Chapter 1
UFOlogists have proposed countless theories to explain the presence of flying saucers in the vicinity of the earth. They are here simply to explore the earth and to study our civilization, some suggest. Others say that UFOs are members of a galactic peace corps keeping an eye on our scientific achievements - particularly in the realm of atomic physics and space travel. Still others say that saucers come from a dying planet whose occupants are in search of a new world in which to settle. Some even speculate that the saucerians in ages past colonized the earth, that their descendants are among us today and that saucers are here to check on the progress of these descendants.
It is not outside the realm of possibility that all these theories are at least partially correct, as you will see. But for all of them there is a common denominator of inconsistency: no theory yet accounts for the fact that UFOs systematically avoid contact with earthlings. The best that theorists can do to date is to assume that the saucerians know that such contact would disrupt earth's economy and throw us into chaos.
But then, why do they even allow us to see them? For isn't there the danger that when enough sightings are made, earthlings will at length be convinced that superior intelligence and technology are responsible? Moreover, it appears that UFOs want to be seen. A recent Gallup poll indicated that over five million Americans have seen flying saucers or strange lights in the sky at night. Add to this the volume of unreported sightings in other parts of the world, and it becomes obvious that UFOs are not hiding: they simply are not making contact - not yet!
To the student of UFO literature, the reality is unquestionable: flying saucers do exist. Report after report from reputable witnesses is recorded in the files of both governmental agencies and civilian investigating bodies. Still photographs and movies of UFOs are also on file. Yet officially, UFOs do not exist. Although we are not concerned here with the reasons for such a position, you may find interesting the personal opinion of Edward J. Ruppelt, former head of the United States Air Force project investigating UFOs. In his book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Ruppelt says: "What constitutes proof? Does a UFO have to land at the River Entrance to the Pentagon, near the Chiefs of Staff offices? Or is it proof when a ground radar station detects a UFO, sends a jet to intercept it, the jet pilot sees it and locks on with his radar, only to have the UFO streak away at phenomenal speed? Is it proof when a jet pilot fires at a UFO, and sticks to his story even under threat of court-martial? Does this constitute proof?"
Saucer sightings are not a new phenomenon. A literal interpretation of the Old Testament indicates that not only were saucers sighted in biblical times but their occupants actually made contact with earthlings, who, incapable of comprehending such an advanced technology, referred to the craft as "fiery shields, heavenly firmaments, wheels within wheels," and to the occupants as "angels." Since that time manuscripts down through the centuries reveal that "great ships in the sky" have been frequent visitors to our planet. An ancient papyrus from Egypt discloses that some fifteen hundred years before Christ, a "great circle of fire was coming in the sky." The account goes on to say that it had no head or tail, which suggests that it gave the appearance of being alive; "it had no voice, but its mouth had a foul odor." Interestingly, many modern reports, especially those involving low-flying and grounded UFOs, make reference to a foul odor: a smell like that of burning sulphur is the most frequent description. Ruling out the possibility of meteors, the report ends by saying that the circle was joined by others and that they all ascended after a time.
Scattered reports of UFOs appeared in the chronicles of the nineteenth century. One of the most interesting of these follows:
We were awakened by a noise among the cattle. I arose, thinking that perhaps my bulldog was performing some of his pranks, but upon going to the door saw to my utter astonishment an airship slowly descending upon my cow lot, about forty rods from the house.
Calling my tenant, Gid Heslip, and my son Wall, we seized some axes and ran to the corral. Meanwhile, the ship had been gently descending until it was not more than thirty feet above the ground, and we came within fifty yards of it.
It consisted of a great cigar-shaped portion, possibly three hundred feet long, with a carriage underneath. The carriage was made of glass or some other transparent material. It was brilliantly lighted within and everything was plainly visible - it was occupied by six of the strangest beings I ever saw. They were jabbering together, but we could not understand a word they said.
Every part of the vessel which was not transparent was of a dark reddish color. We stood mute with wonder and fright, when some noise attracted their attention and they turned a light directly upon us. Immediately on catching sight of us they turned on some unknown power, and a great turbine wheel, about thirty feet in diameter, which was slowly revolving below the craft began to buzz and the vessel rose lightly as a bird. When about three hundred feet above us it seemed to pause and hover directly over a two-year-old heifer, which was bawling and jumping, apparently fast in the fence. Going to her, we found a cable about a half-inch in thickness made of some red material, fastened in a slip knot around her neck, one end passing up to the vessel, and the heifer tangled in the wire fence. We tried to get it off but could not, so we cut the wire loose and stood in amazement to see the ship, heifer and all, rise slowly, disappearing in the northwest.
We went home, but I was so frightened I could not sleep. Rising early Tuesday, I started out by horse, hoping to find some trace of my cow. This I failed to do, but coming back in the evening found that Link Thomas, about three or four miles west of Le Roy, had found the hide, legs and head in his field that day. He, thinking someone had butchered a stolen beast, had brought the hide to town for identification, but was greatly mystified in not being able to find any tracks In the soft ground. After identifying the hide by my brand, I went home. But every time I would drop to sleep I would see the cursed thing, with its big lights and hideous people. I don't know whether they are devils or angels, or what; but we all saw them, and my whole family saw the ship, and I don't want any more to do with them.
The witness, one Alexander Hamilton, was a respected farmer in his community in Kansas and a member of the United States House of Representatives. His report, written in 1897, was accompanied by an affidavit signed by the postmaster, a deputy sheriff, an attorney and many other distinguished citizens of the area.
UFO sightings during World War II were not uncommon. Pilots referred to the strange lights that sometimes paced their planes as "foo fighters." But the real avalanche of sightings started in 1947 shortly after the earth's first atomic ex-plosion. (The occasion is significant.)
The 1947 flap (period of numerous sightings) started with the historic sighting of Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot, who saw nine disc-shaped objects from his plane. He was flying a volunteer search mission for an overdue transport plane in the vicinity of Mount Rainier, in Washington, when suddenly his attention was drawn to a flash in the area of a mountain range. To his amazement he watched nine disc-shaped objects zoom along the mountain range with a flight characteristic which he later described as "like a saucer skipping across water." Hence was born the name flying saucer,
Arnold's report was followed by thousands of others that year, and then the sightings gradually tapered off. But flaps have occurred ever since, apparently in two-year cycles. It is noteworthy that the 1957 cycle started earlier in the year than the others, coinciding with Russia's launching of Sputnik I. Also worthy of mention is the fact that every satellite launching to date has been accompanied by reports of UFOs in the launching vicinity; moreover, though it is not widely publicized, every manned satellite - Russian and American alike - has been tracked in flight by one or more UFOs. Astronaut John McDivitt, on the twentieth revolution of a four-day flight with Astronaut White 1965, actually took movies of a disc-like object that circled their craft as they orbited the earth at over seventeen thousand miles an hour.
At this writing saucer sightings continue at the rate of one every twenty minutes. Of these about half are estimated to be the result of natural or otherwise explainable phenomena (meteors, optical illusions, weather balloons, etc.), but the rest are true UFOs. By true UFOs I mean intelligently controlled craft originating outside the earth.