Close Encounters of a Fatal Kind ?

Will read when I have time, thank you!

originally posted by: pikestaff
Very interesting reading, no smoke without fire, the British Lightning aircraft crash is a real mystery, so the guy leaves the cockpit then closes the canopy? in midair? on the sea surface? under the sea?

The story surrounding this case is that RAF Board of Inquiry held an investigation and produced a report on the loss of Captain Shaffner and the Lightning in 1970. Shaffner’s body was originally reported as being still in the cockpit when a search mission detected his aircraft on the seabed. Although the Lightning was recovered from the seabed virtually intact with the cockpit closed Shaffner’s remains were never found.

However the report was put on the official secrets list and so the pilot’s family were never told what became of him on that fateful night.

Due to the veil of secrecy surrounding the case the story re-surfaced in the 1990s in a number of UK newspapers. Theories abounded that Shaffner was involved in a UFO cover-up. Supposedly NATO had been involved in a cat and mouse chase with a UFO over the North Sea. Ultimately resulting in Shaffner losing control of his aircraft and his life.

After being recovered from the North Sea, Shaffner’s aircraft, should have been taken to the Crash Investigation unit at Farnborough. However it was mysteriously taken to a hangar at RAF Binbrook. When the investigation team from Farnborough arrived it is alleged that instrument panels were removed and the ejector seat was not the same one that had been in the aircraft when it took off from Binbrook. There was also interference in the investigations by other ‘officials’ , two of them being American.

Tony Dodd’s investigation of the case can be read in full here: link

We have to remember that in the 1990s the case was still ‘secret’ and no official documentation was available.

Then in 2002 the ‘secret’ RAF reports were finally released. The accident report reveals that the Lightning’s ejector seat had not been properly serviced. Realizing he was in trouble Shaffner found the ejector seat would not fire when he struck it. He did free himself by opening the cockpit canopy manually but then perished in the sea having become separated from his life support equipment. The cockpit then closed as the aircraft sank into the North Sea.

Whilst there is still some doubt to the exact details Shaffner’s family have accepted this explanation and if you read the end of this BBC link you will see the views of his son Michael on what happened to his father.

BBC report on Shaffner case

The full National Archives release on the case are available free from this link : DEFE 181/1

Specifically pages 240 -246 cover the official details of the investigation.

The late Tony Dodd however maintained:

“"I don’t think that we will ever get to the bottom of what happened because the RAF would never accept that a UFO could be involved."

a reply to: mirageman
S and F

Great thread!!!

Haven't seen too many of those lately.

Thanks for the traditional ATS nostalgia.

a reply to: applesthateatpeople

Thank you. I try to post topics that aren't currently in the mainstream media but I find interesting. It was entirely coincidental that Nick Redfern produced a similarly titled book recently.

Whether there is substance to all of these stories is up to the reader to decide. Some of them are more convincing than others.

a reply to: mirageman

Great post! Don't forget about Dr. John E. Mack

Kinda related (maybe) but has there been any proof that's not open to interpretation (apart from desperate reaching) that NASA has ever lied about anything?

As far as I know everything from the real color of Mars (True color pictures) to whatever has a legit explanation that's widely accepted?

First off, impressive thread, easy to read and very detailed.
now, nobody finds it strange that all these deaths are in the ww2 era? a time of huge tension and secrecy?
a time of experimental aircraft?
In such a period any new aircraft would be dismissed as "ufo" and these people could have just been killed to contain the risk of exposing information that was NOT out of this world.
There most probably is a secret here, but mostly itś about political/military espionage and not little green men.

Still, it's a fascinating time period, and the more we learn, the better.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
So Jfk .....

Yet another thread successfully TROLLED :/

originally posted by: awakehuman

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
So Jfk .....

Yet another thread successfully TROLLED :/

The thread was trolled the moment someone linked JFK to aliens with zero evidence.

1. Rothberg discussed the apparent comeback of subject with Kilgallen and the break up with the Kennedys. Rothberg told Kilgallen that she was attending Hollywood parties hosted by the "inner circle" among Hollywood's elite and was becoming the talk of the town again. Rothberg indicated in so many words, that she had secrets to tell, no doubt arising from her trists with the President and the Attorney General. One such "secret" mentions the visit by the President at a secret air base for the purpose of inspecting things from outer space. Kilgallen replied that she knew what might be the source of visit. In the mid-fifties Kilgallen learned of secret effort by US and UK governments to identify the origins of crashed spacecraft and dead bodies, from a British government official. Kilgallen believed the story may have come from the New Mexico story in the late forties. Kilgallen said that if the story is true, it would cause terrible embarrassment for Jack and his plans to have NASA put men on the moon.

Inner circle .. elite ... secret base ... inspecting things from outer space ... spacecraft, bodies ...

That reads like an ATS wet dream, not something official.

Also it supposedly came from the CIA .. then the the NSA ... then multiple people had it ... then someone "skeptical" got it but they think maybe it's real without giving any reason why they thought that.

As I said .. the thread trolled from the start.

the thread is a good effort at listing some of the UFO related deaths. However, I'm willing to bet you could list over 100 more casualties of people who were killed via, murder by suicide, car accidents, disappearances, over doses, heart attacks etc. but, it's nice to have a list of the most prominent ones.

im my opinion Phil Schneider was an american hero who was assassinated. i've seen his autopsy photos, and though it was gruesome and hard to stomach. after reviewing all the available evidence and hearing what his wife had to say, there is no doubt in my mind that Phil was murdered because he opened his mouth and was giving away too much info to the public.

Not a coincidence that before he was murdered he was talking about publishing his first book and it would have contained in it a world-wide map with locations of all the D.U.M.B.s that Phil new of. Doubt the powers that be would have any qualms about offing someone who would openly publish geographic locations of classified deep undergroud military bases aside from everything else he was saying and showing to the public.

One day the truth will out.

'Ruppelt died from heart failure aged just 39 on Sept. 15th 1960. A condition that seems unusual for someone with a military background' (is it? Please give the statistics showing people from a military background are less likely to suffer from a heart attack at that age),

Off topic, but 'heart failure' is medically far different than a 'heart attack'. A heart attack is usually considered to be the result of a blood clot that makes its way to a vessel feeding the cardiac muscle, resulting in part of the heart being damaged or dying. 'Heart failure' is totally different and usually only seen in the elderly, a result of the heart muscle becoming flabby and enlarged, and unable to pump sufficiently, the lungs gradually fill with fluid, and death ensues from drowning in bodily fluids. Heart failure can also sometimes refer to an arrhythmia resulting in death, but this would be an odd term for a coroner to use, not so much if it was a family member relating cause of death or a reporter who didn't know squat.

Yes, a military man who looks as well as that guy in the pictures does, and who is subject to frequent physicals, is unlikely to have heart failure. A heart attack at that age is not unusual, especially if there's a family history of sudden cardiac death at a young age.

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
First off, impressive thread, easy to read and very detailed.
now, nobody finds it strange that all these deaths are in the ww2 era? a time of huge tension and secrecy?
a time of experimental aircraft?
In such a period any new aircraft would be dismissed as "ufo" and these people could have just been killed to contain the risk of exposing information that was NOT out of this world.
There most probably is a secret here, but mostly itś about political/military espionage and not little green men.

Still, it's a fascinating time period, and the more we learn, the better.

Err not one of these deaths occurred during the WWII era. The latest one being this century in 2001. Did you mean to say post- WWII?

a reply to: signalfire
Thanks for adding that. Does anyone know any more about Ed Ruppelt's general health that could add something to the thread?

Very interesting S&F for you , the Second case brings out memories about a X-files episode i seen when i was too young in it was a crashed WW2 fighter , only 50 years later they guy inside was still alive.

originally posted by: signalfire

'Ruppelt died from heart failure aged just 39 on Sept. 15th 1960. A condition that seems unusual for someone with a military background' (is it? Please give the statistics showing people from a military background are less likely to suffer from a heart attack at that age),

Off topic, but 'heart failure' is medically far different than a 'heart attack'. A heart attack is usually considered to be the result of a blood clot that makes its way to a vessel feeding the cardiac muscle, resulting in part of the heart being damaged or dying. 'Heart failure' is totally different and usually only seen in the elderly, a result of the heart muscle becoming flabby and enlarged, and unable to pump sufficiently, the lungs gradually fill with fluid, and death ensues from drowning in bodily fluids. Heart failure can also sometimes refer to an arrhythmia resulting in death, but this would be an odd term for a coroner to use, not so much if it was a family member relating cause of death or a reporter who didn't know squat.

Yes, a military man who looks as well as that guy in the pictures does, and who is subject to frequent physicals, is unlikely to have heart failure. A heart attack at that age is not unusual, especially if there's a family history of sudden cardiac death at a young age.

Fair, point, my (relatively healthy) brother died of a heart attack a couple of years ago and was of a similar age which is why I would question people saying it was dubious.

originally posted by: uncommitted

Fair, point, my (relatively healthy) brother died of a heart attack a couple of years ago and was of a similar age which is why I would question people saying it was dubious.

Yes. I have a friend who died last year and he was just a year older than Ruppelt when he died. He was fit and healthy, used to jog a few miles every day and then suddenly collapsed walking out in the fresh air and never came around. There are perfectly healthy sportsmen who have suffered heart problems in this day and age when medical technology is a lot more advanced. It's possible, in fact I would say probable, that Ruppelt's death was nothing to do with his UFO investigations and he sadly passed away at a young age.

Another little snippet that Nick Redfern and Loren Coleman have mentioned is the amount of UFO related deaths on June 24th.

June 24, 1964, Frank Scully, author of one of the first crashed-saucer books;

June 24, 1967, both British UFO contactees Arthur Bryant and Richard Church; and

June 24, 1969, Willy Ley, the rocket scientist and Fortean author.

June 24, 1978, Robert Charroux (pen name: Robert Joseph Grugeau) author of a number of books on Ancient Astronauts

June 24, 1987, Jackie Gleason actor and alleged to have seen alien bodies whilst with Richard Nixon.

The list goes on.

However I dare say if you were to prepare a list of Heads of State that died on a certain day a pattern would follow somewhere. I doubt there is much more than coincidence to it all. But you never know...

Excellent thread, Mirageman... have another name to add to the list; Dr. Karla Turner! UFO Abductee spokeswoman!

Ahhh... and Danny Casolaro; an investigative reporter looking into the theft of Project Promise software, a program capable of tracking down anyone anywhere in the world, died in 1991, a reported suicide (fascinating reading in itself). Casolaro was also investigating several UFO "NO-Nos" Pine Gap, Area 51 and governmental bioengineering. (RENSE - Prof. G. Cope Schellhorn)

any story that tried to connect their dot with the Roswell myth are instant indication that it is fake.. trying to tie everything to roswell crap wil destroy real analysis of the UFO Phenomena.

so many other UFO case that more interesting and more documented than this roswell crap , why everyone and their uncle in USA always push roswell this roswell that and thus perpetuate the insanity know as US UFOLOGY ?

So many people in ATS dropped their analytical mind and their thinking cap and accept the lies and propaganda endlessly spouted by this US UFOLOGY circle that endlessly focus on Roswell, Area 51, Underground Bases, Dead Alien Corpses, Goverment Conspiracy , and the rest of the B.S. The endless liars and storyteller feeding on each other in the UFO speaking circuits are an embarassment to the true analyst of UFO phenomena. Where is the modern Hynek ? the modern JValle ? the modern A.Mitchell ? no wonder the whole UFOLOGY is a laughing stock to all (maybe this is the intention ?) ..

People who want to seriously research UFO should read the NICAP and MUFON case files and look for pattern in the case history. do not expect proof of ETH since there are no proof of alien or even physical UFO , only physical traces that cannot be traced back to anything extra terrestrial.

The posts in this UFO thread is an indicator on how many people believed the lies from these US Ufologist storytellers.. only people like Karl12 and Isaackoi and a few others made this place a worthy one .. a flower in a rare oasis in the desert of UFOLOGY