Speaker 1: Audio blog of mister X by UFO history buff and
author Charles Lear. In nineteen eighty The Roswell Incident by
Charles Burletz and William Moore was published in the book.
On page one hundred three of the first printing, there
is a bad photocopy of a photo showing two soldiers
escorting a small creature. One of the soldiers is carrying
a suitcase shaped object that seems to be a respiration device,
as there is a hose going from it to the
creature's mouth. The photo is said to have reportedly first
surfaced in Wiesbaden, Germany in nineteen eighty one. Wisbaden resident
Klaus Webner took it upon himself to investigate. He wrote
an article presenting his findings that was published in the
September nineteen eighty one issue of the Probe Report put
out by the Britain based Probe UFO Research Organization. In
the book, the photocopy is presented with a caption alien
from another world or elaborate hoax. The reader is told
that it, along with the artist's interpretation on the preceding page,
is being published without comment about whether it may or
may not pertain to certain significant aspects of the Roswell incident.
To the authors, an unnamed informant gave the original photo,
which he said he bought for a dollar, to FBI
agent John Quinn at the New Orleans field office. They
say the photo purports to show an alien survivor of
a UFO crash in the custody of two US military policemen. Lastly,
they say that it got limited publicity in West Germany
in the nineteen forties and was met with skepticism by
US officials of the then existent Allied military government. In
his article headlined the Strange Case of Mister X, Webner
describes Berlitz as inventor of the Bermuda Triangle and mystification
man of all things which are surroundable with the haze
of mystery and realizable and hard cash. He describes the
book as nothing more than a mixture of far fetched speculations, fantasies,
and false information. Webner didn't have to look far to
establish the origin of the original photo. According to him,
he found an article in the archives of the local
newspaper Wispadner Tagblat that had three photos under the headline
flying saucers over Wisbaden. A giant flying disc crashed at
the blindenstadter Kop. Crew member is in protective detention no
cause for panic, according to Webner. The article reports that
a crew member had been taken into protective custody after
a search for a saucer that had crashed overnight near Wisbaden.
He says the detainee is described as a strange creature
with only one leg moving about a rotating plate. His
arms come to an end in four stubby fingers. It
reportedly had large, glaring eyes and an oval shaped head.
The creature, called mister X in the article, was said
to have been taken to the Narraberg Hotel, where it
would be taken for daily walks between fourteen and fifteen
hours in order to get used to our atmosphere. A
search for other crew members was said to be ongoing.
The photo used in the article showing the creature in
custody is presented in Probe. The reproduction in Probe is
of much better quality than the photocopy seen in the
Roswell incident, but they both come from the same source.
Webner tells the reader that the article was published on
April first, nineteen fifty. According to him, on April fifteenth,
nineteen eighty one, he was able to talk with the
reporter and the photographer. The reporter was Wilhelm Sprunkle, and
he told Webner that the whole thing was an April
fool joke. Sprunkel wanted to make the photo as realistic
looking as he could, so he called the local US
liaison officer, we presume. He told him his plan and
asked if he could borrow two soldiers. The officer and
said he needed to get permission from the commanding officer.
The commanding officer also said he needed to get permission
from headquarters in Heidelberg. Permission was granted, and Sprunkle proceeded
with his plan with the help of photographer Hans Scheffler. First,
Scheffler created fake saucer photos using pictures he took of
light fountain glasses from Wisbauden's cure house pond. He cut
out saucer shapes and stuck them on photos that would
provide a background. One of these, showing two saucers over
the marketplace church, is reproduced in probe. For the creature.
Scheffler enlisted the aid of his five year old son Peter.
One of the soldiers held a jerry can and Scheffler
painted in the hose, breathing gear, horror head, griffin, hands,
one leg and footplate. The source of the photos was
given as three translag slash USA Foe, which was invented
by Sprinkle using the name of a local business. The
story caused a sensation and the American Wisbaden Post reprinted
it along with the photos. Sprinkle got a call from
a female journalist who wanted to buy the copyright for
the mister X photo, and it took Sprinkle around twenty
minutes to convince her that the story was a joke.
The Wisbaden Tagblat published a confession on April third under
the headline took tig Reengefalen, which Webner translates to good
letdown and Google translates to fell right in. As for
how Moore and Berlitz got a hold of the photocopy,
Webner says it was discovered by UFO Information Network affiliate
Barry Greenwood. According to Webner, UFOI N had acquired a
bundle of FBI photocopies thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.
Because the photocopy was in such bad shape. Another UFOIN affiliate,
Lawrence Blaze, made the artist's impression. He says, William Moore
ordered this material for his book The Roswell Incident, and
mister X was born for the second time. Webner says
his investigation was easy as there were only two newspapers
in Wisbaden. According to him, he was told by employees
at Wisbadner Tagblat that neither Berlitz nor Moore had contacted
anyone at the paper, and neither had anyone else. He
tells the reader that Sprunkle, Scheffler, and even mister X
himself Peter Scheffler, are still employed there. Webner's research resulted
in the paper publishing an article on April twenty second,
nineteen eighty one headlined a Tagblat April Fool joke in
the files of the FBI. Webner laments that his name
was isn't mentioned. As for the Roswell story, Webner concludes
that the latest research says that crashed flying saucers and
crew members on ice are fantasies and not facts. Charles
Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators. In
its second printing at Amazon dot com