This post is accompanied by a very short audio clip (only 6 minutes) that features both Arthur C.Clarke and Dr. Leo Sprinkle. What does it mean that Clarke claims to have seen lots of UFOs?
6 minutes long / DOWNLOAD MP3
The video store on my main street is going out of business, and they are selling their entire inventory. That said, I now own a copy of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In the special features there is an interview with Arthur C. Clarke who wrote the short story that was the basis for the film and he also worked closely with Kubrick throughout the production as co-screenwriter.
The 16mm movie footage shows Clarke giving a short talk in a bland looking banquet room with a small gathering of people. Then he answers questions from the attendees. This took place in the months before the release of 2001, and Clarke admits he hasn't yet seen the finished film.
One question and answer near the end caught my attention.
QUESTION: Can I be pedestrian and ask about the unidentified flying objects?
CLARKE: Well can I be pedestrian and give a brief reply?
One, if you've never seen an unidentified flying object you are very unobservant.
Two, if you've seen as many as I have you won' t believe in them. "(awkward laughter from the room)"
Three, they have nothing to do with visitors from space.
Four, it is impossible to prove three. "(hearty laughter from the room)"
When he says: "...if you've seen as many as I have you won' t believe in them," I think he is trying to say he has moved beyond "believing" and into "knowing". To me, this is very interesting.
He is admitting he's seen a lot of UFOs. This is highly unusual, and if someone like Budd Hopkins heard him say this, I am quite certain his eyebrows would raise. Most abduction researchers will jump to the conclusion that ANYONE WITH MORE THAN A FEW UFO SIGHTINGS IS QUITE PROBABLY AN ABDUCTEE. Personally, I'm not sure what to think.
The interesting thing is that people who have experienced a UFO abduction will quite often be totally focused on the subject of UFOs and the contact experience, and this seems to neatly define Arthur C. Clarke.
The audio download (linked HERE) also includes Dr. Leo Sprinkle sharing a story about meeting Clarke and having him tell about seeing a flying saucer the very night he and Kubrick agreed to do the movie 2001.
All this said, I actually don't know too much about Clarke (except that I read Rendezvous with Rama in high school) so if anyone can help me out here, I'd be grateful.
"TEXT AND VIDEO ADDED MARCH 19TH 2012:I found a documentary I remember seeing in 1980. In the opening sequence, Clarke states that he has seen six very clear UFOs in the sky, he adds that he has seen others that weren't as impactful. This film looks into the mysteries surrounding witness reports. He was quite a rational skeptic, being cautious not to jump to extraordinary conclusions. The transcript below starts at the 15:15 time count.CLARKE: ("after discussing the challenges of sighting reports") And that of course is the trouble with long range sightings, we can never be absolutely sure what they were, and even if it was a visitor form outer-space, we couldn't prove it.
For this reason I am no longer interested in UFO sightings.
But what does intrigue me, what is very mysterious, are the so called close encounters.The documentary then goes on to dig into a series of entity experiences. I posted one of the witness reports previously because I was impressed by Mrs. Jesse Roestenburg's credibility (linked HERE), although it's a different interview. And the other story is deeply impressive if only for the witnesses beautiful Scottish accent.
