Alien Autopsy Film Timeline
Day/Date/Month/Year
Event
??? 0 0 1980 "The Roswell Incident" published by Moore and Berlitz
??? 0 10 1988 "Unsolved Mysteries" screens reconstruction of Roswell event, using life-like dummies of aliens
Sat 14 7 1990 Independent UFO Network hold "Phantoms of the Sky" Conference in Sheffield, England
Sun 15 7 1990 Independent UFO Network hold "Phantoms of the Sky" Conference in Sheffield, England
??? 0 0 1991 "The UFO Crash at Roswell" published by Randle and Schmitt
??? 0 0 1992 Merlin Group founded by RS
??? 0 0 1992 "Crash at Corona" published by Stanton Friedman
Sat 4 7 1992 According to second version of "My Story" RS and Gary Shoefield visit Cleveland and buy footage of the "Pied Piper of Cleveland" film footage from attorney Bill Randle plus film clips of the young Elvis Presley from 5 other sources. In November 1995 MH maintained that this was the date when RS first visited the camera-man's son in Cleveland.
Sun 9 8 1992 "Sunday People" publishes an article by Carl Nagaitis discussing Bill Moore's promotion of the Roswell incident at the Sheffield Conference and Steven Spielberg's interest in making a film about the event.
Mon 17 8 1992 Daily Mirror publishes 'Elvis : his amazing letter', using information from RS' trip to the USA
Mon 19 4 1993 Polygram release the Showtime "Roswell" TV movie on video in USA
Fri 25 6 1993 PM claims he first met RS at UK premiere of "Fire in the Sky" UFO movie in London
??? 0 7 1993 PM tells JSp and Walt Andrus about autopsy film during BUFORA's Bristol Conference
Sun 4 7 1993 According to first version of "My Story" RS visits Cleveland and buys footage of the "Pied Piper of Cleveland" film footage from attorney Bill Randle
Sat 24 7 1993 BUFORA hold "UFO Casebook" conference in Sheffield, England
Sun 25 7 1993 BUFORA hold "UFO Casebook" conference in Sheffield, England
??? 0 8 1993 According to his 1996 CV PM becomes a "consultant" to RS
??? 0 9 1993 PM tells BUFORA council members about autopsy film
??? 4 10 1993 PM resigns from the Independent UFO Network, stating that he has "numerous irons-in-the-fire, some of which I hope will come to fruition".
Fri 12 11 1993 PM tells JR and John Spencer about the AA film whilst flying to a UFO conference in Vienna
Wed 22 12 1993 "Daily Mirror" publishes "Spaced Out", falsely claiming that Steven Spielberg's was planning to make a film of the Roswell event called "Project X"
??? 0 0 1994 PM tells Kevin Randle, Don Ecker, Vicki Cooper and UFO Norway about autopsy film
Fri 4 3 1994 Kevin Randle writes to PM expressing disinterest in autopsy footage
Mon 2 5 1994 "Without Consent" published by Ringpull Press, co-authored by PM and CN
Sat 30 7 1994 Roswell TV movie premiered in USA
Tues 16 8 1994 Regalmark Ltd dissolved (Directors Joshua Toledano, Ray Santilli and Harry Maguire)
??? 0 11 1994 RS receives AA footage from the camera-man
??? 0 11 1994 "OMNI" magazine repeats the false Spielberg "Project X" story first published on 9 August 1992 alongside Amblin Production's denial
??? 0 12 1994 PM contacts Polygram
Thur 15 12 1994 RS resigns as a director of Mastertone Multimedia Ltd
??? Late 12 1994 Reg Presley first views the AA footage (according to CPRI Winter 1995 issue)
??? 0 1 1995 Colin Andrews alerted to AA film's existence by Reg Presley
Fri 13 1 1995 Reg Presley appears on BBC TV's "Good Morning with Ann and Nick" and announces AA film's existence
Wed 18 1 1995 Stanton Friedman first faxes RS
Fri 3 2 1995 Colin Andrews and his wife Synthia visit RS in London and view parts of the AA film for the first time
Tue 7 2 1995 Gary Shoefield and RS become directors of Mastervision Ltd, the company that markets the AA footage
Sat 11 2 1995 "View Magazine" publishes review of the Polygram Showtime "Roswell" video and talks of "... PR coverage, like using fake UFO sightings to stir up the press. There will also be a tie in with BUFORA".
Tue 28 2 1995 Pat Delgado writes to "Australian UFO Bulletin" reporting his recent viewing of autopsy film
Sun 5 3 1995 "The Sunday People" publishes article about film quoting RS and PM apparently endorsing the film's authenticity
Fri 17 3 1995 PM and Sue Mantle visit RS in London. RS allows them to take away video copies of one sequence of footage. PM gives RS 2 page proposal to analyse film.
Fri 17 3 1995 Colin Andrews reports news of autopsy film's existence in Seattle
Sat 18 3 1995 "The New UFOlogist" holds an open editorial meeting in Manchester. David Clarke attends.
Fri ?? 24 3 1995 "Central Weekend Live" features debate on autopsy film, with SF, PM and GB present.
Sun 26 3 1995 PM faxes Jenny Randles, Walt Andrus, Kevin Randle, Don Schmitt about the AA film.
Sun 26 3 1995 Press Association releases news of film following David Clarke's interview with PM
Mon 27 3 1995 "The Guardian", "Daily Mail" and "Daily Mirror" carry articles about autopsy film
Tue 28 3 1995 "The Times" carries article
Wed 29 3 1995 "The Independent" publishes PM's "Dear Disbeliever" letter/article
Thur 30 3 1995 RS meets Maurizio Baiata at Cannes Film Festival in France
Fri ?? 31 3 1995 SF, PM and GB all appear on Central TV programme to discuss the footage
Sat 1 4 1995 Polygram release the Showtime "Roswell" TV movie on video in Britain
Sat 1 4 1995 Bill Chalker speaks to PM by phone. See 16th April 1995.
Sat 1 4 1995 BS accesses CompuServe newsgroups for the first time.
Tue 4 4 1995 SF meets briefly with RS in London.
Sat 8 4 1995 RS interviewed by Perry Petrakis of French UFO magazine "Phenomena" at the Cannes Film Festival in France
Tue 11 4 1995 RS interviewed on BBC Radio 4's "The Afternoon Shift" with Loretta Proctor and Walter Haut
Thur 13 4 1995 Jesse Marcel, Jnr. claims to have been informed by Dick D'Amato about the truth behind Roswell
Sun 16 4 1995 Bill Chalker issues statement urging UFOlogists to be cautious and patient regarding the authentication of the AA film
Mon 17 4 1995 SF faxes offer of $ 100,000 to RS on condition of AA film's authenticity and contact with the camera-man
Thur 20 4 1995 PM puts a 2 page proposal to RS to analyse film on behalf of BUFORA
Sun 23 4 1995 Newspaper article (Glasgow Herald ??) read by JE refers to Don Berliner's failure to view film for a whole year
Tue 25 4 1995 Maurizio Baiata flies from Rome to London to meet RS and view AA film
Wed 26 4 1995 Maurizio Baiata and Reg Presley view enhanced footage at RS's office in London
Wed 26 4 1995 Colin Andrews visits RS at his London office for the second time to view more film at a private screening (for journalists ?)
Wed 26 4 1995 Bill Chalker posts PM's alleged conclusion that the autopsy footage could be done "in our own back garden" on the internet. In November 1996 PM later denied making this statement to Bill Chalker.
Fri 28 4 1995 Original date of Museum of London "showing"
Fri 28 4 1995 PM and SM visit RS in London
Wed 3 5 1995 RS resigns as a Director of Mastervision Ltd
Wed 3 5 1995 SF faxes a challenge to RS to provide more evidence to support the AA film's authenticity.
Thur 4 5 1995 RS replies to SF saying "None of the above is of interest to me"
Fri 5 5 1995 IRI publish Bulletin No 1 dismissing autopsy film as a hoax
Fri 5 5 1995 RS holds "showing" at Museum of London to reduce media interest in film. 150 people attend, including CA, RS, KJ, MH and PM
Fri 5 5 1995 GBirdsall circulates critical comment on internet
Tue 9 5 1995 PM prepares his first statement justifying his actions (see 23/6/95)
Fri 19 5 1995 This is the latest possible date for when BS faxed his "95 per cent" authenticity statement to Merlin. See 19 August 1995 and 20 April 1996
Sat 20 5 1995 San Marino Conference held by CUN group. 7 stills shown by PM and Chris Carey of Merlin
Sun 21 5 1995 Bath Pavilion host lecture by Dave Barrett to discuss AA film, although a pre-advertised showing did not occur. 500 people attended.
Sun 21 5 1995 San Marino Conference held by CUN group. 7 stills shown by Chris Carey of Merlin
Tue 23 5 1995 SAT-1 (German satellite TV) shows reconstructed still of autopsy footage
Tue 23 5 1995 BUFORA publish "UFO Times Special Report" concerning the AA film.
Tue 23 5 1995 RS meets Johsen Takano, Kenji Ogawa (of FUJI TV) and 4 other people at the Hyatt Legency Hotel in Hong Kong to negotiate TV rights
Thur 25 5 1995 Eduardo Russo circulates internet statement describing events at the San Marino conference, including PM's admission that CN was responsible for the false Steven Spielberg story
Thur 25 5 1995 PM circulates his first internet statement justifying his actions and denying the claim that BUFORA had publicly endorsed the film's authenticity
Fri 26 5 1995 IRI publish "A Quest for the Truth", describing the Museum of London showing and dismissing the film as a hoax.
Sun 28 5 1995 RTL (Germany) broadcast Extra : Erste Bilder des 'Ausserirdischen' von Roswell.
Mon 29 5 1995 SF flies into Britain for lecture tour
Tue 30 5 1995 JE circulates Open Letter to PM on internet. PM fails to respond.
??? Late 5 1995 RS intended flying to Japan to meet Johsen Takano
Thur 1 6 1995 GW and SF visit RS in London
Fri 2 6 1995 Dr Milroy releases his report on autopsy footage to RS
Fri 2 6 1995 IRI announce second screening to take place in London between 8 and 14 June (this event was later postponed)
Sat 3 6 1995 RS posts highly critical comments about UFOlogists on the internet. His post "confirms" that the edge markings on the film prove the film to be genuine 1947 vintage.
Sat 3 6 1995 BUFORA Council shown autopsy film for the first time
Mon 5 6 1995 GW Bulletin No 3 discusses 22 canisters of film.
Mon 5 6 1995 GW interviews RS (who asks not to be tape recorded) and Chris Carey in London
Mon 5 6 1995 SF leaves Britain
Tues 6 6 1995 RS again claims that the edge markings on the film prove that the film was manufactured in 1947
Wed 7 6 1995 GW interviews Dr Milroy of Sheffield University at length
Thur 8 6 1995 RS rings "Big Breakfast" show
Thur 8 6 1995 "Talk Radio" interviews Jenny Randles, John Spencer, Albert Budden and Mike Dash of "Fortean Times"
Thur 8 6 1995 PF writes to "The Independent" and "The Royal Society"
Thur 8 6 1995 GW writes to JE concerning the wreckage footage
Sat 10 6 1995 PM admits knowing of film's existence in 1993 on BUFORA's UFO Call line
Mon 12 6 1995 Second date for cancelled second "showing"
Mon 12 6 1995 The Royal Society write to PF denying claim in Colin Andrews' newsletter that Santilli was using their (non-existent) facilities to enhance the footage
Tue 13 6 1995 Rob Smith at Home Office in London writes to PF to deny that a "senior home office pathologist" can speak on behalf of the Home Office (as claimed by CA in his newsletter)
Wed 14 6 1995 Kodak asked by Gary Shoefield to help authenticate the footage, Kodak's John Clifton (Hemel Hempstead) replies in writing to Chris Carey of the Merlin Group
Sun 18 6 1995 PM circulates his second internet statement justifying his actions
Tue 20 6 1995 Colin Andrews visits RS in London for the 3rd time, along with Johsen Takano and Professor Chiang. See 26 and 29 June 1995
Tue 20 6 1995 GIF files of stills circulated on internet
Wed 21 6 1995 France's TF1 's "L'Odyssee de l'etrange" TV programme screens stills to French nation.
Wed 21 6 1995 Mass media interest in Italy
Wed 21 6 1995 Colin Andrews posts Dr Milroy's report on the autopsy on aav
Thur 22 6 1995 At 8.50 pm BST PM receives phone call from someone claiming to be the camera-man. See 23 July 1995
Thur 22 6 1995 French magazine VSD publish stills
Fri 23 6 1995 Mass media interest in Italy and France (??)
Sat 24 6 1995 CISU hold press conference in Milan, Italy, rebutting footage
Sat 24 6 1995 During an open forum on Encounters RS reports that "the film has been authenticated in writing by two separate offices of Kodak. The most important aspect of this is that Kodak (in writing) have stated that apart from the date of the safety print film which is 27, 47 or 67 the ORIGINAL NEGATIVE was also 27, 47 or 67".
Mon 26 6 1995 RS tells JS that "the positive prints were enhanced. The negatives were/are a major problem" despite earlier saying that the film enhancement was completed.
Mon 26 6 1995 During his 4th visit to RS CA introduces RS to "Chinese officials" who allegedly claim to have seen autopsy film 2 years previously (These officials turn out to be Johsen Takano, a Japanese UFO researcher, and Prof Chiang from the University of Taiwan). Also present was MH. See 20 June 1995 and 10 October 1995.
Mon 26 6 1995 RTL (German satellite TV) screens stills
Tue 27 6 1995 Colin Andrews confirms Kodak's alleged authentication on the internet
Wed 28 6 1995 John Ratcliffe claims on CompuServe to have received documentary proof of Kodak verification from RS but will not release the names of the Kodak employees concerned or the offices concerned without permission from RS
Wed 28 6 1995 Alleged meeting of 10 senators and an unknown number of congressmen in Washington DC organised by Chris Carey of The Merlin Group
Thur 29 6 1995 RS confirms acceptance of the false "Chinese officials" story. See 20 and 26 June 1995, and 10 October 1995.
Fri 30 6 1995 "The Independent" respond to PF's letter concerning PM's "Dear Disbeliever" letter/article published on 29 March 1995
??? 0 7 1995 "Psychic News" publish stills and interview with RS, disclosing for the first time (??) that "Jack Barnett" is NOT the camera-man's real name
Sat 1 7 1995 RS's www site allows people to order video of raw footage
Sun 2 7 1995 "Sunday Telegraph" publish article about John Mack's problems at Harvard Medical School
Sun 2 7 1995 PF posts Open Letter to UFOlogy on aav newsgroup appealing for caution over film footage
Mon 3 7 1995 GW issues Bulletin No 6, discussing Senators viewing of film organised by channel 4 team
Tue 4 7 1995 JE faxes Eddie Cunningham, Managing Director at Polygram, to question Polygram's alleged role in the affair
Tue 4 7 1995 CISU threatened with legal action for alleged breach of copyright by Maurizio Baiata, Ray Santilli's representative in Italy
Wed 5 7 1995 John Ratcliffe posts Bob Shell's Biographical details on AAV. BS makes clear that his authenticity statement is based on a fax of the edge codes.
Thur 6 7 1995 BS tells JE that [according to RS] "the reels were not labelled with a description of their contents. Just numbers". BS later clarified this by stating that according to RS the labels were on the cannisters, not the film reels.
Thur 6 7 1995 RS tells Mike Jamieson that Kodak have confirmed in writing that the autopsy film dates from 1947
Thur 6 7 1995 Channel 4 screen "Secret Lives" documentary on radiation experiments (some of which were conducted at Alamogordo, 100 miles from Roswell, in same time period)
Fri 7 7 1995 Dr Paul O'Higgins privately views the footage at the Natural History Museum
Mon 10 7 1995 Kevin Randle confirms his belief that UFOlogists should "treat the film as a hoax until it is proven authentic"
Mon 10 7 1995 Italian TV Channel RAI2 broadcasts news of the autopsy footage and shows stills
Tue 11 7 1995 PM writes to Quest's "UFO Magazine" asking for a right-of-reply and asking to include an advertisement for the uncut footage on video
Wed 12 7 1995 Richard Sabin at the Natural History Museum complains about RS' misrepresentation of his views in a letter to Graham Birdsall
Fri 14 7 1995 Kodak confirm in writing to RS that three Kodak offices have seen sections of the film or its projection leader and that the film dates from either 1927, 1947 or 1967
Fri 14 7 1995 BUFORA Chairman John Spencer circulates a letter to BUFORA Council Members regarding mounting criticism of BUFORA in its handling of the AA case
Fri 14 7 1995 RS admits to pulling out of planned trip to Washington DC to meet Bob Shell
Fri ?? 14 7 1995 Dutch "Telegraaf" publishes stills
Sat 15 7 1995 RS tells Meryl Johnson that he intends to allow a "well renowned lab" to "destroy one frame in order to pin point the date with chemical analysis, and the process will be FILMED for TV"
Sun 16 7 1995 "The People" publishes stills, RS complains to Richard Fair about copyright issue
Mon 17 7 1995 RS visits USA
Mon 17 7 1995 PF posts letter from Sheffield University on aav
Mon 17 7 1995 BUFORA begin circulating order forms for the autopsy footage to their membership
Tue 18 7 1995 RS visits USA
Tue 18 7 1995 JE posts a list of important questions to RS on Encounters
Tue 18 7 1995 US Republican Steve Schiff tells reporters that he has been invited to view the footage by Chris Carey
Wed 19 7 1995 RS visits USA
Wed 19 7 1995 RS creates ROSWELL CENTRE - My Story by Ray Santilli - on his world wide web site
Thur 20 7 1995 Congressman Schiff publicly comments on autopsy film on NBC channels (eg Denver, Atlanta)
Thur 20 7 1995 RS visits USA
Fri 21 7 1995 RS visits USA
Sat 22 7 1995 RS visits USA
Sat 22 7 1995 GW claims that Reg Presley confirmed to him that RS told Presley he had seen actual footage of President Truman and that there were 14 or 15 canisters of footage.
Sun 23 7 1995 "The Observer" publishes negative comments by Dr Paul O'Higgins, an anatomist at University College. See 7 July 1995
Sun 23 7 1995 PF writes to Dr John Padley at Sheffield University. See 17 July 1995
Sun 23 7 1995 "Strange Daze" publishes PM's interview with RS and reveals that PM received a phone call from someone claiming to be the camera-man on June 22nd 1995
Sun 23 7 1995 Congressman Schiff publicly calls for an enquiry into the autopsy film
Mon 24 7 1995 RS takes part in an open MUFON forum on Encounters
Mon 24 7 1995 Congressman Schiff responds to enquiry from R.M. Rassoul on CIS
Mon 24 7 1995 Congressman Schiff admits to having viewed a portion of the autopsy film during "Hard Copy" interview
Tue 25 7 1995 GW Bulletin No 7 published. Includes RS's statement "My Story" which describes a new version of how he came to acquire the footage from JB in the summer of 1993.
Tue 25 7 1995 "The Guardian" publishes "Aliens Land On Main Street" by Ian Kurtz
Tue 25 7 1995 "The Guardian" publishes "Second Front : Space Oddity" by Martin Walker
Tue 25 7 1995 Dr Paul O'Higgins repeats his negative comments about the footage on BBC Radio 4's main evening news bulletin. In the same bulletin PM denies that he received money from RS for his role in the affair, although he was to later admit receiving travel expenses. See 20 September 1995 and 21 May 1996
Thur 27 7 1995 John Purdie flies to USA to track down "Jack Barnett"
Fri 28 7 1995 "The Sun" newspaper publishes still photo of alien alongside PM's endorsement of the film "This film has aroused global interest. The world will never be quite the same again after it has appeared".
Fri 28 7 1995 GAO Report published in USA
Sat 29 7 1995 Major articles in "The Times" and "The Daily Telegraph"
Sun 30 7 1995 RS responds to "Sunday Times" article on Encounters forum
Sun 30 7 1995 "Sunday Times" article published, claiming film is a hoax
Sun 30 7 1995 Special version of the AA film made for Kiviat/Green Productions (has runtime display in lower right hand corner) arrives in the USA
??? 0 8 1995 MH tells TC that RS has interviewed the camera-man on tape and that his secretary is transcribing the conversation.
??? 0 8 1995 Channel 4 allegedly film RS as he speaks to someone claiming to be the camera-man, but this person hangs up when he realises that his conversation is being filmed.
??? 0 8 1995 Channel 4 ask BUFORA to alter date of Sheffield Conference. BUFORA refuse.
??? 0 8 1995 PM refuses Jenny Randles' proposal to hold a live debate at the Sheffield Conference between proponents and sceptics of autopsy film following Maurizio Verga's withdrawal from the conference due to the Italian copyright lawsuit.
??? 0 8 1995 BUFORA finally receive a piece of film from RS for testing
??? 0 8 1995 Mike Wootten confirms to PF and JR that PM is running the Sheffield Conference with little reference to other BUFORA Council Members, and that BUFORA have made mistakes in their handling of the publicity surrounding the film.
Tue 1 8 1995 According to Graham Birdsall, Martin Walker of "The Guardian" newspaper briefs John Purdie about the intended marketing of the footage, leaving Purdie very concerned.
Tue 1 8 1995 Maccabee and Friedman, at Maccabee's home, view the SUE footage, the debris footage and the "tent" footage for the first time in preparation for interviews to appear in Kiviat/Green's documentary (Friedman appeared for a few seconds but Maccabee did not)
Tue 1 8 1995 BS claims that the "first" autopsy sequence has been sold to a "Japanese party" who will not allow commercial use of the footage (this claim was later admitted by RS as a false lead to protect Volker Spielberg). See 9 July 1996
Wed 2 8 1995 Kevin O'Crean begins public attacks against RS and BUFORA
Wed 2 8 1995 In what appears to be an allusion to the Truman footage claim RS admits in a confidential fax to Graham Birdsall that he had "... optimistically assumed that we would have been able to recover all of the imagery I believed we had, therefore, I acknowledge that I sent out confusing signals to what was viewable and what was not".
Thur 3 8 1995 Jack Detlev Barnett dies in Los Angeles
Thur 3 8 1995 C-F-X Creature Effects write to Union Pictures expressing their opinion that the film is a modern hoax.
Fri 4 8 1995 RS sends package of film to BS but his secretary uses TNT instead of DHL, causing package to be delayed in post.
Sat 5 8 1995 Self-confessed circlemakers Rod Dickinson and John Lundberg attend the Glastonbury crop circle conference and admit to Graham Birdsall that they were approached by John Purdie to comment on the film, and that this was the source of the "Sunday Times" article commenting on opinions expressed by special effects experts.
Sun 6 8 1995 PM confirms to BS that he saw clear faces in his copy of the tent scene.
Sun 6 8 1995 RS in USA
Sun 6 8 1995 BS denies to Rebecca Schatte that he is on RS' payroll.
Sun 6 8 1995 Eduardo Russo denies rumours of a police raid to recover AA footage in Italy. See 25 August 1995
Mon 7 8 1995 The organisers of the Atlanta UFO Conference claim on AAV to be "negotiating the rights with BUFORA to show the Roswell Autopsy Film"
Thur 10 8 1995 BK and colleagues show the footage to Stan Winston of "Jurassic Park" fame. Winston is initially impressed.
Thur 10 8 1995 MH tells Charles V. Bender that "Ray hasn't seen Truman on the film yet, because the film is stuck together and has to go in a laboratory to be saved - if it is still possible and the damage not too big."
Thur 10 8 1995 MH states that the camera-man's family name is NOT 'Barnett' and that "Ray has now produced a summary of the camera-man's statement ... "
Fri 11 8 1995 RS dismisses Don Ecker's claim that "the Spielberg story had been planted by a PR firm hired by Santilli to up the interest factor" as "totally untrue". See 9 Aug 1992, 22 Dec 1993, Nov 1994, 23 and 25 May 1995
Sat 12 8 1995 MH denies the claim made by the organisers of the Atlanta UFO Conference that RS has sold the "rights" to the footage. MH confirms that conference organisers must ask RS "directly" for permission to show the film.
Sat 12 8 1995 RS releases the camera-man's statement
Sun 13 8 1995 PM writes to Quest's 'UFO Magazine' accusing them of trying to disrupt the Sheffield Conference and stating that BUFORA will employ bouncers to eject troublemakers. In their reply UFO Magazine deny being involved in such a plan.
Sun 13 8 1995 Don Ecker denies RS' claim that Ecker has not spoken to him.
Mon 14 8 1995 GW Bulletin No 8 claims that a pre-arranged meeting between JP and the camera-man fell through.
Tue 15 8 1995 BS tells Alan Hanscom that "... the video has been seen by a fairly large number of well-accredited experts here in the USA and in many other countries, and that the testimony of these experts will be made public in due time".
Tue 15 8 1995 RS alleges that there are at least three bootleg copies of his footage circulating in the UK and USA which have been released without his permission.
Tue 15 8 1995 RS tells JE that he doesn't have "the energy" to attempt further verification of the film and that all he cares about is being seen to have handled the film "professionally" and to have acted "in good faith". In the same mail RS suggests that an opinion has formed that the film shows US experiments on children bought back after the Hiroshima A-bomb attack.
Tue 15 8 1995 RS apologises on Encounters for being too busy to answer questions.
Wed 16 8 1995 C-F-X Creature Effects write to Graham Birdsall expressing their view that the alien could be a faked dummy
Thur 17 8 1995 Reuters release a press release as pre publicity for the Sheffield Conference
Fri 18 8 1995 BS tells JE that he knows who the "special effects experts" are who examined the film, but "for the same reasons as Ray" cannot comment further until after August 28th.
Fri 18 8 1995 Maccabee posts on MUFON Encounters Library the first detailed description of the Santilli film as supplied to Kiviat/Green, including the SUE footage, the debris footage and the "tent" footage.
Fri 18 8 1995 Michael Borland, MD, PhD, posts his claim that the film shows "a pre-pubescent female", aged about 10 years old, with features similar to those of Turner's Syndrome ("specifically the lack of secondary sexual development and low set ears").
Fri 18 8 1995 RS announces a "refund offer" to all buyers of his autopsy video - "The last thing I want to do is accept your money for a mail-order video if for any reason you are not happy [with it]".
Fri 18 8 1995 Encounters Forum refuse to allow any more postings from "Kevin O'Crean" (Mike Jamieson)
Fri 18 8 1995 In a post to "Pink Wombat" BS claims to have received "full co-operation" in his attempts to authenticate the film's age from RS. BS states that he is "trying to build as sound a support as possible so that we will have a coherent and reliable body of evidence to present either in favour of the film or against it."
Fri 18 8 1995 BUFORA "Director" (?) Philip Walton argues that the footage is a hoax during an interview on CNN World News
Fri 18 8 1995 RS claims to have "no problem" with the claim being made by "elements within the UFO community" that "some special effects companies who have seen the film have stated that they may be able to reproduce the autopsy".
Fri 18 8 1995 Jenny Randles holds pre-Sheffield lecture arguing against the film's authenticity.
Sat 19 8 1995 BS tells Michael J. O'Hara that "My brief is not to determine if the film shows what the camera-man claims, but simply to determine if it was shot when he says it was. I'm 95 per cent or better convinced that it was shot when he says it was shot. It is for others with expertise in different areas to determine if this is, in fact, an alien autopsy."
Sat 19 8 1995 Rick Monteverde coins the RUBE phrase - Roswell Unidentified Biological Entity, or Rubbery Unnatural Bogus Entity.
Sat 19 8 1995 BUFORA hold 8th International UFO Congress in Sheffield, England. Autopsy Film shown to world's media by Ray Santilli
Sat 19 8 1995 RS states "Over the next few days I am sure you will witness the last throws of the people that have tried from the beginning to discredit the film. As the air date nears every attempt will be made to cause as much damage as possible."
Sat 19 8 1995 RS continues '"Every medical expert and people that conduct autopsys all day long confirm without doubt that the creature is flesh and blood, also the MAJOR Special Effects companies are not scratching around for a living are on our side."
Sat 19 8 1995 BS issues a major statement concerning the film's age, stating that the film was shot is "Cine Kodak Super XX, a film type which was discontinued in 1956-57. Since the edge codes could be 1927, 1947 or 1967, and this film was not manufactured in 1927 or 1967, this clearly leaves us with only 1947 as an option." BS concludes that "I am willing to go on record as giving a 95 % probability that the film is what the cameraman claims it to be. I am only hedging 5%, because I still want secondary chemical verification from Kodak based on the chemical 'signature' of the film. I do not put my name on a statement like this lightly, and it is only after very careful consideration, and detailed examination of the film, that I do so at this time." See 20 April 1996 for BS's withdrawal of this statement.
Sat 19 8 1995 Sheffield Star run major article, disclosing C-F-X Creatures Effects negative conclusions on the alien for the first time
Sat 19 8 1995 RS reports that the Sheffield Star article was "a very well balanced story" in which "they by no means said the film was a fake they just posed the question 'could it be' ." RS continues "Today, nearly four months after we started this campaign, after millions of dollars have been spent by broadcasters world-wide there is still not a single shred of evidence to prove that the film could be a fake. All we have is the opinion of a few Special Effects Companies that are trying to cash in on a good story."
Sun 20 8 1995 BUFORA hold 8th International UFO Congress in Sheffield, England.
Sun 20 8 1995 Major press articles in the "Sunday Telegraph" and the "Sunday People", in which PM endorses the theory that the film shows the victim of a radiation experiment
Sun 20 8 1995 Reuters issue a second Press Release containing a statement by British anatomist Dr Fred Spoors, who claims that the creature looked suspiciously human and that the probability that aliens would evolve to look so human was extremely remote. Creature Effects are quoted saying "None of us were of the opinion that we were watching a real alien autopsy ... We all agreed that what we were seeing was a very good fake body".
Sun 20 8 1995 Kevin O'Crean publicly attacks MH for a "disgusting, vicious, unprofessional and personal attack" against Jenny Randles (who was not present to defend herself) in front of the world's press during the Sheffield Conference.
Sun 20 8 1995 Mick Sparham posts a transcript of the question and answer session during RS' presentation at Sheffield. Amongst many claims RS states that the canisters had Truman listed but "we were unable to retreive an image from that cannister"; and that NASA are analysing the film.
Sun 20 8 1995 BS complains to JS that Fox TV are hindering his attempts to organise chemical "signature" tests by Kodak at Rochester, New York.
Mon 21 8 1995 Major articles in "The Times" and the "Daily Mail" (by prominent Labour MP Roy Hattersley)
Mon 21 8 1995 Talk Radio interviews RS, Philip Walton and Jeremy Barrett. RS claims to have just received a fax from the US which gives a '95 % probability that the film is 1947' and that the film stock is CINE KODAK SUPER XX.
Mon ?? 21 8 1995 RS tells JE that "The reels were not labelled with a description of their contents. Just numbers".
Tue 22 8 1995 "Fortean Times" and PM receive the "Morgana Productions" photographs of an aliens head being prepared by model-makers. See FT84 (December 1995/January 1996, pages 32-33)
Tue 22 8 1995 An anonymous fax implicating a number of leading personalities in a major hoax arrives at Quest Publications, Leeds
Tue 22 8 1995 BS tells JS that Fox TV intercepted a package of film samples sent to him by RS at JFK Airport and that they attempted to intercept a second shipment. BS states that "Nathan, on the phone to Bruce Maccabee, said the film was just sitting on his desk, and that there was really nothing he could do with it".
Tue 22 8 1995 BS tells JS that "Kodak WILL test the film for me. This is being done as a favor to me, and they have not been 'commissioned' (which implies payment) by Ray or anyone else in this matter. They require a sufficiently large strip of film and some additional supporting information which is supposed to be on its way from Ray. FOX have intimated that they will attempt to intercept this shipment, so it is a cat and mouse game with them".
Wed 23 8 1995 Bruce Maccabee, Stanton Friedman, a film producer and a military cameraman appear on the Chuck Harder radio show in a long discussion of the AA film (which Harder has seen by this time). The video of this show (made available a month later) includes a purloined copy of the Kiviat/Green version of the AA film.
Fri 25 8 1995 In an interview with UFO Sweden's Chairman Clas Svahn Channel 4's John Purdie denies having tracked down the camera-man. See MH's claim on 26 August 1995
Fri 25 8 1995 BS tells JS that the alleged claim about NASA and JPL conducting tests on the film referred to Bob Nathan looking at the film "privately" "..during a break when everyone was away on vacation". BS admits that RS "has a tendency to repeat things he his told without without checking them out, e.g. that Italian police raid, which simply did not happen".
Fri 25 8 1995 BS tells JS that Kodak will conduct chemical signature tests in about a fortnight's time
Fri 25 8 1995 CSICOP issue a press release dismissing the film as a hoax.
Fri 25 8 1995 BS complains to JS that Fox TV's Bob Kiviat has intercepted the footage destined for him and that because of this Kodak will not be able to conduct their date tests until after the channel 4 documentary has been shown.
Sat 26 8 1995 RS promises to send JE source material (e.g. pieces of film) for proper research. This material never arrives
Sat 26 8 1995 MH wrongly reports that "The existence of the camera-man was confirmed by two independent researchers who talked with him, Philip Mantle and the Channel 4 crew" who "... spoke with him at his door".
Sat 26 8 1995 Italian TV RAI2 broadcasts "Misteri" (the Italian version of "Unsolved Mysteries"), including 2 minutes of autopsy footage plus a debate between believers (including RS, PM, Maurizio Baiata, Pinotti) and skeptics.
Sun 27 8 1995 BS tells JS that RS told him that Channel 4 interviewed the camera-man by telephone and that "There has been no restoration or enhancement work done by anyone yet".
Sun 27 8 1995 PF posts denial by John Lundberg and Rod Dickinson to George Wingfield's HILDA allegations of their involvement in the "Morgana Productions" photographs
Sun 27 8 1995 News of the Morgana Photos emerges in public for the first time.
Sun 27 8 1995 Cardiff UFO Conference
Sun ?? 27 8 1995 George Wingfield Bulletin No 9 reports on BUFORA's Sheffield Conference
Mon 28 8 1995 This is world-wide AA DAY with the Kiviat-Green documentary shown in the USA and other documentaries shown around the world. In the UK Channel 4 screen the "Roswell" documentary with extensive sequences from the autopsy film included.
Mon 28 8 1995 MH reports that Gerald Kaufman dismissed the entities shown on the stills as the ones he claim he saw in 1947, but that he still accepts the film as authentic.
Mon 28 8 1995 BS tells JS that the film is "all" in the hands of "the German financier" who financed the film's acquisition, and that the financier is carrying film to BS for testing by Kodak.
Mon 28 8 1995 BS interviewed by Oliver North on his radio programme.
Mon 28 8 1995 BS complains that people have been masquerading as himself by sending false messages.
Wed 30 8 1995 Issue 1397 of "Ming Pao News", a Hong Kong tabloid, publishes three stills of a "real" alien from Roswell. These stills turned out to be photographs of film props from the "Roswell" TV movie, according to Paul Davids, executive producer of the Showtime film. Johsen Takano later admitted taking these photographs during a trip to the Roswell UFO Museum, but Takano claimed that he had no intention of deceiving the world when his photographs were used in the Taiwanese tabloid press. See FT93 (December 1996), page 18
??? 0 9 1995 RS posts "My Story" to his world wide web site
??? 0 9 1995 San Marino Conference, "New Perspectives in Roswell", attended by Friedman, Dr Jesse Marcel Jnr and others.
Fri 1 9 1995 Stanton Friedman publishes "Alien Autopsy Film : Fact or Fiction ?"
Sat 2 9 1995 BS interviewed by phone on the Don Ecker radio show, falsely claiming to have heard the camera-man's actual voice on a tape recording used to prepare the camera-man's statement
Mon 4 9 1995 Edoardo Russo confirms that a tape recording exists of PM telling Matteo Leone that Carl Nagaitis was the source of the untrue claim that Steven Spielberg was working on a movie of the Roswell event
Tue 5 9 1995 BS tells JS that despite claims to the contrary Kodak have not tested the film's chemical age
Wed 6 9 1995 MH reports a new version of how RS acquired the film, i.e. in this version the camera-man contacted RS, not the other way round.
Wed 6 9 1995 "American Journal" publishes an interview with Lawrence Cate, in which Cate discusses his alleged authentication of the autopsy footage. Cate reports ".. we take it as a joke because I certainly did not authenticate it."
Thur 7 9 1995 George Wingfield Bulletin No 10 published, containing the camera-man's statement
Thur 7 9 1995 CISU publish "8 questions for Ray Santilli" in Italy
Thur 7 9 1995 Morgana Productions photographs make big news in France and USA
Thur 7 9 1995 ?? RS interviewed on the James Whale TV show.
Thur 7 9 1995 RS withdraws from the San Marino conference due to the impending birth of his son
Thur 7 9 1995 2nd 1995 San Marino Conference attended by PM, Linda Moulton-Howe, Bruce Maccabee, Stanton Friedman, Jesse Marcel Jnr, Pinotti (organiser), Maurizio Baiata, Don Schmitt and others
Fri 8 9 1995 BS agrees that an independent fund should be set up to fund additional authentication to that being conducted by Kodak
Fri 8 9 1995 Randy Geise challenges BS' financial independence from RS. BS denies financial dependence on RS.
Fri 8 9 1995 BS states that Kodak refused to conduct tests on the samples they were sent because they "were not large enough, and could not be proved to be from a continuous roll on which the creature appears".
Fri 8 9 1995 BS reports that he is registered as a company in Milton Keynes, England, for tax reasons.
Sat 9 9 1995 "American Journal" dismiss the film as a hoax, quoting (1) Lawrence Cate's amused denial that he had properly authenticated the age of the film, (2) Dr Dominick Demaio's dismissal of the film as "a lot of bull" (former chief medical officer at New York City) and (3) special effects "guru" Rick Lasserini (of "Aliens" fame) saying "its a well planned hoax".
Mon 11 9 1995 Gordon DeSpain reports that according to Western Electric and the Bell Museum the telephone and curled cord seen in the film was commercially available during 1937.
Mon 11 9 1995 BS reports on a "confidential communication" from the camera-man explaining why Brixner did not know of the camera-man's presence during the Trinity test. Allegedly the camera-man was involved in a military project which Brixner may not have known about.
Mon 11 9 1995 Bruce Maccabee posts (the only) report on the 2nd San Marino Conference to the MUFON Encounters forum library
Tue 12 9 1995 RS tells Linda Moulton Howe (in "Are The Humanoid Autopsies Real ? Part 3, CNI News, Vol 11.7, published 23/10/95) that (1) the camera-man believes that much of today's technology has been back-engineered from captured alien spaceships, (2) that he has been contacted by the Chinese and Japanese Governments, who claim that they had seen the film from "the same batch" as the autopsy film two years ago during an exchange of UFO information with the CIA. This relates to the false claims made about Johsen Takano and Professor Chiang
Tue 12 9 1995 BS explains that the camera-man "wants to come forward, and ultimately will do so. It is important to his ego that he be taken seriously, and not written off as a wacko or hoaxer".
Wed 13 9 1995 BS tells Rebecca Schatte that he and FOX TV have both located the camera-man and that the news will become public shortly.
Wed 13 9 1995 BS states that he didn't make any "major changes" to his version of the camera-man's statement
Wed 13 9 1995 BS confirms the camera-man's first name as "Jack" to JS
Thur 14 9 1995 BS squashes premature congratulations to RS for the birth of his baby.
Thur ?? 14 9 1995 PF tells Jeff Rassoul about Mike Wootten's claim that PM and MH received payment from RS to promote the autopsy film
Thur 14 9 1995 BS tells JS that French TV (TF1) know the name of the camera-man and reported it to Fox TV on 13/9/95
Thur 14 9 1995 BS tells Jeff Rassoul that the camera-man will "go public" in "two weeks or less"
Fri 15 9 1995 John Ratcliffe reports the birth of a baby boy to RS' wife
Tue 19 9 1995 PF posts to AAV the news that according to a "senior BUFORA source" PM has been paid to promote the autopsy film. See 21 May 1996
Wed 20 9 1995 MH denies receiving payment from Merlin, RS or "anybody else to promote the film"
Wed 20 9 1995 John Ratcliffe explains the problem of how Berlyn Brixner, the known official camera-man at the Trinity test site, had not heard of the name Jack Barnett/Bennett, because the camera-man was operating independently.
Wed 20 9 1995 John Ratcliffe posts a long statement explaining how RS accidentally released the camera-man's name of "Jack Bennett" as "Jack Barnett", that the camera-man is 82 and lives in Florida, and that RS' wife has just given birth "prematurely" and that RS has been told that the baby "probably will not survive"
Wed 20 9 1995 John Ratcliffe also explains how RS is making very little money and that Volker Spielberg has possession of the "missing first autopsy and good quality tent footage".
Wed 20 9 1995 BS confirms that he has spoken "at length" to PM and that PM "confirms that he has accepted money from RS for 'out of pocket' expenses associated with his investigation of the film, and nothing more than that". See 25 July 1995
Fri 22 9 1995 BS admits to having seen a crop circle durings the late 1960s.
Sat 23 9 1995 BS reports that he has arranged for a document analyst to examine the film box labels.
Sat 23 9 1995 Asked by Axel Weirich whether or not the camera-man is still alive BS replies "I honestly don't know". BS confirms that according to RS' office the camera-man is "alive and well" but also admits that "maybe games were played on me".
Sat 23 9 1995 BS confirms to JS that Jack D. Barrett seems to be the real name of the camera-man.
Sat 23 9 1995 BS reports that he has "communicated with the camera-man only by written message through Ray up to this point".
Sat 23 9 1995 BS reports that FOX TV have "probably" found the camera-man and that the "only" Jack Barrett who was a Motion Picture Technician for the Army Air Force and who "fits the bill in every other way" is Jack D. Barrett, born 21-12-10, entered military service 11-2-43, left military service 28-12-45 but who died on 3-8-95, according to the Motion Picture Photographer's Union.
Sun 24 9 1995 BS reports that Kodak want "as little to do with this [controversy] as possible".
Tue 26 9 1995 BS asks a retired newspaper reporter to check into the alleged death of Jack D. Barrett in Los Angeles
Tue 26 9 1995 BS tells JS that "Ray has made a lot of claims which are pure bullshit, to put it politely".
Tue 26 9 1995 BS reports that he and several other people he knows have received the anonymous fax implicating named individuals of being responsible for hoaxing the film. See 22 August 1995
Wed 27 9 1995 BS in New York City
Wed 27 9 1995 BS tells Vaughan Wynne-Jones that John D. Barrett was an "Army Air Force motion picture camera-man, and his military service seems to make him the right man. I am waiting a copy of his death certificate and his complete military records at the moment. He is NOT the man in Florida that Ray Santilli has been dealing with."
Thur 28 9 1995 Jenny Randles publishes criticisms of BUFORA's Sheffield Conference in Northern UFO News, 171 (September 1995).
Thu 28 9 1995 Apparently the last time RS posts to Encounters forum for some time
Thu 28 9 1995 BS in New York City
Fri 29 9 1995 BS in New York City
Fri 29 9 1995 BS in New York City
Sat 30 9 1995 BS in New York City, appeared on "Saturday Today" TV programme to discuss photography (not the AAF).
Sun 1 10 1995 David Roehrig, segment producer for Fox TV's "Alien Autopsy : Fact or Fiction " explains that Fox TV never received enough film from RS for Kodak to do a proper authentication test, that the edge symbols were torn off and that BS was incorrect to claim that Fox TV intercepted footage destined for BS in his posts of 22 Aug (?)
Sun 1 10 1995 BS in New York City
Sun 1 10 1995 BS in New York City
Mon 2 10 1995 BS in New York City
Mon 2 10 1995 BS tells JS that no one has been able to track down an obituary or death certificate for Jack D. Barrett
Mon 2 10 1995 BS in New York City
Tue 3 10 1995 BS in New York City
Wed 4 10 1995 MH receives undeveloped film footage allegedly confirming the truth behind the Roswell event from a "widow of a military photographer from the Roswell base" which was so badly damaged that it could not be developed.
Wed 4 10 1995 BK speaks to Stan Winston, who allegedly has not made up his mind regarding the authenticity of the footage.
Wed 4 10 1995 Following a leak it is claimed that the camera-man is intending to fly to London in December to meet RS and other UFOlogists
Wed 4 10 1995 BS in New York City
Thu 5 10 1995 BS reports that RS in unavailable on MUFON Encounters forum due to "personal family problems".
Thu 5 10 1995 BS reports that the film is being held in Europe, not London, and that he doesn't anticipate being able to bring back samples for testing by Kodak on his trip on October 25th
Thu 5 10 1995 BS in New York City
Fri 6 10 1995 George Kotsopoulas reports that the "Elvis Mike" seen on the film has been positively identified as a "Shure Brothers' 55sh Dynamic Microphone" which was manufactured "no later" than 1955
Fri 6 10 1995 BS confirms that PM and MH are starting an English version of MH's "Magazine 2000" using funding from RS's companies. BS maintains that he was offered the position of US Editor but declined.
Sat 7 10 1995 BS tells JS that the planned December meeting with the camera-man in London was supposed to be a secret and that whoever leaked the news would be disinvited from the meeting, which would now take place on another date. See 4 October 1995
Sat 7 10 1995 BS mentions another Jack Barrett who filmed Elvis Presley and Pat Boone in the early 1950s and who was a military camera-man, but who died in the late 1950s.
Sat 7 10 1995 BS posts a detailed explanation of why neither he nor RS are in a position to allow Kodak to properly authenticate the film's age due to the non co-operation of RS' German financial backer, who has the film in a "high-security vault in Europe".
Sat 7 10 1995 John Lundberg holds a Roswell Party at his North London home
Sat 7 10 1995 BS reports that Jack D. Barrett is not the camera-man and that his widow knows nothing of the Roswell case.
Mon 9 10 1995 MH reports that the tent footage has been released on a pirate video called "Aliens : Reasons To Believe - Penetrating the Web 2", available from MSS Distribution, Northampton, England
Mon 9 10 1995 MH reports that Volker Spielberg is a Hamburg music producer
Tue 10 10 1995 BS admits that he corrected "obvious spelling mistakes" and "put the language as it might be spoken by an American" in his version of the camera-man's statement, as transcribed by RS' Irish secretary. BS also admits that he has not seen or even heard the alleged tape recording of this statement.
Tue 10 10 1995 BS admits that he may have wrongly given the impression that he had heard a tape recording of the camera-man's statement during his late night long distance interview on the Don Ecker radio show. See December 8 and 10.
Tue 10 10 1995 MH announces that "Another leading English researcher will show three pictures of a dead alien crashed in 1970, given to a Chinese (...) government scientist by the CIA, together with 77 other pictures of dead, crashed aliens (including our SUE)". These photos turned out to be props from the "Roswell" TV movie. See 26 June 1995
Tue 10 10 1995 Glenn Campbell, Editor of "Groom Lake Desert Rat", publishes "Field Report on Camera-man's 'Crash Site' " following MH's recent visit to the alleged crash site.
Wed 11 10 1995 Tony Amato clarifies Kodak's position to UFO Sweden's Clas Svahn
Wed 11 10 1995 Stanton Friedman publishes "Alien Autopsy : Footage Fallout"
Thu 12 10 1995 Theresa Carlson posts a transcript of the Don Ecker show, proving that BS claimed to have a taped copy of the camera-man's statement, a claim BS subsequently retracted (see 8 December)
Thu 12 10 1995 BS reports that he worked on a "rough draft transcription" of the camera-man's statement (which had been supplied by RS' secretary) following a request from RS for him to do so. BS asks TC to compare both versions of the statement as he does not wish to be accused of "altering history".
Thu 12 10 1995 BS reports that RS did not intend his secretary's rough version of the camera-man's statement to be published or distributed, and that this version was distributed by a Dutch reporter without RS' permission.
Thu 12 10 1995 BS admits that he has never had a taped copy of the camera-man's statement and that he may have wrongly given the impression that he did during his late night long distance interview on the Don Ecker radio show due to health problems.
Thu 12 10 1995 BS admits to being frustrated at his inability to be allowed to present a section of the film to Kodak for date testing.
Thu 12 10 1995 Rebecca Schatte forces BS to admit that (1) the film he has received from RS only has sprocket holes on one side, and that (2) he based his "95 per cent certain" statement of 19 August on evidence supplied by RS, not from the original film. See 17 December 1995
Fri 13 10 1995 Frank Heetfeld reports that Volker Spielberg left his Hamburg home in June
Fri 13 10 1995 BS admits that "at this point everything is filtered through Ray [Santilli]" but that he expects to meet the camera-man "face to face in the very near future".
Fri 13 10 1995 BS receives an unsolicited copy of the missing tent footage "from an anonymous benefactor". BS comments that the faces of 2 people behind a table have been artificially blacked out using a "video trick". BS admits that he finds this "disturbing and suspicious".
Sat 14 10 1995 BS admits that the name of Dr Detlev Bronk appears on a "storyboard" which was added to the film by RS based on information which was allegedly written on the labels on the film canisters.
Sat 14 10 1995 BS publicly admits for the first time that all the strips of film he has received had no edge codes and that he has only seen photocopies of the alleged edge codes supplied by RS.
Sat 14 10 1995 BS tells Rick Monteverde that the bootleg copy of the tent footage he received on 13 October was "dubbed from the original [Fox TV footage] by somebody who shall remain nameless".
Sat 14 10 1995 Previously unseen footage (first autopsy/tent footage) allegedly shown at Atlanta UFO Conference
Sun 15 10 1995 Axel Weinrich reports that he was told by Merlin's Chris Carey that both autopsy sequences involve people dressed in protective suits but that Colin Andrews, Philip Mantle and the Italians have seen autopsy footage involving unsuited people.
Mon 16 10 1995 BS confirms that the collector "has verified to his own satisfaction that the film is real, and that's all he cares about. When a friend of mine talked to him on the phone and said he owed it to the world to have it verified, his response was 'F*ck the world' ."
Mon 16 10 1995 BS again defends himself against charges of foot-dragging, emphasising that his "95 per cent certain" statement was "preliminary" and that he could obviously only verify the film he saw, not any other part of the autopsy footage.
Mon 16 10 1995 Italian TV channel RAI2 broadcast a second autopsy documentary with debate on 3 successive nights
Tue 17 10 1995 BS confirms that he is receiving "regular updates" from RS' office on their negotiations to authenticate the film.
Wed 18 10 1995 BS tells JE that he has offered to arrange for the ink used on the box labels to be analysed by an expert used by Christies. However, BS is unsure whether RS still has the original boxes and maintains that RS did not appreciate the importance of this evidence.
Wed 18 10 1995 JE posts news of The Truly Dangerous Company's world wide web site describing how an alien autopsy film could be made, based on their viewing of the Santilli film.
Fri 20 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Sat 21 10 1995 David Roehrig, segment producer of Fox TV's "Alien Autopsy : Fact or Fiction", appears on MUFON Encounters forum.
Sat 21 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Sun 22 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Sun 22 10 1995 BK, PM, Sue Mantle and Maurizio Baiata meet in Italy
Mon 23 10 1995 French TF1 network screens "Odyssey de L'etrange" (see public note of 28 October for précis of programme's contents)
Mon 23 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Tue 24 10 1995 David Roehrig confirms that FOX TV hold an "exclusive agreement" with RS to "retain all domestic [US] television rights to the autopsy film".
Tue 24 10 1995 Jacques Pradel presents a major two-hour programme about the AAF on TF1. BS flies to Paris to appear on the programme. Thereafter BS flies to London to visit RS and then onto Dusseldorf, Germany to speak at a conference organised by Magazine 2000. BS meets MH and PM for the first time. Also meets GW, Reg Presley, Roberto Pinotti, Wendelle Stevens and Michael Geogeghan (from the SEAT social group at the United Nations).
Tue 24 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour.
Tue 24 10 1995 BS has breakfast with John Purdie in Paris. BS claims that Purdie told him he had "interviewed the camera-man by telephone" and that the camera-man claimed to have filmed the Trinity test from an aeroplane, "That's why Brixner knows nothing about him". See 6 September 1996.
Wed 25 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour, holds historic open debate at Oxford University Union.
Wed 25 10 1995 BS visits London and meets RS face-to-face for the first time. RS grants an exclusive rights book deal for BS.
Thu 26 10 1995 BS, PM, Reg Presley appear at the Dusseldorf (Germany) UFO Conference organised by MH.
Thu 26 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour.
Thu 26 10 1995 ??? John Ratcliffe posts the news that French TV channel TF1 have tracked down Bill Randle and that major contradictions have been uncovered in the story of how the autopsy film was acquired by RS.
Thu 26 10 1995 Rebecca Schatte publishes details of TF1's expose on CompuServe
Fri 27 10 1995 Frank Heetfeld posts an interview with RS in which RS blames TF1's interview with VS for damaging his negotiations with VS to loan a further segment of the film for authentication.
Fri 27 10 1995 Frank Heetfeld posts a statement by RS defending his "commercialisation" of the film. RS states that "new evidence has arisen from highly technical people, and evidence coming from NASA".
Fri 27 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Sat 28 10 1995 BS tells Frank Heetfeld that RS has apologised to him for publicly denying any knowledge of Volker Spielberg. According to BS RS justified this denial to "honor a confidence to Volker" that he would keep his name out of the "circus" which Volker "knew would follow this film around".
Sat 28 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Sat 28 10 1995 BS tells Randy Giesse that he has "exclusive rights" to write an "authorized book" about the autopsy film.
Sat 28 10 1995 BS tells Jerome Mousalli that RS was "angry" about the use of Volker Spielberg's interview on the TF1 programme as Producer Jacques Pradel had promised RS he would not include Spielberg or the camera-man in the programme.
Sat 28 10 1995 BS tells Jason A. Hamilton that "parts of the film were returned to the camera-man after transfer to video, parts are in Ray's possession and parts are in Volker Spielberg's possession."
Sun 29 10 1995 BS confirms to JE that "film to video transfer was done in London by Rank".
Sun 29 10 1995 BS appears on Encounters forum to discuss the film
Sun 29 10 1995 JE goes public on the fact that Kodak have agreed to conduct chemical dating tests on the film with BS, but that insufficient film has been made available for analysis.
Sun 29 10 1995 RS defends his role following the TF1 revelations, stating that he was "more than happy" that TF1 located Bill Randle, ".. as he verifies as important part of my story (namely I was in Cleveland in 1992 buying Rock and Roll footage)." RS states that "Linking the Roswell footage with Bill Randle is a complete waste of time."
Sun 29 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Mon 30 10 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Mon 30 10 1995 John Ratcliffe posts attack on RS
Mon 30 10 1995 BS confirms that the German "collector" and the "financier" is Volker Spielberg, not two people.
Tue 31 10 1995 BS tells Roger Provic that RS is "concerned" about the interview he gave to "Sightings" a few months ago in which RS expressed his disinterest in authenticating the film further.
Tue 31 10 1995 BS reiterates that Rank duplicated the original film to video and that RS will provide evidence to prove this, and that teams at MIT and NASA are researching the film.
Tue 31 10 1995 BS tells John Ratcliffe that "This whole damned carnival with me as part of the side show certainly ticks me off. Yes, I do want the truth, and am working damned hard to try and find it."
Tue 31 10 1995 John Ratcliffe suggests that BS, MH, Bruce Maccabee and TC were all told that the cameraman's name was Jack Barrett.
Wed 1 11 1995 SF visits UK for lecture tour
Wed 1 11 1995 BS tells John Ratcliffe that "The Harry Truman thing was simply something the camera-man claimed would be seen once all of the film had been transferred to video. No one saw Harry Truman [on the film]."
Wed 1 11 1995 BS talks of his first face-to-face meeting with RS last week
Thur 2 11 1995 Roy Liddiard, a senior officer at Rank Video Services in London, denies the claim that Rank were involved in processing the original footage. See 29 October 1995
Fri 3 11 1995 RS confirms that he decided to release the footage to the public, that "NASA" are conducting further tests, that he is no longer interested in investigating the camera-man's claims as he accepts his story in full, that there is more unpublished footage in the hands of the German collector ("one full autopsy film and some scrap") and that he was responsible for producing the camera-man's statement (though not its contents).
Fri 3 11 1995 RS tells Georgina that the camera-man has an audio tape relating to the Roswell incident but that he has not heard the tape and does not know what is on it.
Sat 4 11 1995 BS visits New York City for a photographic conference
Sun 5 11 1995 BS visits New York City for a photographic conference
Sun 5 11 1995 Linda Moulton Howe reports the screening of the tent footage on Art Bell's "Dreamland" TV programme.
Mon 6 11 1995 In a post to BS JE publicises Rank's denial of any involvement in copying the original film.
Mon 6 11 1995 BS visits New York City for a photographic conference
Tue 7 11 1995 BS jokingly dismisses Rank's denial of their involvement in transferring the original film with "Rank, if they indeed did the work, may wish to deny involvement simply because they've seen what a circus this has turned into. I wouldn't blame them for wanting to stay an arms length away from it".
Tue 7 11 1995 JE makes clear that Rank Video Services are unhappy that their name is being used to authenticate that an actual film exists and that they want to see copies of any such public statements. BS initially responds with "No comment".
Tue 7 11 1995 BS finally explains the problems over the Rank claims with "Rank had nothing to do with the film, ever. Actually Rank was a typo made by Ray when he e-mailed me. He intended to say that the work had been done by Bronk labs in London, Ontario, but you know Ray and Computers. Like oil and water".
Wed 8 11 1995 BS tells Jeff Rassoul that RS "wasn't sure" who had copied the original film and that Chris Carey had to help him with "yes, it was Rank. I'm pretty sure it was Rank".
Wed 8 11 1995 RTL in Germany screen students making a model alien comparable to that seen in the autopsy film in just five weeks. The film was shown to several UFO researchers at the Dusseldorf UFO Conference on October 26 in an attempt to fool them into accepting the images as genuine.
Wed 8 11 1995 According to MH GW rang Professor Chiang in Taiwan to inform him that Takano's alien photos were film props from the Roswell TV movie and that Professor Chiang was very unhappy with Takano.
Thu 9 11 1995 "Fortean Times" publishes an expose of the Chinese Alien Mystery, crediting Filip Coppens, Rebecca Schatte and Steve Wingate
Thu 9 11 1995 BS objects to researchers' attempts to verify the Rank claim, stating that RS "delegated" the film's transfer to "someone else to handle".
Thu 9 11 1995 RS interviewed on Seattle NBC TV via satellite
Thu 9 11 1995 TF1's Nicholas Maillard confirms that BS broke a confidence in tipping RS off about the TF1's success in locating Bill Randle prior to the October 23rd screening.
Fri 10 11 1995 BS tells JE that MIT have confirmed that the film is a "transfer from motion picture film running at 24 frames per second".
Sat 11 11 1995 SF publishes "The English Scene" describing the work of TF1's Nicholas Maillard and suggesting that two cameras were used to shoot the autopsy scenes.
Sun 12 11 1995 GW rebuffs RTL's version of events at the Dusseldorf UFO Conference, in which leading UFO researchers were set up with further fake film footage made by students over a five week period.
Sun 12 11 1995 Robert Sheaffer and RS interviewed on "Town Meeting" (US TV). RS again claims to have made very little money out of the film and that tremendous amounts of money has been spent by broadcasters around the world in analysing the film and that he has sold a great deal of the original footage.
Thu 16 11 1995 BS defends RS' decision to associate the autopsy footage with Roswell rather than another alleged UFO crash site.
Fri 17 11 1995 BS explains that he won't go the extra 5 per cent in his 95 per cent certain statement until he receives "secondary verification" from Kodak.
Sat 18 11 1995 Two Norwegian pathologists privately view the film in Oslo with Odd Gunnar-Roed
Sun 19 11 1995 Rebecca Schatte and John Powell publish "Bob Shell - in His Own Words". BS responds in typical jocular fashion, attempting to clarify numerous crucial points.
Wed 22 11 1995 John Powell publishes five "serious questions" for BS to answer. BS threatens legal action for libel and breach of copyright over the use of his private e-mail, and refuses to make available the terms of his contract with RS.
Wed 22 11 1995 GW publishes Bulletin No 12, making serious allegations against RS, publicising the existence of the famous anonymous fax of 22 August 1995 and repeating the HILDA accusations against Robert Irving, John Lundberg and Rod Dickinson.
Thu 23 11 1995 MH posts RS' response to GW's Bulletin no 12 as "an absolute complete nonsense" and "George should know better".
Sat 25 11 1995 RS publicly dismisses GW's allegations in his Bulletin No 12 as "complete nonsense", adding that he has never met Irving, Lundberg or Dickinson prior to acquiring the film. RS admits to having met John Lundberg on 3 occasions since the May 1995 "showing".
Sun 26 11 1995 JE asks RS for public clarification of the reel contents and can labels.
Sun 26 11 1995 Fox shows the second instalment of the AA documentary with tent footage and debris footage
Sun 26 11 1995 FOX TV screen "Alien Autopsy" special in USA
Sun 26 11 1995 BS attends the Mesquite, Nevada UFO Conference
Mon 27 11 1995 TIME Magazine publishes "Autopsy or Fraud-Topsy" by Richard Corliss, exposing Bob Kiviat's "investigative" methods on the FOX TV autopsy special
Mon 27 11 1995 BS announces that he will show stills from the first autopsy sequence at Mesquite, Nevada on December 1st
Mon 27 11 1995 BS launches blistering attack on John Powell and Rebecca Schatte, defending his "copyrighting" of his additions/clarifications of the camera-man's statement, denying that he is under contract "to" RS and clarifying what he believes are Kodak's needs to properly authenticate the film.
Mon 27 11 1995 BS jocularly offers JE a $ 10,000 bet that there "IS a 16 mm motion picture film from which this video was made" and that "There is considerable evidence that the film is at least pre 1957".
Tue 28 11 1995 BS receives a Betacam SP copy of first autopsy sequence from RS prior to his Mesquite lecture
Thu 30 11 1995 US President Clinton, during a much publicised visit to Northern Ireland, responds to a 13 year old boy's letter concerning the Roswell event, stating "Ryan, if you're out there in the crowd tonight, here's your answer. No. As far as I am aware, an alien space craft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. If the U.S. Air Force did recover any alien bodies, they didn't tell me about it either. And I want to know".
??? 0 12 1995 Planned London Meeting between RS, BS, the camera-man and others. Meeting cancelled after news accidentally leaked out.
??? 0 12 1995 Javier Sierra publishes first autopsy film book "Roswell : secreto de estado" in Spain
Fri 1 12 1995 BS attends the Mesquite, Nevada UFO Conference, gives lecture on autopsy film and shows stills from the first autopsy sequence for the first time.
Sat 2 12 1995 BS attends the Mesquite, Nevada UFO Conference
Sun 3 12 1995 BS attends the Mesquite, Nevada UFO Conference
Mon 4 12 1995 BS interviewed by Don Sutherland in "Photo Shopper" magazine, vol 1 no 2 following Sutherland's request for an interview
Mon 4 12 1995 Bruce Maccabee expresses his frustrations and dissatisfactions with RS' failure to properly authenticate the film
Mon 4 12 1995 BS attends the Mesquite, Nevada UFO Conference, Alien Autopsy panel held
Mon 4 12 1995 JE publicly clarifies Gary Shoefield's involvement in the acquisition of the film.
Tues 5 12 1995 JE asks BS to clarify where the name "Jack Barnett" originated from
Wed 6 12 1995 Don Ecker posts transcript of his interview with BS on 2 September in which BS twice claims to have used a tape recording of the camera-man's statement. See October 10 and October 12 when BS admitted that he made a mistake due to tiredness.
Fri 8 12 1995 BS reports that as he is taking a lot of criticism for the failure to properly authenticate the film he has asked Anthony J. Amato at Kodak's Rochester office to send a "formal letter detailing their demands for a film test". Amato fails to keep his promise to BS to write a letter clarifying Kodak's requirements.
Fri 8 12 1995 BS explains that the reason for his mistake over the cameraman's taped statement was because of the poor telephone connection. He admits that he had "no reason to say that I have heard this tape, since I have not heard it".
Fri 8 12 1995 BS explains that the reason why the film has not been properly authenticated is because "Kodak has refused to test the strips I have (as well as those Bob Kiviat has and those Philip Mantle has)."
Fri 8 12 1995 BS reports that he has forwarded a "detailed description of Kodak's requirements [for testing the film] to Volker Spielberg via Merlin" but that Spielberg is "not currently willing to provide the length of film required".
Sun 10 12 1995 BS tells Rick Monteverde that he is "100 % certain" that "Ray Santilli & company had nothing to do with the creation of this film, whether real or hoax".
Sun 10 12 1995 BS discusses alleged "Bigfoot" sightings and missing time claims with TC (BS has never seen a "Bigfoot" or experienced "missing time").
Mon 11 12 1995 BS confirms to Greg Plunkett that "Kodak WILL do the testing when and if I can get a section of film meeting their stated requirements".
Tues 12 12 1995 Robert Allen reports the amazing coincidence that the Director of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame/Museum is Bob Santilli.
Tues 12 12 1995 JS questions BS as to why the dating of the scrap reel and the can labels afford such low priority in his research given the lack of hard evidence for many of the other claims being made.
Tues 12 12 1995 BS tells Joe Stefula that he has five stills from the first autopsy footage and that this footage will be made available on video soon.
Wed 13 12 1995 BS tells Frank Heetfeld that "Ray [Santilli] certainly does have some ownership in the film, but I don't know how much. Volker [Spielberg] is obviously pulling all the strings right now".
Wed 13 12 1995 BS tells "res" that he doesn't know how RS " 'made it known' that he was looking for early rock and roll film .... " and that he doesn't care about this issue.
Thur 14 12 1995 BS tells Robert Allen that he doesn't know when Volker Spielberg first saw the film.
Sun 17 12 1995 BS admits to being "disturbed and puzzled" by new evidence from MUFON's Clive Tobin, who claims that the film may not have been a camera original film but a print and that a Bell and Howell Filmo 70 camera may not have been used after all. See 12 October 1995
Sun 17 12 1995 BS reports that RS is in bed with the flu.
Sun 17 12 1995 BS tells JE that Bill Randle "apparently represents [Jack] Barnett's estate" and that "when Ray tried to exercise the option, the film, which was supposedly in Universal's vault in Hollywood, could not be found. Ray never took delivery of any film shot by Barnett...". BS later explained that Chris Carey reported that the film was in Universal's vault but that the storage charges had not been paid for many years and were prohibitively expensive.
Sun 17 12 1995 BS confirms that "Santilli and Spielberg are very old friends, and have collaborated in the past on other projects".
Sun 17 12 1995 BS reiterates to Axel Weirich that there is an original film which "video experts " agree was "projected at 24 fps" to create the video sequence.
Mon 18 12 1995 BS tells James Diss that he is "still awaiting a section of the film long enough, and in good enough condition for some serious tests to be performed".
Mon 18 12 &nbs