UFOs ‘Official’ History Part 1 : Before the Saucers Came

This is a history you will probably never learn about in school. Yet there is an “official history” of UFO cases that lies in the records of our governments, our armed forces and our civilian authorities. Much of it is probably still to be unearthed.

It is the history of how the world of politics, civil authorities and the military industrial complex were either dismissive of, or became interested in, concerned with, and sometimes deeply involved in the control and manipulation of UFO information across the globe. It started during the scareship age of World War I and goes beyond the strong clampdown about the UFO over Chicago’s O’Hare Airport a decade ago. It is a history of ignorance, confusion and misunderstanding, of deception and cover ups, and sadly of hoaxes and fraud.

It will be impossible to cover everything (even in what will have to be a long running multi-thread piece). So feel free to add anything you feel is relevant to this post.

The Scareships of the Great War
To set the scene –
Before the mid-20th century there was no such thing as Ufology. In fact the terms ‘Flying Saucer’ and ‘UFO’ had not entered the vernacular.
However during World War I the British were investigating strange lights in the skies. The predecessor to MI5 – Military Observation Department Five (MO5) was given responsibility for investigating strange sightings in the air. This was prompted by the fears of wartime and the very real concern of an attack from German airships. From the outbreak of the war in 1914, Police Chief Constables were directed to report sightings of unidentified aircraft directly into this newly founded “Secret Service”.

The fears were not unfounded as by the end of the Great War, 57 raids, resulting in the loss of nearly 600 lives, were made by German airships over Great Britain. Surviving records however illustrate that the heads of British Military Intelligence felt far too much time and resources had been wasted investigating multiple ‘false’ reports of unidentified aircraft. All from an over excited public fuelled by rumours. Around 90% of sightings investigated were dismissed as entirely explainable. Perhaps a precedent had been set there and then?

It is debatable whether all the elements of the scareship sightings of World War I can be compared with UFO sightings decades later. But perhaps the seeds were sown a hundred years ago for how officials would react and respond to reports of strange things in the sky.

1942 - The Battle of LA
Fast forward now to the second great war of the 20th century and one of the first ‘seemingly ‘modern’ UFO cases - the Battle of LA in 1942.

Early morning February 25th 1942. The western coast of the United States was fearful of Japanese raids after the attack on Pearl Harbor a couple of months earlier. Above Culver City and Santa Monica something appeared in the skies around 2 am local time. The sirens broke the silence, a blackout was ordered, beaming searching lights slashed through the night sky converging on one thing. An unidentified object, described by some, as a huge lantern hanging in the sky, passed slowly overhead. Hundreds of rounds were fired until the object glided over Long Beach and slipped out of view over the Palos Verdes hills as the guns fell silent.

Next morning the LA Times produced the following picture and report.


This picture had actually been enhanced to show up on cheap quality newsprint paper.
The report below it stated:

SEEKING OUT OBJECT - Scores of searchlights built a wigwam of light beams over Los Angeles early yesterday morning during the alarm. This picture was taken during blackout; shows nine beams converging on an object in sky in Culver City area. The blobs of light which show at apex of beam angles were made by anti-aircraft shells...

The picture taken from the original negative is less clear. While there could be something there where the beams meet it is less defined.


The first claim that the object in the photo was a UFO did not actually appear until the 1980s when it was mentioned in the MJ12 Marshall/Roosevelt document.

This Headquarters has come to a determination that the mystery airplanes are in fact not earthly and according to secret intelligence sources they are in all probability of interplanetary origin.

Source : www.majesticdocuments.com...

Unfortunately, the MJ12 documents are widely dismissed as fraudulent by almost everyone including the FBI and many ufologists alike.
The official verdict of the Battle of LA is contained in the’ The Army Air Forces in World War II report’.

....A careful study of the evidence suggests that meteorological balloons — known to have been released over Los Angeles — may well have caused the initial alarm.....

This theory is supported by the fact that anti-aircraft artillery units were officially criticized for having wasted ammunition on targets which moved too slowly to have been airplanes.

After the firing started, careful observation was difficult because of drifting smoke from shell bursts. The acting commander of the anti-aircraft artillery brigade in the area testified that he had first been convinced that he had seen fifteen planes in the air, but had quickly decided that he was seeing smoke. Competent correspondents like Ernie Pyle and Bill Henry witnessed the shooting and wrote that they were never able to make out an airplane.

Page 285 – 286
Alternative Source : www.ibiblio.org...

Battle of LA – Conclusion
Whilst war jitters were certainly a factor the military proffered the explanation of a weather balloon. Now where and when would we hear that explanation again?

Yet no works on Ufology of the 1950s – early 1980s seem to have given this story much, if any, attention. The Japanese denied any attack on Los Angeles during the 25th February 1942 after the war had ended. The US military also confirmed none of their aircraft were in the sky at the time. So is the Battle of LA really nothing more than a story of war jitters and nothing to do with alien spacecraft?

A bogus MJ12 document seems to be the catalyst for the Battle of LA morphing into a UFO story. So if an alien spacecraft really did glide across the skies of Los Angeles in 1942, then no one, including the US military, seems to have been aware of it at the time.


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World War ‘Foo’


The ‘foo’ fighters of World War II were seen in both the European and Pacific arenas by Allied and (supposedly) Axis air crews. They were mainly described as basketball sized "fireballs". The colour was often described as a bright white. Although other reports describe red, yellow and amber lights.

Despite contemporary reports leaking to the press during the war there were no ‘official’ details available for a long time. This has gradually changed in more recent years as more documents have been available for study. However finding official records of Axis pilots reports on foo fighters has proven difficult.

The first British war records describe a ‘night phenomena’ with the earliest coming from an August 11th 1940 report - Phenomena Connected With Enemy Night Tactics. The report describes the problems with deriving solid intelligence from "peculiar incidents reported by pilots"..

.......Sightings of aerial phenomena were made during the Second World War by RAF aircrew. These included balls of fire and mysterious moving lights that appeared to pursue Allied aircraft operating over occupied Europe. American pilots dubbed these UFOs 'foo-fighters', from a character in a comic strip whose catch phrase was 'where there's foo there's fire.'

Although the foo-fighters did not appear to be hostile the sightings alarmed air intelligence branches of the Air Ministry and US Army Air Force as they prepared for the invasion of France. The RAF began to collect reports of 'night phenomena' from 1942 and later in the war; the Air Ministry shared intelligence on the subject with the US authorities. They assumed the phenomena were German secret weapons, such as the Me262 jet fighter.

At the end of the war no traces of advanced aircraft or weapons that could explain the 'foo fighters' were found by the Allied occupying forces. In addition, intelligence officers such as Dr RV Jones discovered that German pilots had observed similar unexplained aerial phenomena...

Originally Sourced from: UK National Archives ref - AIR 2/5070

A year later a further report by the Operational Research Section of the British Air Ministry entitled A Note On Recent Enemy Pyrotechnic Activity Over Germany was issued on September 25th 1942.

These objects are undoubtedly shot up from the ground...The object first makes its appearance in the sky as an orange red ball of fire and its arrival is definitely not accompanied by any blast in its vicinity. It persists as a "ball of fire" about 50 to 60 feet in diameter for a period of about 5-10 seconds after which period it begins to "drip" multicoloured fragments which fall for about 150 feet before burning out. This cascade continues for about half a minute or a little longer, after which the whole thing appears to burn out......

....Phenomenon 1 is probably purely a 'scarecrow' and is not lethal.

Phenomenon 2 is probably a flare to assist enemy fighters. 'Flashless flak' if it exists exhibits all the normal characteristics of flak except the brilliance of the flash. None of the above mentioned phenomena are considered to be in any way connected with aerial mines...

The US 8th Air Force based in Britain had also reported strange craft in the skies during August, 1943:

....Most of our crews were at best relatively inexperienced. They early learned to identify the most obvious forms of conventional flak and cannon bursts but many of them from the first insisted they had seen multi-collared explosions of one kind and another. These observations were greeted with scepticism if not derision at first. It is likely that many valuable reports were lost by the crew members' reluctance to report such strange things as they knew they had seen. These men had little general knowledge of ordnance and usually their observations were only fleeting glimpses caught in the heat of battle. "Pink Flak" became a joke long before it was a well-understood phenomenon.....

One of the more interesting ‘secret reports’ was of a two or three hundred feet long craft travelling at an estimated 500mph with four pair of red lights along it’s body....Apparently also confirming the Captain had sighted a similar craft “on the ground” three months earlier.



This is interesting because it is atypical of the numerous foo fighter reports of balls of glowing light following allied aircraft in the skies. It sounds more like the cigar shaped UFOs seen later in the 20th century.

American Physicist, David T. Griggs (pictured), was drafted in to investigate these strange sightings and actually flew on both training and combat missions during the war. Working under the command of General Harry ‘Hap’ Arnold, Griggs was tasked with collating information on the ‘foo fighters’ and filing reports through the echelons of command. In 1969, although he had none of the original reports in his possession, Griggs agreed to an interview with James McDonald.

Griggs made it clear that many reports stemmed from misinterpretations. But he still felt that there had been something real involved without being able to ever resolve the ‘foo fighter’ mystery. He noted that all his own reports from Europe had occurred over enemy territory and there were also reports of engine disturbances on aircraft connected to the foo fighters.



When Griggs moved to the Pacific he noted that all the sightings were consistently of red/orange fireballs and even claimed that the Japanese had developed “ray beam” technology that could stop engines at short range.


Excerpts from : UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry - By Michael Swords, Robert Powell

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Foo ‘Down Under’

More recently, due to the diligence of researcher Paul Dean, it seems that something strange may have also been reported south of Gasmata, New Britain (or North of Queensland, Australia) on the 10th Sept 1943. This is information hidden away in old SECRET WWII documents. The information appears to have been transmitted or routed via Brisbane, Australia.

“Cylindrical yellow objects 3 by 6 feet have been reported in various locations in areas south of GASMATA. Also SOPAC (South Pacific) area recently reported that similarly described objects exploded upon approach of aircraft. This reported by Com 7th Flt. Request all available information these objects and possible means of actuation.”

Although it is speculation, Paul Dean considers this may refer to a previously unknown WWII UFO report.

Japanese forces were not using rockets or missiles during WWII. No one was. So the description of “Cylindrical yellow objects 3 by 6 feet…” begs to be matched with something else....

A further document date Sept 29th 1943 adds further mystery.

No. C-6161, Sept. 29, 1943. To AGWAR from CINC SWPA Signed MacArthur. Complete report on suspected attempts at radar countermeasures made reference your 8398 25th is being prepared and will be forwarded by air mail. Phenomenon possibly related to that observed in NEW GEORGIA has been recorded and will be described in detail.....

The reference to CINC SWPA (Commander-in-Chief South West Pacific Area) MacArthur would mean General Douglas MacArthur, who was the Supreme Commander of the SWPA in 1943. Which suggests it was of extreme importance.

So what was the “phenomenon in New Georgia?” Did it have any link back to the strange observations in nearby New Britain?

For more information see : ufos-documenting-the-evidence.blogspot.co.uk...

Of course it could all be something very dull and mundane. But it also shows that there are still ‘official’ records out there gathering dust that may contain vital clues. Some documents from World War II are still locked away until 2045.

Foo Fighters Conclusions
There are a numerous accounts of foo fighters’ kicking around on the web and in books. What is strange is that many of them claim that Axis pilots also witnessed the phenomenon and believed they were Allied secret weapons. I can’t find anything more than general references to this. There may be specific reports out there and the language barrier is the problem.

One of the more intriguing theories is that ‘foo’ was actually a secret German weapon that hadn’t quite been perfected and was unable to cause damage to aircraft. David Griggs stated that no foo fighters were ever spotted over Allied territory. This circumstantially suggests they were generated from within German and Japanese territory. But no details have ever been released on such a weapon from war records to my knowledge. Tie in that with the fact that the Allies and Russians began ‘utilising’ the talents of German scientists straight after the war was over. Which would mean ‘foo’ was either a technology that remains top secret to this day or was one that the Russians or Americans never got their hands on.

Other theories are that foo was a natural plasma formation with suggestions that certain radar in specific weather conditions would create these plasma balls. That doesn’t explain how these balls appeared to follow aircraft for miles though.

So I think the history of foo fighters has to remain a mystery for now.

Maybe more information will eventually come to light in the future when more documents are released. But that also relies on enough researchers with enough resources to look through them.

And there is one thing that still puzzles me:
What became of that Japanese ‘beam’ technology that David Griggs claimed could stop aircraft engines?


Further reading :
www.saturdaynightuforia.com...
www.saturdaynightuforia.com...
www.saturdaynightuforia.com...

Ghost Rockets

The war ended but the mysteries over the skies of Europe did not.

During the summer of 1946 several hundreds of ‘Ghost Rockets’ were reported in Scandinavia. Many of them were described as tubular or "spindle-shaped" and the sheer volume prompted the Swedish Military into action. They formed a research team to resolve the mystery. A special committee was gathered together and for six months a group of experts worked on the enigma. Initially it was suspected that the “rockets” were captured V-1 or V-2 missiles being tested by the Soviets.

On July 15th 1946 the London Daily Mail reported that the rocket missiles reported in Sweden were V-rockets launched from Peenemünde by the Soviets. Dr R.V. Jones, Director of Intelligence at the British Air Ministry, was highly sceptical of this theory. He thought the reports were triggered by bright daylight meteors and people fearful of Soviet expansion into Western Europe.

A few days later on July 20th 1946 the Swedes reactivated their wartime radar and tracked a number of objects. A small volume of reports indicated that the ghost rockets were crashing into lakes and bodies of water as if under some sort of remote control.

One such case occurred on July 19th 1946, when an object was tracked plunging into Lake Kölmjärv, Sweden. Witnesses described a metallic grey rocket with wings falling into the lake. One witness heard a clap of thunder as if the object was exploding. However, despite a three week long top secret search of the lake by the Swedish military they found nothing in the area to indicate anything had crashed into it.

Immediately after the investigations, the officer who led the search, Karl-Gösta Bartoll submitted a report saying that the bottom of the lake had been disturbed. Nothing was found but "there are many indications that the Kölmjärv object had disintegrated itself...the object was probably manufactured in a lightweight material, possibly a kind of magnesium alloy that would disintegrate easily, and not give indications on our instruments".

A Top Secret USAFE memo date 4th November 1948 reported that after a visit to the Swedish Air Intelligence Service that some reliable and fully technically qualified people have reached the conclusion that:

....... "these phenomena are obviously the result of a high technical skill which cannot be credited to any presently known culture on earth." They are therefore assuming that these objects originate from some previously unknown or unidentified technology, possibly outside the earth.

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As well as reports from the other Scandinavian countries, the Ghost rockets were also reported from Hungary, Greece, Morocco and Portugal.
 

In 2005 a secret report on the ghost rockets released by Britain’s National Archives stated that the British Air Ministry :

…felt this demonstration, if of Russian origin, would be intended to counteract the effect of American atom bomb experiments, by implying the Russians also possess a high performance weapon.’

The objects often manoeuvred in unusual ways and several landed or crashed in lakes. To this day rocket like objects, with no apparent source of origin, are seen in Sweden; a modern day Ghost Rocket phenomenon. What they are or where they come from remains unknown.
Since no fragments have ever been found, neither on the ground nor in the lakes, both the Swedish, British and US military failed to find an explanation. When investigating the lakes, the only tangible evidence the military search teams found, was occasional craters in the lake bottom and torn off aquatic plants.....

The government of Greece also investigated the ghost rocket phenomena , with their leading physicist Dr. Paul Santorinis, in charge. Santorinis, along with a team of engineers, at first believed the answer to be Russian missiles flying over Greece.

However in 1967 Athens Radio broadcast a lecture given to the Greek astronomical society. For the first time Santorinis publicly revealed the conclusion of his 1947 investigation.

....
"We soon established that they were not missiles. But, before we could do any more, the Army, after conferring with foreign officials (presumably U.S. Defense Dept.), ordered the investigation stopped.

Foreign scientists [from Washington] flew to Greece for secret talks with me". Later Santorinis told UFO researchers such as Raymond Fowler that secrecy was invoked because officials were afraid to admit of a superior technology against which we have "no possibility of defence".....

Ghost Rocket Conclusions

Many thought the ghost rocket phenomenon to be nothing but meteorite sightings by a panicked Swedish public. Almost certainly some of them were. But surely not everyone could be mistaken?

Others believed the Russians were testing V1 & V2 rockets out in Swedish airspace to ‘scare’ the Swedes. None of that makes sense as no rocket fragments were ever found. It was also discovered that the Soviets had moved the German V rockets from their original base out of range of Sweden.

Although Sweden has long shared close ties with other Western nations it has retained its own neutrality for a long time. There are theories that the Swedes were testing their own rockets. But again that doesn’t seem to make sense as surely they would admit to it rather than deceiving the Brits and Americans? There does seem to have been a number of Swedish (and other) officials who considered the ‘ghost’ rockets’ represented a non-terrestrial technology. But there is a huge gap to fill to prove that was the case.

It is yet another mystery waiting to be explained. However there are people working on it and translating much of the material into English right now. Maybe one day the mystery will be solved.

See : ghostrockets.portaplay.dk...

Further reading and info :
www.project1947.com...





Merry Xmas everyone.

S&F for you

What a well put together thread. Now I take my leave whilst I study it all

Thanks

reply to: mirageman

Just marking my spot for now, in case I don't get to read it all in one sitting. Busy day ahead!
I've always been very interested in the history of UFOs, especially in ancient paintings.

Thanks for this! You always deliver above and beyond on any thread you make, this meets those standards!

Thank you for making ATS a conspiracy site again!

a reply to: mirageman

Fantastic and interesting thread.
Thanks!

Nicely done thread mirageman.

originally posted by: mirageman
So is the Battle of LA really nothing more than a story of war jitters and nothing to do with alien spacecraft?

Sort of, but the story is more than just war jitters. It's an example of how numerous witnesses can all observe the same event and perceive drastically different things. In this example even the same witness perceived different things of the same event:

The acting commander of the anti-aircraft artillery brigade in the area testified that he had first been convinced that he had seen fifteen planes in the air, but had quickly decided that he was seeing smoke...

Is that 15 planes, or is it smoke? This is sadly one of the factors that some ufologists dismiss and say things like "anybody could tell the different between 15 planes and smoke", but this is where the war jitters probably had a psychological factor. If there wasn't a war and if Japan hadn't attacked the coast a few days earlier, we might suspect the witnesses would be less likely to expect to see enemy planes in the sky.

originally posted by: mirageman
American Physicist, David T. Griggs (pictured), was drafted in to investigate these strange sightings and actually flew on both training and combat missions during the war. Working under the command of General Harry ‘Hap’ Arnold, Griggs was tasked with collating information on the ‘foo fighters’ and filing reports through the echelons of command. In 1969, although he had none of the original reports in his possession, Griggs agreed to an interview with James McDonald.

Griggs made it clear that many reports stemmed from misinterpretations. But he still felt that there had been something real involved without being able to ever resolve the ‘foo fighter’ mystery.

I would love to read all his original reports. It's disappointing he didn't even have them by 1969, I wonder what happened to them. Could they have been destroyed before they were FOIA'd? I tried searching for foo fighter reports one time and I didn't come up with much that was useful, but Griggs' reports would be very useful.

a reply to: mirageman

Ahh Christmas came early, it's been a while hasn't it?

S+F

Another awesome thread

a reply to: mirageman



You mean a UFO thread can be more than just a picture of a light in the sky?
Sweet!

nice meaty post MM!
Got a lot of info covering a lot of very interesting time periods, especially since ufo sightings had picked up, in these time periods in a huge way, especially over North America as we know. Happy Holidays to you from the Pacific Northwest, America.

Great thread Mirageman, David Wilcox on the GAIA webpages has put forth a fascinating story of UFO origins and interactions with our planet. I don't know who Wilcox is but he is a master at building a good read and linking the contemporary world of politics and deep government into a very viable explanation of who is in the UFO's and why we have been kept in the dark....open your mind and enjoy the read.

divinecosmos.com...

a reply to: mirageman

Very good thread, if not slightly cautionary

Couple of points, on the UFO over L.A. in 1942, it could easily have been jitters, but by the same token, surely this could've made people more alert. It could also have been a mundane object, but doubtful considering 1,400 shells were fired at it with seemingly no effect, I find it hard to believe even taking into account how bad at anti-aircraft gunnery they might've been, they didn't hit anything. The object was also described as traveling at a "leisurely pace" and was mentioned then to have flown along the coast line.

On the foo fighters, it wouldn't be fair to say that were just seen by air-men, as an example there's this account from the ground, strangely in 1942 also.

Sergeant, 1st Paratroop Brigade, 1st Marine Divison (U.S. Marine Corps) - UFO's over the Solomon Islands, 1942:

... suddenly the air raid warning sounded. There had been no 'Condition Red'... I heard the formation before I saw it. Even then, I was puzzled by the sound. It was a mighty roar that seemed to echo in the heavens. It didn't sound at all like the high-pitched 'sewing machine' drone of the Jap formations... The formation was huge; I would say over 150 objects were in it. Instead of the usual tight 'V' of 25 planes, this formation was in straight lines of 10 or 12 objects, one behind the other. The speed was a little faster than Jap planes, and they were soon out of sight. A few other things puzzled me: I couldn't seem to make out any wings or tails. They seemed to wobble slightly, and every time they wobbled they would shimmer brightly from the sun. Their colour was like highly polished silver. No bombs were dropped, of course. All in all, it was the most awe-inspiring and yet frightening spectacles I have seen in my life.

Additionally, there was an earlier flap of UFO's described over Scandinavia, in the 1930's.

Major-General, Swedish Flying Corps - 1933:

Comparisons of these objects show that there can be no doubt about illegal air traffic over our secret military areas. there are many reports from reliable people which describe close observation of the enigmatic flier. And in every case the same remark can be noted: no insignias or identifying marks were visible on the machines... the question is: who or whom are they, and why have they been invading our air territory?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I think a lot of people would love to see the reports David Griggs compiled on foo fighters. However they have never come to light. I think Jan Aldrich over at www.project1947.com... has tried to FOI the report(s) but had no luck. And Keith Chester who, if anyone is interested, spent many hours at national archives researching his own book "Strange Company: Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II" tried to locate Griggs report as well. I don't think either believed in a cover up of information. It's just the volume of WWII material scattered across the globe out there, the fact some files remain unreleased to this day and also that some files are lost, destroyed or misplaced.

a reply to: WilliamtheResolute

As good a writer and presenter as he is, I take a little salt when digesting anything David Wilcox puts out for consumption.

a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Thanks for those additional accounts. I can't read and cover everything and it helps expand on the main body of the thread.

As regards foo fighters what I would like to know is if anyone has any German or Japanese accounts of seeing them? I couldn't find any on the web.

Finally the Battle of LA. ....

There is literally a whole stack of conflicting information that I had to leave out about that event. The main issue is that the Battle of LA was never considered to be a UFO story until around the mid 1980s when a bogus document was released into the UFO community. Check the literature by the likes of Hynek, Flying Saucer Review, NICAP etc. Prior to the mid-80s. No one mentions it. Spielberg's movie "1941" about the event makes no reference to it either. It doesn't mean it wasn't of course. But it puts a question mark against the foundations for the UFO story.

However it is clear that the fog of war and rather inexperienced defensive forces in LA caused a lot of confusion as to what really happened.

The document The History of the 4th AA Command, Western Defense Command, Jan 9 1942 to July 1 1945 provides the official background to the case.

The Japanese submarine attack on the coast of California the night before probably added to the war nerves. But remember that after the war they denied sending any aircraft to attack LA on the night in question and the US also denied they had any aircraft in the area that night.

The specific details relating to the Battle of LA are here:





There were even reports of a downed aircraft on Vermont Avenue



A story also confirmed by the 77th Precinct of the LAPD, the US Navy and a report in the local press – clip ©LA Examiner. (you'll need to click on it to read the article below).



No aircraft was actually found. These early reports were all mistaken and the debris probably came from artillery shells and damage caused by them.

There is also a CBS Radio New Report from the 25th Feb 1942

A transcription of which is below (emphasis is mine)

Anti-aircraft guns went into action against unidentified aircraft in the Los Angeles area shortly after 3:00 a.m. Pacific War Time this morning. The antiaircraft guns began barking during a blackout ordered by the 4th Interceptor Command at 2:25 a.m. The unidentified object which some sources thought might be a blimp, moved slowly down the coast toward Santa Monica and disappeared south of Long Beach. Army officials declined to comment on the possibility that the object might have been a blimp. However, it required nearly 30 minutes to travel some 25 miles, far slower than an airplane.

Watchers on a rooftop of the Columbia Broadcasting building in the heart of Hollywood could plainly see the flashes of guns and searchlights sweeping the skies in a wide arc along the coastal area. Concussion of the shells could be felt in downtown Los Angeles 15 miles away. US Army planes quickly took to the dark skies but whether they contacted the object has not been announced. Army officials say they will not comment until they receive a full report on the action.

Although some watchers say they saw airplanes in the air, semi-official sources say they probably were the US Army’s pursuit. Several observers say they saw one or more planes spotlighted by 20 or 30 searchlights. The object moved southward, presumably over Huntington Park at the western edge of Los Angeles, and on southward to about Long Beach on the coast. By 3:30 a.m. observers said the object appeared to be over the south of Long Beach. Searchlights closely followed the object down the coast and kept it centered in their glare. Shells frequently can be seen bursting near the object, but none appeared to hit it. The shooting stopped about 3:30 am.

The shooting brought warfare to the front door of this city of a million and a quarter population for the first time since December 7th. Already it was alert to the presence off the southern California coast of a Japanese submarine which had pumped 25 shells into an oilfield north of Santa Barbara Monday evening. Because of the presence of the submarine, a 3-hour alert was ordered at dusk last night and civilian authorities stood at their posts while the Army and Navy continued their search for the submersible. The evening alert ended at 10:23 p.m., but another was sounded at 2:22 a.m. and the blackout followed within 3 minutes. It covered Los Angeles County from to Santa Monica to Pomona.

At 2:27 all southern California radio stations were ordered off the air except those in San Diego. Approximately 20 minutes after the firing died down, the ship returned and headed westward from Long Beach towards Santa Monica. The guns went into action again hurling round after round of shells at the object. The second barrage appeared to be closer to downtown Los Angeles, since watchers could hear the concussion of the guns more clearly and the flash of bursting shells was brighter. Then the ship disappeared for the second time over the ocean. We return you now to CBS in New York.....

I would say that all the confusion and mistaken reports of aircraft in the air makes the Battle of LA very difficult to work out what the hell was going on. I also am convinced the MJ12 - Marshall/Roosevelt is fraud.

But I could well be totally wrong and am quite willing to hear your own view if you have a different take on it.

With that I'll bid you a Merry Christmas my friend.

"Since the explosion of the ET/UFO phenomena in 1947, speculation about alien intrusion on planet Earth has been rampant. Half a dozen theories dominate the debate, but there is one theory that has yet to be examined. It did not emerge after 1947, but approximately 1600 years earlier. To be precise, the evidence of this theory came to light through a discovery in Egypt in December, 1945, although the significance of the find was not realized until — guess when? 1947."
www.metahistory.org...

"In mid-1947, a United States Air Force balloon, mistaken for a UFO, crashed at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, prompting claims that the crash was of an extraterrestrial spaceship.[1] Following wide initial interest, the military stated that the crash was merely of a conventional weather balloon.[2] Interest subsequently waned until the late 1970s, when ufologists began promoting a variety of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories, claiming that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed, and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military, who then engaged in a cover-up."
en.wikipedia.org...

"Archetypes (Jung, 1947) are images and thoughts which have universal meanings across cultures which may show up I dreams, literature, art or religion.
Jung believes symbols from different cultures are often very similar because they have emerged from archetypes shared by the whole human race. For Jung, our primitive past becomes the basis of the human psyche, directing and influencing present behavior."
www.simplypsychology.org...

I think it is possible that an Alien force could have been directing humans since the beginning, the aliens at roswell could have been machines of these Alien overlords, Jung describes the battles with the Unconscious and this Shadow part, im sure buddhism teaches of clearing the chakras of a snake like entity as well, maybe there are people high places that know of this and are compliant to them.
i am careful with my thoughts regardless but reading up on some of these subjects makes you guard them even more..

In my opinion, these two ladies are the "Mothers of Ufology", and directly and indirectly influenced everything from the Mystery Airship days, and their "great work" still influences people to this very day:

en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

While the "Bablylon Working" gets a lot of the credit, it is just one example of what stirred things up:

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: mirageman

Check this video from THIS THREAD i did a few years ago.
VERY interesting...

A 1931 sighting