On the matter of the precious data, Adams state that NBC’s lawyers had scrutinized it to the finest degree possible, and had become convinced of the complete legitimacy of the acquired, alien-themed material. Moreover, Adams explained that, as the hacker was technically committing a felony, there was absolutely no way that his identity could ever be revealed. Surprising no one who had followed this story, Adams added that although the hacker was acutely aware of the interest his apparent UFO data had provoked, he did not wish to respond in any way.
Matthew Bevan
Matthew Bevan is a self-confessed, and somewhat proud, computer hacker from Wales, United Kingdom, who, as a teenager in the mid-1990s, chose to hack into the gigantic complex of computer systems at Wright-Patterson in search of data on Hangar 18, crashed UFOs, and dead aliens. Bevan, whose story sounds like it strode right out of the 1983 movie Wargames, had an interest in computers as far back as the age of 11, when his parents bought him a ZX81 (which is of course now considered a dinosaur) for his birthday, which he eventually traded in for a Commodore Amiga 1200—the computer Bevan was using when he hacked Wright-Patterson in 1994 and 1995.
Wright-Patterson, said Bevan, was an extremely simple computer system to get into, and he relished the opportunity to briefly rummage around classified e-mails, Top Secret work files, and Eyes Only documentation on futuristic aircraft. Bevan’s teenage naiveté actually led him to confidently believe he had successfully penetrated the secrets of Wright-Patterson without detection by U.S. authorities. Come on! He hacks the Air Force and they don’t even get wind of it? Sadly for Bevan, of course the Air Force got wind of it. They became extremely irate in the process, and soon contacted British authorities.
It wasn’t long before the boy wonder was arrested by Scotland Yard’s Computer Crimes Unit (CCU) and charged with hacking Wright-Patterson, NASA, Lockheed, and a variety of additional entities within, or with ties to, the U.S. government. Deep shit didn’t even begin to describe the position in which Bevan found himself. Notably, at one point while being questioned by personnel about his actions, a Detective-Sergeant Simon Janes, of the CCU, asked Bevan what the term Hangar 18 meant to him. Bevan — for whom much of this episode merely seemed like an exciting episode of The X-Files—replied enthusiastically that it was a storage area for extraterrestrial craft and dead aliens.
Throughout the interview, Scotland Yard’s finest kept coming back to Hangar 18, and pummeling him with questions like, Did he view anything unusual on the Wright-Patterson computers? What was his motivation? Bevan nonchalantly told them he was hot on the trail of the U.S. government’s most guarded UFO secrets, and nothing more. A few months later, a hearing at Bow Street Magistrates Court in London went ahead; Bevan was out on bail at the time. To add to his problems, the American authorities were now claiming that certain things on the computers he had supposedly hacked into had been changed, perhaps maliciously. Cripes.
Having the audacity to hack the U.S. Air Force in search of alien secrets was one thing. Deliberately altering entire computer systems and creating major headaches for the military, said the U.S. government, was beyond the pale. Uncle Sam wanted swift justice. Bevan’s lawyer swung into action and asked to see the evidence demonstrating that Bevan had altered the computer systems. Amazingly, the U.S. military flatly refused to provide any form of evidence, and insisted that the judge just take them at their word. He was not impressed.
It was during this hearing that a U.S. Intelligence operative named Jim Hanson took the stand and said that he was there to represent the U.S. government’s interests in the Bevan affair. Bevan’s defense continued to push for information to back up the claims of the American government that he had somehow altered their systems, but Hanson would not budge.
As the hearing continued, the prosecution asked Hanson what the American government thought about Bevan’s motives regarding his hacking of Wright-Patterson. Hanson admitted that, although Bevan’s actions were illegal, no one within officialdom was of the opinion that Bevan was after anything more than UFO data. In other words, Bevan wasn’t considered by the Americans to be a secret spy in the employ of the Russians, the Chinese, or the North Koreans, or as someone using his UFO research as a cover for far more nefarious snooping.
Ultimately, Bevan proved to be an extremely lucky young man: U.S. authorities continued to refuse to reveal any evidence relative to the computerized files that he reportedly accessed and supposedly altered — possibly due to legitimate fears that such action might open up even more tricky questions relative to the Hangar 18 controversy. This lack of evidence allowed Bevan to walk free in November 1997.
Today, a naïve teenager no more, Bevan’s illegal hacking days are long behind him. But U.S. officialdom has certainly not forgotten its failed attempt to teach him a lesson, the likes of which he would surely never, ever have forgotten. Off the record, officialdom has quietly made it clear to Bevan that, should he contemplate making a trip to the United States, he would be very wise to think again. Accidents can, and do, happen, after all…especially when they’re not really accidents.
P.O.W. Art
Irena Scott, a UFO researcher with a special interest in the stories of extraterrestrial bodies secretly held at Wright-Patterson, has reported on another facet of the controversy. Could the story of Hangar 18 get any more convoluted? Yes, it could. Scott’s is an intriguing addition to the story that takes us back to the heart of the Second World War — but it has absolutely nada to do with aliens. From 1943 through 1946, a particular section of the base served as a prisoner-of-war camp for several hundred German troops who had been captured during hostilities in both North Africa and Italy.
Scott discovered that on a particular stretch of wall approximately 70 feet long by 20 feet high in the prisoners’ mess hall, the captured soldiers had passed their time by painting huge murals that depicted mythological figures from German folklore. Monstrous and gargoyle-like in nature, their green-color, Scott suggested, might very well have provoked rumors pertaining to the remains of little green men housed at Wright-Patterson. It’s as good a theory as any, some might say, but it’s highly unlikely to satisfy those who see the real story as being far more sensational than a bit of old artwork done by a few bored prisoners-of-war nearly 70 years ago. The curious legend of Wright-Patterson’s Hangar 18 and its attendant little men from the stars, it seems, is destined to live on.
C-6
London’S Tunnels of Terror
England’s famous London underground railway system serves Greater London and parts of the surrounding counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. It’s also the world’s oldest underground network of its type: services began on January 10, 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway. Whereas the overall Underground itself is not, of course, a secret location, it certainly has concealed more than its fair share of off-limits sections throughout the course of its long and literally winding existence. Nor is it exactly a stranger to matters of official government secrecy.