Chapter 6
The famous apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico was perhaps the first authenticated "miraculous" appearance on earth of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Since that date, December 9, 1531, a series of such appearances have occurred, all under strikingly similar physical and social conditions and all apparently for the same reasons: to warn mankind of the error of their ways and to set them back on God's pathway. With each appearance she has asked that a shrine be built at the spot and has promised to reciprocate by performing miraculous healings at the site. Also, in most cases, she has foretold with alarming accuracy the coming of wars, pestilences and famines.
At La Salette she accurately predicted a great famine; to Saint Catherine Laboure she foretold the chaotic events of 1870 in France; and at Fatima she predicted World War II and the spread of atheistic communism in Russia. At La Salette her warning was typical: "If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my son's arm. It is so heavy, so pressing, that I can no longer restrain it." The son, of course, is Jesus.
If the Lady can predict great disasters why can she not predict whether her people will obey, and whether her son's arm will be loosed? Clairvoyance of this magnitude would conserve much time and effort. It seems obvious, therefore, that she is not supernatural. Wars, famines, etcetera, can be predicted and even generated to fulfill a prophecy, but whether millions of people will be converted to Christian living is impossible to foretell even for God.
All of about ten recognized apparitions of Our Lady have occurred in remote Catholic villages, and the contactees have always been children or child-like adults - illiterate, simple, naive. Aside from the fact that such witnesses would never question the how of an appearance, it is noteworthy that they are not likely to have been influenced to imagine the event by having read or heard of similar experiences.
Besides the similarity of the contactees, there is also a uniformity of characteristics discernible in all the apparitions: an intense, indescribable light on and surrounding the figure is always reported; most appearances occur during overcast weather or precipitation; and finally, a buzzing or similar sound is reported in several cases.
In the diocese of Grenoble in France on September 19, 1846. two children, Melaine Mathieu and Maximin Giraud, saw in a ravine a circle of light which grew more resplendent as "Our Lady of Tears" materialized at the center, She cried, and deplored mankind's not reserving the seventh day of each week for her. She predicted the coming famine (crying all the while), then, surrounded by the halo of light rose gently into the air and slowly faded into the sky.
Besides the fact that prophecies come true and unexplained healings occur at the sites, other circumstances attest to the actuality of these observations. For example, in the incident at Guadalupe, the robe of the Aztec Indian contactee was painted with a picture of the Madonna (who interestingly appeared as a Mexican). The picture survives to this day in colors more vivid than any yet known to man despite the fact that even the material of the garment should long ago have decomposed. And there is no question that the apparition at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 really happened: it was observed by over seventy thousand witnesses.
The question, then, is not Do they happen? But How do they happen? And the answer, as will be shown, is that they are manifestations of the same technology, which is responsible for the prophecies and "miracles" of Old Testament writings, for the "miracles" of Christ and for present day flying-saucer sightings.
If it can be shown conclusively that one such apparition was the work of saucerians, then it will be senseless to try to explain the others as something different. The Lady of Fatima. incident is a case so immersed in circumstantial evidence of flying-saucer origin that even the hardest nosed skeptic, once familiar with the facts, must concede that saucerians were indeed responsible.
In the spring of 1916 in the remote little village of Fatima in Portugal three small children, Lucia dos Santos, aged nine, Francisco Marto, eight, and his sister, Jacinta, six, made the first contact with the luminous figure of a man who claimed to be an angel of God.
It should be pointed out that from recent flying-saucer reports it appears that saucerians can also glow and appear luminous - probably by means of a sterilizing device built into their uniforms. In 1954 three creatures in luminous clothing were seen in Brazil examining the ground near a railroad track. When spotted, they dashed to an oval-shaped craft beside the tracks and quickly disappeared into the sky. On October 10, 1957, luminous occupants of a low, hovering saucer were reported by Miguel Espanol, a Spanish naval officer. He and a companion watched seven such creatures through an open hatchway in the craft. And in December of 1963 in Argentina, Cesar Tulio Gallardo, a railroad worker, reported that while he sat in a coach on a siding, a figure luminous and surrounded by a dazzling light, entered the opposite end of the coach grabbed a news paper from his hands and tore it up. The figure then emptied the contents of an oilcan into a container, and left. Passengers on an incoming train reported later that they had witnessed a "glowing" figure of a man walking along the tracks.
Although this creature never tried to give the impression that he was an angel, the tearing of the newspaper can logically be interpreted as a gesture symbolic of his appraisal of world events at that time.
At Fatima it was different. The three youngsters, tending sheep on the barren, rock-strewn slopes above the village, had said their Rosary, eaten their dinner and started to play, when suddenly a strong wind swept along the hillside. Startled, the children stopped and saw to the east a ball of light approaching. It came steadily toward them until they were enveloped in it, and then they saw the luminous figure of a man materialize in the glow. They were numb with fear, but then the being spoke to them, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me." And their fear was dispelled.
Meeting the prerequisites of contactees-young, illiterate, naive - the youngsters never thought to ask the angel where he came from or why he had to travel physical distances (obeying at least three of nature's laws) to get to them. Surely an angel coming from heaven (a supernatural place?) could have appeared instantaneously at the spot. And if he were observed traveling the last few miles of his journey, wouldn't it be reasonable to ask him the total length of his journey? At least, then we would know how far it is to heaven.
And what of the luminous globe of light? It was an airborne craft of some sort; and if obeying physical laws of space, time and distance, it would defy logic to claim for it a supernatural essence. Indeed, if it were anything other than the same type of craft photographed at Salem, Massachusetts (mentioned earlier), it would be surprising.
When the angel knelt to pray, the children felt compelled, "as if moved by an invisible force," to follow his example, and as they knelt with him he taught them the following prayer: 'My God, I believe in Thee, I adore Thee, I hope in Thee, I love Thee, I ask pardon for all those who do not believe in Thee, nor adore Thee, nor hope in Thee, nor love Thee." In these lines the form and the meter are such that it is inconceivable that illiterate children could have composed them. Rather, with its unmistakable flavor of true Christian prayer, it would be safe to guess that its author already had a bestseller here on earth.
Another safe guess, in view of the mysterious force compelling them to kneel and pray, was that the three children were in a hypnotic state. The boy Francisco, in this and eight subsequent incidents, always saw the apparitions but never heard the voices. Recall the mother at the drive-in who could not hear the buzzing UFO; if Francisco were alive today, tests would undoubtedly show that his sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation was very low, if not completely lacking.
In the summer the angel visited the children again, in much the same manner: riding his glowing chariot, his message again the same: 'Pray for the forgiveness of sinners and offer sacrifices." He informed them at this time that he was the Angel of Portugal; which, if true, would seem to indicate that each country has such an overseer. (Perhaps also each city and each person, as the scriptures preach, has a guardian angel.) As in the first visit, the youngsters felt compelled to do as he said, and once again they were dazed and physically exhausted for several hours after the ordeal. They even felt that they should not speak of the experience to anyone else. Here is evidence of post hypnotic suggestion such as that which caused Betty and Barney Hill to forget their encounter with the space people in New Hampshire. But no attempt was made to keep subsequent visits secret - and as we shall see, for a very good reason!
The implication of the events transpiring on the angel's third and last visit is both awesome and frightening. In October of the same year he came again and performed the sacramental ritual known in Christendom as Communion. With the following words he had Francisco and Jacinta (but not Lucia) drink from a chalice: "Take and drink of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God." While they drank, they were suddenly engulfed by intense rays of light; and Lucia (who for some reason was spared) says that all three knew from that moment on that Jacinta and Francisco would soon be called away to the "kingdom of heaven." And as forecast by Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to them six times the following year, the two children did die; only eighteen months after the last climactic visitation both fell victim to the deadly Spanish influenza which at that time was sweeping the world.
Francisco, the boy, died with comparative ease; but Jacinta, as Our Lady had prophesied, suffered immeasurable pain from a tumor which developed at the spot on her chest where the death ray had played. Today we know that radioactive radiation can cause cancerous tumors, and it kills and limits the production of leucocytes (white blood cells), which are the body's chief defense against infection. The treatment of recent heart-transplant patients has incorporated this principle to thwart the rejection of the new heart by the recipient.
It is a sobering thought that these two innocent children were summarily executed by being forced to ingest the virus of a contagious disease which would ultimately expose seventy thousand "miracle watchers" from all over the world to its ravaging toll. (During the last miracle which was promised and fulfilled at a given time and place, allowing observers from all over the world to congregate, there is strong evidence - as will be shown - that radiation was used to weaken the resistance of those attending. It would be enlightening to know how many of the people present that day in Fatima contracted Spanish influenza.)
Adding one more bit of circumstantial evidence to the case against the angel and Our Lady is the fact that they failed to predict the influenza epidemic, for obviously doing so might have raised the question we raise here now. The agents of God did not want anyone to associate them with the disease.
In the past, however, God has not always been so secretive, for in the Bible we read: "So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And he sent an angel to Jerusalem, to strike it. [Why send an angel when as easily God - if supernatural - could have said, "Hocus-pocus, you are diseased"?]: and as he was striking it, the Lord beheld and took pity for the greatness of the evil: and said to the angel that destroyed: It is enough, now stop thy hand."
God does not take credit for the pestilence struck at Fatima, because the method was not only deceptive but very ungodlike - and very un-supernatural. And if He had to send an angel to Israel to strike the pestilence, we can be certain that the method used there was equally unsupernatural. But all may not be as dark as it appears; for with their technology, the possibility that God and his angels can indeed offer life after death in heaven is not too remote. Perhaps - even likely - Jacinta and Francisco endure as some sort of entities in a state we call heaven.
At any rate, one must contemplate the possibility that much which we attribute to chance and nature may in reality be the result of intervention by God and His angels. Such things as floods, famines and wars may be part of the "grand plan," and since all these catastrophies kill unselectively the only conclusion that can be drawn is that life and death are not used to reward or punish man for his conduct on earth.
It was in the spring of 1917 that the three children of Fatima had the first of a series of visits with Our Lady of Fatima; but unlike the visits of the angel, which were never announced and which, according to the plan as it unfolds, were meant to be seen by no one but the children, the Lady on her first visit announced that she would come again at the same time and place on the thirteenth of each succeeding month for six months. It seems more than coincidence that while the Communion was being given, plans were made to insure that there would be no audience, but that a definite attempt was made to have thousands of spectators at subsequent meetings.
Our Lady made her initial appearance much as the angel had, with a flash of light and a roll of thunder, but she never came down to the ground, seeming always to float at the top of a small holm oak. She was clothed in a white robe which shone so brightly it hurt the children's eyes to look at it.
She spoke to the children reassuringly, as the angel had, telling them she meant them no harm. Lucia asked her many questions regarding who was destined to go to heaven.
"Will I go to heaven?" she asked.
The Lady answered, "Yes."
"Will Jacinta go too?"
"Yes."
"And Francisco?"
"Yes, but he must say many rosaries."
Then Lucia asked about two friends who had died. "Is Maria de Rosario in heaven?" Our Lady, apparently unprepared for such a question, answered affirmatively, and in so doing contradicted the biblical concept of Judgment Day, for according to the scriptures, no one goes to heaven until that time.
"And Amelia?" Lucia inquired of the other deceased friend.
"Poor child!" Our Lady answered, "she is still in purgatory." Then after a moment of silence, she spoke again. "Do you wish to offer up to God all the suffering He desires to send you, in reparation for the sins by which He is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?"
Even for a supernatural god, such a request seems inconsistent with a just and merciful philosophy. Why not make the sinners, suffer, and leave innocent children alone?
Needless to say, the children accepted the request (what would have befallen them had they not?), and the Lady continued, "Then you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort." With that she raised her hands, and from them streamed rays of light which the children reported seemed to penetrate their hearts; but the rays that fell on Lucia, she reports, were different from those which fell on Francisco and Jacinta. The rays on these two seemed to go up to heaven, while those on Lucia seemed to come down.
As promised, on the thirteenth of June the Lady came again. This time, however, the children were not alone: an audience of about fifty curious onlookers who had heard of the incident were also present. The children once again saw and talked with the apparition, but the crowd saw only a strange cloud that hovered over the holm oak for a few moments and then slowly drifted upward and finally disappeared in the east. This incident suggests that while the spacecraft was actually there, the Lady was really an induced hallucination.
At the third meeting, on July 13, the crowd of fifty had swollen to something over three thousand. The story of the incident had spread fast. The crowd was not disappointed: once again the same eerie translucent cloud came and hovered over the holm oak, and those who were close to the three children reported that a strange buzzing or humming sound like that of a swarm of bees could be distinctly heard. One witness, still alive today, says it was like the sound of a giant bluebottle fly shut in an empty jar. Why a super-natural deity should be accompanied by the same sound which accompanies flying saucers is puzzling: surely no supernatural motor would make such a noise.
At this meeting Our Lady, who as always was visible only to the three children, gave Lucia a secret message, the contents of which were not to be divulged until a later date. Also she promised to identify herself and to perform a "miracle" in October so that the people would believe that she really did appear to the children. Then she showed them a vision of the fires of hell with demons and anguished souls in torture, and she told the children that in order to save these souls, devotion to her Immaculate Heart must be established on earth. "If you do what I say," she said, "many souls will be saved, and you will have peace."
She promised an end to World War I, which was raging then, but warned: "If men don't cease to offend God, another, worse war will begin in the pontificate of Pius the Eleventh." Thoughtful consideration of this warning reveals a puzzling quirk in God's nature: according to the prophecy, war will be the punishment, not the crime which offends Him. And we read in the Book of Job, Chapter 35: "... If thou sin, what shalt thou hurt him? And if thy iniquities be multiplied, what shalt thou do against him? And if thou do justly, what shalt thou give him, or what shall he receive of thy hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man that is like thee: and thy justice may help the son of man" (verses 6-8).
It should be clear, then, that God is not truly concerned with man's treatment of man but rather with man's treatment of God; apparently the only way we can offend Him is not to believe in Him.
But then, continuing her prophetic dialogue, Our Lady contradicted herself; she said, "When you see a night lit up by a strange light, know that it is the great sign God is giving you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes of war and hunger and persecution of the church and the Holy Father. [She had just finished saying that if men didn't cease to offend God, another and worse war would begin, implying that the offenses and the war were two different things.] To prevent it, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation of the First Saturdays. If my desires are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecution of the church; the good will be martyred, and the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted and the world will enjoy a period of peace. In Portugal the dogmas of the faith will always be conserved. Don't tell this to anyone else, except Francisco."
Thus were the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II prophesied. And it can only be conjectured whether these events occurred naturally or whether they came about as the result of intervention. Is it another coincidence, for example, that the responsibility for World War II rests solely on the actions of one man, Adolf Hitler? Is it coincidence that Hitler, while confined in a prison cell (where electromagnetic signals could be beamed at him), wrote Mein Kampf outlining his plans for world conquest, in which the territory of communistic, atheistic Russia was the prime target? Is it also coincidence that much of the "divinely inspired" writing in the Bible was done by persons incarcerated or otherwise immobilized? Unquestionably the problem of beaming signals to a chosen target is simplified if the target remains fixed.
In Mein Kampf Hitler said, "The great empire in the east is ripe for collapse. And the end of Jewish rule in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state." These words, written in 1924, just seven years after the incident at Fatima, are too pat to be coincidence: they are a solid clue to the method Our Lady planned to use to convert Russia to her Immaculate Heart. But Hitler failed to overthrow the Russian Empire, and so Our Lady's desires were not fulfilled. Today, as foretold, Russia spreads her errors throughout the world. Only time will tell what the next step will be, but if the prophecy is to come true, Russia must soon become converted from atheism to a belief in God.
Regarding the wording of the prophecy of the "night lit up by a strange light," etcetera, one thing is clear: Our Lady did not mean that the three children would see this sign, nor did she mean there would be but one night and one light, for obviously she was speaking poetically. What she was really saying is, "When men see nights lit up with strange lights, it will be the sign that God is going to punish the world." Need I remind you that the time is now; that at this very moment reports of strange lights in the sky at night are coming in at the rate of one every twenty minutes? How many sightings are never reported can only be guessed, but conservatively we might estimate that combined reported and unreported sightings occur at the rate of one every fifteen minutes.
As mentioned earlier, flying saucers make no attempt to avoid being seen. They know that even the skeptics on earth who deny the existence of flying saucers readily admit that strange lights in the sky at night are indeed a fact, and they know that they are fulfilling a prophecy. How the rest of the prophecy - the punishment of man - will be carried out is discussed in a later chapter.
For reasons that are of no consequence to this account, the three children were not present on the thirteenth of the following month for the scheduled meeting with Our Lady, but the huge crowd which had gathered was rewarded by a "miraculous" display of strange colors. It was as if the whiteness of the sun had been split into its colors by a giant prism. The faces of the witnesses shone with all the colors of the rainbow, changing in a flash from person to person. The rocks, the shrubs, everything in the area, including the air itself, became a dazzling kaleidoscope of shimmering color. Systematically and with calculated precision the trap was being baited more flies would come to the honey next time. And we can be assured that, coupled with this display of colors, God's efficient agents introduced a few Roentgen's of radioactive radiation, thus insuring a lower resistance to the flu virus for those present at that time and also for those present on the last day, when the radiation was employed again.
The August meeting was uneventful: a request for the children to say more rosaries and to use the money being donated daily by eager pilgrims to build a shrine and erect a statue of Our Lady at the site.
But in September, to an audience of over twenty thousand, a characteristic typical of flying saucers accompanied the visit of Our Lady. This time the luminous globe moved in from the east and showered down on the curious onlookers a rain of angels' hair. It was described by those present as like a "soft rain of flower petals, drifting down like snowflakes and vanishing as they touched the ground." In every respect the substance is described exactly like that seen in Ohio at the football game; at Puenye, California; in the San Fernando Valley, California; in Brazil; in Australia; and in almost every part of the earth. Is it really just coincidence that God and some flying saucers both appear as luminous globes, which sometimes emit a distinctive buzzing sound and exhibit the phenomenon of softly drifting angels' hair? Is it coincidence that the angels' hair from God's source sublimes when touching the ground, just like the angels' hair from flying saucers? If these facts are all coincidental, then it is indeed a remarkable string of coincidences!
October 13, 1917, was the date of the promised miracle which was to prove to the world that Our Lady had really appeared to the three children. There could have been no more convincing way of doing this, of course, than to appear to all seventy thousand witnesses that day just as she always had to the three youngsters. But to create a mass hallucination over such a wide area is apparently still impossible, even as it was in the time of Christ, when only a handful of spectators saw Him rise four days after the crucifixion and be carried off in a cloud to heaven. Instead a "miracle" was performed which, while, impressive, can be explained in terms of the flying-saucer technology discussed previously in these pages.
The morning of that day was overcast, and a steady drizzle continued through the early hours, drenching the gathering crowd and turning the red earth under their feet to sloshy, clinging mud as they milled around waiting for the promised miracle. Among the spectators that day were reporters, scientists, college professors and clergymen of all faiths, each with his own personal reason for being there, each with his eyes turned toward heaven.
At exactly noon the rain stopped and the sun appeared through the overcast. Lucia cried out, "Silence, silence, Our Lady is coming!" And those who were near the three kneeling children heard Lucia, a look of rapture on her face, speaking softly to Our Lady, but only the children saw the apparition.
Lucia asked Our Lady for cures and conversions for many who had petitioned her; and to this the apparition answered, "I will cure some but not others because the Lord does not trust them.' This is truly a remarkable characteristic of God: having trust in some but not in others. What does He think those He does not trust would do if He cured them? If God's cure is not appreciated by anyone who remained a sinner, there is always Judgment Day. Does God trust Jacinta, whom He has promised to take to heaven after she has suffered a torturous death? for, by implication, He will cure those He trusts in order that they may not suffer further. Why, then, must Jacinta suffer? If the Lord were perfectly honest in this instance, He would admit that many of man's afflictions are not curable by His technology and that trust has nothing to do with it. It must be admitted, however, that many miraculous cures have indeed occurred at the site and still occur to this day. (A Geiger reading at this shrine and similar shrines throughout the world might give scientific evidence that radiation is used medically in some of these cures.)
Before Our Lady left, with her usual request for man to mend his ways and to say many rosaries, she created a vision in the sky for her chosen children. A huge likeness of St. Joseph, from the waist up, appeared in the sky to the right of the sun. (A picture on a movie screen often shows figures in this way. A telepathic vision device was most assuredly in use here, as it was when the children saw the apparition of the demons in hell and as it was in biblical times to project the visions of the prophets.) In his arms St. Joseph held the baby Jesus. At the left of the sun, as the children watched, the form of Our Lady materialized, full length. The show continued a few moments longer with visions of Jesus the man, Our Lady of Dolours and finally Our Lady, alone with a sepulcher in her hand and robed as Our Lady of Carmel. The children recognized the face: Our Lady of Carmel and Our Lady of Fatima were identical. Some four hundred years earlier Our Lady had appeared in Mexico as a Mexican; could this mean that the Mexican apparition, Our Lady of Guadalupe is now dead Or does Our Lady use makeup, changing her appearance to coincide with the nationality of the subjects she contacts?
Suddenly, as the visions faded from the sky, Lucia cried out, "Look at the sun!"
And they could. Seventy thousand people turning their eyes skyward found that they could look directly at the sun without the least discomfort. It was like a huge, luminous disc, variously described as "like cooled steel, like an over-bright moon, like a glowing silver disc," and "like something never seen before." And once again, as in the fourth meeting, the play of colored lights bathed the scene with indescribable rays of color. A murmur rose from the crowd. The murmur turned into a wail as suddenly the sun started to dance and descend, rotating as it fell. It seemed that the world must certainly come to an end as the rotating motion of the sun evolved into a spiraling descent. Finally, when it seemed that it would surely crash into the earth the sun stopped; then, continuing to rotate, it climbed slowly back up into the sky, steadying as it rose, until once again it was the old familiar sun: blazing with the glare that made it impossible to look at.
It had all happened in a matter of minutes, but strangely the drenching rain had stopped, and now everyone found that he was completely dry!
Thus ended the phenomenon of October 13, 1917, the last visit of Our Lady of Fatima. Needless to say, everyone present was convinced that he had witnessed a miracle, but it must be remembered that these people had never seen or heard of flying saucers. If they had, even the Catholic church might have moved more slowly before proclaiming the incident a miracle, for to explain the dancing sun in terms of flying-saucer technology is comparatively simple, and Christianity is steeped in conviction that God is supernatural. But if it were truly a miracle, we find ourselves facing the same old embarrassing question: What was the stimulus for the human sense organs? How was it done? Where did the water go that was soaking the onlookers' clothing? Did it evaporate? or did it go into the fourth dimension?
Obviously the sun did not move closer to the earth; if it had, other effects would have been manifested, not the least of which would have been that the added gravitational pull of the sun would have dragged the earth out of orbit and sent it crashing into the sun. Or if not that, then surely rising tides in our oceans would have caused floods. Additionally the spectacle of the descending sun was seen only over Fatima; if it had really moved, would it not have been seen in all parts of the world?
So what really did happen? Mass hallucination might explain the dancing sun and the accompanying spectral display but does little to explain the drying-out phenomenon. Since we have already seen, in the case of the lumber dealer in France, Robert Reveille, that UFOs can probably cause rain and can cause rapid drying over wide areas, why not take it from there? Why not admit that God used technology to perform this miracle - as well as all other miracles?
To perform this miracle, God needed rain to conceal the real sun and also to overcome the effect of parallax. Then He needed a large, glowing disc or globe which was capable of tremendous light and heat. And finally He needed an audience conditioned to expect and accept a miracle - an audience genetically inculcated with a belief in the supernatural essence of God. All of these things God had at Fatima.
We can be assured that preparations for the illusion were begun the previous evening when one or more UFOs gathered water from the nearby ocean and seeded the atmosphere with moisture. The actual illusion was accomplished by having the glowing saucer break through the overcast in a direct line with the sun and the crowd on the ground, descending in order to evaporate the water in the air below the craft; then ascending, still in a direct line with the sun, and evaporating the moisture above. This maneuver, as well as drying the audience, would also have created a rainbow effect, and if the object spiraled, as reported, then the colors of the rainbow would have whirled also.
Without the rain to conceal the real sun, the effect of parallax would have allowed those viewers at the edge of the crowd to see the saucer and the sun separate as the craft descended, thus spoiling the whole effect.
The illusion ended, of course, when the saucer evaporated the water in the air, revealing the real sun, and then climbed out of sight into its glare.