SUBJECT: CONFESSIONS OF A CROP CIRCLE SYY ! FILE: UFO2041 The following is a response from Dr Armen Victorian to the James Schnabel "Confessions of a Crop Circle Spy!" article in the MUFON UFO Journal No.295 November 1992: --------------------------------------------------------------------- - DISINFORMERS, DECEIVERS AND THEIR LEGITIMATE SUPPORTERS By Dr Armen Victorian The November 1992 issue of the MUFON Journal published an extraordinary account written by Jim Schnabel titled, "Confessions of a Crop Circle Spy!" introduced by Dennis Stacy, the MUFON Editor. On December 5, 1992, I received a letter from Dennis Stacy together with a copy of the article concerned. Before this, my fellow colleague, Mr George Wingfield, had contacted me earlier on and briefed me about the article. I was utterly surprised that MUFON had decided to go ahead without checking the accuracy of Schnabel's material. I was later told that Walt Andrus had hiterto sanctioned the publication of the article. Andrus' interference in this instance was the result of a longstanding difference that exists between myself and his management of MUFON. He and the editor of the MUFON Journal are fully aware of my forthcoming paper, concerning MUFON, which portrays in detail a modern version of NICAP in its dying days. Equally condemning is his bluder in the Gulf Breeze fake case and the current Mr Hopkins abduction case that Mr Stacy coins the "case of the centry." MUFON's philosophy and attitude is reflective of how easily it acts as a mouthpiece, readily and in accordance with what is precisely the official line and has been for decades; deceit, dis-information and the high level publicity and support given to these accounts. Several State Directors of MUFON, that I have talked to, are also highly critical of the autocratic manner in which a few run the organisation. In one instance, in the course of our recent correspondence with Mr Stacy, the MUFON Editor, when he had faxed a ridiculous letter to Mr Wingfield he wrote back with the excuse that he was drunk when he wrote the letter, therefore apologising for its contents. Equally condemning is the attitude and supportive platform MUFON provides for self confessed tricksters like Jim Schnabel and Robert Irving, who boast about what they have done and still do. Which, in a sense, is very much reminiscent of what OSI did through Bill Moore, for a decade, to the field. But who are Jim Schnabel and Robert Irving and what did actually happen? It is known by everyone in crop circle research that Irving-Schnabel's joint covert activities have caused enormous damage to both the farmers, who are desperately seeking for legal means to prosecute the two, and the crop circle researchers themselves, whose research has suffered irreparable damage. Schnabel, a graduate of Duke University in Electronic Engineering, later applied for a place in the Lincoln College, Oxford, to study Politics. This was rejected. During the period when his application was under Oxford's consideration, he made several contacts with leading crop circle researcehrs, with the excuse that he is trying to collect information for his Ph.D. thesis in Sociology. In reality he was neither a student nor was his applied subject in Lincoln College that of Sociology. Senior researchers believed that he was a genuine student and they trusted him and shared with him the results of some of their findings. Then Schnabel published the most damning article in the Independent Magazine in December 1991 about crop circles and their researchers, and his true quest emerged. It became immediately clear that Schnabel, by deploying outright deceitful tacts, had fooled everyone about his genuine intentions. In fact, in a letter dated December 4, 1991, to a leading crop circle researcher, he very diplomaticlaly confessed what he was all about: "I am writing to you to apologize. A week or so ago I decided, unwisely, to write an article about Doug and Dave and the reaction to them by the crop circle groups. Everything I report in the article is true, and personally I believe that crop circle research could use a general house cleaning, but house cleaning is not my proper role, and I am afraid that the article unnecessarily hurt some people. In any case, by the time I regretted writing the piece it was too late. I understand that the story will appear in the Independent Magazine on December 7. "Naturally, you and others will be concerned that my mingling of sociological and journalistic roles is inappropriate. I agree, and can only reiterate my apology. Something that I report I might not have learned if I had not seemed like a harmless sociological researcher. In particular, some questions I have asked `for my thesis' may now seem to have been intended all along for a magazine article. Although I emphasize that this is not the case, nevertheless I admit that I was wrong to write the article in the first place, and I assure you that information you have given me will be treated with all due respect. In any case I have finished my sociological field work, and although I still have a personal interest in the circles phenomenon, I am more or less retiring from the case." Quite the contrary, this was the beginning of an intensified campaign of disinformation by Schnabel and his colleague Robert Irving. In the following months they published more similar articles. Together with Robert Irving, they donned camouflage clothing and, with the help of the night, they created utter havoc in the farmers fields and, thereby, further confusion amongst the crop circle researchers about the number of hoaxed formations in existence. Ken Brown, who is currently writing a book about the Doug and Dave affair, told me that several meetings had taken place between Schnabel/Irving and Doug and Dave, the former keen to further his knowledge on how to advance hoaxing techniques. In fact, Jim Schnabel was proud of winning the second prize in a circle faking competition in the summer of 1992. Gill Freeman, the producer of the Equinox TV program, did tell me that Schnabel and Irving had admitted to faking several crop formations by illegally entering into farm land and thereby causing damage crops. Robert Irving, Schnabel's colleague, claims to be a photographer. He spends his entire time on the farm lands during the crop circle season each year. He lived in Los Angeles for eight years prior to returning to England. He was allegedly a member of the Second Church of Satan in the USA, or Friends of Hecarte in England, and his views on black magic are widely known in England through a number of anonymous Statanic letters he has written to a number of crop circle researchers. When he was questioned about who pays for him to spend his full time in the field, he answered, as he did to me, "Man does not live on bread alone, a Foundation pays me handsomely for my work," but would not divulge the name of the foundation. He is also known for his provocative manner of taking photographs of everyone without seeking their consent as a matter of courtesy. He carries a very large knife with him at all times. In a letter from a couple of American crop cirlce researchers, they related the impression made upon them by Schnabel and Irving, during their visit to England: "Many thanks for meeting up with Suzie and I during summer. Wasn't it bloody marvellous? I felt that I had to write and tell you about a nasty close encounter which happened over the 3rd to 4th August, just outside of Marlborough. Suzie and I had left the Merlin Hotel, at 1.30am, to go and drive around for a bit. We ended up on a small dirt track, we parked the car and with camera in tow, walked along a footpath. After about 30 min., we saw lights in a field ahead of us. Thinking we had discovered some little green men at play, we hurriedly moved forward. Imagine our surprise, when we came face to face with four men, all dressed in black. Two of them, were rather burly characters wearing peaked caps. One was tall and thin and had long, dirty looking straggly hair. "They were each carrying certain bits and pieces - the one with the hair had a video camera in his hand and a fancy looking camera hanging from his shoulder. We asked them what they were doing. One of them said, that they were taking a short cut through the field. But I didn't like the look of them at all. Suzie and I walked back to the car and availed ourselves of the black coffee that the hotel had provided. The men were ahead of us. Two of them got into a small van, the others into a dark coupe type of car. They then drove off. "We did not think much about it until the following morning, when a guy at the hotel told us about a new crop circle at a place called Froxfield (?) When we went there, later that day, imagine our further surprise when it turned out to be the field we had visited the night before. I have no doubt that those guys were the makers of that circle. What is your feeling about this? "That isn't the end of the story. We ended up at the Wagon and Horses for a drink. Just as we were finishing, a guy came in, with a big built American chap - who was brandishing a video camera. I was sure that it was two of the men that we had seen the night before. Out of curiosity, I started up a conversation about the corn circles. I wished I hadn't. "The guy with the hair (dressed black) name was Bob (maybe Rob) Irvine (Bob Irving - author). He was a psychopath. Suzie wanted us to leave, because he was becoming very annoyed with my questions. I am of the opinion that this guy had something very wrong with him, in a psychological way. A nutter. "I don't know whether this means anything to you but I would stay well away from this idiot, he seems dangerous to me. Have you heard of him? As to the crop circle, I hope no-one said it was genuine!!!" We were aware for a long time that some elements, with certain connections, were determined to put an end to the crop circle research. In fact, this is all too clear in Schnabel's telephone conversation with me, where he states that the aim is to terminate the research and media interest in this phenomena. Although, he admits that the phenomena is genuine. It was in the course of my telephone conversation with Jim Schnabel in August 30 and 31, 1992, when a clearer picture emerged. His use of certain worlds left no doubt in my mind about the length and the depth of the problem we were faced with. Some of the vocabulary he used is used only by Intelligence officers or their recruits. In the course of over two decades that I have been engaged as a researcher within Intelligence, only those who have had an intelligence or related career used terms such as "Burnt out" in the context of their conversations: "It's extremely strenuous work and, you know, sometimes people become BURNED OUT after only a few years but usually they've made enough money that they are able to retire, you know, after a few years anyway... it's very generous." How would a young student know about all these professional details of the espionage world, whilst none of his previous few articles were about the world of spooks? Perhaps one should not forget that Edward Hunter, a formidable CIA agent, also claimed to be a Journalist, as Jim Schnabel now claims. We are also aware that Jim Schnabel belongs to a Catholic far-right group. The result of the voice-stress analysis carried out by an official government body in the U.S. has proved beyond any shadow of doubt that he spoke the truth in his telephone conversations with me. Two further independent analyses have provided the same results. What is more hilarious is that Jim Schnabel is now investigating Budd Hopkins' latest abduction case, which was coined "the case of the century" by Dennis Stacy. I have no doubts about his future writing on the case as he has expanded his scope and is about to write a book on abductions. Or, is there something else that the researchers are missing. I wonder will they ever wake up and smell the coffee, or will they prefer to leave the decision making in the hands of punch-drunk editors and sleazy directors, whilst the Schnabels and Irvings slaughter what is left of the field. THE END ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. 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