Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

208
INTRODUCTION
Thank
you
for
your
kind
invitation
(July
22,
1968)
to
submit
a
statement
to
you
and
your
colleagues in
regard
to
the
problem
of
Unidentified
Flying
Objects
(UFOs).
I
recognize
some
of
the
difficulties
which
confront
you
gentlemen,
par-
ticularly
in
relation
to•
the
amount
of
information
which
becomes
available to
you
when
you
wish
to
arrive
at
informed
decisions.
Also,
I
recognize
some
of
the
difficulties
which
confront
college
professors,
especially
when
they
try to
be
lucid
and
brief!
Elsewhere,
a
more
extensive
attempt
has
been
made
to present
views
on
the
psychological
implications
of
UFO
reports.
(Sprinkle,
R.
L.,
Psychological
impli-
cations
in
the
investigations
of
UFO
reports.
In
Lorenzen,
L.
J.,
and
Coral
E..
Flying saucer
occupants.
N.Y.:
A
Signet
Book,
1967.
Pp.
160-186.)
Thus,
in
sub-
mitting
this
short statement,
the
attempt
is
made
to
present
my
personal
views
on
the
significance
of
UFO
investigations.
Hopefully, these personal
views
can
be
of
some
assistance
to
you
in
considering
the
statements
being
submitted
to
youby
the
distinguished
scientists
whom
you have
invited
to
participate
in
the
symposium.
PERSONAL VIEWS OF
UFO
INVESTIGATION
I
accept
the
hypothesis
that
the
earth
is
being
surveyed
by
spacecraft
which
are
controlled
by
representatives
of
an
alien
civilization
or
civilizations.
I
believe
the
"spacecraft hypothesis"
is
the
best
hypothesis
to
account for
the
wide
rangeof
evidence
of
UFO
phenomena.
(For a
more
informed
description
of
various
UFO
hypotheses, see Salisbury,
F.
B.,
The
scientist
and
the
UFO.
Bio-Science,
January
1967.
Pp.
15-24.)
I
have
read
thousands
of
reports
and
I have
talked
with
hundreds
of
persons
about
their
UFO
observations;
either
I must
accept
the
view
that
thousands of
people
have
observed
physical
phenomena,
or
I must
accept the
view
that
some
persons
have
the
ability
to project
mental
images
in
such
a
manner
that
other
persons
can
observe,
photograph,
and
obtain physical
evidence
of
those
metal
Images.
(For a
more
extended
discussion
of
these hypotheses,
see
Jung, C.
G.,
Flying Saucers,
N.Y.: Harcourt,
Brace
and Company,
1959,
Pp.
146-153.)
On
two
occasions,
each time
in
the presence
of
a
person
who
shares
my
claim,
I
observed
unusual
aerial
phenomena
which
I
could
neither
identify
nor
under-stand.
My
first
observation
of
a
"flying
saucer"
led
me
to
change
my
position
from
"scoffer"
to
that of
"skeptic."
My
second
observation
of
a
UFO
led
me
to
change
my
position
from
"skeptic"
to
"unwilling
believer."
As
a
result
of
my
second
observation,
I
began
to join
organizations
(NICAP
and
APRO)
and
conduct
investigations.
The
Grants
-in
-Aids
Committee
of the
Society
for
Psychological
Study
of
Social Issues,
a
Division
of the
American
Psychological Association,
provided
a
small
grant,
and
Richard
Hall,
former
assistant director
of
NICAP,
cooperated
in
a
study of the
attitudes
of
persons
interested
in
UFO
reports.
(
See
enclosure.)
Later,
I
became
a
consultant
to
APRO.
Mr. and
Mrs. L.
J.
Lorenzen,
directors
of
APRO,
encouraged
my
in-
terest
in
learning
more
about
the
psychic aspects
of
UFO
phenomena.
At
the present time,
I
am
conducting
a
non
-supported
investigation
of
some
psychological attributes
of persons
who
claim to experience psychic
impressions
of
UFO
phenomena,
including
their
impressions of
possible
motives of
UFO
occu-
pants.
As
a member
of the Parapsychological
Association
and
the
American
So-
ciety
of
Clinical
Hypnosis,
I
am
interested
in
the
possibility
that
reliable
observa-tions
are
being
made
by
persons
who
claim to see
UFO
occupants
and,
in
some
unusual
eases,
experience
"mental communication"
with
these
UFO
occupants.
Use
of hypnotic techniques
with
UFO
observers
seems
to
be
useful procedure,in
some
cases, to obtain further information
about
UFO
observations.
(See
en-
closure
"Personal
and
Scientific
Attitudes:
A
Survey
of Persons
Interested in
UFO
Reports.")
CONCLUSIONS
If
these reports
by
UFO
observers are
found
to
be
reliable
and
valid,
I
believe
we
shall
enter the
threshold
of
a
most
exciting
and
challenging period in
man's
history.
In
my
opinion,
the attempt
to achieve contact with other
intelligent
civilizations is
a
goal
which
is
worthy
of great personal
and
social
effort.
I
plan to
do what I can
in furthering investigations
of these
phenomena,
in
hopes that these
efforts
can
assist
the contributions of other investigators.
However, I
believe
that the mysteries are too deep, the investigations
are too
difficult,
and the implications are too great for these
efforts
to be
made on aninformal
basis.
I
believe that the establishment of an
international research
center is
the most appropriate method
to follow in reaching the goal of greater