The article below was published in the newspaper St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on page 4, on July 14, 1947.
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RALEIGH, N. C., July 14 (UP) - Carl Goerch, local radio commentator who excited a wide area last night with a broadcast of men from Mars in flying saucers, said today he underestimated the gullibility of radio audience.
Telephone calls from several states jammed radio station WPTF's switchboard after the broadcast.
Goerch, an amateur aviator, told of meeting a flying saucer in the air near Benson, N. C., and finding it contained a crew of men from Mars with bulging green eyes and yellow skins. He talked of talking with them by holding up signs in his cokcpit while they did the same.
Goerch admitted he erred in not branding the story as imaginative, but said he thought it was so wild no one would believe it.
"From now on," he said, "regardless of how absurd a story is, I'm going to label it plainly as a joke."
Station Manager Richard Mason said he had received no official complaints and planned no action against Goerch, whose script was not checked by the station.
Newspaper switchboards and airport telephones also were flooded with queries.
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
