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might have seen swamp gas. The press took this for a final verdict and exploded with anger. How
dare this academic man from Chicago challenge the word of an honest farmer and seriously suggest
that he had not seen what was evidently a real flying saucer?
Those irate comments came from the same newspapers who for years had ridiculed witnesses just
like this poor farmer, and had given no support whatsoever to Dr. Hynek when he begged them to
report UFO cases more accurately. Suddenly it became fashionable to believe in flying saucers. In
March 1966, reporters were beating the bushes of Michigan looking for Martians and UFO experts.
The switch took the Air Force by surprise and destroyed the image of Project Blue Book in a few
short days.
Public reaction carried the case to Washington, with help from a then-local politician, Gerald Ford,
who demanded that full attention be given to what had become known as the Swamp Gas scandal. A
meeting of the space committee of the Senate pondered the question first and decided quickly that
NASA should not get involved. The space agency had its public image to preserve and declined to
have anything to do with the subject. So they handed this hot potato to the armed forces committee
of the House.
Early in April 1966, the Secretary of the Air Force was reported to be in favor of a scientific
analysis of the 648 cases classified as "unidentified" at that time in the Blue Book files. Late that
month, the governor of Florida and several reporters saw an unknown flying object from the
governor's private plane. These reports created a stir, but the outrage over the Michigan incident had
already subsided. It was almost two months old and no longer newsworthy. An official coverup was
falling back into place. A television documentary carried the debunking of the subject to new
heights: it showed Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel pouring some benzine over a tankful of
acetone to demonstrate optical properties that were common knowledge since the eighteenth
century. He was trying to convince the audience that UFOs were nothing but mirages. "Let me
know next time it rains benzine, will you?" I asked my wife. "We'll go out and watch the flying
saucers!"
Menzel's number was followed by a classical interview with a "contactee" who was relied upon to
provide comic relief by describing his meetings with the "space brothers." His edited statements
seemed to be carefully chosen to make him look as crazy as possible. In contrast with this man, the
next interview was an impressive discussion with another astronomer who stated with authority that
extraterrestrial visitations were extremely improbable. The documentary also contained an
interview with a military officer who stated that no UFOs were ever detected on radar screens and
an interview with an astronomer who declared that no UFOs were ever seen or photographed by
satellite tracking stations.
Both statements were outright lies. It is true that radar never "sees" UFOs, but that is only because
military operators call them something else! In their jargon they speak of UCTs, "uncorrelated
targets." At the time the documentary was shown, the Western Defense System was recording about
seven hundred of these baffling UCTs per month! There had even been a suggestion by a highly
respected astronomer that the military modify their computer program to gather information about
these UCTs rather than ignoring them because they didn't fit the trajectory of incoming missilies.
The suggestion was not implemented.
Scared Scientists
Why are scientists remaining silent? Many astronomers must know what I knew from my days at
Paris Observatory, namely that we were tracking unidentified objects and even photographing them.
Were professional scientists afraid of the emotional reaction their statements might trigger in a
generally uninformed and credulous public? Or were they simply afraid of losing their reputations?
Whatever the reason, it could not justify the deliberate destruction of scientific data. Even the idea
of not saying anything that might cause fear did not hold water. The Michigan incident proved that
fear could spread much faster, and with much more destructive effects, among a population that had
been kept systematically ignorant of the facts. Child psychologists know very well that it is better to
prepare the child for the idea that his grandfather is not going to live forever than to let him discover
it when death suddenly strikes. Similarly, by denying the existence of the mystery the scientific
community is taking serious chances with the belief system of the public. In my opinion, such
attitudes have contributed to the long-term loss of popular support and respect for science, and these
attitudes continue to be one of the factors that drives the public toward the many cults, which plague
this field.
Throughout that period much was happening under the surface, however. We began receiving letters
and phone calls from specialists who wanted to participate in the investigation of the phenomenon.
In his absorbing book The UFO Experience, Dr. Hynek has described how this little group grew
during the late sixties and early seventies. If this network ever decided to become visible, a brilliant
panel of scientists could rapidly be assembled from its ranks to deal effectively with this new area
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