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This is Edward R. Murrell. We're going to talk about flying saucers. We're going to

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talk about them from the standpoint of reporters, not as Canadians, not as

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sensationalists. For the past three years, a large number of perfectly sane and

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reliable people have been involved in this flying saucer business. Even those of

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us who have never seen one have become involved. We read about them, talk about

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them, wonder about these reports of strange phenomena in the skies. So almost

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from the start, CBS has been following the story. We have been collecting

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material on flying saucer observations for many months, checking, cross-checking,

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trying to track down leads, no matter how far appeal they took up. This tonight is

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our report. We frankly admit that we don't know whether flying saucers

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actually exist. We've never seen one. We are going to bring you the facts at hand.

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What they add up to? Well, that's for you to decide. It all began just a little

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less than three full years ago. It began in the sky over western Washington, up

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there in the hip pocket of the country. Early one June morning in 1947, a C-46

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marine transport with 32 marines aboard crashed in the vicinity of Mount

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Prenier. An air search was immediately organized to locate the downed plane.

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Among the many service and private flyers who participated in this search was Mr.

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Kenneth Arnold, a businessman of Boise, Idaho, a veteran pilot in forest fire

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control work, a man with six years experience flying over the rugged terrain

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in and around Mount Prenier. Yesterday morning, we spoke to Mr. Arnold over the

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phone. We asked him to repeat for us, in his own words, what he saw in the sky

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over Mount Prenier on June 24th, 1947. We recorded what he said, and we're going

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to play it for you now. The slight beat that you will hear intermittently is

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required by law to let both parties of the phone conversation know they are

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being recorded. Here now is Mr. Kenneth Arnold. It was while I was searching for

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this place that I noticed a terrific blue flight past those of my airplane. I noticed

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that the flight came from a plane of very peculiar looking objects that were rapidly

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approaching Mount Prenier at about 170 degrees. This plane of objects were

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dying in numbers. I assumed at the time they were a new formation or a new type

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of jet, though I was baffled by the fact that they did not have any tails past,

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almost directly in front of me, but at a distance of about 23 miles, which is not

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very great to be fair, I checked their wingspan to be at least 100 to be caught.

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They're fighting to not be sufficiently certain at the time, except that I had never

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seen planes of that type. Mr. Arnold, after landing, made a routine report of what he

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had seen to a civil aeronautics administration representative. Promptly

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forgot the matter, until the wheels of publicity began to turn. The floodgates

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opened. I never said understand at that time why the world got so upset about

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this. These things didn't mean to be a minute. I believe they had something to do

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with our army and Air Force. On three different occasions, Mr. Arnold was

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questioned by military intelligence. They expressed doubt as to the accuracy of

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some of his reported observations. That's right now, of course, some of the reports

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they did take from newspapers, which did not, you won't see properly. Now, when I

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told the press, they reported me and in the excitement of it all, one newspaper

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and another one got exposed and filed up that nobody knew just exactly what they

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were talking about, I guess. Here's how the name Flying Saucer was born. These

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octaves were all in flutter, like they were, oh, I'd say, boats on very rough

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water or very rough air of some type. And when I described how they flew like

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to take the saucer and throw it across the water, most of the newspapers

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misunderstood this photo back to they said that I said that they were

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saucer like I said they flew in a saucer like fashion. That was an historic

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misquote. Well, Mr. Arnold's original explanation has been forgotten. The term

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flying saucer has become a household word. Few people realize that Mr. Arnold

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has reported seeing the same strange object in the sky on three other

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occasions. He says that some pilots in the Northwest have reported seeing them on

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eight separate occasions. We asked for his own personal opinion on the nature of

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what he and the others had seen. I don't know how best to explain that. I, uh,

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for a lack of a reserve of opinion as to what I think that means that so for

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American, if it's not made by our science or our army airport, I am inclined

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to believe that it's of an extraterrestrial origin. Extra-terrestrial

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origin? You mean you think there's a possibility they may be coming out of

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space from other planets? I suppose that's pretty hard for people to take

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seriously. Well, uh, I'll tell you this much. All the airline pilots, none of us

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have appreciated and laughed at. We made our report, thankfully, to begin with

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because we thought that if our government didn't know what it was, it was

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only our duty to report it to our, our nation and to our airport, thought of it.

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I think it's something that is a concern to every person in the country. And I

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don't think there's anything for people to get hysterical about. Now, that's

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just my frank opinion of it. So that's how it all began. That was the trigger

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action. Kenneth Arnold's story went scudding over the news, wires, radio and

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newspapers picked it up. And then within days, the country broke out into a

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flood of flying saucer observations. Many of these reports, a great many of them,

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obviously could be discounted. Others reports from perfectly competent, sober

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and reliable observers found no easy answer. In the face of this, late in

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1947, the chief of staff of the Air Forces, at that time, General Carl

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Toey spots, sent a directive to the air material command located at right field

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Ohio. The air material command is directed to set up a project whose purpose is

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to collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government

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agencies and contractors. All pertinent information concerning sightings of

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phenomena in the atmosphere, which can be construed to be of concern to the

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national security. So was born project saucer. Immediately, the air material

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command went to work. A team of experts was called in. Astronomers, meteorologists,

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physicists, psychologists, electronic engineers, anyone who might have any

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special knowledge that could shed some light on this mystery. These specialists,

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along with the core of trained investigators, tracked down every report of

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a flying saucer they could find. Each person making a report was questioned

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in detail. The findings were carefully screened by the entire project personnel.

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And finally, each and every report was evaluated in a detailed study, two volumes

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thick, entitled, Report on Unidentified Aerial and Celestial Objects. For two

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years, this report was marked secret. But on December 30th, 1949, it was

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declassified. And tonight, for the first time on the air, we will bring you actual

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portions of this report. Evaluations, summaries, and conclusions. Here, for

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instance, is a typical case. 8 July, 1947, 0930 hours local, Murak Air Force

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Base. Four witnesses all observed two silver disc-like, spherical objects

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against the clear, bright sky. All witnesses estimated the altitude at

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about 8,000 feet, the speed between 300 and 400 miles per hour. Remember, these

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were trained observers, Air Force men. The objects reportedly traveled in a

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straight line, taking the mean reported speed 350 miles per hour. And the time

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in sight, one half hour, the objects must then have traveled 175 miles while in

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sight. If the objects were of such proportions as to be seen at that

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distance, it is believed that more details could have been observed at the

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first sighting. And the air material command opinion on the Murak Air Base

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sighting was this. This report is a result of misinterpretation of the nature of

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real stimuli, probably research balloons. Another report on January 7th, 1948.

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Tech Sergeant Quintanae Blackwell, Chief Operator of the Control Tower at

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Bodman Field, an Air Force Base at Fort Knox, Kentucky, spotted a strange object

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hovering over the south portion of the field. In a matter of minutes, a flight of

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four P-51 fighter planes approaching the field were contacted by radio and asked

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to chase the object. Leader of the flight was Captain Thomas F. Mantell, Jr.,

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a veteran of an arm and the invasion, with some 3,000 flying hours to his credit.

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At 245 Mantell reported by radio.

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Object directly ahead in the boat and moving about half my speed, going up to

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take a look. At 315 Mantell reported again.

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Objects still ahead in the boat, moving at about my speed or faster, 360 miles per hour.

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The thing looks metallic and is of tremendous size. I'm trying to close in

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for a better look. By now, Mantell and his flight were at about 15,000 feet.

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They had no oxygen equipment. At 18,000 feet, the escorting planes turned back,

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but Mantell kept climbing. His next report came from 20,000 feet.

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Going to 25,000, if no closer, will abandon search. That was the last report

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from Captain Thomas Mantell. At approximately 25,000 feet, it is believed

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he blacked out for want of oxygen. His plane climbed another 5,000 feet and then

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went into a dive. When it crashed, parts of it were scattered around an area

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covering 1-6th of a mile. Project saucers conclusion. It seems probable that the

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object observed was the planet Venus. Later, in a report dated April 27, 1949,

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this conclusion was reversed. Further investigation showed the elevation and

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azimuth readings of Venus and the object, as reported at specified time intervals,

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just didn't jive. The object Captain Mantell chased to his tragic death is now

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officially marked unidentified. In all, Project Saucer investigated 375 cases.

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The report takes in 244 different observations. Just yesterday, we asked

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Major General William F. McKee, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, United States Air

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Forces, to summarize the conclusions reached by Project Saucer. He said,

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During two years of thorough investigation, no evidence was found which would

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indicate that the reported flying saucers were anything but the result of natural

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phenomena. On the other hand, all the evidence indicated that the reports of

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unidentified flying objects could be accounted for under three major

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headings. One, misinterpretation of various conventional objects. Two, a

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mild form of hysteria. Three, or simple, hoaxes. It has been suggested that what

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people actually have been seeing is the result of some of our own secret

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experiments, guided missiles or new types of planes or flying weapons. This is

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emphatically not the case. None of the three military departments nor any other

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agency and government is conducting experiments classified or otherwise with

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this shape flying objects which could be a basis for the reported phenomena. On

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December 27th, 1949, Project Saucer went out of existence. The flying saucers,

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however, refused to follow the project into Limbaugh. Just possibly one of the

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reasons behind the stubbornness of the saucers to accept the mantle of

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oblivion was an article that appeared in True Magazine. Just about the time

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Project Saucer was abandoned. It had previously been shown pretty conclusively

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that the number of sighting reports over a period of months usually followed

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closely the amount of publicity given to flying saucer observations. A lot of

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stories, a lot of sightings, few stories, few sightings. Psychologists call this

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mass suggestion. But to return to the True Magazine article printed in

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December of 1949, the some percentage of the new wave of flying saucer reports

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can certainly be chalked off to mass suggestion. But again, as in the first

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reports, there remain that same unexplained percentage of reliable trained

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observers who claim to have seen some object or object wheeling, whirling,

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zooming, slicing or hovering in the sky. Douglas Goorley of Laguna Beach,

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California is an example. Here's his story.

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I served 14 months as an anti-aircraft observer with a searchlight

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battery and also 18 months at the Seat Coast anti-aircraft observer with

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another searchlight battery. I was driving north March 21st on 101 highway at

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about three o'clock in the afternoon when my attention was distracted by the

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sunlight reflecting off some objects. I counted eight of them, proceeding

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directly out to sea at 2000 feet altitude. They gave the appearance of being

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made out of aluminum and I could observe a perfect circle outline of these

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craft. They were going, I would say, approximately 150 miles an hour. They

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were definitely a hard craft of some sort. Here's a report from Selma,

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Alabama. We were riding along the open country and had been observing a

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very beautiful sunset. And as the sun dipped over the western horizon, I looked

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to my right and there in the sky were three small lights, which to me appeared

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to be three very small clouds. I looked steadily and I said, no, they are not

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clouds, they are airplanes. Then I called my husband's attention to it and he

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said, no, those are not airplanes, they are lights. And we observed them very

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closely. But being in motion ourselves, to us they were motionless because we

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didn't stop. But as we rode along for something over a mile, they hung there in

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the sky and they were, to us, had the appearance of tubes of fluorescent light

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of beautiful, silvery, pink-tinged moonlight. And I said to my husband, that

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gives me a feeling that God is trying to say something to us. And we have had

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that feeling within us since. By mid-March of this year, the flood of

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flying saucer sightings had hit a new peak. And to many of these reports,

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they're now crept in new and somewhat eerie tone. The feeling that these

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flying saucers were something out of this world, possibly interplanetary

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aircraft, sent from some distant celestial sphere to investigate what

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manner of life managed to exist here on Earth. In line with this, we went to

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Dr. Donald Menzel, professor of astrophysics at Harvard University and

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associate director of the famous Harvard Observatory to find out just how

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feasible any such idea might be. Dr. Menzel had this to say.

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Well, I suppose that anything is possible, but I consider it extremely

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unlikely. Well, what could these flying bodies actually be, Dr. Menzel?

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Sun shining from a very distant plane, shining so that you could see that

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there was an object there, but the plane so far away that you couldn't hear it.

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Weather balloon. You have the bright round patch at a fairly high altitude.

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Sometimes three or four of them attach together. And then again, just pieces

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of paper carried aloft. When it gets up to 200, 300 feet, you can't tell whether

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it's 100 feet or a thousand or 10,000 feet away.

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And prior to the middle of March, most observations, certainly all those what

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could be credited to reliable, sober sources, stated that the object seen was

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a good distance away, a distance that ranged from a few miles to 10 and 20.

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But on March 16th, a physician, a man who holds a private pilot's license,

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reported that he had seen some strange, unidentifiable type of flying body at

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close range. Dr. Craig Hunter of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia had this

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experience.

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I've gone north on Route 153 from Clearfield, Pennsylvania, towards

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Tenfield, Pennsylvania, and about nine miles out of Clearfield.

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And I began to hear a hissling whistling sort of a sound, something that I

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was completely strange to me.

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And then I looked up into the sky and coming from a southeaster,

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easterly direction to a northwesterly direction, whereas this flying desk

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was one of a better name, a Brian Saucer.

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It was, I would say, around 150 feet around in circumference.

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And there was three distinct parts of it.

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There was an inner circle, a metal circle, which rotated around this inner circle

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and an outside circle, which are about one third of the area on each side

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was covered with openings somewhat similar to an airliner opening.

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Now, this inner circle rotated and a clockwise very slowly, and it went over

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me practically right over my head.

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And I would say it was traveling at a speed approximately 60 to 70

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miles per hour.

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I would say that the thing was approximately 250 to 300 feet above me,

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not over 400 feet.

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It was of a dirty aluminum color.

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And I got a tendency to indicate the southern edge

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as sloping up, which would indicate to me that it was about 15 to 20

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feet thick at the center.

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It would give you the idea that it was a rocket type of

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combustion rather.

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It didn't give you the indication of a make and break like a motor or anything

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like that. It was a continuous whistling sound.

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Conditions were very, very fine for observing.

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I mean that it was just as clear as a bell and I could just frankly see

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each and every detail to the outline of it.

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In order to check the whole question of design, to find out whether or not a

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saucer like object, such as the one described by Dr.

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Hunter could maintain itself in flight, according to the basic laws of aerodynamics.

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We call for the opinion of one of the nation's outstanding aeronautical

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engineers, Hall Hibbard, his vice president and chief engineer of

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Lockheed aircraft.

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And here is what he has to say over the beep recording telephone.

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Well, my feeling is that it is possible to

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build and fly something that looks like a saucer

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just from the standpoint.

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But I do not believe that there is such a thing at this time.

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I do not know of anything that would be considered in that category.

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I'm very familiar with pretty much what's going on in the way of

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research and development.

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And I know nothing that would be considered as flying saucers or flying

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saucer materials.

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You can make something that looks like a saucer fly.

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If anybody would ever want to do it.

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But I do not believe that it was possible with our first knowledge to

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to have some basic speed and everything that everybody has been talking about.

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The Flying Saucer story came back in the sharp focus on Monday of the present

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week. On that day, the United States News and World Report, a national news

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magazine and Henry J. Taylor, a radio commentator, both came out with

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flat statements that flying saucers actually exist.

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Mr. Taylor said that there are two or more different objects that have been

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cited and labeled flying saucers.

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One of these objects, the true flying saucer, according to Mr.

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Taylor, is a missile round in shape, varying in size from 20 inches to

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250 feet in diameter.

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Some are guided, others are not.

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The US News and World Report article mentions nothing about these objects.

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The magazine, however, describes a jet-propelled aircraft of revolutionary

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design that agrees in some details with Mr. Taylor's second secret aircraft,

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a piloted plane capable of high speeds and high maneuverability.

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Both accounts agree that the present model stemmed directly from the XF-5U1,

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the so-called Flying Pancake, a small edition of which was built and flown in

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1942. Last night, we put a special recording line into the home of Mr.

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Charles H. Zimmerman of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the

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man who originally designed the XF-5U1.

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We asked him about the plane, whether it ever actually flew.

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This aircraft never flew.

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The official designation of the aircraft was the XF-5U1, which was to be a

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high-performance Navy fighter.

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However, a low-powered, lightly loaded version of this craft called a V-172

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V-173 made a large number of successful flights.

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I can see the original idea for this craft back in 1933.

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As a top plane designer, we asked Mr.

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Zimmerman to give us his opinion as to whether or not a plane could be built that

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could hover like a helicopter, then take off at almost supersonic speeds.

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He said,

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it would be possible, using modern turboprop engines, to build a machine of

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this type, which would be capable of hovering and of also flying at all

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forward speeds up to possibly 550 or 600 miles per hour.

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To follow through on the problem of whether or not disc-shaped objects could

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actually fly, we got in touch with Mr.

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David C. Prince, Vice President of the General Electric Company and Chief of

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its General Engineering and Consulting Laboratory.

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Mr.

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Prince was having no part of flying saucers.

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My thought is simply that the ability of some people to get themselves is extraordinary.

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For instance, the effect of searchlights on clouds has been taken to be flying discs.

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Even radar evidence is not conclusive here because rain in the clouds would show

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up on a radar screen.

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The only saucer-shaped aircraft which we know has flown, and that only a few times,

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is a propeller-powered disc developed by NACA.

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As a matter of fact, a cigar-shaped craft with a single revolving wing jet-powered

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could be faster and certainly would be much more maneuverable.

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In flight, this plane might look like a disc because of the halo created by its

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rapidly revolving wing.

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Such a craft would have flight characteristics similar to hummingbirds.

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Late this afternoon, we tried to tote up the score.

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On one desk, we had a pile of clippings, news reports, recordings of eye-witness

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accounts of flying saucer observations.

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We had the Taylor broadcast, the U.S.

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News and World Report article.

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On another desk, we had our Project Saucer Report, the transcripts of our

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conversations with leading scientists and engineers, who, to use a gentle phrase,

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discounted the possibility of any such thing as a flying saucer.

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On that desk, too, was the news ticker dispatch from the United States

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Submarine Base at Key West Florida, a dispatch that quoted President

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Truman's press secretary, Charles Ross, as saying that President

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Truman has no knowledge of any secret project by this government that would

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give substance to the existence of such objects.

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Ross also said that both the Air Force and the Navy deny that such objects exist.

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We tried to add it all up.

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We admit that now, as before we started our case, we have no opinion.

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The figures just don't add up.

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So we went to the public.

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We went to the man and the woman on the street to see how they were reacting to

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this barrage of positive sightings and just as positive denials.

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We wondered how they felt.

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They told it.

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Well, I think there's more to it than meets the eye, and I think it's more

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to it than what they're writing about.

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First, now, I don't think such things exist.

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I don't see how it could.

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I have a confidence that something on that order may exist.

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I lived in North Carolina in 1903 when the reporter for the New York

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world was fired for reporting that the Wright brothers flew.

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Some say they're stars.

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Some say they're enemy.

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Action.

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All kinds of things.

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I really don't know.

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It might be something to it.

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Your imagination.

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I didn't believe it first, but now I'm beginning to believe it.

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Most of the thing is flying saucers.

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Well, I believe a present Truman, like the rest of us, has the right to his own

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opinion.

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And now, just in case all this is added to the celestial confusion about your

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heads, we've summarized the data we've been able to gather.

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00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,440
Sorted out the points of agreement and disagreement, along those who claim to

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have seen flying saucers.

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Here is what we found.

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Nearly all these observers are in agreement on the color of the

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object.

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It's a metallic color, they say, something like aluminum or silver.

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Almost everybody agrees the objects are generally disc shaped, but with wide

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variation, sometimes balloon like or resembling a giant rubber ball.

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Still others describe them as elongated cigar shaped things.

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Speed of the saucers has been estimated at from zero to 1200 miles an hour.

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And when we get into the question of maneuverability, the observers seem not

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to be able to find the precise or adequate words.

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They say that the saucers hover, accelerate and decelerate rapidly.

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They say that some of the objects flutter, oscillate, drift, whirl or float.

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There seems to be no fixed pattern of flight in cases where more than one or

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two discs have been reported.

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But several persons have said that in group flights, one of the discs seems to

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be of a distinct color, indicating possibly that this off color disc was

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the monitor or the control disc for the others.

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A small percentage of the observers has said the discs bore light.

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And in five cases, at points as far apart as Alabama and California, the

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viewers said the disc suddenly disappeared in flight.

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But when we get around to estimating altitudes at which the objects were

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cited, we find that some observers say they saw them at 250 feet.

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Others guess the discs were at 40,000 feet in the sky.

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While one observer estimated the number of discs seen at 100, nearly all thought

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00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:42,720
the number was less than 10.

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And about half those who claim to have seen the objects said they saw only single

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saucers.

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Well, these are the things men and women in various parts of the United States

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00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,280
say they have seen in the sky.

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Men of science and high government officials cast a skeptical eye at these

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reported sightings of celestial phenomena.

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So far in the course of this broadcast, there have been no reliable reports of

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the sighting of any new flying saucers.

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Frankly, we don't know the answer.

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We wonder, do you believe in flying saucer?

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00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,160
You'll be listening to the case of the flying saucer, special report narrated by

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00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:26,880
Edward R. Murrow.

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00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,520
The case of the flying saucer was based on extensive research collected with the

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00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,840
aid of CBS affiliated stations and CBS newsmen across the country.

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Portions of this broadcast were transcribed.

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This program was written by EarthUnic.

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This program was written by EarthUnic, directed by John Deets, produced by

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Robert Bendick and Irving Githam.

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Mr. Murrow appeared in this program with the courtesy of Makers of

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Franco-American Spaghetti.

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This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.