After the forced conclusion of the Condon Cmt. Report the United States Airforce was able to shut down its public Project Blue Book program. Actually for years the USAF looked for a way to distance itself from the UFO subject. On too many occasions the USAF became red-faced over gaffes connected with UFOs, UFO sightings and the like. In 1969 they were finally able to "Shut it Down" and they thought they could FINALLY walk away from it all.
Now in the field of UFO research (and I do use that term lightly) I discovered something that I pointed out in my "good-bye" paper "My 20 Years in the UFO Fog." Each generation of people trying to research the UFO subject must once again learn what the last generation of reseachers already knew. By the way I caught a lot of flack about that from folks now connected to the re-vamped UFO Magazine. Be that as it may, that is the damned truth. People coming into the field will stumble across something like a Lear or Bill Cooper paper that was released over 20 years ago and think they have discovered a new gem ... not realizing that it was discredited years ago. Ergo, they have no idea what went on before them. Why? Well try this on for size ... there is no school of UFO research out there. There are one hell of a lot of books however but it is too much trouble to track them down and then ... horror of horrors ... read and digest them! So, what to do? Well hey!, lets stumble around the net' and see whats there! Poof! ... UFO research falls into the manure pile ... once more.
In 1988 I discovered a former text book that the Air Force had been using at their military academy in Colorado Springs. It had been pulled from the curriculum in the very early 1970's because of the controversy it generated. At that time I was connected with Paranet and took the time to transcribe the chapter in question because it proved the truth of the Air Force's real feelings on UFOs that it was teaching its officer cadets. You can find this document today on the web. I guess it is true .. nothing ever dies and disappears since the web made its appearance. This is for your information if you have never seen it before.
Decker
cont. next page
---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 AM ----------
Transcribed by:
Don Ecker
(Former) Research Director
UFO Magazine
INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME II
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF
Edited by:
Major Donald G. Carpenter
Co-Editor:
Lt. Colonel Edward R. Therkelson
CHAPTER XIII
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
What is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)? Well,
according to United States Air Force Regulation 80-17 (dated 19
September 1966), a UFO is "Any" aerial Phenomenon or object which
is unknown or appears to be out of the ordinary to the observer."
This is a very broad definition which applies equally well to one
individual seeing his first noctilucent cloud at twilight as it
does to another individual seeing his first helicopter. However,
at present most people consider the term UFO to mean an
object which behaves in a strange or erratic manner while moving
through the Earth's atmosphere. That strange phenomenon has
evoked strong emotions and great curiosity among a large segment
of our world's population. The average person is interested
because he loves a mystery, the professional military man is
involved because of the possible threat to national security, and
some scientist are interested because of the basic curiosity that
led them into becoming researchers.
The literature on UFO's is so vast, and the stories so many
and varied, that we can only present a sketchy outline of the
subject in this chapter. That outline includes description
classifications, operational domains (temporal and spatial), some
theories as to the nature of the UFO phenomenon, human reactions,
attempts to attack the problem scientifically, and some tentative
conclusions. If you wish to read further in this area, the
references provide an excellent starting point.
33.1 DESCRIPTIONS
One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting
to catalog UFO sightings, is selection of a system for
cataloging. No effective system has yet been devised, although a
number of different systems have been proposed. The net result
is that almost all UFO data are either treated in the form of
individual cases, or in the forms of inadequate calcification
systems. However, these systems do tend to have some common
factors, and a collection of these factors is as follows:
a. Size
b. Shape (disc, ellipse, football, etc.)
c. Luminosity
d. Color
e. Number of UFO's
Behavior:
a. Location (altitude, direction, etc.)
b. Patterns of paths (straight line, climbing, zig-zagging, etc.)
c. Flight Characteristics (wobbling, fluttering, etc.)
d. Periodicity of sightings
e. Time duration
f. Curiosity or inquisitiveness
g. Avoidance
h. Hostility
Associated Effects:
a. Electro-Magnetic (compass, radio, ignition systems, etc.)
b. Radiation (burns, induced radioactivity, etc.)
c. Ground disturbance (dust stirred up, leaves moved, standing
wave peaks of surface of water, etc.)
d. Sound (none, hissing, humming, roaring, thunderclaps, etc.)
e. Vibration (weak, strong, slow, fast)
f. Smell (ozone or other odor)
g. Flame (how much, where, when, color)
h. Smoke or cloud (amount, color, persistence)
I. Debris (type, amount, color, persistence)
j. Inhibition of voluntary movement by observers
k. Sighting of "creatures" or "beings"
After Effects:
a. Burned areas or animals
b. depressed or flattened areas
c. Dead or "missing animals"
d. Mentally disturbed people
e. Missing items
We make no attempt here to present available data in terms of the
foregoing descriptors.
33.2 OPERATIONAL DOMAINS - TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL
What we will do here is to present evidence that UFO's are a
global phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands of
years. During this discussion, please remember that the more
ancient the reports the less sophisticated the observer. Not
only were the ancient observers lacking the terminology necessary
to describe complex devices (such as present day helicopters) but
they were also lacking the concepts necessary to understand the
true nature of such things as television, spaceships, rockets,
nuclear weapons and radiation effects. To some, the most
advanced technological concept was a war chariot with knife
blades attached to the wheels. By the same token, the very lack
of accurate terminology and descriptions leaves the more ancient
reports open to considerable misinterpretation, and it may well
be that present evaluations of individual reports are completely
wrong. Nevertheless, let us start with an intriguing story in
one of the oldest chronicles of India. . . . the Book of Dzyan.
The book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were
finally gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write.
One of the stories is of a small group of beings who supposedly
came to Earth many thousands of years ago in a metal craft which
orbited the Earth several times before landing. As told in the
Book "These beings lived to themselves and were revered by the
humans among whom they had settled. But eventually differences
arose among them and they divided their numbers, several of the
men and women and some children settled in another city, where
they were promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken
populace.
"Separation did not bring peace to these people and finally
their anger reached a point where the ruler of the original city
took with him a small number of his warriors and they rose into
the air in a huge shining metal vessel. While they were many
leagues from the city of their enemies, they launched a great
shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It burst apart in
the city of their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot up
to the heavens, almost to the stars. All those who were in the
city were horribly burned and even those who were not in the city
- but nearby - were burned also. Those who looked upon the lance
and the ball of fire were blinded forever afterward. Those who
entered the city on foot became ill and died. Even the dust of
the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that flowed through it.
Men dared not go near it, and it gradually crumbled into dust and
was forgotten by men."
"When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he
retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he
gathered about him those warriors who remained, and their wives
and children, and they entered their vessels and rose one by one
into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they return."
Could this foregoing legend really be an account of an
extraterrestrial colonization, complete with guided missile,
nuclear warhead and radiation effects? It is difficult to assess
the validity of that explanation...just as it is difficult to
explain why Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology all discuss wars
and contacts among their "Gods." (Even the Bible records
conflict between the legions of God and Satan.) Could it be that
each group recorded their parochial view of what was actually a
global conflict among alien colonists or visitors? Or is it that
man has led such a violent existence that he tends to expect
conflict and violence among even his gods?
Evidence of perhaps an even earlier possible contact was
uncovered by Tschi Pen Lao of the University of Peking. He
discovered astonishing carvings in granite on a mountain in Hunan
Province and on an island in Lake Tungting. These carvings have
been evaluated as 47,000 years old, and they show people with
large trunks (breathing apparatus?...or "elephant" heads shown on
human bodies? Remember, the Egyptians often represented their
gods as animal heads on human bodies.)
cont. next page
---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------
Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the Tassili
plateau of Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human beings but
with strange round heads (helmets? or "sun" heads on human
bodies?) And even more recently, in the Bible, Genesis (6:4)
tells of angels from the sky mating with women of Earth, who bore
them children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two angels in
desert and his later feeding them at his house. The Bible also
tells a rather unusual story of Ezekiel who witnessed what has
been interpreted by some to have been a spacecraft or aircraft
landing near the Chebar River in Chaldea (593 B.C.).
Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the
Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the era
about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in the
skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled
with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the rope
to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The Bishop made
the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship, where
the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight.
In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were
swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the
legends of the "little people" of Ireland were based upon
imagination alone.
About the same time, in Lyons (France) three men and a women
supposedly descended from an airship or spaceship and were
captured by a mob. These foreigners admitted to being wizards,
and were killed. (No mention is made of the methods employed to
extract the admissions.) Many documented UFO sightings occurred
throughout the Middle Ages, including an especially startling one
of a UFO over London on 16 December 1742. However, we do not
have room to include any more of the Middle Ages sightings.
Instead, two "more-recent" sightings are contained in this
section to bring us up to modern times.
In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous
and prominent farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Le Roy, Kansas,
U.S.A.) told of an attack upon his cattle at about 10:30 PM the
previous Monday. He, his son, and his tenant grabbed axes and
ran some 700 feet from the house to the cow lot where a great
cigar-shaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30 feet above
his cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was brightly
lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had numerous
windows. Inside were six strange looking beings jabbering in a
foreign language. These beings suddenly became aware of Hamilton
and the others. They immediately turned a searchlight on the
farmer, and also turned on some power which sped up a turbine
wheel (about 30 ft diameter) located under the craft. The ship
rose, taking with it a two-year old heifer which was roped about
the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red material. The
next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the animal's hide, legs
and head in his field. He was mystified at how the remains got
to where they were because of the lack of tracks in the soft
soil. Alexander Hamilton's sworn statement was accompanied by an
affidavit as to his veracity. The affidavit was signed by ten of
the local leading citizens.
On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil,
two sentries noted a "new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in
size and within seconds stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly
downward, was as large as a big aircraft, and was surrounded by a
strong orange glow. A distinct humming sound was heard, and then
the heat struck. A Sentry collapsed almost immediately, the
other managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons where
his loud cries awoke the garrison. While the troops were
scrambling towards their battle stations, complete electrical
failure occurred. There was panic until the lights came back on
but a number of men still managed to see an orange glow leaving
the area at high speed. Both sentries were found badly
burned...one unconscious and the other incoherent, suffering from
deep shock.
Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back to 47,000
years through time but also are global in nature. One has the
feeling that this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid
scientific investigation, even if it is a low level effort.
33.3 SOME THEORIES AS TO THE NATURE OF THE UFO PHENOMENON
There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of
UFO's. Those theories that have been advanced can be collected
in five groups:
a. Mysticism
b. Hoaxes, and rantings due to unstable personalities
c. Secret Weapons
d. Natural Phenomena
e. Alien visitors
Mysticism
It is believed by some cults that the mission of UFO's and
their crews is a spiritual one, and that all materialistic
efforts to determine the UFO's nature are doomed to failure.
Hoaxes and Rantings due to Unstable Personalities
Some have suggested that all UFO reports were the results of
pranks and hoaxes, or were made by people with unstable
personalities. This attitude was particularly prevalent during
the time period when the Air Force investigation was being
operated under the code name of Project Grudge. A few airlines
even went as far as to ground every pilot who reported seeing a
"flying saucer." The only way for the pilot to regain flight
status was to undergo a psychiatric examination. There was a
noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time interval,
and a few interpreted this decline to prove that UFO's were
either hoaxes or the result of unstable personalities. It is of
interest that NICAP (The National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena) even today still receives reports from
commercial pilots who neglect to notify either the Air Force or
their own airline.
There are a number of cases which indicate that not all
reports fall in the hoax category. We will examine one such case
now. It is the Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by police
Sergeant Lonnie Zamora. Sergeant Zamora was patrolling the
streets of Socorro on 24 April 1964 when he saw a shiny object
drift down into an area of gullies on the edge of town. He also
heard a loud roaring noise which sounded as if an old dynamite
shed located out that way had exploded. He immediately radioed
police headquarters, and drove out toward the shed. Zamora was
forced to stop about 150 yards away from a deep gully in which
there appeared to be an overturned car. He radioed that he was
investigating a possible wreck, and then worked his car up onto
the mesa and over toward the edge of the gully. He parked short,
and when he walked the final few feet to the edge, he was amazed
to see that it was not a car but instead was a weird eggshaped
object about fifteen feet long, white in color and resting on
short, metal legs. Beside it, unaware of his presence were two
humanoids dressed in silvery coveralls. They seemed to be
working on a portion of the underside of the object. Zamora was
still standing there, surprised, when they suddenly noticed him
and dove out of sight around the object. Zamora also headed the
other way, back toward his car. He glanced back at the object
just as a bright blue flame shot down from the underside. Within
seconds the eggshaped thing rose out of the gully with "an
earsplitting roar." The object was out of sight over the nearby
mountains almost immediately, and Sergeant Zamora was moving the
opposite direction almost as fast when he met Sergeant Sam Chavez
who was responding to Zamora's earlier radio calls. Together
they investigated the gully and found the bushes charred and
still smoking where the blue flame had jetted down on them.
About the charred area were four deep marks where the metal legs
had been. Each mark was three and one half inches deep, and was
circular in shape. The sand in the gully was very hard packed
so no sign of the humanoids' footprints could be found. An
official investigation was launched that same day, and all data
obtained supported the stories of Zamora and Chavez. It is
rather difficult to label this episode a hoax, and it is also
doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared portions of the same
hallucination.
Secret Weapons
A few individuals have proposed that UFO's are actually
advanced weapon systems, and that their natures must not be
revealed. Very few people accept this as a credible suggestion.
cont. next page
Now in the field of UFO research (and I do use that term lightly) I discovered something that I pointed out in my "good-bye" paper "My 20 Years in the UFO Fog." Each generation of people trying to research the UFO subject must once again learn what the last generation of reseachers already knew. By the way I caught a lot of flack about that from folks now connected to the re-vamped UFO Magazine. Be that as it may, that is the damned truth. People coming into the field will stumble across something like a Lear or Bill Cooper paper that was released over 20 years ago and think they have discovered a new gem ... not realizing that it was discredited years ago. Ergo, they have no idea what went on before them. Why? Well try this on for size ... there is no school of UFO research out there. There are one hell of a lot of books however but it is too much trouble to track them down and then ... horror of horrors ... read and digest them! So, what to do? Well hey!, lets stumble around the net' and see whats there! Poof! ... UFO research falls into the manure pile ... once more.
In 1988 I discovered a former text book that the Air Force had been using at their military academy in Colorado Springs. It had been pulled from the curriculum in the very early 1970's because of the controversy it generated. At that time I was connected with Paranet and took the time to transcribe the chapter in question because it proved the truth of the Air Force's real feelings on UFOs that it was teaching its officer cadets. You can find this document today on the web. I guess it is true .. nothing ever dies and disappears since the web made its appearance. This is for your information if you have never seen it before.
Decker
cont. next page
---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 AM ----------
Transcribed by:
Don Ecker
(Former) Research Director
UFO Magazine
INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME II
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF
Edited by:
Major Donald G. Carpenter
Co-Editor:
Lt. Colonel Edward R. Therkelson
CHAPTER XIII
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
What is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)? Well,
according to United States Air Force Regulation 80-17 (dated 19
September 1966), a UFO is "Any" aerial Phenomenon or object which
is unknown or appears to be out of the ordinary to the observer."
This is a very broad definition which applies equally well to one
individual seeing his first noctilucent cloud at twilight as it
does to another individual seeing his first helicopter. However,
at present most people consider the term UFO to mean an
object which behaves in a strange or erratic manner while moving
through the Earth's atmosphere. That strange phenomenon has
evoked strong emotions and great curiosity among a large segment
of our world's population. The average person is interested
because he loves a mystery, the professional military man is
involved because of the possible threat to national security, and
some scientist are interested because of the basic curiosity that
led them into becoming researchers.
The literature on UFO's is so vast, and the stories so many
and varied, that we can only present a sketchy outline of the
subject in this chapter. That outline includes description
classifications, operational domains (temporal and spatial), some
theories as to the nature of the UFO phenomenon, human reactions,
attempts to attack the problem scientifically, and some tentative
conclusions. If you wish to read further in this area, the
references provide an excellent starting point.
33.1 DESCRIPTIONS
One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting
to catalog UFO sightings, is selection of a system for
cataloging. No effective system has yet been devised, although a
number of different systems have been proposed. The net result
is that almost all UFO data are either treated in the form of
individual cases, or in the forms of inadequate calcification
systems. However, these systems do tend to have some common
factors, and a collection of these factors is as follows:
a. Size
b. Shape (disc, ellipse, football, etc.)
c. Luminosity
d. Color
e. Number of UFO's
Behavior:
a. Location (altitude, direction, etc.)
b. Patterns of paths (straight line, climbing, zig-zagging, etc.)
c. Flight Characteristics (wobbling, fluttering, etc.)
d. Periodicity of sightings
e. Time duration
f. Curiosity or inquisitiveness
g. Avoidance
h. Hostility
Associated Effects:
a. Electro-Magnetic (compass, radio, ignition systems, etc.)
b. Radiation (burns, induced radioactivity, etc.)
c. Ground disturbance (dust stirred up, leaves moved, standing
wave peaks of surface of water, etc.)
d. Sound (none, hissing, humming, roaring, thunderclaps, etc.)
e. Vibration (weak, strong, slow, fast)
f. Smell (ozone or other odor)
g. Flame (how much, where, when, color)
h. Smoke or cloud (amount, color, persistence)
I. Debris (type, amount, color, persistence)
j. Inhibition of voluntary movement by observers
k. Sighting of "creatures" or "beings"
After Effects:
a. Burned areas or animals
b. depressed or flattened areas
c. Dead or "missing animals"
d. Mentally disturbed people
e. Missing items
We make no attempt here to present available data in terms of the
foregoing descriptors.
33.2 OPERATIONAL DOMAINS - TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL
What we will do here is to present evidence that UFO's are a
global phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands of
years. During this discussion, please remember that the more
ancient the reports the less sophisticated the observer. Not
only were the ancient observers lacking the terminology necessary
to describe complex devices (such as present day helicopters) but
they were also lacking the concepts necessary to understand the
true nature of such things as television, spaceships, rockets,
nuclear weapons and radiation effects. To some, the most
advanced technological concept was a war chariot with knife
blades attached to the wheels. By the same token, the very lack
of accurate terminology and descriptions leaves the more ancient
reports open to considerable misinterpretation, and it may well
be that present evaluations of individual reports are completely
wrong. Nevertheless, let us start with an intriguing story in
one of the oldest chronicles of India. . . . the Book of Dzyan.
The book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were
finally gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write.
One of the stories is of a small group of beings who supposedly
came to Earth many thousands of years ago in a metal craft which
orbited the Earth several times before landing. As told in the
Book "These beings lived to themselves and were revered by the
humans among whom they had settled. But eventually differences
arose among them and they divided their numbers, several of the
men and women and some children settled in another city, where
they were promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken
populace.
"Separation did not bring peace to these people and finally
their anger reached a point where the ruler of the original city
took with him a small number of his warriors and they rose into
the air in a huge shining metal vessel. While they were many
leagues from the city of their enemies, they launched a great
shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It burst apart in
the city of their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot up
to the heavens, almost to the stars. All those who were in the
city were horribly burned and even those who were not in the city
- but nearby - were burned also. Those who looked upon the lance
and the ball of fire were blinded forever afterward. Those who
entered the city on foot became ill and died. Even the dust of
the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that flowed through it.
Men dared not go near it, and it gradually crumbled into dust and
was forgotten by men."
"When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he
retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he
gathered about him those warriors who remained, and their wives
and children, and they entered their vessels and rose one by one
into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they return."
Could this foregoing legend really be an account of an
extraterrestrial colonization, complete with guided missile,
nuclear warhead and radiation effects? It is difficult to assess
the validity of that explanation...just as it is difficult to
explain why Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology all discuss wars
and contacts among their "Gods." (Even the Bible records
conflict between the legions of God and Satan.) Could it be that
each group recorded their parochial view of what was actually a
global conflict among alien colonists or visitors? Or is it that
man has led such a violent existence that he tends to expect
conflict and violence among even his gods?
Evidence of perhaps an even earlier possible contact was
uncovered by Tschi Pen Lao of the University of Peking. He
discovered astonishing carvings in granite on a mountain in Hunan
Province and on an island in Lake Tungting. These carvings have
been evaluated as 47,000 years old, and they show people with
large trunks (breathing apparatus?...or "elephant" heads shown on
human bodies? Remember, the Egyptians often represented their
gods as animal heads on human bodies.)
cont. next page
---------- Post added at 11:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------
Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the Tassili
plateau of Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human beings but
with strange round heads (helmets? or "sun" heads on human
bodies?) And even more recently, in the Bible, Genesis (6:4)
tells of angels from the sky mating with women of Earth, who bore
them children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two angels in
desert and his later feeding them at his house. The Bible also
tells a rather unusual story of Ezekiel who witnessed what has
been interpreted by some to have been a spacecraft or aircraft
landing near the Chebar River in Chaldea (593 B.C.).
Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the
Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the era
about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in the
skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled
with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the rope
to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The Bishop made
the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship, where
the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight.
In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were
swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the
legends of the "little people" of Ireland were based upon
imagination alone.
About the same time, in Lyons (France) three men and a women
supposedly descended from an airship or spaceship and were
captured by a mob. These foreigners admitted to being wizards,
and were killed. (No mention is made of the methods employed to
extract the admissions.) Many documented UFO sightings occurred
throughout the Middle Ages, including an especially startling one
of a UFO over London on 16 December 1742. However, we do not
have room to include any more of the Middle Ages sightings.
Instead, two "more-recent" sightings are contained in this
section to bring us up to modern times.
In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous
and prominent farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Le Roy, Kansas,
U.S.A.) told of an attack upon his cattle at about 10:30 PM the
previous Monday. He, his son, and his tenant grabbed axes and
ran some 700 feet from the house to the cow lot where a great
cigar-shaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30 feet above
his cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was brightly
lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had numerous
windows. Inside were six strange looking beings jabbering in a
foreign language. These beings suddenly became aware of Hamilton
and the others. They immediately turned a searchlight on the
farmer, and also turned on some power which sped up a turbine
wheel (about 30 ft diameter) located under the craft. The ship
rose, taking with it a two-year old heifer which was roped about
the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red material. The
next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the animal's hide, legs
and head in his field. He was mystified at how the remains got
to where they were because of the lack of tracks in the soft
soil. Alexander Hamilton's sworn statement was accompanied by an
affidavit as to his veracity. The affidavit was signed by ten of
the local leading citizens.
On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil,
two sentries noted a "new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in
size and within seconds stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly
downward, was as large as a big aircraft, and was surrounded by a
strong orange glow. A distinct humming sound was heard, and then
the heat struck. A Sentry collapsed almost immediately, the
other managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons where
his loud cries awoke the garrison. While the troops were
scrambling towards their battle stations, complete electrical
failure occurred. There was panic until the lights came back on
but a number of men still managed to see an orange glow leaving
the area at high speed. Both sentries were found badly
burned...one unconscious and the other incoherent, suffering from
deep shock.
Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back to 47,000
years through time but also are global in nature. One has the
feeling that this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid
scientific investigation, even if it is a low level effort.
33.3 SOME THEORIES AS TO THE NATURE OF THE UFO PHENOMENON
There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of
UFO's. Those theories that have been advanced can be collected
in five groups:
a. Mysticism
b. Hoaxes, and rantings due to unstable personalities
c. Secret Weapons
d. Natural Phenomena
e. Alien visitors
Mysticism
It is believed by some cults that the mission of UFO's and
their crews is a spiritual one, and that all materialistic
efforts to determine the UFO's nature are doomed to failure.
Hoaxes and Rantings due to Unstable Personalities
Some have suggested that all UFO reports were the results of
pranks and hoaxes, or were made by people with unstable
personalities. This attitude was particularly prevalent during
the time period when the Air Force investigation was being
operated under the code name of Project Grudge. A few airlines
even went as far as to ground every pilot who reported seeing a
"flying saucer." The only way for the pilot to regain flight
status was to undergo a psychiatric examination. There was a
noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time interval,
and a few interpreted this decline to prove that UFO's were
either hoaxes or the result of unstable personalities. It is of
interest that NICAP (The National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena) even today still receives reports from
commercial pilots who neglect to notify either the Air Force or
their own airline.
There are a number of cases which indicate that not all
reports fall in the hoax category. We will examine one such case
now. It is the Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by police
Sergeant Lonnie Zamora. Sergeant Zamora was patrolling the
streets of Socorro on 24 April 1964 when he saw a shiny object
drift down into an area of gullies on the edge of town. He also
heard a loud roaring noise which sounded as if an old dynamite
shed located out that way had exploded. He immediately radioed
police headquarters, and drove out toward the shed. Zamora was
forced to stop about 150 yards away from a deep gully in which
there appeared to be an overturned car. He radioed that he was
investigating a possible wreck, and then worked his car up onto
the mesa and over toward the edge of the gully. He parked short,
and when he walked the final few feet to the edge, he was amazed
to see that it was not a car but instead was a weird eggshaped
object about fifteen feet long, white in color and resting on
short, metal legs. Beside it, unaware of his presence were two
humanoids dressed in silvery coveralls. They seemed to be
working on a portion of the underside of the object. Zamora was
still standing there, surprised, when they suddenly noticed him
and dove out of sight around the object. Zamora also headed the
other way, back toward his car. He glanced back at the object
just as a bright blue flame shot down from the underside. Within
seconds the eggshaped thing rose out of the gully with "an
earsplitting roar." The object was out of sight over the nearby
mountains almost immediately, and Sergeant Zamora was moving the
opposite direction almost as fast when he met Sergeant Sam Chavez
who was responding to Zamora's earlier radio calls. Together
they investigated the gully and found the bushes charred and
still smoking where the blue flame had jetted down on them.
About the charred area were four deep marks where the metal legs
had been. Each mark was three and one half inches deep, and was
circular in shape. The sand in the gully was very hard packed
so no sign of the humanoids' footprints could be found. An
official investigation was launched that same day, and all data
obtained supported the stories of Zamora and Chavez. It is
rather difficult to label this episode a hoax, and it is also
doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared portions of the same
hallucination.
Secret Weapons
A few individuals have proposed that UFO's are actually
advanced weapon systems, and that their natures must not be
revealed. Very few people accept this as a credible suggestion.
cont. next page
