By Torre Nelson

November 3, 2023

In the 1980s while working at Control Data, MUFON member Bill McNeff met a co-worker named Bob Schultz.  An Electrical Engineer, Bob shared many common interests with Bill and they became great life-long friends.  Because of Bob’s interest in UFOs, Bill suggested several times throughout the 80’s that Bob start attending local MUFON meetings with him.  However, Bob was reluctant to engage in another endeavor as his work, his hobby as a private pilot, and other extra-curricular activities left little free time in his schedule.  Upon his retirement in 1989, Bob finally decided to accept his dear friend’s offer to join MUFON.  Bill knew that Bob would be a great contributor to MUFON and his instincts proved true.

As a young man, Bob attended college at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.  He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE).  Bob graduated with 50 other BSEE students and all 50 were offered jobs with Remington Rand, Inc.  However, Bob’s offer was different from the other 49 students.  Bob was offered a job with Remington Rand, Inc.’s military division while the remaining students were offered jobs in Remington Rand’s commercial division.  The new hires for the commercial division started their jobs immediately, but when Bob showed up for work, he was told that he could not start until he got his “Secret” security clearance.  Bob spent a month reading books in the library across the street from the Remington Rand factory building in St. Paul until he was granted his clearance.

According to Wikipedia, Remington Rand, Inc. was originally a typewriter manufacturer but, during World War II, Remington Rand produced pistols for the war effort.  After the war, the pistol manufacturing contracts dried up so Remington Rand went back to manufacturing typewriters.  Then in 1950 Remington Rand purchased the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation which had produced the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer.  In 1951, Remington Rand produced their first computer called the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer).  Subsequently in 1952, Remington Rand purchased a mathematics company called Engineering Research Associates (ERA) which was a pioneer in electronic computing.  ERA had originally been a division of the Navy called ”Communications Supplementary Activity – Washington” (“CSAW” for short), which had been instrumental in building electronic machinery to help decipher the Japanese codes in WWII.  However, cryptography needs were also greatly diminished after the war.  Joseph Wenger of the Navy’s crypto-analytic group was particularly worried that the CSAW team would spread to various companies and the Navy would lose their ability to quickly design new deciphering machines.  Therefore, in 1946, three members of the CSAW team, Joseph Wenger, William Norris, and Howard Engstrom, formed ERA to build scientific computers.  (Note:  “CSAW” was later changed to “NSA” – an abbreviation for “National Security Agency.”  The change to “NSA” was classified until 1977 so Congress used the reference “No Such Agency” until 1977 to refer to the renamed agency.)  The Navy sold their obsolete glider factory, located at Prior and Minnehaha in St. Paul, to ERA for $1 and moved the founders and 40 of the ERA\CSAW team to St. Paul.  The ERA team was not happy about being purchased by a typewriter company but they operated within Remington Rand as a separate division from 1952 until Remington Rand’s merger with Sperry Corporation in 1955 (from which Sperry Rand was formed).  ERA’s division was then merged with the UNIVAC division which resulted in most of ERA’s work being dropped.  This led to several employees leaving to set up a company called Control Data and William Norris was elected its first president.  With William Norris at the helm, Control Data grew into a corporate giant which successfully competed against giant International Business Machines (IBM), but that is another legendary story.  For now, this history provides the basis for Bill and Bob’s early work history at Control Data upon which their friendship was formed.

After retiring in December of 1989, Bob became active in MUFON and attended several events including events related to crop circles and eventually UFOs.  Bob recalled paying several hundred dollars to attend a crop circle conference in early 1993 at the World Theatre (now the Fitzgerald Theatre) in St. Paul.  The conferences was sponsored by the Center for the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (CSETI).  The event featured Dr. Steven Greer, now a renowned ufologist who is currently leading the disclosure movement.  At the conference, Dr. Greer was teaching individuals and groups how to make contact with crop circle makers using meditative techniques.  Bob remembers that the conference included an overnight in the field near Zimmerman, Minnesota, with Dr. Greer.  At this overnight outing in which Bob participated, Dr. Greer’s group failed to get crop circle makers to show themselves; however, other CSETI groups at other events were successful and saw several crop circles.  In May of 1993, Bob traveled to Alton Barnes, England (West of London) to attend a conference conducted by Dr. Steven Greer’s CSETI team.  From a ridge in the countryside, the group (including Bob) tried to visualize in their minds a triangle with circles on each point of the triangle.  They did not see a crop circle being formed that night because of poor weather conditions.  But the next day a local farmer reported that a crop circle had been formed in a nearby field.  Amazingly, the crop circle was identical to the visualized image Greer’s group had conveyed the previous night on the ridge. This event spurred Bob’s interest in crop circles and led to his investigation of several other crop circles.

In late September and early October of 1994, Bob held his own meditation sessions in his home in Minnesota.  Through meditation Bob asked the circle-makers to create a crop circle in Minnesota.  Then while watching TV on October 7^th, Bob saw several TV news stations report a new crop circle in Milaca, Minnesota.  Bob contacted Nancy Talbot, head of MUFON’s BLT (Burke, Levengood and Talbot) Crop Circle Research Team (http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/column/blt97b.html – the group is no longer active) and was given the protocol for collecting samples in and around the crop circle.  Bob visited the sight and collected the samples.  Per BLT’s instructions, Bob had to dry the corn stalks before sending them to Dr. Levengood for analysis – apparently there are laws about the shipment of live plants over state lines.  Bob hung the corn stalks in his garage until they dried and then he shipped them to Dr. Levengood who analyzed them.  Later in 1994, Bob was asked to investigate another crop circle, this time it was located in Blaine, Minnesota – North of Main Street and East of Hwy 65.  Bob determined that this was not a legitimate crop circle but rather was a simple circle allegedly made by a landed UFO – there were no artistic elements to the circle.  Bob did collect a white powdery substance and noticed that the cockleburs had scrape marks on the leaves and stems.  Bob also took photos from his plane as he flew over the site.  He had two sets of photos made and gave one set to the owner of the field, he kept the other set.  In November of 1994, the St. Paul Science Museum conducted a UFO symposium that several Minnesota MUFON members, including Bob, attended.  While at the symposium, a stranger in a suit and tie approached Bob and asked him if he was the one who took photos of the Blaine crop circle.  He asked if Bob would give him a set of the photos.  After Bob told him that he would have to get copies developed, the stranger asked him to send him the photos.  Bob felt that the stranger may have been a CIA agent, so he never made any more copies and he never sent the stranger the pictures.  One month later, Bob attended his first UFO related conference in Mesquite, Nevada where a similar thing happened.  While there another stranger approached Bob and asked for copies of the Blaine crop circle photos.  Bob did not give the stranger copies, nor did Bob ever have any more copies of the crop circle photos made.  But the story did not end there.  In 1995, the Blaine crop circle land owner contacted Bob to tell him that someone had broken into their home, found the crop circle photos and stole them – nothing else in the house was missing.  Strange events indeed!

In September 1996, Bob investigated a local crop circle in Pease, Minnesota.  This was the last crop circle Bob investigated locally due to all the work involved with documenting, collecting and shipping samples.  However, this wasn’t the last crop circle Bob visited.  In 1997 Bob took a trip to England and France.  After spending 5 weeks in France, Bob went to England for a week.  During the visit to England, Bob heard about two new crop circles and he decided to visit them.  MUFON Minnesota member Joe Dunavic’s son, Wayne, lived in England and, although he was a skeptic, he agreed to drive Bob out to see the circles.  The first circle was near Morestead, England.  Bob did not have an address for the crop circles but somehow the directions just popped into his mind as they drove.  He told Wayne to “take the diagonal road on the left” and the crop circle would be just after passing a “hill with a forest of trees.”  Sure enough, they found the crop circle exactly as Bob’s directions had foretold.  The second crop circle was near Devizes, a town of 17,000 people.  It was a dreary day and the drizzle of rain made the gravel roads wet and there were many potholes filled with water.  Again Bob did not have directions but told Wayne to take the “main road out of town to the North” (A361) and “you will come to a T in the road, park there and walk the ridge to see the crop circle.”  They drove several kilometers without coming to the end of the road, but they did come across a young woman on horseback.  They asked the young lady if she knew about the crop circle and she told them they were close and gave them the directions – her directions were exactly the same as Bob had given Wayne.  Sure enough, they found the crop circle.  Wayne was amazed!

In 1994 MUFON’s National Ham Radio Coordinator died under suspicious circumstances.  His name was Gerald Johnson but everyone called him “Ron” and his ham radio call name was “WA5RON.”  Bob knew Ron as Bob was also a ham radio operator who had been active for many years.  Ron was also an avid scuba diver and spelunker even into his later years.  His obituary is listed in the July 1994 MUFON Journal.  Ron Johnson had joined MUFON in 1973 and eventually became the National MUFON Ham Radio Coordinator and the Deputy Director of UFO Investigations for MUFON Texas.  He was also on the MUFON Board of Directors Executive Committee.  Ron was originally from Ohio, but had been in Texas for many years working for a company called “Earth Tech International (ETI).”  ETI had been founded in 1985 by Harold “Hal” Puthoff for the purpose of commercializing advances in energy generation and propulsion.  Hal Puthoff was also interested in “remote viewing” and “anti-gravity technology” and these interests may have played a role in Ron Johnson’s death.  In 1994, Ron Johnson attended a technical conference in Austin, Texas.  During a break, Ron took a drink from a cup, let out a sigh and immediately died.  Everyone believed his death was natural but Bob heard something disturbing some time afterwards.  Shortly after Ron’s death, Bob was offered Ron’s job as MUFON’s National Ham Radio Coordinator which he accepted.  After Bob accepted this new assignment, he received a call from a medical doctor in Austin, Texas.  The doctor thanked him for taking over the new ham radio position with MUFON and indicated that he knew why Ron Johnson had been assassinated.  He told Bob that Ron had worked on several top secret projects while with ETI.  He indicated that Ron often disappeared for weeks at a time and couldn’t even tell his family where he went, how long he would be gone, or when he would return.  The doctor told Bob that the reason Ron had been killed was because he had violated his security clearance with other ham radio operators – he had informed them of his location several times by sending them a newsletter in 8 ½ x 11 envelopes showing the postmark from places he was in.  The doctor told Bob not to worry about his new position as Bob did not have any ties to ETI or any security clearances.  Bob indicated that there were 40-50 ham radio operators when he took over the ham radio job, but the number dwindled over time due to the advances in the internet (people found their UFO answers online) and Bob closed down the ham radio network in 2020.

It was in July of 1995 that Bob attended the National MUFON symposium in Detroit, Michigan, and it was there that he had his first inspiration to record the Minnesota MUFON speakers.  This idea stuck in Bob’s head until 2000 when Bob found a community TV station in Roseville that was offering classes for recording TV productions.  Bob began taking classes in video production.  Bob then completed the following videos that are still on the Minnesota MUFON’s YouTube channel:

Date                       Title

Sept 1, 2001       Media UFO Censorship by Terry Hanson

Sept 16, 2003    Presidents know about UFOs by Grant Cameron

Oct 11, 2003      ET Abduction Case Study – Deborah Lindeman

May 19, 2005    Canadien Government UFO Investigations – Grant Cameron

April 14, 2007    UFO Physical Trace Evidence by Ted Phillips

Due to his experience and willingness, Bob was also involved with the recording of many UFO conferences including MUFON National Symposiums from 2005 to 2012.  He began as a camera operator but quickly became the director before taking over as the producer.  There was a lot of prep work for each conference and the conferences were non-stop production work.  Then all the editing took place after the conference ended.  It was a tremendous effort and consumed much time.  Conferences paid Bob’s airfare and hotel, but not his meals or his time.  Despite the effort, time, and miscellaneous expenses, Bob enjoyed all of it.

In mid-1990s, Bob agreed to teach elementary school students about the UFO topic.  Bob was partaking in an aerobics class that was taught by Bob’s friend, Ron Sweeley.  In addition to leading aerobics classes, Ron was also a teacher at Pike Lake Elementary School in the Moundsview school district.  Quite often after aerobics, Bob and Ron would meet for breakfast at McDonalds in New Brighton before Ron went to his teaching job.  At one of these meetings, Ron suggested that Bob teach UFO classes for Ron’s 5^th grade students.  The idea appealed to Bob because he felt he could introduce students to the sciences, help them overcome the intimidation of the technical side of science and mathematics, stimulate their imagination and encourage their ability to think for themselves.  Bob developed the curriculum for “The History, Science and Politics of UFOs” class and, in the fall of 1995, he taught three classes of 2 hours each.  Students were asked to get their parent’s permission to attend the courses.  The first year, parents were invited to attend with their student.  Enrollment was limited to the first 14 students to return the permission slips.  Over 60 permission slips were returned and 25 students showed up for the first class.  The students were fascinated by the topic.  The class got a great reception and there were no complaints.  One parent told Bob that, after her daughter attended the class, her daughter decided she wanted to become an astronaut.  She purchased a telescope and started doing ground training – all because the class spurred her imagination.  A few years later while Bob was shopping at a local store, a man recognized Bob as the teacher of the UFO class – the man’s daughter that had taken the class.  He told Bob that the class had a big impact on his daughter’s decision to become an astronaut.  She was now in astronaut training in Huntsville, Alabama.  Bob did not know where the other students ended up but he did hear from the school’s administration that all the students that were in the class he had taught had attained advanced educational achievement.  The class was so successful that in 1996 Bob was asked to teach the course over a 10-week period and the class length was reduced to 1 ½ hours.  On May 15, 1996, an article written by Denise Becker titled “Bridging the Gap” was published in The New Brighton-Moundsview “Bulletin.”  The article was about schools that brought in professional experts to teach supplementary courses to give students a new perspective on many different topics.  Bob’s class on UFOs was highlighted in the article.  On November 5^th, 1996, a shortened version of that article was also published in the Minnesota Education Association’s “Advocate” – a statewide newsletter.  The Moundsview Community Education staff saw the article and asked Bob to teach Community Education classes to adults.  These classes, over several years, evolved into more advanced courses.

During my interview with Bob, he mentioned that he may have been abducted during the Great Northeastern Blackout in 1965.  His story can be found in a 1-hour video on youtube.com with the title, “Blackout 1965 – Bob Schultz 4/11/2015” but I will summarize it here.  In November of 1965, Bob was working for Data Display Incorporated out of St. Paul but was sent to Bethpage NY to help install a new display for Grumman Aircraft.  On November 9^th at 5:15 p.m., power went out over much of the Northeast USA including all of New York state.  The power outage disrupted everyone’s work, so Bob went back to his hotel.  Since there was no TV or anything else to do without lights or power, Bob went to bed about 8:30 pm.  Power was restored during the early morning so Bob got up and went to work the next morning as usual.  Two days later Bob had a rather odd experience.  To get to his work area at Grumman, Bob had to walk through the typing pool room.  The typing pool room was usually filled with young ladies who would listen to tape recordings and then transcribe the tapes to print via typewriters.  This particular morning, as Bob was walking through the typing pool room, a young lady that he did not know jumped up in front of him and stared at his face from an uncomfortably close distance.  Everyone in the room was watching. She then asked if she could touch Bob’s nose.  Startled Bob didn’t know what was happening but he agreed to let her touch him.  She then ran her finger up and down along Bob’s right nostril.  Looking distraught, she then abruptly ran out of the room never to return.  Bob immediately asked her co-worker what that was all about.  The co-worker responded that the departed employee thought she knew Bob from someplace and she had been watching Bob for a couple of days.  She also added that the departed employee said that if she knew Bob from where she thinks it was, she did not want to have anything to do with Bob ever again.  Bob was perplexed but went back to work and didn’t begin to connect the dots until one year later when Bob read a Popular Mechanic magazine article about UFO’s causing the power outage.  The article also indicated that hundreds of people may have been abducted during the outage.  Thirty years later, in 1996, Bob was attending a UFO conference in Minneapolis when he saw a book written by Budd Hopkins called “Witnessed.”  The book described the 1965 early morning abduction of Linda Cortile where she was abducted out of her apartment.  As she and three small “gray” beings were being floated in a blue light up into a hovering UFO, the scene was witnessed by several people including the leader of the United Nations and his body guard and driver.  The book talked about an implant in Linda’s nose.  While visiting a doctor about a bump in her nose, the doctor asked Linda who had done the surgery to her nose.  Linda responded that she had never had surgery in her nose, but the doctor was adamant that she did have nose surgery in her past.  This bothered Linda so much that she asked a psychologist to regress her back to when she had surgery.  Of course, her regression showed that an implant had been placed in her nose during her UFO abduction.  This information sparked some intrigue for Bob as he had an issue breathing out of his nose during sleep since the blackout in 1965.  In late 2000 or early 2001, Bob decided to have his doctor look into his nose issue.  Without telling the doctor about a possible implant, the doctor ordered an x-ray.  After reviewing the x-ray, the doctor said Bob had nose surgery in the past and he believed that there was some scar tissue from the surgery that was causing the problem.  The doctor suggested that Bob see a nose specialist.  Bob did not remember ever having surgery but wondered if he had been abducted and had an implant like Linda Cortile.  Bob went to the nose specialist who ran a CT scan of Bob’s head.  He confirmed that Bob had surgery in the past in his right nostril which Bob did not remember.  He told Bob that the blockage would have to be removed in order for him to breath better.  A date was set for surgery.  However, before the surgery was performed, Bob asked the specialist if anything negative could happen.  The specialist responded that the blockage was very close to the base of the brain and there was a slight possibility that the brain could be touched or even punctured causing other problems to arise.  This was enough for Bob to make the decision to live with the blockage and cancel the surgery.  This whole event with Bob’s nose was very similar to Linda Cortile’s experience and Bob began to wonder if Linda was the girl who touched his nose in the typing pool back in Bethpage, New York in 1965.  Linda would have been about the same age as that young girl.  It just so happened that in 1999 Bob attended a MUFON conference in Arlington, VA, where Linda Cortile was in attendance.  They met and Bob asked Linda if she could have been the girl in the typing pool who touched his nose.  Linda indicated that she also had been abducted during the blackout but that she was not the young lady in the Grumman typing pool.  Bob never did find out who that young girl was.

The contributions Bob Schultz has given to MUFON, both at the State and National levels, have been numerous, timely, insightful and generous.  His education and work experience are extensive and his credibility is genuine and without reproach.  Bob has a scientific mind that is sharp and well-organized.  He is a delight to talk to and work with.  He is a fountain of knowledge that we cannot afford to lose.  This tome was created to recognize his contributions and to save knowledge of his experiences for posterity.  Thank you, Bob, for all you have contributed to MUFON throughout the years.