Mystery Objects and the Donald Menzel Conspiracy | Richard Dolan Show w/Dr. Beatriz Villarroel

This conversation is more of a collaboration than a formal interview. Appearing on the Richard Dolan Show is Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, a leading astrophysicist at the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University. Dr. Villarroel holds a PhD in Astronomy and a Masters in Physics from Uppsala University. Villarroel is deeply involved in the VASCO project, studying vanishing and appearing celestial sources over a century of observations.

Dr. Villarroel discusses the discovery of anomalous astronomical plates from pre-1957, prior to the era of manmade, artificial satellites. Specifically she highlights plates from 1950 and 1952 which depict unusual star-like objects that appear and vanish within a very short time frame. These anomalies were found on images from the 12th of April, 1950, the 19th of July, 1952, and the 27th of July 1952 – the last two dates coinciding with the Washington DC UFO flap, a significant overflight of unknown objects over the US capital. However, Dr. Villaroelle also noted that coincident with these anomalies was the destruction of a substantial portion of the Harvard Observatory’s plate collection under the orders of then-director Dr. Donald Menzel. Not only this, but 1953 saw the beginning of the infamous “Menzel Gap,” an extended period during which Harvard ceased collecting new astronomical data, leading to a gap in the historical record of modern astronomy.

Dr. Villarroel's work led Richard Dolan to conduct additional research on Menzel, which he also provides here. It was already known that Menzel led a clandestine life as an elite member of the U.S. intelligence community, a fact that was only discovered posthumously. Dolan’s review, however, demonstrates that Menzel spent all of 1952 and 1953 in nothing short of a debunking obsession regarding the "flying saucers." Even more intriguing, this period was also marked by ongoing rumors of “mystery satellites” orbiting Earth.

All of the above leads to a question: was Menzel's obsession with UFOs the driving force behind this destruction of scientific data? His involvement in the intelligence community, his secretive life, and his relentless pursuit to debunk UFO sightings, all point towards a possible disinformation campaign, making Menzel a fascinating figure in the history of UFO research.



Study of the UFO subject teaches a lot of lessons. Here we learn about corruption in science and the role of disinformation agents, Donald Menzel, going back to 1952 plus the importance of looking at the hard data to determine the reality of the issue. Something was certainly going on which the authorities wanted to keep secret from the public. Menzel himself, from this account, comes across as a real philistine and an asshole of a person. 

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, January 25, 2024.]