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NOVEMBER 6, 1957, DANTE, TENNESSEE, USA, EVERETT CLARK:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

The evening before, contactee Schmidt was all over the radios claiming to have encounter a silvery ship occupied by four men and two ladies that talked to him in English with a German accent. The next morning, November 6, 1957, a 12 years old boy names Everett Clark told a story that appeared in the local newspaper in Knoxville. Clark, from Dante, a suburb of Knoxville, said he saw a landed craft with two men and two women outside, of which he said they had a German accent. He said they tried to grab his dog Frisky, in vain, then returned in their craft and left.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. cl1:] CORAL LORENZEN:

In participation in the book by Charles Bowen, Coral Lorenzen indicates that at approximately 06:30 a.m. on November 6, 1957, Everett Clark, aged 12, of Dante, Tennessee, stood up to open the door to his dog Frisky, and saw an object in a field within approximately 100 meters of his house. He said that he had believed to be dreaming and that he went back in. Approximately 20 minutes later, he went outside to call his dog and saw that it was with other dogs on other side of the road close to the object. Two men and two women were standing outside the object, apparently dressed in a normal manner. One of the men tried to catch Frisky who grunted and moved back. The man tried to catch another dog, which tried to bite him.

Thereafter Everett declared that these people spoke as "like German soldiers" whom he had seen at the movies and on television. These people returned in the object "as if they crossed the wall directly, as if it were glass." The object rose "straight" without making noise. Everett stated that it was lengthened and round and "of no particular color." A journalist asked to him whether it could have been translucent, and he answered that it was possible.

Everett told that one of the men had beckoned to him to approach but that he had refused. Journalists asked him whether he had heard speak about the Schmidt incident, which was not yet in the newspaper but about which radios had spoken the day before November 6, 1957, but he was apparently unaware of it.

Everett's school principal said that he was a serious and honest boy, and his parents said that they found him upset when they returned from their work the same morning - they worked at a knitting factory nearby. His father said later than he does not think his son could have invented that but that he does not believe it yet, however. His grandmother said that he had phoned her after the incident and that he was "hysterical."

The journalist Carson Brewer went on the spot with Everett and other people and discovered a "oblong ring of pressed grass" of 8 meters out of 1.50 meters of which it was estimated that it could not have been made by the boy "unless going in round at least a dozen time." Everett stated that the object was much larger than this trace.

[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:

In his UFO landings list, Jacques Vallée indicates that on November 6, 1957 at 06:30 in Knoxville, Tennessee, 12-year-old Everett Clark saw a strange object on the ground and four occupants, two men and two women who spoke a language he thought was similar to German. They went back to the craft in a manner the witness could not understand, for he saw no door.

[Ref. jv2:] JACQUES VALLEE:

Jacques Vallée indicates that on November 6, 1957, in Dante, Tennessee, Everett Clark, aged 12, opened his door at 06:30 a.m. to let his dog Frisky out. He then saw a weird oblong object without particular color in a field within a hundred meters. Thinking that he was dreaming, he goes back inside. Twenty minutes later, he saw that the object is still there and that his dog stood close from there in company of some dogs of the vicinity. Close to the object, there were two women and two men dressed in ordinary clothing. One of the men tried on several occasions to catch Frisky but had to give up for fear to be bitten. Everett sees these people then speaking between themselves "like German soldiers" in a movie he had seen. They enter straight in the side of the object; which flew away without making noise.

[Ref. js1:] JOHN SPENCER:

The author indicates that in the early morning of November 6, 1957 Everett Clark, a young boy from Dante, Tennessee, was walking his dog. From his house saw an object approximately 100 meters away in a field, with two men and two women who walked through the solid wall of the object which then took off silently, he claimed.

Points to consider:

Of course, there is no serious reason to add much credence to a story by a 12 years old as a newspaper published it. There does not seem to have been any investigation effort from the ufologist that tell the story. Obviously the Lorenzen do mention the tought of a possible influence on the boy, while later sources merely summarize the case without any second thought.

Indeed, in my opinion, the key to this story is in Paris Flammonde's book "the age of Flying Saucers", who like other sources tells of a famous story by one Reinhold O. Schmidt, a small-time businessman from Kearney, Nebraska, whose name is resolutely of German origin, who invented one of the numerous "contactee" stories of 1957. Indeed, just the day before, Schmidt claimed, he was driving southeast of Kerney, at about 02:30 p.m, under a cloudy gray sky, when he saw something brilliant suddenly flashing by, which at short distance revealed to be what he described as "a large silvery ship of some kind of metal... [which] appeared to be solid... without portholes or windows... [It] must have been about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide and about 14 high... [It featured] a large tube about 12 feet in diameter in each end of the ship, [and] in each of these tubes was a large 8-to-10-foot bladed fan."

(Charles Bowen rerports that Schmidt was interviewed by Air Force officers and police officers and estimated "unbalanced" and "very sick" by psychiatrists and interned. When he came out he started to give lectures on his adventures with extraterrestrial beings.)

Now, the very interesting part is that Schmid claimed he was invited to enter the vehicle, in which he met and talked with "four men and two ladies." He told a lot of nensense of the ship, but interestingly here, he said that these people they spoke fluent English with him, but with a German accent, and that among themselves, they spoke German. Schmidt's story was on the radio all over the United States on the evening of November 5, 1957. Is it any wonder that a young 12 years old boy comes up with some tale of a ship with two men and two women who speak with a German accent on the very next morning?

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Very likely a tall tale by a 12 year old boy inspired by radio talks of German speaking human UFO occupants the very evening before, and then sensationalized by a newspaper.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Article in the newspaper Knoxville News-Sentinel, November 6, 1957.
• [cl1] * "UFO Occupants in United States Reports", by Coral Lorenzen, chapter of "The Humanoids", book by Charles Bowen, Henry Regnery, pp 156-157, 1967.
• [cl1] * "Occupants d'OVNIS dans les Témoignages des Etats-Unis", by Coral Lorenzen, chapter of "En Quête des Humanoïdes", book by Charles Bowen, translation of "The Humanoids", J'ai Lu, pp 186-187, 1974.
• [jv1] * Case 429 in ""A Century of Landing 1868-1968", compiled by Jacques Vallée in his book "Passport to Magonia", Henri Regnery, 1969.
• [jv2] * "Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers", book by Jacques Vallee, Henry Regnery, pp 43-44, 1969.
• [pf1] * "The Age of the Flying Saucers", book by Paris Flammonde, Hawthorne Books, 1971.
• [jv2] * "Chroniques des Apparitions Extraterrestres", book by Jacques Vallée, J'ai Lu, page 67, 1972.
• [jv2] * "Dimensions", book by Jacques Vallée, rewriting of "Passport to Magonia", Souvenir Press, page 70, 1972.
• [jv2] * "Autres Dimensions", book by Jacques Vallée, French translation of "Dimensions", rewriting of "Passport to Magonia", Robert Laffont, 1989.
• [js1] * "The UFO Encyclopedia", book by John Spencer, Headline Books publisher, U-K., page 95, 1991.

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This page was last updated on July 9, 2013