Kevin Randle neatly sums up the recent crash of Vallée’s and Harris’ Trinity: The Best Kept Secret. He adds some of his own criticisms to those amassed by Douglas Dean Johnson along with Johnson’s recent release of an old interview with one of Vallée’s and Harris’ star witnesses, which should be the final nail in the coffin of this case. Nevertheless, having been in the field for decades, Randle understands and wearily admits that “Although this should be the stake through the heart of the tale, I know, from experience, that there are those who will not accept the evidence.”
When news of Vallée’s and Harris’ book broke, I had already observed their tale’s potential, one quite independent of its factual truth:
As Jimmy Church observes in his recent interview with the authors, “This could be another Roswell!”. I suggest here that Church’s words are prophetic, not in the sense that Trinity and Roswell are analogous, real world events, but that the former, with the publication of Vallee’s and Harris’ book, stands to become another seed for an endlessly branching and proliferating story, like that of the latter, regardless of what kernel of truth each might possess. Indeed, the Trinity case, both in itself and its initial reception, seems more grist for a sociological mill, another example of the genesis, development, and elaboration of a visionary rumour, if not a new religion.
The book, at least in its first iteration (I declined purchasing the second edition) was a sorry mess. Nevertheless, precisely the character of that messiness prompted me to attempt a “retrieval and reverse engineering” of the book, which, in light of recent developments, seems timely to reshare.
The “debate” about the case and Vallée’s and Harris’ book continues. Such is the character of “the UFO people.” As I’ve remarked, one shouldn’t let the facts get in the way of the truth. For all its vacuity, the case can still provide grist for the philosophical and poetical mills. You can read my re-engineering of Vallée’s and Harris’ book, here.
Skunkworks 