THE FIFTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE 1958 NOVEMBER -DECEMBER Loren E. Gross Copyright 1999 Fremont CA "UFOs are the FH'th Horseman of the Apocalypse." --Dr. Lincoln La Paz ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I would like to thank pioneer UFOiogist Vincent Gaddis for the gift of his collection of UFO newspaper clippings covering the early years of the UFO mystery; as well as George Earley who took the time and trouble to copy considerable material for my use from his UFO files; and Stanton Friedman, who was equally helpful by permitting access to his extensive library dealing with aerial phenomena. Furthermore, Lucius Farish has provided some vital items, good advice, and strong encouragement. Similarly, Dr. Richard Haines gave a lot of help; as did Lawrence Fawcett. In addition, Clauge Mauge of France and Hilary Evans of England provided information and news clip- from Europe. Tom Benson of New Jersey was kind enough to share some rare UFO news bulletins which might have been otherwise unobtainable. D. Kloian of Richmond, California, who conducted extensive searches of back issues of the New York Times deserves a mention; as does Edward Stewart of North Highlands, rolifomia, who gave advice on the manuscript but most of all was instrumental in obtaining complete sets of important publications, hard to find microfilm, various government documents, and other items too numerous to list. Ander Liljegren's Arkivet for UFO Forskning in Norrkoeing, Sweden, is nne ofthe world's best sources of UFO information and is highly recommended to anyone seriously considering resea~ch into UFOs. I would also like to express my gratitude to Barry J. Greenwood who provided so much material from his UFO collection, a collection which must equal or even exceed that of any UFO organization. Paul Cerny, active for more than 40 years in NICAP and MUFON, gave me a big stack of UFO documents from his personal files. Another biB help was the UFO collection of Les Treece-Sinclair of Elk Grove, California, which contained of rare itmes. Considerable assistance was given by the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) which has an enormous UFO archive which includes the records and sighting reports of the defunct National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), as well as the critical "Ruppelt Papers." Another source, of extreme importance, was the voluminous UFO research files of Dr. James McDonald at The Special Collections Division, University of Arizona, Tucson. The scrapbooks of the late Leon Davidson were put on microfilm and made accessible due to the efforts of Barry Greenwood. It is suggested that anyone interested in UFOs pay a visit to the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library, Clarks- burg, West Virginia. The papers of the late GrayBarker are available for inspection there. Other names I should mention include Roderick Dyke, the editor of the UF.O.R.C. Journal, which evolved UFO News clipping Service; Dr. Willy Smith, Richard Hall, Karl T. Pflock, 06mimique Weinstein, Dr. Michael Swords. Finally, and most of all, I must praise Jan L. Aldrich of Canterbury, Connecticut, who is a kind of superman in the data gathering community and has generously shared hundreds of itbns from a vast research project cur- in progress. I would like to take special notice of Bob Gribble's gift of his news clipping collection and source notes for the years 1800-1996. Bob wanted his material put to good use and I will make every effort to do so. Many from his collection form a vital part of this booklet, as they will, I'm sure, of subsequent booklets and any of previous works. UFOs A HISTORY NOVEMBER - DECEMBER I November. Bruce County, Canada. "It certainly gave me an eerie feeling." Four different constables 20 miles apart radioed descriptions of a strange aerial object beginning at 12:40 a.m. Constable Johnson was the first to see it: "I drew McCutcheon's attention to it as we were driving near Burgoyne." (I.) Johnson also added: "At 12:50 I called Walkerton t:"-.1 in a couple minutes they radioed from a car there that they had found it, too. It seemed to hover over one point. We kept an eye on it from Burgoyne to just north ofpaisley. Then at I: 10, it blinked out." (2.) (See clipping below) iPOtsAT"Eo;'.t:tF'..CNaffi=rc6i:O"fi ;7~ f'{ying Saucer. S ;t Walkerton; Nov. 1-Four pro-to 14 miles away. . I vlncial pollee officers of the ra te~:: h~ ~e t [.! Wallr.erton detu.hmeat reported mous cozu:luslon t.bt l.hls was a \ sli/ltlt~i. "pulsati'nc" object flytnc saucer. ! hoverinc In the sky over Bruce i The ot!icers reported bact to county yoste<>clay their detachment headquarters I P .C. , John McCutclleon and that the object hovered about I P.C. Eclward John.ston siehLecl 3.500 feet above the cround. It the larc& statlo.na.ry object as was predomtnantly while but : nlay wer.e on patrol near Pals-constantly chanced to other ley. It wa.s four to five miles , shades. and at t1mes looked u f eaH of thc:n. The>, radioed, It earned four ilChts. . uarters and P .C. Douclas ; They all claimed the "thine" 1 Washburn and P.C. William jrernain.ed motionless for 20 to. ----------2~ minutes then went out like a licnt. "There were many colors." : said P.C. Reis. " red. rreen . . ite, mauve and blue." He said : the &ndual ehan1e of color 1 looked like the effect of st&~e The detaahment also reported that Wo.tlburn and McCutcheon similar object in the dis . 'I trict ~bout three yurs ~ro. ; other reports of yester-' day's si&htinl were made to 1 police headquarters. and the of I November. San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina. lficm admitted they were tOO interested in watehii\C the ob- ject l.hemselHs to think of find-' "Shape of a rugby football." in& other spectators. J According to a story in the APRO bulletin: "Senorita Elsa Yolanda Lizirraga, her father and her girl friend observed a strange orange- yellowish light. When first spotted it had the shape of a sphere, later taking the shape of a Rugby football. During the course of the 40-minute observation the object was seen as it ascended, turning into a tiny bright point of light in the distance, appearing later at a lower altitude. Descension was not observed, however; the object would merely appear again sud- denly. A beam of light was visible coming from the upper hemisphere, and another from the lower half" (3 .) Early November. "Above the Arctic Circle." "Extreme altitude." "Disappeared vertically." According to a report found in CUFOS files: "Early in November 1958 a contact was made suddenly with an object well within the range of the radar, but at the extreme altitude. The object only changed its position by decreasing altitude, then for a very brief period it remained stationary, afterwards it moved eastward at approximately 500 knots for about a distance of a I 00 miles, then started to increase altitude and disappeared vertically. This action was checked also by an adjacent radar 2 November. Happy, Texas. (about Ampere jumps. Motor dies. Ciir-.. Siiiicered And.Blowed .. HAPPY, Nov. 2-Tlley're bact. . The season's ttr:St unidentified flying object.. waii lllrbted about 10 p.m. Sunday. tJt~ 2 Wayne Cole,. !lOA of Mr. and l'tlrs. ciaude.. Cole, tpoited the flying object as he approached I hi!l farm bome near here . .. Cole, '1 said he saw a blue llgbt trav, ellng about 100 feet aboVe. the' : rround 7 rnllea west and 7 miles aouth of Happy. Cole aald be drove under the: '' object and ae he did 10 the am pere meter on his car jumped from charge to full cba.rge. 'lbe motor died as be moved directly under tho object, he said. The UFO then beran to move off ln a aouthem direction climblng a.t-a teiTiftc rate of ~. tra.lllnr -red stream of fire behind tt. cOte aa.ld. Late Edition AMARILLO, TEX., NEWS 2 November. Near Fairfax, Oklahoma. (12:50 a.m.) Orange discs. A statement in BLUE BOOK files says: "While returning from Fairfax, Oklahoma, traveling north on State Highway 2 November 1958, approximately one half mile of the State Highway 18 and U.S. Highway 60 Jtmction, I observed some orange colored objects on the horizon directly ahead. Within a few seconds the objects were easily recognizable to be four in nwnber, the shape of a disc, and traveling at a terrific rate of speed. I turned to my friend asked him to look at the objects, but the time h~ looked, they had disappeared roof of the car. He tried to see them of the rear window, but with no success. We were driving approximately 50 MPH, and although I slowed down, I did not stop. A day later were discussing the objects, and we commented on the fact that we had heard noise." (5.) 3 November. Virginia Beach, Virginia. Long cylindrical object emits a stream of white smoke. (See clipping on page 3) 4 November. The Sheffield Lake case. "An ugly fight." Mrs. William Fitzgerald waited impatiently for an Air Force explanation for her close encounter with a UFO back on September General Fisher finally released the official conclusion at the end of October to Rep. Baumhart and the Congressman in turn notified the Sheffield Lake woman. Mrs. Fitzgerald, already greatly upset UFO experience, could hardly contain herself when she learned the military considered her sighting an by her UFO experience, could hardly contain herself when she learned the military considered her sighting "illusion." In a letter written on November 4th, the outraged woman complained toRep. Baumhart, sug- gesting that the Air Force evaluator who examined her case must be "insane." She also requested a person- al meeting with Baumhart so she could discuss evidence the Air Force mishandled her report to authorities. (6.) The Sheffield Lake case was evolving into an ugly fight. 5 November. British House of Commons. Mr. Roy Mason, Socialist MP. for Barnsley, directed a question at the Secretary of State for Air. He asked the Secretary of State for Air what department within the Ministry of Air collated UFO reports and to what extent such information indicated possible visitations from other worlds in space. 'Thing' Dives, Hovers in Sky At Yo. Beach By CHARLTON HARRELL VIRGINIA BEACH-WIIat was' that object in t.he western sky Monday just before dusk? It acted u no knowrY plane, or' mi~silc, h;u been leen to around here, as far as tHis te' porter knows, at least. At 5 o'clock exactly, while driv. ng west along Atlantic boule- ~Oth street, I $potted ll"hat arpcared to be a contrail in :he western sky. , Whatever the object was, it dove steeply and fast out of the ~outhwcst, leaving a wide trail ol But the-dive storpcd anruptly >e veral rhou,and feet above the t rees, a nd th.e object just hover~d rhere for m inutes. ~ The thing seemed to be silver ' or white. a cylindrical ob ; iect. and it also seemed to emil :~ stream of white smoke. a< it 1 hung in the darkening, pin~ sky. I Alter hover:ng~ ;oving neithc1 11p nor down. forward nor back. OT" se veral minutes, the object moving slowly southward. losing a lti tude. Then it stopped then moved more to thr IO)Uthw~t. a nd linallv. at th~ ~r.. : ! tJ:ac~::, 10 n::r.Jit:s frtJm. tiJ -ime thi s reporter f irst n'>tict; .. _,hat seemed til be iu VIP"'' trail. :t d isap;>cared behind the n the southwest. :'>1oLOrists craned their neclu ~ hey drove along Atlantic boule :ani watching the phenomenon. A quick check of naval air faci- . ' ities today failed to uncover th, ty of the object. Late Edition - NORFOLK, VA., LEDGEROISP.ATCH In reply, the Secretary, Mr. George Ward, sent a written note to Mr. "If a report of an unidentified flying object has a bearing on the air defense of this country it is in- vestigated and the results recorded. No staff are employed whole-time on the task. Although some of the objects have not been identified for lack of data, nothing suggests that they are other than mundane." (7.) 8 November. Praise for Richard Hall. CSI New York official Ted Bloecher wrote a letter to Leonard Stringfield on November sm. In it he expressed the group's view of the new "We were also tremendously pleased with NICAP's acquisition of Dick Hall. I recall your impressive remarks concerning Dick of more than two years ago, and he certainly has lived up to that advanced notice, and more." (8.) Early November. Near Lafayette, Indiana. (2 : "Not a figment of my imagination." An engineering student attending Purdue University wrote to NICAP: "I was returning to Lafayette about 2 a.m. from some town about 30 miles where I had a date. There had been no drinking at all so what I saw was no result of intoxication nor was I fatigued and subject to 'visions, dreams, or ap- paritions." I do not remember what town I had left but my sighting took place I would estimate about half way back to Lafayette, about 15 miles still to go. "It was an extremely clear night, very cold, and visi- bility seemed almost endless because the sky was un- believably clear and there appeared to be literally countless nmnber of stars above. Driving along, I noticed what seemed to be an unusually bright star. continued watching it and to my amazement it moved with my car and with reference to the stars also. I couldn't believe it at first but it was following me or at least traveling in the same direction. At this point I slowed down to 30 mph or so and the object, very, very, bright white in color, still was moving and was getting closer. At this I was already convinced beyond a doubt that whatever I see- ing was very large, and very defmitely not a figment of my imagination. I then did what could have been a very foolish act. As a believer in the 'Flying Saucer' theory my rea- soning was that superior intelligence would have no reason in causing us hann or woe. What- ever their reason for being here, no one had suffered the worse and the possibility communication was fascinating beyond words. With this being my thinking at the time I turned off the main highway onto a small dirt road which led to a farm house some several hundred yards from the main road. Being extremely dark down this road, and being alone, I ventured about only a hundred yards or so, the bright object in view all the time. I stopped the car, turned off my lights and sat in almost total darkness while the farmhouse from my position was between the car and the object. At this time the object, still on a very bright [sic] was still a mile or so away, maybe somewhat less. The farmhouse, as viewed to the left was no more than 300 feet or so away. With the motor off I sat there and soon real- lized that the object was coming closer. It seemed at this point to be about no more then in altitude. I then began to tum my headlights on and off. I repeated this some times and, whether in response to this or not, the object glided silently to a point ABOVE THE farmhouse and not more than 30 feet above the roof [emphasis in the original] (9.) He continues: "I still could not make out detail. It now seemed oval in shape. [It was] Almost the width of the house, about 30 feet maybe. It made not one sound. I was still blinking my lights but it came no closer than the farmhouse. Then it started backing away and coming forward but still no closer than the house. It would back away for a few moments and then come forward. This continued for about ten minutes " Having had at the time far more technical training than average, I was, in my awe [sic], attempting to explain this experience in terms of my common sense and what good logic would predicate. Nothing would fit in that this object was real, had followed me for some distance and was now floating above a house. I might add at this point that I de not recall seeing a glow on the ground or the house, just the object itself. " My lights would bring it no closer and it then began to move away from me, past the house and was getting farther away. I then started my engine, tumed around on the shoulder and headed in my initial direction. The object was still in clear sight but moving away all the time. Eventually, though with not great speed, it completely dis- appeared. I did not see it again." {10.) 7 November. German rocket expert Hermann Oberth. "We are being watched by the 'Uranidens.'" Oberth, 64, father of modern rocketry, told reporters during an interview with a German newspaper that he b elieved the Americans were working on an "electric space ship" and that man would reach the moon in five years. UFO buffs were more interested, however, in the professor's remarks on the strange things being re- in the skies. The German space expert said he believed supernatural forms are watching the earth and have been doing so for a long time. He was quoted as saying: "I call these supernatural forms of life 'Uraniden' and believe they are very intelligent beings." (II.) Moreover Oberth said: "If you strike out everything in the flying saucer reports that has been proved humbug, there still remains two per cent of these that cannot be explained by earthly means." (12.) II(?) November. Berkeley, California. (4:07p.m.) We're a li ' l hesitant about this item ... " (See clipping on page 5) '?~: We're a Ji'l hesitant about this item, for two reasons First of i ~-all, it is personal Secondly, we don't want to be classified u a . ;:-..'crack pot' Anyway, we've always figured flying saucers u ftg- .-~. ments of ~agination . , Now we are not so sure .-.Either we've: ;; r;een one or experienced a fascinating optical illusion , It was 4 :0'i . ; p .m. and we were standing in the patio on the lower terrace of our ! . backyard, lookins over the back of our home, wonlierinr if leave:; i were ih the roof gutters three stories up . . i ; ; Suddenly there appeared in view, coming from .the northeast and, : hriding towa~ downtown Berkeley at, we estimate, no more than I . ~. 10,000 feet up a g?O<fsized "disk'' . Our first thought was ~at it was part of one of the space sputniks; our second that it was a ' weather balloon Then we realized no weather balloon at that altitude could be traveling that fast ... Our next thought was that there had been a jet plane mishap and the pilot had bailed out that ~ L we 'were witnessing a parachute drop . But. there was n~ one l ''hanging'' from this disk , . U it wasn't a flying saucer we're danged if we know WhJt It was . :Absolutely no sound reached us and-whatever it was-the object 1 muSt have been traveling at least 500 or 600 miles an hour .. The ~ sky was clear blue o.verhead and, far above, some military jets were 1 making vapor trails . . This "thing",. was way, way below that " . _le.vel _. Jupt a parachute-shaped disk ftashing through the sk;v in level &ght at