Claim Earth Is Studied From Another Planet

NEW YORK, Dec. 27 - (AP) - A sensational claim that so-called "flying saucers" are space vehicles from another planet today kindled new controversy on the subject.

The United States Air Force promptly discounted the claim. A spokesman said:

"Air force studies of 'flying saucers' lend no support to the view that they come from another planet."

The assertion that the flying discs are used by visitors from another planet was made by True Magazine in an article it calls the "most important true story we have ever published."

It was written for the January issue by Donald E. Keyhoe, a former information chief for the aeronautics branch of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Statements

The magazine, saying its conclusions were based on an eight-month investigation, stated:

"For the past 175 years, the planet earth has been under systematic close-range examination by living, intelligent observers from another planet."

"The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits to the earth's atmosphere, by which it is being conducted, have increased markedly in the past two years."

The flying discs, Keyhoe writes, vary "in no important particular from well-developed American plans for the exploration of space expected to come to fruition within the next 50 years. There is reason to believe, however, that some other space of thinking beings is a matter of 2¼ centuries ahead of us."

The article says that "project saucer," operated by U.S. Army Air Force Investigators and charged with solving the mystery, "are receiving and evaluating" reports of sighted flying discs at the rate of 12 a month.

True learned, Keyhoe says, that a "rocket authority stationed at Wright Field has told 'project saucer' personnel flatly that the saucers are interplanetary and that no other conclusion is possible."

The magazine says the interplanetary vehicles are of three main types - a small, non-pilot carrying disc-shaped aircraft equipped with some form of television or impulse transmitter; a metallic, disc-shaped aircraft operating on a helicopter principle, and a dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft.

"It is the opinion of True," the article states, "that the flying saucers are real and that they come from no enemy on earth."

Little Men from Other Planets Hovering in Saucers? Well, Maybe
By ALAN HARVEY

If you should wake up tomorrow morning and find little men in quaint blue suits swarming all over the blankets, don't reach for a broom or a shotgun. Take down from the shelf a volume called "Behind the Flying Saucers," by Frank Scully, and peruse with care, intermittently brushing the visitors from the bed.

We secured a copy of "Behind the Flying Saucers" (No. 326, Popular Library) yesterday, after publication of a story in this newspaper quoting personnel of RCAF Station North Bay as having seen "flying saucers" on at least two occasions.

That the airmen saw what they claimed they saw we have no doubt, and although Ottawa hasn't said so, it seems to have little doubt of the incidents either, since the high brass has not issued any white-hot or otherwise statements which boil down to "baloney."

About "Behind the Flying Saucers," we are more inclined to take vanilla, but it must be admitted that Mr. Scully gives names, places and word for word quotes throughout his book.

To head off the more confirmed skeptics, he opens his author's preface by quoting Hamlet as follows: "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." And, if that was true in Will Shakespeare's day, how much more so now!

The more spectacular incident at the North Bay air station occurred last Saturday night. Warrant Officer First Class E. H. Rossell, an aircraft maintenance superintendent with 13 years service, and Flt. Sgt. Reg McRae, of RCAF Station Weston, had just left Rossell's home in the married quarters area, and were driving in to North Bay.

Suddenly, they spotted a bright amber disk racing across the sky over the field. Get this - the disk STOPPED, hovered for a brief time, and then took off in the direction from which it had come, at terrific speed and a 30-degree angle. There were no aircraft in the air at the time, a check showed, and even if there were, aircraft as we know them don't stop on a dime at supersonic speed, hang around for a while, and then take off again.

What was it? Well, read on; then conclude.

Last week, LIFE ran an article detailing no less than 10 authenticized incidents of so-called flying saucers being spotted in the States. Most of the incidents occurred in the U.S., where the majority of flying saucer activity is said to be.

However, Warrant Officer First Class W. J. Yeo, one of the men who sighted the first flying saucer over RCAF Station North Bay last January, said yesterday that he had heard of previous strange appearances of the disks from other air force people. For example, when he was in Resolute Bay, way up near the North Pole, he recalled "lots of guff being shot around" about strange flying machines cavorting over the polar bears. "It wasn't an aircraft we saw," he said of the January incident. "I've been looking at them for 16 years, and that was no aircraft that I know of. For lack of a better description, we called it a flying saucer."

But about "Behind the Flying Saucers." Scully points out that authorities in the U.S., while they would just as soon forget the matter or class it as an extended nightmare, can't do it, for the simple reason that the mystery is not that simple.

He does a good job of writing the book, so we'll just heist a few excerpts as they are:

Excerpt 1: "I have talked to men of science who have told me that they have not only seen them (flying saucers) but have examined several. (Scully admits he never saw a flying saucer, up or down). I have tried to the best of my ability to find flaws in their stories. But to date (1950) I have not succeeded in placing them in any of three categories laid down by the U.S. air force."

Excerpt 2: TRUE (The Magazine), said Keyhoe's article, was the most important it had ever published, was 'utterly true' and 'could document every occurrence reported.' Among its conclusions were:

"1. That our planet has been under systematic observation for 175 years, with a greater intensification since 1947."

". . . TRUE didn't believe the ships (three types are listed) were operated by any means of propulsion unknown to us, but that the operators were 225 years ahead of us in their thinking. This ruled out the likelihood of their being designed by today's aerodynamic engineers."

Excerpt 3: I met him shortly afterward. (Him was a prominent American doctor of science who Scully calls Dr. Gee). He was the man who told us the whole story of the first flying saucer that had landed in the United States.

". . . When they found it, it was in a very rocky, high plateau territory, east of Aztec, New Mexico."

(Scully now quotes the doctor). "Apparently, there was no door to what unquestionably was the cabin. The outside surface showed no marking of any sort, except for a broken porthole, which appeared on first examination to be of glass. On closer examination, we found it a good deal different than any glass in this country. Finally, we took a large pole and rammed a hole through this defect in the ship."

"Having done this, we looked into the interior. There, we were able to count 16 bodies, that ranged in size from 36 to 42 inches."

". . . We took the little bodies out, and laid them on the ground. We examined them and their clothing. I remember one of our team saying, 'That looks like the style of 1890.' We examined the bodies very closely and very carefully. They were normal from every standpoint, and had no appearance of being what we call on this planet 'midgets.'"

". . . The overall dimensions of the ship were found to be a fraction short of 100 feet. From the outer tip of the wing, which was entirely circular, to the bottom of the saucer, measuring in an imaginary line vertically, was 27 inches. The cabin which was entirely round, was 18 feet across, and 72 inches in height."

That's enough of the verbatim copy. We'll summarize the rest of the excerpt. Scully wrote that the bodies were dissected, and found to be exactly the same as humans, except that the teeth were "perfect." The ship was dismantled after a good deal of trouble, and examined by scientists.

Scully also includes a lengthy treatment of the details of the finding of two other ships in the U.S. All very interesting. For example, more than 150 tests failed to break down the metal of the gears found in one of the "saucers."

Still think flying saucers are a lot of bunko? Well could be, but don't be surprised if that knock on the door isn't the Fuller Brush man.

Keyhoe Convinced They're Manned
"Saucers" Are Serious Business

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article tells of the flying saucer research work of Donald Keyhoe, former U.S. air force major. Mr. Keyhoe will be in North Bay next month to address the annual meeting of the North Bay Chamber of Commerce. His subject will be "Flying Saucers from Outer Space".

By DOUGLAS LARSEN
NEA Staff Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NEA) - There has been a revolution in America's attitude on flying saucers.

That's the belief of Donald E. Keyhoe. It's based on changed reactions to his two books, "Flying Saucers Are Real", published in 1950, and his current best seller, "Flying Saucers from Outer Space".

Keyhoe, a lean serious sharp-featured individual, admits he was publicly rated a screwball after his first book.

Today, he says, due to what he calls a public conviction there's really something to all the saucer sightings, he finds himself generally regarded as an expert on the subject.

He's in demand for serious TV and radio performances, lectures and technical advice. Each morning, an average of 20 letters are delivered to his home near Mt. Vernon "from serious, respectable and honest persons," reporting sightings and offering additional information on saucers.

"The thing that astonishes me most," he says, "is the number of persons who spend a lot of money to call me up long distance from all over the country to report sightings and other information in great detail."

If the flow of new information on the subject continues, he believes, he will have enough new material for another book, although when he finished the last one, he had intended to drop the saucer subject.

The most impressive new information on unidentified flying objects which he has received since the new book is from commercial and military pilots.

Fourteen airline pilots have reported recently seeing unidentifiable flying objects "which are just impossible to dismiss", he says.

"One, especially, was from a captain who has been flying airliners for 15 years. He saw a light maneuvering and flying around over Lake Michigan. We both agreed from his report that it couldn't have been anything we know about as natural phenomena or aircraft. And the other reports from these men seem to follow the same pattern", Keyhoe explains.

Proof of the importance of airline pilots' sightings, Keyhoe believes is the new Air Force plan to have them report all sightings immediately, by voice. A new communications system is being set for this purpose to take care of such messages from all over the world.

"This proves how interested the Air Force is in this matter," he says. Further, he claims, the saucer subject has suddenly become a very hot one among airline pilots. There are hostile camps of believers and disbelievers in the group, he reveals.

"Airline pilots now don't like to talk about their sightings in public for fear of bad airline or Air Force Reaction," he insists, "but they come to me because they know they can trust me not to reveal anything they tell me in confidence."

Both the Air Line Pilots Association and the airlines have pledged the Air Force full cooperation in the new program on reporting.

Another impressive collection of evidence Keyhoe produces is a growing stack of letters from Air Force pilots. A great many add bits of support and new facts on specific sightings mentioned in his book.

Only a very few letters from Air Force officers challenge his premise that saucers are both real and from outer space. Many of them are sharply critical of the way the Air Force has been treating the subject.

A major writes!

"We do not report sightings because we know the critical reception we get when we do. The word is out that if you report seeing a flying saucer, it could hold up a promotion."

Keyhoe now finds himself a sort of unofficial reporting point for all saucer sightings. "The commercial and military pilots, and ordinary civilians tell me about these things because they have learned that I won't make fun of them and that I will try to put their information to good use."

The Air Force and Keyhoe have a kind of cold war going on over the question. He thinks the Air Force is not being frank with the public and is covering up what it knows. The Air Force blames the recent flurry of sightings on his book and unofficially thinks he has exploited the question beyond its true importance.

Keyhoe claims that he has yet to get rich off flying saucers. He says he lost money on research between books and that if he had never written on the subject, he'd be better off today financially.

Looking to the future, Keyhoe believes the new Canadian saucer observatory at Shirley Bay near Ottawa should produce the most reliable new information. It consists of complicated electronic devices which automatically set off a battery of movie cameras when minute changes in gamma radiation, magnetism, gravity and other natural phenomena occur in the area.

In addition to that, Keyhoe believes that somebody should start trying to communicate with these things when they are seen.

He is convinced there are intelligent beings inside.

Flying saucers exist, Soviets say

MOSCOW (AP) - A Soviet scientist says there may really be such things as flying saucers from outer space.

Soviet radar screens have detected unidentified flying objects for 20 years, he says.

But Soviet scientists, like their colleagues in the West, are still puzzled about what such UFOs really are.

The scientist, identified only as F. Zigel, was writing in the current issue of the illustrated Soviet youth magazine Cmena.

He offered five possible explanations for UFOs, including visitors from outer space. He called this alternative "extremely speculative."

Zigel was identified as one of the editors of a book, Inhabited Cosmos, being prepared for publication here. The book will discuss the possibility of living beings in space and efforts to communicate with them.

In his magazine article, Zigel said the Angel Echo, a UFO detected by radar, is constantly observed by scientists at the Central Aerological Observatory near Moscow.

GLOBAL SIGHTINGS

Similar observations, he said, have been made in the United States, Australia, India and Japan.

He rejected the idea that birds, insects or plant seeds could cause such reactions on radar screens.

Zigel said there could be no doubt that UFOs exist "but the nature of these objects is still not understandable today."

Then he listed these five possible explanations:

1. Nonsense or invention. He said there was some untruth here, citing reports of people who claimed to have ridden in flying saucers and others who threw hats in the air and then photographed "saucers." But he rejected this alternative as killing the question rather than solving it.

AN ILLUSION?

2. An optical illusion related to the distribution of light in the earth's atmosphere, such as a rainbow. The UFO, he said, is more complicated than that, however.

3. A new secret flying apparatus of one of the military powers on earth. "No one holds this view now," he said.

4. An unknown phenomena of nature, just as radioactivity was unknown until the end of the last century. In this context, ionized particles and charged particles of dust in the atmosphere were given as a possible explanation. But, Zigel said, this does not explain the color or manoeuvrability of UFOs or their appearance in good weather.

5. Space ships from an advanced civilization on another planet. Zigel said the speed of UFOs supports this theory. So does what he called "the fact" that no UFOs were ever reliably reported to have landed.

Zigel called for an "all-sided, thorough, scientific exploration" to clear up the origin of UFOs once and for all.

Parents link disappearance to UFOs

"The area of concentration of these kinds of odd accidents are southern Lake Michigan, western Lake Erie and eastern Lake Superior. Southern Lake Michigan and western Lake Erie are predictable because those are areas of very heavy traffic, especially air traffic. Eastern Lake Superior is not. It's a desolate area . . . some very strange things happen there." - Jay Gourley, author of The Great Lakes Triangle.

Until 1975, Ron and Edith Leuschen were inclined to laugh off stories about extra-terrestrial beings which whisk people away from the earth.

Then, one July evening north of Batchawana, their son Brian vanished with his car and its contents.

The Leuschens were left without any explanation - only theories. And they admit the most likely is that, for some reason, Brian's car left the road and plunged into the cold blue depths of Lake Superior.

But after reading a book about strange occurrences on and above the Great Lakes, the Winnipeg couple has given thought to another theory - that Brian's disappearance is linked to the presence of unidentified flying objects.

"It seems impossible that they haven't found out more than they have about these objects," says the father, ". . . I believe that are actual."

The book they read was The Great Lakes Triangle, a paperback published last year. The 192-page volume is a compilation of shipping and aviation accidents in the area of the five Great Lakes. All have no logical explanation, it says.

But one person who isn't ready to point to UFOs as the cause of the accidents is the book's author, Jay Gourley.

"I'm not much of an expert on UFOs," he said in an interview from his home in Washington, D.C., "and in fact my own opinion is that most people who are UFO buffs are a little bit shaky."

But the freelance writer and former commercial pilot adds quickly that many people who aren't "shaky" - including some respected scientists - believe in the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

"It all sounds very far out," says Mr. Gourley. "I don't want to dismiss it, and at the same time I'm not ready to accept it either."

He expresses the same views in his book, noting that in the course of his research and writing, many asked what really caused the events. His only answer: "I do not KNOW."

Mr. Gourley says he took pains not to play up the UFO angle to avoid damaging the book's credibility. But one chapter on theories recounts ideas put forward in The Bermuda Triangle, the Charles Berlitz book that outlined strange cases in the area between Florida and the Caribbean.

One theory is that large, unknown magnetic fields affect compass readings, throwing sailors and pilots off course. Others go further, suggesting space vortices that swallow objects, or kidnapping by alien beings.

Another section of Great Lakes Triangle deals with UFO sightings at the same time as disappearances or disasters - strange lights in the sky, uncertain requests by pilots for radar confirmation of high-flying objects, mysterious blips on monitor screens.

One occurred in the eastern Superior region, a roughly circular area bounded by Keweenaw Peninsula, which extends into the southern half of the lake, Whitefish Bay and Michipicoten.

In 1953, a U.S. Air Force F-86 jet interceptor with two aboard "instantly disappeared forever," the book says.

"According to some students of that inconceivable event, the F-86 was destroyed by a UFO it had been sent to intercept. The Air Force will not confirm this."

Reports said the plane was followed on radar until it merged with an object 70 miles off Keweenaw point. No trace was found of the airmen, jet or UFO.

Later, the Air Force speculated that the pilot was stricken with vertigo and crashed into the lake. But it didn't explain why the pilot didn't switch on automatic pilot until the vertigo passed, or why the second-in-command didn't take over.

Officials told the Sault Star at the time that the plane - which it identified as an F-89 all-weather Scorpion - had been sent to intercept an RCAF flight from Winnipeg to North Bay as part of a training program.

According to the book, the incident wasn't the only time the Air Force jets were sent after UFOs.

It happened again on Nov. 11, 1975, after objects were spotted over the North Shore of Lake Huron by North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) radar. One object shot upward from 26,000 to 45,000 feet, stayed there for a short time and then rose quickly to 72,000 feet.

Sudbury regional police officers and residents reported seeing mysterious lights in the sky. (Regional constable John Marsh confirmed in an interview that he observed the lights, but said he found out later the brightest was the planet Saturn. The other lights? "That part I can't explain.")

Mr. Gourley says two F-106 interceptors were scrambled from Michigan's Selfridge Air Force Base but could not make visual contact.

"Perhaps the most startling aspect of this unexplainable sighting is that it began less than six hours after the Edmund Fitzgerald unexplainably and instantly vanished from the face of Lake Superior only 100 miles to the east," he says.

Not all the incidents in the Superior circle, however, were connected to UFO sightings.

Mr. Gourley outlines the case of a twin-engined Cessna 310 which took off from Kenora in 1976. Approaching the Sault airport with no reported problems, it made a gradual landing into the St. Mary's River near Gros Cap, three miles short.

The four occupants, men from Western Canada, drowned after escaping the sinking craft.

Investigators were unable to give a specific cause, but said there was a possibility the pilot - who had more than 13,000 hours flying time - had been confused by a false horizon. The condition exists in flying over a dark area - such as water - with an upslope or higher terrain ahead.

Witnesses said there was some fog but visibility extended up to four miles.

The book lists other air crashes, and describes the 1908 disappearance of the D. M. Clemson, a 5,531-ton steamer.

Carrying a load of coal, the ship passed through the Sault locks with another steamer into Lake Superior. The two parted and the Clemson was never again seen.

In 1918, two of three minesweepers built for the French government set out from a Fort William (Thunder Bay) shipyard. Visibility diminished and the ships were separated. Only one made it to the Sault.

There have been other accidents in the area too recent to have made the book, including the disappearance of a pair of Toronto-area men reported missing last November on a flight from Marathon to Maple, Ont.

The men in the single-engine Rockwell Commander did not file a flight plan but were believed headed in the direction of Wawa with intentions of passing by Sault Ste. Marie.

A 24-day search that cost an estimated $1.4 million was unsuccessful.

The plane could be at the bottom of Lake Superior, along with the wreckage of the other planes, the ships and, possibly, Brian Leuschen's Volkswagen.

But until the car is found, Brian's parents will continue to wonder whether something beyond their understanding was involved.

"I know you can go to any length to try to keep your reason when something like this happens," his father says. "You have to be honest with yourself . . . but nothing is certain. The only thing certain is death. You just don't know when."