The idea of Flying Saucers pre-1940s

Originally posted by DoomsdayRex
Notice who is looking out of the porthole. In this case, it appears that humans are the aliens.

Notice the story name bottom right?
I think that's supposed to be a diving bell under the sea having some unwanted octopus attention.
Without reading it though, I could be wrong.

Originally posted by ListenD

Originally posted by DoomsdayRex
Notice who is looking out of the porthole. In this case, it appears that humans are the aliens.

Good catch. I've been researching the Philidelphia Experiment/Montauk Project lately and I've been running across info that suggests some ufo activity may actually be the product of future/past human time travel.

Actually, looking at the picture further, I don't think it's a spaceship. Considering the cover story is the "Maelstrom of Atlantis", I think the craft is actually a bathysphere and the action takes place on Earth, albeit in the ocean depths.

Originally posted by Irma
Notice the story name bottom right?
I think that's supposed to be a diving bell under the sea having some unwanted octopus attention.
Without reading it though, I could be wrong.

We're on the same track. Great minds and all.

Originally posted by Mystic Technician
The Book of the Damned was published in 1919 ,
in it was a good section of UFO sightings.

They call Fort The First UFOlogist

Fort suspected that sightings of craftlike objects in the air indicated extraterrestrial visits to the Earth.

Originally posted by DoomsdayRex
In fact, flying saucers featured in early 20th century pulp and science fiction were, more often than not, human vehicles.

Interesting Observation. Seems to be true. As if they had more confidence in humanity back in those days.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Fort may have been one of the first people to make that claim. He also suggested that a Super-Sargossa Sea was responsible for some UFO sightings. Sometimes it's hard to tell what Fort seriously believed.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by DoomsdayRex]

Originally posted by Skyfloating
Interesting Observation. Seems to be true. As if they had more confidence in humanity back in those days.

And just so there isn't any confusion, I'm not saying that pulp sci-fi writers and artists were suggesting that human pilots were responsible for UFO sightings. It wasn't until after WWII that UFOs were a ubiqitous part of our popular culture; I doubt most of them would have even been aware of the phenomenon before then. All I am saying is that for some reason, these writers and artists loved to put mad scientists and our descendants in flying discs.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by DoomsdayRex]

reply to post by Skyfloating
Very nice thread Sky

I've got a couple here...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f84475f6eff6.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a55357e58764.jpg[/atsimg]

Cigar-style craft AND a saucer?!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e844aab0be39.jpg[/atsimg]

Astronauts....

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7117416148fb.jpg[/atsimg]

And a fine looking cover that ought to be shared...sho' nuff is purty

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ec37c9bde768.jpg[/atsimg]

Not often we share the same interest, but I have to say I love your thread

About 2600 years ago Ezekiel referred to them as flying wheels - "a wheel within a wheel". But I guess that terminology is a little dated by now.

Well from my understanding, the Vedic writings dated to approx. 8000 years ago calls them Vimanas. They were powered by a mysterious compound of a reddish hue and some scholars believe it was mercury antimony oxide. They had weapons of mass destruction and could move extremely fast and travel in the heavens...Look it up!

"There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages." -- Mark Twain

[edit on 16-2-2010 by JustJoe]

reply to post by Kandinsky


The cover for the 1938 Astounding is incredible. I'd love to read that story; unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available online anywhere.

Here's a story of a 1865 sighting.

"Reports of UFOs were recorded in newspapers of the 19th century, among the most famous was written in the St. Louis Democrat, Oct. 19, 1865. That article appeared two weeks later in The Cincinnati Commercial, bringing more public awareness to UFOs. The account was of an old Montana fir trapper by the name of James Lumley who saw a..." source

This is known as the oldest ufo photo, circa 1870.
source


[edit on 16-2-2010 by ListenD]

Those are some cool looking covers. It would be cool to get a blowup of some of those, and put it in a nice frame. They would look good on my walls.

Originally posted by jclmavg
In interviews after the incident Arnold consistently described the shape as saucer or disc-like.

Rounded but with a triangular tail.

In his interview with Ed Murrow, Kenneth Arnold said:

These objects more or less fluttered like they were, oh, I'd say, boats on very rough water or very rough air of some type, and when I described how they flew, I said that they flew like they take a saucer and throw it across the water. Most of the newspapers misunderstood and misquoted that too. They said that I said that they were saucer-like; I said that they flew in a saucer-like fashion.

www.project1947.com...

The picture you posted comes from Arnold's book many years later, and at that point Arnold claimed that only the leading object had a crescent shape. The others did not.

Not the leading object, the one before last. Little known factoid. From a MUFON conference speech IIRC.

Originally posted by TravisT
Those are some cool looking covers. It would be cool to get a blowup of some of those, and put it in a nice frame. They would look good on my walls.

What's even better is having the original magazine in the frame. Unfortunately, it is an expensive hobby so I don't have too many of them. For instance, the Astounding Science Fiction Kadinsky posted is going for around $50 right now.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
I've got a couple here...

Those are great - I love these 20s/30s covers. Dont know what the last one has to do with discs but its pretty too

_________________________________________________________

(I see discs were more prevalent than I thought. Planes and Zeppelins/Blimps I can understand - but Discs?)

Originally posted by JustJoe
Well from my understanding, the Vedic writings dated to approx. 8000 years ago calls them Vimanas.

You remind me of a Vintage UFOlogy book from the year 1918:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5ac5848f666c.jpg[/atsimg]

The book contains a bunch of disc-and saucer-shaped aircraft claiming these were the ancient Vimanas.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
(I see discs were more prevalent than I thought. Planes and Zeppelins/Blimps I can understand - but Discs?)

I have no idea why discs were so popular in the Pulp and Golden Ages. I'd love to know what inspired these artists and writers. Though it is worth noting that while the cover-art would be inspired by the cover-story, sometimes the cover-art only superficially reflected the actual contents of the story.

A Texan farmer, John Martin, used the term "saucer" 69 years earlier to describe the flying object he saw on a hunting expedition in the surroundings of Denison, Texas, on January 2, 1878

here

Its funny how a lot of people that posted already seem shocked that there are books with flying ships and whatnot from the early 20th and late 19th century's. There have always been UFO's, in the 1800's newspapers called them "airships" and way before that people thought they were angels or demons, gods, etc. Now its crazy to think that they're gods or demons so its the next logical thing to think that whatever they are are from another world.

there was a saucer crash long before the 40s in boulder texas in the 1800s you can find info on it on the web it was the eairliest recorded ufo sighting crash in america before roswell and the rise of all the saucer sightings in the 40s this topic is deep and i could go on for days about it especially when it comes to the nazi s and vrill technology and the rise of sightings in the 40s that are linked to the reverse engineering of the roswell craft and studies on anti gravity with the russian and german scientists the reasons for the cold war and so much more