Page Content (OCR)
110 REVELATIONS in fact, originate the UMMO hoax, but that he was simply trying to take credit and ride on it. Many of them believe, as do some French researchers, that UMMO was created as a government-sponsored socio- logical exercise that somehow acquired a life of its own and got out of hand, with diverse individuals or groups getting into the act for their own ego gratification or gain, as the so-called medical facility in Canue- las had done. I am not sure they are right. A genuine sect, of the type often used as covers by intelligence agencies, could have been created more effec- tively by conventional means, such as providing financing to an existing group with a suitably charismatic leader. But obviously we do not have the whole story. The remarkable fact in the UMMO hoax is that it has no visible leader. It is simply a framework within which multiple succes- sive authors can in fact operate. A disturbing fact discovered by French investigators seems to link some of the scientists of the UMMO group with the LaRouche extremist movement in Europe. If that link can be verified, the UMMO mystery will take a sinister turn. UMM0O is certainly one of the best examples of the systematic application of confusion techniques in the paranormal field. The nov- elty in the hoax was to create ostensibly genuine sightings that would result in innocent witnesses coming forward to be interviewed by the media and by well-intentioned UFO investigators who could only con- clude they were sincere, while the perpetrators remained in the back- ground, manipulating the photographic and physical evidence. Another question that bothers me is why the published photographs are so bad. It is a question that arises when one looks at most UFO pictures. Techniques have been perfected to make radio-controlled sphere or disk-shaped devices of significant diameter that can fly and maneuver at will in the sky, at ground level, and around obstacles. Such devices are commonly used by the military to identify ground targets and to collect intelligence. Therefore, one would have expected long ago to find hoaxes based on the use of these modern techniques of remotely-controlled probes. They would lead to perfect cases with abso- lutely authentic photographic evidence rather than the clumsy models exhibited by UMMO.