1987: The Majestic Twelve Document

During 1987, several prominent ufologists were anonymously sent copies of a nine page report dated September 18th 1947. It was classified as top secret and named a panel of twelve men who were required to act as a think tank on the UFO phenomenon. They were responsible for dealing with general UFO reports and in particular, the Roswell crash.

Code named Magestic Twelve, the individuals were highly credible scientists and military specialists. They included top nuclear scientist Dr Vannevar Bush, Rear-Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter (a director of the CIA and believer in UFOs), and General Nathan Twining (who allegedly visited the Roswell site). The Majestic Twelve were to report directly to President Truman. Were the papers genuine? Who had sent them, and why? Unfortunately - or deliberately - all those named were no longer alive. But if the Majestic Twelve was a hoax, it was a detailed and complex fraud.

Central to the authenticity of the MJ12 documents was the signature of President Harry Truman. Supporters like nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman pointed out that the documents were genuine since the signature was identical to Truman's own on a non-UFO official document.

However, skeptics Joe Nickel and John Fischer claimed this proved the very opposite on the grounds that no-one signs their signature exactly the same twice running. They therefore reasoned that if the signature was a forgery then so were the documents.

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