Really great observation, Xanador. In fact, many people don't realize that the "main guy," who was a PhD or something (and I currently forget his name) in charge of conducting the majority of the investigations for Blue Book... eventually could not stop denying the fact that many of the cases had merit. He couldn't keep lying to the public, and in a moment of clarity, turned the coin and took up the cause on the side of UFOlogists.
Peter Jennings had one of the BEST UFO documentaries that aired a couple of months ago on ABC, prime-time television. Very well done, and it included this bit on that Blue Book researcher. You're right that Blue Book was PR (public relations) and/or a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the government to calm the public (where do ya think Chris Carter go a lot of his inspiration for X-Files).
Sure... we can't prove that those mysterious lights in the sky are *aliens* but we can say with certainty that they weren't necessarily caused by swamp gas or the misidentification of Venus.
On a gaming slant, you could run a BTS campaign based on the a modern day version of Project Blue Book, where the government tries to introduce a civilian psychological operations campaign to debunk a rash of modern sightings. Blue Book all over again.
This could be really fun, incorporating the return of Men In Black, in the fashion of the movies, perhaps, but with a realistic edge to them. Not the comic un-reality of MIB 2. I mean, Will Smith's character never took *any* of the situations seriously, and we knew he wasn't going to die, and it was more of a ridiculous comedy than a cool sci fi film with a new slant.
Back to UFOs: Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota (featured in the Jennings documentary) has had a rash of UFO sightings, especially during the Cold War years. Did you realize that if North Dakota were to break from the United States and become its own sovereign nation, that it would have the 2nd largest nuclear arsenal in the world? Did you realize that Roswell, New Mexico --at the time of the famous incident-- was home to the only nuclear bomber group, at the time? Nukes somehow come into play with UFOs. Now, take this one step further...
FACT: The Roswell incident, in which the US Government *OFFICIALLY* claimed that it had recovered a crashed alien saucer/UFO and then retracted that comment saying it was a weather balloon, happened in July of 1947.
FACT: The Central Intelligence Agency was created within months of this incident.
FACT: The United States Air Force broke from Army ranks (as the Army Air Corps) and became its own military service: our modern Air Force in September of that same year, about 2 months later.
FACT: Admiral Byrd's expedition to the pole recorded some unusual facts which are glossed over in history, but are out there if you do an internet search: he recorded uncharted lands at the pole that year... lands filled with green, verdant vegetation and he even sighted what looked like a wooly mammoth during his famous airplane flight. Some contend that he was descending into a *depression* located at the area where the pole is supposed to exist. But that is another story; just do some research on Google, using "Admiral Byrd" and "pole" as your search parameters. You might be quite surprised at what you find. Just visit some of the seemingly "outlandish" sites you will surely get and give them 10 to 20 mintues of your time. You might find a UFO connection... along with "hollow" pursuits.
The point of those previously listed FACTs is that 1947 was, for some reason, quite a *momentous* year for modern history. These facts, along with other unknown and forever classified and/or forgotten facts are threaded, weaved together.
They form a fabric that underlies UFOs and the shaping of modern reality. And somehow, secret societies might even be involved. But, as the saying goes, "It's hard to see the picture when you are part of the frame."
So, here we are, parts of the frame. Pieces of the illusory puzzle of UFOs, lake monsters, Bigfoot, Men-in-Black, the CIA, secret societies, Hollow Earth Theory, etc.
So, any sightings out there to report? UFOs, Bigfoot, lake monsters? We'd like to hear; I certainly would...
