Legends, Hoaxes and the Big Lie: The Investigations

Sometime around New Year’s Day 1988, Ed Walters disclosed to MUFON that he and Mr. X were one and the same. Moreover, his UFO encounters were ongoing. On January 12, a flying saucer identical to the one he photographed in his front yard buzzed him as he drove down Country Road 191B. He managed to get a photograph as the UFO flew away.

Figure 1. Ed Walters Photograph 19



Walters reported the incident to MUFON, as well as what happened the following day. Apparently, a “Special Agent McKathy” from the United States Air Force visited him, and demanded the photo. Walters told him he’d already given it to a Miami Herald reporter. He then reported another incident on 16 January, which prompted a visit from MUFON founder Walter Andrus. After interviewing Walters, and looking over the photo, Andrus declared, “This is one of the most amazing UFO cases that I have investigated in the past thirty years in the United States.”

From then on, Andrus set out to prove the validity of Walters’ assertions. MUFON sent investigators Robert Reid and Gary Watson to “stakeout” Ed’s place (with the Walters’ permission). That way, when he saw the flying saucer, they could be on hand to verify and record it. But on two separate occasions, when Walters alerted them of the UFO’s presence, neither investigator could spot it. Nevertheless, Walters still produced photographs of the encounters.

On 25 January, Walters led investigator Charles Flannigan to a spot where he said he saw a UFO land. They eventually came to a circular spot of dead grass covered with some type of liquid. They took samples of the liquid for further testing.

Since the investigators couldn’t see Walters’ UFO with their own eyes, and because the previous examination of his photographs from Dr. Nathan were inconclusive, MUFON decided to give him a Nimslo 3D camera. The Polaroid camera Walters had already used made double exposures difficult, but not impossible. The Nimslo camera would make it nearly impossible for an amateur photographer to fake. Moreover, the camera was pre-loaded and sealed. Reid warned that if Walters broke the seal, it would severely diminish his credibility.

In addition to the new camera, Flannigan set up an appointment for Walters to take a polygraph test. Walters stood them up, claiming he’d forgotten about it. Ed then arranged for someone else to administer the polygraph. Sure enough, operator Havery McLaughlin gave Walters a clean bill of health:

Following two separate multiple chart specific issue examinations there were no specific physiological reactions of a deceptive nature noted to any of the reviewed test questions. General areas of questioning followed as: "Did you lie or falsify the information you have furnished me concerning the UFOs you have seen?" "Did you in any way falsify or lie about the photographs you have presented concerning these UFOs?" "Did you in any way falsify or lie about the humanoid beings that you saw or any other physical evidence that you have presented?" With the information that is present at this time, furnished by the examinee, no consistent deceptive responses are seen....

With the information that is available to this examiner at this time it is felt that Mr. Walters truly believes that the photographs and personal sightings he has described are true and factual to the best of his ability.

Weeks went by with neither Ed nor Frances seeing anything resembling a UFO. They then thought to track one down by going to a local park in which others had seen UFOs. Now armed with a tamper-proof camera, they finally saw a cigar-shaped UFO on 26 February, and snapped away.

In a final effort to prove the validity of the Walters case, MUFON asked Dr. Bruce Maccabee to examine the photos. Dr. Maccabee, an optical physicist working for the United States Navy as a civilian, became convinced of the photographs’ validity. At the 1988 MUFON Symposium, he presented a paper validating that the photographs were not the result of a model, or trick photography, or double exposures. That meant they could only have been real.

In 1990, Walters and Dr. Maccabee co-wrote the book UFOs Are Real: Here’s the Proof.

MUFON, Dr. Maccabee, and perhaps many other ufologists relied on a number of evidentiary pieces to argue that Ed Walters had recorded a flying disc up close before being abducted on numerous occasions from 1987-1988. There were the photographs, first of all. Walters was, by no means, a professional photographer. So the Polaroid photographs, and those that he later took with a professional grade 35mm camera, could have been faked, but that would be difficult for an amateur like Walters. Then, there were the photographs taken by the sealed Nimslo 3D camera, which appear to be genuine, with no evidence of tampering or double-exposures. Then too many other people reported UFOs. Most of them didn’t know the Walters. There were also the polygraph tests. They seemed to corroborate the Walters’ truthfulness. Other things pointed towards their truthfulness as well. The Walters were pillars of the community. Ed’s wealth meant that he didn’t have a financial incentive to hoax (even though he secured a $200K advance for the writing of UFOs Are Real, and has since written other books). Moreover, if you have ever seen Mr. and Mrs. Walters in interview, they come across as sincere, long-suffering victims of UFO attacks and abductions.

After a little digging, however, a number of people representing the press, the police, debunkers, rival UFO organizations, and even a faction within MUFON didn’t find the evidence so compelling when held to scrutiny. What’s worse, they found evidence to refute just about everything in Walters’ story.