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mysterious designs were landing paths for flying machines
that may have visited Earth during these times. If this
is so, people of these times were welcoming the "out
of place" visitors with open arms. |
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The
"War of the Worlds" Scare of 1938
The
radio broadcast of the H.G. Wells classic "War
of the Worlds" on October 30, 1938 caused a major
panic to 32 million people who tuned in and listened.
The format of the show was enacted as if it were mainstream
media reports of an attack on Earth by creatures from
the planet Mars. In the story, there are a lot of
human casualties and devastation of metropolitan cities
across the United States. This broadcast was taken
seriously by many listeners and widespread panic set
in. Many people packed up and left their homes, some
took arms and barricaded themselves inside their houses,
and there were a few unfortunate suicides in fear
of the Martian attack. World renown psychologist Carl
Jung stated that people were particularly vulnerable
at this time with the very real threat of invasion
from Germany.
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The
Air Ship Wave
Another
wave that hit in huge proportions was the "Air
Ship" flap of the 1800's and early 1900's. People
were seeing blimp-like crafts over the skies of almost
every major
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Image
of an airship many people claimed to witness during
the late 1800's and early 1900's |
city
in the United States and the world over. Everyone was
becoming interested in the possibility of flight. Newspapers
were launching stories of "strange ships flying
in the sky". These ships were often said to be
occupied by human pilots, based on design concepts and
a small handful of prototype air ships tested in Europe.
The reports seemed to inflate with the first manned
dirigible flight which took place on September
24, 1852. Henri Giffard of France constructed a steam-powered
balloon that traveled 17 miles in just over three hours.
Many later attempts by Giffard met with disaster and
the ship was never a full |
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success. During the year of 1914, the California
Arrow was built and tested. At this same time, the
Germans had already began taking flight on their versions
of air ships called Zeppelins. |
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The
Term "Flying Saucer"
One
of the common misconceptions of UFO history is that
the coining of term "Flying Saucer"
is often credited to a man named Kenneth Arnold in
1947 (story covered later on this page). The truth
is the term was actually coined in the year of 1878
by a farmer in Denison, Texas named John Martin. Mr.
Martin was hunting when he noticed an object high
in the sky. He gazed at this object for a long time
making out details as best he could but the long-term
strain on his eyes had taken its toll and he could
look no more. When he made his statement to the Denison
Daily News he described the object as a large
saucer.
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The
Kenneth Arnold Story
Kenneth
Arnold was a well respected business man who flew
his own light plane and ran his own successful business.
On June 24, 1947, while flying his plane over Mt.
Ranier in Washington state, he spotted nine strange
objects flying in a "V- formation". He described
the objects to be very thin and when viewed edge-on,
they were only
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outlines
against the snow. He also said that they resembled
"a saucer skipping across water" as they
moved through the air. Because of Mr. Arnold's reputation
within the community as a business man and deputy
sheriff, his sighting was treated seriously by the
media and he soon enjoyed somewhat of a celebrity
status nationwide. His story appeared in many newspaper
publications and SCI-fiction magazines such as Fate
Magazine (Later renamed Flying Saucer Magazine).
After Kenneth Arnold reported his
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Depiction
of what Kenneth Arnold witnessed
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sighting of the nine peculiar objects over Mt. Ranier,
a rash of UFO sightings began to take place. Kenneth
Arnold was later anointed to be "the man who started
it all". One famous report occurred only a few
days after his encounter with the mysterious flying
crafts. That report was the "Roswell Incident". |
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The
Roswell Incident
Just
14 days after the well publicized sighting by Kenneth
Arnold, on July 8, 1947, one of the most monumental
cases of UFO history took place. This is known only
as "The Roswell Incident" and is still under
aggressive study to this day. It is also believed
to be one of the biggest Governmental cover-ups of
all time.
Click Here for More Details
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The
Contactee Movement
In
the early 1950's, a fanatical movement began to take
shape where people claimed to be in contact with beings
from other planets. This was only known as "The
Contactee Movement". As a result of this movement,
a huge gathering took place in California on March
of 1954 called the Giant Rock Convention. It attracted
over 5000 contactees from all over the world who showed
up to share their stories and spread the message of
the aliens they were in contact with. The contactees
generally claimed that the aliens were often friendly
beings from utopian planets and that they came to
Earth to prevent disasters such as nuclear war. The
start of this entire
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Scout
Ship witnessed by Adamski
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movement
is credited to a Polish immigrant named George Adamski
from his claims of being in contact with people from
Venus. Adamski claimed to have seen a landed flying
saucer in the Mojave Desert during the year of 1952.
He continued to report sightings and meetings with a
man from Venus named Orthon. Orthon was here to spread
peace throughout the world and Adamski was supposed
to help him spread the message. Adamski also published
books, telling about his experiences. In his books,
Adamski even drafted detailed diagrams of the interior
of the ships he |
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claimed to have boarded. The diagrams were so detailed
that they even displayed lounges, kitchens, bedrooms,
and bathrooms. Along with his books, Adamski also took
pictures and film footage of the scout ships that he
claimed were sent here by the Venusians. The scout ships
were piloted by robots and they would pick Adamski up
in the Mojave Desert and take him for tours around the
moon and the planet Venus. |
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Government
Studies
Due
to the growing interest in UFOs, the United States
Government launched several studies to investigate
UFO reports. These were true "X-Files" and
were taken very seriously by U.S. Air Force researchers.
The first of these studies was called "Project
Sign" and, in a report called the "The
Estimate of the Situation", it concluded
that Flying Saucers were in fact interplanetary vehicles.
By
December of 1948, "Project Sign" was renamed
to "Project Grudge" and the Air Force hired
astronomer J.Allen Hynek, of Ohio State University,
to separate valid reports from natural phenomena,
hoaxes, etc. Many cases were examined under the scrutiny
of Professor Hynek and hundreds were dismissed as
mundane air craft or atmospheric anomalies.
In
early 1952, "Project Grudge" was reorganized
into "Project Blue Book". The term "Flying
Saucer" would be replaced with UFO (Unidentified
Flying Object). Major Hector Quintanilla Jr. was in
charge of the new "Project Blue Book" staff.
The mission of "Project Blue Book" was stated
by Major Quintanilla in 1963. "The objectives
are, first of all, to determine if the UFO phenomena
presents a threat to the security of the United States,
and second, to determine if the UFO phenomena exhibits
any technological advances which could be channeled
to research and development". Most cases
were dismissed as natural phenomena, but although
dozens of cases remained "unexplained",
Project Blue Book concluded that UFOs posed no threat
to national security and held no promise for technological
advances. Project Blue Book was terminated in 1969.
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UFO
Groups
To
this day, there is no concrete evidence that alien
space ships are visiting Earth, but there are groups
who are dedicated to studying sightings of Unidentified
Flying Objects and encounters with aliens. One of
the first groups that was formed was NICAP
(National Investigations Committee of Aerial Phenomena).
They were instrumental in the case of the Betty
and Barny Hill abduction. Other credible organizations
such as MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), CUFOS
(Center for UFO Studies), and NUFORC (National
UFO Reporting Center) are also aggressively on the
trail of finding objective proof for the existence
of alien beings visiting Earth.
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UFO
History Chart of Recent Encounters
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| Many
of the UFOs shown on the chart are widely argued. Some
are considered more credible than others but they all
have laid the groundwork for Ufology of modern times.
Most UFOs have been described as "disk shaped"
but there have been many other reports of crafts (not
shown on the chart) that differ from the common disk
shape. |
| Many
reports are of cigar shaped UFOs such as in the picture
below of a UFO that was photographed by a farmer in
Madre de Dios, Peru in 1952. It also seemed to be emitting
some sort of vapor trail behind it as it passed across
the sky. Other sightings indicate a spherical or egg
shaped crafts such as the case in Socorro,
New Mexico where an "egg shaped" UFO landed
while being pursued by State Police. Many sightings
are reported to be "rod shaped" or even "rectangular"
in some cases. |
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| Depiction
of a cigar-shaped UFO with a vapor trail seen over Madre
de Dios, Peru, in the year of 1952 |
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For
more information about UFOs and other unexplained
phenomena,
get the Mysterious
Reality Interactive Documentary CD!
Click
here for more information
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Resources:
Video - UFO Encounters and Abductions - A&E Home
Video
Resources:
Book - UFO The Complete Sightings by Peter Brooksmith
Resources:
Book
- Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century by Janet
and Colin Bord
Resources:
Book -
The Complete Book of UFOs by Jenny Randles & Peter
Hought
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