The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 86: Project Serpo: The Secret 10-Year Mission to a Planet 40 Million Light Years Away

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

What if you were offered the opportunity to visit another planet? You get to experience the culture of an alien race, explore a new world; see and use technology that's 5,000 years ahead of ours. Would you do it? Before you answer, there are a few catches. You'll be gone for at least ten years. And when you return to Earth, all evidence of your existence will be erased. You have to start a new life, with a new identity; forbidden to tell anyone about what you experienced. Now would you do it? In 1965, 12 astronauts were sent to an alien planet as part of a human-alien exchange program. 13 years later the astronauts returned home. Well, most of them did. The mission commander wrote a 3,000-page report of everything his team experienced. First alien contact, the 40-light-year trip to the alien world, and everything that happened on the planet. This is the true story of Project Serpo. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

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Look, this would go a lot faster if you would just let me get through it without... Today's episode of The Y Files is brought to you by Established Titles. What if you were offered the opportunity to visit another planet? You'd get to experience the culture of an alien race, explore a new world, see and use technology that's 5,000 years ahead of ours. Would you do it? Well, before you answer, there are a few catches.

You'll be gone at least 10 years, and when you return to Earth, all evidence of your existence will be erased. You have to start a new life with a new identity forbidden to tell anyone about what you experienced. Now would you do it? Well, in 1965, 12 astronauts were sent to an alien planet as part of a human-alien exchange program. 13 years later, they returned home. Well, most of them did. The mission commander wrote a 3,000-page report of everything the team experienced. First alien contact, the 40-light-year trip

to the alien world, and everything that happened on the planet. This is the true story of Project Serpa. When Colonel McKeever of the United States Air Force arrived at Fort Leavenworth, he was excited, but he didn't have much information. All he knew is that he was selected from hundreds of candidates to command the most important space mission in the history of the human race. That's quite a description. Naturally, he asked for details about the mission, but was told he would be briefed during training.

McKeever did know the mission was going to be long, 10 years, plus almost a year for training and another year in quarantine at the end of the mission but was told he would be briefed during training. McKeever did know the mission was going to be long, 10 years, plus almost a year for training and another year in quarantine at the end of the mission, so 12 years away from home. It was 1965, so he wouldn't be back until the late 70s. Now, for most people, this would be difficult, but McKeever had no relatives, no wife, no kids, and very few friends. His life was the Air Force. As far as he was concerned, he could leave for 12 years or 20. It was all the same to him. And that was a good thing because another condition of the mission is that he was to be sheep-dipped. Sheep-dipped?

Well, sheep-dipped is an intelligence term used to describe identities that are made to disappear. All records, military, civilian, school records, Social Security, DMV, IRS. It's like you never existed. No, I wouldn't mind disappearing from the IRS. I understand that. Tax is a theft! Colonel McKeever parked his car and was met by a young military police officer.

After exchanging salutes, they walked in silence to an office building at the edge of the base. The outside of the building was nondescript, painted that gray-green-beige color that the military used for everything. The inside of the building was very different, though. As a colonel, McKeever had been in plenty of secure buildings, but nothing like this. Metal detectors, cameras everywhere, armed guards posted in every hallway. McKeever's escort motioned to an elevator. McKeever asked, you're not coming with me? The young man said no, he didn't have clearance. He saluted, and the elevator doors closed. McKeever felt the elevator taking him several stories down.

He noticed there were no buttons in the elevator, no indication of the number of floors. The elevator doors opened and another young man was waiting. McKeever noticed his badge said Air Force Office of Special Investigations. As far as Colonel McKeever knew, OSI was a law enforcement agency. He had no idea what they would be doing here, but he knew not to ask. McIver entered the briefing room, which looked like a classroom. There were 11 people seated. He saw two Army uniforms, two Navy, and the rest were Air Force.

At the front of the room was another Air Force colonel that McIver didn't recognize who told him to take a seat. The other colonel said to the group, One I'm about to show you is classified beyond top secret. There are fewer than 60 people in the world who know this information. If you repeat what you learn here today, you'll be charged with treason. Understood? The group nodded slowly, clearly aware of the weight of the situation. The colonel pulled down a screen and called to someone to get the lights. On the screen, a black andand-white film began to play. The first few seconds were the typical warnings about unauthorized viewing

and other disclaimers that Colonel McKeever had seen a thousand times. The footage showed what appeared to be the desert at night, though it was hard to tell, the footage seemed to be 20 years old. Then a title came on the screen that McKeever didn't expect. It read, Roswell, New Mexico, 1947, first contact. The film lasted about an hour and left everyone in the room stunned. They had heard of Roswell and the supposed UFO crash. The Air Force said it was a weather balloon and that explanation was good enough for McKeever. The film explained that the UFO crash in Roswell

did happen, though technically the crash was in Corona, New Mexico. And two years later, in 1949, another UFO crashed nearby. This was something McIver didn't know. And there was footage of the Roswell recovery. At first, it was difficult to understand what he was looking at. It was clearly metal wreckage, but it could have been a plane for all McIver knew. Then he saw it. Hiding behind a rock was an alien.

It looked like aliens look in science fiction movies. Short, pale skin, large head with huge black eyes, small nose and mouth. The military called this creature Extraterrestrial Biological Entity One, or EVA-1. EVA-1 was the lone survivor of the crash. Five other alien bodies were taken away. There was also footage of the 1949 crash.

It was a similar craft, silver, saucer-shaped, and there were six bodies there and no survivors. Ibo I was taken to the Air Force facility at Los Alamos, and according to the briefing, he stayed there until his death in 1952. The Air Force learned a great deal from Ibo I in those five years. At first, communication was difficult.

Ibo I's language was comprised of tones, not words. But through hand gestures and repetition, Ibo I was able to communicate. He said that his race, which the military called the Ibans, had been visiting Earth for 2,000 years. On this trip, something caused his ship to crash. Ibo I suspected it was radar, which was a technology his people didn't have. Some equipment was salvaged from Ibuon's craft, specifically a communication device. Ibuon offered to share this technology if the military would allow him to repair it so he could contact his people. Of course, the military agreed.

Ibuon was able to get the communicator working again and sent several messages, but never received a reply. And this could have been due to a number of reasons. EB-1's home planet, which the military called Serpo, was in the Zeta Reticuli system, almost 40 light years from Earth. The EB-1s used wormhole technology to travel and send messages back and forth. After EB-1 died in 1952,

the Air Force tried, but was unable to reverse-engineer other alien technology. But they did have a working communicator. So the Air Force continued to send messages for years. The persistence paid off. Eventually, they received a reply, and two-way communication between Earth and

Serpo continued for a long time. The EVANS even learned to speak broken English. After learning about the crashes, the EVens wanted their crew's bodies back. But the military being the military wanted something in exchange. Let me guess. They wanted technology. Yep. But the Ebens said it would be too dangerous to give humans their technology.

I could have told them that. So the Ebens suggested a compromise. The military would return the bodies of the alien crew. In exchange, an Even would come to Earth and assist the U.S. Army. And 12 humans could spend 10 years on planet Serpo. This became known as Project Serpo, though its actual name is Project Crystal Knight. And so began the first intergalactic exchange program in history. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel,

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There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. The training was intense and long, a year. Colonel McKeever thought Special Forces had a difficult training program, but it was nothing like this. There were the usual physical exercises and classroom training. They trained in survival, escape and evasion techniques, weapons, explosives, and intelligence gathering. They also learned about Eben history and Eben biology. But there was aggressive and invasive psychological training and testing. McKeever remembered one unusually difficult exercise designed to test the team's ability

to cope with isolation and confined spaces. Team members were buried seven feet underground, one at a time, in a seven by five foot box for five days. No lights, no way to communicate. Only a small air hole and food and water. Everybody passed this test, but some people really struggled with it. Oh, come on! Five by seven feet is a palace! Grow a pair! During training, McKeever got to know his team.

There were scientists, linguists, pilots, two doctors, and a security officer. They all received general training and training geared toward their specialty. There were scientists, linguists, pilots, two doctors, and a security officer. They all received general training and training geared toward their specialty. For example, the pilots were taught how to fly an EVEN aircraft. This was surprisingly easy and apparently a lot of fun. The EVENS returned to Earth in 1964 to retrieve the bodies. This happened at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. There's actually footage of that landing. At 6 a.m., the Eben ship landed.

Several Ebens came out to meet the team of 12 and about 16 military officials. The human team was allowed to bring whatever they needed for the stay. They brought 40 tons of gear, including 10 motorcycles and three Jeeps. Everything was easily loaded using anti-gravity technology. Now, lucky for us, McKeever was ordered to keep diary. Okay, we loaded everything and it fits, but we have to transfer all of it to the bigger ship

once we get to the rendezvous point. Really excited about this. No reservations by anyone. The training commander asked all members to make a final decision. The team all said go. We go. Interior of EBA craft is big. There are three levels.

This is different than the one we trained on. I think that was a scout craft. This one is a shuttle craft. The shuttle flew into a large ship. McKeever wrote that the shuttle bay ceiling was about 100 feet high. It would take almost 10 months to get to Serpo. The human team was escorted to the area where they would be spending the next 270 days. Each team member was assigned a small pod, each with a single chair.

No seatbelts or harnesses. McKeever was surprised that gravity was consistent. He was expecting to be weightless. Then he saw a light panel change from white to red. He assumed this meant they were moving. His eyes became blurry, the room started to spin, and then he blacked out. The journey was difficult. The human team spent a large part of 10 months sick. They would often become dizzy and sometimes physically ill. During one part of the journey, an even gave the humans

a cloudy liquid that tasted like chalk and a cookie or a biscuit that had no taste at all. But when they ate it, they felt better almost instantly. After a while, the human team was allowed to move around the ship. We were able to walk around the ship, but it's so large it's difficult to understand how such a large ship can move so fast. 633 wants to see the engines. Our guide takes four

of us to the engine room or whatever they wish to call the room. It contains large, very large metal containers. They are in a circle with the ends of each pointing into the center. Many pipes or some type of large tubes connects them. In the center of these containers is a copper colored coil or something looking like a coil. There's a bright light being shined from a point above into the center of the coil. We hear a very dull hum, but no major loud sounds. 661 thinks it is a negative matter versus positive matter system. One day toward the end of the journey, McKeever got out of his pod and asked the assistant commander,

team member 203, to round up the team. 203? Yep. Team members were now required to refer to each other by their number and not their name. Oh, because they were dipped in the sheep thing? Sheep dipped. So 203 rounds up the team. But there's a problem. One of the pilots, team member 308, is missing.

McKeever asks what happened to 308. One of the evens says, Earth man not alive. Uh-oh. McKeever asks to see him, but the evens say that's not possible. The security officer, team member 899, says, I'm going to get the guns. Part of the gear the human team brought included weapons. They were each issued a rifle. They had handguns.

They also had grenades and C4 explosives. 899 begins to storm off when a female Eben, who speaks very good English, says, please no guns. She explains that 308's body is in quarantine until they can figure out what happened. The Ebens allow the human doctors, 707 and 754, to examine the body. They determine 308 died from an embolism, but the Evens want him to remain quarantined. McKeever agrees, as long as 308 can be given a proper burial on Serpo. Not long after that, the humans are instructed to return to their pods and prepare for landing, which they do.

There must be something about jumping in and out of a wormhole that's hard on human anatomy, because McKeever blacks out again. Boy, this guy really can't hold his wormhole. Six hours later, his pod opens and his team walks to the door. Slowly, the door opens. The door opens and bright light washes into the craft. The team members were issued heavy-duty sunglasses, like those worn during nuclear bomb tests.

They quickly put them on. The first thing McKeever noticed was the heat. He asked one of the scientists, team member 633, to check the temperature. 107 degrees Fahrenheit. The landscape is barren. There are hills in the distance, but no vegetation. Just soil and rock and blue sky above. McKeever thinks it looks like Arizona or New Mexico.

One major difference, two suns in the sky. McKeever's report supposedly has several thousand photographs and even film. Unfortunately, these haven't been leaked, except for one photo, the two suns of Serpo. Serpo is in the Zeta Reticuli binary star system. Because of its two suns, Serpo is never in complete darkness. According to the report, Serpo has one main sun that the planet orbits, the second sun is farther away. A large number of Ebans have gathered for the arrival. They're all a little over four feet tall, and the human team can't really tell them apart unless they're wearing different clothing.

A female Eban, who they designate Eba 2, introduces herself as translator and guide. The human team is escorted through an Eben village to where they'll be staying. And for a technologically advanced species, the way the Ebens live appears somewhat primitive. There are only about 650,000 Ebens on the planet who live in small communities. At the center of each community is a large tower about 300 feet high. On top of the tower is what looks like a mirror. The humans learn that this tower is how Ibans tell time. This was a difficult adjustment because the Iban day is 40 hours long, not 24.

And with there never being darkness, it was hard to adapt their schedules. Iban families were similar to Earth's, typically a female and a male with two children. Families were only allowed to have two children. And children were rarely seen. They mature very quickly and are isolated while they're young. typically a female and a male with two children. Families were only allowed to have two children, and children were rarely seen. They mature very quickly and are isolated while they're young. The even homes were small domes that reminded the team of adobe houses in the Southwest. The humans finally arrive at their accommodations.

EBITU leads us to a series of huts, looking like adobe-style houses. There are four. Behind them is an underground room or storage area. It is built into the ground. Underground. We have to walk down a ramp. The doors look like military igloos that store our atomic bombs and earth.

All our gear taken off the spaceship is stored there. We walked down into this area. Very large room. Very cool. A lot cooler. We might have to sleep here. All our gear is there. 16 pallets of gear.

This igloo is made up of something like concrete, but not the same texture. Feels like soft rubber, but still hard. The floor is made up of the same stuff. There are lights in the ceiling. Looks like spotlights. They have electricity. Each home was equipped with an electrical device that looks like a small piece of plexiglass. No matter what's connected to it, the device outputs the correct amount of voltage.

These devices could power a small handheld radio or an entire home without a problem. Supposedly, one of these devices was recovered from Roswell, but scientists haven't been able to reverse engineer this technology. Allegedly. Right. Now that they're finally on the planet, McKeever requests the body of team member 308 so they can give him a proper burial. Eba 1 takes McKeever to a building that

looks like a medical facility. An Eban doctor meets them at the door. He speaks English almost perfectly. McKeever says he wants 308's body. The Eban doctor is confused. He says you can't have him. McKeever says give us our man or we'll take him by force. Eva too jumps in. She says, it's not that they don't want to return 308's body. It's that they can't. The doctor confirms this and says, we're using him. McKeever asks what he means.

The doctor casually says, well, we're cloning him and using him to create hybrids. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our tread experts. Toyo's open country family of tires will get you through tough weather in a variety of terrains. Until May 31st, save up to $100 in rebates on select Toyo tires. Find a Toyo tread experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there.

TreadExperts.ca You searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, Driving closer to the truth While curled up on the couch with your cat There's more to imagine when you listen

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest.

While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Obviously, cloning a member of the team without permission was a problem. But McKeever heard the doctor out.

On even, it was considered a great honor to donate your body to science for experimentation and cloning. McKeever doubted he could do much about the situation. The evens were peaceful, but they did have a military. If they wanted to put the humans in prison, or worse, McKeever knew there wasn't much he could do about it. We were only 11 military personnel. We had no way of fighting the Edens. We did not come 40 light years to start a war with the Edens. A war we could not win. We could not even win a simple fistfight with the Edens. Even if we could, what then? So with the help of EBIT-2, the doctor agrees that 308's body will not be used anymore. Not that it mattered much. The doctor said all of 308's blood, organs, tissue, and everything was used to create new creatures.

McKeever said, show me. In a small anti-gravity aircraft, the human team was flown to a laboratory facility. The inside of the building was completely white. There were a lot of EBITs walking around, all wearing blue clothing. When they were brought to the first lab, there were rolls of containers looking like glass bathtubs. Inside each bathtub were bodies. I was shocked, as were 754 bodies. Strange looking bodies. Not human bodies, at least not all of them. We started walking down the space between the tubs. We looked into the tubs. These were hideous looking creatures.

The first creature I see inside the tub looks like a porcupine. It appears to have a tube placed inside of it. The tube leads to a box underneath the tub. The next creature looks like nothing I can compare it to. It has blood-red skin, two spots in the middle, meaty eyes, no arms or legs. It had a very strange odor. The next creature was human-like, but the skin was white. Not skin white, the color white. The skin was wrinkled. The head was large with two eyes, two ears, and a mouth. The neck was very small. The head looked almost as if it sat on the lower torso. The chest was thin with large bone-like protrusions.

The arms were curled with hands, but no thumbs. The legs were also curled with feet, but only three toes. I couldn't look at any more creatures. Next, they went to what the doctor called a growing room. Here they used parts of different species, including parts of the dead human, to create new species. Iba-2 said that parts of the blood and other organs are used to mix a substance that's placed inside the bodies. That was all Iba-2 could explain in English. They were breathing.

They looked like humans, most of them. Two of the beings on the end looked like humans with dog heads. These beings were not awake. They were either sleeping or drubbed. They finally arrived at a growing chamber that contained an entity that was created using parts of 308's body. I was shocked. This being, with our teammates' blood and cells, looked like a large demon. But the hands and legs were similar to humans.

How could they have grown this being so quick? Obviously, this is well above our intelligence. I saw all I wanted to see. I told the doctor that we would like to leave. Ibatu saw that I was upset and touched my hand. Instantly, I felt concern. We traveled outside this building. A building that I did not wish to see again.

I saw the dark side of this civilization. The Ebens are not the humane civilization we thought they were. Because of the misunderstanding of Eben time, the 10-year mission was actually 13 years. During that time, McKeever and his team learned a lot about Eben culture. Eben life was very regimented. As children mature, they're tested for aptitude and placed in jobs to which they're most suited. All Ebens work part of the day, they rest part of the day, and even pray part of the day, though the team never could figure out what kind of religion or spiritual beliefs they had. All manufacturing took place away from the Eben homes. Same with agriculture. Ebens grew all their food hydroponically. The human team had taken about two years worth of food with them, and when that ran out, they tried to get accustomed to Eben food, which wasn't easy.

Everything tasted like paper or chalk. Ooh, it sounds like they learned how to cook from my second wife. Her cooking was terrible. How bad was it? Her cooking was so bad, we prayed after the meal. Good one. No, I tell you, her cooking was bad. How bad was it? Good one. How bad was it? How bad was it? Ha ha ha ha! I got a million of them.

Ebons are vegetarian, but the humans wanted meat and there were animals on the planet. As I mentioned before, the Ebons allowed us to kill the beasts for meat. The meat isn't really bad. 899s says it tastes like bear, which I never ate. But Ebons look at us very strange when we eat meat. They allow us to do just about anything we want, and eating meat is something we need for the protein. We use the last of our salt and pepper,

which does make eating their food more of a challenge. The Ebens don't have anything similar. They do have an herb, as we call it, something like oregano, which they use. It has a tart taste, but we have developed a taste for it. The Ebens don't use money. All Ebens are required to work their assigned job and contribute to the community. There was a council of governors that controlled every single activity

and every minute detail of the Ebens' lives. Food, clothing, furniture, everything is supplied. The Ebens go to a central distribution center and make a request, and were given anything that they need. You know, I notice every time we do an alien story, they turn out to be hippie communists. Well, maybe it's a better way of life. Oh yeah, better for the people in charge. The humans noticed they were getting a heavy dose of radiation from the two suns, and the heat was unbearable.

It was consistently 120 to 130 degrees. Eventually, the humans were allowed to move further north. The climate was much more comfortable there, in the 60s and 70s, and it was actually green. This environment didn't suit the evens, but the humans loved it. After 13 years, the mission ended and eight of the 12 team members returned.

308 died on the way, and a pilot died in a vehicle crash. Two team members decided to stay on Serpo. When the remaining team members returned to Earth, they were quarantined and debriefed for an entire year. They were given new identities and large cash bonuses. Six team members retired, and two returned to active duty. Most of the team developed illnesses due to the high dose of radiation

they received on the planet and died pretty young. Colonel McKeever, the last surviving team member, retired to Florida. He passed away in 2002. But he leaves what is perhaps the most important legacy in human history, a 3,000-page report detailing every aspect of traveling to and living on an alien planet. Yet there are no monuments to him, no statues, no schools or streets bear his name. Colonel McKeever volunteered for this dangerous mission not for personal glory, but in service to all Americans and the entire human race.

Maybe one day he'll be recognized as a great man. But sadly, that day is not today. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible.

The Project Serpo story has become legendary in the UFO community. It's firmly part of the lore. But is it real? To get to the truth of the Serpo story, there is a lot to unravel. And there are a couple of theories. The Project Serpo saga began in November 2005 when someone named Request Anonymous emailed Victor Martinez, who ran a UFO mailing list. Anonymous said he was a retired U.S. government employee who was involved in a special program. Over the next nine months, he detailed the story

you heard today. In the description, I'll link to a PDF of all his emails. It's 130 pages and covers every possible detail you can think of. The anonymous emails caused all kinds of drama. There was infighting, accusations, threats, and even a little bit of blackmail. The fighting all came down to, was Anonymous telling the truth? And if not, who was he and why was he doing this? After some excellent sleuthing from a couple of tech-savvy mailing list members, at least five separate email accounts, including anonymous, were traced back to one man,

the infamous Richard Doty. Doty? This guy again? Yep. If you've seen our episodes about Paul Benowitz and Dulce Base, you'll be familiar with the name. Doty was an Air Force intelligence agent who specialized in spreading UFO disinformation. He specifically targeted Paul Benowitz, an Albuquerque businessman who thought he was intercepting messages from aliens. Doty also used respected UFO researchers like Bill Moore to spread disinformation throughout the entire UFO community. Five different accounts,

including Doty's, were emailing from the same internet provider from the same neighborhood in New Mexico. Now, to be fair to Doty, he admits to being part of the disinformation campaign, but he also says that almost everything in the campaign was true. Roswell, abductions, underground bases, and even the Project Serpo Intergalactic Exchange Program. He said everything happened. When confronted about the IP address issue, he got very angry and said that he could spoof any IP address he wanted to. Well, if that's true, why didn't he? Because, in my opinion, before Doty was exposed, Doty didn't realize email headers contained IP addresses, nor did he know that IPs could be spoofed. Eventually, the Serpo story exposed what was called the Team of Five. Christopher Green, Harold Puthoff, Richard C. Doty, Victor Martinez, and Bill Ryan. Several of them worked

for the CIA and military intelligence. All of them contributed to the Serpo lore in some way. But did they create the lore? Probably not. Even though Richard Doty and the Team of Five propagated and added to the Serpo lore, a story about an alien exchange program has existed since the 1950s or 60s. In 2006, when Serpo was lighting up the UFO forums, a user named Chapman weighed in. He said he was formerly of the British Ministry of Defense and said he saw the Serpo files. Yes, the files were real, but the events described in them were not. Chapman said the original Serpo story was created by Alice Bradley Sheldon. She had a successful career as a science

fiction writer under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. She published a lot of books over a lot of years and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. She also happened to work for the CIA. During World War II, she worked for military intelligence and reached the rank of major, which was very high for women at the time. After the war, she joined the CIA. In the early 60s, the Soviets had successfully convinced the U.S. government that they had nuclear weapons hidden on American soil. The nukes were supposedly in abandoned mines near large American cities and could be activated by sleeper agents. This wasn't true, but it wouldn't be completely disproved until 1980.

Project Serpo was a response to this piece of intelligence. The CIA wanted to scare the Russians into thinking the United States had acquired advanced technology and was becoming friendly with aliens, and the Soviets might want to think twice about detonating a nuclear weapon. At first, the Serpo story worked.

The KGB was nervous. But the story became more convoluted and started to sound like a cheesy sci-fi novel. This made the KGB suspicious. Then the CIA added photographs to the story. The Russians didn't buy it. The Serpo story had been forgotten for years, but resurfaced when Richard Doty and the Air Force perpetrated a very aggressive disinformation

campaign against the UFO community. The purpose of this campaign was to flood the community with more and more outlandish stories. Eventually, UFO believers didn't know what was true and what wasn't. Some UFO researchers turned on each other. It was chaos, and a highly successful intelligence operation. Then, over the years, Richard Doty goes from counterintelligence agent to UFO believer to keynote speaker at UFO conventions. A part of me wants to believe him, to give Doty the benefit of the doubt. He claims to this day to have nothing to do with Serpo. But if he's telling the truth, why is he making fake internet accounts? Why is he flooding the internet with the Serpo story? When Anonymous, aka Richard

Doty, began posting about Serpo, the story was simple. But then it got more and more elaborate. Anonymous was even answering questions from the group. What this did was flood the group with outlandish information. The members didn't know what to believe and they turned on each other. The same operation Doty ran in the 80s and the same result. There is no physical evidence to prove that Serpo actually happened. But there's also no evidence to debunk it.

We don't know for sure if it was made up by the CIA. Whether you believe it's true or you believe it's fake, it doesn't really matter. All we have are theories. We do know that Zeta Reticuli is a binary star system, but it's what's called doesn't really matter. All we have are theories. We do know that Zeta Reticuli is a binary star system, but it's what's called a wide binary system. The stars are a light year apart, so there's no way that photo is correct. Also, it's highly unlikely that humans could eat food on an alien planet. In such a different biome, literally everything would be toxic. But Whitley

Schreber, Bob Lazar, and a few other whistleblowers say Serpo happened. Betty and Barney Hill are maybe the most famous UFO abductees of all time. They said the aliens who abducted them were from Zeta Reticuli. Are all these people lying? Are they just building on a story that has evolved over the past 60 years? Or is there a planet out there somewhere, inhabited by an intelligent race of beings, living in peace, caring for one another, thinking back fondly on the time the strange Earth creatures came to visit? And if the Ebens are real, you can't help but wonder, what does that alien-human hybrid

look like? You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest.

While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Yo, get the door. That's my Lord package. Mom, my liquor for temptation. Hello. I hear it. Web a little bit of luck.

When temptation comes, you'll keep riding. Hello! I hear it! You're kidding me, right? What is this? Um, what is this, my lord, if you don't mind? You might be taking this a little too... Open a box, peasant! Okay, okay, hang on! I could get used to this. Okay. This certifies you

as Lord Hecklefish Moriarty. And this is the plot number of your land in Edelson, Scotland. And they even sent us coordinates. Google map it, that I may survey my domain. Oh, this is pretty nice. It is. I can't wait to get some serfs out there to work the land for me and pay me tribute.

Uh, you can't have any serfs. I shall be a strict but fair lord of these lands. My serfs will come to idolize me. You can't have serfs. I can maybe have a few serfs. You can't. One serf? No, stop saying serfs.

Stop saying serfs, my lord. All right, but check this out. The first 200 people who purchase a title pack using the promo code TWF will get land right near yours. My own kingdom. Kind of, yeah. I shall be a strict but fair lord to all who purchase using promo code TWF. Well, you won't be their lord. They'll be lords and ladies of their own land.

Not for now. But when I raise an army and conquer their land, I shall rule over them, and they will come to know me as a strict but fair lord. You can't conquer their land. Hmm. There may be a marriage pact to strengthen the kingdom. I don't see how that- I shall betroth my eldest son to the daughter of one of the other lords.

We will unite our kingdoms, and my blood shall rule these lands for a thousand years. You have an eldest son? What do you think those guppy support payments are for? Heckle Jr. lives with his mother in Hackensack, New Jersey. If you use code TWF, you'll get an additional 10% off. So go to establishedtitles.com slash TWF. You'll be lord of your own land,

you'll get your own plot number, and you get this cool framed certificate. This makes an amazing last-minute gift. Plus, you'll be supporting a great charity and helping out the channel. And you'll be joining my kingdom! Right. And that. You will come to know me as a strict but fair lord. Yeah, we got it.

Kneel before me! Get bent. Don't make me declare premonachta. Ugh, gross. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ. That's Hecklefish. This has been The Y Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do me a

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You guys are amazing. And if you'd like to support the channel, consider becoming a member on Patreon or grabbing something from the Y file store. Heck, a fish coffee mugs are going to be a collector's item, you know, you think? Oh, yeah. Anything with my face on it is a sound financial investment. I hope you're right. I am. Well, that's going to do it until next time. Be safe, be kind, and know that you are appreciated. Bye.