The Farmer And The Cosmonauts Part 5

File: UFO126

...According to Ken Dimwiddie, one of the technicians at De Anza Systems, who was present when Diletosso appeared in the guise of a prospective customer, it was Diletosso himself who assigned the colors on the computer's read-out screen. In other words, the colors may indicate almost anything about the actual qualities of the original photograph. They have little value except to satisfy Jim Diletosso's aesthetic fancy.

Computer-aided analyses of the Meier pictures by Ground Saucer Watch, however, are devastating by comparison. They inspired two GSW researchers, Fred Adrian and William Spaulding, to describe them as "hoaxes, both crude and grandiose."

Even without the aid of computer enhancement the photographs are dubious. Shadows on the Pleiadean craft do not conform to the light in the landscape, and the sharpness of the UFO images indicates that the object shown is extremely close to the camera -- as a model would be. (GSW's estimate is that the various "spaceships" are, in fact, between 8 and 12 inches in diameter.) Fuzziness that would result from atmospheric effects is often lacking.

Where the images are more consistent with expectations, one is still baffled by the testimony of Meier himself. Despite the constant contacts and the priceless photographic evidence he was gathering on behalf of mankind, Meier never bothered to repair or replace his allegedly broken camera, whose lens was stuck, focused on infinity. Yet different focusings DO seem to have been achieved -- resulting in 'distant' objects coming out suitably fuzzy.

But then the testimony concerning Meier and his photographic techniques occasionally leaves the disinterested enquirer gasping. It should be pointed out that Billy Meier lost his left arm in an accident, which one would expect to make for difficulties with a camera. Wendelle Stevens nevertheless has made the startling claim that Meier shot all his pictures from the hip, because the mirror in his camera had 'jammed closed' as well. And yet he manages to center his UFOs in every frame with amazing precision.

Jim Diletosso also says that a professional photographic expert claimed he would need 'a million dollars' to duplicate the Meier pictures. Less excitable, Wendelle Stevens attempts to debunk the claims that the UFOs are models by asking: "How many models can a one-armed man carry on a moped when he is driving with the only arm he's got?" One might reply: "As many as will fit in a bag."

[[A Type-4 spacecraft over Mount Auruti, Switzerland, photographed by Meier on 29 March, 1976, is reproduced. Two computer enhanced images from the photograph reveal a great deal about the picture. One picture shows, in the words of Ground Saucer Watch who made the computer analyses, "evidence of a linear structure" above the craft -- in plain English, a string or thin rod. The structure is equally clear in the computerized enlargement. In addition, study of the focus of this picture indicates the object is close to the camera and is therefore small -- about 8 inches (20 centimeters) across, not 23 feet (7 meters) as claimed. [A second picture of a Type-4 ship taken within a few minutes of the previous picture shows the disc in the center of the image hovering next to a bare tree]. The craft is said to be hovering beyond the tree, which is about 165 feet (50 meters away). Edge enhancement of the picture revealed, according to GSW, inconsistencies between the shadows on the disc and on the tree. This suggests that the UFO and the landscape images have been superimposed. The color-contoured image suggested to GSW that the UFO was actually superimposed ON TOP of the tree image, as if the UFO were closer than the tree -- indicating "very sloppy work", in Kal Korff's words. Analysis of another picture of three ships over a hill revealed that "the focus on the discs is much sharper than on the trees. Again there is evidence that the UFO images were superimposed on the landscape picture."]]

...Genesis III have published some remarkable claims on behalf of Meier, yet none of these claims has been validated by independent research. Wendelle Stevens may attempt to disarm the ufologist Jim Lorenzen by saying, "As you well know, Jim, the book was never designed to present any hard facts," yet it gives every impression of doing just that.

As for Meier himself, it is possible that some SUBJECTIVE experience lies behind the discredited material evidence. If the stories of voices in the head, going for rides in 'pear-shaped UFOs' with 'a very old man' at the age of five, and the sightings he had from a very early age are anything to go by, this may be the best explanation. In which case, the model spacecraft (whose existence Meier doesn't deny) may well have been constructed as a result of an actual series of contactee experiences, however unlikely it is that these represent an attempt by any Pleiadeans to get in touch with us on Earth. If so, then Billy Meier has unfortunately allowed his experience to be turned by others into something like an industry.

From "The Unexplained: The Alien World" by Peter Brookesmith.

Orbis Publishing Ltd. London. 1984