Introduction

Catalogue et analyse de données

Center for UFO Studies

P.O. Box 1402
Evanston, IL 60204

© Mark Rodeghier, Octobre 1981

© Tous droits réservés. No portion of these contents may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the author. Requests for such permission may be addressed to the Center for UFO Studies, 2457 W. Peterson Avenue, Chicago, IL 60659.

Edité par Mimi Hynek et Sanna Hans Longden.

Beaucoup de ce que nous étreignons aujourd'hui comme la connaissance est de l'ignorance pure et simple... Elle fait errer le vent et le réduit même à un vide s1[Mahatma Gandhi]

Cette étude est un examen, principalement par des moyens statistiques, de la sous-classe d'événements ovni où la voiture, le camion, ou l'autre véhicule motorisé dans lequel un témoin était au volant ou très proche, fut apparemment affecté par la présence d'un ovni. L'effet pourrait être que le moteur, la radio, et les phares (si de nuit) ont tous cessé de fonctionner. Cela pourrait être qu'aucun d'entre eux n'a cesser de fonctionner, mais que le véhicule est passé sous une forme de contrôle extérieur et s'est déplacé en contradiction avec les commandes de son opérateur. Ou l'effet pourrait être une combinaison d'effets ci-dessus ou de nombreux autres listés dans le catalogue.

A côté de la question de savoir si un ovni était proche lorsque les effets se sont manifestés, un exercice intéressant serait d'étudier comment les véhicules sont maintenant et depuis affectés de la manière rapportée. L'effet sur la societé semble avoir été négligeable, et ces rapports sont si peux nombreux, 441 dans ce catalogue, qu'il pourrait difficilement sembler nécessaire de mener une enquête. Cependant, j'ai rapidement découvert que des données recueillies sur les véhicules impliqués étaient, pour le dire de manière charitable, toutes quelque peu skimpy mis à part quelques cas bien documentés. Cela ne veut pas dire que la plupart de ces cas n'ont pas fait l'objet d'enquêtes, mais plutôt que personne n'a semblé avoir pensé important de répertorier des détails sur les véhicules impliqués, tels que modèle, années de fabrication, et historique de service.

Pourtant, malgré ces obstacles, je pense qu'il est important d'examiner ces événements. We are left with these 441 EM events as a handle by which to grasp the nature of the UFO phenomenon. This properly implies caution in applying the conclusions of this study, because it is not clear whether or how EM UFO events are related to the vast assortment of other UFO events. I have chosen this type of event to study because, while rare, it is also sufficiently dramatic so that the chance of a witness confounding a misperception-which he or she reports as a UFO ? with the effect on the vehicle is quite remote. EM events are, if we may use such a word in this field, "solid" UFO experiences, second perhaps only to cases where physical traces have been found that can be studied at our leisure. We can, with justification, be positive that the study of EM events will be a study of a higher quality than that consisting of various sightings of lights in the sky and objects seen at a distance.

To put it another way, it is not because the UFO affected the vehicle that we study these events; instead, it is because of the conjunction of both strange phenomena at the same moment that we are alerted to the possibility that something peculiar is occuring. The observation that electrons can appear and behave as either particles or waves led to a paradox, the solution of which led to an understanding of the wave-particle duality of all matter. Our study of UFOs may lead to new physical theories, or even more extraordinary possibilities, but first we must look for inconsistencies with present theory.

There is another, hidden benefit in the study of EM events. Until the past few years, we could be reasonably certain that the witnesses to an EM event had no prior knowledge that such things happened, or if they did, most probably did not know the details of previous events. This observation is a simple inference from the sales of UFO books, the rarity of EM events, the lack of belief in UFOs until recently, and the poorly-developed communications in countries where many events occurred. Thus, a study of EM events is as close as we can approach to a study of UFO experiences uncontaminated by external factors. If there are any weak patterns, they may be more readily discerned in the EM data than in other types of cases.

Aspects procéduraux

While the terms "EM UFO events" or "electromagnetic interference" will be used throughout this study, it is important to note that such use does not imply any prior decision concerning the nature of the phenomenon affecting electrical equipment and engines. There are at least these four categories of EM events:

1. Reports involving interference with the operation of vehicles on land (or water)
2. Reports involving interference with the operation of vehicles in the air
3. Reports involving interference with specific devices, such as radios, televisions, lamps, etc.
4. Reports involving local or widespread power failures

We do not know what causes these varied reports of failure, but since many of the affected machines operate upon electromagnetic principles, the label "EM" has been borrowed as a generic description of these events.

For the purposes of this study and catalogue, only reports from the first category, and only those which involve land vehicles, will be considered. There are three reasons. First, they are by far the most numerous; perhaps half of all EM events are of this type. Second, the author's impression from conducting a data search is that these events are also better documented, an important consideration. Third, and most significant, if valid statistical comparisons are to be made, one would not be justified in lumping together various categories of events. Attempting to compare such report characteristics as number of witnesses, event duration, and event location across all four categories will lead to confusion because these characteristics are somewhat dependent upon the type of EM event selected. Control must be kept upon the data so that these characteristics and others may be studied without inherent bias.

Extraction de données

While the author has personally investigated two EM events and has examined approximately forty original reports, the bulk of data in this study was compiled from secondhand sources. This is not an atypical situation, as the same is true with many previous studies, such as Phillips' Physical Traces Associated with UFO Sightings (1), Merritt's "A Preliminary Classification of Some UFOs Based on Shape and Imprint Pattern" (2), or Persinger and Lafreniere's Space-Time Transients and Unusual Events (3). Due to the lack of funding, the relative infrequency of events, and their widespread geographical distribution, almost no investigators have been fortunate enough to personally investigate a significant fraction of their data. However, no substantive differences exist between the original reports the author has examined and secondhand reports, except for the amount of available data.

Le nombre total de rapports compilés est de 441. Une étude de Claude Poher d'approximativement 1000 cas français a déterminé que 1,5 % impliquaient des effets EM s2[4]. Nous utiliserons ce chiffre pour estimer le nombre d'événements EM disponibles. Nous pouvons estimer à partir de l'UFOCat s3[5] que le pool total de l'ensemble des cas disponibles est entre 70 000 et 80 000 s4[6]. 1,5 % de ce total constitue alors 1000 événements EM environ. Ce nombre devrait être réduit de moitié, la fraction observée d'événements impliquant des véhicules terrestres. Ceci donne un chiffre final d'environ 500 événements EM readily available, which compares favorably with the number of reports compiled.

The author acknowledges the fact that the above estimate is inexact; moreover, there exist more than a few cases that are not in this catalogue and study which might have been gathered. In particular, mention should be made of the BUFORA Vehicle Interference Project Report (7). The central purpose in doing this study, nevertheless, was not to compile a catalogue, although that is surely a valuable benefit. Rather, I wished to form a statistical description of the characteristics of EM events, one that would serve future investigators as a basis for further study. To make this statistical description, though, it was not essential to compile every last EM event.

Le catalogue commençant ci-dessous est relativement parlant et et ne nécessite pas d'introduction détaillée. Un listing des sources examinées pour réaliser cette compilation est placé à la fin de la section textuelle, ainsi qu'une brève chronologie sélectionnée d'effets et événements EM. La meilleure source parmis celles disponibles pour chaque rapport a été choisie, au sens ou les sources d'origine, les plus anciennes ou les mieux documentées ont été considérées comme ayant le plus de valeur. Certaines sources ont été choisies parce qu'elles sont plus accessibles à la plupart des enquêteurs que la source d'origine.