Mind Treasury: Debunking The Debunker's Domain on Flying Saucers

The First "Flying Saucer" Sighting - Kenneth Arnold

Mt. Rainier, Washington - June 24, 1947

Robert Sheaffer - The Debunker's Domain

Martin Kottmeyer's article The Saucer Error explains how the very idea of a "flying saucer" is based upon a misunderstanding of what Arnold said he saw. But since people thought that Arnold had said he'd seen a saucer, then by golly, saucers were what they reported seeing! (Article excerpted from The REALL News, Volume 1 No. 4.)

http://www.debunker.com/arnold.html

The book Return to Magonia: Investigating UFOs in History documents, in no uncertain terms, a disk shaped object seen by multiple witnesses in 1665 Germany. Listen to the author describe the details starting at the 30:47 mark here.

The 1941 Cape Girardeau Missouri UFO crash incident, which now is supported by declassified documents, was also described as a saucer shaped craft.

It was April, 1941 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Around 9:30 p.m., Charlotte's grandfather, Reverend William Huffman, got a call about a plane crash and was asked to help. "When they got out there, it wasn't a plane crash at all. It was a saucer, was how he described it," says Charlotte...

We got validation by going to the archives in Washington D.C. And to see a top secret declassified document that stated that there was in fact a crash retrieval in 1941 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for me, I have not forgotten holding that paper in my hand and realizing that my family's story was real, was solid, and for me was just an answer to a long time question.

http://www.disclose.tv/news/declassified_document_about_1941_crash_retrieval_in_cape_girardeau/130312

Allied forces had experienced occasional radar locks on and even aerial pursuits with unknown lights ever since the end of the war; there was a significant case involving an RAF chase across the North Sea to Holland in January 1947. There were various sightings made by US military personnel during the next few months, and intelligence staff at Hamilton Field in California began a secret evaluation. As many of the objects - or lights, as they really were - were round or disklike in nature, the term "flying disk" was applied fairly early in the process...

One impressive case from Japan occurred at Itazuke on 17 December 1956. Two aircraft were performing a combat exercise to test their new radar setups, with one jet acting as a target as the other sought an intercept. Suddenly, a strange blip appeared on the screen and the intercepting aircraft was scrambled to investigate. The pilot saw a huge fuzzy glow ahead, where the radar had indicated. As the fighter screamed towards the object, it clarified as a golden disk shape and the aircraft radar was inexplicably blocked by a mass static. The UFO then shot away at phenomenal speed and the radar system returned to normal.

Another case of a most disturbing nature occurred on 9 June 1974. A Japanese Air Force Phantom was sent to intercept a radar target assumed to be a Soviet spy plane. The two-man crew locked onto the object with their radar but then were struck by the unknown aircraft and forced to eject as their plane split apart. One pilot survived, but the other died when his parachute was destroyed by burning debris. According to the survivor, Major Shiro Kubota, the other object they intercepted was no aircraft but a glowing red disk with windows on its edge. This made an instant reverse in direction as the Phantom armed its gun to shoot it from the sky. The UFO then flew straight at the jet, clipping its wings as it made a hasty escape and thus leading to the tragedy.

-Excerpts from the Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs

This investigation into the British records has established that six months before Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the RAF had logged its first official report of an "unidentified flying object." Furthermore, by July 1947 when the first sightings of "flying saucers" were made in the USA, the Air Ministry remained unable to explain the intruder it had logged in January of that year. This implies that an exchange of intelligence on "unidentified flying objects" between the USA and UK began in 1946-47 with the ghost rocket and ghost planes.

http://www.nicap.org/reports/470116northsea_shough4.htm

There is no doubt that disk shaped objects have been seen by a great many honest, sober, and mystified men and women. The objects have been tracked by ground-based and airborne radar and have been photographed by still and movie cameras in black and white and color. The craft have been observed to hover, move straight up or down, and accelerate and maneuver at speeds far beyond the capability of any known airplane...

Here is a classical description from "William of Newburgh's Chronicle" of a flying saucer seen in England toward the end of the 12th century:

"At Byland, or Begeland Abbey (the largest Cistercian abbey in England), in the North Yorkshire Riding, while the abbot and monks were in the refectorium, a flat, round, shining, silvery object ["discus" is the word used in the Latin account] flew over the abbey and caused the utmost terror."

[Harold T. Wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", p.185]

http://ufoevidence.org/documents/doc154.htm

Flying Saucer-Like Objects Photographed Prior to the Kenneth Arnold Sighting

http://ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html

Click Pic to Enlarge

1870 - Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. This photo is dubbed, "the oldest UFO photograph ever taken." This item was the subject of bidding at ebay in 2002, when finally the photo was purchased for $385.00 by Samuel M. Sherman, who was the president of Independent-International Pictures Corp.

This was originally a "stereo" photograph. Certainly it was difficult to manipulate photos at that time, and remember, there were no flying objects then; at least, not from this world. Thanks to a reader, we now have the original "stereo" photo.

1927 - Oregon. Taken in Cave Junction, Oregon. There is some question as to whether the photo was taken in '26 or '27, but nonetheless, if this is an authentic photograph it is incredible. Reportedly snapped by a volunteer fireman.

1929 - SlideWard - Colorado Ward Sawmill, April - This incident is retold by the photographers daughter: "This photo was taken by my father Edward Pline at the sawmill in Ward where we lived at the time. I think it was 1929. I was about six years old then. My father was there to photograph the sawmill for some reason or another, and as he was taking the photo, he described a 'terrible thunderous bellow,' and a large round thing as big as a very large boulder that moved through the air above them. You can see it in the picture.

"None of the sawmill workers saw the thing in the photo, but they all heard the sound and felt the ground shudder. Later in my life I tried researching the incident at the County Historical Society, but I did not find any references to it. My father passed on a few years after the incident, and I have not found any surviving sawmill workers from that time." Hetty Pline

1932 - St. Paris, Ohio. This picture was taken of a man named George Sutton near midday, May, 1932. We can see that it was in 1932 from the license plate on the automobile in the photo that accompanied this shot.

The unidentified flying object in the picture could not have been a street lamp, simply because there were no street lamps at the time. There are no power poles or power lines visible anywhere in this picture. This picture shows a vintage automobile.

The owner of the photo album says there were no electric street lights along this road in those days. Nobody has been able to account for the dark object seen over Sutton's left shoulder in this photograph.

1942 - Los Angeles, California. Only a few months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on the 25th of February 1942 at 02:25 AM, alarm sirens installed in the event of another invasion began.

Unknown flying objects are seen and announced in the sky of the city. A blackout is declared and the anxious, terrified inhabitants follow the instructions by turning all their lights off.

At 03:16 AM, anti-aircraft guns open fire on the unidentified flying objects coming from the ocean, and projector beams are searching the sky. Witnesses observe small objects flying at high altitude, of red or silver-plated color, moving in formation at high speed, and untouched by the AAA salvos.

This large object was hit by many AAA projectiles, according to the reports. The anti-aircraft defence continued to shoot at UFOs without results.

This is one of the most famous UFO photographs ever taken.

1942 - Washington D. C. October 29. This was taken above Washington, D.C. An object at the very right of the frame was initially thought to represent a high-wing monoplane flying down and right from the upper left-hand corner.

It appears to be too fast for the shutter, its configuration is more disk-like and it is followed by an exceptionally long dark streak (this extends back and upwards to the top of the frame) that is normally associated with jet aircraft.

1944 - England - This UFO was photographed over England in 1944. Source: "The X Factor" magazine issue 53 (Marshall Cavendish publications).

No other information is know about the photograph at this time.