"Alien metal"

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I got into a discussion on a Facebook UFO page.

It was regarding my recent post about the Yukon UFO. I had several proponents of the ExtraTerrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) pitching their arguments at me. While I certainly concede that the ETH is one possibility, I find myself falling much more in line with Jacques Vallee and Mac Tonnies. Nevertheless, the robust-yet-respectful debate spurred my thinking and made me "run home to mama" in a certain intellectual and admittedly mellifluous sense. Just about anyone who develops an interest in UFO phenomena starts out with an "alien spacecraft" mindset. I know that I certainly did.

So I've been playing a few games of "what if." What if the ETH is the ultimate answer? What other truths would therefore have to follow? That brought on many considerations. One of the more basic one is that they must, obviously, be arriving here and flying through our skies in spacecraft. What type of material composes these craft? Metal? If so, is it metal we're familiar with? What would it have to be like and what...if any...evidence do we have to go on to make this determination? This is a whole lot of conjecture and in the end might just be an academic exercise, but I'm enjoying it just the same.

One immediate place to start would be with the Roswell wreckage. Purported witnesses, such as Major Jesse Marcel, described the metallic debris as "bits of metallic foil, that looked like, but was not, aluminum, for no matter how often one crumpled it, it regained its original shape again.  Besides that, they were indestructible, even with a sledgehammer." Other witnesses testify that the metal was also subjected to flame and other punishments but all to no avail. The alien metal could not even be blemished. This would indicate a "memory metal" that although thin, has a high degree of durability. Philip J. Corso also claimed to have handled this metal, saying it had a "supertenacity."

The former Soviet Union had its own version of Roswell, an incident that likewise is said to have left behind metal fragments. The location was Dalnegorsk and the case is often referred to as the Height 611 UFO incident. Residents of the aforementioned town watched a red orb descend silently from the sky until coming to rest atop a local peak labeled Height 611. Once investigators reached the top of 611, they found silvery drops of metal upon the rocks as well as many black, glassy beads. Like substances found at Roswell, this metal could also withstand great punishments when subjected to acid and high heat. The composition of the material was elements you could find right here on Earth. There is one interesting point, however, that is if online sources can be trusted (and we know how THAT goes). When the samples were heated in a vacuum, elements such as silver and zinc disappeared while others such as molybdenum appeared.

One must also consider the case of Rendlesham Forest. Yes, yes, I know. Right now there are several UFO aficionados screaming "RendleSHAM! RendleSHAAAAAMMM!!!!!" I was once enraptured by the case and have since been given pause to wonder. I have decided to keep my examination to the original claims of 1980 and if we're playing "what if?" with alien metals, then I say we must consider the case of someone who claims to have touched an actual craft. That man's name is Jim Penniston. As one of the Air Force personnel on the scene, Penniston asserts that he witnessed a black, triangular-shaped UFO that had landed in a clearing. He placed his hand to its hull and this is how he described the surface:

"Well, I think the fabric or the shell was -- I guess the best description would be a very smooth opaque, like black glass. Even though at a distance, it appeared metallic. It made no sense, once I was up there (close to it) that it was more like black glass. I'm not sure -- I was pretty confused at that point."

That sounds like it might hold similarities to what was found at Dalnegorsk. From the description, I imagine it feeling like obsidian rock to the fingertips. Fairly exotic.  But then it would have to be, eh? It traveled the interstellar void intact and...one would assume...at high speed. The metal must therefore have characteristics and composition beyond our ability to design or manufacture.

Then again, we may need to pause on that latter point. Plenty of conspiracy theorists (and Corso's book) maintain that the recovered metals were reverse engineered and then seeded into the military industrial complex. What did we make out of it? Do we have our own exotic aircraft kept under wraps? There is one case that might dovetail with such an assertion.

It is called the Cash-Landrum incident. Two women and a little boy were in a car heading home in Texas back in 1980 (at about the same time as the Rendelsham encounter. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But I digress...) These people witnessed a glowing, diamond-shaped UFO surrounded by military helicopters. Though the glare from the object was bright, its body appeared to be black and metallic. Did these witnesses see a test of an aircraft made out of recovered alien metal? Whatever it was, the two adults who witnessed the UFO developed (what seemed to be at the time but is now contested) symptoms of acute radiation sickness and perpetual skin problems.

Which got me thinking. Has anyone ever openly filed a health claim due to the handling of metal recovered from a UFO? I had heard that one of the Air Force personnel in the Rendlesham case had done just that, but I'm still looking. Such a claim might constitute decent evidence, even if tangential. Of course if the metal itself could ever be openly verified as "not of earthly manufacture," well that would be the ultimate. I know that there are those who have claimed to have done just that. My response to such assertions is always the same: "then I'm sure you will have no problem having it validated by scientific peer review."

This is just one installment in my musings on the ETH. More to come.

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