it seemed impossible
-- but there it is
PART SIX OF EIGHT PARTS
By the end of July 1947 the UFO security lid was down tight. The few members of the press who did inquire about what the Air Force was doing got the same treatment that you would get today if you inquired about the number of thermonuclear weapons stock-piled in the U.S.'s atomic arsenal. No one, outside of a few high-ranking officers in the Pentagon, knew what the people in the barbed wire enclosed Quonset huts that housed the Air Technical Intelligence Center were thinking or doing.
-- Captain Ed Ruppelt
Chief of the Air Force Project Blue Book
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956)
ON JUNE 24, 1947 A PILOT named Ken Arnold reports seeing nine aerial objects from his plane -- and the term 'flying saucer' enters history.
Seventeen days later, an official press release announces that 'the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc' -- and a legend is born.
This is the story of those amazing two and a half weeks when it all began... exclusively as told through the daily newspaper reports of the time.
MONDAY : 7 JUL 1947
Nationwide:
Source: Marysville Evening Tribune, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
'Saucers' Arouse Nationwide Interest
Flying Discs Are Reported By Hundreds
One Group Bays Eight Discs As Big As Five Room Houses Landed On Mountain
By International News Service
Reports of flying discs came today from across the nation from the West coast to New England, and a noted British scientist advanced the theory that the mysterious "saucers" might be scientifically created artificial satellites like "little moons."
Reputable scientists offered serious studies of what the discs might be as scores more of observers in almost every state in the union reported seeing the flying objects.
For the first time, two persons -- one in Spokane, Wash., and another
in Tempe, Ariz. -- reported seeing the discs land. Neither, however, saw them after they landed.
Prof. A.M. Low, distinguished British scientist, said even before the war, German, American and British scientists were working on artificial satellites -- miniature planets -- which would serve many purposes.
He said this research might "easily result" in the appearance of phenomena like "flying saucers." He said he believed, however, "rocket experiments" is the most logical explanation.
Reports Landing
Oregon national guard planes were on alert, ready to chase and photograph any of the mysterious flying intruders that come within their range, while attention of the curious -- and the apprehensive -- turned to the mountain wilds of northern Idaho.
There, according to nine persons, a bevy of eight shining "flying saucers" swooped on to a mountainside west of St. Maries, Ida., at twilight last Thursday.
The delayed report came from Spokane, Wash., housewife, Mrs. Walter Johnson. She told newsmen:
"They came out of the south, traveling northward at extreme speed. They faltered and fluttered to the ground among the trees" along the St. Joe River.
"There was no noise and the trees seemed to be undisturbed after they disappeared into them. They were as big as a five-room house."
Mrs. Johnson said that the point where the weird objects vanished was several miles away from the party that saw them, and night prevented a search of the rugged country. She said that she and a group of other persons plan to try to find the landing site tomorrow.
Officers at the Spokane Army Air Base said that they were "studying" the report, but did not indicate the they would send planes to scan the area.
Brief landing of a single "flying saucer" in Tempe, Ariz., was reported by Francis Howell. He said a circular object about two feet in diameter floated to earth near his home yesterday afternoon.
Howell said it went out of sight behind a clump of trees, and when he, his wife and several neighbors approached, the object rose again at a sharp angle and moved westward.
He described it as being flat and thin, apparently made of aluminum, and transparent.
Numerous persons also reported seeing from one to seven discs at various points in the San Francisco Bay area yesterday. Their descriptions of the discs varied widely, from six inches in diameter to "the size of an automobile."
The "Flying Saucers" first were reported sighted June 24 in southwestern Washington. Although the Pacific coast, and particularly the Pacific northwest, continues to be the center of reports on their activity observers have claimed to have sighted them as far east as Augusta, Me.
Highest authorities in the field of atomic research, including David Lilienthal, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and atomic expert Dr. Harold Urey denied that the discs have any connection with the atomic experiments -- if they exist.
The disclaimer was echoed by an official of the big atomic plant
in southeastern Washington. He said that "So far as we know they have no connection with our work here."
AAF Denial
The War and Navy Departments shrugged their collective shoulders, while an Army Air Force information officer, Capt. Tom Brown, said:
"This is definitely not an Air Forces experiment. We absolutely do not know what these flying discs are. In fact, we wish we did, but we're just as mystified as everyone else."
Scientists at the University of California revealed that the big lenses at the Mt. Hamilton observatory and other Pacific coast observatories have been trying unsuccessfully to find some of the discs.
Prof. C.D. Shane, director of the Lick observatory on Mt. Hamilton, was among the skeptics. He pointed out that no "scientific observers" have been among the persons reporting the discs.
However, many of those reporting the discs have been airline pilots and army and navy air force veterans. The only direct evidence is a picture taken by a Seattle coast-guardsman. It shows a circle of light against a dark sky.
Cloud Theory
Dr. Carl G. Rossby, head meteorologist at the University of Chicago, thought that they might be circular clouds lighted by natural but rare phenomena.
On the more sensational side were the theories of Prof. C.L. Utterbach, head of the University of Washington physics department. He had no explanation for the discs, but said:
"I'd like to add the suggestion, though, they might have come from foreign vessels near shore."
A sample polling of citizens on San Francisco streets showed that two theories were holding the lead among the uninformed:
1. That something on Mars is trying to send a message to earth.
2. That those war-time Japanese paper balloons still are coming over, after wandering about the Pacific since V-J Day.
Source: Sandusky Register Star, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
'THEY LOOKED SOMETHING LIKE THIS.' Capt. E.J. Smith, United Air lines pilot of Seattle holds a dinner plate as an illustration for Stewardess Toni Carter of Chicago, while describing the much discussed mystery "flying disc" which Smith and his crew reported seeing on a flight from Boise, Idaho, to Portland. Smith is shown as he arrived at the Municipal Airport in Chicago, July 6 from Seattle. (AP Photo)
Source: The Hope Star, Arkansas - 7 Jul 47
Only 4 States Fail To Report Flying Discs
By The Associated Press
America's "flying saucer" jag reeled on today. Stiff necks and goggle eyes were the order of the day. Sky watching was a new profession.
North Carolina joined the disc parade.
For the first time the discs were reported whirling through the atmosphere over Asheville in western North Carolina and over Greensboro and Raleigh in the north central portion.
As reports continued to pour in from all over the nation tabulators ran the tally of states in which the saucers had been seen to 43. Observers in the District of Columbia and Canada also said they had sighted the mysterious objects.
The only states whose skies were still clear of the discs were Nevada, North Dakota, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Explanations, take your choice: They were radio controlled flying missiles sent aloft by U.S. military scientists. Or they were merely light reflected on wing tanks of jet-propelled planes. Or --
No one knew for sure.
The World Inventors Congress posted $1,000 for delivery of a flying disc to the exposition which opens in Los Angeles on July 11.
A spokesman for the army air forces said in Washington that no attempt had been made to spot the spinning, flying, whirling, stationary discs because there was not enough equipment to blanket the nation.
Lt. Col. Harry. W. Schaefer of the Wisconsin civil air patrol announced in Milwaukee his group planned to conduct a series of mass flights in hopes of learning something about the flying objects.
Searching for an answer, Caspar W. Ooms, the patent commissioner, said he did not think any of the 3,000,000 patents on file in his office held the explanation to the saucers.
Source: Mexico Evening Ledger, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
Planes Alerted To Chase Down Coast Reports
SAN FRANCISCO, July 7(AP) -- The Army Air Forces alerted jet and conventional fighter planes on the Pacific coast in hopes of chasing and explaining the mystery of the "flying saucers" which in 12 days has challenged the entire country.
A P-80 jet fighter at Muroc Army field in California and six fast regular fighters at Portland, Ore., stood ready to take off on an instant's notice should any flying saucers be sighted in those areas. Some of the planes carried photographic equipment.
A cautious attitude marked both official and scientific comments, but Capt. Tom Brown of the Air Forces public relations staff in Washington acknowledged that the air forces had decided "there's something to this" and had been checking upon it for 10 days.
"And we still haven't the slightest idea what they (the
discs) could be," he added. First sighted June 25 and greeted generally with scornful laughs, the objects have been reported every day since by observers in 33 states. Most of the objects were reported seen July 4. A few were reported yesterday.
Competent observers such as airline pilots said they had seen the unexplained discs or saucers, larger than aircraft and flying in "loose formation" at high speed.
David Lilienthal, chairman of the atomic experiments, and Army and Navy officials also entered positive disclaimers.
Well, could they be coming from outside this country? Turning to the State Department, a reporter asked whether anyone inside or outside that agency is investigating the possibility the objects originate with a foreign power.
Lincoln White, State Department press officer, said he didn't know of any such inquiry. Capt. Brown said "we don't believe anyone in this country, or outside this country, has developed a guided missile that will go 1200 miles an hour, as some reports have indicated.
"We aren't engaged in any tests or experiments that might explain this mystery and we don't know of anyone in or outside the government who is. Our guided missile scientists are as puzzled as we are."
Source: Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Army Pilots Fail To Find Trace Of "Flying Saucers"
Army pilots were ready today for another air search for the mysterious "flying saucers" now reported seen in 31 states and parts of Canada as practical jokesters added to the confusion.
Equipped with telescopic cameras, 11 Army planes searched the Pacific northwest yesterday without finding any trace of the flying discs which had been reported over scores of communities the preceding two days. At Sioux Falls, S.D., a Coast Guard plane already in the air was ordered to investigate a silvery disc with a short tail which Gregory Zimmer said he saw shoot
across the heavens. The pilot found nothing but empty sky.
The Army "Camera Patrol" over the Cascade Mountains yesterday included eight P-51 pursuit ships and three A-26 bombers.
Optical Illusions
There was growing belief that the concentrated aerial search would show the saucers to be optical illusions or the work of practical jokesters magnified by aroused imaginations.
The Rev. Joseph Brasky. a Catholic priest of Grafton, Wis., reported that a metal disc 18 inches in diameter with "gadgets and wires" around the hole in the center crashed into his yard with a mild explosion. He announced that he was holding it for the FBI, but after close examination found the lettering "...steel, high carbon 100 per cent steel," and decided that it was a circular saw blade.
A number of "discs" whirled over rooftops in East St. Louis, Ill. yesterday. J.T. Hartley, a locomotive engineer, gathered some of them up and found they were made of pressed white paper, 11 inches in diameter and with a two-inch hole in the center. Railroad workers said they looked like locomotive packing washers.
A radio announcement that discs were flying over Lewiston, Ida., yesterday sent hundreds into their yards for a look. Weatherman Louis Krezak said the objects were moving eastward with the prevailing wind and probably were weed seeds. Three air transport pilots agreed.
Deluged With Calls
A Birmingham radio station was deluged with more than 400 calls in one hour by persons who said they saw fluorescent balls circling over the city and clearly outlined against nearby mountains. A carnival at Alabaster, Ala., was playing searchlights on cloud wisps. An argument raged at Lodi, Calif., over the cause of a spectacular glow in the sky and a roar shortly before electrical power went off. Mrs. W.C. Smith said she heard a noise "like a four motored bomber" just before the lights went off at dawn.
Erving Newcomb of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., offered the explanation that a low-flying crop dusting plane probably struck a powerline and burned out a transformer. However, no planes were reported damaged and no one could explain what a crop-dusting plane was doing in the air at dawn on Sunday. It was the first time any noise had been attributed to flying saucers.
J.U. Watts, Jr., Darlington, S.C. attorney, said he saw an Army pursuit plane chasing a V-formation of flying saucers at 250 miles an hour 3,000 feet high. However no pilot reported such a chase. Meantime authorities were plagued with reports that bordered on the fantastic.
Saucer With Legs
An excited Chicago woman reported that she had seen a flying saucer with legs. "I was standing on my porch and thought for sure it was coming right down and slap me in the face," she said.
George Kuger of Denver said he saw a flying disc with an American flag on it.
Francis Howell, Tempe, Ariz., claimed he saw a saucer two feet in diameter disappear behind a row of trees near his home. When he rushed with his wife and another couple to inspect it, he said the flat thin, aluminum-like disc took off at a "high rate of speed" toward Phoenix nine miles away.
Skeptical scientists recalled the mysterious "rockets" seen over Sweden last year. Eighty per cent of the "ghost rockets" proved to be meteors, and Swedish officials said the other 20 per cent could be discounted as pure imagination.
A London dispatch described the saucers as "America's answer to the Loch Ness monster" the legendary sea serpent which is reported seen at intervals in a lake in Scotland.
Dr. J.S. Nassau, director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory at the Case Institute of Technology at Cleveland, said he was inclined to "think the reports are fancies."
Source: Syracuse Herald Journal, New York - 7 Jul 47
P-51 plane gets camera to aid saucer hunt.
Source: Twin Falls Times, Idaho - 7 Jul 47
Idaho's National Guard Squadron To Scout Areas
BOISE, July 7 (AP) -- The 190th fighter squadron of the Idaho national guard will send flights of P-51 Mustangs into the air "every afternoon and evening" in an attempt to photograph "flying discs" in the sky, Capt. James Trail said today.
Trail, operations officer for the squadron, said the Mustangs would be equipped with high speed movie gun cameras. From six to 12 planes daily will scour the state from Boise northward to the Canadian border, Trail said.
Canada:
Source: Winnipeg Free Press, Canada - 7 Jul 47
Mystery Of Flying Discs Deepens
Report Many Seen
BOZEMAN, Mont., July 7 (BUP) -- A pilot reported today that his plane knocked down a "flying saucer," which he described as a "pearl gray, clam-shaped airplane with a plexiglass dome on top."
------------
Flying discs apparently were all over North America Monday as reports kept flooding in from persons who claimed they had seen the strange, airborne "saucers." Reports of discs being sighted Sunday came from Wallaceburg, in southwestern Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Rochester, N.Y., Long Island, Idaho and Chicago. However, an Oregon national guard officer said that aerial patrols Sunday failed to sight any of the objects. A Spokane, Wash., woman said that 10 persons saw eight discs land near St. Maries, Idaho, July 3, "fluttering like leaves."
She said the objects resembled wash-tubs more than discs. She
described them as about the size of a five-room house.
The United Stales army air forces put jet and conventional fighters on the alert in Pacific coast areas in the hope of catching and identifying the mysterious objects but nothing in an official way has been reported.
In Syracuse, N.Y., Dr. Harry A.Steckel, psychiatric consultant, discounted the element of mass hysteria in connection with the reports. "They have been seen by too many people in too many different places to be dismissed so lightly," he said in a radio broadcast.
Seen Over Mount Royal
What appeared to be six of the "flying saucers" were seen flying north over Mount Royal, P.Q., Saturday by J. Duffield of Montrose, N.J., visiting Montreal. "They were quite visible and the sun glinted off their shiny surfaces," Mr. Duffield said. "They were going northwards and were flying in formation, like ducks."
And, speaking of ducks, Mrs. Amy Herdiska of Palmdale, Cal., says she saw a "parent flying disc" leading five smaller saucers over the mountains. The smaller ones, she said, seemed to fly away from the larger disc, then return and seemed to be absorbed by it, like baby chicks hiding under a mother hen's wings.
In one of the earliest reports, about a month ago a trapper at Bruno, Sask., reported seeing a mysterious object which he was convinced was a meteor. He said it crashed.
Reported In Ontario
A flying saucer was reported at Port Hope, Ont., Sunday night by a railway employee. He said it had a slight reddish tinge but was not a shooting star. He said it sailed high over Port Hope at three o'clock in the morning, "against a clear sky."
All three Canadian maritime provinces reported discs during the week-end. Ewer McNeill of Village Green, P.E.I., said his attention was attracted to a "very bright light in the sky -- it was brighter than the sun." He added that the light seemed "to come from a black object immediately ahead of the light." He also added that the black object resembled a rocket or wingless plane.
At Annapolis Royal, N.S., Mrs. Marion Harris and Mrs. Stanley Cochrane reported seeing a so-called flying saucer, "zooming high in the heavens," for a few seconds last night. It was round and bright they said, and looked like a small full moon.
At Economy, another community on Nova Scotia's Minas Basin, Miss Mable Berry said she saw a flying missile over the week-end.
Other reports from persons who either saw -- or think they saw -- the saucers have come from Paul Falkja of Saint John, N.B., and four different groups of people in the Summerside, Prince Edward Island area.
Source: Lethbridge Herald, Canada - 7 Jul 47
Flying Saucers Seen North Of Trail
TRAIL, B.C., July 7. (CP) The disc-like "Flying Saucers" have been spotted speeding across the night skies over Castlegar. B.C., 30 miles north of here on the Kootenay river. An anonymous caller telephoned the Trail Times today to report sighting the mystery objects last night, but he gave no details. (Saskatoon today also joined the list of Canadian cities sighting the flying discs.)
Source: Spokesman-
Review, Oregon - 7 Jul 47
Canada Gets A Peek, Too
WALLACEBURG, Ont., July 6. (AP) -- Flying saucers were reported over Canada for the first time.
Scores of residents of the Wallaceburg area in southwestern Ontario said they saw two large formations of the illuminated disks swing over a wide arc in the sky Saturday night.
Connecticut:
Source: Meriden Record, Conn. - 7 Jul 47
West Hartford Girl Spots Aerial Discs
Hartford, July 6 (AP) -- What was alleged to be Hartford's first "flying saucer" was reported tonight over West Hartford by 6-year-old Louisa Rose whose parents also saw the disc.
The child's father, John Rose, said the object which "fitted newspaper descriptions perfectly," was speeding east at a "terrific speed," although its height, he said, was difficult to estimate.
Meanwhile, the suggestion was put forth here that the discs which have been whizzing over other parts of the nation may be a meteor shower caused by the yearly appearance of the meteor group Perseids.
Professor Dirk Brouwer of the Yale University Astronomy Department, asked to comment, said the speed of the objects will have to be established before the validity of this possibility can be determined.
Source: New London Day, Connecticut - 7 Jul 47
Mrs. Ernest Tatro Saw Flying Saucers
Flying saucers which looked like "great big discs of phosphorous" were seen by Mrs. Ernest C. Tatro of 13 Terrace avenue a short time ago, she reported today. She couldn't remember the exact date when she saw them in the sky around 10 o'clock at night but she said it was "about ten days ago."
Glancing from a window at her home, Mrs. Tatro saw the discs "coming up out of the east and disappearing to the north." She estimated she saw about 30 pass through the sky, one right after another, and pass out of sight within a few minutes. They appeared low on the horizon, she said, rose up into the sky and made a circular motion before dropping down in the north.
Her first impression was that the peculiar sight in the eastern sky was a display of the aurora Borealis. However, in a few seconds, she realized from the shape of the things that there were some other phenomenon. "They didn't resemble anything man made," she declared.
Mrs. Tatro's was the second report of flying saucers seen in this vicinity. Mrs. Nettie Belle Aiquist of Louise street, Waterford, said Saturday that she and her daughter, Thelma, thought they saw them in the sky about June 23 or 24.
New York:
Source: Salamanca Republican-Press, N.Y. - 7 Jul 47
First New York Staters At Rochester, Glens Falls Report Witnessing Flight
Albany, July 7 (AP) -- The first flying discs seen in New York state were reported last night in Rochester and Glens Falls.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Ohley said they were in their back yard in Rochester when they saw the disc flying from the northwest. Mrs. Ohley said the disc, about the size of a saucer, was visible for about three or four seconds.
In Glens Falls, Louis Stebbins, deputy treasurer of Warren county, reported that he had observed on June 25 what he now believes was one of the discs. Stebbins and Mrs. John G. Caffrey, a neighbor, said the light, about the size of an auto headlight, emitted red fire in front and blue fire in the rear.
Meanwhile in Syracuse, Dr. Harry A. Steckel, psychiatric consultant
of the U.S. veterans administration, discounted the element of "mass hysteria" in connection with the discs.
"The climate of mass hysteria should not be taken into consideration," he declared. "They have been seen by too many people, in too many different places to be dismissed so lightly."
He added that the "flying saucers" might be a result of "experiments by unknown government agencies."
Brig. Gen. Thomas' F. Farrell, head of the New York City housing authority who aided in development of the atomic bomb, said Saturday night that he questioned "any relationship between atomic experiments and these reported
discs or saucers."
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Utah - 7 Jul 47
N.Y. Woman Views 'Saucer' Close Up
ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 6 (UP) -- The first instance of a "flying saucer" in New York state was reported here Sunday night by a housewife who said she saw an object "about the size of an ordinary saucer" flying above her back yard.
Mrs. Kenneth Wohley said she and her husband were in their yard about 8:30 p.m. (EDT) when the saucer-like object whizzed above their heads.
She said the "saucer," visible for "only three or four seconds," approached from the northwest and headed due east.
Pennsylvania:
Source: Altoona Mirror, Penn. - 7 Jul 47
Local Man Reports Seeing Flying Discs From Brush Mountain
Among Altoonans to report seeing the "flying discs" is James H. Jones of 1207-1/2 Seventh street, who observed them over the week-end from Brush mountain. Mr. Jones dropped a postcard description to the Altoona Mirror this morning, but could not be reached immediately for further details.
He was sitting above the old quarry on Brush mountain between Seventh and Eighth streets, "when suddenly I heard a buzzing overhead. I happened to look up and I saw several little objects in the sky, flying toward Williamsburg.
"They looked like a wash basin, but they may be larger," Mr. Jones said. "They seemed so shiny. In about 20 minutes, there seemed to be another flock, like a swarm of blackbirds. They may be the mystery saucers," he explained.
Source: Altoona Mirror, Penn. - 7 Jul 47
Like Breakfast Plates
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa., July 7 (UP) -- Flying saucers in this district have the appearance of "breakfast plates," according to Mrs. G.E. Hart of nearby Poplar
Grove.
Mrs. Hart says she noticed 13 of the mysterious discs over her home about two weeks ago.
She got a closeup view of the objects, which she described as "breakfast plates," when one of them hovered over a grape arbor for about 10 seconds before moving on.
Source: Williamsport Gazette, Penn. - 7 Jul 47
Towanda Woman Reports 'Saucers' 6 to 8 Inches
TOWNDA (AP) -- First to report a close-up view of a "flying saucer," Mrs. [Illegible] Smith, of Towanda, said yesterday she saw two of them not over a few feet from her home.
The energy of these was about spent, apparently, for instead of speeding through the sky they were "hovering" about 30 feet off the ground, Mrs. Smith said. They bobbed about, went together, separated, and in about two minutes soared into the sky and disappeared. She described them as "saucers of intense light" and said she did not believe there was any solid object there. Mrs. Smith said the "saucers" appeared six to eight inches in diameter.
Maryland:
Source: Cumberland Evening Times, Maryland - 7 Jul 47
Hagerstown Woman Says She Saw Five 'Saucers'
Maryland faced the flying disc mystery with divided opinions today.
Five shooting saucers were reported over Hagerstown while Baltimore psychologists called the whole thing a "psychological epidemic."
Dr. Jesse Sprowls, psychology professor at the University of Maryland predicted that reports of skimming saucers over Maryland and elsewhere would "keep on spreading until the whole thing wears out."
Dr. Ivan E. McDougle of Goucher College observed, "If all this keeps up it is going to make an interesting psychological study."
But at Hagerstown, Mrs. Madelyn Ganoe, an aircraft worker, stuck to her story.
Roar Like Train
She said she spotted five "saucerlike" objects flying eastward in a close-knit two-and-two formation Sunday afternoon.
"They roared with a sound like a faraway train," Mrs. Ganoe declared. She said the discs, arching across a clear sky at "terrific speed," remained in sight about three seconds, as she leaped up from her rocking chair on the back porch and dashed onto the lawn to watch the objects disappear over a row of oak trees.
At Baltimore, Mrs. Gertrude Landry also decided that the "something in the sky" she saw Thursday night must have been one of those saucers she had read about in the newspapers.
From Anne Arundel County, Mrs. Van Cleef Winterson, an artist of
East Linthieum, related how she and her two young sons saw a "flying saucer" flash through the sky June 29.
Mrs. Winterson said the objects resembled a pancake viewed edgewise with projections from its sides which could have been propellers. She said the object had a shiny finish, apparently of chromium, and was noiseless. Mrs. Winterson. who called her sons, Kent, 8, and Stewart, 6, to view the "saucer" said it was about a mile away and flying low. She was positive it wasn't plane or bird.
The psychologists stood by for further reports.
Reports of skimming saucers will "keep on spreading until the whole thing wears out," commented Dr. Sprowls.
"There is absolutely no limit to the delusion that the mind can harbor," he said.
"A tremendously interesting social psychological delusion," Sprowls added.
Dr. McDougle said, "I guess it's one of those psychological epidemics where people see things that aren't there."
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Weather Bureau announced that one of its meteorologists was keeping a sharp lookout for the discs.
Source: Frederick News-Post, Maryland - 7 Jul 47
Hagerstown Woman Claims To Have Seen Flying Discs From Back Porch Of Home
Made Sound Like Faraway Train, Fairchild Woman Says
Hagerstown. July 6 (AP) -- Five skimming saucers, racing in formation at "terrific speed" were reported over Maryland by a woman aircraft worker today.
"They roared with a sound like a faraway train," said Mrs. Madelyn Ganoe, 30, a sheet metal worker at the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation here.
Mrs. Ganoe said she spotted the discs at 4:30 p.m. (EDT) from a rocking chair on her back porch. Flying in a close-knit two-on-two formation, the saucers arched eastward through a clear sky and disappeared after three seconds over a row of oak trees, Mrs. Ganoe said.
"They were sort of flat, like saucers, with something on the back end," she said.
Mrs. Ganoe said she alerted her mother-in-law, Mrs. Nancy Ganoe, 45, who also spotted the discs.
"They were about the size of airplanes," Mrs. Ganoe said, "but they were definitely not planes." She said the saucers first moved silently at a low altitude, below the clouds.
"Then, after they passed, I could hear a sound like a roar in the sky."
The only other report of mystery discs over Maryland has come from Mrs. Gertrude Landry of Baltimore.
Mrs. Landry decided today that the "something" she saw in the sky Thursday night was one of the flying saucers she had read about in the newspapers.
A neighbor, Howard Riley, who was with her at the time, also saw "the something in the sky" but was not sure whether it was a disc.
It was a yellowish object which remained in sight five minutes, Mrs. Landry said.
Her daughter, Frances, 14, said she also believed what she had seen was a flying saucer.
Virginia:
Source: The Danville Bee, Virginia - 7 Jul 47
One Seen In Virginia
PORTSMOUTH, Va. July 7. (AP) -- A flying saucer has been sighted in Virginia.
Mrs. A.H. Whittaker and 10 others on her front porch reported the local airborne mystery last night and her son, E.H. Whittaker told of its coming out of the southeast Chesapeake Bay area at 7 p.m., traveling high and fast.
"It was about as high as the planes usually fly," he said. "It looked like a giant plate... There were no planes in sight at the time. It sailed with the wind as smoothly as if it were being towed. I can't say exactly how big it was but at that height it looked about a foot across."
North Carolina:
Source: Gastonia Gazette, North Carolina - 7 Jul 47
Flying Saucer Reported Here
Don't ever sell Gastonia short. If people from 39 different states, District of Columbia and Canada swear they saw cracked atoms, tracer bullets from Mars, silver saucers, or what have you, floating through the heavens then why can't three upstanding citizens of Gastonia see the same phenomena?
Whether they can or not is beside the point, for they did and probably long before many of the other people who have been filling headlines the past week.
It all happened last Tuesday afternoon about 6 o'clock when Mr. and Mrs. Bert Rider of Cloninger avenue were entering Linwood avenue from Jackson road in their automobile. Following them closely in another car was their next-door neighbor, Grady Ivey, employe at Firestone Mill.
Rider, a city fireman, looked up into the sky and saw it, a silver disc, streaking through space at a terrific speed. He stopped his car and ran back to where Ivey had also come to a halt. Yes, he had seen it too. So had Mrs. Rider, but their impression of the object differed.
Mr. and Mrs. Rider declared that it was a flat, saucer-shaped, silver disc which was zipping through the sky in a southerly direction at a terrific rate. They were of the opinion that it was flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet. Ivey, on the other hand, says it was a large silver balloon, flying at a much lower altitude and much larger than newspaper reports had pictured them.
The object, whatever it was, was gone in a minute and all three of the witnesses declared that it moved faster than anything they had ever seen before. Asked whether he thought it could have been the sun shining on a silver colored airplane flying at great height, Rider said, "Yes. I think it could." Ivey said, "Definitely not. It was too large for that and I know an airplane when I see it. It was a balloon-like object."
Whatever it, was, Gastonia has a role in the act now. Who's going to see the next one?
South Carolina:
Source: Charleston News and Courier, S.C. - 7 Jul 47
Flying Discs Again Sighted Near City
Lone "flying saucers" were reported sighted here by two different groups at separate points late yesterday afternoon.
J.G. O'Brien and David Kennedy, attendants at a service station at Lee and Meeting streets, and Luther Rogers, a helper, told the News and Courier they watched it for "fully a minute" before it appeared to flip over and disappear.
Mr. O'Brien said it was traveling a southeasterly course. It appeared to be at an altitude of at least 5,000 feet, he said. His description fit the many previous ones from 36 states. It was a bright silvery object, without evidence of wings or propeller, and no motors could be herd, he said.
"It could not have been a plane," Mr. O'Brien said, although there were at least two silver planes stunting in the area at about the same time yesterday.
Lew Brown, proprietor of The Anchor, 101 Meeting street, said he saw an oblong silvery object floating toward the ocean late yesterday as he was motoring over the Cooper river bridge toward Mount Pleasant.
He was accompanied by his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Dan Groves, all of whom reported they saw it also. Mr. Brown said he believes it "a government experiment... I expect to see more of them."
First reports of the flying saucers in the area were made by residents of Sullivan's island, who said they saw a formation of discs at 9:58 p.m. Tuesday. At least half a dozen other persons, including a News and Courier news staff member, saw what they thought was a flying saucer at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday.
Flying saucers or discs have supplanted the weather as Charleston's favorite subject of discussion. Late visitors to places of refreshment Saturday night usually found the tail-end stragglers of the evening hot in argument over the flying saucer reports. Serious-minded sports fans might bring up the subject of Rebel's standing in the Sally league but were quickly overridden by enthusiastic disc spokesmen.
Charleston's churchgoers went as usual to Sunday service, and while some of them may have been moved to extra devotion due to disc worries, the great majority gathered outside at the conclusion of worship to discuss discs.
Saturday night arguments flew hot and heavy, army veterans insisted it must be a navy experiment and the navy boys were too dumb to admit it. Navy veterans maintained it was an army experiment and that the higher echelons had not had the foresight to pass the information down the line with the resulting and, they insinuated, customary confusion. Wives of these GI debaters, when they could get a word in edgewise, suggested hopefully that there must be some half-mad scientific genius who devised this secret weapon.
Seriously, however, there was considerable discussion of whether the discs were domesticated or of foreign origin, with most of the foreign suggestion being placed on the Russians. Light-minded characters persisted in skimming paper plates about the room and shouting about discus-throwers, but on the whole these folk were largely in the minority and were ignored by the amateur statesmen.
In the early part of the evening most people were sure it was an American military experiment, but as the night grew longer and reports arrived that the various armed services had issued denials of any connection with the phenomena the discussion grew more serious. When it was reported that the air force had a jet plane and a squadron of fighters ready to take off and chase down the next saucer, folks glanced knowingly at one another, said this must be the real thing.
Most of the argument started on whether or not people had really seen the saucers or if it were a mass hallucination. But after a few minutes it became obvious that everybody believed in the flying saucers whether or not they felt like admitting it publicly. The next topic usually concerned the size of these whirling objects. Saner minds argued that it was impossible to determine the size and altitude unless one of those factors was known. Impetuous individuals swore that if an object appeared to be six inches in diameter and was actually 22,000 feet high as was reported by one distinguished observer, it should in all probability be as big as Charleston county, or bigger, when face to face on the ground.
The remarks of the anonymous nuclear physicist in California came in for a good going over and artists in the group drew sketches on napkins of saucer-like gadgets complete with a tail assembly and a ring of jets to furnish power, and as they proudly pointed out at night this circular power plant would provide the reported nimbus or reddish glow.
Later as their thoughts turned closer to matters at hand speculation was made by all parties concerned as to the amount of damage possible form a small or lapsize atomic bomb that a supposed pilot could carry conveniently in a flying disc.
Tennessee:
Source: Kingsport News, Tennessee - 7 Jul 47
Two Memphians Join 'Flying Saucer' Club
Memphis (AP) -- Two Memphians joined the "I-saw-flying-saucers" club Sunday but one disc-observer said they "whooshed" and the other said they didn't.
J.A. Conrow said something "like a round mirror" zipped over his back yard at a rapid clip, giving "a whooshing sound."
Five minutes later, H.B. Leatherwood claimed a "garbage top" object floated past his home and it "didn't make a sound."
Another Memphian, Mrs. W.C. Clark, remembered that in May she saw "tennis balls" drifting in the sky, while she sunbathed.
Source: Dixon Evening Telegraph, Ill. - 7 Jul 47
Flying Saucers Old Stuff to Tennessean
Kingsport, Term., July 7 (AP)-- Flying saucers are old stuff to
Charlie T. Hamlet.
Hamlet, superintendent of the Kingsport Times News composing room, said today he saw the objects burning the wind over his house here two years ago.
"They were disc-like in shape and looked to be the size of a man's head," he said. "They were of a bright aluminum color, were going at terrific speed and disappeared over the high school, about three blocks down the street."
Hamlet said he kept mum at the time "because of all the rumors going around then about what they were doing down at Oak Ridge." The A-bomb still was a dark secret then.
Alabama:
Source: Anniston Star, Alabama - 7 Jul 47
Unusual "Flying Saucers" Reported Over This State
Birmingham Residents Deluge Authorities With Telephone Calls About Celestial Phenomenon; No Reports Received In Anniston Area
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 7 (AP) -- The mysterious flying saucers made their appearance over Birmingham last night in a spectacular display of whirling light, according to reports of hundreds of callers who swamped the telephone lines of the Birmingham Age-Herald.
Reporters, copy readers and even copy boys were pressed into service answering calls from citizens of this town who attested to seeing the whirling disks. The majority of calls came between 8 and 9 p.m. and were from persons in various sections of town.
Ohio:
Source: Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Elyrians Report They Believe They Saw "Flying Saucers"
Four Elyrians and two friends living at Greenwich, south of Norwalk, are confident that they saw the much discussed "flying saucers" last Friday night at Greenwich, south of Norwalk.
This report was given by Mrs. Robert Soules, 515 Middle avenue, who said that she and her husband, along with Mr. and Mrs. Herman Gott, of Middle avenue, Elyria, and Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Gott, of Greenwich, saw the objects in the sky while attending a carnival at Greenwich.
They called the attention of others at the carnival to the objects, and the others saw them too, she said, but Mrs. Soules did not know the names of the others.
She reported that the objects first appeared in the sky to the southeast, about 9:30 p.m., and were visible for a half hour or longer. They reappeared, this time in the east, about 10:30 and were visible for a shorter time, she added.
Mrs. Soules described the first "saucers" as quite large, of an orange-red color somewhat "like the moon on a cloudy night." She added that they looked like "saucers." She was unable to estimate their size or altitude or the speed at which they were moving.
They seemed to follow the path of two tiny stars, moving both north and south at either end of the line of view, Mrs. Soules said. She reported that the observers had to go to a place away from the carnival lights to see the "saucers".
William Bennie also reported to the Chronicle-Telegram that he saw one of the "flying saucers" while he was out in Lake Erie on a boat. He said it appeared to him to be traveling at a high rate of speed, and appeared to be up about 1,500 feet.
Source: Zanesville Times Recorder, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Flying Saucers Reported In Area
It was reported that three mysterious "flying saucers" which have been reported in various parts of the nation allegedly were seen at the municipal airport Saturday night.
Miss Barry Perazzo, 25-year-old communications operator at the field said she saw the first of the discs at 8 o'clock, followed by a second a few minutes later. At 11 o'clock, the third one passed overhead, she said.
Miss Perazzo reported she saw the first "fairly oval" object while checking the ceiling visibility at the airfield, one of her routine duties and that it was in plain sight for about five seconds.
The second disc appeared to be lighted, she said, and streaked across the sky for about 15 seconds.
She sighted the third saucer when the object appeared to be over Zanesville. Clocking the time it took the object to pass the airport, she estimated its speed at about 30 miles a minute.
The third object gave off an eerie green light, she said, and appeared to be ascending at about a 45 degree angle. The second disc appeared white, she reported.
The first two discs disappeared in a northeasterly direction, while the third one went directly east.
After sighting the first two, Miss Perazzo scanned the skies with a "ceiling" light which is part of the regular equipment at the CAA weather station for making cloud observations. The light is 2,000 candlepower, and is capable of penetrating low-hanging clouds.
Source: Hamilton Daily News Journal, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Two Cincinnatians See Flying Disks
Cincinnati, July 7. (AP) -- Two Cincinnati women said today they had seen disks flying through the air.
Mrs. Arthur Stallmaier, 908 Elm avenue, Terrace Park, said she saw two of them Sunday night in the southwest sky. She said they were the size of a phonograph record.
Mrs. H.W. Stockwell, 4000 Floral avenue, Norwood, said she saw eight disks last Monday evening. She said they were of various sizes.
Source: Lima News, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Wapak Saucer-Seer Lacks Nerve To Tell
WAPAKONETA, July 7 (UP) -- The nation's most embarrassed
saucer-seer today was Richard L. Bitters, editor of The Wapakoneta Daily News, and former Lima newsman.
Bitters revealed that he and his wife saw a number of the objects on the night of June 23 -- two days before they were first reported in the Pacific northwest. But Editor Bitters sat on his scoop two weeks before he could get up the nerve to report it.
"It was about 9:30 p.m. while walking home from a movie (which, however, was not a "Man from Mars" picture) that my wife and I noticed a disc-like missile flying in a northward direction," Bitters said.
"The flying saucers failed to maintain an even course in the sky but proceeded to weave in and out of view. As mystery phraseology would term it, a downright 'spooky' feeling prevailed each time the silvery discs made their appearance."
Source: Vidette-Messenger, Indiana - 7 Jul 47
May Be "Flying Disc"
JANE CAMPBELL, 17, of Chillicothe, Ohio, exhibits an unidentified mechanism which fell from a balloon and landed on her father's farm. The father, Sherman Campbell, said the vaned object, through optical illusion, may have caused some of the reports of "flying discs." (International Soundphoto)
Indiana:
Source: Vidette-Messenger, Indiana - 7 Jul 47
Reports Spotting 'Disc' Here
Man Insists He and Wife Saw Object
Louis Kueniger, Of Ridgeland Avenue, Offers Description
A Valparaiso man today added his testimony to the growing list of American citizens who are convinced there is "funny business" going on in U.S. skies. He is Louis Kueniger, 476 Ridgeland Ave., an employe of the Continental Diamond Fibre Co., who reported to The Vidette-Messenger shortly after noon today that he had spotted a "flying disc" over the city at 11:25 this morning.
"I would stake my life on it," Kueniger said.
According to his story, the local man and his wife were driving to Valparaiso from Hebron and were in the vicinity of the Porter county home when he spotted the celestial "saucer."
The phenomenon looked like a "new moon," Kueniger said.
On Northwest Course
"My wife and I watched it for about 30 seconds," he related. "It appeared to be about 10,000 feet above town or maybe slightly beyond and was traveling a northeast course. I would say it was going between 400 and 500 miles an hour.
"After about ten seconds it seemed to turn on its side and when the sun reflected on it, the object looked like a big mirror. It turned on its side again and simply disappeared."
Kueniger said that seeing the "disc" gave him a "funny feeling" and that his wife was "frightened. Mrs. Kueniger remarked, "I don't like this," her husband said.
He's Convinced
The sky at 11:25 was almost totally clear, with bright sunshine. Kueniger said he was positive the object couldn't have been an aircraft.
"It was traveling too fast, and it was round and disc-like," he insisted.
"I would have bet anyone $10,000 that I wouldn't see one of those things," Kueniger said, shaking his head. "Now I'd stake my life I saw one."
Wisconsin:
Source: Rhinelander Daily News, Wisc. - 7 Jul 47
'Little Man' at Helm of One Disc
By the Associated Press
At Janesville, Wis., police were somewhat skeptical of a telephoned report shortly after midnight by a man who said he saw flying discs -- just after he stepped out of a tavern.
Meanwhile, in Detroit police were told by an unidentified observer that he not only saw discs, but "a little man was sitting on the first one steering."
Source: Manitowoc Herald-Times, Wisc. - 7 Jul 47
Flying Saucers Reported Over Wisconsin Cities
Green Bay, Oshkosh, Milwaukee Describe Extraordinary Objects
By The Associated Press
Mysterious "flying discs", saucer-shaped objects hurtling across the skies, were reported sighted in several places in Wisconsin yesterday as they were in many other states.
At Janesville, Verne Williams, manager of radio station WCLO said four persons reported having seen the strange objects. Williams said Mr. And Mrs. Al Sievert and Mr. and Mrs. Howard Rogth told of watching a disc flying northwest at a "terrific speed." They said the object appeared to follow an oval flight pattern and that tails appeared on it shortly before it disappeared from view.
At Grafton, some speculation arose when a flat object was found but it turned out to be a circular saw with wires attached to it.
Many Milwaukeeans reported seeing the "flying saucers." A passenger aboard a plane which landed here last night said he saw a "saucer" bobbing up and down over the airfield just after he had alighted from the plane. He said other passengers also saw the object.
Balls of Fire
Erwin Rottman said he saw three of them, with tails. He stated they turned from gold to another color and then to silver.
Frank Phifer, a guest at a Milwaukee hotel, reported seeing three balls of fire shooting across Lake Michigan, "going at a terrific speed."
John Bosch, a Milwaukee machinist, declared he saw two flashing saucer-shaped objects pass over Billy Mitchell air field.
Eugene Le Plant, reported today that he and his 12-year old son, Duane, had seen a rapidly moving silver ball or disc about 6:30 p.m. last Wednesday while working in the garden of his home on the western edge of Green Bay. Le Plant said he saw the object silhouetted against a dark cloud to the north and that he and his son watched it for three or four minutes while it moved away to the northwest. Le Plant said he could not estimate the altitude or distance, but that it "definitely was not an airplane."
Change Colors
Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Davis, of Oshkosh, reported seeing a disc over the city at dusk yesterday while driving toward the city with the setting sun behind them. They said the atmosphere was clear and that the object was the apparent size of the sun and was moving "high and fast," but that they were unable to offer an estimate of its altitude or speed.
Erwin Rottman, Milwaukee, claimed he saw three of the "saucers" flying over the city at 6 p.m. yesterday and turning from orange to gold to silver before they disappeared, Mrs. Anthony Hoffman, Milwaukee, said she and her husband saw one which "looked like a small meat platter" flying south over Milwaukee at 8:25 p.m. yesterday." She said it was flying high and appeared illuminated.
Source: Wisconsin State Journal, Wisc. - 7 Jul 47
'Disc' Sighted Near Madison by Professor
By Betty Cass
(State Journal Columnist)
A Madison man, Prof. E.B. McGilvary, 1920 Arlington pl., one of the most respected and conservative of men ever connected with the university, is believed to have seen one of the "flying saucers" several days before they were reported from the northwest.
Prof. McGilvary, who is emeritus professor of philosophy at the university, was playing cards at the home of Mrs. Mary North at the Magnus Swenson estate on the Middleton road about three weeks ago and as he left the house late in the evening a bright object in the sky caught his attention.
He glanced up and saw a round illuminated object about two-thirds the size which the moon normally appears. It was moving from southwest to northeast more rapidly than most astronomical bodies normally move but not so fast as a meteor usually moves.
Prof. McGilvary's first thought was that the object was an especially large meteor moving more slowly than usual. Then he realized that it was not leaving a trail of light, as meteors do, and that it did not have the fiery quality of a meteor but seemed rather as though it were illuminated.
It moved across an open place in the sky between the treetops and then disappeared behind the trees. Prof. McGilvary, who was more interested in its strange behavior than in its appearance, immediately went back to the house and told Mrs. North about it, adding that he was sorry she had not seen such a strange phenomenon.
Mrs. North stepped outside and looked at the sky, but there was no more evidence of it and neither of them thought any more about it until about three days later when the first story of the "flying saucers" appeared in the papers.
Illinois:
Source: Freeport Journal-Standard, Ill. - 7 Jul 47
Sighted Near Freeport
"Floating discs", which have been causing nation-wide comment since their first appearance on June 25, were reported seen today in this area by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer H. Schirmer, 40 North Bailey avenue. They said that Sunday afternoon about 3:30 o'clock as they were driving 2-1/2 miles north of Dakota, they observed one of the flat flying objects traveling from south to north at what they believed would be between 3,000 and 4,000 feet.
The sky, said Mr. Schirmer. was somewhat overcast at times during the 10 minute period they followed the disc's flight.
The background of clouds, in the nature of a "thunderhead" type, enabled them to see the disc pass through a cloud, also behind clouds, and at other times remain in front of the clouds.
Contrary to other sight-seers who have reported the unsolved phenomenon, the object was not silvery or "shimmery" but dark in color. It definitely was not a plane, Mr. Schirmer said, and was only a single object.
The disc was traveling at very high rate of speed and was flying in a flat and not a tilted position as some discs had been reported.
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, Ill. - 7 Jul 47
'Silvery Specks'
They're Here, Too; Altonians Report Seeing 'Flying Discs'
Add Alton to the growing list of cities where the "flying discs" have been reported seen.
Mr. and Mrs. William Gent, 530 East Sixth, their daughter Sheila, a second man from Alton, and a St. Louisian spotted a flock of "silvery specks" tumbling through the sky, while in Riverside park, Sunday about 6:50 p.m. to look at the high water.
"Though they were "too far away for me to be definite," Mrs. Gent said this morning that the "flying discs" explanation was the only one the onlookers could find for the unusual objects.
Mrs. Gent said the party saw the objects just east of the bridge, in front of a cloud formation. The objects appeared for about four or five minutes, traveling at what appeared to be a great speed, before disappearing from view.
"There was a great number of silvery things," Mrs. Gent said. "Like a large flock of birds, but they were tumbling, rather than flying. The wind was from the west, but the silvery specks were moving east."
Tough the specks were too far away for the group seeing them to make positive identification, the objects seemed to answer descriptions of the "flying discs" made by residents of other cities who have reported having seen them.
Source: Dixon Evening Telegraph, Ill. - 7 Jul 47
Time Flies
Rockford, Ill. July 7 (AP) -- Wilbur Luckey, who lives on a farm north of here, reported that he saw a shiny object "like a large electric clock" hurtling southward through the air at 6:45 a.m. (CDT) today while he was driving to work. He said the object disappeared within a few seconds.
Minnesota:
Source: Winona Republican-Herald, Minn. - 7 Jul 47
Weaver Boys Report Seeing 'Flying Disks'
Weaver, Minn. -- (Special) -- Two little Weaver farm boys, who had never heard about the discs, told their mother Saturday night they had seen "some small, silver things" floating in the air and they wanted to know what they were.
The boys, Paul Olson, ten, and his brother, Gillmore, 11, told their mother, Mrs. Gillmore Olson, Sr., that they had been watching an airplane passing low over the city. Then they saw the objects in the air "very low."
That was late Saturday afternoon.
The boys said that there was a sound "like wild geese."
Credence was given to their story because they did not know about the discs previously.
No other Weaver resident reported seeing the discs.
Iowa:
Source: Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, Iowa - 7 Jul 47
Reports Disk North of City
Mrs. W.R. Eads, 512 S. 10th street, reported Monday afternoon she had seen one of the flying saucers at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Rothlauf, 10 miles north of Burlington on route 99, on June 25.
Seated on the front porch of the farm home she said she saw the brilliantly shining object skimming through the sky and heading southwest. "It sparkled like a sundial", she asserted, "and I watched it for about 10 minutes. It glided along smoothly but I don't know how fast it was going".
------------
By the Associated Press
A number of Iowans have reported seeing the mysterious "flying saucers" which have been mystifying the nation for 12 days, and one said he believed he had seen one of the saucers as long ago as July, 1946.
Orrie Miller, engineer at radio station KSO, reported that last year, while he was driving from Muscatine to Winfield at about dusk, he saw a "bright object" which he thought at first was a locomotive headlight, until it occurred to him there was no noise.
"It was low in the sky and was flying at high speed in level flight," he said. "It appeared pear shaped and gave a brilliant light," he said.
Miller, an amateur astronomer, said the object hardly could have been a meteorite, because "it had no tail and its level flight was not like that of a meteorite."
Military Secret?
He said he believed then it might have been one of the high speed projectiles the army was experimenting with, and so did not report his discovery because he feared he might bring about the revelation of a military secret.
First Iowa reports of the "saucers" came from Waterloo and Keokuk.
J.E. Johnston of Waterloo said he saw one of the disks about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. He said it was flat in shape and made a "rocket like, swishing noise" as it flew directly over his home about 25 feet off the ground. "It was too close to the ground to be an airplane," he said.
At Keokuk, S.M. Bayloer, William Boehl and C.F. Bowels, instructors at the Keokuk municipal airport, reported they saw 3 of the disks flying in formation over the airport.
At Sioux City, Mrs. B.E. Morrison, wife of a printer, said she saw 3 "saucer-like, real bright objects," in the western sky last Wednesday evening.
Like Pie Plate
Mrs. H.F. Angus, of Sioux City, said she saw an object "about the size of a pie-plate" quite high in the sky and traveling south rapidly, as she and her husband were driving north on Highway 141 north of Ute about 5:30 p.m. a week ago Sunday.
Kathleen Hartsook, Des Moines, said she saw "one of the things" while she was visiting in Omaha last Thursday or Friday evening. She described it as a flat, shiny, gold object traveling south and not very high.
W.A. Verzani, of Sioux City, reported he saw one of the disks as he was driving downtown about 4 p.m. Sunday.
He described it as saucer-like in appearance, giving off an extremely bright glow. He estimated its altitude at about 1,000 feet.
New Theories
Two additional theories about the flying disks were added today.
Fred Harvey, mechanical superintendent of the Perry (Ia.) Daily Chief, said that while visiting between Luther and Boone Sunday, he saw "a noiseless saucer make a figure 8 way off to the south." Harvey said he immediately got a pair of field glasses, trained it on the area, and brought an airplane into focus.
Harvey said that at a distance "planes look exactly like disks" and expressed belief that planes are what people have been seeing. Harvey's son, Fred, however, asserted he believed disks actually were what they saw.
In Ft. Madison. Mrs. Winona Nerigon said Tuesday she thinks the flying disks are smoke rings left by sky writers for a soft drink company.
Mrs. Glen Cooper of Oakland said Monday she saw a "flying saucer" Sunday evening while in her garden.
She described it as "round, flat, size of a dinner plate to a washer lid, aluminum in color" and said "it flew very low and not at an excessive rate of speed."
She called her husband and son but by the time they arrived the disk had disappeared behind a tree, she said.
Missouri:
Source: Mexico Evening Ledger, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
Air Platters Seen In Kansas City Area
KANSAS CITY, July 7 (AP) -- Reports of "flying saucers" were many and varied in the Kansas City area yesterday with observers estimating the discs as flying from two to 10,000 feet in the air.
Dr. David S. Long, Jr., of Kansas City reported seeing seven discs about the size of grapefruit moving north over Lake Lotawana early yesterday morning
and later swimmers at the lake reported seeing a shining saucer flying at about 10,000 feet.
Other saucer like objects were seen at Greenwood, Mo., and at Independence.
Source: St. Joseph Gazette, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
'Flying Disc' Is Seen Near Here
What was believed to be one of the mysterious "flying discs" was sighted by a St. Joseph family group three or four miles eat of Mound City about 6 p.m. yesterday, as they were returning by the motor to St. Joseph.
The disc or wheel-shaped object first was sighted by Byrrl S. Dunn, 201 Oxford street, who called it to the attention of the others in the car. In the group were Mr. and Mrs. Dunn and their daughter, Beverly Dunn, seven years old; another daughter, Mrs. J.W. Hendrix, and Mr. Hendrix, 5318 Williams street, and their son, Donnie, three years old, and Mrs. Hendrix's cousin, Bobby Lawson, 20 years old, 6414 Grant street. They were motoring east on the highway at the time.
The object, which seemed to be not too high in the sky, was by a cloud when first sighted, and was moving slowly west. It was described by Mrs. Hendrix as "real bright and shiny." It was silver-hued and had no other color. In size as they saw it, it was about as big as a good-sized saucer. While it was moving, it did not appear to be spinning, she said.
The entire group got out of the car and watched it, and it was visible for perhaps as long as five minutes, Mrs. Hendrix said.
However, as they watched the disc move slowly toward the west, an airplane appeared, flying from the northeast to the southwest. As the plane came in sight, the object turned suddenly and started traveling north at a rapid speed, she said, and in no time disappeared from sight.
Arkansas:
Source: Mexico Evening Ledger, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
Arkansas Cows Have Seen 'Em, Says New Report
FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas, July 7 (AP) -- Northwest Arkansas livestock have now seen the flying saucers and "the animals sure get up and go when they see these things," Henry Seay, who lives two miles north of here, reported today.
Seay, who said he had seen six of the disks Friday night and again just before dark last night, described them as "yellow, about the size of pancakes, and whirling around." He was driving cows and horses toward his farm home at the time he said, and the stock became frightened.
Most of the disks he estimated to be from 500 to 1,000 feet up but said one swooped down to about 300 feet above him and "dropped sparks which were like dust." He believes it fell to the earth somewhere near his home.
Source: Northwest Arkansas Times, Ark. - 7 Jul 47
Discs Reported Over Farm Of Henry Seay
The only man in the Fayetteville vicinity reporting to have seen a "flying saucer" -- Henry Seay, a farmer -- is unimpressed by reports from elsewhere in the nation that the "saucers" are invaders from outer space or remote control
aircraft.
"Maybe the things which people have seen in Texas are man-made machines," Seay said today, "but what I saw was entirely natural. I believe they were caused by whirl winds high in the air."
According to Seay's theory, the oval-shaped, glowing bodies which swept over his farm two miles north of Fayetteville on Highway 71 Friday and Saturday nights were a product of wind and soil erosion.
"There are glowing sands in many parts of the country," he said, "I believe the saucers I saw were simply sand sucked into the air by whirl winds."
He recalled seeing similar "saucers" years ago in North Carolina. The things are fairly common there, he said, where many of the natives believe they are spirits of the dead. Glowing sands, fox fire and St. Elmo's fire are also common in that region, he said.
Seay caught sight of the first "saucer" shortly after dark Friday night, and at first believed it was some form of fireworks. He described it as about the size of a dinner plate and said it flew erratically. Sand, falling from the object, struck him and frightened a herd of cattle on his farm. The object was flying northeast at about 300 feet, he said. Two others were also in sight, but were considerably higher.
Saturday night three more "saucers" crossed the Seay farm but were much higher than on the previous night. All moved in the same direction, traveling with the wind and at a low speed.
North Dakota:
Source: Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota - 7 Jul 47
N.D. Man Reports Flying Disc
Virgil Been, Elliott, N.D., reported he saw an object about the size and shape of a dinner plate but green in color early Friday evening above his mother's farm one and one-half miles northeast of Elliott, Ransom county.
His mother, Mrs. Glen Been and his brother, Willard, also saw the object which passed close to the trio not more than 30 to 40 feet from the ground, Been said.
[Remainder of article illegible]
Kansas:
Source: Emporia Gazette, Kansas - 7 Jul 47
Emporia Women See Flying Saucer Floating Slowly Over Flint Hills
One of the mysterious silver saucers that are baffling the nation was seen floating. over the Pilot Hills Sunday evening, according to an Emporia woman. Mrs. W.L. Obley, 822 Merchant, said today that she saw a strange flying spot Sunday about 5:30 while walking through a wheat field on the Harris Stewart farm south of Saffordville, about 14 miles southwest of Emporia.
Holding out her hands to describe an object about the size of a silver serving tray, Mrs. Obley said the saucer was circular and shiny. While other reports tell of the objects traveling at great speed, the saucer seen by the Emporia woman was reported to be moving slowly across the sky. "It was floating like a feather, or a dirigible," said Mrs. Obley.
The flying saucer was first spied by Mrs. Will Becker of Saffordville who with Mrs. Obley and the latter's mother-in-law, Mrs. Edna Obley, was walking through the field. She called the attention of the other women to it and the three watched the object move slowly toward them from the south and then veer off toward the southwest and slowly disappear over the Flint Hills.
Mrs. Obley said that, when first seen, the object was thought to be a silver airplane but as the women studied it they saw that the outline was distinctly circular. The saucer was seen at a low altitude, scarcely clearing the tops of the low hills, she said.
Mrs. Obley offered no explanation of the phenomenon. She said she was not worried about the observations her relatives and friends are making concerning her sanity. Neither does she think the Russians are behind the mystery of the flying saucers.
Oklahoma:
Source: Miami Daily News-Record, Oklahoma - 7 Jul 47
'Flying Pancakes' Are Seen in Enid
ENID, Okla., July 7 (AP) -- Add Enid to the cities where "flying saucers" have been reported.
Ed Herbig, formerly of Tulsa and now employed on a highway project near here, said he saw one of the saucers flying at an altitude from 10,000 to 12,000 feet.
"It looked very much like an aluminum pancake," Herbig said.
"I glanced up into the clear sky and saw the thing flying south over the east edge of Enid.
"It was going at a terrifying rate of speed."
At Oklahoma City, W.E. Marshall said today he saw a strange object, saucer shaped and bright like aluminum, darting in a southeasterly direction high over Tinker field at 5:15 p.m. Sunday.
Texas:
Source: Big Spring Daily Herald, Texas - 7 Jul 47
Saucer Happy
Flying Discs Continue Visits To Texas Skies
The inconsiderate flying discs continue to pay flitting visits to Texas skies without leaving their calling cards.
And so no one really knows what the mysterious callers are, where they're going or where they've been.
Folks sitting on front porches or out driving see them dash teasingly across the sky, "There one goes," the delighted witness cries.
But in the twinkling of an unbelieving eye the disc is spinning out of sight, leaving a bewildering puzzle in its wake.
For the want of a better name they're called "flying discs," "saucers" and "platters."
Some of them travel alone, like a mysterious stranger in a hurry. Others are gregarious, traveling in family groups of three or four or more.
Two were sighted yesterday at Amarillo by C.D. Hoover, Jr., and C.O. Hutchins.
In the same vicinity George Mouerner, leaving a hotel, spotted two discs coursing across the horizon, and Bill Louden said he saw three.
They agree that they are round in shape, silver or "shiny" in color and traveling fast.
Comment comes from physics and military experts.
A California Institute of Technology scientist said the flying discs were "connected with experiments in transmutation of atomic energy."
But Dr. George W. Watt, University of Texas chemist who worked with atomic research during the war, commented:
"If that person is a creditable scientist, he is either saying something he shouldn't, something he isn't sure of, or else his name would have been used."
Lt. Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, deputy commander of the U.S. army air forces, stopping off briefly at Hensely field in Dallas, said the AAF was receiving thousands of queries.
One curious woman, he said, asked:
"Has Russia discovered the secret of the flying disc?"
Source: Lubbock Evening Journal, Texas - 7 Jul 47
Former Pilot Sees "Saucers" Sunday
Three More Lubbock Persons Report Seeing "Flying Discs"
At least three more Lubbock residents were added to the roll of "flying disc" witnesses today after Jim Purdy, 1512 Ave. Q, Mrs. Mattie McBroom, 1708 Ave.
F, and Dr. L.B. Cooper, 2024 Seventeenth, reported sighting the mysterious "saucers."
Purdy, Lubbock grocery store manager and former Royal Air force and U.S. Army Air force pilot, sighted a silvery, disc-shaped object about 1,000 feet above the city at 1:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon. It was moving in a slow, tumbling flight that exposed a bright side and dull side, he said, and the object did not have any of the characteristics of a plane. After about 20 seconds the disc began moving rapidly in a straight line toward the northeast, and disappeared in the distance.
Purdy emphasized, however, that he felt sure there was some logical explanation for the object, and that he discounted any "supernatural or crackpot" theories.
Mrs. McBroom reported having seen seven small bright objects traveling from the northeast toward the southwest over Lubbock between 9 and 10 a.m. June 10.
She described the discs as appearing to be about 6 or 10 inches in diameter, almost round and as moving "very fast" along an erratic course despite an absence of wind. They were "almost as bright as the sun," she declared, adding "this is no pipedream." A leading object was trailed by the others in groups of two and four, she reported.
Dr. Lewis B. Cooper, Texas Technological college faculty member, also reported that he had witnessed one of the flying objects a week ago at his farm on the North Plains. He said he thought at the time that he had seen a "shooting star" or a meteor. He saw the flying disc about midafternoon.
With tongue in his cheek, Jimmy Morris, employe of Bestwick Motors, exhibited a piece of crinkled tinfoil today which he said might be one of the flying discs.
And to make it even more mysterious, he pointed to a burned portion of the silvery substance, which he said might have been made by powder.
Morris said he noticed the shiny substance floating around in the air as he parked his car in the company's used car lot at 1005 Texas avenue. It sailed near the top of the Hilton hotel and landed in the used car lot.
Morris picked it up and was showing it to friends this morning. "Of course, it could have come off one of Ribble's flower pots," he added with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Source: Amarillo Daily News, Texas - 7 Jul 47
Amarillo, Pampa Sky-gazers Report Seeing Flying Discs
Some folks see spots before their eyes. Others see silver saucers sailing along at high rates of speed.
Two men, in different parts of Amarillo, reported seeing what they identified as saucers flying through the air yesterday afternoon.
George Monomer, employe of the International Harvester Co., who is living at the Herring Hotel, was standing in front of the hotel about 4:30 o'clock watching an airplane when he saw two bright discs speeding through the air. They were traveling at a high rate of speed and in a southeasterly direction. A man standing beside Mr. Mouerner also saw the discs.
"They appeared to be a dull aluminum color," Mr. Mouerner said.
At the same time Bill Louden of 1014 Fillmore who was at work at Tiny Gogle's 1305 Polk, reports he saw three of the mysterious discs going southeast at a high rate of speed. He said they were "round and shiny."
Early Saturday afternoon C.D. Hoover, Jr., 1400 Jackson, and C.P. Hutchings, 1309-B Madison, reported seeing similar objects floating through the air.
A report received from Pampa yesterday said about 50 dull-looking round objects passed over the city heading in a southwesterly direction just before dark Saturday night.
Source: Corsicana Daily Sun, Texas - 7 Jul 47
Local Resident Claims He Saw 'Flying Saucer'
The sighting of flying disks in the Corsicana area was again verified Monday morning by G.B. Garret, 1549 West Fifth avenue, who told of his sighting one on June 26 while on Highway 75 near Madisonville with his 12-year old nephew as a witness. He kept silent because of fear of ridicule.
"I was traveling in the direction of Houston, but I couldn't tell how high or how fast it was going. I first thought it was an airliner, but I got a good look at it. It was shiny, of a silvery color, and looked just like a big mirror.
"I know definitely it wasn't an airliner."
Garret, an Army veteran, has done civilian flying.
New Mexico:
Source: El Paso Herald-Post, Texas - 7 Jul 47
Building Inspector Sees "Flying Discs"
City Building Inspector Mokler today reported seeing two "flying discs" directly above White Sands Proving Ground last Friday -- just before an atomic scientist in California said "transmutation tests" are being conducted at Muroc Lake, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and White Sands.
Mr. Mokler said he saw the discs while driving near Organ, N.M., en route back to El Paso after a holiday visit to Cloudcroft.
Four other persons in his car also observed them, he added.
"They were shiny and appeared to be about as large as an office desk," Mr. Mokler said.
"I just happened to look back after we had driven through the Organ Mountain pass. There they were -- hovering directly over the Proving Ground. They appeared to be almost stationary for a minute, then they darted out of sight."
White Sands officials said they know of no disc experiments there.
Source: Evening Star, Washington, D.C. - 7 Jul 47
'Saucer' Seen by Rocket Expert;
Flight Over Desert Described
D.C. Navy Research Worker Says Flying Disc Was Unlike any Guided Missile He Has Seen
An eye-witness account of a flight of a "flying saucer" came today from a Naval Research Laboratory rockets expert here as aircraft were alerted along the West Coast in the hopes of locating one of the discs and solving the mystery.
The rockets expert, Doctor. C.J. Zohn, who disclosed today that he had spotted one of the speeding discs on a recent Navy mission to New Mexico, said it looked like no guided missile he had ever studied.
On the other hand, Lester Barlow, internationally known explosives inventor, advanced the theory at Stamford, Connotation., that the "flying saucers" were probably radio-controlled flying missiles being test in the west by military authorities.
The inventor said he felt certain that "quite a number" of such flying missiles had been produced and "were in early stages of perfection." He said they were capable of flying in squadrons and being controlled "from remote points."
Government sources have denied any tests are being conducted that might be the answer to the mystery that has baffled the Nation since June 25. And Army Air Forces spokesman said the AAF believes "there's something to this" but is completely mystified as to just what.
Doctor. Zohn said he had gone to New Mexico for a V-2 test, but he emphasized that he saw the "flying saucer" four days before the test and that it had nothing to do with any Navy experiments.
He said he was crossing the desert with three other men, two of them scientists, on June 29 when he spotted the object traveling north at an altitude of about 10,000 feet.
Doctor. Zohn described it as very bright and silvery with no projections. Since he was not sure it was revolving and his view of it was two dimensional, Doctor. Zohn said as far as he could tell it was elliptical in shape and flat.
"It was traveling away from me at a uniform rate of speed," he reported. "It was clearly visible and then suddenly, it was there. It didn't go behind a mountain range. It simply disappeared."
Doctor. Zohn said the sun was behind him when he saw the object about 1:30 p.m. And he had a clear view of it.
Doctor Zohn said the sun was behind him when he saw the object about 1:30 p.m. And he had a clear view of it.
He was sure at the time, he said, that it was not a meteor. While he did not discount completely the possibility of a guided missile, he pointed out that he had worked on the V-2 rockets and that the disc was unlike any guided missile he had ever seen.
Doctor. Zohn is stationed at the Navy Research Laboratory here and lives at 440 Mellon street S.E.
Montana:
Source: Waukesha Daily Freeman, Wisc. - 7 Jul 47
Plane Strikes Saucer At 32,400 Feet, Pilot Says
Clam-Shape Disc Had Glass Dome, Overtook Plane
BOZEMAN, Mont. (UP) -- A pilot reported today that his plane knocked down a "flying saucer," which he described as a "pearl gray, clam-shaped airplane with a plexiglass dome on top."
The pilot said the object, which he called a "flying yo-yo," crashed in the Tobacco Root mountains in western Montana yesterday after being torn to pieces by the propwash of his plane.
Vernon Baird, Los Angeles, pilot for the Fairchild Photogrammetric Engineers co., said he tangled with the "yo-yo" while flying a P-38 for the firm. The company is mapping the area between Helena and Yellowstone park for the reclamation bureau.
Baird said he and his photographer, George Sutton, Los Angeles, were flying 360 mph at 32,400 feet when he turned to check an oil distributing mechanism.
"There about 100 yards behind me was the yo-yo," Baird said. "It was a pearl-gray clam-shaped airplane, with a plexiglass dome on top. It was about 15 feet in diameter and about four feet thick."
The curious craft overhauled the P-38 and Baird said he took evasive action.
Saw Several Others
"The yo-yo got caught in my propwash and the thing came apart like a clamshell. The two pieces spiralled down some place in the Madison range."
Baird said that after the yo-yo fell apart he looked around and saw several of them darting around "like a batch of molecules doing the rhumba."
Baird said he was too busy handling his plane to notice if there was a man inside the gadget.
Idaho:
Source: Emporia Gazette, Kansas - 7 Jul 47
Claims to Have Viewed Disc at Close Range
Pocatello, Idaho, July 7 (AP) -- A touring Seattle resident reported to the Pocatello Tribune today that he saw a flying disc float to the ground in front of him, stop a few seconds, then take off again.
He said the disc was about the size of a farm wagon wheel and was surrounded "by a tube that had an enlarged opening at one end, like a funnel, and ending in a tapered point at the other."
H.C. McLean reported the incident by letter, saying he saw the disc Sunday just after dawn. "In the middle of the disc," McLean's letter said, "I could make out the bulge as if a plate had been welded on to the disc, and there were two narrow strips of metal running almost parallel to each other above and below the midsection.
"Something held it upright, and then the disc was subjected to a number of short jerks, moving forward each time a foot or two. The funnel part of the tube was set into the disc rim so that the latter could roll freely, and after moving a distance of about 20 yards it rose easily and began at once to climb.
"I examined the place where the disc had landed but it touched the ground so lightly that it left no mark.
"I am convinced that the disc's flight was controlled, that it gave out signals indicating its position and that it is harmless."
Six persons reported seeing the discs in flight over Pocatello this morning.
Source: Spokane Spokesman-
Review, Wash. - 7 Jul 47
Group Of
Flying Disks Said To Have Hit On Mountain Near Idaho Town
Mysterious "flying saucers" were reported seen again Sunday in various parts of the country and, at Spokane, a woman declared that 10 persons saw eight or nine of the disk-shaped objects land near St. Maries, Idaho, on July 3
"With the mountainside as a background we saw the 'saucers' come in very fast, slow down jerkily, then flutter down like leaves," said Mrs. Walter Johnson, Dishman, Wash., who was visiting her parents at Butler's Bay, Idaho, on the St. Joe river.
"My father, Ben Beeman, was hoeing in the garden at about 6:30 in the evening. He shouted for us to come out of the house. We saw those nine things -- some of us counted only eight -- in a loosely formed group, streak along very fast. They didn't make a sound. There was no wind. Suddenly they stopped in midair, then started again. When they reached a point over a clearing in the timber, they stopped again and settled down a few at a time until all were out of sight."
Mysterious Part
"The mysterious part was that we couldn't see them after they landed," said Mrs. Johnson. "We could see them flutter down into the timber yet we couldn't see that they did anything to the trees."
Mrs. Johnson described the "saucers" as having a shape something like a football, fluttering with the brilliance of a mirror in the sunlight. But, she said, they must have given off the light themselves, because the sun itself was not visible.
The Johnson family had been camping for several days and had not seen recent newspaper or radio accounts of persons seeing the mysterious phenomenon.
Plan To Search
More than 10 relatives and several neighbors were said by Mrs. Johnson to have witnessed the landing.
"We're going to hike up the mountainside Tuesday to see what we find," Mrs. Johnson said. "I am deathly afraid of the things. If we find them we won't touch them. We just wonder if they are man-made contraptions or something God has sent."
Listed among those observing the landing were Mr. Johnson, who is working near Butler's Bay on road construction, their children, Mrs. Johnson's parents, a sister and her daughter, two neighbor men, and a neighbor woman and her children. Another neighbor's son reported to Mrs. Johnson that he also saw it.
Source: Spokane Spokesman-
Review, Wash. - 7 Jul 47
Mrs. Walter W. Johnson, E823 Alki, Dishman, recalls the "bulky" shape of "flying saucers" she saw streak along in formation then flutter like leaves" to a landing on a mountainside about three miles west of Butler's bay, on the St. Joe river, near St. Maries, Idaho. Shown with Mrs. Johnson are her children who also witnessed the phenomenon. Mr. Johnson is working on road construction near the scene of the mysterious "landing." Left to right are Dolores, 17; Walter Jr., 13; Evelyn, 15, and Mrs. Johnson.
Source: The Oregonian, Oregon - 7 Jul 47
Eight "Flying Saucers" Reported Down on Idaho
Air Search Scheduled For Region
Flights Continue To Be Observed Over Wide Area
While national guard aircraft Sunday hunted the skies over Pacific Northwest states for sight of the mysterious "flying saucers," eight of the flying gadgets were reported to have made a landing on a mountainside near St. Maries, Idaho, in full view of ten persons.
Mrs. Walter Johnson of Dishman, Wash., a suburb of Spokane, said she saw the saucers come down in timber near St. Maries Thursday, but the incident had not been reported until she returned to her home Sunday.
Col. G. R. Dodson, whose 123rd fighter squadron of the Oregon national guard scoured Oregon and Washington skies Sunday searching for the elusive missiles, said a flight of four P-51s would be sent early Monday morning to check the area.
"So far we haven't found saucer, disc or anything," Colonel Dodson commented.
He described the operation Sunday as "routine," but said the pilots carried instructions to watch for flying discs.
EXTREME SPEED REPORTED
Mrs. Johnson said the saucers were seen to fall near Butler's bay on the St. Joe river six miles west of St. Maries, where she was visiting her parents.
She said they came into view at an extreme speed, traveling from the south to the north. Suddenly they slowed, she said, and then "fluttered like leaves to the ground."
"The mysterious part was that we couldn't see them after they landed," said Mrs. Johnson. "We could see them flutter down into the timber yet we couldn't see that they did anything to the trees."
She said the objects were saucer-shaped, but thicker than she had expected, resembling wash tubs more than discs. She described them as "about the size of a five-room house."
OFFICERS SEE DISCS
Mrs. Johnson said the objects were seen by her relatives as well as the neighbors who viewed them independently. She said the incident had not been reported earlier because she didn't know whom to contact.
Meanwhile, the man who first started this business of "flying saucers," Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Idaho, flying businessman, reported he had invested $150 in a movie camera to get photographic proof of the discs he said flipped through the blue yonder "like fish skimming through water."
Spiking rumors of Army Air Force connection with the flying discs, Gen. Carl Spaatz, commandant of the army air forces, denied in Seattle knowing anything about the flying saucers or of plans to use army air force planes to look for them. Then he continued on to Medford on a fishing trip.
UTAH GROUP OBSERVED
Discs continued to be sighted at various locations throughout the day Sunday. They were said to have been seen at Chicago over Lake Michigan, in Southwestern Ontario, in Wisconsin, Minnesota and in Maryland.
In Utah, ex-state treasurer Oliver G. Ellis and his son saw a group of discs high in the sky west of Salt Lake City. He said the "luminous discs behaved like radio-controlled objects, hovering in a group for a moment, then suddenly formed a swiftly whirling horizontal circular pattern." He said two discs broke loose from the group "as if snapped from the end of a giant whip." Later the flight was continued in a V-formation and moved south-westward until it disappeared, Ellis said.
In Portland, reports on the flying objects did not come in before noon. At 12:42 P.M. police were called by a man who said he saw what he thought was a flying disc headed south and traveling very fast. A woman reported that she saw a reddish object "round as a dollar" about 5 P.M. that zoomed out of sight so fast neighbors she summoned to look at it failed to glimpse it. Another man standing on the corner of N. W. 6th avenue and Glisan street, told The Oregonian he saw four flying discs heading south at a "good rate of speed."
2000 MPH REPORTED
Reports continued to come in during the daylight hours with one taxi cab driver reporting the platter-like objects traveling high and nearly 2000 miles an hour. Another report came in of seven of the discs traveling in a "geeselike formation."
The 123d fighter squadron at Portland Army Air base will have airplanes and pilots ready to take off Monday if anyone sees any discs, flying around, according to Colonel Dodson. The stable of 23 fast P-51 fighter planes, equipped with gun-sight movie cameras, was lined up on the concrete apron Sunday ready to comb the skies for any aerial marauders citizens might report.
Utah:
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Utah - 7 Jul 47
2 Discs Fell, Testify 3 Salt Lakers
Another report of mysterious flying discs was brought to light in Salt Lake City Sunday when Oliver G. Ellis, 299-2nd ave., former state treasurer, his son Richard, and a neighbor boy, Kyle Sessions, son of Eldon B. Sessions, 279-2nd ave., reported that they had seen a group of the discs going through strange maneuvers high in the sky west of Salt Lake City on July 4.
Mr. Ellis said that the luminous discs behaved like radio-controlled objects. The observers reported that two discs suddenly broke loose from the rest, as if they had been snapped from the end of a giant pop-the-whip, careening southward at terrific speed at a gradual slant toward the earth.
After the two discs had disappeared the others reassembled and resumed their horizontal circular movement, slowly working into a chainlike line and then forming a V shape similar to the flight of geese, and moving southwestward at terrific speed until they disappeared from sight.
Arizona:
Source: Prescott Evening Courier, Arizona - 7 Jul 47
Now They Are Seeing Flying Saucers In Arizona
By The Associated Press
Arizonians, like people in most other sections of the country, still are seeing "flying saucers."
Over the week end came reports from Tempe and Tucson of glimpses of the unexplained discs.
Francis Howell of Tempe said that about 1 p.m. Sunday he saw "a circular object about two feet in diameter" float to the ground near his home. He said that when he, his wife and several neighbors approached the spot, the object rose slowly in the air at a 45-degree angle and took off toward the northwest.
He related that the "saucer" appeared to be of aluminum and was transparent.
W.D. Magness, an employe of Davis-Monthan Army air field, Tucson, reported he saw a disc traveling in a northerly direction about 10 a.m. Sunday while watching Navy planes maneuvering.
Source: Arizona Daily Sun, Arizona - 7 Jul 47
'Flying Saucers' Sighted In Skies Over Arizona Sunday
Tucson, Tempe Men Report Seeing Weird Objects Speeding Thru Sky
Arizonans, like people in most other sections of the country, are seeing "flying; saucers."
Over the week end came reports from Tempe and Tucson of glimpses of the unexplained discs.
However, at famed Lowell Observatory, at Flagstaff, Dr. V.M. Slipher said that observatory astronomers hadn't noted any of the "flying saucers" reported elsewhere.
"But," he added, "the heavens are like the Bible -- if you look long enough you can find anything you want to."
Francis Howell of Tempe said that about 1 p.m. Sunday he saw "a circular object about two feet in diameter" float to the ground near his home. He said that when he, his wife and several neighbors approached the spot, the object rose slowly in the air at a 45-degree angle and took off toward the northwest.
He related that the "saucer" appeared to be of aluminum and was transparent.
Three Tucson citizens saw "flying saucers" yesterday, they reported today.
Walter Laos states: "I have seen them every Sunday for the past four Sundays. I think they might be dropped from an airplane as every time I have spotted them has been shortly after an airplane has passed overhead."
Laos describes the two he saw yesterday as "going at a speed of 200 miles an hour and flying between five and six thousand feet high. They are round, white aluminum in color, and appear to be about five or six feet in diameter. They travelled northeast."
Joseph Hendren, retired lawyer, said he saw them at 5 p.m. yesterday. "My wife and I were sitting on the patio watching the cloud formations. I suddenly saw what appeared to be a kite.
"We then saw two more. They were coming from the East, in the direction of Davis-Monthan Field, and went North. They appeared to be very high and two smaller than the others. In fact, the two small ones seemed to gravitate back and forth from the larger ones."
Hendren said they did not appear to be moving rapidly. I could not estimate their sizes, or height." He said the larger of the discs appeared to stay on a straight course. The smaller ones moved up and down.
W.D. Magness, employed in the office of the air materiel command of Davis-Monthan Field, said he saw the discs about 10 a.m. yesterday.
Miles W. (Mike) Casteel, head football coach at the University of Arizona, reports he saw what he believes to have been a single flying disc around 10 a.m. yesterday. "I saw this object traveling south and going fast," he said. "I stopped my car so I could follow its flight better, but it disappeared quickly."
Four persons in Phoenix reported seeing one of the "flying saucers" last night. They are Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Wells, their daughter, Marilyn, and Roger Blake, former Army Air Forces navigator.
Blake estimated the disc was three feet in diameter and was traveling at a speed of 200 to 250 miles an hour at an altitude of 300 to 700 feet. Blake said there was no visible means of propulsion and that it was traveling from west to northwest.
Source: Tucson Daily Citizen, Arizona - 7 Jul 47
More Disks Seen By Tucsonians
Retired Lawyer, Officer Of Court Both Tell About Mystery
The mystery of the flying discs was becoming thicker and more local as reports come in from persons in various parts of the city who report having seen them.
Walter Laos, 723 East First street, states, "I have seen them every Sunday for the past four Sundays. I think they might be dropped from an airplane as every
time I have spotted them has been shortly after an airplane has passed overhead."
Laos is specific in the description and estimates. Describing two he saw at 4:30 p.m. Sunday he said, "they were going at a speed of 200 miles an hour and flying between 5,000 and 6,000 feet high. They are round, white aluminum in color, and appear to be about five or six feet in diameter, and traveled northeast towards Sabino canyon."
Casteel Sees One
Miles (Mike) Casteel, head football coach at the University of Arizona, saw what he believed to have been a single flying disc while driving along east Speedway around 10 a.m. Sunday, he reported Monday.
"I saw this thing going south and going fast," Casteel explains. "I stopped the car so I could get a better view, but it disappeared in a hurry. If it had been a plane I could probably have followed its flight. This thing wavered along and disappeared quickly."
Retired Lawyer
Three were reported sighted over the city Sunday evening by Joseph Hendren, retired lawyer who lives at 521 North Warren avenue.
"At about 5 p.m. Sunday evening my wife and I were sitting on the patio watching the cloud formation. I suddenly saw what first appeared to be a kite," the lawyer said.
"We then saw two more," he added. "They were coming from the east, in the direction of Davis-Monthan field, and went north, They appeared to be very high and two seemed smaller than the other. In fact the two small ones seemed
to gravitate back and forth from the larger one.
Hendren asserted that after they disappeared he speculated as to whether or not they were something sent out for testing the atmosphere by the weather bureau.
"They did not appear to be going very fast," he said, "but that might have been because of their height. They might have been flying high or low, I couldn't estimate, not knowing their size."
On Straight Course
The larger of the three appeared to stay on a straight course. The smaller ones moved up and down and moved in and out from the larger one, according to Hendren. He described their color as "silvery, much the same effect as the sun would reflect from aluminum."
W.D. Magness, 1132 East Blackledge drive, employed in the office of the air materiel command of Davis-Monthan field, and Miss Faye Edwards, who lives in the Magness home, reported seeing discs.
"I saw it about 10 a.m. Sunday," Magness said, "it did not glitter, as if made of metal, but looked more like snow. It seemed to be stationary, but wobbled like a kite, then began moving in a northerly direction until it disappeared."
"I can't make any guess as to the height of it, or the speed, as I that would be impossible without knowing the size of the object," Magness concluded.
Charles O. Weaver, restaurant proprietor, 708 East First street, earlier had told of observing nine or ten of the objects about 1:30 p.m. on June 29.
By Probation Officer
Robert E. Johnson, juvenile probation officer of Pima county, reports having seen a lone disc hurtling through the sky over the Pima Indian reservation just south of Chandler at 9:30 a.m. July 1.
He described the silver-colored object as discus-shaped and traveling at a good rate of speed, estimating the height at between 5,000 and 10.000 feet. It was going north in a fairly direct way and was visible to Johnson for two or three minutes.
Sees Wild Geese
With this phenomenon of "flying discs" another strange occurence was reported from the local forest service office by Howard Hungs, ranger of the Catalina mountains. Bill Williams, fire control aid in the Catalinas, was on lookout duty atop the tower at Mt. Bigelow Saturday. Here is the story as he told it.
"I'd been reading about these flying saucers and in looking at the clouds hovering over the mountains I spotted what I thought to be six or seven of these saucers.
"On closer observation, however, I discovered they were wild geese."
Source: Tucson Daily Citizen, Arizona - 7 Jul 47
Pale Balloons May Be 'Discs'
Now don't get up in the air about this, but we don't know "weather" it is or "weather" it ain't.
All this talk about "flying saucers," "yo-yos," and "clams" is most mystifying. One trickle of information came in Monday from local yo-yo sleuths. Al Franco, former deputy sheriff, brought something in from his ranch which might or might not be a solution to the mystery.
A friend of Franco's, Walter Laos, who reported seeing the flying discs every Sunday for the past four weeks, received from Franco a "radiosonde modulator" of the Army signal corps, which Laos found on his ranch 12 miles out on the Nogales highway.
Investigation on the part of the Daily Citizen reveals there are six such gadgets sent aloft each day by the local Army and U.S. weather bureau.
Some of the balloons are colored red, others black, and still others white -- get that "white" -- it may be significant. American Airlines receive weather reports four times a day from the U.S. weather bureau, which sends four balloons up each day to get climatic information.
The Army signal corps at Davis-Monthan field sends up two balloons a day for the same purpose. After reaching a certain elevation the meteorological equipment descends from the balloon by parachute. Sgt. Gordon Schmidt, mundane realist that he is, states with significant mean that the parachutes are eight to 10 feet in diameter and in a high wind they can make considerable speed and disappear in the horizon.
Well at any rate, that's the best report available from Tucson, and at the risk of being called an unbeliever I'm going to tell my wife and kiddies not to be worrying too much about the advent of "men from Mars." Besides Ed Goyette of the Chamber of Commerce says, "There are limited housing facilities available to newcomers in Tucson, be they men from Mars or Anytown, U.S.A."
Washington:
Source: The Bend Bulletin, Oregon - 7 Jul 47
Flying Disc Said To Be Size Of B-29
Laurel, Wash., July 7 (UP) -- Ted Wright of Laurel, Wash., an ex-army air corps bombardier, said today that he saw a "flying disc" yesterday and described it as "about the size of a B-29 and definitely a practical flying machine."
Wright said he saw the disc over Laurel yesterday afternoon.
"It was a disc-shaped object about the size of a B-29 bomber or bigger. Along the trailing edge I could see lines. It struck me that these lines could well be jet exhaust ports. I believe it had a belly on it. The center of the bottom was so shiny I couldn't figure out detail. I believe the top was the same. Just like two saucers put together. The high shiny polish made me believe it was polished aluminum. I tried to clock the speed and figured it was flying at about 5,000 feet and traveling about 600 miles an hour."
"I know definitely it was a flying apparatus -- and a practical one too," Wright said.
Source: Ellensburg Daily Record, Wash. - 7 Jul 47
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TACOMA, July 7. (AP) -- Two Tacoma prowl car officers reported today that they had seen "six or seven" flying saucers silhouetted under a bright moon in the southern sky at 2:30 a.m. while they were patrolling the city.
The pair, Stan Johnson and Evan Davies, said a central saucer appeared to act as a sort of flagship, appearing either to be larger or closer than the other. Toward it, they reported, the other discs would fly, then race southward. Davies said the larger disc seemed a shade of red part of the time, but most of the time was a sort of luminous silver.
Source: Spokane Daily Chronicle, Wash. - 7 Jul 47
Tacoma Policemen Tell About Chasing Dizzily-Flying Discs
TACOMA, Wash., July 7. (UP) -- Two police officers assigned to watch for a burglar sat silently in the early-morning shadows today, the prowl car parked under a tree and the headlights and motor turned off.
Suddenly, Officer Stan Johnson broke the silence.
"Do you see anything?" he asked uncertainly.
"Yeah. Do you?" Patrolman Skip Davies answered cautiously.
"I thought I was crazy," Johnson remarked with apparent relief. "I've been watching it for five minutes."
"So have I," his partner admitted.
At police radio station KGZN, Dispatcher D.F. Erickson snapped to attention as he heard:
"Car No. 5, Johnson and Davies, to KGZN. We're chasing a flying saucer toward the Narrows bridge site."
As they sped westward, the officers radioed their course and a running description of the phenomena. Johnson said that although it was impossible to judge size, altitude, speed or distance accurately, "it appeared to move at tremendous speed and was the size of a softball."
Davies estimated it flew at 10,000 feet. The first disk was capering over South Tacoma, the officers reported. Later, they saw another to the west which they said appeared to be over Hood canal. A third, which flew out of sight in less than a minute, appeared over Commencement bay here, they said.
The officers said the platters, first ever seen over Pierce county, appeared to be spinning "like a top and threw off sparks like a bursting skyrocket" and then attracted the particles back "like a mother hen with chicks." They said the saucers turned from brilliant red to purple to blue-white and back to red.
At one point, one of the discs shot straight up an estimated 5000 feet above its normal flight level "quicker than you could snap your fingers," Davies said.
The officers watched for half an hour until 3 a.m., when the disks vanished over the horizon.
California:
Source: Oakland Tribune, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Switchboards Loaded As 'Saucer' Reports Pour In
Descriptions of Strange Objects Are at Variance
Police and newspaper switchboards continued to buzz today with reports from residents throughout the Bay area who say they have seen one or more of the flying discs "with their own eyes" and now are positive there are such things.
Dominic Chekalovich, of 440 Breed Avenue, San Leandro, said he saw a flying saucer at 7 p.m. yesterday and described it as giving off "a trail of vapor as it went up and got smaller until it disappeared." He said the spectacle also was witnessed by his brother, Louis, his father, mother, sister and a group of friends.
Chekalovich added that the disc had an orange color, which was mentioned by another of the persons who reported it at the same time.
'BIG WHITE THING'
Mrs. Harry Reisz, of 42 Dorchester Avenue, San Leandro, said she saw "a great big white round thing going toward Oakland" at 6:58 p.m. yesterday. She said it was very high. Her attention was called to the object by her son, Robert, 11, and a playmate, Mona Worley, 12.
A neighbor, Mrs. Lillian J. Stong of 45 Dorchester Avenue, reported that she was doing dishes when she saw a group of persons looking at the sky. She ran to the door and saw "two or three objects bouncing around."
"Every time they turned I saw a flash of light," Mrs. Stong declared. She added that she had seen several of the objects about three weeks ago but said nothing of it at the time because she "didn't believe my eyes."
ANOTHER REPORT
Still another local report came from Mrs. K.M. Wagner of Alameda and a friend, Mrs. Russell J. Fraser, who said they saw one of the flying discs at 6:35 p.m. yesterday. It was traveling north, Mrs. Wagner stated, and seemed to be over Oakland.
"It was going slowly and appeared to be suspended in midair," Mrs. Wagner said.
In Berkeley, John Shirley, 29, of 1656 Kains Avenue, was waiting in his yard last night for a glimpse of one of the discs, and was prepared with binoculars to follow the object, should he sight one. His bother, George Shirley, joined him at 8:25 p.m. and started to "kid" him when both men spotted what appeared to be four of the saucers coming out the west.
Shirley and his brother described the four saucers as oval in shape, rather than round, and wobbly in their movement. They seemed to follow the curvature of the earth at great altitude, the men related. Asked if they might have been stars, Shirley declared:
"No. I know what stars look like. These definitely were saucers. Stars don't go traveling across the sky in formation, and a shooting star or a comet can be identified easily."
FOUR OBJECTS
Another report here came from Mrs. Myrtle Risi, of 2839 Steinmetz Way, who was driving with her husband, Rinaldo, on Mountain Boulevard near Redwood Road at 6 p.m. yesterday when they saw four objects that appeared to be discs. The Rinaldos said the saucers were crossing the sky at about 2000 feet altitude, headed for the ocean, and disappeared in an instant.
Other supposed discs were seen near Mount Tamalpais, in Marin County, and over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Charles W. Butler, 46, of Mill Valley, and his son, William, 15, told authorities they saw a circular-shaped object hurtle over the top of the mountain at 1:30 p.m. yesterday.
An hour later, Peggy Sarasohn, 26, of 1842 Jefferson Street, San Francisco, said she saw a white oval flash over the Golden Gate Bridge, headed in a northwesterly direction.
Albert Shlegel, 46, and his wife, Alice, of San Francisco, told police they saw a flying saucer in the same place at the same time.
Still another disc was reported flying over Berkeley Saturday night and another one was seen over Piedmont Friday night. The Berkeley report came from Mrs. Marilyn Nelson, 23, of 9942 Birch Street, wife of Police Officer Donald Nelson.
Looked Like Balloon
Mrs. Nelson said one of five neighbors who also saw the object watched it through field glasses and said it looked like a balloon with something dangling from it. The Piedmont "visit" of the flying saucer was reported by Willie D. Davis, 34, of King Avenue.
At Lodi, an argument raged over the cause of a spectacular glow in the sky and a roar shortly before electrical power went off early yesterday. Mrs. W.C. Smith said she heard a noise "like a four-motored bomber" just before the light went out at Dawn. Erving Newcomb of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., offered the explanation that a low-flying crop dusting plane probably struck a powerline and burned out a transformer. However, no planes were reported damaged and no one could explain what a crop-dusting plane was doing in the air at dawn on Sunday. It was the first time any noise had been attributed to flying saucers.
The first Richmond report of seeing a flying disc came from Robert Ellis, deputy tax collector, who lives at 350 28th Street, and his wife, Mary Ellis, said that he looked out a back window at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and saw a shiny object passing over the Berkeley hills at terrific speed. He said the object flew in an erratic manner unlike an airplane.
Source: Oakland Tribune, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Disc Described As 'Big Barrel Hoop'
One of the most colorful descriptions of the flying saucers seen here was given today by Mrs. J.C. Stump, of 130 Via Mariposa, San Lorenzo Village, who, with her husband and a party of friends, reported seeing one of the discs from the Oakland-San Leandro hills yesterday.
Mrs. Stump described the disc as being like "a big barrel hoop, transparent in the middle and lighted by a golden film."
She and her party, who were picnicking near Skyline Boulevard, above the San Leandro Naval Hospital, saw the object in the sky at 12:40 p.m. A child in the group, Valerie Gilmore, 8, first noticed it and cried out to the others.
They looked up to see the golden object approaching at about [Illegible] feet altitude. It hung for about two minutes, Mrs. Stump said, then turned slowly, showing its transparent center, and disappeared in about one more minute.
"It didn't fly away like the others they describe," Mrs. Stump said. "It just slowly disappeared. It gave us a mighty peculiar feeling."
Source: Hayward Daily Review, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Army Takes Off After 'Discs' As Bay Area Reports Pour In
Hew Leandro 'Observation'
Professors Skeptical
By UNITED PRESS
Army pilots were ready today for another air search for the mysterious "flying saucers" now reported seen in 31 states and parts of Canada as practical jokesters added to the confusion.
Equipped with telescopic cameras 11 army airplanes searched the Pacific Northwest yesterday without finding any trace of the flying discs which had been reported over scores of communities the preceding two days.
Many San Francisco Bay residents, with weekend spare time on their hands, watched for "flying saucers" with these results:
Hayward -- Mrs. Herbert Kuller of 21478 Prospect street and her three children reported seeing the flying discs while they were out for a walk on upper Prospect street at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, night. They also thought they detected sounds of a motor, which might have belonged to a plane towing the flying dinnerware.
At San Leandro, three police officers, S.D. Capilola, Bill Williams and Tony Gomez, saw a disc flying over the town Saturday night at 10,000 feet elevation. They said the disc remained in sight for a half hour. The San Leandro fire department had more than a dozen calls from persons who claimed they saw saucers in the sky.
In San Francisco, Mrs. Amy Shearer, 73, said she saw a disc heading toward the ocean while she was driving through the city. Mrs. Madeline Stoll reported nine discs passed over her home Saturday night, and vanished in the direction of Berkeley.
Private Robert O'Hara of Hamilton Field, in Marin county, said he saw an object "40 feet in diameter flying about 6,000 feet up" while he was walking to the mess hall. He estimated the disc was traveling 700 miles an hour.
Mrs. Marylyn Nelson, wife of an Oakland policeman, reported five saucers flew over her home Saturday. In Palo Alto, Augustine Fernandez, a former army air force officer, claimed a lone disc was buzzing around in the clear sky [Illegible] near his home.
At Berkeley, Prof. C. D. Shane, director of Lick Observatory, pointed out that none of the flying discs so far had been spotted by a scientific observer. And Prof. Francis A. Jenkins, University of California nuclear specialist, tossed more cold water at the saucers with an observation that "if you look long enough into a clear sky, you'll begin to see almost anything you want to see."
Source: San Mateo Times, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Flying Discs Seen Twice in San Mateo
Woman, Son In San Carlos See 30 In Sky
The "flying saucers" which have turned the heads of the American people skyward for the past weeks came to San Mateo county twice over the week-end, at least that is what a Palo Alto amateur pilot, his wife, and a San Carlos mother and son reported to local officials today.
Mr. and Mrs. Augustin Fernandez, 1566-A Cowper street, Palo Alto, reported to Sergt. Alton Schramm of the California highway patrol Saturday night.
Fernandez said that he and his wife were riding northward on Middlefield road just south of Redwood City when he saw a disc-like object flying overhead in a direction approximately from Santa Cruz to Oakland.
Fast Moving
The object, Fernandez said, seemed to be about four times as fast as a commercial airliner and went out of sight in the haze of the east bay hills.
The pilot described the "thing" as saucer shaped and shining. As the "saucer" started across the bay, he said, it appeared to be an oval shape with a tail assembly and was flying at about 7000 feet.
Fernandez, a Venezuelan student at Stanford, has spent many years in the air. He said the object was clearly visible and easily overtook a DC-3 transport and C-4 which were headed for Mills field.
30 in Group
In San Carlos, Mrs. Marie Maranta, 819 Cedar street, and her son, Stanley Miramon, reported seeing 30 of the discs flying in a "tight formation" at about 2000 feet over the Mills field approach near the San Mateo airport this morning.
Mrs. Maranta said that her son, aged 14, who was in the front yard, called her to come out and look at the "flying saucers." She said that the objects were clearly visible and seemed to be the size of an automobile. "They disappeared," she said, "but a few moments later they again became clearly visible."
Seen by Gardener
She stated that the gardener at the San Carlos school, who was at work near by at the time, stated that he had been watching them for several minutes before the boy had discovered them.
A two-engine transport plane was in the same general area, Mrs. Maranta said, and it appeared that the pilot saw the "things" and headed for them.
Shortly after the report, tower operators at Mills field said their telephones were jammed by calls from newspapers and others asking if any of the pilots had reported the "saucers." So far the tower operators reported no pilots flying into Mills field have reported anything unusual. "They are under orders to do so," the tower stated.
Meanwhile, radar devices at Moffett field continue to report nothing unusual on their scopes.
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SANTA ROSA, Calif., July 7.(AP) -- A flight of 8 or 10 flying discs approached Santa Rosa from the ocean yesterday between 10 and 11 a.m., four persons said today.
The eye-witnesses, in their report to radio station KSRO said one disc appeared to be the leader and was slightly different from the others inasmuch as it seemed to have a fringe or ring of fire.
The saucers appeared to be at an altitude of 5000 feet, were reported traveling "very fast," and were said to have been observed for almost a minute.
------------
ALAMEDA, July 7. (AP) -- Kjell Qvale, a navy pilot for five years and now the owner of an automobile company here, said today he and about 90 other persons saw a group of "flying saucers" in triangular formation near Auburn at 2:30 p m. Saturday.
"Headed south, they were in view for three or four minutes, directly overhead, in triangular formation," Qvale related.
"They appeared to be of metal and looked bright silver. I could clearly distinguish their outline, which was round.
"I have seen a lot of airplanes and those were not planes.
"The only clue I could get as to their height, size and speed was the fact that they disappeared one at a time, high in the sky, not over the horizon. This effect would be caused if they were very, very large and very high, and flying at a terrific speed -- thousands of miles per hour."
Qvale said he believed they were space ships.
"I thought, like most people, that the reports on the discs were crazy," the former flier said, "but now I have seen them myself. I just wish they would land so we could find out where they come from."
Among the crowd witnessing the flight, he said, were two former Alameda residents, Mr. and Mrs. John Flint, now of Auburn.
Source: San Jose News, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
3 Reports Of Flying Discs Over Valley
The phenomenon of the flying discs, which has captured the imagination of the entire nation, reached Santa Clara County over the week-end when three separate groups of persons reported seeing "flying saucers" over the valley.
A flying disc was reported in the Mountain View area shortly before noon Saturday by Sgt. Charles B. Sigala, 131 Bailey Ave., whose permanent station is at Hamilton Field.
Sigala, a member of the Army Air Force, told Mountain View police he "knows planes from A to Z and the flying object was definitely not a plane.
He said the flying disc appeared to be at an altitude of about 5000 feet and "dipped around" and then disappeared in the direction of the ocean. He called his wife, mother-in-law and a neighbor and they watched the silvery disc for several minutes. The object was about the size of an automobile, Sigala said.
Over San Jose
Two San Joseans reported seeing "flying saucers" over San Jose yesterday.
Nat Martin, a dispatcher for the Garden City Transportation Co., said that he and several truckers working at the California Packing Co. plant at 801 Auzerals Ave. saw what appeared to be two discs pass overhead at great altitude at 4:30 p.m.
Seconds later two single "saucers" streaked by, Martin said. One appeared to be in a vertical position. All four were traveling at high speed and passed out of sight going south within seconds after they were sighted overhead, he reported.
James P. Tarp, 742 Emory Court, and a friend, Tom Quinn, also reported a bright disc in the northern sky while driving along Kirk Road about 2:40 p.m. yesterday.
They stopped to observe the sight but the glistening object had vanished by the time they alighted.
Source: San Jose News, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
[Added to national wire service story on nationwide sightings...]
Three San Leandro policemen -- S.D. Capitola, Bill Williams and Tony Gomez -- said they saw a flying saucer last night. It approached from the west, they related, hovered over San Leandro at a height of 10,000 feet for half an hour, then disappeared. Oakland and San Leandro police received several telephone calls during this period from residents who declared they, too, had seen the shining aerial platter.
Pfc. Robert O'Hara of Hamilton Field, Marin County, said he saw a 40-foot disk over the field. He estimated its altitude at 6000 feet.
Frank Tylman, a construction engineer and World War I flier, said he and his son, Danny, 9, saw a saucer at 8:20 a.m. Sunday two miles west of Pittsburg, Contra Costa County.
"It was shooting toward Mt. Diablo," Tylman stated. "It revolved in a counter-clockwise direction as we viewed it. It probably was 3000 feet up and appeared to move faster than a jet plane. It might have had the span of a P-80, was silver in color, circular in shape, and had definite thickness, being curved outward on both the upper and lower surfaces. It left no smoke or vapor behind it."
Source: Lodi News-Sentinel, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Another Flying Saucer Story Reported Here
The tale of George Lloyd, a Lodi District resident, who saw a "flying saucer" yesterday morning at 10 a.m. was added to the already extensive list of persons throughout the nation who swore they have seen the elusive "discs.
Lloyd, a resident of Route 2, Box 258, about four miles west of this city on Telegraph road, was serenely operating his tractor in his vineyard when he glanced up and saw the fast-traveling "saucer."
Traveling Fast
It was going east at "about 70 miles per hour" at a height of about 20 feet above the vineyard, he said. "It just missed my pump-house," he declared.
About its physical characteristics, he said: "It was a about a foot in diameter and a light grey in color. When I saw it, the disc was about 300 feet away and it rapidly disappeared in the direction of Lodi.
"Due to the noise of my tractor, I couldn't tell if it had caused any sound. It traveled in a straight line at the same altitude as long as I saw it."
"It was more like a saucer than anything else," Lloyd further declared.
Lloyd -- who told his story to news-Sentinel representatives in a very earnest manner -- said that he had asked two or three of his neighbors about the "flying saucer," but had found none who had seen it too.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Utah - 7 Jul 47
Two See Flying Discs
SAN DIEGO, Cal., July 6 (AP) -- A flying disc was reported Sunday by a San Diego man and his high school teacher sister, who declared it flashed across their vision south of Long Beach between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. as they were returning here by automobile from Los Angeles.
Reports, Features and Commentaries:
Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Kentucky - 7 Jul 47
SAW FLYING DISKS -- Three of the many persons in the United States who claim to have seen the mysterious flying disks whisking about the skies at various speeds and localities, compare notes on their findings. Left to right are: Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot who first reported the objects; Capt. E.J. Smith, and First Officer Ralph Stephens, of United Air Lines, who reported seeing the strange objects while on a regular night flight over Ontario, Oregon.
Source: Lewiston Morning Tribune, Utah - 7 Jul 47
Original Discs Observer Plans To Film Proof
Boise, Idaho, July 6 (AP) -- The airman who first reported "flying saucers" sailing through the western sky said today he had invested $150 in a movie camera to film photographic proof of the discs he said flipped through the wild blue yonder "like fish skimming through water.
Kenneth Arnold, 32, Boise flying businessman, said he would take the camera with him on every flight he makes over his five-state business territory because "a picture of them would be the most beautiful thing you ever saw and it would provide a record of what I saw and I know to be true."
National Fan Mail
Since Arnold reported sighting a flight of nine saucer-like objects scooting between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams in Washington state June 24, he has received "fan mail" from all parts of the country.
"None of the writers has called me screwball," he said. "They really want to help figure this thing out."
Several of the half-hundred letters Arnold received have been from persons who said they represented religious groups. Those writers, Arnold said, placed religious interpretations upon his report.
"One fellow in absolute seriousness," Arnold related "wrote that he believed the flying saucers were responsible for peculiar fog conditions recently in Los Angeles." Other correspondents suggested the objects may be from another planet.
Others Hear Him Out
"Because my report would seem fantastic when I made it," Arnold said, "I knew I would be an object of ridicule but the subsequent observations -- particularly that of a commercial air line crew -- bear out my own observation." A United Air Lines crew reported sighting nine of the saucers of Emmett, Idaho, last Friday night.
Arnold said the avalanche of reports since he first told about the "flying saucers" have pointed up two factors which he considers significant:
1. Most observers on the ground and in the air place the height of the discs at "9,000 feet or higher -- never any lower."
2. Generally a large volume of reports of saucers being sighted in the Pacific northwest "occurs only days when the air is quiet -- hardly ever when the air is turbulent."
Source: Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho - 7 Jul 47
Idaho Newsman-Pilot Given 'Dream Assignment; 'Get Picture of Saucers Or Bring One Back Alive'
By DAVE JOHNSON
(Idaho Statesman Aviation Editor)
Boise, July 6 (AP) -- Flew instruments this afternoon for a couple of hours with the Idaho national guard. A lieutenant colonel sat up in front and watched for discs while I struggled with the gauges and the radio beam. We got back into Gowen field's pattern, and the control tower called to report some people in Ontario, Ore., had told the CAA they saw some saucers wheeling through the sky.
Now, there's one thing about these saucers. I've never seen one, so on the way home I dropped into the Statesman office with an idea. That was to take the Early Bird No. 3, our airplane, and go up tonight and prowl around the airways, just looking.
Gets Expense Dough
I broached that to the city editor and blew the foam off of it, and a you-know-what look spread over his face, just like somebody had tossed a brick into a mud puddle.
He talked for a few minutes and I listened. The upshot of it was that I walked out of the office with expense dough in my pocket and a date with Kenneth Arnold, the Boise man who two weeks ago saw the discs come roaring around Mt. Rainier in Washington.
I have one of those things called a general assignment. I'm going disc hunting with Arnold in the Statesman plane.
Started In Idaho
The city editor had said:
"Dave, I was just about to give you a call and discuss this damn saucer business with you. The thing started here in Boise with Arnold and it is getting out of hand. The wire services are moving more copy on it than any single story in years except the war, and no one knows any more about it now than when they were doubting this fellow Arnold who first reported seeing whatever it is that is being looked at, real or imaginary.
"As I said before, this business started in Boise and it is up to us if we can do it to help get it brought down to earth. I hope you can lasso one of the damn things and bring it in for display, but on the other hand, it might be a good idea to be ready to duck if you see something skipping along."
Dream Assignment
I might interject here that the boss doesn't fly.
"Crank up your airplane," he said, "and go up around the Hanford atom plant area in Washington and stay there until you either find something or give it up. See if this fellow Arnold wants to go along (he jumped at the chance) and take the best camera equipment you can find and stay as long as you want to."
Such an assignment -- stay as long as you want to -- is not to be accepted lightly.
"Fly around that area," said the city editor, "because my hunch is that if these things can come from any place they are coming from some project like Hanford. The army has denied this possibility but the army has been making denials a major business for years. In one case an Army man said there's nothing to get excited about, "if there were anything to the saucers the army would have notified us."
Also... Good Luck!
"If you see anything that answers the description -- or the hundreds of descriptions -- grab a picture and high-tail for Boise."
"Oh yes," he added. "Good luck to you."
They take the insurance out of my check.
I phoned Arnold. We are taking off bright and early in the morning. Arnold has a new movie camera with a telephoto lens and we're fortified for pictures.
From somewhere up in eastern Washington tomorrow night you'll hear from us, providing, or course, we don't run into something that proves these reports to be the McCoy and it runs over us.
The city desk says he'll stand behind us.
Source: Ogden Standard-Examiner, Utah - 7 Jul 47
Hunted In Airplane
BOISE, Ida., July 7 (AP) -- Kenneth Arnold, Boise airman who first reported spotting "flying discs" in the Pacific northwest, took off from here today on an aerial search for the objects which his pilot, Aviation Editor Dave Johnson of the Idaho Daily Statesman said would center near the atomic research plant at Hanford, Wash.
Johnson, piloting the Statesman's plane Early Bird No. 3 was assigned to the flight by his city editor with instructions to "go up around the Hanford atom plant area in Washington and stay there until you find something or give it up."
Arnold accepted the newspaper's invitation to make the flight. Yesterday Arnold said he had purchased a movie camera to take with him on every flight he makes over the five-state territory he travels by air in his own plane'. The 32-year-old Boisean said he hoped to obtain photographic proof of the "flying discs" he reported sighting June 24 over Washington state.
Source: Marysville Evening Tribune, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Several Theories Advanced Regarding 'Flying Saucers'
British Scientist Says One Explanation Might Be Artificial Satellites Experiment
LONDON, July 7. -- Prof. A.M. Low suggested today that America's mysterious "flying saucers" could "easily" result from experimentation designed to create artificial satellites for scientific purposes.
The prominent British physicist remarked to International News Service:
"Before the war German, American and British scientists seriously were considering the creation of an artificial satellite -- that is, a miniature planet -- which would serve many purposes, such as deflecting television rays.
Professor Low said the disks might result from two possible
causes -- rocket experimentation, or experimentation with radar-deflection
material -- taking place outside the United States. He added:
"Personally, I believe rocket experimentation is the most logical explanation, while radar-deflection attempts along the lines that we used during the war with metal strips would also make it difficult to draw conclusions."
Source: Mexico Evening Ledger, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
Inventor Says They're Radio-Controlled
STAMFORD, Conn., July 7 (AP) -- Lester Barlow, internationally known explosives inventor and holder of numerous of patents, many dealing with military affairs, advanced the theory today that the flying saucers reported seen in many sections of the nation were probably radio controlled flying missiles.
Barlow suggested that the reason the great majority of disc reports
come from the west was that military authorities preferred to utilize vast and relatively unpopulated open spaces for experiment.
The inventor said he felt certain "quite a number" of such flying missiles had been produced and "were in early stages of perfection" and were capable of flying in squadrons and being controlled "from remote points."
Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
'Etheric Bodies'
SAN DIEGO (UP) -- Mead Layne, publisher of an occult magazine, said today that the flying "saucers" seen throughout the country are etheric bodies from another world.
Layne, who last November reported having had contact with a "space ship" which was seen over San Diego, said he had received a message from the people aboard the "saucers" through a trans-control, or medium.
"It is possible for objects to pass from an etheric to a dense level of matter and will then appear to materialize. They then will return to an etheric condition," Layne said.
"These visitors are not ex-carnate humans but are human beings living in their own world," Layne explained. "They come with good intent. They have some idea of experimenting with earth life. That is coming to live on the world for awhile."
Source: Hutchinson News Herald, Kansas - 7 Jul 47
Disks May Be Tricks of Eye
New York (AP) -- Certain laws of human eyesight will explain much of what has been described about the flying saucers reported from nearly all parts of the United Stales.
At any distance which is close to the limit of how far a person can see, all objects appear round or nearly so. This law of sight covers both small things seen nearby and large ones at great distances.
Regardless of shape, the object near the limit of sight looks round. If the thing is silhouetted against a bright sky, as some of the flying saucers have been reported, then it is more likely to reveal its true shape.
If the thing is seen by reflected light, as in most cases reported, it is almost, certain to be round, and if the reflections are sunlight, then the sizes reported are those which would be expected from distant light reflections.
The one outstanding fact about virtually all the saucers is that they had no structure -- they seemed merely round and flat. That description fits exactly with the tricks that eyes play. This trickiness varies with differences in weather and lighting.
This writer has seen flying saucers over Long Island sound near his home, not only this year but in previous years. They were round, bright and moving fast. But they were no mystery because they were light reflected from the bodies of airplanes that soon identified themselves by changing course and coming near enough to be seen distinctly. Last week this writer also saw one oval flying form which for a moment looked exactly like the photograph or the oval object taken by Yeoman Frank Ryman north of Seattle. The Long Island oval came closer and turned into an airplane.
Planes at great distances tend to look round when light is reflected from their sides. Some of the maneuvering reported, which took saucers out of sight and back into sight again resembles what can be seen while watching distant airplanes.
It makes no difference whether planes are guided, pilotless or are jet. At great distances they all would look the same.
The one strange fact is that no one has seen a flying saucer close up. In so many experiences an occasional closeup would be almost inevitable.
There is no explanation for reported speeds of 1,000 or more miles an hour. Meteors, although they go much faster than that, do not explain it because the saucers mostly appeared in daytime and there are not enough daylight meteors.
Source: Marysville Evening Tribune, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Here's Another 'Saucer' Theory: They're In Eye
CLEVELAND, July 7 -- Two Cleveland doctors came up with another explanation today of the "Flying. Saucers." Drs. Dwight S. and Elizabeth Streng said the flying disks were nothing more than corpuscles in the eyes of the observers.
According to the doctors, any person who looks at a bright background which is evenly illuminated will see the shadows of the red or white blood corpuscles
moving in the capillaries over the retina of the eye. Dr. Streng said the corpuscles in the eye would appear like gray or silver disks.
Source: Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho - 7 Jul 47
Are Merely Mirages
Philadelphia, July 6 (AP) -- Dr. Aurel Aezel, editor of a Hungarian language newspaper, today expressed belief the flying saucers reported seen over the nation merely were mirages -- possibly circularly distorted sky reflections of flights of real airplanes many miles away.
Source: Naugatuck Daily News, Conn. - 7 Jul 47
Discs Might Be Meteors, Scientist Says
Local Resident Reports New Slant; Says Discs Bob "Up And Down"
By UNITED PRESS
A Yale scientist believes that the mysterious "flying saucers" or "flying discs" may be the yearly appearance of the meteor group of Perseids.
Professor Dirk Brouwer, of the Yale Astronomy Department, says the strange objects may merely be a meteor shower.
But according to Brouwer, the speed of the discs would have to be determined before such a conclusion is reached.
He says the Perseid meteors travel about 72,000 miles an hour.
But a Hartford astronomer points out that meteor fragments frequently slow down when they come within the earth's atmosphere. The flying discs are described as traveling about 1,200 miles an hour.
New Haven residents were alarmed last night when they saw what they believed were flying discs. But it turned out that the luminous discs which they saw were nothing more than clouds lighted by searchlights. The searchlights were trained on some low-hanging clouds.
One Branford official disgusted with the many reports about the flying objects remarked that "people are getting just plain saucer-happy."
And in Cheshire and Prospect, where residents were said to have joined the crowds reported witnessing the phenomena, a boy scout, Buell Charter, Cheshire, said a study with binoculars convinced him they were nothing more than powerful searchlights playing on clouds.
One local resident, who declined to be quoted, said that during the weekend he saw the discs dancing in the sky, but instead of moving across the heavens, they were bobbing up and down.
Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Navy Comment
WASHINGTON (UP) -- U.S. Naval Observatory officials concluded unofficially today that the mysterious "flying saucers" were not, at least, astronomical phenomena.
An official said the observatory's unofficial decision was based on descriptions of the strange flying objects since none of the astronomers had seen them.
Meanwhile, both the Army and Navy confessed themselves unable to give an explanation for the reported objects. The Army began an investigation Thursday.
Although there were some reports the saucers might have been a new-type navy plane, "The Flying Pancake," the Navy said it had only one such plane and that was in Hartford, Conn.
The Army declined to say whether it was contacting those persons who reported seeing the flying objects. It would not reveal the line of its investigation.
Source: Oakland Tribune, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Don't Worry, Discs Aren't Coming From Outer Space
If you have been worried about the flying discs, particularly in the fear they might be something from out of space, you may rest assured they are not.
That is the opinion of Dr. Raymond T. Birge, professor of physics at the University of California and chairman of the Department of Physics on the Berkeley campus, who declared today it would be physically impossible for inter-stellar objects to fly about as the discs are described.
"If they were from out of space they would come in and land with a bang," he explained. "They would not fly about parallel to the earth.
Couldn't See It
"Anything coming from out of space would arrive so fast you wouldn't see it. The attraction of the earth would bring it in at a speed of seven miles a second."
Dr. Birge also denied that the discs -- if they are anything at all but an optical illusion -- are any product of the atom bomb explosions. The only thing that might be flying yet from the atom bomb, he said, would be radioactivity in the extreme upper air.
To the suggestion that "electrons" were thrown off by the bomb and might now be assembling to form the discs, he replied:
"That is silly. In the first place, electrons were not thrown off, and in the second place electrons don't get together. They repel each other."
Scientists Interested
University scientists "are waiting with interest" to see what explanation finally is found for the so-called discs, Dr. Birge admitted, but his opinion is that "there is nothing to it."
"You can always see things," Dr. Birge added. "A little drop of water on your eyeball, like on your glasses, will cause you to see things. Specks of dust in the air also make you think you are seeing some object or objects."
But as for something flying out of space -- that, he said, is silly.
Source: Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Ohio - 7 Jul 47
Says "Saucers" Are Nothing To Get Up In The Air About
CHICAGO -- R.L. Farnsworth said today the "flying saucers" reportedly racing through U.S. skies aren't anything to get up in the air about.
"People have been seeing things in the sky for years," he said. Farnsworth said he could speak as somewhat of an authority on the spots people are seeing before their eyes in skies from coast to coast.
He's a member of the Fortean Society, a club for experts on the unusual things -- on land and in the air -- people have seen and thought they have seen through the centuries. The club was founded in honor of Charles Fort, a diligent man who devoted his life to collecting four volumes of odd happenings.
"This isn't the first time people have seen legitimate spots in the sky." Farnsworth said. "It happened at least three times in the last century, and plenty of other times, too. Nobody ever found out what any of the objects were."
Farnsworth said he wouldn't be surprised at anything the alleged saucers turned out to be. He's president of the U.S. Rocket Society and is planning a trip to the moon some day,
"Nothing surprises me," he said. "I wouldn't even be surprised if the flying saucers were remote control electronic eyes from Mars."
Source: Gastonia Gazette, North Carolina - 7 Jul 47
Invention Of Discs Claimed
CHATTANOOGA. Tenn., July 7 (AP) -- A 31-year-old watchmaker said today he invented the flying saucer and submitted a model of it to the War Department in 1943.
A.R. Cross said he sent a model, drawing and photographs of a flying disc to the department but that it kept only two drawings and returned the others, saying the idea was not practical "at the present time."
He said the department told him to get in touch with Bell Aircraft and that this firm advised him to contact Alexander Seversky, aircraft inventor -- but he said he got tired of the "run-around" and gave up.
Cross, native of Newcastle, Pa. said he became convinced by statements made to him by members of the air force that the War Department had elaborated on his original plan and had begun production of such planes. He said he had worked
at Patterson Field, Ohio, and Hendricks Field, Fla.
He told the News-Free Press his model was powered with a rubber band -- but that he thought the discs were "atomic-powered."
Source: Ogden Standard-Examiner, Utah - 7 Jul 47
Secret 'Rotary Motor'
SYRACUSE, N. Y., July 7 (UP) -- A secret rotary motor which creates its own power while flying, was advanced today as the latest explanation of the mysterious "flying saucers."
The new angle came from an unidentified Syracuse resident who said he met an inventor by the name of Max Kopley, in Long Beach, Calif., in 1931. At that time, the Syracusan said, Kopley claimed to have invented a motor which picked up speed as it traveled.
Yesterday, the anonymous Syracusan said, he received letter from Kopley, who bragged of his invention as "something the world is now aware of." The letter was postmarked from Montana. Kopley's wife now is living in Long Beach.
Source: Altoona Mirror, Penn. - 7 Jul 47
Said Too Much?
COLUMBUS, O., July 7. (UP) -- Louis E. Starr, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who promised an explanation of the flying saucers, today intimated that he may have said too much already.
Commander Starr told the Ohio VFW encampment meeting here Saturday that he was momentarily expecting "a message from Washington, D. C., which will explain the flying discs."
Today he replied to numerous questions from newsmen with a flat "no comment" and said:
"I have had no comment to make since Saturday when I inadvisedly said as much as I did."
Source: Winnipeg Free Press, Oregon - 7 Jul 47
Fact Or Fantasy?
What They Say
------------
What Is It?
What is the Flying Discus?
Does it mean the end of the world?
Is it a new secret weapon?
Who is testing it out?
The Men From Mars?
The Russians?
Our own scientists?
Is it all just a lot of hooey?
Is it a freak of nature?
Are the people who claim to have seen them simply bilious and seeing spots?
Is it radioactivity caused by the atom bomb?
Is it the cosmic ray?
In other words:
Is it fact or fancy?
------------
This is what Winnipeggers had to say when questioned Monday, as to their opinions regarding reports of the flying discus:
H.B. Promislow, university tutor in mathematics: There have been so many reports that there must be something to these flying discs. But I doubt that it's the end of the world. Maybe it's sunspots. And I don't think it's experiments with any new flying machine. If anyone was trying out a new device I think the reports would all be coming from the same area. Maybe I'll become more interested in them; right now I don't really care.
Chief Constable Charles MacIver refused comment: That's not a question to ask a policeman. Ask me about something I'm qualified to give an opinion on.
One high police official stated: I can't figure out if it's a case of mass hypnosis or mass hysteria. I noticed one man said he saw a flying disc turn slowly over in the sky. Personally I think it was he who was slowly turning over.
Mrs. Maryon Raynbird, of 150 Spence street, thinks reports of flying discs, are "a lot of nonsense. They are figments of too fertile imaginations. Certainly I don't believe they are scientific phenomena or a new secret weapon."
One local citizen, who refused to give his name, insists he saw the flying saucers whirling overhead while he was sitting in the legislatives building grounds with a lady companion Saturday night. They kept passing from east to west, he said, and all disappeared behind the Golden Boy.
W.F. English, vice-president of T.C.A.: I think the whole thing is just pure fantasy. After all, nobody has been very near one of these flying discs and nobody has seen one land. T.C.A. pilots have not reported seeing one
as far as I know. I don't put much faith in the experimentation theory. With reports coming from so many places on the continent anybody testing flying machines must be on the moon. No, someone saw something, reported it as a disc and now more and more people are imagining things.
Rev. H.A. Frame of St. Stephen's - Broadway United church: Of course I've never seen any myself, but I feel there's something to it. As for what they really are, your guess is as good as mine. I'm certain that it isn't the end of the world and I don't think it's connected with atomic energy in any way. I don't place any credence in the theory that we're being attacked by any unknown power. Really, I don't give the flying discs any more attention than reports of sea monsters off the coast.
R.V. Ryan, Canadian Pacific Airlines limited: I haven't the foggiest idea what they are. It's anybody's guess. No one in our organization has seen one as far as I know. If we could get a look at one maybe we wouldn't be so skeptical. Maybe there'd be something to this talk about, secret experiment, maybe... oh, I don't know.
D.R.P. Coates president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Winnipeg Centre: Some kind of flying device, still on the secret list, is definitely being tested somewhere, on the continent. Earlier reports would be more authentic than recent ones. There are persons who would now call any flying object a "disc." One or two reports suggest meteors, but that is not the answer. Experimentation, that's it.
L.T.S. Norris-Elye, director of the Manitoba Museum: I thought at first they were merely meteorological balloons travelling at great speeds at high altitude. Now I don't know. People's observations are hopelessly inaccurate. Anyway, if some new and still secret device is being tested, the less said about it the better.
Harry D. Ainlay, mayor of Edmonton: At first I thought it was some military experiment, but this theory has apparently been discredited. It's probably just a meteorite.
This same opinion was expressed by Lucien Borne, mayor of Quebec city and Mayor E. Wilson, of Verdun, Que.
From the land of the Ogopogo, Mayor W. M. Mott, of New Westminster: An air disturbance created from gases.
H.D. Reid, Toronto businessman: It's probably an invention that will be revealed shortly. I think it's other than a military experiment.
Roy Whitman, taxi dispatcher at the C.P.R. depot: Imagination, that's all. Each time the story's told it get better and better. Someone is seeing things -- like pink elephants, you know.
Mayor Garnet Coulter: I think it's a Martian contractor at work. These flying saucers are probably a new type of construction material he wants us to use when we build the new city hall.
Dr. M.S. Lougheed, medical health officer: I've never seen any flying saucers yet. They remind me of a deluge of balloon spiders that I ran into out in rural Manitoba about 40 years ago. There were millions of them, floating softly through the air.
E.P. McCorquodale, licence inspector: I have no idea what these flying saucers are, but I think we should be able to unearth some ancient bylaw which would prevent them flying over Winnipeg.
W.D. Hurst, city engineer: As government defence departments are unable to provide any satisfactory explanation of the flying discs, it is probably some atmospheric phenomena. I'd hate to say that people were just seeing things, now that flying saucers have been sighted all over.
E.A. Wood, chief of the street cleaning and scavenging division, city health department: I haven't seen any flying saucers yet, but maybe they are gremlins in disguise. They are probably responsible for the wind blowing south over Elmwood and St. Boniface and causing all the trouble at the city dumps.
G.I. Gardner, assistant city clerk: Flying saucers... phooey! Too much indulgence in wild moosemilk!
Hon. Ivan Schultz, minister of public health and welfare: I would certainly want more information before I commented on that.
Premier Stuart Garson was unavailable for comment, being involved with numerous governmental discussions -- the verbal kind -- at meeting of cabinet ministers.
R.G. Saskrison, C.N.R. employee: I don't know, seems funny. Could be sun spots or something, but the government may be in on it, and they're not saying anything. If they were dangerous they wouldn't let them fly around the way they are.
F.S.C. Anderson, station master of the C.N.R.: Don't know anything about them. Saw some fireflies flitting about last night. Maybe that's what they are.
F.N. McKenzie, district passenger agent, C.N.R.: I think the government has been experimenting with something and it has accidentally crashed the news. Now they are belittling it so that the true import of the experiment will not be realized by the public.
J.R, Finlay of the CBC: Flying discs? Well, rumours without factual basis that blow up so large nowadays I would like something solid to base any opinion on. Anyway, I am not the slightest bit disturbed -- just mildly interested. As far as I know radio hasn't been affected by them at all.
Source: Mexico Evening Ledger, Missouri - 7 Jul 47
Europe Jeers At Credulous US Stories
LONDON July 7 (AP) -- Don't mention those flying saucers on this side of the Atlantic unless you're prepared for an argument about your sanity.
Maybe they have been seen by sober citizens over a vast area of the United States, but Europe won't believe in them until somebody lassoes one and has it photographed by Frank Sinatra, the British ambassador and five Supreme Court Justices.
Europeans generally took the position that the flying saucers, like Sweden's "ghost rockets", would go away if everybody took a good stiff bicarbonate of soda and the pledge, in that order.
Frenchmen shrugged at the story, Scandinavians grinned good-naturedly and Englishmen -- most infuriatingly of all -- asked Americans about the skyborne crockery as one might ask a child how his G-man game was progressing.
"What is it, mass hallucination, or one of those American hoaxes?" inquired a Fleet street sub-editor.
"You Americans do have a lot of fun playing games like that, don't you?" suggested a school teacher.
Source: Spokesman-
Review, Oregon - 7 Jul 47
Now They're Seeing Discs In Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN (UP) -- There was no confirmation here tonight of a Stockholm newspaper report that flying saucers were seen over the city Sunday night by at least two persons.
The Copenhagen correspondence of the Stockholm Aftonbladet reportedly said the flying discs had been sighted and that they were similar to those reported in the United States.
Copenhagen newspapers, however, said they knew nothing of the reported appearance.
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, Ill. - 7 Jul 47
Alton And Nation Had 'Mystery Of Air' 50 Years Ago
Fifty years ago last April -- well before the day of the first experimental airplanes -- the whole nation was set agog by reports carried in press dispatches from Kansas that a mysterious night flying "airship" carrying a bright light had been seen a number of times in a period of several days.
In the press, initial reports were treated in a joking manner, and amazement was expressed such a weird report should have emanated from a prohibition state like Kansas.
But, by April 13 and 14, the airship, as it generally was referred to, was reported seen over all Midwestern states from Indiana west through Iowa. Several Altonians were among those observing the mysterious flight and gave the Telegraph accounts of what they had seen.
Metropolitan newspapers carried long accounts of the mysterious flights. A Burlington, Ia., locomotive engineer told how the airship had overtaken and passed his train after it left Chicago, this enabling him to estimate its speed at 150 miles an hour. Scientists and astronomers were called on for learned opinions which were carried over the press wires. One undertook to identify the airship with the brilliant light as the star Betelgeuse -- but the mystery never was solved to public satisfaction.
Source: San Jose News, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Winchell Says Flying Saucer Mystery Seen First In 1913
Walter Winchell, noted New York columnist discloses in the following story that the mystery of the "flying Saucers" is not a new phenomenon.
By WALTER WINCHELL
New York Columnist
Written Expressly for INS
LOS ANGELAES, July 7 (INS) -- The mystery of the "flying saucers" is not new. It goes back three decades and even further.
In "Forgotten Mysteries," a book published early this year (months before the "Flying Saucers" were sighted) R. Dewitt offers two cases which suspiciously resemble the current mystery:
(a) "A strange procession of unknown things was seen in the sky on Feb. 9, 1913, according to reports gathered by Astronomer Professor Chant of Toronto, and published in the 'Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.'
"Professor Chant's collection of observations covered numerous points in Northern United Sates and Canada.
Seen Near Horizon
"Early in the evening of Feb. 9, a luminous body was seen near the horizon. Soon it began traveling in a straight line across the sky. It was observed '...the body was composed of three or four parts, with a tail to each part.' This group, or complex structure, moved with a 'peculiar majestic deliberation. It disappeared in the distance, and another group emerged from its place of origin.' A third group followed.
"According to another observer, "there were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar thing about them was their moving in fours and threes and twos, abreast of one another; and so perfect was the lining-up that you would have thought it was an aerial fleet maneuvering after rigid drilling.'"
(2) "The British ship, H.M.S. Caroline, was steaming slowly through the East China Sea, between Shanghai and Japan, on the night of Feb. 24, 1893. At 10 p.m., some 'unusual lights' were reported to Captain Charles J. Norcock. He went on deck to investigate.
Source: Lewiston Daily Sun, Maine - 7 Jul 47
Editorial: The Flying Saucers
The statement by a British newspaper that the flying disks seen at many points in this country are "the United States' answer to the Loch Ness monster" might lead one to assume a considerable degree of skepticism on the part of our friends across the water.
But as most people know, there IS such a critter as the Loch Ness monster. The huge reptile-animal has not only been photographed, but has been clearly discerned by the sober-minded Benedictine monks of famous Fort Augustus Abbey on the shore of the Scottish lake. Surely that is evidence enough.
Now the flying disks have been seen over Augusta, our State capital, which satisfies us there is something phenomenal skimming around in the skies overhead. When they were reported first from western sections of the county only, it was but natural for literal-minded Maine people to scoff, and lay the "visions" to the drinking-water or something of a like nature affecting the eyesight of people out west.
But the fact the dinguses have been sighted over Augusta puts a different face on the matter, and there is no longer any doubt the mysterious saucers really do exist.
Of course dozens of theories are offered to explain the whole business. However, in our opinion they are not meteors, they are not ice crystals, and they are not projectiles sent here by Mars to scare us into conniption fits. The mystery boils down to two possibilities.
(A) They are experimental weapons dispatched here by a foreign power, with which we are on the very best of terms, which we shall describe as R----a.
(B) They are also experimental weapons developed by our own defense services being tried out in secret. Naturally neither the Army nor the air forces will admit they know what it all means -- if they know.
Now if Theory B is correct, there is nothing to worry about. But on the chance Theory A is the right one, we suggest Congress appropriate enough money for an investigation. And since first-hand evidence is the best of all, we further suggest that after Congress adjourns, a reasonably large number of legislators from House and Senate be dispatched into the air over the U.S., in blimps, to secure all the information possible about the flying saucers. By that means the mystery can be rapidly solved, thus saving the citizenry from an epidemic of strained eyes and lame necks.
And if some alert Congressman could capture one of the objects, what better guarantee of re-election next year by a grateful electorate? Volunteers will please step forward.
Source: Oxnard Press-Courier, Calif. - 7 Jul 47
Editorial: The Flying Saucers
The flying saucers have come in the nick of time. The American people, who dearly love a sensation, and are pushovers for almost any sort of hoax, now can look out of their windows and if they look hard enough, can see all sorts of strange shapes fluttering in the air.
They may be discs, mysterious projectiles being tested for the next war by our military leaders, or sent over our land in tentative broadsides by some putative foe.
They may be astral bodies, or visitors from strange planets, who are stepping squarely out of the comic pages to study the strange people on the earth -- and they can stand considerable study. Airplanes may chase them vainly through the skies; astronomers peer into their telescopes without result in an effort to capture them. The failure of science, or any responsible authority to know anything at all about them will not prevent the discs being sighted by the scores, wherever men and women may let their imagination run riot.
If it is carried on in the spirit of good fun, no harm will result. But when the irresponsible, the malicious, the fanatic get hold of the discs, then trouble may follow. The best hope is that sometime soon, very soon, something else may happen to give the volatile American people another morsel to think and talk about. Then the discs will disappear into the limbo of forgotten things; going the way of the rain of frogs and fishes, that one used to hear about, or the sea monsters that still are reported on occasional lakes.
Notes:
1. The original quote by Kenneth Arnold stating "It seemed impossible..." changed in all later news reports to "It seems impossible...".
2. As the purpose of this series is to recreate the experience of reading about the phenomenon as it occurred, inconsistencies and inaccuracies are being left un-noted, but will be revisited in a new multi-part series coming in early 2012.
3. As this series continues, each part becomes progressively longer.
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