◆ SpookStack

2 a- ot. a Credence in the saucers—widely laughed ‘off at their first reported appearance June 25—grew as hun- (dreds of observers, some of them) trained fliers, reported seeing) ‘them. 3 sy Jap Duvall, assistant su nte of the Naval Obsejjv ory, -We that the saucer “does seem to be an astronomical mena.” ¢ VEW Chief Awaiting Message A crowd of 200 observed a aise, ane Cap ital Hy Fly us Dises ‘at Hauser Lake, Idaho, Friday and| tempted explanations throughout|Guard, announced that the guard’s , group of 60 picnickers saw them the country yesterday. }squadron would attempt to photo-| 34 Twin Falls, Idaho, And in A Los Angeles © newspaper | graph any future apparitions of the! poytiand. Oreg 5 many residents! quoted an unidentified scientist;discs, He said six P-51 fighter ¥ a in nuclear physics at the California Institute of Technology as saying the flying discs have resulted from experiments in “transmutation of atomic energy” being conducted at Muroe Lake, Calif., White Sands, WN. Mex.; Portland, Oreg., and elsewhere, The scientist, whom the news- paper said had worked as a re- searcher on the atomic bomb “Manhattan Project,’ was quoted as saying: “People are not seeing things. Such fiying discs actuaily are in experimental existence. “These saucers so-called are capable of high speeds but they can be controlled from the ground. “They are 20 feet in width at e center and are partially rocket- ‘opelled on the takeoff.” However, other scientists were! | planes, equipped with gun and tele- scopic cameras, would be kept ready to take off on a moment's notice. Col. F. J. Clark, commanding officer of the Hanford Engineering Works in the Pacific Northwest where the largest saucer influx has been reported, said the saucers were not coming from the atomic plant there. .“I have been waiting for some- one to tie the discs to the Han- ford atomic plant,” he said. He! declared that as far as he knew} no experiments were Under way} there which would explain the| mystery. Two Chicago astronomers said the discs are probably “man-! made.” | “They couldn't be meteors,” said Dr. Girard Kiuper, director of } sheptical about the claims of the\the University of Chicago's Yerkes uthamed California physicist. Dr.;Observatory at Williams Bay, Wis.| Harold Urey, famed atomic scien-| Dr. Oliver Kee, director of| tist at the University of Chicago,|Northwestern University’s Dear-) said the term “transmutation of)born Observatory, said: | atomie energy” is “gibberish.” “We realize that the Army and “You can transmute metals, but;Navy are working on all sorts of not energy,’ and Dr, Urey. things we know nothing about.” David Lilienthal, chairman of| He said the mystery disks may the Atomic Energy Commission,|"epresent an accomplishment simi- declared the unexplained discs are|lar to that of sending radar sig- in no way connected with atomic}als to the moon,” one of the great-| ‘experiments, Lilienthal said he|@St technological achievements of; couldn’t shed any light on the! the war and accomplished in abso-' witnessed them that same day the’ police department, sent out an a}- cars broadcast. : The crew of a United Airlings plane said seyeral of the rounf, flat objects were visible for abo4t 12 minutes » | mystery and added: “Until someone has the facts about this phenomenon, “I can’t see how anyone can say anything definite about it.” And Dr. C. C. Lauritsen, head of the nuclear physics department at California Institute of Tech-| nology, said he was certain nobody in his department, which includes four former Manhattan Project researchers including himself, had) made “such a statement.” _ | He expressed the opinion that the discs “have nothing to do with nuclear physics.” Strangely enough, the Murco, Calif., Army Air Base, identified as one of the sites where the “secret experiments” are being carried out, announced that it had a P/p0 fighter plane standing by to give ¢ ae if one of the flying sauceps omy appearance, — eR | ol, Al Dutton, commanding officer the Oregon Netional lute secrecy,” Here in Washington, Dr. New4 bern Smith of the National Burea of Standards expressed the opinio: that all the excitement is akin % “those Loch Ness Monster stories.’#) The only comment offered by! JUL = 6 1947 WASHINGTON POST Page 1-M & 3-M