If it helps, I can highlight the following, from my
related discussions, circa 2002:
As I recall, Gordon Creighton (not exactly an arch-
skeptic) debunked the whole 'Dropa' story in an article
called "But I Read It in a Book!". This was reprinted in
the anthology "Encounter Cases from Flying Saucer
Review."
Paul Thompson [
http://www.parascope.com/]
[END]
I picked up the name of the supposed mountain range
"Baian-Kara-Ula", and found ONLY pages telling the story
of the Dopey Stones. No purely geographical, geological,
scientific, or other references. In other words, these
mountains (at least with that spelling) seem to exist
only in the telling of the story.
The same thing seems to be true of the supposed
archaeologist "Chu Pu Tei". Apparently his work is
referenced ONLY by the Ancient Astronaut crowds. He must
not have written any articles that were cited by real
scholars.
According to one source, Dr. Karyl ROBIN-EVANS exists as
the author of "Sungods in Exile: Secret Gods of the
Dzopa... London, 1980". Another source gives the
publisher as "Sphere", 1978. He, too, seems to only exist
in the context of telling this story. It may well be he
who made it up.
Unless somebody can find some part of the story that
actually touches the ground, I'd have to conclude that
this tale was simply made up from whole cloth by an
Ancient Astronaut fanatic, perhaps Robin-Evans.
Robert Sheaffer.
[END]
You are so correct. Gordon Creighton's article is found
in Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, January 1973, p.
24-27. Gordon Creighton in his article received
information from one of his regular Soviet correspondents
that the two English-language Soviet publications issued
in 1967 were not available to the Russian public, but was
able to ascertain that Vyacheslav Zaitsev "...had done no
original investigation of his own and had simply taken
the story as it had appeared in the German publication
Das Vegetarische Universum (no date given) and in the
German publication UFO-Nachrichten, No. 95 (of 1964)."
Gordon Creighton then gives details of following through
with the above and also the Soviet Novosti News Agency's
London Office, the Moscow Editor of Sputnik, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences in Peking, the Chinese Academy of
Sciences at T'ai-Pei, in Taiwan, and also several Chinese
visiting professors. Results were nil with no responses
from any agency contacted.
Gordon Creighton then turned to the House of Royal
Geographical Society in London and "maps showing the
journeys of all the foreign travellers (including
Russians) who have ever been in any part of Tibet or
Ch'ing-Hai in general or near the Bayan-Khara Uula in
particular...and have read the official accounts".
Results were that not one of them had any accounts any
race, people, or tribe known as either Hams or Dropas and
who 'defy ethnic classification'.
Gordon Creighton then goes into detail of this part of
his investigation using the Royal Geographical Society
records including the etymology of the words Khams-Pa and
Drok-Pas.
In summary, Gordon Creighton says:
"It looks, alas, as though our spindly-legged Ham and
Dropa 'Space-Men' of the Bayan-Khara Uula are beginning
to recede into the murky realms of speculation and
fantasy where they were no doubt begotten. It has been
undeniably most enjoyable to hear all about them and
their cobalt discs inscribed in a language from out of
this world, and I have no doubt that their saga will go
on being repeated parrot-fashion, without checking, and
without the least comprehension, by 'Ufologist' and
'Ufologist' for many years to come, and will feature in
book after book.
The Condon Report (Section V, Chapter 1) poked fun at
this weakness of the UFO Buffery, and the criticism was
well merited. I am gratified that, at any rate until
today, the Hams and Dropas do not seem to have got into
the pages of Flying Saucer Review, and I can only express
the fervent hope that the present article will suffice
for them.
If of course somebody (and somebody a little nearer to
China than a Black Forest vegetarian journal) can come up
with any real information - and any photographs -
relating to caves high up in the Bayan-Khara Uula
containing evidence that Central Asia received a
visitation from elsewhere 12,000 years ago, FSR will be
very glad to print it. Meanwhile, I hope I have given
some idea of how a nice story can get around.
As we have said before: 'se non e vero, e ben trovato'."
Ed Stewart.
[END]
Regarding the alleged Baian Kara Ula crash, the story
started here in Germany in the late 1950ies (1956 or 7)
and was originally a science fiction story published in
'Das vegetarische Universum'. The alleged chinese
professor, Tsum um nui, never existed and the name even
is not chinese at all. The Russians (Kasantzev) got the
story from the Germans and believed it and published it.
This gave some US researchers and Eric von Daniken the
impression that the Russians "confirmed the report".
Michael Hesemann.
[END]
James Easton.
E-mail:
[email protected]
