by Olav Phillips

It is said there are two certainties in life, death and taxes. It is a conundrum all people face as we move through life. We are born, we live and inevitably we perish. Some people die of old age, maybe an accident, or in some cases we die by our own hand for whatever reason. Mortality as that certainty which propel many to achieve, knowing they only have a limit time on this here mortal coil. For others that drive to achieve something eventually costs them their lives.

For many years there has been a darker side to ufology and conspiracy research which is occasionally discussed and on occasion documented. The first real exploration of the ufology/conspiracy body count came in 1971 when the late Otto Bender, writing for Saga magazine, published an article called “Liquidation of the UFO Investigators.” In that article Bender, who would later meet his own untimely demise, researched the deaths of some 137 researchers, writers, scientists, and witnesses who had died in the previous decade under what some might call “mysterious” circumstances.

In the article Bender mapped out an odd mixture of heart attacks, hyper aggressive cancers, suicides and other source of death amongst ufology. We need only look towards Phil Schneider’s death as a case in point.

Schneider was a self taught geologist who dabbled with explosives who claimed to have worked at 13 separate secret underground facilities. The most famous of which was the much rumored Dulce base in New Mexico, where an apparently a battle broke out between the human inhabitants and the Greys back in 1979. Schneider was one of the first researchers to present this story and supposedly the source of a beam blast to the chest which caused him to later get cancer. The story gets a bit stranger. While in the hospital being treated he apparently was strangled in his sleep by a catheter found wrapped around his neck. That would definitely classify as strange. Did the catheter accidentally strangle him? Or was he murdered because of his controversial research into DUMBs (Deep Underground Military Bunkers)? We will never know but it does seem a little too convenient, especially based on the amount of traction he was gaining and the content of some of his claims.

But Schnider was not the only odd death, there are more.

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How about the case of Ron Rummel? Rummel was a former United States Air Force Intelligence Officer who went on to publish a magazine called Alien Digest. Seven issues into the publishing Rummel apparently committed suicide by placing a handgun into his mouth and pulling he trigger, but here is where the story gets interesting. Witnesses at the scene claim that the handgun had no fingerprints or blood on it, and that the suicide note was written by a left handed person. Rummel was in fact right handed. It is also alleged that the body stank of sodium pentothal which,, although commonly thought to be a truth serum, can be used to render an individual open to suggestion and lower their resistant to actions taken against them. Rummel was also collaborating with Schneider.

In the conspiracy realm we have the unfortunate death of Jim Keith. Keith, a very well known conspiracy writer and researcher, had gone to burning man and fallen off the stage there breaking his knee. Upon arriving at the Washoe hospital the doctors decided that he needed surgery to repair his knee. Shortly after the surgery Keith died in the ICU of a blood clot, which had entered his lung. Just before his death he had told several people “I have this feeling that if they put me under I’m not coming back.”

In a strange twist of fate, Ron Bonds who had published much of Keith’s work, would die mysteriously after having dinner at a local restaurant in Atlanta. In April , 2001 Bonds and his wife Nancy had decided to eat lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. About 15 hours after enjoying a lukewarm Beef Burrito and Enchilada Bonds would add his name to the fallen. Early on the morning of April 8th, 2001 Ron Bonds passed away from internal bleeding caused by a toxic bacteria caused by contaminated beef. Oddly no one else had any issues that day, only Bonds and he was the first person to die of food poising in decades in Fulton County.

The list goes on from there.

Ann Livingston, an account and part time MUFON investigator and author of “Electronic Harassment and Alien Abductions” died of fast form of ovarian cancer in 1994. He death came after a 1992 incident where five faceless men dressed in black assaulted her in her home.

There is also the strange story of Ron Johnson who died in 1994 while attending a lecture at a Society of Scientific Exploration meeting of an appearnet stroke and allergic reaction. Johnson, who was MUFON’s Deputy Director of Investigations and had formerly worked at Hal Puthoff’s Austin based think tank Earth Tech Inc., died during a slide show. During the slide show several people claim to have heard a gasp. When the lights came on Johnson was slumped over in his chair, blood oozing from his noise and his soda can sat next to him on a chair. Was it a simple allergic reaction or maybe a fast acting neurotoxin? Officially the death was ruled inconclusive.

And the list continues, but these specific deaths illustrate the point. The commonality of strange cancers, suicides, heart attacks and odd accidents does make a case for some larger scheme at work but the oddness of deaths amongst the UFO and Conspiracy community are not confined strictly to suicides and the seeming common occurrence of death by fact acting cancer. There are also the coincidences of dates.

Legendary Fortean researcher John Keel had notes the strange coincidence of a series of deaths which took place on June 24th. Keel pointed out that author Frank Scully, UFO contactee Arthur Bryant, Richard Church and the rocket scientist Willy Ley all died on June 24th. Oddly Frank Edwards died on June 23rd but his death was announced by James Mosley on, wait for it, June 24th.

This list has been expanded by veteran researcher Loren Coleman to include Robert Charroux, a famous French Fortean writer who coincidently is the source for a very interesting story about a secret city in the Andes built by Marconi and powered by Tesla technology.

Also included is Jackie Gleason who dies June 24th, 1987. Gleason is interesting not only for his interest in UFOs but also the now mythical story of how, after a chance round of golf with Richard Nixon in which they discussed Gleason’s fascination with UFOs, Richard Nixon came to his house around midnight and spirited Gleason off to Homestead Air Force Base and showed him a dead alien body.

During an interview with researcher Larry Warren, Gleason is quoted as saying:

“We drove to the very far end of the base in a segregated area, finally stopping near a well-guarded building. The security police saw us coming and just sort of moved back as we passed them and entered the structure. There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases. Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children. Then – upon closer examination – I saw that some of the other figures looked quite old. Most of them were terribly mangled as if they had been in an accident.”

Strange story I know but back to the numbers. So who else died on June 24th? Lyle Stuart, publisher of Frank Edwards books died June 24th 2006 as well as James Martin, who was found floating off his private island. Even Alan Myers, the drummer of DEVO and UFO researcher died on, you guessed it, June 24th.

It should also be pointed out that it was June 24th, 1947 when Kenneth Arnold had his famous sighting which launched the interest in modern ufology.

So at this point we have seen that there is a rather large body count related to ufology and conspiracy research. A body count, which seems to grow larger each year. The question we now need to address is why? Is there a government agency running around knocking people off?

The short answer I think is no but there is something going on, that I think is obvious. The types of deaths and the sheer volume of published or famous UFO / Conspiracy investigators who meet untimely and tragic deaths is just too high.

I think the money here is on an extra governmental organization and I think ultimately it is related, even the older deaths, to the secret space program. Each of these deaths has two things in common. The first being their direct involvement in UFO research at some capacity and their stature. Many of the people who died are known for their research. Meaning they have the ability to spread the information around.

Early in the SR-71 program, back when it was called the A-12 or Archangel, the CIA who sponsored that program used UFO’s as a cover for the testing of the aircraft. People would see a strange silver thing shoot across the sky and proclaim it’s a UFO! The CIA seeing a plausible cover story to obfuscate the true nature of the aircraft fueled this belief by pushing disinformation stories out into the public.

It is also known that in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s soviet KGB operatives entered UFO sky watch groups looking for experimental aircraft. They did this on the belief that the sky watch groups would take them to locations where odd things were seen in the sky and those odd things were probably experimental aircraft. From there the KGB operatives would chart altitude, direction and speed to not only take a crack at determine the nature of the aircraft but also the flight path.

So it stands to reason that if something like a secret space program exists, and people are seeing the craft enter and exit the atmosphere or see these aircraft during their day to day operation, that organization would see this as a security threat. That coupled with the golden thread of truth would threaten their operations so the fastest easiest way to cover-up your operation would be to remove the source of the information.

In each of these circumstances you see research being done on underground bases, abductions, and UFO’s in general. All three of these could be a component of a non aware observer witnessing or encountering, even researching, something that organization does not want revealed. That is the logical extension of the cover-up methodology. It is also consistent with the MIB or Men in Black phenomenon. First you intimidate or play the patriotism card. If that doesn’t work then your get physical and if that doesn’t work then you kill. In every situation the flow of data is stopped.

It’s an interesting idea to follow because most UFO or conspiracy researchers have a story to tell. A visit from a MIB, odd phone call, or maybe now an email, but almost every researcher has been approached at one time or another.

So what about the June 24th thing? June 24th is actually a very interesting day and is actually the feast day for John the Baptist and the Summer Solstice. The logical question is why is that an important day for people to die because apparently a lot of famous UFO investigators die that day and it is also the day of the Arnold sighting.

This is one of those times when conspiracy and ufology cross paths. Many times the intersection of UFOs and conspiracies fall around back engineering or some sort of scientific investigation, but this intersection is tightly bound to concepts of the Illuminti, the global and historical boogieman. The Illuminati could also be the source of that extra governmental organization I spoke of earlier and in the Illuminati realm dates are important as symbolism. You may not believe in it, but they certainly do.

June 24th as the feast day for John the Baptist is critically important because of who John the Baptist was. He is actually known as John the Baptist and John the Evangelist and he is venerated in masonic lore because he represents a duality. On one hand he represents passionate religious zeal, he was after all the man that the Archangel Gabriel came to and spoke of the coming birth of the messiah. On the other hand he represents knowledge and education.

Each element is independently strong but if you bring both together you form a path to enlightenment or illumination. In the masonic context, each mason is asked to participate in the festival and to strengthen fraternal bonds and to close ranks and renew their commitment to the lodge. To the non-mason it is known as the “Setting of the Watch” where bond fires are lit and illuminate the masses. In some traditions in Europe people are known to jump through the fires for good luck, but the symbolic illumination is also achieved.

So it would seem to be a relevant day to pass on from seeing that it represents a duality of commitment, which each of those men had, as well as knowledge, which they possessed as well.

The truth is we will never know the ultimate goals of the body count, which has become evident. Did these individuals come across some secret piece of knowledge or witness something they should not have? Most likely the answer is yes, and that would seem to be the most obvious answer for their deaths but knowing exactly what they found is a needle in a haystack.

It would also seem that some researchers deaths are symbolically important for the purpose of re-enforcing the illuminated path. Ultimately only time will tell what they deaths mean be it coincidence or murder, but until the end game is revealed two things are obvious. The first is that the odd deaths will continue and ufology / conspiracy research is a dangerous hobby.