HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1/HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ.iso/ufo2/bufora.txt

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THE ROSWELL FILM FOOTAGE

By Philip Mantle : Director Of Investigations : British UFO Research
Association.

Much has already been written about the UFO crash at Roswell in July of
l947, so I won't go over old ground. More recently a great deal has
also been written about the Roswell film footage currently in
possession of Mr. Ray Santilli, Managing Director of The Merlin Group
in London. To verify my involvement with Ray Santilli and the film in
question I would like to take this opportunity to put the facts
straight.

MAKING CONTACT WITH RAY SANTILLI.

I was first contacted by Ray Santilli almost two years ago when he
discussed with me the possibility of putting together a UFO documentary
video. For those that don't know, The Merlin Group has put together a
number of video's on a whole host of different subjects or issued
overseas video's under license here in the UK. They have never made a
UFO documentary. They have also issued music tapes and commissioned
books. For a variety of reasons the planned documentary with Merlin
never came off but it was during this time that Ray Santilli told me
the story of the Roswell film footage and how he obtained it.

THE STORY BEGINS.

Santilli claimed that at some point previously (I do not know the date)
he had flown to the USA to research a documentary on the late Elvis
Presley. In order to do this he had traced a veteran camerman who was
one of if not the first person ever to film Elvis live on stage.
Santilli purchased some archive film of Elvis from the man in question
and returned to his hotel happy with the film he had obtained. Before
flying back to England he was telephoned at his hotel by the camerman
in question who asked him to go and see him before he left as he had
something even more interesting to show him. Santilli agreed but this
time it was not film of Elvis but of the UFO crash at Roswell in l947.
Santilli eventually agreed to purchase the film for cash, the exact
some on money involved I do not know. Having purchased the film he
returned with it to England.

After being told this story both on the telephone by Ray Santilli and
in London in person when I first met him I simply asked him to show it
to me.  Unless he did it would remain nothing more than another
fanciful story.
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INFORMING OTHERS.

I told Santilli's version of the story about this film to one or two
of my trusted colleagues in the UK, one of whom is John Spencer, now
BUFORA's Chairman. I also took the opportunity to brief Walter Andrus,
International Director of MUFON when he was a speaker at BUFORA's
conference in Bristol in l993. Both John and Walter asked me to keep
them informed. I also contacted various Roswell researchers whose
response was luke warm to say the least.

Santilli on several occasions made appointments for me to view the
film in London none of which ever materialised. Reasons for this were
given many of which sounded quite reasonable but I was left with no
choice but to assume that Santilli's story was nothing more than just
that, a story.

THE ROSWELL FOOTAGE : A FIRST LOOK.

Over the next year or so I had infrequent contact with Santilli either
on the telephone or fax machine none of which resulted in me seeing
any of the film. In early l994 I was about to set to work on writing a
review of the Roswell movie which stars Kyle Machlaclan and Martin
Sheen. In the process of doing this I picked up the phone and called
Santilli completely out of the blue. I asked him once again if he
still claimed to have this film from Roswell to which he replied "yes,
but you don't believe me Philip". Once again I repeated my request to
see the film and again we discussed the possibility of a screening of
it at Santilli's office in London. After a variety of more phone calls
and fax messages my wife Sue and I eventually went to Ray Santilli's
office in London on Friday March 17th, l995.

At this meeting with Santilli he once again told us the story of how he
obtained the film footage but he did not show us any film in his office.
Instead I was given a copy of a segment of film which Santilli called
the "on-site examination footage" to take away and view at my leisure.

I have viewed this section of film over and over again and although it
is quite poor quality a number of things can be seen. The sequence is
filmed inside a construction that could be either a tent or a shed of
some kind. The camera remains in a fixed position in a 'corner' of the
room. At the far side of the room are two men in white coats in front
of which is a 'table' of some kind on which lies a figure (presumably
one of the dead aliens).  This figure is partially covered by a light
coloured sheet of some kind although its head, arms and legs are
visible. In the foreground is a person dressed in dark clothing with
his back to the camera. The inside of this place is illuminated by
what look like gas or oil lamps, or even electric lights.
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The two men in white coats appear to be taking 'tissue samples' of
some kind whilst the person in dark clothing simply seems to walk
about doing nothing in particular. The figure or alien on the table
does not appear to be short nor particular tall either. Not much
detail can be made out because of the poor quality of the film but its
large dark eyes can be see without too much difficulty. The film is
black and white and there is no sound recording to accompany it.

AN INVITATION TO BUFORA's CONFERENCE.

Intriguing though this segment was it really did not serve to do
anything other than to arouse my interest even more. Whilst in Ray
Santilli's office I asked him if he would speak at BUFORA's conference
in Sheffield on August 19 & 20 and show the film and to my surprise he
agreed to do so. Just a few days after his confirmation as a speaker
at a conference that was already organised I was telephoned by a
friend of mine by the name of David Clarke.  David is a former BUFORA
council member and is now a journalist with the Sheffield Star
newspaper. David was writing a small article on a young man in
Sheffield who was just starting his involvement with UFO investigations
and he asked me for a few quotes about the conference so that he could
give it a plug for me. I told David all about the speakers and the Ray
Santilli Roswell film which he ran in the Sheffield Star. A few days
later I was contacted by Whites Press Agency in Sheffield who asked me
if the article in the Sheffield Star concerning the conference was
correct. I confirmed that it was and they asked me a few more questions
before thanking me for my time. The next thing I knew I was receiving
telephone calls from TV, Radio and newspapers from around the world
all wanting to know about the Roswell film, Ray Santilli and of course
the conference. I told them what I could but by and large I passed
then onto Mr. Santilli himself. This exposure was somewhat premature
but at least it brought international attention on the film in question.

THE FIRST AUTOPSY.

Eager to see more of the film another appointment was made with Ray
Santilli for April 28th. Again my wife Sue and I visited Ray at his
office in London to view another segment of film. This time we were
shown one of the autopsies. Unlike the previous film this was very
clear. Again it was in black and white with no sound track. The alien
is laid on a slab inside what looks like a morgue or should I say
hospital. The walls are all white etc.  The alien is humanoid almost
human looking with a enlarged abdomen, two arms two legs, but it has
six digits on each of its hands and feet. There is no hair visible
anywhere, the head is slightly enlarged but it has a nose, mouth, ears
(these are lower on the head than a human) and two 'dark eyes'.
Female genitals are also visible.
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The autopsy begins with the 'dark eyes' being removed. This is in fact
a kind of a dark covering over the eyes itself. Once removed the
eyeballs are visible underneath although they are rolled up into the
head.

The alien's body is cut open and various organs are removed and placed
in various receptacles. A kind of a 'crystal' or 'mineral' about the
size of a marble is also removed from the chest cavity. The head is
cut open and the skull sawn open to gain access to the brain.

The people conducting the autopsy are completely covered in protection
suits of some kind and unfortunately the faces of these individuals
are not visible. This autopsy is conducted by two people who appear at
times to be also writing down the process as they go along. Behind the
head of the alien is a gap then a wall with a window in. Through this
window another person can be observed apparently wearing surgical
clothing, cap, gown, mask etc.  Unlike the first piece of film apart
from a white coat the people were not wearing a surgical mask. As I am
not qualified to comment on the procedure used in the autopsy nor the
instruments used I will refrain from doing so.  Nor will I comment on
whether certain other objects in the room such as a telephone and a
clock were available in l947.

THE SECOND AUTOPSY.

On May 5th, l995, my wife Sue and I along with over 200 others were
invited to attend another screening of more of the film at the Museum
of London. We did attend as did Kent Jeffrey from the USA, Roberto
Pinotti from Italy, Michael Hesemann from Germany along with Reg
Presley and Colin Andrews to name but a few. Also in attendance were
representatives from a variety of TV companies from around the world.

After a short reception we were shown into the viewing theatre in which
another of the autopsies was shown. This time the alien had a damaged
leg unlike the previous autopsy where the creature was fully intact.
The procedure was pretty much the same as before but by no means
exactly the same. Again I will not comment on the medical procedures
used nor artifacts in the autopsy room as I am not qualified to do so.

Afterwards opinions seemed to be mixed but many people including
myself were a little disappointed that more of the film was not shown.
However, I had now in total viewed something like 40 minutes worth of
film which was becoming more interesting each time I saw more of it.

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AN OFFER OF ANALYSIS.

In between times on behalf of BUFORA on April 20, l995, I personally
put a two page proposal to Ray Santilli to outline how we would like
to conduct the analysis of the film in question. Copies of this
document were also sent to John Spencer (BUFORA Chairman) and Walter
Andrus (MUFON International Director) along with Ray Santilli of
course. Basically it outlined that we would like a copy of all of the
film in question, a copy of any and all documentation connected to it,
the serial numbers from all canisters of film, plus one whole canister
of the actual film itself.

Two companies in England has agreed to undertake the analysis of the
film Kodak is one the other is Hasan Shah Films. I also requested
access to the original camerman who had taken the film. Ray Santilli
has agreed in principle to our proposals but they have yet to be put
into practice.

THE RUMOURS.

A great many rumours have circulated and are still circulating about
this film. Some of these I can not verify or deny but others I can.
The first concerns Reg Presley. Reg is the lead singer with the
sixties pop group The Troggs and he is well known in the UK for his
interest in UFO's and crop circles. One of the rumors is that Reg is a
financial backer of Ray Santilli and that his only involvement in this
matter is for publicity purposes. I have spoken with Reg about these
rumors and he denies them all stating that he has no financial stake
in the film and he certainly does not require any publicity. His
motives are purely out of interest in the UFO subject.  Another rumor
is that the film in question was offered to UFO researcher Jacques
Vallee in Brazil some years ago. I wrote to Jacques to question this
rumor and in a letter to me dated 1 May l995 he states " The rumour
you heard about me, Brazil and the alleged Roswell film is just that,
a rumor. I have never made any such statement. I have been told that
the rumour was being spread by someone named Dan Smith, but I don't
know whether he invented it, or was simply repeating it."

Another version of this same rumour is that the film was offered to the
American TV show 'Unsolved Mysteries' who automatically confirmed that
it was a South American 'B' movie of some kind. On May 5th, l995 I
spoke with the Unsolved Mysteries show in the USA who have once again
denied this rumor. Other rumors that I personally am involved with the
hoaxing of this film in order to gain publicity for BUFORA's conference
and/or the Roswell movie are just as ridiculous as any of the others I
have heard. I dare say that there are many more rumors circulating that
have not yet come to my attention.
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More recent rumors circulating on the Internet have come from Graham
Birdsall editor of Quest International's UFO magazine.  Birdsall just
about gets everything wrong. For example he states that I released
details of the film footage to the Press Association. Wrong, I released
details to David Clarke as outlined above. He also goes on to say that
I never informed any UFO researchers from around the world about the
film. Again wrong.

In l993 I informed my colleagues at BUFORA including Jenny Randles and
John Spencer plus I also informed Walter Andrus, MUFON's International
Director.  Added to this I also sent details in l994 to Roswell
researcher and author Kevin Randle plus USA researchers Don Ecker and
Vicki Cooper.  Colleagues at UFO Norway were also informed. Birdsall,
in his Internet 'facts' even quotes the wrong code number on the
original Roswell 16mm film. He describes it as 'KODA with a black
solid triangle and a black solid circle'. It is in fact 'KODA with a
black solid triangle and a black solid square'. Birdsall also goes on
about zoom lenses being used in the autopsy sequence shown in London.
Having viewed the film myself only once I am unable to remember any
such.

Please be aware at this point that Birdsall has not viewed any of the
film.  Birdsall also goes on to state that Ray Santilli's company is in
receivership and that myself and/or BUFORA have promoted the film
footage as genuine. For his and everyone else's information Ray
Santilli's company is not in receivership and at no time have I or
anyone else at BUFORA promoted the film footage as genuine. There has
been some misleading press statements attributed to me but if people
wish to believe these that is up to them. A longer reply to Birdsall
from myself has been posted on the Internet.

THE SAN MARINO CONFERENCE.

In between all of this the first stills from the footage were shown by
myself with the permission of Ray Santilli at a UFO conference on May
19 & 20 held in the Republic of San Marino. Sponsored by the San Marino
government and organised by the Italian group Centro Ufologico
Nazionale (CUN) . Seven stills were used from the second autopsy
sequence. The showing of these stills was restricted to members of the
CUN and representatives of the San Marino government. I have also been
asked to speak about this film in France, Germany and Brazil.
invitations which I will probably accept, time and work allowing.

In my opinion BUFORA and myself have approached this whole issue in an
unbiased manner and have treated all parties concerned correctly and
professionally. We have put to Ray Santilli a sound and reasonable
plan to undertake the analysis of the film and if he agrees to
cooperate then we may well begin to get to the bottom of the matter.
We have attempted to follow up any rumors that could at least be
feasible but to date (29.5.95) none of them have yet stood up to
scrutiny.
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We will of course continue to do this and offer our full cooperation to
Ray Santilli and any serious professionals or researchers who can
offer sensible ideas on how to further analyse the Roswell film footage.

For the record I would like to state here and now that I do have any
opinions one way or the other regarding this film footage. I trust
that Ray Santilli will eventually cooperate with BUFORA and allow the
film to be analysed and then and only then will we truly start to get
to the bottom of things.  Until such a time I remain firmly on the
fence and I do not know if the film is genuine of fake.

BUFORA COUNCIL.

Members of the Bufora Council and the Witness Support Group had the
opportunity to view one of the autopsy segments on Saturday June 3rd
at a meeting in London.  The viewing of this film was arranged by
myself in cooperation with Ray Santilli. This was the first opportunity
for others at BUFORA to view the film and a number of very positive
ideas were put forward with regards to its analysis which we hope to
action in the future.