Baker report, 1968 congressional hearings

Dr. Hynek. I think that is a most interesting point that ties in. I think sometimes we don't ask ourselves really very
fundamental questions, and that is, how is it that these reports exist in the first place?
It is not just because they are strange, because we don't have reports of Christmas trees flying upside down, or elephants
doing strange things in the sky; the reports are strange, but they do have a certain pattern.
Now, I have often asked myself, well, why do the reports exist in the first place? And how many are reported?
Whenever I give a presentation to some group I frequently will ask them, well, how many of you have seen something in
the skies you couldn't explain; that is a UFO, or some friend whose veracity you can vouch for?
I have been surprised to find that 10 to 15 percent, albeit it is a specialized audience, they are there already because they
are interested, hence there is a selection factor, but nonetheless I am quite surprised that many respond.
Then I ask the second one, Did you ever report it to the Air Force? And maybe one or two will say that they have.
Now, why, then, should people make reports anyway, since they face such great ridicule? They do it for two reasons, those
that I have talked to: One, is out of a sense of civic duty. Time and again I will get a letter saying, I haven't said this to
anybody, but I feel it is my duty as a citizen to report this. And many letters come to me. In fact, even saying, please do not
report this to the Air Force.
The second reason is that their curiosity finally bugs them. They have been thinking about it and they want to know what it
was they saw, and many letters I get will end in a rather plaintive note, can you possibly tell me, or can you tell me whether
it is possible what I saw?
Those two reasons are the "springs" of why the report is made in the first place. I don't know how much store can be put in
the Gallup poll, but I understand when, about 2 years ago a poll was made on this subject, there was something like -- the
poll reported 5 million people, 5 million Americans had seen something in the skies they could not explain. Over the past
20 years the Air Force has had some 12,000 reports. Therefore, one can logically ask, who is holding out on the other
4,988,000 reports?
I think there may be quite a reservoir of reports that simply have not come out into the open because of this natural
reluctance of people to speak out.
Mr. Roush. Dr. Hynek, your experience has been similar to mine, although much more extensive. In the 10 years I have
served on this committee I have had occasion to ask various witnesses their beliefs
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as far as UFO's are concerned. They have included Air Force generals and Army generals, and usually they display a great
interest. Sometimes they will say, I don't believe, But my wife does; some will say.
The other day I was engaged in a colloquy over on the floor of the House, not a part of the record, but just as a side
conversation, with two of my colleagues who sit on this committee.
(At this point, discussion was off the record.)
Mr. Roush. Back on the record.
As a result of my experience on this committee I have been privileged to visit the tracking stations which NASA has
throughout the world. Each place I have visited I have asked the question, "Have you tracked any unidentified flying
object?"