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Speaker 1: Audio blog of mister X by UFO history buff and

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author Charles Lear. In nineteen eighty The Roswell Incident by

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Charles Burletz and William Moore was published in the book.

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On page one hundred three of the first printing, there

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is a bad photocopy of a photo showing two soldiers

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escorting a small creature. One of the soldiers is carrying

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a suitcase shaped object that seems to be a respiration device,

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as there is a hose going from it to the

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creature's mouth. The photo is said to have reportedly first

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surfaced in Wiesbaden, Germany in nineteen eighty one. Wisbaden resident

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Klaus Webner took it upon himself to investigate. He wrote

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an article presenting his findings that was published in the

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September nineteen eighty one issue of the Probe Report put

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out by the Britain based Probe UFO Research Organization. In

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the book, the photocopy is presented with a caption alien

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from another world or elaborate hoax. The reader is told

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that it, along with the artist's interpretation on the preceding page,

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is being published without comment about whether it may or

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may not pertain to certain significant aspects of the Roswell incident.

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To the authors, an unnamed informant gave the original photo,

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which he said he bought for a dollar, to FBI

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agent John Quinn at the New Orleans field office. They

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say the photo purports to show an alien survivor of

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a UFO crash in the custody of two US military policemen. Lastly,

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they say that it got limited publicity in West Germany

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in the nineteen forties and was met with skepticism by

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US officials of the then existent Allied military government. In

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his article headlined the Strange Case of Mister X, Webner

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describes Berlitz as inventor of the Bermuda Triangle and mystification

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man of all things which are surroundable with the haze

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of mystery and realizable and hard cash. He describes the

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book as nothing more than a mixture of far fetched speculations, fantasies,

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and false information. Webner didn't have to look far to

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establish the origin of the original photo. According to him,

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he found an article in the archives of the local

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newspaper Wispadner Tagblat that had three photos under the headline

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flying saucers over Wisbaden. A giant flying disc crashed at

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the blindenstadter Kop. Crew member is in protective detention no

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cause for panic, according to Webner. The article reports that

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a crew member had been taken into protective custody after

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a search for a saucer that had crashed overnight near Wisbaden.

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He says the detainee is described as a strange creature

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with only one leg moving about a rotating plate. His

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arms come to an end in four stubby fingers. It

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reportedly had large, glaring eyes and an oval shaped head.

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The creature, called mister X in the article, was said

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to have been taken to the Narraberg Hotel, where it

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would be taken for daily walks between fourteen and fifteen

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hours in order to get used to our atmosphere. A

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search for other crew members was said to be ongoing.

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The photo used in the article showing the creature in

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custody is presented in Probe. The reproduction in Probe is

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of much better quality than the photocopy seen in the

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Roswell incident, but they both come from the same source.

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Webner tells the reader that the article was published on

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April first, nineteen fifty. According to him, on April fifteenth,

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nineteen eighty one, he was able to talk with the

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reporter and the photographer. The reporter was Wilhelm Sprunkle, and

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he told Webner that the whole thing was an April

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fool joke. Sprunkel wanted to make the photo as realistic

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looking as he could, so he called the local US

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liaison officer, we presume. He told him his plan and

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asked if he could borrow two soldiers. The officer and

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said he needed to get permission from the commanding officer.

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The commanding officer also said he needed to get permission

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from headquarters in Heidelberg. Permission was granted, and Sprunkle proceeded

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with his plan with the help of photographer Hans Scheffler. First,

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Scheffler created fake saucer photos using pictures he took of

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light fountain glasses from Wisbauden's cure house pond. He cut

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out saucer shapes and stuck them on photos that would

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provide a background. One of these, showing two saucers over

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the marketplace church, is reproduced in probe. For the creature.

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Scheffler enlisted the aid of his five year old son Peter.

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One of the soldiers held a jerry can and Scheffler

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painted in the hose, breathing gear, horror head, griffin, hands,

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one leg and footplate. The source of the photos was

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given as three translag slash USA Foe, which was invented

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by Sprinkle using the name of a local business. The

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story caused a sensation and the American Wisbaden Post reprinted

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it along with the photos. Sprinkle got a call from

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a female journalist who wanted to buy the copyright for

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the mister X photo, and it took Sprinkle around twenty

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minutes to convince her that the story was a joke.

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The Wisbaden Tagblat published a confession on April third under

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the headline took tig Reengefalen, which Webner translates to good

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letdown and Google translates to fell right in. As for

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how Moore and Berlitz got a hold of the photocopy,

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Webner says it was discovered by UFO Information Network affiliate

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Barry Greenwood. According to Webner, UFOI N had acquired a

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bundle of FBI photocopies thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.

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Because the photocopy was in such bad shape. Another UFOIN affiliate,

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Lawrence Blaze, made the artist's impression. He says, William Moore

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ordered this material for his book The Roswell Incident, and

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mister X was born for the second time. Webner says

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his investigation was easy as there were only two newspapers

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in Wisbaden. According to him, he was told by employees

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at Wisbadner Tagblat that neither Berlitz nor Moore had contacted

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anyone at the paper, and neither had anyone else. He

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tells the reader that Sprunkle, Scheffler, and even mister X

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himself Peter Scheffler, are still employed there. Webner's research resulted

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in the paper publishing an article on April twenty second,

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nineteen eighty one headlined a Tagblat April Fool joke in

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the files of the FBI. Webner laments that his name

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was isn't mentioned. As for the Roswell story, Webner concludes

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that the latest research says that crashed flying saucers and

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crew members on ice are fantasies and not facts. Charles

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Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators. In

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its second printing at Amazon dot com

