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xi PREFACE long been acquainted and each considered the other to be among the small group in the private UFO community whose work could be counted upon. In mid-1990, following a private conference of crash witnesses sponsored by the fund, a contract was signed and research and writing accelerated. The search for proof of the crash of even one UFO has been a long string of frustrations punctuated by the occasional joyful discovery of a witness whose story checked out and whose background was solid. But most leads turned out to be nothing or simply couldn't be checked out at all. One woman who claimed her father had been a military doctor who performed an autopsy on an alien body was revealed to have a disturbingly active imagination, according to members of her family. Friedman was determined to follow a strict scientific method, so he began the painstaking search through volumi- nous records, and files, and old newspapers. Other UFO investi- gators had grabbed vague rumors and built them into wonderfully detailed stories that had no basis in fact. Still others had apparently invented tales to satisfy the insatiable hunger of the press and the public for answers to questions that remain unanswered. Each such episode, whether exposed by members of the private UFO community or by extremists in the anti-UFO clique, hurt those who were patiently sifting a mountain of sand in hope of finding a flake of gold. But enough shiny specks were found to keep the serious searchers sifting ever more sand in the hope of finding the mother lode. And even though some carefully planted "fool's gold" turned up, the real stuff was there, too. Not the absolute proof that everyone wanted— demanded—but an encouraging collection of intriguing bits. One of the major handicaps Friedman faced was the antiq- uity of the event. Those who had held important positions when the crashes occurred—generals, legislators, cabinet members, scientists—were, with rare exceptions, long dead. All the people who had known more than a small portion of the huge story were gone, and their memoirs were either classified or had been carefully cleansed of anything that might hint at