The article below was published in the newspaper The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada, USA, on page 6, on July 6, 1947.
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During the last weeks reports of "flying saucers" high in the sky over various parts of western United States have created consternation and news stories.
Explanations of the high-sailing objects have varied all the way from claims that they were the results of stomach upset on the part of people who saw them, to assertions that they are a new plane developed by the U. S. Navy. One man says they have been launched from other planets, and other assert they are merely bottle caps which have reached high altitudes due to the hot weather.
Following are some of the United Press reports on the phenomenon, none of which gives a definite answer:
At Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES -- Flying "saucers," which persons in ten states have spotted, were reported "gliding along" over Los Angeles today.
Mrs. Ernest Michel and her daughter, Marian, said the discs had clearly discernible comet-like tails.
"They were traveling at a rapid speed and only visible for about four minutes," Mrs. Michel said. she described them as "three large, round discs, luminous, transparent and whitish in appearance."
Fourteen-year-old John Boehm reported seeing a single disc in the air near his home.
"It was a big shiny disc and seemed to be gliding along - much faster than any plane I have ever seen," he said.
Riverside residents flooded the police department with phone calls when a helicopter dropped avdertizing leaflets createing a "flying saucer" scare, then landed on a hotel room to deliver a guest.
At Boise
BOISE, Ida., July 4. (UP) -- A party of four persons reported here tonight that they had seen one of the flying discs crossing the sky almost overhead in Boise.
The groupe included United Press correspondant John corlett, Boise artist V. H. Selby and their wives.
Corlett said they had been at a garden dinner, and were lying out on blankets when Mrs. corlett spotted the disc.
The disc moved across the sky from the northwest to the southeast, Mrs. Corlett said. It was noiseless and traveling at a high rate of speed. Both Corlett and the artist said they caught a glimpse of it as it raced across over them. It took about three seconds to disappear from view.
Space Ships
SAN FANCISCO -- A san Franciscan asked in a letter to the editor today what was the matter with America that it didn't know those mysterious flying saucers were space ships from another solar system.
He shuddered to think what would happen if the U. S. army got tough about the reconnoitering discs.
Ole J. Sneide, San Francisco, said in a latter of "Safety Valve," the letters column of the San Francisco Chronicle, that those flying discs were "oblate spheroid space ships from the older planets."
"Usually they travel in outer space with speeds approxaimating that of the light by use of anti-gravity devices and hyperspace. In our space they travel much slower, and, of course, become visible either by intent or by accident, for in their travels they use the invisibility screen," he said.
"This space navigation has been going on for miliions of years, theses "navo" having come from the greater magellanic cloud via the lesser magellanic cloud.
Navy Plane?
CHICAGO -- Additional persons form coast to coast claimed today to have seen the "flying saucers" which reportedly have bee careening through the nation's skys since June 24, and a Los Angeles newspaper suggested the mysterious objects might be a new type of navy plane.
However, the navy discounted the theory.
A navy spokesman at Washington expressed doubt that the discs, sighted by sky watchers in 11 states, were a new experimental plane, nown as the "Flying Flapjack."
He said the navy was checking reports that the "saucers" and the "flapjack" are one and the same. But, he added, as far as could be determined immediately,none of the navy's new craft is in the areas where the flying discs have been reported.
The newspaper the Los Angeles Daily News, has suggested that the "saucers" might be a plane resembling a legless crab with anteenae wich was described in a recent issue of Science magazine.
Five Theories
Five hypotheses were advanced today to "explain" the mysterious "flying saucers" which persons in ten states have reported seen streaking though the sky.
The theories ranged from a San Francisco layman's flat assertion that they were "space ships" from older planets to a Chicago scientist's peevish comment that the witnesses were seeing "spots in front of their eyes."
Three of the other explanations came from army air force officers who began a preliminary investigation and then dropped it because they weren't getting anywhere.
The AAF's experts said:
1 - The phenomena might be caused by natural weather conditions such as heavy hailstones and clouds.
2 - Perhaps they were meteorites composed of silica that broke up when they hit the earth's atmosphere.
3 - Earlier, an AAF spokesman said "if some foreign power is sending flying discs over the United States, it is our responsibility to know about it and take proper action."
SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (U.P.) -- A reporter, claiming the title of "official saucer watcher" for the San Francisco News, today came up with two exclusive items of hos own which he said came out of "genuine thin air."
His reports:
Langendorf, Germany -- A bakery reported here today that six dozen pieplates were missing.
Wedge Wood, England -- Two saucers reported here today that they had seen men flying through the air at high speed.
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
