For UFO Study? - The Black Vault

arc, created when a wet branch slapped a power line
climb, emitting a jet exhaust that burned ••
him -
How it all started
The man struggled out of the bush Although some believers in saucers
with burns that actually required hospital say UFOs have been appearing since
treatment. But when released, he was biblical times, the first sighting is attribunable
to lead the scientists to the clear- uted to Kenneth Arnold, a pilot who saw
ing. The site is still undiscovered.
a group of bright flashes approaching
Because of such frustrations, the Con-
M *- Rainier, Wash., at high speed on
June
don group is hoping for an opportunity
24 ' 1947 - Arnold described them
to use technical equipment that could «'''^e saucers skipping across water »
. ,, . ,.~ j i • j Newspaper reports soon dubbed the
yield scientific data more precise and UFOs flying saucers. Air Force and scieneasier
to analyze than the testimony of tific investigations of the Arnold sightwitnesses.
But there has been no bppor- jngs have failed to explain the phenomtunity
to capture a UFO in the act.
enon, although no one doubted that
While they wait for such a break, the Arnold, an experienced pilot, did ob-
Colorado scientists are attempting to
serve something.
check scientifically some of the strange , T he Publicity of the Arnold sighting
led to a rash of other
thinss things mat that reoortedlv reporteaiy have nave occurred
re P° rts tnat sum mer Upwards to 15 000 UFO reports "
when UFOs have been spotted-power were m£ de jn the following ^ deca P des
failures and car engines going dead. More About 8o percent of the UFOs are readithan
100 cars have gone dead after | y identifiable, but about one in five
drivers reported they saw a UFO.
can't be explained by the Air Force.
Every power failure attributed to
UFOs is being scrutinized. Condon's
group has approached a number of pledged to withhold any data on classipower-company
experts for aid in pin- fied aircraft or missiles it might come
pointing the cause of each power failure, across in its investigations, but an Air
When will the Condon group complete Force spokesman says "everyone knows
their work? Their research should be practically everything we have now."
wrapped up by mid-'68 when preparing Can you trust the upcoming Condon
the report—certain to be a best seller— Report? The editors of POPULAR SCIENCE
will begin.
believe you can. The reputation and
Before the report is released to the character of Condon and his aides insure
public, it will be reviewed by a special that this study will be no whitewash, as
committee of the - National Academy of some predict, but will lay the groundwork
Sciences. They will check the Condon for a better understanding of UFOs in
group's scientific methods and determine general and reports of sightings in parwhether
their conclusions are scientifi- ticular.
cally valid. After the Academy approves The great UFO probe should also set
the report, it will be made public. better standards for continuing studies of
Will anything be held back? The Air flying-saucer reports and the related
Force answer is that the report will not mysteries of the universe in which we
be classified. The Condon group is live. BE
bombardment could stop a car, but not with-
out destroying it and the occupants. Neutron
bombardment could change the structure of a
car's metals, destroy its rubber and plastic in-
sulation, and short out its electrical system,
Ford says. But then an automobile subjected
to such forces couldn't run again after the UFO
flew off.
Most of the complaints have listed tem-
porary malfunctions impossible for UFOs to
produce, according to the Ford scientists.
OCTOBER 1967 I 123
car showed no more magnetism than other
cars in the parking lot at Ford's Engineering
Center in Dearborn. Since steel has an excellent
"memory" for magnetism, this proved
that the car had not been subjected to a large
magnetic polarizing field. And had it been subjected
to demagnetization after first being
stopped by a magnetic field, it would have
registered zero polarity rather than the normal
amount found.
The scientists also reported that neutron