Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.
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counterpart in those individuals who exhibit a morbid preoccupation with death.
Most of the rest of us don't like to think or hear about it. This, it seems to me,
accurately reflects many of our attitudes towards the reality of UFO's—natural,
and somewhat healthy, but not scientific.
In my remaining statements, you will note that I have tacitly assumed the
reality of UFO's as a hypothesis underlying my assessment of the importance of
this subject for scientific study.
I. THE UFO PROPULSION PROBLEM
By way of introducing the propulsion problem of UFO's, I will review a sight-
ing near the City of Corning in northern California during the night of August
13, 1960, by two California Highway patrolmen. During that night and several
succeeding nights there were many reports of UFO's over northern California,
but this particular event is important not only because of the fact that it has
been well authenticated (see Appendix I p. 114) but because of the relatively
long time and close nature of the observations. My condensed description that
follows is from the official report filed the next day by the two officers (see
Appendix II p. 114); from a half-hour taped interview conducted three days
later by myself and Dr. Carl Johannessen of the University of Oregon; from a
letter written by Officer Charles A. Carson to Walter N. Webb (Charles Hayden
Planetarium, Boston, Massachusetts) dated November 14, 1960; and from a
telephoned interview conducted by Dr. James McDonald with Mr. Carson on
October 27, 1966.
Officers Scott (Stanley E. Scott) and Carson (Charles A. Carson) were search-
ing for a speeding motorcyclist along Hoag Road, east of Corning, California,
between U.S. Highway 99W and 99E, when they saw what at first appeared to
be a huge airliner dropping from the sky. This was at 11 :50 p.m. They stopped
and leaped from the patrol car in order to get a position on what they were sure
was going to be an airplane crash. From their position outside the car the first
thing they noticed was an absolute silence. Still assuming it to be an aircraft
with power off, they continued to watch until the object was probably within
one hundred to two hundred feet of the ground, whereupon it suddenly reversed
completely, traveling at high speed back up the 45 degree glide path it had been
taking, and gaining about 500 feet altitude. This observation was from a distance
of one-half to one mile. They said it was about the size of a DC-6 without wings;
Officer Carson later made a sketch which shows an elliptical object 150 feet long
and 40 feet high. It was a very clear night, with no clouds, and as the object
hovered for about a minute they got a good look at it. It was obviously not an
aircraft of any design familiar to them, they said. It was surrounded by a white
glow, making the object visible. At each end there were definite red lights, and
at times five white lights were visible between the two red lights. They called
the night dispatching office at the County Sheriffs Office and asked that other cars
be sent, and that all other cars in the area be alerted.
The object then drifted westward towards them, losing altitude, and got within
some 150 yards of them ("easy pistol range") before drifting eastward again.
During this time it performed "aerial feats" that seemed unbelievable: It was
capable of moving in any direction—up, down, back and forth. At times the
movement was very slow, and at times completely motionless. It could move at
extremely high speeds, and several times they watched it change directions or
reverse itself while moving at unbelievable speeds.
As the object moved away from them towards the east, they followed at a ju-
dicial distance, encouraged by the expectation that they were to be joined by
other officers. At that time they also radioed the Tehama County Sheriffs Office
requesting that they contact the local radar base. By telephone the radar opera-
tor confirmed the UFO and stated that it was unidentified. (Note: The two of-
ficers drove the next day to the local radar base, were refused permission to talk
to the radar operator that had been on duty, and were given what Carson de-
scribed as the "ice water treatment" by the commanding officer.)
There follow many interesting details of their hide-and-seek chase with the
object over the next two hours. However, when we restrict our attention to the
propulsion problem, the significant facts are: (1) there was no observable noise,
(2) the UFO could hover ("seemed to float as if it were in water") and move in
any direction without altering its orientation, (3) it could sustain very high
accelerations and move very rapidly, (4) it was able to hover or to move rela-
tively slowly for at least two hours under circumstances that precluded suspen-
sion by aerodynamic lift forces. Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.