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Nobody, but nobody, hates a "conspiracy" theory more than I. I consider them products hatched in the minds of ignorant"--and I use that term in the literal, not the connotative, realm--people who are more obsessed with fancy than fact.
That being said, I am about to discuss a "conspiracy theory" that I read about in the book, Night Fall by Nelson Deville about the crash of Flight 800. This is the third of his books that I have read.
DeVille, who lives on Long Island's Gold Coast, likes to set his books in that region. In fact, he has a novel, titled Gold Coast, which I would rate a "9", a story that both men and women would like about the famed region of Long Island once inhabited by the likes of the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, and other fabulously wealthy families.
Night Fall is an historical, fictionalized story, which takes as its central theme the possibility of a "cover-up" on the crash of Flight 800 just off the coast of Long Island July 17, 1996.
I remember this crash quite well. It was a TWA Boeing 747 Jumbo jet flight that had just taken off from JFK Airport ten minutes previously bound for Paris when it exploded in mid-air off the coast of Long Island and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. All 230 souls were lost.
I recall that the very first stories I heard on the news were that a number of witnesses had seen something streaking from the Atlantic toward the plane; that this object turned and seemed to lock on to the plane, which then disintegrated, crashing into the water.
"Almost at once, eyewitnesses were being interviewed on radio and TV who reported that something strange had preceded the explosion of the 747. Witnesses, many on the ground, reported seeing a bright object "streaking" towards the 747. The object in question turned in midair as it closed on the jumbo jet. Witnesses reported horizontal travel, as well as vertical. The broad geographical range covered by the eyewitnesses eliminates foreground/background confusion. To be seen as being near the 747 from so many different directions, the bright object had to actually be in the immediate vicinity of the 747.
Other pilots in the air reported seeing a bright light near the jumbo jet before it exploded.
In the days following the disaster, many industry executives privately concluded that TWA 800 had been shot down. " https://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CRASH/TWA/twa.php
Based on the reliability and credibility of the eyewitness accounts, news agencies and stations began reporting that the plane had apparently been shot down by some sort of missile,,,either by friendly fire or by terrorists. The navy was conducting exercises in the area and had several submarines close by when the accident occurred.
Was The Bright Object A Missile?
The descriptions given by the eyewitnesses and by pilots in the area (including an Air France crew) are not inconsistent with a missile. No alternative explanation for the bright object has been forthcoming.
ABC World News Sunday, 07/21/96, interviewed witness Lou Desyron, who reported, "We saw what appeared to be a flare going straight up. As a matter of fact, we thought it was from a boat. It was a bright reddish-orange color. ...once it went into flames, I knew that wasn't a flare."
The Washington Times, on July 24th, 1996, reported. "Several witnesses...saw a bright, flare-like object streaking toward the jumbo jet seconds before it blew up. ABC News said yesterday that the investigators had more then 100 eyewitness accounts supporting the [ missile ] theory."
The New York Post, in its story of September 22, 1996, reported,
Law-enforcement sources said the hardest evidence gathered so far overwhelmingly suggests a surface-to-air missile...
The FBI interviewed 154 "credible" witnesses -- including scientists, schoolteachers, Army personnel and business executives -- who described seeing a missile heading through the sky just before TWA 800 exploded.
"Some of these people are extremely, extremely credible," a top federal official said.
FBI technicians mapped the various paths -- points in the sky where the witnesses said they saw the rising "flare-like" object -- and determined that the "triangulated" convergence point was virtually where the jumbo jet initially exploded.
The New York Times, on July 19th, 1996, reported,
" [ Witnesses reported ] a "streak of light" hitting the plane just before it blew up."
And perhaps most tellingly, from the Associated Press, on September 23, 1996,
"...a source...said on condition of anonymity... ``There's metal bent in, metal bent out. Metal you can't tell. I see a hole going in and a hole going out..."(All quotes See reference above for source)
So, all the initial reports coming from the news, from eyewitnesses, and even from law enforcement supported the supposition that the jumbo jet had been hit by some sort of missile.
The question was: "If so, who fired it, from where, and why?
Tomorrow, we will examine those questions.
