RETRO-UFO/PARANORMAL INCIDENT REPORTS (SIGHTINGS AND ENCOUNTERS LOG), Part V to Foundations of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO)
By Dr. Raymond A. Keller, author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising Trilogy, available on amazon.com while supplies last.
Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus
Cosmic Ray's Excellent Venus Adventure
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Date of Incident: 22 November 1896
Location: Various, Northern California, United States
Subject: Mystery Air Ship
Source: Tribune, Oakland, California, 11 May 1952
Archival Group: Morgue files, Oakland Tribune
Report Follows:
These reports are based on articles culled from the back files of the Oakland, California, Tribune newspaper. The first report was of a huge, “birdlike” form which was sighted on 22 November 1896 at around 7:30 p.m. From the head of the object a stream of light projected several hundred feet. Witnesses said that when the object was first seen, it seemed to be floating over San Leandro, moved rapidly, “at least 20 miles per hour.” That was considered a “fantastic speed” back in 1896.
It shot across the sky in a northwesterly direction and disappeared somewhere over Hayward. Later, it was discovered that none of the witnesses knew each other, but their stories were startlingly similar.
On the same day, residents of Red Bluff, Chico and Leesville saw the mystery object. It was sighted at Red Bluff at 7 p.m., moving southwesterly over the mountain sands and shortly thereafter was seen by the residents of Chico. It returned to Red Bluff and then continued on to Leesville, where it was seen to make several turns and then go back toward Red Bluff again.
Commentary:
Astronomers of the day rejected the theory that it was a star because of its distinctly rocking motion. However, they didn’t rule out that the observers could have been looking at the planet Mars or Venus, which were in the sky that evening and do present themselves with a “wandering” or “rocking” motion. The object was also described as “moving in the teeth of the wind,” which was impossible for a balloon to do in those days. However, between 8 and 8:30 p.m. three men claimed to have seen the object and did not recall any lights shining off of it, just seeing “its weirdly peculiar body” silhouetted against a clear sky. The men described the object as being “like a cigar with a fish tail at least 100 feet long in all.”
Commentary:
The sightings across disparate areas create cause to wonder if there were more than one object being observed, but several objects being seen around California as part of a UFO flap. Or the first explanation about a planet being viewed under unusual atmospheric distortion in the Hayward area may be valid; but the physical description of the silhouetted object over the Butte County area would rule out a planet, meteor or other astronomical phenomenon, since the UFO had a cigar-shaped fuselage and birdlike, extended tail with no emitted lights.
Coral Lorenzen included this 1896 report in the premier issue of the APRO Bulletin (July 1952) because she realized that Kenneth Arnold’s 24 June 1947 sighting was not the real beginning of the flying saucer saga, merely a footnote in the history of the UFO phenomenon that marked increased public awareness.
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Date of Incident: Sometime in July 1951
Location: Sister Bay, Wisconsin, United States
Subject: Orange-Red Fireball
Source: “Old, Hitherto Unpublicized Saucer Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, July 1952
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
In July 1951, Mr. Harlow Nelson of Sister Bay, Wisconsin, observed an orange-red fireball going in an easterly direction, about noon. The object was round, appeared to be about ten inches in diameter, with binoculars, and two inches without. The speed of the object was very fast and the thing was easily seen against a clear, blue sky.
Commentary:
Specific date required to correlate with air traffic reports or sightings of similar aerial anomalies. Director Lorenzen in initial stages of setting up APRO, constantly reminded field representatives and members bringing UFO reports to her attention, to always write down names of newspapers, dates of publication, or in the case of personally-investigated cases, to provide the dates of the actual UFO sightings.
This object was probably a meteor, at least insofar as the object did not change course while seemingly plummeting to Earth at a “very fast” speed before dropping into Lake Michigan.
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Date of Incident: 10 October 1951
Location: Skies over area 10 miles east of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, United States
Subject: Pilot Sighting of UFO
Source: Journal, 12 April 1952, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
J. J. Kaliszewski, the supervisor of balloon manufacture for the General Mills Research Laboratories in 1951, said that, “I’m not going what the objects I sighted were because I haven’t the slightest idea. I can’t say they were flying saucers and I can’t say they were space ships. All I can say is that they were strange. I had never seen them before and, so far as I know, they have never been identified.”
Kaliszewski actually had two sightings. The first occurred at 10 a.m. on 10 October 1951, while flying his plane about ten miles east of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. With Kaliszewski was Jack Donaghue, a member of the General Mills flight operation crew. Kaliszewski saw an object crossing the skies from east to west, higher and beyond the balloon they were tracking.
Kaliszewski’s plane was at 6,000 feet; and he said the object crossed above and beyond the balloon, from east to west very rapidly. First, it came in on a slight dive, leveling off for about a minute and slowing down, then going into a sharp left turn accelerating, and then it disappeared. Kaliszewski and Donaghue observed the object for about two minutes and it crossed through an arc of about 40 to 50 degrees. The thing had a peculiar glow and no vapor trail.
Commentary:
From past experience, Kaliszewski knew that this object was not a balloon, jet, conventional aircraft or celestial star.
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Date of Incident: 11 October 1951
Location: In plane flying east a few miles north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Subject: Pair of Haloed UFOs
Source: Journal, 12 April 1952, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
The pilot for the General Mills Research Laboratories, J. J. Kaliszewski, made his second sighting at 6:30 a.m., 11 October 1951. He was accompanied at the time by Dick Reilly, a crew member. They were flying at 10,000 feet, observing a balloon when they saw a brightly glowing object to the southwest of the university airport. Kaliszewski and Reilly were a few miles north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and heading east. The object was moving from east to west at a very high rate of speed and very high. They tried keeping the ship on constant course and using the reinforcing member of the windshield as a point. The object moved past this member at about five degrees per second. It seemed to have a halo around it and a dark undersurface.
The object crossed rapidly and then slowed down and started to climb in lazy circles, slowing down even more. It was like a falling oak leaf inverted. It went through these gyrations for a couple of minutes. Kaliszewski and Reilly watched it for approximately five minutes. They could not describe its size because at the time they did not have the balloon in sight for comparison.
Shortly after this sighting, Kaliszewski and Reilly saw another saucer which approached from the west and disappeared to the east. It left no vapor trail. The tracking station at the university airport was called and the observers there got a glimpse of the objects; but they couldn’t keep the theodolites going fast enough to maintain the objects in the field of their instruments. Kaliszewski concluded, “I realize the people have been calling such objects flying saucers; but I think they use that term for the lack of a better word. The fact is, we don’t know what they are. The United States Air Force was notified of our observations; but I don’t know what the Air Force has to say about them.”
Commentary:
Pilots and air crew working with balloons all the time in conjunction with their employment at the General Mills Research Laboratories would have no difficulties in distinguishing any other airborne object from a balloon.
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Date of Incident: Sometime in October 1951
Location: Somewhere between Lincoln and Algoma, Wisconsin, United States
Subject: Saucer-Shaped Object
Source: “Old, Hitherto Unpublicized Saucer Sightings,” APRO Bulletin, July 1952
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
In October 1951, Mr. John Schopf of Algoma, Wisconsin, observed a saucer-shaped object about 8 p.m. It was a dark night and Mr. Schopf was going from Lincoln to Algoma, Wisconsin, and coming down a hill which overlooked Lake Michigan. He had a visor down on his automobile, so the object was quite low to be seen at all by him. He said it was going northeast very slowly and banked at a 30-degree angle. The color, according to his testimony, was aluminum; and Mr. Schopf further described the thing as having the “appearance of a light bulb painted silver, with light shining through.” It just disappeared out over Lake Michigan.
Commentary:
Specific date required to correlate with air traffic reports or sightings of similar aerial anomalies. Director Lorenzen in initial stages of setting up APRO, constantly reminded field representatives and members bringing UFO reports to her attention, to always write down names of newspapers, dates of publication, or in the case of personally-investigated cases, the dates of the actual UFO sightings.
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Date of Incident: 30 December 1951
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
Subject: Fast-Moving Blue Light
Source: Ross Graham, APRO member, Burbank, California in APRO Bulletin, July 1952
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
At 11:30 p.m. on 30 December 1951, at the intersection of Venice Blvd. and Flower St. in Los Angeles, California, Ross Graham, an APRO field representative from Burbank, California, saw a fast-moving, blue light flash on and off, once only. The speed of the object was greater than an airplane. Graham thinks it could have been moving as fast as a meteor. It appeared as a line, due to visual persistence. Its color was a clear, intense blue exactly that of a blue neon tube as could be seen from half-a-block away. It had a noticeable width.
Graham declared that, “The turning on and off was sharp. There was no fading out. The length of the path, while lit, was about eight degrees, or about the same as a four-inch pencil held at arm’s length or 27 inches. There was no curvature of path observed. The apparent angle of path was about 30 degrees from the horizontal, downward to the right. The direction was from the southwest and 45 degrees above the horizon. Nothing was heard from the object, although city noises were very low. A subsequent flash would be hidden by buildings if the object were more than about 15 degrees beyond the end of the observed flash; and there might have been a previous flash unobserved if it were outside the angle of vision, that is to say if I was looking directly below the location of the flash.”
Commentary:
Practiced observer with keen eyes for detail makes this more than a mere “lights in the sky” sighting. This is a credible UFO report.
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Date of Incident: Sometime in April 1952
Location: Airspace 70,000 feet above Benson, Arizona, United States
Subject: Large, Luminous UFO
Source: Frank Edwards, Mutual Broacasting System, 17 April 1952
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
On his American Federation of Labor sponsored news program on 17 April 1952, Frank Edwards of the Mutual Broadcasting System reported the sighting of a strange, huge, bright oval object by two pilots at Benson, Arizona. The object was estimated to be at 70,000 feet, five times larger than a B-29, wingless and very luminous. It hovered in the sky for one hour and was seen by hundreds of observers.
Commentary:
Coral Lorenzen noted that, “The above report was one of many ‘exclusives’ in the saucer mystery brought forth by Mr. Edwards and which received little or no play in the newspapers.” This was clearly a time in which the initial phase of the great UFO cover-up was being put in place.
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Date of Incident: 21 May 1952, Wednesday
Location: Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, United States
Subject: “Shiver-causing” Flying Saucer
Source: APRO Bulletin, July 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
On Wednesday, 21 May 1952, Coral Lorenzen, director of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), had the honor of viewing the Sturgeon Bay flying saucer which brought shivers to the backs of many who observed it.
First spotted by a tavern owner at Fish Creek, Wisconsin, at 6:30 p.m., it was officially reported to the Door County Advocate, a semi-weekly newspaper, at 7:05 p.m. by Bill Beckstrom, Superintendant of the Peninsula State Park at Fish Creek. Lorenzen was just rounding a corner at Michigan and 3rd Street and noticed a group of people in front of the Advocate watching the sky to the northeast. One person in the crowd said, “Here comes the flying saucer expert. Ask her what it is.”
Lorenzen stated, “I didn’t commit myself until I had called the man at the police transmitter and had him notify county officers in the northern part of the county. The officers, Dan O’Hern of the Door County Police and Harry Londo of the Sturgeon Bay City Police Force, reported back that the thing was at a 60-degree angle northeast of them, but fairly clear. With the aid of a pair of binoculars, they observed the object and described it as being almost round with a pair of round, what appeared to be ports omitting brilliant red light that hurt the yes when watching them. At Sturgeon Bay the thing was at a 45-degree angle, oval in shape with a red glow along the belly of it. The object was proceeding northeast.”
Coral Lorenzen continued with her report: “Mr. L. J. Lorenzen (her husband), a radio engineer and no slouch at math, made the conservative estimate of the size and altitude of the object, using Sturgeon Bay and Fish Creek as angles by which to compute, and arrived at a conclusion of about 350 feet in diameter and at least 25 miles up above Earth. Lorenzen said that the size of the thing and its erratic movement, a zigzag northeast course, takes it out of the balloon realm.”
Commentary:
Coral Lorenzen notes that, “On Thursday, 22 May 1952, Louis Champlain, publicity mouthpiece for General Mills in Minneapolis, issued a statement that the object was ‘probably’ a balloon, for one had been sent up that morning and ‘could’ have been over Door County at the time it was observed here.” The ufologist wasn’t surprised at Champlain’s feeble attempt at an explanation, adding, “Nothing definite, of course, just the usual bunk.”
Since then, however, Mr. Lorenzen had recomputed the angles involved, using Washington Island as the new point of the triangle; for it was probably a lot farther north than previously assumed. His new estimate put the altitude at 32 miles and an approximate 500 feet in diameter. This was too high and too big for a balloon, even a General Mills job.
Coral Lorenzen pointed out an interesting sideline to this sighting: “As if someone is trying to prove we’re nuts up here, a balloon-shaped thing, of flimsy plastic composition, landed in Sturgeon Bay Wednesday, 2 July 1952, two weeks after the saucer was seen. No identification marks, just a big blob of plastic full of what looked like bullet holes. Is the Air Force sending out cheap imitations just to lend credence to their hackneyed explanation that the saucers are in actuality just big balloons?”
At the time of the very founding of APRO, the sincerity of the Air Force in UFO investigations came to be questioned by Coral Lorenzen.
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Date of Incident: 31 May 1952, Saturday
Location: Tsugaru Strait, between islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan
Subject: Indestructible Mine
Source: Post, 1 June 1952, Denver, Colorado
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
The Associated Press (AP) reported from Tokyo, Japan, on 31 May 1952, that Japanese maritime officials were puzzled over a strange, round floating mine that 66 bullets from a mine sweeper could not penetrate. According to the AP report, information about this incident first appeared in the pages of the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri.
The mine was found bobbing in the Tsugaru Strait between the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. Oblong-shaped mines found there in the past had been exploded by rifle fire. This newly discovered object was towed to the port of Hokodate, after bullet-after-bullet simply bounced off it. Maritime officials have ventured no opinions on the origin of any floating mines discovered, except to say they are not Japanese.
Commentary:
Coral Lorenzen, the director of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, opines that, “The foregoing may or may not be related to the saucers, but was included (with the anomalous object reports) because of its odd nature.”
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Date of Incident: 14 June 1952 (estimated)
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
Subject: “Out-of-this-world” Craft
Source: People Today, 17 June 1952, New York City
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Vincent Sonsini of Los Angeles pushed away his dinner plate some nights ago, went outside to water the lawn, looked up and saw a flying saucer.
With fireballs and other mysterious objects littering the sky, this sighting might not have caused comment if it hadn’t been for one thing. Sonsini, a tool designer for the AiResearch Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles, California, specialists in advanced aviation electronic equipment, grabbed a pencil and promptly sketched the “out-of-this-world” craft as he observed it. Says Sonsini, “It was about 6:40 p.m. when I spotted it. It was about 4,000 feet up, about a mile, a mile-and-a-half northwest. It was so definite it stuck out like a sore thumb. It made no noise. I called my wife Anne; and she came out and saw it, too. I went to my see my brother Joe at his house. He’s a job analyst for Hughes Aircraft and lives nearby, and borrowed his binoculars. He and his wife, Julia, came along, and some friends from Rome, New York, Mr. and Mrs. Alfonso Mangino. He is an Air Force veteran and civilian technician at Griffiths Air Depot, near his home. We all saw the craft. I put the binoculars on it and there was no doubt about it. It dove, climbed and hovered. What maneuverability! Then there was this dull glow around the fuselage and leading edges. There was no Sun then.”
According to Sonsini’s wife, Anne, “It was so beautiful to watch. It gave you an awfully funny feeling. It looked like something humanly manufactured. I ran outside and called the police; but they came too late, for it disappeared over the horizon after about twenty minutes.”
Sonsini’s sketch shows the sky ship’s profile in a climb and it’s bat-like, full view in a dive. A competent observer and no strange to late model planes, Sonsini knows a delta-wing job when he sees one. “This was not one,” he insists. “We’ve taken a lot of ribbing,” says Sonsini, “but we have also been asked a lot of serious questions by engineers and other people. I think the public should be alerted to look skyward. Some day people are going to see something that will give them an awful jolt.”
Commentary:
That the object was viewed through binoculars by persons in-the-know about advanced aerodynamic designs adds a high level of credibility to this report.
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Date of Incident: 23 June 1952
Location: Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, United States
Subject: Object Makes “Queer Maneuvers”
Source: APRO Bulletin, “Sightings,” July 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
At 11 p.m. on 23 June 1952, four young people driving along the Bay Shore Drive just out of Sturgeon Bay observed a brilliant blue light and a red one going through “queer maneuvers” in the sky. The persons who made the observation said that the lights, which appeared in the southeast, were hovering together in the sky when they were first spotted; and at minute-and-a-half intervals (they timed them) would separate, go to opposite horizons (northeast and southwest), disappear and then reappear again.
This procedure kept up for about 20 minutes; then the lights just “went out.”
Commentary:
Coral Lorenzen writes that, “Members of National Headquarters have questioned the witnesses to this phenomena, and as nearly as can be ascertained, the only deviations in the stories of the young people, ages 17, 18, 18 and 19), were that one of them maintained that one light was red and one light white, which can be accounted for the difference in color comprehension among different individuals.”
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Date of Incident: 24 June 1952
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Subject: Flying Discs
Source: Daily News, 25 June 1952, Chicago, Illinois
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
The flying discs are reported back again. John Olivero, 30, a federal revenue agent, reported that he saw two “silver discs” flying above his home at 2917 N. Nordica Tuesday evening (24 June 1952). “They were about 10,000 feet up, going straight up and made no noise,” Olivero said. “It happened about 7:30 p.m. I was lying on my back on the front lawn when I saw them. I shouted to my wife and neighbor to look what was going on,” Olivero said, also noting that his wife, Frances, age 27, and their neighbor, Mrs. Alberta Gregory of 2915 N. Nordica, also saw the objects. “They were cylindrical in shape and showed no vapor trail,” Olivero affirmed.
Commentary:
The objects were almost two-miles up. That they were originally described as “discs” and later as “cylindrical in shape” is the cause for some confusion. Perhaps the objects tilted to one side in flight, thus giving them a more elongated, cylindrical appearance. Or they could have been conventional aircraft simply viewed under unusual glinting light or erratic weather conditions at the higher altitudes.
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Date of Incident: Wednesday, 25 June 1952
Location: Texarkana, Texas, United States
Subject: “Two Silvery, Round Discs”
Source: APRO Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2, September 1952
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Two silvery, round discs were reported over Texarkana, Texas, at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, 25 June 1952. Mrs. John Spear, a resident of the city, said her daughter Pat first sighted the discs. Pat then called for her mother to come and see them. The discs were also observed by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McFadden, who were residing with the Spears at the time. The discs flew in a northerly direction and were spaced about 200 feet apart. They made no sound and emitted no flame. Mr. McFadden estimated that they were flying at a height of 5,000 feet. The discs were observed by the four witnesses for about two-and-a-half minutes before they sped out of sight.
Commentary:
There were other sightings in the Texarkana, Texas, area throughout the week, giving evidence of a regional flying saucer flap. Please note entry for Friday, 27 June 1952, subject: “Double-decker” Flying Saucer.
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Date of Incident: 26 June 1952
Location: Northern Wisconsin, United States
Subject: “Fireball”
Source: Press Gazette, Saturday, 28 June 1952, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
A “fireball” seen from Milwaukee and Stevens’ Point, Wisconsin, has been causing considerable speculation throughout Wisconsin of late. The Green Bay Astronomical Society, in cooperation with several other groups, is attempting to trace the movement of a fireball reported Thursday, 26 June 1952, at approximately 11 p.m. In connection with its survey, the society asked anyone who saw the meteor to communicate with Edward Halbach at 2971 South 52nd Street, Milwaukee, 15, Wisconsin.
Commentary:
Coral Lorenzen, the National Director of APRO, contacted Halbach by phone immediately upon reading the article and learned that the society members were not sure just what the thing was. She also learned that the society members did consider the theory that some of the space phenomena seen are space vehicles to be a sound one. Mrs. Lorenzen offered the cooperation of APRO in any of the future sightings; and by means of radio and newspaper tried to contact anyone who might have seen the fiery object. This brought no results and leads one to the conclusion that the fireball was controlled, for it came over Milwaukee from the northeast and would have passed over the Door Peninsula and should have been seen by someone in the vicinity. The object was large, as indicated by the fact that was seen from Stevens’ Point, which is about 60 miles northwest of the Door Peninsula. The National Director planned to make to trip to Milwaukee to confer with Halbach in the coming days on several sightings in and around Door County.
Such liaisons with experts in the scientific community would become a hallmark of APRO and set it apart from other UFO research groups in the years to come.
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Date of Incident: Friday, 27 June 1952
Location: Texarkana, Texas, United States
Subject: “Double-decker” Flying Saucer
Source: Gazette, 28 June 1952, Texarkana, Texas
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Texarkana was visited by a “flying saucer” at 5:59 p.m., Friday, vows eyewitness Clifton Spears of 1409 W. 4th Street, and, “It wasn’t just one of those ordinary kind, either,” he maintained. “It was a double-decker type, composed of two separate, gleaming silver oblong shapes one on top of the other; and it traveled at a terrific rate of speed. It just beat everything I ever saw,” he said. Spears added that he and his wife were sitting in their parked car at 8th and Elm Streets when he happened to notice the strange object in a south-by-southwest direction, about 40 degrees up in the sky.
He said that the object appeared to be about six feet from end-to-end and the two halves about 20 to 30 inches in thickness. He had only a moment in which to view it and when he shouted for his wife to look, “the weird thing was gone.” Spears said he knew he would be in for a lot of ribbing from disbelievers, but he was convinced that what he saw was no illusion.
Commentary:
George Adamski, the famous contactee from Southern California, called these small objects “registered disks.” They seem to be some type of unmanned probe launched from larger ships like the scouts, patrol craft or carriers.
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Date of Incident: 3 July 1952
Location: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Subject: “Flaming-red Disc”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Vol. 1, No. 2, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Two housewives, Mrs. Lloyd Stoneman and Mrs. E. McAllister said a “flaming-red disc” flashed across the sky shortly after 6:30 a.m. on 3 July 1952, leaving a vapor trail. It came in from the north and passed over the town of Whitby before it vanished out of sight in the skies above Lake Ontario.
Commentary:
The object’s disc-shape and vapor trail lend credence to it being a real, physical aircraft rather than a meteor. The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail lies in the constellation Perseus, but said meteor activity does not peak until mid-August.
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Date of Incident: 5 July 1952
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Subject: “Silverish Cigar-Shaped Object”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Donny Reimer, an APRO member in Minneapolis, submitted the following report of his personal sighting: “About 7 p.m., Saturday, 5 July 1952, I saw an unfamiliar object cruising across the sky not far from my house, which is located on the outskirts of Minneapolis. I could not discern the height, but it was silverish in color and was more cigar-shaped than disc-shaped. It was going southeast and made no sound.”
Commentary:
Lack of estimated altitude prevents further evaluation of this report.
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Date of Incident: 6 July 1952
Location: Richland, Washington, United States
Subject: “Perfectly Round Disc” Seen Near Atomic Plant
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
An object described as a “perfectly round disc, white in color and almost transparent, with small trails off it like the tentacles of an octopus,” was seen over the Hanford Atomic Plant at Richland, Washington. The object was seen by Captain John Baldwin of Coral Gables, Florida; Captain George Robertson of Miami, Florida; D. Shenkel of Miami, Florida; and Steven Summers of Hialeah, Florida. All of these men are qualified pilots with plenty of air hours between them. Baldwin declared, “The object was perfectly round and still at first, then seemed to back away from us and change shape. It became flat, gained speed and disappeared quickly. Definitely not a cloud formation or weather instrument.”
The object was spotted between Ellensburg and Yakima, Washington, around 6 a.m. on 6 July 1952, about 75 miles east of where the first discs were seen by Kenneth Arnold near Mt. Rainier in the Cascades on 24 June 1947. Of his sighting, Baldwin also noted that, “We passed the object as it stood suspended in space. We couldn’t pick it up on our radar; so we reversed our course and went back but couldn’t spot it again.”
The pilots made their report to the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) office in Seattle, Washington.
Commentary:
A spokesperson for the CAA office in Seattle refused to say anything about the report. None of the pilots would publicly speak out after filing their report with the CAA. The proximity of the UFO to the Hanford Atomic Plant in Richland, Washington, posits national security concerns in this case.
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Date of Incident: Monday, 7 July 1952
Location: Brockville, Ontario, Canada
Subject: “Floating Light Bulb”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Observers reported a “floating light bulb” over Brockville Monday night. The object was estimated to be at altitude of some 5,000 feet and moving in a northwesterly direction. It stayed in view from about 8:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Just as it was about to disappear from view, it was joined by a second light.
Commentary:
This object could have been a well-lit weather balloon. The appearance of the second object, at a distance, leaves room for speculation in this case.
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Date of Incident: Sometime in early July 1952
Location: Somewhere in Texas, United States
Subject: Rumored Flying Saucer Landing
Source: APRO Bulletin, July 1952, Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Rumors were being circulated in Walter Winchell’s 2 July 1952 syndicated newspaper column about the landing of flying saucers. Coral Lorenzen, the director of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), stated that she believed Winchell’s story may have a basis in fact, at least insofar as an APRO member in Texas informed her that, “A saucer of some type had landed in Texas and that people had disembarked.”
Commentary:
Lorenzen reported that as of 15 July 1952, APRO was “still checking” into this incident.
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Date of Incident: 8 July 1952
Location: Western United States
Subject: “Fiery Ball”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
A fiery ball was observed streaking across the sky by residents in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. The object left a trail that “sizzled like a sparkler.”
Witnesses said that it was red, orange, white, green and black. An astronomer at the University of Utah, Dr. R. N. Thomas, opined that it might have been an unusually large meteorite. However, many of the witnesses across the Western United States speculated that it could have been a flying saucer. Dozens of persons in Oklahoma also reported a bluish ball of flame moving in from the east.
Commentary:
Insofar as none of the witnesses reported a change of course in the trajectory of the object, Dr. Thomas’ opinion rules the day in this case.
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Date of Incident: 8 July 1952
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Subject: “Fiery Round Object”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Two members of the Corps of Commissionaires watched a fiery round object come in a unwavering straight line from the east at around 10:15 p.m., turn slowly towards the south and then, when almost directly overhead, make a slow circle and disappear back into the east. The witnesses described the UFO as bright and perfectly round with light emanating from it. It made no noise and the commissionaires, then on duty at the Army’s Central Ordinance Depot in Ploufee Park, said they estimated its altitude at about two miles and its speed as 200 miles per hour. The observers, Milton Tierney of Westboro and Alexander Factor of 105 Guiges Street, seemed convinced that the object was intelligently controlled because it traveled in such a straight line and did not alter its altitude.
Commentary:
The unusual maneuvering capability of the object and its presence over a military depot add credibility to this report.
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Date of Incident: 14 July 1952
Location: Airspace over Newport News, Virginia
Subject: Airline Pilots Sight Eight Flying Saucers
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
W. B. Nash and W. H. Fortenberry of Pan American Airways reported seeing eight flying saucers on their run from New York City to Miami on Monday night, 14 July 1952. They described the objects as “about the color of automobile taillights, brilliant and glowing like hot coals.” The objects came towards the DC-4 that Nash and Fortenberry were flying, out of a clear southwest sky, somewhere over Newport News, Virginia. Six of the UFOs appeared first at about 8,000 feet and passed underneath the airliner, flying in a diagonal, straight line; and as the DC-4 passed over them, the objects turned westward and were joined by two more saucers. At that point, all eight zoomed up to about 10,000 feet. Their glowing lights pulsated off and on repeatedly as the saucers disappeared from sight. Both Nash and Fortenberry reported that the UFOs were traveling more than 1,000 miles per hour and maneuvered too sharply for human endurance.
Director, Project Grudge (1951) and Project Bluebook (1952-1953), kept an open mind about flying saucers and credited with coining the term, “unidentified flying objects,” acronym “UFOs.”
Commentary:
At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, Lieutenant Edward J. Ruppelt of Project Bluebook, the Air Force investigative group for UFOs, said 60 sighting reports had reached his desk so far during 1952, and that was already twice as many that he had received during the first half of 1951. He noted that the Air Force was looking into the Nash and Fortenberry sighting but had nothing to report at that time.
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Subject: Date of Incident: 16 July 1952
Location: San Anselmo, California, United States
Subject: “Bright Yellow Saucer”
Source: APRO Bulletin, September 1952, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Archival Group: Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, P. O. Box 358, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Report Follows:
Charles Stevenson, 16, of 14 Brookmont Circle, and Theodore Cirul, 14, of 84 Berkeley Avenue, both of Anselmo, saw a bright yellow saucer fly over Marin, come to a dead stop and zoom off again. The object then backtracked, making a U-turn and leaving the area in a southwest direction. According to the young men, “The UFO was bigger than a star and too high for a jet.” They reported no sound and no trail. And when the saucer came to a complete stop, it emitted luminous smaller objects in all directions. Shortly thereafter, two jets circled the area and flew off in another direction.
Commentary:
Attempts to contact a spokesperson at Hamilton Air Force Base for a confirmation of jets over the area of the sighting were made by an APRO field investigator, but operators at the base switchboard would not patch his telephone call through.
Editor’s Note: If you would like to ask the Cosmic Ray any questions about Venus or life on other planets, do not hesitate to send him an e-mail at rkeller1@mix.wvu.edu. The doctor will be appearing with Omnec Onec, the Ambassador from Venus, along with premier ufologist Laura Eisenhower, at the Promise Revealed Meet the Venusians Mt. Shasta Summer Conference, to be held Wednesday, 26 August 2020 through Sunday 30 August 2020 at the Siskiyou Masonic Lodge, Mount Shasta, California. For event information or to purchase tickets, please call Rob Potter at (530) 925-3502. Until then, in the profound words of Venusian Moon Base Clarion Commander Aura Rhanes, “Work, study, and meditate on all good things!”
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