Misión

port, Delaware, after completion of USAF Advanced Survival School, Stead AFB on 23 Nov 1 957 in his automobile. At about 061 0, he was approximately thirty miles west of Tonopah, Nevada, traveling towards Las Vegas at about eighty MPH when the

engine of his car suddenly stopped. Attempts to re­ start the engine were unsuccessful and Source got out of his car to investigate the trouble. Outside the car he heard a steady high-pitched whining noise which drew his attention to four disc-shaped objects that were sitting on the ground about three hundred to four hundred yards to the right of the highway. These objects were totally unlike anything he had ever seen, and he attempted to get closer for a better look at them. He walked for several minutes until he was within approximately fifty feet from the nearest object [road hypnosis is a momentary thing; the ap­ parition does not last for several minutes!] The ob­ jects were identical and about fifty feet in diameter. They were disc-shaped. emitting their own source of light causing them to glow brightly. They were equipped with a transparent dome in the center of the top which was obviously not of the same material as the rest of the craft. The entire body of the ob­ jects emitted the light. They did not appear to be dark on the underside. They were equipped with three landing gears, each that appeared hemispherical in shape about two feet in diameter and of some dark material. The source estimated the height of the ob-

DR. J. ALLEN HYNEK 1 83

jects from the ground level to the top of the dome to be about ten to fifteen feet. The objects were equipped with a ring around the outside which was darker than the rest of the craft and was apparently rotating. When the Source got to within fifty feet of the near­ est object, the hum which had been steady in the air ever since he had first observed the objects, in­ creased in pitch to a degree where it almost hurt his ears, and the objects lifted off the ground. The pro­ truding gears were retracted almost instantly after takeoff; the objects rose about fifty feet into the air and proceeded slowly (about ten MPH) to the north

across the highway, contoured over some small hills about a half mile away and disappeared behind those hills. As the objects passed directly over the Source, he observed no evidence of any smoke, exhaust, trail, heat, disturbance to the ground, or terrain or any visible outline of landing gear doors or any other out­ lines or openings in the bottom. The total time of sighting lasted about twenty minutes. After the ob­ jects disappeared, Source examined the place where he had first seen them. [Imagine a victim of road hypnosis calmly examining the place of landing some twenty minutes later.] There was no evidence that any heat had been present or that the ground had been disturbed in any other way than several very small impressions in the sand where the landing gear had obviously rested. Impressions were very shallow and bowl-shaped, triangular in pattern (an equally sided triangle) . Source did not measure the distance between the impressions but estimated it to be about eight to ten feet. After his investigation of the im­ pression, Source returned to his car and the en­ gine started immediately and ran perfectly. [This is a typical reported experience after a UFO has stopped a car. After the disappearance of the UFO, the car is fully operable.] The car Source was driving was a 1 956 Chevrolet [thus a year or two old] and he did not experience trouble of similar nature before or after the incident. At the time of sighting, Source had driven from Reno, Nevada, to point of sighting during the night and had slept for about two hours in his car between 2400 and 0200 that same day [psy-

184 THE HYNEK 'UFO REPORT

chologist maintains that witness was exhausted de­ spite the witness's own statement that he was feeling fine at the time]. Source had had no intoxicants or sleep-retarding drugs. He described his physical con­ dition at the time of sighting as excellent. After the sighting, Source proceeded to Indian Springs AFB, Nevada, where he reported the sighting to the base Security Officer. [It is most unlikely that a victim of road hypnosis would later, upon calm consideration, report such an experience to an Air Force base!]

The times of day referred to above are given in Pacific Standard Time. At the time of the sighting, it was daylight although the sun was still behind the mountains. The sun was about to rise in front of the Source. (Source was traveling SSE and the sun at that season would rise well to the south of east. ) There were no stars or moonlight. There was no overcast. The weather was dry and rather cold and there was no wind. There were no other witnesses to the observation to the best of Source's knowledge. [Captain Gregory made much of the fact that the Nevada Highway Department indicated at that time that there might be some twenty-five to thirty cars passing along that road. In my opinion, there could have been five hundred cars passing whose drivers would pay little attention to some activity on the des­ ert some several hundred feet off the road.]

The witness provides the following sketches of the objects.

A memo in the Blue Book files points up the primary reason why the Air Force put as much effort into investi­ gating this case as it did :

The damage and embarrassment to the Air Force would be incalculable if this officer allied himself with the host of "flying saucer" writers, experts, and others who provide the Air Force with countless charges and accusations. In this instance, as matters now stand, the Air Force would have no effective re­ buttal, or evidence to disprove any unfounded charges�