Article 6: Atlantis
Rising 61 (Jan-Feb 2007)
by Len Kasten
“I really found my faith when I
learned that the government was opposed to the film. If
NASA took the time to write me a twenty-page letter, then
I knew there must be something happening.”
Steven Spielberg
In the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, written
and directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1977, an
alien spaceship lands, by prearrangement with the U.S. government,
on a high mesa called The Devil’s Tower in a remote
corner of Wyoming and an ambassadorial exchange takes place.
A single alien disembarks and is escorted away, presumably
to a secret site. Then, twelve American astronauts in orange
jumpsuits and industrial strength sunglasses, with duffel
bags slung over their shoulders, ten men and two women,
march into the spacecraft to be whisked away to the alien
home planet. In the previous scene, they are blessed by
a clergyman, who refers to them as “pilgrims.”
Was this just some inventive touch conceived by Spielberg,
or did he base it on something real? Since it is now widely
believed in UFO circles that a pre-arranged alien landing
did take place at or near Holloman Air Force Base in New
Mexico in April of 1964, it seems not unreasonable, to true
believers, to suspect that Spielberg may have had an inside
track on classified information, and that the ambassadorial
exchange with an alien race may also have been a real event.
Now, in what could be an unprecedented break with government
secrecy policy, a few former military insiders have come
forward to say that the exchange was indeed real, and actually
took place almost exactly as depicted in the movie. Under
the auspices of a Defense Intelligence Agency program referred
to as Operation Crystal Knight, or what is now being called
“Project Serpo,” it has been claimed that twelve
astronauts left the earth in July of 1965, and were taken
to the planet Serpo in the constellation Zeta Reticuli aboard
an alien spaceship, as part of an exchange program. The
bulk of the information about this program is said to have
been dribbled out to the world via 21 e-mails from an individual
referred to only as “Anonymous” to a closed
circle of high-level UFO insiders beginning on November
2, 2005. Anonymous says that he was formerly a senior officer
of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and is now the official
spokesman for a group of six DIA personnel, three retired
and three still currently employed there. It was decided
by the group, and agreed to by Anonymous, that a web site
should be created to publish all the e-mails on the Internet.
One of the researchers in the group, Bill Ryan from England,
volunteered for the job, and so began www.serpo.org, what
has now developed into the official source for all Serpo-related
information, including updates from Ryan, a link to a public
forum, and supporting e-mails from other insiders who had
knowledge of the Serpo project.
For the UFO community at least, the site has become something
of a sensation. For what it’s worth this is the story
offered on the site.
A Presidential Decree
The tale told by Anonymous is indeed amazing. If it is true,
then, at a minimum, the entire history of the government
pretense of ignorance about UFOs and extraterrestrials is
completely blown away. Not surprisingly, it all begins with
Roswell.
Anonymous says that the Roswell crash did occur, but that
it involved two alien craft. The first was found relatively
intact, embedded into a hillside southwest of Corona, New
Mexico on July 5, 1947 by a university archaeology team.
This site is about 75 miles northwest of Roswell, and is
famously referred to as the “Roswell crash”
because all the remnants of the crash were brought to the
Roswell Army Air Force base, where the military took control
of the information. The second crash site wasn’t discovered
until August, 1949. Another downed craft, it is said, was
found almost completely intact at a remote place outside
of Datil, New Mexico by two ranchers. Evidently, the two
spacecraft had collided somewhere near the Brazel ranch,
thus accounting for the debris field, but the second craft,
before hitting the ground itself, had limped on to the vicinity
of Datil, about 80 miles west of Corona. Four dead aliens,
the account goes on, were found at the Corona site, and
six at the Datil site. However, one alien survived the Corona
crash and was found hiding behind a rock. He was taken to
Los Alamos, and became known as EBE #1 (Extraterrestrial
Biological Entity #1). Although he “spoke” in
tonal variations, just as in Close Encounters, the scientists
at Los Alamos found a way to communicate with him, and he
informed them that he was from a planet in the constellation
Zeta Reticuli, about 40 light years from earth. The constellation
was also referenced in the famous 1966 UFO abduction account
of Betty and Barney Hill.
EBE #1 also provided researchers with a complete explanation
of all the devices found in the crashed spacecraft, one
of which was a piece of equipment for communicating with
his home planet that survived the impact. However, the Los
Alamos scientists could not get it to work until they discovered
how to hook it up to the energy source on the crashed Corona
disc. That was in the early summer of 1952. However EBE#1
died later that summer after sending six unanswered messages
to his planet.
After the death of EBE#1, says Anonymous, the Los Alamos
scientists figured out how to use the device correctly to
communicate with the extraterrestrial race they had now
named the “Ebens,” and they received the first
reply around December, 1952. Eventually, they were able
to converse in rough English. Over the next nine years,
the communications wrinkles were slowly ironed out, mostly
by trial and error. Finally, in 1962, it was arranged that
the Ebens would send another mission to earth in April of
1964, and that we would meet the craft at Holloman Air Force
Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. By this time President
Kennedy was in office. Then, according to Anonymous, “Several
months into the planning process, President Kennedy decided
to approve a plan to exchange a special military team. The
USAF was tasked as the lead agency. The USAF officials picked
special civilian scientists to assist in planning and crew
selection.” It was arranged that we would send twelve
astronauts to Serpo, and they would leave one Eben here
in the custody of the U.S. government.
As might be imagined, the selection and training of the
twelve astronaut-ambassadors was an extraordinary undertaking.
After months of discussion it was ultimately decided that
they be career military, single with no children and preferably
orphans themselves, and with multiple special skills. Originally,
about 56,000 files were screened of which 158 were picked
by the selection committee. The final twelve, ten men and
two women, plus four alternates, were chosen based on complex
psychological, medical and other tests. All the team members
were “sheep-dipped,” i.e., all identification
records were purged, including social security, IRS, medical,
military et al, and they were all listed as “missing”
and discharged, so that no connection with their former
identities remained. They were then assigned three digit
numbers as new identities. They went through very difficult
training for six months, mostly at Camp Perry in Virginia.
Anonymous says, “Each team member had to endure extreme
psychological and physical training. In one training test,
each team member was locked inside a 5' x 7' box buried
seven feet underground for five days, with just food and
water, no contact with anyone else and in total darkness.”
Four of the team members who were pilots were taught to
fly an Eben craft back to earth, using for training the
space ship recovered in 1949, in case it was necessary to
escape from Serpo. In addition to the four pilots, the team
consisted of two linguists, one biologist, two scientists,
two doctors, and one security man. They were all given suicide
pills and the team was assigned four 45 Colt revolvers and
eight M2 carbine rifles.
The 1964 rendezvous occurred almost exactly as planned.
Two Eben craft entered our atmosphere during the afternoon
of April 24, 1964. After an initial mix-up, one landed just
west of Holloman Air Force Base near the southern entrance
to the White Sands Army Base, precisely at the designated
location. The alien visitors were greeted by 16 senior U.S.
government officials. It is not known whether or not President
Johnson was among them. The Ebens brought electronic translating
devices with them to facilitate communications. The remains
of the eleven dead aliens were taken on board. Anonymous
does not give the agenda of the meeting, but it is believed
they presented us with the “Yellow Book,” a
complete history of planet earth. The twelve astronauts
were ready to board at that meeting and waited on a bus,
but the aliens decided then that the exchange should wait
until 1965. Then, in July, 1965, an alien craft returned,
this time to the Nevada Atomic Test Site. Very much like
the scene in Close Encounters, this was a simple, unceremonious,
working meeting. The twelve courageous astronauts boarded
the Eben craft along with 40 tons of supplies, for an intended
stay of ten years. Four of them would never see Mother Earth
again. Two would die, and two would choose to remain on
Serpo. The others would not return until thirteen years
later.
“We See Two Suns”
The trip to Serpo took ten months, during which the astronauts
experienced considerable discomfort. They were offered Eben
food, but all agreed that it tasted like paper, and they
stuck with the C-Rations they had brought along. The diary
of the team commander recounts the second day on board:
“We sat in the chairs and a clear container was placed
over us and the chair. We were isolated in this bubble or
sphere. We could breath (sic) OK and could see out, but
we really felt dizzy and confused. I think I fell asleep
or fainted. I think this is another day, but my watch says
one hour since we sat.” They used small metal containers
for elimination, which the Ebens emptied for them. Eventually,
they were able and allowed to wander freely around the enormous
ship. The team was able to communicate with earth HQ at
Kirtland AFB, using the alien device, for the entire trip.
Prior to reaching Serpo, the team member known as 308 had
some sort of accident and died of a pulmonary embolism.
The Ebens were respectful of the funerary rites of the astronauts,
but they took possession of the body.
The team commander’s account of the landing is vivid.
“We see the planet for the first time. We walk down
the ramp. Large number of Ebens waiting for us. We see a
large Eben, largest one we have seen yet…I guess this
guy is the leader. About one foot taller than the others.
The leader tells us we are welcome to planet…we are
lead (sic) to an open arena. Looks like a parade field.
The ground is dirt. Looking up, I see blue skies. The sky
is very clear. We see two suns. One brighter than the other.
The landscape looks like a desert, Arizona or New Mexico.
No vegetation that we can see. There are rolling hills but
nothing but dirt…The brightness is almost too much
for our eyes without sunglasses. What a planet.” They
were quartered in four huts that appeared to be adobe-like,
and all their gear was stored in an underground facility.
The temperature was 107. The buildings all had lights and
electricity generated by a small box. They were able to
plug their electrical devices into the box, and they all
worked.
The one they called Ebe2 was a female and spoke English
well. The team commander asked her for the body of 308.
They were taken to a large building where they met an Eben
doctor who spoke English. The commander’s diary describes
the confrontation: “This doctor told us that 308’s
body was not inside the container. The Ebens have done experiments
with 308’s body because they considered it an honor
to have such a specimen to work with. The doctor told us
they have used 308’s body to create a type of cloned
human being. I stopped the doctor at this point. I told
the doctor that the body of my teammate was the property
of the United States of America, planet Earth. The body
did not belong to the Ebens. I did not authorized (sic)
any experiments on the body of 308.” It was a tense
situation. The Ebens were upset with the team’s reaction,
and Ebe2 told them that “everyone should be nice,”
and repeated it several times. The astronauts had to back
off to prevent a major escalation of the incident.
The commander and the scientists (700 and 754) were given
permission to view what was left of the body of 308. This
brought them into a building where biological experiments
were being carried out. They were shocked by what they saw.
The commander says they viewed “Strange looking bodies.
Not human bodies, at least not all of them” from other
planets being grown and maintained in tubs. The Eben doctor
tried to explain the science behind their work, but the
earthlings didn’t comprehend because they didn’t
really understand DNA bio-technology in 1965. The team commander
concluded that it was all evil stuff. He says, “I
saw the dark side of this civilization.”
The population of Serpo is about 650,000. Anonymous says
that the Eben civilization is about 10,000 years old originating
on another planet which they were forced to leave 5,000
years ago due to volcanic destruction. The Ebens fought
a devastating interplanetary war about 3,000 years ago,
and wiped out their enemies using particle beam weapons.
The war lasted about 100 years. The Ebens have a “Council
of Governors,” which is in complete control of the
population, with membership for life. The astronauts observed
no crime, but there is an army, which also acts as a police
force. But no guns or weapons of any type were seen by the
team. There is one large community, which is the center
of the civilization. All the industry is concentrated there.
The Ebens do not use any type of currency—they are
all issued whatever they need from central distribution
centers. All adult Ebens do some type of work.
A 3,000-Page Book
Timekeeping was a problem for the astronauts, since the
batteries controlling the timepieces brought by the team
eventually ran out. This meant they could not keep track
of the calendar, so they eventually relied on Serpo time,
which was governed by the movement of their suns. So they
lost track of earth time and ended up staying thirteen years
instead of ten. It was determined by earth scientists that
Kepler’s Law of planetary motion did not apply to
Serpo. Carl Sagan was consulted on this, and wrote about
60 pages of opinion on the subject, but ultimately had to
acknowledge that earthly laws of physics do not necessarily
apply out of this solar system.
The eight astronauts returned in 1978, and were debriefed
for a solid year by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations,
which resulted in a 3,000-page book. Anonymous claims to
have a copy of this book. They were then released into civilian
life. The last survivor of this brave and historic band
of pioneers passed away in 2002. They had all absorbed large
doses of radiation while on Serpo, and it is believed that
this shortened their lives. In retrospect, it seems a shame
that President Kennedy didn’t live to see his initiative
become a reality. He was assassinated only five months before
the first landing. Would he have used the occasion to reveal
the extraterrestrial connection, perhaps with worldwide
TV coverage? Could that have been his plan from the beginning?
Perhaps some powerful insiders didn’t want that to
happen. In any case, thanks to Steven Spielberg, maybe we
got to see it after all.
