WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>Ted Bletcher's talk on humanoids at the nineteen seventy six

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<v Speaker 1>before a conference by UFO history buff and author Charles Lear,

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<v Speaker 1>read by Sam Milo Dragovic. Ed Bletcher, who passed away

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<v Speaker 1>not too long ago at the age of ninety four,

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<v Speaker 1>was a researcher and investigator who started out in the

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<v Speaker 1>days of flying saucers as a founding member of Civilian

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<v Speaker 1>Saucer Intelligence of New York and was active until the

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<v Speaker 1>mid nineteen eighties. He was an early researcher of humanoid reports,

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<v Speaker 1>starting in nineteen fifty five, just after the nineteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>four French humanoid wave in the nineteen fifty five Kelly

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<v Speaker 1>Hopkins Civilian Cident, and was the author of numerous publications

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<v Speaker 1>on the subject. Ducked away in the United Kingdom file

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<v Speaker 1>of the download section of the archives the Unexplained website

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<v Speaker 1>as a report he wrote titled Close Encounters of the

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<v Speaker 1>Third Kind that was published in nineteen seventy seven by

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<v Speaker 1>the British UFO Research Association. According to the introduction, the

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<v Speaker 1>paper was prepared for a talk he gave at the

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<v Speaker 1>bufora national UFO conference at the Center Hotel in Birmingham, England,

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<v Speaker 1>in November of nineteen seventy six. The subtitle describes the

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<v Speaker 1>paper as the preliminary presentation of extensive study into UFO

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<v Speaker 1>cases involving the reported sidings of humanoids and other alien beings,

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<v Speaker 1>and this blog will look at some of the highlights.

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<v Speaker 1>A publication starts off with a biography of Bletcher, which

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<v Speaker 1>includes his SAUCER and UFO involvement as a founding member

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<v Speaker 1>of CSI and Y, a staff member of the National

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<v Speaker 1>Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, a member of the Mutual

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<v Speaker 1>UFO Network since nineteen seventy two, and some of his publications.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time he was Mouffon's State Section director for

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<v Speaker 1>New York City and co chairman with David Webb of

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<v Speaker 1>Mouffon's Humanoid Study Group. Found that in nineteen seventy four,

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<v Speaker 1>Bletcher begins his reports saying that there had been a

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<v Speaker 1>number of unusual events that involve strange humanoid beings reported

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<v Speaker 1>throughout North America during the fall of nineteen seventy five.

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<v Speaker 1>He describes them as being the source of a great

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<v Speaker 1>deal of disbelief, confusion, and controversy, and posits they may

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<v Speaker 1>be the result of alien visitation, or, as some researchers

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<v Speaker 1>are suggesting, poorly understood manifestations of the human psyche, about

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<v Speaker 1>which there is much to discover. According to him c

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<v Speaker 1>E three, reports from a classification system developed by J.

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<v Speaker 1>Allen Heinek had not only escalated, but their level of

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<v Speaker 1>strangeness had as well. Bletcher then summarizes specific cases, which

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<v Speaker 1>are all footnoted with references. The first is a mother

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<v Speaker 1>and daughter from Birmingham, Alabama, who in November reportedly saw

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<v Speaker 1>two eight foot tall humanoids wearing tight fitting silver suits,

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<v Speaker 1>silver ankle high shoes, and helmets that reflected their car's

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<v Speaker 1>headlights as they drove towards them. One of the figures

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<v Speaker 1>held one arm over its head. The women were startled

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<v Speaker 1>by the creature's appearance and swerved around them without stopping

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<v Speaker 1>to investigate. Next, a woman driving near Piers, Alberta, Canada,

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<v Speaker 1>at five thirty p m. On October fourteenth, reportedly saw

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<v Speaker 1>what she first thought was a cattle truck parked with

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<v Speaker 1>its lights on. It turned out to be some sort

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<v Speaker 1>of object with two men, each holding a staff and

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<v Speaker 1>wearing a helmet, standing motionless on top. The woman went

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<v Speaker 1>to get two witnesses but when they returned, the object

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<v Speaker 1>and the men were gone. A highly strange case involved

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<v Speaker 1>an elderly couple in wa Watosa near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According

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<v Speaker 1>to Bletcher, they were at home on the evening of

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<v Speaker 1>November tenth. The doorbell rang. The wife answered it and

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<v Speaker 1>was confronted with a man wearing a narrow brimmed hat.

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<v Speaker 1>He had a brown face like smoked meat, with vertical

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<v Speaker 1>gray lines, a narrow chin, a small opening from mouth

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<v Speaker 1>less than a quarter inch wide, and he was holding

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<v Speaker 1>a white five foot long rod. He didn't respond to

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<v Speaker 1>her queries, and she called her husband over. When he

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<v Speaker 1>saw the man, he said, what the hell is this?

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<v Speaker 1>Something left over from trick or treat? He went to

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<v Speaker 1>grab the man when the man hit the ground with

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<v Speaker 1>the rod, which made an audible click, and he then

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<v Speaker 1>glided backwards out of the husband's reach. As he drifted

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<v Speaker 1>across the lawn, he raised his arm and presented a

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<v Speaker 1>bent hand to the witnesses. In spite of having seen

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<v Speaker 1>the man up close, the husband was unable to recall

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<v Speaker 1>the details of his face other than the small mouth.

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<v Speaker 1>The couple saw at least four other similar creatures on

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<v Speaker 1>their lawn and in the street. They were all moving

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<v Speaker 1>like the astronauts on the Moon and long slow jumps.

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<v Speaker 1>They all had rods and hit them on the ground

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<v Speaker 1>and would then float a few inches above the lawn.

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<v Speaker 1>The creatures are described as looking deformed like gnomes, with

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<v Speaker 1>bowed legs and claw like hands. Bletcher notes that there

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<v Speaker 1>were no UFOs reported in the area. The next case

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<v Speaker 1>from Poland Spring's, Maine does involve the UFO. According to Bletcher,

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<v Speaker 1>on October twenty seventh, at two thirty a m two

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<v Speaker 1>youths were driving and found themselves no longer controlling the car.

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<v Speaker 1>The cart proceeded down a back road near a lake,

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<v Speaker 1>and they saw UFO, described as a large cylindrical object

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<v Speaker 1>as it rose up over a field. A number of

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<v Speaker 1>strange events are said to have occurred, which included a

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<v Speaker 1>fog or mist enveloping the car. They were able to

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<v Speaker 1>drive away, but later returned due to an irresistible impulse,

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<v Speaker 1>and this time they saw the original object as well

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<v Speaker 1>as another one. When they got home. There was a

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<v Speaker 1>period of time they couldn't account for, and one of them,

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<v Speaker 1>identified as a young man, began to suffer some odd

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<v Speaker 1>physical effects. The young man underwent hypnotic regression weeks later,

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<v Speaker 1>and recounted being taken from the car and then finding

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<v Speaker 1>himself looking down at his car and companion through a portal.

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<v Speaker 1>According to him, he was confronted by a four and

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<v Speaker 1>a half foot tall creature that communicated telepathically and told

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<v Speaker 1>him not to be afraid. He was led into a room,

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<v Speaker 1>told to undress, and then underwent a physical exam, which

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<v Speaker 1>included blood being taken and him being scanned by a

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<v Speaker 1>machine with dials. He was told to get dressed and

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<v Speaker 1>they'd seen him again, and he then found himself back

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<v Speaker 1>in the car, where his companion seemed unaware that he'd

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<v Speaker 1>been gone. According to Bletcher, the young man and his

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<v Speaker 1>family reported seeing UFOs afterwards on numerous occasions. He says

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<v Speaker 1>they also reported other events of a strange nature that

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<v Speaker 1>were too complex and involved to be included in this summary,

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<v Speaker 1>and that everything had occurred during a spade of reported

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<v Speaker 1>UFO sidings in the area. The last case Bletcher summarizes

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<v Speaker 1>as the Travis Walton incident. He notes that it was

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<v Speaker 1>widely publicized here and abroad, and out of all the

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<v Speaker 1>cases summarized, the most highly controversial, with too many complications

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<v Speaker 1>to include in the summary. After his summaries, Bletcher explains

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<v Speaker 1>that due to the enormous number of UFO reports, for

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<v Speaker 1>instance the ninety thousand case entries in the computerized UFO

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<v Speaker 1>Catalog UFO cat set up by David Saunders, researchers are

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<v Speaker 1>obliged to focus on the phenomenon in microcosm, and that

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<v Speaker 1>this is what he's doing with humanoid reports. Bletcher then

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<v Speaker 1>makes note of the benefits of research into CE three

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<v Speaker 1>reports in terms of the amount of data they provide

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<v Speaker 1>as compared to a light in the Sky report. He

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<v Speaker 1>introduces the term entity and goes on at length about

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<v Speaker 1>the reports of their appearance, behavior, activities, association with vehicles,

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<v Speaker 1>and communication with witnesses. He provides a chart of the

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<v Speaker 1>yearly distribution of reports and a statistical breakdown, and introduces

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<v Speaker 1>the Humanoid Study Group and Humanoid Catalog humecat. Bletcher was

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<v Speaker 1>a pioneer in humanoid study at a time when most researchers,

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<v Speaker 1>in his words, dealt only gingerly with the subject after

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<v Speaker 1>the Travis Walton incident and the Pascagoula incident just over

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<v Speaker 1>three years before. At the time of his talk, Bletcher's

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<v Speaker 1>fringe research was on its way to becoming mainstream. Charles

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<v Speaker 1>Lair is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators in

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<v Speaker 1>its second edition on Amazon dot com.