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THE PATHOLOGISTS Were the protagonists of the alien autopsy footage indeed According to the cameraman the autopsy was performed by “Dr _ pathologists or surgeons—or just actors? We asked the physi- Bronk" and “Dr Williams". cians who viewed the footage: Prof. Dr Detlev Bronk (1897-1975) was no surprise, since his Prof. Dr Ch. Milroy, University of Sheffield, UK: "Whilst the name already appeared in the controversial "Majestic 12" docu- examination had features of a medically conducted examination, ments. He was Chairman of the National Research Council, aspects suggest it was not conducted by an experienced patholo- America's leading biophysicist and a member of the Advisory _ gist, but rather by a surgeon."* Committee of the Army, Air Force and of the Atomic Energy Prof. Dr M. J. Mihatsch, University of Basle, Switzerland: “I Commission—certainly a person to whom the supervision of an _ do not question the capability of the pathologist or surgeon who is autopsy of this relevance could have been entrusted, After his working on the corpse."” death, all his papers and documents were preserved at the Prof. Cyril Wecht, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Rockefeller Institute for Medical ve oe USA: "(They) are either patholo- Research, of which he was President gists or surgeons who have per- from 1953.2 According 1 to the cameraman four:§ formed a number of autopsies Dr Bronk was a very methodical per- living al ns were foun d at the before."” son, kept detailed diaries and all his Prof. Pierluigi Baima Bollone, correspondence, notes and dates. But crash site.: One did not: survive University of Turin, Italy: when Bob Shell wanted to look “Definitely surgeons, not patholo- through his papers and diaries for |: the recovery operation, the gists...well-experienced."” 1947, he learnt thal, mysteriously second and third died about four Prof. Jean Pierre, University of enough, this is the only year for which : Paris, France: "The persons who all the records are missing. None of weeks later, andthe fourth performed the autopsy were cer- the friendly librarians could tell him |: ive rey i tainly of the medical profession, if what had happened to them or why survived until May 1949. not experienced pathologists." they are still missing.” Dr Carsten Nygren, Oslo, Dr Williams might have been Dr Norway: “These were surgeons. Robert Parvin Williams (1891-1967), who was Special Assistant doing the work, not pathologists."* to the Surgeon General of the Army al Fort Monroe, Virginia. He In fact, neither Prof. Bronk nor Dr Williams were pathologists: was a Lt. Col. in 1947 and was promoted to Brig. General in Bronk was a biophysicist and Williams a surgeon. Indeed, not 1949.” Alone, the naming of Dr Williams—who was the right one physician concluded they were actors or made any mistakes. man in the right place for the task—indicates the cameraman had One point of criticism was the type of autopsy performed. some inside knowledge. Obviously it served the purpose of determining the cause of death rather than of learning more about an alien life-form. On the other hand, this is explainable by the circumstances under which the autopsy was performed. According to the cameraman, four living aliens were found at the crash site. One did Not survive the recovery operation, the sec- ond and third died about four weeks later, and the fourth survived until May 1949. We do not know anything about the autopsy of the first creature, and it might very well have been thal it was subjected to a‘big' scientific autopsy. The cameraman filmed the second and third autopsies on Ist and 3rd July 1947, when the main concer might have been to find out the cause of their sudden deaths in order to find a way to keep alien no. 4 alive—unless they could establish commu- nication and find oul why these visitors had come to Earth. This was surely of a higher interest for the national defence forces than a scientific study of an alien life-form. Nevertheless, we assume that organs were taken for further study during the dissec- tion. Furthermore, according to the camera- man, the fourth alien was autopsied scien- tifically in a medical theatre in Washington, DC, in the presence of leading scientists from the US, England and France.“ 64 © NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1996