Much of this material came in February and March of 1986 and concerned the danger of impending atmospheric deterioration. In March I called a dress conference of environmental reporters in Washington, D.C., to discuss a book I wrote with James Kunetka, Nature's End, and to warn about the serious implications of the hole that had been detected in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. My apparent visitor information suggested this hole would lead to further holes over the Arctic and thereafter a thinning of the ozone layer over the Northern Hemisphere, with measurable crop damage from excessive ultraviolet light beginning to occur in the 1990-1993 period. At the time I gave this warning, the only stories about the hole were saying that its significance was not understood. I had also been told that the atmospheric problems will cause a reduction in immune system vitality in all animals, and the consequent resurgence of disease. As yet I have seen no scientific corroboration of this. The damage to the immune system seemed related to excessive ultraviolet light, but the information emerged visually, appearing as complicated images that I may not have understood fully. This information may indicate, by the way, that the ozone holes will open and persist m a single place rather than circulate. Additional information suggested that volcanic activity had exacerbated the ozone problem, and that there would be some reduction of the size of the major holes during the eleven years from 1986 to 1997, but that this would be only a temporary respite.

After the conference I was careful to mention to one reporter that I had had an extremely strange experience that had, in part, led up to my warning. I told this to UPI reporter Ed Lion and explained that it would be the subject of my next book. Lion asked what exactly I was talking about. In his May 16, 1986, review of Nature's End he wrote, "Asked what that subject could possibly be, he shook his head mysteriously. 'You'll have to wait."' I felt embarrassed to have been so cryptic with him, but I wanted a record of some sort of the real motive behind my calling the conference. If I had told the reporters that alleged visitors were in any way involved, it seemed to me that there was a high probability that my credibility would be destroyed. I hate the idea of repeating predictions because I cannot assess the correctness of the "information" that appears to have come to me through the visitor experience. However, in the past year the atmospheric predictions have emerged as being quite accurate, and I thought it best to mention them in view of the obvious seriousness of the problem that they address.)

Sally: "How many people really feel used? Is that a feeling?"

Mary: "I don't feel it's bad."

Amy: "I wouldn't use that adjective. Things happen in certain places to certain people."