Transcriber’s Notes

Italic text is enclosed in underscores, while subscripts are preceded, but not followed by an underscore. Other notes will be found at the end of this eBook.

THE WORLD OF FLYING SAUCERS

The World of Flying Saucers

A SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION OF A MAJOR MYTH OF THE SPACE AGE

Donald H. Menzel AND Lyle G. Boyd

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC., GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

To FRED L. WHIPPLE, whose studies have added much to our knowledge of meteors--which have furnished more than their share of UFOs.

Contents

PREFACE xiii

I. THE SAUCER WORLDS 1

UFO Reports and the Air Force--The Scientist’s View--The Question of “Evidence”--Various Types of UFO--Descriptions of UFOs--A “Baedeker’s Guide” to Saucerdom

II. LO! 13

Arnold’s Nine Disks--The Great Shaver Mystery--The Maury Island Fragments--Science Fiction Adopts the Saucers--Mirage or Wave Clouds?

III. AIR-BORNE UFOS: BALLOONS TO BUBBLES 31

The Mantell Tragedy--A Probable Solution of the Mantell Case--A Radiosonde over Virginia--Skyhook and Pibal UFOs--The Guantánamo “Dogfight”--The Wallops Island UFO--Weather Balloons and Saucers--Plastic UFOs and the “Stack of Coins”--Jets and Contrails--The Killian Case-- ... And Kites and Soap Bubbles

IV. THE SPANGLED HEAV’NS: STARS AND PLANETS 60

A Mirage of Sirius--Earth’s Distorting Atmosphere--The “Whipping Girl” of Saucerdom--The Ryan Case--Venus as a Morning Star--Venus as an Evening Star--The Rotating Lights of Japan--UFOs and the Opposition of Mars--The Gorman “Dogfight”--Only a Balloon?--Jupiter through a Jet Trail

V. OUT OF THE SKY: METEORS AND FIREBALLS 88

Stones from Heaven--Meteor Streams and Showers--The Green Fireballs--Meteors in the Records--Fallacies about Meteors--Facts about Meteors--Unusual Fireballs--Great Meteor Processions--The Chiles-Whitted Sighting--Other Flaming UFOs

VI. LIVING LIGHTS 118

The Luminous Owls of Norfolk--Things That Glow in the Dark--Sea Gulls as UFOs--The Lubbock Lights--The Lubbock Pictures--Other Winged UFOs--The Tremonton Movies

VII. PANIC 133

Growth of a Panic--The Scoutmaster’s UFO--Monster in West Virginia--The Panel of Civilian Scientists

VIII. PHANTOMS ON RADAR 145

Radar as a Reporter--The Principle of Radar--Weather and Radar Echoes--The Kinross Case--The “Invasion” of Washington, D.C.--Radar Experiments in Washington--“Simultaneous” Radar-Visual Reports--“Ghosts” and “Angels” on Radar--The Rapid City Sighting

IX. E-M AND G-FIELDS IN UFO-LAND 172

Stormy Weather in Texas--The Phenomenon of Ball Lightning--E-M and Non-E-M Saucers--The Saturnian Visitors--Surveillance by Flying Eggs--Saucerdom’s Miraculous Electromagnetic Force--Effects and Causes--“G-Fields” and UFO Propulsion--The G-Field Myth--Electricity, Magnetism, and Gravity

X. CONTACT! 198

Earthlings and Extraterrestrials--The “Contactees”--Adamski’s Travels--Photography and the UFO--The Isle of Lovers Hoax--The Trindade Island Saucer--The Brazilian Naval Ministry--The Icarai Submarine Hunting Club--The Trindade Photographs--Project Ozma

XI. ANGEL HAIR, PANCAKES, ETC. 219

Angel Hair and Spiders--Other Varieties of Angel Hair--The Wisconsin Pancakes--The Moon Bridge--“Pieces of Saucers”--Silver Rain in Brazil--Other Mysterious Fragments

XII. SPECIAL EFFECTS 238

The Role of Unusual Coincidence--The Problem of Unknown Lights--Michigan’s Flying Bird Cage--UFOs from Reflections--Sundogs in Utah and France--Bright Spots on Films--Unfamiliar Lights on Planes--Inversions in California--The Chesapeake Bay Case--A Possible Explanation of the Nash-Fortenberry Disks--Other UFOs in “Stack” Formation--The Tombaugh Rectangles

XIII. INVESTIGATORS: AIR FORCE AND CIVILIAN 271

Official Study of UFOs--Civilian Saucer Groups--NICAP--The “Conspiracy” Fantasy-UFO at Sheffield Lake, Ohio--“The Fitzgerald Report”--The Open Mind

The World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Examination of a Major Myth of the Space Age

PREFACE xiii✦

PREFACE xiii