a He i 4 , OLN ie ences Ma DOL RELL} Eee sy str U ( SAUCE SSaM A eanSpotting a UFO is no big deal any more. According to the Gallup poll, five million ‘Americans think they have seen flying saucers. What's really big right now is meeting up with the funny men inside BY JOHN A. KEEL TLOSTRATED BY KYO TAKAIASHE [would know him if Tsaw him in Oklahoma City to- morrow. He saw me. He'd know me, too.” William “Eddie” Laxton, a 56-year- old electronics engineer from Temple, Oklahoma, was dis- cussing a man he had briefiy encountered in the predawn hours of March 23, 1966. man who might easily go ‘unnoticed in a crowded bar, according to Eddie. But Eddie didn’t meet him in a bar. He saw him getting, into a strange, brilliantly ee oe ts contraption which rested on r legs in the middle of a highway, a craft similar to many described hy other witnesses all over the world. Usually they are termed “unidentified flying objects” or UFO's. At about 5:30 asm. that bleak March day, Laxton was driving along a deserted o Scat me rner "TRUE THE MAN'S MAGAZINETHE GOV WHO WERE DRIVING? FEBRUARY 1967 stretch of Highway 70, near the ‘Texas-Oklahoma border He was on his way to worl at Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita Falls, Texas, where he teaches electronics, when a huge fish-shaped ob- ject suddenly loomed in front of him. According to the story he later told to nevsman Paul Harvey and UFO investigator Hayden Hewes, he jammed on his brakes and pulled to a about 50 yards from where the object was blocking the road at a 45 degree angle. ‘The thing was, he estimated, about 75 feet long. “There were four very brilliant lights on my side.” he said. “Bright enough so that a man could read a newspaper by the light a mile away.” He also ob- served that it seemed to be Titup inside and that it “had @ plastic bubble in front which was about three feet in diameter, and you could see light through it.” Tt had a tail strueture with hori- zontal stabilizers about 21 feet long. Friends and asso- ciates say Laxton has always heen blessed with a phe- nomenal memory and they believe him when he says he was able to distinguish group of numbers painted vertically in black on the side of the fuselage. He re- members them as reading ‘TLAT(or 41)68. [Continued on page 78] a7NEVER MIND THE SAUCER’ DID YOU SEE THE GUYS. WHO WERE DRIVING? [Continued from poge 37] Halfway along the fuselage here was 4 porthole abou two feet in diameter Ie'was divided into four equal seaions and there was small dose below ite measuring about 4) feet high and 204 feet wide, This door wes open and white Tighe was pouring from it. Dively out sie the objects tumanlooking man as examining the underside ofthe craft wich ‘ome ‘kind of. lablight. As Laxton dlimbed out of it cay chip creature tured, climbed up a metal ladder and entered the door. “I'm sure ie was alm num." Laxton sid later. He described. the myserious “pilot as weighing about 180 pounds ard be- ing five feet mine ince tall with a light complexion. He was wearing what looked likes mechanies ap with the Bill turned tp. 1 got the impression he was aboue Ab to S9'years old" Laxton Stid. “He wore either Coveralls or a to- iece suit that looked like green-eolored fatigues. I got the idea that he had three stripes above and three below om his sleeve: The above stripes were in an arch and the below sripes were in a wide V Shape." A few scconds after the door close. Laxton sys, The craft stated up ir sounded like 's ‘highspeed dv. T Iifted of the ground about 50 fer high and headed toward the Red River. in About five seconds it was a mile away When the machine took of Laxton ye ported, “the hair on the back of my Kans and neck stood up. Admitedly excited by what he had seen, Laxton got back into his car and Grove about “a mile sehen he came Upon a huge tank suck parked beside Ute road, "The driver, Cs W, Anderson of Snyder, Oklahoma, tid that he had seen something following. hin in his minor and chat he had also watched fe Ry away toward Red River After the (women's Stories appeared in local papers, otrer tick deivers came forward with reports of having seen sian objects along High sway 70 earlier inthe yo ton was Inter interviewed by scien tats from Northwestern University, the Instiute of Atmospheric Physics and the US. Air Force “i was interviewed by 25 or $0 per sons" Laxton tae. "There were gehen als, majors. captains, sergeants, Seere {aries and stenographers. They had me take drawings of the object and. tll everything I knew about ft. Tt was all tnesided They asked, L answered.” Soon after he had fied his iniil re port group of army vehicles picked him Upat his office. “A colonel, his driver and Aldetailof men drove me to the landing tea," Laxton reports “We were there about 30 or 85 minutes While T answered Tore questions, the men searched. the area. {got the impresion they knew What they were doing “Well put down that you saw a heli- copter." he says one of the ocers finaly ‘ola him. ‘Laxton’ report of a human-type UFO 7 pilot in coveralls didnot come as any {reat shock to followers of UFO news Ih recent years, there have been many UEO reports involving human-ype and Bumansired pilots es “These unidentified tourists seem 10 have a. limited wardrobe. “They wear either ‘overalls oF some type of space suit, topped off with vsored helmes oF transparent “goldfish bowls” Ina few instanes, a5 when one of them appeared near Adelaide, Austalia, on October 28, 1962, they have been seen wearing a "gas rast” typeof headgear In that tase the ‘witness high schoo! teacher named Mrs Ellen D. Syhester, told of seeing an il inated oval object resting on three legs near a highway. Ms. Sylvester said she save a sicfootcall being “in some Kind of uniform” with is face covered by “a form of breathing apparatus’” Te was appar endly inspecting the tripod landing! gear of forus) Alter snapping a picare of the objec; evan his site were aston ished io see a normalsized being. wall around from behind. ie and inspec ity Underside wieh = Tong Rashlighe' with lowing sphere on the end of it. This bring was dreved ina space suit, wearing a helmet, a pack of some sort of its badh and heavy, postbly weighted shoes Mongurit excell snapped away, he reports taking a series of pictures 9 the creature stifty walked sround the cat and. bene over to look tinder it, An a {ona had unrécted above the object after ie landed and it looked a8 if the space Suited being was also wearing an ancenn “The two witness could not see any form of landing gear. ‘The object had settle diecly otto the snow, its convex bod leaving # Grete om che spat After. com pleting its inxpection, the xeatare als {peated behind the thing again and it This photo, which seems to show « flying saucer and a spaceman, was taken in 1952 by an Malian engineer. Critics call it only a clever tabletop hoax. of the craft. She watched as it got back {uo the machine and took of ins north erly direton. On one occasion at least, it appears nat a UFO pilot may have beet pho tographed. On [uly #1, lsd, 2 Sd-fear of Fatian englnets Glanpleco or fuzd, and his wile were mountain climb thg "in northern aly, "They were Struggling up the Cherchen Glace in the Bernina Soumtine “ie was about 9:30 as,” Monguz ex planed shor after the incdent. "when Fre sa this ctelar machine with a crane arent dome on tp swoop low an land For 100 feet away from where we were standing. Iwanted to move doter toe but my wife became fightened “and begged’ me to stay wi hers Ting in the stow, Monguzs says he unlimbered the mera he as arying 2 Kodak Retina Iie was loaded with fas blackandwhite flm’and. was equipped with a Scneider £35. lene He seit at iy, 18, 1/800 of a second. (With ype of camera at thi seting every ng dower than 25 Teet woul be owt lifted noietesly into the air and few away. Mongust even took a pictne of ite depareure He Was certain that he had caken the most astounding pictures of the century [And perhaps he’ had, But when. they veere developed, they Tooked 100 good to be rue. A Hollywoon! special ec Stadio could not have dond a bewer job with the lates in tabletop photography techniques. “The lighting. was perice ‘Too perfec. ‘The bright mounttin sun bouncing off the shimmering snow and ice produced a high contrast. The object vas dear and distinc, and the eeadare teas well outlined and. appeared. asa aman sieed being might appear at that distance (75 feet) ‘ander those circum: seanees, AC long fst, the world bad root” chat fying sucers exited and that some kind of “human” life was rid jog around in them. "Or so. Monga ows ‘As toon a6 the existence of the pic tures beesme known, and the young tat jan didn't make much of an effort 10 Keep them seeret, he was Snandated withreporters and, he claims, “an American disguised as an Talian Beragliero (alte ay al boven) undue hed lovely throught an entve-night, tying to get him to contradies his sony. Late held the pictares tothe Roman maga tine EPOCH andwas horrified. wen they were published with a caption iden lying them as clever fakes,” The con: Setvative Iain Edson Society,of which he wasa member, was also borried. They booted him out tncremonourly.| Re aretably, the direcor of the Socety was also Mongurn's bow atthe Monra indus ‘eal plant near Milan, He fed the now Aiggeteed. photographer. Today Mom fn prefers not to discuss the incident. They chested me." he told one UFO investigator. "This bad joke of the jour alae oe of well tay membership in the Edson Society Tia in fact out of work for 8 year and & hal” Not all of she mulions of people throughout the world who have reported Seeing UFO's have lost their jobs, not ven the hundreds who claim to have Sten “pilots” or “ulonsute’ A Gallup pol, ken in the spring of 1068, came Sp" with "the surprsitg information tha ve, lion "Amercans ave ob Served Myngstcers oF think hey have AvFrench stedene of UFO Miche, recorded and favest 100 sghigs of wonauts in 1054 alone Jacques Valice, an astronomer at North irentern University and author of the iseselling Anatomy of @ Phenomenon, published asudy tree years agoin which he tabulated 80 specie ightngs between 1909 and 1960. & total of 158 "beings were observed around grounded UFOs in these sightings: OF these, $5 were de scribed as normallooking’ humans’ and Several were seen wearing coverally mens similar to those reported Edie Laxton, 3 Other invenigators have made similar tabulations, all of which tend to show that real oF fmagined contac with “space beings" is much more common than tat af ws reall And ic acems reasonable to believe that more cues oc than are scaally reported. Many people, for ob ‘fous reams, are reluctant walk, into thelr local police sation oF newspaper ofice and almounce, “Hey, I jus had a talk wih alte three foot mah who got owe of « fying saucer.” Many witnesses who do make reports insist "hat their Dames not be ui Since 1947, dhere hasbeen a small but very vocal group of crackpot and. pub Tit seekers who claim be in almost onstane touch withthe “Brothers from Suter space.” ‘These people have founded calc ant plied ah serd books expounding sophomoric phi lowophie (supposedly passed on to them by the fying sucer operaton), bringing ‘iiule to what is already, i the yet ‘of many skeptic, & pretty Hidialous stb feat anyway’ ‘The bdiows reputation of {ise groups makes many an apparently Sincere "comtactee” reluctant 10 ep for Nard wth his story and thus inadvere cnt join their ranks But afew courageous souls have taken the phinge, Conair the alleged expe: Fente of a prominent Brazilian lave, Prot. Joao de Freitas Guimaraes, sober micilleaged military advocate. in. Sao Sebastiao. He says that be went joyrid. ing in a ying snocer on cool evening ‘June, 1956. For a long time alter wart he Kept his experience to himself, Sharing it with only few frends, On a dull, overcast evening, he recalls he was walking alone along a beach on an istand Of the coast of Bravi,when he saw a jet, of water rie up. A “porbelliea” machine surfaced and moved towards shore. To his astonishment. two men, both over five feet 10 with fair bair and wearing fighe green coverallyclambered 0 They approached him ditecly and ently indicated that they would lie him to step aboard. He spoke to. them in French, English, Italian and Portuguese, bur they didn'eseem to understand any at hese languages Since they didn't Seem hostile tn since he eas overcome ‘ith curiosity he accepted their unspoken invitation, climbed pa. long ladder mounted outside the craft and, with the Telp of the two men, stepped inside “The ladder vs retracted and the door essed shut. ‘The profesor remained in $ small compartment next to 2 window He could not sy later how many com partments here were in rhe craft As the machine lifted into the air he was Surprised to sce water splashing sguint the porthole. “Is i raining?” he asked. For the next 0 minutes oso (he y6 bis watch stopped during the fight) the tying objec fied aos nthe sar supper ‘tmorphere. Dering the tip he noted that he fet pain an cold in his extremities, He wed co ak the men ‘where they were from but they did not rower, One of them shored him chart something ike 4 Zod, and he had the feeling that they were trying to explain wien they would return, and that they ‘ranted him to meet them again. Finally they delivered him tothe spot where they had picked him up and sx months laer he aid the sory to a friend, Dr. Lincoln Feliciano, who comeacted "= Brazian journalist, Profesor Guimaraes quickly came a celebrity of sorts in Brat ad wane cof, smazed by he gave Tespect his story war acor ‘Amore recent contacce I California TW tepairman named. Sidney Padrick Padtick whois 40 years oe, was strolling along Nannese Bese California a2 am fom the morning of Jansary 80, 1965, when fe says he head aloud humming sound and saw a strange machine Taba nearby. Tt was, he said, about 50 feet long and 50"feet high. He has refused to describe ie ferther, claiming that an ‘Nic Force major has instructed him not teins the det of hy expetene In early nevapsper accounts of the inc dent he sid that a voice spoke to him from the craft and invited him aboard, asuring’ him that he would. noc. be harmed: He says he entered through a square door and savr mine norm look ing men inside. One of them spoke t0 in English, ‘They. all wore luis twhte ightlting uniforms and ha dark hair, He noted that they seemed to com Inicate to each other silently, ehrongh ete Fight remained mime‘ and continued tonles tn confesion for. 20" minute Fevolver and he a ase decided to get out pose eae Se object,” a metal craft unlike anything he had ever seen before. “Don't be frightened,” the mystery ‘man eontimied. "Vm a terrestrial Phave 2 mission to complete here on earth” ‘Then he walked off slowly, towards two other haga oking ngs, oth dese fndrely in ayay, who. were apparenly Waiting for him beside che machine. All three gor into it and it took off quickly and disappeared into the night sky. The doctor and his wife reported that they bran “to tremble and shake like leaves and it was several minutes before they ‘ould pull themselves together and tot tinue their Journey ‘Another, even more incredible inc dents is supposed to have occurred at al Imost the tame spot seven yea earlier “The witness «young man from Cordabe, Argentina, swears that, he. was taken aboard a UFO there in April. 195%. He claims that he ‘vas beaded toward’ Rio Ceballos ‘on ‘his motoreycle carly one ‘morning ‘when fis engine ‘sudden! Salled. "As he dismounted to look for the trouble, he was stunned to see a 81 game disk shaped object some 60 feet tn diameter hovering direcly above him. In'a sate of terror he leaped into & ‘TRUE THE MAN'S MAGAZINEditch and tried vainly to hide himself as the mysterious craft landed on the road nearby. A “lift device” descended from the machine and a humanlike being ap- peared, The young man described this being as five feet eight inches tall, wear- ing “clothing like a diver’s suit, fitting the body closely, and appearing to be made of plastic rather than cloth.” ‘This being walked over to the ditch where the youth was cowering and gently offered his hand, helping the Cordoban up and lead- ing him to the craft. They entered the lift and rose into the saucer. Several other ufonauts were inside the machine, he said, seated before a series of intricate- looking control panels. None of them paid any attention to their visitor. He was surprised to notice a series of large square windows above the panels because no windows had been visible at all from the outside. After a few minutes, his silent guide gestured towards the lift and took him back to the ground. The young, man mentioned hearing a sound like the hissing of escaping air during this entire time. ‘The ufonaut put his hand on the youth’s shoulder in a gesture of farewell, then returned to the craft. The witness reported that his motorcycle would not start until the strange flying machine had risen into the air. Not all ufonaut reports concern hu- man-type beings. Some of them are de- scribed as “little men.” When police of- ficer Lonnie Zamora reported seeing an egg-shaped UFO standing on four legs in Socorro, New Mexico, on April 24, 1964, he said that he had also seen “two children or small adults in white cover- alls” walking around it. They leaped into the craft and flew off with a roar in front of his disbelieving eyes. Astron omer J. Allen Hynek, an official UFO consultant to the Air Force, investigated this case and termed it “one of the most puzzling” without attempting to explain it, In 1949 two prospectors in Death Val- ley, California, told reporters that they had seen a flying disk crash. They claimed they had chased two tiny pilots across the sand dunes until they disap- peared. When the prospectors returned to the crash site, the craft had also dis- appeared. 82 Radio announcer James Townsend of station KEYL, in Long Prairie, Minne- sota, claimed that he saw three “animated tin cans” six inches high around a rocket- shaped device in the center of Highway 27 on October 23, 1965. Townsend says he watched the object take off with a bright glow and a loud humming sound. He led the local police to the site and they observed a large, glowing sphere in the sky over the area. “Lite men” have perhaps gotten more publicity than any other type but there are other varieties of ufonauts as well. One of the most common is a stiff: walking character with a “melon-shaped” head. A recent adventure with this type of being was related by Ricardo Mieres, a 17-year-old Argentinian, Mieres insists that he encountered some kind of “robot” while motorcyding down a road outside of Parana at 8:30 p.m. on July 26, 1962. He nearly ran off the road, he told in- vestigators later, when he came upon a tall creature with a melon-shaped head and large round eyes that stared at him fixedly. "The creature grabbed the boy's scarf and turned abruptly away in a man- ner Mieres described as “scarcely human.” Badly frightened, the boy sped back to the city and gathered some friends. They returned to the spot in time to see a large white light rise into the sky. The area was covered with strange footprints and deep tracks, It would, of course, be easy to discount the excited testimony of a 17-year-old boy, but less than a month later a medi- cal doctor and his wife came face-to-face with the same kind of beings in the same locale. Dr. and Mrs. J. Gazcue were driv- ing near Parana on August 21, 1962, when they discovered a large circular object surrounded by a luminous halo parked beside the road. Two “strange persons” walked towards the road, Doctor Gazcue said, and made signals for him to stop. ‘They were over six fect tall and had light hair and huge, widely separated eyes. The doctor ignored their signals and stepped on the gas. Local newspapers reported that Mrs. Gazcue suffered.a.“nervous at- tack” over the incident and required sev- eral days to recover. A. retired longshoreman, John F, Reeves, 66, of Brooksville, Florida, swearsthe met this Kind of being on the afterioon of March 2, 1963, Hee says that he wat faking = Tong, solitary walk, 8 was his habit when, about 1:30 pam, on on the dunes ‘ileandaat trom his home he sawn dreular craft sanding on Tour lege in che san Later he described it as being about 30 feerin diameter and eight feet thick ‘There was a small dome on {op and the whole thing was reads purple color, "ike a soap bubble, {ening in the un. Curious, he started to Yelk toward it-when he was stunned to see a "spacesuited being” ep out of the Byes and earn sly toward him In a slow, mechanical manner. The creature wean he told reporters later, about five feet tait‘and appeared to be wearing Aight. grayishsiver garment witha tran parent globe over ie head, Its face, he hoted, appeared normal except tha the tyes were snumialy large ase wide apart and its chin seemed to come (0 4 i. Te was wearin mittens of some liable material ‘As he stood paralyzed with fear, he save the creature reach to its side and produce ‘¢small ‘black box’ which it Fined its face. There was a blinding flash, “Tike lightning in the nights Reeves sad. He tured and started to zum but stumbled and fel, Knocking his slimes off in the proces A second ash bt ight went off behind him and when he Tooked up he sae the erature mounting a iadder’on the crate. The ladder re weed! and che machine ited wil a high-pitched whine, shooting off ae high speed Hol were foun fo the sn there the object's legs had suppored ood, and thete were several od dumb ieltshaped footprints in the arca. Reeves also four to pieces of thin paper, “ike Kleenex" containing some stage bicto- flyphics, which he turned over to Air Force imventigators ‘The Air Force later clanted the incident as 4 hoax, even though Reeves was given a series of ie detector tests and pam them al Many other witnesses have reported the robotike beings with melonshaped heads and large wilelyspaced eyes, On August 8, 1966, at 5:30 in the morning, 2 byear old’ woman in’ Exe, Penns} ‘ania wae awakened by the’ sound of barking dogs. She looked out of her be room vito, she says and saw avery Strange being. Tt was’ walking’ wp the itreet sway from the United Of Storage tanks on Went rd Street. She describes ie'as about Sve feet ni fches tall wich very broad shoulders and a slender bul Teas dresed in a bright yellow garment with no visible pockets or seams ts head Yeas large. "moon-haped,” and semed 0 be covered ith “saggy madycolort He move.” she id “ike a nedhan ical windup toy. The legs did'not bend ae the knees and ft held its arms tight agains its aides” “Whatever it was, it itightened fer enough vo that she woke up her husband and they deeded to call the police: The police jest laughed Hat, 4 fee days later: another woman in the Same area reported seeing an identical cccature. She was driving down the street inthe early morning when the Being epped imo her path, She stopped het fa and a thing "pounded on the hood." ee ce cere cnmce COMING... The men and the car who hit 409 mph, the old way— without jets BRINGING THE LAND SPEED RECORD BACK TO THE U.S. The theiling story behind the epic run that topped Donald Campbell's mark NEXT MONTH IN TRUE oy chant who saw it called it an “unident fed walking objec." He described. the creature as being luminous, about eight feet tall and changing in color from ted to orange to yellow Unfortunately, exch new ufonaut sight ing only adds to the mystery, a. mystery Gia the US, government fas_now Signed “scientists athe ‘University of Colorado to solve. Any immediate tlt tigi, however, seems improbable. "The origing and motivations of these cren tues if they are rea, can only be spect Iated about. But inllions of people Ubroughout the world are now convinced at something is going on. that there is ‘somebody out there.’ More and. more respected sents too, are beginning to take the matter seriously a they delve into the question of life on other worlds Tm the spring of 1966, some 800 physi cists, astronomers and exobiotogisis met 1 California to discuss te posubility of extratcrrestil ifs At that meeting, Dr. Lee A. Dubridge, president of the Cal fornia Institute af Technology, sald, "Sometimes I think we are alone in the univ andsomedines {hk wee ot Th either ease, i's a staggering thought: Setjobn A. Keel ‘TRUE THE MAN'S MAGAZINE