ENCOUNTER IN KANSAS: UFO’s Over the Sunflower State. Marilyn A. Hudson. Author of Sooner Saucers, Oklahoma Bad Girls, The Mound, and others… Copyright 2021. Marilyn A. Hudson.
The following series was originally destined to be a book but after some consideration I decided to simply post it for those looking for more Kansas information. As part of this series my own, never before totally detailed, encounters in Kansas are included.
Overview of the segments :
1 Kansas - Then 1
2 Before 1947 Pg #
3 The 1940’s Pg #
4 The 1950’s Pg #
5 The 1960’s- Part 1 Pg #
6 The 1960’s – Part 2 Pg #
AMENDED TEXT:
2 BEFORE 1947
The episodes called “flying saucers” or “unidentified flying objects (UFO)”, contrary to popular belief, did not originate with the sightings in Washington in June 1947. The term can be found in the Denison Daily News of January 25, 1878 and a local farmer named John Martin. Early one morning he observed a dark object high in the sky to the south. Its shape, size and speed caught his eye. It was orange size and continued to increase in size as it neared and its brightness was disturbing. It swiftly came over his head and seeing it from that angle and closeness he noted it was the size of a large saucer at a great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled a balloon – as far as his knowledge of such went he admitted. Its speed was, he would repeatedly remark, truly amazing.
From earliest days there have been reports of strange objects in the sky and they have been interpreted in various ways depending on the time and the cultures. Domed looking craft surrounded by what look like stars or lights in a prehistoric cave painting in France, odd beings in ancient murals in Germany and strange cigar shaped things in the skies in medieval paintings Add to this tales from a dozen or more global cultures of beings from the stars who came to earth and the truth is clear humans are not new to “seeing things in the sky or on the earth.” If these are an archetype of human existence just what do they mean and what causes them?
In the early 1890’s newspapers were filled with tales of mysterious “airships.” Although some people places these stories into the early UFO timeline, not all of them should be, and for two very good reasons.
April 18, 1897 in LeRoy, Kansas a tale shared by Alexander Hamilton of being awakened by his cows, seeing a cigar shaped object, and small ‘aeronauts’ was proved to be a hoax. A signed affidavit published in the local newspaper confessed to the hoax as part of a tall tale competition. In a similar manner, various editors from Chicago and elsewhere would later confess that in those days, papers held ad hoc competitions to see how many papers they could sell by one outlandish – and totally fabricated – tale or another.
SIGHTINGS OF 1947
What follows is a collection of sightings garnered from newspapers, books, and records for the sightings prior to the summer of 1947 and the Arnold and Roswell cases. I had originally collected these from various reports and articles. There are probably others hidden away in smaller old newspapers no one has yet uncovered.
Jan 16, 1947 – Norfolk, England, Project Sign Incident # 54 [will be classed as an aircraft]
April – France. Disk with cupola
April – Richmond, VA. Silver disc with dome
May 5 – Washington State. Silvery object fell from sky & disintegrated
May 17 – Oklahoma City, 8:30-9:00 pm Field Engineer Savage saw a frosty white, round and flat object, with diameter/thickness ration of 10:1; size of a B-29 (140 ft.), traveling N at 350 degrees at 10,000-18,000 ft.; 3x jet speed (or 1,800 mph); slight ‘swishing sound’ (Source was various newspapers, Keyhole book, and NICAP)
May 18 – Richmond, VA – a flat, white object, cigar shaped that moved N-W
May 19 – Manitou Springs, Colorado, Silvery object halted, danced, flew against the wind
June 10 – Douglas, AZ, a spherical light rose up to disappear into the sky around 11 p.m.
June 10 – Hungary, silver balls
June 12- Weiser, ID, ‘chain of lights/UFO’s’ observed
June 14- Over Bakersfield, CA at 2 pm triangular formation of saucer shapes (10 of them) (observed while in plane)
June 21 – 11:50 am, 8 discs near Spokane, Washington. Fell with a ‘falling leaf motion” [note this term appears elsewhere in some reports as late as 1965].
June 21 – Yukon, OK. 6 objects like upside down wash tubs (a domed silver shape), high and moving fast
June 24 – Arnold sighting in Washington State (Project Sign Incident # 17); Fred John sighting in Cascade Mountains of 6 discs; 3) light blue and purple lights performed aerobatics over Seattle. [Note the purple lights – very rare and seen in 1965 Damon, TX and Wichita, KS]
June 27- Formation of discs, wavering, and changing formation over Cascade Mts.
June 28- Lake Mead, NV, 5-6 white discs seen 2 p.m. [Will be classed as a balloon]
June 28 – Rockfield, IA 3:45 p.m.
June28 – Montgomery Al, Maxwell AFB, 9:30 p.m. object observed and made a 90 degree turn
June 29- White Sands – Silver disk
June 29 – Des Moines, IA, 4:45 5 UFOs white, oval, N-W direction
June 30 – Portland, OR, 5 shiny silver disks like a hubcap
June 30 – White Sands, NM, Navy pilot, 9:10 a.m., 2 gray spheres appeared to land south of Grand Canyon.
June 30 – Wire services carry a map of “Where the ‘Flying Saucers’ Play” and noted the sightings of the objects as beginning on June 24 in Boise, Idaho; a U.S. Meteorologist in Louisville, Kentucky; an alleged photo taken in Seattle, Washington; an airliner that chased a “gang” of them fifteen miles between Boise and Portland.
July 2 – Roswell, NM area – objects observed, oval, inverted saucer shapes [dating for event taken from the book UFO Crash at Roswell, 1991 by Randle and Schmitt]
July – Tempe, AZ (case file missing) ‘insufficient data.’ Interesting to note a photo of a craft looking very similar to the delta shapes reported by Arnold are labeled a “hoax” and in the area of Kingman, Arizona will emerge a Roswell-like crash story.
July 4 – Emmett, Idaho, United Airlines Capt. reported 9 circular objects, merged, split and disappeared. Classed as Unidentified.
July 4 – Twin Falls, ID 35 discs like objects are observed during the afternoon
July 4 – 800 sightings, by 400 people in 24 states. ½ single objects; ½ in formation; 2/3 daylight sighting; shapes round, spherical, disc.
July 5 – “Saucers” sighted in area of Boise, Idaho reported a UP headline from a Seattle newspaper. Flight #105 (8:04 p.m. Boise, ID) observed 4-5 “somethings.” One larger than the others with thin and smooth looking “skin” on the bottom of the craft and a rougher look on top. (“Follows Flying Saucers in Plane”, Sapulpa Herald (Oklahoma), July 5, 1947)
July 5 – Portland, Oregon at 1:06 p.m. “disks” were reported overhead by police and other witnesses according to the Oregon Journal. There were 3 objects, no noise, and they appeared aluminum or eggshell white but did not flash or reflect light. They made a 90 degree change of direction. They oscillated showing first a full disk and then a half shape. There were planes in the air but witnesses where emphatic these where not airplanes. Other witnesses observed 5 objects moving south and then three headed east and they were large.
July 6 – Clay Center, Ks. Later explained as a solar flare or “reflection.”
July 7 – Brighton, Sussex, UK
July 7 – Phoenix, AZ (Project Blue Book Incident # 40 in 1947-07-9669017). Gray, elliptical 20-30 ft. moving NE to West, speed about 400-600 mph, altitudes Est. at 2000-5000 ft. sound like a jet approaching. The file is 55 pgs. “Probably a hoax” is penciled in but the file contained a photo of the object (Declassified photos Program No. 6-109) 12 June 1952; photos turned over to 4th AF Intelligence July of 1947. Note in the file includes other leads to investigate the photograph and a letter indicating the photos – hoax images - had not been returned to the person.
July 7 – Del Salton Observatory, Chile
July 7 – Naples, Italy
July 7 – Japan
July 7 – Holland
July 7 – Army Air Force Press Release of a “captured” flying “disc” at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico.
July 8 – Murdoc Field (now Edwards), 3 silver colored UFO’s heading west. At 9:20 am armed a Republic XP-84 Thunder- jet was scrambled when two yellow-white or white-aluminum spheres were seen moving against the wind. Witnesses included a crew of technicians and they reported a distinct oval shape. Unidentified.
July 8 – White Sands, NM 11:50 a.m. white, clear, aluminum to white object. It climbed, it dove, and oscillated over the field. A test pilot also saw the object and he may be the pilot of a F-51 who watched a flat object of “light reflecting nature” pass above his plane. No known aircraft were in the area. “It was manmade, as evidenced by the outline and functional appearance.”
July 7-8 – South of Muroc, California 3:50 p.m. piloted sighted a wingless, light reflecting, object too high for his Mustang to close the gap and moving into the distance XP-84 Thunder- jet when a yellow-white sphere was seen moving northwest against the wind. Classed as Unidentified. Incidents # 2, 2A are included in a file of some 83 pages and an interesting quote: “no astronomical explanation…object’s slow speed and apparent size suggest aircraft under unusual light conditions, but the tactics argue against this interpretation.” (see file 9669025, Project Blue Book).
July 8 – White Sands, NM 11:50 a.m. white, clear, aluminum looking object
July 8 – Ft. Worth photos with “Roswell Saucer” that debunked the press release claim of the previous day. According to the officials there, the object debris recovered in New Mexico, was just a “weather balloon.” This morphed in the early 1990’s into a temporarily top secret project of the late 1940’s called “Project Mogul.” Later aspects of the story were explained by the Air Force as high altitude dummy drops related to high altitude testing in the 1950-1960 decades. People just confused the time line for what they claimed to have witnessed. Numerous and significant questions remain unanswered.
July 23 – NJ, strange craft observed
July 23 – Brazil
Aug 4 – Bethel, Alaska (Northwest of there) (Incident # 68) Notation “no astronomical explanation. Similarity to Incident # 10, in which several objects silhouetted against the sunset, is striking.”
Aug 13 – Twin Falls, ID, sky blue plate like object
Aug 13 – Ravello, Italy, a disc and beings 3 feet tall with large heads, large eyes, and 8 taper like fingers.
Note, by September – the Air Force was “forced to take official cognizance of the “flying discs…increasing demand from the public for an explanation”; as a result they begin using the term “Unidentified Aerial Objects “or UAO. [From Project Blue Book report documents]. General Nathan Twining will write his communication of the situation, common descriptions, etc. at this time. Ultimately, this report (along with possibly others) will be largely dismissed by General Hoyt Vanderburgh, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He publically minimized the import of the subject and numerous times publically minimized the subject matter.
To put even more historical context into play. At Muroc in southern California from April through October various tests of new experimental and high powered craft were being tested: X-1 Northrup YB-49 and earlier it was the sight of early tests for the YP-84 Thunderjet in 1946 and the Lockhead P-80 Shooting Star. The area was well acquainted with experimental aircraft of common design, form and function. So the July 1947 sightings created some apparent consternation, especially when couple with all the other strange sightings of the year and the press release from Roswell. Everyone was playing a hasty game of “catch-up” and nobody knew who carried the ball.
Twining’s memo of September 23, 1947, was clear in stating “the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious."
A tug-of-war, of sorts, was going on in the brand new Air Force (and other military units) as to the strange objects being manmade or “interplanetary craft.” The Air Force as the agency charged with knowing what was in the skies felt especially pressured. Twinging’s superior General George Schulgen will repeat his comments in his own report from that time and send it out as general communication.
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