Appendix D SKYHOOK BALLOONS The Aeronautical Division of General Mills, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, launched and tracked every skyhook balloon that has been sent aloft previously to the middle of 1952. “They knew what their balloons looked like under all lighting conditions and they also knew meteorology, aerodynamics, astronomy, and they knew UFOs . . . . . What made these people so sure that UFOs existed? In the first place, they had seen many of them. One man told me that one tracking crew had seen so many that the sight of a UFO no longer even especially interested them. And the things that they saw couldn’t be explained.”* Given below are testimonies of two separate sightings of UFOs by Mr. […] Read More
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Appendix C SOME STATEMENTS BY SCIENTISTS AND PILOTS SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE SEEN UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh, famous astronomer, discoverer of the planet Pluto, who has sighted UFOs: “These things, which appear to be directed, are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed.” Prof. Henry Carlock, physics professor at Mississippi College, Jackson, Miss., who observed a UFO for about a minute in 1957: “It had a Halo of light around it and what appeared to be three portholes.” Dr. H. Percy Wilkins, noted British astronomer, who has sighted oval-shaped UFOs on two occasions: “For all we know, Venus may at the present time be the abode of living creatures of an advanced type.” Walter N. Webb, former member of Smithsonian Institution’s Tracking […] Read More
Appendix B THE GRIFFIN STATEMENT Late in 1958, while looking into the Air Force UFO investigation, Washington newsman Bulkey Griffin was invited to visit the UFO project at Air Technical Intelligence Center, Dayton, Ohio, to “see for himself.” While there Mr. Griffin was shown some of the files and asked some pointed questions. The following is one of a series of articles he wrote as a result of his investigation. Holyoke (Mass.) Transcript-Telegram, Friday, Dec. 26, 1958 AIR FORCE CLOAKS SAUCER INFORMATION; NOT EARNESTLY TRYING TO GET THE TRUTH (This is the third of four articles about the unidentified flying objects and Air Force information on them, written in the light of our discovery of space travel.) By Bulkey […] Read More
Part IV Appendices Appendix A FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY Redmond Oregon. Jan. 15, I960 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. The following in the original records on file at this facility and is all the information contained in this record concerning UFO sighted September 2, 1959. Taken from log of this date. 1259Z Robert Dickerson Redmond city police reported strange bright light descending rapidly north of the station. At several hundred feet it stopped and hovered for several minutes. He drove toward it on the Prineville highway and turned in toward the airport. At this time the light turned orange and it moved to the northeast of the station very rapidly. Relocated approximately 10 miles northeast of the station estimated 3000 feet. 1310Z Reported […] Read More
Chapter 9 Why the Air Force UFO Investigation is Unscientific In response to criticisms of its UFO (flying saucer) investigation, the Air Force has issued periodic statements attributing its conclusions to “top scientists.” The claim is made that the investigation has been completely scientific and, by implication, that the conclusions (that flying saucers do not exist) are unquestionably correct. In order to judge these claims, it is necessary to see whether the Air Force methods of investigation conform to the rules of scientific investigation. The question to be examined is thus a double one: What is the scientific method, and has this method been applied to UFOs as claimed? The following quotation from a Department of Defense news release, November 5, 1957, typifies […] Read More
Chapter 8 The Scientific Obligation “Men of science are being increasingly compelled to pursue the end of governments rather than those proper to science.” — Bertrand Russell. The investigation of unidentified flying objects has been a curious business from the start. Although government today is making increasing use of scientific talent in defense programs, scientific investigation of phenomena has never been considered a purely governmental concern. It is therefore puzzling to see the Air Force as the sole agency investigating something which it alleges is only natural phenomena and scientific skepticism doubting that there is any justification for an investigation at all. When UFOs began to appear in large numbers during 1947, it was thought that they were revolutionary new aircraft of […] Read More
Chapter 7 Pigeon-holes of Science The following words of the American philosopher William James have particular application to one of the main difficulties in UFO investigation- -the failure of the scientific community to recognize that a serious problem exists which should be explored by science: “Round about the accredited and orderly facts of every science there ever floats a sort of dust-cloud of exceptional observations, of occurrences minute and irregular and seldom met with, which it always proves more easy to ignore than to attend to… Facts are there only for those who have a mental affinity with them. When once they are indisputably ascertained and admitted, the academic and critical minds are by far the best fitted ones to interpret and discuss […] Read More
Chapter 6 The UFOs and Proof What constitutes proof…? “This is the provocative question asked by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, former chief of the Air Force UFO project. This is the essence of the UFO controversy and the main stumbling block preventing a conclusive answer. Time after time, as Ruppelt reported, pilots and other good observers have reported UFOs which could not be explained. Twice the Air TechnicalIntelligence Center (ATIC), home of the UFO project, concluded that UFOs were real objects. The second time, in 1948, ATIC further concluded that UFOs were interplanetary space ships. * When higher echelons demanded proof, however, the ATIC investigators got cold feet. Through some strange logic the conclusion was reversed so completely that UFOs suddenly did not […] Read More
Chapter 5 UFOlogy—A Delineation Although UFOlogy has a definite function to perform, it is not a science, and should not have to be a science to perform this function. The fact is that few so-called UFOlogists are scientists, and few have sufficient knowledge of scientific techniques to enable them to provide scientific conclusions. What UFOlogy is, and what it should be, can best be determined by examining the reasons for its existence at all. Once this is done, it will be easier to note the chasm between what UFOlogy is and what it should (or could) be. Then ways and means for bridging the chasm can be worked out. Why is there a groping study of UFOs which goes under the name of […] Read More
Chapter 4 The Manipulators of Fear At large in the circus-like arena of UFOlogy are certain ringmasters, who are not above embellishing the facts to thrill their audiences. They seem to feel that a few “white lies” are justified as long as they can put on a good show and sell tickets. Manipulating the emotion of fear in the crowd is the ringmasters’ specialty. They know that people like to be led to the edge of the pit, and then pulled back. The UFO-manipulators are currently employing three spiels in particular: (1) that the earth will soon tilt on its axis (2) that man will bring disaster on himself through the reckless use of A and H-bombs (3) that dark, mysterious terrorists are […] Read More
Chapter 3 Science and the Unexpected “If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it’s hard to be sought out and difficult.” –Heraclitus (circa 500 B. C.) Have you ever seen a “ghost?” If so, take my advice and never mention it to anyone. Other witnesses or physical evidence would not make any difference. Your plea for a hearing would soon be drowned out by cries of “nonsense,” “absurd,” and “ridiculous.” If you see a “flying saucer,” you had better forget that too. Claim to have seen one and you will get approximately the same results. A good term for these skeptical outbursts would be “linguism,” since it is choice of language rather than any question of evidence […] Read More
Chapter 2 The Semantics of Flying Saucers In studying “flying saucers” it soon becomes apparent that some of the knottiest problems encountered are purely human in origin. Accordingly, it is appropriate to begin with a comment by an anthropologist. In his book The Human Animal, * Professor Weston LaBarre of Duke University neatly epitomizes the age-old human problems of communicating intelligibly in two consecutive chapter titles: “Man Starts Talking,” (Chapter 10) “And Gets All Balled Up in His Grammar” (Chapter 11). In my opinion the terminology used in discussing “flying saucers” has become so balled up that there is widespread confusion as to just what we are talking about. What is a “flying saucer?” What is a “UFO?” Are we asking the same […] Read More
PART III: A PHILOSOPHER LOOKS AT UFOs Chapter 1 On the Physical Reality of UFOs It has often been argued that scientific skepticism about the reality of UFOs is justified because UFOs are silent. Solid bodies rushing through the earth’s atmosphere, savants say, would have to make noise, therefore UFOs are not real. As is commonly the case in skeptical arguments about UFOs, this one is based on a false premise. UFOs often do make noise. There is also a lot of other evidence indicating the physical reality of UFOs. The sounds reported in association with UFOs have been of three general types; (1) motor-like, (2) explosive, and (3) sonic booms. From the accounts of what the UFOs were doing […] Read More
Chapter 10 The New UFO Policy of the U.S. Air Force Although a formal government project for the investigation of UFOs was not set up until September 1947, the United States Air Force has been vitally interested in sightings of these objects ever since June 24, 1947, the day Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine mysterious saucer-shaped craft traveling with tremendous speed in echelon formation over the Cascade Mountains between Mount Rainer and Mount Adams in the State of Washington. On December 24, 1959, the Inspector-General of the Air Force issued a directive to Air Force personnel to the effect that “unidentified flying objects–sometimes treated lightly by the press and referred to as ‘flying saucers’—must be rapidly and accurately identified as serious USAF business.” In […] Read More