A Flying Cucumber Comes to Kansas, Sept. 1954

Before the term UFO for Unidentified Flying Object took hold, every flying weird thing was called a Flying Saucer - at least by the newspapers. John Jacob Swaim, though only age twelve, was found to be credible. He reported seeing a "cucumber ship," but also referred to it as a "saucer." What makes the story more remarkable is that Swaim the sighting included a small humanoid, and the fact that physical traces- tiny foot prints- were left behind to be examined by authorities.

First, the story as discussed in The Belleville Telescope from Belleville, Kansas, November 11, 1954.

SEES SAUCER AND MAN, TOO
A story appearing in the September 8 issue of the Wichita Eagle by Don Pinkston, reporter, concerning a 12-year-old Coldwater boy, John Jacob Swaim seeing a "flying saucer and a little man" was sent to The Telescope by Mrs. Clara Blakeloy of Scandia, a great-aunt of the boy. The boy's story seemed to be backed up by odd-looking footsteps found in the farm field of his father, John Swaim, the next morning by the county sheriff and other spectators. The news story indicates that John Jacob's "little man, and the saucer he flew away in. is the biggest topic of conversation in Coldwater and the surrounding community these days." Mrs. John Swaim, the boy's mother, is a niece of Mrs. Blakeley. More people read the Telescope than any other paper in North Central Kansas

Here's the story that had them talking:

Hutchinson News, Herald KS, Sept 15, 1954

On the editorial page of the Arkansas City Traveler, where it was noted that a Government investigation of the incident was unlikely. They close the article by defining their policy on printing saucer stories, "The reader is left to judge for himself..."

The Arkansas City Traveler, Sept. 20, 1954

Often misspelled as "Swain" in the few places that mention the sighting.

Gray Barker later covered the Swaim sighting story in Saucerian #6, Spring 1955, pages 12-13

http://www.cufos.org/Saucerian/1955_03_00_Saucerian_Vol-3%232(W%2306).pdf

The Lincoln Star coverage had the most detailed description of the unusual small footprints found at the sighting scene of this early close encounter of the third kind.

The Lincoln Star, Sept. 24, 1954

Another Cucumber

Project Blue Book has no file on this incident, however their files do carry a report on an earlier flying cucumber- one carried on the roll as "unidentified," Incident #252, dated  27 Jan 1949:  

Witness sketch by Capt. Sannes, USAF

A UFO sighting by a military witness AF Captain Eckerman Sannes and his wife Dorothy, between Cortez and Braderton, Florida. https://www.fold3.com/image/6792306

Are these two cucumbers connected or coincidence? "The reader is left to judge for himself..."

Operation Hush-Hush: The UFO Crash and ET Bodies Cover-Up

Frank Scully was a Hollywood gossip columnist, with "Scully's Scrapbook" dishing up tinseltown gab for Variety magazine. Scully was also a respected reviewer of literature and wrote a few books of his own. In 1949, he published two Variety columns on the discovery of flying saucers (Aztec) and a follow-up piece Jan. 11, 1950 with 20 questions he thought the Air Force should answer, accusing the US Government of covering things up.

https://archive.org/stream/variety177-1950-01#page/n351/mode/2up

Those columns laid the foundation for what is arguably, the most influential book in UFO history, Behind the Flying Saucers, the original story of the cover-up of small alien bodies retrieved from captured UFOs in New Mexico. The tale also featured other elements that would later resurface in the resurrection and expansion of the story of the saucer debris taken to Roswell, such as the recovery and scientific examination of the spaceship's strange light metal, advanced technology and the dead aliens it contained.

The saucer story itself was thin, barely fleshed out from Scully's sketchy columns, but he added details about how oilman Silas Newton had heard about the discs from the mysterious magnetic research scientist Scully called "Dr. Gee," and there was extensive discussion of how the saucers were constructed on the "System of Nines," and flew using magnetic propulsion. Newton was interested in using that alien magnetic technology to detect oil, and that would come to play an important role in his future.

Silas Newton and Frank Scully

There were no verifiable details or evidence presented to prove the saucer tale, but then Scully said the Pentagon had it all, concealed by "Operation Hush-Hush." The book also featured a lot of padding or filler, including quotes from early news flying saucer stories, titled, "The Post-Fortean File 1947-1950," ironically, ultimately the most genuine and valuable part of the volume.

Scully secured a lucrative deal with major hardcover book publisher, Henry Holt and Co., whereas Donald Keyhoe's book was merely a paperback by Fawcett's Gold Medal Books. Behind the Flying Saucers became an international bestseller, a hit in hardcover and in paperback reprints. Here's a collection of items by (and on) Scully that didn't make it into his book.

Toledo Blade, Sept. 25, 1950

Variety: Scully’s Scrapbook, May 10, 1950

Frank Scully claimed he was surprised by being asked to make a premature disclosure about his UFO book. It was on May 6, 1950, at a banquet hosted by Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewcz was at Ciro’s in Los Angeles:

Then Mank threw me to the Lions... grabbed the mike and said I was writing a book on flying saucers and he was sure the Columbia alumni would rather hear about that more than anything else.  

So l had to violate my oath of office and talk for 15 minutes, striving desperately not to tell these diners anything of the sort. Surely Mank must have known that the first rule of a hep literati is, “Don’t tell it, sell it!” In the second place, why should I go to jail for Telling All before I get the book out? And in the third place, I’ve noticed only too often that people who get it through their ears never bother to get it through their eyes. Besides, if Henry Holt & Co. knew I was going around talking about this book instead of writing it; they’d slug me with a flying saucer, magnetically directed to hit me right where it would hurt most; which at this moment, due to millions of units of penicillin injections that read like a Truman budget, Would be right where I’d like it least. 

So these are some of the reasons I dummied up and wouldn’t talk about “Behind the Flying Saucers” (July, 1950, $2.75 all bookstores).

Variety, Nov. 22, 1950

Variety: Scully's Scrapbook, Nov. 22, 1950
Scully toots his own horn by reprinting an interview he'd given with a local paper.
(Full text below clipping.)

Scully's Scrapbook, Variety, Nov. 22, 1950

Scully’s Scrapbook

By Frank Scully

College Inn, Nov. 17. 

Among the sea of letters, clippings and exhibits, which have all but swamped Bedside Manor since I became the Saucerian ambassador (without portfolio) to the Pentagon, 98% have been favorable. Some of the best have come from those between the ages of 14 and 30. In fact in a coming issue of Pageant I am printing one from a 14-year-old 

amateur astronomer. But the best has just come from a 20-year-old student specializing in music at DePaul University, Chicago. 

His name is Richard Wyszynski. I realize that such a name more properly belongs in a Notre Dame backfield but this boy was fast, too. He chased me over half of Chicago and cornered me at the Bismarck hotel just when I was trying to get away from it all by catching a revival of vaude at the RKO Palace. I even offered to settle by taking him to the show and shelve the interview. But he said he could catch the show any time and wouldn’t take long to get his story because he had his questions all typed out. 

He was true to his word, and later we caught Belle Baker, whose son I understand is a nut on flying saucers; Smith and Dale, Frank Paris and others— a grand bill and a full house. 

Frankly I never expected to hear from Richard the Lion Hearted again but in the current DePaulia his piece is printed, and if Readers Digest can reprint the cream of the crop, why can’t I? Here then is the Scully Award for the Best Reporting of 1950: 

Frank Scully’s Theories on Flying Saucers 

By Richard Wyszynski 

Last year about this time, a man named Frank Scully wrote in his column in Variety that flying saucer had been dismantled and investigated. Since that time, Scully, an elderly gray-haired man who moves along at a spirited clip and talks in a low strong voice, has had his book “Behind The Flying Saucers” (On which he has been working since 1947) published and brought before the public. The book has risen from 13th to 4th place among the nation’s reading, but several areas in the country remain aloof from the book, and that’s why Scully was shuffled into Chicago, a few weeks ago, which also provided the fortunate opportunity for this private interview, coincidentally exactly a year after his first saucer article appeared in Variety. 

For those unacquainted with the lore of the airborne ovals, I might explain that Scully, along with Donald Keyhoe, Commander Robert McLaughlin U.S.N. (now serving sea duty) and 5% of the nation’s populace (according to Gallup, May 22, 1950) thoroughly believes that saucers are guided interplanetary space ships. 

Scully differs from his contemporaries in favoring Venus as the home planet of the discs and embracing magnetic force as the means of the ships’ propulsion. According to this theory, these ships ride on or across magnetic lines of force of which there are 1,257 to the square centimeter throughout the universe. In his book, Scully explained the instances of the mysterious lecturer at the University of Denver who amazed the students with his information on saucers, and also proclaimed that of all the saucers which landed here, none remain intact, although various parts of these missiles were hurriedly recalled by Washington from official personnel who had ransacked the saucers. The book also contained a detailed explanation of magnetic forces and a history of the antagonistic struggle between the Air Force and saucer-writers. 

When the book came out, it caused a lot of “backstage screaming” and one friend of Scully’s said: “Somebody in the Pentagon is going to have a hemorrhage.” When Scully wrote that valuable parts of the grounded saucers had been carelessly taken by personnel as souvenirs, the Air Force made a hasty summons for all disc equipment not in their possession. The Pentagonians, however, still ignored the twenty direct questions Which Scully fired at them in Variety and in his book (and in several newspapers which reprinted the article), although the Rosenwald Museum in this city took the trouble to refute any reports of an exhibit of a Venusian corpse in its display dealing with the growth of the human body. 

The Airforce fears 1) panic 2) revelation of military secrets if they let out all their data on saucers, they could reveal only that information which would not endanger national security, but Scully doesn’t accredit them with the necessary intelligence to do this. He also believes that secrecy-for-security-s’il-vous-plait requests from Washington have stifled any available reports from men stationed at Palomar, world’s most powerful telescope. 

Venusians Curious 

Scully’s train of thought on our global neighbors runs along these lines: the Venusians, maintaining the quality of curiosity, sent their reconnaissance force to investigate the atomic detonations of the past five years. There have been only two instances of hostility: the scattering of Captain Mantell’s body and F-51 over the Fort Knox countryside after a high and hot pursuit of a flying saucer, and the head-on crash challenge offered to Lt. George Gorman after his 27-minute dogfight with a disc above Fargo, North Dakota. (At the last moment, Gorman decided not to risk his skull on something so weird and relinquished the chase) Scully believes that the Venusians of the grounded saucer died not because they couldn’t maintain level flight over our magnetic fault zones, but because they hadn’t mastered the means of safe disembarkation into the atmosphere of this planet. The difference in gravitation between Venus' and Terra may account for the Venusian’s small, but proportionally accurate, sizes. 

Scully also affirmed three statements, to the effect that: 1, The mysterious lights sighted over Sweden for such a long period of time shortly after World War II were probably caused by fractures of magnetic forces of flying saucers. (The Aurora Borealis is an example of resplendent light caused by “fractures” of magnetic disturbances). 2. The United States of America has a defense weapon utilizing magnetic force. 3. Scientists, in their highly developed work with this secretive power of destruction, are actually defending the country more effectively than the Air Force, which should be considerably distressing to Major Alexander P. DeSeversky. 

States Disgust for National Officials 

Frank Scully is thoroughly disgusted with the foibles of inefficient officials stationed in the nation’s capital throughout past several decades; he stated that if he would’ve been president at Woodrow Wilson’s time, this country would’ve been saved a lot of trouble.

Scully likes to to “work out in the open” and that is just what he is doing in his book. He compares himself to a writer in the 15th century revealing the facts of modern civilization and being subject to the condemnation of the people of the time. His work is not that of a theorist, nor of a scientist, nor even of a witness, of a flying saucer; he is strictly a reporter trying to do his job as he sees fit and finding it to be a pretty rough task.

And in trying to separate the fact from the fantasy, if what Scully reports is all wet, why is the Pentagon so perturbed ... why has Scully’s phone been tapped for the last three years? And if this data turns out to be completely authentic, cannot the American people extend their concept of existence past the barriers of this globe and into the universe? Perhaps it is as Mr. and Mrs. Scully both said to me: “They don’t believe in them because they're scared. We seem to be scared of practically everything these days.

- - -

De Flygande Tefaten and The Journal of a Flying Saucerian

In 1952, Billboard magazine reported that Frank Scully's book was being circulated all over the world, and he was working on a second UFO volume, to be titled, "The Journal of a Flying Saucerian."

Billboard Aug. 6, 1952

Billboard Aug. 20, 1952

Billboard makes a mention of the debunking of Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers. It was published in True magazine's September, 1952 issue, an article by J.P. Cahn titled, "'The Flying Saucers and the Mysterious Little Men." It exposed the story as a hoax and ultimately put crashed saucer stories out of business until the 1970s. For more on J.P. Cahn's article and the follow up, see debunker Robert Sheaffer's page, The Frank Scully "Crashed Saucer" Hoax (1950).

The influence of Silas Newton's saucer tale and Scully's book is incredibly far-reaching, and we'll return to other facets of the story in future installments here at The Saucers That Time Forgot.

Feb. 3, 1953: The Oklahoma Flying Saucer Flop

Not all man-made flying saucers are hoaxes. Some are the attempts of enterprising engineers to duplicate the objects and performance described by flying saucer witnesses.

Sooner Magazine, March 1953

On February 3, 1953, an event at the University of Oklahoma marked the opening of their new engineering facilities.  It was celebrated by a flying saucer launch. The press considered it a flop.

The Daily Ardmoreite, Feb. 4, 1953

"Flying Saucer" Built By Students Falls First Test 

NORMAN, Okla., Feb. 5 —UP— Aeronautical engineering students at the University of Oklahoma Wednesday were trying to figure out why their "flying" saucer — 30-inch model—won't fly. The builders, with a large, ready-made crowd left over from dedication ceremonies for their new classroom-laboratory building Tuesday afternoon, came off red-faced when the shiny disc sputtered, whirled around a few times, and flopped to the ground. "Our smaller wind-tunnel models worked," mused the designer, Bob Winneberger, Oklahoma City. "Must be something wrong with this one." Winneberger had warned that the "saucer" might not fly, since it was finished in a dead heat with the dedication and he did not have a chance to test it. 

Lubbock Evening Journal  February 5, 1953


The launch was the cover feature of the March 1953 issue of Sooner Magazine, published for University of Oklahoma graduates and former students. While they acknowledged the larger model did not launch, they chose to emphasize that the smaller model had successfully launched.

O.U. Engineering students have proved conclusively that flying saucers are possible. A small model, powered by rockets, delighted a crowd of 1,000 gathered to dedicate the Aeronautical Engineering Building on the North Campus as the saucer lifted, dipped and flew on. The dedication had CBS national radio coverage. Bob Winneberger, aeronautical engineering student, designed the saucer.

Beyond Human Ken

The Sooner Magazine issue also had a pair of thematically linked essays, the first on the history of aviation, "Up in the Air" by L.A. Comp, Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, who probably authorized the flying saucer demonstration.

The second essay was by a science fiction author, "The Sky's No Limit" by Dwight V. Swain, Instructor in Journalism. He discusses the far future of 1975, and the difficulty of imagining the unknown. A select quote: 

Consider, for example, the plight of the author or artist who creates "extraterrestrial life-forms" (what most folks call bug-eyed monsters) for pseudo-science magazines. Even with the accent on imagination and no holds barred, the boys still come up with relatively unoriginal (and unimpressive) variations on the familiar...  In a word, no one can imagine anything truly beyond human ken, any more than a Stone Age savage could invent radar.

That's worth thinking about, and even our understanding of UFOs could be a failure of our imagination, by thinking of them only in terms equivalent to our own aircraft. Nevertheless, exploring these kinds of ideas can serve as inspiration, and pursuing these dreams and visions can lead to making technological breakthroughs and new scientific discoveries. Along the way, there have been some missteps and bad launches. That's expected. What matters is that we keep at the work of reaching for the stars.

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident. 

Saucer Scares: 1952

President Truman, besieged by Saucers.
Reno Evening Gazette, Aug. 5, 1952 .

1952 was perhaps the most important year in the history of the flying saucer phenomenon for the coverage in the press and the impact it had on the public. The public was beginning to take the matter seriously. That year, there was an unbelievable number of authentic sightings reported by witnesses, along with an unbelievable number of unbelievable sightings.

Here are three newspaper clippings of flying saucer incidents that show the importance of investigation.

Indiana July 29, 1952.

July 30, 1952.

Newspapers, television and radio spurred the public's interest and appetite for saucer news, and almost anything UFO-related was used, even if they had to bend over backwards to make the connection. Other times, they reported on saucers sightings that went flat, like this one from Pennsylvania.

Yuma Sun, Aug. 26, 1952

James J. Allen's Alien Encounter Embarrassment: Aug. 6, 1952

West Lumberton, North Carolina, Aug. 6, 1952: A relatively incredible close encounter. James J. Allen sees a UFO and speaks to its occupant. A few historians summarize the case in passing, such as this mention in the August 2005 MUFON Journal by Ted Phillips, in "Physical Traces: Occupants and physical traces."

08/06/52 NC, Lumberton: James Allen, 51 , saw a round object 8 ft long, 6 ft high land within 10 feet of him. A small occupant was seen, and small footprints were found.

INTCAT, (the International Catalog of close encounters and entity reports, compiled by Peter Rogerson, lists the Allen case and cites Phillips among the other Ufologists who have covered the case:

August 6 1952. 2100hrs WEST LUMBERTON (NORTH CAROLINA:  USA) American Houses employee. James J Allen saw an object 2m high, 2.5m long, lit by an interior orange light, descend from the north-west, hit his chimney, damaging it, and land in his backyard. As he approached to within 3m. of the object he saw a small being, 75cm high, standing beside it. When Allen asked the being if it was injured, “it went away in a whiff”, then the object moved away with a whistling sound.

• Ted Bloecher citing Lumberton Robesonian, 7 August 1952.

• Phillips 1975, p.8 (case 676) says footprints were found at the site but this detail is not given in the above source he quotes.

• George Fawcett in Flying Saucers 77.

• Fawcett 1975 p.26.

• Santesson 1968, p.183

• Vallee Case 99 citing Wilkins 1954b, p.268 citing Buffalo Evening News 27 Aug 1952.

• Data Net V, 11 citing Robesonian 18 Aug 1952.

Loren Gross in UFOs: A History, 1952: August, however, found the events to be fantastic:

A forerunner of many to come was the tale told by 51-year-old James Allen of West Lumberton, North Carolina, on August 6th. So incredible it, was dismissed outright by serious people, the story and others like it were to be favorites with the press. We can only wonder if Mr. Allen was reading too many science fiction books? 

Here's the way the Allen's story was reported at the time in the local paper.
(A line of copy seems to be missing from the printed version.)

The Lumberton Robesonian (NC) Aug. 7, 1952

The next day's news provided further information. There were several people investigating the report, and the Pentagon was expected to launch their own inquiry. Further questioning of Allen produced further details on the encounter, including a better description of the saucer occupant. The little man had a long white beard.

The Lumberton Robesian (NC) Aug. 8, 1952 

UFO historian Loren Gross concluded:

Actually, there is not much difference between Allen's story and that of the Socorro, New Mexico, incident of April 24, 1964, so if people like Allen were making up such stories, they were at least consistent. In 1952 Allen's tale seemed too whimsical which people believing it was just the result of a capricious notion by its originator. There is a very good possibility the Allen story is a hoax for the simple reason there was publicity at the time about a similar incident which was supposed to have occurred months before at the city of Red Springs, an incident that could have inspired Allen. 

James J Allen's 1947 Case Surfaces

UFO historians that discuss the Allen case seem to be unaware of what happened after the initial report. Shortly after the story of the encounter, there were troubling disclosures about James Allen's past, instances of him writing "obscene letters," arranging a rendezvous with a married neighbor, and threatening to hex her husband with witchcraft if she didn't comply.

The Lumberton Robesian (NC) Aug. 11, 1952 

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no files on this incident

Epilogue

History doesn't tell us if Allen's house was insured, but an ad for the Ray Hatch Insurance Agency in the November 11, 1953, Indiana Kokomo Tribune indicates he could have filed a claim for the saucer's damage to his chimney.

Unfortunately, the typical home insurance policy does not cover alien acts of aggression, only instances of alien accidents.


. 

Avoiding a War of the Worlds: Don't Shoot Them Down!

"Cutting loose your guns might be suicide." 

Major Lewis Norman, as quoted by Donald Keyhoe 

in Flying Saucers from Outer Space, 1953.

Art by Norm Saunders from the 1962 Topps trading card series Mars Attacks
card #4: "Saucers Blast Our Jets."

In 1952, there were rumors and speculation that the Air Force had ordered pilots to fire on flying saucers. Some people were afraid of the consequences, and thought we might anger a technologically advanced civilization and provoke a war we could not win.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 29, 1952

Jet pilots are operating under a 24-hour nation-wide "alert” to chase the mysterious objects and to ‘shoot them down” if they ignore orders to land.

Long Beach Independent, July 30, 1952

 Lebanon Daily News, July 31, 1952.

Perfect Souls from Outer Space

Mangan may have been right. In the 1952 documentary short, The Flying Saucer Mystery, the author of one of the best-selling UFO books of all time was interviewed. Frank Scully of Behind the Flying Saucers said we shouldn't shoot at saucers since the aliens might be "perfect souls" never sullied by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. They would therefore be immortal (and presumably invincible), so to attack them would be "idiotic."

Frank Scully clip from The Flying Saucer Mystery, 1952

For more information on the "1952 Flying Saucer 'Shoot Down' Stories," see David Rudiak's page, http://roswellproof.homestead.com/ShootDown_INS_72952.html

Dr. O. K. Brown, The Flying Saucer Dentist

Thanks to the dilligent research of Claude Falkstrom, STTF takes another moment to recognize another of The Ufologists That Time Forgot...

Long before Stanton Friedman, "The Flying Saucer Physicist," there was another prolific UFO lecturer: Dr. O. K. Brown, The Flying Saucer Dentist.

In the early 1950s, Dover, Ohio had a population of about 10,000 people (closer to 13,000 today), but it had one that thing most towns its size do not, a resident flying saucer expert. But before we get to UFOs, lets take a look at the man himself.

Dr. O. K. Brown, his wife, Virginia, their daughter and son lived on his farm called Cricket Hill, where as a hobby he raised purebred Suffolk sheep. 

The Daily Reporter ,May 16, 1956

Born Orlo Kenneth Brown, the doctor was a well-educated, highly respected citizen of the Dover community and an influential member of the Rotary Club there, where his activities frequently made news. Dover’s The Daily Reporter, ran a story on him in  Oct. 10, 1970, titled, “It’s been a good life!”, noting that he’d been an educator, a professional baseball player and an amateur archeologist:

“Love of Americana, family and orthodontics have blended well in the life of Dr. O.K. Brown of Dover, whose interests range from the dental ills of the ancient American Indian through the merits of Sharp’s Buffalo rifle of 1850 to the viruses and faults of modern day baseball and barn architecture... This man, of many interests taught school in Pennsylvania before deciding on a career in dentistry... He also took an interest in UFO's and made numerous speaking appearances throughout the state on the subject.”

Dr. Brown was also open-minded, and forward thinking, a proponent of space travel and had a strong interest in flying saucers, an early adopter of the term UFO for unidentified flying objects.  He frequently lectured on the topic, explaining that witnesses had produced testimony demonstrating that saucers were interplanetary space craft, and carried the occupants of a peaceful, technologically advanced civilization- from whom we had much to learn.

Dover Daily Reporter, July 23. 1955 featured a profile of his wife, Virginia, 

“Portrait of… Mrs. O. K. Brown” 

Dr. Brown is interested and data concerning "flying saucers” and his wife also has developed a profound interest. He has given 40 or 50 talks on the subject and Virginia accompanies him because it gives her an opportunity to meet many people. She leaves the same impression with her new and old acquaintances – friendly, gay and congenial.

Dr. Brown spoke of the subject of flying saucers and extraterrestrial visitation to such diverse Ohio groups as :

- the southeastern Ohio section of the Society of Plastics Engineers. - the Junior's Woman's Club (at the home of Mrs. Russell Stewart).- the New Philadelphia Rotary Club.- the Sertone Club Of Zanesville.- the Tuscarawa County Highway Patrol Auxiliary.- the Denison Methodist Men's Club. - the Gnadenhutten (pop. 900) Chamber of Commerce. - a Valentine Dinner Party organized by the women of the Gahowee Chapter of CCL.- the Tuscarawa County Pharmaceutical Association. - the Uhrichsville Buckeye Club. - the St.Joseph school's P.T.A. - Ohio State Nurses' Association District 20. - the Christian Service Guild of the First Evangelical United Brethren church. - the Dandelions, auxiliary to the Lions Club.

Coshocton Tribune, Feb. 23, 1955

Plastic Engineers, Guests Attend Dinner Meeting at Zanesville

The Southern Ohio section of the Society of Plastics Engineers met Tuesday evening at Zanesville with 115 members and guests in attendance...The chief speaker of the program was Dr. O. K. Brown, Dover dentist, who gave an interesting and informative talk on the subject of "Flying Saucers.” Although not a scientist, Dr. Brown has carried on a study of the "Flying saucer” phenomenon, and gave his opinions on the topic, bolstered with allied information he had picked up from books and articles.

The public was besieged by conflicting information on flying saucers from the government, the news media, and the authors publishing best-selling books on the topic. Dr. Brown served almost as an editor of that information, assimilating it and bringing the saucer story in a narrative to a local Ohio audience.  Dr. Brown lectured for a wide variety of audiences, chiefly business clubs and professional associations. On a few occasions, the local press turned to Dr. Brown's expertise about UFO mysteries. There were some he was able to solve.

Dover Daily Reporter, Nov. 19, 1954

Dr. O. K. Brown, circa 1967

Two Talks from 1954

There are news stories covering the contents of two of Dr. Brown's lectures from 1954, and they provide a fascinating look at how information on flying saucers was being digested by the public and being assimilated into the culture. 

From The Daily Reporter, June 29, 1954, page 3

A-Blasts Irk Other Planets? 

Dr. Brown Cites 'Saucer' Evidence In Club Talk

Did God create inhabited planets other than the Earth? Are inhabitants of other planets hundreds of years ahead of the Earth in progress, especially space travel? Would too many atomic explosions arouse "other planets to the extent its citizens would take retaliatory measures as a matter of preservation? Is it possible that Venus is occupied by people so proficient in mental telepathy that it has no crime?

Those were just some of the questions posed by Dr. O. K. Brown, Dover dentist, last night when he addressed nearly 90 Kiwanians, including 22 from Canton Edgefield's club, following the Dover club's weekly dinner meeting at Helmkamp's. 

POINTING out that the Air Force and government officials have bothered to 'give answers to only about 14 per cent of the 3,000 flying saucers, the dentist, who has made a study of the subject, asked: 

"Are officials afraid of mass panic if they admit landings by flying saucers containing people? "Are they afraid they may upset some religious beliefs by admitting other planets are inhabited. "Are they afraid to admit someone else is 500 years ahead of us in the system of propulsion?" 

Quoting various sources, Dr. Brown pointed out that one scientist said he talked with a man who was 5 feet tall, weighed 135 pounds, had "baby" skin and indicated he came from Venus in a saucer the scientist saw. 

"That scientist gave the man, who gave evidence of being adept at mental telepathy and who didn't speak our language, an exposed photographic film on which the scientist had taken a picture of the space ship," Dr. Brown said. 

"Twenty-three days later, a 'saucer' hovered over the scientist's house and dropped a package. Inside was the photographic film with a message inscribed on it in a strange language which, as yet, hasn't been figured out. 

“THE SCIENTIST reported that during his contact with the stranger the man indicated the earth was making big explosions which were shaking the world. Using signs, he made the scientist understand that a few of the explosions would not cause too much harm but that a great many would result in action by his people.”

Dr. Brown went on to point out that another recognized scientist, who was in charge of a vitally important project in World War II, described a "flying saucer" he inspected after it crashed in Colorado. 

"The scientist said the ship had a damaged porthole and that after making an outside inspection for two days the porthole was enlarged to permit an interior inspection," Dr. Brown related. 

"Inside they found bodies of 16 men, ranging from 34 to 42 inches in height. All were burned but an examination showed they had no dental defects, had metal buttons on their clothing which were fastened with thread having a breaking strength of 420 pounds. 

“THE SCIENTISTS found food similar to our K-rations and two containers filled with water twice as heavy as our water. The ship was 99.99 feet long, 27 inches high above the wings which were 45 inches thick. It was constructed of an aluminum material unlike any we know. 

"The Air Force finally learned how to dissemble the ship. Its parts, including instruments which indicated the machine was a push-button operation, and the bodies were taken away by the Air Force and neither the scientists nor anyone else has heard about them since." 

Dr. Brown said two similar saucers, one 72 feet long, and another 36 feet long, also have landed on the U.S. arid have been inspected. "It is noteworthy," he said, "that all the measurements reported to date are divisble by 9." 

Dr. Brown explained that magnetic fault zones exist in flie air, particularly over the northwest and southwest United States, and pointed out that scientists say that is the reason meteors sometimes land on the U.S. "Things just go haywire when the meteors hit the fault zones and they crash," Dr. Brown said. "Some scientists believe the same fault zones caused flying saucers to crash." 

DESCRIBING the possibility of speeds which Earthman can't fathom, Dr. Brown reminded that military radar equipment in a number of instances has picked up objects in the sky, including one over the Capitol and another over the White House at the same time. "Five minutes before our fighter jets appeared, the objects disappeared," he said. "Five minutes after our jets returned to their bases the objects re-appeared and continued to hover over Washington and 'remained on the radar screens until dawn." "We have heard of a pilot and his jet completely disappearing while chasing a saucer," Dr. Brown recalled. "We have heard of a 15-year-old boy 'ham,' or amateur radio operator, accidentally hitting, with his signals, a magnetic frequency and causing shorts in auto motors in the area of his home and even in several planes. 

 . . .

Most readers here will recognize the origin of stories above.

The four faces on the Mt. Rushmore of Ufology, circa 1954:

Kenneth Arnold, Major Donald Keyhoe, Frank Scully, and George Adamski were the best-known figures in the early days of the UFO scene. Arnold had fathered the saucer fever, and the other three had reached the public in best-selling non-fiction books. Their influence on the saucer subject, then and now, is monumental. Nevertheless, the topic was perplexing and the books presented material in conflict with what was being said by military sources and authorities in the news. In his lectures, Dr. Brown served as a guide through the perplexing contradictions.

In the only other Dr. Brown lecture summarized by the press, we learn more about his views on the UFO cover-up and the technology and enlightenment the space visitors could share with mankind.

Zanesville Times Recorder, Sept.  22, 1954, p. 10

While Dr. Brown continued to speak on the topic for many years, unfortunately we have been unable to locate the content of his later lectures. It would be interesting to know if his views evolved over the years based on the new information that surfaced about he credibility of the Adamski and Scully tales, and what he thought about later, better-documented UFO cases.

The UFO lectures seem to have come to end sometime in the 1960s, perhaps connected in some way to the dark days of the Condon Study and the closing of Project Blue Book. Or perhaps, other obligations of a more Earthly nature occupied more of Dr. Brown's time.

Dentist Dover Times Reporter May 15 1970

A sampling of Dr. Brown's recognition and press in his later years.

Dr. Brown passed away in 1997. His obituary from the Dover New Philadelphia Times-Reporter, June 12, 1997: