Jur Maessen
Member
Searchterming the internet archive for "Papoose Lake" and filtering any results down to pre-Bob Lazar era publications, I happened upon a science fiction novel written by David Bergamini titled "Venus Development".
https://archive.org/details/venusdevelopment0000unse/mode/2up
Bergamini, an American author of history and popular science, published his novel in 1976 but it doesn't appear to have been a bestseller by any means. It does however feature several details that appear to resemble elements embedded within the account Bob Lazar provided to George Knapp more than a decade later, most notably in terms of the general geographical location of his alleged employment and some specific characteristics of the facility he claimed to have worked at.
Without going into every fantastical detail, a short summary of the plot might be in order.
A team of top scientists from various disciplines is summoned by the powers that be to embark on a mission to find a supersecret facility thus far eluding the prying eyes of satellites and spy planes. Once found the team discovers that an insidious cabal of politicians and business moguls is planning to exploit the facility in the desert, containing an enormous quantity of space rockets, for their own evil purposes. The scientists however think otherwise as they set out to prevent the cabal from developing their plans.
Before I point out the possible parallels to the Bob Lazar story, it is perhaps of some interest to note that the lead character, a renowned astronomer named Eric Mann, studies the "brightness and spectra in a tiny area of sky known as Zeta Cancri- secor Z of the Crab constellation" (page 7) in his spare time, apparently with the goal of "weighing the universe and determining the gravitational braking force which slowed cosmic expansion".
Even more interesting is the fact that the person first summoning Mann to embark on his mission, is described as "Director of the Office of Naval Research", vaguely echoing Lazar's claim that his employer during his reverse engineering days at S-4 was the "Department of Naval Intelligence".
Anyway, as the team is transported by plane to what they first think is Washington DC, the pilot (Captain Gareth Evans, also of the "Office of Naval Research") informs them that they will be stopping over at Nellis Proving Ground before continuing on to a secret location "farther south in the Proving Grounds" (page 38):
As the scientists assembled grow increasingly uneasy, captain Evans adds (page 39):
"I wish I could add to your impressions (...) I only know I'm to put you down at an installation just southeast of Papoose Lake.", adding: "I believe you're supposed to work there for a while before you proceed farther."
After the plane lands one of the scientists is moved to remark on the seclusiveness of their destination, commenting:
"Marvellous camouflage from those canyon walls. A facility easy to supply from the air… no prying tourists."
As the scientists set out to probe the area "just southeast of Papoose Lake" in search of the secret installation they are supposed to work at, Mann muses out loud on the possible ways such an installation might be successfully kept hidden (page 49/50):
"Have you ever considered (...) the problem of building a secret installation which would not be detected by spy satellites?"
"(...) you'd try to dig a big cave somewhere at night, wouldn't you?'
"Most like", one of the others responded.
"Worst time. Worst approach," said Mann. "Infrared sensors would pick up all power tools from surroundings of cold earth."
When they finally find the facility, they manage to enter it via a well-camouflaged hangar door on the side of the mountain. Once inside they find a complete scientific setup, including countless rockets built specifically for the purpose of moving the planet Venus into a new, more habitable orbit around the sun.
To say that these similarities, remarkable as they may be, conclusively hurt the Bob Lazar tale would be a bridge too far, but the fact that the parallels do not seem to have been noticed previously, let alone pointed out, do I think merit further exploration.
https://archive.org/details/venusdevelopment0000unse/mode/2up
Bergamini, an American author of history and popular science, published his novel in 1976 but it doesn't appear to have been a bestseller by any means. It does however feature several details that appear to resemble elements embedded within the account Bob Lazar provided to George Knapp more than a decade later, most notably in terms of the general geographical location of his alleged employment and some specific characteristics of the facility he claimed to have worked at.
Without going into every fantastical detail, a short summary of the plot might be in order.
A team of top scientists from various disciplines is summoned by the powers that be to embark on a mission to find a supersecret facility thus far eluding the prying eyes of satellites and spy planes. Once found the team discovers that an insidious cabal of politicians and business moguls is planning to exploit the facility in the desert, containing an enormous quantity of space rockets, for their own evil purposes. The scientists however think otherwise as they set out to prevent the cabal from developing their plans.
Before I point out the possible parallels to the Bob Lazar story, it is perhaps of some interest to note that the lead character, a renowned astronomer named Eric Mann, studies the "brightness and spectra in a tiny area of sky known as Zeta Cancri- secor Z of the Crab constellation" (page 7) in his spare time, apparently with the goal of "weighing the universe and determining the gravitational braking force which slowed cosmic expansion".
Even more interesting is the fact that the person first summoning Mann to embark on his mission, is described as "Director of the Office of Naval Research", vaguely echoing Lazar's claim that his employer during his reverse engineering days at S-4 was the "Department of Naval Intelligence".
Anyway, as the team is transported by plane to what they first think is Washington DC, the pilot (Captain Gareth Evans, also of the "Office of Naval Research") informs them that they will be stopping over at Nellis Proving Ground before continuing on to a secret location "farther south in the Proving Grounds" (page 38):
As the scientists assembled grow increasingly uneasy, captain Evans adds (page 39):
"I wish I could add to your impressions (...) I only know I'm to put you down at an installation just southeast of Papoose Lake.", adding: "I believe you're supposed to work there for a while before you proceed farther."
After the plane lands one of the scientists is moved to remark on the seclusiveness of their destination, commenting:
"Marvellous camouflage from those canyon walls. A facility easy to supply from the air… no prying tourists."
As the scientists set out to probe the area "just southeast of Papoose Lake" in search of the secret installation they are supposed to work at, Mann muses out loud on the possible ways such an installation might be successfully kept hidden (page 49/50):
"Have you ever considered (...) the problem of building a secret installation which would not be detected by spy satellites?"
"(...) you'd try to dig a big cave somewhere at night, wouldn't you?'
"Most like", one of the others responded.
"Worst time. Worst approach," said Mann. "Infrared sensors would pick up all power tools from surroundings of cold earth."
When they finally find the facility, they manage to enter it via a well-camouflaged hangar door on the side of the mountain. Once inside they find a complete scientific setup, including countless rockets built specifically for the purpose of moving the planet Venus into a new, more habitable orbit around the sun.
To say that these similarities, remarkable as they may be, conclusively hurt the Bob Lazar tale would be a bridge too far, but the fact that the parallels do not seem to have been noticed previously, let alone pointed out, do I think merit further exploration.
