Exclusive for Fade to Black by Alex Mistretta,  Director of Field Investigations UPARS and FADE to BLACK contributor.

I've been an investigator for many years, covering many unusual subjects around the world. in that capacity you develop sources, connections, some very well placed. One of these sources alerted me to a series of pictures that had never been seen before, and were released anonymously to a French paranormal magazine called Top Secret. I've heard this type of story before, so I'm cautious but always optimistic. I checked it out, and it got my attention. I also realized that no one was actively researching this case yet, so I took it because I wanted it. I obtained versions of the photographed and released them via several outlets.

The story behind the photographs was that an American Submarine, the USS Trepang USN 674, under the command of Admiral Dean Reynolds Sackett, came upon this unidentified object in the Arctic and took a series of photographs. The source of the photographs claimed that these were taken in March of 1971, in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between Iceland and Jan Mayan island. The USS Trepang was in the area on a routine test run, with various standard scientific goals. The story goes that the object was initially spotted through the periscope by a John Klika, which resulted in that spectacular series of photographs I starting me on this investigation.

That's it, not much to go on, and yet a lot of leads. I checked official Navy websites and the Trepang was real, and so was Admiral Dean R Sackett. Not only that, but I was able to confirm that the Trepang was indeed in that specific area in March of 1971, with Admiral Sackett and John Klika. Still, that didn't tie the Trepang USN 674 and the Admiral to the pictures, nor did it assure that this wasn't a hoax. Next step, was to find Admiral Sackett and ask him. Two hours later I had his phone number and email.

While this was going on, John Greenwald, asked me if he could put up the story of his website, The Black Vault. Thinking that getting the story out there on a larger canvas could bring leads, I agreed, and John has been invaluable in this investigation.

In the meantime, I had also spoken to Steve Murillo. I work very closely with Steve Murillo of UPARS on many cases, and Steve is an ex Navy pilot. As such I asked Steve if he could call the Admiral, hoping that the Navy connection might put the Admiral at ease. Twenty minutes later Steve was on the phone with the Admiral.

It was a five minute conversation in which the Admiral denied the story and stated, "I just saw Ice". He was very gracious and polite, but firm and to the point, never once acknowledging the UFO subject. What was interesting, was that he did agree to take a look at the pictures and get back to us.

The conversation went as expected, which leaves us with several options. One, the story is true, and due to his security oath, Admiral Dean R Sackett is unable to talk. Which, by the way, I respect 100%. Two, the pictures are real, but the story is fabricated. This means that the photographs may have been taken by another sub at another time. My initial reaction was that the photographs represented a test of some kind, and these were official photographs of that test. This could include very earthly technology, as well as more unusual technologies. The last option, is that this a hoax, a very real possibility.

This investigation is in many ways in its infancy, the provenance of the photographs still need to be established, and they need to be further analyzed. All three of the scenarios I established above need to be equally considered. I have also obtained the list of the crew that was on board the Trepang, another avenue to be explored. Real or a hoax, this needs to be solved. This case may take time, but after all I wanted it.

Photos from the USS Trepang USN 674, 1971

UPDATE: Original Images with SYGMA Labels

PHP Code Snippets Powered By : XYZScripts.com