This document provides context for UFO sightings in North America by discussing America's role in global events following World War 2 and its technological achievements. It acknowledges that America has cast a long shadow globally but also that Americans are often their own harshest critics, with a focus on introspection about political and ethical issues rather than psychological matters. Given America's industrial background, it was logical that Americans would see themselves reflected in the UFO phenomenon.

2. WORlD ATlAS OF
's

5. EDITOR ANNA MUMFORD
ART EDITOR BOB GORDON
PICTURE RESEARCH RACH EL DUFFIELD
PRODUCTION CONTROLLER CHR ISTINA ROBILL IARD
First published in 1991 by
The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited,
Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road,
part of Reed International Books,
London SW3 6RB
This edition first published in the
United States in 1992 by
SMITH MARK Publishers Inc.,
NY 10016
112 Madison Avenue, New York,
©Text john Spencer
© Illustrations and Design Reed International Books Limited
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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Publisher and the copyright owner.
ISBN 0- 8317-949&-4
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and individuals for their kind pennission to reproduce the Novosti Press Agency 128
photohrraphs in this book. Popperfoto 27, 28T, 66, 82T, 114, 129, 140
Aerofilms 75, 76 Science Photo Library 2-3, 29B, 40-1,/J Baum 131,/J Finch 40,
133,/D Parker 135,/M Paternostro 136
Martin Bower 19B, 22, 9�3B, 116-7
South American Pictures/Tony Morrison 189
Steuart Campbell 111
Peter Day lOOT Spectrum 105T&B, 108-9, 141, 175
John Spencer 60, 95, 1<>:3
Mary Evans Picture Library 17, 21, �5. 2HB, 29T, :34,
Syndication International/Associated Press 163
16T&B, 49, 5:3, 59, 62, 64, 69R, 79, HOL, H1, H2B, H:3,
TRH Pictures 1:�0R,/Grumman 130L
HSTL,TR&B, HH, 90, �n'l', 102, 107, 123, 173, 1H7B,/Project
© VUFORS 167,/P Nonnan 172, 174
I lessdalen 11H. 119Tt� B
Zefa 178
Fortean Picture Library 14, 15, 21B, 26B, :35, 3H, 4:3, 51, 69L,
71L&R, 7H, H7, liS, 1�0. 1HS,!Fotorama 26T,/Tsutomu Although every effort has been made to trace the copyright
Nakayama 6:>,/B Skinner 121, C Svahn HOR holder, we apoloh.-]ze in advance for any unintentional omissions
Stanton T Freidman 1H and would be pleased to insert the appropriate
John Frost Newspapers S1 acknowledgements in any subsequent edition of this
The Ronald Crant Archive 11 publication.
Robert Harding Picture Library 50-1
Cynthia I lind H 7, lS:3, 156,/ ©Ministry of lnfonnation, Illustrations on pages :�0-1, �36-7, 44-5, 96-7. 112-13, 138-9,
Zimbabwe ][)() 154-5, 164-5, 170-1 and 182-3 by Tony Roberts. Illustration on
The llutchison Library 1S7,/T Bedow 14S page 21 by Keith Scaife. Models and photographs on pages
The Kobal Collection :3], 57, 101 19B, 22, 93B, 116-17 by Martin Bower. These compositions
MUFON J9L&R, 5H are artists' impressions based on witnesses' reports.

6. Foreword h
Introduction 7
NORTH AMERICA X
Last Bastion of ETH 10
Database 14
From Saucers to Conspiracies 0�
EUROPE 72
A Common European Ufology? 74
Database 7'b
Beyond Extra-terrestrials 120
THE EAST 124
UFOs and Freedom of Infonnation 126
Database 128
Interaction between East and West 141
AFRICA 142
UFOs Within African Culture 144
Database 146
UFOs or Ancestral Spirits 1;:)/
AUSTRALASIA 158
The Australasian Perspective 160
Database 1()�
The Missing Links 17;:)
SOUTH AMERICA 176
The South American Viewpoint 17�
Database 1�11
UFOs South of the Border 1���
Index 1 �Ill
Afterword 1 :1�

7. s the International Director of the Mutual UFO Network
A (MUFON), the world's largest and most geographically
widespread independent UFO research organization, I am
aware, perhaps more than most, that the UFO phe-
nomenon is a truly global one. Unidentified Flying Objects are
experienced by people all over the world and the World Atlas of
UFO's shows this continent by continent.
The World Atlas of UFO's also highlights areas of large
countries - remote or less technological countries - where
UFO's are rarely reported. It becomes apparent that UFO
reporting is confined to those areas that have UFO investigators
to whom these events can be reported. Those of us involved in
the study of this phenomenon are convinced that if there were
more people to whom sightings could be reported, then more
cases deserving of serious study would reach UFO researchers.
During my twenty years at MUFON I have determined at
least two important things: first, that the UFO subject is serious
and deserves to be treated with greater respect by scientists,
world governments and the public than it presently is; second,
that this subject is bringing people together across the world, and
in a way that brings out their best talents. Thousands of people
are donating hundreds of hours per year without fmancial
compensation to helping those who do not seem to understand
their own experiences or who may be unwilling victims of
traumatic experiences.
The annual MUFON International UFO Symposium attracts
hundreds of people from all over the world who come together in
a spirit of joint endeavour· that breaks down international
boundaries. Both the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and the
British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) are organizations
to which the author and many of the contributors belong. They
have a stated objective to educate the public in a responsible and
authoritative manner, to encourage other groups and organiza­
tions around the world to share their work, and to proceed
towards a solution to this intriguing and mysterious subject. This
book is part of that process.
WALTER H. ANDRUS ]R.
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR
MuTUAL UFO NETW(mK
6

8. nidentified Flying Objects are a subject Kuhle mann, Jenny f{andles, Steve Camble,
U which is much misunderstood: partly Bob Digby, Philip Mantle, Andy Hoberts. None
because of poor media attention, partly of these people are responsible for any opinions
because of inadequate support from the expressed in the book other than those they
scientific community and partly because of the make in their own section introductions.
absurd claims of cult followers who attach My thanks also to the artists and illustra­
themselves to the subject. The end result is tors, Tony l{oberts, Martin Hower and Keith
that authoritative data rarely gets to the Scaife for their astonishing visualizations that
general public and the UFO phenomenon as a portray the mystery and awe of key events.
whole attracts ridicule. The World Atlas of I would like to !-,rive special thanks to three
UFO's aims to redress that imbalance. other people who each gave very special
We do not know what UFOs are: some support in their own way: my wife, Anne, who
cases make it very clear that they are a physical became researcher and cartographer despite
reality; other cases seem to be caught up in a the demands of our home and her own busi­
sociological event; some cases have mytholo­ ness; Anna Mumford, of Reed International
gical and others psychological components. Books, who gave tremendous back-up and
Some UFO reports arc humorous and appear to installed a hot-line direct to my desk; Kathryn
be relatively unimportant while a great many Howard, a UFO abductee who, when I needed
have serious, often frightening implications for a fresh perspective on the subject, provided it
individual people and for the world as a whole. (in trumps!).
Too many people have been touched by UFOs, There are people missing from this list who,
directly and indirectly, for the UFO phe­ for various reasons, cannot be acknowledged
nomenon to be wished away. These people and individually: the hundreds of good UFO investi­
the rest of the world deserve a reasoned gators whose cases make up the databases -
attempt to provide them with the answers that space simply prohibits a full cross-referenced
they seek - whatever those answers may be. list; psycholo!-,rists and some scientists who
The World Atlas of UFO's proves one thing prefer to remain anonymous at least for the
very clearly: that at some level, or in some moment; witnesses whose cases are not in­
way, the UFO phenomenon is real. cluded out of respect for their wish that their
To compile a world database of over forty stories remain out of the public domain - the
years of research from all around the world was perspective they provide is vital.
a daunting task. I could not have easily done so In researching the data, I have used many
without the support of friends and colleab es
U
T case files including my own, and taken the
across the world who supplied data, gave their opinions of many more experienced than my­
opinions, guided me to sources of data, or self. For specific references I have referred to
simply kept me going when the coffee ran out. many publications (see Bibliography page 192).
From an endless list I would particularly like to None of the books, journals or authors men­
mention: Hilary Evans, Cynthia Hind, Paul tioned are responsible for the opinions ex­
Norman, Eduardo Russo, Walter H Andtusjnr, pressed, some of which are no doubt contrary
Budd Hopkins, Thomas (Eddie) Bullard, Bertil to their own. Such is this subject.
7

10. SOMEWHERE 'OUT THERE ' , THERE MUST SURE LY
BE TE CHNO-DEMOCRATS , JUST LIKE OURSELVES ,
I N SEARCH OF NEW FRONTIERS AND HORIZONS ,
WILLING TO GO 'WHERE NO MAN HAS
GONE BEFORE ' .
KEY TO MAP OF NORTH AMERICA
CD Aerial Cattle Rustlers , Le Roy, Kansas @ Flynn Incident, Everglades, Florida
0 Maury Island, Washington State @ Exeter Flap , Exeter, New Hampshire
Q) Kenneth Arnold Sighting, Mount Rainier, Washington State ® Great North Eastern Blackout, North Eastern United States/Canada
<3)Roswell Incident, Roswell, New Mexico ® Swamp Gas Debacle, Ann Arbor, Michigan
® Captain Thomas Mantell , Godman Field, Kentucky ® Catalina Island Film, California
® Aztec, New Mexico ® Betty Andreasson. Ashburnham, Massachusetts
0 Chiles/Whitted, Montgomery , Georgia ® Stephan Michalaq. Falcon Lake, Ontario/Manitoba border (Canada)
® Fargo, North Dakota ® Patrolman Schirmer. Ashland, Nebraska
® White Sands , White Sands Proving G rounds , New Mexico ® Shane Ku rz. New York State
@> The Trent Photographs, McMinnville , Oregon ® Callery Chemical Plant, Butler, Pennsylvania
@ The Lubbock Lights, Lubbock, Texas ® Dapple Grey Lane, Los Angeles, California
® Washington Flap, Washington D.C. @) St Catherine's, Ontario (Canada)
@ Desvergers Encounter, West Palm Beach, Florida @ The Delphos Ring , Kansas
® George Adamski, Desert Centre, California ® Michellmbeault, Montreal, Canada
@ Gulf of Mexico @ Pascagoula Encounter, Mississippi
@ Tujunga Canyon, California @ Jeff Greenhaw, Falkville, Alabama
® Livermore , Oakland , California @ Captain Coyne, Mansfield. Ohio
® Daniel Fry, White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico @) FlattertDonathan, Blackford County, Indiana
® Goose Bay, Labrador (Canada) @ Polaski Encounter, Greensberg, Pennsylvania
® Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky ® Tsutomu Nakayama, Hawaii
® 'Jennie', Nebraska @ Carl Higdon Abduction, Medicine Bow National Forest. Wyoming
@ Lochraven Dam , Baltimore, Pennsylvania @> Travis Walton Abduction, Snowflake. Arizona
@ Joe Simonton, Eagle River, Wisconsin @> Falconbridge. Ontario (Canada)
® Betty and Barney Hill, Concorde, New Hampshire ® Cash/Landrum Encounter, Dayton, Texas
@ Socorro, New Mexico ® 'Kathie Davis' Abductions, 'Copley Woods', Indiana
@ Gary Wilcox. Tioga, New York State ® Japan Air Lines, Anchorage Airport, Alaska
® Cisco Grove, California ® Gulf Breeze Case, Gulf Breeze, Florida

11. ach year the President of the United States of was American ingenuity and industry, was it not, that
E
America addresses the nation with a State of felled Hitler's Fortress Europe? (Never mind for now
the Union message. This speech is purely that Soviet armies had a small helping hand in turning
political; that is to say, heavy on platitudes, back the Fascist tide.) Moreover, it was American
and short on substance. A few troublesome issues are know-how that manufactured the world's first atomic
admitted to, but these are traditionally glossed over as bomb. (And a military mind-set we tend to overlook
nothing 'the spirit of the American people can't that decided to drop it.)
conquer if we only put our minds to it, and our Certainly, the remarkable economic and industrial
shoulders to the wheel.' recovery of a war-ravaged world owes a great deal of
I can see that I might easily be accused of a similar debt to its American constituency, however tarnished
sort of equivocation here. As editor of the monthly or lagging our present perlormance. The point is that,
journal of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, I for better or worse, it is, perhaps, the American
suppose I can be seen as a party loyalist, one who character that has cast the longest shadow over the
adheres publicly to the perceived party line, and tends collective post World War Two global village. Musco­
to put a gloss on the overall status of the situation, vites crowd into McDonald's rather than New Yorkers
whether or not merited by reality. into McGorky's.
All I can say in my defence is that is certainly not Some commentators believe that we Americans
how I think of myself. (Nor, judging from my mail, do are our own worst critics. In fact, our mania for
all members of MUFON.) I hope I am capable of giving introspection is much more political and ethical than it
a more or less objective assessment of the present is, say, psychological or metaphysical. Given our
state of American ufolo1-,ry, warts, roses and all. I also industrial and technological background (itself a pro­
understand that what follows is only one person's duct as much of circumstance as character) it was only
opinion. Another ufologist might see the current logical that we would see ourselves in the UFO
situation in a different colour or light altogether and phenomenon.
certainly they are welcome to their opinion. Somewhere 'out there', there must surely be
So, what is the nature of the beast, then, as I techno-democrats just like ourselves, in search of new
perceive it? Frankly, fairly encouraging, though not frontiers and horizons, willing to go 'where no man has
without its moments of low humour and open rancour. gone before'. Such was the only logical assumption
Before we enter into specifics, however, it might that could be made about these mysterious little green
prove fruitful to look first at our background. men in their ma1-,rnificent flying machines. It was just
That America should be the haven (if not the last not in our make-up to think otherwise. As America's
bastion) of the so-called Extra-terrestrial Hypothesis taste for fast food suffused the world market place, so
(ETI D. should not come as a surprise, either, given did perhaps premature adoption of the ETH suffuse
our nature and circumstances. Although Americans ufolo1-,ry, again, for better or worse.
are ar1-,TUably no more a technological culture or society On the other hand, as with any empire, rebellion
than, say, the Germans or the japanese, we have was bound to set in, and this is exactly what we see
always prided ourselves that we were. For example, it happening today. That these mini-revolutions have
10

12. ·l li ll l llllllll• • ·
LAST BASTION OF ETH
adopted their own individualistic and local 'style' was The mother ship in Close Encounters o f the Third Kind which
inevitable. Of course the failure of the ETH to prove compounded technological America's extra-terrestrial view of
itself contributed to the situation, too. Still, the revolts the subj ect.
have fallen back on their own culture and circumstance
in a sort of intellectual nationalism, or chauvinism. tion of its own peculiar tin1e and place. Like its
Thus we have several separate 'schools' of which contemporaries, it is riddled with holes and factions.
faerie folklore, tribal culture, psychological and mys­ There is an exaggerated tendency to 'choose
tical are all examples. sides', based on belief and feeling about a specific
However, none of these schools has come any case, or personal loyalty to the principles involved,
closer to ultimately resolving the central issue - the rather than a dispassionate examination of the evi­
unknown nature of the UFO phenomenon. Nor do I dence itself. This was most recently exemplified by
mean to suggest that these generalized separate the spectacular and apparently on-going Gulf Breeze
approaches are in any way monolithic, or that there Case in Florida (see page 67), which saw - if not old
are not schisms. But the point is that American friends - at least old acquaintances, suddenly at one
ufology, first and foremost, is a product or manifesta- another's throats over its validity.
11

13. i . I
�'''lll [ Ullu�··
. I
N O RTH A M E R I CA
Interestingly, the argument could be made that
each country and people get not only the ufologists
they 'deserve', but seemingly specialized outbreaks of
the phenomenon itself, as well. In the US, of late, that
involves apparently physical and photographed objects
seen by large numbers of witnesses, as in Gulf
Breeze, accompanied by a strong undercurrent of
abductions and a whiff of mutilated animals. In
England, the strange Wessex crop circles (see page
121) beneath the great Chalk Horse have yet to be put
in their proper context, and the same can be said of
the French humanoids of an earlier day, and now, the
Soviet 'invasion' and Brazilian accounts of flying
refrigerators and death-dealing ray beams. Whether
these specialized outbreaks can best be thought of as a
case of the seeker blind to anything but the sought, or
alternatively as a sort of perverse prank on the part of
the phenomenon itself remains to be answered.
Our native proclivity for picking teams has sur­
faced in the one area of ufology where one would
naturally assume it might least rear its ugly head: in
the realm of government and military intelligence
documentation. The present controversy centres
around an alleged presidential briefing paper which
describes the existence of Majestic 12, or Mj-12, an
ultra-secret special studies group reportedly founded
in the wake of the Roswell Incident (see page 18).
Those awaiting definite confirmation ofMj-12 may fmd
themselves condemned to a permanent UFO purga­
tory. Meanwhile, the waters have been rendered
even more murky by the recent revelation (or
confession, depending on your point of view), made by
a major Mj-12 player, of having actively participated in
a military intelligence disinformation and surveillance
campaign directed against certain individuals and UFO The space shuttle, a symbol of North America's technological
organizations. achievement which features so strongly i n the consciousness of
In the wake of Whitley Strieber's bestselling its people that the Extra-terrestrial Theory predominates.
Communion and Transformation, in both of which he
describes his own abduction, it seemed for a time as if At the moment, TREAT seems to have the best
the abduction scenario might swamp the stage en­ chance of bridging the immense gap between ufology
tirely. Such apprehensions have proven largely un­ and establishment science, if by the latter we include
founded, although several competing camps have been professional psychotherapists and other mental health
set up as a consequence of personality and philo­ practitioners. A working arrangement with a major
sophical differences. Strieber and associates have east coast university appears imminent, which could
established the Communion Foundation, with its own lead in turn to academic respectability, increased
quarterly newsletter, and urged members not to funding, access to a super-computer and other tan­
fraternize with other 'orthodox' UFO organizations. gible benefits. MUFON itself is presently engaged in
Budd l lopkins and associates have responded with the an ambitious programme to standardize reporting
Intruder Foundation. Yet a third group, TREAT (for procedures and computerize its database. The Fund
Treatment and Research on Experienced Anomalous for UFO Research continues to solicit support in the
Trauma) is underway, and a fourth abduction-related field. Subscriptions in the membership groups are up,
group is rumoured to be on the horizon. approaching numbers not seen since the mid-fifties.
12

14. • 111111ll lll11n •·
LAST BASTI O N OF ETH
The number of annual UFO conferences and strates that US ufology is anythmg but moribund, and
symposia is on the rise as well, though the quality of that the spirit of American individualism is alive and
the presentations varies widely. After a lengthy well, if not particularly inclined towards harmony and
absence, there are now two national news-stand co-operation.
magazines devoted to the subject, though again the Unfortunately, there is at least one other alarming
contents of each issue fluctuate dramatically in tenns proclivity that should be addressed, and that is the
of reliability. So called tabloid TV programmes regu­ temptation, in this most litigious of societies, to settle
larly feature UFO stories, and of course the taller some issues in a court of law rather than through open
tales remain a favourite staple of the supermarket dialo!-,'lle and public opinion. These civil actions to date
press. jacques Vallee has returned to the publishing have mostly been lodged against other nationals,
fold with Dimensions and Confrontations, studies whose laws allow for financial retribution in the case of
which link folklore with UFOs. We have also seen, in libel. Some of us here wait with bated breath and
1 990, the hardback appearance of Ed Conroy's well crossed fingers for similar suits to be filed in this
received Report on Communion and The Gulf Breeze country. While the prospect of legal action may
SiKiztinKS by Ed and Frances W<1lters. An eagerly indicate to some people a 'coming of age' for ufology, it
anticipated study by reporter Howard Blum, Out is safe to say it is not the one most American
There, w<1s also published towards the end of 1 990. ufologists have in mind as they continue to court public
Other books that impinge on or envelope the UFO opinion and scientific respectability.
subject, favour<1bly or critically, are too numerous to Now, where do we stand vis-a-vis our contempor­
mention, but balance would hardly be served if we did aries? Despite the difficulties of the science involved
not refer to the revised paperback appe<1rance of UFO (the distance between stars, the unlikelihood of so
Abductions: A Dangerous Game, by skeptic Philip many extraterrestrials suddenly showing up on our
Klass. Several English titles have also received lin1ited doorstep, etc.), the ETH must remain a viable theory.
distribution here, although Timothy Good's Above Top Theories, after all is said and done, are all we have.
Secret was picked up by a major American publisher. But if one theory can be convincingly shown to be
The amateur press has been extremely preoccupied better than another, then Americans will be among the
as well, and both MUFON and CUFOS, the Center for first to welcome it and applaud. So far this has not
UFO Studies, continue to produce monthly and been the case. Arguing that abductions, for example.
bi-monthly journals respectively. journals back in are predominantly psychological in origin. and there­
business include The journal of UFO Studies along fore, so is the science of ufology at present is a far cry
with Caveat Emptor, a local equivalent on a somewhat from an overall viable theory. In fact, so scarce is our
more folksy scale than England's Magonia. No doubt I scratch on the surface. that hard and fast facts are
have left much out in this brief summary, and my difficult to come by that would support any overall
apologies to anyone particularly offended. theory, including those of mass psychokinesis,
just as in the political arena, ufoiO!-,lY has its own psychotronic control systems, and a number of other
extreme elements. The more vocal of these have hypotheses, half- or full-baked, that have been offered
begun to raise rumours abroad of a secret diplomatic up over the last half century. 1 also include here the
treaty between our government and the diminutive ultraskeptical, Shakespearean notion that all this has
(one is tempted to say, demonic) 'grays'. What is been 'much ado about nothing'.
encouraging about the present picture is the unlikeli­ It may behove us all to keep an open mind. be
hood of any extreme minority, however vocal or patient, and remember that the U in UFO stands for
active, assuming the mainstream mantle. There is a unidentified. That may not be an especially popular or
certain inertia or gravity in human affairs which may American point of view, but neither was the two­
well work to our advantage, although in the meantin1e, minute hamburger until we won the war.
the rumour mongers are not exactly perfonning a
public service in our best interest.
In-fighting and factionalism abound. but this
strikes me as a by-product of human nature and DENNIS STACY is both a ful l-time writer and the editor of
behaviour as opposed to anything fundamentally MUFON Journal, the house magazine of the Mutual UFO
inherent to ufology, American or otherwise. Although Network. His editorship is characterized by impartia l and
sheer cantankerousness can be distracting and waste­ wel l-informed commentary so vital i n a country where
ful of both precious time and ener!-,l")'. it also demon- extreme views and high passions often run free.
13

15. PRE 1 900
Representatives and that people (Tacoma harbour) when they saw
who had known him for over thirty six UFOs above them. One of the
NAM E AERIAL CATILE RUSTLING years testified in an affidavit that UFOs, described as saucer- or
DATE 20APRIL 1 897
they had never heard a word of his doughnut -shaped, jettisoned
questioned and 'do readily believe material, some of which fell on to the
PLACE LE ROY, KANSAS
his statement to be true and boat injuring one of the companions
MAP REF: J 1 7
correct'. Furthermore the affidavit and killing his dog.
EVENT AERIAL CATILE RUSTLERS was signed by the sheriff, the By the time tllis story had become
deputy sheriff, a justice of the known Kenneth Arnold was already
On 20 April 1897, fanner Alexander peace, a postmaster, the registrar associated nationally with the flying
Hamilton filed an affidavit stating of deeds, a banker, an attorney, saucer phenomenon. He was drawn
that earlier that week he had and others. into the Maury Island investigation
watched a huge object glide down Hamilton said of the encounter principally due to the intervention of
from the darkness and come to rest 'Every time I drop to sleep I see Ray Palmer, the editor of Fantasy
in a field some 200 yds ( 1 8:-� m) from the cursed thing, all its bright magazine.
his home. Together with his son and lights and hideous people. I don't Dahl claimed to have been visited
one of the fam1hands he had know whether they are angels by a 'man in black', a character of
approached to within 1 5 ft (46 m) of
0 or devils . . . I don't want any repression soon to appear
the object, which he described as more to do with them. ' repeatedly in American UFO stories
approximately the length of an and a feature that would last at least
American football field and made of a decade or more. He apparently
1 940s
something coloured deep red. It was strongly suggested to Dahl that it
like an enormous cigar in shape and would be in his interests not to
beneath it appeared to be a cabin NAME MAURY ISLAND discuss his sighting.
made of glass; within it the farmer DATE 23 JUNE 1947
and his companions could see six
PLACE MAURY ISLAND, WASHINGTON STATE
occupants which they described as
MAP REF: E14
'the strangest beings ever saw'.
An enormous wheel, located EVENT CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE SECOND
beneath t he craft, began to spin and KIND
the airship rose to an altitude of
some ] ft (92 m). The fanners
00 The 2 4 June 1 9<'17 is regarded as the
noticed that a rope, reaching down birth date of the modem era of
from the craft, was attached to a UFOs when Kenneth Amold had his
heifer which was caught against the 'flying saucer' sighting at Mount
barbs of a fence nearby. As the Rainier in Washington State, liSA.
object rose it pulled the calf up with However, on the day prior to this
it and disappeared into the darkness sighting an event was unfolding- the
trailing the unlucky animal behind it. precise meaning and implications of
The following day what remained of which have been a mystery to
the calf was recovered from a ufologist s ever since.
nearby fam1: legs, head and skin. Harbour patrolmen Harold A.
SlH >uld Hamilton's credibility be I >ahl and Fred L. Crisman owned a
called into quest ion, it must be boat and on the day in quest ion Dahl
pointed out that he had been a and other companions were sailing it
member of the House of in Puget Sound, near Maury Island
14

16. I j! � 111111111111
DATABASE 1940s
Kenneth Arnold was concerned NAME KENNETH ARNOLD SIGHTING relieve th<' angu1sh of rvl;tiJw·s of
that professional people should the lost crew and also the financial
DATE 24 JUNE 1947
investigate the case and suggested in ce ntiv e of a $!i,OOO reward for
PLACE MOUNT RAINIER, WASHINGTON STATE
calling the .-tth Air Force Base at discovery of the wreck.
MAP REF: E14 I laving completed his day's work
llamilton Field ;md requested the
involvement of two intelligence EVENT DISTANT DAYLIGHT SIGHTING- BUT installing fire fightmg eqUipment for
officers: Captain William Davidson THE BIRTH OF 'FLYING SAUCERS' the Central Air Service at Chehalis,
and Lieutenant Frank Brown. a small town in W ashingt on State,
When Brown and I )avidson In the clear skies of Washington Arnold l ook off at around �o'clock
anived they were shown an State, lone pilot Kenneth Arnold heading for Yakima. With Mount
assortment of the debris from the was peacefully <1dmiring the l<ainier ahead and a l>C-·1 aho'c and
UFO, it was laying on the floor of breatht<Jking scenery of the Cascade behind to his left, Arnold was
the room in which they met. Mountains. He was Jlying a Callair suddenly startled by a flash of light.
Davidson and Brown seemed to plane especi<11ly modified for To the left and north of l1ount
have played down their concern and mountain search and rescue and l<ainier he saw what appeared to be
even refused to accept samples of although not formally engaged on a fonnation of nine objects in fl1ght .
the material when offered, such a mission, Arnold was
apparently !-,Jjving the impression searching for a cr<1shed C-16 marine Kenneth Arnold in1t1ated the med1a
that they thought the witnesses transport plane. He was spurred on coverage phenomenon with his co1n1ng of
were the victims of a hoax. by both a humanitarian desire to the phrase 'flying saucers' in 1 94 7 .
However, at the last minute
Crisman gave them a carton
containing the material and they
stowed it in their car, subsequently
apparently placing it on their B-25
aircraft which stood by to tly back to
Hamilton Field, in California.
It has been speculated that the
material was in fact radioactive slag
being dumped illegally by the Atomic
Energy Commission (AEC) and that
the 'man in black' was in reality an
agent of the AEC detem1ined to
suppress the story before it got out
of hand. Whatever the truth, the
mystery deepened considerably
when the B-25 containing the
intelligence officers and the material
apparently caught fire and crashed.
Its two crew members survived but
the two officers died with the plane.
A newspaper report shortly after
the incident suggested that the
crash involved sabotage because the
'plane m<1y hold Jlying disk secret'.
The report <1lso suggested that
there was some evidence the plane
was c<1rrying 'cl<1ssified material'.
Unfortun<ltely, with two prime
players lost in the aircr<1ft accident
the case, for the moment, defies any
more substanti<1l conclusion.
15

17. NO RTH A M E R I CA
While thinking they must be jet sky with him - equivalent to about objects, the tenn was very quickly
planes he was also noticing that they 67 ft (19 rn). being used to describe saucer
were moving in a curious way; Within a short time the objects shapes. It must be admitted that
ilipp�g up and down tike the bows were gone and Arnold continued his Arnold seems to have jumped on his
on the tail of a kite or, to use a search for the plane though he later own bandwagon. By the time his
phrase that was later to make admitted his mind was no longer on story was told in the first edition of
history, moving 'like a saucer would the job. After a cursory search of Fate magazine in the spring of 1948,
if you skipped it across the water'. the Tieton reservoir he eventually the cover illustration depicting the
'
Given their distance -estimated flew into Yakima at 4 pm. encounter was a hrross distortion of
at 25 miles (40 km) away - Arnold On arriving and desperate to tell the ori.c,rinal story. The objects are
was unable to make out their shapes someone about the sighting, Arnold seen in close proximity to Arnold's
clearly but believed that when they went to see the general manager of plane and they are clearly saucer
passed in front of the snow-covered Central Aircraft, AI Baxter, who in shapes with just a slight modification
Mount 1-<llinier he could then see turn called in other pilots to hear the at the rear to pay lip-service to
their outlines distinctly. It is story. Someone suggested that Arnold's 'boomerang' description.
questionable to what de�'fee Arnold possibly the craft were guided During the next two months
could accurately have identified the missiles from Moses Lake Base, something very extraordinary
outlines of the objects if they were Washington. Arnold felt satisfied was happening (or press attention
at the distance he suggested, it may that this must be the case. was creating the impression of
indicate they were far closer to him However, by the time Arnold something happening); some H50
than he thought. If that was the case arrived back in Pendleton, Oregon sightings were reported across the
they must have been moving more his story had out -raced him. There United States during that time and
slowly, possibly at the speed of was a large group there to listen to earlier sightings were uncovered.
terrestrial aircraft. The shapes were him recount his sighting and again For Arnold, his sighting was to
disturbing, however; he thought Arnold concluded they were change his life completely and he
they were jet planes but could find probably !,ruided missiles. He did not became an active flying saucer
no tails. This description coupled believe they could be manned researcher and a devotee up until
with his later drawings of the objects because the flipping motions and the his death on 16 january 198-1. He
show that he believed he was speeds would - he believed - be had many further sightings during
looking at boomerang shaped craft. impossible for the human frame to his life and they seemed to have
Arnold did as much as possible to withstand. Arnold also reported his convinced him of an extraordinary
analyze the observation including sighting to the local FBI officials on interpretation of the UFO
opening his window to get a clear the basis that they could be some phenomenon: that the objects are
view. The objects were flying sort of 1-<ussian weapon. masses of living organisms that live
directly across his field of vision Widespread news coverage in our atmosphere.
bet ween Mount 1-<ainier and Mount ridiculously distorted the encounter. The objects were never
Adams. Using these peaks as As Arnold put it 'After three days of identified. Today the sighting would
reference points Arnold estimated this hubbub l came to the conclusion be low priority because there was no
the objects were moving bet ween that I was the only sane one in the corroborative witness, the sighting
1, :wo-1, 700 miles (2, 092-2, 7:�6 km) bunch. ' One of those distortions was was of short duration, indefinite
per hour, far faster than any plane of to make sociological history; picking distance and dubious clarity.
the day could have achieved. Of all up on Arnold's phrase that the Nevertheless, the media
of his estimates which have been objects were moving 'like a saucer attention which was generated from
called into question the most difficult would if you skipped it across the those few minutes over Washington
to determine with accuracy was the water', the expression 'flying State gave birth to the U FO
distance from the aircr<1ft to the saucer' was born and it was the birth phcnomeno.n.
objects and the length of their of a catch phrase that has attracted
formation, which he estimated at media attention ever since. Although Artistic licence was heavily employed in
5 miles (� km). He estimated the Arnold described basically this magazine jacket illustration which
individual size of the objects at boomerang shapes and his usc of the depicts Arnold's sighting . The UFOs
approximately two-thirds that of the word saucer was to describe the apparently moved 'like a saucer would if
I >C-tl aircraft which was sharing the erratic up and down motion of the you skipped It across the water'.
16

19. N O RT H A M E R ICA
NAM E THE ROSWELL INCIDENT The following morning, 75 miles from the ranch. It must be stressed
(127 km) in that general direction, that contrary to some rumours there
DATE 2 JULY 1 947
ranch manager William Brazel and was no disc recovery at this point -
PLACE ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO
his son and daughter discovered Marcel confirms that small pieces of
MAP REF: H18
scattered wreckage on their farm debris were put into the boot of a car
EVENT CRASH RETRIEVAL and alerted the local sheriffs office - and there were no alien bodies
of Chaves County. Sheriff Wilcox of recovered. The debris was returned
The most intriguing of all crash Chaves County contacted Roswell to the Roswell Anny Air Base and,
retrieval stories, and the only one Anny Air Base and Major jesse A. on the orders of Colonel Blanchard,
definitely supported by physical Marcel. was flown on to Wright Patterson
evidence, is the Roswell incident of To say that the government took Air Force Base in Ohio. Although
july 1947, which occurred just a few the report seriously would be an apparently detailed to accompany
days after the Kenneth Arnold understatement; Brazel was the debris, Marcel was diverted by
sighting (sec page 15). incarcerated for a period of several his superiors at Fort Worth and did
In the early evening of 2 july a days and encouraged not to discuss not go to Wright Patterson.
disc shaped UFO was seen flying the event on grounds of national What was recovered has been
over Roswell, New Mexico and security. Meanwhile Major Marcel the source of considerable
heading towards the north-west. and his team collected the debris speculation: that the material was a
Asovl General Roger Ramey and Colonel AsovE RIGHT The Roswell Daily Record of 8
Thomas Jefferson D uBose display the July 1 947 announcing the capture of the
remains of a weather bal loon, al legedly flying sauce r . RIGHT A model a rtist's
the matenal recovered by Major Jesse recon struction showing the retrieved
M a rce l . M a rcel said, 'It was definitely not saucer and what may have later taken
a weather or tracking device . . . · place at Wright Patterson Ai rbase.
18

20. ·IIillilllllllll•·
thin, foil like meta l that could not he
den ted even by forceful blows, that
it was a light, balsa-wood su bsta nce
which would not bum even under a
direct name, and that there were
strange hieroglyphs on the debris.
The Roswell incident has been
further complicated by apparently
connicting infonnation, some of one of the local ranchers and of the communication immed iately. '
which may have been issued by the Sheriffs office at Chaves County.' A reconciliation of the
government. If so, it was probably Another report by radio station contradictions in this ca se has been
to divert attention from what was KSWS in Roswell which was being offered by the claims of witness
really going on. In particular, a press put on to the ABC wire service was G. L. Barnett who stated to friends
release was issued by Roswell Anny apparently interrupted by an that he had seen another crash site
Air Base on 8 july which stated incoming teletype message ordering near Socorro, New M exico where a
'Roswell Anny Air Field was the station with these words 'Do damaged but complete saucer was
fortunate enough to gain possession not transmit. Repeat. Do not discovered along with dead alien
of a disc through the co-operation of transmit this message. Stop bodies. The speculation is that the
19

21. N O RTH A M E R ICA
machine exploded over Brazel's NAM E CAPTAIN THOMAS MANTELL
farrn dropping debris but continued
DATE 7 JANUARY 1 948
in the air to Socorro before finally
PLACE GODMAN FIELD, KENTUCKY
being downed. It is suggested that
the government may have issued MAP REF: M 1 7
the statement about the retrieved EVENT UFOLOGY'S FIRST MARTYR
saucer at Brazel's farn1 in order to
divert attention from the recovery In the early aftemoon of 7 january
going on nearby. This seems to be a 1918 the control tower crew at
diversion fraught with risks though, Godman Field, Kentucky reported a
if true, it does seem to have sighting of a bright disc-shaped
worked. object to their base operations
There is no question that debris officer. Approximately one hour and
was recovered from Brazel's ranch. twenty minutes after the sighting,
In order to explain the situation to an when the object was still visible,
eager public Brigadier General four National Guard P-5 1 Mustang
Ramey, commander of the 8th Air training craft led by Captain Thomas
Force district at Fort Worth Mantell were diverted from their
together with his adjutant displayed flight to investigate the sighting.
the recovered debris for the press. The aircraft climbed toward the
The wreckage shown was clearly object. At 1 5, 000 ft (1 , 572 m) the
that of a Rawin weather balloon other planes turned back as they did
which it was claimed was the cause not have the equipment required to
of the event. supply oxygen which would enable
Almost certainly this was a them to fly higher. They at tempted
device to cover up the truth and the to contact Mantell by radio. Mantell
real wreckage was by this time on made one transmission at 1 5, 000 ft
its way to Wright Patterson Air ( 1 , 572 m) saying he had the object
Force Base. in sight and was still climbing to
A proper analysis of the Roswell investigate. The plane crashed,
incident must take account of the scattering wreckage for over a mile.
circumstances surrounding the Mantell was dead; this young man
immediate area and time of the was ufoloKy's first martyr.
incident. New Mexico in 1918 was Analysis of the wreckage
the site of the White Sands Proving indicates that Mantell did not
Grounds, where German scientists attempt to bale out of the plane and
brought over during the war were sugge st s that the plane broke up inability to 'close-in' on the target.
hriving birth to the American space from diving at excessive speed, Mantell's experience should have
programme, and Los Alamos was presumably out of control. It is taught him to react better and it is
the site of the recently developed suggested that Mantell blacked out speculated that he may have
atomic bomb. The possibility that from oxygen deprivation as he flew overreacted to the UFO sighting as
the government wa s trying to above the plane's capability to a result of six months of media hype
secretly recover a damaged device supply oxygen. The question is, following the Amold sighting of the
of its own must on this account alone what was it that drove Mantell previous year.
be high on the list of explanations for higher and higher? One theory is Mysterious rumours abound
l<oswell. that it was a Skyhook weather concerning this case; that Mantell
If the l<oswell incident proved balloon; one binocular observation described the object as 'metallic . . .
nothing else, it indicated that the described the UFO as parachute-like tremendous in size', that his body
government was prepared to cover with bright sun reflecting from the was not in the plane when the
up somflh in}f, and prepared to use top. Another theory is that Mantell wreckage was recovered, and that
the newly born flying saucer was chasing the bright image of a his funeral was 'closed casket'
phenomenon to do it with. planet which would account for his because of extraordinary wounds on
20

22. �d, l l l i
'I
DATABASE 1 940s
his body. None of these claims can AsovE An artist ' s impression of Mantel l ' s
be regarded as definitively P - 5 1 Mustang training plane c l 1mbing
substantiated and it is certainly the towards the U FO high over Godman Field
usual procedure for plane crash 1n Kentuc ky Other planes in the fl1ght
victims to be buried 'closed casket' tu rned back at a lower altitude but Mantell
due to their injuries. pressed on . Mi nutes later he was dead.
Whether M antell was a victim of Spec ulation with regard to what he was
his own excitement , or whether he c hasing contin ues to th1s day Was it a
was struck down by an alien force weather balloo n . a sta r . the planet Venus.
resisting his pursuit of their saucer or a c raft from another world?
can now never be proven. H owever.
the light Mantell chased was. by any
sensible definition, a U FO and
therefore we can rightly regard
Mantell's deat h as the first
attributed to a UFO encounter. RIGHT Captain Thomas Mantell
21

23. r 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 : lU I • ·
NORTH A M E R I CA
NAM E AZT E C diamond drills could affect the fingers. Dissection revealed that
surface; there were no rivets or there was no blood but instead a
DATE 2 5 MARCH 1 948
signs of welding. Fortunately, liquid smelling similar to ozone.
PLACE AZTEC, NEW MEXICO
damage to one of the saucer's Curiously, and apparently
MAP REF: H1 7 contradictorily, the bodies had no
portholes enabled the investigators
EVENT CRASH RETRIEVAL to break in and open its hatchway. digestive tract but perfect teeth.
After successfully dismantling the Whether or not Scully was the
According to the newspaper object, its components and the victim of a hoax, Aztec remains just
columnist Frank Scully in his book cadavers were then transported to one of many similar crash retrievals
Behind the Flying Saucers a most what is now Wright Patterson Air reported in the United States over
extraordinary discovery was made Force Base. Further investigation of the years.
by the United States Air Force in the object apparently revealed still
1948. According to the story he was working control panels displaying
told by his informants a flying saucer hieroglyphic symbols and a book of NAME CHILES!WHITIED
had crashed near Aztec, New hieroglyphs on plastic like paper. DATE 24 JULY 1 948
Mexico and was recovered by the The cadavers were described as
PLACE MONTGOMERY, GEORGIA
United States military. Inside the approximately 3 ft 6 in ( 107 em) high
MAP REF: M 1 8
craft were sixteen dead humanoid with large heads, large slanting eyes
alien cadavers. The disc had been and diminished nose, mouth and EVENT CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE FIRST
detected by radar units and indeed it ears. The bodies were apparently KIND
is thought that radar signals may very thin with long arms and webbed
have disrupted the craft's controls, just after the formation of the US
bringing it down accidentally. A model make r's reconstruction of the Air Force's Project Sign, one of its
The disc was 100 ft (30 m) wide Aztec crash retrieval . A more exciting many attempts to investigate UFOs,
and had a central cabin around 6 ft incident than Roswell (see page 1 8) but it received the report of two Eastern
( 1 83 em) high. It was made of a light less autho ritatively substantiated . M any Airline pilots, Captain C. Chiles and
metal so strong that neither heat nor believe this one to be a hoax . First Officer john Whitted.
22

24. • I l l ' 1 111 11 1111 11 •
DATABASE 1 940s
In the early hours of the morning Cub nearby, which he confirmed reason. I am also ccrtam that it was
they were flying an Eastern Airlines visu(JIIy. At the same time he S(JW governed by the laws of inertia,
DC-3 ncar Montgomery when both another craft moving very rapidly because its acceleration was rapid,
pilots witnessed a U FO heading under his right wing. He contacted not immedi(Jte and although it was
towards them at 'terrific speed'. So the tower for further identification able to tum fairly tightly, at
close was the encounter that the but they confim1ed no aircraft near considerable speed, it still followed a
DC-3 had to veer sharply to the left him, other than the Piper C ub. natural curve. '
and the UFO passed by only 700 ft Closing in, Gom1an S(JW that the A most remarkable balloon!
(213 m) from the plane. The UFO's object displayed (] light some 8 in (20
deceleration was so violent that it em) in diameter. I t was globular and
rocked the DC-]. hazing at the edge. Gom1an watched NAME WHITE SANDS
The pilots were close enough to the object move into (] sudden tum
DATE 24 APRIL 1949
it to take some note of the object passing over the control tower;
PLACE WHITE SANDS PROVING GROUNDS,
itself; it appeared to radiate an Gorm(Jn dived towards the object
NEW MEXICO
intense blue light and the pilots saw but could not catch up with it. As it
MAP REF: H18
a double row of windows along the started gaining altitude it banked left
side. As it disappeared behind the and Gom1an attempted to follow. At EVENT DISTANT DAYLIGHT SIGHTING
plane they saw a red-orange this point they were 7, 000 ft
exhaust. They estimated its (2, 130 m) high, the object made a On a clear Sunday morning ncar the
speed at between 500-700 miles sharp tum again and was heading White Sands Proving Grounds,
(805- 1 , 1 27 km) per hour. straight for Gorman's aircraft. The Naval Commander R. McLaughlan
There was corroboration of the effect was so startling that Gorman and a tracking crew of four launched
sighting from witnesses at Robbins was forced to make a dramatic dive a large weather balloon. This
Field, Georgia who described an and the light passed over the canopy followed an earlier launch of a small
object tallying very closely with the some 500 ft ( 1 52 m) above him. As similar balloon at 1 0. 30 a. m.
description given by the pilots. the UFO circled above, Gorman They were tracking their target
gave chase again. One account at approximately 10, 000 ft (3, 0·18 m)
suggests that the manoeuvring was when one of the team, Charles
NAME FARGO so intense that Gom1an blacked out Moore, spotted a white egg-shaped
temporarily. object; he pointed it out and the
DATE 1 OCTOBER 1948
Air traffic control was now UFO was confirmed visually by all
PLACE FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA visually confirming Gorman's the personnel. For about one minute
MAP REF: J15 sighting, traffic controller Errol they tracked the object until they
EVENT AERIAL DOG FIGHT Jensen announced 'You were right. saw it shoot up and vanish.
There is something. ' He was If their interpretation of the data
Captain Edward A. Ruppelt's official examining the object through high­ was correct, it follows that when
131ue Book explanation of the Fargo powered binoculars and he passed they had first started tracking the
encounter was 'In this incident the these to witness Manuel Johnson, object it had been 56 miles (90 k m )
U FO was a balloon. ' Considering the who confirmed the sighting. high and travelling at 7 miles ( 1 1 km)
facts of the case below it is difficult As the object closed in again it per second, the escape ,·elocity
to decide whether this conclusion suddenly shot upwards, Gorman needed to break out of the Earth's
represents great imagination on the chased it to 14, 000 ft (4, 260 m) and gravitational pull. During one part of
part of the US Air Force or an his plane then went into a power the observation the craft had made
astonishing lack of it. stall, its engine dead. The object an 80 degree turn at that velocity,
It was approximately 9 o'clock in disappeared towards the north­ quite beyond the capabilities of c·en
the evening of 1 October 1 948 when west-north direction. The combat today's technoloh'Y·
Second Lieutenant George Gom1an had lasted nearly thirty minutes. Interestingly. the object was
of the North Dakota Air National Gorman reported 'I am convinced simil<lr in shape and colour to the
Guard was piloting an F-51 towards there was thought behind these object which landed at Socono. :'ew
Fargo, North Dakota. As he was manoeuvres. I had the distinct llexico on 24 April l96·1 (see page
being !-,
>iven instructions to land he impression that its manoeuvres ·16). fifteen years to the day
was infom1ed that there was a Piper were controlled by thought or following this sighting.
23

25. N O RTH AM E R I CA
NAM E THE TRENT PHOTOGRAPHS A local newspaper pi ck e d up the One of two photog raphs taken by M rs Paul
DATE 1 1 MAY 1950 story and published the Trent on 1 1 M ay 1 950 over the Trent farm
photo,graphs, which were later at McMi nnvi l l e , O re go n .
PLACE McMINNVILLE, OREGON
featured in LIFE magazine, causing
MAP REF: E14
something of a national sensation. At in diameter, and evidently artificial,
EVENT CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE FIRST the time they were some of the best flew within sight of two witnesses. '
KIND flying saucer photographs available. In the four decades since the
William Hartmann, investigating for photo,1..,
rraphs were taken there have
In th e early evening of 1 1 M ay 1 950, t h e Condon committee, been many more sophisticated
on a small farm near McM innville, acknowledged that t he se analysis techniques employed to
M rs Trent was out side feeding her photo,graphs were the only ones study the photographs such as 'edge
ra bbit s when she s aw the cl os e that the committee had not enhancement' (which would show
a pproa c h of a large disc-shaped dismissed ( the Condon committee any cut-outs photographed through
object . She called to her husband, was notmious for its unscientific, glass, or expose any supporting
Paul Trent, who brough t with him dismissive attitude t oward s th e wires or struts for example) and
t heir camera, and M rs Trent was UFO p he n omen on ). He stated that colour-contouring. None have yet
able to take t wo black and white the photo,1..,
rraphs were consistent suggested that the photographs
photoJ..,rr; 1phs as the object passed with the witness's testimony 'that an were faked, and the indications
across the sky in the direction of t he extraordinary flying object, silvery, suggest that some large object flew
nort h west . m e tal lic , disc shaped, tens of meters over the Trent's fam1 that day.
24

26. . · l lllllfll
OAT ABASE 1 950s
1 950s
NAME THE LUBBOCK LIGHTS they wat ched the remaining object s .
A suggestion w a s ma d e t h a t the
DATE 28 AUGUST 1 951
NAME DURING THE WASHINGTON FLAP scope may not be functioning
PLACE LUBBOCK, TEXAS
DATE 1 9 JULY 1952 correctly but the technician
MAP REF: 1 1 8
examined it a nd ;1greed that i t was in
PLACE WASHINGTON D C.
EVENT ANOMALOUS LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS perfect working order.
MAP REF: N16
AI<TC called the control tower
Witnessed on many occasions and EVENT RADAR VISUAL ENCOUNTER and a senior officer there confirmed
photographed several times arc the that they were also watching the
famous Lubbock lights which appear It was nearly midnight when staff of same unknowns on their r(ldar
from lime to time over Lubbock in the Air Route Traffic Control screens and that they had had
Texas. Many explanat ions have (AWI'C) at Washington National inform<ltion from Andrews Air Force
been offered for the arrow shaped Airport noticed a forn1ation of seven Base that that military installation
formation; inevitably, fleets of flying objects on the radar screen, at a was monitoring the objects.
saucers have featured prominently. position slightly south-cast of Throughout the time of the
I Iowevcr, other suggestions have Andrews Air Force Base. The observ<ltions the object s were not
included lights rcllccting on the objects seemed to be moving at only manoeuvring <lt incredible
underbellies of ducks, and a natural approximately 1 00- UO miles speed above Washin.L, ton D. C. but
r
light phenomenon not yet ( 1 60-209 km) per hour and were they h<ld the temerit y to fly into the
understood by science, but perhaps therefore a ssumed to be a flight of 'no go' (}rea above the White l lousc.
a cousin of the Au rora Horealis (sec ordinary small aircraft. Perhaps they were considering that
page 42), or St Elmo's fire. Suddenly t wo of the objects much requested 'landing on the
The lights have become accelerated forward and off the White House lawn'.
something of a tourist attraction. As screen at an amazing rate, later They were not alone in the sky.
one American put it, Lubbock used calculation indicated in excess of Captain S. 'Casey' Piem1an of
only to have the Lights and Buddy 7, 000 miles ( 1 1 , 265 km) per hour, Capital Airlines was flying Flight �07
Holly (who was born there) - now and at this point the radar monitor from Washin.L, ton to Detroit a nd
r
they've only got the Lights. knew that he was not witnessing sighted the seven objects between
nom1al aircraft movements. Washin}...rton and Martinsburg. He
A photograph taken by an unnamed I Ic called for his senior officer reported the objects (}S ' like falling
teenage student over Lubbock . Texas. and together with two other experts shooting st<lrs without tail s'.
25

27. • 1 1 1 111 ll lll l1n •·
N O RTH AMERICA
At around 9 o'clock in the evening
the scout-master and three scouts
were travelling by car from a
meeting towards their homes when
they saw lights in the nearby woods.
Desvergers, carrying a machete
knife and a torch, left the three boys
in the car and went to investigate.
One of the scouts apparently saw a
red ball of fire above where
Desvergers had last been seen;
when Desvergers failed to return,
one of the scouts ran to the nearest
house and telephoned the sheriff.
It was as the sheriff arrived that
Desvergers made his reappearance.
He was badly frightened, totally
exhausted and describing a very
close encounter indeed. He stated
Geo rge J Stock p hotographed this , which sphere hovering directly above that when he had reached a clearing
was one of seven U FOs h e saw over them. ARTC called for Air Force he had pointed his torch upward and
Passaic, N ew Jersey on 29 J u ly 1 952 . The interceptors which arrived too late; had seen a huge, metallic, disc­
sighting came during an i ntense wave of the objects had gone. shaped machine hovering above
reports i n the vicinity of Washi ngton DC Senior Air Traffic Controller him, which had immediately fired
(the Washington Flap) and is typical of Harry G. Barnes at the ARTC made some sort of hot spray at him. He
many descri ptions of the time. the observation that it seemed as had lain injured for a few minutes
though the UFOs were monitoring during which time the saucer
Pierman observed the objects for radio communication between disappeared.
some twelve minutes before they ground and aircraft and were able to There certainly seems to be
disappeared at remarkable speed take appropriate action based on some corroboration for the story:
and confirmed much of the detail of what they could hear. Desvergers' arm was scorched, his
the radar reports. He said of the hat was burned, and the Sheriff
incident 'In all my years of flying discovered scorching in the trees.
I've seen a lot of falling or shooting NAME DESVERGERS ENCOUNTER
stars . . . but these were much DATE 1 9 AUGUST 1952
faster than anything like that I 've
PLACE WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
ever seen. They couldn't have
MAP REF: N 1 9
been aircraft . . . they were
moving too fast for that. ' EVENT CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE SECOND
Piennan's confirmation of the KIND
radar sightings is all the more
impressive for his impartiality. He Evidence of possible hostility on the
stated ' Please remember I didn't part of UFOs comes from the claims
speak of them as flying saucers . . . of scout-master D. Desvergers and
only very fast moving lights. ' his experience on 19 August 1952.
In the pre-dawn light further Most s ignificant is the reaction of
confirmation was approaching. A the Air Force. Instead of ordering a
new blip had appeared on the ARTC routine check by a local intelligence
radar screen above Andrews Air officer from Miami, they instructed
Force Base and tower personnel Captain Ruppelt, the head of its Captain Edward J R u p pelt, head of Project
there. when notified, visually U F O investigation Project Blue Blue Boo k , the US Air Force 's
observed a large globular orange Book. to investigate personally. i nvestigation i nto the U FO phenomeno n .
26

28. 1 1 1 ' i i l l llllln•·
DATABASE 1950s
PHOTOG RAPHIC EVI DENCE
For most people. photographic evidence is perhaps the most analysis can expose these photographs as such. In one such
convincing of all material used to substantiate a sighting . In case BUFORA received a photograph showing a disc in the sky
fact. photographs can easily mislead and confuse rather than which had not been noticed at the time the photograph was
clarify a case. Very few credible cases are supported by taken. The witness was convinced of the extra-terrestrial origm
photographs, and many photographs that do exist are vague of the 'craft' shown but close study of the negative revealed it to
and give very little information about the origin of a UFO be a lens flare.
phenomenon. No photograph, however thought-provoking, has Occasional ly, photographs last a long time before being
yet been able to prove satisfactorily that UFOs are extra­ exposed in this way T he photograph below was taken on 1 6
terrestrial spaceships. July 1 952 a t Salem, Massachusetts during a wave of sightings
Nevertheless. photographs are of use in support of witness It was case number 1 501 in the US Air Force's Project Blue
testi mony. If the image in the photographs is consistent with Book. The photog raph seems to show l ights in the air over the
the story l ine given by the witness, then the case gains strength Coast Guard Fac i l ity. In fact. the photograph was taken through
from the added weight of evidence. If the photographs tell a a glass window, and modern analysis suggests that the images
different story, then almost certainly the case is a hoax. Many are reflected l ights from somewhere inside the bu i l d ing, which
photog raphs indicate the presence of U FOs but subsequent quite possibly went unnoticed by the photog rapher at the time
analysis proves otherwise. Often, people wi l l 'snap' pictures on who wou ld have been concentrating on the 'dimm ing' and
holiday only to find, when examining the developed prints, that 'brightening' of the l ights as he l ined up to take the photograph.
disc-shaped objects appear in the sky. Sometimes these are Of course when s trange l ights appear in the sky over a Coast
establ ished to be lens flares (which can have remarkable Guard facility one can understand to some extent how a
symmetry and apparent sol idity) or tricks of the light. Modern photographer might leap to false conclusions.
27

29. N O RTH A M E R ICA
NAME GEORGE ADAMSKI miles (16 km) from Desert Centre,
DATE 20 NOVEMBER 1 952
towards Arizona.
To a limited extent the encounter
PLACE GEORGE ADAMSKI, DESERT CENTRE,
was witnessed by two families, the
CALIFORNIA
Williamsons and the Baileys who had
MAP REF: E 1 8
asked to be with him when he next
EVENT T H E FIRST CONTACT BETWEEN MAN believed he would see a flying
AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL saucer. They reported that from a
distance of approximately a mile
In 1 953 62-year-old George away they saw some details of the
Adamski published a book Flying meeting.
Saucers Have Landed which claimed Adamski was watching and
that he had met with photographing a flying saucer some
extraterrestrials in the desert in 3� ft ( 1 1 m) wide when he noticed a
California. Although there had been man beckoning towards him. The
flying saucer sightings for many man was approximately 5 ft 6 in
years (and indeed Adamski revealed ( 167 em), of average weight and
that he himself had been sighting appeared youthful. He had perfect
saucers since 1 946), this was the white teeth, calm green eyes, long
first claim of contact between man flowing blond hair and tanned skin.
and alien. It apparently occurred just He was wearing a one-piece brown
after noon on Thursday, 20 ski-type suit and oxblood coloured
November 1952 approximately 10 shoes resembling sandals.
28

30. I I
DATABASE 1 950s
The two used sign language and Q pposm AflovE Flying saucer
telepathy to communicate and the photographed by contactee George
alien indicated he was Venusian. I n Adamski at 9 . 1 0 am on 13 D ecember
the days when Adamski published 1 952 at Palomar Gardens in Califo rn i a .
his b oo k it was he l d that Venus was Adamski took t h e p 1cture through a
the sister planet of the Earth and 6 in ( 1 5 em) telescope . OPPOSITE
likely to produce a n identical race o f Bnow Photographed by George Adamski
people. Subsequent analysis o f the on 5 March 1 95 1 , the picture apparently
planet indicates that that could not shows a cigar shaped ' mother craft'
be further from the truth and no releasing small ' scout ship s ' . R IGHT The
humanoid could comfortably live on cover of Adamsk i ' s book , written with
the planet. The alien apparently British author Desmond Lesl i e , which told
believed in God, felt that he and his the extraordinary tale of Adamski 's
people followed a more devoted path meetings with extra-terrestrials. His were
than us and was concerned about the fi rst clai ms of this sort and led to a
atomic radiation from Earth . plethora of others in subsequent years .
The contact was the first of BELow M ount Palomar observatory, the
many; during this first meeting dome of the 200 i n (500 em) Hale
Adamski handed his alien companion Telescope. Adamski made much of his
a film from his camera and at the association with this institution although
second meeting the film was his main connection with the
apparently returned, covered in establishment was his job at a local
indecipherable hieroglyphs. In hamburger cafe .
subsequent adventures Adamski
was taken on journeys to other
planets where he met Martians,
Saturnians and Jovians.
In 1 965 Adamski and Madeleine
Rodeffer apparently took 8 mm
movie film of the flying saucer
visitations in Maryland, USA though
the authenticity of that film has been
called into question.
Many of Adamski's photographs
were taken in the grounds of the
Mount Palomar Observatory where
Adamski worked and had a small
telescope. Over the past forty years
controversy has dogged Adamski's
claims and the photographs he
produced but, more importantly,
scientific knowledge has made
redundant many of the statements
he made. Adamski himself was
clearly aware of the controversy. In
Flying Saucers Have Landed he states
'Suriace thinkers might like to conclude
that J had had a very original dream.
Or that I may be out to make money
for myself in the field of science
fiction. I can assure such persons that
nothing is farther from the truth . '
29

33. N O RTH A M ER I CA
NAME GULF OF MEXICO Harter needed no confirmation of story remained quite firn1.
DATE 6 DECEMBER 1 952 that; he was watching the objects Major Donald E. Keyhoe, a
approaching incredibly fast outside prominent ufologist with a military
PLACE GULF OF MEXICO
the windscreen. Bailey watched out background, interpreted the sighting
MAP REF: K19
of the starboard side of the plane as as: 'The discs had been launched
EVENT RADARNISUAL ENCOUNTER one of the objects, illuminated blue­ from a huge mothership for some
white, streaked rapidly past the type of reconnaissance mission . . .
In the early hours of the morning of plane, vanishing to the rear. Almost for a rendez-vous, whoever guided
6 December, Captain john Harter immediately other UFOs were the discs had chosen this point over
and radar officer, Lieutenant Sid appearing on the radar screen and all the Gulf of Mexico. After the B-29
Coleman were returning to base heading towards the aircraft! was sighted one group of discs had
following a night practice flight of Fortunately for the aircrew the been diverted for a brief observation
their B-29 bomber. UFOs were on a course which just or tracking. Then, flying at 5, 000
They were approximately missed the aircraft and after six miles (8, 04 7 km) per hour they had
200 miles (322 km) from Galveston, minutes from the time of the first been taken aboard the mothership. '
100 miles ( 1 60 km) south of the sighting it appeared that the danger Whether this interpretation is
Louisiana coast at 1 8, 000 ft was over. It was not! correct or not is open to debate and
(5, 186 m) in bright moonlight when A third group of UFOs flashed the visual sightings were unable to
Coleman noticed an unidentified blip onto the radar screen, radar confirm a distinct shape to the
on one edge of the radar screen. It tracking indicated speeds much the objects because they were moving
was not until the second sweep of same as before. Again blue-white so fast. However, the fact is that
the screen that its significance illuminated objects streaked past the several members of a highly trained
became apparent. plane. For Captain Harter the crew all witnessed the same
When the blip reappeared the dangers were all too real as he was encounter. Added to this it was
unknown object had moved 13 miles watching the objects cutting across tracked not only visually but on
(21 km). By the third sweep the plane's flight path and - suddenly radar, strongly suggesting the proof
Coleman and his staff sergeant had swerving - they were now heading of some reality, whatever its exact
computed the speed of the object: straight for the B-29! nature or source.
over 5, 000 miles (8, 04 7 km) per Suddenly, and almost
hour, considerably faster than any unbelievably, the objects slowed to
aircraft of the day! the speed of the aircraft and paced it NAME TUJUNGA CANYON
Coleman reported the trace to for some ten seconds. As the crew
DATE 1 953
the captain, and indicated the speed watched, the objects pulled away
PLACE TUJUNGA CANYON, CALIFORNIA
of the object; Captain Harter and then the most amazing part of
insisted that the set should be the sighting occurred. MAP REF: E1 7
recalibrated as it was 'impossible'. An enormous UFO apparently EVENT ABDUCTION
While Coleman was recalibrating the joined the formation and, still
set Master Sergeant Railey noticed moving at some 5, 000 miles The Tujunga Canyon abduction was,
another object on the screen. At (8, 047 km) per hour, it appeared by today's standards, a rather
that point the navigator, Lieutenant that the smaller craft docked or undetailed and unremarkable event.
Cassidy, reported that he had them merged with the larger object. However, it contains certain aspects
on his screen as well. Accelerating to 9, 000 miles which make it worthy of note.
Within a short space of time there (14, 484 km) per hour the UFO The case predates Antonio Villas
were four UFOs on the screen and flashed across the scope and Boas (see page 1 8 1 ) and Betty and
the captain radioed from the flight disappeared. The encounter was Barney Hill (see page 42) by some
deck ' I've got four unknowns at finally over. years and consequently becomes
12 o'clock. What do you show?' Captain Harter contacted his one of the first reported abductions.
('12 o'clock' is the code for 'dead base and when he landed United A word of caution: the report first
ahead'). Coleman reported that the States Air Force intelligence officers arose considerably after the given
objects were shmving up on all three met him and the crew. For some date, not in fact until 1975 when
of the plane's rad;1r screens and it time they were questioned abduction lore was rife in America.
was therefore not ;, 11alfunction. separately and as a group but their Note, too, that the case contains, at
32

34. DATABASE 1 950s
H G WE LLS'S WAR OF THE WORLDS C O M E S TO A M E R I CA
In 1 897, when H G Wells's War of tile
Worlds was published, man had not yet
even learned to harness the power of
f l ight. In h i s original story the Martians
reached Earth in bul let- l i ke projecti les
fi red as i l from a gun and proceeded to
terrorize the Home Counties in England
from within walking machi nes. In 1 953.
George Pal 's film moved the location to
California and updated the wal king
mach i nes to flying saucers. I t was a
clear reaction to the flying saucer
phenomenon. Pal said. 'With all the
talk about flying saucers. War of the
Worlds had become especially timely.
And thai was one of the reasons we
updated the story . ' Just as films mirror
UFO reports, conversely, detai led
analysis shows that some aspects of
U FOs fol low f i l m and other
myt hologies; the interaction is a
complex one which requires serious
research. Genuine reports of al iens
often act l i ke their f i l med predecessors.
yet lhe films were made before alien
reports were offered. Simple copy-cat
claims do not explain I he complexity of
the interaction. wh ich suggests t hat a
genu i ne experience is being overlaid
on a basic belief syslem which can
manifest ilsell i n fact or fiction.
least as reported, the most explicit possibility as the road towards their suffered a two hour, twenty minutes
example of missing time in any cabin was rough and would have time lapse and this caused them to
abduction case. caused 'bouncing' motion. Jan was panic so considerably that they left
According to the report the two now awake and went to get her their home and went to Jan's parents.
witnesses, known a s Sara Shaw and dressing-gown, Sara noticed it was Regression hypnosis revealed a
Jan Whitely, both in their early 2 a. m. on the clock. classic abduction story, se'eral of
twenties, were living in a remote As apparently only a fraction of a which we shall sec later in this
part of the Tujunga Canyon in second passed she looked at the database. The ca se has also come
California. Sara was woken by a clock again feeling giddy and under considerable scrutiny from
moving light out of her bedroom confused and noticed that the minute those who belie'e abductions
window which apparently terrified hand had moved on twenty minutes. constitute a psycholo,t.,rical
her. She feared it might be the When Jan checked the clock she phenomenon as it appears that the
headlights of a motorcycle gang confirmed this observation but two � r ls' sexual relationships may
ri
seeking to attack the isola ted pointed out that the hour hand had ha'e generated anxieties of which
women. The smooth movement of also moved on two hours. the abduction may ha·e been a
the lights quickly ruled out this Apparently both witnesses had manifestation.
33