Marconi director claim (2004)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 6
| Date of claim | 2nd Annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference, Las Vegas, 12–14 November 2004 |
|---|---|
| Claimant | Ryan S. Wood, talk "Murder and Majestic 12: An Investigation of UFO-Related Deaths" |
| Subject | "John Ferry", described as a Marconi director and former Army brigadier who died in August 1988 |
| Claim | He was working on a "cross-universe communications transmission system" and was killed as an information leak about an unlimited power source |
| Basis | "RV answers" from remote viewer Joe McMoneagle, given blind-coded envelopes |
| Recorded verdict | Brigadier Peter Ferry's death in August 1988 is listed as suicide by electrocution |
| Supporting documents | None |
| Date | 2004 |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 158 |
| Year | 2004 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2004 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
At the second annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference in Las Vegas in November 2004, researcher Ryan S. Wood gave a talk on deaths he linked to the alleged Majestic-12 group. One slide described a Marconi director who died in 1988. Wood claimed the man had been working on a "cross-universe communications transmission system" and was regarded as a leak of information about a "simple, self-sustaining and unlimited" power source.[1] Wood's slides attributed these claims to "RV answers", meaning information obtained by remote viewing (claimed psychic perception). The man appears to be Brigadier Peter Ferry, one of the British defence-industry deaths of the 1980s that drew press attention and conspiracy theories. No document supports the claim.[1][2]
The talk
Wood's presentation, "Murder and Majestic 12: An Investigation of UFO-Related Deaths", was printed as a set of slides in the conference proceedings for 12–14 November 2004.[1]
- Method. Wood said he scored each person by links to the UFO field and Majestic-12 and by a "credibility quotient" (how dangerous the person was "to the status quo"). He then compared the official cause of death with Social Security actuarial tables and National Safety Council odds.[1]
- The remote viewer. The "suspected 'true cause of death'" came from remote viewer Joe McMoneagle. McMoneagle was given 26 blind, target-coded envelopes, some with obituary feedback, and asked whether each target was murdered, and why, how and by whom.[1]
- Other sources cited. The slides drew on a novel, Meridian, by former CIA special agent Andrew J. Ceroni Jr., whose personal correspondence Wood said confirmed "officially sanctioned murders". They also drew on journalist Tony Collins's book on 25 mysterious deaths in the British defence industry.[1][2]
- The "MJ-12 linked deaths". Wood listed James Forrestal, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Dorothy Kilgallen, Marilyn Monroe, Martin Redmond, William Colby, Edward Ruppelt, James E. McDonald, John Ferry, Frank Edwards and Malcolm Puddy.[1]
- Ruled out. He listed others as "not MJ-12 related", including Oppenheimer and Congressman Schiff.[1]
The Ferry slides, on page 208 of the proceedings, said:[1]
- "John Ferry" was a Marconi director in the UK, a former Army brigadier, married with four children;
- he died in August 1988, electrocuted in his flat, the day after narrowly escaping death when a runaway lorry hit his car;
- the "RV answer" was that he had been working on an "instantaneous, transverse-complex, cross-universe communications transmission system";
- the reason given for his death was that he "was considered an information leak having to do with a power source, which was simple, self-sustaining and unlimited".
The same talk gave remote-viewing explanations for other deaths. Wood's slides said that British MP Martin Redmond died of cancer in 1997 at 59, after raising questions about MI6, UFOs and links to the CIA and NSA. The "RV answer" was that Redmond had been murdered by an injection of potassium and air to derail his UFO investigation. The talk also discussed why President Kennedy was assassinated.[1] Redmond, Labour MP for Don Valley from 1983, died in office from cancer in January 1997.[5]
The Marconi deaths
Between 1982 and 1990, 25 British-based scientists and engineers connected with GEC-Marconi died in circumstances that attracted press attention and conspiracy theories. Many had worked on defence projects such as the Sting Ray torpedo and on work related to the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative.[2][3]
- The first death. The first death later linked to the theory was that of computer scientist and Marconi employee Keith Bowden in March 1982.
- 1986–87. The cluster drew wide attention in 1986–87, when six scientists died in about a year, three of them Marconi employees.
- Verdicts. Most deaths were ruled suicides or accidents, and no links were found between them, although several inquests returned open verdicts.
- Calls for inquiry. Some opposition MPs called for an investigation.
- The theory. Proponents variously blamed the KGB, American or British intelligence. Most of the men had not worked closely together, and their projects were separate and mostly unclassified.[2]
The Wikipedia list of cases includes Brigadier Peter Ferry. It says he was involved in secret work on a revolutionary new gun and was a member of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group. His death by electrocution in August 1988 was recorded as suicide, and his wife said he had tried to take his life weeks earlier.[2] The same month another Marconi-linked engineer, Alistair Beckham, was also found electrocuted, and his inquest returned an open verdict.[2] Wood's slides call the brigadier "John Ferry". The earlier version of this article said contemporary reports also used that name, but this could not be checked.[1][2] The LBC/IRN radio archive holds a contemporary news segment on the deaths and the conspiracy theories, but only its catalogue entry could be read.[3]
Assessment
The claim that the brigadier was working on exotic communications or energy technology comes only from remote viewing. Wood offered no documents or witnesses for it.[1]
- The government programme. The U.S. government's remote-viewing programme, the Stargate Project, was closed in 1995. A review commissioned by the CIA concluded that it had never been useful in any intelligence operation and that its information was vague and included irrelevant and erroneous data.[4]
- The review's findings. The American Institutes for Research found that remote viewing had not been shown to work by a psychic mechanism. It noted "reason to suspect" that viewers in some well-publicised "hits" had had more background information than was apparent.[4]
- McMoneagle. McMoneagle, a retired Army chief warrant officer, was one of the programme's first recruits. He later ran a commercial remote-viewing business.[6]
The recorded facts of the Ferry case do not involve UFOs. He was a defence-industry figure whose death was recorded as suicide, and the only link to UFOs is the remote-viewing claim.[2]
People and topics
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- Ramey memo (2004) — A 1947 photo of Gen. Ramey holding a message is enlarged, and its text is debated.
- Wesley Clark on faster-than-light travel (3 November 2004) — Gen. Wesley Clark says faster-than-light travel is possible.
See every 2004 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Ryan Wood, "Murder and Majestic 12: an investigation of UFO-related deaths", 2nd Annual UFO Crash Retrieval Conference Proceedings (Nov 2004), Internet Archive (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- GEC-Marconi scientist deaths conspiracy theory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Marconi scientists' deaths lead to conspiracy theories", LBC/IRN, Learning on Screen · learningonscreen.ac.uk · archived copy
- Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Martin Redmond — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Joseph McMoneagle — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “GEC-Marconi scientist deaths conspiracy theory”, “Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)”, “Martin Redmond”, “Joseph McMoneagle”, “Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)”, “Martin Redmond”, “Joseph McMoneagle”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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