The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Sunday Dispatch, Pittston, Pennsylvania, USA, page 1, on July 6, 1947.
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Army Officials Deny Any Knowledge Of "Eerie" Display
Seattle, Wash., July 6 (INS) -- Weird gyrations of "Flying Discs" reported by competent witnesses from Denver to Seattle stirred the nation today in a manner reminiscent of Orson Welles' "Man From Mars" jitters.
Hysteria that greeted Welles' faked radio broadcast was lacking in the factual accumulation of testimony to the long list of observers.
The excitement started June 24 when Kenneth Arnold, Boise flying businessman, first sighted the discs flying over Southwest Washington at a speed he estimated at 1200 miles an hour.
Washington, July 5 (INS) -- The Army Air Forces-Custodian of the Army's Aerial Ordnance program-tonight disclaimed any knowledge of where the "Flying Discs" originated.
Capt. Tom Brown, AAF information officer, told newsmen:
"This is definitely not an air forces experiment. We absolutely do not know what these Flying Discs are. In fact, we wish we did, but we're just as mystified as everyone else."
Dan J. Whelan and Duncan Underhill, both of Hollywood, said a Disc "scared them silly" while they were flying in a private plane near Santa Monica.
"The devilish Disc was at 700 feet, about 2000 feet above us. It was traveling 400 to 500 miles an hour. It was not spinning, but looked exactly like a skeet (trapshooting target). We'd say it was about 40 to 50 feet in diameter."
Others who saw the Discs said:
"It appeared as if some unseen juggler were keeping them in the air. They finally vanished in the direction of Catalina Island."
Mrs. Verna Edwins said a "barrel-shaped Disc" sputtered over her home at 4 p.m. yesterday. She described it as "about 30 feet long and cream colored."
"It gave us an eerie feeling."
"I saw one of the big saucers fall over Arcadia, near the Santa Anita Racetrack, about 4 p.m., Friday."
"There is more behind this than meets the naked eye."
At Astoria, Ore., Irving C. Allen, Chief of Airports Operation and Management in the seventh region for CAA, reported today that he had sighted a "Flying Disc" for five minutes Friday at 10:30 a.m.
Allen said the object was remarkedly white and proceeded on a northerly course at uniform altitude with a wavering flight. He estimated the DISC was larger than the largest plane and that he could have taken a picture of it as it passed several miles in front of his plane.
