Editing UFO conspiracy theories (section)

====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>-->