THE
CASE OF THE FLYING SAUCERS
by Manly
Palmer Hall (33°), July 2, 1950
Typed lecture notes by Virginia B. Pomeroy
241 Orizaba Avenue, Long Beach 3, California.
This morning
our purpose is to analyze certain aspects of the human mind in connection
with the mysterious case of the Flying Saucers. First of all I would
like to create a little parallel, something that will help folks to
see just what we are up against in a matter of this kind. Quite a
number of years ago a famous stage magician by the name of Harry Keller
created a strange illusion, he perfected in stage magic the Illusion
of levitation. Keller, who was a very able exponent of the art of
conjuring, worked out a method by the means of which the human body
could be suspended in the middle of a well lighted stage without any
visible means of support. He was able to so project it that a committee,
honestly chosen from the audience could walk around the stage and
even could walk under the floating body. Of course, in those days
legerdemain was one of the principal forms of entertainment. It has
failed in popularity because folks of our generation are insulted
rather than amused when they are fooled. Keller gave his professional
secret, the mystery of the floating lady, to Howard Thurston, who
exhibited it to the public throughout his life. In order to add glamour
to the spectacle, the scene was decked in Oriental splendor, like
the Arabian Nights, which brought to the mind of the beholder the
wonderful story of the magic of the East, all of which contributed
to the disorientation of his judgment, which was the necessary ingredient
of such entertainment.
After watching
this illusion a number of times from the audience, I used to listen
to the explanations that were given. Those present knew in their common
mind that it was a trick of some kind. The majority of these audiences
assumed that and were not profoundly shaken in their judgment even
though completely deceived by their eyes, which proved definitely
that you cannot always believe what you see. There were, however,
in such groups several classes of people, and there was always that
little group interested in Eastern mysticism, which would have been
willing to die to defend the belief that the lady actually floated,
that it was done by a secret formula right out of the Arabian Nights.
Nothing could have convinced them to the contrary.
Then there
was another group semantically addicted to the belief that conjurers
and mirrors were always associated. When you do not know how it is
done, it is done by mirrors. So another group was very smug, happy
and wise and knew all about it, it was done with mirrors. Having decided
that, they gained proper distinction in their own eyes and among their
associates and they were ready to enjoy the performance. There was
another group with a more scientific type of mind. This group would
gather in the corner of the lobby and explain in detail how it was
all done with magnets. Magnets were the mysterious thing you could
do anything with. It never occurred to these people to have it done
by magnets would be more difficult than to have the lady actually
float.
I listened
to these groups explaining the wonder and it was only on rare occasions
that anyone ever suggested anything that was close to the facts. In
the first place, facts were too simple and in the second place, the
mind was conditioned away from the prosaic understanding of the matter.
It was very amusing because I happened to know how it was done having
been present on a number of occasions when the device was assembled.
They did not realize how perfectly, how simply and how completely
the human mind can be misdirected. Of course, incidentally, we may
say there was the lunacy fringe that had decided the whole audience
had been hypnotized. But the real answer was very simple, but very
cleverly and intelligently worked out.
Also when
I was younger than I am now, considerably, I lived in a small town
where circuses went by. One year before these more recent devices,
such as the radio, but not before the party line on the telephones
which was the great method of communication at the turn of the century,
everybody listened to everybody else, the deepest rut in the linoleum
was in front of the phone. On this occasion an old, decrepit, dying,
mangy lioness disappeared from one of the cages. In the following
week the lioness was sighted in an area of over five hundred miles.
It was seen anywhere from three to ten places at the same time. It
frightened dozens of reputable, honest, God-fearing citizens, all
of then solid citizens. Then the lioness showed up dead two hundred
yards from the circus tent. It had ambled over there and fallen dead.
Yet all of those who reported having seen it were honest, God-fearing
people, which brings us to a simple fact that has been studied and
analyzed for centuries, that is the delusion of masses.
Once a
story starts it is almost impossible to determine how far it will
go and how many variations it will assume before the journey is ended.
Like interesting fragments of gossip it develops jet propulsion and
also passes through innumerable transformations, so the final account
has little resemblance to the original story. Knowing these tendencies
of the human mind, these tendencies that are present in perfectly
honest and honorable people, we have to approach all remarkable accounts,
not in an effort to demonstrate how remarkable they are, but to discover,
if possible some simple, natural, normal explanation, clinging to
that until that explanation itself obviously falls. There are always
levels of explanations ascending from the simple to the complex. We
should carefully wear out every level, exhausting its most reasonable
probabilities before we ascend to more rarefied strata of opinions.
Not long
ago I was talking to a gentleman who had had a very bad moment, he
had nearly killed a friend while out deer hunting. He told me the
happiest moment of his life was the moment he realized he had missed
him. But he said while he was aiming, while he was attempting to shoot
what he believed to be the deer, which, of course, was obscured in
the thicket, he would have taken an oath on any Bible and swear before
God as a witness, that he actually believed he saw the deer. He saw
movement, he saw movement in the underbrush, twig and branches took
the actual appearance of antlers, and he was perfectly willing to
swear that he saw the deer.
Now such
visualization along lines of expectancy is not a new experience, and
after a number of reports are circulated we have to recognize the
possibility of such delusions. We must, however, bear in mind that
the elements of delusion may not disprove the entire structure, but
may account for certain difficulties which arrive later. I read an
article recently on the flying saucers in which one researcher in
the field was attempting to reconcile all the differences in the accounts,
and trying to find an explanation large enough to include all the
details of the various authentic statements. This was to my mind a
mistake. These authentic details will probably never be completely
reconciled when all the facts are known. It is not necessary for us
to verify every tiny thread of the report. It is impossible. These
very threads may be so tangled and so exaggerated and enlarged in
the retelling, that they obscure rather than contribute to a general
statement of facts. The facts will probably show that a great many
honest reports were untrue and that many very simple and factual elements
were completely overlooked.
I do not
believe there is any use in attempting to explain away the existence
of these flying saucers. Even had we not the most recent reports,
such as that which appeared in the last issue of the Readers Digest,
and even before that, probably a year ago when Winchell mentioned
the flying saucers in his column, telling the people not to worry,
it was a government secret, even without these statements that have
never been disputed there is still evidence enough that there is something,
or several somethings, that has been seen. Thus we may assume without
any great exaggeration that something not previously generally considered
is happening, and that there are basic truths under the stories of
the flying saucers, that these truths like the levitation of the lady,
have been explained very badly is also pretty evident, inasmuch as
explanation utterly irreconcilable cannot all be right. Conversely,
we can say they cannot all be wrong. That may also be possible, then
again the truth may be a little different from all the reports, because
it is hard to formulate reports where the necessary facts are not
available.
But assuming
for the moment that which I think we are entitled to assume without
too much allowance for imagination, that something has been seen,
and that the various reports about it like those matters in which
they are in common agreement may have some validity, we are then confronted
with the question of what we have seen. Nearly all accounts report
several different things seen. Naturally, some of these accounts,
including the flying cucumber, and the report of a great space ship
that took fifteen minutes to float across the horizon, and reached
from side to side of the visual heavens, might be suspected of exaggeration.
These things get larger the longer we think about them, and like the
famous fish story, they improve with the telling and with the enthusiasm
of the narrator.
The various
things seen and described can be classified into various groups; one
group consisting of the flying saucer which is round, almost round,
oblong, concave and convex. That various sizes have been noted, we
know, some being of no great size, and others being of considerable
proportion. Then something resembling the jet propulsion machine,
either without wings, or with exceedingly thin, fin-like extensions,
propelled by a tremendous power from what appeared to be gills on
the sides, the whole structure shaped roughly like a cigar, have also
been described by several persons. Detached floating lights that are
seemingly under control have also been noted. Rays, beams and lights,
and such phenomena, disassociated from any visible structure have
been reported. These might, theoretically, represent the distortion
due to the pressure of the excitement of seeing something, but as
the reports gather and fall naturally into several classifications
they are worthy of being given consideration in those classifications.
But we
must consider the type of person testifying. Several witnesses have
been of more than common integrity, they have been specialists in
various fields, they have been experts in aerial physics, and things
of that nature. We must also take into consideration the pressure
of an enlarged legend and how this legend can bring with it a tendency
toward the fulfillment of expectancy. No sooner had the mysterious
missiles, or whatever they were, begun to accumulate as stories, then
we began to have the same type of thing that we had in the story of
the floating lady. We had a number of well-authenticated, well- documented
forms of hysteria. Of course the milleniumists moved in immediately.
This was a new indication of the end of the world and the Second Coming.
I think that can be somewhat discounted. I do not believe the next
Avatar will arrive on a flying saucer. In spite of the delinquencies
of humanity I am also loath to believe we are apt to be wiped out
by the wrath of the Almighty, or something of that nature. Not the
wrath of the Almighty, but the stupidity of man, is causing most of
the trouble. So those who used the flying saucer as a "Repent
ye, the day is at hand" made quite a stir at the time and worked
upon the level of thinking that has been so tormented in the past
by such procedures as to be rather receptive to the most incredible
beliefs. This would be equivalent to tying the floating lady to the
Arabian Nights, and making it appear it could be justified that the
magician is a fakir of India, or some other equally wonderful explanation.
The next
question that arose was the possibility that the so- called flying
saucers were a guided or propelled weapon, and that they were the
result of experimental research in military armament. I imagine that
if at any time since the flurry began Mr. Gallup had conducted a poll
on public opinion, he would have found the idea that they were experimental
research in arms was held by the majority of people, end to a degree
this rather matter of fact attitude toward the subject would indicate
that the mass mind is more calm and collected than any of the individual
elements which compose it. If the flying saucer, the floating cigar,
and the very highly stratified will-o'-the-wisp, if these were indications
of armament projects, then naturally it would be difficult for the
average citizen to pierce the protective wall which the government
has placed around such research under prevailing world conditions.
I remember
very well the flurry in Santa Fe and that area during the development
of the atom bomb. Santa Fe is only a short distance from Los Alamos
where so much of the research was carried on, and of course the cracker
barrel congress was held in the lobby of the Fonda Hotel in Santa
Fe. It was there the great physicists brushed elbows with the agents
of espionage from various countries. It was there that detectives
and secret service men were breathing down each other's necks all
the time. It was here also we had a factory for rumors that was almost
out of this world. Everyone had the inside of it. Everyone had a friend
who had a friend who was in the know. The stories, when the facts
became known, were all of them wrong, but each one was strongly defended
by a group of champions who are now ready to defend something else
equally uncertain.
I remember
one day while I was down there in that mountain country, something
happened that almost belongs in the department, projects flying saucers.
Out on a ranch there of several thousand acres, and standing on the
side of a hill with the view extending from ten, twenty or thirty
miles, I noticed one afternoon an extraordinary roar. It was far stronger
and more powerful than the sound of any ordinary airplane motor, even
a large transport or passenger plane. Suddenly without any warning
whatever, this roaring took on the proportions of a definite vibration
and some thing moved at an incredible rate passing almost directly
over the place where I was standing. That it was moving very close
to the ground was evidenced from the fact that pinion trees not more
than ten feet high were bent half way to the ground. The thing passed
in a fraction of a second, but I saw absolutely nothing although there
was ample visibility for miles in the direction in which the sound
seemed to fade out. What it was I have not the slightest idea, but
I am quite certain it was not the Second Coming. The thought that
came to mind was that it was a jet-propelled instrument of some kind,
moving more rapidly than the human perception could follow, and by
the time I could organize myself to look for it, it was gone. That
almost certainly was the answer. It is also quite possible that the
sound of the instrument, or whatever it was, was such that it actually
was moving in the opposite direction from that which the sound seemed
to be traveling, and in looking in one direction I failed to see it
because it moved in the opposite direction. Anyway, nothing was visible,
it left no track of any kind, no smoke or gas, there was a terrific
roar as it moved over the ground, bending the trees and it was gone.
Well, at that time what was going on in these research laboratories
was not known to us, but it seemed almost certain that it was a high
powered, possibly jet-propelled plane. I thought no more of it and
said nothing about it until it came to my mind in connection with
the project saucer. Almost certainly these things have an explanation
in terms of the incredible advancements that have been made in scientific
research in recent years.
Considering
the next problem we have to bear in mind also the association between
the concept of the flying saucer and the rapidly intensifying scientific-fiction
literature which is getting more and more attention in the popular
mind each year. This is like tying the story of the floating lady
to the Mahatmas of India. It is a fortuitous circumstance that reality
and fiction should exist at the same time which would incline thousands,
possibly millions of people, to enlarge their sense of the possible
and cause them confusion when trying to estimate the probabilities.
We have become comparatively immune to such abstracts as interplanetary
travel, we have become immune to the fantastic fortunes of Buck Rogers
and Flash Gordon. We would not be surprised to see Superman float
in our window at any minute; there might be a slight shook but nothing
serious. We are being constantly conditioned by the pressure on one
hand of a scientific fiction concept, and on the other hand by the
quiet but intense findings of our great geophysicists and astrophysicists,
and persons of that caliber. These groups seem to melt together and
defend each other, but this defense is more of appearance than reality.
If we go
beyond the second theory of the possibility of international armament,
which we will come back to later, we come into the most delightful
phase of the whole problem, and that is the problem of interplanetary
or interworld communication. The reasonable and inevitable conclusion
held by some as being demonstrable and the only adequate explanation
is that the flying saucer is a space ship. Back to our illusion, there
is no doubt in the world that the lady floats because of magnets.
Obviously, there is no other explanation except the scientific theory.
Now the space-ship idea appeals to a great many people but it has
been my observation during the two and a half years I have been watching
it, that it appeals to the wrong people; that is, it has appealed
to a group of people who represent a level of worry, a group that
is always present and always ready to be involved in such problems.
One of
the interesting phases has been to draw Charles Fort and some of his
opinions into it in an effort to prove that mysterious atmospheric
visitors have been reported for more than two hundred years. Now,
if that can be proved then we have a new equation to consider, but
before we consider it seriously let us remember that not only were
the aeronautical sciences inferior two hundred years ago to anything
we have today -- in fact unknown except to men like Leonardo -- but
the general approach to any phenomena was exceedingly inadequate.
We have in the history of periods back to the beginning of time, reports
of various things. Let us consider, for example, the accounts of comets.
Scientific books, and books of pseudo-scientific interest, borderline
theories, very often include tables of comets, in which the shape,
form and appearance of comets are distinctly described. Some of them
show as many as twenty forms of comets, each type in the form or shape
of some familiar object, a comet exactly the shape of a sword with
hilt and decoration, a comet exactly the shape of a snake with two
eyes and a forked tongue, a comet exactly the shape of a crown with
jewels set around it. These comets were claimed to have been seen,
and one was reported in the form of a sword hanging over Jerusalem
at the time of its fall, and a similar one was seen hanging over Mexico
City at the time of Cortez.
Now I think
we can safely say that in the experience of astronomy in the last
two hundred years there have been no comets that exactly resembled
swords. There are no comets that can be seen writhing away through
the sky like snakes, and there are no comets that resemble physical
articles so closely that the article itself seems to be floating there.
So we must assume a considerable degree of interpretation. We can
also find well authenticated accounts of sea-serpents, lake monsters,
and within the last two hundred years quite a collection of very justifiable,
authentic and conscientious descriptions of mermaids. These are not
due to the desire to deceive, but it is believed that a certain type
of penguin was mistaken at a distance for a mermaid. That is quite
possible, although to me they look more like a groom at a wedding,
but a dozen penguins standing an a piece of ice, just barely within
the actual vision range of some old salt of the Seven Seas, suddenly
developed long golden curls and started playing harps gesticulating
wildly. These stories are not intentional fabrications, they are the
result of the human mind looking for that which it expects, and taking
a dim and uncertain form and clothing it in those expectations.
The problem
of space navigation around this planet is one which remains as yet
in the position of remote probability, nothing is impossible. We should
be wise enough to realize that, and we should also be modest enough
to recognize that other planets might have very well developed arts
and sciences, far beyond our own accomplishments. At the same time
we have incredible time factors. We have to begin to think of man
or creature built machines that can go at the speed of light. We have
to think of cosmic energy already controlled as a means of fuel. We
have to further assume that the production of space ships on other
planets, or other suns, or other planets revolving around other suns,
would present innumerable difficulties. We have incredible difficulties,
difficulties as to whether creatures of other worlds could even exist
in the atmosphere of the earth, which would make it necessary for
them to be protected by some special kind of device. We have already
so completely embraced the concept of a trip to the moon that the
first two or three journeys are already sold out and it will not be
long until they will be subdividing with a slight additional charge
for frontage facing the earth.
Some three,
four or five years ago people believed so certainly that lost Lemuria
was coming up near the coast of California that they even bought land
that has not shown up yet. There is always someone to believe everything,
but the problem of the space ship as a solution to the present dilemma
should be held, it seems to me, as a last recourse to be considered
only when every other explanation fails. It involves too much that
is imponderable to us, too large an explanation for what we see and
for what we have seen. It makes the tail of the kite much longer than
the kite and gives us such a tremendous disorientation that we should
consider it carefully. The concept, in fact, as far as can be discerned,
landed on the public mind with a dull thud. It would be impossible
to assume that we would have the present sense of complacency in the
matter if we really believed that these ships navigated by intelligent
creatures capable of building them were approaching and sailing around
in good military formation, not alone entirely, but in bunches and
clusters, without a definite reaction from the only group that could
really estimate what it means, and that is, your scientific body.
The only
person able to mentally envision even twenty-five per cent of the
implication would be your physicists, astrophysicists and your researcher
in the fields of cosmic energy and atomic power. These particular
people are not apparently suffering from unnervement. They are not
collapsing on street corners, they are not wandering around their
homes absent-mindedly as though the sword of Damocles was hanging
over their heads, they are not breaking up and falling to pieces under
the nerve tension of it. In fact, from these distant, austere ivory
towers there is a thundering silence. The wrong people are talking
about space navigation. If there were a reasonable probability of
these mysterious things actually being the spearhead of a possible
"project earth" being carried on from elsewhere, this fact
in itself would almost inevitably unite the earth in a common determination
to devote every possible research of every nation to determining the
aims, purposes and means available for such contact between this planet
and another. We would have no more right to assume that such space
visitors were friendly than we would have a right to assume they were
unfriendly. If they exist and are capable of such methods of transportation
they must be accepted as at least equal and possibly superior to ourselves
in scientific accomplishment, because if they exist they got to us
well before we had the means to get to them, which would indicate
a very high degree of scientific knowledge.
That these
strangers for some reason might scout the outer atmosphere of the
planet is fantastic but conceivable, but that they should suddenly
take such an interest in these matters, gives us time for pause. Either
those in the best position to know do not believe that these mysterious
projectiles come from the outer atmosphere, they do not believe they
are space ships, or the whole group of them is the most idiotic combination
ever recorded. They are stupid beyond concept if they believe or have
any scientific evidence of penetration of our earth's atmosphere from
the outside and are still worrying about China, Korea, India, Russia,
America, England or any other nation on the earth. If our experts
are still pondering how to raise taxes, or lower the budget, or the
politicians and statesmen of the world are still trying to cheat each
other, in the presence of such a situation, then their imbecility
is beyond calculation.
The least
we should expect from those like Einstein, or other leaders In these
fields, although they might be able to explain something created by
another culture, is that they shall not be indifferent to its imponderables.
If these people have information which they are not passing on to
other leaders of the world, information that would unite the planet
against a possible threat, if such things do not happen we must assume
that those in a position to make them happen either know a great deal,
or else are incapable of knowing anything. While there might be exceptions
to both extremes it seems unlikely that we have a complete breakdown
among all the leaders of our higher scientific and diplomatic life.
It would
therefore appear that unless we see more interest in preparing the
planet on the basis of a global concept that we are not much concerned
about this possibility. You will remember the result at the beginning
of the second world war of the actions and intentions of Hitler when
his planes flew over France without dropping a bomb, until the people
hardly expected anything to happen, then suddenly without warning
a terrific bombardment began. The possibility that space ships floating
in the earth's atmosphere might be cruising about indefinitely for
no reason is no better a possibility than that these are the spearhead
of a project of some kind, and the earth, its people, its leaders
and scientists, should either be unrolling the red carpet for friendly
visitors, or else getting into a position for taking care of unfriendly
ones. Neither procedure has been followed. Therefore, we can only
assume that the space ship theory is interesting people who are interested
in the scientific-fiction approach to life, but not those deeply concerned
with the salvation of the planet. There seems to be no reason for
the assumption, and no actual-proof, that these mysterious flying
saucers and their retinues of other factors have to be explained as
belonging to some other universe, or coming to us from out of space.
There is
an ingenious belief that the explosion of the atom bomb here and the
recent report of something that happened in the flash of an instant,
purported to be an explosion on Mars, might be tied together, and
that the investigation of the planet is due to the reports of such
atomic phenomena which has been noted by the astronomers and physicists
on another planet, but this again more or less undermines the idea
that scientific-fiction writers have advanced, that this touring around
the earth's atmosphere has been going on long before the atomic bomb.
The whole issue is a little too confused on these matters to require
much further consideration along those lines. I think it is possible
that some day there will be communication between planets, but we
will have to make several very marked advances beyond even what we
know as our atomic project before we will be ready to launch ourselves
into the incredible vicissitudes of space, where we know with the
highest concept of energy and power we possess today, that even presuming
we had all the equipment necessary, the human being would not live
long enough to make the trip there and back, even with very old age.
That such things might happen on other planets where life might be
different, where life may be longer and the problem of the rejuvenation
of life has been accomplished, all this is possible, but where it
means fifteen, twenty or twenty-five years of travel through space
at an incredible speed, with fuel problems almost beyond estimation,
traveling at a speed almost as great as that of light, we might be
wise and look for something simpler, and only depend upon such a concept
in an emergency. Where everything else fails we are forced to fall
back on the miraculous as an explanation of the problem we face.
Now let
us consider the problem that was originally advanced. and which has
been more or less sustained by documentation and recent reports. We
know that on various continents in secluded areas very elaborate experimental
laboratories have been functioning for a number of years. We know
that prior to the collapse of Germany the Germans were already pondering
a number of ideas in relationship to the development of atomic armament,
and fantastic, scientific dreams about the earth's outer atmosphere.
Many of these scientists survived the disastrous collapse of Hitler's
regime, and have disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. It is known
with reasonable certainty at least a few of these scientist are now
cooperating with the Russian atomic project. We also have every reason
to believe that that project is situated in the great Mongoliain area
in a little community called the State of Tanna-Tuva, where many of
these laboratories are underground and where research in atomic missiles
and in the delivery of these missiles is under consideration. There
are almost certainly other such centers of this research which will
account for the reports of jet- propelled rockets, or something of
that nature that were seen in a considerable number over Sweden and
other Scandinavian countries several years ago. There are other reports
that Britain has experimental projects in Australia and Canada. There
is every reason to believe that even France may be carrying on moderate
work in one of her lesser known colonial possessions. We do not know
exactly where, but we can well imagine they could do a lot of private
work in Madagascar, where the inhabitants seldom leave their own country,
and very few people go there. That the United States has an elaborate
research project we know too well to even question it, because the
reports that come out, little by little, are backed up by every indication
that we actually lead the world in that type of research.
That all
these nations are searching for certain means which include both missiles
and the delivery of missiles, and undoubtedly include a number of
other problems relating to matters of which we have no knowledge --
and probably it is not good that we necessarily have knowledge if
that knowledge can be of any comfort or assistance to a real or potential
enemy -- cannot be questioned. We know, for example, that we hear
very little about the development of bacteriological warfare, yet
there have been hints of research in that field, and from material
that has come to my hands I do not think all of it is imagination.
There has been a hint of pollutional warfare in which sources of,
water can be so rapidly and definitely contaminated as to completely
wipe out huge areas of civilian population. These things in themselves
are very terrible to think about, very horrible to contemplate, but
are still, apparently, the inevitable consequence of the materialistic
trend of our way of life. We are dooming a great part of our own race
to destruction by our own ingenuity. We have enough strength and resourcefulness
to do this but we have not as yet sufficient greatness of heart and
goodness of spirit to find constructive solutions to world problems.
With the situation as it is we must realistically recognize a tremendous
rise in atomic armament, a tremendous determination for one people
to excel or exceed all others in the accomplishment of the instrument
of offensive warfare.
There seems
to be very good grounds for believing flying saucers are an experimental
project in such warfare research. There has been some question as
to where they came from. A recent opportunist film indicated they
originated in Russia. I think probably that would cause Uncle Joe
to have a broad smile under his mustache. I do not believe that is
true. I think again it is the field of the unknown dramatized by the
mystery of the Iron Curtain. We always wonder what someone is doing
who is off in a corner where we cannot see him. It seldom interests
us sufficiently to go over and explore, we simply sit down and wonder.
The chances are if we go over we find him doing something just as
useless as we would be doing under the same circumstances, probably
nothing.
But with
the conviction of Russia's broad militaristic program, and the great
chart or map of the Communist revolution dangling before our eyes,
we are quite certain that with the various scientific minds that have
been commandeered from other countries, the Russians could be well
on their way toward the development of atomic science, and through
spies, espionage and treason have most of our knowledge on the subject.
Therefore it would seem possible to some that these missiles might
be of Russian origin.
This presents
us, however, with another problem. Problems multiply when we contemplate
them. One is, what would cause the massing of these missiles over
certain areas of our own country where they would be extremely remote
from their source or origin. If these missiles were developed within
the boundaries of the Soviet Union, even in Mongolia, they would have
to cross Japan, or at least the great Pacific wastes, and finally
come here, almost half way around the world. That such missiles traveling
at such distances should be so completely controlled as to be able
to move a little to the right or left when some airplane approaches
them would be a little hard to believe in terms of guided missiles.
That guided missiles might be brought within a reasonable scope of
their objective, yes, but most of the reports of these projects indicate
that the instrument was exceedingly sensitive in its reaction to almost
any contact.
Well, we
have again the dear old magnetic theories and other things to fall
back on, but the fact seems to beg if the missiles were guided and
came from another nation there would be a larger report of these disabled
in various ways, disintegrated in mid air, or things of that nature.
It at least offers an interesting thought, but it seems unlikely as
a first choice that if these missiles contained living persons and
are guided by crews, which might be possible with the larger ones,
that they would be used experimentally by one nation on the opposite
side of the earth from its own laboratory and expose them to a number
of accidents which might dump them and their entire secret right into
the lap of the enemy. Of course, there is the possibility of detonation
equipment intended to destroy the instrument in case of disability.
The possibility of such instruments themselves being destroyed when
they become disabled brings up the problem of a crew that would have
to bail out or die with it, and even if the crew died with it, there
would be wreckage of some kind, so it would seem such an experiment
would be carried on over an isolated area. That it should be so secret
and so wonderful that no one is allowed to know anything about it,
and yet to have the testing field on the opposite side of the earth
presents too many technical difficulties to me.
Another
consideration we have to face is, that for whatever espionage we have
operating in countries dominated by the Soviet policy to have no way
of determining the work going on there, this seems a little strange,
and it also seems a little strange that absolutely no effort has been
made by any of our equipped military forces to shoot down or attack
any of them. Nothing has been done to pursue and investigate them.
Where any effort has been made to contact them, it was instinctively
on the part of some individual pilot who thought for a moment of trying
to ram the disk or something of that nature. There is no program,
as might be expected for those in authority being ordered to get hold
of one of these disks. Even traveling at high speed over various areas
a few potshots should have been taken at them. An alert could have
been created, and still could be, by which some military emplacement
would get a visible opportunity to turn anti-aircrafts on them, but
no such thing has been done. Certainly a foreign country sending such
instruments without our knowledge could not complain if we attacked
and destroyed them. In some instances they have been reported as low
as one thousand feet, in other instances as high as fifty, or twenty
thousand feet, and at other places have been reported to be stationary
for a considerable time. These reports indicate efforts could be made
to bring them down if anyone wanted to do it.
There has
gradually drifted out from the same sources a report that the facts
about the saucers are known and those who apparently have the facts
are not worried. I met one individual who has the facts, who was not
talking. He did not tell me anything, but he was not collapsing from
worries, in fact, he was playing bridge. Now with so heavy a cosmic
secret as some folks would like to maintain, it does seem like he
would have trumped his partner's ace, but he was in good form. He
was undoubtedly a member of the air intelligence and knew the answer.
The only
conclusion that seems to be reasonable and carries a larger part of
the story is that which is now beginning to drift to our contemplation,
and that is that the flying saucers and the floating cigars are the
products of our own research equipment, that the flying saucer is
some type of research device, an experimental device for either defensive
or offensive armament. It is the only practical explanation that exists.
This explanation violates none of the essential facts of the matter.
So prosaic an explanation should not immediately discourage us. There
is every indication that the secret of the flying saucer will come
to the public in the relatively near future, that the time of useful
secrecy is nearly passed. Whatever it is we will know, and whatever
knowledge we receive will be received with mixed emotions by those
who have already thought about it. Some will accept it when the explanation
comes, other will insist that the explanation is only a blind to cover
up the fact that Venus, or Mars, or a Fixed Star has frightened us
out of our wits. Actually, almost certainly the explanation will be
the correct one.
Upon the
point of explanation we can all speculate. Certainly I have no further
enlightenment on it than anyone else has. If anyone really knows it
would be his duty to refrain from any factual statement as long as
the government or intelligence service desires that it should be that
way, but without any prior knowledge, therefore without any restrictions
of secrecy we can speculate within the bounds of the reasonable. Our
speculations may be as false as any other, but there are things that
apparently are necessary in armament today, and we may be right to
assume that that which is necessary to the balancing of the efficiency
of our modern defense program would be the logical direction in which
research would be carried on. We would be plugging weaknesses in our
defense structure and also plugging weaknesses in our offensive program
if we have to carry a program of offense into another nation's territory.
The one
thing that seems to me to have been a weakness, up to the moment,
in nearly all the defense programs, and the offensive programs of
other nations, is in the ingenuity for the discovery of such incredible
instruments as the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, the bacteriological
bomb and the pollutional bomb, the difficulty with all of them is
delivery. The only way we have of delivering them at the moment is
the old traditional forms. We can deliver them by controlled rockets,
which, however, as was proved in the blitz on England was not effective
directly and against which various defenses could be created. We can
deliver them in high-powered, high-flying airplanes, in which one
plane in a large convoy of planes carries the bomb, but against this
we will find a rising tide of defense. No matter how far we extend
the ceiling for anti-aircraft, the enemy can extend the anti-aircraft
defense. We have the problem of trying to reach a destination with
various kinds of material.
We also
have another problem which relates to protection against types of
armament, which we can well imagine will be developed in other countries,
but about which our public knows nothing. This interval of efficiency
between available means of accomplishing certain projects, and the
more desirable means, could explain the problem of saucers. It could
well represent a guided missile or an instrument with a living crew,
capable of certain advantages in the delivery of armament, in the
delivery of bombs, or the delivery of some forms of material. They
could also definitely be useful in development of observation in the
discovery and checking of the activities of an enemy. But their construction,
their formation, the way they operate suggest they have one of several
possibilities, either they are going to be used for the distribution
of rays or some natural force that could be the focal point, possibly
some means of short- circuiting motors, or affecting or attacking
various mechanized devices. or they could be used for the delivery
of bombs, they could control or pilot robots, and function upon larger
instruments and give the nation that has them complete control over
the air.
That this
type of thinking should be consistent with the projects as we know
them, and with the temper and thought of our times, would seem to
suggest that this is the general direction. There is always a possibility
they may represent an entirely new dimension of cosmic rays or the
penetration of some principle of energy by which we could have very
definite advantages. There is a discussion as to the possibility of
these devices being radioactive. That situation has not been satisfactorily
solved. There is the report that some are luminous, according to others,
they appear to be either a silver light or white disk. Whatever they
may be they are most certainly instruments for the defense of a land,
or for the extending of the power of the military into the land of
the occupied, and there is much to indicate the experimental work
is being carried on in the United States.
The question
as to why such experiments are permitted in areas with considerable
habitation, where there is the possibility of one of these huge disks,
some being two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, falling to the
earth, injuring individuals, or destroying property, has caused a
number of speculations against it being developed here. It seems we
would be endangering our population in experimental research. Yet
most accounts report these devices contain some means for their own
annihilation. What this means is we are not aware. As far as I know
no one has seen one of them disintegrate and break up. There has been
no wreckage to speak of, although one or two have reported it. That
the project may be in experimental stage and completely harmless is
also a possibility. That it is extremely light, having the appearance
of mass, but actually consisting of a small amount of any heavy material
is suggested by the type of research. We have thought of it as containing
motors and things of that type, but no report has been made that any
such motor power has been used. It is possible the entire device in
its experimental stage is completely harmless, and even if it should
fall in a community would cause no more damage then a little consternation.
We must therefore assume it is in an experimental stage and not equipped
with whatever is intended to be used as a device of offense or defense.
That some
of them are comparatively small might indicate they are involved in
a new principle, either of motion or focus of energy of some kind.
That they have practical utility is certain or else they would not
be developed as a military project. These things have to pass very
extreme groups of critics, scientists and research men before the
army or navy would adopt them, and their utility must be demonstrated,
or else a good probability of it, before the project begins. The project
seems to have been running for several years, but is gradually emerging.
The public mind does not seem to be unnecessarily anxious, and from
everything indicated, the secret will soon be out.
But up
to that time it is a very good example for those persons who wish
to be thoughtful to assume the attributes, attitudes and policies
of mature thinking, and show how intelligent human beings can approach
the unknown, and also give those of a less stable and substantial
type of mind an opportunity to control their own thinking and escape
from a tendency toward the fantastic. If we approach these things
reasonably we shall generally be right; whereas, if we approach them
too dramatically we shall be wrong.
The device
in all probability is some highly specialized scientific structure
intended to advance research. The device itself may not be the project,
but some means of testing for something else, but whether it is a
means to an end, or is the end itself, it is almost certainly humanly
guided, humanly devised, and is being advanced in the unfoldment of
necessary research into the great and powerful potentials of the planet.
Beyond that I think we shall simply have to wait until Uncle Sam decides
to talk, and anyone who talks before that would be doing every one
concerned a great unkindness.
