AH, WELL... this entry was supposed to be Part 4 of 'Matters of National Interest', but I simply could not get it done in time for tonight's edition of Saturday Night Uforia (it involves a tremendous amount of original research, including reviewing hundreds of pages of government documents and news accounts). I'm almost there, so it should be ready for next Saturday – and I think it will be worth the wait -- but in the meantime, in its place...
I'm reposting a diary from October of last year, telling of my own encounter with an Unidentified Flying Object. Originally titled Confessions of a Wierdo, the impetus had been the then-current news of Dennis Kucinich's sighting of a UFO. Kos included it as part of an open thread with the comment... 'As if Kucinich wasn't weird enough'.
So read it and enjoy and post your own stories if you want, or just ignore it (as 99.9999999999% of Kossacks do anyway). It is what it is.
But I'll take advantage of this 'unexpected interlude' to post a poll as well.
As if Kucinich wasn't weird enough... -- Kos on the report that Dennis Kucinich saw a UFO.
THE FIRST TIME I SAW AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT was on an overcast afternoon in Auburn, California in the late nineteen-eightees (I was in my mid-thirties). My partner Allen and I were driving down a road between Highway 49 and Highway 80, just beyond which lies the American River Canyon (pictured above).
Through the trees then lining the road I spotted an extremely bright white light in the distance, and remarked that it was the brightest street light I had ever seen. "That's not a street light," Allen said. "It's a plane."
We argued the point a little, but then reaching the point where Highway 80 intersected the road, pulled over to a spot where we could get out and get a good look. The light was not so bright by then, but could be seen traveling over the canyon toward us.
The sight -- a ball of light moving over the canyon -- was riveting, and we just sat and watched as it traveled closer. Only the light itself could be seen -- no wings, no tail, nothing to indicate a plane. Then the light began to take on colors, and without saying a word we both got out of the car and watched in puzzlement.
The conversation was limited to repetitive exclamations at that point. "What is that?" "It can't be a plane, can it?" "What is that?"
Soon the light was no longer white, but a mass of swirling colors. Sort of like a lava lamp, except much more amorphous and rapid. The best way I can describe it is a swirling fog of colored gasses -- circular in shape but with no defined borders.
And it was almost overhead.
All this time it had flown beneath the dark cloud cover. Why it ended up directly overhead from us, I can't say. All I can say is that when it was directly overhead we still could see no actual object, just that circular swirl of gaseous colors.
And then FWOOMPH -- it shot straight up into the cloud cover and out of sight.
Allen and I looked at each other in stunned silence. "That was weird." Then I shrugged my shoulders, shook my head, and began to get back in the car, until...
"Look!" It was Allen, pointing at a jet fighter flying over the canyon. Towards us. And then overhead, and then into the cloud bank just where the other thing had disappeared.
We hung around for a few more minutes. But there was nothing more to be seen.
CURIOUSLY, WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT IT MUCH on our drive home. The next day I checked the local paper, but saw nothing about it. And then I went on with life, and pretty much forgot all about it... until Labor Day weekend a year later.
I was then the sole proprietor of a small graphics design firm. I did the design. Allen did the pickups and delivery. That was the entire firm. I was working up to 14 hours a day, and very tired. I told our clients Labor Day would be a four-day holiday for us, and made plans to do absolutely nothing over the holiday except vegetate.
To aid me in my sloth I determined to watch old sci-fi movies the entire weekend. Day of the Triffids. Forbidden Planet. When Worlds Collide. The Day the Earth Stood Still. And on and on.
It was going to be a great weekend.
But then going to my local video store I was cast into near despair when I found nearly the entire sci-fi section had already been checked out. I went to three other places. Same thing.
Damn. Time for Plan B.
The last video store I hit had a used book shop nearly next door. I am a World War II buff, so I decided to go look for a few books on the war, and to satisfy myself with reading for the weekend.
I made my way through the store, fully intending to hit the World War II section only, when a paperback book's bright blue title caught my eye... "Flying Saucers -- Serious Business".
Hmmmmm....
I stopped and scanned the section. Flying Saucers From Outer Space. The Coming of the Saucers. The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.
Bingo! If I couldn't have my sci-fi movie weekend, then this was certainly second-best. Surely the stories of these kooks -- mostly from the 1950s -- could be almost as entertaining as their cinematic counterparts.
THE NEXT MORNING, AS ALLEN BUSIED HIMSELF starting our weekend off with the preparation of Eggs Benedict, I took out the books I had bought to scan through them and decide which to reach to read first (Allen was a great cook, but not a quick one -- he gave new meaning to the term to prepare a meal, which included sharing at least two joints in the process).
I chose the first one I had seen, the one with the screaming blue title... Flying Saucers - Serious Business. And I began to read...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Edwards, former news commentator for the American Federation of Labor, is a pioneer broadcaster and reporter. In 1923 he launched his broadcasting career as an unpaid radio announcer on Pittsburgh's KDKA, one of the nation's first stations. He went on to become a political commentator for the Mutual network, with one of the biggest audiences in radio.
Not quite the kook I had hoped for, although it went on to list his other books with titles such as Stranger than Science and Strange World.
I turned to the pictures in the middle of the book. The first one was of a memo. I read the caption:
This order was issued by the Inspector General of the Air Force to every Air Base Commander in the continental United States, on December 24, 1959. The title of this book has been taken from the title of this official AF order. (emphasis added)
Then I read the memo itself...
UFO'S SERIOUS BUSINESS
Unidentified flying objects - sometimes treated lightly by the press and referred to as "flying saucers" - must be rapidly and accurately identified as serious USAF business in the ZI. As AFR 200-2 points out, the Air Force concern with these sightings is threefold: First of all, is the object a threat to the defense of the U.S.? Secondly, does it contribute to technical or scientific knowledge? And then there's the inherent USAF responsibility to explain to the American people through public-information media what is going on in their skies.
The phenomena or actual objects comprising UFO's will tend to increase, with the public more aware of goings on in space but still inclined to some apprehension. Technical and defense considerations will continue to exist in this era.
Published about three months ago, AFR 200-2 outlines necessary, orderly, qualified reporting as well as public-information procedures. This is where the base should stand today, with practices judged at least satisfactory by commander and inspector:
- Responsibility for handling UFO's should rest with either intelligence, operations, the Provost Marshal or the Information Officer - in that order of preference, dictated by limits of the base organization;
- A specific officer should be designated as responsible;
- He should have experience in investigative techniques and also, if possible, scientific or technical background;
- He should have authority to obtain the assistance of specialists on the base;
- He should be equipped with binoculars, camera, Geiger counter, magnifying glass and have a source for containers in which to store samples.
What is required is that every UFO sighting be investigated and reported to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB and that explanation to the public be realistic and knowledgeable. Normally that explanation will be made only by the OSAF Information Office. It all adds up to part of the job of being experts in our own domain.
It turned out to be the first of an untold number of times that I would exclaim to Allen, "Wow, listen to this..." over that weekend. Gone was all hope of laughing at weirdos telling fabulous tales beyond credulity. But in it's place, and ultimately far more satisfying, was a fascinating and compelling view into a subject I had never taken seriously.
For I had serendipitously chosen the very books that I would ultimately recommend to anyone interested in serious research. A book by Captain Edward Ruppelt, who was in charge of the USAF 'Project Blue Book'. Another by J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who was the scientific adviser to three consecutive UFO studies undertaken by the USAF (and who started out a skeptic only to eventually found an institute for UFO studies).
And the most revealing of all, by Marine Corps Major Donald Keyhoe, a one-time assistant to Charles Lindbergh, who was privy to insider information on the battle inside the Pentagon about what UFOs represented, and what the public should be told. Yes, the book was titled Flying Saucers From Outer Space, but before you laugh too loud, why not read the letter that was sent to the publishers and re-printed in the book itself:
IT WAS DURING THAT WEEKEND OF READING that I first remembered and then considered just what it was that Allen and I had seen flying over the canyon the year before. And I still have no good answer -- only that it was an Unidentified Flying Object, in the classic sense of the term.
As were the two subsequent experiences -- each completely different from the others -- that I had in the coming years (the third one being about six or seven years ago). And no, I saw no aliens or anything but the objects themselves. There were no 'mental messages' nor missing time. And far as I know, there was no proctology involved.
As for Kos and the many other scoffers here, well I used to be one of you. But I've read enough and personally seen enough to take even the more bizarre reports into serious consideration, knowing that it is better to be intellectually honest and informed, and to just take being called 'weird' as the unintentional compliment it has turned out to be.