The UFO Mystery

Un mot de précaution

Le numéro ne devrait pas être donné aux citoyens signalant l'ovni. L'agence de maintien de l'ordre devrait effectuer l'appel. Pas plus que, bien sûr, le numéro ne devrait être diffusé au public pour des raisons évidentes.

La "ligne rouge" UFO Central sert l'objectif d'une coppération mutuelle. D'un côté, le Center for UFO Studies est aidé en recevant des signalement d'ovnis ayant été prescreened, so to speak, by first being reported to a law enforcement agency. Equally important, the law enforcement agency has an authoritative, scientific agency to which reports can be passed for any appropriate action, such as follow-up interviews or scientific examinations.

There is, however, a more important cooperative function law enforcement agencies can serve - to protect the scene of a sighting, as they do the scene of a crime - that is, to insure that in those cases in which marks on the ground, broken tree branches, or crop damage is found, the site is protected from curiosity seekers arid souvenir hunters. Many times in the past, before a scientifically qualified investigator could arrive, bystanders not only destroyed physical evidence but loitered. They pestered the original witnesses to an extent which discouraged some from an interest in reporting further their experience.

Here is how the center operates once a report comes into UFO CENTRAL:

The report is evaluated by the receiving operator; if it is considered urgent (for example, a landing case, particularly if physical evidence is reported) the director of the center is immediately notified, regardless of the time of day, and appropriate action is taken. Usually, this consists of telephone interviews with the original witness to get the record straight early in the game, followed by notification of a center investigator in the area. Since investigators serve on a volunteer basis (but are generally professional people, often engineers or those with other technical training), they are notified immediately only in urgent cases.

If the UFO report does not demand immediate attention, an investigator is notified by phone or mail, and a report form is sent to witnesses for return to the center.

Le College Invisible

Le Center for UFO Studies n'a pas éclos comme ça soudainement. Il a déjà existé dans l'esprit parmi un certain nombre de scientifiques et d'ingénieurs qui avaient pris un intérêt privé pour les ovnis, se rencontrant partout où ils pouvaient chez eux, ou chez un autre lors de leurs voyages. Ces hommes s'appelent eux-même le "Collège Invisible," un nom avec une histoire ancienne et honorable. En remontant dans les "années sombres" de la science, lorsque les scientifiques eux-mêmes étaient suspectés de pactiser avec le Diable, ils devaient travailler en privé. Ils se rencontraient souvent clandestinement pour échanger leurs points de vues et les résultats de leurs diverses expériences. Pour cette raison, ils s'appelaient le Collège Invisible.

Et il resta invisible jusqu'à ce que les scientifiques de that clay gained respectability when the Royal Society was chartered by Charles II in tile early 1660's. Similarly, the creation of the Center for UFO Studies from the UFO Invisible College represents a step toward recognition. To a considerable extent, however, it is still a matter of bucking indifference as the early scientists once had to resist the popular superstition of the day.

In late 1973, it had clearly become the time to act.

The scientific board of the center consists of faculty members and scientists at such universities as Stanford, UCLA, University of Chicago, Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Utah, Illinois, Johns Hopkins, Yeshiva, and Northwestern.

Announcement of the center brought responses from many quarters and offers of volunteer help from technically trained persons from all over the country. In the main, these people offered their services as investigators of current UFO cases. Although present UFO data are already mountainous, proper scientific investigation of current UFO reports is of prime importance. In the past, because of the obscuring "ridicule curtain," proper investigation was rarely carried out, and many cases could probably have yielded hardcore data; instead, only anecdotal material resulted.

In obtaining hardcore data, the cooperation of law enforcement officials is of great importance. Only they can protect, for instance, the scene of a UFO incident from disturbance, and their presence at such a scene lends authority which the public recognizes.

En France, des responsables ont publiquement assumé leur soutien d'efforts coopératifs lors d'investigations de signalements sérieux d'ovnis. La "Gendarmerie Nationale", une publication officielle des Gendarmes (une branche de la Police Nationale française), discute des procédures que la police française devrait suivre lorsqu'elle reçoit un signalement d'observation.

Préoccupation publique

Il est trompeur de supposer que parce que l'on ne lit pas beaucoup de choses sur les ovnis dans les journaux (il y a bien plus de signalements d'observations d'ovnis dans les journaux de petites villes par rapport aux grands quotidiens urbains) que le public n'est pas intéressé ou préoccupé par eux. L'intérêt "grassroots" est néanmoins considéré être très élevé. Entamez juste une conversation sur les ovnis dans pratiquement n'importe quel rassemblement depuis un cocktail jusqu'à une réunion civique et vous serez surpris de la manière (d'abord lentement) les histoires d'ovnis vont émerger. Mon expérience habituelle en donnant des conférences sur les ovnis dans diverses parties du pays est que 10 à 20 % de mes auditeurs confesseront par un lever de main avoir eu un certain type d'expérience ovni. Cependant, lorsque je demande aux mêmes gens combien d'entre eux ont signalé leur observation à la police ou à l'Air Force, seul un petit pourcentage l'a fait.

Je suis entièrement convaincu qu'un grand réservoir de cas d'ovnis non signalés existe - les observations n'ont pas été signalées largement par peu du ridicule. Un sondage Gallup publié en 1973 suggère qu'autant que 15 millions d'americains auraient vu des ovnis et que 51 % des personnes interrogées croient que les ovnis sont "réels". Quoi que les ovnis se révèlent être - des visiteurs venus de l'espace ou ce que vous voudrez - 15 millions de personnes est un nombre avec lequel il faut compter - et la police est en 1ère ligne pour avoir a y compter !

Il est bien, alors, d'être préparé à gérer une voix excitée – parfois même hystérique – à l'autre bout de la ligne signalant un ovni. Les faits de base que le centre a besoin de savoir sont ceux listés sur le formulaire UFO CENTRAL. Les plus importants d'entre eux sont :

1. Was an object seen nearby, on the land or close above it?
2. Were there any physical disturbances or effects?
3. What was the duration of the UFO experience?
4. How many witnesses were there to the event?

As soon as these basic points are noted, the caller should be advised that his report will be referred to the center and that he may be contacted by persons from the center. Do not give the caller the toll-free number. The operators are instructed not to accept calls from private individuals.

At this point, providing, of course. there is no violation of law apparent, the responsibility of the law enforcement agency has been discharged - as far as the UFO report is concerned. There is one great exception : In the event that the caller states an object has landed, and especially if damage to property or danger to life is indicated, police action is obviously called for. In such cases, it is important for scientific and public safety purposes that the affected area be cordoned off and protected from the public until qualified investigators arrive.

The data gathering function of the center is only one aspect of its work. Study and analysis of UFO reports are its prime aims. And primary in this is the laboratory study of those "close encounter" cases in which associated physical effects are alleged to have occurred: damage to crops, property, trees, ground or persons. or material said to have come from the UFO is found. Medical examination of persons reported temporarily blinded or paralyzed is also sponsored by the center. Likewise, when the physical effect takes the form of interference with electronic circuits, automobile ignitions, and electrical systems, the center attempts to study the equipment affected and the manner in which It was affected.

Pattern studies involving statistical analysis of type of UFO occurrences, their frequency, the geographic and time distribution, and the numbers and distribution of witness reporting them, are made; likewise similar studies of types, training, and community status of witnesses are important.

To those not familiar with the UFO phenomenon and the type of reports that continue to be made by responsible persons, here is a quick rundown of terminology:

• Close encounters. These are sightings of UFO events reported seen at close range - a few hundred feet generally. For convenience, they have been divided into three classes:
  • First kind . A sighting at close range, but nothing tangible happens.
  • Second kind. Something tangible does happen, for example, electrical circuits can be severely affected; marks can be left on the ground; persons can be temporarily paralyzed or blinded, and skin burns can occur; plants, trees, and crops can be damaged, and so forth.
  • Third kind. Like the first and second kinds, except that living or robot-type creatures (humanoids, "ufonauts," occupants) are reported. For a fuller treatment, see Hynek, "The UFO Experience."
• Non-close encounters.
  • Radar returns. The most significant and interesting cases are those in which there are simultaneous radar and visual observations, as when an aircraft is involved in a visual sighting and the control tower confirms the sighting on radar.
  • Nocturnal lights. Lights seen in the night sky whose movements, behavior, and appearance cannot be simply explained as aircraft, meteors, satellites, stars, and so forth.
  • Daylight discs. These are daytime sightings and are generally described as oval, metallic discs, or more frequently, as 'two saucers, one overturned on the other. They are described as capable of hovering a few feet off he ground or water, and able to take off, generally at a high angle, with enormous acceleration, disappearing in a matter of seconds. A faint humming sound is frequently reported. The authenticity of photographs of daylight discs depends, of course, on the integrity of the photographer. It would seem, however, that not all the many photographs examined by the center are fakes.