The Alleged Eric Davis Notes

I'm not a rabid believer.  I'm not a die hard skeptic.  I do not promote any of the various schools of thought concerning UFOs.  I do not promote 'swamp gas' type explanations.  Some of these observations and experiences can be explained.  Others simply lack any reasonable explanation.  I do not promote conspiratorial babble and do not belong to any pro or con UFO organization.

I've been interested in the UFO topic since 1994 after twice observing two different objects within close proximity in the same week, among some other unusual things I've witnessed.

I do not make a living from UFOs nor does the subject generate any sort of income for me.  I do not get paid for lecturing or presenting.  I do not publish books, DVDs, or the like.  I don't sell subscriptions to my website.  I don't have a Patreon or other donation platform.  I don't have any UFO media deals.  I don't sell UFO merch nor do I ask for payment in exchange for my autograph unless I'm cashing a check.  I've spent tens-of-thousands of my own money and time pursuing this subject.

I feel this puts me in a rare position; I don't have to worry about being ostracized from UFO conferences, swayed by others, or finding myself unable to pay my bills - not that it would stop me from speaking my mind and pointing out bullshit to begin with, and there is a lot of bullshit in the UFO field.

It gets very frustrating seeing claims of smoking gun evidence become nothing more than a puff of smoke from a cap gun that misfired.  Yep, I'm talking about the so-called "UFO leak of the century" Richard Dolan has been promoting.  If you don't know what this is about...

Vice Admiraml Thomas Wilson (retired)

A copy of some type-written notes and a letter hit the Internet with no direct source or detail of where they originated.  One person came forward saying he leaked the documents, but that original source remains unknown.  The documents supposedly are notes taken by Dr. Eric W. Davis in 2002 during an alleged meeting with Navy Vice Admiral Thomas Wilson (retired) in which they talked all things UFO including crash retrievals, MJ-12 and so on.

There have been rumors floating around about these documents which were supposedly shared with a small group of people.  The documents are also being touted as proof positive that Admiral Wilson had dug around for UFO information in 1997 after a meeting with UFO advocates, though Wilson ackowledged the 1997 meeting but denied the story surrounding it as told by none other than UFO nut Steven Greer.

Among the so-called 'core secrets' notes is a letter alleged to be from Navy Commander Willard Miller (retired) who is also mentioned in the notes.

In the two-page letter addressed to Davis, Miller expresses his willingness to help Davis and Hal Puthoff place them in contact with people he believes might help them with their UFO inquiry.  Miller offers his assistance...at the going rate of $180.00 per hour.

Here are a few sections of the letter:

The above has been made out by some to mean that the "special team" equates to Miller having knowledge or a contact with a military unit that has retrieved crashed alien craft.  The only thing this paragraph says is "two key officers may provide some of the information that you seek."  The key word here is may.

Here we are in the two above sections faced with another key word; believe.  There's no supporting evidence this is factual.

So now we've come to the phrases "by virtue of their past" and "most likely".  Once again, proof of nothing.

If the letter is real, then this is Miller pitching his paid services for possible information and contacts, not proof of a cover-up or special access program involving UFOs or aliens.  A UFO podcast states Miller denies writing this letter.  We're already being treated to comments that Miller is lying to cover up, yep, "the truth".

The notes and letter are attributed to Dr. Eric Davis, who is no flake.  He's got a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and is an adjunct professor.  He worked with NIDS and was part of the Skinwalker Ranch team.  He's one of the few scientists to have come out of the UFO closet and put his name out there.  In other words, the guy has balls to risk his academic reputation and status.  How can you not respect that?

Davis did leave the 'wow' emoticon reaction to a Facebook post of mine.  I reached out to Davis about the notes and his response was, "I have no comment on the notes."

The comments left on that Facebook post are more revealing about the true believers and UFO fans and the lack of understanding of what evidence actually constitutes.  Skeptics also too often find themselves in the same position when their silly explanations don't stand up.

Dr. Eric W. Davis, Astrophysicist

I think it likely, if he is indeed the author of the notes and recipient of the letter, if any of the documents are real, I think Davis would realize the words on those documents are just that...words that do not prove anything.

Nothing has been verified and nothing was presented as actual verification as to the authenticity of these documents.  My understanding is nobody promoting these documents as real reached out to Miller or Wilson recently for comment. (If you know otherwise, please post it in the comments section.)

Dolan said skeptics would have a hard time disproving the documents.  Dolan said the same thing during his paid participation in the shameful Roswell Slides fiasco.  This is actually the reverse here, as Dolan is the one who will be having a hard time proving the documents are real.

It has been suggested that Davis recorded this 2002 meeting.  If this is the case, then this story would surely take a different turn were that recording made public and examined.

The level of evidence to substantiate a claim such as is involved with the 'core secrets' documents is extraordinarily high - what's been offered to date doesn't even reach the threshold of preponderance.

One title that appeared online is "Bombshell document confirms Navy Admiral was denied access to UFO crash retrieval program".  To call these notes and the letter a smoking gun, bombshell or anything of the sort is ridiculous.  To tell people the documents are real and to deal with it, this is a far cry from anything resembling proof.

We also have no confirmation from Davis if he is the author of the notes and the recipient of the letter from Miller.  Miller denies the letter is legitimate.  Wilson certainly isn't on record here other than Dolan saying he did contact Wilson in an "ambush interview" years ago and making his own conclusions.  The following is from Keith Basterfield's UFO blog:

In October 2006, US researcher Richard Dolan, reached out to Wilson. The following is a quote from part of a Dolan interview with Jimmy Church dated 19 December 2018.

"And then I actually went out of my way and I found Thomas Wilson. It's the only time in my life that I did an ambush interview on anyone. I felt kind of bad about it you know, but not really that bad. Wilson was working for an advanced aerospace company. I cannot remember the name of it but you know...after you leave the military you get...you get roped, you get brought in. Senior VP for all the weaponry and technology for the breakaway civilization and that's really what he was doing. And I contacted him. I was able to find him and I pretended that I was just a regular conventional historian of the US Navy and that I'd learned about his career and I wanted to talk to him. And he was, he allowed me to call him.

And shortly into the phone call I had to say - look this I'm really calling because I'm an historian of the UFO phenomena and your name came up in a conversation, and that got his attention. I told him essentially about the story: the whole meeting with Greer and Edgar Mitchell. He was really funny because - he he'd gone from genial like relaxing in his big chair saying yeah let's have a nice long conversation - to an ultra high-pitched voice. And he was very angry and kept saying my memory is foggy, my memory is foggy. And then said, all of that was poppycock. He said - yes I did meet with them but everything else is poppycock...was his word. So I knew I got to him and then he hung up. He just ended abruptly the conversation. So I feel like that document that I was shown I am inclined to believe it, I think it was probably true. I think it got to Wilson. I got to Wilson."

This is proof of nothing and open to a number of interpretations.  One could easily say Wilson became annoyed with Dolan initially lying to him about his motives.  The UFO historian had a Navy Vice Admiral quaking in his boots?  I'm not buying that, but I'm sure some will eat up this revisionist David vs. Goliath tale making for entertaining late night radio.

Miller denies writing the letter.  Wilson denies the variations of a 1997 meeting with UFO advocates.  Davis isn't saying anything.  The documents are copies.  We've seen no writing exemplar examination of Miller's signature or past letters.  The original documents would be a good working point for further investigation, but I seriously doubt we'll ever see anything outside of a copy.  You'd be surprised what evidence you can obtain from paper.

Richard Dolan

These documents, short of Miller, Davis and Wilson all coming forward and confirming them as legit, will go down and be endlessly and painfully debated like the infamous MJ-12 documents.  In other words, a road that leads to nothing but a waste of time.

Though I'm sure Dolan and others will be pleased to keep promoting these "leaked" documents and generating revenue from live stream donations, doing presentations at conferences and selling special memberships.  You have to admit, this is good advertising for them.

In the wake of TTSA being the center of the UFO world and garnering a massive amount of media coverage, maybe the leak is a way of getting some attention and trying to remain relevant in UFO circles.  In terms of UFOs and publicity, you just can't compete with a rock star and some actual government insiders with military video of UFOs and military witnesses.  That's a damn hard number to follow.

If anything, this "leak" demonstrates the low level of evidence UFO die hards will accept and the sort of fluff sensationalism UFO researchers will promote as evidence.  I call it a demonstration in irresponsible research and lackadaisical investigation, and that's on a good day.

Don't try to pass off a Dollar Store toy like it's not made in China.  The writing on the package is pretty clear...