Did Hynek & Vallée Play a Part in Driving Paul Bennewitz Insane?

"Regarding the Bennewitz Affair in general - two things which have never come to light and which might prove most interesting to ufology are the roles played by doctors J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée... I personally know that Hynek was still under contract as a USAF consultant at the time, and Vallée had very close ties with the CIA…”

Bill Moore - Saucer Smear Volume 47, No. 7 August 10th, 2000

During the late 70s and into the early 1980s an electrical engineer, Paul Bennewitz, thought he was receiving extraterrestrial signals and seeing their spacecraft above the Kirtland Air Force Base. Bennewitz believed aliens were mutilating cattle, abducting humans and implanting them with tiny devices for nefarious purposes. He was convinced these aliens were living deep underground in a base they’d constructed at Dulce, New Mexico.
Bennewitz’s home was in direct view of the base, and he eventually went to the Air Force with this information.

Air Force intelligence was extremely concerned that a civilian had been monitoring what were, in reality, ‘top secret projects’. If the information had leaked , it could easily have compromised national security and the personnel involved too. So the Air Force also wanted to know how Bennewitz had intercepted their transmissions. Figuring if he could do it, then so could the Soviets.

What followed was a mass disinformation plan to encourage Bennewitz’s belief in aliens and to divert his attention away to Dulce and an imaginary underground alien base there.

Part of the campaign also involved providing a $75,000 ‘Air Force Research Grant’ to Bennewitz. This included a rigged computer, so he could study and decode bogus alien signals. It all eventually drove Bennewitz into a mental health institution.

Vallée and Hynek - Beware of Geeks Bringing Gifts

Richard Doty often takes all the blame for the deterioration in Bennewitz’s mental health. Yet Doty’s ufological sidekick, Bill Moore, was also complicit in various activities surrounding this bizarre, unethical operation on Bennewitz. Moore also pointed an accusatory finger at J.Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée for their parts in this tragic story.

Greg Bishop’s book Project Beta tells the story of Hynek delivering a rigged computer to Bennewitz.



In his later book, ‘It Defies Language!’ Bishop adds an ‘unnamed computer scientist’. It isn’t hard to work out who he was referring to.

”….. “To this end, an unnamed computer scientist was hired to write a program specifically for Bennewitz. Instead of words like “telemetry,” “range,” and “target,” others were substituted. The same signals would now spit out things like “aliens,” “Home planet,” and “death ray.” Now, the whole thing needed to be delivered to Bennewitz's doorstep.”

Some more details were also confirmed by Don Ecker on a forum years ago.

... I totally agree … about Hynek…. I told Moore that I had suspected Hynek for a long time. He also said that Vallée was an intelligence conduit to the intelligence people...

Paracast Forum

Bill Moore also allegedly informed Greg Bishop that Jacques Vallée was involved in designing this program for Paul Bennewitz. He was certainly a man highly qualified to do so. But Bishop stopped short of naming the Frenchman him in his books.

J.Allen Hynek has been gone a long time, having passed away in 1986. Unable to confirm or deny this story. While Jacques Vallée has never openly talked about these inferences to my knowledge.

However, while he was closely involved, Moore remains the sole source of these supposed ‘revelations’ about two of the patron saints of ufology.

Other Suspicious Activity

In his own past Vallée felt he had been deceived by Hynek in the late 1960s. Whilst sorting through Hynek’s files he found a secret document dubbed ‘The Pentacle Memo’. Vallée believed it revealed the existence of a large, clandestine government UFO investigation, outside the remit of Project Blue Book (who Hynek at that stage still worked for as a consultant).

Richard Dolan in his book “UFOs and the National Security State” (and website ) went further. Dolan challenged the perception that Hynek went from debunker to believer, claiming Project Blue Book was simply a public front and Hynek knew this all along. Citing Vallée’s suspicions and pointing out that Hynek’s fees came from the Dodge Corporation (not the Air Force). He also infers that Hynek was in the pocket of the US Intelligence services.

Even Jacques Vallée himself has been involved in shady dealings. He has long associations with various intelligence agents and assets himself.
In 2009 MUFON representatives noted Vallée appeared as a ‘negotiator’ for BAASS (Bigelow’s government funded company running AAWSAP). Former International Director of MUFON, James Carrion said.

“I was never told exactly what their roles were. Neither Puthoff nor Vallée volunteered any information to me about what exactly they were doing on the project...

At the time MUFON was given assurances that there was no government involvement…”

James Carrion fomer MUFON Director

MUFON- BAASS Contract negotiations: Las Vegas, NV, Jan. 2009 BAASS: Hal Puthoff and Jacques Vallée, MUFON: John Schuessler


Hynek still retains a high degree of respect for his body of work as a historical figure in ufology. Vallée is revered for his abstract thinking and unfalsifiable theories about UFOs in certain quarters. Bill Moore bowed out of ufology in 1989 after admitting to his own complicity in the Bennewitz case working with Air Force intelligence.

To this day there remains an uneasy symbiotic relationship between elements of the US intelligence services and American ufology. While supposedly just trying to get to the truth, this mutual distrust has fostered duplicitous relationships that generate disinformation and misinformation as well.

So decide for yourselves whether Hynek and his protégé Vallée played a part in the mental disintegration of an innocent civilian in Paul Bennewitz.


Further Reading

Blue Blurry Lines
Uncovering The True Story Of Paul F. Bennewitz
Paul Bennewitz case re-opened: X Descending (a mini book review)
Was J.Allen Hynek Secretly Involved in US Air Force Misinformation?
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Rosicrucianism, & UFOs

a reply to: mirageman

So decide for yourselves whether Hynek and his protégé Vallée played a part in the mental disintegration of an innocent civilian in Paul Bennewitz.

I remain unconvinced in regard to Bennewitz although do believe they were assets , but that goes for a few senior figures in this subject.

some of this might have been covered in the book Mirage Men. I read it but don't remember much.

poor Bennewitz.

so was Hynek a government troll all along?

this stuff would make a fascinating miniseries. and its not over yet

Nicely balanced presentation and still an important question. While it's true that Bill Moore is responsible for his own credibility problems, it also seems to me that there's at least enough evidence to suggest that Hynek was "aimed" at Bennewitz.

If so, at the very least, Hynek or Vallee or anyone else familiar with the situation would know that Bennewitz was being messed with and that it had nothing to do with ufology per se.

If we get that far, then a Hynek/Vallee UFO computer seems likely. For one, they both had the requisite knowledge to craft a computer program that would selectively tweak Bennewitz' particular ufological freak.

On a related note, it almost seems like there was a Dulce mythology/operation that was initially separate from Kirtland that got folded in. Does that sound right?

Hynek was still paid a retainer by the Air Force after Blue Book closed in December 1969. He certainly had the contacts and it's entirely possible he was 'activated' to assist in the operation against Bennewitz. Vallee was one of the best computer scientists in the world. Probably the ideal man to construct a program to fool Bennewitz and again he had 'company' contacts. If the allegations are true then there's very little room for either of them to have argued they did this unwittingly.

But Moore being the sole source of the allegations is a problem. It's also unknown how deep his involvement in all of this goes. Moore spoke fluent Russian (as well as French) and some believe he was more than just a useful pawn and may well have been employed as an intelligence asset even before he became involved in the Bennewitz affair. Then job done he got out of ufology and burned his bridges at the MUFON conference in 1989. His finger pointing at Hynek & Vallee may well have been a 'look over there' distraction to divert attention from himself.

Another character involved with Moore was Jaime Shandera. The guy who received the original MJ12 documents on microfilm. Supposedly a filmmaker. But at that time (1984) he had only a single credit from 1975 (and that was as 'additional crew'). He didn't work on much else either until very recently.

Whatever the truth is and whoever was playing who it left a bad stain on ufology.

a reply to: The GUT

.....On a related note, it almost seems like there was a Dulce mythology/operation that was initially separate from Kirtland that got folded in. Does that sound right?

I am trying to recall the origins of it. I will have to get back on that one.

a reply to: mirageman

from what i have researched and with Project BETA i think there is evidence to show that there was at least insolvent by one of them but i cant recall if they ever meet in person so maybe they just used the scientists name to get certain photos

the whole government as a whole should be embarrassed what they did to Paul B.


and god knows who else messed with him like Russia intelligence or civilian contractors like MILABS

originally posted by: mirageman

...Another character involved with Moore was Jaime Shandera. The guy who received the original MJ12 documents on microfilm. Supposedly a filmmaker. But at that time (1984) he had only a single credit from 1975 (and that was as 'additional crew'). He didn't work on much else either until very recently...

Speaking of "retainers," Shandera would indeed seem to fit the bill for a minor asset occasionally trotted out. I'm guessing he didn't end up with Moore by accident.

I think this is very reasonable suspicion. Though Vallee and Hynek should always be praised for their contribution to UFOlogy, unfortunately, there is taint and valid suspicion of the IC associates they have been attached to; that is, the government IC spooks documented to have had a nefarious influence on UFOlogy.

Sure, often, it is not just to apply guilt to one based on their associations; in this field, it is justified to have suspicion since we're not talking about crimes.

What got me suspicious about Vallee is not only his closeness to the nefarious ones but his attitude towards the exotic ufo researchers he expressed in one of his books. In that case, towards Bill Cooper, which, BTW, may have been justified. Nevertheless, it was so over the top that Vallee’s attitude may have revealed a certain animus towards those kinds of UFO conspiracy peddlers, which certainly would make him a candidate for the operations against Bennewitz in my eyes.

Though it must be said, this is very circumstantial evidence at best, and indeed Moore doesn’t have much credibility.

A subject very apropos for ufology indeed, always possibilities but some doubt and overall uncertainty.

a reply to: The GUT

On a related note, it almost seems like there was a Dulce mythology/operation that was initially separate from Kirtland that got folded in. Does that sound right?

The Dulce mythos, as I recall off the top, was embellished to beat the ban by, of course, Phill Schneider, Jon Lear, and many others--before that, probably the Valdez, cattle mutilations were the beginning of that story, and now it’s a major conspiracy theory industry of all kinds of weirdness from bigfoot to greys, and what have you.

What the government has wrought, no man (or woman or alien) shall rent asunder!

The Dulce story seems to have been building from as early as the late 1970s. Gabe Valdez and Bennewitz were already involved.

Here's a clipping from the Albuquerque Tribune April 10th 1979.




View in full screen

And then three years later on April 8th 1983 where it states Bennewitz had filmed objects over the base and asked for investigations. The Air Force however, was playing it all down as "no threat" to the nation. All because it wasn't. It was their tech!



View in Full Screen

Paul Bennewitz was an extremely intelligent guy, but was also showing signs of losing touch with reality before he contacted the Air Force. However, Moore, Doty and co. tipped him right over the edge. With no one being held to account for their actions.

The mythos can also be traced back to Bennewitz in Greg Valdez's book 'Dulce Base'.

...In 1980, Bennewitz and a psychologist/UFOlogist named Dr. Leo Sprinkle investigated the story that a woman named Myrna Hansen had told them. She claimed that she and her young son had seen a UFO while driving on a rural road near Cimarron, New Mexico. With the patient’s permission, Dr. Sprinkle began hypnotizing her, and over a three-month period, Bennewitz and Sprinkle heard a very unusual story. Under hypnosis, the patient said that not only had she seen several UFOs that day, but she had seen cattle being abducted, and she and her son had also been abducted by the aliens and taken to a secret underground base, where they saw the cattle being mutilated and drained of their blood and saw vats containing human body parts. She further said that the aliens placed some sort of implant into the bodies of her and her son and that the aliens could control their minds through these devices.

Bennewitz believed the woman’s story, and he believed that it was connected somehow to the lights he was seeing over Manzano. He began filming the lights, amassing over 2600 feet of film. He also built and developed his own machines and scientific instruments to receive signals from the craft he observed. He built antennas and receivers to receive low- frequency electromagnetic transmissions that he believed came from the alien craft. Bennewitz called his “mission” Project Beta. Those who have seen the films and heard the tapes of the low-frequency radio transmissions say there is no doubt that Bennewitz was filming and recording real phenomena...

For what it’s worth……the following is an excerpt from statements transcribed from the 0ld BBS way of posting…..back in the day. A letter Written by John Lear…it speaks to Moore and Bennewitz and Dulce, among other things

……“Certain of Moore's statements leads one to believe that Moore himself is a government agent working for MJ-12, not being strung along, but stringing along ever hopeful ufologists that the truth is just around the corner. Consider:

1. Moore states emphatically that he is not a government agent, although when Les Graham (a Southern California-based ufologist) was investigated by the DIS for documents in his possession received from Moore, Moore himself was not.

2. Moore states emphatically that the cattle mutilations were a hoax by Linda Howe to create publicity for herself. He cites the unobtainable book "Mute Evidence" as the bottom line on the hoax.

3. Moore states that the U.S.A.F. Academy physics book "Introductory Space Science" Volume II Chapter 13 titled Unidentified Flying Objects and describes four of the most commonly seen aliens (one of which was an EBE) was written by a Lt. Col. and Major who did not know what they were talking about and were merely citing "crackpots". He says the book was withdrawn to excise the chapter.”……

Source: Dear Steven

By the way on point number 3 ….. should be Chapter 33 not 13. INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME II CHAPTER XXXIII UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY

👽

The odd thing about all of this is that it has been ground down to a story about Bennewitz’s mental collapse based on his alien war fantasies, and therefore we have never been told the story behind his legitimate findings from the Kirtland AFB.

For a time, Bennewitz seemed to be taken seriously by the authorities at Kirtland and may have come across some legitimate government operations or even paranormal things going on at Kirtland.
We assume this was a gov op and leave it at that, forgetting the other possibilities.

Such leaves many questions: what were the lights and vehicles Bennewitz recorded at Kirtland?
Why give the guy 75 grand to research further?
Were they secret gov ops or technology?
Or some real paranormal, possibly ufo based phenomena?

In other words, the story always gets ground down in the Bennewitz psychological miasma and the horror story of the government enhancing his paranoia, thereby being the low dog scum bag (always highly emotional response) to the whole story, which diverts everyone from asking legitimate questions.

Another mystery behind this:

Isn’t it strange to think they would do all of this when doing it would draw attention to the very thing they claim they want to distract people from, Kirtland?

Why didn’t they just tell Bennewitz to back off? This is GOV ops; keep your nose out of it or else.

Maybe, because they wanted to, from the start, use Bennewitz to spread their disinformation about ufology, NOT really concerned with Kirtland’s security.

The idea that they did this to divert attention from Kirtland doesn’t really add up to scrutiny, IMO.

a reply to: Ophiuchus1

There's some good information in the 2007 MUFON Symposium Notes (p7 onwards) including the real origins of MJ12.

Far too much to dissect at the moment. Maybe at a later time.

a reply to: peaceinoutz

Isn’t it strange to think they would do all of this when doing it would draw attention to the very thing they claim they want to distract people from, Kirtland?

They did distract him from Kirtland. Doty even flew up to Dulce in a helicopter with Bennewitz to convince him there was an alien base up there.

Bennewitz had contracts to supply the military with various electronic controls. He was a typical American patriot. If maybe rather naïve at times. It would have been the simplest of things to just tell him that he was monitoring top secret Air Force technology and to keep schtum. However, this tech was capable of not just tracking Soviet satellites but reprogramming their telemetry too.

The military probably wondered If Bennewitz could do it, then they would need to know who else could? Was he talking to people posing as'ufologists' in the USSR and accidentally spilling secrets to them?

...Maybe, because they wanted to, from the start, use Bennewitz to spread their disinformation about ufology, NOT really concerned with Kirtland’s security...

Maybe.And what happened to all the files, video footage and photographs Bennewitz had? I've only ever seen a handful of photos.

originally posted by: mirageman
And what happened to all the files, video footage and photographs Bennewitz had? I've only ever seen a handful of photos.

Welp…..Hynek and Bennewitz are pushing daisies. Doty, a Bennewitz handler, would probably be able to answer your question…..but then that’s like trying to squeeze blood out of rock, now isn’t it?

If true about Valle being the “hired” unnamed Computer Scientist ….. then Valle isn’t the goody two shoe of Ufology……….Everyone, imo has skeletons in their closet to some degree.

I’d point the finger at Doty to help drive Bennewitz insane. Bennewitz was gullible and too trusting. Hynek and Valle were already big names in the field….Bennewitz would have thought his work would have been legitimized to be associated with either one in some form or fashion….Bennewitz would have excitingly answered Hyneks knock on his door with a computer in hand, having a program written by the famous Valle.

The Air Force certainly knew what they were doing using Hynek and Valle’s fame to work on Bennewitz’s mind.

Doty was the ultimate driving force though…..imo.



I think the best thing one could wish for…….and that’s a televised reveal, deathbed confession from Doty when it’s his time to push daisies. He wouldn’t want to die a liar …. and not clear his conscience…..wouldn’t he? …..Heh heh heh

👽

a reply to: mirageman

You make good points, but that’s the point, this has been successfully buried and attention diverted, but the damage done to serious ufology is still being felt.

As I have said, I don’t mind weird theories, but if you look at the literature on this, it shows no serious researcher doing it, so it’s probably bogus.

Yet admittedly, there’s never any way to get around the gov crying state secrets, as an American politician is finding out right now in an American court


BTW, thanks for the Mufon link-- I am going to check it out

a reply to: Ophiuchus1

i dont know why people give mr. AFOSI guy a pass but we call each other trolls or disinfo and Doty was really that and was really doing that AND messed with a cooperating witness, Vet of WWII, and it was only when other forces pushed Paul over that line


that movie in mirage man where its rain on a rind shied and its a faint echoey clip of Doty telling the interview about how Paul would say people would come THRU his walls and inject him with something and take him out into the middle of nowhere sW Ameria, it was just really creepy.,


I have seen how the military will ACTIVLY protect a secret asset let alone nuclear secrets in a heart beat.

Paul was luck he didnt end up suicided