Well, I was kind of expecting to see a bit of a fanfare this month about the infamous MJ12 documents. Why? Basic: this month marks exactly twenty-5 years since they surfaced into the public domain in the pages of Tim Good’s acclaimed book of May 1987: Above Top Secret: The Throughout the world UFO Cover-Up. That there hasn’t seemingly been much in the way of commentary on the 25th anniversary of what are, with no doubt, one of the most controversial “things” ever to have surfaced within the ufological arena, suggests a couple of possibilities…
First, perhaps complete swathes of Ufology have basically forgotten about MJ12. Second, perhaps the reality that – for several in Ufology – the documents continue to frustratingly languish in that murky stalemate-driven realm of “genuine, disinformation, or hoax?” has led the research community to focus its attentions on what it sees as far more lucrative and probable approaches to safe the reality behind the UFO phenomenon. And, third, maybe men and women just don’t care any longer about the debate surrounding the papers, their material, the way they surfaced, and the attendant analysis of their content.
What ever the answer(s), the papers did – and, for some, still do – play a important function in Ufology for several a year. I still quite well keep in mind how, when Tim Good’s book surfaced in the U.K. in Might 1987, they provoked widespread debate, excitement, fury and skepticism in the British UFO arena of the day. And, hot on the heels of Good’s book was the release – in the United States – of the identical paperwork team from the team of Bill Moore, Stanton Friedman and Jaime Shandera. And, in no time at all, the world of Ufology was faced with its largest piece of news in a prolonged, lengthy time.
For individuals not totally conversant with the papers in query, they in fact appeared beneath mysterious conditions in the mailbox of the aforementioned Shandera back in December 1984, and have been carefully and quietly studied for years – not surprising, given that they appeared to be official, really-classified documents concerning the establishment, in 1947, by President Harry Truman, of a highly classified group of men and women in government, the military, the intelligence globe, and the scientific community, who, collectively, grew to become acknowledged as MJ12 or Majestic 12.
And, so the papers made it clear, the group was sitting on just about the greatest secret of all: the recovery of a crashed UFO and dead alien bodies from the New Mexico desert in the summer season of 1947. That is appropriate: Roswell. But, that quiet study came to an finish when Above Top Secret was published. The cosmic cat was now out of the bag and everybody knew the story and was on the trail.
For individuals people reading this who weren’t on the ufological scene back in 1987 – or, maybe, weren’t even born – it’s probably hard to comprehend the close to-hysteria and huge excitement that accompanied the MJ12 papers when they first hit the headlines. There really was a deep sense of “This is it!” And a feeling that “the reality is coming.”
Of course, and as is always the case in Ufology, it wasn’t fairly that basic. Although some in Ufology championed the documents – and their content – as becoming utterly genuine, other individuals quickly cried “Hoax!” And some claimed this was all a case of government-produced disinformation to additional cloud the already murky waters of stories relative to Roswell, dead aliens and crashed UFOs. There was forensic evaluation of the typeface in the paperwork, Truman’s signature on the papers grew to become a hugely controversial matter, and extensive research was undertaken into the names, lives and activities of the alleged MJ12 members. In some instances, this all went on for years. And this kind of was the controversy, even the FBI got involved in the MJ12 affair at one point.
But, for all the studies, papers, books, lectures, analyses and far more, the MJ12 papers did not resolve Roswell. Nor did they open the floodgates to a revelation that, yes, UFOs are real and the government has secretly had proof ever since aliens had the misfortune to crash in the wilds of Lincoln County, New Mexico in the summer of 1947. What the documents did do, even so, was to hold many important figures in the UFO research community busy – and arguing – for years. And the end result was quite considerably as I expected it to be.
If there is one thing that can be said about the ufological research arena (and this also goes for Cryptozoology, ghost-hunting, and each other aspect of Fortean-primarily based studies, too), it is that every person has an opinion. Every person has a favored situation. And there’s never ever-ending debate on what’s genuine and what isn’t.
Regardless of whether it is George Adamski’s 60-a thing-year-old pictures, the Gulf Breeze affair, the Bob Lazar-Place 51 controversy, or the reality behind the Men in Black puzzle, the reality is that such concerns – and countless much more – polarize individuals into diverse camps.