Gordon Novel

Gordon Michael Dwayne Novel (February 7, 1938 – October 3, 2012) was an American private investigator, electronics expert, and controversial figure who investigated multiple high-profile historical events spanning from the Kennedy assassination to Waco and Watergate. Born and raised in New Orleans, Novel studied aeronautical engineering at Northrop Institute of Technology and USC before establishing himself as an investigator.

Novel's career was marked by contentious investigations: he was involved in District Attorney Jim Garrison's probe into the Kennedy assassination and alleged U.S. involvement in anti-Castro operations; he investigated the 1993 Waco siege on behalf of various interests, originating allegations that federal agents were responsible for deaths among Branch Davidians; and he conducted investigations related to the Watergate scandal. These investigations established him as a figure willing to challenge official narratives, though the accuracy and motivations behind his claims remain disputed by historians.

UFO Reverse-Engineering Investigation

Novel closed his career with a multi-decade investigation into what he believed was the U.S. government's possession and operation of back-engineered extraterrestrial spacecraft technology. Motivated by five UFO sightings he witnessed throughout his life, Novel became convinced that the federal government had successfully reverse-engineered functional flying saucer technology as early as the 1960s.

From 2003 to 2010, Novel worked closely with aerospace illustrator Mark McCandlish, who in 1988 claimed to have viewed a secret presentation at Norton Air Force Base showcasing an "Alien Reproduction Vehicle" (ARV), nicknamed the "Fluxliner." McCandlish's detailed technical illustrations depicted a disc-shaped craft with a central cylindrical zero-point energy core surrounded by 48 wedge-shaped capacitor plates, purportedly capable of generating 223 kilovolts. Novel incorporated this research into his 2010 book Supreme Cosmic Secret: How the U.S. Government Reverse-Engineered An Extraterrestrial Spacecraft!, which compiled evidence, documentation, and technical specifications he had gathered during his investigation.

Later Work and Patent

In the final years of his life, Novel pursued official recognition of his theoretical work. On February 21, 2012, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued him U.S. Patent 8,952,646 for a "universal power and conversion platform," which Novel considered a critical achievement in his decades-long investigation into UFO propulsion technology. He viewed the patent as validation that the underlying physics could be formalized through conventional patent channels.

Novel's work bridged UFO investigation with technical research, combining eyewitness accounts, alleged leaked documentation, and theoretical physics in an attempt to demonstrate that governments possessed superior propulsion technology derived from non-human sources. He appeared on Coast to Coast AM and other platforms to discuss his findings and remained active in UFO research circles until his death on October 3, 2012.