Page 20 - 20120708 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - July / August 2012

The Month That E.T. Came To D.C. The month that E.T. came to D.C. John Kelly The Washington Post This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Great Alien Invasion of 1952 or, as it might more appropriately be called, the Great Alien Reconnaissance of 1952. The UFOs allegedly just flew around; no one saw them land. But were they aliens? This much is undisputed: Late on the evening of July 19, 1952, air traffic controllers at Washington National Airport spotted a curious cluster of seven blips on their radar screens. Similar blips were sighted by radar operators at Andrews and Bolling Air Force bases. National’s control tower contacted commercial aircraft in the vicinity and asked their pilots if they had seen anything unusual. see a mirage on the highway,” said Bruce Press the first three episodes. (Dear God, there are Why yes, Capt. S.C. “Casey” Pierman of of National Capital Area Skeptics, a group that five more waiting in the wings!)" Capital Air Flight 807 radioed back. He saw six debunks UFOs, ghosts and the like. “As you Most reviews trashed the show, bright lights streaking across the sky, “like drive towards it doesn’t get any closer, so you including its format, character antics, handling falling stars without tails.” assume that because it doesn’t get any closer it’s of evidence, lack of actual investigation tactics F-94 jets were scrambled from moving away from you at the same speed and overall lack of anything related to actual Delaware’s New Castle Air Force Base (the you’re driving.” UFO investigations. Pursuing through a private runway at Andrews was under repair), but the UFOlogists discount these explanations. Facebook page with leaders of the Mutual UFO pilots saw nothing. Experienced pilots saw the lights, said Robert Network (MUFON) - the largest UFO The Pentagon was already studying the Swiatek of the Mutual UFO Network, and investigation group on the planet - one could see escalating number of UFO sightings — under National’s radar operators felt that “the outright disdain for the show and how the the aegis of Project Blue Book — and the anomalous signals were good, solid targets, as investigation techniques seem comical. There officer in charge added the Washington though they were being reflected from the were few compliments from MUFON members outbreak to his growing list. Then, the next surface of metallic aircraft.” and most said they would not watch the show. weekend, it happened all over again. National While there certainly are more things in Hastings followed up with a second Airport’s air traffic controllers tracked a dozen heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Answer story after interacting by email with James Fox unexplained blips. Fighter jets were again Man’s philosophy, he must side with the and then after both Fox and co-host Dr. Ben scrambled, and on their second circuit, pilots skeptics in what became known as the McGee posted show explanations on another saw bright lights speeding away from them. “Washington Flap.” Even before that hot July, web site. A piece of the dialogue includes: “I tried to make contact with the bogies the papers were full of stories about UFOs. “I know how disappointed all of you are. below 1,000 feet,” pilot William Patterson later They were a staple of science-fiction movies in I am too. It’s not the show that was sold to both told investigators. “I was at my maximum speed an America fearful of a Soviet invasion. myself and scientist Ben…[It] does get a bit 1BA H H 240@43 270@8<6 A74; 1420B@4 @0D <= Humans make sense of the world by better further down the road but not a lot.” — chance of overtaking them.” building narratives. A random but humdrum James Fox The media had a field day. A headline on collection of events — temperature inversions “James and I both had expectations and the front page of The Washington Post read: “ and, yes, weather balloons — is somehow not as (for our own reasons) hopes of an ultimately ‘Saucer’ Outran Jet, Pilot Says; Air Force Puts satisfying as a flying saucer. serious product. We both saw the project Lid on Inquiry.” It seems to Answer Man that asking heading in a different direction as time went on After the earlier outbreak, a reporter for whether there were any alien spacecraft over and were powerless to influence it.” —Dr. Ben the Washington Daily News had written: Washington in 1952 is like asking whether there McGee. [] “Recent attempts to explain ‘saucers’ as optical were any witches in Salem, Mass., in 1692. [] illusions have been shaken by recent radar sightings. Illusions don’t show up on a radar Professional UFO hunters screen.” say they won't watch Illusions don’t, but temperature inversions do. A temperature inversion occurs 'Chasing UFOs' when a layer of cold air is trapped under a layer of warm air. It’s most common in extremely hot weather of the sort that Washington was UFO-NUKES expert Robert Hastings enduring 60 summers ago. The warm air can compared National Geographic Network's new create a ceiling that causes radar beams to show, "Chasing UFOs", to "Blair Witch Project bounce down. Objects on the ground — moving meets Inspector Clouseau" in a story released cars, a row of telephone poles — can appear to this week at the UFO Chronicles web site. be thousands of feet in the air. An Air Force The show premiered in June in a Friday officer ascribed the sightings to this night time slot with many ufologists watching to phenomenon. see how the subject would be portrayed. But what of the lights? A layer of Commenting on the story itself, moisture in the atmosphere could have caused Hastings wrote, "This article would have to be reflections. several pages longer if I were to summarize all “It’s very much like when you’re riding of the breathless hoo-ha passed off as down the highway and it’s very hot out and you investigation and analysis by the show—in just