There’s absolutely no doubt that had pilot Kenneth Arnold not encountered a veritable squadron of strange-looking aircraft near Mt. Rainier, Washington State on the afternoon of June 24, 1947, there would never have been an opportunity for the Russians – and for the United States, too, as we’ll soon see – to exploit a very real phenomenon of mystifying origins and nature for psychological and military gain. But, as history has shown, Arnold most assuredly did have that now-legendary encounter. Whether Arnold encountered a number of extraterrestrial craft, advanced creations of the Soviet Union, or the then-latest developments of the U.S. military, remains unknown.

The theories are many. The hard answers are scant. Let’s take a look at what happened to Arnold on that particular day which changed the world. Arnold said: "The following story of what I observed over the Cascade Mountains, as impossible as it may seem, is positively true. I never asked nor wanted any notoriety for just accidentally being in the right spot at the right time to observe what I did. I reported something that I know any pilot would have reported. I don't think that in any way my observation was due to any sensitivity of eye sight or judgment than what is considered normal for any pilot.

On June 24th, Tuesday, 1947, I had finished my work for the Central Air Service at Chehalis, Washington, and at about two o'clock I took off from Chehalis, Washington, airport with the intention of going to Yakima, Wash. My trip was delayed for an hour to search for a large marine transport that supposedly went down near or around the southwest side of Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington and to date has never been found." Arnold had more to say. For a short period, Arnold pondered on the possibility that the craft were created by the Russians. He soon dropped the idea, though.

In fact, things had only just begun: "I flew directly toward Mt. Rainier after reaching an altitude of about 9,500 feet, which is the approximate elevation of the high plateau from which Mt. Rainier rises. I had made one sweep of this high plateau to the westward, searching all of the various ridges for this marine ship and flew to the west down and near the ridge side of the canyon where Ashford, Washington, is located. Unable to see anything that looked like the lost ship, I made a 360 degree turn to the right and above the little city of Mineral, starting again toward Mt. Rainier. I climbed back up to an altitude of approximately 9,200 feet. The air was so smooth that day that it was a real pleasure flying and, as most pilots do when the air is smooth and they are flying at a higher altitude, I trimmed out my airplane in the direction of Yakima, Washington, which was almost directly east of my position and simply sat in my plane observing the sky and the terrain.  There was a DC-4 to the left and to the rear of me approximately fifteen miles distance, and I should judge, at 14,000 foot elevation. The sky and air was clear as crystal. I hadn't flown more than two or three minutes on my course when a bright flash reflected on my airplane. It startled me as I thought I was too close to some other aircraft. I looked every place in the sky and couldn't find where the reflection had come from until I looked to the left and the north of Mt. Rainier where I observed a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 foot elevation and going, seemingly, in a definite direction of about 170 degrees."

There was more to come, in Arnold's own words: "They were approaching Mt. Rainier very rapidly, and I merely assumed they were jet planes. Anyhow, I discovered that this was where the reflection had come from, as two or three of them every few seconds would dip or change their course slightly, just enough for the sun to strike them at an angle that reflected brightly on my plane. These objects being quite far away, I was unable for a few seconds to make out their shape or their formation. Very shortly they approached Mt. Rainier, and I observed their outline against the snow quite plainly. I thought it was very peculiar that I couldn't find their tails but assumed they were some type of jet plane. I was determined to clock their speed, as I had two definite points I could clock them by; the air was so clear that it was very easy to see objects and determine their approximate shape and size at almost fifty miles that day. I remember distinctly that my sweep second hand on my eight day clock, which is located on my instrument panel, read one minute to 3 P.M. as the first object of this formation passed the southern edge of Mt. Rainier. I watched these objects with great interest as I had never before observed airplanes flying so close to the mountain tops, flying directly south to southeast down the hog's back of a mountain range. I would estimate their elevation could have varied a thousand feet one way or another up or down, but they were pretty much on the horizon to me which would indicate they were near the same elevation as I was."

The sighting grew for Arnold: "They flew like many times I have observed geese to fly in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked together. They seemed to hold a definite direction but rather swerved in and out of the high mountain peaks. Their speed at the time did not impress me particularly, because I knew that our army and air forces had planes that went very fast. What kept bothering me as I watched them flip and flash in the sun right along their path was the fact that I couldn't make out any tail on them, and I am sure that any pilot would justify more than a second look at such a plane. I observed them quite plainly, and I estimate my distance from them, which was almost at right angles, to be between twenty to twenty-five miles. I knew they must be very large to observe their shape at that distance, even on as clear a day as it was that Tuesday, In fact I compared a zeus [sic: it should be “Dzus”] fastener or cowling tool I had in my pocket with them - holding it up on them and holding it up on the DC-4 - that I could observe at quite a distance to my left, and they seemed smaller than the DC-4; but, I should judge their span would have been as wide as the furtherest [sic] engines on each side of the fuselage of the DC-4.

"The more I observed these objects the more upset I became, as I am accustomed and familiar with most all objects flying whether I am close to the ground or at higher altitudes. I observed the chain of these objects passing another high snow-covered ridge in between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams and as, the first one was passing the south crest of this ridge the last object was entering the northern crest of the ridge. As I was flying in the direction of this particular ridge, I measured it and found it to be approximately five miles so I could safely assume that the chain of these saucer like objects were at least five miles long. I could quite accurately determine their pathway due to the fact that there were several high peaks that were a little this side of them as well as higher peaks on the other side of their pathway."   

Arnold wasn't going to stop telling all the people who were fascinated by his amazing sighting: "As the last unit of this formation passed the southern-most high snow-covered crest of Mt. Adams, I looked at my sweep second hand and it showed that they had travelled the distance in one minute and forty-two seconds. Even at the time this timing did not upset me as I felt confident after I would land there would be some explanation of what I saw. A number of news men and experts suggested that I might have been seeing reflections or even a mirage. This I know to be absolutely false, as I observed these objects not only through the glass of my airplane but turned my airplane sideways where I could open my window and observe them with a completely unobstructed view. (Without sun glasses.) Even though two minutes seems like a very short time to one on the ground, in the air in two minutes time a pilot can observe a great many things and anything within his sight of vision probably as many as fifty or sixty times."

Things were not done yet: "I continued my search for the marine plane for another fifteen or twenty minutes and while searching for this marine plane, what I had just observed kept going through my mind. I became more disturbed, so after taking a last look at Tieton Reservoir I headed for Yakima. I might add that my complete observation of these objects, which I could even follow by their flashes as they passed Mt. Adams, was around two and one-half or three minutes -- although, by the time they reached Mt. Adams they were out of my range of vision as far as determining shape or form. Of course, when the sun reflected from one or two or three of these units, they appeared to be completely round; but, I am making a drawing to the best of my ability, which I am including, as to the shape I observed these objects to be as they passed the snow covered ridges as well as Mt. Rainier. When these objects were flying approximately straight and level, they were just a black thin line and when they flipped was the only time I could get a judgment as to their size. These objects were holding an almost constant elevation; they did not seem to be going up or coming down, such as would be the case of rockets or artillery shells. I am convinced in my own mind that they were some type of airplane, even though they didn't conform with the many aspects of the conventional type of planes that I know."

Arnold quickly realized that something amazing was going on: "Although these objects have been reported by many other observers throughout the United States, there have been six or seven other accounts written by some of these observers that I can truthfully say must have observed the same thing that I did; particularly, the descriptions of the three Western [Cedar City, Utah] Air Lines employees, the gentleman [pilot] from Oklahoma City and the locomotive engineer from Illinois, plus Capt. Smith and Co-Pilot Stevens of United Air Lines. Some descriptions could not be very accurate taken from the ground unless these saucer-like disks were at a great height and there is a possibility that all of the people who observed peculiar objects could have seen the same thing I did, but, it would have been very difficult from the ground to observe these for more than four or five seconds, and there is always the possibility of atmospheric moisture and dust near the ground which could distort one's vision.

"I have in my possession letters from all over the Unites States and people who profess that these objects have been observed over other portions of the world, principally Sweden, Bermuda, and California. I would have given almost anything that day to have had a movie camera with a telephoto lens and from now on I will never be without one - - but, to continue further with my story. When I landed at Yakima, Wash., airport I described what I had seen to my very good friend, Al Baxter, who listened patiently and was very courteous but in a joking way didn't believe me. I did not accurately measure the distance between these two mountains until I landed at Pendleton, Oregon, that same day where I told a number of pilot friends of mine what I had observed and they did not scoff or laugh but suggested they might be guided missiles or something new. In fact several former Army pilots informed me that they had been briefed before going into combat overseas that they might see objects of similar shape and design as I described and assured me that I wasn't dreaming or going crazy. 

And, finally, for Arnold: "I quote Sonny Robinson, a former Army Air Forces pilot who is now operating dusting operations at Pendleton, Oregon, “that what you observed, I am convinced, is some type of jet or rocket propelled ship that is in the process of being tested by our government or even it could possibly be by some foreign government.” Anyhow, the news that I had observed these spread very rapidly and before the night was over I was receiving telephone calls from all parts of the world; and, to date, I have not received one telephone call or one letter of scoffing or disbelief. The only disbelief that I know of was what was printed in the papers. I look at this whole ordeal as not something funny as some people have made it out to be. To me it is mighty serious and since I evidently did observe something that at least Mr. John Doe on the street corner or Pete Andrews on the ranch has never heard about, is no reason that it does not exist.

"Even though I openly invited an investigation by the Army and the FBI as to the authenticity of my story or a mental or a physical examination as to my capabilities, I have received no interest from these two important protective forces of our country; I will go so far as to assume that any report I gave to the United and Associated Press and over the radio on two different occasions which apparently set the nation buzzing, if our Military intelligence was not aware of what I observed, they would be the very first people that I could expect as visitors. I have received lots of requests from people who told me to make a lot of wild guesses. I have based what I have written here in this article on positive facts and as far as guessing what it was I observed, it is just as much a mystery to me as it is to the rest of the world." In essence, that is the story of Kenneth Arnold and Flying Saucers. But, a lot of people don't know there were far more better Saucer cases in that exciting period of the summer of 1947. In other words, Arnold was the most famous one in 1947. But, there were greater incidents. So, let's have a look at some of those other summer 1947 events.

The U.S. military noted the following in its “Analysis of Flying Objects in the US” document: “During April 1947, two employees of the Weather Bureau Station at Richmond, Virginia, reported seeing a strange metallic disk on three occasions…One observation was at 15,000 feet when a disk was followed for 15 seconds. The disk appeared metallic, shaped like an ellipse with a flat bottom and a round top…The disk appeared to be moving rather rapidly, although it was impossible to estimate its speed.” Then, there is the following from the USAF, which describes a notable encounter on June 28, 1947, just four days after Kenneth Arnold’s historic encounter. According to the Air Force, “While flying at 10,000 feet on a course of 300 degrees, 30 miles northwest of Lake Mead, Nevada, an Air Force lieutenant reported seeing five or six while circular objects in close formation and traveling at an estimated speed of 285 miles per hour.” Less than  twenty-four hours later, the Air Force documentation shows, “…a party of three, two of them scientists, were motoring along Highway 17 toward the White Sands, New Mexico, V-2 firing grounds and reported seeing a large disk or sphere moving horizontally at a high speed and an estimated altitude of 10,000 feet. It was of uniform shape and had no protruding surfaces such as wings. The object was in sight for about 60 seconds before it disappeared to the northeast. The three observers agreed on the details of the sighting except that one thought he had seen vapor trails.

Then there are the events which occurred on July 7, also referenced in the Air Force documentation: “On 7 July 1947, five Portland, Oregon police officers reported varying numbers of disks flying over different parts of the city. All observations were made within a minute or two of 1305 hours. On the same day, William Rhodes of Phoenix, Arizona allegedly saw a disk circling his locality during sunset and took two photographs. The resulting pictures…show a disk-like object with a round front and a square tail in plan form. These photographs have been examined by experts who state they are true photographic images and do not appear to be imperfection in the emulsion or imperfections in the lens.” And the reports just kept coming and coming: “On 10 July 1947, Mr. Woodruff, a Pan-American Airways mechanic reported a circular object flying at high velocity, paralleling the earth's surface and leaving a trail which appeared as a ‘burning up’ of the cloud formation. The sighting occurred near Harmon Field, Newfoundland. Two other persons also saw the trail which remained in the sky for about an hour and was photographed by another PAA employee. The resulting photographs support Mr. Woodruff'’s observation as far as the sky cleavage is concerned.” There's no doubt that Kenneth Arnold started the era of the Flying Saucer; but, as the data above shows, there were certainly far greater cases.

One area that has long been skirting the periphery of the UFO phenomenon is that of mysterious airships that have appeared at various times throughout history, and one notable wave of these occurred in New Zealand in the 1900s. It started in July of 1909, when a Mr. John Boyd, of Stirling was with two other locals in the vicinity of the railway station in the Clutha river delta area, in the Otago province of New Zealand, when they witnessed a strange bright light hovering in the sky, which they at first took to be just a bright star, but then it began moving, swaying and doing several maneuvers such as dipping and rising, as well as growing in brilliance. They now had the impression that it was some sort of airship, although unlike anything any of them had seen before, and an article in the Otago Daily Times says of it:

Between half-past 10 and 11 on the night stated, our informant and two other residents of Stirling were standing in the vicinity of the railway station when they sighted the mysterious light. “It first came into our view from the east,” said the narrator,” and we thought it was a meteor or a falling star, but the light grew in brilliance. It moved about the hills above Kaitangata sometimes swooping down from a height of apparently 2000ft [610m] to about 1000ft [305m] and even lower. Then it would turn and make away towards the sea, or would dip completely out of sight behind the hills. It seemed to move with as much ease, and even grace, as a bird on the wing. The light carried was a strong and steady one, and whenever the ship, or whatever it was, turned, we thought we could see a dark, opaque body. Certainly we could see, without a doubt, the reflection of the light in the clouds. It was a white light with a reflector, just what would be used by an airship driven by an electric motor. When she was sideways on we thought we could see the reflection as of a black body above and below. It was a marvellously mystifying sight.” He said he had been puzzling over the matter and consulting with a few familiars, and the only conclusion he could come to was that the light was that of an airship, probably being made the subject of an experimental cruise.

The witnesses apparently watched the strange sight for around a half an hour before it gradually moved off out of sight. Boyd would come to the conclusion that it must have been the work of an inventor with “a workshop somewhere in the lonely Wangaloa hills.” It would soon become apparent that several other witnesses in the area had also seen the strange sight, with all of them giving a very similar description, but there could be found no record of any aircraft scheduled to be in the area at the time. After this, in the coming weeks other sighting reports of mysterious airships began coming in, with some reports mentioning up to five of these objects at a time, while others described hearing a sound like a fog horn when they were around. The Clutha Free Press says of some of these reports that followed Boyd’s original account as follows:

Ridicule and rigid cross-examination have failed to shake the theory that a light, supposed to belong to an airship, was hovering over the Wangaloa Hills, near Kaitangata, on Sunday night. The narrative of this extraordinary apparition was supplied to the Free Press (Balclutha) by several eye witnesses who are prepared to sign an affadavit to the truth of their statement…. The story has been received with some incredulity, but the kite and balloon theories advanced have been scouted as being as widely improbable as the airship. Seeing that the gentlemen who witnessed the phenomenon are of unimpeachable integrity, residents are at a loss what to make of it. ‘If it isn’t a hoax, or an airship, what is it?’ is a question being generally asked.

Several in Balclutha testify that they have seen a similar object to that already described, at night. An employee in this office saw a lighted object hovering apparently over Inch Clutha one night last week, but he concluded it was a fire balloon sent up by someone as an “airship” joke. Others have seen partially illuminated objects floating in the air; people coming up by the late train from Owaka on Saturday night speak of the airship they saw in the direction of lower Inch Clutha, and several in Balclutha saw the same thing, while people from Clinton yesterday morning went one better and declared they not only saw the mysterious object but averred they heard the occupants talking.

Not long after this there was a spectacular report made by a Mr. Gibson, of Kelso, who claimed that he was a teacher and that he and his students had seen a mysterious airship “shaped like a boat, with what seemed like the figure of a man seated in it” in broad daylight. This mysterious object apparently circled over the school for a time before heading out towards the Blue Mountains. At around the same time, other witnesses also saw the object, and a newspaper report would read:

There is not the slightest doubt that the airship was seen at Kelso yesterday at noon. I have eye witnesses to prove this. It is cigar or “boat” shaped and pointed at each end. Those who saw it had no idea of the probable height of it above them. It did not appear to be very long in build, but was very broad. The children who saw it say that it had a pontoon-shaped part above the boat and a short pole or mast, in the centre. It flew over and past the school ground, turned round, and went back the way it came. It was flying along very easily, and had no trouble in turning. It came from the direction of the Blue Mountains and over the wooded hill [The Wooded Hill] above Kelso, and seemed to make back direct to the mountains again. It was seen by at least five persons, and their statements are all in accord.

Many of these witnesses would draw sketches of the object and all insisted it was true. The airship was now becoming a bit of a media sensation, with articles on these sightings appearing in a range of newspapers, and the sightings continued to come it. One hot spot for sightings of the mysterious airship at the time was the beach at Kaka Point, and a report of it would read:

On Saturday night some half-a-dozen boys were playing on the beach at Kaka Point near Mr. Bates and saw a huge illuminated object moving about in the air. It appeared as if it were going to alight at Kaka Point. The light from it was distinctly reflected on the roof of Dr. Fitzgerald’s cottage. The boys thought it was being attracted by their lantern and ran away and left it on the beach. The “airship” then glided round the rocks at the old pilot station and nearly came in contact with them. It shortly afterwards disappeared. The boys said it was as big as a house.

On Sunday night the mysterious object again made its appearance at the beach, and was seen by Mr. George Smith and Mr. Poulter about 8.30. Mr. Smith viewed it through a very powerful night glass. It was apparently over Mr. Aitkenhead’s house when he first saw it, but it glided high in the air and sailed north in the direction of Kaitangata, sweeping west and east and finally disappearing. About half past 10 Mr. Smith was called out by Mr. Poulter to see the airship, which had again made its appearance. This time it headed out to sea and eventually disappeared over the horizon or into the sea. As seen through the glass, Mr. Smith said it appeared to be a fair-sized, dark superstructure with a powerful head-light and two smaller ones at the sides. It might convey the impression of being under control, and likewise of moving fast. Mr. Smith did not jump to any conclusions. It was seen by people at the beach every night last week and “it will probably be seen again to-night,” said Mr. Smith yesterday. If it appears again within range, some of the beach boys are going to try to “prick the bubble” with a bullet.

The airships were now becoming a full blown phenomenon and sensation that was spreading out to other areas as well, with a wave of numerous reports coming from other regions to the north and south. A collection of some of these sightings was compiled by the Otago Daily Times, and reads:

This thing was again seen at about half-past 6 o’clock on Saturday night here by several other persons about five or six miles on the opposite side of Kelso from the Blue Mountains, in a north-westerly direction. The strong light on it first drew these people’s attention to it, but after a time the light went out, and they could then see some smaller lights, which remained in view for some five or ten minutes. As these lights were well above the hills, which are in that direction, and were not stationary, but moved along all the time, these people are fully satisfied now of the existence of this flying machine, more especially after seeing the strong light flash out and disappear again.

Alfred Guinan saw the light on the same occasion. It was flashing as though the ship were turning round in circles. It was in sight for about half an hour, and would go over by the hill and come back into about the same place. His elder brother saw it with him. Three members of another family saw the light about 6.30, but none of these witnesses was available. To these observers a flashlight and smaller lights were visible. A boy named R. Russell saw the lights from about 9 o’clock till 9.30. The light from the ship sometimes shone on the hills, making them visible. He said he was able to see a dark shape, and he drew a long cigar-shaped sketch in proof of his statement.

Early in the evening of Saturday, July 24, some 10 or 12 Dunedin tradesmen, who are working about six miles distant from here, saw it. It was viewed through coloured glasses and telescopes, and they all agree to its being an airship. They distinctly saw the cigar-shaped balloon with a carriage suspended below. The headlight was very powerful, and it was white in colour. The ship circled around several times, and was about two miles distant from those watching. It rose and fell while circling around, and then went off in the direction of the Hokonuis. It returned about 11 p.m., when rain commenced to fall. It was very high this time and sailed diagonally towards the Blue Mountains. These people ridiculed the airship theory previously, but when one of their number was seen to-day he was quite emphatic as to its existence. The following Dunedin residents, who are at present employed here [at Crossans Corner], testify to having actually seen the object in addition to the lights:– Mr. and Mrs. Callender, Mr. Tyrie, senior, Mr. and Mrs. Tyrie, junior, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Biggs, also several others.

The lights were distinctly visible by the Potter family last Saturday evening, in addition to which they state they could hear the noise of some machine at work. Mr. Keach (manager for Elliot Bros. Dunedin) has seen the lights on several occasions, and, when questioned, stated that the light was quite different to that of the stars, and there was no possibility of any error in the matter. Evidence has since come to hand of the lights having been seen last night, but the evidence of the Dunedin tradesmen is quite sufficient to dispel any doubts, as is also the statement of Mr. McKinnon. Local residents are keeping a sharp watch for the return of the airship. The people who saw it so distinctly on the evening of July 24 are certain that it was not the planet Mars. They are quite convinced from their observations that what they saw was in reality an airship, and they gave me full liberty to use their statements. As the large headlight went out they could see a smaller light, apparently on the structure below the balloon part. They could hear no noise, although they are of the opinion that the large light, from the manner of its appearance and disappearance, was an electric light driven by a motor.

The most important and trustworthy evidence was given by Mrs. Ferguson. She saw the light one night prior to Saturday night in the direction of Waipahi. It looked like a meteor and disappeared behind the trees. On Saturday night a little before 9 o’clock as she was driving into Kelso she saw the light above the Blue Mountains. This disappeared above Tapanui. The light was very strong, and dazzled her eyes, so that she could not see at first on looking down how to guide her horse. It was of a reddish colour. On returning from Kelso she again saw the light, and stood on the Tapanui Hill watching it for some time. Her mother, whom she had gone to meet at Kelso, returned home on Sunday night, and said she had seen the light on Saturday night at Waipahi.

The lights of the airship were seen tonight by at least 11 people. The Rev. Thomas Paulin, Presbyterian minister, his wife, and children saw it about 6.45. Mr. Paulin describes it as something like a very brilliant star, greatly magnified. It was travelling very fast towards Mount Wendon, and was well above the skyline, but at last it seemed to travel downwards. The light then became more and more dim, and went completely out. In addition to the bright light there was a smaller light, as though it was at the end of the vessel. Its manner of disappearance was not that of any star, as it faded and did not disappear suddenly.

Mr. McKinnon saw the vessel at the same time from a different position in the town. It was dim at first, but seemed to be coming towards him, and became much brighter by fits and starts. It came from the north-west direction. As it came nearer both he and his family could discern a big black body behind the light. This oscillated from side to side as though affected by air currents. They thought it would pass overhead, but the light grew dim all at once, and then gradually faded away. The dark body could not be seen when the light went out. Mr. McKinnon did not see any smaller light. A man driving along the road, as well as several other people, also saw it.

While most reports described the ship or ships as being completely silent, there were occasionally mentions of the craft making various noises such as whirring, a horn, clanking machinery, or the sound of a propeller. Indeed, there were cases in which the witness had not even actually seen the ship, but rather had heard it. One such report from the Otago Daily Times reads:

Mrs. Mayo, however, has heard sounds which she assumes come from an airship. When she was in bed on Friday [23 July] at 11.30 p.m. there gradually came to her ear a dull rolling whirring noise. It seemed like a motor or threshing mill. She listened intently, as the noise puzzled her. Gradually it became clear that the noise was not on the ground. It drew nearer – a rolling noise like a drum a long way off; not a tap, tap, but a dull roll mixed with which was a squeaking or piercing sound. She got frightened, jumped out of bed, and went on to the verandah. A great vibrating noise came from the roof. The sound approached from the southward, passed close overhead, and died away to the north in the direction of the mountains. She looked out as well as she could, but could see nothing, and she went back to bed. In the morning the horses in the paddock next door seemed frightened, and marks showed that they had been galloping round. Mrs. Mayo was the only person who heard this noise, but her house is away from the township.

While this was going on there was much discussion and speculation as to what it all meant. Some ideas included that it was just balloons or kites, flocks of birds, some mad inventor testing out his flying apparatus, anomalous cloud formations, or even just hoaxes or hallucinations. One scathing and skeptical article in the Christchurch Evening News would write it all off as a bunch of country bumpkins getting drunk and seeing things, and it reads in part:

It is about time some enterprising southern journalist made a trip to the Blue Mountains and investigated the airship rumours. We are not hopeful of any very sensational revelations. It must be remembered that it is a prohibition district, and if the investigators should by any chance discover a still or other contrivance for the manufacture of stimulants, of the ‘chain lightning’ order, it would be unnecessary to enquire further why the inhabitants see trailing stars at night time and curious objects bobbing about in the clouds by day. They should really take more water with the local decoction. It may be exhilarating; but it is fair to destroy the peace of mind of the whole country by such alarming reports from an ordinarily peaceful and remote country district. Besides, if the people of Kelso are not careful, they will soon be seeing far more unpleasant things than phantom airships.

Although there were certainly skeptics, it was also pointed out by others that none of the mundane explanations really could account for what was being described, and many of the witnesses were known as sane, sober, and reliable people who would not be inclined to be making up tall tales. The Otago Daily Times would launch a full investigation into the phenomenon, interviewing witnesses and especially interrogating the schoolboys who had witnessed the airship at their school, and they would come away convinced that something very odd was going on, indeed. The report says:

A busy afternoon’s investigation utterly dispels any supposition that the reports about the airship are entirely mythical. There is far too much evidence for the belief to be easily dispelled. Naturally, speculation has gone to an extreme, but after careful sifting, certain facts remain undoubted definite facts. All those scholars who saw the ship were interrogated singly and independently, and were asked to draw an impression of what they had seen. The drawings were done separately, and with no reference whatever from one to another. The result was six drawings, the degree of resemblance and unanimity of which was nothing short of dumbfounding to all sceptics. Special interrogation of the boys revealed the fact that none had drawn the diagram before, nor had they been interested in airships prior to witnessing this one. One boy, in addition to drawing a side view, was able to draw a diagram of the vessel from beneath as the airship passed over his head, and this showed two sails [possibly more like fins or wings] on each side. Another boy produced a peculiar-looking object, which was somewhat puzzling at first, but which ultimately seemed to resolve itself into one wing seen from an angle with a revolving propellor at the rear.

As the reports continued to come it through the end of July and into August, they were generating not only a mix of awe, skepticism, and in some cases ridicule, but also fear. The performance of the object or objects being seen was beyond what any sort of normal airplane or airship would have been capable of at the time, so there was the idea among a certain segment of the population that some enemy state or terrorists had come up with some new experimental type of aircraft. Indeed, there were even reportedly posses of armed men going out with the hopes of shooting the thing down, and there was a general feel of a mass hysteria going on at the time. The sightings continued on into the beginning of August, after which they seem to have just stopped as suddenly as they had started and the news reports dried up, leaving us without any real answers. What were these strange airships that were terrorizing the region at the time? Were they experimental aircraft, the work of a mad scientist, some mundane phenomena, or something else? The strange airship flap of New Zealand remains unsolved, and it remains a strange little historical oddity we may never have answers for. 

“A new report of sightings of lights in the airspace of southern Brazil has emerged again with pilots from Azul and now also from Gol. As reported here , last week Azul pilots reported to Air Traffic Control agencies that they spotted unknown lights moving in the sky over southern Brazil. The lights would have a random pattern, moving and disappearing sometimes, in a formation that does not match any current aircraft, creating rumors that it would be a UFO - Unidentified Flying Object. Here, again, the lights would have appeared, now seen by four Azul flights and one by GOL Linhas Aéreas.”

As reported last week by Mysterious Universe, on October 22, 2022, Azul flight 4517 was approaching its destination of the Salgado Filho Porto Alegre International Airport on the Atlantic coast when its pilots reported seeing a UFO making strange movements – audio of the encounter was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. This week, AEROIN, the largest aviation website in Brazil and Latin America, reveals (in Portuguese) that four Azul flights and one GOL airliner saw a similar UFOs on the night of October 31 -- audio captured by the Youtube channel “Câmera Aeroporto Salgado Filho BrAmigos” which broadcasts live the movement at Porto Alegre International Airport and air traffic control in the region, was uploaded on November 1 (watch it here). According to AEROIN, “All 5 pilots were instructed to call the Air Defense Command and report the incident, a standard procedure in this type of occurrence.” While the Câmera Aeroporto Salgado Filho BrAmigos channel gives a detailed description of the encounters, it offers no explanation. The same is true at AEROIN.

"The whole event started about Midnight EST in the Colorado area. We were heading west on about an 85* heading at 35,000 ft going 078 Mach around 540 mph. The entire event started just to the right of the Big Dipper with a falling star traveling multiple thousands of miles/hr and immediately after, the craft appeared. First one was a larger one, then a smaller one that came from the left to meet up, then the original moved back to the left where they finally stopped moving for over an hr. The large craft stayed in one spot as the other 2 moved around. The final video shows them in a triangle which lasted about 20mins. We were given a new heading to the left and lost site for the remainder of the night on 10/19/22."

Meanwhile, in the U.S., documentary filmmaker and UFO investigator Jeremy Corbell released a video taken by an experienced commercial pilot on October 19, 2022, while flying over Colorado. The pilot remained anonymous for fear over his job – despite having 42 years of experience. This sighting (watch the video here) follows others reported here this month by multiple commercial pilots who claimed to see UFOs traveling in oval “racetrack” loops over the Pacific. 

Moving on to Oklahoma … 

“The flight officer who responded to the transmission over the radio just repeated what Air Traffic Control told him, “please be on the lookout for any strange activity you see in the area, and if so report back to us. We’ve gotten dispatched from several pilots about UFO-like objects flying around in the surrounding areas.”

Liberation Times reports that multiple commercial aircraft encountered unidentified aerial phenomena on October 2, 2022, over Oklahoma – incidents that left one experienced crew member “scared speechless.” In a video uploaded to YouTube (see it here), the crew of an American Airlines flight sounded reassured that they weren’t the only ones seeing the UAPs -- “Alright, then we’re not crazy then, I think,” – and speculated that they could be related to Whiteman Air Force Base in nearby Warrensburg, Missouri. However, air traffic control pointed out that the UAP was in the wrong direction. A Delta pilot is heard doubting this is a military plane:

“Unless they’re doing 360s with their lights on, I don’t know what else it is.”

An anonymous flight attendant said other flight attendants saw this and other UAPs and a pilot was overheard commenting:

“Yea, there’s definitely something else out here with us, plenty of pilots have witnessed it and I come from a military background so I’ve always known about it.”

That leads to the question: Who else knows about it? One person who does is US Representative from Tennessee Tim Burchett, who has been calling for more UAP disclosure by the Department of Defense and has doubts about the Pentagon’s UFO briefings. Burchett recently told The Daily Star he is especially concerned about the safety of military and commercial airline pilots with military backgrounds.

"Plenty of military pilots have reported UAP encounters that have no logical explanation. Some of them have warned it was only a matter of time before an aircraft got into a mid-air collision with an unexplained object. Yet despite these warnings and reports the first standardized reporting structure wasn’t established until 2019. Our government has been surprisingly quiet about the topic for many decades despite the many reports."

How close is too close?

Burchett is in a position where he can at least influence, if not change, the policies of the U.S. government in regards to UFO encounters by military and commercial pilots. The late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a good example of a U.S. politician who had an impact on UFO  investigations – helping to finance the original secret task force researching UAP encounters. Perhaps Tim Burchett could take up where Reid left off. 

As always, it is sad and disconcerting that experienced pilots – both military and commercial – are not respected when they come forward with their ever-growing numbers of UFO encounters. They have videos and other witnesses and they’ve discussed the encounters with other pilots and with air traffic controllers. From the tone of their audio reports, they are concerned for the safety of their passengers and crews. Why isn’t their government?

Is it only a matter of time before a plane and a UFO collide? Must we have tragedy in order to have progress?

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

Paul Seaburn

For the organization which has spent more time in outer space that any other, NASA has been slow to embrace the idea of unidentified flying objects. Even when its own astronauts swear they have seen UAPs, the space agency has stepped back from acknowledging them, let alone investigating them. As the Department of Defense finally admitted that videos of UAPs taken by military pilots and naval ship personnel are real and the U.S. Congress demanded and received briefings and hearings, NASA this summer decided to jump on the UAP bandwagon and announced it would form a panel to investigate them. After months of searching, that panel has finally been announced. Let’s take a look at who is on it and why, and then compare it to some rival organizations.

“Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA. Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable.”

In the NASA press release, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, makes some bold statements about a 16-person commission with a budget under $100,000 and only nine months to complete the project. But we’ll have to take when we can get from the organization that usually gives nothing on the subject. At the head of the table is David Spergel, the chair of the study. Spergel is the president of the Simons Foundation where he was the founding director of its Flatiron Institute for Computational Astrophysics and helped establish the standard model of cosmology.

Two names on the panel that should be familiar to the general public are Scott Kelly and Frederico Bianco. Kelly is a veteran NASA astronaut – having served on four space missions, including a one -year stint on the International Space Station – and is have of the human space travel guinea pigs team with his identical twin brother and fellow astronaut Mark Kelly, now a U.S. senator. Scott Kelly was asked by CNN in 2021 if he believes in UFOs or extraterrestrials and he said, “No. I think the distances are too great. The physics are... The nearest Earth-like planet, if we went as fast as we could, would take 80,000 years to get there." If UFO believers were hoping for a fighter on the team, Scott Kelly isn’t it … but Federica Bianco is. The Italian-born astrophysicist took up boxing for fitness and while living in New York and found she was good enough to turn pro – competing in competitions like Beautiful Brawlers and the National Women’s Golden Gloves. Bianco calls herself “The Mad Scientist” and has real science credentials – she is a joint professor at the University of Delaware, is the principal investigator of Federica Astrostatistics Lab (FASTLab), and coordinates more than 1,500 scientists for the 2023 Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Science Collaboration to discover new galaxies and stars in the southern sky.

With some UAPs also showing underwater capabilities, the team decided to include biological oceanographer Paula Bontempi, a professor of oceanography University of Rhode Island and a NASA veteran who was the acting deputy director of NASA’s Earth Science Division for the Science Mission Directorate and worked on many NASA Earth observing satellite missions. To help include non-military UFOs in the evaluation is Karlin Toner, the acting executive director of the FAA’s Office of Aviation Policy and Plans, who previously was the director of the Airspace Systems Program at NASA Headquarters. Also representing the FAA is Warren Randolph, the deputy executive director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Accident Investigation and Prevention for Aviation Safety department. This is a good sign that the many UFOs seen by commercial pilots will be included in the NASA research. To make sure the photos are clear and the facts checked thoroughly is science journalist Nadia Drake, a contributing writer at National Geographic and Scientific American covering astronomy, astrophysics, planetary sciences, and jungles and the holder of a doctorate in genetics.

The search of extraterrestrial intelligence will be represented on the panel by Anamaria Berea, an associate professor of Computational and Data Science at George Mason University and a research affiliate with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, focusing on the science of both biosignatures and technosignatures as signs of intelligent life. Representing the issues of the Department of Defense is Reggie Brothers, the former undersecretary for Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research at the Department of Defense. On the medical side – if they happen to uncover some living ETs – is Jen Buss who worked with NASA on strategic planning processes for astronaut medical care. When it comes to negotiating with those living extraterrestrials, the panel has Mike Gold, a former NASA associate administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships, acting associate administrator for the Office of International and Interagency Relations and senior advisor to the Administrator for International and Legal Affairs. Gold also worked with the State Department on the creation and execution of the Artemis Accords, which established the norms of behavior in space. To help figure where the UFOs and aliens are coming from is David Grinspoon, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and a researcher on comparative planetology, climate evolution and the implications of habitability on earth-like planets.

Proving that the James Webb Space Telescope has taken over SETI, the panel includes Matt Mountain, who oversees a consortium of national and international universities who help NASA and the National Science Foundation build and operate observatories including NASA’s Hubble Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Representing earthlings is Walter Scott, the executive vice president and chief technology officer of Maxar in Colorado which specializes in earth intelligence and space infrastructure. Also looking at the Earth side is Joshua Semeter, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boston University where he also researches interactions between Earth’s ionosphere and the space environment. For those who support the theory that extraterrestrials beat the speed of light limitation by traveling through wormholes and black holes is Shelley Wright, an associate professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Studies specializing in supermassive black holes and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

That is NASA’s UFO investigation panel. It seems to have every aspect of unidentified aerial phenomena and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence covered except for one – no one on the panel has had an encounter with a UFO or ET. For that, we turn to a rival organization – the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession, the AAIA announced the formation of the Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Community of Interest with two co-chairpersons -- Ravi Kopparapu, a planetary scientist at NASA who is studying the potential habitability of Earth-like planets, and Ryan Graves, the former Navy fighter pilot and defense contractor who revealed his UFO encounters while piloting his F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet in 2014 and 2015. These two organizations are just starting out, while the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office formed in July “to detect, identify and attribute objects of interest in, on or near military installations, operating areas, training areas, special use airspace and other areas of interest, and, as necessary, to mitigate any associated threats to safety of operations and national security. This includes anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium objects.”

NASA’s unidentified aerial phenomena panel has the broadest background and a boxer, but the smallest budget. On the private sector side, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has a pilot with real UFO experience. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has the backing of the federal government and the biggest budget. Which one will win the race to reveal the first extraterrestrials and their space ships?

There are all manner of UFO and alien encounters within the realm of ufology, coming from a wide variety of witnesses from all walks of life. There are those in rural areas, suburban areas, at airports, urban areas, and everywhere in between, but one type of case that really catches the attention are those that have supposedly gone down at military installations. Here we have highly trained observers who have made themselves ready for a lot of things, but not for something like this. A lot of these reports are even more bizarre than most, and here we will look at a handful of extremely weird alien and UFO encounters at Air Force bases in the United States. 

On May 1, 1952, a Major Rudy Pestalozzi was out an airfield with an airman at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), in Tucson, Arizona on duty when they noticed something very odd about the B-36 bomber that was flying overhead. According to the witness, two shiny metallic discs sped in out of nowhere to overtake the plane and then move into positions on each side of it, after which they paced it for a time before suddenly tearing off at an angle of 70-80 degrees from the flight path of the B-36 and shooting off out of sight. The crew of the B-36 was apparently so unnerved by the whole experience that they performed an early landing, after which they were heavily interrogated by Pestalozzi on what had happened up there. They would explain that each of the discs has measured an estimated 20-25 feet in diameter and had remained silent when the plane attempted radio contact. What were these objects and what did they want? Who knows? 

Another very bizarre event was mentioned in the book They Knew too Much About Flying Saucers, by Gray Barker, and allegedly took place In April of 1954, at Edwards AFB, formerly Muroc AFB, in the Palmdale/Lancaster area of California’s remote Mojave Desert, California. The bonkers report begins with 5 crafts approaching the base; 3 disks and 2 cylinders, each one about 30 feet in diameter, which the Air Force wasted no time in firing upon with live ammo. The blistering assault allegedly had no effect on the objects, and they proceeded to land near one of the large hangars. After some time of just sitting there freaking everyone out, the objects then disgorged a procession of diminutive humanoids, which were about 3 feet tall, without helmets and with large heads and eyes, typical “grey aliens.” These aliens could rather creepily turn themselves invisible at will and spoke English through some sort of translator devices on their silvery suits, and rather than express any anger over having just been fired upon, they had quite the tale to tell.

They supposedly explained that they were from a dying world and that and that they also had a genetic disorder, and therefore needed Earth’s help to provide underground bases for them to live in peace for a time and try to find a cure. They promised that in exchange for this they would provide various technologies to the human race, and that they would leave behind one of their flying saucers. An agreement was reached and the saucer was then moved to one of the hangars, where it proved to be very light and able to turn invisible. It would allegedly be kept at Muroc for some time before being placed underground at the North Edwards base for many years. Rather surreally, the then President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was at the base at the time and supposedly witnessed everything, and after convening a meeting of world leaders the aliens were allegedly given an island in French Polynesia as a base on Earth, after which numerous projects were funded to build subterranean bases for the Greys. This would supposedly kick off a long term exchange with these aliens that the government has kept a secret and which all began that day in 1954 at Muroc AFB. Pretty strange stuff, indeed.   

From 1975 we have a another case from Edwards Air Force Base. On October 7 of that year, 12 luminous UFOs allegedly came right down low and just over a secure military runway, and were clearly observed by both witnesses on the ground and on radar. The alarmed Air Force scrambled several jet fighters, worried about the threat to the nuclear materials stored at the base, but the planes were never able to follow or even hope to match the extreme maneuverability and speed of the crafts. Then, just as the base was considering a more significant military response, the objects all flew off in formation to places unknown. The film producer and ufologist Samuel M. Sherman would claim that he had managed to cobble together the lost tapes of what he says were about 40 hours of recordings that were made of the incident, and he says of it all (caps not mine):

What makes this historic intrusion and visit so important is that the US Air Force thoroughly documented it and even gave it a code name: “The Incident.” The entire incident was additionally documented with written reports, radar photos, and AUDIO TAPES made by Air Force personnel while they were actually SEEING the objects, FLYING AFTER the objects, and considering taking SERIOUS MILITARY ACTION against what they might imply as a threat. 

From my calculations at least 40 hours of recordings were made (a five hour event recording from at least 8 locations). However, only six hours of tapes were de-classified many years ago as a mass of noise and unclear voices, which truly defied interpretation. They had SCRAMBLED the tapes into what they felt was a hopeless jumble of random pieces of conversation utterly out of sequence and logical progression. When I realized what had been done, it presented a challenge which made me determined to find out what was hidden within that chaotic mass of sound. After many months and countless hours of laborious research, cataloging, and editing the snips and pieces of the audio tape, I was able to organize the sound so the conversations could be understood. The resulting reconstructed tapes are now ironclad documented proof of the existence of extraterrestrial UFO visitation to this planet.

I have sent copies of my finished product directly to a number of major Government Agencies and have received NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS! Not a single Official Agency has tried to debunk or discredit the event, or my presentation of the tapes. Furthermore, The CSETI organization has used my tape presentation in meetings with members of Congress with the aim of having our government tell the public the truth of ET involvement on the Earth. And yes, the plane spotters at Edwards KNEW that UFOs or UFOBs, as they called them then, were not our “black” projects, Soviet bombers, or any known aircraft – they were unknown, fabulously high-tech craft with capabilities beyond any known technology.

What to make of all of this? Very odd. Edwards AFB has often been the center of strangeness like this, and yet another incident supposedly happened there in 1971 that is every bit as bizarre. In the summer of 1971, A small mushroom-shaped craft allegedly actually came down to crash close to Edwards AFB, and was described as being metallic with greenish lights, with no windows or seams and seemingly molded out of one piece, but what was even weirder than this was that there were apparently three grey alien humanoids in the craft, two of which were dead and one that was alive but badly injured. Making it even more bizarre still was that there was also found a human woman in a tight-fitting pink body suit, an apparent abductee by the name of Lorraine Dvorak Cordini, who was also alive but injured. 

Cordini would supposedly later claim that although her memories of what had happened to her were fuzzy, she remembered travelling aboard the craft from a massive “mothership” in space, and the next thing she remembered was being in the wreckage and being arrested by military personnel. As she was being led away, she also recalled that there had been the image in her mind a “Captain,” who was a different type of alien that was tall and dressed in white robes, who apologized to her that they could not be helped. She was then led away to a hangar and ufologist Anton Anfalov has written of what happened next:

Lorraine was then thrown into the backseat of a black limousine. Her next memory was what surfaced in the hypnosis session. Lorraine was lying on a cold metal table in a hangar. Three military persons stood to the left of the table. One may have been an officer because he had a different cap than the fatigue uniforms of the other two persons. Another uniformed military man was at Lorraine’s head and to the right and to his left was an alien whom Lorraine described as having a pumpkin-shaped head. He had appeared in a childhood experience that previously surfaced during the same hypnosis session. In the childhood experience he was in a spacesuit… Lorraine’s child’s mind saw him dangling outside the window in a deep sea diver’s suit. This alien was about 4 ft tall, his body bulbous and brown. His head bulbous and pumpkin like. Lorraine “heard” the alien thinking how great he felt about himself and how proud he was to be in the service of the earth military men… he had a smug attitude and the military man next to him showed contempt towards the alien. She was very confused and disoriented. Her next memory was of being yanked off the table and being dragged outside the hangar. There she saw many flashing red lights and screamed, “My God, that isn’t a space ship that is the police, my God it is the police.” The military men then sat her on a bus and she ended up in San Francisco stranded and lost.

Very strange, to be sure. Moving along into 1976, there is a rather intense report from the Cannon AFB, which is located a few miles outside of Clovis, New Mexico. In January of that year, four bright saucer-shaped objects, each one estimated as being at least at least 30 to 50 feet in diameter, allegedly dropped right down from the night sky from out of nowhere and started darting around in a threatening manner above the base, which was enough for the Air Force to scramble jets to send up to engage. Brian Vike, Director HBCC UFO Research, has said of what happened next:

The jet aircraft began trying to intercept the objects. As the aircraft got close to the vicinity of the unknown objects, the objects, at an incredible rate of speed, would shoot across the sky making 90 degree turns leaving the fighter aircraft trailing way behind as they just weren’t able to keep up with the strange craft. As the objects made unusual turns a plasma type glow could clearly be witnessed by the group of people watching the event. The cat and mouse chase between the objects and jets went on for approximately 45 minutes. Because the witnesses were on one of the tallest buildings in Portales, New Mexico, they could clearly see the flight-line at the Base. One of the men had brought a 150 power telescope which enabled the fellows to see the objects fly at a low altitude over the flight-line. As the objects passed over the lights running down the flight line, all the lights went out. Eventually the objects shot up and were gone in a second, or so, and the F-111’s were recalled back to the Base and landed safely.

According to Vike, a journalism student called “Bruce” was there at the time, and actually managed to take some photos of the incident, but that he had a disturbing experience not long after appearing on the Jeff Rense national radio program about what had happened. Vike explains of the spooky incident:

It was around 1:30 a.m., Bruce and his wife had turned in for the night and were sound asleep when his cell phone started ringing. Knowing that he had his work cell phone turned off he knew it was a call from one of his children, and of course being a parent, he worried as he grabbed for the phone. Bruce answered with a hello and a voice spoke back saying, “Mr. Bruce (last name). Bruce said there was a very professional sounding gentleman on the other end. The man said he needed to talk to him about a matter of utmost urgency! Bruce still half asleep asked the man who he was, what was this call was all about, especially at this hour of the morning. The fellow said this is about your recent radio appearance and discussion about some photographs that you took back in New Mexico.

At this point in the conversation Bruce said to the man,”you have to be kidding me,” thinking this had to be some kind of hoax, asked who was this. The man said there is no need for you to know who I am. He went on to say, “it would be in your best interest to discontinue this line of discussion and do away with those photographs. Destroy them!” Bruce at this point is in shock about this man. He looks on the cell phone to see what phone number is displayed and it shows “number not available”. The man told Bruce that “this is no joke and ‘we’ feel that this would be in your best interest, and for the sake of your family, that all of this go away.” Bruce told the man that if he wasn’t willing to reveal himself then the conversation would be terminated. The man then went on to tell Bruce what his children were involved in, meaning their daily activities, where they lived, etc.., what Bruce’s wife was doing, such as personal activities within the family, etc… and said that he could fax Bruce his life’s history within a few seconds. That was it, Bruce hung up and that ended the call with the stranger.

After this incident took place and some weeks had gone by, a neighbor of Bruce’s caught up with him outside one day and told him that they had been seeing alot of traffic in and out of Bruce’s property. Cars would pull up and stay for a while and then drive off. Other times the cars would pull into the driveway, stop, and men would get out and walk around the home. Then they got back into their cars and drove off. These cars that were coming and going had government license plates on them. One other interesting fact to this story is that Bruce put together a package for me, Jeff Rense, George Filer and Peter Davenport. In this package there was a copy of the photo he had taken over the AFB. Bruce mailed out the packages to us all and not one of us have received the information. Bruce says he is going to try again and send it through a different means.

Pretty sinister, indeed. From the following year these is a bizarre incident from Ellsworth AFB, located around 7 miles southwest of Nisland, South Dakota. On the evening of November 16, 1977, two security personnel were dispatched to investigate an alarm activation at one of the warhead storage facilities on the base, and as they approached they observed a bright light shining vertically upwards from the rear of the fence line. One of the men stayed in the vehicle while the other went to check out what this strange light was, and as he approached he would report seeing “an individual dressed in a glowing, green metallic uniform and wearing a helmet with visor.” The security officer ordered the mysterious trespasser to stop, and when he did not he aimed his weapon at him. As the weapon was trained on him, the stranger produced some sort of object that emitted a “bright flash of intense light” that disintegrated the weapon and caused severe burns to the guard’s hands. 

When his partner arrived to help, they then saw two more intruders dressed in the same uniforms, who seemed to phase through the fence and walk completely through it. When their orders to halt went unheeded, they fired at the intruders with an M-16 rifle and both fell to the ground. They didn’t stay down long, however, and the two base personnel had to take cover as the intruders fired beams of light at them. The two figures then proceeded to hurry off to a nearby hill, where a saucer shaped object bathed in green illumination appeared, which picked them up and then climbed vertically upwards and shot off over the Eastern horizon. Rather strangely, an examination off the site would show that the nuclear components of the warhead had gone missing. Were they stolen by those enigmatic strangers? Who knows?

If a shootout with aliens sounds strange enough as it is, our final case here is perhaps the most spectacularly weird of all, involving an alien allegedly killed by base personnel. The incident supposedly happened at Fort Dix/McGuire AFB, New Jersey, on January 18, 1978. At around 3 a.m. that morning, a Jeffrey Morse had been on patrol as a security policeman for the base when he was notified about UFO activity over Fort Dix, which is an army base that adjoined McGuire AFB, and there were calls for assistance from a Ft. Dix MP who was pursuing a low flying object which had then hovered over his car. Morse would explain of the incredibly bizarre series of events:

He described the UFO as oval shaped, with no details, and glowing with a blueish green color. His radio transmission was cut off. At that time in front of his police car, appeared a thing, about 4ft tall, grayish, brown, fat head, long arms, and slender body. The MP panicked and fired five rounds from his .45 Cal into the thing, and one round into the object above. The object then fled straight up and joined with eleven others high in the sky. This we all saw but didn’t know the details at the time. Anyway, the thing ran into the woods towards our fence line and they wanted to look for it. By this time several patrols were involved.

We found the body of the thing near the runway. It had apparently climbed the fence and died while running. It was all of a sudden hush-hush and no one was allowed near the area. We roped off the area and AF OSI came out and took over. That was the last I saw of it. There was a bad stench coming from it too. Like ammonia smelling but it wasn’t constant in the air. That day, a team from Wright-Patterson AFB came in a C141 and went to the area. They crated it in a wooden box, sprayed something over it, and then put it into a bigger metal container. They loaded it in the plane and took off. That was it, nothing more was said, no report made and we were all told not to have anything to say about it or we would be court martialed.

Morse would go on to claim that all witnesses to the event had been interrogated and sent off for duty at other bases. UFO investigator George Filer would claim that he had been summoned to the base that evening, and had witnessed strange red lights on one of the disused runways. He also alleged that he had heard chatter among the base personnel that an alien had been killed and that UFO activity had been picked up on radar at both Fort Dix and McGuire AFB. It is just one more case to throw on the pile of very odd encounters that have supposedly gone on at Air Force bases. What were these entities and what did they want? Where did they come from? Were they ever even really real at all? The answers remain unclear. 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

It's a regular fact that if you write books, you'll get feedback. And, sometimes, a lot of it. With that said, I thought I would share with you some fascinating UFO cses that you may not have heard of, but which came my way. Operation Bulldog – held in September 1949, and overseen by the UK’s Fighter Command and Bomber Command – was a show of strength to the Soviets. It demonstrated that the West could take swift and decisive action in the event the Russians flexed their muscles a bit too much. And, for good measure, the operation also involved the air-forces of the United States, Belgium, France, and Holland. The Soviets took careful and concerned notice, which was the whole point. It appears it was not just the Russians that kept a beady eye on the military maneuvers. Just possibly, entities from another world did likewise. At the time Bulldog was held, the late J.R. Oliver was a radar-operator at a British Royal Air Force base called Sandwich, which was situated in the English county of Kent. Oliver said: “Even so long ago, it was almost impossible to fly a glider across the [English] Channel without it being plotted. The exercise was structured in such a way that the technical resources and personnel of the defensive screen were stretched to the limit.”

Oliver added that the staff of RAF Sandwich “were fully skilled and right on top of their job. Two watches were kept, A and B, on alternate twelve-hour shifts for the duration of Bulldog.” According to Oliver on one particular night, around midnight, “things had gone slack,” and his group was told it could “take a break.” It was a break that didn’t last for long, as Oliver noted: “Within about fifteen minutes the PBX operator came in, approached the Duty Controller and advised him that Beachy Head radar was passing a plot to us on a large flying object and would we track it?” They did exactly that. It became very clear, and very quickly, that this was no ordinary aircraft. Oliver recalled: “Reaching a position out to sea off the ‘heel’ of Kent, it abruptly turned north and as it approached the Thames estuary we passed it on to Martlesham radar, with whom we had been in contact.”

Oliver offered something remarkable: “Flying at close to 50,000 feet, the air speed of the object we had observed and plotted in accordance with RAF standard procedures was assessed at very nearly 3,000 miles per hour. The general consensus regarding its size, among the very best experienced radar personnel engaged in the operations, was that the object offered an echo similar to that of a large passenger or freight surface vessel, something in the region of 15,000 or 20,000 tons.” In typical British understatement, Oliver said there was “quite a bit of buzz about this.”

Now, let's jump to Puerto Rico and January 19, 1999. On my first visit to Puerto Rico – in the summer of 2004 and with a crew from the SyFy Channel – I had the opportunity to speak with a woman who had a hair-raising encounter in the island’s El Yunque rainforest on one particular, Saturday morning. As the woman picked plantains, she was amazed to see a definitive flying saucer – silver in color and about the size of a large car – silently descend in a nearby clearing. That amazement became trepidation, when a sliding-door on the outside of the craft opened. Trepidation was immediately replaced by sheer terror when, out of the surrounding trees, a fast-running, spiky-headed Chupacabra raced towards the unearthly craft, and jumped inside it! In seconds, the object took to the skies and was lost from view. Despite the outlandish nature of the story, the woman stood by it, even sharing the facts for the Sy-Fy Channel’s film-crew. A brief story, but an amazing one.

On January 25, 1968, secret was revealed. On this specific day, Suzanne Clarke, then of Gallipolis, Ohio was told an amazing story by her father. According to the tale, Clarke’s father decided to come clean on something that he knew of the UFO phenomenon; something amazing and, if true, having a bearing on national security – a major bearing, in fact. Clarke’s father maintained that in 1965, three years earlier, and while employed at NORAD – the North American Air Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado – he saw, under circumstances that he declined to explain, a series of black-and-white, aerial photographs of three small, large-headed bodies strewn around a desert floor, and which also showed a large amount of silvery, bright debris. The location, Clarke’s father said, was New Mexico, and the photos were taken in 1947. Of course, this strongly suggests the now-famous Roswell affair of 1947 – although, admittedly, Clarke’s father made no reference to Roswell. Clarke was warned by her father not to reveal what he had told her until after his death – which occurred in 1981. Such was the concern, and even fear, in his voice, however, Clarke chose to remain silent until the late-1990s. So far, there has been no knock on the door from the Men in Black.

May 19, 1986, UFOs invade Brazilian airspace: one of the most notable encounters with not just one UFO, but a squadron of them, took place in the skies of Brazil on May 19, 1986. A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report describes the facts: “According to sources, at least 20 unidentified objects were observed by several aircrews and on radar the night of 19 May 86. The objects were first seen by the pilot of a Xingu aircraft, transporting Ozires Silva, former President of Embraer, between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Fighters were launched from Santa Cruz AFB at approximately 2100 hours. Although all three made radar contact, only one of the three pilots managed to see what he described as red, white and green lights. Shortly afterward, radar contact was made with similar objects near Brasilia and three Mirages were launched from Anapolis AB. All made radar and visual contact at 20,000 feet. They reported that they were escorted by thirteen of these discs with red, green and white lights at a distance of one to three miles.” The report comes to an end in a decidedly intriguing fashion: “...there is too much here to be ignored. Three visual sightings and positive radar contact from three different types of radar systems, leads one to believe that something weird arrived over Brazil on the night of 19 May.”

June 14, 2005: Located in the Piney Woods area of East Texas, the Big Thicket has a most apt moniker: it is a huge, 83,000-acre area of woodland. “Dense” barely begins to describe the massive, forested environment, which is home to numerous wild animals, including alligators and wildcats. Running through the heart of the Big Thicket is a long, thin, and incredibly sandy old road called Bragg Road. That’s not what the locals call it, though. To them, it is known as Ghost Light Road. There is a very good reason for this: for at least three centuries, people have reported seeing weird, small balls of light flitting through the trees late at night. But, we’re not talking about anything quite as down to earth as fireflies. These particular lights vary in size from – approximately – a tennis ball to a beach ball. They also exhibit evidence of intelligence: witnesses describe the lights approaching them, even circling them, in what is occasionally perceived as a playful fashion. Such is the interest that the lights provoke in the people that live there, and in visitors too, a historical marker has been erected at the start of Bragg Road and which details the strange story of the lights. I know all this, as I have seen one of the mysterious ghost lights myself, late on the night of June 12, 2005. I was standing on Bragg Road when the approximately basketball-sized light appeared – very briefly. What it was, I have no idea. But, it was there all the same. Now, onto another fascinating case.

Declassified US Government files reveal that on a particular occasion in July 1952 – the very month that Washington, D.C. was hit by a veritable tsunami of UFO encounters – a man named Karl Hunrath complained to his local police department about something very weird indeed. Who knows what the cops thought of it all, but it basically went like this: in the early hours of a Sunday morning in July, someone broke into Hunrath’s home, injected his arm full of chemicals - which rendered him into a distinctly altered state of mind - and proceeded to tell him that he had been chosen to play a significant role in the alien mission on Earth. A very groggy Hunrath could only look on amazed from his bed as the somewhat foreign-sounding – put perfectly human-appearing – alien told him: “I am Bosco. You have been chosen to enter our brotherhood of galaxies.” Typical Space-Brother spiel, in other words.

 The files continue that the suit-and-tie-wearing Bosco advised Hunrath the brothers from beyond were deeply worried by our warlike ways, and so action had to be taken against those dastardly elements of the human race that wanted to spoil everyone else’s fun. There was not to be any The Day the Earth Stood Still-style ultimatum for one and all, however. Nope. The aliens wished to recruit sympathetic humans to aid their righteous cause. Or, more correctly, get someone else to do all their dirty work while they lurked safely in the shadows. And as Hunrath came to quickly realize, he was now one of the chosen few. But there was more. Bosco, via - according to the FBI - “occult techniques,” downloaded into Hunrath’s mind countless megabytes of data on how to build a terrible weapon that had the ability to destroy aircraft; specifically, the aircraft of the US military, who the Space-Brothers viewed as being just about as dangerous to world peace as the dastardly commies. 

“I am Bosco and that will be its name, too,” boomed the alleged alien, in reference to the device that he wanted Hunrath to not just build, but also deploy. Far too stunned and drugged to move, Hunrath could only watch in a mixture of befuddlement and shock as Bosco then turned on his heels and left for his – one might be inclined to assume after an experience like that – flying saucer. There was no amazing “Beam me up, Scotty”-type exit for Bosco, however. For an alien, Bosco had a very down to earth means of making good his departure: he pulled back the curtains of Hunrath’s bedroom-window, clambered out, and vanished into the depths of the early morning blackness of Hunrath’s front-yard! The curious encounter ended as weirdly as it had begun. There's no doubt it was a classic "Contactee" case.

One particularly fascinating scenario for the sudden appearance of UFOs in the Earth’s skies was brought to the attention of officialdom by a little-known, but well-respected, source. His name was Edwin M. Bailey. In the summer of 1947, Bailey was living in Stamford, Connecticut. At the time, he was working in the Physics Division of the American Cyanamid Research Laboratories on West Main Street. In the 1970s, the American Cyanamid Company was one of the United States’ top 100 manufacturing companies. Its output included antibiotics, vaccines, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and acrylic plastics. Far more notable is the fact that at the height of the Second World War, Bailey worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Not only that, the specific branch of MIT to which Bailey was assigned was the Radiation Laboratory. It was a body that played an important role in the development of the atomic bomb, under the overall control of the Manhattan Project. On top of that, Bailey had graduated at the University of Arizona.

The FBI recorded in its files the following: “Bailey stated that the topic of ‘flying saucers’ had caused considerable comment and concern to the present day scientists and indicated that he himself had a personal theory concerning the ‘flying saucers.’” As to the specific nature of that theory, it was, to say the least, grim. The FBI noted: “Bailey stated that it is quite possible that actually the ‘flying saucers’ could be radio controlled germ bombs or atom bombs which are circling the orbit of the earth and which could be controlled by radio and directed to land on any designated target at the specific desire of the agency or country operating the bombs.” Disturbing, to say the least." Indeed!

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