Small
armed groups defying the government are nothing new - one just has to look at
Israel's mighty Masada fortress to be reminded of this. The Nineties had their
share of armed resistance, most notably the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. But
in these cases the common denominator was mistrust of the Federal government and
the desire to defend to the death a particular set of beliefs. As Scott Corrales
suggests, had the following case been made widely known, a UFO factor might have
been added into the mix.
In mid-June 1997,
the UFOR mailing list posted an item that remains shrouded in mystery. The
list's owner, Francisco Lopez, did his level best to glean further information
on the subject even many months later, when I pressed him for assistance in
writing the kernel of what would many years later become this article. But it
was no use. In the age of the Internet, that hall of mirrors in which people can
appear and disappear with impunity by changing e-mail accounts and assuming
different names (and even identities), the source was well out of reach. The
posted item may indeed prove someday to have been a compelling hoax, but there
are certain details about it that have a ring of truth about them.
The narration begins
in medias res, in the best tradition of classic epics: "... I want to get the
whole of the information first, and then release it, rather than just parts,"
begins its author. "Also, I need to edit out certain portions. Certain
information does not need to be released to the public. In some cases the less
they know, the better; it allowed us to work with fewer interruptions." He or
she then adds, with chilling effect: "You should never be in the company of one
with whom you would not wish to die."
This ominous opening
would have soared to new heights were it not for the fact that the names and
places mentioned in the message were redacted with a series of asterisks. The
author, a man or woman with a military or law enforcement background, had
participated in the raid of a compound which involved live arms fire in which
"all brass was accounted for." The compound, a privately owned skiing or hunting
lodge, was then gutted and made to look abandoned by the government forces
involved.
"As little evidence
as possible was left," states the cryptic author after indicating that a
nameless group had been disbanded. "Only Terran humans were found, no XTs or
Greys."
This assertion might
well relegate the unknown writer to the lunatic fringe, since belief and/or
concern of the alleged alien Greys has waned in recent years. The message goes
on to talk of how the "cult" in question had cooperated with a number of
individuals over an unspecified number of years in the acquisition of "breeder
semen from sperm banks" and from unsuspecting human males drawn into certain
situations, only to be drugged and subjected to the removal of such a fluid with
a syringe. It was then "flash-frozen by use of a portable D-flask of liquid
nitrogen, to be stored at a central location," according to the author.
A spec script for
the X-Files or a description of a real event? The author continues:
"They used a group
of "renegade" (omitted) as aids (sic) and "technical support," with a high
priestess working closely with the upper echelons of the (omitted). It appears
that, despite the usual (omitted) beliefs, this priestess and her companions
were heretics, if such a term can be applied to (omitted) at all."
The cult mentioned
in this mind-bending message appeared to be quite deft with the use of weapons,
and a veritable arsenal of high-power rifles, shotguns and combat weapons,
including "an HK-91 sniper rifle... a Steyr AUG Selective Fire Conversion, and a
US Army M60, with about 7000 rounds of .30 cal ammunition... over fifty hand
grenades, including explosive, flash, incendiary and smoke... 180 kilos of Czech
plastique explosive and over a hundred military squibbs (detonators)," are
mentioned in the text. It is a supreme irony that this arsenal of death should
prove comfortingly familiar within such a high-strangeness context.
The allegations
continue: the cult members were in contact with a human group claiming to act on
behalf of the "Greys" and capable of projecting images of the entities from
opaque, vitreous cubes. Although the author professes being unable to examine
this information for him/herself, the putative alien messages appear to have
been linked with clandestine UFO landings. "Techniques have been used to confirm
that at least one incident took place during May of 1995, but nothing further
could be determined."
Many UFOR
subscribers read this message and many, upon reading this article, may question
the wisdom of reprinting more unconfirmed UFO-related speculation. One guesses
that the entire operation may have been a huge "psy-ops" exercise involving live
fire, good guys and "bad guys," with the entire alien scenario thrown in for
good measure or even as a "sickener" factor for the trainees.
"He Died
Like a Space Commander"
The alien action/adventure story posted to
UFOR smacked more of science fiction than of Sigma Draconis until Argentinean
researcher Andrea Perez Simondini - widely known in her country for her
contributions to the study of UFO incidents along with her mother Sylvia, as
well as for being an active political figure - forwarded a real-life account of
a situation which, at first blush, hauntingly echoed the one scenario posted to
UFOR.
"The mystery of the
Radar 1 group has finally been solved," noted Andrea in her letter. A contactee
cult known as ASHTAR had apparently spawned a disturbed group of paramilitary
types, led by one Guillermo Romeu, who assumed the name "Radar 1."
The offshoot
organization appeared to have been much more successful than its parent in
gaining a following and making itself known. Romeu and his acolytes had access
to the best technology and were not afraid to employ it: from their headquarters
at 269 Wernicke in the village of Boulougne, Buenos Aires province, "Radar 1"
(publicly known as Iglesia Manantial, the Wellspring Church) broadcast its own
brand of ufolatry over the FM airwaves. Their station boasted a recording studio
with three consoles and mixing board for special effects, eight computers (whose
hard drives had been erased prior to the raid by Argentinean authorities on
January 12, 1998 and Romeu's death by self-inflicted gunshot) and the same
ominous arsenal as the improbable cult mentioned on the UFOR list: one
surface-to-air missile, bullets of various calibers, gas masks, incendiary
bombs, tear gas, Israeli-made Desert Eagle.50 caliber antiaircraft handguns
(sic) of the kind used during the Gulf War, an approach radar, chemical sample
analysis equipment, radiation, electromagnetic, electrostatic and heat
detectors, etc. All of this gear was stored in a Bronco 4 x 4, which they would
use for alleged field research.
Simondini's letter
explained that all of this lethal and non-lethal hardware had been paid for
partly by the 400 to 4000 peso contributions of the cult's membership and its
affiliates. "We strongly believe," she wrote, "that the sect is a facade and
there exists a cover-up concerning the weaponry."
Just who was this
Guillermo Romeu? An electrician and occasional private pilot, he had joined a
contactee study group directed by former UFO researcher Pedro Romaniuk before
being expelled a year and a half later. It was during this time that the new
cult was spawned, preaching messages received from the ubiquitous space brother
known as Commander Ashtar Sheran concerning the "extraterrestrial evacuation
plan." In a clever move, the cult leader insisted on the group being widely
known as Iglesia Manantial in order to draw recruits from a large membership
pool composed by Pentecostal worshippers from other churches.
Guillermo Romeu
claimed that his extensive offensive capabilities, gathered since 1991, were
devoted to a single purpose: defense against the alien Greys, whom he
characterized as "extremely hostile and [who] are using us as a source of food."
Two years later, his disciples were further cautioned that "an extraterrestrial
race sent by the Antichrist prior to the Battle of Armageddon" would have to be
held off by force of arms, thus prompting new arms purchases and further
training. Radar-1's members were not averse to parading around in full battle
array, showing off their weapons and alarming the general public. They
boastfully termed themselves "Grey Hunters."
As in all cults, the
price of dissent was high. Romeu was as authoritarian a leader as any, and those
among his "Grey Hunters" who showed signs of wanting to part company with the
group were threatened and harassed. Those who left lived in constant fear of
being assassinated. Romeu's wife's called it quits in 1997, taking Cristin, the
couple's seven-year old son, with her. The cult leader successfully gained the
court's permission to attend Cristin's eighth birthday. To everyone's horror,
Romeu pulled a pistol from his jacket, stood straight, and placed a bullet
through his right temple. "My father died like a space commander," said Romeu's
grief-stricken son.
Cecilia Diaz, the
late Romeu's mistress, told the press that the cult would continue its
activities from the location of San Isidro and would "have more weapons."
Argentina's Secretary of Worship, Angel Centeno, ruled that the cult's right to
exist could not be challenged, as it was lawfully registered with his ministry.
The Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES) subsequently reported
that Romeu's right hand man, Brian Bach, had assumed the reins of the cult, and
urged the country's legislature to appoint a commission to study cults along the
lines adopted by many European countries.
Space
Brother Blues
If we can bring ourselves to play the role of Devil's
Advocate yet again, can we lend any credence to the UFOR story as representing a
mop-up operation against a saucer cult in the U.S., much in the same way that
Argentina's government moved against Iglesia Manantial? That country's
authorities made it clear that the cult was not being prosecuted for its beliefs
but for its stockpile of weapons - the same argument wielded against the Branch
Davidians at Waco. There was clearly nothing in common between the cults except
for the fact that the belief in UFOs and aliens were reason for their existence
- the latter cult armed itself to the teeth against them, while the former
served up man in a platter to these forces. It can be noted that both episodes
serve as bookends to the Heaven's Gate and the Solar Temple suicides. The late
'90s were certainly not kind to saucer cults.
But Guillermo
Romeu's violence is reminiscent, to a certain degree, of the activities of
Brazilian contactee/terrorist Dino Kraspedon, the nom de guerre of Aladino
Felix, who underwent an alleged contact experience in 1952 which was true to the
contactee fashion of the time - nocturnal encounters in the wilderness with
saucers and their humanoid occupants, disquisitions on "Man's place in the
universe" and life on other worlds. Kraspedon's non-human "handlers" apparently
endowed him with psychic powers, giving him insight into future human events.
Kraspedon dropped
from sight until 1968, when he was arrested under suspicion of terrorism (not at
all unlikely, since Brazil at the time was seething with political unrest, best
exemplified by the activities of Carlos Marighella, the "father of urban
terrorism"). In his UFO Encyclopedia, saucer historian Jerome Clark notes that
Kraspedon was sentenced in 1971 and to be remanded into the mental health
system, after which he vanishes from the record.
Was Aladino Felix
truly contacted by aliens and steered wrong into a life of crime? He apparently
recanted his alien contact experiences publicly, which should put an end to the
story. Nonetheless, the connection between alleged "alien contact" which
translates into violence cannot be overlooked.
Pirophos,
UMMO's Little Brother
Thirty-two years after it first erupted on
the scene, Spain's UMMO hoax still commands attention whenever it is mentioned.
While not strictly a cult, given its lack of a leader and clear-cut objectives
believers in the planet UMMO and the benevolent "Ummites" certainly carried on
in cultish fashion. "Its very name ought to have given it away," says the hoax's
creator, Jose Luis Jordan Pena, referring to the fact that UMMO shared the same
sounds when pronounced as the Spanish word for "smoke."
Galician journalist
Bieito Pazos managed to secure a lengthy interview with this fascinating
character, gleaning details about the blond haired space people from the star
Wolf 424 and more importantly, a true cult which was formed in the wake of the
UMMO experiment: a gathering of very intelligent men and women known as
PIROPHOS.
The interest
expressed in Kirlian photography by certain members of Spain's "Sociedad de
Parapsicologia" prompted Jordan Pena to realize that people, regardless of their
educational or economic background, are fascinated by any phenomenon from which
light is issued in a strange way. This led him to create the fictitious deity
"Pirophos" and gather some twenty-odd persons in a grimy room in Madrid. One of
Jordan Pena's co-conspirators, known only as "C," read out a letter (a tool that
had worked well for UMMO) to the congregation, from "our beloved charismatic
leader Phoros," living somewhere in the United States. As the lights went out,
the parties in attendance were startled to see a bluish light issuing from C's
mouth - proof positive that the Great God Pirophos had chosen the speaker as the
"regional Phoselek" for all of Spain.
The hoaxer told his
interviewer that the bluish light was "a basic yet uncommon triboluminescent
phenomenon which requires the use of habitual and easily digestible substances."
But that wasn't the
only surprise the master hoaxer held in store for his well-heeled disciples: on
a table covered by a purple cloth stood a large glass container which contained
a scintillating light which bathed the faces of all present in an eerie glow.
Many of the economists, doctors, and engineers present dropped to their knees in
the presence of the Great God Pirophos - who was in fact an amalgam of
bioluminescent bacteria in a nutrient agar culture. Later on, explained Jordan
Pena, "Pirophos" would be created based on a compound of phosphorus diluted in
kerosene or toluene.
The Pirophoreans (to
give them a name) were entreated to follow a basic "moral code" crafted by the
hoaxer himself: a commitment to study physics and biology, kindness toward
spouses and children, and above all, to maintain their religion in strict
confidence. The cultists were also told that their faith's supreme leader was a
man named George Lipton from Albany, N.Y. (Jordon Pena had successfully placed
one Theodore K. Polk from Export, P.A. among the dramatis personae of the UMMO
saga) who lived in complete seclusion due to having achieved the rank of
"Phoros" - as high as could be achieved in the Pirophorean cult. Mr. Lipton owed
his secrecy to the fact that his body now shone with a brilliant blue light...
"This was the
ultimate reward," Jordon Pena stated, "to become the God Pirophos himself -
immortal before dying and immune from all diseases... my eschatology was simple
enough: the world would end in the year 4634 due to the explosion of a supernova
some 220 light years from Earth. At that time, all the adepts who reached the
rank of Phoros would be forever joined to that universal light known as
Pirophos."
But in the early
90's the master hoaxer decided to bring his cult to an end, much in the same way
he had exposed UMMO. The cult's members accepted the fact that they had been
duped with a mixture of astonishment and amusement. "Only two," Jordan Pena told
Pazos, "insist upon remaining faithful to that mysterious light."
Jordan Pena's tone
throughout the interview with Pazos is that of a mischievous schoolboy recalling
youthful escapades. A highly educated man, the creator of the UMMO and Pirophos
does not suffer fools lightly, and both of his fictitious communities seem to
serve the purpose of holding human gullibility up to the harsh light of public
scrutiny.
Conclusion
As we make the leap into the 21st century, many aspects of ufology
can be safely deemed as no longer relevant. While there is a certain degree of
hubris involved in the making of such a pronouncement, few will disagree that
things like the "angel hair" which represented a major feature of field's early
days still retains any currency. The same applies to the "critters" or "zeroids"
the troubled the sleep of many a researcher in the Sixties: either the
phenomenon ceased to occur, or it still occurs but researchers have gone off to
pursue more fruitful endeavors, like abduction research or Roswell.
While it is
undeniably tempting to consign contacteeism to the graveyard of lost pursuits,
the "kind space brothers" and their adepts enjoyed a resurgence in the latter
years of the decade. The reasons for this range from disillusionment with formal
ufology (which is seen as having failed to "explain" the UFO riddle) to a desire
to merge spirituality and the ufological avocation into a single current. Some
might find humor in the realization that the very same arguments put forth by
scientists regarding the public's dalliance with UFOs are similar to the ones
used within ufology to explain the desertions within the field toward the
"garden path" of contacteeism.
But 90's (and early
'00's)-style contactee groups seem to differ markedly from their mid-Century
counterparts, showing a more volatile and violent face to world.
© 2001
Scott
Corrales is a writer and translator of UFO and paranormal subjects in Latin
America and Spain.
The
Last Days Of The Dollar
