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In 1986, in Shelton, Connecticut, a catastrophic

and unexplained fire broke out, killing 32 people and destroying 50 homes.

After ruling out arson and accident, the Shelton

Police and Fire Department's mysteriously

closed the case, and a 33rd person, survivor Liz Sherman, mysteriously disappeared.

When the investigation into her disappearance

was halted, abruptly just two weeks after it

began, some cried conspiracy and brought up

the name of a long-defung government agency,

the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, or BPRD as it's commonly known.

Disbanted in 1974, could this government agency still be secretly active?

Hello, I'm Jim More, will find out tonight

when investigative journal looks into the BPRD.

It's strange history and its possible involvement in world events, even today.

All on this evening's investigative journal presents, the BPRD, declassified.

I recently spoke with someone, not a conspiracy

theorist, but rather a young woman who lost a friend that day in 1986.

Dorothy Hutchins, childhood friend, and confidant of Liz Sherman.

Dorothy Hutchins was Liz Sherman's

best friend from preschool until the day Liz disappeared.

"You said that you and Liz were childhood friends.

You met in kindergarten.

Talk about anything unusual that you remember happening with Liz.

" The strangest memory of her was one day when

it was during recess, and she was extremely upset.

I didn't really understand why she was upset, and she pulled me away from the

rest of the kids, and she was just sobbing, sobbing hysterically, and was just so tense

upset, and was holding her fist like this

clenched, and she said, and repeated, "I can turn my fingers black. I can't help it.

" Now, since that time, was there anything that

you remember about Liz that strikes you as being odd?

"We're looking back those years in elementary school.

There are random things going on.

There are a lot of fires. Just spontaneous, small fires at school.

" "But do you somehow connect those fires with Liz in your mind?" "I didn't.

Then, now I don't know.

" That kind of stuff doesn't happen to me

anymore, or around me anymore, so it's a bit odd

that those occurrences did happen when I was around her.

Some say that the best evidence linking Liz Sherman's disappearance to the BPRD exists

in the form of this videotape, released last

year by the Justice Department under the Freedom

of Information Act. It depicts a young girl's

birthday party in the early 1980s attended by Liz Sherman.

When we move in on Liz, we can clearly see what appears to be a flame emanating

from her right hand, turning her fingers black,

possible proof of her paranormal abilities.

These frames may be the only evidence of

Liz Sherman's strange powers, explaining why

the BPRD was interested in her in the first place.

"There was a huge fire in Shelton.

A lot of people were killed. Describe that fire and tell us what happened.

" "Well, it was in April of '86 and it was early morning.

Most of us were getting ready

for school and sirens screaming, chaos." "Did you see Liz that day of that fire?"

"I think I saw her standing in the flames.

" "Standing in the flames was she on fire, was

she hurt? She was looking at me. Just standing

there, looking at me, and I was just being pulled away.

" "Just fire flames all around her.

" "You went to a memorial service for a number of the people.

" "Right." "And they read off everyone's name. So what makes you think that

Liz may have survived?" "Well, they didn't list her.

They didn't find her body.

I mean, they didn't find her alive or dead.

" "Do you in your heart think that Liz caused that

fire?" "I don't know." Could the BPRD have had

something to do with Liz Sherman's disappearance

in 1986 or in the catastrophic fire that

killed 32 people? Could it be pulling strings

in Washington to this day? Is the BPRD as

some claim responsible for saving millions of

Americans over the years or for putting us

in unnecessary danger? Recently declassified

documents suggest the latter, while others claim

it is a fraud or a hoax. For the next 30 minutes,

investigative journal will peel away the veneer

and peek into the secret world of the BPRD if it does indeed still exist.

Though the existence of a U.S.-led bureau for paranormal research and defense might

sound far-fetched to some, there's a rich history of U.

S. government agencies involvement with the occult. Dr. Anthony Levy teaches

history and metaphysics at Bellman University.

One of his courses, Occult and government in 20th

century history, explains how various nations

used occultists to shape history in the modern age.

"You point to Rasputin as being the, if you will, father of the occult when you're a big one.

" In terms of influence on a government, I think Rasputin in the 20th century

was probably the, had the most power and the

most influence based on his supposed occult learning.

Now here you have, okay, you've got this scraggly monk. He supposedly had

pessimistic powers and he had convinced Zara

Nicholas, and particularly his wife Alexandra,

that he had the power of saving their son.

There are numerous documented cases of Rasputin

supposedly curing this boy just by whispering in his ears.

"Move forward a bit in history, staying in Europe, focus on the third Reich.

There was a reliance with the third Reich on the occult as well, talk about that.

" They, the third Reich actually developed

what they called the occult bureau, and their

whole thrust of the occult bureau was to try

to harness occult powers for their own use.

How elaborate did the reliance on the occult go with the third Reich?

I think their major thrust was to get a hold

of the spear of destiny, which is, well,

this spear is the spear, the Roman centurion

plunged it into his side when Jesus was on

the cross and the Germans believed, and many

people believed, that the spear, whoever controlled this spear, was invincible.

We know that the US government also toyed with

the idea of paranormal defense. For instance,

in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt formed a group nicknamed The Watch, created to monitor and

combat the enemy's occult bureau with his own brand of paranormal justice.

Most people with the government will tell you

The Watch was simply to monitor the activity

of the third Reich, and see if there was a way to exploit it.

And that people say that this from the watch

that sort of opened the door for US government

involvement in occult powers, and that led to the

BPRD, the bureau for paranormal research and defense.

Now, the US government will claim, yes, there

is a BPRD, but the P never stood for paranormal,

and the organization itself was disbanded in the mid-70s.

Well, they claim they admit there

was a BPRD, but they won't tell you what the P stood for.

If you look at the documents where it's blacked

out, the right number of letters is paranormal.

What other word is there?

To this day, there are operations within the

US government that we hear little or nothing about.

Besides The Watch and the alleged BPRD, we also know about other top-secret government

operations like MK Ultra, a secret government

study into brainwashing and mind control.

And during wartime, we hear about the exploits

of Delta Force, an elite commando unit,

whose existence the US government will not confirm or deny.

Now some new information has come to light

regarding the bureau for paranormal research and defense.

This evidence, consisting of recently

declassified documents and hard physical evidence,

is making its way around the country in the form of a traveling show.

Conway Ricker is an estate lawyer in Kettering, Ohio.

He's also the grandson of US Army General Norton Ricker, a lifelong military

veteran whose records are considered classified.

On his deathbed, General Ricker told his grandson his most closely guarded secrets

about his past association with the BPRD.

This confession altered the course of Conway's life forever.

So you begin a quest and how do you go about piecing together information?

First thing I did is I started looking into

the Freedom of Information Act and found out

that I could get papers concerning my grandfather and the BPRD.

But the problem is once you get them, they're marked out.

Somebody has gone through with

the black marker and marked out most of the information that you're looking for.

So is there any information in these documents

to suggest to you that there is a BPRD?

Oh, BPRD is actually mentioned in there. It says it in there. So we know that that's

real and I was able to go through and from the

bits of information I was able to put together, find the BPRD.

This building located on a New Jersey military

base is the location that Conway Ricker claims is the headquarters of the BPRD.

Though the government permitted us to shoot the exterior

of this building, all requests to go inside

or interview anyone we saw walking in or out

were strictly forbidden. Conway Ricker has a trespassing warrant against him issued by

this military base, requiring him to remain at

least 200 yards from the building at all times.

When you went to this location, the folks

there didn't say this is the BPRD because the

government claims there is no BPRD currently in existence.

Right. Well, I've got memos that say that it does exist. I mean, they claim that

it's been disbanded, but it's still operating.

While some believe that a government agency for paranormal defense is plausible, Ricker

takes it one step further, suggesting a rogue

faction of the bureau that most call absurd.

You said your grandfather, General Norton Ricker worked for the BPRD. What did he do?

My understanding is the time that he was

there, what he told me. He was looking after this, um, hellboy.

There's a lot of people who believe that the

BPRD existed, but, um, it's just the real

fringe theorists who believe in hellboy. I think it's the ones that are out there.

It just like there are people who think that Area 51, well, that may exist.

The people who believe that the U.S. government is actually

reverse engineering UFOs there to figure

out how they work. That's, you know, that's going that far.

Do you worry that by coming forward, people will just think you're a nut? Yeah.

I don't people think I'm a nut. I've lost a lot of clients at my practice.

How about your family? They tolerate it.

Why do you think your grandfather wanted you to pursue this story? I wish you'd told

me why, but I know him, and I know if he told me he wanted me to, it was important.

So I will.

Coming up next, a historical perspective on the U.S. government and the paranormal.

Stay tuned for more of investigative journal, the BPRD declassified.

Welcome back to investigative journal.

Is the BPRD even a real organization? Declassified

document show a mention of its formation in 1943.

If critics are correct, this government agency is not what is widely believed to be

the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense,

rather it is some other entity created by the U.

S. government and presumably dismantled in 1974.

But before we can believe that the government could fight enemies from a paranormal

realm, we first need to know there is a plausible

argument for the existence of the supernatural.

Deb Cronroy's is a research fellow at the

Pinecliff University Parapsychology Program.

When we talk about the paranormal, about

things happening which we can't seem to explain

with science, how do you respond to people who say this is real?

Well, it is real in the sense that it's happening

to them, so it's an event that occurred.

All of my studies are totally scientific.

What have you seen with your own eyes that you

would consider an example of the paranormal?

Well, I've done hundreds of experiments over the 32 years, and I have seen evidence

of telepathy, mind to mind communication, clear voice,

pre-code mission, but we're talking minor evidence of this.

Based on what you've seen in your experiments,

have you ever witnessed anything in the realm

of the paranormal that you could harness either as a weapon or used defensively?

No, absolutely not.

Psychokinesis, which is what you're talking

about, psychokinetic power, which is the ability

to have mind over matter, to move something,

to change the way something, the appearance

of something, the way something looks, to blow something up.

Any kind of extreme power is absolutely impossible.

But Conway Ricker believes differently.

Yeah, it's well-documented known that controlled

and wrote viewing is taking place where they took people that were supposedly had no

psychic abilities whatsoever, and they placed

in a room, and they had them visualize where

they imagined a target to be, and the results were amazing.

They were 75% accurate.

You've got a nice life in Ohio, you've got kids, you've got a wife, you're a lawyer.

Why would you risk everything?

Just to prove the existence of Hellboy and the BPRD?

Hopefully, they'll come forth and say, "Yes,

this is something that we did, we're involved in."

We created, I don't know, they created them

stolen, whatever, somehow we got Hellboy, and we've used him in military action.

Is there any doubt in your mind that Hellboy is real?

Now, Hellboy is real.

Read the book of Ephesians.

You know, it talks about spiritual warfare,

demons and angels, battling, supernatural battles taking place.

What kind of proof do you have that there is, in fact, a Hellboy?

Well, I have actual physical proof, which is,

I have a horn that I believe is from Hellboy.

Hellboy.

Ricker would not allow us to examine the alleged

horn, but he did furnish us with this photograph.

There was an explosion at a state in Scotland,

and in the rubble of the explosion, this horn was found.

The man that owned this was well known and

well documented to be involved in the occult.

But is there anything to prove the existence

of this so-called Hellboy without hard proof

like Conway Ricker's alleged horn, it's easy to say there is no proof.

What other proof, if any, do you have that suggests the existence of Hellboy?

Well, there's a photo.

A photo that I believe is Hellboy.

It's a group of soldiers, a German World War II, and it's blurry, but you can make

out a figure that's obviously not human, it looks like some type of creature.

I'm joined in studio with Nate Hyannis, a retired

official with the United States Department of Defense, who claims that all of the

stories about the BPRD are pure fantasy, and

by satellite with Michael, who has chosen to have his real

identity and face obscured for personal security reasons.

Michael claims to be a former agent for the

BPRD, though he wants to be clear he does not fear reprisals from the Bureau.

He is concerned that if people knew who he was, they would be able to track back to

the Bureau itself and then cause harm to his friends still there.

Is that right, Michael?

That's true, Jim.

Thank you.

Welcome to both of you.

First to Nate, if the BPRD is not the Bureau

for Paranormal Research and Defense, what is it?

Well, Jim, basically the BPRD was a mechanism

of the United States Department of Defense.

There was a mission was highly classified, so it's not much to go into there, but one

thing I can tell you is that the BPRD did not stand for paranormal.

Michael, we hear no paranormal, not active.

What do you say?

Both are incorrect there, Jim.

So what is the BPRD?

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense

is very active and very much alive today,

basically what the BPRD does is it investigates

paranormal phenomena that can't be explained with conventional science.

Well, Nate, we know that the United States

government has dabbled into the realm of the paranormal in the past.

Why would you dispute that?

Well, first of all, I don't dispute that.

Excuse me.

The government used many voodoo type of...

Well, I'm glad it isn't disputed, but I wouldn't call it voodoo.

In fact, I'll go and remind everybody, let me rephrase that, okay?

The government did use certain hokey type

of methods to gather information, especially back in World War II.

However, back 50 years ago, they realized

that it was a waste of time, they're wasting

valuable resources, money on paranormal research.

Well, actually, that's incorrect, because remote

viewing has been used and still used today.

In fact, there's a very high accuracy rate.

Michael, you're hiding behind the screen and

you're claiming to be part of a long position and it doesn't exist.

We have to talk one at a time.

Michael, respond to that if you could.

Not a problem.

A lot of agencies exist that our government supports that.

That's true, and I don't know.

That's not public knowledge.

That's a clear answer on all levels from the Department of Defense.

Not that high, I've read your file, but for you to sit back and say that our government

doesn't support certain departments, what would

really call into question your credibility.

For example, the Delta Force, some of those, in question what's your inability.

I mean, there are some who are talking about

the government for a long time or the government which is 12 years.

Gentlemen, hold on both of the official line from the U.

S. government is that funding for the BPRD ceased in the mid '70s, Michael,

you claim that it's a secret organization in effect.

Very secret.

Not over in secret, yes.

Nate, what do you say?

I would say that, first of all, Michael, don't question my patriotism.

Don't question your patriotism.

Don't answer your question.

The government doesn't spend money on

boogeymen, on little green men from Mars or the tooth fur.

We don't defend our country with big fight, Michael.

What our government doesn't spend money last

before we're running out of time, Michael?

Unfortunately, we have a need for a BPRD, I

wish we didn't, but we do, and our government

spends money on that to defend our country.

And that is unfortunately the final word,

clearly, this is a controversy, we'll not be settled here.

Thank you both.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

This is welcome.

Thank you.

So, are we to believe there is actually an agency of the federal government whose main

task is to rid us of threats from the paranormal

realm, or are we to believe that there are people like Conway Ricker, a tax lawyer

who have left reality and their own credibility

to search for creatures such as the elusive Hellboy?

I can already see in some circles I'm a laughing stock.

But it's important enough for me to suffer

that, to be that laughing stock, to help reveal

what I believe is the truth, what I know is the truth.

And one of the personal lives that are touched,

18 years later, will Dorothy Hutchins ever

know what happened to her best childhood friend?

I've no reason to believe that she's not with us.

I'm confused, but I hope that one day I'll see her again.

Regardless of the lies that have been spread

to either prop up or deny the existence of

the BPRD, at its heart lies a palpable mystery.

The efforts of hardworking people using the

freedom of information act as a rallying cry

have not yet uncovered what might be the first real mystery of the new millennium.

I'm Jim More, thank you for watching.