Some interesting asides from the 1952 Sonny Desvergers UFO account

Karl Pflock’s account of the 1952 “scoutmaster” flying saucer encounter is a must-read for UFO aficionados:

http://www.nicap.org/bhoax.htm

The story is fascinating in many ways, but for my purposes I’ve culled a few side-bars that intrigue:

" ... Desvergers claimed to have received several threatening telephone calls and had noticed "a large black automobile cruising around near his house."

"James Moseley reports someone at the Air Force press desk in Washington told him Desvergers had been involved in homosexual activities."

And this about Project Stork, which is an ongoing project at Battelle and monitored by the U.S. military (Air Rorce and Navy).

Battelle continues to received UFO reports for evaluation, according to FOI documents received by a UFO researcher who has provided elements at  our private UFO web-site.

This is from Mr. Pflock’s NICAP rendition:

"This appears to have reminded Ruppelt of his grass specimens, which were forwarded from Carney's office on August 28 and sent to Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, for examination and analysis by its agronomy laboratory. Battelle, a private scientific and technical research, development, and management organization, had a contract with the Air Force to provide support to Project Blue Book, under the code name Project Stork."

Battelle Memorial Institute, "Sixth Status Report on Contract AF-19741, PPS-100 [Project Stork]," October 10, 1952, originally classified Restricted, p. 3. This may be the official report to which Ruppelt refers. Neither it nor any reference to it is included in the Blue Book file on the Desvergers case. However, it and the other six Stork status reports are included in the Blue Book files in the National Archives (National Archives II, College Park, Md.). This is the entire text concerning Battelle's findings (emphasis added): "Regarding the 'Florida' samples, no difference was observed between the two samples of soil, but it was found that the root structure of the plants from the area in question was degenerated, apparently by heat, while the root structure of a control sample was undisturbed. In addition, the lower leaves, those nearest the ground under normal conditions, were slightly deteriorated, apparently by heat. No logical explanation is possible for this alteration of the first sample, beyond the suggestion that a high soil temperature around the plants could have been the cause. No radioactivity was found in any of these samples."

The Desvergers story/report/account can be dismissed or accepted, depending upon your inclination.

But the MIB refererence might attract Nick Redfern and the Battelle references are for Anthony Bragalia, who has been investigating Battelle’s connection to the alleged Roswell metal debris.

Isaac Koi is interested in Project Stork and might wish to look into Battelle’s ongoing project by that name.

For me, the Desvergers encounter includes aspects that antedate later UFO reports of encounters (See Jose Caravaca’s reports here) and seem to authenticate the scoutmaster’s story, despite his (Desvergers’) iffy background and problems that Mr. Pflock enumerates.

RR