Dr. Hynek's Record of UFO Encounters

 

There's a strange relationship between fact and fiction in the UFO business. J. Allen Hynek consulted for the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, had a cameo role, and he also wrote the epilogue for the novelization. The publisher, Dell, also issued the non-fiction The Hynek UFO Report, which is regarded as a classic. Without Hynek, there might not have been a CE3K, and if not for the film, the Hynek book might not exist. Or some other commercial products.

 

Panama City News, March 28, 1966 

Dr. Hynek began working for a consultant for the Air Force in 1948, providing them with explanations for UFO sightings based on his knowledge of astronomy, but did so in relative obscurity. At the Detroit Press Club, on March 26, 1966 Hynek was propelled into the public spotlight, initially unfavorably, due to his remarks about “swamp gas.” Nevertheless, he became the top authority on the UFO topic, and in demand. In a heel/face turn, he went from being the Air Force’s senior debunker to being the most famous UFO advocate. Jacques Vallee, from Forbidden Science Vol. I, his entry for 11 April 1967:

"I miss the days when he was not such a celebrity... The topic has become fashionable entertainment, not serious science. Media men hire Allen as they would hire a guitar player. He rushes wherever he sees a spotlight, and if the spotlight moves he moves with it."

 

Jacques Vallee described Hynek’s gig as a consultant for Stephen Spielberg’s UFO movie in Forbidden Science Vol. II, in his entry for Friday 27 August 1976:

“Allen called me last night, cheerful... Dell is sending two writers to help him with a hurriedly-compiled paperback about Project Blue Book. As for the Spielberg movie, he will indeed have a silent role in it, making his way to the front of a crowd of technical people who surround the first landed saucer. I'd love to see the out-takes: They shot a sequence where Aliens surrounded him, pulled on his beard, took his pipe and poked it into their nose.”

 

Hynek took an active role in helping promote the film and appeared in the theatrical trailer for it.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind theatrical trailer

The book he and the ghost writers cranked out was The Hynek UFO Report, which hit the market in late 1977 to cash in on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and his epilogue for the movie novelization closed with a plug for his Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and their magazine, International UFO Reporter.  

UFO Encounters: The Record Album

 

Dr. J. Allen Hynek and his Center for UFOs Studies were partners in the production of a double LP audio documentary, Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters. A news story in The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1979, told how the project began when Investigative Research Associates approached Hynek at a UFO convention in 1977. Hynek was initially reluctant, fearing it would be “schlocky,” but IRA convinced him of their sincerity, so together they set out to cover the most significant cases and record first-hand testimony about them.

The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1979

Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters was a two-disc LP, also released on cassette and 8-track tape. It was released in 1978 on the IRA label.

 

It was reviewed in UFO publications such as the A.P.R.O. Bulletin, but the most comprehensive review was in the MUFON UFO Journal, Feb. 1980,“In Others' Words” by Lucius Farish: 

“A new 2-album record set, "UFO Encounters," presents an interesting selection of testimonies and opinions by UFO witnesses and researchers. Contributors to the album include Kenneth Arnold, Colonel Robert Friend (former Project Blue Book Director), Bill Pecha, Ted Phillips, Travis Walton, Father William Gill, Herbert Schirmer, former Air Force Major Paul A. Duich,

Louise Smith, Leonard Stringfield, Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Betty Hill, Marjorie Fish, Stanton Friedman, former astronaut Gordon Cooper, Jacques Vallee, David Saunders, and others. An additional bonus is President Carter's personal recounting of his 1969 UFO sighting. A special section inside the album cover contains 6 pages of UFO photographs, plus photos of most of the persons heard in the records. Some of the material relating to "crashed saucer" stories seem questionable, but all in all, this is a good selection of recorded UFO material. Available from: Investigative Research Associates, Inc., Suite W, 430 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614; the price is $8.95.” 

 Crashed Saucer Investigation

 The red banner across the cover of the album touted “Crashed Saucer Investigation,” and the interior, a described the track:

“Since the 1940s, rumors have circulated indicating the possibility that extraterrestrial spacecraft have crashed on Earth and have been recovered by the American military. Investigative Research Associates decided to pursue these reports…”

The segment is interesting in that it documents the marketability of crashed UFO stories even before the revival of the Roswell incident. I had begun when Robert Spencer Carr rekindled interest in a discredited aspect of ufology in 1974 by reviving the story of little men found in a saucer in Aztec, New Mexico. Leonard Stringfield was the chief crashed UFO researcher, but for the album, even Dr. Hynek got in on the act.

The “Crashed Saucer Investigation” was the next to last track on the album. It opened with former astronaut Col. Gordon Cooper vaguely discussing second-hand rumors he’d heard about saucer crashes:

“There were some accident involving a UFO, and from there it varies greatly. There were occupants and in each of the rumors that I've heard, but from there on, it varies greatly as to whether they were all alive, or some alive, or what the extent of damage was to them, and then as to what happened to them is quite variable. The particular rumors aren't necessarily from people who've been involved, but they come from so many different sources, that it would lead you to believe that it certainly is worth investigating a little further.”

Dr. Hynek shared his view:

“Over the years, these rumors have persisted. Hardly a week goes by without my being asked about the ‘crashed saucer’ stories. My response to these rumors has always been complete skepticism. Recently however, some of my colleagues, Investigative Research Associates, have probed into these stories and some intriguing information has surfaced. I believe it is quite worthwhile to let listeners to this record have the benefit of some preliminary findings.”

Hynek went on to introduce the (now-discredited) story of Robert B. Willingham and his recovery of a piece of a crashed UFO at Del Rio, NM, in 1948.

Next, Herbert Coyer told about a story he heard from an aide to an Army general about a 1951 saucer crash at White Sands where alien bodies were recovered and an autopsy was performed. Both Willingham and Coyer’s stories featured metal from the UFO that was incredibly tough and could not be burned or cut, a detail we’d see hear again when the Roswell crash was resurrected.

The Final Track: Summaries and Theories 

The final segment was “Summaries and Theories,” which featured comments from Stanton Friedman, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr.  Jacques Vallee, and Dr. David Saunders. Hynek suggested that UFOs might be from another dimension or a parallel reality rather than being something from another faraway planet. He was the researcher given the last word on the album and drifted a bit into mystic concepts:

“The idea of other intelligences in space is not so radical or new. It's in both the ancient Eastern religions and the more modern faiths. The prophets in the Bible and many philosophers have been telling us for centuries that there are other planes of existence. So why do we find it so difficult to acknowledge that there might be other highly developed life forms or forms of consciousness that might surpass our own? In fact, it is now widely accepted that the universe may well be teeming with life.”

Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters is worth a listen, for the chance to hear rare recordings with witness and researchers, and for a look at the state of serious ufology at the time it was recorded. The full album is available via YouTube. 

 Another version features each track individually. Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters

UFOs and science fiction have a complicated history together, and there’s no doubt there has been a mutual exploitative relationship. That’s show business, and it makes for some strange bedfellows. 

Dr. Hynek with characters from Star Wars, and with Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. 

Track Listing and Credits

Below are the track titles and lengths to Factual Eyewitness Testimony of: UFO Encounters, followed by the album’s credits.

Introduction 4:24

Foo Fighters 2:08

Kenneth Arnold Sighting 3:40

Government Involvement 2:04

Simi Valley Sighting (CE-I) 5:08

Pecha Case (CE-I) 5:44

James Richard Case (CE-II) 6:59

Travis Walton Abduction (CE-III) 15:44

Father William Gill Sighting (CE-III) 4:51

Officer Herbert Schirmer Abduction (CE-III) 8:29

Louise Smith / Kentucky Women Abduction (CE-III) 7:20

Charles R McQuiston PSE Evaluation Summary 1:14

Betty and Barney Hill Abduction (CE-III) 7:42

Crashed Saucer Investigation 10:09

Summaries and Theories 4:46

 Credits, as listed on the back cover:

Produced by: Investigative Research Associates, Inc., Chicago, Illinois. 

Producer: Steve Cronen. Exec. Prod.: Ben Christ.

Scientific Consultants: Center for UFO Studies, Evanston Illinois, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Sherman

J. Larsen.

Investigation, Research, Writing: Peter Bordwell, Steve [Thom].

Narration: Walt Peters.

Music: DeWolfe Music, Inc. 

Music Coordination: Walt Peters. 

Musical Effects: Ron Figura.

Recorded at: Starbeat Recording Studios, Deerfield, Illinois. 

Engineering, Editing & Mix: Steve Cronen.

Album Design: Steve Schaul.

Album Cover Trifid Nebula Photo: Copyright by the California Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Reproduced by permission from the Hale Observatories UFO Photos & Documents: Center For UFO Studies.

 

 . . .

Close Encounters: The Slide Show

Dr. Hynek had been involved in some other commercial enterprises before the Spielberg movie. In 1976 he had produced a set of UFO slides and audiotapes for Edmund Scientific, but with release of CE3K, it was a hotter item.

It was advertised in Popular Science and was featured in an article in the April 1978 debut issue of Future magazine (the companion to Starlog). Below is a YouTube video of the Hynek audio, sadly without the accompanying slides shown.

The Blue Ribbon UFO Panel of the National Enquirer

Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Dr. Frank Salisbury, Dr. James Harder, Dr. Robert Creegan,
Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Mr. Jim Lorenzen. From 1975.

In the early 1970s, an elite panel of researchers from the leading UFO organizations was formed to evaluate the strongest cases of the year, and they had a specific goal: "find positive proof that UFOs come from outer space." They were called the Blue Ribbon Panel, and were assembled and financed by The National Enquirer, the tabloid magazine owned by Generoso Paul "Gene" Pope, Jr.

From 1967

It wasn't merely about the pursuit of science; the Enquirer was after selling papers, and they were putting up big money to pursue the cases and evidence. 

National Enquirer clipping from 1978

The panel was comprised of top men. Top men.

The National Enquirer's Blue Ribbon Panel members of 1974. From left to right: Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Robert F. Creegan, Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Dr. James A. Harder, and Dr. Frank B. Salisbury (Betz Mystery Sphere in foreground). APRO (Photo from The Encyclopedia of UFOs by Ronald Story.)


In the 1997 book, At the Threshold: UFOs, Science and the New Age, Charles F. Emmons, Ph.D. discussed the magazine's Blue Ribbon Panel:

Surprisingly the National Enquirer, when its format emphasized the paranormal rather than celebrities, was one of the more "scholarly" of the tabloids, at least in regard to UFOs. James A. Harder, a pioneering ufologist with a Ph.D. in fluid mechanics from the University of California, and a retired engineering professor from UC Berkeley, reports that he, Leo Sprinkle, Frank B. Salisbury and Robert Creegan, all from APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), and J. Allen Hynek himself formed the UFO consulting board for the National Enquirer in 1972. The publication established a reward of $50,000 for "the first person who can prove that a UFO came from outer space and is not a natural phenomenon." Not only did this statement contain the assumption that UFOs must be extraterrestrial and nonnatural, but it seemed so difficult to prove that another award of $5,000 was added for best evidence each year.

In 1975, the editors of the National Enquirer were uncertain enough about the validity of the Travis Walton case (in which Walton was knocked down by a beam from a UFO in an Arizona forest and disappeared for five days) that they decided not to publish it, although later the consulting board decided to award Walton and five other witnesses in the case the $5,000 for 1975. Three MUFON consultants were added to the board in 1978, but it was eliminated in 1979. Certainly this is an atypical chapter in the tabloid UFO story, but it also shows that mass media are not as uniform as one might think in spite of certain general patterns.

Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Jim Lorenzen, Dr. James Harder, Dr. Robert Creegan, Dr. Frank Salisbury, and
Dr. J. Allen Hynek 

While the panel was active, it awarded $5,000 to $10,000 for the flowing UFO cases, including some now classics, but there were some that didn't make the cut.

The Panel and the Betz Sphere

In 1974, one of the cases the Enquirer panel investigated was that of a metal sphere found by Terry Matthews, an object he thought came from outer space.

The Associated Press coverage played up the hope that the submitted object might be extraterrestrial, which was the only thing the Enquirer's panel seemed to care about.

Sarasota Herald Tribune, April 17, 1974

The United Press coverage from the following week was a bit more cautious in is reporting. 

Santa Ana Register, April 21, 1974

The Betz sphere was not much of a contender for the Enquirer's prize, and the panelists concluded that though they couldn't identify the object,  it was clearly manmade, therefore not extraterrestrial.

The UFO Prize Winners

While the UFO panel was active, the magazine rewarded the following cases:

1973: Delphos Ring

1974: Coyne Incident

1975: Four witnesses in the San Antonio International Airport sighting

1976: Travis Walton and the Lumberjacks

1977: Tehran UFO "dogfight" incident

1978: Memphis Triangle

1979: Shared among several cases

1980: Val Johnson

The National Enquirer's most famous award winner: a team of lumberjacks for their 1974 UFO story.

All good Things Come to an End

The National Enquirer changed their focus a bit in 1979, when the black and white tabloid switched to color, courting a more mainstream supermarket audience with stories about celebrities. It's old press was taken over by the sister publication the Weekly World News, which also inherited most of the UFO material. The money that the National Enquirer had put towards UFO research dried up, and along with it, the Blue Ribbon Panel.


For more historical information on The National Enquirer's Blue Ribbon Panel for UFO Investigations, see this article by Isaac Koi: Consensus lists: National Enquirer Panel

The UFO Flap of April 1948

Flap entered the UFO lexicon due to Captain Ed Ruppelt’s use of the term in The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: “In Air Force terminology a ‘flap’ is a condition, or situation, or state of being of a group of people characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not quite yet reached panic proportions.” The term got repeated by UFO buffs, and flap took on a different meaning, more about a heightened period of UFO activity, not the commotion it caused.

In late 1947 and early 1948, things were so slow that there was no flap of any kind. James Thrasher’s Feb. 11, 1948, syndicated editorial column noted “a slump in the grain market,” but also in the UFO business: “...like the New York Stock Exchange, we've been a little nervous lately. And all we can say is we hope those flying saucers don't put in another appearance — at least till we're feeling better.”

As we know, the saucer business was far from finished, but the next UFO event to make national news was something else. A series of 1948 UFO incidents in Illinois received national news coverage and can be considered the second flap of the flying saucer era. It caught the attention of the Air Force’s UFO investigation, chiefly due to one of the key witnesses being a high-ranking experienced trained observer. Colonel Walter F. Siegmund (1887 - 1964) was 61 years old at time of the sighting, the retired commandant of "Camp Kearns," Army Air Forces Base, Kearns, Utah.

Col. Walter F. Siegmund. Biography at:
The History of the Base Commanders at Kearns.

Col. Siegmund's retirement notice from

The Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, July  2, 1952

The First Reported Sighting

On Tuesday April 6, 1948, Robert Price of Caledonia, Illinois, reported seeing “a bird as big as an airplane.”

Freeport Journal-Standard, Freeport, IL, April 7, 1948

“Boone County Farmer Reports Seeing Bird As Big As Airplane”

Seeing the story prompted another witness to come forward, Veryl Babb, a truck driver, who thought it looked like a pterodactyl. More incredibly, the witnesses “believed it might be a visitor from another planet.”

The Evening News, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1948

"Monster Bird" Reported In Flying Saucer Area  by United Press 

Once the report was out, others came forward saying they had seen the same thing even earlier before, but hadn’t spoken about it at the time. There was James Trares, a 12-year-old boy, who said he’d seen a plane-sized bird about three months before. The other witness, Col. Walter F. Siegmund, said he had seen it on Sunday, the 4th, several days before the other witnesses, but at the opposite end of the state.

The story by Paul Dix of United Press was carried widely across the USA:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, April 10, 1948

“Mysterious Huge Bird Reported Seen Over Glendale and Alton'” 

Col. Siegmund said he didn't see any flapping of wings but he was sure it was a huge fowl and not a type of aircraft. "At first I thought there was something wrong with my eyesight," Siegmund said. "But it was definitely a bird, and not a glider or jet plane...But from movements of the object and its size, I figured it could only be a bird of tremendous size."

Belvidere Daily Republican, Belvidere, Illinois, April 15, 1948

“Gesell Solves Bird Mystery -- Or Does He?”

"It was an airplane towing a glider," Gesell said. "I saw it myself.”

1948 04 16 The Freeport Journal-Standard, April 16, 1948

“'Monster Bird' Comes To Rest; Farmer Sees Giant Heron In Field”

A United Press story published April 18, 1948, seemed to put the mater to rest, when another of the witnesses retracted the bird evaluation: “Saturday, Bill Gesell of Belvidere, another of those who saw it, put his foot down on the tale and said it definitely was an airplane-towed glider. Veryl Babb of Freeport, the truck driver, said he had to agree.”

The sightings didn’t end, nor did many of the witnesses impressions that they were seeing a big bird. Col. Siegmund, on the other hand, had studied up and concluded it was not a paranormal anomaly:

The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, April 25, 1948, reported:

“‘Enormous’ Bird Is Sighted again, flapping Over City” (UP)

“Siegmund said he had been doing considerable research on birds since sighting the fowl and had concluded it was an albatross or condor that had wandered far from home. S. B. Heckler of the St. Louis Audubon society said it was probably a huge pelican.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, April 26, 1948

“Flying What-Is-It Is Seen Chasing Plane Over City” 

One witness account would seem (in part) to support the towed glider explanation:

Mrs. Kristine Dolezal, 2055 Russell boulevard, heard an airplane flying low over her home today. "When I looked up," she said, "I was amazed to see this big dark thing apparently chasing the plane. It was clumsy, and flapping its wings sort of lazily. The plane and the bird finally flew off in different directions." 

Two St. Louis policemen had witnessed it together the previous Saturday night, and even they gave conflicting descriptions. Patrolman Francis Hennelly said:

"The thing was as big as a small airplane. Its wings were flapping, and it was headed southwest, flying at an altitude of several hundred feet. I thought it was a large eagle, but I've never seen one that big before." 

Cpl. Clarence Johnson had a different description: "It looked like a witch flying across the sky," he asserted. "It wasn't Halloween, either."

The Altoona Mirror, Altoona, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1948

“Flying Monster in Missouri May Be Bird, Plane or Witch” (UP)

“Charles Hertenstein, ace trouble shooter for Mayor Aloys P. Kaufmann, planned his strategy today for capturing the night-flying “what’s-it” that has terrified residents recently. Kaufmann assigned Hertenstein the task of catching the giant bird —if it is a bird—yesterday. That was after he received letters from indignant taxpayers, denouncing the city for its lack of action.”

Confounding Witness Testimony

St. Louis Star-Times, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1, 1948 had an editorial piece on the mystery, “Wonderful Nonsense,” noting the conflicting descriptions: 

“We have been through the flying saucer, submarines-off-the-coast and balls-of-fire stages recently, and right now St. Louis has a queer-bird mystery which it is enjoying immensely. This creature, which in many ways resembles the fabled filli-lulu bird (and may be one for all we know) has so far been positively identified as an enemy projectile, an eagle, a small plane, a condor, a magnetometer towed by aircraft, the last surviving member of the great auk family and a blue heron. Those who have seen it agree that it flaps its wings, doesn't flap it(s) wings, is very large, just a little bigger than a duck, flies quite high, stays near the earth, has feathers and is as naked as a billiard ball.” 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, May 2, 1948, carried the story, “The Gigantic Bird Mystery” by Dickson Terry (illustrated by Amadee), and it summarized the case and the theories that had been advanced. It also had a bit of news about how even such a witness as Col. Walter F. Siegmund could be the subject of ridicule.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, May 2, 1948

"Col. Siegmund is a well-known sportsman, in addition to being widely known in Army circles, and when a news service sent out a story about his having seen the thing, he began to get joking letters from friends all over the country, all asking the same question: What had he been drinking? Col. Siegmund has been looking up material on big birds and has come to the conclusion that what be saw was an albatross."

According to Loren Coleman in Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (2002), there were another few incidents, the last on May 5, then, “the sightings came to an abrupt end.” Not quite the end. There was at least one other report, one from about 200 miles away in Carrollton, Missouri:

1948 06 05 Mexico Ledger, Mexico, Missouri, June 5, 1948

“Did Monster Fly Over this Way?”

The Air Force Takes Notice

A version of the story appeared in the April 11 Dayton Daily News, where the Project Sign folks at Wright Field couldn’t miss it, especially since the headline featured the words “Flying Saucer.”

Project Blue Book files contain a 6-page report on the bird story, and the fact that Col. Siegmund was involved seems to been their primary concern.

Project Sign: Incident 123 

"11 April 1948, 4 miles north of Alton, Illinois" Part of the file discusses the credibility of the report:

“Reliability: Impossible to evaluate. 

Colonel [Siegmund] was never questioned but some sort of investigation obviously should be made in lieu of the fact that he was once commandant of Air Force Base [Kearns].”

Looking at the Air Force file, it’s interesting to see how incomplete the folder is. Many of the other cases feature large collections of newspaper articles, but this one does not, just a lone clipping, and there’s no indication that any investigation or interviews were conducted. During the Project Grudge days, a later review by Dr. J. Allen Hynek caused the sighting to be downgraded from "unidentified" to "bird."

This reflects unfavorably on the Air Force’s analysis of UFO cases. Apparently this evaluation was based on a single newspaper clipping, yet it became part of Blue Book’s statistics, carried as a “solved case,” without investigation. 

The Witnesses to the Flap 

The 1948 giant bird flap is better documented than most early UFO cases, but it’s largely been ignored, except by Forteans and cryptozoologists. What was left out of the Air Force file,  and from most accounts of the sightings as a “Thunderbird,” is that Col. Siegmund later changed his mind, downgrading his estimate of the object’s size, and that he concluded it was only an albatross or a condor. The cryptozoology coverage generally quotes only from the “monster bird” stories and ignores the testimony of those who reported seeing something mechanical, or ordinary large birds, or even a witch. 

There’s no doubt the many witnesses were seeing something, but there is reasonable doubt about whether all of them were seeing the same thing. The case was marked by conflicting witness testimony, and we have to wonder if some of the later reports were “copycats,” or were due to “priming.” Whenever people saw something flying, some may have exaggerated what they saw out of the excitement of seeing it too, and of being part of something special. It’s happened with other things, from the mundane to the paranormal; from escaped panthers to UFOs. Having heard  of the flying monster, some people wanted and expected to see a giant bird. 

. . .

Further Reading

Saturday Night Uforia ran a short piece on the story, “The Tale of the Belvidere Bird” https://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/thebelviderebird.html

Saturday Night Uforia later covered more of the flap among the collection of articles, “In the News 1948.”

https://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/itn48p6.html

Luis Dominguez  illustrated the cover for UFO Flying Saucers #10
(Gold Key, 1976) depicting Kareeta, the 1946 UFO.

For the sake of history, it’s worth remembering that a year before Kenneth Arnold made flying saucers famous, there was a notable sighting in 1946, of a bird-like UFO, as reported in the Saucers that Time Forgot article:

1946, Before Saucers, Kareeta: UFO Contact in California

The Giant Claw from 1957 was probably inspired more by Godzilla than the 1948 case, but the infamously bad film is noteworthy for at least one thing.; it’s technically a UFO movie. When the monster is initially sighted, it is investigated as a UFO, and it turns out to be extraterrestrial, but a giant bird!

Project Blue Book: UFO, the Motion Picture

The story behind the story may seem familiar. A Pentagon employee takes a new assignment with a government agency secretly studying UFOs. He becomes fascinated with the topic and wants to do more, but frustrated by the government’s stance, he resigns. Shortly afterward he works with an entertainment company, helping them expose two previously classified UFO films to the public. That’s the story of Al Chop, who became the focus of the first factual motion picture about UFOs.

Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers was released May 1956, and its purpose was to tell the authentic story of the UFO phenomenon and its investigation by the United States Air Force. Movie producer Clarence Greene became interested in UFOs after his 1952 sighting, persuading his partner, Russell Rouse, to make a film examining the topic. In the press for the film, Greene wrote how they got started in 1954:

“I learned that Albert M. Chop, who had been the Press Information Specialist for the Pentagon, handling all flying saucer news, was on the West Coast. I had several meetings with him. … 

Through Chop and certain newspapermen, a meeting was arranged with Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, USAF Reserve, former director of Project Bluebook. Together, we went into a lengthy and exhaustive study…” 

The movie took form as docu-drama, factually covering flying saucer events and investigation, using the story of Al Chop’s transition from skeptic to believer as a narrative device. Chop and Ruppelt were technical advisors and script consultants, but they did not receive screen credit, only mentions in the press. Both appeared as characters in the movie, Chop played by a non-actor aviation writer Tom Towers, while Ruppelt was played by actor Robert Phillips. 

Screenwriter Francis Martin with Albert M. Chop & Edward J. Ruppelt

What the film did not have was the participation or approval of the Air Force. They thought it was poison. Captain George T. Gregory of Project Blue Book wrote a memo on May 17, 1956 stating the concern that the UFO movie could be incendiary, and called meeting with Dr. J. Allen Hynek and others review the AF explanations for the UFO cases featured in the movie: 

This film may stir up a storm of public controversy similar to that which USAF was subjected to in 1952 with regard to UFOs, as a result of the unwarranted sensationalism generated by so-called “UFO experts”, writers and publishers...

In conferences held with Lt Col Johnson of General Samford’s office, Dr. Hynek, Prime UFO consultant, Scientific Advisor’s office and other pertinent personnel, it was agreed by all that ATIC should review this film before any wide-scale release to the public, for purposes of “countermeasures", that is, the preparation of some official comment to be kept in readiness to queries which will undoubtedly arise.

The 40-page file in Project Blue Book relating to the UFO movie contains a range of documents from news clippings and reviews of the film, to internal AF correspondence and relevant UFO case summaries. Captain Gregory’s position was that the film was deceptive by ignoring the investigations and explanations, and instead was exploiting solved cases as UFO mysteries. In a memorandum to the Scientific Advisor dated May 21, 1956, Capt. Gregory wrote:

In each instance of the portrayal of a case, the film dramatically, and with great suspense, presents the incident and circumstances surrounding the sighting, then abruptly drops the matter… calculated to let the viewer form his own (influenced) conclusions.

The firestorm Captain Gregory expected fizzled, partly due to the low-key approach of the film. UFO was modestly successful commercially, but it didn’t rally the public like he’d feared. The press covered it, but reviews were mixed.

The Cincinnati Enquirer May 27 and 29, 1956

Excitement and expectations in the UFO community were high, particularly in regards to the evidence represented by the declassified UFO footage. The UFO Newsletter #4, May 12, 1956, from the North Jersey U.F.O. Group reported:

Most important things in the film are the two actual COLOR FILMS OF UFOS which were kept "top secret" for some time (UTAH AND MONTANA FILMS) and which, with the official assurance that they are not normal objects, are CONCRETE PROOF FOR THE EXISTENCE OF 'SAUCERS.' ...This film is the break saucerdom has needed; it should do the trick, with proper support by those of us who are more interested in the field.

The general public and some reviewers were less impressed with the disclosure of the films.

The Los Angeles Times May 10, 1956

Conspiracy-minded Frank Scully, author of Behind the Flying Saucers, included a mini-review of UFO in his rambling column, “Scully’s Scrapbook,” in the June 13, 1956 issue of Variety.

Variety June 13, 1956

The flying saucer phenomenon was only seven years old when the film went into production, and the story takes us from Kenneth Arnold’s sighting up to the aftermath of the 1952 Washington, DC radar flap, with its “credible observers of relatively incredible things.” UFO takes an interesting approach to the history of the topic by letting us see it through the eyes of US Air Force press officer, Al Chop as he’s drawn into the flying saucer controversy. It’s a drama based on real events, with sequences featuring actual witnesses Delbert Newhouse and Nicholas Mariana recounting the stories of how they filmed UFOs. It’s not a documentary, classified as a docu-drama, dramatized re-enactments of actual events. 

The Cincinnati Enquirer May 30, 1956

The producers, Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse tried to make the film as genuine as possible, and avoided something that would have excited viewers more, seeing flying saucers in the re-enactments of UFO sightings. The closest thing we get is the scene depicting the 1952 Washington, DC, events, and in it, all we see are blips on a radar screen, not flying saucers. Due to this choice, a lot happens off-screen, including the UFO sighting and plane crash that became the centerpiece in the film’s advertising campaign, the fatal flight of Captain Thomas Mantell.

The Original UFO screenplay

A copy of the screenplay for UFO by Francis Martin was included in the papers of retired Blue Book head, Capt. Ed Ruppelt. It was written in 1954, but included revisions, “final changes,” dated March 7, 1955. It's from that draft the passages below are taken. Ruppelt along with Al Chop and were consulted for the film to make it as authentic as possible.

UFO Producer Clarence Greene with radar consultant Wendell Swanson and Edward J. Ruppelt.

One thing the Air Force should have been thankful for is that Al Chop and Ed Ruppelt omitted any mention of their nemesis, pioneering ufologist, Donald Keyhoe. But perhaps Keyhoe was being referred to in this narration:

The Air Force was forced to take official cognizance of the "flying discs" because of increasing demand from the public for an explanation, and as a result of certain publications persisting in using a sensational approach, in reporting such items.

Also absent is Keyhoe’s key claim, that there was a UFO cover-up conspiracy by the Air Force. The only thing resembling a cover-up is in the scene where Chop hears the truth about what the public had been told about the closing of Project Sign. It's depicted as typical military secrecy: “We switched the code name to Project Grudge and the investigations continued.”

Dr. J. Allen Hynek is another prominent UFO figure that’s not depicted or mentioned by name, but he is referenced in the film. Dr. Hynek's role in Project Blue Book is presented accurately, and it’s in the scene where Ed Ruppelt introduces Al Chop to Project Blue Book and describes the investigation of a multi-witness UFO sighting:

We now checked with our contract astronomer at a leading university... Our astronomer reported that at the time of the observation, the planet Jupiter was fifteen degrees above the horizon and on the range and bearing of the object. There's no doubt about it. What all these people saw was Jupiter.

Dr. Hynek did become involved with the film, but only in the Air Force’s defense against it, reviewing the cases presented, double-checking the debunking of them.

The movie’s story focuses on the credibility of the witnesses and evidence, not on the origin of the UFOs, but there were a few scenes in the original script suggesting the extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs. An early scene has Mrs. Chop asking her skeptical husband about his new job and flying saucers:

DEE: “I'm sorry. But do you really think they might be from Mars, or someplace?”

AL: “Look, honey, don’t you get like the rest of those screwballs that I have in my hair all day. Every time some kid flies a kite, fifty different people see space ships. Come on, let's get to bed.”

Another scene is unspoken, a shot of the Life magazine cover (replica) with the title, “There is a Case for Interplanetary Saucers.” 

The real Life magazine, and the movie’s more dignified stand-in. 

There's also a scene with Capt. Ed Ruppelt repeating Lt. George Gorman’s testimony about his aerial “dogfight” with a UFO:

RUPPELT: “Gorman said he was sure there was an intelligence behind the movements of the lights. He stated, too, that no earth-born pilot could have withstood the G-factor inherent in the object's turns and speed without blacking out.”

There are several interesting differences between the script and the finished film, such as how far they push the ideas of UFOs as extraterrestrial. The original screenplay had the Newhouse and Mariana films shown within the story, and the script ends after the press conference with General Samford about the Washington, DC sightings. The ending narration of the screenplay leaves the nature of UFOs ambiguous, for the viewer to decide:

We shall not attempt to sway you in your judgement. You, as separate individuals, will make your own interpretations of the Newhouse and Mariana films of the unknown objects, as well as the rest of the documented evidence presented in this motion picture. But, could we be on the threshold of a new era? Could we be entering wonderful vistas where problems and fears and prejudices fall into nothingness? Could we be entering a great era of enlightenment?

The final film ditches the narration and moves the footage color UFO films to the end as a grand finale. Just before they are shown, we have a final scene of Al Chop wandering around the city at night struggling to digest all he’s experienced. Instead of the narrator’s voice, we hear Chop’s thoughts about UFOs:

I started to walk through the streets of Washington, the words remaining with me, “credible observers of relatively incredible things.” ...the evidence has crystalized, and so now, in my opinion, there was no doubt as to their existence. Now, so far as I was concerned, it was no longer a question of whether or not there were unknown objects flying in our atmosphere. For me, the only questions that remained were:
What were these objects? Where do they come from?
To me the evidence indicated intelligence behind their control, and by now, the belief that their source was interplanetary was no longer incredible.

The movie did have a pro-saucer bias, and never questions that some UFOs must be structured physical craft of unknown (likely otherworldly) origin. But on the whole, Clarence Greene's UFO was an honest attempt at a factual account, understated, steering clear of sensationalism and speculation. Yet, United Artists' advertising campaign for the movie was another story, and that’s perhaps what got Blue Book’s Captain Gregory so agitated.

The Sensational Selling of Unidentified Flying Objects

From the beginning of the industry, motion picture studios provide exhibiting cinemas with press kits with materials to help direct the market and promote of the film, from advertising campaigns to publicity stunts. Pressbooks can contain advertising slicks, suggested ad copy, and often offered additional specialized pictures, posters or three-dimensional displays theatres could buy to promote the film.

The pressbook for Unidentified Flying Objects stressed to exhibitors that the topic was dynamite, and highly marketable:

“Here’s one right down the exploitation alley” - Film Daily

The advertising made it look like a thriller, and emphasized the frightening truth of the film:

The studio's copy for station break televisions advertisements:

Now! See and hear the truth about flying saucers in actual films of unidentified flying objects… kept ”top secret” until now! See it at the Bijou… the motion picture of the century… Bijou Now!

The legitimate selling point of the movie was the inclusion of formerly “top secret” films of flying saucers. The final segment of UFO showcased color footage of the Nick Mariana 1950 film from Great Falls, Montana, and the Delbert Newhouse 1952 film from Tremonton, Utah.

From the UFO Pressbook

The print advertising almost exclusively focused on capitalizing on the death of Captain Thomas J. Mantell, who had perished while pursuing a UFO on Jan. 7, 1948.

 

The movie posters featured a close-up of the frightened pilot’s face, “- and then he crashed!”

Imagery on the other promotional material, from lobby cards to print advertising, also focused on the morbid angle. Some depicted saucers blasting the plane, while others showing the fatal crash itself.

It's interesting that the hostile saucers in the promotional artwork do not appear in the film itself, but they closely resemble those featured in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, which was released two months later.

Spanish language version from Mexico

The trailer shown as a preview for the movie was likewise exploitative.

YouTube trailer: Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956

Given the message broadcast by advertising and marketing campaign, the Air Force fully expected the movie itself to be “using a sensational approach.” Instead, the UFO mystery was presented by the filmmakers in a pretty realistic manner, as something elusive, and the Air Force comes out looking pretty good in Project Blue Book’s mission to understand the enigma.

In the End

On the whole, Unidentified Flying Objects isn’t a very entertaining movie, but it is an educational and informative one, important in spite of its flaws for the glimpse of history it provides. Despite the worries of the Air Force, UFO wound up giving us the most accurate portrayal of Project Blue Book ever put on screen. The film also gives the audience a taste of what it is like to investigate UFOs, relying on little more than the word of witnesses, blips on radar, and indistinct images on film. It’s fitting that the film leaves us with the protagonist pondering the evidence, but in the end, finds his belief.

. . .

Epilogue

Correcting the UFO Movie Myth-stake about Ivan Tors

Ivan Tors is widely credited as having produced the classic 1956 film, Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers, but that’s not wrong. Tors is best known today for his later adventure and family television shows such as Sea Hunt, Flipper and Daktari, but at the time, he was busy with his TV series, Science Fiction Theatre, which often featured UFO-related stories. We checked with Robert Barrow who has studied the film since its release, and he stated that he had found no trace of Tors’ involvement with UFO and did not know where that mistake originated.

Library of Congress’ Catalog of Copyright Entries Motion Pictures And Filmstrips, 1956.

It came from the name, Ivar Productions, the name Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse used to produce UFO, and apparently it was taken from the street where their office was located. Film and Television Daily, 1959 listed their location at "Greene-Rouse Productions. Inc. 1741 Ivar Ave., Hollywood 28, Calif. Hollywood 9-0350." Checking the Library of Congress’ Catalog of Copyright Entries Motion Pictures And Filmstrips for 1955 and 1956 shows that Ivan Tors was producing films outside his television show, but as “Ivan Tors Films.” 

Somewhere down the line, someone confused Ivar Productions with Ivan Tors. It’s true that Ivan Tors was interested in flying saucers, but he did not produce UFO, that was Greene and Rouse.

. . .

For Further Information

Robert Barrow has written extensively on the classic 1956 film, and we highly recommend his site, UFO: The True Story of Flying Saucers:
http://ufothemovie.blogspot.com/

The Sign Historical Group hosts a page about Albert M. Chop that includes an interesting interview from 1999 looking back on his days with Project Blue Book:
http://sohp.us/interviews/bios/chop-albert.php

Edward J. Ruppelt's 1956 book, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, is an inside look at Project Blue Book, and a perfect companion to the movie UFO. The NICAP site hosts it free online:
http://www.nicap.org/rufo/contents.htm

For further details on the Captain Thomas J. Mantell crash, see The Mantell Incident by Fran Ridge at the NICAP site:
http://www.nicap.org/mantellcomp.htm

Project Blue Book had a 40-page file on the UFO movie and the cases it presented:
"Review of Motion Picture 'Unidentified Flying Objects'"
https://www.fold3.com/image/11884307

John Cozzoli’s blog, Zombos' Closet presents scans of the complete UFO pressbook:
http://www.zomboscloset.com/zombos_closet_of_horror_b/2015/07/movie-pressbook-ufo.html

The UFO Lobby Cards:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/19/af/de/19afde404f86c1a1eb9b588e37cec15e.jpg

Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers can be found on YouTube, but only with the final scenes in black and white:
https://youtu.be/oPoB1aZLMpk