T H E SP EC T R U M O F U FO

RESEA RCH

J . A llen H y n ek C e n te r fo r UFO S tu d ie s
C h ic a g o
1988
 T H E SP EC T R U M O F U FO
RESEA RCH

T h e P ro c e e d in g s of th e S e c o n d C U F O S C o n fe re n c e , held
S e p te m b e r 2 5 - 2 7 , 1 9 8 1 , in C h icag o , Illinois.

Mimi H y n ek , E d ito r

J . A llen H y n ek C e n te r fo r UFO S tu d ie s
C h ic a g o
1988
Available from:
The J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies
2457 W. Peterson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659
© 1988 JAHCUFOS
 This volume is dedicated to
J. Allen Hynek (1910 - 1986).

In honor of his contribution to

ufology and the Center for UFO Studies,
the Center was renamed
the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies.
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf.

FOREWORD

This long-delayed volume of papers given at the 1981 Chicago conference of the
Center for UFO Studies has fin a lly entered the publ ic domain. Despite the lapse of time,
these papers make several original contributions to the study of the UFO phenomenon, and
I consider this volune to be a worthy successor to the 1976 CUFOS Conference Proceedings.
Together, these papers summarize our understanding of several key aspects of the UFO
phenomenon as of 1981.

The order of the papers follows the order in which they were presented. A few papers
were not presented (e .g ., Ballester/Guasp, Basterfield, Holt and Jeffers) and are placed
after the others. An important addition to this volune is a transcription of the
discussion that followed most presentations. The questions and answers often raise
important matters only b riefly discussed in the paper and thus make a significant
contribution to the proceedings.

I do not wish to slight any authors, but I should mention several papers that make
exceptional contributions to Ufology. The paper by Maccabee is a definitive treatment of
the famous McMinnville UFO photos and delineates the errors of the skeptics without
making extravagant claims for the valid ity of the photos. The two papers by Hopkins and
Lawson are complementary; they set out the case for and against the re ality of the
abduction experience. Johnson's and Rodeghier's papers on UFO events with vehicle
interference represent the "state of the art" in our knowledge of the subject. Finally
Gordon Melton's historical survey of contactees and other fantastic voyagers advances our
understanding of the relation between this social phenomenon and the UFO phenomenon
its e lf.

The f ir s t paper in this collection is the last scie n tific paper to be published by
Allen Hynek (in collaboration with Howard Schechter). That alone makes i t special, but
its topic is also unique, an acoustic analysis of a recorded sound from a UFO. Allen's
approach to science and the IFO subject--open, simple, and direct--and his a b ility to
develop marvelous analogies for scie n tific processes are a ll on display in this a rticle .
 froc. »1 1W1 ClfOl Ce»f

Though not included in this collection, several people gave workshops at the
conference that helped make it a success. Ron Westrum discussed the sociology of UFO
sightings, David Jacobs presented his historical analysis of the UFO phenomenon, Barbara
Schutteconducted a forum for UFO investigators andBertil Kuhlmann discussed the Svedish
computer Project URD and made a plea for national organizations to cooperate on an
international basis.

This volume has been edited and shepherded to existence through the dedicated
efforts of Mimi Hynek. CUFOS expresses its sincere gratitude to Mimi for taking on a
thankless task and completing it during some very trying times. And I wish to add my own
personal congratulations to her on a job well done. Without your effo rts, Mimi, there
would be no proceedings from the 1981 conference, and 1 would s t i ll be feeling some guilt
at the long delay. Instead I can point proudly to this volume as evidence that serious
research is being conducted on the UFO phenomenon, and I can sleep well at night. May our
readers enjoy the volume as much as we enjoyed sending i t to the printer.

Mark Rodeghier, Conference Chairman

Chicago, Illin o is
 ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

NARROW-BAND ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF A RECORDED UFO SOUND

J. Allen Hynek and Howard R. Schechter

The recorded sound ascribed to the St. Helens, Oregon UFO is analyzed and found to
have unique properties: the absence of even harmonics and of any frequency higher than
3000 Hert2. While such acoustic composition can be produced a r t ific ia lly by, say, an
electronic synthesizer, it appears to have no easily identifiable natural origin.
Thus, even apart from possible UFO connection, the sound is of considerable scien­
t if ic interest

THE MCMINNVILLE PHOTOS

Bruce Maccabee

On June 8, 1950 the local newspaper in McMinnville, Oregon published two photos of
a 'flying saucer" which had been taken by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Trent, along with a brief
report on when and how the photos had been taken. The story was circulated nationally by
the International News Service, which also obtained the original negatives but did not
return them to the Trents. The photos received national attention viien the Colorado
investigators analyzed them. The conclusion presented in the "Condon Report" was that
the evidence was essentially consistent with the claim that "an extraordinary flying
object. . . fiew within sight of two witnesses."
Later investigation indicated that the evidence referred to in the Report was not
conclusive and that there seemed to be some discrepancies between the photographic
evidence and the witnesses' story. A subsequent investigation of the original negatives
reconfirmed Hartmann's conclusion about excessive brightness of the bottom of the image
of the unidentified object (U0) and eliminated the claim that there was a relatively long
time lapse between the photos. Computer-aided analysis by CSV) revealed no indication of
a suspending device and did suggest a possibly excessive edge distortion which could be
attributable to atmospheric distortion if the object were far away, as suggested by the
photometric analysis.
I have carried out an extensive investigation into the background of the sighting
since 1974 and have concluded from communication with people who have met the Trents that
they could not perpetrate a hoax like this. I have concluded also that it cannot be shown
from either verbal or photographic evidence that the case was a hoax. When considered
along with other evidence that strongly suggest that unusual objects have been seen by
many technically trained, credible observers (see, for example, Project Blue Book Special
Report f!4 ), the Trent case is especially valuable because of the c la rity of the photos.

MEDICAL INJURIES RESULTING FROM A UFO ENCOUNTER (CASH/LANDRUM CASE)

John F. Schuessler

On 29 December 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Vickie's grandson Colby Landrum
were enroute to Dayton, Texas from New Caney, Texas ^ien they encountered an extremely
bright UFO hovering over the highway at tree-top le vel, at 9 pmon a cool evening with high
 proc. of 1^1 CUFOS Coni.

broken c louds in the sky. The object was moving up and down, periodically belching flames
groundward, causing the threesome to stop their car in fear of being burned by the flames.
e .y* ^he dr!vcr, stood in her doorway for a time and then walked to the front of the car,
yivjrig her a ?-10 minute exposure to the object. Vickie stood in the doorway for 3-t>
minutes and then re-entered the car to calm the very frightened boy. As the object rose
SOuVlv*iSt• helicopters rushed in and flew around and behind the object. A total
or 23 helicopters v^re counted, many of them later identified as CH-47 Chinooks
manufactured by the Boeing Co.
All three witnesses suffered physical in juries: vision problems, headaches, stomach
pains, diarrhea and reddening of the skin. Betty and Vickie lost a significant amount of
hair and sustained blisters on various parts of their bodies. Betty's injuries appeared
worse than the others, corresponding to her long exposure time.
Tw) significant points emerge from this case: 1) recipients of medical injuries
resulting from UFO exposure/contact are not quickly and properly treated, since doctors
don't know what to look for and how to treat the resulting in ju ries, and recipients are
usually frightened by the incident and afraid of ridicule from doctors and others if they
relate their experience truthfully, and 2) m ilitary a c tiv itie s such as the helicopter
operations add a confusion factor, when in fact, knowledge of the operations could be most
beneficial in identifying a mode of treatment for the victims. In addition, well-meaning
UTO investigators and media people rush in to get a story and try to f i t the incident into
some predetermined m ilitary strategy.
This paper w ill summarize the facts of the case, clearly show the extent of the
medical in juries, enumerate the problems associated with tracking down m ilitary
helicopters and airplanes, and recommend a plan of action for the future.

A TOUCHSTONE FOR FALLACIOUS ABDUCTIONS: BIRTH TRAUMA IMAGERY IN CE I I I NARRATIVES 71

A1v m H. Lawson

The imagery and events in UFO abduction reports resemble those in several
psychological processes, but (.hey are especially similar to revivified birth trauma
(BT) narratives. The incipience, universality, and idlosyncratic quality of BT events
suggest a like ly psychological { i . e . , non-exotic) source for alleged abduction
ex per iences. These qualities also help explain the murty parallels and the minor
differences in CE-1II reports from witnesses in diverse as we) 1 as comparable cultures.
Extensive abduction/BT parallels are presented, taken from abductees1 and
revivification subjects' narratives, and include: 1) highly specific details of the
abduction sequence; 2) types of entities described; 3) emphasis on the fetal qualities
of humanoids, the most common entity type reported; 4} possible archetypal forms from
prenatal cellu lar stages such as the UFO-shaped embryonic disc; 5} possible archetypes
implying the following relationships: placenta/UFO, umbilical cord/ levitating light
beam, fetus/abductee, e tc .; and 6) a study of cesarean imaginary abductees whose
avoidance of tube/tunnel and door imagery is s ta tis tic a lly significant. ~
A prominent abduction case (Betty Andreasson1s ) is analyzed for BT imagery and
events, and the study finds pervasive evidence for concluding that the Andreasson
experience was essentially a UT revivificatio n. "
The main points of this paper are: I) BT data relate to a witness's perinatal
history and psychology rather than to UFO events, and so their presence invalidates any
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf.

CE-III narrative in part or whole; 2) BT elements therefore provide a criterion which

can help determine false abduction reports from any that may reflect actual events; and
3) the BT hypothesis is testable through such means of researching abductees’ birth
histories as family interviews, scrutiny of narratives, and hypnotic regression.
Multiple witness abductions cannot yet be dismissed, but probably relate to
multiple hallucinations, while physical effects C E-Ills remain ambiguous. Ufologists
are urged to approach abduction cases not as exotic events but as genuine psychological
phenomena, in order to make fundable CE-III studies more feasible.

THE CONTACTEES: A SURVEY 99

J. Gordon Melton
The term "contactee" designates a person who claims direct contact with extra­
terrestrials and has derived from that contact, usually in the form of a direct "message"
from the contacted entity, some information on the workings of the universe, usually of
some metaphysical nature. This survey is limited to published accounts and organized on
a basis of the date of publication of the accounts rather than on the date of any claimed
contact.
Some 110 separate claims to extraterrestrial contact have been located. Those
published in the 1950s were the f ir s t to draw significant public attention to such claims
by offering the information from the space brothers as the "solution" to the flying saucer
controversy. These accounts provide both a basic reference point for defining the
"contactee" and a standard by which other accounts can be judged.
The 1950s contactees talk to space people who travel to earth in space ships and they
frequently are allowed to enter the ships and even travel into outer space. Contact
invariably involves some form of psychic a c tiv ity , usually telepathy (thus solving the
language problem) or psychokinesis, but astral travel and dematerialization also figure
prominently in some accounts. Eventually inost of the early contactees either formed or
joined psychic-religious groups.
While the contactees of the 1950s were the fir s t to attract widespread public
attention to extraterrestrial contact claims, they were by no means the fir s t to make such
claims. Some twenty claims over the two centuries before Adamski are very similar to the
accounts of the 1950s, with a few exceptions. Contact is confined to Mars, Venus and the
moon. All interpl anetary travel is by either astral travel or some form of teleportation.
No space ships appear. A ready model for the ea rlier contactee accounts appears in the
fantastic voyage novels so popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A natural
flow and development can be seen between the fantastic voyage, the contactee claims, the
underground world explorations, the early science fiction novels, and the modern
contactee literature.
In the 1960s arid 70s the story form continued to grow and change under the pressure
of the space exploration program and the growing popular knowledge of the solar system.
Contactees established their contacts outside the solar system. Many built substantial
groups of devotees and publish a steady stream of occult 1iterature. Through routinizing
their contact with the space brothers they have spawned even more contacts.
The contactees have shown themselves to be part of the broader occult religious
community out of which they came in the nineteenth century and in which they continued
to exist during and after the Adamski era. While showing some differences with accounts
studied in the 1970s as "close encounters of the third kind" or the "abduction" cases,
these claims form at least one body of material against ^iich such accounts can be
compared.
 (-roc. of 1W»J CUfOS Coni.

EVIDENCE FOR UFOs IN THE ITALIAN PAST 109

Roberto Pinotti •
Unusual aerial phenomena in Italy have been reported as far back as Roman times in
sources that s t i l l e xist, such as the Prodigiorum Liber (The Book of Prodigies), an
anthology of anomalies by Julius Obsequens. P"Tiny the Elder tried to cla ssify aerial
phenomena in his Naturalis Historia, mentioning flying torches, lamps, fire b a lls ana
beams of fire . 1 quote an incident from LaVita, Benvenuto C e llin i’ s autobiography. In
another example, Father Alberto Guglielmotti, off ic ia l historian of the papal navy, gives
an account of a huge, flaming, shining p illa r of fire " that was seen during the famous and
decisive battle of Lepanto, in which ships of the Christian league destroyed the Turkish
fle et. Another anomalous event is depicted in the painting "11 Miracolo delie Neve" (The
Miraculous Snowfall), showing a white substance fallin g from strage, elongated "clouds."
A more striking object is depicted in a painting of the Madonna and Child and the Infant
St. John. In an upper corner there is an egg-shaped, lead-colored flying object in the
sky, apparently in motion, and it is being watched by a shepherd wrfiose dog is barking at
it .
In more recent times Italian ufologists have noted four UFO "waves" since World War
II —in 1950, 1954, 1973, and 1978. The 1954 wave was distinguished by 29 incidents of a
discharge of a strange whi te substance (often referred to as "angels’ h air)“. One-incident
was seen by hundreds of witnesses who were watching a soccer game in Florence, and I s t ill
remember seeing the roofs of Florence whitened by the substance. The chemical analysis
performed at the University of Florence showed it to be "a combination of boron, silico n,
calcium and magnesium." Because of translation problems most of these documented UFO
events are s t i l l unknown outside of Ita ly .

SIZE, DISTANCE, AND DURATION PARAMETERS Of THE IGNITION-INTERFERENCE EFFECT 124

Donald A. Johnson

Seventy-eight cases involving motor vehicle electrical system interference in the

presence of a UFO were selected from the UFO 1iterature for completeness of size, distance
and duration information. Base-2 logarithms were computed for the apparent size,
distance and duration estimates to normalize their distributions. The logs of these
variables were then used in a discriminant function analysis to determine the pre­
d ictab ility of the intensity of the electromagnetic interference effect. The cases were
categorized into two groups; those where the intensity of the ignition interference was
not sufficient to bring the vehicle to a complete stop (N=15); and those where the vehicle
was forced to a complete stop (N=63).
The three variables were found to be significant predictors of intensity of effect-
duration (p c .0005) entering the equation f ir s t , size (p< .0009) and distance (p< 00131
third, using reduction in Wilks’ lambda as the selection c rite ria . The resulting
discriminant function was able to correctly classify 86% of the cases. Position of UFO
was included in the analysis as a trichotomous variable but did not reach significance due
in part to its high correlation with size and distance.
In order to a id interpretation of these results, a hierarchical cluster analysis was
performed on the cases, using Euclidean distances among the same three logariUvnic
variables to determine clustering. Seven clusters were revealed. The incomplete
ignition interference cases were found predominantly in two clusters; both represent-inn
encounters with small objects with brief duration. One cluster in which a ll encounte s
resulted in stalled vehicles identified cases of high strangeness (occupant and contact
reports). Other sta tistica l differences between the clusters were found. “
 A SUMMARY OF VEHICLE INTERFERENCE REPORTS AND A DESCRIPTION OF A POSSIBLE NATURAL
PHENOMENON CAUSING SOME EVENTS
Mark Rodeghier

An analysis of 441 cases in which UFOs were sighted and nearby vehicles were affected
was undertaken to determine possible sta tistica l patterns. Bsic characteristics of
vehicle interference events are discussed, including information about witness involve­
ment and the phenomenon's frequency of occurrence. Chi-square analysis was attempted on
selected cliaracteristics of the events, leading to unexpected results. In particular, a
grouping (nexus) of several events having the comnon characteristic of small UFO size,
movement in a straight trajectory and appearance as a light was located (significant at
better than the p= .02 level). Some reasons are given to consider these cases as involving
the operation of a natural phenomenon of unknown origin.

INVESTIGATING ABDUCTION CASES

Budd Hopkins
Part I of this paper deals with the reasons for resistance to abduction reports, and
focuses attention on which problems must be investigated. The second section relates
the fir s t abduction case I investigated, a Kent, Connecticutt cdse involving seven
probable abductees and five additional witnesses; I concentrate upon the clues which
persuaded me that an abduction had occurred. The third section elucidates the crite ria
I use to determine whether or not a case should be investigated. The final part of this
paper concerns a central ethical issue raised by the use of hypnosis --the contrast
between an investigator's curiosity and the subject's rights.

STANDARDS IN THE EVALUATION OF UFO REPORTS

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Miguel Guasp

Three major dimensions of a UFO report, i . e . , the Information Quality Index (Q), the
Strangness Index ( £ ) , and the R eliab ility Index (7r), are defined and quantified.
Mathematical assessments of those report coordinates are developed as dependent of
objective measures, to attain a standard status for the general adoption by the community
of UFO data analysts. An algorithm linking the three parameters is proposed to show the
Certainty Index (4) of one case or catalogue of cases.

CAN IMAGERY EXPLAIN CERTAIN UFO CLOSE ENCOUNTERS?

Keith Basterfield
This paper presents an hypothesis that certain close encounters with the UFO
phenomena may be explainable in terms of imagery similar to that experienced on the
sleep/wake interface and knowi to psychology as hypnopompic and hypnagogic imagery.
Cases are presented and a discussion ensues on the sim ilarity of UFO events (in ­
cluding abduction) and imagery. '
x ii ,r«. of 1» CtfOS

UFO MANEUVERS AND RADIATION: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Alan C. Holt

A review of UFO maneuverability and radiation characteristics has been con­

ducted, based on a recently developed theoretical mode) of space-time and associated
tunddmeriLaI forces. This review concentrates on discerning differences between UFO
characteristics which suggest differences in the level and type of technology that
would be required to duplicate these characteristics. If some UFOs are visiting
spacecraft, such a study could also provide clues to differences in the characteristics
of the occupants and their civiliza tio n s.

UFOs AND THE "PSYCHIC CONNECTION," OR ARE WE MISSING THE MESSAGE BY NOT ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS? 197
Joan Jeffers

This paper presents the hypothesis that we may be missing important data about UFOs
because we are not asking the right questions when witnesses report paranormal aspects of
sightings. Psychical research is rejected or ignored by most scie n tists, and we know
lit t le about the ways in which PS1 phenomena may operate. Perhaps i f we approach the UFO
problem through the psychic aspects or witnesses' reports, we may begin to ask some of the
right questions and discover whether or not the possible intelligence behind some UFO
reports is attempting to convey some information through these aspects.
The in tia l motivation for this basic study of the psychic connection came from the
oft-stated psychic theory presented by various authors. Sprinkle's 1975 paper Psychic
Impressions of the UFO Phenomena stirred the cu rio sity; fin a lly a strange experience in
T975 was the impetus to undertake the preliminary study.
Participants for the survey were selected from the file s of the Pennsylvania Center
for UFO Research from investigated reports determined to be "unknowns" for the years 1973
through 1975. IPO questionnaires were sent to the witnesses, and remarkably, 45% were
completed and returned. A statistical test applied to the collected data indicates a
strong possibility that people who believe they have psychic a b ilitie s and psychic
experiences do also report UFOs significantly more often that do people who do not believe
thay have these a b ilitie s or experiences. .
The possible problems with the study are also discussed. The major conclusion is
that the questions asked of the witnesses may be some of the right questions, but that
further, more controlled studies are necessary. Some recommendations are made for these.

THE AUTHORS 211


('roc. of liil CUfOS Com.
N A RRO W -BA ND A C O U ST IC ANALYSIS
OF A REC O R D ED U F O
J. ALLEN HYNEK and HOWARD R. SCHECHTER
In a small percentage of UFO events, wit­
nesses have attributed sounds to the UFOs.
Previous analysis of these sounds has been
limited. Regan and Allen have surveyed several
of these reported sounds in an excellent paper
(MUFON Symposium Proceedings, 1979, pp. 179­
206) in i*i ith twu beeping sounds attributed to
UFO activity in Bragg Creek, Alberta, Canada
were analyzed. More recently, Haines has ana­
lyzed the metallic sounds transmitted from the
ill-fated plane of Frederich Valentich, the
young pilot who vanished with his plane off the
southern coast of Australia in 1978 (Journal of
UFO Studies, Vol I I I , CUfOS, 1983, pp.14-23).
Valentich reported sighting a very strange
object that circled his plane shortly before his
transmission ceased, but there here no other
witnesses. Neither was a I/O actually seen in
the cases that Regan and Allen investigated,
though a few nights before the actual recording,
similar sounds were reported by several wit­
nesses coming from the reported unknown light.
Very few recordings have been made of UFO
sounds and even fewer have been fu lly analyzed.
CUFOS has thus been fortunate in obtaining a
recent recording of a sound which, i f our
informants are correct, is clearly connected
wilti the appearance of a Uf 0. The tape in our
possession, an early generation copy, has been
subjected to narrow band acoustical analysis by
Howard Schechter, past chairman of the Chicago
regional chapter of the Acoustical Society of
1
SOUND
America. Mr. Schechter is with us tonight and I
shall ask him later to discuss any questions
concerning the method of analysis and the in­
terpretation of the results.
Since acoustical analysis is not my fie ld , I
am not competent to pass final judgment on
the present analysis. As a ufologist, though, I
fe lt that because recordings of UFO sounds are
so exceedingly rare, every attempt should be
made to analyze this sound track and report the
results to my colleagues. This despite the fact
that the sound was recorded on a cassette tape
recorder from a police car CB radio, a process
that must surely introduce some distortions.
You may judge some of this by the sound of the
voices you can hear on short sections of this
tape.
The entire sequence of events surrounding
the recording has been described in the In­
ternational UFO Reporter (May/June, 1981; May-
/June, 1982 issues), so here I shall limit
myself to a synopsis of the events.
On March 17, 1981, Sgt. Russell Yokum, a
policeman on patrol in the vicin ity of St.
Helens, Oregon, saw at about 4 a.M. a bright
light on the Washington side of the Columbia
River, traveling toward Ridgefield, Washington.
Alerting headquarters by radio, he drove to the
county courthouse on the bank of the riv e r. He

2
was joined there by Oregon State Police and
citizen s, a ll of whom could see the UFO. Using
his car CB radio, Yokum contacted a well-known
CB enthusiast in Ridgefield whose "handle" as
they say, was "Lucky 13", and asked him to take
a look outside his house and confirm their
sighting. This he did, reporting that lie could
see a very, very bright light.
The light than changed colors from white to
reddish orange and hovered low over the river.
A sound, d iffic u lt to describe, but which you
shall shortly hear for yourselves, began to
emanate from the region of the light. Lucky 13
puL his CB microphone outside his window and
iaiu "I hope you guys are recording this!'’ They
were, on their standard Sony cassette recorder,
the same one they used to introduce evidence in
court on occasion. The sound was thus trans­
muted from Lucky 13’ s CB to the police CB and
then from that speaker into the recorder.
We'll now listen to this tape of the sound
and of some of the recorded voices. CB radios
are not known for their high-fidelity, but as
you will soon see from the analysis shown in the
graphs, very li t t l e general noise is present.
In fact, it is the absence of frequencies other
that the two basic clusters of frequencies that
is the outstanding characteristic of this UFO
sound.
[At this point the recording was
played, reproducing what could be
described as a whirring sound of
medium pitch.J
I w ill now describe b riefly the method of
acoustical analysis used by Schechter. He will
discuss the purely technical aspects of the
work, but 1 shall try to give you, in my ov*i
words, my understanding of the process. 1 think
it is inportant for ufologists to understand
what can and cannot be done in this matter of
analyzing sound.
Schechter has described the process to me as
a technique that is called, variously, re al­
time analysis, narrow-band analysis, or time-
compression analysis. In each instance the
time-varying signal is averaged for a duration
as short as one half a second to as long as two
minutes. In our case the range was two to five
seconds. The instrumentation utilized was a
Spectral Dynamics Model SD301C Real Time Analy­
zer, which is a time-compression unit. It is
Hyntt . Schechter
capable of spectrum analysis up to 50 KHz, with
frequency resolutions of 0.03 Hz. The
compression technique uses frequency-tuned band­
pass lilt e r s to convert the input signal from
the time domain to the frequency domain. As
such, the real-time analyzer provides a display
output proportional to the Fourier components
of the input signal. In fact, occasionally the
technique is called “fast Fourier analysis"
although this is a somewhat misleading termi­
nology.
Now, in my own words, let us imagine this
mechanical analogy: suppose you have a large
col lection of marbles of a ll sorts of s i 2es, and
you ro ll these marbles down an inclined plane.
If you record the size of each marble as it
ro lls past you (or have some instrument do this
for you, of course), then this corresponds to
analysis in the time domain.
If now, however, you d r ill a long series of
holes in the board, starting at the top with the
smallest and making each successive hole larger
as you proceed down the inclined plane, and then
ro ll the marbles dot*i the board, each marble
w ill ro ll down until it comes to the f ir s t hole
just large enough for it to pass through and
fa ll to the waiting bin below.
After you've rolled a ll your marbles (but
not lost them!) if you simply count the nunber
of marbles in each bin, that's eqivalent to
frequency domain analysis. You know now many
marbles there are of each size, that is , their
frequency, but you don't know at which par­
ticular time each marble dropped into its hole.
The time has been averaged out.
You can transform mathematically from one
domain to the other, from time to frequency, and
that is exactly what has been done with the
sounds on this tape. The intensities of each
sound (the sizes of the marbles) have been
collected and added together for time intervals.
The following figures illu stra te the use of
time-compression analysis on several sounds.
Figure 1, with frequency on th e X a xis and total
intensity on the y axis, shows the sound of a
punch press, from very low, diaphragm-vibrating
thuds clear up to 5 0 0 0 Hertz, and is an example
of the type of industrial sound Schechter has
been analyzing for many years. Figure 2 shows
5°K
b H
KHz--almost °f a"noise.
pure S°rtS °f f^quencies p¥t
Pro:, of IWi CUPOI Couf.
Figure 1

Figure
 4
Now we turn to the analysis of the St. Helens
sounds. Figure 3 presents the results of time
compression analysis of the UFO sound. The
frequency distribution is characterized by two
sharp clusters, at about 1 and 3 KHz. When I
f ir s t saw this graph, I was unimpressed, but
Schechter pointed out to me that in all his
experience he had never seen a frequency domain
graph quite like this before. Almost all noises
produced in nature or by man have harmonics or
lesser peaks throughout the sound spectrum;
this has none, not even the typical even har­
monics. It is d iffic u lt to account for this
fact.
Also important is the almost total absence of
frequencies above 3000 Hertz; the frequency
analyzer that was used records sounds up to 50
KHz. Thus either the CB amplifier couldn't pass
any frequencies higher than 3 KHz or the UFO
sound didn't contain any such frequencies.
Unfortunately the original equipment was not
available to us so that controlled laboratory
tests could be conducted. Figure 4 shows the
analysis of another short portion of the tape
recording.
Schechter te lls me that even if a UFO had not
been seen in connection with this sound, we
s t i l l have here a very unusual phenomenon by all
standards, given the nature of the recording.
The sound could not be produced by any bird or
conventional musical instrument; these would
have many other components or harmonics, as
would factory and machine noises. It could,
though, be produced by an electronic synthe­
sizer like a Moog, assuming that someone wished
to go to that expense and trouble.
So even if a UFO sighting were not involved,
the sound, according to Schechter, is unique.
But of course there was a UFO seen by many
witnesses that coincided with the presence of
the sound, so if the St. Helens event is a hoax,
it is a very clever one. And if Lucky 13 can be
believed, when he placed his microphone outside
his window, he recorded a true UFO sound, and we
have here an important piece of UFO data,
perhaps the fir s t example of the sound recording
of'a UFO that was simultaneously seen and heard.
And now I ' l l ask Mr. Schecliter to come and
answer your questions. After a ll, he did the
analysis; I just provided the tape!
Howard Schechter:
My f ir s t acquaintance with UFOs goes backto
about 1955 when 1 got this blue book through the
mail. It said appropriately “Project Blue Book
and, of course Dr. Hynek was mentioned in it ,
and over the years I've been very interested in
the phenomenon. I ’ ve been doing audio engi­
neering and audio research for about 20 years
and work in acoustics for the last 15. In the
past ten years my work has taken me across the
entire U .S.; I've been involved in community
noise research in both residential and rela­
tively rural areas. I've been outside at all
times of day and night, because noise is diffe­
rent during the night than i t is during the day,
requirinq analysis under both conditions.
I haven't seen one UFO during the whole time,
and it really bothers me--al1 those years and
thousands of late night acoustic observations,
and no sightings. I keep looking and wondering
“Where are they? Why don't they come out?" 1
understand from Dr. Hynek that the situation is
sim ilar for him; but all this has nothing to do
with the particular analysis to be discussed.
The tape of this phenomenon, which was
brought to my attention througn the Chicago
Association of Technical Societies because or
my past relationship with the Acoustical soci­
ety of America, is indeed unique. I t 's unique
f ir s t of all because it 's an auoio recording
that was made by sworn police o fficers. In my
particular work, we do a lot with the police,
because noise can be an annoyance, people react
to i t , and we have a deep respect tor the
officers of the law. So when I received a tape
that was essentially recorded by sworn o ffi­
cers of the law (or at least they were involved
in the recording) 1 had a tendency from my
professional experience to accept it as being a
true recording.
And now for the recording. I've probably
performed in the last ten years, 500, 60U, tiOO-
-countless acoustic analyses. I've never seen
one of an occurrence that took place in a real
open environment that looks anything like
th is . Now don't get me wrong-- the type ot
spectrun I analyzed could be created arti-
n c ia lly , re-created, as Or. HyneK said. A5 a
matter of fact, for the record I did at a
laboratory in the madvest area, c?e«e the
sound to some extent and performed an acoustic
analysis, and the shape and general contour nt
the spectrum looked very similar t0 “ e anaI
ysis of the pol.ee tape. H o *,e r. p ,^ g
 6 . ScMCftlKT

u'back, it sounded exactly as it was, which ir
a r t if ic ia l, as opposed to wnat ur. hynek just
played tor you, which is the original tape that
I analyzed, recorded outooors.
Now that's the important point. There's a
real difference, in acoustic analysis, between
laboratory conditions and outdoor conditions.
And if this tape is indeed not a hoax, then what
we have here is an acoustic phenomenon that was
occuning on March 17, 1901 in Oregon that can
only be created, or at least the shape of it can
only be created a r t ific ia lly indoors. 1 know of
no type of a irc ra ft, no type of je t, no type of
helicopter (and 1 have many narrow-band analy­
ses like these of such objects in operational
mode) that looks anything like the spectrum
we just saw here.
Now the thing that is interesting about this
particular spectrum is , as Or. Hynek noted,
there are no correlations between the lower
frequency band of noise and the upper frequency
band. If this *ere the sound of a je t or other
direr a ll yuu would be able to see some ullier
harmonics that rekited. I've taken this tape to
a few of my colleagues in the Acoustical Society
and I've run it through a computer that's in the
basement of a colleague's home, ana « found
thdt the only type of object that could be
interacting outdoors, that could oe creating
this kind of fundamental (*#iat c a ll these
bottom frequencies) is a vibrating plate, and it
would have to be an awful lot of vibrating
plates going simultaneously to get that amount
of energy in the real vorld.
So irfiat have here is something that often
occurs in acoustic research and acoustic analy-
$is--we have created more questions than we have
answered with the analysis. And I think, in the
end result, the thing that's going to be most
interesting is "Oo other people, or have other
people heard anything like this type of sound
source in their observations of either IFOs or
UFOs or any other type of mechanical or vibra­
tional inter-operative mechanisms that have
been operating outdoors?" And that's the key
point again--this thing was recorded outdoors.
So I open the discussion of this paper now to
questions that may have been evoked by the
presentation.

DISCUSSION

?? Could you c la rify the point that this is a fir s t or second-generation recording?
It seems to me that it 's awfully background-noisy.
S. OK. You've got to remember that the way you heard it was from a tape-recorder going
through its loudspeaker and then into this microphone and then out of these loud­
speakers. The audio system at this point is very degraded. The way I analyzed
the tape was the actual cassette as we received it , directly into the analyzer,
and it was played back on a professional Sony machine that has a broad-band
characteristic that's plus or minus 2 db. from 20-20,000 cycles.
?? Did the officer have hi*, recorder on the seat of his car or back at headquarters?
S. OK. The cassette recorder was sitting underneath the speaker of the CB in the police
squad car. and Lucky 13 was broadcasting from about 3-5 miles away, with his key
permanently do*i in the ON position, with the microphone out the window recording
the sound of the object. So idiat we have here for wfiat we would call the audio
spectrum train is a source through the air medium , through the microphone, through
Lucky 13's CB into radio waves on that frequency band across 3-5 miles into the
decoding mechanism, as you may look at it , of tlie police o ffic e rs’ CB and then
into his recorder. It doesn't surprise me that we have a cut-off at 3K, but if
there were any higher frequencies 1 would have at least seen something on the
analysis out there, and 1 didn't see anything.
Figure 4
 •Seintctiler

?? There's a phenomenon called an electro-acoustical meteor in vrfiich people appar*

have their nervous systems stimuldted by microwaves or some other electro-magne e
radiation from purely natural meteors. Was this actually a sound or could it n v
been some sort of electro-magnetic phenomenon stimulating both the CB radio equ p-
marit and the nervous system of ttie man who was holding the microphone? I mean,
was there actually a sound there? Are we sure of that?
S. Well, I wasn't there. The police officers did not hear it acoustically, through
the a ir, but it was a Imnj distance away, and these particular frequencies, through
a phenomenon we Call molecular absorption of sound by the atmosphere w ill have
a tendency to die Out pretty quickly, especially in the early morning--a lot of
moisture. So I really can t answer that. It 's a p o ssib ility, but my feeling from
listening to the recording about two dozen times is that that's not a like ly
answer to how the sound got down on the tape.
?? I have one thing I'd like to get into. It seems rather simple to take a tone-gene­
rator and send it up to those people and ask them to reconstruct the event, and
ask the guy that operates the Lone-generator to [in his cam shop??] and verbally
te ll whaL tone he saw at 100 and ?00 and 300, and record that in the police car,
and bring it back and see what you get.
S. Well y e s ...
?? If Bruce Maccabee would fund it . And that's the point--does anyone know what sound
would be generated by an atmospheric plasma? The molecular ac tiv ity , the electronic
activity would certainly produce a noise.
S. Yes it would, but I've recorded certain types of phenomena at a ll hours of the day
and night as they propagate through the atmosphere, including distant interstates,
distant a ircra ft, a ll types of physical phenomena--normal types that we‘ re familiar
with-- and they don't come out looking like that. Never, in 5000 spectra or more,
but of course there's always a possible scie n tific explanation. It'd be nice to
be able to go into that, as you just suggested, but of course, as has always been
our problem, that requires research dollars.
?? Could you prove that the sound was outdoors?
S. No. I mean we have the voices and the sworn testimony of the officers who saw the
thing and Lucky 13’ s relation of the fact that he saw the object and that the sound
was coming from that object and that he was recording it through his microphone.
Quote "1 hope you guys are getting th is."
?? Can you te ll if there's any movement through the sound itse lf?
S. In listening to the tape a number of times I can hear a fluctuation in the sound
of the object, and it is this fluctuation that makes me believe that it was a real
acoustic signal, as opposed to someone creating a hoax by doing what I did in the
laboratory to create i t , which was to pass white noise through two filte rs - - a 1 K
and a 3 K octave f i Iter.
?? If you filtered out a ll the voices, vould you end up with pure sound?
S. Oh yes, and in the basement of my fellow acoustician, we played with this cassette
ad nauseam, and got it down to the point vhere a ll I could hear was the upper fre ­
quency band, and I took away a ll the voices, and then I le ft only the voices and
took away ail the sound. And then we played games with controls on each of those
and in each instance, you know, it could be done, it could have been hoaxed- someone
►roc. ol IW»l CUfOi tonf, 9

could have mixed the sound of broad-band noise, but someone would have had to go
to an awtul lot of trouble to do that, and I can't imagine why they'd want to--
at four in the morning? But you never know.
?? You mentioned something about vibrating plates. My immediate question is vibrating
plates made of what?
S. 0hf a metal vibrating plate, but I have to te ll you something about that. We
only found a correlation at one small frequency band at the upper harmonic range
of the spectrum you saw of the object, and no other correlation, so 1 sort of had
to throw that one out on the basis of scie n tific inquiry, but I don't hold much
credence in it 's being a vibrating plate. At this point I can't imagine what it
was that could have caused th is. I have some feeling, some intuition on the type
of propulsion device that could have caused this kind of signal, but we need a lot
more data than what we have at the moment, including going to Oregon and discussing
with the o ffice rs, if at this point they'd even want to discuss it , the phenomenon
as it occurred, and also talking to the guy who did the recording.
H. 1 also want to say that we have Robert Howard's taping of the actual conversation
that went on between the two patrol cars and Lucky 13 and the office downtown, and
that has to be taken into account in judging the integrity of the thing. It 's not
just a lit t le snatch here and there, but this is a part of a total hour' s--better
than an hour' s--recording, with the puzzlement of the o ffice rs, the excitement in
the voice of Lucky 13, and a ll that would also have to be taken into account. But
s t i l l we're not presenting this as an absolute, 100% proven UFO sound.
?? Is the upper frequency exactly three times the lower one, or only approximately?
S. There's no relationship. That was the purpose of running it through the computer,
to determine i f , as opposed to a v io lin , which has an octave, a fift h , octave, third,
fifth , octave type of phenomenon; or a bird, which has a similar type of octave
and the filt h above kind of arrangement, this didn't correlate to any known type
of motor or what have you that would have created that kind of a spectrum. What
we had, as it appeared, was two discrete bands of noise operating simultaneously--
almost as i f you had a big, whirring type of object and another whirring type of
objecL operating closely and in coordination with each other.
?? Well, you once mentioned the possibility of some sort of propulsion system. Are
you saying that was an assumption on your part, or were you able to determine by
the frequency of the sound that that was indeed the case?
S. That's pure intuition on my part at this point.. We'd have to do alot more corre­
lation between what various varieties of jet engines do, propeller engines do, and
operating in coordination with each other, and that hasn’ t been done at this point.
It just isn 't part of noise analysis.
?? Have you estimated the total acoustical power of the source?
S. That would have been almost impossible without some sort of calibration shown at
the beginning of the recording. You have to have something to relate the source
to vis a vis tie recording system medium to be able to determine the power spectral
density or any of those other acoustical phenomena that is the normal procedure
when running through this type of analysis. 1 have no control, intensity or fre­
quency, on the tape unfortunately.
 Myntk - SchMhl
10

?? There was another case that l heard--a sound generated over a local radio statio
in Toronto attributed to a UFO sighting that was picked up by police officers on
their microphone in their car(s) which was recorded back at the station. At the
same time an object appeared over a house and simultaneously an appliance--! be­
lieve it was a freezer, wiLh a low voltage regulator-- was tripping out, and this
was a recording that 1 heard.
S. I think the importance of this particular paper is essentially a challenge to get
other recordings, because we can't do much on just one. It 's certainly possible
that you can gut sympathetic harmonics interacting in mechanisms such as refrigerator
compressors and that sort of thing, mainly because they operate over a line voltage
at a frequency and its multiples of 60 Hertz so you get 60, 120, 180, 240. And
the ear has a tendency also to key into that, because at 240 you're very close to
middle C, so there's that acoustic psychological phenomenon as ve il.
?? I have an economic question. How much would it cost to hire you to analyze 100
tapes? Or in other words, how much did it cost for you to do this?
$. It didn't cost anything to do it because I did it on my om time. It veuld be hard
to estimate what it would cost to do more of them. It would depend on the kind
of tapes, the quality of the recordings, the medium, what kind of analysis is required.
I t ’ s so d iffic u lt to estimate that, especially standing up at a podium. I'd have
to think a long time on it . In general for this type of analysis the fee muld
run about $3-400 a day, and I don't know how many tapes could be done per day.
It depends on the complexity of the tapes and what's required in the way of
editing, digital editing, analog editing, siftin g out the voices—that sort of thing.
When I did that analysis in the laboratory I spent about two and a half hours
taking the 30 seconds of data and removing all the voices so I could get a version
of the cassette onto a NAGRA tape recorder. I don't know if anyone is familiar
with NAGRA recorders, but they're the "Cadillac" of the industry for scien tific
recordings. So I made a dub of the cassette in a rather crude manner onto the
NAGRA open-reel tape, minus the voices of the CB-ers that were keying in and
keying out of the recording, and that took about two and a half hours. That was
just one tape, and 1 wasn't satisfied with the results. I would rather have had
a digital editor that would have allowed me to take out a ll the potential voice
interference and left only the pure signal it s e lf.
?? Assuming that we were at the stage to get you 10 or 15 cases to analyze, in ad­
dition to just being able to say “ I have 15 cases where it all comes up to the
same frequency, what other types of information might you be able to develop?
S. I guess that would depend on the quality of the 15 cases. Certainly we can do
correlation analysis between whether there's a harmonic relationship between the
various tapes. We can determine if the basic fundamentals are sim ilar. We can
determine the number of temporal, or time-varying, pecuIiarities in the various
sources, how long they lasted. I'd be surprised i f you could find 15 of tnose.
It would be nice.
?? My point was, aside from just creating some type of sta istica l correlation, that
somebody who reports a UFO might be [more] inclined to listen to the sound asso­
ciated with it. What if any extrapolations could be made from that as to the nature
of any physical device involved?
S. It would add some credence to my intuitions as to what kind of propulsion system
might create such a sound spectrum, but at this point, it 's pure conjecture on my
part what could have possibly, naturally, occurred in the atmosphere of a craft
that was in the a ir that would create that kind of spectrum. At this point, the
|ifK. of ISil ClifOt Cor»f. 11

only thing, and 1*11 throw it out because it 's my intuition, perhaps, on it , that
[ i t might have been] some kind of j helicopter type ot cra ft. I emphasize type of
because if it was a helicopter, I ’m sure that the police officers would have been
able to make note of it , and helicopters usually have some discrete tones in them
that would show up, and Lins phenomenon doesn't.
?? Have sounds particular signatures, so that you could look at a graph such as you
showed, and would be able to te ll by that signature what that is , what kind of sound,
almost like light radiation, a light absorption spectrum--anything like that with
sound?
S. The problem with sound, and the problem of recording anything like that in the out­
doors, is of course the interference of other sounds that intermingle immediately.
There's a possibility to do some correlation analysis, as I mentioned previously,
to s ift out sounds of birds, sounds of crickets, sounds of mourning doves and that
sort of thing, but it 's d iffic u lt at best, and unfortunately it gets pretty tedious
and expensive as a result of that after a while, but it can be done, yes.
?? This question is sort of related to putting iny money where your mouth is. I f , for
example, the fund for UfO Research were to entertain a proposal to calibrate your
system, and 1 think that there would be several ways that that could be done, to
calibrate the acoustic train that this sound went through, and you were to analyze
and provide a spectrum which is now corrected in terms of frequency response of
the whole system, except that we haven't a control, since we obviously have no control
over the atmosphere, would you be willing to write up something and send it to the
Acoustical Society of America?
S. Yes, Ive already considered doing that, but I might as well te ll you that some of the
colleagues that I presented this phenomenon to, for some reason inexplicable to
me because of their past relationship to me--they've always been very neutral-
more or less attacked the tape as soon as they found out what it was. That came
as a bit of a shock—maybe it shouldn't have—but I am rather naive when it comes
to this sort of phenomenon. But in reyards to writing up something along those
lines, I would defer to Or. Hynek because it is his tape, and it would have to be
done, of course in coordination with a ll the individuals who were involved in this.
?? It seems to me that you could write an article sort of entitled "Analysis of an
Anomalous Noise Recorded in Oregon." It just seems that here is a possibility
that should be tried. At our Executive Board meeting earlier we were talking about
the necessity of getting somethinq published in a real technical journal. Here is
a possibility that I think should be tried.
$. Oh, I agree it should be tried—!'m just suggesting that, knowing the Society, and
1 have known them for ten years, and I'm on a few national committees with them,
I know my honored and staid colleagues, and it won't be easy, but it 's certainly
worth the effo rt, and I ' l l try to make the el fort.
?? What problem did your colleagues find in this tape?
S. I guess fir s t of a ll the fact that the spectrum could very easily be re-created,
and indeed I was able to do it in five minutes, but it didn't sound quite like the
tape that we had from Oregon. In regards to your question about re-creating the
sound train, it would do actually no good for this particular tape. Once something
is encoded, it 's very d iffic u lt to de-code out the various faults that occur in
a recording train. The energy dimply is not on a magnetic tape anymore. It just
isn’ t there. You can do all the spectrum shaping that you want, but i f the acoustic
energy is not on the tape, then you don't know something that ju st isn 't there.
12

?? You could see, for example, if a sound train very similar represented a low-frequency
cut-off and a high-frequency Cut-off. You could at least calibrate where those are.
S. Yes, we would be able to determine that, that's correct. And you could correct some
of the sidebands, that's correct.
?? Well, it vould be nice to be able to say, if we were able to calibrate the system,
"This is what it looks like before correcton, and that is what it looks like after
correct ion.*1
H. One of the puzzles of this case is the very sharp cut-off at 3K. I vould like to
know, would that be a by-product of the CB's in ab ility to do anything above 3K?
1 would normally supect that there would be a sort of tapering off.
S. Most CDs, Or. Hynek, w ill go up to at least 7.5 or 8 Kilohertz--at least in my
understanding of them. Of sourse the loudspeaker that was in the police car--there‘ s
no telling where it 's cut-off may have been. And the same is true for* the microphone
that was used for the original encoding on the other side of the Columbia River.
1 wont through some readouts on CB systems' frequency responses, and they vary
just all over the place. I'm talking about fluctuations of 10-15 decibels. So
we'd have to get the original system, that's correct.
?? Yes, that's my question. You said there was no way, but if you had the original
equipment and tested it out..
j. Y»s, and can you bring back the original UFO? We can re-create tlie sound system,
beeeuse we can find out the kinds of equipment that wew used. But the source it-
sell--ah, now we’ re in trouble.
?? Has it been determined how tar away the source of the sound was from Operator 13?
II. About a mile. But again, I don’ t consider this case closed. I ’ d like to get out
there and do this.

?? You made the statement ea rlie r that in trying to reproduce the sound you were ..sing
uijuipinent indoors in the sound laboratory, i infer that you say that there's no *
counterc i a I ly available equipment that you could take outdoors, that is transported >r. . . .
S. Oh yes, I could get some giant Altec Lansing loudspeakers and set them up on a sh-ie.
.wid put a 500 watt amplifier through it , and pass broadband sound througha It; :sr,d
5K t lite r. Sure 1 could do this outside. 1 could put a big searchlight up ir. the
fog. We could do it , you know, if you want to make a movie. Anything's possible.
But would you want to do that a four o'clock in the morning in Oregon? I .-.onIon't.
If someone had created the tape as 1 did in the laboratory and penciled it into the
microphone.. Let's say lucky 13 wanted to do a hoax--this is a total supposition.
Sure, a ll he'd have to do is put the microphone next to his cassette speaker with
the sound on it , and maybe fluctuate the microphone near the speaker--yeah, it
could be done, but why? I can't imagine.

?? And wouldn't Lucky 13 have to be waiting for the police officers to see the iFC?
It vou Id have to be a ll set up.
S. Yes, they called him. It would have to be a total fabrication.

H. Well, i think wc1re long past our time on this, though it has been very stimulating.
Thank you very much. *
Proc. Of 1981 CUFOS Conf.
the McM i n n v i l l e
BRUCE MACCABEE
INTRODUCTION
On June 8, 1950 the local newspaper in
McMinnville, Oregon (USA) published two photos
of a "flying saucer" which had been taken by a
fanner, Mr, Paul Trent. There was also a brief
description of the sighting of the object by the
farmer and his wife. Copies of the photos are
presented in Figures 1 and 2. Several other
newspapers published reports of the Trent
sighting based upon independent interviews and
an^ International News Service (INS) newswire
story about the sighting. The INS also obtained
the original negatives, which they never re­
turned to the Trents (nor did the INS pay for
the photos).
The Trent photos subsequently appeared in
many UFO books and a rticle s, but they did not
achieve national recognition again until the
publication of the report of the Colorado in­
vestigation^- in 1959. In the opinion of the
Trent case analyst for the Colorado report, Dr.
William Hartmann, the photographic and verbal
evidence in the Trent case was essentially
consistent with the claim that " ...a n extra­
ordinary flying object flew within sight of two
witnesses." Hartmann admitted, however, that a
hoax could not be positively ruled out.
Later an investigation by Klass and Shea-
ffe r2 indicated that the photographic evidence
used by Hartmann* was not conclusive and that,
furthermore, there seemed to be some discre­
pancies between the photographic evidence and
the witnesses' story. Moreover, the stories
published in the newspaper accounts seemed to be
inconsistent with what Klass would have expec­
13
ph o to s
ted i f the storv had been true. A subsequent
investigation^^, 0f the original negatives
confirmed Hartmann's conclusion about the ex­
cessive brightness of the bottom of the image of
the Unidentified Object (UO) and eliminated the
claim2 that there was a* relative ly long time
lapse between the photos.
Computer-aided analysis carried out by GSW,
Inc.^ failed to indicate any evidence of a
suspending wire or thread above the UO, and the
analysis did indicate a possibly excessive
amount of distortion of the edge of the UOwhich
might be evidence that the UO was as far distant
as indicated by the photometric analysisi’ 3,4^
Analysts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory also
searched for, and failed to find, indications of
a suspending thread. Unfortunately the JPL
analysts did not investigate the edge distor -
tion.
An intensive investigation into the back­
ground of the sighting and into subsequent
developments was carried out by the author
between January 1974 and November, 1977 (when
the f ir s t version of this paper was written). I
have concluded, from communications with many
people who have talked with the Trents, that no
one who has met them personally would believe
that they would or could perpetrate a hoax as
successful and long lasting as their "flying
saucer" report. (Note: Hartmann was in it ia lly
convinced after interviewing the Trents^, but
later chanqed his mind2»6 after reading Sheaf-
fe r's analysis^’)* I have further concluded,
contrary to the opinions expressed in Ref. 2,
that it cannot be proven by either verbal or
photographic evidence that the case was a hoax.
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 15
 16
Instead the available verbal and photographic
evidence strongly suggest that the sighting
was not a hoax.
Date of the Photos
The "cla ssical1' date, as reported in the
in itia l newspaper stories®*® ^® -js May n }
1950, which was a Thursday. That date is
accepted here despite the contradiction between
the weather reported in a newspaper story {sky
overcast at 5000 feet-*-®) and the McMinnville
Airport weather report (mostly clear sky11).
The photos show only a featureless sky with
slight brightness variation looking northwest,
which could be consistent with either a nearly
clear sky, or a sky that is uniformly overcast.
The Time of Day and Shadow Analysis
The in itia l newspaper reports placed the
time at 7:45 P.M.®>® or 7:30 P.M.1®local time.
Mrs. Trent has repeatedly claimed that the sun
had not yet gone down when the photos were
taken1?. According to the Salem, Oregon Airport
Weather Report1?, sunset was about 7:30 P.M.
(rather than 7:15 as reported by Hartman1) . A
visible sunset would be consistent with the
nearly clear sky reported for the evening of May
11.
Klass and Sheaffer2, 14 have pointed to the
rather sharp shadows of the ends of the roof
rafters on the east wall of the garage at the
le ft side Gf each photo as "proof" that the
photos were taken in the morning rather than in
the evening. The shadows of the end of the roof
and of the roof rafters are illustrated in
Figure 3, which is a highly magnified portion of
the garage wall shown in Photo 1. Klass has
argued that the motive fo r saying that the
photos were taken in the evening rather than in
the morning (assuming a hoax)wa$ to make the lack
of reports from other farmers more plausible,
because, according to Klass, around 7:30 P.M.
"most farmers have retired to their houses for
d in n e r..."?. However by Klass's reasoning, the
lack of reports from other farmers would also be
explainable i f the photos were not a hoax, and
an "extraordinary flying object" did f ly by in
the evening.
In order to determine whether or not the
shadows could have been made by any source other
than the sun, such as, for example, a brightly
Maccabee
reflecting cloud, I have made careful densito-
metric measurements of the brightness or tne
original negatives. These measurements are
outlined in detail in Appendix A. They show
that the shadows under the edge of the roof are
more diffuse than would be expected from solar
illumination even on a hazy day.
Fran experimental measurements made with a
shadow brightness scanning apparatus used out­
doors on clear and cloudy days, I have found
that the effective angular size of the solar
disk increases with an increase in cloud thick­
ness. Because the effective angular size of the
sun determines the width of the shadow gradient
region (the "edge") between an area of fu ll
illumination and an area that is completely
shaded from direct solar rays, an increase in
angular size also increases the width of the
gradient region. (Note that the increase in
effective angular size is strongly dependent
upon how "effective angular size" is opera­
tio n ally defined. In these experiments the
measured widths of gradient regions for various
cloud conditions were used to define angular
sizes of the sun.) The experiments indicated
that the effective angular size of the sun may
be as much as 2.5 to 3 times the actual angular
size of the sun (0.5°) when clouds covering the
sun are su fficie n tly dense that the brightness
of the shaded and unshaded areas differ by only
1% or less.
By comparison, the width of the shadow grad­
ient region of the shadow under the edge of the
roof of the Trent garage is 10 or more times
greater t han one would expect i f the shadows were
made by the unobscured sun (see Appendix A).
Even if one assumes that the sun was partially
obscured by clouds so that the contrast in
brightness between fu lly illuminated and fu lly
shaded areas agrees with the contrast in the
Trent photos, the width of the shadow gradient
region is 3 or more times greater than expected
i f the (partly obscured) sun were the source.
Thus the horizontal shadow data (the "edge" of
the shadow of the roof) suggest that a source
with an angular size in the vertical direction
which is much larger than the angular size of the
sun was east of the Trent garage when the photos
were taken.
Besides the horizontal shadow under the
edge of the roof there are also shadows of the
ends of the roof rafte rs. Sheaffer analyzed
these shadows and concluded that the angular
size of the source miqht be more than P in the
horizontal direction . Scanning densitometer
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Cpnf. 17

FIGURE It
 18
data are su fficien tly noisy to be somewhat
equivocal on the angular size of the source in
the horizontal direction, but they appear to
indicate an angular size in the range 3° to 4°.
Taken together the horizontal arid vertical
shadow edge data suggest that the light source
may have had an angular size of more than 5° in
the vertical and 1° to 4° in the horizontal
directions.
As explained in Appendix A, one does not
expect the edges of shadows made by the sun to
be noticeably diffuse, even when the sun is
p a rtially obscured by clouds. An alternative
source of light of re latively large angular size
would be an optimally reflecting cloud east of
the Trent garage at sunset. In order to resolve
the question of whether or not a cloud could
produce such shadows I f ir s t carried out a
theoretical investigation making use of sky and
cloud brightness data. Although the investi­
gation was not conclusive, it did indicate that
shadows such as appeared on the Trent garage
might occur i f a large enough cloud were opti­
mal ly i 1luminated.
Conclusive evidence that clouds can produce
rather sharp shadows was obtained in the summer
of 1977, and is presented in Figure 4. A never been asked before, at least not in rela­
cumulus cloud east of my house was observed
(quite by chance) to produce shadows of the edge
of the roof at sunset, and I immediately ob­
tained my camera and photographed shadows of the
edge of the roof and also of a board which I
leaned against the house. The cloud which pro­
duced the shadows was not particularly bright
and had an angular size of about 5° or 6° in
diameter. It made shadows which appear to be
quite sharp, as do the shadows on the Trent
garage.
In an e a rlier "sighting" of cloud shadows
(the late summer of 1976) I observed shadows
made by a cloud that was about 2° to 4° wide by
about 8° to 12° high (estimated by the "finger
technique"—a finger at arm's length subtends
an angle of about 2 °). This cloud, illuminated
at sunset, was bright enough to make a shadow of
my finger (3/4*'wide) on the white surface of a
car when my finger was about a foot from the
car. This earlier sighting took place in
Florida. The 1977 photographic evidence was
obtained in Maryland. I have since been in­
formed of an observation of cloud shadows in San
Francisco^. Thus i t appears that, contrary to
the opinion advanced by Sheaffer?, illuminated
clouds can make surprisingly sharp shadows.
Maccabee
Having shown that cloud shadows can occur,
it would now be necessary to demonstrate that
there was a brightly l i t cloud east of the Trent
garage at about 7:30 P.M. on May, 11, 1950.
This is , of course, impossible to do (without
resorting to the shadow data in the Trent
photos). However, the weather reports for both
McMinnville and Salem, Oregon indicate that
there were cumulous clouds in the area during
the afternoon of that day. Both of these
weather reporting stations are east of the Trent
farm (the McMinnville station is northeast and
the Salem station is southeast).
Besides the shadow data, there are also
other brightness data in the Trent photos which
suggest that the sun was not the source of light
east of the garage. The brightness scale, to be
described in a later section, is much lower than
one would expect i f the sun were the light
source.
The verbal testimony of Mrs. Trent has a
considerable bearing on whether or not the
photos might have been taken in the morning. In
many conversations (by phone) with Mrs. Trent I
asked her questions which, I believe, she had
tion to the U0 photos. Some of these questions
had to do with the daily a ctiv itie s of the
Trents. Her answers were quite consistent
during the three year period of our conversa­
tions.
According to Mrs. Trent, she was "out fee­
ding the rabbits in the yard alongside the
garage"^ just before she saw the object. (She
told the same thing to Hartmann.) I therefore
asked her in several different conversations
and in different contexts when she fed the
rabbits. She replied that she fed them in the
morning before going to work ( i . e . , before
8:00A.M.) and in the evening. I also asked her
what their usual morning and evening activities
were "back in those days". She recalled that
she and her husband would arise about 4:30 A.M.
and take care of the animals in the barn
(cleaning, milking, e tc ). After finishing
these chores and eating breakfast Mr. Trent
would drive a truck from farm to farm collecting
milk for transport to a local dairy. His
"milk run" began between 5:30 and 6:30 A.M., and
he usually did not finish until after 10.00
A.M., depending on the number of farms he had to
v is it . Mrs. Trent pointed out that th is milk
run took place daily except under unusual c ir­
cumstances (sickness, very cold weather). In
 iwi Onus am.
the afternoon Mr. Trent worked in the Alderb-
mari berry farm. He would have been liome in
the evening after about 6:00 16, 17,
18.
Besides the farm chores, Mrs. Trent had to
take care of her children (whom she le ft with
her mother-in-law) befor e going to work at about
8:30 A.M. with a friend. She worked at a
chicken cannery until late in the afternoon.
Thus the dully schedule of the Trents strongly
suggests that they would not have had time for
perpetrating a photographic hoax in the mor­
ning. Moreover, the schedule indicates that Mr.
Trent would not even have been home in the 7: lb
to 7:45 A.M. time frame suggested by Sheaffer.
Clearly the Trents were very busy people in
those years.* They had plenty to do besides
thinking or ways to create a photographic hoax
to "prove" that Mrs. Trent had actually seen
“flying saucers'* three times before, as implied
by Klass^. (Note: her previous sightings
might have been niisidentif icet ions, as are tho
bulk of UFO reports). If the Trents had
publicized their photos widely and had tried to
capitalize on their success one might be tempted
to think that they had created a hoax tor
monetary gain. As pointed out by Hartmann,
however, there is no indication that the Trents
ever received any money for their photos, nor is
there any indications that they ever even tried
to capitalize on their photographs. ~™
The Weather
The last sentence of Reference 9 states that
the sky at 7:30 P.M.was "overcast at 5000 feet."
Hartmann indicated that this sort of cloud cover
was “confirmed" by the photos 1. Klass* obtained
the McMinnville airport weather report and
found a sky cloudiness symbol which fie inter­
preted as meaning "perfectly clear." Actually
it means "less than 10% sky cover," allowing for
the presence of some clouds^. The McMinnville
airport is about 12 miles northeast of the
former Trent farm. Another nearby airport, at
Salem, Oregon, is about 17 miles southeast of
the farm. The Sal an airport reported about 10%
* I have considered the question: Why do it on
the morning of a weekday ( if a hoax)? Why not
on the weekend when at least Mrs. Trent would
nut have had to go to work? After a l l, hoax
photos could be taken at any time convenient to
the hoaxers. It doesn't seem that a weekday
morning would hove been very convenient.
19
skv cover consisting of altocumulus at 12,000
feet and about 25% sky cover consisting of
cirrus at 25,000 feet. Both airports reported
cumulus clouds, which are puffy clouds with
considerable vertical structure, in the after­
noon, with the Salem airport indicating about
10% sky coverage with cumulus clouds at about
3,000 feet.
for comparison, at 7:30 A_.fr, according to the
McMinnville airport, the sky was "clear" ( i .e .,
less that 10% sky coverage). According to the
Salem airport the sky was 40% covered with
cirrus clouds at about 25,000 feet. Vis­
ib ilit ie s were in the 12 to 15 mile range and
the wind was negligible. As Klass has pointed
out, the McMinnville airport reported "smky"
conditions, which is interpreted as meaning
smoky. No such conditions were reported at the
Salem airport, although e a rlier in the morning
there was some ground fog near the Salem a ir­
port.
The photos neither confirm nor deny the sky
conditions given by the airports. The photos
show a sky which brightens toward the west, but
is otherwise quite featureless. As pointed out
by Sheaffer'# such a brightness distribution
can be consistent with the sun being either in
the east or west because of the nature of the
scattering of light by small particles and
molecules. There does seem to be a sort of haze
over the distant mountain tops. This seems to
be a real image rather than a fault in the
development of the negatives. The "haze layer"
does not have much contrast with respect to the
sky, but it does appear si ight ly darker than the
sky.
Whether this is a relatively nearby haze or
a distant, very thin cloud cannot be determined.
However, if this were a distant cloud being
illuminated by the sun in the east, one might
expect it to appear brighter than the surround­
ing sky rather than darker, since water drops
scatter light more strongly than clear a ir. On
the other hand, if the source of the light were
in the west and the light was therefore caning
through a thin cloud or haze layer, then less
light would get through where the cloud is
thickest, and this could make the cloud appear
darker against the surroundings.
Because the photographs can no longer be
used as positive proof that the photos were
taken in the morning, and because the daily
a ctiv itie s of the Trents made it unlikely or
impossible for Mr. Trent to have taken the
photos at about 7:30 A.M., it appears that the

20
weat lit r conditions at the time of the sighting
were those conditions prevailing at about 7:30
P.M. on May 11, 1950.
The Sighting
According to the original s o u r c e s * »“
(Hartmann's report is considered to be an
origin*;.I source since he actually interviewed
the Trents), Mrs. Trent had been feeding the
rabbits which were in a cage located south of
the house and east of the garage wall* and had
just started walking back tov.ard the house15
when she fir s t saw the object. She yelled t.n
Mr. Trent who was in the house and they both
scrambled to find the camera.* As soon as they
w One may wonder* how it happened Lhal Mrs. Trent
had the presence of mind to think of a camera,
when it is known thaL in some cases witnesses who
have cameras nearby have not thought to use them
(see, for example, Hissing Time by Budd Hopkins,
Richard Marek Publishers, New York , 19B1, pg.
29). Her quick thinking may have been a result
of previous sightings. According to Ref. 9, Mrs.
Trent had seen similar objects three times be­
fore. Whether these were bona fide sightings or
misidentifications is immaterial as long as she
thought she had seen similar things previously.
Perhaps in the previous sightings she had wished
she had a camera because, according to Ref. 9, no
one would believe her. Apparently "no one"
included her husband, because he was quoted as
saying "I didn't believe a ll that talk about
flying saucers before, but now 1 have an idea the
Army knows what they a re ."(R tf. 1U) But this
time when she saw an unusual object she was at
homewith tier husband and she could prove it to
him. Moreover,sheknew that a camera was
available, so she ye1loo to her husband to get
the camera, and they looked, apparently in d if­
ferent places, until they found it . From the
original stories and what she has told me it
seem1" reasonable that she looked in the car while
her iiusband, who was in the house, looked in the
house tor the earnerj .
Kluss (Ret. 2) has used her claim to have
seen objects three Limes previously as a “reason"
for the presumed hoax: "Now, thanks to the
photos, skip tic a I friends would be convinced."
Apparently, it Kluss is right, she must have
convinced her Iiusband beture the photos were
taken since hoax photos would not be proof enough
tor him. Cither that or she convinced tier
husband to pul on a blindfold and take pictures
ir* the backyard while, unbeknownst to him, she
K«ec«L*f
found the camera Mr. Trent ran into the back
yard just south of the* back door of the house
and saw the object. He took two pictures,
pausing between pictures only long enough to
wind the t i I in in l lie camera. Available verbal
and photographic data indicate that Mr. Trent
took the photos from a location about 20 feet
south of the house and 30 feet east of the
garage. Mr. Trent moved several feet to his
right to take the second picture. Then Mrs.
Trent saw Mr. Trent's mother and father on the
back porch of their house about 400 feet west of
the Trent housed They called to them to look,
and Mrs. Trent ran into her house to call the
parents on a telephone line.
hung a model saucer under t fie wires in line with
the direction he was photographing. Then, after
the pictures were developed, he was "convinced".
Klass, (Ref. 2) has pointed out also that the
Trents were "repeaters', although in fact, only
Mrs. Trent reported several sightings before the
photos and several afterward. This presumably
means that the Trents have seen "impossibil­
itie s " occur more than once. This is highly
improbable if UFOs are re al, and of course,
impossible i f they are not. Assuming with Klass
that UFOs (saucers) are not re al, then the
repeated sightings must be either misidentifi-
catioris or hoaxes. Since by this assumption the
photos must be a hoax, then i t is reasonable to
assume that at least some of the later sightings
were also hoaxes, to bolster their story. But
pushing this assumption to its consistent limit,
and considering the success of the 19W "hoax11
photos, the Trents should have produced more
photos to back up their claims of further sight­
ings. instead, according to Mrs. Trent (who
supposedly had a need to create a hoax to prove
herself right in 1950), "We've seen quite a few
since then, but we didn't get any pictures--thc*y
flew away too fast."(R e f. 41) If the original
phulos were hoaxes, then Mrs. Trent's reason for
riot producing more pictures must be considered to
. be an excuse--a "cop out". It would have been
easy to produce more hoax pictures, assuming the
fir s t ones were, and apparently not time-con­
suming since they managed to do it during one of
their busy days in I960. Perhaps the Trents were
loo lazy to produce more photos? But this seems
inconsistent, since they are apparently very
industrious people otherwise. Actually the
failure to produce further pictures in spite of
the later sightings makes it seem more likely
thot the original photos were not the "product of
a hoax.
Proc. Of 1MI CUfOS Conf. n

Sighting Lin* Sighting Lin*

in Photo #2 to UFO in Photo Posaihl*

. FIG U R E 5
Geographical Layout and Poaaibl* UFO
Plight Patha (ignoring tho loop described
by Hartmann)
Contour lines of nearby hills are from the U.S.
Geological Survey Hap from which this map was traced
(Ballston, Oregon; 7.5 series )

Mrs. Trent said that there was no answer on
the phone9, so she ran back into the yard in
time to sue the object vanishing in the west.
Mr. Trent’ s mother had apparently gone into the
house, apparently to answer the phone9, because
she was no longer on the back purch of the other
house when Mrs. Trent came hack outside. Ap­
parent ly Mr. Trent's father heard Trent and his
wife >oI ling and looked in time to see a distant
shiny object fading into the d i stance'** * “ very"**, "brightly metall ic , silv e r or aluminum
24. The Trents think that Mr. Trent’ s mother
may Jiave seen the object, but they are not
sure^S. During the interviews with reporters
the Trents did not mention that Mr. Trent's
father had also seen the object because they did
not want Mr. Trent's parents to he bothered by
reporters, especially since Mr. Trent's mother
was i l l with cancer at the t ime?9.
The Flight of the Object
All the original sources of information
agree that the object approached from the north-
nurtliwest at a rapid rate of speed. An estima­
ted path of the object is illustrated in Figure
5. This map is based on the general approach
and departure directions and also upon Mrs.
Trent's statement that it never actually passed
ovur their farmhouse, but rather that its point
of closest approach may have been near the
distant farmhouse that appears in hath photu-
yr aph*.^ That f armhouse is on the west side of
the Salmon River Parkway according to Hart­
mann^. Hartmann included a loop in the reported
fligh t path of the object, suggesting that the
f 1lgfil path inuy have been more complicated than
the path illustrated in Figure 5. Mr. Trent
reporLod that the object climbed rapidly during
departure and that fie didn't have time to run
around the garage to see it and photograph it
once more. According to Reference 9, Mr. Trent
found his camera and "Look two shots. During
Uiis time the object moved across the horizon
through an arc of about lb degrees according to
tier description."
This quantitative estimate of the angular
motion of the object across the western sky
agrees quite closely with the angular dis-
pl ac Miii'ii t measured from the two photos by com­
paring the sigh Liny directions in each. In
PholO V tin- object is abouL \/(i to tin* left Ol
the sighting line in Photo 1. (Mrs. Trent would
have had to be quite lucky to have described a
flight path that would have given about a 17°
spacing between sighting lines, if the object
had actually been a small model hanging under
the overhead wires, as required by the hoax
hypothesis suggested by Klass and others * > *.
The Object
The photos clearly show that the object had
an overall circu lar or oval shape. The wit­
nesses described it as "bright, almost s il­
colored, with a touch of bronze"9. When Hart­
mann interviewed the Trents in 1967 they re­
peated their general descriptions, adding that
it seened silvery on top and more bronze on the
bottom, that it was “shiny but not as bright as
a hub cap", and that it "resembled a dull,
aluminum painted tank."* These descriptions
are consistent with the brightness description
uf tlie object in the photographs. The upper
surface in Photo 2 is seen to have a highlight
implying at least a p artially specular surface.
The bottom of the image in Photo 1 is clearly
darker than the top part, but probably most of
this darkening results from the shading of the
lower surface.
There is some indication that the left edge
of the object as seen in Photo 1 is not a
perfectly smooth round (or e llip tic a l) contour,
but may actually be more pointed, as illustrated
in Figure 6, which contains tracings of 40x
blowups made by Hartmann. At such large magni­
fications the fuzziness of the edges of the
imayes becomes apparent, and therefore the
solid boundary lines indicate only the approx­
imate edges of the object. To within the
accuracy of the photographic medium, it appears
that the le ft edge is not perfectly circular. A
small drawing illu stra tes the outline as seen
Irom above which would be consistent with the
photos.
The blowup of Photo 2 shows, again to within
the accuracy of the photographic medium, that
the right and le ft edges are not identical.
Moreover, the "post" on the top is not centered
( i t is slig h tly to the left of center) and it
Li l t s slig h tly to the le ft. In both the
tracings of Photo 1 and Photo 2 the density of
the crosshatch lines is intended to indicate the
relative darkness of the surface.
The post t i l t s to the le ft at an angle of
about b°. It is not uniformly bright, but
appears darkest near ttie main body of the
object, and at two small regions ("dots") near
the top. These dark dots near the top are also
seen in Photo 1, just barely protruding above
the main body of the object.
Proc, Of 1961 CUr'OS Conf. 23

FIG U R E 6

\ M AGNIFIED VIEW S OF THE U N ID E N T IFIE D OBJECT


24
Th e e a rn e rd l o c a l le n g t h w a s a b o u t 1 0 3
T h e r e f o r e i f t h e o b j e c t h ad b e e n 16 f t aw a y
( u n d e r t h e n e a r-b y w i r e s ) t h e s i z e w o u ld h a v e
b e e n a b o u t ( 2 . 9 2 n n i/1 0 3 mni) x 1 6 f t - 0 . 4 5 f l =
5 .4 i n . I f i t had b een a t a d is t a n c e o f ab ou t
1 / 2 km ( s e e F i g u r e 6 ) i t w o u ld h a v e b een a b o u t
14 m in d i a m e t e r . T h e t h i c k n e s s , fr o m P h o t o 2 ,
w o u ld h a v e b e e n a b o u t ( 0 . 4 8 m m /1 0 3 ) x 17 t t =
0 . 0 7 9 i t = 0 . 9 6 in i f 17 f t a w a y , a nd i t w o u ld
h o v e b e e n a b o u t 2 . 3 in i l a t a d r .L a n c e u t 1 / 2 km .
T h e d ia m e t e r o f t h e p o l e w o u ld h a v e b e e n a b o u t
0 . 3o i n . i f a t a d i s t a n c e o f 17 r t , a nd a b o u t
0 . 9 2 m i f a t a d i s t a n c e o f 1 / 2 km .
A n a ly s is of th e P h o to g ra p h s
A ) R e s o lu t io n
T h t p h o to g ra p h s w e re ta k e n w it h a Ko dak
M oni t o r o r V i g i l a n t t y p e o f c a m e r a ( t h e o r i g i n a l
c a m e r a w a s l o s t y e a r s a g o ) w h ic h h ad e i t h e r a
t / 4 .5 o r f / G .3 (t h e le a s t e x p e n s iv e ) le n s . Th e
r a t e d f o c a l le n g t h w i t h t h e b e ll o w s e x t e n d e d and
lo c k e d w a s 102 o r 1 0 5 mm (1 h a v e u s e d 1 0 3 nm2 - ' ) .
Th e c a m e ra w as e v i d e n t l y w e ll fo c u s e d s in c e
d i s t a n t t e le p h o n e w i r e s c a n b e s e e n e a s i l y in
th e p h o to g ra p h s. T h e m o s t d i s t a n t w i r e s w e re
p r o b a b ly o v e r 6 0 in a w a y . U s in g a w i r e d ia m e t e r
o f a b o u t 0 . C cm ( 1 / 4 i n ) t h e a n g u l a r w id t h o f
t h e d i s t e n t w i r e s w o u ld h a v e b e e n a b o u t 1 0 “
^ r a d ia n s . E x p e rim e n ts w it h d e t e c t io n o f s m a ll
lin e a r stru c tu re s ( e .g ., t h r e a d s ) b y p h o to ­
g r a p h ic m eans in d ic a t e t h a t i f t h e r e i s s u f f i ­
c i e n t c o n t r a s t b e tw e e n t h e s t r u c t u r e a nd t lie
b a c k g r o u n d a l i n e a r s t r u c t u r e m u ch s m a l l e r t h a n
th e g r a in s i z e o f th e f i lm c a n be d e t e c t e d .
S in c e th e g r o in s i z e o f th e f i l m u se d b y th e
T r e n t s w as on t h e o rd e r o f 5 -1 0 m ic r o n s , l in e a r
s t r u c t u r e s w i t h im a g e s a s n a r r o w a s 0 . 5 - 1 m ic r o n
m iq h t b e d e t e c t i b i e . c o r r e s p o n d in q t o a n q u U r
« iz e s o f about 10 “ 3 m m/103 mu = 1 0 "^ r a d ia n s
( w h e r e 1 m ic r o n = 1 0 “ J m m ). T h i s w o u ld c o r ­
r e s p o n d t o a t h i c k n e s s o f a b o u t 0 . 0 5 mu a t a
d i s t a n c e o f 5 m ( a b o u t 16 f l ) , w h ic h w o u ld h a v e
b e e n t h e d i s t a n c e t o t h e o b j e c t i f i t h ad b e e n
fla n g in g u n d e r Lh e o v e r h e a d w i r e s . A t y p ic a l
t h r e a d i s a b o u t 0 . 0 3 t o 0 . 0 6 mm in d ia m e t e r -.
Im a g e s c o m p a r a b le i n s i z e t o t h e f i l m g r a i n
a r e v e r y "b u m p y" o r r o u g h . Th e f i l m g r a in
a c c o u n t s f u r a p o r t io n o f th e b lu r r in g o f th e
e d g e s o l t h e im a g e s in t h e p h o t o g r a p h s . T h is
b lu r r in g i s e s p e c i a l l y a p p a re n t in t h e h ig h
p o w e r b lo w u p s o f im a a e s . O t h e r c o n t r i b u t o r s to
im a g e b l u r a r e u i i n a c t i v e ( M T f ) e f f e c t s and
p e r h a p s a s i i g h t am ount o f im p e r f e c t f o c u s .
M4CC«0,tr*
I n s p i t e o f t h e s l i g h t b l u r r i n g e f f e c t s due
t o f i l m g r a i n , d i f f r a c t i o n , and s l i g h t d e f o c u s ,
i t a p p e a r s t h a t t h e p h o t o g r a p h s s h o u ld h a v e b een
a b le to d e t e c t a l i n e a r s t r u c t u r e a s s m a ll a s a
th re a d u n d er th e ill u m i n a t io n c o n d it io n s p re v a ­
l e n t a t t h e t im e i t t h e t h r e a d w e re b l a c k o r
w h i t e , b u t n o t i f t h e c o l o r h ad b e e n m a tch e d
to th e s k y . No s u c h s t r u c t u r e h a s b e e n fo u n d
in a n y a n a l y s i s o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h s .
3) P h o t o m e t r ic E s t i m a t e o f th e D is t a n c e of
I h e O b je c t
T h e r e l a t i v e b r i g h t n e s s e s o f t h e v a r io u s
o b j e c t s a p p e a r i n g i n t h e p h o t o g r a p h s a llo w e d
H a rtm a n n t o e s t i m a t e t h e d i s t a n c e t o t h e o b j e c t
b y m a k in g some a s s u m p t io n s a b o u t i t s i n t r i n s i c
b r ig h t n e s s o r r e f l e c t i v i t y l . ( T h e p h o t o m e t r ic
a n a l y s i s o f H a rtm a n n w a s c r i t i c i z e d on f u n ­
d a m e n t a l g r o u n d s b y S h e a f f e r 2 * ? * 14 and by my-
s e lf 2 7 .) H a rtm a n n n o t e d t h a t t h e im a g e a t th e
b o tto m o f t h e o b j e c t i n P h o t o 1 ( i . e . t t h e d a rk
e l l i p t i c a l im a g e ) , w h ic h w a s p r e s u m a b ly sh ad ed
fro m s k y l i g h t , w a s n e v e r t h e l e s s b r i g h t e r th a n
a n y o f t h e o t h e r sh a d o w s i n t h e p h o t o . He then
a r g u e d t h a t t h e e x c e s s i v e b r i g h t n e s s w o u ld be
c o n s i s t e n t w i t h a n o b j e c t t h a t h ad an i n t r i n -
s i c d l l y d a r k s u r f a c e ( n o t i l l u m i n a t e d ) and
w h ic h w a s a c o n s i d e r a b l e d i s t a n c e fr o m t h e
c a m e ra .
L i g h t s c a t t e r e d b y t h e a t m o s p h e re b etw e en
t h e c a m e r a a nd t h e o b j e c t c o u l d i n c r e a s e the
a p p a re n t b r ig h t n e s s o f th e s u r f a c e . He u sed a
s i m p le f o r m u l a t h a t r e l a t e s i n t r i n s i c b r i g h t ­
n e s s , a p p a re n t ( i . e . , p h o t o g r a p h ic ) b r ig h t n e s s ,
and o b j e c t d i s t a n c e i n o r d e r t o p r e d i c t th e
d i s t a n c e f o r v a r i o u s a ssu m e d i n t r i n s i c b r i g h t ­
n e s s l e v e l s o f th e b o tto m s u r f a c e . H is c a lc u ­
l a t i o n s le d t o an e s t i m a t e o f a b o u t 1 km t o th e
o b j e c t in P h o t o 1 , e v e n i f t h e b o tto m o f th e
o b j e c t w a s a s i n t r i n s i c a l l y b r i g h t a s o n e c o u ld
e x p e c t fo r a p u r e ly r e f l e c t iv e s u r f a c e , th a t i s ,
f o r a w h it e b o tto m . I f t h e b o tto m w a s i n t r i n ­
s i c a l l y d a r k e r th a n w h it e , ( s a y , b r o n z e c o l ­
o re d , a s re p o rte d b y th e w it n e s s e s ) , th e c a l ­
c u l a t i o n im p li e d an e v e n g r e a t e r d i s t a n c e .
S h e a f f e r w as t h e f i r s t p e rs o n to p o in t out
t h a t v e i l i n g g la r e c o u ld a c c o u n t f o r th e e x c e s ­
s i v e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e b o tto m 2 . I u n d e rto o k a
stu d y ot v e ilin g g la r e and p u b li s h e d a r a t h e r
c o m p r e h e n s iv e p a p e r o n t h e s u b je c t ( w i t h no
r e f e r e n c e t o t h e M c M in n v il le p h o t o s ) i n a t e c h ­
n i c a l j o u r n a l 2 **. D u r i n g t h e s t u d y I d e t e r m in e d
how m uch v e i l i n g g l a r e w o u ld h a v e ad d ed t o the

b r i g h t n e s s o f t h e UO im a g e , s o t h a t I c o u ld
s u b t ra c t th e v e i l i n g g la r e , le a v in g th e t r u e
im age b r i g h t n e s s . I a ls o d is c o v e r e d a f a c t o r n o t
a c c o u n t e d f o r b y e i t h e r S h e a f f e r o r H a rtm a n n
w h ic h a f f e c t e d th e e s t im a t e o f th e i n t r i n s i c
b r i g h t n e s s o f t h e b o tto m s u r f a c e o f t h e UO. The
c o m p le te d e t a i l s o f t h e r e v i s e d c a l c u l a t i o n w e re
p u b lis h e d in R e f . 2 7 , a lo n g w i t h t h e c o n c l u s i o n
t h a t , i f t h e b o tto m s u r f a c e w a s n o t i t s e l f a
s o u r c e o f 1 i g h t , t h e o b j e c t w o u ld h a v e b een a b o u t
a k ilo m e t e r a w a y . T h is c a lc u la t io n h as n o t been
c h a lle n g e d ^ . H o w e v e r, a s I p o in t e d o u t ^ , t h i s
does n o t p ro v e t h a t t h e o b j e c t w as d i s t a n t ,
b e c a u s e t h e b o tto m s u r f a c e c o u l d p o s s i b l y b e a
s o u rc e o f l i g h t . The u n if o r m it y o f th e b r ig h t ­
n ess d is t r ib u t io n and th e s m a ll s i z e o f th e
o b j e c t ( i f h a n g in g u n d e r t h e w i r e s ) w o u ld r u l e
o u t an i n t e r n a l s o u r c e o f l i g h t s u c h a s a s m a ll
lig h t b u lb . If t h e h y p o t h e t i c a l m o d el w e re
t r a n s lu c e n t , h o w e v e r, lig h t fro m th e so u rc e
w h ic h p ro d u c e d t h e sh a d o w s c o u l d t r a v e l t h r o u g h
t h e UO and o u t t h e b o t t o m , c r e a t i n g an e x c e s s ­
i v e l y b r ig h t b o tto m . E x p e r i m e n t s w i t h s i m p le
p a p e r m o d e ls u n d e r i l l u m i n a t i o n c o n d i t i o n s s u c h
a s p r e v a i l e d a t t h e t im e i n d i c a t e d t h a t a s i m p le
p a p e r m o d el m ig h t n o t y i e l d a s u f f i c i e n t l y c o n ­
s ta n t b r ig h t n e s s b o tto m (th e b o tto m s u rfa c e
c l o s e s t t o t h e l i g h t s o u r c e w o u ld b e b r i g h t e r
th a n t h e p o r t i o n o f t h e b o tto m f a r t h e s t fro m t h e
lig h t s o u r c e ) . S t i l l , t h e e x p e r im e n t s d id n o t
r u l e o u t t h e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t a m o d el m ig h t be
c o n s t r u c t e d o u t o f som e m a t e r i a l in s u c h a w a y a s
to c r e a t e a u n i f o r m l y b r i g h t b o t t o m .
T h e g e n e r a l c o n c l u s i o n fr o m t h e p h o t o m e t r ic
a n a l y s i s o f t h e UO i s t h a t t h e b r i g h t n e s s i s
c o n s is t e n t w it h w it n e s s 's c la im t h a t th e o b je c t
was a p p r o x im a t e ly o v e r t h e d i s t a n t fa r m h o u s e o r
f a r t h e r a w a y, a s in d ic a t e d in F ig u r e 5 . The
p h o t o m e t r ic a n a l y s i s d i d n e t , h o w e v e r, p ro v e
th a t th e o b je c t w as d i s t a n t .
C ) Th e B r i g h t n e s s S c a le o f th e N e g a t iv e s
Th e m o st n o t i c e a b l e o v e r a l l f e a t u r e o f t h e
n e g a t iv e s i s t h e a p p a r e n t u n d e r e x p o s u r e ( H a r t ­
mann r e f e r r e d t o t h e n e g a t i v e s a s “ t h i n * ' ) . The
la c k o f h ig h p h o t o g r a p h i c d e n s i t y r e g i o n s s u g ­
g e s t s t h a t t h e c a m e r a s h u t t e r sp e e d a n d / o r t h e f
s t o p s e t t i n g w a s n o t c o r r e c t t o r t h e am o un t o f
a v a ila b le l i g h t . (A n o th e r p o s s ib le e x p la n a t io n
f o r t h e " t h i n n e s s " o f t h e n e g a t i v e s w h ic h I e r i n g t h a t t h e p r e v i o u s p h o t o g r a p h s h ad b een
c o n s id e r e d w a s t h a t t h e n e g a t i v e s h a d b e e n u n ­
d e r d e v e lo p e d . H o w e v e r , a c o m p a r is o n o f t h e " f o g
d e n s i l i e s " - - i n r e g i o n s o f t h e f i l m w h ic h h ad n o t
b een e x p o s e d t o 1 i g h t - - i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e f i l m
w a s d e v e lo p e d a t l e a s t t o a f i l m "gam m a" r a t i n g
26
o f 0 .4 , and p r o b a b ly t o a gamma o f a b o u t 0 . 6 to
1 .0 . S t a n d a r d d e v e lo p m e n t p r o c e d u r e r e q u i r e d
t h a t f i l m be d e v e lo p e d lo n g e n o u g h t o r e a c h a
gamma o f 1 . 0 )
A q u a n t it iv e m e a s u re o f th e d e g re e o f e x p o ­
s u r e o f a f i lm i s c a ll e d th e b r ig h t n e s s s c a l e .
T h is i s th e r a t io o f th e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e
b r ig h t e s t a r e a o f t h e p h o to g ra p h to th e b r i g h t ­
n e s s o f t h e m o st s h a d e d a r e a . In t h e T r e n t
p h o t o s t h e b r i g h t e s t a r e a s a r e i n t h e im a g e o f
t h e s k y , and t h e d a r k e s t a r e a s a r e i n t h e im ag e
o f t h e sh a d o w o f t h e n e a r b y t a n k . Th e b r i g h t n e s s
s c a l e f o r t h e T r e n t p h o t o s i s a b o u t 1 3 , w h ic h i s
c o n s i d e r a b l y lo w e r t h a n f o r n o r m a l, f r o n t - l i t
s c e n e s in w h ic h t h e m a in s o u r c e o f l i g h t i s
b e h in d th e p h o t o g r a p h e r .
J o n e s and C o n d i t 30 fo u n d t h a t t h e b r i g h t n e s s
s c a l e o f f r o n t - l i t s c e n e s in w h ic h t h e su n w as
t h e s o u r c e o f l i g h t ( c l e a r d a y s ) r a n g e d fro m 40
to 6 0 0 . E v e n w hen t h e su n w a s l a r g e l y o b s c u r e d
b y c lo u d s th e b r ig h t n e s s s c a le w as g r e a t e r th a n
ab o u t 3 0 . Th u s th e b r ig h t n e s s s c a le o f th e T re n t
p h o t o s i s i n c o n s i s t e n t w it h t h e c l a i m t h a t t h e
s o u r c e o f l i g h t w as th e su n e a s t o f t h e g a r a g e .
Th e lo w b r i g h t n e s s s c a l e w o u ld n o t be i n c o n s i s ­
t e n t , h o w e v e r, w it h th e lig h t in g c o n d it io n s a t
s u n s e t when t h e r e w a s a b r i g h t c lo u d e a s t o f th e
g a r a g e , b e c a u s e t h e c lo u d w o u ld n o t c h a n g e t h e
b r i g h t n e s s o f t h e w e s t e r n s k y a nd b e c a u s e t h e
g e n e r a l l y u n if o r m lig h t in g n e a r s u n s e t w o u ld
r e s u l t i n a lo w b r i g h t n e s s s c a l e f o r a n y p h o t o ­
g r a p h s , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e d i r e c t i o n i n w h ic h t h e
p h o t o g r a p h s w e re t a k e n .
Lo w o v e r a l l e x p o s u r e ( b u t n o t a lo w b r i g h t ­
n e s s s c a le ) o f th e p h o to g ra p h s i s c o n s is t e n t w it h
t h e h y p o t h e s is t h a t M r. T r e n t d id n o t c h a n g e t h e
c a m e r a s e t t i n g s ( s h u t t e r s p e e d and f s t o p ) fro m
t h e v a l u e s w h ic h w e re u se d when he t o o k t h e
p r e v io u s p ic t u r e s on t h e r o l l . Th e p r e v i o u s
p i c t u r e s w e re p r e s u m a b ly t a k e n d u r in g b r i g h t
d a y t im e c o n d i t i o n s ( a sn o w s c e n e and a p i c t u r e o f
a t r e e in th e f r o n t y a r d o f h i s h o u se 3 * ) - The
sam e s e t t i n g s w o u ld p r o d u c e u n d e r e x p o s e d p i c ­
t u r e s i f u s e d t o t a k e p i c t u r e s in t h e e v e n in g
d u r in g s u n s e t when t h e l i g h t i n g l e v e l s ( i l l u m ­
i n a n c e s on o b j e c t s u r f a c e s ; a r e o n e f i f t h o r l e s s
o f t h e v a l u e s w h en t h e s u n i s a t a n a n g u la r
a l t i t u d e o f t w e n t y d e g r e e s o r m o re 3 ^ . C o n s id ­
t a k e n d u r in g b r i g h t d a y t im e c o n d i t i o n s , i t is
p r o b a b le t h a t t h e c a m e ra s e t t i n g s w e r e i n t h e
r a n g e f / 1 6 t o f / 2 2 and 1 / 5 0 t o 1 / 1 0 0 o f a se c o n d
w hen M r . T r e n t p h o t o g r a p h e d t h e U 0 .
 26
Fron t t h e a n a l y s i s o f t h e b r i g h t n e s s s c a l e and
e x p o su re le v e l o f t h e UO p h o t o g r a p h s I have
c o n c lu d e d t h a t t h e p h o t o s w e r e n o t t a k e n i n t h e
m o rn in g w i t h t h e s u n o j s t o f t h e g a r a y e . Th e
b r i g h t n e s s s c a l e a nd g e n e r a l e x p o s u r e l e v e l o f
th e p h o to g ra p h s i s n o t in c o n s is t e n t w it h th e
w i t n e s s ' s c l a i m t h a t t h e p h o t o s w e re t a k e n in t h e
e v e n in g , n o r a r e t h e y in c o n s is t e n t w it h th e
h y p o t h e s i s t h a t a b r i g h t c lo u d in t h e e a s t c o u ld
h a v e p r o d u c e d t h t sh a d o w s on t h e g a r a g e .
0 } P h o t o g r a m m e t r ie A n a l y s i s o f th e N e a rb y
M odel H y p o t h e s is
W h e re a s p h o t o m e t r y , d i s c u s s e d in t h e p r e v ­
io u s s e c t i o n s , i s a s t u d y o f r e l a t i v e b r i g h t ­
n e s s e s o f o b j e c t s , p h o t o g r a m m e tr y i s a s t u d y o f
th e r e la t iv e a n g u la r s i z e s a nd r e l a t i v e d i­
r e c t io n s o f th e v a r io u s o b je c t s in th e p h o to ­
g r a p h s . P h o t o g r a n n e t r y and p h o t o m e t r y a r e t h e r e ­
fo re in d e p e n d e n t t y p e s o f a n a l y s i s ( e .g ., an
o b je c t o f la r g e 2
a n g u la r s i e c o u l d h ave any
r e l a t i v e b r i g h t n e s s , and an o b j e c t o f some p a r ­
t i c u l a r b r ig h t n e s s c o u ld h a v e a n y a n g u la r s i z e ) .
T h e r e f o r e t h e c o ilm e n l b y E . U . C ondon t h a t E .
M e r r it t r e je c t e d th e T r e n t p h o to s on th e b a s is
o f p h u to g ra n in e t r y 3 3 dj<j n o t j u s t i f y C o n d o n 's
im p T ic a t foil”’ " t h a t H a r tin an n ' s p h o t o m e t r ic a n a l y ­
s i s w as w ro n g . ( I t i s in t e r e s t i n g to n o te t h a t
in h i s s u m m a ry , C o nd o n n e v e r m e n t io n e d H a r t ­
m a n n 's c o n c l u s i o n . In s te a d he r e f e r r e d to th e
T r e n t p h o t o s a s " t o o f u z z y t o a l l o w w o r t h w h ile
p h o t o g r amine t r i e a n a l y s i s " . T h i s m ay h a v e b e e n
a d e lib e r a t e a tte m p t to c o n fu s e th e la y re a d e r
a nd t h u s t o " h i d e " H a r t m a n n 's c o n c l u s i o n . I'm
s u r e t h a t U r . C o nd o n k n e w t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e ­
t w e e n p h o t o g r a n n e t r y and p h o t o m e t r y . P e rh a p s
h e h o p ed t h a t t h e l a y p u b l i c w o u l d n 't know t h e
d ir T e r e n c e .)
T h e m a in t h r u s t o f t h e pho to g r amine t r i e an-
n a l y s i s , a p a r t fr o m t h e s i m p le e s t i m a t e o f a c t u a l
s i z e o f t h e UO fr o m i t s a n g u l a r s i z e o n c e a
d is t a n c e h as been s p e c if ie d , i s t o d e t e r m in e
w h e th e r o r n o t t h e p h o t o g r a p h ic e v id e n c e is
c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e h y p o t h e s e s t h a t t h e UO w as a
m o d el h a n g in g u n d e r t h e w i r e s . A tte m p ts a t a
t r u l y a c c u r a t e p h o t o g r a n m e t r ic r e c o n s t r u c t io n o f
t h e s i g f i t 1 rig h a v e b e e n h a m p e re d b y a la c k o f d a t a
o n t h e d i s t a n c e o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r fro m t h e
g a ra g e w a l l , th e e x a c t lo c a t io n o f th e o ve rh e a d
w i r e s , and t h e d i s t a n c e fr o m t h e g a r a g e w d l l t o
th e T re n t h o u se . ( A l l o f th e s e m e a s u re m e n ts
c o u l d h a v e b e e n m ade b y H a rtm a n n when h e v i s i t e d
t t ie s i t e i n 1 9 6 7 . U n f o r t u n a t e ly s e v e r a l y e a rs
M
«CC*Ltt
a f t e r H a r t m a n n 's v i s i t t h e f o r m e r T r e n t fa rm ­
h o u s e b u r n e d d o w n , and s t i l l l a t e r t h e g a r a g e was
t o r n d o w n .) N e v e r t h e l e s s i t h a s b een p o s s i b l e to
e s t i m a t e t ir e l o c a t i o n s o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r and
t h e o v e r h e a d w i r e s w i t h som e a c c u r a c y j u s t from
i n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a in e d w i t h i n t h e p h o t o g r a p h s ,
c o m b in e d w i t h som e e d u c a t e d g u e s s e s a s to t ru e
s i z e s o f o b je c t s n e a r th e g a ra g e .
T h e a n a l y s i s h a s c o n s i d e r e d t h e f o llo w in g
q u e s t i o n s : a ) do t h e s i g h t i n g l i n e s c r o s s under
t h e w i r e s , a nd ( b ) a r e t h e r e l a t i v e a n g u la r s i z e s
o f th e UO in th e p h o t o s c o m p a r a b le t o the
r e l a t i v e d i s t a n c e s o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r fro m the
p o in t w h e re th e s i g h t in g l i n e s c r o s s ? I f i t w ere
p o s s i b l e t o sh o w t h a t t h e s i g h t i n g l i n e s c r o s s e d
u n d e r t h e w i r e s , t h e n o n e w o u ld h a v e a r a t h e r
u n lik e ly o c c u rre n c e if t h e UO w e re l a r g e and
d is t a n t . S i m i l a r l y , i f t h e r a t i o o f t h e a n g u la r
s i z e o f t h e UO i n P h o t o 2 t o t h e a n g u la r s i z e o f
t h e UO in P h o t o 1 i s t h e same a s t h e r a t i o o f the
d i s t a n c e o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r fro m t h e p o i n t o f
i n t e r s e c t i o n o f t h e s i g h t i n g l i n e s when P h o to 2
w a s t a k e n t o t h e c o m p a r a b le d i s t a n c e when P h o to 1
w a s t a k e n , o n e w o u ld h a v e a n o t h e r r a t h e r u n l i k e l y
o c c u r r e n c e i f t h e o b j e c t w e re d i s t a n t . I f both
( a ) and ( b ) o c c u r r e d - - t h e s i g h t i n g l i n e s c r o s s e d
u n d e r t h e w i r e s and th e a n g u la r s i z e r a t i o o f the
o b j e c t e q u a l l e d t h e r a t i o o f d i s t a n c e s to the
s i g h t i n g l i n e c r o s s o v e r p o i n t — t h e n t h e p ho to ­
g r a im ie t r a ic a n a l y s i s w o u ld d e f i n i t e l y p o in t t o ­
w a rd a n e a r b y m o d e l r a t h e r t h a n a d i s t a n t o b j e c t ,
s i n c e c o n d i t i o n s ( a ) a n d ( b ) w o u ld b e s a t i s f i e d i f
d m u d e l w e re h a n g in g u n d e r t h e w i r e s , b u t would
p r o b a b ly n o t be s a t i s f i e d i f t h e o b j e c t were
la r g e and d i s t a n t .
Th e a n a l y s i s i s p r e s e n t e d in A p p e n d ix B . I
h a v e p o i n t e d o u t t h e s p e c i f i c d i f f i c u l t i e s w it h
t h e a n a l y s i s in t h e a b s e n c e o f d im e n s io n a l d a t a .
H o w e v e r , s e v e r a l a t t a m p t s a t r e c o n s t r u c t i n g the
a r e a o f t h e s i g h t i n g , s u c h a s i s i n d ic a t e d in
F ig u r e B - 2 , h ave y ie ld e d s im ila r a n s w e r s to
q u e s t i o n s ( a ) and ( b ) : t h e s i g h t i n g l i n e s do not
c r o s s u n d e r t h e w i r e s and t h e o b j e c t s i z e r a t io
d o e s n o t e q u a l th e p h o to g ra p h e r d is ta n c e r a t io .
Of c o u r s e , t h e f a i l u r e t o p r o v e t h a t t h e sighting
l i n e s c r o s s u n d e r t h e w i r e s and t h e f a i l u r e to
p r o v e t h a t t h e s i z e r a t i o i s t h e sam e a s the
d is ta n c e r a t i o d o e s n o t m ean t h a t t h e photos
c a n n o t be a h o a x . I f t h e UO w e re s w in g in g toward
and a w a y fr o m t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r i n a p e n d u lu n - lik e
m o t io n , o r i f t h e h y p o t h e t i c a l s u s p e n s io n o f the
UO w e r e m oved a lo n g t h e w i r e b e tw e e n p h o t o s , the
s i g h t i n g l i n e s w o u ld n o t c r o s s u n d e r t h e w ir e s
a nd t h e tw o r a t i o s w o u ld n o t be e q u a l . T h u s the
 fr< K . Of 1931 CUfGS C oni.
27

A rm y , m ay a l s o h a v e h ad an e f f e c t o n T r e n t ' s
m o st d e f i n i t i v e answ er I c a n g iv e ab o u t th e
p h u L o i j r j f u n d r i c t e s t i s t h a t t in ; t e s t d o e s n o t p o in t o f v ie w . I n o n e n e w s p a p e r i n t e r v i e w , w hen
a s k e d w h y h e had d e la y e d s o lo n g b e f o r e s a y in g
p ro ve t h a t th e p h o to s a r e a h o a x .
a n y t h i n g a b o u t t h e p h o t o s , T r e n t re s p o n d e d t h a t
he w as " k in d a s c a r e d o f i t " . He t h e n s a i d " I
E v e n t s F o llo w in g th e O a te o f t h e P h o to g ra p h s d id n 't b e lie v e a l l t h a t t a lk about f l y in g s a u c e rs
b e f o r e , b u t now 1 h a v e a n id e a t h e A rm y k n o w s
w h a t t h e y a r e . " 16
Th e h i s t o r y o f t h e T r e n t p h o t o s i s q u i t e lo n g
and c o m p l i c a t e d . Some s p e c i f i c d e t a i l s w i l l b e
P o w e ll to o k t h e n e g a t i v e s b a c k t o t h e n e w s­
p r e s e n t e d l a t e r , b u t f i r s t l e t me s u n m a r iz e t h e
p a p e r o f l i c e and s t u d i e d them a s c a r e f u l l y a s h e
h is t o ry . A f t e r t h e p h o t o s w e re t a k e n L h e T r e n t s
c o u l d 3 5 . He c o u l d f i n d no e v id e n c e o f t a m p e r in g
w a it e d a b o u t t h r e e d a y s ( u n t i l M o t h e r ’ s D a y 1 * - ^ )
w i t h t h e n e g a t i v e s , so he m ade l a r g e b lo w u p s o f
to f i n i s h o f f t h e r o l l o f f i l m . Then, p r o b a b ly
t h e c o m p le t e n e g a t i v e s and p u b li s h e d th e m on t h e
d u r in g t h e f o llo w in g w e e k , t h e y t o o k t h e f i l m t o f r o n t p a g e o f t h e n e w s p a p e r a lo n g w i t h a b r i e f
,8 ,3 b to h a v e i t d e v e lo p e d ,
th e l o c a l d r u g s t o r e s t o r y w h ic h a p p e a re d on J u n e 8 , 1 9 5 0 . I t was a t
I t p r o b a b lly to o k a wi e k o r m o re f o r t h e f i l m to be
t h i s p o i n t t h a t t h e lo n g T r e n t p h o to " s a g a " t r u l y
r e t u r n e d 35\ Th e T i e n t s sh o w ed t h e p i c t u r e s t o
t h e i r f a m i l y and f r i e n d s , a n d , i n p a r t i c u l a r , t o b e g in s .
a b o y f r ie n d o f o n e o f M r . T r e n t ' s n i e c e s 1^ * 3 0 . Th e c o m b in a t io n o f t h e c l a r i t y and d e t a i l o f
T h is y o u n g m a n , A n d y H o r n e s s , w a s in t h e A rm y and th e p h o to s w it h th e p u b lic t e s t im o n y o f t h e
a b o u t t o t r a v e l to K o r e a (h e w a s k i l l e d o n th e b a n k e r t h a t t h e T r e n t s w e re h o n e s t p e o p le and
w a y ). He a p p a r e n t l y to o k an i n t e r e s t i n t h e w i t h t h e s t a t e m e n t b y P o w e ll t h a t h e c o u l d f i n d
p h o to s and s u g g e s t e d t h a t M r . T r e n t t a k e them to n o t h in g w ro n g w i t h t h e p h o t o s ( P o w e l l w a s v e r y
I h e l o c u l b u n k e r , F r a n k W o rtiiu m n , t o I in d o u t i f c o n v in c e d t h a t t h e T r e n L s w o u ld n o t h a v e b e e n
he m ig h t know w h a t i h e o b j e c t w a s . The b a n k e r , a b l e t o c a r r y o f a h o a x o f t h i s n a t u r e 3 5 ) made
upon s e e in g t h e p h o t o s , c a l l e d t h e l o c a l n e w s ­ th e p h o to s in s t a n t " c e l e b r i t i e s " . By th e te n th
p a p e r. o f Ju n e th e T r e n t s ' s t o r y w as c a r r i e d b y th e
I n t e r n a t i o n a l News S e r v i c e ( I N S ) and w a s c i r ­
A s lig h t ly d iff e r e n t v e r s io n o f how t h e c u l a t e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e U SA and t h e w o r l d . Ap­
b a n k e r h a p p e n e d t o S e e t h e p h o t o s w a s r e l a t e d in p a r e n t l y t h e IN S s t o r y w as b a s e d o n a s e c o n d
a l e t t e r b y F r a n k H u rtm a n n t o t h e l a t e O r . J a m e s i n t e r v i e w c a r r i e d o u t b y Lo u G i l l e t t e , a r e p o r t e r
M c D o n a ld . W r i t i n g t o M cD o n a ld i n 1 9 6 0 W o rtm a iin f o r th e P o r t la n d p a p e r.
s ta te d " I t w as s e v e r a l d a y s l a t e r ( i . e . , a f t e r
th e p h o t o s w e re t a k e n ) t h a t we' h e a r d o f h i s L i f e M a g a z in e b ecam e i n t e r e s t e d and i n c lu d e d
p ic t u r e , but he had n o t th e n had th e f i l m th e p ic t u r e s w it h a v e r y s h o r t s t o r y o f th e
d e v e lo p e d and we g o t h im t o h a v e i t c a r e d f o r " 3 ' s ig h t in g . P o w e ll g a v e t h e n e g a t iv e s t o L if e w it h
M r. T r e n t h i m s e l f , i n a p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h t h e u n d e r s t a n d in g t h a t t h e n e g a t i v e s w o u ld b e
M cD onald in 1 9 6 9 , s a i d "(W e d i d n ' t sho w ( t h e r e t u r n e d t o t h e T r e n t s (w h o w e re n e v e r p a id f o r
p i c t u r e s ) a r o u n d . ( 1 ) w a s t a l k i n g to (m y ) l o c a l th e u se o f th e n e g a t iv e s ) . The T r e n t s a l s o
b a n k e r and h e p u t i t up i n t h e b a n k w in d o w *, J b a c c e p t e d an i n v i t a t i o n to a p p e a r on a TV sh o w ,
( r e c o n s t r u c t e d fr o m n o t e s m ade b y M cD o n a ld w h i l e "We t h e P e o p l e , " w h ic h w a s p r o d u c e d i n New Y o r k
t a l k i n g to Mr T r e n t o n t h e p h o n e 3 6 ) . At t h is C it y . W h ile o n t h e sh o w t h e T r e n t s r e s i s t e d
l a t e d a t e i t w o u ld b e i m p o s s ib le t o r e c o n s t r u c t e f f o r t s b y t h e sh o w s t a f f t o m ake s ta te m e n ts w h ic h
th e e x a c t s e q u e n c e o f e v e n t s t h a t le d t o t h e t h e y , t h e T r e n t s , c o n s id e r e d u n fo u n d e d 1 . They
p u b lic a t io n o f th e p h o to s . w e re a ls o su p p o se d to r e c e iv e t h e i r n e g a t iv e s
at to r th e sh o w , but th e n e g a t i v e s w e re not
re t u rn e d 1. T h e n e g a t i v e s w e re s u b s e q u e n t ly
On t h e sam e d a y t h a t th e b a n k e r saw th e
“ l o s t " in t h e f i l e s o f t h e IN S in 1 9 5 0 , and w e re
p h o to s ( J u n e 7 , 1 9 5 0 ) , B i l l P o w e l l , t h e r e p o r t e r
o n l y fo u n d a g a in a s a r e s u l t o f t h e e f f o r t s o f
fo r th e lo c a l n e w sp a p e r w as c o n t a c t e d . He w e n t
t h e C o lo r a d o r e s e a r c h g r o u p i n 1 9 6 7 . Th e n e g a ­
t o t h e T r e n t fa r m and i n t e r v i e w e d t h e T r e n t s a t
t i v e s w e r e fo u n d i n t h e f i l e s o f t h e U n i t e d P r e s s
le n g t h 3 5 . He a l s o o b t a in e d Lh e n e g a t i v e s w h ic h
I n t e r n a t i o n a l ( U P I ) w h ic h had b o u g h t IN S . A f t e r
th e c h ild r e n w e re p l a y i n g w it h . T re n t was
t h e C o lo r a d o g r o u p { i . e , , H a rtm a n n ) f i n i s h e d
r e lu c t a n t to r e l e a s e th e n e g a t iv e s f o r p u b l i ­
w it h th e n e g a t iv e s t h e y w e re r e t u r n e d to U P I.
c a t i o n b e c a u s e h e w a s a f r a i d h e w o u ld g e t in
S i n c e t h e T r e n t s had n e v e r b e e n p a id f o r Lh e
t r o u b le w it h th e g o v e rn m e n tJ b . P o w e ll a p p a r ­
n e g a t i v e s , t h e e d i t o r o f t h e M c M i n n v i l l e News
e n t l y c o n v in c e d T r e n t t h a t t h e r e w o u ld b e no
R e g i s t e r , P h i l i p B la d in e (h e w as a ls o th e e d it o r
p r o b le m . T h e i n t e r e s t o f H o r n e s s , who w a s in t h e
 2d

in 1 9 0 0 when t h e p a p e r w a s c a l l e d t h e T e le p h o n e and t h e y t o l d me t h a t t h e F B I cam e t h e r e ana

R e g i s t e r ) w r o t e t o UP 1 o n b e h a lf o n t h e T r e n t s t o
o b t a in th e p h o t o s . UP I s e n t t h e n e g a t i v e s t o
B l a d i n e in 1 9 7 0 , w h e r e I lo c a t e d them i n 1 9 7 5 .
( B l a d i n e h ad t h e n e g a t i v e s , b u t h a d n 't in fo r m e d
th e T r e n t s ! )
In r e t r o s p e c t i t i s p r o b a b ly a good t h i n g
t h a t t h e n e g a t i v e s w e r e ‘' l o s t ' 1 b e tw e e n 1 9 5 0 and
1 9 6 7 b e c a u s e t h e y w e re r e a s o n a h l y w e l 1 p r o t e c t e d
d u r in g t h i s t i m e , and t h e r e f o r e t h e p h o t o g r a p h ic
in f o r ir id t io n w a s o n l y m in im a l l y d e g r a d e d . A ls o in
r e t r o s p e c t , i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o c o n t e m p la t e t h e
am o un t o f m o ney w h ic h UP 1 m ade fr o m t h e T r e n t
p h o t o s , w h ic h m u s t h a v e a p p e a re d i n h u n d r e d s o r
t h o u s a n d s o f Ut 0 p u b l i c a t i o n s s i n c e 1 9 5 0 , w h i l e
th e T r e n t s r e c e iv e d n o t h in g b u t t r o u b l e and
h a ra s sm e n t (c r a n k ohone c a l l s , le t t e r s , e t c .)
w h e n e v e r t h e i r p h o t o s a p p e a re d i n w i d e l y c i r c u ­
la t e d p u b l ic a t i o n s . O ver th e y e a r s th e T r e n t s
h a v e r e c e i v e d p h o n e c a l l s , l e t t e r s a nd v i s i t s
fr o m p e o p le who h a v e c a l l e d them l i a r s , h o a x e r s
and o t h e r u n c o m p le m e n t a r y n a m e s . T h e y h av e a ls o
b e e n c o n t a c t e d b y " t r u e b e l i e v e r s " and " s a u c e r
n u ts".
q u e s t io n e d th e m f o r s e v e r a l h o u r s a nd some tim e
l a t e r a man fr o m t h e A . K . b a s e fr o m D e n v e r ,
C o lo r a d o ..............T h i s man s p e n t a c o n s i d e r a b l e tim e
w it h them a s k i n g b u t d id a n s w e r t h e i r q u e s t i o n s . "
( T h i s i s in c o n t r a s t t o t h e o t h e r s who d id n o t
a n sw e r an y q u e s t io n s .)
H a ls t e a d a ls o o ffe r e d t o m ake a t a p e r e ­
c o r d in g o f th e T r e n t s * s t o r y . D ic k H a l l , f o r ­
m e r l y o f N IC A P , r e s p o n d e d t o H a l s t e a d ' s l e t t e r
s a y in g t h a t N IC A P w o u ld be v e r y i n t e r e s t e d in
g e t t in g a ta p e r e c o r d in g and " a s a s e p a r a t e
s e c t io n o f th e ta p e a d e s c r i p t i o n o f th e
i n t e r v i e w s t h e T r e n t s h a d w i t h t h e two F B I a g e n ts
dnd t h e A i r F o r c e o f f i c e r “ 3 9 . i d o n . t know w|
H d ll r e f e r r e d t o " t w o " F B I a g e n t s - - t h e r e i s rio
w r i t t e n r e c o r d o f H a ls t e a d u s in g s u c h a num b er.
P e r h a p s H a ls t e a d t e le p h o n e d K e y h o e ( o r H a l l ) in
r e l a t i o n to t h e i n t e r v i e w and c o n v e y e d f u r t h e r
in f o r m a t i o n t h a t w a y . ( N o t e : a p p a r e n t l y H a l­
s t e a d n e v e r d id t a p e t h e T r e n t s . A s l a t e a s May
1961 H a ls t e a d in fo r m e d K e y h o e t h a t he s t i l i
in t e n d e d to t a p e an i n t e r v i e w w i t h t h e T r e n t s
h u t t h e r e i s no s u c h t a p e in t h e N IC A P f i l e s . ) ’

In my o p i n io n M r s . T r e n t h a s m a in t a in e d a
r e m a r k a b le d e g r e e o f e q u a n im it y in t h e f a c e o f
a ll t h is n o to rie ty . In a l l th e c o n v e r s a t io n s I
h ad w i t h h e r s h e n e v e r o n c e r e f e r r e d to th e
o b j e c t s h e sa w a s a f l y i n g s a u c e r , n o r d id s h e
t r y t o c o n v in c e me t h a t f l y i n g s a u c e r s e x i s t , n o r
d id sh e s a y a n y t h in g a b o u t a l i e n c o n t a c t , sp a c e
b r o t h e r s , o r a n y o f t h e s a u c e r - r e l a t e d mumbo
ju m b o w h ic h we s o m e t im e s h e a t fro m p e o p le w h o se
s i g h t i n g s h a v e b eco m e fa m o u s .
T h e n e x t m e n t io n o f p o s s ib le g o v e rn m e n t
in v o lv e m e n t o c c u r s in tw o s o u r c e s i n 1 9 6 7 . M rs.
f r e n t t o l d Lo o k M a g a z in e ^ t h a t " A i r F o r c e o f ­
f i c i a l s i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e s i g h t i n g and to o k G e i­
g e r C o u n t e r r e a d in g s b u t ' t h e y d i d n ' t l e t u s know
a n y t h in g '" . T h e s e c o n d s o u r c e i s t h e P o r t la n d
O r e g o n ia n o f A u g . 3 , 196 7 w h ic h s a y s t h a t M rs.
T r e n t r e p o r t e d t h a t ' ' t w o d e t e c t i v e s ' e x a m in e d
t h e i r h o u s e and f u r n i s h i n g s a f t e r t h e y r e p o r t e d
th e p ic t u r e s She d i d n ' t know w h y " 4 !..

in a 19 6 9 p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h D r . Mc­
F u rth e r In v e s t ig a t io n s
D o n a ld , T r e n t w a s a s k e d " w h a t h e t h o u g h t i t w a s"
a n d he r e p l i e d a s f o l l o w s " T h o u g h t i t w a s some­
A p p a r e n t l y rio r e p o r t e r s f o llo w e d up on t h e t h i n g t h e A rm y w a s e x p e r im e n t in g w i t h . D o n 't s a y
T r e n t s t o r y a l t e r t h e v i s i t b y Lo u G i l l e t t e on m uch a b o u t i t n o w .. .b e c a u s e g e t so m uch f u s s .
J u n e 111 o r 1 1 , 1 9 5 0 . S i n c e t h e r e w e r e , a t th a t F B I c h e c k e d ( u s ) ; cam e r i g h t o u t t o w h e re I was
L im e , no c i v i I ia n u r o o r g a n i z a t i o n s in t h e a r e a , w o r k in g and q u e s t io n e d ( m e ) . T h a t w as r ig h t at
t h e r e w e re no f u r l h e r c i v i l i a n in v e s t ig a t io n s ( t h e ) t im e - - 1 9 5 0 , t h r e e w e e k s a f t e r i t g o t o u t in
in t o t h e s i g h t i n g u n t i l m an y y e a r s l a t e r -. Th e th e p a p e r s . ( T h e y ) g a v e no r e a s o n . ( T h e y w e re )
T re n ts h a v e c la i m e d th a t t h e r e w as d b r i e f ju s t t a lk in g to (m e ) b u t (th e y ) sh o w ed F B I
g o v e rn m e n t in v e s t ig a t io n , and th a t c la im is id e n t ific a t io n ( p a p e r s ) ," ( R e c o n s t r u c t e d from
b a c k e d in p a r t b y B i l l B o w e l 1. t e le p h o n e n o t e s b y J . M c D o n a ld ? 4 )

The f i r s t m e n t io n o f a g o v e rn m e n t i n v e s t i ­ In n u m e ro u s c o n v e r s a t i o n s w i t h m e , M rs.
g a t io n is in a le t t e r fro m th e la t e T ra n k T r e n t h a s r e c o u n t e d t h e s t o r y o f " d e t e c t i v e s " who
H a l ‘- le a d ( a n a s ! r o n o m r r ) t o M .r j. D o n a ld K e y h o e , v i s i t e d t h e h o u s e w h i l e s h e w a s a t ho m e . I a sk e d
f u n n e r d i r e c t o r Of N a t io n a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n s Com­ h er Wj s t h a t d u r i n g t h e d a y w h en y o u w e re home
m i t t e e on A e r i a l P h eno m ena (N IC A P ) • Th e l e t t e r o r s o m e t h in g ? " * * S h e a n s w e r e d " Y e a h , i t was
o f A p r i l I B , 1 9 5 9 s t a l e s H u t H a ls t e a d v i s i t e d l a t e r in t h e d a y . I d o n ' t k n o w . . . i t w a s p r o b a b ly
t h e T r e n t s and " I s p e n t a b o u t an h o u r w i t h them a b o u t 4 s a y , t o 4 : 3 0 when h e cam e i n . Y e a h , lie
 (‘roc. of 1921 CufOS Conf.
w e nt t h r o u g h e v e r y ! h i n g - - e v e r y t h i . ( h e r em­
p h a s i s ) a nd I d o n ‘ l m ean m a y b e ! He n e v e r s t o p p e d
u n t i l lie h ad e v e r y t h i n g s p r e a d o u t on t h e t a b l e . "
1 a s k e d h e r i f Lh o man s a i d w h e r e he w a s fr o m and
sh e a n s w e r e d "N o . He e v e n w e n t w h e r e my h u s b a n d
was a t w o r k , on t h e A ld e r bin an fa r m t h e r e . He
a sk e d a l l d i f f e r e n t q u e s t i o n s t h e r e . "
M rs. T r e n t g a v e a r a t h e r g r a p h ic d e s c r ip t i o n
o f how t h e " d e t e c t i v e " w e n t t h r o u g h t h e d r a w e r s
in th e b u r e a u s o f t h e h o u s e lo o k in g f o r s o m e t h in g
and g e n e r a l l y m a k in g a m e s s o r t h e p l a c e . She
s a i d s h e w a s n 't s u r e t h a t t h e d e t e c t i v e w a s fro m
th e F B I . She a ls o s a id t h a t t h e r e w as a n o th e r
m an, t o o , who s p e n t some t im e o u t s i d e t h e h o u se
a s w e ll a s in s id e . B o t h men t o o k lo t s o f
p ic t u r e s . T h e y w e re " t h r o w i n g s t u f f up i n t h e
a i r ' n t a k in g p i c t u r e s , 'n t r y i n g a l l d i f f e r e n t
t h i n g s l i k e t h a t t o o - - g a r b a g e c a n l i d s 'n s t u f f
l i k e t h a t , b u t t h e y w e n t a l l t h r o u g h i t j u s t to
se e w h a t t h e y c o u l d f i n d , 1 g u e s s . Th ey d id n 't
f i n d n o t h i n ' b u t t h a t ' s w h a t t h e y s a i d t h e y had
to d o - - s a id i t w a s t h e i r j o b - - t h a t ‘ s t h e w a y t h e y
w orded i t . " M r s . T r e n t d id n o t r e c a l l w h e t h e r o r
n o t t h e y w o re u n i f o r m s .
A lt h o u g h I h a v e n o t b e e n a b le t o f i n d a n y
d o c u m e n ts a s s o c i a t e d w i t h an o n - t h e - s p o t in ­
v e s t i g a t i o n b y t h e A i r F o r c e , i t w o u ld n o t b e to o
d i f f i c u l t t o im a g in e t h a t o n e o r m o re a g e n t s o f
th e A i r F o r c e ' s O f f i c e o f S p e c i a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n s
(A F O S I) d id in v e s t ig a t e th e T re n t s ig h t in g .
D u rin g t h e p e r io d 1 9 4 9 - 1 9 5 1 t h e A F O S I w a s t t ie
a g e n c y c h a r g e d w i t h UFO s i g h t i n g i n v e s t i g a t i o n s
f o r P r o j e c t G ru d g e ( w h ic h f o llo w e d P r o j e c t S ig n
and p r e c e d e d P r o j e c t B l u e B o o k ) . T h e r e a r e no
d o c u m e n ts on t h e T r e n t c a s e i n t h e f i l e s o f
P r o j e c t B l u e Bo o k o t h e r t h a n r e s p o n s e s t o l e t t e r s
w r i t t e n in t h e m id l % 0 s f o r in f o r m a t i o n or* t h e
case.
L t . C o l H . Q u i n t a n i l l a , J r . , who w a s i n c h a r g e
o f P r o j e c t B l u e B o o k in t h e m id 1 9 6 0 s , w r o t e t o
P . K l a s s in 1 9 6 9 ‘*/| " t h e A i r F o r c e n e v e r o f f i c i ­
a l l y g o t in v o lv e d in th e a n a l y s i s o f t h i s c a s e .
We d o n 't e v e n h a v e a good p r i n t o f t h e a l l e g e d
v e h i c l e " . A c t u a l l y , P r o j e c t B l u e Book m u s t h a v e
had a t l e a s t o n e p r i n t in 1 9 6 6 b e c a u s e a t t h a t
tim e Q u i n t a n i l l a r e q u e s t e d an a n a l y s i s o f t h e
p h o t o g r a p h s b y t h e p h o to a n a l y s i s b r a n c h , w h ic h
d id n o t p r o v id e an a n a l y s i s , h o w e v e r .
D e s p it e Q u i n t a n i l l a ’ s a n s w e r t o K l a s s , i t i s
n o t im p o s s ib le t h a t t h e A F O S I i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e
s i g h t i n g in 1 9 5 0 and d i d n o t f i l e a r e p o r t w i t h
P r o je c t G ru d g e . A s tu d y o f th e m ic r o f ilm r e c o r d
a t t h e N a t io n a l A r c h i v e s h a s s h o w n ^ t h a t n o t a l l
29
o f t h e f i l e s o f t h e A F O S I w e re e n t e r e d i n t o t h e
G ru d g e o r B l u e Book r e c o r d s , f o r e x a m p le , on
r o l l 91 o f t h e m i c r o f i l m r e c o r d s 4 ^ t h e r e i s an
A FO SI docum ent e n t i t l e d " F l y i n g S a u c e r P h o to ­
g ra p h (t a k e n b y ) T r e n t . ( o f ) M c M in n v ille , O re ­
g o n " . T h e s p o t i n t e l l i g e n c e r e p o r t w a s f i l e d in
t h e r e c o r d s o f t h e 1 9 t h A F O S I d i s t r i c t o f f i c e and
a c o p y w a s s e n t t o A F O S I h e a d q u a r t e r s i n W ash­
in g t o n , D . C . , b u t no c o p y w a s s e n t to P r o j e c t
G ru d g e . ( T h e r e f o r e Q u i n t a n i l l a w as n o t a w a re o f
i t b e c a u s e i t w a s n o t i n th e G r u d g e / B lu e Bo o k
f i l e o f r e p o r t s . ) T h e d a t e on t h e s p o t r e p o r t i s
Ju n e 2 1 , 1950. A p p a r e n t l y an a g e n t o f t h e A F O S I
sa w a n e w s p a p e r a r t i c l e on t h a t d a t e i n th e
V a l l e j o ( C a l i f o r n i a ) News C h r o n i c l e . The n ew s­
p a p e r a r t i c l e , w h ic h w a s i n c lu d e d i n t h e r e p o r t ,
f e a t u r e d t h e T r e n t p h o t o s a lo n g w i t h a v e r y b r i e f
su m m a ry o f t h e s i g h t i n g .
The t e x t o f th e s p o t i n t e l l i g e n c e r e p o r t
s t a t e d t h a t " S g t . L a w re n c e J . H y d e r ," o f th e
1 7 0 4 th A i r T r a f f i c S q u a d ro n , F a i r f i e l d - S u i s a ,
A ir F o rce Base in C a lif o r n ia , " a d v is e d t h is
D i s t r i c t t h a t ( M r . T r e n t ) and a l l t h e T r e n t s a r e
known t o r e s i d e n t s o f M c M i n n v i l l e , O re g o n a s
b e in g s u b s t a n t i a l , s o l i d , h o n e s t c i t i z e n s o f t h e
c o m m u n it y . H y d e r s t a t e d t h a t w h i l e he w a s home
on l e a v e , a p p r o x im a t e ly J u n e 8 , h i s home tow n
p a p e r , t h e ‘ T e le p h o n e R e g i s t e r * p u b li s h e d t h e s e
p h o t o g r a p h s on t h e f r o n t p a g e w i t h t h e s t o r y t h a t
T r e n t s t a t e d th e 'S a u c e r ' w as s h in in g s ilv e r ,
m ade no n o i s e o r s m o k e , and s h o r t l y a f t e r d i s a p ­
p e a r e d o v e r t h e h o r iz o n t o t h e N o r t h w e s t ." T h e r e
i s no s p e c i f i c i n d i c a t i o n t h a t the A FO S I t o o k a n y
a c t io n a s a r e s u l t o f t h i s r e p o r t b y S g t . H y d e r.
H o w e v e r , I s h o u ld p o i n t o u t t h a t J u n e 21 w a s
a lm o s t t h r e e w e e k s a f t e r t h e p h o t o s had b een
p u b li s h e d and t h a t M r . T r e n t t o l d J . M cD o n a ld ( i n
1 % 9 ) t h a t tiie " F B I " men cam e “ r i g h t o u t t o w h e re
( 1 ) w a s w o r k in g and q u e s t io n e d m e . . . t h r e e w e e k s
a f t e r i t g o t o u t in th e p a p e r s ." ^
An in d e p e n d e n t s t a t e m e n t a b o u t g o v e rn m e n t
in v o lv e m e n t w a s made b y a r e l i a b l e s o u r c e , B i l l
R o w e ll, t h e n e w s p a p e rm a n who o r i g i n a l l y p u b ­
l i s h e d t h e T r e n t s ' s t o r y . P o w e ll v o l u n t e e r e d t h e
i n f o r m a t i o n ( w i t h o u t a n y q u e s t i o n fro m m e) i n a
p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n in 1 9 7 6 . R e f e r r in g to c o p y
n e g a t i v e s a nd p r i n t s w h ic h h e had r e t a i n e d a t t h e
n e w s p a p e r o f f i c e ( t h e o r i g i n a l n e g a t i v e s had b y
t h i s t im e b e e n " l o s t " i n t h e f i l e s o f t h e I N S ) ,
P o w e ll s a i d “ A n y w a y t h e damn A i r F o r c e l a t c h e d on
t o them a nd I n e v e r d id g e t them b a c k ." 3 $ He w e n t
On t o s a y t h a t " t h e y s e n t i n a p l a i n c l o t h e s (m a n )
who " h a d t h e p a p e r t o d o i t " a b o u t . " t w o w e e k s t o a
m o n th '1 a f t e r t h e p i c t u r e s w e re p u b l i s h e d . N o te
t h a t t h i s t im e p e r io d a g r e e s w i t h T r e n t ' s c l a i m
t h a t lie w a s v i s i t e d a b o u t t h r e e w e e k s a f t e r t h e
 H4CC«&tt
30

c o n t in u e d t o se n d " d i s 1 r e l a t e d in f o r m a t i o n to
p i c t u r e s w e re p u b l i s h e d . P o w e ll s a i d t h a t he
h e a d q u a r t e r s d u r in g ' . 1 9 5 0 s . 1 a l s o le a rn e d
w r o t e r e g i s t e r e d l e t t e r s a nd s e n t t e le g r a m s t o
fr o m a g e n t s a t F B I !• a d q u a r t e r s t h a t l o c a l FBI
U k * A i r f o r c e b u t n e v e r g o t a r e s p o n s e and n e v e r
o f f i c e s m a y c a r r y o u t i n v e s t i g a t i o n s and h a v e the
g o t th e p ic t u r e s h a c k . P h ilip B l a d i n e , th e
o p t io n o f s e n d in g o r n o l s e n d in g t h e r e s u l t s o f
e d i t o r , w a s n ' t in M c M in n v il le on t h e d a y t h a t
th e se in v e s t ig a t io n s to h e a d q u a rte rs a s the
P o w e ll p u b li s h e d t h e T r e n t p h o t u s , b u t h e h e a r d
a b o u t t h e s i g h t i n g when h e r e t u r n e d . In a l e t t e r lo c a l a g e n ts se e f i t . T h u s i t i s p o s s i b l e th a t
l o c a l a g e n t s m ig h t h a v e i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e T re n ts
lu I*. K i d s * . , B l a d i n e s t a le d th a t, a fte r th e
n e g a t iv e * , w e r e s e n t to L i f e m a g a / i n e “ t h e y ( L i f e ) and, h a v in g fo u n d no e v i d e n c e o f s u b v e r s iv e
a c t i v i t y ( t h e o f f i c i a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f 1 9 4 ? had
c la i m e d t h e n e g a t i v e s w e r e r e t u r n e d b u t we n e v e r
b e e n d i r e c t e d t o w a rd th e d i s c o v e r y o f s u b v e r s iv e
r e c e iv e d th e m "4 k . B l a d i n e th e n s a i d t h a t he h ad
" a lw a y s b e e n s u s p i c i o u s t h a t t h e y w e r e c o n f i s ­ a c t i v i t y ) , t h e l o c a l a g e n t s d id n o t send the
c a t e d b y m i l i t a r y p e o p le ." r e s u l t s o f t h e i r in v e s t i g a t io n to h e a d q u a rte rs.
I l e a r n e d fr o m F B I h e a d q u a r t e r s a ls o t h a t , where­
H ie m i l i t a r y in v o lv e m e n t w a s e c h o e d in a a s t h e m a in o f f i c e c a n n o t d e s t r o y r e c o r d s , lo c a l
so m ew h a t _d i s t o r t e d m a n n e r b y F r a n k E d w a rd s i n an o f f i c e s c a n do s o a f t e r f i v e o r t e n y e a r s . There
a r t i c k - 4 ? p u b li s h e d in 1 9 6 6 . I r i ly S O E d w a rd s w a s w o u ld n o lo n g e r b e a n y e v id e n c e o f an F B I in ­
a r a d io C um m enLalor who h ud an i n t e r e s t m s a u c e r v e s t ig a t i o n , t h e r e f o r e , in a n y F B I f i l e s .

s ig h t in g s . S h o r t ly a f t e r th e T r e n t p h o to s w e re
T h u s i t i s n o t p o s s i b l e t o r e f u t e M r. T r e n t 's
p u b lis h e d he had a r ra n g e d w it h B la d in e to se n d
c l a i m t h a t he w a s v i s i t e d b y F B I a g e n t s . If
o u t f r e e c o p ie s o f th e f i r s t p ag e o f th e T e le ­
p l a i n c l o t h e s A i r F o r c e a g e n t s had in t e r v ie w e d
phone R e g is t e r o f Ju n e 8 (1 9 5 0 ) t o a n y o n e who
t h e T r e n t s , t h e y m ig h t h a v e f o r g o t t e n t h a t they
w ro te r o r a c o p y . E d w a rd s a n n o u n c e d t h i s o f f e r
w e re A i r F o r c e a g e n t s and th o u g h t many y e a rs
d u r in g a r a d i o p r o g r a m a n d , a c c o r d in g t o B t a d i n e ,
la t e r ( c .g ., 1 9 5 9 , w hen q u e s t io n e d b y Frank
the- n e w s p a p e r r e c e i v e d n e a r l y 1 0 ,0 0 0 r e q u e s t s
H a l s t e a d ) t h a t t h e men had b e e n fro m t h e FBI
l o r c o p i e s , a nd h u n d r e d s , o r t h o u s a n d s o f l e t ­
b e c a u s e t h e y d id n o t w e a r u n i f o r m s . N ote th a t
te rs. B e c a u s e o f E d w a rd s i n t e r e s t i n t h e T r e n t
P o w e ll s a i d t h e n e w s p a p e r o f f i c e w a s v i s i t e d by a
s i g h t i n g and h i s a r r a n g e m e n t w i t h t h e n e w s p a p e r ,
p la in c lo t h e s A ir F o rc e in v e s t ig a t o r . I f the
h e w a s in c l o s e c o n t a c t w i t h i t in J u n e o f 1 9 6 0 .
T r e n t s m ad e a n e r r o r in t h i n k i n g t h e y had been
A c c o r d in g t o E d w a rd $ 4 ? " t h e A i r F o r c e h ad p ic k e d
v i s i t e d b y t h e F B I , t h e n t h e i r s t o r y w o u ld agree
up a l l t h e a v a i l a b l e p r i n t s fr o m t h e M c M in n v il le
c l o s e l y w i t h t h a t o f P o w e l l , and w o u ld sug g est
1r i b u n e ( s i c ) , h ad ‘ b o r r o w e d 1 t h e o r i g i n a l n e g a ­
t h a t t h e r e p o r t b y S g l . H y d e r c a u s e d th e AFO SI to
t i v e s fr o m L i f e - - a n d t r i e d a nd f a i l e d t o s e c u r e
i n v e s t i g a t e ( a lt h o u g h no r e c o r d o f s u c h an in ­
t h e tw o p r i i . i s i n my p o s s e s s i o n . "
v e s t ig a t io n h as been fo u n d ). On t h e o t h e r hand,
i f b o t h t h e T r e n t s and P o w e ll a r e c o r r e c t , both
Th e s t a t e m e n t b y P o w e l l , b a c k e d up b y B l a d i n e
and E d w a r d s , s t r o n g l y s u g g e s t s A i r F o r c e i n ­ t h e F B I and A FO S I w e re i n v o l v e d .
v o lv e m e n t b e tw e e n tw o and f o u r w e e k s a f t e r t h e
p i c t u r e s w e re p u b 1 i s h e d . On t h e o ilie r hand, T r e n t On t h e P o s s i b i l i t y o f O t h e r W it n e s s e s
c la i m e d fie w a s v i s i t e d b y F B I m en . (N o te : M rs .
T r e n t d i d r e f e r t o t h e v i s i t o f an A i r F o r c e A c c o r d in g t o t h e b r i e f s t o r y i n L i f e Magazine
o f f i c e r who s p e n t q u i t e a lo n g t im e t a l k i n g w it h o f J u n e 1 9 5 0 , “ None o f t h e T r e n t s * n e ig h b o r s saw
h e r , b u t t h i s w u s m uch l a t e r t h a n t h r e e w e e k s ( t h e ) s a u c e r . "3 1 No o t h e r w i t n e s s e s w e re men­
a f t e r th e s i g h t in g ) . t io n e d in t h e i n i t i a l n e w s p a p e r a c c o u n t s , a l ­
th o u g h t h e a t t e m p t t o c o n t a c t M r. T r e n t 's mother
In o r d e r t o c o n f ir m o r d e n y t h e c l a i m t h a t w a s m e n t io n e d i n t h e P o r t l a n d p a p e r y . T h e f i r s t
F B I i n v e s t i g a t o r s w e re in v o lv e d [ f i l e d a r e q u e s t m e n t io n o f o t h e r w i t n e s s e s w a s made b y M r. Tren t
u n d e r t h e fr e e d o m o f I n f o r m a t io n a nd P r i v a c y A c t . in a p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h D r . M c D o n a ld ^ . Mr.
1 w a s in fo r m e d t h a t a s e a r c h o t t h e f i l e s a t F B I T r e n t s a i d t h a t h i s f a t h e r s a w t h e o b j e c t a s it
h e a d q u a r t e r s in W a s h in g t o n D . C . f a i l e d t o t u r n up w a s d e p a r t i n g to w a rd t h e w e s t b e c a u s e h e and h is
a n y i n f o n n a t io n on M r . T r e n t . 1 le a r n e d t h a t th e w i f e y e l l e d t o t r ie f a t h e r and m o t h e r t o lo o k .
TB1 h ud b e e n i n s t r u c t e d t o i n v e s t i g a t e r e p o r t s
o l 1 i c i a I l y d u r in g the* S u n n ie r o f 1 9 4 7 . T h e a g e n t s M r s . T r e n t t o l d me s h e t h o u g h t h e r m o t h e r- in ­
h ad been in s t r u c t e d tc d is c o n t in u e o ffic ia l la w m ig h t a l s o h a v e s e e n i t . Sh e a l s o ta lk e d
i n v e s t i g a t i o n s , b u t t o p a s s on a n y in f o r m a t i o n a b o u t a n o t h e r p o s s i b l e w i t n e s s w h o se name was
t h e y m ig h t a c q u i r e t o t h e A i r F o r c e O f f i c e o f C h a p in o r C h a p l a i n . M r s . T r e n t c o u l d n o t re ­
S p e c ia l In v e s t ig a t io n s 4 ^ . N e v e r t h e le s s , a g e n ts m em ber t h e nam e e x a c t l y a f t e r so m any y e a rs .
A c c o r d in g t o M r s . T r e n t , 21 M r s . C h a p in , w i t h whom
 P r o ;, o i lSfcl CoftiS C onf.
31

sh e was n o t w e l l a c q u a i n t e d , cam e t o h e r o n e d a y
a f t e r c h u rc h s e v e r a l w e e ks (o r m o n th s) a f t e r th e
pho Lo s had b e e n p u b l i s h e d and s a i d " 'Y o u k n o w t h a t
o b j e c t t h a t yo u g u y s sa w and to o k a p h o to o f - - l
t h i n k J sa w t h e sam e o b j e c t t h a t same d u y yo u w as
( s i c ) t a l k i n g a b o u t " . And t h e n I d e s c r i b e d i t t o
her *n ' sh e s a id ‘ Y e s , t h a t 's w hat i t lo o k e d
lik e . 1 j u s t th o u g h t a t f i r s t t h a t i t w as j u s t
some p a r a c h u t e . A f t e r I r e a d t h a t in t h e p a p e r , I
knew good ' n ' w e l l t h a t t h a t w a s t h e sam e t h i n g l
s a w '." O f c o u r s e I do n o t e x p e c t t h a t t h e s e a r e
th e e x a c t w o rd s o f M r s . C h a p in , r e c a l l e d b y M r s .
T r e n t a f t e r a b o u t 26 y e a r s . H ow ever M r s . T r e n t
r e c a lle d th e s t o r y t o l d b y M r s . C h a p in i n a
s i m i l a r w a y s e v e r a l t im e s o v e r t h e s e v e r a l y e a r s
th a t 1 t a lk e d to h e r . Th e d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e
o b j e c t a s r e s e m b lin g a p a r a c h u t e m ay h a v e b e e n an
a d d it io n t o M r s . C h a p i n ' s a l l e g e d a c c o u n t . N o te
t h a t M r s . T r e n t , in an o r g i n a l n e w s p a p e r r e p o r t ,
r e f e r r e d t o t h e o b j e c t a s r e s e m b lin g “ a g o o d ­
s i z e d p a r a c h u t e c a n o p y w it h o u t t h e s t r i n g s , o n l y
s i l v e r y b r i g h t m ix e d w i t h b r o n z e " ^ .
M r s . C h a p in d ie d in a b o u t 1 9 7 0 , a c c o r d in g t o
M rs . T r e n t , so s h e w o u ld s t i l l h a v e b e e n a l i v e in
1967 when H a rtm a n n c o u l d h a v e i n t e r v i e w e d h e r a s
p a rt o1 h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n s . U n t o r tu n a t e ly H a r t­
mann n e v e r a s k e d a b o u t o t h e r w i t n e s s e s . M cO o n ald
a s k e d M r . T r e n t a b o u t o t h e r w i t n e s s e s in 1 9 C 9 ,
and M r. T r e n t m e n t io n e d h i s f a t h e r . He m ay n o t
h a v e k n o w n , o r d id n o t rem em b e r a b o u t M r s .
C h a p in , s i n c e M r s . C h a p in h ad t a l k e d o n l y t o M r s .
T r e n t . A lt h o u g h Me b un a Id t a l k e d to M r s . T r e n t a s
w e l l a s t o h e r h u s b a n d , t h e r e i s no e v id e n c e t h a t
he a sk e d M rs . T r e n t ab o u t o t h e r w it n e s s e s ^ 4 .
In m a n y c o n v e r s a t i o n s s p a c e d o v e r s e v e r a l
y e a r s , M rs . T r e n t re p e a te d h e r c la im a b o u t M rs.
C h a p in ( C h a p l a i n ) . I f s h e had b e e n m a k in g th e
s t o r y u p s i m p ly f o r my b e n e f i t t o b o l s t e r t h e
c r e d i b i l i t y o f th e s i g h t i n g , sh e m u st h a v e a
r e m a r k a b le m em ory f o r d e t a i l e d f a ls e h o o d s 2 1 ,
2 6 ,4 9 ,5 0 .
O p in io n s o f P e o p le Who H ave
I n t e r v ie w e d t h e T r e n t s
O v e r t h e y e a r s m any p e o p le h a v e v i s i t e d th e
T r e n t s to a s k them a b o u t t h e i r s i g h t i n g . O th e rs
who kno w them o r who know o f th e m h a v e o f f e r e d
o p i n i o n s a s to t h e i r t r u t h f u l n e s s , fo r re a d e rs
who h a v e n o t c o n v e r s e d w i t h e i t h e r o f t h e T r e n t s
I h a v e l i s t e d th e f o llo w in g o p in io n s i n c h ro n o ­
lo g ic a l o rd e r o f t h e i r i n t e r a c t io n s w it h th e
T re n ts.

DATE AND NATURE OF INVOLVEMENT O PIN IO N

PERSON

J u n e , 1 5 5 0 : w ro te o r i g i n a l sto ry " I t h in k th e y (t h e p h o to s)
B ill P o w e 11
and p u b li s h e d p h o t o s w e re a u t h e n t i c . " Th e T r e n t s w e re
t e ll in g th e t r u t h . * *

fra n k W ortm nnn Ju n e 1 9 5 0 : T r e n t ’ s b a n k e r. He P u b l i c l y v o u c h e d f o r M r. T r e n t ' s

n o t i f i e d P o w e ll a b o u t t h e p h o t o s . v e r a c i t y ; 8 r e p e a t e d h i s o p i n io n
i n l e t t e r s t o M c D o n a ld ^ end K l a s s .

P h ilip B la d in e Ju n e 1 9 5 0 : e d it o r o f th e lo c a l B e l i e v e d t h e T r e n t s w o u l d n 't f a k e
p a p e r . K n ew t h e T r e n t s , P o w e ll th e p h o t o s .52 "We a lw a y s f i g u r e d
a n d W o rim a n n . i t w as l e g i t im a t e .

L .J . H yder Ju n e 1 9 5 0 : A i r F o rc e s e a r g e a n t who Th e T r e n t s w e re known t o r e s i d e n t s

p r o v id e d in f o r m a t i o n to th e A fO S l. o f M c M in n v il le a s " s u b s t a n t i a l ,
s o lid , h o n e s t" c i t i z e n s / 8

fra n k H a ls t e a d A p r i l IS S fc .: r e t i r e d a s t r o n o m e r who A f t e r an h o u r - lo n g i n t e r v i e w he
t r a v e l l e d a ro u n d th e c o u n t r y in v e s ­ g a in e d t h e im p r e s s io n t h a t th e
t i g a t i n g s i g h t i n g s and s e n d in g i n ­ t r e n t s w e re “ v e r y s i n c e r e p e o p l e " .
f o r m a t io n to N IC A P
 PEkSON DATE AND NATURE OF INVOLVEMENT OPINION

Withoin Hartmann l y G 7 : p h o t o g r a p h ic c a s e - i n v e s t i g u L o r F ro m h i s d e s c r i p t i o n i n t h e Condon

R e p o r t and a s t a t e m e n t t o M cD o n a ld
f o r t h e C o lo r a d o UFO s t u d y (" C o n d o n
R e p o rt") in a p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n i t i s c l e a r _
t h a t he w a s im p r e s s e d b y t h e T r e n t s . - 1
He a l s o m ade i t c l e a r t h a t he c o u ld
n o t r u l e o u t t lie h o a x h y p o t h e s i s .
L a t e r he c h a n g e d h i s m in d a b o u t th e
v a l i d i t y o t t h e s i g l i t i n q .^ > *

J a m e s A . M cD o n a ld 1 9 u 9 ~ 1 9 70 : a tm o s p h e ric p h y s i c i s t a t " I f i n d th e m t o b e t h e k in d o f
t h e U n i v e r s i t y o t A r i z o n a a n d in d e ­ p e o p le who c o c i d s c a r c e l y c a r r y o f f
p e n d e n t i n v e s t i g a t o r o t UFO s i g h t i n g s an im a g in a t iv e h o a x o r f a b r i c a t i o n ! ? :

V e ik k o l ik o n e n 1 9 6 9 : f i l m p ro d u c e r and d i r e c t o r ; " T h e c o n c lu s io n s m ade b y D r . W i llia m

i n t e r v i e w e d a nd f i l m e d t h e T r e n t s K . H a rtm a n n in t h e C ondon R e p o r t . . .
f o r a UFO d o c u m e n t a r y t h a t w a s a r e v e r y c l o s e t o t h e im p r e s s io n s we
sh o w n in E u r o p e g o t d u r in g o u r v i s i t t o M c M in n v ille
a nd m e e t in g w i t h t h e T r e n t f a m i l y . " 56

A rth u r F ry e r D e c . 1 9 7 6 : r e t i r e d h ig h s c h o o l "No q u e s t i o n in my m in d t h a t t h e y
s c i e n c e t e a c h e r in M c M in n v il le who w e r e n 't t r y in g to h o a x ...s h e n e v e r
i n t e r v i e w e d th e T r e n t s a t my r e q u e s t c a l l e d i t f l y i n g s a u c e r o r U F O ." ‘■'6

B. Maccabec 1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 7 : p h y s i c i s t a nd u rO i n v e s ­
t i g a t o r ; h ad 2 6 c o n v e r s a t i o n s w i t h
M r s . T r e n t (s o m e s h o r t , som e lo n g ;
m o st t r a n s c r i b e d f o r l a t e r a n a l y s i s )
1 h a v e n e v e r d e t e c t e d a n y t e n d e n c y to
h o ld b a c k o r d i s t o r t in f o r m a t i o n m -
t c n t i o n a l y ; d if f e r e n c e s in v a r io u s
r e t e l l i n g s o f t h e s i g h t i n g and s u r ­
r o u n d in g e v e n t s se em t o b e no more
t h a n w h a t o n e w o u ld e x p e c t o f a
p e rso n t r y in g to r e c a l l e v e n ts o f
m o re t h a n 2 4 y e a r s b e f o r e .

A n d re w s t o s t a t e t h a t t h e r e w as l i t t l e o r no
A lt h o u g h t h i s l i s t o f p e o p le who h a v e i n ­
d e t e c t a b l e s t r e s s in M r s . T r e n t ' s v o i c e when she
t e r v ie w e d t h e T r e n t s i s d o u b t l e s s t o o s h o r t ,
a n s w e r e d q u e s t i o n s a b o u t t h e s i g h t i n g , ab ou t
t h e s e a r e t h e p e o p le w h o se s t a t e m e n t s I h a v e o n
o i l i e r a l l e g e d w i t n e s s e s , and a b o u t o t h e r su b ­
r e c o r d . A l s o o f i n t e r e s t a r e t h e o p i n i o n s o f tw o
je c t s ^ .
in d e p e n d e n t i n v e s t i g a t o r s who a n a l y z e d a t a p e I
m ade o f a c o n v e r s a t i o n w it h M r s . T r e n t . The
C r it ic is m s o f v o ic e s t r e s s a n a ly s is n o t­
a n a l y s e s w e re m ade b y v o i c e s t r e s s a n a l y s t s u s in g
w i t h s t a n d i n g , t h e a p p a r e n t l a c k o f s t r e s s su g ­
e q u ip m e n t c o n s t r u c t e d b y t h e D e k t o r C o r p o r a t i o n .
g e sts t h a t , a t t h e v e r y l e a s t , M r s . T r e n t b e l i e v e s
Cne t e s t w a s c a r r i e d o u t b y an e m p lo y e e o t a
w hat sh e i s s a y in g . P e rh a p s i f s h e w e re a
s e c u r i t y s y s t e m co m p a n y in L o s A n g e le s (n a m e on
p a t h o l o g i c a l l i a r s h e c o u ld h a v e a v o id e d s t r e s s ,
r e c o r d - ’M - Th e o p i n io n o f t h e c h i e f e x a m in e r w a s
b u t i t w o u ld s e e n t h a t a t l e a s t o n e o f t h e p e o p le
" t h a t t h e s t a t e m e n t s g iv e n b y M r s . T r e n t t o t h e
who i n t e r v i e w e d h e r p e r s o n a l l y o v e r th e y e a r s
in t e r v ie w e r on t h i s ta p e a r e t r u e to th e b e s t o f
w o u ld h a v e d i s c o v e r e d t h a t b y g e t t i n g h e r t o make
h e r k n o w le d g e ." An in d e p e n d e n t s t u d y o f t h e t a p e
a s t a t e m e n t w h ic h c o u l d be p r o v e n t o b e u n t r u e .
b y C . A n d re w s o f t h e D e k t o r C o r p o r a t io n le d M s.

* W. I lu i t m jn n c h a n g e d h i s o p i n io n a b o u t t h e
T r e n t c a s e a f t e r r e a d in g S h e a f f e r 's a n a l y s i s
( R e f . 7 ) w h ic h d i s c u s s e d t h r e e p r o b le m s w i t h t h e
T re n t p h o to s . A c c o r d in g t o S h e a f f e r , ( a ) t h e r e
a r e sh a d o w s on t h e w a l l w h ic h p r o v e t h a t t h e
p h o t o s w e re t a k e n in t h e m o rn in g r a t h e r t h a n a s
th e w it n e s s e s s t a t e d ( i n th e e v e n in g ) ; ( b ) one o f
t h e s h id o w s m oved ori t in ; g a r ag e w u l I b e tw e e n
p h o t o s i n u i r a t i n g a lu n g t im e la p s e b e tw e e n them
( m i n u t e s ) r a t h e r t h a n t e n s o f s e c o n d s a s the
w i t n e s s e s s t a t e d , a n d ( c ) v e i 1 in g g l a r e c a u s e d by
g r e a s e on t h e c a m e r a l e n s c o u l d h a v e made th e UO
im a g e i n P h o t o 1 t o o b r i g h t , t h u s i n v a l i d a t i n g
H a r t m a n n 's d i s t a n c e c a l c u l a t i o n . P o i n t s ( a ) and
( c ) w e re d i s c u s s e d a t l e n g t h e a r l i e r i n t h i s
p a p e r . P o i n t ( b ) w a s fo u n d t o b e i n e r r o r a f t e r
tlu - o r i g i n a l n e g a t i v e s w e r e c a r e f u l l y i n v e s t i ­
g a t e d a nd no sh o d o w m o vem en t w a s d e t e c t e d .
 o: ;<
33

D i s c u s s io n
no p o s i t i v e p ro o f o f a hoax. R a th e r, th e
The T r e n t p h o to c a s e i s a c l a s s i c b e c a u s e o f a v a i l a b l e d a t a , w h ic h do i n c l u d e a " l i f e h i s t o r y "
i t s age and a l s o b e c a u s e t h e o b j e c t i s d e p ic t e d of th e T r e n t s s in c e 1950, su g g est th a t th e
so c l e a r l y t h a t i t i s e i t h e r a m o d e! ( h o a x ) o r iL s ig h t in g a c t u a lly o c c u rre d as th e w it n e s s e s
i s art “ e x t r a o r d i n a r y f ly in g o b je c t " (to u se c la im e d . The p h o to s t h e m s e lv e s , f o r r e a s o n s
H artm ann * s p h r a s e ) . I t c e r t a i n l y is n e it h e r a d i s c u s s e d e a r l i e r , a r e e q u iv o c a l on t h e h o a x
b ir d , n o r a p la n e , n o r S u p e rm a n . T h is c a s e i s h y p o t h e s i s , a lt h o u g h t h e y s t r o n g l y c o n f ir m t h e
a ls o a p e r f e c t i l l u s t r a t i o n o f t h e f a c t t h a t , v e r b a l s ta te m e n ts i f th e c a s e i s n o t a h o a x .
when t r y i n g t o p r o v e s o m e t h in g e x t r a o r d i n a r y i s S i n c e t h e h a r d p h o t o g r a p h ic e v id e n c e d o e s n o t
t r u e , i t is n o t s u f f i c i e n t to h ave c l e a r p h o to ­ p o s i t i v e l y r u l e o u t th e h oax h y p o t h e s is , th e c a s e
g ra p h s and s e v e r a l w i t n e s s e s . w i l l h a v e to b e r e s o l v e d b y s t u d y in g t h e l i f e
h i s t o r y o f th e T r e n t s s i n c e th e s i g h t i n g , a n d /o r
E v e r s i n c e th e p h o to s w e re p u b lis h e d , e x ­ by a " c o n fe s s io n " .
p la n a t io n s h a v e b e e n o f f e r e d b y p e o p le who n e v e r
spoke t o t h e T r e n t s . * T h e se e x p la n a t io n s h ave T h e p r e p o n d e r a n c e o f t h e in f o r m a t i o n c o l l e c ­
o f t e n b een b a s e d o n im p e r f e c t o r in c o m p le t e t e d and a n a ly z e d b y t h i s i n v e s t i g a t o r s u g g e s t s
in v e s t ig a t io n s . U n f o r t u n a t e ly s c i e n t i s t s w e re t h a t t h e l i f e s t y l e o f t h e T r e n t s i s n o t co m ­
n o t i n t e r e s t e d i n t h e c a s e a t t h e t im e t h a t t h e p a t i b l e w i t h a s s u m in g t h a t t h e i r v e r y " s u c c e s s ­
p h o to s w e re p u b l i s h e d , s o t h e T r e n t s w e re n o t f u l " p h o t o g r a p h s r e s u l t e d fro m a h o a x . O n ly a
in t e r v ie w e d in d e p t h , t h e n e g a t i v e s w e re n o t c o n f e s s i o n w i t h a d e s c r i p t i o n o f how t h e h o a x w a s
c a r e f u l l y a n a l y z e d , a nd v a l u a b l e d a t a w e re l o s t c a r r i e d o f f w o u ld now c o n v in c e me t h a t M r . T r e n t
fo re v e r. Even th o u g h d a t a a re la c k in g , it d id n o t p h o t o g r a p h a l a r g e , d i s t a n t o b j e c t , t fie
a p p e a rs fro m t h e a n a l y s i s p r e s e n t e d in t h i s p a p e r in t r in s ic n a tu re o f w h ic h h as not y e t been
(an d in t h e e a r l i e r CUFUS p a p e r ^ ) t h a t t h e r e i s e s t a b Iis h e d .

I th a n k a l l o f th e re sp o n d e n ts t o my r e q u e s t s f o r i n f o r m a t i o n , i n c l u d i n g
e s p e c ia lly M rs. T r e n t , P h i l i p B l a d i n e , A r t h u r F r y e r , M r s . Ja m e s M c D o n a ld ,
and P lii I ip K la s s . I a ls o th a n k B r a d S p a r k s l o r h e l p f u l co m m en ts o n s i g h t i n g
d ir e c t io n s t o t h e UU in t h e tw o p h o t o s . *1
9
6
5
4
3
2

REFEREN CES

1. S c i e n t i f i c S t u d y o f U n i d e n t i f i e d F l y in g O b j e c t s , E . U . C o n d o n , D i r e c t o r
X B a n t'a m , T 9 C 9 , p g . 3 9 G J " T h i s i s th e " f i n a l r e p o r t o f t h e A i r F o r c e - f u n d e d
i n v e s t i g a t i o n c a r r i e d o u t a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C o lo r a d o . ( D . S . G i l m o r e , E d . )
2. K l a s s , P h i l i p J . , U FO s E x p l a i n e d , Random H o u s e , New Y o r k , 1 9 /4
3. B u l l e t i n o f t h e A m e r ic a n P h y s i c a l S o c i e t y , 2 1 , 6 2 3 ( 1 9 7 6 )
4. P r o c e e d in g s o f t h e 1 9 7 6 C U fO S C o n f e r e n c e , p g . 1 5 2 , C e n t e r f o r UFO S t u d i e s ,
E va n sto n , IL .
5. I b i d . , p g . 234
6. U F O s , A S c j e j a i t j c _ D e b a t e , C . S a g a n and T . P a g e , E d . , p g . 12
/. S h e a f f o r * , R V , " A F u r t h e r I n v e s t i g a t i o n o f t h e M c M i n n v i l l e , O re g o n P h o t o g r a p h s " ,
p r i v j t o c o m m u n ic a t io n ( u n p u b l i s h e d ) , arid R e f . 2
S. M c M i n n v i l l e T e le p h o n e R e g i s t e r , J u n e 8 . 1 9 5 0
9. P o r t l a n d O r e g o n ia n , J u n e 1 0 , 19 5 0
1C. L o s A n g e le s E x a m i n e r , J u n e 1 1 , 195 0
11. D e p t , o f C o m iie r c e , A s f i v i l l e , N . C . , w e a t h e r r e c o r d s f o r M c M i n n v i l l e , O r e g o n .
May 1 1 , 1 9 5 0
12. M rs. E . T r e n t , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a tio n ( N o t e : t h i s r e f e r s t o i n f o r m a t i o n o b t a in e d
d u r i n g 26 t e le p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n s t h e t im e p e r io d o f J a n u a r y 19 7 4 t h r o u g h J u l y 1 9 7 7 .)
13. D e p t , o f C o m m e rce , A s h v i l l e , N . C . , w e a t h e r r e c o r d s f o r S a le m O r e g o n , M ay 1 1 , 1 9 5 0
34

14. S h e a f l e r , f t . , T h t_U F O _ V t . r d j £ t , P r o m e t h e u s B o o k s , B u f f a l o , N Y , 1 9 8 1 , p g . 6 0
l b . B . S p a r k s , p r i v a t e conuiuri ic a t io n
1 C . £ . T r e n t , J u l y 9 , 1 9 7 G , p r i v a t e c o n u t u n ic a t io n
17. " , Feb. 3 , 1974, " “
18. “ , D ec. 9 , 197b, " "
1 9 . K e y t o D e c o d in g A v i a t i o n W e a th e r R e p o r t s , D e p t , o f C om m erce N a t io n a l
W e a th e r S e r v i c e , W a d s in y lo n , D . C .
2 0 . W. M jr t n ia n n , p r i v a t e co n iiiu ii i c a t io n
2 1 . E . T r e n t , F e b 2 2 , 1 9 7 6 , p r i v a t e c o m n u n ic a t io n
22. " , M a r. 9 , 1 9 7 6 , M "
23. " , J u ) . 9 , 1976, " *’
2 4 . M c D o n a ld , D r . J a m e s E . , n o t e s made d u r i n g p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n s w it h M r . P . T r e n t ,
M a r. 9 , 1 9 6 9 , and w i t h M r s . £ . T r e n t , F e b . 1 7 , 1 9 7 0 and M a r . 2 , 1 9 7 0
2 5 . E . T r e n t , O c t . 2 5 , 1 9 7 6 , p r i v a t e c o n in u n ic a t io n
26. “ , May 2 9 , 1 9 7 6 , " "
2 7 . M accab ee, B . , (s e e R e f. 4 )
2 b . M a c c u b c e , B . , a n d C . G r o v e r , “ V e i l i n g C l a r e in C a m e ra L e n s S y s t e m s " , P r o c e e d in g s o f
t h e S o c i e t y o f P h o t o - o p t i c a l I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n E n g i n e e r s , V o lu m e 1 C 7 , 1 5 8 ( 1 9 7 7 )
2 9 . C la u d e P o h e r , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a tio n
3 0 . J o n e s , L . A . , and H .R . C o n d i t f J . O p t i c a l S o c i e t y o f A m e r ic a , _ U , 6 5 1 ( 1 9 4 1 )
3 1 . L i f e M a g a z in e , J u n e 1 9 5 0
3 2 . J o n e s , L . A . , and H . R . C o n d i t , J . O p t i c a l S o c i e t y o f A m e r ic a , 3 8 , 1 2 3 , ( 1 9 4 8 )
3 3 . See R e t . 1 , p g . 3 7 .
3 4 . L i t e M a g a z in e , J u n e 1 9 5 0
3 5 . W. P o w e l l , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a t io n , J u l y 1 9 , 1976
3 6 . S e t R e f . 2 4 , F e b . 1 7 , 1970
3 7 . L e t t e r fr o m T . W o rtm aun t o J . M c D o n a ld , May 5 , 19 6 9
3 8 . L e t t e r fr o m F . H a ls t e a d t o M a j. D o n a ld K e y h o e , A p r i l 4 , 1 9 5 9
39. L e t t e r t r u m ft . H a l l to I . H a l s t e a d , Muy 5 , 1 9 5 9
4 0 . L o o k M .iyu z m e , F l y i n g S u u u .'i S p e c i a l , 1 9 6 7
4 1 . P o r t lu r id O re g o n i . i n , A u g u s t 3 , 1 % 7
4 2 . E . T r e n t , T e b . 3 , 1 9 / 4 , p r i v a t e coiiw iun i c a l io n
43. “ , Ja n . 31, 1977, " "
4 4 . P . K l a s s , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a t io n ( l e t t e r f r o m M a j. H. Q u i n t a n i l l a to P . K l a s s , J u l y 1 9 6 9 )
45. M i c r o t i I m t i l e s o f P r o j e c t B l u e Bo o k a n d t h e A i r F o r c e O f f i c e o f S p e c i a l I n v e s t ig a t io n s
a t th e N a t io n a l A r c h iv e s
46. P . K l u i s , p r i v a t e co im iu ii i c a t io n ( l e t t e r fr o m P . B l a d i n e , J u l y 3 0 , 1 9 6 9 )

47. F . E d w a r d s , s y n d i c a t e d n e w s p a p e r c o lu m n , A u g . 196 5
48. M a c c a b e e , B . , "U FO R e l a t e d I n f o r m a t i o n fr o m t h e F B I F i l e " p u b li s h e d i n m o n t h ly is s u e s
o f t h e MUFON J o u r n a l , I n t e r n a t i o n a l UFO R e p o r t e r , N IC A P I n v e s t i g a t o r , APRO B u l l e t i n ,
d u r in g 1 9 7 7 -1 9 7 9
4 9 . E . T r e n t , M a rc h 9 , 1 9 7 6 , p r i v a t e c o im iu n ic a t io n
bo. " , J u ly 2 3 , 1977, " "
5 1 . P . K l a s s , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a tio n ( l e t t e r s fr o m F . W c rtm a n n in 1 9 6 9 and 1 9 7 2 )
5 2 . P . K la s s , " " (s e e R e f . 4 6 )
b j . P . B l a d i n e , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a t io n , A p r i l 1 4 , 197 5
54 L e t t e r fro m O r . J . M cD o n a ld t o W . D e f e r i a , M a rc h 2 6 , 1 9 7 0
5 5 . V e i k k o I t k o n e n in a l e t t e r t o O le H e n n in g s e n , M ay 1 9 , 197 7 and in a p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a tio n
to t i n s a u th o r
8 6 . A . I r y c r , p r i v a t e c o m m u n ic a t i o n , D e c . 1 0 , 1 9 7 6
5 7 . L e t t e r on f i l e
58. C. A n d re w s, p r iv a t e c o m m u n ic a tio n
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 35

APPENDIX A

A n a l y s is o f th e Shadows on t h e G a ra g e W a ll

T h e im ag es o f t h e g a ra g e w a l l i n b o th p h o to s h a v e been a n a ly z e d u s in g
a s c a n n in g d e n s ito m e te r t o s tu d y t h e v a r i a t i o n s i n b r ig h t n e s s ( d e n s i t y )
o f t h e im ag es o f th e shadows u n d e r th e g a ra g e e a v e . T h e d e n s ito m e te r s c a n s
h a v e b ee n done b o th " h o r i z o n t a l l y " a n d " v e r t i c a l l y " on th e im ag es u s in g
s c a n n in g s l i t s t h a t a re g e n e r a l l y v e r y s m a ll i n t h e s c a n n in g d i r e c t i o n
( '5 - 5 0 m ic r o n s ) and somewhat w id e r i n th e p e r p e n d ic u la r d i r e c t i o n (30~
100 m ic r o n s ) . T h e s l i t d im e n s io n s h a v e b ee n a d ju s t e d f o r e a c h s c a n t o
m a xim iz e t h e s i g n a l - t o - n o i s e - r a t i o f o r a p a r t i c u l a r shadow im age o f
i n t e r e s t i n a p a r t i c u l a r s c a n . R e p r e s e n t a t iv e d e n s ito m e te r t r a c i n g s a re
p re s e n te d i n F ig u r e s A l , A 2 , and A 3 . F ig u r e A1 i s a " v e r t i c a l " s c a n a t 50X
up w ards u n d e r t h e e av e n e a r R a f t e r B (s e c o n d fro m t h e r i g h t hand edge o f
th e g a ra g e im a g e ). F ig u r e A2 i s a c o l l e c t i o n o f s i m i l a r s c a n s a t 10X
a t v a r i o u s p la c e s u n d e r th e e a v e . F ig u r e s A l and A2 i l l u s t r a t e d a t a from
p h o to 2 ; s i m i l a r d a ta fro m p h o to 1 a r e i l l u s t r a t e d i n F ig u r e A 3 . The
b ottom h a l f o f F ig u r e A3 a l s o i l l u s t r a t e s " h o r i z o n t a l " s c a n s th ro u g h th e
im ag es o f th e ends o f t h e r a f t e r s and a l s o th ro u g h t h e im ages o f t h e shadows
o f t h e r a f t e r end s i n p h o to 1 . T h e s c a n s i n t h e b o tto m h a l f o f F i g r e A3
g iv e i n d i c a t i o n s o f t h e w id t h s o f th e im ag es o f th e ends o f th e r a f t e r s
and a l s o t h e w id t h s o f th e a s s o c ia t e d sh a d o w s, a s w e l l a s t h e b r ig h t n e s s
v a r i a t i o n s o f th e sh a d o w s. F ig u r e A h i s a c o m p ila t io n o f r a f t e r shadow
b r ig h t n e s s d a ta fro m p h o to 2 . I t i s t h e r e s u l t o f th e a n a l y s i s o f many
p a r a l l e l " h o r i z o n t a l " s c a n s and i t c l e a r l y i l l u s t r a t e s t h a t t h e shadows
o f th e ends o f t h e r a f t e r s g e t b r i g h t e r (im a g e d e n s i t y i n c r e a s e s ) a s
th e d is t a n c e downward b e lo w th e e a v e i n c r e a s e s .
A s i l l u s t r a t e d i n F ig u r e A l , t h e " h o r i z o n t a l " shadow u n d e r t h e e av e
d oes n o t h a v e a s te e p b r ig h t n e s s ( d e n s i t y ) g r a d ie n t i n m oving upw ard fro m
t h e p o r t io n o f t h e w a l l w h ic h i s f u l l y i ll u m i n a t e d t o th e p o r t io n w h ic h
i s f u l l y shad ed fro m th e s m a l l , b r i g h t s o u r c e o f l i g h t w h ic h c a u s e d th e
sh ad o w s. S p e c i f i c a l l y w i t h r e f e r e n c e t o F ig u r e A l , we s e e t h a t th e
g r a d ie n t r e g io n i s a p p a r e n t ly a b o u t 0 . 8 mm w id e on t h e o r i g i n a l n e g a t iv e s
( F ig u r e A l i s m a g n if ie d 50 t i m e s ) . T h i s i s c o n t r a r y t o w h a t w o u ld be
e x p e c te d i f t h e b r i g h t s o u r c e w e re a s s m a ll i n a n g u la r s i z e a s t h e s u n .
I f th e s o u r c e w e re th e su n one w o u ld e x p e c t a v e r y n a rro w g r a d ie n t r e g io n .
One m ain o b j e c t i v e o f t h e a n a l y s i s p r e s e n t e d i n t h i s A p p e n d ix i s t o
d e te rm in e j u s t how n a rro w t h e g r a d ie n t r e g io n w o u ld b e i f t h e s o u r c e w e re th e
s u n , and t o com pare t h a t c a lc u l a t e d g r a d ie n t w id t h w i t h t h e m easure d
w id t h i n F i g A l . A lth o u g h t h e c a lc u l a t e d w id t h o f t h e g r a d ie n t w i l l o n ly
he com pared w it h one ( v e r y c a r e f u l l y made) d e n s ito m e te r t r a c i n g o f th e
shadow u n d e r e av e ( F i g . A l ) , a n a ly s e s o f s i m i l a r g r a d ie n t r e g io n
d e n s i t y d a t a i n p h o to 1 and p h o to 2 le a d t o s i m i l a r c o n c lu s io n s : th e
w id t h o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n i s w id e r th a n e x p e c te d i f t h e su n w e re th e
source.
 F IG U R E Al

D E N S IT O M E T E R SCAN UPWARDS
THRO U GH P A R T O F T H E IM A G E
O F T H E G A R A G E W A LL IN PHOTO 2
(tr a c in g o f o r ig in a l)
Scan lo c a t io n is in d ic a t e d
on t h e s k e t c h at th e l e f t .

D e n s it o m e t e r s c a n n in g s l i t
SHADOWS OF ^ w a s 0 . 0 0 4 mm w i d e a l o n g t h e
R A F T E R EN D S s c a n d ir e c t i o n and
CA U SED BY SHADOW O F 0 . 0 8 mm w id e
A SO U R C E P R O T R U D IN G p e r p e n d ic u la r to
SO U TH EA ST RA FTER ? th e s c a n d ir e c t io n .
O F T H E G A RA G E?
 8
F IG U R E A.2

o f 1981 CUFOS Conf.

DENSITOMETER SCANS UPWARD
ALONG THE GARAGE WALL IN
PHOTO 2
(1 0 X M a g n if ic a t io n )

Horizontal scale: 1 cm *
1 mm. of film
Scanning slit width: 20 microns
on scale of film
G - G r a n d ie n t R e g io n
Note that the shadow gradient
region covers more distance
to the right of and Rc than
to the left of Rd and 1^. This
is indicative of the visible
darkening of the wall board just
below the eave to the right of
and to the right of Rc-
See diagram below:
Note: "gap" refers to the dark
shadow line between boards

0 .6 ,0 .6 5 ,0 .7
mm right of Rc

*CO
v|
38 Maccsbee

F IG U R E A3
LOWER EDGE OF BOARD JUST BELOWEAVE SHADOWS IN PHOTO 1

13*0.005
SHADOWUNDER THE EAVE
OF THE GARAGE ROOF
IN PHOTO 1 ABOUT
D=0.1^5 ■1 (EDGE OF 0.185 ±0.005 CM
+0.005 LOWEST BOARD TO THE LEFT OF THE
ON ROOF LEFT EDGE OF RAFTER
S VISUALLY B (SECOND FROMTHE
DETERMINED RIGHT)
^ - s c a n n in g 3 l i : BOTTOMOF Assuming”/ =0.6 :
width a n d h e i g h t SHADOW Brightness at D = 0.13
> G*L is 0.0063 (relative)
Brightness at D = 0.195
is 0.012 (relative)
G - G r a d ie n t R e g io n
SHADOW- J-ROOF-
UNDER EAVE

ENDS OF THE EAVE RAFTERS AND SHADOWS OF THE ENDS OF THE RA FTEBS

1 mm -d U-
. 1 LOWER TRACES: SCAN ALONG THE GARAGE WALL AT
slit -*IK THE LEVEL OF THE EAVE RAFTER SHADOWS
(THE UPPER OF THESE TWO IS FOR DENSITY
COMPARISON! THE LOWER IS FOR WIDTH
COMPARISON)
For SHADOWC: Dmax=0.17;Dmin=0.145: Brightness ratio'= 0.01/0.0081 =L23
For SHADOWB: D„,=0.2 :Dmi r,m= 0.19-0.17 ;Br. ratio =1.08 to 1.29
 F IG U R E AU : DENSITY VARIATIONS OF THE SHADOWS OF THE ENDS OF THE EAVE RAFTERS
(PHOTO 2 DATA)
0.010? These density values were
obtained by "horizontal11 scans

. DIFFUSE DENSITY
along the boards under the
0.0093- eave. The lengths of the
data point lines indicate the
expected error in position
0.0078 (horizontal length) and the
Slope = 0.04 density units/mm spread in density values (vertical
length of a data point'.
DIFFUSE DENSITY

NOTE: the dashed line data

points in the graphs for
Sc and Sq carry less weight
since the board on which
these shadows appear below
the "gap" seems darker than
the corresponding board above
Shadow B (Sq) the gap. Thus the dashed data
^Slope =*0.04 density units/ ram. points should probably have
higher densities.
. . i . & r* r .
1.0 mm.
Distance Downward along the Image of the
Garage Wall within the Respective Rafter Shadows
40 Kaccabee

C a l c u la t io n o f t h e E x p e c te d W id th o f t h e G r a d ie n t R e g io n
i f th e Sun made th e Shadows on th e G arag e W a ll

U s in g g e o m e tric o p t i c s (s e e th e s k e t c h
th e r i g h t ) one c a n show t h a t t h e w id t h o f
th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n o f th e shadow c a u se d
b y a s o u r c e o f a n g u la r s i z e A i n d e g r e e s ,
when p r o je c t e d p a s t an edge t o a s u r f a c e
a t a d is t a n c e R i n m e te rs fro m t h e edge
i s g iv e n b y

W = 2E T A H (A /2 ) (A-l)
w h ere TAR i s th e ta n g e n t f u n c t i o n fro m
t r ig o n o m e t r y . N o te t h a t t h e b r ig h t n e s s
o r i l l u m i n a t i o n on t h e s u r f a c e in c re a s e s
i n a c o n tin u o u s m anner fro m t h e f u l l y
shad ed r e g io n t o t h e f u l l y shad ed r e g io n .
T h e e x a c t sh ap e o f t h e b r ig h t n e s s
g r a d ie n t c u rv e depends upon th e
SURFACE^ | III
\ \ \
shap e o f th e l i g h t s o u r c e . F o r o u r p u rp o s e s , FU LLY _____ ^ .F U L L Y ______
h e r e , we ig n o re th e shap e o f th e g r a d ie n t SHADED r ILLUMINATED
r e g io n b e c a u s e v a r i o u s in s t r u m e n t a l
e f f e c t s h a v e d o u b t le s s m o d ifie d i t s image GRADIENT
o n t h e f i l m . To make th e c o m p a riso n w it h REGION
th e s i z e o f t h e g r a d ie n t e x p e c te d WIDTH
i f t h e su n w e re th e s o u r c e i t w i l l o n ly
b e n e c e s s a r y t o e s t im a t e t h e t o t a l
w id th o f t h e g r a d ie n t r e g io n , and BRIGHTNESS
n o t th e e x a c t shap e o f t h e b r ig h t n e s s VARIATION
g r a d ie n t c u r v e .
T h e shadow u n d e r th e e a v e o f th e
g a ra g e r o o f h a s a b r ig h t n e s s g r a d ie n t
w i t h a w id t h d e te rm in e d b y th e a n g u la r
s i z e o f th e s u n , 0 . 5 3 ° , and b y th e
d is t a n c e from th e edge o f t h e r o o f t o
t h e w a l l m easu re d a lo n g t h e o p t i c a l p a th
from t h e sun t o t h e w a l l . S in c e t h e —
l i g h t s o u r c e was a t an s in g u la r
e le v a t io n o f B ° ab ove h o r i z o n t a l , th e
F IG U R E A 6
d is t a n c e fro m th e edge t o t h e w a ll, i s

R = L / C 0 S (B ), (A - 2 )

w h e re COS i s th e c o s in e f u n c t i o n .
T h e r e i s one f u r t h e r a d d it i o n t o
E q u a tio n ( A - l ) w h ic h a c c o u n ts
f o r th e f a c t t h a t t h e v e r t i c a l
w a l l s u r f a c e i s n o t p e r p e n d ic u la r
t o t h e l i g h t r a y s . T h i s makes
th e w id t h W s l i g h t l y g r e a t e r
th a n i f th e w a l l s u r f a c e w ere
p e r p e n d ic u la r t o t h e l i g h t r a y s .
Pruc. of IM1 CUfOS Conf. 41

T h i s a d d it io n r e s u l t s i n th e fo llo w in g e q u a tio n f o r , w h ic h
i s th e w id t h o f th e g r a d ie n t on th e T r e n t g a ra g e w a l l :

W = H/ C O S(U ) = 2 1 TA M (A /2) / C 0S2 ( B ) . (A - 3 )

T he d is t a n c e o f o v e rh a n g o f t h e r o o f beyond th e w a l l i s n o t know n, b u t
a re a s o n a b le e s t im a t e b a se d on s ta n d a rd c o n s t r u c t io n i s 6 - 12 in c h e s .
C h o o sin g 1 0 " a s th e d is t a n c e , L , and w it h B = l 6 ° and A = 0 .5 3 ° ,
th e w id th o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n i f th e sun w e re th e s o u r c e w ould be

W® = 0 .1 0 in c h e s (A - l* )

To r e l a t e t h i s w id th on th e g a ra g e w a l l t o th e w id th o f th e g r a d ie n t
r e g io n i n th e image o f th e g a ra g e w a l l i t i s n e c e s s a r y t o make u se o f
th e g e o m e tric r e l a t i o n b etw een o b je c t s i z e s and image s i z e s t h a t i s
e s t a b l is h e d by th e (f o c u s e d ) cam era o p t i c s :

w h ere W,^, i s th e w id th o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n r e g a r d le s s o f w h at th e l i g h t
s o u r c e w u s, Dp i s th e d is t a n c e from th e ca m era to th e g uro g e w a l l , I
i s th e w id th o f th e image o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n , and F i s th e cam era
fo c a l le n g th . In A p p e n d ix B I h a ve shown t h a t th e cam era was a p p r o x im a te ly
30 f t fro m th e c o r n e r o f th e g a ra g e . As p o in te d ou t i n th e t e x t , th e
cam era f o c a l le n g t h was ab out 103 mm. T h e r e f o r e , u s in g 30 f t = 360 i n c h e s ,
th e w id th o f th e image o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n , i f th e l i g h t s o u rc e w ere
th e sun , w ould be

rw = F /DC = 103 ( ° - U 3 6 0 ) = 0 .0 2 8 6 mm . (A - 6 )

How lo o k a t th e b r ig h t n e s s g r a d ie n t c u r v e i n F ig u r e A 5 . Mote t h a t th e
w id th o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n i s th e d is t a n c e from th e edge o f th e lo w l i g h t
l e v e l r e g io n t o J,he edge o f th e h ig h l i g h t l e v e l (u n sh a d e d ) r e g io n .
T h u s th e w id th W^eun be fo und b y m e a s u rin g , on th e image o f th e g r a d ie n t
r e g io n , th e d is t a n c e from th e maximum b r ig h t n e s s a r e a t o th e minimum b r ig h t n e s s
a r e a . Now lo o k u t F ig u r e A l . T h e r e I h a ve in d ic a t e d th e e x p e c te d g r a d ie n t
c u r v e i f th e sun w e re th e s o u r c e (u n o b sc u re d sun— s o l i d l i n e ) a lo n g w it h
th e m easured g r a d ie n t w id th o f a b o u t 0 . 8 mm. O f c o u rs e th e g r a d ie n t w id th
w h ic h one w ould m easure on th e d e n s ito m e te r s c a n g rap h depends upon w here
one p la c e s th e maximum and minimum b r ig h t n e s s l e v e l s ( t h e unshaded
and shad ed b r ig h t n e s s l e v e l s ) . I f we a llo w f o r th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t th e
b r ig h t n e s s l e v e l s u s in d ic a t e d ( s o l i d h o r i z o n t a l l i n e s ) s h o u ld be moved
c l o s e r t o g e t h e r , th e n th e g r a d ie n t w id th r e g io n w o uld b e re d u c e d . P e rh a p s
a w id th a s s m a ll a s 0 . 3 mm w o uld be b a r e l y c o n s i s t e n t w it h th e d e n s ito m e te r
d a ta . U s in g t h i s u s a minimum m easured v a lu e we ca n w r i t e th e fo llo w in g
e q u a tio n s f o r e x p l i c i t c o m p a riso n o f p r e d ic t e d and m easured w id t h s :
= 0 .0 2 9 mm (a p p r o x ) (A -7 A )
and .T = 0 .3 t o 0 . 8 mm (u p p ro x ) (A - 7 B )
m
T
W
w nere I is th e w id th o f th e im age o f th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n on th e T r e n t p h o to s .
42

E f f e c t s o f C lo u d C o v e r on th e b r ig h t n e s s R a t i o
and on th e E f f e c t i v e A n g u la r S i z e o f th e Sun

T he c a l c u l a t i o n J u s t c o m p le te d m akes i t c l e a r t h a t th e shadow o f th e
edge o f th e r o o f c o u ld n o t h a ve been made by th e u n o b sc u re d s u n , w h ic h
h a s an e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f 0 .5 3 ° . H owever , th e r e l a t i v e b r ig h t n e s s e s
o f th e f u l l y i ll u m i n a t e d and f u l l y shad ed r e g io n s a r e n o t v e r y d i f f e r e n t ,
w h ic h s u g g e s ts t h a t i f th e sun w e re th e l i g h t s o u r c e , i t was p a r t i a l l y
o b s c u re d by c lo u d s .
More s p e c i f i c a l l y , when th e sun i s n o t o b s c u re d b y c lo u d s th e b r ig h t n e s s
o f a shaded a r e a (s u c h a s t h a t b e n e a th th e r o o f o f th e T r e n t g a ra g e )
I s l e s s th a n 1 /2 0 o f th e b r ig h t n e s s o f a f u l l y i ll u m i n a t e d a r e a (s u c h a3
th e w a l l o f th e T r e n t g a ra g e b e lo w th e edge o f th e shadow ) .A s t h i n c lo u d s
g r a d u a l ly o b s c u re th e sun th e b r ig h t n e s s o f t h e f u l l y ill u m i n a t e d a re a
d ro p s r a p i d l y , w h ile t h a t o f th e shad ed a r e a (w h ic h i s ill u m i n a t e d by
s k y l i g h t and l i g h t r e f l e c t e d from th e g ro u n d ) d ro p s r e l a t i v e l y s l o w l y ,
so t h a t th e r a t i o o f th e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e ill u m i n a t e d a r e a t o th e b r ig h t n e s s
o f th e shad ed a re a d ro p s a s c lo u d c o v e r i n c r e a s e s .
i n tlit- T r e n t p ho to s th e r a t i o o f th e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e i ll u m i n a t e d a re a
o f th e g a ra g e w a l l t o th e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e shad ed a r e a u n der th e e av e
i s a b o u t 1 .7 5 • w h e re a s t h e same r a t i o w o uld be g r e a t e r th a n 20 i f th e sun
w ere th e s o u r c e , and i f i_L m -n- u n o b sc u re d . T h u s i c o n c lu d e t h a t i f th e
sun w e re th e s o u r c e , i t m ust h a ve been p a r t i a l l y o b s c u re d b y c lo u d s .
T h e q u e s t io n th e n a r i s e s a s t o w h e th e r o r n o t th e e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s iz e
o f th e sun i s e f f e c t e d by th e p re s e n c e o f c lo u d s . S p e c i f i c a l l y , fo rw a rd
s c a t t e r i n g o f l i g h t b y i c e c r y s t a l s i n th e c lo u d s may make th e sun a p p e a r to
be l a r g e r i n a n g u la r s i z e th a n i t a c t u a l l y i s . To a n sw e r t h i s q u e s t io n I
d id some e x p e rim e n ts i n w h ic h 1 made a "m o d e l” o f th e g a ra g e w a l l und
used a s c a n n in g i 11um inom eter ( w h ic h m e a su re s th e r e l a t i v e amount o f
l i g h t i n c id e n t on a s u r f a c e ) t o s c a n th ro u g h th e shadow g r a d ie n t re g io n
c r e a t e d b y th e edge o f th e e a v e o f th e m odel g a ra g e . T h e s e and o t h e r
e x p e rim e n ts s u g g e s t , b u t do n o t p ro v e (b e c a u s e o f in s t r u m e n t a l p rob lem s
w h ic h a r e r a t h e r c o m p lic a t e d ) t h a t th e e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f th e sun
does i n c r e a s e somewhat a s c lo u d c o v e r i n c r e a s e s . F ig u r e A T i l l u s t r a t e s
th e e x p e rim e n ta l r e s u l t s . As th e b r ig h t n e s s r u t i o , R^t d e c r e a s e s to w ard
u n it y (when th e sun i s c o m p le te ly o b s c u re d and t h e r e i s no"shadow 11 ■
th e w h o le w a l l s u r f a c e i s ill u m i n a t e d o n ly by s k y l i g h t and g r o u n d - r e fle c t e d l ig h t )
th e r e l a t i v e e f f e c t i v e s o l a r d ia m e t e r , 1<0 , in c r e a s e s , p e rh a p s re a c h in g
a number a s h ig h a s 3 . F o r R^ = 1 . 7 5 , w in c h i s th e v a lu e m easured on th e
T r e n t p h o t o s , F ig u r e A7 shows t h a t l<c, may be a s la r g e a s 2 . 5 - 3 ,
m eaning t h a t th e e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f th e sun m ig h t b e a s la r g e as
2 .5 * 0 .5 3 ° = 1 .3 2 5 ° t o 3 x 0 .5 3 ° = 1 . 5 9 ° . H o w e ve r, t h e s e m easurem ents
m ust be t r e a t e d c a u t i o u s l y s in c e in s t r u m e n t a l e f f e c t s and p ro b lem s w it h
th e a n a l y s i s o f th e s c a n n in g illu iiiin o m u t e r d a ta may h a ve made th e a n g u la r
s i z e r a t i o s i n F ig u r e A7 to o l a r g e .
H o w e ve r, a ssu m in g th e d a t a o f F ig u r e A7 a r e c o r r e c t , one can re p e a t
th e c a l c u l a t i o n le n d in g t o th e e x p e c te d image s i z e i n E q u a tio n ( A - 6 ) .
U s in g 1 .3 3 ° t o l . b ° a s th e e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f th e sun y i e l d s
 19bl CUDS Conf.
FIGl’HE A7
d z i l :o e ” -~e c- 'TiE *™77771VE SC'TAR DIAMETER" 0!7 T’X RELATIVE ILLl’MINANCES
CN EACH SIDE 07 A SHADOWGR7J7IENT
(C a u t io n a r y n o t e : th e e x p e rim e n ta l method may h a ve o v e r e s t im a t e d th e g ro v th i n
a r .r u la r s i z e a s th e shadov c o n t r a s t d e c r e a s e s .)
R g =■ R e l a t i v e " E f f e c t i v e S o l a r u i a m e t e r
(W id t h of a m e a s u re d shad ow g r a d ie n t r e g i o n ) __________ _____
( Evpoctc* ' vi 'th using -. 7'??° ec th'- sc'ibz diameter)
REIATIVE ."EFFECTIVE SQTAR DIAMETER"

Rp = R a t io c f R e la t iv e 7 1 lu m in a n c e s (shadow c o n t r a s t )

___ / _ Illu m in a n c e due to th e Sun ■ » 5"<y

1 1 1 u r.5 n a n c e due t o th e S V y A lo n e

\ ^ - H o r iz o n t a l o r N e a r ly H o r iz o n t a l
S u r f a c e s S c a n n e d A lo n g o r
P e r p e n d ic u la r T o t h e A z in u t h o f
• • th e Sun
g _ V e r t i c a l S u r fa c e P e r p e n d ic u la r t o th e
. \ A z im u t h o f t h e S u n a n d S c a n n e d
^ 0 V e r t i c a l l y ; s k y ab o ve th e edge i s
b lo c k e d ( e . g . s i m u l a t e d we a v e " )

~r ' -T—l--- -i—

4 5 6 8 9 10 30
RATIO OF RELATIVE ILLUMINANCES, Rg
44 K«C4t*»

0 .0 7 ? t o O.O06 (A -8)
V/ Maximum

T h e s e v a lu e s a r c s t i l l a b o u t f o u r lim e s lo w e r th u n th e minimum
e s tim a te d g r a d ie n t w id th on th e T r e n t p h o t o s , 0 . 3 nun.
T h e r e f o r e , i t a p p e a rs t h a t , even a llo w in g f o r th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t
c lo u d c o v e r in c r e a s e d th e e f f e c t i v e u n g u lu r s i z e o f th e sun ( a h y p o th e s is
w h ic h may be t o t a l l y u n iq u e to th e r e s e u r c h re p o r te d h e r e , I m ig h t a d d ) ,
th e l i g h t s o u r c e w h ic h made th e h o r i z o n t a l shadow o f th e edge o f th e
g aru g e r o o f had a v e r t i c u l a n g u la r s i z e t h a t was f o u r o r m ore tim e s
g r e a t e r th u n th e v e r t i c a l u n g u lu r s i z e o f th e c u n . Uy r e v e r s i n g th e
p ro c e d u re and u s in g E q u a tio n s (A - 3 ) and ( A—5 ) t o c a lc u l a t e th e a n g u la r
s i z e o f th e s o u r c e i n th e v e r t i c a l d i r e c t i o n , one f i n d s t h a t th e
s o u r c e had an a n g u la r s i z e o f more th a n 5 , d ep en d in g upon w h e th e r
th e g r a d ie n t r e g io n w id th on th e image i s ta k e n t o be 0 . 3 mm o r l a r g e r .
T h e low b r ig h t n e s s c o n t r a c t und th e c o r re s p o n d in g l a r g e g r a d ie n t
r e g io n w id th s 01 ' o t h e r p o r t io n s o f th e h o r i z o n t a l e av e shadow c o n firm
th e c o n c lu s io n t h a t th e l i g h t s o u r c e was n o t a s b r i g h t a s th e un o b scu red
s u n , and had a v e r t i c a l a n g u la r e x t e n t o f 5 ° o r m ore.

B e s id e th e v e r t i c a l e x t e n t o f th e l i g h t s o u r c e , w h ic h was d eterm in e d
by lo o k in g a t th e h o r i z o n t a l shadow made by a h o r i z o n t a l edge (t h e
edge o f th e r o o f ) , i t i s a l s o p o s s ib le t o make an e s t im a t e o f th e
h o r i z o n t a l e x t e n t o f th e l i g h t s o u r c e by lo o k in g a t a v e r t i c a l shadow ,
s u c h a s i s made by th e v e r t i c a l s id e s o f th e e nd s o f th e e ave r a f t e r B .
T h e r e a r e f o u r shadow s made b y th e ends o f th e f o u r r a f t e r s ( o n ly th re e
a p p e a r in p h o to l ) . F ig u r e A3 i l l u s t r a t e s d e n s ito m e te r s c a n s t h a t
w ere made i n a " h o r i z o n t a l " d i r e c t i o n th ro u g h th e ends o f th e r a f t e r s
and a l s o th ro u g h th e shadow s o f th e end s ( lo w e r h u l l ’ o f F i g . A 3 ) .
F ig u re *:: A2 und c o n t a in i l l u s t r a t i o n s o f th e e nd s o f th e e u ve r a f t e r s
and o f t h e i r a s s o c ia t e d sh a d o w s.
F ig u r e A3 shows th e r a f t e r shudow d e n s ito m e te r t r u c e s a t th e l e f t
o f t h e i r a s s o c ia t e d r u f t c r end t r a c e s , and i t a l s o shows th e r a f t e r
shadow t r a c e s b e lo w t h e i r a s s o c ia t e d r a f t e r end t r a c e s . O f p a r t i c u l a r
i n t e r e s t a r e th e r e l a t i v e s i z e s ( w id t h s ) o f th e r a f t e r end t r a c i n g s
und th e shadow t r a c i n g s . T h e r e l u t i v e w id t h s ca n e a s i l y be compared by
e y e by c o m p arin g th e w id th o f a p a r t i c u l a r shudow t r u c ln g t h a t has been
s n i f f e d to th e rig h t, (s e e n o t a t io n s on F ig u r e A 3 ) w it h i t s a s s o c ia t e d
r a f t e r end t r a c i n g .lu s t ab ove i t . I n g e n e r a l th e w id th s o f th e shadows
a p p e a r t o be s l i g h t l y g r e a t e r th a n the* w id th s o f t h e r a f t e r e n d s. T h i s
i s t o be e x p e c te d i f th e l i g h t s o u r c e h a s a f i n i t e a n g u la r s i z e ( i s
n o t a s o u r c e o f z e r o a n g u lu r s i z e )
a s i l l u s t r a t e d i n th e s k e t c h u t th e r i g h t . FIG U R E A6
W ith a s o u r c e o f a n g u la r s i z e A , th e

i
end o f th e r a f t e r o f w id th s , and th e d is t u n c e
from th e r a f t e r end t o th e w a l l e q u a l to
K , th e t o t a l w id th o f th e sh a d o w ,fro m th e .1
l e f t end o f th e penumbra t o th e r i g h t
end o f th e penumbra i s g iv e n by ,
,f
w = d ( ( s / p )+ k t a i i ( a / p ) )
= j , PH TAII (A/D) ( A- 9)

s -I* 1
!\I
W
-OC. of 19mCUFOS Conf. 45

I f we a g a in u s e te n in c h e s a s th e d is t a n c e o f th e r a f t e r end from th e
w a ll , in c lu d e th e C O b (b ) f a c t o r to a c c o u n t f o r th e f a c t t h a t th e l i g h t
s o u r c e i s a t an a n g u la r e le v a t io n o f ab out l 6 , assume th e s o u rc e i s
th e sun (A ■ 0 . 5 3 ° ) , and assum e t h a t th e end o f th e r a f t e r i s 1 .5 in c h e s
w id e (s t a n d a r d f o r a s o - c a l le d " 2 x V ) , th e t o t a l w id th o f th e
shadow w ould be

W = 1 .5 " +2(10)TAM ( 0 . 5 3 / 2 ) / C 0 S ( l 6 ° ) • 1 .6 0 " . (A - 1 0 )

T h i s assum es an u n o b sc u re d sun . I f we a llo w f o r th e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t th e

e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f th e sun had grown b y a f a c t o r o f t h r e e th e
t o t a l w id th becomes 1 .7 8 " . Thus th e t o t a l w id th o f - t h e shadow o f a
r a f t e r end i s i n th e ran g e
= 1 . 6 t o 1 .8 in c h e s . (A - ll)
r .e .

T h u s , i f th e sun w e re th e s o u r c e ’ th e maximum w id th o f th e 's h a d o w o f

a r a f t e r end w ould be ab o ut ( 1 . 6 / 1 . 5 ) = 1 -0 7 to ( 1 . 8 / 1 . 5 ) = 1 .2 0 tim e s
b ig g e r th a n th e w id th o f th e r a f t e r e n d . C o r r e s p o n d in g ly , th e w id t h o f
th e image o f th e shadow w ould be 1 .0 7 t o 1 . 2 tim e s g r e a t e r th a n th e
w id th o f th e image o f th e r a f t e r end . T h e r e f o r e , i n o r d e r t o d e te rm in e
w h e th e r o r n o t th e sun made th e shadows o f th e r a f t e r end i t i s o n ly n e c e s s a r y
t o com pare r e l a t i v e s i z e s o f th e shadow and r a f t e r end im a g e ji.
R e f e r r in g to F ig u r e A3 we se e t h a t f o r r a f t e r C th e r a t i o i s
0 .8 2 5 *&m/ 0 -5 0 mm = 1 .6 5 (u s in g th e a v e ra g e betw een 0 .0 0 and 0 .8 5 mm as
th e w id th o f th e s h a d o w ). F o r r a f t e r B th e r a t i o i s 0 .5 5 / 0 .5 0 * 1 .1 0 .
S i m i l a r m easurem ents u s in g d e n s ito m e te r s c a n s f o r P h o to 2 y i e l d f o r
r a f t e r D , ( 0 , 5 5 / 0 - 5 0 ) = 1 . 1 0 ; f o r r a f t e r C ,( 0 .7 0 / 0 .1 * 0 ) = 1 .7 5 » and f o r
r a f t e r B , {0 .6 0 / 0 .1 4 0 } = I . 50 . (T h e co m p a ra b le d a ta u s in g r a f t e r A
and shadow A h ave n o t been used s in c e shadow A i s a t th e edge o f th e g a ra g e
w a l l and so p a r t o f th e shadbw may h a v e e xte n d e d beyond th e w a l l w here
i t c o u ld n o t be r e g is t e r e d by t h e c a m e ra . S e e F i g . A l* ,) The a v e ra g e o f th e s e
r e t i o s i s 1 .1 * 2 , w h ic h i s n o t ic e a b ly l a r g e r th a n th e l a r g e s t e x p e c te d
v a lu e o f th e r a t i o i f th e sun w e re th e s o u r c e .
The la r g e v a r i a b i l i t y i n th e m easured r a t i o s , ra n g in g from a s lo w
a s 1 . 1 t o a s h ig h a s 1 .7 5 a r e i n d i c a t i v e o f th e e x p e r im e n t a l p ro b lem s w it h
m e a s u rin g th e w id t h s o f im ages a s s m a ll a s th o s e o f th e r a f t e r ends and
o f th e shadow s o f th e r a f t e r e n d s . In p a r t i c u l a r , th e c o n t r a s t b etw een
th e b r ig h t n e s s o f th e shadow s and o f th e a d ja c e n t i ll u m i n a t e d w a l l i s
so lo w t h a t p h o t o g ra p h ic n o is e p la y s an im p o rta n t r o le i n d e t e rm in in g th e
."e d g e s" o f th e im ag es o f th e sh a d o w s. A n o th e r im p o rta n t f a c t o r i n d e t e rm in in g
th e lo c a t i o n s o f edg es i s th e f i n i t e a p e r t u r e ( s l i t ) s i z e o f th e
s c a n n in g d e n s it o m e t e r , w h ic h te n d s t o b l u r o u t v e r y f i n e d e t a i l s . H o w e ve r,
a f t e r t a k in g t h e s e e f f e c t s i n t o a c c o u n t i t seems t h a t th e p h o to g ra p h ic
d a ta do i n d ic a t e a l i g h t s o u r c e l a r g e r i n h o r i z o n t a l a n g u la r e x t e n t th a n th e
sun.
By r e v e r s i n g E q u a tio n (A - 9 ) to f i n d A , and u s in g K * W/s , i t i s
p o s s ib le t o f i n d A u s in g th e c a lc u l a t e d v a lu e s o f K g iv e n a b o v e :

A = 2 T A ir 1 ( 3 (K - 1 )/ 2 (R ) ). (A - 1 2 )

With s = 1.5” » R * 10", and K = 1.1*2 th is y ie ld s 3.6° , which is much

46 "Utcibtt

l a r g e r th a n th e e f f e c t i v e a n g u la r s i z e o f th e sun c o u ld e v e r b e . E v e n
th e lo w e s t r a t i o v a lu e s fo u n d , 1 . 1 0 , c o rre s p o n d t o an a n g u la r s i z e , 0 . 8 6 ° ,
w h ic h i s g r e a t e r th a n t h a t o f t h e u n o b sc u re d sun { 0 . 5 3 ) .

O th e r D arke n ed A re a s U n d er th e E a v e : P o s s i b le O th e r Shadows

B e s id e s th e v e r y a p p a re n t h o r i z o n t a l shadow o f th e edge o f th e r o o f
and th e shadows o f th e e a v e r a f t e r s , t h e r e a re o t h e r d a rk e n e d a r e a s o f th e
b o a rd u n d e r th e e ave . T h e s e d a rk en e d a r e a s a re on th e r i g h t hand B id e s
o f r a f t e r s D ,C and B . T h e y lo o k l i k e w h at one m ig h t e x p e c t i f t h e r e w ere
a b r i g h t s o u r c e s o u t h e a s t o f th e g a ra g e c a u s in g shadows o f th e ends o f
th e e av e r a f t e r s t o a p p e a r on th e b o a rd J u s t u n der th e e a v e . T h i s
h y p o t h e t ic a l " s o u t h e a s t s o u r c e " w o uld have been l e s s b r i g h t a n d / o r much
l a r g e r in a n g u la r s i z e th a n th e s o u r c e w h ic h made th e shadows w h ic h I have
d is c u s s e d i n p r e v io u s s e c t i o n s o f t h i s a p p e n d ix . On th e p h o to s th e s e
o t h e r" s h a d o w s " e x t e n d t o th e r i g h t f o r a c o n s id e r a b le d is t a n c e from
r a f t e r D and fro m r a f t e r C , and f o r o n ly a s h o r t d is t a n c e t o th e r i g h t
from r a f t e r B . T h e y a r e i l l u s t r a t e d i n F i g . A l . I f t h e y ,a r e n o t shadows
b u t "a n o m a lo u s" d a rk e n in g s o f th e b o a rd f o r some o t h e r r e a s o n , th e n th e y
J u s t happen t o be re m a r k a b ly c o n s i s t e n t w it h w hat one m ig h t e x p e c t
i f t h e r e w e re a s o u r c e s o u t h e a s t o f th e g a ra g e a s w e l l a s a b r i g h t e r s o u rc e
e a s t o f th e g a ra g e . N e e d le s s t o s a y , i f th e sun w ere th e m ain s o u rc e e a s t
o f th e g a ra g e i t seeins i n c o n c e iv a b le t h a t t h e r e c o u ld be a n o th e r s o u rc e
s o u t h e a s t o f th e g a ra g e t h a t c o u ld b e b r i g h t enough to c r e a t e sh a d o w s,
even i f th e sun w e re p a r t i a l l y o b s c u re d b y a t h i n c lo u d .T h u s t h e s e o t h e r
d a rk e n e d a re a s a rg u e a g a in s t th e sun a s th e s o u r c e w h ic h was e a s t o f th e
g a r a g e . On th e o t h e r h a n d , t h e r e w o uld be no p ro b lem w it h h a v in g two c lo u d s
a t s u n s e t c a u s in g shadow s on th e g a r a g e , s in c e t h e c lo u d s w ould h a ve been
o f co m p a ra b le b r i g h t n e s s .
On th e o t h e r h a n d , t h e r e i s one f u r t h e r d a rk e n in g o f a b o a rd w h ic h
a p p e a rs t o b e a shadow t h a t w ould r e q u ir e th e s o u r c e e a s t o f th e g a ra g e t o
be v e r y s m a ll in d e e d . T h is* d a rk e n in g ru n s downward a lo n g a v e r t i c a l b o a rd a t
th e c o r n e r o f th e g a ra g e (s e e F ig A l and th e n o t a t io n "Shadow o f P r o t r u d in g
R a f t e r ? " ) . T h is " s h a d o w " , a lth o u g h v i s i b l e in p r i n t s , i s much f a i n t e r th a n
th e shadow s o f th e ends o f th e e ave r a f t e r s ( t h a t i s , t h e r e i s l e s s c o n t r a s t
b etw een th e b r ig h t n e s s o f t h i s shadow and th e ill u m i n a t e d b o a rd a d ja c e n t
t o i t th a n t h e r e i s b etw ee n th e b r ig h t n e s s o f a 3hadow o f a r a f t e r end and
th e i ll u m i n a t e d b o a rd a d ja c e n t t o i t ) . I t seems t h a t th e w id t h o f t h i s v e r t i c a l
shadow in c r e a s e s w it h an i n c r e a s e i n d is t a n c e downward a lo n g th e b o a rd . Su ch an
i n c r e a s e w o uld be c o n s i s t e n t w it h a s o u r c e l a r g e r th a n t h e s u n , b u t th e
shadow i s s o f a i n t t h a t i t w o uld be d i f f i c u l t t o s a y J u s t how much w id e r th a n
th e s u n . .

C o n c lu s io n
I t a p p e a rs t h a t t h in g s may n o t b e w hat t h e y a p p e a r t o th e "n a k e d e y e " .
C a r e f u l a n a l y s i s o f th e shadow s u n d e r t h e e av e s u g g e s t t h a t t h e y have
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s t h a t a r e in c o m p a tib le w it h th e sun-shad o w h y p o t h e s is , b u t
n o t n e c e s s a r i l y ira c o m p a tib le w it h a h y p o t h e s is w h ic h in c lu d e s one o r more
b r i g h t c lo u d s i n th e s k y e a s t (a n d s o u t h e a s t ? ) o f th e w a l l a t s u n s e t . As
p o in te d o u t in th e t e x t o f t h i s r e p o r t , c lo u d - p ro d u c e d shadows h a ve been
o b s e rv e d (a n d p h o to g ra p h e d ).
Prtx■o( 1S£1 CltfQS Conf. 47

APPENDIX B

P h o to g ra m m e tric E s t im a t e o f th e L o c a t io n o f t h e O verh ead W ire s R e l a t i v e

to th e S i g h t i n g L in e s t o th e UO i n P h o to s 1 and 2

B y e s tim a tin g , o r g u e s s in g u t th e d im e n s io n s o f c e r t a i n o b je c t s w h ic h
a p p e a r i n th e T r e n t p h o to s i t i s p o s s ib le t o r e c o n s t r u c t th e r e la t io n s h i p s
b etw ee n th e cameraman and th e o v e rh e u d w ir e s . Once th e lo c a t i o n s o f th e
w ir e s and o f th e cameraman a r e d e t e rm in e d , th e s ig h t in g l i n e s to th e
UO ca n be added and i t i s th e n p o s s i b le to e s t im a t e th e a n s w e rs to
tw o q u e s t io n s : ( a ) do th e s ig h t in g l i n e s c r o s s u n d e r th e w i r e s , apd (b )
c a l l i n g th e p o in t w h ere th e s ig h t in g l i n e s c r o s s SLC , i s th e r a t i o
o f th e d is t a n c e s o f th e ca m era from SLC i n p ho to s 1 and 2 th e same as th e
r a t i o o f th e im age s i z e s i n p h o to s 1 and 2? I t i s th e o b j e c t i v e o f t h i s
a p p e n d ix to p r e s e n t e v id e n c e w h ic h can a n s w e r th ese" q u e s t io n s .

The f i r s t p ro b lem i s t o lo c a t e th e cam era p o s it io n s f o r th e tw o p h o to s .

U n f o r t u n a t e ly Hartm ann d id n o t r e c o r d any m easurem ents a t th e tim e he
v i s i t e d th e h o u s e , and s in c e b o th th e h o use and g a ra g e a r e now gone i t
i t i s n e c e s s a r y t o d e te rm in e th o s e p o s it io n s fro m p h o to g ra p h ic d a ta a lo n e .
S u r p r i s i n g l y , t h e s e p o s it io n s c a n be d e te rm in e d r a t h e r a c c u r a t e ly b y u s in g
th e g a ra g e w a l l as a s o u r c e o f d a t a . S p e c i f i c a l l y , th e r a f t e r ends o f th e
g a ra g e w a l l a r e lo c a t e d a s t o a z im u th a n g le ( t h a t i s , th e a n g le l e f t
o r r i g h t ) i n th e tw o p h o to s and th e s e a n g le s a r e p r o je c t e d b a ck w a rd from th e
r a f t e r ends t o th e l o c a t i o n s o f th e c a m e ra . F u r t h e r in f o r m a t io n comes from
th e known s ta n d a rd s i z e o f th e l a r g e s t p ip e w h ic h p r o t r u d e s upward from th e
ta n k ( t h e f i l l i n g p i p e ) . N e c e s s a r y d a ta a r e a s f o l lo w s :
' PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2
Q u a n t it y
D i r e c t io n s
C e n te r o f Photo 26 6
- . ° ( 26 6
. ^ w e st o f n o r t h ) -3 9 *3 °
t o UO
D i r e c t io n - 2 5 .6 - 112.9
to R a f t e r A (R )
D i r e c t io n - h l. U - 50.1
-U3-9 52.6
c (<>'
D i r e c t io n
to R a ft e r B -
" " (k£) -**6 .8 - 9 5 .5
" " D
<r£> - 58.5
.
C o rn e r o f M ain House - 5 .**° - 18.9
E s t im a t e s R e la t e d t o th e Lo w er o f th e Two O verh ea d W ire s
L e f t S id e o f P i c t u r e :
D is t a n c e fro m L e n s A x i s 2 3 ..9 ° 2 1 .9 °
E le v a t io n above H o r iz o n t a l 2 1
lt. ° 1 9 .2 °
B r ig h t n e s s H a l f v id t h * 0 11)0
. mm 0.12 mm
M id d le o f P i c t u r e : „
D is t a n c e from L e n s A x is
E le v a t io n ab ove H o r iz o n t a l
1 1 .3
22 8. °
0-5 0
20.0
B r ig h t n e s s H a lf w id t h * - O . l l l ) mm 0.128 mm
R ig h t S id e o f P i c t u r e :
D is t a n c e from L e n s A x is . “22 8 . “ 22 8
E le v a t i o n above H o r iz o n t a l ). ° 21 1 2 3 .0 °
B r ig h t n e s s H a llV id t h . 0 11)8
mm 0 .1 3 8 mm
* W ire d ia m e te r m easurem ents a re i l l u s t r a t e d i n F ig u r e B l . The b r ig h t n e s s
h a l l' v i d t h i s th e im age w id th a t one h a l f th e maximum b r ig h t n e s s v a r i a t i o n
b etw ee n th e im age o f th e w ir e and th e s k y b a ck g ro u n d .
48

Quun t i t y PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2

W id th o f t h e Image o f th e 0 .8 k I 0 .0 5 nun 0 .7 9 t 0 .0 2 mm
F i l l i n g P ip e a t th e Top
o l' th e T u n k
A n g le fro m th e L e n s A x i s t o P ip e Im age 22 18 °

T h e n h o to g ra m m e tric r e c o n s t r u c t io n p ro c e e d s a s f o l lo w s :
1 ) Choose a s p a c in g f o r th e e u ve r a f t e r s . I c h o se 2 * . T he a c tu l 4
, s p a c in g may h a v e been l e s s , b u t p ro b a b ly i t w a s n ’ t g r e a t e r ..
T h e ends o f th e r o o f r a f t e r s , assumed t o be s ta n d a rd " 2 x V
r a f t e r s , a r e 1 . 5 " w id e . T he r a t i o 2 V / 1 . 5 " - 16 i s th e same ,
t o w i t h in e x p e r im e n t a l e r r o r a s th e r a t i o o f th e w id t h s o f th e im ages
o f th e ends o f th e r a f t e r s t o th e s p a c in g b etw een th e im ages o f th e
ends o f th e r a f t e r s , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t th e p h o to g ra p h ic e v id e n c e i s
c o n s i s t e n t w it h th e a s su m p tio n o f a 2 ’ s p a c in g .
2 ) Assume th e g a ra g e w a l l ru n s due n o r t h - s o u t h . A c t u a l l y th e d ir e c t i o n
m ig h t b e s e v e r a l d e g re e s o f f , b u t th e T r e n t house was b u i l t
n e x t t o a ro a d w h ic h ru n s due e a s t - w e s t a c c o rd in g t o th e U -.S. G e o lo g ic a l
S u rv e y Maps ( 7 . 5 m in u te s e r i e s ) . T h u s th e w a l l s o f th e house and
g a ra g e .w h ic h w ould h a v e b een n e a r ly p a r a l l e l o r p e r p e n d ic u la r to th e
r o a d , p ro b a b ly a re c lo s e t o ru n n in g due n o rth s o u th o r due e a s t w e s t ,
d ep en d in g upon th e l o c a t i o n o f th e w a l l . T he e a s t w a l l o f th e g arag e
a p p e a rs i n th e p h o t o s , a c c o r d in g t o H artm an n.
3 ) Draw th e e av e r a f t e r s tw o f e e t a p a r t a lo n g a n o rth s o u th l i n e on
a s c a le d map. (S e e F ig u r e b 2 , w h ere 1 " = k ' , o r a s c a l e r a t i o
o f 1 :1 * 8 .) L e t th e e a v e r a f t e r e x te n d 1 ' beyond th e w a l l .
1*) Draw l i n e s from th e r a f t e r end s i n d ir e c t i o n s o p p o s ite to th e d ir e c t i o n s
l i s t e d i n th e ab ove t a b l e . F o r e x a m p le , f o r R a f t e r A in p hoto 1 draw
a l i n e a t a z im u th - 2 6 .6 + l 8 0 = 1 5 3 .k ° ; f o r R a f t e r A i n p hoto 2
draw a l i n e a t a z im u th - 3 9 .3 + 180 = lk 0 .7 (m easured c lo c k w is e
from due n o r th on t j i e m ap, w it h th e l i n e s t a r t i n g a t th e r a f t e r e n d ).
T h e i n t e r s e c t i o n s o f th e l i n e s l o c a t e ( a p p r o x im a t e ly ) th e cam era p o s it io n s
f r a n p h o to s 1 und 2 . (S e e F ig u r e B 2 . )
5 ) T h e f i l l i n g p ip e on th e t a n k a p p e a rs i n b o th p h o t o s . I t s image s i z e
i s d i r e c t l y r e la t e d t o th e d is t a n c e t o th e c a m e ra . S ta n d a rd f i l l i n g
p ip e s h ave o u t e r d im e n s io n s o f 2 .3 7 5 " . O i l t a n k s a r e t y p i c a l l y 27 "
w id e . A llo w in g 3 " f o r a s p a c in g b etw ee n th e s id e o f th e ta n k and th e
g a ra g e w a l l p la c e s th e f i l l i n g p ip e a b o u t (2 7 + 3 ) / 2 = 15 " from th e
w a l l , o r a b o u t 3" beyond th e e a v e r a f t e r s . To l o c a t e th e f i l l i n g p ip e
i n i t s p ro p e r n o rth - c o u th l o c a t i o n , p ro c e e d a s f o l l o w s : n o te t h a t th e
image o f th e p ip e a p p e a rs J u s t b e lo w th e image o f t h e shadow o f
i n p hoto 1 . A ssu m ing t h a t th e l i g h t s o u r c e i s due e a s t o f th e g a ra g e ,
th e shadow w ould be due w e s t o f th e end o f th e r a f t e r . T h i s lo c a t e s
th e shadow o f R^, on th e g a ra g e w a l l . Draw a l i n e fro m th e g a ra g e w a l l
J u s t w e s t o f Rr (w h e re th e shadow i s ) to w a rd th e g e n e r a l l o c a t i o n
o f t h e cam era i n p h c to 1 , a s d e te rm in e d i n s t e p k a b o v e . Now mark
a l o c a t i o n a lo n g t h i s l i n e w h ic h i s 1 5 " - 1 .2 5 * fro m th e g a ra g e w a l l .
T h i s l o c a t e s th e ( e s t im a t e d ) p o s it io n o f th e f i l l i n g p ip e .
C) T he d is t a n c e from th e f i l l i n g p ip e t o th e ca m era i s g iv e n by
D = (( K / C O S {ft)) / i ) ( w /12 ) in fe e t (B-l)
proc. of 1981 CUfOS tcnf. 49

w h ere F = 10 3 mm, 6 i s th e a n g le from th e a x i s o f th e le n s t o th e

image o f th e p ip e , am i w i s th e a c t u a l p ip e w id th i n I n c h e s . The
C 0 S (6 ) f a c t o r i s needed t o a c c o u n t f o r th e f a c t t h a t th e e f f e c t i v e
f o c a l le n g t h i s n o t c o n s t a n t o v e r th e w h ole f i l m p la n e b e c a u se th e
f i l m p la n e i s f l a t (n o t a c o n s t a n t d is t a n c e from th e c e n t e r o f th e
cam era l e n s ) . U s in g t h e a p p r o p r ia t e v a lu e s o f th e q u a n t it i e s i and
0 from th e t a b l e , w it h F - 103 mm y i e l d s D = 2 6 .1 f t f o r p hoto 1
and D = 2 7 .1 f t . f o r p ho to 2 . I n e a c h c a s e th e p o s s ib le e r r o r - i s t 1 .5 f t .
7 ) Draw th e d is t a n c e ra n g e s j u s t c a lc u l a t e d from th e p ip e i n th e-
a p p r o p r ia t e a r e a s on th e map w h ere th e s ig h t in g l i n e s from th e r a f t e r
e nd s c r o s s , t h e r e b y f u r t h e r l o c a t i n g th e p o s it io n s o f th e ca m e ra .
B ) A s a f u r t h e r c h e c k , u s in g d a ta n o t l i s t e d i n th e t a b l e , m ark o f f
d is t a n c e s from th e c o r n e r o f th e g a ra g e a c c o rd in g t o th e f a c t t h a t
th e r a t i o o f d is t a n c e s t o th e c o r n e r s h o u ld be th e Bame as th e
r a t i o o f th e s p a c in g s b etw een th e im ages o f th e c r a c k s b etw een th e
b o a rd s on th e g a ra g e w a l l a t th e c o r n e r o f th e g a ra g e . T h i s r a t i o
i s ab o ut 1 .1 a f t e r c o r r e c t i o n f o r t h e f a c t t h a t th p c o r n e r o f
th e g a ra g e w a l l i s somewhat to th e l e f t o f th e c e n t e r o f th e le n s
i n e ach p ho to (COS ( 6 ) c o r r e c t i o n m en tio n e d a b o v e ). P ic k one
cam era p o s it io n t o be " e x a c t " and s e t th e o t h e r p o s it io n 1 .1 tim e s
f a r t h e r from th e c o r n e r o f th e g a ra g e w a l l . I c h o se p o s it io n 1 to
be 3 0 ' from th e c o r n e r o f th e w a l l ( 2 6 .5 f t from th e f i l l i n g p ip e on
th e t a n k ) , and t h i s " f o r c e s " p o s it io n 2 t o be 33 * from th e c o r n e r
and a l s o a b o u t 3 0 ’ fro m th e f i l l i n g p ip e . S in c e t h i s I s to o f a r from
th e f i l l i n g p ip e I have com prom ised on a d is t a n c e o f 32* from
th e c o r n e r , w h ic h i s 29* fro m th e f i l l i n g p ip e , a d is t a n c e o n ly 1 / 2
f t . g r e a t e r tita n th e maximum v a lu e c a lc u l a t e d i n s te p 6 .
9 ) P la c e th e lo w e r o f th e two o v e rh e a d w i r e s on th e map by a ssu m in g a
w i r e d ia m e te r su c h a s 3 / 1 6 " o r 1 / 8 " . Do t h i s b y u s in g th e image
B r ig h t n e s s H a lfw id t h s i n th e fo rm u la g iv e n i n s te p 6 to l o c a t e th e
l e f t e n d , m id d le , and r i g h t end o f th e w ir e from th e c a m e r a - p o s it io n s
f o r p h o to s one und tw o . T h e a n g u la r " b is l a n c e s from th e Lena A x i s "
g iv e n i n th e t a b l e s h o u ld be s u b s t it u t e d f o r th e a n g le 0 in
th e f o r m u la . The fo rm u la th e n g iv e s r a d i a l d is t a n c e s from th e cam era
( " s l a n t d i s t a n c e s " ) . To c o n v e r t t o h o r i z o n t a l d is t a n c e s a p p r o p r ia t e
f o r p l o t t i n g on th e map, u s e th e a n g le s l i s t e d a3 E le v a t io n above
H o r iz o n t a l in p la c e o f 0 i n th e fo llo w in g fo rm u la :
H = D C O S (0 ). (B - 2 )
W ien th e d is t a n c e s h a ve been c a lc u l a t e d p la c e m arks on th e map
c o r re s p o n d in g t o th e l e f t e n d , m id d le , and r i g h t end p o s it io n s f o r
b o th 3/16 and 1 / 8 " d ia m e te r w i r e s . H o te t h a t each p ho to p r o v id e s
an e s tim a te d p o s i t i o n . I have drawn a v e ra g e l i n e s th ro u g h th e l o c a t io n s
p ro v id e d b y p h o to s 1 and 2 f o r b o th 3 / l 6 and 1 / 8 " d iu m e te r w i r e .
1 0 ) L o c a t e th e c o r n e r o f .th e T r e n t h o use by d ra w in g l i n e s from th e
cam era p o s it io n s a c c o r d in g t o th e a n g le s g iv e n i n th e t a b l e .

T h e above s t e p s y i e l d a map s i m i l a r to t h a t In F ig u r e B 2 . T he f i n a l
s te p i s t o draw i n s i g h t in g l i n e s from th e cam era p o s it io n s a c c o rd in g
t o th e d a ta in th e t a b l e .
 in
O

' - - I n . 2 54 F IG U R E B1

T r a c in g s o f D e n s it o m e t e r S c a n s o f t h e
Low er o f th e Two O v e rh e a d W ir e s i n
P h o to 2 (a n d c o m p a r a b le d a t a l i s t e d ~ D = 0 .2 9
f o r P h o to 1 )

N EU TR A L D E N S IT Y

ig h t n e s s H a lf v id t h ; B r ig h tn e s s
6.C ± 0.2 rcr on this halfwidth ? . ( 6 .9 ± C .2 ) / 5 C
scale; C.12 lO.OCMmr,
F IL M

= 0 .1 3 E ± 0 .C C 4
on film mm on film
B r ig h t n e s s h a lf v id t h ;
D - 0 .5 7 5
( 6 . 4 T O . 2 m r ,) / 5 0 ^
0 .l2 8 i0 .0 0 4 nm o n film E> = 0.57
W 4 . 'uvyV' D = 0 .6 0 5 _ M
4
S c a n u p w a rd
5 nvm r i g h t o f
l e f t edge
(a b o u t 1 6 .7 °
^up- S c a n u p w a r d 2 mm l e f t
c f r i g h t e d g e -(a b o u t

le f t o f c e n te r)
Scan u p w a rd o v e r UO
20.20 r ig h t o f c e n te r)

Note: on this scale 5 cm - 1 mm.; the scanning slit was 10 microns wide and
1.1 mm high on the scale of the film, the long dimension of the slit
was accurately parallel to the wire
Note: measurements on photo 1 yield: left side- brightness halfwidth
( ± . 2mm)/50 0.14,0.004mm on film? middle(over UO pole)-0.144i0.004mm
vide on film; right -0.148±0.004 mmwide on film
Proc. Of 19B1 CufOS Conf. 51

1.5 **1 If-j/ig/

«, <»//
FIGURE B2
Reconstruction of the Sighting Area
from Photographic Data and "Known”
Sizes of Objects in the Photos
NORTH
52

F i r s t n o t ic e t h a t th e s ig h t in g l i n e s do n o t c r o s s u n d e r th e w ir e
il* th e w ir e was n o t l a r g e r th a n 3 / lf» " d ia m e t e r . S e c o n d , n o te t h a t th e
r a t i o o f th e d is t a n c e s from th e S ig h t in g L in e C r o s s in g (S L C ) t o th e
cam era p o s it io n s i s
ir I t, f o r photo 1 , 0 „ 5g
(B -3 )
1 Y .0 f t l'o r p ho to 2
T liis is t o be com pared w it h t lie r a t i o o f im age s i z e s o f th e UO:
UP d ia m e te r in p hoto 2 0.255 mm 0 .6 7 3 . (B-lt)
1)0 d ia m e te r i n p h o to 1 0 .2 9 2 mm
(N o te t h a t th e r a t i o s a r e i n v e r s e b e c a u s e im age s i z e i s i n v e r s e l y
p r o p o r t io n a l to d i s t a n c e . . . i . e . , th e im age s i z e s h r i n k s a s th e d is t a n c e
in c r e a s e s .) T h e s e r a t i o s , a lth o u g h c o m p a ra b le , a r e n o t e q u a l. T h e y
d i f f e r by about 1 0 $ . I h a ve t r i e d o t h e r map r e c o n s t r u c t io n s s t a r t i n g from
o t h e r assum ed r a f t e r s p u c in g s , b u t th e g e n e r a l r e s u l t h a s been t h e same:
th e s ig h t in g l i n e s do n o t c r o s s u n d e r th e w ir e s and th e r a t i o s a r e n o t
e q u a l. . ,

S in c e th e l o c a t i o n o f ' t h e w ir e s i s o f c r i t i c a l im p o rta n c e i n th e
r e c o n s t r u c t io n , i t i s w o rth m e n tio n in g t h a t Hartm ann d id ta k e a p ic t u r e
i n 19o7 w h ic h in d ic a t e d t h a t a t t h a t tim e th e w ir e s w e re a tt a c h e d t o
i n s u l a t o r s w h ic h w ere n e a r th e p eak o f th e r o o f . U n f o r t u n a t e ly th e d is t a n c e
from th e c o r n e r o f th e ho use t o th e p ea k (m ea su red h o r i z o n t a l l y ) was
n o t r e c o r d e d . H o w e ve r, a ssu m in g t h a t th e d is t a n c e was a b o u t 1 2 ' , and
a ssu m in g t h a t th e w ir e s r a n t o a p o le a t th e b a c k o f th e g a ra g e (w h ic h
th e y d id i n 1 9 5 0 ) one c a n e s t im a t e th e l o c a t i o n o f th e w i r e s . H o w e ve r,
t h i s e s t im a t e m ust oe c o n s id e r e d h i g h l y t e n t a t i v e , e s p e c i a l l y s in c e th e re
a r e no d a ta on th e e x a c t l o c a t i o n o f th e p o le b e h in d th e g a ra g e . N e v e r t h e le s s ,
i t does seen, c o n s i s t e n t w it h th e e s t im a t e d w i r e l o c a t i o n i f th e w ir e s
w ere 3 / 1 6 " t h i c k .
One f u r t h e r comment a b o u t th e w i r e s i s i n o r d e r . C l e a r l y i f fche w ir e s
w ere a s l a r g e a s 1 / L " d ia m e te r th e y w ould p u ss e s s e n t i a l l y ( o r e x a c t l y )
o v e r th e SLC p o i n t . H o w e ve r, i t i s h i g h l y u n l i k e l y t h a t w i r e s a s la r g e as
l / L " d ia m e te r w o u ld h a v e been u se d b e c a u s e o f th e c o s t . T h e p u rp o se o f th e
w ir e s was o n ly t o power u l i g h t b u lb o f a 100 w a t t s o r s o . U se a b le w ir e s
w o u ld h a v e b ee n a s s m a ll a s 1 / 6 " d ia m e t e r , w h ic h i s s ta n d a rd f o r house w ir in g .
Su ch w ir e i s u l s o s t i f f enough t o h o ld k in k s ( k in k s i n th e w i r e s shown
irt th e T r e n t p h o to s w e re s t i l l in th e w i r e s when Hartm ann v i s i t e d th e
fa r m ) .
C o n c lu s io n

T h e l a c k o f d a ta m akes i t n e c e s s a r y t o r e c o n s t r u c t th e sc e n e o f th e
p h o to s u s in g p h o to g ra m m e tric means com bined w it h e s tim a te d s i z e s o f o b je c t s
shown i n th e p h o t o s . T h i s m ethod in t r o d u c e s c o n s id e r a b le u n c e r t a i n t i e s
i n t o th e r e c o n s t r u c t io n . T h e u n c e r t a i n t i e s a r e s u f f i c i e n t l y g r e a t t h a t
a lm o s t any a n sw e r to th e two q u e s t io n s p osed a t th e b e g in n in g o f t h i s
a p p e n d ix can be o b t a in e d . H o w e ve r, re a s o n a b le r e c o n s t r u c t io n s w it h o u t any
11f o r c i n g " o f th e a v a i l a b l e p h o to g ra p h ic d a ta and s i z e e s t im a t e s in d ic a t e s th a t
th e s ig h t in g l i n e s d id n o t c r o s s and t h a t th e r a t i o s a re n o t e q u a l.
As p o in te d o u t i n th e t e x t t h e s e r e s u l t s , e ve n i f p e r f e c t l y a c c u r a t e , would
not p ro v e th e s ig h t in g was n o t a h o a x . H o w e ve r, t h e s e r e s u l t s , tf_ re a s o n a b ly
a c c u r a t e , do not p ro v e t h a t th e s ig h t in g was a h o a x .
Proc.. of 1931 CUFOS Conf.
ADDENDUM 53

May, 1984 '

t i i n c e t h i s p a p u r w o a c c it n p l f t u d l o r p u b l i c a t i o n i n t h e f a l l
o f l Y U l so m e HfcrW ttl lU v a l u a b l e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t tllfcf l a y o u t o f t h e
T r e n t fa rm h a s b e e n o b t a in e d fr o m t h e A g r i c o l t u t u S u r v e y
D e p a rtm e n t. T h e A e r i a l P h o t o g r a p h y F i e l d O f f i c e (B o x 3 0 0 1 0 , S a l t
U a t e U i L y , U T 0 4 1 3 0 ) l u t d U - d tw o p h o t o s t h a t had b een t a le n in
t h e t im e fr a m e o f i n t e r e s t . The f i r s t p ic t u r e i s d a te d 7 / 2 / 4 0
(D F Q R o l l 4 1 ), E x p o s u r e 9-3) a n d t h e s e c o n d i s d a t e d 5 / 1 5 / 5 6 (D F Q
R o ll IP , E x p o s u re 8 8 ). T h e s e w e r e t a k e n fr o m a i r c r a f t w h ic h f l e w
o v e r th e a re a b ut n o t d ir e c t ly o v e r th e T re n t fa rm . The s c a le of
b o t h 'p h o t o s w a s 1 :2 2 2 2 2 . b o th p h o t o s sh o w ed t h e sam e b u i l d i n g s
a t th e T r e n t fa rm b u t th e 19 48 p h o to w a s c le a r e r ( b e t t e r
f o c u s e d ? ) s o I h a v e c o n c e n t r a t e d my m e a s u r e m e n t e f f o r t o n t h e
f i r s t p h o to . 1 l i e A e r i a l P h o t o g r a p h y o f f i c e s e n t me a p r i n t o f
t h e o r i g i n a l a e r i a l p h o t o a n d a f i v e : p o w e r b lo w u p . I s c a l e d t h e
p r i n t o f th e o r i g i n a l u s in g a U .3 . G e o lo g ic a l S u r v e y m ap. I th e n
m e a s u r e d t h e s e p a r a t i o n s o f t h e im a g e s o f t h e b u i l d i n g s on t h e
b lo w u p . T h e e s t im a t e d a c c u r a c y o f m e a s u re m e n t i s a b o u t o n e fo o t
( p lu s o r m in u s ) . The a c c u ra c y i s lim it e d b y th e s lig h t , fu z z in e s s
u i H ie e d g e s o f t h e m a g n if ie d im a g e s .
T h e f o l l o w i n g d ia g r a m i s a r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e T r e n t
f a r m Ccw 1 9 5 0 a s d e t e r m i n e d b y t h e a g r i c u l t u r e p h o t o . I w as
p le a s e d t o f i n d t h a t t h e s c a l i n g w h ic h I h a d d o n e s e v e r a l y e a r s
b e f o r e , u s i n g o n l y t h e o r i g i n a l U FO p h o t o s p l u s s o m e e d u c a t e d
g u esses, w as v e r y c lo s e to c o r r e c t . F o r e x a m p le , in th e
p r e v i o u s r e c o n s t r u c t i on 1 h a d e s . t i m a te d a d i s t a n c e o f 10 f e e t
b e tw e e n th e h o u s e and th e g a r a g e . I lie a e r i a l p h o t o s u g g e s t s a
d is t a n c e - o f 17 t o lb f e e t 1 T lit* d i s t a n c e i n t h e n e w
r e c o n s t r u c t i o n i s s e t a t 18 f e e t .
T h e i d t n t i f i c a l l o n s o f th e v a r io u s b u ild in g s o t h e r th a n th e
h o u s e and th e g a ra g e w e re p r o v id e d b y M rs . T r e n t in a num b er o f
co ri v u r - .d i o f is , in c lu d in g th e m o st r e c e n t (D e c . 9 ,1 9 8 2 ) a f t e r I
h a d s u n t h e r c o p i e s u t t h e b lo w u p s .
I lie l o c a t i o n s a L w h ic h M r. T r e n t w a s s t a n d i n g a r e
i l l u s t r a t e d a lo n g w it h t h e lo c a t i o n o f t h e o v e rh e a d w ir e s a s
d e t e r m in e d b y a p h o t o t a k e n b y H a rtm a n n i n 1967 an d b y
d e s c r ip t io r » s p r o v id e d b y M rs . T r e n t . H a r t m a n n 's p h o t o s h o w s t h e
w ir e s a tta c h e d to in s u la t o r s n e a r th e p eak o f th e h o u se r o o f .
T h e o t h e r end o f th e w i r e s , a c c o r d in g to M rs . T r e n t , w e n t t o th e
b a ck o f th e g a ra g e . H a r t m a n n s p h o to c o n fir m s t h a t th e w ir e s ra n
to w a rd t h e b a c k o f t h e g a r a g e , b u t t h e y do n o t a c t u a l l y sho w
w i i e i 'e t h e w i r e s w e r e a t t a c h e d . A c c o r d in g t o M r. a n d M r s . T r e n t
t h e o v e r h e a d w i r e s p r o v id e d p o w e r f o r a l i g h t b u lb i n t h e g a r a g e .
S i n c e t h e w i r c*s w e r e n u t h e a v y a n d t h e y w e r e n o t c a r r y i n g m u ch
p o w e r i t m ay b e t h a t t h e y w e r e a t t a c h e d t o a b o a r d w h i c h s t u c k up
lr t u n t h e b a c k o t t h e g a r a g e a t t h e p e a k o f t h e r o o f . 1 h ave seen
a n a r r a n g e m e n t tJf t h a t t y p e m y s e l f in r u r a l s e t t in g s .
A m a jo r " p r e d i c t i o n * ' o f t h e o r i g i n a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n w a s t h a t
t h e g a r a g e m u s t h a v e b e e n u n e x p e c t e d l y l o n q , p e r h a p s m o re t h e n
t w e n t y f i v e f e e t lo n g fr o m t h e f r o n t t o t h e b a c k . T h i s p r e d i c t i o n
w a s c o n f i r m e d b y t h e a e r i a l p h o t o s w h ic h i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e
g a r » g e W as a b o u t 2 8 f e e t lo n g . '
, J h e m a jo r r e a s o n f o r u n d e r t a k i n g t h e o r i g i n a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n
w a s t o d e t e r m in e w h e th e r o r n o t t h e o v e rh e a d w ir e s p a s s e d o v e r
t h e s l i g h t i n g l i n e c r o s s o v e r ( S L C ) p o i n t ( t e e A p p e n d ix B> . The
new r e c o n s t r u c t 1011 o f t h e b a c k y a r d o f t h e T r e n t h o u s e , c o m b in e d
54 MttClttt

SCALED PLAN OF ThE TRENT FARM ca 1950

Proc. of 1961 CUFOS Cw»f. 55

w it h t h e p r e v i o u s l y d e t e r m in e d s ig h t in g d i r e c t i o n s sh o w s t h a t t h e
S L C p o i n t w a s a b o u t *1 f t . n o r t h w e s t o f t h e o v e r h e a d w i r e s w h ic h
i s r e a s o n a b l y c l o s e t o t h e o r i g i n a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n w h ic h
in d ic a t e d “ . 5 ft . i f th e w ir e s w e re 3 / 1 6 " in d ia m e t e r . The
d e c r e a s e fr o m f t . t o 4 f t . r e s u l t e d fro m b e t t e r s c a l i n g and
fr o m a d e c r e a s e i n t h e d is t a n c e fr o m t h e c o r n e r o f t h e h o u s e to
t h e p o in t w h e re th e w ir e s w e re f a s t e n e d to th e h o u s e . I had
i n i t i a l l y e s t im a t e d t h a t t h e d is t a n c e w a s 12 f t . , c o r re s p o n d !n g
to a h o u s e w id th o f 24 f t . u s in g a p h o to s u p p lie d b y H a rtm a n n .
H u w e v L -r, t h e a e r i a l p h o t o s s u g g e s t t h a t t h e h o u s e w a s o n ly 2 2 f t .
w i d e , s o 1 h a v e ad ju = » te d t h e s c a l e d m ap a c c o r d i n g l y .
t h e a e r i a l p h o t o s c o n f i r m t h a t t h e fa r m h o u s e o f M r. T r e n t ' s
f a t h e r w as 4 4 0 f e e t w e s t o f M r. T r e n t ’ s h o u s e . F u rth e rm o re , th e y
c o n f ir m t h a t t h e r e w e re no o b s t r u c t io n s b e tw e e n t h e h o u s e s so
t h a t i t w o u ld h a v e b e e n p o s s i b l e f o r M r . a n d M r s . T r e n t t o s e e
T r e n t ' s f a t h e r u n t h e b a c k p o r c h a n d y e l l t o h im b e f o r e t h e
o b je c t h ad d is a p p e a r e d i n t h e w e s t . ( I th a n k B ra d S p a r k s f o r
i n i t i a l l y s u g g e s t in g a e r ia l s u r v e y p h o to s and P h i l i p J . K la s s f o r
s u g g e s tin g t h a t I w r it e t o r A g r i c u lt u r e d e p a rtm e n t a e r ia l
p h o to s. ) * * .

A s I p o i n t e d o u t i n t h e d i s c u s s i o n a t t h e e n d o f t h e m a in
t e > :t o f t h i s a r t i c l e , t h e p h o t o s t e n d t o b e e q u i v o c a l o n t h e h o a x
h y p o t h e s i s b e c a u s e o n e c o u ld im a g in e a w a y i n w h ic h t h e y c o u ld
h a v e b e e n h o a x e d , a rid p e r h a p s t h e T r e n t s c o u l d h a v e h o a x e d th e m
w it h som e e f f o r t a n d a b i t o f " l u c k " . ( L u c k : t h e y .s u s p e n d e d a
s m a l l m o d e l w h i c h j u s t h a p p e n e d t o d i f f u s e l i g h t c o m in g f r o m t h e
s k y a b o v e i n s u c h a w a y t h a t t h e b o tto m b ecam e a n e a r l y u n if o r m
s o u r c e o f 1 i g h t . . . . t h i s r e q u ir e s t h a t t h e m odel b e c o n s t r u c t e d
fr o m t r a n s l u c e n t m a t e r ia l r a t h e r th a n t h e s im p le "h a n g a p ie p a n "
a p p r o a c h ; t h e y s u s p e n d e d th e m odel w it h a th r e a d t h a t w as v e r y
t h i n o r e l s e t h e s u s p e n s io n h a p p e n e d t o m a tc h t h e c o l o r o f t h e
s k y b a c k g r o u n d .) I f t h e y w e r e l u c k y i n m a k in g a m o d e l , t h e n ‘
t h e i r g o o d l u c k w a s p a r t l y o f f s e t b y b a d l u c k : t h e y a llo w e d t h e
p h o t o s t o s h o w t h e o v e r h e a d w i r e s f r o m w h ic h t h e m o d e l h u n g .

B e c a u s e th e p h o to s a r e n o t c o m p le t e ly d e f i n i t i v e th e
a rg u m e n t o v e r th e t r u t h o f t h e i r s t o r y m u st be b a se d in la r g e
p a r t u p o n t h e i r ow n t e s t i m o n y g i v e n t o r e p o r t e r s , i n v e s t i g a t o r s
a rid f r i e n d s o v e r t h e y e a r s . In e v a lu a t in g t h e t e s t im o n y c e r t a i n
s k e p L i c s h a v e e m p h a s iz e d d i f f e r e n c e s b e tw e e n t h e r e p o r t e d
v e r s io n s o f th e s ig h t in g . In p a r t i c u l a r , t h e y h a v e p o in t e d t o
d if f e r e n c e s b e tw e e n i n i t i a l n e w p a p e r a c c o u n t s a s w e ll a s
d i f f e r e n c e s b e tw e e n i n i t i a l and l a t e r a c o u n t s . T h e s e d if f e r e n c e s
a r e c i t e d a s e v id e n c e t h a t t h e T r e n t s r e a l l y d id n o t w i t n e s s t h e
e v e n t th e y h a v e p o r t r a y e d and a r e t h e r e f o r e r e p o r t in g a ho ax
s t o r y w h ic h t h e y m ade u p b u t f o r g o t L o " c o o r d i n a t e " w i t h e a c h
o th e r. On t h e o t h e r h a n d , i f t h e T r e n t s ' r e p o r t s h a d b e e n I Q O V .
i d e n t i c a l i t i s p r o b a b l e t h a t t h e s e s a m e s k e p t i c s w o u ld p o i n t t o
t h e c o m p le t e c o r r e l a t i o n a s e v i d e n c e o f a h o a x .

I t i s my o p i n i o n t h a t t h e s li g h t d if f e r e n c e s in th e r e p o r t s
o f th e o r ig in a l s ig h t in g ca n b e a t t r ib u t e d to th e f a c t s th a t th e
T r e n t s w e re in t e r v ie w e d a f t e r a b o u t a m o n th h a d p a s s e d , a n d t h a t
t h e m u re d e t a i l e d i n t e r v i e w s (re p o rte d a f t e r th e o r ig in a l
56

I u 1L-|/tiuCii_- KegiHi.'i' a rtic le ? ) we-r*? done tib p a ra te ly (M rs. T ren t ««t

home and Mr- T ren t a t w ork, fo r ex am p le). Two p e o p le n ev er g iv e
iioiiip 1cLt?l y id e n tic a l r e p o r ts of th e same e v e n t. T h e re fo re i t is
n o t s u r p r is in g t h a t th e r e p o r ts sh o u ld d i f f e r . A f u r th e r so u rce
ol d if f e r e n c e s in th e o rig in a l r e p o r ts l i e s in th e f a c t th a t
r e p o r te r s u su al 1 / do n o t r e p o r t e x a c tly what th e y a re to ld by a
w itn e s s . (Even qu o ted s ta te m e n ts a re n o t alw ays c o r r e c t .) A
re p o r t e r r e p o r ts h i s i n t e r p r e t e t i ons of what th e w itn e s s has
s a i d , i n te r p r e te r i o n s which m ight n o t a c c u r a te ly p o rtra y what th e
w itn e s s was try in g to d e s c rib e . F in a lly , a new spaper s to r y i s
u s u a lly e d ite d to m ale i t re ad sm oothly and to f i t i t w ith in a
o e r ta i’n sp a ce . T in s e d itin q may f u r th e r change th e re p o r t by
le a v in g out o r m u d ity in g th e s ta te m e n ts by th e w itn e s s . T hus,
g iv e n th e I a c t t h a t th e T r e n ts ' memory of th e e x a c t e v e n t would
have ‘’faded'* d u rin g th e month b e fo re th ey were in te rv ie w , given
th e tend ency of r e p o r t e r s to w r ite t h e i r i n te r p r e ta t io n s of what
th e w itn e ss h as s a id , and g iv en th e ten d en cy of new papers to e d it
s t o r i e s , i t i s re m a rk a b le t h a t th e r e i s a c o n s id e ra b le
c o n s is te n c y betw een p u b lis h e d v e rs io n s of th e T r e n ts ' r e p o r t.
B e sid es th e c o n s is te n c y in t h e i r v e rs io n s of th e s ig h tin g
i t s e l f , th e re i s a f u r th e r f a c to r w hich m ust be ta k e n in to
acco u n t i f one is to d e c id e w hether or n o t th e p h o to s a re a hoax,
fh a t f a c to r r e l a t e s to th e T re n ts th e m se lv e s: would th ey be
c a p a b le of or l ik e ly to c r e a te such a hoax. In th e t e x t of t h is
p a p e r I have a lre a d y l i s t e d a number of p eo p le who have
in te rv ie w e d th e T re n ts and co n clu d ed th a t i t was u n lik e ly th a t
they hoaxed th e p i c t u r e s . The re a s o n g e n e ra lly g iv e n th«»t they
d id n o t hoax th e p i c t u r e s ‘i s t h a t th ey a re b a s ic a l ly h o n est
p e o p le . T his o p in io n was s ta te d by th e new spaper p e o p le who were
f i r = t in v o lv e d w ith th e s to r y , by th e banker (Wortmann) a t th e
t i me th a t th e p h o to s w ere p u b lis h e d and a g a in many y e a rs l a t e r .
O ther p e o p le who had ta lk e d to th e T re n ts g a in ed th e same
l inpresu) on tin*, lu d m g Mm. H artm ann). As 1 c o n v ersed by phone or
by l e t t e r w ith th e s e p e o p le who had a c tu a lly met th e T re n ts I
d e te c te d an u n d e rc u rrc n t o t o p in io n w hich went beyond sim ply
say in g th a t th ey a re h o n est p e o p le . However, I d id n o t m ention
t h a t u n d ercu rren t, in th e main t e x t of t h i s p aper b e ca u se i t s
im p o rtan ce d id n o t become c le a r to me u n til v ery r e c e n tly <May
lVtW) when 1 had th e good fo r tu n e to be p u t in to u ch w ith a farm
fam ily th a t has been n e ig h o rs of th e T re n ts s in c e th e y moved to
b u y to n , Oregon buck m th e 1950's . T hese p e o p le s ta te d th a t th ey
co u ld n o t remember e it h e r M r.or M rs. T re n t e v e r m en tio n in g th e
p h o to s. The o p in io n which I re c e iv e d from ta lk in g w ith them
re in f o rc e d what I had su sp e c te d from my e a r l i e r in fo rm a tio n : th e
T re n ts a re n o t m e n ta lly C apable of th in k in g of p ro d u c in g a hoax
for any re a s o n , and even i f th e th o u g h t d id c ro s s t h e i r minds
tliey wuuld be to o U c y ‘to c a rry i t o u t s in c e i t would n o t r e l a t e
to any of t h e i r fa m ilia r d a ily a c t i v i t i e s .
W ithout b e in g to o b lu n t, l e t me sim p ly say t h a t th e T re n ts
a re n e ith e r p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t e l l i g e n t n o r c le v e r . I remember t h a t
in one c o n v e rs a tio n 1 had w ith M rs. T re n t I was try in g to fin d
o u t which way sh e was fa c in g when sh e was lo o k in g a t th e o b je c t.
She c o u ld n 't remember which d ir e c tio n was e a s t or w e st. I asked
h e r which d ir e c tio n sh e fa ce d when th e sun came up ^nd h e r
re sp o n se was th a t sht- would have to be th e re < i.e . , a t th e house
froc. of 1W1 CtfOS Conf 57

w here th ey liv e d when th e p h o to s w ere ta k e n ) in o rd e r to be s u re .

When 1 t a i l e d on th e phono w ith M rs. T ren t I found th a t a la rg e
p o rtio n of th e tim e was tak en up in d is c u a s io n s .'o f re c e n t d a ily
L-vWits, <i . e . , th in g s t h a t had happened in th e days o r weeks
b e fo re my phone c a l l s ) , even though 1 re p e a te d ly t r i e d to d ir e c t
th e c o n v e rs a tio n to th e s u b je c t of my i n t e r e s t . 1 conclud ed th a t
th e urtl p ic tu r e s w ere d e f in it e l y n o t tile m ost im p o rta n t e v e n t in
t h e i r l iv e s . My o p in io n wat. su p p o rte d very s tr o n g ly by .th e
n e ig h b o rs. .
ft-_ I d is c u s se d th e T re n ts w ith t h e i r n e ig h b o rs I was
rem inded of a sta te m e n t by D ill P o w ell, th e r e p o r te r who f i r s t
in te rv ie w e d them . 1 ask ed i t he th o u g h t th e T re n ts could have
housed th e p h o to s and h is answer was no , "t h e y 'r e to o s tu p id to
p e r p e tr a te a hoa:.. " In « s im ila r v e in , A rth u r F ry e r, th e r e t i r e d
s c ie n c e te a c h e r who v i s it e d th e T re n ts a t my r e q u e s t, when asked
ab o u t th e p o s s i b i l i t y of a hoa>: , s a id "I c a n 't b e lie v e th a t th e s e
p e o p le would have th e m ental c a p a c ity to f ig u re ways of fo o lin g
anybody. 1 r e a l l y th in k a p h o to of Paul w ou ld 'b e q u ite ,
con v i o c i n g ."
T h is “d isc o v e ry " of th e T r e n ts ' m ental c a p a c i ty .. .o r lac k of
s =iiiit.-. . .p ro v id e s f u r th e r e v id en c e t h a t th e y were t e l l i n g th e
tr u th . I would suijyiiat t h a t any s k e p tic who i s s e r io u s about
d is p ro v in g th e T r e n ts ' r e p o rt m ust do more than com pare and
c o n tr a s t new spaper s t o r i e s and in fo rm a tio n g ain ed from l a t e r
in te rv ie w s . The slo p t i c m ust o b ta in o p in io n s from p e o p le ,
p re f e r a b ly p r o f e s s io n a ls , who know th e T re n ts w ell as to w hether
o r n o t a hoax i s c o n s is te n t w ith th e l i f e h is to r y of th e T re n ts .
H th e p h o to s w ere hoaxed th e s e o p in io n s sh o u ld show c o n c lu s iv e ly
th a t th e T re n ts have th e m ental c a p a c ity and th e w ill to produce
0 huci?: i f th ey so d e s ir e d . W ithout such a o p in io n s it,, i s u s e le s s
to c o n tin u e th e d is c u s s io n of how th e hoax was c a r r ie d o ff and
how th e T re n ts managed to co n v in c e so many p e o p le .
ir» c lo s in g X would l i f e to p o in t out th a t f u r th e r re s e a rc h
c o u id be done oil l h i s c a s e , a lth o u g h I d o n 't in te n d to c o n tin u e .
One co u ld se a rc h th ro u g h lo c a l new spapers to lo c a te a ll of th e
iiews s t o n e s th a t w ere w r itte n in th e weeks a f t e r th e p u b lic a tio n
ut th e p h o to s. A ccording to an a r t i c l e in th e M cM innville
new spaper on Ju n e lb , lS'bO, th e T re n ts w ere " b e sie g e d w ith
r e p o r t e r s and cam eram en." The s t o r i e s w ritte n by a ll of th e s e
r e p o r t e r s m ust r e s id e somewhere in new spaper a rc h iv e s ,
b e s id e s doing h i s t o r i c a l r e s e a r c h , i t would a ls o be v a lu a b le to
1lite r vi s-w a number ui p e o p le who have known th e T ren ts fo r y e ars
in o rd e r to co m p ile a i i f e h is to r y of th e T re n ts . B ecause of th e
r e s u l t s ot my own c o n s id e ra b le e f f o r t s in t h i s c a s e I would be
g r e a tly s u r p r is e d i f f u r th e r h i s t o r i c a l re s e a rc h o r f u r th e r
s tu d ie s of th e IrtiiL u would p ro d u ce any in fo rm a tio n th a t is
n o tic e a b ly d i f f e r e n t from what 1 have a lre a d y le a rn e d .
b u t , i f someone sh o u ld u n d e rta k e such a s tu d y I would be
i n te r e s t e d in knowing th e r e s u l t s .
 (_n
CC

6 HUNTERLOCATION
7 nOTHER/DAUGHTER LOCATION
6 PETRO-CHErt HANLOCATION
9 , JO,11 LOCATION OF OTHER WITNESSES
 Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf.
M
EDICA
LIN
JU
RIESRESU
LTIN
G
FROMAUFOEN COUN
TER
JOHNSCHUESSLER
A number of people sighted the large
glowing UFO over east Texas on December 29,
1960; however, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum,
and Vickie's grandson Colby Landrum became
involved in a close encounter of the worst
kind. Their frightening experience has sig ni­
ficantly changed th e ir liv e s.
The evening began quite casually when
Betty and Vickie decided to turn a rent­
paying trip into something more entertaining
by seeking a bingo game in New Caney, a small
town to the west of th eir homes in Dayton,
Texas. When they got there, they found that
the games had been cancelled because of the
Christmas holidays. To prevent the evening
from being a to ta l loss, they decided to have
dinner at the truck stop in New Caney. Actu-
tually, only Betty and Colby had a meal;
Vickie had a cup of coffee.
When they le f t the truck stop, Betty was
driving the 1900 Oldsmobile C utlass. Vickie
was riding in the rig h t hand passenger seat
and Colby was between them. The night was
quite chilly and they found i t necessary to
have the car heater on and the windows
closed. E arlier in the evening, they had
encountered some lig h t misty rain; however,
when they le ft the truck stop about 8:30
p.m., the sky was relativ ely clear and the
rain had stopped.
59
In itia lly , th eir trip through the southern
tip of the east Texas Piney Woods was
uneventful. They drove casually and chatted
about the holiday events and the new
restaurant that Betty was planning to open in
a few days. The f ir s t clue th at something
was wrong came when they observed a large
lig h t above the pine trees some distance
ahead. Although the ligh t was extremely
bright, they dismissed i t as an airplane
enroute to Houston Intercontinental Airport
and continued th eir drive back to Dayton.
When they rounded a curve and entered a
long straig h t stretch of Highway FM 1405,
they again saw the bright lig h t. This time
i t approached the road and seemed to flo at
down into the opening between the trees
caused by the path of the highway. At f ir s t
Betty had no intention of stopping the car on
th at desolate highway, but the object began
belching flames downward towards the road.
Vickie screamed for Betty to stop, fearing
they would be burned aliv e. Measurements
taken during the post-sighting investigation
showed th eir location to be about 130 feet
from the strange c ra ft.
At th is point they were a ll very
frightened. Betty said, "I was lite ra lly
h o rrified ." Vickie, being a God-fearing
woman, thought she was having a religious
experience—witnessing the end of the world
Highway FM 1485 Alan Holt standing 133 ft.
Scene of Dec. 29, 1900 from the witnesses to mark
Cash/Landrum UFO Incident the location of the UFO

Illu stra tio n of UFO shaped object with fire

made by Colby Landrum, at the bottom, glow at
using a L ite-B rite toy both sides, and one
set. Shows diamond­ helicopter at top right,
January 1981
 o
at

A rtist's sketch of UFO

and helicopters by
Kathy Schuessler

CH-47 Chinook helicopter

from Ellington Air Force
Base, Houston
 Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf.
and the coming of C hrist. She consoled
seven-year-old Colby by saying, ’’Colby, ju st
don’t be afraid . That’s Jesus. He’s coming
out of the sky. When you see th is big, big
man, you’re gonna know h e's Jesus. He w ill
not hurt us." That didn’t help; Colby was
s ti ll te rrifie d .
Escape was impossible. The highway
shoulders were soggy and wet, so pulling the
car off the narrow two-lane highway would
mean they would be stuck there for the night.
There were no other cars in sig ht, but the
UFO lighted the area like daylight. Since
they could not get away, they decided to step
out of the car for a b etter look.
At f ir s t Betty stood by the door and gazed
at the UFO. Then she walked forward to the
front of the car for a closer inspection.
Vickie ju st stood in the doorway, staring.
She didn't want to miss a second of th is
important event. Colby was so te rrifie d that
he was screaming and tugging at his grand­
mother. As he became more fra n tic , Vickie
feared he would break away and run into the
woods. To prevent th is , she rejoined Colby
in the car and trie d to comfort him while
keeping her eyes on the burning sight ju st
ahead.
The UFO appeared to be as large as the
Dayton city water tower and dull m etallic
silver in color. The unusual aspect of the
thing was its diamond shape. Small blue
ligh ts ringed the center and the points of
the diamond seemed to be cut o ff. The lig h t
from the object was intense and l i t the whole
area. Interm ittently, fire blasted downward
from the bottom point of the diamond.
Vickie described the flame as being like
the intensity of Shuttle rocket exhaust, but
i t flared outward to form a large cone. The
heat was intense. Both women could feel
their faces being burned. The car warmed so
rapidly th at i t became hot to the touch. As
Vickie leaned forward to peer out the front
window, her hands grabbed the padded dash
area which molded to the shape of her
fingers. The im prints are s t i l l there. When
Betty returned to the car, she found i t
necessary to use her leather coat as a hot
pad to prevent burning her fingers on the
door handle.
The UFO would s e ttle toward the road every
time the flame ceased, then would move upward
61
a few feet when the flame blasted again. The
action was repeated over and over for nearly
ten minutes. All the while, the brightness
of the huge diamond never changed.
Then, with one fin al b last of flame and
heat, the UFO started to move away. The
flames stopped, but the object climbed slowly
and steadily into the night sky. As i t
cleared the tree tops, helicopters rushed in
from a ll directions, darting around as if
part of a major m ilitary maneuver.
As soon as 8 etty ’s eyes became accustomed
to the dark, she started the- car’s engine and
sped on homeward. Trees blocked any further
view of the object in th at area. After
driving along the curving road for about five
minutes, they arrived a t the intersection of
FM 1485 and FM 2100. When they turned onto
FN 2100, a wide and more heavily traveled
highway, they could again see the UFO and the
helicopters. This time they were able to
pull to the side of the highway, where they
counted up to 23 helicopters. The lig h t from
the UFO illum inated each helicopter so that
i t was clearly observable. Many of the h e li­
copters were of the large, double rotor type,
la te r iden tified as the Boeing CH-47 Chinook.
One of these huge machines was only a short
distance from the car and the noise was
deafening.
Driving again, Betty followed along behind
the spectacle in the sky u n til she came to a
road th at would take them back to Oayton.
Even a fte r they had turned away, they could
s t i l l see the object through the rear window
of the car for several more minutes. The
incident had lasted a t lea st 20 minutes, but
that was only the beginning.
Betty dropped Vickie and Colby a t th eir
house a t 9:50 p.m. and went to her own home
where her friend Wilma and three others were
waiting for her. By that time, Betty didn’t
feel well. She had a sp littin g headache and
f e lt nauseated. All she wanted to do was s it
quietly in a chair u n til the bad feeling
passed, but th at was not to be. Soon large
knots formed on her neck and scalp and her
skin started to redden. As the hours passed,
B etty's eyes swelled closed, the knots turned
into b lis te rs , she vomited sporadically and
developed severe diarrhea. By the next morn­
ing, B etty’s condition had deteriorated to
the point th at her friends were afraid she
would die.
 62 Schuessler

Vickie and Colby also fe lt the conse­

quences of their exposure, but to a lesser
extent. They appeared to have a very bad
sunburn, coupled with stomach cramps, vomit­
ing, and diarrhea. During the next several
days, Vickie used several bottles of baby oil
to tre a t the burned condition experienced by
Colby and herself.
On December 31, B etty's friends summoned
Vickie to look a t Betty, as she remained
semi-conscious. They a ll agreed that Betty
should be moved to Vickie's house where she
could be helped. However, obtaining help for
a UFO victim is sometimes nearly impossible.
For Betty the situation was even worse for
two reasons. This was a holiday period and
most local doctors had no in te re st in seeing
unfam iliar p atien ts, especially ones claiming
burns from a UFO. In addition, Betty had
previously been a heart patient and few doc­
tors wanted to assume the risk involved in
dealing with the unknown status of her heart
condition. To make things more complicated,
Betty was barely conscious and to ta lly unable
to identify her cardiologist.
Vickie, fru strated by the doctors' lack of The observable medical effects are many
concern, continued to look a fte r Betty. Each and varied. The more pronounced problems are
time food or drink was offered, Betty would summarized in Table I. At f ir s t look, it
reject i t and appeared to grow weaker. In would seem that no one type of exposure could
one fin al attempt to find help, Vickie went cause such radical re su lts. However, the
to the local druggist and pleaded with him Mutual UFO Network radiology consultant re­
to look through his prescription records for viewed the medical records and the observable
the name of B etty's cardiologist. Armed with effects and concluded: "UJe have strong
that information, Vickie made one telephone evidence that these patients have suffered
call and got instructions about taking Betty damage secondary to ionizing radiation. It
to the Parkway Hospital emergency room is also possible that there was an infrared
immediately. or u ltra -v io let component as well." This
means that the symptoms liste d in Table I
By the time Betty entered Parkway on Janu­ could have been caused by ionizing radiation
ary 3, she was losing large patches of skin, plus u ltrav io let and infrared radiation.
her hair was fallin g out in large clumps, and
she was weak and unable to walk. After 12 Other mechanisms could explain some of the
days in the hospital, Betty went home, effec ts. An acid atmosphere caused by a hot
although she had shown l i t t l e improvement. exhaust interacting with a polluted atmos­
Her condition continued to deteriorate u n til phere could cause a variety of skin condi­
she returned to the hospital for another 15 tions; however, the weather on December 29
days. does not favor th is solution. Local inflam­
matory changes and severe feb rile reactions
Vickie and Colby were also having troubles could cause some of the problems, but they
during the days following the incident. After too could occur in association with radio­
two or three weeks, th eir stomach cramps and derm atitis secondary to ionizing radiation.
diarrhea became less of a problem; however, Finally, some of the conditions could be
th eir skin sores and eye damage persisted. caused by emotional d istre ss.
 Proc. of 1581 CUFOS Conf. 63

TABLE I
Condition Betty Vickie Colby
Reddening of the skin (erythema) X X X
Eyes swollen, watery, painful X X X
Edema of the eyelids X X X
Stomach pains X X X
Loss of appetite (anorexia) X X X
Diarrhea X X X
Vision impairment X severe X
Cataracts X
Hair loss 40$ minor
B listers
Vomiting UoD
gross
X
medium
X
minor
X
Shedding of the n ails (onychomadesis] X X
Hair regrowth of a differen t texture X X
Lethargy X X X
Skin scarring X X minor

There are no existing te sts th at w ill
identify the specific type of radiation that
was inflicted upon these witnesses. In fa ct,
radiation experts often do not agree between
themselves as to the lim its or extent of
physical injury due to radiation exposure.
For example, one government expert said:
"Because these people have lived past six
months and some of the symptoms have been
caused by other factors, you cannot prove
they were exposed to ionizing or non-ionizing
radiation
A non-government radiation expert stated:
"Any amount of radiation can cause cellu lar
damage. Most c ells may go undamaged; however,
some w ill be k illed and others mutated." The
long-range outcome of th at damage is unde­
fined and is a basis for the Nuke/No-Nuke
debate that continues in the United States.
I t is not necessary for the source and
type of radiation to remain a mystery in th is
particular case. Each of the witnesses
reported a large number of helicopters flying
in the area and around the UFO. They
provided sketches and la te r selected a t least
one set of photographs from documents con­
taining sketches and pictures of various
helicopter types. They were the large twin-
rotor CH-47, manufactured by the Boeing Com­
pany, Merto l D ivision, and commonly known as
the Chinook. The smaller type of helicopter
also seen th at night could not be positively
id en tified , but had only a single rotor on
top.
Researcher Allan Hendry was commissioned
by the Fund for UFO Research to attempt to
find the source of the helicopters, but a fte r
numerous telephone c a lls he concluded that
there were no helicopters in the Houston area
th at night. He proposed th at th is was a type
of war game where a VTOL Harrier a irc ra ft was
participating in an electronic counter­
measures exercise, being pursued by helicop­
te rs . Physicist Alan Holt of Project VISIT
in Houston checked with the U.S. Marine Corps
and found they could account for a ll of th eir
H arriers on December 29 a t locations other
than Houston.
Most m ilitary in sta llatio n s powered down
for the Christmas holidays and flew very few
missions, except for reserve in sta llatio n s
where th e ir p ilo ts were trying to f u lf ill
th e ir flig h t time requirements during these
year-end holidays. One sig nifican t helicopter
operation took place at Gray Air Force Base
near K illeen, Texas, where more than 100
helicopters came in from the fie ld "for
e ffec t." Other activ ity was noted a t some
small and generally unknown locations in
Texas and Louisiana.
64
Vickie Landrum and
Colby Landrum,
July 1901
Project VISIT investigators Dave Kissin­
ger, Don Tucker, and B ill Eatwell located one
credible witness to the helicopter a ctiv ity
near Crosby, a small east Texas town along
the projected UFO/helicopter flig h t path.
They also located other people that saw the
UFO for as long as one-and-a-half hours
before i t burned Betty, Vickie, and Colby. In
addition, a policeman and a s h e riff's deputy
vowed they too had seen the helicopters.
Researchers have offered three possible
hypotheses for the helicopters near Huffman,
Texas, that chilly winter night:
(1) The helicopters were either imagined
or were UFOs disguised as helicopters
(2) They were part of a classified m ili­
tary operation, in which case the
U.S. government is liable for damages
(3) The helicopters were part of a UFO
intercept, perhaps to protect the
evidence if the troubled craft had
crashed
The votes are not a ll in yet, but a Houston
physician said, "The truth in th is case is
probably stranger than fictio n ."
Curiously enough, the victims are as
concerned about future UFO burn victims as
they are for themselves. The tongue-in-cheek
attitu d e of media people, doctors, and p o li­
tician s made th eir task of obtaining help
fru stratin g and frightening. The f ir s t help
Schuessler
Betty Cash (in wig),
June 1901
Vickie received was when she contacted the
Dayton police chief and he gave her a UFO
hotline telephone number for Robert Gribble
in S eattle. Mr. Gribble immediately turned
the information over to the Mutual UFO Net­
work, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organiza­
tion, and the Center for UFO Studies, all
reliab le organizations dedicated to helping
the public.
When Betty and Vickie contacted their
congressman, th eir fru stration was
heightened. All they received in return was
a form le tte r tellin g about the now defunct
Air Force project to log UFO reports and a
suggestion that they contact a cult group in
C alifornia. The m ilitary helicopter opera­
tions were completely ignored. Ellington Air
Force Base had nothing to offer even though
they fly CH-47 helicopters.
NASA provided the most assistance. Their
representative listened courteously as Betty
told about the incident and the helicopters,
then suggested she contact John Schuessler
for follow-up. At that point help was on the
way. Later Vickie said, "If i t hadn't been
for Mr. Holt and Mr. Schuessler, I think I
would have gone crazy." She wants to be sure
that help is available to future victims,
without fear of ridicule or censorship.
Especially important is the attitu d e of
medical people and th eir preparation for
treatment of UFO-induced in ju ries.
Vickie Landrum
showing eye irrita tio n ,
February 1981

Vickie Landrum's hand

showing sores and scarring,
June 1981
 Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf.
I/,<•*•/*'
£&*****'
u ft u ..j - r .t. «,

Colby Landrum shouting

small spot of hair loss,
July 1981 CTl
Cl
66 Schuessler

DISCUSSION

?? Was there any cardiac change as a result of this incident?

S. The best we can determine is no. Betty's heart report was 100%. She was in
good shape from that. The doctor has examined her extensively, fearing something .
might go wrong, and could determine no degradation as a result. Most of her ef­
fects were external, skin-type of effects, except for the headache and intestinal-
tract effect. From the heart, the blood system was apparently unaffected.
?? Did you consider effects of non-ionizing radiation as well as ionizing radiation?
S. W e have looked at that, and some of the effects could be duplicated by non-ionizing
radiation. They could also be duplicated by chemical reaction as well. We looked
at all these things, but it's our opinion at this time, that it was probably a combi­
nation. In talking to the experts involved, Dr. Rank and others, it appears to be
a combination of several types of radiation—a broad band.
?? Have you considered microwave radiation as a possible cause of these health problems?
S. Well, I think that the possibility of microwave is high, not only because of the
cataract growth, though the lady is of the age that she might have cataracts anyhow.
Quite possibly she could have had a cataract problem before this. The thing that
we're looking for now is a rapid change in the cataract.
Asecondary thing that could be caused by exactly what you're saying is the heating
of the car. Remember, the car became extremely hot, hot to the touch. [Comfortable]
touch temperature by our NASAscale is 109°v Anything above 109° is uncomfortable
to the skin, [producing] a burning feeling, so we figured it was above 109°.
?? Could possibly the heating of the car have caused some vaporization of materials
within the car?
SW e have considered that, too, but there are a couple of problems with that. Most of
the products within the car require temperatures of 200° or more to vaporize. W e
don't believe it got that hot because it would have been almost unbearable for them
to breathe in it, first of all. Secondarily, a temperature of , say 120° inside a
car in Houston, Texas is not uncommon in the summertime. So if it was 120°, this
car had been sitting in that kind of temperature all summer. It had had a lot of
bakeout, in other words, a lot of stabilization of materials. So we could, again,
bracket the temperature as not beyond what they could breathe and continue to
breathe satisfactorily and not affect their bronchial tracts.
?? Did you consider the possibility of food poisoning?
S Yes, that's always a possibility, and we checked that one; in fact that was one of
the first vc checked. Knowing that Betty is a restaurateur (she ran a restaurant
and was going to open a bigger one), we tracked back to see if they had any common
food that day. The last thing that they had to eat was at a truck stop in New
Cayney at 8:30 p.m. Betty had bacon and eggs and coffee, Vicki had only coffee
and Colby had a dessert--no comiality in food whatsoever. And earlier in the day
it was the same--they aren't even together earlier in the day. The effects were
so prolonged over weeks and even months that we don't believe it could have been
food poisoning.
?? Is legal action being considered?
9roc. of 19S1 CufOS Conf. 67

S. The answer is yes. The la d ie s are c o n s id e rin g legal a c tio n ; th e y 'v e been
instructed by S e nato r Tower and S e n ato r Benson to t a l k to th e Judge-Advocate-
General ot th e U .S . A ir Force in TExas. T h e y 'v e done th a t, th e y 'v e met w ith
him to r e c e iv e th e fo r m s . Th e MUFON l a w y e r . B i l l S k e d d , is h e l p in g th em to
f i l l o u t th e fo r m s and p u t th e p r o p e r m a t e r i a l t o g e t h e r , and t h e y w i l l f i l e
a c la im a g a in s t th e U .S . g o vernm ent.

?? H a v e t h e r e b e e n a n y c o r r e l a t i o n s b etw een rep orts from Lou F a r is h 's c lip p in g

s e r v ic e and t h i s case?

S. W e 've got very lit tle of *h a t we c o n s i d e r fa c tu a l in fo rm a tio n , but one good

th in g th e c l i p p i n g s d i d t e l l us was t h a t t h e r e w e r e s e v e r a l o th er sig h tin g s
th at d ay, and t h e d a y b e f o r e , a s f a r aw ay as K e n t u c k y . So we c a n t r a c k
d ia m o n d -s h ap e d o b je c ts in several oth e r areas, w hich is very in te re s tin g .

?? How many s p e c ia li s t s d id B e tt y see in th e h o s p ita l, vrfiat about her headaches,

and h o w much a r e h e r b ills ?

S. Her b i l l s are ru n n in g som ething lik e $ 1 0 -1 2 ,0 0 0 so f a r . I have had a ll o f her

m ed ica l re c o rd s I can g e t--a n d th a ’ s not a ll o f th e m --r e le a s e d to me. We h a v e
hopes of more c om ing. I have an ite m ize d statem ent o f every b it o f m ed icin e or
tre atm e n t th a t she had taken d u rin g h o s p ita 1iza tio n . Part o f th e lis t: she
saw seven d iffe re n t s p e c ia lis ts ra nging fro m d e rm a to lo gis ts to ra dio th e rap y
sp e c ia lis ts to in te rn is ts , her c a rd io lo g is t, O r. Sheney, and o th e rs. The
h e a d a c h e s were t o t a l - h e a d h e a d a c h e s ; t h e y w e r e n 't lo c a liz e d at any one p o i n t - -
h e r h e a d was j u s t s p l i t t i n g . T h e r e was no way o f se e in g , fe e lin g or a n yth in g
e lse but th e headache. *

There was o n e o t h e r p o i n t 1 m i s s e d when I d e sc ribe d her r e a c tio n . When

she was i n fr o n t o f th e c a r a n d 's h e c o u ld hear t h i s b e e p in g in h e r h e a d , she
s a id it got to th e p o in t th at it gave her an earache, and she had never had
an e a r a c h e . It a c tu a lly p h ys ic a lly hurt her ears. She th ought th at wa s a
ve ry strange re a c tio n .

?? D id she see an ear s p e c ia lis t?

S. There was not an ear s p e c ia lis t c a lle d in , and th a t's part of th e p ro b le m .

One th in g th a t we want to make come out of th is , if p o ssib le , is to come up
w ith a f a m i 1 i a r i z a t i o n o f m e d i c a l p e o p l e w i t h U FO c a s e s , so t h a t t h e y c a n be
more p ro p e rly in ve s tig a te d T h e y d i d s u c h t h i h g s a s m airm ogram s, y o u k n o w ,
th at re a lly had no re la tio n to th e case, but th e y w a nted to see if th e re was
so m e p o s s ib ility th a t th a t wa s causing some o f th e p ro b le m s. They ran a lot
o f t e s t s , C A T s c a n s a n d o t h e r s , b u t som e o f th e th in g s th e y c o u ld have done
th e y d i d n 't do. And th a t is one th in g th a t B e t t y and V i c k i have b o th asked
th a t we b rin g fo rth --th a t some th in g s were not asked about. They w ould lik e
fo r fu tu re people [ w itn e s s e s /vic tim s j to have th e rig h t te s ts run q u ic k ly
and im m e d ia te ly , th en th e y would be more he lp .

?? Were th ere any abnorm a1 i t i e s in th e b lo o d c o u n t, p a rtic u la rly th e w h ite

b lo o d c e lls ?

S. T h a t's a hard q u e stio n to answ er. Th a t’ s th e la rg e st part o f th e records

th a t we’ ve been u n ab le to have re le ase d. We ta lk e d to th e c a rd io lo g is t
who s a id th at B e tty showed a standard a ne m ic re a c tio n th a t c o u ld be expected
from a person th a t had had a heart bypass o p e ra tio n som e tim e b e fo re , so
th e re was some d iffe re n c e in what you would expect in your b lo o d and in her
b lo o d . But as to th e basic record, w e 've o n ly g o tte n a co u ple or th re e of
68 Schu<it la­

th e t e s t s r e l e a s e , and n o t th e w h o le s e rie s . And th a t is o f som e c o n c e r n

to us. Fro m what w e 'v e been t o l d b y th e d o c t o r s , th e r e were no more a b n o rm a l­
itie s , but we h a v e n 't re a lly seen th a t fo r sure. We’ re hoping to have fu rth e r
te s ts run on th e se p e o p le , by th e way.

?? W e r e t h e r e m o r e d a m a g e s t o t h e u p p e r p a r t o f t h e b o d y o r t o t h e lo w e r part of
th e b o d y , because o f th e p r o te c tio n o f th e c a r and th e lik e ?

S. W ith V icki o u ts id e th e c ar, as she stood w it h in th e d o o rw a y , her to p h a lf ex­

p o s e d and h e r head on o r a b o ve th e c a r , she hadm ore f a c e and head ty p e damage,
and on h e r h a n d s and a rm s. T h e re w ere n o t t o o m any s o re s on th e lo w e r p a r t o f
her body. B e t t y , on th e o t h e r h a n d , sto o d f i r m l y in f r o n t o f th e c a r . She
had w hole-body sores. She had b lis te rs on her le g s th a t were covered by lo n g
p ants, sim ila r to what she had on her head, b u t n o t as great. She had large
b u lb o u s sores come o n to her head; her neck sw e lle d . Tier kids d id n 't recognize
her in th e h o s p ita 1--it was th a t bad. And in fa c t, I'v e got a statem ent from her
b ro th e r-in law th at "I went to th e h o spita l to see her, but I d id n 't get very
c lo s e to h e r ," lik e " I 'm not sure w h a t's w rong w ith th a t la d y!"

Because of the time that has elapsed between the Conference and the
publications of the P r o c e e d i n g s , an account of the events subsequent to the
sighting seemed both possible and desirable.
M.H., Ed.

As B e tty Cash and Vickie Landrum began to recover som ewhat fr o m 't h e effe c ts o f th e ir
exposure to th e o b j e c t th e y so u g h t h e lp from v a r io u s g o ve rn m e n ta l a g e n c ie s . Telephone c a lls
to l o c a l o f f i c i a l s and m i l i t a r y i n s t a l l a t i o n s w ere f u t i l e . They c o u ld fin d no one w i l li n g
to lis te n to th e ir c o m p la in t or su p p ly w o rth w h ile in fo rm a tio n . F in a lly , on May 31, 1981
th e C e n te r fo r UFO S tu d ie s suggested th at th e vic tim s c o n tac t th e ir Se nato rs John Tower
and Llo yd B entsen in W a sh in g to n , D .C .

In Ju ly bo th S e n a to rs sent id e n tical le tte rs d e sc ribin g th e ir c o n ve rs a tio n s w ith rep­

r e s e n ta t iv e s o f th e D epa rtm e n t o f D e fe n s e , and su g g e ste d th a t th ey c o n ta c t th e Judge Advo­
c a te C la im s O f f i c e r a t B e rg stro m A i r Fo rc e Base, A u s tin , T e x a s , where th e y c o u l d f i l e an
o ffic ia l report and s u b m it a c la im .

In August th ey d rove to B erg strom and met w ith several A ir Force la w ye rs, who q u e s tio n e d
them about th e d e ta ils o f th e in cid e n t and recorded th e w hole p roceed ing s. At th e end of th e
m e e tin g th ey w ere g ive n b la n k fo rm s and to ld " if th e y c o u ld fin d a law yer th at w ou ld help them"
th ey sh o u ld su b m it an o ffic ia l c la im to th e U .S . governm ent fo r th e in ju rie s th ey had sus- .
ta in e d . A b o u t th e same tim e New Y o rk a t t o r n e y P e t e r G e rs te n c a l le d to v o l u n t e e r h is services
in th e c a s e . M rs. Cash and M rs. La n d ru m w elcom ed h is a s s i s t a n c e and p r o v id e d th e in fo rm a tio n
necessary fo r su b m itta l o f th e c la im .

Because o f a C o n g re ss io n a l in q u iry (w h ic h was its e lf stim u la te d by th e p u b lica tio n of

several m a ga zine a rticle s and a te le vis io n program ) th e A ir Fo rc e began a cursory in ve s tig a tio n
in to th e a lle g a tio n th at A ir Force h e lic o p te rs may have been in vo lve d 1n th e In c id e n t of
Dec. 29, 1 9 8 0 . it T h i s was soon te rm in ate d a fte r th e d is c o v e ry th a t th e A ir Force does not
operate tw in rotor h e lic o p te rs .

N e xt, th e D e pa rtm e n t o f th e Arm y In sp e c to r G eneral a ssign e d L t. C o lo n e l George Sarran

to th e case and fie c o n d u c t e d a fa ir ly e xte n sive in v e s tig a tio n . He s t r e s s e d t h a t th e Arm y
had no in te re s t in th e o b je c t , b u t was c o n c e r n e d a b o u t th e a l l e g a t i o n t h a t A m \ y h e l i c o p t e r s
were in vo lve d . L t. C o l. Sarran made numerous telephone c a lls to many m ilita ry and c iv il
a g e n c ie s as p a r t o f h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n w i t h o u t s u c c e s s . These in c lu d e d ta lk s " w ith M ajo r
D e n n is H a ir e lo c a l commander f o r e i g h t C h in o o k Te x a s N a t io n a l Guard h e lic o p te rs sta tio n e d
at Ellin g to n A i r F o r c e B a s e , s o u t h o f H o u s t o n ; a n d w i t h C W4 G u s t o f s o n , s e n i o r A S T f o r s e v e n |
Arm y R e s e rv e Huey h e l i c o p t e r s s t a t i o n e d a t Toinball c i v i l i a n a i r f i e l d n o r t h w e s t o f H o u s t o n ..."
 Proc. of 1MI CtfOS Conf. 69

On May 2 6 , 1982, L t. C o l. Sarran vis ite d th e Houston area fo r an o n -site in ve s tig a tio n .
He i n t e r v i e w e d th e vic tim s, th e in ve stig a to rs and some o f th e w itn esses. One o f th e w it­
nesses was a D a y t o n p o l i c e o f f i c e r who h a d s t a t e d t h a t he a n d h i s w ife a ls o s p o t te d more .
than 12 o f th e C h in o o k -t y p e h e l i c o p t e r s in th e H u ffm a n a re a t h a t n ig h t. T h e p o li c e m a n was
fa m ilia r w ith th e h e lic o p te rs because he had flo w n in th at model w h ile in m ilita ry se rvice .

The co n clu sio n o f L t . C o l. S a r r a n 's report is as fo llo w s :

Ms. L a n d r u m a n d M s. C a s h w e r e c r e d i b l e . The D AIG i n v e s t i g a t o r f e l t ( f o u r lin e s c e n s o re d ).

The po lic e m an and h is w i f e w ere a ls o c r e d i b l e w itn e s s e s . T h e re was no p e r c e p t io n t h a t
anyone was t r y i n g to e x a g g e r a t e th e t r u t h . A l l in te rv ie w e e s were e x tre m e ly c o o p e ra tiv e
and e a g e r to be h e l p f u l i n any m anner. Th rough th e c o u rse o f in q u ir y th e D AIG in v e s t-
g a to r tr ie d to c o n c e n tra te on a n y re a s o n o r a n y o n e o r o r g a n i z a t i o n w h ic h m i g h t have b e e n 1
flyin g h e lic o p te rs th at p a rtic u la r even in g in th at general area. There was no evidence
presented th a t w ould in d ic a te th at Arm y, N a tio n a l Guard, or Arm y Reserve h e lic o p te rs
were in v o l v e d .

Through atto rn e y Peter G ersten th e y file d a c la im , w hich alle ge d governm ent in vo lve m e n t
because th e h e lic o p te rs d e scribe d by th e fitn e s se s w ere o f a ty p e used o n ly by th e m ilita ry .
Th e c l a i m was re je c te d , as was th e ap p eal. They w ere to ld th en th at th ey c o u ld sue th e U .S .
governm ent in Federal C ourt. A g a in , th e y fo llo w e d in stru c tio n s and file d a c iv il a c tio n in
th e U . S . D is tric t C ourt, S o u th e rn D is tric t o f Texas, H ouston, Texas.

T h e ir c o n te n tio n was th at th ey had been w ronged, p h y s ic a lly in ju re d , w h ile d rivin g on a

p ublic th o ro u g hfare . The governm ent was at fa u lt because th e ir In ju rie s w ere su s ta in e d w h ile
in c lo s e p ro xim ity o f th e m ilita ry h e lic o p te rs and th e larg e g lo w in g O b je c t, la te r c a lle d a
UFO f o r lack o f a b e tte r term .

The U nited S tate s D is tric Court Docket C all was set fo r Septem ber 3 , 1986. Frank C o n fo rti,
A ssistan t U n ite d S tate s atto rn e y, req uested d is m iss a l or a sum m ary ju d gem ent in favo r o f th e
Un ite d S tate s. The atto rn e y fo r Cash and Landrum re p lie d th a t th e U n ite d State s was not en­
title d to a d is m iss a l. Judge Ross S t e r l in g d id not make a d e cisio n on M r. C o n fo rti's request.
Th e re fo re th e case d id n o t go to t r i a l . ✓

N e a r ly one y e a r l a t e r , on A u g u s t 2 1 , 19 8 6 , Ju d g e S t e r l i n g d is m is s e d th e case on th e b a s is
o f e xp e rt te s tim o n y s u b m itte d by M r. C o n f o r t i. The e x p e r t s , fro m N A S A , th e A rm y * N a vy and
A ir F o rc e , addressed o n ly th e issu e o f w h e th e r o r n o t th e U n ite d S ta t e s owned and o p e r a t e d a
d e v i c e as d e s c r i b e d b y C a s h a n d L a n d r u m a n d s i d e s t e p p e d th e is s u e o f m i l i t a r y h e lic o p t e r s .
Thus J u d g e S t e r l i n g w ill not hear th e evidence th a t B e tty Cash and V ick ie and C o lb y Landrum
wanted to p r e s e n t .

The w itn esses' h e a lth has c o n tin u e d to de te rio ra te . B e tty Cash has been h o s p ita lize d
at least 25 tim e s , has had tw o o p e ra tio n s fo r cancer (a fte r h a vin g shown no p reviou s sig n s
of i t) . She has had b lo o d p ro b le m s , tro u ble w ith her e y e s ig h t. Her h a ir has regrow n, th o u g h
in a d iffe re n t te xtu re , but she is s t ill very weak and has to spend a good deal o f tim e in bed.

Vickie Landrum has had c o n tin u a l-s ic k n e s s fo r several y e a rs , has been s u s c e p tib le to every­
th in g , and alw a ys has sores. Her h a ir has grow n in again in a d iffe re n t te xtu re , but she has
never regained good e y e s ig h t. C o lb y Landrum , a fte r several years o f con tin u ou s sickn e ss and .
c o ld s , as w e ll as w a rts , h a ir lo ss, sores and knots on his knees, has fin a lly begun to show a
fa irly norm al le ve l o f energy, alth o u g h h is grow th has not been at th e expected ra te .

The m ed ica l conclusion as to th e nature of th e ir in ju rie s has been th at io n izin g (n u c le a r)

ra d ia tio n c o u ld account fo r 90% o f th e ir in ju rie s , and n o n -io n izin g (m ic ro w a ve ) ra d ia tio n c o u ld
account fo r another 9%. The source rem ains c o m p le te ly u n id e n tifie d .
70
roc. of mi CufOS Conf. 71

ATESTABLEH YPOTHESIS
FO
RFALLACIO U
SABDUCTIONS:
BIRTHTRAUM
AIM AG ERYINCEIIN ARRATIVES
ALVIN L A W S O N

Those who b e lie ve th a t UFO a b d u c tio n s of p h ys ic a l sym ptom s . . . th a t can be

e late to alie n b e in g s , p a ra lle l u n ive rse s, or in te rp re te d as a d e riv a tiv e of th e b io lo g ­
th er e x o tic o r ig in s w i l l u l t i m a t e l y have to ica l b irth . They also assume postures and
x p la in --a lo n g w ith th e lack o f un a m b ig u o u s move in c o m p le x sequences th a t bear a
h ysical e vid e n c e --w h y in cid e n ts and im ages s trik in g s im ila rity to th o se o f a c h ild
eporLed by a b d u c te e s a re so s i m i l a r to th o se d uring th e va riou s stages of d e liv e r y .'
e p orted in a va rie ty o f o b vio u s ly p s yc h o lo gi-
al processes. These processes or ab d u c tio n G r o f's w ork is of in te re s t to ufo lo g y
nalogs in c lu d e d ru g -in d u c e d h a llu c in a tio n s , because re v iv ifie d BT n a rra tiv e s p rovid e a
ea r-d e a th exp e rie n ce s , re lig io u s and m e t a - re m arka bly e xte n sive c o lle c tio n of a b d u ctio n -
h y s ic a l e c s t a s i e s , sh a m a n s ' t r a n c e s , and p a r - im age p a r a l l e l s . The s tu d y o f th e se p a r a ll e l s
ic u la r ly th e r e v i v i f i c a t i o n o f traum a a s so - w i l l h e l p d e t e r m i n e w h e t h e r we s h o u l d t h i n k o f
iated w ith fe ta l d evelopm ent and b irth . a b d u c tio n s as p s y c h o l o g i c a l ra th e r th an p h ysi­
cal e xp erien ces. A ls o , many of G r o f's sub­
P s y c h ia tris t S ta n is la v G r o f, a fo llo w e r o f je c ts report LSD fa n ta s ie s ce n te rin g on con­
tto Rank w ith years of exp erience in th e ta ct w ith alie n e n titie s from oth e r w o rld s, or
h erapeutic use of LSD, b e lie ve s th at many o f even o th e r d im ensions o r p a r a ll e l u n iv e r s e s .
is p a t i e n t s re live t h e i r own b i r t h traum a (B T) S e ve ra l have s p e c if i c a ll y d e sc rib e d e n c o u n te rs
uring LSD session s {1): w ith "flyin g saucers" and scie n ce fic tio n
ad ve n tu re s s im ila r to T V 's "S ta r Trek" (2 ).
In a way th at is not q u ite c le a r at th e G r o f's fin d in g s seem t o show t h a t U FO n a r r a t i v e
present stage of research, th e su b je c ts ' data are a common p a r t o f p sy c h ia tric th e rap y
exp e rie n ce s seem to be re late d to th e p rogram s where LS D o r o th e r h a llu c in o g e n s are
c irc u m s ta n c e s o f th e b i o l o g i c a l b i r t h . LSD u tilize d , and a r e s u p p o r t e d b y o t h e r r e p o r t s
su b je c ts fre q u e n tly re fe r to th em q u i t e fro m cancer wards th at te rm in al p a tie n ts on
e x p lic itly as re livin g th e ir own b irth c e rta in drug th e rap ie s c o irm o n ly have spontan­
tra u m a . Others re g u larly show th e c l u s t e r eous a b d u c tio n fa n ta s ie s (3 ). Such d a ta appear
 l«*MA
72

to co n tra d ic t B e rth o ld S c h w a rtz's a s se rtio n s a m a trix fo r a fa n ta s ize d a b d u c tio n e x p e ri­

as to th e absence o f U FO -re la te d fa n ta s ie s in ence. W h ile th e r e is a c o n te m p o ra ry tendency
p sy c h ia tric p atie n ts (4 ). to th in k o f th e w hole UFO phenomenon in term s
o f th e e xtra te rre s tria l or o th e r (in c re a sin g ly
G r o f's w ork c o n firm s in part th e re s u lts b iza rre ) hypotheses, th e sm a lle r ab d u ctio n
from our 197? se rie s o f im a g in a ry ab d u c tio n c o m p o n e n t o f t h a t p h e n o m e n o n s e e m s t o me t o be
e xp e rim e n ts (5 ), w hich cast doubt on th e phy­ a psyc hologic al p rocess. It is t h i s view of
sic a l r e a 1 i t y o f C E —I I I events, and on th e a b d u c tio n re p o r t s w hich w i l l be s e t f o r t h in
r e l i a b i l i t y o f a b d u c tio n case data re trie v e d th e fo llo w in g pages.
th ro u gh h yp n o s is . The im ag in ary s e rie s a t­
te m p te d to d is tin g u is h "re a l" C E -IIls from I m u st add a n o te on ttie r e l i a b i l i t y o f
hoaxes and fa n ta s ie s , b u t c o ncluded o n ly th a t, h yp n o s is . D u ring h y p n o t i c - r e g r e s s i o n o f . BT
s i n c e t h e y u t i l i z e d e s s e n t i a l l y i d e n t i c a l im a­ s u b j e c t s and a l l e g e d a b d u c t e e s , i t i s p ro b a b le
g e r y and e v e n t s , one c o u ld n e v e r be c e r t a i n . t h a t d a t a fr o m a t l e a s t t h r e e n o n - B T and fo u r
The p r e s e n t s tu d y e m p h a s ize s th a t BT d a ta can n o n -U F O s o u rc e s may c o r r u p t w i tn e s s e s ' n a r ra ­
be o b t a i n e d th ro u gh h yp n o s is as w e ll as drugs, tive s . A ll' th e m ore reason to interpret
and proposes th at th e e xiste n ce o f BT im ag ery h y p n o t ic a lly d e riv e d "e v id e n c e " w ith c au tion .
in ab d u c tio n n a rra tiv e s p ro vid e s u fo lo g ists
w ith a c rite rio n w hich can h e lp d e te rm in e fa ls e
a b d u c tio n rep orts fro m any th a t may re fle c t
a c tu a l e vents. ’ I
A w ord on th e re lia b ility o f re v iv ifie d The many im ag ery p a ra lle ls am ong abduc­
b irth traum a n a rra tiv e s . A lth o u g h G rof fin ds tio n an a lo g s suggest th a t th e y have a c ommo n
"p e rin a ta l" or b irth -re la te d im agery and e­ source. One of th e most lik e ly sources is th e
vents om n ip resen t in human a ffa irs ( e .g ., in b irth e xp e rie n ce and its a s s o c ia te d tra u m a ,
a n th ro p o lo gy, m yth o lo g y. G e s ta lt and oth e r since b irth is a u n ive rsal p h e n o m e n o n w h i c h is
th e ra p ie s, in itia tio n rite s , and re lig io u s fre e fro m o rd in a ry c u ltu ra l in flu e n c e s and is,
c e r e m o n i e s ) , he c a u t i o n s th a t a "causal nexus" as far a s we k n o w , one o f th e firs t s ig n ific a n t
betw een s p e c ific events o f o n e 's b io lo g ic a l c o n scio u s events e xp erien ced by human be in g s .
b irth and p a rtic u la r im ages has yet to be Grof describes th e fou r p e rin ata l stages as
e s ta b lis h e d . A g a in , G ro f's BT session s c o n ta in "m a tric e s " because he b e lie v e s th at each stage
non-BT data, in c lu d in g h a llu c in a to ry im agery, has m a jo r im p lic a tio n s fo r la te r p e rso n a lity
a u to b io g ra p h ic a l d e ta ils fro m la te r, m em ory, developm ent and b e h a v io r -(6):
and f a n t a s i z e d e x p e r i e n c e s .* These p syc h o lo g ­
ic a l phenomena are r e l a t e d n o t to b i r t h o r to STAGE DES C R IPTIO N TYPIC AL EVENTS
UFOs but to th e c e n t r a l nervous syste m . But it
d o e s n 't m a tte r th at BT sessions are not en­ i P rim a l u nion w ith “ Good" and “ bad”
tire ly fac tu a l so lo n g as th ere are demon­ th e m other womb e x p e r i e n c e s
strab le B T /C E-I1I im age p a r a l l e l s in t h e com ­
p le x o f p s y c h o l o g i c a l p ro c e s s e s w h ic h emerge II Onset of b irth C o n tra c tio n s in a
d u rin g re v iv ific a tio n sessions. p rocess c lo s e d u te rin e
syste m
1b e l i e v e th a t th e many p a r a l l e l s betw een
abductees1 n a rra tiv e s and th e above and oth e r III S yn e rg is m w ith P ro p u lsio n th rou gh
p syc h ologic al processes argue th at a b d u c tio n s th e m other b irth canal
also are m ental ra th e r th an p h ys ic a l exper­
ie n ce s. S in c e a b d u c tio n rep orts sh o w fe a tu re s IV S e p a ra tio n from T e rm in a tio n of th e
o f sequence and stru c tu re w hich seem c o n sis­ th e m other sym b io tic union
te n t w ith m a jo r p e r in a ta l e v e n t s , th e y th e re ­ fo rm atio n o f a ne w
fo re support th e view th at abductees uncon­ re la tio n s h ip
sc io u sly u se c om p on en ts o f th e b ir t h p rocess as
S in c e BT n a r r a t iv e s fro m each sta g e c ontain
*1 u s e th e te rm "b irth traum a", lo o s e ly to re fe r many a b d u c tio n p a r a l l e l s , th e y m e r it exten ded
to th e e n t i r e c o m p le x o f im ag ery (B T, h a llu c i­ d is c u s s io n and a n a l y s i s .
natory. rem em bered, im a g ined ) under d is c u s ­
sio n , a procedure w hich, since it fo llo w s
G ro f’ s data c lo s e ly , seems a p p ro p ria te .
 trac. nl 1M
1 CUFOSCot.f. 73

Some of th e many so lid a b d u c tio n /b irth Th is means th at th ere w ill alw a ys be apparent
trau ma p a ra lle ls are lis te d in th e fo llo w in g n o n -pa tte rn s in a b d u c tio n s , an im p o rta n t fa c t
com p ara tive ta b le of im ages and events chosen fo r in v e s tig a to r s to know. I have in d ic a te d
fro m C E - I I I rep orts and su b je c ts ' n a rra tiv e th e p e rin ata l stages o f a ll p a r a l l e l s b e lo w
d e sc rip tio n s o f G r o f's fo u r p e rin a ta l stages. and some r e p r e s e n t a t i v e ( b u t b y no means a l l )
N o te th at th e c h ro n o lo g ie s of BTs and abduc­ C E-II1 cases w hich d e m o n s tra te them . N o te th a t
t i o n s s e ld o m o b s e r v e t h e same s e q u e n c e . Ra­ I h a v e i n c lu d e d c o n ta c te e s and im a g in a r y a b ­
t h e r , BT s u b j e c t s ju m p b a c k and f o r t h f r o m any d u cte e s along w ith " r e a l " c a s e s . In a d d itio n ,
of the fo u r stages at w ill, ju s t as abductees th ou gh most of th e alleged w itn e s se s in Budd
som etimes r e p o r t e x p e r i e n c i n g th e ir a b d u c tio n s H o p k in s ' recent book, H issin g Tim e (M arek.
in u n iq u e sequences. So w h i l e th e chronology o f 1 9 8 1 ) , appear to be i m a g i n a r y a b d u c t e e s , I h a v e
events in a b d u c t io n s / B T s i s n o t alw ays c o n s is ­ in dic a te d them se p arate ly i y th e a u th o r's
tent w i t h t h a t f o l l o w e d b e l o w , th e s i m i l a r i t y surnam e. A l l th re e g r o u p s - - r e g a r d l e s s o f th e
of im agery and in cid e n ta l d e ta ils is obvious. p h ys ic a l r e a l i t y o f th e ir e x p e rie n c e s --p r o v id e
A ls o , b irth events are so va rio u s and idio syn ­ e s s e n t i a l l y t h e sa m e v i s u a l i m a g e r y a n d e v e n t s
c ra tic th at no tw o BT n a rra tiv e s nor th e as "re a l" C E -IIls , th us su p p ortin g th e th e sis
C E-lils b u i I t u p o n th em w i l l e v e r be i d e n t i c a l . th a t all are re late d to BT e xp eriences.

In a d d i t i o n t o th e a b o ve p a t t e r n s , G r o f ' s ual creature ty p e s . For e xa m ple, one su b je c t

su b je c ts com m only r e p o r t visio n s o f d e itie s fe lt th at he had ac h ie ve d , in th e course of
and o t h e r c r e a t u r e s w hich can be c l a s s i f i e d in " g o o d womb" and " b a d womb" e x p e r i e n c e s (a s G r o f
th e sa me s i x d i s t i n c t t y p e s w h i c h a r e o b s e r v e d term s th e m ), a sudden u n d e rstan d in g of th e
in U T O e n t i t y r e p o r t s . In one BT f a n t a s y , in g e n e s is o f demons from d iv e r s e c u l t u r e s ( 8 ) :
fa c t, a su b je c t d escribed b e in g c o n fro n te d by
no less than five typ e s o f creatures (7 ): The demons su rro u n d in g th e p eac efu l Bud­
dha fig u re on many In d ia n and Tib e ta n
The square was surrounded by G o th ic c ath ­ re lig io u s p a in tin g s appeared to him to be
edral facades and fro m th e statue niches re p re s e n ta tiv e s of va rio u s form s of d is ­
in th e se facades and fro m th e g arg o yle tu rb a n c e s o f th e in t r a u t e r i n e e xiste n ce .
dow nspouts in th e eaves a n im a ls , persons, The s u b je c t c o u ld d is t in g u is h among them
a n im a l-h u m a n c o m b in a tio n s, d e v ils , sp ir- th e b lo o d y , o p e n ly a g g re s s iv e , and fe ro ­
its --a ll th e fig u re s th a t one observes in c io u s ones, sy m b o lizin g th e dangers of
th e p ain tin g s o f H ieroriym ous B o sc h --ca m e b io lo g ic a l b irth ; th e o th e rs, m ore in ­
down f r o m t h e c a th e d ra ls in to th e square sid io u s and lu rkin g , re p re se nte d th e nox­
and m oved in on me. ious in flu e n c e s in th e in tra u te rin e life .

Fiv e of th e six UFO e n tity c la sse s are The "good womb" and "bad womb" e xp e ri­
described here e x p lic itly : human ( “p erson s"), ences occur in th e fir s t p e rin a ta l stage and
hum anoid ("d e v ils "), an im a l, e xo tic ("a n im a l- con sist o f a lte rn a tin g p o sitive (u n d istu rbed
h u m an c o m b i n a t i o n s " ) , and a p p aritio n al ("s p ir­ in tra u te rin e life ) and n e g a tive (d istu rbe d
its"). The s i x t h ty p e , an e x p l i c i t fo rm u la tio n in tra u te rin e life ) events in term s o f t h e i r
of a ro b o tic s e n s ib ilit y , occurs in another e f f e c t upon th e fe t u s . Both e xtre m e s c o n ta in
s u b je c t’ s BT v i s i o n in vo lvin g "th e dehuman­ p le n tifu l ab d u c tio n echoes. In re livin g "bad
ized , g rote s q u e , and b i z a r r e w o r ld o f auto­ womb" e x p e r i e n c e s , G r o f's p a tie n ts re p o rt f e t­
m ata, r o b o t s , and m e c h a n ize d g a d g e ts ." G rof al d is tre s s such as fe e lin g s of sic kn e ss,
says t h a t c r e a t u r e type s fro m BT n a r r a t i v e s nausea, and m ild p a ra n o ia , w h ic h may be trac e ­
s ee m t o b e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h p a r t ic u l a r e m o tio n ­ able to any o f several causes such as th e
al stresses o r ig in a tin g in th e va rio u s e xp e ri­ m other' s p h ys ic a l or e m o tio n a l h e a lth , her
ences o f d e v e lo p m e n t and b i r t h . These stre sse s in g e s tio n of n o x io u s su b s ta n c e s , o r attem pted
may c a u s e t h e e m b r y o / f e t u s t o r e s p o n d i n d i s ­ a b o rtio n . " G o o d womb" r e v i v i f i c a t i o n m a ni­
tin c t e m o tio n a l or im a g in a tiv e c o n te xts w hich fe s ts its e lf in p re -b irth b lis s in c lu d in g
m ay, years la te r, be a s so c ia te d w ith in d ivid ­ fe e lin g s of cosm ic u n ity , tra n sc e n d e n c e of
74 ItMon

ABDUCTION IM AGE/EVENT C F-II1 CASES* S TA G E--B IR TH TRAUMA IM AG E/EVENT

Loss o f co n tro l A ll was as i f I w ere . . . lo sin g

c o n t r o l , and b e in g q u it e unable to
a r r e s t th e . . . p lu n g e . . . 146 * *

B rig h t lig h t V irtu a lly a ll IV --R a d ia n t lig h t o f b lin d in g in te n ­

s ity may seem su p e rn a tu ra l ly b righ t.
143

P a ra lysis ■ Ma ri y I l - - V i s i o n s o f "no e x i t " e n trap m e n t,

b e in g f i x e d , c h a in e d , o r u n a b le to
escape an in e vita b le doom or u n re le n t­
in g th re a t. 119-123

S tru c k by beam
o f 1 ig h t A .V .B . I - - “ . . . an In c re dib le amount o f lig h t
C ontactees and energy was e n ve lo p in g me a n d stream ­
Garden G rove in g in s u b t le v ib ra tio n s th ro u gh my
H o p k in s ' Ss. w hole b e in g ." 113
Im aginary Ss.
Larson
Si 1 v ie ra
W a lto n

le vita te d by tube Many lV --"W e w ere risin g tow ard lig h t,

o f 1 ig h t h igh er and h ig h e r, th ro u gh m a je stic
w h ite m a rb le p illa rs . . . . We r o s e
in to w h ite n e ss. . . 147

Tube or tun nel Many II--V is io n s o f "c o sm ic e n g u lfm e n t" or

a g ig a n tic w h irlp o o l/m a e ls tro m "su ckin g
th e su b je c t and h is w orld re le n tle s s ly
to its c e n te r." 121

M e ta llic sounds, Many I V — Hum o f m a ch in e ry, sounds o f su rgica l

hum s in stru m e n ts, e tc ., as i f from a h o s pita l
r o o m .*** 139

S ize change Priva te Case I V - - “ We a l l became very s m a ll--a s sm all

C o n ta cte e s as a c e ll, as sm all as an a to m ." 148
H i gdon
H o p k in s * Ss.
Im a g in ary Ss.
Spaur (C E - II)
W a lto n

*C E -III cases are referen ced in A ppendix I.

••Num bers re fe r to pages in G r o f's R ea lm s o f th e Human U n c o n sc io u s.
***In a la te r group o f LSD session s w hich Grof term s "tra n s p e rso n a l“ exp e rie n ce s ,
su b je c t re c a lle d p u ls in g heart sounds, p e cu liar h o llo w , ro a rin g n o ise s, and
d is to rte d sounds akin to e le ctro n ic m u s ic a l e ffe c ts --a ll o f w hich he id e n tifie d
w i t h f e t a l m em ories o f m a te r n a l b lo o d c i r c u l a t i o n and h e a r t b e a t , p e r i s t a l s i s ,
and o u ts id e sounds p e rc e iv e d th ro u g h th e ab d o m in al w a ll and a m n io tic f l u i d . 161
The a b d u c tio n case p a ra lle ls here are obvious
proc. ol 19b1 (UrOS Conf. 75

(c o n tin u e d )

ABDUCTION IM A G E/EV EN T C E-III CASES S TA G E-B IR T H TRAUMA IM A O E/EV EN T

B ig room Andreasson I V — S e p a r a t io n from m o th e r c o in c id e s

C o n ta cte e s w i t h f e e l i n g s o f d e c o m p r e s s io n and
Garden Grove sp a tia l e xp a n s io n ; a lso , visio n s o f
H o p k in s * Ss. g ig a n tic h a lls , open spaces, e tc . 139
Im a gin ary Ss.
W a lto n

S tarry skie s C o n ta cte e s I - - V i s i o n s o f "c o s m ic v i s t a s , " g a l a x i e s ,

Garden Grove s o la r syste m s, s t a r - f i l l e d s k ie s , e tc .
H igdon 113
H o p k in s ' Ss.
Im a ginary Ss

En titie s A ll 1--M an y visio n s o f fe tu s e s and o f em bryonal

e xp e rie n ce s. ( 1 0 5 ff)
I - -" . . . archetypal demons . . . creatures
from f a i r y ta le s . . : 113
II — ". . . d e h u m a n ize d . . . w orld o f auto­
m a ta , ro b o ts . . 116
IV --" . . . a n im a ls , persons, an im a l-h u m an
c o m b in a tio n s . . . s p irits . . . ." 146

Extra te rre s tria l Most 1 1 1 — War o f th e W o rld s type in va s io n s

hyp o th e sis in fe rre d 125 '

Absurd events Host I I - -A g o n ize d stru g g le o f e a rly b irth

re s u lts in fe e lin g s o f th e m ea n in g le ss n e ss
o f l i f e , d e ath , stru g g le i t s e l f , e tc .;
w o r l d seems to be i n s a n e . 118

Physica l e xa m in a tio n M ost I I — S u b je c t is concerned by an apparent

th reat to b o d ily su rvival and in te g rity
as r e c a l le d in p a s t o p e r a t io n s , im p r is o n ­
m ent, in te r r o g a tio n s , illn e s s e s , e tc . 121

Re livin g own Andreasson II — S u b je c ts r e c o lle c t se n s a tio n s and de­

m edical h isto ry Im aginary Ss t a i l e d c irc u m s ta n c e s and o p e ra tio n s and
Kendal 1 m ed ica l tre a tm e n t. 121
Larson
Many oth ers?

Body d i sm em berm ent Andreasson I I I - S u bje cts e xp e rie n ce "s a d o m a s o c h is tic

Garden Grove o rg ie s, m u tila tio n s and se lf-m u tila tio n s
H o p k in s ' S s. . . . ritu a l sa c rific e . . and oth e r
Im a g in ary Ss b lo o d y e v e n t s . 124
Larson IV — Ego d e ath /re b irth sym b o lis m : a vic tim
may fe e l th a t h is body is cut o p e n and
his h e a rt or o th e r organs are rem oved;
re p lace m e n t b rin gs a sense o f re b irth ,
re n e w al. 142
76 L«won

(c o n tin u e d )

A BD UC TION IM A G E/EV EN T C E-III CASES STA G F--B IR TH TRAUMA IM AGE/EVENT

U m b ilic a l p ain Andreasson IV --S u b je c ts report severe p ain in th e

H ill u m b ilic a l area, o fte n sp rea ding th rough
Kurz th e p e lv ic area. H I

R e lie f a fte r intense H ill !V - - I n d i v 1 d u a ls c o m p le tin g th e d e a th /

p a i n o r t h r e a t o f some Larson r e b i r t h se q u e n c e fe e l r e l i e f accom pa nied
kind W a lto n by deep e m o tio n a l and p h y s ic a l. tra n q u ility .
H O - ’

B reath in g p ro b le m s A .V .B . IV — Sense o f b re ath in g d i f f i c u l t i e s ,

Garden Grove su ffo c a tio n , and r e l a t e d f e e l i n g s o f
W a lto n em ergency. 141'

U n p le asa n t tastes Andreasson I--U n p le a sa n t ta ste In th e m outh described

Garden Grove as a c o m b in a tio n o f b io lo g ic a l and In org an ic
W a lto n ( i .e ., am m onia, m e ta llic , io d in e , e tc .)
su b stanc e s. 108 •

Un p le asa n t odors A .V .B . 1 1 1 — Un p leasan t or re v o ltin g odors of

Garden Grove b io lo g ic a l o rig in such as sw e at, fe ce s,
Im a gi n a r y S s. or p u tre fa c tio n , e tc . 131
W a lto n

Sexual se d u c tio n A .V .B . III--C o m m o n m o tif 1n th is stage 1s in te n s e

by e n titie s Kurz sexual e xc ite m e n t as in th e u n in h ibite d
c a rn iva l atm osphere o f Rio de Ja n e iro ,
and sim ilar scenes; se d u c tio n and rape
also are rep orted. 130

C u rre n t th ro u g h Andreasson I I I~ - In c i d e n t s o f "p o w e rfu l c u rre n ts o f

head and body Garden Grove e n e rg y s tre a m in g th ro u g h " th e body. 124
Im a ginary Ss.
Kendal 1
Larson

Head and body Andreasson I I I - -G re a t pressure and p ain on th e head

pressure Garden Grove and body, and re la te d d is tre s s . 134
Im aginary Ss.
Kendal 1
Larson
W a lto n

A1 t e r n a t i n g chi 1 1 s Andreasson I I I - -H o t flu sh es alte rn a tin g w ith c h ills ,

and fe v e r A .V .B . • and profuse sw eatin g w ith sh iv e rin g . 134
H o p k in s ' Ss.
Im a g in ary Ss.
Kendal 1

"TV screen" fla sh ba cks , Many IV --S u b je c ts o fte n exp erience a rapid
life re v ie w , visio n s sequence o f key e ve n ts fro m past and
present l i f e . 145
of 1%1 CUfOS Conf. 77

(c o n tin u e d )

ABDUCTION IM AGE/EVENT C E -ill CASES S TAG E--B IR TH TRAUMA IM AGE/EVENT

Message Most I-- " I su d d e n ly understood th e message

o f so many s p i r i t u a l teachers t h a t th e
o n ly re v o lu tio n th a t can w ork is th e
inner tra n s fo rm a tio n o f every human
b e in g ." 114

Know led g e g ain ed M ost I — In tu itiv e In sig h t in to th e m ea nin g

from th e CE o f th e cosm os, w hich is deemed "m ore
experience re le va n t" th an s p e c i f i c , c o n c r e t e , or
prag m a tic know ledge. 106

M essianic c o m p le x, Andreasson IV --Id e n tific a t1o n w ith s u ffe rin g ,

id e n tific a tio n w ith C ontactees death, and tra n sc e n d e n c e o f C h rist;
C h rist, etc . Garden Grove sense of u n ity w ith God. 142

W oinblike rooms on Andreasson I--M a n y re a lis tic d e ta ils s u g g e stive o f

UFO A .V .B . th e o r ig in a l e m b ry o n a l/fe ta l s it u a t io n
C ontactees w i t h i n th e womb, in c lu d in g s p e c if i c s o f
H o p k in s ' Ss. i n t r a u t e r i n e d e ve lo p m e n t i n v o l v i n g th e
Im aginary S s. u m b i li c a l c o r d , f l u i d , and p la c e n t a .
10 5 ff and 15 8 ff _

W om blike containers Many I--D e s c r1p t1o n s o f or id e n tific a tio n s

on U F O , f i 1 1 ed wi t h w ith th e em b ryo /fe tu s in th e womb,
l iq u i d and an w ith many d e ta ils o f th e sensate life
"u m b ilic a l" o f th e fe tu s . 10 5 ff

A p o c alyp tic e ve n ts , Andreasson III--E a rth p ic tu re d as b eseiged by

visions o f fu tu re C on ta cte e s d is a s tro u s events o f man and nature:
d e vas ta tio n Garden G rove atom ic w ar, e a rth q u a ke s , h u rric a n e s ,
Im aginary Ss. novas, e tc . 124

Return A ll ca$es(?) I — “ O n ly re lu c ta n tly was I g iv in g up

th is exp e rie n ce and re tu rn in g to my
usual c o n s c io u s n e s s ." 114

Loss o f a sense M ost I--"T h is . . . e xp e rie n ce la ste d for

o f tim e w h a t seemed an e te rn ity . . . seemed to
open in to tim e instead of space. . . . “
113

In e ffa b il ity M ost I - - " ! re a c h e d a new f e e l i n g o f h a rm o n y

and s e l f - a c c e p t a n c e , and a g lo b a l u n d e r ­
stan d in g o f existe n ce th a t is d iffic u lt
to d e f in e ." 115

A fte rm ath I -- " I fe lt . . . th a t so m ething o f th e

utm ost releva nce had happened to me . . .
and th at I w ould never be th e s a m e ." 114
73 litoofl

sp ac e and tim e , v is io n s o f p a ra d is e , "o c e an ic" No g e n ita lia evid e n t G e n ita lia am biguous
e m o tio n s , and o t h e r p a r a l l e l s w i t h m y s t ic a l o r in most cases o r un d erd evelop ed un-
e c sta tic e xp erien ces. Veteran C E-111 in ­ t i 1 1 2 t h wk
ve stig a to rs have o fte n observed sim ilar e x -,
tre m e s o f e m o tio n a l responses from w itn esses. No fin g e rn a iIs , N a i ls undeveloped un­
to e n a ils ; til 1 2 t h wk
The dom inant c re a tu re type in b oth BT
n a r r a t iv e s and C e - I M r e p o r t s is hu m an o id and Arm s lo n g e r than legs Arm s lo n g e r th a n legs
re s e m b le s th e human f e t u s . G ro f says th at u n t i 1 4 t h m onth
s u b je c ts “ fre q u e n tly report visio n s of or
i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w ith e m b r y o s , f e t u s e s , and new­ C lu m sy m o ve m e n t, w a lk P e r c e p t i b l e m ovements
born c h il d r e n . Eq u ally common are va rio u s in 5 th m onth
a u th e n tic ne o na tal f e e l i n g s as w e ll as b e h a­
vio r" (9 ). Many i f n o t m ost UFO h u m a n o ids , S k in c o lo r p a l li d P a l l id s k i n u n til
such as th o se d e s c rib e d b y B e t t y and B a r n e y (g re y or w hite) 6t h m onth
H ill and Tra vis W a lto n , c lo s e ly re s e m b le a
fe tu s or em bryo, s p e c ific a lly w ith regard to S k in c o lo r re d d is h S k in re d d is h in
und e rd e ve lo p e d fa c ia l and o th e r a n a to m ic a l 7 t h m onth
fe atu re s. The fe tu s -lik e UFO alie n th us pro­
v i d e s a m a jo r p a r a l l e i b e tw e e n a b d u c t io n and BT S k in w rinkled S k in w rin kle s in
n a rra tiv e data, and d e s e r v e s fu r th e r exam i­ 7th m onth
n a tio n . Some c o m m o n l y r e p o r t e d hum anoid char­
a c te ris tic s are lis te d b e lo w , w ith sim ila r H a irle ss b o d ie s No h a ir u n til 8th
d e s c rip tiv e d e ta ils fro m p r e n a ta l c hronology m onth
o ffe re d fo r c o m p arison ( 1 0 ) :
No eyebrow s Eyebrow s e vid e n t in
8th m onth

REPORTED HUM ANOID HUMAN PRENATAL . Sm ooth skin S kin le s s w rin k le d in

C H A R A C TER ISTIC S CHARAC TER ISTIC S 8 t h - 9 t h m onths

D im in u tive size Sm all th r o u g h o u t N ote th a t many o f th e se reported hum anoid

(2 to 5-1/2 ft) g e s ta tio n p e rio d q u a l i t i e s are more c h a r a c t e r is t i c o f t h e em­
bryo ( i . e . , aged th ro u g h e i g h t weeks) th an o f
Frai1-ap p e arin g body F r a il u n til la te th e fe tu s (n in e weeks to te rm ), su g g e stin g th at
in g e s ta tio n at le ast some m a tric es fo r th e p h ys ic a l ap­
pearance o f hum anoid e n titie s lie in e a rly
Di s p ro p o rt io n a te ly Head size d is p ro p o r­ prenatal e xp e rie n ce s . But th ere may be even
larg e head tio n a te ly larg e e a rlie r m a tric e s. Grof describes experiences
from 4 th wk in w hich LSD su b je c ts seem to undergo extrem e
sp atial c o n s tric tio n so th a t th e y "tune in" to
Eyes c o m p a ra tive ly Eye so c ke ts la rg e ; th e “ co n scio u sn e ss" o f a p a rtic u la r organ or
1arge eyes form from 4 th tiss u e o f t h e i r own b o d y , and even regress in to
wk; eyes h a lf ad ult a c e llu la r or s u b c e llu la r c on sciou sn ess (11).
size at b irth G rof says th at it is “ com m only reported" by
such s u b je c ts th at th e y even id e n tify w ith th e
Hands, fe e t " m i s s i n g 11 Hand p la te s 5 th wk; sperm and ovum at th e tim e o f con cep tion (12 ),
or ru d im en tary foot p la te s 6 th wk and som etim es d e sc rib e an a c ce le ra te d process
of e m b ry o g e n e s is and fe ta l d evelopm ent (13 ).
“C la w s" or webbed Fin g e rs , to e s webbed W hile G rof concedes th at th e a u th e n tic ity of
fin g e rs and toes u n til about 8 th wk s u c h n a r r a t i v e s is an o p e n q u e s t i o n , he s t a t e s
t h a t he was a b l e to g et several independent
U n derdeveloped ears, U n d erd evelop ed ears, v e r ific a tio n s o f supposed em bryonal and fe ta l
nose, m outh n o s e ,, m o u t h , and f a c ­ e xp e rie n ce s ( 1 4 ) .
ia l appearance not
“ h u m a n " u n t i l 1 0 t h wk O n e c e l l u l a r c o m p o n e n t, n o t m e n t io n e d in
G r o f ' s d a t a , seem s p o t e n t i a l l y s t u n n i n g in i t s
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 79
HIMVNOID/EETUS S I M n A R T T I E S IN C E - U I REPORTS

Fig. 1-A« Travis Walton's Fi g . 1-B. H u n a n f e t u s i n its

fetal h u m a noid. 3r d m o n t h . Note undeveloped
f a c i a l features, h e a d shape.

f ^ \
n jf y h
?/h>
I t
Figs. 1-D/E/F. Fetal hunanoids are
th e m o s t c a n n o n e n t i t y type. Even
imaginary C E - H I s repor t then
(1 - F ) . T h e r e a r e f e w m o r e o b v i o u s
B 1? p a r a l l e l s i n a b d u c t i o n case s .
Mos t C E - H I humanoids resemble fetuses
b e t w e e n 9 a n d 1 2 w e e k s o f age.

Fig, 1-H, Sim i l a r ity o f s e p a r a t e M o o d y

a id W a l t o n h u m a n o i d s w a s h a i l e d a s E T fingers and t o e s , a pattern in m a n y
e v i d ence, b u t b o t h s e e n f e t a l a n d so e n t i t y r e ports.
suppo r t t h e B T h y p o t h e s i s .
 80 POSSIBLE CEIJ.ULARANDOTHERARCHETYPES IN UK) REPORTS Lawson

o
A. 6 days old B . C l a s s i c disc

;/ '■ /
o
C. 14 d a y s r D. E g g shape

o
Fig. 2. I m p l a n t e d h u m a n o v u n (6 d a y s old)
w i t h s p e c i a l i z e d c e l l s (white) f o r m i n g th e
e m b r y o n i c d i s c , a p o s s i b l e UFO-raandala E- 17 days'r ' F.
archetype.

Fi g . 3 (right) . S i m i l a r i t i e s b e t w e e n U K ) s h a p e s a nd
developing cellular tissues o f the human enbryo m ay -*<-rrrr.tr.ryr-Q\ T - _
support t he speculation that Jung's archetypes have ryy^jjji"1ujjji iumy'
a physiological basis. G. 22 & 23 d a y s

< 9>
<D

G.

Fig. 4 (above) . N a t a l t h emes i n

mandalas dr a w n b y Jung's patients
c o n nect the UFO/randala archetype
e x p l i c i t l y w i t h b i r t h imagery.

Fi g . 5 (right) . E y e - l i k e m a n d a l a
m o t i f s i n r e p o r t e d C E - E L I cases:
U FO shapes, f i g u r e s i n win d o w s ,
e x a m i n a t i o n "eyes," a n d l a r g e
e y e s i n e n t i t y d e s c r i p t i o n s a ll
s u p p o r t a J u n g i a n "eye - i n - t h e - ________ ________
sky" m y t h i c a l b a s i s f o r U F O / e n t i t y s i g h t i n g s . Note that F i g . . 4-B.
(above) c a r b i n e s b o t h t h e b i r t h a n d e y e m o t i f s i n a s i n g l e
m a n d a l a figure.
 81
Pf«. of l 961 CUf0S Con<-

UFO im p lic a tio n s. When th e fe rtilize d human and su rro u n d in g tissu e s) exp erien ced d u rin g
ovum i s s i * d a y s o l d a n d a t t a c h e s i t s e l f t o t h e norm al b irth .
w a ll o f t h e u t e r u s , th e d i s t i n c t l y e m b ryo n ic
tis s u e i n s i d e th e ovu m a s su m e s an i n t r i g u i n g The p la c e n ta is a c irc u la r, in ve rte d -
shape: it re s e m b le s a fla tte n e d , c irc u la r bowl -s h a p e d o rg a n w h ic h is c o n n e c te d to th e
p la te , th e b a s ic U FO p a t t e r n , and i s known as fe tu s by th e u m b ilic a l c o r d , a tu b e c o n ta in in g
the e m b r y o n i c d is c . Ev e ryth in g th at w ill oth e r tu b e s (v e in s and a rte rie s) atta ch e d at
e v e n tu a lly become th e a d u lt human b e in g is th e fe tu s * n a v e l. Several abductees (e .g .,
present, a t least p o te n tia lly , in th e re la ­ H ill and A n d r e a s s o n ) have reported p ain or
tiv e ly few c e l l s of th e young o v u m 's e m b ryo n ic d is tre s s in th e ir n a v e ls d u rin g alleged e xam i­
d isc. T h is stag e o f p re n a ta l l i f e is th e f i r s t n atio n s (16 ); many o th e r s . use tu b e /tu nne l
in w h i c h t h e f e r t i l i z e d t i s s u e c a n b e t h o u g h t im agery to d e s c rib e UFO i n t e r i o r s or e v e n t s - -
o f as s o m e t h i n g i n t e g r a l , w h o l e , o r i n d i v i d ­ some m a i n t a i n i n g t h a t t h e y w e r e " s u c k e d u p " a
ual. We r e m e m b e r t h a t t h e p s y c h o l o g i s t C a r l tu b e ( o f l ig h t or o th e r m a t e r i a l ) in to th e U FO .
Ju ng fo u n d an a n a lo g y betw een th e shapes of The p h y s io lo g ic a l fa c t th a t body flu id s are
“flyin g saucers" and " m a n d a l a s ," w h ic h he exchanged betw een th e f e t u s and th e U F O - shaped
defin ed as a r c h e t y p a l s y m b o l s o f u n i t y , w h o l e ­ p la c e n ta , i .e ., th e y are “ sucked up" th e um­
ness, and in d ivid u a tio n (15 ). If G r o f's gene­ b ilic a l tu b e , seems s ig n ific a n t.
tic mem ory data are v a lid , th e y c o u l d be
interpreted as p r o v id in g a p h y s io lo g ic a l b a s is The u m b ilic a l cord re c a lls a h ith e rto
for Ju n g 's th e o rie s on archetypal im agery and in e xp lic a b le im age, th e s e e m in g ly s o lid f l a t -
his related sp e c u la tio n s on th e c o lle c tiv e ended, re tra c tin g lig h t beam. The u m b ilic a l
unconsc io u s . cord, a so lid tube d esc ending fro m th e p la ­
c e n tal " s a u c e r ," does have a f l a t end a t th e
At any ra te , it is som ewhat s ta rtlin g to s e p a r a t i o n p o i n t , and is a p o s s ib le a rc h e typ e
r e a l i z e t h a t e v e r y human b e i n g who e v e r liv e d fo r th e m y s te rio u s but o ft-re p o rte d re tra c tin g
w a s --fo r a few h o u rs a t l e a s t - - 1 i t e r a l l y shap­ beam. '
ed l i k e a U F O . W ith t h a t in m ind one can sp e c u ­
late: perhaps th e e m b ryo n ic d is c does m a n ife s t An exp erim en t in w hich im ag in ary abduc­
i t s e l f as a J u n g i a n m a n d a l a o r s a u c e r archetype tio n s were g iv e n under h yp n o s is to persons born
in e v e r y o n e ' s s e n s ib ility d u rin g th e e m b ryo n ic by cesarean se c tio n * p ro vid e s s ta tis tic a l e vi­
stage; late r it c o u ld emerge as p a r t o f a dence th at tu b e/tu n n el im agery re late s to th e
p e rc ip ie n t's U FO -re late d im agery. Thus UFO norm al b irth p rocess. Of e ig h t cesarean sub­
w itnes ses m ig h t have been p re d is p o s e d to per­ je c ts , seven used no tu b e /tu n n e l im agery in
c e ive saucer-shaped "s o m e th in g s" in th e pre­ de sc ribin g how th e y boarded or le ft th e UFO,
senc e o f w hatever psyc ho-physica l stim u lu s and th e r e w ere few tu b e im ages th ro u gh o u t th e ir
co n stitu te s th e U FO p heno m e n o n --th o u g h w hat n a rra tiv e s . The e x c e p tio n (s u b je c t #10) is
w itn e s s e s p e r c e i v e m ay be an a r c h e t y p a l echo o f in te re s tin g b e ca u se sh e was a t f i r s t t r e a t e d as
e xp e rie n tial im agery from th e ir own prenatal a norm al p rem a tu re b irth u n til h e r m other
developm ent. h e m o rrh a g e d and a c e s a r e a n was n e c e s s a r y - - b u t
th e su b je c t had e xp e rie n ce d an hour or so of
But th e d e ve lo pin g em bryo e v o lv e s th rough S tage II traum a in th e b irth c a n a l, perhaps
o th er p o s s i b l y U FO -re late d g e o m e tric fo rm s as s u ffic ie n t tim e fo r th e d evelopm ent o f tu b e/-
e a r ly as i t s t h i r d w eek o f l i f e : i t is an o v a l tu n n el im ag e ry. N ote also o th er po ssib le
by d a y 1 4 , p e a r - s h a p e d b y t h e 1 7 t h , a n d a b o u t e xc e p tio n s : su b je c t #5 boarded w ith th e aid of
day 22 th e b e g i n n i n g s o f th e b r a i n and sp in al a snake- lik e rope, #8 returned via a sp iral
cord have form ed a c o m p a r a ti v e l y huge neural sta irw a y, and #9 d e scribe d sta irs u n fo ld in g
tube down th e le n gth of th e tin y em bryo. The fro m th e b o tto m o f th e c r a f t . A ll o f these
dom inance o f t u b e o r t u n n e l i m a g e r y i n C E - I l l s su g g e st not tu b e s b u t a p p a ra tu s d a n g lin g from
(as w e l l as o t h e r a n a l o g s ) i s w e l l e s t a b l i s h e d , th e U F O 's u n d e rsid e --p e rh ap s re p re s e n tin g ar­
and if th e se sp e c u la tio n s have m e r it, th e pre­ c h e typ e s o f th e u m b ilic a l c o r d , w hich a p p a re n ­
va le nc e o f t u b e / t u n n e l im ages may r e l a t e to one t l y can s y m b o lize e i t h e r a t u b e o r a l i n e as
or more o f several po ssib le tu b e /tu n n e l arche­ c o n d itio n s p e rm it. A g a in , th e re are se ve ral
types in th e b irth process. In a d d itio n to th e po ssib le sources fo r tu b e -lik e im a g e ry i n BT
neural t u b e , o t h e r p u t a t i v e a r c h e t y p e s in c lu d e e vents.
the u m b i l i c a l tu b e -plac e n ta c o m p le x and th e
“b irth c a n a l" ( i .e ., c e rvica l o p e n in g , va gin a.
*T h e s tu d y was c o n du c te d by Dr. W .C . M cC all
and th e a u t h o r .
82 L««rton
RESPONSES OF TEH IM AGINARY ABOUCTEES
WHEN QU ESTIO N ED AS TO HOW T H E Y BOARDED AND LEFT THE UFO
(EIG H T BY CESAREAN S EC TIO N , TWO B O R N NORM ALLY)

H OW GOT ABOARD HOW LEFT

1) NORMAL B IRTH (OS) " It opened up . . . and I craw led "A

I
door
le ft.
opened
. .
and
in sid e . . . ."

2) NORMAL BIRTH (RS) "Through

. . .
sound
tra n s p o rte d
. .
by
. In sta n ta n e o u s
sound. . .
"In s tan tan e o u s re tu rn .'

3) CESAREAN (TA) "They tran sp o rte d me . . . "I was put back d o w n ."
m a te ria lizin g in another a re a ."

4) CESAREAN (R G) "Ju st appeared on board . . . "I was p la c e d th e r e ."

m a te ria lize d . . . ."

5) CESAREAN (C J) "A rope, lik e a snake, came out "They th re w me o u t . "

. . . g r a b b e d 'm e . . . p u lle d me
up. . .

6) CESAREAN (K A) "I thought m yse lf aboard. . . ." "Got o ff th e same way.

7) CESAREAN (M O) "I ju s t fou n d m yse lf in sid e . . . ." "I was zapped o u t. . .

8) CESAREAN (DG) "I transported m y se lf. . . . " "C lim b e d down a sp ira l
s ta irw a y ."

9) CESAREAN (R B ) “ S ta irs u n folded from th e b ottom "They put me th ere . .

and I c l im bed u p ." in stan ta n e o u sly. . . .

10) CESAREAN (S B) "I was sucked up lik e a vacuum “ They th re y me o u t . .

hose. . *

Im a ge s o f d o o r s o r passageways are n e a rly n e l s i n n a r r a t i v e s s u c h as B e t t y A n d r e a s s o n 's

as p le n tifu l as tu b e s in a b d u c tio n rep orts. (s e e b e lo w ) th an an y p la u s i b le a lie n c r a f t 's
Host w itn esses desc ribe unorthodox doors w hich in te rio r arch ite c tu re .
appear su d d en ly in w a lls or on an o b je c t's
e x te rio r, d is a p p e a rin g w ith ou t a trac e soon The idea th at p la c e n ta l, u m b i l i c a l , a m nio-
a fte r. Such d o o rs tend to open from th e c e n te r tic ,a n d o th e r archetypal fo rm s appear in re­
ra th e r th an o u t or in , or have s lid in g p an els. p o rte d UFOs, e n titie s , and re late d events
So me reports te ll o f doors w hich d is in te g ra te sketched or d e sc ribe d by w itn esses (see Appen­
o r "e xp lo d e " ju s t be fo re w i t n e s s e s go th r o u g h d ix II fo r exam ples) is a d m itte d ly as sp e c u la ­
them . A l l th e se unusual d o o rw a y p assag e s can tiv e as i t is u n u s u a l. I t is o ffe re d not as a
be in te rp re te d as su g g e stin g another b irth conclusion about th e B T /C E-III a n a lo g but
traum a e v e n t - - t h e o p e n in g o f th e c e rv i*x . A side m e re ly as an in te re s tin g p o s s ib ility which
from th e exte n de d tim e in vo lve d , c e rvica l seems t o s u p p o r t th e B T h y p o t h e s i s b u t w h i c h as
d ila ta tio n w ould be c o n s is te n t w ith u n o rth o d o x y e t c a n n o t be p r o v e d .
inodes o f o p e n i n g and c l o s i n g doors. S u p p o rtin g
th is idea is th e fa c t th a t one o f our "con­ How ever, i f abductees in de e d do d evelop
tro l" s u b je c ts , a norm al b irth , responded to a th e ir c o n ce p tio n s of hum anoids la rg e ly from a
suggested situ a tio n o f c e rvica l d ila ta tio n fe ta l archetype, it is reasonable to expect
w ith th e com m ent, " I t ' s lik e a do o r o p e n in g ." t h a t th e s u r r o u n d in g t i s s u e s and o t h e r em bryo­
S u re ly th e b irth process is a more lik e ly n ic ele m e n ts can s t im u la te w itn e s s e s s im ila r­
e x p l a n a t i o n o f th e many d o o r s and t u b e s / t u n ­ ly. Fu rth e r, fe tu s e s have been observed firm ly
 P O S S I B L E PLACE N T A L , U MBILICAL, A N D A M N U O T I C
S A C A R C H E T Y P E S I N C E - I I I CASES

Similarities between B T and CE-III data

Fig. 6-A. F e t u s i n w a r b . Placenta
m y a p p e a r to b e "above" o r b e h i n d
the f e t u s (c f . Fig. 6-D b e l o / ) .
suggest a n archetypal relationship involving
t h e p l a c enta, u m b i l i c a l c ord, a n d t h e a m n i o t i c
sac. H i e p l a c e n t a m y a n e r g e as a U F O s h a p e
a nd a l s o a s a b a c k p a c k w o r n b y en t i t i e s . Hie
u r b i l i c a l c a r d s u g g e s t s t h e t u b e l e ad i n g f r a n
the backpack and also the often reported
retracting light beam. The amniotic sac m y
h a v e a r e a d y a n a l o g in t h e v a r i o u s b u b b l e d a n e
h e a d g e a r a n d s e e - t h r o u g h UF O s re p o r t e d .

Fig. 6-C. M a n y U F O s d i s p l a y a s o l i d - l i k e
cord d e s c e n d i n g f r c m i ts c e n t e r p r e s e n t a retracting light beam. Similarities in
p o s s i b l e a r c h e t y p e o f U F O a n d i ts b e a m of 6-B a n d 6 -C s u g g e s t a n a r c h e t y p a l
light, as i n (6-C). rplatHnnfih-ip.

Fi g . 6-0. F e t u s , placenta . 6-E. 1973 e n t i t y w o r e

untoilical tube, a n d c l e a r b a c k p a c k , tube, a n d b u b b l e
a n n i c t i c s a c (5th t e n t h ) . headgear— all possible B T placenta, umbil i c a l , a n d sac.
archetypes.
84 Lawson

grasping the umbilical cord, and also touching
their body and everything else in the close
confines of the uterus. All normal fetuses,
then, may have a sense of body image and of
various tissues which probably develops from
the embryonic stage onward. Thus this aspect
of the BT hypothesis may have validity.
The placenta may emerge in CE-III narra­
tives as a UFO shape and also as a backpack
allegedly worn by entities. The umbilical cord
suggests the tube leading from the backpack,
and it may also take the formof the retracting
light beam. The amniotic sac may have an
obvious analog in the various bubbledome head­
gear on reported entities, and also in the many
see-through or windowed UFOs described by
witnesses. In this connection, while skeptics
have assumed that entity backpacks derive from
astronauts' similarly bulky spacesuits, the
fact that NASA has no see-through space ve­
hicles argues that images of backpacks as well
as translucent UFOs are stimulated by psycho­
logical processes rather than by space techno­
logy. The most likely psychological source
would be BT imagery and events. (Cf. Figs. 6-A
through 6-F).
The placenta as a "craft" image can be
seen in Christian and Buddhist art (cf. Figs.
6-G and 6-11). In Hildegarde of Bingen's
12th-century depiction, the human soul is
delivered to the fetus by an object from
another realm; the object and its "delivery
tube" attached to a maternal navel is an
obvious placental/umbilical archetype. In an
Indian relief, a "lily" growing on a stalk from
the God Vishnu's navel bears the infant Buddha.
In both traditions one sees a placental "craft"
with a tube descending from it, showing that
diverse cultures utilize BT/UFO imagery in
similar ways.

Fig. 6-H.

PLACENTAL, UMBILICAL, A N D A M N IOTCC S A C ARCHETYPES (cont)

B o t h F i g s . 6— G & 6 -H e m p h a s i z e plarp»nt-.aiy'urhil inai imagery.

6 - G is a m e d i e v a l C h r i s t i a n d e p i c t i o n of h o w t h e fetus
a c q u i r e s i ts soul; i t is d e l i v e r e d b y t h e s q u a r i s h o b ject
w h i c h canes fran another world. 6-H s h o w s a lily, graving
f r a n the g o d V i s h n u ' s n a vel, w h i c h b e a r s t h e i n f a n t Buddha.
I n b o t h t r a d i t i o n s o n e se e s a p l a c e n t a l "craft" w i t h a tube
d e s c e n d i n g f r a n it. T h u s d i v e r s e c u l t u r e s u t i l i z e BT/UPD
imagery in similar ways.
 Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 85

There are many possible umbilical arche­ the family, who allegedly were put into "sus­
types in traditional belief, psychology, and pended animation," were not able to verify
even fiction (cf. Figs. 11-Athrough 11-G). In Betty's story (17).
Christian mythology, God impregnates the Vir­
gin Mary with a beamfrom Heaven. However, the Betty says her abduction began with a
beam is actually a hollow tube through which bright light which flashed outside her house,
the Holy Spirit (usually rendered in the form shortly after which a group of 4-foot-tall
of a dove) descends. Another type of divine beings floated through her kitchen door. They
sky-beam can be seen in paintings of a beamof communicated with Betty, then floated her
breath from God to Adam. The "third eye" of outside and into a waiting craft where she was
the Buddha is often portrayed as a beam, examined, immersed in a liquid, and then seem­
indicating again that beams from the sky are ingly taken for a journey into alien realms.
found worldwide. An interesting variation is At the climax of her adventure she saw a huge
described by one of Jung's schizophrenic pa­ bird which spoke to her, then, phoenix-like,
tients: a sun with a "penis" tube hanging from consumed itself in flames, an event which
it, which the patient associated with the wind Betty, a devout fundamentalist Christian, in­
(i.e., breath). Jung later found identical terpreted in religious terms. Then her captors
images in mysticism and mythology. Beams and returned her safely home. The alleged abduc­
tubes from the skies are also found in folk­ tion had lasted about 3 hours and 40 minutes.
tales such as "Jack and the Beanstalk," and in
the tornado which whooshes Dorothy off in The The Andreasson case is useful for pur­
Wizard of Oz. poses of comparative analysis because it has
been laboriously investigated by a group of
dedicated ufologists, the main witness is
One fascinating implication of the pla­ considered
cental archetype relates to the winged enti­ representative.reliable, and the case details are
ties which are occasionally reported. It may artist and was able Further, Betty is a competent
to provide many sketches of
be that the wings of fairies and angels, like her adventure. In short,
the entities' backpacks, relate to BT sources is about as reliable and the Andreasson CE-III
(cf. Figs. 14-A through 14-H). Further possi­ abduction case we are likely detailed as any
ble placental archetypes are suggested by the same time, it has significant to find. At the
common pattern of "boxes" and "tubes" which are UFO abduction research, for implications for
so consistently described by witnesses during wealth of perinatal images andit events contains a
w hich
recall of alleged physical examinations. Both support a non-physical or psychological inter­
"real" and imaginary subjects describe such pretation of this case and of the UFOabduction
implements, which often probe the subject's
body or navel area. Both umbilical pain and mystery generally.
currents of energy which probe the body are
common BTdata patterns—thus the boxes/tubes- birthThe Andreasson case offers several clear
trauma image parallels. For example,
BTconnection (cf. Figs. 15-A through 15-F). Betty's humanoid entities were about 4 feet
tall, with grayish skin, oversized heads, huge
eyes, and underdeveloped noses, ears, and
II mouths. They were typically fetal humanoids in
appearance, though they behaved like appari­
tions in passing through solid doors and mate­
In order to give context to the abduc- rializing at will. The leader seemed to change
tion/birth trauma parallels, it is helpful to his facial features so that he became more
showthe nature and extent of perinatal imagery fetus-like in his final meeting with Betty.
in a prominent abduction case. One such case
is that of Mrs. Betty Andreasson of South The richest event in terms of perinatal
Ashburnham, Mass., who says that about 7:00 PM imagery occurred in what Betty described as the
on January 25, 1967 she was abducted from her Cylindrical
livingroom by a group of alien beings. As clear plasticRochair om, where she was enclosed in a
recalled under regressive hypnosis ten years her captors filledwith a fitted cover, which
afterward, she said parts of her CE-III may breathed through clearwtubes ith gray fluid. She
which fit into her
have been witnessed by her father and 11-year- nostrils and mouth. Atelepathic
old daughter, although seven other members of her to close her eyes. Suddenlyvoice told
she felt
86 Lawson

p le a s a n t v i b r a t i o n s , th e f l u i d w h ir l e d , sh e D u rin g B e t t y 's e x a m in a t io n , w h ic h she

w as fe d som e s w e e t s u b s t a n c e th ro u g h th e tu b e s a id o c c u r r e d in a b r ig h t " b ig ro o m ," th e

in h e r m o u th , and sh e w as r e la x e d and h a p p y . a l i e n s in s e r t e d n e e d le - t ip p e d tu b e s in t o her

"O h! T h i s f e e l s g o o d !" sh e e x c la im e d . F l o a t ­ n a s a l c a v i t i e s and (a s w it h B e t t y H i l l ) in to

in g , t r a n q u i l i z e d , sh e becam e o n e w it h th e h e r n a v e l . B e t t y had b e e n t o ld t h a t th e navel

" u n d u la t in g f l u i d . " A f t e r a tim e th e f l u i d w as p ro b e w as a t e s t f o r " p r o c r e a t io n " ( i n th e H il l

d r a in e d , s h e w as ta k e n o u t , and sh e r e a l iz e d c a s e i t w as f o r p r e g n a n c y ), b u t a ft e r w a r d s the

t h a t h e r head h u r t . a l i e n s s a id t h a t t h e r e w e re "som e p a r t s m is­

s i n g ." B e t t y had had a h y s t e r e c t o m y , and the

T h e s c e n e i s an o b v io u s r e t u r n to t h e f a c t t h a t s h e in t e g r a t e d t h i s p e rs o n a l m em ory

womb: th e C y l i n d r i c a l Room i t s e l f i s o n ly o n e in t o t h e e v e n t ca n be s e e n a s a r e l i v i n g o f her

o f s e v e r a l womb e c h o e s in B e t t y 's n a r r a t i v e ; own m e d ic a l h i s t o r y - - a com m on p a t t e r n in ab­

t h e t r a n s p a r e n t c h a i r s u g g e s t s th e a m n io t ic d u c t io n n a r r a t i v e s . T h e h y s te r e c t o m y i s a ls o

s a c in w h ic h B e t t y f lo a t e d in a f e t a l p o s it i o n ; o n e o f s e v e r a l e le m e n ts in B e t t y 's e x a m in a tio n

t h e g r a y f l u i d i s t h e a m n io t ic m e d iu m ; th e m a n if e s t in g th e b o d il y d is m e m b e rm e n t m o tif,

b r e a t h in g and fe e d t u b e s a r e th e u m b ilic a l w h ic h i s o c c a s i o n a lly fo u n d in C E - I I I s and

c o r d . S w a llo w in g o f f l u i d i s a com m on f e t a l w h ic h i s d e s c r ib e d e x p l i c i t l y in S ta g e I I I BT

e v e n t , and a c u te g u s t a t o r y s e n s a t io n s a re n a r r a t i v e s ( 2 0 ) . (B o d y d is m e m b e rm e n t i s a ls o a

com m on in G r o f ’ s p e r in a t a l s u b j e c t s (a lt h o u g h m a jo r se g m e n t o f t h e sh a m a n s ' t r a n c e e x p e r i­

G ro f s a y s t h a t s w e e t t a s t e s m ay a ls o o r ig i n a t e e n c e s ; s e e A p p e n d ix I I I - I I . ) The n e e d le -

in p o s i t i v e b r e a s t e x p e r ie n c e s ) ( 1 8 ) . T h e t ip p e d t u b e s c a u s e d B e t t y a good d e a l o f p a in

t r a n q u i l i z i n g u n d u la t io n s and v i b r a t i o n s r e ­ and d is c o m f o r t , b u t G r o f 's d e s c r ip t io n o f

c a l l a r e v e r s io n to a h i g h ly p o s i t i v e i n t r a ­ u m b ilic a l p a in in a p e r in a t a l S ta g e IV n a r r a ­

u t e r in e e x p e r ie n c e . B e t t y 's h e a d a c h e m ay be a t i v e a n t i c i p a t e s t h i s p a r t o f th e A n d reasso n

m a n if e s t a t io n o f t h e o n s e t o f a n o th e r p a r t o f a b d u c tio n ( 2 1 ) :

th e rem em b ered b i r t h p r o c e s s .

. . . a s p e c i f i c c o m p le x o f u n p le a s a n t
I t s h o u ld be p o in te d o u t t h a t B e t t y 's
sym p to m s . . . p ie r c in g and p e n e tra tin g
im m e rs io n in f l u i d i s n o t u n iq u e t o h e r a b d u c ­
p a in s in t h e u m b ilic a l a r e a , w h ic h usu­
t i o n . S i m i l a r e v e n t s w e re r e p o r t e d in a
a l l y r a d ia t e and a re p r o je c t e d to th e
B r a z i l i a n C E - I I I and a ls o in th e G a rd e n G ro v e
u r i n a r y b la d d e r . . . o r th e u t e r u s . They
c a s e ( 1 9 ) . a r e a c c o m p a n ie d b y . . . f e e lin g s o f agony

an d e m e rg e n c y , s e n s a t io n s o f d ra m a tic
B e t t y s p e n t m uch o f h e r tim e on b o a rd th e s h i f t s w it h in t h e b o d y . . . .
UFO " f l o a t i n g " fro m o n e w o m b lik e room to

a n o t h e r , th ro u g h t u n n e ls and on e le v a t o r s o r
o t h e r c o u n t e r p a r t s o f t h e b i r t h c a n a l. T h e s e
f a m i l i a r t u b e / t u n n e l im a g e s r e c u r in s e v e r a l

g u is e s in G r o f 's n a r r a t i v e s : fro m t u b e s o f
l i g h t t o c o lu m n s , w h ir l p o o l s , c o s m ic m a e l­

s t r o m s , e n g u lf in g m o n s t e r s , and h o le s th ro u g h
th e e a r t h . B e t t y 's t u n n e ls v a r ie d in le n g th
b u t t y p i c a l l y en d ed w it h d o o rw a y s in t o b r ig h t ­
l y l i t , d o m e -sh a p e d ro o m s w h e re sh e w as u n ­

d r e s s e d , e x a m in e d , " c l e a n s e d ," o r w h a te v e r .

T h e d o o rw a y s , l i k e t h o s e in m an y C E - I l l s ,

s u g g e s t th e c e r v i c a l o p e n in g : u s u a l l y a b a re
w a ll seem s to s e p a r a t e w it h a s o f t "w h o o sh " on
a p p ro a c h and u n it e s a g a in a f t e r w a r d , le a v in g
no t r a c e ; a c i r c u l a r m em b rane and som e m ir r o r ­

l i k e d o o rs w h ic h B e t t y c r a s h e d th ro u g h h a rm ­

l e s s l y r e c a l l s i m i l a r " e x p lo d in g " d o o rs in th e
G a rd e n G ro v e c a s e . T h e re a r e m o re th a n a d o ze n
Fig. 7. Birth imagery in the Andreasson
d o o rs and t u n n e l - l i k e p a s s a g e w a y s in th e w h o le
case: four of the womb-shaped roans which
o f B e t t y 's a d v e n t u re , a nu m ber s u f f i c i e n t l y
Betty described, and a typical womb­
h ig h in
e x p la n a t io n
i t s e l f
o f h e r
to s u g g e s t
n a r r a t i v e .
a p s y c h o lo g ic a l
shaped UFO (7-A) . ‘
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 87

"BIG ROOMS* m CE-III GASES ANDOTHERTRADITIONS

Fig. 8-A. Fig. 8-B.

Figs. 8-A/B. TWOtraditional depictions of hell and the Garden of Eden.
Both show BTmotifs: hell is a vast "big roan," while paradise is
likened to a womb. Metaphors of hell and paradise occur often in
Grof's "bad-wanb" and "good-warti" experiences and elsewhere during
subjects' BT revivifications.

Fig. 9. "Big rooms" in various abduction accounts.

"Big roans" are specifically related in Grof's
data with Stage IVof the birth process—the moment
of separation from the mother and attendant sense
of spatial expansion.
88 Lawson

POSSIBLE LHBILICAL ABQiETYPES IN UFOREPORTS

ANDTRADITIONAL BELIEF

Fig. 10. Possible umbilical archetypes in UFO

reports: “solid" light beams, tube-like, with
flat "ends" appear frequently in UFOsighting
accounts. They may derive fran the placental/
umbilical tube archetype. This tube-of-light
image is one of the most carmon patterns in
all types of UFOreports (not only CE-IHs).

Fig. 11. Possible umbilical archetypes in

traditional belief, psychology, and fiction.
In Christian mythology, God impregnates the
Virgin with a beam (Figs. 11-A/B) fran
Heaven. Note that the beam is ah-h-tally a
hoilcw tube through which the Holy Spirit
(rendered here in the form of a dove (11-B)
descends) . Fig. 11-C shows a beam of Breath
fran God to Adam. 11— D shows a beam from
the "third eye" of tHe~Buddha, irriicating
that "sky— beams" are found world-wide. The
image in 11-E is from Jung (Works, V. 9, Pt.
1, pp. 50-53). It is a sun with a tube
hanging fran it—a surprising vision which
Jung finds in mysticism, mythology, and in
certain schizophrenic patients. The tube is
often associated with wind or breath (as in
11-C) and is usually connected to the sun
(o r God) . Figs. 11-F (Jack and the Beanstalk)
and 11— G (a tornado such as that used to convey
Dorothy to Oz in The Wizard of Oz) illustrate
the use of sky-tubes in fiction. Whether or
not all these tubes relate to BT events, they
are (11-G eacepted) clearly psychological in
nature and origin. Thus no extraterrestrial
theories need be invoked to explain images and
events which my be based upon such archetypal
visions-— e.g., UFO-related tube and tunnel
imagery.
 froc. or Ifcl Cu»'0S Cm.f. 89

T h is s it u a t io n i s r e p e a te d w it h s u r p r is i n g In B e t t y 's v i s i o n , a f a m i l i a r v a r ia n t on th e

c o n s is te n c y in B e t t y 's n a r r a t i v e ( 2 2 ) : t a l e , a "w o rm " ( i . e . , th e f ir e - im p e r v i o u s

s a la m a n d e r o f m y th ) em erg ed fro m th e a s h e s . A t

I can f e e l th em m o v in g t h a t th in g . . . th e sam e tim e tw o t h in g s seem ed to be h a p p e n in g

h e 's g o in g to p u t t h a t in m y n a v e l! 0 - h - h ! to h e r , b o th o f w h ic h a re w e ll- e s t a b li s h e d
I d o n 't l i k e t h i s . . . I ca n f e e l th e m p e r in a t a l e v e n t s : 1) sh e f e l t an in t e n s e ,

m o v in g t h a t th in g a ro u n d in m y sto m a ch o r s h i v e r in g c h i l l com e o v e r h e r , w h e re a s a m om ent

my b o d y . . . . Oh! H e 's p u s h in g t h a t a g a in b e fo r e sh e h ad c o m p la in e d o f e q u a ll y in t e n s e
. . . a ro u n d , f e e lin g t h in g s . . . . F e e ls h e a t ( a l t e r n a t i n g c h i l l s and h o t f lu s h e s a re

li k e h e 's g o in g r i g h t a ro u n d my s t u f f common in S ta g e I I n a r r a t i v e s ) ( 2 4 ) ; and 2 )

i n s id e - - f e e lin g i t , o r so m e th in g w it h B e t t y d e s c r ib e d " t h e w o r s t .th in g I ' v e e v e r

t h a t n e e d le . e x p e r ie n c e d . . . w h a te v e r t h a t w as t h a t was
g o in g th ro u g h my b o d y - - it f e l t l i k e so m e th in g

The a lie n s t o ld B e t t y t h a t t h e y w e re "a w a k e n ­ p ie r c in g e v e r y c e l l in my b o d y " ( 2 5 ) . G ro f

in g " s o m e th in g w it h t h e i r p r o b in g , w h ic h is r e p o r t s t h a t S ta g e I I I s u b j e c t s d e s c r ib e s im i­
sym bol ic a l ly c o n s is t e n t w it h th e d is m e m b e rm e n t la r a g o n y ( 2 6 ) :

m y th - - in s h a m a n s' lo r e , ego d e a th (d is m e m b e r­
m en t) p re c e d e s th e r e b i r t h o f a n e w , re a w a k e n e d T h e i n t e n s i t y o f p a in f u l t e n s io n re a c h e s

s e lf and s e n s i b i l i t y . H o w e v e r, t h i s d e a t h / r e - a d e g re e t h a t a p p e a rs to be f a r b eyon d

b ir t h e x p e r ie n c e w as a r t i c u l a t e d m ore f u l l y in w h a t a n y human c a n b e a r . . . f e e lin g s o f

B e t t y 's c a s e b y th e p h o e n ix . * p o w e rfu l c u r r e n t s o f e n e r g y s tre a m in g

th ro u g h h i s w h o le b o d y.

Some o f th e A n d re a s s o n c a s e in v e s t ig a t o r s
w e re a p p a r e n t ly t r o u b le d by B e t t y 's p h o e n ix The e v id e n c e s u g g e s t s t h a t B e t t y 's p h o e n ix

v i s io n , p e rh a p s e m b a rra s s e d b y i t s r e l i g i o u s / - ow es m ore to BT im a g e ry and th e f a c t t h a t s h e

m y th ic a l c o n n o t a t io n s , o r a f r a i d t h a t t h i s and had re a d a b o u t th e m y th , th a n to a C E - I I I . T h e
o th e r p a r t s o f h e r n a r r a t i v e m ay be th o u g h t i n v e s t ig a t o r s w e re w vse to be s k e p t i c a l . How­

m ere h a ll u c in a t i o n o r f a n t a s y . Y e t to B e t t y , e v e r , th o u g h h e r in t e r p r e t a t io n o f th e e v e n t

th e p h o e n ix se g m e n t w as a s r e a l as a n y o t h e r w as d u b io u s , B e t t y ’ s d e s c r ip t i o n s h e re a s
and in som e w a ys m o re s i g n i f i c a n t s in c e sh e th ro u g h o u t h e r e x p e r ie n c e seem t r u t h f u l .

in t e rp r e t e d i t a s an a u t h e n t ic r e l i g i o u s e x ­
The f a c t i s t h a t a b d u c te e s te n d to t e l l
p e rie n c e . She h e a rd a v o ic e w h ic h sh e th o u g h t
th e t r u t h a s th e y h a ve e x p e r ie n c e d i t , th o u g h
was th a t o f God s a y in g , "1 h a v e c h o s e n yo u to
t h i s p o in t is l o s t on p r o f e s s io n a l UFO d e b u n k ­
show th e w o r ld ," a p p a r e n t ly b e c a u s e o f h e r
e r s who seem o b s e s s e d b y a need to r i d i c u l e th e
s in c e r e f a i t h . Though in t e r p r e t a l i o n s ’ o f th e
ETM and a n y UFO w it n e s s e s , b u t who show no
e v e n t a s f a n t a s y o r s p o n ta n e o u s h a l l u c i n a t i o n
c a p a c i t y f o r h e lp in g u s to u n d e rs ta n d th e
seem e q u a lly p r o b a b le , G r o f s a y s th a t th e
pheno m eno n. T h e s u b s t a n t i a l a g re e m e n t o f
p h o e n ix im a g e is i m p l i c i t in m any S ta g e I I I
im a g e ry and e v e n t s am ong th e 2 0 0 o r so a b d u c ­
n a r r a t i v e s d e s c r ib in g a p u r i f i c a t i o n b y f i r e
t io n s and t h e i r p a r a l l e l s w it h BT im a g e ry
{ 23) :
p r o v id e o b je c t i v e e v id e n c e t h a t a b d u c te e s g e n ­
e r a l l y sp e a k t r u l y , a lth o u g h a c t u a l e v e n t s a re
One im p o rta n t e x p e r ie n c e . . . is th e s o m e th in g e ls e a g a in . In B e t t y 's c a s e , th e
e n c o u n t e r w it h co n su m in g f i r e , w h ic h is a b d u c tio n w as " r e a l " in th a t i t had p s y c h o lo g ­
p e r c e iv e d a s h a v in g a p u r if y i n g q u a l i t y . i c a l v a l i d i t y f o r h e r . T h a t f a c t g iv e s in v e s ­
. . . T h e f i r e a p p e a rs to d e s t r o y e v e r y ­ t i g a t o r s so m e th in g q u it e r e a l to go o n .
th in g t h a t is r o t t e n and c o r r u p t in th e

in d iv i d u a l and p r e p a r e s h im f o r th e r e ­
n e w in g and r e ju v e n a t in g e x p e r ie n c e o f
r e b i r t h . . . . A v e r y a p p r o p r ia t e sym b ol I l l
a s s o c ia t e d w it h th e id e a o f th e p u r if y i n g

f i r e seem s to be t h a t o f t h e p h o e n ix , th e
le g e n d a ry b ir d who s e t s h i s n e s t on f i r e I t i s b eyon d q u e s t io n t h a t th e r e a re

and f in d s h i s d e a t h in th e f la m e s ; th e e x t e n s iv e s i m i l a r i t i e s b e tw e e n p e r in a t a l im a ­
h e a t o f th e f i r e f a c i l i t a t e s th e h a t c h in g g e ry and UFO a b d u c tio n n a r r a t i v e s , a s th e

o f a n e w p h o e n ix fro m an egg in th e p r e s e n t a t io n o f p a r a l l e l s fro m b o th a r e a s and

b u rn in g n e s t . an a n a ly s is o f a p ro m in e n t a b d u c tio n h a v e

sh o w n . I t m ay b e ■t h o u g h t t h a t t h e r e a re
 90

r e a s o n s f o r th e s e s i m i l a r i t i e s w h ic h c o u ld i f r a r e p h e n o m e n a; and i t i s p o s s ib le to see

s t i l l a llo w f o r a t e n a b le p h y s ic a l h y p o t h e s is iiiu ll ip l e - w i t n e s s C e - J J l s s u c h a s th e A n d re a s­

d b o u t UFO a b d u c t io n s , b u t o n e m u st th e n e x p la in so n c a s e a s h a l lu c in a t o r y in n a t u r e . We sh o u ld

th e s i m i l a r p a r a l l e l s among th e o t h e r a b d u c ­ rem em b er t h a t m u l t ip le - w it n e s s t e s tim o n y does

t io n a n a lo g s . (S e e A p p e n d ix I I I f o r v i s u a l n o t g u a ra n te e th e p h y s ic a l r e a l i t y o f an event

im a g e ry fro m som e a n a lo g s .) W h e th e r o r n o t b u t m e r e ly i t s s u b j e c t iv e p s y c h o lo g ic a l v a lid ­

p e r in a t a l e v e n t s a r e th e fu n d a m e n ta l m a t r ix i t y f o r th e w it n e s s e s . E v e n th o u g h we do not
f o r a l l th e o t h e r a n a lo g s , i t i s c l e a r t h a t C E- y e t u n d e rs ta n d e v e r y t h in g a b o u t m u lt ip le h a l­
( ! [ r e p o r t s e m p lo y p e r in a t a l im a g e s and i n c i ­ l u c in a t io n s , th e p r o b a b i l i t y t h a t t h i s o b scu re
d e n ts and t h a t a b d u c t io n s - - w h a t e v e r e l s e th e y p r o c e s s p la y s a p a r t in som e C e - I l l s seem s m ore

m ay b e - - a r e one o f m any p o s s ib le e x p r e s s io n s o f l i k e l y th a n th e a l t e r n a t i v e s p e c u la t i o n s o fte n

r e v i v i f i e d p e r in a t a l im a g e ry and so h a v e to do r e p e a te d b y c r e d u lo u s u f a l o g i s t s - - t h a t the
w it h in n e r r a t h e r th a n o u t e r s p a c e . s i m i l a r i t i e s in im a g e ry am ong a b d u c tio n a n a ­
lo g s ste m e i t h e r fro m m e re c h a n c e o r fro m
T h e re re m a in som e a p p a re n t p u z z le s . M u l­ s m a r t - a s s a l i e n s b e n t on c o n f u s in g u s!
t i p l e w it n e s s a b d u c t io n s , f o r in s t a n c e , h a v e
a lw a y s seem ed d i f f i c u l t to e x p l a i n . Y e t a A n o th e r t r a d i t i o n a l p u z z le c e n t e r s on
c a r e f u l r e a d in g o f h y p n o t ic t r a n s c r i p t s i n d i ­ p h y s ic a l e f f e c t s C e - I l l s . T h e p ro b le m h e re is
c a t e s t h a t m o st o f th e d u a l and m u l t ip le n o t th e a b s e n c e o f a lle g e d p h y s ic a l e vid en ce
w it n e s s a b d u c t io n s in th e l i t e r a t u r e a r e e i ­ b u t i t s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , f o r p h y s ic a l e v id e n c e
t h e r in c o m p le t e ly in v e s t ig a t e d o r la c k in g in i s n o t o r io u s l y a m b ig u o u s - - a s an yo n e ca n ap p re­
in d e p e n d e n t c o r r o b o r a t io n . T h e se c a s e s in ­ c i a t e who h a s f o llo w e d th e T u r in Shroud con­
c lu d e B e t t y H i l l , B e t t y A n d r e a s s o n , H ic k s o n t r o v e r s y , o r f o r t h a t m a t t e r th e c e n tu ry - lo n g
and P a r k e r , S an d y L a r s o n , P a t R o a c h , Ju d y w i n d m i l l - t i l t i n g o v e r D a r w in 's th e o r y o f e vo ­
K e n d a l l, and th e G a rd e n G ro v e c a s e (t h e la s t lu t io n . T h e in e s c a p a b le f a c t i s t h a t no
tw o I h a ve r e s e a r c h e d p e r s o n a l ly ) . a b d u c tio n c a s e h a s th u s f a r p r e s e n te d u n am b ig ­
u o u s p h y s ic a l o r p h y s io l o g ic a l e v id e n c e w h ic h
T h e 1976 L i b e r t y , K e n t u c k y a b d u c tio n i s c o m p e ls us to c o n c lu d e t h a t a UFO la n d e d in
i n s t r u c t i v e , f o r i t i s o n e o f th e v e r y fe w in t h a t s p o t , o r l e f t t h a t m ark on an a b d u c le e 's
w h ic h a l l th e w it n e s s e s w e re e x t e n s iv e l y ' in ­ sk fn , o r a b d u c te d t h a t f a m ily . I am sp e a kin g
te r v ie w e d and h y p n o t i c a l ly r e g r e s s e d . T h e n o t o f p r o b a b i l i t i e s o r p o s s i b i l i t i e s b u t o f
t r a n s c r i p t s o f th e t h r e e wom en in v o lv e d r e v e a l c e r t a i n t i e s - - s u c b a s th e n o t o r io u s “ crash e d
t h a t e a c h had a s e p a r a t e , s u b j e c t iv e a d v e n tu re s a u c e r s '' an d L i t t l e G re e n M en w o u ld p ro v id e ( i f
r a t h e r th a n a c o n s i s t e n t l y s h a re d a b d u c tio n o n ly t h e y c o u ld be c o a x e d p u t o f H an g ar 1 8 , o r
e x p e r ie n c e . T h u s t h e i r f a s c in a t in g s t o r i e s do m ayb e C lo u d la n d ). One m ig h t o b je c t th a t
n o t c o r r o b o r a t e c la im s o f a b d u c t io n , a lth o u g h u n r e a l i s t i c c e r t a i n t i e s a re n o t n e c e s s a ry fo r
th e p r o b a b i l i t y o f a s h a re d h a l l u c i n a t o r y t h e o r iz i n g a b o u t U F O s. B u t a s a s c ie n t i s t / -
c lo s e e n c o u n t e r o f th e f i r s t k in d seem s f a i r l y m e d ia - c e le b r it y (a n d s o m e tim e UFO d e b u n ke r)
h ig h . r e c e n t l y o b s e r v e d , e x t r a o r d in a r y c la im s demand

e x t r a o r d in a r y p r o o f s , and h e 's r i g h t .
A nu m b er o f m u l t ip le - w it n e s s c lo s e e n ­
c o u n t e r s seem im p r e s s iv e . C a s e s s u c h as th e We c a n n o t y e t e x p la in w h at s t im u la t e s the
K e l l y - H o p k i n s v i 1 le and R e v e re n d G i l l c lo s e s e q u e n c e o f v i s u a l im a g e ry and e v e n ts w h ic h
e n c o u n t e r s , and th e f i r s t p a r t o f th e T r a v i s m a ke s up an a b d u c t io n . T h a t i s th e m ost
W a lto n c a s e (a C E - I I s ig h t in g o f a b r i l l i a n t p r o v o c a t iv e m y s t e ry a b o u t C E - I I I s . O ur in a ­
l i g h t ) t y p i f y u f o l o g y 's m o st f o r m id a b le m y s­ b i l i t y to e x p la in th e e n t i r e UFO a b d u c tio n
t e r i e s . Y e t A l l a n H e n d r y 's d is c u s s io n o f e n ig m a , h o w e v e r, d o e s n o t o b s c u re th e c le a r and
i d e n t i f i e d f l y i n g o b je c t s r e p o r t e d , a s UFO s r e a s o n a b le in f e r e n c e t h a t a b d u c tio n s a re p rim ­
w it h g r e a t a s s u r a n c e b y m u l t ip le w it n e s s e s a r i l y a p s y c h o lo q i c a 1 phenom enon.
(2 7 ) d r a m a t iz e s som e o f th e l i m i t a t i o n s o f
hum an ju d g m e n t. We s h o u ld be c a u t io u s a b o u t T h e re a re new m y s t e r i e s : we do n o t know
e v e n th e b e s t c a s e s . how p e r in a t a l im a g e s fo rm in th e f e t u s , n o r how

BT im a g e ry i s r e v i v i f i e d w it h e v e n p a r t ia l
I f m u l t ip le - w it n e s s C e - I l l s e x i s t , t h e y a c c u r a c y d u r in g d ru g t h e r a p y , h y p n o s is , o r in
m ay be e x p la in e d b y m u l t ip le h a l l u c i n a t i o n s s p o n ta n e o u s w a k in g s e s s io n s (a s th e few non-
(s u c h a s f o l i e a d e u x , im a g in a r y c o m p a n io n s , h y p n o tiz e d a b d u c te e s seem to h a v e d o n e ). How­
and m a ss h a l l u c i n a t i o n s ( 2 8 ) ) , w h ic h a r e r e a l e v e r , th e r e a d in e s s o f h y p n o tiz e d s u b je c t s to *
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 91

b u ild an a b d u c tio n f a n t a s y on a b a se o f p e r i ­ (h o w e v e r co m p e te n t and e a r n e s t ) p e rh a p s to o

n a ta l e x p e r ie n c e s p r o v id e s s t i l l a n o th e r c a u ­ c r e d u lo u s . R e p e a te d h y p n o s is s e s s io n s a re s u s ­

t io n a r y n o te a b o u t th e u se o f h y p n o s is in UFO p e c t in t h a t t h e y i n v i t e e la b o r a t io n and f a b ­

a b d u c tio n s . T h i s c a u t io n w o u ld seem p a r t i c u ­ r i c a t i o n w h ic h c a n be e n c o u ra g e d b y fe e d b a c k

l a r l y n e c e s s a r y in i n v e s t ig a t i o n s s u c h a s q u e s t io n s fro m i n v e s t i g a t o r s , p a s t and c u r r e n t
B e t t y A n d r e a s s o n 's and th e G a rd e n G ro v e c a s e r e a d in g b y th e w it n e s s , and th e e g o -m a ssa g e
(o f w h ic h I h a v e p e r s o n a l k n o w le d g e ), w h e re a s it u a t io n p o sed b y a p r o f e s s io n a l i n v e s t ig a ­
w it o e s s w as h y p n o tiz e d r e p e a t e d ly o v e r s e v e r a l t i v e g ro u p and a lo n e a b d u c te e w it h a w ild t a l e

w eeks by a g ro u p o f i n v e s t ig a t o r s who w e re to t e l l to e a g e r e a r s .

POSSIBLE UMBILICAL ARCHETYPES IN ENTITY DESCRIPTIONS

Fig. 13. Possible unbilical archetypes: tubes

in reported entities' equipment. Hie previously
enicgnatic "head-tubes" in 13-E are seemingly
elucidated by the BT hypothesis.
92 Lawson

POSSIBLE PLACENTAL ARCHETYPES IN EUTITY DESCRIPTIONS AND "EXAMINATIONS"

Fig. 14. Possible placental archetypes: "backpacks" and/or other

phenomena on entities. Placental-backpack parallel is obvious in
Fig. 6—D (above) , and suggests that such entity descriptions (and thus
seemingly deformed (14-D) and winged (14-E) entities also) my relate
to BT events and not, as is ccmmonly theorized, to the astronauts'
bulky spatesuits (14-H) . The placental archetype may also relate to
fairies' and angels' wings (Figs. 14-F/G) .

Fig. 15. Possible placental archetypes: "boxes" ard "tubes" used

during alleged examinations. All the above are from "real" addictions
except 15-E, which is from an imaginary abductee's narrative.
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 93

PCSSIBLE AMNIOTICSACABCHETYPES IN EOTIIY AMDUTODESCRXPTIOtS

Fit. 16. Passible amniotic sac archetypes: bubble—

icme heaigear on
various entities.

Fig. 17. Passible amniotic sac archetypes: groups car single entities
in transparent craft. Note that again an astronaut parallel is not
probable here, since there are no "see-through" windows in current
NASAcraft.
 94 Lawson

IV
d u c t i o n s , and so th e p r e s e n c e o f BT im a g e s
i n v a l i d a t e s a n y C E - I I I n a r r a t i v e in p a rt or
T h i s p a p e r h a s a tte m p te d to sho w t h a t UFO w h o le . S e c o n d , B T im a g e ry th u s p r o v id e s a

" a b d u c t e e s " u n c o n s c io u s ly u s e m a jo r c o m p o n e n ts c r i t e r i o n w it h w h ic h i n v e s t ig a t o r s ca n s e p a r­
o f t h e b i r t h p r o c e s s a s a m a t r ix f o r a f a n t a ­ a te h o a x e s , s u b j e c t iv e f a n t a s i e s , and o th e r
s iz e d a b d u c tio n e x p e r ie n c e . M any a b d u c tio n / B T e a rth b o u n d d a t a fro m a n y p u t a t i v e l y r e a l ab­
p a r a l l e l s a r e o b v io u s : th e f e t u s , t a k e n fro m d u c t io n b y a l i e n c r e a t u r e s . (H e n c e f o r t h , to be
w a rm th and c o m fo rt and s u b je c t e d t o p ro lo n g e d c r e d i b l e , a b d u c tio n a c c o u n ts m ay h a v e to a v o id

d i s t r e s s in th e b i r t h " t u n n e l ," e m e rg e s in t o a o b v io u s B T im a g e ry s u c h a s b r ig h t li g h t s ,
s t r a n g e w o rld w it h b r ig h t l i g h t s , u n c o n fin e d t u n n e ls , b ig ro o m s , f e t a l h u m a n o id s , p h y s ic a l
s p a c e , " e n t i t i e s , " an " e x a m in a t io n ," and v a r i ­ e x a m in a t io n s , r e t r a c t i n g b e a m s, e t c . H o w ever,
o u s s e n s o r y s t i m u l i . S i m i l a r l y , " a b d u c t e e s " fe w i f a n y n o n -B T a b d u c tio n n a r r a t i v e s p re ­
a r e l e v i t a t e d th ro u g h a t u n n e l o f l i g h t in t o a s e n t l y e x i s t , and I s u s p e c t I know w hy. . . .)
U F O 's v a s t , b r i l l i a n t i n t e r i o r w h e re a lie n

c r e a t u r e s e x a m in e an d p ro b e t h e i r b o d ie s , T h e f i n a l p o in t i s e q u a ll y s ig n if ic a n t ;
o f t e n p a i n f u l l y . A d d it io n a l p a r a l l e l s in c lu d e t h e b i r t h tra u m a h y p o t h e s is i s t e s t a b le . The
s u c h s t a p le s o f C E - I I I r e p o r t s a s a lo s s o f p re s e n c e o r a b se n c e o f B T / C E - I I I d a ta p a r a l­
t im e , a b s u rd e v e n t s , w o m b lik e ro o m s, u m b ilic a l l e l s , and t h e r e f o r e th e v a l i d i t y o f th e BT
p a in , s e x u a l s e d u c t io n , an d a s e n s e o f in e f f a - t h e s i s , c a n be d e te rm in e d in a v a r i e t y o f w ays:
b i l i t y a b o u t t h e e x p e r ie n c e . T h e re a r e m a n y ,

m any o t h e r s . A g a in , th e d o m in a n t e n t i t y t y p e (1 ) A b d u c te e s ' b i r t h and m e d ic a l h i s t o

d e s c r ib e d in b o th C e - I I I and B T n a r r a t i v e s i s ie s ca n be e x p lo r e d th ro u g h in t e r v ie w s w ith
h u m a n o id , and c l o s e l y re s e m b le s a f e t u s o r w it n e s s e s and t h e i r f a m i l i e s . I f a n y a b d u cte e s
e m b ry o . T h e b i r t h p r o c e s s i s so i d i o s y n c r a t i c who r e p o r t S ta g e I I I - I V d a ta s u c h as d ism e m ­
an d v a r io u s t h a t no tw o C e - I I I n a r r a t i v e s a r e b e rm e n t, h e a d p r e s s u r e , o r r e l i e f w e re c e s a r ­
e v e r e x a c t l y a l i k e — th o u g h a l l a r e v e r y s i m i ­ e a n s (a n d t h u s u n l i k e l y to h a v e e x p e rie n c e d
l a r . T h u s t h i s r e s e a r c h s u c c e s s f u l l y e x p la in s l a t e r p e r in a t a l p h e n o m e n a ), d o u b t w o u ld be
how tw o d i f f e r e n t a b d u c tio n " v i c t i m s " ca n c a s t on t h e B T t h e o r y . I f no s u c h a b d u cte e s
s o m e tim e s r e c a l l v i r t u a l l y id e n t i c a l e x p e r i ­ w e re fo u n d to b e c e s a r e a n s , th e BT t h e o r y w o u ld
e n c e s , an d a ls o a c c o u n ts f o r m in o r in c o n s is ­ be s t r e n g t h e n e d . F u r t h e r , m e d ic a l h i s t o r i e s ,
t e n c i e s am ong s u c h n a r r a t i v e s . e s p e c i a l l y h o s p i t a l i z a t i o n s , ca n be s c r u t in ­
iz e d f o r p o s s ib l e d a t a p a r a l l e l s w it h im a g e s

I t i s im p o r ta n t to r e a l i z e t h a t a n y o n e ca n and e v e n t s d e s c r ib e d d u r in g a lle g e d e x a m in a ­
r e v i v i f y h i s own B T e v e n t s in th e p r e s e n c e o f t io n s and r e la t e d t r e a t m e n t b y su p p o se d a l i ­
an a p p r o p r ia t e s t im u lu s ( h y p n o s is , d r u g s , o r e n s .

a p p a r e n t ly e v e n th e UFO p h e n o m e n o n ), w it h th e
r e v i v i f i c a t i o n t a k in g th e fo rm o f a h a l l u c i n a ­
( 2 ) A b d u c te e s ' n a r r a t i v e r e p o r t s ca n be
t i o n , a r e l i g i o u s e x p e r ie n c e , a UFO a b d u c t io n ,
s e a rc h e d w o rd -b y -w o rd f o r 8 T im a g e ry and e ­
o r a n y o t h e r a b d u c tio n a n a lo g . In a sm u c h a s a
v e n t s ( a s w as done w it h th e A n d re a s s o n ca se
s u b j e c t 's p e r in a t a l e x p e r ie n c e s m ay in c lu d e
a b o v e ). N a r r a t iv e d e t a i l s m ay becom e r e le v a n t
rand o m d a ta fro m h a l l u c i n a t o r y , re m e m b e re d ,
o n ly a f t e r a B T a n a l y s i s : o n e a b d u c te e s a id she
and f a n t a s iz e d im a g e ry a s w e l l , i t i s c l e a r
had to " t u r n s id e w a y s " in o r d e r to wedge her
t h a t r e s e a r c h e r s s h o u ld u t i l i z e h y p n o t i c a l ly
s h o u ld e r s th ro u g h h e r U F O 's d o o rw a y ( 2 9 ) , a
d e r iv e d d a t a w it h c a u t io n .
p o s s ib l e e c h o o f f e t a l r o t a t io n d u rin g b ir t h ;

a n o th e r w it n e s s re p o rt e d b e in g h e ld f a s t by a

T h e r e re m a in m an y u n a n sw e re d q u e s t io n s j o i n t e d m e t a l l i c " c la m p ," w h ic h th e n tw is te d

a b o u t a b d u c tio n r e p o r t s , b u t u f o l o g ic a l r e ­ h im , h u r t in g h i s b a c k ( 3 0 ) , s u g g e s tin g a f o r ­

s e a r c h in t o B T r e v i v i f i c a t i o n s a s w e ll as c e p s - a id e d d e l i v e r y .

m u l t ip le h a l l u c i n a t i o n s , f u g u e s , and s i m i l a r

p s y c h o lo g ic a l p heno m ena i s l i k e l y to p r o v id e ( 3 ) O th e r B T / C E - I I I p a r a l l e l s m ay be

a n s w e rs . u n c o v e re d th ro u g h h y p n o t ic r e v i v i f i c a t i o n o f

th e w it n e s s e s ' p e r in a t a l h i s t o r i e s . I f p e r­

T h re e p o in t s a r e e m p h a s iz e d in t h i s p a p ­ fo rm e d p r o f e s s i o n a l l y an d in t e r p r e t e d c a u ­

e r : F i r s t , b i r t h tra u m a im a g e ry o r i g i n a t e s in t i o u s l y , h y p n o s is c a n p r o v id e a u s e f u l in v e s ­

w it n e s s e s ' p e r in a t a l h i s t o r y and a s s o c ia t e d t i g a t i v e t o o l f o r a b d u c tio n r e s e a r c h e r s .

p s y c h o lo g ic a l e x p e r ie n c e s r a t h e r th a n in ab ­
 free. 0* 19dl CoFOS Coni. 95

T h e b i r t h tra u m a h y p o t h e s is o f th e o r i g i n Th e s u b je c t o f UFO a b d u c tio n s i s i n t r i ­

o f f a l l a c i o u s UFO a b d u c tio n r e p o r t s is o n e o f g u in g to th e p u b lic f o r th e sam e re a s o n a lm o s t

th e v e r y fe w " f a I s i f i a b l e " h y p o th e s e s w h ic h a n y s c i e n t i f i c b o d y (n o d o u b t t h in k in g " fu n d ­
have e v e r been p ro p o se d a b o u t t h i s m o st s e n s a ­ in g " ) i s a p a t h e t ic : b o th g ro u p s , in d i f f e r e n t
t io n a l se g m e n t o f th e UFO p h en o m en o n . I f u f o l ­ w a y s , li n k a b d u c tio n s t o r i e s w it h th e id e a o f
ogy is e v e r to becom e a t r u l y s c i e n t i f i c l i t t l e G re e n M en. B u t th e s e g ro u p s * a t t it u d e s

d i s c i p l i n e , v ia b l e h y p o th e s e s w i l l h a v e to be m ig h t r e v e r s e i f a b d u c tio n s w e re id e n t if ie d
o ffe r e d - - a n d a ls o t e s t e d . In t h i s in s t a n c e , in s te a d o n ly w it h in t e r e s t i n g (a n d p e rh a p s
s e r io u s and o b je c t i v e i n v e s t ig a t o r s s h o u ld f u n d a b le ) c l i n i c a l p s y c h o lo g ic a l p ro b le m s s u c h
in fo rm th e m s e lv e s a b o u t p e r in a t a l e v e n t s o r a s m u lt ip le h a l l u c i n a t i o n s , f u g u e s , o r o t h e r
e ls e u t i l i z e h y p n o t h e r a p is t s o r o t h e r s e x p e r i ­ a lt e r e d s t a t e s o f c o n s c io u s n e s s . W h a te v e r th e
enced in b i r t h tra u m a r e c a l l . A lth o u g h v e r i ­ n a t u r e o f d a y lig h t d i s c s , n i g h t l i g h t s , and
fy in g a b d u c te e s ' m e d ic a l and b i r t h h i s t o r i e s o t h e r c lo s e - e n c o u n t e r a s p e c t s o f th e UFO p h e ­
sh o u ld be r e l a t i v e l y e a s y , o t h e r HT d a ta m ay be n o m en o n , a b d u c tio n s s e a n to y i e l d to a p s y c h o ­
m o re d i f f i c u l t to f in d o r p r o v e ; h o w e v e r, th e lo g ic a l r e s e a r c h a p p ro a c h . I t seem s to me
a tte m p t s h o u ld b e m ade. R e s e a r c h e r s who w is h t h a t , u n t i l th e a b d u c tio n w it n e s s 's p s y c h o lo g y

to t e s t th e BT h y p o t h e s is a r e u rg e d to in fo rm i s m ade th e m a in fo c u s o f in v e s t ig a t i o n in C £ -
me o f t h e i r r e s u l t s . One p o s s ib le a d d it io n a l 111 c a s e s , and th e E T and o t h e r f a n t a s t i c

v a lu e o f s u c h d a ta i s t h a t a c a u s a l r e l a t i o n ­ h y p o th e s e s a re a llo w e d to a w a it w h a te v e r e x ­

s h ip c o u ld th u s be d e te rm in e d b e tw e e n d i s t i n c t t r a o r d i n a r y p r o o f s m ig h t be t h e i r d e s t in y ,

e v e n ts o f th e b i r t h p r o c e s s and s p e c i f i c r e v i ­ a b d u c tio n r e s e a r c h e r s w o n 't a t t r a c t - - n o r w i l l

v i f i c a t i o n im a g e ry , s o m e th in g w h ic h G r o f 's t h e y d e s e r v e - - s e r io u s and w id e s p re a d s c ie n ­

e x p e rim e n ts w e re u n a b le to p r o v id e . t i f i c a t t e n t i o n .

D IS C U S S IO N

?? C an y o u g iv e me a f iv e - m in u t e n a r r a t i v e o f a UFO a b d u c tio n r e p o r t t h a t c l o s e l y
p a r a l l e l s th e b i r t h tra u m a e x p e r ie n c e ? ”

L . I t to o k me f i v e m o n th s to w r it e th e s e 22 p a g e s , so I c a n 't p e rh a p s add to i t

in t h i s am ount o f t im e . I th o u g h t i t w as b l a t a n t l y o b v io u s fro m th a t one e x a m p le ,

and I w as h o p in g to g e n e r a liz e fro m th a t.. W e 'v e w o rke d w it h 3 5 -4 0 ato d u ctees and
im a g in a r y p e o p le , an d a n o th e r te n c e s a r i a n p e o p le , and w e 'v e had m an y, m any p a r a l ­
l e l s . 1 m u st s a y t h a t th e r e a r e J u n g ia n s p r e s e n t , and I d o n 't know i f t h e y f e e l

th e u rg e t o re s p o n d to y o u r c o im ie n t. B u t i t ’ s l i k e t h i s : i f Hume h a s ch a n g e d th e
w ay w e lo o k a t th e w o r ld , F re u d h a s ch a n g e d th e w ay we lo o k a t f la g p o l e s . OK?

And we c a n n e v e r lo o k a t th em in th e sam e w a y . W e 'v e lo s t o u r in n o c e n c e , i f

t h a t ' s w h a t it w a s . A nd i f i t ' s E n g li s h d e p a rt m e n ts o r w h o e v e r is g u i l t y f o r

t h i s , I d o n 't kn o w . B u t 1 t h in k t h a t i t ' s a w ay o f ch a n g in g v ie w s , and I ’m h o p in g

to c h a n g e som e o f o u r v ie w s . I t seem s to me th a t so m e th in g l i k e t h i s s h o u ld h ave
b e e n f o r th c o m in g fro m p e o p le o t h e r th a n E n g li s h d e p a rtm e n t p e o p le - - t h e p s y c h o lo ­

g i s t s , i f y o u 'r e o u t t h e r e - - o r i f y o u 'r e n o t t h e r e , t h i s s a y s s o m e th in g to o .
T h e y s h o u ld h a v e d o n e s o m e th in g a b o u t t h i s lo n g b e f o r e .

? ? I f e v e r y o n e o f u s h a v e b e e n b p rn and s u b je c t to b i r t h tra u m a , w hy d o n 't we a l l

h a v e a b d u c tio n s c e n a r io s ?

I'. We w o u ld g e t th e sam e im a g e ry fro m p e o p le , w h e th e r t h e y 'r e im a g in a r y , o r so -

c a l l e d r e a l o r a c t u a l l y t r a u m a t iz e d in M o n tan a a t t h r e e in th e m o rn in g .

? ? A re t h e r e a n y a b d u c t io n s you c a n n o t r e l a t e to t h e b i r t h tra u m a e x p e r ie n c e ?

L . Fe w o r n o n e . 1 d o n 't f in d a n y t h a t d o n 't h a v e b i r t h tra u m a im a g e ry . T h e re

is o n e - - l t h in k CUFO S s o ld a b ook a b o u t som e a f f a i r in th e n in e t e e n t h c e n t u r y

t h a t 1 h a v e n 't lo o k e d a t c l o s e l y - - i t m ay o r m ay n o t h a v e t h a t . [ I t w as n o t
an a b d u c t io n . E d . ] -
96 Limbo

? ? You seem to be d is c u s s in g a u n iq u e fo rm o f CE I I I . C an yo u d ra w a d i s t i n c t i o n
b e tw e e n th e s e and th e F a t h e r G i l l c a s e and th e F e c h a c a s e ?

L . V e ry d e f i n i t e l y , y e s . I ' v e b e e n t r y i n g to m ake i t c l e a r t h r e e tim e s h e r e . I'm

t a l k i n g o n ly a b o u t a b d u c t io n s . O K , I b e li e v e t h e r e i s a UFO pheno m eno n. A l l
r ig h t ? T h a t 's th e p a r t y l i n e , I g u e s s . I b e li e v e i t ' s u n e x p la in e d a t th e p re s e n t
tim e -, OK? 1 b e li e v e t h a t C E I I s in v o lv e som e v e r y w e ir d g o in g s - o n . I'm ju s t
s a y in g t h a t C E I I I s , o r a b d u c t io n s a s I s e e th e m , do n o t in v o lv e e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l
o r a n y o t h e r e x t r a o r d in a r y e v e n t .

? ? I s a l l e x p e r ie n c e r e d u c ib le to com m on p s y c h o lo g ic a l d e n o m in a to r s - - w h e th e r i t ' s
a r e a l e x p e r ie n c e o r a t o t a l l y p s y c h o lo g ic a l o n e ? *

L . I t h in k t h e r e 's s o m e th in g to w h a t yo u s a y . A g a in i t ' s p a r t l y due to th e f a c t

t h a t an E n g li s h p r o f e s s o r had to do t h i s w o rk . I t ' s p r o p e r l y th e w o rk o f p s y ­

c h i a t r i s t s o r p s y c h o lo g i s t s . .

? ? How do y o u d e fe n d th e t h e s i s t h a t b i r t h tra u m a im a g e ry i s th e n o n -p a rs im o n io u s

e x p la n a t io n f o r s u c h s i m i l a r i t i e s b e tw e e n h u m a n o id f e a t u r e s an d th o s e o f in f a n t s ?
Y o u 'r e in v o k in g an e x p la n a t io n w h ic h i s g e n e r a lly n o t a c c e p t e d b y th e s c i e n t i f i c

c o m m u n ity . * -

L . W e 're h e re b e c a u s e w e 'r e n o t a c c e p t e d b y th e s c i e n t i f i c c o m m u n ity . I d o n 't

t h in k t h a t t h a t ' s n e c e s s a r i l y r e l e v a n t , b u t 1 d o n 't know w h a t you m ean b y “ non­
p a r s im o n i o u s ” . W hat d o e s t h a t m ean?

? ? T h e r e m ay be s im p le c u l t u r a l e x p la n a t io n s w it h o u t b rin g in g Ju n g _ o r G ro f in t o th e
p i c t u r e .

L . T h e re v e r y w e ll m ay be s im p le r e x p la n a t io n s , and I t h in k i t ' s up to yo u to p ro ­
v id e t h o s e in r e s p o n s e to t h i s p a p e r.

? ? You t a lk a b o u t u s in g J u n g 's b o o k , b u t he d id in c lu d e d a ta fro m C E I l l s t h a t a re

n o t a b d u c t io n s . How do yo u a c c o u n t f o r th a t ?

L . 1 do in c lu d e d a t a fro m C E I I I s t h a t a re n o n - a b d u c te e ty p e t h in g s and I r e s p e c t
[ th e f a c t ] t h a t th e s e a r e th e m o st com m on ty p e o f e n t i t y . A s f o r u s in g Ju n g
and so f o r t h , I th o u g h t t h a t I u se d h im j u d i c i o u s l y , o f c o u r s e , as I w o u ld .

? ? How do yo u h a v e m e m o rie s in th e f e t a ) s t a g e o f th e e m b ry o n ic d is k ?

L . T h e e m b ry o n ic d is k — t h i s i s h a r d . A s O r. H yn e k s a id r e c e n t l y in an a r t i c l e

re s p o n d in g to s o m e th in g I had w r i t t e n , th e s e a re f a s c in a t in g p ro b le m s f o r
p s y c h o lo g i s t s . I f we know t h i s is a p p a re n t d a t a , t h e r e m ay be a m in d h e re --s o m e -
L h in g a k in to m in d . A nd I t h in k th e y s h o u ld be lo o k e d a t . We d o n 't know why
t u r t l e s c a n f in d t h e i r w ay 9 ,0 0 0 m il e s a c r o s s th e o c e a n in an e g g . How d oes it
g e t t h e r e ? We d o n 't k n o w . I t m ay b e on th e m o le c u la r l e v e l , r a t h e r th a n th e
n e u ro n l e v e l . We d o n 't k n o w . .

? ? W o u ld yo u c o n s t r u c t a h y p o t h e t ic a l s i t u a t i o n t h a t w o u ld n o t c o n t a in an y b ir t h
tra u m a im a g e ry ?

L . I ’ v e a lr e a d y d one t h a t n e g a t iv e ly . I s a id t h a t th e o n e s t h a t c o n t a in th e s e
t h in g s a r e c o m m o n ly fo u n d in E u r o p e , in th e p e o p le y o u 'v e d e a lt w it h , in th e
p e o p le w e 'v e d e a lt w it h , th e p e o p le a l l o f u s a r e f a m i l i a r w it h . I t h in k t h a t

we c o u ld u s e t h i s a s a m e an s o f d e te r m in in g t h a t som e m u st be f a l l a c i o u s .
I f we g e t an a b d u c t io n , p r e f e r a b ly m u l t i p l e , and i t d o e s n 't h a v e a n y o f th e s e

f a m i l i a r im a g e s in i t , th e n t h a t ' s s o m e th in g to lo o k a t .
Proc. of 19S1 CUr'CS Coof. 97

? ? W hat good i s a h y p o t h e s is i f i t ‘ s n o t fa 1s i f i a b l e ?

L . I f y o u c a n t e l l me t h a t y o u r m an [w h o h a s r e p o rt e d h a v in g had a m e ta l c la m p on
h i s s h o u ld e r ] d id n o t in d e e d h a v e a fo r c e p s - a id e d d e l i v e r y , th e n t h a t w o u ld be
i n t e r e s t i n g d a ta and I w o u ld l i k e to s e e t h a t . And I w o u ld l i k e to s e e a l l th e
p e o p le who had r e p o rt e d b ody d is m e m b e rm e n t who d id n o t have, a r e g u la r b i r t h , b u t
w e re c e s a r i a n s an d t h e r e f o r e d i d n 't go th ro u g h la t e s ta g e [ t h r e e an d f o u r ] b ir t h
t r a u m a - - t h is i s a f a 1s i f i a b l e h y p a t h e s is . I t ' s th e f i r s t tim e w e 'v e h ad a n y th in g
l i k e t h i s w it h a b d u c t io n s . W h e th e r y o u l i k e i t o r n o t , 1 t h in k i t ' s v e r y im p o r t a n t .

R EFE R EN C ES

1 ) G r o f , S t a n s l a v , M .D ., R e a lm s o f th e Human U n c o n s c io u s (N ew Y o r k , 1 9 7 5 ),
p p . 9 6 -9 8 .

2 ) G r o f , p p . 1 9 7 -1 9 8 .

3 ) I was g iv e n t h i s in f o r m a t io n by a p r o f e s s io n a l c l i n i c i a n w it h e x t e n s iv e
e x p e r ie n c e In e x p e r im e n t a l and m e d ic a l d ru g t h e r a p y p ro g ra m s .

4 ) S c h w a r z , B e r t h o ld E . , "U F O S : D e lu s io n o r D ile m m a ," M e d ic a l T im e s (N ew J e r s e y ) .

9 6 :1 0 ( 1 9 6 8 ) , p . 9 6 7 . ”

5 ) L a w so n , A lv i n H . , "H y p n o s is o f Im a g in a ry UFO A b d u c t e e s ," in P r o c e e d in g s o f

th e F i r s t I n t e r n a t i o n a l UFO C o n g re s s (N ew Y o r k , 1 9 8 0 ), p p . 1 9 5 -2 3 8 .

6 ) G r o f , p p . 1 0 4 - 1 3 8 .

7 ) G r o f , p . 1 4 6 .

8 ) G r o f , p . 1 0 9 .

9 ) G r o f , p . 9 8 .

1 0) In f o r m a t io n f o r t h i s s e c t io n w as s u p p lie d by th e f o ll o w i n g : B 1 e c h s c h m ld t ,

E r i c h , B e g in n in g s o f L i f e (N e w Y o r k , 1 9 7 7 ); D a v ie s , J a c k , Human D e v e lo p m e n ta l
A n a to m y (N ew Y o r k , 1 9 6 3 ); H o o re , K e it h L . , The D e v e lo p in g Human ( P h i l a d e l p h i a .
19 7 7 T ; lu c h m a n n - D e p le s s is , H ., e t a l , I l l u s t r a t e d Human E m b ry o lo g y , V o l . I

(N e w Y o r k , 1 9 7 2 ).

1 1 ) G r o f . p p . 1 5 8 -1 6 1 and 1 9 1 -1 9 3 .

1 2 ) G r o f , p p . 191 f f .

1 3 ) G r o f , p p . 1 9 2 -1 9 3 .

1 4 ) G r o f , p . 1 5 9 .

1 5 ) J u n g , C . G . , F ly i n g S a u c e r s : A M o d ern M yth o f T h in g s S ee n in th e S k ie s
(N ew Y o r k , 1 9 5 9 ), p . 30 f f .

1 6 ) F o w le r , Raym ond E . , The A n d re a s s o n A f f a i r (N ew J e r s e y , 1 9 7 9 ), p . 5 9 ; and

F u l l e r , J o h n , The In t e r r u p t e d J o u rn e y (N ew Y o r k , 1 9 6 6 ), p p . 1 9 5 -1 9 6 .
98

1 7 ) F o w le r , p p . 1 2 6 - 1 2 8 , an d p . 1 8 2 .

18 ) G r o f , p . 1 0 5 .

1 9 ) F o w le r , p . 1 8 0 ; th e G a rd e n G ro v e c a s e 1 s c o m p le x and e x t e n s iv e , b u t tw o

r e f e r e n c e s s h o u ld s u f f i c e : my " H y p n o tic R e g r e s s io n s o f A lle g e d C E - I I I E n c o u n t e r s ,"

in P r o c e e d in g s o f th e 1976 CUFQS C o n fe re n c e (C h ic a g o , 1 9 7 7 ), p p . 1 4 1 - 1 5 1 ; and
de H e r r e r a , J o h n , T h e E t h e r e a n In v a s io n (L o s A la m it o s , C a l i f . , 1 9 7 8 ).

2 0 ) G r o f , p . 1 4 2 .

2 1 ) G r o f , p. 14 1 .

2 2 ) F o w le r , p . 6 0 .

2 3 ) G r o f , p . 131 .

2 4 ) G r o f , p . 1 2 1 .

2 5 ) F o w le r , p . 2 0 2 . •

2 6 ) G r o f , p . 1 2 4 .

2 7 ) H e n d ry , A . , UFO H andbook (N e w Y o r k , 1 9 7 9 ) , p p . 191 f f .

2 8 ) S e e S i e g e l , R . K . , " H a l l u c i n a t i o n s ," S c i e n t i f i c A m e ric a n (O c t o b e r 1 9 7 7 ) ,

p p . 1 3 2 - 1 4 0 ; S i e g e l , R . K . , "N o rm a l H a llu c i n a t io n s o f Im a g in a ry C o m p a n io n s ,"

M a cle a n H o s p it a l J o u r n a l ( I I , 2 , 1 9 7 7 ), p p . 6 6 - 8 0 ; and S i e g e l , R . K . , and W e s t,

L . J . , e d s ., H a l l u c i n a t i o n s : B e h a v io r , E x p e r ie n c e , and T h e o ry (N ew Y o r k , 1 9 7 5 ).

2 9 ) D r u f f e l , A ., and R o g o , S . , T u ju n q a C an yo n C o n ta c t s (N e w J e r s e y , 1 9 8 0 ),
p p . 4 7 - 4 8 .

30) Hopkins, B ., Missing Time (NeW York, 1981), pp. 77 f f .

 98-A

A P P E N D IX — A B D U C T IO N ANALOGS
98-B APPENDIX I I I —ABDUCTION ANALOGS

I. NEftR-DEATHEXPERIENCES
Seme of the many UPO-NDE parallels: a
sense of floating (OQB) , the examination-
resuscitation table, the tube/tunnel
imagery, the "border" or doorway, the
exotic "being of light," the "TVscreen"
life review, the return, and the usual
aftermath. The aftermth is a recognized
psychological effect, and writers such
as Kubler-Ross emphasize its significance
for the NDEwitness's personality: his
life is never the same. This can also
be said of most abductees.

I-C. Subject often reports 1-D. The subject floats through a "tunnel" to a
hovering near ceiling and "border" (often of water—perhaps suggestive of
watching while resuscitation the aoniotic fluid), beyond which is a brightly
efforts proceed. lit area, and a "being" . . . ’

I~G. Subject is returned

1~F. Subject sees a and wakes up in his own
body again.
"TVscreen" review
of his life.

guided to heaven through a cosmic
tube/tunnel by a spirit bird.
II-C. Asiatic shaman being
dismembered (a rebirth rite)
by Vishnu, recalling similar
events in abductions.
98-C
Black Elk spoke with "grandfathers.
Note BT/lFO shape of tepee.
APPENDIXIII-—
ABDUCTIONANAIPGS: II. SKAMAFS1 TRANCES
Amerindian shamans like Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux,
believed that they could travel frcm earth to other worlds
via a "cosmic pillar," often symbolized in sketches by a pole
or tree (II-A) . Black Elk's typical trance started beside
a tree (pillar) . Shortly a "spirit guide" bird led him
upward through a tunnel-like aperture and thence ucward
into a "flaming rainbow tepee" (II-B) where Black Elk met
and ccrrmunicated with a group of- "grandfathers." (Note the
wcmb/UFOshape of the tepee.) At this point (II-C) in many
accounts the shaman is forced to undergo painful bodily
dismemberment—a demon removes every organ, bone, and even
blood cell in his body! But everything is then replaced,
after being cleansed and purified, and lol the shaman is
spiritually and physically reborn (a rich echo of BT
imagery), and is thus ready to return to his people with
renewed spiritual energies. Sometimes (II-D) Black Elk
was returned by a "little cloud." Acave painting (U-E)
(12,000-30,000 B.C.) indicates the antiquity of this
analog—an entranced shaman lies beside a spirit-guide
bird atop a pole (pillar) . Clearly, abduction analogs
have been around for a long while . . .
of this UFOabduction analog.
98-D

APPENDIX III—ABDUCTIONANADDGS: IH- FOLKLORE

One of the richest sources of abduction
lore before CE-HIs is provided by Anglo-Saxon
folklore. Hie immensely diverse and abdundant
traditions contain many abduction parallels,
among them bright lights, levitation, big
rooms (some of the biggest big rooms, since so
much of the "little people's" activities were
conducted in underground caverns), varied but
largely fetal humanoid entities, messages
(often threats or curses), and usually a potent
aftermath, (acknowledged by words such as
III-A. Brownies on their wartolike "fairy "pixilated*1-^pixy^-led, or mentally confused).
mound^ during nighttime revelry. Note Little people lore is also characterized by
their fetal appearance: diminutive, frail, a wealth of secret (disappearing) doors, tube/
large heads, obscure gender, and in close-* tunnels, and womblike images.
fitting apparel, i.e ., skin tight.

III~B. Fairy mounds appeared suddenly at HI-C. Sometimes the fairy mounds were a*-id
night, light streaming frcm an open door. to raise up on beams of light and hover over
Urwary humans who entered, it was believed, the ground, an obvious nuts-and-bolts UFO
rarely escaped. Wcnb/UED shape is obvious. parallel*

IV. AMERICAN INDIAN FOLKLORE)

IV~A» In this Algonquin Indian star-maiden
myth, there is an abduction—but reversed 1 A
brave has captured a beautiful maiden from a
group which came down to earth in a flying
basket. Algonquin myths have a nunber of
sky-traveling creatures, contacts between earth
and heavenly entities, spirit-guides, and the
like. The star-maiden pictured eventually was
able to return to her sky hone, but she came
back years later, again in the flying basket,
for her brave. After many years together in
the sky world, they were transformed into
white falcons and lived out their lives on the
prairies. Although the rtyth is traditional
the illustration dates frou 1914.
IV-a. An Algonquin sky-maiden
abduction (in reverse) .
Pro;, of 1W1 CUfOS Conf.
99

THE CONTACTEES: A SURVEY

GORDON1 MELTON

In th e 1 9 5 0 s , in r e s p o n s e to th e f l y i n g lu s h p la n e t o f f o r e s t s , p a r k s and g a r d e n s . He

s a u c e r p h en o m en o n , th e r e a ro s e a g ro u p o f had n o t p la n n e d th e jo u r n e y b u t had been ta k e n

p e o p le who c la im e d t h a t t h e y had p e r s o n a l ly t h e r e b y som e "u n s e e n f o r c e ." In h i s a c c o u n t,

c o n t a c t e d th e o c c u p a n ts o f th e s e odd c r a f t . he s a y s t h a t th e M a rt ia n s w e re f a r a h e ad o f
T h e y a s s e r t e d t h a t th e s a u c e r s w e re in f a c t e a r t h lin g s in d e v e lo p m e n t , e s p e c i a l l y t e c h ­
s p a c e c r a f t and th e o c c u p a n ts o u r b r o t h e r s and n o l o g i c a l l y . T h e y a lr e a d y had a u to m o b ile s and
s i s t e r s fro m s p a c e . A fe w e v e n c la im e d to r a d io s . T h e y w e re a ls o i n v i s i b l e and h e c o u ld
h a v e t r a v e le d to d is t a n t p la n e t s o r ta k e n a o n ly s e n s e t h e i r p r e s e n c e .

r id e in s p a c e .
Fro m h i s e x p e r ie n c e he g a in e d a deep se n s e

T h a t s u c h p e o p le b eg an to p o p u la te th e o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r h im s e lf . " I c o u ld n o t
g a t h e r in g s o f f l y i n g s a u c e r b u f f s becam e a dep end upon som eone e ls e to do th e w o rk , i t

c o n c e r n o f m any who p ro c e e d e d to condem n th e m c o u ld n o t be done t h a t w a y ." He a ls o adm on­

a s k o o k s o r d is m is s th e m as th e lu n a t ic f r in g e . is h e d th e r e l i g i o u s le a d e r s o f h i s d a y n o t to

T h e re w e re fe w who saw a n y v a lu e in w h a t th e f e a r s c i e n t i f i c p r o g r e s s . I t c o u ld n o t to u c h

c o n t a c t e e s , a s t h e y cam e to b e k n o w n , had to t r u e r e l i g i o n .
s a y . T h e y w e re an e m b a rra s s m e n t U> s o b e r

r e s e a r c h in t o th e u n u s u a l a e r i a l phenom ena G uy B a l l a r d ' s a d v e n tu re s b e g in on t h e s id e

c a l l e d u n id e n t i f ie d f l y i n g o b je c t s . o f M t. S h a s ta in N o rth e rn C a l i f o r n i a . H e re he

e n c o u n t e re d a m y s t e r io u s b e in g who b eg an to
O u rin g th e 1 9 7 0 s , h o w e v e r, u f o l o g is t s h a v e te a c h h im th e m y s t e r ie s o f th e a g e s . On New

b eg u n to ta k e a new lo o k a t p e o p le who c la im Y e a r 's E v e , th e t e a c h e r t o ld B a lla r d to p re p a re

d i r e c t c o n t a c t w it h f l y i n g s a u c e r e n t i t i e s . h im s e lf f o r a g a t h e r in g a t th e R o y a l T e to n
T h e y h a v e been a s c r ib e d a p la c e in UFO r e s e a r c h M o u n ta in . A t s e v e n in th e e v e n in g , t h e y l e f t

a s " c l o s e e n c o u n t e r s o f th e t h i r d k in d " and B a l l a r d ' s h o u se and jo u rn e y e d in s id e th e m oun­

s p e c ia l i n t e r e s t h a s a r is e n a ro u n d a p a r t i c ­ t a i n to a v a s t c a v e r n . O n ce a s s e m b le d , B a lla r d
u l a r C E I I 1 , th e a b d u c te e . Leo S p r i n k le began and 105 o t h e r s becam e h o s t to tw e lv e V e n u s ia n s
a n n u a l g a t h e r in g s o f " c o n t a c t e e s " in I 9 6 0 .1 who a p p e a re d in t h e i r m id s t in a b la z e o f
R a r e l y , h o w e v e r, h a v e c o n te m p o ra ry r e s e a r c h e r s l i g h t . D u rin g th e c o u r s e o f th e v i s i t , th e
c h e c k e d t h e i r c a s e s in th e lig h t o f th e p r io r V e n u s ia n s p la y e d th e h a rp and v i o l i n m uch to
c la im s o f s u c h c o n t a c t . T h is p a p e r i s an th e d e li g h t o f a l l . On a la r g e m ir r o r t h e y
i n i t i a l a tte m p t to o f f e r som e d ir e c t i o n a s to show ed s c e n e s fro m t h e i r home p la n e t o f a d ­
how t h a t t a s k m ig h t be p u rs u e d . v a n c e d s c i e n t i f i c and t e c h n o lo g ic a l a c h ie v e ­
m e n ts . T h e y a ls o r e v e a le d a f u t u r e d i s s i p a t io n
T y p ic a l o f th e s t o r i e s o f th e s e c o n t a c t e e s o f th e d a rk f o r c e s t h r e a t e n in g th e e a r t h and
a r e th o s e o f W ill a r d M. M agoon^ and G uy B a l­ th e g ra d u a l c o m in g o f a tim e o f p e a c e and
l a r d . 3 M agoon r e p o rt e d h i s . e x p e r ie n c e m any g o o d w i11.
y e a r s a f t e r ' i t had o c c u r r e d to h im a s a yo u n g
man in th e e a r l y p a r t o f t h i s c e n t u r y . He w e n t T h e se a c c o u n ts a re t y p i c a l , a s n o te d a ­
to M a rs , w h ic h h e d e s c r ib e d a s a b e a u t i f u l , b o v e , b u t m ore i n t e r e s t i n g th a n m o st in t h a t
 100 ntUofi

M a g o o n 's w as p u b lis h e d in th e 1 9 3 0 s an d B a l­ n o v e l s , w h ic h w e re tu rn e d o u t b y d re a m e rs a l l
l a r d 's a p p e a re d in 1 9 3 5 . M o re th a n a d e c a d e o v e r E u r o p e , th e h e ro t r a v e l s to som e s p o t
b e f o r e K e n n e th A rn o ld g a ve u s f l y i n g s a u c e r s re m o te to h i s / h e r home s e t t i n g . T h e s p o t m ay
and a lm o s t tw o d e c a d e s b e fo r e A d am sk i i n t r o ­ be o u t e r s p a c e , th e in n e r e a r t h , a f a r la n d
d u ce d u s to O r t h o n , M agoon and B a lla r d w e re in (1 ik e G u l 1 i v e r ) o r a f u t u r e t im e . O n ce in th e
c o n t a c t w it h M a r t ia n s and V e n u s ia n s . A nd e v e n new l o c a le , th e h e ro d is c o v e r s an id e a l s o c i ­
m o re f a s c i n a t i n g , th e s e tw o a r e n o t j u s t is o ­ e t y . The a u th o r w r i t e s h i s / h e r a c c o u n t as a
la te d a n o m a lie s .b u t f i t in t o a t r a d i t i o n o f p a r a b le o r c a l l to a c t io n f o r t h e r e a d e r s . T h e
c la im s o f e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l c o n t a c t t h a t c o v e r s b o o ks d e a lt p r i m a r i l y w it h is s u e s o f s o c ia l

th e tw o c e n t u r i e s b e fo r e A rn o ld and A d a m s k i. j u s t i c e , t e c h n o lo g ic a l p r o g r e s s , p u b l ic e d u ­

T h i s 2 0 0 y e a r s o f r e p o r t s o f c o n t a c t s w it h o u t e r c a t io n and m o ra l w e lf a r e .

s p a c e p r o v id e n eed ed a d d it io n a l m a t e r ia l to

co m p a re and c o n t r a s t w it h m o d e rn c o n t a c t e e S w e d e n b o rg 's EA R TH S IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

c la im s , C E I l l s and a b d u c t io n s . becam e a f i r s t . I t r e a d s m uch l i k e a n o th e r

f a n t a s t i c v o y a g e n o v e l , w it h th e e x c e p t io n

T h is p a p e r s u r v e y s o v e r 100 c o n t a c t e e s t h a t i t c la im s to b e an a c c o u n t o f an a c t u a l

fro m th e 1 7 5 0 s to th e p r e s e n t . In c lu d e d a re t r i p to o u t e r s p a c e . The t r i p s to th e p la n e t s

a l l know n c a s e s o f c la im s o f e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l w e re n o t se e n b y S w e d e n b o rg a s m e r e ly fig m e n ts

c o n t a c t p r i o r to 1 9 5 2 , a l l c o n t a c t s r e p o rt e d o f h i s im a g in a t io n o r p r o je c t io n s o f h i s h o p e s

fro m 1 9 5 2 to 1 9 6 4 , and a l l p o s t- 1 9 6 4 c o n t a c t s f o r th e w o r ld . S w e d e n b o rg w o u ld soon be

p u b lis h e d in book fo rm . T h e c e n t r a l c h a r a c ­ fo llo w e d b y o t h e r s who c la im e d t h a t t h e y a c t u ­

t e r i s t i c s o f th e c o n t a c t e e phenom enon w i l l be a l l y had t r a v e le d to o u t e r s p a c e o r to th e

h ig h lig h t e d and th e c o n t a c t e e s p la c e d in t h e i r in n e r e a r t h o r had m et in h a b it a n t s o f th e s e

p la c e s .
m o re a p p r o p r ia t e c o n t e x t , t h a t o f o c c u lt r e l i ­
g io u s t r a d i t i o n , to w h ic h th e s e a c c o u n ts show
m any s i m i l a r i t i e s . In th e c o n c lu d in g s e c t io n , P o s s ib ly th e m o st fa m o u s c la im , n e a r ly a

som e r e f l e c t i o n o n c o n t a c t e e s and c u r r e n t c e n t u r y and a h a l f a f t e r S w e d e n b o rg , w as b y a

r e s e a r c h on C E J I I s and a b d u c tio n c a s e s w i l l be F r e n c h m e d iu m , H e le n e S m ith . In h e r a c c o u n t ,

o f f e r e d . _ sh e t r a v e le d to M a rs in th e 1 8 9 0 s , r e t u r n e d to

T h e B e g in n in g d e s c r ib e th e M a r t ia n s , and d re w p i c t u r e s o f th e
a n im a l and p la n t l i f e . She le a r n e d M a rtia n

In 1 7 5 8 Em m anuel S w e d e n b o rg , t h e fa m o u s w h ic h sh e sp o k e and w r o t e . F o r t u n a t e ly f o r u s ,
sh e t u r n e d o v e r a l l o f th e d a t a c o n c e r n in g h e r
S w e d is h s c i e n t i s t and s e e r , p u b lis h e d h i s
in t e r c o u r s e w it h M a rs to p s y c h o lo g is t T h e o d o re
c o s m o lo g ic a l t r e a t i s e , C o n c e rn in g E a r t h s in
F lo u r n o y , who a n a ly z e d i t and p u b lis h e d h i s
th e S o la r U o rl d , W h ic h A re C a ll ed P la n e t s : and
r e s u l t s . 6 •
C o n c e rn in g E a r t h s in th e S t a r r y H e a v e n ; and

C o n c e rn in g T h e ir I n h a b i t a n t s : and L ik e w i se Among o t h e r r e f l e c t i o n s , F lo u r n o y d i s ­
c u s s e d f u l l y th e M a rt ia n la n g u a g e . He d i s ­
C o n c e rn in g th e S p i r i t s and A n g e ls T h e re fro m
c o v e r e d t h a t M a rt ia n w a s , a s he te rm e d i t ,
T h in g s S ee n and H e a r d ..4 In t h i s v o lu m e , th e
m e r e ly “ an i n f a n t i l e t r a v e s t y o f F r e n c h " ; e a ch
re n o w n e a s c i e n t i s t in fo rm e d th e w o r ld t h a t he
M a rt ia n l e t t e r had F re n c h c o g n a t e s . S m ith had
h ad p e r s o n a l ly t r a v e le d to th e v a r io u s p la n e t s
c r e a t e d a new la n g u a g e w h o le c lo t h , and one is
o f th e s o la r s y s te m and e v e n b e y o n d to p la n e t s
im m e d ia te ly re m in d e d o f r e c e n t r e s e a r c h on
o f th e s t a r r y h e a v e n s . He d e s c r ib e d e a c h in
g lo s s o la 1 i a : ? p e o p le who s p e a k in to n g u e s
t u r n . F o r e x a m p le , he re c o rd e d d e t a i l s o f
c r e a t e a new la n g u a g e w h ic h i s an i n f a n t i l e ,
M a rt ia n a n a to m y and p h y s io lo g y . He r e p o rt e d on
c u t-d o w n v e r s io n o f th e la n g u a g e t h e y sp e a k
t h e i r u n iq u e s o c ia l s y s te m w h e re e a c h i n d i ­
norm a 1l y .
v id u a l fo u n d h i s w ay in t o a s o c i e t y o f p e o p le

o f l i k e m in d and te m p e ra m e n t: " E v e r y o n e th e r e
T h e c a s e s o f S w e d e n b o rg and S m ith r a i s e th e
l i v e s c o n t e n t w it h h i s g o o d s , and e v e ry o n e w it h
c e n t r a l is s u e s o f c o n t a c t e e c l a i m s , a l l o f
h i s h o n o r, in b e in g e ste e m e d j u s t , and o n e t h a t
w h ic h r e v o lv e a ro u n d th e r a t h e r p a r a s i t i c a l
lo v e s h i s n e ig h b o r ."
r e l a t i o n t h a t o c c u lt r e l i g i o n h a s to b o th
p o p u la r s c ie n c e and r e s e a r c h in t o th e p a r a ­
S w e d e n b o rg r e p r e s e n t s a t r a n s i t i o n in th e n o rm a l. N a iv e ly , th e c o n t a c t e e s c la im to
l i t e r a t u r e d f th e W e st. H is book a p p e a re d in r e p o r t on r e a l i t y in an o b je c t i v e and e ve n
th e m id s t o f a c e n t u r y know n f o r th e p o p u l a r it y s c i e n t i f i c m a n n e r. T h e y d ra w upon p o p u la r
o f th e “ f a n t a s t i c v o y a g e " n o v e l .5 In th e s e
s c i e n t i f i c a s s u m p tio n s an d r e f l e c t upon th e
 Pro:, ot 14L1 CUFOS Conf. 101

c u r r e n t s t a t e o f k n o w le d g e . S m ith , l i k e h e r d e s c r ib e d b y A lb e r t B e n d e r who s t a r t e d th e

A m e ric a n c o n te m p o ra ry S a ra W e is s ,0 r e p o r t s in w h o le m a n - in - b la c k m y th .^

g r e a t d e t a il on th e M a rtia n c a n a ls . A s tro n o m e r
P e r c i v a l L o w e ll had j u s t p u b lis h e d h i s f i r s t B y m ean s o f t h e i r s p a c e c o n t a c t , c o n ­

book d e t a il in g th e " d is c o v e r y " b y th e I t a l i a n t a c t e e s c o u ld r e p la c e t h e a u t h o r it y o f th e

G .V . S c h i a p a r e l l i o f th e c a n a ls and t h e c o n ­ r e l i g i o u s t r a d i t i o n t h e y had c a s t a w a y . T h e y
f ir m a t io n b y th e f r e n c h a s tro n o m e rs in th e in v o k e d th e m o m e n ta ry a u t h o r it y o f s c ie n c e

1 0 0 0 s. I n t e r e s t i n g l y , S w e d e n b o rg v i s i t s e a ch (c o n s id e r e d as a b ody o f k n o w le d g e ) w h ic h th e y

p la n e t know n to e x i s t in th e 1 7 5 0 s o n h i s w ay b o ls t e r e d w it h th e a d d it io n a l in f o rm a t io n o f

beyond th e s o la r s y s te m to th e s t a r r y h e a v e n s , d i r e c t c o n t a c t w it h a new and e q u a ll y a u t h o r i­

b u t f a i l s to n o te th e e x is t e n c e o f U r a n u s , t a t i v e s o u rc e o f in fo rm a tio n ^ E a c h p ro v id e d a

N e p tu n e o r P lu t o . la u n c h in g pad f o r th e " r e li g d o u s " s p e c u la t io n

th e y r e a l l y d e s ir e d .

T h u s th e c o r ita c te e m a t e r i a l , l i k e o c c u lt
m a t e r ia l in g e n e r a l, w hen lo o k e d a t in h i s ­ S u m m a riz in g th e la r g e num ber o f p re - Adam -

t o r i c a l p e r s p e c t iv e c o n t a in s m is t a k e a f t e r s k i c o n t a c t s - y ie ld s som e in t e r e s t i n g p a t t e r n s .

m is t a k e a s i t a t ta c h e d i t s e l f to p o p u la r s c i ­ F i r s t , o u t e r - s p a c e c o n t a c t , w it h th e e x c e p t io n

e n t i f i c t h e o r ie s and c o n c lu s io n s t h a t w o u ld o f S w e d e n b o rg 's rom p th ro u g h th e g a la x y , is

l a t e r p ro v e to be in c o r r e c t . T h i s o n g o in g c o n fin e d to th e know n s o la r s y s te m and a lm o s t

r e l a t i o n s h i p to s c i e n t i f i c e r r o r s e r v e s to t o t a l l y to M a rs , V e n u s and th e m o o n .10 V e n u s

fo c u s m o re c l e a r l y th e tr u e in t e n t o f 't h e g r a d u a lly r e p la c e s M ars d u r in g th e 2 0 th c e n ­

m a t e r ia 1- - to o f f e r m o r a l, m e t a p h y s ic a l and t u r y a s th e f a v o r i t e c o n t a c t p la n e t .

t h e o lo g ic a l r e f l e c t io n s on th o s e a r e a s o f
s c ie n c e and s o c ie t y c o n s id e r e d mo s t c r u c i a l to S e c o n d , c o n t a c t i s e s t a b lis h e d b y som e
th e c o n t a c t e e . ^ T h e re fo re , w h ile Sw e d e n b o rg
p s y c h ic / o c c u l t m e a n s. Th e m o st h e lp f u l to o l is
c o u ld com m ent u pon hum an a n a to m y and th e s o c ia l a s t r a l t r a v e l . T h ro u g h a s t r a l t r a v e l , t h e y
o r d e r , and S m ith on th e p o s s ib le l i f e - o n - c o u ld do w h at f l y i n g s a u c e r s w o u ld l a t e r d o .
o t h e r - p la n e t s im p l ic a t io n s o f th e s ig h t in g o f T h e y c o u ld t r a v e r s e lo n g d is t a n c e s in r e l a ­
c a n a ls o n M u rs , m ore r e c e n t c o n t a c t e e s com ­ t i v e l y q u ic k tim e w it h o u t w o r ry a b o u t s u c h
m en ted upon th e atom bomb and s o c ia l d i s i n t e ­ m undane ite m s a s g - f o r c e s , th e vacuum o f s p a c e
g r a t io n in th e u rb a n s e t t in g .
and e s c a p e v e l o c i t i e s . In n o c a s e d id a
c o n t a c t e e c la im to u se a n y k in d o f s p a c e s h ip
A ls o , b e in g t ie d to s c ie n c e a s th e y a r e , n o r d id a n y M a rt ia n o r V e n u s ia n v i s i t o r t r a v e l
c o n t a c t e e s h a ve c o n t i n u a l l y s h i f t e d t h g i r m od­ by su c h a s h ip to r e a c h E a r t h . R a t h e r , f o l ­
e l o f s c i e n t i f i c t h o u g h t, a g a in l i k e th e o c c u lt lo w in g th e le a d o f th e f a n t a s t i c v o y a g e n o v e ls ,
c o m m u n ity in g e n e r a l. In th e e a r l y 1 9 th c e n ­ c o n t a c t e e s e i t h e r t r a v e le d a s t r a l l y , w oke up
t u r y , m e sm e rism g a ve a s c i e n t i f i c c a s t to fro m a s le e p to f in d th e m s e lv e s m y s t e r i o u s ly
o c c u lt s p e c u la t i o n , b u t w as r e p la c e d b e fo re t r a n s p o r t e d to t h e i r d e s t i n a t i o n , o r e x p e r i ­
th e c e n t u r y w as o v e r by th e w e d d in g o f S p i r i ­ e n ce d som e fo rm o f w h a t m ig h t be te rm e d dem a­
t u a lis m w it h D a rw in is m and N e w to n ia n w o r ld ­ t e r i a l i z a t i o n . (Jo h n C a r t e r , E d g a r R ic e B u r ­
v ie w s . B o th a r e r e f le c t e d q u it e s t r o n g l y in r o u g h s 's e a r t h lin g on M a rs , t r a v e le d b y a m y s ­
th e v a r io u s S p i r i t u a l i s t c r e e d s w r it t e n in th e t e r io u s d e m a t e r i a l iz a t i o n p r o c e s s .)
la t e 1 8 0 0 s .

T h i r d , o n ce c o n t a c t i s m a d e , c o m m u n ic a tio n
M o st 1 9 th and e a r l y 2 0 th c e n t u r y c o n t a c t is b y t e le p a t h y . C o n ta c t e e s seem a s t u t e en o u g h
w it h e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s o c c u r r e d in a S p i r i ­ to know a b o u t la n g u a g e b a r r i e r s and som e know
t u a l i s t c o n t e x t , m o re l i k e l y th a n n o t in a la n g u a g e s y n t a x b a r r i e r s to d i r e c t t r a n s l a ­
s e a n c e . T h e p rim e mode o f c o n t a c t w as a t i o n . T e le p a t h y s o lv e s b o th p ro b le m s in t h a t
phenom enon q u i t e f a m i l i a r to p s y c h ic r e s e a r c h ­ c o n c e p t s , n o t w o rd s , a r e c o m m u n ic a te d . S m ith
e r s , " a s t r a l t r a v e l . " A p e rs o n e x p e r ie n c in g g o t e x p o s e d in h e r M a rt ia n c o m m u n ic a tio n b e ­
a s t r a l t r a v e l s e n s e s h i s / h e r bo d y and c o n s ­ c a u s e sh e d id n o t f u l l y u n d e rs ta n d th e r e l a ­
c io u s n e s s s e p a r a t e l y , and w h ile th e b ody r e ­ t io n s h ip b e tw e e n la n g u a g e s .
m a in s in o n e p la c e , th e c o n s c io u s n e s s t r a v e l s
a ro u n d . T h u s S w e d e n b o rg and m e d iu m s li k e S m ith F o u r t h , c o n t a c t e e a c c o u n ts e m p h a s iz e th e
and W e is s c o u ld go in t o t r a n c e and t r a v e l to m e ssag e w h ic h is u s u a l l y m e t a p h y s ic a l. T h e
th e v a r io u s p la n e t s . A s e r i e s o f o u t - o f- b o d y in f o r m a t io n c o n c e r n in g th e p la n e t s e r v e s m e re ­
e x p e r ie n c e s a s a s t r a l t r a v e l is a ls o k n o w n , w as ly to a u t h e n t ic a t e th e le s s o n to be le a r n e d .
 Itellon
102

who d w e lt on V e n u s and w it h whom sh e w as in

W e is s ’ s c o n t a c t s w it h M a rs w e re m e an t to v a l i ­
c o n t a c t . T h e s e m a s t e rs sh e te rm e d th e L o rd s o f
d a te S p i r i t u a l i s m w h ile m ore c l e a r l y d e f in in g
th e F la m e and th e L o rd o f T h i s W o rld , th e h e a d
p o in t s up o n w h ic h S p i r i t u a l i s t s had f a i l e d to
o f th e h i e r a r c h y f o r h u m a n it y . U n d e r th e s e
r e a c h c o n s e n s u s . Im m o , h e r M a rt ia n c o n t a c t ,
V e n u s ia n lo r d s a r e th e L o rd s o f th e S e v e n R a y s
t a l k s th ro u g h W e is s to th e la r g e r S p i r i t u a l i s t
( o r c o l o r s ) who h a ve d i r e c t c o n t a c t w it h hum an
com m uni t y :
a d e p ts s u c h a s B l a v a t s k y . T h e o s o p h i s t s h a v e ,
a s a w h o le , fo c u s e d t h e i r a t t e n t i o n u pon th e
In p la n e t a r y la n g u a g e , w h ic h a l l a d v a n ce d
m a t e r ia l t h a t th e m a s t e rs d e li v e r e d th ro u g h
s p i r i t s u n d e r s t a n d , E v o n T h ia (M a r t ia n
t h e i r m a in t e a c h e r s , H PB, A n n ie B e s a n t , C h a r ­
w o rd s r o u g h ly t r a n s la t e d a s " f o r lo v e 's
le s L e a d b e a te r and A lic e B a i l e y .
s a k e " ) i s th e w a tc h w o rd o f a l l e n g a g e d in
e n d e a v o r to u p l i f t h u m a n ity on b o th th e
H o w e v e r, G u y B a l l a r d , u pon m a k in g c o n t a c t
p h y s ic a l and s p i r i t p la n e s o f b e in g ; and
w it h th e s e m a s t e r s , in c lu d in g th e V e n u s ia n
s u c h s p i r i t s s t r i v e e v e r to u n fo ld s u c h
L o rd s o f th e F la m e , b u i l t h i s own v e r s io n o f
m e n t a l i t i e s a s a r e s e n s i t i v e to t h e i r
o c c u lt r e l i g i o n by e m p h a s iz in g th e d i r e c t and
a p p ro a c h ; f o r o n ly th ro u g h s e n s i t i v e s c a n
f r e q u e n t o n g o in g c o n t a c t w it h th e m a s t e r s .
th e t r u t h o f th e c o n t i n u i t y o f e x is t e n c e be
M em b ers o f h i s G r e a t I AM r e l i g i o n g a th e r e d to
d e m o n s tra te d .
h e a r th e l a t e s t w ord fro m th e m a s t e r s , in s te a d

o f g a t h e r in g to s t u d y w h a t M adam e B la v a t s k y had
w r i t t e n y e a r s ago in a book c la im e d to be
In so m any w o rd s , th e M a rtia n i s v e r i f y i n g a
in s p ir e d b y th e m a s t e r s . N ot o n ly d id B o lla r d
m a jo r S p i r i t u a l i s t d o c t r in e o f b e l i e f in th e
becom e th e f i r s t to a c t u a l l y b u ild a r e l i g i o n
n e c e s s i t y o f m e d iu m s . S u ch c o n c lu s io n s f a r
on c o n t a c t w it h e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s (a s opp o sed
o u tw e ig h a n y in f o r m a t io n a b o u t l i f e on M a rs
to m e r e ly in c o r p o r a t in g th e e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l
t h a t w e re a ls o in c lu d e d in th e c o n t a c t .
d a t a in t o a n o th e r a lr e a d y e x i s t i n g r e l i g i o n ) ,

b u t h i s e m p h a s is w as p la c e d upon fr e q u e n t
F i n a l l y , a r e l i g i o u s c o n t e x t w as a lm o s t
c o n t a c t w it h th e m a s t e rs fro m whom he r e c e iv e d
a lw a y s a ssu m e d . S w e d e n b o rg w e n t on to fo u n d
r e g u la r m e s s a g e s to th e f o ll o w e r s o f th e w o rld
th e C h u rc h o f th e New J e r u s a le m , th e f i r s t o f
c o r it a c t e e m o ve m e n t. T h e m ovem ent to o k o v e r th e
th e m o d ern o c c u lt r e l i g i o n s . S p i r i t u a l i s m ,
I AM h i e r a r c h y and c h a n g e d i t in t o a s p a c e
w h ic h w as s t r o n g l y b a se d u pon S w e d e n b o rg , a t
com m and h i e r a r c h y .
le a s t in i t s e a r l i e r s t a g e s , w as th e hom e f o r

m o st o f th e o t h e r s - - S m i t h , th e D e n to n s , W e is s
P re - A d a m s k i and t h e 1 9 5 0 s C o n t a c t e e s
and M agoon. A u s t r ia n F r a n z lo e b e r b tig an h i s
own o c c u lt r e l i g i o n , a s d id Jo h n N ew b oro u g h .
H a v in g s u r v e y e d th e c o n t a c t e e s o f th e p re -

A d am sk i e r a , o n e n a t u r a l l y w o n d e rs how th e s e
Now i s th e a p p r o p r ia t e tim e to in t r o d u c e
c o n t a c t e e s c o m p a re w it h th e A d a m sk i e r a c o n ­
M adam e H e le n a P e tr o v n a B la v a t s k y in t o th e c o n -
t a c t e e s . T h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f th e 1 950 s
t a c t e e p i c t u r e . R e lig io u s s t u d e n t s w i l l im ­
c o n t a c t e e s h a v e b e e n s u m m a riz e d in a p r e v io u s
m e d ia t e ly r e c o g n iz e th e name a s o n e o f th e
p a p e r b y t h i s a u t h o r ,^ and th e c o m p a ris o n is
fo u n d e r s o f th e T h e o s o p h ic a l S o c i e t y , th e
r e m a r k a b le .
s in g le m o st i n f l u e n t i a l o c c u lt b o d y o f th e
m o d ern e r a . An e x - S p i r i t u a l i s t , H P8 c r e a t e d a

new o c c u lt s y s te m w h ic h in c lu d e d a s an in t e g r a l F i r s t , in th e 1 9 5 0 s , c o n t a c t r e m a in s w it h

p a r t a h i e r a r c h y o f "a s c e n d e d m a s t e r s ." T h e se th e t h r e e p r im a r y p la n e t s - - M a r s , V e n u s and th e

m a s t e r s , f u n c t io n in g l i k e a g n o s t ic p a n th e o n , m oon, b u t e x p a n d s to in c lu d e r e g u la r c o n t a c t

fo rm ed a s t r u c t u r e o f " s u p e r n a t u r a l " b e in g s w it h S a t u r n , J u p i t e r an d C l a r i o n , t h a t m y s t e r ­

b e tw e e n h u m a n ity and th e D iv in e . In f ll a v a t - io u s tw in o f E a r t h o n th e o t h e r s id e o f th e

s k y ' s s y s t e m , hum ans d e a lt m o re w it h th e m a s­ s u n .

t e r s who w e re c lo s e and r e l a t i v e l y a c c e s s i b l e ,
th a n d i r e c t l y w it h th e re m o te and v e r y a b ­ S e c o n d , th e f l y i n g s a u c e r re m a in s th e o n ly

s t r a c t , im p e rs o n a l d e it y . new e le m e n t in th e c o n t a c t e e s t o r y . I t te n d s
to r e p la c e a s t r a l t r a v e l a s th e m e an s o f g e t ­
t in g a ro u n d , b o th b y e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s and b y
L i t t l e r e c o g n iz e d , and c e r t a i n l y n o t em ­ e a r t h lin g s t r ip p i n g in t o o u t e r s p a c e f o r th e
p h a s iz e d b y e i t h e r H P0 o r m o d ern t h e o s o p h is t s , f i r s t t im e . T h e s a u c e r i s n o t e s s e n t i a l , ho w ­
B la v a L s k y in c lu d e d am ong th e h i e r a r c h y m a s t e rs e v e r , and in m any a c c o u n t s in w h ic h i t a p p e a r s .
 103

i t i s o b v io u s ly an a d d it io n a l f r i l l . In m any f i f t i e s c o u n t e r p a r t s , we a re n o t s u r p r is e d to
c o n t a c t e e a c c o u n ts d u r in g th e f i f t i e s , no a ls o f in d th e m o p e r a t in g in a r e l i g i o u s
f l y i n g s a u c e r is in c lu d e d a t a l l . V e riu s ia n s c o n t e x t . M o re th a n h a l f fo u n d e d t h e i r own
w a lk th e s t r e e t s o f u rb a n A m e ric a r e a d y to t a lk o c c u lt r e l i g i o n o r becam e p ro m in e n t in o n e

to an yo n e a w a re en o u g h to r e c o g n iz e th em . fo u n d e d b y a n o t h e r . A lm o s t a l l becam e in v o lv e d
O t h e rs a re n e v e r se e n b u t co m m u n ic a te d i r e c t l y in th e tw o c o n t a c t e e e c u m e n ic a l s t r u c t u r e s
w it h th e e a r t h c o n t a c t v i a t e le p a t h y . A few fo u n d e d by G e o rg e Van T a s s e l and G a b r ie l G re e n .
s im p ly m a t e r i a l i z e in th e p e r s o n 's p re s e n c e M any had com e o u t o f S p i r i t u a l i s t c h u rc h o r
when t h e y w is h to m ake th e m s e lv e s kn o w n . A s ­ o c c u lt g r o u p s , s u c h a s N o rm an, B ra d y an d L e e .
t r a l t r a v e l i s b y no m e an s fo r g o t t e n and No le s s th a n f i v e d i f f e r e n t g ro u p s g re w o u t o f

r e m a in s c e n t r a l to th e a c c o u n ts o f s u c h fa m o u s A d am sk i d e v o t e e s . .
c o n t a c t e e s a s A n g e lu c c i and M ic h a e ls .

Fro m 1 9 6 0 to th e P r e s e n t
In Thom as B l o t ' s 1891 a c c o u n t o f h i s c o n ­
t a c t w it h a M a r t i a n ,^ th e M a rt ia n s u d d e n ly
By 1960 o c c u l t i s t s d ra w in g on th e m a s s iv e
a p p e a rs a t h i s r u r a l home and b e g in s to t a l k in
bo d y o f o c c u lt t e a c h in g s had c r e a t e d a new
c l e a r E n g li s h a b o u t M a rs . B l o t ' s a c c o u n t is
r e l i g i o u s m o ve m e n t. W ith m a t e r i a l fro m S p i r i ­
u n iq u e in t h a t m o st p r e - A d am sk i c o n t a c t e e s
t u a lis m , T h e o so p h y and th e G r e a t I AM, th e y
co m m u n ic a te d in t e le p a t h y . M o st p o s t-A d a m s k i
fo u n d in th e f l y i n g s a u c e r a new im a g e and a
c o n t a c t e e s a ls o c o m m u n ic a te by t e le p a t h y , b u t
new c o n c e p t a ro u n d w h ic h to b u ild t h e i r p e c u ­
a h ig h p e rc e n ta g e o f th e e x t r a t e r r e s t r f a l s ,
l i a r v a r i a t i o n s o f o c c u lt b e l i e f . T h e y f o l ­
li k e B l o t ' s M a r t ia n , s p e a k E n g li s h . W here
lo w e d a p a t t e r n s e t in th e 20 0 y e a r s b e tw e en
su c h d i r e c t c o m m u n ic a tio n o c c u r s , h o w e v e r,
Sw e d e n b o rg and K e n n e th A rn o ld . T h e y fo u n d in
o t h e r p a ra n o rm a l e v e n t s o c c u r r e d to s e t th e
A d am sk i and o t h e r e a r l y c o n t a c t e e s t h e i r p r o ­
e n c o u n t e r a p a r t fro m th e m u n d an e. L e v i t a t i o n ,
p h e ts (a n d i t m a t t e r s l i t t l e w h e th e r th e p r o ­
a u to m a tic w r i t i n g , th e a b i l i t y to se e th ro u g h
p h e ts r e a l l y b e lie v e d t h e i r m e s s a g e s ), an d in
s o li d o b je c t s , and d e m a t e r i a l iz a t i o n w e re t y p ­
Van T a s s e l 1 and G re e n t h e i r o r g a n iz e r s , t h e i r
ic a l .
b is h o p s and o v e r s e e r s .

T h u s , w h ile th e f i f t i e s c o n t a c t e e s s o lv e d
T h e c r u c i a l o r g a n iz a t io n a l d e v e lo p m e n t o f
th e la n g u a g e p ro b le m b o th b y t e le p a t h y and th e
th e f l y i n g s a u c e r m ovem ent in th e 1 9 5 0 s m ade
s u p e r - i n t e l 1ig e n c e o f th e e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s ,
th e f u t u r e d e v e lo p m e n t o v e r th e n e x t d e c a d e s
th e y k e p t a " m y s t e r io u s ,* ’ a p a ra n o rm a l a s p e c t
som ew h at p r e d ic t a b le . T h e m ovem ent f o llo w e d
to th e c o n t a c t p r o m in e n t. T h o s e r e a d in g th e
th e p a t t e r n o f m any new r e l i g i o n s . T h e y becam e
a c c o u n ts c o u ld th u s be a le r t e d t h a t 't h e y a re
i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d , w it h s t r o n g o r g a n iz a t io n s
r e c e i v i n g m uch m o re th a n th e s t r a i g h t a c c o u n t
d e v e lo p in g a ro u n d som e c o n t a c t e e s and m any
o f a w it n e s s to a m o re o r le s s u n u s u a l e v e n t .
w eak o n e s d y in g when th e le a d e r d ie d o r lo s t

i n t e r e s t . Two o r g a n iz a t i o n s , U n a r iu s , headed
T h i r d , th e c o n t a c t e e s o f th e f i f t i e s c o n ­
b y R u th N o rm an, 1° and M a rk - A g e ,1 ^ le d b y a
tin u e d to p la c e m uch m ore e m p h a s is upon th e
g ro u p o f f o u r in M ia m i, F l o r i d a , becam e th e
m o r a l, m e t a p h y s ic a 1 and s p i r i t u a l m e s s a g e s
la r g e s t c o n t a c t e e b o d ie s w it h g ro u p s a c r o s s
th e y r e c e i v e d , th a n on s t r a i g h t in fo rm a t io n o f
th e U n ite d S t a t e s . T h e y w e re f o llo w e d b y
a " s c i e n t i f i c " n a t u r e a b o u t o u t e r s p a c e , s p a c e
U n d e r s t a n d in g , I n c . (D a n F r y ) and th e v a r io u s
t r a v e l o r o t h e r m und an e m a t t e r s . G iv e n th e
A d am sk i g ro u p s , now th o r o u g h ly s p l i n t e r e d .
h i s t o r y o f th e p re -A d a m s k i c o n t a c t e e a c c o u n t s ,
we a r e no lo n g e r s u r p r is e d , f o r we now u n d e r­
A s w it h o t h e r p s y c h o - o c c u lt g r o u p s , new
s ta n d t h a t th e c o n t a c t e e s e e s h i s / h e r t a s k as
p e o p le w it h e x p e r ie n c e s o f a k in d p ro m o ted b y
d e l i v e r i n g a m e ssa g e t h a t h a s com e o u t o f
th e g ro u p s c o n tin u e d to a p p e a r. Som e, s u c h as
e i t h e r r e f l e c t i o n upon o r an i n t u i t i v e g ra s p
U r i G e l l e r . 18 becam e q u it e fam o u s and had
o f th e im p l ic a t io n s o f m o d ern s c ie n c e a rid
g ro u p s fo rm a ro u n d t h e i r r e v e l a t i o n s . B e t i
c u l t u r e . T h u s , th e c o n t a c t e e s a re n a t u r a l l y
K in g 19 m oved fro m c l a s s i c S p i r i t u a l i s m , w h e re
c o n c e rn e d w it h th e e f f e c t s o f a to m ic p o w e r,
sh e had been a m e d iu m . W a rre n G o etz^ O and E ln a
w a r, p o l l u t i o n , and th e n e e d f o r th e hum an
£ . K e n n e y ^ 1 (b o t h A d am sk i f o l l o w e r s ) , and
f a m ily to com e t o g e t h e r .
G r e t a W o od re w ^ 2 r e p r e s e n t a se c o n d s e t o f
le a d e r s who em erg ed a s c o n t a c t e e s fro m w it h in
F o u r t h , h a v in g n o te d th e o t h e r lik e n e s s e s
e x i s t i n g c o n t a c t e e o r g a n iz a t i o n s .
b e tw e e n th e p re -A d a m s k i c o r it a c t e e s and t h e i r
 104 Hon

C o n c lu s io n s and Sum m ary

T h e c o n t a c t e e s o f th e 1 9 6 0 s and 1 9 7 0 s
f o llo w th e p a t t e r n s e t in th e 1 9 6 0 s w it h one
T h is s u r v e y o f th e c o n t a c t e e m ovem ent h a s
m a jo r e x c e p t io n . T h e y h a v e h ad to re s p o n d to
v e r i f i e d a c o n c lu s io n re a c h e d e a r l i e r t h a t th e
in c r e a s in g k n o w le d g e b ro u g h t to th e p u b l ic
f l y i n g s a u c e r m o vem ent i s in e f f e c t a new
c o n s c io u s n e s s t h a t v e r y l i t t l e c h a n c e f o r
b ra n c h o f o c c u lt r e l i g i o n . I t f o ll o w s th e
i n t e l l i g e n t l i f e in t h i s s o la r s y s te m e x i s t s .
p a t t e r n s o f o c c u lt r e l i g i o u s b o d ie s and d ra w s
T h e r e t o r e , t h e y h a v e had to ab an d o n t a lk o f
m o st o f i t s c o n t e n t fro m g e n e r a l o c c u lt t e a c h ­
c o n t a c t w it h n o t j u s t M ars and V e n u s , b u t
in g s .
J u p i t e r , S a t u rn and th e o u t e r p la n e t s a s w e ll.

A ll o f th e new c o n t a c t e e s to em e rg e in th e
A s s u c h , th e c o n t a c t e e s , b o th th e m o re
l a s t d e c a d e e i t h e r f a i l to r e v e a l th e p la n e t
fam o us o n e s o f th e 1 9 6 0 s a n d - th e m o re r e c e n t
fro m w h ic h t h e i r e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s co m e , o r
o n e s , s h o u ld be a p p ro a c h e d a s- p a r t i c i p a n t s in
p la c e i t in th e re m o te edge o f th e u n iv e r s e ,
an o c c u lt r e l i g i o u s m o ve m e n t. T h e y a re n o t
f a r fro m th e p r y in g e y e s o f th e s p a c e p ro g ra m s .
k o o k s , b u t t h e y a r e p e o p le who h a v e been
T h u s W o o d ro w D e re n b e rg e r2 3 e n t e r t a in s v i s i t o r s
sw e p t in t o a m ovem ent b e c a u s e o f a d i r e c t e x ­
fro m L a n u lo s , and O s c a r M a g o c s i^ v i s i t s A r-
p e r ie n c e w it h som e e x t r a o r d in a r y o cc u rre n c e s.
g o n a o f th e Om m -O nn S o la r S y s te m , a m em ber o f
T h e s e o c c u rre n c e s r e s e m b le m o st c l o s e l y common
th e P s y c h e a n f e d e r a t i o n W o rld s . B u t m o st e x ­
v i s i o n a r y and p s y c h ic e x p e r ie n c e s c a s t in a
t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s k e e p t h e i r o r i g i n s v a g u e , a s
fra m e w o rk o f s p a c e ag e te c h n o lo g y .
an e x c h a n g e i n i t i a t e d b y F r e n c h c o n t a c t e e
C la u d e V o r ilh o n sh o w s: "
T h e c o n t a c t e e s , a l s o , h o ld l i t t l e p ro m is e
o f s u p p ly in g a n y u s e f u l in f o r m a t io n on th e
"W h e re do yo u com e fr o m ? ” he a s k e d .
n a t u r e o f th e p h y s ic a l u n iv e r s e o r o u t e r s p a c e .

T h e y s e e k a s a g ro u p r e l i g i o u s , n o t s c i e n t i f i c ,
" fro m f a r a w a y . . . . "
g o a ls th o u g h t h e y l i v e in an age t h a t dem ands

som e l i p s e r v ic e to s c ie n c e and som e t e c h n o lo ­

"D o yo u s p e a k F r e n c h ? "
g i c a l s o p h i s t ic a t io n ^ e v e n in r e l i g i o u s m a t­
t e r s . In t h e i r n a i v e t e , t h e y do n o t se e th e
"W e s p e a k a l l o f th e la n g u a g e s o f y o u r
l i n e s b e tw e e n t h e i r r e l i g i o u s q u e s t and th e
w o r l d ."
s e a r c h f o r in f o r m a t io n a b o u t u n id e n t i f ie d f l y ­
in g o b je c t s . W hen t h e y m ix w it h UFO i n v e s t i ­
"D o yo u com e fro m a n o th e r p la n e t ? "
g a t o r s , a l l o f th e t e n s io n s o f p u t t in g r e l i ­

g io u s p e o p le and s e c u la r s c i e n t i s t s to g e t h e r
" Y e s . Fro m a d is t a n t p la n e t ab o p t w h ic h
a r e com pounded b y th e a n x r e t y o f u f o l o g is t s
I w i l l t e l l yo u n o t h in g f o r f e a r t h a t i f th e
o v e r th e le g it im a c y o f t h e i r p u r s u i t and th e
m en o f th e e a r t h w e r e n 't w is e e n o u g h t h e y c o u ld
d e s ir e o f th e c o n t a c t e e s to s h a r e t h e i r
com e to t r o u b le o u r p e a c e ."2 5
e x p e r ie n c e s .

T h e f l y i n g s a u c e r m ovem ent h a s ta k e n i t s
In o n e s e n s e , th e c o n t a c t e e phenom enon is
p la c e as a s i g n i f i c a n t se g m e n t o f th e o c c u lt /
q u i t e s e p a r a t e fro m th e a tte m p t to u n d e rs ta n d
p s y c h ic co m m u n ity in th e U n it e d S t a t e s . I n ­
u n id e n t i f ie d f l y i n g o b je c t s . I t h a s , n e v e r ­
t e r e s t i n g l y e n o u g h , i t s u f f e r e d l i t t l e b y th e
t h e l e s s , p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s t in th e r e c e n t
C on don R e p o rt w h ic h k i l l e d and w e ak e n e d so m any
fo c u s o f a t t e n t i o n u pon c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s o f th e
UFO g r o u p s , a f u r t h e r in d ic a t io n o f i t s e s s e n ­
t h i r d k in d and a b d u c t io n s . P r i o r to th e
t i a l l y r e l i g i o u s n a t u r e . I t a p p e a rs a t p r e s e n t
m id - 1 9 6 0 s , a l 1 o f th e C E I1 1 s w h ic h r e c e iv e d an y
to be s t a b le and g ro w in g o n ly s l o w l y , i f a t
a t t e n t i o n fro m th e p u b l ic w e re th e c o n t a c t e e
a l l . F o r th e tim e b e in g , i t h a s in s u la t e d
c a s e s : T h e y fo rm th e o n ly b a se o f c a s e
i t s e l f a g a in s t th e d a n g e rs o f in f o rm a t io n
m a t e r i a l w it h w h ic h to co m p a re m ore r e c e n t
p ro d u c e d b y th e s p a c e p ro g ra m , b u t th e c o n ­
c a s e s .
t in u in g s p re a d o f in f o r m a t io n on c o n d it io n s in

s p a c e m ay s t i l l h a v e a s t r o n g e f f e c t on th e

m ovem ent in w a ys n o t y e t a p p a r e n t . T h e need to u s e c o n t a c t e e c a s e s a s a b a s e

o f in v e s t ig a t i o n becam e o b v io u s in a t le a s t one

p ro m in e n t u f o l o g i s t ' s t r e a t m e n t o f c o n t a c t e e s

a s " m e s s e n g e rs o f d e c e p t io n ." In V a l l e e 's

c a s e ,2 6 th e n a iv e t e c o n c e r n in g o c c u l t and
r e l i g i o u s phenom enon in g e n e r a l d e s t r o y e d th e
t-roc, <.< ISfel CUFOS Coftf.
105

w ork o f o n e u f o l o g is t w i l l i n g to ta k e th e e s p e c i a l l y th o s e c a s e s in v e s t ig a t e d th ro u g h
r e p o r t s o f c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s s e r i o u s l y . B u t h y p n o s is , t h a t c o n t e n t m u st f i r s t be t e s t e d in
V a t le e 's them e r e p e a t s i t s e l f in le s s e x tre m e th e li g h t o f e q u a ll y s t r o n g c o n t e n t fro m com ­
w a ys in o t h e r l i t e r a t u r e , s u c h a s t h a t t r e a t in g p e t in g a c c o u n ts o f c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s w it h u n u s ­
th e A n d re a s s o n a f f a i r . 2 / u a l b e in g s b y m e d iu m s , sh am an s and v i s i o n ­
a r i e s . T h e se p e o p le h a v e f o r y e a r s been
As u f o l o g i s t s * we a re w eak m e th o d o lo g i­ a b d u c te d b y b o th f a i r i e s and f l y i n g c r e a t u r e s
c a l l y when we r e l y to o h e a v i ly upon c a s e and e n c o u n te re d d e m o n s, g h o s ts an d a n g e ls .
s t u d i e s , a s o p p o se d to c o m p a ra tiv e s t u d ie s o f
m any s i m i l a r c a s e s . We a ls o a p p ro a c h C E I I I
F i n a l l y , in g a t h e r in g c a s e s t u d ie s o f
c a s e s w it h a b a s ic ig n o ra n c e o f c o n iro n p s y ­
c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s , th e c a s e m a t e r i a l i s in c o m ­
c h o lo g ic a l and p a r a p s y c h o lo g ic a l m a t e r i a l . We
p le t e w it h o u t v i t a l d a ta on th e t o t a l l i f e o f
do n o t r e c o g n iz e a s t r a l t r a v e l . We do n o t
th e c o n t a c t e e and f o llo w - u p s t u d ie s on th e r e ­
u n d e rs ta n d p s y c h o k in e s is . We g r o s s ly u n d e r­
s u l t o f t h a t c o n t a c t upon th e l i f e o f th e i n ­
e s t im a t e th e p ow er o f th e hum an m in d , e s p e ­
d iv id u a l ( s ) in v o lv e d .
c i a l l y w hen p u t in t o a d is a s s o c ia t e d s t a t e o f
c o n s c io u s n e s s s u c h a s h y p n o s is , to p ro d u c e th e
O n ly b y b e c o m in g m o re s o p h i s t ic a t e d in o u r
m ost re m a rk a b le m a t e r i a l , m a t e r ia l c o m p le t e ly
a p p ro a c h to c o n t a c t e e - 1 ik e c a s e s w i l l we be
im p o s s ib le f o r th e n o rm a l w a k in g c o n s c io u s n e s s
a b le to l i f t th e s tu d y b eyon d th e e s o t e r i c
to a c q u ir e .
i n t e r e s t s o f a fe w UFO b u f f s and m ake a g e n u in e
c o n t r ib u t io n to th e b o d y o f s c i e n t i f i c know ­
I f th e r e i s a n y f a c t u a l c o n t e n t to th e
le d g e .
s t o r i e s o f a b d u c tio n s and c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s ,

D IS C U S S IO N

? ? W hat p e rc e n ta g e o f th e c o n t a c t e e s h a v e a c t u a l s ig h t in g s ?

M. A v e r y s m a ll p e r c e n t a g e - - le s s t h a t h a l f , and in som e c a s e s i t ' s as i f som eone

d e v e lo p e d a s t o r y and th e n ad d ed a s a u c e r to i t a s a k in d o f la s t- m in u te th o u g h t.

I t ' s n o t in t e g r a l to th e s t o r y i t s e l f .

? ? I s n ' t i t t r u e t h a t m a n 's r e a c h e x c e e d s h i s g ra s p and t h a t d u rin g th e c o u rs e o f

human h i s t o r y , m a n 's p h ilo s o p h ic a l r e a c h is v^ iat le a d s h im to th e s t a r s ?

M. I'm n o t s u r e how t h e r e a c h and g ra s p m odel a p p lie s h e r e . T e c h n o lo g ic a l ch a n g e

i s a p ro d u c t o f an e a r l i e r p h i lo s o p h ic a l c h a n g e when we m ade th e t r a n s i t i o n to

c o n s id e r in g th e w o rld s o m e th in g w o rth y o f s t u d y in g r a t h e r th a n s u f f e r in g w it h .
B u t a s t e c h n o lo g ic a l c h a n g e becam e so o v e rw h e lm in g , p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y , we had to
r e a c t to i t , and we r e f le c t e d upon w hat w as h a p p e n in g to us b e c a u s e o f te c h n o ­

lo g i c a l c h a n g e . I t h in k w hat we f i n a l l y f in d in th e c o n t a c t e e m ovem ent i s o n e

way a num ber o f p e o p le h a v e r e f le c t e d upon w h a t is th e m e a n in g o f a l l th e c h a n g e s

g o in g on a ro u n d u s , and th e y h a v e u se d th e s a u c e r in th e e a r l i e r f a n t a s t i c vo ya g e
id e a a s a m ean s o f d o in g t h a t .

? ? B u t do UFO i n v e s t ig a t o r s r e a l l y r e p o r t a l l th e q u e e r an d u n s e t t lin g a s p e c t s o f

UFO s ig h t in g a c c o u n ts ?

M. I k n o w t h a t t h a t i s a p ro b le m w it h UFO i n v e s t i g a t o r s ; t h a t t h e y c o n c e a l d a ta

t h a t d o e s n 't c o n fo rm to t h e i r u n d e r s ta n d in g o f t h a t ' s su p p o se d to h a p p e n .

T h e y t h in k t h e y 'v e g o t a good c a s e , and t h e y w i l l r e p o r t w h at t h e y c o n s id e r

to be r e le v a n t d a t a , b u t w i l l f a i l to r e p o r t d is c o n f ir m in g d a ta t h a t ' s a ls o

p a r t o f th e c a s e . T h a t 's a p ro b le m , b u t how m uch o f a p ro b le m , p r o b a b ly

w e 'l l n e v e r kn o w .
106 fit Uun

? ? C h a r l e s f o r t in v e n te d th e E T h y p o t h e s is f o r UFO s in 1919 w it h T he Bo o k o f th e

D o n n ie d . He p u sh e d th e UFO h y p o t h e s is , and y e t i t f e l l , as f a r a s 1 k n o w ,
a b s o lu t e l y s t i l l b o r n . N obody to o k i t u p , t h e r e w as no c a u s e , no i n t e r e s t .

H is id e a , w h ic h is tr e m e n d o u s ly m a g n e tic to u s t o d a y , j u s t f i z z l e d . W hy?
I m e an , i f th e s e o t h e r p e o p le , t h e c o n t a c t e e s and th e p s y c h ic t y p e s u s e d i t ,
why d id i t f i z z l e when F o r t s t a r t e d p u s h in g i t f o r U FO s? .

M. T h a t 's a q u e s t io n we s h o u ld t u r n to a c u l t u r a l h i s t o r i a n r a t h e r th a n a r e l i g i o u s

h i s t o r i a n to a n s w e r. I c o u ld o n ly s p e c u la t e w i l d l y t h a t p o s s ib l y th e w h o le
id e a o f an e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a 1 h y p o t h e s is n e e d e d a m e c h a n is m to c o m m u n ic a te b a c k
and f o r t h , w h ic h w a ite d u n t i l th e s p a c e s h ip h y p o t h e s is . M o st o f th e . e a r l y

n o v e ls a b o u t c o n t a c t s w it h o t h e r w o rld s had to do s o m e th in g w e ird to g e t th e

c o n t a c t g o in g . I t ' s o n ly in th e e a r l y p a r t o f t h i s c e n t u r y t h a t y o u g e t th e
s c ie n c e f i c t i o n p e o p le b e g in n in g to s p e c u la t e a b o u t s p a c e s h ip s . The m o st
p o p u la r s c ie n c e f i c t i o n n o v e ls in th e e a r l y t w e n t ie t h c e n t u r y w e re t h o s e o f
E d g a r R ic e B u r r o u g h s . T h e r e 's no s p a c e s h ip , b u t h e 's s e n d in g p e o p le to M a rs

and V e n u s . T h e n th e V~2 r o c k e t a l e r t s u s , on a p o p u lar c u l t u r e l e v e l , to

th e p o s s i b i l i t y o f a m e c h a n is m t h a t c o u ld g e t u s t h e r e and c o u ld g e t som eone

e l s e h e r e .

? ? You h a v e t a lk e d a b o u t th e c o n t a c t e e in te rm s o f th e s o c ia l e n v ir o n m e n t , v rtiic h

i s th e e n v iro n m e n t o f o c c u lt is m . I w onder how y o u w o u ld d e a l w it h t h e s t o r y

t h a t t a k e s p la c e o u t s id e th e o c c u l t i s t s o c i a l e n v ir o n m e n t - * a c l a s s i c a l c o n ta c te e

s t o r y su c h a s S am u el E a to n T h o m p s o n 's e n c o u n t e r on M a rc h 2 8 , 1 9 5 0 w it h V e n u s ia n s

w h ic h is s t r i k i n g l y p a r a l l e l to l a t e r s t o r i e s we h a v e h e a rd fro m A d a m sk i
and o t h e r s ?

M. F o r t h o s e o f you who d o n 't k n o w a b o u t i t , b e tw e e n A rn o ld and A d a m sk i th e r e is

one c o n t a c t e e by th e nam e o f S am u e l Thom pson who l i v e s in th e l i t t l e to w n o f

C e n t r a l i a , W a s h in g to n , an d c la im s t h a t h e h a s m et up w it h an e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l
who co m es to h im in a s a u c e r . B u t th e o n ly in f o r m a t io n I ’ ve b e e n a b le to u n ­

c o v e r a b o u t i t i s th e n e w s p a p e r ite m fro m th e C e n t r a l i a p a p e r. I f th e r e is
o t h e r in f o rm a t io n I ' d l i k e to kn o w a b o u t i t . When yo u s t a r t e v a lu a t i n g c o n ­
t a c t e e s , y o u r e a l l y h a v e to ^ s a y "W hat h a p p e n s to th em f i v e y e a r s dpwn th e ro a d ? "
T h a t i s a c r u c i a l ite m . T h f s a c c o u n t fro m th e C e n t r a l i a p a p e r is a c l a s s i c a l

c o n t a c t e e a c c o u n t - - t h e r e 's no d o u b t a b o u t i t .

? ? B u t we do kn o w w h at h a p p e n e d to Th o m p so n . He fa d e d in t o o b l i v i o n .

M. T h a t h a p p e n s to som e c o n t a c t e e s . I t ' s s o r t o f l i k e th e p e rs o n who g e t s c o n v e r t e d

a t a r e v i v a l m e e tin g . A s m a ll p e rc e n ta g e o f them go on to becom e s t r o n g c h u rc h

m e m b e rs, and som e o f th e m go b a c k to t h e i r own w a ys a f t e r a fe w w e e k s .

? ? I t h in k yo u h a v e p r e s e n t e d u s w it h a m e th o d o lo g ic a l p ro b le m , b e c a u s e i t w o u ld
be e a s y f o r us to s t u d y th e u n iv e r s e and d is c o v e r t h a t t h e r e a r e m a n y c r a z y p e o p le

and t h a t we a re n o t v i r t u a l l y a lo n e . I b e li e v e t h a t t h a t c o u ld a c c o u n t f o r a l l
o f th e CE I I I s t o r i e s , b u t I h o p e 1 w o u ld n o t be h e ld a m is s i f I f a i l e d to s t u d y
a l l th e c r a z y p e o p le in B e r k e le y b e c a u s e yo u t h in k t h a t i t i s r e l e v a n t . 1 t h in k
t h a t w e 'v e b e e n l i s t e n i n g to som e t h in g s t h a t a r e im p o rta n t b u t r e l a t i v e l y i r r e l ­
e v a n t to th e p a r t i c u l a r s tu d y we w is h to u n d e r t a k e . And I w o u ld c h a lle n g e y o u to
m ake r e le v a n t y o u r s t o r y o f c o n t a c t e e s , o f r e l i g i o u s and o c c u lt g r o u p s , to t h i s

p a r t i c u l a r t h i n g . T h e f a c t t h a t t h e r e a r e c r a z y p e o p le , o r p e rh a p s d e lu d e d
p e o p le in th e w o rld d o e s n o t m ean t h a t th e s e p a r t i c u l a r p e o p le we a r e d e a lin g
w it h a r e ha 1 lu c in a t o r y .

M. I w an ted to e m p h a s iz e , and I th o u g h t I s a id i t t w ic e , t h a t th e s e a re n o t c r a z y
p e o p le . T h e s e a r e p e o p le who a r e g o in g th ro u g h a q u it e n o rm a l p r o c e s s k iiic h
m any o f u s do go th r o u g h , o n ly we u se o t h e r c a t e g o r i e s to do i t . T h e y h ap p en
^rw. ol ivei CUftiS Conf. 107

to h a v e gone th ro u g h t h i s p ro c e s s o f , we c a n c a l l i t in t e g r a t i o n , p e r s o n a l it y
in t e g r a t i o n o r w h a te v e r. T h e y a re no_t c r a z y . T h e y j u s t h a v e a way o f e x p r e s s in g
th e t r a n s i t i o n in t h e i r l i v e s t h a t th e y a re g o in g th ro u g h in som e w ays t h a t a r e
c u l t u r a l l y in th e m in o r i t y . T h e re a s o n th a t ! w o u ld s a y t h i s is q u it e r e le v a n t
to th e s tu d y o f a b d u c tio n s an d C E I l l s is t h a t o f t e n t im e s th e m y s t e r io u s e l e ­
m e n ts th a t we s u p p o s e d ly s o m e tim e s e n c o u n t e r in C£ I I I s i t u a t i o n s a r e due to
t h e f a c t t h a t we d o n 't kn o w a b o u t th e h i s t o r y o f th e s e p e o p le , th e h i s t o r y o f
k in d s o f t h in g s t h a t t h e y h a v e g o n e th ro u g h f o r y e a r s ; t h a t we d o n 't k n o w th e

k in d s o f t h in g s t h a t h a p p e n e d when p e o p le e n c o u n te re d a n g e ls ; t h a t we d o n 't kn o w
th e k in d s o f t h in g s t h a t h a p p e n e d when p e o p le e n c o u n te re d f a i r i e s ; and t h a t
w hat m ig h t be h a p p e n in g in CE I I I c a s e s i s d i r e c t l y p a r a l l e l to w hat p e o p le

h a v e r e p o rt e d f o r ag e s a s h a v in g h a p p e n e d to th em . T h e r e 's n o th in g m y s t e rio u s

a b o u t it a t a l l , t h e r e 's n o th in g n ew a b o u t i t a t a l l , i t ' s j u s t th e sam e o ld

s t u f f th a t p e o p le h a v e re p o rt e d when t h e y 'v e g one th ro u g h th e e x p e r ie n c e o f

p e r s o n a l in t e g r a t i o n , t r a n s i t i o n , i n i t i a t i o n , w h a te v e r y o u w ant to c a l l i t .
T h a t 's v iiy I s a y i t w o u ld be r e le v a n t . '

? ? How do yo u f e e l a b o u t b i b l i c a l r e f e r e n c e s to UFO e n c o u n t e r s ?

M. I s u s p e c t t h a t E z e k i e l ' s W heel and th e o t h e r s s h o u ld be se e n a s t r a d i t i o n a l

v i s i o n a r y e x p e r ie n c e s r a t h e r th a n as h a rd w a re e n c o u n t e rs fro m th e p a s t .
T h a t 's my own id e a . I d o n 't r e a l l y b uy D o w n in g 's h y p o t h e s is . I s e e them a s
v i s i o n a r y e x p e r ie n c e s , and m uch r e la t e d to th e c o n t a c t e e phenom ena o f th e d a y .
F o r e x a m p le , y o u c a n s tu d y w hat h ap p e n e d a t F a t im a and G a ra b a n d a l, w h ic h a r e
sig h tin g s o f t h e B le s s e d V i r g i n ; m any p io u s Rom an C a t h o l ic s b a s e a lo t o f t h e i r
p ie t y on th e m . T h e se com e o ff a s, on th e o n e h a n d , c l a s s i c a l v i s i o n a r y e x p e r i e n c e s ,
o r on th e o t h e r h a n d , a s CE 111 e n c o u n t e rs w ith a l l k in d s o f - w e ir d phenom ena

g o in g on a ro u n d th e m T h e y w o u ld com e o f f a s C E I l s , CE I l l s — m ix e d ty p e s o f
e n c o u n t e r s . .

R EFER EN C ES

1 . C f . P ro c e e d in g s o f th e R o c k y M o u n ta in C o n fe r e n c e on UFO I n v e s t ig a t io n (C o n t a c ­

te e C o n f e r e n c e ). L a r a m ie , W y: S ch o o l o f E x te n d e d S t u d ie s / U n iv o f W yo m in g , 1 9 8 0 .

2 . V id i s a G reen w o o d M agoon, W ill a r d M. M a g o o n /P s y c h ic and H e a le r . N e w p o rt, V t : Wm. B.

B u l lo c k , 1 9 3 0 . ~

3 . G o d fre R a y K in g (p s e u d o , o f G uy B a l l a r d ) , U n v e ile d M y s t e r i e s . C h ic a g o : S t . G e rm a in
P r e s s , 1 9 3 5 , pp . 2 4 3 - 6 0 .

4 . Em m anuel S w e d e n b o rg , E a r t h s in O u r So l a r S y s te m . B o s to n : B .A . W h itt e m o re , n .d .

5 . On th e f a n t a s t i c v o y a g e , s e e P h i l i p B . G o v e , T h e Im a g in a ry Vo y a g e in P ro s e F i c t i o n .

New Y o r k : C o lu m b ia U n iv P r e s s , 1 9 4 1 . S ee a ls o N o el D e is c h , "T h e N a v ig a t io n o f S p ace

in E a r l y S p e c u la t io n and in M o d ern R e s e a r c h ,* ' P o p u la r A s tro n o m v , X X X V I I I . 1 9 3 0 .
7 3 - 6 8 . "

6 . T h e o d o re F lo u r n o y , F ro m In d ia to th e P la n e t M a rs . New Y o r k : H a rp e r & B r o t h e r s .
1 9 0 0 .

7 . W illia m J . S a m a r in , T o n g u e s o f M en and A n g e ls . New Y o rk : M a c m illa n , 1 9 7 2 .

108 fellMI

C . S a ra W e is s , D e c jig g n H u yd a s . R o c h e s t e r , N Y : A u s t in P u b lis h in g C o ., 1 9 0 6 .

9 . A lb e r t K . B e n d e r, f l y i n g S a u c e r s and th e T h re e M en. C la r k s b u r g , W Va: S a u c e r ia n

B o o k s , 1 9 6 2 . "

1 0 . C f . W illia m D e n to n , S o u l o f T h in g s . W e lle s le y , M a ss: M rs. E .M .F . D e n to n , 1 8 7 3 .

1 1 1 . T h is vo lu m e c o n t a in s a c c o u n ts o f a g ro u p o f p e o p le who c la im e d c o n t a c t w it h
e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s fro m s e v e r a l p la n e t s th e y had v i s i t e d .

11. W e is s , o p . c i t . , p . 11.

1 2 . See th e E n c y c lo p e d ia o f A m e ric a n R e l i g i o n s b y J . G o rd o n M e lto n (W ilm in g t o n , N C:

M c G ra th , 1 9 7 9 ), Vo 1. I I f o r an a c c o u n t o f th e v a r io u s o c c u lt r e l i g i o n s a s fo u n d e d
b y L o e b e r and N ew b oro ug h and M adam e B la v a t s k y .

1 3 . J o s e p h in e R a n so m , A Sho r t H is t o r y o f th e T h e o s o p h ic a l S o c i e t y . A d y a r : T h e o s o p h ic a l
P u b lis h in g H o u se , ”1 5 1 8 .

1 4 . j . G o rd o n M e lt o n , “ UFO C o n t a c t e e s - - A R e p o rt on W o rk in P r o g r e s s " in P r o c e e d in g s
o f th e F i r s t In t e r n a t i o n a l UFO C o n f e r e n c e , e d . by C u r t i s G . F u l l e r . New Y o r k :

W a rn e r B o o k s , 1 9 8 0 , p p . 3 7 8 - 3 9 5 .

1 5 . Thom as B l o t , T h e M an F ro m M a rs . S an F r a n c is c o : B a co n & C o m p a n y, 1 8 9 1 .

1 6 . R u th N o rm a n , A S p a ce W om an S p e a k s F ro m P la n e t E a r t h . E l C a jo n , C a l i f : U n a r iu s , n .d .

1 7 . " H i s t o r y o f M a rk -A g e " in s p e c ia l is s u e o f M a in , # 2 2 , J u n e - J u l y , 1 9 7 5 .

1 8 . U r i G e l l e r , My S t o r y . New Y o r k : P r a e g e r P u b l i s h e r s , 1 9 7 5 .

1 9 . B e t i K i n g , D ia r y Fro m O u te r S p a c e . T h e A u t h o r , 1 9 7 6 .

2 0 . W a rre n G o e t z , T h e I n t e l l i g e n c e ,^ th e U n iv e r s e S p e a k s . T h e A u t h o r , 1 9 7 4 .

2 1 . E ln a E . K e n n e y , U n d e r th e S a u c e r ’ s S h ad o w . New Y o r k : V a n ta g e P r e s s , 1 9 7 4 .

2 2 . G r e t a W o od rew , On A S l i d e o f L i g h t . New Y o rk : M a c m illa n , 1 9 8 1 .

2 3 . W o od ro w W. D e re n b e rg e r and H a ro ld W. H u b b a rd , V i s i t o r s From L a n u lo s . New Y o r k :

V a n ta g e P r e s s , 1 9 7 1 . ”

2 4 . O s c a r M a g o c s i, My S p a ce O d y s s e y in U F O s. T o r o n t o : Q u e st G ro u p P u b l i c a t i o n s , 1 9 8 0 .

2 5 . C la u d e V o r i lh o n , " R e a l" S p a ce A lie n s T o o k Me to t h e i r P la n e t . W ad u z, L ic h t e n s t e i n :

F a c e , 1 9 7 5 . " “ '

2 6 . J a c q u e s V a l l e e , M e s s e n g e rs o f D e c e p t io n . B e r k e le y / C a l i f : A n d /O r P r e s s , 1 9 7 9 .

2 7 . Raym ond E . F o w le r , T h e A n d re a s s o n A f f a i r . E n g le w o o d C l i f f s , N J: P r e n t ic e - H a l l .

1 9 7 9 .
(■roc. Of 1981 CUrOS Conf.
EVIDENCE FOR UFOs IN THE ITALIAN PAST
ROBERTO PINOTTI
Today, whan mass media start talking about
uFOlogy, they usually connect it to the
so-called "Ancient Astronaut" theory. As far
as I amconcerned, in my books and articles I
have always warned the public against any
indiscriminate connection between this stimu­
lating theory, which is built on some
interesting Facts, but also on many
discrepancies, arid the systematic study of
historical docununts describing apparent UFOs
in the past.
As ufologists, we may be interested in
this theory. But it is necessary to emphasize
that UFOresearch as such must try tp focus,
above all, on the nature of UFOsightings arid
evidence today as well as in the past and not
on speculations, legends and archaeological
anomalies in the light of an a priori inter­
pretation of history—the idea that extra­
terrestrial beings must have visited our
planet several times in the past. Of course,
this is far frum being impossible; neverthe­
less, the Ancient Astronaut theory, from a
scientific point of view, still suffers from
a luck of supporting evidence, since no
definitive pruol uf extra-terrestrial inter­
vention is available at present, but, on the
control y, we do liave some historical evidence
of tlFU-like descriptions, also in the past.
It is just a question of finding them and
trying to interpret them, after having
compaxed themwith today's UFOevidence. In
Italy our classical heritage makes this neo­
humanistic approach possible.
tie know that even in Roman times unusual
atrial phenomena were repotted. The best
109
anthology of such sightings is Prodiqiorum
Liber (The Book of Prodigies) by the Roman
historian Julius Gbsequens, who extracted
them from the original works of Cicero, Titus
Livius, 5eneca and many other well-known
Latin authors. Most of these "prodigies" may
be explained today with natural or
atmospheric phenomena, of course. But some
uf them still baffle any conventional
explanation. Let us mention just two
examples from the 1552 edition in our
possession:
When C. Marius and L. Valerius were
consuls, in Tarquinia, a thing like -
a flaming torch was seen in different
places falling suddenly from the sky.
Towards sunset, a circular flying ob­
ject, similar in its shape to a burning
"clypeus" [the round shield used by
Roman legionaries), was seen crossing
the sky from west to east.
This description of an unknown aerial
phenomenon, which occurred in 9B B.C., is too
limited to permit us to interpret this event.
But what is strange here is the use of the
term "clypeus," the round, light Roman war
shield with a typical, semi-spherical rein­
forcement structure at its center: in other
words, an ideal representation of a domed
"daylight disc" of today. Is this just a
coincidence?
In the territory of Spoletum [Umbria], a
globe of fire, golden in color, fell to
the earth, and ascended into the sky,
no
where it obscured the disc of the sun
with its brilliuiice. it turned luu.jrds
the eastern quadrant of the sky.
This event occurred in 89 B.C., and its
description cannot be easily explained in
terms of known natural phenomena. On the
centiary, a UfCJ landing and lukeutf of today
would be reported with similar words.
ARoman scientist, Pliny the Cider, tried
tu classify aeiial phenomena. in his
Nature1is Histur ia (Naturat History) lie
itiui is tlying "Fullus" {loi ches),
"lamp.jdue" (lumps), and "bolides" (liiuhulLs)
as well as "trubes ignitae" (beams uf tire).
Pliny stated that these flying "beams of
fire" used to appear and shine suddenly in
the sky (Book 2, XAUl).
In Obsequens' Prodigiorum Liber we find
several cases of such "beams of fire."
Should we include them in Pliny's
classification as natural or astronomical
phenomena? This is a very difficult question
lu answer, as Or. Marta Luchino Chionetti re­
marks in her graduation thesis (University of
Turin) about Conradus Lycosthenes (whose real
name was Karl Wolffhart), the 1Gth century
German humanist who edited Prodigiorum Liber,
integrating the lacunas in the original text
with quotations from the original Latin
sources as well as with descriptions of
similar phenomena that occurred in the Middle
Ages arid even in his own time. * In his words, "the night before the 21st
As a matter of fact, no natural
explanation seems to account for events of
this kind. For instance, Lycosthenes
mentions events like the following one (page
527): "In 1520 A.O. in England, at Hereford,
a colossal beam of fire wcis seen in the sky.
Approaching the earth, it burned many things
with its heat. After this, it ascended into
the sky again and was seen to change its
FLYING"FIERY BEAM" FROMTHE RENAISSANCE
EDITIONOF PRODIGIORUMLIBER
Plnoit1
shape into a circle of fire." This
description has surely nothing to do with any
known natural phenomenon. On the contrary,
it sounds like the perfect replica of a UFO
near-landing in a typical close encounter ol
the second kind characterized by thermal
effects.
Other historical documents mention similar
"beams of fire" in the 16th century. In
Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography we may
read: "We mounted on horse, and we went
quickly towards Rome. At nightfall we had
reached the top of a hill, and casting a
glance behind our backs we both cried out at
the same time: 'My God! What is that huge
thing over Florence?' It was just like a
gigantic beam of fire, sparkling and shining.
. . (from Benvenuto Cellini's La Vita,
Book 1, Chapter 89). Unfortunately, Cellini
does not give us other details.
On October 7, 1571, 410 years ago, a
famous historical event determined the
destiny of western civilization. Everybody is
aware of the decisive naval battle between
Christianity and I^lam in the waters of
Lepanto, in which ships of the Christian
League destroyed the Turkish fleet; however,
only a few know of an interesting detail,
which we may read in the works of Father
Alberto Guglielmotti, the official historian
of the Roman Pope's Navy.
of September a sign was seen in the sky, and
everybody considered it a miracle. The night
was quite calm and fair, with a fresh north
wind and ail the stars clearly visible and
bright. Then suddenly," Father Guglielmotti
wrote, according to the eyewitness accounts
reported by Sereno and Caracciolo, "a huge,
flaming shining pillar of fire was seen . . .
crossing the night air for a long time,
filling all the witnesses with great wonder."
Father Cuglielmotti continues:
Today we know we must consider not only
wills-o'-the-wisp and St. Elmo's fires,
but also fire-bails and beams of fire
like this one as electric and pneumatic
pliunoinena of the atmosphere typical and
frequent during summer timu; neverthe­
less, ail the witnesses considered this
of good omen, foreboding a great victory.
Tltey thought that tfie pillar of fire was
showing them the way, guiding the Chris-
froc. Of 1961 CUFOS Conf. Ill

tian fleet in the sea as in biblical An engineering student at the University

times it guided the people of Israel in of Florence, Alfredo Jacopozzi, put some
the desert. . . . pieces of this substance inside a glass con­
Curiously, Guglielmotti connects this tainer, sealed it, and carried it to the
event to the “pillar of fire” of Exodus, Institute of Analytic Chemistry of the
anticipating certain ideas of the supporters University of Florence. Uhile on the
of the Ancient Astronaut theory. In any outside, the substance was beginning to vola-
case, we are facing only more or less tize, Jacopozzi asked the Director of the
detailed general descriptions of such UFO- Institute, Prof. Giovanni Canneri, to analyze
like phenomena in the past, and this is not it. This was the official result of the
enough. from a scientific point of view, we microscopic and spectrographic analyses made
need more and more convincing evidence. by Prof. Canneri and his .assistant, Prof.
Danilo Cozzi:
As we may see by observing the
quantitative trend of UFOreports in Italy,
our country experienced four big UFO "waves"
after the end of the Second Uorld UJar, in a
real crescendo. The peak years were 1950,
1954, 1973 and 197B. In 1977, our UFO study
organization, Centro UfoloyicoNazionale
(CUN), published the results of the first
computerized analysis of an Italian "wave,"
fiaking use of a catalogue of 356 UFOevents
in 1954. The 1954 Italian wave was parallel
to the well-known French one of that year,
but its importance was ignored for years
abroad, and even now international ufology is
not aware of that interesting body of sight­
ings just for language reasons—in other
words, because of mere translation problems.
On October 27, 1954, in broad daylight,
two flying luminous cigar-shaped objects that
were followed by a sort of white and, cloudy
wake were observed by many inhabitants of
Prato (a suburb uf Florence) in Tuscany, and
in particular by the two landlords of the San
Marco Hotel, Cennaro Lucchetti and Pietro
Lastrucci. Swiftly, after a 45 degree turn
in the sky, the two UFOs headed toward
Florence silently, in a coupled flight
formation.
Just a few minutes later, in Florence, a
football match was interrupted because of It is a substance with a fibrous struc­
UfUs. The football teams of both Florence ture, characterized by a remarkable
and Pistoia and the referee on the playing mechanical resistance to both traction
field as well as the public, saw the two and torsion. Heat makes It brown,
saucer-like objects hovering over the originating a fusible and transparent
stadium. In other parts of town, hundreds of residue. This fusible residue proved
people saw "flying saucers" crossing the sky to be, from a spectrographic point of
in pairs. At the same time, as all newspaper view, a combination of boron, silicon,
accounts reported and emphasized, a strange calcium and magnesium. By mere suppo­
and woolly white substance, soft and frayed, sition, in the microchemical scale this
fell down from the sky while the mysterious substance might be a boron-silicon glass.
objects were maneuvering high. As a 10-year- But the absence of any oxygen molecule
old pupil at that time, I still remember the in its chemical composition does not
roofs of Florence whitened by it. support this hypothesis.

112
This official analysis of a mysterious
substance fulling fiom the sky in different
areas of Tuscany as UFOs were maneuvering is
still unknown abroad, in spite of the fact
that it is mentioned by Italian ufologists in
their books. Today, after CUN's quantitative
computerised analysis, a deeper research
snows that during the 1954 Italian UFOwave,
we had at least 29 reported events involving
the falling of this substance, known in
English-speaking countries as "angel's hair"
and in France as "fils de la vierge." And
24 of them are associated with the presence
uf UlOs in the sky above. In the light of
this connection, perhaps what we may read
about this problem in NICAP's The UFO
fvidence, as well as in Allan Hendry's The
UFO Handbook, and in Ronald Story's The
Encyclopedia of UFOs is far from the last
word ubuuL this seemingly UfU-related pheno­
menon. Here we have the catalogue of the
"angel's hair" fails during the 19S4 Italian
UFOwove:
(Let me thank Prof. Solas Goncompagni, Nr.
Pier Luigi Sani and all the other authors of
Uf0 in Italla: L1Qndata deI 1954 (urOs in
Italy: The 1954 "Uauo11 , the I tulian ufolo­
gists uhu pursued further CUN's original
computerized analysis in their detailed
report frum which these verified data were
extracted.)
fhe UfU Fvidunce lists 43 examples of
"angel's Ikiir uiid/or gossamer falls," with
only two Italian cases (both of 1954). Two
other well-known events of this kind from
Italy not involving the presence of UFOs
occurred in the same zone of the Adriatic
coast at Porto Garibaldi on November 6, 1950,
and at Lomacchio on October 18, 19b6. In
this case, the natural origin of the samples
involved was suggested by the results uf
theii analysis at Lhe University of bologna,
quite different from Prof. Conneri's and the
Gela Hospital lab's conclusions.
This means that at least 27 important
angel's hair cases were ignored by NICAP and
in the United 5tates. No wonder there is a
generally negative attitude by tuday's
American ufologists facing this problem in
UFOresearch. Let me emphasize again that 24
or tne 1954 Italian UFO wave cases were
associated with UFOsightings, while only 23
in the 43 listed in The Uf0 Evidence were
charucterized by concomitant UFO phenomena.
Pinout
This means, in my opinion, that a new
approach in the study of such cases seems to
be necessary in the U5A. 5urely spider webs
are not the only explanation for the so-
called angel's hair phenomenon.
On the contrary, facing the problem from a
statistical point of view, a comparison of
such phenomena from the French and Italian
cases seems to indicate that events of this
kind are associated with the presence of
Saturn-shaped Daylight Discs maneuvering on
high along with the presence of at least one
big cylindrical UFO.
I think ‘we must remember the classic
Oloron sighting of October 17, 1952, which
occurred in the southwest of France. At 12:50
p.m., a white flying cylinder emitting a sort
of white smoke, /ollowed by a group of other
objects .shaped like reddish spheres with
yellow rings all around, were seen by many
citizens. At the same time, we had a classic
"angel's hair" fall. Ascience professor in
tr»e local high school, Dr. Poulet, did not
succeed in analyzing the fallen substance
before it vaporized, but confirmed those
fibers burned like cellophane when ignited.
The Saturn-shaped objects hovered over tie
area in pairs with zigzag movements. After
10 days, on October 27, all this appeared
over Gaillac (Tarn) followed by another
"angel's hair" fall. (C, ANDFIGURE 2]
French authorities were very interested in
these cases since they could suggest the
presence of gigantic carrier-like aircraft
flying and maneuvering on high and launching
several disc-shaped "flying saucers" in the
atmosphere for reconnaissance missions and
grouped flights in formation. Exactly two
years later, in Italy, the sane thing
occurred. Once again we had "flying cigars"
or cylindrical objects, as well as smaller
Saturn-shaped UFOs in formation. Alleged UFO
photographs [D] in the Italian press in 1954
seem to confirm all the eyewitness accounts
of this kind, as well as a 1966 photographic
case.
By mere chance, in 1969 CUNknew that a
Bologna bank official had photographed a
strange aerial phenomenon in September 1966.
He did not like to be intruded upon, but at
last he admitted he photographed two luminous
objects after sunset along the coast ot
Gargano, an Adriatic peninsula in southern
J>r«. of 1981 CUfOS Conf. 113

C A TA LO G U E O F " A N G E L 'S H A IR " F A L L S D U R IN G 1954 IN IT A LY

DATE NO. PLACE TIPt CONCOdITANT PHENOMENA

Oct. 27, 1954 1 Sesto Fiorenti.no 1:30 pm 1 DOsplits into 3 UFOs
Oct. 27, 1954 2 Ciolica Alta (Prato) 2-2:20 pu 1 00 near-landing
Oct. 27, 1954 3 Florence 4 suburbs 2:20-3:30 Several DOin pairs
pm (football match inter­
rupted; samples analyzed
in university lab de­
fined "combination of
boron, silicon, cal­
cium and magnesium")
Oct. 27, 1954 4 5iena 2:30 pm Several 00 (grouped)
Oct. 27, 1954 5 Lucca 3:30 pm ' None
Oct. 26, 1954 6 Chiusi daytime 3 DO(grouped)
Oct. 28, 1954 7 Siena daytime 15 DOin formation
Oct. 28, 1954 Q Consuma (Arezzo) morning Skyquake
Oct. 28, 1954 9 Rome 4:00 pm 3 00 (grouped)
Oct. 29, 1954 10 dacciano (5iena) morning 1 DO
Oct. 29, 1954 11 Citta della Pieve 0.30 pm 2 DO
(Perugia)
Oct. 29, 1954 12 Calenzano (Prato) 1:QQpm Several 00
Oct. 29, 1954 13 S. dauro a Signa 1:00 pm Several DO
(Florence)
Oct. 29, 1954 14 Scarperia (Florence) 1-2:30 pm Several DO("very high")
Oct. 29, 1954 15 5. Pietro Agliana, af ternoon Several DO("very high")
dontale Agliana,
S. darcello Pistoiese
Lizzano (Pistoia)
Oct. 29, 1954 16 Florence 2:00 pm None
Oct. 29, 1954 17 Settignano, 2:00 pm None
Campi Qisenzio,
Rifredi,
Prato (Florence),
"Villages in the
Pistoia area"
Oct. 30, 1954 18 Cetona (Siena) daytime None
Oct. 30, 1954 19 Perugia 11:30 am 1 DO(purple-blue sphere)
Oct. 31, 1954 20 Pietrasanta (Lucca) 7:00 pm 1 00
Now. b, 1954 21 Rome 11:00 am 40 DO(2 V-shaped forma­
tions of 20 IX) in single
X-shaped formation,
"very high"
Nov.6,1954 22 Civitavecchia (Rome) 11:30 am 1 DO
Now. 10, 1954 23 Perugia 7:30 am 2 DO
Nov. 11, 1954 24 Lucca . 3:00 pm 2 DO
Nov. 12, 1954 25 Rome 1:30 pm 2 DO
Nov. 13, 1954 26 Crosseto afternoon 2 DO
Nov. 14, 1954 27 Cela (Sicily) 10:45 am 20 DO(samples analyzed
in hospital lab defined:
"glass-like fibers")
Nov. 14, 1954 28 Casaloldo (dantua) afternoon 1 DOsplitting into 2
UFOs (local football
match interrupted)
Dec. 4, 1954 29 5. Ciuliano (Arezzo) 1:QGpm 1 00
114 — Hnolll

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FIGURE 2 . FROM "FRANCE DIMANCHE" NO. 322 COCT. 2 6 , 19523 - -

Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 115

D. A "FLYING SAUCER" PHOTOGRAPHED OVER

SIENA ON OCTOBER 28th, 1954.
C. THE FLYING DISCS AND CIGAR SEEN OVER
0L0R0N AND GAILLAC, FRANCE IN 1952

Italy. He was not interested in what he had Brazilian Navy's ship "Almirante Saldanha" on
photographed, but did want to protect his January 16, 1958, and later authenticated by
privacy, so we promised not to reveal his Brazilian authorities. But neither the Trin­
name in order to obtain this color slide. It dade DD nor the Gargano UFOs could be
was examined and analyzed by a professional associated with "angel's hair" fa lls .
photographer, in whose opinion no forgery
seems technically possible. Besides, a hoax
seems psychologically illogical in a person
quite unwilling to be mentioned.

In any case, a professional enlargement of

what Mr. Gerardo Bagnulo photographed (today,
after his death, we of CUN can mention his
name) reveals an unexpected chromatic
difference between the two luminous objects,
just a point and a segment of whitish light
in the original color slide. [E] They proved
to be a cylindrical blue-green-greyish
structure and a circular body with a reddish-
orange nucleus and a yellow ring a ll around.
And this is just the way one of the Oloron
case witnesses, Yves Prigent, described the
Saturn-shaped UFOs he saw through his
binoculars. A very remarkable coincidence,
indeed!
This perfect replica of the 1952 French
"soucoupes volantes" and of the 1954 Italian THE TRINDADE ISLAND DAYLIGHT DISC
"dischi volanti" could be compared also with (JANUARY 16TH, 1958)
the well-known photographs of a Daylight Disc
over Trindade Island, snapped from the
116 Pi nottl

E. PHOTO OF AERIAL PHENOMENON AND ENLARGEMENT TAKEN IN SEPTEMBER,1966 OVER

THE GARGANO PENINSULA IN SOUTHERN ITALY.

G. DAYLIGHT DISC PHOTOGRAPHED

OVER NAMUR, BELGIUM ON
JUNE 5, 1955
Proc. of 1981 CUFOSConf.
As far as tue know, one of the latest mass
sightings involving the same objects seen in
1952 and 1954 in France and Italy occurred
over the town of Talissay (Philippine
Islands) on April 19, 1979. People saw "a
'mother ship* emitting several smaller discs
in a U-shaped formation.” Their reported
landings in the Carapale Valley caused an
o fficial military inquiry.
In history, a visual representation of a
recorded event must be considered partial
evidence of i t , from a scientific point of
view. For example, we could say that the
world-famous Bayeux Tapestry is a typical
visual side-evidence of the Battle of
Hastings. And in ufology, of course, visual
evidence is very important. As we have seen,
there are many recorded descriptions of
UFO-like aerial phenomena of the past in the
works of several historians. But, unfor­
tunately, they are ju st descriptions and
nothing more, without any visual representa­
tion providing more convincing evidence. And
as a visual event, an ideal UFO sighting of
the past ought to be supported not only by
historical tradition, but also by a represen­
tation of i t as we know i t along with its
effects, i f any.
Maybe we may find a ll this in the painting
of Masolino da Panicale named ”11 Miracolo
della Neve” ("The Miraculous Snowfall"). In
i t we have the visual representation of a
very strange event involving Pope Liberius
(352-366 A.D.). According to this historical
tradition, in a dream the Pope was ordered by
angels to build a new church in Rome, right
in the place where a miraculous snowfall
would manifest it s e lf. On the next day, a
strange snow-like substance f e ll from the
sky, contrary to normal weather during a hot
August day. The phenomenon was limited to
only the area of Rome in which the Santa
Maria Maggiore basilica was later built. In
Masolino's representation, we see the Roman
Pope indicating the perimeter of the future
basilica in the area whitened by the
miraculous snow, s t i l l falling from strange
clouds. Christ and the Virgin are observing
everything from heaven above, of course. [F]
What was the cause of this "impossible"
snowfall? Masolino da Panicale, in his
painting, represents a detailed scene of the
event, with the snow falling from a big and
elongated "cloud," greyish and cigar-shaped,
117
under which smaller clouds are visible. A
close look at these clouds, moreover, shows
that they are not ordinary clouds. They are
a ll clearly outlined and not vaporous, and
are represented two-by-two and identically,
with only their upper part lightened, like
most domed DDs.
The event occurred in August, so spider
webs ought to be excluded as a possible
explanation of this phenomenon. As a matter
of fact, Allan Hendry emphasizes in his The
UFO Handbook that spider webs usually appear
especially during October. On the contrary,
if we compare the strange clouds of
Masolino's painting with a Daylight Disc
photograph from a newspaper allegedly snapped
over Siena as "angel's hair" fe ll on that
town in 1954, we must admit that so striking
a resemblance seems far from casual. [G]
Another evident comparison may be suggested
with the three well-known photographs of a
typical Daylight Disc moving in the clouds
over Namur, Belgium, on June 5, 1955, snapped
by a Belgian1postman. [G]
Can a ll this be mere coincidence? Does
Masolino da Panicale*s detailed painting
represent a "sign from Heaven," as Catholic
tradition says, or the UFO-related phenomenon
known today as "angel’s hair"? In any case,
this painting of the 15th century might have
been inspired by a personal experience of its
author and not only by a detailed tradition,
after a ll. We shall never know this, of
course.
But we know that similar aerial phenomena
were reported in Italy during the 15th cen­
tury, also. For instance, let me quote Leone
Cobelli, an Italian historian of Forli:
In that same year [1487], one day in
June, a beam of fire coming from Mount
Pogiolo was seen in the sky during the
night and i t came towards Forli off the
walls of Ravaldino castle. . . . Then,
next morning, another of these beams of
fire appeared. I t came from Mount Puzolo
and reached the sky just over the central
square in Forli. And a ll the inhabitants
of the town saw i t . . . .
In that same year, one day in August,
a huge star appeared in the sky two hours
before dawn, coming from the mountains
[Apennines] and moving towards Ravenna
I t floated in the air just like a butter­
fly, and I saw i t , too, with many other
118 Pinotti

F. I L MIRACOLO DELLE NEVE (THE MIRACULOUS SNOW FA LL)

BY MASOLINO DA PANICALE
Proc. Of 1981 CUFOS Conf.
inhabitants of Forli. I must say that
i t seemed a cart wheel flying in the sky,
and its appearance lasted some minutes,
more or less the time during which a
miserere prayer may be said. Some people
said they had seen i t more than half an
hour before, over the mountains. . . .
Interpret a ll this as ’’signs from Heaven,” as
he wrote, or not, these are the eyewitness
accounts of Leone Cobelli as they are
reported in his Cronache forlivesi (The Forli
Chronicle) .
Such a detailed description of a star­
like, luminous flying object approaching the
ground and hovering over the town of Forli
and the nearby mountains for more than half
an hour not only involves multiple sightings
in the same region over a long period of
time; the object observed is also described
as a disc-shaped body, seemingly rotating
(like a ’’cart wheel”) and flying erratically
("just like a butterfly"). Besides, two
"beams of fire " or cylindrical luminous
objects had been previously reported by night
as well as in broad daylight. Surely
Cobelli’s accurate words as a witness do not
f i t any known or anomalous phenomenon, except
the UFO phenomenon, and are not different
from what we may read in today's UFO reports.
In any case, a 15th century a rtist would
not be able to hand down to posterity such a
direct experience, since at that time
painters were allowed only to produce sacred
and not profane subjects. An a r t is t ’s only
possibility to do this would have been, then,
to insert a representation of such an event
in a sacred art subject. An ideal place
indeed for "signs from Heaven”!
In our opinion, this is exactly what hap­
pened in another 15th century painting, "The
madonna and Baby St. John," a nativity scene
attributed to the school of Filippo Lippi, a
15th century Florentine painter. This paint­
ing was noticed by chance during a v isit to
Palazzo Vecchio at Florence, in the Saturn
Salon, by a young Italian architect, Mr.
Daniele Bedini. Looking at i t , in its upper
right portion, he could clearly notice the
presence of a lead-colored, egg-shaped flying
object in the sky, apparently in motion. As
Mr. Bedini underlines, " It is possible to
imagine the motion by the presence of bright
rays. The color of the rays is bright
yellow, like gold, a ll around the object, and
119
they almost suggest the direction of motion.
These factors are in contrast with the
complete steadiness of the rest of the
painting." [ h]
What could this object be? Since this is
a nativity scene involving the Virgin Mary
with both the baby Jesus and St. John (the
Baptist), could i t be identified with the
Star of Bethlehem? The answer is surely
negative, because the miraculous star, as a
definite source of light, would have been
represented in quite a different way; as a
comet-like bright body, and not as an opaque
one as in this case. As far as the sun is
concerned, we may observe i t in the upper
le ft portion with small rays of sunlight
below i t , clearly in a mystical meaning for
God and the Holy Trinity. But no atmospheric,
symbolic, mythological or mystical explana­
tion seems possible for the strange lead-
colored object surrounded by bright rays
hovering aver the country in the landscape in
the upper right portion of this painting.
"The object," Mr. Bedini comments, "is
being watched by a shepherd at the right of
the Madonna, drawn by the painter with his
right hand above his eyes looking at the
object with a ll his attention. Besides, i t
is being watched by the shepherd’ s dog that
is clearly barking, as happens in many cases
of UFO sighting reports."
As a matter of fact, the mysterious object
is affecting both human and animal reactions
in the background scene and no conventional
explanation seems possible for i t . I t is a
real enigma s t i l l to be solved. I t is
evident, however, that i t has nothing to do
with the subject of this painting. And since
Filippo Lippi is to be considered an expres­
sive but not compositive painter, his unknown
disciple's intention could be just to
communicate to the masses through his own
work a special personal experience: liias i t
the sighting of the same unknown phenomenon
we call today "unidentified flying objects"?
Today, a ll this shows that history, tradi­
tion and even history of art are beginning to
support more and more what yesterday was just
a suspicion, and are revealing UFO-like
phenomena also in the past. This neo­
humanistic comparative approach, i f developed
successfully, may only confirm the inexpli­
cable nature of UFOs in space and time along
with the evidence of their unearthly origin.
120
free, of 1ST81 CtfOS Conf.
121

A DRAWING OF THE OBJECT SEEN AT A

MISSION AT B01NAI, IN PAPUA NEW
GUINEA BY FATHER GILL AND OTHERS
OF THE MISSION ON JUNE 27m 1959.
THE UFO INVOLVED SEEMS VERY SIM­
ILAR TO THE STRANGE OBJECT IN THE
XVTH CENTURY PAINTING OF “THE
MADONNA AND CHILD AND INFANT
ST. JOHN. A MERE COINCIDENCE?

REFERENCES

1 . J u liu s Gbsequens, P rodiqiorum L ib e r , ab urbe c a n d ita usque ad

Augustum Caesarem, cu iu s tantum e xta b a ta Fragmenturn, nunc demum
h is to riu ru m b e n e fit:L o , par Conradmn Lycostbenes Rubeaquensem,
i n t e g r i t a t i suae r e s t it u t u s , Lug d u ni, P O LII.

2. P lin y the E ld e r, N atu ra l H is to ry , Book 2, c h a p te r 26.

3. Marta Luchino C h io n e tt i, Corrado L ico ste n e e le A n tich e Observazione

Sui Fenomeni N a tu r a li a ’ ln te re s s e C e o q ra fic o . U n iv e rs ita d i T o rin o ,
P u b b lic a z io n i d e lla "TacoTta d i M a giste ru No. 16, 1 96Q.

4 . Benvenuto C e l l i n i , La V it a , Book I , chap ter 09.

5. A lb e rto G u g lie lm o tti, M arcantonio Colonna a lia B a tta g lia d i Lepanto,

Book 2 , c h a p te r 12, P ire n z e , 1B62.

6. R oberto P in o t t i, V i s i t a t o r i O a llo S pazio. M ila n o , 1973/1977.

7. NICAP, The UFG Evidence. Washington, 1964.

B. 5ani Boncompagni and o th e rs , UFO in I t a l i a : L*Ondata d e l 1954.

F ire n z e , 1980.

9. R oberto P in o t t i, UFO; La Conqiura d e l S ile n z io . M ila n o , 1974.

10. A lla n Hendry, The UFO Handbook. Garden C it y , N .Y ., 1979.

11. Ronald S to ry , The Encyclopedia o f UFOs. Carden C it y , N .Y ., 1980,

12. C a rl Gustav Jung, F ly in g Saucers. London, 1959.

13. M aria A delaide B ia n c h in i, M a solin o . M ila n o , 1965.

14. Leone C o b e lli, Cronache F o ri Iv e s i D a lla Fondazlone d e lla C itta *

1
A l l anno 1 4 9 8 .~ Bologna, 1874.

15. D a n iele B e d in i, C li UFO Nel P assato, in N o t iz ia r io UFO, November

1970, Roma. (E n g lis h tr a n s la t io n : 15th Century P a in tin g o f UFO
in N a t iv it y Scene, in CUFDS A sso cia te N e u s le tle r, U ol. 1 , No. 3,
E vanston, 1 11 ., 1900.)
Proc. of 1981 CufOS Conf.
121

A DRAWING OF THE OBJECT SEEN AT A

MISSION AT BOINAI, IN PAPUA NEW
GUINEA BY FATHER GILL AND OTHERS
OF THE MISSION ON JUNE 27m 1959.
THE UFO INVOLVED SEEMS VERY SIM­
ILAR TO THE STRANGE OBJECT IN THE
XVTH CENTURY PAINTING OF “THE
MADONNA AND CHILD AND INFANT
ST. JOHN. A MERE COINCIDENCE?

REFERENCES
1. J u liu s Obsequens, P ro diq io rum L ib e r , ab urbe c o n d ita usque ad
Augustum Caesarem, c u iu s tantum e xta b ata fragmenturn, nunc demum
h is to ria ru n i b e n e fic io , p a r Conradun Lycosthenes Rubeaquensem,
i n t e g r i t a t i suae r e s t it u t u s , Lug d u ni, MOL 11.

2 . P lin y th e E ld e r, N atu ra l H is to r y , Book 2, c h a p te r 26.

3. M arta Luchino C h io n e tt i, C orrado L ic o s te n e e le A n tich e Qbseruazione

Sui Fenomeni N a tu ra li d 'ln te r e s s e C e o g ra fic o . U n iv e rs ita d i T o rin o ,
P u b b lic a z io n ]- d e l la F a c o lta d i M a glste ru No. 16, 1960.

4 . Benvenuto C e l l i n i , La V ita , Book I , c h a p te r 89.

5. A lb e rto G u g lie lm o tti, M arcantonio Colonna a lia B a tta g lia d i Lepanto,

Book 2 , c h a p te r 12. P ire n z e , 1862.

6. R oberto P in o t t i, V i s i t a t o r i D a llo Spazio, M ila n o , 1973/1977.

7 . NICAP, The UFG E vidence. W ashington, 1964.

8. Sani Boncompagni and o th e rs , UFO in I t a l i a : L*0ndata d e l 1954.

F ire n z e , 19BQ.

9. R oberto P in o t t i, UFO; La Congiura d e l S ile n z io . M ila n o , 1974.

10. A lla n Hendry, The UFO Handbook. Garden C it y , N .Y ., 1979.

11. Ronald S to ry , The E ncyclopedia o f UFOs, Garden C ity , N .Y ., 1980.

12. C a rl Gustav Jung, F ly in g Saucers. London, 1959.

13. M aria A delaide B ia n c h in i, M a solin o . M ila n o , 1965.

14. Leone C o b e lli, Cronache F o r liu e s i O a lla Fondazione d e lla C i t t a 1

. A ll'a n n o 1 49 B .' Bologna, 1874.

15. D a n iele B e d in i, G li UFO Nel Passato, in N o t iz ia r io UFO, November

1978, Roma. (E n g lis h tr a n s la t iu n : 15th Century P a in tin g o f UFO
in N a t iv it y Scene, in CUFOS A sso cia te N e u s le tte r, \ ) o l . 1, No. 3,
Evanston, 1 11 ., 1900.)
122
 proc. i1 19S» CuFOS Unf.
SIZE, D IS T A N C E AND DURATION
P A R A M E T E R S OF T H E
IG N ITIO N -IN TER FER EN C E
D O N A LD A. JO H N S O N
UFO r e p o rts in v o lv in g v e h ic le e le c t r i c a l
system in te r fe r e n c e o f f e r one nia jo r advantage
over r e p o rts in v o lv in g sim p le clo se uFO
e ncounters. That advantage is the presence
o f a p n y s ic a l d evice capable o f s e rv in g as a
measuring in s tr u iiie n t--a motor v e h ic le . As
I'icCoil>poe11 p o in ts u u l (IlcC am pbell, 197bb, p.
1b4J, "An a u to m o b ile fu n c tio n s as an i n s t r u ­
ment n o tw ith s ta n d in g i t s oesign fo r o th e r
p urp o se s." Viewed in t h is manner* the
s e v e r ity o f the re p o rte d e f f e c t on the motor
v e n ic ie c o u ld p ro v id e us w ith th e means to
te s t hypotheses about the p h y s ic a l n a tu re o f
the ig n it io n in te rfe re n c e e f f e c t , and as a
consequence, p ro u id e clu e s about the p h y s ic a l
nature o f the UFO phenomenon.
In an e a r l ie r p aper, th e r o le .o f two
v a r ia b le s thought to ftave a causa l co nn e ction
w ith s e v e r ity o f re p o rte d e le c t r i c a l system
in te r fe r e n c e — p o s itio n o f UFO and d is ta n c e
from L)F0--were examined th ro u gh a n a ly s is of
contingency ta b le s (Johnson, 198 3 ). The p u r­
pose o f t h is paper is to expand on the
fin d in g s of th a t paper a n d 'p ro v id e a mole
thorough tre a tm e n t o f th e data by in c lu d in g
in th e a n a ly s is two a d d itio n a l v a r ia b le s :
123
EFFECT
s iz e o f th e UFD and d u ra tio n o f the UFO
e n c o u n te r. These fo u r v a r ia b le s were s e le c te d
because they co uld c o n c e iv a b ly r e la te to
q u e s tio n s o f p h y s ic a l c a u s a lity o f the
re p o rte d e f f e c t .
R eports o f motor v e h ic le e le c t r i c a l
system in te rfe re n c e d u rin g a UFO encounter
u s u a lly in v o lv e no la s tin g p h y s ic a l e f fe c ts
or damage. The la c k o f any permanent engine
and e l e c t r i c a l system damage was one cause o f
s k e p tic is m among in v e s tig a to r s d u rin g th e A ir
Force-sponsored U n iv e rs ity o f C olorado s tu d y .
To quote D r. Roy C ra ig , "Mechanisms capable
of s h o r t - c ir c u it in g a uto m ob ile e le c t r i c a l
systems do n ot take in t o account the c la im
th a t normal o p e ra tio n resunes a f t e r d e p a rtu re
o f the UFD" (Condon & G ilm o re, 1969, p . 101 ).
lh is may have been a prem ature assessment
because today th e re are a t le a s t two u nte ste d
hypotheses about th e mechanism in v o lv e d th a t
c o u ld e x p la in the tem porary n a tu re o f th e
observed e f f e c t .
We know a t le a s t th a t a s tro n g m agnetic
f i e l d alone would n o t be a l i k e l y cause fo r
th e engine f a il u r e s . In an experim ent
 Johnson
124
b e in g in v e rs e ly p r o p o r tio n a l to th e square o f
conducted fo r the U n iv e rs ity o f Colorado
th e d is ta n c e ) or some o th e r power fu n c tio n
study by a n a tio n a l la b o ra to ry , in s ig n if ic a n t
r e la tio n s h ip obeyed by e le c tro m a g n e tic
e f f e c t s were measured fo r the spark p lu g s and
e ne rg y. Second, s in c e th e energy re qu irem e n ts
b a tte r y in v e ry s tro n g m agnetic f i e l d s up to fo r g e n e ra tin g t h is h ig h - in t e n s it y r a d ia tio n
2 0
L),UU gauss. f o r th e common s te e l encased
must be c o n s id e ra b le , i t would make sense to
c o i l , th e sp aik was o c c a s io n a lly in te rru p te d expect th a t a la r g e r r a d ia tio n source would
at 20,0110 gauss (Condon & G ilm o re, 1069, p.
re q u ire a la rg e r g e n e ra tin g c a p a c ity fo r th a t
1 0 2 ). Such in te n s e niagnetic f i e l d s would
so urce . S ize o f o b je c t should th e r e fo r e p la y
perm anently a lt e r the magnetic s ig n a tu re o f
the c a r 's body which co u ld be re a d ily a r o le in in t e n s it y o f e f f e c t .
d e te c te d a f t e r tn e event by mapping th e ca r
b o d y 's m agnetic p a tte rn w ith a magnetometer. T h ird , in o rd e r f o r th e h ig h in te n s it y
Evidence from tn e few cases where m agnetic- r a d ia tio n to have th e necessary e f f e c t on the
mapping has been done in d ic a te s th a t exposure components in v o lv e d , the a p p lic a tio n must be
to in te n s e m agnetic f i e l d s has n o t o ccu rre d . o f a s u f f i c ie n t d u r a tio n . We would th e re fo re
p r e d ic t th a t th e re m ig h t need to be some
Ihe U n iv e rs ity of C olorado study e x p e ri- c r i t i c a l d u ra tio n fo r the e v e n t w hich must be
nent was c r i t i c i z e d by sume as to o s im p le - reached b e fo re th e fo rc e can have i t s f u l l
minded in i t s approach, Saunders que stio ne d e ffe c t. I f th e tu n g s te n r e s i s t i v i t y theory
why the e f f e c t o f a flu c t u a t in g electrom agne­ h o ld s tr u e , t h is d u ra tio n may v a ry somewhat
tic f i e l d was n o t examined; flu c t u a t in g from a uto m ob ile to a u to m o b ile depending upon
th e a llo y s used in c o n s tr u c tio n o f key compo­
e le c tro m a g n e tic f i e l d s m ight have e f fe c ts
upon th e e n g ine s, ra d io s , and headlamps o f an n e n ts . The r o le o f p o s itio n was e x p lo re d
a u to n ia o ile w ith o u t a lt e r in g the magnetic e a r l ie r , and may r e la te to th e degree o f
s ig n a tu re o f th e ca r body (McCampbell, exposure o f th e eng ine components to the
1976a). source o f th e r a d ia tio n , p a r t ic u la r ly w ith
th e v e h ic le 's h e a d lig h ts .
McCanipdell contends th a t h ig h -fre q u e n c y
e le c tro m a g n e tic r a d ia tio n is an e x c e lle n t T h e re fo re , i f a p h y s ic a l mechanism does
ca nd ida te fo r th e cause o f engine f a il u r e s . e x is t th a t can 1inK the presence o f a UFO to
In n is 1976 book, he o ffe r s two conte nd in g th e ig n it io n in te r fe r e n c e e ffe c t, the
hypotneses to e x p la in th e mechanics in v o lv e d . in t e n s it y o f the e f f e c t should be governed by
F i r s t , h ig h in te n s it y microwave r a d ia tio n d u ra tio n o f exposure, p r o x im ity to the
m ig n t be found capable u f in d u c in g h ig h - so urce , s iz e or in t e n s it y o f the so urce , and
v o lta g e surges in the secondary w in d in g o f th e p o s s ib le advantageous p o s itio n in g o f the
the c o i l . The r e s u ltin g sparks in th e so u rc e . A b i l i t y to p r e d ic t the in t e n s it y o f
c y lin d e r would be co m p le te ly o u t o f tim e w ith th e e le c tro m a g n e tic in te r fe r e n c e response
th e sequence of events re q u ire d to run the based on these param eters should be h ig h ,
e n g in e . W ith the tim in g o f t , the engine assuming a rough e q u a lity between a utom obiles
would run p o o rly o r n o t a t a i l . A second (and e x c lu d in g d ie se l-p o w e re d v e h ic le s from
p h y s ic a l b a s is is th e in cre a se o f r e s i s t i v i t y th e a n a ly s is ) . T h is p r e d i c t a b i lit y is
o f tu n g ste n in th e presence o f microwave p r e c is e ly what s h a ll be examined by t h is
energy. The d is t r i b u t o r p o in ts , b e in g made s tu d y .
o f tun g ste n a llo y , would be s u b je c t to in t e r -
fe ie n c e because in c re a s in g re s is ta n c e would Method
reduce th e flo w o f c u rre n t (I’lcC am pbeli,
1976a, pp. 68 -b y ).
A com pu ter-g e ne ra te d lis tin g of a ll
p o s s ib le cases in v o lv in g e le c tro m a g n e tic
I f the cause o f th e ig n it io n in te rfe re n c e e f f e c t s in th e v i c i n i t y o f a UFO and a ls o
e f f e c t is h ig h frequency e le c tro m a g n e tic in v u lv in g a m otor v e h ic le was o b ta in e d in
r a d ia tio n , as IHcCampbell arid some o th e rs con­ November 1978 from th e C en te r fo r UFO
tend (McCampeii, 1976a), then one should S tu d ie s ' (CUF0S) co m pu terized c a ta lo g u e o f
expect to observe the phenomenon fo llo w in g UFO re p o rts (UFQCAT). T h is l i s t i n g co nta in ed
c e r ta in w e ll- d e fin e d p h y s ic a l param eters. 570 cases. W orking from t h is and a few o th e r
F ir s t, one should expect to observe an source s, an e ve n tu a l f i l e o f 289 cases was
in v e rs e r e la tio n s h ip between d is ta n c e and com piled th a t in v o lv e d c o n firm e d r e p o rts o f
in te n s it y ot e f f e c t . T h is r e la tio n s h ip c o u ld motor v e h ic le ig n it io n o r e l e c t r i c a l system
correspond to trie in v e rs e square law (fo rc e in te rfe re n c e a t t r ib u t a b le by the w itn e sse s to
 Proc. of 1981 CUfOS Conf. 125

a c lo s e UFO e n co u n te r. These cases in v o lv e d However, d u rin g a n d /o r a f t e r the u s u a lly

h e a d lig h ts and eng ine neat f a il u r e and h ig h em otio n al e xcite m e n t o f a UFO s ig h tin g ,
complete f a i l u r e , h ut were lim ite d to cases a person may t o t a l l y fo r g e t to check h is or
in v o lv in g la n d v e h ic le s and d id n o t in c lu d e her w atch. In . t h is case, a much le s s
re p o rts o f c a r ra d io in te rfe re n c e . accura te e s tim a te o f the d u ra tio n o f the
e ven t may be o b ta in e d . Haines (1900) r e p o rts
A fte r an e x te n s iv e scre en ing proce ss, 70 th a t people have a c r i t i c a l tim e in te r v a l
cases were s e le c te d f o r a n a ly s is on the Oasis where t h e ir e s tim a tio n e r r o r s a re s m a lle s t.
o f t h e ir com pleteness fo r s iz e , d is ta n c e , As the tim e in t e r v a l is lengthened beyond
and d u ra tio n in fo rm a tio n . Size and d is ta n c e t h is " c r i t i c a l d u r a t io n , " t h e ir e r r o r s w i l l
estim ates were co n ve rte d to a common measure in cre a se in s iz e . Since t h is " c r i t i c a l d u ra ­
( fe e t) and d u ra tio n e stim a te s were co nve rted tio n " is u s u a lly b r ie f and on the o rde r o f a
to m in u te s. P o s itio n was coded as a few m in u te s, tim e d u ra tio n s lo n g er than t h is
2
trichotom ous v a r ia b le : a " " was coded fa r can be expected to have e r r o r p r o p o r tio n a l to
those cases re p o rtin g th e UFD d ir e c t l y in th e d u ra tio n . A lo g tr a n s fo rm a tio n would
fr o n t o f th e v e h ic le ( n . q . , on o r above the c o rre c t fo r t h is .
1
highw ay), a " " lo r those cases r e p o rtin g the
UFO os d ir e c t l y above the hood o r rout of the A base-2 lo g a rith m ic tra n s fo rm a tio n was
c a r, and a " 0 " fo r a l l rem aining cases. T h is chosen, b ut because these va lu e s were la t e r
o rd in a l coding system was in te n d ed to sta n d a rd ize d fo r a n a ly s is , the ch oice among
correspond to MeCampbe 11 * s th e o ry and .the 2
base- , n a tu ra l lo g , or common log tr a n s fo r ­
re s u lts of tn e e a r l ie r s tu d y , ra nkin g m ation made l i t t l e d iffe r e n c e . The purpose,
p o s itio n w ith e ffic a c y o f e f f e c t (Johnson, tu remove the d is p ro p o rtio n a te e f f e c t o f
lSbJ). extreme va lu e s and reduce the amount o f e r r o r
measurement co n ta in e d w ith in the e s tim a te s ,
Because of the extreme r ig h t- ta il would have been achieved u s in g any.
skewness o f the s iz e , d is ta n c e , and d u ra tio n H istogram s f o r the tra n sfo rm e d v a r ia b le s are
e s tim a te s , and because i t was f e l t th a t prese n te d in F ig u re s 1 -A , 1 -B , and 1-C . As
in a c c u ra c ie s in e s tim a te would be can be seen, the e f f e c t o f the tra n s fo rm a ­
p ro p o rtio n a l to th e s iz e o f th e e s tim a te s , a tio n s is to b rin g the shape o f the d i s t r i b u ­
lo g a rith m ic tra n s fo rm a tio n was perform ed on tio n s ve ry c lo s e to normal c u rv e s , W hile
these th re e v a r ia b le s . W ithout a n o rm a lity is n ot a necessary c o n d itio n fo r
tra n s fo rm a tio n o f t h is s o r t , extrem e o u t li e r s d is c rim in a n t fu n c tio n a n a ly s is , i t is n ot an
would unduly in flu e n c e th e c o r r e la tio n u nd e sire d e f f e c t .
between trie p re d ic to r v a r ia b le s qrid the
c r it e r i o n . P r o p o r t io n a iity o f e r r o r w ith
size o f e s tim a te may be e x p la in e d by example.
I t was b e lie v e d th a t because th e number o f
v is u a l p e ic c p tu u i cues used to d is c e rn
d ista n ce g e n e ra lly in c re a s e as an o b je c t
draws c lo s e r , a d is ta n c e e s tim a te o f a near
o b je c t would have le s s e r r o r a tta c h e d to i t
then a d is ta n c e e s tim a te o f an o b je c t fu r th e r
away. A d is ta n c e e s tim a te o f 20 fe e t ( b .10
meters) may on trie average be o f I by p lu s or
minus 5 f e e t , b ut a d is ta n c e e s tim a te o f 200
fe e t (60.96 m e te rs) inay be o ff by as much as
5u fe e t on th e average.

By analogy the same would be tru e fo r

siz e e s tim a te s , arid indeed, a p o s itiv e
c o r r e la tio n dues e x is t between s iz e e s tim a te s
( r = .4 9 , p < . 001 ) in d ic a tin g th a t th e re may
w e ll be some re lia n c e upon s iz e to make
d is ta n c e e s tim a te s and v ic e v e rs a . Of co urse ,
d u ra tio n e s tim a te s may be bosed upon
o n -th e -s p o t w r is t watch tim e measurements, in
which case th e p r o p o r t io n a lit y o f e r r o r to
siz e o f e s tim a te argument would n u t h o ld .
t• 5 .0 4 . i - 1 .7 1

SIZE 76 VALUES
 Jotunon
126

was n ot in c lu d e d because o n ly o f the

FREQUENCY f,9“r* '*» PERCENT cases made re fe re n c e to w hether th e head­
li g h t s remained on o r n o t, and in some cases
the w itn e sse s were n ot sure w hether th e head­
li g h t s were a ls o a ffe c te d . Only a r e la t i v e l y
few cases happened d u rin g th e d a y lig h t hours
when the li g h t s would n o t be in use, b u t they
too would had to have been exclu d ed from the
a n a ly s is i f h e a d lig h t f a il u r e was c o nsid ere d .

The th re e tra n s fo rm e d , v a r ia b le s and the

trich o ta m o u s positi& S j^w £re .th e n in c lu d e d in a
d is c rim in a n t fu n c tio n a n a ly s is to determ ine
the p r e d i c t a b i lit y o f th e in t e n s it y o f the
ig n it io n in te rfe re n c e e f f e c t . The v a ria b le s
were e n te re d in a ste p w ise p ro c e d u re , using
re d u c tio n in U i l k 's lambda as th e s e le c tio n
c r it e r ia . *

FREQUENCY n *r» J-C PERCENT

T- 7.02. t •2.«
OISIANCE 78 VALUES

The 78 cases were c a te g o riz e d in to two

groups: group 1 c o n s is tin g o f those cases
where th e in te n s it y of the ig n it io n
in te r fe r e n c e e f f e c t was n ot s u f f i c ie n t to
b rin g th e m otor v e h ic le to a complete stop (N
= IS ) ; and group 2 c o n s is tin g o f t h o ^ cases
where th e v e h ic le was fo rc e d to a complete
s to p (N = 6 3 ). I t was found under re ­
exam ination o f th e b e t te r documented cases
th a t o fte n what i s c a re le s s ly re p o rte d in the
l i t e r a t u r e as an ig n it io n s t a l l was, under
c lo s e r e xa m in a tio n , re p o rte d by the w itn e sse s
as a com plete s to p , and n o t a s t a l l . That
is , the w itn e s s or w itn e sse s c o u ld d e te c t the
engine s t i l l o p e ra tin g , b ut so p o o rly th a t i t
c o u ld n o t power th e v e h ic le , Such testim ony
made a " s t a l l / n o s t a l l " c a te g o riz a tio n scheme I • I.SS, | • 2.51
h ig h ly su spe ct, sin ce th e in v e s tig a to r c o u ld OUtfHION 78 VALUE5
n o t c o n fid e n tly r e ly upon second-hand t e s t i ­
mony th a t the engine d id indeed a c tu a lly
s t a l l , arid nad to be r e s ta r te d , f o r t h is
reason, i t was f e l t th a t busin g th e dichotom y “ The computer program in c o rp o ra te d in the
on w hether th e v e h ic le came to a com plete 6 PSS s t a t i s t i c a l package DISCRIMINANT proce­
s to p would be more r e lia b le . dure was used to p e rfo rm th e d is c rim in a n t
fu n c tio n a n a ly s is , d ocum entation fo r which
f o r th e purposes o f t h is .a n a ly s is , o n ly may be found in N ie e t a l (1 9 7 5 ). The c lu s ­
the e f f e c t upon the v e h ic le 's ig n it io n system t e r a n a ly s is was perform ed u s in g th e program
was used as th e c r it e r i o n v a ria b le . P2KI in th e EMOP s e r ie s s t a t i s t i c a l package,
H e a d lig h t f a il u r e , w h ile a good ca n d id a te . d e s c rib e d in th e manual e d ite d b , Dixon i
Brown (1 9 7 9 ).
 froc- Of 19S1 CltfOS Conf. 127

In o rd e r to a s s is t in the in te r p r e ta tio n r a t io s between the w e ig hts fo r the th re e

of th e d is c r im in a n t fu n c tio n a n a ly s is fa c to r s c le a r ly show th a t d u ra tio n is about
r e s u lts , a h ie r a r c h ic a l c lu s te r a n a ly s is was tw ice as im p o rta n t as d is ta n c e , and about one
p e rfo rn e d on the ca ses, u sin g E u clide a n and a h a lf tim es as im p o rta n t as s iz e . S ize
d is ta n c e s between th e th re e (s ta n d a rd iz e d ) is in tu rn about one and a h a lf tim es as
lo g a rith m ic v a ria b le s to determ ine c lu s t e r ­ im p o rta n t as d is ta n c e .
in g . The fo rm u la fo r the d is ta n c e between
p o in ts i and j , denoted by is d e fin e d as In g eo m e tric re p re s e n ta tio n , the e q u a tio n
re p re s e n ts a pla n e s li c in g through th e th re e ­
d im e n sio na l space occupied by the r e p o r ts .
Any case re p re se n te d by a p o in t f a l l i n g on a
- aj )2 * (b> ‘ b/ 4 (c i ' cj ) plane would be th e o r e t ic a lly e q u iv a le n t to
any o th e r p o in t f a l l i n g on th a t p la n e , in
terms o f the in t e n s it y o f the in te rfe re n c e
response i t produces. The th re e c o e f f ic ie n t s
where (a^ - a j ) re p re se n ts s iz e d i f f e r ­ in the e q u a tio n having d e fin e d the
ences, (b j - bj ) re p re se n ts d is ta n c e o r ie n ta tio n o f a p la n e , the e x a c t p o s itio n o f
d iffe re n c e , and (C j - C j re p re s e n ts the the p la n e i s determ ined by the d is c rim in a n t
d u ra tio n d iffe re n c e between cases i and j . sco re , Y, d e riv e d from the X j v a lu e s .

The 70 cases used in th e a n a ly s is can' be A stacked frequency h isto g ra m o f th e d is ­

found li s t e d in th e ta b le s fo r the r e s u lts o f
the c lu s te r a n a ly s is . O iscussio n or e xe m p li­
f ic a t io n o f d e t a ils o f p a r t ic u la r cases w i l l
be lim ite d to the p re s e n ta tio n o f p a tte rn s
and o u t li e r s . For the in d iv id u a l d e t a ils o f
each ca se, the reader is re fe r r e d to Clark
R odeghier's ca ta lo g ue on ig n it io n in t e r f e r ­
ence cases (R od e g hier, 1901).
R esults
The th re e tra n sfo rm e d v a r ia b le s --d u ra -
t io n , s iz e , and d is ta n c e --w e re fourib to be
s ig n if ic a n t p r e d ic to r s of in t e n s it y o f
e f f e c t . The p o s itio n v a ria b le d id not achieve
the m inim al le v e l o f s ig n ific a n c e and so was
n o t in c lu d e d in fu r th e r a n a ly s is . D u ra tio n
had th e h ig h e s t c o r r e la tio n w ith in t e n s it y o f
e f f e c t and e nte re d the e q u a tio n f i r s t (F j g y what the p r io r p r o b a b iiit ie s o f membership
= 13.40, p=.0QU5), s iz e e n te re d the e q u a tion
second ( F^ 75 = 7 .1 0 , p=.Q0Q9), and d is ta n c e
entered t h ir d (F 3f74 = 5 .7 7 , p=.QCJ13). The
re s u ltin g d is c r im in a n t fu n c tio n w ith th re e
p r e d ic to r v a ria b le s had a ca n o n ic a l c o r r e la ­
tio n o f .4 4 , w hich is in the moderate range.
The e q u a tio n fo r tne lin e a r com bin atio n o f
p r e d ic to r v a r ia b le s m axim izing the r a t io o f
the between-groups scm o f squares to the
w ith in -g ro u p s sum o f square is
Y = .5 6 2 Xl - .4 0 3 X? ♦ .824 X3
where Xj re p re s e n ts the sta n d a rd ize d s iz e
e s tim a te , X 2 the sta n d a rd ize d d is ta n c e e s t i ­
mate, and X 3 th e sta n d a rd iz e d d u ra tio n e s t i ­
mate. In term s o f r e la t iv e im portance, the
c rim in a n t scores d e riv e d f o r b oth c r it e r i o n
groups is shown in F ig u re 2 . T h is frequency
h isto g ra m is produced by p r o je c tin g the
p o in ts in each pla n e onto a s e t o f lin e s in
tw o -dim e nsion a l space. The p o in ts in two-
d iin e n sio n ai space are in tu r n p ro je c te d onto
a lin e co n s tru c te d p e rp e n d ic u la r to the set
o f p a r a lle l lin e s (Cooley 4 Lohnes, 1971).
1 he average o f the d is c r im in a n t scores fo r
the f i r s t grou p , or the c e n tr o id fo r the
f i r s t g roup, was found to be equal to - .9 0 .
The c e n tr o id fo r th e second group was found
to be .2 3 . Thus we can see th e re is a c le a r
s e p a ra tio n between the means o f the two
groups, a lth o u g h th e re is u n fo r tu n a te ly s t i l l
a f a i r degree o f o v e rla p between the two
groups.
P ro v id in g th e computer w ith e s tim a te s o f
would be in the t o t a l p o p u la tio n o f cases
a llo w s the c a lc u la tio n o f c o n d itio n a l proba­
b i l i t i e s o f membership in the two groups. In
t h is case, the p r io r p r o b a b ili t ie s were set
a t .25 f o r the f i r s t group (no s to p ) and .75
f o r the second group (com plete s to p ) . The
c la s s if ic a t i o n r e s u lts are p ro v id e d in Table
1 . The d is c rim in a n t score c u tp o in t between
the two groups was found to be - 1 .2 5 , which
is a ls o shown in F ig u re 2 . UJe found th a t ? 6
o ut of 70 cases, or 66 %# were c o r r e c t ly c la s ­
s i f i e d in t o t h e ir a c tu a l groups.
We n e x t tu rn to th e r e s u its o f th e c lu s ­
te r a n a iy s is . In an a g g lo m e ra tiv e method o f
c lu s te r a n a ly s is such as used in t h is
 ro
rc

FR EQ U EN C Y

8 -

? -

6 -
5 -

4 -

3 -

2 -

1 -

F ig u r e 2 : S ta c k e d H is to g ra m o f D is c r im in a n t F u n c tio n S c o re s

3

froc. wt 1951 CUFOS Conf.
T a b le
C LA S S IF IC A T IO N RESULTS FOR IG N IT IO N
INTERFERENCE D ISC R IM IN AN T FUNCTION ANALYSIS
P r e d ic te d
G ro u p
A c t u a l G ro u p
G ro u p 1 (N o S to p )
53%
G ro u p 2 (C o m p le te S to p )
P e rc e n t o f B o th G ro u p s C o r r e c t l y
researcn, tne d ata are n o t merged in to c lu s ­
te rs in one s te p . R a the r, the procedure
begins w ith as many c lu s te r s as th e re are
cases and proceeds to jo in cases to g e th e r in
a stepw ise manner. Since a i l a gg lom e ra tive
H ie ra rc h ic a l tech n iq ue s u ltim a te ly reduce the
oata to a s in g le c lu s te r c o n ta in in g a i l the
e n t it ie s , the in v e s tig a to r needs to decide a t
which s te p in the a n a ly s is he o r she w ishes
to stop ( E v e r i t t , I9 d 0 ) . (here is n o 's a t is ­
fa c to ry r u le th a t can be u n iv e r s a lly a p p lie d ,
and s in c e c lu s te r a n a ly s is is b a s ic a lly a
d e s c r ip tiv e p ro ce d u re , the in v e s tig a to r can
fe e l j u s t i f i e d in s to p p in g when he o r she
fe e ls the c le a r e s t p ic tu r e has emerged.
The d e c is io n r u le a p p lie d on co n clu d in g
th a t th e re were seven c lu s te r s in t h is data
set was b a s ic a lly tw o fo ld ; to sto p when and
if th e re was a d e f in it iv e jump in the
d is ta n c e needed to b rid g e two c lu s te r s , and
to stop when in d iv id u a l re p o rts were no
longer o e in g merged to c lu s te r s b u t .ra tn e r
la rg e c lu s te r s began to be merged to g e th e r
in to an amorphous fo rm . A p p ly in g t h i s com­
bined r u le , i t was decided to sto p a t ste p
bb. This re s u lte d in seven c lu s te r s and th re e
unmerged r e p o r ts . In th e case o f two o f the
re p o rts , i t was apparent w hich c lu s te r s they
would e v e n tu a lly j o in . One re p o rt (U rogrande,
N.M.J was an extrem e o u t l i e r and represented
a c lu s te r u n to i t s e l f .
129
1
G ro u p M e m b e rs h ip No. o f
1 G ro u p 2 C ases
8 7 15
47% 100%
4 59 63
6% 94% 100%
C la s s ifie d — 86%
F ig u re 3 p ro vid e s a dendogram o f how the
rem aining c lu s te r s would have e v e n tu a lly
jo in e d . The diagram is u s e fu l in comparing
o v e r a ll s im i la r it y among c lu s te r s .
In examining the d a ta , i t becomes obvious
th a t C lu s te r 1 (Table 2-A ) is t y p if ie d by
v e ry sm a ll o b je c ts th a t appear fo r a b r ie f
d u ra tio n a t ve ry s h o rt d is ta n c e s . Due to the
n a tu re o f these c h a r a c t e r is tic s , i t appears
th a t a t le a s t some o f the members o f t h is
c lu s te r are good c a nd ida te s fo r b e in g the
r e s u lt o f a n a t u r a lly caused atm ospheric
phenomenon. We can fe e l c o n fid e n t th a t the
c lu s te r in g a lg o rith m is doin g i t s jo b by
n o tin g th a t i t has combined two cases th a t
o ccurred c h ro n o lo g ic a lly and g e o g ra p h ic a lly
c lo s e to each o th e r , the E v e r e tt, Wash.,
and Aberdeen, Wash., cases. The o b je c ts in
both cases were fe a tu r e le s s spheres o f l i g h t
about two fe e t ( 0.6 m eters) in d ia m e te r.
C lu s te r 2 (T a b le 2-B ) a ls o c o n s is ts o f
sm all o b je c ts , b ut in t h is c lu s te r the
o b je c ts are m oderately d is ta n c e d w ith the
encounter la s tin g fo r a medium d u r a tio n . The
o n ly case n o t r e s u ltin g in a com plete car
sto p (w in s te d . Conn.) may n o t be an o u t l i e r ,
fo r in t h is case the w itn e sse s had stopped
th e engine o f t h e ir c a r to li s t e n f o r sounds
from th e UFO, and the d r iv e r re p o rte d d i f f i ­
c u lt y r e s ta r tin g the c a r.
TABER. AB

F ig u r e 3 : D e n d ro g ra m o f How C lu s te r s W o u ld E v e n tu a lly M e rg e
Proc, of 1M1 CUfOS Conf. 131

T a b le 2 -A ; C lu s te r 1 R e p o r ts

L0G2 LOG 2 LOG 2 ACTUAL PREDICTED

LOCATION DATE S IZ E D IS T . DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP

N a k a t o c i s , MS e a r l y 1958 3 .9 1 1.00
3 .9 1 2 2 2
M i l l i n o c k e t , ME 0 5 -2 4 -6 4 1 .3 0 3 .0 0 2 .3 2 0 2 2
L a v o n ia , GA 0 6 -2 9 -6 4 3 .0 0 0.00
2 .3 2 2 1 2
V i c k s b u r g , MI 0 3 -3 1 -6 6 3 .6 0 0.00
3 .3 2 1 2 2
T i l s h e a d , GB 0 9 -2 4 -6 6 3 .7 0 0.00
4 .9 1 0 ' 2 2
* T a b e r , AB 09 - 67 3 .3 2 0.00 - 3 . 3 2 1 2 2
R i r i e , ID 1 1 -0 2 -6 7 3 .00 2 .3 2 0.00 2 2 2
F o r d i n g b r i d g e , GB 1 1 -1 1 -6 7 3 .9 1 5 .4 9 1.00 2 2 2
E v e r e t t , WN 1 2 -0 5 -7 0 1.00 3 .9 0 - 1.00 1 1 1
A b e rd e e n , WN 0 1 -0 3 -7 1 1.00 4 .8 1 - 0 . 3 2 1 2 1
A lg o d o n a le s , ES 0 6 -0 9 -7 2 2 .7 1 4 . 04 1.00 2 2 2
A l c a r a c e j o s , ES 0 7 -1 0 -7 2 2 .0 3 5 .4 9 -3 .3 2 0 1 1
X - 2 .7 9 3 .6 3 - 0.22
SD = 1 .0 9 1 .5 8 1.68
mean s i z e = 7 f e e t
mean d i s t a n c e = 12
fe e t
mean d e r a t i o n = 52 s e c o n d s

T a b le 2 -B : C lu s te r 2 R e p o r ts

LOC 2 LOG 2 LOG 2 ACTUAL PREDICTED

LOCATION DATE S IZ E D IS T . DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP

B a n n e r E l k , NC 0 4 -0 8 -6 7 2.00 7 .4 9 2 .3 2 0 2 2
W in s t e d , CT 02 21-68
- 3 .6 0 7 .2 3 3 .9 1 0 1 2
C a z a l l a , ES 0 4 -2 2 -7 3 1 .7 1 6 .6 2 1.00 0 2 2
S o u s a s , BR 0 6 -0 7 -7 3 3 .5 8 7 .3 6 3 .3 2 2 2 2
H o m b r e ir o , ES 0 3 -3 0 -7 4 3 .7 1 7 .4 1 1 .5 9 0 2 2
X = 2 .9 2 7 .2 3 2 .4 3

SD = .9 8 .3 2 1 .1 9
mean s i z e = 8 fe e t '
mean d i s t a n c e - 150 f e e t
mean d u r a t i o n * 5 .4 m in u te s
 De cemb e r 5, 19 70 o
< ----------------8 f t ------------------ EVERETT, WN

CLUSTER 1

July 10, 1972

June 2 9, 1 9 6 4

A L C A R A. CE J OS , ES
lavonia , ga

CLUSTER 1
CLUSTER 1

Strange Effects from Ufos, p.5 Jr

Johnson Ballester Olmos ?
ROA.D ( l£ fe e t w'-Ae)

Ma r c h 31, 1966

VI CKSBURG, Ml
CLUSTER 1
134
JohAMM

t f t ------------------------------- >

N ovem ber 2, 1 9 6 7

R IR IE . ID
C LU S T E R 1

-- 0s: A J je w Lo o t| p . 32
 o Q O O

< --- 3 0 v t ------ 9 -

Apr i I 22 f 19 73

C A Z A L L A DE LA SI ERRA. ES

CLUSTER 2

Ballester Olmos
 M arch 3 0 . 1 9 7 4

HOMBRE1RO. ES
C LU S T E R 2

Ballester Olmos
 Johoujn
136

C lu s te r 3 (Table 2-C) is s im ila r to C lu s­ ence between c lu s te r s fo r the ig n it io n

te r 1 in th a t th e encounters are o f ve ry in te rfe re n c e e f f e c t = 2 0 .&2, p<.0Q S),
p r im a r ily because o f C lu s te rs 3 and 1. This
b r ie f c ijr a tio n , averaging 11 seconds. UJe are
s t i l l d e a lin g w ith ra th e r sm a ll o b je c ts * fin d in g r e in fo rc e s the r e s u lts o f th e d i s c r i ­
a lth o u g h these o b je c ts are about tw ic e the minant a n a ly s is .
diam eter as those in C lu s te rs 1 and The 2.
major d iffe re n c e from C lu s te r 1 i s d is ta n c e : I f any g ro i^j re p re s e n ts th e ty p ic a l i g n i­
C lu s te r 3 o b je c ts a re ntoderately fa r away. tio n in te rfe re n c e UFO r e p o r t d e s c rib e d in
This c lu s te r can a ls o be presumed to c o n ta in both the fa c tu a l and f i c t i o n a l l i t e r a t u r e , i t
some cases o f m is id e n tifie d atm ospheric phe­ i s C lu s te r 4 (T a b le 2 -D ). C lu s te r 4 a ls o
nomena, a lth o u g h th e d e s c rip tio n o f the co n ta in s the most members (N=2B). The
maneuvers and p h y s ic a l appearance p reclu de s o b je c ts re p o rte d tend to be ve ry homogenous
t h is p o s s i b ili t y fo r some o f tlie re p o rts . in s iz e , averaging 45 fe e t (1 3 .7 m e te rs ) in
d ia m e te r. In terms o f shape, h a lf o f the
C lu s te r 3 i s o f m ajor in te r e s t because i t re p o rts are of th e c la s s ic dom ed-disk
co n ta in s the m a jo rity o f cases w ith in ca n - v a r ie t y . The o b je c ts a re re p o rte d a t an
p ie te ig n it io n in t e r r u p t io n . In f a c t , C lu s­ average d is ta n c e (a p p ro x im a te ly 200
fe e t, or
te r s 1 and 3 are the o n ly c lu s te r s where 60 m e te rs ), and the e v e n t la s t s fo r an
incom plete ig n it io n in te r r u p tio n s are p re ­ average o f two and o n e -h a lf m in u te s . E ig h ty -
d ic te d . As the co ntin g en cy ta b le a n a ly s is in s ix p e rce n t o f tne cases r e s u l t in th e motor
Table 3 shows, th e re is a s ig n if ic a n t d i f f e r ­ v e h ic le coming to a com plete s to p .

' T a b le 3

V e h ic le In te r fe re n c e E ffe c t by C lu s te r

CLUS TER
1 2 3 4 S fil 7

NO
CAR STOP 3 1 6 4 0 0 1 15

CAR STOP 9 4 2 24 10 8 S 62

12 5 • 8 28 10 8 6 77

P e a r s o n 's C h 1-s q u a re ■ 2 0 ,8 2 P < .0 0 5

d e g re e s o f fre e d o m » 6
Proc. of 1981 CUFOS Conf. 137

T a b le 2 -C ; C lu s te r 3 R e p o rt s
LOG 2 LOG 2 LOG 2 ACTUAL PREDICTED
LOCATION DATE S IZ E D IS T . DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP
M a u b e u g e , RF 11 - - 54 3 .3 0 8 .3 6 -2 .3 2 0 1 1
A b il e n e , KS 0 9 -0 4 -6 5 4 .0 4 6 .6 2 -1 .7 4 2 1 1
C y r u s , MN 1 1 -1 6 -6 5 3 . 32 1 0 .3 7 -1 .7 4 0 1 1
T u l l y , QD 0 1 -1 9 -6 6 4 .6 4 6 .2 3 -3 .3 2 0 1 1
F i g u e r a s , ES 10 — 66 5 .6 2 6 .6 2 - 3 .3 2 0 2 1
I t a j u b a , BR 0 6 -0 7 -6 7 4 .04 6 .3 6 - 3 .3 2 0 2 1
N o rm a n d y , RF 0 3 -1 8 -7 2 4 .0 4 9 .3 6 -0 .5 1 0 1■ 1
H o b a r t , TA 0 8 -0 5 -7 5 6 .3 2 8 .8 1 -3 .3 2 0 1- 1
X =* 4 .4 2 7 .8 5 - 2 .4 5
SD = 1 .0 7 1 .5 8 1 .0 6
mean s iz e - 21 fe e t
mean d is t a n c e = 230 f e e t
mean d u r a t i o n = 11 seconds

T a b le 2 -D : C lu s te r 4 R e p o r ts
LOG LOG LOG ACTUAL PREDUCTED
LOCATION DATE S IZ E D IS T . DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP
C a s p e r , WY 1 0 -3 0 -5 7 6.00 7 .9 7 1.00
- 2 2 2
L e v e l la n d , TX 1 1 -0 3 -5 7 7 .6 4 7 .6 4 1.00 2 2 2
L o c h R a v e n , MD 1 0 -2 6 -5 8 6 .6 4 6 .3 2 0.00 2 2 2
V a d d o , SV 1 1 -1 6 -5 8 5 .6 7 7 .4 9 2.00 0 2 2
A s to n C l i n t o n , GB 0 2 -0 9 -6 2 5 .3 2 5 .9 1 - 1.00 2 1 2
S a l t a , RA 11 - - 62 6 .0 4 10.68 1.00 1 2 2
La R i o j a , RA 0 5 -1 0 -6 4 5 .6 2 6 .0 5 1.00 0 2 2
S t a u n t o n , VA 1 2 -2 1 -6 4 6 .9 7 7 .6 4 1.00 2 2 2
S u d b u r y , ma 0 9 -1 5 -6 5 5 .0 0 7 .6 4 1.00 1 1 2
L o n g P r i a r i e , MN 1 0 -2 3 -6 5 5 .1 3 4 .3 2 1 .5 9 2 2 2
M o n ta u k , NY 0 3 -3 0 -6 6 5 .9 7 9 .4 5 2 .3 2 0 2 2
S p l i t R o c k , NJ 1 0 -1 5 -6 6 4 . 78 5 .9 1 0.00 1 2 2
T a y l o r v i l l e , IN 1 1 -3 0 -6 6 4 . 64 9 .5 5 2.00 0 1 2
M e th u e n , MA 0 1 -2 0 -6 7 5 .3 2 7 .6 4 2 .3 2 0 2 2
L e o m in s t e r , MA 0 3 -0 8 -6 7 5 .4 1 9 .2 3 2.00 0 2 2
J o n e s to w n , PA 0 4 -0 5 -6 7 4 .9 1 4 .9 1 1.00 2 2 2
H ig h R i v e r , AB 1 0 -1 1 -6 7 5 .0 0 9 .9 7 2.00 1 2 2
B o yu p B r o o k , AU 1 0 -3 1 -6 7 5 .0 0 6 .6 4 2 .3 2 2 2 2
L ake E l s i n o r e , CA 1 1 -0 8 -6 7 4 .9 1 7 .3 2 2.00 2 2 2
I t h a c a , NY 1 2 -1 2 -6 7 5 .9 1 7 .4 9 2 .8 1 0 2 2
S y r a c u s e , NY 0 3 -0 3 -6 8 6.02 7 .6 4 1 .5 8 1 1 2
La P a s t o r a , RA 0 7 -2 5 -6 8 5 .0 0 6 .8 4 2 .3 2 2 2 2
P l a t t v i l l e , IL 0 1 -2 5 -6 9 5 .0 0 1 0 .3 7 1.00 1 2 2
D o c k in g , GB 0 6 -1 9 ^ 6 9 6.00 1 0 .3 7 0 .5 8 0 2 2
H a d e r s le v , DK 0 8 -1 3 -7 0 5 .0 4 6 .0 4 2 .3 2 1 2 2
I b s t o c k , GB 0 5 -2 5 -7 1 5 .4 9 6 .4 9 1.00 0 2 2
K a d in a , SA 0 8 -0 8 -7 1 4 .9 1 7 .2 3 1 .5 8 1 2 2
H o b a r t A r p t . , TA 07 - - 75 4 .0 4 9 .6 9 1.00 2 2 2
X = 5 .4 8 7 .6 6 1 .3 1
* SD - .7 6 1 .7 0 .9 7
mean s i z e * 45 f e e t
mean d is t a n c e » 202
fe e t
mean d u r a t i o n = 2
.,5 m in u te s _
138 JoteMWl

June 7, 1 967

ITAJUBA, BR

CLUSTER 3 „

FSR 14 (6 ), p. 10
 Proc. of 1981 CUfOS Conf.
Septem ber 15. 1965
2610 ft
«<--- 40 f t ------ V"
SUDBURY, MA

CLUSTER < O ctober 15. 1966

February 9. 1962 SPLIT ROCK. NJ

C LU S TER <

ASTON CLINTON. GB
I

CLUSTER 4
Fowler, UFOs, Interplanetary Visitors, p. 204

Olsen, Keference Outstanding UFO Reports, p. 379 Medical Times, 96 (10), p. 970
 March 8, 1 9 6 7

LEOMINSTER. MA

CLUSTER 4

Fowler, p. 206
 o

0 o

January 20. 1967

METHUEN. MA

CLUSTER 4

Fowler, p. 1A4
frOC. Of 1961 CuFOS Conf. 14

GO : - i -----------------------------------------------> -

Dec ember 12, 1967

ITHACA. NY

CLUSTER A

Science 1 Mechanics, July 1968 p. 30

J a n u a ry 2 5 . 1 9 6 9

PLATTVI LLE. IL

CLD5TTW4

M erritt
 (5 nO

Ju ly 1 9 7 5

HOBART AIRPORT, TA

CLUSTER 4

CUFOS - ACOS
!
i
 T a b le 4
froc. of 1961 CUfOS Conf.
Occupant Reports by
CLUSTER
1 2 3 4
NO
OCCUPANTS 11 S 6
OCCUPANTS 1 0 2 1
12 S 8
Pe a rso n ’ s C h1-square
D e g re e s o f fre e d o m *
The objects in Cluster 5 (Table 2-E)
appear sim ilar to the Cluster 4 objects in
size and shape. Cluster 5 objects average 53
feet in diameter and 60i of the objects are
described as disk-shaped. What sets Cluster
5 apart from Cluster 4 is that the behavior
of the objects is very differen t. Cluster 5
is typified by objects that keep their dis­
tance from the witnesses. The UFO in th is
scenario maintains a distance of a t least 400
to 500 feet (the average distance is 516
feet, or 15? meters), and i t stays theie for
a relatively long period of time. As a con­
sequence, the witnesses are immobilized for a
relatively long period of time as well,
averaging a 29-minute wait. One report
described what appeared to be an object
undergoing repair work (Boulder, C olo.). The
witness watched as a m etallic-looking paneL
was pulled inside the c raft and replaced by
anotner. No surprisingly, perhaps, given the
long Duration associated with these reports,
a ll resulted in complete car stoppages.
In contrast to the standoffish nature of
Cluster 5 reports. Cluster 6 (Table 2-F)
encounters occur uncomfortably close, with an
average distance of only 20 feet (6 m eters).
Once again we have objects sim ilar in size to
Clusters 4 and 5, averaging 40 feet (12
meters) in diameter. A 40-foot diameter
ooject 20 feet away would f i l l diost of the
observer's visual fie ld . Cluster 6 is excep­
tional in other respects as well.
Sixty-three percent of the witnesses reported
seeing occupants associated with the UFO, 5ut
reported some attempt at contact on the part
of those occupants, and SOt of the cases
143
C lu s te r
S 6 7
27 8 3 5 65
2 S 1 12
28 10 8 6 77
« 1 8 .5 5 , p » .0 0 5
6
resulted in physiological effec ts. Three of
the reports include abduction. This is
clearly a grouping of high "strangeness"
close encounter reports. All of the cases
result in s ta lls , and the encounters last
from seueral minutes to four hours.
Table 4 illu s tra te s another significant
finding with respect to the c lu sters, dealing
with the occurrence of occupant re p o rts.♦ I t
is clear from examining the table that i t is
uncommon to encounter occupants associated
with the sm ailer-sized objects of Clusters 1,
2, and 3, and more common to find them asso­
ciated with the larger objects, but
especially with Cluster 6. The Chi-square
value associated with the table is 10.5S{
with 6 degrees of freedom, I t is significant
at p=.0Q5. In terms of association, Cramer's
V was found to equal .49 (Nie et a l, 1975).
* A few eyebrows may be raised at the use of
Pearson's Chi-square te st with cell frequen­
cies as low as those reported in Tables 3 and
4. Many of us have been taught that a ll
expected values in a contingency table should
be greater than 5 for the Chi-square te st to
be valid. However, E veritt (1977) cites
numerous sources that show that a number of
the expected values in a table may be as low
as 1 without greatly affecting the validity
of the te s t. Even this ruie is considered
conservative by many authors and in the
majority of cases, the Chi-square criterio n
may be used for tables so long as the
expected value is in excess of 0.5 in the
sm allest c e ll.
144 Joftnwn

Table 2-E : C lu s te r 5 R epo rts

LOG2 LOC2 LOG2 ACTUAL PREDICTED
LOCATION DATE SIZE DIST. DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP
S erdon, RF 09 - - 56 6.00 9.36 6.49 1 2 2
Tonopah, NV 11-23-57 5.64 10.04 4 . 32 0 2 2
C o nceicao, BR 02-24-58 6.00 7.97 6.49 1 2 2
B o ulder, CO 08-11-60 6.64 9.34 3.91 0 2 2
Hook, GB 10-26-67 5.91 8.23 4.32 2 2 2
La A talay a , RA 07-29-60 6.00 9.68 5.49 2 2 2
C a le ta Buena, RC 09-24-71 6.04 8.92 4.32 0 2 2
P e ta l, MS 10-07-73 5.00 8.23 4.64 1 2 2
W arneton, BE 01-07-74 4 . 80 8.94 4.32 0 2 2
V a ld e h ija d ro s , ES 03-21-74 5.30 9.36 4 . 32 2 2 2
X = 5.74 9.01 4 . 86
SD = . 56 .68 . 95
mean s iz e = 53 fe e t
mean d is ta n c e * 516 fe e t
mean d u ra tio n = 29 m inutes
T able 2-F : C lu s te r 6 R eports
LOC2 LOG2 LOG2 ACTUAL PREDICTED
LOCATION DATE SIZE DIST. DURA. POS . GROUP GROUP
P ajas B lanca, BR 01-05-57 5.91 5.64 4.32 2 2 2
C e c il NAS. FL 08-22-57 5.62 3.32 5.32 2 2 2
'Sao F ra n c isc o , BR 10-16-57 5. 13 5.64 7.91 2 2 2
K earney, NE 11-05-57 6.64 5.91 4.91 2 2 2
S a lto , UR 08-15-65 4 .32 3.52 4 . 32 2 2 2
A shland, NE 12-03-67 4.70 5.32 4 .32 2 2 2
A tla n ta , MO 03-04-69 6.64 2 .59 3.00 2 2 2
Nuez, ES 08-23-71 3.71 2.71 3.32 0 2 2
~~X = 5.33 4.33 4.67
SD = 1.06 1.42 1.51
mean s iz e 3 40 fe e t
mean d is ta n c e 20 fe e t
mean d u ra tio n = 25 m inutes
T able 2 -G: C lu s te r 7 R epo rts
LOG2 LOG2 LOG2 ACTUAL PREDICTED
LOCATION DATE SIZE DIST. DURA. POS. GROUP GROUP
M elbourne, VC 01-03-55 9.00 7.04 1.00 2 2 2
C eres, BR 10-10-57 8.71 6.91 2.32 2 2 2
L ev e lla n d , TX 11-03-57 7.64 10.37 0.00 2 2 2
Elmwood P ark, IL 11-04-57 7.64 7.36 3.32 2 1 2
V i lla r e a l, ES 11-02-68 8.23 10.68 1.58 0 2 2
Kenyon, RI 12-17-77 8.00 9.4 5 3.32 0 2 2
X = 8.20 8.77 1.92
SD = .56 1.61 1.32
mean s iz e » 294 fe e t
mean d is ta n c e = 437 fe e t
mean d u ra tio n = 3.0■ m inutes
Does Not C lu s te r
O ro rg ra n d e , NM 11-04-57 8.97 13.29 -3 .3 2 2 2 1
 50 ft

November 23, 1957

TONOPAH, NV

CLUSTER 5

Hynek UFO R e p o rt, p. 185

 proc. of 1981 CUfOS Conf.
28 ft-

Jja n u a r y 7. 1 974

WARNETON. BE

CL'JSTtB 5

M a r c h 2 1 . 1 9 7 4

V A L D E H I J A D E R O S , ES
F S R .2 0 (5 ), p .6

CLUSTER 5

B alTe s te r O lm os, C atalogu e, p. 64

145.
A u g u s t 23. 1 9 7 1

N U E Z . E S

CLUSTER 6

B a lle s te r Olm os ?
 < - 35 ft >

October 16, 1957

SAO FRANCISCO DE SALES. BR

CLUSTER 6

Bowen, Humanoids. 2nd Ed., p. 232

c r _ j >

■<----------- 2 0 0 f t ------ > *

N o v e m b e r 3, 1957

LEVE LLAND, TX

i- t.i : st E3 1

CUFOS B u lle tin , S prin g 1981, p .9

 3 0 0 ft ■*-

N ovem ber 2 # 196 8

VILLAREAL DEL EBRO, ES

CLUSTER 7

B a lle s te r Olm o s, C atalogu e, p.

 148
The last remaining clu ster. Cluster 7,
can be characterired most easily by size. It
consists of very large objects, averaging
around 300 feet (90 meters) in length. They
are also typically at an appreciable
distance, averaging 436 feet or 132 meters.
They are usually sile n t and are not
associated with landings with physical
traces. The encounters last for an average
period of time (3.8 minutes).
The differences between the clusters can
be shown graphically by a plot of the size
and duration values (Figure 4 ). The values
plotted are the unstandardized log values, so
the clu sters may be sligh tly disto rted from
how they would have appeared in the computer,
but the general picture is the same. The
iine plotted across the lower le ft portion of
the graph is the demarcation line between
complete and incomplete ignition interference
effects, as predicted by the discrim inant
analysis, for a maximum distance of 2 ^ feet.
Any report to the upper right of the line
should result in a complete car stoppage. Any
case fallin g below and to the le ft of the
line should have experienced incomplete igni­
tion interference, depending on how close t,he
UFO was to the car.
The only case that defies cla ssifica tio n
is the Orogrande, N.N., report which occurred
on November 4, 1957. The object is reported
at such an extrene distance and appears for
such a b rief duration that i t is d iffic u lt to
find any support for the claim of an ignition
failu re related to the appearance of a UFO.
The fact that the case is an extreme ou tlier
in both the discrim inant analysis and the
cluster analysis should cast doubt on the
accuracy of the testimony. Perhaps a ll the
resulting publicity from the famous Level-
land, Tex., reports, which occurred only the
□ ay before, influenced the eyewitness te s ti­
mony of the observer.
Differences between the clu sters were
looked for on the Oasis of position of the
ufO, whether or not the object was
disk-shaped, the presence or absence of light
beams, landings, noise, and physiological
e ffec ts, in addition to the ignition in te r­
ference effect and the presence of occu­
pants. Because of the a posteriori nature of
these te sts, tne criterio n level for the
significance te sts was set conservatively at
JOh/UQfl
alpha equals .01 to avoid capitalizing on
chance association. At th is c riterio n level,
none of the other te sts achieved s ig n ifi­
cance. However, two were marginal and they
are reported here for the benefit of those
interested in future research. The
Chi-square test for position of UFO by clus­
ter achieved a significance level of p.=0.45
(XZ6 = 12.86), and the te st for the presence
or aDsence of reported landings achieved a
significance level of p=.Q2& (x^g - 14.15).
Discussion
The f ir s t thing that should be said about
the discrim inant function analysis resu lts is
that while the predictive a b ility appears
impressive on fir s t glance, i ts importance is
diminished by a weakness in the data. Apart
from the fact that i t re lie s upon estimates
of size, distance, and duration to make its
prediction (which is always a risky proposi­
tion ), a problem lie s in the unbalanced size
of the two groups. There are many more com­
plete car stoppage reports than incomplete
car stoppage reports. If we knew nothing
about size, distance, and duration, but
simply predicted that a ll encounters would
result in complete car stoppages, we would be
right 63 out of 78 times, or 81 %of the time.
Therefore, our prediction rate of 66% from
the discrim inant function analysis might be
said to represent only a 5X improvement over
adopting a simple decision rule based on
observing which intensity of effect is most
lik ely .
On the other hand, i t does represent an
improvement, which is always a step in the
right direction. One cannot expect to have
no noise in the system and a perfect
prediction should not be expected. The very
high significance level for the predictor
variables indicates that something important
is going on.
This baseline rate problem could best be
remedied by including in future analysis
reports involving UFOs with witnesses in
autCMnobiles where no ignition interference is
noted. These reports could either be
included with Group 1 or le ft to form a
separate group for a three-group discriminant
function problem. The only problem with this
solution is that it assumes that "no-Ffl"
cases are sim ilar to "EH" cases. I t assumes
 Proc. o f 1981 CUfOS Conf.
mm ^ 2 rl'2 _ 1 1 '* * Li ___ 7f «'«i" rr
 150
triat they are identical phenomena arid that
the mechanism involved in producing the
interference effect was the result of some
kind of propulsion system necessary for the
operation of the UFO (aid if UFOs are
machines), then such a solution to the
analysis problem would work well. However,
if the interference effect is transitory in
nature or only applied selectively , then the
addition of reports of another variety would
only confuse m atters.
The second point to be made is that by
demonstrating a connection between our three
physical parameters and intensity of ignition
interference, we rave by no means proved that
a physical basis for the connection ex ists.
There are other possible explanations for the
connection.
One po ssib ility is that the operator of
the motor vehicle is responsible far the
vehicle malfunction, due to his or her
enutionai sta te at the time of the UFO
sighting. It could be argued that proximity
to the UFO would be related to degree of
panic. As a general rule, big things
occurring in nature get more respect and
notice than small things, so size could play
a role in the w itness's reaction. Duration
would oe related to how much time passes
before the thing leaves. If it departs
within a short while (less than 30 seconds),
then the driver may have time to recover fran
his or her momentary distractio n and attend
to trie proper operation of the vehicle.
This explanation may work fine for some
of the cases, Out i t has d ifficu lty
explaining those incidents where the
witnesses were not able to re sta rt th eir cars
during the long (greater than 30 minutes)
encounters, and yet had no trouble stq rtin y
as soon as the UFO le ft.
Johnion
One theory inconsistent u ith these
re su lts is attrib u tio n of the ignition
failure to mundane natural causes. I t is
d iffic u lt to see how damp weather (Sharp,
1977), sand, dust, or vapor lock (Wenzel &
Boyd, 1963), or any of the other various
natural causes for automobile failu re could
lead to anything but a random relationship
between size, distance, and duration, and the
intensity of the ignition interference
response. .
The fact that position of OFO did not
prove to be a sig nifican t predictor when
considered in conjunction with the other
variables is in terestin g . Apparently the
correlation between position and severity of
effect found e a rlie r (Johnson, 19B3) was an
a rtifa c t of the v a ria b le's correlation uitn
distance (r=~.24, p -.0 l7 ), and size (r=.22,
p=.U2ti). On the other hand, the resu lts of
the ciuster analysis seem to indicate a con­
tinued role for the position variable. The
fact that none of the C luster 3 reports
occurred with the UFO on the road in front of
the vehicle, but a ll but one of the Cluster 6
reports did, suggests that position may be an
indication of in te n tio n ality .
In the final analysis, we are le ft with
resu lts that are in accord with and lend
credence to a theory lin in g the OfO and the
interference effect by a physical mechanism
such as WcCampbeii 1s high frequency electro­
magnetic energy hypotheses. Obviously, one
thing that would greatly enhance the accepta­
b ility of such a hypothesis is to have the
effect demonstrated in the laboratory. The
direction of research funding to that area is
therefore highly recommended.
'roc. o( I%1 CtfOS Conf. 151

DISCUSSION
?? What about object s i 2e as a factor in these effects? ;
R. Well, size was the second-most important variable; duration was the f ir s t and most
important. If the duration of the event was very brief, the effect would not be
that strong. It depends on what you want to look at. Size and distance are corre­
lated positively, so smaller objects are seen closer and bigger objects are seen
farther away. However, that may be a perceptual phenomenon and we can't isolate the
confounding between the reliance that a witness makes on apparent size with his
distance estim ate and vice versa­
?? But is there no correlation at a ll with size of object and effects?
J. OK, I have some correlations here of size with certain q u alitativ e variables.
I agree that it correlates with physiological effects and has a slig h t correlation
with noise, but i t 's not a good correlation. The noisy objects are the middle­
sized objects. The big ones are S ilent; the l i t t l e ones don't make very much
noise. Distance is correlated with noise, so th a t's kind of nice--you'd expect
things farther away not to be noisy. But physiological effect is not correlated
with distance. I t 's not. Now the problem is in how we measure physiological
e ffect, and we haven't really looked at the intensity of the effect as a variable.
We have ju st been saying presence or absence.
?? How many cases did you look at?
J. Seventy-eight.
?? How many of these have physiological effects?
J. Twenty-seven.
?? How good are the cases?
J. Well, as to completeness of data, these are the best. Now in terms of the re lia ­
b ility of the witness, I didn’t particularly use that as a criterio n unless it was
to rule out a hoax. One case 1 used was Kearney, Nebraska, which a lot of people
condemned because the witness later said that he was in contact with an extra­
te rre s tria l.
?? What were your c rite ria for cases?
J. OK, the c riterio n for inclusion was completeness of data, not whether I thought
they were good cases from a subjective viewpoint.
?? I find it intriguing that you found a relationship between the intensity of the
vehicle effect and the duration of the event, since in most cases the car stalled
early in the event. Any comment?
J. I think the cutpoinl is around th irty seconds; anything beyond that is sort of
ov erk ill. So the duration variable you're talking about is brief or very b rief.
 Johnson
152

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Plenzel, Donald H. 4 Boyd, L.G. The World of Flying Saucers.
New York: Doubleday, 1963, 172-197.
Nie, Norman H,, Hull, C.H., Jenkins, J.G ., Steinbrenner, K., 4
dient, D.H. SPSS: S ta tistic a l Package for the Social Sciences.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
Rodeghier, Plark R. UFO Reports Involving Vehicle Interference: A
Catalogue and Data Analysis. Evanston, 111.: CuFOS, 1981.
Sharp, Alan. More Ghosts in the Plachine: Examining the S ta tis tic s ,
PiUFOB, 1977, new series 5-7.
Tatsuuka, Plaurice PI. M ultivariate Analysis: Technigues for
Educational and Psychological Research. New York:. Wiley and Sons, 1971.

Pro£. of 1931 ClifOS Ccnf.
A SUMMARY OF VEHICLE INTERFERENCE REPORTS
AND A DESCRIPTION OF A POSSIBLE
NATURAL PHENOMENON CAUSING SOME EVENTS
MARK RODEGHIER
For over five years I have been gathering,
sorting, and recording UFO cases involving
vehicle interference. The catalogue that has
been compiled as a result of th is work
contains 441 en tries. I have chosen to
include a il types of vehicle interference
cases in the catalogue, including those with
only radio or headlight interference. I did
rot feel confident in not including the non­
engine interference cases, because there is
no reason to believe that th eir generating
mechanism is in trin sic a lly differen t from
engine interference cases. Lie don't know how
the "Ef»l" (Electromagnetic) interference
operates, so it becomes rather arbitrary to
exclude certain cases. Of course, I
necessarily lim ited myself to only reports
involving interference with vehicle? on the
land to keep some standardization over the
data.
Any differences that may ex ist between my
results and those of BuFOflA or Donald Johnson
might be explained by the type of event we
have chosen, to study. Thus," our resu lts may
not oe d irectly comparable, but complemen­
tary.
153
Of in te re st to the reader would be the
actual number of cases with differen t
components of the vehicles affected. The
resu lts:
Engine and e le ctric al system 2QB
Engine only 71
Radio only 69
Power reduced to engine 33
Headlights only 27
Radio and lights 14
There are even 20 to 25 cases where the
engine of the vehicle, a fte r i t had ceased
operating, started by its e lf without a ssis­
tance from the driver. I am quite satisfie d
that such cases do e x ist, despite th eir prob­
lematical nature.
Approximately one-half of the events--or
217 cases—occurred in the United States, a
figure which compares closely to other spe­
cialized catalogues such as Ted P h illip 's
Physical Trace Catalogue. Me w ill find that
many other ch aracteristics of vehicle in te r­
ference events match those reported from pre­
vious studies. For example, Figure 1

154
FIGURE 1. LOCATION OF UFO EVENT
displays the general location of the witness
to an Em event. Thie four categories are de­
fined in the same manner as the U.S. govern­
ment does in its census work. Note that
of a il cases occurred in low-density popula­
tion areas. This number, too, is typical of
a il UfU events. Yet, as we are a ll aware,
there are far more cars in urban areas than
rural. So perhaps th is result for Em events
should be considered surprising; at the
least, i t w ill demand some reasonable expla­
nation in the future.
About 50/G of a ll Em events were reported
by only a single witness. This result also
jibes with previous studies--but there may be
more to be gleaned from i t than that. The
United States Department of Transportation
reports that one-occupant trip s constitute
50.2% of the to tal trip s taken in passenger
vehicles in the U.S., or to put i t another
way, half the cars on the road have only one
person inside. Trie fact that the UFO witness
data coincide with government highway figures
ray then be tellin g us very l it tl e about UFOs
but simply confirming the government s ta tis ­
tic s . Or, more usefully, i t probably means
that witnesses to EP1 events are not
"selected" because tney are alone; in fact,
taxgfcttr
i t would have been surprising only if these
two percentages did not coincide. The Ques­
tion that comes to mind is why other types of
UFO cases have the bDt single witness, 50l
m ultiple witness d istrib u tio n .
F igure 2 represents the reported or
measured distance to the UFO from the
vehicle. As is obvious, there are more
instances of the UFO approaching within 0 to
50 feet (39 events) than that of any other
distance in terv al. Fully 35J of a ll reports
placed the UFO within 100 feet of the
vehicle. Notice how the variation of reports
with distance appears to follow some type of
exponential curve.
LJeather conditions during an event may be
important i f some or a ll UFO events have a
natural explanation. Only 109 events in this
catalogue included weather d e ta ils. Of
these, only seven cases occurred
while precipitation was fa llin g ; 5 with rain
and 2 with snow. There were no, repeat, no
events during thunderstorms, making ball
lightning an infeasib le explanation for any
event. F ifty -fiv e percent of the cases
occurred in clear weather, though, affording
the witnesses good v is ib ility when viewing
the phenomenon.
FIGURE 2. REPORlFD DISTANCE TO UFO
ft
§

DISTANCE IN FEET

vn
 cn
CM

S IZ E IN FEE T
FIG URE 3 . REPORTED S IZ E OF UFO
Proc. of 1M1 CWOS Conf.
In Figure 3 we can see the reported size
of the urOs, in 10-foot in tern als. In accord
with studies by Uailee, Poher, and P h illip s,
among others, a defin ite peak in the 10 to
30-foot size range is reported. On the other
hand, 9? of the reports estim ate the size a t
over 200 feet, and one cannot believe a il
these estim ates were greatly in e rro r. This
tremendous size range is ju st one more
puzzle in the UFO ptienomenon. One explanation
is that there are separate and d istin c t
causes for various . types of EM events. We
shail investigate that question shortly.
There were 90 separate events which
involved some type of physiological effect on
tne witnesses, or 22.Si of a il cases. These
effects included such things as 29 cases of
increased heat, 15 cases of s ta tic in the air
or an odd tingling sensation of the skin, and
14 cases of unusual odors. However, no one
effect occurs so often that i t could be
labeled a typical event c h aracteristic. One
possible inference from th is fact is that
eacn witness reacts in a unique manner to the
energy released by the phenomenon. Another
iv that the phenomenon is not uniform, but,
as mentioned above, is actually composed of
and caused by several differen t mechanisms,
each with its particular energy distribu tion
and consequent effect on the witness. A
tnira is that the phenomenon must be within a
certain c ritic a l distance for any part icular
effect tu occur, and thus tl^e warred
distances of the cases contribute to the
variety of effects.
At close range, witnesses report that UFOs
are rather noisy beasts; about 20? of the re­
ports included sane sound emitted by the UFO.
There is good reason to believe th at, as with
physiological effect cases, in muny instances
sound was nut heard only because the UFO was
too d istan t. There is no one sound, though,
that can be characterized as a common
feature, except perhaps a ’’humming" noise
like generators in a power plant, a sound
which was reported in 8? of a il vehicle
interference events.
In Figure 4 we can briefly review the
s ta tis tic s for the yearly d istrib u tio n of El*l
events. I t is clear that th is distribu tion
is nut random. Tlie number of events in the
1966-79 period is greater than the number tor
the 1954-66 period by over 40?. This d iffe r­
157
ence is greater than can be a ttrib u ted to
chance at the .01 level of significance. It
might be attribu ted to an actual increase in
events, or more frequent reporting by
witnesses, or more UFO investigators, or more
vehicles on the highway (which is certainly
tru e), or many other p o ssib ilitie s. Conse­
quently, the interpretation of these numbers
in Figure 4 is rather d iffic u lt. But this
increase does parallel that for a ll high­
strangeness UFO cases, as determined from the
Center for UFO Studies’ UFQCAT computer file .
Of course, noting that the data are
comparable in no way explains why the data
luiiow th is or that d istrib u tio n . This is
another unsolved puzzle of the UFO phenome­
non.
The Witnesses
I don't believe--and I don't want anyone
else to do so e ith er--th at the problem of the
interpretation of UFO s ta tis tic s is a hope­
less quagmire, to be entered at our p e ril.
Let’s look at a s ta tis tic for witness
involvement that I think can be explained in
a mundane fashion, ju st as was done
previously for the number of witnesses per
event. I have determined from the catalogue
that 70? the witnesses to vehicle
interference events are male, 30* female.
While these numbers make some in itia l sense,
because we suspect that more men drive than
do women, we must attm pt some quantitative
analysis to be sure.
By using the National Safety Council's
publication Accident Facts, one can calculate
the expected number of male and female
drivers. The ra tio of male to female drivers
steadily declined over the period from 1962
to 1979, from about 5 to 1 down to 2 to 1.
Tf>e average ratio was 3.5 to 1, or 7B? of a ll
drivers were male, 22? female. I should
mention that these numbers are for actual
miles driven, not just licensed drivers.
If we then extract the data on the sex of
the driver of the vehicle for only U.S. and
Canadian EM events, for th is sane tine
period, we can make a valid comparison.
These numbers are: male drivers, 79?; female
drivers, 21?. Given the uncertainties inher­
ent in the calculation, the agreement is ex­
celle n t. No selection factor for sex appears
to be operating on the witnesses; that is,
ia|<j6»pofl
 troc. of mi CtfOS Conf.
witnesses are chosen at random, as far as
their sex is concerned. This is not
unexpected, perhaps, but such a determination
could not be made un til data for actual
numbers of drivers on the road was examined.
Time of Day
I would like to follow th is same logic to
study the variation of reports by hour of the
day, local time, as presented in Figure 5.
The pattern represented has been described by
To investigate the matter further, we
extract only those events from Figure 5 that
occurred in the United States or Canada. The
result is displayed in Figurt? 6. With some
^ minor differences, the pattern is sim ilar to
that from the previous figure for a ll EM
events. To compare these numbers to the
159
Jacques Uallee as the Second Positive Law, or
Law of the Times. Very few events are
recorded during the daylight hours} the
reports increase dram atically around 7:00
p.m. local time to a peak around 9:00 to
10:00 p.m.( with; a secondary peak at 3:00
a.m. This pattern has been found to exist
for a ll types of UFO sightings in a ll areas
of the world. Yet, is n 't i t curious that EM
events follow th is same pattern, since many
more vehicles are on the road during the day
than the evening or night? '
number of vehicles on the road, we must fir s t
make a few assumptions. They are:
1) The chance of any one driver experi­
encing an event increases as the
number of potential witnesses in­
creases, and is direLtly proportional
to th is increase.

160
2) Efl events are not directed by some
intelligence in a non-random pattern
at particular hours of the day.
3) The mechanism that generates an event
operates w ith e r or not a vehicle is
present.
For those who believe that vehicle in te r­
ference events--and for that m atter, the UFO
phenomenon itse lf--a re due to an intelligence
which selectively chooses vehicles with which
to in te rfe re, the la st two assumptions may
For the moment though, l e t's keep the
three assumptions and proceed accordingly.
By gathering data from various sources such
as the Traffic Engineering Handbook and
several U.S. government documents, th t actual
variation of tra ffic flow per hour of the day
in the U.S, and Canada cah be estimated.
Care was taken to place more emphasis on
rural tra ffic as more events occur in those
KodcgMer
not be tenable. The calculations we make
w ill s t i l l have a meaning, but something d if­
ferent than if the assumptions are satisfie d .
If there is an intelligence behind the
sightings, we would not have a random sample
of sightings of Em-rgenerating UFOs. Or per­
haps, we may have only a p a rtia lly directed
sanple, with some events occurring uninten­
tionally, either due to carelessness or cal­
lousness on the part of the operators of the
UFGs, or because some uehiele interference
events are generated by more, random natural
phenomena.
lo c a litie s . The overall d istrib u tio n derived
from these sources is quite plausible and not
surprising. I shall describe i t since I have
no figure. The 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. hour has
the least volume of tra ffic , only 0.4)1 of the
day's to ta l. The 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. hour has
the most, over Bj, closely followed by 5:00
to 6:00 p.m. There is a secondary peak
around 7:00 to 9:00 a.m ., with a smooth
Proc- of 1!*61 CUrOS Conf.
variation of tra ffic between these high and
low points (I was surpised that these numbers
had to be calculated rather than ju st taken
from previously available studies because
such nationwide data has riot been needed very
often).
We can then adjust the data for reported
number of 0*1 events by hour ot the day, with
reference to these figures for actual tra ffic
flow, in a straightforward numerical calcula­
tion. The result is depicted in Figure 7, and
That said, what sense can be made of th is
distribution? Well, if the three assumptions
outlined above are sa tisfie d , we can conclude
that Figure 7 represents the relative
frequency of occurrence of vehicle in te rfe r­
ence events in the U.b . and Canada by hour of
the day. The UFO phenomenon, whatever i t is ,
would thus occur 131 times more frequently at
161
is quite sta rtlin g . While the highest fre ­
quencies remain in the 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
period, the peak time for sightings has
shifted to 3:00 a.m. A period between 11:00
p.m. and 5:00 a.m. now contains the bulk of
the frequencies of sightings. Of course,
Figure 7 is a frequency diagram, due to the
numerical adjustment that was made, not a
diagram of the absolute number of sightings
as in Figure 6. One can only compare these
numbers internally, as one hour's relativ e
weight to another. *
3:00 a.m. than at 2:00 p.m. local time. This
would be an important piece of evidence
bearing on the nature of UFOs. For example,
the hourly distribu tion of thunderstorms over
the United States is highly skewed toward the
late afternoon hours. This is a consequence
of th eir method of formation, because the
atmosphere must firs t be heated sufficiently
162
to cause enough uplifting to form clouds of
the correct type and size for thunderstorms.
The fact, then, that EM events peak around
3;00 a.m. may be a clue to their driving
mechanism. Michael Persinger has suggested
that piezoelectric fields may be responsible
for a m ajority of EM events; liouever, i t does
not seem plausible that such fields be pre­
feren tially formed in the hours between 11
p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Stress fractures and
other sim ilar tectonic events are caused by
interactions between the earth, moon, and sun
as well as complex internal geological
mechanisms. My discussions with a geologist
who specializes in th is subject indicate that
(1) there is no a p rio ri reason to expect
anything but a random distribu tion of piezo­
e le c tric events by hour of the day, and (2)
that due to d iffic u ltie s in measuring small-
scale events, no good data exists on this
distribu tion.
It is important to observe that if one
believes that most EM events are directed by
an intelligence with some hidden sc rip t, then
Figure 7 singly becomes the relative
frequency or chance of any one driver
experiencing an EM event by hour of tlie day.
Figure 6, with the actual reported times for
EM events, is then the relativ e frequency of
occurrence of events, since the intelligence
has chosen exactly when they were to occur,
but if th is intelligence inadvertently causes
the events as a by-product of its other
a c tiv itie s , then trie last figure again
becomes Uie relative frequency of occurrence
of EM events, and therefore also the relativ e
chance of any driver experiencing an EM
event.
These estim ates of vehicle interference
event a ctiv ity have great im plications for
our understanding of the UFO phenomenon. It
is a much b etter estimate than that made by
Ualiee and Poher in their study of Type I
cases. They used data for the number of
people not at home, but that was a very"crude
estim ate for the nurrbur of potential
witnesses. I have instead re stricted my
sarrpie to vehicles on the road and have
gotten comparison figures on the same basis.
If trie catalogue is a good random sample of
EM events, then Figure 7 is tellin g us about
something in trin sic to the UFO phenomenon.
Pattern
I also made an investigation of the
relatio n s, if any, that might ex ist between
these ch aracteristics of a vehicle
interference event: UFO sound, size, and
color; presence of a ligh t beam; type of UFO;
and UFO activ ity (such as em itting a vapor
tr a il) . Chi-sqjare te s ts were rin on the
resulting contingency tables to te st the null
hypothesis that the two p articu lar character­
is tic s in question acted independently or
randomly. Prior to data analysis, i t was
decided th at, if the null hypothesis was to
be rejected, the chi-square value should fa ll
within the .02 significance level. Since
chi-sqjare analysis is only two-dimensional,
the resu lts of th is study can be presented on
a plane. Figure 8 depicts the complete set-
of tests found to reject the null hypothesis
of independence of the c h arac te ristic s.
There are 35 separate s ta tis tic a lly sig ni­
ficant correlations that were located. It is
fa irly clear that certain characteristics
sort themselves into recognizable groups
a fte r a few minutes study of Figure 8. I
have chosen to call these groupings "nexuses"
because the action of the ch aracteristics is
intertw ined. For the purposes of this paper,
I would lik e to focus our attention upon the
third nexus: UFOs that move in a straight
trajecto ry, are small, and are reported as
only a lig h t, having no apparent structure.
These UFOs are not m etallie-appearing and
tend not to emit sound or chase vehicles.
To give you an idea of the level of corre­
lation of these categories, here are some
exanples: 10 out of 12 events with recorded
size of lig h t-lik e UFOs are in the 0 to 15-
foot size range; only 6 out of 72 lights
emitted sound; only 4 UFOs moving in a
straig h t trajecto ry were observed to be
m etallic-appearing; and while only 9%of a ll
sightings reported a straig h t trajecto ry for
the UFO, 43>C of a ll lig h ts moved in such a
path, easily sig nifican t a t the .02 level.
However, th is clu ster of events might not
appear too important upon f i r s t examination.
In p articu lar. Nexus III does not qxhibit the
same number of internal correlations as do
the other two nexuses. But there are excel­
lent a p rio ri reasons to expect some cluster
of c h aracteristics like Nexus III to e x ist.
Yroz. of 1*1:1 CufOS Lo«i. 163

FIGURE 8 . CORRELATIONS LOCATED BETWEEN EVENT CHARACTERISTICS

of UFO REPORTS INVOLVING VEHICLE INTERFERENCE

164
P hilip Klass has speculated, in one of his
books of) this subject, that plusnia effects
might account for many UFO sightings.
McDonald has shown that hypothesis to be
incorrect in explaining a m ajority of sig h t­
ings, but i t is certainly plausible tliat it
might explain a feu.
Many investirjutuis have advanced the idea
that more than one mechanism w ill eventually
be needed to explain the UFO phenomenon in
toto. One of these mechanisms might be some
type of natural phenomenon, as yet undis­
covered. Workers such as Persinger and For-
shufvud have speculated that UFOs are
generated by, respectively, piezoelectric
events, or e le ctric al discharges in fauits in
the e a rth 's cru st. The energy source might
be either quite localized e le c tric discharges
due to fracturing or stresses in quartz -
bearing rock, or large earth currents flowing
near the surface. In either case, these
types oftheories describe the uctiuri of
plausible but ill-understood physical
mechanisms to generate some vehicle
interference events. I t would, in fact, be
surprising if there w eren't at least a few CM
events caused by some type of te rre s tria l
phenomenon.
Given th is pre-existent speculation on the
subject, I submit that Nexus III appears to
be desciibing th is natural phenumenun. Nexus
III may well be composed of the most salien t
c h aracteristics of a UFO vehicle interference
event generated by th is phenomenon. Tu
illu stra te better the features of th is nexus,
I present here a summary of a few cases from
th is grouping.
Near Ottumwa, Iowa, 0.5, August 24, 1970
10:00 p.m.
While driving along the Des Moines River
in a wooded rural area, a 54-year-old
woman's 1972 Ford LTQ suddenly sta lled
to a stop. Her headlights also ceased
to function and the c a r's windshield
steamed over. Then a red-orange ball
ul light appeared, moving from east to
west across the river inLo the woods.
I t niuved on a straig h t trajectory and
made no sound. The woman could make no
size or distance estim ates, though she
said the apparent size was' that of the
fu ll moon. Her car could be restarted
uasily af terwards.
Rodfcgm
Here is a very early event from Aime Michel's
work un the 1954 French UFO wave:
Near Gueugnon, France October 14, 1954
About 7:30 p.m.
A reddish fire b a ll passed over a car in
a flash. As i t did so, the engine and
e le c tric a l systems both failed simul­
taneously. After a few seconds, the
ball passed out of sight,- the headlights
came back on, and the engine could be
restarted. The ball made no noise as
i t passed by the car.
Here is an event from my own file s :
Heathfield, East Sussex, England
November 10, 1972 11:00 p.m.
A young man, aged 19, was riding home on
his Yamaha 250cc Twin motorcycle, when
suddenly the headlights dinured and went
out. Almost imnediately afterwards,
the engine died and also failed . He got
off the bike to check the engine, but
smelled an "elec trica l arcing" odor. He
then looked up and saw a white "blob"
about 100 feet away hovering over some
trees. It was about b0 feet high, glow­
ing a whitish color but quite fuzzy in
appearance. After a few seconds, i t sped
away in a straig h t line u n til obscured
by some trees 400 yards away. Its
average speed was about 100 mph during
th is motion. Trie witness estim ated its
size at 30 to 40 fe et. The weather was
clear and cool.
Or th is interestin g case:
McClain, M ississippi, U.5. December 3, 1900
0:30 p.m.
Robert and Janice Lawrey, aged 25 and 19
respectively, were driving north on High­
way 57 in a rural area when Janice saw a
b all of lig h t approaching th eir car from
the east at eye lev el. I t was 12 inches
in diameter, self-lum inous, and colored
white with a blue tin t in the center. It
made no sound. The ball went over the
c a r's hood and vanished rapidly to the
west, not deviating from i ts trajectory.
The whole event took about 10 seconds.
Nothing happened to th eir 1977 Monte Carlo
during the actual sighting, but immediate­
ly afterwards the heater stopped working,
the I'M radio stopped producing sound
fr«. of lS«!l CufOS Conf.
except for "weak, m ultiple station"
signals, the Headlights dimmed so dras­
tically that they could barely see two
feet in front of the car, arid the horn
slopped working. Yet the engine remained
unaffected. After they had arrived at
their destination and waited about 30
minutes, everything on the vehicle
functioned normally. No sim ilar problems
have occurred since the event and the
car has needed no special attention.
Or this last case from the CUFOS file s :
East of Barnum, Minnesota, U.S.
Octaper 6, 1979 9:30 p.m.
A couple in their six tie s were driving a
1973 Ouick Riviera when they saw a ball
of light coming low over some trees. It
was 3 to 6 feet in diameter and i t rolled
and bounced over the top of the car in
about. 10 seconds. After driving another
500 feet, the c a r's engine died and the
neadlights malfunctioned. The battery
was eventually discovered to be dead, so
much so that i t couldn't be jump-started.
The alternator also wasn't functioning
properly and fiad to be replaced. The
mechanic who did tne work told the couple
that trie car’s interio r looked like it
had been through a fire , but not its
exterior. The bail of lig h t, of course,
made no sound as it passed by the vehicle
on its destructive path.
As indicated by the examples just
discussed, the cases are diverge in tneir
effect on the vehicle and trie witness. Yet
there is some cunsistuficy: movement in a
straight trajectory, appearance as only a
light, non-emission of sound, and generally
snkili size (under about 15 fe e t). Fourteen
events may seem like a small number, but I
chose on 1y those cases with movement in a
straight trajectory for th is nexus and for
correlation purposes because suen a
trajectory can be easily observed by the
witness. Ambiguities could therefore be
avoided, an im possibility when dealing with
complicated UfO movements such as light-angle
turns i.r e llip tic a l path... However, there is
fio reason to lim it th is nexus to s tric tly
those cases with a straig h t tiajectu ry . They
are simply Ute most easily recognized. To
wit:
Near Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.A., on
January 3, 1971, a nian driving a 1964
Olosmobile statio n wagon saw three fuzzy
165
"objects,” about two feet in diameter,
hovering over a bridge which spanned the
Wynooche River. The objects were not
really structured or m etallic-appearing,
but were intensely luminous and fuzzy at
their edges. They did not stay in any
formation as they slowly d rifted down the
river, but changed position fluidly for
the 45 seconds they were in view. As the
witnesses* car approached the bridge, the
engine ju st stopped, but the headlights,
radio, and heater continued to function.
After the three ligh ts had vanished, the
engine could be restarted^ As usual in
these cases, the lights emitted no sound;
the weather was clear and cold.
Iri th is case, the objects did not nove in
a straig h t trajecto ry , but th eir appearance
was characteristic of Nexus 111. Some other
parameters that describe these events;
Location; 6 out of 7 events in rural areas
Weather: 6 out of 8 in cool or cold wea­
ther, with 5 in clear weather
Duration: 9 out of 10 lasted less than 45
seconds, compared to a typical
duration of 3 to 10 minutes for
other EM events
Shape: 9 out of 10 globular or spherical
Velocity: Steady and usually under 100 mph
(or 40 m eters/sec)
Interestingly enough, the make of vehicle
affected has been distribu ted among the major
manufacturers fa irly well: Ford - 2, Dodge -
1, Yamaha - 1, Qldsmobile - 1, Buick - 1, and
Clievrolet - 1 .
I would like to suggest that these small,
s ile n t lights moving in straig h t trajec to rie s
and interfering with e le ctric al equipment and
engines have no precedent in the lite ra tu re
of meteoroiogy or atmospheric physics. I
would also like to suggest that they are the
m anifestation of some natural phenomenon.
generating mechanism unknown. They surely do
not appear as or act like e x tra te rre stria l
spacecraft or structured craft of any type.
No intelligence controls their actions. They
are in appearance akin to ball lightning, but
iri action and effect quite, dissim ilar.
If the thesis of th is paper can be
accepted, I would like to challenge those of
us in the UFO community with the necessary
training and in te re st to undertake studies
with the object of developing a theory
adequate to generate such a phenomenon, a
theory which predicts the event character­
is tic s I-have enumerated for Nexus III.
 fuxkrghier
166 DISCUSSION

7? Thera ca/nr. »n Kn > cinnifirAnt HiffArpnrp in the number of coses your sample

d id n 't look into it.

J. The majority of my cases occurred between 9 pm and 4 am. The two cases on which we
both agree occurred in the daytime. The other occurred at sunset, around 8 or
9 p.m. 1 remember that it was because of thunderstorms and that i t had ju st stopped
ra in ing.
R. I can comment further on that, in that there are a few events in th is nexus three
where the weather was changing. I can think of one in p articular irfiere the tempera­
ture had dropped 25 degrees in the last hour. The fact that most of there events
occurred in clear and cool weather I think does defin itely hafe some bearing on
th is. What I didn't mention also was the time that these 14 events occurred, and
they did no occur at three and two in the morning. They did not occur during the
day e ith er. Most of them occur between the hours of seven and eleven at niaht.
?? Of the cases where the car seemed to s ta rt its e lf, you said they were a l it tl e '
iffy. Is the iffy part whether the car seemed to s ta rt itse lf? And the second
question is that 1 am hoping that you will discuss nexus one and two also.
K. In the catalog and study that is going to be published by the Center [UFO Reports
Involving Vehicle Interference] I do discuss i t . If we have time later 1 can talk
about it. In answer to your f ir s t question, the iffy part of those cases is whether
the engine actually stopped. I was talking to Oon about that th is morning, and you
have to be very careful Iwhat you accept] and I think it depends a lot upon which
investigator did the case. If i t ‘s a Raymond Fowler investigation, you know, we
all have a lot more confidence in it than if i t 's something from a foreign journal.
?? Have you ever had any reports with interference with a diesel engine or a steam
locomotive?
j . 1 find it rather interestin g that there are two rather famous and w ell-attested
cases--one in Great B ritain and one in Italy where you had a comparison between
two kinds of tracto rs. You had a diesel tracto r and a standard gasoline tracto r.
The standarad gas tracto r stalled . In Great B ritain you had a van-truck and a
Jaguar sports car. The sports car sta lled ; the truck d id n 't. So ! thought we were
on to something here. There was a Kansas report [ R. The UFO went over very
closely overhead in that case.] So we seem to be on to something in terms of
UFOs being unable to affect diesel engines. But then th is case came from Spain;
from Valdehijaderos, Salamanca, on 21 March.19/4. As B allester Olmos nas suggested,
ther may be something about the mechanics or the vehicle that maxes it a special case.
?? What is the p o ssib ility ot developing a network of detectors? Yout:could suggest
a maximum power or sen sitiv ity that would exclude thunderstorms or natural phenom­
ena. How would you be able to d iffe ren tiate between them?
trot. 01ISCI Cl#OStail. 167

R. Well, let me ansn*?r ju st in terms of the possible detection of events. We really

s till don't know ju st how these events occur, and what types of e le c tric or magnetic
fields and what frequencies or pulsations that may have occurred in the presence of
a vehicle that caused these events. Don mentions the Condon study where [ i*n an
experiment] of up to 20,000 gauss they found no effect on the' components of a
vehicle's engine. And there have been a few cases where the magnetic signatures
have been taken of a c a r's body after the E.M. event and in which no variation
wos found in the magnetic signature, which means that it had not been subjected
to an intense magnetic fie ld . 1 really haven't looked into the question very much,
of what type of field might be causing the effec t. 1 wanted to do this kind of
nork f ir s t. I really don’t think that at this stage of the game that would be a
fru itful way to go--to get up a network of detectors like th at, because I'm not
sure what we're looking for, to te ll you the truth . And I'm not sure what kind
of field it would need to affect a car. I can mention one event that l do refer
to in the report (though I d id n 't here) which I received from a high school science
teacher in Texas. He and a few students were driving to football game in the
afternoon during an intense rainstorm with what he assured me is a very well-tuned car
(he used to be an auto mechanic). They learned during the rainstorm that the football
game had been cancelled because of the rain, so they went to turn around, and as
they were turning on a four-lane road, a lightning bolt h it the ground about
150-200 feet from their car, and the car died completely, it could not be restarted
(the headlights went out also) for about 30 seconds a fte r the lightning bolt struck ’
the ground. So there's an event which might give us some indication of tfiat might
be necessary to stop a car. We know what kind of H illiken field s were around
strikes of lightning. But as Don said when he concluded his talk , what we really need
firs t are laboratory studies--large-scale testing or real cars--which has never happened
(tests like placing a car in intense field s to see what happens, so that if we get an
idea that actually a car can be affected by particular kinds of fie ld s, then you can
put your detector out.
?? Was there any screening done on those cases you have studied to elim inate any of the
possible a c tiv itie s preceding the event that would tend to reduce cred ib ility ?
R. Well, number one I looked for data completeness for the events. Number two, no, I
tried to get the best events that were available. 1 tried to get accounts that were
reliable; if the event had two lines in some small publication from overseas, le t's
say, I didn't use it for th is kind of analysis.
?? Well i t seems a person should be suspicious of reports of UFOs given by people who
are driving at that time of night, or who are under the influence of something—
that the account is something they made up, and the report is thereby somewhat
less credible.
R. Well, there is always that problem. I will say that I c an 't remember one case in the
catalog (and Don and I each found that these were rare) where the witness was reported
by any of the auth orities to be drunk or under the influence of anything.
?? What about the people out in the wee hours of the night?
J. A number of the witnesses are people who are engaged in vork that tould take them out
at four in the morning. Then there are the people who are returning from dates. One
incident at Lake Elsinore ■ California was dismissed by the Condon Committee because
the witness is a diabetic on medication, and he'd also had a drink, so they dismissed it.
168 ftod*gnitr

?? Well, they can also have a magnetic interpretation . I remember one report from a
prospector who happened to have his truck along, and he happened to observe a disk­
shaped object. His compass began spinning while he was watching i t , and somehow
the magnetic fie ld ....
R. Well, th ere's also Poher’s v*>rk, ktfiich he published in FSR, amongst other p lac es--it
would be the magnetic recording station at Chambflne le forP t, I believe. And [the
events correlated] with distance, with the variations of the magnetic field from
that recorder, so there is some indication that something really physical is going
on here--both, I think (and I think Don would agree) in the clu ster of events that may
be due to natural phenomena and in the cluster of events that look more like some
type of craft.

Proc. of 19C1 CufOS Conr .
THE INVESTIGATION OF ABDUCTION REPORTS
BUDD HOPKINS
i feels that there "is a real basis for . . . UFO
In the 1940s, when the UFO phenomenon
first began to imprint its e lf upon the public
consciousness, no one was quite prepared to
deal with it. Nearly everyone preferred things
as they had been before, since this new mystery
only complicated m atters. A very human reac­
tion was to try to sweep it away--out of sight,
out of mind. Eventually theorists like Menzel
(optical illusions) and Klass (luminous pla­
smas) attempted to return things to the status
quo ante. As we know, the large numbers of
close encounters, radar reports, photographs
and ground trace cases simply eluded their
narrow explanations. Rather than whistrling in
the dark, they appeared to be shining their
theoretical pocket flashlights around while
proclaiming that the dark no longer existed.
The uneasiness behind their conservative a t­
tempts is all too obvious, and all too psy­
chologically understandable. Aside from a few
cultists and contactees, who wants to live with
such an open-ended mystery?
The past decade brought a new dimension to
the UFO problem: the unfolding of abduction re­
ports in ever-increasing numbers. If we, as a
people, had been unnerved by run-of-the-m ill
UFO sightings, our collective reaction to this
development was even more dramatic. Conser­
vative theorists like Menzel and Klass were now
joined by more open-minded UFO investigators
who could accept UFO reports as an arms-length
phenomenon, but who were appalled by the kind
of unwelcome closeness the abduction reports
implied. The historical pattern, to no one‘s
surprise, repeated its e lf. Hilary Evans, who
169
reports, and that they relate to an actual
phenomenon outside anything classified by sc i­
ence," discounts abudction accounts as Jungian
archetypical fantasies. Veteran UFO investi­
gator A1 Lawson has constructed an elaborate
theory involving inter-uterine memories dating
back to conception to explain abduction ac­
counts. Many other investigators simply refuse
to consider these reports at a ll.
Again, the psychological need behind these
theories and evasions is a ll too obvious. Who
wants th is sort of thing--the abduction of
human beings, some of whom are children--to be
true? Which of us is not deeply disturbed by
this kind of report? And of course, as in the
e a rlie r situ atio n s, all this (neo- Jungian)
theorizing ends up bypassing the real problem.
The central issue in these cases, the mys­
tery which must be explained, is the pattern of
circumstances which led us to suspect an ab­
duction in the firs t place. Over and over
again we uncover the same events: a family of
five, driving in a deserted area at night, has
a UFO sighting. The car stops, then re sta rts.
The family drives home, arriving two hours
later than they should. Each family member
bears a sim ilar mark or incision; each exper­
iences subsequent nightmares and other a t­
tendant signs of a buried trauma. What hap­
pened to them?
In a recent California incident (the Mel­
vin and Naomi case investigated by Howard
Ford), a retired aeronautical engineer and his
170
wife sat down to have lunch in their home. Two
days later their consciousness returned. After
a period of simultaneous hallucination and
psychosis, they were hospitalized. Each had
highly specific, symmetrical wounds; the pho­
tograph of Melvin's large open wound in the
region of the coccyx is ghastly to behold.
Their hallucinatory imagery contains classic
Ufl) abduct ion e Iements, and this theory stands
as the only satisfactory explanation so far for
their major injuries, physical marks, simul­
taneous amnesia,, and so forth. What happened
to them? In case after case, these are the
mysteries; these are the problems which must be
addressed. * ’
Hypnosis is not the issue, since so many
witnesses spontaneously recall the same ab­
duction narrative as those whose recollection
has been aided by hypnosis. Whether or not
such things as prenatal memories exist is
beside the point for UFO investigators. The
mysteries to be examined are many and real:
Where was Travis Walton during those five days?
Where is Fred Valentich now? What caused Vir­
ginia Horton's disappearance at a family pic­
nic and the spots of blood on her blouse when
she reappeared? What caused the terror of
Hickson and Parker? The wounds of Melvin and
Naomi?
One can easily see that the basic abduction
account which answers these questions is re­
pellent, even unthinkable. It does not take a
professional psychologist to understand why
anyone might not prefer woolly-minded Jungian
theorizing to the problems posed by these
questions. Without intending it, Kenneth
Arnold signaled the end of a kind of innocence
for us, and it is only human nowto long for the
isolation of that earlier Eden.
II
In the summer of 1976 I began an investi­
gation into what turned out to be my first
abduction case. In a casual conversation, a
young woman who was baby-sitting for my three-
year-old daughter told me about a UFOsighting
she and two friends had made in the fall of
1973. While camping out one night behind a
friend's house in Kent, Connecticut, they
watched a series of ten or more lights moving
one at a time down the side of Mt. Algo, above
the trees and about a half mile away.
"But,“ she continued, “my older sister and
her boyfriend were even closer. They told me
the next morning that they had seen the lights
coming out of a big UFOthat was hovering on a
mountainside a couple of miles away. They
followed the lights in their car, and even­
tually lost them. But right at the foot of Mt.
Algo they saw a whole group of strange hikers
coming towards them, and eventually, they
said, the hikers just disappeared. They could
never figure out what happened."
The sequence of events, we learned, was as
follows: Four young people, traveling in two
cars, were returning after 10:00 p.m. on Sep­
tember 12, 1973, froma club meeting. The first
car stopped on Route 7 to observe a 100*-150'
UFO hovering below the crest of the mountain
about a quarter of a mile away, and when the
second car came along, it also stopped. A
third car, having sighted the UFOfrom another
higher vantage point, joined the others.
Seven young people were nowobserving the UFO.
One car drove off to a nearby cafe to pick up
additional witnesses. The two new arrivals and
the original seven all saw the small lights
leave the large UFO and begin to travel away
from it towards Mt. Algo. And so the three-car
caravan started up, determined to follow the
moving lights. (It is possible at this point,
and in the light of later events, to make the
inference that the young people were "being
led.")
The three cars (minus the two frightened
restaurateurs who asked to be deposited back
at their cafe) drove to the foot of Mt. Algo
where the moving lights had been seen to begin
their descent. (This was the part of the
sighting witnessed by my baby-sitter and her
two friends.) But at this point the seven
occupants of the cars lost sight of the lights,
and so drove down a small back road. Their
exploration yielded no results. They turned
around and headed back to the foot of Mt. Algo
where they encountered a fourth car, a white
compact, parked. They stopped to inquire if
the two women in this white car had seen the
strange lights. From this moment on, their
memories became less than clear.
Ted Bloecher, Jerry Stoehrer, Fred Dennis
and myself, the investigators in the case,
eventually talked to the six available members
of the original group of seven. All attest
that when they stopped to speak to the occu­
 pfOC. Of 1981 CWOS Conf. 171

pants of the white car, they were approached by The case is now, for many complex reasons,
a double column of fifteen to thirty "hikers," languishing in a kind of investigative limbo.
as they referred to them, wearing lights, miner Apartial breakthrough in hypnosis by one of
fashion, on their hats or helmets. It was the witnesses established what I believe to be
their impression that the "hikers" walked by the beginning of an abduction scenario. The
without speaking, and marched around the bend figures approached, stopped, formed a solid
to the main road. Most mysterious of all, the line facing the young people in their cars, and
witnesses agreed that when they started their shone their headgear lights into their eyes.
cars and drove around the same bend, a mere The witness, a Vietnam veteran, became in­
thirty or forty yards away, the hikers had tensely frightened as he described the mes­
vanished, as had the white car! merizing effect of the light, and suddenly,
spontaneously brought himself out of the
In our interviews, the occupants of one car trance.lt was as if, in the words of Or. Robert
insisted they did not know what they did next, Naiman, the psychiatrist doing the hypnosis,
or when they went home. One of the young men the witness "was obeying orders." He has
from one of the other cars distinctly remem­ refused to undergo any further regression, as
bered looking at his watch during the chase have some of the other witnesses.
after the moving lights; it was about 11:00
p.m. He recalled searching near the road for Ill
the vanished hikers, and then driving back to
the place two miles away where they had first
seen the large UFOdischarging its lights. He In my paper on abductions which I de­
was accompanied in this drive by his friends in livered at this summer's MUFON symposium, I
one of the other cars. They remembered that as classified abduction cases into five types.
they parked and talked about the mysterious These are based upon what the witness recalls
events they had just experienced, a police car consciously, prior to any hypnosis.
stopped and asked them what they were doing,
but they declined to tell the officer anything Type 1. The abductee consciously recalls
about the UFO. . parts of the full abduction scenario: the on­
board experience, the UFO, its occupants, its
"Why did the police car stop you?" I asked. interior,
"Because it was so late," the young man an­ sub-group, and so on. (In a clearly related
swered. "The cop asked what we were doing out this material the abductee's conscious recall of
here after two o'clock in the morning.” It is delayed.)
was only then that 1 realized there was a time Type 2. The abductee recalls the UFO, the
problem--about two hours was completely un­
accounted for. It suddenly dawned on me why circumstances of the encounter, and often the
the "hikers" had disappeared, and why no one remember anyofofthetheoccupants,
appearance but does not
actual on-board experi­
saw the white car, which had been parked next ence. That part registers only as a perceived
to them, drive off. My guess was that two
hours or so had elapsed between the approach of gap in time. The Kent case is Type 2.
the figures and their "disappearance.” Prob­ Type 3. The abductee recalls only a UFO
ably the white car, too, had departed during and/or
their shared hiatus, so both events were per­ does nothum anoids, but nothing else. He or she
recall a time-lapse or dislocation.
ceived as disappearances. (This type may include a good many so-called
Though each of the six witnesses remem­ bedroom visitations.)
bered seeing the hikers pass themby and march Type 4. The abductee recalls only a
towards the bend in the road, none could peculiar time-lapse and/or dislocation. No
describe the hikers from the rear, i.e., if U FO is consciously recalled, nor is any other
they were wearing backpacks or something simi­ part of the UFOabduction scenario.
lar. One witness thought deeply about my
question and said, "Vou know, I'm not sure I T ype 5. The abductee recalls nothing of
ever sawthem from behind. It just seemed like the usual abduction scenario. Instead, there
they passed us by. I remember their approach, remain vague
and what they looked like, but that's all I "feeling that indications, ranging from the
something happened to me," to
really remember."
172
intense, unnatural fears of specific locations
or sections of highway, to physical wounds or
marks of unknown origin, and including some­
times recurring dreams of a temporarily un­
anchored abduction experience.
This latter type, which I concentrate upon
in my book, Missing Tune, is, 1 believe, the
most common. It also presents the greatest
problems to an investigator. The description I
have given undoubtedly covers many situations
that turn out not, to be actual abductions. How
can an investigator know which reports to
pursue and which to ignore, considering the
precariousness of our resources and the limi­
tations of available time? Hypnosis itself is
an expensive and t ime-corisuming operation, not
to be lightly entered into.
I offer this suggestion: we should con­
sider the quantitative weight of detail in'each
case; the more specific and suggestive de­
tails, the higher the priority, and vice ver­
sa. Arecent pair of cases includes one in
which a man in his thirties reported a vivid
scar on his left thigh which he cannot explain.
He remembered that it turned up when he was
about fifteen years old. He awoke one morning,
and on the way to the shower noticed a long
straight gash which seemingly had bled very
little and was presently painless. There was
little if any blood on the bedclothes. He
showed the wound to his mother who was very
curious about it. She told him he had been
screaming and crying in his sleep the previous
night. He asked if she had gotten up to see
what was the matter, and she answered that she
had not. I asked him if he regarded her
inaction as being at all strange, and he said
that yes, absolutely, it had seemed strange at
the time and it still seemed strange. (The
witness now has children of his own.)
When I inquired about any previous or later
odd encounters, he described a peculiar inci­
dent that occurred when he was about eighteen.
In answer to another question of mine, he
described a recurring nightmare which involved
a kind of kidnapping experience. His scar,
which is about three inches long, is still
remarkably vivid even twenty years later. His
feelings about its mysterious overnight origin
are just as intense as they were when he awoke
and discovered it. These details, taken to­
gether, make this case one i would vote to
pursue, and if further investigation supports
its veracity, I feel hypnosis should be used.
ttopMnt
In contrast, I received a letter from a
woman who read my book, scoured her body, and
discovered a scar-like mark she had barely
glimpsed before. She has been interested in
UFOs for years and has read a great deal. She
doesn't know how she got the “scar" nor do
members of her family remember having seen it.
She said she has lost a great deal of weight,
but thinks the line is not a stretch mark. She
has also had some vivid UFOdreams. This case,
obviously, is not worth pursuing in any depth.
The previous case, though, has about six or
seven separate, yet mutually supporting, clues
that take on cumulative weight.
When we consider potential Type 4 cases, I
offer another pair. On a Denver call-in radio
show, a woman reported a disturbing 1978 ex­
perience. She, her aunt, and two teen-age
daughters were driving straight back to Denver
from a family visit in Iowa. At some point in
Nebraska they noticed a strange light or aura
around their car. The woman asked one of her
daughters if she saw what was happening. The
girl answered that she didn't know what was
causing it but, her mother told me, "her voice
was funny, as if she was a little dazed."
The next thing any of them knew they were
fifty miles the other side of Ft. Morgan, a
town they did not remember having approached.
All four were also quite frightened, without
knowing exactly why. They have never driven
back to Iowa, even though my caller said she
had gone there to see her new-born grandchild.
Afewof these details were elicited during
the radio program, and others surfaced when I
called the woman back after we were off the
air. Two days later 1 called again, and
reached the two girls who had been in the car
at the time. Their mother was not home, and
the daughters were only dimly aware that she
had called in to report the experience. Each
girl in turn confirmed their mother’s account,
and I was struck by the strong, lingering fear
each attested to. The entire experience was
confusing and frightening.
The older daughter is now nineteen. I
asked if she had ever seen anything she thought
was a UFO.
"I had a funny experience a fewweeks ago,"
she said. "I was with some friends and
somebody said, 'Look, a UFO.' It turned out to
be an airplane and not a UFO, but 1 don't
froc. of 1*81 CUfOS Cent.
understand my reaction. I felt this wave of
panic, and for some reason 1 burst into tears.
1 just couldn't stop crying. I got down on the
floor and started crawling around, trying to
hide. My friends had to practically shake me
to get me to stop."
The younger daughter, who is nowfourteen,
also has had some recurring fearful imagery,
which suggests a buried trauma. It seems
clear to me that a Type 4 abduction case lies
behind these reactions.
By contrast, on another call-in radio pro­
gram, the host told me that after reading my
book he had recalled a "missing time" incident
from 1977. He was in college at the time in
Michigan. He, his girlfriend, and another
couple were driving from one town to another.
The trip should have taken a half hour. At­
tempting a shortcut, the young man made a’left
turn off the main road. He does not know what
happened, but they found themselves driving
back into the town they had left from, and an
hour and a half had passed. He feels he knew
the roads well, and cannot understand what
could have gone wrong.
I asked if the incident bothered him, and
if he ever thought about it. He answered no to
both questions. I asked if he had ever dreamed
about it, or for that matter, dreamed about
UFOs in any way, and again the answer was no. I
toyed with the idea of contacting #one or
another of his companions from that drive, but
decided against it. Being lost on a back road
late at night after a party seemed too easily
plausible for me to bother with another long
distance phone call. There was not one addi­
tional detail to add to the original perplexing
incident, and the absence of any residual fear
or even uneasiness seemed definitive.
I have offered these paired situations to
suggest to other investigators the cumulative
force of a number of significant details. It
is a simple way to examine possibilities, and
to decide upon one's priorities. I* am not
173
suggesting that the two "negative1*cases I have
outlined should be absolutely ignored, because
either could contain a heretofore hidden UFO
experience; it is just that we nowhaven't time
to spread our meager resources that thinly.
IV
Another issue I would like to raise in­
volves hypnosis. When I have appeared on radio
call-in programs, and there have been a number
of these that my publisher -has arranged, I
deliberately do not dwell on the content of the
abduction experience. Instead, I try to deal
with various circumstances that might indicate
a buried UFOexperience, circumstances that l
discussed earlier when I defined Type 4 and
Type 5 abduction cases.
The result is that I frequently receive one
or two calls per program, the Nebraska incident
being a good example, dealing with these kinds
of recollections. Once I investigate the case
fully enough to feel that hypnosis should be
attempted, I find myself in an ethical bind.
On the one hand, I do not want the subject to
have any information about what may surface, in
order to keep recollection as uncontaminated
as possible. On the other hand, I have seen
people undergo devastating fear as they re­
lived abduction experiences in a hypnotic
trance. I have seen a grown man in this
situation urinate involuntarily. 1 watched a
NewYork City police officer, who had no idea
he had had such an experience, slip into
profound terror in the hypnotist's office.
I feel we have a moral obligation at the
least to explain to a potential hypnotic sub­
ject that he or she may, if there is a buried
UFOexperience, go through a period of stress
or even fear. Our responsibilities to these
subjects outweighs, 1 feel, our desire to keep
their expectations as neutral as possible. W e
are not just investigators. W e must accept the
fact that we are, whether we wish it or not,
also involved in a process of healing the
psychic scars these people bear.
174

DISCUSSION

?? Howmuch of the information that is obtained through hypnosis is subsequently

verified by some kind of fact? This is always a great danger—evidence that is
self-contained, as opposed to that which is subsequently verified.
H. I think all reports have to begone into on a case-by-casebasis. It*s
hard to answer this question. I give anexample in the book: a teen-ager disap­
peared in the woods with her brother while playing at a family picnic. She
was called by her parents arid returned from the woods, and was told that they
hud been-looking for her for an hour or hour and a half. She insisted she had
been with her brother the whole time, but her brother said "I was looking for
you!“ Her father was filming everyone at the picnic, and as he swung the camera
around when she came running up, her mother said "You have blood on your blouse!"
Arid she looked downand saw it(and this is on the film).Unfortunately I haven'
seen the film since there's only one copy, and it's out inWisconsin and I amin
NewYork. But I talked to her parents, who confirmed that there was, at any rate,
drops of blood on her blouse. So we have confirmed that she was gone, physically
gone, and that there was blood on her blouse, and that's all we knew at the time.
Through hypnosis she has described an abduction experience in which a needle was
inserted in her nostril as part of whatever was going on, and that her nose evidently
bled little drops of blood onto her blouse. So we start with the physical circum­
stances as I'm describing in these cases, too, and then we find khat hypnosis
w)uld come up with and whether the hypnotic content would somehow account for the
circumstances--for missing hours and that sort of thing. And in most cases that
I've dealt with, the hypnotic content--when we can get the people to undergo hyp-
nosis--expla ins the missing time situation. -
?? What did the Air Force officer who reported an object approaching and hovering
ahead of his plane compare its size with?
H. With a C-130A. He described it as a triangular pattern of lights but with a body
within it which was glowing itself. He said it was very large. He didn't give
me any real description except that the light was so powerful that it streamed
through the windshield. He also, and this is just a little detail, said that the
gasoline tanks of the cargo had been green when they went in to the cargo, but
when they were unloaded he was convinced that they had turned grey. (I report
that for what it's worth.)
?? 1 wondered if he had any repercussions from the Air Force for divulging the story?
H. He had never divulged the story before this, and if anything has happened since
he did, I'm not aware of it.
?? Is there any independent evidence to verify these cases?
H. The Texas group, a MUFON group, who are investigating that case from 1979 told
me that they are just subjecting a woman arid her 18-month old child who evidently
were abducted about a year ago to hypnosis. They said that the woman also had a
probe placed up her nostril, and something seemed to be on the end of it when it
was removed, but a probe was put into the child's nostril too--an 18-month old
child! And they told me that, this weekend I believe, they are having both the
woman and the child completely X-rayed from top to bottom for the reason.
 Proc. 0( 156) CufOS Conf. 175

STANDARDS IN THE EVALUATION

OF UFO REPORTS

VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER OLMOS and MIGUEL GUASPj

introduction
t io n o f th e s e re p o rt c h a r a c t e r i s t ic s , a ir e d
The a u th o r s have a lw a y s been d e e p ly a t i t s a d o p tio n b y th e w o rld - w id e com m unity
ir it e r e s t e d i n any d eve lo p m e n t r e la t e d to th e o f UFO r e s e a r c h e r s . At le a s t we e x p e c t to
s ta n d a rd iz o t io n ot m ethods to s tu d y th e r a i s e enough d is c u s s io n w h ic h s h o u ld end i n
le p o rte d Uf 0 a n o m a lie s . In T a c t , we a r e on 3
s u re g e n e r a l ag re em en t on t h i p o i n t .
rev or d p ru p u s ifn j uume n u i n u l i / u t i n n ul th e
a n a ly s is o f th e "Law ut th e l im e s " d i s t r i b u ­ We w i l l e n u n c ia t e r a t io n a l c a lc u la t io n s
tio n c u rv e (1 ). 1
t f ia t a llo w th e se f- a s s e s s m e n t o f one i n d i v i ­
dual r e p o r t or g rou p u f r e p o r t s , by q u a n t i ­
Our own re se a rc h m ethod olo gy f o llo w s f y in g th e m a g n itu d e o f th e th re e above-
s e v e r a l b a s ic ste p s; a c q u is it io n o f d a ta m en tio n e d p a r a m e t e r s . In o r d e r to re a c h t h i s
{em p hasis i s p la c e d on tn e rv n d o n g e n e r a t io n o b j e c t i v e , we h a ve s t r i v e d to d e v e lo p a no n­
ot Ute raw i i i a t e i i u l ) ; s c r e e n in g of tlie o b s e r ­ s u b je c t iv e m o d e l. As a b y - p r o d u c t , we w i l l
v a t io n a l ir-i^ul ( s t u d y o f c a s e s and r e j e c t i o n p io p o s e a f i n a l r e la t io n s h ip to be e s t a ­
o f th ose fu r w h ic h a r a t i o n a l e x p la n a t io n may b li s h e d among th o s e th r e e v a r i a b l e s , g iv i n g
be a s c r ib e d ) ; c o n s t r u c t i o n o f aft o r g a n iz e d r is e to a f o u r t h in d e x w h ic h a s s e s s e s th e
sam pling o r c a t a lo g u e , w h ic h o n ly d is p la y s c e r t a in t y of a UFO e v e n t , as f a r as i t s
u n id e n t i f i a b l e phenom ena; d e s ig n of c o d i f i c a ­ v a lid it y is c o n ce rn e d (a tru e ano m alou s
tio n scfien.es f o r th e a u t o n o t ir e d tr e a tm e n t o f phencrtuerion o c c u r r e d ) .
s ig h t in g r e p o r t s ; c o m p u te r- a id e d a n a l y s i s o f
d a ta ; usag e o f te c h n iq u e s of p a t t e r n - r e c o g n i ­ In th e p r o c e s s o f th e o r i g i n a l s t u d y , th e
t io n ; and p h y s i c a l l y o r ie n t e d i n t e r p r e t a t i o n a u th o rs ' m a in c o n c e rn s h a ve been th e r e v ie w
of r e s u l t s . o f th e p r a c t i c a b i l i t y o f p r e v io u s p r o p o s a ls ,
and th e p u r s u i t o f a r i g o r o u s , s t a b le m o d el.
w it h in t h is in v e s t ig a t iv e fra m e w o rk , we T h is p a p e r i s s h o r te n e d from a lo n g e r e s s a y
p u b lis h e d in S p a n is h i n a j o i n t book o f o u rs
have f r e q u e n t ly m is s e d s t a n d a td c r i t e r i a to
q u a n tity th e m ost i e p i e s e n t a t i v e p a ra m e te rs (<?)• The p a r t we have o m itte d r e f e r s to trie
d e f in in g a t y p i c a l ul 0 re p o rt, i . e . , th e
d e s c r i p t io n and c r i t i q u e of th e s y s te m s
p ro p o se d by o t h e r r e s e a r c h e r s ( 3 - 8 ) .
volume a n a q u a l i t y o f a v a i l a b l e in f o r m a t io n ,
t f « s t r a n g e n e s s l e v e l o f th e e x p e r ie n c e , and
The re a d e r w i l l r e a l i z e th a t t h is stu d y
the r e l i a b i l i t y ot th e e v e n t . P io tiv a t e d by
h a s been b u i l t aro u n d th e phenom enology o f
t h is la c k of c r it e r ia , we ftave managed to
d esig n a s y s te m f o r th e r e t h e m a t ic a l e v a l u a ­ c lo s e e n c o u n t e r s . The re a so n f o r t h i s b ia s
i s o u r own s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i n th e a n a l y s i s o f
 176
lull«tt>r-GiMip

la n d in g r e p o r t s ( 9 - 1 1 ) , a s w e l l a s th e known The i n t e r v a l o f Q s h i f t s from 0 .7 to 0 ,5

fa c t th a t th o s e c a s e s a re th e ones t lia t when th e in fo r m a t io n p ro c e e d s from a w it n e s s
p r o v id e th e h ig h e s t q u o ta o f d is c r e p a n c y w it h q u e s t io n n a ir e or a le tt e r , p ro v id e d some
known phenomena and a r tifa c t s , and fo llo w - u p is m ade, in f u n c t io n of the
c o n s e q u e n tly d e s e r v e th e r e s e a r c h e r ’ s d eeper e x t e n s io n of th e in f o r m a t io n c o n ta in e d in
a t t e n t io n . su ch r e p o r t s . When t h e r e i s no f o llo w - u p a t
a i l , tte d a ta e x t r a c t e d fro m a t y p i c a l UFO
q u e s t io n n a ir e r e c e i v e th e 0.6 v a l u e , and when
Quantification ot the Informative Level th e s o u rc e o f in f o r m a t io n is Ju st a le tte r
O f a UfO Repot t frc«> th e w i t n e s s , th e g iv e n u a lu e s a re 0 .4
and 0 . 3 , b a se d on th e le n g t h o f th e w r it t e n
Ue d e f in e tn e LiFO In fo r m a t io n Q u a lit y re p o rt. .
In d e x (Q ) as a ' v a lu e w h ic h i n d ic a t e s th e
s tre n g th th a t a c e r t a in d e s c r ip t iv e s t o r y - - a I f th e in f o r m a t io n com es m e r e ly from the
UFO o b s e r v a t io n - - h a s fo r a n a ly s is , b a se d on p re ss, by f o llo w in g th e same co verag e
th e s e t o f d a ta a v a i l a b l e . T h is in d e x c r i t e r i u m , i t s q u a l i t a t i v e v a lu e s w i l l be 0.2
em erg es a s an o b j e c t i v e m easure o f th e amount and 0 . 1 . When th e s o u r c e i s th e r a d io o r TV,
o f in f o r m a t iv e b i t s c o n t a in e d i n a g iv e n UFO or if it i s a w itn e s s ’ r e la t iv e , th e r e a l
r e p o r t , g a in e d t rom b o th trie e x a m ir u t io n o f v a lu e of th e in f o r m a t io n is ra te d 01
. .
th e p rim a r y s o u r c e o f th e in fo r m a t io n and the F i n a l l y , a z e ro v a lu e i s a s s ig n e d to in fo rm a ­
e x t e n t o f the e x i s t i n g d o c u m e n ta tio n . T a b le t i o n com ing fro m a v e r b a l comment from a
I show s o u r p ro p o s a l f o r th e UFO in fo r m a t io n t h i r d p a r t y , fro m h e a r s a y , o r fro m an unknown
q u a l it y ra n g e . I t n as been d e s ig n e d i n a way so u rce .
th a t Q v a r i e s b etw ee n th e th r e s h o ld v a lu e s o f
0.0 and 10
. . We b e l ie v e t h a t T a b le I p r o v id e s a r e l i ­
a b le and o b j e c t i v e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f th e UFO
TaO le I q u a n t i f i e s th e o b v io u s f a c t t h a t in fo r m a t io n q u a lit y , a c c o r d in g to the
tn e p r o b a b i l i t y o f th e a c c u m u la te d d a ta to be a b s o lu t e w e ig h t o f th e i n p u t , and p r e s e n t s a
v a l i d , and t h e i r c o m p le te n e s s , v a r y a c c o rd ­ d e f in it iv e im provem ent w it h r e s p e c t to o th e r
in g to th e e x i s t e n c e o f e le m e n ts d e g ra d in g a t t e m p t s .“
th e in f o r m a t io n . In a s c a l e ut g o o d n e ss,
h i g h e r - le v e l s o u r c e s a r e d i r e c t ( f i r s t - h a n d ) ,
S t ra n g e n e s s o f th e UFO E x p e r ie n c e
m e d iijn - le v e l s o u r c e s a re in d ir e c t ( c o r r e s ­
pondence w it h th e w i t n e s s e s ) , and lo w e r - l e v e l
By d e f i n i t i o n , f a c t o r s in v o lv e d i n any form u­
s o u r c e s a re th e re m a in in g o t h e r s ( q u e s t io n ­
la t io n of th e s t r a n g e n e s s c o n c e p t w i l l be
n a i r e s , n e w s p a p e rs , ru m o rs , e t c . ) .
th o s e w h ic h , by t h e m s e lv e s , n u l l i f y th e p os­
"A t th e s i t e " i n v e s t i g a t i o n c o m p ris e s the s ib ilit y th a t th e o b s e rv e d phenomenon or
one made on th e s p o t w here th e s ig h t in g took o b je c t may be e x p la in e d a s a c o n v e n tio n a l-
p la c e , w it h th e w it n e s s e s ' a s s i s t a n c e , d u rin g n a tu re e n t i t y . T he s t r a n g e n e s s in a UFO
w h ic h th e i n t e r v ie w i s d u ly ta p e - r e c o r d e d , r e p o r t i s th e amount o f e le m e n ts t h a t make i t
and th e common i n v e s t i g a t i v e p ro c e d u re s a re become a r e a lly w e ir d e v e n t. In t h is
d is p la y e d . Be tw e en m e w it n e s s and th e c o n t e x t , w e ir d o r s t r a n g e n o t o n ly means th a t
in v e s t ig a t o r th e re is no f i l t e r w h ic h may
d eform th e s ig h t i n g s ' c o n te n ts . For t h is , H L e t ' s d is c u s s an a p p a r e n t p ro b lem w it h our
tre in fo r m a t io n so a c q u ir e d is g iv e n th e p ro p o se d r a t i n g : A lo n g i n v e s t i g a t i o n w h ich
h ig h e s t v a lu e , 1 If tn e i n q u i r y tim e h a s been m is c o n d u c te d v e rsu s a newspaper
l a s t s l e s s th a n 2 h o u r s , i t s v a lu e i s re d u ced a c c o u n t w h ic h f a i t h f u l l y r e p e a t s th e a c t u a l
to 0 . 9 . • e v e n t 's fe a tu r e s . Does th e o c c u r re n c e of
th e s e p o s s i b i l i t i e s demand a m o d if ic a t io n of
Wnen th e in t e r v ie w w it h th e w it n e s s i s n o t th e schem e? T h e re a r e two m a in a rg u m e n ts to
h e ld in th e UFO e v e n t ' s p la c e , tr>en th e v a lu e m a in t a in th e p ro p o se d s t r u c t u r e . F i r s t , t h is
of th e r e s u l t i n g r e p o r t i s 0 .9 o r D .0 i f th e h y p o t h e t ic a l d o u b le s it u a t io n is not
c x ir a t io n o f th e in q u ir y is l e s s th an one f r e q u e n t . S e c o n d , th e UfO In f o r m a t io n Q u a lit y
h o u r. I f th e " p e r s o n to p e rs o n " i n t e r v ie w i s In d e x c o r re s p o n d s to th e a n o u n t o f d a ta a t
co n d u cte d by t e le p h o n e , th e v a lu e o f th e i n ­
hand to be a n a ly z e d , and a lo n g i n q u i r y w i l l
fo rm a tio n o b ta in e d i s 0 .7 o r U . , 6d ep en d in g a .lw a ys p ro d u ce a h ig h e r volum e o f in fo r m a tio n
if th e tim e in v e s t e d i n th e c o n v e r s a t io n i s t o be s t u d ie d th a n a t y p i c a l l y l i m i t e d news­
more o i l e s s th a n h a l f an h o u r . paper . re p o rt.
(>roc. Of 1*#81 CUFOS Conf. 177

T a b le I

Range of the UFO Information Quality Index (Q)

2 h o u r s ..............................1 . 0
r AT THE S IT E -
- f t 2 h o u r s .. . . . . . 0 . 9

DIRECT INTERVIEW 1 h o u r .. . . . . . . 0 . 9
~ IN VESTIGATIO N PERSON TO PERSON
■c 1 h o u r ....................... 0.0
1/2 h o u r . .............0 .7
L BY TELEPHONE
- f t 1/2 h o u r ................. 0.6

QUESTIONNAIRE E x t e n s i v e ..............0 .7
WITH FOLLOW-UP
DIRECT -[ B r i e f .......................... 0 .6
SOURCE----- IN VESTIGATIO N -----
E x t e n s i v e ..............0 .6
LETTER
WITH FOLLOW-UP A B r i e f ..........................0 .5

t- QUESTIONNAIRE................... ...........................................0 .6

- l e t t e r / n a r r a t iv e J
— OTHERS------------------ “ NEWSPAPER
2 1 p a g e ................... 0 . 4
[* .
L< 1 p a g e ....................0 .3
500 w o rd s ..............0.2
1
L< 500 w o rd s ........... 0.1

- RADIO/TV............................. ........ 0.1

- W ITNESS R E L A T IV E ......................................................0.1

- * - uERBAL/ RUfTOR/UNKNOWN......................................... 0 .0
 178 ft«l tour-but p

e x is t e d ); and i n g e n e r a l , any c o n t r a d ic t io n
w h ic h m y s t i f i e s the o b s e r v e r , b u t t h a t w h ic h
w it h th e u s u a l movements o f a e r o n a u t ic a l
is i n c l u d i b l e by i t s e l f , an ano m aly t o a l l
d e v i c e s , a s t r o n o m ic a l b o d ie s , b i r d s , e t c .
known p r i n c i p l e s of n a tu re and te c h n o lo g y .
We w i l l f o llo w H y n e k 's n o t a t io n arid £ w i l l
3. By p h y s i c a l - s p a t i a l i n c o n g r u it ie s we
b e u s e d t o d e n o te s t r a n g e n e s s .
mean th o s e e le m e n ts w h ic h a r e i n f l a g r a n t
c o n t r a d ic t io n w it h th e i n t u i t i v e s e n s e o f the
The e r r o r we have d e t e c te d i n th e d e f i n i ­
d im e n s io n s and th e vo lum es (s u c h a s e v id e n t ,
t i o n s g iv e n to s t r a n g e n e s s by o t h e r r e s e a r c h ­
w e il- o b s e r v e d a p p a r it i o n s and d is a p p e a ra n c e s
e r s i s t h a t t h i s i s m e r e ly a m easure o f th e
su r p la c e , th e m e rg in g o f two o b j e c t s in to
c o m p le x ity o f a n e v e n t . A c c o r d in g ly , th e
o n e, e t c . ) , a n d /o r w h at w hat seems t o v io la t e
v a lu e s o f s t r a n g e n e s s a r e o rd e re d from th e
the known b e h a v io r o f th e - p h y s ic a l e n t i t i e s
s i n p l e s t to th e m ost s o p h i s t i c a t e d . F o r u s ,
(s u c h a s d e fo rm a tio n s o f a p p a r e n t ly m a t e r ia l
s t r a n g e n e s s m ust q u a l i f y th e a b n o r m a lity o f
o b je c t s , " s o lid lig h t " c a s e s , e t c . ) .
an e v e n t com pared to no rm al p r o c e s s e s ,
f a m ilia r phenom ena, and known m a n u fa ctu re d
A. The t e c h n o lo g ic a l d e t e c t io n r e f e r s to
o b je c ts .
th e o b s e r v in g a n d / o r r e c o r d in g o f th e p assag e
The f a c t o r s wc* p ro p o se to g iv e sh a p e to of th e UFO th ro u g h c a l i b r a t e d p r e c is io n
in s tr u m e n ts ( t e c h n i c a l o r s c i e n t i f i c ) : ra d a r
th e s t r a n g e n e s s o f any UfO r e p o r t a r e th e
o r i a s a r t r a c k i n g , o b s e r v a t io n th ro u g h t e le ­
f o l lo w i n g , i n th e d in n e r o f an a c c u m u la t iv e
sco p e o r t h e o d o li t e , r e c o r d i n p h o to g ra p h ,
s c a le :
f i l m o r v id e o t a p e , l i g h t s p e c tru m a n a l y s i s ,
a u d io r e c o r d in g , e t c .
1 . Anom alous a p p e a ra n c e
2 . E x i s t e n c e o f anom alous movements
5. A c lo s e e n c o u n te r o c c u r s when th e w i t ­
3 . A p p a r it io n o f p h y s i c a l - s p a t i a l
n e ss h a s e n jo y e d a p r i v i l e g e d p o s it io n ,
in c o n g r u it ie s
th a h k s to th e p r o x im it y of th e e v e n t , to
A . T e c h n o lo g ic a l d e t e c t io n
o b s e rv e i n d e t a i l w it h o u t th e d i s t o r t i o n of
5 . C lo s e e n c o u n te r
6 . P re s e n c e o f b e in g s a s s o c ia t e d w it h th e UFO d is t a n c e . Q u a n t i t a t i v e l y , t h i s f a c t o r shou ld
f o l lo w H y n e k 's ra n g e ( i . e . , w i t h in SOD fe e t
7 . F in d in g o f t r a c e s o r p ro d u c tio n o f e f f e c t s
o r 150 m e t e r s ) .

E a cn one o f th e s e f a c t o r s g a th e r s a number 6 . By th e p re s e n c e o f b e in g s we mean the

o f p a ra m e te rs t h a t w i l l be d e s c r ib e d b e lo w . a s s o c ia t i o n of presum ed o c c u p a n ts w ith
o b j e c t s t h a t co n fo rm to a t l e a s t some o f th e
1. The anom alous a p p e a ra n c e w i l l be the re q u ir e m e n ts o f ite m s 1 , 2 , and 3 .
fir s t c lu e f o r th e r e s e a r c h e r to doubt the
n o r m a lit y o f w hat h a s been o b s e r v e d . An 7. By t r a c e s and e f f e c t s we mean those
a p p a r e n t ly p h y s ic a l phenomenon w i l l have s u c h l a s t i n g p h y s ic a l o r c h e m ic a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
an ano m alou s a s p e c t when i t s shap e o r d im en­ o r r e s id u e s l e f t by a UFO a f t e r i t s d is a p ­
s io n s do n u t c o r r e l a t e w it h a n y i d e n t i f i a b l e p e a r a n c e , p ro v id e d th a t th e re e x i s t s some
fly in g c r a f t . I t s sh ap e may be t h a t o f d i s k , te s tim o n y th a t th e tra c e s o r e f f e c t s were
c ig a r , e t c ., or it can in c lu d e in it s p ro d u ce d by th e p re s e n c e o f th e UFO. These
d e s c r ip t io n , fo r in s t a n c e , l ig h t s f o r w h ic h s h o u ld in c lu d e e f f e c t s i n p e o p le , e f f e c t s o f
in t e n s it y o r s it u a t io n im m e d ia te ly e x c lu d e a m e c h a n ic a l n a t u r e , p h y s ic a l c h a n g e s in
□ trie r c o n v e n t io n a l l i g h t s t o be s ig h t e d in in a n im a te b o d ie s , and e le c t r o m a g n e t ic e f f e c t s
th e s k i e s . on m o to rs , v e h i c l e s , o r e l e c t r i c c i r c u i t s .

2. Anomalous movements a r e th o s e d ynam ic W henever th e re i s one o r more o f th e c h a r ­

c h a r a c t e r is t ic s of th e o b s e rv e d phenomenon a c t e r is t ic s n o te d in th e s e v e n p re v io u s
w h ic h make i t im p o s s ib le to r e c e i v e a l o g i c a l it e m s , we s t a t e t h a t s a id f a c t o r h a s a p o s i­
e x p la n a t io n , b ase d on a c t u a l kn o w le d g e . t i v e v a lu e , and w i l l a s s ig n i t one s t r a n g e ­
D e fin it io n m ust in c lu d e enorm ous h o r i z o n t a l n e ss u n it . The fo rm u la to e x p r e s s the
o r a s c e n d in g sp e e d s (h ig h e r th an th o s e o f th e S t ra n g e n e s s In d e x o f a UFO r e p o r t w i l l th e n
fa s te s t a ir c r a ft ); enorm ous a c c e l e r a t io n s be
(id e m ) , s t r a n g e t r a j e c t o r i e s (m ix e d , b ro k e n ,
h e ly c o id a l, e t c . ) ; a s c e n t o r d e s c e n t i n the
"d ea d le a f" f a s h io n (a s if no g r a v it y
 f>roc. Of 1961 CUFOS Conf. 179

where n i s th e number o f p o s i t i v e fa c t o r s in e asy to a c q u ir e , as o t h e r w is e o u r a tte m p t

the r e p o r t . The ran g e o f £ w ill be from w ould f a i l i n p r a c t i c e due to e x c e s s iv e l e a l .
U.U (fiu s t r a n g e n e s s ) to 1.0
(maximum s t r a n g e ­
n e ss l e v e l ) . In th e c o m p u ta tio n o f c r e d i b i l i t y , i t i s
b a s ic a lly a p e r s o n 's a f f id a v it w h ic h is
m e a su re d , th e w e ig h t o f th e w it n e s s fa c to r
C r e d i b i l i t y o f a UFO E v e n t b e in g th e most r e le v a n t c o n s id e r a t io n h e re .
Wiiut we a sk o u r s e lu e s i s i f th e w it n e s s e s
A lt e r re v o w in g p r e v io u s w r i t i n g s on t h i s have su ch c h a r a c t e r is t ic s , and to w hat
s u b je c t , and r e f Lee l i n g on th e s u c c e s s or e x t e n t , t h a t l e t u s b e l ie v e t h e i r w o rd s . A ll
fa ilu r e of such p r o p o s a ls , th e a u th o rs th e e le m e n ts t h a t p ro u id e e v id e n c e o f t h e ir
attem pt to p r o v id e b elo w a fo r m u la t io n t h a t t r u t h f u l n e s s and a b i l i t y w i l l be ta k e n in to
in o u r judgm ent i s more s a t i s f a c t o r y . We c o n s i d e r a t io n : d e p e n d a b i li t y , in t e lle c t u a l
have re s o lv e d th e d ilem m a b etw een th e e x h a u s ­ le v e l, in t e r p e r s o n a l r e la t io n s h ip , p a rtn e r­
t iv e o r s o p h is t ic a t e d and th e p r a c t i c a l o r s h ip u e rs u s l o n e l in e s s i n m u l t i p l e w it n e s s
im m ediately u s e f u l by g iv i n g g r e a t e r v a lu e to c a s e s , c o n d it io n s f o r f a b r ic a t io n , m a t u r it y ,
the se c o n d . A f t e r a l l , w h at i s th e a d va n ta g e e tc . These a re e le m e n ts t h a t ca n c e r t a i n l y
to q u a n t if y in g a la r g e s c o r e o f d e t a i l s i f , be e x t r a c t e d from m ost i n v e s t i g a t i o n s . We
in th e e n d , e ve n th e b e s t r e p o r t s p ro v id e m a in t a in t h a t t h e r e a re s i x e le m e n ts w h ic h
only h a l f o f them? We t h in k t h a t i t i s much a r e th e p rim a r y o n es i n a n y UFO s i g h t in g i n
b e tt e r to ta k e i n t o a c c o u n t th o se d a ta w h ic h re g a r d to i t s r e lia b ilit y and th e y a re
are both o u ts ta n d in g fo r t h i s p u rp o se and e x p re s s e d i n T a b le I I , i n a d e c r e a s in g o r d e r
o f im p o rta n c e .

T a b le 11

Components o f th e R e l i a b i l i t y In d e x ( /7~ f )

R e la t iv e
Number E le m e n t v a lu e
(n ) u> u )

1 Number o f w it n e s s e s 0 .2 5

2 P r o f e s s io n / o c c u p a t io n o f w it n e s s 0.20
3 R e l a t i o n b etw een w it n e s s e s 0 .1 5

A G e o g ra p h ic r e l a t i o n 0 .1 5

5 A c t i u i t y a t th e tim e o f th e s ig h t in g 0 .1 5

b A g e 'o f th e w it n e s s e s 0.10

TOTAL 1.00
 180 BiH«uer-Gu4%(>

Tne fo rm u la f o r th e R e l i a b i l i t y
-rf . ■ c6 (e x i >
n3!
o r , e x p re s s e d i n a d e v e lo p e d w a y ,
In d e x i s
E^ - G e o g ra p h ic r e l a t i o n b etw een w it n e s s e s
(when t h e r e a r e m u l t i p l e o b s e r v e r s , t h e i r
r e l a t i v e l o c a t i o n a f f e c t s th e c e r t a i n t y
o f th e e v e n t )

0.0 - unknown
TT - ( E l x 0 . 2 5 ) + ( E 2x 0 . 2 0 ) + E 3x 0 . i 5 ) + ( E 4x 0 . l 5 ) + 0 .5 - t o g e t h e r ; a l s o a p p l i e s when t h e r e
i s a s i n g l e w it n e s s
( E 5x 0 . 1 5 ) + ( E 0 x 0 . 1 0 ) 1.0 - in d e p e n d e n t ( s e p a r a t e )

The v a lu e s t r ia t th e s u c c e s s i v e e le m e n ts £5 - A c t i v i t y a t th e tim e o f th e s ig h t in g
E n (n *1 6
............. ) c a n ta k e a r e d e f in e d a s (m e a s u re s th e o p p o r t u n it y f o r a h o a x )
f o l lo w s :
0.0 - n o t s p e c if ie d
£ j - Number o f w it n e s s e s ( a s ig h t in g i s 0 . 3 - r e c r e a t io n a ‘ 1 a c t i v i t y ( w a lk , r e s t ,
more b e l ie v a b l e i t i t h a s mure w i t n e s s e s ) o u t in g , h u n t in g , s p o r t , a t home,
on v a c a t io n , e t c . )
0.0 - none or unknown 0.6 - t r a v e l i n g (m o v in g , by any m eans)
0 .3 - one ' 0.0 - c u lt u r a l or in t e lle c t u a l a c t iv it y
0.6 - two 1.0 - w o rk in g ( a t w o rk o r on th e way to
0 .7 * t h r e e to f i v e ; " s e v e r a l " o r fro m )
0 .9 - s i x to te n
10. - more th a n te n
E^ - Age o f th e w it n e s s e s ( i n d i c a t e s t h e i r
d e g re e o f m a t u r it y and th e v a l i d i t y o f
t h e i r t e s t im o n y , b a se d on t h e i r c a p a ­
E 2- P r o f e s s io n o r o c c u p a tio n o f th e w i t ­
b ilit y )
n e s s e s ( i n d i c a t e s t h e i r l e v e l o f jo b •
r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , fro m w h ic h c a n be i n ­
1 0.0 - unknown
t e r r e d a m easure of t h e i r d u p e n d a b i i l y U .2 - u n der 10 y e a r s
or o v e r 75 y e a r s
o r s o c ia l s ta tu s )
0 .4 - b etw ee n 10 and 17 y e a rs
U .6 - b etw een 18 and 34 y e a rs
O .b - b etw ee n 66 and
O.'O - n o t s p e c i f i e d ,
74 y e a rs
0 .3 - stu d e n ts
1 .0 - b etw een 35 and 64 y e a rs
0.6 - l a b o r e r s , f a r m e r s , and h o u s e w iv e s
0.6 - u n iv e r s it y stu d e n ts
0 . 7 - t r a d e r s , b u s in e s s m e n , e m p lo y e e s , and
I n th e c a s e o f m u l t i p l e w i t n e s s e s , f o r £2
a r tis ts
0 .9 - t e c h n i c ia n s , p o l i c e , and p i l o t s
(p ro fe s s io n ) and £6 (a g e ) th e v a lu e s a re
1.0 - u n i v e r s i t y g ra d u a te s and m i l i t a r y
ta k e n from th e w it n e s s e s
h ig h e r a b s o lu t e v a lu e .
who p ro v id e the
p e rs o n n e l
The ra n g e o f , th e re fo re , i s from 0 .0
( t h e m inim um , when no d a ta a r e a v a i l a b l e ) to
E^ - R e l a t i o n b etw een w it n e s s e s ( p r o v id e s
i n d ic a t i o n o f th e t h e o r e t i c a l te n d en cy
1.0 (th e maximum, th e t h e o r e t i c a l l y optimum
s i t u a t i o n ) , and i t s v a lu e s c a n be t e n t a t i v e l y
to g e n e ra t e a ho ax t o g e t h e r , b a se d on
t u b u la t e d l i k e t h i s :
th e d i f f e r e n t ty p e s u f t i e s betw een- them )

0.0 - unknown Up to 0 .4 - low r e l i a b i l i t y — t h e r e i s not

eruDugh l e v e l o f c o n f id e n c e ,
0 . 3 - f r ie n d s
O .b - f a m i ly r e l a t i o n s h i p ; a l s o a p p l i e s m a in ly due to th e a b se n c e o f
to c a s e s w it h a s i n g l e w it n e s s s i g n i f i c a n t d a ta
0 .5 to 0 .6 - n o rm a l r e l i a b i l i t y l e v e l - -
O .b - p r o f e s s io n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p
1.0 - no r e la t io n s h i p t h e r e i s a b a s i s to s t a t e
t h a t th e te s t im o n y i s v a l i d
0 .7 to 1 .0 - e x c e lle n t r e l i a b i l i t y
 181
(TOC. Of 1981 CUfOS Conf.

D e f i n i t i o n n f th e C e r t a i n t y In d e x
The a v e ra g e v a lu e f o r i s 1 2 . 5 w h ic h
H avin g now e s t a b l is h e d th e t h r e e i n d ic e s e q u a ls th e m u l t i p l i c a t i o n of th r e e f a c t o r s o f
th at n u m e r ic a lly d e f in e th e q u a l i t y o f th e 0 .5 . A c e r t a in t y v a lu e w h ic h i s lo w e r th a n
in fo rm a tio n , th e s tr a n g e n e s s o f th e e x p e r i ­ t h i s c a n be c o n s id e r e d a s c r i t i c a l , a s to i t s
ence, and th e r e l i a b i l i t y of th e w i t n e s s , i t p o t e n t ia l s c i e n t i f i c v a li d it y c o n c e rn s .
seems l o g i c a l f o r u s to f i n a l l y a tte m p t to
combine them to d e v e lo p a f i n a l c o e f f ic ie n t We a r e c o n v in c e d t h a t we have d e v e lo p e d a
that i n d ic a t e s th e o v e r a ll d e g re e of re a s o n a b le m easurem ent o f th e s i g n i f i c a n c e of
c e r t a in t y e i t h e r f o r an i n d i v i d u a l e v e n t o r a UFO c a s e s , th ro u g h a s y s te m w h ic h i s b o th
group o f them (a s a m p lin g o f c a s e s o r a c a t a ­ co m p le x enough and u s a b le , and we hope t h a t ,
logue) . when th e s e c r i t e r i a a r e g e n e r a l l y a d o p te d ,
one more s te p w i l l h a ve been ta k e n on th e
We w i l l c a l l th e C e r t a i n t y In d e x ( d e s i g ­ lo n g ro ad to w ard s t a n d a r d i z a t io n of th e
nated by A ) th e m a th e m a tic a l v a lu e t h a t m ethods o f a n a ly z in g th e d a ta c o n t r ib u t e d by
re p re s e n ts th e m ost p r e c i s e and o b j e c t i v e th e prob lem o f u n id e n t i f i e d f l y i n g o b j e c t s ,
in fo rm a tio n t h a t th e i n v e s t i g a t o r r e l i e s on
fo r the v a l i d i t y and im p o rta n c e o f th e
phenomenon o b s e r v e d . The fo rm u la c o n t a in s C o p y r ig h t , V . J . B a l l e s t e r Olmos and M. G u a sp ,
the th re e a b o ve-m e n tio n e d f a c t o r s i n th e f o l ­ 1901 .
lowing r e la t io n s ! i ip •
A = <Qx£ x ff)
NOTE: The a u t h o r s a r e w i l l i n g to d is c u s s th e
p re se n t s t a n d a r d iz a t io n m ethod w it h o th e r
Then, A . re p re s e n ts a d e g re e o f c e r ­ re se a rc h e rs. The fo llo w in g a d d re s s s h o u ld be
ta in ty and i t i s re ad a s a p e r c e n t a g e , ( f o r u s e d to c o n t a c t u s :
example, 0 .2 5 w ould in d ic a t e t n a t t h e r e i s a
25
c e r t a in t y o f S L ) M r. V ic e n t e - J u a n B a l l e s t e r Olmos
G u a rd ia C i v i l , 9
The re a so n why A i s th e p ro d u c t o f th e V a l e n c ia-20
three f a c t o r s is o b v io u s : g iv e n th a t a l l S p a in
three in d ic e s a r e s t r ic t ly n e ce ssa ry to
e va lu a te th e c o n fid e n c e o f an e v e n t , when one
of them i s a b s o lu t e ly c e r t a i n ( v a lu e 1 ) , th e
formula sh o u ld be re d u c e d to th e r e l a t i o n s h i p
between th e o th e r tw o , a s th e " s u s p i c io n s " o f
the v a l i d i t y o f trie r e p o r t c a n th e n f a l l o n ly
to the re m a in in g o n e s . I n th e same m a n n e r,
when two f a c t o r s a t t a i n th e v a lu e o f 1 , th e re
w i l l be o n ly one p a ra m e te r a b le to c a s t doubt
on i t s c e r t a i n t y , w it h e q u a l to th e v a lu e
of t n is t h ir d in d e x . L i k e w i s e , i f o n ly one
of the f a c t o r s ta k e s th e v a lu e 0 , th e c e r t i ­
tude in d e x i s a u t o m a t ic a lly re d u c e d tu 0 ,
because i f any one u f th e th r e e com ponents i s
t o t a lly la c k in g in c re d e n c e , i t i s th e n a
complete w a s te o f tim e to e v a lu a t e th e
o t h e r s ." To s a t i s f y t h e s e r e q u ir e m e n t s , th e
three f a c t o r s a r e m u l t i p l i e d t o g e t h e r .'

a f o r e x a m p le , i f wo h a v e a n e x h a u s t iv e r e ­
port o f v e r y h ig h s tr a n g e n e s s com ing fro m an
in d iv id u a l who i s i n a m e n ta l h o s p i t a l , i t i s
no lo n g e r n e c e s s a r y to c o n t in u e w it h th e
e v a lu a tio n of i t s su p p o se d c e r t a i n t y . Or i f
an acco u n t w it h h ig h 51 and f f v a lu e s h a s
been o b ta in e d by h e a r s a y , i t i s a ls o u s e le s s
to t r y to a s s ig n i t a c e r t a i n t y in d e x .
 |ul]ekLcr-Cu«kp
182

REFEREN CES ;

1 . U . J . B a l l e s t e r Qlmos and M. G u a sp , " Q u a n t if i c a t io n o f th e Law o f

th e T im e s ," D a ta - N u t. V I , 6
, Ju n e 1 9 7 2 , 2 - 8 ; The UFO R e g is t e r ^
IU , 2 , 1 9 7 3 , 7 - I S ; S te n d o k , 1U, 1 A , Se p tem b er 1 9 7 3 , 7 -1 1 .

2 . U . J . B a l l e s t e r Olmos and ffl. G u a sp , L o s 0UNI5 y l a C ie n c ia (U FtlS

and S c ie n c e ) . B a r c e lo n a : P la z a 4 J a n e s , S . A . , 1 9 8 1 .

3. Thomas M. O ls e n , The R e fe r e n c e f o r O u ts ta n d in g UFO S ig h t in g

R e p o r t s , R id e ru o o d , M d .: UFO IR C , I n c . , 1 9 6 6 .

4 . J . A l le n H y n e k , The UFO E x p e r ie n c e . C h ic a g o : H enry R e g n e ry C o .,

1972. - “

5 . C la u d e P o h e r , E tu d e s s t a t t s t i q u e s p o r t a n t s u r1000
te m o iq n a q e s
d 'o fa s e ru a tL o n d 'U F O . P u b lis h e d by th e a u t h o r , T o u lo u s e , 1 9 7 2 ,
p e rs o n a l c o m m u n ic a tio n .

6. A l f r e d J . C o te J r . , "How C o lo ra d o C la s s e s U F O s ," I n d u s t r i a l
R e s e a r c h , A u g u st 1 9 6 8 , 2 7 - 2 8 .

7 . A lb e r t o A d e l l , lla n u a l d e l u f o lo g o . B a r c e lo n a : E d i t o r i a l 7 - 1 / 2
S .A ., 1979.

8. R o b e rto E . B a n c h s , E l t r a t a m ie n t o de l a in fo r m a c io n s o b re Q U N I5.
Bue no s A i r e s : C E F A I, u n d a te d .

9 . U . J . B a l l e s t e r Oimos and J . U a l l e e , "T y p e -1 Phenomena i n S p a in

and P o r t u g a l," F ly in g S a u c e r R e v ie w , 4 t h S p e c i a l I s s u e , A ug ust
1971 , 4 0 - 6 4 .

1 0 . U . J . B a l l e s t e r O lm o s, A C a ta lo g u e o f 200 Type I UFO E v e n t s in

S p a in and P o r t u g a l . E v a n s t o n , 1 1 1 .: C e n te r f o r UFO S t u d ie s , 1 9 7 6 .

1 1 . U . J . B a l i e s t e r Q lm o s, QUN15: e l fenomeno a t e r r i z a j e (u F Q s : The

L a n d in g Phenomenon) , B a r c e lo n a : P la z a 4 J a n e s , S . A . , 1 9 7 8 .
 'roc. Of IM1 CUfOS Cxk.I . 163

CAN IMAGERY EXPLAIN CERTAIN

U FO CLOSE ENCOUNTERS?

KEITH BASTERFIELD

It is F e b ru a r y 1976. The lo c a t io n i s He th e n th ro w s h i s c i g a r e t t e l i g h t e r a t her

H o b a rt, T a sm a n ia , and th e c a s e is one and s h e s t i r s . He y e l l s to h e r to p u t on the
in v e s t ig a t e d by Ja c k s o n and R o b e r ts ( 1 9 7 7 ) . l i g h t and she re a c h e s to do s o . The e n t i t i e s
A man and w i f e have r e t i r e d to bed f o r th e re a c t. One s t e p s t p to th e bedroom window
n ig h t . The w if e f a l l s a s le e p , le a v in g her w h ic h b u r s t s open i n an o ra n g e g lo w th ro u g h
husband to fiave a c i g a r e t t e . He p u ts o u t th e w h ic h a l l of th e e n t i t i e s th e n p a s s from
c ig a r e t t e , th en th e l i g h t , and i s ab o ut to go v ie w . The window r e t u r n s to n o rm a l and th e
to s le e p when i t h a p p e n s. event is o v e r. bihen q u e s t io n e d , th e w if e
says a l l she knows i s t h a t she woke up tc
He lo o k s to w ard th e doorway ^nd th e f i n d h e r husband s p e a k in g o u t ,
c lo se d door when s u d d e n ly th e d oo r seems to
get d a r k e r , and t h r e e fig u r e s e n te r r ig h t bias t h i s an a tte m p te d a b d u c t io n ?
through th e c lo s e d d o o r! They a r e t a l l e r th an
the doorway and j u s t w a lk r i g h t th ro u g h a s i f
th e re w ere n o th in g in t h e i r way a s th e y T h e re haue been s i m i l a r re p o rte d in s t a n c e s
advance to w ard trie b e d . e ls e w h e re o f n o c t u r n a l bedroom o b s e r v a t io n s .
bJebb (1 9 7 6 ) r e c o u n ts th e e v e n t w h ere an
One e n t i t y to th e man’ s r i g h t h o ld s a A m erica n m ale awoke to a room l i t up w it h a
s i l v e r , g lo w in g bag i n i t s hand s. A n o th e r b r i g h t o r a n g e - re d g lo w . T h re e hu m ano ids w ere
COHes up b e s id e h i s bed and p u t s o u t a hand seen to " m a t e r i a l i z e . " They had b a ld h e a d s ,
g r a y is h - w h it e w r in k le d s k in , and rounded
Luwaid h im . Itiu y tk jve no d i s t i n g u i s h in g
e a rs. The man p a ss e d o u t , o n ly to come to on
f e a t u r e s , no n o s e , mouth n o r e y e s v i s i b l e and
th e f l o o r u n a b le to m ove. The e n t i t i e s
a re b la c k . A fte r one e n t i t y p u ts i t s hands
on th e n a n 's l e g , th e le g goes numb a l l th e exam in ed him w it h an o v a l o b je c t w h ic h showe
way to tfie w a i s t . A seco n d comes up w it h the th e b ones o f h i s l e g . S h o r t ly a f t e r t h a t he
bag and seems to p u t i t u n der th e b e d c lo th e s p a ss e d o u t a g a in .
sonlelwju. Trie nan d o e s n ’ t know w h e th e r th e bed
i s e» c lo s e d in it , but tb e b e d c lo th e s L o re n z e n (1 9 7 7 ) d e s c r ib e d an i n c id e n t i n
Ju n e 1977 in w h ic h a la d y r e t i r e d to bed a t
c e r t a in ly a r e . Ih e e n t i t i e s s t a r t to s l i d e
1 1 :3 0 pm. A t ab o ut 1 1 :5 5 she aw o ke, f e l t
the bag up o v e r h i s b o d y, and th e y g e t i t up
p a r a ly z e d , and c o u ld n e it h e r sp e ak n o r move.
to h i s w a i s t - '
L a t e r she r e c a ll e d t h a t a b e in g a b d u cte d h e r ,
took h e r in to a "ch a m b er" w here she was
bjhen one c r e a t u r e moves to w ard h i s w i f e ,
m e d ic a lly e x a m in e d . D u rin g t h is she
the rticin s p e a k s to t ie r b u t g e t s no re p u n s e .
 184
reiterated her desire to go hotno and she came
to sitting up in tier bed. The time was 1:5?
a .m .
Were these real physical abductions? 1
don't believe they were.
Recently, Peter B.C. Fenwick, a London
psychiatrist and neurophysiologist, and
nor ton S c hut 2man (1980) conducted laboratory
experiments with a woman who claimed to see
an apparition that looked as real to her as
any living person did. These appartitions
obstructed her view just as real people would
do, yet no one else was able to see them.
Laboratory tests showed that she was able
to create what to her was an opparitional
figure at will, blocking a black and white
checkerboard screen slewing a reversing
pattern. Her brain wave patterns were
monitored with an ££G machine and showed that
her mind didn't register the pattern on the
screen when she said that an apparition was
blocking off her view of the screen, Just as
would be the case if a real person stood
between her and the screen, her brain behaved
just as yours and mine would had we had the
screen obstructed by another person, yet
there was nothing physically interposed
between tier mind and the reversing pattern.
Tests showed that the blocking of the
pattern occurred after light had been
normally registered by her retina? It is
thought that her mind somehow was responsible
for creating the image. 5ne was also found
to be able to block noise, so that even
though there was a Loud noise going, tier
brain waves just didn't register it.
What, may you ask, have these two items in
common? 1 believe they niay well be related,
lo fully outline why, we must look at some
backgiuund against which to set an
hypothesis--the image hypothesis: an idea
that may well explain percipients' observa­
tions in terms of a known psychological
process, namely hypnagogic and hypnopompic
imagery.
Thu naming of hypnagogic imagery is
attributed to Alfred haury, the French dream
investigator who perceived in 1040 "faces" in
the dark, in tr.e interface between wakeful­
ness and sleep. The term hypnopampic was
first used by flyers in 1903 to describe
iniagery occurring botween sleeping and
•merit* 14
waking. HcKellar (1972) reports encountering
individuals utv> reported remarkably similar
imagery unlcfi occurred when they ware fully
awake. -
The imagery content is visual or auditory
in tte main, but may also include sensations
of teat/cold, smell or touch. They may be
reproductions of the events of the day or
strange, bizarre images of pleasing or
frightening proportions. Little control
seems to be able to be exerted over their
appearance, aid thus a person could be easily
frightened by their sudden onset. Reality
and images of this kind can be readily
confused. One of the most basic auditory
images is that of hearing one's name called.
"You may recall instances where, sleeping or
dozing while waiting for a morning call to
breakfast, you hear your name called and
obediently trot into the kitchen only to find
a half-cooked breakfast and a puzzled chef.
Visual images range from simple patches of
color to integrated and complex scenes.
Objects can be "strange" or noticed from an
unusual angle with sometimes an unusual
clarity of detail being noted. Durations
range from seconds to minutes. Persons
experiencing these images comment on the
tsiusual intensity of color and lighting,
using such phrases as "strange luminosity"
and "glow of the sen."
Surveys which have been conducted lead to
speculation that such imagery is experienced
by all but denied by same as some deny having
dreams. The incidence of imagery among the
population has been found to range from 50 to
70S, with events occurring to a number either
nightly or regularly experienced on at least
half the nights.
As an example of just how "real" these
events can be, an instance quoted by ftcKelUr
(1968) is of note. A young couple had a
routine of the wife getting breakfast ready
for her husband and then seeing him off to
work. One morning she recalled getting out
of bed, washing, dressing, getting breakfast,
and then kissing her husband goodbye. At
this point she "woke 14)" still in bed, to
find her husband kissing her goodbye. She
had been asleep in bed all that time.
Green and McCreery (1975) related what
they called type two awakonings where we find
people awakening normally to find themselves
 trot, of 19£1 CufOS Cwif. 185

in b ed. The s u r ro u n d in g s a t f i r s t a p p e a r bedroom window a s i f a "m o vie s c r e e n had been

normal b ut th en become u n u s u a l o r u n ca n n y. u n r o lle d ." The s c e n e seemed v e r y b r i g h t ,
A l t e r n a t i v e l y th e y may awake iiim e d ia t e ly to a l i k e d a y l i g h t , and th e e n t i t y was r e v e a le d in
s tre s s e d o r s to n n y fe e iin q . In e i t h e r c a s e , m in u te d e t a i l b e c a u se o f t h i s u n u s u a l lig h t ­
they may e x p e r ie n c e f e a r , p a n ic o r a n h a l l u ­ in g . The m ale f i g u r e seemed to be ta k in g
c in a t io n o r a p p a r it i o r ia l e f f e c t s . T h is may " p lw t o g r a p h s ," th e n a d van ce d to w ard th e b e d ­
a lso be accom pan ied by a see m ing p a r a l y s i s o f room w ind o w . The la d y wanted to sp e ak to the
*1
the body o r a n " u u t o f th e body e x p e r ie n c e . f i g u r e b u t found s h e c o u ld n o t . She s lip p e d
To an o u t s id e o b s e r v e r , th e p e r c i p ie n t would down i n t o bed and f e l l a s le e p . No t r a c e s
appear a s le e p , ly in g w it h e y e s c lo s e d . w ere fo u n d . ( B u r f o r d 1 9 60)
O c c a s io n a lly ty p e two a w a k e n in g s a r e s im p ly
the s e n s a t io n of a w a k e n in g , th e n r e a l l y S a n d fo r d , T a s m a n ia , 1978 '
aw akening. .
A w akening due to a dog b a r k in g , a woman
A ft e r re a d in g th e r e le v a n t p s y c h o lo g ic a l ro s e a t 1 1 :3 0 p .m . and lo o ke d o u t o f th e
l i t e r a t u r e , I t a lk e d to some o f my a c q u a in ­ w ind o w . She n o t ic e d a "d o o rw a y" o f w h it e
tan ce s and found t h a t t h e r e w e re a few who l i g h t u u t on th e ro u g h , f r o n t d r iv e w a y . It
r e c a lle d s i m i l a r e x p e r ie n c e s . was d a rk e v e ry w h e re e l s e e x c e p t th ro u g h th e
d o o r. Through i t she c o u ld see th e d r i v e a s
One man r e c a ll e d an e x tr e m e ly v i v i d event if it were d a y l i g h t . A g o ld e n g lo w s p re a d
which o c c u r re d when he was b o a rd in g w it h from th e d oor and b o th went o u t i n s t a n t l y .
another man in a ho use i n th e same room. He No t r a c e s w ere fo u n d . (T llF Q lC , 1 9 78)
had r e t i r e d to bed when he v ie w e d h i s f r ie n d
e n te r th e room w it h a b o t t le o f b e e r and and Iv y T a n k s . S o u th A u s t r a l i a , 1973
two g la s s e s . The f r ie n d p oured two g la s s e s
and s a t one down by h i s bed f o r him to d r i n k . A la d y was t r a v e l i n g a s a p a sse n g er in a
A ft e r a w h ile he re a c h e d f o r the b e e r , o n ly s e m i - t r a i l e r , and d e c id e d to go to s le e p a t 2
to fin d n o th in g t h e r e . He tu rn e d to h i s a .m . About 3 a .m . she waked and h e a rd a warm
fr ie n d to a s k where th e b e e r w a s . The m ale v o ic e t e l l i n g h e r to lo o k o u t o f th e
f r ie n d 's r e p ly w as t h a t t h e r e w as no b e e r , window a f t e r i t had c a l l e d h e r by h e r fir s t
arid th a t he ( t h e f r i e n d ) had e n te re d th e room nam e. By th e s id e o f th e ro a d she saw an
and p re p are d f o r b e d , n o t ic in g th e man i n bed e g g -shap ed o b je c t s u rro u n d e d by a " f o r c e
a p p a re n tly a s le e p , who had th e n waked up arid f ie ld ." The e n t i r e t h in g was a l i g h t w it h a
s tr a n g e ly aske d w h ere was h i s b e e r. The w h it e glow w h ic h seemed to come from a l l o v e r
i n i t i a l e v e n t c o u ld n o t be d is t in g u is h e d from and i n s id e i t . She f e e l s t h a t th e o v a l may
r e a lit y . haue been s e m i- t r a n s p a r e n t . T h is illu m in a ­
t i o n was so good she was a t a l o s s to com pare
A la d y d e s c rib e d how she awoke one m orning i t , b o th c o lo r and g lo w , w it h a n y t h in g she
in l a t e O cto b e r o f t h i s y e a r to f in d a h a i r y c o u ld t h in k o f . A lth o u g h th e v ie w in g tim e
m o n ste r, t y p ic a l o f th e "Y o w ie " v a r i e t y , was s h o r t (S s e c o n d s ), much d e t a i l was n o te d .
s ta n d in g s id e o n , i n tn e doorway to h e r bed­ Two f i g u r e s w e re a s s o c ia t e d w it h th e o b j e c t .
room. I t s f e e t w ere n o te d to be hu g e , ob long The "fo rc e fie ld " d ie d down in an
w ith no t o e s . The f u r was d a rk b ro w n , rough in e x p lic a b le m anner. She woke up f e e l i n g
and tu ss e d a b o u t. The o b s e r v a t io n was f r e s h and upon q u e s t io n in g th e d r i v e r fo und
c a r r ie d o u t i n b ro ad d a y l ig h t a t c lo s e rang e t h a t he had n o t waked h e r , c a l l e d h e r name,
arid p re s e n te d i t s e l f aj> a f i r m , th re e - d im e n ­ o r i n f a c t had see n a n y t h in g u n u s u a l a t a l l .
s io n a l image t h a t c o u ld n 't be see n th ro u g h . ( B a s t e r f i e l d and G o d ic , 1 9 74)
Suddenly th e m o n ste r j u s t d is a p p e a re d on the
s p o t. ‘ F r a n k s t o n , V i c t o r i a , 1972
W h ile d r i v i n g home, a 3 7 - y e a r - o ld h o u s e ­
L e t u s now e xam in e a few re p o rte d UFO w if e e n c o u n te re d a la r g e s ilv e r - b lu e
e v e n ts w h ic h h a v e e x t r e m e ly s im ila r c h a ra c ­ ir id e s c e n t o b je c t h o v e rin g o v e r h e r c a r .
t e r i s t i c s to im age e v e n t s . T w e n ty-tw o d a y s l a t e r th e same o r a s i m i l a r
o b je c t ap p e a re d o v e r h e r c a r a t th e same
CumCreek, South Australia, 1964 lo c a t io n . S u d d e n ly th e c a r ' s e n g in e c u t t o f f
and c o u ld n 't be r e s t a r t e d . She t r i e d th e
A f a r m e r 's w i f e , l y i n g awake a t 2 a . m ., s t e e r i n g w h e e l, pumped th e b r a k e , and changed
n o tic e d a f i g u r e s u d d e n ly a p p e a r o u t s id e th e g e a r, a l l to no a v a i l . The c a r " c o n t r o ll e d
 186 ■liter! Ir)d

i t s e l f " to th e s id e o f th e ro ad and s to p p e d . One can c o lle c t d o ze n s of re p o rts

A l l sound " d r a in e d o u t" o f th e a i r and she i n c lu d in g a b d u c t io n c a s e s w h ere th e d e t a i l s
was g iv e n t h r e e m e s s a g e s . The e n g in e th e n r e p o r t e d c o n t a in th e e s s e n t i a l i n d i c a t i o n s o f
s ta rte d it s e lf and sh e d ro v e to a p o l ic e b e in g some fo rm of im a g e ry . I w ould
s t a t io n to r e p o r t th e in c id e n t . L a te r a th e re fo re su g g e st th a t c e r t a in re p o rts or a
m en ta l m essage t o ld h e r to go back to th e c e r t a in c la s s of re p o rts p a r a lle l known
s c e n e . Un th e w a y , a "m an" n i a t e r i a l i z e d , th e n e x a m p le s o f im a g e ry in s t y le and fo r m a t,
d e m a t e r ia liz e d i n s id e h e r c a r . a lth o u g h n o t i n c o n t e n t . One r e c e n t l y i n v e s ­
t ig a t e d E n g li s h c a s e i s p a r t ic u la r ly illu m i­
M e e tin g two o t h e r p e o p le a t the s p o t sh e n a t in g i n t h i s r e g a r d . .
a g a in saw t h i s . "m a n ," th e n la p s e d in to
A g ir l, aged n in e at th e tim e o f th e
u n c o n s c io u s n e s s . L J h ile p h y s i c a l l y in ttie
e v e n ts in 1976, r e p o r t e d ly had a lo n g
p re s e n c e o f two p e o p le who saw none o f t h i s ,
sh e d e s c r ib e d b e in g ta k e n i n s id e a "ro o m .” d u r a t io n d a y l ig h t e n c o u n te r w i t h a la n d e d
T h e re w as no v i s i b l e s ig n o f i l l u m i n a t i o n , o b je c t and a s s o c ia t e d e n tity (R a n d ie s and
y e t th e room was w e ll lit . She th e n U h e t n a ll , 1 9 7 0 ). She o n ly t o ld h e r m other
re c o v e re d in s id e th e c a r . O th e r odd " p s y c h ic - a b o u t i t i n M a rc h , 1 9 7 8 , and s in c e t h a t d a te
s t y l e " e v e n t s o c c u r re d to h e r aro u n d t h i s c la im e d s e v e r a l o t h e r e x p e r ie n c e s in c lu d in g
t im e , e .g ., v o ic e s in th e h e a d . She was " p s y c h ic - s t y le " e v e n ts . D u r in g one e x p e r i ­
re g a rd e d a s a n o rm al h e a lt h y p e rs o n by th o s e e n c e she was a c t u a l l y w it n e s s e d m id - c o n ta c t
who knew h e r . ( L i t t l e and S t a p le t o n , 1 9 7 2 ) by h e r m o th e r. She was i n a t r a n c e - l i k e
s le e p ! The i n v e s t i g a t o r s c o m re n te d , "T h e re i s
boyup b ro o k , W e s te rn A u s t r i a ! i n , 1967 c o n s e q u e n tly e ve ry re a s o n to assum e th a t
th e s e e x p e r ie n c e s w ere n o t o b j e c t i v e l y r e a l . "
A man was d r i v i n g a lo n e a t 9 :3 0 p .m . d o in g
a s te a d y 100 k m / h r. S u d d e n ly he became aw are In sum m ary, I b e l ie v e t h a t we may be
o f th e a p p ro a c h o f a lig h t e d o b je c t from tlie r e s e a r c h in g r e p o r t s fro m p e o p le who a r e a b le
a ir . The c a r w as im m e d ia te ly "s to p p e d dead" to g e n e ra t e im a g e ry u t i l i z i n g a b a ck g ro u n d o f
and a ll e le c t r ic a l s y s te m s ceased to t e r r e s t ia i lo r e , in th e same m anner a s F e n ­
fu n c t io n . T h e re was no fe e lin g of w ic k and S chatzm an fo u n d i n la b o r a t o r y e x p e r ­
d e c e le r a t io n a t a l l . L o o k in g u p , he re p o rte d im e n t s . An a n a l y t i c a l / i a b o r a t o r y a p p ro a c h
s e e in g a n i r i d e s c e n t b lu e o v a l o v e r th e c a r c o u ld w e l l be ta k e n w it h c a s e s w h ic h a p p e a r
w it h a tu be o f l i g h t e x te n d in g down iq t o the to have c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f im a g e ry . A p sy­
c a r. A f t e r an e s t im a t e d f i v e m in u t e s , th e c h o lo g ic a l i n t e r v ie w c o n c e n t r a t in g on th e
o b je c t l e f t and he fo und h im s e lf t r a v e l i n g s ie e p in g / d r e a m p a t t e r n s o f a p e rs o n r e p o r t in g
a lo n g a t 10 Q km /h r a g a in w it h a i l s y s te m s s u c h an e v e n t w ould c e r t a i n l y a s s is t to
w o rk in g and no fe e lin g o f a c c e le r a t io n . c l a r i f y w h e th e r o r n o t th e im a g e ry h y p o t h e s is
(Z e c h , 1967) *1 5
3
2 i s a v a lid one.

REFERENCES

1 . P . Ja c k s o n and K . R o b e r t s , p e r s o n a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f th e c a s e
by T U FQ IC , 1 9 7 7 . #

2 . D . U ebtj, " 1 9 7 3 , The Y e a r o f th e H u m a n o id s ," CUFOS. C h ic a g o , 1 9 7 6 .

3 . C . L o r e n z e n , APRO G u l l e t i n , Nou 1 9 7 7 , u o i 2 6 , n o . 5 , p p . 1 - 2 .

A . P . B . C . F e n u ic k and l»l. S c h a tzm a n , Om ni. Ju n e I 9 6 0 , p p . 2A and 1 1 0 .

5 . P . P lc K e i l a r , "T h e F u n c t io n and N a tu re o f Im a g e r y ," e d . , P .

Sheenham . Neu Y o r k : A cad em ic P r e s s , 1 9 7 2 .
Proc. of 1961 CUFOS Conf. 187

6. P . fO c K e lla r , E x p e r ie n c e and B e h a v io u r . Ham m ondsworth: P e n g u in ,

1960.

7 . C . G re e n a n d C . P lc C re e r y , A p p a r i t i o n s . Lo n d o n : H am ish H a m ilto n ,
1975.

0 . J . O u r f o r d , p e r s o n a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f th e c a s e , 1 9 6 0 . U n p u b lis h e d
n o te s. .

9. TLJFO IC, P . 0 . Box 9 9 , N o rth H o b a rt , T a sm a n ia 7 0 0 0 .

1 0 . K . B a s t e r f i e l d and C . G o d ic , p e r s o n a l i n t e r v ie w w it h the
p e r c i p i e n t , 19 7 4 .

11. G. L it t le and W, S t a p l e t o n , p e r s o n a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s . U n p u b lis h e d

report.
1 2 . P . Z e c h , " E n e rg y beam s t a l l s c a r i n th e W e s t ," A u s t r a l i a n F l y i n g
S a u c e r R e v ie w , n o . 0 , p . 1 0 .

1 3 . J . H a n d le s and A . U h e t n a ll , " I n v e s t i g a t i o n , " v o l , 1 , n o . 1 , p p .

1 2 -1 5 ; a ls o fS R , v o l. 2 5 , n o s. 3 & 4 .
 \

188
Proc. of l«#ei euros Conf.
U FO M ANEUVERS AND RADIATION:
A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
ALAN HOLT
Introduction
The human race stands on the threshold of a
great adventure. W e are poised at the gateway
to a vastly greater understanding of the uni­
verse and our position in it. The differences
between men and women which we perceive in our
assessment of world events may soon greatly
diminish with the discovery of a much grander
scale of events which our civilization nowonly
dimly perceives.
In an attempt to contribute to this wave of
human evolution, the author has developed a
theoretical model of space-time interactions
which provides an opportunity for extensive
experimental evaluation and early applications
in advanced propulsion, energy, and other
systems. The perspective provided by this
model is, as a minimum, unique. Thus, while it
remains for the present in the same status as
many theoretical models (experimentally un­
confirmed), it may be interesting to test its
usefulness in the analysis of UFO phenomena.
In particular, since the model is not bound by
linear approximations, it has the potential of
describing not only highly non-linear interac­
tions among fundamentai energy forms, but can
also reflect reasoning processes which are
predominately highly non-linear in character.
For example, nuclear physicists use the
properties of virtual particles to explain the
189
nature of particles and interactions detect
able in space-time reference frames, but we
have difficulty recognizing the casual rela­
tionships which govern the transference of
particles from the virtual to the space-time
state and vice versa. The transference is a
highly non-linear effect which can be thor­
oughly understood only if our reasoning pro­
cesses have a real ity base of highly non-1 inear
interactions rather than the linear interac­
tions which make up most of our accepted human
experiences.
What kind of technology might a civiliza­
tion with a highly non-linear reasoning pro­
cess develop? Could such technology duplicate
the maneuverability and radiation character­
istics associated with UFOphenomena?
Theoretical & Technological Assessment Groups
The two groups of characteristics which
are most likely to provide clues to the causes
of UFO phenomena are the maneuverability and
radiation characteristics. While it is a very
rare case which provides extensive and accur­
ate data for these characteristic groupings,
almost every UFO observation of significant
merit provides some data. While it is not too
difficult to explain the maneuverability and
radiation characteristics of one encounter by
references to potential physical processes and
projected developments in physics, it is very

190
difficult to find physical processes and theo­
retical projections which can describe groups
of UFOencounters.
For the moment, let us assume that the
great majority of significant UFO encounters
represent the results of the interaction be­
tween members of our civilization and civili­
zations whose technological capability exceeds
our own by various degrees. Then we can
attribute most of the maneuvers as being dem­
onstrations of the performance characteristics
of the air/space craft. Some of the maneuvers
and most of the reflected and emitted radiation
can be viewed as by-products of the "propul­
sion" systems. Can we then use the maneuver
and radiation characteristics of a particular
UFO encounter to categorize the degree of
technological capability required to duplicate
these characteristics?
Each UFO researcher would be expected to
have a personal view of the technological
advancement represented by a particular en­
counter, in some cases backed up by a credible
theoretical description. Based on the unified
field modulation theory developed by the au­
thor, several theoretical and technological
assessment groups have been identified which
can be used to broadly categorize the techno­
logy which may be responsible for a particular
UFO. At the same time, the categorization
reflects the depth of understanding which the
visiting civilization has of the physics of the
universe and the characteristics of that civi­
lization which differ from our own. Agreater
understanding of the physics of the universe is
assumed to be primarily dependent on a non­
linear evolution in reasoning and perceptual
abilities rather than on the magnitude and
extent of experimentation.
Elements of the unified field modulation
theory are discussed in publications descri­
bing the Field Resonance Propulsion Concept,
1*2 but the mathematical model has not yet been
published. Thus a detailed description of the
rationale for the groups defined below-will not
be given. However, the following suninary
description of the model should provide help­
ful insight into the logic used to identify the
groups.
The applications model developed for early
experimental testing approximates a highly
non-linear relationship between a seven-di­
mensional hyperspace or phase space and space­
HOlt
time. The energy interactions which occur in
space-time can be viewed as constituting a
subgroup of the group interactions defined by
the seven-dimensional phase space. Only a
portion of the group of energy interactions
actually manifest ;in the hyperspace. There
exists a “projective mapping- relationship
between space-time energy patterns and hyper­
space energy patterns (which, in effect, carry
the intelligence defining the characteristics
of space-time energy patterns). Thus, the
seven-dimensional hyperspace is fully mani­
fested only by a complete manifestation of
energy patterns in the four-dimensional space­
time which we are familiar with and perhaps by
manifestations in other four-dimensional phase
spaces.
The virtual, unmanifested hyperspace en­
ergy patterns determine the characteristics of
the fundamental forces manifesting in space­
time (gravitational, electromagnetic, and nu­
clear). All manifestations in the hyperspace
and space-time can be defined as energy cur­
rents which undergo continuous but highly non­
linear transformat ions between the seven- and
four-dimensional spaces. Unless the transfor­
mation is a highly coherent one, it will alter
the manifestation of all fundamental forces in
a localized or global region of space-time. It
is this coherence property and a specific
property of the non-linear transformation re­
lated to the rate of energy pattern change
which were used in the development of the
assessment groups.
The following assessment groups are pre­
sented without any detailed rationa1ization or
discussion. Each group represents a signifi­
cant step in technology development and a
different level of “maturity" in a civiliza­
tion’s understanding of the physics of the
universe.
Group A: Propulsive/Non-Propulsive
Combinat ions (Huelear/Electromagnetic
Gravitational Interactions)
0 KANEUVER CHARACTERISTICS
o Unstable, propulsive hovering
o Propulsive appearing plasma emissions
o Horizontal flight dominant mode--very
slow to high velocities, slow right
angle turns
o Occasionally high acceleration along
vertical or gravitational field
direction
Proc. of 19*1 CUFOS C
ant.
o RADIATIONEMISSIONS
o Broad-band electromagnetic radiation-­
some coherent EM
o Nuclear emissions--gamma rays, x-rays,
nuclear particles
o Coupled radiation--hydromagnetic and
gravimagnetic in spurious forms
Group B: Non-Propulsive (Electromagnetic-
GravitatTonal Interact ions)
o MANEUVER CHARACTERISTICS
o Unstable hovering--gyroscopic
oscillations
o High velocity horizontal flight-­
attitude changes with flight direction
changes, rapid right angle turns
o Extreme vertical accelerations--
acceleration capability decreases ’
with increase in angle from
gravitational fields
0 RADIATION EMISSIONS
o Coherent electromagnetic radiation-­
some incoherent EM
o Nuclear radiation very localized and
specific in type
o Coupled radiation--hydromagnetic and
gravimagnetic substantial, some
of the radiation coherent
o Some hyperfield effects ^ the potential technology in one group or ano­
Group C: Gravimagnetic/Space-Time Interactions
o MANEUVER CHARACTERISTICS
o Steady hovering
o Extreme horizontal and vertical
velocities, multiple (sequential)
right-angle turns at high velocity
o Extreme horizontal and vertical accele­
ration - greatest acceleration
observed within a small angle of
the gravitational field lines
o Abrupt disappearance and reappearance
at remote location (unusual
photographic effects )
o RADIATION EMISSIONS
o Highly coherent electromagnetic
radiation
o Nuclear emissions--some event-related
particle emission possible
191
o Coupled radiation--coherent
gravimagnetic harmonic
hydromagnetic radiation
o Hyperfield effects--extensive
Group J): Space-Time/Hyperfield Resonance
Interactions
o MANEUVERCHARACTERISTICS
o Steady hovering
o Abrupt disappearances and reappearances
over very small or very large
distances
o Occasional extreme velocities or
accelerations (horizontal/vertical)-
sequential, small space-time jumps
o RADIATION EMISSIONS
o Minimal coherent EMradiation
o Coupled radiation--highly coherent
gravimagnetic
o Coherent hyperfield effects
Group E: ?
Categorization of UFOClose Encounter Cases
Fewclose encounter cases provide suffi­
cient information about maneuver characteris­
tics and radiation emissions to clearly place
ther. In some cases the evidence supports a
mixture of characteristics associated with two
groups. In many other cases, however, certain
characteristics stand out making the case
unique and clearly indicative of phenomena
deviating from known and accepted laws of
physics. Three of these cases have been
selected for detailed examinations of their
maneuver and radiation characteristics and
assignment to one or more of the technology
assessment groups. In the process of discu­
ssing the assignment of these cases, it is hoped
that some of the rationale for the development
of the groups will be clarified.
Case 1
SYN0PSIS3
o Marine Corp Captain (Ret.), Meridian,
Miss., July 10. 1967. 5:50 p.m.
o UFOapparently caused car to stop and
radio to cease working
 Holt
192

o Large, cymbal-shaped object passed In sible or leave only a small residual change in
front of car 200-300 feet overhead, this group (energy pattern changes are not
object tilted, then accelerated sufficiently coherent to cause large-scale
rapidly, disappearing into low- permanent effects). It should be pointed out
flying clouds that the effects need not be destructive >n
o Size: side view--1ength of house, top character. ;
view--size of golf green The extreme wind noises could be caused by
MANEUVERS OBSERVED a type of gravitational vortex. Since the UFO
was otherwise silent, non-conventional wind
o Initially appeared to be crashing into movement was involved, implying a gravitation­
grove or line of trees several al or hydromagnetic effect. The difference in
hundred yards to left of location the color of the top and bottom sides could be
o Moved silently--no propulsion noises, due primarily to sun and viewing angle differ­
extreme wind noises discernible, ences, or it could “reflect" subtle atomic
no exhaust structural differences induced by the propul­
o Tilted upward, appearing to move to sion system. These characteristics are good
the immediate right examples of data which do not significantly
o Accelerated rapidly at an angle contribute to a group assignment decision or
almost straight up and disappeared which must be used in support of other criter­
into low-flying clouds ' ia.
o "Flight like darting of huitmingbird" The comment made by the observer concern­
ing "flight like the darting of the humming­
RAD IATIO N EFFEC TS
bird" could be interpreted to mean that man­
o Stopping of car engine and radio, euver characteristics similar to those des­
restarted after object disappeared, cribed in Group Cwere present. As the ability
car a minimum of 200 feet away to generate highly coherent energy pattern
o Extreme wind noises . changes increases, the ability to rapidly
o Underside a dirty metallic gray, accelerate without regard to the magnitude of
topside a deep metallic blue the direction change also increases. It is
possible that the technology which may be the
cause of the UFO is getting close to transi­
Case 1 describes an aerial phenomenon tioningused to a Group C, or the UFOmay be a local
which, if explained in terms of advanced tech­ craft
capabi1i ty.
by a civilization with Group C
nology, would be assigned to Group B. Group B
describes a technological capability effective
in achieving accelerated motion along gravita­ One final comment: When an observer re­
tional field lines which are generally verti­ ports that he or she initially believes the
cal at most locations on Earth. Changes in UFO will crash or has crashed because of its
flight direction to be followed by a rapid flight performance, it is a good indication
acceleration will, in general, be caused by that the deacceleration (and acceleration)
changes in energy configurations which are not capabilities involve a gravitational type ef­
of sufficient coherence {spatially and tempo­ fect. It is hard to conceive of a propulsion
rally) to achieve the desired result without an system that could cause an abrupt stop of an
accompanying spacecraft attitude change. object, which appears to have a velocity or
acceleration enough to make a conventional
Stopping of the car engine and radio are aircraft crash, without somehow interacting
indicative of radiative effects caused by with the gravitational or inertia fields.
coupled radiation, hydromagnetic or gravi-
magnetic, and possibly by what are called Case 2
hyperfield effects. These are effects which
may be triggered by electromagnetic and gravi- SYNOPSIS4
maanetic energy patterns but which can also
produce changes in the atomic and molecular o B-47 (six crew members) on gunnery and
structure or their interactions in nearby electronic counter-measures training
objects. The hyperfield effects can be rever­ mission
 81
Proc. of IS ruros 193

o Altitude, 30,000 feet. Gulf of Mexico/ mains along the vertical, however. The Group C
Texas, fall 1957, city 1ights/f1ares technology is capable of moving the spacecraft
observed below from one space-time point to another (hyper­
o Observed glowing source (“big as a space travel) which is the dominant character­
barn") visually and on ground and istic of this group. The capability to hover
onboard radar with an absolute steadiness is also related to
the space-time translocation capability. The
MANEUVERS OBSERVED precise energy pattern generation capability
allows the craft to maintain a near absolute
o White light initially crossed in front space-time reference with respect to the ob­
of plane at velocity much higher than server. To the observer it .sometimes appears
airplane speed or seems that the UFOis not fully a part of the
o UFOpaced B-47 at distances of 5 and 10 reality the observer is familiar with.
miles for an extended period
o Co-pilot and number two radar monitor The co-pilot and number two radar monitor
were “impressed by the sudden were impressed with the ability of the UFO to
disappearance and reappearance of disappear and reappear at a distant location
object" without leaving a radar trail between the two
points. While unusual field effects could be
- B-47 went to max speed crossing above used to explain the disappearance of visual and
UFOwhich subsequently disappeared radar signals and their abrupt reappearance,
from ground and onboard radar we can at least say that space-time jumps are a
- Pilot dove at UFOwhich had reap­ possibility.
peared at 15,000 feet below, and
as plane approached the apparently The radiation emissions at first glance
motionless UFO, the visual obser­ seem to be a mixed bag as far as Group C is
vation and radar signal return concerned. On the one hand, we have an
capabilities again were lost apparently coherent emission at 2800 MHz, and
(UFO disappeared again) on the other, white light emission and an
- UFOwent from right to left back to apparently non-coherent red glow. Unfortu­
right side of plane, leaving no nately, we usually do not observe radiation
radar trail emitted by the propulsion system which is not
modified by interaction with the atmosphere.
RADIATIONE F F E C T S , The fact that the white light was observed
while it was in rapid flight and the dull red
o White light emission at high velocity glow was observed while the UFOwas pacing the
and close range aircraft is perhaps an important indicator of
o “Huge steady red glow" at 10 miles the true character of the radiation emitted by
o Strong emission recorded at 2800 MHz-- the UFO. If the UFO is emitting a highly
did not emit at other frequencies coherent, highly energetic radiation pattern,
moni tored it would be expected that ionization would be
o UFOreflected radar waves at various generated around the UFO. If there is a
frequenc ies dependence between flight performance and the
o Radar emission (2800 MHz), visual EM, wavelength of the coherent EMradiation emit­
and radar reflections disappeared ted, then we might expect to see a white
abruptly and reappeared abruptly at ionization during a high velocity portion of
a different location the flight and a red ionization during a lower
performance portion (station keeping in this
Case 2 describes an aerial phenomenon case). The 2800 MHz radiation could be a
harmonic of the higher frequency radiation,
which, if explained in terms of advanced tech­ directly
nology, would be assigned to Group C. Group C generated or generated indirectly
encompasses a technology capable of generating through atmospheric effects.
energy patterns with a very high degree of
spatial and temporal coherence. Local gravi­ Group Ctechnology can also exhibit exten­
tational fields can be easily overcome leading sive coupled radiation (coherent gravimagnetic
to large accelerations both vertically and and harmonic hydromagnetic radiation) and ex­
horizontally. The greatest acceleration re­ tensive hyperfield effects. Some of the hy-
perfielp effects could have a strong, perma­

194
nent residual remnant in objects exposed to
the non-coherent in the space-time sense and
thus may be restricted to local areas around
the spacecraft. This characteristic of Group C
might explain why the UFOkept its distance in
the 5 - 1 0 mile range, risking only a quick
fiear encounter which would not seriously im­
pair aircraft systems.
At this point, it should be mentioned that
other UFOclose encounters do include radia­
tion effects which appear to be highly coherent
visually without any dramatic ionization ef­
fect to mask them. For example, very pure and
penetrating red or green colors have been
observed as well as highly coherent white light
(very penetrating white light). Perhaps the
distances involved with Case 2 masked the
coherence of the radiation some, or perhaps the
technology associated with the UFO had just
made the transition into Group Ccapabilities.
Group Dcapabilities are such that a continuous
flight path would not normally be observed.
Space-time jumps, even very small ones, would
be so easy that they would be the primary means
of transportation. Since the Case 2 UFOdid
buzz the plane and pace the plane for long
periods, a Group Dtechnology or civilization
appears not to be appropriate. It is true,
however, that a civilization with Group 0
capabilities could limit its capabilities to
Group C for specific purposes.
Case 3 ^ zontal flight, slow to moderately high velo­
SYNOPSIS5
o Vickie and Colby Landrum, Betty Cash,
traveling isolated road near Dayton,
Tex, December 29, 1980
o Diamond-shaped UFOemitting a plasma­
like flame from the bottom blocked
the road
o Object rose (flame emission stopped)
and was surrounded by 15 double and
single rotor helicopters which
"escorted11 the object as it moved
toward the southwest . tic/gravitational interactions are used, then
o UFOand helicopters were observed two
more times by the witnesses
o UFO and helicopters were noted by
additional witnesses
MANEUVERS OBSERVED •
o Steady, slow horizontal flight with
only siight hum
Holt
o Hovering with emissions of plasma
pulses moving UFOup and down
(propulsive-like effects), beeping
sounds
o Descended and ascended at a slow rate
RADIATION EFFECTS
o Very intense white light covering or
lighting up large area (while
hovering) .
o Intensity substantially decreased while
moving
o Rose-colored, flame-like plumes emitted
from bottom of diamond
o Car door handles heated beyond touch
temperature
o Car's interior atmosphere heated
o Car dash heated sufficiently to leave
permanent marks with pressure
o Observers suffered effects similar to
nuclear/microwave radiation
Case 3 describes an aerial phemenod which
if explained in terms of advanced technology
would be assigned to Group A. Characteristic of
this group is the use of nuclear/electromag-
netic gravitational interactions to nullify
the effects of Earth's gravity and the use of
propulsive systems for the horizontal portion
of the flight. Since the gravitational or
inertial fields are not manipulated for hori­
cities with slow right-angle turns would be
expected. Occasionally a high acceleration
along a vertical direction could be observed.
The energy patterns generated in this
group are sufficient only to accomplish the
basic gravitational field nullification and
occasional acceleration along the vertical.
Since the coherence of the patterns is compar­
atively low (as compared to Groups B and C),
the energy transformation process is basically
inefficient. If nuclear forces are directly
used, then nuclear byproducts in the radiative
emission would be expected. If electromagne-
extensive EMor hydromagnetic radiation might
be expected. Observation of a propulsive
plasma emission would be expected for propul­
sion purposes, or to discard the by-products to
avoid system breakdown.
The slow horizontal flight observed in
Case 3, the radiation effects suffered by the
two women and boy, the observation of propul­
Proc. of 1951 CuftiS Co«f.
sive plasma plumes, and the extreme heat gen­
erated in the car are consistent with Croup A
characteristics. The extreme heat may be
associated with generally incoherent microwave
radiation. The very intense white light ob­
served while hovering versus the much more
subdued lighting while traveling horizontally
leads one to the conclusion that excess EH
energy was being radiated at that point.
The diamond shape and the slight humheard
while the object was in horizontal f Iight could
tend to push the capabilities towards Group B.
If the horizontal flight does not use gravita­
tional field effects, a diamond shape would
seem to be detrimental to flight performance.
The slight hum heard does indicate that some
electromagnetic if not a gravitationa1 effect
may be involved. Perhaps an interaction with
Earth's magnetic field may be used in horizon­
tal propulsion.
Conclusion
We nowcome to the final question. Can the
technological assessment groups tell us any­
thing about the characteristics of the occu­
pants piloting the spacecraft and their civil­
ization?
If we take the spacecraft to be represen­
tative of the general understanding of the
physics of the universe which has been acquired
by the civilization, then the technology in­
ferred frommaneuver characteristics and radi­
ation effects can indeed be used to gain
insight into the ndture of their civilization.
For example, a Group Dcivilization has for
many years understood and worked with trans­
format ions between space-time and hyperspace
or other dimensional spaces. Their reasoning
processes and their learning experiences would
be expected to be quite different fromour own.
Yet if they recall their own early struggles as
an emerging civilization, they may feel an
obligation to be of help to a struggling
civilization such as Earth's.
AGroup C civilizotion, while having the
wisdom associated with space-time/hyperspace
195
transformat ions, could perhaps more readily
identify with mankind. Their reasoning pro­
cesses should have substantial similarities
with ours. Their perceptual abilities may have
evolved to a point where comnon use is made of
what we call extrasensory capabilities, but
their learning experiences could still be
largely centered on a space-time reference
frame similar to our own.
AGroup 8 civilization, -while not having
perfected space-time transformations, never­
theless would understand the basic physics
involved. The manipulation of gravitationa1
fields would enable this civilization to e­
volve away from many of the problems which
confront our current civil ization. In gen­
eral, working with hyperfield effects relating
the fundamental forces results in a unified
field theory which can be used to benefit all
aspects of a civilization. At the same time, a
Group 8 or C civilization need not have a
similar range of emotions nor the same value
structure as we do. W e should have no diffi­
culty in communicating with a Group Bcivili­
zation, however.
AGroup Acivilization is one striving to
overcome the limitations seemingly imposed by
space and time, but lacking a coherent view of
the relationships between space-time, hyper­
spatial transformations, and the fundamental
forces. A partial understanding is used to
develop some capabilities. Without a space­
time jump capability or a ride with someone
else, it would appear to be very uniikely that
we would experience many visitors of this type.
Group Acould be used to describe the advanced
research sector of our current civilization on
Earth.
As we proceed with our own experimental
research relating to the interactions between
space-time and hyperspatial energy patterns,
we will refine the technological groups which
have been presented. As a result, wemay learn
more about the diplomacy we should use in our
contacts with visitors from other civiliza­
tions.
 References

1. Holt, A.C., "Prospects for a Breakthrough in Field Dependent Propulsion,"

AIAA-80-1P33, AIAA/SAE/ASME 16th Joint Propulsion Conference, July 1, 1980,
Hartford, Conn.
2. Holt, A.C., "Hydromagnetics and Future Propulsion Systems," AIAA Student
Journal, Spring, 1980.
3. Project Blue Book, United States Air Force.
4. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, Daniel S. Gillmor, editor;
AFt)$R, United Slates’Xir Force Contract F4460-67-C-0035, Bantam Books, 1969.
5. Project VISIT, Inc. Case Investigation {see paper by John Schuessler in CtlFOS
Conference Proceedings, 1981).
PfK. bt I M l Cl# 05 Qt*(. 197

ARE WE ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?

JOAN JEFFERS

Far 34 years we have been collecting data nost investigators pay little attention to
from reports of unidentified flying oojects, the puzzling paranormal aspects of a UFQ
and are little closer to a solution in report, noting only that they have been
Septenber 1901 than we were in September reported before. Perhaps we are not delving
1947. Uie attribute this failure to lack of deep enough. Dr. Hynek suggests that we nust
funds, lack of trained investigators, lack of not disregard the paradoxical behavior of
interest on the part of the majority of UFOs, nor the paranormal aspects reported by
scientists, lack of cooperation from witnesses (Hynek, 1901). Instead of
government agencies. Ue look through piles dismissing the psychic aspects, we should be
of reports of sightings and wonder what UFOs studying them. Every investigator should be
are trying to tell us, or whether there is a aware of the work dona in psychical research.
lack of cooperation from the phenomenon as To learn if the paranormal aspects contain a
well. But--are we asking the right questions? message, we must learn what questions are the
right ones to ask.
Lie s tu d y r e p o r t s o f th e b e h a v io r o f UFDs
fo r c l u e s . UJe s c r u t i n i z e c la im s o f a b d u c tio n s Is Anyone Looking for a Wessaqe?
o f humans by UFO o c c u p a n ts f o r c o n c r e te c lu e s Dr. Denton Jamison suggested at the CUFQS
to th e equ ip m ent a b o a rd t h e i r " s p a c e c r a f t " a s conference in 1976 that a study be done to
compared to o u r ow n. T h is seems a v a l i d determine if UFO witnesses, especially
a p p ro a c h . The n e e d le - in - th e - a b d c jn e n p reg n a n cy witnesses to paradoxical behavior, might
t e s t e nd ured by B e t t y H i l l i s s i m i l a r to t r « differ from non-witnesses in psychic profile
la p a ro s c o p y p ro c e d u re we now u se fo r (JainLson, 1976). Just a month prior to that
d ia g n o s e s and tre a tm e n ts . The Ixiq e " e y e " conference, I had completed a preliminary
r e p o rte d to s c a n th e body c o u ld w e ll be some­ study in this area.
t h in g s i m i l a r to u lt r a s o u n d e x a m in a t io n .
tony writers (Keel, Steiger, etc.) have
B o th o f th e s e p ro c e d u re s w ere a t l e a s t stated in books and articles that a psychic
c o n c e p ts b e fo re th e y w e re r e p o rte d by connection exists between 1/0 occupants and
a b d u cte e s. to n y UFO w it n e s s e s 'r e p o r t UFO slghters. I was intrigued, but could
p a ca n u rm a l a s p e c t s o f s i g h t i n g s , ra n g in g from find no real support for the theory beyuid
j u s t b e in g d raw n to a window to t e le p u r t a t io n the anecdotal. Then, in early 1975, Or. R.
and t e le p a t n i c common l e a l io n w it h U f0 Leo Sprinkle sent me a copy of his study of
o c c u p a n t s . In l i g h t u f th e a p p a re n t p a r a l l e l s iftJividuuls wlo claimed psychic impressions
i n ir e d i c a l p r o c e d u r e s , i t i s u n fo r t u n a t e th a t about or cormrunication with UFOs and their
we know so lit t le ab o u t what we c a l l th e occupants. This study consisted of several
p a ra n o rm a l, and th a t m ost s c i e n t i s t s iiy io r e , psychological tests and a questionnaire which
i f n o t r e j e c t , p s y c h ic phenomena. asked far information from participants such
198 •teller}

as in te re s t and e x p e r ie n c e in ESP, UFO w h ic h I had l i v e d in 1967 (when I had a

o b s e r v a t io n s and im p re s s io n s o f U FO s, and ra th e r s p e c t a c u la r C £ I ) . T h i s c o n v in c e d me
p o s s i b le co m m u n ic a tio n s w it h UFO o c c u p a n ts . U»at a t l e a s t a b a s ic s tu d y o f th e p s y c h ic
D e t a i l s c a n be found i n ttie p a p e r , " P s y c h ic c o n n e c tio n s h o u ld be p u rs u e d .
Im p re s s io n s o f th e UFO Phenomena" ( S p r i n k l e , Uhen I r e tu r n e d to P it t s b u r g h i n th e f a l l ,
1 9 7 5 ). P a r t o f h i s c o n c lu s io n w a s : I began p r e p a r a t io n s f o r a n in d e p e n d e n t s tu d y
d u r in g w in t e r te rm . The m ost d i f f i c u l t
. . . the r e s u l t s of t h i s s u rv e y a s p e c t o f p r e p a r a t io n was f i n d i n g an a d v i s o r
in c lic a t e t lia t m ust o f tfie p a r t i c i p a n t s f o r su c h a s t u d y . I was f o r t u n a t e to h a v e
b e l ie v e th e y h a v e o b s e rv e d th e UFO D r . R .A . f'lc C o m e li, p ro m in e n t f o r h i s w o rk on
pftenomena. The s ta te m e n t s o f many p s y c h o k in e s is , a t th e s c h o o l. He w as u n a b le
p a r t ic ip a n t s su g g e st th a t th e y h a ve to ta k e on any more s t u d e n t s , but recom ­
e x p e rie n c e d d ir e c t or in d ir e c t mended D r . f% r g a r e t A n d e rso n , a n o th e r p a r a ­
c o m m u n icatio n w it h UFO o c c u p a n ts . p s y c h o l o g i s t , who a g re e d to become my a d v i s o r
Some p a r t ic ip a n t s c la im to have tro u g h sh e knew l i t t l e ab o ut th e UFO
e x p e r ie n c e d "m e n ia l co m m u n ic a tio n " phenomenon.
w it h UFU o c c u p a n ts .
T r y in g to Ask Smne o f th e R ig h t Q u e st i o n s - -
H fu rth e r i n v e s t i g a t io n s w ere
co n d u cte d and r e v e a le d s im ila r The S u rv e y
The h y p o t h e s is to be t e s t e d w a s : I s th e r e
f i n d i n g s , th e n many p u z z lin g q u e s t io n s
a r e l a t i o n s h i p b etw een p e o p le s ' b e l i e f s t h a t
w ould fa c e UFO i n v e s t i g a t o r s : How do
th e y h a ve p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s / e x p e r i e n c e s and
UFO o b s e r v e r s o b t a in th e s e im p re s s io n s
o f co m m u n icatio n w it h UFO o c c u p a n ts ? th e s ig h t in g o f UFOs by th e s e p e o p le ?
B e c a u se o f l im i t e d tim e and r e s o u r c e s , i t was
If h y p n o tic and CSP p r o c e s s e s a re
in v o l v e d , f o r w fiat p u rp o s e s a r e th e s e d e c id e d t h a t a q u e s t io n n a ir e w o u ld be th e
u se d by th e o c c u p a n ts ? m ost e f f i c i e n t method f o r d a ta g a t h e r in g to
Tne p h y s i c a l , b io lo g ic a l, p sy ch o ­ t e s t th e h y p o t h e s is . P e r m is s io n was o b ta in e d
s o c i a l , and s p i r i t u a l im p l ic a t i o n s o f from D r . S p r i n k l e to a d a p t h i s q u e s t io n n a ir e
th e s e Q u e s t io n s s h o u ld s e r v e a s a to th e p u rp o s e s o f t h i s stu d y . A s ta te m e n t
c h a lle n g e a n d , h o p e f u ll y , a s p u r to o f ag re em en t to p a r t i c i p a t e i n p s y c h o lo g ic a l
fu i t t ie r i n v e s t i g a t io n of th e se t e s t in g was in c lu d e d a s an o p t io n , so t h a t
in t e r e s t in g e x p e r ie n c e s o f u n u su a l D r . S p r i n k l e m ig h t i a t e r in c lu d e some o f th e
phenomena. more i n t e r e s t i n g re sp o rid e n ts i n h i s s u r v e y .

The q u e s t io n n a ir e was d iv id e d i n t o f i v e
D r. S p r i n k l e s e n t me a copy o f h i s p aper
a f t e r I had p a r t i c ip a t e d i n an e x p a n s io n o f p a r t s , w it h q u e s t io n s t o s o l i c i t in f o r m a t io n
t h i s s tu d y when, d u rin g a p e rio d i n w h ic h I i n tfie fo llo w in g a r e a s :
was i n v e s t i g a t in g a c u n t.a c te e c a s e f o r h im . I
ta d a p r e c o g n it iv e dream w h ic h seemed v e r y P a rt I S e l f in fo r m a t io n
re a l and in v o lv e d b e in g ta k e n a b o a rd a UFO, P a rt I I P s y c h ic i n t e r e s t s and a b i l i t i e s
and w h ic h I s h a re d w it h h im . P a rt III UFO phenomenon i n t e r e s t and
1 was in t r ig u e d by h i s s t u d y . S in c e th e e x p e r ie n c e
p a r t ic ip a n t s had been l a r g e l y s e l t - s e l e c t e d , P a r t IV uFQ o c c u p a n ts
I w ondered a b o u t th e p o s s i b i l i t y th a t a P a rt V In p r e s s i o n s and o p in io n s
s u r v e y uf w it n e s s e s s e le c t e d from th e f i l e s P a rt VI Sp ace t o r a d d it i o n a l con^nents,
of th e P e n n s y lv a n ia (.e n t e r t o r UFO R e s e a rc h e x p la n a t io n s , d r a w in g s , o r
m ig h t y i e l d s im ila r in f o r m a t io n . I w as a q u e s t io n s
v e r y b u sy under g ra d u a te a t th e U n i v e r s i t y of (S e e A p p e n d ix I - Q u e s t io n n a ir e )
P it t s b u r g h a t tfie tim e , so t h a t re m aine d o n ly
an id e a u n t i l a c u r io u s e x p e r ie n c e in June O n ly a p o r t io n of th e in f o r m a t io n
1U76. c o lle c te d was u s e d i n t h is s tu d y . tiad 1
I had an i r r e s i s t i b l e u rg e to lo o k o u t my hoped t h a t a t a l a t e r t im e , a n a ly s e s of a ll
w ind o w , c e r t a i n I w ould s e e a UFO t h e r e , b u t p a ra m e te rs c o u ld be d one.
saw n o t h in g , A s h o r t tim e l a t e r , h o w e v e r, 1
Ic-arrw d t h a t a t tfie same tim e I hdd y ie ld e d P a r t i c i p a n t s w ere s e l e c t e d fro m th e " q u ic k
to th e u rg e to lo o k o u t , a UFO had been re fe re n c e " file m a in ta in e d by S t a n G o rd o n ,
r e p o rte d r e v e r i n g 100 f e e t o v e r a h o use in th e n d i r e c t o r o f th e P e n n s y lv a n ia C e n te r f o r
UFO R e s e a r c h . T h is f i l e c o n ta in e d f o r e ac h
 199
Proc. or 19ai OtfOS Conf.

s ig h t in g re p o rt th e name, a d d r e s s , a n d /o r seen c o u ld be e x p la in e d a s n a t u r a l phenom ena;

te le p h o n e number o f th e w i t n e s s ; d a t e , tim e , two s t a t e d th e y d id n o t w a n t to become
and l o c a t i o n of e ach s i g h t i n g ; a sh o rt in v o lv e d i n th e UFO " c o n t r o v e r s y ." One c o u p le
summary o f th e re p o rt; and r e s u l t s o f the e x p la in e d t h a t b e c a u s e o f s la n t e d and n e a r ­
in v e s t ig a t io n - - w h e t h e r th e o b je c t s ig h t e d was s la n d e ro u s r e p o r t in g o f e v e n t s c o n n e c te d w it h
i d e n t i f i a b l e o r unknown. t h e ir s ig h t in g in a "UFO m a g a z in e ," th e y
w ould no lo n g e r p a r t i c i p a t e in p u b li c or
O f th e 692 r e p o r t s o f unknowns f o r th e p r i v a t e d is c u s s io n o f t h e i r e x p e r ie n c e . T h re e
y e a rs 1973 th ro u g h 1 9 7 5 , 120 (1 7 .3 1 $ o f th e fo rm s ( .0 2 5 $ ) w ere r e t u r n e d so in c o m p le te a s
t o t a l p o p u la t io n ) w e re s e le c t e d u s in g th e to be u s e l e s s fo r th e s tu d y . Two fo rm s
T a b le o f Random N um b ers. A l e t t e r e x p la i n i n g ( .0 1 6 $ ) a r r i v e d a f t e r th e d e a d lin e .
the g e n e ra l p u rp o se o f th e s u r v e y , and the
r e s e a r c h e r 's a s s o c ia t i o n w it h th e PA UFQ F if t y c o m p le te d fo rm s w ere re t u r n e d f o r
C e n te r ( c i t i n g th e C e n te r a s th e s o u r c e f o r i n c l u s i o n . T h i s r e p r e s e n t s 7 .2 2 $ o f th e t o t a l
names) accom pan ied th e q u e s t io n n a ir e . p o p u la tio n fro m w h ic h th e y w e re d ra w n , and
W a ilin g was done th e l a s t week o f F e b r u a r y 44$ o f th e ncurtier o f fo rm s s e n t o u t . T h is i s
1976, and an a r b i t r a r y c u t - o f f d a te o f A p r i l a h ig h p e rc e n ta g e f o r a s u r v e y done by m a il .
10 was s e t so t h a t any fo rm s r e c e iv e d a f t e r
th a t d a te would no t be in c lu d e d in th e A c o n t r o l g ro u p was a r b i t r a r i l y c h o se n f o r
i n i t i a l phase o f th e s t u d y . . c o m p a ris o n . P a r t ic ip a n t s w ere i n d iv i c h ja i s
a t t e n d in g a n o n - c r e d it c o u rs e i n u fo lo g y a t
T h irty (2 5 $ ) o f th e fo rm s w ere r e t u r n e d Community C o lle g e of A lle g h e n y C o unty
marked " a d d re s s e e unknown" o r " f o r w a r d in g ( P e n n s y lv a n i a ) . The 19 p q o p le i n th e c o n t r o l
o rd e r e x p ir e d ." I had a n t i c i p a t e d t h a t a g ro u p , t h e r e f o r e , had an i n t e r e s t i n U fO s ,
f a i r l y h ig h p e rc e n ta g e o f th e q u e s t io n n a ir e s b u t none re p o r te d h a v in g h a d a s i g h t i n g .
would be u n d e liv e r a b le b e c a u se o f th e tim e
which had e la p s e d s in c e some o f th e r e p o r t s In fo r m a t io n fro m th e c o m p le te d fo rm s was
had been made. E ig h t fo rm s ( 6 .6 6 $ ) w ere t a b u la t e d a s th e y came i n . The p o r t io n o f th e
re tu rn e d u n co m p le te d , b u t w ith n o te s . o f d a ta u se d i n t h i s s tu d y a p p e a rs i n T a b le s I
e x p la n a t io n . Of t n e s e , f i v e w it n e s s e s s t a t e d and I I b e lo w , and th e w h ole q u e s t io n n a ir e is
they had become c o n v in c e d t h a t w hat th e y had in c lu d e d a s th e A p p e n d ix .

*
TABLE I

TEST CROUP CONTROL CROUP

Se x o f p a r t i c i p a n t s M a le s : 20 M a le s : 12
F e m a le s : 30 F e m a le s : 7

T o t a l number o f p a r t i c i p a n t s T o t a l: SO T o t a l : 19

A v e ra g e a g e , i n y e a r s 3 7 .3 3 5 .3

A v e ra g e number y e a r s o f e d u c a t io n 1 2 .6 1 4 .6

P a rt II, Q u e s t io n 1 , to b e lie f in P S I r e la t e d to t h e i r p o s s i b le a b il i t ie s , or (2 )
a b ilit ie s had th e o p t io n a l a n s w e rs o f Y e s , an sw e re d Q u e s tio n 4 o f P a r t I I a s to b , w hat
No, and Not S u r e . T h o se who ch e ck e d Not S u re p ro c e s s e s th e y g a in e d t h e i r i m p r e s s io n s , o r
were in c lu d e d a s p e o p le who had a b e l i e f t h a t ( 3 ) a n sw e re d Q u e s t io n 5 , th ro u g h what p r o c e s s
th e y had some p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s o n ly i f th e y d id th e y g a in m ost of th e ir p s y c h ic
( 1 ) added comments i n d i c a t i n g p s y c h ic e v e n ts in ip r e s s io n s .
200 J tlle rt

TABLE I I

NUMBER REPORTING THEY HAVE HAO TEST GROUP CONTROL GROUP

P s y c h ic a t > i l it ie s / e x p e r ie n c e s AO 9

No p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s / e x p e r i e n c e s 10 10
50 19

Dream s o r e x p e lie n c e s d i r e c t l y
r e la t e d to th e UFO e x p e rie n c e 15 0

No dream s o r e x p e r ie n c e s r e la t e d
to a UFO e x p e rie n c e 35 19
50 19

" L o s t tim e " e x p e r ie n c e a t th e

tim e o f th e s ig h t in g 2 □

No " l o s t tim e " e x p e r ie n c e r e la t e d

to UFO e x p e rie n c e A8 19
50 19

M en tal co m m u n icatio n w it h UFO

o c c u p a n ts 6 0

No m e n tal com m unication w it h UFO

o c c u p a n ts AA 19

Q u e s tio n B was d iv id e d i n t o s i x p a r t s and D ata were o rd e re d so a C h i s q j a r e ( )

re fe rre d to p s y c h ic e x p e r ie n c e s . E a ch p a r t c o u ld be p e rfo rm e d . R e f e r r in g to T a b le II,
was a s s ig n e d a v a lu e and t o t a le d v a lu e s Numbers 2 , 3 and A , t h is t e s t c a n n o t be
D e te rm in e d i n c l u s i o n . H a v in g see n a g h o st or p e rfo rm e d on th e s e b e c a u se o f th e v a lu e s l e s s
e x p e rie n c e d o u t- o f- th e - b o d y phenomenon w ere th a n f i v e . The v a lu e s o f Q u e s tio n 1 w ere
g iv e n th e g r e a t e s t w e ig h t. H a vin g had a la r g e enough to do th e C h i s q u a r e . E ig h t y
p s y c h ic or r e l i g i o u s h e a li n g , o r h a v in g p e r c e n t o f th e UFO s ig h t e r s and A2 % o f th e
p roduced a p s y c h ic p ho to g rap h w ere g iv e n n o n - s ig h t e r s h e ld b e l i e f s th a t th e y had
m od erate w e ig h t . H a v in g h e a rd u n e x p la in e d p s y c h ic e x p e r i e n c e s / a b i l i t i e s .
v o ic e s on ta p e r e c o r d in g s , r a d i o , t v , o r th e
te le p h o n e w ere ra n k e d a t z e r o s in c e th e s e The h y p o t h e s is to be p ro v e n w a s :
e v e n ts most o f t e n c a n be e a s i l y e x p la in e d .
Though th e r e may be o b j e c t i v e e v id e n c e o n ly
H-j - T h e re i s a r e l a t i o n s h i p b etw een p e o p le 's
fo r c la im s o f p s y c h ic p h o to g ra p h y , a l l
b e l i e f s t h a t th e y have p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s
r e p l i e s w e re a c c e p te d a s tr u e r e p o r t s by th e o r e x p e r ie n c e s and th e s ig h t in g o f UFOs
w it n e s s e s . Tne s tu d y was to te st th e by th e s e p e o p le .
in d iv id u a ls ' b e lie d ' th a t th e y had p s y c h ic
a b i l i t i e s and e x p e r ie n c e s , n o t to a tte m p t to
Or th e n u l l h y p o t h e s is ;
e s t a b l i s h tn e r e a l i t y o f s u c h e x p e r ie n c e s .

U s in g th e ab o ve c r i t e r i a , i t was found h 0 ' ^ e re no a s s o c ia t i o n betw een p e o p le 's

t n u t AO of tn e t e s t g rou p and 9 o f the b e l i e f s t h a t th e y h a ve p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s
c o n t r o l group b e lie v e d t h a t th e y had p s y c h ic o r e x p e r ie n c e s and th e ir s ig h t in g o f
a b i l i t i e s and e x p e r ie n c e s .
 Proc. of 1931 CUFOS Conf. 201

c o n i iN n r i c y ta ble.

B e lie f in A b i l i t i e s No B e l i e f i n A b i l i t i e s T o ta l

UFO s ig h t in g 40 10 50

No UFO s ig h t in g ___ 9__ 10 19

49 20 . 69

C o m p u ta tio n s appear on th e fo llo w in g p a g e .

I n s p i t e o f th e p ro b le m s w it h c a r r y i n g o u t
The r e s u l t of o f 9 .6 6 i s s lig h t ly s u c h a p la n , I do t h in k th e d a ta s h o u ld be
g r e a t e r th a n 2 - 1 / 2 tim e s th e e x p e c te d . .3 84 g a th e re d by
q u e s t io n n a i r e .
i n t e r v ie w
I f e e l th e
ra th e r th an by
t e s t g rou p sh o u ld
D r . Ja m iso n h a s c a lc u l a t e d th e p r o b a b i l i t y o f
th e r e s u lt at 1 in 20 and f e e l s i t i s c o n s i s t o f new s i g h t e r s o n ly , in th e i n i t i a l
s u g g e s t iv e . p h a se o f the s t u d y . In t e r v i e w s s h o u ld be done
as soon a f t e r th e s ig h t in g a s p o s s i b le to
T h e re a r e se v e re lim it a t io n s w it h t h i s re d u c e th e c o n ta m in a t io n o f r e c a ll w h ic h
stu d y . The d a ta w ere c o lle c te d by o c c u r s w it h t im e . I s t r o n g ly f e e l t h a t we
q u e s t io n n a ir e o n ly , ra th e r th a n in - d e p th m ust a v o id th e c u l t i s t and c o n ta c te e e le m e n ts
I n t e l v ie w s . The sam p le w as v e r y s m a l l , and f o i th e p r e s e n t . A b d u cte e s s h o u ld be t r e a t e d
the g ro u p s w ere no t m atched i n 2
s i e or s e p a r a t e ly ,
w it n e s s e s
and
to a l l
c o m p a re d / c o n tra s te d w it h
o th e r c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s of
d e m o g rap h ic s . I t te s te d w it n e s s e s ' b e l ie f in
t h e i r p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s , b u t d id n o t a d d re s s s i g h t i n g s . I f th e s e c a s e s o f h ig h e s t s t r a n g e ­
w h ether or n o t th e y in d e e d p o s s e s s e d su c h n e s s y i e l d more in fo r m a t io n f o r th e p h y s ic a l
a b i l i t i e s , find t h i s r e s e a r c h e r h a s a b i a s i n a s p e c t s o f U FQ s, th e y may a l s o y i e l d m ore i n
th e d i c o l L io n o f th e h y p o t h e s is . Tlie s tu d y th e p s y c h ic and p s y c h o lo g ic a l a r e a s .
does s u g g e s t t h a t sume a t th e r i g h t q u e s t io n s
have been asked , arid g iv e s a s tro n g liJe s h o u ld s e e k to d is c o v e r w h e th e r p s y c h ic
i n d ic a t i o n t h a t t h e r e i s a p s y c h ic component a s p e c t s a p p e a r in m u l t i p l e - w i t n e s s a s w e l l as
i n llFO s ig h t in g s w h ic h s h o u ld be i n v e s t i g a t e d s in g l e - w i t n e s s s ig h t i n g s , and w h e th e r th e re
fu rth e r. h a s been a r e c u r r e n c e of s ig h t in g s among
th o s e w it h a p s y c h ic f a c t o r - - i s i t p re se n t
Though s u g g e s t i v e , it p ro v e s n o th in g o n ly i n " r e p e a t e r s " ? P e r s o n a l i t y , p s y c h o lo g i­
e x c e p t t t ia t p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h i s s m a ll sam ple c a l, and p s y c h ic p r o f i l e s m ust be made f o r
who b e l ie v e th e y h a v e p s y c h ic a b i l i t i e s or ttie p a r t i c i p a n t s , and some b a s e lin e i n th e s e
e x p e r ie n c e s do tend to r e p o r t UFOs more o f t e n e s t a b l is h e d f o r th e g e n e r a l p o p u la t io n .
th an o t h e r s w it h o u t b e l i e f i n s u c h a b i l i t i e s .
I t may w e ll be t h a t t h e s e p e o p le j u s t te n d to I t m ust be an i n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y s t u d y , and
be more a t t e n t i v e to ever i t s i n t h e i r e n v ir o n ­ p e rh a p s c r o s s - c u l t u r a l . Ue n u s t i n v o lv e
ment a n d / o r te n d to in t e r p r e t e v e n ts in p s y c h o l o g i s t s , s o c i o l o g i s t s , a n t h r o p o lo g i s t s ,
e x o t ic w a y s , or s in ip iy h a v e fe w e r i n h i b i t i o n s s t a t i s t i c i a n s , p a r a p s y c h o l o g is t s . Lie s h o u ld
ab o ut r e p o r t in g them . e n lis t th e a id of s c ie n t is t s in v o lv e d i n
p s y c h o b io lo g y . I t h a s been my e x p e r ie n c e t h a t
C le a r ly , t h is n o n - p h y s ic a l a s p e c t (th e m ost s o c i a l s c ie n t is t s a re r e lu c t a n t to
s u b je c t iv e v a r ia b le s ) d e se rve s fu rth e r became in v o lv e d i n th e s tu d y o f UFQs and a r e
in v e s t ig a t io n . Some s u g g e s t io n s f o r rro d e ls le s s th a n o b j e c t i v e on th e s u b j e c t . Y e t I am
f o r b e t t e r c o n t r o l l e d s t u d i e s h ave been made c e r t a i n p e o p le w it h th e n e c e s s a r y e x p e r t is e
by J a m is o n , S p r in k le , and Jo h n s o n . T h e se who w o uld be w i l l i n g to p a r t i c i p a t e m ust
e x is t .
a re l i s t e d i n th e R e f e r e n c e s , so 1 w i l l not
d e t a i l them h e r e . I w ill n o te some t h in g s I
A s k in g c jje s t io n s ab o ut th e p s y c h ic
f e e l s h o u ld be in c lu d e d when new s t u d i e s a r e
p la n n e d . com ponents o f UFO r e p o r t s may be a p o s s ib le
r o u t e to in f o r m a t io n fro m th e d a ta t h a t up to
now has- been ig n o r e d .
 COMPUTATIONS FOR CHI SQUARE d f* l d 05

fo adj . fe (V ad-i-fe> (y adj - y 2 (y ad-i-fe)2

UFOsightIng + belief adj 7!~
in psychic abilities 40 29 29.5 10.5 110.25 3-73

UFOsighting + no belief
in psychic abiIi t ies 10 21 20.5 -10.5 110.25 5.35

No UFO sighting + belief

in psychic abilities 9 11 10.5 - 1 .5 3-00 •29

fio UFOsighting 4 no belief

in psychic abilities 10 8 8.5 1.5 3.00 •29

69 69 69.0 0 xf- 9-66

Significant value of X? for testing when df«l and <L“*05 • 3.84.

If X? is equal to or greater than 3*84, then we can reject the null hypothesis (H ), and accept-H that
0
there Is a relationship between people's beliefs that they have psychic eb1 1 ities/experJences and1 the
sighting of UFOs. X? ■ 9.66
t r o t , o f 1961 CUfOS Omf.
203
Appendix
PSYCHIC INTEREST/ABILITY QUESTIONNAIRE

'.7e arc conduc tin^ a serious study ol‘ the UFO phenomena, and
the question:; are declined to obtain cp o ciflc information about
your experiences.
You will find a few of these questions aro repetitione of
those on the UFO report form; but-they oro important to tho 6tudy,
so please try to answer nil of the questions. You may use tho
blank sheet at the end for tnosc questions requiring long answere
or for comments. This questionnaire i s designed to gain informa­
tion in s p e c ific a r e a :: .
1, Melf-infox'inaiion about participant
,"d• Lclf-de-scri ption of participant about:
( a ) , his/her psychic a b i l i t i e s
( b ) . views about UFO phenomena
( c ) . " J o s s of time11 experiences
( e ) . observations of l/FO occupants
( e ) . other unusual UFO and psychic ovonte
( l ) , impressions obtained about UFOs, possible orig in s,
power, and purposes of those controlling UFO phenomena.
Adopted from tne questionnaire of Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Director of
Counseling and T e stin g , Dept, of Psychology, University of Wyoming.

l. :;gi.F-rnronMATTo;i
1, h'/vi(.-(please p r i n t ) : _______
first in itia l la st
2, Address: “
.JtrecL City State Zip
3, Age:_____ UirlhdMc / / CKX: Male Female_____________
, Phone Dumber: (AC____ )_______________
5. lumber of brother's and s i s t e r s : Humber who are older than
von: number younger:______ Humber s t i l l l i v i n g
6* Parents L.i.virir: Doth Mother only Father only None
7. Marital stst*is( check or.e) .‘Jingle_______ Harried Divorced
Remarried_______ I*nouse deceased
8. Please c i r c l e the number which represents the to ta l number of years ’
of your formal education nr i t s equivalent:
! 2 3 '» 5 C 7 3 9 10 11 12 13 H 15 16 17 13 19 20
y. L is t any oipiona, c e r t i f i c a t e , degree or educational award or
ac hi e veme r. t : _________ _ _ _ _ _ _

1C . 1*1t i e o f p re s e n t o c c u p a t io n a l p o s i t io n : ,
204
Questionnaire (Continued)

I. S e lf In fo rm a tio n c o n 't.
11. G eneral d u tie s o f p resen t p o s it io n !

12. O th e r o c c u p a t io n a l p o s i t i o n s w h ic h have b e e n h e l d p r i o r t o th e
p re s e n t one, in c lu d in g m ilita r y s e r v i c e i _____________________________ .

1 3 * R e l i g i o n * C a t h o l i c _____ P r o t , _____ J e w i s h _____ O t h e r _____________:_______

1 ^ . Do y o u c o n s i d e r y o u r s e l f ( c h e c k o n e ) i
V e r y r e l i g i o u s ______ S om ew ha t r e l i g i o u s ________
L ittle i n t e r e s t i n r e l i g i o n _____ A g n o s t i c _______ A t h e i s t i c _______
15* Do y o u a t t e n d c h u r c h s e r v i c e s »More o f t e n t h a n w e e k l y _____________
W e e k l y ______ M or e o f t e n t h a n m o n t h l y __________ M o n t h l y _________
More o f t e n t h a n f o u r t i m e s a y e a r ________ Once a y e a r _________________
N o t a t a l l ____________
16. H av e y o u h a d p r i o r t o o r s i n c e y o u r s i g h t i n g ( i f “ y e s ? p l e a s e g i v e
a p p ro xim ate d a t e s ) *
A. Any s e r i o u s i l l n e s s o r i n j u r y * ...................................................................... ...........
D i d a n y o f t h e s e i n v o l v e t h e h e a d o r b a c k * ________________________
B. Any f a m i l y , s o c i a l o r e m o t i o n a l u p h e a v a l ( e i t h e r p r o b l e m s o r
“ good" e x p e r i e n c e s , i e . d i v o r c e , jo b p r o m o tio n o r c h a n g e , b i r t h
o f a c h i l d . ) P l e a s e use l a s t s h e e t t o g i v e d e t a i l s o f a b o v e .

1 7 * P r e s e n t s t a t e o f h e a l t h i G o o d ______ F a i r ______ P o o r _______

1 8 . Were y o u t a k i n g a n y m e d i c a t i o n o r d r u g s ( i n c l u d e a l c o h o l 4 t o b a c c o )
p r i o r t o y o u r s i g h t i n g ? * ___________________ I f y e s , w h a t ________________
1 9 . Hav e y o u e v e r e x p e r i e n c e d a n y o f t h e f o l l o w i n g ( o r a n y t h i n g s i m i l a r ) *
S e l f - h y p n o s i s ^ _______ P e t i t m al s e i z u r e s ____________
H y p n o s i s ______________ B l a c k o u t s ________________________
S l e e p w a l k i n g _________ d e j a v u ____________________________
F a i n t i n g ______________ D a y d r e a m i n g _____________________
A m n e s i a _____ _ _ _ _ _ O t h e r ______________________________
If yes to any o f a b o v e p l e a s e g i v e some d e t a i l s ____________________

II. P s y c h i c I n t o r e s t s an d A b i l i t i e s ( p l e a s e us e l a s t s h e e t f o r a n y e x a m p l e s
o r e l a b o r a t i o n o r com m ents.)
1. Do y o u b e l i e v e y o u h a v e some a b i l i t y to i
A. G a i n e x t r a - s e n s o r y p e r c e p t i o n s ( E S P ) o f th o u g h ts and f e e l i n g s
o f o t h e r peo p le (T e le p a th y )? * YES_____ NO_____ NOT SURE______
B. G a i n i m p r e s s i o n s o f e v e n t s o r o b j e c t s w h i c h a r e o u t s i d e y o u r
u s u a l e n v iro n m e n t ( C l a i r v o y a n c e ) ? * YES____ NO____ NOT SURE___ _
Proc. of 1«*6J CufOS Coni. Questionnaire (Continued) 205

II. P s y c h i c i n t e r e s t s an d a b i l i t i e s c o n 't.
C. G a i n i m p r e s s i o n s o f f u t u r e e v e n t s (P re -c o g n itio n )? i
YES_____ NO______ NOT SURE _____
D. I n f l u e n c e t h e p h y s i c a l e n v i r o n m e n t a r o u n d y o u ( P s y c h o k e n e a i s
or "m in d -o v e r-m a tte r") YES______ NO______ NOT SURE_________
2. Hav e y o u e v e r p a r t i c i p a t e d i n a s c i e n t i f i c in v e s tig a tio n ro f your
ESP a b i l i t i e s ? ! YES_____ NO_____ If y e s , g i v e d e t a i l s ! ____________

3. Have y o u e v e r p a r t i c i p a t e d i n a s e a n c e o r a g r o u p m e d i t a t i o m
A . To d e m o n s t r a t e y o u r ESP a b i l i t i e s ? ! YES______ NO_______
B . F o r someone e l s e t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h e i r a b i l i t i e s ? ! YES____ NO____
4. Do y o u g a i n some o f y o u r i m p r e s s i o n s t h r o u g h a n y o f t h e s e p r o c e s s e s ? !
Dre am s Y e s _____ NO_____ Com munion w i t h o t h e r s Y e s ____ No____
V isio n s Y e s _____ No_____ Com munion w i t h s p i r i t s Y e s ____ No____
Prayers Y e s _____ No_____ M e d ita tio n s Y e s ____ No____
O t h e r p r o c e s s e s ? ! ___________________________________________________________ _
5- T h r o u g h w h a t p r o c e s s do y o u g a i n m o s t o f y o u r p s y c h i c i m p r e s s i o n s ? !

6. Have yo u e x p e r i e n c e d a s p i r i t u a l e v e n t o r r e l i g i o u s " r e b ; ~-*-h"? 1

?. Do y o u b e l i e v e i n r e i n c a r n a t i o n ? ! Ye s _____ No ____
8. Do y o u b e l i e v e i n t h e D e v i l o r a go d o f e v i l
Yes ______ No______ U n d e c i d e d _________
9. Do y o u b e l i e v e e l v e s , f a i r i e s , etc. w e r e t R e a l e n t i t i e s _______ _
I m a g i n a r y c r e a t u r e s ______ R e a l o n l y t o t h e v i e w e r ______ Just
s t o r y b o o k c h a r a c t e r s ____________
1 0 . I f YES t o a n y o f t h e f o l l o w i n g , p leas e g ive d e t a i ls on t h e l a s t p a g e .
Have you e v e n
A . S e e n a g h o s t o r s p i r i t ? ! _______________________________________ _ _ _ _ _
B. Had a n o u t - o f - t h e - b o d y e x p e r i e n c e ? ! _____________________________ _
C. E x p e rie n c e d a p s y c h ic o r r e l i g i o u s h e a l i n g ? ! _____________________ _
D. T a k e n p h o t o g r a p h s i n w h i c h p e r s o n s o r o b j e c t s a p p e a r e d i n t h e
p r i n t w hich were n o t v i s i b l e i n t h e s c e n e when t h e p i c t u r e was
t a k e n ? :___________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ ____________
E . E x p e r i e n c e d " A u t o m a t i c w r i t i n g " ? ! ________________________________ _ _ _
F . A c t e d as a " M e diu m " 1______________________________ _ _ _________________ _
G. Fou n d v o i c e s on a t a p e r e c o r d i n g w h i c h w e r e n o t h e a r d a t t h e
t i m e o f r e c o r d i n g ? ( i n c l u d e u n e x p l a i n a b l e s o u n d s ) ________________
H. R e c e i v e d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s f r o m d e c e a s e d p e r s o n s o r d i s e m b o d i e d
s p i r i t s ( i e . r e c e i v e d p r e d i c t i o n s w h i c h l a t e r p r o v e d t r u e ) i ________
I. H e a r d v o i c e s o r so u n d s t h r o u g h t e l e v i s i o n , r a d i o o r te le p h o n e
w h i c h w e r e n o t p a r t o f t h e fc r o a d c '. r o r c o n v e r s a t io n and c o u ld
n o t be e x p l a i n e d ? ! ____________________________________________________ _ _ _
206 Questionnaire (Continued)

II. P sy ch ic a b i l i t i e s and i n t e r e s t s c o n ' t .

1 0 . J . L i v e d i n a h a u n t e d h o u s e ? ! ---------------------------------------------- ------------------- —
K . E x p e r i e n c e d a " s t e p b a c k i n t i m e * ' ? ! _________ —
L. Had a p o l t e r g i e s t e x p e r i e n c e ? ! ____________________________________ -— —
M. Had a n y e x p e r i e n c e s y o u f e e l a r e p s y c h i c i n n a t u r e w h i c h a r e
n o t l i s t e d a b o v e ? ! ---------------------------------------- „ --------------------_ _ _ -----------------------
11 . Do yo u c o n s i d e r y o u r k n o w le d g e o f P a r a p s y c h o l o g y ( s t u d y o f ESP)
t o c o n s i s t m a i n l y ( c h e c k one o r m o r e ) o f i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m * -
A. p e r s o n a l i n t e r e s t i n ESP e v e n t s i n e v e r y d a y l i f e ? ! ________ I-------
B. b o o k , m a g a z i n e o r n e w s p a p e r a c c o u n t s o f ESP, e v e n t s ? i
C . e m p i r i c a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o f a l l e g e d ESP e v e n t s ? ! ___________
r e p o r t s o f i n v e s t i g a t i o n __________ P a r t i c i p a t i o n i n _________
D. E x p e r i m e n t a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s i n t h e l a b o r a t o r y o f ESP e v e n t s i
r e p o r t s o f ________________ p a rtic ip a tio n i n _ ____________
1 2 . Have y o u r e a d b o o k s ox; m a g a z i n e s a b o u t t h e UFO p h e n o m e n a ? ! ______
I f y e s , w h a t one s? i _______________________ _ . _______________________ — —
If y e s , b e f o r e o r a f t e r y o u r s i g h t i n g ? ! ____________________ .___________
13. I n what a r e a ( s ) o f ESP a r e y o u m o st i n t e r e s t e d ? ! ------------------------- --------

l 1* . Do yo u f e e l t h e r e i s " s o m e t h i n g t o " a s t r o l o g y ? ! Y e s _____ No„______

III UFO PHENOMENA 1
1. Have yo u s e e n a n U n i d e n t i f i e d f l y i n g o b j e c t ? ! Y E S ______ NO
2. I f yes. g i v e D a t e a____________________ L o c a t i o n __________________________
( i n c l d . n e a r e s t to w n an d s t a t e )
________________________________ 2___________ Number o f o b j e c t s s e e n _________
A p p r o x i m a t e d i s t a n c e f r o m y o u i G r o u n d d i s t a n c e ________________________
A l t i t u d e ____________________ Number o f w i t n e s s e s __________________________
S ize o f o b je c t(c o m p a re d to f u l l m o o n )___________________________________
3. Y o u r o p i n i o n o f w h a t yo u s a w i ______________________________________________

k. If t h e r e w e r e a n y a n i m a l s i n t h e v i c i n i t y w h a t was t h e i r r e a c t i o n ? !

5. A r e y o u a member o f a n y o r g a n i z a t i o n w h i c h g a t h e r s i n f o r m a t i o n
a b o u t UFO r e p o r t s ? ! YES______ NO_________
I f yes, p leas e l i s t the o r g a n i z a t i o n s ) 1_______________________ _________
6, Have you had a s i g h t i n g o f a UFO d u r i n g w h i c h y o u e x p e r i e n c e d a
" lo s s o f tim e " ? ! YES____________ NO_____________ “
If NO, go on t o g u e s t i o n 0 .
I f y e s , a r e y o u now a w a r e o f t h e p o s s i b l e e v e n t s w h i c h o c c u r r e d
d u r i n g t h a t l o s s o f t i m e ? YES______ NO________
T f NO, gc o r t o q u e s t i o n ? .
proc. o f is e i cur 05Co«.<. Questionnaire (Continued)
207

III UFO Pheno m en a c o n ' t ,

6. If y e s , p l e a s e d e s c r i b e y o u r i m p r e s s i o n s o f t h e e v e n t and
p o s s i b l e a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h t h e UFO o b s e r v a t i o n » _ _ __________

?. A r e y o u i n t e r e s t e d i n t h e us e o f h y p n o t i c t e c h n i q u e s t o h e l p y o u
re m e m b e r t h e " l o s s o f t i m e " e v e n t s ? * YES NO_______
8. Have yo u , p r i o r t o o r s in c e y o u r s i g h t i n g , h ad d ream s o r
e x p e r i e n c e s t h a t y o u f e e l m i g h t be r e l a t e d t o t h e UFO ph e nom ena?*
YES_'________ - N O _____________
If N o , go on t o q u e s t i o n 9.
I f yes, give d e t a ils ; b e f o r e s i g h t i n g ____________ a f t e r _____________
D re am s

Exp erien c es.

9. Hav e a n y r e l a t i v e s ha d UFO s i g h t i n g s o r p s y c h i c e x p e r i e n c e s b e f o r e
o r a f t e r you r s ig h tin g ? * YES________ NO______
If No, go on t o q u e s t i o n 1 0 .
If y e s , g i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p o f p e r s o n ( s ) __________________________________
UFO s i g h t i n g _____________ P sych ic e x p erien c e
A p p ro x im a te d a te ahd p l a c e
1 0 . Do y o u b e l i e v e t h a t m o st UFO s i g h t i n g s c a n be e x p l a i n e d b y t h e
h y p o th e s is o f*
A . " M i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s o f known p h e n o m e n a ? " Y e s _______ N0_
B. " P s y c h o lo g ic a l phenomena"( i m a g in a tio n ) ? Y e s _______ No.
C. " L ie s o r Hoaxes"? Y e s _______ No.
D. " G o v e r n m e n t s e c r e t w e a p o n s " ? Yes No.
E. " E x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s p a c e c r a f t" ? Y e s _______ No.
F. "O th e r-rd im e n s io n a l"? Y e s _______ No.
G. "G od s a n d / o r d e v i l s " ? Y e s _______ No.
H. O t h e r ? ______________________________________ ___________________________
11. W hat was y o u r o p i n i o n o f t h e UFO pheno m en a b e f o r e y o u r s i g h t i n g ?

12, W hat w as y o u r e m o t i o n a l r e a c t i o n a t t h e t i m e o f y o u r s i g h t i n g ?

13. Has y o u r l i f e been changed by th e s ig h t in g ? .

14. Hav e y o u e v e r s e e n t h e " B i g f o o t " c r e a t u r e ? * Y e s _____ No.

I f y e s , g i v e d a t e _____________ l o c a t i o n ___________________
208 Questionnaire (Continued) Jef<er»

IV UFO OCCUPANTS
1 . Have y o u h ad a UFO s i g h t i n g w h i c h i n c l u d e d t h e o b s e r v a t i o n o f a
h u m a n o id o r o t h e r UFO o c c u p a n t ? YES________ NO________
I f N o, go o n t o q u e s t i o n 3*
I f Y e s , p l e a s e g i v e D a t e __________ L o c a t i o n __________________________ ___
Ti m e o £ d a y ____________ Num be r o f o c c u p a n t s Been_____________
D i s t a n c e f r o m y o u _________________ D e s c r i p t i o n ( p h y a i c a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s ,
dress, a c tiv itie s , m o v e m e n ts , e t c . ) ____________________________ _ _______

Y o u r o p i n i o n o f w h a t yo u saw an d y o u r e m o t i o n a l r e a c t i o n .

2. On t h e b l a n k s h e e t p l e a s e d r a w a f i g u r e ( s ) t o r e p r e s e n t t h e UFO
occupants seen. '
3. Hav e y o y c o m m u n i c a t e d , d i r e c t l y o r i n d i r e c t l y , w i t h UFO o c c u p a n t s
(s e e n o r u n s een )? YES _________ NO .
I f No, go on t o P a r t V .
If Y e s , d i d y o u c o m m u n i c a t e t h r o u g h S p e e c h ______ W r i t i n g _________
M e n t a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n _____________
k. If c o m m u n icatio n by speech:
A . C o u l d y o u se e l i p mov em ent o f t h e UFO o c c u p a n t ? Y e s ____ No___ _
B . Was t h e s p e e c h i n E n g l i s h ? Y e c ______ No_______
I n a n o t h e r l a n g u a g e , you w e r e a b l e t o r e c o g n i z e ? Y e s ____ No_____
I n a _ l a n g u a g e y o u d i d n o t r e c o g n i z e ? Y e s _____ No______
5* If co m m unication by w r i t i n g , do yo u h a v e a n y w r i t t e n m a t e r i a l
g i v e n t o y o u by t h e o c c u p a n t s (d o n e b y t h e m ) ? Y e s ______ No______
6. If c o m m u n i c a t i o n b y m e n t a l m eans , w e r e y o u t o l d b y t h e o c c u p a n t s
how t h i s p r o c e s s was c o n d u c t e d ? Y e s _________ No_________
If Y e s , p l e a s e e x p l a i n ______________________

?. W ere a n y a p p a r e n t d e v i c e s ( m i c r o p h o n e s , e a r p h o n e s , e t c . ) u s e d b y
t h e UFO o c c u p a n t s ? Y e s ________ E x p l a i n _____________________________________
_____________ NoJ____ _ *
8 . W h a t i n f o r m a t i o n d i d y o u g i v e t o t h e o c c u p a n t s ? _________________

9. W hat i n f o r m a t i o n d i d yo u r e c e i v e ? _______________________________ _

10. -Have you k e p t a n y r e c o r d o f t h e s e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s ?

*roe. e l I t e i CufOS Coni. 209

Questionnaire (Continued)

V IMPRE SS IO NS
P l e a s e us e t h i s p a g e a n d t h e n e x t t o d e s c r i b e i n d e t a i l y o u r own p s y c h i c
i m p r e s s i o n s o f 0 F 0 p h e n o m e n a . I n c l u d e s u c h t h i n g B as i m p r e s s i o n s o f
l)th e UFO i t s e l f 2 ) p o s s i b l e o r i g i n s 3 ) p o w e rs a n d / o r t e c h n o l o g y * 0 t h e
p u r p o s e s o f UFO o c c u p a n t s ‘' o r t h o s e who c o n t r o l UFOs.
I n c l u d e a com m en t on l ) w h a t yo u t h i n k y o u r r e a c t i o n w o u l d be t o a n
a n n o u n c m e n t t h a t t h e r e h a d b e e * w o r l d w i d e l a n d i n g s o f UFOs a n d C o n t a c t
w i t h w o r l d g o v e r n m e n t s b y UFO o c c u p a n t s , 2 ) g e n e r a l p u b l i c r e a c t i o n .

REFERENCES

H y n e k , J . A lie n
1972 The UFO E x p e r ie n c e : a s c i e n t i f i c i n q u i r y . C h ic a g o : R e g n e ry .

1981 "T h e UFO Phenom enon: L a u g h , L a u g h , S t u d y , S t u d y ," i n T e c h n o lo g y

R e v ie w , U o l. 8 3 , No. 7 , J u l y 1 9 8 1 . C a m b rid g e , M a s s .: A lum ni
A s s o c ia t i o n o f th e M a s s a c h u s e tts I n s t i t u t e o f T e c h n o lo g y .

J a m is o n , B e n to n
197G "Some P r o p o s a ls : M o d e st, Ififnod est and Maybe F u n d a b le ," _in
P r o c e e d in g s o f th e 1976 CUFOS C o n fe r e n c e , p p . 1 1 9 - 1 3 2 .
E v a n s t o n , 1 1 1 .: C e n te r f o r UFO S t u d ie s .

Jo h n s o n , D o n ald A. .
19B0 "A S t r u c t u r a l A pproach t o th e A n a l y s is o f N o n - p h y s ic a l UrU
E v i d e n c e ," ^in The J o u r n a l o f UFO S t u d i e s , U o l. I , No. 1 ,
p p . 4 1 - 4 8 , E v a n s t o n , 1 1 1 .: CUFOS.

S p r i n k l e , R . Leo
1975 " P s y c h ic I n p r e s s io n s o f UFO P hen o m en a." U n i v e r s i t y o f Wyoming.
M im eograph.
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 THE AUTHORS

BALtESTER
Mr. BalJester is a labor economics analyst in Valencia, Spain, employed since
I97& by the Ford Motor Company. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal UPIAR
Research in Progress, which is devoted to a scientific consideration of the UFO
phenomenon.. He has for years specialized in the analysis of UFO landing cases
and the development of appropriate methodology for the study of UFOs. He has
written widely on the UFO subject, including three books published in Spain.

BASTERFIELD

Mr. Basterfield was born in England, migrating to Australia in 1968- He has been
interested in the scientific investigation of the UFO subject since I9&7. with
special attention to investigating the role of psychological processes in certain
close encounter events. Mr. Basterfield has explored his “Imagery hypothesis*1
in a number of articles and one book; he has also written extensively on many
other aspects of the UFO subject.

CUASP
Mr. Cuasp holds the M.S. degree in physics from the University of Valencia,
Spain. He is currently a faculty member at the Colegio Agustinos in Valencia
with research interests in relativity and superluminal particles. His interest
in the UFOphenomenon is in the area of methodology and the physics of UFOs, and
he has written a book with Baltester on UFOs and science.

HOLT

Mr. Holt received a B.S. degree in physics in 19&7 from Iowa State University and
a M.S. degree in the physical sciences from the University of Houston/CtC in
1979. H e is President of Holt Research and Development Associates. For the past
19 years he has been employed by NASA in Houston where he has been involved with
astronaut and flight controller training. He is a founding board member of the
Vehicle Internal Systems Investigative Team, Inc. (VISIT) in Houston. His
interests in the UFOphenomenon include the analysis of radiation emiLted by UFOs
and likely propulsion systems used by UFO-like vehicles.
212

HOPKINS
Mr. Hopkins is an acclaimed painter and sculptor whose works are in the permanent
collections of the Whitney Museum, the Solomon H. Guggenheim-Museum, the
Hirshhorn Museum, and many others. He began actively investigating UFO sightings
in I9?5 and since 1977 has devoted his time to an exhaustive investigation of UFO
abduction cases. Mr. Hopkins has written and lectured extensively on the UFO
subject, and he has written the book Missing Time: ADocumented Studjr of. U£J1
Abduct ions on the abduction phenomenon.

HYNEK
Dr. Hynek was for years the preeminent figure in the UFOfield before his recent
death. He was trained as an astronomer and received his Ph.O. degree from the
University of Chicago. He held positions at Ohio State University, the
Smithsonian AstrophysicaI Observatory, and Northwestern University, where he was
both chairman of the Department of Astronomy and Director of Dearborn and
Lindheimer Observatories.
Dr. Hynek was, from 19^9 to 1969, scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Force
Projects Blue Book and Sign. He founded the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in
1973 and served as its Scientific Director until 1986. He wrote three books, a
great number of articles, and lectured worldwide on the UfOphenomenon.

Ms. Jeffers graduated from the Millard Fillmore Hospital School of Nursing in
1953 and worked for nineteen years as an R.N. She also received a B.S. degree in
psychology and anthropology in 1976 from the University of Pittsburgh. She has
been interested in anomalous phenomena since childhood and has investigated UFO
reports since 19^8 . Ms. Jeffers is particularly interested in the connection
between PSI and UFOexperiences.

JOHNSON
Dr. Johnson received a B.A. degree in anthropology from the University of
Colorado, Boulder and a Ph.O. degree in quantitative psychology from the the
University of Washington. He has been employed as a computer programmer and
research specialist for a number of organizations. Currently chairman of the
Puget Sound UFOStudy Group, he has published several papers on the UFO
phenomenon. His special research interest is the quantitative analysis of UFO
vehicle interference reports.
 213

LAW
SON

Or. Lawson holds the B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of
California at Berkeley and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University.
He is currently a professor of English at California State University at Long
Beach. His research interests in the UFO field have long centered about the use
and abuse of hypnosis in the investigation of alleged abductions. Or. Lawson has
published several articles on this subject and other topics in the investigation
of UfO reports.

MACCABEE
Or. Maccabee received his Ph.O. in physics in 1970 from the American University.
He is currently employed as a research physicist by the Naval Surface Weapons
Center in Maryland. He has authored over two dozen publications and holds
several patents. Dr. Maccabee cur'ently serves as chairman of the executive
committee of the Fund for UFOResearch, Inc. in Washington O.C. He has published
numerous articles and book reviews on UFOs. His special interests are analysis
of UFO photographs and analysis of historical government documents concerning
UFOs.

MELTON
Or. Melton was ordained as a United Methodist minister in 19&9 and received a
Ph.D. in the History and Literature of Religion from Northwestern University in
1975- He is the Director of the Institute for the Study of American Religions
and the author of the Encyclopedia of American ReIi gions. published in 1979-

PINOTH

Mr. Pinotti, who received a master's degree in political science from the
University of Florence, Italy, nowworks as an executive for FIAT in Florence.
He is President of Centro Ufologico Na2 ionale (CUN), one of Italy's leading UFO
organizations, and has served as editor of CUN's publication. Not iziar io UFO.
Mr. Pinotti has written three books on the UFOsubject, published in Italy, as
well as several articles and reviews. In 198Ohe presented a paper on UFOs
before the English House of Lords UFO SLudy Group.
214

RODEGHIER
nr. Rodeghicr holds a B.S. degree in astrophysics from Indiana U n i v e r s ity and an
M.A. degree in sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is
currently completing his Ph.O. in sociology and working as a software and
statistical consultant. He has been associated since I971* with the Center for
UFOStudies (CUFOS) in a variety of positions; presently, he is a member of the
Board of Directors and holds the position of CUFOS Scientific Oirector. His UFO
research interests are the physical effects allegedly produced by the UFO
phenomenon and the response of science and the public to UFO sightings.

SCHECHTER
Hr. Schechter holds a B.S. degree fn engineering from the University of Illinois.
He is currently the director of the Midwest Environmental Assistance Center* and
his professional work involves the investigation of various aspects of acoustics
and noise control. He has also served as past director of the National Noise
Assessment for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Noise
Abatement and Control.

SCHUESSlER

Mr. Schuessler is a aerospace engineering manager, employed for many years in

Houston by McDonnell Douglas. ^He has been associated with all major manned U.S.
space programs in his work. He is a founding member of the Mutual UFONetwork
(MUFON) and is currently a member of the Board of Oirectors and Deputy Director
for Administration. Mr. Schuessler is also on the board of the Vehicle Internal
Systems Investigative Team, Inc. (VISIT). Since I9&? he has written many
articles for various UFOpublications. Recently he has devoted his efforts to an
in-depth investigation of the well-known Cash-Landrum case.