A View on the Condign Report

John Rimmer
Editorial Notes, Magonia 92, June 2006.

You will probably have seen mention in the papers and elsewhere of the ‘Condign Report’, the report of the Ministry of Defence’s definitive ‘UFO Project’. Squeezed out of the MoD through the Freedom of Information Act by researchers Dave Clarke, Andy Roberts, Joe McGonagle and Gary Anthony, the report was commissioned on behalf of the Defence Intelligence Staff in 1996 to provide background for the MoD’s claims that UFO reports were “of no defence significance”.

Crossing Swords

"The Pelican"
Magonia 92, June 2006

The Pelican, in his campaign to Make Ufology History, has decided that the most urgent priority is to press on with his project to strip the ETH of every last vestige of respectability and credibility. In his searches of the Internet in this connection, the name of Michael Swords crops up here and there. Swords, who was Professor of Natural Sciences at Western Michigan University - now retired - has written and lectured on UFOs and is chiefly noted for insisting that the ETH is a reasonable hypothesis.

Making Hitler Magic: Unravelling the Spear of Destiny Hoax.

Kevin McClure
Magonia 92, June 2006

While attacking the `Nazi UFO’ myth a few years ago, I found that many of the sources assuring us that the Nazis went to Mars, or the Antarctic, or used their ‘foo fighters’ to shoot down 200 Allied bombers in one (oddly unidentified) raid also had much to say about the ‘Spear of Destiny’. This led me to concentrate on what is probably the greatest one-book occult hoax ever – Trevor Ravenscroft’s highly successful, highly influential, The Spear of Destiny.

Julian Hennessey: Portrait of a British UFO Pioneer.

Joe McGonagle

Magonia 92, June 2006

Until now the contribution of Julian Hennessey to British ufology has been largely unrecognised. As will be shown in this article, we would not have anything like the volume of official documentation that we now enjoy, were it not for his extraordinary efforts. Born in Scotland in 1946, the thought of extraterrestrial life captured his imagination from a very young age. He used to spend time at Calton Hill observatory in Edinburgh, discussing things such as the possibility of life on Mars with the professor who operated the observatory.