Flying Saucers and 'The Nine Pattern'

As mentioned in my review of Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953) by Donald E. Keyhoe, at a Pentagon press conference in 1952 General John Samford stated about UFOs ". . . there has been no pattern that reveals anything remotely like purpose or remotely like consistency that we can in any way associate with any menace to the United States."  In previous blog articles about UFOlogy, I have mentioned details that show correlations among flying saucer cases.  These details involve what might be useful to call 'The Nine Pattern.'

On June 26, 1947 newspaper articles announced from Pendleton, Oregon that "Nine, bright, saucer-like objects flying at 'incredible' speed at 10,000 feet altitude" had been seen two days earlier by Idaho pilot Kenneth Arnold, "who said he could not hazard a guess as to what they were."

Keyhoe commented, "Unfortunately Arnold described the discs as 'saucer-like,' and the ridiculous name was born."  However, as testimonials and documentation continued, the relevance of the expression "flying saucers" with the mysterious flying objects became a familiar connotation.

In my article "The Early Days of Modern UFOlogy", it was mentioned that "A System of Nines" was recognized in considering the construction of three landed flying saucers according to a lecturer later identified as Silas Mason Newton, who spoke on March 8, 1950 at the University of Denver and thus provided what Frank Scully had described as a "real inside story" in his book Behind the Flying Saucers (1950).  Today he would be described as a "whistleblower."  Although some have assumed Newton to be a hoaxer, Scully's book provided many precise details that present parallels with data to be found in UFOlogy case studies that occurred later.

He drew four designs on the blackboard.  One showed the "System of Nines," believed to have been used in constructing the saucers. Two others showed two views of the saucer, which was 99.99 feet in diameter, 18 feet across the cabin and a clearance of 45 inches above the rim for pilots to see what might be around them.

Locations for two of the three landings where flying saucers had been "captured" were said to have been in the vicinity of Denver, Colorado and twelve miles from Aztec, New Mexico.  A correspondent of the Summerside Journal reported about the speaker:

He said the first disk that landed was 99.9 feet in diameter and had a cabin measuring 72 inches in height.  The second measured 72 feet in diameter, the third, 36 feet.  All measurements on the ships seemingly were divisible by nine, which may have been a clew that they used our system of development.

The disks, he explained had revolving rings of metal, in the center of which were the cabins.  The cabins were geared to the disks, which revolved around the stabilized cabins.  The gears, which had no lubrication, were of a gear ratio unfamiliar to our engineers. 

Details were also given about bodies of men of small stature taken dead from the three crafts.

In construction, they were quite dissimilar to anything we have designed.  There was not a rivet, nor a bolt, nor a screw in any of the ships.  Their control boards were a series of push buttons.  Their outer construction was of a light metal much resembling aluminum but so hard no application of heat could break it down.

As he neared the end of his lecture he told of the discovery of a fourth saucer which members of his group stumbled on near a government proving ground.  It was unoccupied at that moment.

The scientists returned to their car for cameras and equipment and as they neared the ship they saw several little men hop into the saucer, and the ship just disappeared like one of those hallucinations we hear so much about.

Scully obtained a lecture transcript and reported further details.

From the outside the whole cabin of the first flying saucer examined seemed hermetically sealed and if it had not been for that break in one of the portholes the researchers might have spent months getting into the ship.  But from the inside there was a visible knob in the wall and on the knob was another smaller knob.  When the smallest knob was pushed the door flew open, but once it was shut again it was impossible to see the door from the outside.

. . . two men could raise up one end of the ship, it was that light.

These dimensions may be compared with information offered by flying saucer 'contactee' Truman Bethurum, the subject of previous articles including "The Letters from Aboard a Flying Saucer" that offered an example of 'proof' provided him by those from the planet 'Clarion' who visited him in a flying saucer on eleven occasions.

During the eleventh of these visits, Bethurum in his book Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954) reported the data the captain, Aura Rhanes, had given to him about the Clarionites' 'scow' (spaceship).  Bethurum recalled that she told him: "The scow is a hundred yards across and six yards deep in the center . . . Now the thickness and weight should be no secret to you.  I think you have guessed it is twelve inches through, and weighs very little.  You remember, you once lifted it all by yourself . . . Our visionary windows are used in flight but are closely covered when we are on the ground.  They are something like a ship's portholes, about a foot across, just three feet in circumference." 

Other significant testimonials about The Nine Pattern were previously mentioned in my article reviewing Arthur Shuttlewood's UFOs — Key to the New Age.

Shuttlewood reported that on February 18 he was attending a dinner at the Old Bell Hotel when a short stroll resulted with another sighting of "the pyramid-carrying UFO."  Then a portentous pattern emerged.

. . . Firstly, against a dark backcloth of blue, a silver circle appeared.  Then a distinct cross lighted up the centre of the globe.  From each terminal of the silver cross the figure '9' flashed with terrific brilliance . . .

You will note that it is literally full, choc-a-bloc of nines!  Add any two numbers together and the answer is always the inescapable NINE.  For example, 360 and 180 total 540=9.  Or 270 with 225=495=18=9 . . . Follow the reckoning process?


. . . This did not surprise one particular friend of mine, who pointed out that no matter how much and by what quantities the figure nine is multiplied, the remaining or resulting digits will always tot up to nine.  You can multiply it by millions, billions or trillions—and always the inevitable NINE will be the final answer in the total.

The following was also mentioned in the "UFOS — Key to the New Age" article:

Andrija Puharich's case study Uri: A Journal of the Mystery of Uri Geller (1974) begins with an account of Dr. D. G. Vinod going into a trance and a voice unlike his own saying "M calling: We are Nine Principles and Forces, personalities if you will, working in complete mutual implication."  Other books dealing with Puharich and 'The Nine' are Memories of a Maverick (1998) by H. G. M. Hermans, Briefing For The Landing On Planet Earth (1977) by Stuart Holroyd, and The Only Planet of Choice: Essential Briefings from Deep Space (1993) compiled by Phyllis V. Schlemmer & Palden Jenkins, who present observations compiled from Schlemmer's many years as the channel/trance medium for the entities presented in this work as the 'Council of Nine' with the spokesbeing for the Nine known as 'Tom.'  While both the Schlemmer and Holroyd books feature some of the same transcript material, Holroyd's offers a biographical account of the sequence of events involving the key participants in the channeling sessions: Puharich, Schlemmer and John Whitmore.

One of Tom's most repeated observations is that Earth is unique in all of the universe for upon this planet there is freedom of will.  A statement in the Schlemmer book attributed to Tom regards the possibility for atmospheric collapse as soon as 1998: "If the peoples upon your planet Earth do not come into sensibleness, they will eliminate themselves."

Tom identifies the Council of Nine as "nine principles of the Universe that in collectivity are one."

More information about The Nine was presented in the blog article Case study: Uri by Andrija Puharich.  The following transcript from Chapter Five of the book presents a December 9, 1971 conversation between Puharich and 'The Nine' in the presence of the entranced Uri Geller.

At 10:59 p.m. Uri was in hypnotic trance.

AP: "Please ask if I can use the tape recorder."

Uri: "I am alone here.  There is no one to ask the question of."  Then I heard a voice, not from Uri, for he was asleep.  The voice had no source.

Andrija, I have told Uri to come to me now.

AP: "May I use the tape recorder?"

If you do not want to lose the fourth cassette, you will not record.  (The tape recorder was placed aside.)  Take this, Uri; hand it over to Andrija.  (I opened Uri's clenched left hand.  There was my missing earphone from my Sony ICR-100 radio in its leather case.  It had been translocated from wherever I had lost it weeks ago—most probably New York City.)

The voice in the room went on: You have done everything.  Do as Uri says.  How are you feeling?  How is your energy?

AP: "My energy is tops.  I feel as though I am in my twenties again.  May I ask some questions purely for my own needs?"

Yes, proceed.

AP: "Are you of the Nine Principles that once spoke through Dr. Vinod?"

Yes.

AP: "Are you behind the UFO sightings that started in the United States when Kenneth Arnold saw nine flying saucers on June 24, 1947?"

Yes. 

AP: "When did you first notice me?"

In 1946.

AP: "Why was I noticed?"

Our computers studied everyone on earth.  You were noticed for your abilities as the ideal and perfect man for this mission.

AP: "What is this mission?"

Do not ask.  It will be revealed.

During this conversation, the final comment of the communicating intelligences was:

We can command any communication system man has devised to reach you.  Be alert.  We will use your tape, phone, radio, television, telegram, letters, computers, and so on.  Farewell.

Puharich’s and Geller's life choices can only have influenced the communications that followed, with some ideas expressed by metaphors and symbols as is often noticeable in cases of transcendental communication.  During one incident, Puharich reported: "On my desk blotter pad nine pens appeared and formed into this pattern:"

After a phenomenal audible voice message commenting to Puharich and Geller about "human weakness" and a series of other paranormal manifestations, Puharich reported: "As we approached the desk, right in front of our eyes the nine pens flipped simultaneously in the air and settled down into a new pattern as follows (though I did not understand the symbolism or meaning of the configuration):"

Here is one of the quotations of the transcendental communications from Appendix One of Uri sharing "the philosophy of the Nine."

Remember, all this is real guidance from God.  God is nobody else than we together, the Nine Principles of God.


We accept the thesis that we are here and that we want these things done, we can do them through you.  You have also to struggle—we have also to struggle.  Supposing all healthy biologic events surround the birth of a child; it will take nine months and it will take mating.  The greatest of men were not born in an instant.  All the birth pangs that any other mother would undergo, their mother had to undergo, too.


What you are doing is just the right thing.  Struggling a little, getting creative imagination into exertion, awaiting a certain little point for guidance.


In our scheme, we also go on experimenting.  We have to experiment in a sense that we never force any will that we get.  The wills of humans have to lend themselves; in that lies their growth and maturation.  We go to the limit of persuasion but there we have to stop.  Our persuasion is quite often very effective, but we must notice the limit; if it is resistive, we just leave it alone.

We don't force in our scheme of things.  These forces—principles and personalities—we have to get them into direct service to mankind.  We appreciate the desire in you to catalyze this power for serving the man.

The Appendix One transcript also provided commentary about 'The Law of Seven.'

If the velocity of light is approached to ninety-nine per cent, the increase in the mass is in the range of seven.  This is one of the physical proofs of why we want sevens.  Perhaps you have not noticed this before.

AP: "No, I haven't."

That is partly an inference from Einsteinian analysis light velocity.  Even there this seven range—it is not exactly seven, but it is in the range of seven; it does not go beyond eight.  It doesn't go beyond six, but it hits around seven and such microscopic aspects of velocity.  If seven can be so perfectly determined, you will notice why the seven has been detected even in the physical as well as psychospiritual dimensions.  The acceptance of the Law of Seven. Now that's a clue which will keep you absolutely convinced and you will not ask me again what is the rationale of seven.  If we tell you that it is the occult number and the seven chords of being as known in ancient occult literature, you will continue to have a veil of suspicion.  But now that the increment in the mass is exactly to the range of seven by an approximation of ninety-nine per cent to the velocity of light, that is a kind of indicator how mass is related to high velocity.  Related in this way, that it achieves an increment of seven—achieves an increment to seven, not of seven.  Beyond ninety-nine percent we cannot go because it becomes infinitization, as you know.

In the epilogue of Uri, Puharich concluded:

I want to make it clear that I have as of this writing never met a being from the Nine, Spectra, Hoova, Rhombus 4D, or others of this genre, in a face-to-face sense.  My meetings have been only through the message systems I have described.  Furthermore, I have not been inside one of their craft.  While I do not doubt that superior beings exist out there, I do not know what they look like, how they live, or even what their goals are with respect to humankind.  Considering that I have had two years of intermittent experience, I am remarkably ignorant about these beings.  On the other hand I have complete faith in their wisdom and benevolent intentions toward man and living things on earth.

As last year was one of transition in relation to the Mayan Long Count Calendar, many researchers mentioned in their writings the "Bolon Yokte' K'uh" with "Nine Support Gods."

 

Charles Gallenkamp wrote in Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization (Third Revised Edition 1985):

Unquestionably the outstanding achievement of Maya calendrics was the Long Count—also called the Initial Series.  Generally considered to be the most accurate calendar ever devised in the ancient world, it was surprisingly complex in structure and consisted of recurring cycles of nine interrelated periods, which made it possible to keep track of enormous time spans in somewhat the same way as we compute months, decades, centuries, and millennia.


Another notable feature of Maya mathematics was the principle of the zero.  


Whether the zero's invention in Mesoamerica can be attributed to Olmec or Maya ingenuity is closely tied to the uncertainty surrounding the origin of the calendar and hieroglyphic writing.

The uncertainties about the Mayan civilization encompass Lord Pakal's sarcophagus lid.

Throughout the annals of events that at the present time are often considered categorically as 'paranormal phenomena,' patterns that may be discerned in each particular case make possible metaphysical insights.

As with the case of 'The Nine,' often in transcendental communication cases, the communicating entity identifies himself/herself/themselves through using the pronoun 'we.'  Something that trance mediumship/channeling cases have in common with so-called 'talking poltergeist' and 'Direct Voice' mediumship cases is that a succession of different entities may be heard to speak.  Understanding the intermediary Force that may be distinguished through this aspect of nature is a key to comprehending the omnipresent 'Christ Spirit' or what one might alternately articulate as humanity's shared subconscious or 'Superconscious' Mind or—considering this Cosmic Entity's association with the Source of all creation or the popular expression 'God'—'Oneness.'   

I mentioned in a previous article John Dee's quotation of angel Michael from his journals recording interactions with "spiritual creatures" and "good angels."  This book is now known as Quinti Libri Mysteriorum (Five Books of Mystery) —

Write with reverence, These mysteries are wonderful, the Number of his name, and knowledge: Lo, this it is, 9.  Behold, it is but one, and it is Marvelous.

Previous articles concerning another significant pattern—the 'Michael' pattern—includes "Messages from Michael" and "A Meditation on Christ Consciousness from the Edgar Cayce Channeled Reading Transcripts".

Parallels with "the occult number seven" can be found in Quinti Libri Mysteriorum and in the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

In Behind the Flying Saucers Frank Scully identified a publication that suggested there had been landings of "ether ships of the disk type": the Borderland Sciences Research Associates of San Diego, California was the publisher of the mimeographed booklet The Ether Ship Mystery and Its Solution: Flying Discs (1950) by Meade Layne with contributions by other BSRA associates.

Scully commented about the BSRA authors:

Together they hadn't the slightest doubt about the presence of flying saucers in our atmosphere, nor the likelihood that some have landed, crewed by little men.

They called them ether ships, and claim they were manned by Etherians.  Since BSRA opened its doors to metaphysicians, theosophists, mediums, trances, and students of the occult, it is a little difficult to reduce their far-flung beliefs to the confines of a book as small as this.


"The basic statements," one bulletin reported, "concerning etheric origin of ether craft came to us from the 'other side.'  They were first made in the fall of 1946 by the trance controls of the medium, Mark Probert, during a sitting held in the city of San Diego."


In The Ethership Mystery and Its Solution Layne says: "In spite of a policy and an unofficial censorship, it is widely believed by this time that a number of ether ships of the disk type have landed in the United States, through accident of some kind.  We have no reports that any of the 'dwarf' occupants survived the landing, and we are told that the propulsion and control of these craft is very much a puzzle to scientists who have inspected them.  They are said to be without motors, propellers, or anything recognizable as a drive mechanism.  This suggests, of course, some kind of magnetic propulsion.  And the performance of these craft, their extraordinary speed, power and maneuverability far outclasses anything our own engineers have been able to achieve."

Scully mentioned that 'Etheria' was hypothesized to be "one of the seven planes between this earth and the next planet" and that Borderland associate Edward Schultz was a "believer in the theory that this is a septenary universe and that everything goes by sevens.  (We now have 52's, 9's and 7's as secrets of the universe.)"

Meade Layne published the first edition of The Coming of the Guardians: An Interpretation of the "Flying Saucers" as Given from the Other Side of Life in 1954.  One of Mark Probert's 'controls,' Ramon Natalli, was quoted:

"The universe swarms with life of many kinds.  Some planets have inhabitants much like yourselves, but on others they differ much in size, weight, density, and other characteristics.  There are giants and pigmies and all sizes between.  Among your sky visitors there are some who come from planets and others who come from space.  (By 'space' the communicator does not mean vacuity, but rather the enormously dense ethers which equate with space.)"

As I mentioned in the article "Beyond The White Sands Incident", Daniel Fry's second contact experience was very different from his first, where he went aboard a flying saucer.

Fry had given up the thought that he would hear any more of Alan when the long-anticipated event occurred.  It was a Tuesday after his evening meal.  "I suddenly remembered that I had neglected to switch off the power to the main instrument panel . . . Before I had reached the instrument room, my attention was drawn to a dim glow that seemed to hover just above the top of the test stand . . . As I walked quickly toward it, a sudden suspicion entered my mind, and was confirmed almost immediately when Alan's voice came to me as though he were standing at my side."  Fry recalled the words spoken by Alan —

"Yes, Dan, it's ours . . .

"Incidentally, you can quit worrying about your instrument panel.  You did turn it off this afternoon, but we had to persuade you to come out here for a talk without mentioning it to anyone else."

During the conversation that followed, Alan explained to Fry what he could expect if he decided to assist them.

"It is a free choice on your part, and there is no penalty for refusal.  If you do not wish to assist us, you will be permitted to return to your quarters at once.  All memory of this meeting and the previous one will be erased from your mind, but everything else will be the same.  You will be no worse off than before we came."


"The only reward we can promise you is the inward satisfaction of having assisted in the survival of your race, and the acquisition of considerable knowledge and understanding that you would not otherwise be able to gain."

 

This July 6 UK crop circle (augureye.blogspot.dk 2013 Gallery photo) showed nine concentric rings.

Sketchbook Cover with Fabric + Mod Podge

Lately I've taken to shoving this little Strathmore sketchbook into every purse, backpack, or lunch bag that I happen to be carrying. I used to bring around a big 9x12 affair, but I've learned the importance of tiny sketchbooks. They are so easy to carry around, and now I find myself doing quick no-pressure sketches when I am out and about.

You can tell I don't create any little masterpieces in here, though, because I don't exactly treat it nicely. The paper cover is bent and wrinkled. It is also SUPER boring.

I decided to cover the front and back covers with fabric to make it prettier and sturdier. :) I found this darling, blue, swirly, brocade-y fabric at JoAnns on super sale and just had to pick some up. Since our sewing machine is broken, what is better than a quick no-sew project when you have delicious fabric just sitting around?

How to Make a No-Sew Fabric Sketchbook Cover

It's really super simple. :) You'll need:

A sketchbook or notebook to cover
Mod Podge
A paintbrush
Fabric
(optional) cardstock

Progress photos courtesy of my little sister!

To begin, cut a piece of fabric close to the size of the cover. Make the length and width of the fabric around 1/2 inch longer than the length and width of the sketchbook.

Next, coat the cover with Mod Podge. They do sell special fabric mod podge, but I found that my regular stuff works just fine.

Like so!

Set the fabric ontop of the Mod Podge glue and press it firmly-- you don't want any air bubbles!

Open the sketchbook cover, fold the excess fabric over, and glue (or tape) the fabric onto the backside of the cover.

Next, cut out a piece of fabric (or cardstock, as I chose) to the exact dimensions of the sketchbook cover and glue it onto the inside of the cover.

Ta-da! It's a quick and simple project, but it jazzed up my sketchbook quite nicely. :)

The backside of the fabric is lovely, too, so I used that side on the back cover. You can see that some of the wet glue bled through the fabric-- unfortunately that spot shows even when the glue dried. Beware of bleed-through glue!

I've decorated sketchbooks with doodles, collages, and stickers in the past, and I even made a pretty stamped-paper cover for my 30 Day Drawing Challenge book, but this is the first that I've used fabric on!

Also, check out my epic new Noodler's flex fountain pen. I love it. :) I'm starting to become addicted to writing tools, and at $20 this is my single most expensive pen. It's worth it for me, though, because it writes so beautifully and lets me do some unique calligraphy styles. (Ignore the poor calligraphy in this drawing! It's just what I did late at night after decorating my sketchbook with fabric).

What's the most unique thing you've ever done to decorate a notebook or sketchbook?

P.S. I'm starting to pack for college already! I'm overwhelmed in a wonderful way, and I'm so excited for my classes. :) My little sister is going to be born in just a couple of weeks, too, and I'm just bouncing up and down with excitement! Here's to life being crazy but good. :)

The Flying Saucer Conspiracy

The third UFOlogy book by Major Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC Ret.) The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (1955) begins with a Foreword stating that since he wrote his previous book in 1953, sightings of the so-called Unidentified Flying Objects had multiplied throughout the world.

Here in the United States, the official investigation has been greatly intensified.  Scores of prominent scientists and engineers are now working behind the scenes, helping to evaluate the facts.

Most of the public is unaware of these developments, for since December, 1953, the Air Force has refused to release any official reports of flying-saucer encounters.

He mentioned that in relation to the censorship, "Most of the officers and officials I have encountered are simply obeying orders."  He explained further:

Nor do I attribute unpatriotic motives to the "silence group" members who originate these orders.  Undoubtedly they are actuated by a high motive—the need, as they see it, to protect the public from possible hysteria.


The thousands of UFO reports by veteran observers prove beyond question that the saucers are machines from outer space.


If the public is not informed of all the facts, fear of the unknown may prevail.


In The Flying Saucer Conspiracy I have covered, as far as possible, the important developments of the past two years.  I have received help from more than 300 sources: pilots, scientists, radar experts, airport tower operators, flying-saucer investigators, and many others, both here and abroad.

In addition to reporting about new UFO sightings in the book, Keyhoe chronicled the reaction to his previous book among government officials.  Keyhoe had learned more about his own circumstances and now differentiated government workers as belonging to two separate groups in relation to UFO secrecy — "the censor-fighters" and "the silence group."

. . . in August, 1952, the censors temporarily lost control, after mass sightings in July had caused wide alarm.  Under a new policy, set by General Samford, I was invited to the Pentagon and offered the most baffling UFO reports in Air Force Intelligence files—cases pointing clearly to the interplanetary answer.  From August until late February, 1953, these intelligence reports, ranging from "Secret" to "Restricted," were declassified specifically for my use.  I did not know, at that time, that I was the only unofficial investigator to see these reports.

Besides General Samford and the Directorate officers, the release of this material to me was known by the Commander of ATIC and by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, head of Project Bluebook, the agency coordinating all UFO reports.


Near the end of this period a fierce battle had developed between the censor-fighters and the silence group.  Unaware that I had the key cases, the dethroned censors struggled to regain control before the facts could leak out.

Finally an unnamed "spokesman" . . . focused an attack on my Utah picture claims.

After providing an account of "backstage attacks" against him by the silence group and explaining his rebuttals, Keyhoe recounted how he issued a telegram to Air Force Secretary Talbott and General Sory Smith, with copies sent to the press wire services.  The telegram presented statements about the Air Force analysis from a canceled press release concerning the Utah film.  The press release had been leaked to him by an officer who disagreed with the silence group.  Keyhoe noted, "I could get into serious trouble if I gave it to the papers—it was still classified 'Secret.'  But I might risk it to prove I was telling the truth."

Considering the data presented in his second book and the bureaucratic Air Force conspiracy, Keyhoe appraised: "Had it not been for Chop, the other Air Force censor-fighters—and Ruppelt's refusal to attack the book—I would probably have been crucified."

Keyhoe recalled how he had learned about JANAP 146 and AFR 200-2, two orders censoring flying saucer reports.  He explained:

Known as JANAP 146 (Joint-Army-Navy-Air Publication), this order sets up a top-priority radio system for the most urgent Intelligence reports.  Pilots are directed to report Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) immediately from all parts of the world, using this emergency system—and to keep these sightings secret.

Under Section III any pilot who reveals an official UFO report can be imprisoned for one to ten years and fined up to 10,000 dollars.  (Title 18, U. S. Code, 793.)

Keyhoe commented about AFR 200-2:

Under Paragraph 9, ironically called "Release of Facts," it was provided that only hoaxes, practical jokes, and erroneous UFO reports can be given to the press.

All genuine UFO reports received by the Air Force must be kept from the public.  These include thousands of verified sightings from military pilots, radarmen, guided-missile trackers, and other trained observers under government control.

Under AFR 200-2, all confirmed flying saucer reports must be rushed to Intelligence by teletype or radio.  When possible, all tangible evidence must be flown immediately to ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) at Dayton.   Such evidence includes:

1. Parts of flying saucers—actual or "suspected."

2. Photos of radarscopes showing "saucer" maneuvers and speeds.

3. Genuine pictures of flying saucers.

To conceal flying-saucer discoveries, AFR 200-2 confines actual UFO investigation to three super-secret groups:

The Directorate of Air Force Intelligence at the Pentagon; the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron, which has special investigators at all Air Defense bases; the ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) at Dayton, Ohio.

Even top-ranking Air Force officers are warned not to probe beyond the first stage—securing UFO reports for the three groups.

Because JANAP 146 and AFR 200-2, hundreds of new, dramatic encounters have been kept undercover.

Some reports, of course, are bound to leak out, especially when saucers are sighted near cities.  But even when local papers run front-page stories, the UFO censors often deny the reports or quickly explain them away.

Keyhoe also reported about a UFO order of the Navy: "Issued by the Potomac River Naval Command, it was entitled PRNC 3820.1—Code 03."  Book appendices included typed reproductions of documents JANAP 146(B), PRNC 3820.1 and AFR 200-2.

Among a variety of UFO sighting incidents described in The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, one associate of Keyhoe emerged as a frequent supporter — radio and television news commentator Frank Edwards.  Keyhoe noted that on the same day that the American Aviation Daily "came out with a planted Air Force story pooh-poohing the saucers," Edwards reported about an incident where 14 flying discs were sighted 15,000 feet over York, Pennsylvania and briefly pursued by jet fighters.

That night Frank Edwards threw a jab at the silence group.  After reporting the formation at York, he threw a sardonic question at the Pentagon, quoting the official explanations which had been given to the American Aviation Daily:

"Balloons, meteors, reflection, mirages, temperature inversions, birds, weather phenomena—which of these were the saucers at York, gentlemen?  What were your jets chasing over Pennsylvania—birds, mirages, or just plain hallucinations?"

Keyhoe chronicled the circumstances related to him by Frank Edwards about the end of his radio show in August 1954.  The duo had been collaborating in preparation for an upcoming broadcast when Edwards telephoned him to inform him of the disturbing series of events.

"Don, it's happened," he said.  "I've been muzzled."

"Muzzled?  You mean the Air Force—"

"I don't know.  George Meany told me I'd have to have a censor at my elbow every minute."

"They must have found out about the special broadcast."

"You're probably right, though there were some other angles too.  The Air Force isn't the only agency that wanted me silenced."

"Did Meany mention the saucers specifically?"

"Absolutely.  He told me I was not even to mention them, except to quote press wire reports.  Even then I couldn't comment on them."

"But the press wire stories have almost died out!"

"That's what I told Meany.  He said, 'Never mind, that's an order, and there will be a censor at your elbow to see that you carry it out.'"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to resign—that's all I can do.  They knew that when they pulled this censor trick."

But though he was temporarily silenced, Frank had not abandoned hopes for his special broadcast.

"I'm talking it over next week with another network," he told me.

Then a strange thing happened.  The Pentagon offered Frank a mysterious hush-hush job.

"On what?" I asked him.

"All they would tell me was that it was terrifically important.  They said I'd be helping to prepare the public for something.  I know," he said, "it sounds like the saucers, but would they actually get me off the air and then give me this?  I'd be of bigger help to them on the network."

"It sounds like a trap," I said.

"I'll soon know.  I'm to call this general back tomorrow."

It was two days before I heard from him again.

"I just got back from New York.  That network backed down on the flying-saucer deal.  I think they were told to, because at first they were all for it."

"What about the Pentagon offer?"

"I think it was an attempt to gag me," Frank said shortly.  "This general told me I'd have to sign a two-year contract.  During that time I couldn't broadcast or publish a word on any subject without their permission."

Before he hung up, Frank added: "You better watch your step, Don.  Those guys are playing for keeps."

Later, Keyhoe reported: "After he left Mutual, Frank had built up an independent weekly program, which he had taped for distribution to radio stations all over the country."  In Keyhoe's following book published in 1960, Edwards would be quoted as  reminding him: ". . . in all these years, there's been no sign of an attack on the world . . . If they'd [Air Force] stop chasing the 'saucers' they might find out they're friendly."

Beyond flying saucers, Flying Saucer Conspiracy includes accounts of mysterious occurrences that aroused Keyhoe's conjectures, including: astronomers' observations of anomalies of the surfaces of the moon and Mars, rumors of unknown Earth satellites identified as "natural, not artificial" in an AP article; strange blasts or "sky quakes" in different parts of the country and in England; radar reports of otherwise "invisible" UFO formations; seemingly UFO-related "angel's hair" incidents hypothesized by one source as having been "caused by ionization from the saucers' discharge and the action of the G-field upon it"; incidents of birds dying by tens of thousands in 1954; "space-creature"/"hairy dwarf" accounts from abroad; fireballs and unidentified missiles; and an unusual cloud formation seen over the city of Marseilles, France.

Keyhoe considered potential flying saucer connections with mysterious airplane disasters and disappearances.  Some of these accounts remind the reader that 'unidentified flying objects' encompass circumstances beyond so-called 'flying saucer' events.  Keyhoe's consideration of the rumors of unknown Earth satellites also encompassed cynical potentialities.

To the UFO censors the discovery of the space base was far more ominous than most of the flying-disc reports.  Most of the saucers were considered to be harmless.  But the American people had been warned, officially, of a satellite's destructive power.

One of the first warnings came in 1948, when Defense Secretary James Forrestal announced the Earth Satellite Vehicle Program.  The Pentagon then also confirmed a Nazi scheme for a deadly "sky platform."  Revealed in Germany after World War II, the base was based on designs by Professor Herman Oberth, a world authority on space-travel plans.*


(*Professor Oberth, Rumanian-born, author of The Rocket Into Interplanetary Space, is now working in this country under contract with the United States government.)

One obvious influence to Keyhoe's consistently wary frame of mind concerning UFO/flying saucer possibilities is the indoctrination endemic to military training.  Keyhoe had been a Marine Corps pilot.  He also expressed his hope that there would be no threat posed by flying saucers —

But I still clung to the idea that Arthur Clark had expressed: that advanced space races would be wise and tolerant beings who long ago had abandoned all conflict.  Perhaps it was idealistic.  After all, what did we really know about the mysterious creatures who controlled the flying saucers?

From today's vantage point when more UFO data than ever before is available for researchers on the Internet, I believe that contributing to Keyhoe's dilemma in reaching any conclusions about flying saucer events was his unwillingness to investigate and consider the cases of the flying saucer contactees.  As I have hoped to show in previous blog articles, a discriminating researcher has much to learn from these cases that could have also become sources of contemplation for Keyhoe.

Considering his suspicions that the UFO phenomena could  threaten human society, Keyhoe nonetheless consistently supported the alternative to UFO secrecy by advocating honesty and transparency — an orientation that from my perspective is the foundation for an advantageous moral philosophy incorporating 'the golden rule' extolled in all of the world's spiritual wisdom traditions.  In Christianity the rule is expressed in one way as: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

Flying Saucers from Outer Space

In his second UFOlogy book, Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953), Donald Keyhoe revealed: "Since July, 1952, in a new investigation of the saucers, I have been privileged to cooperate with the Air Force . . . Scores of impressive sighting reports by service pilots have been cleared for me, with the conclusions of Air Technical Intelligence—some so incredible they would have been ridiculed two or three years ago."

1952 was the year a veritable UFO 'sighting wave' occurred throughout the United States.  Keyhoe explained that in August that year "the Air Force had changed its Sphinx-like attitude.  In the last six months I'd seen the most baffling cases in the ATIC's secret files.  At first I'd been suspicious of this sudden cooperation.  But I thought I knew the reason now . . ."

Keyhoe described his visits to the Pentagon, where Air Force press specialist Albert M. Chop provided him with Air Technical Intelligence Center reports.  On one occasion Keyhoe attended a screening of "the McLean film" of five glowing UFOs in the sky over Pascagoula, Mississippi.  An appendix of the book listed 51 instances of "Air Technical Intelligence UFO sightings and other information secured and cleared for me by Mr. Albert M. Chop, Air Force Press Desk."  The Air Force cooperation resulted with Keyhoe agreeing that he wouldn't use any Air Force case unless it was cleared.

Official statements of ridicule and denial along with intermittent disclosures that Kehoe thought correct about the mystifying aerial phenomena prompted him to observe, "It was small wonder that the American people were confused about the saucers."

After the last few months the reason for these contradictions was fairly clear.  The situation had changed several times.  Individual opinions had changed with it.  Some officials had retracted earlier statements—or their words had been offset by still other officials.

A UFO sighting that attracted wide attention on July 12 occurred in the city of Indianapolis.

It was Saturday night, and the streets and parks were crowded.  Suddenly a bright yellow glow appeared in the sky.  As startled citizens stared upward, a huge, oval-shaped machine raced out of the southeast and over the city.  Barely 5,000 feet high, it was seen by thousands of people as it streaked overhead, trailed by a fiery exhaust.

In two minutes police, airport, and newspaper switchboards were swamped with calls from frightened citizens.  Thousands more hastily spread the news to neighbors who missed the saucer.  For a while a panic seemed in the making.  Then, when the saucer did not return, the hysteria gradually died down.

Keyhoe's perception of "mass hysteria" seems an exaggeration and perhaps suggests the influence of some of his sources of information.  He reported that airline pilots confirmed the UFO they glimpsed during the Indianapolis sighting event was, as one pilot was quoted, "a controlled craft of some sort."

The numerous reports resulted in a "growing excitement" nationwide.

Some Defense officials, even a few Air Force officers who hadn't seen the evidence, believed most of the sightings were caused by the saucer hysteria.  But the Intelligence officers knew better.  Too many veteran pilots, both military and airline, were reporting identical discs, lights, and maneuvers.  Many reports from the general public had also been confirmed, though with tension increasing it did not seem wise to admit it.

Kehoe continuously stressed that debunking was necessary to stop 'the rising tide of fear" yet he also realized that the policy of secrecy was a significant cause for apprehension as there was no evidence that the UFOs constituted any form of  threat.  Kehoe reported that Director of Intelligence General Samford was ordered to hold a press conference. 

Since 1947, as General Samford knew, the Air Force had frequently tried to debunk the flying saucers.  Each time it had been more difficult.  How could it be done now, with any hope of success?

It was impossible to go back to the 1949 statement, which explained away all sightings.  For the Air Force was now on record that many were still unsolved.  The latest figure, given out by Captain Ruppelt, was 25 per cent; some Intelligence officers privately made it much higher.

Even admitting that 25 per cent were unsolved was misleading, for it evaded the basic facts.  Actually, the Air Force reports showed nearly 500 genuine saucer sightings.

The press conference was held on July 29, 1952.  Keyhoe reported: "By 4 o'clock the room was packed with top correspondents, wire-service men, and commentators.  I hadn't seen a bigger turn-out since the A-bomb story broke."  He commented about Samford, "His shrewd, pleasant face showed no hint of concern—it was not for nothing that he was Director of Air Force Intelligence . . . For the next hour or so they would be sitting on a powder keg.  Two simple questions would light the fuse.  All they could do was pray that nobody thought to ask them."  The following is Kehoe's description of Samford's opening remarks.

"The Air Force feels a very definite obligation to identify and analyze things that happen in the air that may have in them menace to the United States and, because of that feeling of obligation and our pursuit of that interest, since 1947, we have an activity that was known one time as Project Saucer (press name for Project Sign) and now, as part of another more stable and integrated organization, have undertaken to analyze between a thousand and two thousand reports dealing with this area.  And out of that mass of reports that we've received we've been able to take things which were originally unidentified and dispose of them to our satisfaction in terms of bulk where we came to the conclusion that these things were either friendly aircraft erroneously recognized or reported, hoaxes—quite a few of those—electronic and meteorological phenomena of one sort or another, light aberrations, and many other things.

"However, there have remained a percentage of the total, in the order of 20 per cent of the reports, that have come from credible observers of relatively incredible things.  And because of those things not being possible for us to move along and associate with the kind of things that we've found can be associated with the bulk of these reports, we keep on being concerned about them.

"However, I'd like to say that the difficulty of disposing of these reports is largely based upon the lack of any standard measurement or any ability to measure these things which have been reported briefly by some, more elaborately by others, but with no measuring devices that can convert the thing or idea or the phenomenon into something that becomes manageable as material for the kind of analysis that we know.

"Our real interest in this project is not one of intellectual curiosity, but is in trying to establish and appraise the possibility of a menace to the United States.  And we can say, as of now, that there has been no pattern that reveals anything remotely like purpose or remotely like consistency that we can in any way associate with any menace in the United States."

Kehoe noted, "After mentioning reports of strange aerial objects back in biblical times, Samford threw the conference open for questions."  Questions about radar brought responses about flocks of ducks and temperature inversions.  Samford's following commentary included:

"I think that the highest probability is that these are phenomena associated with the intellectual and scientific interests that we are on the road to learn more about, but that there is nothing in them that is associated with materials or vehicles or missiles that are directed against the United States."


"For many years, the field of spiritualism had these same things in which completely competent creditable observers reported incredible things.  I don't mean to say this is that sort of thing, but it's an explanation of our inability to explain."

After reflecting about the press conference, Kehoe articulated his conclusions. 

I was positive now it had been a cover-up, forced on the Air Intelligence men by the July crisis.  Obviously they had acted for the good of the country, and I suddenly realized what an ordeal it must have been.

But all of this could have been avoided if the Air Force back in the earlier stages, had taken the American people into its confidence.


. . . gradually Americans would have accepted the facts, even the possibility of a saucer attack—just as we now have accepted the danger of A-bomb attack.

Such a step would have ended all ridicule.  Scientists would have felt less squeamish about aiding Project Sign, and Congress would have granted funds for an all-out investigation.  Instead, secrecy had built up the mystery, and with it public fear.

In one of his conversations with Chop, Kehoe was told about an incident in South Carolina that had been cleared for him to report:

"We want you to emphasize the fact that our pilots aren't shooting at these things.  We've been catching hell from all over the country."  Chop showed me some telegrams and letters.  "They even wire the President, 'In the name of God, don't shoot at the saucers.'  So anything you can do—"

"Sure, I'll include that," I said.

The events chronicled by Kehoe make it obvious that Air Force complicity resulted with articles he wrote that were expressly based on the data provided to him.  The advantages here for Air Force officials were not fully recognized by Kehoe, who showed consistent naivete about this aspect of his circumstances.  The following is the quoted conversation after a paragraph of commentary from Major General Ramey was handed him.

"Anything else you want in the story?" I asked Chop.

"No," he said.  "All we ask is for you to try to see the Air Force problem and give a fair picture."  He paused, then went on in a casual tone, "If you think of any other angles, when you finish this piece, come on back in.  We'll give you whatever we can."

Keyhoe estimated that the statements of General Samford at the press conference "had branded the saucers as phenomena with no mass"; however, the temperature inversion theory was contradicted by some reports and Keyhoe noticed other contradictory incidents.

It was a curious situation.  The officers and civilian officials involved in UFO policy decisions were divided, roughly, into three main groups.  The first, which I'll call Group A, believed that sighting reports should be made public to prepare the country for the final solution—whatever it proved to be.  Most of the men in this group had seen all the evidence and were convinced the saucers were machines superior to any known aircraft.  The other two groups believed in silence, but for different reasons.  Those in the B group also had seen the evidence, believed the saucers were real, but feared the effect of a public admission.  Group C was made up of hardheaded nonbelievers.  Most of them had never troubled to examine the ATIC evidence; the few who had, flatly refused to believe it.

Since the first part of '52, Group A  had urged that ATIC files be opened to the press.  At first the two "silence" groups stubbornly resisted.  But there was one argument that carried weight.  The Soviet might suddenly claim that the saucers were Russian weapons.  With the country ignorant of the facts, many Americans might believe the lie, increasing the chance of nation-wide stampedes if the Russians made a sneak attack.

Reluctantly the "silence" men gave ground.  The first result had been the Life and Look articles, written with ATIC aid.  Then the July crisis arose, forcing Intelligence to debunk the saucers.  When the danger of a panic was over, Group A began to fight again, pointing to the July hysteria as proof for their case.

At this time, by sheer good luck, I had gone to the Pentagon and made my offer.  By then the Menzel theory had served its purpose; some Intelligence officers felt it should not be allowed to stand as the official answer.  Believing that I would give a fair picture of the Air Force problem, Intelligence had released the facts which wrecked the inversion story.

One source of information for Kehoe was the engineer in charge of the first Canadian flying saucer project, Wilbur B. Smith.  Kehoe also found compelling a paragraph from Life On Other Worlds (1940) by H. Spencer Jones:

It is conceivable, for instance, that we could have beings, the cells of whose bodies contained silicon, instead of the carbon which is an essential constituent of our cells and of all other living cells on the Earth; and that, because of this essential difference between the constitution of these cells and the cells of which animal and plant life on the Earth are built up, they might be able to exist at temperatures so high that no terrestrial types of life could survive.

An Air Force propaganda campaign is chronicled in an incident that began when Chop presented Keyhoe with a script formulating a potential alien invasion of Earth on the condition that the article's author W.C. Odell's Air Force Intelligence connection and rank of colonel be concealed.  The script was intended for magazine publication but True aviation editor John DuBarry responded: "Without Odell's rank, we'd be accused of printing a scare story . . ."  Keyhoe acknowledged, "After what DuBarry had said, I decided not to show the script to any other editors.  There was too much mystery about it."

Another development was Kehoe learning about the decision not to make public Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse's film showing several saucers maneuvering near Tremonton, Utah.

Anger over the decision, I found, went far beyond Air Force Intelligence.  Next day I received an unsigned note on plain paper, urging me to tell the Utah film story.  I recognized the handwriting of a Defense official who knew I was writing a book.  Like Al, he asked me not to blast the entire Air Force.

In his final conversation with Albert M. Chop chronicled in the book,  Keyhoe was given a carbon of letter that constituted "our official answer to a letter from your book publishers."  The letter stated:

The back cover jacket of Flying Saucers from Outer Space featured Chop's letter.  A brief biographical profile of Chop may be read at nicap.org.

The letter was a culminating event of Albert M. Chop's Pentagon job as he resigned his Air Force Press Desk position, having explained to Kehoe: "This hasn't anything to do with the saucers . . . I'm going out to California—I've been wanting to get into private industry."

It has been six decades since Flying Saucers from Outer Space was published.  Officials now working in positions of authority concerning UFO data have the opportunity of either contributing to the advancement of human knowledge or, instead, being obeisant to secrecy policies that no longer can be rationalized as they were during the 1950s.