JOHN LEAR AND THE UFO COVER UP

John Lear is a former pilot and conspiracy theorist known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial life and government cover-ups. Lear alleges that the moon landings were hoaxed and that the U.S. government has been in contact with aliens for decades. Despite widespread skepticism from the scientific community, Lear's theories continue to attract attention and influence conspiracy culture.

In recent years new and even wilder strains of paranoia have sprouted along ufology's fringes. Inspiration comes not just from UFO rumors but from conspiracy theories associated with the far right end of the political spectrum. The two major figures in what has been called the "dark side movement" are John Lear, a pilot who once flew aircraft for a CIA-linked company, and Milton William Cooper, a retired Navy petty officer.

According to dark siders, a ruthless "secret government" controls the world. Among other nefarious activities, it runs the international drug trade and has unleashed AIDS and other deadly diseases as population-reducing measures. Its ultimate goal is to turn the Earth and surrounding planets into slave-labor camps. For some time this secret government has been in contact with alien races, allowing the aliens to abduct human beings in exchange for advanced alien technology.

Lear says we know of 70 different species of aliens, and the government is engaged in a program to gradually inform the public of encounters that have already happened. Offering a condensed history of events since 1947, Lear tells investigative journalist George Knapp that the government has even housed aliens at two U.S. sites.

On December 29, 1987, Lear posted a Statement to ParaNet, an early bulletin board system dedicated to the paranormal, claiming that the US government has close contacts with extraterrestrials and were secretly "promoting" films like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to influence the public to see extraterrestrials as "space brothers". The document was revised on January 14, again in March, with a final revision dated August 25, 1988. The document describing a secret government committee, Majestic 12, making a treaty with Gray aliens, only to later realize they've been deceived by the aliens.

The Statement claims a UFO coverup has been underway for 40 years. Lear argues that "Germany may have recovered a flying saucer in 1939" and discusses the 1946 American military investigation into the Ghost rockets reported over Sweden. The Statement argues that many in the "original group" of insiders committed suicide, most notably James Forrestal. According to the narrative, Truman formed a group of twelve insiders, known as Majestic 12, to investigate the matter. The Statement lists three saucer crashes: one near Roswell. another near Aztec, New Mexico and a third near Laredo, Texas. According to the Statement, the US government covered a "total, thorough and sweeping cover-up to include the use of 'deadly force'."

The Statement references the 1952 Washington, D.C., UFO incident and a 1964 meeting with aliens at Holloman Air Force Base. Lear's Statement includes government-sanctioned alien abductions, alien implants, and Alien-Human hybrids. The Statement asserts that "some of the nations missing children had been used for secretions and other parts required by the aliens". Lear described UFOs in connect with cattle mutilations and even claims that human mutilations have occurred. Lear talks about Dulce Base and an altercation between aliens and the US military that led to 66 human casualties.

Lear remained a prominent voice in the UFO conspiracy theory community until his death. He died of natural causes on March 29, 2022...