Part 5

...According to Ken Dimwiddie, one of the technicians at De Anza
Systems, who was present when Diletosso appeared in the guise of a
prospective customer, it was Diletosso himself who assigned the
colors on the computer's read-out screen. In other words, the
colors may indicate almost anything about the actual qualities of
the original photograph. They have little value except to satisfy
Jim Diletosso's aesthetic fancy.

Computer-aided analyses of the Meier pictures by Ground Saucer
Watch, however, are devastating by comparison. They inspired two
GSW researchers, Fred Adrian and William Spaulding, to describe
them as "hoaxes, both crude and grandiose."

Even without the aid of computer enhancement the photographs are
dubious. Shadows on the Pleiadean craft do not conform to the
light in the landscape, and the sharpness of the UFO images
indicates that the object shown is extremely close to the camera --
as a model would be. (GSW's estimate is that the various
"spaceships" are, in fact, between 8 and 12 inches in diameter.)
Fuzziness that would result from atmospheric effects is often
lacking.

Where the images are more consistent with expectations, one is
still baffled by the testimony of Meier himself. Despite the
constant contacts and the priceless photographic evidence he was
gathering on behalf of mankind, Meier never bothered to repair or
replace his allegedly broken camera, whose lens was stuck, focused
on infinity. Yet different focusings DO seem to have been
achieved -- resulting in 'distant' objects coming out suitably
fuzzy.

But then the testimony concerning Meier and his photographic
techniques occasionally leaves the disinterested enquirer gasping.
It should be pointed out that Billy Meier lost his left arm in an
accident, which one would expect to make for difficulties with a
camera. Wendelle Stevens nevertheless has made the startling
claim that Meier shot all his pictures from the hip, because the
mirror in his camera had 'jammed closed' as well. And yet he
manages to center his UFOs in every frame with amazing precision.

Jim Diletosso also says that a professional photographic expert
claimed he would need 'a million dollars' to duplicate the Meier
pictures. Less excitably, Wendelle Stevens attempts to debunk the
claims that the UFOs are models by asking: "How many models can a
one-armed man carry on a moped when he is driving with the only
arm he's got?" One might reply: "As many as will fit in a bag."

[[A Type-4 spacecraft over Mount Auruti, Switzerland,
photographed by Meier on 29 March, 1976, is reproduced. Two
computer enhanced images from the photograph reveal a great deal
about the picture. One picture shows, in the words of Ground
Saucer Watch who made the computer analyses, "evidence of a linear
structure" above the craft -- in plain English, a string or thin
rod. The structure is equally clear in the computerised
enlargement. In addition, study of the focus of this picture
indicates the object is close to the camera and is therefore small
-- about 8 inches (20 centimetres) across, not 23 feet (7 metres)
as claimed. [A second picture of a Type-4 ship taken within a few
minutes of the previous picture shows the disc in the center of
the image hovering next to a bare tree]. The craft is said to be
hovering beyond the tree, which is about 165 feet (50 metres
away). Edge enhancement of the picture revealed, according to GSW, inconsistencies between the shadows on the disc and on the tree.
This suggests that the UFO and the landscape images have been
superimposed. The color-contoured image suggested to GSW that the
UFO was actually superimposed ON TOP of the tree image, as if the
UFO were closer than the tree -- indicating "very sloppy work", in
Kal Korff's words. Analysis of another picture of three ships over
a hill revealed that "the focus on the discs is much sharper than
on the trees. Again there is evidence that the UFO images were
superimposed on the landscape picture."]]

...Genesis III have published some remarkable claims on behalf
of Meier, yet none of these claims has been validated by
independant research. Wendelle Stevens may attempt to disarm the
ufologist Jim Lorenzen by saying, "As you well know, Jim, the book
was never designed to present any hard facts," yet it gives every
impression of doing just that.

As for Meier himself, it is possible that some SUBJECTIVE
experience lies behind the discredited material evidence. If the
stories of voices in the head, going for rides in 'pear-shaped UFOs'
with 'a very old man' at the age of five, and the sightings he had
from a very early age are anything to go by, this may be the best
explanation. In which case, the model spacecraft (whose existence
Meier doesn't deny) may well have been constructed as a result of
an actual series of contactee experiences, however unlikely it is
that these represent an attempt by any Pleiadeans to get in touch
with us on Earth. If so, then Billy Meier has unfortunately
allowed his experience to be turned by others into something like
an industry.


==================================================================
From "The Unexplained: The Alien World" by Peter Brookesmith.
Orbis Publishing Ltd. London. <C> 1984

==================================================================


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