Black helicopters
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Black helicopters are part of a conspiracy theory, especially prevalent among the US militia movement, that claims that special unmarked black helicopters are used by secret agents of the New World Order, United Nations troops and/or the Men in Black preparing to take control of the United States, or for other nefarious purposes.
In the UK a similar phenomenon known as "Phantom Helicopters" has been reported since the mid 1970s.[1]
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[edit] Overview
The theory was first popularized in the early 1990s by Mark Koernke[2] (also known as Mark from Michigan) in appearances on Tom Valentine's radio show and in public speeches which were widely circulated on videocassette, and shortly thereafter by Linda Thompson in her film America Under Siege. In Alex Jones' film Police State 2000 unmarked black helicopters are shown flying low in surprise urban warfare training missions with delta force agents and foreign troops.
The greatest media attention to black helicopters was most probably paid in February 1995, when first-term Republican northern Idaho United States congresswoman Helen Chenoweth charged that armed federal agents were landing black helicopters on Idaho ranchers' property to enforce the Endangered Species Act. "I have never seen them," Chenoweth said in an interview in The New York Times. "But enough people in my district have become concerned that I can't just ignore it. We do have some proof."[3] Chenoweth made the charges at a press conference without ever consulting with the Department of the Interior.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the act, says that they do not own any helicopters nor have ever used any in Idaho. The only green and black military helicopters known to be used in Idaho are used by the National Guard. Black helicopters without FAA-required running lights are regularly used by the drug interdiction office of the DEA. In addition, most US Army helicopters (such as the Black Hawk) are finished in a very dark chocolate or olive matte paint.
Parapsychologist John Keel has argued that mystery helicopters (not always black in color) have an origin similar to that of UFOs, ghosts and fairies: events staged by an intelligent non-human entity in order to propagate and reinforce certain erroneous belief systems and as a cover for real phenomena.[citation needed]
Black helicopters have also been reported in the areas where cattle mutilation has been reported.[4] The black helicopters theory resonates well with the belief held by some in the militia movement that troops from the United Nations might invade the United States.
The John Birch Society[5] published an article in The New American detailing how the existence of the covert aircraft was mostly the product of visual errors and fear mongering.
[edit] Black helicopter facts
The following are facts and explanations provided by various organizations and experts, including government agencies, regarding the alleged black helicopters:
- At least some sightings of black helicopters are very likely to have been helicopters on exercises and/or missions. The American military does in fact operate helicopters painted in black or dark colors, particularly the Pave Low which is optimized for long-range stealthy insertion and extraction of personnel, including combat search and rescue.
- U.S. Army and National Guard helicopters painted olive drab will appear to be black in the reddish light of dawn or dusk, or under other low light conditions during the day when their shadow side is viewed against the sky with the naked eye.
- Real black helicopters do exist. Some of them are flown by units of the Army National Guard and are actually black (not dark olive or chocolate brown) when seen in ordinary light.
- The U.S. Army regularly conducts both exercises and operational missions in United States airspace. Some of these exercises have taken place in densely populated areas, including Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland and Washington, D.C. Most operational missions are tasked in narcotics interdiction in the American Southwest and out of Florida. By extensive use of GPS and night vision equipment, as well as other classified means, they are able to fly in zero visibility conditions with no running lights. At this high intensity level of operation, training is necessarily almost as dangerous to pilots, other air traffic, and the public as actual combat. Frequent practice is necessary to retain proficiency.
- Many defense contractors and helicopter manufacturers also conduct public flight testing of aircraft and components or fly aircraft in public view to test ranges or other corporate airfields for training or demonstrations. Occasionally, some of these aircraft will be made for military clients and are painted in black or dark colors.
[edit] Black helicopters in popular culture
- The phrase "black helicopters" has become a part of the popular lexicon, and is frequently used as a shorthand way of referring to conspiracy theories and government secrecy in general.
- In the 1986 film Biggles: Adventures in Time, one is stolen and travels back to the Western Front in 1917 to fight off Germans.
- In the computer game Deus Ex, the protagonist travels in the fictional SH-187, a sleek high-performance black helicopter with stealth technology, there are also mentions of mysterious black helicopters in news papers you can find throughout the game.
- In the computer game Psychonauts, the paranoid conspiracy theorist Boyd Cooper has his mental landscape constantly surveyed by black helicopters.
- In the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory, they are seen using an active noise control system to operate secretly in urban areas.
- The premiere episode of South Park, Cartman Gets an Anal Probe has a scene where Black Helicopters fly in the background as a cattle rancher discovers yet another cattle mutilation.
- The two biggest-selling books on the subject: Black Helicopters Over America: Strikeforce for the New World Order (1995), and Black Helicopters II : The End Game Strategy (1998), are from the now-defunct Illuminet Press and were written by the late Jim Keith.
- Both Blue Thunder (movie and TV-series) and Airwolf (TV) from the early 80s have similarities with Black Helicopters, in look as well as use.
- Alt-pop group Soul Coughing has a song called "Unmarked Helicopters", which was briefly featured in the episode Max-2 of the TV series The X-Files. There are several other portrayals of black helicopters in other episodes of the series (for example two in the final episode "Truth"), as well as the movie The X-Files.
- Several black helicopters are featured on the cover of the Bad Religion album The New America.
- A popular underground hip hop group named Non Phixion also wrote a song named "Black Helicopters". They often mention the US government in their lyrics and other conspiracies such as aliens in Area 51.
- Bill Amend humorously mentions black helicopters (along with Roswell and CFR) in the introduction to the FoxTrot collection FoxTrot Beyond A Doubt; he facetiously claims that writing a popular comic strip allows him to leak information on conspiracies to the public.
- Black Helicopters were mentioned by the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, in a sarcastic answer to a question given in Question Period on May 9, 2006.[6]
- Dale Gribble, Arlen's resident conspiracist in the FOX animated TV series King of the Hill, makes occasional references to black helicopters.
- A black helicopter is seen in the game Half-Life: Opposing Force.
- The organisation L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. in BBC Radio 4 sci-fi comedy Nebulous own several black helicopters. The reason for this is given that although they aren't some "fly by night" organisation, they still need to fly by night.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.binnallofamerica.com/boaa4.15.6.html
- ^ http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/koernke.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=koernke
- ^ http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199605/priorities.asp
- ^ http://www.crystalinks.com/animal_mutilation.html
- ^ http://www.metrotimes.com/archives/militia/004.html
- ^ http://myblahg.com/?p=844
