by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear
In the early years of the flying saucer/UFO mystery, magazines played a significant part in the public perception of the phenomenon. One of the most popular magazines in that era was LIFE, which started covering saucer/UFO news at the very beginning during the 1947 summer of the saucers. For anyone interested in the early history of the phenomenon, Archives for the Unexplained has a collection of related magazine articles which includes LIFE articles from 1947 t0 1966.
In the article published in the July 1947 issue headlined “Speaking of Pictures… a Rash of Flying Disks Breaks Out Over the U.S.,” it is lamented that none of the many saucers seen that summer paused long enough to get its picture taken. There are pictures, however, of two fake saucers: one an obvious saw blade with what looks to be a capacitor attached to it held up by Reverend Joseph Brasky who claimed it hit the lightning rod of his church with an explosion, and the other an aluminum disk with what looks to be spent fireworks attached held up by a man from Shreveport, Louisiana, who said it flew out from behind a signboard.
In 1950, a saucer in McMinnville, Oregon, seemingly did pause long enough for not only one, but two photos, and the article headlined “Farmer Trent’s Flying Saucer” published in the June 6, 1950, issue presents two photos taken by Paul Trent of what he said was a saucer flying over his farm. Trent is described as frugal, and it is noted that after he took the two saucer pics on May 11, he used up the last of the roll taking three pictures at a family picnic on Mother’s Day. LIFE had this to say about Trent and his photos: “Herewith LIFE prints Farmer Trent’s pictures. No more can be said for them than the man that took them is an honest individual and that the negatives show no sign of having been tampered with, although there are people who would say that the object looks like the lid of a garbage can.”
The next issue in the collection is the May 5, 1951, issue which has the article headlined “Through the Interstellar Looking Glass.” The article is about the rise in popularity of science fiction, described as “the fastest-growing folklore of the machine age,” which had been a genre with a small dedicated fandom since the 1930s. The article covers the recent spate of movies featuring space travel and aliens such as Man From Planet X, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, and then gets deep into the culture of science fiction fandom. Significantly, the Shaver mystery (called the “Shaver hoax”) is discussed, which set a precedent for the flying saucer mystery.
There are three issues from 1952, which was a big year due to a major flap throughout the country and the fact that the Air Force had resurrected its neglected saucer investigation, Project Grudge, under the new name, Project Blue Book. The director was Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, who wrote about his time as director throughout 1952 in his 1956 book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. In it, he mentions reporters from LIFE contacting and visiting the office of Blue Book, but describes personnel other than himself interacting with them. Throughout the 1952 LIFE articles, Blue Book and Ruppelt are not mentioned by name.
The April 7, 1952, issue has Marilyn Monroe on the cover next to the teaser, “There is a Case for Interplanetary Saucers,” for the article by H. B. Darrach and Robert Ginna headlined “Have We Visitors From Outer Space?” The article is based on the fact, as the reader is told, that the Air Force had, “for the first time” opened up its files on UFOs “for study.”
At the top of the article is a center page spread of an illustration of a green fireball done by the wife of Dr. Lincoln La Paz. Dr. La Paz was head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at the University of New Mexico and had investigated a series of such sightings (and claimed to have had one himself along with his wife) for the Air Force. The article is then introduced with this: “The Air Force is now ready to concede that many saucer and fireball sightings still defy explanation; here LIFE offers some scientific evidence that there is a real case for interplanetary flying saucers.”
The article begins with a list of “facts” reported to LIFE by the Air Force, which includes statements that the Air Force is maintaining an active investigation with a “positive policy” in its efforts to discover the source of UFO reports. Significant is the news that the Air Force was now welcoming civilian reports and guaranteeing confidentiality and freedom from ridicule.
Then, after a review of what are now classic cases in UFO history up to that point, starting with Kenneth Arnold’s June 24, 1947, sighting and including the Thomas Mantell incident, the sighting reported by pilots Clarence S. Chiles and John B. Whitehead, and the “Gorman dogfight,” ten cases from the Air Force files are presented in detail along with three cases uncovered by LIFE investigators and “reported for the first time.” The most notable of these is the first case presented known as “The Lubbock Lights” which involved photos taken on August 30, 1951, by 18-year-old Texas Tech student Carl Hart Jr. of lights in formation over Lubbock, Texas. The photos are printed under the fireball illustration, and copies can be seen in the Blue Book files.
The June 9, 1952, issue has the article by Ginna headlined “Saucer Reactions” which describes “unprecedented” reader responses to the former article: “Some have been non-sensical, some philosophical, some have contained provocative and plausible theories.” It is noted that the Air Force is “enlarging” its investigation and that LIFE has offered its news resources to Air Force intelligence for “the gathering of pertinent data.” Readers are encouraged to report their sightings to the Air Force and instructions are given on what information to include and how use a coin to judge elevation.
The August 4, 1952, issue has an article headlined “Washington’s Blips” covering the two consecutive weekends in July starting July 19th when multiple UFOs in restricted Washington, D.C., airspace were spotted visually and on radar. Jets were scrambled and the blips on radar disappeared when the jets arrived. Ruppelt mentions in his book that Blue Book hadn’t been alerted and that he found out about the events when Ginna asked him for a statement. Afterwards, the largest press conference since WWII was held by the Air Force and the explanation was offered that the radar returns might have been caused by a temperature inversion. Notably, the coverage in the LIFE article is cursory, and the main source is the chief of radar at Washington’s CAA control center, Harry Barnes. The Air Force is said to have denied sending in jets and then to have later admitted doing so with no explanation for the denial. The press conference isn’t mentioned.
After 1952, coverage is scant. There is a short article on plans to build a practical flying saucer in the May 31, 1954, issue and a short article in the November 29, 1954, issue covering three Italian cases. The first of these is the famous case of Rosa Dainelli who claimed that two small humanoids took one her stockings along with some flowers. A picture of her with her husband and children is presented over the well-known illustration of the reported incident from the cover of La Domenica del Corriere.
There is another short article in the December 5, 1955, issue on the various shapes of craft reported to the Air Force and an article in the May 27, 1957, issue covering contactees and George Van Tassel’s Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention at Giant Rock Airport near Yucca Valley, California.
The April 1, 1966, issue is the last in the collection and it makes up for the lean years with three articles. In spite of it being April Fool’s Day, the articles are a mostly serious look at the phenomenon up to that point with a major focus on the flap in March around Dexter, Michigan. Several pictures of strange lights in the sky are presented under the headline, “A Well-witnessed ‘Invasion’ by Something,” and the Dexter flap is covered under the headline “‘It wasn’t no hullabillusion,’ said the farmer, and 52 agreed.” The quote is from the main witness, Frank Mannor as he was complaining about the crowds of people around his property in the aftermath. His wife, Leona is quoted at the end of the article saying, “We ain’t Martians- they act like you’re not human or something because you seen it. I’m about to get a gun and shoot some of these smart alecks if they don’t stay to hell away.”
Blue Book’s director at the time was Hector Quintanilla (spelled Quintanella in the LIFE articles), and he sent consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek to investigate. Hynek is quoted as saying, “I believe the people who made these sightings are entirely honest and sincere, but I am not willing to guess what they saw.” Unfortunately, Hynek did guess, and at a press conference given after the article was written he suggested that some of the sightings in the area were of flaming marsh gas, which became “swamp gas” in the press. This led to the Air Force representatives being brought before Congress at the behest of outraged Michigan State Representative Gerald Ford.
The last article is headlined “Of 10,147 flying saucer sightings there are rational explanations for all but 646.” Hynek and “Quintanella” are featured giving their thoughts on the phenomenon. Hynek expresses his feeling that there is an obligation to try and provide an explanation to “solid citizens” who report “something puzzling,” and Quintanilla says, in spite of his belief that there has been no evidence that saucers are of interplanetary origin, that “it is impossible to prove that flying saucers do not exist.