My name is Sandy Nichols. I am one of the people mentioned so prominently in the March 2000 issue of the Life Magazine article about UFOs and related subjects. The purpose of this rebuttal will focus mainly on the flagrant inaccuracies written about me, the people I associate with, the article in general, and what I strongly suspect is the true intent of the writer, Ms.. Cynthia Fox and Life Magazine.

HOW IT BEGAN

On Jan 6, 2000 I received an email from Ms. Fox, stating that she was writing the cover story for the March issue of Life Magazine and was interested in attending meetings or events occurring in the month of January. I promptly sent back an email reply to Ms. Fox, stating that I might be able to help her out. I explained to her that some friends and I gather about twice a month, and that we had a Gathering scheduled for late January. Due to [her deadline], I arranged to have the Gathering moved forward by a week to Jan 18. Over the next few weeks we exchanged a few more emails and talked on the phone several times. During one of the phone conversations I shared with her some good news. Toward the end of 1999, I was asked to Co-Host a new talk show called the "TENN FILES", and it was debuting on Jan 17. Ms. Fox was very excited about this and arranged her schedule to fly into Nashville on the 17th and to be at my house in time for the debut.

At 8:30pm on Jan 17, Ms. Fox arrived at my home one hour late and just thirty minutes before the debut of the radio program. I walked out the front door, down the sidewalk to the driveway and greeted Ms. Fox. She apologized for being late. I told her that we still had plenty of time before the program aired. As we neared the front door Ms. Fox said, "You have a nice place." Then she stated, "It must be worth well over a million dollars." I was rather floored that she said this, but came back with a quick reply. I told her maybe in New York where she lived it might be worth that much, but outside of Nashville there was no way. And I let that discussion die. I hoped that she would not ask any more questions about the value of things I owned. Little did I know that Ms.. Fox was going to draw her own conclusions on this topic and many others that we did and did not discuss.

A CONTRADICTION?

"It's easy to write off the UFO phenomenon as a form of mass hysteria, or as a function of a paranoid streak that runs deep through American life, or as a symptom of mental illness. But it also represents a belief -- no more irrational than a belief in God -- that we are not alone. As long as scientists continue to probe the skies looking for signs of life, as long as humans can imagine, those beliefs will be with us. Indeed, 54 percent of Americans say they believe intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe. Not all of them are crackpots."

[Those] are Editor's Notes from Mr. Robert Friedman, Assistant Managing Editor of Life Magazine, page 9. It is not very hard to see a contradiction between the editor's notes and the article itself. Mr. Friedman seems to give the UFO subject a bit of credibility and imply that Life Magazine has an open mind. Yet an editor at Life Magazine (Mr. Friedman?), had to give final approval for the story written by Ms. Fox.

The article basically attacks the credibility of everyone but [astrobiologist] Chris McKay, and for reasons unknown, Ms.. Fox tends to single me out for the most damage. After reading the article, I found it better suited for the weekly tabloids.

The total time spent by Ms. Fox and myself in private conversation was 5 hours. The rest of the time spent by Ms. Fox in this area was interviewing others that I had introduced to her. Most of what Ms. Fox wrote about me and what she reported I said, was either misquoted, misconstrued, taken totally out of context, or came very close to fabrication. Most of the things I really said to Ms. Fox I have said before during radio interviews, in my writings, speaking at conferences and to my friends. All of these are a matter of record.

I knew that when I took the bold step of coming forward with my abductions and felt called by God to speak out, that there would be close-minded individuals who would take pot shots at me. I have always stated that I respect the opinions, ideas and theories of others even though they may not be mine. I have found, though, that some people and publications have no respect for those that go against the status-quo. I do not mind speaking with those that disagree with me or find it impossible to believe that UFOs and abductions are real, as long as they don't slam me and make me to look like a fool with nothing better to do. In my opinion, Ms. Fox and Life Magazine did just this. In a very short period of time she judged me, found me guilty and tried to carry out the death sentence of character assassination.

WHAT I REALLY SAID

"Sandy Nichols is on the phone, seeking earthlings. He doesn't need to look for extraterrestrial life. It found him 42 years ago, he says, when he was kidnapped asleep and deposited in a flying saucer, as he would be many more times," Cynthia Fox wrote.

I was doing my Co-Hosting duties, getting ready to debut the new radio program on KRVL 103.1FM in Tucson, AZ.

My first abduction was at the age of six (now 48), on a sunny day in the backyard of my grandmother's home in East Nashville.

"His mission is to tell humans what aliens want, which is to create a new race because they lost their emotions -- or whatever (he hasn't nailed the details)," Cynthia Fox wrote.

I feel called by God to use the gift of talk that I seem to have. It is a theory of mine, shared by many others but not written in stone. I may awaken tomorrow morning with a new theory about the whole abduction issue.

"So he's planning... a gathering that includes his support group, which helps abductees through the 'UFO divorces' many have after they 'come out of the UFO closet'," Cynthia Fox wrote.

It is not my Group. It is nobody's group. We are a myriad of individual people with different ideas, opinions, theories and beliefs, who get together about every two weeks to share. It is not a support group for divorced people. She misquoted this and turned this around. I told her that I have dealt with many abductees that said their spouses do not understand what has happened to them after they have shared with them. I said that this sharing has sometimes led to divorce.

I have my own group called ARG (Alien Research Group). I help find psychologists, psychiatrists and support groups for people that believe they may have been abducted or have already come to that realization. I am also associated with the NightSearch Organization, www.NightSearch.net, in Memphis, TN, headed by Eddie Middleton. I coordinate the "TENN FILES" section of this group.

"The ex-wife has joint custody of his human kids; extraterrestrials have full custody of his alien kids; he's afraid to go to bed. And staring up at the stars, this college-educated husband of a former Air Force captain -- and son of a millionaire -- may cry, as he often does, at the horror, the wonder, the whatever of it all," Cynthia Fox wrote.

I have three children and I do share custody with my ex-wife. I have been shown two of my Hybrid children. I do not even know what an "Alien Kid" looks like. I have never been shown any. As I stated earlier, I would not and never discussed money issues. I used to cry at one time out of fear, of questioning my own sanity before I came to accept that the abductions were real. I still cry on occasion, when the pressures of what I have experienced weigh heavily upon me. As for me, Ms. Fox, I wear this distinction with honor, knowing that I have been blessed with emotions, unlike some people I have met.

"But we also want to believe aliens are conspiring against us, making money off us, abducting us. Why? Are we that bored? This at first seems true when abductee Sandy Nichols turns out to be a man who hasn't had to work for years and lives in a lush Nashville suburb. A friendly sort in a polo shirt, he introduces two college-educated, 40-something friends. Tony, a photographer, who says he spied a UFO that filled a third of the sky, is suing the government with Citizens Against UFO Secrecy.... But when Tony plays a video of an alleged sighting, and a saucer (or trick of light) slowly appears, there is a breakout-the-popcorn air. Boo. It's about boredom," Cynthia Fox wrote.

I can't figure out the "aliens making money off of us." Does Ms. Fox have an inside source that has told her about the alien's monetary system?

Ms. Fox, I clearly told you my past working history. I worked in the family business for almost twenty years full time until it was sold in 1989. I also told you I did some writing and was working with a lady trying to get published a new children's picture book series. I told you that as late as summer 1998 I was working for a national retail company. Do you want to see my W-2 forms for proof?

Why did you not tell them about my group ARG, and how I do not charge a penny for this service?

Back in July 1996, when I could no longer dismiss the abductions to one status-quo explanation after another, I began a search to see if this stuff was real. I was hurting and needed someone to share with. It was not an easy process. It was a long and arduous task to find people, but I did. Then I knew that I was not alone.

For your information, Ms. Fox, I am struggling financially. All the things that you saw, I had before I ever got into this field. I am proud of what I have accomplished in my life, but I have worked hard, harder than you can ever imagine. Since the summer of 1998, I have devoted my life to finding the answers that I so desperately need... My lovely, dear and supportive wife has had to carry the burden of supporting us for the last year and a half. She doesn't quite understand what has happened to me, but she believes in what I am doing, and me.

Ms. Fox, if you had the slightest understanding of what this field is about, then maybe, just maybe, it would have not been so boring... I don't understand how you could be with us for that period of time, take all the notes you did, and get things so screwed up, unless it was intentional.

[Note: Nichols provides many more examples of Fox's misquotes and general mistreatment of her subject.]

As you can clearly see, the article is flooded with inaccuracies. This surprises me very much. A few weeks ago I got a call from a lady named Megan. She stated that she worked for Life Magazine as a "Fact" checker. Many of the misquotes and other problems that I attribute to Ms. Fox were gone over by Megan and myself. It makes me wonder once again how Ms. Fox could get so many things wrong.

One last thing: The front cover of the March issue should have been a good hint or dire warning as to the mindset of Life Magazine and Ms. Fox. Three young actors are posing for the cover photo. These actors portray certain characters in the TV series "Roswell". But the most interesting thing about the front cover is the photo of UFOs that one is holding directly facing the camera. I had seen that photo in a book and I went searching for it. Low and behold, where did I find it? In a 1987 book called "The UFO Phenomenon" published by Time-Life. On page 96 of this book is the exact photo that the actor is holding, and according to the caption in the book, the photo is a fake. I have one question: Why did Life, knowing the photo was a fake, place it on the front cover if they were going to write a serious and unbiased story on UFOs?