Alien Signal Proven False by Davy Russell
POSTED: 6 November 98
The news that an amateur astronomer from England had detected a mysterious
"intelligent" signal from the star EQ Pegasi, was greeted with heavy skepticism by SETI
and other astronomers. And less than two weeks later, it has been dismissed as a hoax
altogether.
On October 22 and 23, an anonymous astronomer, later identifying himself as Paul Dore
of Siemens Corp. in Great Britain, detected a strange signal coming from the EQ Pegasi
star system in the Pegasus Constellation 21 light-years away. According to Dore, the
signal did not appear to be a naturally occurring one.
A flurry of radio astronomers around the world tried to confirm Dore's findings, but never
detected the signal. SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) could not detect the
signal either on any of their 63 stations worldwide, many of which are up to 30 times
more sensitive than the equipment Dore used. Dore's claim that his signal was confirmed
by other astronomers turned out to be untrue as well.
Meanwhile, Paul Dore posted his findings on the Internet, including his home page on
GeoCities (http://www.geocities.com/C
apeCanaveral/Hall/7193/). The published data proved to be full of inconsistencies
and was seemingly changed upon criticism. Comparison of the October 22 and October
23 images of the spectrum showed that they were actually the same image, only one had
been tampered with to change its appearance slightly. Later, Dore explained that he had
accidentally posted the same image twice.
As other inconsistencies in Dore's data were pointed out, the story changed.
Dore's story took a strange twist on November 2 as he posted information that he was
allegedly being followed by two mysterious black sedans, one parked outside his home,
the other following him to work. (This is reminiscent of alleged Men In Black reports
which involve people like Paul Dore who pose a threat by releasing information of Alien
contact or secret government projects.)
Upon arriving home on Monday, November 2, Dore alleges that three government
officials were awaiting him. One of the men was from the Government Communications
Headquarters, one from the RAF Feltwell, and the other from the American National
Security Agency. For nearly two hours, they explained to him that what he had found
was not extraterrestrial, but actually a classified intelligence satellite associated with a
secret Project 415. Dore claims he was forced to sign a document which would subject
him to prosecution under the Official Secrets Act should he divulge any information
about the satellite.
Following this incident, the November 3 press conference which Dore was supposed to
release more information on his findings was canceled.
On November 4, all of the data on Dore's GeoCities web site was removed and replaced
by a National Security Agency emblem. Then on November 5, an up-side-down
American flag (usually used as a distress signal), a United Nations flag, and the "flag of
Earth" was all that remained of the site.
SETI posted an eleven point summary of the events leading up to the confirmation of a
hoax, along with their skeptical opinion of each one of Dore's claims on November
6.
The claims of Paul Dore appear now to be either an unfortunate mistake in which Dore
was unintentionally mixed up in a secret government project and nearly ruined his life
and reputation, or an ill-planned hoax. According to the aforementioned SETI article
written by Dr. Seth Shostak, "Paul Dore" was a fictitious man, a product of the hoaxer
behind the false claims.
