MUFOB ARCHIVE/01 The 'Silencers' in England
John Harney
MUFOB, Volume 1, Number 6, November-December 1968.
Since publishing an article concerning reports of UFO investigators and witnesses being “silenced” we have received only two reports of similar incidents in England. Mr BA \[name witheld by request) of Coventry, started a UFO information bureau in September, 1968, and closed it down a few months later because of strange experiences and incidents.
The first disturbing thing that happened was trouble with his telephone when using it for UFO business. This began on the second day after opening his information bureau, When he tried to use the telephone it either went dead, or he got the engaged signal. This happened about eight or nine times out of ten. Trouble occurred only on outgoing calls connected with UFOs. The only really odd incoming call was from a man who spoke “perfect text book English” and refused to give his name. He appeared to be very knowledgeable on the subject of UFOs and asked a number of searching questions. One odd question he asked was if a Coventry woman had been in touch with him to tell him that she had seen aliens working on a space-ship in a Coventry factory. Another incident occurred during a visit to a house on UFO business, when the lights dimmed several times. Mr BA, a radio and television engineer, regards this as being very unusual and connects it with the other odd incidents.
The final straw came when he was working on the underside of his car one evening, He came out from under the car to get something when he suddenly noticed something looking like a person, except that its head was glowing red, like a neon light. As he watched the apparition the head changed to that of an old man, then walked away, but he was in no condition to follow it. Greatly concerned, he took this as a warning to cease his UFO investigations and he burned his notes on the subject that evening. Strangely enough he apparently cannot remember the date of this startling incident, but it seems it was a Sunday evening between late September and early November. He is quoted in the Coventry _Evening Telegraph_ as saying: “I want to publicly warn all teenage hobbyists that this is nothing to dabble in lightly.”
Meanwhile there has been trouble in the Slough Aerial Phenomena Research Association. Several members have been visited by two men who asked questions about the group. They asked about skywatch activities, membership, finances and other members. On one of their visits they said they were from the ‘IMW’, whatever that may be. Apparently, their questionings and telephone calls were supposed to alarm members and one of the members, Mr S.G.Salter believes that the whole business is merely a hoax. His opinion is that some local people have been reading too many “MIB books”. Mr Salter points out that hoaxes have been played on the group before so most members are naturally sceptical. A number of members have left the group: this is not because of the mysterious visitors but because of an internal difference of opinion.
Such differences are, of course, inevitable and quite common in organizations which deal with subjects as contentious as ufology. There does not, on the face of it, appear to be anything particularly mysterious about the incidents in the Slough group. The experiences of Mr BA do not seem so startling when examined critically, The episode of the dimming lights is not very convincing. Even if it is unusual there would seem to be no logical reason to Connect it with UFOs. Also, it is strange that he cannot remember the date of his startling vision of the being with the glowing head. So far as the telephone troubles are concerned, we would need more details in order to evaluate them. Whatever the explanation of Mr BA’s experiences there is no reason to doubt his sincerity.
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