The Woman Who Made UFO News

The Washington, D.C. area was a hotbed of UFO activity in the early 1950s, for news, events, and as a locale for researchers. The flying saucers reports in July 1952 over the nation’s Capital made UFOs a matter of national security and front-page news. The flying saucer fever led to clubs springing up all over, including Washington.

A major figure in the D.C. area saucer scene was Clara L. John, but her role in UFO history has been largely forgotten, making  her one of ufology’s “Hidden Figures.” STTF set out to find out more about Clara and her work.

Clara Louise Colcord, age 19.
The Evening Star, Oct. 8, 1907 

Clara Louise Colcord was born on June 12, 1888, in Scranton, Iowa. In the early 1900s, her family lived in Maryland near Washington, D.C, and her father was the editor of religious publications for the Seventh-day Adventists. At the age of 19, Clara married Ray Albert Leslie, and in the following years, they moved to Michigan. Census records show they didn’t have any children, and she gave her occupation as “none.” Unofficially, Clara Louise Leslie was a writer for general interest articles in magazines and newspapers. Two examples: In “Why Do We Love Mary Pickford?,” for Motion Picture, May 1918,  Clara hyperbolically wrote, “Mary Pickford is a fairy! She is not of this world.” Her essay, “An Evolutionary Eyeful,” in Photoplay Journal, Feb. 1919, was on the virtues of movies as a medium for entertainment and education.

After her husband Ray died on July 25, 1924, Clara moved back to the Washington area. She researched and wrote about the invention of the microphone, and who deserved credit for it, as seen in The Radio Home, June/July 1926 “The Man Who Made the Mike: A Brief History of Emile Berliner, the Man Who is Responsible for the Microphone.”

Time magazine, May 21, 1928

We could find no documentation of Clara’s interest in the occult before 1927, but afterwards, most of what she wrote was on supernatural topics. In the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Jan. 10, 1929, Clara’s letter defended against criticism of Spiritualism. She felt the “materialistic world” was at its limit, and the spiritual realm was the new frontier.

Reason Quarterly no. 2, 1927, “Analyzing Prayer and Telepathy”

Evening Star, Jan. 10, 1929

Clara was in her early 40s when she married Dr. Walton Colcord John (1881-1942) on December 24, 1930, a professor who worked for the United States Bureau of Education. Shortly afterwards Clara published an article about a strange guest her husband had hosted. “Science Studies Pow-Wowing,” was Clara’s article about Jacob Zellers, who claimed to have killed five people with witchcraft. Zellers spoke to an audience at the Graduate School of American University at Washington. D.C., “all advanced students and educators working under Dr. Walton Colcord John.” It was published in Every Week Magazine, reprinted in newspapers such as the Lubbock Morning Avalanche, Jan 23, 1931.

They lived at 4811 Illinois Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. and she continued to write professionally under her old name, Clara Louise Leslie, as in this piece, “Live Ghosts in a Senator’s House” Feb. 7, 1931, in The Evening Independent.

Clara’s letter to the Washington Post, on June 2, 1938, suggesting the planned national memorial for Thomas Jefferson be created as “a planetarium instead of a pile of stone.” Her remarks about the universe and its “orderly energy” may have been a hint of how she’d later feel about flying saucers.

She returned to the topic of ghosts in True Mystic Science, Jan/Feb 1939, for “When the Camera Catches Ghosts.”

Walton Colcord John became ill and was treated at the Washington Sanitarium. He died at the age of 61 on June 18, 1942. There’s not much to document Clara’s life during this time, but her father had died in 1935, she’d lost two of her brothers by 1937, then her mother in May of 1950. Clara was 62 then, and her only surviving family was her youngest brother, Glenn. But Clara was not alone, she had a wide circle of friends and frequently hosted discussions and lectures in her home. 

If the Flying Saucers are True… 

Like many interested in spiritualism and the occult, when flying saucers made the news, Clara became interested in the mystery – and the hope that they were the craft of friendly otherworldly visitors. The first public documentation of her involvement with UFO topic was in the Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), May 18, 1952, where Clara wrote a letter to the editor: 

“If the flying saucers are ‘true,’ it will be the biggest news since Adam. The evidence now seems to be piling up in that direction. One thing beclouds the issue - peoples’ fears of such things - born out of science fiction which in turn is based on war-filled earth history. A moment’s observation shows this fear to be unwarranted. Sightings have been going on for years and not once have these ‘visitors’ done us any harm. Another self-evident thing, whatever or whoever they are, their knowledge of astronautics and propulsion is far ahead of ours. Newspapers easily have the power to remove this tendency to mass fear which, in turn will remove the attitude of ridicule on the part of many (a defense mechanism) so that from here on the subject can be faced open mindedly. I have even heard some of your readers propose a weekly ‘clearing house’ for worthy observations and opinions. This should make interesting reading, to say the least.

Clara Louise John

Speaking of interesting reading… Clara must have read and loved Frank Scully’s 1950 bestseller, Behind the Flying Saucers. A portion of the book discussed Meade Layne and his Borderland Sciences Research Associates, who believed flying saucers were “ether craft come to us from the ’other side,' who’d come with the “intention to prevent destruction of the omniverse by makers of hydrogen bombs.” Clara began corresponding far and wide with others with similar views. As she became more involved, saucers were one of the many unusual topics discussed in meetings she held in her home. T. Townsend Brown was a regular, and his daughter Linda Brown recalled “a childhood memory of a farm in Maryland, the home of a 67-year-old widow, Mrs. Walton Colcord John… [who] indulged an abiding interest in the unusual and esoteric, subjects that today might be considered ‘New Age.’ … Clara hosted some like-minded friends… For one such gathering... Townsend Brown brought his daughter, who mostly remembers that Mrs. John ‘had white ponies in a nearby field.’” (The Man Who Mastered Gravity 2023 by Paul Schatzkin, 2023)

In late 1952 Clara made contact with flying saucer lecturer George Adamski.

Fate July 1951

According to Loren Gross in his UFOs: A History, 1952: November–December, even prior to Adamski’s claim of meeting an alien, he had “established a number of epistolary friendships with persons across the country, perhaps the most notable being Mrs. Clara [Louise] John…” and that, “correspondence between Mrs. John and Adamski was extensive before and after November 20, 1952 and that it was no accident Mrs. John was working on the ‘professor's’ crude notes in preparation for a book on the ‘desert contact."

According to Frank Edwards (in Flying Saucers - Here and Now!, 1967), Clara first approached him with the manuscript. “I declined to have anything to do with the mess and she left my office in a bit of a huff.”

A publisher in the UK was far more receptive and packaged Adamski’s tale with a previously completed Theosophical manuscript by Desmond Leslie. Their book was published in the Fall of 1953, the international bestseller, The Flying Saucers have Landed. Clara’s involvement in the book was not public knowledge, and she wanted to keep it that way.

 

The Little Listening Post

By early 1954 Clara decided to draw on her connections and sources and produce a newsletter. In it, she did not use her name, early editions were signed as “C.L.J.” Gray Barker’s The Saucerian, Sept. 1954 described her publication. 

“THE LITTLE LISTENING POST, published by Mrs. Walton Colcord John… is a two-or-three-page mimeographed bulletin reporting a remarkable volume of saucerdoings and occult phenomena. The bulletin is informative and will keep the reader briefed on the goings-on in those fields. The project is supported by good-will donations, and we' re sure a quarter will bring at least some sample copies your way.”

The Little Listening Post 1954-1965 Collection
at Archives for the Unexplained (AFU)

LLP reached a small but devoted audience of devoted flying saucer fans, and provided news on saucer sightings, clubs, conventions, literature, ESP, ghosts, spirit radio, and other associated paranormal topics. Her sources? Often anonymous, they included mainstream reporters and broadcasters, UFO witnesses, Contactees, government insiders, and psychic channelers. The tone was often fervent and hyperbolic with big saucer news perennially coming soon, typed lots of things in ALL CAPS and underlined for emphasis!!! 

In Clara’s Feb. 1954 article, “Need for Unity between Science and the Occult,” she talked about how UFOs might be an indication that “our familiar old three dimensional world is in some sense bursting its shell… Patience will be needed… And enough humility to lay aside old vaunted traditions…”  

In LLP Dec/Jan 1954-55, Clara showed her devotion to George Adamski and quoted from his recent letter to her. She believed as he did that, “for the first time in this civilization we are becoming alerted to the reality of other inhabited planets and growing into a greater consciousness and understanding of the vast universe…”

Clara received many saucerian guests at LLP, and in early 1955, Morris K. Jessup (1900-1959) paid a visit. She taped the only known recording of either of them, a discussion of saucers and his forthcoming book, The Case for the UFO. From Wendy Connors’ Faded Disc archives: Morris Ketchum Jessup's only Known Recorded Interview by Clara John of the Little Listening Post at Washington, DC. in 1955. 21:42.

Clara said that ufology had become “practically your life’s work now.” Jessup replied, “I’m not doing anything else…” and she said, “Well the subject owns us it’s so, so much bigger than we are, I don’t blame you.” Jessup said, “That is certainly the truth, and this subject takes hold of you, and you practically become a slave to it. It’s a little hard to explain, but once you get into it, you recognize the length and the breadth and the depth of it, to a point where it is not only amazing, but perhaps a falling as well.”

Later, promoting Jessup's book in LLP, she wrote; “Saucer Fans, here is a weapon to use in convincing the Skeptics.” It became famous for something different, however. Gray Barker was one of many paranormal researchers Clara kept in touch with. Writing in his 1963 book, The Strange Case of Dr. M. K. Jessup, Barker tells how he got a call from Clara: 

“I first learned of the annotated copy [of The Case for the UFO] when… over the telephone, Mrs. John told me of a strange rumor going around, to the effect that somebody had sent a marked-up copy to Washington and that the government had gone to the expense of mimeographing the entire book, so that all the underlinings and notations could be added to the original text. This was being sent around rather widely, she told me, through military channels. She… seemed to connect it with an alleged Naval experiment wherein a ship had completely disappeared from sight. I couldn't make too much out of all this until later I had also heard about the strange Allende Letters, which told of such an experiment in a most horrifying way.”

That was the infancy of the legend that became known as “the Philadelphia Experiment.” Over the years, LLP endorsed just about every claim, from Frank Scully’s crashed saucer story, to the schemes and yarns of Otis T. Carr and Reinhold O.Schmitt. Spiritualist Enid Brady, who channeled aliens, called Clara, to tell her about her work. She published an announcement about it in the LLP Dec 55/Jan 56 issue, saying Enid “gave much intimate ‘contact info’” from Venus, and also had formed the Daytona Beach (Florida) Flying Saucer Research Club.  

From the Saucer Group to NICAP

Clara decided to turn her own gatherings into the Flying Saucer Discussion Group.

Classified ad, possibly for Clara’s group. Evening Star, March 04, 1956

Clara John’s notes from the group’s fourth meeting on July 20, 1956, stated:

"Today there are great thousands of little research groups all over the world, as well as people working singly on this thing. The time has come to coordinate their activities into a pattern that will prepare humanity for this startling new event in human existence.”

The idea went over, and soon T. Townsend Brown came up with a prospectus for what was soon named the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP).

By 1957, UFO author Donald Keyhoe took charge of the organization. Curtis Peebles in Watch the Skies! (1995), “Given the anticontactee stance NICAP took under Kehoe, the involvement of Clara L John in the group's founding is, to say the least ironic.”

Although she was supportive of NICAP, Clara was not an active part of it. When Donald Keyhoe stepped in as director, he purged the group of any connections with the Contactees. Nevertheless, Clara continued to report on Don Keyhoe and NICAP’s crusade and urged readers to support it. 

 

Controversies and Exposures

It went largely ignored for years, but Flying Saucers Have Landed included George Adamski’s recognition of a key contributor: 

“With grateful thanks I acknowledge the sincere co-operation and untiring efforts of those who have helped me make this book possible. And without the editing and helpful encouragement of C.L.J. this book in its present form and at this time would have been impossible.”

Lonzo Dove was skeptical of Adamski and quoted correspondence that revealed Clara’s role in his book, and he also found material that suggested Adamski had hoaxed UFO photographs to just for the book. Uranus Dec. 1956, Vol 03 No 3, “Adamski - The Last Nail?” quotes her Jan. 23, 1953, letter to Dove, where Clara said while working on the manuscript: "Things are all mixed up, publicity not handled right, pathetic and his [Adamski] story is too prosaic, not put together right. Please don't mention my name in any of this."

Leave it Jim Moseley. Clara was “outed” by name in his Saucer News Feb-March 1957.

The scandal continued in Lonzo Dove’s “Open Letter to George Adamski’s ‘C.L.J.’ in Saucer News April/May 1957. Working from Dove’s evidence, Adamski Critic David Wightman, implicated Clara in "The Adamski Photographs, Where And How?" in  Flying Saucer Review. 6:3 May-June 1960.

Clara did not seem to respond publicly, but maybe this was her indirect response from LLP Aug-Oct. 1958:

“Within the ranks war continues between those who accept the contact stories and those who don't. Dif[ferences] of opinion O.K. but in a subject as big.as this one it is SMART to keep openminded. Also POLITE. YOU ARE DEALING WITH A MYSTERY. A SITUATION FOR WHICH THERE IS NO PRECEDENT! “Judge not!" IT IS A SERIOUS THING TO BRAND ANOTHER AS CROOKED, or A FAKE.”

Clara was branded as a fake to the FBI. Page 21 of the FBI file on Otis T. Carr contains a letter from sent to them by Dan B. Haber, and he enclosed an ad 1958 from a 1958 LLP announcing the publication of Margaret Storm’s (Contactee biography of Nikola Tesla) Return of the Dove. Haber’s handwritten notation on it stated: “This page was written by Clara Johns… [who] wrote George Adamski’s first book, ‘Flying Saucers have Landed!’ She seems to be the center of much fiction that is branded as fact.”  

If the FBI had come after Carla, she would have thought it was part of the government’s saucer silencing policy, a crime against the Cosmos! In LLP Jan-March 1959, she said that for their saucer cover-up, someday the Air Force would face a reckoning!

 

The 1960s and the Final Issue

Clara was eternally cheerful and optimistic about what tomorrow’s promise for the saucer scene. In LLP Mar./Apr./May 1963:

*SAUCER FRONT: U.S.A.F. trying doggedly to sink the Saucers, but public won't be hoodwinked! NICAP official tells LLP that interest in UFO's is now at an all-time high; a great expectancy is felt across the land----"people are waiting for SOMETHING!"….. O'er the ramparts we watch, the Saucers still zoom….”

However, after ten years, the Contactee era was on its way out. While the notion had been popular, it just wasn’t taken seriously by many for very long.

Nevertheless, Clara continued to zealously believe, and sometimes to preach, as in LLP Jan/Feb 1964:

“In our skies are VISITORS… today, most of the world is blind to the glorious ‘GOSPEL’ - - the ‘Good News’ - - being WRITTEN OUT BEFORE THEIR EYES by swift, shining, unearthly ‘messengers’ world-over in our skies.”

The Little Listening Post continued publication until 1965. The May/June/July issue announced the death of George Adamski, and the following Aug./Sept./Oct. issue was its last. On January 29, 1968, Clara died at the age of 79. She was buried next to Walton in Glenwood Cemetery, Washington, D.C.  

Flying Saucers International, March 1968.

Clara John was a pioneering woman in the UFO field, a well-connected advocate who published an influential periodical, and helped create one of the most respected saucer organizations of all time. Her work forged the UFO topic into what it is today, and she deserves to be remembered for that. 

. . .

Disclosure and the Alien Cover-Up of 2001

 

The notion of UFO “Disclosure” may have been born with Donald E. Keyhoe’s article in TRUE Magazine, January 1950, “The Flying Saucers are Real.” Keyhoe presented the passage below, supposedly quoting an anonymous aircraft designer described as one of the “top engineers” for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (N.A.C.A.), who shared the view that “the disks are interplanetary.” 

“I think that the American public is being gradually conditioned to think in terms of space travel.  I think we are being prepared for what [the Air Force] probably already knows: that the Earth is under surveillance by interplanetary travelers. 

“Remember the New Jersey panic over the Orson Welles 'Men From Mars’ broadcast?" he said.  “I think the government may believe that disclosure of the disks’ probable origin would set off a nationwide hysteria. Personally, I doubt it would. I think Americans could take it.”

 “Disclosure” with a capital D, became an obsession by some UFO and alien fans, who fervently believe that the US government has knowledge and proof of extraterrestrial visitation, but chooses to withhold it from the public. A closely related Disclosure belief is that the government has a plan to reveal aliens, but only after a program of acclimation to avoid panic in the public. 

While it was overshadowed by other aspects, the concept of an alien cover-up and its inevitable disclosure was central to the story in a 1968 major motion picture. Let’s take a close look at how two master storytellers confronted the topic.

The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey was written by director Stanley Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. In Arthur C. Clarke and the Magic of UFOs, we briefly examined his negative view of flying saucers as proof of aliens. In 1963 he wrote, “I have little doubt that Unidentified Aerial Objects do exist – and equally little doubt that they are not spaceships! The evidence against the latter hypothesis is, in my opinion, quite overwhelming...” 

Clarke was open to the possibility of intelligent life on other planets and wrote much plausible science fiction about it. For this reason, Kubrick approached him to create a realistic movie about extraterrestrial contact. Their story began with the birth of the human race, then jumped forward in time to 2001, when Earth had begun to colonize the moon.

We’re introduced to Dr. Heywood Floyd, of the National Council of Astronautics, on his flight to the moon. We gradually learn he’s been sent to oversee the investigation of a structured object of extraterrestrial origin discovered in a scientific excavation at the base at Clavius. Authorities have cut off communications, and as cover story, spread rumors of an epidemic there (and the base is under quarantine).   

The screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey by Kubrick and Clarke was originally written with narration to guide us thorough the story, but Kubrick chose to eliminate the narrator, opting for a more mysterious audiovisual experience for the audience. For Clarke’s version of the story in the novel, he included the explanatory material from the script’s narration, presenting the story in a more linear manner. 

While there’s much of interest in the film, we’re focusing solely on the two scenes involving the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence, and the U.S. government’s choice to keep it secret. There were differences in how the scenes were presented between the screenplay, finished film, then in Clarke's novel.

 

Scene One: Dr. Floyd’s Talk on the Moon Base

 The Screenplay:

“FLOYD: First of all, I bring a personal message from Dr. Howell, who has asked me to convey his deepest appreciation to all of you for the personal sacrifices you have made, and of course his congratulations on your discovery which may well prove to be among the most significant in the history of science.

POLITE APPLAUSE.

FLOYD (cont'd): Mr. Halvorsen has made known to me some of the conflicting views held by many of you regarding the need for complete security in this matter, and more specifically your strong opposition to the cover story created to give the impression there is an epidemic at the Base. I understand that beyond it being a matter of principle, many of you are troubled by the concern and anxiety this story of an epidemic might cause your relatives and friends on Earth.

I can understand and sympathize with your negative views. I have been personally embarrassed by this cover story. But I fully accept the need for absolute secrecy and I hope you will.

It should not be difficult for all of you to realise the potential for cultural shock and social disorientation contained in the present situation if the facts were prematurely and suddenly made public without adequate preparation and conditioning.

FLOYD: This is the view of the Council and the purpose of my visit here is to gather additional facts and opinions on the situation and to prepare a report to the Council recommending when and how the news should eventually be announced. Are there any questions?

MICHAELS: Dr. Floyd, how long do you think this can be kept under wraps?

FLOYD (pleasantly): I'm afraid it can and it will be kept under wraps as long as it is deemed to be necessary by the Council. And of course you know that the Council has requested that formal security oaths are to be obtained in writing from everyone who had any knowledge of this event. There must be adequate time for a full study to be made of the situation before any consideration can be given to making a public announcement.”

The Film:

The filmed version had revisions to the dialogue but was faithful to the scene in the script.

The Novel:

Dr. Floyd’s briefing in the book was shorter and barely touches on the “Disclosure” aspect. Beforehand, he discussed the rumor of a “moon-plague” with the administrator. “I'm sorry about that but no one could think of a better cover story, and so far it's worked.” When he addresses the staff, he says:

“I'm quite aware that some of you - perhaps most of you - are anxious that the present veil of secrecy be withdrawn; you would not be scientists if you thought otherwise. But I would remind you that this is a quite extraordinary situation. We must be absolutely sure of our own facts; if we make errors now, there may be no second chance - so please be patient a little longer. Those are also the wishes of the President.”

The next scene is the monolith being examined. As its exposed to the rays of the sun it emits a signal.

Scene Two: Disclosure of the True Mission

The story jumps to Dave Bowman, a member of the crew of the spaceship Discovery One, on a mission to Saturn (changed to Jupiter for the film). An intelligent computer, HAL 9000, operates the ship, but due to being programmed to lie to the crew to preserve the secret of the alien relic, it developed “neurotic symptoms,” which led to Hal killing the crew.

The Screenplay:

After disabling HAL 9000, Dave Bowman, the lone surviving astronaut, establishes communication with earth. Mission Control explains what went wrong with HAL 9000, then the truth of the mission is revealed by a taped message from Dr. Floyd.

“Good day, gentlemen… Thirteen months before the launch date of your Saturn mission, on April 12th, 2001, the first evidence for intelligent life outside the Earth was discovered. It was found buried at a depth of fifteen meters in the crater Tycho. No news of this was ever announced, and the event had been kept secret since then, for reasons which I will later explain. 

Soon after it was uncovered, it emitted a powerful blast of radiation in the radio spectrum which seems to have triggered by the Lunar sunrise. Luckily for those at the site, it proved harmless. Perhaps you can imagine our astonishment when we later found it was aimed precisely at Saturn. …We finally concluded that the only reason you might bury a sun-powered device would be to keep it inactive until it would be uncovered, at which time it would absorb sunlight and trigger itself. 

What is its purpose? I wish we knew. The object was buried on the moon about four million years ago, when our ancestors were primitive man-apes. We've examined dozens of theories, but the one that has the most currency at the moment is that the object serves as an alarm. 

What the purpose of the alarm is, why they wish to have the alarm, whether the alarm represents any danger to us? These are questions no one can answer. The intentions of an alien world, at least four million years older than we are, cannot be reliably predicted. 

In view of this, the intelligence and scientific communities felt that any public announcement might lead to significant cultural shock and disorientation. Discussion took place at the highest levels between governments, and it was decided that the only wise and precautionary course to follow was to assume that the intentions of this alien world are potentially dangerous to us, until we have evidence to the contrary. This is, of course, why security has been maintained and why this information has been kept on a need-to-know basis.” 

The Film:

The taped message is much shorter in the film and cuts off after Floyd describes the discovery of the monolith and the signal it emitted. “Its origin and purpose still a total mystery.” 

The Novel:

Instead of a taped message, in the book, Bowman establishes contact with Earth and speaks to Dr. Floyd, who explains to him at length what is known and thought about the object. In part: 

“And now I must tell you its real purpose, which we have managed, with great difficulty, to keep secret from the general public… Everything I am about to tell you has the highest security classification. Two years ago, we discovered the first evidence for intelligent life outside the Earth. [The monolith was a] Sun-triggered, signaling device... that it emitted its pulse… when it was exposed to daylight for the first time in three million years… the monolith may be some kind of alarm. And we have triggered it. 

Whether the civilization which set it up still exists, we do not know. We must assume [they do and] that they may be hostile. …primitive races have often failed to survive the encounter with higher civilizations. Anthropologists talk of 'cultural shock'; we may have to prepare the entire human race for such a shock. But until we know something about the creatures… we cannot even begin to make any preparations. Your mission…is a scouting trip… So now you know your real objective, and can appreciate the vital importance of this mission. We are all praying that you can still provide us with some facts for a preliminary announcement; the secret cannot be kept indefinitely.”

Bowman finds a giant-sized monolith and takes a pod to investigate. He makes the contact with the object and finds the experience overwhelming.

The ending of the story is a bit different in the script, film, and novel, but all reflect a transformation. The extraterrestrial intelligence had placed the monolith on earth to spark the development of mankind. By following their signal into space to another monolith, we showed that our species was ready for the next step in our evolution. 

While spectacular finale of the film leaves the issue of alien cover-up and disclosure in the dust, it’s worth remembering how central it was to the plot. Also, how the secrecy and cover-up resulted in suspicion, distrust, and in the case of HAL 9000, rather severe “neurotic symptoms.” 

Something Spectacular

In the 1980 TV series, Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, episode 10 was “U.F.O.s.” In the opening, Clarke said:

“I think I can claim to be a reluctant expert on UFOs. I've been interested in them for almost fifty years, long before the phrase ‘flying saucers’ was invented. UFOs are very common. If you've never seen one, you're either unobservant, or you live in a cloudy area. I've seen half a dozen good ones, and now I have some very definite opinions on the subject.”

His views were mostly skeptical. However, closing the episode, Clarke offered some more optimistic thoughts.

“Personally, I'm convinced that there must be many, many higher civilizations in this enormous and incredibly ancient universe of ours. And since we are preparing to go out into space ourselves, other older races may have been doing this for millions of years. So it's quite reasonable to think that they may have come here in the remote past, perhaps many times as indeed suggested in 2001. [He went on to say that we should look for fossilized evidence. Modern radar and space equipment can detect objects the size of a pencil.]

Is it conceivable that we've been having visitors over the last decades trying to sneak up on us, landing in obscure places, being seen by a few people, and not by these enormous tracking networks? I feel that when there really is a visitation from space, it'll be something spectacular, rather like the climax of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We'll be certain of it in about five minutes.” 

Clarke made no mention of any UFO secrecy or cover-up in the show, but the closing scenario gave a clue as to his position. Disclosure will come from the extraterrestrials themselves, not the government.

. . .