1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,240
Speaker 1: Okay, get ready for this one. Imagine investigating strange lights,

2
00:00:04,719 --> 00:00:09,800
maybe UFOs, and those investigations driving you, well, driving you

3
00:00:09,919 --> 00:00:11,480
into a mental institution.

4
00:00:11,759 --> 00:00:13,640
Speaker 2: It sounds like something out of a movie, doesn't it.

5
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,080
But it's a real story, it is.

6
00:00:15,359 --> 00:00:17,719
Speaker 1: We're talking about a man named Paul Benowitz. He lives

7
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,359
right next door at Kirkland Air Force Base, and what started.

8
00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,199
Speaker 2: His curiosity about lights in the sky it spiraled into

9
00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:24,760
something truly bizarre.

10
00:00:24,879 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is going to be quite the deep dive.

11
00:00:28,239 --> 00:00:31,839
We're looking at his experiences, his supposed discoveries, and the

12
00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:36,079
frankly unbelievable turn his whole investigation took.

13
00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:38,560
Speaker 2: I've got some really detailed analysis on this case to

14
00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,159
draw from. It's a complex.

15
00:00:39,799 --> 00:00:42,920
Speaker 1: Story, definitely, So let's set the scene. Paul Benowitz, this

16
00:00:43,039 --> 00:00:45,520
wasn't just some casual observer, No, not at all.

17
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,759
Speaker 2: He had a PhD in physics, right, and.

18
00:00:47,679 --> 00:00:51,960
Speaker 1: He owned a successful electronics company, Thunder Scientific.

19
00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,159
Speaker 2: Which is just a fantastic name, by the way, sounds

20
00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,079
very powerful.

21
00:00:55,679 --> 00:00:58,799
Speaker 1: It really does. And his main clients get this, the

22
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,880
Air Force, NASA.

23
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,200
Speaker 2: So he was already deeply connected to that world, you know,

24
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:09,239
military contracts, high tech stuff. Living in Albuquerque, right beside Kirtlin.

25
00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:11,680
He knew about aircraft exactly.

26
00:01:12,159 --> 00:01:16,040
Speaker 1: He's a scientist, a pilot himself. He understands flight technology.

27
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:22,159
So when he starts seeing these colored lights near the.

28
00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 2: Base, uh huh, doing things that normal planes just can't do,

29
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,879
moving way too fast, weird maneuvers.

30
00:01:27,519 --> 00:01:29,799
Speaker 1: He didn't just shrug it off. He started documenting it,

31
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,560
filming them, trying to figure it out scientifically.

32
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,040
Speaker 2: And that's where his other expertise kicks in the electronic.

33
00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 1: Side, right, He wasn't just watching. He set up equipment.

34
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 2: And he starts picking up these very unusual radio signals,

35
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,920
well kind of sign talking transmissions in the gigahertz range,

36
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,000
way higher frequency than you know, typical military comms he'd

37
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:48,640
be familiar with.

38
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,799
Speaker 1: So as a contractor, a pilot, he'd recognize that difference immediately.

39
00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:58,680
Speaker 2: Absolutely, he saw them as data bursts, structured information messages potentially.

40
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,599
Speaker 1: Okay, so lights signals. Meanwhile, what's the official word from

41
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:03,200
the Air Force.

42
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,200
Speaker 2: Well, publicly you had people like Richard Horner, assistant secretary

43
00:02:07,239 --> 00:02:09,759
for R and D, saying, you know, most UFO reports

44
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,039
they're just natural stuff, weather balloons, meteors, the.

45
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,080
Speaker 1: Usual explanations neither mysterious nor dire case closed.

46
00:02:17,159 --> 00:02:20,039
Speaker 2: Right, That was the public face, But behind the scenes

47
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,680
it's a bit different. We have hints from older internal documents. Oh,

48
00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:28,319
like what well, way back in nineteen forty seven, there's

49
00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,280
this supposed secret assessment from the Air Technical Intelligence Center

50
00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:35,000
basically saying, whatever these things are, they're real.

51
00:02:35,319 --> 00:02:37,400
Speaker 1: Wow. Nineteen forty seven, that's early.

52
00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,400
Speaker 2: And it escalates by forty eight. Another adic estimate, this

53
00:02:40,479 --> 00:02:44,000
one top secret, apparently went to General Vandenberg, suggesting they

54
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,319
could be interplanetary spaceships.

55
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,360
Speaker 1: Interplanetary space ships. Yeah, from Air Force intelligence.

56
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,599
Speaker 2: That's what these documents suggest. Then by fifty two they're

57
00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:57,319
analyzing maneuvers based on radar tracking photos, really digging in.

58
00:02:57,479 --> 00:02:59,719
Speaker 1: So they were taking it seriously internally, even if they

59
00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:00,800
down played it publicly.

60
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,080
Speaker 2: Seems that way. In fifty three you even had a

61
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,240
special panel CIA and Air Force scientists at the Pentagon

62
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,639
noting a very strong circumstantial case even without absolute proof.

63
00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,120
Speaker 1: What did they recommend get this?

64
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,879
Speaker 2: They apparently suggested quadrupling the investigation effort, setting up dedicated

65
00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,960
observation posts, and maybe even releasing some info to the public.

66
00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,759
Speaker 1: Which obviously didn't happen. Not in that way, but it

67
00:03:24,759 --> 00:03:27,360
begs the question the source raises, right, if.

68
00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,439
Speaker 2: They don't exist, why all the money, why the Intel

69
00:03:30,479 --> 00:03:33,319
team's rushing to sightings. It doesn't quite add up with

70
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:34,400
the public dismissal.

71
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,879
Speaker 1: Okay, So back to Benowitz. He's got these signals, these

72
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,039
data bursts. He's not just listening, he's trying to crack them.

73
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he sees patterns. It's complex though, not something

74
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:46,960
you can just decipher by hand.

75
00:03:47,159 --> 00:03:47,800
Speaker 1: So what did he do?

76
00:03:48,319 --> 00:03:51,120
Speaker 2: He used an early home computer, pretty cutting edge for

77
00:03:51,159 --> 00:03:54,879
the time, and actually wrote his own software to analyze

78
00:03:54,879 --> 00:03:57,560
what he believed was this alien broadcast.

79
00:03:57,639 --> 00:03:59,639
Speaker 1: He wrote his own software. That's serious dedication.

80
00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,319
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. And he used this classic cryptoanalysis trick,

81
00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:05,240
contextual analysis.

82
00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:06,439
Speaker 1: How does that work exactly?

83
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,639
Speaker 2: Well, he basically guessed that any message would likely contain

84
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,960
fundamental words things like ship, base, air, water, time, you know,

85
00:04:15,159 --> 00:04:18,360
core concepts, and he programmed his computer to look for

86
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,800
pattern that might correspond to those assumed words. And the

87
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:23,519
claim is it worked.

88
00:04:23,959 --> 00:04:25,879
Speaker 1: He started getting translations.

89
00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:29,319
Speaker 2: Not exact word for word translations. It's more like understanding

90
00:04:29,319 --> 00:04:32,800
the meaning based on context. The analogy used is like

91
00:04:32,959 --> 00:04:35,480
making coffee. You might not know the exact words, but

92
00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,480
you see patterns related to beans, water, heat, drinking. You

93
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:40,040
get the gist.

94
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,040
Speaker 1: So he's building a sense of the message content even

95
00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:44,759
without a dictionary exactly.

96
00:04:45,079 --> 00:04:48,839
Speaker 2: His first attempts were probably pretty meaningless, almost gibberish, but

97
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,879
over time he felt he was getting a clearer picture

98
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,360
the general themes, maybe even their motives.

99
00:04:54,439 --> 00:04:57,920
Speaker 1: And then he does something well, maybe not advisable.

100
00:04:58,079 --> 00:05:00,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, he decides to send his own message back using

101
00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,199
this rudimentary understanding. He thinks he's developed, and he claims

102
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:04,959
he got a reply.

103
00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,040
Speaker 1: WHOA. So in his mind, this is it first contact

104
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,319
two way communication with aliens.

105
00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,720
Speaker 2: That's what he believed, an absolutely monumental event, if true.

106
00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:17,079
Speaker 1: What were these messages like? Were they you know, we

107
00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:17,839
come in peace?

108
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:23,079
Speaker 2: Uh? Not exactly. They were often really strange, cryptic, and

109
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:27,720
sometimes pretty ominous, like give me an examp okay. One

110
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,360
phrase he reportedly decoded was round ground women of Earth

111
00:05:31,439 --> 00:05:32,319
are needed.

112
00:05:32,079 --> 00:05:35,879
Speaker 1: Flexible, needed flexible. That sounds incredibly.

113
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,079
Speaker 2: Creepy, right, very unsettling implications. Another one was the next

114
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,839
discharges our ship. Our women do not command the north

115
00:05:41,879 --> 00:05:45,560
among us. You have many friends water very short. Resist

116
00:05:45,639 --> 00:05:48,480
all attempts of adoration. Listen Orange, make.

117
00:05:48,319 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 1: Peace, Listen Orange. What does that even mean? It's just

118
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,839
bizarre water very short. Okay, maybe that's intel, but the.

119
00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,279
Speaker 2: Rest it's a jumble. Some bits seem potentially informative, others

120
00:05:58,319 --> 00:06:01,680
completely nonsensical like that, Listen Orange. Part It highlights the

121
00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,839
huge challenge of trying to understand something truly alien.

122
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,839
Speaker 1: No shared context at all, any others, Oh yeah, victory.

123
00:06:07,879 --> 00:06:11,079
Our bases obtained supplies from the starship Metal. Time is yanked.

124
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,879
Time is yet message hitstar using rejuvenation methods got us

125
00:06:14,879 --> 00:06:17,839
in trouble. Six Sky we realized, tell you all might

126
00:06:17,879 --> 00:06:19,439
help you. All your base up belong to us.

127
00:06:19,639 --> 00:06:22,360
Speaker 2: Time is yanked. Rejuvenation methods got us in trouble. It

128
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,839
sounds like snippets from a sci fi novel Almost and

129
00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:29,480
another take fast portion Universe against our aggression. The number

130
00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,120
of our crashed saucers is eight. Wherever we realize tell

131
00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,240
the truth jump jump opposite Alien forces me no help

132
00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,639
to you, that'll become invisible, keeping change. We will not

133
00:06:39,759 --> 00:06:42,240
join sides with anyone, but our race is dying on

134
00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:43,439
the home planet.

135
00:06:43,199 --> 00:06:47,279
Speaker 1: Crash Saucers the dying race aggression. This paints a picture

136
00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:50,920
of conflict, desperation. Not friendly visitors, definitely not.

137
00:06:51,079 --> 00:06:54,240
Speaker 2: And Benowitz started to believe their intentions were hostile. He

138
00:06:54,319 --> 00:06:57,959
saw this communication as a way to learn more fine weaknesses.

139
00:06:58,199 --> 00:07:01,480
Speaker 1: So he's developing this whole narrative on these decoded messages.

140
00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,439
Speaker 2: Yes, he concluded their homeworld was dying, that there wasn't

141
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,839
just one alien race here, but multiple. He even distinguished

142
00:07:08,879 --> 00:07:12,079
between the typical Grays and another group that looked more human,

143
00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,720
which he called the valiant aliens, almost like good guys

144
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:15,399
and bad guys.

145
00:07:15,639 --> 00:07:17,720
Speaker 1: And he thought the Grays were the main threat.

146
00:07:17,759 --> 00:07:20,120
Speaker 2: That seems to be his interpretation. Yeah, maybe the ones

147
00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,680
with the dying planet. And he became utterly convinced and

148
00:07:23,839 --> 00:07:26,160
invasion was coming. People had to be warned.

149
00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,839
Speaker 1: So, armed with this terrifying conclusion, what does he do?

150
00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:34,040
Speaker 2: He puts together a huge dossier, all his evidence, votos videos,

151
00:07:34,079 --> 00:07:37,199
the signal data, his translations, and he goes directly to

152
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:38,439
the Air Force at Kirtland.

153
00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:42,040
Speaker 1: Now, remember he's a known quantity to them, a veteran,

154
00:07:42,199 --> 00:07:44,040
a trusted contractor.

155
00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,720
Speaker 2: Right, so they don't just dismiss amount of hand. He

156
00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:48,800
gets a meeting the base commander takes it seriously enough

157
00:07:48,839 --> 00:07:53,160
to call in the OSI, the Office of Special Investigations.

158
00:07:52,639 --> 00:07:57,040
Speaker 1: OSI, so internal affairs, counterintelligence.

159
00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,519
Speaker 2: That sort of thing exactly. They assign an agent to

160
00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:01,920
his case, a man named Richard Dody.

161
00:08:02,319 --> 00:08:04,800
Speaker 1: Dody. Oh, okay, that name is going to be important.

162
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,079
Speaker 2: I suspect very Dody reviews everything Benowitz has, the photos,

163
00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,399
the tapes, the computer analysis.

164
00:08:09,839 --> 00:08:10,879
Speaker 1: And an Air Force reaction.

165
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,199
Speaker 2: They actually agree to fund his research further.

166
00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: Wait, really they fund his alien decoding project?

167
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,480
Speaker 2: Yes, with one condition he reports everything directly and only

168
00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:21,000
to them.

169
00:08:21,199 --> 00:08:26,360
Speaker 1: Wow. So for Benowitz this must have felt like total validation.

170
00:08:26,839 --> 00:08:28,879
The Air Force believes him absolutely.

171
00:08:28,959 --> 00:08:31,360
Speaker 2: He's convinced he's on the verge of saving humanity. He

172
00:08:31,439 --> 00:08:33,600
just needs to gather more intel, figure out how to

173
00:08:33,639 --> 00:08:34,720
beat these aliens.

174
00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,480
Speaker 1: And around this time you've got movies like ET and

175
00:08:38,519 --> 00:08:42,159
Close Encounters becoming huge. How did Benoit's.

176
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:45,639
Speaker 2: View those He developed this theory kind of elaborate. He

177
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:47,519
thought those films weren't just entertainment.

178
00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:48,440
Speaker 1: What then he.

179
00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,480
Speaker 2: Believed they were guided by this secret group he'd heard about, MJ.

180
00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:57,440
Speaker 1: Twelve, MJ twelve, the alleged UFO control group twelve powerful figures.

181
00:08:57,519 --> 00:09:00,480
Speaker 2: Right, he thought ANJ twelve was using Hollywood prep the

182
00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,320
public for disclosure, but focusing only on benevolent aliens, softening

183
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:05,720
the blow.

184
00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:08,720
Speaker 1: Maybe the kind of psychological operation that was his theory.

185
00:09:08,799 --> 00:09:11,600
Speaker 2: But then as his own messages got darker, he felt

186
00:09:11,639 --> 00:09:14,360
he'd been double crossed. He called it the Grand Deception.

187
00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,039
Speaker 1: He thought the benevolent alien portrayal was a lie to

188
00:09:18,159 --> 00:09:19,120
hide the real.

189
00:09:18,919 --> 00:09:21,960
Speaker 2: Threat exactly, and this ties into another piece of the puzzle.

190
00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:23,879
The Aquarius document.

191
00:09:24,039 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 1: Ah, Yes, the supposed top secret file. How did he

192
00:09:26,759 --> 00:09:27,159
get that?

193
00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,840
Speaker 2: Through a UFO researcher named Bill Moore. Moore gave Benowitz

194
00:09:30,919 --> 00:09:35,440
this document, Project Aquarius, which supposedly detailed US government knowledge

195
00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,399
of aliens and mentioned MJ twelve.

196
00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 1: So for Benebitz, this document proves MG twelve is real

197
00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:42,639
and the government knows everything.

198
00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,399
Speaker 2: It absolutely cemented his beliefs. He and Moore didn't know

199
00:09:47,039 --> 00:09:50,279
the full MJ twelve lore yet, it was still very obscure,

200
00:09:50,639 --> 00:09:53,480
but the document seemed like confirmation from the inside.

201
00:09:53,639 --> 00:09:56,519
Speaker 1: So his conviction is just growing stronger and stronger. And

202
00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:58,240
then his investigation gets physical.

203
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,639
Speaker 2: Yes, he becomes obsessed with the the idea of an

204
00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,960
underground alien base, specifically near Dulcee, New Mexico Archuletta.

205
00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,799
Speaker 1: Mesa Dulce. That place has a long history in UFO

206
00:10:08,879 --> 00:10:09,759
lore exactly.

207
00:10:10,039 --> 00:10:14,440
Speaker 2: Benowitz starts doing his own flyovers low altitude, taking pictures.

208
00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:15,960
Speaker 1: What did he claim to photograph?

209
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:21,200
Speaker 2: Things like strange domes on the surface, vents, towers, signs

210
00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:22,600
of a hidden facility.

211
00:10:22,879 --> 00:10:25,000
Speaker 1: And he also thought he saw evidence of a conflict.

212
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, he believed the relationship between the aliens and the

213
00:10:27,919 --> 00:10:31,120
US government, the secret Pact, maybe had broken down.

214
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:32,120
Speaker 1: What made him think that?

215
00:10:32,399 --> 00:10:36,000
Speaker 2: On one flyover near Dulce, he claimed he saw scorched ground,

216
00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,039
trees flattened like there'd been a battle, even down aircraft wreckage.

217
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,320
Speaker 1: So now it's not just an invasion, it's an active

218
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:43,799
conflict happening in secret.

219
00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 2: In his mind, yes, and this leads him to create

220
00:10:46,919 --> 00:10:47,840
Project Beta.

221
00:10:47,879 --> 00:10:49,000
Speaker 1: Project Beta. What was that?

222
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,559
Speaker 2: It was his magnum opus, basically his comprehensive report, containing

223
00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,919
what he believed was the alien takeover plan, his counter

224
00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,600
strategy to defeat them, and even a weapon, a.

225
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,039
Speaker 1: Weapon to fight aliens. He was really going all.

226
00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:07,440
Speaker 2: In completely, and Project Beta contained some truly terrifying claims

227
00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,360
That says he claimed three hundred thousand Americans had already

228
00:11:11,399 --> 00:11:15,080
been abducted and implanted, implanted with what devices that acted

229
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:20,399
like cameras, microphones, but could also implant false memories, control minds,

230
00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:21,679
even shut down your brain.

231
00:11:21,919 --> 00:11:23,200
Speaker 1: That's incredibly paranoid.

232
00:11:23,399 --> 00:11:26,360
Speaker 2: And he claimed horrific genetic experiments were happening at the

233
00:11:26,399 --> 00:11:30,879
Dulce base, splicing alien and human DNA, creating hybrids.

234
00:11:30,919 --> 00:11:34,679
Speaker 1: Just nightmares stuff. What happened? When he tried to warn people, senators, the.

235
00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:38,039
Speaker 2: President, he sent Project Beta out. The response basically a

236
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,440
form letter referencing the closure of Project Blue Book, saying

237
00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,399
the Air Force wasn't investigating UFOs anymore.

238
00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,399
Speaker 1: Which to him must have just proven they were compromised exactly.

239
00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,279
Speaker 2: He became convinced the government was infiltrated, officials implanted, He

240
00:11:51,279 --> 00:11:55,080
couldn't trust anyone. His frustration and paranoia just skyrocketed.

241
00:11:55,279 --> 00:11:58,200
Speaker 1: This is when things really started to deteriorate for him personally.

242
00:11:57,879 --> 00:11:59,000
Speaker 2: Wasn't it tragically?

243
00:11:59,120 --> 00:11:59,320
Speaker 1: Yes?

244
00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:03,240
Speaker 2: Bill Moore and Richard Dody visited him later on, found

245
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,840
him in a terrible state, how so, extremely paranoid, convinced

246
00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,240
he was being watched followed constantly. He'd lost a lot

247
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:15,600
of weight, smoking heavily. His house apparently had weapons stashed.

248
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,679
Speaker 1: Around, and he was claiming nightly encounters.

249
00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, alien visits, being taken injected with things, lost time

250
00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,080
more and Dody even said they saw what looked like

251
00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,120
needle marks on his arms, which.

252
00:12:26,919 --> 00:12:29,639
Speaker 1: Could have seemed like validation to them or just deeply

253
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:30,840
worrying both.

254
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,159
Speaker 2: Probably his family and friends were begging him to stop.

255
00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,200
His business was failing, but he couldn't let it go. No,

256
00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,360
he believed he was saving the world. His paranoia intensified.

257
00:12:41,639 --> 00:12:44,960
He started distrusting everyone, even his own wife and kids.

258
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:46,279
He thought they were implanted.

259
00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:47,480
Speaker 1: Oh that's heartbreaking.

260
00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,600
Speaker 2: It led to him barricading himself in his house, sandbags,

261
00:12:50,639 --> 00:12:54,360
boarded windows, a complete break from reality. In evenual, his

262
00:12:54,399 --> 00:12:57,600
family had him committed to a psychiatric facility. He spent

263
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,960
years in and out of hospitals. Paul Benowitz died in

264
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,279
two thousand and three, after nearly twenty five years consumed

265
00:13:04,279 --> 00:13:06,679
by this intense paranoia and mental agony.

266
00:13:06,879 --> 00:13:11,759
Speaker 1: An absolutely tragic end to what started as genuine scientific curiosity.

267
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,519
But there's a twist, isn't there a really dark one?

268
00:13:15,759 --> 00:13:18,799
Speaker 2: This is where the story takes that horrifying turn. The

269
00:13:18,919 --> 00:13:21,759
shocking truth, according to the sources we have, is that

270
00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,120
almost everything Benowitz believed it was a lie.

271
00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,840
Speaker 1: What do you mean, Alie? The signals, the base, the

272
00:13:27,879 --> 00:13:29,080
invasions plus all of.

273
00:13:29,039 --> 00:13:32,320
Speaker 2: It, the alien story, the secret base, the transmissions, the

274
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:36,039
genetic horrors, the abductions, the takeover plant reportedly.

275
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,000
Speaker 1: Fabricated, fabricated by who and why?

276
00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,120
Speaker 2: By agent Richard Dody and the US government, specifically the

277
00:13:41,159 --> 00:13:42,759
Air Force Office of Special.

278
00:13:42,399 --> 00:13:45,120
Speaker 1: Investigations OSI, the people who were supposedly helping him.

279
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:50,080
Speaker 2: Yes, remember OSI does counterintelligence, and a key tool encounterintelligence

280
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:51,159
is disinformation.

281
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,360
Speaker 1: Why target Benoit's with disinformation?

282
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,279
Speaker 2: Because his initial observations were likely real, but not extraterrestrial.

283
00:13:57,639 --> 00:14:02,320
He probably was detecting sensitive transmissions from Kirtland classified stuff

284
00:14:02,799 --> 00:14:06,759
and the UFOs He filmed almost certainly secret experimental aircraft

285
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,600
being tested right near his house, stealth prototypes, maybe early drones.

286
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: So he accidentally stumbled onto top secret projects exactly.

287
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,120
Speaker 2: And the fear was what if he wasn't just a

288
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,159
curious physicist, What if he was compromised or could be

289
00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:23,840
what if his findings reached the Soviets?

290
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,120
Speaker 1: Okay, I see the national security angle, But fabricating an

291
00:14:27,279 --> 00:14:31,159
entire alien invasion scenario, yeah, that seems extreme.

292
00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,759
Speaker 2: It was extreme. Instead of just telling him to stop,

293
00:14:33,799 --> 00:14:36,600
which might have tipped off adversaries if he was compromised,

294
00:14:36,919 --> 00:14:40,440
they decided to actively mislead him, to discredit him by

295
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,279
pushing him towards aliens.

296
00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:46,559
Speaker 1: So Doty wasn't validating him, he was feeding him misinformation.

297
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,240
Speaker 2: It seems so started subtly, maybe just hinting at UFOs,

298
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,840
then escalating the lies as benefits bought into it. Other

299
00:14:53,879 --> 00:14:56,679
agencies apparently got involved to like the NCAA, what do

300
00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,519
they do? Allegedly they surveiled him from a vacant house

301
00:14:59,559 --> 00:15:02,919
across the street, and get this, they might have been

302
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,799
the ones sending the fake alien signals he was decoding.

303
00:15:06,919 --> 00:15:09,559
They sent the segment and possibly even swapped out his

304
00:15:09,559 --> 00:15:13,000
computer with a rigged one to control the decoded results

305
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,840
and make sure they fit the narrative they were feeding him.

306
00:15:15,879 --> 00:15:19,240
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. He was completely manipulated, a victim.

307
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,360
Speaker 2: He was the target of a massive counterintelligence operation. And

308
00:15:23,399 --> 00:15:26,480
it wasn't just him, the CIA, the military. There's evidence

309
00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:30,679
they've used UFO stories to mislead the public before. FIA

310
00:15:30,759 --> 00:15:32,600
documents hint at this history.

311
00:15:32,919 --> 00:15:36,200
Speaker 1: And Bill Moore, the researcher who gave him the Aquarius documents.

312
00:15:36,519 --> 00:15:37,279
He was in on it.

313
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,159
Speaker 2: Dottie apparently recruited more the deal was more spread some

314
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,720
fake UFO stories feeds Doty info on other researchers.

315
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,039
Speaker 1: Oh, we more agree to that in exchange.

316
00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:50,879
Speaker 2: For access to supposedly real government UFO documents. Dottie wanted

317
00:15:50,919 --> 00:15:53,320
to map out the UFO communities, see who knew what

318
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,480
identified potential weeks. Remember, Kirtlin was likely testing crucial tech

319
00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:58,919
like stealth or drones.

320
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,360
Speaker 1: Then, so the the Aquarious document morgab Benowitz was faked altered.

321
00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,720
Speaker 2: Yes, Dody allegedly pressured More to give Benowitz a version

322
00:16:07,799 --> 00:16:11,759
specifically tailored to confirm his delusions, dismissing morres concerns about

323
00:16:11,799 --> 00:16:12,799
it being different.

324
00:16:12,559 --> 00:16:15,320
Speaker 1: And the stuff near Dulcy. The domes, the.

325
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,519
Speaker 2: Vents also likely part of the staging props, fake wreckage,

326
00:16:19,919 --> 00:16:22,919
Even black helicopters flown at specific times to reinforce the

327
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,960
illusion of a secret base, all orchestrated by Osi.

328
00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,440
Speaker 1: Allegedly, the scale of this deception is just mind boggling.

329
00:16:29,759 --> 00:16:32,159
Dode's goal wasn't just Benowitz, was it.

330
00:16:32,159 --> 00:16:35,080
Speaker 2: It seems his larger goal was to infiltrate the entire

331
00:16:35,279 --> 00:16:40,720
UFO field with disinformation, create noise, identify real security risks,

332
00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,279
and neutralize them by burying them in nonsense.

333
00:16:43,519 --> 00:16:46,879
Speaker 1: But eventually the truth started to leak out. More confessed

334
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:47,679
right big time.

335
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,159
Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty nine, at a huge m UFON conference,

336
00:16:51,399 --> 00:16:53,679
Moore gets up on stage and confesses everything.

337
00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:55,039
Speaker 1: Wow, what did he say?

338
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,679
Speaker 2: Admit if he'd been spreading government lies about UFOs for

339
00:16:57,759 --> 00:17:00,840
years working with Dody at Kirtland said he fed disinformation

340
00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:03,440
to Beneitz and spied on other researchers for the government.

341
00:17:03,519 --> 00:17:05,559
Speaker 1: How did the audience react terribly?

342
00:17:06,039 --> 00:17:08,880
Speaker 2: He was basically booed off stage. It ruined his career

343
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,640
in ufology. He also claimed other prominent researchers made similar deals,

344
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,039
and that Dody fed stories to tabloids too.

345
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,759
Speaker 1: So the goal was achieved in a way. Muddy the

346
00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:21,559
waters makes serious research impossible.

347
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:25,440
Speaker 2: You could argue it was very effective. It marginalized believers,

348
00:17:25,759 --> 00:17:30,160
made the topic toxic for mainstream investigation, created total confusion.

349
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,359
Speaker 1: But what about Dody himself after orchestrating all this, what's

350
00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:34,079
his story now?

351
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,759
Speaker 2: Well, that's where it gets even weirder. Dody, after leaving OSI,

352
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:39,480
starts showing up at UFO.

353
00:17:39,319 --> 00:17:41,680
Speaker 1: Conventions saying what that it was all fake?

354
00:17:41,839 --> 00:17:44,920
Speaker 2: No, quite the opposite. Sometimes he's claimed that maybe eighty

355
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:49,200
percent of UFO info is real Roswell crashed saucers, recovered bodies.

356
00:17:49,319 --> 00:17:51,640
Speaker 1: Wait, the guy who ran the disinformation campaign now says

357
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:52,480
it's mostly true.

358
00:17:52,599 --> 00:17:55,240
Speaker 2: Yep. He even told a story about a live alien

359
00:17:55,279 --> 00:17:58,599
held at Los Alamos who liked get this, Tibetan music

360
00:17:58,640 --> 00:17:59,720
and strawberry ice cream?

361
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,880
Speaker 1: How berry ice cream? Seriously? How can anyone trust a word?

362
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:07,039
Speaker 2: He says, exactly, that's the problem. He's a known disinformant.

363
00:18:07,319 --> 00:18:10,720
His stories have changed over time. And there's another wrinkle.

364
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,759
He spent ten years working as a contractor for how.

365
00:18:14,599 --> 00:18:18,960
Speaker 1: Putoff, Putoff, founder of to the Stars Academy, the recent

366
00:18:19,039 --> 00:18:21,680
UAP investigation group, the very same.

367
00:18:21,759 --> 00:18:23,799
Speaker 2: And look who else has been involved with to the Stars.

368
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:28,880
Christopher Mellon from CIDO, Steve Justice from Lockheed skunk Works,

369
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,319
Lewis Alizondo from the Pentagon's a Tip program.

370
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,599
Speaker 1: High level intelligence and military aerospace people.

371
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,200
Speaker 2: Right, So the question is have these guys genuinely changed

372
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,119
their minds about UAPs or is this potentially just a

373
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,039
more sophisticated phase of information management, a continuation of the game.

374
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,319
Speaker 1: It makes you question everything, even the recent government releases

375
00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,920
the hearings. How much is real? How much is spin?

376
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,240
Speaker 2: And that's the legacy of decades of government disinformation. It's

377
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,799
created a situation where it's almost impossible to know what

378
00:18:56,839 --> 00:18:59,599
to believe, which the source concludes might have been the

379
00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:00,519
goal all all along.

380
00:19:00,799 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 1: The sheer calculation is chilling testing secret planes next to

381
00:19:04,519 --> 00:19:08,319
this guy's house than weaving this elaborate, destructive fantasy to

382
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:08,759
cover it.

383
00:19:08,839 --> 00:19:11,839
Speaker 2: Up, DOTY inspecting the equipment just before the signals start,

384
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,640
the NSA sending fake messages. It feels orchestrated. Benowitz more

385
00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,319
others just pawns in a bigger.

386
00:19:19,039 --> 00:19:23,640
Speaker 1: Game, victims of their own government, sacrificing individuals for national security.

387
00:19:24,319 --> 00:19:27,319
It makes you wonder how many others. Isn't it time

388
00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:28,799
we actually got some straight answers?

389
00:19:28,839 --> 00:19:31,279
Speaker 2: It really forces you to think, doesn't it consider a

390
00:19:31,319 --> 00:19:34,799
government capable of that level of intricate, long term deception

391
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,240
against its own people. What other accepted truths might be

392
00:19:38,279 --> 00:19:42,440
built on similar shaky ground. What's our responsibility yours and

393
00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:46,640
mind to question what we're told, especially by authority. Paul

394
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:49,839
Benowitz's story is just one deeply disturbing example. Of a

395
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,559
quest for answers manipulated by the very institutions meant to protect.

396
00:19:54,039 --> 00:19:56,519
What does that tell us about secrecy power, and the

397
00:19:56,559 --> 00:19:58,880
real cost of trying to find truth in the shadows