Note: I haven't written a book review in years, having put myself "out to pasture" in that area, but this book deserves attention because the author's references to the Montana UFO film -- and the movie upon which this blog is based -- fit right in.
MONTANA UFOS AND EXTRATERRESTRIALS, by Joan Bird, Riverbend Publishing, P.O. Box 5833, Helena, MT 59604 (Tel. 1-866-787-2363), 230 pages, publ. date 2013, $14.95 (Autographed copies are available from the author for $18.95, shipping included, inquire via joanbird@mt.net. The book may also be purchased through Amazon.com for $10.97, and of course can be ordered at list price through your local independent bookstore, through Barnes & Noble or from the publisher, where shipping charges may apply. Many Montana bookstores currently have it in stock.).
Oh, Montana --
oh, world -- what a gift this author has left at the doorstep of
inquiring minds.
Truth in reviewing
dictates that I tell you right up front that Ms. Bird generously quotes and
credits me in the first chapter and, indeed, that leads to my reason for
featuring her book on this blog, intended. as you know, only for connections to
the movie, "U.F.O." It turns
out, as anybody remotely familiar with UFO history knows, that Montana was the
home of Nick Mariana, whose brief fifties film of two UFOs traversing the sky
and disappearing behind a water tower remains unexplained, even after in-depth
analysis by government photo experts (with most credit going to the Navy's
labs). The kicker here is that Mariana's
film was prominently featured in Clarence Greene's documentary, and of course
we've mentioned this in previous blog entries.
Of special
interest, though Ms. Bird accumulates a significant amount of information about
Mariana from publications, studies and other sources from the past, to her
credit she also wisely went to the trouble of contacting and interviewing the
son and daughter of Nicholas Mariana, thereby updating and personalizing our
knowledge about the man and his established integrity and veracity. Mariana passed on many years ago, but one
wonders what additional gems Bird would have discovered, were he still
available for questions.
The problems of
time's passage in the book reminded me of a fleeting moment a few years ago,
when a member of Canadian documentary film-maker David Cherniack's All in
One Films contacted me prior to their visit to the United States, where
they intended to conduct interviews and research all over the country regarding
UFOs. Somehow, I think in relation to
Greene's documentary, the name of former
Navy chief warrant officer Delbert Newhouse came up. Newhouse, of course, was the other UFO
photography "star" of Greene's 1956 documentary, because Newhouse,
accompanied by his family on a trip, filmed a cluster of strange objects moving
across the skies over Tremonton, Utah in the fifties. Like Mariana's film, Newhouse's offering
confounded government film analysts -- and realize, too, that both Mariana and
Newhouse complained that the best frames of their films were
"missing" when returned by government officials, though this was not
mentioned in Greene's "U.F.O."
But skip ahead
from the fifties to the summer of 2006, when Cherniack and crew visited the
U.S. Newhouse's name had come up during
my phone conversation with an associate and we wondered where he might reside
after all these years. By pure luck in
the days after that call, I discovered a location for what might be a Newhouse
family member, and when the Canadian folk checked further they were delighted
to learn that Delbert Newhouse was alive and residing in an Oregon nursing
home. They even established phone
contact with Newhouse, getting his enthusiastic permission to come and
interview him. Joking, he informed them
that he was 93 years of age, so they had better hurry!
Unfortunately,
Newhouse's humor proved strangely prophetic, for as Cherniack and his crew were
rushing to Oregon, Delbert died suddenly, to everyone's surprise and sorrow.
I mention the
Newhouse incident in detail here because, ultimately, David Cherniack's staff
would end up speaking with and interviewing Newhouse's son, just as the Mariana
incident needed to be explored by Joan Bird with family members after a
witness's death. In Newhouse's case his
son, a very young child in the fifties, clearly remembered the Utah filming
incident.
Thus, the
importance of Joan Bird's book to the movie for which this blog exists.
Beyond the
Mariana expedition, the author confronts another dramatically important issue
-- that of alleged UFO visitations to nuclear missile bases located in Montana,
and for this she relies upon the work of Robert Hastings, Robert Salas and her
own extensive research into these incidents -- and this is deadly serious
stuff, apparently recognized and hushed up by our government on multiple
occasions (Note: Salas recently revealed
a personal UFO abduction incident, and there are allegations that other
officers associated with UFO-nuke incidents may have experienced similar
events. I mention this only as an update
here, mostly about which I am uninformed - r.b.).
Other chapters
discuss Montana crop circle evidence, alleged abductions and
"contactee" stories from the state's past -- about which Bird
effectively strives to remain factual, critical, and even dismissive where
necessary. The super touch is Bird's
extensive footnoting, a nice index and a lengthy list of acknowledgments in
which she kindly attempts to leave no source out in the cold. Additionally, Bird appears intent upon
continuing her research project, so perhaps there's a book or more in her
future.
Yes, inclusion
of MONTANA UFOS AND EXTRATERRESTRIALS
fits into this blog nicely, a book composed with great documentary-style
storytelling.
