SUBJECT: MAJESTIC MYSTERY FILE: UFO2430
In December 1984 a package with no return address and an Albuquerque postmark
arrived in Jaime Shandera's mail in North Hollywood, California. Inside was a
roll of 35mm film. When developed, it turned out to contain eight pages of an
alleged briefing paper, dated November 18, 1952, in which Vice Adm. Roscoe
Hillenkoetter told President-elct Dwight Eisenhower of the recovery of the
remains of two crashed spaceships. In the first of these crashes, in early
July 1947, authorities recovered the bodies of four humanoid beings. According
to the document, which appended a copy of what was supposed to be the actual
executive order. President Harry Truman authorized the creation of the
supersecret group called. "Majestic 12" (MJ-12 for short) to study the
remains.
Acting on a tip from sources who claimed to represent Air Force intelligence,
Shandera and his associate William Moore (coauthor of The Roswell Incident)
flew to Washington, D.C. They searched the National Archives looking for
references in official documents to MJ-12. They found a July 1954 memo from
Gen. Robert Cutler, and Eisenhower assistant, referring to an "MJ-12 SSP
[Special Studies Project]" to be held at the White House on the 16th of that
month.
In the spring of 1987 an unknown individual, allegedly associated with an
intelligence agency, gave British writer Timoth Good a copy of the MJ-12
document. Upon learning Good was going to disclose its existence to the press,
Moore and Shandera released their copy, along with the Cutler memo. The result
was massive uproar, including coverage in the New York Times and Nightline,
and FBI investigation, and furious controversy that continues to this day.
For various technical reasons most investigators agree that the MJ-12 document
is a forgery, but the identity of the forger remains a deep mystery that even
the FBI cannot crack. The forger apparently had access to obscure official
information, much of it not even in the public record, leading to suspicions
that an intelligence agency created the document for disinformation purposes.
Whatever the answer, the MJ-12 document is surely the most puzzling hoax in
UFO history.
**********************************************
* THE U.F.O. BBS -
http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
**********************************************
