Editing UFO conspiracy theories (section)

===Doty and Lear promote the "Dark Side"===
In the 1980s, UFO conspiracy theories began to incorporate politics, alleging that the US Government was in league with an evil alien race. By way of  contrast with prior UFO conspiracy theories about benevolent 'space brothers', author Jerome Clark named this new strain of thinking "ufology's dark side".
<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|97|quote=By the early 1990s, therefore, at least some of the ufology literature had gone through several transformations. It had become intensely politicized. It insisted that powerful elements in the U.S. government were in continuing collaboration with an evil, alien race. And it claimed that in order to protect this information, the secret government was prepared to destroy American liberties. From 1986 to about 1990, the activities of Andrews, Lear, Cooper, and Valerian created a conspiracist form of UFO speculation, which Jerome Clark refers to as ufology’s "dark side."}}

Richard Doty, who identified as a special agent with the [[Air Force Office of Special Investigations]] at [[Kirtland Air Force Base|Kirtland AFB]], was a source for much of this new 'dark' mythology.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|253|quote=The next major figure in the development of the alien myth was Set. Richard C. Doty, a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Kirtland AFB.}}
Another important figure during this era was [[John Lear]], son of Learjet founder William Powell Lear.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|258|quote=He met with Linda Moulton Howe and John Lear (son of Learjet inventor Bill Lear) who would have key roles in the spread and embellishment of Bennewitz’s ideas.}}  Pilkington argues that in the second half of the 1980s, Lear was "probably the most influential source" of UFO conspiracy information.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=Probably the most influential source of information in this period was John Lear.}}

====Cattle mutilations and quiet helicopters====
{{Location map+|New Mexico|float=right|marksize=6|mark=Black pog.svg
 |places=
 {{Location map~|New Mexico|lat_dir=N|lat_deg=36|lat_min=40|lat_sec=40|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=107|lon_min=12|lon_sec=33|position=bottom|background=#FFFFFF|label=Detonation Site|marksize=15|mark=Radiation warning symbol 4.svg}}
| caption        = Project Gasbuggy detonation site, only 12 miles away from Dulce
}}

During the 1970s, the Colorado-New Mexico border region was a hotspot for cattle mutilation reports, especially the small town of Dulce, New Mexico on the [[Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation]].<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|quote=The Colorado–New Mexico border region had emerged as one of the major sites for the cattle-mutilation stories then current in the West, and as discussed in chapter 5, when cattle-mutilation stories appeared, reports of UFO sightings were generally not far behind. At the center of the reports in the Dulce area was a New Mexico State Police officer, Gabriel Valdez, who had been reporting sensational mutilations since the mid 1970s.}}  Ranchers reported sightings of unusual lights, UFOs, and  "[[black helicopters|quiet helicopters]]" associated with the mutilations.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|69-70|quote=He links the pre-1993 sightings to reports of western cattle mutilations but claims that those thereafter “more often were seen in urban settings and flying in formation, or in the context of covert military maneuvers.”}}  Law enforcement recovered radar chaff, syringes, and a gas mask;  Some of the corpses had rope marks and broken bones, as if they had been hoisted onto a helicopter and dropped onto he ground.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote="Back in the 1970s, Valdez’s investigation had focused on  the ranch of Manuel Gomez, whose cattle had suffered particularly badly; alongside dead and mutilated animals he’d found caterpillar tracks, bits of paper, measuring tools, syringes, needles and a gas mask. One site was covered with radar-reflecting chaff, some of it stuffed into the dead cow’s mouth. Some of the animals had broken bones and what appeared to be rope marks on their limbs, suggesting that they had been hoisted up then dropped back on to the ground. Whoever was doing this to the cattle, they were organized, and human."}}  After ranchers took to firing on unidentified helicopters, the US Bureau of Land Management was forced to ground all helicopters in Eastern Colorado.<ref name="Goleman">{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.3098/ah.2011.85.3.398 | doi=10.3098/ah.2011.85.3.398 | title=Wave of Mutilation: The Cattle Mutilation Phenomenon of the 1970s | date=2011 | last1=Goleman | first1=Michael J. | journal=Agricultural History | volume=85 | issue=3 | pages=398–417 | pmid=21901905 }}</ref> Writing in 2010, Pilkington reflects: "The silent helicopter has now been revealed as not only a reality, but one that was flying as long ago as 1972. This was the [[Stealth helicopter#History|Hughes 500P]], the P standing for Penetrator, an aircraft known by the few who flew it as ‘The Quiet One’."<ref name="MirageMen"/>

By 1976, some UFO conspiracy theorists argued that supposed [[cattle mutilations]] were caused by extra-terrestrial UFOs.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|85|quote=1976 was also the year that some ufologists began to link UFOs with cattle mutilations.}}  In 1979, the idea of aliens causing "mutiliations" was ridiculed when it was reported that a mutilated bull had been drugged with [[Chlorpromazine|Thorazine]]; Law enforcement told press: "We know this stuff is made here, and it isn't from outer space. Whoever is doing it is highly sophisticated, and they have a lot of resources. They're well organized".<ref name="SF82_drugged">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-santa-fe-new-mexican-police-find-dru/127526346/ | title=The Santa Fe New Mexican 02 May 1979, page 9 | newspaper=The Santa Fe New Mexican | date=2 May 1979 | page=9 }}</ref><ref name="MirageMen"/>

Pilkington suggests the 'mutilations' may have been a covert epidemiological monitoring program, perhaps of radiation. In 1967, the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] had detonated an underground nuclear device near Dulce as part of [[Project Gasbuggy]].<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=the most plausible explanation for the phenomenon has its roots in epidemiology. A number of researchers have raised the possibility that the mutilations were part of a clandestine study or experiment. The parts of the animal that are usually removed by the mutilators – lips, tongue, anus, udders and genitalia – are those most prone to contamination and infection. ... Perhaps the mutilating agency was looking for signs of environmental damage caused by radiation from the Gasbuggy test leaking into the surrounding area?}}<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|217}}

====Doty deceives mutiliation researchers====
{{main|Mirage Men|Paul Bennewitz}}

The late 1970s also saw the beginning of controversy centered on [[Paul Bennewitz]].<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|111}}<ref name="MirageMen"/>
On April 20, 1979,  U.S. Attorney R. E. Thompson and US Senator [[Harrison Schmidt]] held a public meeting about cattle mutilations. The meeting was attended by about 80, one attendee was Paul Bennewitz, an amateur UFO investigator.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|87–88}} Bennewitz was befriended by Richard Doty, an Air Force Sergeant, who fed him false stories of a UFO conspiracy, government treaties with extraterrestrials, and alien harvesting of cattle.<ref name="MirageMen"/>  This material inspired much of the post-1980 UFO mythology.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=Doty and Bennewitz were the conduits, if not the source, for much of the UFO mythology that had emerged since the early 1980s. Stories about crashed UFOs, US government pacts with nasty ETs, alien harvesting of cattle and manipulation of human DNA, which had gained in potency and authenticity as they were retold through countless books, articles, films and TV documentaries.}}   The earliest known reference to "MJ Twelve" comes from a 1981 document used in disinformation targeting Paul Bennewitz.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|258–259}}

Paul Bennewitz was ultimately hospitalized for paranoia.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|258|quote=Bennewitz himself was becoming increasingly erratic—he claimed the aliens were coming through the walls at night and injecting him with chemicals. Finally, he suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized.}}  Doty would appear in the 2013 documentary ''[[Mirage Men]]'' to discuss his role in deceiving Bennewitz. While Doty claims Bennewitz was targeted for inadvertently recording classified technology at Kirtland Air Force Base, Pilkington argues that government agents likely targeted Bennewitz due to his participation in the 1979 meeting on cattle mutilations around Dulce.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|ch. 11}}<ref>Greenwood, Barry and Brad Sparks, ‘The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12’, MUFON Symposium Proceedings 2007, as quoted in Mirage Men Ch. 11 p.88</ref>

[[File:Linda1981EmmyStrangeHarvest300dpi.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Linda Moulton Howe in 1981]]
In 1979, [[Linda Moulton Howe]] was a documentarian exploring cattle mutilations.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|86|quote="In 1979, Linda Moulton Howe, a Denver filmmaker, began work on a documentary that alleged a mutilation-UFO connection. The film, A Strange Harvest, was broadcast in 1980. She later stated that “I am convinced that one or more alien intelligences are affecting this planet. I would like to know who they are, what they want and why the government is silent.” Howe and others, influenced by her film and subsequent publications, began to speculate that aliens mutilated cattle in order to secure body parts or biological substances they needed for their own survival, and that the U.S. government was complicit in these efforts. The idea that aliens were engaged in some obscure effort to “harvest” or otherwise retrieve biological substances from the earth has
turned out to be a fertile subject for speculation, which eventually came
to include such suggestions as the breeding of alien-human hybrids"}}<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|218}}<ref name="MirageMen"/>  In 1980, Moulton Howe's documentary "A Strange Harvest" alleged that cattle mutilations were connected to UFOs.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|86}} In April 1983,  Moulton Howe travelled to visit Richard Doty and Kirtland Air Force Base.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=In April 1983, Howe was invited out to Kirtland by Doty}}

At Kirtland, Doty showed Moulton Howe fabricated documents purporting to be presidential briefing papers. The documents told of UFOs crashes at Roswell, surviving aliens, MJ-12, and a UFO coverup. For decades, Doty denied Moulton Howe's retelling of these events, but in the late 2000s, he would acknowledge the exchange took place, admitting "We gave Linda [...] some bad information."<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=We may not know exactly why, but we know they did it and, twenty-four years later, Doty admits that the exchange took place, much as Linda Howe described it. Its purpose was connected to AFOSI’s disinformation programme against Bennewitz. As Doty  put it: ‘We gave Linda some good information, and some bad information. She chose the bad information.’ }}  Howe became a "staunch advocate" for these 'dark' conspiracy theories that the U.S. government is working with aliens.<ref name="Knight2003">{{cite book|author=Peter Knight|title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMIDrggs8TsC&pg=PA125|access-date=18 October 2012|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-812-9|pages=125–}}</ref><ref name="Barkun2006" />  She would later be called one of "the gurus of American ufology".<ref name="Schultz1999">{{cite book|author=Nancy Lusignan Schultz|title=Fear Itself: Enemies Real & Imagined in American Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/fearitselfenemie00schu|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Purdue University Press|isbn=978-1-55753-115-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fearitselfenemie00schu/page/415 415]–}}</ref>

====Doty and Bill Moore spread bogus MJ-12 docs====
{{main|Majestic 12}}
{{external media
| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsKMZKgeHY Bill Moore addresses MUFON,  July 1 1989]<ref name="Gulyas2015"/>{{rp|8–9}}<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|269}}
}}

After the publication of ''The Roswell Incident'', [[Richard C. Doty]] and other individuals presenting themselves as Air Force Intelligence Officers approached Moore.<ref name="Goldberg-2001-p213">{{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Robert Alan |author-link=Robert Alan Goldberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC |title=Enemies Within: the Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13294-6 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |chapter=Chapter 6: The Roswell Incident |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC&pg=PA189}}</ref>{{rp|213}} They used the unfulfilled promise of hard evidence of extraterrestrial retrievals to recruit Moore, who kept notes on other ufologists and intentionally spread misinformation within the UFO community.<ref name="Goldberg-2001-p213"/>

On December 11, 1984, filmmaker Jaime Shandera received an anonymous parcel containing an undeveloped roll of film;  When developed, the film was found to contain a copy of what is now known as the "Majestic 12 documents".  {{rp|quote="According to those involved, on December 11, 1984,  filmmaker Jaime Shandera received a parcel containing an undeveloped roll of film".}}  Shandera received the package just after a phone call from Moore.<ref>{{cite book |last=Korff |first=Kal |url=https://archive.org/details/roswellufocrashw0000korf |title=The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Don't Want You to Know |date=1997 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-57392-127-5 |edition=First |location=Amherst, New York}}</ref>{{rp|170}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Blum |first=Howard |date= 1990 |title=Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-671-66260-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/outtheregovernme00blum}}</ref>{{rp|240}} The documents detailed the creation of a group, "Majestic 12", was formed to handle Roswell debris.<ref>{{cite book |last=May |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 |title=Pseudoscience and Science Fiction |date=2016 |publisher=Springer International |isbn=978-3-319-42605-1 |location=Cham, Zug}}
</ref>{{rp|68–69}}

On October 14, 1988, actor [[Mike Farrell]] hosted ''[[UFO Cover Up? Live]]'', a two-hour television special "focusing on the government's handling of information regarding UFOs" and "whether there has been any suppression of evidence supporting the existence of UFOs".<ref name="Gulyas2015"/>{{rp|20}}<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|268}} The program interviewed shadow-clad informants Falcon (Richard Doty) and Condor about the Majestic 12 documents.<ref name="MirageMen"/>  The program was noted for its claim of an alien being, held at Area 51, who liked to eat strawberry ice cream.<ref name="MirageMen"/>

The Majestic-12 materials have been heavily scrutinized and discredited.<ref name="Gulyas2016"/>  [[Carl Sagan]] criticized the complete lack of [[provenance]] of documents "miraculously dropped on a doorstep like something out of a fairy story, perhaps '[[The Elves and the Shoemaker]]'."<ref name="DemonHaunted">{{cite book |last=Sagan |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Sagan |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-709 |title=The Demon-Haunted World |date=1997 |publisher=Headline |isbn=978-0-7472-5156-9 |edition=Paperback |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|88}} Researchers noted the idiosyncratic date format not found in government documents from the time they were purported to originate, but widely used in Moore's personal notes.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|266}} Some signatures appear to be photocopied from other documents.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2001|p=206}}</ref> For example, a signature from President Harry Truman is identical to one from an October 1, 1947 letter to Vannevar Bush.<ref>{{harvnb|Korff|1997|p=172}}</ref><ref name="Donovan2011b">{{cite book|last=Donovan|first=Barna William|title=Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJkhqU1IXHAC&pg=PA107|access-date=17 September 2014|date=2011-07-20|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786486151|pages=107–|archive-date=2016-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005205106/https://books.google.com/books?id=bJkhqU1IXHAC&pg=PA107|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic%2012/Majestic%2012%20Part%201%20of%201/at_download/file |title=FBI – Majestic 12 Part 1 of 1 |work=An FBI archive containing details of "Majestic 12" |access-date=April 10, 2011 |archive-date=January 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131044307/https://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic%2012/Majestic%2012%20Part%201%20of%201/at_download/file |url-status=live }}</ref> After researchers noted many style and formatting errors, Moore admitted that he had typed and stamped the document as a facsimile.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|259}}

At a 1989 [[Mutual UFO Network]] conference, Moore confessed that he had intentionally fed fake evidence of extraterrestrials to UFO researchers, including Bennewitz.<ref name="Gulyas2016"/> Roswell conspiracy proponents turned on Moore, but not the broader conspiracy theory.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|2001|pp=207, 214}}</ref> Doty would later admit he had spread fabricated documents to UFO researchers in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kloor |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Kloor |date=2019 |title=UFOs Won't Go Away |journal=Issues in Science and Technology |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=39–56 |jstor=26949023}}</ref>{{rp|53}}<!--==== George C. Andrews====
In 1986, conspiracy theorist George C. Andrews authored ''Extra-Terrestrials Among Us'', accusing the CIA of the Kennedy assassination.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|87–99,137–38,147}} Scholar of extremism  [[Michael Barkun]] notes that "Andrew's political views are almost indistinguishable from those associated with militias, only his placement of extraterrestrials at the pinnacle of conspiracies identifies him as a ufologist."  <ref name="Barkun2006"/>  According to Barkun,  "the publication of ''Extra-Terrestrials Among Us'' marked the beginning of a feverish period of UFO conspiracism, from 1986 to 1989.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|32}} <!--  In 1987, UFO conspiracy theorist [[Bill Moore (ufologist)|William Moore]] authored "The Strange Case of the Maury Island Saucer", allegedly linking the [[Maury Island UFO incident]] to the [[trial of Clay Shaw]] for the Kennedy assassination.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttPWAAAAMAAJ|title=The UFO Literature: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography of Works in English|first=Richard Michael|last=Rasmussen|date=December 10, 1985|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmIDwgEACAAJ|title=The Strange Case of the Maury Island Saucer|first=William L.|last=Moore|date=December 6, 1987|publisher=W.L. Moore Publications, 4219 W. Olive, Suite 247|via=Google Books}}</ref> JFK-UFO conspiracy theories first emerged in the writings of the UFO conspiracy community.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/5339405/|title=8 Jul 1976, Page 31 - Lebanon Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/735923936/|title=5 Mar 1978, 10 - The News Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>-->

====Lear promotes Bill Cooper and Bob Lazar====
In the Summer of 1988,  [[Milton William Cooper|Bill Cooper]] made his first public comments on the ParaNet [[Bulletin Board System]], an early UFO message board, claiming that in 1966 he was serving aboard the ''[[USS Tiru]]'' when he and fellow Navy personnel witnessed a metal craft "larger than a football field" repeatedly enter and exit the water.<ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>{{rp|72–75}} Cooper claimed he was instructed by superiors to never speak about the incident.<ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>{{rp|72–75}}

Biographer Mark Jacobson argues "the Tiru incident itself would not have done much to make Cooper's name in ufology. That opportunity came only a few days later" when he was contacted by fellow ParaNet poster [[John Olsen Lear|John Lear]]. Lear, the son of Learjet founder [[Bill Lear]], identified as a pilot who had flown missions for the CIA.<ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>{{rp|ch 7}} On August 25, 1988, Lear authored a post titled "The UFO Coverup" which incorporated [[Dulce Base|elements of mythos]] from [[Paul Bennewitz]], a ufologist who was later revealed to have been fed disinformation by American counter-intelligence agent [[Richard C. Doty]].<ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>{{rp|ch 7}}<ref name="MirageMen"/> Cooper soon visited Lear, and the two spent much time together from 1988 to 1990.<ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>{{rp|ch 7}}

Cooper's views were heavily influenced by Lear and his story of alien collusion with secret governmental forces.<ref name="Pioneer">{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/150922/pioneer-paranoia|title = A Pioneer of Paranoia|magazine = The New Republic|date = August 28, 2018|last1 = Dickey|first1 = Colin}}</ref> In 1989, the two released an "indictment" against the US Government for "aiding and abetting and concealing this Alien Nation which exists in our borders".<ref name="Pioneer"/>    In 2018, columnist [[Colin Dickey]] noted Lear and Cooper's influence, writing "in the early years [UFO writers] did not, by and large, embrace strong political positions. They were the tip of a spear asserting that the number one thing we had to fear was not little green men, but the government that colluded with them, appropriating their technology against us."<ref name="Pioneer"/>

Cooper and Lear's collaboration lasted until the 1989 MUFON conference where Bill Moore admitted to spreading lies to UFO researchers. In response, Cooper accused Lear of being a CIA plant.<ref name="Pioneer"/>
[[File:John Hamilton Mortimer - Death on a Pale Horse - Google Art Project (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|"Death on a Pale Horse", an apocalyptic image from the [[Book of Revelation]], as depicted by 18th-century artist [[John Hamilton Mortimer]]]]
In 1991, Cooper published the influential conspiracy work ''Behold a Pale Horse'' which claimed that Kennedy was killed after he "informed [[Majestic 12]] that he intended to reveal the presence of aliens to the American people".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC|title=Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America|first=Robert Alan|last=Goldberg|date=October 1, 2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300132946|via=Google Books|access-date=December 13, 2021|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209063741/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8e5YELGGFAC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PaleHorseRider"/> ''Behold a Pale Horse'' became 'wildly popular' with conspiracy theorists and went on to be one of the most-read books in the US prison system.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/books/pale-horse-rider-william-cooper-mark-jacobson-interview.html|title=Tell Us 5 Things About Your Book: A Godfather of Conspiracy Thinking|first=John|last=Williams|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 2, 2018|access-date=December 13, 2021|archive-date=December 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210013841/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/books/pale-horse-rider-william-cooper-mark-jacobson-interview.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PaleHorseRider"/>

Cooper described the "Illuminati" as a secret international organization, controlled by the [[Bilderberg Group]], that conspired with the [[Knights of Columbus]], [[Freemasonry|Masons]], [[Skull and Bones]], and other organizations. Its ultimate goal, he said, was the establishment of a [[New World Order (conspiracy theory)|New World Order]]. According to Cooper, the Illuminati conspirators not only invented alien threats for their own gain, but actively conspired with extraterrestrials to take over the world.<ref name="Barkun2006" />{{rp|60}} Cooper produced regular shortwave-radio broadcasts that were popular with conspiracy theorist and anti-government activists. Cooper reportedly met with [[Timothy McVeigh]] shortly before the [[Oklahoma City bombing]].<ref name="Barkun2006" />{{rp|ix}} In November 2001,  Cooper was shot and killed by law enforcement during an attempted arrest.<ref name="Barkun2006" />{{rp|165}}

[[File:BobLazarTheLazarTapeAndExcerptsFromTheGovernmentBible000.png|thumb|right|Bob Lazar in 1991]]
Lear introduced journalist [[George Knapp (television journalist)|George Knapp]] to UFO whistle-blower [[Bob Lazar]] and his tales of [[Area 51]].<ref name="8news">{{Cite web|url=https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/ufo-activist-nevada-aviator-john-lear-dies/|title=UFO activist, Nevada aviator John Lear dies at 79|work=KLAS |date=31 March 2022|access-date=31 March 2022|archive-date=31 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331210308/https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/ufo-activist-nevada-aviator-john-lear-dies/|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 1989, Bob Lazar appeared in a special interview with Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS to discuss his alleged employment at S-4.<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|274}}<ref>[http://www.8newsnow.com/story/3369879/bob-lazar-the-man-behind-area-51 KLAS-TV: 8 News Now: George Knapp, Investigative Reporter: "Bob Lazar The Man Behind Area 51: NEW: Area 51 Exposed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223132918/http://www.8newsnow.com/story/3369879/bob-lazar-the-man-behind-area-51 |date=2015-02-23 }} retrieved 21 March 2013</ref>

Lazar's claims were widely discredited. Lazar never obtained the degrees he claims to hold from MIT and Caltech.<ref>''[[Los Angeles Times]]'': May 6, 1993, [[Ray Rivenberg|Rivenberg, Ray]], "Unusually Fanatical Observers Ike Struck Deal With Aliens!"</ref><ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20130111183913/http://www.presidentialufo.com/articles-a-papers/379-the-true-story-of-area-51-a-look-at-the-actual-evidence The Presidents UFO Website: ''The True Story of Area 51: A Look at the Actual Evidence'']}}, Written by [[Grant Cameron]], Monday, 03 October 2011 18:29 retrieved 21 March 2013</ref> In 1990, Lazar was arrested for aiding and abetting a [[prostitution]] ring. This was reduced to felony [[Procuring (prostitution)|pandering]], to which he pleaded guilty.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-06-vw-31950-story.html |title=Unusually Fanatical Observers |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 4, 2003}}</ref><ref name="lvrgui">{{cite news|date=June 19, 1990|title=Source In Channel 8'S UFO Series Pleads Guilty to Pandering Charge|page=8b|work=[[Las Vegas Review-Journal]]}}</ref><ref name=lvrpro>{{cite news |title=Judge Gives UFO 'Witness' Lazar Probation on pandering charge |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=August 21, 1990 |page=2c}}</ref> By 1991, Nevada press reported tourists traveling to the Groom Lake region in hopes of glimpsing UFOs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176156578|title=Los Angeles Times 20 Mar 1991, page Page 49|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Lear remained a prominent voice in the UFO conspiracy theory community until his death in 2022, making multiple appearances on TV and online shows, including [[Coast to Coast AM]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/lear-john-6252/|title=John Lear|website=Coast to Coast AM|access-date=2022-03-31|archive-date=2022-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331171836/https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/lear-john-6252/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lazar continues to spread tales of Area 51 through media appearance. In 2018, he was  featured in producer George Knapp and [[Jeremy Corbell]]'s documentary ''Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers''<ref name="DFP">{{cite web|last1=Reimink|first1=Troy|title=In 'Bob Lazar: Area 51' documentary, director investigates UFO whistle-blower's story|url=https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/04/10/bob-lazar-area-51-documentary-ufo-freep-film-festival/3419204002/|access-date=July 31, 2019|newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]]}}</ref> and [[Joe Rogan]]'s [[The Joe Rogan Experience|podcast]].<ref name="vice_BobL">{{cite web |title=Bob Lazar Says the FBI Raided Him to Seize Area 51's Alien Fuel. The Truth Is Weirder |last=McMillan |first=Tim |work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |date=November 13, 2019 |access-date=March 1, 2025 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/bob-lazar-says-the-fbi-raided-him-to-seize-area-51s-alien-fuel-the-truth-is-weirder/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Seddon|first=Dan|date=July 19, 2019|title=Area 51 details left out of Netflix's Bob Lazar documentary|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a28443500/bob-lazar-area-51-netflix-flying-saucers/|access-date=2020-08-07|website=Digital Spy|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="roll_Lovi">{{Cite magazine| title = Loving the Alien| last = Rodrick | first = Stephen| magazine = Rolling Stone| date = 2020-08-20| access-date = August 28, 2020| url = https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/aliens-real-ufo-area-51-nevada-pentagon-history-1046067/}}</ref><!--====Phil Schneider and Dulce Base====
In 1995, a man calling himself Philip Schneider made a few appearances at UFO conventions, espousing essentially a new version of the theories mentioned above. Schneider claimed to be the son of U-boat commander who was captured by the allies and switched sides. According to Schneider, his father has been part of the Philadelphia Experiment. Schneider claimed to have played a role in the construction of Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs) across the United States, and as a result he said that he had been exposed to classified information of various sorts as well as having personal experiences with EBEs. He claimed to have survived the [[Dulce Base]] catastrophe and decided to tell his tale.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Phil Schneider Story|url=http://www.apfn.org/apfn/phil.htm|publisher=APFN|access-date=26 April 2013|archive-date=27 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427122518/http://www.apfn.org/apfn/PHIL.HTM|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to folklore,{{better source needed|date=January 2022}} Schneider died on January 17, 1996, in a death ruled a suicide, though some of his followers reportedly believed he may have been murdered.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apfn.org/apfn/ex_wifephil.htm|title=Message from ex-wife of Phil Schneider|website=www.apfn.org|access-date=2017-12-16|archive-date=2017-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201062222/http://www.apfn.org/apfn/ex_wifephil.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}
-->

====Doty spreads "Project Serpo" stories====
In 2005, UFO researcher Victor Martinez received an anonymous email about Project Serpo, a supposed "exchange program" where Americans were sent to live on an alien homeworld.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=So began the email received on 1 November 2005 by Victor Martinez, a substitute teacher on America’s west coast who ran what must have been one of the most remarkable email groups on the Internet." }}   The anonymous informant and three other supposed-corroborating witnesses were revealed to be accounts operated by Rick Doty.<ref name="MirageMen"/>{{rp|x|quote=After engaging in some online cloak-and-dagger work, Broadbent found that the original Anonymous emails distributed to Victor Martinez’s email list in November 2005, and the corroborating emails sent by Rick Doty, Paul McGovern and at least two other alleged Defence Intelligence Agency ‘insiders’, all shared the same consumer broadband IP address – which identifies the local computer network that a computer is using – based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This fingered Rick, the only member of the group known actually to exist outside of cyberspace, as the probable sender of the original emails, if not the source of the Serpo material itself.}} He participated in the 2013 documentary ''[[Mirage Men]]'' about his campaign against Bennewitz, Howe, and others.

Doty continues to spread UFO stories, appearing in conferences, films, and the [[UFO (American TV series)|2021 TV series ''UFO'']].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/aug/17/ufo-jj-abrams-docseries-showtime | title='Our fascination is rooted in hope': Why we're so obsessed with UFOs | work=The Guardian | date=17 August 2021 | last1=Esposito | first1=Veronica }}</ref>