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   SUBJECT: ED'S ENCOUNTERS HAVE MADE HIS LIFE HELL             FILE: UFO1260   
      
      
   NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE   
      
   DATE OF ARTICLE:  January 30, 1989   
   SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  Tribune   
   LOCATION:  Tampa, Florida   
   BYLINE:  Jennifer Tucker   
   ========================================================   
   (C) Copyright 1989 ParaNet Information Service   
   All Rights Reserved.   
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   'STATE OF SIEGE'   
      
   ED'S UFO ENCOUNTERS HAVE MADE HIS LIFE HELL   
      
   By Jennifer Tucker   
   Tribune Staff Writer   
      
        GULF BREEZE--Ed isn't the "UFO type."   
        He's  a WASPish baby boomer with a kid in college and a  two   
   car  garage.   As  a custom home builder in a community  full  of   
   custom   homes,   he  depends  on  personal  referrals  for   his   
   livelihood.   
        He  doesn't seem to need the money he could earn from a best   
   seller based on his experiences.   Yet local sources indicate  he   
   has recently signed a book contract.   
        Nevertheless,   Ed   is  the  guy  who  has  taken  all  the   
   photographs,  made all the noise, caused all the fury.  Just over   
   a year ago,  Ed says a UFO appeared in front of his house in Gulf   
   Breeze and he immediately took several photographs of the craft.   
        Ed  walked into the street to get a closer look and a  "blue   
   beam"  shot down from the ship,  temporarily paralyzing  him,  he   
   says.   At the same time,  Ed says he heard a loud "hum" and  was   
   instructed by an authoritative voice to "be still."   
        Within seconds,  he says, he was raised off the ground, then   
   thrown  to  the  concrete as the craft  disappeared.   From  that   
   moment  on,  Ed  says,  a  resonant  "hum"  always  preceded  the   
   appearance of the UFO.   
        Seven  months later,  after 21 encounters resulting in  more   
   than  30 photographs and one videotape,  Ed says he was  abducted   
   again.  This time, the aliens removed the hum and he has not seen   
   or photographed a UFO since, he says.   
        To Ed, 42, this was no phantom object, no trick of nature or   
   imagination.  It was real.  It made his life a living hell.   
        And  it forced him to defend himself,  he says,  not against   
   the aliens, but against the people who call him crazy.   
      
   WORDS POUND   
        "Look," Ed says in one of a series of telephone  interviews,   
   his words pounding with the passion of a clenched fist.   "Before   
   Nov. 10, 1987, I wouldn't have believed in UFOs either unless one   
   landed in my front yard.   
        "Uh, no pun intended."   
        Ed guffaws like Gulliver in a land of Lilliputians.   
        If  Ed has been enlightened with truths no scientist  knows,   
   then it is wisdom learned reluctantly.  He can barely get through   
   a sentence without revealing his fears or defending his position.   
        He describes the experience as "a state of siege."   
        Yet,  he  doesn't plead for understanding.   And he  doesn't   
   expect it, really.  Besides the photographs themselves, Ed's take   
   it or leave it attitude is his most convincing argument.   
        And it's an argument he can't win,  critics say,  not with a   
   pocket full of Polaroids.   
        Ed,  meanwhile,  has remained anonymous because he fears his   
   fate.  "I would always be known as the UFO guy."   
        He'd  rather be known as a good businessman,  a good  father   
   and a good buddy to the kids he says he's kept off the streets by   
   welcoming them into his home.   
        "No,  no, no.  It was an awful experience.  If you ever take   
   a photograph (of a UFO),  do not show it to anybody.  Put it in a   
   drawer and show it to your grandkids," he says wearily.   
        Ed's story is lengthy and strange, and he knows it.  He says   
   his first encounter,  in November 1987,  resulted in five  blurry   
   color photographs he made with a 17 year old Polaroid camera.   
      
   TAKE A PICTURE   
        "Put  yourself  in  the mood of peacefully sitting  in  your   
   office  and looking out your front window and you  see  something   
   that...looks  like it just escaped a Steven Speilberg movie,"  he   
   says.  "You figure you better take a picture of it."   
        Ed's  humor  about his experience is as revealing as  it  is   
   disarming.   Like  a  schoolboy trying to explain a  pock  marked   
   report  card,  Ed uses humor to cushion the blow.   His  laughter   
   bounces  and rolls like a runaway basketball,  but his words slam   
   into  listeners'  ears with the power of a  Michael  Jordan  slam   
   dunk.   
        For months,  Ed snapped dozens of pictures.  Many were taken   
   near  his home,  situated in the sleepy center of town next to  a   
   large, overgrown field.   
        Others  were  taken  at Shoreline Park,  a spot  facing  the   
   skinny  barrier  island called Pensacola  Beach.   Stray  kittens   
   crowd  the  wooded park,  whose main features are  a  whitewashed   
   gazebo and a good stretch of concrete.   
        Still others were taken along deserted county  roads,  whose   
   curves are familiar to Ed, the builder.   
        Skeptics and believers agree--the photographs are remarkably   
   unidentifiable.   The  craft  (or  crafts) captured on  film  are   
   mostly  spherical in shape,  with dark,  recessed points that  Ed   
   surmises  are windows.   Lights encircle the bottom of the  craft   
   and a round bulb is perched on top.   
        In  many  instances,  Ed  snapped the pictures  in  what  he   
   describes as frenzied fear,  at dusk or near dawn.  Moreover, the   
   craft  maneuvered so rapidly that Ed says his  opportunities  for   
   precise pictures were limited.   
      
   ALIEN ENCOUNTERS   
        He  also  was having alien encounters Ed  says  he  couldn't   
   capture on film.   On several occasions,  Ed says, he was pursued   
   by a "blue beam" of light that shot from the craft.   
        He  says  a bowl full of bubbling residue was found  in  his   
   back  yard after one late night visit.   The Mutual UFO  Network,   
   which  initiated investigation of Ed's claims,  had the substance   
   analyzed  at  independent chemical laboratories  in  Florida  and   
   Texas.   These  revealed  a strange liquid high in magnesium  and   
   trace elements, Ed says.   
        More frightening were face to face meetings with the  aliens   
   themselves--what scientists call an encounter of the third kind.   
        The first time he saw one of the "creatures," Ed says he was   
   awakened  at 3 a.m.  by the now familiar hum that preceded  their   
   visits.   When  he peered out the glass doors of his bedroom,  Ed   
   says, he was face to face with a childlike creature clad in gray.   
        He says he saw more of these creatures at a later  date,  an   
   experience  that produced one of the most dramatic photographs in   
   Ed's portfolio.   
        In it,  the craft is pictured hovering just above the  road,   
   lights  reflecting  on the wet pavement.   Moments after he  took   
   this picture, Ed says he realized the craft was moving toward him   
   so he slid from the truck and crawled underneath it.   
        From  his prone position,  Ed says he could see a blue  beam   
   flash  from  the  craft several times,  each  time  depositing  a   
   creature on the road.   
        He assumed the creatures were "after him" and,  riddled with   
   terror,  he  jumped back in the truck and sped away.   He  didn't   
   even think about taking a picture, he says.   
      
   OFFICIAL VISIT   
        After  Ed's photographs began to appear in the  Gulf  Breeze   
   Sentinel  newspaper--with  his approval but without his  name--Ed   
   says he was visited by two men who identified themselves as  U.S.   
   Air  Force  personnel.   Wielding badges printed with "Air  Force   
   Special   Security   Services,"  the   visitors   behaved   "very   
   aggressively" and demanded Ed turn over his photographs, he says.   
        Ed   refused,   explaining   they  were  in  the  hands   of   
   professional  photographic analysts.   (Many  were;  others  were   
   still in Ed's possession.)   
        By  spring,  two  major  UFO organizations--the  Mutual  UFO   
   Network  and the Center for UFO Studies--had been in  touch  with   
   Ed.   So  had  dozens  of media  representatives,  including  the   
   National  Enquirer,  which Ed says turned down the story  because   
   one analysis tentatively labeled the photographs a hoax.   
        With that,  the seed of suspicion was planted.   And Ed, who   
   states vehemently, "My word is my bond," was forced into a corner   
   full of accusations.   
        After taking 24 photographs with his old Polaroid,  Ed began   
   using  cameras  and film provided  by  UFO  researchers--unbroken   
   packages   and  factory  perfect  equipment.    He  produced   11   
   photographs with the new equipment supplied by UFO investigators.   
        Ed  also built a so called stereo camera that allowed him to   
   take two pictures simultaneously,  creating a 3-D  effect.   With   
   this  camera, he took about eight photographs.   
        "If I hadn't taken any pictures with these cameras,  I would   
   have   been   branded  guilty  by  non  photography,"  he   says,   
   sarcastically.   
        By  using  mathematical  equations,  analysts  studying  the   
   photographs could determine its distance from the camera and  its   
   size.   Most often,  these conclusions placed the craft 65 to 180   
   feet  from  the  camera,  at an approximate size of  12  feet  in   
   diameter and 9 feet high.   
      
   UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE   
        These  estimates  correspond quite precisely to  an  unusual   
   occurrence in Gulf Breeze during the spring.  A circular patch of   
   dead  grass  was discovered on the high school grounds,  and  lab   
   analysis by UFO investigators revealed the grass wasn't killed by   
   disease or suffocated by petroleum derivatives.   
        The patch had a 12 foot diameter.   
        In addition to providing his photographs for publication, Ed   
   agreed to numerous psychological exams,  a lie detector test that   
   included a five hour interview, and an electronic voice analysis.   
        In  each  case,  investigators  concluded Ed  was  sane  and   
   honest.   
        "There was never any question that what happened, happened,"   
   Ed  says.   "But  I don't know why me--why I was privy  to  these   
   things.   
        "I  didn't feel 'chosen,' I felt abused," he says.   "I  was   
   tormented,  a prisoner in my own house.  I surrounded myself with   
   people at work and family at home.   
        "My  kids never knew if Daddy was going to go away  and  not   
   come back."   
        Ed  says  he  took the photographs to  the  local  newspaper   
   because  he  felt a kind of civic duty to warn nearby  residents.   
   Yet  his  reward  from skeptics was  name  calling  tirades  that   
   labeled   him   "everything   from   an  agitated   fool   to   a   
   schizophrenic," Ed says.   
        People trying to discredit him,  he says,  have played "hide   
   and seek with the truth" while  distorting the facts to fit their   
   opinion.   
      
   CLASSIC CAMPAIGN   
        "What  this  is is a classic disinformation campaign by  the   
   debunkers  in  order to brand me as loony tunes,"  Ed  says,  his   
   voice rising in defense.   "They ran out of legitimate scientific   
   criticisms  of the photographic evidence.   You have to  keep  in   
   mind that none of these debunkers have ever talked to any of  the   
   other witnesses."   
        Dozens  of  independent  eyewitnesses  in  Gulf  Breeze  and   
   Pensacola have reported seeing UFOs in the last year, and many of   
   these reports coincide with the appearance of Ed's photographs.   
        Yet  Ed has been criticized for being alone in his torment--   
   the only one able to take photographs of the craft.   
        "Look,  where are you at 3 a.m.?   It would have been pretty   
   bizarre to have a mass of people around me at 3 a.m.," he says.   
        Moreover,  Ed says his closest neighbors have seen the  UFO.   
   But they are afraid of ridicule.   
        Currently,  Ed  says  he has no plans to make  his  identity   
   public  or  to  sell the detailed,  chronological log  that  he's   
   written  about the ordeal.   (Sources in  Gulf  Breeze,  however,   
   report Ed has signed a lucrative book contract.)   
        "I  have no monetary motive here," he says.   "Sometimes,  I   
   think a book might be the right thing to do for public education,   
   but it might not be the right thing for my family.   
        "What  might be a lot of money to some people is not  enough   
   for me to sell my soul," Ed says.   
        After long conversations, Ed's words are punctuated by sighs   
   instead  of  laughter.   He sounds less  enthusiastic  about  the   
   subject and more excited by the solitude he's enjoyed for several   
   months.   
        "Not to be frivolous,  but I'm still the same old Ed.   I've   
   still got my feet on the ground.   
        "But  it has affected me almost daily," he  says,  chuckling   
   softly.   "I'll  be  doing mundane chores,  like pumping  gas  or   
   buying  bolts  at the hardware store.   And I'll look around  and   
   wonder.   
        "I  wonder if they (the aliens) need gas.   Or on  a  rainy,   
   miserable day, I wonder if they are getting wet.   
        "It's just...I know they are out there."   
      
   =================================================================   
      
   JOURNAL EXCERPTS REVEAL ED'S FEAR   
      
        The  Gulf Breeze Sentinel published many of Ed's photographs   
   as he presented them, even creating a special edition to showcase   
   these  images.   The following are excerpts from Ed's  commentary   
   that  accompanied  the  photographs  appearing  in  the   special   
   section.   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        "After  taking those original five photos in my front  yard,   
   what  was unreported was the UFO shot a blue beam that froze  and   
   lifted  me from the ground.   The blue beam keeps you from moving   
   even your eyelids,  and your chest cannot expand,  so you have to   
   pant to breath.   While in the blue beam, the UFO can talk to you   
   using telepathy."   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        "A  strange  hum began in my head...I really thought  I  was   
   going crazy but when I went outside,  I again saw the UFO  appear   
   in  the  same spot in the sky...Finally,  there was a  telepathic   
   voice  command that I 'step forward.'  I thought to  myself,  'No   
   way'  and  took  another picture.   The  voice  said  in  another   
   language, 'Photographs are prohibited.'"   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
        "The UFO was hovering at the back of the house as I went out   
   with  gun and camera in hand.   I pointed the camera and the gun.   
   I  wasn't really going to shoot.   I was just  scared.   The  UFO   
   winked out."   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        "At 3:30 a.m.,  we were in bed when I heard the dog bark.  I   
   jumped  up  and pulled up quickly the blind on the  French  door.   
   There  standing  only  12  inches from my  face  was  a  shielded   
   creature looking straight back into my eyes.   I fell back and it   
   turned  to  leave.   When I recovered and ran out,  the  UFO  was   
   overhead...The UFO stopped me from following the creature so that   
   the  UFO  could shoot over and beam the creature up in  the  blue   
   beam."   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        "At  2  a.m.,  the hum returned and when we checked  in  the   
   front  I  saw  and photographed a totally  different  UFO,  which   
   seemed to have an energy veil shooting from the bottom."   
      
   -----------------------------------------------------------------   
      
        "The sightings have changed me and my family and,  if  given   
   the  chance,  I  would  simply not have taken the  first  picture   
   which led to the next and next, until my contact with the UFO has   
   become overwhelming."   
      
   =================================================================   
      
   PHOTOGRAPHS IN QUESTION   
      
   By Jennifer Tucker   
   Tribune Staff Writer   
      
        GULF  BREEZE--The controversy in Gulf Breeze is not  limited   
   to a pocketful of Polaroids.   
        It  is made more puzzling by new explanations and  startling   
   accusations  that threaten the credibility of Ed,  the  principal   
   photographer of UFOs in Gulf Breeze.   
        At the center of the debate is a teenager and his mother.   
        And an old photograph that turned up several weeks ago.   
        Seventeen  year  old Bill,  who refuses to reveal  his  real   
   name,  was one of a group of kids who spent a lot of time at Ed's   
   house during the last three years.   He says they participated in   
   games and activities designed to help forget the smallness of the   
   city.   
        Gulf Breeze has no movie theater,  bowling alley or  skating   
   rink, and is situated in dry Santa Rosa county.   
        Nevertheless,  he  and his friends used to have a lot of fun   
   at  Ed's house,  Bill says.   Among the activities were so called   
   "spooky" games--seances, ghost stories and the like.   
        Often,  Bill says, Ed would take Polaroid photographs of the   
   players and some of the pictures would reveal a  "phantom...foggy   
   thing" next to the image of the person.   
        "It  was all in fun," Bill says.   "It got everybody spooked   
   and stuff."   
        "One time," Bill says,  "Ed asked his house guests something   
   like,  'Wouldn't  it  be  great if we  did  an  ultimate  joke?'"   
   Although  Ed never revealed his plans,  Bill believes the  answer   
   appeared in the form of a UFO.   
        "Because  I saw the pictures he took of the ghost  thing,  I   
   figured this has got to be it...the prank," Bill says.  "Ed never   
   told  anyone how he did the photographs.   We all thought it  was   
   trick photography."   
        Ed bristles at the notion that he has pulled a sophisticated   
   prank.   
        "First,  I  categorically deny that I ever used those  exact   
   words,"  Ed says.   "There is nothing that I have ever done  that   
   can be construed as a prank."   
        And that includes the 'ghost' photograph revealed only weeks   
   ago, he adds.   
        This  photograph,  of  a young girl and a fuzzy white  blur,   
   were the combined result of a 17 year old camera,  a film defect,   
   and  a  game room full of mirrors and  glass,  Ed  explains.   He   
   attributes the blur to reflections off glass.   
        He did,  however,  take out of focus pictures when the kids'   
   talk turned to ghost stories.   
        "I did not recreate that photo repeatedly and  intentionally   
   at  parties.   No,"  Ed  says.   His  rage  also  swells  at  the   
   suggestion these gatherings were 'ritual seances.'   
        "Kids like to tell ghost stories...and if that sounds like a   
   ritual seance, I'll kiss your butt," he says, angrily.   
        Bill's mother, Linda Chepult, says her son has been unfairly   
   criticized for his honesty,  and his reputation has been  sullied   
   by those who believe the UFO pictures are real.   
        "The  whole  thing has gone to such an extreme that  for  an   
   average  person  with  reasonable  intelligence,   it's  hard  to   
   believe," she says.  "But I don't think Ed will ever come out and   
   tell  the truth because too many prominent people have  supported   
   him.   
        "And  besides," Linda adds,  "I didn't like the seances  and   
   the blobs appearing over the kids' heads."   
        Bill  explains he has no reason to lie about what he saw  or   
   heard at Ed's house.   "I believe in life on other planets," Bill   
   says, "but I don't believe they are coming to Gulf Breeze."   
        Ed, meanwhile, says he won't be labeled a liar so easily.   
        "I'm  standing up for my honesty," Ed says.   "I'm not going   
   to  let  somebody call me a liar without standing up  and  saying   
   they are wrong.   
        "Listen, the most important thing to me is my family.  It is   
   my  first responsibility," Ed says.   "Why would I want  to  make   
   this up?"   
      
   =================================================================   
      
   5/89   
      
                    
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