Leonard Stringfield Case files revealed
Illustration of alleged alien body storage morgue at Wright-Patterson AFB.
Reprinted from the February 2014 MUFON UFO Journal
EDITOR’S NOTE: The late Leonard Stringfield was noted for his research into UFO crash/retrievals (CRs). During the mid-1970s he collected reports from pilots, engineers and military personnel who claimed first-hand knowledge. Due to the highly classified nature of these operations, Leonard never released the identities of his sources. His day-to-day dictation notes are now on file at MUFON Headquarters. Historian Michael Schratt is moving through these and presents a series of References from these works.
Reference #13: Additional details emerge in “alien movie.” Leonard received a call from researcher Joan Jeffers who stated that she knew a friend who was based at a Naval Station in Brunswick Maine, who had personally seen the alleged film (sometime around 1955 or 1956).
According to the informant, the man in charge of showing this film was a Major Lester Goldberg (attempts by this historian to locate the Major have proven unsuccessful). Source: Leonard
Stringfield dictation notes January 11, 1979.
Update to Reference #12 from Part 3: Leonard received a call from “WP” who stated that: “I have seen one (ET body)…..about 1954 at Wright-Patterson AFB”. The body was approximately four feet tall, and was being stored in a round glass container. This military eyewitness also claimed to have seen a craft which was estimated to be 20 feet in diameter. Source: Leonard Stringfield dictation notes.
illustration by John MacNeill.
Reference #14: The Stringfield collection contained an article titled “THE GREAT UFO COVERUP” written by Timothy Green Beckley. Some of the points of this article are certainly worth highlighting in this installment of Retrievals of the Third Kind. According to the article, former astronaut Gordon Cooper made an appearance on the Merv Griffin show on March 27, 1978. During the interview, Cooper made some rather shocking comments that rattled the live audience. The next day, phone lines were jammed as many across the nation tried to contact the producers of the show for further details. Towards the end of the interview, Merv directed the following statement to the former astronaut: “There is a story going around Gordon, that a spaceship did land in middle America, and there were occupants, and members of our government were able to keep one of the occupants alive for a period of time. They’ve seen the metal of the aircraft, and they know what the people look like – is that a credible story”? Expecting a joking reply, Cooper answered the question with the following statement: “I think it’s fairly credible. I would like to see the time when all qualified people not trying to make a dollar selling some weird stories could really work together to properly investigate these stories and either refute or prove them.” However, there were some things during the interview that even he wouldn’t discuss on the air. Fortunately, UFO researcher Lee Spiegel developed a friendship with Cooper, and got him to open up about what he knew. According to Spiegel: “Cooper admitted to me that he could have revealed more on the air, but he decided not to reveal his entire hand because he felt certain that some official eyebrows were going to get raised. He further indicated that he has several friends who were involved in the episode, and knew a lot more than he had about the extraterrestrials that had been found inside this crashed UFO.”
Spiegel was also successful in getting Cooper to discuss his other UFO related experiences. During the early 1950’s, Cooper was assigned to a fighter group in Germany. He clearly remembered the week when an entire formation of disc-shaped craft passed the air base on an almost daily schedule. Cooper continues: “The first day, a weatherman spotted some strange objects flying at high altitude and, before long, the entire fighter group was out looking at these groups of objects coming over.” However, according to Cooper, “unlike fighters, they would stop in their forward velocity, and change 90 degrees, sometimes in the middle of their flight path.” Within days, Cooper and his fellow pilots tried desperately to intercept these strange unknown craft, which were flying far too high, and far too fast for their vintage 1950’s F-84 and F-86 jet fighters. Obviously, the UFOs could out maneuver all American fighter aircraft. Cooper continues again: “We never could get close enough to pin them down, but they were round in shape and very metallic-looking.”
However, years later, Cooper would have another amazing UFO related experience when he was transferred to Edwards AFB in 1957.
What happened on a sunny afternoon when he was on duty is clear evidence that the United States government definitely keeps UFO related secrets from the American public and the world. Even after 56 years, the photographic evidence of this case remains “under wraps.” During the time of the incident, Cooper was project manager at Edwards. After lunch, Cooper assigned a group of photographers to a remote portion of the base. The photographers were equipped with motion picture film cameras, and were there to record precision landings. Cooper described what the cameramen witnessed: “While the crew was out there, they spotted a strange looking craft above the lake bed, and began taking films of it.” The craft was according to Cooper, “hovering above the ground, and then it slowly came down and sat on the lake bed for a few minutes.” Throughout the entire duration of this encounter, the movie cameras were running.”
“There were varied estimates by the cameramen on what the actual size of the object was.”
Cooper continued: “But they all agreed that it was at least the size of a vehicle that would carry normal-sized people in it.” Further statements from Cooper regarding this incident indicate that the craft was approximately 30 feet in diameter, shiny silver in color, and it extended three landing gear legs before touching down on the lake bed. The camera crew got within 20 yards from the craft before it departed. Unfortunately, Gordon Cooper was not outside at the base to actually see the craft himself, but he did see the motion picture films as soon as they were developed. “It was a typical shaped UFO,” he recollects. “Not too many people saw it, because it took off at quite a sharp angle, and just climbed straight on out of sight.” Apparently, Cooper did not initiate an investigation to determine how many people on base actually saw the craft. This was because according to Cooper, UFOs frequently paid visits to the base. After he had reviewed the film at least a dozen times, the footage was placed in a pouch, and sent to Washington D.C. (NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN). After a few weeks, Cooper expected to get a reply from Washington regarding what the cameramen had filmed……none ever came.
Cooper relates: “I’m sure there is a great deal of information up in Washington, if only somebody could just find it.” In the same article, movie producer Peter Kares claims that one of his contacts, who was an ex-Air Force pilot stated that he was present at the scene when a UFO was carried away. He was later harassed, because he refused to sign a pledge stating that he would never talk about what he had inadvertently seen. Others have also run across pieces of the UFO crash/retrieval puzzle. Within the same article, UFO investigator Charles Wilhelm stated that he talked to an electronics expert who was in the Army in the mid-1950’s. The witness claims that he was flown to Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, to observe a special film. According to Wilhelm, “His job was to analyze from the film anything that he could define from his experience in radar technology. After arriving at the base, he was escorted to a guarded building where the film was going to be shown. When he arrived, there were already nine others, plus a Major who was setting up the projector. Before the film, all those all those in attendance were told to take notes and, when the film was over, never to discuss what they had seen with each other or with anyone else. He even signed papers to that effect afterwards. The film began by showing a strange, disc-shaped object with two guards, one on each side of the craft. The ship was sitting on two large blocks, and the technician estimated the craft to be 15 to 18 feet in diameter. Its surface was smooth, except for some tool marks around the door entrance. A ramp extended to the ground. The UFO was either silver or light gray in color.”
Next, the interior of the craft was slowly shown. “There were no meters, no radar screens, no buttons, and no windows of any kind. The only details he was able to see were some type of levers that looked like sticks. The interior was decorated with light pastel colors.” Then, the camera panned outside and off to the right. According to Wilhelm’s informant, “There was a table with three small bodies laid out. The film showed the bodies up close for about five minutes. They were approximately five feet tall, their heads were larger than ours, their fingers were longer than a human’s, their noses were sharper, their ears longer, eyes were closed but looked Oriental, and their body color was ash-looking. They were all dressed alike, in uniforms of yellow with black trimming. Their skin looked quite wrinkled, as though they had been quite old.” Charles Wilhelm insisted that the man who told him this story was absolutely telling the truth. The military contact stated that when the film was over, many who attended the screening had multiple questions. However, the Major refused to provide any details, only stating that the craft was found in New Mexico. Author’s special note: This is now at least the third reference to an unusual film being shown to military personnel which depicted a strange circular-shaped craft, with alleged extraterrestrial bodies. It is not known if this is the same film which was shown to multiple eyewitnesses, or if there were in point of fact three different films.
Source: Leonard Stringfield collection.
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