Left at East Gate Discontinued

Cosimo announces that we are permanently  discontinuing, effective immediately,  our distribution of the book Left at East Gate, a First-Hand Account of the Rendesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation  by Larry Warren and Peter Robbins.  This step  has been taken  at the request of both of the book’s authors.  In October, 2017 Cosimo had temporarily suspended its distribution of this book.

July Series of the Month: Roswell Reports

The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert is the first of two reports discussing the supposed crash landing of an alien aircraft in Roswell, New Mexico, in the summer of 1947.

Colonel Richard L. Weaver and First Lieutenant James McAndrew, at the request of Congressional Representative Steven Schiff (R-NM), sifted through old reports in order to explain the events that occurred in July 1947, which became known as the Roswell Incident. Included in the report are references to Air Force experiments conducted at the time of the crash landing that could account for the debris discovered and investigated.

A follow-up to the report, Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, Case Closed includes further analysis and discussion of the events. The Foreword explains, "Our objective throughout this inquiry has been simple and consistent: to find all the facts and bring them to light. If documents were classified, declassify them; where they were dispersed, bring them into a single source for public review."

These reports, originally published in 1995 and 1997 respectively, include an all-new Introduction from UFO-expert Stanton Friedman. The U.S. AIR FORCE is the aviation branch of the United States military. The headquarters of this branch authorized several research projects on the origin and existence of UFOs and published multiple reports of their findings from the 1950s through the 1980s. It is still the subject of speculation today whether the U.S. Air Force is responsible for a large-scale cover-up of UFO and extraterrestrial evidence.

The Roswell Reports are both available in paperback at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

July Book of the Month: Crash at Corona

In July of 1947, something crashed near Corona, a tiny town not far from Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. And that crash has been dissected and debated ever since.

Cosimo is highlighting Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO - The Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident by Don Berliner and Stanton T. Friedman in honor of the anniversary of the the Roswell Incident.

Berliner and Friedman sifted through once-classified government documents, interviewed military and civilian witnesses, pieced together evidence, considered alternative theories, and concluded that a UFO crashed near Corona-and the U.S. government knew it and covered it up.

Praise for Crash at Corona
"One of the more credible books arguing the existence of UFOs...Most arresting of all is the testimony of those who handled the debris, who had no opportunity to compare notes, yet have described the materials ...in almost identical language." -- Publishers Weekly

About the Authors
Don Berliner has written more than 300 magazine articles and 25 books on aviation history and space and was also a staff writer for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). He is board chairman of the non-profit Fund for UFO Research, Inc., and is a delegate to the UFO Research Coalition.

Stanton T. Friedman is a nuclear physicist and is also the author of Top Secret/Majic. He has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs. Friedman also wrote introductions for two other titles published by Cosimo, The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert and The Roswell Report: Case Closed. To see Friedman in person, visit his events page for all upcoming conferences, lectures, and festivals near you!

Cosimo is proud to offer both an affordable paperback and handsome hardcover edition of Crash at Corona at leading online bookstores including Barnes & Noble (paperback, hardcover, and eBook), and Amazon (paperback, hardcover, and eBook).

Left at East Gate is our June Book of the Month

We at Cosimo are happy to present Left at East Gate by Larry Warren and Peter Robbins as our Book of the Month this June in celebration of a few upcoming author events!

2016 MUFON of Ohio Conference
June 18, 2016, 11 am to 6 pm
Ashland County Sheriff's Office, 1205 E. Main Street, Ashland, Ohio 44805
Price: $25 members, $28 non members
For tickets and more information, visit: mufonohio.com

Scottish UFO and Paranormal Conference
June 25, 2016, 10 am - 8pm
Glasgow University Union, Debates Chamber, 32 University Avenue, G12 8LK
Price: £10
For tickets and more information, visit: scottishufoandparanormalconference.wordpress.com

Contact with Space Conference

July 2 - 3, 2016

Hotel Amalia, 10 Amalias Avenue, Athens, Greece 105 57
Price: €30 for students, €50 for adults

For tickets and more information, visit: 

http://www.contactwithspace-ea.com/event2016.html

About the Book
In December 1980, Larry Warren was a member of the Air Force security police stationed at RAF Bentwaters, a NATO base in Great Britain. On the night of the 28th he was on guard duty when he was taken by truck to join other Air Force personnel to investigate a disturbance in a Rendlesham Forest about five miles away, which turned out to be a landed UFO.

This was the third night of UFO activity in the area and by far the most profound. When the men were debriefed the next day, they were warned to tell no one about what they had seen-as "bullets are cheap." And so began what would turn out to be the best documented and most significant military-UFO incident in history.

This remarkable story, told with the help of investigative writer Peter Robbins, was the basis of the Sci Fi Channel's documentary UFO Invasion at Rendlesham.

About the Authors
Peter Robbins is one of the most respected and best-known investigative writers on the serious study of UFOs. He's been involved with extraterrestrial phenomena for more than thirty years as a researcher, investigator, writer, lecturer, activist, consultant, author, and conference organizer. Peter is a regular fixture on radio shows around the country and in the United Kingdom. He is also co-host of the monthly program "Encounters" on GRA Network Radio. He is often a guest on and consultant to numerous television shows and documentaries. Robbins' articles, essays, commentaries, and columns have appeared online and in numerous print publications. He is a popular lecturer at colleges, universities, and conferences both here and abroad

Peter Robbins is the co-author of the British bestseller Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation. Cosimo is proud to present this title in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions.

Exploring Extraterrestial Life with Stanton Friedman and Nick Redfern at Contact in the Desert Conference

The Contact in the Desert Conference will keep those interested in extraterrestrials in the know with lectures, workshops, and intensives, and will be featuring a wide array of panelists, experts, researchers and celebrities, including two of our very own authors, Nick Redfern and Stanton Friedman.

Redfern will be hosting a lecture entitled "New Revelations on the Men in Black" and leading a workshop called "UFO's and Government Surveillance: How to know if you are being Watched." He will discuss never-before-seen data on classic cases as well as how to identify if your experiences and research have made you a person of interest to the government.

Friedman will be hosting the "Star Travel? Yes!!" lecture and "The UFO Why Questions" workshop. He will also be holding an intensive course called "Debunking the UFO Debunkers."

Additionally, Travis Walton, the famous logger who claims to have been abducted by UFOs will also be a speaker this year. For more information about Travis and the documentary based on his experience, check out Cosimo's past blog post from September.

The conference boasts a packed weekend of information and details on:
- exploration into ancient astronauts
- extraterrestrial life
- human origins
- crop circles
- UFO sightings
- contact experiences, and much more

The conference will be held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in California from June 3 - 6, 2016. Discounted advanced passes for the conference and workshops are currently for sale. For more information about the schedule, speakers, location, and tickets, please visit Contact in the Desert.

About the Authors
Nick Redfern is the author of more than twenty books on UFOs, Bigfoot, lake-monsters, the Chupacabras, and Hollywood scandal, including A Covert Agenda, Strange Secrets, Body Snatchers in the Desert, and Three Men Seeking Monsters. Nick has appeared on more than seventy TV shows, including: Fox News; the BBC’s Out of This World; the SyFy Channel’s Proof Positive; the History Channel’s Monster Quest, America’s Book of Secrets, Ancient Aliens, and UFO Hunters; the National Geographic Channel’s Paranatural; and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Stanton Friedman is a nuclear physicist who has worked for General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, and other corporations. He is also the author of Crash at Corona and wrote introductions to the Cosimo editions of two U.S. airforce reports, The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert and The Roswell Report: Case Closed . Friedman has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline, and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He was the final speaker at the fiftieth anniversary conference at the International UFO Museum and Research Center at Roswell, and has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs.

The Paradigm Symposium with Cosimo Author Peter Robbins and Nick Redfern

If you are a fan of Peter Robbins, one of the authors of Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation, or Nick Redfern, the author of Strange Secrets, A Covert Agenda, and many other books, be sure to check out the following event to hear (and maybe even meet!) the Cosimo authors themselves at this convention hosted by Intrepid Magazine.

The Paradigm Symposium Redux
May 12 - 15 2016
Templar Lodge, 6509 Walker St, Minneapolis, MN 55426
Price: $280 full weekend, $110 Saturday only
For tickets and more information, visit: paradigmsymposium.com

About the Authors
Peter Robbins is one of the most respected and best-known investigative writers on the serious study of UFOs. He's been involved with extraterrestrial phenomena for more than thirty years as a researcher, investigator, writer, lecturer, activist, consultant, author, and conference organizer. Peter is a regular fixture on radio shows around the country and in the United Kingdom. He is also co-host of the monthly program "Encounters" on GRA Network Radio. He is often a guest on and consultant to numerous television shows and documentaries. Robbins' articles, essays, commentaries, and columns have appeared online and in numerous print publications. He is a popular lecturer at colleges, universities, and conferences both here and abroad. Peter Robbins is the co-author of the British bestseller Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation. He also helped create the documentary "Travis" which will be shown during the event as well.

Nick Redfern is the author of more than twenty books on UFOs, Bigfoot, lake-monsters, the Chupacabras, and Hollywood scandal, including A Covert Agenda, Strange Secrets, Body Snatchers in the Desert, and Three Men Seeking Monsters. Nick has appeared on more than seventy TV shows, including: Fox News; the BBC’s Out of This World; the SyFy Channel’s Proof Positive; the History Channel’s Monster Quest, America’s Book of Secrets, Ancient Aliens, and UFO Hunters; the National Geographic Channel’s Paranatural; and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Upcoming Events with Cosimo Author Peter Robbins

Readers and fans of Peter Robbins, one of the authors of Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation, must be sure to check out the following events to hear (and maybe even meet!) the Cosimo author himself:

FRINGE New Jersey Paranormal Conference
April 9, 2016, 9 am to 6 pm
Hilton Garden Inn, 800 Route 130, Hamilton NJ 08690
Price: $45 full day, $30 half day

For tickets and more information, visit: fringenewjersey.com

The Paradigm Symposium Redux
May 12 - 15 2016
Templar Lodge, 6509 Walker St, Minneapolis, MN 55426
Price: $280 full weekend, $110 Saturday only
For tickets and more information, visit: paradigmsymposium.com

2016 MUFON of Ohio Conference
June 18, 2016, 11 am to 6 pm
Ashland County Sheriff's Office,1205 E. Main Street, Ashland, Ohio 44805

Price: $25 members, $28 non members

For tickets and more information, visit: mufonohio.com

Scottish UFO and Paranormal Conference

June 25, 2016, 10 am - 8pm

Glasgow University Union, Debates Chamber, 32 University Avenue, G12 8LK

Price: £10

For tickets and more information, visit: scottishufoandparanormalconference.wordpress.com

About the Author
Peter Robbins is one of the most respected and best-known investigative writers on the serious study of UFOs. He's been involved with extraterrestrial phenomena for more than thirty years as a researcher, investigator, writer, lecturer, activist, consultant, author, and conference organizer. Peter is a regular fixture on radio shows around the country and in the United Kingdom. He is also co-host of the monthly program "Encounters" on GRA Network Radio. He is often a guest on and consultant to numerous television shows and documentaries. Robbins' articles, essays, commentaries, and columns have appeared online and in numerous print publications. He is a popular lecturer at colleges, universities, and conferences both here and abroad 

Peter Robbins is the co-author of the British bestseller Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation. Cosimo is proud to present this title in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions.

Contact in the Desert Conference Featuring Stanton Friedman and Nick Redfern

The Contact in the Desert Conference will keep those interested in extraterrestrials in the know with lectures, workshops, and intensives, and will be featuring a wide array of panelists, experts, researchers and celebrities, including two of our very own authors, Nick Redfern and Stanton Friedman.

Redfern will be hosting a lecture entitled "New Revelations on the Men in Black" and leading a workshop called "UFO's and Government Surveillance: How to know if you are being Watched." He will discuss never-before-seen data on classic cases as well as how to identify if your experiences and research have made you a person of interest to the government.

Friedman will be hosting the "Star Travel? Yes!!" lecture and "The UFO Why Questions" workshop. He will also be holding an intensive course called "Debunking the UFO Debunkers."

Additionally, Travis Walton, the famous logger who claims to have been abducted by UFOs will also be a speaker this year.  For more information about Travis and the documentary based on his experience, check out Cosimo's past blog post from September.

The conference boasts a packed weekend of information and details on:
- exploration into ancient astronauts
- extraterrestrial life
- human origins
- crop circles
- UFO sightings
- contact experiences, and much more


The conference will be held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in California from June 3 - 6, 2016. Discounted advanced passes for the conference and workshops are currently for sale. For more information about the schedule, speakers, location, and tickets, please visit Contact in the Desert.

About the Authors

Nick Redfern is the author of more than twenty books on UFOs, Bigfoot, lake-monsters, the Chupacabras, and Hollywood scandal, including A Covert Agenda, Strange Secrets, Body Snatchers in the Desert, and Three Men Seeking Monsters. Nick has appeared on more than seventy TV shows, including: Fox News; the BBC’s Out of This World; the SyFy Channel’s Proof Positive; the History Channel’s Monster Quest, America’s Book of Secrets, Ancient Aliens, and UFO Hunters; the National Geographic Channel’s Paranatural; and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Stanton Friedman is a nuclear physicist who has worked for General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, and other corporations. He is also the author of Crash at Corona and has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline, and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He was the final speaker at the fiftieth anniversary conference at the International UFO Museum and Research Center at Roswell, and has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs.

35th Anniversary of the Rendlesham Incident - UFO invasion of the UK

In honor of the 35th Anniversary of the Rendlesham Incident, Cosimo is highlighting Left at East Gate by Larry Warren and Peter Robbins. In December 1980, Larry Warren was a member of the Air Force security police stationed at RAF Bentwaters, a NATO base in Great Britain. On the night of the 28th he was on guard duty when he was taken by truck to join other Air Force personnel to investigate a disturbance in a Rendlesham Forest about five miles away, which turned out to be a landed UFO. This was the third night of UFO activity in the area and by far the most profound. When the men were debriefed the next day, they were warned to tell no one about what they had seen-as "bullets are cheap." And so began what would turn out to be the best documented and most significant military-UFO incident in history. This remarkable story, told with the help of investigative writer Peter Robbins, was the basis of the Sci Fi Channel's documentary UFO Invasion at Rendlesham.

About the Author
Peter Robbins is one of the most respected and best-known investigative writers on the serious study of UFOs. He's been involved with extraterrestrial phenomena for more than thirty years as a researcher, investigator, writer, lecturer, activist, consultant, author, and conference organizer. Peter is a regular fixture on radio shows around the country and in the United Kingdom. He is also co-host of the monthly program "Encounters" on GRA Network Radio. He is often a guest on and consultant to numerous television shows and documentaries. Robbins' articles, essays, commentaries, and columns have appeared online and in numerous print publications. He is a popular lecturer at colleges, universities, and conferences both here and abroad.

To learn more about Peter Robbins, his new book Halt in Woodbridge, his documentary Travis, or other UFO cases, check out his recent interview on Fringe Radio.

Peter Robbins is the co-author of the British bestseller Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation. Cosimo is proud to present this title in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions.

MUFON Symposium Featuring Cosimo Author Stanton Friedman

The MUFON Symposium was first founded in 1970 to discuss the latest UFO developments and MUFON’s vision for the future. This event will bring together MUFON's own field investigators with UFO researchers, enthusiasts, and experts from around the world, including none other than our very own author, Stanton Friedman.

Friedman will be holding a lecture entitled: "Making Ufology Respectable" on Sunday, September 27th.

The symposium will focus on expanding ufology by opening new doors in academia, industry and the media.
The Symposium will be held at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine, CA from September 24 - 27. Pricing for various packages including single events, day passes, ticketed events, or all weekend passes are now available for both MUFON members and non-members. For more information about accommodations, pricing, events, and speakers, please visit the MUFON site or the event page.

Stanton T. Friedman is a nuclear physicist who has worked for General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, and other corporations. He is the author of  Crash at Corona  and wrote introductions to The Roswell Report: Case Closed and The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction. He has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline, and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He was the final speaker at the fiftieth anniversary conference at the International UFO Museum and Research Center at Roswell, and has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs.

UFO Documentary "Travis" from Cosimo Author Peter Robbins

UFO researcher, investigator, and author Peter Robbins has been appearing all over news and media outlets recently due to the upcoming documentary he helped work on in honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary of an alien abduction on November 5, 1975.

“Travis” is a 90 minute documentary film recounting the now-world famous 1975 UFO abduction of TravisWalton and the impact it has had on his life over the intervening forty years - and on the lives of others who were also involved.

Watch the chilling trailer below:

“Travis” premiered in February at the 2015 International UFO Congress Film Festival in Scottsdale Arizona where it swept the ‘EBE’ Awards for best long documentary film and the People’s Choice Award. For more information on "Travis," check out an interview with Executive Producer Jennifer Stein and Ron James, founder of Ivovle TV or visit the Onwinges Productions website.

There will also be a conference commemorating the Travis Walton UFO incident from November 5 - 8. For schedules and tickets please visit the 2015 Skyfire UFO Summit website.

About the Author
Peter Robbins is one of the most respected and best-known investigative writers on the serious study of UFOs. He's been involved with extraterrestrial phenomena for more than thirty years as a researcher, investigator, writer, lecturer, activist, consultant, author, and conference organizer. Peter is a regular fixture on radio shows around the country and in the United Kingdom. He is also co-host of the monthly program "Encounters" on GRA Network Radio. He is often a guest on and consultant to numerous television shows and documentaries. Robbins' articles, essays, commentaries, and columns have appeared online and in numerous print publications. He is a popular lecturer at colleges, universities, and conferences both here and abroad 

Peter Robbins is the co-author of the British bestseller Left At East Gate: A First Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up and Investigation. Cosimo is proud to present this title in both paperback and hardcover.

Anniversary of Roswell UFO incident

In July of 1947, something crashed near Corona, a tiny town not far from Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. And that crash has been dissected and debated ever since.

Cosimo is highlighting Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO - The Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident by Don Berliner and Stanton T. Friedman in honor of the anniversary of the the Roswell Incident.

Berliner and Friedman sifted through once-classified government documents, interviewed military and civilian witnesses, pieced together evidence, considered alternative theories, and concluded that a UFO crashed near Corona-and the U.S. government knew it and covered it up. 

Praise for Crash at Corona
"One of the more credible books arguing the existence of UFOs...Most arresting of all is the testimony of those who handled the debris, who had no opportunity to compare notes, yet have described the materials ...in almost identical language." -- Publishers Weekly 

About the Authors
Don Berliner has written more than 300 magazine articles and 25 books on aviation history and space and was also a staff writer for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). He is board chairman of the non-profit Fund for UFO Research, Inc., and is a delegate to the UFO Research Coalition. 

Stanton T. Friedman is a nuclear physicist and is also the author of Top Secret/Majic. He has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs. Friedman also wrote introductions for two other titles published by Cosimo, The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert and The Roswell Report: Case Closed.

Cosimo is proud to offer both an affordable paperback and handsome hardcover edition of Crash at Corona at leading online bookstores including Barnes & Noble (paperback, hardcover, and eBook), and Amazon (paperback, hardcover, and eBook).

June Classic of the Month: The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects

With Contact in the Desert fresh in our minds with its conclusion of panels and speakers last month, Cosimo is proud to present the June Classic of the Month, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: The Original 1956 Edition by Edward J. Ruppelt with an introduction by UFO expert and investigative writer Colin Bennett.

It was in June of 1947 (67 years ago on the 24th!) that the phrase "flying saucer" gained national attention when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine unidentified objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier in Washington State.


The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects was the first serious, unbiased account written about UFOs by anyone connected with the official government investigations of UFO phenomena. Ruppelt, who coined the term "unidentified flying objects" and headed Project Blue Book from 1951 to 1953, includes his personal investigations and findings in his extensive research on UFOs. He discusses both well-publicized UFO sightings and lesser-known accounts, as well as the inner workings of Air Force UFO research. 

About the Author
Edward J. Ruppelt (1923-1960) served at the Air Technical Intelligence Center, where he took over Project Grudge, a formal investigation by the U.S. military with the goal of debunking extraterrestrial and UFO activity. Under Ruppelt's supervision, the project, later named Blue Book, experienced its most fruitful years, when investigations were properly conducted without judgment or disdain. 


For more books by Colin Bennett or other UFO titles, please visit our UFO webpage or our UFO bookshelf.

Contact in the Desert Conference Featuring Stanton Friedman and Nick Redfern

The Contact in the Desert Conference will keep those interested in extraterrestrials in the know with lectures, workshops, and intensives, and will be featuring a wide array of panelists, experts, researchers and celebrities, including two of our very own authors, Nick Redfern and Stanton Friedman.

Redfern will be hosting a lecture entitled "The Contactee Files: Government Documents on the Space Brothers" and leading a workshop called "Ancient Structures, Levitation, and ETs." He will discuss the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, classified files detailing the original 1950s Contactees, as well as the theory that structures were built by levitation.

Friedman will be hosting the "Flying Saucers and Science: An Illustrated Lecture" series and "The UFO Why Questions" workshop. He will dive into the subjects of intelligently controlled extraterrestrial spacecrafts, cover-ups, scientific studies, and interstellar travel.

The conference boasts a packed weekend of information and details on:
- exploration into ancient astronauts
- extraterrestrial life
- human origins
- crop circles
- UFO sightings
- contact experiences, and much more


The conference will be held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center in California from May 29 to 31, 2015. Discounted advanced passes for the conference and workshops are currently for sale. For more information about the schedule, speakers, location, and tickets, please visit Contact in the Desert.

About the Authors

Nick Redfern is the author of more than twenty books on UFOs, Bigfoot, lake-monsters, the Chupacabras, and Hollywood scandal, including A Covert Agenda, Strange Secrets, Body Snatchers in the Desert, and Three Men Seeking Monsters. Nick has appeared on more than seventy TV shows, including: Fox News; the BBC’s Out of This World; the SyFy Channel’s Proof Positive; the History Channel’s Monster Quest, America’s Book of Secrets, Ancient Aliens, and UFO Hunters; the National Geographic Channel’s Paranatural; and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Stanton Friedman is a nuclear physicist who has worked for General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, and other corporations. He is also the author of Crash at Corona and has appeared on Larry King, Unsolved Mysteries, and Nightline, and was involved with the documentaries UFOs Are Real and Flying Saucers Are Real. He was the final speaker at the fiftieth anniversary conference at the International UFO Museum and Research Center at Roswell, and has given more than 700 lectures on the subject of UFOs.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all you ghosts and ghouls out there! In honor of this fantastic holiday, Cosimo would like to present our authors who are experts on all things unknown, creepy, and unnatural. 

Gear up for your spooky night by listening to Loren Coleman examine evidence of extinct animals coming back to life on After Dark Radio, read Nick Redfern's take on werewolves on Mysterious Universe, or watch Stanton Friedman discuss UFOs in an interview at Minnesota Paracon 2014.

Or, if you are in need of some entertainment while waiting for your little neighborhood witches and wizards to arrive at your door, tune in to Talk is Jericho for an interview with Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, pop some popcorn and rent one of Nick Redfern's favorite Halloween horror flicks, or settle down with a good book. Perhaps Redfern's Body Snatchers in the Desert, Coleman's Mothman, or Friedman's Crash at Corona will tickle your fancy. For more of an old-fashioned classic scare, pick up Draula by Bram Stoker, The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton, Mythical Monsters by Charles Gould, or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.

Whether you decide on aliens, monsters, or headless horsemen, we wish you all a safe and happy All Hallows Eve from everyone at Cosimo!

For a complete list of all things eerie and chilling, visit our cryptozoology, mystery, mythology & folklore, and UFO pages on our website.

Guest Post by Don Berliner on the Greatest Mystery of the Century

"Getting Back on Track" by Don Berliner

           We’ve been doing it all wrong!

            For the past several decades, the private UFO community hasn’t moved one inch closer to solving the greatest mystery of the past century. Even worse, we’ve lost almost all our ability to influence the opinions of members of the scientific community, the mainstream media, and most of the governments of the world. 

            We reached our peak in the mid-1960’s when the 14,000-member National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), under the inspired leadership of Donald Keyhoe and Richard Hall, had established highly effective relationships with those vital elements of our society. The media, in particular, regularly came to NICAP for facts and guidance. Today, with two national organizations each collecting more than 500 UFO/UAP reports a month, it would be hard to find a reporter who has any clue that such is happening, with the result being that the public has no idea that strange crafts are still being seen.

            NICAP’s facts were produced by the highly qualified and experienced members of carefully selected investigative sub-committees who went out into the field to find out what had actually happened, not to reinforce anyone’s preconceived opinions nor to add to anyone’s collection of allegedly unexplained events.

            There are changes that can be made to improve the situation:

1 .Get rid of “UFO,” which to most people means “flying saucer,” and that means alien spacecraft.  In other words, “UFO” is a conclusion, when it should be no more than a starting point. A replacement is ready and waiting: “UAP,” meaning Unexplained Aerial Phenomena.  Many of the scientists in the private UFO community have been using this for years.

2. Get rid of “Ufology” and “Ufologist,” which strongly imply that the collecting of information and the subsequent study of it constitute a science. It will remain no more than a hobby until we make drastic changes in the way we view the subject and our own involvement.

3. While we’re at it, let’s add “sincere” to our list of words to be dropped. The category of people most needing to be considered sincere is “con-artist.” And while we certainly aren’t suggesting that more than an occasional sighting witness deserves to be in that group, using it to describe someone who hasn’t been subjected to an extensive background investigation is passing judgment on the basis of emotion, rather than logic.

4. Stress the need for field investigators having advanced educations and/or practical experience in appropriate scientific fields. By including hobbyists and “saucer fans,” we are actively discouraging the participation of the very people we need most. Imagine a curious scientist joining a field investigation, only to find himself working alongside someone who is in serious danger of flunking freshman chemistry. The scientist won’t be back, while the marginal student will.

 

5. Forget about trying to influence the U.S. Congress as a way to force the release of a large quantity of withheld government information. Members of Congress lack both the will and the motivation needed to risk their jobs over an issue that promises little beyond embarrassment. Let’s face it: one of the easiest ways to replace a sitting member is to accuse him of believing in flying saucers. He or she may be able to withstand personal attacks based on financial or sexual misconduct, but not on something viewed by peers as suggesting a serious lack of common sense.

6.  Start using the Hynek “Strangeness/Credibility Scale” to pin-point UFO/UAP reports having the potential for adding to the accumulated knowledge of UFOs/UAPs. Cramming filing cabinets with sightings of meandering night lights amounts to nothing more than wasting time on trivia. It is the quality of cases that will eventually pay off, not the quantity.

7. Perhaps the biggest step we can take in the near-term is to stop behaving like the mystery has been solved and all that remains is to lay out the evidence for the ignorant masses to absorb. In fact, the UFO mystery has not been solved, nor will it be until we have acquired proof, not merely debatable evidence. Just because we haven’t been able to come up with logical, non-alien explanations for hundreds of baffling cases doesn’t mean that there aren’t any. Maybe we have overlooked something subtle that could change the picture.

Just what will constitute proof? 

1. Clear, sharp photographs that can be scientifically verified and which show sufficient detail so that they could not possibly be of anything terrestrial.

2. Government documents that can be scientifically confirmed as original (not photocopies), and which include specific information whose authenticity can be checked.

3. Physical evidence such as obviously unusual debris from one or more crashes, whose origins can be traced with confidence and whose properties do not resemble anything found on Earth. The professional scientists or scientific organizations doing the analyses must be willing to sign their names to any reports.

We aren’t going to get any of the above by sending out “saucer fans” to interview people who claim to have seen funny lights. We have to start taking the mystery as a serious challenge, and not as entertainment or a way to attract attention to ourselves. 

About the Author

Don Berliner has written more than 300 magazine articles and 30 books on aviation history and space and was also a staff writer for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). He is board chairman of the non-profit Fund for UFO Research, Inc. Berliner cowrote Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO, depicting the famous controversial UFO landing near Roswell and subsequent government coverup (with Stanton Friedman).