Small Metal Spheres: The Sky Really Was Falling

 A surprising amount of early unidentified objects had them being described a silver, shiny, and sometimes white spheres. An easy and vague enough description to be easily placed within the "weather balloon" classification. Trouble was sometimes these "spheres" were smaller 10 inches to three feet and moved against the wind and made other maneuvers that were hard to explain away. 

It has been theorized that such objcets might have been an early form of drone or remote controlled device.  

In the 1960's and 1970's some show up around the globe and bring mystery and lingering wonder to those who delve into them.

In Australia - In the November 1963 issue of A.P.R.O. Bulletin was a story from April 8th near Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia. An odd sphere was found on the property of Mr. J. McLure. It could not be cut or sawed with a hacksaw or a file. It was 14 inches in diameter and weighed twelve pounds. It was spherical and hollow. An analysis at the Zinc Corporation noted it had been subjected to great heat. No one could recall seeing anything fall. A later spectrographic study revealed the object contained beryllium, titanium and magnesium. Officials denied it was a water or well weight. Later, an announcement came from Canberra the object was part of a "space vehicle."  The sphere was not going to be opened because negotiations with the foreign government were ongoing. News slowed hut then a storycarried in a Nebraska paper said a second sphere had been found to have follow also and it was located some 25 miles from the first. This second one was 16 inches in diameter and weighed 19 pounds. (pg. 6).

In Japan - a larger metal sphere fell in Japan. The Kera Object, Small Japanese UFO found by kids in 1972 Japan.

Republic of Chad - October 1970, a 4 inch steel ball landed and Operation Moon Dust personnel reported on the finding and location of this space debris. Apparently, also found near was something with the appearance of drive shaft. moondust-oct1970-chad.pdf (theblackvault.com)

In Florida- The Betz Ball of 1974 - an eight inch diameter, 22 pound sphere of metal - is a maze of a tale that has a lot of information but no clear and absolute resolution. A family found a metal sphere in the remains of a burned building; the young son thinking it might be a cannon ball, lugged it home. Over time it appeared to them to have unusual properties. Tests were run failing to find welding marks, hinting at objects inside the ball, and a makeup that was unique. The Wikipedia article is an apparent mouthpiece to the skeptical debunker camp and fails to address any issues become the limited scope of their investigation. For a bit wide range of information see this Nick Redfern article on the topic: The Betz Mystery Sphere: Alien Artifact or Doomsday Device? | Mysterious Universe. 

Chicken Little was right ....the sky was falling, or at least things orbiting high overhead were falling to earth.   The only clue to the Betz ball was a tiny triangle, a hollow center. How well those aspects might be found in the other accounts a trail might be found leading back to the nation with the falling space metal.

A Unified Theory of UFOs or A Game of Three-Dimensional Chess?

It is a classic scene from vintage television science-fiction, the command crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are playing a game of chess - on three levels and multiple-dimensions.  Chess is a game of strategy and logic and great patience.  In many ways, there is a link between that multi-level playing board and the entire study of the subject of unidentified flying or aerial objects. "Three-dimensional chess" is used colloquially to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests, including politics, diplomacy and warfare. To describe an individual as "playing three-dimensional chess" implies a higher-order understanding and mastery of the system beyond the comprehension of their peers or ordinary observers (Wikipedia)

As discussed earlier in this blog, there are some cases and events that do not quite "fit." They seem to be statistical anomalies or outliers that require special explanations. The response of the 1940's and 1950's was one largely of total acceptance of any tale of sightings, encounters, and experiences. As a result, extremely diverse and hard to reconcile examples of craft, beings, and messages emerged. This would continue well into the 1970's.  In the early 1980's a standard image emerged of the large headed, large eyed, smaller statured creature. The UFO community's response to this vast disparity was to adopt it all and then generate theories that explained the disparity.

In the late 1960's but especially in the 1970's the field was in flux; there was so much going on and it was difficult to see the forest for the trees.  The government study, along with the early fieldwork of groups such as A.P.R.O. or NICAP, had suggested that there were several things being seen at one time.

• Unidentified aerial objects of undetermined origin.
• Natural phenomena unrecognized by the observer (such as Astronomical events (meteors, comets, sundogs, planets, and stars); weather conditions (thunderstorms, lightening, temperature inversions).
• Misidentified aircraft
• Pranks or hoaxes. This was always the lowest segment of any group

In the late 1960's and 1970's a new way of thinking emerged, fostered by the "New Age" movement and its mix of drugs, eastern mysticism, and new concepts in psychology and social dynamics. Continuing with the concept that the vast array of types and shapes and messages had to all fit in the same box labeled "UFO EXPERIENCE," a search for a common answer continued. One into which all the varieties, versions, and shapes would neatly fit.  People such as Jacques Vallee, and others as diverse as the battalion of "Contactees" and " New Age Drop-In Experiencers" conceptualized the UFO experience as a new emerging religious cult, a mystical-spiritual experience, better studied by sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists than nuts and bolts scientists. 

If we conceptualize the topic of UFO's along the lines of that multi-level game of chess it becomes a bit clear that just as there are differing layers of protentional explanations, there are also layers of players at work as well. 

There was, from the beginning, the Military level (trained in standard and nearly unchanged mindsets and patterns of movement they were often too formal and rigid to respond to lightening swift changes in technology or society. Weary from years of a global battlefield they also were hypervigilant and , some, apparently uncomfortable in peace).

There was, from the beginning, the Scientific level (in the era of the first UFO's two generations were shifting positions, an older generation trained in science of the past, in many ways, and less able to abstractly conceive the possibility all those laws learned might have some flaws and the reluctance to accept new ideas or paradigms as their ancestors had when Galileo posited the position of the sun in the galaxy . Replacing them were younger scientists with a tendency to be more open, willing to test new ideas, and stretch the boundaries. As youth, they also carried a liability in ignoring issues of both ethics and morality in a pursuit of science just for the sake of science).

There was, from the beginning, the Government level (governments are always distant from the day-to-day realities they create and as a result they tend to develop false perceptions of their own value, their own power, and their role in their assigned tasks.  When protected levels are created, as they were with the Manhattan Project, the process of compartmentalization of secrets, of actions, of decisions, and a hording of power begins.  This would be the process - the nexus - where a secret intelligence arm began as a natural outgrowth of national security but fed by fear, paranoias, and hunger for power or prestige it grew, often unchecked and lacking any accountability).

The Unknown.  The mystery element, the mysterious dark helmeted knight whose origins are murky and who loyalty may be open to question. A covert government, an alien entity, a super secret cabal with goals shrouded in questions. 

The Experiencer or Observer. The people, normal everyday human beings, who observed or experienced something they cannot explain, can only poorly describe, and know with absolute certainty they saw or experienced what they have said they saw or experienced.

So, instead of trying to mix hairy aliens, tall Nordics "space brothers", and short grays together into one unified theory of the UFO Conundrum, maybe we should visualize it as a game of chess.

Multiple layers of
opposing factions all playing hard to win, all in opposition to the others, all willing for brief collaborative efforts to help improve the odds for their side and their master goal.

Maybe visualizing the issue in such a multi-layer and dimensional way the cases - those good and solid cases - might begin to make more sense.

Remember..."Three-dimensional chess" is used colloquially to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests, including politics, diplomacy and warfare..." 

"Why Don't We See UFO's ?"

A question often asked, and the reasons may be very simple. The culture of the world has largely shifted from a lifestyle of being engaged with the outdoors on a regular basis to one where the comforts and entertainments in the home take precedence. In the late 1940' s and 1950's there were more people regularly going to local parks, lakes, and just being outside than is found today. Air conditioning was a rarity, televisions and radios not in every home, and the economics meant the enjoyments of a free outdoors for picnics, get togethers, events, and walks was normative. In those years, there were also a large number of a) local amateur astronomy clubs in America and other regions of the globe, b) less acres of streetlights and illuminated signage washing out the visible sky, and c) people who looked up to see the night sky or the daytime sky. 

Some people - as evidenced by queries and comments when someone posts a video of the satellite strings moving into orbit around the globe - are unaware of what is going on in the skies. Where once people and school children learned the night skies, now there is less motivation or inclination to "look up" or "watch the skies."

It may be a case of "If a UFO appears in the sky and no one sees it was it really there?"  Some argue that with all the sensors and grids and watching electronics anything would be seen if it were there. Did you notice in the last two years several large asteroids "sneaked" up on our planet and nothing (or little) warned us?

The assumption that our radar systems would always be able to track an object of extra-terrestrial origins may be our hubris speaking.  

Cold War Plots, Flying Discs, and Contactees: Is There a Horrible Connection?

 In August of 1949 the report of PROJECT GRUDGE was put together (PBB Project Grudge in file 1949 08 1195541 [Blank]) and it included a list of reports, some of which are not found elsewhere. 

There is also a page of "RECOMMENDATIONS" that has a most intriguing aspect. 

Number 3 lists a recommendation that "psychological Warfare Division and other governmental agencies interested in psychological warfare be informed of the results of this study."

In 1951 when a formal group, created by executive order of the President, is formed as the Psychological Strategy Board it was not, apparently, the first such group formed.  What was the purpose and scope of the psychological warfare division? If it was in place, why was a "board" needed and by executive order?

In this 1949 to 1951 time there will emerge the first of the major "Contactee" episodes. They will occur regularly between 1951 and 1963.  The message, tone, experience, technology, and aliens encountered in this time period will be vary board and lack a truly cohesive element. As a mystical experience, related to religious or spiritual experiences, this would be the case.  Yet, the contactees are all marked one common element: an over-the-top "Buck Rogers" aspect.

In this same window of 1949 through 1963 various covert operations -such as MKULTRA and other projects are playing with people's minds, memories, and lives. They are giving drugs to unknowing subjects, they are conducting medical and psychological tests on unknowing subjects. All - under the guise of government sanctioned programs - to protect the American people. Most of these tests will go unchallenged until the 1970's and the Church Committee investigations. Thousands of documents were destroyed before they could be uncovered and read. 

During that same window of time arise a tremendous number of middle and south American UFO experiences that also share a common element with those contactee experiences. They are over-the-top, often violent, and describe encounters from monster aliens to luscious beauties from a Hugh Hefner fantasy. 

In both cases, the majority of "contactees" and those outlier South American experiences share a common sense of being "off kilter."  The vast majority of global cases - the really good, solid, and scientifically inexplicable cases - had a consistent substructure of form, movements, and other recorded elements.  In 1947 and repeated in 1949 was an awareness of this planform, maneuverings, and speed aspect they could not tie to any government no matter how much they tried. 

Is it possible that some contactees were the product of a covert government program to test mind-control, behavior modification, and post-hypnotic suggestions?  A two birds with one stone result would be a win-win situation for the military and the government as it would allow the troublesome topic of those unexplained objects to be hidden behind a blinder of ridicule and guilt by association.  It might allow for the use of secret technology out in the open and then hidden through such means with the same results.

As civilian watch-dog groups of the UFO phenomena developed (APRO, NICAP and others) and a willingness by larger segments of the population to believe in the theory of visitors, government agencies might have moved testing to other regions to test on citizens of those area in similar manner to tests conducted at home. 

These theories provide an explanation for the outlier aspects of those experiences and sightings. They help eliminate the confusing distractions of sub-sets of the UFO phenomena which have bothered so many for so long. 

Some have looked at the total and tried to make fit a plethora of alien beings, incredible diversity in alien craft shapes, and confusing messages of purpose until what results is a soap opera tale of feuding alliances and alien species. Instead, the truth may be a stripping away of those aspect that do not fit the larger and more consistent sightings over several decades. Then, maybe then, we will be closer to the truth that is poised and waiting to be discovered. 

"17 Saucers..Over Bronx"- July 1952

July 1952, New York City

 

Oddly Similar?

 Davenport, Iowa 1968 - Project Blue Book

The more recent object filmed and declared by the DOD to be a real object and an unknown.

Rev. Henry B. Standing Horse: Oklahoma Contactee, 1959

See the previous entry on the Oklahoma Space Convention of 1960 (Jan.2022). 

Standing Horse claimed his first sighting was in 1949, then one in 1956, and finally on July 12, 1959, he encountered a crew of three alien beings who looked very human. With them he traveled to the Moon, Mars, Venus, "Clarion" and to a planet at the far edges of the galaxy, "Orion." He blasted off from Earth near Sapulpa, Oklahoma where he was pastor of  The Holy Church of God, that was open to Native Americans and African Americans (an oddity in an era of wide-spread racism). 

From research by Marilyn A. Hudson for her upcoming, SOONER SAUCERS, Vol.2

For More information on the Famous and Infamous Corps of Contactees in the 1950's through the middle of the 1960's visit the following pages:

A Contactee Album! (utexas.edu)

1950s Contactees (utexas.edu)

When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That ... - Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, Stanley Schachter - Google Books