in the news 1952
PART THIRTY-THREE
Above: First and fourth images, sketch and description in Blue Book Special Report No. 14 on the experience of William Squyres (sometimes spelled in different accounts and documents as Squyers or Squire). Second and third images, sketches in the original Project Blue Book case file, with one apparently signed by Squyres himself. Fifth image, sketch, origin unknown. Story below.
NINETEEN FIFTY-TWO might be remembered for many things, large and small. The election of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. Fifty thousand American families afflicted by Polio. The British A-bomb. The first issue of Mad magazine. The theory of the Big Bang.
But for those of a certain bent, 1952 will also be remembered for the second great 'flying saucer flap' which climaxed with the reports of radar and visual sightings over the nation's capital in late July.
Part of the story of that event-filled year is now available in declassified government files. But for the public back then -- at a time when only one in three families in America had a television set -- the story was mostly found in the newspapers and magazines.
This then is a look back at those stories, as they first appeared in print...
AUGUST 25, 1952:
Tipton, Indiana Tribune - 25 Aug 52
Looking At Life
By Erich Brandeis
Every once in a while I get a letter from some reader who wants to know how I can write such piffle as I do when there are so many important things to write about.
Here is one from California:
"How can you THINK of such trivial things as your home, your dog, your wife, yourself, when there is so much important material to write about?
"How about the atomic bomb, the coming election, Korea, flying saucers, Russia?"
And so on and so forth...
Fort Pierce, Texas News Tribune - 25 Aug 52
Sports Whirl
by Bob Ennis
From reports all over the country the Air Force seems to be conducting its "investigation" of flying saucers in an inept manner and with cynical disbelief.
So fooey on the Air Force. Maybe we'll just conduct our own investigation of the cosmos cruising crockery.
Right here somebody is going to say, "Why doesn't that guy stick to sports subjects in this column?" And the answer would be that right now the writer feels flitting lights and hurtling half moons are more interesting.
Some guy in West Palm Beach claims a saucer took a pot shot at him the other day and dang near scorched his fuselage. The next night a local fireman, Russell Rogers, and several members of his family reported a pair of them zooming north high in the stratosphere.
You hear reports from all over the country about the blamed things and the funny part of it is that all the reports are more or less similar.
Everybody asks, "What's up?" But the Air Force doesn't seem about to give a satisfactory answer.
We notice that when Rogers reported his saucer the other day several other persons we passed on the street mentioned that they had seen them too but weren't too anxious to say anything about it because of talk about "hallucinations." Well, we don't figure they're hallucinations, because too many reliable people have seen them and they often have other witnesses.
So here's the deal. If you've seen any of these so-called saucers drop us a card briefly describing the what, when and where and give an opinion as to what you think they are. The answer to everything can be found through polls it seems, so maybe we'll solve the mystery this way.
As the cards come in we'll print the experiences from time to time and that should make some mighty interesting read. Maybe the Air Force could learn a few things from it. So open up, don't be bashful, let's see how many people around these parts have spotted these planetary platters. Just address your cards to Flying Saucer Editor, News-Tribune.
Newport, Rhode Island Daily News - 25 Aug 52
Flying Saucers Observed Over Aquidneck Park
Flying saucers made a reported appearance over Newport Sunday night, as a barrage of telephone calls to the police station attested.
Several persons said they saw the weird objects over Aquidneck Park. According to one witness, Mrs. Doris Karcher of Golden Hill Street, the aerial display included two bright orange discs, about the size of dinner plates.
Mrs. Karcher said she and her family had returned from an outing at Lincoln Park about 8:20 p.m., when children called her attention to the discs. The Karchers watched them from an upstairs bedroom and reported they were still in view an hour later.
The "saucers" passed back and forth and at times dipped out of sight, she said.
Miss Elsa Hallberg of 8 Carey St. reported seeing a similar sight from a point near Aquidneck Park, where she watched for about an hour. She said she saw two objects, small, at first then increasing in size, varying in color from orange to red, becoming dimmer, then brighter again.
She said several residents in the area were also observing the strange lights in the sky.
Miss Alice Whitman of 90 Kay St. recalls watching for about two hours one evening late in June two objects that "looked like big silver plates," moving high and fast in the sky over Kay Street.
New London, Connecticut Evening Day - 25 Aug 52
Flying Saucers Still in Season; 'Wing' Over 2 Area Communities
The week end apparently was convention time for flying saucers in the southeastern Connecticut vicinity. Two reports of saucers were received by The Day -- one report of four or five objects early Sunday morning and the other report of two on Sunday afternoon. One of the reports came from a lieutenant colonel of the Delaware air national guard, who is making a written report of the observation to the air force.
The national guard officer is Lieut. Col. William W. Spruance, on vacation and visiting at the home of State Rep. David M. Johnstone of Barnes road, Stonington. Spruance is chief of staff of the Delaware air national guard, and has had more than 3,000 hours of flying, some of it in modern jet planes.
The colonel, member of a picnic party with his host, was on Sandy Point Sunday afternoon in Little Narragansett bay, off Sotonington-- an island formerly part of Napatree point, extending out into the bay from Watch Hill. Colonel Spruance left the party briefly and walked along the island. When some distance away from the other members of the party, he observed "two spherical or disk shaped objects" flashing across the sky at "fantastic speed" and going in an easterly direction.
Altitude and speed are difficult to judge, the colonel pointed out today, but if these objects were approximately the size of a modern plane, their altitude would be about 15,000 feet. It appeared, he said, that they were "going twice as fast as jets," which would mean 800 to 1,000 miles an hour, or more. The colonel noted the time exactly. It was 3:36 p.m.
A group of flying saucers -- probably "four or five" but moving so fast and shuffling in and out of formation so rapidly that it was difficult to be sure of the exact number -- was reported by Cassius O. Taylor, retired, of Uncas avenue, Thames View. They came out of the sky from the north, Taylor said, in the very early morning Sunday and they headed south. They traveled at "terrific speed."
Taylor awoke in the middle of the night, about 2 a.m., and looked out a window facing east from his bedroom. There, streaking across the sky, were the saucers. They were "about the size of a dinner plate" as he saw them, and very bright. The objects remained "bunched" pretty well, he said, and disappeared in a short time.
Titusville, Pennsylvania Herald - 25 Aug 52
Editor Sees 'Saucer,' Feels Auto Quiver
The following account of an aerial phenomenon was written by a trained newspaperman who is a careful observer and accurate recorder of events. To the best of our knowledge it is the first to report a reaction on the surface of the earth -- the shaking of his sedan -- simultaneously with the display of lights in the sky. The author is careful to draw no conclusion as to what caused this motion. There was no wind. It may have been sound waves at too high a frequency for a human ear to hear, or it may have been an electrical force such as magnetism, or it might have been a slight earth tremor. But that is for the scientists to say. -- The Publishers.
By FRANK S. HOLOWACH
Managing Editor, The Herald
I joined the fraternity early yesterday morning of those who have seen strange lights in the sky. I'm not definitely sure what I saw but I'm not up to joking about the matter yet because at the of the observation period I was a jittery fellow.
I felt as though I were brushing the supernatural.
There may be an explanation for what I saw.
There's also probably an explanation for the way I felt, but I know this: I don't want to go through the experience again.
You can laugh if you want to and I'd like to join you, but I felt as though an invisible magnetic force rocked my car and tried to pull me out of it.
That's a pretty tall order for anyone to swallow, but let's just go through this thing once over lightly for the record. I'm not asking anyone to believe anything. I almost don't believe it myself.
Event Starts at 4:30 a.m.
To begin with, it happened at half past four yesterday morning. There's a logical explanation for my being out that late. First, I work nights and usually don't get to bed before three, so that time of day is not too unusual with me (except on Saturday night). Second, I played a late round of golf at Cambridge Springs which ended at 8. Then followed a late dinner at a friend's home in Edinboro, and a bull session with old classmates which didn't break up till after two. Then, as my friend was acting as babysitter because his wife was in the hospital where she gave birth to a boy last Wednesday, I stayed another hour with him while he rocked one of his charges back to sleep.
O.K., so here I go home alone at 4 o'clock.
About 4:20 or a little before I was on Route 408, five miles southeast of Cambridge Springs in Rockdale township. I saw a light turn on in the sky low over the horizon to my left. It was a bright hard light but not much bigger than a star. In fact, it looked just like a star and twinkled or turned.
Before I was sure I had seen anything, the light went out. Then seconds later it reappeared almost directly ahead at the far east extreme of the horizon.
I stopped the car and turned out my lights. Nothing happened. Probably a shooting star, I thought. So I started up and went around the next curve.
Moving Light Reappears
The light reappeared riding low in the sky. I stopped again and said to myself:
"This is what you've been wanting to see, one of those reported lights at night. Let's try to find an explanation for this."
Embarking upon the matter in somewhat of the manner of a scientist, which I'm not, I began taking notes of just what was going on and also set down possible explanations. It was a cold night but clear where I was, although foggy in the lowlands. I was enjoying myself and glad I had finally seen "something."
I got out of the car and stood in the roadway while my eyes got adjusted somewhat to the night. The light flickered on and off like a firefly. Could it be a firefly? No, doubt that. It is whiter light. It covers too much space. It doesn't go away. There is only one light. And it seems to cover a regular route.
The light skated around the horizon. I was on rather an elevation, looking to the northeast across a low valley. The light appeared to be just above the next ridge (Brown hill, north of Little Cooley).
The light flickered like a car headlight going past trees. Then it went out. Then it reappeared, further north. And then south again. Always just above the horizon, but sometimes going up a little and coming down a little at a slant.
Light Skates Around
Now hold everything, I said to myself. What you're probably seeing is auto traffic on a road on top of that ridge. Is there a road there? Well, I don't know. I listen. There is a faraway motor sound of an auto or truck on a road. The light skates around some more.
But it seems to be detached. There is no beam or shaft like a searchlight or auto headlights in the air.
Can it be a light on a plane? As if in answer to my unspoken query, I saw a white light flashing on and off about halfway up from the horizon. A sound of a plane motor trailed the light by some distance. Well, there's a plane. It's flying from northwest to southeast. The white light looks a whole lot like the light which flickered low on the horizon and disappeared. The plane goes out of sight. Strange it had no red and green lights but maybe planes come equipped with a white flashing light now.
How about shooting stars, meteors? It's odd, but as I thought that there was one streaking down in the north. A little later another briefly blazed almost, overhead and went out.
But there's that light, on and off and moving about to the northeast. It goes out. But it's not a shooting star. They don't come back as this does.
Reddish Light in Valley
Then I become aware of something else. There's a reddish-white light in the valley, down by the trees, quite some distance away and unmoving. Was it there all the time? I don't know how I missed it before.
Well, there's an easy explanation for that reddish light. It's a farm house in the valley, with light coming from a window. Roosters are crowing and it must be time for the farmer to get up and do the chores. Also time for me to get going home, so forget the lights and --
Did that light in the valley move?
No, you were looking at it too long and your eyes are playing you tricks. You line the light up with two stars overhead, glance away and suddenly sneak a look back. Well! Something's moved -- either the light, the stars, or you.
By now my curiosity is really aroused. I'll stay here if it takes till morning. I glance at my watch and am amazed to see it is 5:30. I didn't know I had been standing there that long. The sky is getting lighter in the east.
Walk for Warmth
I walk about to get warm, and stare at that light in the valley. If I knew the country I'd go through fields and pasture down there. But the grass is wet. Here comes that white light. It hovers over the reddish one, twinkles for a while and goes out. I stare some more at the reddish light and am almost sure it is a farmhouse light -- although an intense one -- some distance away.
O.K., you darn light. You're robbing me of some sleep and you might as well take some more. I'm sticking here until it's real daylight and I can see the house you're attached to. You can't fool me.
Dogs are barking but there's no traffic. No car has passed me since I've been here.
I return to my auto while I wait for daylight. I can see the light in the valley from there, and note that once in a while the white ridge light comes to life and moves about the sky. Well, that white light could be car headlights on a far-away road, and even though I can't hear a car and the night is very quiet, except for the dogs and roosters. I'll just forget you. I have my doubts about you, light, and until you do something more spectacular than just twinkle like a star and move about I won't catalog you. After all, it's night and I can't see how high that distant ridge is. You could even be a headlight reflection on a road beyond the ridge which I can't make out in the darkness. By the way, it isn't too dark. I can see trees and fields and the stars overhead shine very brightly.
Wait for Daylight
But you light in the valley, there's an explanation for you, and by gosh, I'll have it when it gets light. Till then I'm right here, sitting in my car.
Now, imagination is a powerful thing. As I look back, I don't think one stray thought entered my head about anything eerie or supernatural. I was just matter-of-factly doing a reporting job, or I thought I was.
There must be an explanation for the lights and my job is to try and find it.
Has the valley light moved? I stare at it. Well, it seems to be moving up and down, and around a little, but heck, that's an optical illusion. You look at a light long enough and you're bound to think it moves.
I look to see how the eastern sky is getting lighter . . . and I feel the car vibrate.
Ah. Shivering because your feet are cold, huh?
The car moved again. This time I was watching myself, and I don't think I moved to make the car shift like that.
I look at the valley light. It seems to be increased in intensity and beamed right at me.
I Get Jittery
For some reason my skin begins to crawl.
I told you imagination is a powerful thing.
The car vibrates and I vibrate.
Cut this out. You're thinking things. Nothing's going to hurt you. Watch the car radio aerial against the top of that tree and the sky, and it'll show you nothing is shaking the car.
But the aerial's shaking.
I looked at the light in the valley. It stared at me. It seemed some force was pulling at me through the open window.
It felt like a giant magnet was drawing my flesh.
Well, I'll be frank with you. My imagination went to work right then, if it hadn't before (and I don't think it did before). My hair seemed to stand on end (try it -- it's a funny feeling) and somehow I felt as if I was going to disintegrate, disappear.
Doesn't that light want anyone to watch it?
Right then I switched on the car key, started up and went away as if something was chasing me. Wait for the daylight to see where that light comes from? Not me! I'll come back in the daylight, good strong daylight, but I won't wait.
I'll be doggoned if the elements weren't against me then. The white light came out and moved ahead of me. The sky in the east was crimson-edged at the horizon. White fog lay in the low places. The countryside was a thing of beauty in that first half morning light but by that time I was seeing infernal machines behind every bush and the beginning day seemed eerie.
Well, you second-guessers step right up. You may rib me all you want to, but all I say is: "May it never happen to you." I haven't had such a crawly feeling since the night a big dog sneaked up on me when I was eight years old and was walking past a neighbor's home.
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Daily News - 25 Aug 52
Walker Township Resident Sees Flying Saucer
L.G. Smith of Walker Township, Huntingdon R.D. 1, reported to The Daily News on Saturday noon, fifteen minutes after he saw a "flying saucer." That's the closest we've come so far, in point or time as well as space, to the mysterious objects, with the exception, of course, of the saucy gag that flapped its wings on the front page of The Daily News a week or so ago.
Mr. Smith's story was no joke. He described what he saw as being a globular object, silver in color, which appeared to be about two miles away and moving, as closely as Mr. Smith could estimate the speed, at about fifty miles an hour. It was traveling east and was about over Huntingdon when it disappeared. About fifteen minutes later the observer noticed a plane flying in what appeared to be the same "path" as that taken by the mystery globe.
Asked if what he saw seemed at all like the object which was sighted along Stone Creek Road a few weeks ago, Mr. Smith said that the description would fit exactly.
Pittsburg, Kansas Daily Headlight - 25 Aug 52
Flying Saucer Seen Hovering Near Ground Northeast of Frontenac, Radio Man Tells Police; Disappears In Sky
Pittsburg had its own flying saucer story today. It was reported by Bill Squyres, KOAM radio entertainer who said he saw one of the mystery objects as he was coming into town to work early this morning.
The incident occurred, he said, on the Yale road about 200 yards north of highway US160 northeast of Frontenac. Squyres lives about a mile and a half north of the highway on the Yale road.
Squyres was driving along the road about dawn when he noticed the saucer hovering near the ground about 100 feet west of the road. As Squyres stopped his car in wonderment at the vision, the saucer rose straight up to disappear in the sky. The backwash of the object whipped the grass and weeds on the ground, according to the report.
Later in the morning officers visited the scene but could find no area where grass was beaten down, but all traces of the saucer's backwash may have been erased by the "rain" during the morning, they decided.
Squyres described the saucer as being as long as Broadway is wide downtown and about two thirds as wide as it was long. It had the shape of two platters placed together, he said.
He said he noticed considerable activity aboard the saucer through windows. There was a blue light inside, changing from a dark to a lighter hue, Squyres said. The saucer was ringed with propellors according to the report. It was suspended in air five or ten feet above the ground.
When questioned as to the distance the object was to the road, Squyres said he was "pretty excited" by the sight and as a result it was difficult to determine distances but that he judged that distance as being about 100 feet.
Upon arriving in Pittsburg Squyres reported the incident to police. The report came in at 06:43 o'clock, records show.
El Paso, Texas Herald Post - 25 Aug 52
Two More Flying Saucers Swoop Over El Paso
More flying saucers were seen over El Paso today.
Airman 2/c Ephraim Lopez of the 810th Air Patrol Squadron at Biggs Air Force Base, was guarding a detail of prisoners at 10:10 a.m., when he spotted one of the discs.
"I glanced up," he said. "Just as I raised my eyes, I saw one come at fantastic speed from the north, and in a few seconds it was out of sight in the south. It looked like a dull white pebble, and was soundless. I know I wasn't seeing things because one of the prisoners saw it, too.
"And just after 12, when I was standing in the mess line, another one came from the north. This one made a graceful, sweeping turn to the east and shot out of sight almost immediately. It was a glistening, metallic color, almost soundless, and was easily traveling at 3000 miles an hour."
San Antonio, Texas Express - 25 Aug 52
'Bright Object' Seen Over City
A "big light" that crossed the entire sky in three or four seconds and "looked just like a flying saucer" was reported to San Antonio Express Sunday night by Byron Rise, 12, 260 E. Edgewood, St. Alamo Heights.
Byron reported he saw the strange object at 8:20 p.m. while out in the yard at the home of a friend, Sonny Witherspoon, 152 E. Edgewood St. Sonny saw it too, Byron reported. It was a round object and "about as bright as a street light," the boy said. It moved rapidly from southwest to northwest, but he was unable to estimate its size or altitude.
Yuma, Arizona Daily Sun - 25 Aug 52
Yuma Observers Report Seeing Objects Sunday
New reports of flying saucers shooting through Yuma's skied bombarded the editorial offices of The Yuma Daily Sun this morning as the flying saucer editor was beginning to look for a job in the cotton fields.
With new life and energy, the editor poured over the reports and found them to have certain striking similarities.
For instance, each observer agreed that the objects flew over after dark last night in a general southerly direction. They also agreed that the objects assumed a "V" formation with about 10 to 12 in each group. Most said they were brightly glowing and white.
First report came from Mrs. J.D. Stickney of Avenue B, Mrs. Strickland said she and her husband were watching the drive-in movie at 10:15 and both saw a group of 12 or 15 objects flying in "V" formation over the top of the screen, glowing red, and moving slowly south. She said they appeared for about five seconds, then disappeared to the south.
Another group came over just a half hour later, she reported. These were silver and appeared farther to the southeast about in a line with the airbase. They were going much faster, Mrs. Stickney said.
After returning from the movie, Mrs. Stickney related, she called her sister who told that she and her husband, Mr. Johnny Cornelius, 1351 Third Avenue, had been sitting in their front yard and spotted several groups of objects during the same period of time.
Mrs. Cornelius reported they saw the first object at about 9 o'clock. It was followed quickly by a group of 12 more objects, all headed south. At 10 p.m. they saw two "bunches" of objects, about 10 in each, headed south. Mrs. Cornelius said the objects all looked alike, round and whiter than a sheet. She said they were about two miles high and traveled at a terrific rate of speed.
Mr. Paul C. Shepard, 1256 Sixth Avenue, reported that he and his wife spotted a rough "V" formation of about 12 objects, traveling north to south just east of Yuma at about 8:45 p.m. They made no noise, he said, and must have been going at a speed of about six miles per second. One dim light led the larger group by about five seconds, he said. They appeared white at first, then changed to a light gold color.
San Mateo, California Times - 25 Aug 52
Ex-Air Man Says He Saw Flying Cones
Two erratically flying objects traveling at terrific speeds were reported yesterday afternoon over Mills field by a San Francisco former air force test mechanic and scientific lecturer as he and his wife stopped to view the panorama from Skyline boulevard behind Hillsborough.
Robert G. Gardner, 1890 Washington street, San Francisco, reported to the Fourth air force filter center at Oakland.
Like Clipped Cones
Gardner, who served with the air force in the Pacific during World War II, said the objects looked like "cross sections of a cone clipped off at both ends."
"They were silver grey in color and appeared to have a diameter of 150 to 200 feet each," he said.
"Both of them flew at an altitude of about 12,000 feet," Gardner said, "and I'd estimate they were going at least 1800 miles per hour."
Admired View
Gardner said he and his wife, Mary, had stopped on Summit drive in Hillsborough near Skyline boulevard at about 5 o'clock. The air was clear, he said, and we were admiring the view of Mills field and other Peninsula areas when we both saw these objects about three miles west of the south end of Mills field. They looked like "skipping saucers on water," he said.
The objects he said seem to change direction with rapidity. One of the objects, he said, "zoomed crazily off in a southeasterly direction.
Not Of Earth
"The other hovered overhead for at least 60 seconds like a helicopter and then it took off in the same general direction," he added. These objects did not fly in formation. They would travel a short distance in one direction then making small arcs by traveling in a circular manner, would slow down for a second before zooming off again.
Gardner who is a professional lecturer on scientific subjects, said that it is "my private opinion that these things definitely are not of the earth."
AUGUST 26, 1952:
Mattoon, Illinois Journal-Gazette - 26 Aug 52
D.S. (Sonny) DesVergers, who said a "flying saucer" attacked him last week "with a ball of fire," holds his seven-months-old son, Skipper, on his lap at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla. DesVergers, who claims the saucers weapon burned all the hair off his left arm, said he would give all the details of his story some time in the future. he doesn't want to tell all now, he said, "because it might cause another Orson Welles panic."
He says he knows the secret of the saucer and "It's not ours."
Newport, Rhode Island Daily News - 26 Aug 52
'Flying Saucers' In Return Newport Engagement
Those things are back again.
Last night at about 9:45 p.m., Samuel Bateman Jr. of 27 East Bowery St and his children, Beatrice, 12, and Samuel, 14, saw a "big round, orange disc with a yellow halo."
The Bateman children, with two or three young friends, saw the object and called their father's attention to it. "It made about two or three circles," Bateman said this morning, describing its actions. "Then it shot off towards Narragansett Bay."
Beatrice and Sammy were in the yard of their house when they spotted it. Bateman came out in time to see the circling and the object's disappearance over the horizon.
"I ran down to Cliff Walk to see if I could see it again," Bateman said, "but it disappeared by the time I got there."
His description included no estimation of size, but the Newport-employed mason did say that it seemed to be far above a night flying plane whose altitude he estimated at 4,000-5,000 feet.
Two more discs of a similar nature were spotted by his children and their friends Sunday night, Bateman said.
Dunkirk, New York Evening Observer - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucers on Lake Bottom?
WATKINS GLEN -- If three local carpenters really saw what they think they did, then there's a "flying saucer" at the bottom of Seneca Lake today.
The carpenters said they were working atop a building at Elridge Point on Seneca Lake yesterday a few miles from here when the "saucer" flashed "like a bright sheet of silver" over the horizon. They reported the craft suddenly nose dived into the lake, kicking up a ten-foot splash, then disappeared beneath the water.
The trio notified state police at Horsehead, N.Y.
"We'll have to look into the matter," a trooper spokesman said. "But we can't say just how far this thing will go. If this thing did land in the lake, it would be pretty hard to find as there are parts of the lake in which we have no idea how deep the water is.
"It would be foolish to begin grappling operations until such time as we can pinpoint the locale better."
The carpenters were identified as Ray Andrew, Alfred Sullivan and Clayton Croat, all of Watkins Glen.
[Note: A similar story in Pacific Stars and Stripes carried the following additional information...]
Housewife Mrs. Marion Graston shared a similar vision -- only she reported sighting two of the things. Mrs. Graston said several neighborhood children also saw them and were fascinated. She said, "they were very plain and were like big silver balls gliding through the air."
Canandaigua, New York Daily Messenger - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucers Plunge In Lake
WATKINS GLEN -- State police, harried by three reports of "flying saucers" over Central New York, debated today whether to grapple for a "bright object like a sheet of steel" that three carpenters said dove into Seneca Lake.
Ray Andrew, Alfred Sullivan and Clayton Crout said yesterday the object "suddenly crashed into the lake" near where they were working.
About five minutes earlier, Mrs. Marion Cranston of Watkins Glen saw two saucers fly over her house, she told civil defense authorities.
In the Tompkins County village of Trumansburg, several persons reported they saw five jet planes pursuing what they called a flying saucer.
U.S. Air force officials at Hancock Field, near Syracuse said the jets were on maneuvers in the area, but said they had no information about the reported chase. They said they would investigate the Seneca Lake incident.
Canandaigua, New York Daily Messenger - 26 Aug 52
Hopewell Man Sights Two "Saucers" Low In Sky Near Clifton Springs
Two flying saucers invaded Ontario County last week, took a look around, and swiftly disappeared into space. Reportedly seen by Raymond Robbins, who lives on the Orleans Rd. in the Town of Hopewell, the objects were viewed in the Clifton Springs area, matching similar stories from Wolcott and Trumansburg in the past few days.
Victor H. Reddington, Mr. Robbins' father-in-law, brought the report to the Daily Messenger office. He said that his son-in-law, who works for the State Highway Department, was going to work Friday when he caught sight of two round airborne objects, standing perfectly still, low in the sky north of Five Points.
As he watched, the objects tipped up on edge and sped away, one after the other, the Hopewell man said. The "saucers" were not luminous, but were dark gray, said Mr. Reddington, who doesn't take much stock in stories about flying machines from other planets. However he proved his interest in celestial phenomena by pulling from his pocket a small stone he believes to be a bit of meteorite. The stone is one of two he found recently on his Orleans Rd. farm which appear to be meteorite fragments, consisting partly of jagged metal so hard it will cut razor blades, and partly of a vitreous green substance.
At the same time that the two saucers were reported near Clifton Springs, a story from Wolcott tells of a peculiar flaming object in the sky which disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a formation of six "flying saucers" moving slowly through the night. Trumansburg folk, not to be outdone, this week told of seeing five jet planes chasing an object they thought was a saucer.
And Monday morning, two flying silvery balls were seen to zoom over Watkins Glen and a similar globe reportedly plopped into Seneca Lake near that village.
What do you think?
Titusville, Pennsylvania Herald - 26 Aug 52
ECHOES From Oil Creek Valley
by The Staff
Boy, missiles were sure flying yesterday -- all at my head. I had expected something along that line, which was why I tried to qualify my statements and include all pertinent data in that "saucer" story yesterday morning. But people apparently skipped over the "buts."
Among the kindlier things I have been called are "hophead," "dope fiend," "crocked to the gills," "soaked with rot-gut," "pseudo-fiction writer," "a drunkard who is plastered every night," "drinks like a fish," "ready for the man in the big sedan," "qualified for the insane society," "just plain nuts," "stayed too long at that picnic," and so on.
One man suggested that if my car was still shaking that I can change its brand of anti-freeze and quit drinking the stuff. Several have said they noticed I was gradually cracking up, but they hadn't expected the end to come so quick.
Well, at least, now I can understand the reluctance of many persons to have their names used in regard to having seen strange aerial things. "People will think I'm crazy," they say. And they're right.
If I hadn't mentioned the near-ground light at all and placed more emphasis on the moving light in the sky, which is becoming quite commonplace, I might have escaped some of the brick-bats. But I conscientiously tried to include everything that I thought happened. It was apparently a bit too sensational.
The Associated Press picked up the story and ran 13 paragraphs of the more lurid details without any hedging. Now I guess I'll have to go underground for a while until the lights are accepted into polite society or tests convince me I was seeing and feeling things which did not exist.
-- FRANK S. HOLOWACH
Reading, Pennsylvania Eagle - 26 Aug 52
Kutztown Man Reports 'Saucer' Close to Earth at Maxatawny
Herbert Long, 29-year-old Kutztown insurance salesman, last night drove his car, he says, within 30 feet of a "flying saucer," which came close to earth but he was just "too darned scared to approach it any closer."
Long had just turned off of the Allentown Pike, near the village of Maxatawny, when he suddenly came upon the saucer, hovering about 15 feet above the earth. He stopped his car and just sat there, saying he was too terrified to move.
Long, an army medical corps veteran of World War II, told a reporter this morning that "I'll approach anything when I know what it is. But I was just too darned scared to approach this thing any closer. I just sat there and watched until it took off, a matter of more than five minutes."
The saucer -- which Long estimated was about 25 feet in diameter -- resembled a large serving tray with a cover such as he has already seen in some restaurants. There were windows, or port holes, in the crown of the saucer, he said.
Long said he observed light inside and signs of activity within the saucer. There was an antenna-like object extending from the top of the dome or crown, he asserted.
Long could not see any evidence of landing gear or wheels, he said, but the saucer hovered almost motionless above the earth. Then, suddenly, Long said, the saucer started to take off. At first it moved slowly but a sudden burst of power sent it skyward in a hurry, he added.
"There was a terrific whooshing noise and the saucer left a trail of dark smoke," Long said. "It was out of sight quickly."
Long said "the short time I sat there seemed like an hour. I was sure hoping someone else would come along and see this thing just as I did."
Long said the spot where he saw the saucer was about three-quarters of a mile off the Allentown Pike on a macadam road leading to Route 22. After the saucer took off, Long said he went into the field over which it hovered but he could find nothing to indicate it had been there.
The insurance man was too excited to continue on his business calls last night. He went home and said he was "afraid to talk about it because people might think I was seeing things. I certainly did."
In his office on Elm Street this morning his fellow workers noticed that Long was uneasy and nervous. Finally, he broke down and told his story. It was then that a suggestion was made that he get hold of a reporter.
Long said he saw the saucer between 7:30 and 7:45.
"I could have hit the saucer with a rock, but I didn't move.
"I do photography as a hobby, and I would have given my right arm for a camera last night. Never again will I go without a camera. I have learned a lesson."
Although he is not able to present a picture of the strange craft, Long said he is able to draw an exact likeness because he had plenty of time to observe it. He did not see any markings on the saucer.
Long said the dome of the saucer was of a silvery material.
New Castle, Pennsylvania News - 26 Aug 52
Pa Newc Observes
Two young lads of the Adams-Rose avenue area, accompanied by an adult, reported to Pa Newc that during a Sunday afternoon hike, they saw clearly in the sky several objects which were disc shaped. The boys, James Woodard, Rose avenue, and Norman Emery, Adams street, watched the objects for some time and wonder if others about the area observed them.
Pulaski, Virginia Southwest Times - 26 Aug 52
WPUV Looks Into 'Saucer'
Station Contacts Seared Scoutmaster
D.S. Devergers [sic throughout, should be Desvergers], West Palm Beach, Fla., informed Bob Kent, news director of Radio Station WPUV, yesterday during a tape recorded telephone interview that he soon would be able to release more details on the "strange object" he encountered last Tuesday night.
Devergers set citizens in the country buzzing with excitement when he revealed he had seen some sort of flying saucer or space ship in a rural area near West Palm Beach and that he had been knocked unconscious by a ball of fire discharged from the object.
Requested To Keep Quiet
The Scoutmaster told Kent he was unable at this time to give too many details on the incident as the Army had requested him to keep quiet.
However, he said the Army had told him that he could release the entire story to the public in the near future. Just when he declined to say.
When asked to describe the object, Devergers said "There was confusion, something was there and I saw it. I was scared to death and I really mean that. I guess I was the closest anyone has ever come to seeing anything like this and it was quite an experience, one that I certainly wouldn't like to live through again."
Kent asked how bady [sic] he was burned by the ball of fire allegedly shot from the object. He said he was not burned badly, only on his ears and forearms.
When it first happened, he said, he was overcome by fumes from the reddish ball of fire and was knocked unconscious.
The former combat marine said the object did not reach the ground, but remained about 10 feet above ground. He explained it was of metal substance, definitely a solid structure, and he couldn't see through it.
No trace of the object has been seen since Devergers' report. Grass was reportedly burned where the incident allegedly took place.
Anniston, Alabama Star - 26 Aug 52
McClellan Sinks Saucer Reports
Reports of flying saucers and mysterious lights in the air over Bynum, Anniston and Gadsden last night were dispelled today by an explanation from Fort McClellan.
A spokesman there said six L-19's, which are slow-flying observation planes, flew a "night problem" from about 9 to 11 o'clock last night. Several people reported the slow-moving lights and thought they had spotted mysterious flying discs.
The planes, which carry rather oddly arranged lights and fly low, operated over a considerable area, including the Bynum and Gadsden sections, and landed at the Fort McClellan airfield about 11, the spokesman said.
Hutchinson, Kansas News-Herald - 26 Aug 52
Pittsburg Man Reports Seeing Flying Saucer With People In It
PITTSBURG-- A flying saucer in which occupants were observed, was reported to have landed briefly northeast of here early Monday morning.
Observing the saucer was Bill Squire [sic throughout, should be Squyers], 42, radio entertainer on station KOAM, Pittsburg. Squire said he observed the saucer parked in a field between Pittsburg and Yale, at 5:30 a.m. Monday.
Squire described the saucer as being about 75 feet in diameter and resting in a pasture. He observed it at about 100 feet away. Wade said the man observed occupants moving around in the object and "bluish light" from within.
Wade said Squire related that the object resembled two huge
saucers conforming somewhat to a disc. And at the right edge
where the two saucers would have been joined, there were series of propellers, placed as closely as possible.
Squire said he stopped his car to observe more closely, and when he got out of the car, the object took to the air straight up at a rapid speed.
After the object was at a conventional altitude, it sped away. There was no smoke or exhaust fumes evident, the radio man reported.
Brownsville, Texas Herald - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucers Reported Here
A mystery object resembling a "flying saucer" was seen here last night.
Two women said they saw the object shortly after 9 p.m. last night over Brownsville heading towards the local airport. They said the object was moving at a fast rate of speed.
Yuma, Arizona Daily Sun - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucers -- Oops, Ducks Seen In Skies
Flying saucer enthusiasts will get a rude jolt out of the most recent visitations of the strange objects have been identified as ducks.
Ye olde flying saucer editor has been bombarded by phone calls saying that the mystery has been solved. The white objects that sail at various heights and various speeds are nothing but ducks headed south for the winter.
The most indignant duck enthusiasts are the boys at the fire department. They have seen the objects for the past several nights and state that the lights from the city reflect on the white undersides of the ducks flying "V" formation.
Included in the explanation is the fact that the different colors the so-called saucers take is due to the various colored neon signs that the ducks are flying over at the time. The wings of the ducks being dark, they do not show up in the light. That leaves the flying saucer tale hanging on the tails of some innocent ducks.
Also on the phone this morning was Mrs. Lonnie McGrew, 2024 Madison avenue. She stated that she and her husband, the assistant county agent, saw the flying somethings out at the drive-in theater the other night and they both saw that they were ducks. The objects flew right over the screen and took on different hues since there was a technicolor movie on at the time.
Several other phone calls have all identified the objects so the flying saucer (duck) editor will now retire. The red face is only from the reflection of that red neon sign across the street.
So if our saucer fans see any more flying objects don't holler, duck!
Tucson, Arizona Daily Citizen - 26 Aug 52
Strange Flying 'Plate' Reported By Woman
Another Tucsonian saw a strange object of the flying saucer variety last night.
Mrs. W.G. Paschal, 3907 Flower St., reported she was sitting on her front porch shortly after midnight because she couldn't sleep.
Suddenly she saw a brilliant object "about the size of a salad plate" flash through the sky toward the Catalina mountains.
According to Mrs. Paschal, it was going at such terrific speed it was out of sight in only a few seconds.
She said it was east of her house when she saw it.
Idaho Falls, Idaho Post Register - 26 Aug 52
Resident Tells Of Seeing 'Flying Saucers'
Jim Fisher, 2310 East Morningside drive, said Tuesday he is a firm believer in flying saucers after what he and his wife saw at 9:15 a.m.
Looking up at the skies at that time, he said both he and his wife saw possibly a dozen objects, flying in wedge-like formation, toward the southeast.
"We thought at first they might be geese, but they were traveling far too fast," he said. "They were a dark creamy color, almost like a heavy mist. I don't know what they were but I'm believing flying saucer stories from now on."
At the Idaho Falls CAA station, officials reported they detected no strange objects at that time, not even a formation of geese. One of the officials said he was scanning the skies at that time.
Walla Walla, Washington Union Bulletin - 26 Aug 52
This Was Simple
A flying saucer report carried in Friday editions of the Union-Bulletin appeared in modified form Saturday morning when it became evident that individuals differ in their ability to see objects at considerable distances.
One person was able to distinguish the outline of a B-38 plane at a great height, but it took another, with keener vision, to notice that jet-propelled fighter planes were making passes at the huge craft, just as enemy interceptors would make.
Observer No. 1 got a glimpse of the little craft darting in and out the path of the bomber, and promptly concluded that he was seeing what have commonly come to be described as flying saucers. Observer No. 2 not only saw the objects were planes, but said he could hear their jet exhausts.
Occasionally there appears some phenomenon in the sky which is not so readily explained. Then the scientists get into the act. Thus far it has been pretty well settled that the things people are seeing can be accounted for, in science or by more elementary explanations. But a close watch on what's overhead is not bad practice these days.
We do well to be prepared, like the chap who once professed: "I've never seen a purple cow. I never hope to see one. But I'm telling you right now, I'd rather see than be one."
Redlands, California Daily Facts - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucers Everywhere In County But In Redlands
They seem to see flying saucers everywhere in the county except in Redlands.
While saucer conscious Redlandsers were scanning the skies hoping to get their first glimpse of the whirling discs and coming up with the usual results -- nothing -- a whole fleet of the weird things were seen over Fontana, another flock spotted over sand Bernardino, and a lone disc was reported in the Bloomington area.
John Reinschmidt, 367 North Date street, Fontana and his father-in-law, J.B. Richardson, Glendale, told deputies they saw at least 12 objects in the skies at 8:56 last night.
"They were directly overhead when we first saw them and in about five seconds had disappeared out of sight," Reinschmidt reported.
Over in San Bernardino about 20 residents reported seeing strange objects in the twilight skies at about 7:30 last night.
A San Bernardino resident identifying himself only as living in the 200 block of Seventh street said that he and several others watched a long, skinny object hover above them for a while then zigzag away to the east and just disappear.
Keith Bennett of 846 East 26th street reported that he, his family and some neighbors watched an object that left a vapor trail high in the skies.
In Bloomington M.C. Canady of 1515 Sheridan road said he and about 10 other persons saw a huge saucer, round and with a dome in the middle, fly low over the Bloomington area.
However, the citizens of Redlands can be excused for not seeing the objects. The first group was headed south from Fontana, the second squadron was flying west from San Bernardino, and the third disc was traveling north from Fontana -- none of them coming toward Redlands.
Spokane, Washington Daily Chronicle - 26 Aug 52
Balloons Released
TILLAMOOK, Aug. 26 -- General Mills company scientists today launched the first of a number of large plastic balloons which might be mistaken for "flying saucers" and other "mysterious objects."
The company is making high altitude studies for the armed forces.
The scientists said the balloons look like an inverted pear when they are flying at low altitude. As the balloons rise the gas expands and they become circular.
The scientists said the balloons will drift over Oregon and south-western Washington for the next few days.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts Berkshire Evening Eagle - 26 Aug 52
Flying Saucer Crash Grounds Lou Costello
HOLLYWOOD -- Production was temporarily halted on the set of "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars," at Universal-International over the week end, owing to a collision between a rocket ship and a flying saucer -- the first to be recorded in history. The two collided while the rocket ship was being moved on rollers from one corner of the stage to another. Lou Costello, who was in the saucer, was thrown 15 feet to the ground, which gives him the distinction of being the first person to have landed from a flying saucer. He was unhurt by the fall.
Logansport, Indiana Pharos-Tribune 26 Aug 52
Slayer Bought Pistol Fearing "Saucer Men"
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Marion Johnson, 22, told authorities today that he bought the pistol with which he is accused of killing one man and wounding another to protect himself from "those red men on the flying saucers."
Johnson, Negro veteran of the Korean War, was held in the county jail on a charge of killing Amos Floyd, 27, negro, in a shooting spree that climaxed a drinking party early Sunday.
Logansport, Indiana Press - 26 Aug 52
Hawaiians Knew Flying Saucers Story Years Ago
They Are No Mystery to the Sages of That Island
HONOLULU. Aug. 30 -- Flying saucers may be one big question mark to the rest of the world but they're no mystery to the sages of Hawaii.
The Hawaiians have known about them for a thousand years. They even have a word for them -- akualele, Or "flying spirits."
The Hawaiians will tell you those flying spirits come in many shapes and colors -- balls of fire, cones or saucer-shaped discs -- just like the modern variety.
They say they've been watching them for years. What's more, they say, they've learned to get along with them.
A priest of Kalaipahoa, the old Hawaiian poison god who lives on the island of Molokai, put the flying saucers on the map soon after the Polynesians first landed here some 900 years ago, so the story goes.
He chipped bits from a sacred tree, soaked them in water, rolled them into a ball and threw the ball across the sky. The Hawaiians say it appeared like a flame in the heavens.
Just Like Present Ones
It also turned corners or dipped at right angles with no change in pace, like the saucers of today are said to do.
And as the ball sped through the air, the priest sang a little chant to the spirit of the poison god. It went something like this:
"Fly straight to your destination. There you will get food and drink."
This was strictly a line. Even the Hawaiians admit it.
There was no food or water waiting where the saucer landed, only the priest's intended victim."
The famished fire god, naturally, would have to make do with him.
The trick, the Hawaiians say, is to know about the visitor from space beforehand. Have food and water handy, and a welcome mat upon your doorstep.
The god of fire, warmed by your hospitality, will turn from a hungry foe into a mighty friend. And all your ills will disappear.
Notes:
1. The news report of Russell Rogers' sighting mentioned in "Sports Whirl" can be found in In The News 1952 - Part Thirty-One.
2. The written report of Lieut. Col. William W. Spruance of the Delaware Air National Guard, as reported in "Flying Saucers Still in Season; 'Wing' Over 2 Area Communities", does not appear in Blue Book files.
3. Selected Air Force documents on the investigation of the report by William Squyres related in "Flying Saucer Seen Hovering Near Ground Northeast of Frontenac, Radio Man Tells Police; Disappears In Sky" may be seen here. The incident was evaluated as "unidentified".
4. The Blue Book file for the reported sighting told in "Ex-Air Man Says He Saw Flying Cones" consists of a telex reporting essentially the same details. The case was evaluated as "unsufficient [sic] data".
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