possibly have caused _all_ the effects attributed to saucerdom’s
miraculous electromagnetic force. An E-M field with the postulated
powers is as improbable as a force that would lift fallen apples from
the ground and draw them up to reunite with the branches of their
parent tree.
Let us suppose for a moment, however, that the incidents in the
Levelland epidemic might have occurred just as they are described by
the NICAP committee. If UFOs had been visiting the earth that week,
projecting a force field that performed as claimed, certain other
events should also have occurred.
Thousands of automobiles should have been, but were not, temporarily
disabled in the neighborhood of every car-stopping UFO. Fantastic
traffic jams have sometimes been caused by torrid weather and
consequent vapor locks in the fuel lines of automobile engines. In June
1961, for example, a sudden heat wave in Boston caused a vapor-lock
epidemic that tied up traffic on the main highways for three hours. On
some stretches of road so many cars were immobilized that, with their
hoods up to cool off, they looked “like a convention of pelicans.” No
such traffic jams were reported in connection with the 1957 UFOs. In
South Springfield, Ohio, a car and a taxicab stalled but the vehicles
around them experienced no trouble. One car stalled in Houston and
another in Santa Fe, but the traffic around them proceeded as usual.
Hundreds of TV sets should have blurred, but did not, in the
neighborhood of every TV-blurring UFO.
Equally surprising, no one complained of UFO interference with hi-fi
sets, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, irons,
freezers, or electric razors. No airplane, helicopter, motorcycle, or
ocean liner reported engine trouble.
At least two landings were reported, in New Mexico and Ohio. No
physical evidence of landing could be found--shrubs were not crushed,
grass was not scorched, ground was not disturbed.
Except for the _Sebago_, no radar reported the presence of a UFO.
Moonwatch teams, trained specifically to detect, observe, and plot
the exact path of moving objects in the sky, were on the alert that
week all over the United States and Canada. They did not see even one
unidentified flying object.
_“G-Fields” and UFO Propulsion_
Even more fantastic than the E-M force that stops cars and silences
radios is the artificial gravitational field or “G-field,” which
saucer enthusiasts call on to account for all UFOs whose reported
behavior clearly contradicts the laws of physics. Employing
electromagnetic forces, the UFOs supposedly can create a variety
of G-fields as needed, to be used as a defense weapon, a means to
invisibility, or a method of propulsion[IX-18, IX-19].
Writers of science fiction have regularly utilized similar handy
expedients such as “gravity shields,” “force fields,” “inertia drives,”
and “space warps” to move their heroes quickly from earth to remote
parts of the galaxy. Physicists, too, dream of revealing new aspects of
nature that would allow man to nullify the effects of gravity and make
short cuts through space, but they realize that such devices, even if
theoretically not impossible, must await unimaginable discoveries about
nature and are at least far in the future.
Unlike the amateur investigator of UFOs, both the storyteller and
the physicist know that if and when such advances are made, they
will enlarge our understanding of the cosmos, as did the creative
insights of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein, but new discoveries cannot
invalidate what we have already learned about how the universe works.
Many of the properties ascribed to UFOs imply a complete breakdown of
physical law. They belong to the realm of magic, not science. Traveling
at speeds approaching the velocity of light, reversing direction
instantaneously, achieving maximum acceleration or deceleration in
a fraction of a second, becoming invisible at will--such feats are
impossible for a solid body moving either in an atmosphere or in space.
Most of the serious proponents of the saucer hypothesis acknowledge
that such actions are impossible, according to our present knowledge,
but they argue that alien races more advanced than earthmen have
undoubtedly found new sources of power and developed new methods of
propulsion. Elaborate theories have been constructed, phrased in nearly
incomprehensible scientific jargon, to show that UFOs do not flout the
laws of physics but merely operate under laws that are still unknown to
human beings.
To UFO investigators whose professional training lies chiefly in
fields other than physics--business, the arts, entertainment, military
science, government, the law, medicine, or religion--such theories
might well seem plausible. But to the physicist they seem so irrational
that they do not even deserve discussion, and he dismisses them as
nonsense. Saucer believers thereupon denounce the physicist as a
bigot, complain of his “closed mind,” and piously invoke the ghost
of Galileo. They forget, apparently, that the persecutors of Galileo
were specialists in theology and had only a nodding acquaintance with
astronomy.
One of the earliest theories of UFO propulsion suggested that saucers
got their motive power by tapping the lines of force in the earth’s
magnetic field. One author wrote:
“The earth being simply a huge magnet, a dynamo wound with magnetic
lines of force as its coils, tenescopically [the meaning of this
impressive word is unknown to the present authors] counted to be 1,257
to the square centimeter in one direction and 1,850 to the square
centimeter in the other direction (eddy currents), indicates that
natural law has placed these lines as close together as the hairs on
one’s head. And yet they never touch or cross each other if let alone.
If done so by accident the catastrophe would spread like a searchlight
and destroy everything in its path.”[IX-20, p. 139]
The same author asserts that such a “catastrophe” is the true
explanation of Mantell’s death (p. 33). Supposedly objecting to his
close approach, the occupants of the saucer he was chasing manipulated
some of the lines of force until they crossed in front of Mantell; the
resulting surge of power knocked the plane out of the air. Under some
conditions, he adds, the crossing of the lines can produce desirable
effects, such as the Aurora Borealis, when “we have magnetic lines
of force that are crossing one another at or near the geographic and
the magnetic poles and as a result we see those beautiful colored
lights.”[IX-20, p. 141]
To the physicist, these statements are an unsavory verbal hash. Lines
of force cannot provide a source of power and they cannot cause
explosions--they are not even real. Created merely to describe the
behavior of magnetic fields, they have no more objective existence than
a train of thought. By using the convenient fiction that lines of force
emerge from the north magnetic pole, spread apart as they flow around
the earth, and then crowd close together again as they enter the south
magnetic pole, the physicist is able to map observed variations in the
earth’s magnetic field. In a similar way the geographer uses contour
lines to map high and low areas on the earth’s surface.
A spacecraft could not propel itself by hitching to magnetic lines of
force any more than a man could travel from Philadelphia to Peru by
sliding down the 75th line of longitude.
The more sophisticated students of UFO behavior do not propose magnetic
lines of force as a source of power. In fact they skip lightly over the
awkward question of how the saucers are propelled and vaguely assert
that extraterrestrial vehicles obtain energy (apparently without doing
equivalent work) by somehow plugging in to the cosmic rays and magnetic
fields that exist in space. Thus having access to unlimited power, a
saucer supposedly draws on E-M forces to create and enclose itself
in a kind of cocoon of artificial gravity. This G-field cuts off the
attraction of the earth and other heavenly bodies, enables the saucer
to attract or repel any approaching object, and allows it to travel
almost as fast as light without suffering an increase in mass or a
transformation into energy[IX-18].
_The G-Field Myth_
To explain the alleged properties and behavior of flying saucers, a
variety of speculations have been published on the nature and operation
of the G-field[IX-18, IX-19, IX-21]. In the physicist’s view, most of
these ideas belong more to the realm of magic than of science but we
shall summarize them briefly, with a few parenthetical comments.
A UFO supposedly can travel at speeds of thousands of miles an hour and
shatter the sound barrier without making any noise because the G-field
would create a kind of protective envelope around the saucer. But if
the G-field breaks down for any reason, so that the protective envelope
is opened, then the ionized moving air hits ordinary static air and
creates the thunderous detonation produced by some UFOs. (Even with an
intact G-field, a boundary or gradient would always exist somewhere
between the air that was dragged along by the saucer and the air that
was not. A thunderous impact would certainly occur at this barrier.)
The “invisible” UFOs supposedly become so by using the G-field to
bend or deflect rays of light. (It is true that starlight passing near
the sun’s gravitational field suffers a deflection that makes the star
appear slightly displaced from its actual position on the celestial
sphere, but a shift in apparent location does not dim a star and does
not make it invisible. Furthermore the amount of deflection is only
1.75 _seconds_ of arc, less than half of a thousandth of a degree! To
produce even this small deflection, a covey of saucers would have to be
able to increase its mass to equal that of the sun: 1.97 times 10^{33}
grams! What this increase in mass would do to the rest of the solar
system doesn’t bear thinking of.)
Angel hair (see _Chapter_ XI) is supposed to be a waste product from
the operation of the G-field. The ionization of the air inside the
G-field allegedly would create heavy atoms that reacted chemically
with the atoms in ordinary air to produce a kind of precipitate that
falls to the ground and disappears as the ionization decreases. (In the
physics laboratory, ionization means taking an electron away from an
electrically neutral atom. The resulting atom would not be heavier. The
contact between ordinary air and that in the ionized trail of a meteor
has never yet produced “angel hair.” No laboratory has ever reported
that isotopes of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and other elements in
the atmosphere can react with their normal analogues to produce
precipitates. A change in ionization cannot make a chemical compound
disappear.)
The envelope of air enclosed by the G-field is supposed to allow a UFO
to accelerate or change direction instantaneously, even when flying
at enormous speeds, because the UFO would not encounter atmospheric
friction. (Vehicles moving in the earth’s gravitational field are also
surrounded by a cushion of air, but they still must overcome friction.)
At this point the whole G-field myth falls apart. One of the
fundamental laws established by Newton, to which no exception has ever
been found in the laboratory, states that a moving object will continue
to move in a straight line unless it encounters an applied force. Let
us suppose, for the moment, that a gravity shield could suddenly be
interposed between a spacecraft and the earth, and thus make the craft
reverse its direction of flight. The occupants would still be subject
to the law of inertia. They would be hurled against the wall of the
craft with a violence far greater than that experienced by a plane
crashing to earth from an altitude of 30,000 feet. There could be no
cushioning of the blow.
Such dreams demonstrate an almost contemptuous disregard for reality.
Physicists admittedly do not yet understand the basic nature of
gravity, but they do know a great deal about how it acts. Gravity is
the force that holds the universe together. It exerts a pull on all
objects in the physical world--the earth, the moon, the planets, our
sun, the distant stars, and even the stars in other galaxies. All
these bodies without exception move according to the law of universal
gravitation as formulated by Newton and refined by Einstein: Every
particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force
that is proportional to the product of their masses, and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them. The magnitude
of the force depends only on the masses of the bodies and on their
distances from each other. It does not depend at all on the nature of
the medium that separates them. It operates unchanged through stone,
metal, water, air, or empty space. With a metal shield we can reduce
electrical forces to zero; with a soft-iron shield we can weaken
magnetic forces; but no substance existing in nature can act as a
shield to shut out the force of gravitation.
_Electricity, Magnetism, and Gravity_
No responsible scientist would assert that man has found out all
there is to know about the universe, and few would insist that some
kind of a shield for gravity is an absolute impossibility. As yet,
however, no laboratory has detected any phenomenon that might be
a clue to “negative gravity.” In recent years nuclear physicists
have occasionally caught fleeting glimpses of what has been called
“anti-matter,” electrons with positive charges and protons with
negative charges--the reverse of their charges in the normal world.
Some investigators have speculated on the gravitational properties of
anti-matter, and have wondered whether it might exert a force that
would repel instead of attract.
So far no one has been able to think of an experiment to test the
idea. Even if someone could find a way to collect a thimbleful of
anti-matter, when he brought it into contact with normal matter, it,
he, and his surroundings would instantly detonate like a super-colossal
neutron bomb. Many physicists believe that, since electrical forces
operate independently of gravitational forces, interchanging the
charges on protons and electrons would probably have no effect on the
gravitational field. Theoretical study and computations may someday
yield an answer.
For years scientists have been searching for a “unified field theory,”
a single equation that would describe the interrelationship among
electrical, magnetic, and gravitational forces. Such a mathematical
statement would reveal the mysterious bond that holds together the
atomic nucleus, imparts to atoms their unique structure, and keeps the
stars in their courses. But this unifying equation, when it is found,
will not make our present knowledge invalid. Enthusiasts are deluding
themselves when they base their belief in flying saucers on the hope
of overthrowing the laws of gravity and inertia. Gravity, magnetism,
and electricity are actual physical forces, as real as light, air,
houses, trees, or persons. They can act only according to the laws of
nature which, unlike the laws passed by legislatures, are not subject
to repeal. No juggling of words, no argument, no wish can change these
laws any more than they can stop the rising of the sun or the waning of
the moon.
If man is ever to learn to control the force of gravity, he will
succeed not by denying the reality of the laws but only by finding out
what they are and by trying to understand them.
[IX-1] Michel, A. _Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery._ New
York: Criterion Books, 1958.
[IX-2] Air Force Files.
[IX-3] El Paso (Texas) _Times_, Nov. 4, 1957.
[IX-4] Barker, G. “Chasing the Flying Saucers,” _Flying Saucers_ (May
1958), p. 20 ff.
[IX-5] Denver _Post_, Nov. 6, 1957.
[IX-6] Viemeister, P. E. _The Lightning Book._ Garden City, N.Y.:
Doubleday & Co., 1961.
[IX-7] Matthias, B. T., and Buchsbaum, S. J. “Pinched Lightning,”
_Nature_, Vol. 194 (1962), p. 327.
[IX-8] Ritchie, D. J. _Ball Lightning._ A Collection of Soviet Research
in English Translation (1961). New York: Consultants Bureau.
[IX-8a] Cade, C. M. “Thunderbolts as the X-weapon,” _Discovery_, Vol.
XXIII (1962), pp. 23–28.
[IX-9] Kapitsa, P. L. “The Nature of Ball Lightning,” _Dokl. Akad. Nauk
SSSR_, Vol. CI, No. 2 (1955), pp. 245–48. (Translated in [IX-8].)
[IX-10] Hill, E. L. “Ball Lightning as a Physical Phenomenon,”
_Bulletin American Meteorology Society_, Vol. XXXXI (1960), p. 199.
[IX-11] Pierce, E. T.; Nadile, R. M.; and McKinnon, P. J. “An
Experimental Investigation of Negative Point-plane Corona and Its
Relation to Ball Lightning,” AFCRL-TR-60-354. Bedford, Mass.: Oct. 24,
1960.
[IX-12] Gold, E. “Thunderbolts: The Electric Phenomena of
Thunderstorms,” _Nature_, Vol. CLXIX (1952), pp. 561–63.
[IX-13] Kogan-Beletskii, G. I. “The Nature of Ball Lightning,”
_Priroda_, No. 4 (1957), pp. 71–73. (Translated in [IX-8].)
[IX-14] Schmidt, R. O. “The Kearney Incident,” _Flying Saucers_
(October 1959), p. 31 ff.
[IX-15] _UFO Critical Bulletin_, Vol. II, No. 2 (March-April 1958).
[IX-16] “The Case of the Radioactive UFO,” _Flying Saucers_ (February
1958), p. 30.
[IX-17] “Electro-magnetic Effects Associated With Unidentified Flying
Objects (UFO’s),” Subcommittee of the National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), Washington, D.C. (June 1960).
[IX-17a] _Sky and Telescope_, Vol. XXIII (1962), p. 323.
[IX-18] Michel, A. _The Truth about Flying Saucers._ New York:
Criterion Books, 1956.
[IX-19] Keyhoe, D. E. _The Flying Saucer Conspiracy._ New York: Henry
Holt & Co., 1955.
[IX-20] Scully, F. _Behind the Flying Saucers._ New York: Popular
Library, 1951.
[IX-21] Cramp, L. G. _Space, Gravity and the Flying Saucer._ New York:
British Book Centre, 1955.
_Chapter_ X
CONTACT!
All fields of human activity have their practical jokers. Elaborate
hoaxes have been perpetrated in music, art, literature, history,
religion, science--and in the world of flying saucers. Although the
motives for such swindles are not always obvious, the trickster is
usually trying to promote a cause, to gain fame and/or prestige,
to make money, to satirize a folly, or just to have some fun at
the public’s expense. Some hoaxes, such as Mark Twain’s petrified
man, produce only harmless amusement. Others, planned as serious
deceptions, can cause long-lasting damage. The celebrated Piltdown
man was fraudulently created from an ape’s jawbone, a stray tooth,
and a few chemical staining agents; it gained fame for the scientists
involved but threw the study of human evolution into a confusion that
lasted more than twenty years, until the forgery was revealed in every
detail[X-1].
A few hoaxes live on and on even after they are exposed, apparently
because people enjoy believing in them. The Jersey devil, described as
a fire-breathing monster with huge wings and a long tail, was first
mentioned in the columns of a small-town newspaper in New Jersey
in 1906. Within a few days inhabitants of rural areas all over the
east coast were reporting glimpses of the frightening demon and on
one particular night it allegedly terrified citizens in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The panic finally reached such
heights that some towns closed their factories and theaters. This
fantastic monster was quickly found to be a hoax, the brain child of
the publicity manager for a Philadelphia museum of freaks; his sole
purpose had been to drum up customers for the museum. Nevertheless many
persons rejected this explanation and continued to believe that the
creature really existed. It was reported again in 1926, in 1930, in
1932, and may reappear again at any time. Obviously the Jersey devil,
though admittedly the product of a hoax, has become a permanent part of
the local fauna[X-2].
Flying-saucer hoaxes are rarely submitted to the Air Force as bona fide
sightings. Of 1500 UFO reports, only forty-two proved to be deliberate
frauds or the delusions of unstable persons. The hoaxer may give his
tale to the newspapers, to a lecture audience, or even publish it in a
book, but he carefully avoids Air Force scrutiny. His story will not
hold up under close investigation, and he knows it.
_Earthlings and Extraterrestrials_
The fantasies of the obviously deluded are a problem for the clinician
and will not be discussed in this book. Typical is the case of
“Dr. X” who writes to strangers, inviting them to accompany him on
his next visit to the “Brothers” in space and to “join the side of
righteousness.” Although Dr. X has several times set a date for the
excursion, he has always had to postpone it for some reason. He
himself, he says, has made more than sixty journeys on flying saucers
and mother ships, and has often taken his automobile along--just why he
needed it he does not explain.
Peculiarly hard to classify are the “contact” reports, in which a
witness affirms that he has had one or more personal encounters with a
spacecraft and that he has communicated with its occupants, who range
in type from ordinary specimens of _Homo sapiens_ to hairy dwarfs and
elephant-faced little men in space suits. He gives a more or less
detailed account of the incident and sometimes offers “proof” in the
form of alleged photographs or fragments of the vehicle. Ostensibly
inspired by religious or humanitarian motives, these “contactees”
wholeheartedly support the theory that flying saucers originate in
worlds beyond the earth.
In general the contactees tell essentially the same story, with minor
variations: Earthling (the witness) sees a flying saucer; saucer lands.
Extraterrestrial occupant emerges, extends friendly greetings, confides
his wish to help the human race solve its problems, takes Earthling for
a cruise to another planet, brings Earthling back. After promising
to maintain a sort of guardianship over the earth, the visitor says
farewell and flies back to his home planet.
Although these stories are told in the first person, purportedly as
fact, they perhaps should not be called hoaxes, for they can deceive
only the credulous who want to believe that supermen from other worlds
are hovering near to save our troubled planet. With no suspense, little
characterization, and ludicrously bad science, these naïve accounts are
fiction of such poor quality that they would be rejected by even the
most hard-pressed editor of fantastic tales. Whether from Venus, Mars,
Saturn, or the planets of other solar systems, these gods from the
machine all look just like human beings and either speak the colloquial
language of the contactee or communicate by thought transference. Their
physical appearance, clothing, tastes in food, habits of thought,
and ethical values usually seem indistinguishable from those of the
citizens (whether American, French, or Brazilian) who report the
visitors.
_The “Contactees”_