Man in black

The Press-Register's Craig Myers revisits alien territory

Sunday, December 10, 2006
By ANDY NETZEL
Staff Reporter

Craig Myers did what UFO-believers always say newspaper reporters never do when it comes to sightings: He investigated.

The deeper he dug, the more he found that called into question the legitimacy of purported spacecraft flying over Gulf Breeze, Fla.

In his first book, "War of the Words," Myers does more than try to prove the widely reported sightings were a hoax: He leads readers through the process of covering the story for the Pensacola News-Journal in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"As a reporter, there are not many stories like this," he said. "These are the ones you remember. You don't talk to your neighbor across the fence about the utility board meeting."

Myers left the News-Journal in 1995 to join the Press-Register. He is now the Assistant Baldwin Editor.

This story, he said, stuck in his mind. He wanted to let enough time pass to let things cool down and sore feelings to be mended.

Apparently, 15 years still isn't long enough. One of the key characters in the book, Ed Walters, called Myers a "scam guy" when contacted by the Press-Register for this story.

Here's a synopsis of the Gulf Breeze UFO tale:

Sightings of some mysterious item in this Pensacola bedroom community began in 1987 with high-quality photos captured by resident Walters. Hundreds of people came to a field where they reported seeing the unexplainable.

Later, while investigating the claims, Myers discovered a model UFO that had been left in the attic of a home where Walters previously lived. The couple who owned the home handed it over, saying it was the only UFO they'd seen.

Investigation showed part of the model was made with drafting paper bearing Walter's handwriting. According to Myers' book, Walters never denied this but when asked about it by Pensacola News-Journal editors, claimed some drafting paper was stolen from his garbage.

Myers also spoke to a man who saw Walters constructing a UFO-like structure.

Walters said he stands by his story, and that he never faked the photos or lofted a structure in the air. "I stand by what I saw," he said. "The test of time is on my side."

Walters said the paper was from a housing project that was dated 1989, well after the first sighting. Myers details his contention that the paper was actually from a 1987 project.

Myers said Walters is a smart man who likes practical jokes.

"He's a fascinating character," Myers said. "He had to have a genius IQ. My theory is that this started out as a joke, but he got carried away with it. At some point, he had to make a decision that he'd either be the crazy guy who took the photos of a UFO or be the crazy guy who faked the photos."

The author also touches on how a newspaper addresses a story like this, taking readers along on his own decisions on what to cover and what stories his editors decided not to run.

In "War of the Words," Myers tries to make it clear that he's written about the UFO story of a lifetime already.

Myers includes a plea to those who also have UFO sightings to share: "DON'T CALL ME, okay? It's not that I don't believe you. It's that my life is already filled with bizarre inexplicable phenomena, such as the way the right rear speaker in my car never works EXCEPT WHEN THEY PLAY SONGS I HATE."