And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
—Rev. 6:3
6972 UFO: When It All Started
The flying saucer story began on June 24, 1947, when a private pilot, Kenneth Arnold, who was taking part in a search for a missing transport aircraft, saw nine disc-shaped objects flying over Mount Rainier, Washington.
He described the objects as “flying like a saucer would if you skimmed it across the water.” Arnold’s veracity and professional reputation were beyond question, and his account of the incident was accepted by the authorities. Newspapers picked up the story and labelled the objects “flying saucers.”
6973 An Astronaut Talks
Captain Ed Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, told a press conference in 1974: “We all know UFO’s are real. The question is, where do they come from?”
6974 Astronaut’s “Positive” Identification
One of the most spectacular reports came from a United States Gemini 4 astronaut, James McDivitt, in June 1965. In orbit, about 90 miles above the earth, McDivitt saw a cylindrical object, apparently with arms sticking out of it, which he took to be another spacecraft with antennae.
It appeared to be in free flight over the Pacific, about 3 miles higher than the Gemini capsule. McDivitt took one still photograph and some film.
He observed that the object was moving in a parallel path to his own spacecraft, but closing in fast. McDivitt and his fellow-astronaut, James White, were hastily preparing to take evasive action when the UFO disappeared from view.
After splashdown, the film was taken away and McDivitt did not see it again for several days. When he did inspect the film, the object was “hazily” outlined against the sky. But he remained convinced it was a positive identification.
6975 Other Astronauts Sightings
A total of about 26 astronauts have reported seeing UFOs while in orbit. The first sighting was in 1962, and later reports include those made by men aboard Skylabs I, II and III. NASA (the North American Space Administration) takes the phenomenon seriously and even has allocated a codeword—“bogey”—to describe UFOs.
6976 Ufologists
The attitude of ufologists—students of UFOs—goes a step further. They usually claim that the earth is under surveillance by alien intelligences.
6977 UFO Capital
UFOs appear to be attracted to England’s West Country. The Wiltshire town of Warminster is the UFO sightings capital of the world. Since the mid-sixties there have been thousands of reports.
6978 Sightings in Japan
Japan witnessed a typical example of unexplained objects that appeared in the night skies. On January 15, 1975, a squadron of UFO-like objects, resembling a celestial string of pearls, soared silently through the evening skies over half the length of Japan. As government officials, police and thousands of curious citizens stared at the sky in wonder, from fifteen to twenty glowing objects, cruising in straight formation, flew over Japan inside a strange misty cloud. Further, they were sighted and reported in cities seven hundred miles apart in less than an hour.
Hundreds of frantic telephone calls jammed switchboards of police stations and government installations as the spectacular formation sped south. Callers said they saw strange objects inside the cloud moving in a straight line,” recalled Duty Officer Takeo Ohira. Were they planes? “No,” said Hiroshi Mayazawa, “because no planes or natural phenomena appeared on my radar. It was an exceptionally clear night. To me the whole thing is a mystery.”
Professor Masatoshi Kitamura watched the dazzling display in the night sky from the Control Room of Tokyo’s Meteorological Bureau station near the airport. He said, “I was mystified. Nothing showed up on my radar. I reported my sighting to the airport control tower and they told me nothing showed on their radar either.” Hundreds of similar events are being reported every year on every continent.
6979 From Policemen To Laborers
Washington, Oct. 26, 1976 (UPI)—Four people driving into Dawson, Georgia, reported sighting two strange, oval-shaped lights in the sky. A policeman with a background in military intelligence saw the same phenomena and the current rash of unidentified flying objects began.
“They were sort of shaped like a football, about the size of a car,” Officer Gary Ellington said in describing the incident. “The light kept changing colors. They would come in several hundred yards from us, then back off and fade out. I know I saw it.”
Ten days later, Ress Clinton said he saw a golden, egg-shaped object descend near Griffin, Georgia, burn a hole in the ground and disappear in a cloud of steam. A state chemist investigated 2½ hours later and found the soil temperature close to the boiling point of water.
On Oct. 3, Thomas E. Westmoreland, a National Park Service ranger, said he saw a saucer-shaped craft with red, green and yellow blinking lights hovering north of Tupelo, Mississippi. “I know this sounds strange,” he said, “but I can assure you I’m sober.”
The mushrooming number of UFO sightings—the phenomena have been reported from at least half the 50 states—were reminiscent of those of the ’50s and the `60s.
Then came the astounding report Oct. 11 by two shipyard workers from Gautier, Mississippi, who said two creatures carried them into a spaceship emitting a bluish haze, scanned them with an eye-like device and released them.
Police and scientists using hypnosis were unable to break their story. Dr. Allen Nynek, chairman of the Northwestern University astronomy department and a long-time UFO investigator, said “their emotions and very strong feelings of terror are impossible to fake under hypnosis.”
6980 An Occupant Sighted
An “occupant sighting” was reported on April 24, 1964, in Socorro, New Mexico. Police patrolman Lonnie Zamora gave up chasing a speeding motorist to chase a UFO instead, when he saw one apparently coming in to land about a mile away.
Zamora reported that he found it outside the town, a bright, metallic oval, the size of an upturned car. Standing beside it, he said, were two humanoid figures, about the size of ten-year-old children.
As he called headquarters to report, the figures retreated inside and the object took off.
6981 Different Versions
At Castle Rock, Colorado, some time ago, many citizens saw and carefully described an “Unidentified Flying Object” giving various reports. About 30 witnesses turned in reports to local authorities. One man described the object as “an egg-shaped bubble, about 50 feet long, 20 feet wide, 20 feet deep.” Another called it “a globe, about 30 feet in diameter.” Others said, “It had a dozen lights,” “that it lit up the sky,” “it shot out balls of flame.”
6982 Grenada’s Concern
While the major powers today bicker over the Middle East and other world issues, tiny Grenada is concerned about flying saucers. And so much so that it wants the United Nations to begin keeping an eye on them.
Grenada in September of 1977, has asked that the United Nations General Assembly set up a “UN agency on UFOs.” This body would coordinate and disseminate results of research into unidentified flying objects and related phenomenon.
“Regrettably,” observed Grenada’s prime minister, “not much concrete action by that body has yet flowed from my recommendations.”
6983 Project Blue Book
The U.S. Air Force closed down its “Project Blue Book,” which had been collecting saucer reports for 21 years—from 1948 to December 1969—and doing some analyses on 7,000 of them.
The Air Force’s conclusion at that time was:
1. No unidentified flying object has given any indication of a threat to national security.
2. There is no evidence that any of the objects sighted came from outer space.
6984 Astronomer’s Feeling
The two-year, $540,000 study called “Project Blue Book” of the U.S. Air Force, concluded that UFOs are mostly explainable phenomenon and do not necessarily imply the existence of extra-terrestrial living objects.
This was also the feeling of Dr. Carl Sagan, who operates the world’s largest radio observatory in Puerto Rico. “I’m perfectly willing to believe the governor of Ohio,” he said, “that he saw something in the sky and he did not know what it was. That’s the definition of an unidentified flying object. But that’s very different from saying that it has anything to do with being visited by spaceships from elsewhere.”
See also: Heavenly Phenomenon ; Miracles ; Signs and Wonders .