AAAS: American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is the world's largest general scientific society which sponsored a symposium on unidentified flying objects held in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 26 and 27, 1969. The participants were astronomers, physicists, sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and a representative of the communications media. Some members of the association were strongly opposed to holding the symposium on the grounds that it might dignify a subject they considered unscientific. Some of the scientists who are members of this organization are also members of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), the largest UFO group in the world.

Abductee: The victim of a UFO abduction. Although abductees are frequently referred to as Contactees, not all contactees are abducted.

Abduction: Sometimes referred to as a Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind (CE-IV), the kidnapping of human beings by UFO occupants. Although abductees are frequently referred to as Contactees, not all contactees are abductees. In alleged contact cases, ufonauts generally engage in friendly conversation with earthlings during which they impart messages of a spiritual or moralistic nature. The contactee may even be taken on a trip in a flying saucer, sometimes to the aliens' home planet. In abduction cases, on the other hand, humans are taken into spacecraft against their will. There, they are subjected to physical examinations before being set free. The most well-known abduction cases are the Betty and Barney Hill case in New Hampshire, the Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker case in Pascagoula, Mississippi and the Antonio Villas-Boas case in Brazil. Many alleged abduction cases have been revealed only through the use of hypnosis, the witnesses having lost all conscious memory of the events. Psychologist R. Leo Sprinkle has interviewed and hypnotically regressed numerous individuals who apparently were victims of abduction by ufonauts with amnesic or time loss periods during UFO encounters. However, experiences related during hypnosis cannot be considered unequivocally factual.

Admiralty Bay, Antarctica: Location of a UFO sighting by Brazilian meteorologist Rubens J. Villela and five other witnesses aboard the U.S.S. Glacier at about 6:15 on March 16, 1961. Villela was taking part in the United States Navy's Operation Deep Freeze. The sharply-defined, egg-shaped UFO traveled slowly from the northeast to the southwest at about fifty degrees above the horizon on a straight, horizontal trajectory. Villela had the impression that its size was that of a small airplane. Straight, multicolored rays extended backward in a V-formation from the front of the object. The colors changed continually but were predominantly green, red and blue. The object itself was reddish. It left behind it an orange trail which resembled a straight, hollow tube similar to a neon light. Suddenly, the front and rear of the UFO split apart, forming two separate objects, each one identical in every way to the one original object they had been. As the objects changed from red to blue-and-white, they increased in brightness. Abruptly, they vanished. The late Philip Klass, well-known skeptic, cited this UFO as a good example of a case which can be explained in terms of plasma. The late meteorologist James McDonald, however, argued that the highly structured nature of the object and the low cloud overcast present at about 1,500 feet were not compatible with Klass's hypothesis.

AFM 50-12: Air Force Manual 50-12. The Ground Observer's Guide was used by members of the Ground Observer Corps, which was a World War II Civil Defense program of the United States Army Air Forces to protect against air attack. The 1.5 million civilian observers at 14,000 coastal observation posts used naked eye and binocular searches to search for German and Japanese aircraft until the program ended in 1944. The Ground Observer Corps was re-opened in 1950 with U. S. entry into the Korean War, and was finally disbanded in 1959. Some 800,000 volunteers participated during this ten-year period.

AFM 200-3: Air Force Manual 200-3. Handbook for Air Intelligence Officers.

AFOSI: The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI, or OSI), is a Field Operating Agency (FOA) of the Department of the Air Force that provides professional investigative services to commanders throughout the United States Air Force. AFOSI identifies, investigates and neutralizes criminal, terrorist, and espionage threats to personnel and resources of the Air Force and Department of Defense. AFOSI was founded August 1, 1948, at the suggestion of Congress to consolidate investigative activities in the Air Force. Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington created AFOSI and patterned it after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He appointed Special Agent Joseph Carroll, an assistant to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, as the first AFOSI commander and charged him with providing independent, unbiased and centrally directed investigations of criminal activity in the Air Force. As of 2007, the AFOSI has 2,900 employees.

Africa: The world's earliest UFO report comes from Egypt where the pharaoh Thutmose III observed fiery disks in the fifteeth century B.C. During the modern era, there have been numerous reports of UFOs in Africa, particularly in Rhodesia and South Africa. There were waves of sightings in North Africa in 1950 and 1954, and in Central Africa in 1966. A 1972 wave in South Africa was highlighted by a farmer's encounter with a fiery globe in Fort Beaufort. Another wave followed in Rhodesia in 1975. In 1976, a cylindrical UFO was spotted from widely separate locations in Morocco over a one-hour period. In answer to a confidential communiqué from Ambassador Robert Anderson, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said, "It is difficult to offer any definitive explanation as to the cause or origin of the UFOs sighted in the Moroccan area. . . ." There are several UFO and contactee organizations in Africa. The majority of them are located in South Africa and Rhodesia. Noted personalities in these two countries were UFO investigator (the late) Cynthia Hind and contactee Elizabeth Klarer, who claimed to have give birth to an extraterrestrial's child on another planet.

AFR 80-17: Air Force Regulation 80-17. Instructions issued by the United States Air Force (USAF) on September 19, 1966, replacing Air Force Regulation 200-5, Air Force Regulation 200-2 and Air Force Regulation 200-2A. AFR 80-17 charged Project Blue Book with two missions: to determine if UFOs presented a possible threat to the United States and to use the scientific or technical data gained from the study of UFO reports. Two paragraphs, which caused a great deal of controversy, stated the following: "Air Force activities must reduce the percentage of unidentifieds to the minimum. Analysis, thus far, has explained all but a few of the sightings reported. These unexplained sightings are carried statistically as unidentifieds. If more immediate, detailed, objective data on the unknowns had been available, probably these, too, could have been explained. However, because of the human factors involved, and the fact that analyses of UFO sightings depend primarily on the personal impressions and interpretations of the observers rather than on accurate scientific data or facts obtained under controlled conditions, the elimination of all unidentifieds is impossible. ". . . Response to Public Interest. The Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Information (SAF-OI) maintains contact with the public and the news media on all aspects of the UFO program and related activities. Private individuals or organizations desiring Air Force interviews, briefings, lectures or private discussions on UFOs will be instructed to direct their requests to SAF-OI. Air Force members not officially connected with UFO investigations will refrain from any action or comment on UFO reports which may mislead or cause the public to construe these opinions as official Air Force findings." Physicist Edward Condon, Director of the Condon Committee's UFO study, maintained that critics were misreading the paragraphs, and that the first did not suggest speculation as to the nature of a sighting but rather that the investigation of a report should be undertaken in a serious and thorough manner. The second paragraph, he maintained, was simply intended to "minimize the circulation of wild stories and premature reports before an investigation is completed."

AFR 200-2: Air Force Regulation 200-2. Before the release of AFR 200-2 on August 26, 1953, many significant UFO reports by active United States Air Force (USAF) personnel were made public. The effect of the regulation was to dry up the source of information. AFR 200-2 was issued by the Secretary of the Air Force and classified under "Intelligence Activities." It was a modification of the Air Force position established by Air Force Regulation 200-5 in 1952. It dealt primarily with procedures for reporting UFOs and restrictions on public discussions. Paragraph nine specified, ". . . information regarding a sighting may be released to the press or the general public by the commander of the Air Force base concerned only if it has been positively identified as a familiar or known object." Paragraph eleven stated, "Air Force personnel, other than those of the Office of Information Services, will not contact private individuals on UFO cases not will they discuss their operations and functions with unauthorized persons unless so directed, and then only on a 'need-to-know' basis." These statements led some civilian investigators to the conclusion that the Air Force was engaged in a cover-up of the UFO situation. AFR 200-2A was issued on November 2, 1953, incorporating minor changes. AFR 200-2 was updated again on August 12, 1954. In a February 1958 revision, the Air Force attempted to eliminate those portions of the regulation which might provoke suspicion or misinterpretation by the public. In addition, new procedures were instituted with the aim of countering contactee claims by giving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the names of individuals who were "illegally or deceptively bringing the subject to public attention." AFR 200-2 remained in effect until replaced by Air Force Regulation 80-17.

AFR 200-5: Air Force Regulation 200-5. Instructions issued by the United States Air Force on April 29, 1952, giving Project Blue Book the authority to cut red tape and to contact any Air Force unit in the country without going through channels. It provided for wire transmission of reports to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), followed with details via air mail. Although AFR 200-5 indicated an increased interest in the phenomenon by authorities and appeared to promise improved communications between local military investigators and personnel at upper level, little change, if any, was apparent. AFR 200-5 was modified in 1953 by the release of AFR 200-2.

Age Distribution of Witnesses: Although no conclusive studies have been made to determine the relevance of the age distribution of UFO witnesses, a 1978 Gallup Poll established that younger people are more likely to have seen UFOs and to believe in their existence. A fairly wide acceptance of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis by younger people is probably due, in large part, to their exposure at an early age to mankind's own space exploits. However, for the past thirty years, young boys have also been the perpetrators of a large number of UFO hoaxes and trick photographs. Since it is difficult to ascertain the total number of hoaxes committed, it is not possible to compute the percentage of hoaxes carried out by children. With regard to contactees, an unofficial study in the 1950s revealed that eighty percent of the proselytes were older, single women, although the leaders of the groups were usually young and middle-aged men. However, since contactees do not often report UFOs, these findings bear little relevance to an overall survey of UFO witnesses. It has been established that, despite the current preponderance of young witnesses, sightings of anomalous aerial objects are reported by people of all ages all over the world.

AIAA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Professional society of about 25,000 aerospace scientists and engineers which set up a UFO subcommittee in 1967. The group brought the problem of UFOs to the attention of its membership through articles in its journal, Astronautics and Aeronautics. (The latter is no longer published.) In 1970, the institute issued its appraisal of the Condon Report. Although the committee considered the report to be fairly reasonable in its attempt to deal with the matter, they noted that Condon's summary is more his personal view of the situation than a summary of the report. The subcommittee was disbanded in 1974.

Air Force Bases: The UFO literature is replete with accounts of sightings at Air Force bases and other military installations. This fact has led some supporters of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), and in particular the Invasion Hypothesis, to surmise that the objects are extraterrestrial spacecraft engaged in military reconnaissance. Some skeptics argue that the proximity of a UFO to an Air Force base merely suggests the possibility that it is a secret military craft or weapon originating from that base. However, this theory does not seem appropriate in cases where interceptors have been scrambled, as was the case in 1975, when a series of UFO sightings occurred at Loring Air Force Base, Maine, and a number of other bases. Another consideration to be kept in mind is that UFOs seen near military installations may be man-made craft engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union or some other terrestrial nation.

Airline Pilots: Numerous UFO sightings have been reported over the years by airline pilots. In The UFO Evidence (Washington, D.C.: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1964), Richard Hall documents almost fifty such reports involving Aer Lingus - Irish Airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeropost Airlines, Air France, American Airlines, Braniff Airways, the British Overseas Airways Corporation, California Central Airlines, Capital Airlines, Central Airlines, Chicago and Southern Airlines, Conner Airlines, East African Airways, Mid-Continent Airlines, National Airlines, Pan American Airways, Panagra Airlines, Pioneer Airlines, REAL Airlines, Trans-Canada Airlines, Trans World Airways, United Airlines, Varig Airlines, Vasp Airlines, Venezuelan Airlines and Western Airlines. Two of the most publicized sightings by pilots of major airlines were those witnesses by Eastern Airlines pilots near Montgomery, Alabama, in 1948 and by Pan American Airways pilots near Newport News, Virginia, in 1952. Some ufologists claim that many airline pilots who sight UFOs do not report them in order to avoid submitting themselves to hours of questioning and filing written reports.

Air Quakes: Sonic booms emanating from the upper atmosphere. Beginning on December 2, 1977, and continuing into January, 1978, a series of air quakes, also known as skyquakes, shook the Eastern Coast of the United States from Connecticut to South Carolina. In some cases, there were reports of a brilliant yellow flash accompanying the booms. The explosions resulted in broken windows and crockery in some areas. Scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory in Palisades, New York, estimated the power of the blasts to be equal to the energy of one hundred tons of dynamite. Previous readings recorded by Columbia University's Air Pressure Measuring Devices found only nuclear explosions registering a larger reading. The eastern seaboard air quakes occurred approximately fifty miles offshore at an undetermined altitude. Investigator Ernest Jahn, working in conjunction with the Mitre Corporation, a non-profit engineering firm of McLean, Virginia, located witnesses in Cormwall, England, who had heard a similar blast on December 21, 1977. A series of UFO sightings reportedly occurring during the same time period led some ufologists to link the two phenomena. Simultaneous malfunction of A.C.-operated smoke detectors and disruption of streetlight service in a New Jersey area affected by the quake seemed to provide further evidence to those who supported the UFO connection. Some hypothesized that the materialization of a UFO from another dimension into our universe would cause a displacement of air with resultant sonic reverberation. Other theories attributed the quakes to meteorological disturbances, meteors, re-entering satellites, secret military experiments, nuclear testing, undersea quakes, earthquakes and exploding gas from garbage dumped off the coast of New York. Many of these explanations were later ruled out. The Department of Defense directed the Naval Research Laboratories to investigate the matter. In March 1978, they issued a report in which they stated that the United States Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had traced all the booms to the activities of military aircraft and the trans-Atlantic flights of the British and French Concorde supersonic transport. They explained that during the unusually cold weather, the booms had bounced off layers of warmer high altitude air, deflecting the sound to areas one hundred to two hundred miles distant from the aircraft. A report issued by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), pointing out that military craft had been flying in the same areas for many years without causing far-reaching air quakes, concluded that it was probably the Concorde alone which had produced the phenomenon. The FAS report stressed that while the air quakes had occurred in the United States shortly after the Concorde's inaugural flight to New York, they had occurred in Europe in 1976, the first year the Concorde flew there. The Mitre Corporation, after studying six hundred incidents, asserted that only two-thirds of the air quakes could be shown satisfactorily to be the effects of supersonic aircraft activity. Explanations for the remaining incidents remain in the realm of speculation.

Airship Wave: UFO sightings occurring over nineteen states from November 1896 to May 1897, with a pause between January and the middle of March. The objects were referred to as airships because their appearance concurred in some respects with popular concepts of anticipated airship design. However, the technology to make airship flight a reality was not developed until several years later. The sighting which sparked the mystery occurred on November 22, 1896, when a group of streetcar passengers in Oakland, California, saw a winged, cigar-shaped UFO emitting a stream of brilliant light. As the phenomenon began to spread across the country, the diversity of reports revealed that more than one airship was involved. Descriptions varied considerably from an object eighteen inches in diameter and twelve to thirty feet long, to a seventy-foot long structure with wings and propellers. Sometimes hissing or humming sounds accompanied the craft but generally no sounds were heard. Colored or bright white lights plus red or white searchlights were common features. The objects sailed through the skies, often against the wind, at speeds estimated to range between five and two hundred miles per hour. What differentiated these UFOs from modern day UFOs was that the majority of occupant cases involved flight crews who appeared to be ordinary American citizens and claimed that their invention was about to revolutionize travel and transportation. One series of encounters which perpetuated this claim involved a mysterious man named Wilson. Witnesses often gave or sold water, food and repair equipment to UFO crews. Singing and music was sometimes heard as low-flying UFOs passed overhead. Mysterious rusted iron rods were found on the ground. Attached to them were letters reportedly left by airship crews stating the capabilities of their craft and the impact they would soon have upon the world. Not all occupant encounters were pleasant. Some witnesses described the appearance of the crews as hideous, while others claimed they jabbered in an unknown language. In Le Roy, Kansas, Alexander Hamilton reported that his cow had been carried off by an airship. A sensational airship disaster was reported in Aurora, Texas, supposedly resulting in the death of its extraterrestrial pilot. The case of the mystery airships has never been solved. Astronomers from 1896 until the present time have attributed the sightings to misidentifications of stars, planets, fireballs and plasma. Others ascribed the phenomenon to hoaxes, hallucinations and alcohol or drugs. Among those who believed in the reality of the airships, the prevailing theory was that they were a secret invention. The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) was considered as a possibility by those who thought Mars was inhabited by normal, air-breathing human beings. Another explanation concerned advertisers who sometimes employed balloons for publicity stunts. Some preposterous theories were developed such as that of the man who claimed he had originated the entire phenomenon by setting loose a pelican with a Japanese lantern tied to its leg. Present day proponents of the Parallel Universe Hypothesis believe the airship sightings may have been perpetrated by beings from another dimension. Their intention was either a joke to lead people astray, or a hint of future possibilities to spur mankind along the path of technological development. Other ufologists suggest that the ETH cannot be ruled out since it is possible that the UFOs were spacecraft inaccurately described in terms of the emerging technology familiar to people of that period.

Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC): United States Air Force (USAF) division which was formerly known as the Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command (AMC) at Wright Field, Ohio (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base), and which was the base for UFO investigations until 1961, when responsibility was transferred to the newly-created Foreign Technology Division (FTD).

Akita Airport, Japan: In 1975, the Japanese news media reported a UFO sighted near Akita Airport in northern Japan. On the morning of October 17, Masaki Machida, a television reporter for the Akita Broadcasting Company, was at the airport when he caught sight of a disk-shaped object descending from the east. Approximately fifty witnesses, including air traffic controllers and awaiting passengers, watched the bright golden disk, with white lights shining from its interior, as it hovered at about five thousand feet over the ground, five miles from the airport. Telecommunications officer Kenichi Waga warned all incoming and outgoing pilots to watch out for the UFO. Captain Masarus Saito, a Toa Domestic Airlines pilot with twelve years' experience, described the appearance of the object as that of two plates placed together, the top one inverted. After about five minutes, the UFO flew off in the direction of the sea.

Alamogordo, New Mexico: Location of a UFO encounter involving Air Force Sergeant Charles L. Moody on August 13, 1975. Moody was in the desert observing a meteor shower at about 1:15 a.m. when he saw a glowing, metallic, disk-shaped object falling toward the ground about 300 feet away. The UFO was about fifty feet long and eighteen-to-twenty feet wide. As it descended to an altitude of fifteen-to-twenty feet, it wobbled on its own axis. Then it began moving slowly and steadily toward Moody. He jumped into his car but was unable to start it. The UFO came to a stop about seventy feet away. Moody could hear a high-pitched humming sound. He noticed a rectangular window in the craft through which he could see shadows resembling human forms. The noise stopped and he felt a numbness crawling over his body. The next thing he remembered was seeing the object rising up into the sky and disappearing into the distance. Moody turned the ignition key and his car started immediately. Terrified, he drove off quickly. When he arrived home, he noticed, to his surprise, that the time was 3:00 a.m. He felt that he had somehow lost about one-and-a-half hours. The following day, Moody experienced a pain in his lower back. Within a few days, a rash broke out over his lower body. Upon the recommendation of a physician, he began to practice self-hypnosis in an effort to recall what had occurred during the lost time period. Over the next few weeks, he was able to piece together an almost complete picture of the events. According to Moody's subsequent recollection, after being overcome by numbness on August 13, 1975, he had observed two beings approaching his car. About six feet tall, the creatures wore skin-tight black clothing. After a brief scuffle with them, he was rendered unconscious. He awoke on a slab inside the craft. His limbs felt leaden and immovable. Next to him stood the alien leader. The latter was distinguishable from Moody's two captors by his short stature of about five feet, and the silvery white color of his suit. However, like the others, he had a large hairless head, a protruding brow, roundish eyes, small ears and nose, and very thin lips. His skin was whitish-gray. The leader asked Moody telepathically if he was prepared to behave peacefully. When Moody agreed to do so, the leader applied a rod-like device to his back which relieved the paralysis. Moody was taken to another part of the ship where he was shown the drive unit, a device consisting of a large rod surrounded by three glass-canopied holes. Each hole contained a central crystalline object with one rod on each side of it. One rod had a spherical head, while the other was topped by a T-bar. As he moved about the craft, Moody noticed a sweet, stifling odor. He was told that the aliens' mother ship was situated miles away above Earth. He was promised a future meeting with the occupants but warned that closer contact with Earthmen would not be attempted for another twenty years. The aliens told Moody that he would have no recollection of the incident until about two weeks later. The leader placed his hands on the sides of Moody's head, rendering him unconscious once more. Moody awoke in his car as the UFO was leaving. The case was investigated by Jim Lorenzen, Director of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), Field Investigator Wendelle Stevens and a reporter from The National Enquirer. An analysis of Moody's claims by Charles McQuiston, co-inventor of the Psychological Stress Evaluator, indicated that he was telling the truth. Lorenzen, however, questions a couple of contradictions in Moody's accounts of the incident. In an early telling, Moody related that the alien mother ship was located 400 miles above Earth. Later, however, he said it was 6,000 miles away. Another point which Lorenzen notes is that Moody, at one time, referred to his two captors as frail creatures, yet later described them as being six feel tall. The incident is similar in many details to the Betty and Barney Hill case which occurred in New Hampshire in 1961.

Albany, New York: On the evening of August 20, 1975, telephone bells at the police barracks, newspaper offices, radio and television stations in the Albany area began to ring incessantly. Startled citizens were reporting UFOs. State Trooper Michael Morgan was dispatched to the scene of one of the sightings. Upon his arrival, he met a police detective who was already observing a blimp-sized object hovering at five hundred feet over Lake Saratoga. As the reddish, glowing UFO flashed on and off, two smaller objects approached and merged with it. At this point, air traffic controllers at Albany airport were alerted and located the object on a radar scanner. After a few minutes, the two smaller objects broke away and left in the direction from which they had come. The first object moved towards the two nervous policemen and, as it passed over them, they were dazzled by a brilliant white light shining out of the center of its base. Silently, the craft turned and began to move away slowly. Suddenly, the UFO disappeared. "It was as if," Morgan remarked, "someone had reached up and turned the lights out." Meanwhile, the Albany tower operators had been following the movements of the UFO. After tracking the target for forty-five minutes, they lost contact with it. However, within a short time, they received a call from the pilot of a military airplane flying over the Albany area at eight thousand feet. The pilot warned them that he had just seen a red fireball, one thousand feet above him, headed toward the airport. The controllers located the object just as it entered the fifty-mile range of one of their radarscopes. The anti-clutter device was thrown to ascertain whether or not the blip was an angel. However, the image still came through clearly. The controllers estimated the object's speed to be 3,000 miles per hour. About five miles outside Albany, the target vanished. The controllers surmised that it had either accelerated to a speed of 5,000 miles per hour or had executed a seemingly impossible vertical maneuver at high speed. They knew that the object could not have been a meteorite, for at that low altitude, a dramatic and audible impact would have occurred. During the same time frame as the Albany sightings, large disks and bright lights were seen at low altitude less than fifty miles north over the South Glens Falls area and as far north as Lake George. The case was investigated by Ernest Jahn, who contacted the Smithsonian Institution in Cambridge. They were unable to give any explanation for the sightings and a spokesman added that the entry into the atmosphere of a natural body of such immense size would have lit up the whole sky like a Christmas tree. This is considered one of the best documented UFO cases because it involved civilians, police, the Federal Aviation Administration and military authorities, and was, moreover, confirmed by radar.

Alien implant: A term used in Ufology to describe a physical object placed in someone's body after they have been abducted by aliens. Individuals who claim that they have been abducted by extra terrestrials often believe that their bodies have been implanted with some sort of alien object. Indeed, under hypnosis abductees often describe operations in which needles are inserted into the brain; more frequently still, they report implantation of foreign objects through the sinus deep inside their nasal cavity, hand, leg or ear by extra terrestrials. Not only, such objects appear on routine X-rays and MRIs, but surgeons have managed to successfully remove some of them. If alien abduction is real and abductees receive implants, what are they made of and what purpose do the implants serve? Numerous implants have been removed and studied by medical doctors. The doctors have found that the implants are no more than 3cm (1 inch) long and 1mm (1/16 of an inch) in thickness. The implant is wire-shaped and under an electron microscope appears to have a complex structure containing many different layers. Tests have shown that the implant is composed of a variety of metals and alloys. The implants have highly magnetic qualities and glow fluorescent green when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. The implants are usually attached to major nerve centers and unsophisticated medical procedures used in an attempt to remove the implants have often resulted in severe injury or even death of the abductee. However, among the specimen studied, most implants are different from each other, which raises the following question. If abductions really exist, could there be more than one race of aliens abducting humans? The purpose of alien implantation is a much-discussed issue among researchers and different theories exist. One of the most popular theories is that the implants are a type of transmitter or receiver of some sort of signal, used for monitoring purposes just like scientists place implants in animals to conduct monitoring. Other individuals believe that the implants could be some sort of monitoring device that receives signals from the abductee's nervous system. The ultimate goal would be mind control. However, one woman who had her implant removed by Dr. Roger Leir, (a California podiatrist well-known in UFO circles for his research and who has successfully removed sixteen implants from patients who believe they have been abducted by aliens) reported the abductions continuing, even after the implant was removed.

Alpha Centauri: The Sun's nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri is a triple-star about 4.3 light-years from Earth. If UFOs are indeed from other planetary systems, Alpha Centauri would be the nearest star system from which these beings could have come to Earth.

AMC: Air Material Command.

Ancient Astronauts: Extraterrestrial space travelers who allegedly visited Earth on one or more occasions in ancient times. Although Swiss author Erich von Däniken is the best known promoter of the ancient astronauts theory, many other authors have dealt with the subject in great detail. These include Brinsley Le Poer Trench, W. Raymond Drake and Paul Misraki. Much of their supportive evidence is found in the old religions adn mythology of various cultures around the world. Von Däniken considers the fact that ancient gods needed vehicles with wheels and wings to travel the skies as indicative of the physical rather than spiritual nature of such beings. Supporters of the ancient astronauts hypothesis contend that space travelers arriving from the sky with seemingly superhuman powers would appear god-like to any primitive culture. The most frequently quoted examples of alleged Biblical accounts of UFO sightings and extraterrestrial visitors are those dealing with angels, the Ark of the Covenant, Elijah, Enoch, Ezekiel, Jacob, Jonah, Moses, Saint Paul, Sodom and Gomorrah and the Star of Bethlehem. A great deal of conjecture is based on archaeological curiosities which supposedly could not have been produced by the civilizations which existed at the time of their construction. Such archaeological anomalies include the Pyramids, the Lines of Nazca, the gigantic statues on Easter Island, the Ziggurats and the stone platforms at Baalbeck, Lebanon. Evidence of advanced knowledge allegedly given to mankind by extraterrestrials is purportedly found in the astronomical records of the Maya and the ancient civilization of Sumer, the Piri Re'is Map and the primitive Dogon tribe's cognizance of the binary system of Sirius. Further evidence of ancient astronauts is allegedly revealed in the Tassili Frescoes, the legend of the Central American god Quetzalcoatl and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Some proponents of the ancient astronauts hypothesis believe that extraterrestrials were actually responsible for the presence of human beings on this planet, either by seeding us here or by interbreeding with Earth animals to create homo sapiens. This theory is often referred to as the Earth Colonization Hypothesis or the seeding hypothesis. Some authors have conjectured that the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden describes an attempt by ancient astronauts to create a perfect race on Earth. The study of the ancient astronauts hypothesis is promoted by the Ancient Astronaut Society in Illinois.

Android: A type of robot which would physically resemble a human being. Ideally, it would be a perfect mimic of man in both appearance and behaviour. Externally, an android should be indistinguishable from man. The fundamental difference between an android and an ordinary robot would be not in the degree of sophistication but in the structure of its outward appearance.

Angel: A spurious radar return, also known as a "ghost."

Angel: A spiritual being who, according to the Scriptures, serves as God's messengers. Proponents of the Ancient Astronauts hypothesis conjecture that many of the angels referred to in the Bible were, in fact, extraterrestrial visitors whose true identity was not understood by human beings. In Genesis 19, two angels, who brought a warning about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, ate a meal while staying at Lot's house. This fact has been presented as evidence that the alleged angels were physical beings, not spiritual beings. Some modern-day Christians believe that UFOs are, in fact, God's angels. Some adherents to this belief also hold that a number of UFO sightings can be attributed to the Devil and his cohorts.

Angel's Hair: White, gossamer-like substance which falls from the sky, sometimes in great quantity. Strands range in length from a few inches to more than one hundred feet. In almost half of the cases, it has been seen descending from cigar-shaped UFOs which have cloud-like formations under or around them. Although these fibers have sometimes been confused with floating spider webs, they can be differentiated by the fact that they dissolve upon contact with the ground. Examination of several samples has revealed that angel's hair contains boron, silicon, calcium and magnesium. It is similar in composition to borosilicate glass. However, its ephemeral nature renders more specific analysis impossible.

Animal Mutilations: In the 1960s, farmers throughout the United States found the corpses of animals, usually cattle, with vital organs removed, blood completely or partially drained, and sometimes external parts such as eyes or ears surgically removed. The most celebrated case involved a horse called Snippy. The phenomenon continued into the 1970s, reportedly spreading to Puerto Rico, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, Sweden, Australia, Scotland and central Europe. Reports of unmarked helicopters and unidentified lights hovering over the mutilation sites, plus the reported absence of footprints around the remains, led investigators to connect the incidents with the UFO mystery. Some speculated that the livestock are airlifted, mutilated and returned to the ground. Reports of mutilations continue to come inand one organization, Project Stigma, exists for the express purpose of investigating this phenomenon. Its records show that many mutilated carcasses do not decompose as rapidly as they should. Moreover, in a large proportion of cases, predators and farmers' dogs, while demonstrating curiosity, do not go within close range of the victims.

Animal Reactions: When UFOs appear in their vicinity, animals usually exhibit signs of extreme fear. Pet owners and farmers have reported cats yowling and fighting, horses whinnying and kicking in their stalls, ducks quacking, cows jumping and temporarily ceasing to give milk. Dogs have whined, barked, pricked up their ears, crawled in abject fear and curled up in tight balls under furniture. Occasionally, their fur stands on end. In some cases, frightened dogs have developed illnesses immediately after the sightings, death following within several weeks. Owners have made a direct correlation between such deaths and the UFO sightings which preceded them although there is no proof to support such a contention. Ufologists have conjectured that some UFOs emit a high-pitched sound beyond the range of human hearing which is distressing to animals. Others have hypothesized that UFOs produce a stimulus outside the realm of the human sensory range but detectable by the legendary sixth sense attributed to animals.

Apollo 8: Spacecraft from which astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell reported sighting a UFO. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) determined that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

Apollo 11: Space mission carrying the first men to the moon and during which, according to popular rumor, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw a "space fleet" lined up on the moon's surface. Their report of the sighting was allegedly deleted by officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the delay between receiving and re-transmitting the radio message. Radio hams who supposedly heard the original relay claimed that the astronauts were ordered to photograph the objects. Another rumor purports that the Apollo 11 spacecraft was actually chased by a UFO. NASA has denied these reports.

Apollo 12: Space mission which carried the United States' second team of astronauts to the moon. Reportedly, two flashing UFOs accompanied the spacecraft part of the way. Seen through telescopes in European observatories on November 14, 1969, one object appeared to be following the spacecraft while the other traveled ahead of it. On November 15, astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean observed the objects. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) later determined that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

APRO: The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization was the oldest organization in the field which accepted the possibility that UFOs were extraterrestrial spacecraft from another solar system engaged in a methodical study of Earth. The group's purpose was to gather, study and store UFO reports. APRO originated the field investigator system in 1968 and had a network of 500 investigators in the United States and fifty foreign countries. Almost fifty consultants, most of whom possessed doctorates, made up advisory panels on biological sciences, medical sciences, physical sciences and social sciences. This non-profit organization was one of the world's major UFO groups. APRO was founded in 1952 by Coral E. Lorenzen and Leslie James "Jim" Lorenzen, who have authored numerous books on UFOs.

Area 51: Area 51 (also known as Dreamland, or Groom Lake) is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles (133 km) north-northwest of Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield. The base's current primary purpose is officially undetermined; however, based on historical evidence, it most likely supports development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. Despite the obscurity of the facility, the base has become well known, in large part because of various conspiracy theories involving it and its frequent portrayal in popular culture.

Area S4: Area S4 is part of the famous 'Area 51' United States military base located in Nevada. S4 or 'section 4' is thought to be an experimental aircraft testing facility consisting of a series of hangars. It was made famous when alleged ex-Area 51 employee Bob Lazar claimed to have worked there and that it was housing a number of extraterrestrial craft.

Argentina: After Brazil, Argentina has recorded the second largest number of UFO sightings in Latin America. The country experienced a UFO wave in 1962. There are several UFO organizations in Argentina, including the Centro de Estudios de Fenomenos Aereos Inusuales (CEFAI) and the Organizacion Nacional Investigadora de Fenomenos Espaciales (ONIFE).

Astronauts: UFOs were purportedly observed and sometimes photographed during the flights of the Mercury Capsule, Mercury 7, Mercury 8, Mercury 9, the Gemini Capsule, Gemini 4, Gemini 7, Gemini 8, Gemini 10, Gemini 11, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. Astronauts involved in these alleged sightings were Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, Frank Borman, Scott Carpenter, Michael Collins, Charles "Pete" Conrad, L. Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Richard Gordon, James A. Lovell, James McDivitt, Walter Schirra and John Young. According to officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the agency satisfied itself in every instance that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment. Les Gaver, Chief of the Audio-Visual Branch of the Public Information Division at NASA during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, states that many of the objects referred to as UFOs were actually reflections, space junk, ice crystals, scratch marks on film, dust on film holders, lights on the ground and other spacecraft and spent boosters. He admits that "there are some frames taken by astronauts that are unexplainable," but he places these in the category of space phenomena such as air glow and auroras. Some astronauts deny reports of their UFO sightings and most assert that they are satisfied by the conventional explanations provided by NASA. It is believed by some ufologists that the astronauts have been ordered not to discuss their UFO sightings. One outspoken exception, however, is Gordon Cooper, who believed that extraterrestrial beings visit Earth regularly. He was involved in efforts to end official silence on the matter. Although they were not involved in any UFO sightings, astronauts Eugene Cernan, Edgar Mitchell and Harrison Schmitt have spoken out in support of the possibility that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. Another phenomenon reported by some astronauts was the mysterious flashes seen by Apollo crews. A number of ufologists have speculated that these might be signals from aliens in space. While some scientists have attributed them to the stimulating effects of cosmic rays, others have concluded that they were merely optical illusions. Tapes of the air-to-ground transmissions of all manned space missions are available fro review at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Some researchers claim, however, that portions referring to UFOs have been removed.

Astronomers: It is a misconception that astronomers do not see UFOs. Old astronomical chronicles contain many reports of unknown objects seen in the heavens. In a 1976 survey of 1356 members of the American Astronomical Society conducted by scientist Peter Sturrock, five percent of the respondents had experienced sightings that they could not explain. The best known sightings in this category were made by Mexican astronomer José Bonilla in Zacatecas, Mexico in 1883, and by the celebrated American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1949.

Astronomy: One of the first and oldest branches of science. Astronomy studies celestial bodies, their physical properties, motions, positions, distances, and magnitude. One of its goals is to search for evidence of intelligent life.

Astrophysics: A branch of astronomy which studies and examines the physical properties and phenomena of celestial bodies, concentrating in particular on the study of the surfaces and interiors of stars via such means as astrophotography and spectrum analysis.

ATIC: Air Technical Intelligence Center. United States Air Force (USAF) division which was formerly known as the Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command (AMC) at Wright Field, Ohio (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base), and which was the base for UFO investigations until 1961, when responsibility was transferred to the newly-created Foreign Technology Division (FTD).

Atlantis: An island or continent which was supposed to have existed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Scholars doubt whether the island ever existed. The only primary reference to Atlantis is recorded by Plato in two works, Timaeus and Critias, but even he admits that he learned of it by hearsay. This makes it an extremely complicated subject to discuss because it is based upon the existence of unverified facts. One theory holds that Atlantis was a super-technological state. While the rest of the world's inhabitants worked the ground with plough and hand, and sailed the dangerous oceans in ships of wood, the inhabitants of Atlantis are supposed to have possessed machines capable of flight and of performing other wondrous deeds. Atlanteans were also greatly advanced in the biological and medical fields, and were supposed to have performed various biogenetic experiments on human guinea pigs.

Atomic Age: The name applied to the period of history ushered in by the development and use of atomic or nuclear energy; in particular, the detonation of the first atomic bomb on 16 July 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is an age characterized by the use of nuclear energy for military, political, and industrial purposes. Some scientists, scholars, and writers believe that the dawn of the Atomic Age also ushered in Earth's first contact with UFOs. The use of atomic energy, especially the use of atomic bombs, alerted the extraterrestrials to Earth.

Aurora: Does the United States Air Force or one of America's intelligence agencies have a secret hypersonic aircraft capable of a Mach 6 performance? Continually growing evidence suggests that the answer to this question is yes. Perhaps the most well-known event which provides evidence of such a craft's existence is the sighting of a triangular plane over the North Sea in August 1989 by oil-exploration engineer Chris Gibson. As well as the famous "skyquakes" heard over Los Angeles since the early 1990s, found to be heading for the secret Groom Lake (Area 51) installation in the Nevada desert, numerous other facts provide an understanding of how the aircraft's technology works. Rumored to exist but routinely denied by U.S. officials, the name of this aircraft is Aurora.

Aurora, Texas: In 1897, the April 19th edition of The Dallas Morning News reported that two days previously, an airship had flown over Aurora, Texas. Since the celebrated airship wave had begun five months previously, this fact in itself was not considered particularly unusual. However, on this occasion, the outline of events was somewhat different. Traveling at the slow speed of ten or twelve miles per hour, the craft dropped in altitude until it collided with a windmill belonging to a local judge. A loud explosion scattered debris over several acres and destroyed the windmill, a water tank and the judge's flower garden. The badly disfigured remains of the pilot were picked up. It was evident to the townspeople that he was not of this world. The report claimed that T. J. Weems, a U.S. Army Signal Service officer and an authority on astronomy, identified the pilot as a native of Mars. Papers found on him were written in undecipherable hieroglyphics and were obviously a record of his travels. The fragments of the ship proved to be of an unknown metal, resembling a mixture of aluminum and silver. They were gathered up by the townspeople as souvenirs. The following day, the Martian was given a Christian burial. It was claimed that a large rock had been found in the cemetery which indicated the location of the Martian's grave. The rock was engraved with a vague outline of an arrow and three small circles. Unfortunately, when plans were made to analyse the rock to determine the age of the markings, it mysteriously vanished. The International UFO Bureau initiated legal proceedings to exhume the Martian's body, but the Aurora Cemetery Association succeeded in blocking any attempt to start excavating their cemetery. Some people, including the late Philip Klass, claimed that the story is a hoax. But some researchers firmly believe that a UFO crashed near Aurora on that fateful day, back in 1897.

Australia: There are several hundred UFO reports per annum in Australia although after investigation, eighty-five to ninety percent of these are explained as natural and conventional objects. There are numerous UFO investigative and research organizations in the country and several of them coordinate their activities and file their data with the Centre for UFO Studies - Australian Co-Ordination Section (ACOS). One of the most sensational cases which occurred in Australia was that of pilot Frederick Valentich who, in 1978, disappeared in a light plane near Melbourne after reporting a UFO.

Avro-car: Saucer-shaped craft built by a Canadian firm, the A. V. Roe Company, for the Unites States armed forces. Two avro-cars, developed as part of an experimental program in the construction of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft, were built. However, after ten million dollars had been invested in the project, it was abandoned as a failure. During tests in 1960, the craft was not able to rise more than four feet above the ground and was difficult to control. The avro-car measured eighteen feet in diameter and weighed 3,600 pounds. It was powered by three gas turbine engines located in the center of the vehicle. This man-made flying saucer is now on display at the Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Baalbeck, Lebanon: Site of ancient ruins. Huge stone platforms, some weighing as much as a thousand tons, have been speculatively identified as launching pads for the craft of ancient astronauts by some researchers. The theory was first proposed by Russian Modest Agrest in an article in Moscow's Literaturnaya Gazeta in 1959. Agrest claims that vitrified stones found in the area were probably caused by the fiery exhaust of spaceships. The purpose of the gigantic blocks was to shield the inhabitants of Baalbeck from radiation emitted by the nuclear-powered craft.

Barnard's Star: The name given to a red star located six light-years from Earth. The nearest known single star in our galaxy, it was discovered in 1916 by Edward E. Barnard and named after him. This star is of special interest because scientists are positive that there are a number of planets which revolve around it. This, of course, has tremendous implications for the field of ufology because of the possibility that one of these planets may be inhabited. One way of determining whether a distant star has an orbiting planet would be to find a perceptibly irregular 'wobble' in the rotation of the star. This would indicate that the gravitational pull of an invisible body is acting upon the rotation of the star. Interestingly, Barnard's Star possesses such a 'wobble' in its rotation. By 1956, scientists were convinced that there was indeed an orbiting body around the star. This conclusion was confirmed in 1963 by the American Astronomical Society. Since then, researchers at NASA have stated that Barnard's Star may have three giant planets, much like our Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, orbiting around it.

Basel, Switzerland: Location of a UFO sighting on August 7, 1566. At sunrise, numerous large, black, red and orange fiery globes appeared in the sky. After dancing about with irregular motions, they faded away rapidly.

Battelle Memorial Institute: Battelle Memorial Institute is a private non-profit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. In 1952, Edward Ruppelt, as chief of Project Blue Book, contracted with the Battelle Memorial Institute to carry out a statistical study of UFO characteristics. The purpose of the study was to determine if anything in the air represented technological developments not known to the U.S., and to build a model of a flying saucer from the data. The report was completed in 1953 and, contrary to its actual findings, it concluded that UFOs did not seem to represent anything unknown or outside the capabilities of human technology. The researchers reported that they could not derive a verified model of a flying saucer from the data that had been gathered to date. Project Blue Book Special Report #14 is known to be the largest of five scientific studies ever done on UFOs. Why is it that no one has ever bothered to ask the question: "If this study is called Project Blue Book Special Report #14, where are Special Reports No. 1 to 13?"

Belgium: Both the English term "UFO" and the French term "OVNI" are used in Belgium. Flying saucers are referred to by the Dutch name "vliegende schotel." Colonel R. Soufnonguel, Chief of the Operations Branch of the Belgian Air Force, estimates that there are between one and fifty UFO reports each year in Belgium. A number of organizations exist to investigate sightings. Belgium's best-known authority on the subject was Jacques Bonabot.

Belief: A conviction, based on non-verifiable grounds, about the truth or reality of something. Belief accepts an alleged fact as true or correct without positive knowledge or proof. Many psychological factors enter into the formulation of a belief. A man's fears, hopes, desires, past experiences, incomplete evidence of the discussed subject, opinions of others, and coincidences all enter into the picture. Belief also enters into the UFO phenomenon. No revealed scientific proof exists of their existence, nor has science explained away the phenomenon. Though proof or knowledge of UFOs is incomplete, this does not deter people from holding an opinion on the subject. One group of people denies and ridicules their existence. Another group believes that they exist, but disagrees on whether they are from another planet or from a parallel universe, and on whether they are friendly or hostile. A third group takes the middle position. It is willing to admit the possibility of their existence, but remains as yet unconvinced.

Bentwaters and Lakenheath, England: Royal Air Force (RAF) stations where a series of radar/visual UFO sightings occurred on the night of August 13-14, 1956. At approximately 9:30 p.m., a radar operator at Bentwaters RAF station observed a strong radar echo moving in a northwesterly direction across his scope at several thousand miles per hour. At about the same time, one of his associates observed twelve to fifteen targets moving together at speeds ranging from 80-to-125 miles per hour. The twelve to fifteen unidentified objects, spread over a distance of six to seven miles, were preceded by three objects in triangular formation at a distance of one thousand feet from each other. The blips were located approximately eight miles southwest of the station. When they had reached a point about fourteen miles northeast of the station, their intensity faded. At a distance of approximately forty milesnortheast of the station, the blips merged into a single radar echo whose intensity was described as several times greater than that of a B-36 return under similar conditions. After remaining motionless for ten to fifteen minutes, the single blip resumed its northeasterly motion for another five or six miles. It stopped for three to five minutes, then moved northward until it passed beyond the sixty-mile range of the scope at 9:55 p.m. Five minutes later, another blip was seen moving from east to west at a speed estimated to be more than 12,000 miles per hour. Two Lockheed T-33 fighters, which searched the area from approximately 9:30 to 9:45 p.m., unaided by airborne radar, were unable to locate any aerial objects which might have accounted for the mysterious radar blips. A small light observed visually for a one-hour period by a control tower sergeant is presumed by most investigators to have been the planet Mars. However, another blurred light seen by control tower personnel as it passed overhead at terrific speed was observed concurrently by the pilot of a C-47 aircraft flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The pilot described the object as a bright light which streaked westward underneath him. At 10:55 p.m., the Bentwaters radar station alerted the Lakenheath station about forty miles to the northwest. It was not until ten minutes after midnight that the first unidentified target was seen by Lakenheath radar operators. The blip moved from a position approximately six miles west of the station to a point about twenty miles southwest. There, it stopped. Oddly, it remained visible on the scope even while the Moving Target Indicator (MTI) was in operation. Writer (the late) Philip Klass had suggested that this was an indication that the MTI was not functioning properly, since only moving targets should have appeared on the radar screen. After about five minutes, the blip accelerated instantaneously to a speed of 400 to 600 miles per hour, traveling northward until it stopped about twenty miles northwest of the Lakenheath station. It continued changing location, always traveling in a straight line at about 600 mile per hour, resting at each spot for three to six minutes. The object's speed was always constant when moving, with no acceleration or deceleration when starting or stopping. The changes in location varied from eight to twenty miles in length. Finally, a De Havilland Venom was scrambled from an RAF base at Waterbeach, some twenty miles southwest of Lakenheath. The pilot located the target on his radarscope and concurrently observed a bright white light in the sky. When he lost radar and visual contact with the object, the ground controllers directed him toward another target ten miles east of Lakenheath. Again, the pilot reported radar contact but, as he approached, the target vanished. The ground controllers advised him that the UFO had moved behind him. The interceptor took evasive action but was unable to shake off the object. Running low on fuel, the pilot headed back to Waterbeach. The UFO followed for a short distance and then stopped. A second Venom was scrambled, but was unable to make contact in the short time before a malfunction forced it to return to base. The last radar unknown was seen at about 3:30 a.m., six hours after the first sightings at Bentwaters. It was later reported that United States Air Force (USAF) ground observers stationed at Lakenheath had seen a luminous object traveling toward the southwest. The UFO had stopped, then moved away toward the east, disappearing in the distance. Sometime afterwards, two moving white lights were seen to merge and take off as one object. The Project Blue Book report does not specify the time of these visual observations. The Bentwaters-Lakenheath case is considered one of the most significant radar/visual UFO sightings on record. Klass had suggested that the visual sightings may be attributable to the Perseid meteor shower which was at its peak during that period. He points out that official reports of the incident indicate that the interceptor pilot, alone in the two-seater plane, was performing the difficult task of operating the radar from the pilot's seat. Furthermore, it was evident that he was not familiar with the capabilities of the aircraft's radar system. With regards to ground radar, Klass's investigations have shown that some of the complex equipment was still in the developmental stages and could not be considered totally reliable. British radar specialist E. P. Hall has stated that temperature inversions and flocks of migrating birds are a frequent source of radar angels in the Bentwaters-Lakenheath area. Endorsing Klass's deductions, the late astronomer Donald Menzel concluded that the unidentified blip seen following the Venom interceptor was caused by the radar signal bouncing from the plane to some unidentified ground target, then back to the plane. Thus, the two blips represented a direct echo from the plane and a delayed echo from the plane via the ground. However, since visual sightings by ground observers at Lakenheath seem to confirm the radar sightings of aerial objects performing unconventional maneuvers, many ufologists consider this to be one of the best established and most puzzling of UFO cases.

Bermuda Triangle: An area of the Atlantic Ocean where the high number of lost ships and airplanes has been attributed to a mysterious but unknown cause. It is also known as the Devil's Triangle, the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the Hoodoo Sea, Limbo of the Lost, Triangle of Death, Triangle of Tragedy, Pentagon of Death and Port of the Missing. The Sargasso Sea, within the Bermuda Triangle, is an area in which sometimes only the crew and passengers of ships disappear, leaving their vessels to flounder in the free-floating Sargassum seaweed. The Devil's Sea, to the woutheast of Japan, has earned a reputation similar to that of the Bermuda Triangle. These areas are two of twelve vile vortices established by the late Ivan Sanderson.

Biblical UFOs: Aerial phenomena interpreted in the Bible as religious apparitions or visions but which are considered by proponents of the Ancient Astronaut hypothesis as possible evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times. Biblical passages frequently quoted as examples are those dealing with Angels, the Ark of the Covenant, Elijah, Enoch, Ezekiel, Jacob, Jonah, Moses, Saint Paul, Sodom and Gomorrah and the Star of Bethlehem.

Bigfoot: American name of a legendary anthropoid creature also known as the abominable snowman, the yeti, sasquatch, alma, mono grande, yowie, oh-man, bearman and the abominable woodman. Proponents of the existence of bigfoot hypothesize that the creature may be an unknown species of ape or a missing link between ape and man. The large, hairy humanoids, usually between six and nine feet tall and weighing up to 800 pounds, have been reported in the United States, Canada, South America, the Himalayas, Russia and Australia. Supposedly, UFOs have frequently been observed around bigfoot sighting areas. This has led to the theory that bigfoot may actually be UFOnauts, UFOnauts' pets or participants in experiments being carried out by UFOnauts.

Black Budget: A black budget is a budget that is secretly collected from the overall income of a nation, a corporation, a society of any form, a national department, and so on. A black budget usually covers expenses related to military research. The budget is kept secret for national security reasons. Philip Schneider claimed that the alleged "Dulce Base" in the U.S. state of New Mexico is run by such a budget. Many other programs such as Area 51 in Groom Lake, Nevada, and many experimental or covert military programs as well are said to be run by black budgets. The United States Department of Defense has a black budget it uses to fund black projects—expenditures it does not want to disclose publicly. The annual cost of the United States Department of Defense black budget was estimated at $32 billion in 2008 but was increased to an estimated $50 billion in 2009.

Black Helicopter: Stories of black helicopters first appeared in the 1970s, and were linked to reports of cattle mutilation. On 7 November 1975, an off-duty missile launch officer reported that unidentified aircraft resembling a helicopter had approached and hovered near a USAF missile launch control facility (LCF), near Lewistown. Source explained that at about 0020, 7 November 75, source and his deputy officer had just retired from crew rest in the Soft Support Building (SSB) at the LCF, when both heard the sound of a helicopter rotor above the SSB. The Deputy observed two red-and-white lights on the front of the aircraft, a white light on the bottom, and a white light on the rear. On 7 November 75, Roscoe E. III, Captain, 341 Strategic Missile Wing, advised that during the hours of 6-7 November 75, two adjacent LCFs, approximately 50 miles south of aforementioned LCF, reported moving lights as unidentified flying objects (UFO). During this period, there were no reports of helicopter noises from personnel at these LCFs.

Black Hole: At the end of their lifetime, massive stars, fifty times or more larger than the sun, implode or collapse into themselves. In the formation of neutron stars, nuclear force stops the stars from completely collapsing in on themselves. In the formation of black holes, however, there is nothing to arrest the implosion of the giant stars. Eventually, their matter becomes so compressed and their gravity so strong that nothing can withstand their pull, not even light. Because light cannot escape from their surface, black holes cannot be seen optically. Their presence is established gravitationally. For this reason, such collapsed stars are called black holes.

Black Manta: The TR-3A Black Manta is reputedly a United States Air Force spyplane. It is allegedly a black program, and its existence is officially denied. The TR-3A is claimed to be a subsonic stealth spyplane with a flying wing design. It was alleged to have been used in the Gulf War to provide laser designation for F-117A Nighthawk bombers, for targeting to use with laser-guided bombs (smart bombs). The TR-3A is supposedly manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Blackouts: The extinguishing of all lights in large areas and entire cities due to power failures. UFOs have frequently been seen hovering near power facilities, sometimes prior to or during blackouts. The highest number of such incidents occurred in the late 1950s and the mid-1960s. The most notorious case was the great northeastern blackout of 1965. During the evening rush hour period of November 9th, thirty million people were plunged into blackness that did not end until the following morning. The area affected covered 80,000 square miles and included parts of eight northeastern U.S. states and most of Canada's Ontario. However, even in New York City where thousands of people were trapped in subway trains and high-rise elevators, panic did not set in. Utility experts could offer no explanation as to what had touched off the extraordinary failure of the huge Canadian-U.S. Eastern interconnective power grid. In previous years, local blackouts had been prevented from spreading by an extensive safeguard system. Yet on November 9, 1965, a strange surge of electricity had swept unchecked through the grid system, tripping scores of circuit breakers. During the week following the event, reports of UFO sightings before and during the blackout came in from witnesses in New York City, Greater New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and all over New England. Of particular interest was the report that immediately prior to the blackout, a pilot had seen a round, glowing object near the Northern Hemisphere's largest power plant at Niagara Falls. Another spherical UFO, seen at the beginning of the blackout, was hovering over the Clay power substation in Syracuse, New York. Since electromagnetic effects seem to be an established characteristic of UFOs, some ufologists are convinced that the great northeastern blackout was the result of an extremely powerful surge of electromagnetic energy from one or more UFOs, overloading the system so quickly that the safety devices did not have time to operate.

Blip: A luminous image on a radarscope, also referred to as a target.

Bogey: A synonym for UFO sometimes used by military pilots and astronauts.

Boianai, Papua New Guinea: Location of a Close Encounter of the Third Kind (CE-III) which is considered one of the great classics in Ufology. Its protagonist is Reverend William Booth Gill, an Anglican priest and graduate of Brisbane University. In 1959, he was in charge of the Boianai mission station and had been on the staff of the Anglican mission for thirteen years. During the day of June 26, Gill had written a letter to a friend in which he expressed his opinions regarding UFOs. There had been numerous sightings in recent months in Paua but Gill was still doubtful that UFOs were anything more than electrical phenomena or something brought about by atom bomb explosions. At 6:45 p.m., he came out of the dining hall and glanced up at the sky. He saw Venus, which was conspicuous at the time. To his surprise, he also saw a sparkling object which began to move toward him. Stephen Gill Moi, a native teacher in the missions, and thirty-six other Papuans joined Gill. As the object descended to an altitude of about five hundred feet, the onlookers could distinguish the forms of four men moving about on top of the craft. The occupants seemed to be working on something and several times, left the top deck and reappeared again, individually and together. The UFO was circular, had a large base and smaller upper deck. Two pairs of legs protruded from the base. Occasionally, a thin shaft of blue light shone upward from the center of the deck at an angle of forty-five degrees. The machine and its occupants were surrounded by a glowing halo of light. At 7:20 p.m., the UFO rose through the cloud covering which Gill estimated to be at about 2,000 feet. At 8:28 p.m., the UFO reappeared and descended again. This time, it hovered at a slightly lower altitude. Three more UFOs appeared, moving up and down through the clouds. The first object, which Gill called the mother ship, remained stationary for a short time before maneuvering through the clouds and across the sea. By 10:50 p.m., the UFOs had all disappeared and were not seen again that night. The following evening, at approximately 6:00 p.m., a repeat performance of the previous night's sighting occurred. This time, the mother ship descended to an altitude of about four hundred feet. Two smaller UFOs remained aloft. Noticing that one of the occupants seemed to be staring down at the onlookers, Gill waved. To everyone's amazement, the figure waved back. A Papuan worker waved two arms. Two figures on the craft each raised both arms in acknowledgment. Delighted, the young mission boys called out, beckoning the visitors to come down to the ground. As darkness fell, Gill used a flashlight to send signals to the ufonauts. The craft executed a swinging pendulum movement as if in reply. As the waving and flashlight signals continued, the UFO began to move closer but then stopped. The figures on board went back to their work and soon disappeared below deck. At 6:25 p.m., the occupants reappeared but continued to ignore their audience. At 6;30 p.m., Gill went to dinner. A half-hour later, the smaller UFOs had disappeared. The first craft was still present but had moved further away. All the observers went to their church for evening services. When they were over at 7:45 p.m., the sky had clouded over. There were no UFOs in sight. At 10:40 p.m., a loud explosion was heard which Gill thought might have been due to weather conditions, since a few drops of rain fell twenty-five minutes later. Gill reported sightings of eight UFOs on the third night, June 28. However, only one object hovered at low altitude and no crew members were seen. This fantastic series of sightings was brought to public attention by Reverend Normal E. G. Cruttwell, director of the multistation mission in Papua and a UFO investigator for the Flying Saucer Review. Twenty-five of the thirty-eight witnesses signed a report attesting to their presence. The late astronomer Donald Menzel has implied that the witnesses were not of the highest credibility since all but Gill were Papuans and only seven were adults. He believed that the natives were willing to sign anything to please their holy leader. The Papua New Guinea case has become one of the most controversial in UFO history. J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallée, and Philip Klass and Menzel have argued for and against its credibility in a number of books. Each publication has brought to light new details to support the author's opinions. Hynek and Vallée considered the case one of the most convincing on record. They were impressed by the number of witnesses to this event, which was only one of more than sixty sightings in New Guinea during a one-year period. Hynek finds it difficult to believe that a well-educated Anglican priest would invent such a fantastic story involving many witnesses, out of sheer intent to deceive.

Bolide: A term sometimes used to describe a brilliant meteor, esoecially one which explodes. Bolides are an occasional source of UFO reports.

Brazil: UFOs in Brazil are referred to as "OVNI" and flying saucers as "discos voadores." The majority of Latin American UFO reports come from Brazil and many of them deal with landings and occupants. Although the Brazilian government takes no official stand regarding UFOs, the Brazilian Air Force has a special service to deal with the matter. According to Brazil's Ministry of Aeronautics, UFO sightings were first reported in 1947 and, while at first the average number of reports per annum was between fifty and 100, the number has now grown to somewhere between 100 and 500 per annum. The country experienced UFO waves in 1957 and 1962.

Brno, Czechoslovakia: Location of a UFO sighting in 1960 by military men involved in a nocturnal exercise. A strange-colored light appeared in the sky, only to disappear and reappear elsewhere. It continued to move about in this manner for some time until the commanding officer ordered his men to observe it through binoculars and track it on radar. Fighter jets were scrambled but, as had occurred in so many similar cases in the United States, radar operators saw the unknown target disappear each time a jet fighter approached. In each instance, the target reappeared in another spot before the interceptors even had time to turn around. After an hour, the UFO disappeared and did not reappear again. The incident was reported in the aeronautical publication Letectvi a Kosmonautika in April 1966.

Bucharest, Romania: Location of a multiple-witness UFO sighting involving military personnel on December 2, 1967. A Rumanian lieutenant major was on duty at the Banasea airfield radar station when, at 9:30 p.m., he observed an unusual "craft" hovering about thirty-five degrees over the northern horizon. The conical object shone with a brilliant but vacillating light. Suddenly, the UFO dropped toward the ground, then rose rapidly to its original position. It moved a short distance from left to right, paused, then repeated its up and down maneuver once more. The army officer brought the strange phenomenon to the attention of several colleagues, and within a short time, dozens of military personnel were watching the UFO. At 11:30 p.m., the object disappeared over the northern horizon. Two days later, another lieutenant major and several other witnesses observed a similar object at the same spot at four o'clock in the morning. Less than a week later, early in the morning of December 10, a psychologist in Bucharest observed a bluish-green UFO with spine-like protrusions, traveling slowly through the sky beneath a high-altitude cloud layer. The object was clearly visible to the witness for a period of fifteen minutes.

Buff: A person who exhibits great interest and dedication in any field, in this case, that of UFOs. In particular, he believes that UFOs are spacecraft from other planets which are coming to Earth for some purpose not yet adequately or positively ascertained. UFO buffs are split into two large groups. One group feels that the UFO beings are benevolent and would help man. The second group warns against contact with UFO beings. They warn against the possible dangers involved and the evil intentions that these beings might have.

BUFORA: British UFO Research Association.

Burns: Witnesses and objects have been burned by UFOs both with and without actual physical contact having occurred. In some instances, the generation of heat by UFOs seems to have been used as a weapon against human beings. Such was the case on November 4, 1957, in Fort Itaipu, Brazil, where two sentries were reportedly badly burned by a blast of heat emanating from a UFO hovering above them. Some witnesses have reported being burned by beams of light fired at them from a tube held by a UFOnaut or protruding from a UFO. On March 29, 1966, in Hamilton, Ontario, Charles Cozens touched an antenna on one of two UFOs which had landed in a field. As if to keep him away, a flash of light knocked him backwards. His hand was burned, and superficial cuts and scratches appeared along with the burn mark. Some reports have demonstrated that, after observing brilliantly illuminated UFOs which showed no signs of aggression, witnesses have experienced severe sunburn effects. Glowing and flaming UFOs have been known to burn trees and plants. On February 10, 1975, two boys observed a glowing ball, twenty feet in diameter, hovering over some trees in Annadale, Staten Island, New York. Subsequent examination of the area revealed that several trees had been sheared to a height of about four feet. Some were covered with a black substance which analysis revealed to be carbon based. Although chemists established that it had been produced by a low intensity heat such as the burning of paint thinner or lighter fluid, remnants of neither were found. It was determined that a fire had not been set in the woods but that some heat source had been present over a large area that caused carbonization at bark level only. In contrast, a flaming, spherical UFO in Fort Beaufort, South Africa, in 1972, passed through trees and bushes yet left no evidence of burning.

Calgary, Alberta: Two color photographs of a daylight disk were taken by Warren Smith on July 3, 1967, southwest of Calgary. Smith and two companions were returning from a weekend trip when, at about 5:30 p.m., they observed an object traveling toward them from the east, gradually losing altitude. Smith shot a picture of the UFO at a distance of about 2,000 feet. It then descended behind some trees. Within seconds, Smith was able to take a second photograph as the UFO ascended. It hovered momentarily, dropped a small object, then flew off to the south. Early tests conducted by astronomer J. Allen Hynek and the Defense Photographic Interpretation Center of the Canadian Air Force supposedly established that the two photographs represent an oblate ellipsoid or doughnut-shaped object approximately forty-to-fifty feet in diameter and eleven-and-a-half-to-fourteen feet thick. Cloud formations in both photographs were declared to be consistent with the ten-to-twenty-second time lapse reported by the photographer. After testing the first of the two photographs, Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) labeled it a bona fide unidentified object. However, when GSW subsequently tested the second of the two photographs, it declared that the film ". . . depicts the crudest attempt at a hoax that we have ever seen."

Canada: Up until a few years ago, Canada was known to be the only country other than the United States to have maintained official records of UFO reports. In 1950, the Department of Transport established Project Magnet, a study group composed of scientists and engineers. Under the leadership of Wilbert B. Smith, the group set up a laboratory in 1953 which was equipped to investigate the eletromagnetic and gravitational properties of UFOs. The government withdrew its support of the project in 1954 because of adverse publicity. Smith stated that "The conclusions reached by Project Magnet . . . were based on a rigid statistical analysis of sighting reports and were as follows: There is a ninety-one percent probability that at least some of the sightings were of real objects of unknown origin. There is about a sixty percent probability that these objects were alien vehicles." Meanwhile, in 1952, the government had established Project Second Story, a study to determine whether or not UFOs warranted a large scale investigative effort. Until 1965, the Air Defense Command (ADC) collected UFO reports but many of their files were later destroyed. Responsibility for UFO investigation was then assumed by the Canadian Forces Headquarters. In 1969, the records were transferred to the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, which collected and filed UFO reports but did not conduct field investigations. The reports were open to public inspection but researchers were required to sign an affidavit that they would not reveal the names and addresses of witnesses. The records are now housed at the National Archives of Canada, located in Gatineau, Quebec.

Catanduva, Brazil: Location of a bizarre UFO encounter reported to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) by Brazilian UFO investigator Irene Granchi. Forty-one-year-old Onilson Papero, a married man with two children and an organizer of public libraries for the state of San Paulo, was driving home through the rain on May 22, 1973, when his engine and radio began to malfunction. It was 3:00 a.m. He was just outside Catanduva. Suddenly, he noticed a blue circle of light , about eight inches in diameter, inside the car. As it moved about slowly, it passed in front of the dashboard. Papero was puzzled to find that he could see the engine through the circle of light. Then, he noticed a beam of blue light shining on him from the top of the hill he was ascending. As the light's source approached, he pulled off the road to avoid a collision. The light kept coming towards him. Overcome by a sensation of heat and stuffiness, Papero stepped out of his car but found no relief. He heard a buzzing sound. Looking up at the UFO, he could distinguish a gray structure about twenty-five feet thick and thirty-six feet wide, resembling two soup plates attached rim to rim. A transparent curtain seemed to be moving around the object and when it had completely encircled it, the sensation of heat and airlessness ceased. At this point, a tube stretched out from the UFO's base toward the ground. Panicking, Papero began to run. He got no further than one hundred feet when he felt something holding him back as though a rubber lasso had caught him. His flailing hands could find nothing physical to account for the impediment. Turning, he saw that a rod of blue light from the UFO was moving over his car. The light seemed to make the car transparent, enabling Papero to see all its interior parts. He fainted. An hour later, two young men drove by. Seeing Papero lying face down in the gushing rainwater, they rushed on to Catanduva, where they reported the matter to the police. Accompanied by an officer, they returned to the scene. A road map lay on the ground in front of the car. Papero's briefcase lay open, the contents strewn about in the car. When the three men turned Papero over to examine him, he regained consciousness. After they had calmed the struggling man who believed them to be kidnappers from the UFO, they listened to his strange tale. The key to his briefcase, which had been locked, was still in his pocket. Nothing had been stolen. The policeman took Papero to a hospital in Catanduva for examinations and observation. The following day, having shown no indications of injury or illness, Papero was released. However, he had begun to feel a slight itchiness on his back and stomach. The next day, irritated patches of skin turned purplish blue. Later, these spots turned yellow and eventually disappeared. Subsequent medical examinations revealed no cause for the discoloration. Dr. Max Berezonski of Sao Paulo found Papero's mental condition to be normal. No other physical abnormalities were found.

CAUS: Citizens Against UFO Secrecy. Defunct organization founded in 1973 by W. Todd Zechel, Peter A. Gersten and Brad Sparks. Zechel, who served as Director, is a writer who claims to have worked in both overt and covert intelligence roles with the National Security Agency and another agency. A newsletter, Just Cause, was published monthly. Although the organization was short-lived, ceasing its activities in 1979, it was instrumental in releasing numerous government documents relating to UFOs by filing lawsuits against various governmental agencies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

CE-I: Close Encounter of the First Kind. Term coined by astronomer J. Allen Hynek. Though the witness observes a UFO nearby (within 200 feet), there appears to be no interaction with either the witness or the environment.

CE-II: Close Encounter of the Second Kind. These encounters include details of interaction between the UFO and the environment which may vary from interference with car ignition systems and electronic gear to imprints or burns on the ground and physical effects on plants, animals and humans.

CE-III: Close Encounter of the Third Kind. In this category, occupants of a UFO - entities that are human-like ("humanoid") or not human-like in apearance - have been reported. There is usually no direct contact or communication with the witness. However, in recent years, reports of incidents involving very close contact - even detainment of witnesses - have increased.

CE-IV: Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind. This involves the person being unwillingly taken and experimented on inside the alien craft (Otherwise known as abduction).

CE-V: Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind. This is when there is direct communication between aliens and humans. This is the rarest one of them all and very few people have experienced it.

CE-VI: Close Encounter of the Sixth Kind. This is when contact between aliens and humans results in permanent injury, and in rare cases, even death.

Celebrities: Actors, politicians and other well-known people alleged to have seen UFOs include Muhammad Ali, Orson Bean, Jimmy Carter, Jamie Farr, Glenn Ford, Jackie Gleason, Buddy Greco, Dick Gregory, Clare Booth Luce, Sheila Macrae, Warren Oates, Elvis Presley, William Shatner, Elke Sommer, Clyde Tombaugh, Mel Tormé, John Travolta and Ray Wilson. In addition, several astronauts reported and photographed UFOs during the Mercury, Geminin and Apollo space missions.

Cernan, Eugene: Astronaut who, although he has seen nothing unidentifiable in space, stated on January 4, 1973, at a Los Angeles press conference, "I believe UFOs belong to someone else and they are from some other civilization."

Chariots of the Gods?: Documentary produced by Sun Classic Pictures in 1974, and based on the books Chariots of the Gods? and Gods from Outer Space by Erich von Däniken. This film explores von Däniken's theory that many ancient civilizations developed as a result of advanced knowledge brought to Earth by extraterrestrial visitors. The theory is documented with examples from countries around the world, including such archaeological oddities as the statues on Easter Island, the pyramids and cave drawings which allegedly resemble modern-day astronauts. Much of the film's footage was utilized in the 1973 NBC television special, In Search Of Ancient Astronauts.

Chop, Albert M.: Former Press Chief for the United States Air Force (USAF), and former Information Officer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As official Air Force spokesman for the UFO project, Chop participated in the radar observations of the celebrated Washington, D.C. sightings of 1952. He has concluded that UFOs do not originate on Earth and believes that the Condon Report was a deliberate attempt to silence the public, an action he considers poor public relations. On January 1, 1979, Chop, his wife and their daughter observed a triangular UFO moving slowly eastward over the mountains southeast of

CIA: The Central Intelligence Agency is an independent civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, with responsibility for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers. Intelligence-gathering is performed by non-military commissioned civilian intelligence agents, many of whom are trained to avoid tactical situations. The CIA also oversees and sometimes engages in tactical and covert activities at the request of the President of the United States. The CIA's headquarters is located in Langley, McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, a few miles west of Washington, D.C.. The Central Intelligence Agency was created by Congress with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. It is the descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II, which was dissolved in October 1945 and its functions transferred to the State and War Departments. The primary function of the CIA is to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers, but it does conduct emergency tactical operations and carries out covert operations, and exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. The overall U.S. intelligence budget has been considered classified until recently. There have been numerous attempts to obtain general information about the budget. As a result, it was revealed that CIA's annual budget in Fiscal Year 1963 was US $550 million (inflation-adjusted US$ 4.2 billion in 2013), and the overall intelligence budget in FY 1997 was US $26.6 billion (inflation-adjusted US$ 38.5 billion in 2013). There have also been accidental disclosures; for instance, Mary Margaret Graham, a former CIA official and deputy director of national intelligence for collection in 2005, said that the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion.

Cigar-shaped UFO: Cylindrical object with blunt or tapered ends. Cigar-shaped UFOs are usually seen at high altitudes and are often associated with an underlying or surrounding cloud formations. Their movement may be slow but erratic, with occasional accelerations. They may be horizontal, tilted or vertical. Cigar-shaped UFOs are sometimes referred to as 'Mother Ships' because of the smaller, disk-shaped objects seen to emerge from them. Two classic sightings involving cigar-shaped UFOs were those at Oloron and Gaillac in France in 1952.

CIRVIS: Acronym for Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings from Aircraft. This was a secret directive contained in JANAP-146, an order promulgated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. CIRVIS detailed the procedures which have to be followed in reporting UFO sightings. In Instruction 102, JANAP-146 emphasizes that CIRVIS reports are to be used only for information of vital importance to the security of the United States. In Instruction 201, JANAP-146 states that UFO reports require immediate transmission. preceded by the international 'Urgency Signal', military precedence or emergency. Instruction 206 directs that all CIRVIS reports are to be transmitted to the Air (now Aerospace) Defense Command. the Secretary of Defense, and the nearest U.S. Military Command. Furthermore, JANAP-146 prohibits the unauthorized transmission or revelation of CIRVIS reports and warns that transgression of this prohibition is punishable under the Espionage Laws. CIRVIS applies to both military and commercial pilots and crews. Passengers aboard commercial flights have also often been pressured by the government personnel into maintaining silence. CIRVIS effectively clamped down a veil of official secrecy on the UFO sightings and reports. It has been most effective in preventing pilots and crews from talking about their experiences.

Cisco Grove, California: Isolated area in Placer County where a hunter was trapped in a tree overnight by four ufonauts in 1964. The three men involved in the case have never sought publicity and are usually referred to by their first names and the initial of their last names. On the evening of September 4, Donald S., Tim T. and Vincent A. went off to hunt after setting up camp. Towards sunset, they separated

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Motion picture (Columbia Pictures, 1977). Producers: Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips; associate producer: Clark Laylow; director: Steven Spielberg; screenplay by Steven Spielberg. Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr and Gary Guffey. This multimillion-dollar production was highlighted by Douglas Trumbull's special effects. Although it received eight Academy Award nominations, the film won only one Oscar for best cinematography. It was published as a novel by Dell Publishing, Inc. The story begins when a UFO flap occurs in the state of Indiana. Numerous UFO witnesses begin receiving telepathic visions of a flat-topped mountain. A French scientist and his team receive radio signals from UFOs requesting a meeting at a secret base on top of a truncated mountain called Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Although authorities attempt to evacuate the area, the hero and heroine manage to reach the mountaintop in time to see the arrival of the alien spaceships. Two-way communication is established as the earthlings and the spaceship occupants take turns at playing various series of musical tones. The mother ship lands and delivers several earthlings who had disappeared over the years, including the pilots of Flight 19, which was lost in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945. The aliens step out of the craft. Slender creatures with large heads, they come face-to-face with the observers in a silent but friendly confrontation. The hero is selected to accompany the extraterrestrials on their departure in the mother ship.

Cluj, Romania: Location of a well-publicized UFO sighting on August 18, 1968. Former army officer and technician Emil Barnea, his girlfriend Zamfira Matea and two anonymous companions were picnicking in the Baciu Forest when, at about 1:20 p.m., they observed a round, metallic luminous object moving slowly through the sky. The UFO's brilliance increased and decreased as it moved about, suddenly accelerated and shot upwards and out of sight. It had been visible for approximately two minutes. During that time, Barnea succeeded in taking four photographs of the object. One of the photographs was published one month later in several Romanian newspapers.

Color: UFOs observed during daylight are usually described as metallic, silvery, white or like aluminum. Bright colors are rarely associated with daytime sightings. Nocturnal UFOs, however, have been reported in a variety of shades, primarily white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Some have shown more than one color or have changed color during the observation. Changes in color, and in luminosity, have been associated with changes in speed. An increase in brightness and a shift toward the red end of the spectrum have accompanied acceleration, while a decrease in luminosity and a shift toward the violet end of the spectrum have accompanied deceleration.

Colorado University Project: On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced a UFO study project which was to be undertaken by a non-governmental agency or department. Dr. Edward Condon of Colorado University was named as the director of the project. The project, accordingly called the Colorado University Project, was supposed to be a serious, objective, and scientific investigation of the UFO phenomenon. Many prominent scientists, major national newspapers, and writers such as Major Donald E. Keyhoe, who had read the project report, called Dr. Condon's conclusions a whitewash. They argued that the project was primarily set up to reaffirm the prior conclusions of the Air Force. Therefore, they demanded a new and truly objective study. To date, no new officially sanctioned national study has been approved or undertaken.

Comet: Celestial body which moves around the sun. Some comets move in an elongated elliptical orbit, reappearing periodically. Others move in parabolas or hyperbolas, appearing only once before disappearing into space. A comet consists of a central mass called the nucleus, a surrounding haze called the coma and usually a tail, which is more pronounced when the comet is close to the sun. The nucleus is believed to be composed of meteoric material, ice, frozen methane and ammonia. The coma consists of gases released by the nucleus. The tail is an extension of the coma. Comets lose material each time they pass close to the sun. Eventually, they are reduced to tiny rock cores or break up into fragments. Such fragments are believed to be responsible for the formation of meteor showers. Early superstition held that comets were terrible portents. Today, despite the lack of complete understanding of the origin and nature of comets, they are rarely, if ever, misidentified. However, some historical records of aerial phenomena which have been dubbed "UFOs" by ufologists may, in fact, refer to comets. In particular, ufologists and scientists still debate the cometary explanation for the sighting of a huge fiery sphere at Robozero in the Soviet Union in 1666 and the aerial explosion of a UFO over the Tunguska Region of the Soviet Union in 1908.

COMINT: Communications Intelligence.

Contactee: A person who claims repeated contact with occupants of flying saucers. Contactees hold that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft piloted by benign beings from planets within and beyond our solar system. Some contactees actually claim to have visited the homes of the friendly space people. Contact is usually telepathic, often without the physical presence of the saucer occupants. Some of the space people allegedly live unrecognized among human beings. Communications are usually of a religious nature and warn against such evils as war, atomic energy and pollution. Although contactees do not usually file UFO reports or attempt to prove their claim, ufologists blame them for bringing ridicule to the subject.

Cover-up: The United States Air Force's policy of secrecy and its debunking program led many people to believe that it was covering up the truth about UFOs during the twenty-one years of its official investigation. During that period, Marine Corps Major Donald E. Keyhoe and the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) were involved in an aggressive campaign to make the Air Force admit that UFOs represented an unknown phenomenon, possibly an extraterrestrial threat. After the Project Blue Book files had been made available to the public at the National Archives in 1976, it was discovered that numerous reports were missing. Believing the missing information to be in the files of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), individuals and groups such as Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) and Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) filed suit against the CIA under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Numerous documents were released during 1978 and 1979 but many were withheld on the basis that their release might endanger national security. Meanwhile, ufologists are pursuing the matter in the hope that they will eventually secure documents proving that the Air Force has one or more crashed flying saucers hidden at an Air Force base somewhere in the United States.

Crashed Flying Saucers: The two best-documented but inconclusive cases of crashed unidentified flying objects occurred in the Tunguska Region of the U.S.S.R. in 1908, and in Ubatuba, Brazil, in 1957. The former incident, according to some scientists, may have an astronomical explanation. The latter incident may be a hoax. If it actually occurred as described by the witnesses, it is one of the most positive indications of alien visitations. One of the earliest recorded report of a flying saucer fatality occurred in 1897 in Aurora, Texas. Half a century later, a series of such reports began. In the summer of 1947, news wires ran stories of several Swedish Ghost Rocket crashes. Many of these UFOs fell into lakes. Claims that fragments were retrieved by the military have been denied by officials. The most notorious episode was narrated by a former Variety columnist, Frank Scully, in his 1950 book, Behind the Flying Saucers. Scully reported that in 1948, the Air Force had captured three flying saucers in New Mexico and Arizona. Sixteen corpses were removed from each craft and medically examined. Apart from their approximately three-and-a-half-foot stature and flawless teeth, the aliens resembled normal human beings. Scully had learned of this incident at a lecture given by Silas Newton at the University of Denver. In 1952, European news services carried the story of a UFO crash in Spitsbergen, Norway. Reportedly, British and American military experts were called in to assist in the investigation. The story remains controversial to this day. The most dramatic foreign report dealt with the injured survivor of a crash in Poland in 1959. The alien was taken to a hospital where doctors struggled to take off his metal suit. When they removed an unusual armband, the patient died. Before his body was sent to Russia for examination, it was observed that he had an unusual number of digits and that his blood and organs were different from those of human beings. Numerous accounts of saucer crashes continue to appear in print today. In each case, it is reported that the craft and small bodies were retrieved and hidden by the Air Force. All purported witnesses state that the incidents occurred some time during the 1950s. The rumors were perpetuated in 1974 by a wave of television and radio reports in which it was declared that the craft and frozen alien corpses were being held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Claims that President Gerald Ford would shortly make a public announcement disclosing these facts never materialized. In 1978, ufologist Leonard Stringfield announced that he had reports from twenty-four unimpeachable sources that spaceships and frozen alien corpses are being held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In 1979, in international newspaper, radio and television interviews, William Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) stated that his organization possessed signed affidavits from retired colonels in military intelligence attesting to the fact that a crashed disk and a thumbless entity had been retrieved and transported to a military base, possibly Langley Field. Ancient preserved corpses have occasionally been proffered to the general public as victims of unspecified flaying saucer wrecks. In 1932, a mummified body was found in the Rocky Mountains. The six-and-a-half-inch tall creature was put on display at Casper, Wyoming. Paleontologists have identified the mummy as Hesperopithecus, an anthropoid inhabitant of Earth during the Pliocene period. A similar creature, purportedly discovered in Arizona, has also been cited as the corpse of a little green man from another world.

CUFOS: The Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) is a privately funded UFO research group. It was founded in 1973 by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois. Dr. Hynek was also a scientific consultant for Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's official study of the UFO mystery from 1948 to 1969. Although Dr. Hynek started out as a skeptic and helped the Air Force to debunk most UFO reports, he gradually became convinced that a small number of UFO cases were not hoaxes or explainable as misidentifications of natural phenomena, and that these cases might represent something extraordinary—even alien visitation from other planets. When the Air Force shut down Project Blue Book in 1969, Dr. Hynek decided to establish his own organization to continue to study UFO reports in a scientific and unbiased manner. Started in Evanston, Illinois, but now based in Chicago, CUFOS continues to be a small research organization stressing scientific analysis of UFO cases. Its extensive archives include historically valuable files from defunct civilian research groups such as NICAP, one of the most popular and credible UFO research groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Following Dr. Hynek's death in 1986, CUFOS was renamed the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in his honor. The current Scientific Director of CUFOS is Dr. Mark Rodeghier, who holds a masters in Astrophysics from the University of Sussex, and a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of Illinois. Prominent ufologists who have served on the CUFOS Board of Directors are Jerome Clark, an award-winning UFO historian and author of the "UFO Encyclopedia"; Dr. Michael Swords, a retired professor of natural sciences from Western Michigan University; and Dr. Thomas E. Bullard, a folklorist at Indiana University.

Czechoslovakia: Flying saucers are referred to as "letajici talir" in Czechoslovakia. The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) had a representative there. One of the country's best known cases involved the sighting of a nocturnal light by military personnel at Brno in 1960.

Daylight Disk (DD): Term coined by the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek to denote an oval, metallic-looking UFO observed in the daytime. Reports of daylight disks are less frequent than those of UFOs observed at night, which are known as Nocturnal Lights (NL).

Debris: Apart from unsubstantiated reports of hidden remnants of crashed flying saucers, the instances in which physical pieces of UFOs have been found are very few. The best known case is that of the metallic disk which exploded over the sea by Ubatuba, Brazil, scattering some small fragments onto the beach where they were picked up by fishermen.

Debunker: Officially, the Air Force does not acknowledge the possibility that UFOs may be spacecraft from distant planets in other stellar systems. It maintains that UFO sightings can be explained as misidentifications of man-made objects, as natural phenomena, or as hoaxes and hallucinations. Specially trained AF officers, called debunkers by ufologists, are assigned to investigate and report on all UFO sightings which are of significance. When the eyewitness insists on the objective reality of what he saw, his report is then publicly dismissed by the Air Force. Often, these debunkers will ridicule a person who insists on the truth of his story. According to ufologists, in the UFO phenomenon, the Air Force is confronted with something which it can neither control nor explain. Rather than publicly admit its lack of knowledge, and thus expose itself to criticism, it debunks all UFO stories. The desire to maintain secrecy is also responsible for the debunking. Undoubtedly, the Air Force would like to capture a UFO and learn the secret of its flight. In addition, it is possible, ufologists claim, that the AF has accumulated much secret information about UFOs. The AF may feel that the facts would be so disconcerting that it is better to protect the public from the truth. Therefore, debunkers have to deny and ridicule all reports of UFO sightings, including those made by their own pilots.

Debunking: Colloquial term to denote the exposing of false or exaggerated claims. In Ufology, it refers to the discrediting of UFO reports and sometimes UFO witnesses themselves. Many ufologists believe that the United States Air Force (USAF) carried out an intentionally indiscriminate debunking program during the course of its official investigations. Many witnesses were ridiculed and their reports given conventional explanations that, in many cases, were unsubstantiated. This led to the belief that the Air Force knew something disconcerting about the UFO phenomenon and was involved in a cover-up. Some ufologists have speculated that the Air Force believed, and still believes, the public needed to be protected from the truth. Others have conjectured that the Air Force attempted to debunk UFO stories rather than admit their own ignorance regarding the true nature of the phenomenon. Whatever the reason for debunking UFO reports, the subsequent embarrassment experienced by some witnesses discouraged many others from reporting their sightings.

Detector: Device designed to alert its owner to the presence of a UFO by sounding an alarm when its system experiences electromagnetic interference. Several models are sold commercially.

Dexter, Michigan: Location of one of two historically significant UFO sightings during the 1966 Michigan wave. On March 21, two police officers and three other witnesses saw a large, glowing object rise from a swampy area on a farm in Dexter. The object hovered for a few minutes at about 1,000 feet, then left the area. Since a UFO had been sighted the previous evening in Hillsdale, Michigan, newspaper reporters picked up the story and pressured the Air Force to investigate. The marshy locations of both sightings led J. Allen Hynek to proffer the notorious and much-abused Swamp Gas explanation.

DIA: Defence Intelligence Agency.

Disappearances: Many witnesses have claimed that UFOs have vanished instantaneously in midair. Some ufologists hypothesize that this impression is created when a UFO accelerates to a speed that takes it beyond the observer's range of vision faster than the eye can follow. Supporters of the Parallel Universe Hypothesis believe that the moment of disappearance is the moment that the UFO returns to its original dimension. The late Philip Klass had proposed that UFOs which disappear in this mysterious manner are merely glowing plasmas that dissipate their energy and merge with the surrounding air. The late Donald Menzel proposed other natural phenomena, such as subsuns, as the explanation for disappearing UFOs. These natural phenomena create images which cease to exist when the causative conditions cease to exist. In some cases, witnesses have described objects that have faded away gradually. Although the natural phenomena cited by Klass and Menzel could account for some of these cases, they would not apply to cases involving craft-like objects which leave physical evidence of a solid structure. Indirectly related to Ufology are the countless reports of the disappearances of terrestrial objects and human beings from all parts of the globe. The greatest concentration of loss of ships and airplanes is reported to occur in the Bermuda Triangle and the Devil's Sea. Submarines, riverboats and cars have also been the alleged victims of this mysterious phenomenon. In 1942, observers aboard two patrol boats in the San Francisco harbor watched in amazement as an overhead Navy blimp, the L-8, suddenly soared upwards into a cloud. Hours later, the blimp crashed in the streets of San Francisco. There was no one aboard. The Navy had no explanation for the disappearance of the two-man crew. In many cases, clouds are reported to have enveloped objects and people prior to their disappearance. Ufologists have associated these clouds with the clouds that sometimes surround cigar-shaped UFOs. The most distressing stories are, of course, those involving the disappearance of human beings. Charles Fort has catalogued a great number of missing person reports. Other researchers have pointed out the connection between the high proportion of children who have disappeared over the centuries and the widespread cultural beliefs in fairies, leprechauns and other mischievous little people reputed to kidnap children. Traditionally, humans raised by fairies return centuries later, having aged only a few days. This has led ufologists to speculate that fairies might be extraterrestrial astronauts who take their captives on interstellar voyages during which, according to the theory of relativity, less time would pass for the travelers than for the people remaining on the home planet. Since many of these reports do not describe when and where the children disappear, it seems probable that the majority of missing youngsters are either runaways or the victims of crimes. Reports such as that of farmer David Lang, who supposedly vanished in full view of witnesses, are less easily explained. Lang was walking in a field near Gallatin, Tennessee, on September 23, 1880, when his wife, children, a judge and one other guest saw him disappear into thin air. An investigation turned up no clues and found no discrepancies in the witnesses' stories. The credibility of a popular tale about a young boy who disappeared in Wales, however, is suspect when compared to an almost identical story set in the United States. In both versions, an eleven-year-old boy named Oliver was sent outside to fetch some water. Within moments, a shout was heard. The adults ran outside, where they heard his voice above them crying, "Help! They're taking me away." Then, there was silence. Footprints in the snow, leading away from the well, stopped abruptly. The pail lay a few feet beyond them. Oliver was never seen again. The American version of the story took place in 1889. The boy's last name was Larch. The Welsh version occurred ten years later and in this instance, the boy's last name was Thomas. The most sensational cases involve the alleged disappearance of entire armies. During the Spanish War of Succession at the beginning of the eighteenth century, four thousand soldiers were reported to have disappeared, together with their equipment and horses. In 1885, about six hundred members of the French colonial forces were on the march, fifteen miles from Saigon. They were not under attack from the enemy yet every man vanished, leaving no trace. During heavy fighting on August 21, 1915, twenty-two men of the New Zealand Army Corps's First Field Company claimed to have seen the One-Fourth Norfolk Regiment engulfed by a brown cloud which rose up and flew away. The British regiment was never seen again. Once more, in 1939, 2,988 Chinese troops were reported to have vanished from their camp, south of Nanking. Equipment, guns and cooking fires were found at the camp, which appeared orderly and undisturbed. The anecdotal nature of these accounts makes their verification difficult. The possibility that extraterrestrials might gather human beings and their property for zoos and museums or other purposes is a theme often encountered in science fiction stories. If this is the explanation, collecting armies in deserted areas would be an excellent way of obtaining a large number of specimens in one quick swoop. In a limited number of cases, victims have reappeared elsewhere on Earth within an extremely short period of time. The science fiction term Teleportation is used to describe this experience.

Eagle River, Wisconsin: In 1961, Joe Simonton, a sixty-year-old chicken farmer, was a lone witness in one of the most preposterous UFO cases on record. Despite the controversial nature of the case, United States Air Force (USAF) investigators and the local sheriff agreed that Simonton was not perpetrating a hoax. He obviously believed in the reality of his story. Simonton lived alone in a shack on the outskirts of Eagle River. At about 11:00 a.m. on April 18, he was eating breakfast when he heard a sound similar to "knobby tires on a wet pavement." Looking out the window, he saw a silvery object descending into his yard. The craft resembled two enormous bowls attached rim to rim. Exhaust pipes, about six or seven inches in diameter, ran along the edge of the vehicle. As the object settled a few inches off the ground, Simonton approached it. A hatch opened, revealing three dark-skinned, clean-shaven men with black hair. They were about five feet tall and reminded Simonton of Italians. One of the men handed him a silvery, two-handled jug and indicated that he wanted something to drink. Simonton went into the house, filled the jug with water and returned. After handing the jug back to the first man, Simonton saw that another man was apparently frying some food on a flameless grill. When he expressed an interest in the food, one of the men handed him three greasy pancakes perforated with small, round holes. Then the man nearest to the doorway picked up a strap which he attached to a hook on his clothing. The hatch closed, leaving a barely perceptible outline on the surface of the craft. The object rose about twenty feet into the air before taking off in a southerly direction. Some nearby pine trees were buffeted by air turbulence as the craft passed overhead. The entire incident had taken place within a five-minute period. Simonton contacted a friend of his in Eagle River, a county judge and a member of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). The judge sent one of the pancakes to NICAP headquarters with the request that it be analyzed. At the time, NICAP was busy trying to promote a Congressional hearing on UFOs and had little time to pursue what it considered a rather absurd story. However, the pancake was submitted to a couple of laboratories and it was a number of weeks before any preliminary results were obtained. In the meantime, the Eagle River judge mailed another pancake to the Air Force. The analyses revealed that the pancakes consisted of hydrogenated oil shortening, starch, buckwheat hulls, soybean hulls and wheat bran. Although Simonton, who had tasted one of the pancakes, said it tasted like cardboard, the Food and Drug Laboratory of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare concluded that the substance was an ordinary pancake of terrestrial origin. The case was investigated by Air Force representatives Major Robert Friend, J. Allen Hynek and an officer from Sawyer Air Force Base. Their conclusion was that Simonton had been having pancakes for breakfast when he had experienced a waking dream which he had been unable to distinguish from his conscious activities. Author Jacques Vallée questions this hypothesis and considers the similarities between this tale and traditional folklore. Irish fairies were reputed to live on pancakes and to utilize the exchange of food as a means of making contact. Vallée notes that salt, a substance which fairies eschew, was not found in the Wisconsin pancakes. Moreover, he points out that buckwheat was a popular grain in the legends of Brittany. Although he finds no explanation for the incident in these analogous details, he believes they lend support to the possibility that Joe Simonton's story is real and not a dream. He reminds us of the Biblical injunction: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware."

Easter Island: An island located in the South Pacific, 2,300 miles west of Chile. The island is famous for its enormous stone statues, of which there are more than six hundred. Author Erich von Däniken, a major proponent of the Ancient Astronauts hypothesis, has suggested that these mammoth figures were constructed by extraterrestrial visitors or with the aid of extraterrestrials. He believes the volcanic rock of which the statues are made is too hard to have been cut with primitive tools within any reasonable period of time. He argues that the enormous weight of the statues prevented the possibility of their being transported and erected by the local people. According to von Däniken, there was no wood on the island to build wooden rollers. Additionally, he claims, the population could not have been large enough to supply the manpower to carve over 600 statues using primitive implements. As evidence of the presence of extraterrestrials on the island, he points out that the unwritten legends of the natives tell of flying men who once landed on the island.

Electromagnetic Effects: Frequently reported disruption of electrical circuits occurring in association with UFO sightings. In many cases, these malfunctions are reported independently of the UFO witnesses who themselves may not have observed any electromagnetic interference. The most commonly reported effects are stalling and near-stalling of automobile motors; dimming, flickering and extinguishing of car headlights and house lights; static, fading and loss of radio reception; distortion and loss of television picture; stopping of wristwatches and clocks; malfunctioning of compasses; odd noises over telephone lines; and city-wide power failures resulting in blackouts. Oddly, upon the departure of the UFO, the affected systems reportedly begin to function again of their own accord. Some ufologists believe that reported electromagnetic effects are a side effect of controlled use of electromagnetic waves by UFO occupants.

Electromagnetism (EM) : The phenomenon which results from and depends upon the relation between electricity and magnetism. It is of immense interest to science and has multifarious applications, forming the basis of the electrical industry. Ufologists believe that electromagnetism may be one of the key elements in the propulsion system of UFOs.

Elijah: Hebrew prophet who, according to some proponents of the Ancient Astronauts Hypothesis, was taken on a ride in a spaceship. The source of this claim is Chapter two of the Second Book of Kings, where it is stated: "And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

EM Interference: There exists a large body of data which indicates that UFOs have the ability to interfere with electrical circuits. The most probable way they accomplish this is by controlling and directing electromagnetic waves. UFOs have been held responsible for the failure of headlights on cars, interference with radio and television transmissions, and interference with electrical equipment aboard aircraft, creating a potentially dangerous situation. However, the blackouts over certain cities and areas have been, to date, the most widespread and serious cases of EM interference which have been attributed by ufologists to UFOs.

Energy: In the metaphysical sense, energy is one of the two separate distinct expressions or forms of reality. In practical application, energy describes the dispersion of power. Some forms of energy, like electrical, which can be generated by a rotating flywheel, are readily controllable; other forms, such as light, are not. Heat is the lowest form of energy, i.e., heat is wasted energy. Energy has great utility, especially when converted for mechanical purposes. It is then able to power a variety of machines, tools, cars, etc., all of which are useful to man. Energy is convertible to matter and vice versa.

Enoch: Seventh patriarch in the Book of Genesis and the subject of abundant apocryphal literature. In the Second Book of Enoch, the patriarch is visited by two unusual-looking men of very great height. Enoch is taken on a tour of the seven tiers of heaven and becomes the recipient of secret knowledge from God. Some proponents of the Ancient Astroanuts hypothesis believe that Enoch was visited by extraterrestrial beings who took him on a tour of seven different planets. They stress Enoch's claim that while the trip lasted only a few days for him, centuries had passed on Earth when he returned. According to the theory of relativity, very little time would elapse for astronauts traveling just below the speed of light, while a comparatively long period of time would elapse on Earth between their departure and return.

Entity: An entity is something that exists. It can either refer to a non-intelligent creature or to an intelligent being. The term is used at times by dimensionalists to describe the beings from other space-time continuums. It is a neutral term and evokes no special emotional response. However, its very neutrality as a descriptive term creates some uneasiness, for if there are other beings, then they must necessarily possess certain characteristics. To refer to them as simply 'entities', however, is to shroud them in mystery. If there are indeed parallel universes and if these universes are inhabited by some kinds of beings, it is doubtful whether man at his present stage of scientific knowledge could know very much about them.

Erich von Däniken: In 1968, the Swiss author Erich von Däniken published Chariots of the Gods?, which became an immediate bestseller. In it, he put forth his hypothesis that, thousands of years ago, space travelers from other planets visited Earth, where they taught humans about technology and influenced ancient religions. He is regarded by many as the father of ancient alien theory, also known as the ancient astronaut theory. Most ancient alien theorists, including von Däniken, point to two types of evidence to support their ideas. The first is ancient religious texts in which humans witness and interact with gods or other heavenly beings who descend from the sky—sometimes in vehicles resembling spaceships—and possess spectacular powers. The second is physical specimens such as artwork depicting alien-like figures and ancient architectural marvels like Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt.

ESP: Acronym for Extrasensory Perception. This term refers to the type of perception or communication which is outside of normal sensory activity. It includes clairvoyance and telepathy. That ESP exists is beyond doubt, but the manner in which it functions in unknown to science. Scientists lean towards the theory that ESP probably works on the principle of some sort of psychoelectric energy. All persons possess the ability for ESP, but some are more sensitive than others. It is possible that the brain structure of some people is more sensitive and it thus able to pick up psychoelectric waves. This would explain how some people can know what others are thinking. Animals seem better attuned to electromagnetic or psychoelectric impulses than man. In particular, horses, dogs, and cats seem able to pick up impulses which escape man and which might be classified by man as psychic or parapsychological phenomena. This type of extrasensory phenomena may also be involved with UFOs. Animals seem to be aware of UFOs and other phenomena before man senses them. Also, UFO contactees often report that communication with them was established via ESP; specifically, via telepathy.

Estimate of the Situation: In general, this is the term applied to any report made by intelligence units in reference to any vital problem. In ufology, the term has a narrower, more specific meaning. It refers to a specific report made by the Air Technical Intelligence Centre (ATIC) in mid-1948 on the UFO phenomenon. The report, stamped TOP SECRET, contained only analyses of UFO reports from highly reliable, credible witnesses: scientists, pilots, etc. The report's assessment - UFOs were interplanetary craft. This ATIC estimate was rebuked and rejected by General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, in early 1949. Vandenberg refused to believe the extraterrestrial explanation. The estimate was declassified and ordered destroyed, but a few copies managed to survive. This rejection of the estimate was soon to produce a profound effect on the Air Force's attitude towards UFOs.

ET: Acronym for extraterrestrial.

ETI: Acronym for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is one of several terms used by scientists and ufologists to refer to intelligent beings who may live in other parts of the Universe. The term literally means 'intelligence from beyond Earth.'

Exeter, New Hampshire: Location of a series of UFO sightings which occurred during the fall of 1965. The sightings were studied and documented by several investigators, including journalist John G. Fuller. His preliminary account of the investigation was published in Look magazine on February 22, 1966. He assembled his final results into a book, Incident at Exeter. The sighting which received the most publicity occurred on September 3, 1965. At about 1:30 a.m., Patrolman Eugene Bertrand of Exeter found a parked car on the side of a road. The driver told him that a huge, silent, airborne object had followed her for a distance of about twelve miles. The object had brilliant, flashing red lights and kept within a few feet of her car. It had suddenly taken off at tremendous speed and disappeared among the stars. Disbelieving, Bertrand did not take the woman's name. When he checked into the police station shortly afterwards, he found that a frightened young man, named Norman Muscarello, had just come into the station to report an encounter with a similar object. Bertrand accompanied Muscarello back to the scene at about 3:00 a.m. The two men walked into the field where Muscarello had seen the UFO. Although there was no sign of anything unusual at first, horses on a nearby farm and dogs in nearby houses began making a great deal of noise. Suddenly, Muscarello yelled, "I see it! I see it!" Bertrand turned and saw the brilliant, roundish object as it rose silently from behind some trees. The object moved toward them like a leaf fluttering from a tree. Its brilliant red lights bathed the entire area in light. It approached within about 100 feet of the two men, hovering with a rocking motion. Bertrand reached for his gun, then, changing his mind, pushed it back into its holster. He grabbed Muscarello and headed to the car to take cover. As they watched the UFO, its lights seemed to be dimming or pulsating from left to right and then from right to left, covering about two seconds for each cycle. It was difficult to make out the shape of the object because of the brilliance of the lights. After several minutes, it began to move eastward, performing maneuvers that defied conventional aerodynamic patterns as it darted, turned rapidly and slowed down. Patrolman David Hunt, who had heard the radio conversation between Bertrand and the police station, arrived at the scene in time to witness the UFO for several minutes before it disappeared. A B-47 aircraft flew over shortly afterward, providing an extreme contrast to the strange object which they had observed in the clear, moonless sky. Moments later, Patrolman Reginald Toland, the desk officer on duty, received a call from an Exeter telephone operator. She had just received a call from an hysterical man in a phone booth who told her that a flying saucer had come right at him. Suddenly, the anonymous caller was cut off. He was never located. During his investigations, Fuller tracked down about sixty different people who had witnessed similar objects, usually near power lines, over a period of several weeks during the autumn. So impressed was Muscarello by the sighting that he and his mother waited on a mountainside almost every evening for three weeks following the incident. On one of those evenings, they sighted a UFO again. Other people in the area kept vigil in parked cars by power lines, often being rewarded by the appearance of glowing UFOs. In some cases, military aircraft were seen, apparently chasing the objects. During one such skywatch, Fuller, himself, observed a high-altitude reddish-orange disk being pursued by a jet. The Air Force made inquiries about the incident and for some time after it had happened, Air Force officers patrolled the roads at night. Almost two months later, on October 27, 1965, the Pentagon issued a press release which stated that the UFO sightings in Exeter on September 3 were the result both of misidentified aircraft participating in a high-altitude Strategic Air Comand exercise out of Westover, Massachusetts, and of the atmospheric distortion of stars and planets. During the third week of November, officers Bertrand and Hunt received a letter from Major Hector Quintanilla, Chief of Project Blue Book. Contradicting the Pentagon news release, the letter stated that a final evaluation of the case had not yet been made but that the objects observed might have been aircraft involved in a military air operation, "Big Blast." However, the high-altitude exercise had taken place between midnight and 2:00 a.m. The police officers had observed the UFO at approximately 3:00 a.m. Embarrassed by the Pentagon evaluation, Bertrand and Hunt wrote to Quintanilla twice but never received an answer. On February 9, 1966, after the case had earned a great deal of publicity, they finally received a conciliatory letter from the Pentagon, stating that the Air Force had been unable to identify the object observed on the night of September 3. Donald Menzel concluded that suggestion or mass hysteria were factors in some of the sightings, leading to exaggerated or confused reports. Fuller and other investigators hypothesized that the proximity of many of the UFOs to high-tension lines might signify that the objects were either utilizing some kind of electromagnetic force or were attracted to the power that flowed through the lines.

Exobiology: The branch of space biology which deals with the study of extraterrestrial life.

Exoplanet: An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of 861 such planets (in 677 planetary systems, including 128 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of March 1, 2013. The Kepler mission has detected over 18,000 additional candidates, including potentially 262 habitable ones. In the Milky Way galaxy, it is expected that there are many billions of planets (at least one planet, on average, orbiting around each star, resulting in 100–400 billion exoplanets), with many more free-floating planetary-mass bodies orbiting the galaxy directly. The nearest known exoplanet is Alpha Centauri Bb. Almost all of the planets detected so far are within our home galaxy the Milky Way; however, there have been a small number of possible detections of extragalactic planets. Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) reported in January 2013, that "at least 17 billion" Earth-sized exoplanets are estimated to reside in the Milky Way Galaxy. For centuries, many philosophers and scientists supposed that extrasolar planets existed, but there was no way of knowing how common they were or how similar they might be to the planets of the Solar System. Various detection claims, starting in the nineteenth century, were all eventually rejected by astronomers. The first confirmed detection came in 1992, with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Due to improved observational techniques, the rate of detections has increased rapidly since then. Some exoplanets have been directly imaged by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods such as radial velocity measurements. Besides exoplanets, "exocomets", comets beyond our solar system, have also been detected and may be common in the Milky Way Galaxy. Most known exoplanets are giant planets believed to resemble Jupiter or Neptune, but this reflects a sampling bias, as massive planets are more easily observed. Some relatively lightweight exoplanets, only a few times more massive than Earth (now known by the term Super-Earth), are known as well; statistical studies now indicate that they actually outnumber giant planets while recent discoveries have included Earth-sized and smaller planets and a handful that appear to exhibit other Earth-like properties. There also exist planetary-mass objects that orbit brown dwarfs and other bodies that "float free" in space not bound to any star; however, the term "planet" is not always applied to these objects. The discovery of extrasolar planets, particularly those that orbit in the habitable zone where it is possible for liquid water to exist on the surface (and therefore also life), has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. Thus, the search for extrasolar planets also includes the study of planetary habitability, which considers a wide range of factors in determining an extrasolar planet's suitability for hosting life. On January 7, 2013, astronomers from the Kepler Mission space observatory announced the discovery of KOI-172.02, an Earth-like exoplanet candidate orbiting a star similar to our Sun in the habitable zone and possibly a "prime candidate to host alien life".

Extraordinary Flying Object (EFO): Term coined by scientist William Hartmann to denote a UFO that remains unidentified after investigation and which therefore may be considered as something beyond the bounds of recognized natural phenomena.

Extraterrestrial Intelligence Hypothesis: Theory more commonly referred to as the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH).

Ezekiel: Biblical prophet believed by some proponents of the ancient astronauts hypothesis to have observed an extraterrestrial spacecraft on four different occasions more than 2,500 years ago. Without the appropriate vocabulary and mechanical knowledge, Ezekiel would have been forced to describe such encounters in terms familiar to him. In the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, he states, ". . . a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually,and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the form of men, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were round; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. . . . In the midst of the living creatures, there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. . . . Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. . . . The four wheels had rims; and their rims were full of eyes round about. . . . Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of a firmament, shining like rock crystal, spread out above their heads. . . . And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the thunder of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of a host; when they stood still, they let down their wings. . . . And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likenessof a throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above." From these and other descriptions in the Book of Ezekiel, Josef F. Blumrich, former Chief of the Advanced Structural Development Branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has reconstructed the design of a spacecraft consisting of a capsule on a main body supported by four helicopter units with telescopic legs, retractable wheels and mechanical arms. Blumrich interprets the "wings" as rotary blades which made a loud noise while moving, and which folded like wings when not in use. He believes the robot-like appearance of the helicopter units may have led Ezekiel to describe them as having the form of men and the likeness of living creatures. Later, Ezekiel refers to them as cherubim. Blumrich concludes that this was because he had realized they were not men.

Fairies: Also known as the little people, elves, leprechauns, goblins, gremlins, banshees, brownies and pixies; mythical beings, skilled in magic, who resembled small human beings and were capable of appearing or disappearing at will. Prominent in medieval European folklore, fairies have lost their popularity in the human belief system. Author Jacques Vallée has pointed out the similarities between myths relating to fairies and modern accounts of UFOs and their occupants. A classic example is the case of Joe Simonton in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Simonton encountered a UFO whose small occupants asked him for water and gave him some pancakes in return. Fairies supposedly drank only pure water. Irish fairies were reputed to live on pancakes and to utilize the exchange of food as a means of making contact. Analysis of the Wisconsin pancakes revealed that they contained buckwheat, a popular grain in the folklore of Brittany. Furthermore, there was a complete absence of salt, a substance which fairies eschewed. Visitors to fairyland sometimes found on their return that many years had passed. This has led to speculation that such travelers might have unknowingly been on interstellar journeys. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, astronauts traveling just under the speed of light would age very little between departure and return, while many years would pass on their home planet. Fairy legends and UFO reports also share many features common to religious myths, such as those of the Olympian gods, Nordic Valkyries and American Indian kachinas. Hence, it has been postulated by proponents of the Parallel Universe Hypothesis that all these entities are the physical manifestations of extradimensional intelligence. The form they assume is intentionally compatible with the cultural beliefs and technological development of the existing human civilization. These entities, whose alleged meddling in human affairs can be both harmful and beneficial, could possibly be dependent on human beings in some unknown way. It may also be that they utilize telepathy to cause the visual perceptions of apparent three-dimensional images, rather than manifestating themselves physically.

Fairy Rings: Fungus growths which form expanding rings in lawns and grassland. Fairy rings can be confused with circular UFO landing marks but, aside from their shape, do not share any other characteristics. UFO landing marks can be distinguished by evidence of heating or burning, the rearrangement of vegetation by air turbulence, the flattening of vegetation by pressure from a solid object, and the absence of any fungus growth.

Falling Leaf Motion: A curious, but fairly common, flight characteristic of UFOs is a pendulum-like motion (swaying back and forth) during hovering, slow climb, or descent. Witnesses frequently have compared this to the gyrations of a falling leaf. A very similar pendulum-like motion, occurring as a UFO travels in a horizontal plane (rather than ascending or descending) has been noticed occasionally. It consists of a side-to-side oscillation as the UFO proceeds in a constant direction.

Falkville, Alabama: Location of an encounter with an alleged ufonaut on October 17, 1973. During the evening, Police Chief Jeff Greenhaw received a telephone call that a UFO with flashing lights had landed in a field near the town. When Greenhaw arrived at the scene, he saw a creature resembling a man wrapped in aluminum foil. The entity had an antenna on its head. Its gait was stiff and mechanical. As it approached, Greenhaw snapped four photographs with his Polaroid camera. When he turned on his patrol car spotlight, the creature turned and ran down the dirt road. Greenhaw pursued it in his patrol car but was unable to keep up with it. "He was running faster than any human I ever saw," he said. The following day, the police chief received several calls from local residents who had observed UFOs at the time of Greenhaw's encounter. The sighting was widely-publicized and resulted in personal and professional problems for Greenhaw. Within one month of the incident, he was divorced from his wife and resigned from his job at the request of the local mayor.

Fargo, North Dakota: Location over which a second lieutenant of the North Dakota National Guard, George T. Gorman, engaged in a dogfight with a UFO on October 1, 1948. At approximately 9:00 p.m., Gorman was circling over Fargo in an F-51 fighter when he noticed a blinding light which he presumed, at first, to be the rear navigation light of an aircraft. The object appeared to be making a circle around the city at approximately 1,000 feet, traveling at the same rate of speed as the F-51. Gorman estimated the size of the sharply-defined, spherical white light to be from six-to-eight inches in diameter. After checking with the control tower, Gorman took off in pursuit of the light. As he attempted to turn with the object, he blacked out temporarily from the excessive speed. Unable to catch up with it, he proceeded to cut it off as it turned. His speed varying between 300 and 400 miles per hour, Gorman cut to the right toward the UFO as it circled to the left. Just as collision seemed inevitable, the object veered and passed about 500 feet over the F-51. Gorman reports that the object then made a 180-degree turn and initiated a pass at him. It was now a steady white light, no longer blinking on and off. As the object pulled up just prior to reaching the F-51, Gorman, too, pulled up in an attempt to ram the UFO. At 14,000 feet, the F-51 stalled. The UFO was 2,000 feet above, circling to the left. Gorman circled with it twice before the object pulled away and then commenced another head-on pass. This time, however, it did not complete its approach, breaking away toward the northwest. Gorman gave chase. Twenty-five miles southeast of Fargo, he again tried to catch the object in a diving turn. The UFO turned around and made another head-on pass. When the object pulled up, Gorman pulled up also, watching the UFO as it traveled straight upward until it disappeared from view. The confrontation had lasted for twenty-seven minutes. Gorman returned to the field at Fargo and landed. Gorman's efforts had been observed by the traffic controller, the assistant traffic controller and two witnesses aboard a Piper Cub. All had seen the unidentified light but did not observe it performing the complicated maneuvers described by Gorman. Air Force investigators arrived at Fargo within twenty-four hours. When the F-51 was tested, it was found to have the slightly increased amount of radioactivity shown by all planes after flight. The following night, a weather balloon was dispatched and a Navy pilot purportedly succeeded in duplicating the event. The officials of Project Sign finally concluded that Gorman had done battle with a lighted weather balloon which had been released from the weather station at Fargo ten minutes before Gorman had first sighted the UFO.

Farmington, New Mexico: Location of the sighting of multiple UFOs by hundreds of observers during a period of approximately one hour during the morning of March 17, 1950. Witnesses' estimates of the number of objects ranged from 500 to several thousand. Authors Edward Ruppelt, Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd have explained the case as a misidentification of the fragments of a shattered Skyhook balloon launched that morning from Holloman Air Force Base. The late meteorologist James McDonald contended, however, that witnesses' descriptions of fast-moving disk-shaped objects do not support the Skyhook explanation. McDonald contacted Holloman Air Force Base and the Office of Naval Research. Their records showed that no Skyhooks or other experimental balloons had been released from the Holloman area or any other part of the country on or near the date of this incident.

Fátima, Portugal: Village where ten-year-old Lucia dos Santos and her two cousins saw aerial phenomena and a white-robed lady on May 13, 1917, and each subsequent month until October. Following the first incident, crowds attended each sighting in progressively growing numbers. The manifestations were usually preceded by a flash of light and a decrease in the sun's warmth and luminosity. A glowing globe which stopped over a tree sometimes emitted a faint buzzing sound. Occasionally, a white cloud formed about the light. On two occasions, a substance resembling Angels' Hair floated earthward. Although the thousands of witnesses observed the aerial phenomena, none but Lucia and her cousins observed and heard the small woman who appeared at the center of the globe. An explosive sound was sometimes heard just before the globe flew away. On October 13, a crowd of 70,000 gathered to see a predicted miracle. After the customary arrival and departure of the apparition, the rain which had been pouring down heavily suddenly ceased. The clouds parted, revealing a brilliant pearly disk rotating on its own axis and emitting rays of colored lights in all direction. When the disk stopped spinning and began to plunge toward the ground with a falling leaf motion, the crowd, believing it to be the sun, fell to their knees in horror. Finally, the disk retreated and disappeared into the sun. The overjoyed crowd noticed that their wet clothes and the rain-soaked ground had completely dried out. Although the miracle at Fátima has been traditionally interpreted as a religious experience, many ufologists have pointed out the similarity of the observations to UFO incidents. Some believe that telepathy might explain the inability of the crowds to hear the words spoken to Lucia by the white-robed entity. Two witnesses, who observed the sharply-defined, rotating disk through binoculars, reported seeing a ladder and two beings. Many of the predictions made to Lucia proved valid within the following years. An envelope containing a secret prophecy entrusted to the pope was opened by John XXIII in 1960, but its contents have never been made public. Lucia's cousins both died within three years of the miraculous event. Lucia became a Carmelite nun in 1948. At the request of the white-robed lady who had identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary, a shrine was built at Fátima.

FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigations. The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, headquartered in Washington, D.C. The bureau has several thousand pages of documents on UFOs, many of which are available to the public. The documents deal with UFO activity between 1947 and 1964. The FBI's official involvement began on July 30, 1947, as the result of a request by Army Air Force Intelligence officer General G. F. Schulgen that the FBI interview UFO witnesses to determine whether or not any of the reports had been generated by subversive individuals for the purpose of creating mass hysteria. Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover agreed to the request on the conditions that the FBI would have full access to any crashed disks which were recovered. Agents were instructed to conduct intensive investigations of UFO reports and the Washington office began to accumulate a mass of data. However, in September of that year, an FBI agent obtained a copy of a restricted letter addressed to several Commanding Generals of the Army Air Forces from Intelligence officer Colonel R. H. Smith, Assistant Chief of Staff at Air Defense Command headquarters. The letter implied that the FBI was being used to investigate only those cases which were considered unimportant or even ridiculous. In a letter to Major General George C. McDonald, Assistant Chief Air Staff-2 at the Pentagon, Hoover stated the following: "I have been advised . . . that the Air Forces would interview responsible observers while the FBI would investigate incidents of disks found on the ground, thereby relieving the Air Forces of running down incidents which, in many cases, turn out to be 'ash can covers, toilet seats and whatnot!' In view of the apparent understanding by the Air Forces of the position of the Federal Bureau of Investigations in this matter, I cannot permit the personnel and time of this organization to be dissipated in this manner. I am advising the Field Divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigations to discontinue all investigative activity regarding the reported sightings of flying disks, and am instructing them to refer all complaints received to the appropriate Air Force representative in their area." Accordingly, only two months after the FBI's official involvement had begun, a directive was issued instructing Bureau agents to refer all reports connected with flying disks to the Air Forces. However, the FBI continued to be unofficially involved with UFOs for another sixteen years. Agents continued to file brief reports and interviewed Air Force personnel on several occasions. In addition, unsolicitated copies of Air Force, Office of Naval Intelligence and Army Intelligence documents and UFO reports continued to come in to FBI headquarters. In 1948, mysterious Green Fireballs began to make frequent appearances over highly-restricted areas in the southwestern United States. The FBI was brought back into the picture because of their obligations to protect vital installations. In January 1949, the Bureau received a confidential statement from the Air Material Command (AMC) Resident Engineer who was the principal army technician at the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft Research Center at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He expressed his personal opinions about UFOs based on review of the known facts and theoretical conjectures made by himself and other scientists. The following month, the Bureau received from the Air Force a memorandum which contained a prototype sighting form. Copies of the memorandum were sent to Special Agents in Charge, accompanied by a letter from Hoover, referring to the information supplied to the Bureau by the AMC engineer. In a letter, Hoover stated the following: "For your confidential information, a reliable and confidential source has advised the Bureau that flying disks are believed to be man-made missiles rather than natural phenomenon. It has also been determined that for approximately the past four years, the USSR has been engaged in experimentation on an unknown type of flying disk. The Department of the Air Force has furnished to the Bureau the attached memorandum classified 'restricted' dated February 15, 1949, entitled 'Unconventional Aircraft.' This memorandum is being furnished to you in order that all agents assigned to your office canbe informed of the type of information desired by the Air Force in this matter. "As set forth in Bureau Bulletin #47 . . . no investigation should be conducted by your office relative to flying disks. However, the attached memorandum should be referred to in securing data from persons who desire to voluntarily furnish information to your office relating to flying disks." InMarch 1950, Hoover asked the Air Force for its official opinion regarding UFOs and received the usual evasive answer. He was told that most reports could be explained and that the Air Force was no longer investigating them. However, during the 1952 wave, the FBI was informed by the Air Force that "the Air Force has failed to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion in its research regarding numerous reports of flying saucers and flying disks sighted throughout the United States. . . . It is not entirely impossible that the objects sighted may possibly be ships from another planet, such as Mars." The most recent documents available from the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin contained a five-page article by J. Allen Hynek summarizing the UFO situation and advising law enforcement agencies to pass on UFO reports to the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) via its toll-free hotline.

Fireball: Though the process is not yet understood by science, lightning can, at times, form into the shape of a ball. Such a ball of lightning or fireball, as this type of spherical lightning is called, exhibits unusual behaviour, including the ability to bounce around like a gas-filled balloon. Fireballs have frightened people who have suddenly come upon them. They are usually described as making a sizzling noise and invariably as exhibiting strange movements. Sometimes, they either fade away without a sound or else silently disappear from the observer's proximity, after which they are believed also to vanish without a sound. At other times, they vanish with a thunderous explosion. It is clear that fireballs are a rare phenomenon which occur during storms. But why they behave as they do, science does not yet know. In fact, it is a violation of the laws of physics, as man presently understands them, for lightning to assume a spherical shape. Comparing the odd behaviour of fireballs with the behaviour of UFOs, there seems to be some similarity and correlation. It is therefore possible that some UFOs might be explained as misidentified fireballs.

Flap: Term describing a highly-publicized concentration of UFO sightings within a small geographical area or a short time period. It is distinguished from a wave, which denotes a period of several months during which multiple nationwide or worldwide sightings occur and which may or may not be publicized. There is some speculation as to whether or not flaps are in fact generated by heightened news media attention during periods when there is little competitive news.

Flatwoods, West Virginia: Village where the famous Flatwoods Monster was seen on September 12, 1952. At about 7:15 p.m., Neal Nunley, Ronald Shaver and Theodore Neal were playing on the Flatwoods football field when they saw a glowing bright red, roundish object traveling through the sky. It hovered momentarily above a nearby hill, then dropped behind the crest. A bright orange light flared up, then faded to a dull red glow. As the boys ran toward the hill, the light continued to brighten and dim repeatedly. On the way, they were joined by Kathleen May, her sons Edward and Theodore, seventeen-year-old National Guardsman Eugene Lemon and young Thomas Hyer. Lemon's dog ran ahead of them. No sooner had he rounded the last bend in the path, that he reappeared, streaking homeward in terror. The two adults and six children began to notice an unusual mist spreading over the ground. A strange, sickly odor caused their eyes to water and their noses to smart. As they rounded the final bend, they caught sight of two eyes glowing in a tree to their left. One of the boys turned a flashlight toward the tree, revealing a huge creature, about ten feet tall, whose only distinctive feature was its head. The body had the bulk of a large man but no arms or protrusions were visible. Some writers have described the creature's face as blood-red with glowing greenish-orange eyes. Author Ivan Sanderson, who personally investigated the case, reported the head as being shaped like an ace of spades with a large circular window through which shone two fixed beams of pale blue light. To the right of the astonished witnesses lay a black object, about twenty feet in diameter and shaped like an ace of spades, its point directed upward. It pulsated from a dull cherry-red glow to an orange brilliance. The monster seemed to be floating over the ground. Lemon passed out. As the creature began to float toward them, there was panic. Lemon was pulled to his feet and everyone took off down the hill, bruising and scratching themselves as they ran in blind terror. A team headed by the local sheriff searched the area that same evening but found only a sickly, irritating odor. The following day, a fifteen-foot circular area of flattened grass and depressed soil was found at the UFO's alleged landing site. According to several other witnesses, five other low-flying objects were sighted at exactly the same time as the Flatwoods UFO. They were spaced about five miles apart, except for one which was thirty-five miles from its nearest companion. Two were seen to crash or land, and a third disintegrated in mid-air. One object reportedly changed direction in mid-flight. Air Force investigators concluded that the witnesses had seen a meteor which was observed by thousands of people in Virginia and West Virginia that night. They presumed the Flatwoods Monster to have been a normal woodland animal whose glowing eyes had frightened the group into believing something mysterious was happening. Ivan Sanderson concluded that a fleet of intelligently controlled objects flew over the area that night. Something went wrong, causing one or two to land, one or two to crash and one to explode in the air. Both craft and occupants dissolved either because of incompatibility with the temperature or through contact with hostile chemical substances.

Flight 19: A naval training flight which disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle, an area considered mysterious because of the high number of ships and airplanes lost within its boundaries. The account of Flight 19 is traditionally used as a prime example of the Bermuda Triangle's enigmatic nature. On December 5, 1945, five Navy Grumman TBM-3 Avenger torpedo bombers left Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station on a routine training flight, designated Flight 19. Although three men had been assigned to each airplane, one fortunate man had not reported for duty. The fourteen crew members took off around 2:05 p.m. for a scheduled flight of two hours' duration. At about 3:15 p.m., the instructor in command, Lieutenant Charles Taylor, reported to the Naval Air Station that they were lost. The station radio operator instructed Taylor to fly west. Fifteen minutes later, the senior flight instructor at Fort Lauderdale contacted Taylor and learned that his compasses were not functioning. Since Taylor believed he was over the Florida Keys, he was advised to fly north using the sun to get a bearing. Shortly thereafter, Flight 19 passed over a small isolated island, indicating that they were not over the Keys after all. Since radio interferences was increasing, Taylor was asked to switch to a less-used frequency. Apparently out of fear that he would lose communication with the other four planes, Taylor ignored this suggestion. Contact was lost with the Naval Air Station, although the tower was able to hear transmissions between the airplanes. Discernibly confused as to which direction would take them back to Florida, the pilots flew east and west in an attempt to locate land. They made one excursion north to find out if they were over the Gulf of Mexico. The last communication heard from Flight 19 came at 7:04 p.m. Their fuel supply was sufficient to keep them aloft until 8:00 p.m. They were never heard from or seen again. Meanwhile, several rescue planes had been scrambled, among them a Martin Mariner PBM flying boat. To compound the confusion and horror of that day, the Martin Mariner and its crew of thirteen were never seen again. Disk jockey Art Ford revealed in 1974 that a ham operator had heard Taylor say, "Don't come after me . . . they look like they are from outer space." Navy records indicate that Taylor did say, "Don't come after me," but in a different context. When the senior flight instructor had told Taylor to fly north while he flew south to meet him, Taylor had responded, "I know where I am now. I'm at 2,300 feet. Don't come after me." Arthur Ford claims that the mother of one of the lost men, after attending hearings on the case in Washington, confided to him that she believed her son was still alive somewhere, perhaps in space. Perpetuating the extraterrestrial connection, the Flight 19 story was woven into the plot of the motion picture Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At the beginning of the film, the five Avengers are found abandoned and undamaged in the desert. At the climax of the film, an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands. The aliens release a number of human captives. The men of Flight 19 are among them.

Florida: Location of a UFO sighting by Captain Jack E. Puckett, Assistant Chief of Flying Safety for the Tactical Air Command, on August 1, 1946. Puckett was flying a C-47 airplane from Langley Field, Virginia, to MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida. While traveling at an altitude of 4,000 feet, just northeast of Tampa, Puckett, his co-pilot and the flight engineer observed what they at first thought to be a meteor on a collision course with their aircraft. At a distance of about 1,000 yards, the object turned sideways, crossing the C-47's path. The three men observed that it was about twice the size of a B-29 bomber and cyclindrical in shape with luminous portholes. A stream of fire trailed behind it. The object was in view for about three minutes. Skeptics have speculated that the UFO was, in fact, a meteor and that the windows were an optical illusion.

Flying Saucer: Aerial object, usually disk-shaped, which is assumed by the observer to be a spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin. It is to be distinguished from a UFO, which is accepted as an unknown object of unknown origin.

FOIA: Freedom of Information Act.

Foo Fighters: UFOs, also known as foo balls, kraut fireballs or fireball fighters, observed by bomber pilots during World War II and sporadically during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Foo fighters were first reported by Allied bombers flying over Europe during the winter of 1944/1945. The glowing spheres and disks, ranging in size from one-to-five feet in diamter, sometimes exhibited changes in color, usually from orange to red to white and back to orange. Rare daylight sightings revealed globes with a metallic finish. Foo fighters were not detected on radar and, when they demonstrated no signs of aggression, pilots assumed them to be psychological weapons sent up by the enemy. Attempts to outmaneuver and lose the objects were usually unsuccessful. Sometimes flying in formation, they always played uninvited escort to single, isolated aircraft. These UFOs were named foo fighters after the popular comic strip Smokey Stover had made a pun of the French word "feu" (for fire) in the phrase, "Where there's foo, there's fire." In 1945, foo fighters were reported by Allied bomber pilots flying over Japan. After the war, it was discovered that the Germans and the Japanese had also been perplexed by the same phenomenon. Originally, American military officials had surmised that fatigued pilots had been the victims of hallucinations. Intelligence officers investigating the Japanese sightings, however, ascribed the sightings over the Pacific to misidentification of the planet Venus, since the objects were always seen in the east at a time when Venus was particularly brilliant. Reportedly, foo fighters observed over Korea and Vietnam were sometimes tracked on radar. A scientific investigative team sent to Korea by the Air Force was able to spot only one foo fighter during their mission. The object was identified as the moon. Most ufologists concur that at least some foo fighters may have been attributable to ball lightning, chain lightning and Saint Elmo's fire. The late astronomer Donald Menzel had pointed out that foo fighters appeared during the last stages of World War II, when many of the airplanes were considerably damaged. He contended that the aerodynamic imperfections produced by repair patches could have resulted in eddies of air which in turn could have created highly reflective clusters of ice crystals. The resultant glows might have given the impression of independent objects pacing the airplanes. This explanation, however, does not explain those cases in which foo fighters approached an airplane at high speed from a distance, circled or paced it for a short time, and then departed from the area. There is no unanimous agreement on the identity of foo fighters. Some ufologists, who believe they were intelligently controlled objects, suspect their mission was to monitor Earth's military activities.

Foreign Technology Division (FTD): Air Force Systems Command agency which took over responsibility for Project Blue Book from the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) in 1961.

Fort Beaufort, South Africa: Location of a four-hour sighting of a spherical UFO on June 26, 1972. At 9:00 a.m., Bennie Smit of Braeside farm, nine miles outside Fort Beaufort, was alerted by a laborer to the presence of a fiery ball hovering over some trees. The red ball, about two-and-a-half feet in diameter, was shooting out flames. The laborer let out a shout and the UFO, leaving a grayish-white smoke trail, moved sideways about three hundred yards until it was hidden by a large bush. After a while, the ball reappeared but now, it was green. Suddenly, it changed to a yellowish-white. Smit rushed to his house, called the police and returned with a rifle. He fired several shots, which seemed to have no effect on the object. However, Smit thought he heard a thud after his eighth shot. The ball then moved up and down and again disappeared behind the trees. An hour after the UFO's first appearance, Warrant officer P. R. van Rensburg, the Fort Beaufort station commander, arrived with Sergeant P. Kitching. After Smit and Kitching had fired a few more shots toward the trees, a shiny black sphere emerged. It gradually disappeared from sight and then reappeared. It seemed undisturbed by the shots fired at it, yet dodged behind bushes and trees when anyone approached. Smit managed to sneak up within about twenty yards of the object, which by then had turned grayish-white. As he fired twice, the UFO darted away over the treetops, whirring loudly. The foliage parted for the ball as it rushed along, but Smit was convinced that there was no air blast to cause this effect. The July 5th edition of the Pretoria News reported that Mr. C. S. Kingsley, a lecturer in the Department of Geology at Fort Hare University, had examined imprints found on Smit's farm. Kingsley stated that the clearly-defined marks were made by a heavy, hard, spherical object with various narrow indentations on its surface. Further examination of the area revealed no evidence of burned branches or foliage, despite the flaming UFO's proximity to trees and bushes.

Fort Itaipu, Brazil: Location of an apparent attack by a UFO on November 4, 1957. At 2:00 a.m., two sentries observed a brilliant light above them, which they assumed to be a star. However, they soon realized that the object was hurtling towards them at high speed. About a thousand feet above them, it abruptly reduced speed and continued its silent descent. Surrounded by an orange glow, the UFO was circular, measuring about 100 feet in diameter. At about 150 feet above the fort, the object stopped. Spotlighted by an orange glow, the sentries were too frightened to move. They could hear a steady hum emanating from the object. Suddenly, a blast of searing heat engulfed the men. One sentry fell to the ground. The other ran for shelter, screaming in agony. The garrison troops, awakened by his cries, began to jump out of their beds. Suddenly, the lights went out. The interior of the fort seemed strangely hot. Panic set in. A minute later, the heat ended and, within moments, the lights came on again. As some of the soldiers came running to their battle stations, they saw the glowing UFO as it sped away. The two sentries, who had been severely burned, were placed under medical care. United States Army and Air Force officers assisting the Brazilian Air Force investigators were baffled by the case and were unable to offer any explanation for the unprovoked attack.

France: The French word for UFO is "OVNI," which stands for "objet volant non identifié" (unidentified flying object). Flying saucers are refferred to as "soucoupes volantes." France had two highly respected UFO magazines - Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN) and Phénomènes Spatiaux. There are an enormous number of UFO organizations, many of which are united by networks, such as the Comité Européen de Coordination de la Recherche Ufologique (CECRU) and LDLN. In 1977, a scientific research group called Groupe d'Études des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés (GEPAN) was founded by France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), a governmental agency similar to the National Aeronautics and Space administration (NASA) in the United States. During the ninth century, there were many reports in France of aerial beings who traveled through the sky in ships. One report told of the landing of one of these ships in Lyons and the disembarkation of its passengers. Two of the most sensational sightings of the Modern Era were those at Oloron and Gaillac in 1952. The country experienced a heavy wave of sightings during 1954, and it was during this year that a military pilot took a photograph near Rouen which closely resembled the famous UFO photographs taken in McMinnville, Oregon.

Fusion: In physics, fusion is a thermonuclear reaction in which the nuclei of light atoms join to form nuclei of heavier atoms. In the process, there is a tremendous release of energy. The energy released in a fusion reaction is many times the energy released in a fission reaction. Man has not yet learned how to produce a controlled fusion reaction. Such a discovery would produce vast amounts of energy which could be used to produce electricity. If applied in a practical manner to the space programme, controlled fusion could provide sufficient energy for high-speed interplanetary journeys in our solar system, thereby making it possible to travel even to the most distant planets in a matter of a few days. It could also be used for interstellar journeys.

Gaillac, France: Location of a classic UFO sighting which occurred toward the end of the 1952 European wave. On October 27th, about one hundred witnesses observed a long cigar-shaped UFO tilted at a forty-five-degree angle and moving slowly toward the southwest. A plume of smoke emerged from the upper end. About ten pairs of disks accompanied the cylinder, flying in zigzag motions. The procession hovered over the town for ten minutes while large quantities of Angels' Hair fell earthward. The substance settled on trees and houses, only to dissolve within a short time. This event was a replay of a sighting which had occurred in Oloron, France, only ten days previously. A few minutes after the Gaillac sighting, a single disk and a cylindrical UFO were sighted more than 125 miles to the northeast at a Brives-Charensac meteorological station.

Garuda: Giant bird of Indian mythology on whose back the gods Vishnu and Krishna purportedly traveled the heavens. Today, the name is also given to giant creatures resembling prehistoric birds which have been reported in various parts of the United States. Occasionally, such creatures have allegedly attempted to carry away children and animals in their claws. The creature has been compared to Mothman, a legendary humanoid monster with huge bat-like wings. Reports of giant birds have been explained by scientists as misidentifications of turkey vultures, California condors and eagles.

Gemini 4: Space mission during which astronaut James McDivitt sighted and attempted to photograph a UFO shaped like a white cylinder with a long, white , thin cylinder protruding from it. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) subsequently released photographs of sun flares reflecting on the multiple-paned windows of the space capsule and claimed that McDivitt had misidentified the sun flare. He, however, claims that these were not the photographs he took. "I went back," he said, "and looked throuogh all the frames of all the photographs that were taken on the flight and there wasn't anything in them that looked like what I'd taken." However, he did not take the photographs under ideal conditions. There was no time to set the camera for the right speed or distance. McDivitt just snapped the pictures, then the sun came across the window. By the time he had flown the spacecraft back to a position where the sun was no longer on the window, the UFO was out of view. Since many of the photographs taken during the mission came out blank, overexposed and underexposed, McDivitt believes it is possible that his camera never captured the image he was observing. Although the UFO was tentatively identified as the satellite Pegasus B, the Condon Committee rejected this explanation and listed the case as a "puzzler." McDivitt, who was openminded on the subject of UFOs, asserted that he had no idea what it was he saw.

Gemini 8: Space mission during which astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell allegedly photographed two oval UFOs with glowing bases on December 4, 1965. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claimed that nothing had been observed or photographed which could be termed abnormal in the space environment. Lovell denies having seen or photographed UFOs.

Gemini 10: Space mission during which astronauts Michael Collins and John Young saw a cylindrical UFO accompanied by two bright satellite objects moving in polar orbit on July 18, 1966. Youong, who photographed the UFOs, says, "Odds are that UFOs exist." As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claimed that nothing had been observed or photographed which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

Gemini 11: Space mission during which astronauts Charled "Pete" Conrad and Richard Gordon observed and photographed a UFO or a cluster of UFOs during their sixteenth revolution on September 13, 1966. A transcript of a taped report of the sighting reads, "We had a wingman flying wing on us going into sunset here off to my left. A large object that was tumbling at about 1 rps, and we flew. . . . We had him in sight, I say fairly close to us, I don't know, it could depend on how big he is, and I guess he could have been anything from our ELSS (extravehicular life support system) to something else. We took pictures of it." Of the three photographs taken, the second and third showed four distant white blobs surrounded by a red-orange corona. The blobs are in a different arrangement in each picture, suggesting either individual motion of separate objects or some sort of rotation of a single large object in the intervals between the taking of the pictures. The Condon Report concluded that the photographs recorded multiple pieces of the Russian space launch vehicle, Proton 3. But the North American Radar Defense (NORAD) report on the Proton 3 lists only two pieces, satellite and booster. In an article in Science and Mechanics (New York: Science and Mechanics Publishing Company, June 1969), Lloyd Mallan established that since the astronauts were facing southeast toward the sunset and away from the direction of Proton 3, which was actually about 250 miles behind them, it would have been impossible for them to have seen the Proton 3 through the tiny windows of the space capsule, which permitted only a narrow forward view. Moreover, he pointed out that Gordon had stated that when the object was first seen through their left window, "it flew out in front of us and then we lost it when it sort of dropped down in front of us." Therefore, concluded Mallan, the direction of the object or objects was opposite of Proton 3. Mallan's information on the position of Proton 3 was obtained from NORAD's computer. However, science writer James Oberg reports that at the time of the sighting, Proton 3 was already in a decaying orbit, well ahead of the schedule which had been programmed into NORAD's computer. In a paper presented at a meeting of the American Physics Society in 1975, physicist Bruce Maccabee calculated that if the blobs were to be explained as Proton 3, the image sizes on the photographs are much larger than they should be, the image brightness much greater and the relative motions of the individual blobs much greater than could be expected for relative motions between the satellite and its booster during the period (a minute or less) between pictures. Maccabee considers the possibility of the object or objects being trash, but asserts that it could not have been trash from Gemini 11, since it was in a different orbit. He submits that the likelihood of a close encounter with trash in another orbit is statistically miniscule but not impossible. The sighting is listed as "unidentified" by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Gemini 12: Space mission during which astronauts Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and James Lovell allegedly saw a row of four linked UFOs on November 11, 1966. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) claimed that nothing had been observed or photographed which could be termed abnormal in the space environment. Lovell denies having seen UFOs.

Gemini Capsule: U.S. spacecraft launched from Cape Kennedy in 1964 and allegedly accompanied by four UFOs during an entire orbit around Earth. The UFOs, which reportedly were tracked on radar, gave the impression that they were examining the Gemini capsule.

Germany: Flying saucers are referred to as "fliegende untertassen" in Germany. Reportedly, experimental flying disk-shaped craft were produced in Germany during World War II. Some ufologists claim that the scientists involved continued their work for the Russians and Americans after the war. Rocket pioneers Hermann Oberth and Walter Riedel have frequently been quoted as supporters of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) and have been involved in UFO research. Germany has several UFO organizations, of which the Deutsche UFO/IFO-Studiengesellschaft (DUIST) is best-known overseas. One of the oldest cases on record occurred in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1561.

Ghost: A spurious radar return, also known as an angel.

Ghost Rocket: UFOs observed in Scandinavia, Western Europe, Turkey and North Africa between 1946 and 1948. A concentration of sightings occurred in Sweden during the summer and autumn of 1946. Mysterious fireballs and cigar-shaped UFOs constituted the majority of the reports. The objects usually traveled at altitudes between about one thousand and three thousand feet. They were variously described as traveling slower than airplanes or crossing the sky in seconds at fantastic speeds. The objects generally appeared from the south or southeast but were known to travel in all directions and to execute turns and circular maneuvers. Aerial explosions were frequently reported in association with ghost rockets but seemed to provide no debris. Reports of UFOs falling into lakes led to rumors that Swedish military investigators had recovered metallic fragments which were being examined. These stories were never confirmed. During this postwar period, it was commonly believed that the ghost rockets were secret weapons developed by the Russians who had taken over the German rocket program at Peenemünde. Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle visited Sweden purportedly on business for the Shell Oil Company. However, the press announced that he was assisting the Swedish authorities in their investigation. In October 1946, the Swedish defense ministry issued a communiqué stating that eighty percent of the one thousand reports of ghost rockets could be attributed to natural phenomena but that radar had detected about two hundred objects "which cannot be the phenomena of nature or products of imagination, nor can they be referred to as Swedish airplanes."

GALAXY: In astronomy, a galaxy is a great stellar system. The Milky Way is the visible manifestation of the galaxy in which human live. The Universe contains many galaxies, and the distances between them are immense.

Godman Air Force Base, Kentucky: Location of the famous Mantell incident in which an Air National Guard pilot was killed while chasing a UFO. Shortly after noon on January 7, 1948, the Kentucky State Police received a large number of calls from the towns of Maysville, Owensboro and Irvington, reporting a high-flying UFO moving west at high speed. The police relayed the information to the control tower of Godman Air Force Base, near Fort Knox. When the tower operators had spotted the UFO, they were joined by the base commander and a number of other witnesses. Several observers watched the object through binoculars. It was described variously as a silvery white, ice cream cone shape tipped with red; conical or teardrop-shaped changing fluidly to round; and umbrella-shaped. An incoming flight of four P-51 planes was asked to identify the object. One P-51, low on fuel, landed while the other three took off after the UFO, led by Captain Thomas Mantell. The three planes had no oxygen aboard because they had been on a low-flying ferrying flight. They began to climb toward the UFO. Mantell advised the tower that he had the object in sight. "It appears to be a metallic object or possibly the reflection of sun from a metallic object," he said, "and it is of tremendous size." He continued to climb but the other two pilots, who hadn't seen the object, refused to fly any higher without oxygen. Mantell radioed the tower again to report that he was at an altitude of 22,000 feet and still climbing. He announced that he was going to close in for a better look. It was the last transmission received from him. About an hour later, his body was found in the wreckage of his plane. Investigators concluded that he had blacked out fromlack of oxygen. His plane had gone into a spiral dive, crashing into the ground. The incident launched speculation and rumors that Mantell had been shot down by an extraterrestrial spacecraft. The original United States Air Force (USAF) explanation was that Mantell had been chasing Venus. However, in the early 1950s, the Navy released information that they had been testing Skyhook balloons in the area at that time. The experimental balloons, which were used for high-altitude photographic reconnaissance, were part of a classified project. The Air Force then attributed the UFO sighting to a Skyhook balloon released from Clinton County in Southern Ohio. However, no Skyhook balloons were released from Clinton County on January 7, 1948. Nevertheless, witnesses' descriptions of the object closely matched the appearance of Skyhook balloons. Authors David Saunders and R. Roger Harkins suggest that Mantell did pursue a Skyhook balloon, but that it was one that had been launched from Camp Ripley, Minnesota, early on the morning that Mantell was killed.

Gravitation: A concept in physics referring to that force of attraction which exists between all particles or bodies. It is a universal law governing the motions of all material bodies. Ufologists are in general agreement that UFOs use a propulsion system which neutralizes gravitation. However, this is merely a reasonable conclusion and no proof exists of this. Development of antigravitation machines would have far-reaching implications for space travel. Such machines, however, are presently beyond man's technological knowledge. First, science would have to understand better the nature of gravitation. However, if it would be possible for man one day to neutralize gravitation and to construct a flying machine based on an anti-gravitation propulsion system, this would strengthen the argument for the existence of UFOs. Man would then have to admit the possibility that there may be alien civilizations which invented antigravitation flying machines millenia ago. This would make possible a new and more serious reappraisal of UFO reports.

Great Falls, Montana: At approximately 11:25 a.m. on August 15, 1950, Nicholas Mariana, General manager of the Great Falls baseball team, saw two silvery flying disks while working at the Great Falls ball park. Mariana reported that he ran to his car to get his movie camera, which had a telephoto lens. As he did so, he called his secretary, who ran outside to observe the UFOs. Mariana filmed the objects as they traveled southeast and finally disappeared about fifteen-to-twenty-five seconds from when they had first appeared. The developed film showing two bright circular points of light became one of the most disputed pieces of evidence in the UFO controversy. In October 1950, the film was turned over to the Air Force whose initial response was that it was too dark to distinguish any recognizable objects. When it was returned to him, Mariana asserted that about thirty-five frames of the film were missing. These frames, according to Mariana and numerous witnesses who had seen them prior to the Air Force examination, had shown the disks at their clearest when their spinning motion was apparent. In November, Cosmopolitan published an article by Bob Considine, whose information regarding Mariana's film had been obtained directly from the Air Force. Considine reported that two bright disks had been visible on the film but were identifiable as sun reflections on the ball park's water tower. The moving objects Mariana and his secretary had observed were Air Force jets which had landed at a nearby field at 11:30 a.m. and 11:33 a.m. The thrust of the article was to demonstrate the invalidity of UFO reports, with the claim that their investigation had cost millions of dolars and some lives. Mariana sued Considine and the publisher for libel, claiming that the article implied that he was a liar who had intentionally caused the Air Force to waste time and money. The litigation dragged on for four years, Mariana unable, in the end, to win his case because Considine's article had specified that some UFO cases could be attributed to honest mistakes. In the meantime, increased activity and interest in the UFO field in 1952 led the Air Force to request a second look at Mariana's film. Written reports of additional Air Force interviews with Mariana in 1953 contained enough misleading information to cause considerable confusion in the Condon Committee's investigation of the case. Eventually, however, they concurred with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in labelling the case as unexplained. In 1968, scientist Robert Baker, who had conducted an analysis of the film in 1955 and 1956, restated his earlier cautious conclusion by saying that the images could not be explained by any natural phenomenon known at that time. Although he had originally considered the possibility that the lights were reflections from F-94 jets, he later conducted tests which indicated the photographic equipment used by Mariana would have resolved an F-94 into a non-circular image at a distance of up to ten miles. His calculations demonstrated that if the objects had indeed been F-94 jets, they would not have been further away than six-and-one-half miles. Writer Philip Klass has argued that a photograph taken by Baker of a one-hundred-foot-long F-94 could produce the same image at a distance of approximately five miles. In the late 1970s, Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) subjected the film to computer image enhancement testing. Their analysis indicated that the images in the Great Falls, Montana, film represent two bona fide UFOs.

Great Lakes Triangle: A vile vortex similar to the Bermuda Triangle, located in the Great Lakes region. Under certain conditions not precisely understood, aircraft and ships are destroyed with devastating speed. Aircraft are reported simply to fragment and crash. Reports also indicate that disappearances of ships can be instantaneous. UFOs or some related mysterious phenomena or energy force are believed responsible for these occurrences. The mystery of this area is discussed in depth by Jay Gourley in The Great Lakes Triangle.

Green Fireballs: Large, briliant objects which appeared frequently in the skies over New Mexico during 1948 and 1949. They resembled meteors except for their bright green color, horizontal trajectories and slow speed. Although many of the fireballs exploded in brilliant flashes of green light, no fragments were ever found. The large number of sightings alarmed the United States Air Force (USAF) for New Mexico was a sensitive area where numerous military bases and research installations carried out vital work in ballistics, guided missiles, atomic energy and space science. Faced with the possibility that the fireballs might represent experimental guided missiles for the Soviet Union, the Air Force consulted Dr. Lincoln La Paz, head of the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics and a world-renowned authority on astronomy. La Paz announced that the green fireballs differed from meteors in their trajectory, speed, size, brilliance, color and apparent lack of fragments. He concluded that they were not natural phenomena. In February 1949, the Air Force organized a conference at Los Alamos to discuss the problem. It was attended by military officers, intelligence officers, physicists and astronomers. After two days of studying the evidence, the majority of the conferees concluded that the green fireballs were unusual meteors and therefore not a threat to national security. As a precaution, the matter was turned over to the Air Force's Cambridge Research Laboratory for further study. The Research Laboratory instituted Project Twinkle in an attempt to determine the precise identity of the objects but the effort failed. Sightings ceased as soon as the project's observation posts became operational. Project Twinkle was terminated. Green fireballs were sighted sporadically in various parts of the United States during the following five years. Author Donald Keyhoe claims that the mysterious wreckage of a Transocean DC-6 in 1953 may have been attributable to green fireballs which had been reported in the area at the time. Astronomer Donald Menzel was one of several thousand witnesses who observed an enormous green fireball which passed slowly over New Mexico and Colorado on September 18, 1954. The object interfered with radio and television transmission as it passed over Albuquerque, and it lit up the entire night sky over Denver. La Paz was interviewed by the news media and pronounced the phenomenon to be no ordinary meteor but something unusual. The public began once more to speculate that New Mexico was being visited by extraterrestrial spaceships. Having witnessed the object himself, Menzel concluded that it was nothing more than an unusual meteor.

Grenada: Small island nation in the Caribbean which, in 1978, under its then-Prime Minister, Sir Eric Gairy, was responsible for submitting a draft resolution to the United Nations which would have the Secretary General appoint a group of experts, under the aegis of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, to define guidelines for a United Nations study of "the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects and related phenomena." Grenada's political activities in the UFO field ended when Gairy was ousted from his position as Prime Minister in a coup d'état.

Grudge Report: The popular name of an official Air Force report titled 'Unidentified Flying Objects - Project Grudge,' Technical Report No. 102-AC-49/15-100. On 27 December 1949, it was officially announced that Project Grudge was being terminated on the recommendation of a special report which was soon tobe issued. This was the Grudge Report. The Grudge Report, a massive, 600-page document, contained the official discussions, conclusions, and recommendations about UFOs. Out of 237 of the best UFO reports, studied by Dr. J. Allen Hynek and his staff, 32 per cent were explained as astronomical phenomena. Another 12 per cent were explained as balloons. Thirty-three per cent were explained as misidentified objects, hoaxes, or as too vague. This still left 23 per cent in the 'unknown' category. Even so, the report provided untenable explanations for these admittedly 'unexplainable' reports. Ufologists were unconvinced and more certain than ever that a cover-up was being perpetrated. The Grudge Report recommended that Project Grudge be 'reduced in scope'. And, indeed, Project Grudge was terminated, at least officially.

Ground Saucer Watch (GSW): A now-defunct organization, founded in 1957, that had a membership of scientists, engineers, professionals, and educated laymen interested in taking scientific action to resolve the controversial elements in UFO reports. Its objectives were as follows: to provide an accessible outlet for all interested persons who wish to report any aerial phenomena experiences without fear of ridicule or undue publicity; to "edify a confused media" with factual press releases, lectures, conferences, and interviews; to research and evaluate all UFO cases to which scientific criteria can be applied and analyzed with the use of specialized talents and instrumentation; to continue to pursue legal action against the federal government with lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests for release of UFO materials; and to bring forth workable hypotheses and theories of UFO origin and reasons for their continuing surveillance. The Ground Saucer Watch ceased when it ran into financial troubles. This national investigative organization had concluded that UFOs are physical craft of extraterrestrial origin involved in the surveillance of this planet and its military activities. GSW's work was directed toward discovery of the exact purpose and sources of the phenomenon through the investigation of UFO sightings, the technical analysis of evidence, the procurement of government documentation of UFOs through the Freedom of Information Act, and the disclosure of hoaxes. Full efforts are concentrated on encounters involving ground markings, radiation, radar/visual observations, electromagnetic effects and occupant reports. Computers were employed to detect patterns regarding colors, speed, shapes, geographical concentration and other aspects of the phenomenon. Laboratories were utilized for experimental research on UFO-related anomalies, such as electromagnetic effects. Among other resources available to GSW were a non-destructive testing laboratory for hardware evaluation, and chemical and metallurgical testing facilities for soil and foliage evaluation. GSW's most publicized contribution to Ufology was its application of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's computer enhancement techniques in the analysis of photographs. Computerized enhancement of UFO photographs on a video screen can establish fine detail, size, cross-sectional shape, density, distance, surface reflectivity and, in some cases, the speed at which an object was moving. Using this process, retouched emulsion, supporting wires and threads, manufacturers' logos on lens caps, rare couds and other natural and man-made objects have been identified. By 1979, GSW had analyzed a backlog of almost seven hundred photographs and movies, of which thirty-eight proved to depict bona fide UFOs. These included photographs and movies taken at Great Falls, Montana; McMinnville, Oregon; Rouen, France; Tremonton, Utah and Trindade Island, Brazil.

Heat: UFOs have occasionally generated a blast of heat, presumably as a weapon. With respect to the Walesville, New York, incident in 1954, it has been suggested that the tremendous heat which engulfed an F-49 Starfire was intended to prevent the interceptor from closing in on the UFO. If this was the case, the tactic was successful, for the pilots were forced to eject, leaving their unmanned aircraft to crash into the town, killing four people. At Fort Itaipu, Brazil, in 1957, two sentries watched as a UFO plummeted towards them. The object stopped 150 feet overhead, emitting a steady hum. The sentries, who had been paralyzed with fear, were suddenly struck by an invisible, blistering heat which knocked one man to the ground and sent the other running for shelter. The garrison troops, awakened by the screams, could feel the heat within the fort, although to a lesser degree. After a minute, the heat ceased and the UFO took off at high speed. The two sentries were placed under medical care for severe burns. Another example of heat in connection with a UFO occurred in Catanduva, Brazil, in 1973. Onilson Papero experienced relatively mild discomfort which forced him to get out of his car in a vain attempt to escape a sensation of heat and stuffiness. Papero apparently was not burned, although he later felt itchiness on areas of his skin which subsequently showed temporary discoloration similar to bruising.

Hillsdale, Michigan: Location of one of two historically-significant UFO sightings during the 1966 Michigan wave. On the evening of March 20, 1966, a civil defense director, an assistant dean and eithy-seven female students at Hillsdale College watched for four hours as a glowing, football-shaped object maneuvered erratically over a swampy area a few hundred yards from the women's dormitory. At one point, the object approached the dormitory, stopped and then retreated to the marsh. Reportedly, the object also made a sweep around an airport beacon light. The witnesses related that the UFO's luminosity diminished when police arrived in their cars to investigate the incident. After the officers' departure, the light brightened again. Civil Defense Director William Van Horn, who observed the object through binoculars, declared that it was definitely some kind of craft. It eventually disappeared over the nearby swamps. When a UFO was sighted the following day in Dexter, Michigan, newspaper reporters picked up the story and pressured the United States Air Force (USAF) to investigate. The marshy locations of both sightings led Air Force Consultant J. Allen Hynek to proffer the notorious and much-abused swamp gas explanation.

Hoaxes: Only 1.66 percent of all cases studied by the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book were identified as hoaxes. As a result of the publicity generated by Kenneth Arnold's historic UFO sighting over Mount Rainier, Washington, in 1947, pranksters began tossing disk-shaped objects from the tops of high buildings. Since people were anxious to see flying saucers, these hoaxes succeeded in causing considerable excitement and hysteria. However, the objects were quickly identified. One of the most popular hoaxes carried out by teenagers during the following years was the launching of hot-air balloons illuminated by candles to create a mysterious glow.

Hominid: A term designating a being which resembles a human but which is not because it lacks the necessary mental characteristics of a human, such as self-consciousness and high intelligence. Hominid should be distinguished from humanoid.

Hostility: The lack of evidence of hostility in the UFO phenomenon was partially responsible for the United States Air Force's conclusion that UFOs posed no threat to national security. However, potential hazards have been recorded in a number of cases. The late physicist and ufologist James McDonald, rejecting "hostility" as a general characteristic of the UFO phenomenon, noted that one may accidentally kick an anthill, killing many ants and destroying the ants' entrance, without any prior "hostility" toward the ants. Similarly, to walk accidentally into a whirling airplane propellor is fatal, yet the aircraft holds no "hostility" toward the unfortunate victim. The most common adverse physiological effects reported by UFO witnesses are burns and near-suffocation due to unusual heat. In the Walesville, New York case, extreme heat was apparently used by a UFO as a defense weapon to prevent the close approach of an Air Force jet. The death of pilot Thomas Mantell, while pursuing a UFO over Godman Air Force Base in Kentucky, led some members of the public to fear that UFOs were dangerous. The case of the young man who was trapped in a tree by four ufonauts at Cisco Grove, California, in 1964, seemed to demonstrate some form of hostility. However, the creatures did not harm the young man and may have been attempting to capture him without damaging him. An entire family was held siege in Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1955, by strange little creatures associated with a UFO. In this case, it was the human beings who demonstrated aggression by firing shots at the entities. Human hostility toward UFOs seems more apparent than UFO aggression toward people. A typical example is the 1972 Fort Beaufort, South Africa, case. Farmer Bennie Smit fired numerous shots at a spherical UFO which had shown no signs of hostility. Although the Air Force's policy was that intercept pilots should attempt to capture UFOs during the period of its official involvement, the 1952 wave led to a temporary change in procedure. Fearing an attack, the Air Defense Command ordered pilots to fire on UFOs. According to writer Donald Keyhoe, top H.Q. officers soon realized the firing order was a mistake. It was canceled and the capture attempts were resumed.

House Armed Services Committee Hearings: Congressional hearings on the United States Air Force's involvement in UFOs held on April 5, 1966, following the suggestion of Gerald R. Ford, who was then House Republican minority leader. Under the chairmanship of L. Mendel Rivers, the committee invited only three people to testify: Secretary of the Air Force Harold D. Brown, Project Blue Book Director Hector Quintanilla and astronomer J. Allen Hynek, consultant to Project Blue Book. First to testify was Brown, who reported that of 10,147 cases studied from 1947 to 1965, 9,501 had been identified. He noted that the Air Force had not found any threat to national security or any evidence that UFOs were extraterrestrial spacecraft. He stated, "I know of no one of scientific standing or executive standing or with a detailed knowledge of this, in our organization who believes that they come from extraterrestrial sources." However, he assured the committee that the Air Force would continue to investigate reports with an open mind. In response to the charge that he was an Air Force "puppet," Hynek read a statement which, he said, "has certainly not been dictated by the Air Force." He asserted that UFOs deserved the scientific community's attention and called for the appointment of a civilian panel of scientists to examine the program and to determine whether or not a major problem existed. In general, the committee members expressed disbelief in the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) and confidence in the Air Force's handling of the subject. However, its approval of the recommendations of the O'Brien Report was conducive to their implementation.

House Science and Astronautics Committee Hearings: Congressional symposium on UFOs held on July 29, 1968. The hearings were held because of the continuing controversy over UFOs despite the reassurances which had followed the Smart Committee hearings of 1960 and the House Armed Services Committee Hearings in 1966. On this occasion, no United States Air Force (USAF) representatives were invited to testify, and the speakers were not allowed to make judgments on Project Blue Book. The committee was chaired by Congressman J. Edward Roush. Testimony was presented by astronomer and consultant to the Air Force J. Allen Hynek, meteorologist James E. McDonald, astronomer Carl Sagan, sociologist Robert L. Hall, engineer James A. Harder and astronautical engineer Robert M. L. Baker. In addition, written statements were prepared for the record by astronomer Donald Menzel, psychologist R. Leo Sprinkle, geophysicist Garry C. Henderson, nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, psychologist Roger N. Shepard and exobiologist Frank B. Salisbury. Hynek related that at the beginning of his official involvement with UFOs, he had considered the subject to be nonsense but he had since realized that there were UFO reports which had potential scientific value. "By what right," he asked, "can we summarily ignore [witnesses'] testimony and imply that they are deluded or just plain liars? Would we so treat these same people if they were testifying in court, under oath, on more mundane matters?" He pointed out that several misconceptions about UFOs were that only UFO buffs report sightings, that they are never reported by scientifically trained people, they are never seen at close range, they have never been detected by radar and they have never been recorded by scientific cameras. Concluding that "signals continue to point to a mystery that needs to be solved," he recommended that Congress establish a UFO scientific Board of Inquiry for an in-depth investigation of the UFO phenomenon and that the United States seek the cooperation of the United Nations to set up means for international exchange of information on UFOs. McDonald outlined his experiences in the field of interviewing UFO witnesses, and concluded that, "UFOs are entirely real and we do not know what they are. . . . The possibility that these are extraterrestrial devices, that we are dealing with surveillance from some advanced technology, is a possibility I take very seriously." Sagan, who was asked to testify on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, stated that there is nothing in physics to prevent interstellar travel, but he would have to have "extremely convincing evidence of an advanced technology in a UFO" before he could accept it. He felt that stronger evidence was required to justify an investigation on the order of that suggested by Hynek. He recommended that if Congress was truly interested in studying extraterrestrial life, it should support the Mariner and Voyager programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Admininstration (NASA), and the radio astronomy programs of the National Science Foundation, rather than UFOs. Dealing with UFOs from a purely socio-psychological standpoint, Hall presented his belief that some cases definitely result from Hysterical Contagion. He concluded, however, that in the hard-core cases, hysterical contagion was highly improbable. Harder was called as a witness to discuss propulsion systems necessary for interstellar travel and the types of maneuvers described in UFO reports. Harder declared his opinion that "on the basis of the data and ordinary rules of evidence, as would be applied in civil or criminal courts, the physical reality of UFOs has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt." He described a case in which a witness viewing a UFO through polarized glasses had seen a series of rings around the object and concluded that this was due to atmospheric disturbance from a magnetic field type of propulsion system. He suggested that UFOs might use gravitational fields in some way of which we are not aware. He concluded that the study of UFOs might prove valuable for our civilization because, "In the UFO phenomenon, we have demonstrations of scientific secrets we do not know ourselves." He suggested a program for obtaining more scientific data on UFOs, which involved the establishment of an early warning network, the putting together of instrument packages that could be shipped to a UFO site on short notice, and cooperation with the Air Force for logistics and high speed transportation of these packages. Baker, who had analyzed the Tremonton, Utah, and Great Falls, Montana films, was convinced that the objects photographed were not natural phenomena. However, he was not willing to say they were extraterrestrial, either. He made several suggestions on how to achieve more sophisticated analyses of fresh data and recommended setting up a task force to obtain hard and soft data supported by a sensor system designed expressly for that purpose, possibly a phased array radar, as well as a space-based long-wavelength infrared surveillance sensor system. He also suggested that a study be made of the psychiatric and medical problems of determining witnesses' credibility. Menzel's paper dealt with his theories that UFOs are natural phenomena such as mirages, reflections and temperature inversions. His paper was accompanied by a letter, addressed to Roush, stating, "Am amazed, however, that you could plan so unbalanced a symposium, weighted by persons known to favor Government support of a continuing, expensive and pointless investigation of UFOs without inviting me, the leading exponent of opposing views and author of two major books on the subject." Sprinkle's paper declared his acceptance of "the hypothesis that the Earth is being surveyed by spacecraft which are controlled by representatives of an alien civilization or civilizations. I believe the 'spacecraft hypothesis' is the best hypothesis to account for the wide range of evidence of UFO phenomena." He suggested that "a national research center be established for continuous, formal investigation of the physical, biological, psycho-social and spiritual implications of UFO phenomena." Henderson criticized the Air Force's handling of the UFO situation. "The pubic has been led to believe," he said, "that everything has been done to either prove or disprove the existence of UFOs - rubbish!" With regard to the Air Force's tendency to dismiss UFOs on the grounds that they did not pose a threat to national security, he pointed out that, "The discovery of Noah's Ark in Time Square would not necessarily pose a threat to national security either, but it would certainly be a find worthy of the most intensive investigation whether certain individuals accepted its existence or not." Henderson recommended an improved system for collecting, collating and analyzing UFO data. Friedman's paper presented a critical analysis of the positions of UFO debunkers. He claimed that they "made strong attempts to make the data fit their Hypothesis rather than trying to do the much more difficult job of creating hypotheses which fit the data." Friedman concluded that "the Earth is being visited by intelligently-controlled vehicles, whose origin is extraterrestrial." Shepard's statement dealt with the problems of finding patterns and order in the mass of UFO data. He stated his conviction that very few cases could be explained as psychological aberrations, such as illusions, hallucinations, delusions and afterimages. He concluded that "the claims that the UFOs reported even by seemingly responsible citizens represent lapses of a basically psycho-pathological character have generally come from people who have neglected to study closely either the literature on psychopathology, or into that on UFOs, or (in many cases, I fear) both." Salisbury countered the arguments of UFO debunkers and warned that it is unscientific to attribute human motivation to non-human intelligence. He concluded his paper with reviews of several major UFO case histories. Since the purpose of the hearings was to serve as a forum, not to resolve the UFO situation, the symposium did not lead to the establishment of any new programs or any change in Air Force policy.

Humanoid: A term designating a being which, though it resembles a human in physical appearance and in such essential mental qualities as self-consciousness and high intelligence, is not actually human, i.e., is not a Homo sapiens. There has been many varying reports from contactees on the appearance of UFO beings. Curiously enough, some of these reports describe them as humanoid in appearance and behaviour. If true, this raises several interesting questions. Is there a direct connection between man and these humanoid beings? If there is a connection, does this mean that the origin of man is somehow linked to these beings? If there is no direct connection between mand and these humanoids, does this mean that the laws of biology are as universal as the laws of physics and chemistry, and that similar intelligent beings can, therefore, arise in different parts of the Universe as a result of parallel evolution? Such a possibility would indicate a similarity of environment and would then raise interesting questions about the nature of evolution. This whole area of discussion is a fascinating one. Unfortunately, at present too little information is available for more definitive answers.

Hybrid:

Hynek, J. Allen: Founder and Director of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Illinois. Hynek was considered by many to be the leading authority in the field. His involvement began in 1948 when he became the astronomical consultant to the United States Air Force (USAF) on their UFO project. Initially, he was skeptical about UFO reports. In 1966, he issued the famous Swamp Gas explanation for two of several sightings in Michigan. The news media misrepresented his statement as a blanket explanation for all the sightings and Hynek became a target of public criticism. Shortly thereafter, he became more open-minded about the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), adopted the opinion that there might be extremely valuable paydirt in the UFO phenomenon and "that therefore a scientific effort on a much larger scale than any heretofore should be mounted for a frontal attack on the problem." After Project Blue Book was terminated, he became critical of the Air Force's investigative methods. In 1973, he established CUFOS and, since 1975, has been a full-time ufologist until his death in 1986. Although he ascribed to no particular theory regarding the nature of UFOs, he projected that the solution to the mystery will provide a mighty and totally unexpected quantum jump in human understanding. Hynek attended the University of Chicago, where he received his B.S. in 1931 and his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1935. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory in 1934; Instructor in Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State University from 1935 to 1941; Astronomer at Ohio State's Perkins Observatory from 1935 to 1956; Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State University from 1941 to 1945; Supervisor of Technical Reports at the Applied Physical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University from 1942 to 1946; Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State University from 1946 to 1950; and Professor of Astronomy from 1950 to 1956; Assistant Dean of the Graduate School from 1950 to 1953; Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University from 1956 to 1960; Chief of the Section of Upper Atmosphere Studies and Satellite Tracking and Associate Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1956 to 1960; and Chairman of the Department of Astronomy and Director of Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University from 1960 to 1975. Hynek served as astronomical consultant to the USAF on UFOs from 1948 to 1968. He was the first speaker to present testimony at the 1968 House Science and Astronautics Committee Hearings. He was technical advisor on the motion picture Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1978, he was a speaker at a United Nations meeting on the proposed establishment of an agency or a department to conduct and coordinate research into UFOs and related phenomena. In addition to his role as Director of CUFOS, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Center's newsletter, The International UFO Reporter. Hynek was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Hynek was the author of numerous technical papers in astrophysics and the author of several textbooks. He was the author of The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1972); co-author with Jacques Vallée of The Edge of Reality (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1975); and author of The Hynek UFO Report (New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1977).

Hypnosis: Physically induced sleep-like state in which facilitated access to the subconscious mind is attained. Thus information is more easily retrieved from the memory and, at the same time, suggestions are more readily received. Since the subconscious mind does not distinguish between the fantasies it produces and the reality it registers, events recalled during a hypnotic trance cannot be considered unequivocally factual. Hypnotic regression has been used to enable witnesses to relive their UFO encounters in order to elicit details of the experience that they may not have remembered during the waking state. During sessions with twenty-five out of fifty witnesses interviewed, Dr. Leo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming has found an amnesic or loss of time period during the UFO experience. During a dream state, meditation or hypnosis, a witness recalls that he or she was taken aboard a landed craft, subjected to a physical examination by aliens and released after being told that he or she would remember nothing of the experience. An incident of this kind, which received worldwide publicity, involved Betty and Barney Hill, who sighted a UFO in New Hampshire in 1961. The implications is that ufonauts themselves use posthypnotic suggestions to erase such encounters from the conscious minds of the human beings with whom they made contact. However, because of the limitations of the subconscious mind, hypnotic procedures do not provide conclusive evidence that the experiences related actually occurred.

Hypnotism: The branch of science which deals with and studies hypnosis, its inducement, its effects, and its possible medical applications.

ICBM: Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile

IFO: Identified Flying Object. An object which, originally labeled as unidentified, has been recognized as a conventional object or a natural phenomenon. Contactees sometimes refer to UFOs as IFOs because they believe them to be extraterrestrial spacecraft and therefore not "unidentified."

Imjarvi, Finland: Location of a Close Encounter of the Third Kind (CE-III) on January 7, 1970. Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo were skiing just outside Imjarvi when, at about 4:45 p.m., they stopped to rest. Suddenly, they heard a buzzing sound and saw a glowing red-grey cloud descending from the sky. When the cloud was about fifty feet off the ground, the two men could discern within it a round metallic object with a flat base. Then the buzzing sound became louder and the object continued its descent. The cloud was gradually dispersing. The object came to a stop about ten feet off the ground and the buzzing ceased. Suddenly, a beam of bright light was emitted from a short tube underneath the object. It moved over the snow, then formed a brightly illuminated circle about three feet in diameter. A red-grey mist settled over the area. The skiers suddenly noticed a three-foot tall, thin-limbed creature who had appeared on the ground in the center of the circle of light. The strange entity was holding a black box. He aimed the opening in the box toward Heinonen. A blinding light shone from it. A thick mist came down from th ecraft, enveloping the area. Red, green and purple sparks were scattered over the spot where the skiers stood. Suddenly, the light beam was retracted, taking the ufonaut with it. The mist evaporated and the object left. Following the sighting, the two men reportedly suffered severa internal complaints which the local doctor was unable to diagnose fully.

Invisible College: Term used by J. Allen Hynek to describe the growing number of scientists who provide discreet support to the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and to UFO research in general. The term originated in the seventeenth century when famous scientists in England held private meetings to exchange views and to discuss the results of their experiments. The incorporation of the Royal Society in 1662 gave them legitimate international recognition.

Italy: UFOs are referred to in Italy by the English term UFO (pronounced "oo-foe") and less frequently by the Spanish and French name OVNI, which in Italian stands for "oggetto volante non identificato." Flying saucers are referred to as "dischi volanti." UFO research in Italy had been somewhat hampered by the constant merging, disbanding and reforming of the various organizations. However, one group which has endured throughout the years is the Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN), formerly known as the Centro Ufologico Unico. Several magazines exist in Italy which deal with UFOs and related phenomena. The major ones are Gli Arcani, Clypeus, Giornale dei Misteri and a new but scholarly publication called UFO Phenomena, International Annual Review (UPIAR). Italy's capital, Rome, was the location of a well-known multiple-witness sighting in 1954. In late 1978, a UFO wave occurred in Italy. Witnesses throughout the country observed cigar-shaped objects and spheres and in some cases, took photographs of the UFOs.

Jacob: Biblical character who had a vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder set up between Earth and heaven. Some ufologists believe Jacob may have observed ufonauts climbing up and down the boarding ladder of a large flying saucer. Donald Menzel has suggested that a full-scale display of the Aurora Borealis may have given the impression of looking through a large, hollow cylinder resembling a ladder. The rapid movement of the light pattern might have created the illusion of entities moving up and down.

JANAP-146: Joint Army-Navy-Air Force Publication (JANAP) 146. A Joint Chiefs of Staff directive, entitled Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings (CIRVIS). Established in December 1953, CIRVIS details the procedures to be followed in the filing of reports from pilots and crews of military aircraft and surface vessels regarding information of vital importance to the security of the Unites States. Paragraph 201 of JANAP-146 includes unidentified flying objects under information to be reported. Such reports require immediate transmission to the Aerospace Defense Command, the Secretary of Defense and the nearest military command. The directive applies also to civilian pilots who report UFOs through official channels. Paragraph 210 of JANAP-146 prohibits the unauthorized transmission or revelation of the contents of CIRVIS reports. Violation of this restriction is a crime punishable under the laws of the Espionage Act. Since these restrictions apply to all persons aware of the contents or existence of a CIRVIS report, military pilots, as well as commercial airline pilots who have filed CIRVIS reports, are subject to long jail sentences and/or heavy fines if they discuss their UFO sightings publicly.

Japan: UFO reports are frequent in Japan and are investigated and documented by a number of organizations, of which the best-known are the Modern Space Flight Association (MSFA), the Japan Flying Saucer Association (JFSA), the Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS), the Japan Space Unidentified Flying Object Society and the Japan UFO Research Association (JUFORA). Author Jun-Ichi Takanashi, Founder and Chairman of MSFA, represented the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Japan and exchanged information with several foreign groups. A UFO case which received international publicity was the multiple-witness sighting of a disk-shaped object at Akita Airport in 1975.

Jellyfish UFO: Term denoting a UFO which has or temporarily assumes the shape of a jellyfish. A classic case involving a jellyfish UFO occurred in Petrozavodsk, Russia, in 1977. The story was released by TASS, the official Soviet news agency, and was subsequently picked up by news services around the world. The sighting occurred at about 4:00 a.m. A huge "star" suddenly appeared in the night sky over Petrozavodsk, about 130 miles from the Finnish border. It moved slowly over the city, then spread out in the sky like an enormous jellyfish. It hovered for about twelve minutes, emitting numerous thin light rays. The mass of light then turned into a bright semi-circle and resumed its journey toward Lake Onega. Once above the horizon, it appeared as a red semi-circular light glowing within a gray cloud mass. The UFO was observed across the border in Finland, and as far away as Helsinki. Local meteorologists and astronomers who witnessed the phenomenon were unable to explain it. Soviet authorities claimed that there were no technical experiments being conducted at the time. The possibility of its being a mirage was dismissed because of the high number of people who saw and described the light in the same way.

Jonah: Biblical character reportedly swallowed by a great whale and disgorged three days later, alive and well, on a beach. Some ufologists have hypothesized that Jonah was taken aboard a cigar-shaped Unidentified Submarine Object which was either the amphibious flying craft of extraterrestrial visitors or the vessel of a submarine civilization.

Karelia, Soviet Union: Location where the apparent landing mark of a UFO was discovered in February 1961. Forester Vasili Bradski found the mysterious crater on the bank of a frozen lake. He knew that it had not been there two days previously. The hole was about 100 feet long, fifty feet wide and ten feet deep. The base was remarkably smooth and narrower than the top. Around the edge were lumps of grass and soil. However, there was no trace of the soil which had been excavated from the trench. Six investigators arrived the following day from Leningrad. On the bank of the lake, they found mysterious, crumbling black pellets which resembled buckwheat grains. The ice covering the lake had been broken near the crater. Loose pieces of broken ice were

Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky: Location of a classic Close Encounter of the Third Kind (CE-III). At about 7:00 p.m. on August 21, 1955, teenager Billy Ray Sutton went outside the family farmhouse to get a drink from the well. When he returned, he announced that he had seen a large bright object land about a city block away. Little attention was given to his statement until almost an hour later when a barking dog alerted the family to the approach of a glowing creature, less than four feet tall with long arms raised over its round head. When it was about twenty feet from them, two of the men fired at it. The little man somersaulted and hurried away into the darkness. When a second creature appeared at the window, a shot was fired at it right through the screen. The entity seemed to have been hit and disappeared. As one of the men led the way through the door to see if the creature was dead, a claw-like hand reached down at him from the roof. Another entity was seen on a tree branch. The men fired at both creatures. The bullets seemed to ricochet off them as if they were covered in nickel-plated armor. The creature in the tree floated to the ground, then scuttled away. Soon, the eight adults and three children had locked themselves inside the house. From time to time, the entities appeared at the windows. They were impervious to bullets. However, their glowing round yellow eyes seemed sensitive to the house lights and the Suttons concluded that this was what prevented the creatures from coming toward the doors. Since no more than two entities were ever seen at one time, it was not clear exactly how many there were. At about 11:00 p.m., the frightened family abandoned the house and drove in panic to the Hopkinsville police station. State, county and city police drove to the farmhouse. On the way, one of the officers saw what he later described as a strange shower of meteors coming from the direction of the Sutton homestead. As he looked out of the car, two passed overhead with a loud swishing sound. At the farmhouse, the police could find no sign of the humanoids or a landed craft, although it was evident that a shootout had occurred. The incident was investigated by the United States Air Force (USAF), local authorities, journalists and civilian UFO investigators. It was classified as unidentified by Project Blue Book.

Keyhoe, Donald E.: Author and former Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). A pioneer in the field, Keyhoe became interested in Ufology in 1949. One of the leading proponents of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), the retired Marine Corps Major was noted for his attacks against the United States Air Force (USAF) and other government agencies for their alleged cover-up and debunking of UFO information. Keyhoe was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the Marine Corps Officers School and the Naval Aviation Training Station in Pensacola. Florida. After serving as a Marine aircraft and balloon pilot, he was injured in a night flight at Guam. Subsequently, he served as Chief of Information for the Department of Commerce. He was Manager of the Admiral Byrd North Pole plane tour of the United States and Aide to Charles Lindbergh on his flying tour of the United States. During World War II, he served with the Naval Aviation Training Division. Keyhoe served as NICAP's director from 1957 to 1969. He had been a guest on several hundred television and radio programs. Keyhoe was the author of numerous magazine articles and two books dealing with aviation and espionage. He was the author of six UFO books: The Flying Saucers Are Real (New York: Fawcett Publications, 1950); Flying Saucers from Outer Space (New York: Henry Holt, 1953); The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (New York: Henry Holt, 1955); Flying Saucers: Top Secret (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1960); and Aliens from Space (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company, 1973). He was editor, with Gordon I. R. Lore, of Strange Effects from UFOs (Washington, D.C.: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1969).

Kuwait: The first UFO flap in Kuwait took place in November 1978. Until that time, the small oil-rich Arab emirate had not produced a single UFO report, according to Security Chief Brigadier Muhammad Al-Hamad. The highlights of the month's aerial activity occurred at Umm Al-Aish in northern Kuwait on November 10. Seven technicians, including an American, employed at the local oil pumping station, saw a cylindrical object larger than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, with a dome and flashing red lights. As the UFO landed silently, the oil pumps stopped working. The technicians, frozen with horror, did not dare approach. After seven minutes, the UFO took off silently, without leaving any traces. The pumps resumed their activities. It was later revealed that telecommunications between Kuwait and the outside world had been interrupted for the duration of the sighting. Within two weeks of the Umm Al-Aish encounter, Minister of State Abdul Aziz Hussein announced the formation of a government-appointed UFO investigative committee made up of scientists, civil aviation officials and Interior Ministry representatives.

Landing Marks: Areas of burned ground or depressed vegetation, usually circular in shape, where UFOs are purported to have landed. Hundreds of such marks have been reported both in the United States and abroad. Some of these, however, have been attributed to a fungus which grows in a pattern known as a fairy ring. Areas of swirled, swampy vegetation which have been found primarily in Australia are known as UFO nests. Some circular landing marks contain three or four depressions allegedly made by landing pads. In some cases, only the alleged landing pad marks are present, as in the Socorro, New Mexico, landing.

LEM: Acronym for Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). A four-legged type of space vehicle, the LEM was used by American astronauts to descend to the surface of the moon. It carried two astronauts and was separated from the Apollo command module for the lunar landing mission. The LEM was the first manned vehicle to land on the surface of another heavenly body. The knowledge gained by the operation of this vehicle has aided scientists in designing future crafts. It probably will be the prototype of future vehicles which one day will land humans on other planets.

Le Roy, Kansas: Location of one of the most famous UFO sightings during the Airship Wave of the nineteenth century and a forerunner of the mysterious Animal Mutilations episodes of the twentieth century. On April 28, 1897, Alexander Hamilton was awakened by a commotion among his cattle at around 10:30 p.m. He went outside, where he found an airship descending by his barn. He roused his son and a tenant, and the three men returned to the corral armed with axes. They stood within fifty yards of the craft, which was thirty feet above the ground. In the illuminated carriage, made mostly of grass, they could see six hideous people, who jabbered unintelligibly. When the craft''s huge spotlight revealed the three men to the occupants, an enormous propellor was switched on, raising the airship to an altitude of about three hundred feet. At that point, the three onlookers saw that a red cable hanging from the craft was attached to a two-year-old heifer which had become tangled in a wire fence. Unable to release the animal from the fence, the men cut the wire. to their amazement, heifer and airship rose up and moved off to the northwest. The following day, a neighbor found the legs, hide and head in his field. Ten local citizens, including the sheriff, postmaster, justice of the peace, a banker and an attorney, signed a sworn affidavit testifying to Hamilton's reputation for "truth and veracity."

Levelland, Texas: Location of a series of independent sightings of a UFO on the night of November 2/3, 1957. Just before 11:00 p.m., Patrolman A. J. Fowler, the duty officer in Levelland, received a telephone call from a farmhand named Pedro Saucedo. The frightened Saucedo had just encountered a brilliantly illuminated UFO while driving with a companion, Joe Salaz (also referred to as Salav, Salvos, Palav and Palaz) about four miles east of the town. The two men had first noticed the object as a flash of light in a nearby field. "We didn't think much about it," Saucedo said, "but then, it rose up out of the field and started toward us, picking up speed." The UFO became distinguishable as a yellow-and-white torpedo-shaped object, about 200 feet long. "When it got nearer," said Saucedo, "the lights of my truck went out and the motor died. I jumped out and hit the deck as the thing passed over the truck with a great sound and a rush of wind. It sounded like thunder, and my truck rocked from the blast. I felt a lot of heat." The men watched the object disappear in the distance and, as it did so, the truck lights came on again. Thinking that Saucedo was under the influence of alcohol, Fowler paid little attention to the call. About an hour later, however, Fowler received a second call, this time from Jim Wheeler. Driving along a highway about four miles east of the town, Wheeler had encountered a 200-foot egg-shaped object resting in the center of the road. As he approached the brilliantly-illuminated UFO, his car's engine and lights failed. Wheeler started to get out of his car. As he did so, the UFO rose into the air. At an altitude of about 200 feet, its lights went off. Simultaneously, the car lights came on again. Wheeler's call was followed by another from José Alvarez, who related an almost identical encounter on a road eleven miles north of Levelland in Whitharral. At 12:05 a.m., Newell Wright (who did not report the experience until the following day) encountered an elliptical object on the road about five miles east of the spot where Wheeler had seen it. His car lights out, his engine stalled, he sat watching the UFO for several minutes before it rose up in the air and disappeared northward. At 12:15 a.m., the duty officer received another phone call from Frank Williams, who had encountered the UFO on the road close to where Alvarez had seen it in Whitharral. The UFO's lights had been pulsating on and off. Each time the lights cam on, William's car lights went off. Finally, the glowing object rose into the air with a loud roar. At an altitude of about 300 feet, its lights went out and it was lost from view. Reports continued to come in to Fowler. At 12:45 a.m., Ronald Martin was driving a truck a few miles west of the spot where Saucedo had encountered the object almost two hours previously. A glowing, reddish UFO landed on the road just ahead of him, turning bluish-green as it did so. The truck stalled and its lights went out. A minute later, the object rose vertically, changing back to its original reddish color. A half hour later, James Long underwent the same experience on a road about five miles north of the town. In the meantime, Sheriff Weir Clem and some of his officers had begun patrolling the roads in search of the mysterious craft. At about 1:30 a.m., close to the spot where Long had encountered the UFO fifteen minutes previously, Sheriff Clem and Deputy Pat McCulloch saw brilliant red oval lights streak across the highway about 300 yards ahead of them. Driving along a few miles behind them, Patrolman Lee Hargrove and Floyd Gavin saw what appeared to them as "a strange-looking flash" close to the ground about a mile in front of them. Later reports revealed that earlier in the evening, two grain combines at Pettit, about fifteen miles northwest of Levelland, had stalled as a UFO passed across the sky. Later, sometime after 1:00 a.m., Fire Marshal Ray Jones had seen the UFO about ten miles north of Levelland. During this encounter, his car lights dimmed and the engine almost died, but started up again. Subsequent investigations revealed that a UFO had been sighted in the Texan towns of Amarillo, Canadian and Midland, and at Clovis, New Mexico. In Canadian, witnesses had observed a figure standing by a landed "submarine-shaped" object. The following day, UFO landings were reported by an Air Force sergeant at Abilene and by an army patrol at White Sands, New Mexico. An unidentified object was observed flying over Deming, New Mexico. Within a radius of twenty miles around Levelland, ten very similar UFO encounters had occurred in less than three hours. A few days later, a United States Air Force (USAF) investigator visited the town. He stayed for about seven hours and interviewed only six of the fifteen witnesses. The Air Force report stated that only three people had seen the "big lights." It was explained as a "weather phenomenon of electrical nature, generally classified as ball lightning or Saint Elmo's fire, caused by stormy conditions in the area, including mist, rain, thunderstorms and lightning." The car engine and light failures were attributed to "wet electrical circuits." Author Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd have pointed out that at the beginning of November 1957, the region was experiencing an unusual number of electrical storms and the month proved to be the wettest on record in West Texas. They contend that it is an overwhelming probability that the UFO was ball lightning. However, since all the witnesses reported overcast, mist or light rain but no storms or lightning, ufologists have given little credence to this explanation. Because the Levelland sightings occurred on the same night that Sputnik 2 was launched, engineer Leon Davidson has conjectured that the encounters were engineered by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as part of a conspiracy to preempt news coverage of the Russians' achievements in space. The Levelland sightings did, in fact, make headlines around the country. They are remembered as the highlight of a UFO wave which lasted throughout 1957.

Liberty, Kentucky: Home of Elaine Thomas, Louise Smith and Mona Stafford, victims of a reported abduction by UFO occupants on January 6, 1976. The three women were driving home at night when they saw a domed disk plunging toward them. The massive object stopped short and paced the car, which soon became filled with a blue light and a suffocating heat. The car, accelerating of its own accord, headed towards a gateway in a stone wall. Suddenly, the women found themselves approaching the nearby town of Hustonville. When they reached home, they discovered a period of one hour and twenty-five minutes had elapsed for which they could not account. Strange red marks were found on their necks and back, and cold water burned their skin. The following day, they found that small areas of paint had bubbled up on the car. The case was investigated by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the Ohio UFO Investigators' League (OUFOIL) and The National Enquirer. During hypnotic regressions conducted by R. Leo Sprinkle, the women described being taken aboard the UFO and subjected to painful physical examinations. Events during and after the encounter described by the women, some of them difficult to connect with the UFO experience, have a nightmarish quality. This incident is similar to the classic Betty and Barney Hill encounter in New Hampshire.

Light-speed: Light-speed refers to a unit of velocity (a measurement of velocity) utilizing the velocity of light as the standard unit. The velocity of light is 186,000 miles per second. Light-speed is measured in units of this. The speed of light is equal to 1 blisk.

Light-year: In astonomical measurement, a light-year is the distance traversed by light in one year. It is used as a unit of measuring distances between stars. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. At this speed, it can cover about 5,880,000,000,000 miles in one year. The distances involved are immense and mindboggling.

Loring Air Force Base, Maine: Location of several UFO sightings on October 27, 29 and 31, 1975, which marked the beginning of a series of sightings at military bases and defense installations. The first sighting began at about 8:00 p.m. The white strobe and reddish orange lights of an unidentified object were seen descending to within 300 yards of a weapons dump containing nuclear bombs. A whirring sound could be heard. Radar controllers located the target on their radarscopes and tracked it as it flew over and around the base. At about 9:30 p.m., the UFO departed. Two nights later, radar controllers detected an unknown target headed toward the weapons storage area again. A helicopter was directed to within 1,000 feet of the UFO but failed to make visual contact. The third incident occurred on October 31. Once more, an unidentified craft was observed three times but a pursuing helicopter, carrying members of the United States Air Force (USAF) Office of Special Investigations, was unable to intercept it. Meanwhile, UFOs were observed flying in formation over a weapons storage area at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, on October 30 and 31. A tanker was sent up but failed to catch up with the craft. One week later, another series of sightings occurred at Malmstrom Air Force Base and several Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launch control sites in Montana, as well as at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Over four consecutive nights, bright lights moved about in the sky. On November 8, seven objects traveling at altitudes between 9,500 and 15,500 feet were pursued by F-106 interceptors. The UFOs accelerated from a speed of approximately eight miles per hour to about 170 miles per hour and then slowed down again to three-and-a-half miles per hour. A confidential communiqué issued by the Combat Operations Center of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) on November 11, 1975, reported that ". . . as the interceptors approached, the lights went out. After the interceptors had passed, the lights came on again. One hour after the F-106s returned to base, missile site personnel reported the object increased to a high speed, raised in altitude, and could not be discerned from the stars." The document also described a sighting which occurred on November 11 at NORAD's Falconbridge radar station near Sudbury, Ontario. The report stated, "Falconbridge reported search and height finder radar paints on an object twenty-five to thirty nautical miles south of the site, ranging in altitude from 26,000 feet to 72,000 feet. The site commander and other personnel say the object appeared as a bright star but much closer. With bonoculars, the object appeared as a 100-foot diameter sphere and appeared to have craters around the outside." The document concluded, "To date, efforts by Air Guard helicopters, SAC helicopters and NORAD F-106s have failed to produce positive I.D."

Lubbock Lights: Formations of unidentified lights seen passing over Lubbock, Texas, on several nights during August, September and October of 1951. At about 9:00 p.m. on August 25, an employee of the Sandia Corporation, a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Commission, and his wife saw what appeared to be a huge, silent craft passing rapidly and at low altitude over Albuquerque, New Mexico. The two observers described the object as resembling a V-shaped wing with dark stripes running along it. There were six to eight soft, glowing, bluish lights on the afteredge. Twenty minutes later, in Lubbock, four Texas Technical College professors noticed a semi-circular formation of twenty to thirty lights passing across the sky from north to south at high speed. Just over an hour later, a second formation of lights appeared and was followed by a third just before midnight. While some reports state that the objects were blue-green, others state that the men could not agree on the color except that it was yellowish to white, with a soft glow. All the groups of lights appeared suddenly, not gradually, at about the same position in the sky and disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. The following morning, a nearby Air Defense Command radar station reported that two sets of equipment had registered an unknown target traveling 900 miles per hour at 13,000 feet. The target had remained on the radar screens for six minutes before an F-86 was scrambled. By the time the airplane was airborne, the UFO had disappeared. The story of the professors' sightings appeared in the local newspaper, Evening Avalanche, on the following Sunday. Five days later, on Friday, August 31, Carl Hart, an amateur photographer and college freshman, arrived at the newspaper office with five photographs of a V-formation of lights which he claimed to have photographed the previous night. During the rest of August, September and October, the four college professors, sometimes accompanied by another professor and a graduate student, watched the skies and were rewarded by seeing the lights on twelve more occasions. Although the first two groups had been in semi-circular formations, subsequent sightings involved random patterns of lights. The objects always moved from north to south. However, when the team tried watching from two different locations, the observers situated in the country location were never able to see the lights. The United States Air Force (USAF) did not arrive on the scene until two months after the initial sightings. Their investigators found a rancher in Brownsville, Texas, about thirty miles from Lubbock, who, together with his wife, had also observed the three groups of lights passing overhead on August 25. However, as the third goup passed, he had distinguished the forms of birds and heard the familiar cry of the plover. It was established that the oily white breasts of the plovers had reflected ground lights, an effect that was exaggerated by a new type of street lighting which had recently been installed in Lubbock. Oddly, Project Blue Book investigator Edward Ruppelt continued to regard the Lubbock Lights as a mystery and labeled the case "unknown." Some years afterward, he wrote that an anonymous scientist had discovered a natural explanation for the incident but that he, Ruppelt, had promised not to reveal the answer. In a reprint of his first book, he added the unsubstantiated explanation that the lights had been moths reflecting street lights. An investigation of photographs taken by Carl Hart revealed that the photographed objects did not resemble the lights seen by the professors. While the visual observations were of softly glowing lights, the objects in the photographs were sharply outlined and intensely bright. Writers Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd have pointed out that the V-formation never reversed its position in the photographs as it should have done if the photographer panned with the lights' movement as he claimed to have done. Moreover, although the lights show evidence of slight motion during the exposure, the amount of blurring is less than it should be. Many ufologists suspect that the Lubbock Lights photographs were a hoax, although this has never been proven.

Lunatic Fringe: Term sometimes used to describe psychically unbalanced individuals, religious fanatics and visionaries who, as a means of furthering their own cosmic and religious beliefs, promote the theory that UFOs are visitors from outer space. Conservative ufologists place contactees in this category. The late astronomer J. Allen Hynek pointed out that, although the lunatic fringe has impeded the acceptance of the UFO phenomenon as a subject worthy of scientific study, rarely do UFO reports come from this section of society. Members of the lunatic fringe are usually incapable of composing articulate reports and, in any case, are uninterested in providing factual support for their beliefs.

LZ: Landing Zone.

MACH: A unit of velocity equal to the velocity of sound in the air. It is named after Ernst Mach (1838-1916), an Austrian physicist. At sea level, sound travels through the air at a speed of about 730 miles per hour. Mach 1 is the term used to designate a speed of 730 m.p.h.; Mach 2 that of 1460 m.p.h.; Mach 3 that of 2190 m.p.h.; etc.

Magnetism: This refers to the ability or property of one substance or body, as a piece of iron, to attract certain other substances. A magnet may be natural or artificial, permanent or temporary. The application of an electric current to iron can, if done in the proper manner, induce magnetism, creating an electromagnet. Magnets and electromagnets have a wide range of application in industrial, military, navigational, and commercial fields. The propulsion system of UFOs may, it has been postulated, involve the use of electromagnetism.

Mansfield, Ohio: During the height of the 1973 UFO flap in Ohio and only three days after the state's governor, John Gilligan, had seen a UFO near Ann Arbor, Michigan, a four-man Army Reserve helicopter crew encountered a UFO which seemed to exert control over their craft. Just after 11:00 p.m. on October 18, the Bell Helicopter Corporation UH-1H was traveling over the Mansfield area. Sergeant Robert Yanacsek alerted Captain Lawrence Coyne to a red light on the eastern horizon. Initially, the light seemed to be pacing them but within a short time, it began to close on the helicopter. To avoid a collision, Coyne put the craft into a twenty-degree dive at 2,000 feet per minute. As they reached 1,700 feet, the object was still heading straight for them. The crew braced themselves for impact. Just as the collision seemed imminent, the object stopped about 500 feet above the aircraft. Looking up through a stream of green light which flooded the bubble canopy of the helicopter, they saw a sixty-foot long object resembling a streamlined fat cigar. The front end of the UFO was a red light. At the rear was a green spotlight which had swung around to illuminate the helicopter. Between the lighted ends was a gray metallic hull which reflected the red and green lights. A dome protruded at the center. Co-pilot Arrigo Jezzi tried to make radio contact with an airport but, although the equipment was functioning, he did not succeed in transmitting or receiving. After only a brief moment, they felt a bounce and the UFO took off toward the west. As it changed its course to northwest, the green light turned to white. Then the object made a climbing turn and disappeared. Meanwhile, Coyne had caught sight of his altimeter. Surprisingly, the needle was rising. All controls were set for a twenty-degree dive, yet they had climbed from 1,700 to 3,500 feet with no power and were still climbing at 1,000 feet per minute. The four men had felt no G-forces or other noticeable strains. Within six or seven minutes, radio contact was established. Philip Klass had concluded that the Mansfield UFO was a large fireball of the Orionid meteor shower. The bright red leading edge is characteristic of the hot ionized air produced by an object entering the atmosphere at high speed. The usual color of Orionid meteors is blue-green and this, combined with the fact that the overhead portion of the helicopter's transparent canopy was green-tinted to reduce glare, could explain the green light which flooded the cockpit. Klass suggested that as the long, luminous tail of the fireball passed over the helicopter, it gave the impression of hovering. Since that area of Ohio is 1,300 feet over sea level, the 1,700-foot altitude reported by Coyne translates into their being only 400 feet above the ground. Klass assumed that Coyne or his co-pilot instinctively pulled back on the controls to pull the craft out of its dive because he knew they would crash. Klass also pointed out that when he asked Coyne what he had done to terminate the ascent, Coyne replied that he had pulled the collective pitch up and put the cyclic pitch back to neutral. Klass asserted that, under the circumstances, such action would have increased the helicopter's lift and rate-of-climb rather than have reduced them. He believed there is nothing unusual in the failure to make radio contact. Jezzi had changed frequencies rapidly and may not have stopped at any one long enough to establish contact. Moreover, only one tower was within close range and Klass pointed out that there are numerous instances when a pilot's call fails to elicit a reply. Those who reject Klass's claim that Coyne and his three-man crew misinterpreted a natural object believe that the UFO, or some intelligence connected with it, deliberately saved the helicopter and its crew from almost certain destruction.

Mass sighting:

McMinnville, Oregon: Location at which two famous UFO photographs were taken on May 11, 1950. According to the witnesses, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Trent, they saw the UFO silently approaching their house at about 7:45 p.m. The object was very bright, almost silvery. Mrs. Trent ran indoors to fetch a camera. Mr. Trent was able to take two photographs before the object zoomed away to the northwest. When the photographs were developed, they showed a disk-shaped object with a lower and upper structure and a small turret-like protrusion on top. The photographs were studied by commercial photographers for Life magazine and by the United States Air Force (USAF). Subsequently, an analysis was conducted by astronomer William Hartmann for the Condon Committee. Hartmann concluded that "This is one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological and physical, appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disk-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses. It cannot be said that the evidence positively rules out a fabrication, although there are some physical factors, such as the accuracy of certain photometric measures of the original negatives, which argue against a fabrication. Other analyses have been more favorable to the Trents. Physicist Bruce Maccabee made densitometric scans of the photographs, which led him to the conclusion that the object could be a large, structured disk, fifty feet or more in diameter. Computer analysis of the photographs was conducted by Ground Saucer Watch (GSW). The organization confirmed that the pictures had been taken between 7:30 and 8:00 in the morning rather than in the evening as reported by the Trents. However, in every other respect, their analysis confirmed the Trents' claim that the UFO was a large, solid, three-dimensional disk-shaped object flying at a great distance from the observers. By measuring the resolution of the pixel data on the edges of the object and comparing the results with other features in the photographs whose distances were known, it was determined that the object was approximately sixty-five-to-one-hundred feet in diameter. Digital densitometry revealed a brighter gray value for the UFO than for the shadows on the garage wall, indicating that the UFO was at a great distance from the camera. In addition, the sharpness of the foreground images in comparison to that of the UFO is also indicative of the latter's great distance from the camera. An electron microscope examination of the original negatives revealed no evidence of any form of support attaching the UFO to the overhead power line. A digital density evaluation comparing the two photographs showed only a slight differential in a measurement of selected shadows. This, together with the size and position of the shadows, indicated that the pictures were taken within five minutes or less of each other. Researchers continue to disagree about the authenticity of the McMinnville photographs. Further credence was given to the case, however, in 1954 when a French military pilot photographed an almost identical UFO near Rouen, France. In July 1957, the French photograph was published by RAF Flying Review, which described it as "one of the few [photographs] which seem authentic."

Melbourne, Australia: In 1978, the disappearance of a pilot shortly after reporting a UFO made worldwide headlines. On October 21, twenty-year-old Frederick Valentich was flying a rented, single-engine Cessna 182 from Moorabbin Airport to King Island across the Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from mainland Australia. He had been flying for eighteen months and was accumulating hours in order to obtain a commercial pilot's license. At 7:06 p.m., he radioed Melbourne Flight Service Control to report a large aircraft flying at about 4,500 feet. Ground controllers responded that there were no aircraft in the area below 5,000 feet. Valentich said, "It has four bright lights . . . appear to be landing lights. Aircraft has just passed over me, about 1,000 feet above." "Can you identify the aircraft?" asked the controllers. "It isn't an aircraft," said Valentich, "it's . . ." Then there was silence. Two minutes later, Valentich's voice was heard again, saying, "Melbourne, it's approaching from due east toward me. . . . It seems to be playing some sort of game . . . flying at a speed I cannot estimate. . . . It is flying past. . . . It is a long shape . . . cannot identify more than that . . . coming for me right now. . . . It seems to be stationary . . . I'm orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me also. . . . It has a green light and sort of metallic light on the outside." Suddenly, Valentich reported that his engine was choking. His voice was replaced by a metallic scratching sound. Then there was silence. It was 7:12 p.m. When Valentich's Cessna did not arrive at King Island on schedule, an air search was carried out. Royal Australian Air Force planes discovered an oil slick about eighteen miles north of King Island. Transportation officials, however, claimed that it was not made by a light aircraft. A week-long search by eight airplanes and an Air Force maritime reconaissance plane, covering a 10,000 square-mile area, found no wreckage and no indication that the Cessna had plunged into the sea. Controversy over the case increased when The Australia, a national newspaper, reported that the Department of Transportation was withholding part of the transcript of the tape-recorded conversation between Valentich and the air traffic controllers. The missing piece allegedly contained a detailed description of the UFO. According to the newspaper, it had obtained this information from a Department of Transportation source. However, Ken Williams, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation in Melbourne, denied the charge. He said that all the information from the tapes between 7:06 p.m. and 7:12 p.m. relating to the pilot's UFO sighting had been made public and that the rest of the tape contained jargon. Many investigators were surprised by the reaction of the pilot's father, Guido Valentich, who said that he believed that his son was alive and being held by someone from another world. He reported that his son had been interested in UFOs for many years and had sighted one about ten months previously. When it was discovered that Frederick Valentich had filed a one-way flight plan, indicating that he perhaps did not expect to return from the island, many investigators became suspicious that a hoax was involved. An Air Transport official, speculating that the inexperienced pilot had become disoriented, suggested that his airplane had turned upside down and that the pilot had seen reflections of the King Island and Cape Otway lighthouses on the clouds. The Cessna's engine would have failed if it were flown upside down, causing it to plunge into the sea. The Australian Civil Aviation Department file on the disappearance of Frederick Valentich remains open.

Mercury 7: Spacecraft in which astronaut Scott Carpenter observed several UFOs and photographed one with a hand camera on May 24, 1962. Carpenter believed the objects to be ice crystals which had broken off the outside of the spacecraft.

Mercury 8: Spacecraft from which astronaut Walter Schirra reported observing large glowing masses over the Indian Ocean on October 3, 1963. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) determined that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

Mercury 9: Spacecraft from which astronaut L. Gordon Cooper observed the approach of a glowing green UFO with a red tail while passing over Australia on May 16, 1963, during his fifteenth orbit around Earth. The object was also observed by personnel at ground tracking stations. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) determined that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

Mercury Capsule: Spacecraft in which astronaut John Glenn made the first U.S. orbital space flight on February 20, 1962. Reportedly, Glenn observed three UFOs during the flight which followed him and then passed his capsule at varying speeds. As in the case of all other UFO sightings by astronauts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) determined that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment.

Mexico: UFO waves occurred in 1949/1950 and 1965 in Mexico. A very famous case occurred in Zacatecas in 1883 involving astronomer José Bonilla, who observed and photographed hundreds of UFOs passing in front of the sun. In the 1950s, a photograph appeared in German newspapers of an alleged UFO crash victim. The incident was supposed to have occurred just outside Mexico City, but it is believed to have been a hoax. No one has succeeded in tracing the original source of the story or the source of the photograph. In 1978, another bizarre tale emerged from Mexico. A spaceship occupant allegedly appeared at a doctor's office requesting an examination. The physician, known as Dr. Diaz, reportedly had impeccable credentials and supposedly became the subject of a secret investigation at the United Nations. It was later discovered that the doctor was the husband of the director of a UFO organization and had participated in the stunt at the urging of his wife. Both the Aerial Phenomena research Organization (APRO) and Skandinavisk UFO Information (SUFOI) had representatives in Mexico.

MIB: Acronym for Men In Black. MIBs represent one of the most mysterious aspects, and definitely the most frightening, of the UFO phenomenon. It is not known exactly who or what they are, or where they come from. MIBs are usually described as slight, dark-complexioned men, usually with Oriental features, who appear on the scene after a UFO sighting. They are usually dressed in black suits, wear sunglasses, and identify themselves as CIA men. Their other usual dress and identity is that of Air Force officers. They are almost always reported to come in a group of three. Persons who have sighted UFOs are reported to have been contacted by these MIBs, investigated, and then warned to remain silent. Those persons who, after being warned, still persisted in talking about their experiences or still continued to investigate UFOs, frequently vanished or else fell victim to fatal and suspicious accidents.

MJ-12: Majestic 12 (or MJ-12) is the supposed code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, formed in 1947 by an executive order by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The purpose of the committee would be to investigate the recovery of a UFO north of Roswell, New Mexico during July 1947. Initial indications of such a group's existence appeared in 1978 in declassified Canadian documents.

Modern Era: In Ufology, the period dating from Kenneth Arnold's famous sighting over Mount Rainier, Washington, in 1947 until the present time. Arnold's sighting did not represent the first major UFO activity of the twentieth century. It was preceded by the sightings of Foo Fighters by military pilots during World War II and a series of sightings of Ghost Rockets in Scandinavia in 1946. However, the publicity generated by the Mount Rainier incident encouraged hundreds of people to report their own UFO sightings and set the stage for widespread public interest, controversy and government involvement. Arnold's description of disk-shaped objects which flew like saucers skipping over water led newspaper headline writers to coin the term "flying saucers." The designation "unidentified flying object" and its acronym, "UFO," were not created until 1951 when the United States Air Force (USAF) decided to replace the term "flying saucer" which they considered too frivolous. Although at the beginning of the Modern Era, many people suspected that UFOs might be secret Russian weapons or phenomena resulting from atomic testing, the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) soon became the most popular theory among those who believed UFOs were not natural phenomena or conventional objects. Science fiction movies of the 1950s reinforced the idea that extraterrestrials might be visiting Earth. Some individuals, who later became known as "contactees," claimed to have communicated and traveled to other planets with extraterrestrial beings. Rumors spread that the Air Force had actually captured a crashed flying saucer. Meanwhile, UFO reports continued to come in over the years from reputable people in all walks of life, including military pilots, airline pilots, scientists, businessmen, ministers and public officials. Dissatisfied with the Air Force program (which was initiated in 1947 and terminated in 1969), many civilian researchers formed private organizations to conduct their own investigations of UFO cases. In the 1960s, a new pattern began cropping up in some UFO reports. Witnesses claimed to have been abducted aboard flying saucers where they were subjected to physical examinations by the alien occupants. In the early 1970s, a new dimension was added to the UFO mystery. Author Erich von Däniken popularized the theory that Earth was visited in ancient times by extraterrestrial astronauts. The excitement over this possibility was soon followed by a wave of interest in the Bermuda Triangle, an area where ships and airplanes supposedly disappear in a mysterious manner. Some writers speculated that the disappearances were caused by UFOs. Hundreds of books about UFOs have been written since 1947. Witnesses have continued to file reports, sometimes sporadically, sometimes in waves. The numerous UFO organizations have maintained records and statistical analyses of the data. Since the late 1970s, ufologists and the public have begun to lean away from the ETH toward the Parallel Universe Hypothesis. As the 1980s brought the Modern Era into its fifth decade, there was still no irrefutable proof that convinces the scientific or political establishment that UFOs represent an intelligence beyond or outside that of mankind. Public opinion polls, however, have shown a constantly increasing tendency among the general public to believe that UFOs are not conventional objects or natural phenomena.

Moigne Downs, England: On the night of October 24, 1967, two policemen in Devon chased an enormous, illuminated flying cross for a distance of twelve miles. The UFO disappeared but was later reported in other areas of the country. A Ministry of Defense spokesman announced that the witnesses had observed American airplanes refuelling. Reportedly, the American Air Command issued a prompt denial of this explanation. Two days later, Angus Brooks, a retired flight administrative officer for the British Overseas Airways Corporation and a former RAF photographic interpretor, was taking his usual morning walk on Moigne Downs in Dorset with his two dogs, a German shepherd and a Dalmatian. He lay down in a hollow to shelter from the strong wind while his dogs ran off to look for game. Almost immediately, he saw a contrail in the sky which disappeared, revealing an object hurtling down toward the ground. The UFO stopped at an altitude of about two-hundred-to-three-hundred feet. It was made up of a central disk, about twenty-five feet in diameter and twelve feet thick, from which protruded four fuselages estimated to be about seventy-five feet long, seven feet high and eight feet wide. As the object approached, three of the fuselages were lined up next to each other behind the central chamber while the remaining fuselage pointed forward. On deceleration, the two outer fuselages at the rear swung forward ninety degrees so that all four fuselages formed a cross with the disk at the center. As soon as it had stopped its descent, the entire object rotated ninety degrees clockwise. It then hovered silently, unaffected by the very strong wind. Made of a translucent material, the craft assumed the color of the sky above it, changing as clouds passed overhead. Nose cones and groove fins were visible under the fuselages. Dark shadows spotted the bottom surfaces of the disk and the fuselages. The German shepherd dog, obviously distraught, pestered Brooks in an attempt to make him leave the area. Brooks, however, did not move. After twenty-two minutes, the front and rear fuselages moved around to line up with one of the lateral fuselages. The object took off to the east-northeast, the single fuselage in front and the three parallel fuselages in the rear. On subsequent visits to the area, the German shepherd showed signs of nervousness. She died of acute cystitis within six weeks of the sighting. An investigator from the Ministry of Defense concluded that Brooks, who had undergone a corneal transplant some years previously, had observed a piece of loose matter floating in the vitreous fluid of his eyeball. He suggested that this effect and the prior UFO publicity might have triggered a dream state while Brooks was resting. Brooks argued that a vitreous floater would have followed the upward and downward movements of the eye muscle. Instead, the object entered his field of vision at thirty degrees, remained completely still for twenty-two minutes, then left his field of vision at 320 degrees. Brooks remained firm in his opinion that he had observed a controlled flying vehicle of unique design and performance.

Montgomery, Alabama: Location over which a UFO was sighted by two airline pilots in 1948. Although various authors have given the date of the incident variously as July 20, 23 and 25, the majority place the event on July 24. Captain Clarence S. Chiles and John B. Whitted were flying an Eastern Airlines DC-3 from Houston to Atlanta when, at about 2:45 a.m., they saw a large red light headed toward them from the east. As the aircraft veered to the left in an attempt to avoid collision, the UFO seemed to execute an intelligently controlled maneuver, passing to the right of the DC-3, pulling up with a burst of flame from its rear and zooming up into the clouds. There is uncertainty in the record and in the recollection of the pilots as to whether or not the aircraft was rocked in the wake of the UFO. Chiles and Whitted described the object as cigar-shaped, approximately one hundred feet in length and about thirty feet in diameter. On the nose of the UFO was a pointed protrusion resembling a radar antenna. Two rows of rectangular windows glowed brilliantly like burning magnesium. The object's underside glowed a phosphorescent blue. An orange-red flame extended about fifty feet from its rear. Only one passenger was awake at the time of the sighting. He observed a bright object flashing by the aircraft but was unable to discern any details. That same night, a cigar-shaped object shooting flames from the rear was observed independently by another pilot in the vicinity and by observers at Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia. Ufologists have noted the similarity of the object's appearance to that of a UFO seen a few days before, on July 21, over The Hague in Holland. Dutch observers reported a cigar-shaped UFO with two parallel rows of windows. The July 24th sighting was calssified as a meteor by the Air Force's astronomical consultant J. Allen Hynek. He conjectured that the impression of windows was supplied by the witnesses' imagination. Writers Donald Menzel and Philip Klass concurred in this assessment. Menzel pointed out that amateur astronomers had observed many exceptionally bright meteors that night from the Delta Aquarid meteor shower. Atmospheric physicist James McDonald contested this explanation, pointing out that a meteor could not have performed the maneuvers described by the pilots. Chiles and Whitted, themselves, rejected the possibility that the UFO might have been a meteor.

Moon: Some ufologists claim that pilots of extraterrestrial spacecraft maintain bases on the moon hidden under dark-colored domes. Supposedly, amateur astronomers have been observing the appearance and disappearance of these domes on various parts of the moon's surface since the 1920s. In 1953, John J. O'Neill, a science writer for the New York Herald-Tribune, observed through his telescopewhat appeared to be a bridge twelve-to-twenty miles long over the Mare Crisium. The feature had never been seen before. A few weeks later, British amateur astronomer H. P. Wilkins confirmed the presence of the "moon bridge." In November 1966, the United States' Orbiter 2 spacecraft photographed the moon's surface from a distance of twenty-three miles. One of these photographs, which circulates among UFO researchers, shows the alleged shadows of eight magalithic spires. The largest is estimated to be between fifty and seventy feet in height. Another rumor purports that Apollo 11 astronauts observed and filmed two UFOs that landed near the lunar module. The film has supposedly been put under tight security wraps by the Nastional Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The agency denies any such sighting ever occurred.

Morocco: Peak period of UFO activity in Morocco occurred in September during the worldwide wave of 1952 and again in September of 1976. On September 21, 1952, reports of flying disks poured in across the country. In Casablanca, a UFO was seen by five thousand people attending a boxing match. On September 24, 1976, American Ambassador to Morocco, Robert Anderson, sent a confidential communiqué to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger requesting information on unidentified flying objects. He reported that, the previous day, a Moroccan official had visited him to discuss UFO sightings on the night of September 18-19. Reports had come in from Agadir, Kalaa-Sraghna, Essaouira, Casablanca, Rabat, Kenitra, Meknes and the Fez region. The object was sighted from 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., traveling slowly on a south to north course, generally parallel to the Moroccan Atlantic coast. The silent object was estimated to be at an altitude of approximately 3,300 feet. While some witnesses described it as a silvery luminous disk, others described it as a large, luminous tube-shaped object. A Moroccan official clarified this discrepancy when he explained that he himself had seen the UFO which appeared circular until it came close, at which time he saw it as a cylindrical object. Intermittent trails of bright sparks and fragments were given off by the UFO. Ambassador Anderson, intrigued by the similarity of descriptions from widely separate locations, requested a prompt response from the State Department. Kissinger replied by describing past efforts to study the phenomenon, concluding that the object might have been a spectacular meteor or, on account of the burning fragments, slow velocity and absence of noise, a decaying satellite. Since the sightings occurred from 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., it is difficult to attribute this event to a meteor, which would not have been visible for a one-hour period within such a small area. With regards to decaying satellite parts, there was no re-entry record to account for an object seen on that date. Considering the weaknesses of these two hypotheses, it is not inappropriate that Kissinger stated, "It is difficult to offer any definitive explanation as to the cause or origin of the UFOs sighted in the Moroccan area . . . September 19, 1976."

Moses: Hebrew prophet who delivered his people from Egyptian slavery and founded the religious community known as Israel. Proponents of the Ancient Astronauts theory claim that the Hebrews were aided in their flight from Egypt by an extraterrestrial spaceship. Verse 21 of Chapter 13 of Exodus is often quoted as evidence of the presence of a typical cigar-shaped UFO: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night." Author Barry H. Downing speculates that the cigar-shaped UFO also caused the parting of the Red Sea and undertook defensive measures against the pursuing Egyptian army. He quotes verses 24 and 25 of Chapter 14 of Exodus: "And it came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians." Supporters of this hypothesis claim that the extraterrestrial astronauts continued to assist the wandering people by dropping sustenance in the form of manna. Later, according to the Book of Exodus, God instructed Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant. Author Erich von Däniken has speculated that the ark served as a radio.

Mother Ship: A giant carrier UFO, usually described as a cylindrical cigar-shaped craft, though colossal circular ships have also been reported. The small-size UFOs are believed to be launched from these giant carriers or mother ships in much the same manner that naval aircraft are carried on and launched from aircraft carriers. If true, this suggests that the small-size UFOs may not be capable of making long interstellar journeys. The possibility exists that UFOs originate from stars so distant from the sun that mother ships are the best and safest way to transport a fleet of UFOs to Earth.

Mothman: A strange humanoid monster with huge bat-like wings allegedly seen by more than one hundred people in West Virginia during 1966 and 1967. The name was given to the creature by an anonymous copy editor and derives from the Batman comic character who was the subject of a popular television series at the time of the sightings. Most witnesses described Mothman as gray, featherless and larger than a man, with a wingspan of about ten feet. He took off vertically and did not flap his wings in flight. Although no one could remember the creature's face, many witnesses described his eyes as round, glowing and red. Mothman was reported to chase motorists, to have a penchant for scaring women who were menstruating, and to cause conjunctivitis in some witnesses. Some researchers have speculated that Mothman originates from UFOs. Sightings of giant creatures resembling prehistoric birds have been reported in other parts of the United States. They are known as Garudas, named after the giant birds described in the mythology of India. A Garuda differs from Mothman in that its body is not humanoid.

Mount Rainier: Location of the first reported UFO sighting of the Modern Era. Kenneth Arnold, the witness, was a member of the Idaho Search and Rescue Mercy Flyers, flying deputy for the Ada County Aerial Posse, acting deputy federal United States marshal, aerial salesman and originator of the Great Western Fire Control System. An experienced pilot with over 4,000 hours of flying experience over mountains, he was flying his private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington, on June 24, 1947, when he decided to look for a plane that had been missing for several days in that area. At about 3:00 p.m., Arnols was approaching Mount Rainier from the west when a tremendous bright flash lit up the surface of his plane. He could not see the source of the flash. Suddenly, the light struck again. He looked around and saw nine objects rapidly approaching the mountain on a southern heading. As they neared, he saw that they were flat, disk-shaped objects arranged in a "diagonally stepped-down echelon formation" stretched out over about file miles. Using the peaks of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams as reference points, he clocked their speed at 1,700 miles per hour. Allowing for some degree of error, he subtracted 500 miles per hour, giving a speed that was still well above 1,000 miles per hour. In 1947, the only man-made object that could travel that fast was a rocket. Upon landing at Yakima, Arnold related his experience to Central Aircraft General Manager Al Baxter. Word quickly spread around the airport. By the time Arnold had reached the next stop on his route, Pendleton, Oregon, interested but skeptical news reporters were waiting for him. Arnold's standing as a reputable citizen changed their attitude and the incident was reported as a serious news item. When he described the objects as flying "like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water," newspaper headline writers coined the term flying saucer. The official United States Air Force (USAF) explanation for the sighting was that Arnold had seen a mirage in which the tips of the mountain peaks appeared to float above the mountain chain due to a layer of warm air. Astronomer J. Allen Hynek, however, in his official capacity as consultant to the Air Force, concluded that the sighting could probably be explained as a fleet of airplanes. He found irreconcilable differences in the data which brought Arnold's calculations into doubt. Arnold had stated that the objects were twenty to twenty-five miles away and their size about forty-five to fifty feet long. Hynek noted that an object of that size cannot be resolved by the human eye at that distance. Therefore, Arnold's estimation of distance was incorrect. Hynek assumed that the objects were probably closer to the pilot and therefore, traveling at subsonic speeds which were within the capability of 1947 aircraft. UFO investigator Ted Bloecher countered Hynek's argument by saying that Arnold had used fixed reference points to determine the distance of the objects and that it was therefore the size estimate which was wrong. This presents the possibility that the objects were of much greater size than Arnold realized. However, Bloecher also pointed out that Arnold originally misidentified the mountain peaks, further confusing the accuracy of the distance estimate. Another explanation for the sighting offered by astronomer Donald H. Menzel was that Arnold had observed raindrops on the window of his plane which were picking up light from the distant sky and which created an illusion of craft in formation while his eyes were focused on the distant mountains. Menzel and writer Lyle G. Boyd questioned Arnold's reliability as a witness by pointing out that when he later decided to sell his story to science fiction writer, editor and publisher Ray Palmer, some of the details were considerably changed and embellished. Despite the investigation and controversy launched by the Arnold sighting, it has not been definitely resolved to this day.

M2-F3: Wingless aircraft developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to demonstrate that such a craft could operate throughout a wide range of airspeeds and make safe, unpowered approaches and landings. These were areas of concern to engineers involved in the design and construction of the space shuttle. The craft is of some interest to ufologists because of its unconventional shape and its ability to land unaccompanied by traditional engine sounds.

Multiple Witness Case: Any case involving two or more witnesses. Some investigators give a low probability rating to any case involving only one witness. However, as has been demonstrated in several instances, the presence of multiple witnesses at a sighting does not eliminate the possibility of a hoax or the misidentification of a conventional object or natural phenomenon. Some of the well-known cases involving multiple witnesses are those which occurred at Albany, New York; Boianai, Papua New Guinea; Farmington, New Mexico; Flatwoods, West Virginia; Gaillac, France; Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Levelland, Texas; Oloron, France; Piedmont, Missouri; San José de Valderas, Spain; Teheran, Iran; Trindade Island, Brazil and White Sands, New Mexico.

Mute: Abbreviation denoting "mutilation" or "mutilated," sometimes used in reference to mysterious animal mutilations.

Mutual UFO Network (MUFON): An American non-profit organization that investigates cases of reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest UFO-investigative organizations in the United States. MUFON was originally established as the Midwest UFO Network in Quincy, Illinois on May 30, 1969 by Walter H. Andrus, Allen Utke, John Schuessler, and others. Most of MUFON's early members had earlier been associated with Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). The organization now has more than 3,000 members worldwide, with a majority of its membership base situated in the continental United States. MUFON operates a worldwide network of regional directors for field investigation of reported UFO sightings, holds an annual international symposium, and publishes the monthly MUFON UFO Journal. The group now has more than 800 field investigators as well as teams to investigate possible evidence of any extraterrestrial craft. The network trains volunteers to be investigators, and teaches them how to interview witnesses and how to draw conclusions from the evidence. Although investigators are not paid, they must pass both an exam on a 265-page manual, and a background check. The stated mission of MUFON is the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity through investigations, research and education. Along with the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), MUFON is part of the UFO Research Coalition, a collaborative effort by the three main UFO investigative organizations in the US whose goal is to share personnel and other research resources, and to fund and promote the scientific study of the UFO phenomenon. MUFON has a continually improving computerized UFO case management system, has a trained underwater dive team, has an active business board of directors and is currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio under the direction of David MacDonald, who owns an air carrier business in Cincinnati.

NARCAP: The National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena was founded in 1999 by Chief Scientist Dr. Richard Haines and Executive
Director, Ted Roe. Through careful planning and execution, NARCAP has grown to be a respected research organization dedicated to studying UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and aviation safety for the public's benefit. NARCAP was developed because it seems that the aviation industry is operating under a bias that is causing an under-reporting of safety-related encounters with UAP. Without this data, effective procedures have not been implemented and there is a real threat to aviation safety.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): The U.S. Agency responsible for planning and conducting the nation's programs of space exploration. During several space missions, NASA astronauts reported phenomena not immediately explainable. However, according to NASA officials, the agency satisfied itself in every instance that what had been observed was nothing which could be termed abnormal in the space environment. The air-to-ground tapes of all manned missions are available for review at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In July of 1977, Dr. Frank Press, Director of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, wrote to Dr. Robert A. Frosch, the NASA Administrator, suggesting NASA should answer all UFO-related mail and also to consider whether NASA should conduct an active research program on UFOs. In a letter dated December 21, 1977, Frosch agreed that NASA would continue to respond to UFO-related mail as it has in the past. He went on to say, ". . . If some new element of hard evidence is brought toour attention in the future, it would be entirely appropriate for a NASA laboratory to analyze and report upon an otherwise unexplained organic or inorganic sample; we stand ready to respond to any bona fide physical evidence from credible sources. We intend to leave the door open for such a possibility. We have given considerable thought to the question of what else the United States might and should do in the area of UFO research. There is an absence of tangible or physical evidence available for thorough laboratory analysis. And, because of the absence of such evidence, we have not been able to devise a sound scientific procedure for investigating these phenomena. To proceed on a research task without a sound disciplinary framework and an exploratory technique in mind would be wasteful and probably unproductive. I do not feel that we could mount a research effort without a better starting point than we have been able to identify thus far. I would therefore propose that NASA take no steps to establish research in this area or to convene a symposium on this subject. I wish in no way to indicate that NASA has come to any conclusion about these phenomena as such; institutionally, we retain an open mind, a keen sense of scientific curiosity and a willingness to analyze technical problems within our competence." In 1978, NASA released Information Sheet Number 78-1, which stated that NASA is the focal point for answering public inquiries to the White House relating to UFOs. The Information Sheet also asserted that NASA is not engaged in a research program involving these phenomena, nor is any other government agency.

National Archives: The repository for U.S. national records since 1774. In 1975, the United States Air Force (USAF) offered the records of Project Blue Book to the National Archives. To protect witnesses' anonymity, restrictions on the release of material included the deletion of names of witnesses and all other identifying data, investigators' conclusions, confidential sources of information and investigative techniques. Since the enormous budget and manpower required for such a task rendered it impractical, the records remained inaccessible for some time. It was only after dozens or requests were filed under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act that a private company was commissioned to complete the task. On July 12, 1978, the records were finally made available to the public, but the deletion of so much pertinent data had diminished their value to the researcher. Researchers immediately became aware that numerous important cases were missing from the records. The Air Force responded that any missing cases might be those which had generated CIRVIS (Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings) reports. The release of such cases would be dependent upon review on an individual basis. Believing that the missing material could be found in the files of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a number of organizations and individuals, including Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) and Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), filed suit against the CIA under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Researchers wishing to review the available material may obtain a researcher's permit from the National Archives and Record Service. The records are located in the Modern Military Branch.

National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP): The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (or NICAP) was a civilian unidentified flying object research group active in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s. Though NICAP was a non-profit organization, the group faced collapse many times in its existence, due in no small part to financial ineptitude among the group’s directors. Only for a few years in the 1960s, when the organization's membership spiked dramatically, was NICAP on firm financial ground. Despite these internal troubles, NICAP probably had the most visibility of any civilian American UFO group, and arguably had the most mainstream respectability; Jerome Clark writes that "for many middle-class Americans and others interested in UFOs but repelled by ufology’s fringe aspects, it served as a sober forum for UFO reporting, inquiry, investigation, and speculation". NICAP advocated transparent scientific investigation of UFO sightings and was skeptical of "contactee" tales involving meetings with space visitors, the alien abduction phenomenon, and the like. The presence of several prominent military officials as members of NICAP brought a further measure of respectability for many observers. NICAP was founded on October 24, 1956, by physicist Thomas Townsend Brown. The board of governors included several prominent men, including Donald Keyhoe, Maj USMC (Ret.), and former chief of the Navy’s guided missile program RADM Delmer S. Fahrney, USN (Ret.) By early January 1957, however, Brown had proved so financially inept that the board asked him to step down. Fahrney replaced him, then convened a press conference on January 16, 1957 where he announced that UFOs were under intelligent control, but that they were of neither American or Soviet origin. The press conference received major attention, doubtless aided by Fahrney’s stature. In April 1957, Fahrney resigned from NICAP, citing personal issues. It was later disclosed that his wife was seriously ill. Fahney was bothered by the whispers and ridicule his UFO interests generated among many of his peers in the military. Keyhoe became NICAP’s director. He established a monthly newsletter, The U.F.O. Investigator. Another prominent figure joined NICAP’s board of governors: Keyhoe's Naval Academy classmate VADM Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, USN (Ret.) He had been Director of Central Intelligence and first head of the Central Intelligence Agency. Another important name on the letterhead was that of Gen. Albert Coady Wedemeyer USA (Ret.) The organization had chapters and local associates scattered throughout the United States. Many of their members were amateurs, but a considerable percentage were professionals, including journalists, military personnel, scientists and medical doctors. One of NICAP’s prime goals was thorough field investigations of UFO reports. They would eventually compile a significant number of case files and field investigations which Clark characterises as "often first rate". By 1958, NICAP had grown to over 5000 members. Keyhoe’s financial skills were only slightly better than Brown’s, and NICAP hobbled along for several more years, facing collapse on several occasions. For most of his tenure as director, Keyhoe sent irregular letters to NICAP's members, warning of the organization's imminent collapse, and soliciting funds to keep NICAP from collapse. According to Jerome Clark, Keyhoe often paid for much of NICAP's operating expenses himself. Throughout its existence, NICAP argued that there was an organized governmental cover up of UFO evidence. NICAP also pushed for governmental hearings regarding UFOs, to at best limited and occasional success. Though any UFO-related group attracts a number of uncritical enthusiasts along with a small percentage of cranks, astronomer J. Allen Hynek cited NICAP and APRO as the two best civilian UFO groups of their time, consisting largely of sober, serious minded people capable of valuable contributions to the subject. Until the mid-1960s, NICAP gave little attention to close encounters of the third kind (where animated beings are purportedly sighted in relation to a UFO). However, longtime NICAP member Richard H. Hall related privately that this position was "tactical and not doctrinaire." In other words, NICAP did not necessarily dismiss occupant reports out of hand, but elected to focus on other aspects of the UFO phenomenon which would be perceived by mainstream observers as less outlandish. The attention given to the contactees of the 1950s (who typically claimed ongoing contact with benevolent "Space Brothers") was almost certainly a factor in NICAP’s reluctance to study UFO occupant reports too closely. But with the 1964 Lonnie Zamora UFO encounter — regarded by researchers as one of the most reliable UFO occupant reports — NICAP loosened its restrictions on studying UFO occupant reports.

NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's "Partnership for Peace", with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.

NAZCA: Arid, elevated plain in southern Peru. Lines, trapezoids and animal forms are etched into the surface of the Nazca Plain. Some of the ruler-straight lines run for miles, traversing hills and precipices. The animal figures are drawn on such an enormous scale that their forms are discernible only from the air. Their outlines have been created by removing the small purplish brown rocks from the desert surface to reveal the ochre-colored soil beneath. The area's paucity of rain and natural erosion have left the lines intact over the centuries. Author Erich von Däniken has postulated that the Nazca Lines represent an improvised airfield built by ancient astronauts. He suggests that after the extraterrestrials had left Earth, the Nazca people continued to expand and elaborate the etchings in order to entice the god-like beings back to Earth.

New Hampshire: Location of one of the most celebrated encounters in UFO history. The case involved Betty and Barney Hill, whose interracial marriage may have had some bearing upon the episode. Barney, a black, worked for the United States Post Office, while Betty, a Caucasian, was a State of New Hampshire social worker. Both were active in the civil rights movement, as well as in social work. It was a second marriage for both, and Barney had two children by his previous marriage. At the time of the incident, Barney was thirty-nine years old and Betty was forty-one. On the night of September 19, 1961, the Hills were driving toward their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from Canada via U.S. Highway 3 through the White Mountains. Betty noticed a bright light which appeared to be moving erratically and flashing different colored lights. At times, it seemed to be spinning. They stopped a few times to look at it through binoculars. As the object approached, they discerned a large disk-shaped craft with windows around its rim. After stopping the car, Barney looked at the UFO through binoculars as it hovered sliently, about fifty feet away from him. He could see at least six beings, wearing dark uniforms, watching him through the windows. All but one turned away to attend by a large control panel behind them. The object then continued its gradual descent. Two fins, each bearing a red light, were slowly extending from the right and left of the craft. Another extension was lowered from its base. Barney became terrified by the eyes of the one crew member who continued to stare at him and who reminded him of a German Nazi. Convinced he was about to be captured, Barney ran back to the car, screaming. They drove off quickly. Soon they heard an irregular beeping sound coming from the trunk, and felt a tingling sensation and drowsiness. Another series of beeps aroused them and they discovered they had traveled thirty-five miles and could not recall what had happened in between. Their watches had stopped running. The following day, Barney felt an unexplained soreness on the back of his neck and noticed that his shoes had become scuffed on the tops of the toes. Betty called her sister, Janet, since Janet and her family had seen a UFO four years before. Reportedly, Janet's neighbor, a physicist, suggested that the Hills test their car with a compass for radiation. It was then that Betty discovered round, shiny spots on the paint of the car's trunk. Apparently, the compass needle wavered when held near these spots. However, when Barney repeated the test, the needle remained steady. The test was of little significance, in any case, since radioactivity cannot be detected by a magnetic compass. Betty, however, became obsessed with the idea that they had been exposed to radioactivity. A report was filed with Pease Air Force Base but no description was given of the object when it was at its closest to the observers and no mention was made of windows or occupants. Ten days later, Betty began to have a series of vivid dreams in which she and Barney were taken aboard a flying saucer and medically examined. The dreams continued for five successive nights. She related these dreams to her friends and colleagues, and made a writen record of all the details. During an interview with civilian UFO investigators one month after the incident, Betty and Barney realized that the trip from Canada to Portsmouth had taken at least two hours longer than it should have. The investigators suggested that the Hills try to find out what had transpired during the missing time through hypnosis. Meanwhile, Barney had been suffering from ulcers, high blood pressure, exhaustion resulting from his long commute to work and stress due to his separation from his sons. In addition, a ring of warts had begun to develop in the area of his groin. From the summer of 1962 until the summer of 1963, Barney underwent psychiatric treatment. Little attention was paid to the UFO incident but eventually, Barney asked his psychiatrist, Dr. Duncan Stephens, about the use of hypnotic regression to resolve the matter. Stephens arranged for him to see an eminent Boston psychiatrist, Dr. Benjamin Simon. Betty accompanied Barney on his first visit to Dr. Simon in December 1963. It quickly became apparent to Simon that both Barney and Betty needed treatment. There followed a series of visits during which husband and wife independently underwent hypnotic regressions. Separately, they recounted a story of being taken aboard a spacecraft shortly after the first set of beeps. Barney had kept his eyes closed during most of the experience. They were able to communicate with the aliens telepathically and described them as humanoid, with large eyes that reached around to the side of the head, no nose, and a mouth that was a slit without lip muscles. The Hills were given medical examinations in separate rooms. At one point, Barney was aware of a circular instrument being placed around his groin. During Betty's examination, a long needle was inserted inher navel. She was told it was a pregnancy test. Afterwards, she was shown a map of dots joined by lines which represented travel routes. Betty was told they would not remember the experience, but she was determined that she would. They were returned to their car, where their frightened dog was curled up in a ball under one of the seats. The craft increased in brilliance and resembled a glowing orange ball as it left. Simon concluded that the Hills had undergone an imaginary experience caused by fear after an actual close UFO approach. Barney's hysteria while re-experiencing the incident under hypnosis left little doubt that he had indeed seen something and that it had been a very frightening experience. Simon suggests that long-standing racial tensions were one of the factors that played an important part in Barney's emotional condition. Many of the details recounted by Betty resembled typical symbolic characteristics of dreams, some of them sexual. Most of the details of Barney's alleged experiences were described in Betty's account, but her account contained many details not included in Barney's. Since Betty had related her early dreams of the encounter many times in Barney's presence, it seemed that he might have acquired the story of the abduction exclusively from her. Following the hypnotherapy, the Hills' emotional tensions were relieved but not eliminated and, in February 1969, Barney died at age forty-six of a cerebral hemorrhage. The Hill encounter has remained one of the most controversial cases on record. Subsequent reports of abductions seem to be patterned after the New Hampshire incident. However, there are many contradictory elements to the story. While under hypnosis, Barney said that the craft had rows of windows. Moments later, he described it as having a single row of windows. Betty, on the other hand, said she could see a double row of windows. Betty originally said that the crew's leader had spoken in English with a foreign accent. She later changed her story, saying that he communicated telepathically. While the leader seemed totally familiar with the mechanics of her dress zipper, he did not understand why Barney's teeth could be removed. When Betty explained that some older people need false teeth, he could not grasp the concept of age and time. Yet, moments later, he told her to "wait a minute." With regard to the needle inserted in Betty's navel, there is a similar procedure, known as amniocentesis, in which fluid surrounding a fetus is withdrawn. However, this is not a test to establish pregnancy but rather a test to study amniotic fluid cells, usually for signs of chromosomal aberrations and sex-linked and metabolic disorders. Moreover, the procedure is generally limited to high risk cases because of the inherent danger of injury to the mother and the fetus. Some researchers have claimed that the procedure was not discovered until some years afterward and its use was therefore further evidence of the incident's reality. However, although amniocentesis was not widely used until the mid- to late-1960s, it was in the pioneering stage in the mid-1950s and a preliminary report detailing its clinical use was published as long ago as 1930 in the American Journal of Roentgenology and Radiation Therapy. Some ufologists who believe the Hill abduction to have been a real experience point out that something must have occurred to cause the Hills to arrive home more than two hours late. Philip Klass suggested that after being frightened by the UFO, the Hills had turned onto an obscure side road. He stated that since Barney feared capture, it was likely they would not have returned to the main road for a long time. It has been suggested that Barney's warts were a psychosomatic symptom connected with the emotions experienced under hypnosis. However, the warts had first appeared in 1962, before his visits to Simon. In 1964, during the sessions, the warts became inflamed, suggesting that there might be some connection between them and the memories of the alleged abduction. However, it is possible that the warts may have been incorporated into the so-called memories in the same way that daily experiences are incorporated into night-time dreams. Under post-hypnotic suggestion, Betty drew the star map she had supposedly seen aboard the alien craft. The tentative identification of the main star as Zeta Reticuli, several years later, led to much controversy. Some ufologists and astronomers have pointed out that there are at least three other constellations whose pattern matches that of Betty's map. Whether or not the abduction part of the Hills' story was a subconscious fantasy, it is generally agreed that they did see a glowing UFO in the night sky. Skeptics argue that they probably saw a bright star or planet. Klass had suggested that they observed a plasma associated with the high-tension power lines which runs alongside U.S. Highway 3. He points out that the appearance of spinning and the colors described by the Hills are characteristic of plasmas formed in the air. He also speculated that a glowing plasma might have a hypnotic effect on some observers, especially if seen at close range in darkness. The incident received worldwide publicity. In 1975, the Hills' ordeal was dramatized in a nationwide television special called The UFO Incident.

Newport News, Virginia: Location of a well-publicized UFO encounter on July 14, 1952. A Pan American Airways DC-4, flying at 8,000 feet, was approaching the Norfolk, Virginia, area en route to Miami at about 8:10 p.m. Captain William B. Nash and Third Officer William Fortenberry suddenly noticed a red brilliance in the sky, seemingly beyond and to the east of Newport News. The light quickly became distinguishable as six bright objects streaking toward the plane, at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, a mile below them. The six craft were fiery red. "Their shape was clearly outlined and evidently circular," Captain Nash later stressed. "The edges were well-defined, not phosphorescent or fuzzy in the least." The upper surfaces were glowing red-orange. Within seconds, they could see that the disks were holding a narrow-echelon formation, a slightly stepped-up line tilted to the right from the pilots' point of view, with the leader at the lowest point and each following object successively higher. The diameter of each disk was about one hundred feet. The lead object suddenly seemed to decelerate. The second and third objects wavered slightly and almost passed the leader. When the line of disks was almost directly beneath the airliner and slightly to the right front, their brightness diminished slightly and they flipped on edge in unison, the sides to the left of the plane going up and the glowing top surfaces facing right. In this position, the pilots were able to see that the UFOs were shaped rather like coins. Though the bottom surfaces did not become clearly visible, Nash and Fortenberry had the impression that they were unlit. The exposed edges, also unlit, appeared to be about fifteen feet thick, and the top surface seemed to be flat. While in this edgewise position, the last five slid over and past the leader so that the echelon was now in reverse order and still tilted. Then, flipping back into a horizontal position and resuming their former brightness, they darted off in a direction that formed a sharp angle with their first course, their sequence being as it was when the pilots had first spotted them. Almost immediately, Nash and Fortenberry caught sight of two more identical but brighter craft as they darted out from under the airplane at the same altitude as the other six. As the two additional disks joined the formation, the lights of all eight blinked out, then came back on again. Still in line, the eight disks sped westward, north of Newport News. They climbed in a graceful arc above the altitude of the airliner and then blinked out, one by one, but not in sequence. Nash and Fortenberry estimated the speed of the objects to be at least twelve thousand miles per hour. The two men were interrogated at length by United States Air Force (USAF) investigators who informed them that the incident had been observed by seven other groups of observers, including a lieutenant commander and his wife.

New Zealand: A UFO wave occurred in New Zealand in 1960. The area's most famous incidents were the New Zealand sightings of 1978/1979. The country has several investigative organizations and its most prominent publication was the magazine, Xenolog.

New Zealand Sightings - 1978/1979: On New Year's Day, 1979, a radar/visual UFO sighting in New Zealand made headlines around the world. Some of the UFOs had been captured on film which became the focus point of an extensive investigation. Although worldwide news reports dealt primarily with the sightings which had occurred on the night of December 30/31, the incident was actually the culmination of a series of sightings. A number of radar sightings had occurred about two weeks previously off the northeast coast of New Zealand's South Island. The first of the major radar/visual sightings, however, began on December 21. At about 12:30 a.m., air traffic controllers at Wellington Airport detected three unidentified targets on their radar screens. One object, estimated to be as large as a commercial airliner, had been tracked moving at high speed for sixty miles. Then it stopped and remained stationary. A New Zealand turboprop freighter, an Argosy, was in the vicinity. The pilot was asked by the controllers to take a look. At about 1:20 a.m., Captain Vern Powell radioed that he could see white lights similar to landing lights in the area. The lights appeared as targets on the airplane's weather radar. At about 3:30 a.m., Powell radioed that a bright red light was visible to the east of the freighter. Wellington controllers confirmed that their radar showed a target about twenty-three miles to the right of the plane. They watched the target as it tracked the aircraft for a distance of twelve miles. Shortly afterward, Powell reported that the object had changed from red to white with a red ring. The light was extremely bright, and when it passed behind clouds, Powell could still see its glow. By this time, Wellington radar operators reported that they had five strong targets in the area. As he approached Christchurch, Powell radioed that his weather radar showed a target approaching the plane at high speed. It had traveled fifteen miles in five seconds. The blip disappeared from the screen. When Powell looked out, he saw a flashing white light off to the side of the airplane. The sightings made front page headlines in Australia and New Zealand. Quentin Fogarty, a reporter for Australian Television Channel O, was vacationing in New Zealand at the time. He was asked by the Melbourne office to do a story on the incident. Fogarty hired a cameraman, David Crockett, whose wife, Ngaire Crockett, operated the recording equipment. The Crocketts were unknown to Fogarty before this time. Fogarty and the Crocketts interviewed and filmed the Wellington air traffic control radar operators and the pilot involved in the sightings. At 10:15 p.m. on December 30, 1978, Fogarty and the Crocketts boarded an Argosy aircraft, piloted by Captain Bill Startup and co-pilot Robert Guard, for the purpose of filming a reconstruction of Powell's flight. The pilots were unknown to Fogarty and the Crocketts prior to the flight. They were flying south from Wellington with a full cargo of newspapers when the flight crew noticed unusual lights in the direction of the Kaikoura peninsula. It was just after midnight. The flight crew contacted the Wellington radar controllers, who confirmed that they were picking up strong unidentified returns in that area. Fogarty and the Crocketts were alerted. During the next fifty minutes, until the airplane landed at Christchurch, those on board observed a spectacular and sometimes frightening UFO display. Because of the objects' apparent ability to appear and disappear at will, only a short segment of film footage was obtained. The Wellington radar operators reported that at times, there were up to ten unknown radar targets and rarely were there fewer than two. At one point, one unidentified blip merged with that of the aircraft as if it were flying in formation with the Argosy. The passengers remembered, with some trepidation, the UFO-related disappearance of a pilot just over two months previously near Melbourne, Australia. The airplane landed at Christchurch at 1:00 a.m. After the newspapers had been unloaded, Fogarty and David Crockett boarded the aircraft again for the return flight. A reporter from Christchurch, Dennis Grant, who was a friend of Fogarty, took the place of Ngaire Crockett, who did not want to fly back through the area of the previous sightings. The airplane took off from Christchurch at 2:16 a.m. and climbed up through a low layer of clouds. As it broke through the clouds about three minutes after takeoff, those aboard saw a brilliant light ahead and to the right. Captain Startup, who compared the object to a featureless full moon, turned on the airplane's nose radar to the mapping mode. He picked up a strong target just over twenty miles away in the direction of the bright light. Later, the target approached within ten miles. The object remained in view for about twelve minutes and it was during this time that the cameraman took the now famous films with a 240 mm lens. He described the object as having a brightly lit base with what appeared to be a transparent dome. About thirty-five miles out of Christchurch, with the object still outside the window, Startup decided to turn toward it. He put the aircraft into a ninety-degree turn. The object, however, appeared to have moved to the right as the plane turned. The plane flew southeast for about a minute or more, during which time the UFO appeared to be at a lower altitude and appeared to move to the right of the aircraft. When Captain Startup turned to the left to resume his original flight path out of Christchurch, the object appeared ahead of him. He thinks the plane then flew over it. The bright object was not seen again. When the airplane was east of Kaikoura, Wellington air traffic controllers again reported targets around the aircraft. Several of these were observed by those on board. One brightly flashing light was filmed. The film shows a light which oscillates rapidly from very bright white or yellow-white to dim red-and-orange. The Argosy landed about 3:15 a.m. That same day, the Royal New Zealand Air Force put a Skyhawk jet fighter on standby alert to intercept any newly-sighted UFOs. About a week after the sightings, the film was on its way to the United States to be analyzed. Channel O selected the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) to perform the task. The project was assigned to physicist Bruce Maccabee. After initial tests had confirmed that something unusual had been captured on film, Maccabee visited both Australia and New Zealand to interview the principals in the case. On March 26, 1979, Maccabee's findings were released at a press conference in New York City. Maccabee stated that the films shot when the aircraft was ten to forty miles northeast of Christchurch shows a light that has various shapes, including almost round. almost triangular and bell-shaped. The bell-shaped image, obtained with a 240 mm lens, has a bright base and an upper portion which is less bright, in agreement with the cameraman's description of an object with an apparently transparent dome. Many of the images are overexposed, suggesting a very bright yellowish-white light. An estimate of the brightness of the source, if it were just over ten miles away from the plane, shows that it could have been as powerful as several hundred thousand candlepower, candlepower being a measure of the amount of visible light given off by a source of light. For comparison, a one hundred thousand watt incandescent bulb radiating in all directions would have about 200,000 candlepower. Maccabee also stated that the sizes of the images on the film suggest a source which, if it were just over ten miles away, would be about one hundred feet wide. Maccabee and astronomer J. Allen Hynek, after investigation and study, established that the UFOs were not Venus or other planets, stars, meteors, balloons, other aircraft, ground lights, secret military maneuvers, fishing boats or a hoax. They also discounted the possibility that the radar returns were angels because the temperature inversion was insuficient and too high and there had been little turbulence. In addition, stated Maccabee, angels do not explain the dynamics of the targets. Maccabee and Hynek also reject the possibility of equipment malfunction because the radar needed no more than the normal maintenance at the time. Other scientists joining Maccabee and Hynek in the opinion that the UFO film shows something very unusual are plasma physicist Peter Sturrock, optical physiologist Richard Haines, biophysicist Gilbert Levin and electronics specialist Neil Davis. Other scientists, most notably several government and industry radar specialists, who also endorsed this appraisal, requested that their names not be used in order to protect their sensitive professional positions.

NICAP: Acronym for National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. NICAP was a private organization, founded in 1956, dedicated to investigating and determining the facts of the UFO phenomenon. It had branches in all fifty states and in over thirty foreign countries. It maintained a huge library of all reported UFO sightings and co-operated in all serious attempts to study the phenomenon. Its basic assumption was that UFOs are real and objective objects and not merely hallucinatory or illusory in nature. It was opposed to government censorship of the UFO material and had long advocated release of governmental records on UFOs. One of its major goals was to convince the government to undertake a serious and objective scientific study of UFOs. The Colorado University Project, the last major study of UFOs, was criticized by NICAP as being biased.

Nocturnal Light (NL): Term coined by astronomer J. Allen Hynek to denote an unidentified light seen at night which does not fir the pattern of lights from known soures. The general characteristics of nocturnal lights are brilliance of -2 to -3 stellar magnitude, floating, hovering, abrupt reversal of direction, zigzagging movements and sudden acceleration. Their color is often described as amber, orange or yellow, sometimes changing to blue or red. Changes in brightness are sometimes observed in association with speed and directional changes. When the lights disappear, many witnesses describe the effect as that of a light being switched off. Nocturnal lights are more frequently reported than daytime UFOs, referred to as Daylight Disks.

NORAD: North American Aerospace Defense Command is a combined organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD and the NORAD/USNORTHCOM command center are located at Peterson Air Force Base in El Paso County, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The nearby Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker has the Alternative Command Center. Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters is at CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is responsible for providing surveillance and control of Canadian airspace. The Royal Canadian Air Force provides alert assets to NORAD. CANR is divided into two sectors, which are designated as the Canada East Sector and Canada West Sector. Both Sector Operations Control Centers (SOCCs) are co-located at CFB North Bay Ontario. The routine operation of the SOCCs includes reporting track data, sensor status and aircraft alert status to NORAD headquarters. Canadian air defense forces assigned to NORAD include 441 and 416th Tactical Fighter Squadrons at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta and 425 and 433 Tactical Fighter Squadrons at CFB Bagotville, Quebec. All squadrons fly the CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. In cooperation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the United States drug law enforcement agencies, the Canadian NORAD Region monitors all air traffic approaching the coast of Canada. Any aircraft that has not filed a flight plan may be directed to land and be inspected by RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency.

North Hudson Park, New Jersey: Location of a UFO encounter during January, 1975. Liquor store owner George O'Barski was driving through the park on his way home from work at about 2:00 a.m. when his car radio developed static. After a few moments, the radio went silent. Through the window, O'Barski heard a droning sound similar to that of a refrigerator motor. Looking up, he noticed a domed, disk-shaped object floating downward. About thirty-five feet in diameter and about seven feet high, the craft came to a stop about fifty feet away. Several illuminated vertical windows encircled the object. Spaced about one foot apart, the windows were about one foot wide and four feet high. As the craft hovered or rested on unseen legs about four feet off the ground, a square illuminated opening appeared. A ladder dropped to the ground. About ten small creatures scrambled down to the ground. Approximately three-and-a-half feet tall, they resembled children wearing snowsuits. Their faces were hidden by round helmets. Each creature carried a small bag with a handle and a spoon-like shovel. They quickly scooped up samples of soil, which they placed in the bags. After a couple of minutes, they returned to their craft which took off at high speed and disappeared. O'Barski's radio functioned normally again. After being publicized in newspapers and on television, the case was investigated by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). The organization's investigators discovered that a doorman at the Stonehenge apartment complex overlooking the park has also observed a UFO on the night of O'Barski's encounter.

NRO: The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), located in Chantilly, Virginia, is one of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies and considered, along with the CIA, NSA, DIA and NGA, to be one of the "big five" U.S. Intelligence agencies. It designs, builds, and operates the spy satellites of the United States government, and coordinates the analysis of aerial surveillance and satellite imagery from several intelligence and military agencies. The Director of the NRO reports to both the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense and serves as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Intelligence Space Technology). The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) develops and operates space reconnaissance systems and conducts intelligence-related activities for U.S. national security. It also coordinates collection and analysis of information from airplane and satellite reconnaissance by the military services and the Central Intelligence Agency. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, which is part of the National Intelligence Program (formerly known as the National Foreign Intelligence Program). The agency is part of the Department of Defense. The NRO works closely with its intelligence and space partners, which include the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the United States Strategic Command, Naval Research Laboratory and other agencies and organizations.

NSA: National Security Agency.

Nuclear Fission: The breakdown of the nucleus of an element with high atomic number into nuclei of lower atomic numbers. In the process, there is a conversion into energy of part of the mass of the nucleus. In an atomic (or nuclear) power station, there is a controlled reaction so that the energy which is released is channelled into industrial use. In an atomic bomb, the reaction is uncontrolled with the result that an explosion takes place, creating much devastation. The biggest potential danger posed by nuclear fission is the deadly radiation which is released. Even nuclear power stations have a problem in disposing of deadly radioactive material. A major debate is in progress on whether the benefits provided by atomic energy outweight the dangers. Opponents point out that alternate sources of safe energy, like solar energy, are available. The dangers notwithstanding, nuclear energy possesses great advantages. For example, controlled nuclear fission can provide the energy needed to power submarines and ships for months without the need for refuelling. Perhaps one day, it could even be used to power spaceships. Radiation, which indicates the presence of fission, has also been detected in some UFOs. This has led ufologists to speculate that nuclear energy is somehow involved in the propulsive system of some, perhaps all, UFOs.

Nuremberg, Germany: Location of a spectacular UFO sighting on April 14, 1561, depicted at the time in a woodcut by Hans Glaser. In the early morning, the sky was filled with cylindrical UFOs, from which there emerged black, red, orange and blue-white spheres and disks. The objects seemed to be fighting with each other. In the lower right-hand corner of Glaser's woodcut are a number of smoking spheres which appear to have crashed. The incident was interpreted by the various observers as a supernatural or religious phenomenon.

O'Brien Report: Document describing the proceedings, conclusions and recommendations of the United States Air Force (USAF) Scientific Advosory Board Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book. Increased concern about UFOs in 1965 led astronomer and Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek to propose that a panel of civilian scientists carefully review the UFO situation to establish whether or not a major problem really existed, and to make recommendations about the program's future status within the Air Force. Consequently, on September 28, 1965, Major General E. B. LeBailly, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Information, wrote a memo to the Military Division of the Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board, requesting "that a working scientific panel composed of both physical and social scientists be organized to review Project Blue Book - its resources, methods, and findings - and to advise the Air Force as to any improvements that should be made in the program to carry out the Air Force's assigned responsibility." As a result, the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book was formed, headed by physicist Brian O'Brien. On the panel were psychologist Launor F. Carter, psychologist Jesse Orlansky, electrical engineer Richard Porter, astronomer and space scientist Carl Sagan and electrical engineer Willis H. Ware. All but Sagan were members of the Air Force Scientific Advosory Board. They met for only one day, February 3, 1966. The committee reviewed the Robertson Panel report of 1953 and was briefed by the then-head of Project Blue Book, Major Hector Quintanilla, and the staff of the Air Force's Foreign Technology Division (a newly-formed division which took over UFO investigations). In March, the O'Brien group issued its report. The committee concluded that the Air Force program dealing with UFO sightings had been well-organized, although the resources assigned to it had been quite limited. The report pointed out that "there is always the possibility that analysis of new sightings may provide some additions to scientific knowledge of value to the Air Force. Moreover, some of the case records which the committee looked at that were listed as 'identified' were sightings where the evidence collected was too meager or too indefinite to permit positive listing in the identified category. Because of this, the committee recommends that the present program be strengthened to provide opportunity for scientific investigation of selected sightings in more detail and depth than has been possible to date." To accomplish this, the committee's principal recommendation was that, "Contracts be negociated with a few selected universities to provide scientific teams to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sightings of UFOs. Each team should include at least one psychologist, preferably one interested in clinical psychology, and at least one physical scientist, preferably an astronomer or geophysicist familiar with atmospheric physics." The committee also suggested that Project Blue Book reports "should be given wide unsolicited circulation among prominent members of the Congress and other public persons as a further aid to public understanding of the scientific approach being taken by the Air Force in attacking the UFO problem." The O'Brien Report resulted in the formation of the Condon Committee, a team of scientific investigators and researchers at the University of Colorado, who conducted an eighteen-month Air Force/taxpayer-sponsored investigation and evaluation of UFOs.

Ocala, Florida: Location of a radar/visual UFO sighting on May 14, 1978. Located in an isolated area of the Ocala Forest is the Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range, a Navy installation where military pilots are trained. At about 10:00 p.m., Duty Officer SK-1 Robert J. Clark received a telephone call from a woman in Silver Glen Springs. She reported seeing a bright light in the sky and wanted to know if the Navy was using flares at the time. Ten minutes later, Clark received another call from Rocky Morgan, a fishing guide from the Silver Glen Springs campgrounds. Morgan and eight other persons had observed an object, approximately fifty to sixty feet in diameter with multicolored lights, which passed over them at treetop level as they were driving on Highway 19. Clark contacted the base air controller, and together, they went to the tower to check out the possibility that a commercial or military aircraft might have crashed or was experiencing mechanical difficulties. In addition, the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville was contacted to determine if any military or private aircraft were known to be in the area. The answer was negative. While attempting to make visual contact, Clark notified external security and had them contact radar operator T.D.2 Timothy Collins. When Collins arrived at the tower, he was given a pair of binoculars, with which he observed a cluster of glowing lights that appeared to be moving from north to northwest, but he could make no identification. Although it was a quiet evening, he could hear no noise coming from the cluster of objects. He was asked to turn on the MSQ-102 tracking radar and to attempt to lock onto the targets. During the twenty minutes or so needed to warm up the radar, he searched the area with the periscope and again sighted the object. When the radar was fully operational, an object was detected approximately sixty miles to the north. Using the known bearing, range and elevation of an old Civil Defense tower located approximately three miles away, Collins locked the tracking antenna on the tower into automatic tracking. He then saw one stationary object and one other object moving slowly around the tower. The computer readout indicated that at the time, the object was almost motionless in relation to ground velocity. Collins then switched to manual tracking and continued to search for other objects. He observed another object north of them, but was unable to lock onto it. Turning to the PPI (planned position indicator) radar, he then noticed a moving object northwest of the range, three to five miles away and south from the general direction of the Civil Defense tower. As he locked onto the object, it accelerated rapidly, moving approximately five miles in one one-second sweep. After accelerating in a southerly direction, the object veered north in the direction of Pinecastle and decelerated as it approached the base. It then disappeared. Science writer Robert Sheaffer has conjectured that the Ocala UFO report of May 14, 1978, describes three different celestial bodies. He attributes the initial civilian visual sighting to Venus, which was in its final stages of setting at about 10:00 p.m. The position of the object observed by the Pinecastle personnel, according to Sheaffer, matched that of Jupiter so well that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the object was indeed that brilliant planet. He stated that the bouncing attributed to the UFO was probably the result of Autokinesis, an effect frequently experienced by observers of celestial bodies. Sheaffer suggested that the second UFO seen by the Navy observers was the brilliant star Capella, which would have been at treetop level ten minutes after Jupiter's disappearance. Writer Allan Hendry argued that the Navy witnesses, who were shown Venus and Jupiter on subsequent nights, claimed to have seen those planets as well as the UFO on the night of May 14. Sheaffer stated that since Venus had already set by the time the observations began at the Naval installation, their claim brought into question the reliability of their entire report. Hendry, however, points out that since there was uncertainty about the exact time the observations began, it was, in fact, possible for the Navy observers to have seen Venus. Moreover, Clark reported that the UFO was brighter than both planets. Hendry also points out that Capella was positioned twice as far to the north as the estimated position of the UFO and would already have been clearly visible before Jupiter set. Sheaffer attempts to demonstrate that accounts of the sighting misrepresented the facts when describing the first radar lock-on. He claims that no unambiguous radar image of an airborne object was attained at that time. However, Collins later confirmed that, in addition to the image of the Civil Defense tower, there was a solid image of the size usually presented by a passing jetliner. The radarscope indicated that both images were at a range of about three miles. Hendry calculates the UFO to have been only 0.09 degrees above the tower, a position which could not be achieved by Venus or Jupiter. To explain the confusion about whether the radar had locked on the UFO or the tower, Collins explained that it was not possible to determine whether the radar was locked on to the UFO or the tower. Sheaffer questioned why the radar operator was unable to lock on to the target while it was traveling at approximately 500 knots, a speed equal to that of military aircraft in the area. Hendry, however, points out that it was during the last couple of seconds when the UFO exceeded 500 knots that the radar operator could not achieve lock-on. Sheaffer suggests that since it had been a couple of hours since the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville had said there were no aircraft in the area, the final target might, in fact, have been an aircraft. Hendry, however, checked the Jackson Air Route Traffic Control Center's Track Analysis Program. The radar print-out revealed that none of the airplanes which flew through the area during the sighting period could have been responsible for the rapid southbound trajectory observed. In all, eight Naval personnel assigned to Pinecastle had observed the objects, either visually or electronically. Subsequently, additional telephone calls were received from civilian personnel about this sighting and other sightings occurring during the following weeks.

Occupants: The majority of reports by abduction victims describe UFO occupants as humanoid in appearance. Although height estimates vary from three to five feet, the average occupant is about four-and-a-half feet tall. His arms hang down to his knees, and he may have only three or four digits on each hand. His bald head is large with a pointed chin, wrap-around, almond-shaped eyes and a slit-like mouth. Although nostrils may be evident, there is usually no nose. Despite facetious references to Little Green Men, reports of green occupants are almost non-existent. Occupants' skin is usually described as white or gray and sometimes scaly. Clothing is usually form-fitting and uniform in color. The humanoid ufonaut allegedly communicates telepathically and floats or glides instead of walking. Encounters involving this type of occupant allegedly occurred in New Hampshire, Pascagoula, Mississippi, and South Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Other types of occupants reported include small, hairy, aggressive creatures with claws, such as those seen at Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and monsters such as that seen at Flatwoods, West Virginia. Occasionally, witnesses claim to have seen the legendary Bigfoot during, just prior to or after a UFO sighting. This has led some ufologists to speculate that bigfoot is a UFO occupant. Some UFO reports describe entities that are apparently robots, such as in the alleged sightings at Cisco Grove, California, and Falkville, Alabama. Flying saucer occupants described by contactees are usually tall, blond and attractive. They are supposedly similar enough to humans, however, to walk among us unrecognized.

Odor: Witnesses rarely report sensing any specific odor in connection with a UFO encounter. In those rare cases, however, where some aroma is noted, it is usually compared to embalming fluid, brake liquid or sulphur. The latter has also been associated with alleged manifestations into our dimension of evil spirits. Abduction victims have occasionally reported a sweet odor sensed in the interior of alleged spaceships, as in the South Ashburnham, Massachusetts case.

Oloron, France: Location of a classic UFO sighting which occurred toward the end of the 1952 European wave. On October 17, hundreds of people in and around Oloron observed a cloud of unusual shape in the clear blue sky. Above the cloud was a clearly-defined, narrow, white cylinder, tilted at a forty-five-degree angle and moving slowly toward the southwest. White smoke was emerging from its upper end. In front of the cylinder were about thirty objects resembling puffs of smoke. Through binoculars, these objects were distinguishable as red spheres, circled by yellow rings inclined at an angle in such a way that the bases of the spheres were almost completely hidden. The objects traveled in pairs following zigzag paths. When two moved close to each other, a white streak resembling an electric arc was formed. The objects left a trail of Angel's Hair behind them, which drifted down in large quantities. Ten days later, the event reoccurred at Gaillac, France.

Operation Mainbrace: Military maneuvers conducted from September 13 to 25, 1952, in the vicinity of Denmark and Norway. The operation involved 80,000 men; 1,000 airplanes; and 200 ships from eight NATO countries and New Zealand. A wave of UFO sightings had begun in Europe during August. The first of those involving military personnel participating in Operation Mainbrace occurred on September 13. Danish Lieutenant Commander Schmidt Jensen and seven crew members aboard the destroyer Willemoes observed a bluish, glowing triangular UFO traveling at high speed. Four more outstanding sightings occurred on or around September 20. These involved shiny metallic spheres and rotating disk-shaped objects which, in some cases, followed aircraft and took evasive action when pursued.

Operation Verrugoli: Fifteen-day skywatch carried out in 1977 on Monte Verrugoli by a group of Italian researchers headed by Giovanni and Piero Mantero of the Centro Internazionale Ricerche e Studi sugli UFO (CIRS UFO). The mountain, shaped like a truncated pyramid, is located near the town of La Spezia and reaches a height of about 465 feet above sea level. At its summit stand the antenna of several national broadcasting companies. The mountain is renowned for reports of strange phenomena. During the skywatch, a total of 108 nocturnal lights were observed, eighty-two appearing as points of light, seven oblong in shape, seven spherical, one like a tilted plate, three discoid, one like a half-moon and seven other miscellaneous forms. Although the majority of the UFOs were yellow, some were reddish and others were blue. Occasionally, the unidentified lights seemed to increase in luminosity in response to signals made with a flashlight. During their presence, dogs in the neighborhood barked almost constantly. The objects disappeared when conventional aircraft appeared in the sky. Sounds of breaking tree branches were heard, unidentified voices were registered on a tape recorder, wristwatches malfunctioned and flattened areas of grass were found. On one of the last nights of the project, Giovanni Mantero claims to have observed a strange aerial being with a transparent face. The operation began on August 3, 1977, and was terminated on August 18, 1977.

Orgel, Leslie: A world-renowned molecular biologist who, together with Francis Crick, advanced the theory of the extraterrestrial seeding of life on Earth.

Parapsychology: A branch of psychology which studies such psychic phenomena as clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, and telepathy. These mental or psychological functions have application to several disciplines, including religion, theology, psychology, and ufology. One school of scientists and scholars denies that parapsychological phenomena are truly supersensory mental functions. They believe that these phenomena are also subject to physical laws, but admit that at present, man still does not adequately understand these laws.

Pascagoula, Mississippi: Location of one of the most publicized and publicly discussed UFO cases on record. On the evening of October 11, 1973, two shipyard workers, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, were fishing off an abandoned pier on the Pascagoula River just outside the city of Pascagoula. Hearing a strange buzzing noise, the two men looked up to see a large, glowing, bluish-white, egg-shaped craft hovering nearby. Paralyzed with fear, the men watched as an opening suddenly appeared in the UFO and three five-foot-tall beings emerged. The occupants floated toward Hickson and Parker. Their skin was gray and wrinkled. Pointed protrusions jutted out where noses and ears should be. Each creature had a small opening under its nose where a mouth should be. They had no necks. Their arms were exceptionally long, with hands resembling crab claws or mittens. Their straight, shapeless legs ended in round feet. Two of the ufonauts took hold of Hickson under the arms, while the other grabbed Parker, who had fainted. They were floated into the UFO, where Hickson was taken into a brilliantly-lit, circular room. There, he was "levitated" into a horizontal position while a free-floating object, resembling a huge eye, moved about his body as if giving him a physical examination. After about twenty minutes, both men were deposited on the riverbank and the UFO left. Parker regained conciousness. Hickson and Parker called nearby Keesler Air Force Base but were referred to the sheriff. They then attempted to find a reporter at the local newspaper office but, the office being empty, they were again advised by a janitor to see the sheriff. This, they did at about 10:30 p.m. At the sheriff's office, both men were left alone in a room with hidden sound-monitoring equipment. During this time, however, they said nothing which indicated a hoax was involved. The sheriff later stated that something had happened to the two men because they were "scared to death and on the verge of a heart attack." The following day, Hickson and Parker were interrogated and medically examined at Keesler Air Force Base. The case was investigated by J. Allen Hynek and University of California civil engineering professor James Harder, who served as a consultant to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). The latter hypnotized Hickson but terminated the trance when Hickson appeared to be too frightened to continue. Hickson was interviewed by newspaper reporters and radio and television talk show hosts from around the country and overseas. Calvin Parker was subsequently hospitalized for a nervous breakdown.

Paul, Saint: An Apostle who became the first great Christian missionary. Originally opposed to Jesus and his followers, Paul was converted to Christianity while on the road to Damascus. Not far from the city, a light flashed from the sky. Paul was knocked to the ground and allegedly heard Jesus speaking to him. He remained blinded by the flash for three days. Some ufologists conjecture that Paul was, in fact, struck by a beam of light from a UFO. They compare his subsequent personality change to that undergone by some modern-day victims of close UFO encounters.

Peru: After Brazil, Argentina and Chile, Peru has recorded the fourth largest number of UFO sightings in Latin America. The country is famous for the lines of Nazca, which some supporters of the Ancient Astronaut hypothesis believe to have been built as runways for extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Phoenix Lights: The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the "Lights over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over Arizona and Nevada in the United States, and Sonora, Mexico on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson. There were allegedly two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. Witnesses claim to have observed a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO, containing five spherical lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the object "otherworldly."

Physical Effects: The most commonly reported physical effects accompanying UFO sightings are electromagnetic effects, physiological effects and landing marks. In addition, witnesses have reported dried or carbonized tree branches, sticky deposits on the ground, discolored spots and bubbles in automobile paint, humming and buzzing sounds and unusual odors. In rare cases, alleged debris from a UFO has been found. The most noted case of this type occurred in Ubatuba, Brazil.

Physics: The branch of science which studies the natural laws and processes, and the states and properties of matter and energy. Its study does not, however, extend to biological processes or chemical changes. The unusual flight characteristics of UFOs would fall within the interest of physics.

Physiological Effects: With few exceptions, the physiological effects experienced by witnesses in association with UFO sightings have been temporary and not severe. These effects include conjunctivitis, tingling sensations, numbness, paralysis, loss of consciousness, burns, rashes, peeling skin, nausea and a feeling of suffocation because of tremendous heat. Writer Philip Klass had suggested that those effects which resemble symptoms of ordinary sunburn could be due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from plasmas which, he contends, are a probable source of many UFO reports. However, this explanation applies to only a limited number of UFO-related physiological effects. Furthermore, it is unlikely that it could account for such extreme effects as the overbearing heat experienced by two sentries at Fort Itaipu, Brazil, and a pilot and his radar operator at Walesville, New York.

Piedmont, Missouri: Location of observations by more than 200 citizens of unidentified nocturnal lights (NL) which blinked, flashed and moved erratically during February, March and April of 1973. In addition, several witnesses reported daytime sightings of metallic objects and one couple actually claimed to have seen a creature, resembling a man wearing a wet suit, walking down a highway. While a wide range of colors was associated with the UFOs, the most common were orange, red, green and white. The objects were generally round, sometimes described as having a dome on top and a band of portholes around the center. Three purported landing sites were found, and treetops at one site were described by investigators as having been broken off while the trees themselves were swirled in a counterclockwise direction. Some witnesses claimed to have seen UFOs entering and leaving the water of Clearwater Lake. On April 12, commercial pilot Kenneth Pingle pursued a circular light in his single-engined plane. The UFO, which was heading toward him, reversed its direction when Pingle came close. Several photographs were taken of unidentified lights.

Pillar of Cloud and Fire: The term used in the Bible to denote the divine presence as the Israelites were guided out of Egypt by Moses and as they wandered through the desert. Exodus 13: 21-2 states: 'And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud . . . and by night in a pillar of fire.' Barry H. Downing in The Bible and Flying Saucers advances the theory that the pillar was actually a UFO with which Moses had the means to communicate. He also speculates that it may have been the pillar, i.e., a UFO, which caused the parting of the Red Sea, and notes the defensive measure taken by the pillar against the pursuing Egyptian army (see Exodus 14: 24-5). Such a hypothesis is, of course, related to the premise that the angels and gods of antiquity were actually ancient astronauts whom man, in his relative ignorance, mistook for supernatural beings.

Planetary System: A generic name referring to a particular star together with all the planets, moons, asteroids, etc., which revolve around it. Our planetary system is called the solar system. Solar refers to the sun, a specific name for our star. Other planetary systems might be called: taucetian system, after the star Tau Ceti; proximacentaurian, after the star Proxima Centauri; etc. Scientists agree that other planetary systems do exist, especially around single stars similar to our sun, a Type G star. Scientists are almost positive that there exist one or more dark companions around Barnard's Star. Dark companion is the name given to a heavenly body which, though unseen, is believed to exist because of certain irregularities in the rotation of a star. The examination of a star's rotation is one way to determine whether there are any dark companions, i.e., planets, which revolve around it. A second way to prove the existence of another planetary system would be to demonstrate the reality of UFOs. If UFOs exist, and if they are not from a parallel universe, then they must originate from another planetary system. Conversely, the discovery of a dark companion bolsters the argument in favour of the existence of UFOs. For where there are other planetary systems, there may also be intelligent beings who are capable of space travel.

Planetoid: A minor or small planet. The term is also frequently used as a synonym for asteroid.

Plasma: A concentration of highly-electrified air which glows intensely in a spectrum of colors. In addition to normal uncharged molecules, air always contains molecules of gases which have lost one or more electrons from their normal quota, leaving them with positive charges. Under normal conditions, these positively-charged particles, known as ions, are sparsely interspersed. However, under unusual conditions, the number of charged particles may be increased to form a small cloud of electrified particles, whose agitated motions generate a glow. When this luminous effect occurs on or near power lines, it is known as corona discharge, a phenomenon similar to Saint Elmo's Fire. Sometimes, this ionized air detaches itself from the lines and moves about independently of them. Spherical, flying plasmas are known as ball lightning, globe lightning or kugelblitz. Although ball lightning is usually associated with stormy weather, it has occasionally been seen during fair weather. It is a phenomenon so little understood that some scientists have denied its existence. Writer Philip Klass was the leading proponent of the theory that plasmas account for a large number of UFOs. He believed that an observer, seeing a cloud of illuminated particles moving through the air, might assume it to be some sort of flying machine. Opponents of the plasma theory claim that it is an invalid explanation for the majority of UFO sightings, since plasmas normally exist for only a few seconds near high-tension lines during severe thunderstorms. The majority of sightings, they claim, do not meet these criteria. In a paper prepared for the House Science and Astronautics Committee Hearings in 1968, nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman stated that descriptions by UFO witnesses of bright glows, changes in the colors of glows associated with changes in speed, luminous boundary layers, and appearance on photographic film of regions not seen by the naked eye, do, in fact, indicate the presence of plasmas. However, he believed the plasmas were adjacent to vehicles, rather than ball lightning or corona discharge. Friedman testified that the development of lightweight, compact, high-field superconducting magnets had led to research on the potential benefits to be gained from placing a magnet within a high-speed vehicle to interact with a plasma surrounding the vehicle. Such an arrangement, he claimed, might be utilized to reduce vehicle heating, control aerodynamic drag, exert control forces on the vehicle, provide power for its operation, open a "magnetic" communications window and change the vehicle's radar profile. In addition, magnets might be used to provide shielding against space radiation. Thus, Friedman concluded, development of technology involving airborne vehicles and plasmas might result in an entirely new electromagnetic approach to hypersonic flights which, in many respects, could duplicate UFO characteristics.

Poland: Flying saucers are known as "latajace talerze" in Poland. Both the Manchester Aerial Phenomena Investigation Team (MAPIT) and Skandinavisk UFO Information (SUFOI) have representatives there. On December 22, 1958, Dr. Stanislaw Kowalezewski photographed a UFO through a window at Muszyn. The negative was examined by a number of specialists who found nothing suspicious about it. A sensational incident allegedly occurred on February 21, 1959, at Gdynia. A UFO reportedly crashed into the harbor and a fragment was retrieved by some dock workers. A few days later, the injured occupant of the craft was found wandering in the area. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died when doctors tried to remove a band from his arm. His remains were purportedly shipped to the Soviet Union.

Police: A large proportion of UFO reports are made by policemen. This may be attributable to the fact that policemen are trained observers who spend many hours of the day and night on patrol. Some of the well-known sightings involving police witnesses are those which occurred at Albany, New York; Falkville, Alabama; Levelland, Texas; Portage County, Ohio and Red Bluff, California.

Polls: Numerous Gallup Polls since 1947 have demonstrated an increase in the number of people who believe UFOs are real. In this context, real denotes flying objects that are not identifiable as conventional aircraft, known astronomical phenomena, optical illusions, hallucinations or the products of imagination. In 1947, most of the ninety percent of the population aware of UFOs believed UFOs were not real and that we are alone in the universe. By 1978, fifty-seven percent of the ninety-five percent aware of UFOs believed them to be real, while only twenty-seven percent believed they could be explained in conventional terms. By 1966, thirty-four percent of the public believed in the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, and by 1978, this figure had risen to fifty-one percent. A 1971 Gallup Poll was taken of prominent politicians, businessmen, educators, scientists, doctors and other professionals in seventy-two nations. The results showed that fifty-three percent believed in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, while forty-seven percent ruled out the possibility. UFOs have been observed by eleven percent of the adult population in the United States, a figure which represents about fifteen million people. This percentage is more than double the five percent who had observed UFOs in 1966. The 1974 Gallup Poll revealed that although sightings were not limited to any particular social stadium, there was a geographic disparity. Mid-western and Southern reports easily outnumbered those from the East and the Far West. However, in 1978, George Gallup reported that younger people and those with college educations, as well as those living in the Far West, constituted the highest proportion of UFO witnesses and believers in their existence. People living in small towns and rural areas are more likely to report UFO sightings than are those living in metropolitan areas. This may be due, in part, to the fact that small town newspapers are more likely to publish such reports than are city newspapers. In 1977, a private survey of astronomers revealed that although twenty-five percent favored scientific study of UFOs, only one quarter of one percent thought that UFOs warranted their personal attention.

Portage County, Ohio: One of the most tragic cases in modern UFO history is the Portage County episode because it wreaked havoc in the life of one of the major witnesses. On the night of April 16, 1966, Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur and part-time Deputy Sheriff Wilbur Neff were on a road near Atwater Center in Ohio when a report of a UFO sighting came through on their police radio. Spaur and Neff listened with amusement as Robert Wilson, the radio operator on duty at the Ravenna police station, told them of a woman in Summit County, directly to the west of Portage County, who had observed a bright object, as big as a house, flying over her neighborhood. Joking about the subject, the deputies headed west on Route 224 on other business. Seeing an abandoned car parked on the south side of the road, they turned their vehicle around to approach the car from the rear. Cautiously, the two men exited their patrol car. Looking around to make sure no one was lurking in the nearby woods, Spaur caught sight of a bright object coming toward them. As its brightness increased and began to illuminate the area, Spaur told his unwitting partner to look over his shoulder. Neff turned. His face registered his shock. Dazzled by the UFO, both men looked down. The humming object stopped directly above them. It was no longer a joke. The frightened deputies jumped back into the patrol car. After a few moments, the object moved eastward. Embarrassed, Spaur contacted Wilson, whose first suggestion was, "Shoot it!" When they confirmed that the object was indeed as big as a house, they were ordered to follow it. A sensational high-speed chase ensued. Spaur and Neff pursued the UFO over a distance of seventy miles, at speeds sometimes reaching 105 miles per hour. Police officer Wayne Huston of East Palestine,Ohio, about forty miles east of Ravenna, had been monitoring the radio communications. He waited by his car on Route 14 as the UFO flew over him at an altitude of about eight or nine hundred feet. He described its appearance as that of an ice cream cone with a flattened dome on top. As Spaur and Neff roared by, Huston fell in behind them. The object maintained a lead of about two-thirds of a mile. Meanwhile, in nearby Conway, Pennsylvania, police officer Frank Panzanella was driving through the town when he saw a shining object in the sky. Stopping his car, he stepped out and studied the light. It was very bright, seemed to be about thirty feet in diameter and had the shape of a bisected football. Ten minutes later, Spaur, Neff and Huston pulled by his car. The four officers watched the UFO which was now flying at approximately one thousand feet above the ground. Suddenly, it stopped, shot up to a height of about 3,500 feet and stopped again. Then the object continued upwards at high speed until it disappeared. The United States Air Force (USAF) investigation was conducted by Major Hector Quintanilla. His initial inquiry consisted of a two-and-a-half minute telephone call to Spaur in which Quintanilla referred to the UFO as a mirage. In a second telephone conversation between the two men, Quintanilla terminated the conversation after one-and-a-half minute when Spaur refused to concur with his suggestion that the sighting had lasted only a few minutes. Based on these two brief exchanges, the Air Force's conclusion was that all four police officers had observed a satellite, and then transferred their attention to Venus. No satellite was visible over Ohio on that date. Venus and the UFO had been visible concurrently to the observers. Congressional pressure forced Quintanilla to reopen the case. He traveled to Ravenna, where he conducted a taped interview with Spaur and Neff. The dialogue was unfriendly. The other two witnesses were not interviewed. The Air Force gave the incident an astronomical explanation against the advice of their astronomical consultant, J. Allen Hynek. Although little public attention had been given to Wayne Huston, the affair caused him considerable professional embarrassment. He resigned and moved to Seattle, where he found employment as a bus driver. Dale Spaur was less fortunate. Having been singled out by the Air Force to be the victim of an interrogation conducted in a tactless and insulting manner, Spaur became the whipping boy of a humiliating publicity spree. He began to suffer acute depression. Two months later, he allegedly saw the object again. Haunted by nightmares, he turned in his badge and moved to a small town near Cleveland. His wife sued for divorce. Spaur found work as a painter. His new job provided him barely enough money to pay his meager rent and his child-support payments. Subsisting on a meager diet, Spaur's health deteriorated. The Air Force debunking program had mercilessly demonstrated its effectiveness.

Project 1947: A world-wide effort to document the origins of the modern UFO phenomenon. Research for the project has yielded many early-era UFO reports via the FOIA, newspaper articles and contemporary accounts. PROJECT 1947 is an attempt to enhance the future of UFO research by establishing a solid collection of official UFO documents, newspaper articles and personal accounts from the beginning of the modern UFO era. The first volume of material collected by PROJECT 1947 has been published by the UFO Research Coalition as PROJECT 1947: A Preliminary Report. An extensive collection of 1947 UFO reports and newspaper accounts from the U.S.A. is supplemented by a compilation of significant sightings from Scandinavia, France, Australia and other countries. By compiling a definitive history to show "how we got here from there", the way to future UFO research projects and FOIA requests will become much clearer. Persons interested in aiding the project are always welcome.

Project Blue Book: Code name of the United States Air Force's investigative probe into the UFO phenomenon. It was the outcome of the upgrading of Project Grudge from a project within a group to a separate organization in March 1952. The Blue Book chief, Captain edward Ruppelt, had revitalized Project Grudge when he was placed in charge of the program six months previously. After the inception of Project Blue Book, his budget and manpower continued to increase as the number of UFO reports during 1952 climbed rapidly. He briefed Air Force officials of the Air Defense Command on the use of their radarscope cameras and contracted with the Batelle Memorial Institute to conduct a statistical analysis of UFO characteristics. By the beginning of 1953, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) was overwhelmed with UFO reports. The Robertson Panel, a committee of eminent scientists, was convened by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to study the issue. The panel's report led the Air Force once more to change its position. The attitude now was that UFOs were not a threat to national security, but that UFO reports were. Project Blue Book's purpose became to lower public interest by means of a debunking effort. The Battelle statistical report (later released as Special Report No. 14) was finally completed. It endorsed the Robertson Panel's conclusion that UFOs presented no threat to national security. Although the Robertson Panel had recommended that Project Blue Book be continued at the same level, the project's staff and budget began to shrink. By the time Ruppelt left the Air Force in August 1953, only he and two assistants remained. After Ruppelt's departure, the project was headed in turn by Captain Charles Hardin, Captain George Gregory, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Friend and Major Hector Quintanilla. During the period from 1953 to 1966, Project Blue Book was engaged in a major public relations effort to debunk UFOs and to counteract interest raised by believers in the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), in particular Donald Keyhoe, Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). In 1955, the Air Force released Special Report No. 14 to counteract charges that it was engaged in a cover-up. However, the report served only to increase public suspicion. While education of the public became Project Blue Book's primary concern, investigation was left to the private UFO organizations which began to flourish. During the decade following the release of Special Report No. 14, one of Project Blue Book's primary concerns was that the United States Congress would call for hearings on its activities. To avoid this, whenever a congressman approached the Air Force on the matter, he was given a private briefing during which Air Force representatives convinced him that a hearing would merely serve to make the public think that UFOs were something to be concerned about. Two such briefings were given to the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Atmospheric Phenomena in 1958 and the Smart Committee in 1960. Little change in Blue Book procedure resulted from these meetings. In 1965, an increase in UFO reports and heightened public awareness led to the formation of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee to review Project Blue Book. A panel of scientists headed by physicist Brian O'Brien met for one day (February 2, 1966) and issued its report, subsequently known as the O'Brien Report. The latter recommended strengthening Project Blue Book and negotiating with a few selected universities to provide scientific teams to investigate UFOs. The O'Brien Report resulted in the formation of the Condon Committee, a team of scientific investigators and researchers at the University of Colorado, who conducted an eighteen-month Air Force/taxpayer-sponsored investigation and evaluation of UFOs. The Colorado Project began operating in October 1966 and was completed in June 1968. Although there were many critics of the Condon Report in the scientific community, the general public accepted the Condon conclusion that there was no value in continuing a study of the problem. The Air Force used this reasoning to cancel Project Blue Book in December 1969, and since then, has had no official interest in the subject. The termination of Air Force involvement brought about declassification of UFO records. However, researchers did not have access to the files. Only if a researcher knew of a specific case by name and date, would the Air Force then pull that particular case file. In 1975, Project Blue Book records were transferred to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. After confidential information had been censored, they became available to civilian researchers on July 12, 1976.

Project Grudge: Code name of the United States Air Force's investigative probe into the UFO phenomenon. It succeeded Project Sign, and, in turn, was succeeded by Project Blue Book. Like Project Sign, it was known publicly as Project Saucer. Project Grudge came into existence on February 11, 1949. Although most of the people involved believed UFOs were non-hostile and non-military in nature, the Air Force wanted to maintain the controlling hand in investigating UFO reports. Project Grudge shifted the focus of the Air Force's investigations from UFOs themselves to the people who reported them. A public relations campaign was launched to convince the public that UFOs did not represent anything unusual or extraordinary. As part of its debunking effort, the Air Force selectively granted permission to Sidney Shallet of the Saturday Evening Post to have access to their files for a two-part article on UFOs. They wanted to ensure that the article would expose UFOs as a waste of time. Although Shallet's article attempted to do just that, only days after the second part had been published, UFO sightings reached an all-time high. Project Grudge was deluged with reports. The Air Force believed that Shallet's article was responsible. To counteract the reaction, a press release was issued stating that UFOs were nothing but the products of mass hysteria and the misidentification of natural phenomena. Project Grudge continued its attempts to prove that UFOs did not represent an unknown phenomenon. Astronomer J. Allen Hynek was enlisted to aid in this program. Only six months after its inception, in August 1949, Project Grudge issued its final report. Out of 244 cases, many had been given explanations which were somewhat speculative. Yet there still remained a residuum of twenty-three percent which were unidentified. The Grudge report commented that, "There are sufficient psychological explanations for the reports of unidentified flying objects to provide plausible explanations for reports not otherwise explainable." The implication was that any UFOs which could not be identified must be psychologically motivated. The report concluded that the investigation of UFOs should be reduced in scope so that only those reports "clearly indicating realistic technical applications" would be submitted to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC). It did, however, suggest that the Psychological Warfare Division be informed of the study results since mass hysteria could ensue if the enemy simultaneously placed a series of aerial objects over the United States and started rumors that they were alien craft. The report recommended that the investigation and study of UFO reports be downgraded. Believing that the very existence of a special investigative body lent credence to the belief in UFOs, the Air Force issued a press release on December 27, 1949, anouncing the termination of Project Grudge. However, the organization continued to operate on a subdued level for over two more years and its data remained classified. In September 1951, Captain Edward Ruppelt was placed in charge of Project Grudge. More open-minded than his predecessors, he revitalized the program by reorganizing the data files, making standardized reporting forms available and formally appointing Hynek as chief scientific consultant to Project Grudge under Air Force contract. By 1952, Grudge had become a well-organized effort but its work was hampered by insufficient funds. Six months after Ruppelt had begun his reorganization of the same project, the Air Force upgraded Grudge from a project within a group to a separate organization. Its code name was changed to Project Blue Book in March 1952.

Project Saucer: Name by which the first two United States Air Force (USAF) UFO investigations, Project Sign (1947 to 1949) and Project Grudge (1949 to 1951), were known to the public.

Project Sign: Code name of the first United States Air Force (USAF) investigative probe into the UFO phenomenon. It was known publicly as Project Saucer. Project Sign was implemented on January 22, 1948, under the jurisdiction of the Intelligence Division of the Air Force's Air Material Command at Wright Field, Ohio (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base). This division was later renamed the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC). Its function was to "collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government agencies and contractors all information concerning sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere which can be construed to be of concern to the national security." Although there were a variety of opinions regarding the identity of UFOs, those who thought they were extraterrestrial spaceships held the reins of power at Project Sign during its early months in 1948. After the Chiles/Whitted Sighting near Montgomery, Alabama, in July 1948, they issued an Estimate of the Situation. Classified Top Secret, the report concluded that UFOs were extraterrestrial vehicles. The estimate received considerable attention until it reached Chief of Staff General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, who rejected it on the grounds that it lacked proof. Some months later, the report was declassified and incinerated. Its rejection led to a change in policy at Project Sign and those who believed UFOs were conventional objects took charge. Claiming that the classified name "Sign" had been compromised, the Air Force changed its name to Project Grudge on February 11, 1949. A final report issued by Project Sign expressed the conflicting opinions of the staff in its conclusion, which states that, "no definite and conclusive evidence is yet available that would prove or disprove the existence of these unidentified objects as real aircraft of unknown or unconventional configuration. It is unlikely that positive proof of their existence will be obtained without examination of the remains of crashed objects. Proof of non-existence is equally impossible to obtain unless a reasonable and convincing explanation is determined for each incident." However, the change of policy was evident in the report's recommendation that: "Future activity on this project should be carried on at the minimum level necessary to record, summarize and evaluate the data received on future reports and to complete the specialized investigations now in progress. When and if a sufficient number of incidents are solved to indicate that these sightings do not represent a threat to the security of the nation, the assignment of special project status to the activity could be terminated. Future investigations of reports would then be handled on a routine basis like any other intelligence work."

Project Stigma: The primary objective of this organization is to investigate reports of animal mutilations. The group considers unidentified helicopters which, along with UFOs, have been reported at or near mutilation sites, to be a pertinent aspect of this phenomenon. Although Project Stigma admits that there seems to be evidence to support the hypothesis linking animal mutilations to UFO activity, it also considers the possibilities that the incidents may be attributable to terrestrial cults, secret societies or government experimentation. This non-profit organization was founded in 1977 by Thomas R. Adams, who serves as Director. It is not a membership organization. Information is collected through an informal network of investigators and researchers, including news media representatives, official investigative agencies and private individuals. A few of the project's contributors and investigators are located in foreign countries. The organization is engaged in obtaining information regarding mutilations and their investigations from Federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act. The organization owns a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which serves as a mobile investigative unit. A newsletter, Stigmata, reports on various aspects of animal mutilations. It is published irregularly and has a circulation of about 300. Thomas Adams is Editor.

Project Twinkle: Classified study of Green Fireballs coordinated by the United States Air Force's Cambridge Research Laboratory and directed by Dr. Lincoln La Paz, head of the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics and a world-renowned authority on astronomy. The project was initiated in September 1949. Its primary goal was to establish three cinetheodolite stations in New Mexico to photograph and record the altitude, size, speed and spectrum of the luminous UFOs. Cinetheodolites are basically 35 mm movie cameras which also record three dials which shows the time the picture was taken, the azimuth angle and the angle of the camera. Should two or more of these cameras photograph the same object, it would be possible to determine, quite accurately, the object's altitude, speed and size. However, only one camera was made available and it never found anything to photograph. The green fireballs, ubiquitous during 1948 and 1949, had vanished from the skies. Project Twinkle was cancelled. On December 27, 1951, the project's final report was issued, declaring the undertaking a failure.

Project UFO: Television series (Mark VII Limited/NBC, 1978) Executive Producer: Jack Webb; producers: William Coleman and Don Widener. Each episode of this series presented a dramatization of actual cases reported in the files of the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book. The leading actors played two Air Force officers who investigated sightings. The series gave a factual representation of Air Force procedure. The shows were highlighted by special effects.

Pulsar: A rapidly rotating neutron star. A neutron star forms when a star, several times the mass of the sun, suddenly implodes or collapses in on itself, forming an object so incredibly dense that its gravitational force crushes the very atoms of which the star's matter is composed. The density of a neutron star is said to be a million billion times the density of water. The discovery of a pulsating neutron star, or pulsar, was first announced in 1968. Jokingly, it was named LGM, for 'Little Green Men,' because it was thought that the strong signals being received from it might be coming from an alien civilization. The reason why pulsars radiate so much energy is presently still unknown, but it is believed to be due to their quick rotation. The relatively small size of neutron stars and their incredible density keeps centrifugal force from ripping pulsars apart. To date, more than a hundred pulsars have been discovered. Their pulsating rhythm is fantastically precise, though ultra-sensitive instruments have detected very slight decreases in speed, a result of the fact that they are using up their energy. Pulsars are interesting because each one emits a different identifiable signal. It has been suggested by some ufologists and scientists that neutron stars can be used by man in the future, or that they may have been used or are presently being used by aliens, as celestial beacons or signposts, facilitating and enabling intergalactic navigation because they would provide identifiable points of reference.

Q Clearance: Q clearance is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Top Secret (TS) clearance and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI). DOE clearances apply for access specifically relating to atomic or nuclear related materials ("Restricted Data" under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954). The clearance is issued to non-military personnel only. In 1946, U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps Major Bud Uanna, in his capacity as the first Chief of the Central Personnel Clearance Office at the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission named and established the criteria for the Q Clearance. As of 1993, Q clearances required a single-scope background investigation of the previous ten years of the applicant's life by both the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as of 1998 cost $3,225. Actor Charlton Heston once held a "Q" Clearance for six years when he served as a nuclear armament topics training film narrator for the military during his post-World War II military service years.

Quazar: The name applied to the immense, extremely luminous conglomeration of stars found at the edge of the Universe, eleven billion light-years away. Quasars were only recently discovered. Their genesis and function is still unknown. Some theories exist about quasars but they are purely speculative.

RADAR: An electronic device, first invented during World War II by the British, which determines the presence and location of an object by measuring the time that it takes the echo from a radio wave to return from the object to the source, and by determining the direction from which the echo returns. The word radar is an acronym derived from 'ra(dio) d(etecting) a(nd) r(anging).' According to ufologists, radar sightings of UFOs constitute an important and objective proof of their existence. The speed of an object spotted on radar is determined by the distance that the object moves on the radar screen per each revolution or sweep of the scanner beam. By this method, UFOs have been clocked at incredible speeds of up to 18,000 m.p.h. Critics point out, however, that there is no way to be certain whether an object sighted at two different, widely-spaced points on the radar screen during separate revolutions is, in fact, the same object. Therefore, the reliability of radar in substantiating the existence of UFOs is debatable. Ufologists tend to put greater emphasis on its credibility than do the skeptics. At best, radar remains a supplementary proof. The best indisputable proof of the existence of UFOs would still be either a mass sighting at close range or clear photographs. Some of the best-known radar/visual UFO cases occurred at Albany, New York; Bentwaters and Lakenheath, England; New Zealand (1978/79); Ocala, Florida and Washington, D.C. (1952).

Radiation: The emission and diffusion of rays of heat, light, electricity, and sound, or the emission of rays by a radioactive substance. Some forms of radiation are harmful, others are not. Certain forms of radiation, such as light, are necessary for the maintenance of life, but too great an intensity of light can also be harmful. Stars and certain elements, such as uranium, radium, etc., naturally emit radiation. Radiation is also associated with UFOs, and some persons who have come into too close contact with them have developed radiation sickness.

Radio and Television Interference: One of the electromagnetic effects associated with UFO sightings. Skeptics have pointed out that electromagnetic interference can be instigated by conventional and natural causes, such as aircraft and meteors, objects which also give rise to reports of visually-observed UFOs. The interference usually involves static or complete loss of transmission. A much-publicized case involving an overriding broadcast signal occurred on November 26, 1977, in the United Kingdom. At 5:12 p.m., an authoritative voice interrupted a news bulletin being read by Ivor Mills on Southern I.T.V. The speaker announced himself as, "Gramaha, the representative of the Asta Galactic Command." During the five-and-a-half minutes that he spoke, he warned mankind against the use of nuclear energy and cautioned that, "You have but a short time to live together in peace and good will." Hundreds of thousands of viewers heard the broadcast in locations as distant as Winchester, Andover, Newbury, Reading, London, Southampton and Oxford. Although the authorities pronounced the incident a hoax, some ufologists have questioned this explanation. They contend that because at least five different transmitters were "taken over" simultaneously and because engineers were powerless to cut off the broadcast, normal eletricity was not being used. Furthermore, the cost of such an operation would have been enormous. Those who believe the voice was non-human hold that the broadcast was achieved with occult power.

Radiocarbon: A radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic weight of 14 and a half-life of about 5760 years. It is used in the dating of organic material.

Radiocarbon Dating: The process used in establishing the age of dead organic material by determining the amount of carbon-14 that is still present in the remains. Radiocarbon dating is an important tool of paleontology and archaeology used to date bones and artifacts made of organic material. The process provides a good estimate of when an object was made. Concurrently, it establishes an approximate date for the culture which fashioned the artifact. It also helps to determine whether certain cultures were contemporary and in which time period each culture existed. This permits a determination of whether one culture appeared prior to another or after it. By providing a time-table, radiocarbon dating helps to show how cultures evolved, vanished, or influenced the development of one another. The method is not absolutely reliable, however, and is always used in conjunction with other scientific methods of establishing approximate age.

Red Bluff, California: Location of a UFO sighting lasting two hours and fifteen minutes during a six-day concentration of sightings in northern California between August 13 and 18, 1960, which included at least fourteen police officers among the numerous witnesses. Ten minutes before midnight on August 13, State Highway Patrolmen Charles A. Carson and Stanley Scott were searching for a speeding motorcyclist when they saw an enormous craft dropping out of the cloudless night sky. They stopped abruptly and leaped from the patrol car to get a better view of what they were sure was going to be an airplane crash. The silent object was 100 to 200 feet off the ground when suddenly, it reversed its direction at high speed and gained an altitude of approximately 500 feet. There, it stopped. By now, the object was clearly visible to both men. It was shaped somewhat like a football, about 150 feet long and forty feet high, and was surrounded by a white glow. Red lights glowed from each end and at times, about five white lights became visible between them. As the two officers watched, the UFO performed fantastic aerial maneuvers, sometimes remaining motionless, sometimes changing or reversing direction while moving at incredibly high speeds. The patrolmen radioed the Tehama County Sheriff's Office, requesting that the local radar base be contacted. Radar operators confirmed that an unknown target was visible on their radar screens at the same location as the UFO. Each time Scott and Carson attempted to approach the object, it retreated. When it came toward the patrol car, there was radio interference. The object was sweeping the ground and sky with a beam of red light. When Scott turned the red light on the patrol car toward the UFO, it immediately moved away. Eventually, it began moving slowly in an easterly direction and the patrolmen followed at a respectful distance. As they reached the Vina Plains Fire Station, they saw a similar object approaching from the south. It moved near the first UFO and both stopped, remaining in that position for some time, occasionally emitting the beams of red light. Finally, both objects disappeared below the eastern horizon. The UFO was also seen clearly by two deputy sheriffs, the night jailer and several prisoners who had been marched out onto the roof of the jail to witness the event. United States Air Force (USAF) investigators attributed the sightings to a number of stars and planets refracted by multiple temperature inversions. However, none of the heavenly bodies cited would have set in the east, where the UFOs disappeared. Furthermore, the astronomical explanation did not account for the beam of red light, the radio interference associated with the close approach of the object and the radar confirmation.

Repeater: Term used to describe a person who claims to see UFOs frequently. Although reports by repeaters are often regarded with skepticism by investigators, there are several reasons why an individual may be the witness to more than one bona fide UFO sighting. Some persons, because of a natural interest in the heavens, or a tendency to always look upward instead of downward, or having an occupation which involves observing the skies, spend more time watching the sky than the average person and therefore have a greater chance of observing unusual aerial objects. Other repeaters may merely reside in or habituate an area where unusual aerial phenomena manifest themselves frequently.

Robertson Panel: Group of eminent scientists convened by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1953 to study UFO reports and to determine whether these phenomena constituted any threat to the security of the United States. The panel was chaired by mathematician and physicist H. P. Robertson, who was Director of the Weapons System Evaluation Group in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and a CIA classified employee. The other members were physicist and Nobel Prize winner Luis W. Alvarez; geophysicist and radar specialist Lloyd V. Berkner, who was one of the directors of the Brookhaven National Laboratories; physicist Samual Goudsmit, who was on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratories; and astronomer and astrophysicist Thornton Page, who was Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Operations Research Office. In addition to the five panel members, other participants included astronomer J. Allen Hynek, who was a consultant to the United States Air Force (USAF); army ordnance test station director Frederick C. Durant, who served as reporter for the panel; and Commanding General of the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), William M. Garland. The three CIA representatives present were Assistant Director of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) H. Marshall Chadwell, Deputy Assistant Director of the OSI Ralph L. Clark, and CIA agent Philip G. Strong. Also present were Air Force officers Edward Ruppelt and Dewey Fournet, and Navy Photo Interpretation Laboratory representatives R. S. Neasham and Harry Woo. There has been some confusion about the dates on which the panel convened. Several sources report that it opened on January 12. The group's final report, dated January 16, gives the opening and closing dates as January 14 and 18. Over a period of twelve hours during the first three days, the panel examined selected cases from Project Blue Book files and saw the Tremonton, Utah,and Great Falls, Montana, movies. On the fourth day, it discussed tentative conclusions and recommendations, and commissioned Robertson to draft the final report. On the final day, the panel members corrected and altered the draft. The panel concluded that there was no evidence of a direct physical threat to national security and that the "continued emphasis on the reporting of these phenomena, in these parlous times, result in a threat to the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic." They therefore recommended: "a. That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status theyhave been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired,"; and "b. That the national security agencies institute policies on intelligence, training and public education designed to prepare the material defenses and the morale of the country to recognize most promptly and to react most effectively to true indications of hostile intent or action." To accomplish these ends, the panel proposed a public education program to train people to identify correctly-known objects, as well as a debunking effort to lower public interest. The members were, they said, impressed by the lack of sound data in the majority of case histories, as well as by the "lack of speedy follow-up due primarily to the modest size and limited facilities of the ATIC section concerned." In sum, they suggested that the Air Force investigative project be continued at its present level, only with a change in emphasis from attempting to determine the nature of UFOs to convincing the public that nothing unusual was occurring in the skies. Hynek, who was not officially a member of the panel, was not asked to sign the final report. He later stated that he would not have done so in any case. He considered it unreasonable that the panel could come to a conclusion about UFOs in four days, when he himself had spent more than four years in the field. Not until five years later, on April 9, 1958, did the Air Force make public a sanitized version of the panel's report. More than sixteen years passed before the CIA finally declassified the report and made copies available in December 1974.

Robozero, Soviet Union: Location of one of Russia's most famous UFO sightings. On August 15, 1666, shortly before midday, worshippers at the church in the village of Robozero heard a loud crashing sound in the sky. The members of the congregation rushed outside. There, they saw a ball of fire descending from the clear, sunny sky. It was about 130 feet in diameter. Two fiery beams, also about 130 feet in length, projected from the front of the object. Passing over the church, the UFO disappeared over the lake and moved off in a southwesterly direction. After it had traveled almost one-third of a mile, it vanished again. However, it soon reappeared, this time traveling westward. It remained visible over Robozero for about an hour and a half. Fishermen on the lake about a mile away were badly burned by the heat of the UFO. The lake itself, which was illuminated to a depth of thirty feet, seemed to be covered with rust under the glow. The fish in the lake fled to the banks. Although it has been hypothesized that the huge fiery object over Robozero was a meteorite or ball lightning, ufologists have pointed out several reasons why these explanations are inapplicable. One of their primary arguments is that the slow speed and long duration of the phenomenon are inconsistent with the known characteristics of meteorites and ball lightning. The fact that the object was sighted only by the inhabitants of Robozero makes it unlikely that it was a comet, since a comet would have been visible over a far greater area.

Rome, Italy: Location of a UFO sighting involving thousands of witnesses on September 17, 1954. The object appeared over the city at about 6:30 p.m. and was tracked on radar as it performed complicated maneuvers, stopping abruptly then achieving speeds up to 175 miles per hour almost instantaneously. A little over an hour later, the UFO ascended and disappeared toward the southwest. The incident was published in newspapers all over Europe during the following days. The following month, on October 28, another UFO was seen over Rome by dozens of witnesses, including United States Ambassador Clare Booth Luce.

Roswell Incident: The Roswell UFO incident was the report of an object—allegedly an extraterrestrial spaceship—crashing in the Roswell, New Mexico area in July 1947. On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) public information officer Walter Haut issued a press release stating personnel from the field's 509th Operations Group (509 OG) recovered a crashed "flying disk" in a ranch near Roswell. The incident was forgotten for more than 30 years. In 1978, nuclear physicist and ufologist Stanton T. Friedman interviewed Major Jesse Marcel who was involved with the original recovery of the debris. Marcel believed the military covered up the recovery of an extraterrestrial spaceship. Additional witnesses added significant new details, including claims of a military operation dedicated to recovering alien craft and aliens.

Rouen, France: Location at which a French military pilot photographed a UFO in 1954. The picture closely resembles the famous UFO photographs taken at McMinnville, Oregon, four years previously. In July, 1957, the French photograph was published by RAF Flying Review, which described it as "one of the few [photographs] which seem authentic."

RV: Acronym for radar/visual and used in connection with UFO sightings which are confirmed both visually and by radar.

Saigon, Vietnam: Location of a UFO sighting by a member of the U.S. 524th Military Intelligence Detachment at about 2:20 a.m. on April 17, 1967. The witness's report stated: ". . . I observed five large, illuminated oval-shaped objects, traveling in close formation and at a very high rate of speed across the sky. At that time, I was on the roof of the Saigon Field Office of the 524th MI Detachment. . . . I first saw these objects near the horizon to my left and watched them cover the entire field of my vision in what I believe to be less than five seconds. During that period of time, the objects traveled from where I first saw them, near the horizon to my left, passed almost directly over me at what seemed to be a very great height, and then moved out of sight behind a cloud formation at the horizon to my right. The sky was partly cloudy but, at the time of the sighting, the area of the sky over which they traveled was very clear, with the exception of a few small patches of scattered clouds, which they seemed to be above. As the objects passed over these clouds, they were obscured from my vision until they emerged on the other side. I also observed that, as they passed between my line of sight and a star, they covered the star and blocked out its light until they had passed. This indicated to me that the objects were not transparent. It was apparent that they were not any form of conventional aircraft due to their size, shape, rate of speed and the fact that they made no noise audible to me. Prior to the sighting of these objects, I had been observing conventional aircraft, both propeller- and jet-powered, and there is no question in my mind that they were a great deal larger than any craft I have ever seen in the sky. They were also traveling at a rate of speed which I would estimate to be at least five times greater than any jet-powered aircraft I have ever seen. They were too distant and traveling too fast for a detailed description to be possible. I was only able to see that they were definitely oval in shape and glowed a steady white. They seemed to be in a vertical attitude, rather than horizontal, in relation to the Earth, and their formation slowly fluctuated as they passed. Approximately five minutes after they passed out of sight, several jet-powered aircraft, which seemed to be at high altitude and traveling very fast, came from my far right and to my back as I faced the same direction as when I had seen the ovals. They proceeded to the area where I had lost sight of the objects and, upon reaching that point, they turned to their right and pursued the same course as the objects I had previously sighted. These aircraft were not in a formed pattern, but were scattered. I have never held any opinion concerning unidentified flying objects. Neither have I ever seen any, previously. However, I believe that these objects were space craft of some kind. I am convinced that they were not reflections, conventional aircraft, meteorites or planets." The report was forwarded to Project Blue Book, but no evaluation was made.

Saint Elmo's Fire: Flame-like electrical discharge that appears during stormy weather on the tips of pointed objects such as ship's masts, steeples, trees, mountain peaks, and the propellers and wings of aircraft. It is usually accompanied by a crackling or fizzing noise. Saint Elmo's fire is a corruption of Saint Ermo, the Italian name for Saint Erasmus, patron saint of the Mediterranean. Sailors aboard old sailing ships believed the fiery lights on their masts signified the presence of the saint.

Salem, Massachusetts: Location of a UFO sighting by Coast Guard seaman Shell Alpert on July 16, 1952. Alpert happened to glance through a window and see four brilliant, egg-shaped objects traversing the sky. He grabbed a camera and managed to snap a picture before the UFOs disappeared from view. Astronomer Donald Menzel reported that United States Air Force (USAF) experiments reproduced the same effect as that shown in the Salem photograph by photographing floodlights reflected on window glass.

Salt Lake City, Utah: Location of a UFO sighting by private pilot Waldo J. Harris, a real estate broker, at noon on October 2, 1961. As he prepared to take off from Utah Central Airport in a Mooney Mark 20A, Harris noticed a bright spot in the sky, which he assumed to be a turning aircraft reflecting in the sun. After he was airborne, he noticed that the light had not moved. He changed his course, proceeding toward the spot for a closer look. H e found himself at the UFO's altitude when he was just over 6,000 feet. As he drew nearer, he could see that the object had no wings nor tail nor any other exterior control surfaces protruding from what appeared to be the fuselage. It seemed to be hovering, with a slight rocking motion. As it rocked away from Harris, he could distinguish its disk shape.The object seemed to be about fifty to fifty-five feet in diameter and eight to ten feet thick at the center. Its surface was like sandblasted aluminum. When Harris was within an estimated two miles of the object, it rose abruptly to about 1,000 feet above him. It then took off to the southeast. It was soon an estimated ten miles or more away. Harris continued his attempt to close in. The object hovered again, with the same rocking motion. Then it began rising and moving westward at high speed. In a few seconds, it passed out of sight. In the meantime, about eight witnesses on the ground at the airport had been taking turns viewing the UFO through binoculars. As Harris returned to the airport, the ground observers alerted him that they had the object in sight again. He turned and saw it in the distance for about a second or two before it vanished. The ground observers reported that it had shot straight up as it finally left. All the witnesses confirmed that the object had wobbled while hovering. One noted that when Harris's plane was merely a speck in the sky, the disk was clearly visible to the naked eye. Physicist James McDonald suggested that this might indicate the object's size to have been substantially larger than Harris's estimated fifty feet. The official United States Air Force (USAF) explanation for the sighting was that the witnesses had misidentified Venus. However, the object's appearance in front of a mountain ruled out that possibility. The Air Force later accepted the proposal by astronomer Donald Menzel that the UFO was a sundog. Although McDonald claimed that the UFO's elevation did not conform to that of a sundog, Menzel claimed that the object was precisely where one would expect to see that portion of the Parhelia, in the area of the lower tangential arc. Although the witnesses reported cloud-free skies and the Weather Bureau logs showed completely clear skies and forty miles visibility, Menzel reports that one witness observed a slight haze over the mountains, a condition favorable to the manifestation of parhelia. According to McDonald, all witnesses agreed that the object was at first low on the horizon in front of a distant mountain, and that it suddenly took off at high speed in a steep climb. Menzel, on theother hand, states that the ground observers observed no movement whatsoever, but rather saw the object vanish at intervals, only to reappear seconds later in a different place. Menzel conjectures that the pilot thought the object was moving only because he was in a moving plane, changing his position relative to the UFO.

Santa Ana, California: Location of an alleged UFO sighting by highway traffic engineer Rex Heflin on August 3, 1965. According to the witness, his two-way radio was cut off just before noon as he was driving near the Santa Ana Freeway.Moments later, he saw an unusual craft flying over the road just ahead of him. He stopped his vehicle and snapped three Polaroid pictures of the strange object, which was shaped like a straw hat. He estimated it to be about 30 feet in diameter and approximately 750 feet away, at an altitude of about 150 feet. The UFO moved off into the haze leaving a ring of black smoke, which Heflin also photographed. The highway engineer did not report the sighting, but showed his photographs to co-workers at the end of the day. Over the following six weeks, numerous copies were made of the photographs and circulated among the community of Santa Ana. Finally, they were brought to the attention of the Santa Ana Register, which published them on September 20, 1965. The next day, the story and the photographs were picked up by United Press International. On September 23, a United States Air Force (USAF) investigator interviewed Heflin. The latter reported that just the previous day, he had handed over the original Polaroid prints to an investigator in civilian clothes from the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). Heflin had not, however, checked the man's credentials nor obtained a receipt for the pictures. NORAD officials denied that anyone from their organization had contacted Heflin. The original photographs have never been located. Two years later, during the Condon Committee's investigation of the case, Heflin was reportedly visited again by investigators whose identity was suspect. Dressed in Air Force uniforms, the visitors allegedly questioned him about the photographs and asked him if he knew anything about the Bermuda Triangle. Parked outside Heflin's house was a car with some kind of marking on the front door. A strange violet light glowed inside the vehicle. A figure was seated in the back. Heflin believed the conversation was being recorded, as he could hear popping sounds on his radio, which he had left on during the interview. Although the traffic engineer made a careful note of the visitors' names, civilian UFO investigators were unable to trace them. Air Force photo analysts concluded that the object in the photograph was actually less than two feet in diameter and only about fifteen to twenty feet above the ground. The photographs were labeled a hoax by Project Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla. The Condon Committee, however, reached a different conclusion. Project Coordinator Robert Low, after interviewing Heflin at the scene of the incident, declared the photographs to be among the ". . . top four or five examples of photographic evidence of the existence of UFOs." The case is listed in the Condon Report as unidentified.

Sasquatch: American Indian name for Bigfoot.

Satellite Object: Also known as a scoutship, small UFO which emerges from and re-enters a larger UFO, usually referred to as a Mother Ship. Satellite objects are usually disk-shaped, while the mother ship is cigar-shaped. Exponents of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) suggest that mother ships are interstellar craft, while satellite objects are designed for flight with the planetary atmosphere. Classic UFO cases involving satellite objects were those of Oloron and Gaillac in France in 1952 and Teheran, Iran, in 1976.

Scandinavia: Although the term "Modern Era" in Ufology denotes the period dating from 1947 until the present, Scandinavia experienced its first widespread UFO activity in 1946 when there was a wave of sightings of ghost rockets. In 1952, NATO's Operation Mainbrace, conducted in the vicinity of Denmark and Norway, was highlighted by several UFO sightings. In 1954, the famous Scandinavian eclipse film provided one of the earliest pieces of photographic evidence of UFOs. Spitsbergen, Norway, became a center of interest in UFO circles in the mid-1950s when unconfirmed reports were published that a flying saucer had crashed there in 1952. UFO investigation and research today is carried out by various regional and national organizations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Schmitt, Harrison: Astronaut who believed that "spacecraft from other solar systems may have visited Earth." He pointed out that "one hundred years from now, we may even be visiting other solar systems." Therefore, he surmised, "it is not reasonable to say that visits in our own (solar system) are impossible." However, he concluded that "so far, there appears to have been no definitive communication from them or proof of their visits." In May 1979, as U.S. senator for New Mexico, Schmitt held a conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on the situation regarding animal mutilations. It was attended by nation-wide law enforcement officials and independent private investigators.

Security Clearance: A security clearance is a determination by the United States Government that a person or company is eligible for access to classified information. The term "eligibility for access" means the same thing as security clearance and appears in some Government record systems. There are two types of clearances: Personnel Security Clearances (PCLs) and Facility Security Clearances (FCLs). Security clearances can be issued by many United States Government agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy (DoE), the Department of Justice, and the Central Intelligence Agency. DoD, which issues more than 80% of all clearances, and most other agencies have three levels of security clearances: Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. DoE primarily issues "L," and "Q" Access Authorizations, which are roughly equivalent to Secret and Top Secret clearances, respectively. What is less known is the fact that there are 38 levels above Top Secret, also referred to as Top Secret/Code word.

Sexual Encounters: Alleged victims of UFO abductions occasionally claim to have had sexual relations with the occupants of extraterrestrial spaceships. Such an incident is referred to by some writers as a Close Encounter of the Fouth Kind (CE-IV), although others use the term to denote only an abduction in which no sexual activity has occurred. The most famous case in which a human being was allegedly coerced into performing sexual intercourse with a UFO occupant was that of a Brazilian farmer, Antonio Villas-Boas. South African contactee Elizabeth Klarer claims to have given birth on another planet to a son fathered by a resident of that planet. Mating between earthlings and extraterrestrials is a theme encountered in the arguments of supporters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Many of them believe that the human race was actually the result of the interbreeding of extraterrestrials and some advanced species of animal on Earth, such as Bigfoot. Their allegations are based on various religious records which tell of gods taking human women as their wives and producing demigods as offspring. One of the most often quoted verses in this context is in Chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis, wherein it is stated, " . . . the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose."

S.E.T.I.: The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is the collective name for a number of activities people undertake to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. SETI projects use scientific methods in this search. For example, electromagnetic radiation is monitored for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other worlds. Some of the most well known projects are run by Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley and the SETI Institute. Since the United States government withdrew funding for SETI projects in 1995, projects have been primarily funded by private sources. There are great challenges in searching the cosmos for signs of intelligent life, including their identification and interpretation. SETI projects necessarily make assumptions to narrow the search, the foremost being that electromagnetic radiation would be a medium of communication for advanced extraterrestrial life. For many ufologists, SETI stands for "Silly Effort To Investigate." To assume that advanced extraterrestrial beings, who are technologically superior to us by hundreds, if not thousands of years, would be using radio waves to communicate with us (instead of coming here) is utterly ridiculous. Especially if you consider the fact that they may have had a tremendous head start on us in regards to space travel and exploration. The accumulated mass of evidence seems to indicate that this is exactly what is happening.

Shapes: The majority of UFO reports describe disks or cigar-shaped objects. The former come in a variety of shapes, including coin-like, flat-bottomed, domed and convex on top and bottom. Other UFO shapes are described as resembling spheres, cylinders, hats, football, eggs, cones, rockets, torpedos, bells, rods, barrels, pears, doughnuts, wheels, spindles, crosses, crescents, triangles, lozenges, squares, diamonds, teardrops and the planet Saturn. (see chart)

Sirius: Binary star in the constellation Canis Major. Only about 8.6 light years from Earth, it includes brilliant Sirius A., also known as the Dog Star, and Sirius B, invisible to the naked eye. Although the existence of Sirius B was not suspected until 1844 and not telescopically confirmed until 1862, anthropologist Robert Temple contends that artifacts of the Dogon tribe in Mali reveal accurate knowledge of the movements of both stars. He suggests that beings from the planetary system of Sirius B visited Africa thousands of years ago, leaving behind them evidence of their technological superiority in the form of religious relics. Ancient illustrations of fish-tailed gods may be an indication that the Siriusians were amphibious creatures resembling a combination of human being and dolphin.

Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona: Location of an alleged UFO abduction of a young woodcutter in 1975. On November 5, 1975, six young woodcutters, along with their employer, were working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, engaged in a tree-thinning contract for the U. S. Forest Service. The forest is located in east central Arizona, and the work area is fifteen miles from Heber. The story begins at approximately 6:10 p.m., when the men were heading home in a seven-man crew-cab truck. Traveling along a bull-dozed trail, one of the men sighted a gold-colored glow through the thickets. As they rounded a right-hand turn, they saw the source of the glow - a structural object hovering approximately fifteen feet above a clearing and a scant ninety feet or so from the viewers. Travis Walton, twenty-two, was sitting on the right-hand passenger side of the front seat. When he saw the object, he called to Mike Rogers, the driver and boss of the crew, to stop. Hardly waiting for the truck to come to a complete halt, Walton jumped out and, at a fast walk, approached a woodpile (stacked by the thinners) to get a closer look. As his fellow employees called for him to be careful and come back, he stood and looked at the object, which was at a 60-degree elevation from his position. It had the shape of two "pie pans" or shallow bowls placed rim to rim. A "beeping" sound was heard by all. Walton stepped back a couple of paces, intending to vacate the vicinity of the craft when his friends were startled to see a blue-green beam shoot out from the bottom of the craft, striking Walton in the upper area of his body, lifting him from the ground with his arms out stretched, and flinging him back to the ground. Thinking he and the others were in danger, Rogers restarted the truck and left the area. A quarter of a mile away, he stopped and the six men looked back. They saw a light rise from the ground and streak into the north east, originating in the area where they had left Travis. Thinking it was the object, Rogers turned the truck around and drove back to the clearing. For fifteen minutes, the men searched for Walton, covering the near area and calling, but to no avail. Rogers then decided to drive to Heber, the nearest town, and report Walton's disappearance to the sheriff. On the way, they debated what they should tell, doubting that the truth would be believed, but unable to come up with an acceptable explanation, they told what they had experienced. On November 10, the six men were given polygraph tests which established that they had not harmed Walton (it had been implied that they had done away with Travis and hidden his remains, despite the fact that Rogers was his best friend of many years standing) and that they had, actually, seen a UFO. On the night of November 10, at approximately midnight, a call came in to the Grant Neff residence (Mrs. Neff was Travis' sister and at the time the only Walton in Snowflake, Arizona, with a telephone). It was Travis, sounding confused and disoriented, saying he was at a phone booth in Heber and in terrible pain. Neff went to Mrs. Kellett's (Travis' mother) home, picked up Travis' brother Duane, who had come up from Phoenix when notified of his brother's disappearance, and drove at breakneck speed to Heber, where they found Travis slumped in a phone booth. He had a five-day growth of beard and appeared thin but was otherwise apparently all right. Within hours, Duane drove Travis to his home in Phoenix, intent on keeping him away from the horde of reporters, which had plagued the Walton family during Travis' disappearance, and to obtain medical treatment. For a short time, Duane Walton was frustrated by the representative of a local UFO group, who sent him to a pseudomedical hypnotist, but he was eventually contacted by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), which called in a team of medical experts. Ultimately, Walton was given the Minnesota Multi Phase Personality Inventory (MMPI), Rorschach (commonly called Inkblot) Polygraph and Psychological Stress Evaluator tests, all of which established that he had told the truth as he knew it. All of these tests were conducted and interpreted by experts. Unfortunately, Walton only recalls an hour or two of his five-day absence. He claims to have awoke on a table in a room which he first assumed was a hospital. The ceiling seemed low, there was an oval-shaped, metallic-colored apparatus on his chest (his denim jacket and shirt were pulled up), and he was in considerable pain. The "air" in the room seemed oppressive, i.e., warm and damp. It took a few minutes to get his wits about him, and when he became fully aware of his surroundings, he realized he was in no ordinary hospital. Around the "table" on which he reclined were three strange creatures - strange, because they were less than five feet tall, very pale, with large, domed heads, large eyes, small nose, mouth, and ears, and their bodies, encased in tannish orange, seamless jumpsuits, and were very thin. Upon seeing them, Walton struggled to his feet, and when they approached him with their fingernail-less hands outstretched, he grabbed a rod-like object from an adjacent table and prepared to defend himself. After flailing about with the instrument for a moment or two, Walton was surprised to see the trio file out of the door and turn to the right. After the creatures left, Walton also exited the room, turning left. Following a curved corridor, looking for a way out, he found a circular room with a chair (which was too small for him but nevertheless, he sat in it) with a "screen" on each arm. He touched a lever and the "stars" on the "ceiling" above seemed to move, so he moved the lever back to its original position and decided against further experimentation. Shortly, a "man," approximately six feet tall, with brown hair and strange golden-brown eyes, appeared at the door which Travis had entered. He beckoned to Travis, and Travis went to him, babbling question after question, none of which were answered. The "man" said nothing, took Travis by the arm, led him out into the corridor or hall, to the right, then stopped, whereupon a section of the wall opened. He had not touched anything. They walked into a small room, the door behind them closed, and seconds later a door opened in front of them. They then went down an incline (apparently out of the enclosure Walton had been in) where Walton found him self in a large enclosure resembling a quarter of a cylinder. There were three or four oval-shaped metallic objects parked there (the same apparent metallic substance as everything else he had seen). He was led by the "man" (who was clad in a blue "jumpsuit" with a clear "helmet") through the enclosure, to another door into a room where there were three other human-appearing individuals - two men and a woman. They resembled the first, except that, although they wore the same clothing, they were without helmets. They gestured to him to get upon a table. He resisted, but they eventually succeeded in their efforts and Travis reclined; an apparatus resembling an oxygen mask with a black ball attached was placed over his face and he lost consciousness. Travis awoke about midnight about a quarter mile west of Heber, Arizona. He was lying on his stomach and raised up to watch the curved, metallic hull of an aircraft taking off straight up, reflecting the yellow stripe of the dividing line of the highway below. What did Travis Walton see? What did he experience? Tests indicate that he has related his experience truthfully. His book The Walton Experience (1978) will tend to illuminate the reader and enable him to make his own judgment.

Skeptic: One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.

Skyquake: Among the unexplained mysterious phenomena are the explosions or quakes heard emanating from the upper atmosphere. These skyquakes, also known as airquakes, received widespread publicity in early December 1977 when on several different occasions, residents along the east coast of the United States reported loud aerial explosions. Sonic booms from passing jet planes and nuclear explosions were ruled out as possible causes by scientists. Three other possibilities remained. One was that the military was testing some sort of secret weapon. The second was that skyquakes were a natural phenomenon as yet unidentified. The third was that UFOs were responsible. Despite attempts to pinpoint the source of the skyquakes, neither the government nor the scientists were able to identify them.

Smart Committee: Group consisting of Spencer Beresford, Richard Haines and Frank Hammil, who were staff members of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, and headed by Robert Smart, a staff member of the House Armed Services Committee. In 1960, both committees had called for a briefing by the United States Air Force (USAF) on the UFO project. In addition to Smart's group, the meeting was attended by representatives of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Air Force officers and astronomer J. Allen Hynek. Noting that the investigative ability of Air Force bases was limited to routine cases, the committee recommended that financing should be provided by the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force to give Project Blue Book the personnel, the mobility and capability to investigate cases indicating high intelligence or scientific potential, as well as those generating an unusual amount of public interest. In addition, Smart requested that summaries of all significant cases be forwarded to his office. None of the recommendations or Smart's request was implemented.

Snippy: Three-year-old Appaloosa mare (named Lady) whose much publicized death made her the most famous victim of the mysterious animal mutilations of the 1960s and 1970s. Her body was found in Alamosa County, Colorado, on September 15, 1967, after she had been missing for two days. She had been skinned, leaving bleached bones exposed around the skull and shoulders. An incision around the neck was so smooth, it appeared to have been made with a surgeon's scalpel. The vital organs were gone and no blood remained in the carcass or on the ground. A medicinal odor pervaded the site. Fifteen circular impressions resembling exhaust marks were spread over an area of approximately five thousand square yards and some bushes had been flattened. No footprints were found in the vicinity of the body. Snippy's own tracks stopped one hundred feet from where she lay dead. When Mrs. Lewis, the horse's owner, punctured a piece of horse-flesh encased in some skin found near the body, a green viscous substance oozed out onto her hand, which burned until she washed it. An ongoing rash of UFO sightings in the area, plus subsequent mutilations in Pennsylvania, launched Snippy's name into the headlines. Sightseers and investigators poured into Alamosa County during the following weeks. Representatives were sent by the Condon Committee, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). Autopsies, sample gathering and examination of the site resulted in a confusion of conflicting reports and multiple explanations of the case. Two bullets were later found in Snippy's body, which might have laid the case to rest, had not four more horses and four cows succumbed to the phantom slaughterers. Various groups attributed Snippy's death to carnivorous flying saucer occupants, practical jokers and a good samaritan, who may have slit the animal's throat to save her from a slow death caused by an infection. There was enough reported evidence to lend some credence to any one of these hypotheses. For a time, Snippy remained a tourist attraction in Alamosa where her skeleton was on display in a San Luis Valley pottery shop owned by Dr. Leary and his wife. Then, in 1971, wound up on display in the Alamosa Chamber of Commerce office. Later, the skeleton was donated to the Luther Bean Museum at Adams State College in Alamosa. When the college was ready to get rid of Snippy, Carl Helfin – a local collector of odd and unusual things – took possession of the skeleton and kept it until his death. Snippy had all but been forgotten when, at Carl’s death, she was "rediscovered" in one of his many storage sheds. Plans are in the works to have her on permanent display at a museum in the San Luis Valley when she belongs.

Socorro, New Mexico: Location of one of the classic sightings of modern UFO history. At approximately 5:45 p.m. on April 24, 1964, Deputy Marshal Lonnie Zamora was chasing a speeding motorist on the outskirts of town. Suddenly, his attention was diverted by a roar and a descending blue and orange flame in the sky about 4,000 feet to the southwest. Abandoning his chase, he turned off onto a rough road leading to the area. After repeated attempts to drive up a steep incline, Zamora finally reached the top. About 800 feet away, he could see an egg-shaped object, shiny-white like aluminum, sitting in a shallow gully. At first glance, Zamora thought the object was a crashed car standing on end. Then, he noticed two people in white coveralls beside the object. They were small, leading Zamora to think they were either small adults or large children. One of the figures seemed startled as it apparently caught sight of the watching police officer. Zamora continued down the road to get closer to the object. As he passed behind a ridge, his view of the craft was temporarily blocked. He stopped at a point about 100 feet from the object. The white-clad figures were no longer visible. As he stepped out of his car and started walking toward the object, he could see that it was standing on two legs. On its side was a strange red insignia, about two feet high. Suddenly, there was a loud roar. Thinking the object was about to explode, Zamora ran to take cover behind the car. The craft began to rise slowly, emitting a light-blue and orange flame. Still alarmed, Zamora continued to run until he was about 200 feet away from the site. When the roar stopped, he turned to watch, now without his glasses, which he had dropped by the car. At the height of about ten feet, the object began to move slowly in a southwesterly direction. Then it rose higher and took off, disappearing in the distance. Zamora was joined by Sergeant Sam Chavez. They examined the site where they found burned brush and four depressions in the ground. The case was investigated by numerous civilian UFO organizations and journalists, as well as by the United States Air Force (USAF) and an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who happened to be in Chavez's office at the time. The four depressions in the ground were considered by many investigators to have been made by landing pads. Opel Grinder, a local gas station attendant, reported that an unidentified motorist had mentioned seeing a strange craft headed toward a mesa. After the object had dropped out of view, the motorist saw a police car headed toward the area. A newspaper story about two men from Iowa, Paul Kies and Larry Kratzer, who had supposedly seen the Socorro UFO, was followed up in 1978 by Private UFO Investigations (PUFOI). Kies and Kratzer were interviewed, and, while their accounts of the incident suggested that one of them might have been the motorist referred to by Grinder, there were many discrepancies between the two men's reports, as well as between their accounts and Zamora's. The PUFOI investigators suggest that these discrepancies might be attributable to the fourteen-year time lapse, during which time it is not unusual for a person to forget or sometimes add details while attempting to recall an experience. J. Allen Hynek, investigating in his official capacity as consultant to the Air Force, told the news media it was one of the soundest, best-substantiated reports. He warned Major Hector Quintanilla, current head of Project Blue Book, that UFO organizations would consider it the best-authenticated landing case on record, and would use it as leverage to try to obtain a long-sought Congressional investigation of the UFO situation. Quintanilla contacted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and fifteen industrial firms to find out if they were conducting any experiments with lunar landing modules. The reply in each case was negative. The Air Force found no explanation for the case. It is the only landing, trace and occupant case listed as "unidentified" in Blue Book files. Thirty-one hours after Zamora's sighting, Orlando Gallego claims to have seen an identical UFO land at La Madera, New Mexico. Police officers who examined the alleged landing site reported evidence of burning and four depressions on the ground. Gallego and his family denied any knowledge of the Socorro incident.

Sodom and Gomorrah: Neighboring cities which, according to the Bible, were burned to the ground by Gob because of the wickedness of their inhabitants. A man named Lot, warned in advance by two angels, was able to escape. However, his wife, disobeying the angels' instructions not to look at the destruction, was turned into a pillar of salt. Supporters of the ancient astronauts hypothesis believe that extraterrestrials destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with an atomic bomb. Lot's wife, reluctant to leave, lingered too far behind the fleeing party and was reduced to a pile of white ashes by the nuclear blast.

Sonic Boom: Explosive sound caused by the shock wave generated by an aircraft or other object flying faster than the speed of sound. In cases where no sonic booms have been reported in association with UFOs accelerating beyond the speed of sound, it is probable that the booms created are heard by people miles away rather than by witnesses directly below the object.

Sound: Most witnesses do not report any sounds connected with UFOs. In most cases where a sound is heard, it is described as a hum or a buzz. On rare occasions, witnesses have described hearing crackling, thunderous or swishing sounds or a series of sharp explosive noises. Sonic booms are rarely reported in association with UFO sightings. However, air quakes caused by sonic booms in 1977 and 1978 on the east coast of the United States were attributed to UFOs by some ufologists. It has been conjectured that animal reactions to UFOs are induced by ultrasonic waves imperceptible to the human auditory system.

South America: This part of the world accounts for more UFO reports than any other area. The majority of Latin American sightings occur in Brazil, followed by Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay. A large proportion of these sightings involve landings and occupants. The general public tends toward a fairly casual acceptance of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH).

South Ashburnham, Massachusetts: Location of the alleged abduction of Betty Andreasson by UFO entities on January 25, 1967. Andreasson was at home with her family in the evening, when a power failure occurred. A glowing light was visible through the windows. Moments later, the house lights came on again. Andreasson's family seemed to be frozen, as if in suspended animation. She, however, was unaffected and watched as four creatures entered the house, passing right through the closed wooden door. The entities were about three-and-a-half to four feet tall. Their heads were pear-shaped, large on top with narrow chins. They had holes for noses and scar-like slits for mouths. Their large, almond-shaped eyes slanted around to the sides of their heads. Each sleeve of their dark blue, skin-tight uniforms bora a symbol resembling a bird with outstretched wings. The leader, who identified himself as Quazgaa, began to converse telepathically with Andreasson. He gave her a thin, blue book in exchange for a Bible. Andreasson was then taken outside to an oval craft. Once aboard, she was submitted to a frightening and painful physical examination. Afterwards, she was placed on a chair where air hoses were attached to her nose and mouth. A glass-like cover was placed over both her and the chair in such a way that she was enclosed in an airtight compartment. It was then filled with fluid. She sat for a while, experiencing pleasant, pulsing vibrations. Then the liquid was drained from the enclosure. Andreasson had apparently been brought to an alien realm. The entities led her through a dark tunnel to a place where the atmosphere and everything in it were colored red. Creatures resembling lemurs were climbing all over square, cement-like buildings. Andreasson was frightened of the animals, which had eyes on stems where their heads should have been. Soon, she and her companions arrived in an area where everything was green. The succession of strange sights culminated in the appearance of a bird, about fifteen feet tall, standing in front of a brilliant source of light. Andreasson was overcome by heat. When the discomfort subsided, the bird had vanished and in its place was a fire. The flames shrank into a pile of ashes from which there emerged a large, fat worm. Then Andreasson heard a voice speaking to her. Believing the voice to be that of God, she was overcome with joy. She was told she had been chosen for a mission which would be revealed to her at a later time. Andreasson was returned to her home, where the members of her family remained frozen like statues. She went to bed and fell asleep while one of the entities watched over her. When she awakened the following morning, her family was up and going about its normal business. Later investigations revealed that Andreasson's father and her eldest daughter, Becky, were apparently conscious during part of the time that the aliens were purportedly in their house. Their recollections confirmed Andreasson's story. The major details of her alleged experience - many of them extremely bizarre - were recalled under regressive hypnosis. During these sessions, it sometimes seemed that the UFO entities themselves were channeling messages directly through Andreasson. It was also revealed that Andreasson had supposedly been abducted by aliens on a previous occasion and had sighted strange beings several times in the interim. The blue book given to her by the creatures had disappeared shortly after the incident. Andreasson's alleged experience shared many characteristics with other well-known abduction cases. However, Raymond Fowler, who participated in the investigation, claims that some of the details of her story match those of several unpublished cases, leading him to surmise that Andreasson did not adopt her story, either intentionally or subconsciously, from the UFO literature. The experience is marked by strong religious overtones, which seem to tie in with Andreasson's Christian beliefs. The vision of the gigantic bird was an enactment of the ancient legend of the Phoenix, an early Christian symbol of resurrection. Fowler speculated that this might have been a programmed vision created by the aliens. They might have been attempting to gain her confidence by associating themselves with the God in whom she believes. Other theories Fowler contemplated are that UFO occupants are God's angels or that they are extraterretrials undertaking genuine missionary work. A tragic incident occurred in 1977, reportedly as an aftermath of the case. While Andreasson was talking on the telephone with another alleged UFO abduction victim, alien voices reportedly interrupted the conversation. Although their language was unintelligible, Andreasson sensed anger and a threat of some imminent disaster. That night, two of her sons were killed in a car crash.

South Central United States: Location of a classic radar/visual UFO sighting on July 17, 1957. An Air Force RB-47, equipped with Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) gear and carrying six officers, was followed by a UFO for over 700 miles as it flew from Mississippi, through Louisiana and Texas and into Oklahoma. The intense light was seen visually, was tracked by ground radar and was detected by the onboard ECM monitoring equipment. In several instances, the UFO's sudden appearances and disappearances were observed by all three at once. The object trailed about ten miles behind the RB-47 for some time, then moved rapidly to a position in front of the aircraft. The pilot headed toward the light but, as he approached, it disappeared. As the pilot turned to resume his course, the target appeared below the RB-47. He put the plane into a dive in an attempt to intercept the object, but again it disappeared. Low on fuel, the RB-47 returned to is home base. Unable to find the Air Force records on the case, the Condon Committee based its evaluation on witnesses' testimony given ten years after the incident. The Condon Report lists the case as "unidentified." After atmospheric physicist James McDonald had located the original records, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) selected his report on the case for publication as one that demonstrated a truly anomalous phenomenon.

Space People: Term used by contactees to denote flying saucer occupants and inhabitants of other planets. They are also referred to as the Space Brothers.

Space-Time Continuum: A level of existence consisting of spatial dimensions and time.

Special Report No. 14: In late December 1951, Edward J. Ruppelt (head of Project Blue Book, 1951-1953) met with members of the Battelle Memorial Institute, a think tank based in Columbus, Ohio. Ruppelt wanted their experts to assist them in making the Air Force UFO study more scientific. It was the Battelle Institute that devised the standardized reporting form. Starting in late March 1952, the Institute started analyzing existing sighting reports and encoding about 30 report characteristics onto IBM punched cards for computer analysis. Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 was their massive statistical analysis of Blue Book cases to date, some 3200 by the time the report was completed in 1954, after Ruppelt had left Blue Book. Even today, it represents the largest such study ever undertaken. Battelle employed four scientific analysts, who sought to divide cases into "knowns", "unknowns", and a third category of "insufficient information." They also broke down knowns and unknowns into four categories of quality, from excellent to poor. E.g., cases deemed excellent might typically involve experienced witnesses such as airline pilots or trained military personnel, multiple witnesses, corroborating evidence such as radar contact or photographs, etc. In order for a case to be deemed a "known", only two analysts had to independently agree on a solution. However, for a case to be called an "unknown", all four analysts had to agree. Thus the criterion for an "unknown" was quite stringent. In addition, sightings were broken down into six different characteristics — color, number, duration of observation, brightness, shape, and speed — and then these characteristics were compared between knowns and unknowns to see if there was a statistically significant difference. The main results of the statistical analysis were: (1) About 69% of the cases were judged known or identified (38% were considered conclusively identified while 31% were still "doubtfully" explained); about 9% fell into insufficient information. About 22% were deemed "unknown", down from the earlier 28% value of the Air Force studies. (2) In the known category, 86% of the knowns were aircraft, balloons, or had astronomical explanations. Only 1.5% of all cases were judged to be psychological or "crackpot" cases. A "miscellaneous" category comprised 8% of all cases and included possible hoaxes. (3) The higher the quality of the case, the more likely it was to be classified unknown. 35% of the excellent cases were deemed unknowns, as opposed to only 18% of the poorest cases. This was the exact opposite of the result predicted by skeptics, who usually argued unknowns were poorer quality cases involving unreliable witnesses that could be solved if only better information were available. (4) In all six studied sighting characteristics, the unknowns were different from the knowns at a highly statistically significant level: in five of the six measures the odds of knowns differing from unknowns by chance was only 1% or less. When all six characteristics were considered together, the probability of a match between knowns and unknowns was less than 1 in a billion. Despite this, the summary section of the Battelle Institute's final report declared it was "highly improbable that any of the reports of unidentified aerial objects... represent observations of technological developments outside the range of present-day knowledge." A number of researchers, including Dr. Bruce Maccabee, who extensively reviewed the data, have noted that the conclusions of the analysts were usually at odds with their own statistical results, displayed in 240 charts, tables, graphs and maps. Some conjecture that the analysts may simply have had trouble accepting their own results or may have written the conclusions to satisfy the new political climate within Blue Book following the Robertson Panel. When the Air Force finally made Special Report #14 public in October 1955, it was claimed that the report scientifically proved that UFOs did not exist. Critics of this claim note that the report actually proved that the "unknowns" were distinctly different from the "knowns" at a very high statistical significance level. The Air Force also incorrectly claimed that only 3% of the cases studied were unknowns, instead of the actual 22%. They further claimed that the residual 3% would probably disappear if more complete data were available. Critics counter that this ignored the fact that the analysts had already thrown such cases into the category of "insufficient information", whereas both "knowns" and "unknowns" were deemed to have sufficient information to make a determination. Also the "unknowns" tended to represent the higher quality cases, q.e. reports that already had better information and witnesses. The result of the monumental BMI study were echoed by a 1979 French GEPAN report which stated that about a quarter of over 1,600 closely-studied UFO cases defied explanation, stating, in part, "These cases … pose a real question." When GEPAN's successor SEPRA closed in 2004, 5800 cases had been analyzed, and the percentage of inexplicable unknowns had dropped to about 14%. The head of SEPRA, Dr. Jean-Jacques Velasco, found the evidence of extraterrestrial origins so convincing in these remaining unknowns, that he wrote a book about it in 2005.

Speed: There have been reports which estimated the speed of UFOs to be as high as 45,480 miles per hour. A considerable number of reports have shown that when a nocturnal UFO accelerates, its luminosity may increase and its color changes toward the red end of the spectrum. Conversely, deceleration can be accompanied by diminished luminosity and color change toward the violet end of the spectrum. Some observers have noted instant acceleration as opposed to gradual acceleration. Others have reported the sudden disappearance of a moving nocturnal light, which has given them the impression of a light being switched off. Some ufologists have speculated that this phenomenon may indicate instant transference or teleportation of the UFO. Those who consider the Parallel Universe hypothesis as a possibility, theorize that sudden disappearance may indicate the moment of the UFO's return to its original universe.

Speed of Light: Velocity at which visible light travels in a vacuum and which, according to the laws of physics, cannot be exceeded. Light reaches its highest speed of about 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum. This limitation has reduced the plausibility of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), for it establishes unreasonably long travel periods between solar systems. The hypothetical tachyon, although it demonstrates the possibility of the existence of particles which always travel beyond the speed of light, does not solve the problem of crossing the speed of light boundary to achieve shorter or instantaneous interstellar journeys.

Spitsbergen, Norway: Location of one of the most popular legends about crashed flying saucers. Spitsbergen is made up of five large islands adn numerous small islands set within the remote archipelago of Svalbard, 580 miles north of Tromso, northern Norway. Svalbard has no indigenous inhabitants. The number of settlers rose from about 1,500 during the 1950s to approximately 3,000 in the 1970s. For a number of years, the main source for the Spitsbergen story was an alleged report in the September 5, 1955, issue of the West German newspaper, Stuttgartar Tageblatt. The article claims that a board of enquiry of the Norwegian General Staff was planning to publish a report on the examination of remains of a UFO that crashed near Spitsbergen in early 1952. Chairman of the Board Colonel Gernod Darnbyl was said to have announced that publication was being delayed until certain sensational facts were discussed with British and American experts. It was declared that previous information indicating the UFO's Russian origin was incorrect. The materials used in the disk's construction were completely unknown. It had been established that the craft had not been built by any country on Earth. The article went on to describe the repeated UFO sightings by Second Lieutenant Bobs and Tyllensen, who had been assigned as special observers in the Arctic area following the Spitsbergen event. The Condon Committee, in an attempt to check the validity of this report, contacted the Norwegian Defense Research establishment and was informed that the only fragments retrieved from Spitsbergen had been identified as conventional space hardware. Presumably, such fragments were not the origin of the 1952 story, since the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, was not launched until 1957. Apparently, there was some official interest during 1952, for the Condon Committee located an American Air Intelligence Information Report dated September 12 of that year which announced that the Norwegian government had no knowledge of a crashed flying saucer in Spitsbergen. The committee attributed the story's origin to a July 9, 1952, edition of another West German newspaper, Berliner Volksblatt, which reported that a disk-shaped object, made of unknown metal, and having a diameter of one hundred feet, had crashed in Spitsbergen. Russian symbols on the instrument panel had led to the conclusion that the craft had been built in the Soviet Union. The Condon Committee deduced that the Spitsbergen story was unfounded. A third account was soon brought forth as evidence. An article in the June 18, 1952, issue of yet another West German newspaper, Saarbrucken Zeitung, gave details of the alleged discovery of the disk by Norwegian jet fighters. Experiencing radio interference in the vicinity of the crash site, the pilots had circled until they spotted the remains of a 125-foot disk encircled by a ring of forty-six exhaust jets on its outer rim. Air Force officials dismantled the craft and removed it to Narvik, where experts were waiting to carry out an examination. Although rumors continue to circle about the alleged Spitsbergen crash, no conclusive evidence has been presented to support the story.

Star: A sun, which may or may not have a planetary system. The distance between stars is so vast that, despite their motion, their position in relationship to each other and to Earth appears to remain unchanged over the years. Since Earth rotates on its axis from west to east as it moves around the sun, the stars appear to rise in the east and set in the west. Although bright stars and planets account for numerous UFO reports, their consistent positions in the sky usually permit rapid identification by knowledgeable investigators. Earth's atmosphere causes light rays from stars and reflected sunlight from planets to be refracted and appear to twinkle. Since the lower, dense areas of the atmosphere increase this effect, refractions and dispersion of light is exaggerated when stars and planets are rising and setting. Stars and planets may appear to have unusual shapes and to flash brilliantly with red, green and blue colors. In addition, stars and planets may seem to move up and down, sideways, and back and forth. The sixteen brightest stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere are Sirius, Vega, Capella, Arcturus, Rigel, Procyon, Altair, Beltelgeuse, Aldebaran, Pollux, Spica, Antares, Fomalhaut, Deneb, Regulus and Castor. Many of these, especially Sirius, Capella and Arcturus, are often reported as UFOs.

Star of Bethlehem: Celestial body, described in the Gospel According to St. Matthew, which led three sages from the East to the birthplace of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Christian theologians consider the phenomenon as a miracle performed by God. Modern astronomers have explained the celestial objects as any one of a number of natural events including planetary conjunctions, comets, novae and supernovae. Some ufologists believe that the star of Bethlehem was a gigantic spaceship which flew in front of the wise men and hovered over the birthplace of the young child. Some believe, moreover, that Jesus Christ himself was the son of an extraterrestrial astronaut.

Strangeness Rating: This term was established by astronomer J. Allen Hynek to qualify the strangeness of a UFO report. Used precisely, it can represent the number of details that make an individual case difficult to understand. For example, an unidentified nocturnal light which moves across the sky would have a low strangeness rating because the only aspect that requires explanation would be its movement. On the other hand, a report of a spinning disk-shaped object that performed right angle turns, landed on a road causing car engines to stall and then took off again leaving marks on the ground, would receive a high strangeness rating because it contains several independent strange elements.

Submarine Hypothesis: Theory that UFOs are the craft of an underwater civilization on Earth. Such entities might have evolved on this planet or might have migrated to bases under Earth's oceans from another planet. Many UFO reports describe objects entering and emerging from bodies of water. An unidentified object or light seen below the ocean's surface is referred to as an Unidentified Submarine Object (USO).

Surveillance Hypothesis: Theory that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft engaged in the surveillance of Earth for any one of several reasons. Extraterrestrials might be monitoring our nuclear activities and the progress of our space program in order to step in, should the need arise, and prevent us from committing any acts that would endanger other communities in space. Proponents of the Invasion Hypothesis believe that UFOs are engaged in military reconnaissance in preparation for the destruction of our civilization or the colonization of our planet. Supporters of the Migration Hypothesis hold that such reconnaissance might be conducted with a view to eventual co-existence on peaceful terms. Surveillance by aliens might be part of a scientific project. Some advocates of the Earth Colonization Hypothesis suggest that the entire human race might be guinea pigs in some kind of experiment being conducted by a cosmic power. If this were the case, our masters would need to monitor our progress and their presence, although not understood, would undoubtedly be apparent to us in some way.

Swamp Gas: Methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and phosphine generated by decaying vegetable matter in marshy areas. When ignited, the first three of these combustible gases produce faint flames not more than five inches long and two inches wide. They usually remain on the ground or float about four inches above it. Wind can carry them for a few feet before they are extinguished. Phosphine, on the other hand, does not burn with a hot flame but is luminescent. Several names have been given to marsh gas or swamp gas over the centuries. These include will-o'-the wisp, jack-o'-lantern, friar's lanthorn and foxfire. The ancient Romans called it "ignis fatuus," or foolish fire, because nighttime travelers were lured off the roads by it into swamps, thinking it came from dwellings. It is considered an ominous sign in most popular myths. Russian superstition holds that swamp gases are the spirits of stillborn children who drift between heaven and hell. A similar legend purports that they are the souls rejected by hell who carry their own coals on their wanderings. Swamp gas became a household word in the United States in 1966. Following a rash of sightings involving about one hundred witnesses in Michigan, astronomer J. Allen Hynek was sent by the United States Air Force (USAF) to investigate. The area was swarming with reporters. After interviewing witnesses, Hynek called a press conference. Later, he claimed that the Air Force had ordered him to issue a public statement explaining the sightings. Project Blue Book chief, Hector Quintanilla, on the other hand, claimed that Hynek requested permission to hold the conference. Because of public reaction to Hynek's misquoted statements, neither one wanted to be held responsible. Hynek indicated swamp gas as the possible explanation for the Dexter and Hillsdale sightings, since they had occurred over marshland and involved very faint lights. The press pounced on this theory and presented it as Hynek's definitive explanation for all of the Michigan sightings. The swamp gas solution became a national joke and the subject of hundreds of cartoons in magazines and newspapers. To the dismay of its residents, Michigan became known as the Swamp Gas State.

Tachyon: Term derived from a Greek word meaning "swift" used to describe a hypothetical particle which always travels faster than the speed of light. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, an object which always travels above the speed of light and never travels at or below 186,282 miles per second does not cross the speed of light boundary, and therefore does not violate the laws of physics. In our universe, a motionless object has zero energy, which increases as the speed of the object increases. It achieves infinite energy at the speed of light. Conversely, in a universe of tachyons, an object with infinite energy moves slightly faster than the speed of light and, as the energy diminishes, the object accelerates until it achieves infinite speed with zero energy. Detection of such a universe would be extremely difficult since even the slowest tachyon would leave an imperceptible trace of light that exists for an infinitesimal fraction of a second. If tachyons exist, then objects within their universe could cross the interstellar reaches within extremely short periods of time. However, if UFOs are travelers from a tachyon universe, the theory does not account for the manifestation of such objects within our universe.

Target: Term used, especially by the military, to refer to a luminous image on a radarscope, also known as a blip.

Teheran, Iran: Location of a bizarre UFO encounter involving two Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom jets in 1976. In a confidential report from the United States military attaché in Iran to the Pentagon, it was reported that at about 12:30 a.m. on September 19, anxious citizens in the Shemiran area of Teheran began calling Iranian Air Force headquarters to report a strange object in the sky. The UFO was flashing intensely brilliant strobe lights, arranged in a rectangular pattern and alternating blue, green, red and orange in color. Controllers at Mehrabad airport reported the object's altitude to be approximately 5,000 feet. At 1:30 a.m., an F-4 was scrambled from Shahrokhi Air Force Base. When the interceptor approached within a range of just under thirty miles, all instrumentation and communications were lost. The confidential communiqué stated, "When the F-4 turned away from the object and apparently was no longer a threat to it, the aircraft regained all instrumentation and communications." At 1:40 a.m., a second F-4 was launched. As the backseater radar operator tracked the object, he compared the size of the return to that of a 707 tanker. As the second F-4 pursued it southwards, the UFO maintained a distance of almost thirty miles. Suddenly, another bright object, estimated to be one-half to one-third the apparent size of the moon, came out of the original object. The second UFO sped toward the jet. The pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile but at that moment, his weapons control panel went off and he lost all communications. As the jet dove out of the way, the UFO circled behind it, then returned to the mother ship. Moments later, another object emerged from the opposite side of the mother ship and descended at high speed. It came to rest gently on the ground, casting a bright light over a one-and-a-half mile area. The F-4 pilot descended to a lower altitude and continued to observe the UFO. The object ascended again, rejoining the mother ship which then departed. As the F-4 came in to land at the airport, the pilot and radar operator noticed overhead yet another cylindrical UFO with steady lights on each end and a flashing light in the middle. Tower controllers saw it as it passed over the jet. After daybreak, the F-4 crew flew over the UFO landing site in a helicopter. No traces were observed, although a strange beeper signal was picked up west of the location. The occupants of a house in the area reported that they had heard a loud noise and seen a bright illumination similar to lightning. The United States Air Force (USAF) has asserted that it made no follow-up investigation.

Telepathy: Alleged transference of thought between two or more people by some means other than the normal sensory channels. Both contactees and abduction victims claim to communicate with flying saucer occupants by means of telepathy.

Thutmose III: Renowned Egyptian king of the 18th dynasty whose annals refer to a spectacular UFO sighting. The papyrus, dating back to circa 1504-1450 B.C., was found among the papers of the late Professor Alberto Tulli, former Director of the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican. The papyrus, badly damaged with many gaps in the hieroglyphics, was translated by Prince Boris de Rachewiltz. The first UFO was described as "a circle of fire coming in the sky . . . it had no head. From its mouth came a breath that stank. One rod long was its body and a rod wide, and it was noiseless." The report continues, "Now, after some days had gone by, behold, these things became more numerous in the skies than ever. They shone more than the brightness of the Sun and extended to the limits of the four supports of the heavens. . . . Dominating in the sky was the station of these fire-circles. The army of the Pharaoh looked on with him in their midst. It was after supper. Thereupon, these fire-circles ascended higher in the sky towards the south. Fishes and winged animals or birds fell down from the sky." This UFO sighting is considered to be one of the earliest on record.

Tremonton, Utah: Location of a UFO sighting by Naval Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, his wife and two children on July 2, 1952. At about 11:10 a.m., they were driving on a highway near Tremonton when they saw a group of about twelve objects milling about in the sky in a rough formation and heading in a westerly direction. Newhouse happened to have a Bell and Howell 16 mm. movie camera in the trunk of his car. An experienced photographer, he had logged more than a thousand hours on aerial photograph missions, and twenty-two hundred hours as chief photographer. Using a three-inch telescopic lens, he shot about forty feet of color film of the objects before they disappeared. He described them as flat and circular like "two pie pans, one inverted on top of the other." Although he guessed that the objects were huge and traveling at very high altitude at supersonic speeds, he was unable to estimate accurately their speed, size, altitude or distance because of the absence of reference points in the sky. The film was studied by the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book staff, which concluded that the group of objects was probably a flock of birds. Meanwhile, the Naval Photographic Interpretation Laboratory was conducting a frame-by-frame evaluation. After studying the film for a total of 1,000 hours, Naval analysts concluded that the objects were neither birds, balloons, nor aircraft, and were self-luminous. They determined that they were unknown objects under intelligent control. The Robertson Panel, however, rejected the results of this analysis and concluded that the sighting could be explained as a flock of ducks or other birds reflecting the strong desert sunlight. However, in his report of a photogrammetric analysis of the Tremonton film, scientist Robert M. L. Baker stated that, "The motion of the objects is not exactly what one would expect from a flock of soaring birds (not the slightest indication of a decreased in brightness due to periodic turning with the wind or flapping)." The Condon Report, which presented evidence both for and against the bird hypothesis, concluded that the objects were, in fact, birds. Newhouse claimed that when the film was returned to him after completion of the Air Force evaluation, several frames of the movie were missing. These frames had shown a single UFO moving away over the horizon and hence provided some ranging information. In 1976, the Tremonton film was subjected to computer image processing by Ground Saucer Watch (GSW). Their analysis determined that the objects were disks, about fifty feet in diameter and thicker at the center than at the periphery. The UFOs were calculated to be about five to seven miles from the observer, traveling in a tight formation in controlled flight.

Trindade Island, Brazil: Location of an alleged UFO sighting which resulted in one of the most famous and most controversial series of photographs. The Brazilian Navy training ship Almirante Saldanha, converted into a floating laboratory to carry out research for the International Geophysical Year (IGY), was preparing to leave Trindade Island on its return trip to Rio de Janeiro on January 16, 1958. On board was a civilian group of submarine explorers, including professional marine photographer Almiro Barauna, retired Brazilian Air Force officer Captain José Teobaldo Viegas, and the leader of the group, Amilar Vieira. The popular version of the incident relates that, at about noon, Viegas and Vieira spotted a UFO. Viegas shouted, "Flying saucer!" Barauna immediately attempted to photograph the object. Many of the one hundred officers and crewmen on deck, attracted by the commotion, looked up to see the glowing, flattened sphere, its center encircled by a large ring or platform. In the excitement, Barauna was jostled by people rushing to get a better look at the UFO. However, he managed to take six shots of the craft as it maneuvered back and forth by a nearby mountain peak. Within about twenty seconds, the object took off at an incredible speed, disappearing in the distance. Barauna developed the film in a dark room on board. Four of the six exposures showed the strange object, which was identified by the other witnesses as the object they had seen in the sky. When Barauna reached Rio de Janeiro, he made prints and turned them over, together with the negatives, to the Brazilian Navy. They were analyzed by both the Navy Photo Reconnaissance Laboratory and the Cruzeiro do Sul Aerophotogrammetric Service, both of which agreed the photographs were authentic. For several weeks, the incident was kept secret. However, when the prints were taken to the President of Brazil, he released them to the public. They were published in Brazilian newspapers on February 21, 1958, five weeks after they had been taken. On February 25, United Press reported that the Brazilian Navy Ministry vouched for the Trindade photographs. The report also stated, "Navy Minister Admiral Antonio Alves Camara said, after meeting with President Juscelino Kubitschek in the summer Presidential Palace at Petropolis, that he also vouched personally for the authenticity of the pictures." When the pictures were televised in the United States, Air Force UFO investigators declared them to be fakes. The late astronomer and author Donald Menzel believed that the Trindade Island photographs were almost certainly a hoax. He points out that, although UFOs had been reported in the area frequently prior to January 16, 1958, the sightings had occurred after the initiation of daily weather balloon launches. According to Menzel and co-writer Lyle G. Boyd, when the ship finally docked a few weeks after the incident, interviews by news reporters revealed that none of the officers or crew members had actually seen the UFO. The ship's captain, although listed as a witness, was not on deck at the time of the sighting. Author Frank Salisbury, however, claims that newspaper accounts and UFO investigators' reports confirm that "virtually all the sailors witnessed the object." Although the United Press International reported the Brazilian Navy's endorsement of the photographs, Menzel and Boyd quote a Naval Ministry unofficial spokesman, who stated, "The Navy has no connection with the case, and its only connection with the occurrence was the fact that the photographer was aboard the school ship, and came back with the ship to Rio." In a newspaper interview, another unofficial Navy spokesman declared. "No officer or sailor from the N.E. Almirante Saldanha witnessed the event." Menzel and Boyd strengthened their case by revealing that Barauna had a prior interest in UFOs. Shortly before the alleged Tindade sighting, Barauna had published an intentionally humourous magazine article, entitled "A Flying Saucer Hunted Me at Home." The article was accompanied by admittedly fake photographs. Barauna had developed the Trindade photographs unobserved by anyone except his friend, Viegas. Menzel and Boyd question how anyone could confirm that the object shown on the negative was the same as the UFO allegedly seen in the sky. Because of the small size of the negative, the UFO would have appeared merely as a tiny blur about one-sixteenth-of-an-inch in length and no thicker than a pencil line. No prints had been made from the negative until Barauna went ashore several weeks later. Furthermore, despite the claim of Barauna and his two associates that the UFO was glowing brightly, the photographs show an object which does not give any impression of luminosity. Menzel suggests that, prior to boarding the ship, Barauna shot a series of pictures of a model flying saucer against a black background. He then reloaded his camera with the same film and shot a second series of pictures from the Almirante Saldanha. When the film was developed, the flying saucer appeared to be hovering in the sky. Despite Menzel's and Boyd's arguments, many ufologists continue to believe that the Trindade Island photographs present strong evidence of the reality of the UFO phenomenon. After conducting computer image enhancement testing, Ground Saucer Watch (GSW) has pronounced the photographs to be bona fide.

Truman, Harry S.: Thirty-third president of the United States, who stated at a press conference on April 4, 1950, "I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth."

Tunguska Region, Russia: Nearly forty years before the United States detonated the first atomic bomb, an unidentified flying object exploded over Siberia, releasing energy equivalent to that of a twenty-megaton hydrogen bomb. The source of that explosion remains a matter of debate and conjecture for scientists and ufologists alike. In the early dawn of June 30, 1908, travelers in the Gobi Desert saw an enormous object traversing the sky over China. At about 7:00 a.m., inhabitants of the sparsely-populated Tunguska forest caught sight of the fiery cylindrical body as it soared through the sky, leaving behind it a trail of multicolored smoke. With a roar, the object plunged toward the ground. Suddenly, it exploded. Simultaneously, a blinding flash of light illuminated the sky. A fierce wave of heat shot across the countryside. Nomadic villages were annihilated. The ground heaved, flinging helpless people into the air. Boatmen hundreds of miles away were hurled into the river. Those who were not injured or unconscious watched with horror and disbelief as a huge pillar of smoke rose into the air and spread out into the shape of a mushroom. A blanket of ashes covered the devastated land. Directly below the location of the airborne explosion, charred trees stood upright. Around them, extending to a forty-mile radius, trees were flattened with their peaks directed away from the epicenter. All over the world, the effects of the explosion were registered on seismographs and barographs. That night, in Siberia and throughout Europe, brilliant sunsets were highlighted by massive silver clouds tinged with a yellow-green light, which sometimes changed to a red or orange or rosy hue. At midnight, people were able to read their newspapers without the aid of artificial light. These unusual conditions prevailed during the following nights but with diminishing intensity. Twenty years passed before the first team of scientists set out for the remote area. They had expected to find evidence of a meteoritic impact. What they found did not concur with their knowledge of the burgeoning science of meteoritics but, for lack of better explanation, the phenomenon was classified as the Tunguska meteorite. Another twenty years passed before Alexander Kazantsev, Russian scientist and author, having observed the effects of the nuclear devastation at Hiroshima, saw the similarities between the two blasts. He presented his speculation in the form of a science fiction story, entitled, "Guest from the Cosmos." He noted that the flattened trees of the Tunguska redion, the mushroom cloud and the subsequent illuminated nights were now established characteristics of a nuclear explosion. To test his theory, a new expedition set out for the blast site. The team found an abnormally high degree of radiation in samples of trees, plants, ash and soil. Tiny globules of extraterrestrial matter were embedded in the soil. These particles contained small amounts of metals including copper and germanium, materials used in the construction of electrical and technical equipment. An unusually accelerated growth of plants and trees was evident in the region, yet another known aftereffect of nuclear explosions. Surviving witnesses revealed that a strange black rain had fallen over Siberia on the day of the mysterious explosion, just as it had in Hiroshima almost forty years later. During the weeks that followed the disaster, local reindeer had fallen victim to an unknown disease which produced scabs on their bodies resembling the radiation blisters found on cattle exposed to the radiation debris of the Alamogordo experimental atom bomb. Based on witnesses' reports and ballistic wave evidence, it was established that the UFO had changed course at least once, possibly twice, during the last stage of its doomed journey. The general consensus of the study team was that on June 30, 1908, an atomic-powered device weighing over fifty thousand tons exploded over the Tunguska forest at an altitude of just over three miles. Kazantsev believes that device to have been an extraterrestrial spacecraft which was attempting to land when its engines exploded. Further research has been carried out to support Kazantsev's theory. Aerial mapping of the boundaries of the destroyed area showed an asymmetrical elliptical shape which led Russian scientist A. V. Zolotov and Felix Zigel to conclude that the explosive material responsible for the blast was enclosed in a container made of another non-explosive material. Calculations on the object's trajectory revealed its speed of entry into the atmosphere to be lower than that of natural astronomical bodies. Moreover, it was estimated that as the UFO neared the ground, it decelerated to a velocity comparable to that of high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Some ufologists today believe that an extraterrestrial crew, realizing they were bound for disaster, deliberately changed their ship's course in order to avoid endangering a heavily populated region of our planet. Of the many tales told of crashed flying saucers, the story of the Tunguska explosion is the only one which has provided extensive evidence. Whether that evidence proves the theory of visitation by extraterrestrial intelligences is still disputed. More conservative theorists propose that the UFO could have been a friable stony meteorite or a comet. Zigel points out that it is not feasible for a comet to change its course. Furthermore, a comet would have been clearly visible long before it impacted Earth. A less conservative hypothesis suggests that a small quantity of antimatter may have leaked into our world from another dimension. The collision of negative and positive atoms could have resulted in a devastating explosion. A recent theory proposes that a hypothetical mini-black hole passed through Earth in 1908. Some reject this explanation on the basis that an encounter with a mini-black hole, if such a thing exists, would have blown up the entire planet. Whether or not the explanation lies in one of the aforementioned theories or one yet to be formulated, mankind was fortunate in 1908, for the explosion did not kill one human being.

UAP: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.

Ubatuba, Brazil: Coastal town where three fishermen saw a flying disk plunging towards the ocean on September 10, 1957. Just as it seemed about to enter the water, the object turned sharply upward and exploded into thousands of fiery fragments. The fishermen were able to retrieve some metallic debris which had fallen near the beach. They sent samples with an anonymous letter to a Rio de Janeiro newspaper. UFO investigator Olavo Fontes acquired three of the small fragments and had one of them analyzed at the Mineral Production Laboratory of the Brazilian Agricultural Ministry. After chemical analysis, it was announced that the metal was magnesium of a higher purity than attainable in purification methods known to mankind. It seemed that, after many documented tales of crashed flying saucers, physical evidence had finally been produced. Subsequent tests in the United States revealed that, although the samples were indeed very pure, magnesium of a higher purity was being produced by the Dow Chemical Company. However, at the time, the Brazilians did not have a sample of magnesium from the U.S. Bureau of Standards that equaled or surpassed the purity of the Ubatuba fragments. Nevertheless, the major impurities detected in the Ubatuba samples were considered unusual. They consisted of about five hundred parts per million of strontium, about five hundred parts per million of zinc and smaller amounts of barium, manganese and chromium. The high percentage of strontium once more cast doubt on the terrestrial origin of the metal. However, the Condon Committee discovered that, since 1940, experiments had been conducted with magnesium using samples containing from 0.1 percent to forty percent strontium. The committee's conclusion was that, in 1957, the technology existed to produce magnesium of the type reportedly found in Ubatuba. Authors David Saunders and Roger Harkins argue that the most significant aspect of the Ubatuba fragments concerns the absence of certain elements. They claim that if the metal were a terrestrial alloy, it might contain aluminum or copper or both. There was no aluminum and only a trace of copper. In addition, they point out, there was no calcium in the fragments. Had someone performed the extremely difficult task of removing the calcium, he or she would almost certainly have had to use a quartz vessel which would have contaminated the magnesium with a minute quantity of silicon. Yet analysis revealed no silicon. Utilizing the best techniques known to purify magnesium at that time would have required repeated sublimation of the metal under a very high vacuum. The mercury-vapor pump that could create the necessary vacuum would have resulted in mercury contamination. No mercury was found in the samples. Engineer James Harder has described the magnesium as having a close-packed hexagonal crystalline structure. Since hexagonal crystals have only one slip plane, they tend to be brittle but very strong. The strength of this alloy may be relevant in the context of spacecraft construction. Walter Walker and Robert Johnson, metallurgists and consultants to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), have found that the metal was solidified in such a way that the grain runs in a single direction. Their claim that no studies in directional graining were carried out before 1957 lends support to the validity of the fishermen's claims. It remains a debated issue whether or not the techniques existed in 1957 to produce magnesium identical in every way to the Ubatuba fragments. However, if the Brazilian fisherman's story is fabricated, they succeeded in executing the most sophisticated and perplexing UFO hoax to date.

UFOB: Original abbeviation for unidentified flying object used by the United States Air Force (USAF). Pronounced youfob, it was replaced by the abbreviation UFO.

UFO Incident, The: Motion picture (NBC Television, 1975) Producers: Richard Colla and Joe L. Cramer; director: Richard Colla; teleplay by S. Lee Pogostin and Hesper Anderson, based on the book The Interrupted Journey by John G. Fuller. Cast: James Earl Jones, Estelle Parsons, Barnard Hughes, Beeson Carroll, Dick O'Neill and Terrence O'Connor. This movie is a dramatization of the Betty and Barney Hill case, dealing with their sighting of a UFO in New Hampshire and the subsequent hypnotic regressions and psychiatric treatment they underwent.

Ufologist: A person versed in Ufology.

Ufology: The study of the UFO phenomenon.

UFOmania: Excessive and persistent tendency to apply the UFO label to any aerial phenomenon without making any effort to find a conventional explanation.

UFOmaniac: A person who has UFOmania. The term is sometimes used in a derogatory manner to refer to all UFO witnesses and Ufologists.

Ufonaut: Another term for UFO Occupant.

UFO Nests: Circular landing marks found in swampy vegetation. The term was created in 1965 to describe traces allegedly left by UFOs in Australian swamplands.

UFOria: Term generally used in a satirical manner to denote a mood of increased enthusiasm regarding the subject of UFOs. Increased public interest in the phenomenon during flaps is sometimes referred to as mass UFOria.

UFOs ARE REAL: Motion picture (Group 1 Films, 1980). Producer: Brandon Chase; Director: Ed Hunt; consultant: Stanton Friedman; written by Ed Hunt and Stanton Friedman. This documentary deals with well-known sightings and interviews with personalities in the field, including high government officials, military officials and ranking members of the scientific community.

Uncorrelated Target (UCT): An unidentified radar blip.

Unidentified Flying Object (UFO): Term coined by United States Air Force (USAF) Captain Edward Ruppelt to replace the earlier term, "flying saucer." Although the letters "UFO" are usually pronounced individually, they are occasionally pronounced as one word, "you-foe." Many ufologists use the term to describe only those objects which remain unidentified after investigation and which they therefore consider to represent a single, consistent unknown phenomenon. Objects reported as UFOs which are subsequently identified are known as Identified Flying Objects (IFOs).

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS: Docudrama (United Artists, 1956). Producer: Clarence Greene; associate producer: Fernando Carrere; screenplay by Francis Martin. This semi-documentary dramatization of the U.S. government's investigations of UFOs centers on the experiences of Albert M. Chop, former United States Air Force (USAF) public relations official, who handled UFO information in the Pentagon. Chop is portrayed by Tom Towers, Aviation Editor of the Los Angeles Examiner. The footage includes the UFO films taken in Great Falls, Montana, and Tremonton, Utah. Official reaction to the picture was expressed in the Air Defense Command order to the 4674th Ground Observer Squadron, dated May 17, 1957, stating, "Disapprove requests for GOC Display in connection with commercial film pertaining to the controversial subject of flying saucers. Use of Display would involve the risk that Air Force could be considered as endorsing subject matter and authenticity of the filmed version of flying saucers."

Unidentified Submarine Object (USO): Term used to describe an unidentified object seen below the ocean surface or an amphibious UFO. Ship logs contain numerous reports of unusual lights seen on or beneath the ocean surface, particularly during the latter half of the last century and the first half of this century. In some instances, the objects were seen entering or emerging from the water. One of the most common descriptions is that of a revolving luminous wheel with spokes of light radiating from its center. The wheels sometimes measured hundreds of yards in diameter. Supporters of the submarine hypothesis conjecture that these lights are emitted by the vehicles of an advanced submarine civilization or by UFOs which utilize underwater bases. It has also been suggested that UFOs, even if of extraterrestrial origin, might contain water, rather than air or some other gas. Proponents of the ancient astronauts hypothesis believe that the earliest reference to a USO is found in the Biblical story of Jonah. The whale which allegedly swallowed him might have been a cigar-shaped USO, resembling a modern-day submarine in appearance. Marine biologists point out that many glowing lights in the ocean can be attributed to phosphorescent plant and animal life. The tropical seas carry dense blankets of single-celled luminous planktonic organisms which glow when stimulated mechanically, as by the movement of waves. Some flash brightly. The single-cell Cypridina Nocticula, when disturbed by a beam of light, responds by ejecting a luminous cloud in the water. Luminous crustaceans, especially copepods, are widely distributed throughout the world. Some live on the surface, while others live in the ocean depths. Other organisms which create large patches of light in the sea are jellyfish and other coelenterates and ctenophores. The study of marine phosphorescence has not provided the answer to all reports of USOs, particularly those where objects have been seen entering and emerging from the water. The question of their identity remains an open one.

United Kingdom: The first series of UFO sightings in the United Kingdom occurred in 1909, when mysterious airships appeared in the skies. Today, there are more reported sightings per square mile in Britain than there are in the United States. However, the government has never established any official group to study UFOs. The Ministry of Defence maintains that, "Reports which are received from various sources, such as members of the public and the police, are examined by various staff members within the Ministry of Defence solely to see if they contain any defence implications. Once it is clear there are no defence implications, we do not pursue our research further." Since researchers and investigators who ask to see Ministry of Defence UFO files are told that the papers must remain confidential, there have been rumors of a cover-up. However, since the files contain correspondence from people whose identities cannot be divulged, the files have to remain closed under the rules laid down in the Public Record Acts, which preclude disclosure until thirty years from the date of each particular item of correspondence. Since the earliest reports the Ministry of Defence holds are dated 1962, none will be available until 1992. In 1979, the House of Lords conducted a UFO debate initiated by the well-known British ufologist Brinsley Le Poer Trench (the Earl of Clancarty). His proposal for the establishment of a governmental study of UFOs was rejected by the government. The best-known of the United Kingdom's many UFO organizations are the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) and Contact International. In 1977, many of Britain's organizations and independent ufologists formed a cooperative liaison known as the UFO Investigators' Network (UFOIN) to coordinate investigative and research efforts and to exchange information.

Walesville, New York: Site of a tragic UFO-related disaster. Shortly before noon on July 1, 1954, an unidentified radar target was tracked over New York state by controllers at Griffiss Air Force Base. A F-94 Starfire jet was scrambled and the pilot headed towards the object guided by his radar operator. As he broke through the clouds, he spotted a gleaming, disk-shaped apparatus. He began to close in but almost immediately an unbearable, suffocating heat filled the craft. Overcome by the high temperature and unable to operate the airplane, the pilot and radar observer bailed out. As they parachuted to safety, the two men watched the jet as it hurled towards Walesville. Smashing into a building, it burst into flames and careened into a car. A man, his wife and their two children were killed. Five other people were injured. Soon after the pilot had landed on the outskirts of town, a reporter arrived on the scene. The half-dazed pilot told him of the sudden heat. Before he could finish his story, a United States Air Force (USAF) car pulled up and whisked off the pilot and the radar observer. The following day, a photograph appeared in The New York Times, showing the gruesome scene of destruction. Bitterness was expressed by those who thought the pilots should not have abandoned their aircraft over a populated area. When the Walesville reporter's story of the strange heat was published, the Air Force denied it and blamed engine failure for the accident. Interviews with the pilot and radar operator were prohibited and the official report was classified secret. Extreme heat has been felt on several occasions by witnesses in the proximity of a UFO and it has been suggested that in the Walesville case, it was used as a defensive weapon to prevent the F-94 from closing in.

Washington, D.C. (1952): During the 1952 wave, the most famous series of radar/visual sightings occurred over Washington, D.C. The sensational events made headlines around the country. Between 11:40 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on the night of July 19-20, two radarscopes at Washington National Airport picked up eight unidentified targets which were violating the restricted air corridors above the White House and the Capitol. Sauntering along at 100 to 300 miles per hour, the objects would suddenly accelerate to fantastically high speeds. Numerous airline crews were also reporting strange lights that moved up, down and sideways. These erratic maneuvers corresponded with those observed on the radar screens. An intercept flight had been recommended by Chief Radar Controller Harry Barnes but the squadron responsible for defending the capital had been secretly moved from nearby Bolling Air Force Base because of repair work being carried out on the runways. The jet fighters were temporarily stationed in Wilmington, Delaware. Reportedly, the interceptors had already been scrambled to investigate similar visual/radar UFO sightings over New Jersey. Whether for this reason or because they were not scrambled immediately from distant Wilmington, the interceptors did not reach Washington until about 3:30 a.m. As they had done earlier in New Jersey, the UFOs disappeared upon arrival of the jets, only to reappear after their departure. Radar controllers at Andrews Air Force Base also tracked the unidentified targets and at onepoint, made visual contact with a huge, fiery orange sphere hovering above them. One week later, on the night of July 26-27, a repeat performance began at 9:00 p.m. Between six and twelve UFOs were tracked on radar at various times. At about 2:00 a.m., two Unites States Air Force (USAF) interceptors were scrambled. Although the UFOs had been present for several hours, they disappeared just as the two airplanes appeared on the radar screens. After about ten minutes, the aircraft were sent back to Wilmington. At the exact moment they disappeared from the radarscopes, the UFOs reappeared. At 3:00 a.m., another intercept flight was airborne at Wilmington. About twenty minutes later, the Air Force jets appeared once more on the radar screens. This time, the UFOs remained visible. Finally, one of the interceptors, piloted by Lieutenant William Patterson, made visual contact with the unidentified objects. Patterson described them as tremendous blue-white lights. As he approached a cluster of UFOs, they formed a ring around him. The frightened pilot asked what he should do. There was a stunned silence in the radar control room. After a tense moment, the UFOs withdrew and left the scene. At approximately 3:45 a.m., the interceptors departed for Wilmington. The unidentified targets were tracked on radar until dawn. Under pressure from the news media, the Air Force convened a press conference on July 29. Major General John Samford, Chief of Air Force Intelligence, explained that the unknown targets observed over Washington were the result of temperature inversions. As official Air Force spokesman for the UFO project, Albert Chop personally participated in the radar observations and communications with the interceptor flights on July 26-27. Chop later revealed that the temperature inversion over Washington on that particular night was insufficient to cause such radar anomalies. Chief Radar Controller Barnes confirmed that many of the blips were strong and bright, not diffuse, shapeless blobs such as one gets from ground returns under anomalous propagation. Chop says that at the time, this information was not released to the press, who seemed satisfied with General Samford's explanation. Project Blue Book classified the sightings as "unknown."

Washington, D.C. (1964-1965): In December 1964 and January 1965, a flap occurred in Washington and the neighboring countryside. Sometime during late December, three unidentified targets were tracked on radar traveling at an estimated speed of 4,800 miles per hour. Weeks later, the Air Force announced that faulty equipment had caused the blips to appear on the radar screens. One of the most remarkable sightings occurred on December 21. Horace Burns of Grottoes, Virginia, was traveling on U.S. Highway 250 between Staunton and Waynesboro when he saw a huge cone-shaped object gliding across the road in front of him. His car stalled. The craft landed in a nearby meadow. Six concentric rings encircled the object, which was crested with a dome and emitted a bluish glow. After a few moments, the craft took off and disappeared. Independent tests by college professor Ernest Gehman and two DuPont engineers revealed a concentration of radiation at the landing site which spread over an area corresponding to the estimated size of the UFO. The Air Force investigated the case more than three weeks later. By that time, however, the meadow had been trampled by sightseers and scourged by rain and snow. The official explanation for the sighting was that Burns had seen a mirage. However, less than a month later, a similar object was seen by two motorists driving in opposite directions on U.S. Highway 60 near Williamsburg. The sighting which caused the most controversy during the two-month flap occurred on January 11. Six Army Signal Corps engineers watched strange spots in the sky from their office windows in the Munitions Building in downtown Washington. The disks zigzagged across the sky toward the Capitol. Suddenly, two delta-wing jets appeared on the scene. As the jets raced toward them, the UFOs took off at high speed leaving the jets far behind them. When news reporters tried to follow up on the story, they were told by the Defense Department and by military officials that the incident had never happened.

Wave: Term denoting a period of several weeks or months during which multiple nationwide or worldwide UFO sightings occur. It is distinguished from a flap which denotes a highly-publicized concentration of UFO sightings within a small geographical area or a short time period. The first major series of sightings was the Airship Wave which began in the United States in 1896 and ended the following year. A similar wave occurred in England in 1909. During World War II, pilots encountered numerous UFOs, known as Foo Fighters, in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters of war. In 1946, the Ghost Rocket sightings began in Scandinavia, and the following year brought the first U.S. wave of the modern era. Since then, numerous waves have occurred in different parts of the world. The most outstanding of these were the 1952 wave in the United States and Europe, and the 1954 wave which began in France and spread throughout Europe and to other parts of the world. The latter series, which involved numerous reports of landings and occupants in France, may have been the largest UFO wave ever. In 1973 and 1974, another major wave occurred in the United States and France. (See map)

Weightlessness: A feeling experienced by some witnesses in the vicinity of UFOs. Occasionally livestock, apparently victims of the same effect, have been seen grouped closely together in an orderly pattern like iron filings around a magnet. Sometimes, the animals have stood on tiptoe, their heads held high, as if suspended by some invisible force. The absence of a number of animals after a UFO's departure has led ufologists to suppose that they may have been abducted by means of levitation.

White Sands, New Mexico: Location of numerous UFO sightings, of which the most famous occurred on April 24, 1949, and November 3, 1957. The area is of strategic interest because it is the home of the U.S. government proving ground where atomic research projects are tested. The earlier incident occurred at 10:20 a.m. Engineer Charles B. Moore and four enlisted personnel from the White Sands Proving Ground Navy Unit were preparing a site for the launching of a Skyhook balloon. J. Gordon Vaeth was present as the Navy representative in charge of the ground handling and balloon phases of the operation. A small weather balloon had been released to establish wind patterns. Suddenly, a second object was observed moving eastward through the sky. Elliptical in shape, it was two and a half times as long as it was wide. The gleaming white UFO was pale yellow at the lower tail end. Although Moore was able to capture the object through a theodolite, its rapid speed prevented him from focusing sharply on it. The object was visible for about one minute before disappearing in a steep climb. A test of wind conditions by a second balloon, released fifteen minutes after the UFO sighting, confirmed that the object could not have been a balloon. The 1957 sighting occurred only a few hours after a series of sensational encounters involving an elliptical UFO in and around Levelland, Texas. Two military policemen, Corporal Glenn H. Toy and Private First-Class James Wilbanks, were patrolling the White Sands Proving Grounds in a jeep, at about 3:00 a.m. on November 3, when they observed a brilliant reddish-orange egg-shaped UFO. The object descended to a point about fifty yards above a bunker and then vanished. A few minutes later, the light blinked on again. Once more, it began to descend, this time on a slant, and once more disappeared. The UFO did not reappear and a search party was unable to find any trace of it. The two witnesses estimated it to have been between seventy-five and 100 yards in diameter. Toy later commented that "It looked like a completely-controlled landing." Later, at about 8:00 p.m. in the evening of November 3, another two-man jeep patrol observed a UFO above the same bunker. The witnesses, Specialist Third-Class Forest R. Oakes and Specialist Third-Class Barlow, estimated that the brilliant light was between 200 and 300 feet long. As the UFO ascended slowly at a forty-five degree angle, its light pulsated on and off. After stopping and starting several times, the object finally diminished in size to a point of light resembling a star and then disappeared.

White Water: Term used to describe the ocean surface in the Bermuda Triangle when both the sea and the sky assume a milky appearance, blending in such a way that the horizon is indistinguishable. The phenomenon has been associated with the mysterious disappearances alleged to occur in the area.

WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction.

WSA: Weapons Storage Area. Over a period of about three weeks in October and November of 1975, several Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases in the northern tier states were placed on a high priority (Security Option 3) alert because of repeated intrusions of unidentified aircraft flying at low altitude over atomic weapons storage areas. The Commander-in-Chief of North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) sent a four-part message to NORAD units on November 11, 1975 summarizing the events. Some excerpts follow: "Since 28 Oct 75 numerous reports of suspicious objects have been received at the NORAD CU; reliable military personnel at Loring AFB, Maine, Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, Malmstrom AFB, Mt, Minot AFB, ND, and Canadian Forces Station, Falconbridge, Ontario, Canada have visually sighted suspicious objects." On October 27-28, 1975, Staff Sgt. Danny K. Lewis, 42nd Security Police Squadron, while on duty at the munitions storage area of Loring AFB, Maine, at 7:45 p.m. saw an apparent aircraft at low altitude along the northern perimeter of the base. Other witnesses were Sgt. Clifton W. Blakeslee and Staff Sgt. William J. Long. The craft had a red light and a pulsating white light. A teletype message to the National Military Command Center in Washington, D.C., said: "The A/C [aircraft] definitely penetrated the LAFB [Loring Air Force Base] northern perimeter and on one occasion was within 300 yards of the munitions storage area perimeter."

Yeti: Legendary Tibetan creature similar to the American Bigfoot.

Yowie: Legendary Australian creature similar to the American Bigfoot.

Zeta Reticuli: Two fifth-magnitude stars which are prime candidates for the search for extraterrestrial life and which have been tentatively identified as the home base of extraterrestrials allegedly encountered by Betty and Barney Hill in New Hampshire in 1961. Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 are located in the southern constellation Reticulum, which is invisible to observers north of Mexico City's latitude. In galactic terms, they are close neighbors of Earth, being only thirty-seven light years away. According to current theories of planetary formation, each star should have an entourage of planets similar to that of our solar system. However, there is, as yet, no way to determine if any of the probable planets of either star is similar to Earth. In 1964, under post-hypnotic suggestion, Betty Hill drew a two-dimensional duplicate of a three-dimensional map she had allegedly seen aboard an alien spacecraft in 1961. The stars were represented by dots and circles, some of which were joined by curved lines. The ship's leader reportedly told Betty that the heavy lines represented trade routes, the solid lines less-frequently traveled routes and the broken lines represented expeditions. Although there were many stars on the map, Betty was able to specifically recall only the prominent ones linked by lines and a distinctive triangular on the left. She tried to show the size and depth of the stars by the relative size of the circles she drew. Between 1968 and 1973, Marjorie Fish, an Ohio school teacher, amateur astronomer and member of Mensa, constructed several three-dimensional models of the stars in the vicinity of our sun in an attempt to detect a pattern similar to that of the Hill pattern. Following the publication of new data in the 1969 edition of the Gliese Catalog of Nearby Stars, Fish found a configuration which was a close match. According to the position of the connecting lines, Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli form the starting point of the trade routes and the sun is at the end of one of the supposedly regular trade routes. Using a computer program that can duplicate the appearance of star fields from various viewpoints in space, independent tests carried out by Walter Mitchell, Professor of Astronomy at Ohio State University in Columbus, and Mark Steggert, of the Space Research Coordination Center at the University of Pittsburgh, confirmed the star pattern obtained by Fish with only minor variations. Further study and measurement of the stars in the Zeta Reticuli map may change their relative positions. This may result in a distortion of the configuration beyond the limits of coincidence, ending speculation on the matter. On the other hand, the change might provide a perfect match between the maps, failing to resolve the controversy definitively but keeping alive the possibility that Earth has been visited by aliens from Zeta Reticuli.

Zigel, Felix: Professor of Higher Mathematics and Astronomy at the Moscow Aviation Institute and a leading proponent of UFOs in the Soviet Union.

Sources:

The UFO Guidebook by Norman J. Briazack and Simon Mennick - 1978
The UFO Encyclopedia by Margareth Sachs - 1980
Internet searches using Google