It was dark when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I had
intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay over
for dinner.
We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to _True’s_ office building.
Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the
space-travel answer.
“Oh, it’s possible,” he said cautiously. “The time and space angles
make it hard to take, but if we’re planning to explore space within
fifty years, there’s no reason some other planet people couldn’t do it.
Of course, if they’ve been observing us for over a century, as those
old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, at least
in technical progress.”
Later on, he said thoughtfully, “Even though it’s possible, I hate to
think it’s the answer. just imagine the impact on the world. We’d have
to reorient our whole lives—and things are complicated enough already.”
Standing at the gate, waiting for my plane to be called, I thought over
that angle. Assuming that space travel was the solution—which I still
couldn’t believe-what would be the effect on the world?
It was a hard thing to picture. So much depended on the visitors from
space. What would their purpose be? Would they be peaceful or hostile?
Why had they been observing the earth so intensively in the past few
years?
I could think of a hundred questions. What would the space people be
like? Would they be similar to men and women on earth, or some fearsome
Buck Rogerish creatures who would terrify the average
American—including myself?
It was obvious they would be far superior to us in many ways. But their
civilization might be entirely different. Evolution might have
developed their minds, and possibly their bodies, along lines we
couldn’t even grasp. Perhaps we couldn’t even communicate with them.
What would be the net effect of making contact with beings from a
distant planet? Would earthlings be terrified, or, if it seemed a
peaceful exploration, would we bc intrigued by the thought of a great
adventure? It would depend entirely on the space visitors’ motives, and
how the world was prepared for such a revelation.
The more I thought about it, the more fantastic thc thing seemed.
And yet it hadn’t been too long since airplane flight was considered an
idiot’s dream. This scene here at La Guardia would have seemed pure
fantasy in 1900—thc huge Constellations and DC-6’s; the double-decked
Stratocruisers, sweeping in from all over the country; the big ships at
Pan-American, taking off for points all over the globe. We’d come a
long way in the forty-six years since the Wright brothers’ first
flight.
But space travel!
The gateman checked my ticket, and I went out to the Washington plane.
It was a luxury ship, a fifty-two-passenger, four-engined DC-6,
scheduled to be in the capital one hour after take-off. By morning this
plane, the Aztec, would be in Mexico City.
The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties.
Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted
this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school
songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled “Darius Green and His
Flying Machine.” Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually
thought he could fly.
Fifty years. That was the time the Air Force had estimated it would
take us to start exploring space. Would Americans come to accept space
travel as matter-of-factly as the people now boarding this plane? The
youngsters would, probably; the older ones, as a rule, would be a
little more cautious.
In the oval lounge at the rear of the plane, I took out the file of old
sighting reports. Glancing through it, I, saw excerpts from
nineteenth-century astronomical and scientific journals and extracts
from official gazettes. Most of the early sightings had been in Great
Britain and on the Continent, with a few reports scattered around the
world. The American reports did not begin until the latter part of the
century.
The DC-6 rolled out and took off. For a few minutes I watched the
lights of Manhattan and Greater New York twinkling below. The Empire
State Building tower was still above us, as the plane banked over the
East River.
We climbed quickly, and the familiar outline of Manhattan took shape
like a map pin-pointed with millions of lights.
Any large city seen from the air at night has a certain magic, New York
most of all. Looking down, I thought: What would a spaceman think,
seeing this brilliantly lighted city, the towering skyscrapers? Would
other planets have such cities, or would it be something new and
puzzling to a visitor from space?
Turning back to the old reports, I skipped through until I found the
American sightings. One of the first was an incident at Bonham, Texas,
in the summer of 1873.
It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in
the sky, southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham
stared at the thing, not believing their eves. The only flying device
then known was the drifting balloon. But this thing was tremendous, and
speeding so fast its outlines were almost a blur.
Terrified farmers dived under their wagons. Townspeople fled indoors.
Only a few hardy souls remained in the streets. The mysterious object
circled Bonham twice, then raced off to the cast and vanished.
Descriptions of the strange machine varied from round or oval to
cigar-shaped. (The details of the Bonham sighting were later confirmed
for me by Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, who investigated
this case.)
Twenty-four hours after the Bonham incident, a device of the same
description appeared at Fort Scott, Kansas. Panic-stricken soldiers
fled the parade ground as the thing flashed overhead. In a few seconds
it disappeared, circling toward the north.
Until now, I had supposed that the term “saucer” was original with
Kenneth Arnold. Actually, the first to compare a flying object with a
saucer was John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison, Texas. The
Denison Daily News of January 25, 1878, gives the following account:
From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this
city, we learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while out
hunting, his attention was directed to a dark object high up in the
southern sky. The peculiar shape and velocity with which the object
seemed to approach riveted his attention and he strained his eves to
discover its character.
When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange,
which continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time Mr.
Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a
time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the object was
almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, and appeared to
be going through space at wonderful speed.
When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and was
evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as well as
he could judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had come and was
soon lost to sight in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of
undoubted veracity and this strange occurrence, if it was not a
balloon, deserves the attention of our scientists.
In the file, I saw a memo DuBarry had written:
“I would take the very early reports with caution. For instance, the
one on August 9, 1762, which describes an odd, spindle-shaped body
traveling at high speed toward the sun. I recall that Charles Fort
accepted this, along with other early sightings, as evidence of space
ships. But this particular thing might have been a meteor—meteors as
such were almost unknown then. The later reports are more convincing,
and it is also easier to check the sources, especially those from 1870
on.”
From 1762 to 1870, the reports were meager. Some described mysterious
lights in the sky; a few mentioned round objects seen in daylight. Even
though they were not so fully documented as later ones, one point
struck me. In those days, there was no telegraph, telephone, or radio
to spread news rapidly and start a flood of rumors. A sighting in
Scotland could not be the cause of a similar one two days later in the
south of France.
Beginning in 870, there was a series of reports that went on to the
turn of the century. In the London _Times_, September 26, 1870, there
was a description of a queer object that was seen crossing the moon. It
was reported as elliptical, with some kind of tail, and it took almost
thirty seconds to complete its passage of the moon. Then in 1871, a
large, round body was sighted above Marseilles, France. This was on
August 1. It moved slowly across the sky, apparently at great height,
and was visible about fifteen minutes.
On March 22, 1880, several brilliantly luminous objects were reported
seen at Kattenau, Germany. Sighted just before sunrise, they were
described as rising from the horizon and moving from east to west. The
account was published in the _British Nature Magazine_, Volume 22, page
64.
The next report in the file mentioned briefly a strange round object
seen in the skies over Bermuda. The source for this account was the
Bermuda Royal Gazette. This was in 1885. That same year, an astronomer
and other witnesses reported a gigantic aerial object at Adrianople,
Turkey. On November 1, the weird apparition was seen moving across the
sky. Observers described it as round and four to five times the size of
the moon.
This estimate is similar to the Denison, Texas, comparison with an
orange. The object would actually be huge to be seen at any great
height. But unless the true height were known, any estimate of size
would be guesswork.
On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea near a Dutch
barkentine. As described by the skipper, Captain C. D. Sweet, one of
the objects was dark, the other brightly luminous. The glowing object
fell with a loud roaring sound; the shipmaster was positive it was not
a meteor.
In New Zealand, a year later, an oval-shaped disk was reported speeding
high overhead. This was on May 4, 1888. About two years after this,
several large aerial bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch East
Indies.
Most accounts described them as roughly triangular, about one hundred
feet on the base and two hundred feet on the sides. But some observers
thought they might be longer and narrower, with a rounded base; this
would make them agree with more recent stories of cone-shaped objects
with rounded tops seen in American skies.
On August 26, 1894, a British admiral reported sighting a large disk
with a projection like a tail. And a year after this, both England and
Scotland buzzed with stories of triangular-shaped objects like those
seen in the Dutch East Indies. Although many officials scoffed at the
stories, more than one astronomer stuck to his belief that the
mysterious things might be coming from outer space. Since planes and
dirigibles were then unknown, there was no one on earth who could have
been responsible for them.
In 1897, sightings in the United States began to be more frequent. One
of the strangest reports describes an incident that began on April 9.
Flying at a great height, a huge cigar-shaped device was seen in the
Midwest. Short wings projected from the sides of the object, according
to reports of astronomers who watched it through telescopes.
For almost a week, the aerial visitor was sighted around the Midwest,
as far south as St. Louis and as far west as Colorado. Several times,
red, green, and white lights were seen to flash in the sky; some
witnesses thought the crew of this strange craft might be trying to
signal the earth.
On April 16, the thing, whatever it was, disappeared from the Midwest.
But on April 19, the same object—or else a similar one—appeared over
West Virginia. Early that morning the town of Sisterville was awakened
by blasts of the sawmill whistle. Those who went outside their homes
saw a strange sight. From a torpedo-shaped object overhead, dazzling
searchlights were pointing downward, sweeping the countryside. The
thing appeared to be about two hundred feet long, some thirty feet in
diameter, with stubby wings and red and green lights along the sides.
For almost ten minutes the aerial visitor circled the town, then it
swung eastward and vanished.
The next report was published in the U.S. Weather Bureau’s monthly
_Weather Review_. On page 115 in the March 1904 issue, there is an
account of an odd sighting at sea. On February 24, 1904, a mysterious
light had been seen above the Atlantic by crew members of the U.S.S.
_Supply_. It was moving swiftly, and evidently at high altitude. The
report was attested by Lieutenant Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N.
On July 2, 1907, a mysterious explosion occurred, in the heavens near
Burlington, Vermont. Some witnesses described a strange, torpedo-shaped
device circling above. Shortly after it was seen, a round, luminous
object flashed down from the sky, then exploded, (_Weather Review_,
1907, page 310.)
Another cigar-shaped craft was reported at a low altitude over
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1905. Like the one at Sisterville, it
carried searchlights, which swept back and forth across the
countryside. After a few moments, the visitor rose in a steep climb,
and the searchlights blinked out.
There was no report for 1909 in America, though an odd aerial object
was sighted near the Galapagos Islands. But in 1910, one January
morning, a large silvery cigar-shaped device startled Chattanooga.
After about five minutes, the thing sped away, appearing over
Huntsville, Alabama, shortly afterward. It made a second appearance
over Chattanooga the next day, then headed east and was never seen
again.
In _Popular Astronomy_, January 27, 1012, a Dr. F. B. Harris described
an intensely black object that he saw crossing the moon. As nearly as
he could tell, it was gigantic in size—though again there was no way to
be sure of its distance from him or the moon. With careful
understatement, Dr. Harris said, “I think a very interesting and
curious phenomenon happened that night.”
A strange shadow was noted on the clouds at Fort Worth, Texas, on April
8, 19, 3. It appeared to be caused by some large body hovering
motionless above the clouds. As the cloud layer moved, the shadow
remained in the same position. Then it changed size, diminishing, and
quickly disappeared, as if it had risen vertically. A report on this
was given in the Weather Bureau _Review_ of that year, Number 4-599.
By 1919, dirigibles were of course well known to most of the world.
When a dirigible-shaped object appeared over Huntington, West Virginia,
in July of that year, there was no great alarm. It was believed to be
an American blimp, though the darkness—it was eleven at night—prevented
observers from being sure. But a later check-up proved it was not an
American ship, nor was it from any country possessing such craft.
For some time after this, there were few authentic reports. Then in
1934, Nicholas Roerich, head of the American-Roerich expedition into
Tibet, had a remarkable experience that bears on the saucer riddle.
On pages 361 and 362 of his book _Altai Himalaya_, Roerich describes
the incident. The expedition party was in the wilds of Tibet one
morning when a porter noticed the peculiar actions of a buzzard
overhead. He called Roerich’s attention to it; then they all saw
something high in the sky, moving at great speed from north to south.
Watching it through binoculars, Roerich saw it was oval-shaped,
obviously of huge size, and reflecting the sun’s rays like brightly
polished metal. While he trailed it with his glasses, the object
suddenly changed direction, from south to southwest. It was gone in a
few moments.
This was the last sighting listed before World War II.
When I had finished, I stared out the plane window, curiously
disturbed. Like most people, I had grown up believing the earth was the
center of everything—life, intelligence, and religion. Now, for the
first time in my life, that belief was shaken.
It was a curious thing. I could accept the idea that we would
eventually explore space, land on the moon, and go on to distant
planets. I had read of the plans, and I knew our engineers and
scientists would somehow find a way. It did not disturb my belief in
our superiority.
But faced with this evidence of a superior race in the universe, my
mind rebelled. For years, I had been accustomed to thinking in
comic-strip terms of any possible spacemen—Buck Rogers stuff, with
weird-looking space ships and green-faced Martians.
But now, if these sightings were true, the shoe was on the other foot.
We would be faced with a race of beings at least two hundred years
ahead of our civilization—perhaps thousands. In their eyes, we might
look like primitives.
My conjectures before the take-off had just been idle thinking; I had
not really believed this could be the answer. But now the question came
back sharply. How would we react to a sudden appearance of space ships,
bringing that higher race to the earth? If we were fully prepared,
educated to this tremendous adventure, it might come off without
trouble. Unprepared, we would be thrown into panic.
The lights of Philadelphia showed up ahead, and a thought struck me.
What would Philadelphians of 1776 have thought to see this DC-6 flying
across their city at three hundred miles an hour? What would the
sentries at Valley Forge have done, a year later, if this lighted
airliner had streaked over their heads?
Madness. Stampede. Those were the plain answers.
But there was a difference now. We had had modern miracles, radio,
television, supersonic planes, and the promise of still more miracles.
_We_ could be educated, or at least partly prepared, to accept space
visitors.
In fifty years we had learned to fly. In fifty years more, we would be
exploring space. Why should we believe such creative intelligence was
limited to the earth? It would be incredible if the earth, out of all
the millions of planets, proved the only inhabited spot in the whole
universe.
But, instinctively, I still fought against believing that the flying
saucers were space ships. Eventually, we would make contact with races
on other planets; they undoubtedly would someday visit the earth. But
if it could be put off . . . a problem for later generations to handle
. . .
If the disks proved American guided missiles, it would be an easier
answer.
Looking through the Project “Saucer” report DuBarry had loaned me, I
read the space-travel items, hoping to find some hint that this was a
smoke screen. On page 18, in a discussion on Mars, I found this
comment:
“Reports of strange objects seen in the skies have been handed down
through the generations. However, scientists believe that if Martians
were now visiting the earth without establishing contact, it could be
assumed that they have just recently succeeded in space travel, and
that their civilization would be practically abreast of ours. This
because they find it hard to believe that any technically established
race would come here, flaunt its ability in mysterious ways over the
years, but each time simply go way without ever establishing contact.”
There could be several answers to that. The Martians might not be able
to live in our atmosphere, except in their sealed space ships. They, or
some other planet race, could have observed us periodically to check on
our slow progress. Until we began to approach their level of
civilization, or in some way caused them concern, they would probably
see no reason for trying to make contact. But somehow I found a vague
comfort in the argument, full of holes though it was.
Searching further, I found other space-travel comments. On one page,
the Air Force admitted it was almost a certainty that space travelers
would be operating from planets outside the solar system. But on the
following page, I discovered this sentence: “Thus, although visits from
outer space are believed to be possible, they are thought to be highly
improbable.”
What was the answer? Was this just a wandering discussion of
possibilities, badly put together, or was it a hint of the truth? it
could be the first step in preparing America for a revelation. It could
also be a carefully thought-out trick.
This whole report might be designed to conceal a secret weapon. If the
Air Force or the Navy did have a secret missile, what better way to
distract attention? The old sighting reports could have been seized on
as a buildup for space travel hints.
Then suddenly it hit me. Even if it were a smoke screen, what of those
old reports? They still remained to be answered. There was only one
possible explanation, unless you discarded the sightings as lies. That
meant discrediting many reliable witnesses—naval officers, merchant
shipmasters, explorers, astronomers, ministers, and responsible public
officials.
Besides all these, there had been thousands of other witnesses, where
large groups had seen the objects. The answer seemed inevitable, but I
held it off. I didn’t want to believe it, with all the changes it might
bring, the unpredictable effect upon our civilization. If I kept on
checking I might find evidence that would bring a different explanation
for the present saucers.
DuBarry had put another group of reports in the envelope; this series
covered the World War II phase and on up to the outbreak of the saucer
scare in the United States. Some of it, about the foo fighters, I
already knew. This was tied in with the mystery rockets reported over
Sweden. The first Swedish sightings had occurred during the early part
of the war. Most of the so-called “ghost rockets” were seen at night,
moving at tremendous speed. Since they came from the direction of
Germany, most Swedes believed that guided rockets were the answer.
During the summer of 1946, after the Russians had taken over
Peenemunde, the Nazi missile test base, ghost rockets again were
reported flying over Sweden. Some were said to double back and fly into
Soviet areas. Practically all were seen at night, and therefore none
had been described as a flying disk. Instead, they were said to be
colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often blurred from their
high speed.
But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes
flying disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal,
Turkey, Spain, and even French Morocco. Either there were _two_
answers, or some nation had developed missiles with an incredibly long
range.
By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to
less than one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by
Project “Saucer” was in this same month. The first ’47 case detailed by
Project “Saucer” occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about the
middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon and
was tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed his
field of vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the
thing, despite its high speed. (The actual speed and altitude—the
latter determined by a comparison of the balloon’s height at various
times—have never been released. Nor has the Air Force released this
observer’s report on the object’s size, which Project “Saucer” admitted
was more accurate than most witnesses’ estimates.)
About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times
longer than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City
pilot. Two days later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at
Manitou Springs, Colorado. In the short time it was observed, it was
seen to change direction twice, maneuvering at an unbelievable speed.
Then on June 24 came Kenneth Arnold’s famous report, which set off the
saucer scare. The rest of the story I now knew almost by heart.
When the DC-6 landed at Washington, I had made one decision. Since it
was impossible to check up on most of the old sightings, I would
concentrate on certain recent reports—cases in which the objects had
been described as space ships.
As I waited for a taxi, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear summer
night, without a single cloud. Beyond the low hill to the west I could
see the stars.
I can still remember thinking, _If it’s true, then the stars will never
again seem the same_.