Gulf Breeze UFO Redux
Leah Haley, Alien Abduction, and Space Spooks Coast to Coast
Read the beginning of the “It’s Always Sunny in Gulf Breeze, Florida” series here.
Returning to 1990s Florida, accountant Leah Haley was subject to astonishing, traumatizing experiences with alien abduction and a recurring military presence in her life. While having uncertain memories of the encounters with UFOs and otherworldly beings since childhood, it was not until her hypnosis by social worker John Carpenter (not the director) that previously opaque incidents in her life began to take shape—albeit still a confusing shape. Rising to prominence in the 1990s as an outspoken experiencer, she recounted constant interactions with strange individuals, both alien and all-too human, often seemingly part of the military or intelligence community. Writing of Haley in 1998, political science professor Jodi Dean describes the story that had developed amidst the endless odd events in Haley’s life: “Haley recounts her experiences in a narrative of discovery, not just of her self and her past, but of her place in a governmental conspiracy of national significance.”1 Further, religious studies scholar Brenda Denzler notes that Haley’s “memories, combined with a number of ‘waking-reality” encounters with the U.S. military,”2 further complicated Haley’s personal understanding of the ufological: “There is a great conflict going on in the universe . . . between good and evil [aliens] in the struggle for our souls.”3 Denzler writes that “the tenor of Haley’s memories left little doubt that the military was working on the side of the evil alien forces.”4 Haley has written several books on her continually unusual life including a children’s picture book describing a friendly alien encounter, Ceto’s New Friends. She appeared at several conferences and TV talk shows throughout the 90s, becoming a semi-prominent alien abduction spokesperson. It is then worth considering Haley’s estimation of her experiences in the present day, informed by several decades of investigation of the intensely personal variety. Today, Haley believes that most of experiences can be explained by mind control experiments done by the United States government.
While Haley’s story is complex and has considerably more written about it than the average abductee, there are certain elements that recall this newsletter’s prior explorations. In both the descriptions of the experiences as good vs. evil paranormal forces as well as the proximity of military figures, Haley’s story bears a striking resemblance to the past exploration into the Gulf Breeze Six—an incident that hints at a larger UFO disinfo or intelligence operation at play in the then-prominent Gulf Coast UFO community. Specifically, there is a remarkable incident in Haley’s peculiar life that provides the uncanny feeling that such an operation was underway.
Researcher Jack Brewer started speaking with Haley in 2009, by which point she felt that “human-instigated mind control” was the only explanation for her experiences with corroborating evidence.5 Brewer concurs that “regardless of (…) specific explanations,” it is apparent that “Haley’s saga included exploitation, manipulation, and ulterior motives.”6 There is one specific instance in Haley’s story that raises immediate questions of psychological operations or non-lethal weapons testing:
On September 24, 1992, Leah Haley, along with USAF Ret. Lt. Col. Donald Ware and USAF Ret. Col. Robert Reid, set out across the south end of Eglin, which borders the Gulf of Mexico. They hiked from Navarre east across the base to Fort Walton Beach in search of the site where an alien spacecraft had been allegedly downed by American military personnel – with her aboard. That fantastic notion, dubbed the beach incident, resulted from the hypnosis sessions conducted by Carpenter, yet another member of the MUFON Board of Directors at the time. Ware later acknowledged it was he who incredibly suggested they search the base shoreline for the crash site and undertake the puzzling expedition.7
As Buffalo Springfield so articulately put it, “there’s something happening here but what it is ain’t exactly clear.” Haley, Ware, and Reid had unfettered access around the perimeter of the base, a situation that was clearly out of the ordinary. Haley would later state that she and fellow researcher Mark Davenport attempted the same hike on another date and that “the two were quickly confronted by base security and ordered to leave the way they came, else face legal consequences.”8 Additionally, on this initial expedition, the group saw a medical truck parked along their route, with the apparent medics stating that they “did not know why they had been sent there – they were just to go there and wait.”9 Whether truly medics or military personnel of some kind, their presence during this odd excursion gives the impression of someone monitoring the events taking place.
Despite not finding a crashed saucer, the group did spot a piece of equipment on the base which they dubbed the “kitchen timer” that they suspected of being the weapon that could “generate a field of electromagnetic pulses, effectively disabling and downing the alleged alien craft.”10 Conveniently, while presenting a picture of the so-called “kitchen timer” at a UFO conference, a man alleging to be one of the military contractors responsible for its construction confirmed that this was the exact use of the radar-dish-like object. As Brewer notes, this part of the incident as well as others, bear hallmarks of the “tactics and procedures common to military intelligence large scale deception operations.”11 Indeed, many elements of this episode seem orchestrated: Haley and the MUFON members were allowed to take this hike, they were allowed to take pictures, and (wouldn’t you know it) their interpretation of the “kitchen timer” was exactly correct—it was an anti-UFO microwave weapon.
Haley received the notion to go out looking for the flying saucer wreckage via telepathic messages, a scenario which Brewer astutely hypothesizes might have been experimental “Voice-to-Skull” technology—instruments capable of “transmit(ing) spoken words directly to the human brain via pulsed microwaves.”12 Further, research into technology of this exact nature was contracted to the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola. Was Haley an unwitting test subject whose alien abduction experiences were induced by psychological operations and novel weaponry? A similar situation was seen not only in the case of Paul Bennewitz, but also alleged in the testimony of Bosco Nedelcovic regarding Ernest Arthur Bryant and the Scoriton mystery. It must also be noted that the MUFON members accompanying Haley were former military. While this is commonplace in the UFO field, it is my contention that this should be viewed with more suspicion than it usually is. With the military likely being responsible for Haley’s plight, having representatives in her proximity at every turn makes the task of determining who was manipulating events incredibly hard to discern. Don Ware certainly offered suspicious answers when interviewed by Brewer:
I asked Ware what led him to correctly believe he could hike extensively across Eglin with visitors and without being detained by base security personnel. “A state law keeps the part of Florida coasts below the high tide line open to the public except when a mission is in progress,” he answered.13
However, as stated prior, Haley was unable to recreate the hike without risk of being detained. Brewer himself was also told by Eglin officials that such a hike would not be allowed. Was Ware given permission due to his former Air Force affiliation? Did Eglin AFB’s policy change conveniently after Haley’s hike? Or, more disturbingly, was Ware part of a complex operation using Haley as a test subject? Exact answers, I’m sorry to repeat myself, are elusive. Ware was eventually ousted from MUFON in 1993, apparently for “promoting the channeling of aliens and the like,” views which the rest of the MUFON board did not share.14 Yet this interest in channeling recalls the Gulf Breeze Six and their methods for contacting spirits or alien intelligences and may have not been unrelated: James Carrion’s collection of GB6-related documents includes the final page of a letter from Ware in which he states “I am now convinced that the normal means of communication among higher intelligences is telepathic.”15 Perhaps relatedly, he includes a news article featuring Vance Davis explaining the soldiers’ motivations for going AWOL in a list of enclosed material.
Ware had previously talked to the press during the GB6 saga as he and Anna Foster had attended the local MUFON conference on the eve of the soldiers’ arrival in Gulf Breeze. Craig R. Myers notes that “Ware—Mr. Conspiracy himself—pointed out strangely that (MUFON) never officially endorsed a position on government cover-ups at its convention” and was seemingly unsure how to respond to the “Doomsday Six” on behalf of the organization.16 On the other hand, Robert Reid—the other retired Air Force colonel who accompanied Haley on the Eglin hike—suggested that the six soldiers “turned to UFOs and Born Again Christianity because the collapse of the Soviet Union took away the world’s best symbol of evil or the Antichrist.”17 While it is a somewhat poetic interpretation, it does not do the actual situation much justice or explain the actions of the military throughout the affair. Both Ware and Reid were part of the MUFON faction supporting the claims of Gulf Breeze local Ed Walters, who is discussed in Pt. 2 of the Gulf Breeze Six series. Illustrating just how intertwined this community was, Anna Foster was friends with Ed Walters’ wife Frances Hansen.18 While the extent is not clear, many of these individuals (Haley, Ware, Reid, Walters, Foster, etc.) likely attended the same MUFON conferences or local chapter meetings.
Regardless of what Haley’s experience near Eglin AFB may have been in actuality, her narrative combined with the previously explored GB6 indicate an interconnected milieu of UFO researchers and current or former military personnel swarming the Gulf Coast area. The exact purpose of this network and the level of military involvement in shaping the narrative is unknown, but the situation certainly contains an aura of mystery. As Brewer writes: “I have a sincere hope competent research and refusals to cower away from the right questions will one day more clearly reveal the actual agendas and activities of the players.”19 In the meantime, the full story remains obscured but elements are suggestive of possible military operations toying with belief in UFOs and alien abduction. Bear in mind, it was in this area Kenneth Beason of the Gulf Breeze Six began to develop an intense interest in the paranormal—an interest that he took with him to Augsburg, Germany and then, unsanctioned, back to Gulf Breeze again. Whether there was something mysterious and nondescript in the air or non-lethal microwave weaponry, the ufological community in the Gulf Coast was having incredible experiences and the U.S. military seemed willing to go along for the ride. Unless, of course, they were the ones at the wheel.
As you may have guessed, the Gulf Breeze Six and the events and personalities surrounding the group loom large in my mind. While installments will not be as frequent as the prior “It’s Always Sunny in Gulf Breeze, Florida” series, I intend to continue my research into the Gulf Coast UFO milieu. “It’s Still Sunny in Gulf Breeze, Florida” will be a running series tracking my progress through the topic and the tangents that may arise along the way.
Thank you for reading Getting Spooked. If you have enjoyed what you’ve read, consider becoming a paid subscriber to gain access to archived articles. The 50th paid subscriber of any tier will have a copy of my book The Fortean Influence on Science Fiction sent to them. Reach out to me at gettingspooked@protonmail.com for any questions, comments, recommendations, paranormal experiences, or other bric-a-brac. I can also be found on Twitter at @TannerFBoyle1. I sincerely appreciate your support and readership. Until next time, stay spooked.
Dean, Jodi. Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998. Page 132.
Denzler, Brenda. The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Page 61.
Haley, Leah A. Lost Was the Key. Tuscaloosa: Greenleaf Publications. 1993. Page 158.
Denzler, Brenda. The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Page 61.
Brewer, Jack. “'Abductee' Leah Haley: Alien abduction 'doesn't happen' - it's mind control.” Sign of the Times. 17 September 2011. https://www.sott.net/article/294412-Abductee-Leah-Haley-Alien-abduction-doesnt-happen-its-mind-control.
Brewer, Jack. The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community. Self-published, 2016. Page 200. Available here.
Ibid., page 201.
Brewer, Jack. “The Leah Haley Case: The Eglin Expedition.” The UFO Trail. 11 February 2012. https://ufotrail.blogspot.com/2012/02/leah-haley-case-eglin-expedition.html.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Brewer, Jack. The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community. Self-published, 2016. Page 202.
Brewer, Jack. “The Leah Haley Case: The Eglin Expedition.” The UFO Trail. 11 February 2012. https://ufotrail.blogspot.com/2012/02/leah-haley-case-eglin-expedition.html.
Ibid.
Ware, Donald. Incomplete letter, date unknown. James Carrion collection of Gulf Breeze Six-related material. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByaETuY4MjY8ODhTVDU4Rk5FMEk/view?resourcekey=0-.
Myers, Craig R. War of the Words: The True but Strange Story of the Gulf Breeze UFO. Self-published, 2006. Page 152.
Ibid.
Davis, Vance A. and Brian Blashaw. “Thoughts from Anna Foster Beason.” Unbroken Promises: A True Story of Courage and Belief. Mesa: White Mesa Publishers, 1995. Page 199.
Brewer, Jack. “The Leah Haley Case: The Eglin Expedition.” The UFO Trail. 11 February 2012. https://ufotrail.blogspot.com/2012/02/leah-haley-case-eglin-expedition.html.