FREE new book-length re-examination of Kenneth Arnold's classic sighting

One of Britain's most thorough, but relatively little known, ufologists (Martin Shough) has posted a major re-examination of the case that kick-started the modern UFO era - the sighting by Kenneth Arnold of flying discs / pelicans / meteors / secret aircraft / etc etc (please delete according to your preferred explanation...).

That study is now available on Martin Shough's website, specifically at:

THE 147 PAGE PDF DOCUMENT AT THIS LINK

In one sense it would be true to say that this seminal sighting of nine "peculiar looking aircraft" over the Cascade Mountains of Washington on June 24 1947 (see Appendix 1) needs little introduction. As a result of it pilot and businessman Kenneth Arnold acquired a fame and notoriety far beyond anything he could ever have envisaged when he took off from Chehalis, Washington, and set a course for Yakima in his little CallAir plane that sunny afternoon. News of what the press dubbed "flying saucers" instantly captured the imagination of the world, and reports of things seen in the sky have ever since continued to fuel one of the 20th century's - and now the 21st's - most widespread, most persistent and most influential popular mythologies.


Yet that mythology has effloresced into many extraordinary forms, most of which the Kenneth Arnold of 1947 would hardly have recognised as having anything to do with his own puzzling but straighforward observation. And it is necessary to record that despite more than 60 years of sometimes scholarly debate about this hydra-headed mythological monster, its origins remain not well-understood, its meanings controversial, its ultimate cultural value uncertain.

Since Martin Shough's re-examination of this seminal sighting is nearly 150 pages long, I'm still looking through it myself.

At first glance, it looks extremely impressive and highlights quite a few myths and inaccuracies that have entered the UFO literature in relation to this case.

Indeed, it seems to be one of the more thorough re-examinations of a classic case that I've seen in several years.



All the best,

Isaac


[edit on 17-7-2010 by IsaacKoi]
Mod Edit: New External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 17/7/2010 by ArMaP]

reply to post by IsaacKoi
Thanks for the link. Menzel is on form as usual with this identification...

Menzel was able to identify them after a moment as raindrops on the glass that "looked exactly like planes with swept-back wings"

Arnold had somehow gotten cross-eyed and mistaken raindrops on the wind-shield for nine distant craft skimming through the valley below.

Very interesting !

Thank you for posting this.