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2 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Ménday, December 13, 1965 } A. Maney, professor emeritus of physics and New ‘Fireball Raises An Old Question: Do Flying Saucers Exist? * * * Californian, Who “Talks’ to Men From the Stars, Says ‘Yes’; Scientists Assail Air Force By ELLIOT CARLSON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL They’se back. The latest was sighted a few || nights ago by residents and: pilots in the north- || ern tier of states and Canada. They described it as an orange fireball. ‘The Air Force’at first called it an unidentified flying object, but now thinks it was a meteor. Some other people called it a flying saucer. Several people say they saw the firebal] land || Thursday night. An 11-yedr-old boy in Lorain, Ohio, says he watched it drop into the woods near his home. A woman in Elyria, Ohio, 10 miles away, claims she saw it plunge into a vacant lot across the street from her home. Others say they saw it streak into Lake Michi- gan. Scientists and police combed a 75-acre area near Pittsburgh after a woman there saw the object crash to earth ‘‘smoldering.’’ , Despite these witnesses and search efforts, || however, the thing has yet to be found. In this regard, it is like all other unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, which are mysterious be- |. cause, they are seen but never found. ‘Whatever it turns out to be—meteor, satel- ‘+Hte part, hoax, weather oddity or man from Mars-it appeared ina banner year Yor such objects, which almost disappeared from public consciousness following & rash of. reports: of flying saucers.in the mid-1950s: ‘‘We’ve had -|mére reports this year-than in any year since :| 1957, when we had more than a thousand,” says a spokesman -for Project Blue Book, the Air ‘| Force program set up in 1948 to evaluate re- ports of the phenomena. Visitors From Outer Space Nobody knows what the objects are or where they come from, but there is no-lack of theories —or of controversy. The Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, Inc., is sure the “saucers’’ come from outer space. How do |they know? The’ “‘space people’ have told them. Not only that, says Gabriel Green, who heads the California group, ‘‘space people give contactees information about life on other planets and solutions to insurmountable prob- }lems on our planet.’ One suggestion allegedly made to Mr. Green in 1960 by a visit from Al- pha Centauri, ‘a nearby star: Run for Presi- iid as a write-in candidate. (He campaigned briefly, then-decided not to run.) The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a private re- search organization in Washington, doesn’t hold with that theory. ‘“‘We reject reports of noble beings landing on éarth to solve all our problems,” says a spokesman. So men from Mars are a lot of bunk? Not necessarily, says the committee. It believes q Congressional in- vestigation would prove that UFOs “are real Physical objects . . . under the control of living beings.”” As an afterthought, the ‘spokesman says: ‘‘There are a tremendous riumber of ego- maniacs who have been able to appoint them- selves experts in this field because it’s so con- fused.” One man who’s not confused at all is Charles mathematics at Defiance, College in Ohio. Says |} the professor: ‘‘These objects are unquestion- ably from outer space.” He bases his reason- The spokesman quickly adds: ‘‘We have nei- ther received nor discovered any evidence that proves the existence of intraspace mobility or extraterrestrial life and we continue to extend an open invitation to anyone who feels he pos- sesses any evidence of such vehicles operating in our atmosphere.’’ And he states: ‘‘No UFO report evaluated by the Air Force has ever given arly indication of a threat to our national security.” The Air. Force’s approach disturbs some people, however. ‘‘The Air Force should admit. there are natural phenomena taking place un- der our noses of which we know nothing,”’ says I. M. Levitt, director of Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. He adds: “The Air Force is trying to explain something that isn’t susceptible to explanation.” Robert Risser, director of the Oklahoma Sci- ence and Art Foundation planetarium at Okla- homa City, believes ‘‘the Air Force must have had its star-finder upside down during Aug- ust,’’ when.several reparts of flying saucers were ascribed by the Air Force to sightings of stars. ‘‘The constellations of Taurus and Orion weren’t visible at the time the Air Force said the sightings were made. I think they made an error.” The whole problem, says J. Allen Hyntek, chairman of the department of astronomy at Northwestern University and a consultant to the Air Force, is that the matter should be studied more thoroughly. “Pressures to conformity in’ academic cir- cles and fear of ridicule have slowed the study,’’ according to Robert Hall, a sociology professor at the University of Illinois in Chi- cago. “The ypossibility of life on Mars is an un- popular thing to consider these days,” says Frank B. Salisbury, a professor of plant phy- siology at Colorado State University. At the risk of being unpopular, Mr. Salisbury told the fifth annual Space Conference this year ‘that “there may be some natural explanation of these things, but a tentative possibility to .be considered is ‘that UFOs are spaceships from Fueling the flying-saucer controversy has been the large number of reports from what many people consider reliable witnesses—pilots with technical backgrounds. Since 1947, more |than 100 private, military and commercial pilots have reported spotting strange objects in the sky; according to one study. Pinning down such reports is difficult, how- ever. ‘“‘Some of the boys did report things they eouldn’t identify a few years ago,” “says a spokesman for American Airlines. '‘‘But our pilots haven’t made a report for years.” Nevertheless, ‘“‘we have on file a great num- ber of reports from pilots who don’t want their names used but. still want to tell somebody what they’ve seen, claims J. B. Hartanft, Jr., sociation. And he says: ‘‘I haven't drawn any conclusions myself, but I think we’ve certainly got.a.good mystery on our hands.”’ \ Mars.” N [© Mow York Herald Teboas tac, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots As- |. London, Ontario Free Press 100 Watch UFO Disc-Like Object Hovers,. Rises For Two Hours East of Kettle Point By JIM ETHERINGTON Free Press Sarnia Bureau SARNIA — A revolving ob- ject, sighted in the sky east of Kettle Point last night, was watched for more than two hours by about 100 persons. Lawrence Bressette, who op- ‘erates a store on the Kettle Point Indian Reserve, said a motorist brought the object*to his attention about 8 p.m. He said he looked at it through binoculars and could see red, blue, green and white lights flashing from the disc-shaped object. Mr. Bressette said it re-- mained motionless for about an hour flashing lights, then slowly began to rise. Cloud cover rolled in about 10 p.m., allowing only periodic sight- ings. “T’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “We all saw it. It was low — about 200 | or 300 feet off the ground to the east. Then it slowly began to move up.” Mr. Bressette said it could not have been swamp gas which was suggested was the cause of unidentified ‘flying object sightings in the Detroit area last week. “T’ve seen swamp gas lights. | This was not the same,” he said. “Besides there ‘hasn't been any swamp gas lights around here since before the ” war. ‘ \Mr. Bressette said his breth- ‘er, Jeffery, also reported see- ing an object over Sarnia. This one stayed stationary for a short time then shot across the sky at a very high speed. An officer’in control opera- tions at Selfridge Air Force Base, Mount Clemens, Mich., said the Canadian sighting was the fourth reported to him last night. The other three were from the Detroit area, : He said no radar reports’ had been obtained on any of the sightings. Mr, .Bressette reported jet ‘planes in the area at .one point while the group watched along the Lake Huron shore. But there was no possibility the object he saw was a jet. In Michigan new reports of ; Hong Kong China Mail Flying saucers mystery 2-3-66 EOPLE in North Queens- land are mystified by three separate reports of Flying Saucers. The first report came from a 27-year-old banana grower, Mr G. Pedley, who while driving a tractor through a neighbouring property.on his way to his own farm, heard a loud hissing noise above the noise of the tractor. Suddenly. about 25 yards ahead of him, a blue-grey saucer shaped craft "about 25 ft across, and 9ft high, rose vertically to about 60ft and travelling at a} terrific speed headed’ off in a ‘pouth-westerly direction, On investigation, a nest of flattened reeds was found, the circle being about 30ft in diameter and since then four other nests have been | found close by, some of theii onan newly made. ~ During: the last eight months, noless than seven different sightings of Flying Saucers have been reported in the North: Queensland press. Hundreds. of sightseers - have flocked to the Horseshoe Lagoon in the Tully District during the’ last few days to view the circles which are partly hidden by *‘ dense scrub. The RAAF has taken the reports seriously enough to ask for clippings from the nests which - will _ be examined, and any further -26-66 UFO sightings were received Saturday night as far north as the tip of the ‘‘Thumb’’ in Lake Huron. Odd lights were reported in the sky over Oakland County and the neighboring Detroit area. Others were reported westward in the Lansing area. Dr. J. Allen Hynek of North- western University, scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Forte said phenomena seen at Dexter and Hillsdale on the night of March 20 probably were the result of | swamp gases, Sheriff Douglas Harvey of Washtenaw County and civil defence director William Van Horn of Hillsdale County criti- eized. Dr. Hynek’s- report. Van Horn said the swamp gas explanation was an attempt to “explain it away arbitrar- poe 3 Seat |Flying Saucers Gain Proponent N.Y. Daily News Dispatch NEW YORK — The nephew of \|the late Dag Hammarskjold ‘has startled America’s top science writers by telling them he believes \that' flying saucers exist and that they come from outer space. Knut Hammarskjold, whose late uncle was secretary gener- al of the et ae peng lige Sr slesge to a convention here of the avi- ation-space writers . associa- the area will be investigated. tion. - - Hammarskjold also suggested ’ \|that our space neighbors are _ | ||decoming more and more inter- ‘jested in what people are doing on earth. : “The possible existence of aeighbors in space will, if con- ~ firmed, create problems of le- zal, political and technical 3% characteristics, ” he said. UN Watch For Saucers Urged Los Angelés Feb ahand 366 A-11 UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. Feb. 7 (AP)—Colman Von- keviezky, an employe in the U.N. Office of Public Infor- mation, proposed to Secre- tary-General U Thant today that members of the United Nations establish a network to observe flying saucers: Vonkeviczky, who , says he believes someone in out- er space is sending flying saucers regularly on test flights to earth. He told Thant only the United Nations.could be ex- pected to have sufficient authority to establish: con- tact or represent mankind in a. face-to-face meeting ba extraterrestrial vist." | A-2 _ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner STRANGE OBJ ECT OVER MT. WILSON. Thursday, April 21, 1966. ing on the fact that the objects often interfere with local electrical circuits, indicating to him they have ‘‘a means of propulsion associated with magnetic fields.”’ “There’s Nothing To It” Sis Such notions are scoffed at by astronomers, \, Bowevey/ “All this is imagination outside the r of science,”’ says Donald H. Menzel, di- rector of the observatory at Harvard. “I. have examined Air Force cases and discovered ‘that UFOs all have simple explanations in terms || of well-known natural phenomena. There’s not|| . one cause, but hundreds. Some are quite spec- | tacular, such as reflections from ice crystals or |, ||; bright stars, searchlights on clouds or high-{/ flying spider webs. But to some people the exis- tence of flying saucers is‘a matter of religious fanaticism,’’ he says. But Mr. Menzel réads more into the Air Force data than does the Air Force itself. Of the 9,786 UFO reports made to the Air Force since 1947, 673 remain classified as i‘‘unidenti- fied,’’ a spokesman says. He defines this cate- gory as containing sightings whose pertinent data can’t be correlated with any known object or phenomena, ae picked up “no unusu- | al activity” during the peri- od. An Air Force spokesman at Vandenberg said the Air Force’s “Project Blue Book” office in Washington was investigating. An. observer at Mather Air Force Base near Sacra- mentotheorized that the ob- ject may have been gas res" idue left from Nevada missile firings which re- flected light. Sgt. David Tellotson, of Hollywood division, said the object here appeared to be over Griffith Park. “It was a bright green splotch, elon- gated, and not blinking,” he said. The only solid fact emerg- ing: A lot of people.are up at 4 am. | There was something over ‘Mount Wilson early today but; it didn’t catch the entire city napping. ie Police and newspaper switchboards were flooded with calls describing the | object variously as a “puff,” a “greenish ball,” a “flat oval green object with a long tail and a light at the end.” It was first sighted about 4 am. and remained in view for about half an hour. A ‘similar fireball was sighted about the same || time from Sacramento and ‘| from Vanderberg Air Force Base, it was reported. Vandenberg reported no launches during the preceding 24 hours which might account for the phe- nomenon and said radar NEW SAUCER PHOTOS: These remarkable photos of Flying Saucers were taken by Dr. Daniel W. Fry, President of Understanding, Inc., of P.O. Box 76, Merlin, Oregon 97532. Your editor enlarged them from the original 16mm color movie film. Spots on the photos are due to the extreme enlargement of scratches and dust spots on the film. Of special interest is the fact that the same type of craft was photographed near Merlin, Oregon in a wooded section, and again near Joshua Tree, Calif. on the desert. ‘Report Them . .. Forget li— I Have Enough Credibility Problems As It Is’