Flora Rogers' Flying Turtle over Texas, Aug.12, 1952

 Everybody knows turtles don't fly--so what was that thing Mrs. Flora Rogers saw paddling through through the air over her West Texas ranch?

Newspaper clipping from Project Blue Book.

Stanton, Texas, about 100 miles south of Lubbock

The Abilene Reporter-News August 13, 1952

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... but they do have a bad, faded copy of a news article with a drawing of the UFO. https://www.fold3.com/image/6996929

Gray Barker

It was left to ufologist Gray Barker in his historic 1956 book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, to chronicle this event. He managed to stretch the newspaper story into three pages of his book, concluding his coverage thusly:

When pressed for an opinion as to what she thought the object represented, Mrs. Rogers hazarded a guess, but insisted it was only an idea she evolved while watching it."It must have been some sort of radar machine taking pictures of the ground beneath."

And so ended another flying saucer story few people would believe, except those who heard her tell it first hand, a story that would be discounted by the Air Force and forgotten by all but a few who had the temerity to collect and file away data on such unusual and unlikely events.

1946, Before Saucers, Kareeta: UFO Contact in California

Hannes Bok art for Imagination, Sept. 1951, with bird-like space ships similar to Kareeta. 

Before Saucers: Kareeta

1947 has gone down in history for Kenneth Arnold's June sighting launching the modern UFO era, however, in 1946, seven months before, another report was making international news. And while Arnold's mysterious objects were merely unknown, the San Diego object was identified. It was a space ship from another planet.

Meade Layne of Round Robin and psychic Mark Probert

Meade Layne launched The Round Robin in 1945, "A Bulletin of Contact and Information for Students of Psychic Research and Parapsychology." It was the foundation for "an association of spiritualists and parapsychologists, New Thought writers and Theosophical thinkers... their field of research 'the borderlands' of science, those murky areas where quanta overlap with spirit..." It later came to be known as the Borderland Sciences Research Associates. Layne and many of his friends were also interested in "the data of the damned," following in the footsteps of Charles Fort.

San Diego, California, Oct. 9, 1946

Marine Corps Chevron, Oct. 18, 1946 

"On the evening of 9 October 1946, a bulletish, winged structure appeared over San Diego... Among those who witnessed this mysterious object was Mark Probert... (Meade) Layne suggested Probert establish telepathic communication—which he did. He learned: The strange machine is called the Kareeta...  powered by people possessing a very advanced knowledge of anti-gravity forces... The people are nonagressive and have been trying to contact the earth for many years." 

From the site, From an Oblique Angle, Newton Meade Layne as Fortean

Are Men From Mars Knocking?

Loren Gross, in Charles Fort, the Fortean Society, and Unidentified Flying Objects, 1976, reported how the extraterrestrial hypothesis made it on to page one on Oct. 14, 1946:

The Los Angeles Daily News thought the message made a good story and headlined its article on the incident: "Are Men From Mars Knocking?" According to the story there was a machine in the sky called a "Kareeta" piloted by creatures from outer space that were seeking contact with earthmen, but wary of the hostile instincts of mankind. The pilots of the "Kareeta" according to Probert, sought a meeting with earth scientists at an isolated location.

While most other papers didn't mention aliens from Mars, the term "space ship" was prominent in most of them.

Eugene Register-Guard, Oct. 14, 1946

The story was carried by wire services across the US and also in newspapers around the world.

The News Adelaide, South Australia Oct. 16, 1946

Space ships were the stuff of science fiction, and the most recognizable names were from the comic strips. This headline refers to space travelers, Flash Gordon, and the first alien hero, Superman.

The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Queensland. Australia,  Oct. 16, 1946

The Borderlands of Science

Meade Layne in  The Round Robin from Oct. 1946  gave a report far beyond what the newspapers printed, the full story of the Kareeta sighting, additional witness testimony, and psychic Mark Probert's channeling of the messages from the space visitors. "This ship comes from west of the moon... Yes, these people come in peace . . . They are much more advanced than you are..." Layne had only one doubt about the encounter, that the beings within the spaceship might not be trustworthy. "The account of the Kareeta, received clairaudiently by Mark Probert, may be an elaborate hoax by the communicating intelligences."

Readers of Round Robin were way, way, ahead of Kenneth Arnold, Donald Keyhoe, flying saucers and the extraterrestrial hypothesis. In the November 1946 issue of Round Robin, Meade Layne said, 

"'Space-ship' Kareeta has come and gone, but is not yet, we are glad to say, wholly forgotten. The Editor's mail bag shows that Round Robin readers, at any rate, do not dismiss such happenings as trivial and fantastic... The literature on mysterious sky-visitors is extensive - and appalling; if you don't believe it, read Charles Fort, and forthcoming articles by Vincent Gaddis, and start collecting the data for yourself."

Then, in the April 1947 issue of Round Robin: 

Oahspe, Charles Fort, and space ships (From letter to RR, by B.F. Greenlee)

"At the end of God's Book of Ben are several pages of comment which would do justice to Charles Fort and the Book of Cosmogony would have delighted him. I have tried to find evidence that Fort was familiar with Oahspe, but have come to the conclusion that he never read it... Re the 'Kareeta': Oahspe mentions space ships under a variety of names: Abattos, Arrow-Boat, Adavaysit, Airavagra, Avalenza, etc. See Book of Osiris, Son of Jehovih, Ch.1, para. 5 for references to what may have been the nature of Kareeta."

The Coming of the Saucers

Meade Layne continued to explore the topic of visitors from beyond and took the 1947 arrival of flying saucers in stride. The rest of the world struggled to find out: were saucers secret military weapons, and if so, whose? If not, what were they, and where did they come from? Layne already had it all worked out. His take on flying saucers was a mystical metaphysical one, that they were peaceful advanced visitors traveling here in ships from an etheric and psychic realm.

No, they just have scrapbook on UFOs.

Layne's Round Robin article on the nature of the Etherians creates a stir every time it gets rediscovered in the FBI's files by people who mistake it for a government memorandum. It is not. The FBI, CIA and Air Force are among the US government agencies that have articles from UFO magazines in their files.

The FBI's copy of Meade Layne's article.
Click link for larger copy at the FBI site.

"A Memorandum of Importance" was dated July 8, 1947, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with Roswell. Among its claims, Layne stated:

"Part of the disks carry crews... Their mission is peaceful... These visitors are human-like... but come from their own world... They do NOT come from a planet as we use the word, but from an etheric planet..." 

Amazing if true, but many modern readers failed to note the author stated, "the data herein was obtained by so-called supernormal means..." which referred to psychic communication such as Mark Probert's channeling. Layne neglected to include the 1946 caution that it might only "be an elaborate hoax by the communicating intelligences."

The “4-D” Explanation, the 1950s and Beyond

Layne's 1955 article Mat and Demat elaborated on the Etherians nature, how they existed in four dimensions instead of our mere three. In the 1950s, Layne's strain of ufology was ignored by the Donald Keyhoe and nuts-and-bolts type ufologists, but the Contactees and their fans were far more open to it. In a sense, Mark Probert was the first Contactee, but since his contact was telepathic, not physical, that honor would go to another Californian. Probert continued his psychic communication and part of his story can be found in the 1957 book, Flying Saucer Pilgrimage.

Meade Layne's two UFO volumes, The Ether Ship Mystery
and Its Solution 1950), and Coming of the Guardians (1954).

Layne died in 1961, but his 4-D concept of "Etherians" was forerunner to the interdimensional hypothesis and paved the way for Jacques Vallee and John Keel to speculate on occult and paranormal UFO notions a few years later. Within ufology, support for a paranormal origin was rising in the 1970s, but the nuts-and-bolts materialist camp got propped up in a big way by the Roswell UFO crash story. 
In recent years, the lack of anything tangible to further Roswell or similar cases has caused many UFO seekers to look in other directions. Many of them have turned to a more spiritual path, seeking the positive reassuring messages from above like those from Kareeta and aimlessly drifting towards Layne's murky borderlands.

Today, Meade Layne's legacy is carried on by the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, a California non-profit research and education organization.

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.

Flying Saucer Crash: Crystal Springs, MS, May 12, 1950

The Telephone Call

The Clarion Ledger, Saturday morning paper for May 13, 1950,  from Jackson, Mississippi, carried the headline: 

Flying Saucer Crashes Near Crystal Springs

Mangled Bodies Seen In Debris,

Witness Says Object Marked 'U.S. Gov't.'

The story stated that Bobby Mohon called the Jackson paper late Friday night from Crystal Springs with the story of how a flying saucer had struck a power company transformer on the night of May 12, causing an electrical outage in the city. He reported mangled bodies laying near the wreckage which had markings indicating it was an unusual military aircraft. In 1950, the term "UFO" had not yet come into usage,  and "flying saucer" was the terminology for  unidentified flying objects of any shape. 

Mohon's saucer was actually described as cylindrical, and "definitely not an airplane." The Clarion Ledger scooped the nation with the saucer news, and credited the witness as co-author of the story, along with reporter Tommy E. Herrington.

The story was rushed to press and was on sale Saturday morning before all the facts were in. The investigation by Crystal Springs authorities was reported later the same day by other area news papers.

Crystal Springs, Mississippi (about 30 Miles from Jackson)

The Daily Herald, May 13, 1950 

No Evidence Of "Flying Saucer" In Crystal Springs

 Crystal Springs, Miss., May It (UP) A power shortage and an unconfirmed report that a cylindrical object had crashed into a transformer gave Crystal Springs a "flying saucer" scare this morning. The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger reported that an object that could "only be identified as a flying saucer" crashed into a transformer on Highway 51 south of Crystal Springs. At least one radio station broadcast the report. 

Residents who recalled last night's power shortage, when many lights burned only dimly, crowded to the scene but found no sign of any crash. The Clarion-Ledger story quoted Bobby Mohon, otherwise unidentified, as saying that the cylindrical object that hit the transformer "definitely was not an airplane" and that "what appeared to be mangled bodies were also seen near the wreckage."

NOTHING FOUND Town Marshal C.B. Feguson and E. W. McGraw, manager of the Mississippi Power and Light Company here, said they made an immediate inspection of the scene of the reported crash when advised of the report last night but found nothing. They said there was no damage to the transformer nor any scars on the ground nor any signs of wreckage or bodies. 

McGraw said a 13,000 volt line parted at a loose connection near the power station a mile to a mile and one-half from the reported scene of the crash. The parting line produced an arc that made a brief bright flash of light. McGraw said, but did not affect the town's power supply other than to make some lights burn dimly for about 35 minutes. He and Ferguson agreed no sign could be found of any cylindrical object at the transformer on Highway 51. 

CREATED EXCITEMENT "The report created quite a stir there this morning." Ferguson said. "Folks who read the newspaper or heard the radio report swamped us with calls. And a lot of people rushed out on Highway 51 but when they found nothing everything quieted down." The Civil Aeronautics Administration at New Orleans said it had no reports of any aircraft being in trouble in the Crystal Springs area. Ferguson said he did not know Bobby Mohon, though there are several Mohon families in this vicinity.

The Daily Herald, May 13, 1950

Investigation Reveals Flying Saucer Hoax

The flying saucer not the only thing that was missing. There was also no trace of Bobby Mohon, the witness who had reported it.

Bobby Mohon (1949)

JACKSON, Miss. (UP) Marshal C. B. Ferguson of Crystal Springs, Miss., said Saturday if he can find "Bobby Mohon" he's going to put him in jail for giving out information about flying saucers. The information, said Ferguson, was an out and out hoax...

UP wire story, May 13, 1950

The real puzzler in this case is not why a hoaxer would report such a story, the question is why a reporter would accept it, or why an editor would print as a featured headline without verifying the facts. The Clarion Ledger published a red-faced apology.

The Clarion Ledger, May 14, 1950

The "overly-zealous reporter was not fired.

.

Tommy Herrington, reporting on another story, Clarion Ledger,  May 17,  1950

We're lucky, really, that the hoaxer included details that allowed the story to be so quickly disproven by the authorities and subsequent journalists. If it had been a typical tale of a UFO encounter in a area, the resulting headlines might have made it into saucer history as an authentic case. 

65 Years Later: The Real Bobby Mohon

Robert Mohon in 2015, on WAPT

The Jackson, MS, television channel WAPT interviewed Bobby Mohon in 2015 on the 65th anniversary of the story. Mohon said a friend from a rival baseball team in Crystal Springs admitted he'd called reporters with the UFO crash story and used Mohon's name as a prank.

"I had nothing to do with it. I didn't find out about it for two days,” Mohon said. “I was at Mississippi State trying out for a baseball scholarship. When I got out there, there was news people from New Orleans, Jackson, all over the place asking questions. I didn't even know what they were talking about."

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.

Captured Flying Saucers, July 1947: Alien Writing and Technology

July 7, 1947 news story on the crashed disc recovered by Reverend Joseph Brasky: 

Fort Madison Evening Democrat, July 7, 1947

The Rev. Joseph Brasky, a Catholic priest of Grafton, Wisconsin reported that a metal disc 18 inches in diameter with "gadgets and wires" around the hole in the center crashed into his yard with a mild explosion.  He announced that he was holding it for the FBI, but after close examination found the lettering "...steel, high carbon 100 per cent steel," and decided that it was a circular saw blade.

FBI file has news a clipping with photo, in page 23 of this PDF.

https://vault.fbi.gov/UFO/UFO%20Part%202%20of%2016/view

Rev. Brasky's case was not unique. In July of 1947, newspapers often had more saucer stories than they could use, and sometimes edited bits of them together, dumping anything on the topic into one article. This articles combines hoaxes, President Truman's outlook on saucers, E.J. Culligan's reward for the saucer solution, along with theories he'd received.

Albuquerque Journal, July 11, 1947, 

Wait, what was that about inscribed with "Japanese characters?"

Saucer With Alien Writing

Joseph Kemper of  York, PA.

July 12, 1947: The Gazette and Daily from York, Pennsylvania

YORK'S OWN HOME-MADE "FLYING DISC" Some people THOUGHT they saw "flying saucers" but Joseph Kemper, Dover RD 3, FOUND one in a corn field north of the city and brought it to York police headquarters. The aluminum disc, the size of a large radio record, has several tubes, condensers, resistors and other radio paraphanalia soldered on and some rubber tubing attached. The disc has some alleged Oriental characters painted over it in red. Says Chief Nelson L. Shultz: "If that will fly, so will a cow." Could be some practical joker was adding local color to a national fad, huh?

It's not known if this Earth-made counterfeit saucer was intended to look like a weapon from a foreign power or an alien device from outer space.

The objects were determined in both incidents to be of Earthly origin, but the identity of the hoaxers were not determined, so in that regard, these cases remain unsolved.

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 these incidents. 

Flaming Egg-shaped UFO: Northern Ireland Sept. 8, 1956

UFO described as a small flaming red egg-shaped object

Moneymore, Northern Ireland

An Irishman named Thomas J. Hutchinson swore to police that he captured a flaming red flying saucer but it got away. There were several unusual features including red marks and tripes on the egg-shaped object, reminiscent of the later 1964 encounter in Socorro, NM by Lonnie Zamora.

Nampa Idaho Free Press, Sept. 10, 1956

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. However, there are three news clippings in the files on the story, and a quote from ufologist Gray Barker, who thought that it might have been a small unmanned alien reconnaissance craft or drone. 
"I read the report on this, and it sounds like a 'Moniter' device." https://www.fold3.com/image/7070856

Captured Flying Saucers: Black River Falls, Wisconsin July 10, 1947

There was a rash of flying saucers reports in the weeks following Kenneth Arnold's pivotal sighting in June 24, 1947. What many historians forget is that there was also a large number of reports of crashed flying saucers. What caused this frenzy of reports real and imagined, and the inevitable hoaxes? It may have been the cash rewards offered for $1,000 for proof that the flying saucers are real.

Black River Falls, Wisconsin July 10, 1947. Sigurd Hanson found a small unmanned flying saucer in a field near the fairgrounds, where it had apparently crashed. The earth was scarred from the landing, and object itself was clearly a technological device, streamlined for flight and the body of the saucer showed scorching form the engine exhaust. The Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol was called in to investigate.

Kenosha Evening News, July 11 1947.

There was a lot of excitement due to the physical evidence recovered, and this was indeed a saucer not scraps of tinfoil. As the story developed, further details emerged.

Sigurd Hanson

"Hanson hopes that the saucer will merit one of those $1000 rewards that he has been reading about in the newspapers lately, although he hasn't given it much thought."

The La Crosse Tribune, July 11, 1947

The story was so big, there were stories on the news coverage of the story itself. Saucers were selling papers, and photographers were eager to get a photograph of a real flying saucer.

July 11, 1947

July 12, 1947

Exploitation and Exhibition 

The investigation by the Civil Air Patrol revealed the saucer had been constructed on Earth, but they weren't certain it was the same kind of object that was being reported in the skies across the nation, and their interest in the disc diminished. The object was returned to the Black River Falls' Chamber of Commerce who saw an opportunity to capitalize on the publicity by charging viewers for admission to see the saucer.

"The Hansons, wondering if the saucer will merit the $1000 offered, are considering contacting officials at the World Inventors Congress in session at Hollywood, Calif. The inventors have offered the reward to the first disk finder."

? July 13, 1947 and Dubuque Telegraph Herald, July 13 1947.

The Saucer Crashes

The FBI's file has a document that discloses their analysis of the UFO's physical properties.

The disc might be made of a substance such as cardboard covered by a silver
airplane dope material. The contraption has a small wooden tail like a
rudder in the back and inside of the disc is what appears to be an RCA
photo-electric cell or tube. Also inside the disc is a little electric
motor with a shaft running to the center of the disc. At one end of the
shaft is a very small propeller. In ____ opinion that contraption might
possibly have been made by some juvenile. ____ stated that he desired
to return the contraption to Milwaukee and eventually turn it over to
the Army Air Forces, but that the finder, ____ apparently wanted to get
some publicity on his find and wanted it returned to him.

FBI Office Memorandum, Subject Flying Discs Sabotage, August 12, 1947 

Unlike so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book does have a file on this incident. Conclusion: Hoax.

From the files of Project Blue Book

Confessed

In a newspaper story in 2004, Bob Huntley confessed how he, with the help of three friends, Bud Bowler and cousins John and Dan McDonald, built and staged the saucer crash.
"BRF's flying saucer mystery revealed as a hoax" by Autumn Grooms of the La Crosse Tribune Nov 18, 2004

They weren't the only kids up to saucer mischief, but we'll cover those in future installments.

The object was determined to be of Earthly origin, and the identity of the hoaxers was determined, so this is one of the few cases definitively closed as solved.

Flying Saucers, Flying Fists and Hypnotic High-Jinks

Hypnosis can be a therapeutic tool, but so can a scalpel, and it's important that the treatment is administered by a professional. Hypnotism has played a controversial role in its use for recovering lost memories in UFO cases, from its first known use in Sweden in 1959. There are some dangers to using hypnosis, due to the fact that it can often produce false memories to be "recovered." Worse yet, it can endanger the emotional and mental health of the subject.

With that warning out of the way, here's a unique flying saucer report from 1952. Like many of the best UFO stories, this one involves the claim of a saucer landing, the sighting of an alien, hypnotism and an apparent cover-up by the law enforcement. However, in this case, these elements come into play in a wholly different way.

The World Famous Jay Zee, "Anything Can Happen"

"Professor Jay Zee, who recently resumed his career as a top notch entertainer after several years of hypnotic therapeutics will appear..." was the opening line of Zee's press release. With modifications for time and location, it appeared in newspapers over many years throughout the USA announcing his show. Zee was a mentalist and hypnotist, and the main feature of his act was having volunteers from the audience perform "hilarious antics".

The Michigan, Cass City Chronicle, Aug. 14, 1953 

The Wisconsin Sheboygan Press, Nov. 29, 1952 

The January 8, 1953 Michigan Traverse City Record-Eagle carried a story advertising Zee's show, "Anything Can Happen."

Hypnotist Coming

"Jay Zee, who recently resumed his career as a top notch entertainer after several years of hypnotic therapeutics will appear at the State theatre on Sunday, Jan. 11th, for three days. Jay Zee's "Anything Can Happen," promises to be a thrill packed show of Intrigue, suspense and a million laughs. He was in retirement from the entertainment field during the World War II period. During that time he worked for the government in psychiatric hospitals and with the intelligence department.

In his theater performance he limits himself exclusively to entertainment, depending upon the audience for volunteer subjects. As a member of an exclusive professional organization of hypnotists, he is under an ethical pledge not to permit situations which would cause embarrassment of his subjects or leave any of them at a future disadvantage."

The Michigan Traverse City Record-Eagle page 10, January 8, 1953

The "Hypnotic High-Jinks" show was mostly comedy, with a few thrills thrown in along the way. This 1950 article goes into more detail about Zee's work during World War II and also discusses his ethical pledge "not to permit situations which would cause embarrassment to subjects."

Kenosha Evening News, March 6, 1950

Professor Jay Zee had an active show business career, and in 1952 was on a months-long tour of the mid-west, which leads us to an incident in Oregon, Illinois.

Embarrassment, Disadvantage and Flying Saucers

Oregon, Illinois, 100 miles west of Chicago. 

Robert Cross

Oregon, Illinois, Sept. 29, 1952:

Robert Cross went to the Sheriff's Office to make a report of a flying saucer over the town. He'd said the craft had landed, and that a small humanoid with an unusual complexion emerged from it. There was a sense of urgency, as Cross indicated that it was part of a flying saucer invasion. The concerned sheriff followed the witness to where to he could find the invaders. Cross told them, "Look at them land on the courthouse roof," but he was the only one who could see them. It was there, the encounter began to turn violent.

Ogle County Sheriff's Office & Jail 

From the Dixon, Illinois Evening Telegraph, Oct 1, 1952

Flying Saucers on Oregon City Hall Bring Turmoil; 

Hypnotist Blamed for All

OREGON -- A 20-year old hospital worker who left the stage of the Oregon theater here while still under the influence of a hypnotist turned this town into a turmoil last night with his fantastic stories of "flying saucers on the city hall."

Robert Cross, Rochelle, who attended the theater to see the magician Jay Zee perform, had the Ogle county sheriff's office and the Oregon police on the verge of "locking up the lunatic" before the situation was finally explained.

No Saucers Today

Cross, who doesn't see saucers today, was told last night by the magician that he would "see saucers until 10 a.m. today." And that's exactly what he did.

After leaving the theater Cross first "saw" saucers on the theater roof. He told this to police, who took him directly to the sheriff's office, where he related his story of "little men and spaceships" to Night Deputy William administered. administered immediately called Sheriff James White.

White and Cross then started towards the theater. On the way, Cross told White to "look at them land on the courthouse roof" and, of course, the sheriff saw nothing.

Back at the sheriff's office white began talking to the youth and finally, when Cross mentioned the magician, Jay Zee was called in.

After an hour and a half of grilling the hypnotist, the sheriff closed the "Case of the Flying Saucers" and announced that "There'll be no more of that in Oregon."

As yet he hasn't decided if the show will go on again tonight or not.

As the story came out, the controversy centered less on the flying saucer report, and more on Cross' allegations of having been beaten by the police. Further details emerged about what Cross had been ordered to do under hypnosis.

Freeport Journal Standard, Oct 2, 1952 

"Cross told the Telegraph yesterday that when he was hypnotized Tuesday night, Jay Zee told him that he should go to the 'police station, newspaper and fire station' and say that he had seen a little man, three feet high with a long nose, purple skin and pink polka dots, step out of a flying saucer."

The full text of the newspaper story below be can be found at Saturday Night Uforia, Hypnotized Youth Claims Sheriff Beat Him After Flying Saucer Reported

Dixon Evening Telegraph, Oct. 4, 1952 

This next story finally got to the root of it, exactly what caused all the trouble. The hypnotist had commanded Cross to leave the theatre to make false reports. "Under questioning it was brought out that Cross was under hypnosis induced by Jack Bernie Zitzen, aka "Jay Zee." Cross had been told to report seeing the visions at five places, including the sheriff's office."

Freeport Journal Standard, Oct, 4, 1952 

The Aftermath: Turmoil in the Ogle County Sheriff's Department

Four days after the incident there was a heated resignation by Ogle County"s Chief Deputy Joseph Powell over a "disagreement in policy." A month after Cross' alleged beating during the "flying saucer" incident, Sheriff James White fired deputy sheriff William Beaman, the officer who'd admitted slapping Cross. It was Beaman's claim that he was removed for "political reasons," perhaps feeling he'd been fired in order for White to avoid criticism or a lawsuit.

Dixon Evening Telegraph. Nov. 10, 1952 

There was a local scandal due to the incidents, and rumors outnumbered the facts. The controversy continued from October into November.

Dixon Evening Telegraph Oct. 13, 1952 

Dixon Evening Telegraph, Nov. 11, 1952 

The "fracas," denials and firings from the sheriff's department following the "flying saucer incident" are more puzzling than the incident itself. It smacks of a cover-up, but not the kind usually associated with UFO stories, just the old-fashioned kind to conceal embarrassment or wrong-doing.

The record is incomplete, and not all published accounts agree, but Robert Cross seems to have been a victim at least twice that night, first from the entertainer and later from mistreatment by the sheriff's department. No one was punished by the law, but two deputies, Powell and Beaman lost their jobs. James M. White remained as sheriff, but only until 1954, when he was replaced by Charles Allen. It seems that no charges were filed against the visiting world famous hypnotist.

Who was Jay Zee?

The Saucers That Time Forgot's Claude Falkstorm dug up a lot more info on hypnotist Jay Zee, including the fact that the flying saucer gag was one of his regular acts in his show.

Cedar Rapids Gazette August 27, 1952.

Business was said to be good, according to the Oct 27, 1954 Fairborn Daily Herald. "Jay Zee is in such demand in theatrical circles that he has been forced to give up all of his work that he has been doing in the field of psychology." His lovely assistant Vicki Vassar was enjoying success as well. Her description went from "west coast beauty contest winner" to "starlet."

This 1955 clipping provides further details about Zee's claims of hypnotic prowess and of his work with the US Intelligence Department. We could locate no records, military or otherwise, for Jack Bernie Zitzen.

The Ohio Wilmington News-Journal page14, October 14, 1955

Could it be that Jay Zee was involved in some kind of PSYOP or early MKULTRA "Mirage Men" type program? We consulted STTF asset, Jeremiah Dugger, knowledgeable both in espionage history and stage magic, but he drew a blank. However, his searches turned up a few items on a hypnotist with a similar name, a "Jay B. Zee."

Who was Dr. Jay B. Zee, Ph. D.?

Zee's mole is difficult to see in the photo, but the artist clearly depicted it in his caricature.

"It sounds like a show name, but it's real; it's the name I was born with." So said the man calling himself Dr. Jay B. Zee to the Northern Iowan in their Sept. 23, 1977 issue. The story provides some biographical details and Zee's thoughts on the ethics of hypnotism. This new information provided further leads.

In reverse chronological order:

The Nebraska Lincoln Star from Dec. 13, 1974 reported:

"Dr. Zee. who received his Ph. D. in psychology from Duke University, stresses that hypnotism can be emotional(ly) harmful when practiced by someone without the proper training."

Later in the article it indicated that he was still interested in alien encounters.

"In the near future, he will include in his act a routine in which the people believe they are astronauts who have landed on the moon and can speak moon language The moon language is actually a recording of Dr Zee's voice slowed down and played backward There will also be a cave on the moon where the people will confront various monsters, but that act will have to wait until the stage can be readied for it."

Good Housekeeping magazine, Aug. 1967 reported:

The Free Press exposed a second quack marriage counselor by the name of Jay B. Zee. Zee, who had a bogus PhD purchased from a diploma mill in Italy for $58, hypnotized couples who consulted him about their strained marriages. He also injected some of them with "truth" serums. One of his women clients became so emotionally disturbed that her husband feared for the safety of their children and she had to undergo psychiatric care."

The Michigan Detroit Free Press, Aug. 12, 1965 

That led us to the Michigan Detroit Free Press from Aug. 12, 1965, with the story, "Nightclub Hypnotist Poses as Expert in Emotional Ills" In addition to the items repeated in the Good Housekeeping article, it reports:

"According to Ernest Browne, investigator with the Detroit City Department of Health, several complaints have been filed against Zee. They include the charge that he worked with an M.D., now deceased, trying to cure ailments like goiter, spinal meningitis and multiple sclerosis through hypnotism."

There was also a discussion of his professional qualifications:

"According to another Phoenix University alumnus, a doctor of philosophy degree like the one Zee bought in 1957, costs $58. For another $10, the diploma came printed in Latin."

"He told a reporter for another Detroit paper that he had his doctoral degree in psychology from Duke University. The registrar of Duke University has no record of either Jay B. Zee or Jack B. Zitzer having been a student there. Zee twice applied to the State for certification as a psychologist, and was denied both times. He nevertheless, advertised himself as a 'psychologist' in direct violation of Act 257 of Public Acts of 1959 which reserves the title to persons who have met certain specific educational (qualifications.)

Zee says he got his master's degree in 1955 from a college in Indianapolis. His alma mater wouldn't permit such modesty. 'We gave him a DOCTOR'S degree in psychology,' said an officer of the College of Divine Metaphysics. 'He took two courses for the degree, one in practical metaphysics and another in metaphysical healing.' According to a brochure from the college, students begin by taking a 20-week course in how to heal cancer spiritually. Cost $100. Then they are permitted to move on to higher work."

The Newport Harbor Ensign, Dec. 22, 1966 

Searching for the new name Jack B. Zitzer produced no immediate matches, and neither did combinations with Jack Bernie Zitzen. It's not clear exactly when Zee changed from stage hypnotism to a medical career, but in 1961, an issue of the American Paint Journal, describes how Zee was billing himself:

"Dr. Jay B. Zee, Ph. D., Clinical Psychologist And Hypnotist."

Lastly, Claude found an even earlier press story on a Jay Zee, show, one from just a few months before the dawning of the flying saucer era, from The National Jewish Post, Jan. 31, 1947:

Checking this claim of "Professor Jay Zee"being the "world's youngest registered hypnotist," we found that he was born in 1917. This would have made him implausibly young to have been employeed as a medical health care professional during World War II, when Zee was supposedly working "for the government in psychiatric hospitals and with the intelligence department" as a psychologist.

Given these further revelations, it seems unlikely that his 1952 hypnosis of Robert Cross was part of a US UFO disinformation scheme. Jay Zee seems to have been nothing more than a charismatic con man, one of the many swindlers that have dabbled with flying saucers.

Postscript and Update

The News-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan from April 29, 1959 reported:
"Jack B. Zitser, 41, applied to change his name to Jay B. Zee. Probate Judge Iran Kaufman declared: 'I'll grant your request. But how will I know you didn't influence me into doing so?'"

2021 research on another STTF story revealed that Jay Zee hosted a Detroit radio show on WGPR in the early 1960s. That show led to another flying saucer-related episode in his career. On April 5, 1962, Zee's guest was George King of the Aetherius Society, a flying saucer-based religious organization.

According to the site, drgeorgeking.org, "Because of the tremendous interest in the program, Dr. Jay Zee did two more 2 hour interviews on April 6th and 7th ... a total of 6 hours on this radio station alone." So once again Jay Zee served saucers as entertainment for his audience.

Jay B. Zee PH.D
1917 -1990.
Star of David Memorial Gardens, North Lauderdale, Florida. 

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.

Special thanks to Jeremiah Dugger for his research help on this story, and to the regular STTF staff, Claude Falkstrom and Curt Collins.