My formative flying saucer [UFO] interests
Copyright 2018, InterAmerica, Inc.
In a recent communication with a UFO friend, I noted that
Frank Scully’s book, Behind the Flying Saucers, along with newspaper
stories (in The Detroit Times, mostly) stoked my youthful interest in the
phenomenon, as a concomitant to my interest in Astronomy.
(I started a Flying Saucer club at my high school
accordingly.)
The Lubbock Lights factored into my interest, as did the
“brooder” saucer photo of George Adamski, and, of course, later on, the 1964
Socorro event.
Reading about long-time UFO buff Christopher Allen [CDA], I
get the impression that he was excited, at a young age, about flying saucers
spotted in Britain, and doubled down to expose (with Steuart Campbell), in
1986, the Cedric Allingham “hoax” perpetrated by famous astronomer Patrick
Moore via Moore/Allingham’s 1954 book Flying Saucer from Mars:
I’d be interested in what flying saucer/UFO account sparked
your initial interest in the phenomenon.
Today, still absorbed by UFOs, I am intrigued by alleged
humanoid encounters, as recounted by Albert Rosales in his series of books and
online data-base.
Nick Redfern’s journalistic forays into the whole paranormal
panoply fascinates as do Kevin Randle’s clarifying posts about past, iconic
and “troubled” UFO events/sightings.
And for you, the phenomenon interest was or is?
RR
posted by RRRGroup at
Friday, October 26, 2018
14 Comments:
Rich -
Not a sighting, or sighting report, but the movie, Earth vs the Flying Saucers. My mother, who had an interest in science fiction took me to that film when I was very young. It sparked the interest.
By
KRandle, at Friday, October 26, 2018
Yes, Kevin...I forgot about the movies I saw that confirmed for me that flying saucers were ET craft, my belief at the time.
Those were the days, weren't they?
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Friday, October 26, 2018
Perhaps it was the "planet" Saturn hovering over my aunt's apartment building in Hollywood circa late-'50s that sparked my interest (say what you will about Hollywood, but that was pretty impressive even by its garish standards) -- but I had also seen "The Thing From Another World" by then as well, so I was certainly primed for the experience.
By
Ron, at Friday, October 26, 2018
The Thing From Another World, Ron, is my favorite flying saucer movie.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Friday, October 26, 2018
Here's what sparked my interest as a kid...
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/10/ufos-nato-and-military-encounters/
By
Nick Redfern, at Saturday, October 27, 2018
Early on, "The Thing" to be sure and then later on the great Ruppelt book. In high school junior physics, we were told to write a term paper on some "mystery" in the physical world that was poorly understood. I wrote on "flying saucers." That forced me to go to the library in Hartford, Ct. and check out the UFO books. That's where I first became aware of Keyhoe and Scully and, of course, Adamski. It's been a life-long quest (although a side activity to be sure) to discover what the hell is going on in this area. Still not sure...
By
Dominick, at Sunday, October 28, 2018
What sparked my interest was an article in one of the current True or Argosy magazines (I forget which one it was) in 1968 or 1969 that had a photo of a UFO. Years later I discovered that it was a hoax, but that one small item gave me a lifetime's worth of interest in the field.
After that, I devoured all the books I could on the subject, from those written by contactees like Adamski and Billy Meier to Jacques Vallee's works and a whole lot more in between. I still have many of them in my library.
By
rroffel, at Monday, October 29, 2018
Even hoaxed photos were exciting for many of us, rroffel.
Those were the days.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Monday, October 29, 2018
Two things, actually.
In 1952, when I was 5 years old, my family consisted of myself, my older brother, my mother and my father. We were pretty much the Leave it to Beaver family, where I was the Beav’. In perfect sitcom, nuclear family form, we would sit around the dinner table and talk about the current events of the day as represented in the newspapers, from the radio, or from our black and white TV. I remember that in the middle of the Summer that year, the topic of flying saucers suddenly came up at the dinner table. I had never heard the term before and, of course, asked my parents what this all meant. I suppose that if I had been born into most other families, the answer would have been that it was all nonsense stories created by stupid people. In short, it would have been treated with scorn, derision, and dismissal. Instead, my father took the strong position that flying saucers were both real and important. In retrospect, I think that obviously gave me permission to take the subject seriously. Putting it all together later in life, I realized that this particular conversation coincided with the famous Flying Saucer flap over the US Capitol in July, 1952.
Second, in 1956 I went to see the sci-fi movie “Forbidden Planet” as soon as it came out. I still think it was one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a tale of a crew of earthmen traveling to a planet (Altair 4) around a distant star on a terrestrial built flying saucer. There, they encounter the two surviving humans (father and daughter) from an earlier terrestrial exploration party. The two are living amid the remains of an extinct very high-tech civilization (the Krell). The father has learned to utilize one of the still functioning Krell machines to boost his IQ which then allows him to use one of the other Krell machines to create materializations of mass and energy directly from consciousness. These materializations become monsters (from the Id) which wreak death and destruction on those who the father subconsciously dislikes.
It planted two ideas (or “memes” in today’s parlance) in the collective mind that neatly encompass the ETH explanation for Flying Saucers: 1) Flying Saucers are the preferred mode for travelling over interstellar distances (at “many times the speed of light”). 2) There are other, non-human species “out there” who are much more intelligent than we are and who have a mastery of mass and energy that we would not be able to distinguish from magic. It expanded my tiny little 9 year-old mind (not unlike a Krell machine).
By
Larry, at Monday, October 29, 2018
Hahahaha, Larry.....it did expand your mind, and mine too....that movie.
I liked the Freudian underpinning: the Krell and how their id ended up destroying their advanced civilization.
(That the movie is a "rendition" of Shakespeare's The Tempest never really caught on with me.)
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Tuesday, October 30, 2018
My interest was sparked as very young kid when I saw (together with a few friends on each occasion) a couple of strange things in the sky that just looked weird to us and which we all pointed out to each other and commented upon.
The first was an object that appeared to resemble a 'flying pyramid' which seemed to possess none of the common attributes of the aircraft we usually saw - most notably wings!
The second, a few weeks later, seemed initially to be a plane but when it turned from a 'side-on' view to a course heading away from us, its rear and 'tail-plane' now facing us, this 'plane' also appeared to have no wings.
Both of these objects emitted no apparent sound and were seen from a relatively quiet park area early on Saturday or Sunday morning when few other people were about and there was little if any traffic.
Both objects were later reported in the local press as being 'mysterious' and 'unexplained' sightings of 'UFOs' that had been seen and reported by others in the locality.
Neither were ever explained to my knowledge and that peaked my interest in a subject that in the early 70s seemed to be all over the UK media with documentaries and news items about sightings, including 'John Craven's Newsround' - the then groundbreaking BBC news bulletin aimed at kids and broadcast at 5pm, halfway through the regular 4-5.30pm kids tv slot, which seemed to regularly feature UFO items - the Broad Haven Primary School sighting in Pembrokeshire, Wales being a memorable example.
The ITV commercial network were broadcasting many of Gerry Anderson's fantasy series at the time, most of which featured or were largely set in 'outer space' such as 'Fireball XL5','Thunderbirds', Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons', 'Space 1999' and my particular favourite 'UFO' - where Commander Ed Straker, head of S.H.A.D.O.(Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) covertly battled to defend the planet from invading 'aliens' and their spinning, hyperspeed ships from bases and facilities on Earth and Sea, as well as from a secret Moonbase, where 3 missile equipped Interceptors were based and which was orbited by early warning satellite S.I.D. (the Space Intruder Detector) all the while attempting to keep their existence hidden from the public at large.
From then on I requested 'UFO' toys (SHADO Mobiles, ED Straker's car, Moonbase Interceptors etc.) for Christmas and birthdays as well as annuals and paperbacks discussing the subject. (One notable one was Arthur Shuttleworth's 'The Flying Saucerers' - an account of a wave of UFO reports in the late 60s and 70s centred on the Wiltshire town of Warminster)
By
DrDee, at Wednesday, October 31, 2018
As the series progressed, the 'alien' pilots of Anderson's UFOs were revealed to have been 'assembled' from parts of humans that had been abducted from Earth - one particular 'alien' having organs confirmed to be those of two recently reported 'missing persons'. This was my first exposure to the concept of 'aliens' apparently abducting humans for their own nefarious ends. (Although it didn't stop me being extremely sceptical of most of today's supposed 'abduction narratives'.)
A particularly memorable episode featured SHADO's Colonel Paul Foster being abducted by said 'aliens' before being forced to don a spacesuit & helmet which, once sealed and bolted onto the suit, proceeded to fill with a dark green liquid which the UFO occupants must breathe in order to survive their hyperspeed, interplanetary travel. The alien ship containing Col. Foster is shot down and he is recovered from the wreckage alive. However, the sight of SHADO medical operatives attempting the delicate and potentially fatal removal of Foster's liquid filled helmet, so that he may breathe our atmosphere again, acccompanied by the desperate sounds of Foster choking and gurgling as green liquid leaks down his arms and chest, is possibly the most traumatic scene my young eyes had ever experienced and is something that has certainly stayed with me!
Anyway - that's the stuff that got me interested in UFOs! :)
By
DrDee, at Wednesday, October 31, 2018
And here's the 'offending' clip! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elYkl5fPNgw&feature=youtu.be
By
DrDee, at Thursday, November 01, 2018
I first got into the subject through some newspaper articles when I was very young. It was to do with Gerald Heard's early book which concluded that intelligent bees from Mars were the answer! (He had written a book on bees and insects several years before, so I later learned).
Adamski soon followed, then Allingham, then the whole subject seemed to explode with anything & everything being brought in. Keyhoe, of course, encouraged us youngsters in those far off days, especially from the US viewpoint.
Of course Moore (Allingham) gained his inspiration from Adamski, plus his own astronomical knowledge. Those were the days.
By
cda, at Thursday, November 01, 2018
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