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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D113, folder "UFOs" of the Ford Congressional
Papers Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the
University of Michigan his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives
collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in
the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are
presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject
to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Some items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted
materials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to
these materials.
[No. 55]
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
HEARING
BY
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
APRIL 5, 1966
[Pages of all documents printed in behalf of the activities of the House
Committee on Armed Services are numbered cumulatively to
permit a comprehensive index at the end of the Con-
gress. Page numbers lower than those in
this document refer to other
subjects.]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
50-066 0
WASHINGTON : 1966
[No. 55]
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
2D SESSION, 89TH CONGRESS
L. MENDEL RIVERS, South Carolina, Chairman
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,
PHILIP J. PHILBIN, Massachusetts
WILLIAM H. BATES, Massachusetts
F. EDWARD HÉBERT, Louisiana
LESLIE C. ARENDS. Illinois
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, A pril 5, 1966.
MELVIN PRICE, Illinois
ALVIN E. O'KONSKI, Wisconsin
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:35 a.m., the Honorable L.
O. C. FISHER, Texas
WILLIAM G. BRAY, Indiana
PORTER HARDY, JR., Virginia
BOB WILSON, California
Mendel Rivers (chairman of the committee), presiding.
CHARLES E. BENNETT, Florida
CHARLES S. GUBSER, California
The CHAIRMAN. Let the committee come to order.
JAMES A. BYRNE, Pennsylvania
CHARLES E. CHAMBERLAIN, Michigan
Members of the committee, Secretary Brown and General McCon-
SAMUEL S. STRATTON, New York
ALEXANDER PIRNIE, New York
nell are back this morning for the purpose of responding to questions.
OTIS G. PIKE, New York
DURWARD G. HALL, Missouri
RICHARD (DICK) ICHORD, Missouri
DONALD D. CLANCY, Ohio
At the end of our last hearing I asked that Secretary Brown give us
LUCIEN N. NEDZI, Michigan
ROBERT T. STAFFORD, Vermont
some information with respect to unidentified flying objects. I under-
ALTON LENNON, North Carolina
RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, Pennsylvania
stand that he is prepared to do that this morning and I also understand
WILLIAM J. RANDALL, Missouri
that he has with him Dr. J. Allen Hynek, consultant to Project Blue
G. ELLIOTT HAGAN, Georgia
CHARLES H. WILSON, California
Book, which is the group charged with responsibility with respect to
ROBERT L. LEGGETT, California
UFO's. Also present this morning is Maj. Hector Quintanilla, Jr.,
DONALD J. IRWIN, Connecticut
UFO project officer.
JED JOHNSON, JR., Oklahoma
I think it would be well to get the UFO business out of the way first.
FRANK E. EVANS, Colorado
RODNEY M. LOVE, Ohio
So I will ask Dr. Brown to give us his report at this time.
FLOYD V. HICKS, Washington
Mr. Secretary, see if you can shed some light on these highly illumi-
HERVEY G. MACHEN, Maryland
nated objects.
SPEEDY 0. LONG, Louisiana
We can't just write them off. There are too many responsible people
E. S. JOHNNY WALKER, New Mexico
who are concerned.
SANTIAGO POLANCO-ABREU, Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner
Mr. Ford has come out, he has a pretty good size stature in the Con-
gress, and SO tell me what you know, Mr. Secretary, and let's see if we
can have some answers.
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Go ahead, Mr. Secretary.
JOHN R. BLANDFORD, Chief Counsel
PHILIP W. KELLEHER, Counsel
Secretary BROWN. Mr. Chairman, I have a letter here which is ad-
FRANK M. SLATINSHEK, Counsel
dressed to you, and I signed it. Let me run through it quickly, because
WILLIAM H. COOK, Counsel
it summarizes pretty well what our views are on unidentified flying
EARL J. MORGAN, Professional Staff Member
objects.
RALPH MARSHALL, Professional Staff Member
JOHN FORD, Professional Staff Member
Following that, if there are some questions, I can try to answer them,
or the Chief, or Dr. Hynek, or Major Quintanilla.
II
The CHAIRMAN. Why don't we have the doctor come up to the table
now, because when we start asking questions we will have him there,
and we will just go all over the board.
Sit at the end of the table, Doctor.
Go ahead, sir.
STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD BROWN, SECRETARY OF AIR FORCE
Secretary BROWN. This is in response of your recent request for
information concerning Air Force activities in the area of reported
unidentified flying objects.
Within the Department of Defense the Air Force has the respon-
sibility of investigating reports on unidentified flying objects and of
(5991)
5992
5993
evaluating any possible threat to our national security that such ob-
(The information referred to is as follows:)
jects might pose. In carrying out this responsibility let me assure
you that the Air Force is both objective and thorough in its treat-
Sightings of unidentified flying objects
ment of all reports of unusual aerial objects over the United States.
Under the name "Project Blue Book," the Air Force carries out a
Year
Total
Unidentified
Year
Total
Unidentified
three-phase program. We (1) make an initial investigation of each
sightings
sightings
report received; (2) make a more detailed analysis of reports not
1947
122
12
1958
627
10
explained; and (3) disseminate information on sightings, findings,
1948
156
7
1959
390
12
1949
186
22
1960
557
14
and statistics.
1950
210
27
1961
591
13
In order to evaluate this subject as thoroughly as possible, the
1951
169
22
1962
474
15
1952
1,501
303
1963
399
14
capabilities of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board have recently
1953
509
42
1964
562
19
been focused upon the subject of UFO's. This Board has just com-
1954
487
46
1965
886
16
1955
545
24
pleted a detailed review of this subject and concluded that the UFO
1956
670
14
Total
10,147
646
1957
1,006
14
phenomena presents no threat to the security of the United States,
and that the present Air Force program dealing with UFO sightings
has been well organized. Recommendations by the Board are pre-
AIR FORCE STATEMENT REGARDING THE UFO SIGHTINGS AT DEXTER, MICH., ON
sently under study and are expected to lead to even stronger emphasis
MARCH 20, 1966, AND HILLSDALE, MICH., ON MARCH 21, 1966
on the scientific aspects of investigating the sightings that warrant
The investigation of these two sightings was conducted by Dr. J. Allen Hynek,
extensive analysis.
scientific consultant to Project Blue Book; personnel from Selfridge Air Force
Based upon 10,147 reported sightings from 1947 through 1965, a
Base, Mich.; and personnel from the Project Blue Book office at Wright-Patter-
son Air Force Base, Ohio.
summary of which is attached, I believe it significant that the Air Force
In addition to these two specific cases, there has been a flood of reports from
has succeeded in identifying 9,501 of these objects. Virtually all of
this area both before and after March 20 and 21. The investigating personnel
these sightings were derived from subjective human observations and
have not had the time to investigate all of these. It has been determined, how-
interpretations. The most common of these were astronomical sight-
ever, that in Hillsdale, over and above the sincere and honest reporting by the
young ladies at Hillsdale College, certain young men have played pranks with
ings that included such things as bright stars and planets, comets and
flares. It has also been determined that the photographs released yesterday
meteors, and fireballs and auroral streamers.
through the press was taken on March 17 just before sunrise near Milan, Mich.,
Other major sources of reported sightings include such objects as
and have nothing to do with the cases in question. The photograph clearly
satellites, mirages, and spurious radar indications. The remaining
shows trails made as a result of a time exposure of the rising crescent moon and
the planet Venus.
646 reported sightings are those in which the information available
The majority of observers in both the Dexter and Hillsdale cases have reported
does not provide an adequate basis for analysis, or for which the in-
only silent glowing lights near the ground--red, yellow, and blue-green. They
formation suggests an hypothesis but the object or phenomenon ex-
have not described an object. The only two observers who did describe an
plaining it cannot be proven to have been here or taken place at that
object have stated that they were no closer than 500 yards-better than a
quarter of a mile away-a distance which does not allow details to be determined.
time.
Witnesses have described glowing lights-lights that seem to move but
In evaluating these sightings, the Air Force has used carefully
never far from a definite place or lights which suddenly disappeared and popped
selected and highly qualified scientists, engineers, technicians, and
up at another place. The locale in both cases was a swamp. In both cases, the
consultants. These personnel have utilized the finest Air Force labo-
location of the glow was pinpointed-in Dexter it was seen between two distant
groups of people and at Hillsdale it was seen in a swampy depression between
ratories, test centers, scientific instrumentation, and technical equip-
the girls and the distant trees. It was in both cases a very localized phenomena.
ment for this purpose.
The swampy location is most significant.
Although the past 18 years of investigating unidentified flying ob-
A swamp is a place of rotting vegetation and decomposition. Swamps are not
jects have not identified any threat to our national security, or evidence
a province of astronomers. Yet, the famous Dutch astronomer, Minnaert, in his
that the unidentified objects represent developments or principles
book, "Light and Colour in the Open Air," describes lights that have been seen
in swamps by the astronomer, Bessel, and other excellent observers. The lights
beyond present-day scientific knowledge, or any evidence of extra-
resemble tiny flames sometimes seen right on the ground and sometimes rising
terrestrial vehicles, the Air Force will continue to investigate such
and floating above it. The flames go out in one place and suddenly appear in
phenomena with an open mind and with the finest technical equip-
another, giving the illusion of motion. The colors are sometimes yellow, some-
times red, and sometimes blue-green. No heat is felt, and the lights do not burn
ment available.
or char the ground. They can appear for hours at a stretch and sometimes for
I am attaching a special report of the USAF Scientific Advisory
a whole night. Generally, there is no smell and no sound except for the popping
Board Ad Hoc Committee To Review Project "Blue Book," the latest
sound of little explosions such as when a gas burner ignites.
edition of Project Blue Book, dated February 1, 1966, and an Air
The rotting vegetation produces marsh gas which can be trapped during the
Force statement regarding the UFO sightings at Dexter, Mich., on
winter by ice. When the spring thaw occurs, the gas may be released in some
quantity. The flame, Minnaert says, is a form of chemical luminescence, and its
March 20, 1966, and at Hillsdale, Mich., on March 21, 1966.
low temperature is one of its peculiar features. Exactly how it occurs is not
I trust that the above information will be of assistance to you. If I
known and could well be the subject of further investigation.
can help you further in any way, please do not hesitate to let me know.
The glowing lights over the swamps near Dexter and Hillsdale were observed
for 2 or 3 hours, and they were red, green, and yellow. They appeared to move
sideways and to rise a short distance. No sound was heard except a popping
sound.
5994
5995
It seems entirely likely that as the present spring thaw came, the trapped
of the UFO problem. Unavoidably these are also related to Air Force public
gases, CH4, H2S, and PH₃, resulting from decomposition of organic material,
relations, a subject on which the committee is not expert. Thus the recom-
were released. The chemistry book by Sienko and Plane has this to say: "In
mendations which follow are made simply from the scientific point of view.
air, Phosphine PH₂ usually bursts into flame apparently because it is ignited by
a spontaneous oxidation of the impure P₂H₄. The will-of-the-wisp, sometimes
III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
observed in marshes, may be due to spontaneous ignition of impure PH₂ which
It is the opinion of the committee that the present Air Force program dealing
might be formed by reduction of naturally occurring phosporus compound."
with UFO sightings has been well organized, although the resources assigned
It has been pointed out to the investigating personnel by other scientists in
to it (only one officer, a sergeant, and secretary) have been quite limited. In 19
this area that in swamps the formation of H2S and CH4 from rotting vegetation
years and more than 10,000 sightings recorded and classified, there appears to be
is common. These could be ignited by the spontaneous burning of PH₂.
no verified and fully satisfactory evidence of any case that is clearly outside
The association of the sightings with swamps in this particular instance is
the framework of presently known science and technology. Nevertheless, there
more than coincidence. No group of witnesses observed any craft coming to or
is always the possibility that analysis of new sightings may provide some
going away from the swamp. The glow was localized, and Deputy Fitzpatrick
additions to scientific knowledge of value to the Air Force. Moreover, some of
described the glow from beyond a rise adjacent to the swamp as visible through
the case records which the committee looked that were listed as "identified" were
the trees. He stated that the light brightened and dimmed such as stage do-
sightings where the evidence collected was too meager or too indefinite to permit
smoothly and slowly-and this description exactly fits the Hillsdale sighting
positive listing in the identified category. Because of this the committee recom-
also. The brightening and dimming could have been due to the release of vari-
mends that the present program be strengthened to provide opportunity for scien-
able quantities of marsh gas.
tific investigation of selected sightings in more detail and depth than has been
The disappearance of the lights when people got close with flashlights or car-
lights would indicate that the glow seemed bright to dark-adapted eyes. The
possible to date.
To accomplish this it is recommended that-
night was dark and there was no moon. The Hillsdale girls kept their rooms
(a) Contracts be negotiated with a few selected universities to provide
dark in order to see the swamp lights.
scientific teams to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sight-
It appears very likely that the combination of the conditions of this particular
ings of UFO's. Each team should include at least one psychologist, pref-
winter (an unusually mild one in that area) and the particular weather condi-
erably one interested in clinical psychology, and at least one physical scien-
tions of that night-it was clear and there was little wind at either location-
tist, preferably an astronomer or geophysicist familiar with atmospheric
were such as to have produced this unusual and puzzling display
physics. The universities should be chosen to provide good geographical
distribution, and should be within convenient distance of a base of the Air
Force Systems Command (AFSC).
SPECIAL REPORT OF THE USAF SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD AD Hoc COMMITTEE
(b) At each AFSC base an officer skilled in investigation (but not neces-
To REVIEW PROJECT BLUE Book
sarily with scientific training) should be designated to work with the cor-
responding university team for that geographical section. The local repre-
sentative of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) might be
I. INTRODUCTION
a logical choice for this.
As requested in a memorandum from Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly, Secretary of
(c) One university or one not-for-profit organization should be selected
the Air Force Officer of Information, dated September 28, 1965 (tab A), a
to coordinate the work of the teams mentioned under (a) above, and also to
Scientific Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee met on February 3, 1966, to review
make certain of very close communication and coordination with the Office
Project Blue Book. The objectives of the committee are to review the resources
of Project Blue Book.
and methods of investigation prescribed by Project Blue Book and to advise the
It is thought that perhaps 100 sightings a year might be subjected to this
Air Force of any improvements that can be made in the program to enhance
close study, and that possibly an average of 10 man-days might be required per
the Air Force's capability in carrying out its responsibility.
sighting SO studied. The information provided by such a program might bring
In order to bring themselves up to date, the members of the committee initially
to light new facts of scientific value, and would almost certainly provide a far
reviewed the findings of previous scientific panels charged with looking into the
better basis than we have today for decision on a long-term UFO program.
UFO problem. Particular attention was given to the report of the Robertson
The scientific reports on these selected sightings, supplementing the present
panel which was rendered in January 1953. The committee next heard briefings
program of the Project Blue Book office, should strengthen the public position
from the AFSC Foreign Technology Division, which is the cognizant Air Force
of the Air Force on UFO's. It is, therefore, recommended that-
agency that collates information on UFO sightings and monitors investigations
(a) These reports be printed in full and be available on request.
of individual cases. Finally, the committee reviewed selected case histories of
(b) Suitable abstracts or condensed versions be printed and included in,
UFO sightings with particular emphasis on those that have not been identified.
or as supplements to, the published reports of Project Blue Book.
(c) The form of report (as typified by Project Blue Book dated Feb-
II. DISCUSSION
ruary 1, 1966) be expanded, and anything which might suggest that informa-
tion is being withheld (such as the wording on page 5 of the above cited
Although about 6 percent (646) of all sightings (10,147) in the years 1947
reference) be deleted. The form of this report can be of great importance
through 1965 are listed by the Air Force as "Unidentified," it appears to the
in securing public understanding and should be given detailed study by an
committee that most of the cases SO listed are simply those in which the infor-
appropriate Air Force office.
mation available does not provide an adequate basis for analysis. In this con-
(d) The reports Project Blue Book should be given wide unsolicited
nection it is important also to note that no unidentified objects other than those
circulation among prominent Members of the Congress and other public
of an astronomical nature have ever been observed during routine astronomical
persons as a further aid to public understanding of the scientific approach
studies, in spite of the large number of observing hours which have been devoted
being taken by the Air Force in attacking the UFO problem.
to the sky. As examples of this the Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas contains
some 5,000 plates made with large instruments with wide field of view; the
Harvard meteor project of 1954-58 provided some 3,300 hours of observation;
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
the Smithsonian visual prairie network provided 2,500 observing hours. Not
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
a single unidentified object has been reported as appearing on any of these
Washington, D.C., September 28, 1965.
plates or been sighted visually in all these observations.
The committee concluded that in the 19 years since the first UFO was sighted
Memorandum for military director, scientific advisory board
there has been no evidence that unidentified flying objects are a threat to our
Subject Unidentified flying objects (UFO's)
national security. Having arrived at this conclusion the committee then turned
In keeping with its air defense role, the Air Force has the responsibility for
its attention to considering how the Air Force should handle the scientific aspects
the investigation of unidentified flying objects reported over the United States.
5996
5997
The name of this project is Blue Book (attachment 1). Procedures for con-
ducting this program are established by Air Force regulation 200-2 (attach-
tions and material reviewed and discussed, are available in the SAB secretariat
ment 2).
offices for review by authorized persons or agencies.
The Air Force has conducted Project Blue Book since 1948. As of June 30,
Approved by
1965, a total of 9,267 reports had been investigated by the Air Force. Of these
HAROLD A. STEINER,
9,267 reports, 663 cannot be explained.
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF,
It has been determined by the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff/Plans and
Assistant Secretary, USAF Scientific Advisory Board.
Operations that Project Blue Book is a worthwhile program which deserves the
support of all staff agencies and major commands and that the Air Force should
continue to investigate and analyze all UFO reports in order to assure that
PROJECT BLUE BOOK
such objects do not present a threat to our national security. The Assistant
Deputy Chief of Staff/Plans and Operations has determined also that the
The U.S. Air Force has the responsibility under the Department of Defense
Foreign Technology Division (FTD) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base should
for the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). The name of this
continue to exercise its presently assigned responsibilities concerning UFO's.
program, which has been in operation since 1948, is Project Blue Book. It has
To date, the Air Force has found no evidence that any of the UFO reports
been identified in the past as Project Sign and Project Grudge.
reflects a threat to our national security. However, many of the reports that
Air Force interest in unidentified flying objects is related directly to the Air
cannot be explained have come from intelligent and technically well qualified
Force responsibility for the air defense of the United States. Procedures for
individuals whose integrity cannot be doubted. In addition, the reports received
conducting this program are established by Air Force Regulation 200-2.
officially by the Air Force include only a fraction of the spectacular reports
The objectives of the Project Blue Book are twofold first, to determine
which are publicized by any private UFO organizations.
whether UFO's pose a threat to the security of the United States; and, second, to
Accordingly, it is requested that a working scientific panel composed of both
determine whether UFO's exhibit any unique scientific information or advanced
physical and social scientists be organized to review Project Blue Book-its re-.
technology which could contribute to scientific or technical research. In the
sources, methods, and findings-and to advise the Air Force as to any improve-
course of accomplishing these objectives, Project Blue Book strives to identify
ments that should be made in the program in order to carry out the Air Force's
and explain all UFO sightings reported to the Air Force.
assigned responsibiltiy.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek who is the chairman of the Dearborn Observatory at
HOW THE PROGRAM IS CONDUCTED
Northwestern University is the scientific consultant to Project Blue Book. He
has indicated a willingness to work with such a panel in order to place this
The program is conducted in three phases. The first phase includes receipt
problem in its proper perspective.
of UFO reports and initial investigation of the reports. The Air Force base
Dr. Hynek has discussed this problem with Dr. Winston R. Markey, the
nearest the location of a reported sighting is charged with the responsibility of
former Air Force Chief Scientist.
investigating the sighting and forwarding the information to the Project Blue
E. B. LEBAILLY,
Book Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Major General, USAF, Director of Information.
If the initial investigation does not reveal a positive identification or explana-
tion, a second phase of more intensive analysis is conducted by the Project Blue
AD Hoc COMMITTEE ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO's)
Book Office. Each case is objectively and scientifically analyzed and, if neces-
sary, all of the scientific facilities available to the Air Force can be used to assist
AGENDA
in arriving at an identification or explanation. All personnel associated with the
Thursday, 3 February 1966
investigation, analysis, and evaluation efforts of the project view each report
0800 Welcoming remarks Commander or vice commander, FTD.
with a scientific approach and an open mind.
0805 Introduction: Dr. O'Brien, SAB.
The third phase of the program is dissemination of information concerning
0810 The Air Force problem : Lieutenant Colonel Spaulding, SAFOI.
UFO sightings, evaluations, and statistics. This is accomplished by the Secre-
0830 Briefing on Project Blue Book Major Quintanilla, FTD.
tary of the Air Force, Office of Information.
1000 Break.
The Air Force defines an unidentified flying object as any aerial object which
1015 Review of selected case histories FTD Staff.
the observer is unable to identify.
1145 Lunch.
Reports of unfamiliar objects in the sky are submitted to the Air Force from
1315 Executive and writing session.
many sources. These sources include military and civilian pilots, weather ob-
servers, amateur astronomers, business and professional men and women, and
SPECIAL REPORT OF THE USAF SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD AD HOC COMMITTEE
housewives, etc.
TO REVIEW PROJECT BLUE BOOK
Frequently such objects as missiles, balloons, birds, kites, searchlights, aircraft
navigation and anticollision beacons, jet engine exhaust, condensation trails,
Distribution
astronomical bodies and meteorological phenomena are mistakenly reported as
unidentified flying objects.
The Air Force groups its evaluations of UFO reports under three general head-
Symbol
Copies
ings: (1) identified, (2) insufficient data, and (3) unidentified.
Identified reports are those for which sufficient specific information has been
Secretary of the Air Force Office of Information
SAFOI
25
accumulated and evaluated to permit a positive identification or explanation of
Military Director, DCS/R. & D
AFRDC
1
Committee members (1 each): Dr. Brian O'Brien (chairman), Dr. Launor
the object.
F. Carter, Mr. Jesse Orlansky, Dr. Richard Porter, Dr. Carl Sagan, Dr.
Reports categorized as "Insufficient Data" are those for which one or more ele-
Willis H. Ware
6
ments of information essential for evaluation are missing. Some examples are
Commander, Foreign Technology Division
5
DCS/Foreign Technology (AFSC)
SCF
2
the omission of the duration of the sighting, date, time, location, position in the
Chairman, SAB
AFBSA
1
sky, weather conditions, and the manner of appearance or disappearance. If the
SAB secretariat
AFBSA
1
element is missing and there is an indication that the sighting may be of a
security, scientific, technical, or public interest value, the Project Blue Book Office
conducts an additional investigation and every attempt is made to obtain the in-
Meeting statistics bearing on this report including all times, dates, places, a
formation necessary for identification. However, in some instances, essential in-
listing of persons in attendance and purposes therefor, together with their affilia-
formation cannot be obtained, and no further action can be taken.
50-066 0-66-No. 55-2
5998
5999
The third and by far the smallest group of evaluations is categorized as
"Unidentified." A sighting is considered unidentified when a report apparently
given any indication of threat to our national security; (2) there has been no
contains all pertinent data necessary to suggest a valid hypothesis concerning the
evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized
cause or explanation of the report but the description of the object or its motion
as unidentified represent technological developments or principles beyond the
cannot be correlated with any known object or phenomena.
range of present-day scientific knowledge; and (3) there has been no evidence
indicating that sightings categorized as unidentified are extra terrestrial vehicles.
TYPES OF UFO IDENTIFICATIONS AND EVALUATIONS
The Air Force will continue to investigate all reports of unusual aerial phe-
nomena over the United States. The services of qualified scientists and tech-
There are various types of UFO sightings. Most common are reports of
nicians will continue to be used to investigate and analyze these reports, and
astronomical sightings, which include bright stars, planets, comets, fireballs,
periodic reports on the subject will be made.
meteors, auroral streamers, and other celestial bodies. When observed through
The former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Carl Vin-
haze, light fog, moving clouds, or other obscurations or unusual conditions, the
son, recently commented on the conduct of the UFO program by the Air Force
planets, including Venus, Jupiter, and Mars have been reported as unidentified
and stated that congressional hearings on this subject are unnecessary.
flying objects. Stellar mirages are also a source of reports.
The Air Force does not deny the possibility that some form of life may exist
Satellites are another major source of UFO reports. An increase in satellites
on other planets in the universe. However, to date, the Air Force has neither
reported as UFO's has come about because of two factors. The first is the in-
received nor discovered any evidence which proves the existence and intraspace
crease of interest on the part of the public; the second is the increasing number
mobility of extra terrestrial life. The Air Force continues to extend an open
of satellites in the skies. Positive knowledge of the location of all satellites at
invitation to anyone who feels that he possesses any evidence of extra terrestrial
all times enables rapid identification of satellite sightings. Keeping track of
vehicles operating within the earth's near space envelope to submit his evidence
manmade objects in orbit about the earth is the responsibility of the North
for analysis. Initial contact for this purpose is through the following address:
American Air Defense Command space detection and tracking system. This
Project Blue Book Information Office, SAFOI, Washington, D.C.
sophisticated electronic system gathers complex space traffic data instantly from
Anyone observing what he considers to be an unidentified flying object should
tracking stations all over the world.
report it to the nearest Air Force base. Persons submitting a UFO report to
Other space surveillance activities include the use of ballistic tracking and
the Air Force are free to discuss any aspect of the report with anyone. The
large telescopic cameras. ECHO schedules are prepared by the NASA Goddard
Air Force does not seek to limit discussion on such reports and does not withhold
Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Md., and schedules of the south-north Equator
or censor any information pertaining to this unclassified program.
crossings are prepared by the Smithsonian Institution at Cambridge, Mass. From
the data produced by these agencies, satellites mistakenly reported as UFO's
NONAVAILABILITY OF MATERIALS
can be quickly identified. Some of these are visible, to the naked eye.
Aircraft account for another major source of UFO reports, particularly during
The following items are for internal use only and are not available for dis-
adverse weather conditions. When observed at high altitudes and at some dis-
tribution to the public. These concern internal management and procedures
tance, aircraft can have appearances ranging from disc to rocket shapes due to
for forwarding UFO reports to the appropriate agency:
the reflection of the sun on their bright surfaces. Vapor or condensation trails
1. Air Force Regulation 200-2.
from jet aircraft will sometimes appear to glow fiery red or orange when reflect-
2. JANAP 146.
ing sunlight. Afterburners from jet aircraft are often reported as UFO's since
The Air Force has no films, photographs, maps, charts, or graphs of un-
they can be seen from great distances when the aircraft cannot be seen.
identified flying objects. Photographs that have been submitted for evaluation
The Project Blue Book Office has direct contact with all elements of the Air
in conjunction with UFO reports have been determined to be a misinterpretation
Force and the Federal Aviation Agency civil air control centers. All aerial
of natural or conventional objects. These objects have a positive identification.
refueling operations and special training flights can be checked immediately. Air
The Air Force no longer possesses, and thus does not have for distribution,
traffic of commercial airlines and flights of military aircraft are checked with the
outdated reports on Project Sign, Project Grudge, Blue Book Special Report No.
nearest control center, enabling an immediate evaluation of aircraft mistakenly
14, and outdated Project Blue Book press releases. Nonmilitary UFO publica-
reported as UFO's. However, since many local flights are not carried, these
tions should be requested from the publisher, not the Air Force.
flights are probable causes of some reports.
Balloons continue to be reported as UFO's. Several thousand balloons are
SUGGESTED READING MATERIAL
released each day from military and civilian airports, weather stations, and re-
Books listed below deal with facts and theories about our solar universe, the
search activities. There are several types of balloons-weather balloons,
rawinsondes, radiosondes, and the large research balloons which have diameters
sun, planets, comets, meteorites, the universe, stars, constellations, and galaxies;
up to 300 feet. At night, balloons carry running lights which cause an unusual
telescopes, the computation of time as it relates to astronomy, star maps and
appearance when observed. Reflection of the sun on balloons at dawn and sunset
charts, and the history of astronomy.
sometimes produce strange effects. This usually occurs when the balloon, because
"Sky and Telescope," by Sky Publishing Corp., Harvard College Observatory,
of its altitudes, is exposed to the sun. Large balloons can move at speeds of over
Cambridge, Mass. Monthly magazine, 60 cents per copy.
100 miles per hour when moving in high altitude jet windstreams. These balloons
"Weather Elements," by Blair, published Prentice Hall. Has an excellent
sometimes appear to be flattened on top. At other times, they appear to be saucer-
chapter on often misidentified weather phenomena.
shaped and to have lights mounted inside the bag itself due to the sun's rays
"Planets, Stars, and Space," by Chamberlain, Joseph M., and Nicholson, Thomas
reflecting through the material of the balloon. The Balloon Control Center at
D. An illustrated, untechnical explanation of the earth, planets, stars, and the
Holloman Air Force Base, N. Mex., maintains a plot on all military upper air re-
universe. Prepared in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural
search balloons.
History.
Another category of UFO evaluations labeled "Other" includes missiles, reflec-
"Junior Science Book of Stars," by Crosby, Phoebe. An easy to read, exciting
tions, mirages, searchlights, birds, kites, spurious radar indications, hoaxes, fire-
story of what scientists know about the stars, planets, the Moon, and the
works, and flares.
Milky Way.
Aircraft, satellites, balloons, and the like should not be reported since they
"Challenge of the Universe," by Hynek, J. Allen and Anderson, Norman. Dis-
do not fall within the definition of an unidentified flying object.
cusses the nature of the universe; astronomy and cosmology, published by
Scholastic Press.
CONCLUSIONS
"The Story of the Stars," by Maloney, Terry." An introduction to the universe:
our solar system, our galaxy, and other galaxies. Many interesting illustrated
To date, the firm conclusions of Project Blue Book are: (1) no unidentified
analogies help build concepts of size and distance. Includes reference to the
flying object reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever
Van Allen radiation belts and zodiacal light observation of 1960.
6000
6001
"The World of Flying Saucers," by Menzel and Roy. A scientific examination of
2, 167
167
665
1, 1,240
916
417
237
6, 6,817
1,295
805
67
2, 167 2,167
226
83
54
59
37
I8
47
27
34
87
40
70
23
48
916
the classic UFO reports.
Total
"Tht Moon. Meteorites, and Comets," Dated 1963, by Middlehurst and Kuiper,
Continuous analysis of Soviet moon photos. Chapter on Siberian meteorite
20
88
19
19
55
7
123
34
L
is
7
2
9
0
I
4
2
9
3
3
9
123
71
66
143
562
83
and photos or comets computation of various comet orbital photos.
1964
"The Nature of Light and color in the Open Air," by Minnaert, Dover Publica-
tions. This is an excellent paperback written in understandable lay language.
85
73
23
59
50
82
14
57
23
5
85
16
13
0
3
0
2
5
2
2
1
3
3
4
4
1963
399
58
"Meteors," by Oliver. Standard text by foremost authority on meteors.
"Photographic History of Mars," 1905-61, by Slipher, E. C., published by Lowell
Observatory.
68
19
94
65
77
15
95
36
5
136
11
6
3
3
3
3
4
5
2
0
2
15
3
2
136
474
65
"Anatomy of a Phenomenon," by Valle, Jacques.
1962
"First Man to the Moon," by Von Braun, Wernher.
77
77
69
13
78
9
203
17
13
3
4
9
I
119
5
3
2
6
3
00
4
Total UFO (object) sightings¹
203
37
1961
115
591
77
Year
Total
Unidentified
Source
66
22
105
94
14
557
187
45
3
235
13
12
6
7
5
9
4
4
3
6
9
L
0
3
$ 1
sightings
1960
235
21
1947
122
12
Case files.
1948
156
7
Do.
144
63
31
65
75
0
12
1959
390
100
40
4
144
14
14
11
5
4
5
3
1
0
00
4
3
0
3
75
1949
186
22
Blue book, page 108.
1950
210
27
Case files.
1951
169
22
Do.
2
8
5
6
3
L
1952
1,501
303
Blue book, page 108.
10
5
1958
221
104
50
111
93
13
10
827
168
56
L
29
6
7
3
1
I
231
93
1953
509
42
Case files.
1954
487
46
Do.
1955
545
24
Do.
1956
670
14
Do.
210
6
179
144
18
37
2
2
8
5
12
9
2
I
1,006
27
1
5
0
6
120
1957
1,006
14
Do.
1957
341
114
191
120
14
341
1958
627
10
Do.
1959
390
12
Do.
1960
557
14
Do.
1961
591
13
222
148
93
132
61
0
14
670
88
131
3
222
1
61
Do.
1962
474
15
Do.
1956
1963
399
14
Do.
1964
562
19
Do.
Statistical data for years 1953-64
0
3
2
5
0
4
1965
886
16
Do.
135
124
102
95
65
0
24
545
79
52
4
135
18
1
4
8
4
14
2
1
65
1955
Total
10,147
646
80
69
102
58
0
46
92
44
I
137
6
1
6
4
3
6
3
3
L
7
1
9
0
7
1 Compiled Jan. 17, 1966.
1954
137
437
69
73
78
79
83
0
42
70
4
4
175
15
2
4
1
3
8
6
0
15
1
1
0
1
1953
175
505
101
62
TOTAL CASES BY CATEGORY
ASTRONOMICAL SIGHTINGS
OTHER CASES
Hoaxes, hallucinations, unreliable reports and psychological causes.
Astronomical
Aircraft
Balloon
Insufficient data
Other
Unidentified
Total
Satellite.
Meteors
Stars and planets.
Total
Missiles and rockets
Reflections.
Flares and fireworks.
Mirages and inversions
Search and groundlights.
Other
Clouds and contrails
Chaff
Birds
Radar analysis.
Photo analysis.
Physical specimens
Satellite decay
Total
1 Compiled Nov. 1, 1965.
Other
6002
6003
246
210
33
66
122
152
16
17
667
101
135
6
245
34
10
5
3
11
3
6
8
126
FIREBALL REPORT
Total
Persons observing a fireball or meteor should report the information to the
American Meteor Society. The information desired is contained below.
12
5
2
1
3
3
2
28
510
12
0
1
0
1
1
3
Decem-
Chemical trails from research rocket.
A very brilliant meteor or fireball is reported to have passed in your vicinity
ber
on
at the hour of Will you please answer as fully as possible the
following questions, which are asked on behalf of the American Meteor Society
in order that permanent records of such phenomena may be obtained. When
22
0
3
0
1
55
130
22
0
3
1
1
2
1
these reports are published each contributor whose report is fairly complete
Novem-
ber
26
will be mentioned, if possible, and due credit given. It is only by the help of
25
24
27
annomoo
70
20
3
0
Debris in wind.
23 Man on ground.
Missile launch.
those who can give personal information that data can be secured for the
Lighting.
computation of the orbits of meteors. These data are of great scientific value
1
27
1
1
9
Kites.
and all reasonable efforts should be made to obtain them. You will be unable
October
13
22
probably to answer all questions below, but answer those you can, as they may
be of the greatest importance.
(1) Give your name and address.
20
2
15
7
2
Septem-
24
104
16
30
1
0
I
0
7
(2) Where were you when you saw the meteor? (If the town is small please
10
ber
17
give county as well.)
(3) Give the date, hour, and minute when the meteor appeared; also kind
of time used.
61
6
24
42
41
2
262
55
2
August
82
3
3
3
2
42
20 Misinterpretation of conventional ob-
(4) In what direction did it appear (or in what direction was it first seen) ?
17
23
13
20
This is not asking in what direction it was going.
12
(5) In what direction did it disappear (or in what direction was it last seen) ?
For questions (4) and (5), simply N, E, S, or W is not accurate enough, unless
27
32
16
2
135
10
3
47
2
1
1
2
1
2
0
6
those were the exact directions. If compass is used, state it; also if magnetic
July
18
17
correction has been applied to compass reading.
33
10
1
I
0
6
June
LT
22
Developer smear.
Free falling object.
17 Poor photo process.
No image on film.
(6) At what height did it appear? (Use degrees in answering.)
Tracer bullets.
(7) At what height did it disappear? (Use degrees in answering.)
(8) Did it pass directly overhead (i.e., through the zenith)
(9) If not, to which side of the zenith did it go, and how far from it? (Use
Statistics for 1965
2
5
41
2
2
2
1
0
0
jects (3).
degrees in answering.)
(10) Did it appear to reach the horizon? What sort of a horizon have you?
15
5
May
15
(11) What angle did the path of the meteor make with the horizon and in
which direction was it then going?
(12) If you are familiar with constellations describe the path of the meteor
3
8
5
36
NNO
4
I
1
2
through the sky with reference to stars.
1
2
8
April
11
21
(13) Did the meteor appear to explode?
20
(14) What was the duration of its flight in seconds?
(15) Describe the train if one was left. If it lasted long enough to show
14
2
7
5
43
30000
3
11
4
0
drift, most carefully tell in what direction train drifted. Give sketch, if possible,
7
March
16
showing this with regard to horizon.
15
000
8
2
4
8
5
0
0
6
1
1 2
1
8
Febru-
ary
11 Anomalous propagation.
12 Electronic countermeasures.
(16) What was the duration of the train in seconds?
(17) Did you hear any sound?
35
8
3
14 Weather returns.
How long after seeing the meteor was it before you heard this sound?
13 False targets.
Did you hear an actual explosion?
11
5
Metal ball.
Plastic bags.
How long after seeing the explosion was it before you heard it?
3
10
Gourd.
(18) Of what color was the meteor?
10
3
4
45
5
2
1
1
0
2
(19) What was the size of the meteor? (Compare it with the moon or with
January
11
20
10
a planet or star.)
19
(20) Was more than one body seen before the explosion (if any)
(21) What was condition of sky at time?
(22) Give names and addresses of others who saw the meteor.
(23) Please mail this reply to: Charles P. Oliver, American Meteor Society,
521 North Wynnewood Avenue, Narberth, Pa., 19072.
CASES
be an executive session
OTHER CATEGORY
Hoaxes, hallucinations, unreliable re-
ports, and psychological causes
Reflected moonlight, parbelia, moon.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, let me ask you this. Should this
Secretary BROWN. No, nothing I have said SO far has been classified,
Search and ground lights
Compiled Jan. 18, 1966.
and nothing I will say.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there any reason to keep this executive? I think
Astronomical
Aircraft
Balloon
Insufficient data
Unidentified
Total
Satellite
Pending
Stars and planets
Total
Meteors
Other
Missiles and rockets
Reflections
Flares and fireworks
Mirages and inversions.
Clouds and contrails
Physical specimens.
Radar analysis
Photo analysis
Satellite decay
Miscellaneous
Total
Solar image.
Reflected moonlight.
Comet Ibeya-Seki.
we have a lot of people outside of the door. Let them come in.
Mr. PRICE. In yiew of the reason you are having it, I see no ob-
Other
Chaff
Birds
Moon.
jection.
Sun.
The CHAIRMAN. I don't either. Why not open the door?
Mr. BRAY. I would like 'to make this observation off the record.
6004
6005
(Discussion off the record.)
The CHAIRMAN. We are going to decide what the future is going
Secretary BROWN. To the best of my knowledge, no one in the Air
to be. I am talking about this testimony now. If there is no reason
Force, and no one in the executive branch has expressed such a be-
for them not being here, let them in here.
lief. Nor have I ever heard a Member of Congress make such a state-
Secretary BROWN. This letter is unclassified. Some of the ques-
ment. I know of no one of scientific standing or executive standing,
tions you ask may lead to classified material.
or with a detailed knowledge of this, in our organization who believes
Mr. Schweiker. Are all the files unclassified?
that they come from extraterrestrial sources.
The CHAIRMAN. Let them come in and listen to the testimony.
The CHAIRMAN. But you have found parts of meteors and things
When we get into the questions we will decide.
of this character that have been continuing to hit the earth forever?
Open the doors.
Secretary BROWN. Meteors, of course, are of extraterrestrial origin.
Mr. Secretary, we will let you start.
I am talking about extraterrestrial flying craft.
You gentlemen who have come in, the Secretary is explaining a letter
The CHAIRMAN. Objects that are made for the purpose of coming
he is sending to the committee.
to earth?
You gentlemen of the press, TV, and radio, whatever you represent,
Secretary BROWN. That is right.
listen. That is the best way to find out.
The CHAIRMAN. That is what I have in mind.
Go ahead.
Secretary BROWN. That is right.
(Secretary Brown repeats his statement previously read to the com-
The CHAIRMAN. So then your testimony, or your answer in re-
mittee.)
sponse to my letter in effect is that there are things caused by various
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, I have before me some pages from
phenomena, reflection of radar waves, the northern lights, somebody
Life magazine. I don't know what the date is, but it is recent.
has said marsh gases.
Mr. KELLEHER. Two weeks ago, I think.
Secretary BROWN. Yes; that is another explanation of some of the
The CHAIRMAN. Two weeks ago.
phenomena.
It mentioned 10,000-odd sightings of these mysterious objects. I
The CHAIRMAN. As well as meteors?
note it has a picture.
Secretary BROWN. Yes, sir.
Have you seen this? I will pass it on to you.
The CHAIRMAN. What else?
Secretary BROWN. Yes, I have seen the picture.
Secretary BROWN. Some of them turn out to be balloons. Some of
The CHAIRMAN. Here are two pictures. One taken in Oregon in
them turn out to be aircraft seen under peculiar circumstances, and
1950 and the other taken 4 years later in France. They both look very
so on.
much alike. Actually it looks something like a battleship.
And we can explain 95 percent of them this way. This does not
Then here is something on another page here that is alleged to have
imply that a large part of the remaining 5 percent, the unexplained
been seen in Michigan, and it is even sketched here with an antenna
ones, are not also of this character, but we simply have not been able
and all that goes with it.
to confirm this because we don't have enough information about these
Here is my question: Responsible, well-trained people, like pilots-
sightings.
I think some B-52 people, Mr. Kelleher?
It may also be that there are phenomena, the details of which we
Mr. KELLEHER. I don't recall that. I do remember sightings by
don't understand, which are natural phenomena, and which account
commercial pilots.
for some of the sightings we have not identified. In certain instances,
The CHAIRMAN. Certainly commercial pilots have reported all kinds
I think a further scientific explanation is a possibility. Therefore, we
of things.
will continue to develop this approach.
How do you explain away these clearly defined mysterious things
The CHAIRMAN. Now, we have here Dr. Hynek, and Major
that these responsible people allege having seen.
Quintanilla.
How do your experts reconcile this?
We have these two gentlemen who are authorities on the Blue Book.
Secretary BROWN. I will turn this over to my experts in a moment,
One is a scientist, the other is the UFO project officer.
Mr. Chairman.
Now, we have asked that you gentlemen come. Dr. Hynek, is there
However, I should like to say this: We haven't explained all of the
anything you would like to say to us?
reported sightings which we have investigated. We have explained
Dr. HYNEK. Mr. Chairman, the press has recently treated me rather
95 percent of them, but are not sure about the other 5 percent. There
unkindly.
are possible explanations for the other 5 percent in most cases. How-
The CHAIRMAN. You ought to be chairman of this committee.
ever, since we can't prove that our findings are the correct explana-
Dr. HYNEK. The press has described me as "a puppet of the Air
tions they are regarded as sightings which have not been completely
Force," and has stated that I say only what the Air Force tells me to
accounted for.
say. I would like to do something which may be a little daring, and
The CHAIRMAN. Well, now, does anybody, in authority or of stature,
read to the committee a statement I have prepared which has cer-
allege that these things, whatever they may be, have come from other
tainly not been dictated by the Air Force.
planets or from somewhere outside of this universe?
The CHAIRMAN. At this point, I want you to turn the loud speaker
up.
50-066
0-66-No.
6006
6007
Now, Doctor, before you give us this, would you give your back-
many of us firmly believed that, like some fad or craze, it would
ground for the record
subside in a matter of months. Yet in the last 5 years, more reports
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir. This information is included in my state-
were submitted to the Air Force than in the first 5 years.
ment.
Despite the seeming inanity of the subject, I felt that I would be
derelict in my scientific responsibility to the Air Force if I did not
STATEMENT OF DR. J. ALLEN HYNEK, SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANT
point out that the whole UFO phenomenon might have aspects to it
TO THE AIR FORCE
worthy of scientific attention. What we have here is a signal-to-noise
ratio problem: There is indeed a fantastic amount of noise, represented
Dr. HYNEK. My name is J. Allen Hynek, and I reside at 2623 Ridge
by the many misidentifications of familiar objects seen under unusual
Avenue, Evanston, Ill. I am director of the Dearborn Observatory
or surprising circumstances-balloons, birds, satellites, meteors, air-
and of the Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center, and Chairman
craft, stars-yet, in all scientific honesty, one is led to ask whether there
of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University. Since
might not indeed be a signal somewhere in the noise.
1948 I have acted as a frequent scientific consultant to the Air Force
As a scientist, I must be mindful of the lessons of the past; all too
on the problem of the UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects)
often it has happened that matters of great value to science were over-
phenomenon.
looked because the new phenomenon simply did not fit the accepted
The UFO phenomenon might be defined as (1) the persistent re-
scientific outlook of the time. Thus, the evidence of fossiles for biologi-
porting by a wide cross section of the public, in this and in other
cal evolution was overlooked; X-rays were overlooked, meteorites were
countries, of alleged aerial objects which, to the observer, seem to defy
overlooked as astronomers steadfastly refused to accept stories of
explanation because of their appearance and behavior, and (2) the
stones which fell from the sky.
widespread and growing interest in these matters by segments of the
Therefore, I have set aside for further study some 20 particularly
public which, in some cases, has led to the formation of civilian orga-
well-reported UFO cases which, despite the character, technical com-
nizations dedicated to the investigation of the said reports, often ac-
petence and number of the witnesses, I have not been able to explain.
companied by vilification of the Air Force for their handling of the
I have done this to illustrate that neither I nor the Air Force hide
problem, a matter not beneficial to the Air Force image. Such people
the fact there are unexplained reports, and to illustrate also that the
generally charge either (a) that UFO's are in reality secret devices
Air Force does not maintain, contrary to some public opinion, that re-
of the Air Force, whose existence is kept from the public, or (b)
porters of UFO's are lacking in intelligence or are objects fit only for
that the Air Force knows all about visitors from space and is de-
ridicule.
liberately withholding information to prevent panic.
For of these reports, 10 are from scientists and highly trained indi-
A third aspect of the UFO phenomenon has been the association
viduals, 5 are from members of the Armed Forces, and members of
of the terms UFO or "flying saucer" with the idea of visitation of
the police force, and 5 are reports made by reliable American civilians.
intelligences from outer space, an association which is not warranted
In my view, the reliability of the observers was above average in all
either by the data on hand, or by logical inference. It is entirely con-
20 cases. The recent cases in Michigan have not been included in this
ceivable that there might be unidentified aerial phenomena about us
particular collection since I feel that they are subject to simple, albeit
which have no connection with extraterrestrial visitation.
somewhat unusual, explanation.
Thus, the phenomenon should essentially be viewed in its entirety
I cannot prove beyond doubt that this is the case, but these two now
The fact that the recent sightings in Michigan caused a reaction far
famous reports illustrate the method the Air Force has used with
out of proportion to the original sightings, the fact that my press con-
great success in finding logical explanations for the great majority of
ference in Detroit the week before last was the largest in the history
the reports.
of the Detroit Press Club, the fact that I receive many letters from
We have used as a working hypothesis, when first confronted with
schoolchildren who are writing class reports on UFO's and indeed the
a report, that a conventional explanation existed, either as a misiden-
fact that I am speaking here before you, are all parts of the UFO
tification or an otherwise well-known object or phenomenon, a hallu-
phenomenon.
cination, or a hoax. This has been a very successful and productive
In this context, the kind of activity that the press has reported in
hypothetsis. One must be aware, however, that complete adherence
Michigan is not unusual. It only happened that the Dexter and Hills-
to one hypothesis may turn out to be a roadblock in the pursuit of
dale incidents, although of little sicentific significance, have attracted
research endeavors.
national interest. Now, similar incidents, and some considerably
As the saying goes, "If one digs too intently for coal he is apt to
more intriguing, have been occurring for many years, without such
miss diamonds." Scientists should never be guilty of poverty of
treatment on the part of the news media. While such glamorous at-
hypotheses. And in dealing with the truly puzzling cases, we have
tention is quick to wane, the underlying concern about UFO's, fed by
tended either to say that, if an investigation had been pursued long
a continuous trickle of reports, is indeed growing in the mind and sight
enough, the misidentified object would have been recognized, or that
of the public.
the sighting had no validity to begin with.
During this entire period of nearly 20 years I have attempted to
The UFO public, on the other hand, is equally prone to poverty of
remain as openminded on this subject as circumstances permitted, this
hypotheses: Either UFO's mean utter bilge and nonsense, or they
despite the fact that the whole subject seemed utterly ridiculous, and
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6009
jump to the far-out conclusion that the earth is host to space visitors.
The CHAIRMAN. What you have recommended is being done now?
Surely, in scientific fairness, we must examine other hypotheses.
Dr. HYNEK. It is about to be done, I believe.
As early as 1952, in a paper written for the journal of the Optical
The CHAIRMAN. Is about to be done?
Society of America, I called for scientific attention to the problem,
Dr. HYNEK. Yes. I should like to make one comment:
pointing out that "ridicule is not a part of the scientific method and
The puzzling thing is that one would think many more people would
the public should not be taught that it is."
see these flying objects than do. There should be many more wit-
In 1953, I had further recommendations to make, when I wrote in
nesses. We should see a craft, if it actually exists as a tangible thing,
a report to the Air Force:
and we should see it go from point to point. This doesn't seem to
It occurs to me that the public interest in "flying saucers" may be dormant,
happen. Also, there should be far more radar sightings. During the
but can be excited with small provocation. I would recommend that: (1) se
international geophysical year, I was in charge of the optical satellite
lected "unknowns" continue to be worked upon and due publicity be given them
when a satisfactory solution is reached; (2) an announcement be made that
tracking program, and you would think with the surveillance that the
the Air Force is interested in the phenomena which cause reports on a scientific
astronomers placed on the sky, if these objects existed as tangible
basis; (3) use of a small civilian scientific panel to examine a few selected
objects, surely these astronomers would have seen more than they did.
"unknowns."
It is a dilemma. It is a puzzle, as you say, as to how responsible people
And this, I repeat, was my recommendation in 1953. In 1965, in
can report such objects, and that they are not obvious to scientists.
my capacity as scientific consultant, I again advised that the reports
The CHAIRMAN. And then they see them and they disappear and
be studied by a civilian scientific group, in a letter to the Office of the
they don't know where they go, and they land in these remote places
Secretary of the Air Force:
where there is no intelligence to procure?
Dr. HYNEK. I would say so, yes, sir.
If there be any potential scientific value in the fragmentary UFO reports, as
scientific consultant it is clearly my duty to point this out. I have done so, in
The CHAIRMAN. We don't know where they go, who they have on
the past on a less formal basis, in private conservation with, and informal reports
board, we see them a few moments, and then they are gone. This is
to, Air Force officials-I feel it is my responsibility to point out that enough
the end of that.
puzzling sightings have been reported by intelligent and often technically com-
This is what puzzles me. I am not going to ask further questions,
petent people, to warrant closer attention than Project Blue Book can possibly
encompass at the present time. If the preliminary survey of the problem
because I am not knowledgeable with respect to the varying reports
should bear me out; namely, that there exists the possibility of new scientific
that have been made.
information in the UFO phenomenon, then definitely let the recommendation be
So I will turn it over to some of the experts, and I will start with
made to have the National Academy of Sciences, or some other civilian group of
Mr. Bates.
recognized stature, undertake a longer study of the reported phenomena.
Mr. BATES. Mr. Chairman, I don't know-if I have to qualitfy on
I am happy that my appearance before this committee affords me a
that basis.
chance to once again reiterate my recommendations.
But, Secretary Brown, you indicated no one of scientific knowledge
Specifically, it is my opinion that the body of data accumulated since
in your organization has concluded these phenomena come from extra-
1948 through the Air Force investigations deserves close scrutiny by a
terrestrial sources?
civilian panel of physical and social scientists, and that this panel
Secretary BROWN. That is correct. We know of no phenomena or
should be asked to examine the UFO problem critically for the express
vehicles, intelligently guided, which have come from extraterrestrial
purpose of determining whether a major problem really exists.
sources. I excluded meteors, which do come from extraterrestrial
I would, of course, be willing to assist such a panel in whatever way
sources.
I might and would even be willing to take a short leave of absence
Mr. BATES. Is this your conclusion, Doctor?
from my university if it would help place this problem in its proper
Dr. HYNEK. This is also my conclusion. I know of no competent
perspective.
scientist today who would argue the sightings which do puzzle intel-
Thank you.
ligent people. Puzzling cases exist, but I know of no competent scien-
The CHAIRMAN. You say you can't write these reports off. You
tist who would say that there objects come from outer space.
can't ridicule those who have made them. They are highly responsible
Mr. BATES. Then what you are looking for is an explanation in nat-
people, in various walks of life, that have reported them. And that
ural phenomena, thus far you have not determined the factors involved
sometime in the past you recommended that a panel be set up to clear
in it?
these things, a civilian panel, to obviate the accusation that the Air
Dr. HYNEK. Yes.
Force is or has been hiding their reports.
Mr. BATES. But the interesting thing, of course, is we have so many
Now, are you saying to us this morning that there should be a panel
prominent people in the scientific world here who have taken a position,
set up of scientists authorized by the Air Force before whom these
a rather strong position-I have here a letter from a constituent of
things may be brought, and from whom a report could come?
mine. He is a project administrator or engineer in the MINUTEMAN
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir. I am saying that. This would be the gist of
program. That is a responsible position, would we say
my statement.
General McCoNNELL. Yes.
However, I have been scooped by Secretary Brown who has men-
Mr. BATES. On the basis of scientific ability he has been given a
tioned that the Scientific Advisory Board has recommended the same
rather important position toward the security of this country; is that
thing.
correct?
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6011
Secretary BROWN. I would like to know who he is and what his
be inaugurated that presents facts. I am urging you to support a full con-
gressional open inquiry on the UFO problem.
responsibilities are before I comment on this, Mr. Bates. Certainly,
Sincerely,
from the information contained in the letter that you quote, he appears
RAYMOND E. FOWLER,
to occupy a position of some responsibility.
Chairman NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
Mr. BATES. It does seem to be. And as I read the letter which he has
(The attachments to the previous letter are as follows:)
written to me, it is certainly written by a well-educated person. And of
course, we here all kinds of comments on the other side of the issue
[Excerpt from Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, Sept. 6, 1965]
now, with this Lunar II excursion around the moon, people say I sup-
POLICE, CIVILIANS SIGHT UFO IN EXETER AREA
pose the people up there are making the same kind of reports as the
doctor has just made to us. They are making these kinds of state-
EXETER.-At least five people here, including two police officers, have reported
ments.
seeing a flying saucer in this area.
The incidents occurred early Friday morning. According to those who saw
Doctor, to be more specific, the paper which I have-Mr. Chairman,
the unidentified flying object, it was about the size of a house and had a red
I would like to get unanimous consent to insert in the record the in-
glow around it, and moved silently through the night.
formation which has been provided to me.
When Exeter police investigated a parked car on the Exeter-Hampton bypass
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.
at about 12:30 investigating officer Eugene Bertrand. who approach the car and
found two women in a state of near shock. They told that they had been chased
(The letter to Congressman Bates is as follows:)
along Route 101 all the way from Epping, about 12 miles, by flying object which
WENHAM, MASS., April 1, 1966.
glowed with a brilliant halo of red. According to the women, the "thing" fol-
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,
lowed their car until they stopped.
House of Representatives,
As the one woman told their story one of them sighted the object once more,
Washington, D.C.
about 2 miles away, which Bertrand thought was a star low on the horizon.
(Attention, Speaker John W. McCormack).
REPORTS CHASE
DEAR SIR: My name is Raymond E. Fowler. I am employed as a project
administrative engineer in the Minuteman Program Office for Sylvania Electric
At 12 a.m., Norman J. Muscarello, 18, of 2051/2 Front Street, Exeter, came into
Products, Waltham, Mass. I am presently serving as chairman of a Technical
the police station with a hair-raising report of having been chased by a flying
Investigating Subcommittee for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
object as he was hitchhiking toward Exeter on Route 150 in Kensington.
Phenomena, Wash., D.C.
Muscarello told Desk Officer Reginald Toland that as he walked along the
The reasons for my writing are twofold, firstly-I have been asked by NICAP
highway, a large, brilliant object began making passes on an adjacent field and
to submit to you our subcommittee's complete file covering our investigation of
house and along the highway. Not knowing what it was and being understand-
the Exeter, New Hampshire UFO sighting witnessed at close range by local
ably shaken, he crouched in a ditch along the road as the object, SO brilliantly
citizens and police officers on September 3, 1965. I am sure that you are aware
red that its shape could not be determined in the glow, made what seemed to
of this sighting as it gained nationwide publicity recently through NICAP-backed
him to be searching passes at him.
articles in the Saturday Review and Look magazines. Secondly, I do want
Shortly thereafter the "thing" disappeared silently, as quickly as it had ap-
to put myself on record as supporting the claims and views of NICAP and
peared. Muscarello then hitched a ride to the police station and related what
others which indicate that congressional hearings on the matter of UFO's are
he had seen.
long overdue.
Athlough Muscarello's story was extraordinary, Patrolman Bertrand drove him
I feel that the American people are capable of understanding the problems and
back to the scene of the incident in the police cruiser. When they arrived,
implications that will arise if the true facts about UFO's are made known
nothing was there.
offically. The USAF public information program and policy, as directed by the
POLICE SEE UFO
Pentagon, of underrating the significance of UFO's and not releasing true, perti-
nent facts about UFO's, is not only a disservice to the American people now but
Officer Bertrand suggested that they walk into the field where the flying object
in the long run could prove to have been a foolish policy to follow. After years
was last seen, and they were joined there by Exeter Patrolman David Hunt,
of study, I am certain that there is more than ample high-quality observational
who also drove to the scene. Bertrand was talking reassuringly when Muscarello
evidence from highly trained and reliable witnesses to indicate that there are
shouted "Look, there it is, rising up from behind those trees." The officers spun
machinelike solid objects under intelligent control operating in our atmosphere.
around and looked.
The aerodynamic performance and characteristics of the true UFO rule out
From behind a stand of trees in the black of the night, a huge blinding glow
manmade or natural phenomena. Such observational evidence has been well
of brilliant red light surrounding it, the object rose, not fast but waveringly.
supported in many instances by reliable instruments such as cameras, radar,
It traveled slowly and yawed slightly from side to side. They were stunned
geiger-counters, variometers, electrical interference, physical indentations in soil
by the blinding red light as it moved toward them across the field. The object
and scorched areas at landing sites, etc.
seemed to be coming toward them and Bertrand made a move toward his police
I am reasonably sure that if qualified civilian scientists and investigators are
service revolver but thought better of it. Then the three men ran to the police
able to come to this conclusion, that the USAF, supported by the tremendous
cruisers. When questioned on the size of the object, Officer Bertrand estimated
facilities at its disposal, have come to the same conclusion long ago. However,
it to be "about the size of a house."
present official policy deliberately attempts to discredit the validity of UFO's
Usually, when incidents such as this are reported, the sightings take place
and a wealth of data and facts are not being released to the public.
over a period of a few seconds, but in this instance, the men observed the object
I trust that you will examine the attached UFO report and related corre-
for 15 or 20 minutes at what appeared to be a relatively short distance.
spondence in detail. Sightings such as the Exeter, N.H., sighting have and are
One of the most amazing points which Officer Bertrand made while being in-
occurring throughout the world at night and in the daytime. It is high time that
terviewed was the complete absence of sound as the flying object hovered over
the real facts about UFO's are released. A public information program should
6012
6013
a nearby farm building, casting a brilliant glow over the dwelling, while the
ADDREDUN I
farm animals in the barn caused a tremendous commotion. Horses whinnied
and kicked the walls of their stalls. Then the object disappeared rapidly in the
UFO RFT-9/3/65 - KENSYNGTON, 11.4.
distance.
ANOTHER SIGHTING
0,221
(Additional information obtained from
notor of one who personally interviewed
Officer Eugene Bertrand's report on the trio's sighting of the strange object was
Mascurallo on 6 1965)
made to Officer Toland, desk man at the Exeter police station, at 2:55 a.m.
Then at 3:30 p.m. Officer Hunt reported from his cruiser that he had again
sighted the UFO, while he was at the intersection of the Route 101 bypass in
0,221
Exeter and Route 87 to Newfields from Exeter.
Topping the strange activities, Exeter police reported that a telephone call
from an unidentified pay station in Hampton had been made by a hysterical man,
but that the line had gone dead before the call could be completed or the pay
phone station identified. The man had dialed the operator and cried "Get me
0,22)
the police" and said he had been chased by a flying saucer.
Hampton police were notified, but nothing was determined about the point from
SHAPE
which the call was made, what had frightened the man-or why the call was SO
Smot chaped Joncenled by gloro of
abruptly broken off.
finching red lighto Dolwoon and
during flashes Officer Dortrand
got the improssion that the object
NATIONAL INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE
uno with no protrusions
"like and but this is just an
ON AERIAL PHENOMENA,
educated guens.,
Washington, D.C., September 15, 1965.
RAYMOND FOWLER,
LIQUES PULSED DEII A SMOOTH
Wenham, Mass.
SEQUENCE 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1
DEAR RAY: Your excellent report on the September 3 New Hampshire sight-
TAKING TWO SECONDS TO COMPLETE
ings has been received. You certainly are to be commended for a prompt and
A. FULL CYCLE,
thorough investigation. The information is most interesting and will be of
great value. We are very fortunate to have people of your ability donating their
services to us.
All ultnesson abourved
A
Mr. John Fuller of Saturday Review may be getting in touch with you about
the object rook back and
these sightings. He is doing a straightforward column (he writes "Trade
forth several times during
Winds") on the recent wave of sightings, and has long had a sincere interest in
its flight.
the subject. We are cooperating fully, and I have given him a lot of specific
information.
Each light sconed
Our New York No. 2 Subcommittee in Chautauqua County (western New
round in shope.
York.) and an intelligent young member have been investigating a landing report
3
near Buffalo (Cherry Creek) August 19. It appears to be a solid case, and
caused several E-M effects.
On the same night as the New Hampshire sightings, two police officers near
C
Angleton, Tex. (Between Houston and gulf coast) saw a reddish UFO on the
ground in a field, started to investigate until the object moved toward them—
whereupon they fled in panic. Sounds very similar to New Hampshire, but
intefited on 10 CRUD the
we may not be able to get much details.
01576 toward (Inibial
Thanks again for your hard work on our behalf.
sighting) this position
Virils WITH Ruscell residence
Sincerely,
Also Vhon approached
DICK HALL.
Rhynord E. Fetter
RICAP Investigator
ADDENDUM II
(UFO Report, September 3, 1965, Kensington, N.H. (Bertrand-Hunt-Muscarello)
Subject Weather, September 3, 1965, a.m.
To: NICAP, Washington, D.C.
From: Raymond E. Fowler, chairman: NICAP Massachusetts Investigating
Subcommittee.
U.S. Weather Forecast: Skies: Clear. Wind direction Northwest, Wind
velocity 5 miles per hour. Temperature: Lower fifties.
Respectfully submitted.
RAYMOND E. FOWLER,
NICAP Investigator.
50-066 0-66-No. 55-4
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6014
"He was right. It was coming up over a row of trees. There was no noise
[From the Saturday Review, Oct. 2, 1965]
at all. It was about 100 feet in the air, and about 200 feet away from us. I
ADDENDUM IIA (UFO RPT, SEPTEMBER 3, 1965, KENSINGTON, N.H. (BERTRAND-
could see five bright red lights in a straight row. They dimmed from right to
HUNT-MUSCARELLO))
left, and then from left to right-just like an advertising sign does. It lit up
everything around us. But it was silent. The horses started kicking and making
TRADE WINDS
an awful fuss, and the dogs in the farm started barking. The kid froze in his
tracks, and I grabbed him and pulled him toward the police car. I reached for
(By John G. Fuller)
my revolver and then thought better of it. Then Officer David Hunt arrived in
another patrol car.
When the tidal wave of reports about unidentified flying objects hit even the
"We sat there and looked at it for at least 10 minutes. My brain kept telling
august pages of the New York Times last summer, we made a mental note to
me that this doesn't happen-but it was, right in front of my eyes. There was
follow the story through to see just what conclusions might eventually be drawn.
no tail, no wings, and again no sound. It hovered there, still about 100 feet
State police in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico had risked their jobs
away, sort of floated and wobbled. I don't know what it was. All I can say is
and reputations for sanity in reporting a wide number of observations, corrobo-
that it was there, and three of us saw it together."
rated by radar trackings from the Tinker and Carswell Air Force Bases. Later,
Nobody else can tell you exactly what it was, either. Lieutenant Cottrell will
however, the Air Force made it a point to release a statement that the radar
tell you that the whole story is on the police blotter, and that you can't find two
trackings did not correspond to the visual findings of the Oklahoma Department
better officers than Hunt and Bertrand. "If I didn't believe these guys, I'd put
of Public Safety, and the story disappeared from the pages of the press.
'em in a locked room and give 'em some blocks to play with," he says. The
Skepticism is a healthy thing, especially when you get involved with whirling
Hampton police will tell you that too many reliable people have reported these
saucers that defy the laws of aerodynamics. But curiosity is also a powerful
sightings to doubt them. The editors at the Manchester Union Leader and the
force, and it was for this reason that we decided to track down at least one
Exeter News-Letter will tell you that the reports are from too many reliable
specific case of UFO chasing.
sources to doubt.
A phone call to the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon
Moreover, officials suspect other local UFO landings have gone unreported.
in Washington, D.C., put us in touch with Richard H. Hall, its acting director.
As Lieutenant Cottrell said, "If I had seen that thing-and I was all alone,
We learned from Mr. Hall that the Oklahoma State Police had released a nine-
nobody else would have ever heard about it."
page report through its department of public safety, contradicting the Air Force
statement and indicating that without question the Carswell Air Force Base
[From the Haverhill Gazette, Oct. 27, 1965]
radar trackings and the State police visual reports were identical. What's more,
a steady stream of new findings had been received by NICAP. Most interesting
PENTAGON DOESN'T BELIEVE UFO EXETER SIGHTINGS
was a report that the NICAP representative in New England, Mr. Raymond
Fowler, was just completing a survey on an alleged landing of a UFO in Exeter,
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Pentagon believes that, after intensive investigation,
N.H., witnessed by not just one but two police officers.
it has come up with a natural explanation of the UFO sightings in Exeter, N.H.,
We talked successively and at length to Mr. Fowler; Lieutenant Cottrell of
on September 3.
the Exeter police; the Hampton, N.H., police desk; James R. Bucknam, managing
A spokesman said the several reports stemmed from "multiple objects in the
editor of the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader; Officer Bertrand, of the Exeter
area," by which they mean a high-altitude Strategic Air Command exercise out
police force; and the Pease Air Force Base in nearby Portsmouth, N.H.
of Westover, Mass., was going on at the time in the area.
Understandably, the Air Force is extremely wary about the matter of UFO's,
A second important factor was what is called a weather inversion wherein a
and the Pease base could only confirm that a large number of sightings had been
layer of cold air is trapped between warm layers.
reported locally.
The Pentagon spokesman said this natural phenomena causes "stars and
Beyond that, however, we were able to piece together the following story:
planets to dance and twinkle."
Shortly after midnight, on September 3, Officer Eugene Bertrand of the Exeter
The spokesman said "We believe what the people saw that night was stars
police force was on routine duty. cruising along an overpass on Route 101 near
and planets in unusual formations."
the town. He pulled up besides a parked car and found in it two women who
(This is the official Air Force "explanation" for the September 3, 1965, UFO
were visibly disturbed. They reported to him that an airborne object, bright
sightings in the Kensington-Exeter, N.H. area. I have asked the USAF public
red and flashing, had been trailing them for nearly 12 miles, all the way from
information officer at the Pentagon for a copy of their official evaluation for the
the town of Epping. Bertrand, an Air Force veteran of the Korean war, was
subcommittee and NICAP files.¹)
skeptical, made a routine radio report, and went on with his cruising.
RAYMOND E. FOWLER,
Within that same hour, Norman Muscarello, an 18-year-old resident of Exeter,
Chairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
was hitchhiking home from Amesbury, Mass., and had reached a point 2 miles
out of town along Route 150, near Kensington. According to his statement to
the police, he looked up into the sky and saw a similar object approaching him
with a yawing, kitelike motion. He threw himself against a stone wall while
NICAP MASSACHUSETTS INVESTIGATING SUBCOMMITTEE,
the object hovered over a nearby farmhouse, lighting up the entire area. He
Wenham, Mass.
finally made a run for the farmhouse as the object sailed out of sight. Unable
Subject: Addendum IV, UFO report, September 3, 1965 (Kensington, N.H.)
to make sense of his hysterical story, the farmer took no further action and the
(Bertraund-Hunt-Muscarello)
boy hitchhiked into town. Here he reported the story to the police, even though
Date: October 10, 1965.
he was in a state bordering on shock.
From: Raymond E. Fowler, chairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
It was now about 2 a.m., Officer Bertrand was called on his car radio and
To: NICAP.
instructed to take the boy back to the farm area to investigate.
This newsclip identifying UFO reports in the southern New Hampshire area
"I was sure that these women and this kid had seen a helicopter, or something
is misleading. At the time of the September 3, 1965 UFO sighting I checked
like that," Officer Bertrand told us. "But we went out to the spot, and I parked
with the manager of "Sky-Lite Aerial Advertising Co." and its aircraft was not
the cruiser. It was a clear night. No wind. No fog. We walked about a hundred
flying on this night. On October 9 I went over the advertising plane's flight
yards out on the field, near a barn where a lot of horses were kept. Then, the
paths between August and October 8. The plane was not even airborne between
kid yelled, "There it is
August 21 and September 10.
1 See later USAF letter in file which reverses their position.
6016
6017
Joseph Rodina also informed me that his aircraft rarely flies into southern
New Hampshire and when it does it is usually in the Salem and Manchester
Hunt who filled out and signed an eight-page UFO questionnaire and later gave
area, miles away from the Exeter area. He told me that he had told the
permission to use his name in connection with the report. I preceded to the
Amesbury News that perhaps some UFO's reported in New Hampshire could
residence of Norman Muscarello and discovered that he was out of State until
have been his aircraft. Unfortunately, this newspaper used his statement to
September 14. Arrangements have been made for a personal interview upon
explain the sightings in the Seabrook area which borders Kensington, N.H.
his return. I then drove out to the sighting area of sightings two and three,
The "Sky-Lite" aircraft* does not carry red flashing lights. It carries a rec-
and interviewed residents in the general area. Next, I went to the home of
tangular sign carrying white flashing lights. It was not airborne during the
Officer Bertrand and drove him back to the area of sighting two and three where
southeast New Hampshire UFO flap. I have notified the Amesbury News of
he filled out a UFO questionnaire, signed it and gave NICAP permission to use
the true facts and have asked them to set the record straight. I am issuing this
his name in connection with his sighting. While at the sighting area he gave
addendum to avoid further confusion.
me a detailed description of the sightings and related information. I inter-
RAYMOND E. FOWLER,
viewed others in the area who had related information and arrived back home
Chairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
at 2:45 p.m. My brother, Richard A. Fowler, and I returned to the area and
took photographs. We walked several miles along some powerlines near the
sighting area examining this area for any signs of a UFO landing. We feel that
the UFO might have been attracted to the area by these powerlines. We found
[From the Amesbury (Mass.) News, Oct. 6, 1965]
nothing.
SIGHTING ACCOUNT NO. 1
UFO IDENTIFIED AS AD GIMMICK
At approximately 12:30 a.m., e.d.t., Officer Bertrand came upon one woman
The unidentified flying object spotted in this area by many residents has finally
(not two as reported by newspapers) parked in an automobile on route 101 just
been identified.
outside Exeter. When asked if she needed help she said excitedly that she had
It's a flying billboard which contains 500 high-intensity lights that spell out an
been chased along Route 101 between Epping and Exeter for 12 miles by a flying
advertising message.
object which was encircled with a brilliant red glow. She stated that the
The electronic billboard is towed by a specially rigged light aircraft owned by
object dived at her moving automobile several times. When Bertrand asked
Sky-Lite Aerial Advertising Agency of Boston and piloted by Daniel C. Vale of
where the object was, she pointed to what he thought was a bright star on the
Londonderry, N.H.
horizon. He dismissed the incident and after watching the light source for a few
Recently the rig has been flown over the Amesbury, Seabrook, and southern
minutes to reassure the woman he proceeded on in the cruiser. He dismissed
New Hampshire area carrying the advertising message, "Put a Tiger in Your
the incident and did not attach enough importance to the woman's account to
Tank-See Your Esso Dealer."
warrant obtaining her name.
However, when spotted from an angle not directly below the aircraft, it gives
the appearance of a flying saucer, quite like the "UFO's" described by the area
SIGHTING ACCOUNT NO. 2 (MORE DETAILS FORTHCOMING PENDING
residents.
PERSONAL -INTERVIEW)
A spokesman for the firm said the sign is 10 feet wide and 40 feet long. "The
plane can turn on a dime, and when it turns, it gives the appearance of being
At approximately 1 a.m., e.d.t., Norman Muscarello was walking along Route
stationary," the spokesman said.
150 in Kensington, N.H., about 2 miles from Exeter. He had been visiting in
Earlier flights of the night-flying billboard south of Boston also prompted a
Amesbury, Mass., and had been thumbing rides home to Exeter. As he ap-
flash to UFO reports before the "secret" was discovered.
proached the Clyde Russell residence he was alarmed to see an object carrying
at least four extremely bright red pulsating lights emerge from nearby woods
and maneuver over the field adjoining the road which belongs to Carl Dining.
It moved over the Clyde Russell home and hovered there. The house was only
UFO SUMMARY SHEET
20 to 30 feet from where Muscarello stood and the object appeared to be just a
matter of several feet from the roof. Frightened thoroughly he crouched down
UFO reports-Sept. 3, 1966
beside the stonewall which runs along the field. Several times it seemed to move
closer to him. Its lights were SO bright that the Russell home was bathed
Number
Witness-Name and address
Age
Location of UFO sighting
Time e.d.t.
with a red glow. The size of the object seemed to be much larger than the
Russell home and Muscarello later told the police it was 80 to 90 feet long. The
1
Unidentified woman motorist
(1)
Route 10L, Epping to Exeter,
-12:30 a.m.
object was completely silent. Then it moved back over the Carl Dining field
N.H.
and disappeared over the trees. Muscarello pounded on the door of the Clyde
2 and 3.
Norman J. Muscarelle, 2051/2 Front
18
Route 150, Kensington, N.H.
±1:00 a.m.
Russell home shouting that he had seen a "flying saucer." The Russells woke
St., Exeter, N.H.
Russell and Dining proper-
±2:25 a.m.
ties.
up but refused to answer the door thinking that the boy was drunk or some-
3
Officer Eugene F. Bertrand (Exeter
32
do
Do.
thing. Muscarello finally gave up and started down the road toward Exeter.
Police Department) Pickpocket
He flagged down a passing automobile and received a ride to the Exeter police
Road, Exeter, N.H.
3
Officer David R. Hunt, 11 Charles
26
do
±2:35 a.m.
station.
St., Exeter, N.H. (Exeter Police
(The above account is based upon information received from Officers Hunt and
Department)
Bertrand. I hope to receive more detailed information from Norman Muscarello
4.
Officer David R. Hunt
Route 85/101 Bypass, Exeter,
3:30 a.m.
N.H.
personally as soon as he returns from Rhode Island.)
5.
Unidentified man
Hampton, N.H
Early a.m.
SIGHTING ACCOUNT NO. 3
Not available.
Muscarello reported the incident to Desk Officer Reginald Towland at about
BACKGROUND
1:45 a.m., e.d.t. He was white with fear and hardly able to talk. A radio call
I received news of the sighting through newsclips and from a friend whose
was made to Officer Bertrand asking him to return to the station, pick up
niece is a policewoman for the Exeter, N.H., Police Department. I arrived at
Muscarello and investigate at the scene of the sighting which he did. Upon
the Exeter police station at 6 :40 a.m., on September 11, and interviewed Officer
arriving at the Carl Dining field the object was nowhere to be seen. After wait-
ing and looking from the cruiser for several minutes, Bertrand radioed head-
*NOTE.-This aircraft flies out of Beverly Airport, Beverly, Mass. Usually the aircraft
quarters that there was nothing there and that the boy must have been
flies along the coast to Boston and back. It rarely is airborne after 11 p.m.
imagining things. It was then suggested that he examine the field before
6019
6018
to west flight pattern in a straight line with an elevation of about 10° above the
returning, SO Bertrand and Muscarello advanced into the field. As the police
tree-line. Both officers had read a little an UFO's. Neither would venture an
officer played his flashlight beam back and forth over the field, Muscarello
opinion as to what the object was but Officer Bertrand stated that it was definitely
sighted the object rising slowly from behind some nearby trees and shouted.
Bertrand swung around and saw a large dark object carrying a straight row of
not an airplane or helicopter and that in his opinion that it was an intelligently
constructed and operated vehicle. No sound was heard by the witnesses, even at
four extraordinarily bright red pulsating lights coming into the field at tree
top level. It swung around toward them just clearing a 60- to 70-foot tree and
close range but apparently the animals in the nearby barn of Carl Dining could
hear or sense something that frightened them as during sighting No. 2 and No. 3
seemingly only 100 feet away from them. Instinctively Officer Bertrand drew
his service revolver. (He stated that Muscarello said that he shouted "I'll shoot
they whinnied and kicked their stalls. The dog which belonged to people acros"
it!") but thinking this unwise replaced it and yelled to Muscarello to take cover
the road was barking furiously. No interference was noticed on the police radio
in the cruiser. He told me that he was afraid that they both would be burned
nor were the lights and ignition of the cruiser affected. Neither officer would
by the blinding lights closing in on them. They ran to the cruiser where
estimate the object's speed but stated it was very slow. No scorched marks or
indentations were found in the field. Both officers agreed that their signed state-
Bertrand immediately put in a radio call to headquarters for assistance. Officer
Hunt arrived within minutes and the trio observed the object move away over
ments and names could be used by NICAP in connection with the report.
and below the tree line.
SIGHTING ACCOUNT NO. 4
Data (sighting No. 3)-Based on signed questionnaires and interviews with
Officers Bertrand and Hunt.
At 3:30 a.m. e.d.t., Officer Hunt sighted what appeared to be the same object
There is confusion concerning the exact times of the sighting. The police
hovering in the distance while at the Route 85-100 bypass in Exeter. He radioed
stated that the newspaper account stated that Muscarello arrived at the station
Officer Bertrand who told him it was probably a star. Shortly after this he looked
at 12 a.m. is incorrect and that it was probably close to 2 a.m., e.d.t. I have
for it again but it had disappeared. Since there was little detail in this sighting
arbitrarily assigned the time as being 1:45 a.m., e.d.t., after taking every-
I did not bother to probe for details.
thing into consideration. Muscarello's mother also thought it was closer to 2
a.m. Perhaps after my interview with Muscarello, I will be able to pinpoint the
SIGHTING ACCOUNT NO. 5
time more exactly. Based upon the 1:45 a.m. time and the fact that when the
To add to the excitement the police and others told me that an unidentified
trio returned to headquarters and reported the sighting No. 3 to Desk Officer
hysterical man tried to call the police during these early morning hours to re-
Towland at exactly 2:55 a.m., I figure that sighting No. 3 took place approxi-
port a UFO. He dialed the operator from a pay station in Hampton, N.H., and
mately between 2:25 and 2:40 a.m.
excitedly asked the operator to connect him with the police as he had been chased
Sighting No. 3 took place over the field of Carl Dining in Kensington, N.H., on
by a "flying saucer." Before the call could be put through to the police, the tele-
Route 150 about 3 miles south of Exeter, N.H. The duration of the observation
phone connection went dead. Neither the man or the particular Hampton pay
was about 10 minutes by Officer Bertrand and Norman Muscarello and about 5
station could be traced.
minutes by Officer Hunt when he joined the pair at the field. There was no
MILITARY INVESTIGATION
trace of daylight at the sighting time. The weather was dry and cool with a
slight breeze. Observing conditions were excellent. The moon had set at 11:15
Officer Bertrand informed me that soon after they made their report of sight-
p.m., e.d.t., and the sky was studded with stars. The exact shape of the object
ing No. 3 to Desk Officer Towland they notified Pease AFB, Portsmouth, N.H.,
could not be seen by either police officer although Bertrand told me that it
of the sighting by phone. Later Pease AFB phoned back and arranged for
seemed compressed as if it were round or egg-shaped with definitely no pro-
the police officers to be interviewed. At around 9 a.m. that same morning,
trusions like wings, rudder or stabilizer. I hope to obtain more details from
a USAF major and lieutenant in uniforms arrived, questioned them and drove
Muscarello concerning the shape, size, and SO forth of the object.
both Bertrand and Hunt out to the Carl Dining field where they had sighted
The object carried at least four extremely brilliant pulsating red lights which
the UFO. They asked more questions and returned with the police officers
appeared to flash in a steady sequence. They were arranged in a fixed straight
to the station. The USAF officers asked the police to try to keep the sighting
line position. Officer Bertrand said that they were brighter than any light he
from the press SO as to avoid alarming the local people. The police told the
had ever seen and at close range he found that he could not look directly at them.
USAF officers that it was too late for this as several reporters already had
He had the impression that he and Muscarello might have been burned if they did
the story. (One had driven from Manchester on a motorcycle complete with
not run from the object as it approached then. He compared their brightness to
black jacket, helmet, and goggles. I heard privately that he gave the police
that of automobile headlights shining directly in one's face at less than several
quite a start when he came into the station looking like a man from outer
yards away. The manner in which they pulsated gave Bertrand the distinct im-
space.)
pression that this was an intelligently constructed vehicle and definitely not
Bertrand told me that most of the questions asked were the same as I had
some natural phenomenon. The lights were definitely seen to be part of a large
asked. The USAF team were particularly interested in the size and shape
dark solid object. The reflection off the object's body caused a halo effect around
of the object. One question that stuck in Bertrand's mind was that they
it. Both officers had eyeglasses on when viewing the object. Neither officer
wanted to know if the chickens on the Carl Russell residence next to the field
would give an estimate of how large the object itself was although Bertrand was
were awakened and alarmed during the sighting. (Apparently they were not
quoted to have said that it was as "big as a house." Bertrand told me that it was
disturbed as they were not heard during the sighting although they may have
very large but the lights obscured it preventing him from seeing enough of it to
and just were not heard as the chicken house is probably 300-400 yards, at
know how large. When Officer Hunt arrived the object had moved off SO what he
least from where Muscarello and Bertrand were standing in the field.)
thinks he only saw two of the lights. I was, however, able to obtain a statement
Three interesting items told to the police were that (1) that a USAF check
from Bertrand concerning the apparent size of the object. He stated that when
had revealed no aircraft in the area during the time sighting No. 3 occurred;
the object was at its closest that it was almost the apparent size of a "grapefruit"
(2) that Pease AFB had been receiving other UFO reports in the New Hamp-
held at arm's length. When he first sighted it the size seemed to be that of a
shire area almost nightly during the previous week: (3) they mentioned a
"baseball" held at arm's length. He estimated that it was 200 yards away when
sighting which took place in late July concerning an automobile coming upon
he first spotted it after Muscarello shouted. He said that at its closest approach
a UFO hovering over the road in front of them. I have the details and hope
it just cleared a nearby 60- to 70-foot tree. He said the object was very close and
to look into it.
that it appeared to be about 100 feet away. While viewing it from the cruiser it
After returning Officers Bertrand and Hunt to headquarters, both the major
manuvered over the field at about 500 yards away before moving out over the
and lieutenant returned to the sighting area and questioned residents living
tree line. As it moved the object seemed to tilt back and forth from side to side.
near the field. Mrs. Muscarello told me that two USAF officers had questioned
The sighting area was open countryside with farms, fields, and woods. The
her son at length and that a U.S. Navy officer also came to the house and asked
object was first seen in the northeast and last seen in the north moving in an east
several questions about the sighting.
6020
6021
INTERESTING SIDELIGHTS
exhibited by the object; the other correlated UFO reports and the military's
1. Mr. and Mrs. Chase of Kensington who live a few miles down Route 150
interest and actions concerning the UFO reports, rate these as first-class UFO
told me that:
sightings by this investigator.
(a) An Air Force officer had gone around to all the stores selling news-
Sighting No. 4: Insufficient information but interesting.
papers in Exeter and purchased all copies of the Manchester, N.H., Union
Sighting No. 5: Again, the chances are astronomical that several people
Leader newspaper which carried a detailed account of these sightings and
entirely independent of one another should report that they were "chased by
a posed photo of Herman Muscarello and Officers Bertrand, Hunt, and
a flying saucer" in the same general area. It is possible concerning sighting No. 5
Towland. The police had not heard of this and I did not check further.
that someone could have been monitoring the police radio conversations about
(a) Mrs. Chase, a nurse, was on duty at the Exeter Hospital during the
the UFO reports and decided to play a little joke but this seems unlikely. Not
sightings and told me that the Hampton, N.H. police phoned the hospital
many people, other than responsible law enforcement officers are up tuning the
to see if a man was brought into the hospital suffering a heart attack or
police radio and at these wee hours of the morning. Thus, the report is probably
shock. This was in relation to the hysterical man who tried to reach the
genuine. Why the unidentified man did not or could not complete his call to
police by phone about being chased by a UFO. Reference sighting No. 5.
the police will have to remain on open question unless he steps forward and
(0) Mrs. Chase also told me that a friend of hers, a Mrs. Parker Blodgett,
relates what happened.
works as a correspondent for the "Haverhill (Mass.) Gazette" newspaper
I was able to talk to many people during my investigation. The great majority
and was asked by the USAF not to publish UFO reports. (However, she
did not appear to be frightened about the incident. This is contrary to what the
did, as I have a copy of her article dated September 7, 1965.)
USAF team thought would occur if the story got in the newspapers. Instead of
2. A Mrs. St. Laurente of Kingston Road, Kensington, N.H. told a church
fear, I found a tremendous curiosity on the part of people to know more about
minister friend of mine that her brother, who usually cuts the hay on the
UFO's. Strangely enough many openly voiced the interplanetary origin theory
Carl Dining field, refuses to do SO because he has heard that the hay has been
without any encouragement from me. Several years ago very few people other
contaminated by radiation.
than those who have read widely about UFO's would talk like this. Slowly but
3. The police told me that for the past few weeks previous to the sightings
surely over the years the public has been becoming UFO-conscious Reports like
they have received reports from people, some of them personal friends, of their
this one coupled with wide publication will help much in informing the public-
whole house suddenly being momentarily illuminated by a bright reddish glow
at-large of the reality and problem of UFO's.
after they had gone to bed. No objects were seen.
4. Mr. and Mrs. DeMarco, N. Hampton Road (Route 88), Hampton, N.H.,
observed a star-like object blinking red which alternately hovered and moved
in the western sky between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on September 5, 1965. Since Venus
had set and Mr. DeMarco was a former USAF control tower operator who
assured me that it was not an aircraft, I thought the report was worth
mentioning.
5. A Mr. Rice, who owns a CB radio told me that he was talking over his
radio with a Portsmouth, N.H., police cruiser on September 7, 1965, about 8:00
p.m. e.d.t. The officer told him that he was out investigating a UFO report and
asked Mr. Rice to give him a call if he spotted it. He said the UFO was supposed
to be over the Hampton Falls area near where Mr. Rice lives on Route 88. No
UFO was seen by Mr. Rice. The cruiser used call letters KMA-8616 and used
both channel No. 2 and No. 6.
6. Since the UFO sighting at the Carl Dining field, many cars pull up and
watch for the object at night. Mr. Dining had to rope off the entrance to his
field and post it as people were littering his property.
7. Mrs. Muscarello thinks the USAF Lieutenant's name was Brant.
8. On my first two visits to the Carl Dining field on the morning of September
11, 1965, I saw a low-flying C-119 Flying Boxcar pass over the area on both
occasions.
9. Other civilian UFO Investigators were given the brushoff by the police. I
was very fortunate to have received such a good response from them.
EVALUATION
Characters of witnesses
Muscarello: Comes from twice-broken home-has had problems with police
and is well-known by them-usually a cool, calm boy. Until my personal inter-
view with him I can say no more.
Bertrand and Hunt: Credible witnesses, good observers with a keen desire to
relate only facts—I could not even persuade them to guess at estimates of the
object's real size and speed.
The sightings
Sighting No. 1: There is enough similarity between the unidentified woman's
report and the detailed sightings No. 2 and No. 3 to warrant its probable au-
thenticity. The chances of a similar report occurring the same morning, unless
it were authentic, is astronomical. It is possible that the object she pointed out
to Officer Bertrand was Jupiter and not the object that had chased her.
Sightings No. 2 and No. 3: The credibility of the witnessing police officers
coupled with the sightings of Muscarello; the many typical UFO characteristics
50-066 0-66-No. 55-5
6022
6023
U 0 DATA SHEET
Page one
This questionnaire has been prepared so that you can give as much
information as possible concerning the "Unidentified Flying Object"
NOTE- OFFICER'S RECORDED MOVEMENT OF UFO
CORALL
that you have observed. Please try to answer as many questions as
you possibly can. The information that you give will be used for
research purposes. Your name will not be used in connection with
any statements, conclusions, or publications without your permission.
150
Tha .k you very much for your cooperation in this matter.
Investigator: National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena
NOTUALLY $ --W BY THE COMPASS.
Raymond E. Fowler
13 Friend Court
Desk officer. -125AP
CARL DINING WFO FIELD
BERTRAND ARILLO !copy 12000g
STONE WAL
Chairman: NICAP Mass. Subcennitee
Time heported sighting
Wenham, Massachusetts
WAS SIGHTING ME
1. when did you see the OD ect?
2. Time of day:
2
3
9
1965
HOUR
MINUTES
DAY
MONTH
YEAR
(Circle One):
A.M.
or P.M.
TRRE LINE
CRUISER
SIGHTING 3
Respectfully submitted,
3. Time zone: (Circle One):
Eastern
(Circle One) :
Daylight
Raymond E. Fowler
b. Central
Saving Time
C. Mountain
b. Standard
d. Pacific
Ur
Time
e. Other
of my sorvs 099
4. Where were you when you saw the object?
0000000000
KENSINSTON RFD
KENSIN,TON
N.H.
Nearest Postal Address
City or Town
State or Country
Additional remarks:
5. Estimate how long you saw the object.
10
HOURS
MINUTES SECONDS
5.1 Circle one of the following to indicate how certain you are of
00 00000000
your answer to Question 5.
a. Certain
C. Not very sure
STONE WALL
MUSCARELLO
b.
Fairly certain
d. Just a guess
6. What was the condition of the sky?
(Circle One): a. Bright daylight
d. Just a trace of daylight
b. Dull daylight
e.
No
trace of daylight
C. Bright twilight
f. Don't remember
TARE LINE
ADVERING RESIDENCE RUSSELL
SIGHTING 2
7. If you saw the object during DAYLIGHT, TWILIGHT, or DAWN, where was the
SUN located as you looked at the object?
a. In front of you
C. To your right
e. Overhead
LIFO
150
N/A
b. In ba
ou
a. To your
f. Don't remember
6024
6025
Page 2
Page 3
8. If you saw the object at NIGHT, TWILIGHT, or DAWN, what did you notice
16. Tell in a few words the
thg things about the object.
concerning the STARS and MOON?
a. SOUND
8.1 STARS (circle one): a. None
8.2 MOON (circle one):
NONE
b. A few
a. Bright moonlight
b. COLOR
BED
: C. Ma.iy
d. Don't remember
b. Dull moonlight
C. No moonlight- dark
d. Don't remember
9. was the object brighter tha.: the background of the sky?
17. Draw a picture that will show the shape of the object or objects. Label
and include in your sketch any details of the object that you saw such as
(Circle one):
a
YES
b. NO
C. DON'T REMEMBER
wings, protrusions, etc., and especially exhaust trails or vapour trails.
Place a.. arrow beside the drawing to show the direction the object was
10.If it was BRIGHTER THAN the sky background, was the brightness like that
moving.
of a.. automobile headlight appearing to be? (CIRCLE ONE BLOW):
FFAST
-WEST-
a. A nile or more away? dista..t car)
FWEST-
-EAST-
b. Several blocks away?
c. A block away?
a. Several yards away?
e. Other? BRIGHTEN Than HEADLIGHTAT
11/11/11
,Oyin
Close RANGE
,199
11. Did the object:
(Circle One for each question)
a. Appear to stand still at any time?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
b. Suddemly speed up and rush away at any time?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
C. Break up into parts or explode?
YES
NO
RED LigHTS
RED LigHTs
DON'T KNOW
d. Give off smoke?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
e. Change brightness?
NO
DON'T KNOW
FLHSHING
FLASHING
f. Change shape?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
g. Flicker, throb, or pulsate?
NO
DON'T KNOW
18. The edges of the object were:
12. Did the object move behind something at any time, particularly a cloud?
(Circle One) : a. Fuzzy or blurred
e. Other LigHTs WERE
b. Like a bright star
so BRigHT ThEY
(Circle
One):
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
If you a.\swered yes, then
C. Sharply outlined
CREATED A HALO
tell what it moved behind:
19. If there was MORE THAN ONE object, then how many were there?
Draw a picture of how they were arranged, and put an arrow to show
the direction that they were travelling.
13. Did the object move in fro t of something at any time, particularly
a cloud?
YES
NO
DON'T
KNOW
(Circle
One)
If you answered yes, then tell what it moved in front of:
N/A
11. Did the object appear (Circle One): SOLID TRANSPARENT? DON'T KNOW
15. Did you observe the object
through any of the following?
a. Eyeglasses
Yes
NO
d. window glass YES NO g. other
b. Sun glasses
YES
NO
e. Binoculars
y
NO
C. Windshield
YES
NO
f. Telermone
NO
6026
6027
Page 5
Page 4
20. Draw a picture that will show the motion that the object or
25. where were you located when you
26. Were you (Circle One):
objects made. Place a.: "A" at the beginning of the paths
saw the object? (Circle One):
a "B" at the end of the path, and, show a y cha .ges in
a. Inside a building
a. In the business section of city?
direction during the course.
b. In a car
b. In the residential section of
C Outdoors
a city?
a. In an airplane
In open countryside?
e. At sea
a.
Flying near a. airfield?
f. Other
e. Flying over a city?
B
#
f. Flying over open country?
g. Other
27. What were you doing at the time you saw the object, and how did you
happen to notice it?
21. IF POSSIBLE, try to guess or estimate what the real size of the object
was in its longest dimension.
N/A
WeNT To AssisT 18 year old boy
Feet.
22. How large did the object or objects appear as compared with one of the
28. If you were MOVING IN AN AUTOMOBILE or other vehicle at the time, then
following objects "held" i.: the ha d at about arm's length?
complete the Following questions:
(Circle One): a. Head of a p1.,
g. Silver dollar
D
see
question
41
28.1 what direction were you moving? (Circle One):
b. Pea
Baseball
C. Dime
Grapefruit
N/A
a. North
C. East
e. South
g. West
d. Nickel
1. Basketball
b. Northeast d. Southeast f. Southwest h. Northwest
Quarter
k. Other
£. Half-dollar
28.2 How fast were you moving?
miles per hour
28.3 Did you stop at any time while observing object?
22.1 CIRCLE ONE of the followi. g to indicate how certain you are of
(Circle One):
YES
NO
your a swer to Question 22.
field
when
ist
seen.
a. Certain
c.
Not very sure
29. what direction were you looking when you FIRST SAW the obj ect? (Circle
while while over field over tree
One):
b. Fairly certain
a. Uncertai
a. North
C. East
e. South
g. West
bordering
200yards*
A
Northeast d. Southeast f. Southwest h. Northwest
500 youds **
30. what direction were you looking whe., you LAST SAW the object? (Circle One)
23. How did the object or objects disappear from view?
North
C. dast
e. South
DROPPED BELOW TRee LINE
g. West
b. Northeast d. Southeast f. Southwest h. Northwest
31. If you are familiar with bearing terms(a.gular direction), try to
estimate the number of degrees the object was from true North and
24. In order that you ca.. give as clear a picture as possible of what you
also the the number of degreees it was upward from the horizon (elevation)
saw, we would like for you to imagine that you could construct the
objects that you saw. Of what type MATERIAL would you make it? How
31.1 When it first appeared:
LARGE would it be, a .d what SHAPE would it have? Describe 1.1 your
own words a common object or objects which when placed up 1.1 the
N/A
a. From true North
degrees
sky would give the same appearance as the object which you saw.
b. From horizo.:
degrees
31.2 When it disappeared:
N/A
a. From true North
degrees
b. From horizon
degrees
6028
6029
Page 6
Page 7
32. In the following sketch, imagine that you are at the point shown.
34. What were the weather CO ditio. S at the time you saw the object?
Place a "A" On the curved line to show how high the object was above
the horizon (skyli e) when you FIRST saw it. Place a "B" on the same
34.1 CLOUDS (Circle One)
34.2 VIND(Circle One)
curved line to show how high the object was above the horizo.. (skyline)
Clear sky
a.
No wind
b. Hazy
b.
whe. you LAST saw it.
Slight breeze
c.Scattered clouds
C. Strong wind
d. Thick or heavy clouds
d. Don't remember
e. Do..'t remember
34.3 WEATHER (Circle One)
34.4 TEMPERATURE (Circle One)
a
Dry
a. Cold
b. Fog, mist, or light rain
3 Cool
C. Moderate or heavy rain
c. Warm
d. Snow
d. Hot
e. Don't remember
e. Don't remember
35. whe.. did you report to some official that you had seen the object?
B
Official or Organizatio. Name(s)
Day
Month
Year
DESK OFFICER EXETER P.D. 3
9
65
OFFICER TOLAND
33. In the following larger sketch place a.. "A" at the position the object
was whe:. you FIRST saw it, and a "B" at its position when you LAST
saw it. (Refer to smaller sketch as a. exar ple of "how" to complete
the larger sketch.)
36. Have you read literature pertai i.g to Unide. tified Flying Objects?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
If YES, how much? (Circle One) A LITTLE?
MODERATELY? extensively?
37. Was a yone else with you at the time you saw the object?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
37.1 IF you answered YES, did they see the object too?
(Circle One)
NO
B
37.2 Please list their ames a a addresses if you circled YES:
(Attach separate sheet for above)
38. Was this the first time that you had seen an object(s) like this?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
38.1 If you a wered NO, the when, where, a di under what circumsta ces
did you see the other (s)?
33.1
were there a y KNOWN aircraft in the sky duri g your sighting?
Circle One):
YES
NO
If you answered YES, was it following or attempti.. to ..tercept
39. In your opi do :, what do YOU thi k the object(s) was a d what might
the Unidestified Flying Object? (Circle One): YES NO
have caused it?
If you a.swered YES, please circle TYPE of aircraft:
Do NOT KNOW?
RY? COMMERCIAL PRIVATE? JET? PROPELLER
How may engines did the aircraft have?
50-066-66-No. 55-6
6030
6031
40. Do lyou thi k you ca estim the speed of the object?
Page 8
UFO DATA SHEET
Page one
(Circle One)
YES
NO
This questionnaire has been prepared so that you can give as much
If you swered YES, the what speed would you estimate?
MPH
information as possible concerning the "Unidentified Flying Object"
that you have observed. Please try to answer as many questions as
41. Do you think you ca estimate how far away from you the object was?
you possibly can. The information that you give will be used for
research purposes. Your name will not be used in connection with
(Circle One)
Yes
NO
any statements, conclusions, or publications without your permission.
If you a swered YES, the how far away would you say it was? 100 FEET
Thank you very much for your cooperation in this matter.
Investigator: National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena
42. Did the Object(s) cause any 1 terference with the operation of:
Raymond E. Fowler
Time he reported sight
13 Friend Court
(Circle where applicable) RADIO? TV? LIGHTS? OTHER? NONE
Wenham, Massachusetts
to Desk officer- TIME 25AM OFSIGATING OF
IF you underlined a y of above, explai. the Anterference below:
1. when did you see the object?
2. Time of day:
2
55
3
9
1965
HOUR
MINUTES
DAY
MONTH
YEAR
(Circle One):
A.M.
or
P.M.
43. Was a photo takes of the Object (s) (Circle One)
YES
NO
3. Time zone: (Circle One):
a.
Eastern
(Circle One) a. Daylight
XNould you be willi g to submit a copy? (Circle One) YES
NO
b.
Central
Saving Time
N/A Xf you circled YES, please send copy indicati. g monetary rei burseme
c. Mountain
b. Standard
d. Pacific
Time
e. Other
44. Do you belowg to a y Organizatio. which i. vestigates Unide:tified
4. Where were you when you saw the object?
Flyi..g Objects?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
If YES, list them below:
Kensinaton RFD
Kensington
N.H.
Nearest Postal Address
City or Town
State or Country
Additional remarks:
45. May we ablish your report if you a e is keit CO fide.tial? YES NO
May we publish your report a a use your :ame?
YES
NO
5. Estimate how long you saw the object.
5-8
(Circle One)
HOURS
MINUTES SECONDS
17. Please give the followi g informatio about yourself: EUGENE
5.1 Circle one of the following to indicate how certai. you are of
BERTRAND
NAME
50
your answer to Question 5.
Last Name
First Na: e
Middle Name
a. Certain
C. Not very sure
PICKPOCKET RP EXETER
N,H.
b.
Fairly certai.
d. Just a guess
ADDRESS
Street
City
State
TELEPHONE NUMBER 772-4973
6. what was the condition of the sky?
(Circle One):
a. Bright daylight
d. Just a trace of daylight
What is your present job? POLICE OFFICER
b. Dull daylight
e.
No trace of daylight
AGE
32
SEX
c. Bright twilight
£. Don't remember
Please indicate a y education.al traini. you have had: (Nur ber of years
a. Grade school
8
e. Technical school
b. High school
4
7 If you saw the object during DAYLIGHT, TWILIGHT, or DAWN, where was the
c. College
(Type of)
SUN located as you looked at the object?
d. Post graduate
f. Other special traini g?
A
a. In front of you
C. To your right
e. Overhead
)
back of you
a. To your left
f. Don't remember
48. Signature: Engane Date: 9/11/65
6032
6033
tundrefore
Page 3
16. Tell in a few words the following things about the object.
Page 2
a.
SOUND
None
8. If you saw the object at NIGHT, TWILIGHT, or DAWN, what did you notice
concerning the STARS and MOON?
b.
COLOR
Red
8.1 STARS (circle one): a. None
8.2 MOON (circle one):
A few
a
:
0
Many
Bright moonlight
D.
Don't remember
Dull moonlight
C. No moonlight- dark
17. Draw a picture that will show the shape of the object or objects. Label
d. Don't remember
and include in your sketch any details of the object that you saw such as
9. was the object brighter tha.. the background of the sky?
wings, protrusions, etc., and especially exhaust trails or vapour trails.
Place a.. arrow beside the drawing to show the direction the object was
(Circle one):
a.
YES
b. NO
C. DON'T REMEMBER
moving.
-WEST-
-EAST-
10.If it was BRIGHTER THAN the sky background, was the brightness like that
of an automobile headlight appearing to be? (CIRCLE ONE BELOW):
a. A mile or more away?(a dista..t car)
(Two OR The
b. Several blocks away?
C. A block away?
Red Liahts FLAShing
a. Several yards away?
e
IN sequence)
Thee Line
Other? BRiGhten Than headLights at
chose RANge
11. Did the object:
(Circle One for each question)
a. Appear to stand still at any time?
YES NO DON'T KNOW
b. Suddenly speed up and rush away at any time?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
C. Break up into parts or explode?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
d. Give off smoke?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
e. Change brightness?
NO
DON'T KNOW
f. Change shape?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
g. Flicker, throb, or pulsate?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
18. The edges of the object were:
(Circle One) : a. Fuzzy or blurred
e.
Other LiGhts were so
b. Like a bright star
bright they createda
12. Did the object move behind something at a.y time, particularly a cloud?
C. Sharply outlined
Halo effect .
(Circle One) :
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW
If you answered yes, then
19. If there was MORE THAN ONE object, then how many were there?
tell what it moved behind:
Draw a picture of how they were arranged, and put an arrow to show
the direction that they were travelling.
Two or three Red FLASHING
13. Did the object move in front of something at any time, particularly
a cloud?
YES
NO
DON'T KNOW (Circle One)
LiGhts moving ON Hozizen EAST To west
If you answered yes, then tell what it moved in front of:
AT About 60 ANgLes
0
TO eAch other.
14. Did the object appear (Circle One): SOLID? TRANSPARENT? DON'T KNOW
15. Did you observe the object
through any of the following?
a. dyeglasses
YES
NO
d. Window glass YES NO g. Other
b. Sun glasses
YES
NO
e. Binoculars
YES NO
c. Windshield
YES NO
f. Telescope
YES NO
6035
Page 4
Page 5
that the object or
of the path,
25. Where were you located when you
26. Were you (Circle One):
y cha ges 1n
saw the object? (Circle One):
range IN direction
2. Inside a building
a. In the business section of city?
b. In a car
b. In the residential section of
C Outdoors
a city?
d. In a.1 airplane
C
In open countryside?
A
e. At sea
d. Flying near a. airfield?
f. Other
e. Flying over a city?
f. Flying over open country?
g. Other
27. What were you doing at the time you saw the object, and how did you
the real size of the object
happen to notice it?
Feet.
CAlled to scence to Assist other
Cruiser.
as compared with one of the
bout arm's leagth?
28. If you were MOVING IN AN AUTOMOBILE or other vehicle at the time, then
g. Silver dollar
A
complete the following questions:
h. Baseball
28.1 what direction were you moving? (Circle One):
I. Grapefruit
a. North
C. East
e. South
1. Basketball
g. West
k. Other
b. Northeast d. Southeast f. Southwest h. Northwest
28.2 How fast were you moving?
miles per hour
how certain you are of
28.3 Did you stop at any time while observing object?
(Circle One):
YES
NO
C.
Not very sure
29. What direction were you looking when you FIRST SAW the object? (Circle
d. Uncertai.
One):
stance OF 2½- 2/miles
a. North
c. East
e. South
g. West
b.
Northeast d. Southeast £. Southwest h. Northwest
view? Dropped be-
30. what direction were you looking when you LAST SAW the object? (Circle One)
Line
a.
North
C. cast
e. South
g. West
b. Northeast d. Southeast f. Southwest h. Northwest
31.
If you are familiar with bearing terms (angular direction), try to
as possible of what you
estimate the number of degrees the object was from true North and
you could construct the
also the the number of degreees it was upward from the horizon (elevatio.)
would you make it? How
N/A
have? Describe 1.. your
31.1 When it first appeared:
when placed up in the
a. From true North
degrees
object which you saw.
b. From horizo..
degrees
31.2 When it disappeared:
a. From true North
degrees
b. From horizon
degrees
6036
6037
Page 6
Pa
imagine that you are at the point shown.
34. What were the weather 8 ditio.s at the time you saw the of
line to show how high the object was above
you FIRST saw it. Place a "B" on the same
34.1 CLOUDS (Circle One)
34.2 WIND (Circle One
high the object was above the horizo, (skyline)
a
Clear sky
a. No wind
5. Hazy
b Slight bree:
c.Scattered clouds
c. Strong wi d
d. Thick or heavy clouds
d. Don't rememi
e. Do..'t remember
34.3 WEATHER (Circle One)
34.4 TEMPERATURE (Ci)
a Dry
a. Cold
b. Fog, nist, or light rain
b Cool
c. Moderate or heavy rain
C. Warm
d. Snow
d. Hot
e. Don't remember
e. Don't rememl
35. whe.. did you report to some official that you had seen the
A.
Official or Organizatio.. Name(s)
Day
Month
Desk Officen Exeten P.D
3
9
Officen TOLANd.
sketch place a.. "A" at the position the object
it, and a "B" at its position when you LAST
sketch as a., example of "how" to complete
36. Have you read literature pertai 1.g to Unide. tified Flying
(Circle One)
YES
NO
If YES, how much? (Circle One)
A
MODERATELY? extensively?
37. was anyone else with you at the time you saw the object?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
37.1 IF you answered YES, did they see the object too?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
37.2 Please list their names a a addresses if you circled :
A
(Attach separate sheet for above)
38. Was this the first time that you had seen an object (s) like
(Circle One)
YES
NO
38.1 If you a swered NO, the: when, where, add under what <
did you see the other o..e(s)?
rcraft 1. the sky duri.g your sighting?
NO
it following or attempti g to 1 tercept
Object? (Circle One): Yes NO
39. I.V your opi.io..., what do YOU think the object(s) was a a w)
have caused it? Do Not KNOW,
circle TYPE of aircraft:
PRIVATE? JET? PROPELLER
aircraft have?
6038
6039
WENHAM, MASS., October 29, 1
MASTON M. JACKS,
Major, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Pictorial Branch,
Public Information Division, Office of Information.
40. Do /you thi k you ca estimate the speed of the object?
Page 8
SAF-OIPB
(Circle One)
YES
NO
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
Office of the Secretary, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
If you a swered YES, then what speed would you estimate?
MPH
DEAR MAJOR JACKS: This is a formal inquiry concerning the official U
41. Do you thi k you ca. estimate how far away from you the object was?
Force evaluation of the detailed UFO report submitted to AFSC-FTD/P
(Circle One)
YES
Blue Book last month. My investigation and subsquent report took place S
NO
after the official U.S. Air Force investigating team from Pease AFB made
If you a .swered YES, then how far away would you say it was? 9000 FOOT
investigation.
at chosest, Saw at about 2 inites on Honizen,
The UFO sighting took place between the Clyde Russell and Carl Dining
42. Did the Object(s) cause any 1 terference with the operation of:
(Circle where applicable) RADIO? TV? LIGHTS? OTHER?
NONE
erties along Route 150 in Kensington, N.H., on September 3, 1965, in the
N/A
hours of the morning. The witnesses were Norman Muscarello and Officer
IF you underlined a.y of above, explai.: the interference below:
trand and Hunt of the Exeter, N.H., police force.
In 1964 I customarily received correspondence from your office in respo
UFO reports submitted to the U.S. Air Force for evaluation. This was
ciated. I have submitted many reports since but have not received any res
43. was a photo taken of the Object (s) (Circle One)
YES
NO
This is understandable due to the many reports received by the U.S. Air
N/A
Would you be willi g to submit a copy? (Circle One) YES
NO
and I do not expect such a service on your part normally, but, I did spend
e
deal of time and thought on the Kensington, N.H., report and would app
If you circled YES, please send copy indicating monetary rei bursement:
your sending the official U.S. Air Force evaluation of the same as soon as po
I understand the evaluation has been made.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. I look forward to hearin
44. Do you belowg to a y Organizatio.: which 1. vestigates Unidectified
your office soon.
Flying Objects?
(Circle One)
YES
NO
If YES, list them below:
Sincerely,
RAYMOND E. Fow
15. May we publish your report if you name is keft fidential?
NO
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
May we publish your report a .d use your .:ame?
Cherged Lis
YES
NO
(Circle
One)
Washington, January 25,
DEAR MR. FOWLER: This is in reply to your request for information
47. Please give the following information about yourself:
Exeter, N.H., UFO sightings.
NAME
Hunt
David
Russell
The initial investigation from Pease Air Force Base was submitted to ou
Last Name
First Name
Middle Name
on September 15, 1965, and contained statements from the principal wit
ADDRESS 11 ChARLes St.
Exeter
N.H.
This data indicated that a refueling operation might have been the cause
sighting. Refueling area "Fur Trapper" and refueling area "Down Dat
Street
City
State
controlled through Loring Air Force Base and located over the area of the
TELEPHONE NUMBER 712-3615
ing. A call was made to the controller of this refueling area, and we W
What is your present job? Police Officer.
formed that they were closed from 03/0500Z to 03/600Z for an 8th Air
AGE-
26
SEX MALE
operation, "Big Blast." A call was placed to the 99th Bomb Wing at W
Air Force Base for information on this operation.
Please indicate a y educational training you have had: (Number of years
The initial impression was that aircraft from an 8th Air Force operation
a. Grade school
8
e. Technical school
Blast," was the cause of the lights observed during this incident. Inform
b. High school
4
c. College
(Type of)
received from the 8th Air Force indicates that 10 B-47 aircraft from Pea
d. Post graduate
f. Other special training?
Force Base involved in Operation Big Blast "Coco" were in the traffic
I
over Exeter, N.H., between 03/444Z and 03/535Z. A copy of this letter is en
)
Since this information conflicted with the time of the sighting and elim
these aircraft as a possible evaluation of this incident, a letter was forwar
48. Signature Date: 9/11/65
Mr. Eugene Bertrand and Mr. Dave Hunt of the Exeter Police Departm
questing clarification of the time of the sighting. A copy of our letter to
gentlemen and a copy of their reply is attached.
The early sightings by two unnamed women and Mr. Muscarello are attr
to aircraft from operation Big Blast "Coco." The subsequent observation
1
cers Bertrand and Hunt occurring after 2 a.m. are regarded as unidentifie
Sincerely,
JOHN P. SPAULDING,
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Civil Branch, Community 1
tions Division, Office of Information
DECEMBER 2,
I
HECTOR QUINTANILLA, Jr.,
Major, U.S. Air Force,
Chief, Project Blue Book,
Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.
DEAR SIR: We were very glad to get your letter during the third W
November, because as you might imagine we have been the subject of cons
ble ridicule since the Pentagon released its "final evaluation" of our si
6040
6041
of September 3, 1965. In other words, both Patrolman Hunt and myself saw
Mr. EUGENE F. BERTRAND, Jr.,
this object at close range, checked it out with each other, confirmed and re-
Mr. DAVID R. HUNT,
confirmed the fact that this was not any kind of conventional aircraft, that it
Exeter Police Department, Exeter, N.H.
was at an altutude of not more than a couple of hundred feet, and went to con-
GENTLEMEN The sighting of various unidentified objects by you and Mr. Nor-
siderable trouble to confirm that the weather was clear, there was no wind, no
man Mascarello was investigated by officials from Pease Air Force Base, N.H.,
chance of weather inversion, and that what we were seeing was no illusion or
and their report has been forwarded to our office at Wright-Patterson Air Force
military or civilian craft. We entered this in a complete official police report
Base. This sighting at Exeter, N.H., on the night of September 2 has been given
as a supplement to the blotter of the morning of September 3 (not September
considerable publicity through various news releases and in magazine articles
2, as your letter indicates). Since our job depends on accuracy and an ability
similar to that from the Saturday Review of October 2, 1965. A portion of this
to tell the difference between fact and fiction, we were naturally disturbed by
article is attached for your information. This information was released by the
the Pentagon report which attributed the sighting to "multiple high-altitude
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, a private organization
objects" in the area and "weather inversion." What is a little difficult to under-
which has no connection with the Government. As a result of these articles, the
stand is the fact that your letter (undated) arrived considerably after the
Air Force has received inquiry as to the cause of this report.
Pentagon release. Since your letter says that you are still in the process of
Our investigation and evaluation of this sighting indicates a possible associa-
making a final evaluation, it seems that there is an inconsistency here. Ordi-
tion with an 8th Air Force operation, "Big Blast." In addition to aircraft from
narily, this wouldn't be too important except for the fact that in a situation
this operation, there were five B-47 type aircraft flying in the area during this
like this we are naturally very reluctant to be considered irresponsible in our
period. Before a final evaluation of your sighting can be made, it is essential for
official report to the police station.
us to know if either of you witnessed any aircraft in the area during this time
Since one of us (Patrolman Bertrand) was in the Air Force for 4 years en-
period either independently or in connection with the objects observed. Since
gaged in refueling operations with all kinds of military aircraft, it was im-
there were many aircraft in the area, at that time, and there were no reports of
possible to mistake what we saw for any kind of military operation, regardless
unidentified objects from personnel engaged in this air operation, we might then
of altitude. It was also definitely not a helicopter or balloon. Immediately after
assume that the objects observed between midnight and 2 a.m. might be asso-
the object disappeared, we did see what probably was a B-47 at high altitude,
ciated with this military air operation. If, however, these aircraft were noted by
but it bore no relation at all to the object we saw.
either of you, then this would tend to eliminate this air operation as a plausible
Another fact is that the time of our observation was nearly an hour after
explanation for the objects observed.
2 a.m., which would eliminate the 8th Air Force operation, Big Blast, since
Sincerely,
as you say this took place between midnight and 2 a.m. Norman Muscarello,
HECTOR QUINTANILLA, Jr.,
who first reported this object before we went to the sight saw it somewhere in
Major, USAF, Chief, Project Blue Book.
the vicinity of 2 a.m., but nearly an hour had passed before he got into the
police station, and we went out to the location with him.
NOVEMBER 16, 1965.
We would both appreciate it very much if you would help us eliminate the
possible conclusion that some people have made in that we might have (a)
Memo: TDEW/UFO.
made up the story, or (b) were incompetent observers. Anything you could
Subject: UFO sighting.
do along this line would be very much appreciated, and I'm sure you can under-
To: Hq 8th Air Force.
stand the position we're in.
1. A report of an unidentified flying object was submitted to our office at
We appreciate the problems the Air Force must have with a lot of irresponsible
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by the 817 Combat Support Group, Pease
reports on this subject, and don't want to cause you any unnecessary trouble.
Air Force Base. This report was submitted to Wright-Patterson Air Force
On the other hand, we think you probably understand our position.
Base in accordance with AFR 200-2. Evaluation of information submitted
Thanks very much for your interest.
indicates that the observation may be associated with the military operation,
Sincerely,
Big Blast. The location of the observation was the New Hampshire area, in
EUGENE BERTRAND, Patrolman.
and around the town of Exeter. Time of the reported UFO was the night of
DAVID HUNT, Patrolman.
August 2-3, 1965, and specifically 03/0500 to 0600 Zebra. This UFO report has
received considerable publicity in newspaper and magazine articles, and the
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
Air Force has received numerous queries regarding the cause of this sighting.
HEADQUARTERS, 8TH AIR FORCE (SAC),
2. We would like to know the specific types of aircraft used in this operation
Westover Air Force Base, Mass., Novembr 24, 1965.
and possible location of these aircraft at the time of the report.
For the commander.
Memorondum DOOTO.
ERIC T. DE JONCKMZERE,
Subject: UFO sighting.
Colonel, U.S. Air Force,
To: AFSC (TDEW/UFO.)
Deputy for Technology and Subsystems.
1. In reply to your letter, same subject, November 16, 1965, and telephone con-
versation between Specialist Master Sergeant Heffley, 8th Air Force, and Sergant
Moody, Headquarters, AFSC, on November 19, 1965, the following information is
furnished.
NICAP MASSACHUSETTS INVESTIGATING SUBCOMMITTEE,
2. Big Blast "Coco," a SAC/NORAD training mission, was flown on September
Wenham, Mass., February 10, 1966.
2-3, 1965, By 03/0430Z, the operational portion of the mission was complete, and
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
participating aircraft were en route to their home stations.
Office of the Secretary,
3. Ten B-47 aircraft from Pease AFB were involved in Big Blast "Coco" and
U.S. Air Force,
were estimated to arrive at their initial approach fix (Pease TACAN 320° radial,
Washington, D.C.
10 DME fix), between 03/0444Z and 03/0535Z. The town of Exeter is within the
(Attention John P. Spaulding, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Civil
traffic pattern utilized by air traffic control in the recovery of these aircraft at
Branch, Community Relations Division, Office of Information).
Pease AFB, N.H. During their approach the recovering aircraft would have
DEAR COLONEL SPAULDING: Thank you for your correspondence of January 25,
been displaying standard position lights, anticollision lights, and possibly over
1966, in response to my letter of November 24, 1965, regarding my inquiry con-
wing and landing lights.
cerning the September 3, 1965, UFO sightings in Exeter, N.H. I appreciate
For the commander.
your letter and the attached backup information concerning which I would make
WILLIAM A. MCGILPIN, Jr.,
the following comments.
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force.,
Directorate of Operations.
6042
6043
The UFO sighted by Norman Muscarello was identical to the UFO sighted
later by Muscarello Bertrand, and Hunt. Norman observed the UFO at close
Dr. HYNEK. It is, I believe, to the best of my knowledge, listed as
range during his initial sighting. There is no question in my mind that the
unidentified.
same or similar object was involved in both of these particular sightings. The
Mr. BATES. This one is still unidentified?
number of pulsating lights, the yawing motion, the same location, etc., make
this SO very apparent. Since I did not interview the "unnamed women" I am
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir.
not certain of the details of their sighting but according to Officer Bertrand, the
The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you make no bones about it, you
object they described was very similar to the UFO they sighted later. I might
cannot explain it?
add that another witness, a male motorist, also sighted a similar object. He
Dr. HYNEK. That is correct.
tried to phone the police from a pay station at nearby Hampton, N.H., but was
cut off. Later he reported the incident to U.S. Air Force authorities at Pease
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
AFB. The chances are astronomical that six people, entirely independent of
Mr. BATES. I wonder if you would give us some idea of these 20
each other, should report the identical description of a UFO within the span of
cases that you have cited, and tell us a little something about the
several hours in the same general area. I am aware of the many UFO sight-
ings in New Hampshire especially in September. It may be more than
nature of these cases, and what the problems are, generally
coincidence that many of these sightings were near powerlines.
Dr. HYNEK. Well, I do not have the case files with me. I should
Although I do not agree completely with the way Washington is handling the
be happy to prepare them for submission. But in broad description,
UFO problem I am sympathetic with the official attitude. I have enough faith
they vary quite a bit. They are either daytime sightings or night-
in the Government to realize that although official releases on UFO's would
indicate that UFO's present no problem regarding national security and that
time sightings. I will describe one, which may not be necessarily
the U.S. Air Force treats the subject lightly, the converse is true, that is, that
typical. But it is an example of a sighting that puzzled some very
a full-scale military and scientific research program is being carried out on
solid citizens. These individuals happened to be-and I will with-
UFO's because they are a threat to our national security. It is because of this
hold names, of course-two students of anthropology at the University
belief that I will continue to send the better UFO reports our subcommittee in-
of Wisconsin. They were with two other people in a car, returning
vestigates to Project Bluebook and will continue to urge the public to report
all UFO sightings to the nearest Air Force base at my lectures, personal con-
home one evening from shopping, about 9 p.m. In the distance they
tacts, etc. I might add that I encourage reporting such UFO's to NICAP con-
saw what they first took to be rotating blinker lights on a police car,
currently with any report to the U.S. Air Force.
and they thought there had been an accident down the road some
It is heartening to see that the U.S. Air Force regards the UFO sighted by
place. They then decided that this couldn't be the case because the
Officers Bertrand and Hunt as an unknown. I am sure this will help a little in
reducing the ridicule they experienced because of the U.S. Air Force initial
lights were a little too high. This illustrates the sort of thing we
explanation of their sightings. I feel certain that if it were not for the fact
refer to as escalation of explanation.
that their sighting is being carried nationally in the pages of Saturday Review,
When someone writes in or calls in that they have seen a space ship
Look, etc.; and if they had not personally complained publicly and to your
patrolling the earth, and this is not a fact, this is an interpretation
office, that their sighting would have been lumped into the same category as the
UFO Muscarello and the other sighted. However, my rambling on will not make
of a fact, usually, what they have actually seen was a light, I am
a bit of difference to present official policy and in a real sense I am wasting
much more interested in the sincere individuals who report some-
your time in even replying as I'm sure your office is very busy but I felt that I
thing, who say "I thought at first it was this, then I decided it couldn't
would express my feelings on the subject at hand just for the record.
be that, it had to be something else." In this escalation hypothesis,
Thanks SO much again. I look forward to the time that Government policy
will become more relaxed on the UFO subject and in the meantime will continue
the incident I have described, these people said it could not have been
my meager research and efforts in this field for NICAP and the U.S. Air Force.
blinker lights on a police car because they were too high. The next
Sincerely,
hypothesis was that it was an aircraft about to crash. As the object
RAYMOND E. FOWLER,
came closer all they could see were four huge red lights and an even
Chairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee.
larger brighter single white light. As it came closer to the car-the
Mr. BATES. In reference to the so-called sighting in New Hampshire,
little 12-year-old girl in the back seat, became SO frightened that she
Doctor, you are familiar with that case?
just tumbled over and hid her eyes.
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir; I am familiar with the case.
I questioned these people for some 2 hours. They were very intelli-
Mr. BATES. You have examined it?
gent people and were truly puzzled. They did not for a moment think
Dr. HYNEK. No, I have not been there to examine it. Much of my
they were being visited by a vehicle from outer space. They were
information is based upon the rather excellent account that Mr. John
just puzzled. They simply wanted an explanation of what they had
Fuller has given of it in Look magazine. I cannot vouch for the
seen.
authenticity of his statements, but I have talked with Mr. Fuller, and
The object apparently extended upward at an angle of about 30
he apparently has tried to do a very thorough job in talking with
degrees, SO that part of it could be seen above the telephone wires and
people in New Hampshire.
part below. It hovered around the car for awhile. The man drove
Mr. BATES. Are you familiar with Mr. Raymond E. Fowler?
into a farmer's driveway, turned his lights out and listened, but could
Dr. HYNEK. I have had some correspondence with him, but I have
hear no noise. He backed out and as the object began to move away,
never met him.
he gave chase but could not catch up with it.
Mr. BATES. Is this Portsmouth case one of the 5 percent that have
This was a case of four intelligent people seeing this strange object
not been identified, or within the 95 percent on which you have
and reporting it. But no one else did. Why not? Was this some
reached a decision?
sort of a strange phychic projection, or something these people were
particularly prone to? Why did this take place in an area which was
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not overly populated but certainly not completely sparse. Why would
Dr. HYNEK. Well, sir, scientists have a somewhat different way
they be the only four people to see this? This is a problem we are
of working. They gather data quietly without fanfare, without the
faced with on many reported sightings. Therefore, I find it most
press looking over their shoulder. They may work for several years.
difficult to ascribe a physical tangibility that there was an actual craft
The CHAIRMAN. What would you suggest that I do, Doctor, as
here. I would rather seek some other scientific explanation.
chairman of this committee?
Mr. BATES. With respect to your response on that particular case.
Dr. HYNEK. You are in a totally different category, sir.
In the New Hampshire situation, two women apparently saw this
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.
object which they said was the size of a house. They reported it at
Since this thing began in Michigan, we have two members of the
the police station. And then the officer came out. He saw it when
Michigan delegation, and I am going to start off with Mr. Nedzi and
he got there. So there is someone who did see it in addition to the
ask him if he has any questions.
people who reported it originally.
Mr. NEDZI. Mr. Chairman, you are very kind. I don't have any
Dr. HYNEK. Yes.
questions directly pertaining to Michigan, although I have recent-
Mr. BATES. You have no decision with respect to the New Hamp-
ly been advised my district is about 150 miles from the sightings.
shire case?
The sightings are moving eastward toward my district. [Laughter.]
Dr. HYNEK. I would not offer or venture any conclusion to some-
One question, Doctor, as to these statistics. Are they statistics
thing I had not personally investigated.
only from the United States, the investigations made by you and the
Mr. BATES. This particular case has been referred to a study group,
Air Force?
the New Hampshire case, or has it not, or is it a dead issue?
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir. The Air Force would have no jurisdiction
Dr. HYNEK. No case in the Air Force files that is unidentified is a
over cases in other countries. But there are, I understand, reports
dead issue.
from other countries, also.
Mr. BATES. Is it just in limbo now, or is somebody still looking
Mr. NEDZI. Is any effort made to coordinate information with
into it?
some of the sightings that are made abroad?
Dr. HYNEK. I would say at the moment, considering the recent re-
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir. Up to now we have made no concerted effort
ported sightings in Michigan, that it is in limbo.
to do this.
Mr. BATES. Do you expect to investigate this further? Would this
Mr. NEDZI. Do you think it might be a good idea to do it?
be one that you would prefer to the panel
Dr. HYNEK. Well, I think we should attend to the situation here
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir. I think this is one they should take a look at.
in the United States first. Then, if our efforts are successful and if
The CHAIRMAN. Do you think they should be examined further?
we strike scientific paydirt and find something of value, then perhaps
Dr. HYNEK. I am sorry, sir?
the other step you suggest would be advisable.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you think this panel, about whom the Secre-
Mr. NEDZI. Do you know whether any studies are going on over-
tary has spoken, should go into this further and make a report?
seas, with respect to UFO's?
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir; I do.
Dr. HYNEK. I know of no formal studies. Actually, the rest of the
The CHAIRMAN. There are five such cases, or four, of some unex-
world seems to be guided by, and shows a tremendous respect for, the
plained phenomena; is this a fact?
U.S. Air Force, and they feel, I understand, that the Air Force has
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir; there are at least that many.
done a fine job.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, do you plan to have this board look
Mr. NEDZI. Perhaps the question should be directed to the Air Force,
into these?
but it seemed to me there should be some kind of exchange of ideas
Secretary BROWN. We will continue our investigations of all of
among the scientists who might be interested in it in other countries
these, Mr. Chairman.
where these sightings have taken place. It might contribute toward
I have this recommendation to establish a civilian panel from the
an exposé of the problem.
Scientific Advisory Board, and I believe I may act favorably on
Let me clarify for the record, I do not believe in flying saucers, but
it, but I want to explore further the nature of such a panel, and the
I think it is important to have some kind of evidence that can be pre-
ground rules, before I go ahead with it. I don't want to have a
sented to the people SO that they don't let the thing get more out of
group of people come in for just 1 day and make a shallow investi-
hand than I think it already is.
gation. They have to be prepared to look into a situation thorough-
Secretary BROWN. That is what we have been trying to do, Mr.
ly if they are to do any good.
Nedzi. I do not think we have any ideas of a scientific nature to
The CHAIRMAN. If you cannot explain these things, and you are
exchange with anyone else yet, nor do they have such information to
our source of beginnings, how on earth could a subcommittee of this
exchange with us, and the difficulty in going to an international pro-
committee explain them
gram is that it won't broaden our knowledge of basic data very much.
Dr. HYNEK. Are you looking to me for an answer?
On the other hand, it may degrade the quality of the data, because we
The CHAIRMAN. If I conducted a hearing on this it would go on
have a hard enough time getting details in this country. A few well-
and on, and on, if I let it, I would imagine.
authenticated but unexplained cases are worth much more than a
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number of unexplained cases where the data is not sufficiently precise
to be helpful in an analysis.
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn together
in one place and examined far more objectively than anyone has done SO far. A
Mr. NEDZI. My final question, Doctor, would be whether-and I
stable public opinion will come from a trustworthy look at the evidence, not from
think you touched upon this-whether there has been ever any evidence
belittling it.
in any of these unexplained sightings that would indicate that there
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective and
is some kind of extraterrestial intelligence involved?
respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all present and future evi-
dence about what is going on."
Dr. HYNEK. I believe I have covered that. I have not seen any
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you scan the
evidence to confirm this, nor have I know any competent scientist
enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the Griffin-Larrabee News
who has, or who believes that any kind of extraterrestrial intelligence
Bureau here. In the last of his articles, published last January, Mr. Griffin
is involved. However, the possibility should be kept open as a possible
says, "A main conclusion can be briefly stated. It is that the Air Force is mis-
leading the public by its continuing campaign to produce and maintain belief
hypothesis. I don't think we should ever close our minds to it. But
that all sightings can be explained away as misidentification of familiar objects,
certainly there is no real evidence of intelligent behavior of hardwares.
such as balloons, stars, and aircraft."
If we had received periodic visits by controlled space vehicles since
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional inves-
1947, or earlier, it is likely they would have had some kind of trouble
tigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R. Brown, Ard-
more, Tenn., who says, "I have seen UFO. Will be available to testify."
at some time and dropped something off the coast of Spain or some
Another, from Mrs. Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oreg., reads, "9 out of 10 people
place, and we have not come across any positive proof like that.
want truth of UFO's. Press your investigation to the fullest."
Mr. NEDZI. Mr. Chairman, until the sightings get a little closer to
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as "a scientist from MIT,"
my district, I have no further questions.
urges that you "do everything in your power to make Air Force Project Blue
Book (the Air Force name for its study and verdicts on UFO reports) known to
The CHAIRMAN. I recognize Mr. Chamberlain, then I go to Governor
the people." Are we to assume that everyone who says he has seen UFO's is an
Stafford and Mr. Hébert, because I want to get as close to the districts
unreliable witness?
as I can.
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Mich., dated March 21, 1966, states that "at
I want to put in the record Mr. Ford's letter, and the response by
least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that they saw a strange flying
object guarded by 4 sister ships land in a swamp near here Sunday night."
Secretary Brown.
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of a recent
What else, Mr. Blandford, ought to go in the record
UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical engineer employed
Mr. BLANDFORD. That is all that ought to be in at this time.
by Ford Motor Co. He points out that an aeronautical engineer can hardly be
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, we will put all of these in the
considered an untrustworthy witness.
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation than
record. I want to shed as much light on these illuminated objects as
that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a com-
we can.
mittee investigation of the UFO phenomena.
(The material above referred to is as follows:)
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFO's and to
produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject.
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,
Kindest personal regards
OFFICE OF THE MINORITY LEADER,
Sincerely,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
GERALD R. FORD, Member of Congress.
Washington, D.C., March 28, 1966.
Enclosures.
Representative L. MENDEL RIVERS,
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 27, 1966]
Chairman, Armed Services Committee,
U.S. House of Representatives,
DON'T SNEER AT UFO's
Washington, D.C.
DEAR CHAIRMAN RIVERS: No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of news-
(By Roscoe Drummond)
paper stories about unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special
You can't dismiss the possibility that some of the unidentified flying objects,
interest in these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have been
which SO many people have sighted in SO many places, are real.
in my home State of Michigan.
There are, of course, UFO buffs who seem to want to believe everything and
The Air Force sent a consultant, Astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek of North-
discount logical explanations. But Air Force officials assigned to check up on
western University, to Michigan to investigate the various reports; and he dis-
these sightings seem SO bored and skeptical that many people have the impression
missed all of them as the product of college student pranks or swamp gas or an
that they think the public would panic if all the facts were brought out into the
impression created by the rising crescent moon and the planet Venus. I do not
agree that all of these reports can be or should be SO easily explained away.
open.
Let's not leave the search for more knowledge to those who tend to accept
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and because I
believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough explanation than has
everything uncritically or to those who tend to dismiss every UFO as ridiculous.
The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective and
been given them by the Air Force to date, I am proposing that either the Science
and Astronautics Committee or the Armed Services Committee of the House sched-
respected panel to investigate, appraise and report on all present and future
evidence about what is going on.
ule hearings on the subject of UFO's and invite testimony from both the execu-
Last week, more than 100 persons (some of them trained observers) reported
tive branch of the Government and some of the persons who claim to have seen
UFO's.
seeing "flying saucers" in seven States, from Maine to Texas to Colorado.
Last year, project Blue Book, the small Air Force unit created to keep tabs
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing the ad-
visability of an investigation of UFO's.
on these things, received 886 reports of UFO sightings.
During the last 2 years, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phe-
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond, published
nomena, a private group headed by a retired Naval Academy Marine Corps pilot,
last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these reported sightings
are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need a more credible and detached
received 3,000 such reports.
During the past 10 years, the NICAP received some 8,000 reports and says that
appraisal of the evidence than we are getting."
1,500 of them "seem pretty substantial and unexplained."
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Paul Richwine, 16, who lives in Woodland Beach, 3 miles north of Monroe,
The Air Force totals 10,147 UFO reports and states that 646 of them remain
produced a piece of film with a blob on it that he says his camera "saw" when
unexplained by provable natural phenomena.
he pointed it at a "flying saucer" over his home Friday night.
Maybe all of these reported sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal.
Detroit News photographers say the blob could be due to a wrinkle in the film.
But we need a more credible and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are
But Paul and his mother, Mrs. Mariannice Richwine, insist that they saw the
getting.
strange glowing objects cavorting in the sky and that the dark area on the
Maybe there is no intelligent life on other planets. Many scientists think other
picture represents one of them.
planets could not sustain such life. But we don't really know.
The object in the picture doesn't seem to have much material substance.
One fact about the UFO's gives me pause. There have been no really solid
Neither Paul nor his mother can account for the fact that the thing they saw
reports of creatures being seen getting off landed saucers. To venture from one
was bright and shiny with flashing colored lights while the camera recorded a
planet to another involves great intellectual curiosity and I would think it almost
dark smear.
impossible for someone from outer space, once here, to stifle that curiosity to the
Paul said his Argus F-100 was on time exposure at f. 2.8 and was loaded with
extent of not trying to make personal contact with Earth people.
fast film when he took the picture at about 11 :30 p.m., Friday.
Conceivably, we have been seeing only preliminary unmanned orbitings of the
The News photographers conceded that the darkness in the picture "might" be
Earth precisely controlled at great distances. But we don't know.
the indication of something moving quite swiftly on a time exposure, or the blob
We need to get all the data drawn together in one place and examined far more
could be a water spot on the negative or a wrinkle in the film.
objectively than anyone has done SO far. A stable public opinion will come
Mrs. Richwine said the object's appearance was preceded by four glowing
from a trustworthy look at the evidence, not from belittling it.
shapes about 10:30 p.m., Friday. She saw them from her front window, she said.
[From the Washington Evening Star, Mar. 25, 1966]
[From the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, Mar. 22, 1966]
DEPUTY SHERIFF "SHOOTS" A UFO OVER MICHIGAN
STATE FLYING OBJECT REPORTS BRING PLEA FOR FEDERAL SIFT
ANN ARBOR, MICH.-A Michigan deputy sheriff said an unidentified flying
ANN ARBOR.-A Michigan Congressman planned Tuesday to ask the Defense
object sighted over southern Michigan last week was trapped-on film-and still
Department to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects sighted near Ann
another UFO was reported yesterday.
Deputy Sheriff David Fitzpatrick of Washtenaw (Ann Arbor) County took
Arbor. U.S. Representative Weston Vivian, Democrat, of Michigan, left for Washing-
the photographs with a tiny camera roughly the size of a man's two forefingers
ton, D.C., Monday after conferring with Sheriff Douglas J. Harvey, of Washte-
held together.
naw County. Harvey said Vivian also planned to talk with the U.S. Air Force.
Prints were delayed because the tiny film had to be sent to Forest Hills, N.Y.,
Three times within a week, residents of the nearby community of Dexter have
for development.
reported sighting objects flying in the night sky.
The new sighting of an unidentified flying object near Holland, Mich., came
"I didn't believe those reports," said Harvey. "But with so many trained
from both Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nichols, who live across Michigan's southern
police personnel and reliable citizens having seen them, I must believe some-
Lower Peninsula near Saugatuck. They said it flew across a highway ahead of
thing is in the Washtenaw County skies."
them, no more than 150 to 200 feet high.
And Tuesday, the Hillsdale County civil defense director and 87 college coeds
Nichols, 24, said the object appeared about half the size of an automobile and
said they watched an eerie, hovering flying object settle in a swampy hollow near
was "a round circle glowing red on the inside and white on the outside."
a school dormitory Monday night.
Nichols' description fits roughly that given by several of more than a score who
William VanHorn, 41, the county civil defense director for 10 years, said he
have reported sightings in the Ann Arbor area in the last 10 days.
watched the unidentified object through binoculars for 3 hours.
Fitzpatrick, however, said the two objects he photographed gave off a bril-
The Air Force announced it was calling in Dr. H. Allen Hynek, chairman of
liant yellow-white light in graceful swoops which he and Sheriff's Sgt. N. K.
the Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and scien-
Schneider observed from about 4 a.m. to 7 a.m., March 16.
tific consultant to the Air Force's UFO study program, to investigate the rash
The photographs show two distinct streaks of light in the sky high above
of sightings.
street lights leading into Milan. No details of the objects are visible in the
Hynek will work from Selfridge Air Force Base near Mount Clements, the Air
photographs blow up to 8 by 10 inches from the tiny film.
Force said.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a Northwestern University astrophysicist, was sent here by
In Hillsdale, VanHorn said he joined the 87 Hillsdale College coeds and their
the Air Force to investigate recent reports.
housemother to watch the object. He said it emitted wavering orange, red
He has scheduled a news conference in Detroit today to discuss his probe.
Meanwhile, reports of unidentified flying objects moved south into Ohio today.
A farmer who lives near Upper Sandusky in northwestern Ohio told sheriff's
deputies that an object shaped "like a top" or a "Christmas tree upside down"
[From the New York Times, Mar. 22, 1966]
hovered over a wooded area on his property early today.
Deputies were called to the farm three times, but the farmer said the object,
FORTY IN MICHIGAN SAY A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT HOVERED IN SWAMP
with lights on its outer edges, disappeared each time before they arrived.
ANN ARBOR, MICH., March 21.-At least 40 persons, including 12 policemen,
said today that they saw a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships
land in a swamp near here Sunday night.
[From the Detroit News, Mar. 23, 1966]
Descriptions of the unidentified flying objects tallied closely. A patrolman,
Robert Hunawill, said he and other residents of the area saw similar craft before
PHOTO ADDS NEW WRINKLE TO SAUCERS
dawn last Monday and Wednesday.
In Washington, the Air Force said it knew nothing of the reports. The Air
(By Douglas Bradford)
Force's Michigan headquarters in Battle Creek would not comment.
Two persons who slogged through the 300-acre swamp today and looked for
While Air Force officials prowled through the countryside for some sign of the
traces of the craft found nothing but marsh grass, quicksand, and muck.
strange night visitors that have been zipping through southeastern Michigan
skies, a Monroe area boy came up with what he said was a picture of one.
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However, the two persons who reportedly were closest to the object, Frank
that of a football. This was roughly the same description given by a man and
Mannor, 47 years old, and his son, Ronald, 19, said it did not appear to touch the
his son who reported that they saw an eerie object land in a swamp Sunday
ground but sat on a base of fog.
Frederick E. Davids, State police commissioner, who is also head of civil de-
night 45 miles northeast of here near Ann Arbor.
The Air Force announced it was bringing in Dr. H. Allen Hynek, chairman of
fense for Michigan, opened an investigation.
"I used to discount these reports too, but now I'm not SO sure," he said.
Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., and scientific
consultant to the Air Force's Project Blue Book program to track down the
Mr. Mannor and his son said they had run to within 500 yards of the object.
Mr. Mannor said the craft was shaped like a football and was about the length
reports of unidentified flying objects.
of a car with a grayish yellow hue and a pitted surface like coral rock.
Dr. Hynek set up his headquarters at Selfridge Air Force Base, Mount
"It had a blue light on one end and a white light on the other," he said.
Clemens, Mich., near the southern Michigan section where the objects have
"They were pulsating and each of them looked like they had a little halo
been reported several times lately.
around it," he said.
"It was definitely some kind of vehicle," Mr. Van Horn said. "Through the
Other witnesses saw only the lights, but their descriptions, including those of
glasses [binoculars] it was either round or long."
policemen, agreed closely.
The object's shape was briefly outlined by lightning as it veered over and
near the dormitory before retreating into the swamp, Miss Kohn said. It stayed
Stanley McFadden, Washtenaw County sheriff's deputy, said he and Deputy
David Fitzpatrick watched the object fly over their car about the same time the
there for 4 hours before vanishing, witnesses said.
Mannors reported it had taken off.
Officer Hunawill said four other unidentified flying objects had hovered in a
quarter circle over the object in the swamp.
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 29, 1966]
TRUTH ABOUT FLYING OBJECTS HIDDEN BY AIR FORCE, FAITHFUL SAY
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1966]
(By Howard Simons, Washington Post Staff Writer)
FIRST UFO's OF SEASON ARE SIGHTED
Firm believers that unidentified flying objects are for real and from a far-off
Spring's first flying saucers have sprouted right alongside the forsythia.
super-civilization met the press yesterday amid a torrent of reports about new
Scores of people in Michigan have reported strange flying objects since the
objects being sighted everywhere in the United States.
weekend, and a former fighter pilot says he saw several over his Bethesda home
The believers repeatedly charged the Air Force with deliberately hiding the
Saturday night.
truth, which if it were known "would bring forth one of the greatest stories of
The Air Force, which has investigated more than 10,000 such reports since
the century."
1947, sent Northwestern University's Dr. H. Allen Hynek, its top scientific
The believers also "fully backed" Representative Gerald Ford, Republican,
adviser on unidentified flying objects (UFO's), to look into the Michigan
of Michigan, who wants a congressional investigation of unidentified objects
reports.
which have lately plagued his home State.
The latest was Monday night at Hillsdale College, where a county civil defense
But most of all, the believers want to be believed and loved.
director, a former reporter and assistant dean, and 87 coeds say they watched
"We want the Air Force merely to end its secrecy on sightings and stop ridi-
a glowing object zipping around campus for 4 hours.
culing competent witnesses," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, a
This report coincided with one near Ann Arbor, where about 50 persons
UFO skeptic until his conversion.
including 12 policemen-said they saw an eerie object cruise over a swamp
Keyhoe now is director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Sunday night while four sister ships hovered overhead.
Phenomena, an organization whose major aims are to evaluate all UFO sightings;
In Bethesda, retired Air Force Col. Howard T. Wright, of 5119 Newport
get the Air Force to own up to the truth and to expose UFO charlatans who keep
Avenue, said he and five other persons saw several objects outside his home and
seeing "little green men."
they were "definitely not in my imagination, nor were they satellites or airplanes."
Keyhoe and his colleagues, including scientists, engineers, military personnel,
and pilots, scorn the thought of "little green men."
Had a visitor from afar ever set foot on the earth? the serious students
of UFO's were asked.
[From the New York Times, Mar. 23, 1966]
There was only one case suggesting so, said committee staff member and
EIGHTY-SEVEN MICHIGAN COEDS AND OFFICIAL SIGHT MYSTERIOUS OBJECT
former Newsman Donald Berliner. It happened in April 1964 near Socorro,
N. Mex., where police officers saw two small suited occupants get out of a UFO.
HILLSDALE, MICH., March 22 (UPI) civil defense director, an assistant
"They were small and suited," noted a reporter. "How could you be sure
dean and 87 coeds reported a glowing object fly past a college dormitory and
they were not green?"
hover in a swamp for hours.
"We have no reason to believe they were green," wryly quipped Berliner.
Their description of the object seen here last night tallied closely with that
The committee's case for believing that UFO's are for real was put to the press
of one seen by more than 50 persons, including 12 policemen, near Ann Arbor,
by Keyhoe. It amounted to an argument that thousands of competent persons—
Mich., the previous night.
including radar controllers, qualified pilots, and missile trackers-had sighted
The Air Force dispatched its top scientific adviser on unidentified flying
objects; roughly 100,000 persons in all.
objects to begin an investigation.
The Air Force, which has been investigating UFO reports since 1948, has
The witnesses said they watched from the second floor of a Hillsdale College
steadfastly maintained there is no evidence any flying object has come from
dormitory as the object wobbled, wavered, glowed, and once flew right at a
somewhere else in the universe.
dormitory window before stopping suddenly.
Keyhoe's view, shared by the committee's board of governors, is radically dif-
Mrs. Kelly Hearn, for 7 years a newspaper reporter before becoming assistant
ferent. The committee concludes, Keyhoe said yesterday, that "these things are
dean of women, assistant professor of English and housemother of the dormi-
real and must be extraterrestrial because they are SO superior to anything we
tory, had the coeds take notes as they watched the object for 4 hours.
They and William Van Horn, 41, Hillsdale County civil defense director, said
have." According to Keyhoe, UFO's have been observing the earth for 200 years. He
the object dimmed its lights when police cars approached, brightened again when
gave two reasons, essentially, for why no contact has been made with whoever
they went away, and dodged an airport beacon light.
it is that pilots the UFO's.
Barbara Kohn, 21, of New Castle, Pa., and Cynthia Poffenberger, 18, of
One reason is that the Air Force has orders to scare the UFO's away.
Cleveland were the first to see the object. They described its shape as roughly
A second reason is that until humans demonstrated the atomic bomb and space
flight the UFO people regarded earth as too primitive a society to bother with
other than for surveillance purposes.
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[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 17, 1966]
an illuminating example of how the Air Force deals with the public in such a
situation.
THOSE "FLYING SAUCERS"-AIR FORCE EXPLAININGS-AWAY OF UFO's DEEPENS
By good fortune, one does not have to rely mainly on newspaper reports, some-
MYSTERY
times meager, or upon the Air Force statements. The Department of Public
(Editor's note: This is the first of a series about UFO's (unidentified flying
Safety of the State of Oklahoma has sent to the office of Congressman John Jar-
objects by Bulkley S. Griffin, executive editor of the Evening Express Wash-
man, Democrat, of the Oklahoma City congressional district, and to the National
ington Bureau. He wrote the stories after visiting the UFO office of the U.S.
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington a sum-
Air Force.)
mary of the teletype reports sent into the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Communi-
cations Network Center, July 31-August 5, from the various highway patrol
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Air Force handling of the unidentified flying objects
headquarters over the State.
(UPO's) continues to be something of a mystery. Its persistent endeavors to
This valuable document, which was not observed in the files of Project Blue
explain all the UFO sightings as misidentification of ordinary objects, such as
Book, will be utilized in one or more following articles dealing with the curious
stars and balloons, has become SO conspicuous as to raise questionings in the
behavior of the Air Force touching the UFO's and the public.
minds of a growing number of citizens. Some of these explanations seem to run
counter to both logic and commonsense. Running along with these explainings-
away is an apparent Air Force lack of enthusiasm-especially at high levels-to
do a thorough job of investigating sightings.
[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 18, 1966]
Headquarters of the Air Force investigation and conclusions on unidentified
flying objects-they call the enterprise Project Blue Book-is at Wright-Patter-
THOSE FLYING SAUCERS-HIGHWAY PATROL REPORT FIRES CONTROVERSY OVER
son Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. In charge of Project Blue Book is Maj.
UFO's
Hector Quintanilla.
(Editor's note: This is the second of a series about UFO's (unidentified flying
Recently this writer has made two more visits to Wright-Patterson to study
the files of Project Blue Book and to talk with Major Quintanilla, the architect
objects) by Bulkley S. Griffin, executive editor of the Evening Express Washing-
ton Bureau. He wrote the stories after visiting the UFO office of the U.S. Air
of the military's final public verdicts on the UFO's.
A multitude of UFO sightings in the last dozen months has kept the Air Force
Force.)
busy trying to explain-away and has rendered the public more conscious and
(By Bulkley Griffin)
curious than ever about these strange, usually lighted, objects in the sky. The
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Research into the matter of the unidentified flying ob-
Air Force and the burdened Project Blue Book have often resorted to the expe-
jects (UFO's), the U.S. Air Force, and the public, receives substantial help from
dient of lumping a number of sightings together-not naming any particular
a report furnished by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. This sum-
one-and furnishing a generalized catchall explanation.
marizes the messages dealing with UFO sightings that passed over the Okla-
This is what it did respecting an extraordinary number of sightings in the
homa Highway Patrol network in the period July 31-August 5.
Southwest around the beginning of last August. The very number of the UFO's
A survey of this information reveals the large number of sightings and the
and of the sighters of them shook some public confidence thereabouts in both the
much larger number of witnesses of those sightings, and lists some radar sight-
Air Force's knowledge of the subject and in the good faith of its explainings-
ings by the Air Force. It compares with a generalized attention to those sight-
away.
ings by the Air Force and Project Blue Book, the latter the name for the Air
Extracts from dispatches sent out at that time by the two national wire serv-
Force investigation of UFO's.
ices will refresh memories and provide a good idea of the magnitude of the UFO
At 3:30 p.m. August 2, Project Blue Book issued a statement assuming to ex-
performance. On Tuesday, August 3, the New York Times and other newspapers
plain the avalanche of UFO sightings that had hit the Southwest-but probably
carried an Associated Press dispatch from Oklahoma City, dated August 2. It
had hit Oklahoma the heaviest-starting July 31.
began:
Therefore, this article will seek to hit the high points of the sightings reported
"Authorities in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas were deluged last
on the Oklahoma Highway Patrol network beginning with July 31, up to the
night and early today (August 2) by reports of unidentified objects seen flying
issuance of the Project Blue Book explanation.
in the sky.
The first report on the teletype came the early morning of July 31. A Wynne-
"The Sedgwick County sheriff's office at Wichita, Kans., said the Weather
wood, Okla., police officer, Louis Sikes, reported a UFO. The radar at Tinker
Bureau had tracked several of them at altitudes of 6,000 to 9,000 feet.
Air Force Base located the object. A little later, continued the highway patrol
"The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said that Tinker Air Force Base here (Okla-
report, "Caswell Air Force Base (Fort Worth, Tex.) aimed their radar at the
homa City) had tracked four of the unidentified flying objects on its radar screen
same location and came up with the same fix as Tinker." Both Tinker and
at one time, estimating their altitude at about 22,000 feet. A Tinker spokesman
Caswell followed the object, which once disappeared and then reappeared, for
refused to confirm or deny the reports of radar observations."
some time. Later that day an Associated Press dispatch from Oklahoma City
"Reports poured in" from 21 cities and towns, continued the Associated Press
stated flatly that Tinker and Caswell both had the UFO on radar.
dispatch. The 21 are named 7 are listed in Texas, 3 in New Mexico, 5 in Okla-
The next night saw the UFO reports crowding the highway patrol teletype.
home, and 6 in Kansas.
Some quotations of messages will be given.
The United Press International, in a dispatch in the evening of August 2, named
At 9:19 p.m. the highway patrol tower sent out this message: "Since 8 p.m.
eight States. "Reports of sightings by eye poured in from Kansas, Texas, Okla-
the tower has received in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 visual sightings, many by
homa, New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Okla-
police officers and highway patrol troopers of various unidentified flying objects
homans probably saw the most."
from the Purcell area north through the Norman area to Chandler and back
In a dispatch from Oklahoma City dated August 4, the United Press Interna-
through Meeker and Shawnee.
tional declared that "thousands of persons across the Nation's midlands and
"Three Shawnee officers and their captain have four of the objects in sight
Southwest again last night reported seeing mysterious flashing, winking, and
at this time, also another has cropped up from the south of Tecumseh and is
sparkling phenomena that sped and sometimes zigzagged across the skies.
apparently going to fly directly over Shawnee.
"The Air Force contends most of the sightings were probably stars or planets.
"The sightings vary from one to four of the objects at various times starting
It was the fourth consecutive night of UFO sightings. A lot of people took
in a reddish color and varying to a white and blue luster.
issue with the Air Force's claim that they were stars or planets."
"Shawnee reports the objects seem to be flying four to a formation in a
It can be mentioned in passing that radar does not pick up stars or planets.
diamond-type formation. Cushing has reported four of the objects. Oklahoma
In one United Press International dispatch it is stated that "Oklahomans prob-
Highway Patrol Units 30 and 40 have also made visual sightings. Reports have
ably saw the most" of these sightings. The Oklahoma sightings therefore provide
6054
6055
come from (three) individuals." Names of two civilians are given; third was
close to the ground. Several persons apparently observed it, three of them, in-
police officer from Tulsa, not named.
cluding two policemen, at one time.
"Tinker Air Force Base has had from one to four of them on radar at a time,
The conclusion of Project Blue Book-the name of the Air Force UFO probe
and they advise they are flying very high, at approximately 22,000 feet, which
that announces the final verdicts on sightings-that the New Hampshire watchers
seems to coincide with the visual sightings, all of which are 'very high flying
saw low-flying airplanes, is of a piece with many other Air Force attempted
objects."
explainings away. It doesn't make sense.
Other reports came in the night of August 1. The sheriff's office at Chandler
The New Hampshire sighting is of significance on another ground. It involves
reported two UFO's. Two individuals-names given-spotted a UFO between
the reported effect of a UFO in disturbing and exciting animals.
Norman and Purcell. "Tinker AFB looking at it-or attempting to do SO at
The sequence of events near Exeter began at 1 o'clock in the morning of last
this time with radar-Wichita Falls, Tex., also notified to look." Another UFO
September 3 when Exeter Police Officer Eugene P. Bertrand, Jr., 30, cruising in
was seen near Forgan, and sighter's name and address given.
his police car, came upon an auto drawn up by the side of the road and in it an
"Although there were numerous other reports from other sources which did
hysterical woman, who according to the officer's report to the investigative officer
not reach the patrol, those above were all of the reports whch moved on the high-
from Pease Air Force Base, N.H., "stated she was too upset to drive." She
way patrol wire on August 1," it is stated in the summary from the depart-
stated a light had been following her and had stopped over her car." The officer
ment of public safety. On August 2, the teletype carried its first UFO report
stayed with her about 15 minutes, sought to reassure her, saw nothing, and
of that day at 2 p.m. regarding a sighting at 12:50 p.m. near Cushing. Other
departed for the police station.
reports followed through the afternoon and night.
There he found Norman J. Muscarello, 18, of Exeter who had come to the sta-
All this from just one State's highway patrol teletype.
tion to tell of his experience while a few miles out of Exeter. He said some-
At 3:30 p.m. on August 2, Maj. Hector Quintanilla, in charge of Project Blue
thing big with dazzling, flashing red lights had appeared moving just above the
Book, issued the following statement:
treetops. It had moved rather slowly toward him. He had jumped into the
"Initial study of the reports thus far received by the Air Force indicates that
ditch for safety. Then the thing had disappeared.
the observations were astronomical in nature. The objects most likely observed
Officer Bertrand took Muscarello with him in his patrol car and they returned
were the planet Jupiter and the stars Rigal, Capella, Betelgeux, or Al-debaran,
to the field where Muscarello had had his alarming experience. They both got
which are clearly visible in the eastern sky. The time of reported sightings, the
out of the car and walked into the field, Bertrand having a flashlight. At this
azimuth and elevation of the reported sightings supports this conclusion. In
point Officer Bertrand's report to an examining officer at Pease AFB can be
addition, on August 1 and 2 the temperature distribution and varying wind
taken up.
speeds observed over the Great Plains, from northern Texas to Wyoming
"When we had gone about 50 feet a group of five bright red lights came from
were favorable for the phenomenon, known as scintillation. Some of the
behind a group of trees near us. They were extremely bright and flashed one
reports were the aquarid meteor showers which occur between July 26 to
at a time.
August 6. The meteors approach from the southeast and streak swiftly across
"At one time they came SO close I fell to the ground and started to draw my
the sky trailing sparks. There has been no confirmation that any of the sight-
gun. The lights were SO bright I was unable to make out any form.
ings reported were tracked on radar.
"There was no sound or vibration but the farm animals were upset in the
This official statement presents two characteristics typical of Air Force treat-
area and making a lot of noise. When the lights started coming near us again
ment of UFO reports. First, no specific sighting is mentioned, and just about
Muscarello and I ran for the car.
every conceivable reason for seeking to explain away the multitude of sightings
"I radioed Patrolman David Hunt who arrived in a few minutes. He also
over eight States is included.
observed the lights which were still over the field at an estimated altitude of 100
Second, no radar sighting is admitted. This is despite the highway patrol's
feet and finally disappeared in the distance at the same altitude. The lights
report of Tinker and Carswell Air Force Bases having a fix on a July 31 object,
were always in line at about 60° angle. When the object moved the lower lights
and Tinker having a fix on up to four objects the night of August 1-2; and de-
were always forward of the others."
spite national wire services reports of these radar sightings and of a Wichita
In this case the Air Force, which generally appears to hang back from much
weather station radar sighting of several UFO's.
investigating of UFO reports, did do some investigating. It interviewed the
Radar does not pick up stars and planets, as has been stated. Further,
sighters and neighbors.
corroboration of visual sightings by a radar sighting-as the Okla-
The Pease AFB officer, who headed this local military probe and who, by the
homa Highway Patrol indicated on one occasion the night of August 1-
way, was a command pilot, made this finding:
would strengthen the argument that some UFO's are real and unknown.
"At this time have been unable to arrive at a probable cause of this sighting.
But that August 2 statement from Project Blue Book was immediately attacked
The three observers seem to be stable, reliable persons, especially the two patrol-
from a different angle by Director Robert Risser of the Oklahoma Science and
men. I viewed the area of the sighting and found nothing in the area that could
Art Foundation Planetarium in Oklahoma City. To quote a UPI dispatch :
be the probable cause. Pease AFB had five B-47 aircraft flying in the area during
"That (Project Blue Book statement) is as far from the truth as you can
this period but do not believe they had any connection with this sighting."
get," Risser said. 'Somebody has made a mistake. These stars and planets are
However, Project Blue Book lists low-flying airplanes as probably responsible
one the opposite side of the earth from Oklahoma City at this time of year.''
for this Exeter sighting. Maj. Hector Quintanilla, in charge of Blue Book, states
Major Quintanilla, recently asked about the comment of Director Risser,
that the 8th Air Force SAC (Strategic Air Command) group at Westover Air
pointed out the UFO reports were coming in from several States, and said his
Force Base, Mass., was conducting a low-level operation, called Big Blast, at
August 2 announcement referred to Wyoming where the stars in question were
the time. He said he believes the Exeter "people were looking at low-level
visible. He added the statement applied to Oklahoma between 1 and 4 in the
aircraft."
morning.
The effect of a UFO on animals had been reported in a New York State case
about 2 weeks before the Exeter event. An investigating officer from the
[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 19, 1966]
Niagara Falls Air Force Base, commenting on the sighting of a low-down UFO
near Cherry Creek, N.Y., on August 19, said:
THOSE "FLYING SAUCERS"-NEW HAMPSHIRE SIGHTING ONE OF MOST FRIGHTENING
"Preliminary analysis reveals object not explainable in conventional terms.
Object caused reduction in farm cows' milk from 2½ cans to 1 can. Disturbed
(Editor's Note: This is the third of a series about UFO's (unidentified flying
bull in field. Caused dog to bark." This sighting, by the way, is one of the
objects) by Bulkley S. Griffin, executive editor of the Evening Express, Washing-
very few that Project Blue Book has marked "Unidentified."
ton bureau.)
The Exeter UFO produced a fairly familiar charge; namely that the Air
WASHINGTON, D.C.-One of the more impressive sightings of an unidentified
Force sought to suppress news of the sighting. In this instance the charge
flying object (UFO) occurred near Exeter, N.H., last September. As narrated,
came from Raymond Fowler, of Wenham, Mass., head of a local area NICAP
it was an extended closeup observation of a lighted object that was noiseless and
6056
6057
group, who went to the scene to investigate for NICAP. The latter stands for
But Tinker AFB itself must have received dozens of calls during the heavy
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, the unofficial but re-
sighting period of July 31 through August 5. This much is indicated by a
sponsible Washington organization. The Fowler charges are in the files of Blue
sentence sent out over the highway patrol network the night of August 2. "The
Book and of NICAP.
security officer at Tinker Field reports he has been swamped with calls the past
Fowler talked with witnesses and others and said he was told that Pease
hour from people reporting UFO's." This report refers to just 1 hour of the
AFB officers had asked the police and a local newspaper correspondent not
several-day sighting period.
to mention the sightings. The request was put to the police on the ground
Chances are, it is said, that the Air Force handling of the UFO problem may
people would be alarmed if told the facts, it is stated.
be allowed to drag along by an apathetic public. Yet one may speculate on
Major Quintanilla, informed of this charge, said that "I would not allow any
what an honest and energetic investigation might do. For one thing, it would
suppression of news." However, it is an impression in Washington that officers
investigate some of the sightings reported by the Oklahoma highway patrol.
a good deal higher than Major Quintanilla would not exert themselves to prevent
For instance, take this report that moved with many others, over the teletype
news suppression of UFO sightings.
August 4. "Twenty-five people at a church in Cushing, Okla., all watched
The Haverhill (Mass.) Gazette wrote an editorial on this UFO in the neigh-
several UFO's. Sometimes they would stay stationary, then would move at a
borhood, in which it said: "So many have reported seeing it (the Exeter UFO)
high rate of speed. Were moving south for a while, then stopped and stood
and their descriptions jibe SO closely that, unless they have banded together
still for some time, then were joined by two and moved to the west at high
in one large hoax, their stories must be given credence."
speeds, then turned and traveled east for a while, then stopped completely and
stood still, then went east and suddenly disappeared from sight. The first ones
were orange lights, the ones that joined them had red and green lights like
airplanes. PD (police department) Cushing also observed the same things."
[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 20, 1966]
Or the "approximately 30 calls" to the Shawnee Police Department reporting
THOSE "FLYING SAUCERS"-AIR FORCE BRUSHES OFF FLOOD OF SIGHTINGS IN
4 or 5 lighted objects traveling northwest which "make no conventional noise
SOUTHWEST
such as an aircraft does but rather make a humming noise." Or what did the
five citizens of Norman, Okla., see looking at a white globe 30-40 feet in diameter
(Editor's note: This is the fourth of a series about UFO's (unidentified flying
through a "tripod-mounted 160-power telescope."
objects) by Bulkley S. Griffin, executive editor of the Evening Express, Wash-
The evidence is convincing that the Air Force-for reasons it doesn't an-
ington bureau.)
nounce-is not really trying to discover what the UFO's are. Or, if the Air
WASHINGTON, D.C.-A good 2 weeks after the flood of unidentified flying object
Force already knows, it is painstakingly keeping its information from the public.
Chief blame for this lack of action must rest on the Government.
(UFO) sightings last August over Oklaboma and other Southwestern States,
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, produced its formal survey and judg-
But another culprit, the scientific community, must bear blame according to
ment. It sent this several-page explanation of sightings in its wide area to
an August article by Robert C. Cowen, natural science editor of the Christian
Project Blue Book, the Air Force office in charge of the UFO investigations and
Science Monitor. He wrote in part:
conclusions.
"The main reason there has been no scientific study of the (UFO) puzzle is
This report is a good example of Air Force anti-UFO propaganda. Except
social pressure within the scientific community. It has not been due to lack
for mention of one specific sighting-which was decreed to be a weather baloon-
of opportunity to gather data.
the report is generalized, pulling out all the stops on the possibilities of citizens
"Many scientists feel the whole subject is 'kooky.' They dismiss it with
making mistakes and including a statement from the official of a planetarium in
ridicule. It can be personally embarrassing, even detrimental to a scientist's
Oklahoma City whose text was that "the average person is uneducated as to what
career, to try to take the saucer problem seriously."
the sky normally looks like."
It is time to investigate; scientific knowledge of some sort resides in the
Interviews with military experts are given which mention unusually bright
UFO phenomenon, said the writer.
stars at this time of year, a haze that reflects things from the ground, the fre-
quency of weather balloons and SO on.
An impressive but superficial case is made for weather balloons as fooling
[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 21, 1966]
people into thinking they are seeing a UFO. The number released daily in the
Oklahoma area is considerable.
THOSE "FLYING SAUCERS"-WHAT SHERIFFS SAW WASN'T STAR, UFO PROBER
But the fact is that the citizens thereabouts have lived with these balloons day
ADMITS
after day and year after year and by now must be fairly well acquainted with
what they look like and how they act. They are also pretty well acquainted
(Editor's note: This is the fifth of a series about UFO's (unidentified flying
with stars, which at the moment may be supplanting balloons as the favorite
objects) by Bulkley S. Griffin, executive editor of the Evening Express, Wash-
explanation put forth by Project Blue Book.
ington bureau)
The Tinker AFB report did not need to avoid mention of particular sightings.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The case of the two Texas deputy sheriffs whose patrol
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol teletype reported a number of sightings well worth
car was allegedly followed by an unidentified flying object (UFO) SO that they
investigation and these teletype UFO reports were relayed to all major news-
hit 110 miles an hour in rushing away, is worth mentioning for its own sake in
papers, wire services and TV and radio stations across the State of Oklahoma
any study of the Air Force-UFO confrontation.
also to the weather wire teletype system. They were available to sincere Air
The case also illustrates the possibility of a more realistic trend in Project Blue
Force investigators.
Book-which is the name of the Air Force's investigation of UFO's.
The failure to interview witnesses could be termed negative Air Force prop-
Project Blue Book first listed the Texas sighting as, "Refraction of Star
aganda. The highway patrol messages named close to a dozen civilian wit-
Antares distorted due to inversion." This verdict was a highly improbable one
nesses usually with addresses, and the number of highway patrol officers that had
from the start, as will be seen from the testimony of the two deputy sheriffs.
sightings must have totaled two dozen and more. Yet the formal August 20 re-
Recently, Maj. Hector Quintanilla, in command of Project Blue Book, stated he
port from Tinker shows interviews with but two civilians and two police officers.
has withdrawn this conclusion after talking over the phone with Deputy Sheriff
Maj. Hector Quintanilla, in command of Project Blue Book, says the Air
McCoy. The star verdict didn't seem to fit. So Blue Book now records the sight-
Force seeks interviews with persons who call up and whose names they learn.
ing as one of the very few unexplained ones on its rolls.
"We are not interested in persons who go to the newspapers or to radio and TV
Another recent case of reconsideration of a verdict occurred in the instance of
stations," he said. The wisdom of this exclusion is of course wide open to ques-
the four lighted objects seen together by many observers the night of August 1-2,
tion-assuming that the Air Force is seeking information.
according to the teletype reports of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The latter
6058
6059
said Tinker AFB had picked them up. But Blue Book had this sighting listed
of investigating the sightings, and the public. The conclusions reached have
as "Astro (Antares)." Radar does not pick up stars, as previously noted.
been assisted by two more examinations of the files of Project Blue Book, the
Recently, however, as this writer was discussing this sighting at the head-
Air Force name for its study and its verdicts on UFO reports.
quarters of Project Blue Book and pointed out that a Tinker AFB radar squadron
A main conclusion can be briefly stated. It is that the Air Force is misleading
sergeant had referred to two stationary objects and two moving in the formation,
the public by it continuing campaign to produce and maintain belief that all sight-
Project Blue Book proposed that the two stationary objects were stars-the
ings can be explained away as misidentifications of familiar objects, such as
brightest of them Antares-and the two alleged to be moving could be airplanes.
balloons, stars, and aircraft.
The two cases, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas, suggest to some observers
The logical assumption, backed by much circumstantial evidence, is that the
that Project Blue Book, while vigorously trying to explain away has of late
Air Force is deliberately misleading the public.
occasionally sought to throw a little more credibility into its investigations and
In this campaign the Air Force, backed by normal public respect for the military
conclusions.
and for authoritative statements, and also assisted by the natural human dis-
But to get to the two deputy sheriffs, who, as it came about, were fol-
inclination to think uncommonly or to be laughed at, has been largely successful.
lowed by a UFO the same night-September 3-on which at least one person in the
However, the Air Force success in having the public believe what it wants it
Exeter, N.H., case reported being followed.
to believe respecting UFO's is steadily and conspicuously lessening. More and
Chief Deputy Sheriff Billy F. McCoy and Deputy Sheriff Robert W. Goode
more skepticism is being voiced in newspapers and by citizens.
were on routine patrol near Damon, Tex.-which is around 40 miles south-
Another chief conclusion is this: no energetic and thorough effort to investi-
east of Houston-when they saw a bright purple light, which soon produced a
gate the unidentified flying object phenomenon is being made by the Air Force or
smaller blue light, on the horizon about 5 miles away. One of the officers studied
ever has been made by it. And this charge holds true respect any other Gov-
the lights through binoculars. They had slowed down off the edge of the high-
ernment agency and respecting what has been termed the Nation's scientific
way when the lights started rapidly toward them.
community.
The testimony of Chief Deputy Sheriff McCoy, as given to an investigating
Reasons for the persevering Air Force performance are unknown to the public.
officer from Ellington AFB, Tex., continues:
In the speculation one of the following three reasons is commonly advanced the
"The object came up to the pasture next the highway about 150 feet off the
Air Force fears national panic if the truth about the UFO's were told; the Air
highway and about 100 feet high. The bulk of the object was plainly visible
Force feels it is stuck with its story; or the Air Force is silenced by the Central
and appeared to be triangular shaped with a bright purple light on the left and
Intelligence Agency.
the smaller, less bright, blue light on the right end. The bulk of the object ap-
The first alleged reason, however uncomplimentary to the intelligence of our
peared to be dark gray in color with no other distinguishing features. It ap-
citizens, is one that has been heard at the Capitol off and on for approaching 20
peared to be about 200 feet wide and 40-50 feet think in the middle tapering off
years. Some speculate it may be the reason the Air Force has given to the chair-
toward both ends. There was no noise or any trail.
men of the two congressional space committees in its understood endeavor to hold
"The bright purple light illuminated the ground directly underneath it and
off a congressional investigation of the UFO subject.
the area in front of it, including the highway and the interior of our patrol car.
What is the truth about the UFO's? It is quite possible that no one on this
The tall grass under the object did not appear to be disturbed.
earth knows.
"There was a bright moon out and it cast a shadow of the object on the ground
A veteran New England congressional leader, who was in a position to know,
immediately below it in the grass. Deputy Sheriff Goode was in the driver's
told this writer that the Air Force didn't know what they are. Officials of the
seat with his left arm lying in the open window. Although he was wearing a
Central Intelligence Agency ought to know if anyone does, yet a former head of
long-sleeved shirt and a coat, he later said that he felt the heat apparently
the CIA, Adm. R. H. Hillenkootter, affirmed half a dozen years ago that he did
emanating from the object."
not believe in the Air Force explainings-away but he did not indicate he thought
The officers rushed away toward Damon "as fast as we could go" traveling
he thought he knows the truth of the matter.
"at speeds up to 110 miles an hour," said McCoy. Arrived in Damon, they dis-
An increasing number of good observers hold that a sizable minority of the
cussed the matter. "We were both scared but still wanted to find out what it
sightings-many sightings presumably are misidentifications-represent some-
was." So they returned to the scene and saw the UFO on the horizon acting
thing new and unknown. A large number of these observers, who include
exactly as it had before. "We decided to leave the area because we figured that
veteran pilots, radar operators, air traffic controllers, teachers, astronomers, and
the object would start coming toward us again," stated McCoy.
other experts, hold that the unknown UFO's are extraterrestrial.
The report to Blue Book of the investigating officer from Ellington Air Force
To all this Air Force officials can and do respond that not a single tangible
Base believes the two deputy sheriffs definitely saw "some unsual object." This
bit of evidence of any such UFO has been found. This is a mighty strong argu-
report reads in part:
ment, the strongest argument of the so-called explainers-away.
"After talking with both officers involved in the sighting there is no doubt in
Yet to an augmenting number of competent observers the evidence grows
my mind that they definitely saw some unsual object or phenomenon. However,
stronger that some of the UFO's are real and really unknown. So very many
my investigation failed to uncover any facts that permitted me, with my meager
impressive sightings can't be explained away, it is said.
knowledge of such things, to arrive at any explanation for the unusual sighting.
"From the United States, from Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, France, Ant-
"Both officers appeared to be intelligent, mature, levelheaded persons capable
arctica, and Australia (from four continents) have come the rash of reports of
of sound judgment and reasoning. Chief Deputy Sheriff McCoy hold a responsible
sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). The sightings have been the
position in the department requiring the supervision over 42 personnel. Both
most numerous since 1957." So summarized a United Press International dis-
officers have been subjected to considerable friendly ridicule from their con-
patch last August.
temporaries and the local townspeople; but have continued to profess the facts
First and last, few presumably will challenge a conclusion that the mystery
of their sighting
and the problem of the unidentified flying object remain with this world.
And as for the Air Force, with its intensive campaign to explain away every
UFO sighting, it might listen to the recent advice of a veteran astronomer, Dr.
[From the Portland (Maine) Evening Express, Jan. 22, 1966]
I. M. Levitt, director of the Fels Planetarium, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia,
THOSE "FLYING SAUCERS-EVIDENCE INDICATES AIR FORCE MISLEADING PUBLIC
said:
ON UFO's
"It would be well if our Project Blue Book officials were simply to indicate
that sightings in a minority of cases cannot be explained. It would clear the air
(By Bulkley Griffin (last of six articles)
of a great deal of misunderstanding and mistrust of this group by the intelligent
laymen and observers who have seen objects in the sky."
WASHINGTON, D.C.-This is the final one of half a dozen articles on the uni-
dentified flying objects (UFO's), the U.S. Air Force, which has the official job
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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
All UFO reports which are submitted to the Air Force are regarded as
Washington, January 18, 1966.
earnest reports from people who have seen an aerial object which they could
Hon. L. MENDEL RIVERS,
not identify. The purpose of our program is to evaluate such reports and to
Chairman, Committee on Armed Services,
inform the observer of the cause of his sighting.
House of Representatives.
The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena is a private
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Recently you requested information in behalf of Mr.
organization which is in no way affiliated with our Government.
John R. Gray about unidentified flying objects (UFO).
It is a pleasure to again be of service to you.
The Air Force does not withhold or censor information on UFO's. The re-
Sincerely,
sults of all Air Force investigations are available to bona fide news representa-
DWIGHT W. COVELL,
tives and scientific researchers. Press releases are issued as warranted, and
Colonel, USAF,
an annual report (copy attached) on the project is available to the public. There
Congressional Inquiry Division, Office of Legislative Liaison.
has never been an order issued by the Secretary of the Air Force to suppress or
withhold such information.
The three conclusions set forth in Mr. Gray's letter are, in fact, the conclu-
JANUARY 11, 1966.
sions which were reached as a result of a panel of scientific consultants that met
Hon. L. MENDEL RIVERS,
at the request of the Government to study the problem in 1953. For your in-
House of Representatives,
formation, the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board has been asked to
Washington, D.C.
evaluate the UFO program. An ad hoc committee has been appointed and will
MY DEAR SIR: Thank you for the very prompt reply (Jan. 6, 1966) to my
convene sometime in February. The results will be available shortly after the
letter of December 29, regarding UFO's. You stated that you may check out
meeting.
my comments with the proper authorities. Knowing in advance essentially
As a result of investigating over 10,000 reports since 1947, we cannot associ-
what reactions you will receive from these authorities, be they Air Force,
ate disruption of running engines, radios, and headlights, or malfunction of air-
Department of Defense, or Congressional Inquiry Division officials, I strongly
craft instruments, or heat sensations with UFO activity. Nor can we attribute
and respectfully request you withhold acceptance of their statements until
them to aircraft operations. There are many plausible explanations for effects
you contact Maj. Donald Keyhoe (USMC, retired) or Mr. Richard Hall. These
such as car radio static when passing powerlines, overheated car engines, drops
gentlemen, as you are undoubtedly aware, are director and associate director,
in power and voltage in the electrical system, malfunction of equipment, and
respectively, of NICAP and can be reached at NOrth 7-9434.
imagination or panic of an observer. Weather conditions such as temperature
This course of action is most desirable for the ultimate best interest of
inversions can cause known natural or conventional objects to appear to hover,
the American people as it permits both sides of this controversy to be im-
move around, and change colors. Satellites and balloons make no noise while in
partially weighed.
flight. Balloons can also hover and suddenly accelerate depending on the wind
NICAP, in the 9 years since its inception, has amassed sufficient factual in-
conditions.
formation, documentation, and evidence to refute any or all Air Force claims.
The foregoing information also explains our third conclusion. There has never
The organization asks only that it be given the opportunity to present this
been a top-secret document, entitled "Estimate of the Situation," which con-
information in open hearings in order to attain its immediate goal of getting
cluded that UFO's are interplanetary in nature.
to the people the truth about the UFO's, as can be ascertained and officially
As of December 31, 1965, the Air Force has received 10,060 reports since 1947
confirmed; and the best hope of achieving this end is through congressional
of which 645 are unidentified and cannot be explained. It is our opinion that
action.
all reports could be explained if more detailed objective data had been avail-
Respectfully yours,
able. However, because of the fact that analyses of UFO sightings depend pri-
JOHN R. GRAY,
marily on the personal impressions and interpretations of the observer rather
Huntington Beach, Calif.
than on accurate scientific data or facts obtained under controlled conditions,
positive identification of all sightings is improbable. Information on any UFO
DECEMBER 29, 1965.
report is available to private citizens upon request.
Hon. L. MENDEL RIVERS,
Photographs received in conjunction with UFO reports are evaluated by photo
U.S. House of Representatives,
analysis personnel. The objects in such photographs have been evaluated as
The House Office Building,
known natural or conventional objects which have been misinterpreted by the
Washington, D.C.
observer. Such photographs are returned to the owner after analysis.
MY DEAR SIR: As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, you may
Our Project Blue Book office is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where
be the proper person in the House, to whom I should address this correspondence
all UFO records are kept. All objects which have been picked up or tracked on
pertaining to a subject, the scientific aspect of which promises far-reaching impli-
radar have been identified as flocks of birds, weather phenomena, or reflections
cations. A considerable amount of genuine scientific research by private indi-
from ground targets. Radar scope photography is classified only if it reveals
viduals in this field is being thwarted, in part, by a policy of an agency of the
classified defense information.
U.S. Government through the employment of ridicule and the withholding of
The joint Army-Navy-Air Force publication 146 deals with UFO's only as a
pertinent information. It is a field that has been the subject of suppression since
catchall class of sightings that does not fall into a recognized category such as
1947 and particularly since 1953 by order of the Secretary of the Air Force.
ships, submarines, aircraft, or guided missiles. The purpose of the publication
The subject, of which I write, is that of unidentified flying objects (UFO's)
is to provide uniform instructions for the peacetime reporting of what is judged
and the Air Force censorship in the handling of legitimate sightings and reports.
to be vital intelligence sightings. Any person who violates the provisions of
The publicized conclusions, in part, of the Air Force's Project Blue Book are:
the publication may be liable to prosecution thereunder. The purpose of this
(1) No unidentified fiying object reported, investigated, and evaluated by
is to emphasize the necessity for handling of such information within official
the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security
channels only.
(2) There has been no evidence submitted to or disclosed by the Air Force
The article appearing in the December 24, 1959, issue of TIG Brief, entitled
that sightings categorized as unidentified represent technological develop-
"UFO's Serious Business," has been misinterpreted. The purpose of this article
ments or principles beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge;
was simply to improve the quality of reports and investigative procedures. It
and
also contained guidelines for effective reporting and the equipment necessary
(3) There has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as
for investigations. We have no knowledge of any research projects such as
unidentified are extra terrestrial vehicles.
those stated by Mr. Gray, nor do we have any information about the Santiago,
Other than the close encounters with UFO's reported by airline and military
Chile, incident.
pilots, an element of truth can be conceded in conclusion (1). However, the
vadility of number (2) must be disputed. Do we possess any aircraft that can
1. On close proximity to ground vehicles disrupt the running engines,
headlights, and radios of those vehicles?
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6063
2. On close proximity to conventional aircrafts cause their gyro com-
stifled; and it matters when the American people are denied the right to know
passes and direction finders to momentarily malfunction?
what kind of powers they may be up against. Persistence in this dogmatic atti-
3. On close proximity to conventional aircrafts or ground vehicles cause
tude will only tend to deteriorate public morale if not the public trust in the Air
intense heat sensation experienced by their occupants?
Force when irrefutable proof of the existence of these objects manifests itself.
4. Hover at any one point at any given time and suddenly accelerate hori.
Those behind this official "blackout" should be displaying real responsibility
zontally or vertically out of sight in a matter of 5 to 10 seconds?
to all of us by desisting from the practices of ridiculing sincere witnesses and
5. Execute an abrupt 90° or 180° change of direction while in flight?
belittling sightings that defy explanations and at least extend public acknowl-
6. Make no discernible sound while in flight?
edgement of some credence to the evidence that abounds. Instituting a policy of
7. Glow brilliantly and change colors?
dealing honestly, for a change, with the people would prepare the way to a mini-
Such behavior and characteristics have been witnessed by reliable persons
mum of possible panic (assuming this to be the basic reason for the censorship)
and documented enumerable times and are very familiar to the Air Force; in
upon arrival of that "moment of proof." (Please, excuse the pun.) Consider
addition to being definitely beyond the scope of our present technology. If con-
the contrast of the disrespect shown Americans to the consideration extended the
clusion (3) had included the word "proof" instead of "evidence," the probability
citizens of Argentina and Chile. For example, on August 3, 1965, the radio and
of truth could also be conceded here. As it stands, the statement is likewise
TV stations of Santiago, Chile, alerted the populous to view the three luminous
false for the same reasons as the arguments listed against conclusion (2). Since
discus hovering over the city for some 25 minutes before moving slowly away.
our present state of technology does not permit satisfactory explanations to such
With the hope that we may yet receive such courtesy instead of treatment as
behaviors of these objects, what other assumption can a scientific mind make
children, I respectfully urge that you consider the undertaking of a hearing into
than that their origin is extra terrestrial? It may be recalled that the Air Tech-
this despicable situation. Until this condition is brought out into the open, much
nical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, in
of the news media will continue to refrain from giving the UFO's serious consider-
July-August of 1948 concluded in their top secret document estimate of the
ation they SO justly deserve.
situation that UFO's were interplanetary. While top Air Force officials will
All statements made in this letter can be substantiated by the National Investi-
vehemently deny that such a document ever existed, proof that it does exist and
gations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) located at 1536 Connecticut
is accessible for examination by interested Members of Congress-but not from
Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. Documented evidence and authentication re-
the Air Force.
quired to support the assertion that a censorship does in fact exist will be put at
While the Air Force does not publicly admit to the existence of the wealth of
the disposal of your committee by NICAP upon request.
documented evidence that has been accumulated since before the appearance of
Respectfully yours,
the first airplane, it does admit to possessing at least 663 "unknowns" on the
JOHN R. Gray, Huntington Beach, Calif.
books. Sightings classified as "unknowns" are those well decumented by official
and unofficial sources but remain unsolved and "unexplainable." Private
citizens inquiring into the nature of these unknowns will be told that such is
classified information (AFR 200-2 paragraphs 9 and 19). It should be noted,
[From Life magazine, Apr. 1, 1966]
in this respect, that Vice President Humphrey and Senator Birch Bayh were
misinformed by the Air Force through the Congressional Inquiry Division to
A WELL-WITNESSED "INVASION"-BY SOMETHING
the effect that all of the 663 "unknown" cases were solved. The letter to Sena-
tor Bayh was signed by Col. Frederick H. Fahringer.
FROM AUSTRALIA TO MICHIGAN, A FLURRY OF EERIE UFO SIGHTINGS
Dealings with the Air Force concerning information of UFO's have proven
Call them what you will: flying saucers, unidentified flying objects (UFO's),
to be a one-way proposition-all in and none out. Is it little wonder that only
optical illusions, or the first symptoms of the silly season. They are back
about 10 percent of the citizenry dare risk disparagement for submitting reports
again-and seen by more people than ever before. Some are greenish and iri-
that are truly unexplainable? The "lending" of photographic evidence of a
descent, like the mystery thing that swooped down over Perth, Australia, several
sighting by a witness to the Air Force is tantamount to forfeiture. Infre-
weeks ago. Others are football shaped and aglow with pulsating lights. Last
quently, an Air Force "slip-up" occurs in his favor.
week the manifestations seemed almost to have reached the proportions of an
The Air Force maintains that there is no censorship of UFO's. Anyone fol-
invasion. Near Ann Arbor, Mich., 52 witnesses, including a dozen policemen,
lowing this subject knows differently. Strong feelings were expressed by three
of my acquaintances, all departed in recent years from service in that branch,
saw 5 strange objects hovering over a swamp. The next day a glowing thing
floated over a small college in Hillsdale, Mich. and was sighted by 87 students,
in verifying that censorship does indeed exist. Two were radar technicians,
an assistant dean and the local civil defense director. Whatever the explanation
one of whom was stationed at White Sands in 1949 while the other was assigned
to the 776th Radar Squadron at Point Arena, Calif. in 1961-62. The third was
of the peculiar phenomena-seen and described similarly by so many-something
a member of Project Blue Book in Alaska during 1961-62.
surely was in the air.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff regulation JANAP 146, section III, title 18, United
"IT WASN'T No HULLABILLUSION," SAID THE FARMER, AND 52 AGREED
States Code 793, threatens imposition of penalties of 1 to 10 years imprisonment
and/or up to $10,000 fine upon any Air Force pilot who reveals an official UFO
(By Paul O'Neil)
report. Such harsh punishment would certainly be indicative of the seriousness
with which the Air Force regards the UFO's; and all the while the publicized line
DEXTER TOWNSHIP, MICH.-Frank Mannor has never believed in flying saucers.
is "they don't exist." The official position was subsequently revealed when on
Hasn't any need of them. Wishes he'd never seen one. Frank should have been
December 24, 1959, an Air Force Inspector General brief was issued stating that
born in the day of Dan'l Boone. Since he wasn't, he's on the unemployment.
"UFO's are Serious Business" and instructing all investigating officers to be
Still, he's a happy man. Or was.
equipped with geiger counters. The degree of seriousness can also be realized
He is a husky, grizzled fellow of 47 who has 10 children, a well of water with
when one considers the lengths to which six agencies of the Federal Government
an outside pump, a solidly build privy, a TV set and a battered refrigerator with
are extending themselves in research to uncover the suspected secret of these ob-
the coil on top. Four disembodied automobiles rest beside his white, tumble-
jects-that of gravity control, or antigravity power. Forty-six such projects of
down, two-story farmhouse in the open country 12 miles northwest of Ann
research of varying degrees are currently being subsidized including 33 under Air
Arbor. They provide parts for his good car. He has an ancient schoolbus for
Force supervision.
hunting expeditions. He also has six dogs. The dogs started it all. When they
While it is understandable that information pertaining to these projects does
began "barkin' and bellerin' at 8 o'clock that Sunday night, Frank ran outside-
not necessarily fall into the sphere of the public's "right to know," there is no
even though he was wearing his suit pants-and looked east into swampland
apparent reason or justification for the continuation of this "blackout" policy
from the rise of ground on which the house is built. He saw lights and a faint
regarding UFO's. It matters not whether this policy was instigated by the Air
red glow "like cigarets being smoked."
Force or its superior, but it does matter when individual research in this field is
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6065
Frank called his 19-year-old son, Ronnie. Suit pants or not, they started down
Back by Frank Mannor's house the road jammed up with the cars of the
toward whatever it was. "I thought a meteor had hit, that maybe we could
expectant; one man scraped away at a violin for an hour in the hope of sum-
pick up pieces of it," Frank said.
moning creatures from outer space and another blinked a light in what he
It never for a minute occurred to him that the United States hadn't had a
described as a "pi code"-which he believed to be the key to interplanetary
good, mysterious flying saucer manifestation for a coon's age, that it was proba-
understanding. Many came to scoff. Mannor grew more indignant by the hour.
bly time for a new visitation from the mysterious little men from outer space
"People are trying to make a fanatic out of me," he complained. "They was
and that they had decided to use southern Michigan in general and his swamp
still tramping around here at 3 o'clock this morning and look at them now.
in particular for the dangdest display of flashing lights and whizzing half-seen
They say, 'How much money are you going to make off this?' That's crazy. I
objects since Frank Perkins fired a .22 rifle at a New York crow-and hit a
don't want no money. I didn't want no publicity in the first place. I don't want
fireworks factory-back in 1951.
none now. I'm just a simple fellow. But I seen what I seen and nobody's going
Frank Mannor soon realized that he and his son were stalking some kind of
to tell me different. That wasn't no old foxfire or hullabillusion. It was an
thing. The ground between his house and the swamp is hummocky, rolling, but
object. Maybe it'll come back if all these people would stay away and we could
the night was clear and moonlit and the glow ahead was plain. "Just like we
get a picture and have verication of it. Anybody wants to give me a lie-detector
were hunting deer," Frank said to Ronnie, "Don't talk, we'll sneak up on it."
test I'll take it."
They jumped a creek, climbed a rise, and there it was, a few hundred yards
Leona, his wife, was more succinct: "We ain't Martians-they act like you're
ahead in the marsh. The thing seemed as long as an automobile, and wore a
not human or something because you seen it. I'm about to get a gun and shoot
green light on one end and a white light on the other. Its back was humped
some of these smart alecks if they don't stay to hell away."
and looked grayish- or bluish-brown and was "quilted" or rough "like coral
rock," It seemed to be sitting perhaps 8 feet off the ground in a patch of mist.
10,147 FLYING SAUCER SIGHTINGS
"Like a man in a boat on a misty lake in the morning-you can see the man
but can't quite make out the boat."
(Ever since the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel recorded an encounter with a
Suddenly it turned blood red. "Look at that horrible thing, Dad," blurted
fiery flying wheel, people have been seeing saucerlike things in the sky. In the
Ronnie-and the lights instantly went out. Both began running toward it.
following report Life Correspondent Bill Wise tells of the Air Force's efforts to
"I was a-puffin'," said Mannor. "But when we got there it was gone. I hunted
make sense of all.)
for 4 hours but there was no sign or smell of it. I'm glad I didn't have a gun.
DAYTON, Онто.-Тhеге have been 10,147 reported UFO sightings since a pri-
I'd a shot it and I might have harmed someone."
vate pilot named Kenneth Arnold claimed he saw a set of rapidly moving
Back at the house, meantime, Mannor's wife Leona-a woman who wears
"things" in the air near Mount Rainier, Wash., on June 24, 1947. Arnold's widely
shapeless slacks and a flannel shirt with the tail out-decided to call the nearby
publicized report set off the first of the modern epidemics of saucer sighting, and
Dexter village police. "We've got an object out here," she said formally. "that
the Air Force has been in the saucer business ever since. Its "Project Bluebook"
looks like what they call a flying saucer. It's got lights on it down in the swamp."
occupies a single room on the second floor of a windowless red concrete building
Since the Mannors are on an eight-party line Leona told a great many other
here at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Its functions: (1) to try to find an
other people, too, and the word spread like lightning-or the glow from a flying
explanation for all reported sightings of unidentified flying objects, (2) to dis-
saucer. Cops and deputy sheriffs were soon tumbling out of cars and thrashing
cover whether the UFO's pose any security threat, and (3) to determine if UFO's
off toward the marsh, and the road beyond the house was jammed solid with
exhibit any advanced technology which the United States could put to use.
the cars of gawkers. Most of them were rewarded for their effort. Dexter
To assist Project Bluebook, there is an UFO officer stationed at every Air Force
Police Chief Robert Taylor and Patrolman Nolan Lee saw the red glow as they
base in the country the officer at the base nearest a reported sighting is respon-
stumbled around in the dark; SO did Washtenaw County Deputy Sheriffs Stan-
sible for initiating the investigation. According to Maj. Hector Quintanella, Jr.,
ley McFadden and David Fitzpatrick. All reported, like Mannor, that the light
a physicist who heads Project Bluebook, most UFO sightings have a rational and
eventually vanished. But unlike their host, who said, "I never seen it take off,"
usually very simple explanation. The most common reports stem from bright
the cops felt it had zipped away over Mannor's house making a sound like "an
stars, planets and meteorites, particularly when viewed through broken clouds or
ambulance."
haze.
"I seen it," said McFadden, "but I still don't believe it."
Others turn out to be satellites-few people realize that there are now more
Dexter Patrolman Robert Hunawill saw a "strange, lighted object" appear
than 30 of these in orbit that are visible to the naked eye. Thousands of bal-
over his patrol car as he waited in the road for those who had set out for the
loons-some as large as 300 feet in diameter, some carrying running lights-are
swamp. It had red and white lights "which at times had a bluish tinge" and
released daily at airports, weather stations and research centers, and these lead
made continuing sweeps over the swamp at a height of 1,000 feet and then, on
to a great many "saucer" reports. Conventional aircraft are another major
being joined by three other "objects," flew away. Chief Taylor's 16-year-old son
source-reflecting sun by day or providing the glow of running lights or jet
Robert saw one lighted thing at 10:30. It flashed red and white and hurried off
afterburners or the flash of photo recon strobe lights at night.
to the west.
All satellites and most weather balloons and aircraft are being carefully
Ann Arbor, though sharply divided between scoffers and believers the next day,
tracked and logged by military or civilian agencies, and Project Bluebook rou-
still seemed to feel a unanimous civic pride in the fact that the Air Force had
tinely checks sightings against these records. Unreported local flights by private
taken cognizance of its lurid phenomenon by dispatching Astronomer J. Allen
aircraft pose the most frequent problem in this detective work.
Hynek, director of Northwestern University's Dearborn Observatory, to weigh
Strange blips on radar screens have occasionally unsettled personnel at track-
the tales of the elect and, no doubt, send a message of gravity and import to the
ing stations-e.g., two "objects" that appeared on the scopes at Patuxent Naval
Pentagon. They were even more heartened to hear that Hynek did not instantly
Air Station (Md.) last December seemingly approaching the base at an estimated
announce that Mannor and his fellow bushwhackers had simply seen the Uni-
4,800 miles an hour before making a tight turn and disappearing. But these can
versity of Michigan's dish-shaped Peach Mountain radio telescope, which stands
generally be traced to pulsating "bugs" within a receiving set or to interference
against the sky beyond the area in which they saw the glowing thing. Hynek, a
from other neighboring electronic gear. Wright-Patterson experts have been
bearded man who has investigated a hundred other "sightings" for the Air
able to account for every errant radar blip reported to date.
Force in the last two decades, was sure Mannor was too accustomed to the tele-
There is no question that our Air Force and those of other countries employ
scope to ever mistake it for anything else.
assorted airborne hardware as tactical and training devices. Many of these are,
"I believe the people who made these sightings are entirely honest and sin-
of course, seen as flying saucers and it is obvious that for security reasons the
cere," he said. "But I am not willing to guess what they saw." He hedged when
Air Force is reluctant to talk about them.
asked if he thought the thing might conceivably have been a new "test vehicle"
"I have looked at the records of nearly every UFO case back to 1947," says
of some sort. "I think I know much more of what is going on than * * *'' he
Major Quintanella, "and my feeling is that the vast majority have involved
began, but then halted and said, "so I don't think I should say anything
simple misinterpretation of natural phenomena."
I'm sure there is some natural explanation for all of this."
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Of the sightings SO far checked out, less than 2 percent of the total are listed
I am pleased to have your statement.
on Project Blue Book's file as unidentified. The Air Force officially concludes
And, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for having this hearing, and these
that none of these has given any indication of posing a threat to national safety,
people in to put some attention on this matter. Thank you.
or offering new technological data, or of originating from some extraterrestial
source. However, some of these files remain officially open and the investigations
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.
on them continue.
Governor Stafford. Governor Stafford, you are from Vermont, how
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, director of Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern Uni-
close is this to your district?
versity, who is heading up the Ann Arbor investigation for the Air Force, is an
Mr. STAFFORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to com-
old hand at checking on flying saucers for Blue Book. Dr. Hynek notes that
ment on that.
sighting reports usually do not originate with persons who believe in outerspace
visitations. "Believers" don't need sightings to convince them, and are irritated
Mr. Bates has pointed out there have been UFO sightings in New
by the embarrassment and skepticism with which most UFO spotters, like Frank
Hampshire, Vermont not to be outdone last week has had sightings
Mannor, report what they believe they have seen.
there, also, some within 16 miles of my hometown.
"It is easy to dismiss the cases of birds, balloons, and the like," says Dr. Hynek,
"but when good solid citizens report something puzzling, I believe we have an
The CHAIRMAN. That is getting awfully close.
obligation to do as good a job as we can. I regard our 'Unidentifieds' as a sort
Mr. STAFFORD. Yes, sir.
of blot on the escutcheon. Somehow we scientists should be able to come up
Since our States of Vermont and New Hampshire are known as the
with answers for these things."
twin States, Mr. Chairman, this may be simply a case of bad naviga-
Major Quintanella, although certain that no evidence turned up to date has
tion on the part of the UFO's, although some of us think it may be if
even hinted at spacecraft of unearthly origin, agrees that it is impossible to
prove that flying saucers do not exist. In any event, the Air Force is not about
they are extraterrestrial they are simply looking for a warmer climate
to give up chasing UFO's.
than New Hampshire possesses. But in any event, in seriousness, the
"We are spending millions to develop our own rocket boosters to get our space-
people in Vermont are very much concerned over the sightings that
craft to the moon and beyond," says the major, smiling. "Imagine what a great
have occurred in our State, and reputable people have seen phenom-
help it would be to get our hands on a ship from another planet and examine its
powerplant."
enon which they cannot understand.
I would simply hope that the Secretary of the Air Force and the
The CHAIRMAN. What I want to ask you is, why do they always see
doctor could assure me that if these sightings have not already been
them in the nighttime?
evaluated, that in the course of investigation and deliberations they
Dr. HYNEK. There are a number of reports from the daytime al-
will be.
though it is true there are many more night sightings.
The CHAIRMAN. I hope if you come in contact with any of them you
The CHAIRMAN. Then there is another thing, if anybody wanted to
don't have to tell them where South Carolina is.
spy on this country why would they go to this expense, when you can
Mr. Hébert is next.
go to any newsstand and get all the information you want, and if that
Mr. HÉBERT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
doesn't help you get a roadmap, and if that doesn't help you, hire
While these objects have not been seen in my district, I just want to
a Hertz car.
prepare myself, because after next election day I might have seen
Dr. HYNEK. Maybe they don't know this.
some of them.
The CHAIRMAN. If the Martians don't know this by this time they
Doctor, have you conferred with Mr. Ray Walston on this subject
will never know it.
matter?
Spying on this country is so simple, I cannot understand why the
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir.
Russians or anybody wants to put something up in the air to spy
Mr. HÉBERT. Does that ring a bell with you, Mr. Ray Walston
on this country, when they have got SO many avenues we don't police.
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir.
Dr. HYNEK. No comment on that, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. HÉBERT. It does not ring a bell? He is the most authoritative
The CHAIRMAN. Well, you ought to comment on it.
man in the country on space. He appears in every home every Sunday
Dr. Chamberlain, we will hear from you.
night, he is "My Favorite Martian."
Dr. CHAMBERLAIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really have no
Dr. HYNEK. Oh. [Laughter.]
questions, but I will say the sightings in Michigan were near my
Mr. HÉBERT. He has an antenna out of his head, too.
area, but not within it. I am pleased to hear your recommendation and
Dr. HYNEK. I think I have been talking to the wrong people.
to have the Secretary's statement that he intends to implement it.
Mr. HÉBERT. He can shed a lot of light on the subject. I just
I am further comforted to know he is giving it further thought and
wanted to direct your attention to that.
he is going to, at such time as your recommendation is implemented,
That is all, Mr. Chairman.
we are going to have a panel that will consider these things in depth,
The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Hall, you are next after Mr. Price.
not just in town for a day, with a cursory look, and disposing of it,
Mr. PRICE. Doctor, if in fact they exist and are from outer space,
because I feel we have other scientific achievements and advances, and
don't we have have a tracking system that now does a real competent
that there is going to be a growing importance of surveillance of this
job tracking every satellite in outer space so we know every one that is
phenomena.
launched somewhere else, and as they circle in outer space we have a
I would say, further, the people in our area are concerned about this.
record of each of these, do we not?
There has been considerable responsible editorial comment in our
Dr. HYNEK. It is my understanding that we do. This is the point
newspapers. It should not be "poo-pooed," as you say.
I made earlier.
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Mr. PRICE. If they did travel in outer space there would be a record
can people, I would assume a picture of this kind would be disturbing
somewhere of their travels in outer space?
in just the same way that Life's story of what happened to some dogs
Dr. HYNEK. I would certainly think so, and this, of course, is I
up in Baltimore has now resulted in legislation being recommended to
think one of the most potent arguments against extraterrestial visita-
the House.
tion by intelligences, unless they were SO superintelligent they knew
You have no explanation or haven't looked into the series of photo-
how to evade completely our surveillances. I think this would be
graphs that appear on pages 26 and 27 of Life magazine, and pages
pretty difficult.
24 and 25?
Mr. PRICE. As they left their normal orbit they could be tracked
Dr. HYNEK. I just learned of the Life article last week.
and followed?
Mr. STRATTON. Is that correct, Doctor?
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir.
Dr. HYNEK. That is correct, I have not examined the photographs
Mr. PRICE. As they left the orbit?
and information published by Life.
Dr. HYNEK. To the best of my understanding, they certainly could
Mr. STRATTON. Has anybody examined them in the Air Force?
be.
Major QUINTANILLA. Mr. Stratton, we have asked for the negatives
The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Hall.
of those pictures, but the citizens will not turn the negatives over to the
Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to thank the Secretary and
Air Force. You cannot force them to turn them over to the Air
his distinguished guests for this, and say for some time we have even
Force.
had space conventions down in the Ozarks, in the last 13 years, and
Mr. STRATTON. They turned them over to Life magazine, haven't
it would seem obvious to me in view of the report today those who
they
take trips by the use of hullucinatory drugs are almost synonymous
Major QUINTANILLA. You will have to ask them; I don't know.
with the number of space sightings we have had reported here today,
Mr. STRATTON. What has Life got?
namely, in the order of 10,000. To me it indicates a decrease in the
Major QUINTANILLA. I don't know, sir.
mores and the fiber of those who would subject themselves to hulluci-
Mr. STRATTON. How can you have examined this without finding out
natory influences in the first place.
what Life has?
Thank you.
Major QUINTANILLA. What is that, sir ?
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stratton
Mr. STRATTON. How can you have examined these particular in-
Mr. STRATTON. You mentioned something from Life magazine, Mr.
stances without finding out what Life has?
Chairman. There were two pictures in Life magazine I think we
Major QUINTANILLA. The Air Force has not investigated these in-
would like an explanation of. One of them was a red object which
stances, sir, and the photographs have not been examined because the
was clearly visible in the photograph. The other were two lights,
negatives have never been turned over to the Air Force.
I think, taken in Sidney Harbor, one at one position and one at
Mr. STRATTON. You have not been in touch with Life magazine to
another, and then there was the third photograph. I wonder if the
find out what they have?
Doctor could give us what the explanation is of these?
Major QUINTANILLA. No, sir; we have not.
Dr. HYNEK. Well, sir, unless one has the original negative, there
Mr. STRATTON. Don't you think it might be well to undertake to
is very little photoanalysis that can be done. It is said a picture is
make an effort to find out whether Life has the negatives, for example,
worth a thousand words, but I think in this case it is the other way
or whether they have been in touch with the individuals concerned
around, because generally it has been our experience, and I think
Major QUINTANILLA. Yes, sir.
Major Quintanilla will bear me out, that when we do have hoaxes
Mr. STRATTON. Well, I think, Mr. Secretary, as I just said, I am very
they very frequently are accompanied by photographs.
much impressed with the doctor's statement, and with yours, but this
Mr. STRATTON. I appreciate it is possible to doctor up negatives.
kind of thing in Life magazine makes it appear that there is some-
Let me put it the other way around. Have these three incidents
thing there, and you say that you have examined these things, and
which are reported photographically in Life magazine been examined
there is nothing there, and I think that you ought to have examined
by you, and, if so, what are your findings with regard to them?
this SO that we can have an explanation of these particular phenomena.
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir; they have not been examined by me, because
The CHAIRMAN. Let me say something.
I do not have the original negatives.
We cannot ask the Secretary to look into every magazine that is pub-
Mr. STRATTON. Are these incidents listed in the list that you have
lished, or every periodical that comes out of everybody's printing
compiled, and which the Secretary has told us 95 percent are explain-
press. Now, it seems to me like Life magazine is not exempted or ex-
able?
cluded, if they are as interested as they appear to be in this magazine,
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir. These particular pictures are not in my list
that comes to my office free, and which I seldom look into-that is my
since I don't know enough about them.
responsibility, I have other things to do-it looks to me like these
Mr. STRATTON. Doctor, I would suggest since these have had very
people who give such great dissemination to these things would be
prominent circulation, in a magazine of some prominence in the coun-
interested in seeing what the DOD has, without imposing on the Sec-
try, that we ought to examine these particular things and determine
retary of Defense the responsibility of tracking down everything that
whether they are hoaxes or not. If anything is disturbing the Ameri-
comes out of everybody's camera. I do not know why we should im-
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pose on the Secretary the requirement to track down Life magazine
The CHAIRMAN. How many, doctor?
and say give me your negatives, give me your reasons. Is this what
Dr. HYNEK. With about 32 people. I talked with some of these
you want?
briefly, but spoke with at least 15 persons in considerable detail.
Mr. STRATTON. Mr. Chairman, it was my understanding we were
These two sightings, although separated by some 65 miles, were
asking this question because many people had been somewhat con-
a localized phenomenon. They were in the swamp area. No individ-
cerned by these reports in recent days, including the distinguished
ual that I talked to, and no group of persons, could agree that they
minority leader in the House.
has seen anything either enter or leave the swamp. There were
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
several isolated reports by people who said that yes, they saw a bright
Mr. STRATTON. And it does seem to me when a national magazine
light come, but they could not get any general support or concurrence
that has as much influence as Life has, prints some photographic-
on this, from the others. Witnesses did agree that they saw a glow, and
what purports to be photographic-pieces of evidence of these objects,
red, yellow, and green lights in the swamp area in both cases. So I said
we ought to if we are going to allay the concern of these people who
to myself, "What is common in swamps?" And I researched this ques-
have started this investigation by our committee in the first place, that
tion with the aid of several professors at the University of Michigan.
we ought to have an answer to it.
They have been very helpful to me in this, since an astronomer doesn't
The CHAIRMAN. I think so, too, but I don't think we should criti-
know about swamps; he usually has his eyes a little higher than that.
cize the Secretary for not having done it.
They informed me, and I later found in several books, that marsh
Mr. Secretary, here is what I am going to request you do. You get
gas, resulting from the spontaneous igniting in air of such gases as
in touch with Life magazine and request them to furnish you with this
CH4, methane, H2S, PH₃, phosphine, and particularly important,
information that Mr. Stratton has brought to your attention, or any
P₂H₄, an impurity in phosphine, is a common occurrence and produces
other magazine, and report back to this committee.
what appears to be glowing lights of different colors. Since then I
Secretary BROWN. We will be glad to do so.
have had several letters from people saying "What are they getting
The CHAIRMAN. I am sure Life magazine would be eager to do this.
all excited about in Michigan, I have seen these things since I have
Mr. Stratton, I think you are wise in suggesting it, but what I didn't
been a kid on the farm." As these gases are ignited, they can pro-
want to do is to unwittingly criticize the Secretary for not having done
duce red, yellow, and green glows. There is nothing mysterious about
it.
these colors.
Now, Mr. Secretary, will you do it?
The lighting goes out here, and goes on here, thus giving the im-
Secretary BROWN. We will do it, Mr. Chairman, and we will I think
pression of motion. The light was moving smoothly, they said, not
continue to follow our ground rules-
following the train which was bumpy, and they also rose some dis-
The CHAIRMAN. You get those negatives if you can and turn them
tance and came down. They were reportedly observed for a period of
over to the doctor, and I want a report on it.
21/2 to 3 hours.
Mr. STRATTON. Mr. Chairman, I have one more question. May I
In a book, "Light and Color in the Open Air," it is pointed out
say I wouldn't dream of criticizing the Secretary, he and I are good
that swamp lights, commonly known as will-o'-the-wisp, fox light,
friends, and he knows I am only trying to be helpful.
and so forth, can be observed for several hours, sometimes all night.
The CHAIRMAN. Of course, and I know he cherishes your friend-
And the conditions were just right for it in Michigan. In both
ship, and SO do I.
cases, the winds were reasonably calm. Had there been high winds,
Mr. STRATTON. The other item that has really led to all this concern
it is unlikely these glows would have taken place.
today are these sightings in Michigan. The Secretary has given us
Furthermore, Michigan had experienced an unusually mild winter.
a report, but I have only had a chance to skim over it. The doctor
They tell me there wasn't much snow. However, the swamp had
here a moment ago commented with respect to these people in Wiscon-
been covered by ice.
sin that only two or three people in the area had seen the phenomenon,
Now, in a swamp rotting vegetation produces these marsh gases.
and wasn't it surprising that a lot of people who must have been
When a thaw comes, it seems entirely logical to me, that these gases
around didn't see it.
would bubble up, and be spontaneously ignited, and you would see
If I understand the newspaper accounts correctly, the thing that is
these things. To me it is a logical explanation. I said in my press
unique about the Michigan sightings is that a lot of people in the area
release I couldn't prove it in a court of law but it seems to me to be a
saw it, and the girls in the dormitory apparently sat around for hours
very logical explanation.
watching it, and people came and went, and all saw whatever it was.
The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. Ichord.
Now, I wonder if you could give us in a nutshell what the explana-
Then I will come over to the other side.
tion of this is? Marsh gas is what I understand is the explanation.
Mr. ICHORD. Let me first differentiate, Mr. Chairman, my position
Could you tell us, doctor, in a few words the gist of what you dis-
from the chairman, and Mrs. Rivers, and also Mr. Nedzi.
covered out there that you have reported here?
I am neither a believer nor a disbeliever. I am from Missouri, and
Dr. HYNEK. I will be happy to. I conducted a detailed inquiry
I have got to be shown.
into the two reported sightings at Dexter and Hillsdale, Mich. Of
The CHAIRMAN. You go right ahead.
the 50 to 60 people who reported having seen one or the other of these
I talked with about 32 persons.
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Mr. ICHORD. I would like to ask, along the line Mr. Stratton was
The CHAIRMAN. We will get an Air Force report on that, too.
inquiring, how close was the Life magazine article to April Fool's Day ?
Mr. Schweiker. Do I understand that you said none of the unex-
Mr. Chairman, one of the members of the committee staff has handed
plained objects have been sighted on radar?
me a question that I think should be in the record.
Major QUINTANILLA. No, sir; I said 1.5 percent.
Doctor, are you familiar with the NICAP, the National Investiga-
Mr. SCHWEIKER. No, the first question he asked you was, have any
tions Committee on Aerial Phenomenon?
of the unexplained objects been sighted on radar. I thought you said
Dr. HYNEK. I would think anyone who has been looking into UFO's
"No" to that just a couple of minutes ago.
for the past many years as I have couldn't help be acquainted with
Major QUINTANILLA. That is correct. We have no radar cases which
their work.
are unexplained.
Mr. ICHORD. What is the makeup of this committee?
Mr. SCHWEIKER. All right.
Dr. HYNEK. It is called a committee, but it is a rather large group
Let's go back to the story Mr. Bates was talking about, Exeter, N.H.,
of civilians over the country, as I underdstand it, who volunteer to
the one Mr. Fuller has written about in several magazines.
investigate the cases.
I understand this is an unexplained sighting on your part, is that
Mr. ICHORD. It has no official standing, then?
correct?
Dr. HYNEK. No official governmental standing; no, sir.
Major QUINTANILLA. That is correct, sir.
Mr. ICHORD. This committee does not always agree with your ex-
Mr. SCHWEIKER. He specifically says in his story-and I quote his
planation of the various sightings?
words now-
Dr. HYNEK. I believe that is correct.
Confidential comments made to me by the Coast Guardsmen and military in
Mr. ICHORD. How many, Doctor, of the 10,000-plus cases, have there
the area support the laymen's testimony and confirm the reports of radar sight-
been photographs allegedly taken of UFO's?
ings and scrambling by jet fighters from Pease Air Force Base.
Dr. HYNEK. In a very few cases. This is another thing which
Major QUINTANILLA. No, sir; that is not correct. We have no
bothers me.
radar information on that sighting. No jet fighters were scrambled.
Mr. ICHORD. Can you give an idea of how many?
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Let me ask you this: In the Pease Air Force Base,
Dr. HYNEK. How many?
you had an investigation by Major Griffin, and a Lieutenant Brant, is
Major, would you venture a guess?
that correct?
Major QUINTANILLA. I don't know.
Major QUINTANILLA. Sir?
Dr. HYNEK. I would say only about 1 percent, or less, of the cases
Mr. SCHWEIKER. In the situation at Exeter, N.H., did you have a
reported have included photographs.
report filed to you folks by Major Griffin and Lieutenant Brant?
Mr. ICHORD. Then I take it you can't tell me how many of these
Major QUINTANILLA. Yes, sir; we did.
photograph cases have not been explained by you, since you can't
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Could we have copies of their raw report?
tell me how many photographs have been taken?
Major QUINTANILLA. Yes, sir; you may.
Dr. HYNEK. This is right. But the point is that you cannot make
Mr. SCHWEIKER. What were their conclusions?
a scientific analysis of a photograph unless you have the negative.
Major QUINTANILLA. They couldn't explain it.
As the major has pointed out, time and again when we request the
Secretary BROWN. They sent them over to us.
negatives, they are not forthcoming.
Mr. SCHWEIKER. They made no mention of planes scrambling from
Sometimes other groups get them.
Pease Air Force Base?
Mr. ICHORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Major QUINTANILLA. There were aircraft in the area on regularly
The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. Clancy.
scheduled missions, but they were not scrambled for the purpose of
Mr. CLANCY. Mr. Chairman, just one short question for the doctor.
observing the reported UFO's.
Have any of the 5 percent of the unexplained cases been observed
Secretary BROWN. Two of my staff have pointed out to me, Mr.
on radar screens?
Schweiker, that Pease AFB has no fighters; it is a SAC bomber base,
Secretary BROWN. I don't know the answer to that one.
and is not a fighter base.
Major QUINTANILLA. No, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other questions, Mr. Schweiker?
Mr. CLANCY. What percentage of the reported incidents have been
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Yes, sir.
reported on radar screens?
I would like to ask the doctor:
Major QUINTANILLA. About 1.5 percent, sir.
You said to have some bona fide sightings we need a lot of people
Mr. CLANCY. That is all.
and a point-to-point situation and some other things. Doesn't the
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Schweiker, we are finishing up now.
Exeter, N.H. sighting, at least as reported-I want to point out that
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman.
in this sighting there were several policemen, including the chief of
First I would like to request the Beaver County photograph be
police and several news people who all reported the same phenomena,
included in the Air Force investigation, the one that appeared in
60 people. Doesn't that meet your criteria; a lot of people saw it, it
Look magazine, and was verified by the Beaver County Times. I
was a point-to-point situation, at least this observer says there were
hope that will be included.
6074
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radar sights. This apparently seems to be in disagreement at the
and you, Dr. Brown, are going to tell us-here is what I meant to tell
present time.
you-and this is far from the truth.
Wouldn't that be a classification of what you said we don't have
I know of nothing else to ask him. I think we have explored every-
Dr. HYNEK. No, sir. I said there were several cases where we had
thing.
a lot of witnesses. It does not have to be a point-to-point situation.
Mr. Stratton, have you had any afterthoughts?
When an airliner leaves New York for San Francisco, it is seen over
Mr. STRATTON. Just one question.
Ohio, Nebraska, and so forth. These sightings were confined to a
Was there not a sighting, back it seems to me in 1947, when an object
relatively narrow area. I want to know what happened to these
was observed on radar, either at National Airport or Bolling, both
objects. Why weren't they seen over Fort Wayne, Ind.
coming in and going out? It seems to me there was also a visual
Mr. SCHWEIKER. The fact one officer reports he went to the scene
sighting that went along with that.
after someone else sighted it, and returned back to the same point, there
Do you-Major Quintanilla, I don't know how long you have been
it was, according to the police officer's testimony.
following this, but is this in your records at all?
Dr. HYNEK. Yes, sir, but it was in the same area. We don't know
Major QUINTANILLA. I am sure that if the sighting was reported to
what it was. I would like to know what it was.
the Air Force it is on record, but I am not aware of this particular
Mr. Schweiker. One of the other witnesses in this story-and all I
one, sir.
have to go on is what the reporter's writing says, they did, in fact see
Mr. STRATTON. It seems to me both the radar and the reported visual
it go from point to point, while they were watching it.
sighting were relatively in agreement. I just wondered if you were
Dr. HYNEK. Within a relatively narrow area. But I don't recollect
familiar with it?
whether they saw it leave for distant points. One of the things that
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Stratton.
seems to be so odd about this particular case is that we did not find
Are there any other questions from any other member of the com-
horizontal trajectories over any length, as you would expect from a
mittee?
craft.
Mr. ICHORD. We will be back here at 2 :30?
Mr. Schweiker. Is the Beaver County sighting unexplained or is
The CHAIRMAN. The committee will reconvene at 2:30 for the pur-
that explainable, this photograph I referred to?
pose of taking up 412.
Major QUINTANILLA. Is this Mr. Lucci's photo?
Dr. Brown, we have no more requirement for the major and Dr.
Mr. SCHWEIKER. Yes, sir.
Hynek, and the resumption of the hearing this afternoon will be in
Major QUINTANILLA. We have asked Mr. Lucci to submit the nega-
executive session.
tive for photo analysis, but he has refused to do so.
It will have to do with 412. We will take up where we left off.
Dr. HYNEK. It needs a double exposure, as we can judge from the
Dr. Brown, if you and General McConnell will be back at 2:30, we
print.
will meet. We don't plan to have a meeting Thursday, because I think
Major QUINTANILLA. We asked the gentleman to submit the nega-
a lot of members will have gone, if we finish on Wednesday. But we
tive for analysis and he refuses to do so.
do want to meet this afternoon, and tomorrow, and maybe tomorrow
Mr. Schweiker. On what basis?
afternoon.
Major QUINTANILLA. I don't know, sir. We requested the negative.
Then I think we may be able to finish with Dr. Brown before the
Mr. Schweiker. He submitted it to the Beaver Times. They pub-
recess.
lished it. Maybe these people are a little skeptical about turning over
At 2:30, Dr. Brown. And I want to thank you, Dr. Brown, for
negatives without some assurance.
producing this information.
I think we ought to look into that a little bit, because the newspaper
(Whereupon, at 11 :55 a.m. the committee was adjourned to recon-
claims they saw the negatives, examined by their photographic experts,
vene at 2:30 p.m. of the same day.)
and they are authentic.
Major QUINTANILLA. I have a copy of our letter in my files asking
Mr. Lucci to submit the negative for analysis, and he declined to do
so. That is all I can say.
Mr. Schweiker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Schweiker.
We will go to Mr. Leggett.
Mr. LEGGETT. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Wilson and I want to go on record
at this time that we do not believe; we are intelligent people.
Mr. BATES. Which Wilson
The CHAIRMAN. We are going to adjourn, and we are going to meet
again at 2:30. If there is no reason to hold Dr. Hynek and Major
Quintanilla, we will let them be excused. Some people say whenever
you all have gone we are going to get down here in executive session
GENALD R. FORD
MICHIGAN OFFICE:
FIFTH DISTRICT, MICHIGAN
425 CHERRY STREET SE.
GRAND RAPIDS
Congress of the United States
Office of the Minority Leader
house of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
March 28, 1966
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Science and Astronautics Committee
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D. c.
Dear Chairman Miller:
No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of newspaper stories about
unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special interest
in these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have
been in my home state of Michigan.
The Air Force sent a consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek
of Northwestern University, to Michigan to investigate the various
reports; and he dismissed all of them as the product of college
student pranks or swamp gas or an impression created by the rising
crescent moon and the planet Venus. I do not agree that all of
these reports can be or should be so easily explained away.
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and
because I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough
explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date, I am
proposing that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee of the House schedule hearings on the sub-
ject of UFO's and invite testimony from both the executive branch of
the government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFO's.
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing
the advisability of an investigation of UFO's.
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond,
published last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these
reported sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need
a more credible and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are
getting."
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Page Two
March 28, 1966
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn
together to one place and examined far more objectively than anyone
has done so far. A stable public opinion will come from a trust-
worthy look at the evidence, not from belittling it.
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective
and respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all
present and future evidence about what is going on."
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you
scan the enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the
Griffin-Larrabee News Bureau here. In the last of his articles,
published last January, Mr. Griffin says, "A main conclusion can be
briefly stated. It is that the Air Force is misleading the public by
its continuing campaign to produce and maintain belief thatall
sightings can be explained away as misidentification of familiar
objects, such as balloons, stars and aircraft."
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional
investigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R.
Brown, Ardmore, Tennassee, who says, "I have seen UFO, Will be
available to testify."
Another, from Mrs. Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oregon, reads, "Nine out
of ten people want truth of UFO's. Press your investigation to the
fullest."
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as - "a scientist
from M.I.T.," urges that you "do everything in your power to make
Air Force Project Blue Book (the AF name for its study and verdicts
on UFO reports) known to the people." Are we to assume that everyone
who says he has seen UFO's is an unreliable witness?
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dated March 21, 1966, states
that "at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that
they saw a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land
in a swamp near here Sunday night."
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of
a recent UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical
engineer employed by Ford Motor Company. He points out that an
aeronautical engineer can hardly be considered an untrustworthy witness.
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Page Three
March 28, 1966
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better
explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly
recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO
phenomena.
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding
UFO's and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this
subject.
Kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:plr
Enclosures
bcc: Rep. William H. Bates, R-Mass.
Armed Services Committee
Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., R-Mass.
Science and Astronautics Committee
Rep. James G. Fulton, R-Pennsylvania
Science and Astronautics Committee
MICHIGAN OFFICE:
GENALD R. FORD
425 CHERRY STREET SE.
FIFTH DISTRICT, MICHIGAN
GRAND RAPIDS
Congress of the United States
Office of the Minority Leader
house of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
March 28, 1966
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Science and Astronautics Committee
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D. c.
Dear Chairman Miller:
No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of newspaper stories about
unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special interest
in these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have
been in my home state of Michigan.
The Air Force sent a consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek
of Northwestern University, to Michigan to investigate the various
reports; and he dismissed all of them as the product of college
student pranks or swamp gas or an impression created by the rising
crescent moon and the planet Venus. I do not agree that all of
these reports can be or should be so easily explained away.
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and
because I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough
explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date, I am
proposing that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee of the House schedule hearings on the sub-
ject of UFO's and invite testimony from both the executive branch of
the government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFO's.
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing
the advisability of an investigation of UFO's.
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond,
published last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these
reported sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need
a more credible and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are
getting."
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Page Two
March 28, 1966
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn
together to one place and examined far more objectively than anyone
has done so far. A stable public opinion will come from a trust-
worthy look at the evidence, not from belittling it.
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective
and respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all
present and future evidence about what is going on."
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you
scan the enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the
Griffin-Larrabee News Bureau here. In the last of his articles,
published last January, Mr. Griffin says, "A main conclusion can be
briefly stated. It is that the Air Force is misleading the public by
its continuing campaign to produce and maintain belief thatall
sightings can be explained away as misidentification of familiar
objects, such as balloons, stars and aircraft."
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional
investigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R.
Brown, Ardmore, Tennessee, who says, "I have seen UFO, Will be
available to testify."
Another, from Mrs. Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oregon, reads, "Nine out
of ten people want truth of UFO's. Press your investigation to the
fullest."
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as - "a scientist
from M.I.T.," urges that you "do everything in your power to make
Air Force Project Blue Book (the AF name for its study and verdicts
on UFO reports) known to the people." Are we to assume that everyone
who says he has seen UFO's is an unreliable witness?
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dated March 21, 1966, states
that "at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that
they saw a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land
in a swamp near here Sunday night."
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of
a recent UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical
engineer employed by Ford Motor Company. He points out that an
aeronautical engineer can hardly be considered an untrustworthy witness.
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Page Three
March 28, 1966
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better
explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly
recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO
phenomena.
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding
UFO's and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this
subject.
Kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:plr
Enclosures
bcc: Rep. William H. Bates, R-Mass.
Armed Services Committee
Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., R-Mass.
Science and Astronautics Committee
Rep. James G. Fulton, R-Pennsylvania
Science and Astronautics Committee
Doralhy
ARE UFOs EXTRATERRESTRIAL SURVEILLANCE CRAFT?
James E. McDonald, University of Arizona*
Abstract of a talk given March 26, 1968 before the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, International Hotel, Los Angeles.
(fle
If it were insisted that I limit my entire talk to a one-word
answer to the question posed in that title, I should find it hard to
choose between the safer answer, "possibly", and the riskier answer
that actually comes closer to my present opinion, "probably". The
ever-increasing weight of the evidence I have been examining would
drive me to the latter answer, if I had to compress an hour's remarks
into a single word.
Surely AIAA members would wholeheartedly agree that if there were
even a slim possibility that the earth were under extraterrestrial sur-
veillance in any form, that would be a matter of the greatest scientific
importance, warranting the most vigorous investigation. In fact, the
evidence that seems to point to the conclusion that UFOs could be such
devices is far from negligible; yet because of the history of official
and scientific response to the earlier UFO reports, we continue to see
mainly neglect or ridicule of this intriguing question.
After nearly two years of intensive study of many facets of the
long-standing UFO problem, after examining around a thousand UFO
reports and directly interviewing several hundred witnesses in
selected UFO cases of outstanding interest, and after weighing alter-
native hypotheses, I find myself driven steadily further towards the
position that the extraterrestrial hypothesis is the most probable
hypothesis to account for the UFO.
That hypothesis is, of course, not original with me; it has been
urged for many years by persons knowledgeable with respect to the UFO
problem, who spoke from outside scientific circles. Our collective
failure to examine scientific aspects of the UFO problem will, I fear,
be held against the scientific community when the full dimensions of
the UFO evidence come to be recognized. And the latter date may not be
far off.
The principal points which I wish to emphasize include the follow-
ing:
1) For the past half-dozen years, our American space program has
been keyed to "the search for life in space", yet the now impressive
UFO evidence that "life" may, in some sense, already have found us is
either scoffed at or wholly ignored, even within such space-oriented
agencies as NASA. I speak from first-hand experience in making that
observation.
2) Twenty years of USAF responsibility in handling UFO reports
appear to me to constitute about that same number of years of super-
ficial and scientifically incompetent response to the UFO problem.
Aside from brief periods in 1948 and again in 1952-3, USAF investiga-
tions of UFO reports have been perfunctory, aimed generally at finding
any "explanation", however inadequately it might match the reported
facts.
*Dr. McDonald is Senior Physicist in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics
and Professor in the Dept. of Meteorology at the University of Arizona.
3
2
3) The principal reason that no other adequate scientific inves-
UFOs aren't some still poorly understood natural phenomenon? How can
tigation has ever been initiated has been that, despite almost complete
we be sure UFOs aren't secret test vehicles (ours or theirs)? If extra-
lack of any scientific expertise in the USAF program (Project Bluebook),
terrestrial, why no contact? Why no crashed UFOs? Why aren't there lots
public pronouncements have repeatedly given strong assurance that the
of good photos if UFOs are real? Why aren't UFOs seen in cities rather
investigations were drawing upon the best scientific talent available to
than in remote deserts and swamps? How can we be sure UFO sightings
the Air Force. Nothing could be further from fact. Examples will be
aren't hallucinations? How about hoaxes? Why no sonic booms? How can
cited to back up this point.
one account for non-inertial turns and maneuvers? Why don't optical-
tracking programs, such as meteor-survey programs, photograph UFOs? Why
4) The present Air Force-sponsored study at the University of
don't our radar-fences and high-altitude radar-search systems see UFOs?
Colorado offered promise initially. However, repeated indications of
If not of intra-solar-system origin, how could UFOs accomplish inter-
negative bias in public statements by the Project Director, combined
stellar transits in reasonable times? Where could they be coming from?
with lack of vigorous investigation of the most provocative types of
How is it possible that other military radar systems throughout the
UFO cases reported over the past 20 years, suggest that the Colorado
world have failed to detect UFOs if they are real? Why aren't they seen
program will fall far short of the required level of investigation.
by airline pilots and military pilots? Why aren't they seen by astro-
It is very desirable that some program be set up entirely divorced from
nauts in orbit? Why aren't UFOs seen occasionally by large crowds of
Air Force affiliation, a conclusion underscored by recent developments
people rather than by single witnesses? To these and related questions
at Colorado.
there exist some quite good answers and some possibly relevant specula-
5) I have just returned from a visit to Canada where I discussed
tive answers; to others of those questions, there exist no satisfactory
international scientific aspects of the UFO problem before the Canadian
answers, to date.
Aeronautics and Space Institute at their March 11-12 Montreal meetings.
9) The first need in accelerating UFO research is for many more
I emphasized the likelihood that UFO investigatory programs in countries
scientists and engineers to review carefully and critically the existing
other than the U.S. may have distinctly better chances of making rapid
evidence in order to design new sensors. [Electromagnetic effects
scientific progress towards clarification of the UFO question by virtue
accompanying UFO sightings offer real promise herein. Also, it is
of the fact that they' not be fighting uphill against the kind of think-
urgently important to exploit already existing radar networks. Data
ing that USAF handling of the problem has engendered here. An encourag-
from the latter networks should be brought under scientific scrutiny to
ing new UFO investigation is, in fact, now being organized within the
search for systematic patterns of UFO appearances and movements.
Institute for Aerospace Studies of the University of Toronto. I had an
Present anecdotal data, plus fortuitously revealed radar data, are
opportunity to confer with scientists beginning that study, on March 13.
inadequate to define such patterns accurately (due to the ridicule-lid
Quite recently, indications of a similar study being developed in France
effect acting as a non-random filter). Following design of sensor-
have appeared. The Russian position remains unclear. There are indica-
networks specifically planned for UFO detection, a host of other inves-
tions that a new level of official attention to UFO reports is appearing
tigations would naturally follow, as I have remarked in other contexts.
in other countries, but hard information thereon is still scant.
A few specific examples of the latter will be cited.
6) The types of UFO reports that are most intriguing, and point
10) As a low-cost, minimal-level precursor to such efforts to
most directly to an extraterrestrial hypothesis, are close-range sight-
attain instrumental monitoring of UFOs, it is urged that various
ings of machine-like objects of unconventional nature and unconventional
organizations and agencies take steps to establish exploratory UFO
performance characteristics, seen at low altitudes, and sometimes even
study programs, even if these involve only two or three scientists
on the ground. The general public is entirely unaware of the large
per organization. Any aerospace organization or agency that is
number of such reports that are coming from credible witnesses, because
interested in organizing such a small internal study can secure initial
ridicule and scoffing have made most witnesses reluctant to report
bibliography-assistance, etc., by getting in touch with me. The imme-
openly such unusual incidents. When one starts searching for such cases,
diate need is to establish a broader base of scientific recognition of
their numbers are quite astonishing. Also, such sightings appear to be
the astonishing nature of the existing UFO evidence. Scientific scoff-
occurring all over the globe, possibly with increasing frequency in the
ing at UFOs has gone on long enough. Serious attention is long overdue.
past year (an inference based on uncertain data because the "ridicule
AIAA could perform a very useful role in stimulating new and vigorous
lid" seems to be lifting of late, and this may simply be bringing a
examination of this intriguing, yet neglected scientific problem.
larger fraction of such incidents to light). Examples will be presented.
(I am encouraged to learn that AIAA has, in fact, recently formed a
7) Suggestions that such observations can be explained away in
UFO Subcommittee and am in touch with it.) Although only a percentually
terms of meteorological optics (Menzel's principal thesis) or in terms
small number of scientists yet realize it, the past 20 years of yawning
of atmospheric plasmas (Klass' principal thesis) cannot be supported with
neglect of the UFO problem has become a scientific scandal, albeit still
cogent scientific arguments. The recently-published book by Klass ("UFOs
well-hidden. The sooner we take a serious new stance and confront the
- Identified") is filled with erroneous conceptions and with qualitative
UFO question with adequate scientific talent and manpower, the less
arguments that fall apart on assessing them in quantitative terms.
embarrassing will be the ultimate admission that we have, for two
Examples will be presented.
decades, been overlooking a problem of potentially enormous scientific
importance to all mankind.
8) Many obvious questions and challenges can be, and must be,
raised against the extraterrestrial hypothesis: How sure can we be that
SEE OVER
SOME UFO REFERENCES
Because persons seeking to familiarize themselves with some of the
basic aspects of the UFO problem often ask for a list of UFO references,
the following list has been assembled. It is certainly not exhaustive;
but it cites a number of the more useful and some of the more contro-
versial references. Inclusion here does not at all imply endorsement
also there are good sources not here listed, for space reasons. -
J. E. McDonald
1. THE UFO EVIDENCE, Richard H. Hall, editor. Published by NICAP
(National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1536
Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20036, 184 pp., 1964.
Current price, $5.00. (Available only from NICAP, not via book-
stores.) Still the most useful and significant of all references
on the subject.
2. THE REFERENCE FOR OUTSTANDING UFO REPORTS, edited by Thomas M. Olsen.
UFO Information Retrieval Center, Inc., P.O. Box 57, Riderwood,
Maryland, 21139. Current price, $5.95 (obtainable only from UFOIRC).
3. REPORT ON THE UFO WAVE OF 1947 by Ted Bloecher. Obtainable from
NICAP, $5.00.
4. REPORT ON THE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS by Edward J. Ruppelt.
Ace Books, New York, 318 p., 1956. Paperback, $0.50.
5. FLYING SAUCERS: TOP SECRET by Donald E. Keyhoe. Putnams, New York,
283 pp., 1960. Current price, $3.50.
6. FLYING SAUCERS AND THE U.S. AIR FORCE by Lt. Col. L. J. Tacker.
Van Nostrand, Princeton, N. J., 164 pp., 1960. Current price, $3.95.
7. FLYING SAUCERS by Coral E. Lorenzen. Signet Books, 278 pp., 1966.
Paperback, $0.75.
8. THE WORLD OF FLYING SAUCERS by Donald H. Menzel and Lyle G. Boyd.
Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y., 302 pp., 1963. Current price, $4.50.
9. ANATOMY OF A PHENOMENON by Jacques Vallee. Henry Regnery, Chicago,
210 pp., 1965. Current price, $4.95. Ace paperback, $0.60.
10. INCIDENT AT EXETER by John G. Fuller, Putnams, N.Y., 251 pp., 1965.
Putnam paperback, $0.75.
11. FLYING SAUCERS AND THE STRAIGHT-LINE MYSTERY by Aime Michel.
Criterion Books, N.Y., 285 pp., 1958. Current price, $4.50.
12. UFOs IDENTIFIED by Philip J. Klass. Random House, N.Y., 290 pp.,
1968. Current price, $6.95.
13. FLYING SAUCERS: HOAX OR REALITY? by L. Jerome Stanton. Belmont
Books, N.Y., 157 pp., 1966. Paperback, $0.50.
14. UFO: TOP SECRET by Mort Young. Simon and Schuster, N.Y., 156 pp.,
1967. Paperback, $1.00.
15. FLYING SAUCER READER edited by Jay David. Signet Book, N.Y., 252 pp.,
1967. Paperback, $0.75.
16. FLYING SAUCERS OVER AUSTRALIA by Stephen Holledge. Horwitz Publica-
tions, Sydney, Australia, 130 pp., 1965. Paperback, about $0.75.
17. FLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Donald E. Keyhoe. Henry Holt,
New York, 276 pp., 1953. Out of print.
18. UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS: GREATEST SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM OF OUR TIMES
by J. E. McDonald. UFO Research Institute, Suite 311, 508 Grant St.,
Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219. A reprint of 3 discussions. Paperback, $1.00.
m Ford:
your 1966 efforts to get the UFO problem
clarified appear to have led to only very
slight propress. USAF continues to - d yours E medicals
Note on attached CASI paper:
On March 11-12, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Insti-
tute (CASI) held an Astronautics Symposium in Montreal. The
afternoon session on March 12 was devoted to the UFO problem.
The attached paper, "UFOs - An International Scientific
Problem", is the final version of one of the four presenta-
tions made at the latter session. Another one of the four
was "UFOs - An Atmospheric Electrical Mystery", by Philip J.
Klass of Aviation Week and Space Technology Magazine.
I have used this opportunity to offer an extended critique
of Mr. Klass's position, especially as developed in his recently
published book, "UFOs - Identified".
Some press comments and book reviews convey the impression
that Klass has perhaps now solved the UFO problem. As Time
Magazine puts it in a March 29, 1968, review of Klass' book,
"In this intelligently written and rational
book (a rare phenomenon in UFO literature),
Klass describes the scientific detective
work that led him to decide on the probable
cause of most previously unexplained UFO
sightings. The enigmatic, incandescent
objects, he concludes, are really a family
of atmospheric phenomena that include not
only coronas but ball lightning, St. Elmo's
fire and 'Foo Fighters,' the same luminous
globe that tailed World War II military
aircraft..."
On pp. 18-37 of the attached CASI paper, I present some of
my own quite different views on the soundness of Klass' argu-
ments. I call your attention to that section because it seems
important to have it known that at least one person familiar
with atmospheric physics has examined the Klass book rather
carefully and finds his arguments characterized chiefly by
error, confusion, and unjustified inference.
J. E. McDonald
Institute of Atmospheric Physics
The University of Arizona
UFOs - An International Scientific Problem
James E. McDonald, Institute of Atmospheric Physics,
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
(Presented March 12, 1968, at the Canadian Aeronautics and
Space Institute Astronautics Symposium, Montreal, Canada)
Introduction
At the outset, let me try to summarize concisely the main points of my
position:
1) From my studies of the UFO problem, I conclude that, quite apart from
being the "nonsense problem" it is so often labelled, it appears to be
a matter of extraordinarily great scientific interest.
2) Over twenty years of evidence (admittedly largely, though not solely,
anecdotal in nature) suggests that machine-like objects, products of
some technology rather than atmospheric optical or electrical anoma-
lies, have been repeatedly seen - often by observers of very high
credibility. I favor an extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs.
3)
A search for patterns in these observations discloses one major feature
- the seemingly global scale on which the observations are coming in.
Hence we appear to be confronting here an international scientific
problem.
4) There has never been a scientific investigation of the UFOs that can
be termed thorough-going. Repeated assurances that U. S. Air Force
Project Bluebook has been doing a careful study utilizing the best
scientific talent available to the U. S. Air Force are found, on care-
ful checking, to be without basis in fact. No other country of the
world appears to have undertaken even as much investigation as the
U. S. has done via Project Bluebook. Thus the UFO problem has not
received anything that can be called scientifically adequate study.
5) I do not see convincing evidence of any U.S. cover-up conspiracy oper-
ating to conceal the true nature of the UFO problem; rather I see sub-
stantial and dismaying evidence pointing to failure to do more than
superficial investigation, employing only very limited scientific
talent, and exhibiting (especially since 1953) strong negative bias
towards "explaining away" the UFO problem on the part of the U. S.
Air Force. It is my strong impression that Air Force officials and
public information officers sincerely believe that the UFO problem is
a nonsense problem, one involving nothing more than misidentified
natural phenomena.
6) The present Condon Committee at the University of Colorado, sponsored
by the U. S. Air Force, is charged with trying to clarify the nature
of the UFOs. I must state that I have become quite disappointed with
the lack of scientific vigor with which that group has prosecuted its
study, and I am disturbed by the frequency with which its Director has
publicly indicated that he had already taken a position (negative in
tone) long before the working staff had assembled adequate data to
justify taking any position. I must also express my inability to
understand the Director's evident preoccupation with the cultist and
crackpot type of UFO accounts which, in my own experience, are quite
easily filtered out and ignored. I have elaborated these criticisms
in communications to Dr. Condon quite recently.
7)
I would urge that scientific groups in countries other than the United
States immediately undertake careful reviews of UFO reports from their
2
own areas and systematic appraisals of a spectrum of conceivable
hypotheses to account for the UFO phenomena. It seems quite pos-
sible that a group outside the United States, entirely free of the
obstacles one encounters within the U.S. as a result of twenty years'
officially negative attitude towards the UFO problem, might rapidly
make very real progress towards clarifying the scientific issues at
stake, given adequate scientific personnel and support. The UFO
study program now developing at the University of Toronto's Institute
for Aerospace Studies, here in Canada, is a laudable step towards
solution of the UFO problem. More such groups in other parts of the
world are needed.
Matters of Definition
It would seem logically necessary to frame, early in any discussion of
the "UFO problem" a working definition of what shall be understood by "an
Unidentified Flying Object." The effort quickly entangles one in semantic
difficulties of a more or less obvious nature. Clearly, untrained observers
can report as a UFO a wide range of things seen in the sky or moving near the
earth's surface or even resting on the surface in un-flying manner. Fireballs
(meteors brighter than -5 magnitude by present astronomical definition) consti-
tute a good example; many persons are quite unfamiliar with the phenomenology
of fireballs and bolides, and will turn in sincere and often rather accurate
descriptions of fireballs under the claimed heading of UFOs. Aircraft running
lights, aircraft landing lights, aerial reconnaissance strobe lights, re-enter-
ing satellite debris, bright planets, and a wide miscellany of other sources
of night-luminous objects are reported from time to time as "UFOs". The U.S.
Air Force, and various persons who scoff at the notion that there exists a
scientifically significant UFO problem, are entirely correct in suggesting
that many UFO reports fall into this category. Only a little experience in
querying observers makes clear that, of all reports that temporarily bear the
label "UFO", a substantial fraction are, indeed, misidentified natural or
technological phenomena of such types. There is plenty of noise mixed in with
whatever real signal may exist; that this is so need not surprise any scien-
tist. Noise-filtering is a standard problem in many areas of research.
The "UFO problem" which I have come to regard as SO extremely important,
centers around that portion of all reports of initially unidentified objects
which is left as a residuum after the bulk of inadequately reported or
obviously misidentified phenomena is filtered out. Only a little reflection
on the foregoing remarks reveals that it is scarcely a clear-cut definition.
Nevertheless, it may afford an initial basis to begin discussion.
A curiously similar definitional problem arises in dealing with the class
of "ball lightning" reports. In the literature one can find reports of lumi-
nous masses, tagged as "ball lightning", that span so broad a range of phenom-
ena that one must be quite careful that he is not subsuming many diverse phe-
nomena under that single heading. The situation with respect to "ball light-
ning" turns out to be similar to that for "UFOs" in the further significant
sense that the basic nature of each phenomenon is not yet clearly understood,
so that clear-cut working definitions are simply not yet possible. Such a
situation is really not new in science; think of the semantic ambiguity, in
earlier days of science, centering around such terms as atom, compound, force,
species, ether, disease, meteor, etc.
In point of fact, the above definitional problems cause rather less
trouble in scientific discourse on the UFO problem than a philosopher might
predict. So let's proceed.
Matters of UFO History
Although I would probably be incorrect to assume that all CASI members
are thoroughly familiar with the history of the past twenty years of the UFO
problem, I do not choose to elaborate that history here in great detail. Much
3
of my own view of that history has been summarized in a form now available
elsewhere¹. It appears to me that, following an initial flurry of official
USAF concern that American UFO observations of 1947 might be hostile aero-
nautical devices², an era of puzzled investigation (generally devoid of solid
scientific talent) ensued in the period 1948-52, the era of USAF Project Sign
and Project Grudge. I have studied many of the 243 cases finally analyzed by
and reported by Project Grudge and can only say that, even in that earliest
phase of official investigation, it is startling to see how little scientific
insight was brought to bear on reports of a frequently very intriguing nature.
In 1952, a brief year's energetic investigation (still not characterized
by strong scientific expertise, but definitely characterized by vigorous Air
Force checking and data-gathering in many striking cases) was the high-water
mark of the official American UFO studies. The year 1952 saw about 1500
reports turned into Project Bluebook, some 300 of which were conceded to be
Unidentifieds. When I visited Bluebook in 1966 for the first time, I was
quite astonished at the number of feet of files on 1952 cases - and much more
astonished to scan the contents of randomly sampled file-folders within that
year's shelfful. Case after case of, to me, entirely inexplicable cases, many
coming from within Air Force channels (pilots, controllers, ground crewmen,
etc.) told the story of the outstanding year in American UFO history.
The wave of 1952 reports drew strong press attention, above all after
Washington, D. C., became the site of two successive nights (July 19 and 26)
of radar-visual sightings of Unknowns. (These were explained away in a big
press conference on July 29 as due to anomalous radar propagation and optical
refraction anomalies. (See below.) By late 1952, intelligence organizations
became concerned over the UFO problem, evidently because of overloading of
reporting and investigative channels with the large numbers of reports being
fed to the Air Force by all sources. In January of 1953, the Robertson Panel,
assembled by the CIA, met and ruled that there was neither evidence of hostil-
ity nor evidence of scientific significance in all those reports (of which
that Panel reviewed, in its few days of activity, only about two dozen, and
even those not by any means the most startling or significant then in USAF
files). All of this I have discussed in enough detail previously¹ that I
must gloss over many further points of great historical interest.
I have studied the final report of the Robertson Panel (in briefly
declassified status prior to the CIA's reclassifying it in the summer of 1966).
From repeated reexamination of the details of the UFO history and from personal
discussions with four of the persons present during the Robertson Panel's acti-
vities, I form the impression of a brief but futile attempt to look for some-
thing of interest, followed by CIA's request that the Air Force adopt a policy
of "debunking flying saucers" to "decrease public interest". After 1953, no
further vigorous Bluebook UFO investigation program ever reappeared. The UFO
problem went steadily downhill, its priority status at WPAFB steadily declined,
and in 1966, when I visited Bluebook three times, its staff consisted of a
major, a sergeant, and a secretary, plus a lieutenant then being broken in for
future investigative duty. The total amount of scientific talent visibly
focussed on UFOs via the staff and its consulting pool appeared to me to be
grossly out of proportion to the embarrassment being created for the Air Force
by a continuing series of absurd and scientifically outrageous "explanations"
of individual UFO reports.
For further insights and facts concerning the past twenty years' history
of UFO matters see Hall³, Stanton⁴, Young⁵. For information on many cases in
the Air Force files prior to about 1953, and for what appears to me (on the
basis of many independent checks) to be generally rather reliable history of
Air Force handling of the problem prior to 1953, see Ruppelt⁶. For the view-
points of a UFO investigator operating through those years, but outside of
4
official channels, see the several books of Keyhoe⁷. When the full history of
the UFO problem is written, Keyhoe's efforts, from 1949 to the present, to get
the UFO problem out into the light of open scientific investigation, will, I
believe, be acknowledged as having been of great significance, despite the
slowness with which his efforts (and similar efforts of others) have borne
fruit. His role as Director of NICAP (National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena) has been seriously misunderstood by USAF personnel who,
failing to recognize the utter inadequacies of their own UFO investigations,
mistook his criticisms and his efforts to press for Congressional investiga-
tions as ill-conceived. I believe they were all too soundly conceived; but
they pressed against massive resistance based on what seem to be generally
honest misconceptions on the part of misinformed officials. Or so I see it at
present.
I elaborate these viewpoints here because I have devoted a good deal of
study in arriving at those viewpoints and because I believe that the misinfor-
mation generated within American information channels by the illusion that
Project Bluebook was a scientific operation has diffused outside our national
boundaries and has misled officials, scientists, and members of the public
throughout the world. International scientific progress on the UFO problem
will not begin until that misinformation is clearly recognized.
The alternative historical interpretation which holds that there has
existed a conspiracy to conceal the truth about the UFO problem, a conspiracy
sometimes painted-in on a canvas of international scale, does not square with
such facts as I have been able to glean. I am, to be sure, puzzled by the
sometimes startling similarity between "explanations" for UFOs emanating from
foreign official channels (often foreign air forces) and "explanations" of the
type so painfully familiar in USAF press releases following widely-publicized
UFO cases. But I ascribe this similarity to factors other than a highly
effective international conspiracy to which the USSR, the US, the UK, France,
Australia, Canada, and many other countries would have to be party! Stanton
has some pithy remarks on the conspiracy theory. Young⁵, by contrast, does
feel there exists some American coverup at high levels; I would be prepared to
defend my alternative of the "grand foulup" hypothesis against every instance
he cites in defense of his "grand coverup" hypothesis. But I do not wish to
have that assurance equated to categorical rejection of the "grand coverup"
hypothesis. New facts or new interpretations of the many old facts I have
pondered could still change my views on this issue. I would reiterate a point
made earlier¹: I suspect that some of those who have so long insisted the
conspiracy theory have not been in a position to recognize clearly how scien-
tifically inadequate the Bluebook work has been since 1953; they may have con-
fused incompetence with inscrutability.
Scientifically, what's sorely needed is a number of entirely fresh starts,
free from all pressures of governmental bodies that have taken an established
position. This may be better achieved in countries other than the United
States because of twenty years of Air Force assurances that there's really
nothing to all the talk about UFOs, nothing of any scientific or technological
significance. That view is dominant in Washington, in higher scientific
circles, and among most of the elder statesmen of science in the U. S. I can
speak with a good deal of authority on that point! Months of effort on my own
part to generate some new scientific UFO research on an adequate national
scale, with adequate science-agency support, seem to have generated only very
slight response. In Washington "everybody knows the UFOs are a lot of non-
sense"; and if they do admit to marginal doubt, they then insist on the pro-
priety of waiting for Condon's report from Colorado, due at the end of 1968
if plans go forward as now set. My own doubts about the propriety of "waiting
for Colorado" have recently been expressed elsewhere⁸, so need not be
reiterated here.
5
Some Illustrative UFO Reports
One of the conclusions one must draw from studying UFO reports from all
parts of the world is that there is an essential similarity in the types of
unexplained phenomena reported from all parts of the globe. Discs and cigar-
shaped objects dominate; nighttime observations are most common; and highly
unconventional performance characteristics are described by observers in
widely varying geographical areas, and by observers of quite diverse cultural
backgrounds (primitive groups as well as more advanced groups). To bring out
certain of these points, a small number of specific cases will be briefly
summarized next.
Case 1. BOAC Stratocruiser, Seven Islands, Quebec, June 29, 1954
A famous case in UFO annals that has an appropriately international
flavor occurred near sunset on June 29, 1954, over eastern Canada, when crew
and passengers of a British Overseas Airways Corp. Stratocruiser, outbound
from New York to London, observed, for a total period of 18 minutes (about
90 miles of flight path) one large object and five or six smaller objects
somewhat north of Seven Islands. The UFOs were sighted just aft of the port
wing, at a very roughly estimated distance of 5-6 miles, maneuvering in uncon-
ventional manner. Capt. James Howard, the pilot, stated, after landing in
London⁹,
"
they were obviously not aircraft as we know them. All appeared
black and I will swear they were solid There was a big central object that
appeared to keep changing shape The six smaller objects dodged about either
in front or behind.' When interviewed by USAF intelligence personnel at
Goose Bay, Labrador, it was established that all of the crew had participated
in the sighting, as did a number of passengers, a total of over 20 witnesses.
A fighter plane scrambled from Goose Bay at Howard's request. Just before it
reached their area, the UFOs rapidly moved out of sight towards the northwest.
The group of UFOs maintained relatively constant position, relative to
the airliner, until their departure, and lay approximately five degrees to
left of the just-setting sun. No meteorological-optical phenomenon (assuredly
not a sundog) could reasonably account for the reported phenomena. The Strato-
cruiser was cruising at about 240 knots at 19,000 ft on the southwest edge of
a high-pressure center over Labrador, scarcely meteorological conditions
favorable to ball lightning or any other electrical disturbances; and visi-
bility was described by Capt. Howard as "perfect." " To suggest that a natural
plasmoid of any sort could keep pace with an aircraft at 240 kts for 18 minutes
and 90 miles seems entirely unreasonable on a number of grounds. The speed and
motions categorically rule out meteors. The peculiar maneuvering of the
smaller objects and the curious shape-changes of the larger object suggest no
conventional explanation. It was First Officer Lee Boyd's impression that the
smaller ones merged into the larger prior to departure, again defying obvious
explanation.
At that time, Howard had 7500 flying hours; he is still flying with BOAC.
In a recent interview, he corroborated details of the 1954 press accounts and
even added interesting additional points. The distance of the objects pre-
cluded seeing any structural details, if any had been present; it is the per-
formance characteristics and the pronounced shape-changes that mark this well-
authenticated sighting as a puzzling UFO case for which no adequate explanation
has ever been proposed, to my knowledge.
Case 2. Cressy, Tasmania, October 4, 1960
A half-dozen years after Case 1, and halfway around the globe from Quebec,
a well-documented sighting bearing a certain resemblance to it (a number of
6
small objects around a larger one), was made by two reliable witnesses.
Rev. Lionel B. Browning, an Anglican clergyman, was admiring a rainbow as
he and his wife looked out a window of the Cressy, Tasmania, rectory. It
was 6:10 p.m., the sun was just setting in the west. A curtain of rain con-
cealed Ben Lomond ridge off to their east and extended through the southeast
and to their south. Mrs. Browning suddenly called Rev. Browning's attention
to what they both first interpreted as a large aircraft emerging from a rain-
curtain nearly due east. Although the Brownings never felt entirely sure of
the range of this object, they estimated it at perhaps 3 miles, since the
object seemed to be over an estate known to be at that distance. Their first
guess that it was an aircraft was next modified to an aircraft stalling, since
the speed of the object, crudely scaled from the subjective size-and-distance
estimates, seemed to be not much over 50-60 mph.
I had an opportunity to interview Rev. Browning last summer and verified
contemporary press accounts¹⁰. He and Mrs. Browning quickly noted that the
cigar-shaped object seemed to lack wings, had several vertical bands or
ridges on its gray-colored surface, and some odd protuberance on its "forward"
end. They watched it glide northward for about a minute before it suddenly
stopped in mid-air and hovered over the ground at an altitude they very roughly
guessed at 400-500 feet. Then, from out of the rainclouds farther east, there
came about a half-dozen much smaller objects, of perceptibly discoid form, the
Brownings stated. These smaller discs moved much faster than the larger cigar-
shaped object, at speeds that Rev. Browning stated to me might have approached
jet-aircraft speed. He stressed that these smaller objects "skipped like
stones on water", a phraseology that I learned from associates of Rev. Browning
did not originate from any previous study of UFO reports, since, prior to that
October, 1960 sighting, Rev. Browning not only ignored UFO reports but took a
very negative view of the authenticity of most such reports.
The Brownings next saw the discs seem to take up a "formation" around the
cigar-shaped object, which had been hovering motionless during the approach
and formation of the smaller objects (whose diameter the Brownings guessed at
perhaps some tens of feet, in contrast to the perhaps tenfold larger length
of the cigar-shaped object). Then, the entire assemblage started moving
towards the south, back into the rainshower out of which the large object had
first been seen emerging, whence the group was lost from sight, terminating
the observation after a total elapsed time estimated by the witnesses as about
two minutes, perhaps as long as three minutes.
These objects were illuminated by the setting sun, and Rev. Browning
emphasized to me that there was a distinct difference in tone between the dull
gray of the larger object and the shiny, metallic luster of the smaller disc-
like objects.
The Brownings, after a brief discussion of this event (which by then they
construed as "some Russian devices"), called the nearby airdrome to report it,
which ultimately brought it to the attention of the RAAF. I have recently had
a letter from the RAAF officer who did the interrogation of the Brownings.
Wg. Cmdr. G. L. Waller states in his communication that the Brownings "im-
pressed me as being mature, stable, and mentally alert individuals who had no
cause or desire to see objects in the sky other than objects of definite form
and substance." That impression is attested to by many others who know the
Brownings personally, as I established by direct queries in Hobart and
Melbourne last year.
My questions as to the ultimate public explanation which the RAAF put on
the sighting elicited somewhat bitter comment from Rev. Browning, comment that
I later found elaborated in press clippings made available to me by the
7
officers of a very creditable private UFO group in Melbourne (Victorian
Flying Saucer Research Society). The Directorate of Air Force Intelligence,
RAAF, made official explanation early in 1961: "The phenomena was the result
of the moonrise associated with meteorological conditions at the time of the
sighting. On 4th October, 1960, moonrise (full quarter) at Cressy would have
been visible shortly after 1800 hours and in an ESE direction. The objects
apparently seen were near the sky-line in an easterly direction. The presence
of "scud" type clouds, moving in varying directions due to turbulence in and
around the rain squall near which the objects were sighted, and the position
of the moon or its reflections, produced the impression of flying objects.'
Such an "explanation" has a curiously familiar ring to anyone who has
studied large numbers of USAF "explanations" of UFO sightings. One can
quickly establish that the moon was full on the date of the Cressy sighting
and that it would have risen not in the ESE but a few degrees north of east.
And, still worse for the official explanation, there was not only a dense
rain storm obscuring all the eastern sky as seen from the Cressy rectory,
but the highest mountain range of Tasmania lay behind those dense clouds to
further obscure the just-rising full moon. (Ben Lomond, summit 6160 ft,
lies to ENE of Cressy, and the ridges extend off to south and north from that
summit point.) From my own viewpoint, as one interested in atmospheric
optics and in unusual refractive and reflective anomalies, the official sug-
gestion that "scud" subject to turbulent motions could (had the moon not been
wholly obscured by rain and mountain) be optically distorted into anything
remotely resembling the phenomena reported by the Brownings seems entirely
out of question. (Because USAF explanations have many times asserted, as
has also Dr. D. H. Menzel in his writings on UFOs¹¹, that the sun and the moon
can be "reflected" off sides or tops of clouds, it may be well to state that
nothing in decades of meteorological optical observations supports such a
notion, save for the phenomenon of the "undersun", which involves specular
reflection off tabular ice crystals falling in completely non-turbulent air,
and visible only from an aircraft or elevated vantage point. Sun and moon
do not yield anything like distinct images by reflection off the walls of
clouds; all UFO explanations invoking such optical absurdities are unreason-
able. It might be added that Menzel has repeatedly erred in referring to
sundogs, i.e., parhelia, as resulting from "reflection", since that familiar
optical effect is caused by ice-crystal refraction.) In asserting such a
meteorological explanation as was issued by the RAAF intelligence office,
little evidence of scientific knowledge was exhibited, unless that office
felt that the essential features of the Brownings' account had to be simply
disregarded as unreliable. Yet the interrogating RAAF officer, Wg. Cdr.
Waller, evidently had no such inclination to disregard these witnesses'
description of their observations, nor do I.
Case 3. Fukuoka, Japan, October 15, 1948
From Air Force Project Bluebook files comes the material summarized here
for this officially UNIDENTIFIED case involving airborne-radar and air-visual
observation of an unconventional "bullet-shaped" object. At 11:05 p.m. LST,
a USAF F-61 Black Widow fighter, with crew of pilot and radar observer, fly-
ing near Fukuoka, obtained a radar pickup on an unknown target at an altitude
of around 6000 ft, and an initial range of about 10 miles. The total encounter,
occupying a period of about ten minutes, is too complex to describe in full
detail here. The Bluebook file on it, about a quarter-inch thick, contains a
number of different intelligence reports that are not mutually compatible on
certain quantitative details (closure distances, etc.). Briefly, a total of
six radar passes were made, and each time the F-61 closed to about 4000 yards,
whereupon the unknown accelerated suddenly from about 200 mph to an estimated
1200 mph. The original report from Far East Air Forces intelligence sources
8
states that the unknown "had a high rate of acceleration and could go almost
straight up or down out of radar elevation limits There was sufficient moon-
light to permit a silhouette to be discerned although no details were
observed. The F-61 crew thought it possible that the six passes might have
been made on two separate unknowns, but this was inferential.
Another portion of the official file includes a FEAF followup report,
describing some other points: "When the F-61 approached within 12,000 ft the
target executed a 180° turn and dived under the F-61. The F-61 attempted to
dive with the target but was unable to keep pace
It
is
believed
that
the
object was not lost from the scope due to normal skip null-zones common to
all radar equipment. The pilot and observer feel that it was the high rate
of speed of the object which enabled it to disappear so rapidly.' And still
another document in the Bluebook file on this UNIDENTIFIED describes the
visual sighting made at one juncture: "At time of only visual sighting tar-
get was on a level with observing aircraft. Under night visibility all that
was visible was a silhouette. Type of tail stabilizers is unknown. General
classification - very short body giving a stubby appearance. Canopy, if
present, was formed into aircraft body to give the object cleancut lines and
was not discernible." The estimated size was 20-30 feet, and an accompanying
sketch shows it as having a sharply cut-off tail ("bullet-shaped"). No
exhaust was seen. The moon was nearly full on that night, and the airmen saw
the outline against a moonlit cloud, they stated in their report. USAF ground-
radar stations at Shigamo-Shima and Fukae-Shima had the F-61 on their scopes
intermittently as it moved in and out of ground clutter, but at no times
obtained a radar-return from the unknown.
Ruppelt⁶ states that the Fukuoka sighting was one of the first UFO cases
where an UNIDENTIFIED was seen on a radarscope; but many have since attained
that distinction. Indeed, when one reads the full text of the 1953 Robertson
Panel, one of the arresting points is the evident concern with the large
number of "radar fast-tracks" already on record by that date. Despite the
existence in USAF records of a number of UNIDENTIFIEDS seen on radar (often
with both airborne and ground radar and sometimes also with ground- and air-
visual sightings in accord), members of a Congressional Armed Services Com-
mittee investigation, inquiring into the UFO problem after the 1966 Michigan
"swamp gas" episode, were told on April 5, 1966, by the USAF Bluebook officer,
"We have no radar cases which are unexplained", when Congressman Schweiker
raised that pertinent question. Dr. J. A. Hynek, Air Force scientific con-
sultant for then 18 years, present in the hearing-room, did not correct this
misinformation given to concerned Congressional inquirers.
Case 4. Gulf of Mexico, December 6, 1952
Just to cite briefly another example of a radar-visual sighting in the
official UNIDENTIFIED category, one might mention the December 6, 1952 air-
borne sighting by the crew of an Air Force B-29 flying over the Gulf of
Mexico at 18000 ft in bright moonlight. (See 7 for further details.) A
total of over a half-dozen separate unknowns, seen on the B-29 radarscopes
and by crewmen watching out side-blisters, passed at high speed (some speeds
roughly estimated at 5000 mph from blip displacements). Some of them were
seen below the flight altitude, and others maneuvered in most unconventional
patterns (sudden course-reversals). No meteor explanation would fit the
visual sightings, and ground-return effects are essentially out of the ques-
tion by virtue of the high altitude and by the features of the atmospheric
lapse rate at the time and area of the unusual sighting. It remains an
UNIDENTIFIED in USAF files.
9
Case 5. Washington National Airport, July 19 and 26, 1952
Many more Bluebook file reports that are in the "explained" category
also involve radar-tracking of intriguing nature, but have been tagged with
a variety of other identifications. One of the msot famous is the 1952 epi-
sode near Washington National Airport (July 19 and 26, 1952). I shall not
give an account of it here (see for example Hall or Ruppelt or Ref. 1), but
only remark that my own analysis of the radiosonde data for those two nights
leads me to diametrically opposite conclusions from those that have remained
the official views for fifteen years. There were only very weak inversions
and moisture gradients present on those nights, incapable of causing the
striking radar and visual effects reliably reported. I have recently inter-
viewed five of the CAA controllers and four pilots involved in that sighting
and can only say that it is a case of extremely great interest - fully deserv-
ing the national-headline treatment it got in 1952.
Further measure of the limited knowledge of the actual history of UFO
investigations held by the USAF personnel charged with UFO responsibilities
can be found in the same April 5, 1966 testimony previously cited. (See
H.D. 55, Hearing by Committee on Armed Services, HR, 89th Congress, 2d
Session, 4/5/66, p. 6075). Congressman Stratton asked Bluebook Officer
Quintanilla: "Was there not a sighting, back it seems to me in 1947, when
an object was observed on radar, either at National Airport or Bolling, both
coming in and going out? It seems to me there was also a visual sighting
that went along with that Is this in your records at all?" Now, almost
anyone who had attempted a serious study of UFO history would immediately
recognize that Mr. Stratton, albeit confused about his recollected details,
was asking of the famous Washington National sightings of July, 1952. Yet
the incumbent Bluebook officer replied, "I am sure that if the sighting was
reported to the Air Force it is on record, but I am not aware of this parti-
cular one, sir." Dr. Hynek did not offer correction, if he was aware that
correction was needed.
Some months later, after I had been at Project Bluebook, studied their
file on this important case, recomputed the refractive-index gradients to
assess the Air Force claims that anomalous propagation effects caused the
radar returns (numerous objects moving with variable speeds, high acceler-
ations) and weighed official claims that optical refraction anomalies caused
the visual reports (mainly from pilots flying well above the weak ground-
inversion and sighting some of the objects maneuvering even above their
flight altitudes), I asked Air Force consultant Hynek how he could have per-
mitted those incorrect radar "explanations" to be passed on to press, public,
and Congress for all these years. His reply was in the form of a question:
"How could I set myself up against all those radar experts from Washington?"
This led me to comment that it should have taken him only about one or two
weeks of study of standard radar-propagation references to become fully con-
versant with all relevant radar details, and that homework ought to have been
done by him twenty years ago, in view of his UFO consulting obligations. It
is, I fear, such casual failure to really close with the puzzling nature of
the UFO problem that has left it in limbo for twenty years. And all of that
time, Pentagon press statements gave repeated assurances that real expertise
was at work proving the correctness of the Air Force position as to misiden-
tified natural phenomena. It is a very distressing and a very unbelievable
story, which is only faintly hinted by the brief remarks that can be made
here. But from the point of view of deserved international scientific atten-
tion to the UFO problem, candid criticisms of the USAF handling of this
problem seems necessary to make clear that there has never been any in-depth
UFO study within the U. S. Hence, I now wish to put myself on record once
again as characterizing most of the past 15 years of Bluebook work as
1C
scientifically incompetent and superficial. Yet it has done the trick: it
has kept all of us unconcerned about the UFO problem.
Conspiracy? No, not as I see it. Foulup.
Case 6. Near Barcelona, Spain, September 10, 1967
Over the past twenty years, airline pilots and flight crews have been
a continuing source of scientifically puzzling UFO reports. One of the
earliest, still carried by Bluebook as one of its UNIDENTIFIEDS, is a
July 4, 1947 UAL sighting near Boise². When some months ago I interviewed
Capt. E. J. Smith, pilot of the DC-3 from which the sighting was made at
sunset, shortly after takeoff, his opinion that the two formations of disc-
like objects that he, his co-pilot, and a stewardess had seen 20 years
earlier were no conventional aircraft seemed as strong as it had been when
he was interviewed by reporters in 1947. From Capt. Smith's sighting down
to the present, the class of airline-pilot reports has remained a most impor-
tant class because of obvious observer-credibility factors. Let me recapitu-
late a much more recent one.
Just before sunset on September 10, 1967, four crew members of an Air
Ferry Ltd. DC-6, bound for England from Majorca, sighted an unconventional
airborne object about 60 miles NW of Barcelona, at 16,000 ft. A brief report
appeared in the Sept. 11 edition of the London Daily Express, independent
British investigators assembled further information, and one of the crew,
F/L Brian Dunlop, submitted a summary account to VFON headquarters (Volunteer
Flight Officers Network, a clearing-house in Denver for meteor, vehicle-
reentry, and other aerial-sighting reports).
When first sighted, according to Dunlop, the unknown was about 30° to
the left of their northbound flight path, heading towards the west at an
altitude slightly above theirs. Its initial estimated distance was put at
a number of tens of miles as it crossed to their right, turned towards them,
and then approached after an apparent deceleration and a descending motion.
The shape of the metallic-appearing object resembled an inverted ice cream
cone, with a rounded base and pointed top. Dunlop stated, "There was a
definite solid object the like of which none of the four crew that saw it had
ever seen before, and we had been quick enough we could have got a good photo
of it." Capt. F. E. C. Underhill stated in another interview that the UFO
"must
have
been
under
control
it definitely altered course substantially."
The course alteration brought it on a head-on approach, but it passed under
the DC-6's starboard wing and disappeared to their south. The crew did not
alert any of the 96 passengers aboard in the total viewing time of about
2-3 minutes, not wishing to alarm them. Estimated speed of the object was
600-700 knots, whereas the ambient wind at flight level was only 10 knots
from the north. A check with Barcelona flight controllers indicated there
were no known aircraft in the area, but reports do not indicate if radar cover-
age was available.
The shape, the veering path, the passage under the aircraft's flight level
all rule out meteoric phenomena. That it was not a balloon was indicated not
only by the shape, but its reported motions do not match balloon behavior in
any obvious way. It would seem to be one more airline-reported unidentified
flying object.
Case 7. Peruvian coast, December 30, 1966
South America has been a source of extremely large numbers of UFO reports.
I have never been in a good position to evaluate the credibility and creden-
tials of witnesses in these reports and hence pass no present judgment on most
of them, but stress that they warrant searching study. One rather interesting
11
case that has been cross-checked sufficiently to appear well authenticated
involves observations by the 6-man flight-crew of a Canadian-Pacific Airlines
DC-8, who sighted an unconventionally behaving airborne object over the Peru-
vian coast as they headed northwest at 35,000 ft altitude on the indicated
date early in the morning (0300 LST). A report to VFON, and other reports in
the press and elsewhere, give salient features of the event.
Capt. Robert Millbank's report stated that the unknown was first spotted
70° to the left of their flight path, at an estimated elevation angle of about
10°. There was a clear sky, with stars visible. At first detection, the
unknown seemed to consist of a pair of lights of high luminosity, hovering for
perhaps a minute, and pulsating. It next moved down towards the plane, and
assumed a position off their left wing, seeming to pace the DC-8 for another
minute or two.
All six crewmen took turns looking at the unknown through various windows
to be positive that window-reflection effects were not involved. As the
unknown paced the aircraft, it appeared to be a pair of bright lights, sepa-
rated by 3-4°, and with some vaguely perceptible structure joining the lights,
according to some of the crew's accounts. Others felt that no interconnecting
structure was discernible, in the estimated 1-2 minutes that the object lay
off the port wing (at a distance that could not be reliably estimated, but was
felt to be of the order of perhaps a mile). A V-shaped pair of thin light
beams emanated from the object, pointing upwards initially, but downwards
later, according to Millbank's account. All passengers were asleep, and no
photographs were made.
Millbank stated that "in 26 years of flying I have never seen anything
like this before." Second Officer J. D. Dahl said, " in my opinion, the
only answer to this sighting is a craft with speed and controllability unknown
to us." Other sighting details will be omitted here. After a few minutes of
pacing to the DC-8's port side, the object was seen to accelerate, pull away,
and climb rapidly out over the Pacific to the west, where it was lost in the
distance.
Here, as in such a disturbingly large number of commercial airline UFO
reports that have been ignored or explained away during the past two decades,
one is hard put to give any conventional explanation. Clearly, unless one
throws out most of the sighting details provided by the six crewmen, it will
be quite unreasonable to call this unknown an aircraft, a balloon, a meteor,
a plasmoid, an hallucination, or any of the other frequently-invoked mis-
identifieds.
Case 8. Corning, California, July 4, 1967
At about 5:15 a.m., PDT, on the morning of July 4, 1967, at least five
witnesses (and reportedly others not yet locatable) saw an object of uncon-
ventional nature moving over Highway 5 on the edge of Corning, California.
Hearing of the event from NICAP, I began searching for the witnesses and
eventually telephone-interviewed four. Press accounts from the Corning Daily
Observer and Oakland Tribune afforded further corroboration.
Jay Munger, operator of an all-night bowling alley, was drinking coffee
with two police officers, James Overton of the Corning force and Frank Rakes
of the Orland force, when Munger suddenly spotted the object out the front
windows of his bowling alley. In a moment all three were outside observing
what they each described as a dark gray oval or disc-shaped object with a
bright light shining upwards on its top and a dimmer light shining downward
from the underside. A dark gray or black band encircled the mid-section of
the object. When first sighted, it lay almost due west, at a distance that
12
they estimated at a quarter of a mile (later substantiated by independent
witnesses viewing it at right angles to the line of sight of the trio at
the bowling alley). It was barely moving, and seemed to be only a few
hundred feet above terrain. The dawn light illuminated the object, but not
so brightly as to obscure the two lights on top and bottom, they stated.
Munger, thinking to get an independent observation from a different part
of Corning, returned almost immediately to telephone his wife; but she never
saw it for reasons of tree-obscuration. At my request, Munger re-enacted the
telephoning process to form a rough estimate of elapsed time. He obtained a
time of 1-1.5 minutes. This time is of interest because, when he completed
the call and rejoined Overton and Rakes, the object had still moved only a
short distance south on Highway 5 (about a quarter of a mile perhaps), but
then quickly accelerated and passed off to the south, going out of their
sight in only about 10 seconds, far to their south.
Many skeptics reasonably enough ask why there are not many good photo-
graphs of UFOs. This is a difficult question to answer; certainly it is true
that when hoax photos or dubious photos are excluded, one seems to have left
a dismayingly small number of good UFO photos after 20 years of UFO sightings.
A factor that may often be involved is that even those witnesses who do have
loaded cameras nearby may not recover from their surprise before the object is
gone. Officer Overton stated to me in my telephone interview that he had
binoculars and a loaded camera in his patrol car, only a few tens of feet from
the parking-lot spot where he stood gazing at the object, yet he was so
stunned by the unprecedented nature of what he was seeing that it never occur-
red to him to run for his camera. Munger's phoning-time check suggests that
this failure to think of his camera lasted over an interval of about a minute
and a half.
Paul Heideman, of Fremont, California, was driving south on Highway 5 at
the time of the above sighting, along with a friend, Robert King. I located
Heideman and obtained from him an account of his observation made from a point
on the highway north of Corning. He saw the light from the object, and had
it in sight for an estimated three minutes, as it headed south, and then
veered east (a turn not seen from the more restricted viewing point of the
bowling-alley parking lot). Heideman said that, when first seen, it lay almost
straight down Highway 5, serving to check the estimate of the other observers
that the object lay only a few city blocks to their west.
The weather was clear, no haze, no wind, according to the witnesses.
Munger's concise comment was, "I've never seen anything like it before." He
estimated its "diameter" at perhaps 50-100 ft, and its vertical thickness as
perhaps 15-20 ft, with some kind of edge (band) perhaps 5-10 ft thick. No
sound was ever heard. Overton stated to me that he had no idea what it was,
but that "there was no doubt it was a craft of some sort."
Here one has a daylight sighting by at least five witnesses from two
viewing points, lasting for many tens of seconds. The object exhibits opacity
plus light-sources. Its motion varies from near-hovering to high speed. It
is seen over an azimuthal range of almost 90° by the three observers who got
the closest look, yet no wings or empennage is seen. What is it? Lack of
sound at as close a range as a quarter-mile and in the quiet of the early
morning in a small town rules out a helicopter; lack of wings rules out a
conventional aircraft. Balloons, meteors, meteorological-optical effects, and
the rest of the constellation of frequently-invoked explanations do not appear
to fit such a sighting. It appears necessary to describe the object as an
unconventional machine-like doject - or reject the witness' testimony. The
scientifically embarrassing point here is that many other such hard-to-explain
observations of machine-like objects are now on record - and being ignored.
13
Case 9. Kansas City, Kansas, August 12, 1961
Another such case, involving very much closer-range observation of a
craft-like object, is to be found in Bluebook files as an UNIDENTIFIED.
(USAF has repeatedly asserted, for 15 years, that in their unidentified
cases lies nothing that defies explanation "in terms of present-day science
and technology." Not so, I am obliged to say. I am making a special study
of Air Force UNIDENTIFIEDS, and would stress that there is a very large body
of phenomenology in those UNIDENTIFIEDS that most certainly defies explana-
tion in terms of today's science or today's technology! Indeed, this is the
principal conclusion of the studies of all serious students of the UFO
problem.)
At about 9:00 p.m. on August 12, 1961, two college-age boys living in
Kansas City, Kansas, became involved in a close-range sighting of considerable
interest¹². I have recently interviewed both of these witnesses, T. A. Phipps
and J. B. Furkenhoff. They were driving towards Furkenhoff's home in Phipps'
open-top convertible near Old Mission High School on 50th Street. Furkenhoff
sighted the object first and had been watching it for some time before he
called it to Phipps' attention. It seemed to be hovering, by that time, at
perhaps 50-100 ft altitude over a point only a few city blocks away. It
appeared to have lights all around its lower edge, and made no sound then or
later.
They drove almost directly under it and looked up at its base, where it
hovered over houses whose residents were evidently unaware of the presence of
the object, since no other persons were seen out of doors by the two boys.
No wings, tail or propellers were visible, and no exhaust or noise was per-
ceptible. The lights around its underside were yellowish and had a neon-glow
character, according to Phipps. It was the complete lack of sound that even-
tually made them uneasy after a total viewing-time that they estimated at
several minutes. They did not get out of the convertible, from which they had
a quite adequate view. Phipps could not recall whether he stopped his engine.
The size was estimated at that of "a football field" when they were
interrogated by USAF personnel in 1961 (Bluebook file account), but when I
interviewed them in early 1968, they put it at more like 100 ft across. It
was opaque, solid, and obscured the sky above, which was cloudless according
to the Bluebook data. The Bluebook file report indicated that its shape was
compared to that of a "sled with running boards", yet neither witness, when
I questioned them, had the slightest idea how such a description was filed by
the interrogating personnel. Their recollections differed as to shape:
Phipps recalled it as disc-shaped, while Furkenhoff recalled it as a rounded
cylinder.
After about 3-4 minutes of observing the silently hovering object, their
uneasiness was broken by the sudden departure of the object. It accelerated
from a stationary position and climbed away out of sight in a time of only a
few seconds, each witness agreed. The precise climb-out path was recalled
somewhat differently by the two witnesses. The 1961 Air Force interview
recorded the climb-out as beginning with a directly vertical ascent followed
by an inclined departure path to the east.
They each told their parents, and Phipps' mother asked a friend who was on
active Air Force duty, a Maj. John Yancer, to phone the Richards-Gebaur AFB
near Kansas City. He was told that an unidentified had been seen on radar,
and so he urged that the boys be interviewed by USAF personnel. Telephone
interviews were accomplished the next day, but no further USAF interrogation
in the ensuing half-dozen years was ever carried out. This, despite the fact
that it was put in the UNIDENTIFIED category at Bluebook. Such lack of
14
followup of even the most intriguing UNIDENTIFIED cases is almost the rule,
not the exception; this systematic failure to pursue UFO reports is only one
of many disturbing facets of the USAF investigations since 1953.
The August 1961 sighting is not readily explained. Economy of expression
suggests calling the object an unconventional machine-like object exhibiting
performance characteristics well beyond the state of the art. I must say it
also seems to defy explanation in terms of present-day science and technology,
to use the Air Force's threadbare phraseology.
Case 10. Moe, Australia, February 15, 1963
To maintain a certain international tone, in keeping with the title of my
remarks, I close with another interesting sighting made in a distant area.
With the aid of the Melbourne VFSRS group, I was able to interview Australian
farmer Charles Brew and his son Trevor last summer. They operate a small dairy
farm east of Melbourne, near Moe, Vic. My interview was carried out in the
milking shed where Brew and his son were working at about 7:00 a.m. on Feb. 15,
1963, when an unusual object swooped down nearby.
It was already light on this summer morning, although rainclouds lay over-
head. Trevor was working in a part of the milking shed where his view of the
eastern sky was obscured and he did not see the object during its short-dura-
tion passage nearby. Charles Brew, however, was standing in an opening, with
a full view to the eastern sky when the object descended towards his shed and
cattle-pens at an angle that he put at about 45°. The object might be loosely
described as a domed disc, estimated by Brew at 25 ft in diameter, gray in
color except for a transparent dome on top. Around the circumference of the
object he saw an array of scoop-like or bucket-like vanes or protuberances.
As the object swooped down, almost as if to land on the hillside nearby,
the cattle and horses reacted in violent panic which Brew described (in his
own terms) as unprecedented. It descended to an altitude that he judged to
be 75-100 feet, as estimated by the height of a tree near its point of minimal
altitude. Then, after seeming to hover near the tree for a few seconds, it
began a climb at roughly 45°, continuing on its westward course and passing up
into the cloud deck again.
The dome was not rotating, but the central section and bottom portion
appeared to be rotating, at about once per second, Brew judged. The spinning
motion caused the protuberances (Brew thought) to generate the swishing noise,
somewhat like a turbine noise, that was clearly audible not only to Brew but
also to Trevor, located inside the shed and not far from a Diesel unit power-
ing the milking machines. The sound was even audible over the latter local
noise-sources, Trevor stated.
It took some time to recover the animals that had bolted, and those
already inside the fenced area were strongly disturbed for some time. Brew
stated to me that it was many days before any of his cattle would walk over
the part of the hillside pasture over which the object had momentarily
hovered. Brew himself reported an uncommon headache persisting for a number
of hours after the incident, but whether this was fortuitous cannot be con-
cluded.
Brew has been interviewed many times by Australian UFO investigators
without any reasons being found to discount his unusual sighting. My reaction
to Brew was similar. It is unfortunate that the son was not in position to
confirm the sighting, but he confirms the unusual sound ("like a diggerydoo",
as Brew put it). The object is similar in its general features and size to
that seen by a witness I interviewed in New Zealand, Mrs. Eileen Moreland.
Her July 13, 1959 observation, like Brew's, and like that of many other UFO
15
witnesses, is extremely difficult to explain in present-day scientific
or technological terms.
The foregoing constitute ten UFO cases from fairly widely ranging geo-
graphical areas, and spanning almost two decades of time. They are intended
to be illustrative but not "representative", since one of the baffling
features of UFO reports (easily scoffed out of court by the skeptic) is the
remarkable variety of shapes, sizes, and maneuvers reported. No mere sample
of ten cases can give any feeling for that puzzling range of UFO phenomenology.
Nor can a mere ten cases out of the thousands that now are on record in offi-
cial or unofficial files convince a properly skeptical scientist that we are
dealing here with extraterrestrial surveillance (the hypothesis that my
studies suggest as most likely). One must carefully examine not tens but
hundreds of such reports before the weight of evidence is seen in some per-
spective. The difficulty has been that very few scientists have carried out
such examination to date, and hence the low a priori probability of extra-
terrestrial surveillance leads most scientists to discount such a possibility.
Hence, the above ten illustrative cases are only intended to convey a
general impression of the puzzlement that inheres in so many UFO reports, to
suggest that possibly we do have here a problem of considerable scientific
interest. In my own opinion, the UFO problem may be the greatest scientific
problem of our times; but I do not expect ten cases to convince doubters. I
was most certainly not convinced by the first ten good cases I had checked.
But I was quite intrigued, and hence kept checking. Many more scientists must
do the same and add the weight of their opinion pro and con the extraterres-
trial hypothesis.
Alternatives to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
The UFO problem is one for which prudence dictates a studied application
of Chamberlain's "method of multiple hypotheses". Since I have in previous
discussions cataloged the eight alternative hypotheses under which I like
to scrutinize UFO data, I shall not recapitulate them here. When I say to
you that my present position, based on months of study of UFO cases and UFO
investigations, is one of favoring the hypothesis that UFOs are some form of
extraterrestrial surveillance devices, I am saying that I feel that all of
the obviously competing alternative hypotheses seem inadequate; by a process
of elimination I come to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, as have others.
Although argument by elimination is logically sound, it is not the type
of argumentation that scientists like to see used in a difficult problem.
They much prefer positive arguments. The reason for this preference is
simple enough: Success of argument by elimination demands that you have in
your initial set of considered hypotheses all possible hypotheses, and one
may not be so clever or so unbiased as to start from that point. With respect
to UFOs, to put it in simple terms, one would prefer "solid evidence" - in
the form of a tail fin, a jettisoned "motor", a crashed UFO, a lot of good
photos, etc. Such positive evidence does not seem to exist, despite stories
to the contrary. That there seem to be no crashed UFOs can be whimsically
explained away by asserting that "they" seem to have attained Zero Defects.
Droll, but scarcely overwhelming argumentation (even if it might prove
essentially correct).
Hoaxes, illusions, hallucinations, frauds and fabrications must con-
tinually be considered, with frauds and fabrications by far the most trouble-
some from the viewpoint of report-evaluation. Suggestions that UFOs are
advanced vehicles of a secret terrestrial technology seem absurd when one
scrutinizes UFO reports and then examines the nature and state of advancement
16
of global technologies. I omit further comment here because I feel sure
that CASI members need no long arguments on that hypothesis.
The leading alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis seems to be
that of "misidentified natural phenomena", viewed in terms broad enough to
include misidentified conventional aircraft, satellites, balloons, etc. The
Bluebook position has for years been that UFOs are almost entirely such
"misidentifieds", and Bluebook has repeatedly asserted that their small per-
centage of UNIDENTIFIEDS would fall into that category if more adequate data
were at hand. I do not agree, after studying hundreds of their cases. Rather,
I say that adequate and open-minded scientific scrutiny of the roughly 12,000
UFO cases now on file at Air Force Bluebook Project would probably raise the
percentage of UNIDENTIFIEDS from the acknowledged few per cent (figure varies
from year to year) to perhaps 30-40 per cent. An extremely important point
to recognize is that intelligence personnel at the airbase levels from which
the bulk of Bluebook's reports originate simply do not bother to go through
the quintuplicate-filing process on any UFO report that they feel involves
somebody seeing Venus, or seeing a strobe-light, or an aerial reconnaissance
plane, etc. They operate with a degree of airbase-level flexibility on UFO
reporting that serves effectively to filter out the obvious misidentifieds
(as well as a lot more, I fear). Few persons sense this important point. The
system is so loosely organized and depends so much on the interest and zeal of
the individual base intelligence personnel that some obvious misidentifieds do
get up to Bluebook, but by no means the large numbers that one might guess.
The net result is that the Bluebook files are fascinating - not boring as I
suspect many USAF officials with little scientific training think to be the
case.
In addition to being fascinating, I found the Bluebook files to be
extremely irritating, because after looking at the reported observational
material one next looks at the official "explanation", and from a scientific
viewpoint there is usually an unbelievable gap between the report-content and
the official categorization. When one then tries to query, on scientific
grounds, the USAF personnel responsible for those categorizations, one finds
he cannot engage in anything like a scientific discussion because scientif-
ically skilled personnel are not involved in the Bluebook operation. It is
entirely clear that this has been true for the past fifteen years; and still
earlier cases unfortunately point in the same direction, even back in the
1952 period of temporarily energetic investigatory work.
So, when one hears that the USAF position is that the bulk of the UFO
reports they get are misidentifieds, it is necessary to probe much further
to get at the truth.
Reflections and Mirages - Menzel's Views
However, it is not only Bluebook that stresses misidentifieds. For about
15 years, Dr. D. H. Menzel, former Director of Harvard College Observatory,
has been saying that UFO reports fall almost entirely in that category. His
two books 13, other writings, and many television and lecture discussions
have invariably emphasized that position. It has been of particular scien-
tific interest to me that a majority of his alternative explanations fall
within my own area of interest, atmospheric physics. Consequently I have
examined his arguments rather carefully and must say that they do not at all
convince me. Since I have cited specific examples and discussed specific
objects elsewherel, I shall not give numerous examples here.
But one category of Menzel's explanations that has evidently influenced
Bluebook thinking of recent years (since similar explaining shows up in
17
official files) deals with "reflection" of light from atmospheric inversions
and "haze layers." Menzel's explanation of the August 20, 1949, Las Cruces
N.M., sighting by Dr. Clyde Tombaugh is a case in point (11, p. 266). Menzel
argues that lights from windows on some house, reflected off an elevated
inversion layer produced the appearance of six yellowish rectangles that
Tombaugh, along with two members of his family, saw shooting across the sky
in that famous sighting. Tombaugh first spotted the geometric array of six
pale-yellow rectangles almost directly overhead. Menzel suggests that they
were reflections of window lights on an inversion layer at which haze had
collected (despite Tombaugh's strong emphasis on the unprecedented transpar-
ency of the air that night!). Since only collimated beams like searchlight
beams can yield distinct spots on haze layers, one seems left only with the
notion that when Menzel says "reflection" he means just that. Letus examine
the possibility that atmospheric inversion layers could yield perceptible
reflectivity at near-normal incidence such as would have to be involved if
Menzel's suggestion is to be acceptable.
For ideally sharp refractive index discontinuities, the Young-Fresnel
equation (see, for example, 14, p. 420) gives the reflectivity R across a
discontinuity between two media of relative refractive index n as
R = (n 1)/ (n + 1)
for normal incidence. Even for off-normal incidence angles out to several
tens of degrees, the order of magnitude of R is well-estimated by that famil-
iar optical relation. Menzel's qualitative discussions about how UFO appari-
tions stem from reflection off atmospheric discontinuities frequently involve
such near-normal incidence. Hence the question becomes that of asking about
how large n can become. For visible light in air at NTP, the refractive index
relative to a vacuum is about 1.0003, and temperature effects across an inver-
sion boundary (even if idealized as mathematically sharp) make changes only
in about the fifth or sixth decimal place of that parameter. Clearly, then,
one will make a gross overestimate of R to go the extreme case of an "inver-
sion" separating standard air from a perfect vacuum, i.e., by inserting into
the Young-Fresnel relation the magnitude n = 1.0003. The result is seen to
be roughly
R = 10-7
This negligibly small reflectivity could not conceivably yield window-reflec-
tions of the type adduced by Menzel to account for sightings such as Tombaugh's,
despite its grossly overestimating the actual "inversion-layer" reflectivity
that might be encountered in the real atmosphere. Such quantitative consider-
ations are what are not found in Menzel's defense of his discussions of UFO
misidentifications, even in areas where his particular professional background
ought to have made him sense the orders of magnitude likely to be involved.
In the February issue of Air Force/Space Digest15 will be found a Letter
discussing an observation of an odd aerial apparition seen by Lt. Col. R. G.
Hill, and treated by AF/SD as an example of UFO reports that are explainable
if only one looks far enough. I have spoken with Col. Hill to get a few
further details and can only wonder if Menzel's "inversion-reflection" ideas
and Bluebook's misuse of the same have not misled Hill and the editors of
AF/SD. The four luminous discs which Hill saw on a November evening a half
dozen years ago are tentatively explained in Hill's communication as "Possibly
the result of some atmospheric phenomenon that caused two interfacing layers
of air to reflect the light from a nearby source such as the mercury vapor
lamps illuminating the parking lot at the shopping center where these objects
appeared." As I have stated to Col. Hill and to AF/SD, this is quantitatively
quite out of question, Menzel's and Bluebook's arguments notwithstanding.
Indeed, everyday experience with window-glass, whose refractive index
relative to air is about 1.5, ought to have served to prevent the widespread
misimpression concerning UFOs caused by "inversion-reflections." Window-glass
gives an unimpressive normal-incidence reflectivity of about 4 per cent; yet
18
it is obvious that it must be orders of magnitude more reflective than adjoin-
ing air layers could ever be.
That type of UFO explanation is being so seriously misapplied, by Blue-
book staff and consultants, that I believe it may be well to carry the counter-
arguments one step closer to the real atmosphere, for deserved emphasis. One
never actually deals with mathematically sharp index-discontinuities in the
earth's atmosphere, only with layers across which density may vary in some
smooth, even if locally steep manner. For such "transition layers" in the
index distribution, one cannot apply the Young-Fresnel equation. The mathe-
matical problem is generally quite difficult, but Rayleigh¹⁶ has found one
model that permits useful mathematical analysis of wave-propagation at the
kind of inversions that can occur in our atmosphere.
To give great benefit of doubt to inversion-reflection, one might imagine
an inversion layer of such meteorologically improbable intensity that the air
above the layer was 20°C hotter than that below, and in which all of this
absurdly large temperature jump was concentrated within a transition layer of
the unreasonably small thickness of a mere 1 centimeter. I emphasize that such
intense inversions are not known in the atmosphere, so I shall still be seri-
ously overestimating reflectivities by applying the Rayleigh theory to such a
case. The computed reflectivity, again treating normal incidence, is found to
be
R = 10⁻¹⁹
I repeat; even this is an overestimate by a very large margin of what to expect
in the real atmosphere.
Mirage phenomena are very real; but involve angles of incidence so far
from near-normal that the small, but significant, gradients across real inver-
sions do give refractive anomalies of readily perceptible magnitude. But
one's line of sight must strike the inversion layers at almost grazing angle
(order of only tens of minutes departure from the horizontal in most in-
stances), whereas Menzel has treated miraging in his UFO discussions as if it
could occur with lines of sight that often depart by many degrees from the
horizontal, which is quantitatively absurd.
I could discuss other aspects of atmospheric physics that seem to me to
be mishandled in Menzel's treatment of UFOs, but wish to turn to another,
newer effort to account for many UFO reports in terms of another alleged type
of atmospheric-physical phenomena - "plasma-UFOs", as recently discussed by
Klass.
Corona, Ball Lightning, and Plasma-UFOs - Klass's Views
In working from the method of multiple hypotheses, one needs to look in
all directions for possible alternatives. Quite early in my own examination
of the UFO problem, I was confronted by colleagues at the University of
Arizona with challenges on the ground that UFOs could be some unrecognized
form of plasmoid. For example, scientists at our Lunar and Planetary Labora-
tory proposed that, since the wake of an entering meteoroid is a plasma and
since a meteoroid sets up a highly turbulent wake-flow, perhaps vortical
motions on the meteor-wake boundary could spin off masses of incandescent
plasma that descend into the lower atmosphere and are reported as a UFO. I
pointed out seemingly insuperable difficulties centering around rapid ion-
recombination and buoyancy of hot plasmoids that would have made it most
improbable that any such plasmoids could penetrate from entry-levels to the
near-surface levels where innumerable "UFOs" have been reported. But mainly
I stressed the more basic point that the type of UFO reports that are provoc-
ative are not mere balls of luminosity but structured objects described by
seemingly quite credible witnesses as resembling machines of some type.
19
Klass' Plasma-UFO Theory. I reiterate that latter strong objection to
the "plasma-UFO" concept when I turn next to the recent writings of Aviation
Week Senior Avionics Editor, Philip J. Klass. My most basic objection to the
position he is now defending concerning plasma-UFOs is that I feel he does
not confront the fact that the interesting UFO reports do not involve hazy,
glowing amorphous masses, but involve reportedly sharp-edged objects often
exhibiting discernible structural details, carry discrete lights or port-
like apertures, and maneuver for time-periods and in kinematical patterns that
are extremely difficult to square with his plasma-UFO hypothesis. And to that
objection I add the same one I raise against so much of Menzel's UFO argumen-
tation - it fails to deal quantitatively with parts of the argument that are,
in terms of existing scientific knowledge, amenable to quantitative analysis.
(May I interject here that my just-cited objection can and should be
turned against my own position as to the extraterrestrial hypothesis on the
grounds that we do now know something about prospects of interstellar travel
and certain quantitative objections about propulsion difficulties can be
raised against such travel. Indeed - and many have already cited these quan-
titative difficulties, including Purcell, von Hoerner, and Markowitz. I
reiterate (see 1, 8) that my lame yet not necessarily invalid defense is that
we may not yet know all there is to know about the technology of interstellar
travel and hence our attempts at quantitative assessment of the extraterres-
trial surveillance hypothesis may be inconclusive. Beyond that I cannot go.)
Klass has developed his position in two magazine articles 17 and a just-
published book¹⁸. He does not assert that all UFOs are plasma-UFOs; other
misidentifications contribute, he feels. But he does argue that most students
of the UFO problem (and he specifically cites me as an example) seem to have
missed the "plasma fingerprint" which he sees in so much of the UFO evidence.
He disclaims any view that the UFO problem is a "nonsense problem"; rather he
suggests that it is one of keen scientific interest because it comprises a
body of phenomena from which careful study of the plasma-hypothesis will
generate valuable new knowledge of atmospheric physics and atmospheric elec-
tricity.
Now one puzzling and far from understood phenomenon of atmospheric elec-
tricity that does seem to lie in the plasma category is "ball lightning",
which, for brevity, will be identified here as BL. Only within about the past
decade has BL been admitted as a real phenomenon rather than some kind of
illusion. In this sense, the history of BL studies is amusingly parallel to
that of UFOs. It can be stated unequivocally that, in 1968, students of
atmospheric electricity have not yet succeeded in developing an adequate
theoretical understanding of the baffling phenomena reported under this head-
ing. The fact that BL reports, like UFO reports, come largely from untrained
observers who happen suddenly to become witnesses to the phenomenon hampers
data-gathering. Also, it is sufficiently uncommon that it has been discourag-
ing to try to set up special recording systems to gather instrumental data on
the phenomenon (as is true also for UFOs). And the range of BL behavior
characteristics is so wide that no single mathematical model has fit very
satisfactorily the reported effects as well as the known atmospheric electri-
cal facts. As I noted earlier above, there even exist parallels to the UFO
problem in the sense that a semantic difficulty arises: One is not at all
sure, in looking at published summaries of BL reports, that one is dealing
with a single phenomenon. One suspects that, mixed into the alleged BL
sample, are some other quite different phenomena, so that one may be trying
to explain more than necessary.
Summaries of BL reports have been given by Brand¹⁹, Dewan²⁰, Rayle2 and
McNally²²; and others have published accounts of smaller numbers of individual
reports. BL models have been discussed by so many workers that no catalog of
20
individual papers is in order here. Dewan²³ has presented a brief summary
of models developed up to about 1963, and other notions are to be found in
a volume edited by Coroniti²⁴. None of these models, or those subsequently
offered by others such as Uman and Helstrom 25 can be viewed as entirely
satisfactory.
However, one major feature of reports and mathematical models is that
the majority of the former and all of the latter suggest that BL is a phenom-
enon closely related to ordinary thunderstorm lightning.
Fair-Weather Ball Lightning. The notion that "ball lightning" can be
generated in fair weather free of all thunderstorm activity has been
developed by Klass, and defended on the ground that, in the literature of
atmospheric electricity, one can find a half-dozen or so reports of lightning
discharges in clear air. He also defends it on the ground that, in some of
the above-cited summaries of BL reports, are luminous masses that were called
"ball lightning" by the witness or the data-collector, yet occurred in the
absence of thunderstorms. This is a confusing situation. We do not yet know
precisely what we shall mean by "ball lightning", do not know how Nature pro-
duces it, and have to concede that we may lump under that one heading phe-
nomena of diverse nature. To illustrate that, consider Klass' citing (18,
p. 121) an observation made from a USAF F-100 flying over the British Isles
at 11,000 ft near midday, where a luminous orange ball with a tail streaming
behind it "somewhat like a flaming meteorite" was sighted by the pilot under
clear-weather condition. Klass uses that observation to support his asser-
tions that BL can not only occur under clear-air conditions, but can move
through the atmosphere at relatively high speeds. But, one must emphatically
object, it is by no means obvious that it is correct to call this a BL report.
Far more reasonable would be to call it an observation of a bright daylight
meteor, many of which are on record in the annals of meteoritics. The very
fact that the original account compares the tail to that of a meteorite ought
to prompt this identification in preference to the BL identification. I urge
you to read Klass' book in full to see if you do not agree that just such easy
slipping of a wide range of odd observations into his plasma category has led
his arguments seriously astray. At no place in his book does he defend his
assumption that plasmoids can move through the atmosphere at speeds of hun-
dreds of meters per second, except in one special and quite interesting case -
when they are electrically attracted to aircraft bearing tribo-electrically
induced charges. Let us examine that notion, therefore.
Attraction of Plasma-UFOs to Aircraft. Klass takes note of the fact that
UFOs have been seen following aircraft in flight, and proposes a theory to
explain this. Remarking that aircraft often develop strong net charges due to
contact with snow, rain, or dust particles, he suggests (18, p. 124) that "an
airplane having, say a strong positive charge comes within reaction distance
* The suggestion which Klass makes that BL can form under fair-weather condi-
tions is, like many of his other suggestions, shown to be quantitatively
absurd by some elementary computations. The fair-weather earth-air current
is known (28, p. 150) to average about 10⁻¹² amp/m², and the fair-weather
potential gradient averages about 100 V/m. If, then, we ask for the area of
the earth's surface over which we would have to collect current to have Joule-
heating within a slab, say, 100 meters deep in amount equal to a modest esti-
mate of 100 watts (cf. 25, where 1000 watts is taken as perhaps more repre-
sentative), we obtain an area of 10,000 km² as our answer! Obviously the
assumption of a slab 100 m deep was quite arbitrary, but it would seem to give
benefit of doubt to Klass' argument, so the figures suffice to make the notion
of fair-weather ball lightning seem rather far-fetched.
21
of a plasma whose surface has a negative charge" with the result that "the
two will be attracted to each other, like two magnets He remarks that,
since the aircraft has far greater mass than the plasma, the latter "will be
drawn towards the aircraft rather than the reverse."
Is this subjected to any quantitative assay? No.
Let's examine that idea quantitatively here, then.
For simplicity, assume a spherical plasmoid, with the greatest allowable
surface charge density, namely, that which brings the surface electric field
intensity to the dielectric breakdown strength of air, E, of the order of
20,000 V/cm at typical aircraft altitudes. Similarly, let the aircraft be
roughly modelled as a sphere, also charged (with assumed opposite sign) to
that same breakdown limit (this will actually overestimate net aircraft
charge by something like an order of magnitude, giving more benefit to Klass'
assumed model). Since the surface charge density 0 will satisfy E = 4πo,
each object will then hold a charge Q = r²E (esu), where r is the object-
radius and E is taken as 20,000 V/cm = 65 esu/cm. If d is the separation of
the centers of aircraft and plasmoid, then the force F (cgs) acting between
the two entities is
F = P =
where subscripts a and P correspond, respectively, to aircraft and plasmoid.
For present rough purposes, we may generously set both radii equal to ten
meters, and we may let the plasmoid tag along behind the aircraft that is
dragging it, on Klass' hypothesis, through the air at a lag-distance d =
100 meters. We get, then, F ÷ 4x107 dynes.
To fulfill Klass' assumed requirements, this Coulomb attraction F must
equal the effective aerodynamic drag force D, to which the fast-moving plas-
moid is subjected (if it is not to be torn apart or brought to rest). Call-
ing the drag coefficient C, the air density P, and the speed of aircraft and
the trailing plasmoid V, we have,
D = 1/2 P p 2
and setting D = F to determine the allowed airspeed V,
V² =
Thus the radius of the UFO plasmoid disappears from the V-relation. Using
P ÷ 7x10-4g/cm3, C ÷ 0.2 for the high Reynolds number regime here involved,
and the previously suggested values for the other parameters, we get
V ÷ 4x10² cm/sec 11 9 mph
Thus, even upon assuming a large maximally-charged aircraft and plas-
moid, and limiting the trailing-distance to no more than 100 meters, we
obtain so low a value for the allowed V that it is absurd.
But the conclusions are even more negative for Klass' hypothesis than is
suggested by the limit V ÷ 9 mph, since it is known from experience with air-
craft charging 26,27 that steady leakage of autogenous charges keep surface
field strengths down to values generally under 10³v/cm (a factor of twenty
lower than assumed above for the aircraft), and even that value would not be
found in flying through clear air free of snow or dust. And neither Klass
nor I have proposed any basis for assuming that his airborne plasmoids will
be so decidedly non-neutral as to have surface charge densities anywhere near
the breakdown limit, as assumed in the above calculation to give Klass full
benefit of doubt on that socre. When some allowance is made for those
factors, it is seen that a plasmoid could not be drawn through the atmosphere
at the pace of even a very slow walk by the Coulomb interactions which Klass
22
invokes to fit his hypothesis of plasma-UFOs, hence his ideas on plasma-
UFOs pacing aircraft are quantitatively untenable. He states that they do
not come very close to the charged aircraft because the aircraft's "wind-
stream serves as a protective sheath", another qualitatively ad hoc assump-
tion that can now be seen to be irrelevant.
In one of his articles¹⁷, Klass explains inability of jet interceptors
to close on UFOs as resulting from the circumstance that aircraft and plasma
have the same charge, so that the interceptor repels the plasma-UFO and can
never catch up with it. This is equally absurd.
Other objections could be raised: Klass fails to confront his hypoth-
esis with cases where UFOs were neither attracted to nor repelled by air-
craft, yet UFOs have made close passes coming from all relative directions
and exhibited many unusual maneuvers not fitting his model. For example, a
very famous UFO sighting, the July 24, 1948, Chiles-Whitted sighting over
Montgomery, Alabama, is briefly alluded to on p. 118 of his book, so Klass
must know that Chiles and Whitted saw the object (which they said had a
double row of windows, a length comparable to a B-29, a cherry-red wake, and
a blue glow from nose to tail along its undersurface) come almost directly
at their DC-3 on a near-collision course before it passed them and then did
an abrupt pullup before it disappeared. Coulomb attractions at work? Innu-
merable other aircraft-observed UFOs could be cited that would not fit Klass'
Coulomb-attraction model, even if it did make quantitative sense for trailing
UFOs. It can only be concluded that Klass has not provided an explanation
for why UFOs sometimes come near aircraft.
Not only does Klass suggest that "highly charged aircraft" can attract
his plasma-UFOs, but also (18, p. 125-6) suggests that charged automobiles
attract "low-altitude UFOs". Then, carrying the idea to its full absurdity,
he proposes that a charged pedestrian "who encounters a very low-altitude
UFO may find it is drawn slowly toward him or that it backs off as he
approaches it." The question of whether it shall be attracted or repelled
depends, Klass adds, on the sign of the charge of the UFO and that "of the
very slight charge on the person". To make such assertions without any
attempt at inserting numbers into the elementary calculations that disclose
their low plausibility is quite typical of Klass' book.
[It might be added, in this final version of the draft presented at the
Montreal CASI meeting, that my use of the figure 20,000 V/cm in my rough
check of Klass' aircraft-pacing model was challenged from the floor by
Klass. He stated that this figure must obviously be incorrect, for he had
information that helicopters flying over dusty terrain can be charged up to
500,000 volts (see 18, p. 171). As I pointed out by way of clarification,
Klass was confusing "volts" with "volts per centimeter"; and to reconcile
his figure with mine we need only be sure that the helicopter had a clear-
ance above ground of at least 25 cm (since 25 cm multiplied by 20,000 V/cm
equals 500,000 volts). Here again, one is startled to encounter confusion
over such elementary electrical concepts. That the dielectric breakdown
strength of air is of order of 10,000 to 30,000 V/cm, depending on electrode
geometry and air pressure is certainly not open to question.]
Formation of Plasma-UFOs in Wingtip Vortices. For the most part, Klass
offers his readers no hint of the origin of the plasmoids to which he wishes
to equate UFOs. But one case on which he appears to offer an idea of origin
is in connection with aircraft. Klass (see below) has the idea that pollu-
tion products exert a helpful influence in plasma-formation. Aircraft
engines emit pollution products. Therefore Klass suggests that pollutants,
along with the charges which he believes are collected in the tip vortices
(18, p. 168), somehow form a plasma-UFO.
23
Let's go over that in more detail. First, to repeat, impact charging
of aircraft in clear, particle-free air is negligible. One must have rain,
snow, or dust impacting on the aircraft surfaces to generate strong auto-
genous charges 26,27, so Klass is in serious initial trouble on this score
alone. Furthermore, when an aircraft is undergoing such impact-charging,
what actually occurs is that the surface charge densities build up to an
equilibrium value such that the leakage-rate just equals the charging rate.
(One great value of charge-dissipating whips on wing trailing edges is that
they boost the effective discharge rate to so high a value that the steady-
state values of total aircraft charge are low.) Under the steady state that
is quickly attained on entering a dust or snow cloud, the air passing off the
wing has zero net charge, since the leakage charge just balances the residue
left over from the impact charging. Thus, Klass will not get plasmoids bear-
ing any significant net charge by such a process, so his aircraft-chasing
UFOs are not accounted for by the only model that he offers his reader to
get his plasmoids airborne.
But the difficulties are much more serious than absence of significant
net charge. To have a plasmoid in the usual sense of the term requires high
concentrations of free electrons, whereas all that will be sweeping off the
trailing edge of an aircraft wing when flown under conditions favoring charg-
ing (dust, snow, rain) will be "ions" in the sense employed in atmospheric
electricity. All free electrons will attach to oxygens in microseconds; and
exhaust pollutants will further demobilize the small ions that are thus
formed. Between this and ordinary ion-recombination processes, nothing
remotely resembling a luminous plasmoid can possibly be expected to appear
within the trailing vortices of an aircraft. When Klass states (18, p. 168)
that "an aircraft could accumulate electrical energy and focus it into peri-
odic discharges which could create a plasma-UFO in its wake when conditions
were right," and then adds that these plasmoids would be left behind so that
"another pilot flying along the same airway a few minutes later might encoun-
ter a glowing plasma," he is using arguments that would collapse if he were
to try to put numbers into them. The temporal and spatial instability of
plasmoids is one of their most outstanding characteristics. Klass accounts
neither for their formation nor for their survival in this context of air-
craft-related plasmas.
Diurnal Variations of UFOs. Klass suggests that UFOs are a mystery of
atmospheric electricity. Students of that subject will certainly find some
surprising mysteries of an atmospheric-electrical nature on pp. 164-167 18.
Klass cites Vallee's evidence for an evening maximum of low-altitude UFO
sightings, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., roughly. Klass notes that Brand
finds a diurnal peak frequency of BL sightings at 5 p.m. Klass feels that
this rough temporal correlation indicates a genetic relation between BLs and
UFOs. Meteorologists could suggest to him that a 5 p.m. peak in BL observa-
tions would match the generally late-afternoon peak of thunderstorm activity.
I believe that the early evening peak of UFO reports is the result of greater
likelihood of detecting a luminous object at night than a non-luminous object
by day. I gather that Klass shares some of the latter view; but he proceeds
to a further idea that plasmas are formed with diurnal peak frequency in the
early evening. The route by which he gets there is curious indeed.
First, he discusses the diurnal variation of the atmospheric electric
field-strength near the earth's surface and calls attention to a tendency
for most land-stations to have a maximum of field-strength near 7 p.m. He
glosses over the point that more UFOs are seen in summer than in winter, and
that during summer most land stations have a strong maximum of field strength
24
in the mid-morning. But where his physics goes astray is that he mistakenly
attributes the peak field-strength to a concurrent maximum of radon gas that
produces much of the air-ionization in the lowest atmosphere.
The actual situation is²⁸ that increased ionization would, per se,
increase the air's conductivity and thus decrease the observed atmospheric
electric field strength - precisely the opposite of what Klass claims.
Briefly, the earth-ionosphere potential difference may here be treated as
constant (we may ignore the well-known universal diurnal variation), whence
vertical current densities will remain sensibly constant so long as diurnal
factors only alter the conductivity in a relatively shallow air layer near
the earth's surface. But with constant current density, the atmospheric
electric field intensity must adjust itself to vary inversely with air con-
ductivity. Pollutants decrease air conductivity; ionization processes
increase it. The well-known evening increase in field intensity is due to
development of an evening low-level inversion that traps pollutants, the
pollutants attach small ions to generate large ions of low mobility, the
air conductivity consequently goes down, and the observed field intensity
must, to maintain fixed current density, go up.
If radon-trapping were the dominating factor here, as Klass evidently
thinks, evening would be a time of minimal, not maximal, field-intensity!
He extrapolates the above to a claimed explanation for the higher fre-
quency of UFO sightings in rural areas vs. urban areas; but again it is
based on the above misconception of the role of inversions, so that this
deduction of Klass' is also invalid.
But even beyond the confusion engendered by Klass' thoroughly confusing
the physics of the diurnal variations of conductivity and potential gradient,
there lie further basic shortcomings that warrant emphasis. One must ask,
just what does he have in mind in talking about all this? How does it relate
to formation of luminous, active plasmas? Evidently the answer is to be
found on p. 166 (18), where he asserts that these cyclical variations of
"pollution and electrification" serve to set the stage "for the chance trig-
gering of a plasma-UFO by a corona discharge on a high-tension line or per-
haps by a brief power surge in a high-power TV or radio transmitter.
Let's examine these two categories separately.
One can only conclude that Klass believes that an increase of atmos-
pheric ionization by the small factor (less than about 2) which he had in
mind when he became confused over the foregoing diurnal-variation arguments
can exert an important "triggering" action on power-line corona. That he is
not clear as to the physics of corona-formation seems evident when he states
earlier (18, p. 22) that "under freak conditions an electrical avalanche
occurs." He must be unaware that corona discharge from power structures is
not dependent upon unusual concentrations of atmospheric ions but only upon
establishing sufficiently strong field strengths that the continually form-
ing free electrons (ejected by cosmic-ray or air-radioactivity bombardment of
neutral air molecules) shall be accelerated within one free path to energies
sufficiently high to cause an additional impact-ionization event. Being con-
fused on this point, he draws the erroneous inference that if he could
account for some extra air-ionization, he'd account for extra "corona dis-
charge on a high-tension line." Also, coronas don't detach from power lines.
Next consider the idea of a "brief power surge in a high-power TV or
radio transmitter. A clear-channel radio broadcasting station is permitted
50,000 watt output. TV stations are typically operated at outputs in the
neighborhood of 150,000 watts, though some can legally emit as much as twice
this wattage. Let's take a generously large value of 300,000 watts for the
25
power output from an elevated TV antenna, and, for wavelength reasons, we'll
be generous to Klass in assuming an effective emitting area of only 1 m².
From the Poynting equation, we then wish to estimate the maximum electric
field strength prevailing near the antenna with a flux density of 3x10⁵
watts/m². Since P = 1.3 X 10⁻³Eₒ² (P in watts/m², E₀ in V/m), we find by
this order-of-magnitude estimate that E₀ ÷ 150 V/cm. Even after allowing
for the reduction in dielectric strength of air at the radio frequencies
involved, this generously high estimate of 150 V/cm is more than an order of
magnitude too low (in fact, probably about two orders of magnitude too low)
to initiate rf-breakdown and plasma-formation (see, e.g., 35, p. 185 and
36, p. 156). Thus, far more than "a brief power surge" will be required to
cause plasmas to appear around an antenna - and a mere two-fold variation
of air-ionization would be entirely inconsequential in abetting this improb-
able event. So Klass appears to be in difficulty here, too, even if he had
not made the prior mistakes with respect to the diurnal variations in atmos-
pheric-electrical parameters that led him into all this.
Air Pollution as a Plasma Promoter. In the foregoing, there have now
been several allusions to an underlying idea that runs through much of Klass'
book: Air pollutants are alleged to aid in the formation of plasma-UFOs.
This is such a curious idea, and the source of this notion is treated so
casually by Klass (18, p. 153) that few readers are likely to realize how it
arose. Because Klass weaves it into SO much of his argument, it warrants
closer examination.
Klass contacted Dr. J. R. Powell concerning some interesting laboratory
work done at Brookhaven National Laboratory (APS abstract in BNL 10625,
entitled "Laboratory Production of Self-sustained Atmospheric Luminosities",
by Powell, Zucker, Manwaring, and Finkelstein). Using a 75 MHz rf arc dis-
charge as the primary power source, and feeding its output into a walk-in
size resonant cavity filled with selected gases at atmospheric pressure, the
Brookhaven group were studying luminosities with radii in the decimeter
range and lifetimes of order of a second or more after shutoff of the rf
power supply. Early work indicated that such luminosities could be produced
in air, N₂, O₂, or N₂O, though not in A or CO₂. It was hypothesized that
the rf "pumping" stored energy in certain energetically accessible long-
lived (metastable) states of N2, or O₂, or N₂O, and that vaporized electrode
atoms (e.g., Cu) produced the visible radiation after acquiring energy in
collisions of the second kind with the excited chamber-gas atoms. Possible
relations to the ball lightning problem were noted by the investigators.
The important points to note here are that this experiment appears to
involve three crucial features: 1) a tuned cavity, 2) an rf power source
feeding into it, and 3) a gas, filling the cavity at 1 atm pressure and
selected to have metastable states with lifetimes of the order of seconds
such as to constitute an energy reservoir upon which the light-emitting
species (metal vapor atoms) can feed repetitively during the post-shutoff
glow period. (Whether the interpretations put on this promising experi-
mental work stand the test of time need not bother us here; they do appear
plausible.)
Upon hearing of this laboratory work, Klass jumped via several erroneous
steps to his idea that pollutants from aircraft, cars, and factories will
enhance the likelihood of forming plasma-UFOs.
His first error lay in mistakenly identifying what he terms "nitrous
oxides" (his plural) with the "nitrogen oxides" of air pollution literature
(18, p. 153). As a matter of fact, nitrous oxide, N₂O, is a natural
26
constituent of air, not considered an atmospheric pollutant (29, p. 156),
and is therefore not even mentioned in most air pollution literature on the
problem of the nitrogen oxides (30, p. 3-12; 31, p. 83). NO is copiously
produced in all combustion processes, including those in aircraft and auto-
mobiles, and oxidizes quickly in air to NO₂, the primary photon-acceptor in
photo-oxidation air pollution of the Los Angeles type. N₂O, a rather stable
compound, always present in concentrations about twice that of all other
nitrogen oxides characterizing polluted atmospheres, plays no part at all in
any pollution problems, since it "is dangerous only in concentrations of
about 90 per cent and then has mainly an anoxic effect" (32, p. 149). Indeed,
chemical analysis of the "nitrogen oxides" in polluted atmospheres was not
meaningful until tests, such as the phenoldisulfonic acid method (29, p.159),
were developed to react to all N-oxides except N₂O! Briefly, through an
error of interpretation of elementary chemical terminology, Klass misidenti-
fied the N₂O of the Brookhaven experiments with true pollutants and was off
on one of the many error-chains that so weaken his treatment of the UFO
problem.
Next, he failed to appreciate relevant quantitative aspects concerning
the "air pollutants" he thus began to discuss. Average concentrations of
N₂O at sea level are near 0.5 ppm (parts per million by volume). Average
concentrations of all pollutant-N-oxides in Los Angeles run about half that
(31, p. 84). To suggest that any gas present in such trace quantities could
play theenergy-reservoir role of the test-gases with which the Brookhaven
group filled their tuned cavity is to miss completely a basic quantitative
aspect of the experiments. Yet this is what Klass suggests; so here we have
the next stage in his error-compounding. If the metal atoms have to make a
million or more collisions, on the average, before finding one of Klass'
pollutant molecules, not much light would be coming from the system.
In fact, it will have to be interjected somewhere here that, once one
understands what Powell and co-workers think happens in their chamber, it
becomes somewhat unreasonable to talk about adding anything to ordinary air
by way of abetting the process, for they clearly assert that the N₂ and O₂
of ordinary air do quite well in providing suitable metastable energy levels
to make the process work. In view of this point, all of Klass' discussion
about diurnal variation in pollutant concentrations, about pollutants swept
into tip vortices, and about alleged concentrations of pollutants near high-
ways is seen to be irrelevant and based on a network of misconceptions.
But, finally, the most basic error of Klass' attempts to fit the Brook-
haven experiments into his thesis lies in ignoring the very special nature
of the energy source used in the laboratory work, and in casually overlook-
ing the complete absence of anything even roughly similar to it in the out-
door environments in which he claims plasma-UFOs are being formed. The
buildup of fields in the standing-wave pattern of the Brookhaven tuned cav-
ity fed at the resonant frequency (75 MHz) provides excitation conditions
that simply cannot be blandly assumed to exist aft of a wing-tip, or under
an inversion in a rural area, or above an automobile speeding down a highway
- or even near a high-power TV antenna, as shown above.
In the light of the preceding points, it is interesting to re-read the
kinds of inferences Klass attempts to draw: He asks (18, p. 153) if it is
"merely coincidence" that "both air pollution and UFOs have experienced a
dramatic increase within the past two decades"; and then goes on in similar
vein. "Is it also merely coincidence that many low-altitude UFOs are seen
near highways, where growing numbers of autos spew out their pollution
products? And is it coincidence again that many of the high-altitude UFOs
are reported by pilots while flying along well-traveled airways, where air-
craft also leave a trail of combustion-engine pollution products in their
wake?"
27
Other Misconstrued Laboratory Experiments. Although it is the Brook-
haven experiments that Klass misuses most extensively in his book, three
other experiments are discussed in a manner purporting to provide support
for his basic plasma-UFO hypothesis. Because in each instance Klass fails
to recognize quantitative factors that render the laboratory results irrele-
vant to the case he is trying to make, brief comments on all three seem in
order.
First, he cites some demonstration experiments devised by A. F. Jenzano,
director of Morehead Planetarium in North Carolina, and displays photos in
support of the contention that erratically moving cigar- and disc-shaped UFOs
may result from open-air counterparts of the planetarium experiments (18,
p. 68 and plate 3b; also 17, p. 57 and 61). But when one reads the nature of
the experiments in question, they prove to be low-pressure glow discharges
carried out under pressure conditions and with externally varying capacitance
quite unrelated to anything involved in UFO sightings. To make his point,
Klass would have to show that something resembling the electric field
strengths and near-vacuum gas pressures used in these demonstrations occurs
at times of UFO sightings in the atmosphere; but such confrontation with
relevant quantitative considerations is absent here, as elsewhere in Klass'
treatment. Jenzano is quoted as saying he uses the device to simulate
Northern Lights; this is rather more reasonable. But UFOs and the aurora
are certainly two quite different matters.
Secondly, Klass cites (18, p. 132) laboratory work of W. H. Bostick on
small moving plasmoids. Klass quotes Bostick as saying
"
the plasma
travels
not as an amorphous blob, but as a structure (called a plasmoid)
whose form is determined by the magnetic field it carries along with itself."
He also quotes a passage that may seem to some readers to still further
support the Klass plasma hypothesis for UFOs:
"
the two plasmoids seemed
to seek each other out unerringly
and attach themselves to each other."
The implication is that Bostick's work has some bearing on the UFO problem.
However, on consulting the original papers (e.g., 33), one finds that to get
the observed phenomena Bostick worked at gas pressures of 10-5 mm HG (about
a hundred-millionth of an atmosphere), except when the pressure was raised
to that of "a poor vacuum (10⁻³ mm Hg) in order to slow the plasmoid down".
And about equally remote from any conditions prevailing in situations where
UFOs have been reported, Bostick used externally applied dc magnetic fields
ranging from 500 to 2000 Gauss. The geomagnetic field has a strength of a
few tenths of a Gauss. Despite Klass' intimations, the Bostick laboratory
experiments bear no relation to the problem of explaining UFOs, their some-
times startlingly fast movements, and their sometimes high luminosity.
Thirdly, Klass recounts (18, p. 284) some laboratory experiments which
the press featured as possibly explaining UFOs. Workers at Melpar, Inc.
reportedly (34, p. 16) obtained luminous emissions from a mixture of ammonia
and oxygen after spark-ignition. Neither cited account permits a reader to
decide whether this was some slow combustion process or perhaps chemilumi-
nescence. Klass states that, on triggering the process with the spark, "a
glowing saucer-shaped object would form, providing the mixture had the right
proportions." "Sometimes the glowing object would hover horizontally
at
other times, the tiny UFO would pulsate mysteriously and flip over onto its
rim or turn upside down." Interesting, from a scientific point of view; but
what can this have to do with the UFO problem? Klass answers that question:
"The ammonia gas that Melpar used in its experiments
could be found over
newly fertilized farmlands - another possible reason why UFOs are more
frequently seen in rural areas.' Here is one more good illustration of
omitting highly relevant quantitative considerations.
28
The Melpar experiment is not described in terms one would require in
order to make precise statements; but it seems clear that the partial pres-
sure of NH3 in their reaction vessel is a fair fraction of an atmosphere.
Lacking data on maximum NH3 concentrations over farm barnyards, I will
appeal to the fact that public health officials seem never to have expressed
concern over the safety of farmers exposed to hazardous concentrations of
that gas, so that barnyard concentrations presumably fall well under the
100 ppm "maximum allowable concentration" set as the industrial safe limit
(29, p. 24). This would be three to four orders of magnitude below the
partial pressures likely to be involved in the Melpar demonstration. Not
only would reaction rates be slowed down by something like 3-4 orders of
magnitude by virtue of that adverse concentration ratio, but it seems
entirely out of the question that it could be self-sustaining in such con-
centrations, even if there were a spark-source near every barnyard to pro-
vide the requisite ignition. Actually, it seems so unreasonable to suggest
that farm concentrations of NH₃ could yield effects comparable to those
obtained in the Melpar laboratory demonstration that the proper reaction
would seem to be astonishment that any such suggestion should have been made
in the first place.
Argumentation by Concatenation Thunderstorms, Dust Devils, and Ball
Lightning. Throughout his book, Klass uses a very curious type of "argu-
mentation by concatenation". Noting that there exists some vague relation
between concept A and concept B, he next passes on to observe another remote
relation between B and C. Then C may have something or other in common with
D, and Klass is soon asserting that A and D are related. Put in that
abstract form, the only criticism that could be made is that stringing such
chains may be dangerous. But seen in the form of particular instances,
Klass' use of this mode of deduction appears almost ludicrous. A good illus-
tration has already been cited - that concerning the chain of steps by which
Klass went from the diurnal variation of potential gradient at land stations
to a conclusion that this bears on the diurnal variation of UFO reports, via
pollutants and inversions and radon gas.
Another example of this uncomfortably non-scientific mode of argument
leads him to the following conclusion (18, p. 113): "The dust devil and the
kugelblitz (BL), which a few weeks earlier had seemed poles apart, now were
beginning to show signs of a possible family tie, at least on some occa-
sions. Nature, I was beginning to realize, offers an even wider range of
explanations for UFOs than I had first imagined."
Let's trace back through the concatenation of remarks that led to that
statement.
He gets into it by attempts to explain the many daytime sightings in
which UFO witnesses have asserted that the object looked "metallic". This,
Klass feels, can be understood if the UFOs are glowing plasmas (18, p. 108).
Briefly, the observer is fooled into thinking that the self-glow is
"metallic reflection" of sunlight. Leaving aside objections to that con-
clusion, we next find (18, p. 109) him bothered by a UFO sighting in which
"dark crescents" were seen on an otherwise white or silvery UFO; so Klass
asks himself what might render a plasma-UFO dark in spots. He explains:
"The most obvious answer popped into my mind: dust particles."
Next he cites a model of BL due to E. L. Hill, in which it had been
suggested that BL might consist of "electrically charged dust particles and
groups of molecules which somehow are electrically separated into positively
and negatively charged clusters by the action of a lightning stroke," a
29
model which I believe most students of the BL problem would regard as
unpromising. But that model has dust and it has spin, and that's the
direction in which this chain is to be strung out.
By way of seeming to confirm the notion that dust may be involved in
UFO phenomena, Klass then cites (18, p. 111) a UFO sighting in which beams
of light, from the UFO's eight large "windows", were described as shining
so brightly that air-dust could be seen in the beams. (See 3, p. 69 for
the complete account that is very abbreviated in the summary given by
Klass. The sighting was made by a minister and his wife in Cleveland in
the early evening of Nov. 5, 1955; the object hovered for an estimated ten
minutes, at a height estimated at 500 ft and at a distance from the two
witnesses of about a half mile before it began to slowly move away and pass
out of sight. Out of all this, Klass takes the point that dust was visible
in the beams reportedly shining out of apertures of some sort on the object,
and builds that point into his chain. The fact that this plasma lasted ten
minutes and had eight bright spots rather than dust-produced dark spots is
ignored. The important point for the idea-chain is that dust was present.)
So next (18, p. 111), Klass ponders "swirling, charged dust particles,
interacting in complex ways with charged air particles in a plasma (which
could) explain the mysterious, moving, dark crescent-shaped areas" in the
sighting that started the chain. This is preparation for the next jump:
"This suggested still another phenomenon that I ought to investigate -
'dust devils' So he then spoke with several persons who gave him infor-
mation about the well-known fact that dust-devils and dust storms (28, p.122)
can disturb the fair-weather potential gradient by virtue of strong fric-
tional electrification. When one of his informants remarked that dust devils
are sometimes formed around the outflowing cool air that spreads out from
thunderstorm downdrafts in summer storms over the arid Southwest, the last
link in the chain was forged. Klass notes, with an almost audible "Ah,
hah!" implicit in the italicized windup that
"
thunderstorms are the
most frequent sources of ball lightning."
That, in brief, is how Klass arrived at the passage quoted at the start
of this section. That is how he established the bond between dust devils
and ball lightning, with swirling, dust-laden vortical plasmoids created out
of the rhetorical exercise.
The term "vortex" is one Klass likes to conjure with; it comes up
repeatedly throughout the book, and is woven into his model of the plasma-
UFO in several ways - almost invariably without paying any attention to
scale-factors, as in the above case of dust devils and BL. One sees that
same casual neglect of disparate scale factors, the same word-play in a
later discussion where concatenative argumentation takes Klass from tornadoes
to spinning UFOs. At one intermediate step of that particular chain (18,
p. 157), he begins a paragraph speaking about tornadoes in the ordinary
sense of the word, and shifts to an idea proposed by one investigator of the
radar-angel problem, namely, that some angels are small airborne vortices,
which that investigator dubbed "micro-tornadoes." Because Klass had, else-
where in the book (18, p. 89) intimated that probably angels are often caused
by plasma-UFOs (thus clearing up, in his contention, many cases where UFOs
were tracked on radar), one comes out of the cited paragraph on p. 157 with
the impression that Klass does indeed infer that "tornadoes and at least some
UFOs may be distantly related members of the same family," and evidently
"micro-tornadoes" and angels are also in that family. If in approaching
problems of meteorology and geophysics, scientists customarily employed that
kind of concatenative logic, so casually ignored important scale considera-
tions, and rested everything on verbal arguments almost wholly devoid of
quantitative considerations, they could easily show that volcanoes are
related to hurricanes and earthquakes to blizzards.
30
UFOs and Radar. From the chapter so labeled in Klass' book, one can
draw additional instances of the author's failure to understand much of what
he is talking about. He remarks, correctly, that plasmas can be seen on
radar, re-entry plasma sheaths around space capsules and satellite debris
being a well-known example. From that qualitatively correct beginning, with-
out further attention to all-important quantitative matters, he proceeds to
explain instances of UFOs seen on radar.
Citing (quite incompletely) a case from Hall (3, p. 85) in which an
unknown object whose radar return suggested it was as big as "any of our
larger transport planes" was followed for over 30 minutes from an East coast
USAF radar installation, Klass proceeds to the conclusion that this was just
a plasma. The important item of information concerning duration of the radar
sighting was omitted by Klass; it was a clear moonlit night in the fall, and
plasmoids lasting 30 minutes are rather difficult to explain. The radar tar-
get was described as moving, then stopping and remaining fixed (for the 30-
minute period). An Air Force C-124 transport that came into the radar-cover-
age area was vectored towards the unknown. Both blips remained on the scope
until the C-124 came to within a distance that the radar operator estimated
at about a half-mile from the unknown, at which juncture the unknown suddenly
disappeared from the scope.
Klass explains the fact that the C-124 crew could not see the plasma as
due to its being "on its last legs", so that "it did not have sufficient
energy to be luminous and thus was not visible
Its sudden disappearance
from the radar scope Klass sees as having resulted from the fact that "the
proximity of the large metal aircraft hastened the plasma's demise, serving
to drain off its residual energy in much the same way that a lightning rod
attracts a lightning stroke
This kind of easy argumentation makes it possible to assert that casually
that a plasma too weak to yield a visible glow is at so high an electrical
potential relative to an ungrounded aircraft that it sends out a stroke over
the half-mile gap separating it from the aircraft. And it permits Klass to
ignore all considerations of recombination-times as he glosses over the 30+
minutes' duration of the reported radar sighting prior to sudden disappear-
ance. Considering lightning returns on radar gives a much fairer comparison
than plasma-sheathéd re-entry vehicles. The latter draw steadily upon the
kinetic energy of the entering object to maintain the plasma against recom-
binative losses. In lightning strokes, however, no such "steady" energy
source is available. The result is that spotting lightning strokes on radar
is a rather rare (though definitely well-known) occurrence. Why? Because
to get a discernible radar return demands that the electron concentration in
the lightning channel shall imply a "plasma frequency" greater than the radar
frequency. For the frequencies employed in conventional radar practice, the
requisite electron concentration runs from about 10¹⁰ to 10¹² electrons/cm³.
But recombination processes go on at rates that rise very rapidly (roughly as
the square) with increasing free electron concentration, so that lightning
channels quickly quench out to radar-invisibility (37, p. 108). Estimated
durations of radar-visibility of lightning run well under a second. The
sweep-periods of typical search radar are so long compared with this time
that the probability of seeing a lightning stroke on radar is rather low.
All the same, basic physics must apply to any plasmoid that one hopes to
see on radar. If it lacks a sustaining steady energy source (virtually all
of Klass' plasmoids suffer that deficiency), then their lifetimes relative to
radar visibility must closely parallel that of lightning channels - of the
order of a second or less. An unknown that gives a radar-return as intense
as that of a large transport aircraft over a period exceeding 30 minutes can,
therefore, be explained as a plasma only if one accounts for a continuing
source of energy. Klass does not do so.
31
(Sudden disappearance of unknowns from radar screens, following uncon-
ventional behavior, is encountered in many UFO radar cases. Significantly,
"sudden" disappearance in the sense of getting out of sight in a few seconds,
is even more common among cases of visual sightings by credible observers.
As has often been remarked before, anything that could move many miles in a
few seconds would seem to disappear "suddenly" from all surveillance radars
with sweep periods greater than a number of seconds.)
Another example of misunderstanding of radar principles from the cited
chapter concerns anomalous propagation effects (18, p. 88-9). Klass seems
to be under the misimpression that spurious returns occur with anomalous
propagation only if an aircraft is flying in the vicinity to provide an air-
borne reflecting agent. He also seems to feel that "motions and turbulence
in the atmospheric layers" cause ground-returns, bounced off the aircraft,
to shift and move erratically, yielding the impression that the radar
observer's vicinity "is being invaded by dozens of UFOs." This particular
set of misconceptions appears suspiciously like a garbled version of Menzel's
misconceptions about anomalous propagation and aircraft-reflections (11,
p. 153-171). The reader familiar with radar propagation physics is urged to
study both of these treatments and judge for himself. A detailed recounting
of Klass' version of the matter does not seem worth presenting here.
He argues (18, p. 89) that because 67 per cent of NICAP's UFO radar
sightings fell in the months of May, July, August, September, and November,
when radar "angels" prove to be most common, it follows that the NICAP radar
cases "are classic radar angels", for there would have been "only 42 per cent
in these five months had the UFO radar cases been equally distributed through-
out the year." Evidently Klass has very scant knowledge of statistical sam-
pling theory, too. He intimates that the famous July, 1952 Washington
National Airport UFO radar-visual sightings might have been plasma-UFOs, and
closes with the comment that complete analysis is difficult fifteen years
later. Not SO. The data on that famous sighting, as I indicated earlier
here, can be reexamined quite meaningfully even today, including the erro-
neous USAF claims that anomalous propagation and mirage effects accounted for
its main features. Neither the latter, nor plasma-UFOs match convincingly
the events of those two famous nights in UFO history.
Klass asks, finally, why all of our surveillance radar nets never see
UFOs. My reply to that is to ask why he feels so sure that they do not?
Spinning Plasmas. As noted above, Klass seems to place considerable
emphasis upon rotation of his plasmoids. He notes that extensive surveys of
ball lightning witnesses (esp. 21, 22) find that from a fourth to a third of
the BL reports involve mention of a noticeable spinning motion. His argu-
ments about dust devils, tornadoes, and micro-tornadoes, plus other similar
arguments, dispose him to the view that UFO-plasmas will often (perhaps
usually) be spinning.
On p. 160, he accepts a qualitative suggestion that rotation of a
doughnut-shaped plasmoid might store enough energy as rotational kinetic
energy to account for its characteristics. But suppose we hope thereby to
extract luminous energy at the modest rate of 100 watts for the reasonable
time of 10 seconds, i.e., we ask for 10¹⁰ ergs. The result is a spin rate
of about 1000 rev/sec. Clearly, no human eye could discern angular motions
at so extremely high a speed. Angular motions do not constitute a partic-
ularly attractive storage mode for energy of plasmoids.
Klass turns to an experiment by Vonnegut, Moore, and Harris³ which, to
fill his needs, he identifies as one relating to vortex motion of the outer
32
shell of a plasma." On reading the original paper, one finds that it is
only very distantly related to Klass' idea of plasma-UFOs, for it actually
concerns the favorable effects of a vortex on maintenance of an arc dis-
charge struck along the axis of air rotation. The inward-directed buoyancy-
forces, the authors note, convectively force the hot arc gases into the
center of the vortex, reducing sinuous excursions of the arc and permitting
an arc to exist stably over arc-spacings about twice the spacings attainable
without the vortex. Clearly, the vortical effects employed here bear on
stability of the high-temperature gases in an arc discharge but have no
obvious bearing on stability of BL or UFOs, since no one believes that arc
discharge is involved in either of those phenomena. One more instance
wherein Klass either fails to understand what he is talking about or else
crowds it into his mold - probably the former.
The just-cited section of the book is followed by another curiosity.
Klass suggests next that "this same vortex motion also helps to explain some
of the weird movements reported both for ball lightning and UFOs, such as
their right-angle turns, because it would make them behave like gyroscopes
(18, p. 161). He next remarks that a spinning gyro "does not move in the
direction of the push" one applies to it, "instead its gyroscopic properties
cause it to move at right-angles to the direction of the push." He then
suggests that "if a plasma-UFO is spinning at moderately high speed when it
comes near a metal object or a source of electromagnetic fields, the elec-
trical interaction in combination with its gyroscopic properties could cause
it to move at right angles to the direction of its previous motion, as is
frequently reported."
Here, as before, Klass gets demerits for ignorance of undergraduate
physics. It is torques, not gross body forces, which produce the noto-
riously perverse reactions of gyros. A fast-spinning gyro acted upon by
an external force moves in entirely direct response thereto, and not at
90° to that force, as Klass evidently assumes.
Plasmas as Nature's Rorschach Blots. To meet the objection that many
witnesses have reported seeing machine-like UFOs, sometimes with ports,
domes, leg-like structures, etc., Klass offers the proposal that a plasma
would act like a Rorschach ink blot (18, p. 77). Without wishing to become
embroiled in arguments of primarily psychological nature, I would object
that projective tests of the Rorschach type do not function by virtue of the
illusory mechanism Klass adduces. Normal persons arrive at their Rorschach
answers by dint of requested interpretation of the unstructured blots dis-
played before them. To suggest, as Klass does, that light and dark areas on
his alleged plasmoids are illusorily converted by observers into fanciful
ports and domes is to introduce something well beyond Rorschach factors. I
cite this because it is the closest Klass seems to come to confronting the
very important point that, in many highly credible UFO reports, structured,
craft-like objects are described in terms that fail to square with an amor-
phous blob of glowing plasma. I would suggest that his Rorschach idea be
dropped as unreasonable. The best observations of machine-like UFOs are day-
light observations where no glow is even involved, so the Rorschach-plasma
idea seems to fail completely. See, for example, the Powell sighting of
May 21, 1966 8 for a single example which Klass has heard directly from the
witnesses, at the same time that I did. An 18,000-hour pilot, with a second
witness, saw a domed disc pass his light plane at an estimated distance of a
hundred yards in midday, with excellent visibility. It was opaque, and was
described as having quite distinct edges, and had a sharply contrasting white
dome over red disc. Many others in that kind of category not covered by
Rorschach effects could be cited.
33
Mesmeric Properties of Plasma-UFOs. Not only does Klass propose that
his plasma-UFOs are Rorschach blots, but also he intimates (18, p. 227) that
perhaps they have " a hypnotic effect on some observers, especially if the
UFO were seen at close quarters in darkness." Commenting on use of lights
in concentrating a subject's attention in hypnotic experiments, he notes
that "the plasma-UFO, with its intense glow, its flashing pockets of color,
and its changing shape, certainly would focus the observers' attention.
This could deprive his brain of its normal contact with the outside world,
especially for night sightings when the object is in a remote spot
There is one very striking similarity between Klass' plasma-UFOs and
Menzel's meteorological-optical phenomena: Both are stretched to cover a
most astonishing range of UFO events. The stretching and straining of
scientific principles found in their writings on UFOs is paralleled in the
crackpot literature on UFOs. Indeed, if some of the unreasonable argumenta-
tion which they employ were found in something by, say George Adamski, it
would be regarded as scientifically hilarious. As it is, such warping of
familiar scientific principles seems only depressing.
Interference of Non-C herent Light Sources. Another bothersome
example of failure to understand rather elementary physical principles is
to be found in Klass' discussion of a sighting in which a chemist, having
the presence of mind to try viewing a UFO through his Polaroid glasses, dis-
cerned a series of concentric light and dark rings around the airborne UFO
(18, p. 99). Klass, ignoring the basic requirement of having coherent light
sources if one is to generate interference effects, offers the suggestion
that interference between polarized sky light and the light being emitted by
the object caused the light and dark circles reportedly seen by Webb. Not
realizing that his argument was already lost, Klass continues to suggest that
the reason that the light from the UFO was polarized was that motions of
charges in the plasma that it really was generated magnetic fields that
caused the polarization of the emitted light that then interfered with sky
light when viewed through the chemist's Polaroid sunglasses. With arguments
like that, one might hope to show that the moon is a plasmoid.
Cold Plasmas of Ice Crystals. Perhaps the most bothersome general
feature of Klass book is the way it repeatedly tends to carry the unwary
through what may appear to be reasonable deductions, but which involve large
leaps of unjustified nature when you reexamine them.
A good example concerns his discussion of "cold plasmas" (18, pp. 114-
115). Let me quote his conclusion first, and then go back over the arguments
that purportedly support it: " one thing was emerging as absolutely cer-
tain. Nature has a surprisingly large bag of atmospheric electrical tricks
with which it can create unusual 'flying objects. Working backwards, one
sees some intermediate remarks about "cold plasmas" of charged ice crystals,
and working still further back one arrives at a reference to a short note by
Vonnegut in the October, 1955 issue of Weather. Reading Klass' version of it,
one gets the impression that electrical discharges in thunderclouds can so
alter electrical forces on charged ice crystals as to make them change atti-
tude relative to the sun that marked reflectivity or transmissivity of the
cloud could result, and that this "would cause the ice cloud to appear solid
(because no sunlight passes through) and could even give a silhouette effect."
Then, in a non sequitur he adds that "the raw materials for such a phenomenon,
beyond those provided by nature, could come from the growing numbers of high-
altitude jet aircraft", and seems to intimate that the charges are to come
from jet turbine blades!
34
But returning to the foundation on which the above series of steps
rests, let us see just what Vonnegut actually reported in the cited note.
What he reported was a pilot observation of a bright band that propagated
across the top of a thunderhead, a ground observation of a bright streamer
of cloud that built up slowly and then disappeared suddenly at the moment of
lightning discharge within the thunderstorm, and finally some field observa-
tions by Vonnegut on brightness changes (amounting to a mere few tenths of
a per cent) of thunderclouds at instant of lightning discharge within the
cloud (as detected by radio-frequency noise gear). What in all of this
remotely suggests UFOs to Klass? One could start talking about a very large
variety of cloud-physical effects of unusual nature and remain equally far
from the area of UFOs. Yet after juxtaposing the foregoing, Klass leaves
his reader with the conclusion that "Nature has a surprisingly large bag of
atmospheric electrical tricks with which it can create unusual 'flying
objects What flying objects?
In an earlier discussion of Vonnegut's note¹⁷, Klass went even farther
from such slim supporting evidence. Introducing without any atmospheric-
physical basis the notion of a "vortex of ice crystals", he merges it with
Vonnegut's idea of electrical orientation effects as follows: "If the angle
of incidence of sunlight playing on a vortex of ice crystals aligned by elec-
tric fields were such that reflected light was directed away from an observer,
it conceivably could produce a silhouette effect (and) if the airborne vor-
tex contains charged dust particles, similarly aligned by electric fields
a
very pronounced silhouette could result. If electric discharge is taking
place within the vortex between charged dust particles, as has been suggested
by some ball lightning theories, it could easily create the illusion of a
solid spacecraft with small lighted windows." All of this suggests the con-
clusion that if someone sets out to create UFOs out of almost thin air, he
can do SO.
Mirror Images and the Car-Stopping Problem. Klass (18, p. 96) evidently
accepts, as do I, the reality of a puzzling number of instances where obser-
vers have reported engine and headlight failure coincident with close passage
of a UFO. Klass suggests that "because a plasma contains a cloud of electri-
fied particles, there is no doubt that if an auto battery were enveloped by
such a plasma the battery could be short-circuited. But it is difficult to
explain how a UFO-plasma could gain entry to the car battery in the engine
compartment without first dissipating its energy to the metal body of the
car."
However, he then comes up with an extremely curious suggestion that may
be some measure of the scientific level of Klass' analyses. He needs to have
his plasma ions inside the hood, to short the battery. So he remarks that
"an electric charge in the vicinity of a conducting surface, such as a car's
hood, creates a mirror image of itself on the opposite side of the conducting
surface." Quite clearly, Klass is under the impression that "image charges"
are real charges, and that the "image charge" induced on the inside of the
hooded engine compartment can short-circuit the battery and cause other real
effects. This is a puzzlingly erroneous misconception to be held by an
electrical engineer.
Aeronautical engineers in the CASI audience can appreciate the parallel
to another closely similar situation where boundary-conditions can be handled
by a similar ruse: The use of "image-objects" in flow problems near solid,
plane boundaries. For instance, the enhanced lift that accounts for the
familiar "flare-out" as an aircraft comes down to within a few feet of an
airstrip can be treated, mathematically, in terms of an identical aircraft
imagined to be upside down and moving along at a distance below the real
35
aircraft's true distance above the ground-plane. In fact, wind-tunnel
tests of flow problems near the ground-plane are actually conducted with
real model-pairs mounted in this "mirror-image" attitude. To suggest that
a real automobile battery could be shorted out by "image charges" induced
in the hood is comparable, then, to suggesting that "flare-out" on landing
results from the fact that a real aircraft is actually flying along upside
down, just underneath the airstrip.
Summary-Critique of Klass' Plasma-UFO Thesis. In the foregoing sections,
I have pointed out a number of serious scientific errors and misconceptions
that mark Klass' writings on UFOs Although he has diligently pursued
the subject of UFOs for some months, his handling of the scientific questions
involved reveals so many misunderstandings, often of elementary principles,
that his principal thesis, namely, that a substantial portion of the pre-
viously most puzzling UFO cases can be explained as plasmas, cannot be
regarded as supported.
It is important to note that Klass does not claim that all UFOs are
plasmoids (18, p. 282); he feels that meteors, balloons, optical phenomena,
planets, and other misidentified phenomena account for many UFO reports. He
does indicate, however, that he feels he has "identified most if not all of
the previously unexplained UFOs as atmospheric electrical phenomena, using
NICAP's most convincing cases (18, p. 174). By the latter, he refers to
the more than 700 cases in Hall's UFO Evidence³. Such a claim is fatuous;
there are in Reference 3 hundreds of cases that could not even remotely be
reconciled with Klass' plasma-UFO hypothesis on any reasonable, scientific
grounds. Indeed, even considering the percentually small sampling of those
NICAP cases that are specifically cited in Klass' book, I would say that
only perhaps two or three cases could be even tentatively viewed as some
atmospheric-electrical plasmoid phenomenon. His claims to have "identified"
the difficult NICAP UFO cases are gratuitous and lacking in scientific basis.
Klass asserts (18, p. 286) that "it is time that these two influential
organizations (meaning NICAP and APRO) encouraged their members to open
their minds to the possibility that UFOs may be only freak atmospheric
electrical phenomena." He adds that NICAP and APRO should "more fully
inform their members about the plasma theory", evidently thinking that this
will lead them to accept his hypothesis that the most interesting UFOs are
"freak atmospheric electrical phenomena." As a matter of fact, members of
NICAP and APRO had weighed and rejected hypotheses similar to Klass' long
before he developed an interest in the UFO problem, and three communications
cited in his book (18, pp. 55, 58, and 177) from NICAP members contain more
reasoned, albeit brief, reactions to that hypothesis than one finds in all
of Klass' writings. The provocative UFO cases are low-altitude, close-
range sightings of structured, machine-like objects of entirely unconven-
tional nature, reported by witnesses whose credibility does not appear to
be in question. The nearest Klass comes to confronting such cases is to
suggest hypnotic effects or Rorschach-projective effects that make the wit-
nesses see plasmoids as if they were structured vehicular objects with domes,
panels, legs, ports, markings, etc. I have, myself, interviewed so many wit-
nesses who have seen such objects that I can only smile weakly at the
unreasonableness of Klass' intimation that he has "identified" such UFOs as
plasmoids.
Furthermore, implicit in Klass' plea that NICAP, APRO, and the rest of
those whom he labels as "UFOrians" should be made "fully informed" about
plasma theory, is the tacit assumption that Klass, himself, is so informed.
The many instances cited above wherein Klass completely misconceived perti-
nent aspects of the plasma physics he was attempting to talk about make such
a plea quite hollow. The net effect of further study of plasma theory by
36
any "UFOrians" will be to make still clearer that Klass has written a book
filled with sometimes ludicrous errors concerning plasma theory and related
physics. He accuses the "UFOrians" of having closed minds; looking at his
handling of the UFO problem, I am left with the difficult choice of deciding
whether he, himself, has an even more tightly closed mind or whether the
glaring weakness of his book simply reflects his ignorance of elementary
principles of physics and electrical engineering. Rather than make that
choice, I split my opinion about down the middle on those two alternatives.
The principal points I would emphasize by way of critique of Klass'
plasma-UFO theory are the following:
1) He fails to put numbers into his hypotheses where numbers are read-
ily inserted. The result is that he presents what may appear to be
plausible arguments because they contain some qualitatively plaus-
ible elements. In this regard, Klass resembles Menzel. Quantita-
tive evaluations reveal serious difficulties, sometimes outright
absurdity, in instance after instance in the writings of these two
principal proponents of the notion that UFOs are only misidentified
natural phenomena.
2) Plasmas are notoriously unstable and evanescent, except when suit-
ably contained and provided with sustaining energy sources. Klass
appears to be almost unaware of these prime characteristics of
plasmas for he casually adduces plasma-explanations in UFO inci-
dents for which he offers no suggestions as to what provides the
continuing energy sources of his plasmas, often over times of the
order of not only tens of seconds, but often tens of minutes.
3) In the one or two instances where Klass does actually propose some-
thing resembling an energy source (powerline corona, TV antennas,
aircraft charge-leakage), it has been shown above that there are
fatal difficulties with his position.
4) Through a quite astonishing series of misunderstandings, Klass
builds up a thesis to the effect that air pollutants are favorable
to plasma-formation, and from this, makes repeated deductions (such
as greater incidence of high-altitude UFOs because of more jets
polluting the airways) of exorbitant nature. That Klass would go
to press with such error-riddled ideas is surprising.
5) Through failure to understand elementary principles of atmospheric
electricity (the field in which he claims to be making discoveries),
he builds an error-chain extending from diurnal variation of atmos-
pheric potential gradient to diurnal variation of UFOs, and deduces
therefrom an "explanation" of excess of rural over urban sightings.
For someone claiming to have uncovered an intriguing new phenomenon
of atmospheric electricity, Klass' ignorance of fundamentals of
that subject seems startling.
6) His claim to have accounted for the high frequency with which pilots
observe UFOs following aircraft falls apart completely on subjecting
the idea to quantitative assessment, as shown above. His related
intimations that charged automobiles and charged pedestrians also
attract plasma-UFOs are absurd. It is to be stressed that the quan-
titative evaluation of that hypothesis involves only elementary
physics and, say, electrical engineering, yet no such evaluation
was made by Klass. And, to add an extremely important criticism,
he overlooks dozens of well-reported cases wherein UFO maneuvers
would defy explanation in terms of his Coulomb-attraction hypothesis.
37
7) It seems entirely fair to suggest that part of the reason for the
credence and attention given Klass' plasma-UFO hypothesis in press
and non-scientific journals rests on his being an electrical engi-
neer (the other part being, of course, his senior editorial posi-
tion with a well-known aviation/aerospace magazine). In this
light, his almost incredible misconceptions about "mirror-image
charges", as noted above in connection with the long-puzzling UFO
car-stopping problem, and the cited instance in which he was clearly
confusing voltage and voltage-gradient, not to mention the many mis-
conceptions about plasmas themselves, deserve the emphasis given to
them above.
8) Finally, the most pervasively disturbing feature of Klass' book¹⁸
is the frequency with which it relies on argument by innuendo,
argument by concatenation (to re-use the phrase employed above,
argument by juxtaposition - that is, his specious assembly of what
to many an unwary reader will look like a clever series of related
deductions, carried out in the detective-story atmosphere that he
repeatedly tries to create in his writing. After giving that
annoying feature of his writing a good deal of thought, and after
reflecting on the high frequency of scientific errors in his writ-
ing, it is my guess that these arguments are probably not deviously
contrived to fool the reader but constitute reflection on the lack
of preparation of the author. The reason that they need exposure,
however, is that at the present time, the UFO problem is not yet
being fought-out in the usual context of serious scientific dis-
cussion. The present major difficulty still remains that of con-
vincing a large number of persons (in the scientific community, in
federal science-related agencies, in Congress, and in the general
public) that the UFO problem is an extremely serious scientific
problem too long laughed out of court. For this reason, the kind of
of easy acceptance already given to Klass in the press cannot be
viewed as unimportant. Menzel's role in helping to foster the
impression, for many years now, that UFOs are all explainable in
quite conventional terms has had very deleterious influence on the
UFO problem; Klass will now join Menzel in extending that influence
if the serious deficiencies of his thesis are not held up to care-
ful scrutiny. It is for this reason that I have devoted so much
space here to what ought perhaps to be regarded as so unscientific
an exposition as to need no comment.
Summary and Conclusion
Returning now to more positive considerations, let me stress that my own
studies of the UFO problem have forced me to the conclusion that it is an
international scientific problem of potentially enormous importance.
In my view, the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial origin for UFOs
appears (via argument by elimination of many alternative hypotheses) to be
the most satisfactory hypothesis to account for the impressive body of obser-
vational evidence that has been accumulated over the past two decades of UFO
sightings. Space has not permitted my confronting here the many obvious
challenges that such a position properly evokes; I have confronted some of
those elsewhere in cited references. Others are simply unanswerable in terms
of presently available information. That's scarcely a new situation in the
history of science.
If there is admitted to be even a very slim possibility that UFOs are
extraterrestrial surveillance devices of some type (and I incline to that
38
view at present, as do many other serious students of the UFO problem),
then it should be obvious that a very energetic scientific investigation
of that possibility ought to be launched. Instead, to date, world scien-
tific opinion still leans predominantly in the direction that UFOs con-
stitute a "nonsense problem", a bothersome host of reports of misidentified
natural phenomena. However, one finds that the spokesmen who most strongly
emphasize that view are (with almost no exceptions) quite uninformed as to
the real nature of the UFO evidence. Ridicule and official mishandling of
the problem have kept the true nature of the UFO evidence well out of sight.
As one American writer recently quipped, "The American public is not telling
the Air Force the truth about UFOs." This has been true on a global scale,
while the mass of evidence has grown steadily greater.
New, independent, vigorous UFO investigatory programs are sorely needed.
Investigators in countries other than the U.S. may have a superior opportu-
nity to make progress towards clarification of the UFO problem because they
will not be working against the long-standing prejudices so visible in
official U.S. handling of the subject. Thus, I urge that programs such as
the newly created Canadian UFO investigation at the University of Toronto
be instituted in other countries in all parts of the world, to delve vigor-
ously and imaginatively into the fascinating and potentially world-shaking
problem of the Unidentified Flying Objects.
UFOs are, in my opinion, the greatest international scientific problem
of our times.
39
REFERENCES
1. McDonald, J.E., "UFOs - Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times?",
presented to Am. Soc. Newspaper Ed., April 22, 1967, Washington, D.C.
This, plus two other UFO statements by McDonald have been reproduced
for sale by the non-profit UFO Research Institute, Suite 311, 508 Grant
St., Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219.
2. Bloecher, T. R., "Report on the UFO Wave of 1947", 1967. Available from
NICAP, 1536 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D. C., 20036. Bloecher's
study summarizes about 800 UFO reports from a brief period in the summer
of 1947, when the UFO problem broke into public attention.
3. Hall, R. H., ed., "The UFO Evidence", 1964, 184 pp. Available from NICAP
(see Ref. 2). Hall's book is one of the most valuable of all references
on UFO reports and must be read by all persons attempting serious study
of the problem.
4. Stanton, L. J., "Flying Saucers: Hoax or Reality?", Belmont Books, NYC,
1966, 157 (paperback).
5. Young, Mort, "UFO: Top Secret", Simon and Schuster, NYC, 1967, 156 pp.
(paperback).
6. Ruppelt, E. J., "Report on the Unidentified Flying Objects", Ace Books,
NYC, 1956, 318 pp. (paperback).
7. Keyhoe, D. E. (Keyhoe has written four books on UFOs which, for brevity,
will be listed here only by title, since the earlier ones are out of
print), "Flying Saucers are Real" (1950); "Flying Saucers from Outer
Space" (1953) ; Flying Saucer Conspiracy" (1955); "Flying Saucers Top
Secret" (1960).
8. McDonald, J. E., "Science, Technology, and UFOs", presented at United
Aircraft Research Laboratories, Jan. 26, 1968.
9. Associated Press, June 30, 1954.
10. Launceston, Tas., Examiner, Oct. 18, 1960 and Oct. 29, 1960.
11. Menzel, D. H., and L. G. Boyd, "The World of Flying Saucers", Doubleday
& Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1963, 302 pp.
12. Olsen, T. M., "The Reference for Outstanding UFO Sighting Reports,"
UFOIRC, Box 57, Riderwood, Md., 21139.
13. Menzel, D. H., "Flying Saucers", Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1953,
319 pp.
14. Menzel, D. H., ed., "Fundamental Formulas of Physics", Prentice-Hall,
NYC, 1955, 765 pp.
15. Hill, R. G., "Some UFOs Identified", Air Force/Space Digest, February,
1960, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 77-78.
16. Rayleigh, Lord, "The Theory of Sound", Vol. 1. Dover Publ., NYC, 1945,
480 pp.
17. Klass, Philip J., "Plasma Theory May Explain Many UFOs," Aviation Week,
August 22, 1966. Also "Many UFOs are Identified as Plasmas", ibid.,
Oct. 3, 1966.
18. Klass, Philip J., "UFOs-Identified", Random House, NYC, 1968, 290 pp.
40
19. Brand, W., "Der Kugelblitz", Henri Grand, Hamburg, 1923, 170 pp.
20. Dewan, E. M., "Eyewitness Accounts of Kugelblitz", Microwave Physics
Laboratory, AFCRL, CRD-125, March 1964, 71 pp.
21. Rayle, W. D., "Ball Lightning Characteristics", NASA Tech. Note D-3188,
Jan. 166, 38 pp.
22. McNally, J. R., "Preliminary Report on Ball Lightning," Oak Ridge Natl.
Laboratory, Rept. ONRL-3938, May, 1966, 25 pp.
23. Dewan, E. M., "Attempted Explanations of Ball Lightning", AFCRL Phys.
Sci. Res. Paper No. 67, Nov. 1964, 13 pp.
24. Coroniti, S. C., ed., "Problems of Atmospheric and Space Electricity",
Elsevier Publ. Co., Amsterdam, 1965, 616 pp.
25. Uman, M. A., and C. W. Helstrom, "A Theory of Ball Lightning," J.
Geophys. Res., Vol. 71, April 15, 1966, p. 1975 ff.
26. Edwards, R. C., and G. W. Brock, "Meteorological Aspects of Precipita-
tion Static, J. Met., Vol. 2, Dec. 1945, p. 205 ff.
27. Gunn, Ross, "Precipitation Electricity," in Compendium of Meteorology,
T. F. Malone, ed., Am. Met. Soc., 1951, 1334 pp.
28. Chalmers, J. A., "Atmospheric Electricity," Pergamon Press, London,
1957, 327 pp.
29. Faith, W. L., "Air Pollution Control", Wiley, New York, 1959, 259 pp.
30. Magill, P. L., F. R. Holden, and C. Ackley, editors, "Air Pollution
Handbook," McGraw-Hill, New York, 1956.
31. Air Conservation Commission, Am. Assn. for Adv. Sci., "Air Conserva-
tion," AAAS, Washington, D.C., 1965, 335 pp.
32. U. S. Dept. Health, Educ. and Welfare, "Motor Vehicles, Air Pollution,
and Health," U. S. Govt. Printing Off., Washington, D.C., 1962, 459 pp.
33. Bostick, W. H., "Experimental Study of Ionized Matter Projected Across
a Magnetic Field," Phys. Rev., 104, 292-299, 1956.
34. Anon., "New Light on 'Flying Saucers'", U. S. News and World Report,
March 20, 1967, p. 16.
35. Cobine, J. D., "Gaseous Conductors - Theory and Engineering Applica-
tions," Dover Publ., New York, 1958, 606 pp.
36. Francis, Gordon, "Ionization Phenomena in Gases," Butterworth Sci.
Publ., London, 1960, 300 pp.
37. Battan, L. J., "Radar Meteorology", Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago,
1959, 161 pp.
38. Vonnegut, B., C. B. Moore, and C. K. Harris, "Stabilization of a
High-voltage Discharge by a Vortex, J. Met., 17, 468-471, 1960.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND UFOS
James E. McDonald*
Presented January 26, 1968, at a General Seminar of the
United Aircraft Research Laboratories, East Hartford, Conn.
Science has, over the past few centuries, erected a strong framework of
fact and theory that successfully compasses much of our experience. On this
impressive and steadily rising framework are supported our ever-broadening
technologies - the kinds of technologies so well represented by the aerospace
technology in which many of you are engaged. These Laboratories here in East
Hartford where we are meeting today exemplify the symbiotic interrelations of
technology and science that mutually support and nurture both of these impor-
tant activities of modern man.
Some Truisms About Science, Technology, and UFOs:
A truism about science that has strong bearing on what I shall be saying
to you concerning the UFO problem is this: Proud as we can be of today's
cumulative record of scientific exploration of the world about us, we cer-
tainly do not yet know all that deserves the name of fundamental scientific
knowledge. Indeed, do we not all subscribe to the spirit of the closing
lines of Alfred Noyes' moving trilogy about science, "The Torchbearers",
"Who that has once seen how truth leads on to truth
,Shall ever dare to set a bound to knowledge?"
A truism about technology that has strong bearing on what I shall be
saying about UFOs today is this: Given time, an edifice of expanding tech-
nology far more impressive than that which we see about us in 1967 could be
erected simply on the basis of the present stock of fundamental scientific
knowledge. The magnitude of the technological edifice that will grow with
the seemingly exponential increase of future scientific discoveries is vastly
greater, unforeseeably greater than our current technology.
A truism about modern man's outlook on nature and on his place therein
that has strong bearing on the present status of the UFO problem is this:
In his centuries-long struggle out of slavery to superstition and fear of the
supernatural, modern science-oriented man has developed subtle but well-
ingrained dispositions to reject observations and reports of the anomalous
and the inexplicable; and that rejection is the more vehement the farther the
observations seem to lie beyond the pale of present-day science.
Finally, a truism about UFOs themselves: Today, as for the past twenty
years of "the UFO era", a majority of scientists tend to view UFOs as a non-
sense problem, one deserving only scorn or silent disdain. Throughout the
entire world, only a small handful of scientists have taken the trouble to
attempt direct checks on the puzzling and recurrent reports of UFO phenomena;
compared with that handful, there has been a large and rather vocal group who
have either explicity or indirectly ridiculed the notion that there might be
unconventional craft-like objects operating over our planet, and their scoff-
ing has been based not upon extensive personal investigations of UFO reports
but primarily upon a priori considerations. Most of this scorn has been
directed against the suggestion that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin
(Ref. 1). Because I shall be referring to this latter idea frequently here,
I shall use ETH to denote the extra-terrestrial hypothesis concerning UFOs.
It will here imply the hypothesis that UFOs are some kind of extraterrestrial
probes or vehicles, products of some technology other than our own.
* Dr. J. E. McDonald is Senior Physicist, Institute of Atmospheric Physics,
and Professor, Department of Meteorology, University of Arizona, Tucson.
2
Other Hypotheses Competitive with the ETH:
Although I shall not here examine them in any detail, it will be well to
list the principal alternative hypotheses for accounting for UFOs. One can
group them usefully into the following eight categories: 1) Hoaxes, fabrica-
tions, and frauds; 2) Hallucinations, mass hysteria, rumor phenomena; 3) Lay
misinterpretations of well-known physical phenomena (meteorological, astro-
nomical, optical, etc.) 4) Advanced technologies (test vehicles, satellites,
re-entry phenomena, etc.) 5) Poorly understood physical phenomena (rare
atmospheric-electrical effects, cloud phenomena, plasmas of natural or tech-
nological origin, etc.) 6) Poorly understood psychological phenomena;
7) Extraterrestrial probes, i.e., the ETH; 8) Messengers of salvation and
occult truth.
Skeptical scientists with limited exposure to the UFO record generally
prefer to think that UFO reports can be explained adequately by some admix-
ture of hypotheses 1, 2, 3, and perhaps occasionally 4. If they have given
the existing UFO literature (Ref. 2) more than cursory inspection, they may
somewhat grudgingly add that possibly hypothesis 5 warrants study, since
something of real scientific interest (perhaps in atmospheric physics, say)
might be learned by a closer examination of selected reports.
I have encountered a substantial number of skeptical laymen, aware that
many UFO reports seem to comprise credible accounts of machine-like objects
maneuvering in our atmosphere in unusual manner, who prefer hypothesis 4.
In 1947 and 1948, when UFO reports first exploded into public attention,
hypothesis 4 was a sensible working hypothesis. However, persons familiar
with the state of present-day technology and with the serious difficulty of
keeping entirely secret any new and massive block of technology of the sort
that would be required to produce craft matching the performance character-
istics of UFOs, do not today seriously consider hypothesis 4. I reject it
categorically as an explanation of any but occasional reports of inherently
small interest (re-entry luminosity, unaccounted sonic booms, sunlit con-
trails, etc.). A recently-published book by Bloecher (see Ref. 2) has strong
bearing on hypothesis 4, since Bloecher has uncovered over 800 UFO sightings
in an approximately two-week period in the summer of 1947, when the "flying
saucers" first received public attention. Many of those reports are essen-
tially similar to 1967 sightings; so one seems forced to say that at least
as early as 1947 (and probably substantially earlier), the UFOs were with us.
To assert that some secret technology was, right after World War II, produc-
ing superlative vehicles still far beyond the known state of propulsion tech-
nology should sound particularly unbelievable here at United Aircraft. I say
that all such ideas centered on hypothesis 4 can be regarded as having only
vanishingly small probability of explaining the UFO puzzle.
Persons subscribing (often fervently) to hypothesis 8 have undoubtedly
contributed in a significant way to discrediting the UFO problem. Cultist
and crackpot ideas abound in a garish "literature" of paperbacks and magazine
articles, mainly aimed at the suggestion that the Space Brothers from Venus,
Mars, and Saturn are here to save us from such hazards as "unbalancing the
atomic state of the upper atmosphere with H-bomb radiations". This all-too-
visible group is frequently identified by scientists as constituting the
totality of those who take seriously the UFO problem. To lump serious
students of the UFO problem together with the cultist-crackpot fringe is an
error that results simply from limiting one's examination to a superficial,
armchair approach to the UFO record. One can, in fact, easily and quickly
separate the crackpots and identify the serious investigators. Regrettably
few scientists have yet taken the trouble to do so (Ref. 3).
3
Mirages and Ball Lightning:
One of the few scientists who have examined a substantial number of UFO
reports and still scorn hypothesis 7 is Dr. Donald H. Menzel, former Director
of Harvard Observatory. His second book (Ref. 4) is chiefly aimed at explain-
ing UFOs in terms of hypothesis 3 and especially in terms of atmospheric-
physical phenomena (refractive anomalies, mirages, meteorological optical
effects, etc.). In a small fraction of all the reports he treats, he adduces
hypotheses 1, 2, or 4; but mainly he stresses hypothesis 3. I have elsewhere
(Ref. 5) cited a number of specific examples of objections to Dr. Menzel's
approach in explaining away UFO reports. A characteristic defect of his
treatment is, in my opinion, his use of arguments that are perhaps qualita-
tively reasonable but definitely not quantitatively reasonable. In other
instances, I would object that he simply ignores essential parts of the sight-
ing in arriving at his conclusion.
In the famous July 24, 1948, Chiles-Whitted sighting over Montgomery,
Alabama, involving two experienced Eastern Airlines pilots, Dr. Menzel insists
on the "meteor" explanation of the fast, glowing object that passed a DC-3 on
near-collision course, despite the clear-cut testimony by both men that, just
as the object passed on their starboard side, it executed an abrupt pull-up.
I have recently interviewed both Chiles and Whitted, confirming this important
point and many others that cannot be squared with the "meteor" explanation
that Dr. Menzel stresses, that Air Force consultant Dr. J. A. Hynek first pro-
posed in 1949, and that Air Force Project Bluebook officially accepted as its
explanation a half-dozen years ago (see, e.g., Ref. 6). Both pilots reiterated
to me, quite recently, that each saw square ports or windows along the side of
the fuselage-shaped object from the rear of which a cherry-red wake emerged,
extending back 50-100 feet aft of the object. To term this a "meteor" is not
even qualitatively reasonable. One can reject the testimony; but reason for-
bids calling the object a meteor.
Another example of both Dr. Menzel's and Project Bluebook's insistence on
explanations that are not even qualitatively reasonable can be found in a
multiple-witness sighting at Vandalia, Ohio on the morning of March 8, 1950.
Despite the fact that the object was sighted in daytime condition by several
pilots in the air (hence viewing the glowing object through a windshield and
viewing it from a moving platform), Dr. Menzel concludes (with Bluebook) that
this was a case of the planet Venus misidentified as a UFO. That ground radar
at Wright Patterson AFB got an echo from the unknown, he explains away as due
to a radar return from an "ice cloud", ignoring the point that only in the
closing portions of the extended observation were clouds present. Two F-51
pilots were scrambled and, by Dr. Menzel's own admission, had no difficulty in
climbing up with the object in steady view (until a cloud deck finally inter-
fered). Anyone who has tried to find Venus and then to keep it located while
engaged in even the slightest distractive activity will surely agree that it
is essentially out of the question for a fighter-pilot to execute flight
maneuvers and keep Venus identified in daytime conditions. Still more quali-
tatively unreasonable is the testimony of one of the commercial airline pilots,
whom I have quite recently located and interviewed. TWA Capt. Dean Miller,
inbound to Vandalia, saw the object dead ahead of his plane, in a direction
not at all matching Venus' sky-location; and, while he had it well in sight,
observed the shiny or glowing elongated object move out from its hovering
position and climb through a ninety-degree arc to another position again
inconsistent with Venus' position in the southeastern sky. The fact that one
military pilot objected to the Bluebook Venus explanation on grounds that he
looked in the same part of the sky the following day and found no such object
as he had pursued in his F-51, Dr. Menzel explains away as follows:
"
weather conditions the first day would have distorted
the image and made it unlike the pale light of Venus
4
occasionally visible in the daytime. It was not visible
at all the following day because of different weather
conditions.
"
Are any quantitative arguments offered to support such a conclusion? No.
As a matter of fact, for the substantial angular altitude of Venus at the
time of this protracted ground-air-radar observation, nothing but direct
smoke- or cloud-obscuration could comprise a "weather condition" that would
significantly affect the difficult task of finding Venus in the daytime sky.
I here add to my previous criticisms of Dr. Menzel's approach to the UFO
problem because he has had what I can only view as a deleterious influence
on scientific thinking about the UFO problem. A scientific colleague of
mine, who was in Russia not many months ago, asked many Russian astronomers
how they felt about the UFO problem and was told by most that Menzel had
explained the whole thing quite satisfactorily. I strongly disagree. Some
of his explanations are acceptable, but the bulk of them do not seem to me
to constitute reasonable assessments of the facts.
Because we always have more to learn, most scientists approaching the
UFO problem for the first time will surely keep hypothesis 5 well in mind.
There may be still-poorly understood atmospheric or even astronomical
phenomena which are being misinterpreted by observers as vehicular objects
of unconventional nature. I agree with the importance of repeatedly assess-
ing this possibility and carefully matching it against the details of well-
reported UFO observations. The serious difficulty with this hypothesis is
posed by the many reports from apparently quite credible witnesses in which
the object seen is entirely too much like a fabricated product of technology
machinelike) to warrant an explanation, say, in terms of some poorly
understood plasma phenomena. I have said before (Ref. 5) that attempts to
account for the core of the UFO problem in terms of corona-discharge and
ball lightning effects represent failure to confront the fact that the bulk
of the important cases are not even remotely like such plasmoids. In my
opinion, Philip J. Klass, one of the editors of Aviation Week, has yet to
advance arguments adequate to support his repeated contentions that UFOs are
simply various types of plasmoids. To be sure, plasma-like glows accompany
many nighttime reports of high credibility, but daytime reports of formations
of disc-like objects flying overhead or pacing aircraft under fair weather
conditions are not as easily subsumed under the plasmoid heading as Klass
would suggest.
A report of seemingly high credibility which, interestingly enough, was
jointly heard from the eye-witnesses by Dr. Menzel, Mr. Klass, and myself,
along with several hundred editors of major American papers (April 22, 1967
session of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, D.C.) is a
case in point. On the afternoon of May 21, 1966, we were told, Mr. William
C. Powell and Miss Muriel McClave were flying in a Luscombe over Willow
Grove, Pennsylvania, at about 4500 ft altitude, with 15-mile visibility.
Powell, the pilot, has 18,000 hours to his flying record (RCAF, AAF, KLM,
and executive-transport work currently). After a flight of Navy jets
climbed out under his wing from Willow Grove NAS, Powell spotted an object
closing on the jets from their rear. Noting absence of a vertical tail-fin,
he watched more closely and saw it make an abrupt (no-bank, no-slewing) turn
of about 150 to 160 degrees and head for his aircraft. He and Miss McClave
watched it approach on seeming collision course at their level, until it
passed their starboard wing at a distance Powell put at perhaps 100 yards.
Powell said, "It was just like looking at a Cadillac." The object, no
Cadillac, was described by both as a domed disc, of diameter 30 to 40 feet,
with a bright white dome on a red discoid base. One can reject the testi-
mony here, of course; but it would not seem reasonable to try to account for
this as some refraction anomaly or other aberration of meteorological optics,
5
nor is it reasonable to assert that here was some peculiar fair-weather
variant of ball lightning. Examples equally difficult to force into those
pigeonholes are very easily multiplied, but the time at my disposal here
precludes the kind of extensive recapitulation of cases that can be adduced
in support of my position (see refs. 2 and 5 for more examples).
I have now made brief comments about all of the listed hypotheses except
6, the psychological hypothesis. Having discussed this one with many psy-
chologists, I am forced to the conclusion that it is quite unlikely that UFO
reports will prove to be some globally-epidemic wave of hallucination or
psychosis, interesting and significant as this would be. I shall not here
say more about it, despite having given it much thought.
My list of eight hypotheses is not exhaustive because other hypotheses
still more bizarre than, say, numbers 7 or 8 can be proposed (time-travel,
hidden terrestrial societies, mad millionaires with secret laboratories,
etc.). However, those eight cover the most commonly proposed ideas advanced
by persons seeking to explain the enigma of the UFOs, and perhaps I have now
offered adequate suggestion of why I reject most of those.
The Official Air Force Project Bluebook Position:
Since I have presented a fairly long discussion of the Air Force position
and the history of its handling of the UFO problem elsewhere (Ref. 5), I shall
not do more than summarize here. As I studied the Air Force record, it ap-
peared to me that, following an important turning point of 1953 (Robertson
Panel), the official objective has been to debunk "flying saucers" as a non-
sense problem that imposes a bothersome public relations burden on the Air
Force. From visits to Wright-Patterson AFB and discussions with a number of
persons affiliated with Project Bluebook, I conclude that only abysmally
limited scientific competence has been brought to the study of UFOs within
Air Force circles in the past fifteen years. Unfortunately, during all this
time, the scientific community and the public were repeatedly assured that
substantial scientific talent was being used in Air Force UFO studies. This
was untrue, and I believe that it has been scientifically disastrous to UFO
studies that this image was steadfastly built up.
Jerome Stanton, in a valuable analysis of the history of the UFO problem
(Ref. 7), speaks of the way in which the Air Force "created the impression
that a scientific investigation of UFOs was going on when in fact nothing of
the kind was being done.' Stanton asserts that "
until
the
well-publicized
sightings of 1965 and 1966, no serious effort to do more than narrow down the
residue of unknowns to as small a percentage as possible appears to have been
made." I would feel obliged to comment that what he calls "serious effort"
is not to be confused with "competent scientific effort"; to me, the record
reveals only a rather low-powered, low-priority whitewash job by a very tiny
project (three persons: officer, sergeant, secretary, as of 1966 when I
visited Bluebook). Stanton, after reviewing a few instancesof the many out-
rageously unscientific UFO evaluations that Bluebook has issued over past
years
asks:
What is the motive for identifications so absurd that they
fool no one, destroy public confidence, and insult and anger the people who
report such things in good faith?" He rejects, as do I, the suggestion that
the Air Force knows the UFOs are extraterrestrial and are trying to avoid
public panic. He concludes, as I have on basis of all evidence I have seen
to date, that we confront here no grand conspiracy, but rather an incompe-
tently handled operation devoid of scientific talent.
Another journalist who has, like Stanton, recently surveyed UFO history,
comes up with a rather different conclusion. In another one of the few valu-
able UFO books to appear in a recent flood of bad ones, Mort Young (Ref. 6)
prefers the "grand conspiracy" hypothesis. He states that, "the Government
is trying to keep flying saucers out of the realm of serious, public
6
discussion," and presents a number of cases which, I agree, constitute a form
of coverup. Where I would (at present) disagree with Young is in his equat-
ing the sum of many such coverups to a "grand conspiracy". Rather, I remain
on record as regarding them as just a lot of little coverups of the type that
can become all too common in a military milieu, especially when a highly vis-
ible official position would be embarrassed by a policy of candor.
The UFO problem has been so badly mishandled, for so many years, by
Project Bluebook that it is almost easier to imagine this part of a grand
design of some high-level intelligence agency than to accept the conclusion
that any program could possibly be handled so ineptly. I have to concede a
point to those who criticize my position when they stress, "It's hard to
imagine that they could be that incompetent." Readers unfamiliar with UFO
history cannot possibly appreciate the full force of that argument against
what I nevertheless defend as the "grand foulup" alternative to the "grand
conspiracy" hypothesis for interpreting official Bluebook handling of the
UFO problem.
For the record, let me reiterate (see Ref. 5) that I have never been dog-
matic about insisting the "grand foulup" theory, and I have never scoffed at
those knowledgeable students of the UFO problem who defend the only seemingly
sensible alternative, "grand conspiracy." The existence of repeated small (?)
UFO coverups so confuses the issue that one cannot be certain. The group
which I regard as having made by far the most significant contribution toward
past clarification of the UFO question, the National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP, Washington, D.C.), has always inclined toward the
grand conspiracy theory. Before anyone casually pooh-poohs their position,
he will do well to make himself aware of the body of evidence upon which NICAP
has based its preference for that theory. I have attempted to examine much of
that evidence and can only say that it is impressive, puzzling, and argues
caution in defense of the grand foulup interpretation. Yet, to repeat, I
still see a larger fraction of the total visible evidence explained as
foulup than as high-level coverup. It is a big question, and I cannot do much
more in this limited space towards elaborating my position than the above.
For deserved emphasis, I wish to repeat a statement that I made to the
American Society of Newspaper Editors (Ref. 5) on the grand conspiracy theory:
If that theory does in fact prove to be correct, that is, if we ultimately
learn that for the past fifteen or more years it has been accepted at some
high level in our intelligence machinery that UFOs are extraterrestrial sur-
veillance devices, while a studied effort has been maintained to conceal that
from domestic and foreign scientific view, then I shall be only one of an
outraged body of scientists throughout the world who will ask how a decision
to conceal such information from the world scientific community could have
been arrogated to itself by any national intelligence or military organiza-
tion. I have made this same statement before a number of scientific audiences
in recent months, and I am deeply troubled to find that more than a few who
have heard it have taken the trouble to tell me that I am naive if I think
that such deception is out of the question. I do not wish here to pursue
further this line of thought, important as it is in the minds of all who have
diligently examined the UFO evidence; to dwell too long on these points before
a group not already thoroughly familiar with the incredible history of the UFO
problem is to invite criticism of forgetting the primary scientific issues at
stake. Just let one remark summarize: that one of the by-products of exten-
sive study of the UFO record is a puzzled preoccupation with the coverup vs.
foulup question.
7
Evidence For and Against the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis:
The ETH seems, of course, absurdly improbable on both first and second
inspection. One has two choices: intrasolar-system origin, or origin in a
planetary system of some distant star. The cultist easily brings in his
spaceships from Venus, Mars, Saturn, and sometimes even Jupiter and Neptune,
and does not bat an eye as he relates being told by the Space Brothers that
Venus has cities and streets, fields and farms, running rivers and streams,
timbered hills - the works. However, scientists aware of the growing body
of knowledge concerning conditions on the other planets of the solar system
find it difficult to imagine that a high technology could possibly exist on
any other planet of our solar system, utterly fascinating as such a concep-
tion might be.
That's too bad, since it crowds into a tight corner the supporter of the
ETH. He is, quite properly, confronted with the challenge to come up with
some answer as to how the UFOs cross the vast reaches of interstellar space
in reasonable intervals of time. In that challenge lies the heart, I believe,
of most present scientific rejection of the ETH - a seemingly insuperable pro-
pulsion problem. Markowitz (Ref. 1) has recently made much of this, and
earlier Purcell and others have examined the problem with rather discouraging
results.
My own inclination (supported by months of study of the UFO evidence) is
to appeal to the implications of that boundless future of science and tech-
nology that we seem to be able to discern as an extrapolation of our own
present-day progress. What seemed absurdly impossible a century ago, we do
today and take it for granted. A few weeks before the Wrights flew, noted
astronomer Simon Newcomb published an article showing why heavier-than-air
flight by man was out of the question. His error was simple: he failed to
reckon with the possibility that engines of sufficiently low weight-to-power
ratio would be produced; he must have known only of Hiram Maxim's monstros-
ities. The Wrights got off the ground at Kitty Hawk with an engine of
15 lb/hp; Manley, Langley's assistant, had one operating at about the same
time with a ratio of only 3.6 lb/hp. By World War II that crucial ratio was
driven below 1.0 lb/hp. And as the ratio went down, absolute thrust ratings
went up; imagine how Newcomb's aplomb would have been shattered to witness a
thrust-test on a Pratt & Whitney turbojet in the 50,000-lb class, only one
human lifetime later than his "conclusive" 1903 analysis.
Propulsion is indeed very much at the heart of the ETH puzzle. So com-
pare Goddard's 1935 record of a rocket ascent to a then-impressive 7500-ft
altitude with our rocket-technology 30 years later - and then reflect that,
broadly speaking, this progress was made on the basis of scientific funda-
mentals already available well before 1935. That is, this stunning gain came
without any truly new scientific insights, "merely" through improvements in
innumerable contributing technologies. When one reflects a bit along these
lines, and recalls that, months after the first success at Kitty Hawk, Dayton
newspapers refused to run any stories about all those silly rumors that two
brothers were actually flying a machine along the interurban line on the out-
skirts of town (it just didn't make sense), then one is disinclined to be
overpowered by arguments of those who, like Markowitz, would reject the ETH
on grounds that nothing in our existing propulsion technology and nothing in
our currently foreseeable technology makes "sense" out of the notion of inter-
stellar travel. To be sure, we don't yet have any red hot ideas for getting
out to Tau Ceti; but the pace and tempo of our own technology ought to give
pause to those who would insist that there are no Tau Cetians who can do that
which we still regard impossible.
I like to put it in this way: Imagine the consternation, the sheer dis-
belief of a Solomon Islander who, with only the most shadowy prior contact
8
with twentieth-century industrial-scientific technology, suddenly found him-
self witness to a 1942 amphibious invasion. How could the mind of one still
in the Stone Age encompass arrival of dozens of enormous ships of all shapes,
from which fire, smoke and unpleasant crashing noises spewed, and from some
of which still other smaller ships were discharged, only to have the latter
run up on the beach and disgorge a bewildering variety of men and moving
devices out of which more noise and fire came. Imagine his puzzlement to
then see dozens of aircraft move over, drop bombs, strafe, and engage in
intricate air combat with still other aircraft, the like of which we are to
here imagine he has never before seen. One can pursue this metaphor much
farther, obviously, and I believe it is a good exercise for those inclined to
arch skepticism about UFOs. For we may be like the Solomon Island Stoneager
relative to the bewildering variety and number of UFOs that seem to be cred-
ibly reported as operating in our environment. We cannot understand how any
society could produce such devices, accomplish such feats, display as many
craft of such unprecedented performance characteristics, and do things that
to us border on the miraculous. But remembering the Solomons invasion may
give us perspective on our own present situation; and thinking about how our
own technology has forged ahead in mere decades may give us second thoughts
about Science, Technology, and UFOs.
So What? And So Where Next?
So What? I'm glad to report that I have been asked that by only one or
two scientists out of the hundreds to whom I have been speaking about UFOs in
the past year or so. One ought not need to emphasize that if the ETH is cor-
rect, it would constitute one of the most startling scientific revelations of
all times. (Scientists need not look for Nobel prize material herein; the
priority credit for judiciously arriving at and publishing the ETH concept
appears assignable to writer Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe; his 1950 journal of pub-
lication was True Magazine!)
Not only would science move ahead enormously, once it got over what can
now only be predicted as a dreadful shock of recognition, if the ETH is cor-
rect, but also the technological gains that could accrue from contact with
and study of a technological society far beyond ours could be enormous. I
cannot refrain from smiling a bit at some of the arguments made in recent
years in support of efforts at interstellar communication, arguments center-
ing around what I like to call the "interstellar brain drain", the leap ahead
we'd enjoy if we could make radio- or other remote-contact with high civili-
zations far out in the galaxy. But, in principle, that argument makes good
sense; doubters can review some facets of it in Cameron's book (Ref. 8).
Still, there might be other consequences of a full confrontation of the
UFO problem, consequences unforeseeable and even fraught with hazard to us
all. I like to think not; and twenty-plus years of evidence provides a good
deal of reassurance, I believe. Freeman Dyson has waved aside unwarranted
optimism about the benevolence of advanced technologies and has remarked that,
for all we know, technology may be a cancer sweeping across the Galaxy.
Possibly; but I'm glad to report that a close look at the UFO evidence does
not suggest that we are about to be given an exposure to such a virus.
What a closer look at the UFO evidence does, however, suggest is this:
Current scientific attitudes towards the UFO problem must be radically
altered. We must stop smugly laughing at "all those nuts" who see UFOs,
stop accepting hollow assurances from the official agency that has so long
and SO incredibly mishandled the UFO problem, and stop assuming that the very
idea of our being under extraterrestrial surveillance is so amusingly absurd.
In past months, I have been at most of the Washington agencies one might
expect to take a new, hard look at UFOs. To sum up briefly my results -
9
zero-point-zero. Despite NASA's claim that it has keyed its whole space
program to the "search for Life in space", NASA seems not to be even slightly
interested in looking into the UFO problem. Other science-oriented agencies
may see subtle political hazards in moving into the UFO problem. Congress
seems indisposed to initiate any action. And at every turn one hears, "Wait
till Colorado makes its report."
The Condon Committee:
After the 1965 summer wave of sightings and a long series of editorial
criticism (Refs. 5, 7), the Air Force took steps to do something about UFOs.
I have talked with enough persons directly and indirectly associated with the
sequence of events that led from that August, 1965, epoch to the October,
1966, announcement of a $300, project at the University of Colorado, to
feel entirely confident in saying that public relations difficulties, not
scientific considerations, were of dominant importance in the establishment
of the project now headed at Colorado by Dr. E. U. Condon.
Frankly, my early hopes that the Condon Committee would work vigorously
and open-mindedly to unravel the UFO problem have dimmed very considerably
as time has gone by. This is not the place to elaborate in detail my growing
pessimism; but I must say, candidly, that I no longer view Dr. Condon's
approach as either scientifically vigorous or scientifically very open-minded.
Dr. Condon has stated directly to me that he is not himself interested in
doing any interviewing of the witnesses in the classic cases which have led
to the very problem he took on. And he has repeatedly indicated an almost
whimsical preoccupation with the crackpot and cultist aspects of the UFO
problem. I submit that one can easily and with confidence make a very effec-
tive separation of the irrelevant crackpot material from that warranting
scientific attention; hence, I find it difficult to justify Dr. Condon's
interest in the crackpot aspects to exclusion of consideration of reports of
pilots, scientists, engineers, law enforcement officers, and all the other
credible witnesses whose testimony has been so impressive to most who have
been willing to examine it at first hand.
I had hopes that the Condon Committee would prove a turning point in
scientific confrontation of the UFO problem, and I fully understand how easy
it is in Washington to say, "Let's wait for Colorado." It makes sense; but
only in Washington - not in those circles where a large volume of UFO evidence
has already been weighed. In such circles, the present situation appears
gloomy because of Dr. Condon's publicly expressed attitudes.
There are issues so sensitive here that I cannot fully discuss them in
the present context. But a basic prerequisite seems now to get some entirely
new study underway, entirely removed from sponsorship by any of the agencies
that have had any past responsibility for UFO studies. I do not here cry,
"Whitewash!" I do not see whitewashing underway. I see, instead, a lot of
persons whose minds have long been made up about UFOs, going through motions
that are not scientifically motivated, and moving in directions that do not
augur well for early clarification of the UFO problem.
The situation is gloomy enough that there are days when, despite my hav-
ing been driven by my studies ever farther towards support of the ETH, with
all of its profound implications, I almost wish someone would come along and
show conclusively that UFOs are just "something seen by a lot of nuts,"
nothing more. Then I could forget the whole thing and get back to what I was
working on when I decided, in the spring of 1966, to take my first close look
at the full history of the UFO problem. But that hope, I know, is futile.
The evidence is just not that weak and vulnerable. Quite the opposite.
10
Hence, for the moment, the best plea I can make to you, as fellow-
scientists, is to try to do as a number of us have, take a closer look at
the UFO evidence and decide for yourselves. Evidently the need is for a
much greater weight of scientific opinion pleading for a vigorous investi-
gation backed by ample resources. I have elsewhere indicated some of the
approaches that I think need to be used (Ref. 5); at the moment, the problem
seems to be slipping back to the prior level of convincing the appropriate
agencies and persons in Washington that there really is a problem here. The
latter task was the one task many of us hoped Dr. Condon would perform when
he took on the UFO study. Instead, he appears to be deepening the problem
by virtue of his evidently slight interest in the whole business.
A Longer-Range View:
After about eighteen months of study and direct interviewing of about
three hundred witnesses in important UFO cases, I can say to you that I see
the UFO problem as one of extraordinary scientific importance.
I regard the ETH as the most probable hypothesis to explain the UFO
evidence. To go from that expression of hypothesis-preference to a position
of claiming adequate proof is no small step, needless to say. That step will
not be taken until quite large financial resources are behind monitoring and
observational programs, supported by budgets that will probably dwarf the
present NASA budgets. And that step will not be taken until large numbers
of scientists in many disciplines begin to confront the enormously intriguing
questions posed by the UFOs. If my remarks to you today serve in any small
measure to increase the number of scientists and engineers seriously con-
cerned with the UFO problem, I shall consider my time well spent.
References and Notes
1. Markowitz, W., Science, 157, 1274, 1967. Markowitz, in concluding,
expressed his fear that "21st-century science will contemplate with
wonder the fact that, in an age of science such as ours, the U. S. Air
Force was required to sponsor repeated studies of UFOs. Dr. Edward U.
Condon, director of a current UFO investigation sponsored by the U. S.
Air Force, in an interview of Sept. 27, 1967, with the Rocky Mountain
News, was quoted as agreeing in general with Markowitz, and more speci-
fically paraphrased Markowitz by saying that "the 21st century may die
laughing (when it looks back on the many things we have done). This
(the Colorado UFO study) may be one." He stated, "I'm almost inclined
to think such studies ought to be discontinued unless someone comes up
with a new idea on how to approach the problem."
2. The totality of UFO "literature" includes much that is scientifically
worthless. I regard as the outstanding contribution to the more solid
UFO literature The UFO Evidence, edited by R. H. Hall, and published
(1964) by NICAP, 1536 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20036.
Another very recent addition to the UFO literature that deserves wide
study is a book by T. R. Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, also
available from NICAP. Recent, useful books by Stanton and Young are
cited below. An earlier and quite significant reference is E. J.
Ruppelt's Report on the Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday, 1956
(currently available as an Ace paperback). A useful source on a selec-
tion of about 160 interesting cases is The Reference for Outstanding UFO
Sighting Reports, available from UFOIRC, Box 57, Riderwood, Maryland,
21139. Others could be cited, but the main point stressed here is that
there do exist references from which a reliable estimate of the nature
of the UFO problem may be drawn.
11
3. Predisposition to identify the entire UFO problem with the crackpot
aspects was particularly well-documented in the views expressed by a
number of scientists interviewed as part of an hour-long program pro-
duced in the "CBS Reports" series, on May 10, 1966, titled "UFO:
Friend, Foe or Fantasy." The viewer could only conclude from this
program that scientists believe that UFOs are seen and discussed almost
entirely by persons who have "a need for miracles", a "need to believe".
My own investigative experience runs exactly counter to this: I have
found that the "believers" are hardly interested at all in UFO reports
per se, not needing them to back up their firm convictions. And by
contrast, the impressive reports come from responsible persons whose
typical reluctance to come forward and report what they have seen
results from concern that they in no way be confused with such
"believers." Scientists who condemn UFO witnesses as "believers"
deserve strong criticism for their non-scientific behavior!
4. Menzel, D. H., The World of Flying Saucers, Doubleday, Garden City, New
York, 1963. The book is subtitled, "A Scientific Examination of a Major
Myth of the Space Age.
5. McDonald, J. E., UFOs - Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times? pre-
sented to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, D.C.,
April 22, 1967. Copies of this presentation have been reproduced for
sale by UFORI (formerly Pittsburgh Subcommittee of NICAP), Suite 311,
508 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15219. The ASNE material
is combined with material presented to the Outer Space Affairs Group of
the United Nations and material presented to the District of Columbia
Chapter, American Meteorological Society by the same writer. Inquiries
should be sent to the indicated address.
6. Young, Mort, UFO: Top Secret, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1967 (paper-
back).
7. Stanton, L. Jerome, Flying Saucers: Hoax or Reality, Belmont Books,
New York, 1966 (paperback).
8. Cameron, A. J. W., Interstellar Communication, W. A. Benjamin, Inc.,
New York, 1963.
ADDENDUM
In the discussion following the UARL presentation on 1/26/68, a number
of floor-questions asked what specific scientific programs or investigations
the speaker would recommend to achieve clarification of the UFO problem. As
indicated, a number of such recommendations are already presented in Ref. 5
above. A brief summary of possible scientific investigations is appended
below for completeness.
1. As someone has observed, the most important step in solving any problem
is to recognize that there is a problem. The scientific community will take
this step only when a substantial number of scientists have investigated
enough past and current UFO reports to sense that (a) an astonishingly large
body of observations by credible observers points to the presence of entirely
unconventional machine-like objects maneuvering in our global airspace,
(b) that this has been occurring for more than 20 years, and (c) that despite
all official assurances, there has never been any substantial scientific
examination of this body of observations. One might hope that the Condon
Committee will accomplish this first step, though basis for optimism thereon
seems to be diminishing.
12
2. Assuming accomplishment of Step 1, a first escalation of scientific
effort would be justified. A number of task groups should be created to
investigate certain specific questions: (a) An extremely intensive examina-
tion should be made, on an international basis, of all known sighting reports
from all accessible parts of the world. I would estimate that we probably
know of less than ten per cent of all sightings, due to the "ridicule lid"
holding them below the level of visibility. This lid will immediately dis-
appear upon accomplishment of Step 1, with the result that an order-of-magni-
tude increase in reports may be expected to come to the surface almost
immediately. As with past reports, not all will be significant. However,
by securing full cooperation of press and other media, rapid clarification
of what constitutes a worthless report, what constitutes a significant report
can very quickly be communicated to persons in most of the countries of the
world. Such an educational program poses no intrinsic problems, although it
would require a degree of cooperation between mass media and scientists that
does not now exist with respect to UFOs. Step 1 being accomplished, that
degree of cooperation would appear instantly, in my opinion. (b) In order
to undertake the first adequate quantitative analysis of significant patterns
of movements and appearances of UFOs over the globe, computer processing of
the suddenly increased body of available reports would be necessary. Design
of Step 2a would have to be made with careful regard to Step 2b, to insure
effective data-handling and data-retrieval of the large body of observational
material that would have to be processed. At the start (first few months
only), limitations of number of scientists with adequate familiarity with the
UFO problem would be a handicap. My own experience leads me to suggest that
a crash-training program could be confined to a period of at most two to
three months for the personnel doing the design work for Steps 2a and 2b.
Fortunately, as stressed in Ref. 2 above, there does, in fact, exist a quite
usable UFO literature upon which to draw in this initial training effort.
Once new reporting procedures and reporting questionnaires were designed for
compatibility with adequate data-processing, something like three or four
hundred scientists in the physical and social sciences could be engaged in
Steps 2a and 2b in a number of investigative centers distributed around the
world. (c) Concurrently, special investigative groups, not primarily con-
cerned with interviewing or data-processing, should attack selected questions
that appear to be of high priority. For example, the moot point of UFO dis-
turbances in large power systems clearly warrants exceedingly careful scrutiny.
I know of about a dozen instances in which there seems to be evidence for such
disturbances; there is much more evidence indicating frequent presence of UFOs
near power facilities without any apparent system-disturbances. The fact that
a number of UFO observations accompanied the Northeast Blackout of Nov. 9,
1965, is not widely known; that many smaller-scale electrical disturbances
appear to have accompanied close passage of a UFO is also not generally appre-
ciated. Engineers and physicists should pursue this question as one that
might involve "hazard considerations"; their objective would be to reject or
otherwise pass on the current suspicion of some students of the UFO problem
that a potentially serious problem could exist in this area. Secondly, the
large category of automobile-stopping cases warrants intensive study by
engineers and physicists to try to draw from available reports implications
for the possible mechanism of this frequent process. Magnetic effects come
under serious suspicion here, though it is difficult to propose any single
adequate mechanism at present. Thirdly, the long-rumored but only superfi-
cially studied cases of aircraft-interferences might be studied by persons
with suitable backgrounds, given completely free entry into all necessary
files. Fourthly, historians of various specialties should be urged to begin
critical review of pre-1900 sightings that seem to bear provocative similarity
to current sightings. The important "airship episode" of 1896-7 constitutes
only a single such topic warranting the most careful study. Much amateur
13
speculation on pre-1800 sightings is, at present, worthless; scholarly scru-
tiny of this curious body of early reports might, in light of new insights
gained from other parts of the escalated UFO studies, shed new and important
light on whether the UFO phenomena have been going on for much more than a
few decades. This has potentially important bearing on "hazard considera-
tions", for obvious reasons. Fifthly, psychologists and psychiatrists should
focus attention on the substantial subgroup of reports (usually skirted by
physical scientists such as myself) in which seemingly credible and stable
observers have reported paranormal psychological experiences in conjunction
with UFO observations. Details will be skirted here, in keeping with my
usual unwillingness to become too specific on this matter lying well outside
my own area of competence. Sixthly, the "occupant problem" should be search-
ingly explored by psychologists and biologists, armed with the most complete
available assemblage of reports from all parts of the globe concerning
observers who have reported seeing one or another type of "creature", "entity",
"humanoid", etc., emerge from UFOs. At present, this subset of UFO reports
is getting essentially no solid scientific attention. Accomplishment of
Step 1 would immediately push this subset into a position of prominent impor-
tance. I, myself, can only say that I am deeply puzzled by the large number
of "occupant" reports of which I now have knowledge. I make no present judg-
ment, however, as to their significance. (In addition to the cited special
programs, a number of others would be needed, but will be omitted here.)
3. Towards the end of the time-period needed to carry out Steps 2a, 2b, and
2c, certain follow-on efforts would probably be undertaken. Step 3a would be
the deployment on a global basis of an adequate network of new UFO-sensors,
designed on the basis of information assembled in previous steps of the
escalating UFO program. Past evidence points conclusively to the fact that
UFOs can be tracked, at least under some conditions, on radar. We already
have radar equipment all over the globe. Special study groups would review
all available past data on radar-sightings to suggest best procedures for
collecting far more complete radar data from existing gear. On the basis of
that study, plus continuing efforts, new electromagnetic sensing devices
should be conceived and deployed. There is on record a wide range of electro-
magnetic disturbances accompanying close passage of UFOs (see Ref. 5, for
examples). Systematic searching with broad-band EM sensors, with frequency-
scanning devices covering the full radio spectrum, and with both existing and
specially-designed magnetometers could, with adequate support, rapidly increase
our knowledge of how to secure new types of objective (rather than subjective)
instrumental (rather than anecdotal) data on the movements of UFOs. In addi-
tion, optical and spectroscopic techniques of observing UFOs would be devel-
oped. It is often objected that we already have many networks of radar and
optical observing devices, but close examination of how they are set up almost
invariably reveals that built into such systems is a sharp selectivity, with
provisions to reject all "tracks" not satisfying pre-set criteria. Such
selectivity is almost indispensable in monitoring systems to avoid being
flooded with unwanted data. Our present technologies in all these areas are
capable of an extremely rapid improvement over the present zero-level effort
in remote-sensing of UFOs. Much of the initial design discussions aimed at
Step 3 could and should begin soon after Steps 2 are set in motion, possibly
sooner. From the results of Step 3 would come the first reliable basis for
searching for significant patterns of UFO movements. Obviously, the search
for such patterns holds high priority in solving the UFO mystery.
4. Attempts at communication, possibly in entirely novel manner not now under
consideration even by students of the UFO problem, should be a goal of earlier
studies. Interestingly, there do already exist credible reports of "communi-
cation", but on a level so technologically primitive as to do injustice to
14
terrestrial science. That "response" does seem to have been obtained in a
few instances is intriguing. But far more elaborate techniques and systems
are easy to imagine. Social scientists, however, need to ponder certain
"hazard considerations" before Step 4 is set in motion, so there is little
point in attempting more specific proposals here. Along with efforts towards
communication should go extensive studies aimed at elucidating propulsion
techniques and a host of other currently inexplicable "performance features"
of UFOs.
The above suggestions are intended only to indicate a bit more specif-
ically the kinds of scientific efforts that one might envisage should the
"UFO problem" be generally recognized as a scientific problem rather than
the nonsense problem that it has been regarded for the past two decades.
To accomplish Steps 1 and 2 might require an international-total
expenditure of a few tens of millions of dollars, say the price of an SST
or a few large bombers or one small naval vessel. To go on to Steps 3 and 4
would, of course, involve greater total expenditures, but still at a level
small compared with the international-total funding of present space programs.
Ultimately, if we are indeed under some form of extraterrestrial surveillance,
global expenditures at the level of billions of U. S. dollars per year would
become a small price to pay for clarification of such a profoundly important
issue.
The problem of the moment, however, is to see that there is a UFO
problem.
10
ni
IIs
E
B
AF Approves
Quick, Deep
fale
UFO Studies
WASHINGTON (AP)-The Air
Force intends to contract with
a few selected universities to
investigate promptly and in
depth certain sightings of uni-
in
UPI-159
(UFO)
1 WASHINGT ON--THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE WILL QUIZ AIR FORCE
OFFICIALS NEXT WEEK ON THE RECENT WAVE OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT
SIGHTINGS, IT WAS ANNOUNCED TODAY.
COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN L. MENDEL RIVERS, D-SeCe, DIRECTED AIR FORCE
SECRETARY HAROLD BROWN AND GEN. JOHN P. MCCONNELL, AIR FORCE CHIEF
OF STAFF, TO COME PREPARED TO DISCUSS THE SIGHTINGS WITH THE PANEL
ON TUESDAY.
THE SESSION, WHICH WILL BE CLOSED, IS A REGULARLY SCHEDULED PART OF
THE COMMITTEE'S ANNUAL HEARINGS ON THE NATION'S MILITARY "POSTURE."
BROWN AND MCCONNELL APPEARED TODAY AND HAD PLANNED TO COME
BACK TUESDAY. RIVERS TOLD THEM THAT WHEN THEY DO THEY SHOULD BRING WITH
THEM OFFICIALS SPECIALIZING ON UFO'S.
3/31--WM356PES
CPI-164
ADD UFO, WASHINGTON (UPI-159)
THE COMMITTEE'S ACTION WAS PARTIALLY IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST BY
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER GERALD FORD, MICH., THAT EITHER THE ARMED
SERVICES COMMITTEE OR THE SPACE COMMITTEE CONDUCT A FULL FLEDGED
INVESTIGATION OF THE SIGHTINGS.
SPACE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN GEORGE MILLER, D-CALIF., SAID IF ANY
INVESTIGATIONS PANEL. TO BE HELD IT SHOULD BE DONE BY THE ARMED SERVICES
ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE MEMBERS STRESSED THAT TUESDAY'S SESSION
WAS IN NO WAY TO BE CONSTRUED AS AN INVESTIGATION.
"WE JUST WANT TO TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT,' SAID ONE.
3/31 --WM412PES
Chrinan Trubbe Hearings
Jro, E.Karth
at Reat time in
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comm. but nothing released
Kasth made rept the full
to to public Q
Hearing were congle unperblieized
goral for The F
Bare Secret
House Quiz
on 'Saucers'
By J.F. TER HORST
Chief of Our Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, April 2.
-A secret investigation of
unidentified flying objects
(UFOS) was conducted five
years ago by the House Sci-
ence and Astronautics Com-
mittee.
The results never were made
public.
No printed record of the
"hearing" was made and there
are no secretarial minutes.
But according to the man
who conducted the inquiry,
"Those Fantastic Flying
Saucers," the first of two
articles by Jean Pearson,
is in the Passing Show Sec-
tion (Section H) today.
Rep. Joseph E. Karth, Minne-
sota Democrat:
"I am absolutely convinced
there are no objects visiting
earth from other planets.
"I am also convinced that
people are not seeing the re
sults of any exotic research
work bearing a top-secret label
"I was convinced then ano
I am now."
HEARD SPECIALISTS
The convincing of Karth wa:
done by Air Force specialist
on UFO manifestations. Ai
Force representatives were th
only witnesses he interrogated
Karth said.
Karth said he made "a ful
report" to the committee chair
man, the late Rep. Overto:
Brooks, Louisiana Democrat.
Brooks requested Karth t
give the report to the full com
mittee.
"And that's what I did," h
told The Detroit News.
(Concluded on Page 8A)
UFO's
THE NATURE, ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF SPACE PEOPLE
AND THEIR MYSTERIOUS FLYING SHIPS
The COSMIC STUDY CENTER was organized by a group of adult students, who
are gifted with extra-sensory or super-physical perception, for the purpose of
Cosmological and Metaphysical research. We investigate fascinating phenomena
encountered in the invisible realms of the Cosmos, the existence of which is
acknowledged by physicists but the aspects of which extend beyond the field of
Science.
One of our projects has been an investigation of the nature and origin of
Unidentified Flying Objects, which are still mysterious to many, even though
they are often seen in our skies and have been visiting the Earth at various
times and places down through the ages.
Dr. Carl Sagan, a Harvard University astronomer, states that "The statistics
we now have on the universe suggest that the Earth has been visited many times
by representatives from various galactic civilizations." Myths and legends of
ancient cultures have recorded varied descriptions of UFO sightings similar to
those of this Century. Such historical sightings were the prelude to today's
world-wide reports of the visits of Flying Saucers to all parts of our planet.
In addition to the invisible matter here on Earth, such as air and gas, our
studies support the scientific view that matter, also, exists in finer degrees
of density likewise invisible to our physical eyes, and that each density vi-
brates at a different frequency or velocity--the most dense having the slowest
and the least dense the fastest rate of vibration. Only the very dense Earth,
having the slowest vibratory rate, is visible to our 3-D human eyes, but the
others are just as real to the beings who inhabit them as our physical surround-
ings are to us.
In the evolutionary process of growth, all planets and their inhabitants
evolve successively from life in one degree of awareness to that of the next
higher degree of consciousness. According to our research, human life on the
planets of our Solar System, with the exception of Earth, has progressed to
higher planes of existence, which are composed of finer degrees of matter invis-
ible to our physical sight.
Our research shows that there are on other planets beings that we cannot
see. This explains why the recent US spaceship that flew by Mars took pictures
that did not show any signs of human life on its surface. Recently, there was
a newspaper article that referred to past life on Mars. The fact that our
scientists have reached the conclusion that these other planets do not bear
human life is due to their lack of knowledge that the inhabitants have already
evolved to a higher plane of existence and so cannot be seen by most Earth peo-
ple. Nevertheless they are there functioning at a faster rate of vibration than
that of our scientists who, if they land there, will find only the remnants of
what they call a former civilization. This explains why Flying Saucers are
misunderstood and why there is no visible human life on Mars although it is said
that space ships come from Mars, Venus and other planets of our Solar System and
from other Solar Systems as well.
The physical realm contains seven states or degrees of matter. We Earth
people exist in all seven, but we are conscious only of the three lower states
known as solids, liquids, and gases, The Space People of other planets exist in
the four higher degrees of physical matter but also can function in the three
lower levels. The next evolutionary step for the inhabitants of Planet Earth
will be to raise their consciousness out of the lower into the higher degrees of
the physical plane, as the inhabitants of other planets of our Solar System have
already done.
An interesting point is that people functioning in the higher phases of
life have the ability to see into the lower ones, but people on the Earth plane
do not have the ability with normal physical sight to see into the higher phases.
However, people with clairvoyant ability can see into these other realms, and
can observe other people living there.
c 1966 Clo Diroll
7835 Northdown Road, Alexandria, Va.
Phone - SO 5-7982
-2-
Since life on each higher plane is known to function at a faster rate of
vibration than that of the one next below it, beings who originate on these
higher planes normally function at a faster vibratory rate than that of the
Earth's people. So, in order to make their spacecraft and themselves visible
to us, it is necessary for them to lower their rate of vibration or frequency
to synchronize with ours. This is what occurs at the time Flying Saucers sud-
denly appear within our octave of sight. Conversely, when they disappear from
our range of vision, they simply increase their rate of vibration until their
original vibratory rate is resumed. In other words, before we Earth people
can be contacted by more highly developed interplanetary Space People, their
rate of vibration must be lowered to ours, or ours raised to theirs.
How do we know that they have to lower their vibratory rates? This would
necessarily be true because our physical eyes do not have the ability to see
into these higher frequencies. A few people can do this because they have
developed the faculty known as clairvoyance.
Some of the people, who report they have ridden in space ships, may have
done this while they were in the sleep state. In that instance, the three-
dimensional person took the ride in his higher dimensional body. You see, we
co-exist in both a physical body and a spiritual body. The Center's research
shows that the Real Self resides in the fourth-dimensional world in another
body, a finer body in which we travel while we are asleep when the physical
body is motionless. We have found that this body is, also, the same one in
which we will function after we make the transition of so-called death. The
only difference being that when one goes out in his finer body during sleep the
magnetic life-line, the elastic-like "silver cord" which joins the two bodies,
is not severed as occurs at the time of so-called death.
During the time a person is awake, these two bodies are in perfect align-
ment, but the moment a person falls asleep or becomes unconscious for any reason,
his finer body moves out of and away from the physical form to distances varying
according to the person's stage of evolvement. The Real Self when functioning
in this co-existing finer body can look down and see his physical body. He may
go to school on the inner planes and do many things that the person upon awaken-
ing usually is not aware of. On occasions when people do remember their activi-
ties during sleep, they say they had a dream. The experiences I have referred
to are not what we would call dreams, but actual four-dimensional experiences
which most people do not have the ability to distinguish between. They classify
them all as dreams.
You and I, and every human being, possess a finer body, even though most
of us are not conscious of the fact. So-called death does not suddenly bestow
upon a person a new body which he did not previously possess. He already has it.
He has had it all his life. The physical body, which is a facsimile of the other
body, is merely the vehicle which the Real Self uses while living on this three-
dimensional plane.
According to our research at the COSMIC STUDY CENTER, there is no death.
There is only a discarding of our physical garment of flesh and a continuation
of life in our finer body on the other side of life, where we have co-existed
since being born here as a babe, and where we have been functioning each night
of our earthly existence.
Where is this world in which our finer body functions? It is all around
and about us. Scientific instruments such as the microscope, the telescope, and
radar have disclosed the fact that there are many sights and sounds that our
physical eyes alone cannot see or hear. Our eyes and ears receive only those
vibrations of light and sound that travel within a limited range. Beyond the
scòpe of modern-day Science, according to the Center's research, another plane
of existence teems with life and activity, the fourth-dimensional plane, which
parallels the world and life we know. Some people see it and hear it by tuning
into its higher vibration. These people possess extra-sensory perception, which
enables them to see, and hear, and know much that is hidden from their normal
physical senses.
We also have found that many people reach the stage of consciousness which.
-3-
enables their minds to get in tune with their higher or fourth-dimensional
selves and thus acquire the ability to function consciously interdimensionally
on two planes of existence simultaneously while awake. People who possess
extra-sensory perception have the ability to see and hear with the eyes and ears
of their fourth-dimensional selves. Like radio and TV instruments, they tune
into the higher vibrations and register various light and sound frequencies
which occupy the same place at the same time.
Likewise, the fourth-dimensional plane of consciousness interpenetrates
this physical plane right here. It consists of seven phases of energy sub-
stance, each having a rate of vibration faster than the preceding one--the
lowest rate of 4-D energy substance being higher than the highest rate of 3-D
matter substance. For example, if one visualizes a glass bowl filled with a
mixture of large marbles, small marbles, smaller beads, sand, and water, with
Cosmic Rays radiating through it all, one gets an idea of how varied densities
of matter can occupy the same space at the same time.
Likewise, various dimensions or planes of consciousness, each one having
a different rate of vibration, interpenetrate each other. The particles of the
different densities, which comprise the areas of the various interpenetrating
dimensions or planes of existence, are distinguished from the particles of the
adjoining dimensions by their alternating negative and positive polarities as
well as their varying rates of frequency or velocity.
I mentioned earlier that the rate of vibration of Space People must be
lowered to synchronize with our frequency before our physical eyes can see them.
The same thing seems to happen when we see their so-called Flying Saucers in the
sky. Our visitors from Outer Space have this power of speeding up and slowing
down the vibratory rate of the matter of their ships as well as of their bodies.
Evidence that UFOs have suddenly appeared and disappeared in the Earth's
atmosphere is provided by many verified reports from reliable observers. For
instance, in 1957, military personnel in Korea saw a white, luminous object
hovering above the ground that went out suddenly and disappeared "like a bulb
turned off." According to the research of the COSMIC STUDY CENTER, the principle
by which UFOs suddenly appear and disappear is based upon the interchangeability
of matter and energy. Matter is energy at a slower rate of vibration. It
disappears from our vision when its vibratory rate is increased beyond the point
at which matter becomes energy. Likewise, the various densities of matter may
be changed. Therefore, when Space People wish to disappear from our sight, they
merely increase their rate of vibration beyond that of ours. If they wish to
appear to us, they simply decrease their vibratory frequency to the point at
which their density is the same as ours.
What is the principle of the locomotion used by these UFOs? Our research
indicates that within each Solar System there exist powerful magnetic fields of
force which bind the planets to their sun and to each other. Also, we have
learned that from the sun emanates a balanced pattern of magnetic rays having
tremendous negative and positive energies. Moreover, each spacecraft contains
a powerful electro-magnetic system having an instantly reversible polarity from
gravitational attraction to magnetic repulsion. This system also nullifies or
suspends the pull of gravity and thus enables the ship to hover in mid-air and
to move in any direction and at any angle. A highly magnetized pillar, towering
from the center of the ship's base to the dome of the ship, is the instrument
by which the powerful magnetic forces, which pervade all space, are used for
propulsion purposes. Cables carry static electricity from the magnetic poles
to condensers, which are also the landing-gear balls under one type of ship.
The top of the pillar is normally positive while the bottom is negative. Its
polarity as well as the ship's direction of movement can be reversed merely by
pushing a button.
Apparently, the operators of spacecraft simply select from their charts of
Cosmic forcefields the proper ray of energy which beams to whatever planet they
desire to visit. In order to travel to a different planet, they merely switch
their vehicle into another stream of force or energy and ride upon it faster
than the speed of light until they reach their journey's end. In other words,
-4
it appears that UFOs are not driven by propellers, or jets, or rockets. They
are irresistably drawn to the opposite magnetic pole of the planetary field at
their chosen destination.
What are Space People like, and what is their purpose in visiting us? To
us at the Study Center, they seem like elder brothers, who have experienced all
the sorrows and suffering that accompany the limited consciousness of Earth
people, who have gained spiritual wisdom and kindliness, and who have volunteered
to come here and offer assistance by introducing to us by means of telepathic
inspiration new concepts that they deem advisable for us to adopt at this parti-
cular stage of our development and to help us take our next evolutionary step.
Most of the people, who have become interested in so-called Flying Saucers,
have accepted them without understanding them. Now that former ridicule has
been removed from the subject, this may be the time when an explanation, such as
this, will help clarify the situation. It appears, however, that the Space
People will not be free to make themselves known to us in greater numbers until
they have been recognized by the Government and welcomed by an enlightened public.
These visitors from Outer Space have proved that they are not hostile. If
they had been intent upon harming us with their advanced electronic instruments,
they surely would have done so a long time ago. Therefore, our investigators
have no doubt but that the Space People are here to enlighten us, and no doubt
that when the time arrives that we can accept them with understanding, that they
then will make themselves known in a much more public way and in greater numbers.
I would like to close with an explanation of the relationship of the fourth-
dimensional plane to the third-dimensional plane of existence. Actually 4-D is
the parent of 3-D. The viewpoint that the 3-D world is the materialization of
the 4-D world is supported by Plato who logically assumed that the world which
we behold is shadowed forth from some other world beyond physical matter and
that the Reality of matter is something other than its physical appearance.
Absolute Consciousness existing everywhere simultaneously is stepped down
from the ultimate source, the highest level or the 7th dimension, through a
sequence of lower dimensions - 6th, 5th and 4th - each having a reduced rate of
vibration, until that which was the one Unlimited Consciousness becomes veiled
in denser energies, and finally is subjected to the limitations of lower matter,
or 3-D. Since the ultimate source of matter and form in its final reduction of
velocity is in the appearance of physical matter, it is concluded that the 3-D
physical world would necessarily have to be the projection or child of the 4th-
dimensional plane, rather than the reverse.
To summarize: It has been shown that UFOs have been visiting the Earth
for centuries. It has been explained that matter exists in finer degrees of
density than that of air and gas. It has been suggested that our earthly civili-
zation may be less advanced than that of the other planets in our Solar System.
It has been deduced that a temporary synchronization of the vibratory rates of
both Earth People and Space People is required for mutual visibility. The activ-
ity of the co-existing or fourth-dimensional body during sleep has been explained.
The principle of spacecraft locomotion has been described. The idea that the
fourth-dimensional plane is the parent of the dense 3-D world has been supported.
It has been indicated that the purpose of our visitors from space is a friendly
one intended to be beneficial and enlightening to the Earth's inhabitants. In
conclusion, let us recognize the profound effect that these revolutionary dis-
closures will have upon traditional religious doctrines.
The Detroit News
Entertainment
Stage
CLASSIFIED
Movies
TV-Radio
Columns
Hobbies
The Passing Show and REAL MICHIGAN'S LARGEST ESTATER WANT AD MEDIUM
Books
Art
SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1966
SECTION H
This picture, purportedly of a flying saucer, was taken Dec. 26, 1965, at Cappoquin in County Waterford, Ireland. Large, bright area was described as plume of saucer at left-hand tip.
ARE THEY FACT, FICTION OR ILLUSION?
Those Fantastic Flying Saucers
Scientists in 3 Special Fields Explain
Constructed
Michigan's Eerie UFO Sightings
in France,
this concept
of a flying
of a number of fairly common objects,
saucer ma-
By JEAN PEARSON
chine was un-
Detroit News Science Writer
such as a dog standing on grass, a bird in
veiled in
The House Republican leader has called
the sky, a pile of bricks and a fire hydrant.
July, 1955,
for a congressional investigation.
He projected them on the screen for a
but there are
A national organization for the investi-
group of viewers who hadn't seen the pic-
no published
tures before. Purposely, he made the pro-
gation of aerial phenomena, with hig h-
reports of it
jected image very blurred at first. Then
ranking, retired military officers and pro-
flying. It has
slowly, in stages, he put it into focus.
a diameter
fessors on its governing board, has urged
Given a blur, the viewers immediately
of almost 27
a nationwide tracking network.
tried to determine what it was they were
feet.
People are puzzled.
looking at. Once they had reached a con-
Are the UFOs real, illusions or just
clusion that seemed to satisfy, they clung
natural events people can't explain? Is the
to it
State Flying Object Report
Bring Plea for Federal Sif
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues-
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight-
ed near Ann Arbor
II, the orde D UTO study program,
(Continued on page 2, column 5)
1
GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, TUES., MARCH 22, 1966
Air Force Investigating
Reported Flying Objects
IONIA SENTINEL - MAIR.
23,
ANN ARBOR (AP) - As re-
ports of unidentified flying ob-
jects mounted in southeastern
Michigan today the United
States Air Force began an in-
vestigation of the many sight-
ings.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a North-
western University astrophysi-
cist and UFO project consult-
ant, was asked to visit the Ann
Photo Adds New Wrinkle to Saucers
By DOUGLAS BRADFORD
that they saw the strange glow-
The object in the picture
can account for the fact that
ing objects cavorting in the sky
doesn't seem to have much ma-
While Air Force officials
the thing they saw was bright
and that the dark area on the
terial substance.
and shiny with flashing colored
prowled through the coun-
picture represents one of them.
Neither Paul nor his mother
lights while the camera re-
tryside looking for some
corded a dark smear.
sign of the strange night
Paul said his Argus F100 was
Mariannice Richwine, insist
he pointed it at the unidentified flying object.
See SAUCER-Page 13A
THE DETROIT NEWS, WED., MARCH 23,1966
3-25-96
: puty Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
BOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in th
deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street light
d flying object sight-
leading into Milan. No details (
outhern Michigan last
the objects are visible in th
1
$
THE EVENING STAR, WASH., MARCH 25,1966 - FRIDAY
NEW YORK TIMES
TUES., MAR 72,196
40 in Michigan Say
A Mysterious Craft
Hovered in Swamp
ANN ARBOR, Mich.. March
21 (UPI) At least 40 persons,
including 12 policemen, said to-
day that they saw a strange
flying object guarded by four
sister ships land in a swamp
Wash.Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fied pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Staff Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers - had sighted objects;
Firm
believers
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
that
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.'
been investigating UFO re-
a tor-
Keyhoe and his col- ports since 1948, has stead-
Washington Post 3-27-66
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported
gent life on other planets
YOU CAN'T dismiss the
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
possibility that some of the
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
unidentified flying objects,
Last year, project Blue
know,
which SO many people have
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFO:
sighted in SO many places,
unit created to keep tabs on
gives me pause. There have
are real.
886
re-
solid reports
its
(
0
1
d
E
1
e
11
1
e
n
1
11
IS
a
WASH. POST, MAR.23, 196
WEONESDA
First UFOs
Of Season
Are Sighted
Spring's first flying sauce
have sprouted right alongsi
the forsythia.
Scores of people in Michig:
have reported strange flyir
objects since the weeken
and a former fighter pilot say
he saw several over his B
therde
NEW YORK TIMES, WED., MAR.23,1966
THE
87 Michigan Coeds
that of a football. This wa
roughly the same descriptic
given by a man and his son wh
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an eeri
object land in a swamp Sunda
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of her
near Ann Arbor.
The Air Force announced
was bringing in Dr. H. Alle
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
Hynek chairman of Dearbor
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Observatory at Northwester
rector an assistant dean and 87
University, Evanston, Ill., ar
coeds reported a glowing ob-
scientific consultant to the A
ject fly past a college dormi-
Force's Project Blue Book pro
tory and hover in a swamp for
gram to track down the report
hours.
of unidentified flying objects.
Their description of the ob-
Dr Hynek set un his hear
Saucer Observers Upset
Over Air Force Analysis
DETROIT (UPI) - The U.S. the-scene investigation by tell- conditions that night-were suc
Air Force closed its books Satur-
ing a press conference it ap-
as to have produced this u:
dav on the case of two "visits"
peared "very likely". that
usual and puzzling display," }
dings, climaxed three days of on-larea - - and particular weather|
(Continued on page 2, column 5)
La
he D " de sh
GRAND
PRESS
MAR.
26
Studying swamp gas and less
time watching what I took to be
UFOS," she said.
William Van Horn, the Hills-
dale County civil defense di-
rector, said he was "dissatis-
fied" with the Hynek explana-
tion because his investigation of
the sighting was too brief and
because he sidestepped mention
of the report from two of the
coeds who said they saw the
UFO close-up as it swept past
their window.
"I'm not satisfied until there
more thorough investiga-
.obe
A Loes Ire
Observers Contest
Prof's Explanation
(Continued from page 1)
nlikely place for a visit from
uter space," Hynek said.
"It was in both cases a very
calized phenomenon," he said.
I think that this is a most
ignificant point. It would seem
") me that the association of
1e sightings with swamps, in
lese particular cases, is more
ian coincidence."
"I emphasize in conclusion
12
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;;
Ii
UPI-18
(UFO)
BANGOR, MAINE--SCORES OF PERSONS -- POLICE AND CIVILIANS -- REPORTED
SEEING UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS LAST NIGHT IN WIDELY SCATTERED
SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.
A BANGOR, MAINE, MAN TOLDAUTHORITIES HE FIRED HIS PISTOL AT A
GLOWING OBJECT -- AND HIT IT.
"I COULD HEAR THE ELDERBERRY BUSHES SCRAPING AS THE THING CAME
TOWARD ME," SAID JOHN KING, 22, HE SAID HE FIRED FOUR TIMES AND THE
OBJECT -- DESCRIBED AS ABOUT 60 FEET LONG -- ZOOMED SKYWARD.
DR. H. ALLEN HYNEK, A NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ASTRO-PHYSICIST
CHIEF INVESTIGATOR FOR THE AIR FORCE'S PROJECT BLUE BOOK, IS INVESTIGA-
TING RECENT MICHIGAN SIGHTING REPORTS... HE SAID HE EXPECTED TO COMPLETE
HIS INVESTIGATION TODAY, BUT WOULD GIVE NO INFORMATION HOW SOON HIS
REPORT WOULD BE READY.
THE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT-FLYERS WERE SPOTTED LAST NIGHT NEAR TRINIDAD,
COLO., NOT FAR FROM THE BURIED NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND
POST. LOUIS DI PALO, A LOCAL POSTMAN, SAID HE WATCHED THREE OF THE
OBJECTS THROUGH BINOCULARS.
AS IS USUAL IN CASES OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT SIGHTINGS, THE
AIR FORCE SAID IT SAW NOTHING ON ITS SOPHISTICATED RADAR.
IN BRYAN, TEX., POLICE SAID HUNDREDS OF PERSONS REPORTED SEEING A
"STAR-LIKE" OBJECT THAT EMITTED A PURRING SOUND AND CHANGED COLORS.
A TOMAH, WIS., WTMB RADIO NEWSMAN WAYNE EDDY SAID HE SAW A MULTI-
COLORED OBJECT HOVERING HIGH IN THE SKY LAST NIGHT.
"IT'S OF A RED, GREEN AND WHITE COLORING THAT SORT OF GOES ON AND
OFF, HE SAID. "IT'S HIGH IN THE AIR AND ZIPS FROM SIDE TO SIDE."
THE OBJECT, REPORTED BY MOST OF THE CITIZENS OF THE WESTERN
WISCONSIN TOWN AND BY MAUSTON POLICE OFFICER GEORGE SUTTON, REMAINED
NEARBY FOR ABOUT 45 MINUTES.
-0-
OKLAHOMA CITY--UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED
IN OKLAHOMA NOW.
AN ELECTRONICS INSTRUCTOR FOR THE AIR FORCE REPORTED A "FISH
SHAPED" " CRAFT MANNED BY AN "ORDINARY HUMAN" BLOCKED HIS CAR ON U.S.
70 NEAR THE TEXAS BORDER.
AT HARTSHORNE, IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA, THE HEAD OF THE STATE CIVIL
DEFENSE RADIOLOGICAL UNIT WAS INVESTIGATING REPORTS THAT RADIOACTIVITY
WAS ABNORMALLY HIGH ON LAND WHERE A UFO WAS REPORTED TO HAVE
HOVERED.
CIVIL DEFENSE MAJ. CHARLES We DUTREAU PLANNED TO TAKE GEIGER
COUNTER READINGS TODAY AT PLACES WHERE DOZENS OF HARTSHORNE RESIDENTS,
INCLUDING THE POSTMASTER AND POLICE CHIEF, REPORTED SEEING "CIGAR
SHAPED" FLYING OBJECTS.
3/25--GE937A
WASHINGT ON--HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER GERALD FORD, MICH., CLAIMING
THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE BECOMING ALARMED, TODAY CALLED FOR A
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE LATEST RASH OF UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECT SIGHTINGS.
FOR SAID AIR FORCE INVESTIGATORS HAVE BEEN CHECKING ON SUCH
REPORTS FOR YEARS "BUT HAVE COME UP WITH NOTHING CONCLUSIVE.
FORD SAID THAT IN VIEW OF THE NEW ROUND OF SIGHTINGS IT WOULD
BE "A VERY WHOLESOME THING" FOR A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE TO CONDUCT
HEARINGS. HE PROPOSED CALLING AS WITNESSES GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND
THOSE WHO CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN THE UF O'S.
"I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WOULD FEEL BETTER IF THERE WAS A
FULL-BLOWN INVESTIGATION OF THESE INCIDENTS, WHICH SOME PERSONS
ALLEGE HAVE TAKEN PLACE, FORD SAID IN A STATEMENT.
-0-
NEW OELEANS--TWO EMPLOYES OF A MISSISSIPPI MISSILE TESTING
FACILITY, ONE A FORMER AIR FORCE OFFICER, SAID THEY SAW MYSTERIOUS
LIGHTED OBJECTS IN THE SKY NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI-LOUISIANA BORDER
LAST NIGHT.
LEE R. GULLEY, A RETIRED AIR FORCE LIEUTENANT COLONEL, AND DEAN
KISSEL SAID THEY WATCHED THE LIGHTS OF THREE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING
OBJECTS FOR ABOUT FOUR MINUTES.
GULLEY, A PUBLIC INFORMATION SPECIALIST FOR THE GENERAL ELECTRIC
CO. AT THE TEST SITE FACILITY AT GAINESVILLE, MISS., AND KISSELL, A
PROGRAM SPECIALIST, SAID THE OBJECTS APPEARED AT INTERVALS AND ALL
WERE VISIBLE, EITHER STANDING STILL OR MOVING IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS.
3/25--DP1235PES
UPI-80
UPI-53
(UFO)
DETROIT - -THE U.S. AIR FORCE CLOSED ITS BOOKS TODAY ON THE CASE OF
TWO "VISITS" BY UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS. IT'S VERDICT: SWAMP
GAS.
BUT SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO WITNESSED WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS A LANDING
BY A GLOWING, EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL SPACE CRAFT, WERE NOT COMPLETELY
CONVINCED THE EXPERTS WERE RIGHT.
AND EVEN WHILE THE TWO MOST SPECTACULAR MICHIGAN SIGHTINGS NOW
WORE THE TAG OF AN "OFFICIAL EXPLANATION, UFO SIGHTINGS CONTINUED
TO POP UP ACROSS THE COUNTRY, IN RURAL AREAS AND CITIES ALIKE.
DR. J. ALLEN HYNEK, THE TOP AIR FORCE ADVISER ON UFO SIGHTINGS
CLIMAXED THREE DAYS OF ON-THE-SCENE INVESTIGATION BY TELLNG A NEWS
CONFERENCE IT APPEARED "VERY LIKELY" SWAMP GAS WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR
MASS REPORTS OF STRANGE GLOWING OBJECTS THIS WEEK AT HILLSDALE AND
DEXTER IN SOUTHERN MICHIGAN.
HYNEK, AN ASTROPHYSICIST FROM NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, SAID RTTING
VEGETATION CAN RELEASE A GAS, ESPECIALLY AT SPRINGTIME, WHICH CAN GLOW
LIKE FIRE AND EVEN MAKE "POPPING" NOISES. HE SAID BOTH INSTANCES HE
INVESTIGATED TOOK PLACE IN MARSH LAND.
"A DISMAL SWAMP IS A MOST UNLIKELY PLACE FOR A VISIT FROM OUTER
SPACE," HYNEK SAID.
3/26--JD104 9AES
UPI -173
(UFO)
ANN ARBOR, MICH.-THE TOP AIR FORCE EXPERT ON UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECTS SAID TODAY RECENT REPORTS OF A GLOWING OBJECT SEEN
THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN MICHIGAN ARE "MORE CONSISTENT" THAN MOST HE HAS
INVESTIGATED.
DR. H. ALLEN HYNEK OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC
ADVISER FOR THE AIR FORCE PROJECT BLUE BOOK, REFUSED TO SPECULATE,
HOWEVER, ON WHAT MIGHT BE BEHIND THE RASH OF UFO SIGHTINGS IN
RECENT DAYS.
HYNEK, DRESSED IN FATIGUES AND HIP BOOTS FOR HIS CLOSE-UP
LOOK AT A SWAMP NEAR DEXTER, MICH. WHERE A FARMER REPORTED THE
GHOST SHIP LANDED SUNDAY NIGHT, SAID "I'M STILL GATHERING THE
FACTS.
HYNEK HAS BEEN IN THE AREA SINCE TUESDAY, INTERVIEWING WITNESSES
AND EXAMINING AREAS WHERE THE OBJECT WAS REPORTED. HIS
INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN CARRIED ON BEHIND AIR FORCE SECRECY BUT
HE MADE TODAY'S COMMENTS WHEN ENCOUNTERED AT THE DEXTER POLICE
STATION WHERE HE WAS QUESTIONING THE POLICE CHIEF AND SEVERAL
OFFICERS.
"IT'S LIKE REPORTS FROM PEOPLE WHO SAW A FIRE, 17 THE
ASTROPHYSICIST SAID. "YOU GET AS MANY DIFFERENT FACTS AS YOU GET
PEOPLE WHO SAW THE FIRE. SO FAR, ALL I'VE BEEN ABLE TO COME UP
WITH IS REPORTS OF A VARIETY OF LIGHTS.
"THESE REPORTS ARE MORE CONSISTENT THAN MOST OF THE OTHER
SIGHTINGS I'VE INVESTIGATED," HE SAID.
HYNEK SAID "I WISH WE HAD SOME PHOT OGRAPHS OF THIS AND MORE
TECHNICAL OBSERVERS. THE IDEAL SITUATION WOULD BE TO HAVE A
SPECTOGRAPH TRAINED ON THE OBJECT TO DETERMINE ITS MAKEUP.
I WISH WE HAD THEM AVAILABLE.
"FREQUENTLY THESE THINGS TURN OUT TO BE USUAL THINGS SEEN UNDER
UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, HE SAID. HYNEK ESTIMATED THAT OF THE
UNEXPLAINED 10 PER CENT OF UFO'S REPORTED SINCE 1948, MOST COULD
HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH A SPECT OGRAPH.
HYNEK SAID THAT AS AN ASTRONOMER HE WOULD HAVE TO ADMIT THAT
"POSSIBLY YES, THERE ARE INTELLIGENT BEINGS IN OTHER SOLAR
SYSTEMS, "BUT IT'S A LONG STEP TO SAY WE ARE BEING VISITED BY
THEM.
3/23--MJ622PES
UPI-25
(UFO)
COLUMBUS, GA.--AN AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR REPORTED SEEING A
GLOWING, OBLONG OBJECT MANEUVERING HIGH IN THE SKY YESTERDAY. HE SAID
IT WAS TRACKED ON RADAR.
SIX COLUMBUS POLICEMEN, AND A CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR AT FT.
BENNING, GA., ALSO SAID THEY SAW THE STRANGE OBJECT.
DOYLE PALMER, AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL OPERATOR AT MUSCOGEE COUNTY
AIRPORT, SAID HE FIRST SPOTTED THE GREENISH WHITE, CIGAR SHAPED OBJECT
AT ABOUT 5:30 A.M. AND THAT IT WAS TRACKED ON RADAR AT ATLANTA FOR
OVER AN HOUR. HE ESTIMATED ITS HEIGHT AT ABOUT 5,000 FEET.
DON HADDOCK OF RADIO STATION WDAK ALSO SAID HE WATCHED A TRIANGLE-
SHAPED GLOWING OBJECT IN THE SAME AREA UNTIL ABOUT 7 A.M.
ALL REPORTS CONCURRED ON THE LOCATION OF THE OBJECT SOUTHEAST OF
COLUMBUS OVER AN ARMY RESTRICTED AREA.
3/28--GE950A
UPI 3
(UFO)
,NEWTON, N.C.--A GLOWING BLUE OBJECT STREAKED LOW ACROSS PARTS OF
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA ABOUT 2 Amo TODAY AND EXPLODED WITHOUT A
SOUND OVER VALDESE.
THE EXPLOSION LIT UP THE TOWN LIKE A GIGANTIC FLASHBULB.
POLICE OFFICERS IN SIX TOWNS IN THREE COUNTIES SAID THEY SAW THE
LIGHT. IT WAS MOVING FROM EAST TO WEST.
OFFICER MELVIN BARLOWE OF THE NEWTON POLICE DEPARTMENT IN CATAWBA
I
COUNTY SAID IT LOOKED LIKE A "BIG BLUE BOLT WITH FIRE ARCING OFF THE
EDGES." HE SAID IT MADE NO SOUND WHEN IT PASSED.
BARLOWE ESTIMATED ITS ALTITUDE TO BE 1,000 FEET. HE COULD NOT
ESTIMATE ITS SPEED.
"WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING AROUND HERE THAT COULD CATCH IT," HE SAID.
"NO SWAMP GAS OR NOTHING LIKE THAT COULD MOVE THAT FAST.
:
3/28--GE1107A
UPI-95
DAYTON, (UFO) OHIO--AN AIR FORCE SPOKESMAN SAID TODAY AN UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECT SEEN "HOVERING" OVER WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY WAS THE PLANET VENUS.
MAJ. HECT OR QUINTANILLA, PROJECT OFFICER OF THE AIR FORCE'S PROJECT
BLUE BOOK, WHICH INVESTIGATES REPORTS OF SUCH UNIDENTIFIED PHENOMENA,
SAID ALL TECHNICAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE SHOWED THE OBJECT "COULDN'T
BE ANYTHING ELSE BUT VENUS.
QUINTANILLA SAID THAT VENUS PRESENTLY IS OF A MAGNITUDE OF MINUS
4+1 AND THAT THE BRIGHTEST IT GETS IS MINUS 4.3.
THE AIR FORCE REQUESTED FILM OF THE SIGHTINGS TAKEN BY AN OHIO
HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER. THE PATROL SAID IT MUST CLEAR RELEASE OF THE
FILM WITH ITS DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS BEFORE TURNING OVER ANY PICTURES
TO THE AIR FORCE.
3/28--GE131P
UPI-78
(UFO)
WARREN, MICH. -THREE PERSONS INCLUDING TWO POLICEMEN SAID THEY
SAW WIERD FLYING OBJECTS NEAR HERE EARLY TODAY. ONE MAN SAID HE TOOK
PICTURES OF A SILENT CIGAR-SHAPED VEHICLE.
THE TWO SIGHTINGS WERE REPORTED ABOUT 50 MILES NORTH OF THE
SOUTHERN MICHIGAN AREA WHERE MASS SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING
OBJECTS LAST WEEK TOUCHED OFF AN AIR FORCE INVESTIGATION. AN AIR
FORCE SCIENTIST ATTRIBUTED LAST WEEK'S REPORTS TO LUMINOUS SWAMP GAS.
MAC OMB COUNTY PATROLMAN KENNETH STEPHENS SAID HE AND ANOTHER
OFFICER SAW STRANGELY MOVING INTENSE WHITE LIGHTS IN THE SKY OVER
NEARBY SHELBY TOWNSHIP. HE SAID THEY FELL SWIFTLY, VEERED INTO A
SWAMPY AREA AND VAISHED.
ARTHUR W. FIEDLER OF WARREN TOLD STATE POLICE HE PHOTOGRAPHED A
CIGAR-SHAPED FLYING OBJECT WITH A RED LIGHT IN FRONT AND A WHITE LIGHT
IN BACK. HE SAID THE OBJECT WAS ABOUT THE SIZE OF AN AIRPLANE BUT HAD
NO WINGS AND MADE NO NOISE.
OTHER SHELBY TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS REPORTED SIGHTINGS SIMILAR TO THOSE
BY THE TWO POLICEMEN.
OFFICERS SAID THEY SEARCHED THE AREA BUT FOUND NOTHING.
THREE POLICEMEN SAID THEY SAW A LIGHT BLUE OBJECT VEER THROUGH THE
SKY JUST AFTER DAYBREAK SUNDAY NEAR BAD AXE, MICH., ABOUT 80 MILES
NORTH OF HERE.
3/28--BA1235PES
UPI-174
(UFO)
WASHINGTON--JEANE DIXON, SELF-STYLED PROPHETESS WHO HAS BEEN
FORETELLING THE FUTURE FOR THREE DECADES, THINKS THAT UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECTS ARE OF TERRESTIAL ORIGIN.
"I THINK THEY ARE PLANES OR MILITARY CRAFT OF SOMEKIND--BUT
NOT FROM OUTER SPACE,' SHE TOLD UPI TODAY. "I THINK THEY ARE
FROM THE OTHER SIDE--THEY ARE EITHER FROM THE ENEMY, RUSSIA, JAPAN
[
(CORRECT) CHINA OR OUR OWN AIR FORCE."
SHE SAYS SHE GETS HER PREDICTIONS FROM A PSYCHIC REACTION--A
KIND OF VIBRATION.
SHE SAID SHE DOES NOT GET ATMOSPHERIC VIBRATIONS THAT THE
UF O'S NOW BEING SIGHTED IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE U.S. ARE
EXTRATERRESTRIAL. AND THE UFO'S SIGHTED IN PAST YEARS WERE
"DEFINITELY NOT, SHE SAID.
3/23--MJ626PES
UPI-18
(UFOS)
HILLSDALE, MICH. AN AIR FORCE INVESTIGATING TEAM TODAY LOOKED
OVER FARM FIELDS AND INTERVIEWED PERSONS WHO HAVE REPORTED A RASH
OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS.
SCORES OF PERSONS, RANGING FROM FARMERS TO POLICEMEN TO COLLEGE
COEDS AND A DEAN, SAID THEY SAW THE HOVERING OBJECT DURING THE PAST
FEW DAYS.
DR. H. ALLEN HYNEK, THE TOP AIR FORCE SCIENTIFIC ADVISER ON
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, YESTERDAY QUIZZED A FARM FAMILY NEAR
ANN ARBOR, MICH. FRANK MANNOR, THE FARMER, HAD REPORTED THAT A
PULSATING OBJECT LANDED IN A SWAMP ON HIS LAND SUNDAY AND WAS
OBSERVED BY HIS FAMILY AND BY SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES.
3/23--JD10AES
COPY
March 28, 1966
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Science and Astronautics Committee
Armed Services Committee
U. S. House of Representatives
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D. C.
Dear Chairmen Miller and Rivers:
No doubt you have noted the recent flurry of newspaper stories about
unidentified flying objects (UFO's). I have taken special interest in
these accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have been
in my home state of Michigan.
The Air Force sent a consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek of
Northwestern University, to Michigan to investigate the various reports;
and he dismissed all of them as the product of college student pranks or
swamp gas or an impression created by the rising crescent moon and the
planet Venus. I do not agree that all of these reports can be or should
be so easily explained away.
Because I think there may be substance to some of these reports and
because I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough
explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date, I am
proposing that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee of the House schedule hearings on the subject
of UFO's and invite testimony from both the executive branch of the
government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFO's.
I enclose material which I think will be helpful to you in assessing the
advisability of an investigation of UFO's.
May I first call to your attention a column by Roscoe Drummond, published
last Sunday in which Mr. Drummond says, "Maybe all of these reported
sightings are whimsical, imaginary or unreal; but we need a more credible
and detached appraisal of the evidence than we are getting."
Mr. Drummond goes on to state, "We need to get all the data drawn together
to one place and examined far more objectively than anyone has done so far.
A stable public opinion will come from a trustworthy look at the evidence,
not from belittling it."
"The time has come for the President or Congress to name an objective and
respected panel to investigate, appraise, and report on all present and
future evidence about what is going on."
I agree fully with Mr. Drummond's statements. I also suggest you scan
the enclosed series of six articles by Bulkley Griffin of the Griffin-
Larrabee News Bureau here. In the last of his articles, published last
January, Mr. Griffin says, "A main conclusion can be briefly stated. It
is that the Air Force is misleading the public by its continuing campaign
to produce and maintain belief that all sightings can be explained away
as misidentification of familiar objects, such as balloons, stars, and
aircraft."
I have just today received a number of telegrams urging a congressional
investigation of UFO's. One is from retired Air Force Col. Harold R. Brown,
Ardmore, Tennessee, who says, "I have seen UFO. Will be available to
testify."
Another, from Mrs. Ethyle M. Davis, Eugene, Oregon, reads, "Nine out of
ten people want truth of UFO's Press your investigation to the fullest."
(MORE)
Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, Chairman
Page Two
March 28, 1966
Ronald Colier of Los Angeles, who identifies himself as "a scientist from
M.I.T.," urges that you "do everything in your power to make Air Force
Project Blue Book (the AF name for its study and verdicts on UFO reports)
known to the people."
Are we to assume that everyone who says he has seen UFO's is an unreliable
witness?
A UPI story out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dated March 21, 1966, states that
"at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen, said today that they saw
a strange flying object guarded by four sister ships land in a swamp near
here Sunday night."
Matt Surrell of Station WJR, Detroit, cites an eye witness account of a
recent UFO sighting by Emile Grenier of Ann Arbor, an aeronautical engineer
employed by Ford Motor Company. He points out that an aeronautical
engineer can hardly be considered an untrustworthy witness.
In the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation
than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there
be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena.
I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFO's
and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject.
Kindest personal regards.
Sincerely,
/s/
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:plr
Enclosures
###
UPI-173
(UFO)
ANN ARBOR, MICH.-THE TOP AIR FORCE EXPERT ON UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECTS SAID TODAY RECENT REPORTS OF A GLOWING OBJECT SEEN
THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN MICHIGAN ARE "MORE CONSISTENT" THAN MOST HE HAS
INVESTIGATED.
DR. H. ALLEN HYNEK OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC
ADVISER FOR THE AIR FORCE PROJECT BLUE BOOK, REFUSED TO SPECULATE,
HOWEVER, ON WHAT MIGHT BE BEHIND THE RASH OF UF O SIGHTINGS IN
RECENT DAYS.
HYNEK, DRESSED IN FATIGUES AND HIP BOOTS FOR HIS CLOSE-UP
LOOK AT A SWAMP NEAR DEXTER, MICH. WHERE A FARMER REPORTED THE
GHOST SHIP LANDED SUNDAY NIGHT, SAID "I'M STILL GATHERING THE
FACTS."
HYNEK HAS BEEN IN THE AREA SINCE TUESDAY, INTERVIEWING WITNESSES
AND EXAMINING AREAS WHERE THE OBJECT WAS REPORTED. HIS
INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN CARRIED ON BEHIND AIR FORCE SECRECY BUT
HE MADE TODAY'S COMMENTS WHEN ENCOUNTERED AT THE DEXTER POLICE
STATION WHERE HE WAS QUESTIONING THE POLICE CHIEF AND SEVERAL
OFFICERS.
"IT'S LIKE REPORTS FROM PEOPLE WHO SAW A FIRE, " THE
ASTROPHYSICIST SAID. "YOU GET AS MANY DIFFERENT FACTS AS YOU GET
PEOPLE WHO SAW THE FIRE. SO FAR, ALL I'VE BEEN ABLE TO COME UP
WITH IS REPORTS OF A VARIETY OF LIGHTS.
"THESE REPORTS ARE MORE CONSISTENT THAN MOST OF THE OTHER
SIGHTINGS I'VE INVESTIGATED," 17 HE SAID.
HYNEK SAID "I WISH WE HAD SOME PHOT OGRAPHS OF THIS AND MORE
TECHNICAL OBSERVERS. THE IDEAL SITUATION WOULD BE TO HAVE A
SPECTOGRAPH TRAINED ON THE OBJECT TO DETERMINE ITS MAKEUP.
I WISH WE HAD THEM AVAILABLE.
"FREQUENTLY THESE THINGS TURN OUT TO BE USUAL THINGS SEEN UNDER
UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES, HE SAID. HYNEK ESTIMATED THAT OF THE
UNEXPLAINED 10 PER CENT OF UFO'S REPORTED SINCE 1948, MOST COULD
HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH A SPECT OGRAPH.
HYNEK SAID THAT AS AN ASTRONOMER HE WOULD HAVE TO ADMIT THAT
"POSSIBLY YES, THERE ARE INTELLIGENT BEINGS IN OTHER SOLAR
SYSTEMS, "BUT IT'S A LONG STEP TO SAY WE ARE BEING VISITED BY
THEM.
3/23--MJ622PES
UPI-174
(UFO)
WASHINGT - JEANE DIXON, SELF-STYLED PROPHETESS WHO HAS BEEN
FORETELLING THE FUTURE FOR THREE DECADES, THINKS THAT UNIDENTIFIED
FLYING OBJECTS ARE OF TERRESTIAL ORIGIN.
"I THINK THEY ARE PLANES OR MILITARY CRAFT OF SOMEKIND-- BUT
NOT FROM OUTER SPACE, IT SHE TOLD UPI TODAY. "I THINK THEY ARE
FROM THE OTHER SIDE--THEY ARE EITHER FROM THE ENEMY, RUSSIA, JAPAN
(CORRECT). CHINA OR OUR OWN AIR FORCE. "
SHE SAYS SHE GETS HER PREDICTIONS FROM A PSYCHIC REACTION--A
KIND OF VIBRATION.
SHE SAID SHE DOES NOT GET ATMOSPHERIC VIBRATIONS THAT THE
UF O'S NOW BEING SIGHTED IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE U.S. ARE
EXTRATERRESTRIAL. AND THE UFO'S SIGHTED IN PAST YEARS WERE
"DEFINITELY NOT SHE SAID.
3/23--MJ626PES
UPI-18
(UF OS )
HILLSDALE, MICH. AN AIR FORCE INVESTIGATING TEAM TODAY LOOKED
OVER FARM FIELDS AND INTERVIEWED PERSONS WHO HAVE REPORTED A RASH
OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS.
SCORES OF PERSONS, RANGING FROM FARMERS TO POLICEMEN TO COLLEGE
COEDS AND A DEAN, SAID THEY SAW THE HOVERING OBJECT DURING THE PAST
FEW DAYS.
DR. H. ALLEN HYNEK, THE TOP AIR FORCE SCIENTIFIC ADVISER ON
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, YESTERDAY QUIZZED A FARM FAMILY NEAR
ANN ARBOR, MICH. FRANK MANNOR, THE FARMER, HAD REPORTED THAT A
PULSATING OBJECT LANDED IN A SWAMP ON HIS LAND SUNDAY AND WAS
OBSERVED 3/23--JD10AES BY HIS FAMILY AND BY SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES.
2
Partland, Maine, Evening Express, Manday, Jan. 17, 1966
Those Flying Saucers'
Air Force Explainings-Away Of UFOs
Deepens Mystery
EDITOR'S NOTE: This la
an apparent Air Force lack of and curious than ever about
of the UPO performance. On
"Reports poured In" from
"The Air Force contends
the office of Congressman John
enthustasm - especially at high
these strange, usually lighted.
Tuesday. Aug 3. The New York
21 cities and towns. continued
most of the sightings were
Jarman (D) of the Oklahoma
the first of a series about
levels - to do a thorough job
objects in the sky. The Air
Times and other newspapers
the AP dispatch The 21 are
probably stars or planets
City Congressional District and
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
of investigating sightings
Force and the burdened Project
carried an Associated Press
named Seven are listed in Tex-
It was the fourth consecutive
to the National Investigations,
Jacia) by Bulkley S. Griffia,
Blue Book have often resorted
dispatch from Oklahoma City,
as. three in New Mexico. five
night of UFO sightings
A
Committee on Aerial Phenom-
assentive editor of the Evening
HEADQUARTERS of the Air
to the expedient of lumping a
dated Aug 2 It began:
in Oklahoma and six in Kan-
lot of people took Issue with
ena (NICAP) in Washington a
Express Washington Bureau.
number of sightings together
"Authorities in Texas. New
sas.
Force investigation and conclu-
the Air Force's claim that they
summary of the teletype 10-
lic wrote the stories after via-
sions on unidentified flying ob-
- not naming any particular
Mexico. Oklahoma and Kansas
were stars or planets."
ports sent into the Oklahoma
thing the UFO office of the
one and furnishing a gener-
were deluged last night and
THE UNITED PRESS Inter-
jects - they call the enterprise
Highway Patrol Communica-
U.S. Als Force.
alized catch-all explanation.
early today (Aug. 2. by reports
national, In a dispatch in the
It can be mentioned in pass-
Project Blue Book - is at
tions Network Center July 31-
of unidentified objects seen
evening of Aug. 2. named eight
ing that radar does not pick
Wright Petterson Air Force
Aug. 5, from the verious high-
un stars OF planets
ose Flying Saucers'
Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 1966
Highway Patrol Report Fires Controversy Over UFOs
Second. no radar sighting is
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
Blue Book. the latter the name
Oklahoma City stated flatly
ed four of the objects
Okla-
on the highway patrol wire on
admitted This is despite the
the second of a series about
for the Alr Force investigation
that Tinker and Carswell both
homa Highway Patrol Units 30
August 1st". it is stated in the
Highway Patrol's report of
UFOs (unidentified fiying ob-
of UFOs
had the UPO on radar.
and 40 have also made visual
summary from the Department
Tinker and Carswell Air Force
At 3:30 p.m. Aug 2. Project
The next night saw the URO
sightings. Reports have come
of Public Safety. On Aug 2. the
dectal by Bulkley S. Griffia,
Bases having a fix on a July
Blue Book issued & statement
reports crowding the Highway
from I three Individuals".
teletype carried its first UFO
31 object. and Tinker having
executive editor of the Even-
assuming to explain the aval-
Patrol teletype. Some quota-
Names of two civilians are giv-
report of that day at 2 pm.
a fix on up to four objects the
Ing Express Washington Bu-
anche of UFO sightings that
tions of messages will be given,
en: third was a police officer
regarding a sighting at 12:50
night of Aug. 1-2: and despite
reau He wrote the stories all-
had hit the Southwest - but
At 9:19 pm. the Highway
from Tulsa. not named.
p.m. near Cushing Other re-
national wire services reports
Those Flying Saucers'
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 1968
New Hampshire The sequence of Sighting One Of Most Frightening
EDITOR'S NOTE: This la
events
near
Exeter began at one o'clock in
lights came from behind
a
the third of & series about
group of trees near us They
cause of this sighting. The
UFO. (unidentified fiying ob-
the morning of last Sept 3
were extremely bright and
three observers seem to be sta-
"Prellminary analysis re-
when Exeter Police Officer Eu-
ble, reliable persons especially
reals object not explainable in
FOWLER TALKED with wit-
justs) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
flashed one at a time.
conventional terms Object
nesses and others and said he
gene P. Bertrand Jr 30. cruis-
the two patrolmen I viewed
Ing in his police car. came
caused reduction in farm
was told that Pease AFB of-
executive editor of the Even-
upon an auto drawn up by the
"At one time they came so
the area of the sighting and
lag Express Washington Bu-
close I fell to the ground and
found nothing in the area that
cows' milk from two and one-
ficers had asked the police and
half cans to one can can.
a local newspaper correspon-
IVAM.
side of the road and in It an
hysterical woman. who accord-
started to draw my gun. The
could be the probable cause.
Pease AFB had five B47 air-
Disturbed bull in field. Caused
dent not to mention the sight-
ing to the officer's report to
Hghts were - bright If was un-
craft flying in the area during
dog to bark." This sighting.
Ings The request was put to
WASHINGTON D C-One
the investigative officer from
able to make out any form.
of the more impressive sight-
"There was no sound or vi-
this period but do not believe
by the way is one of the very
the police on the ground peo-
few that Project Blue Book
ple would be alarmed If told
thgs of an Unidentified Flying
Pease Air Force Base. N. H
bration but the farm animals
they had any connection with
has marked "unidentified."
the facts it is stated
Object (UFO) occurred near
"stated she was too upset to
this sighting
were upset in the area and
Mal. Quintanilla informed
Exeter. N. H. last September. been following her and had
drive." She stated a light had
making a let of noise. When
However. Project Blue Book
As narrated. it was an extend-,
the lights started coming near
probably lists low-fiying airplanes as
The Exeter UPO produced
of this charge. said that "I
fairly familiar charge name- a
would not allow any suppres-
2
Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Thursday, Jan. 20, 196'
Those 'Flying Saucers'
AF Brushes Off Flood Of Sightings In Southwest
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is (stops on the possibilities of eld.
like and how they act. They are
patrol officers that had sightings
hour from people reporting
and stood still. then went east it doesn't announce - is not
the fourth of a series about
zens making mistakes and in
also pretty well acqualated
must have totaled two dozen
UFOs" This report refers
to
and suddenly disappeared from
really trying to discover what
UFOs (unidentified flying eb-
cluding a statement from the
with stars. which at the me-
and more Yet the formal Aug
just one hour of the several day
sight. The first ones were orange
the UFOs are. Or. If the Air
official of a planetarium in Ok
ment may be supplanting bal-
20 report from Tinker shows in-
sighting period.
lights. the ones that joined them
jects) by Bulkley B. Griffin.
Force already knows. It is pain-
lahoma City whose text was
loons as the favorite explana-
(erviews with but two civilians
Chances are, It is said. that
had red and green lights like
stakingly keeping its information
executive editor of the Evening
that "the average person is un-
Non put forth by Project Blue
and two police officers
the Air Force handling of the
airplanes. PD (police depart-
from the public. Chief blame for
Hapress Washington Bureau.
educated as to what the sky nor-
Book.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla in
UFO problem may be allowed
ment) Cushing also observed the
this lack of action must rest on
mally looks like"
command of Project Blue Book.
to drag along by an apathetic
same things".
the government.
WASHINGTON D. A good
The Tinker AFB report did
says the Air Force seeks Inter-
public Yet one may specu-
But another culprit, the scl-
two weeks after the flood of un
Interviews with military ex-
not need to avoid mention of
flews with persons who call up
late on what an honest and en-
Or the "approximately 30
entific community must bear
2
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Friday, Jan. 21, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
What Sheriffs Saw Wasn't Star, UFO Prober Admits
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
one from the start, as will be
writer was discussing this
Exeter. N H.. case reported be-
and appeared to be triangular
was wearng a long-sleeved shirt
"After talking with both of-
the firth of a series about
seen from the testimony of the
sighting at the headquarters of
ing followed.
shaped with a bright purple
and a coat, he later said that
ficers involved to the sighting
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
two deputy sheriffs. Recently.
Project Blue Book and pointed
light on the left and the small-
he feit the heat apparently ema-
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffia.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
out that a Tinker AFB radar
CHIEF DEPUTY Sheriff Billy
er. less bright, blue light on the
there is as doubt in my usled
nating from the object."
executive editor of the Evening
command of Project Blue Book.
squadron sergeant bad referred
E McCoy and Deputy Sheriff
right end. The bulk of the ob-
that they definitely saw Feals
Express Washington Bureau.
stated he has withdrawn this
to two stationary objects and
Robert W Goode were on
ject appeared to be dark grey
unusual object or phenomenan.
THE OFFICERS rushed away
conclusion after talking over the
two moving in the formation.
routine patrol near Damon Tex.
in color with no other distin-
However my investigation fail.
toward Damon 'as fast as we
WASHINGTON D C - The
phone with Deputy Sheriff Mc-
Project Blue Book proposed
which is around 40 miles south-
guishing features. It appeared
ed to uncover any facts that
could go". traveling "at speeds
case of the two Texas deputy
Coy The star-verdict didn't
that the two stationary objects
east of Houston - when they
to be about 200 feet wide and
permitted me. with my meager
up to 110 miles an hour". said
knowledge
of
such
thinks.
is
2 Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Saturday, Jan. 22. 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Evidence Indicates AF Misleading
Public On UFOs
By BULKLEY GRIFFIN
as balloons. stars and aircraft.
is this: no energatic and ther-
intelligence of our citizens. la
ter. affirmed half a dozen years
Yet to an sugmenting number
(Last of als articles)
The logical assumption.
ough effort to investigate the
one that has been heard at the
ago that he did not believe In
of competent observers the QVI-
backed by much circumstantial
unidentified flying object phe-
Capitol off and on for ap-
the Air Force explainings-away:
dence grows stronger that some
WASHINGTON DC -This
evidence. is that the Air Porce
nomenon is being made by the
proaching 20 years. Some spec-
but he did not indicate he
of the UFOs are real and really
la the final one of half a dozen
is deliberately misleading the
Air Force or ever has been
ulate It may be the reason the
thought he knows the truth of
unknown So very many im-
articles on the unidentified
public
made by It. And this charge
Air Force has given to the
the matter.
pressive sightings can't be ex-
flying objects (UFOs). the Uni-
In this campaign the Air
holds true respecting any other
chairmen of the two congres-
plained away. it is said
ted States Air Force. which has
Force. backed by normal pub-
government agency and res-
alonal space committees in its
An increasing number of good
"From the United States.
the official job of investigating
lic respect for the military and
pacting what has been termed
understood endeavor to hold
observers hold that a sizable
from Argentina. Uruguay. Por-
the sightings. and the public.
for authoritative statements.
the nation's scientific commu-
off & congressions] investign-
minority of the sightings -
tugal. France. Antarctica and
nity
thourd
Washington post 3-27-
Don't Sneer 66. at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported
gent life on other planets.
YOU CANT tismiss the
seeing "fying saucers" II
Many seientists think other
possibility that some of the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
unidentified flying unjects,
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
which TO many people have
Last year, project Blue
snow.
sighted in so many places,
Book, tite small Air Force
are real.
unit created to keep tabs on
One fact about the UFOs
There
these things received me
gives me pause. There have
of
Wash Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fled pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Statf Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers - had sighted objects:
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far-
UFO chariatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men."
been investigating UFO re-
press yesterday amid a tor-
Keyhoe and his col-
ports since 1948, has stead-
- shout - lessues instruding scienists fastly maintained there is
Photo Adds New Wrinkle to Saucers
DOUGLAS BRADFORD that hey saw the trange glow- The object in the incluration account or he fact that
While BY Air Force officials ng Diects savorting n he sky doesn seem to save much na- the thing hey saw vas. hight
and hat the dark area on the terial inbstance.
prowled through the coun-
and anny with ilashing colored
tryside. looking for some
pictura represents one if mem. Neither Paul for his mother lights vitue the camera 28+
corded 1 tack smear.
sign of the strange night
Pact and us argus FIND vas
visitors that have been zip-
on time exposure It 2.3 and
photographs aphs blown up to 9 by If
the objects are visible in the
leading into Milan No details of
sky high above street lights
distinct stonks of light in the
'a UFO Over Michigan
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich (AP)- A
distinct stowks of Hairt in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight.
leading Into Milan No details of
nd over Southern Michigan last
the objects are rights in the
week was trapped on film-
photographe blown 1115 to 10g to
First UFOs
Of Season
THE
40 in Michigan Say
A Mysterious Craft
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of a football. This was
mughly the same description
given by & nan and his son vño
Houered in Swamp
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an serie
object land n si $ swamp Sunday
have sprouted right alongside
Mysterious Object
hight 15 miles northeast of here
the forsythia.
near Lnn Arbor.
The Air Force announced it
ANN ARBOR Mich. March
Scores of people in Michigan
bringing in Dr. H. Allen
31; (UPI)-A: least 40 persons.
have reported strange flying
HILLSDALE. Mich. March
Hynek: chairman of Dearborn
including = patteement said are
objects since the weekend,
22 UPD-A civil defense die
Observatory at Northwestern
day that they saw % trange.
rector in assistant lean and 57
University, Evanston, III., and
and a former fighter pilot saysi
Bying object guarded by Sours
coeds reported a slowing ob-
scientific consultant to the Air
sister ships and the = wamp
he saw several over his Be-
ject fly past 3 college dormi-
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
sear here Sunday night.
thesda liome. Saturday aight.
tory and hover in 1. swamp for
gram to track down the reports
hours.
of unidentified flying objects.
Descriptions of the unidenti-
The Air Force, which has in-
Their description of the ob-
Dr. Hynek set up his head-
be
J
C-
re
as
id
d.
a-
or
ly
it
11-
be
It
MDH
\
Johrinan was Trubhz hearing
4
Jro. E.Karth
at Reat this in
6831
& we we fred days Freening #
sociesion acouple Holder taget a off together
united lotef S - gt frith
- Closed dr - At was is, Hputz
such areas gavest
- Cent. of Dare cyjel. as nation,
praits.
but how do $ you differ
Cond. Phere was us evil Pret
There were Foreign extra - terres tn
Those Thou 40% signted kreptd
7 underst by AF + AF came up m
some sal Explain or
maxap cheer whesethere was no
explan Whatsoever,
by don't take poor it any
The station sed any Remining we donthans
20mg over like to go into it again
thing itup to date i
it if
la, comm
Zhere
Would Favor puth Learnings of
= Thisis & There She reaction Rungs Acct would be dispelled
fine guess fn UFO sight
Drffic ostogini found, that
handthen explained.
I gan see no reason Insearce
be thes party with
The people
We whateverfears
ments, lath tell Reen so
we he conduct. mil. experi-
Gangerous There are a willion nuts on
Open heaving could become
This Thing #
on This Sez he's good
Orgins making
friend of yrs to doesn't wantyon toget
hurt he could
be made
comm. but nothing released
Kasth made rept the full
to public a
Hearing were couple inpublicized
goral for AF
Bare Secret
House Quiz
on 'Saucers'
By J.F. TER HORST
Chief of Our Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, April 2.
-A secret investigation of
unidentified flying objects
(UFOS) was conducted five
years ago by the House Sci-
ence and Astronautics Com-
mittee.
The results never were made
public.
No printed record of the
"hearing" was made and there
are no secretarial minutes.
But according to the man
who conducted the inquiry,
"Those Fantastic Flying
Saucers," the first of two
articles by Jean Pearson,
is in the Passing Show Sec-
tion (Section H) today.
Rep. Joseph E. Karth, Minne-
sota Democrat:
"I am absolutely convinced
there are no objects visiting
earth from other planets.
"I am also convinced that
people are not seeing the re-
sults of any exotic research
work bearing a top-secret label.
"I was convinced then and
I am now."
HEARD SPECIALISTS
The convincing of Karth was
done by Air Force specialists
on UFO manifestations. Air
Force representatives were the
only witnesses he interrogated,
Karth said.
Karth said he made "a full
report" to the committee chair-
man, the late Rep. Overton
Brooks, Louisiana Democrat.
Brooks requested Karth to
give the report to the full com-
mittee.
"And that's what I did," he
told The Detroit News.
(Concluded on Page 8A)
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues-
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight-
ed near Ann Arbor.
08358 M in W REWA S V
(ht-
elf-
unt
he
ege
to
it
red
1
1
GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, TUES., MARCH 22, 1966
AF Approves
Quick, Deep
Fel
UFO Studies
WASHINGTON (AP)-The Air
Force intends to contract with
a few selected universities to
investigate promptly and in
depth certain sightings of uni-
dentified flying objects.
The Air Force said that no
d
d
y
tance 01 a pase of the Air Force
Systems Command.
in
Air Force Investigating
zar
it c
acr
Wy
the
Reported Flying Objects
bra.
one
IONIA SENTINEL - MAR. 23,
A
ANN ARBOR (AP) - As re-
ports of unidentified flying ob-
jects mounted in southeastern
Michigan today the United
States Air Force began an in-
vestigation of the many sight-
ings.
Photo Adds New Wrinkle to Saucers
By DOUGLAS BRADFORD
that they saw the strange glow-
The object in the picture
can account for the fact that
ing objects cavorting in the sky
doesn't seem to have much ma-
While Air Force officials
the thing they saw was bright
and that the dark area on the
terial substance.
and shiny with flashing colored
prowled through the coun-
picture represents one of them.
Neither Paul nor his mother
lights while the camera re-
Mariannice Richwine, insist I ne pointed it at the flying object. I See SAUCER-Page 13A
THE DETROIT NEWS, WEO., MARCH 23,1966
THE EVENING STAR, WASH, 3-25-66
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight-
leading into Milan. No details of
ed over Southern Michigan last
the objects are visible in the
week was trapped-on film-
photographs blown up to 8 by 10
and
UFO
re]
orth-
I
hysi-
ric
Air
Co
wit
cent
siz
he
con-
I
dis-
the
Fo
den-
me
outh
I
who
ide
y in
Ho
iff's
Mr
ped
wh
mas
So
over
Sa
erty
aci
the
the
fee
rm-
I
S on
ap]
red
an
1.
THE EVENING STAR, WASH., MARCH 25,1966 - FRIDAY
Wash. Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fied pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Staff Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers — had sighted objects;
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.'
been investigating UFO re-
press yesterday amid a tor-
Keyhoe and his col-
ports since 1948, has stead-
rent of reports about new
leagues, including scienists,
fastly maintained there is
objects being sighted every-
engineers, military per-
no evidence any flying ob-
whom TISA
sonnel and milots the
jost
d
k
0
0
g
u
h
S.
Saucer Observers Upset
Over Air Force Analysis
DETROIT (UPI) - The U.S. the-scene investigation by tell- conditions that night-were such
Air Force closed its books Satur- ing a press conference it ap- as to have produced this un-
dav on the case of two "visits" peared "very likely". that usual and puzzling display." he
CODE b
is
GRAND RAPIDS PRESS MAR. 26, 1966
UFO Probe
Raises Ire
Observers Contest
Prof's Explanation
(Continued from page 1)
unlikely place for a visit from
outer space," Hynek said.
"It was in both cases a very
localized phenomenon," he said.
"I think that this is a most
significant point. It would seem
to me that the association of
the sightings with swamps, in
th
th
th
of
pl
he
H
da
sl
de
"
D
he
st
ti
U
da
re
fi
ti
th
be
of
C(
U
th
is
ti
ta
H
fi
st
C(
F
al
se
W
fo
in
H
C(
st
m
SC
W
re
SC
is
M
fr
le
U
h
n
a
to
to
Ti
he
te
re
L
us
th
fo
hi
us
ti
sh
down handleless.cup.
NEW YORK TIMES, WED., MAR.23,1966
THE P
87 Michigan Coeds
that of a football. This was
roughly the same description
given by a man and his son who
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an eerie
object land in a swamp Sunday
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of here
near Ann Arbor.
The Air Force announced it
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
22 (UPI) A civil defense di-
Observatory at Northwestern
rector an assistant dean and 87
University, Evanston, Ill., and
coeds reported a glowing ob-
scientific consultant to the Air
j
t
h
C
n
1
V
0
es d. It 1- S e le 0- :- 1- it d y
a
a
e-
I
Washington Post 3-27-66
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported gent life on other planets.
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
YOU CAN'T dismiss the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
possibility that some of the
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
unidentified flying objects,
Last year, project Blue know,
which so many people have
sighted in en many places
Book, the small Air Force One fact about the UFOs
WASH. POST, MAR.23, 1966
WEONESDAY
First UFOs
Of Season
Are Sighted
Spring's first flying saucers
have sprouted right alongside
the forsythia.
Scores of people in Michigan
have reported strange flying
NEW YORK Times
11 TUES., MAR 22,1966
40 in Michigan Say
A Mysterious Craft
Hovered in Swamp
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
21 (UPI) At least 40 persons,
including 12 policemen, said to-
day that they saw a strange
flying object guarded by four
swamp.
UFO's
The Detroit News
Entertainment
Stage
CLASSIFIED
Movies
TV-Radio
Columns
Hobbies
The Passing Show and REAL MICHIGAN'S LARGEST ESTATER WANT AD MEDIUM
Books
Art
SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1966
SECTION H
This picture, purportedly of a flying saucer, was taken Dec. 26, 1965, at Cappoquin in County Waterford, Ireland. Large, bright area was described as plume of saucer at left-hand tip.
ARE THEY FACT, FICTION OR ILLUSION?
Those Fantastic Flying Saucers
Scientists in 3 Special Fields Explain
Constructed
Michigan's Eerie UFO Sightings
in France,
this concept
of a flying
of a number of fairly common objects,
saucer ma-
By JEAN PEARSON
chine was un-
Detroit News Science Writer
such as a dog standing on grass, a bird in
veiled in
The House Republican leader has called
the sky, a pile of bricks and a fire hydrant.
July, 1955,
for a congressional investigation.
He projected them on the screen for a
but there are
A national organization for the investi-
group of viewers who hadn't seen the pic-
no published
tures before. Purposely, he made the pro-
gation of aerial phenomena, with hig h-
reports of it
jected image very blurred at first. Then
ranking, retired military officers and pro-
flying. It has
slowly, in stages, he put it into focus.
a diameter
fessors on its governing board, has urged
Given a blur, the viewers immediately
of almost 27
a nationwide tracking network.
tried to determine what it was they were
feet.
People are puzzled.
looking at. Once they had reached a con-
Are the UFOs real, illusions or just
clusion that seemed to satisfy, they clung
natural events people can't explain? Is the
to it.
objects
tend
to
work
against
the
swamp
at
a
Washington Post 3-27-66
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported gent life on other planets.
YOU CANT dismiss the
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
possibility that some of the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
unidentified flying objects,
Texas to Colorado,
such life. But we don't really
which so many people have
Last year, project Blue
know.
sighted in so many places,
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFOs
are real.
unit created to keep tabs on
gives me pause. There have
There are, of course, UFO
these things, received 886 re-
been no really solid reports
buffs who seem to want to
ports of UFO sightings.
of creatures being seen get-
argus F100 was
have been zip-
on time exposure at 12.5 and
rough southeastern
was loaded with last 11m when
skies, a Monroe
he took the picture at about
came up with what
11 30 p.m. Friday
was a picture of
The News photographers con-
ceded that the darkness in the
chwine, 16, who lives
picture "might be the indica-
Beach, three miles
Con of something moving quite
Monroe, produced a
swiftly OD a time exposure. or
with a blob on it
the blob could be a water spot
his camera "saw"
on the negative or a wrinkle in
pointed it at a "flying
the film.
his home Friday
Mrs. Richwine said the ob-
ject's appearance was preceded
News photographers
by four glowing shapes about
could be due to a
10:30 p.m. Friday, She saw
the
film.
them from her front window,
and his mother. Mrs.
This is what Paul Richwine's camera saw when
she said.
Richwine, insist
he pointed it at the unidentified flying object.
See SAUCER-Page 13A
Wash Post
3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fied pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Biall Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers had sighted objects;
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.'
The Air Force, which has
been investigating UFO re-
press yesterday amid a tor-
Keyhoe and his col-
rent of reports about new
ports since 1948, has stead-
leagues including
omena,
an
organization
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight.
leading into Milan No details of
ed over Southern Michigan last
the objects are visible in the
week was trapped-on film-
photographs blown up to 8 by 10
and still another UFO was
inches from the tiny flim.
reported yesterday.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a North-
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues-
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight,
ed near Ann Arbor.
NEW YORK TIMES
WASH. POST,MAR.23 1966
WERNESDAY
First UFOs
NEW YORK TIMES, WED., MAR.231966
TUES., MAR 22,1966
Of Season
THE :
40 in Michigan Say
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of & football. This was
roughly the same description
A Mysterious Craft
given by a man and his son who
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an eerie
object land in a swamp Sunday
Hovered in Swamp
have sprouted right alongside
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of here
near Ann Arbor.
the forsythia.
The Air Force announced it
Scores of people in Michigan
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
have reported strange flying
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
21 (UPI)-At least 40 persons,
including 12 policemen, said to-
objects. since the weekend,
Observatory at Northwestern
rector an assistant dean and 87
University, Evanston, Ill, and
and a former fighter pilot says
coeds reported a glowing ob-
day that they saw a strange
scientific consultant to the Air
ject fly past a college dormi-
flying object guarded by four
he saw several over his Be-
tory and hover in a swamp for
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
sister ships land in a swamp
thesda home Saturday night.
hours.
gram to track down the reports
of unidentified fiving objects
WASH. POST. SUN, MARCH 27, 1966
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported gent life on other planets.
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
YOU CANT dismiss the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
possibility that some of the
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
unidentified flying objects,
Last year, project Blue know.
which so many people have
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFOs
sighted in so many places,
unit created to keep tabs on gives me pause. There have
are real.
There
are
of
UFO
these things, received 886 no been no really solid reports
course
for
of the strange night
that have been zip-
E100 was
through southeastern
on time exposure at 12.5 and
was maded with Last film when
higan skies, a Monroe
he took the picture 21 about
boy came up with what
30 pm Friday
said was a picture of
The News photographers con-
ceded that the darkness in the
Richwine, 16, who lives
picture "might be the indica-
/oodland Beach, three miles
tion of something moving quite
of Monroe, produced a
swiftly on at time exposure, or
of film with at blob on it
the blob could be 1 water spot
he says his camera "saw"
on the negative or a wrinkle in
he pointed it at a "flying
the film
over his home Friday
Mrs. Richwine said the ob-
ject's appearance was preceded
News photógraphers
by four glowing shapes about
the blob could be due to a
10:30 p.m. Friday She saw
in the film.
them from her front window,
Paul and his mother, Mrs.
This is what Paul Richwine's camera saw when
she said.
iannice Richwine, insist
he pointed it at the unidentified flying object.
See SAUCER-Page 13A
Wash Post
3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
Washington Post Staff Writer
fied pilots and missle track-
luate all UFO sightings: get
ers-had sighted objects:
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.
The Air Force, which has
press yesterday amid a tor.
been investigating UFO re-
Keyhoe
and
his
col.
Dorts
since
1049
rent
of
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues-
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight.
ad ness Ann Arbor
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight-
leading into Milan. No details of
ed over Southern Michigan last
the objects are visible in the
week was trapped-on film-
photographs blown up to 8 by 10
another URO was
First UFOs
NEW YORK TIMES WED., MAR:251962
TUES., MAR 22,1966
Of Season
THE r
40 in Michigan Say
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of & football. This was
roughly the same description
given by a man and his son who
A Mysterious Craft
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an eerie
object land in a swamp Sunday
Hovered in Swamp
have sprouted right alongside
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of here
the forsythia.
near Ann Arbor.
The Air Force announced it
Scores of people in Michigan
have reported strange flying
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
21 (UPI)-At least 40 persons,
objects since the weekend,
rector an assistant dean and 87
Observatory at Northwestern
including 12 policemen, said to-
and a former fighter pilot says
coeds reported a glowing ob-
University, Evanston, III., and
day that they saw a strange
ject fly past a college dormi-
scientific consultant to the Air
he saw several over his Be-
flying object guarded by four
tory and hover in a swamp for
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
thesda home Saturday night.
hours.
gram to track down the reports
sister ships land in a swamp
Their description of the ob-
of unidentified flying objects.
here Runday night
The Air Force, which has in-
look
Dr. Hynek set up his head-
Washington Post 3-27-66
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported gent life on other planets.
YOU CANT dismiss the
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
possibility that some of the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
unidentified flying objects,
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
which so many people have
Last year, project Blue
know,
sighted in so many places,
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFOs
are real.
unit created to keep tabs on
gives me pause. There have
There are, of course, UFO
these things, received 886 re-
been no really solid reports
buffs who seem to want to
ports of UFO sightings.
of creatures being seen get.
believe everything and dis-
During the last two years,
ting off landed saucers. To
count logical explanations.
the National Investigations
venture from one planet to
But Air Force officials se
Committee on Aerial Phe- another involves great intel.
Photo Adds New Wrinkle to Saucers
DOUGLAS
BRADFORD
Air
Force
officials
and
on
the
through the coun
the
camera
re
looking for some
corded a Lnear
of the strange night
Paul Argus F100 was
that have been zip-
on time exposure at 12.8 and
through southeastern,
was loaded with fast film when
higan skies, a Monroe
he took the picture at about
boy came up with what
11:30 pm Friday
said was a picture of
The News photographers con-
ceded that the darkness in the
picture might be the indica-
Richwine, 16. who lives
Lon of something moving quite
/oodland Beach, three miles
switth on a time exposure or
of Monroe, produced a
the blob could De a waler spot
of film with a blob on it
on the negative or a wrinkle in
he says his camera "saw"
the film
he pointed it at a "flying
Mr. Richwine said the on-
over his home Friday
ject's appearance was preceded
by four glowing shapes about
News photographers
10:30 pm. Friday She saw
the blob could be due to a
them from her front window,
in the film
This is what Paul Richwine's camera saw when
she said
Paul and his mother, Mrs
iannice Richwine, insist
he pointed it at the unidentified flying object.
See SAUCER-Page 13A
Wash Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva- fied pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Staff Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers - had sighted objects:
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth." and to expose
all,
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.
been investigating UFO re-
press yesterday amid a tor-
Keyhoe and his col-
ports since 1948, has stead-
Committee on Aerial Phen. competent other than for surveillance
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
distinct steaks of light in the
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
sky high above street lights
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
leading into Milan No details of
unidentified Dying object sight-
the objects are visible in the
ed over Southern Michigan last
photographs blown up to 8 by 10
week was trapped-on film-
inches from the tiny flim.
and still another UFO was
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a North
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
ANN ARBOR (AP) A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues,
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight.
ed near Ann Arbor.
U.S. Rep. Weston Vivian, D-
Mich., left for Washington, D.C.,
First 1 FOs
Of Season
THE
40 in Michigan Say
A Mysterious Craft
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of & football. This was
roughly the same description
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
given by a man and his son who
reported that they saw an eerie
Hovered in Swamp
object land in & swamp Sunday
have sprouted right alongside
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of here
the forsythia.
near Ann Arbor.
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
Scores of people in Michigan
The Air Force announced 11
21 (UPI) -At least 40 persons,
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
have reported strange flying
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
including 12 pollcemen, said to-
objects' since the weekend,
rector an assistant dean and 87
Observatory at Northwestern
day that they saw & strange
and a former fighter pilot says
coeds reported & glowing ob-
University, Evanston, Ill., and
flying object guarded by four
ject fly past a college dormi-
scientific consultant to the Air
he saw several over his Be-
sister ships land in a swamp
thesda home Saturday night.
hours. tory and hover in a swamp for
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
gram to track down the reports
near here Sunday night.
Descriptions of the unidenti-
The Air Force, which has in-
Their description of the ob-
of unidentified flying objects.
ject seen here last
Dr. Hynek set up his head
ce
ee-
ve
es
nd
d.
11-
or
it
11-
be
It
Washington Post 3-27-66
Don't Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported
gent life on other planets.
YOU CANT dismiss the
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
possibility that some of the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
unidentified flying objects,
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
which so many people have
Last year, project Blue know.
sighted in so many places,
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFOs
are real.
unit created to keep tabs on
gives me pause. There have
There are, of course, UFO
these things, received 886 re. been no really solid reports
buffs who seem to want to
ports of UFO sightings.
During the last
of creatures being seen get.
Argus F100 was
isitors that have been zip
on una exposure at 12.8 and
ping through
was leaded with last film when
Michigan skies, a Munroe
he took he picture at about
area boy came up with what
11.30 pm Friday
he said was a picture of
The News photographers con-
one.
ceded that the darkness in the
Paul Richwine, 16. who lives
picture might be the indica-
n Woodland Beach, three miles
tion of something moving quite
north of Monroe, produced a
swiftiv on a time exposure, or
piece of film with a blob on it
the blob could be a water spot
that he says his camera "saw"
on the negative or a wrinkle in
when he pointed it at a "flying
the film.
saucer" over his home Friday
Mrs. Richwine said the ob-
night.
ject's appearance was preceded
Detroit News photographers
by four glowing shapes about
say the blob could be due to a
10:30 p.m. Friday She saw
wrinkle in the film.
them from her front window,
But Paul and his mother, Mrs
This is what Paul Richwine's camera saw when
she said.
Mariannice Richwine, insist
he pointed it at the unidentified flying object.
See SAUCER-Page UA
Wash Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fled pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Stalf Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers had sighted objects:
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth." and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far.
UFO charlatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.
been investigating UFO re-
press yesterday amid a tor.
Keyhoe and his col-
ports since 1948, has stead-
rent of reports about new
leagues, including scienists,
fastly maintained there is
objects being sighted every-
engineers
military
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight-
leading into Milan, No details of
ed over Southern Michigan last
the objects are visible in the
week was trapped-on film-
phot graphs blown up to 8 by 10
and still another UFO was
inches from the tiny flim.
reported yesterday.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a North
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich-
igan congressman planned Tues-
day to ask the Defense Depart-
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight-
ed near Ann Arbor.
U.S. Rep. Weston Vivian, D.
OF Season
40 in Michigan Say
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of & football, This was
A Mysterious Craft
roughly the same description
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
given by a man and his son who
reported that they saw an eerie
Hovered in Swamp
have sprouted right alongside
Mysterious Object
object land in a swamp Sunday
the forsythia.
night 45 miles northeast of here
near Ann Arbor.
Scores of people in Michigan
The Air Force announced it
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
have reported strange flying
HILLSDALE, Mich March
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
21 (UPI)-At least 40 persons,
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
objects since the weekend,
including 12 policemen, said to-
rector an assistant dean and 87
Observatory at Northwestern
day that they saw & strange
and a former fighter pilot says
coeds reported a glowing ob-
University, Evanston, III., and
he saw several over his Be-
ject fly past a college dormi-
scientific consultant to the Air
flying object guarded by four
thesda home Saturday night,
hours. tory and hover in a swamp for
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
sister ships land in a swamp
gram to track down the reports
near here Sunday night.
The Air Force, which has in-
Their description of the ob-
of unidentified flying objects.
Descriptions of the unidenti-
vestigated more than 10,000
ject seen here last night tallied
Dr. Hynek set up his head-
quarters at Selfridge
Washington post 3-27-66
Don't t Sneer at UFOs
By Roscoe Drummond
trained observers) reported gent life on other planets.
YOU CAN'T dismiss the
seeing "flying saucers" in
Many scientists think other
possibility that some of the
seven states, from Maine to
planets could not sustain
unidentified flying objects,
Texas to Colorado.
such life. But we don't really
which so many people have
Last year, project Blue
know.
sighted in 80 many places,
Book, the small Air Force
One fact about the UFOs
are real.
unit created to keep tabs on
gives me pause, There have
There are, of course, UFO
these things, received 886 re-
been no really solid reports
buffs who seem to want to
ports of UFO sightings.
of creatures being seen get.
believe everything and dis-
During the last two years,
ting off landed saucers. To
count logical explanations.
the National Investigations
venture from one planet to
Wash Post 3-29-66
Truth About Flying Objects
Hidden by AF, Faithful Say
By Howard Simons
whose major aims to eva-
fied pilots and missle track-
Washington Post Staff Writer
luate all UFO sightings; get
ers-had sighted objects;
Firm believers that
the Air Force to own up to
roughly 100,000 persons in
unidentified flying objects
the "truth," and to expose
all.
are for real and from a far-
UFO charlatans who keep
The Air Force, which has
off supercivilization met the
seeing "little green men.'
been investigating UFO re-
Photo Adds New Wrinkle to Saucers
By DOUGLAS BRADFORD
that they saw the strange glow. The object in the picture|can account for the fact that
While Air Force officials
ing objects cavorting in the sky doesn't seem to have much ma- the thing they saw Was bright
and that the dark area on the
terial substance.
prowled through the coun-
and shiny with flashing colored
picture represents one of them.
Neither Paul nor his mother
tryside looking for some
lights while the camera re-
sien of the strange night
corded a dark unear
Deputy Sheriff 'Shoots' a UFO Over Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)-A
distinct steaks of light in the
Michigan deputy sheriff said an
sky high above street lights
unidentified flying object sight-
leading into Milan, No details of
ed over Southern Michigan last
the objects are visible in the
week was trapped-on film-
photographs blown up to 8 by 10
and still another UFO was
inches from the tiny flim
State Flying Object Reports
Bring Plea for Federal Sift
I
ANN ARBOR (AP)-A Mich
igan congressman planned Tue
day to ask the Defense Departs
ment to investigate reports of
unidentified flying objects sight
en near Ann Arboe
U.S. Rep Weston Vivian TI
Mich laft for Washington DO
First UFOs
Times
Of Season
THE =
40 in Michigan Say
A Mysterious Craft
Are Sighted
87 Michigan Coeds
that of & football. This was
roughly the same description
given by a man and his son who
Hovered in Swamp
Spring's first flying saucers
and Official Sight
reported that they saw an eerie
have sprouted right alongside
object land in a swamp Sunday
the forsythia.
Mysterious Object
night 45 miles northeast of here
near Ann Arbor.
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March
Scores of people in Michigan
The Air Force announced it
31 (UPI)-At least 40 persons.
was bringing in Dr. H. Allen
have reported strange flying
HILLSDALE, Mich., March
Hynek chairman of Dearborn
including 12 policemen, said to-
objects since the weekend,
22 (UPI)-A civil defense di-
Observatory at Northwestern
day that they saw a strange
rector an assistant dean and 87
and a former fighter pilot says
University, Evanston, III., and
flying object guarded by four
coeds reported a glowing ob-
scientific consultant to the Air
sister ships land in a swamp
he saw several over his Be-
ject fly past a college dormi-
Force's Project Blue Book pro-
near here Sunday night.
thesda home Saturday night.
tory and hover in a swamp for
gram to track down the reports
hours.
of unidentified fiving objects.
2 Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Saturday, Jan. 22, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers' ...
Evidence Indicates AF Misleading
Public On UFOs
By BULKLEY GRIFFIN
as balloons, stars and aircraft.
is this: no energetic and thor-
intelligence of our citizens. is
ter. affirmed half a dozen years
Yet to an augmenting number
(Last of six articles)
The logical assumption,
ough effort to investigate the
one that has been heard at the
ago that he did not believe in
of competent observers the evi-
backed by much circumstantial
unidentified flying object phe-
Capitol off and on for ap-
the Air Force explainings-away:
dence grows stronger that some
WASHINGTON. D.C. -This
evidence, is that the Air Force
nomenon is being made by the
proaching 20 years. Some spec-
but he did not indicate he
of the UFOs are real and really
is the final one of half a dozen
is deliberately misleading the
Air Force or ever has been
ulate it may be the reason the
thought he knows the truth of
unknown So very many im-
articles on the unidentified
public.
made by it. And this charge
Air Force has given to the
the matter.
pressive sightings can't be ex-
2 Pertland, Maine, Evening Express, Monday, Jan. 17, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Air Force Explainings-Away Of UFOs
Deepens Mystery
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
an apparent Air Force lack of
and curious than ever about
of the UPO performance. On
"Reports poured in" from
"The Air Force contends
the office of Congressman John
enthusiasm especially at high
these strange, usually lighted.
Tuesday. Aug 3. The New York
21 cities and towns. continued
most of the sightings were
Jarman (D) of the Oklahoma
the first of a series about
levels - to do a thorough job
objects in the sky. The Air
Times and other newspapers
the AP dispatch The 21 are
probably stars or planets
City Congressional District and
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
of investigating sightings.
Force and the burdened Project
carried an Associated Press
named. Seven are listed in Tex-
It was the fourth consecutive
to the National Investigations,
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
Blue Book have often resorted
dispatch from Oklahoma City,
as. three in New Mexico, five
night of UFO sightings
A
Committee on Aerial Phenom-
executive editor of the Evening
HEADQUARTERS of the Air
to the expedient of lumping a
dated Aug. 2. It began:
in Oklahoma and six in Kan-
lot of people took issue with
ena (NICAP) in Washington a
Express Washington Bureau.
number of sightings together
"Authorities in Texas, New
sas.
Force investigation and conclu-
the Air Force's claim that they
summary of the teletype re-
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 1966
Highway Patrol Report Fires Controversy Over UFOs
Second. no radar sighting is
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
Blue Book. the latter the name
Oklahoma City stated flatly
ed four of the obqects
Okla-
on the highway patrol wire on
admitted. This is despite the
the second of a series about
for the Air Force investigation
that Tinker and Carswell both
homa Highway Patrol Units 30
August 1st". it is stated in the
Highway Patrol's report of
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
of UFOs.
had the UFO on radar.
and 40 have also made visual
summary from the Department
Tinker and Carswell Air Force
At 3:30 p.m. Aug 2. Project
The next night saw the URO
sightings. Reports have come
of Public Safety. On Aug 2. the
Bases having a fix on a July
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
Blue Book issued a statement
reports crowding the Highway
from ( three ) individuals".
teletype carried its first UFO
31 object. and Tinker having
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Wednesday, Jan. 19. 196
Those 'Flying Saucers'.
New Hampshire Sighting One Of Most Frightening
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
The sequence of events near
lights came from behind a
cause of this sighting. The
"Preliminary analysis re-
FOWLER TALKED with wit-
Exeter began at one o'clock in
group of trees near us. They
the third of a series about
three observers seem to be sta-
reals object not explainable in
nesses and others and said he
the morning of last Sept. 3
were extremely bright and
bie, reliable persons, especially
conventional terms. Object
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
was told that Pease AFB of-
when Exeter Police Officer Eu-
flashed one at a time.
the two patrolmen. I viewed
caused reduction in farm
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
gene P. Bertrand Jr., 30. cruis-
ficers had asked the police and
the area of the sighting and
edws' milk from two and one-
ing in his police car. came
"At one time they came se
found nothing in the area that
half cans to one can can.
a local newspaper correspon-
dent not to mention the sight-
to
Disturbed bull in field. Caused
Ings. The request was put to
in
O
E
A
et
lis
n
I
1
"When we had gone about se
feet a group of five bright red
2
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Friday, Jan. 21, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
What Sheriffs Saw Wasn't Star, UFO Prober Admits
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
one from the start, as will be
writer was discussing this
Exeter. N. H., case reported be-
and appeared to be triangular
was wearng a long-sleeved shirt
"After talking with both of
the fifth of a series about
seen from the testimony of the
sighting at the headquarters of
ing followed.
shaped with a bright purple
and a coat, he later said that
ficers involved in the sighting
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
two deputy sheriffs. Recently,
Project Blue Book and pointed
light on the left and the small-
he felt the heat apparently ema-
there is no doubt in my mind
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
out that a Tinker AFB radar
CHIEF DEPUTY Sheriff Billy
er. less bright, blue light on the
nating from the object."
executive editor of the Evening
command of Project Blue Book,
squadron sergeant had referred
E. McCoy and Deputy Sheriff
right end. The bulk of the ob-
that they definitely saw some
Express Washington Bureau.
stated he has withdrawn this
to two stationary objects and
Robert W Goode were on
jeet appeared to be dark grey
unusual object or phenomenon.
THE OFFICERS rushed away
conclusion after talking over the
two moving in the formation.
routine patrol near Damon. Tex.
in color with no other distin-
However my investigation fall-
toward Damon "as fast as we
WASHINGTON. D. C. - The
phone with Deputy Sheriff Mc-
Project Blue Book proposed
-which is around 40 miles south-
guishing features. It appeared
ed to uncover any facts that
could go". traveling "at speeds
case of the two Texas deputy
Coy. The star-verdict didn't
that the two stationary objects
east of Houston - when they
to be about 200 feet wide and
permitted me. with my meager
up to 110 miles an hour". said
knowledge of such things. to
2 Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Thursday, Jan. 20, 196'
Those 'Flying Saucers'
AF Brushes Off Flood Of Sightings In Southwest
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
stops on the possibilities of eiti-
like and how they act. They are
patrol officers that had sightings
hour from people reporting
and stood still. then went east It deesn't announce - is not
the fourth of a series about
zens making mistakes and in-
also pretty well acquainted
must have totaled two dozen
UFOs". This report refers to
and suddenly disappeared from
really trying to discover what
UFOs (unidentified flying eb-
cluding a statement from the
with stars. which at the me-
and more. Yet the formal Aug.
just one hour of the several-day
sight The first ones were orange
the UFOs are. Or, If the Air
official of a planetarium in Ok-
ment may be supplanting bal-
20 report from Tinker shows in-
sighting period.
lights. the ones that joined them
jects) by Bulkley 8. Griffin.
Force already knows. it is pain-
lahoma City whose text was
leens as the favorite explana-
terviews with but two civilians
Chances are, It is said. that
had red and green lights like
stakingly keeping its information
executive editor of the Evening
that "the average person is un-
tion put forth by Project Blue
and two police officers.
the Air Force handling of the
airplanes. PD (police depart-
from the public. Chief blame for
Express Washington Bureau.
educated as to what the sky nor-
Book.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
UFO problem may be allowed
ment) Cushing also observed the
this lack of action must rest on
mally looks like".
command of Project Blue Book.
to drag along by an apathetic
same things".
the government.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-A good
The Tinker AFB report did
says the Air Force seeks inter-
public. Yet one may specu-
But another culprit, the sci-
two weeks after the flood of un-
Interviews with military ex-inot
need to avoid mention of
views with persons who call up
late on what an honest and en-
Or the "appreximately 30
entific community must hear!!
2 Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Saturday, Jan. 22, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'..
Evidence Indicates AF Misleading
Public On UFOs
By BULKLEY GRIFFIN
as balloons. stars and aircraft.
is this: no energetic and thor-
intelligence of our citizens. is
ter. affirmed half a dozen years
Yet to an augmenting number
(Last of als articles)
The logical assumption,
ough effort to investigate the
one that has been heard at the
ago that he did not believe in
of competent observers the evi-
backed by much circumstantial
unidentified flying object phe-
Capitol off and on for ap-
the Air Force explainings-away:
dence grows stronger that some
WASHINGTON D.C. -This
evidence. is that the Air Porce
nomenon is being made by the
proaching 20 years. Some spec-
but he did not indicate he
of the UFOs are real and really
is the final one of half a dozen
is deliberately misleading the
Air Force or ever has been
ulate it may be the reason the
thought he knows the truth of
unknown So very many im-
articles on the unidentified
public.
made by it. And this charge
Air Force has given to the
the matter.
pressive sightings can't be ex-
flying objects (UFOs). the Uni-
In this campaign the Air
holds true respecting any other
chairmen of the two congres-
plained away. it is said.
ted States Air Force. which has
Force. backed by normal pub-
government agency and res-
sional space committees in its
An increasing number of good
"From the United States,
the official job of investigating
lic respect for the military and
pecting what has been termed
understood endeavor to hold
observers hold that a sizable
from Argentina, Uruguay. Por-
the sightings. and the public.
for authoritative statements.
the nation's scientific commu-
off a congressional investign-
minority of the sightings -
tugal, France. Antarctica and
nity
2 Pertland, Maine, Evening Express, Monday, Jan. 17, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Air Force Explainings-Away Of UFOs
Deepens Mystery
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
an apparent Air Force lack of
and curious than ever about
of the UPO performance. On
"Reports poured in" from
"The Air Force contends
the office of Congressman John
the first of a series about
enthusiasm especially at high
these strange. usually lighted.
Tuesday. Aug 3. The New York
21 cities and towns. continued
most of the sightings were
Jarman (D) of the Oklahoma
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
levels to do a thorough job
objects in the sky. The Air
Times and other newspapers
the AP dispatch The 21 are
probably stars or planets
City Congressional District and
of investigating sightings.
Force and the burdened Project
carried an Associated Press
named. Seven are listed in Tex-
It was the fourth consecutive
to the National Investigations
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin.
Blue Book have often resorted
dispatch from Oklahoma City,
as. three in New Mexico, five
night of UFO sightings
A
Committee on Aerial Phenom-
executive editor of the Evening
HEADQUARTERS of the Air
to the expedient of lumping a
dated Aug. 2. It began:
in Oklahoma and six in Kan-
lot of people took issue with
ena (NICAP) in Washington a
Express Washington Bureau.
Force investigation and conclu-
number of sightings together
"Authorities in Texas, New
sas.
the Air Force's claim that they
summary of the teletype re-
No wrote the stories after vis-
sions on unidentified flying ob-
- not naming any particular
Mexico. Oklahoma and Kansas
were stars or planets."
ports sent into the Oklahoma
Mine
the
UPO
were deluged last night and
THE UNITED PRESS Inter-
Highway
Patrol
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 1966
Highway Patrol Report Fires Controversy Over UFOs
Second. no radar sighting is
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
Blue Book. the latter the name
Oklahoma City stated flatly
ed four of the obqects
Okla-
on the highway patrol wire on
admitted. This is despite the
the second of a series about
for the Air Force investigation
that Tinker and Carswell both
homa Highway Patrol Units 30
August 1st". it is stated in the
Highway Patrol's report of
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
of UFOs
had the UFO on radar.
and 40 have also made visual
summary from the Department
Tinker and Carswell Air Force
At 3:30 p.m. Aug 2. Project
The next night saw the URO
sightings. Reports have come
of Public Safety. On Aug. 2. the
Bases having a fix on a July
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
Blue Book issued a statement
reports crowding the Highway
from ( three individuals".
teletype carried its first UFO
31 object, and Tinker having
executive editor of the Even-
assuming to explain the aval-
Patrol teletype. Some quota-
Names of two civilians are giv-
report of that day at 2 p.m.
a fix on up to four objects the
ing Express Washington Be-
anche of UFO sightings that
tions of messages will be given.
en: third was a police officer
regarding a sighting at 12:50
night of Aug. 1-2: and despite
reau. He wrote the stories aft-
had hit the Southwest - but
At 9:19 p.m. the Highway
from Tulsa. not named.
p.m. near Cushing Other re-
national wire services reports
probably had hit Oklahoma
Patrol tower sent out this mes-
ports followed through the aft-
of these radar sightings and
er visiting the UFO office of
the heaviest - starting July 31.
sage: "Since 8 p.m. the tower
"TINKER AIR FORCE Base
ernoon and night.
of a Wichita Weather Station
Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
New Hampshire Sighting One Of Most Frightening
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
The sequence of events near
lights came from behind a
cause of this sighting. The
"Preliminary analysis re-
FOWLER TALKED with wit-
Exeter began at one o'clock in
group of trees near us They
three observers seem to be sta-
veals object not explainable in
the third of a series about
nesses and others and said he
the morning of last Sept. 3
were extremely bright and
bie, reliable persons, especially
conventional terms. Object
was told that Pease AFB of-
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
when Exeter Police Officer Eu-
flashed one at a time.
the two patrolmen. I viewed
caused reduction in farm
ficers had asked the police and
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
gene P. Bertrand Jr., 30. cruis-
the area of the sighting and
edws' milk from two and one-
a local newspaper correspon-
executive editor of the Even-
ing in his police car. came
"At one time they came se
found nothing in the area that
half cans to one can can.
dent not to mention the sight-
upon an auto drawn up by the
close I fell to the ground and
could be the probable cause.
Disturbed bull in field. Caused
Ing Express Washington Bu-
ings. The request was put to
side of the road and in It an
started to draw my gun. The
Pease AFB had five B47 air-
dog to bark." This sighting,
the police on the ground peo-
reau.
hysterical woman. who accord-
lights were so bright I was un-
craft flying in the area during
by the way. is one of the very
ple would be alarmed If told
ing to the officer's report to
able to make out any form.
this period but do not believe
few that Project Blue Beek
the facts It is stated
WASHINGTON. D C-One
the investigative officer from
"There was no sound or vi-
they had any connection with
has marked "unidentified."
Maj. Quintanilla informed
of the more impressive sight-
Pease Air Force Base, N. H.,
bration but the farm animals
this sighting
of this charge. said that "I
ings of an Unidentified Flying
"stated she was too upset to
were upset in the area and
However. Project Blue Book
The Exeter UPO produced a
would not allow any suppres-
Object (UFO) occurred near
drive." She stated a light had
making a let of noise. When
lists low-flying airplanes as
fairly familiar charge. name-
sion of news." However It is
M
W
last
September
the
Media
coming
probably
ly that the Air Force sought
s
2
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Friday, Jan. 21, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
What Sheriffs Saw Wasn't Star, UFO Prober Admits
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
one from the start. as will be
writer was discussing this
Exeter. N H.. case reported be-
and appeared to be triangular
was wearng a long-sleeved shirt
"After talking with both of-
the fifth of a series about
seen from the testimony of the
sighting at the headquarters of
ing followed.
shaped with a bright purple
and a coat. he later said that
ficers involved in the sighting
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
two deputy sheriffs Recently.
Project Blue Book and pointed
light on the left and the small-
he felt the heat apparently ema-
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
out that a Tinker AFB radar
CHIEF DEPUTY Sheriff Billy
er. less bright, blue light on the
there is no doubt in my mind
nating from the object."
executive editor of the Evening
command of Project Blue Book,
squadron sergeant had referred
E McCoy and Deputy Sheriff
right end. The bulk of the ob-
that they definitely saw seme
Express Washington Bureau.
stated he has withdrawn this
to two stationary objects and
Robert W Goode were on
ject appeared to be dark grey
unusual object or phenomenon.
THE OFFICERS rushed away
conclusion after talking over the
two moving in the formation.
routine patrol near Damon. Tex.
in color with no other distin-
However my investigation fall-
toward Damon "as fast as we
WASHINGTON D C - The
phone with Deputy Sheriff Mc-
Project Blue Book proposed
-which is around 40 miles south-
guishing features. It appeared
ed to uncover any facts that
could go". traveling "at speeds
case of the two Texas deputy
Coy The star-verdict didn't
that the two stationary objects
east of Houston - when they
to be about 200 feet wide and
permitted me. with my meager
up to 110 miles an hour". said
sheriffs whose patrol car was al-
seem to fit. So Blue Book now
were stars - the brightest of
saw a bright purple light. which
40-50 feet thick in the middle
knowledge of such things, to
McCov Arrived in Damon they
2 Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Thursday, Jan. 20, 196'
Those 'Flying Saucers'
AF Brushes Off Flood Of Sightings In Southwest
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
stops on the possibilities of citi-
like and how they act. They are
patrol officers that had sightings
hour from people reporting
and stood still. then went east it doesn't announce - is not
the fourth of a series about
zens making mistakes and in-
also pretty well acquainted
must have totaled two dozen
UFOs". This report refers to
and suddenly disappeared from
really trying to discover what
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
cluding a statement from the
with stars, which at the me-
and more Yet the formal Aug.
just one hour of the several-day
sight. The first ones were orange
the UFOs are. Or. if the Air
official of a planetarium in Ok-
ment may be supplanting bai-
20 report from Tinker shows in-
sighting period.
lights, the ones that joined them
jacts) by Bulkley 8. Griffin.
Force already knows. it is pain-
lahoma City whose text was
leons as the favorite explana-
terviews with but two civilians
Chances are, It is said. that
had red and green lights like
stakingly keeping its information
executive editor of the Evening
that "the average person is un-
them must forth hv Project Blue
and two police officers
the Air Force handling of the
airplanes PD police depart.
from the public Chief
2
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Friday, Jan. 21, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
What Sheriffs Saw Wasn't Star, UFO Prober Admits
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
one from the start, as will be
writer was discussing this
Exeter. N H., case reported be-
and appeared to be triangular
was wearng a long-sleeved shirt
"After talking with both of
the fifth of a series about
seen from the testimony of the
sighting at the headquarters of
ing followed.
shaped with a bright purple
and a coat. he later said that
ficers involved in the sighting
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
two deputy sheriffs. Recently.
Project Blue Book and pointed
light on the left and the small-
he felt the heat apparently ema-
there is Be doubt in my mind
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
out that a Tinker AFB radar
CHIEF DEPUTY Sheriff Billy
er. less bright, blue light on the
nating from the object."
executive editor of the Evening
command of Project Blue Book.
squadron sergeant had referred
E McCoy and Deputy Sheriff
right end. The bulk of the ob-
that they definitely saw some
Express Washington Bureau.
stated he has withdrawn this
to two stationary objects and
Robert W Goode were on
ject appeared to be dark grey
unusual object or phenomenon.
THE OFFICERS rushed away
However mv investigation
2 Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Thursday, Jan. 20, 196'
Those 'Flying Saucers'
AF Brushes Off Flood Of Sightings In Southwest
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
stops on the possibilities of citi-
like and how they act. They are
patrol officers that had sightings
hour from people reporting
and stood still. then went east it doesn't announce
I
is
the fourth of a series about
zens making mistakes and in-
also pretty well acquainted
UFOs". This report refers to
not
must have totaled two dozen
and suddenly disappeared from
really trying to discover what
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
cluding & statement from the
with stars. which at the me-
and more Yet the formal Aug.
just one hour of the several-day
sight. The first ones were orange
the UPOs are. Or, If the Air
official of a planetarium in Ok-
ment may be supplanting bal-
20 report from Tinker shows in-
sighting period.
lights, the ones that joined them
jects) by Bulkley S. Griffin.
Force already knows. It is pain-
lahoma City whose text was
leens as the favorite explana-
terviews with but two civilians
Chances are, It is said. that
had red and green lights like
stakingly keeping its information
executive editor of the Evening
that "the average person is un-
tion put forth by Project Blue
and two police officers
the Air Force handling of the
airplanes. PD (police depart-
from the public. Chief blame for
Express Washington Bureau.
educated as to what the sky nor-
Book.
Maj. Hector Quintanilla. in
UFO problem may be allowed
ment) Cushing also observed the
this lack of action must rest on
mally looks like".
command of Project Blue Book.
to drag along by an apathetic
same things".
the government.
WASHINGTON. D. C.-A good
The Tinker AFB report did
says the Air Force seeks inter-
public. Yet one may specu-
But another culprit, the sci-
two weeks after the flood of un-
Interviews with military ex-
not need to avoid mention of
views with persons who call up
late on what an honest and en-
Or the "appreximately 30
entific community. must bear
identified flying object (UFO)
perts are given which mention
particular sightings The Okla-
and whose names they learn.
ergetic investigation might do.
calls" to the Shawnee police
blame according to an August
sightings last August over Okla-
unusually bright stars at this
homa Highway Patrol teletype
"We are not interested in per-
For one thing. it would investi-
department reporting four or
article by Robert C. Cowen. nat-
Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Wednesday, Jan. 19. 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'.
New Hampshire Sighting One Of Most Frightening
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
The sequence of events near
lights came from behind a
cause of this sighting. The
"Preliminary analysis re-
Exeter began at one o'clock in
group of trees near us. They
FOWLER TALKED with wit-
the third of a series about
three observers seem to be sta-
reals object not explainable in
the morning of last Sept. 3
were extremely bright and
nesses and others and said he
bie, reliable persons, especially
conventional terms. Object
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
when Exeter Police Officer Eu-
flashed one at a time.
was told that Pease AFB of-
the two patrolmen. I viewed
caused reduction in farm
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
gene P. Bertrand Jr., 30. cruis-
ficers had asked the police and
the area of the sighting and
edws' milk from two and one-
executive editor of the Even-
ing in his police car. came
"At one time they came se
found nothing in the area that
half cans to one can can.
a local newspaper correspon-
upon an auto drawn up by the
close I fell to the ground and
dent not to mention the sight-
Ing Express Washington Bu-
could be the probable cause.
Disturbed bull in field. Caused
side of the road and in It an
started to draw my gun. The
Ings. The request was put to
Pease AFB had five B47 air-
dog to bark." This sighting,
reas.
hysterical woman. who accord-
lights were so bright I was un-
the police on the ground peo-
craft flying in the area during
by the way. is one of the very
ing to the officer's report to
able to make out any form.
ple would be slarmed If told
this period but do not believe
few that Project Blue Beek
WASHINGTON, D C-One
the facts It is stated
the investigative officer from
"There was no sound or vi-
they had any connection with
has marked "unidentified."
of the more impressive sight-
Mai. Quintanilla informed
Pease Air Force Base. N. H.,
bration but the farm animals
this sighting."
ings of an Unidentified Flying
of this charge. said that "I
"stated she was too upset to
were upset in the area and
However. Project Blue Book
The Exeter UFO produced a
Object (UPO) occurred near drive." She stated a light had
would not allow any suppres-
making a let of noise. When
lists low-flying airplanes as
fairly familiar charge, name-
Exeter. N. H., last September. been following her and had
sion of news." However It is
the lights started coming near
probably responsible for this
ly that the Air Force sought
It
extend-
an impression in Washington
to suppress news of the sight-
officers
deal
higher
feet a group of five bright red
2 Pertland, Maine, Evening Express, Monday, Jan. 17, 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Air Force Explainings-Away Of UFOs
Deepens Mystery
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
an apparent Air Force lack of
and curious than ever about
of the UFO performance. On
"Reports poured in" from
"The Air Force contends
the office of Congressman John
the first of a series about
enthusiasm especially at high
these strange, usually lighted.
Tuesday. Aug 3. The New York
21 cities and towns. continued
most of the sightings were
Jarman (D) of the Oklahoma
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
levels to do a thorough job
objects in the sky. The Air
Times and other newspapers
the AP dispatch The 21 are
probably stars or planets
City Congressional District and
of investigating sightings.
Force and the burdened Project
carried an Associated Press
named. Seven are listed in Tex-
It was the fourth consecutive
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin.
to the National Investigations
Blue Book have often resorted
dispatch from Oklahoma City,
as. three in New Mexico. five
night of UFO sightings
A
executive editor of the Evening
Committee on Aerial Phenom-
HEADQUARTERS of the Air
to the expedient of lumping a
dated Aug. 2. It began:
in Oklahoma and six in Kan-
lot of people took issue with
Express Washington Bureau.
ena (NICAP) in Washington a
Force investigation and conclu-
number of sightings together
"Authorities in Texas, New
sas.
He wrote the stories after vis-
the Air Force's claim that they
summary of the teletype re-
sions on unidentified flying ob-
- not naming any particular
Mexico. Oklahoma and Kansas
were stars or planets."
Iting the UFO office of the
ports sent into the Oklahoma
jects they call the enterprise
one - and furnishing a gener-
were deluged last night and
THE UNITED PRESS Inter-
Highway Patrol Communica-
U.S. Air Force.
Project Blue Book - is at
alized catch-all explanation.
early today (Aug. 2) by reports
national. in a dispatch in the
It can be mentioned in pass-
tions Network Center. July 31-
Wright - Patterson Air Force
of unidentified objects seen
evening of Aug. 2. named eight
ing that radar does not pick
Aug. 5, from the various high-
WASHINGTON. D.C. The
Base near Dayton. Ohio. In
This is what It did respec-
flying in the sky.
states. "Reports of sightings by
up stars or planets.
Air Force handling of the uni-
ting an extraordinary num-
"The Sedgwick County sher-
way patrol headquarters over
charge of Project Blue Book is
eye poured in from Kansas,
In one UPI dispatch It is
the state.
dentified flying objects (UFOs)
ber of sightings in the South-
iff's office at Wichita. Kansas.
Mai Hector Quintanilla
Texas. Oklahoma. New Mexico,
stated that "Oklahomans prob-
This valuable document
2 Portland, Maine, Evening Express, Saturday, Jan. 22. 1966
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Evidence Indicates AF Misleading
Public On UFOs
By BULKLEY GRIFFIN
as balloons. stars and aircraft.
is this: no energetic and thor-
intelligence of our citizens. is
ter. affirmed half a dozen years
Yet to an augmenting number
(Last of six articles)
The logical assumption,
ough effort to investigate the
one that has been heard at the
ago that he did not believe in
of competent observers the evi-
backed by much circumstantial
unidentified flying object phe-
Capitol off and on for ap-
the Air Force explainings-away.
dence grows stronger that some
WASHINGTON D.C. -This
evidence. is that the Air Force
nomenon is being made by the
proaching 20 years. Some spec-
but he did not indicate he
of the UFOs are real and really
is the final one of half a dozen
is deliberately misleading the
Air Force or ever has been
ulate it may be the reason the
thought he knows the truth of
unknown So very many im-
articles on the unidentified
public.
made by it. And this charge
Air Force has given to the
the matter.
pressive sightings can't be ex-
flying objects (UFOs). the Uni-
In this campaign the Air
holds true respecting any other
chairmen of the two congres-
plained away. it is said.
ted States Air Force. which has
Force. backed by normal pub-
government agency and res-
sional space committees in its
An increasing number of good
"From the United States,
the official job of investigating
lic respect for the military and
pecting what has been termed
understood endeavor to hold
observers hold that a sizable
from Argentina. Uruguay. Por-
the sightings. and the public.
for authoritative statements.
the nation's acientific commu-
off a congressional investign-
minority of the sightings -
tugal. France. Antarctica and
Those 'Flying Saucers'
Portland. Maine, Evening Express, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 1966
Highway Patrol Report Fires Controversy Over UFOs
Second. no radar sighting is
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is
Blue Book, the latter the name
Oklahoma City stated flatly
ed four of the obqects Okla-
on the highway patrol wire on
admitted. This is despite the
the second of a series about
for the Air Force investigation
that Tinker and Carswell both
homa Highway Patrol Units 30
August 1st" It is stated in the
Highway Patrol's report of
UFOs (unidentified flying ob-
of UFOs.
had the UFO on radar.
and 40 have also made visual
summary from the Department
Tinker and Carswell Air Force
At 3:30 p.m. Aug 2. Project
The next night saw the URO
sightings. Reports have come
of Public Safety. On Aug 2. the
Bases having a fix on a July
jeets) by Bulkley S. Griffin,
Blue Book issued a statement
reports crowding the Highway
from three individuals".
teletype carried its first UFO
31 object. and Tinker having
executive editor of the Even-
assuming to explain the aval-
Patrol teletype. Some quota-
Names of two civilians are giv-
report of that day at 2 p.m.
a fix on up to four objects the
Ing Express Washington Bu-
anche of UFO sightings that
tions of messages will be given,
en: third was a police officer
regarding a sighting at 12:50
night of Aug. 1-2: and despite
reau. He wrote the stories aft-
had hit the Southwest but
At 9:19 p.m. the Highway
from Tulsa, not named.
p.m. near Cushing Other re-
national wire services reports
ports followed through the aft-
er visiting the UFO office of
probably had hit Oklahoma
Patrol tower sent out this mes-
of these radar sightings and
the heaviest starting July 31.
sage: "Since 8 p.m. the tower
"TINKER AIR FORCE Base
ernoon and night.
of a Wichita Weather Station
the U.S. Air Force.
Therefore. this article will
has received in the neighbor-
has had from one to four of
All this from just one state's
radar sighting of several UFOs.
seek to hit the high points of
hood of 25 to 30 visual sight-
them on radar at a time. and
highway patrol teletype
By BULKLEY GRIFFIN
the sightings reported on the
ings, many by police officers
they advise they are flying very
At 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 2. Maj.
RADAR DOES NOT pick up
WASHINGTON. D.C. - Re-
Oklahoma Highway Patrol net-
and highway patrol troopers
high, at approximately 22,000
Hector Quintanilla. in charge
stars and planets. as has been
search into the matter of the
work beginning with July 31,
of various unidentified flying
feet. which seems to coincide
of Project Blue Book. issued
stated. Purther, corroboration
Unidentified Flying Objects
up to the issuance of the Pro-
objects from the Purcell Area
with the visual sightings. all
the following staetment:
(UFOs). the United States Air
ject Blue Book explanation.
north thru the Norman area to
of which are 'very high flying
of visual sightings by a redar
Force and the public, receives
Chandler and back through
objects'".
"INITIAL STUDY of the
sighting - as the Oklahoma