I first read Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper about 12 years ago, and I remember having to put it down several times … not because it wasn’t compelling, but because it was too compelling. It forced me to think about such unsettling scenarios that even I — an open-minded journalist who is always searching for the truth —got sick to my stomach considering Cooper’s implications. If he was telling the truth, it would turn reality on its head. History, as we were taught and thought we knew, would become a fairytale — a blatant lie perpetrated by a group of very powerful, malevolent individuals who would go to any lengths to manipulate and control the vast majority of human beings.

We’ve all heard about the Illuminati and other secret organizations that are the true power brokers of the world. Conspiracy theories rule the day, as many of us try to figure out why things are so rotten on this planet and how it got this way. And when our leaders fail to use logic and rational thinking to make things better, we start to consider that much more sinister motives might dictate certain political agendas. Yet for the most part, the answer is pretty straightforward. Politics is politics, and most politicians today are simply too beholden to special interest groups to do the right thing anymore.

But below this incompetence and general lack of leadership lies something entirely different and more sinister. It’s the idea of a reality so nightmarish that most of us would prefer to bury our heads in the sand then confront it, despite compelling evidence to its existence. After all, wouldn’t you rather watch Dancing with the Stars than think about the possibility that a New World Order actually exists, one in which an elite few rule over the huddled masses? Better to consume yourself with your uninspiring job than consider the possibility that not only are UFOs real, but that the aliens who pilot them are as self-serving as these egomaniacal power brokers. Most people would prefer Hollywood gossip to that harsh reality any day of the week. After all, ignorance is bliss.

And then there are the few who have the courage to speak the truth.

A government whistleblower, Cooper was a true insider, a former U.S. Intelligence Briefing Team member. In Behold a Pale Horse, he shares information that still remains hidden from both the general public and government officials who don’t have a top-secret clearance level high enough. From government conspiracies to massive cover-ups regarding the JFK assassination, the war on drugs, the shadow government and UFOs, Cooper leaves no stone unturned. He names names and provides specific, detailed information that only an insider would be privy to.

What really struck me was how open Cooper was about his own life being in danger. He knew that many of the people and agencies he mentioned in his book wanted him dead, and he also knew it was only a matter of time before they were successful in silencing him. He told his family and friends that he would never commit suicide and that if he was ever found dead with a suicide note next to him, not to believe the official cause of his death. How heroic, I thought, to anger people with the power to end your life so easily.

Over the years, Behold a Pale Horse became one of those books that I relegated to my subconscious, not wanting to think about it too much because of its disturbing message. When j3FILMS became involved in the Stan Romanek documentary three years ago, my interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials was rekindled. I began researching the subject in earnest and naturally came back to Cooper and his book. Specifically, I wanted to know what trouble he was stirring up lately. You can only imagine my shock when, after a brief search on the Internet, I came upon the news that Cooper had been killed by sheriff’s deputies during a raid on his home in Arizona in November 2001.

The man who predicted several times over the years that he was going to be killed by law enforcement officials was dead … killed by law enforcement officials on his own property. According to conflicting reports, a SWAT team was positioned outside his residence to serve a warrant, allegedly either for aggravated assault or a tax issue. For the sake of our basic freedoms, we can only hope it wasn’t because he was late paying his taxes.

The truth is, it was only a matter of time, and Cooper knew it. In March of 1999, he sent his family out of the United States for their security. He stated, “God bless my family. I love my wife and children more than life itself. Everything I do is for the future of all my children. They may not understand why I have sacrificed so much, why I am so dedicated to this work; but someday they will. I want them to know they are the most important people in my life, and how very, very much I love them.”

In June 2001, he stated on his worldwide shortwave radio show (Hour of the Time) that the United States Government was going to commit a massive terrorist attack on its own people and blame it on Osama Bin Laden. Three months later, he became the Amazing Kreskin, so dead-on accurate with his prediction. It’s no wonder a 1995 White House memo labeled him “the most dangerous radio host in America.”

Two weeks before his death, on a nighttime broadcast simulcast through a number of national radio stations, Cooper put together a press conference where he laid out the structure of this country’s shadow government, tracing its roots to the UFO/alien cover-ups that began in the 1940s and 1950s. He was very concise and explicit, naming names and documentation, offices and meetings from the Eisenhower through the Carter administrations. He literally ripped the lid off the world’s largest cover-up and told his audience that he would probably be killed for doing so. He was.



Was Cooper a difficult man to get along with? Apparently so. Was he the victim of character assassination perpetrated by those who either refused to consider his allegations or simply debunked him? Most definitely. Did he exacerbate his situation by repeatedly saying that he would kill any law enforcement officers who tried to take him? Probably. But what are we left with? A whistleblower who said he was going to be killed for telling the truth about this country’s dark secrets and who was in fact killed in a way that can only be described as dubious. If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is.

I didn’t know William Cooper. I’ve yet to meet anybody who knew him. But I know this: He was a brave individual with a strong conviction in his beliefs and the background to make his accusations credible, and he knew he was going to eventually pay for his whistleblowing with his life. He died “for the future of all [his] children,” and the least we can do for ours is listen to what he had to say, regardless of how unsettling that might be.