the throat by gorillas, but his life is saved by two chimpanzee doctors: Dr. Zira and Dr. Galen. That simple act reveals that the apes have crossed the traditional ‘line in the sand’ separating humans from animals – empathy … which they demonstrate by their prosocial occupations as doctors who voluntarily treat the ailments of others of their species. While apes and monkeys have shown actions that appear to demonstrate treating their own wounds or gastric ailments, they’ve never been seen attempting to heal others … until now.

Tell us more.

“In 2019, I was following a female chimpanzee named Suzee, and watched as she tended to the injured foot of her adolescent son, Sia. I noticed that she appeared to have something between her lips that she then applied to the wound on Sia’s foot. Later that evening, I re-watched my videos and saw that Suzee had first reached out to catch something which she put between her lips and then directly onto the open wound on Sia’s foot.”

In a study published in the journal Current Biology, Alessandra Mascaro, a volunteer at the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project in Gabon, West Africa, describes the shocking scenario she witnessed of a mother chimp treating a wound on her adolescent son’s foot with a chewed insect. It’s fortunate she was able to record the event because her superiors have been watching this group of chimpanzees for 7 years and had never seen anything like this. In fact, no one has.

While they had observed many instances of self-medication with chewed insects, Simone Pika, a cognitive biologist at Osnabrück University and Mascaro’s supervisor, says this was the first example of prosocial behavior in chimps. Even more shocking – it was far from the only one. A week after Mascaro observed it, PhD student Lara Southern watch an adult male named Freddy do it again. Over the course of 15 months, they witnessed 22 events of chimps treating their own wound or on another individual with masticated bugs. Then Southern observed a new twist.

“An adult male, Littlegrey, had a deep open wound on his shin and Carol, an adult female, who had been grooming him, suddenly reached out to catch an insect. What struck me most was that she handed it to Littlegrey, he applied it to his wound and subsequently Carol and two other adult chimpanzees also touched the wound and moved the insect on it. The three unrelated chimpanzees seemed to perform these behaviours solely for the benefit of their group member.”

Did you read about this in Silverback’s Anatomy?

This was not just treatment — this was nursing care, post-op and therapy by a group of chimps towards a non-related sick individual – it doesn’t get more prosocial or empathetic than that. Behavior like this has rarely been seen in non-humans and this group provides an on-going operating theater for humans to observe chimp medical treatments and recovery. While the psychologists will watch the chimps to track who gives and who receives the ‘treatments’ and how this knowledge and empathy is passed on to others, the biologists hope to sample the chewed insects to determine what gives them the healing power that so many chimps know about and use. Finally, they hope to branch out to other chimp groups to see if this is localized behavior or if empathy can now be ascribed to all chimps.

If chimps are prosocial, what about gorillas? Monkeys?

Have they crossed a line into the Planet of the Apes?

If you’ve heard of the Black Eyed Children, then you’ll also know they are both creepy and not quite human. Hence the name, of course. There are some things about the BEC that you may not know. First, there’s the matter of mind-control. “Martin,” who lives just outside of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, had an encounter with the BEC in March 2011, and who I was able to interview personally just a few weeks after his experience. Martin was at home when he had just about the worst encounter possible. Around 8:30 p.m., there was that knock on the door, the kind of which so many witnesses to the BEC have now experienced, but surely wished they hadn’t. Martin didn’t even bother looking through the spy-hole: he assumed it was his immediate neighbor, Rex, who took in any packages that might have been left on Martin’s doorstep while he was away. Sadly for Martin, as he opened the door, he instantly realized it was not Rex.

Martin got the shock of his life when he was confronted by a boy and a girl – both around eleven or twelve years of age and with large, black, eerie-looking eyes. The girl was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved black top, while the boy had the almost-ubiquitous black hoodie. Both looked sickly and scrawny and is if they needed a hearty meal in them. Little did Martin know that this was exactly what they were there for. Hardly a fan of the supernatural, Martin had never heard of the BEC phenomenon and could only stand and stare at their curious faces, assuming at first that this was some kind of joke. But, the Black-Eyed Children were certainly not laughing. They stood together, hand in hand, looking at Martin with expressions on their faces that were, paradoxically, lacking in emotion but which also gave off airs of highly charged malevolence.

(Nick Redfern)

Kids to keep away from

Echoing Brian Bethel’s famous encounter back in the 1990s, Martin said that when the girl said they were homeless and needed something to eat, it all seemed very much like a ruse – as if they had spoken the words time and time again. It was like a carefully-crafted scheme on their part. Most disturbing of all, for a few moments Martin felt transfixed – almost hypnotized – by those large, black eyes. Indeed, he told me that he could not understand why he did not quickly shut the door at the sight of those terrible eyes. Martin could only say that it was if he was somehow being prevented from shutting the door on the pair. Finally, though, he was able to get rid of the pair and slammed the door. One might be justified in saying Martin had been placed in a state of full-blown mind-control.

Now, onto the matter of Shape-Shifting. “Anna” is a resident of none other than Point Pleasant, West Virginia – the infamous locale where, in 1966, the notorious, blazing-eyed Mothman first surfaced, and which was made legendary in John Keel’s classic book, The Mothman Prophecies. As Anna revealed to me when I was at Point Pleasant in 2014 – to speak at the annual Mothman Festival – back in October 2012 she had a strange and frightening encounter with a pair of Black-Eyed Children, late one Saturday night. Anna, a shift-worker at a local factory, was spending her night relaxing and watching television, after a hard day of work. Sometime around 11:10 p.m., there was a knock at the door. Do I need to tell you who had just arrived?

(Nick Redfern)

Beware of the BEC

Anna warily went to the door, and peered through the spy-hole. She couldn’t fail to see the two boys, standing next to each other, and both wearing the familiar black hoodies. She shouted through the door, asking what they wanted. When she got no answer, Anna put the chain on the door and opened it. When Anna saw the boys, she was frozen with terror: both had the ubiquitous black eyes, and both had skin the color of milk. “We need food,” said one, in an almost robotic fashion, while looking at his feet. Things got worse: the “children” mutated into something terrible. As Anna continued to stare at them – locked into a state of terror – something almost unimaginable happened: an eerie green glow surrounded the boys and, in seconds, they were replaced by a pair of what Anna described as large, upright lizards. The monstrous pair stood around eight feet tall and had long, protruding jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. They did nothing but stand there, for around twenty seconds or so, after which, Anna explained, the outside porch was enveloped in blackness and they vanished from view. Her first thought was to call the local police. But, she felt – almost certainly correctly – that filing such an incident with law-enforcement officials would very likely cause her even more problems. Instead, she quickly packed a bag, carefully opened the door, raced to her car, and spent the next three days staying at her mother’s place, just over the Ohio River. It was the end of a shocking and unforgettable incident. If you, too, get a late-night knock at the door, be very, very careful.

(Nick Redfern)

Black-Eyed Children at the land of Mothman?

Just about everyone knows of the July 1947 “UFO crash” outside of Roswell, New Mexico. There are, however, some fascinating stories – and equally fascinating characters – in the overall picture that take things in a very different direction. So, today, I’m going to share with you several figures and their findings and claims. And all tied to the legendary incident. We’ll begin with the late Kathy Kasten. Kathy was a feisty contributor to the now-defunct online discussion forum, UFO Updates. She was also a good friend. Much of Kathy’s research was focused on mind-control and Roswell, subjects that had fascinated her for years. And, as Kathy’s investigations progressed, she found herself looking more and more into a certain installation in New Mexico. It was directly connected to the Roswell enigma. Its name: Fort Stanton. Yes, the very same Fort Stanton that has popped up previously with regard to (a) people with extreme physical handicaps and (b) Japanese balloons. On August 7, 2012, Kathy died from a cardiac arrest. And, her family very generously handed her files over to me. When I read Kathy’s voluminous Roswell files, I found that she had been looking deeply into the Roswell affair – not from the perspective of it being a UFO crash, but, a disaster involving human guinea-pigs used in high-altitude experiments, some handicapped and others Japanese people.

(Nick Redfern)

Aliens or Secret Experiment?

It was 2005 when I wrote my first “secret experiment”-themed Roswell book, Body Snatchers in the Desert. And my follow-up book, The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, was published in 2017. I was very pleased, however, to see – as I went through Kathy’s files – that she had uncovered pretty much the same data as me. But, as the files reveal, Kathy got there before anyone else: in the latter part of 1989. Have a look at this from Kathy and what she wrote in one of her journals: “My research has uncovered the fact that the American Government was testing many different types of aircraft at the time of the Roswell crash; some of it for the purpose of forming the basis for a future space program, and perhaps even one that involved American-Japanese ex-internees from a New Mexico detention camp.” The facility Kathy was talking about was Fort Stanton. It just happens to be situated in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Lincoln County is the same county where the legendary crash occurred in 1947. Not everyone – of course – believes that Roswell was a secret, government experiment; but – when it comes to the matter of a sickening experiment that went badly wrong – Kathy got there before anyone else. Now, onto another figure.

Moving on, there is the saga of a man named Conrad Zerbe. His name rarely surfaces and he is someone who even most Roswell researchers have failed to pay much attention to. Few researchers ever interviewed the now-dead Zerbe; although Bill Moore did in the early 1980s. Zerbe’s link to the Roswell saga revolves around the matter of a certain, large number of photographs taken out at the crash site of the whatever-it-was that came down on the ranch in the summer of ’47. A Roland S. Cliff, a Colonel Loomis, a Mr. Bohanon, and a Captain Ed Guill were in the know, when it came to (A) the matter of what happened and (B) who knew what the photos really showed. In 1980, when the Moore-Berlitz-Moore book, The Roswell Incident, was published and received publicity, Zerbe mused on the possibility of revealing what he knew. Before he had the chance to do so, however, one day in late 1980 there was a knock at the door of his California-based home. Zerbe opened the door and was confronted by a plain-clothes man who flashed government (Air Force) I.D.

(Nick Redfern)

The Legendary Crash Site Outside of Roswell, New Mexico

Thirty-three-years after Roswell, Zerbe was what is, today, termed a “person of interest.” Zerbe was told he was not in any trouble, but (there’s always a but in these situations…) the man added that he knew Zerbe had expressed a desire to go public (how he knew is anyone’s guess). It would not be a wise move, Zerbe was told. He got the message – even though it was a very brief message. No explanation was given as to why Zerbe should stay silent, when people like retired Major Jesse Marcel had not been threatened. In all probability, it was due to the fact that Zerbe knew precisely what the photos showed, too – just like certain colleagues at the old Roswell base in ’47. Somewhat oddly the man in the suit had brought with him a couple of sodas. He significantly lightened up, too, and he quickly changed the subject to what Zerbe had been up to since he left the service, years earlier.

Maybe five or six minutes after chugging back the soda Zerbe began to feel strange. He was spaced-out and found himself rambling on to the man and answering his every question without hesitation. He was hit by vertigo and vaguely heard voices in his head. It was whispered mumbling that he could not understand. And then? Nothing. Zerbe had no recollection of the rest of the conversation, or of what happened to the man. He never saw him again, though. It was as if around thirty minutes of time had been wiped from existence. Zerbe suspected, though, that as the soda was bottled, and with screw-tops, that something mind-warping had been surreptitiously put in the drink before the man called and the bottle-top had been carefully replaced and tightened. Zerbe also wondered if after the chemicals hit hard, the man returned the conversation back to Roswell. Although, admittedly, this was just Zerbe speculating. Beyond that, Zerbe didn’t say much, at all.

(Nick Redfern)

My first book on the Roswell Experiment

Now, let’s focus on one Dr. Lincoln LaPaz of the University of New Mexico. Master Sergeant Lewis “Bill” Rickett – of the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) was someone who many Roswell investigators believe knew exactly what happened on the Foster Ranch in July 1947. At the time of the mysterious event, Rickett was the Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge at the Roswell Army Air Field. Years after the event, Rickett admitted to UFO researchers his presence at the ranch site – along with Sheridan Cavitt, also of the CIC – on July 8. Rickett also shared a few other snippets of data, when the mood took him. For the most part, though, he remained very tight-lipped – even cagey at times – on exactly what took place. Rickett did, however, admit that approximately two months after the crash on the Foster Ranch took place, he liaised on the top secret matter with one Dr. Lincoln LaPaz. At the time, he was the Director of the University of New Mexico’s Institute of Meteoritics. He and LaPaz undertook a secret assignment to try and figure out “the speed and trajectory” of the craft that slammed into the heart of Lincoln County. Reportedly, the pair found a “touchdown” location just a few miles from the ranch, as well as a patch of ground that had been exposed to a significant amount of heat. According to Rickett, the object that hurtled to the ground on the ranch was somewhat bat-winged, but certainly not what anyone would call a flying saucer – which is an important point, given that all the talk at the time was of saucers and disks. There is, however, something else; something very important.

(Nick Redfern)

One particularly important fact that many Roswell researchers have not realized, is Dr. Lincoln LaPaz’s connection to the issue of Japan’s Fugo balloons. In 1945, the University of New Mexico issued a press-release titled “New Mexican Had Lookout Job For ‘Japanese Germs.'” It revealed a certain, previously secret, aspect of LaPaz’s life, and it reads as follows: “Dr. Lincoln LaPaz of the University of New Mexico was in the thick of the fight against Japanese plans to send disease germs into America by balloon, said President J.P Wernette of the University today. Commenting on stories from the Navy in Washington revealing that use of germs and viruses in the Jap balloon-barrage was an enemy project as the war came to an end, Dr. Wernette said that Dr. LaPaz, head of the department of mathematics and the University’s Institute of Meteoritics, was with the government’s secret anti-balloon project during the war.” So, we see yet another Japanese connection to Roswell.

Like it or not, much of the story this article tells, suggests that Roswell really was a secret experiment gone disastrously wrong. And not the crash of an alien spacecraft.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

An interesting encounter between a U.S. military pilot and a UFO over Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2018 surface this week thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by The Drive, and the cache received included FAA documents, a video of the UFO and an audio of the conversation between the Air Force pilot, who was flying a small private plane at the time, and the FAA. (See and hear them here.) An even more interesting comment on the YouTube video made a connection between the UFO and a famous group of aliens connected to New Jersey – the Biaviians. Let’s check out both – starting with the pilot’s account.

Atlantic City

The Drive does its usual excellent job of dissecting the FOIA package. The unidentified pilot was flying a Diamond DA40 light aircraft at more than 2,000 feet above Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 16th, 2018, when he saw the UFO and had a passenger in the plane who recorded it. He at first thought it was balloons, but changed his mind when the object climbed along with him, mirroring his actions. He didn’t think it was a drone – although the object had a “strange v-shaped antenna and a payload hanging off the bottom” that could have been a camera. The pilot himself used the term “unidentified flying object” and commented on how the object outmaneuvered his private plane. In response, the air traffic controller said this:

“You’re kind of rattled, aren’t you? You’re not the first, just so you know.”

The Drive notes that FAA records show several other UAS (unmanned aerial system), including one a few months before this one. That observation seems to connect the dots to a dot from the YouTube audio recording of the FAA conversation – the ‘dot’ being this comment:

“It’s the Biavians. Riley Martin has reported extensively of these sightings at the Jersey Shore over the years. He has witnessed them first hand. Unfortunately everyone thought he was a kook when he talked about them. R.I.P. Riley.”

Those who follow UFO contactees may remember Riley Lee Martin, who claimed he was abducted at the age of 7 in 1953. From Arkansas, he said he was taken by two aliens to their mothership near Saturn. He said he was abducted again at 18 and that time the aliens placed a headset on him and downloaded 144,000 different symbols, the history of humanity, alien insights, and more. Riley referred to these aliens as the Biaviians (from the planet Biaveh of the Taurus constellation — drawing here) and his primary contact and friend as O-Qua Tangin Wann or just Tan. He told his stories on both mainstream and paranormal shows like The Howard Stern Show (where Riley was part of the Wack Pack) , Coast to Coast AM, The Jerry Springer Show and his own The Riley Martin Show.

Riley and his wife Joy resided in New Jersey and he wrote a book ‘co-authored’ by Tan titled “The Coming of Tan: Past, Present and Future of Humanity, Extraterrestrial Attention, Environmental C,” which could be one of the reasons why he claimed to see UFOs in New Jersey. A true character, Riley Martin passed away on December 22, 2015, so we can’t get his comments on these latest Jersey sightings.

Can a drone outperform a private plane or was it an alien spacecraft?

Back at The Drive, they speculate this craft could have been a highly unusual drone, pointing to the fact that the FAA seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time documenting it. It’s getting harder for that organization to track airspace violations by drones that are being built in garages by private citizens.

Drones or Biaviian spaceships? If only Riley Martin were here to set us straight.

At times, the field of Cryptozoology can be a violent one. Occasionally, a deadly one. With that said, let’s have a look at some of the most  dangerous monsters out there. We’ll begin with the Nyalmo. You may not have heard of that one. It is, however, a form of Yeti (also known as the Abominable Snowman). The Nyalmo, though, is a creature that should not to be approached. As legendary cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans said: “The Nyalmo are real giants, between 4 and 5 m high, with enormous conical heads.” He continued: “They wander in parties among the eternal snows above 4000m. In such empty country it is hardly surprising that they should be carnivorous and even man-eating [italics mine].” Heuvelmans asked of the Nyalmo: “Do they really exist, or are they just a myth?” He admitted to having heard of accounts of Yetis with feet around 45 to 60 cm in length, but was careful to qualify this by stating that: “…the evidence is far too slender for us to draw any satisfactory conclusions. Possibly the Nyalmo are an invented addition based on the belief that yetis increase in size the higher you go.” Now, there is the equally dangerous beast, the Kushtaka.

(Nick Redfern)

What lurks in the mountains?

In 2014, one of the most intriguing Bigfoot-themed books was published. The author was Dennis Waller. The title of his book was In Search of the Kushtaka: Alaska’s Other Bigfoot. This is an excellent read for anyone fascinated by cryptozoology in general and Bigfoot in particular. Waller’s title is not your average Bigfoot book. And that’s not a bad thing at all. As the book demonstrates time and again, the Kushtaka phenomenon is not just strange. Simply put: it’s very often downright too strange. We never, ever, find a body. The beast is seemingly impervious to bullets. There are reports of the creatures vanishing before the witness – and by “vanishing” I do mean that literally. There is, however, something very strange about the Alaskan beast. It has astounding abilities, including the power to seemingly vanish (and reappear) at will, to shape-shift, to take on the guise of a deceased person, and to engage in telepathic communication. It can also manipulate space and time. Many might be inclined to relegate such tales and claims to the worlds of folklore and myth-making – and all without giving matters any degree of second thought.

(Nick Redfern)

On the road

Waller takes us on a fascinating journey that does not deny the legends and folklore that have become part of the Alaskan Bigfoot puzzle. It is, however, a journey that – to make its point – also encompasses science. On this latter issue, Waller delves deeply into the domain of String Theory, quantum physics, and multiple-dimensions. In other words, ancient legend may have been borne out of a science that – to a significant degree – still very much eludes us to this day. It’s also a science that spills over into the realms of Shamanic activity, altered states of mind, the afterlife, and creatures that very possibly feast on human life-energy [italics].

Now, it’s time to take a look at the Wendigo. A terrifying thing that appears prominently within the lore of the Algonquin people – the most widespread and populated of the Native American groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds – the Wendigo is an evil, cannibalistic, and rampaging creature with the ability to possess human sous and minds [italic mine], forcing them to do their dark bidding. Humans have the ability to transform into a Wendigo, especially if they have engaged in cannibalism. Notably, in centuries past, those who were suspected by the Algonquion of being Wendigos were decapitated after death, to prevent them from rising from the grave and going on slaughtering, people-eating rampages. Many of the reports of the Wendigo are focused around large forests, freezing cold and wintery environments, and dark woods. In light of that, there is a theory that the stories of the Wendigo are the result of (a) a distortion of real events, involving Native Americans who were forced to resort to cannibalism when food was scarce in the winter months; and (b) tales told to try and dissuade people from cannibalism, by making them think that eating human flesh would turn them into Wendigos. Now, let’s look at Bigfoot.

It’s not every day that a U.S. president makes comments and observations on Bigfoot. But, as incredible as it may sound, President Theodore Roosevelt may have done exactly that in the pages of his 1890 book, The Wilderness Hunter. The president, who was also a keen hunter and an avid outdoors-man, told a story that sounds eerily, and chillingly, like a close encounter with a killer-Bigfoot. An extract from his amazing, more than a century old, story follows: “Frontiersmen are not, as a rule, apt to be very superstitious. They lead lives too hard and practical, and have too little imagination in things spiritual and supernatural. I have heard but few ghost stories while living on the frontier, and those few were of a perfectly commonplace and conventional type. But I once listened to a goblin-story, which rather impressed me. A grizzled, weather beaten old mountain hunter, named Bauman who, born and had passed all of his life on the Frontier, told it the story to me. He must have believed what he said, for he could hardly repress a shudder at certain points of the tale; but he was of German ancestry, and in childhood had doubtless been saturated with all kinds of ghost and goblin lore.”

(Nick Redfern)

Roosevelt added: “So that many fearsome superstitions were latent in his mind; besides, he knew well the stories told by the Indian medicine men in their winter camps, of the snow-walkers, and the specters, [spirits, ghosts & apparitions] the formless evil beings that haunt the forest depths, and dog and waylay the lonely wanderer who after nightfall passes through the regions where they lurk. It may be that when overcome by the horror of the fate that befell his friend [italics mine], and when oppressed by the awful dread of the unknown, he grew to attribute, both at the time and still more in remembrance, weird and elfin traits to what was merely some abnormally wicked and cunning wild beast; but whether this was so or not, no man can say.” According to Roosevelt, the mysterious creature attacked Bauman’s friend and “…broke his neck by wrenching his head back with its fore paws, while it buried its teeth in his throat [italics mine]. It had not eaten the body, but apparently had romped and gamboled around it in uncouth, ferocious glee, occasionally rolling over and over it; and had then fled back into the soundless depths of the woods.”

Finally, we’re about to focus on a monster that first surfaced in very strange ways – and not too long ago: the Slenderman.  Imagine the scene: it’s the dead of night and you are fast asleep. Suddenly, though, things change radically and you find yourself far from asleep: you are now wide awake but unable to move. You are completely paralyzed. You try and cry out but it’s no use. Your heart pounds and your head spins chaotically. Worse still, you see hunched over in the shadows of the bedroom an eight-to-nine-foot-tall, skinny and emaciated creature. It is dressed in an old-style black suit, has a pale face that lacks eyes, a nose, ears and a mouth. As for its arms and legs, they are almost like those of a spider: long, thin and spindly. Rubbery, octopus-like tentacles protrude from its torso; they wave and flicker ominously in your direction. To your horror, the night-fiend slowly moves toward you and leans over. Its foul breath makes you wretch. It whispers that you are about to die. Or, that it is coming to take your soul. Maybe you will be its eternal slave in its forested, ancient abode. Now in a state of complete terror, you finally manage to cry out and wake up in a cold sweat. The terrible thing is suddenly gone. You have just had a trauma- and fear-filled encounter with the Slenderman.

(Nick Redfern)

A modern day monster

The Slenderman had a strange start: he began “life” purely as an Internet creation, specifically the work of a man named Eric Knudsen. In June 2009, Knudsen, via the pseudonym of “Victor Surge,” uploaded a couple of doctored photos of the Slenderman to the forum of the Something Awful website. In no time at all, others began writing – and posting online – their very own tales of the Slenderman. Short stories, blogs, novels, online games, chat-rooms, and more soon followed. Then, something menacing and sinister happened: people, all across the world, began to see the Slenderman. Not just on the Internet, not in novels or in the pages of comic-books, but in their homes. In their bedrooms. In mysterious woods. In dreams that rapidly escalated into full-blown nightmares. The Slenderman came to life in the form of a Thought-Form. All of the five monsters above are very different creatures. There is, however, one connection between them all: they should be avoided at all costs.

If you believe in the ‘Zoo Theory’ or one of the other conjectures centered around the idea that extraterrestrials are watching Earth and its inhabitants – either for our protection or their entertainment – then you might agree with recent comments by Nick Pope, England’s most well-known UFO expert. Pope implies that ETs are no longer worried about our own well-being — especially with our propensity to build nuclear weapons and plants, but instead are worried about their own safety. And the human they seem to fear the most is … Vladimir Putin?

The Daily Star obtained quotes from Nick Pope, former UFO investigator at the British Government’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), about the chances of ETs revealing themselves in some greater and confirming way – rather than just teasing us with glimpses of UFOs and their crews – anytime soon. Pope points to the escalating tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine, the U.S.s, the U.K. and most of western Europe as the reason we shouldn’t hold our collective breaths.

“Highly evolved extraterrestrials probably regard warfare as something that only primitive civilizations engage in, so the Ukraine situation means we’re unlikely to get an invitation to join the Galactic Federation for the time being.”

Pope’s comments seem to imply the Galactic Federation – the alleged council of various alien species that rule over the cosmos – thinks Putin’s posturing will lead to war and that makes humans not worthy of further investigation or observation  … even as captives in a galactic zoo. Pope thinks the impetus for this ET evacuation is the UK’s commitment to join in the fight to resist Putin.

“Aliens might wonder at the wisdom of the UK going up against Russia, but would probably realize that being in a coalition helps. And if they knew their Earth history, they’d know never to write off the Brits.”

Spoken like a true Brit – even though Pope has lived in the U.S. since 2012. Does he really think these things: a) ETs observing us think the history British military tells them everything they need to know about humanity; b) the current situation in Ukraine is the best indicator of the warring instinct of humans; c) Vladimir Putin is the most powerful force on Earth?

“Russia is increasingly preparing its military strength in the midst of the threat of the outbreak of World War 3.”

That quote from Bulukumba News matches many other media sources who think the buildup on the Ukraine border is a big deal. Only Nick Pope seems to think it’s a big deal to ETs. Does he know something we don’t?

On the other hand, what if he’s right? The U.S. and other world governments seem to suddenly be spending a lot of time and money on UFO investigations. If Putin is chasing them away, couldn’t those expenses be used elsewhere – like for bringing about world peace? Then again, if humans are no longer warmongers, that means the ETs will see Earth as a safe place to … to what? Pope thinks they would invite us to join the ‘Galactic Federation’. Wouldn’t that be like inviting an ant colony to join the United Nations?

Coming or going?

All of this discussion seems to point to the real issue – humans aren’t too happy with how other humans are treating other humans … something which has nothing to do with UFOs and extraterrestrials and which we still have no idea how to deal with.

Sometimes it seems our problem is not the Fermi Paradox – it’s the Woe is Me Paradox.