Greetings from “Up Here”

 

Hello,

 

My name is Ralph and I'm the "New Guy" around here. As you can tell from my photo there's not much new about me. Well, you're only as old as you feel (why do only old people say that?) At 6’ 6” tall, some folks know me as “big Ralph” and hence the tongue-in-cheek references to “tall” issues.

 

Here’s a little bit about me and how I got here. I've been interested in the UFO phenomenon and "things that go bump in the night" for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the fifties at a time when the USA had just won WWII (and seem to stumble in Korea), jet aircraft were new and atomic energy was the answer to all our problems. We were the good guys, the "commies" were the bad guys. The interstate highway system was being built, the Corvette and T-bird were born and my favorite TV show was usually whatever was on Walt Disney.

 

Walt Disney brought me "Davey Crockett", The Mousketeers with Annette Funicello (steady boys!), and just as importantly - my first glimpses of the Space Age that lie just ahead. Since we weren’t actually in space yet, it was all presented with the kind of breathtaking animation only Disney could do. They showed us a world to come in which space flight and space exploration would be a reality.  Space explorer or spaceman (the term “astronaut” hadn’t been coined yet) was eagerly added by little boys everywhere to the list of answers to the proverbial question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

 

The mood in the fifties, growing up in Maryland, not far from Washington D.C., was a far cry from today. People (adults to me) were concerned about “flying saucers” and, for a generation that had just lived through world war, the threat of invasion from space was not that far fetched.  Although the big government spin machine of denial and ridicule was just getting started, the subject was much more openly discussed and believed.  Even the military and government officials were still openly talking about flying saucers even if it was only to pooh-pooh the whole thing or offer assurances that they had everything under control (as if!).

 

One of my other passions was and still is the movies. “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, “Earth VS the Flying Saucers”, “This Island Earth”, “The War of the Worlds” all thrilled audiences and promoted the reality of ET and of course, the ET threat. While our government tried to talk it down, at the same time they were scrambling interceptors and dealing with the reality of flying saucers over the White House, over sensitive installations and other provocative behavior in plain view of a helpless military.

 

Lest all you “youngsters” think that we were all gullible and stupid back then, let me assure you that many of the government’s pronouncements were met with disbelief and a certain amount of “nudge, nudge – wink, wink”. A lot of people began to accept the idea that our government and military knew a lot more than they were letting on. 

 

Things seemed to ratchet up in the sixties and seventies for a while. It seemed like we came “this close” to exposing the reality and admitting its existence but time and again, the best efforts of many people were stymied by government policy of denial.

 

In the media, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“, “E.T.” dazzled a new generation of moviegoers.  TV series such as “Star Trek”, “The Visitors”, and “My Favorite Martian” all contributed to the public consciousness of E.T. and UFOs.  Some were melodramatic, some were lighthearted, and some strived for a sense of reality. 

 

With or without E.T. my life went on. I ended up in a career in Information Technology as a software developer and systems consultant.  During the 1980’s, I wrote a computer textbook that was published by Prentice Hall and got my private pilot’s license.  I discovered I had a knack for writing and fulfilled my lifelong dream of learning to fly.

 

From those days and on up through my existence so far I have continued to read up on the subject and try to stay informed.  My interest waxed and waned over the years but I never lost touch completely.  For their part, E.T. never stopped visiting either.

 

I once wrote to Dr. J. Allen Hynek, I read Jacques Vallee, I read all the books that you were supposed to read, even subscribed to a UFO news clipping service for a while. I watched the occasional TV special and was usually disappointed since 99% of them were designed to debunk. I remember that the first book that really stood out from the rest was Timothy Goode’s “Above Top Secret”.

 

The emergence of the Internet has (as you all know by now) really kicked this subject and the dissemination of information into high gear. The information (and disinformation) flow had reached a point like no one had ever seen before.  Hand held movie cameras proliferated. More and more experiences could be filmed and quickly seen by people all over the world.

 

Whatever you’d describe my interest level as – lurker, curious spectator, UFO nut - got seriously upgraded within the last few years.  The new medium of the Internet and the new format known collectively as “Esoteric Radio” allowed me for the first time to sit in on some amazing conversations between the hosts and leading researchers and UFO personalities. I began to correspond with a handful of other likeminded folks via e-mail. Within the last year or so I’ve read books from Richard Dolan, Ryan & Bob Wood, and Paul Hill. I hope you’ve read their books too!

 

This only fueled my passion to the point where I decided I wanted to get more involved and really satisfy my own curiosity once and for all. It would have been a lot easier if I had only had my own sighting.  I haven’t. While I’m at it, I haven’t been abducted and I don’t belong to any cults either.  In fact, as “UFO believers” go, I’m rather skeptical and have a hard time accepting some reports and some personalities. I’m a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy all the while maintaining openness to the possibilities of what could be. As Stan Friedman likes to point out, being skeptical is OK but being A Skeptic means that no proof will ever be enough.

 

 

Speaking of Stan, I had the opportunity to speak to Stan briefly earlier this year.  I talked to him about my desire to do something, anything in Ufology. He suggested joining MUFON. Hey, I figure, when Stan Friedman talks, I listen.  I did and as a result, found myself recently in Denver, Colorado for the 2006 symposium.

 

It was such a treat to meet and mingle with so many other like-minded people. I was able to engage in some of the deepest (as in profound) conversations I think I’ve ever had. My life’s experience, combined with my lifelong thirst for knowledge seem to have all come together at this place and time. I really enjoyed the exchanges I found myself in.

 

I had been trying to find a way to apply my experience, lifelong study and God given skills to this field. I thought about writing and the writing I’d done so far got a favorable response. This has been most gratifying. Tim is not paying me to say this but I have come to admire Binnall of America since I discovered it on the ‘net.  I was truly flattered when asked to contribute to his fine website.

 

So here I am. Hopefully, enough of you will find value in what I say, observe and interpret.  I promise to try my best.  To take the ‘high road’, inform, entertain and hopefully not sermonize.

Just remember, I’m the New Guy – grateful for the chance, but just a little nervous my first day on the job. 

 

 

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. " Albert Einstein

 

 

RM

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