Toute grande avancée en science est venue d'une nouvelle audace de l'imagination s1 John Dewey
Le peuple des ovnis ayant déclaré mener une investigation scientifique sur Terre, on pourrait s'attendre à ce qu'ils aient été observés dans le processus. Une étude approfondie de la Terre nécessiterait une énorme variété d'activités. Concernant l'environnement naturel, il serait nécessaire de collecter et analyser toutes sortes d'échantillons, dont des plantes et des animaux, des roches et des sols, de l'eau, et l'atmosphère. Des mesures instrumentales, comme la gravité, le magnétisme, la substructure géologique et la radioactivité, seraient requises. Au final, des installations humaines d'un intérêt particulier seraient inspectées et des échantillons de produits industriels seraient recueillis.
Un intérêt considerable pour les plantes, naturelles comme cultivées, a été affiché. En France, 2 nains ont examiné
des plants de lavande cultivés commercialement pour leur fragrance s2Cae 650. Des plants de
tomates ont attiré l'attention de 2 autres au Brésil s3Cas 701., tandis que des associés en
une autre occasion ont recueilli des plants de tabac s4Cas 353.. Des efforts plus
entreprenants et mieux organisés au Portugal ont impliqué la récolte de fleurs, arbustes et brindilles dans une
boîte brillante
s5Cas 154.. De la pelouse, des herbes, et des feuilles d'arbre
étaient l'objectif de 3 petits hommes au Brésil s6Cas 327.. Avec des sourires montrant de
belles dents blanches
, 2 nains ont pris un pot de fleurs à une femme italienne s7Cas 324.. D'autres cas sont moins explicites : ils ont rassemblé des plantes
, ramassé
quelque chose
, etc.
Un prospecteur brésilien vit 2 nains creusant un trou
s8Cas 541.. 2 autres furent
vus par un producteur de produits laitiers à New York, chacun portait un bac de ce qui semblait être du sol extrait
du champ
s9Cas 596, source d'origine.. Au Venezuela, des pierres furent ramassées et
examinées s10Cas 862., et dans un autre cas, 2 nains sautèrent dans un appareil sphérique en
portant des pierres et d'autres échantillons
s11Cas 344..
Parmi divers types d'animaux qui auraient été emportés à bord d'ovnis se trouvent une poule s12Cas 353., et, malgré l'objection du propriétaire, des lapins domestiques s13Cas 339.. Des tentatives at acquiring dogs have met with some difficulty. Frisky, a dog owned by a 12-year-old boy, was seen in a field with other dogs near a UFO and four normal- looking people, two men and two women. Frisky growled and backed away when one of the men tried to grab him. The man then attempted to catch one of the other dogs, but let go when he was bitten. (13) Another dog owner was rather abusive when a dwarf asked him for his pet. The dwarf was sent fleeing back into his craft with "Get the hell out of here." (14)
In areas where UFOs have been active for several days, it is commonly reported that many farm animals, including cattle, are missing. The residents usually attribute their losses to the UFOs without any direct evidence of theft. A newspaper in Rio de Janeiro and local papers at Manaus, in the State of Amazonas, on September 18, 1962, carried reports that flying saucers had carried off seventeen chickens, six pigs, and two cows from the Barcelos district. Proof of this pudding, however, occurred near Twin Falls, Idaho, where the victims watched the culprits. People from a UFO were seen loading a steer into their machine, which was estimated to be 200 feet in diameter. The witnesses were a local attorney, the ranch owner, and two hired hands. (15)
Most, if not all, of these instances of collecting samples are at least compatible with the notion of an objective study. But some of the items taken by the dwarves may relate to their personal need; that is, fresh food. chicken gumbo, fried rabbit, or steak might be a delectable change to a diet of cookies "made of corn and wheat flour" plus other ingredients that were observed being cooked on a UFO. The witness obtained four of the cookies which were later tested, eaten, and analyzed. (16)
Collection of water has been reported frequently. It would be adequate to take small samples of water in a vial for determination of the dissolved minerals and the level of pollution, either chemical or bacterial. UFO people, however, sometimes take substantial amounts of water. A Canadian and his wife in 1950 saw a large UFO with portholes "come to rest on the surface of the lake." Ten small people on a deck busily "immersed a hose in the lake" as if pumping water into the craft. (17) An almost identical performance, also in Canada, had been observed 36 years earlier when eight witnesses saw dwarves plunging a hose into a lake from a spherical craft resting on the water. (18) While fishing in New York, an electronics engineer saw an object land. Two dwarves "came out with a hose and pumped water from the river." (19) Another fisherman in Italy saw a UFO hover for 10 minutes over a river with "a hose that plunged into the water." (20) These uses of hoses imply collection of a substantial volume of water, probably more than could be carried in buckets on several round trips. Any such amount would clearly exceed the immediate requirements of the collectors, and one suspects that it filled the need of a considerable number of their fellows somewhere else.
The intended purpose for water, on one occasion, was made entirely clear to a chicken farmer in Wisconsin. An object came down vertically near his house in which he saw three men through an open hatch. One of them handed him a "silvery jug with two handles" and "made a motion like drinking." The jug was filled with water and returned. (21) This case is reminiscent of a previously mentioned request for water by a strange woman in Brazil who used the word, "Rempaua." (22) In yet another instance, two fair-skinned men emerged from a UFO in Chile asking a miner for water in a "mixture of English and Spanish." With unusual resourcefulness under the circumstances, the miner took some water out of his car radiator and gave it to them. (23) Small quantities of water were also obtained by the UFO people without assistance from humans. Two miners saw a UFO land on a sandbar in a California river. One dwarf got out and "filled a shiny pail with water and handed it to someone inside the craft." (24)Another craft landed at night near a Brazilian fisherman who watched one of three little men fill a "shiny metal tube with water from the river." (25)
Notwithstanding the declared purpose of the UFO people, these instances of collecting water, with one possible exception, have a distinctively unscientific tone. It appears that water is required for drinking, or other purposes, either by the individuals involved or a number of their colleagues. In view of the normally furtive behavior of these people, a face-to-face confrontation to request water carries a hint of some desperation.
Their interest in manufactured products seems to be minimal. A railroad worker was surprised when a strange being entered the sleeping coach where he was reading. After "pouring the contents of an oil can into a small bottle," he left. (26) This visitor apparently needed some oil rather urgently. The only other instance concerning a manufactured product occurred when two small men associated with a UFO were discussing agriculture with a farmer in New York. At their request, the farmer went to get some fertilizer, but upon returning, found that they had gone. He left the fertilizer. It, too, was gone the next day. (27)
Somewhat more attention has been paid to a variety of man-made structures. Very commonly UFOs and their occupants have been observed in the vicinity of highways and railroads. These may only be convenient places to land, but a specific curiosity has been exhibited. For example, three dwarves were seen looking at railroad tracks with a light in the early morning hours. (28) Abandoned oil derricks in Texas attracted the attention of a figure about 1 meter tall who emerged from a huge UFO. (29) An object fitting the description of a UFO was seen on the ground near the site of the first A-bomb explosion in New Mexico, although no occupants were discerned. (30)
Dispersal of an array of apparatus on the ground near a landed UFO and diligent work with some kind of equipment would suggest scientific data gathering. Only two instances might be understood in this context. Human figures came out of an egg-shaped object in Ohio and "placed small spheres around the craft." (31) Perhaps the same type of device was involved in the appearance of a man in Argentina who held a "pale blue sphere in his hand." (32)
In summary, the idea that the UFO people are conducting any kind of organized and thorough scientific study on earth is not sustained by the available information. Instead, their activities on the ground are strangely haphazard and disorganized. Aside from the collection of vegetables, small animals, and water, possibly for consumption, other samples seem to be selected at random. Also, inspection of man-made facilities seems to be more a matter of curiosity than an organized study. Instead of conducting a comprehensive survey of earth, the UFO people appear to be randomly snooping around or searching for some particular, natural commodity on earth, either vegetable or mineral.
Sometimes the observed activities are not related to investigation of the surroundings because the visitors' attention is focused upon the craft itself. In January 1967, a UFO about 80 ft in diameter settled on its tripod landing gear on a highway in Minnesota. From an elevator descended from the underside, a man wearing blue coveralls and a glass helmet stepped out. "He seemed to check something" before leaving. (33) Similar inspections were observed in France, (34) San Salvador, (35) Argentina (36) and Minnesota. (37) Taking advantage of a landing in Brazil to check their vehicle, the pilots also investigated the area and "gathered samples in a huge box." (38) Actual repairs were sometimes required. A French woman, approaching to within 30 meters of a landed disc, stated "that a man was repairing it." (39) External repairs were also made on vehicles that landed in Minnesota (40) and Denmark (41)
Maintenance or adjustment of equipment inside a craft may also require a landing. After touching a landed machine, a Libyan farmer was warned with gestures by one of its occupants to stay away. He watched for 20 minutes as six men inside were "apparently busy with instruments." (42) Of course, they may have been taking some kind of measurements, but such interpretation seems unlikely in view of the following incident. One of two UFOs flying at low altitude settled to the ground near an amateur prospector in a remote area of Canada. He sat quietly for 20 to 30 minutes sketching the object but seeing no activity. Then, as a door opened, he smelled an odor like "a burned-out electrical motor." (43) Because the odor clearly came from inside the craft, it appears that the landing was forced to correct a malfunction of electrical machinery or circuitry, or to put out a fire. In two instances, figures inside their vehicle were observed to be busy with electrical apparatus. A man outside a landed machine in Argentina was studying a piece of paper while a companion inside was "seated before an instrument panel." (44) Three figures stood on a platform under a landed UFO in Brazil, apparently guarding the vehicle as they were armed, while another was seen through a transparent top seemingly "using a keyboard." (45)
In other words, some landings occur in which the occupants display no interest in their surroundings. The purpose of the landing seems to be inspection of parts outside the vehicle and making necessary repairs. Alternately, complete attention is focused upon instrument panels and control boards within the vehicle. This group of cases appear to be emergency landings to fix something that either malfunctioned or threatened to fail. While UFOs clearly represent an advanced technology, they apparently are not foolproof. In a large number of missions, therefore, one would expect that occasionally the necessary repairs could not be accomplished and the UFO would have to be abandoned on the ground. Or, an equipment failure in flight would result in disintegration of the craft or a devastating crash on the ground. The record indicates that both types of mishaps have occurred.
A UFO in Brazil, flying at low altitude with serious difficulty, suddenly pulled up, whereupon it "disintegrated into thousands of fiery fragments, which fell sparkling with magnificent brightness.'' Some of the fragments, extinguished in shallow water, were later determined to be magnesium. (46) In 1952, wreckage of a UFO was found on Spitzbergen Island in the Arctic Ocean. Investigation was conducted by a Norwegian Board of Inquiry, which later announced: "It has - this we wish to state emphatically - not been built by any country on earth." (47) Both these incidents were studied by the Condon Committee and neatly, but dubiously, dispatched. Three more UFO crashes in the American deserts were described in 1950. One of these involved a saucer-shaped craft 100 ft in diameter in which 16 little people were killed. Their heights ranged from "about 36 to 42 inches." (48) These reports have never been adequately investigated and described publicly because the vehicles and the bodies were reportedly commandeered by the Air Force.
An effective method of secretly investigating a limited area would be for a UFO to land at night, discharge a reconnaissance team, then fly away. Upon completing their mission, the team would signal for a pickup or meet the craft at some prearranged location and time. Something like this was apparently in process when a guard in New York saw a cigar-shaped machine land in a parking lot one evening at 10:15 p.m. While he was watching the object in the beam of his truck headlights, two dwarves dressed in "shiny black uniforms" ran out of the darkness and entered the craft, which took off immediately. Black uniforms seem to be singularly appropriate for a surreptitious outing at night. (49) Obviously two crafts would have to land together for an occupant of one of them to transfer to the other. Just such a situation was observed in Central Australia by a group of Unmatjera aborigines in 1951. They were looking at a UFO on the ground when another one like it landed nearby. A dwarf came from under the late arrival, ran over to the parked craft, and climbed aboard through the bottom. (50) Three years later in France, several witnesses even saw a double transfer. Two discs in the sky with a "sort of luminous bridge between them" were seen to land together. One dwarf came out of both vehicles, passing each other without hesitation, to enter the opposite craft. Then both flew away. (51) These little dramas unfortunately give no clues as to why the transfers were made, but they clearly identify another purpose for UFO landings.
As with many other inquiries, the eventual answer turns out to be more complex than was initially suspected. So it was with the reasons that UFOs abandon the safety of the skies to hover close to the ground or actually land. Reports by witnesses clearly indicate that landings are most frequently associated with investigation of the surroundings by the UFO people. They often collect samples of a wide variety, but in a seemingly unsystematic way. An undefined need for water in quantities ranging from approximately one quart to hundreds of gallons brought several UFOs to the ground, and under conditions of urgency, human assistance was solicited. Malfunction of propulsion or control systems has evidently forced landings for inspections and repairs. Discharging or picking up passengers and transferring individuals between UFOs is sometimes required. One further purpose for landing, related to investigation of humans, is treated in the next section.
From the foregoing discussion it is suspected that UFO people of average height would have little difficulty in infiltrating modern society. They are obviously capable of breathing the earth's atmosphere and they could not be distinguished in a crowd by their appearance. Of course, they would benefit by being fluent in an appropriate language and they would have to wear common styles of clothing. In a well-planned mission, one or several of them could be landed in the middle of the night, not too far from a populated area, walk into town, and blend completely with the population on the sidewalks. Provided with adequate funds, they could establish residences, take jobs, and become an undifferentiated element of the society. A handsome young man named Valiant Thor claims that he came to earth in a space ship and was "landed in a clearing just north of High Bridge, New Jersey." Thereafter he mingled in a small crowd at a convention. He said that his mission, lasting three years, was to educate government leaders. He's not around anymore. (52)
Every species of animal has a distinctive carriage of its body and a typical way of moving its limbs when walking or running. While the difference between species may be very slight, they are easily discerned. Even individual members within a species have a style of movement that can be identified. One can usually recognize a friend at great distance by that characteristic alone. Thus a close examination of the movements of the UFO people should be sensitive to any such peculiarities mentioned by the witnesses.
Most accounts of the UFO people indicate that they were moving about in an ordinary way as they walked near their craft, picked up something, or ran back to the craft and climbed aboard. Somewhat unusual movements, however, were displayed in France in 1957 by four dwarves who had a waddling gait. (53) That same type of movement was undoubtedly observed by a farm woman in Peru, who described six dwarves that "walked like ducks." (54) Because of the multiplicity of dwarves in both of these cases, the observations must be taken as characteristic of the species rather than idiosyncratic. Other strange styles of walking included jerky motions, (55) stiff-legged, (56) and with feet together in a series of jumps. (57) One is struck by the similarity between these descriptions and the odd gaits adopted by the Apollo astronauts as they walked about on the lunar surface. Anyone who watched the television broadcasts will recall how they bounded forward in a series of galloping jumps, turned by twisting their torsos, and cavorted about with childlike movements. The implication is that UFO people are similarly experiencing a gravity on earth less than they are accustomed to; this point is emphatic in a few reports. A professor in Brazil noted that upon re-entering their craft, two men of average height jumped up the stairway lightly, holding only by one hand, whereas he had to use both hands when he followed them. (58) Two dwarves in Venezuela came out of the bushes with their arms full of what appeared to be earth or rocks, and they leaped with great ease into a luminous sphere hovering six feet above the ground. (59) A truly impressive and significant performance was seen by a Brazilian survey worker, who watched for half an hour as three 7-foot-tall beings, with extraordinary agility, leaped, gamboled, and tossed huge stones before boarding their craft. (60)
The argument that the UFO people have a home somewhere on earth has not been very convincing (61) and the only alternative, for physically real beings, is that their home is somewhere else. Exactly where is not known, but that issue is probed in another chapter. The point here is limited to considering gravity. Relative to the gravitational strength on earth, taken as 1.0g, the surface gravity of planets in our solar system varies rather widely from a minimum of 0.27g on Mercury to a maximum of 2.64g on Jupiter. Only three of the nine planets have gravity within 20% of that on earth. (62) The gravitational field in the astronomical homeland of the UFO people, whether in this solar system or some other is not likely to be the same as on earth, or even very close to it. Through the space program, the human body has been found to be surprisingly tolerant to extremes of gravity or the forces of acceleration that are equivalent. On lunar flights, the astronauts must sustain the short-term accelerations during rocket burns, the long-term weightlessness in earth or lunar orbit and enroute to the moon, the weak gravity of 1.6g while exploring the lunar surface or resting in the Lunar Excursion Module. If adequately supported in a semi-reclining position, the astronauts can even endure the forces of re-entering the earth's atmosphere, amounting to 8 to l0g, without unacceptable loss of mental, visual, or manual ability. But walking, struggling to stay upright, in a strong gravitational field is another matter. It should be possible for a man to walk in a field of 2g, where his weight would be twice normal. It would require great strength, and the extra exertion would tire him quickly. In 3g, it is doubtful that he could do any more than crawl around very laboriously, if at all. Consequently, man will not be exploring heavenly bodies where the gravity is much greater than on earth without some mechanical reinforcement of his limbs and an auxiliary power source, a concept that has been under active development for many years. Exploration of planets and satellites having lesser gravity, however, is relatively easy and apparently enjoyable. As these considerations should apply equally to residents of other worlds that wished to explore the cosmos, the odds are that their target planets would have relatively weaker gravity. In all probability, gravity in the homeland of the UFO people is substantially greater than here, as attested by their agility on earth and their lack of special equipment for walking.
Creatures of nature proliferate in nearly infinite forms, each finding a narrow ledge of existence that provides an adequate food supply and suitable living conditions. Despite the enormous variety, they are all governed by the environmental factors dictated by nature, such as temperature, pressure, light, and gravity, which is of special interest here. What kind of creatures and plants, would live on earth if its gravity were only one-fourth the present strength? Or four times the present strength? Some differences would certainly be noted. But judging from the happy existence on earth of creatures of all sizes from the ant to the elephant, the strength of gravity does not severely limit the size of living things. It governs their bodily proportions in relation to their total weight. This point can be understood most readily in the context of plants and trees. A tree trunk, for example, must be strong enough to support the total weight of the tree. It must also resist structural failure in buckling, that is, bending outward at the middle, then collapsing. This same concept applies to the limbs of animals, which must be even stronger and more rigid. Larger creatures are required by gravity to have relatively sturdier limbs. The cross-section must be greater in proportion to the length, as for elephants compared to ants. This relationship would be intensified for stronger gravity and mollified for weaker. Hence, the bodily forms of the UFO people should contain a clue to the gravity of their homeland if it were different than that on earth. These creatures, spanning the considerable range of heights from about 0.5 to 3.0 meters, are uniformly judged to be skinny by human standards. This observation implies that their native gravity is less than that on earth. As many other ramifications are involved, no definite conclusion is possible. Not only is the sturdiness of animal limbs controlled by gravity, but so is nearly every other aspect of their existence, such as metabolic rate, surface area, respiration frequency, and heart rate. These quantities, expressible in mathematical form, are related to the prevailing gravity. (63) A thin body form could also be an advantage in disposing of heat in a warm climate. Clearly, a great deal of effort is required to clarify this subject.
Upon first exposure to the UFO literature, the reader is prone to ignore any reference to the dwarves seen hovering or flying through the air, or to dismiss the story as totally beyond the UFO phenomenon. Maintaining a mental tranquility during extensive reading, however, is not so easy. In the sample cases under study, the UFO people were reportedly flying on numerous occasions, and these events must be objectively examined.
A man in Venezuela saw an object in flight that landed near a bridge. He first thought it was a heron, but then saw that it was a little man with all the characteristics of the UFO dwarves. (64) Upon being awakened by the shaking of his bed, another witness saw a small creature fly out an open window toward a dazzling light. (65) When a dwarf was disturbed by a racetrack employee while attacking a horse in a barn, he "zoomed" out the door. (66) These strange observations standing alone might be disregarded in the absence of the following ones, which specifically link the flying creatures to UFOs.
The normal way that UFO people enter their craft is through a hatch or doorway in the side, by stepping into an elevator that has been let down from a hovering craft, or by climbing up a stairway on the underside. If it is too high or they are in a great hurry, they simply fly to it. A small creature dressed in shiny clothes seemed to "fly" as he moved toward a craft hovering less than 2 meters above the ground. It "opened up" and the creature "popped inside." (67) Two creatures in white suits and helmets were seen in Canada to fly back into a large disc-shaped craft. (68) Two children in France saw "four little devils" that hovered, flew around a 2-meter sphere, then dived into it. (69) Only two days later in Venezuela with little chance of communication, a police officer saw a dwarf wearing a silver-colored, metallic-looking coverall. The dwarf lifted one foot, then the other, and flew up toward an object overhead and sailed into an open door. (70) The prominence of clothing in these cases should be noted.
While these observations are truly baffling, they are elementary compared to the next two that, oddly enough, furnish a clue to comprehension. A twenty-three-year-old woman and her parents saw a strange little man surrounded by a bluish-yellow glow as he soared over the neighbors rooftops. (71) Here is a direct association between flying and luminosity. The same relationship was reported for the taller UFO people when a strange being 2.l0-m tall was seen hovering in the air near a bright object; his body emitted a peculiar glow. (72) The bodies of two dwarves appeared to glow with lights of changing colors as they emerged from a landed vehicle in New York. (73) The idea that the bodies were emitting light has probably been confused by the witnesses with luminescence of the clothing and the atmosphere surrounding the creatures. Three giants, 3 meters tall, wore luminous clothing as they came out of a huge machine over 10 stories high. (74) A minister in Ohio saw a silhouette wearing a luminous suit near his house. (75) A man 2.5 m tall wore luminous heelless boots as he inspected his craft in San Salvador. (76) The aerial activity of luminous bodies and changing colors sounds all too familiar; it closely parallels the emission of light from UFOs in flight. Apparently, the type of propulsion system used by these people for personal flying is the same as that employed to drive their vehicles. It would seem that the "shiny" quality of their clothing, the sheen or the radiance, is a necessary adjunct to the system, making the clothing most unusual and possibly explaining the lack of buttons, fasteners, and seams. With some kind of electromagnetic system involving the surface of the clothing, the discontinuities created by fasteners and seams would be undesirable. A gap between trouser cuffs and shoes seems to be avoided by making the shoes integral with the standard coveralls. Similar care to preserve extraordinary smoothness also applies to the surface of the vehicles.
Some other aspect of flying may have been involved in two isolated observations. Two boys in Brazil, ages 9 and 11, saw a luminous sphere at treetop level from which descended a tall being gliding down to the ground along two vertical beams of light. Since strong beams are frequently aimed downward from UFOs, they could have been extraneous to the descent for the being flew back up to the sphere without their benefit.(77) A more distinct indication that the light beams were important occurred in Venezuela about three years later. Two beings came out of an oval object through a system of light beams, and they returned to their craft "as if carried by the light." (78) Two men skiing through the woods near Helsinki furnished a very detailed description of this process. (79) Thus the aerial performance of at least three of the UFO people probably encompasses a use of light beams that is entirely unique.
In the previous section, it was observed that the UFO people did not wear special equipment to protect their bodies against strong gravity. This point was used to argue that they did not need it because they came from someplace where gravity was greater than on earth. It now becomes clear, however, that their remarkable clothing could well serve as a device to relieve the body of burdensome gravitational forces. If it is capable of offsetting the body weight entirely for the purpose of flying, it could also serve to offset any desired fraction of the body weight to facilitate walking in an abnormally high gravity. Numerous examples of the UFO people being seen as brightly luminous while walking on the ground, instead of flying, are ample indication of that usage. One very small creature was even seen quietly walking the streets of Chaclacay, Peru, leaving a luminous trail, a feature commonly associated with the vehicles and understandable in that context.(80) It appears that the clothing furnishes protection against gravity, and on that basis, the argument becomes admissible that the UFO people originate in gravity that is less than that on earth.
With very minor exceptions, the UFO people clearly refrain from interfering in human affairs, even to the extent of evading detection. Avoidance of continental land masses and islands may be inferred from the frequency with which UFOs are seen to appear from the direction of the sea and to depart toward the sea. Considering the limited number of people traveling upon the oceans at any given instant, it is surprising that they have generated so many reports. Numerous observations of UFOs entering the oceans or erupting there from amidst great turbulence and then flying off have been collected and analyzed. In 1945, for example, crew members on the U.S. Army Transport Delarof were steaming toward Seattle in the northeastern Pacific. A large, round object, estimated to be 150 to 250ft in diameter, emerged from the sea, circled the ship two or three times, then flew off toward the south. (81) Similarly, an object off the coast of Italy caused an enormous bubble in the sea 1 kilometer from a boat carrying four people: it emerged, hovered briefly, and flew away at high speed. (82) Such events have also been observed in relation to numerous rivers and lakes. It is not known why UFOs frequent the waters of the earth, but while submerged in them they are certainly well hidden from mankind.
Most sightings merely involve metallic, disc-shaped craft traversing the sky with strange, jerky motions during the day, or the corresponding behavior of a bright light at night. To see a UFO at close range, hovering at low altitude, or resting on the ground is a rare event. Reliable statistics are not available, but the relative frequency of landings versus flybys can be crudely assessed. It has been estimated by a Gallup poll that five million Americans are convinced that they have seen UFOs. If only a modest fraction of this number were valid, the total number of sightings worldwide must still be quite large, say, on the order of 50,000,000! As for landings and near-landings, on the other hand, only about 1,000 have been documented, and it is not known how many observations may have gone unrecorded or how many landings went unobserved. The indication of rarity is clear, and based upon the very sketchy data at hand, one might place the landing-to-flyby ratio on the order of 1 in 10,000. No matter what the correct figures may be, the objectives of the UFO people seem to be largely achieved without landing.
And to make things worse, even these rare events take place almost exclusively at night. The frequency of short-range sightings rises quickly to a peak about one hour after sunset; sightings later in the evening and throughout the night decline as potential witnesses go to bed. (83) But this pattern of landings may be significant in another way. During the evening twilight, the brightness of direct sunlight is relieved, yet the level of general illumination is quite high enough for good visibility. It is possible that the UFO people dislike, or cannot tolerate, broad daylight, or any bright light for that matter. A few observations lend support to this idea. A policeman in Chalac, Argentina, along with about 50 Toba Indians, saw three little men getting out of a UFO. One of the witnesses started taking flash pictures of them and noticed that they were afraid of the bright light. (84) In California, a robot-like creature tried all night to dislodge a hunter from a tree in which he had taken refuge. The creature was kept at bay by the witness, who set fire to fragments of his clothing and threw them at his tormenter. (85) An attempted abduction in Brazil was frustrated because the witness noticed that the three 7-ft-tall people trying to catch him shunned bright sunlight. (86) From such flimsy data it is not possible to draw conclusions, but the suggestion is evident that the UFO people prefer to land after sunset because they are, like owls, bedazzled by ordinary daylight. Most animal eyes can accommodate to very low levels of light, but they are sharply limited in their capacity to block out excessive bright ness. The reluctance of the UFO people to expose themselves to bright light implies that they are accustomed to levels that may be very much weaker than daylight on earth. This prospect may explain why the dwarves have notably large, bulging eyes, and why some witnesses insist that they appear to have a reddish glow at night, like nocturnal animals. (87) Sunglasses, of course would be the simple answer to this problem, but they are not used. On the other hand, helmets made of tinted glass would serve very well. They would be highly reflective from the outside and would make it difficult for the witness to observe facial details of the wearer as is sometimes the case. It is not known whether the UFO people wear helmets more frequently when the illumination is high than in the dark of night.
It has also been shown that landings in France during a wave of activity in 1954 were correlated with areas of low population density. (88) In other words, the UFOs tended to avoid metropolitan areas in favor of farmlands or more isolated swamps and wood lands, a propensity that is also observed in other countries. It is remarkable under the circumstances that any detailed information is available concerning the behavior of UFO people on the ground, but there is enough data to verify their aloofness and to decipher something of their motives.
The typical, close-up sighting consists of the following stages:
1) The witness sees a UFO at considerable altitude and watches it approach, hover, and land nearby,
2) One or
more occupants emerges,
3) They deliberately engage in some activity,
4) They complete the work and reboard
the craft, and
5) The UFO takes off.
Roughly half of the sightings involving occupants followed this pattern to the letter. Such a consistent format implies that the UFO people selected a landing place where it was thought that they would not be observed. They proceeded to carry out their mission under the false impression and took no action to discover if they were being watched. These data might be understood to mean that the UFO people did not care whether they were being watched or not. This explanation, however, is untenable on the basis of the predominant isolation of landing sites. Nearly identical sequences occurred in many other cases, but with minor variations. The witness failed, for example, to see the actual landing, so the episode started at Stage 2; or the craft was hidden from view behind trees, thus preventing the observation of Stages 2 and 4. These variations strengthen rather than alter the conclusion that the UFO people deliberately sought to carry out a mission unobserved and thought that it had been so accomplished. Their presence and activities on earth were intended to be secret.
It is among the exceptions to the above, when an interaction takes place between the UFO people and the witnesses, that meaningful behavior patterns may be observed. Witnesses rarely say anything about facial expressions, which seem to be uniformly blank, although a few smiles have been evoked. (89) An English woman reported seeing two men looking out a hovering craft "sternly, not in an unkind fashion, but almost sadly, compassionately." (90) To a farm woman in Pennsylvania, the appearance of a man in a UFO seemed to be "quizzical." (91) Clearly, little regarding the attitude of the UFO people is to be gleaned from their facial expressions. With hardly any display of normal human warmth, the UFO people sometimes wave or make perplexing gestures (92) that are rarely interpreted as threatening, (93) or, in passing, they say something to the witness that is usually not understood. (94) The UFO people do not behave as though they feared humans. On the contrary, it is the witnesses that flee in panic. (95) An Italian saw a UFO from which emerged two men wearing yellow coveralls and wide belts. Upon noticing that the witness was afraid, one of them made a reassuring gesture before they departed. (96) Very generally, one might say that the UFO people are furtive, seldom display any emotion, and have a kindly but restrained disposition.
As occasional acts of aggression seem to be more in self-defense than from an innate hostility, any resulting injuries to the witnesses should probably be judged as accidental. An 18-year-old boy in Venezuela was paralyzed by a weapon when he discovered six dwarves loading stones into a UFO. (97) Such paralysis does not cause injury and it is usually quite temporary, lasting just long enough for the intruders to escape. But it may last for some time. When a French farmer surprised two dwarves who were examining a plant, he was immobilized when they aimed a small device at him. He was left alone in his field for 20 minutes, unable to move or call for help. And, as one would expect, he was thoroughly frightened. (98) The effect upon the nervous system of the weapons used in these attacks is unique: they usually inhibit voluntary control of the muscles without interfering with the involuntary body processes, or without rendering the victim unconscious.
Loss of consciousness, however, is sometimes induced by the weapon. A strange man in Illinois stunned witnesses by pointing a device at them that "made consciousness dissolve." (99) Upon approaching to within 2 meters of a large UFO in the Everglades, a hunter was knocked unconscious for 24 hours by a ray that struck him on the forehead. Upon awakening, he had lost sight in the right eye, saw poorly with the left, and had to be hospitalized for 5 days. (100) Other symptoms reported by victims of such attacks are electric shock, (101) burns, (102) physical displacement, (103) and headaches. (104)
Two or three types of weapons can be identified in 18 cases in which they were seen but not always used. Most prominent is a small metal tube that, from the brief descriptions, one judges to be slightly larger than a ballpoint pen. A larger device is similar to a 2-cell flashlight. Finally, a small flashing box also seems to be a weapon. In most instances, the UFO people were merely seen carrying this box (105) but one witness seems to have been injured by a figure armed with it. (106) A woman in luminous clothing standing beside a UFO in New York seemed to be well armed with a tube in one hand and a box in the other although she fired neither. (107)
A curious aspect of the weapons is that they eject a beam of light that is seen by the witnesses and reported to be a definite color, such as green, (108) blue, (109) violet, (110) and red, (111) or some times merely bright (112) or blinding. (113) The data are not sufficient to establish a correlation between the color of the light ray and its effect upon the witness, although the only two records of red rays and red balls of light both resulted in burning the witnesses. (114) And it is not possible to discover which effects upon the witnesses are produced by which weapons. A further implication that cannot be explored is that the intensity of the beam is variable at will and produces a greater or lesser effect upon the victim. All this discussion about ray guns "zapping" their targets into immobility sounds like science fiction. The witnesses, however, were serious and the last thing one does in a hoax is to injure himself. It would be most valuable to discover the exact nature of these weapons, for their use by law enforcement agencies would be extremely effective and humane. Actually, such a weapon may already have been developed. "Operation Zeke" was reportedly organized by the Federal Aviation Agency under the direction of Dr. H. L. Reighard to counter the epidemic of airplanes being hijacked to Cuba in the late sixties. A device based upon high-frequency radiation was developed that would instantly knock the victim unconscious; a hijacker between two ray boxes "would wake up wondering what happened to him." These devices were never used because of uncertainties and danger in the event of two hijackers on a plane. (115) This research should be brought into the open and completed so that society can benefit from the improved security that such weapons would provide.
In a famous case in New Jersey, a man and his wife were captured and taken aboard a UFO against their will for about two hours for the purpose of some biomedical experiments. (116) A young man in Brazil was also captured after a valiant struggle and taken aboard a UFO for a medical examination. In a period of two hours, he was also seduced by a strangely attractive woman, twice. (117) The implied meaning of this case is that the UFO people, being genetically compatible with humans, are themselves thoroughly human. It could be that they and humanity share a common ancestry, or that one group descended from the other. Which relationship is correct and how it occurred extends too far beyond the scope of this book for further comment here. Other attempts at capturing humans have failed (118) and actual abductions may have been witnessed by others. (119) The literature, of course, contains no reports from people that may have been spirited away permanently.
The UFO people are well aware of humanity, but with few exceptions, they do not wish to establish direct, friendly relationships. They prefer to conduct their activities on earth in secret, taking considerable care to avoid being seen. They will defend themselves if need be, but they intend no harm to mankind, even though for short-term experiments they will capture specimens.
13. Bowen, Charles, Editor, "The Humanoids," p.56, Flying Saucer Review, London, 1968.
14. Case 430.
15. A
"New FSR Catalogue, The Effects of UFOs Upon Animals, Birds, and Smaller
creatures, Cases 57 and 73, Flying Saucer
Review, beginning in Vol.16, No.1,
January/February 1970.
16. Lorenzen, Coral and Jim, Flying Saucer
Occupants. p.130, Signet, 1967.
17. Case 80.
18. Case 40.
19. Case 501.
20. Case 95.
21. Case 517,
original source.
22. Case 918.
23. Case 614.
24. Case 109.
25. Case 327, original source.
26. Case
719.
27. Case 596, original source.
28. Case 338.
29. Case 404.
30. Case 420.
31. Case 816.
32. Case 907.
33. Case 812.
34. Case 238.
35. Case 476.
36. Case 685.
37. Case 812.
38. Case
400.
39. Case 153.
40. Case 762.
41. Case 82.
42. Case 303.
43. Case 844, original source.
44.
Case 659.
45. Case 920.
46. Lorenzen, Coral, E., Flying Saucers, The Startling Evidence of the Invasion From
Outer
Space, p.105, Signet, 1966.
47. Edwards, Frank, Flying Saucers-Serious Business, p.45, Bantam, 1966.
48. Scully, Frank, Behind the Flying Saucers, p. 153, Gollancz, London, 1955.
49. Case 860.
50. Case 83,
original source.
51. Case 285.
52. Stranges, Frank E., The Stranger At The Pentagon, I.E.C., 7070 Wood- man
Avenue,
Van Nuys, California, 1967.
53. Case 394.
54. Case 703.
55. Case 552.
56. Case 305.
57. Cases 370 and 404.
58. Case 396, original source.
59. Case 344, original source.
60. Case 61, original
source.
61. Norman, Eric, This Hollow Earth, Lancer, 1972.
62. Nourse, Alan E., Nine Planets, Appendix 1,
Pyramid, 1960.
63. McMahon, Thomas, "Size and Shape in Biology," Science, Vol.179, p. 1201,23
March 1973.
64. Case 874
65. Case 866.
66. Case 885.
67. Case 145.
68. Case 867.
69. Case 865.
70. Case
878, original source.
71. Case 879, original source.
72. Case 915.
73. Case 501.
74. Case 583.
75.
Case 857.
76. Case 476.
77. Case 580.
78. Case 767.
79. Fredrickson, Sven Olof, "Finnish Encounter In
The Snow," Flying Saucer Review,
Vol.16, No. 4, p. 31, July, August 1970, and "A Humanoid Was Seen at
lmjarvi,"
Vol. 16, No.5, p. 14, September October, 1970.
80. Case 778.
81. Sanderson, Ivan T., Invisible
Residents, p.35, World, 1970.
82. Case 519.
83. Vallee, Jacques and Janine, Challenge To Science, The UFO
Enigma, p.174 ff, Ace, 1966.
84. Case 637.
85. Case 624.
86. Case 61, original source.
87. Cases 284
and 700.
88. Vallee, Jacques, "The Pattern Behind The UFO Landings, Humanoids," p.8, Flying
Saucer Review,
London, 1968.
89. Cases 324, 349, and 804.
90. Case 298.
91. Case372.
92. Cases 505, 691, and 744.
93. Case 580.
94. Cases 596 and 804.
95. Cases 505 and 588.
96. Case 552.
97. Case 356.
98. Case
650.
99. Case 51.
100. Case 641.
101. Case 95.
102. Cases 97 and 583.
103. Case 311.
104. Case
662.
105. Cases 93, 580, and 638.
106. Case 920.
107. Case 125.
108. Case 95.
109. Case 311.
110. Case 356.
111.Case 583.
112. Case 662.
113. Case 220.
114. Cases 97 and 583.
115. Anderson,
Jack, "A Magic Ray Play To Trap Hijackers," San Francisco Chronicle,
September 21, 1972.
116. Fuller John 6.,
The Interrupted Journey, Dell, 1966.
117. Lorenzen, Coral and Jim, Flying Saucer Occupants. Chapter III, "Report
on The Villa
Boas Incident," Signet, 1967.
118. Cases 624, 636, and 706.
119. Case 41.