A Real CIA Debunking Plot from the 1950s?

This really is a follow-up to the last post.  Since Robert Hastings has been alluding to National Geographic possibly being in the tank for the CIA, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to look at one particular cinematic marvel from the late 1950s.

"Plan Nine from Outer Space" has been dubbed the worst movie ever made.  To say that it was shot on a low budget gives one the impression that it had a budget to begin with.  I remember seeing this movie on television back in the early 1960s (I was, and still am, a big fan of old time horror flicks).

For all of its numerous faults and idiotic premises, Plan Nine from Outer Space tells the UFO story as seen from the perspective of the general public back in the mid-50s.  The parallels that can be drawn from the plot are uncanny.  Who ever would have thought Ed Wood being the Nostradamus type? 

Jeff Trent is watching the cemetery with his wife, Paula, and tells her about his flying saucer encounter, stating that the Army has sworn him to secrecy. He suspects the events at the cemetery are related to his encounter with the UFO. A powerful wind knocks everyone to the ground, and a spaceship lands nearby.In the weeks that follow, newspaper headlines report other flying saucer sightings. The military, under the command of Col. Thomas Edwards, Chief of Saucer Operations, attacks the alien spaceships, which flee Earth. Edwards reveals that the government has been covering up the flying saucers, and wonders if the aliens are connected to other disasters on Earth.

The aliens return to Space Station 7 for regeneration. Their commander, Eros, informs their ruler that he has attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact the governments of Earth. He says that to force the people of Earth to acknowledge his people's existence, he is implementing Plan 9, which involves resurrecting the recently dead by stimulating their pituitary and pineal glands. The three alien ships return to Earth. (Wikipedia)

This cinematic pig with lipstick has it all for the UFO crowd: flying saucers, government cover-up, disclosure, and zombies thrown into the mix.  Oh, least I forget, the aliens were here to save the universe from the evil earthlings with their weapons of mass destruction.  If there ever was a real CIA plan to infiltrate Hollywood to debunk UFOs and with very little tax payer expense, Plan Nine from Outer Space had to be it.

BTW, Rene Descartes had to be smiling from his grave knowing that aliens were resurrecting the dead by stimulating the pituitary and pineal glands...dualism alive and well in the Alpha Quadrant.

This movie can be viewed on-line at IMDb.

Update, 8/23/12:  I watched the full movie last night via IMDb.com.  Wow, Ed Wood saved a bundle on the props!   This is actually two movies merged into one.  Bela Lugosi had long died prior to the release of the film, Lugosi's film clips were from another Ed Wood project which he merged into the current film (see Wiki's article).  Does Vampira even have a waist line?...freaky.

Odd clip from the film:  Jeff Trent, the pilot, spots a "flying saucer" near his aircraft, but he tells his wife that it was "cigar" shaped.  True to life inconsistant eye witness statements, but was this really the result of a poor script?

When you get the chance, read up on the Great Criswell, he was a long time radio personality in Hollywood.

Robert Scheaffer and National Geographic: Tools of the CIA?

I read Robert Hastings' latest rant on The UFO Chronicles.  It appears that Hastings has blown a gasket concerning Robert Scheaffer's appearance on National Geographic's "Secret History of UFOs".  Scheaffer's tenacity at "debunking" the UFO phenomena may well be a side story to Hasting's angst.   National Geographic has provided two recent UFO themed programs, "Chasing UFOs" and now, "Secret History of UFOs."  Both apparently catering to a separate crowd.  As a disclaimer, I have watched neither program.

Evidently "Chasing UFOs" has been a bomb with both skeptics and UFO proponents alike.  The fact that Hastings had publicly denounced the show was enough for me to figure that the show wasn't worth my time and effort to DVR it.  I recalled seeing trailers for the program and figured it was a possible farce due to the use of "Ghost Hunter" antics and "technology", that is, running around in the dead of night with inferred night vision goggles.  In other words, I'd be  investing an hour's worth of my time that I could never get back.

That Scheaffer would play the part of skeptic should be a no-brainer.  Did Hastings expect anything different?  Yet, with that said, Sheaffer is merely a distraction from the main issue.   It's National Geographic's perceived incestuous relationship with "unknown" government entities and their attempts to discredit Ufology that has Hasting's on the verge (if not already there) of an epileptic convulsion.

Hastings argues that its not unreasonable to assume that Nat Geo may be working with the CIA in an attempt to debunk the UFO phenomena and he goes on to add, "This is not some paranoid fantasy..."  Unfortunately for Hastings this is a text book study in paranoid fantasy.  In Hastings' world anyone who doubts his point of view is systematically labeled a dupe or worst, an agent of the government, ie, the CIA or some other unnamed intelligence service.  Paranoia by itself may not be pathological, but over time...

If you remove National Geographic from the picture, Ufologist still have a plethora of media vehicles to press their point of view.  The History Channel (now History) runs constant reruns of "Ancient Aliens" segments sprinkled with "Nostradamus" and the UFO connection.  Coast to Coast tends to have a steady diet of UFO topics.  Let's not forget the numerous pod casts on-line.  All of these outlets are available, uninterrupted, to general public on a daily basis.  Does this sound like a conspiracy to debunk the UFO phenomena?   

Let's look at the other side of the coin.   I've yet to see skeptics having a prominent role in any of those media outlets mentioned above, in fact, skeptics have been arguing that THEY have been given very little say and time on the subject since the UFO proponent tend to garner most of the face time.  Seriously, is this the CIA conspiracy dutifully at work debunking UFOs?


Originally accessed Robert Hastings article via The UFO Iconoclast(s).

Oscar Flight Gone from Wikipedia

James Carlson just provided a comment that Wikipedia has deleted all the Oscar Flight verbiage from it's Malmstrom article...and he's spot on.

James thinks that I was instrumental in the removal of the notations, but I seriously doubt that I had any part in Wikipedia's decision.  I further doubt that any of the editors would have bothered to read my blog entries.  As far as the original Oscar Flight article, I did rate and commented to Wiki, but that was before they initially merged it with the Malmstrom article.

If you read the "talk" section of Wiki's Malmstrom article, you'll see who was probably more of a driving force for Oscar's flush down the memory hole...James Carlson.

So, kudos to James!

And to Robert Hastings and Robert Salas...better luck next time...that is if your able to provide credible evidence.

Update, 8/17/2012:

Unfortunately, Wikipedia has re-added the Oscar story into the Malmstrom AFB article.

On March 24, 1967, ten of the base's Minuteman ICBMs known as Oscar Flight became inoperative, allegedly after UFOs were seen hovering over them.^[16] Personnel who have reported witnessing the UFOs include Captain (then First Lieutenant) Robert Salas,^[17][18]Colonel Frederick Meiwald, First Lieutenant Robert C. Jamison,^[19] and Staff Sergeant Louis D. Kenneweg.

So now Salas, Meiwald, and Jamison, all witnessed the UFOs?  Does wiki's editors even read the references that they attached to the story?

It appears that luck has struck on the side of Hastings and Salas proving, yet once again, that credible evidence and facts need not "cloud" the story.

Update, 8/19/2012:

As James Carlson stated in the comment section, he has mounted a challenge to the article.  Read the "talk" section.  If I read this correctly, James is to provided a sourced statement refuting the Oscar UFO claim and Wiki will re-look at the paragraph?  

Wikipedia Oscar Flight UFO Update

As of this posting, Wikipedia has deleted it's separate entry for Oscar Flight's alleged UFO encounter.

A quick check on Wikipedia's Malmstrom AFB article shows that a few lines have been added listing Oscar Flight as was the intent of Wiki to merge it with Malmstrom:

"On March 24, 1967, ten of the base's Minuteman ICBMs known as Oscar Flight became inoperative, allegedly after UFOs were seen hovering over them.^[16] Personnel who have reported witnessing the UFOs include Captain (then First Lieutenant) Robert Salas,^[17][18]Colonel Frederick Meiwald, First Lieutenant Robert C. Jamison,^[19] and Staff Sergeant Louis D. Kenneweg"

The only problem with this entry is that it gives the impression that Oscar did have all ten of it's missiles drop off alert, but that the cause was allegedly UFO's over the flight area.  At least that's how I read it.

Again, there is no references given that state that this did in fact occur ( ten missiles off alert).  It should had been written that "allegedly Oscar Flight became inoperative..." and that there are no eye witnesses or official Air Force investigation to corroborate the event.

Oh well...such is Wikipedia allowing a folktale to go unchallenged and giving a fabrication the air of legitimacy.  To Wiki's editors, I have to ask you...truly now, did it really happen?