Kenneth Arnold Sighting - 1947

Although the history of UFOs can be traced back to early cave drawings, pictures, and folklore, the modern era of the study of UFOs is usually believed to be the 1947 sighting report of nine "flying saucers" made by pilot Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947.

(This was just a week before the Roswell incident. Ed.)

Arnold was aiding in the search for a missing plane when the sighting occurred. He did not believe his story would be believed, but swore that it was true. Arnold related his sighting to the Chicago Daily Tribune: "The first thing I noticed was a series of flashes in my eyes as if a mirror was reflecting sunlight at me..."

"I saw the flashes were coming from a series of objects that were traveling incredibly fast. They were silvery and shiny and seemed to be shaped like a pie plate...What startled me most at this point was...that I could not find any tails on them."

Arnold estimated that the objects were flying at an altitude between 9,500 and 10,000 feet, and at a great speed. After clocking them from Mt. Ranier to Mt. Adams, he arrived at an estimated speed of 1,200 miles per hour. "It seemed impossible," he said, "but there it is...I must believe my eyes."

The term "flying saucer" was coined, not by Arnold, but a reporter. Arnold made the statement that the objects moved, "like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water." East Orengonian newspaper reporter Bill Bequette paraphrased Arnold's statement when he placed the story on the AP news wire. Arnold's term "saucer-like" became "flying saucers."

The US military attempted to ignore the press reports of Arnold's sighting, but as the story grew, they felt compelled to take action. A meeting to discuss a course of action was held at the Pentagon on July 7, 1947, only a few days after the Roswell crash. Taking charge was Chief of the Army Air Force Air Intelligence Requirements Division, General Schulgen.

The group made the decision to follow up on "qualified" observers' reports of flying discs. Three days later, Arnold received a request from Continental Air Command to appear for an interview, regarding his report. Two Counter Intelligence Corps investigators would carry out the investigation. The results of this session were included in Project Blue Book.

Arnold's report was one of the first of 850 different UFO reports to make US media by the end of July, 1947. More than anything else, Arnold was in the right place at the right time to forever be an important part of the history of UFOs.

The video on the sidebar contains an actual radio interview with Arnold and an explanation in his own voice of what he saw and what happened.

Our UFO Encounter

Okay. I'm going to start the ball rolling here and relate the only UFO incident I've had (so far).

If I were to compose a document today regarding this event, it would be much clearer than the document I originally wrote almost 30 years ago.

However, I wanted to present the original document in its unedited state, since it was written shortly after the event occurred and has a greater degree of immediacy to it.

Following is a verbatim copy of the original document, written within a few hours of the actual event. The original document disappeared for over twenty-five years and was only recently found when cleaning out a desk drawer in the basement. I have re-typed it here exactly as it was originally written, with any editorial comments placed in parentheses with the "Ed." designation. I have also added footnotes at the end of the document which were not a part of the original and have been included here to help clarify some of the statements which, in the original version, may be somewhat confusing.

Following is the unedited, original document.

Date: Thursday, July 16, 1981
Time: Approximately 12:05 AM
Location: (Address deleted. Ed.), Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas
Observed by: (Names deleted. Ed.)

Note: An intense electrical storm had been taking place for several hours but had subsided at the time of the sighting. The skies remained overcast.

At approximately 12:05 a.m. on the morning of July 16, 1981, my wife (name deleted. Ed.) stepped outside the sliding glass patio door onto the deck at (address deleted. Ed.) in Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas. At that time she observed an aerial object and called to (name deleted) and I to, "Come here. Hurry!"

When I arrived outside, I observed two red lights in a horizontal plane and at right angles to the direction of flight. (This is confusing. The lights were on the aft of the vehicle, similar to those in the graphic above, but there were only two of them. Ed.) I would estimate the distance between the lights to be approximately 100 feet.

I immediately assumed it to be a conventional aircraft, but quickly discarded that idea because there was no sound of motors. (See Footnote 1. Ed.) The lights were at a very low altitude. I would estimate less than 100 feet, and not more than 100 yards distant, and were moving slowly southward. I did not observe an outline of any type, but my wife informed me that it was cigar shaped with the red lights attached to the ends of the vehicle. (See Footnote 2. Ed.)

As it moved southward it did so at 90 degrees to the plane of the lights. In other words, it moved as an airplane with a red light attached to each wing tip, or as a blimp moving at right angles to its length.

It moved southward for maybe a mile or two. Then the lights began to tilt in a clockwise direction to a vertical, rather than horizontal attitude and the object slowly descended. As the lights were going into a vertical attitude the vehicle did not move toward the west, as a conventional aircraft would do when the right wing is dropped. The lights continued their clockwise motion past the 990 degree position and it appeared the vehicle was turning completely over when it descended below the line of treetops and we lost sight of it. (See Footnote 3. Ed.) By now it was 12:15 a.m.

I quickly drove toward the area where we had lost sight of it, which I estimated to be less than 5 miles to the south. (See Footnote 4. Ed.) I searched the skies in this area and five miles or so in each direction, but observed nothing in the air or on the ground.

Logical explanation, which we have discarded as incorrect, include hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, helicopters, and conventional aircraft. The reasons for discarding these possibilities are as follows:

Hot air balloons: The vehicle was too large and there was no sound of a burner being ignited at any time.

Blimps: The object was moving at right angles to its length. Again, there was no sound of motors. The object maintained a vertical attitude for many minutes.

Gliders: The object maintained a relatively stable altitude for many minutes and held a vertical attitude for many minutes.

Helicopters and conventional aircraft: There was no sound of motors. helicopters and conventional aircraft do not assume a vertical attitude in most cases.

That morning I made telephone calls to police stations in Shawnee, Overland Park, Westwood, and Kansas City, Kansas to ascertain whether anyone else had observed the object. According to the information I received during those phone calls, no one else had called in. I also called the Kansas City Times City Desk and described the events with the party who answered. No one else had called at that time. Later in the day I telephoned KMBZ radio station in Westwood. The radio announcer taped my description of the encounter and it was broadcast immediately thereafter. No one else called in to confirm it.

I telephoned Richards Gebaur Air Force Base and spoke with the Security Police. I was told to contact my local police, which I did, in Westwood, Kansas. The party I spoke with took all the information including my name, address, and telephone number, which he said he would call in to a UFO identification center.

We all three know what we observed. It is clear to us that something unlike anything we have seen before was in the air over a highly populated area. The questions remain: What was it? And why were we the only ones who observed it?

END OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT —

The four footnotes have been added to clarify the original statement.

1. This was perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of the encounter. As the document states, the object was extremely large and at a very low altitude. I was confused by the possibility that such a large object could be moving at such a slow velocity without any sound of propulsion.

2. The original document states that no outline was visible. The skies were very dark and overcast, and the object itself was somewhat darker. Even though no outline was visible, it seem, on remembering the event, that I sensed it was triangular in shape rather than cigar shaped. However, since it was at such a low altitude and in a level attitude, it was difficult to determine the exact shape with any degree of certainty.

3. This portion of the original document is somewhat confusing. The object did not turn completely over, but went from a horizontal attitude to a vertical one. After going into the vertical position (one light at the top, one at the bottom) the object began to slowly descend until it was below the tops of the trees and we could not see it any longer. My wife and I are still in disagreement on this aspect. She recalls it shooting away at a very high rate of speed until it disappeared from view. I remember is slowly descending until we lost sight of it behind the treeline.

4. This is somewhat confusing as well. After the object rotated to a vertical position and descended (per my recollection) I got in the car and drove to the area I estimated it would have landed.


FINAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS —

One aspect that was not emphasized in the original document was the extremely slow speed at which the object was moving. I would estimate the speed to be less than five miles per hour. Summarily, the main impression I got was that the object was huge and of a dark hue such as dark gray or black. It was at an incredibly low altitude, and it seemed almost close enough to touch when first observed, possibly because of it's massive size. It was moving so slowly that it didn't seem to be moving at all when I first observed it, and there was no sound to be heard.

My wife and I have discussed the discrepancy in our memory of the final moments we viewed the object. We have come up with no logical explanation regarding why we saw two different things occur. Our son, who was eight at the time, says his memory of the whole event is very vague. Shortly after the event, my wife and I mentioned it to a few friends, who responded with raised eyebrows and a look of disbelief. After that we quit mentioning it. It remains unexplained.

Now it's your turn. If you've had an encounter, or if you've seen something that's out of the ordinary, please leave your comment below and tell us what happened. Don't be afraid of criticism. I moderate all comments before they're published so any disparaging remarks will not appear.

Graphic above was created by Simon Hart.

The beginning of the recent era...

This is the event that many believe to be the beginning of the UFO phenomenon in recent years. Anyone who is a student of this subject knows there is evidence of UFO encounters dating further back in history, but this one was a milestone, and it's one we need to start out with in order to progress through the events and sighting that have taken place since.

The end of the 1940s was a special time. The war was over. Everything was modern and new. It was the beginning of the Space Age. We had created and exploded the atomic bomb. And a group of aliens had crashed their small craft near a farm in Roswell, New Mexico just three years earlier. Just your typical decade, right? But let's take a closer look at those events. First of all, the first US nuclear test of the atomic bomb was conducted on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, NM.

Then, on July 2, 1947 (less than two years later) Mac Brasel discovers something strange and unexplained on his property. It seems coincidental that Roswell is only a little over 100 miles from the Trinity Test Site. The two year time span between the test and the alleged spacecraft discovery could be the result of travel time. I've added a video on the sidebar that you might find informative and interesting.

Anyone familiar with the incident and the events that followed, knows that there was an attempted cover up by the government. For some reason at that time, and still to this day, our leaders do not wish us to know the facts regarding the possibility of extraterrestrial life. But things are becoming more interesting as we explore the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. New facts are being discovered continually, and some of them are inadvertently leaked to the media and to the rest of us.

The event in Roswell may have been the catalyst, because from that day on, America’s attention was drawn to the skies and to outer space and whatever might be living there. Although Roswell is perhaps the most publicized and best-known of the alien encounters in recent history, there were others during the fifties that may be of some interest to some of you. I’ve listed four of them below for your enjoyment.

1951 - THE LUBBOCK LIGHTS While sitting outside one evening, a group of Texas Tech professors saw several groups of racing. When the sighting was reported, the Air Force denied that any planes were flying that night. Cart Hart, Jr. (18 years old at the time) took five photographs of the objects, which have become known as the Lubbock Lights.

1952 - UFOs BUZZ WASHINGTON, D.C. In 1952, the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Pentagon were buzzed by UFOs. On July 19 of that year, a number of UFO blips were picked up on the radar screens at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. This was the beginning of a wave of sightings that still remain unexplained. Numerous photographs were taken of the unknown objects.

1955 - THE KELLY, KENTUCKY ALIEN INVASION One of the most bizarre accounts of alien contact on record occurred at the Sutton family farmhouse. It was under siege from small alien beings for several hours one night. Family members shot at the beings, but without effect. Family members later drew pictures of the strange beings, showing claw-like hands and large ears. Their account of the incident has never been debunked.

1957 - LEVELLAND, TEXAS UFO LANDING It was a night of terror in a small Texas town. There were no less than 8 official sightings, including policemen. Reports included sightings of UFOs flying, hovering, and even landing on the roads around Levelland. Police officers gave testimony to the US Air Force. This remains one of the best documented cases in the history of UFO encounters.

That's it for today. My wife has been telling me that my posts are too long and boring. She's a UFO officianado, so maybe she'll like this one and not complain about it. If you know anyone who likes to read about UFOs, feel free to pass this along to them. Or send them the web address. The more, the merrier.

Finally, if you've had a UFO encounter, hit that pesky COMMENT link below and tell us about it. I'm sure there are a lot of readers out there that would eat it up.

Until next time, have a great day! And keep looking up. They may be looking back.

Prelude

This is the beginning.

It is the start of what may turn out to be the most informative and current site regarding unidentified flying objects that you will find on the Internet. It has been created with two primary objectives: to spread the word regarding sightings, and to try to uncover the truth regarding the beings that have been visiting this planet for centuries.

The first official post will come tomorrow. In that post we will explore a bit of the history of the current UFO phenomenon. We will, at a later time, go back even further in history and show evidence of visitors from more ancient times.

In order to accomplish our first objective it's going to require input from anyone who has experienced contact of any type. This may involve anything from a visual sighting to an abduction. I will be depending on you to provide any information you have that will help us accomplish our first objective, which may well lead us closer to accomplishing our second.

So feel free to comment. And don't be afraid to share. All comments will be moderated, so do not fear a reply that will be sarcastic, rude or demeaning. I will eliminate those, and they will not appear on this site.

So, here we go. Add your comments below this post if you have anything to share regarding any unusual experiences you may have had. We want to hear from you.