| Did Howard Hughes ever get a chance to view a | | | | that project. Her father felt it was more plausible to |
| captured or crashed UFO and its occupants? I have | | | | believe that Hughes wouldn't have been able to run the |
| long pondered this question and there may now be an | | | | show and didn't want to get involved with something |
| answer to it. According to a former employee of | | | | he couldn't fully direct. Or, perhaps he knew or had |
| Hughes Aircraft, he did. The visit allegedly occurred not | | | | learned something more about the project that turned |
| long after the crash of an alien spacecraft near | | | | him off to it. It wasn't until many years after their |
| Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. You may think this story | | | | conversation in that office that Linda's father came to |
| belongs in the BELIEVE OR NOT file and you may be | | | | realize that Hughes might have been talking about a |
| right, but I feel compelled to pass it on to you anyway. | | | | crashed UFO and, specifically, one that probably |
| Linda is a retired teacher. She taught in public and | | | | crashed or was shot down during the summer of |
| private schools for over thirty years and has emailed | | | | 1947. Her dad had never shown any type of interest in |
| me an impressive array of diplomas and certifications. | | | | UFOs or Aliens. Linda believed he might have come |
| She also emailed a few photos and some paperwork | | | | across the information about one of the UFO crashes |
| that verifies the fact that her father probably worked | | | | from the tabloids that his wife read. The timing would |
| for Howard Hughes. Because she asked for | | | | have been correct because I saved issues of the |
| anonymity, I cannot say much more about her or | | | | National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids during |
| divulge where she currently lives at this time. I have | | | | the 1970s and recall articles about alien and military |
| encouraged her to come forward at some point and | | | | encounters and UFO crashes. I asked Linda if her dad |
| tell her own story in her own words. Linda says that | | | | might have been kidding her about the Hughes incident. |
| her father was involved with Hughes Aircraft as early | | | | "Oh, no," she said, "Dad never told tale tales. He had |
| as 1942, but the timeframe that concerns this story is | | | | enough true stories about Hughes and other important |
| the year 1947. It was during the summer of that year | | | | people he met throughout the years... He didn't need to |
| that Howard Hughes was obsessed with getting his | | | | make up stories... I am certain he was telling me the |
| oversized wooden seaplane nicknamed the "Spruce | | | | truth." I also asked Linda how many times they |
| Goose" ready for a test flight. Officially known as the | | | | discussed that story after he first told it to her. She |
| H-4 Hercules, the aircraft flew only once on November | | | | replied, "Not more than a couple of times... He wasn't |
| 2, 1947. The amount of time and work that went into | | | | interested in UFOs... He told me the story on a whim |
| getting the Hercules ready for that flight was | | | | because he thought it might give me a chuckle or two... |
| unbelievable. Her father worked closely with Hughes | | | | Dad had nothing to add to the story and I believe that's |
| during the Hercules project and later became a | | | | why we never discussed it much." Unfortunately, her |
| full-time employee of Hughes Aircraft. The two men | | | | father passed away a few years ago. I doubt he |
| met after he was referred to Hughes by a mutual | | | | realized the impact that the story had on his daughter. |
| acquaintance just after the USA declared war on the | | | | Before she heard it, Linda barely gave the subject of |
| Axis powers and entered World War II. Linda told me | | | | UFOs a second thought. Afterward, she slowly |
| that Hughes used as her dad as a "problem solver." | | | | became fascinated with the subject and told me, "My |
| He had a knack for being able to look at most any | | | | father told me that what Howard said he saw |
| mechanical problem and quickly suggest a practical | | | | sounded a lot like what the tabloids were describing as |
| solution. He also had the kind of temperament that | | | | crashed alien spaceships... and the bodies that he |
| allowed him to work with the eccentric billionaire. | | | | viewed fit the descriptions of aliens... I do not believe |
| Hughes was besieged with a number of problems | | | | everything that politicians tell me, but I never saw a |
| during the summer of 1947 including a U.S. Senate | | | | reason to disbelieve what they were saying about |
| inquiry into the way he had managed funds for the | | | | UFOs. What would they have to gain by lying about |
| Hercules and XF-11 Photoreconnaissance Aircraft | | | | them? It wasn't until my father told me the story about |
| projects. Linda says that shortly after he testified at | | | | Howard and the material that I began to doubt their |
| the Senate hearings, Howard Hughes returned to | | | | denials..." Linda said that she started reading UFO |
| oversee work on the Hercules and spoke to her | | | | articles published in some of the mainstream |
| father about his possible involvement in an important | | | | newspapers and magazines. Those tidbits awakened |
| government project. According to Linda, Howard | | | | a casual interest in learning more about the subject. |
| Hughes and her father were not friends and her dad | | | | However, after retired Colonel Jesse Marcel came |
| would probably not be considered a part of Hughes' | | | | forward to expose the Roswell UFO cover up, she |
| inner circle if such a thing existed. However, he did | | | | went out of her way to learn as much as she could |
| spend a lot of time with Hughes during the Hercules | | | | about UFO crashes and military encounters. "I |
| project and the two had a casual working relationship | | | | purchased a used copy of a book by Donald Keyhoe |
| as long as her father delivered the goods. She told me | | | | and read it cover to cover," Linda told me. "That book |
| that her dad said he was busy brainstorming with | | | | opened my eyes... I now believe there is much more to |
| some engineers when Hughes summoned him into an | | | | the subject than what we're being told." I asked Linda |
| empty office. Hughes had a kind of inquisitively stern | | | | why she waited so long to tell the story she heard |
| look on his face and that usually meant that he | | | | from her father about Howard Hughes and the |
| wanted some advice on how to solve a problem or | | | | strange aircraft. "I am a very private person... I believe |
| was about to start a new project. Howard stepped | | | | in doing all I can to promote education and to |
| away from the door to the office, but didn't close it. | | | | encourage students to stay in school. I want them to |
| There was enough noise outside of the office so that | | | | go as far as they can in life... I do not want to become |
| no one could hear their conversation anyway. Howard | | | | the poster child for government conspiracies... You |
| sat down on a stool near the window. Linda's father | | | | seem legitimately interested in discovering the truth |
| stepped over to where he was sitting and listened | | | | about UFOs and Aliens. I believe that if people have a |
| intently. Hughes hated repeating himself and despised | | | | chance to learn about the story that my father told to |
| people that were not good listeners. Hughes told her | | | | me, they might feel compelled to come forward and |
| dad that he had been contacted by a "high ranking | | | | share their own experiences and information with you." |
| member of the United States Armed Forces" while he | | | | I have a million more questions for Linda, but it is |
| was in Washington, D.C. The billionaire was used to | | | | obvious that her father was given little more than a |
| receiving unusual requests from the military. He was | | | | thumbnail sketch about Howard Hughes experience |
| known as someone that could keep a secret and | | | | with a strange object and its occupants. He was only |
| solve complicated problems. According to Linda's | | | | able to tell her what Hughes had told him. Not the best |
| father, this one might have been the mother of all the | | | | scenario, so I cannot say for sure that this story |
| most secret and complicated situations that the | | | | involves a crashed UFO and it's occupants. I can say |
| government ever faced. Hughes said that he visited a | | | | that I believe Linda's dad heard a story about a |
| military base on the way back from the congressional | | | | strange aircraft and unusually tiny crewmembers from |
| hearings. He didn't mention where it was located and | | | | Howard Hughes and that he told it to his daughter just |
| provided few details about what happened there. | | | | the way he heard it, straight from the horse's mouth. I |
| Linda's father said that Hughes seemed uncomfortable | | | | have been researching Linda's story for about a week. |
| talking about his visit to the base. He hated situations | | | | I have spoken with her over the phone on several |
| that he couldn't personally control and seemed to | | | | occasions. With her permission, I recorded the calls and |
| indicate that the entire event was orchestrated and | | | | subjected them to a voice stress analysis using an |
| controlled by the military. With the exception of Hughes, | | | | inexpensive testing unit I purchased a few years ago. If |
| no civilians were present. Howard said that they | | | | accurate, the results indicate that she was not being |
| showed him a new type of aircraft. Most of it was in | | | | deceptive during our conversation. As a experienced |
| pieces and it was obvious that the thing had crashed | | | | UFO researcher, I was pleased that she cooperated |
| or been shot down. Hughes assumed it might have | | | | with various requests I had for more information. That |
| been something that the Russians cooked up. It wasn't | | | | is almost always a good sign. Linda has emailed |
| until Hughes got closer to the material that he noticed it | | | | enough documentation to make me believe that she is |
| was anything but conventional. He didn't pick up or | | | | who she claims to be and that her father was |
| touch any of it, but told Linda's father that it looked like | | | | employed at Hughes Aircraft. The materials she |
| "the damnedest stuff I've ever seen." The military | | | | provided indicate that he probably worked for Howard |
| officers present told him that despite the fact that it | | | | Hughes on specific projects as a consultant before he |
| was in pieces, the material was extremely resistant to | | | | became a full time employee. Because Hughes never |
| heat, cold and pressure. They also said that it was | | | | told him that he actually saw an alien spacecraft or |
| almost impossible to penetrate, yet it might have been | | | | referred to the dead crew members as aliens, we |
| an implosion that caused the crash. Howard never said | | | | have to fill in the blanks with some careful speculation. |
| if it had any writing on it and provided no further details | | | | If Linda's story does anything, it proves that people out |
| about the material or the aircraft. Hughes told Linda's | | | | there are sitting on important information about UFOs |
| father that the dead bodies of the crew members | | | | because they still fear the repercussions that can |
| from the aircraft had also been recovered by the | | | | result from coming forward to share it. The blame for |
| military and were mostly intact. He said they allowed | | | | that may be placed on the doorstep of a news media |
| him to view the bodies and described them as looking | | | | that seems incapable of covering anything deeper that |
| like "dwarves" or "deformed midgets" wearing | | | | where politicians attend church or how old they are. |
| seamless flight suits. He added no details about where | | | | They ignore real news and issues in favor of serve |
| or how they were being kept. Instead, he got right to | | | | serving statements from government flunkies bent on |
| the point. "They want me to figure this thing out and I | | | | forwarding an increasingly outdated agenda. For more, |
| want you on board," Hughes explained. That was the | | | | visit |
| end of their meeting. A few weeks later Hughes took | | | | Author: Bill Knell is a popular paranormal author, |
| Linda's father aside again and told him to forget about | | | | speaker and consultant. Author's Website: Terms To |
| their previous conversation in the office. He gave her | | | | Use Article: Permission is granted to use this article for |
| dad the impression that there were too many hassles | | | | free online or in print with inclusion of the author's url. |
| and not enough money for him to get involved with | | | | |