BY HUNK EDWAFSI^ SAUCERS- SERIOUS BUSINESS OVERWHELMING NEW EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE REAL! !!!!!!!!! #|t^ THE BOOK THAT SMASHES THROUCH THE BARRIER OF OFFICIAL SILENCE WITH THE EXCLUSIVE STORY! WITH 32 PAGES OF ASTONISHING PHOTOGRAPHS Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2010 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/flyingsaucersserOOedwa i^^ /-fr^ ^ WARNING! Near approaches of Unidentified Flying Objects can be harmful to human beings. Do not stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case, the safe thing to do is to get away from there quickly and let the military take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger, and there are known cases in which persons have been burned by rays emanating from UFOs. Details on these cases are included in this book. DON'T TAKE CHAKCES WITH UFOs "Defense Department orders jets to shoot down UFOs which refuse to land when ordered to do so." —Washington, D.C, Daily News July 25, 1952 "Flying Saucers exist only in the imaginations of the viewers." —President Dwight D. Eisenhower. December 16, 1954 FIYIN SAUCERS SERIOUS BUSINESS BY FRANK EDWARDS .^KM Bo„ S Affectionately dedicated to the memory of my long-time buddy RAY ALLEN May 25, 1911—December 30, 1965 I wish to express my thanks to the Inspector General of the United States Air Force for issuing the special order from which the title of this book is taken. Frank Edwards May, 1966. This low-priced Bantam Book has been completely reset in a type face designed for easy reading, and was printed from new plates. It contains the complete text of the original hard-cover edition. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED. FLYING SAUCERS—SERIOUS BUSINESS A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with Lyle Stuart, Inc. PRINTING HISTORY Lyle Stuart edition published June 1966 2nd printing June 1966 4th printing July 1966 3rd printing June 1966 5th printing .... August 1966 6th printing August 1966 Bantam edition published October 1966 2nd printing .... October 1966 3rd printing .... October 1966 > 4th printing . . . November 1966 5th printing 6th printing All rights reserved. Copyright © 1966 by Frank Edwards. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review. For information address: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 239 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10003. Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc., a subsidiary of Grosset & Dunlap. Inc. Its trade-mark, consisting of the words "Bantam Book" and the portrayal of a bantam, is registered in the United States Patent Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, Inc., 271 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Table of Contents 1. What Goes On Here? 1 2. The Heat Waves 26 3. Hits and Misses 35 4. Pick Up the Pieces 41 5. Some Classic Cases 51 6. Life Out Yonder 71 7. Who's Driving? 89 8. The Race into Space 110 9. Does Science Follow the Saucers? 125 10. Muzzles for Americans? 133 11. In the Dark 142 12. Meanwhile, Back in the Soviet Union .... 153 13. 1965~The Dam Breaks 160 Appendix 185 Illustrations (between pages 90-91) Special Order alerting USAF bases on UFOs Valparaiso, Indiana. UFO Air Force release of their 'secret saucer' device The 'secret saucer' in final form Early type UFO McMinnville, Oregon flying saucer Photo #2 from McMinnville taken 15 seconds later French military photo of original type UFO Rare view of old style saucer taken over Argentina Flat bottom saucer photographed at Darmstadt, Germany Air Intelligence Alert UFO photographed by astronauts White and McDivitt (NASA) Sicilian UFOs of unconventional design Lt. Col. Tacker's 'meteorite' Tacker's 'meteorite' properly identified Giant Air Force secret space listening base Front page of Soviet science magazine Alleged Russian anti-gravity plane Top view of above craft Experimental U.S. 'Flying Rapjack' Giant UFO, with contrail, off Brazil Map of famous Trinidade UFO case Australian swamp spots where UFOs were reported B-57 jet bomber being followed by "strange object" UFO over Tulsa, Oklahoma Picture of UFO over a Los Angeles County highway Second photograph of the same scene Polaroid shot before UFO vanished Mysterious white cross on the moon Chart of strange mystery lights on the moon UFO hovering near Beaver, Pennsylvania UFO at Portland, Indiana streaking from a fixed position What Goes On Here? Hundreds of persons near a huge frozen reservoir watched a glowing egg-shaped object darting about from place to place, intermittently shooting downward beams of Ught. Reservoir guards who later ventured out on the frozen surface reportedly foimd imexpected thawed places in the area where the object had hovered. It happened on the night of January 12, 1966, within thirty rniles of Times Square—but most Americans never heard of it. Why not? A glowing red object crossed the United States from New York to Utah, tracked by radar every foot of the way. It landed beside a power station and put the station out of operation. Forty-eight minutes later it exploded in mid-air while pursued by armeid jet interceptors. It happened on April 18, 1962—but most people never heard of it. Thousands of people stood in the streets of Duluth, Min- nesota, and watched jet interceptors vainly chasing seven Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's). The presence of both the jets and the UFO's was confirmed by the Radar Base on the Keweenaw Peninsula. It happened in August of 1965—^but most Americans never heard of it. Sixty-eight Unidentified Flying Objects roamed the skies over Washington, D. C, in one night. They were tracked on radar. They were reported by the airline pilots whose planes they approached. A government agency pubUshed a special booklet dealing with the events of this one remarkable night . . . August 13, 1952. But most Americans are still unaware that it ever hap- pened. Even some of the persons who deal with this phenomenon have difficulty gathering information. For instance: One night early in October of 1965, I addressed an au- 1 2 FLYING SAUCERS SERIOUS BUSINESS dience of radar experts who had hired me, at their own expense, to come and tell them all that I could about the ubiquitous Unidentified Flying Objects. These were the men (Air Traffic Controllers) who see these things on their radar screens. These are the same men who are required by regula- tion to give out prefabricated answers or "explanations" to all who make inquiry about such things. Why were they paying me, a civilian newsman, to tell them about things they sea more frequently than anyone else in the nation. The reason was simple: Although they were under the Federal Aviation Agency, that agency refused to answer their queries for information on the UFO's. From the Air Force they received only a suggestion to contact the FAA. From the FAA they got nothing. To those radar men I showed enlargements of government documents of which they had no knowledge. I showed them photographs of the types of things which caused blips on their radar screens. But in one hour I could not telescope an adequate briefing of the events of these past nineteen years, even though I tried hard. This book will give me the time to do a more extensive job, and a more thorough one as well. That I am prejudiced in this upcoming discussion with you I freely admit. That I disagree with the published viewpoints of the United States Air Force on the same subject, I also freely admit. But I wish it understood here and now that I have no dislike for the Air Force, and for very good reason. The Air Force is as helpless in its way as you and I are in ours. It is doing a job that was forced upon it—a job that has meant deceiving the majority of the American people for almost twenty years. Notice that I say the majority of the people — for there have always been some who were not deceived — and todav the number of those who are still deceived, or at least confused, as to the real nature of the Unidentified Flying Objects, hereafter called UFO's, must be very small and they are certainly in the minority. Sometimes I get the impression that the Air Force might prefer to be rid of the whole shabby task; that it deliberately issues the most ridiculous statements, with the silent prayer that by so doing it wiU bring closer the day of its own release from this presumably odious assignment. For example: In August of 1965, when tens of thousands of persons from the Dakotas to Mexico watched peculiar lighted formations hov- ering and maneuvering in the skies, the Air Force blandly What Goes On Here? 3 informed the news services that all these witnesses, on the ground and in the air, had been watching nothing more un- usual than four stars in the constellation Orion! The preposterous character of that explanation was quickly brought to light when astronomers Professor Walter Webb of the Hayden Planetarium in Boston and Dr. Robert Risser of the Oklahoma Art and Science Planetarium pointed out that the stars in Orion, at the time of the sightings, were on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH. Having thus established roughly the opposing forces and their respective viewpoints, let us proceed to examine the evidence. As a professional reporter I am well aware of the im- portance of including in my report the very beginning of the story. In the case of the UFO's I must call attention to the regrettable fact that the real beginnings of the story are prob- ably lost in antiquity, unless we are willing to give some consideration to certain accoxmts which have come down to us through the oldest possible sources—^the religions and the legends. Let us examine a few of them as a possible background to the modern portion of the story which we shall consider in detail. A literal interpretation of the Bible indicates that some forms of spacecraft, operated by beings similar to—if not identical to—^human beings, visited some of the places and characters in the Old Testament, at least. I do not propose to recount those stories here, but to those who may be inter- ested in the details I recommend Morris Jessup's The UFO and the Bible. In those distant days, when Heaven was held to be some- where overhead, it was only natural that beings who came from overhead should be regarded as heavenly representa- tives; in other words, as "angels." Yet the same accounts that purport to tell of their coming also give evidence that the creatures from the strange craft were not necessarily of celestial origin. Genesis (6:4) tells of these men from the sky mating with women of Earth, who bore them children. And again in Genesis 19:3 we are told that Lot met two "angels" in the desert and they went with him and partook of a feast at his house. Most observers will probably agree that breeding and eating ordinary food are surprising deviations for angels — FLYING SAUCERS SERIOUS BUSINESS but not altogether surprising for manlike creatures who may exist elsewhere in space. Scholars of ancient languages have noted many items which lend themselves readily to interpretation as Unidenti- fied Flying Objects, reported by persons who had to describe them in terms understandable to their contemporaries: Flam- ing chariots, fiery or glowing shields (which were generally circular, disclike, with a small "boss" or domelike center) and of course the glittering lances and other trappings of that distant period. The late Harold WUkins did a monumental job of perusing ancient volumes for such accounts. Some of the items are included in various articles he wrote for Fate magazine. And in that same publication for December, 1964, there is a good collection of "UFO's in Ancient Times." And Jessup's Case for the UFO, now long out of print, contains numerous additional examples. A chronicle of ancient India known as the Book of Dzyan is in a class by itself, not only because of its age but because of a surprising account therein. The Book is a compilation of legends passed down through the ages before men were able to write, and finally gathered into manuscript form by the ancient scholars who preserved them for us. They tell of a small group of beings who came to Earth many thousands of years ago in metal craft which first went AROUND Earth several times before landing. "These beings," says the Book, "lived to themselves and were revered by the humans among whom they had settled. But eventually differ- ences arose among them and they divided their nimibers, several of the men and women and some children settling in another city, where they were promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken populace." The legend continues: "Separation did not bring peace to these people and finally their anger reached a point where the ruler of the original city took with him a small number of his warriors and they rose into the air in a huge shining metal vessel. While they were many leagues from the city of their enemies they launched a great shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It burst apart in the city of their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot up to the heavens, almost to the stars. All those in the city were horribly burned and even those who were not in the city—but nearby—were burned also. Those who looked upon the lance and the ball of fire were blinded forever afterward.Those who entered the city on foot became ill and died. Even the dust of the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that flowed through it. Men dared not go near it. What Goes On Here? 5 and it gradually crumbled into dust and was forgotten by men. "When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he gathered about him those of his warriors who remained, and tiieir wives and children, and they entered into their vessels and rose one by one into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they return." This would seem to be an account of an attempt by some extraterrestrial group to establish a colony on Earth in the distant past. Like so many colonizing attempts by man, it appears to have ended in dissension and conflict. Most inter- esting portion of the story is the description of the great "lance that traveled on a beam of light," which bears a sur- prising resemblance to a modern rocket and its jet of flame. The effect of this so-called "lance" brings to mind a rather detailed picture of a nuclear blast and its catastrophic sequels. If this is a mental concoction of some primitive writer, it is at least remarkable. If it is a reasonably accurate piece of factual reporting, then it is even more remarkable. Since it is unverifiable, we must at this late date classify it as "interesting but unproved." Several of the very old Irish manuscripts which are still extant and still legible contain numerous references to inci- dents which in our day would be classified with the Unidentified Flying Objects. From the Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and in other accounts of that era, about 956 a.d.) come many accounts of what were called "demon-ships" in the skies of ancient Ireland. This one account is particularly interesting: "There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday while the people were at Mass, a marvel. In this town there is a church to the memory of St. Kinarus. It befell that a metal anchor was dropped from the sky, with a rope attached to it, and one of the sharp flukes caught in the wooden arch above the church door. The people rushed out of the church and saw in the sky a ship with men on board, floating at the end of the anchor cable, and they saw a man leap overboard and pull himself down the cable to the anchor as if to unhook it. He appeared as if he were swimming in water. The folk rushed up and tried to seize him; but the bishop forbade the people to hold the man for fear it might kill him. The man was freed and hurried up the cable to the ship where the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed away out of sight. But the anchor is in the church as a testimony to this singular occurrence." Singular, indeed! Yet it is but one of many such accounts of "ships in the air" and of manlike creatures aboard and 6 FLYING SAUCERS SERIOUS BUSINESS about them, to be found in ancient manuscripts throughout the world. That account of the cable from the "demon-ship" brings to mind a much more recent report, an account from a pros- perous and prominent farmer, Alexander Hamilton, of Le- Roy, Kansas. in a sworn statement dated April 21, 1897, he says: Last Monday night about 10:30 we were awakened by a noise among the cattle. I arose, thinking that perhaps my bulldog was performing his pranks, but upon going to the door saw to my utter astonishment that an airship was slowly descending upon my cow lot, about forty rods [660 feet] from the house. Calling my tenant, Gid Heslip, and my son Wall, we seized some axes and ran to the corral. Meanwhile the ship had been gently descending until it was not more than thirty feet above the groimd, and we came within fifty yards of it. It consisted of a great cigar-shaped portion, possibly three hundred feet long, with a carriage underneath. The carriage was made of glass or some other transparent substance alternating with a narrow strip of some ma- terial. It was brightly lighted within and everything was plainly visible—^it was occupied by six of the strangest beings I ever saw. They were jabbering together but we could not vmderstand a word they said. Every part of the vessel which was not transparent was of a dark reddish color. We stood mute with wonder and fright. Then some noise attracted their attention and they turned a light directly upon us. Immediately on catching sight of us they turned on some unknown power, and a great turbine wheel, about thirty feet in diameter, which was revolving slowly below the craft, began to buzz and the vessel rose lightly as a bird. When about three himdred feet above us it seemed to pause and to hover directiy above a two-year-old heifer, which was bawling and jumping, apparently fast in the fence. Going to her, we foimd a cable about half an inch in thickness made of some red material fastened in a slip knot around her neck and going up to the vessel from the heifer tangled in the wire fence. We tried to get it off but could not, so we cut the wire loose to see the ship, heifer and all, rise slowly, disappearing in the northwest. We went home but I was so frightened I could not sleep. Rising early Tuesday I started out on my horse, hoping to find some trace of my cow. This I failed to do, What Goes On Here? 7 but coming back in the evening found that Link Thomas, about three or four miles west of LeRoy, had found the hide, legs and head in his field that day. He, thinking that someone had butchered a stolen beast, had brought the hide to town for identification, but was greatly mys- tified in not being able to find any tracks in the soft ground. After identifying the hide by my brand, I went home. But every time I would drop to sleep I would see the cursed thing, with its big lights and hideous people. I don't know whether they are devils or angels, or what; but we all saw them, and my whole family saw the ship, . and I don't want any more to do with them. AFFIDAVIT "Hamilton has long been a resident of Kansas and known all over Woodson, Allen, Coffey and Anderson counties. He was a member of the House of Repre- sentatives. He staked his sacred honor upon the truth of his story. As there are now, always have been and always will be skeptics and imbelievers whenever the truth of anything bordering the improbable is presented, and knowing that some ignorant or suspicious people will doubt the truthfulness of the above statement, now therefore we, the imdersigned, do hereby make the following affidavit: That we have known Alexander Hamilton for one to thirty years, and that for truth and veracity we have never heard his word questioned, and that we do verily believe his statement to be true and correct. Signed: E. W. Wharton, State Oil Inspector M. E. Hunt, Sheriff W. Lauber, Deputy Sheriff H. H. Winter, Banker H. S. Johnson, Pharmacist J. H. Stitcher, Attorney Alexander Stewart, Justice of the Peace F. W. Butler, Druggist James W. Martin, Registrar of Deeds, and H. C. Rollins, Postmaster Subscribed and sworn before me this 21st day of April, 1897" Since affidavits are considered evidential matter before the highest courts in the land, we are justified in giving the above