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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important, October 2, 2005
This review is from: Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abductions (Paperback)
I used to gobble up UFO books with both hands. The problem was that there was really too much literature out there and too much of it simply did not withstand the test of time. There was a lot off shoddy research and shoddy investigation. I suppose one shouldn't be surprized. It's a complex phenomenon and there are a lot of misleading avenues and dead ends. There is also a lot of evidence to support nearly any view you want to take concerning the subject. So...over the past number of years I've tried to limit my readings to books that seem to have a higher level of scholarship. And, as many of the earlier works were a bit of a shotgun blast, I attempted to read books that were a bit more narrowly focused, and to see where (if anywhere) research was heading.
I'm not certain why I grabbed this book off the shelf. I'm not familiar with the author or his place in the UFO community. The subject did, however, have an interesting premise. Anyway...I bought, read it, and really liked it. This is an important piece of work to add to the pile of extant literature on the subject. It is the first time (that I know of) that DNA testing has been used to try and verify the objective reality of an alien contact/abduction. The case is interesting and the follow-up satisfies my sense of professionalism.
Though this case might be merely the next "display" the alien intelligances are laying before us, it still constitutes physical, testable stuff to work with. Something we've had little of in the past.
Also important was the author's reviving of the possible link between alien encounters and those encounters experienced by other cultures throughout the world and history. Particularly with stories originating in the British Isles. Other investigators such as Jerome Clarke have attemted this in the past, but there is a somewhat stronger case being made of it in this book.
My only quibble with the book (and it's a minor one) is the outline. I'm not certain why Chalker arranged things as he did. There are hoax cases thrown in among the more verifiable portions for no reason I can determine other than his wanting to show his readership that he knows a false story when he sees one. Other than that it is a scholarly work that deserves its place as the next rung in a ladder leading to the possible solution to one of the most perplexing riddles of our time.
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41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What happened to the biochemists?, February 19, 2006
This review is from: Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abductions (Paperback)
I find it astonishing that one can draw any conclusion that what was found was alien (book title)? The analysis tells us, that this was simply Human DNA. A rare Chinese type DNA and a possible rare Basque/Gaelic type DNA (p77) or this rare Asian Mongoloid DNA (p78 & p224) take your pick. And the author tells us that it is - rare, grafted, CCR5 protein and so on, who said this was rare... it sounds all very human too me. With a population of 1,306,313,812 (July 2005 Ethnic groups - Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%) in china today, I can tell you nothing is rare.
The central story is suspended by one miserable thread, for example, how does Chalker identify what is or is not alien hair/DNA? How could you tell unless you took it off a recognised alien to do a match? In fact the hair looks very human too me (see book images).
I am also suspicious when an author tries to anchor or graft their hypothesis onto what seems to be another profession, by a reference or association with that profession. In this case a law and police investigation process. For example Chalker uses the word "Forensic" 70 times. When in fact, Chalker is not trained in Forensic Science nor do we find anyone listed in the book trained in the profession.
Then we have this mystery called "forbidden science" (p67) and the "Invisible college" (p67). Now I can understand the problems that would come about if a scientist steps out on a limb and works outside the mainstream, but in this case Chalker's DNA analysis if processed in an accredited laboratory would be fully backed by that institution, so the need for anyone being put out to burn is redundant, the laboratory would stand by its results, they analysed a "hair sample" that is all, nothing odd about that. But no, Chalker works in a mystery, when in fact the whole process is everyday normal and the need for these mysteries is stupid.
So that brings me to who did the analysis, well from what we can find out.... I don't know? A group called Anomaly Physical Evidence Group (APEG) (p70) did the analysis? Again nothing, not one person or laboratory name, who are these biochemists? So how does the reader verify the credentials of the technical work? Not very forensic to me. And if this was an astonishing discovery, one would expect "Biochemists" would jump on a paper to take the credit. But no... they are going to work through the author (Public face p70), well that's what the author tells us. He even tells us that it is "my APEG team", that is right readers "my"? (p190).
So what was the start point to the Alien Hair find? Well would you believe Khoury, in his own words: "I had a head injury, and I was on a lot of medication" (p23) - Hit on the head! And hit with a shovel or should I say shovels (p24)! Can you find any hints of a prosaic cause, well I can! Then Khoury tells us that he was taking Codeine Phosphate (p24) and as he states "lots". Did you know that one of the side effects of lots of Codeine is hallucinations? But the author does not list any side effects. Then add in Prozac and Voltarin. What happened to the medical reports or even a doctor's name? Nothing, zero, zip.
Forensic my eye, Khoury did his own sample collection and then placed that in a plastic bag (p25), so how did Chalker proved that it came from Khoury's body?
The book does cover other well known cases, my favourite and I would say the best case is the Kelly Cahill encounter (1993) (p50). However, rather than read it in this book, try and find Cahill original book (Encounter, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN 0732257840), it is very good and worth the effort.
I could go on, but there are too many things to list. I think the author has over stepped his position or qualifications (Chalker is not a biochemist) and tried an interesting form of word association to sell us a weak story that stands on a lot of "Ifs & Buts" around hidden so called APEG mystery biochemists.
(Digital Version)
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Confirmed anomalous DNA recovered from an abduction event: important information almost obscured by a meandering narrative, December 10, 2010
This review is from: Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abductions (Paperback)
Bill Chalker is a tenacious and experienced Australian UFO/abduction researcher with a degree in chemistry and mathematics from the University of New England and a substantial international profile. In 1982 he was the first civilian researcher to gain access to the classified UFO files kept by the Australian Directorate of Air Force Intelligence, and his prior publishing achievements include several technical research papers and "The Oz Files", published in 1996.
Published in 2005, "Hair of the Alien" is Chalker's account of the extraordinary case of Peter Khoury who discovered an anomalous long, thin blond hair tied onto an intimate part of his anatomy following an involuntary close encounter with two not-quite-human females in July 1992 - the second of two essentially similar but not identical incidents involving the same two females, nine months apart. Khoury retrieved the hair in the bathroom with some discomfort, considered throwing it down the toilet but then decided to seal it in a plastic bag, and stored it in a secure location. Several years went by before it eventually found its way to a lab for analysis (BTW during this period, the late Professor John Mack of Harvard University Medical School travelled to Australia to visit and interview Khoury about these events).
To the reader unfamiliar with abduction case literature or not well acquainted with the phenomenon, the story sounds outlandish and unbelievable. However, Khoury's story checks out in that he has a lifetime history of at least four known abduction events (one multiply-witnessed as a child in Lebanon and three as an adult in Australia), each resulting in a different tell-tale biopsy scoop-mark scar on the lower leg typically found on abductees, and other anomalous markers such as a small and persistent doughnut-shaped head wound following memory of an implant performed by a needle device during one of the incidents. At the time of the encounters with the two "alien" females, he was recently married and in every way a normal, well-adjusted individual not given to fantasy or psychosis, and though he was in the final stages of convalescence from a physical assault with a shovel, he was able to drive and function normally. His encounters contain the usual memory-blocking and missing time elements. Khoury has no interest in writing a book, appearing in public or making any money out of all this: he's just a "regular bloke" who wants to be left in peace and get on with his life raising a family. Many quirky features of his experiences dovetail closely with those of others in different parts of the world, which is generally confirmatory of something real and genuine.
The story at the core of the book is Khoury's series of encounters followed by extensive laboratory analysis of the hair sample, and what it might tell us about the being from whom it allegedly originated. Analysis of mitochondrial sequence variation in the DNA of the hair performed under strict laboratory conditions using polymerase chain reaction protocols revealed that the hair had a "strange and unusual DNA sequence" with five consistent substitutions from human consensus so rare as to be almost unknown throughout the human genome. The DNA showed a combination found only in a small percentage of the population of the British Isles and of Basques (northern Spain), combined with a rare Chinese-Mongol type found in a tiny population group in Taiwan. In short, it's not possible for a normal biological human to have two separate types of mitochondrial DNA, as that means the person must have had two separate biological mothers (not grandmothers - two separate mothers). A minor issue is that due to a combination of genetic factors involving melanin, it is thought impossible for such a theoretical native (if they could exist theoretically, which they can't) to ever be blond. There's more: the five gene substitutions found in the hair's DNA have never been recorded anywhere before, and the chance of them occurring at random and simultaneously is extremely remote. One of the consequences of these gene substitutions is that the native would be immune from the effects of HIV, smallpox and a whole basket of serious/lethal viruses which afflict the human population. It looks like deliberate, knowledgeable and very sophisticated genetic bio-engineering at work - though the laboratory analysts stop short of saying this outright.
Unfortunately, it has to be said the structure of the book could have been better. The detailed DNA analysis of the hair sample is confined to an appendix, when it would have been better placed right at the heart of the book, with more explanation for the non-biochemist/geneticist reader of what the science reveals and an informed discourse on the consequences for our understanding of what the heck is going on with this intrusive abduction phenomenon - because the results are significant, and need to be studied and thought about.
Instead, Chalker spends several chapters discussing other abduction cases from Australia, China and the Basque country, some of which he declares to be hoaxes. We get several pages each on Vicki Klein, Kelly Cahill, and the Rylance case (admitted to be an almost certain hoax by Chalker, who was personally involved in its investigation) which have all been explored and written up elsewhere. The whole of Chapter 10 is devoted to Credo Mutwa! If the author was attempting to place the Khoury case in the context of other relevant abduction case material, that's understandable but the result is that the main theme is almost drowned by all this unnecessary focus on periphery. Instead of detailed and prolix explanations of already-known cases taking up so many chapters, these could have been referenced briefly and the reader unfamiliar with the material invited to further investigate relevant literature outside the confines of this book. The notes section is comprehensive, and proves Chalker knows the field well.
Victoria Alexander's suggestion of "a new protocol for abduction research" discussed on p188 that suspected abduction events need to be viewed as a crime scene and approached with corresponding forensic thoroughness is indeed relevant to the core subject of the book, as is the author's exploration of attempts to covertly film abductions (globally there have been hundreds of such attempts to date, with limited result).
So overall, here we have a very important case at core surrounded by too much unnecessary padding. If you can sort the wheat from the chaff, reading this book is time well spent. If you know the field well and are already familiar with Credo Mutwa's stories, details of the Cahill case and others, then just read the first few chapters about Peter Khoury and the vitally important forensic/DNA analysis information in the appendix, which starts on p249. This blond hair revealed curious and anomalous genetic information and could be very significant in furthering understanding of the abduction/hybridization project explored in recent years by other researchers, and we'd have had a better book had that issue been kept in sharper focus.
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