People pick their
hobbies and make a life around them. There's a golf lifestyle,
a travel lifestyle, a gourmet lifestyle and, for some, a UFO
lifestyle. Tom Carey, a level-headed insurance salesman from
the suburbs of Philadelphia, chases the notion of "life out
there." He was recently in town with the Center for UFO Studies
to announce new evidence about the famous Roswell Incident.
W: How long have you been investigating UFOs?
Tom Carey: I've had an active role since 1986. Like
most of us, I was interested as a kid. Years later, when
I was established in my job, I wanted to do something creative,
and I came back to the UFO. But I wanted to do more than
read books. I wanted to actually investigate cases.
What new information do you have about Roswell?
The memo in General Ramey's hand in a well-known photo
from that time--Ramey was the architect of the military
coverup of the incident. For years we looked at this photo,
but we never really zoomed in on it. Now, with modern computer
technology, we can blow this memo up and actually read about
75 percent of it. Several words are key: "explosion," "victims,"
"wreck," "disk." And what that says to us is that the Roswell
crash was not the crash of a weather balloon, which the
military claimed it was.
Why do you think the government would want to cover
up a UFO landing?
We get that question all the time, and no one really knows,
but back in 1947 we think there were good reasons to cover
it up. The initial concern at the time was that it was the
Russians who sent this craft over. Also, this was not long
after the War of the Worlds episode in 1938, when
people were told they were listening to a dramatization
of aliens landing, but they still went out and went crazy.
Another reason is the unknown factor of what this revelation
would do to our economic and religious institutions. And
also, once you get a coverup going, it tends to get a life
of its own.
Do you think people are becoming more open-minded about
UFOs?
Oh, yeah, it's amazing. I mean, look at the commercials
alone. Even in a trade journal for the insurance industry,
I've seen a full-page ad of people pointing up into the
sky at a UFO, and this is to sell Prudential life insurance.
You can't find a more conservative industry than insurance.
Does your wife believe in UFOs?
She's more spiritual than I am. She's not really into this,
but she knows it brings pleasure to me, so that's good enough
for her. I would say she looks at this with bemused enjoyment.
What percentage of your time is spent on UFOs?
Zero time at work, but of my own time, 75 percent. The
other 25 percent is spent on house repairs. The Roswell
case has pretty much taken over my life until it gets solved.
I've set up an office at home. I've got a UFO hot line,
a fax machine, the whole thing.
Have you ever seen a UFO?
I've seen things in the sky, one in 1965 and one last year,
that I can't explain.
Do you speculate much on alien life?
No, absolutely not. We never discuss where they might be
from, why they might be coming here, because all of that
is pure speculation. I can't emphasize enough that we are
focused on proving the reality or non-reality of this case.
We're like Joe Friday: "Just the facts."
What about the autopsy film showing the Roswell aliens
on the
operating table?
Hoax. Not even close. But the good thing it did was to
start a discussion amongst everyday people about what happened
at Roswell.
Do you watch The X Files?
It was my favorite show when it first came on, but they've
gotten too far off track. It's just not as good as it was
the first year.
If you solve the case, what will you do with your spare
time after that?
I like investigating and writing mysteries. Or I'd find
the next crash--there are other alleged crashes--so I'd
probably do that. They think there are 20 billion solar
systems in the Milky Way, so you take the law of averages,
and there's got to be life out there.
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Willamette Week | originally
published June 23, 1999
|
