The article below was published in the newspaper The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, USA, on page 1, on June 27, 1947.
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Conjectures multiplied today as widely separated areas reported apparent confirmation of incredibly fast disc-like objects flashing through the sky - but skeptics remained.
Following a report at Pendleton, Ore., by Kenneth Arnold of Boise, Ia., that he had seen nine saucer-shaped shiny objects dipping and skimming through the sky between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in Washington state at an estimated 1200 miles an hour came these observations yesterday:
Byron Savage, Oklahoma City businessman-pilot, said that five or six weeks ago he observed from his front lawn a flat disc-like object hurtling through the sky at tremendous speed. He said he told his wife and a few pilot friends, then said no more until he heard of Arnold's report. "I know that boy up there (Arnold) really saw them," Savage declared.
At Kansas City, W. I. Davenport, a carpenter said yesterday he, too, saw nine speeding objects, moving west high in the sky. They were going fast and he could not make out their shape, he said. However, he reported engine sound and vapor trails - the only one of the observers with that to report.
A Brementon, (Wash.) housewife - west across the Cascade mountains from where Arnold saw his objects - said that twice in the past 10 days she had seen "platter-like" lights reflecting objects. The first time was last week Tuesday or Wednesday and again Tuesday this week.
"I thought surely nothing could travel so fast," Mrs Elma Shingler said. Her observation that they wavered from side to side was similar in Arnold's report of dipping as though planes were changing place in a formation.
At Eugene, Or., E. H. Sprinkle said he nearly got a picture of them. A week ago Wednesday, he said, he took his camera to a local butte to test it. He spotted objects in the southwest, racing towards the northeast, but before he could click his shutter they were out of sight.
Against these supporting observations, skeptics sought explanations. Capt. Al Smith, United Air Lines pilot on the Seattle run, said he thought Arnold saw reflections of his instrument panel and Dr. J. Hugh Pruett, University of Oregon meteorologist said that "persistent vision", often noted after looking at bright objects such as the sun, could have kept such reflections before him after they had passed.
Elmer Fisher, meteorologist in the Portland Weather Bureau, suggested a slight touch of snow blindness from the mountain peaks.
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
