Kalahari/Botswana crash: van Greunen's confession

What was reported

As background to the Lesotho papers, Hind recounts how the Botswana crash documents were exposed. Van Greunen had been promised 2000 Deutschmarks by a well-known German editor and stayed with him in Munich, pledging full support and further documentation; when he could produce none he broke down and admitted his part had been a lie, the papers forged and the reports false. He held only to the claim that some crash had occurred in Botswana, information he attributed to a friend, possibly Hendrik Greef from schooldays or an Air Force contact. Hind notes his SAAF national service, a short spell in intelligence, MUFON membership at 16 and a craving for recognition. In her closing essay she says dozens of people, some highly placed ufologists, still believe him.

What Hind made of it

Hind has never said nothing happened in Botswana, only that it did not happen as van Greunen reported and she doubts it was a UAP; she thinks him clever but not careful enough, and pities him for the harm done to ufology's credibility.

Explanation offered
Hoax: van Greunen confessed that all the documents were faked

In their words

• All the documents were faked; the reports untrue.

• James is tremendously imaginative, and has sought fame and publicity throughout his teens and into his adult years.

Cross references

• Lesotho: Another UAP Hoax? (14-04-2)
• In Conclusion, this issue

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 14 (July 1996), spread 04-06, 22