BY-PASSING THE PHYSICAL SENSES

Some physical effects are visited upon the witness although they are not immediately registered by the ordinary
senses.
A. Paralysis
At the time of an engine failure in the presence of a UFO, the witness may be surprised to discover that he is
unable to move. A specially graphic example was the experience of a farmer in Saskatchewan. He climbed down
from a swather to investigate a 3 m., silver-colored, dome-shaped object that was hovering close to the ground and
spinning in deep grass. Upon backing away and remounting the machine, he noticed four more similar objects
spaced out along a nearby slough. The first object then rose up to about 60 m., followed by the second, then the
third, and so on. During these maneuvers, he was paralyzed. In a taped interview, he later said, “I sat there like I was
froze, I couldn’t move nothing.” Further elaboration was telling and clear:
I didn’t have the strength to move anything on it (the farm machine). See, it’s a hydrostatic drive,
automatic like a car, steering also. I couldn’t move anything, all I had to do was push the lever or turn
the steering wheel, but I couldn’t. I felt like I was hypnotized or paralyzed, I had no strength. I tried to
move that lever but I couldn’t. Just a touch of your finger — it will move. Nothing seemed to work
right, I was scared, I’ve been scared before, but nothing like this. I wanted this hand on the gear shift
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and this one on the steering wheel and you think I could move it? I couldn’t budge it.
Explanation
Of primary concern here are the fundamental properties of motor control nerves. In some ways they resemble
electrical wires but the similarity cannot be carried very far. A central core of protoplasmic material, a moderately
good conductor, is surrounded by a sheath or membrane of a fatty substance that is a moderately good insulator.
Orders to outlying muscles, sent by the central nervous system, travel along these fibers as a wave of electrical
potential. The travelling pulse, known as an action potential, always has the same intensity in a particular fiber. At
any point along the fiber, it is either present or it is not. It never shows up only partially or at a potential different
from the norm. Energy for transmission of this signal derives from the fiber itself, not from driving force at the input
end. The sheath is interrupted at intervals of about 1 mm., called Ranvier nodes, and the transmission energy is
supplied by the passage of certain ions through the membranes in these short segments. The width of the pulse is
about 1 millisecond and it travels at various speeds, depending upon the size of the fiber, typically about 10
m/second. Measurements of electrical potentials inside the sheath show that a fiber at rest is about 0.07 volts
negative compared to the external solution. An action potential travelling down the fiber has a positive amplitude of
about 0.10 to 0.12 volts. Therefore, at the moment the action potential occupies a position in the fiber, its interior
experiences a momentary swing that is about 0.04 volts positive compared to the outside.
Experimental electrodes implanted in the fiber at any location can trigger the standard pulse by impressing a
potential difference across the membrane of about 0.02 volts or greater. Pulses then travel outward in both directions
along the fiber, although they would normally travel in only one direction. After the pulse has passed through one
segment of the fiber, a finite time is required for that segment to return to normal. During the recovery period, it is
completely incapable of transmitting another pulse. For about one millisecond, the fiber cannot be stimulated at all.
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James McCampbell
For roughly another millisecond, it can but only by a stimulus stronger than usual. If a stimulus below the threshold
of 0.02 volts followed by another within about 2 millsec, then the second one may evoke a response even though it
too is weaker than the threshold. The first stimulus opens the gates, so to speak, for the next one.
If microwave radiation were capable of providing the requisite stimulus, then action potentials would be induced.
It has been found, in fact, that microwaves can create the necessary electrical tension across the membrane. By
inserting miniature electrodes into nerve fibers, the potential difference between the inside and the outside can be
measured. Irradiation by microwaves induces potentials that are typically in the millivolt range, but are sometimes
as high as 0.10 volt, five times stronger than the threshold value of 0.02 volt. As action potentials triggered by this
mechanism would be identical in every respect to those that are sent by the central nervous system, there would be
no way that receptors could detect them to be fraudulent. Muscular responses would be absolutely dictated by such
artificially produced signals. A muscle contraction persists for about 500 millisec before relaxing. So a series of
pulses impacting a muscle at a faster rate would produce an indefinitely sustained contraction. As all skeletal
muscles occur in opposing pairs, their indiscriminate and simultaneous contraction would freeze them in rigid
opposition, that is, paralyze the body.
Any legitimate action potential from the central nervous system, representing some intended muscular behavior,
would be annihilated upon collision with the extraneous signal travelling in the wrong direction. Thus, action
potentials triggered by microwaves interfere with volitional control. Partial loss of motor control would be produced
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by slower pulses of microwaves, a reported UFO effect. Because of health hazards, humans have not been
intentionally exposed to high-intensity microwave fields so there is no experimental verification of the above
analysis. However, motor disruption and partial paralysis by microwaves have been experimentally observed in
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chickens, pigeons, sea gulls, and small animals.
2. Radiation Injuries
An Ohio farmer and his wife were watching TV one night in November 1958 when the set acted up and went
black. Then a strange light from the window caused them to look outside and discover a large object some 6 m. in
diameter hovering over their backyard. The husband went outside to investigate. He remained still (paralyzed?) as
the object moved directly over him. Immediately he felt ill and within 48 hours was dead, “…his insides fried as
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though by the heat of a microwave oven.”
A similar exposure of lesser severity may have been the cause of major health problems in the extremely well
documented Cash-Landrum case near Houston on December 29, 1980. It has probably been investigated more
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thoroughly than any other case and much has been written about it. In the briefest possible summary, two
principal witnesses were dazzled by a diamond-shaped object hovering low over a highway. Around it at some
distance were a large number of helicopters of recognizable types. Exposure to the bright light, heat, and other
radiation lasted 5 to 10 minutes. Both victims suffered severe burns, glisters, loss of hair, internal injuries, and at
least 18 other symptoms.
Explanation
The investigators, including medical professionals and other physicians who cared for the patients over an
extended period, fully recognized that the above injuries were caused by radiation of a broad spectrum including
X-rays, microwaves, infrared, and ultraviolet. They also emphasize that the object described by the witnesses was
simply not identifiable by them, nothing more. Also, the presence of helicopters raised the question of whether the
object might have been an experimental aircraft of the United States Air Force. The main points here are that (1)
infrared and probably short microwaves produced the burns, (2) internal injuries were probably caused by the
heating effect of the more penetrating, longer microwaves, and (3) loss of hair was due to the well-known effect of
ionizing X-rays with probably contributions from microwaves. An atmospheric plasma produces a strong
component of X-rays by the deceleration of electrons colliding with molecules and ions in the highly agitated,
ionized gas. This process, known as Bremsstrahlung, also generates a broad spectrum of photons having lesser
energies and correspondingly longer wavelengths in accord with the reported injuries in the Cash-Landrum case.