The article underneath has been published in the daily newspaper The Victorian, Canada, Wednesday, March 30, 1977.
(Part 1)
By Dr. P. M. H. Edwards
"Rarity has nothing to do with reality." (V.A. Firsoff, a modern leading astronomer).
It is now not as hard as formerly to discuss Ufology with the public today, there are more open-minded people who are finally aware that something is occurring in our skies, than there were a decade ago.
It is no longer necessary to convince average people of the existence of these craft; the main objections to overcome are the typical questions: "Why don't they contact our leaders?" and "How can they come here from another inhabited planet, given the enormous distances, and the probability that the speed of light may be the greatest possible velocity attainable?"
Of course, these questions must remain unanswered for the time being. We are faced with the fact of their presence in our environment; how they got here, is a matter that is useless to toss around, for no one knows the answers.
What is very important, is their motives for such an invasion of our air space. And here, I am obliged to refer readers to a most impressive book by A.L. Webre and P.H. Liss, called The Age of Cataclysm (Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, 757 Third Avenue, New York; 1974; Berkley Medallion Books, New York; 1975); for, in part II, section 2, of this most sober, and sobering, book on earthquakes, one finds a section surprisingly devoted to the activity of higher intelligent powers in our environment, which manifest themselves by means of UFO sightings, by the production of advanced psychics, and also by apparitions of figures interpreted as being the Blessed Virgin Mary - all in locations that are close to the trajectories of the UFOs.
This book is of extreme importance, and should be perused carefully by every reader possessed of intellectual curiosity.
At first, I was of the opinion that the Ufonauts were simply curious visitors from another solar system. I wish this were the whole story; but it isn't. There seems to be much more to all this, as will become plain to anyone who delves into the vast amount of published evidence, and who interviews the thousands of witnesses: it would appear that someone, from somewhere, is carrying out a reconnaissance, - a constant, but now an intensified, monitoring of the human race and its environment.
Samples of minerals, flora, fauna and humans (as well as animal blood in quantities), are being regularly taken away by the beings, mostly along certain straight-line trajectories that encircle the globe; and many of the witnesses are displaying symptoms indicative of mental or psychological tampering - while a few are even dying in mysterious ways.
Often, UFOs are seen during freak lightning storms; and a great number of electrical black-outs have occurred, just as unidentified strange-looking craft were sighted passing over those vicinities.
It has also been noticed, over the years, that the UFOs show an interest in reservoirs and freshwater lakes, radio antennae, electric power transmission lines, ancient burial mounds and modern cemeteries, and school playgrounds where children are congregated.
Moreover, the UFO that was seen by three nurses at a window of the Cowichan District Hospital in Duncan, B.C., one New Year's Day some five or six years ago, was concentrating on what was happening in the children's ward, according to one of the nurses whom I interviewed.
What is, for me, possibly the most worrying aspect of the phenomenon, is the frequency of witnesses' reports wherein a significant time-lapse occurred, during which the witnesses seem to have been in a total unconsciousness (or trance?); often, such cases have become known (as, especially, in the Hills' case, in New Hampshire) as a direct result of the sudden and repeated nightmares suffered subsequently by the witnesses, who felt led thereby to consult psychiatrists; the latter uncovered the incidents from the memories of the patients, by using hypnosis techniques.
Of course, hypnosis is not completely reliable in such cases; but the very frequency of similar cases from every country, cannot but indicate that the reports were by no means imaginary.
It is, to me, the mental or psychological effects in certain witnesses that apparently contain a most important clue. It is believed that if a person is subjected to a strong electro-magnetic force-field, his SSP (suprasensory perception, known less correctly as ESP) will be triggered artificially; in fact, Dr. Karlis Osis has published some announcements of work that is being conducted precisely in this area.
The UFOs seem to be surrounded by such a force-field, for they have on countless occasions stalled the motors of cars (but seldom of diesel engines), extinguished the headlights and radios, and even drained the batteries, leaving the tops of these sometimes in an almost liquid condition.
Some witnesses even reported that metal objects, such as the rings on their fingers, became intolerably hot, until the UFO sped off. Train crews (e.g. on B.C. Rly., C.N. Rlys., & C.) have repeatedly reported that the presence of a UFO impeded radio communication between locomotive and caboose.
Thus, it could be inferred that, when a witness displayed certain symptoms of clairaudience, of clairvoyance, or of telepathy (i.e. psychic, or SSP powers), this might be a by-product of a force-field surrounding an unidentified craft in the general vicinity.
(There have been occasions when, apparently, a UFO switched off this force-field, and hence no effect was noted on cars' engines, etc. This has usually been concurrent with reports of soundless craft, as compared with craft that emitted a buzzing or other kind of sound).
In areas of concentrations of sightings and landings, some people have reported psychic phenomena occurring at the time of the UFOs' visits, and poltergeist infestations in some houses have occurred with some frequency, at such times and in such places.
It has even been reported that, where UFO 'flaps' have occurred (i.e. concentrations of sightings and landings in an area), a few people displayed an abnormal rise in their I.Q., whereas certain other people appeared to be displaying something resembling symptoms of demonic possession.
Although no one knows the real cause of all this, it is possible to hazard a guess that it could all boil down to electromagnetic fields of force acting upon the psyche. A great deal of research is needed in this area.
For this reason, investigators have had to concern themselves seriously with the matter of tampering with people's brains: is it accidental, a mere by-product of the force-field, or can it be deliberate? If deliberate, this could mean they are meddling with our affairs, and manipulating us for reasons of their own. This might have serious consequences for the whole planet: political sociological and even religious.
A reader may at this point prefer to scoff; uninformed as he may be, this is only natural. However, I should warn him that I, too, used to be a scoffer, 30 years ago. It was not until one of my professors rebuked me for my ignorant skepticism, that I decided I had better look into the phenomenon - if only so as not to make a fool of myself, by making foolish objections.
The attitude of a properly educated person in the face of the unexplained should surely be that of enquiry, not of ungrounded and ignorant skeptical rebuttal: comparatively recently, a leading British Astronomer-Royal stated that the very idea of space-travel was "utter bilge".
