Press Release - March 28, 1997

Like nearly all of us, I was shocked over the tragic mass suicide of 39 people in California Thursday morning. My shock turned to horror when some wire service reports actually made a connection between me and the cult suicides. The story had me the source of an Internet rumor that a spaceship was following behind the comet Hale-Bopp. This is simply not true.

I am an amateur astronomer and had been taking pictures of the comet since September. I was aware back in September that other amateurs and even the Hubble Space Telescope had photographed mysterious objects near the comet. The Hubble photographed a chunk of material near the comet in October of 1995. In July of 1996, three amateurs in New Mexico photographed something they could not identify near the comet. Their picture circulated around the Internet under the name "Hale-Bopp’s Mysterious Eyes" showing an object as bright as the comet immediately next to it.

So on the night of November 14, 1996 as I’m watching a computer image of the comet through my own telescope I was struck by something strange next to the comet that was big and bright and looked like the planet Saturn. I posted the picture on the Internet and simply asked, "Does anyone know what this thing is next to the comet?" For several hours no replies came back. I then faxed talk show host Art Bell to see if any of his listeners had seen anything odd near the comet. Art called me and put me on the air to describe what I had photographed. I described the object as simply a strange Saturn like object. I never used the terms spaceship, UFO or aliens to describe what I had seen.

Immediately after having me on the air, Art then had Professor Courtney Brown of Emory University in Atlanta on as a guest. Courtney professes to be able to teach people "psychic remote viewing" an alleged way to view events at a distance using psychic powers. Courtney then proceeded to go into great detail in describing the odd thing near the comet as a giant spaceship, filled with aliens. For several hours Courtney Brown then talked about the strange ship near the comet. Other guests on the Art Bell show also agreed with Courtney that a spaceship was near the comet. One guest who identified himself as a former NASA worker even said the craft was filled with creatures who were part human and part dolphin!

I want to make it clear that I am not the source of the spaceship stories regarding the comet. Regardless of the source, one can hardly be held responsible for the actions of some very insane people led by an apparent madman. Besides, it has now come out that the leader of this cult has been preaching very much the same message since 1975 - long before my picture came out and even long before the Internet. Even the cult’s own Internet page stated that the cult was not convinced there really was a spaceship or "companion" near the comet. Of course I am upset and saddened by the cult suicide but in no way do I feel I caused this tragedy.

Chuck Shramek