Louis Taylor recently left a series of interesting comments on The
Saucers That Time Forgot, and it prompted us to check his Blogger profile which
links to his Pinterest page. It’s called "Information Dispersal," where
Luis hosts an interesting collection of various UFO correspondence, documents, and photos,
mostly from the 1960s. The
correspondence covers letters between ufologists such as Steve McNallen, Tom Adams, Anthony Kimery, Ed Biebel,
John Keel, Bill Moore and others.
When we contacted him, Louis told us a little about his UFO projects:
"I've been working on a couple of books and doing
research into all manner of details concerning the phenomenon including those
you've covered on your blog. Been looking into the concurrent evolution of the
anti-communist right and UFOlogy in the 20th century as well as the GOC (Ground
Observer Corps) and other things like accumulating sighting catalogs of UFOs
around transmitters as well as ringing hull cases."
Louis has been building an archive of vintage material
from various sources, including items offered for sale on eBay. Unfortunately,
many of these come without any data about their date or origin.
At his page, Louis
has a collection of photos labelled, “Orphaned UFO Images,” and asks: “Have you seen me? I was created many years ago but I don't
know by whom. Any information as to the true source of the following images
would be greatly appreciated.”
I asked him if we could share some of his UFO pictures
at STTF.
“That would certainly
be fine by me. The whole point of posting them is to try and get any
information that might be available that might further identify them.”
Louis also shared a
collection of images, some of which will be used in later articles. There’s
some press material from the 1967 direct to television movie, Mars Need Women.
We found info on this movie still from "Flying Saucer," it’s from an English dubbed version of the Italian film, "Il Disco Volante."
The last photo is the most mysterious, a 1947 photo shot from a plane with what looks like a snowy mounting in the background, and above it a flying spherical object.
The photo is a print used for an unknown newspaper’s story, and on the back is a pasted a clipping of the published caption:
An object flying over Mount McKinley in Alaska which three Fairbanks girls believed to be a “flying disk” was recorded on film by the trio during a Fourth of July vacation flight near the mountain. The girls, Margaret Hawk, Mary Lou Hawkes, and Julie Harris, say they had focused their camera on the peak when a “bright red mass” went flying through space leaving a gaseous trail. What they saw is shown in this picture to the right of the peak's crest. The “disk” was visible only a second, they said, and then disappeared into the mist.
[stamped] JUL 15, 1947
Louis Taylor notes the print had been retouched, a common practice to sharpen details for newsprint publication. He said:
“From the look of it it actually looks like a frame from a home movie or something. It's obviously been retouched but what is it, a Perseid meteor or something else?”
So far, we have been unable to find the published version. This is an outstanding find, and would be in the running with the Frank Ryman picture for the first UFO photo of the flying saucer era.
STTF readers are urged
to check out Louis Taylor’s gallery of documents at Information Dispersal. If you have any information
on any of the photos, please post in the comments below or send Louis an email.
Jim Moseley was an early UFO researcher and author, the publisher of the UFO magazine and newsletter Saucer News and Saucer Smear. The following article is reprinted from JimMoseley.com as a birthday tribute.
James W. Moseley, August 4, 1931 – November 16, 2012
Peru: May 1954
James W. Moseley, circa 1954
Jim Moseley’s early flying saucer days were interrupted by frequent visits to Peru for treasure hunting, or vice versa. During a trip there in May 1954, Jim met a man, Pedro Bardi Zeña, who had a dramatic story and a unique photograph of a flying saucer. Bardi told him of a UFO that left a distinctive trail of vapor or smoke as it streaked across the jungle sky.
Flying Saucer, Madre de Dios section of Peru
Jim’s original report:
Jim Moseley’s original file, from an unpublished manuscript.
The story and photo was first published in the US in the April 1955 issue of Saucer News (then known as Nexus).
NEXUS, later retitled Saucer News.
NICAP takes a look
NICAP’s UFO Investigator, Vol.1 #2, Aug/Sept.1957
NICAP (the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena), while reporting on a similar UFO report, checked with Jim on the Peru photo and the details behind it:
“Smoke Trailing Disc Reported Over New Zealand Similar to 1952 Peru Case”
NICAP believes members may be interested in the accompanying picture supposed to have been made of a smoke-trailing object over Peru in 1952. The photograph and extracts from the sighting report are reproduced with the kind permission of James Moseley, editor of SAUCER NEWS.
In a letter dated August 10, 1957, Mr. Moseley gave NICAP the following account of the incident:
“In Lima I met Señor Pedro Bardi, who is an agricultural engineer. On July 19, 1952, while on a farm in the Madre de Dios section of Peru, he and others saw a saucer. It was about 4:30 p.m. and they were talking to Lima by radio.
“Suddenly, according to Bardi, the radio went dead. They looked out the window and saw a round object going by at high speed. (The witnesses included Pedro Arellano, owner of the farm.) The object such had passed; it was at an estimated 100 meters altitude and was a little smaller than a DC-3, according to Bardi. It made a buzzing sound as it went by.”
The object’s speed, Moseley explains, was determined by a report that it was seen four minutes later near Porto Maldonado, 120 kilometers distant. This speed was computed at 1117 miles per hour.
The photograph was secured from a customs administrator named Domlngo Troncosco, who said he had taken it as the object flew near the port. Though the photo shows a cigar-shaped object instead of the round shape Bardi described, this could possibly have been due to an elongated effect caused by speed.
“It seems obvious to me,” Moseley told NICAP, “that the photo is genuine. Incidentally, I (strongly doubt) if this particular saucer was anything but earth-made.”
Though NICAP has no reason to doubt the picture’s authenticity, we are unable to make an accurate analysis without the negative.
What Jim and NICAP did not know, was that Project Blue Book already had a file on this case. Jim accurately repeated information given to him, but some details he had were inaccurate. There was a newspaper story on it, and even some degree of official investigation.
The photo was not from 1952, but taken in July 1951. The report by Col. McHenry Hamilton Jr., states that the Peruvian Air Force mentions a total of three photographs, supposedly taken by different individuals, and that it was their opinion that it was hoaxed with “a fairly clever attempt at trick photography” for “commercial reasons.”
That’s very interesting for several reasons, but chiefly for the mention of additional photos, which have not been seen since.
Report by Col. McHenry Hamilton, Jr. See link below for full file.
El Comercio (Lima), August 15, 1951. as reproduced in Project Blue Book
A Hoax?
Did Jim get conned? Bardi had heard of Jim’s interest in flying saucers, which is the reason he sought him out and brought the story and photograph to him. Jim was given no reason to doubt Bard, the picture, or the details of the story. He went on to present the material just as he’d received it, and few have ever given serious question to the authenticity of the photo itself.
The Legacy
The biggest exposure the photo received was in the Flying Saucers Look Magazine Special, 1967. The full page photo appeared with only a brief caption in tiny print, where it credits Saucer News for the picture. This magazine was a mainstream publication that reached millions of readers.
Flying Saucers Look Magazine Special, 1967
The picture has continued to receive exposure world-wide, frequently reprinted, often without attribution, and in a cropped form. It’s been seen in countless UFO books, publications, websites and documentaries.
The story picked up some twists over the years. The smoky trail behind the UFO had evolved into something more exotic. In an Open Minds article by Antonio Huneeus, Jim was disturbed to find references to “angel hair,” the silky ephemeral substance that was once associated with flying saucers. Jim wrote me, “The photo with commentary, is in the December – January 2012 Open Minds. In all these years, I have not heard of any other source of info on this photo exceptme. Yet their commentary contains additional material that I am quite sure is false!”
It was this “angel hair” article that prompted Jim to ask me if I could track down additional information on the photo. The report I prepared for him ultimately became the foundation for this article.
A Sour Note
Jim was insulted in 2012, when Michael Swords, in trying to sort out the photo’s history, questioned its authenticity due to Jim’s reputation as a prankster over the years:
This picture seems to have reached the American public via James Moseley. That fact is almost enough to make you quit bothering right there. Moseley, however, nice a guy he may or may not be, has spent a life fouling the waters of UFOlogy with hoaxes, misrepresentations, rumors, misplaced “humor” … it has been an almost wholly unhelpful “career” to the field.
Apparently, Swords’ prejudice against Jim prevented him from making any attempt to contact Jim to find out more about the photo. Jim considered responding to Swords’ sore-headed misrepresentations and rumors, but decided to quit bothering right there.
The Smoking Saucer Flies On
“My picture,” is what Jim called the Peru saucer photograph, and he was proud to have introduced it to flying saucer study. He always thought the photo was genuine, but that it was likely just pictured an aircraft of earthly origin.
