1924 Telegram Requests Help for Extraterrestrial Signals from Space

Mars, in 1924, was considered by most scientists, to possibly harbor life

Here is a copy of the 1924 telegram request by the Navy asking for help from astronomers in locating signals from Mars. We know that it is the Navy, and not the USAF, that operates the covert Space Program. Of course the USAF had not yet been established in 1924. I'm not sure of the telegram's authenticity, but if it is not a hoax document, it provides interesting insight into what the U.S. military and government thought about extra-terrestrials in 1924. There are a couple conclusions you can infer from the text of the document: 1) We believe there is extraterrestrial life on Mars and they may attempt communication with us, or 2) It was just a contingency type of plan, that there may or may not be life on Mars, and, if indeed there is, they may or may not attempt communication with us.

Telegram Link

Look for UFO materials from the Naval branch of the U,S. military. You may strike pay-dirt, as they say

Here is the previous thread on ATS regarding this.

Previous ATS thread

It isn't surprising, to this day we are still listening to the heavens for signals from aliens. It doesn't mean they exist or that we believe in them. At that point in time they were just going by what they thought. We don't listen for martians anymore because they don't exist or they have nothing to say to us. So now we listen to other areas. It is a good idea to keep listening, just in case.

Originally posted by underdogradio
It isn't surprising, to this day we are still listening to the heavens for signals from aliens. It doesn't mean they exist or that we believe in them. At that point in time they were just going by what they thought. We don't listen for martians anymore because they don't exist or they have nothing to say to us. So now we listen to other areas. It is a good idea to keep listening, just in case.

Exactly. It just provides insight into what scientists were thinking at the time. Long before SETI.

Listening & Looking!

Wonder if the army heard something, or if they were just recruiting " In Case ". Ofcorse anyone with knowledge of radio signals back in 1924 would be an expert.

So although they " Claim " to be looking for ET signal analysts, they might actually have been trying to recruit skilled Radio signal analysts (From signals that are weak and sent from a far distance). Just my thoughts

Originally posted by WiseThinker
Wonder if the army heard something, or if they were just recruiting " In Case ". Ofcorse anyone with knowledge of radio signals back in 1924 would be an expert.

So although they " Claim " to be looking for ET signal analysts, they might actually have been trying to recruit skilled Radio signal analysts (From signals that are weak and sent from a far distance). Just my thoughts

I haven't been able to figure out who the telegram was sent to. Who was the recipient of this Navy telegram? Is that discernible from the telegram itself?

reply to post by Cosmic911

I haven't been able to figure out who the telegram was sent to. Who was the recipient of this Navy telegram? Is that discernible from the telegram itself?

It appears to be sent by the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, ordering Navy wireless operators to co-operate with astronomers who are trying to see if it is possible to detect radio signals from Mars during the conjunction that year. Percival Lowell was convinced that Mars was inhabited; detecting radio signals would confirm that the Martians are advanced as we are. Obviously, they didn't detect any.

reply to post by DJW001


Isn't weird that there is no specific recipient though, instead looking like it was "transmitted in the blind." I know the audience is astronomers but which ones? Lol. Its a little perplexing. Maybe it wasn't a sensitive issue at the time but you think this type of telegram would have a specific and intended receiver. Maybe not

I think that it's interesting that they were only interested in three specific days between 8/21/1924 and 8/24/1924. Was Mars particularly close at that time or something?

EDIT: Apparently it was.
Mars Distance

reply to post by Blue Shift


Good find. Its an interesting look at ufology in the early twentieth century. Upon first looking at the document, I did not see the dates that you did. Good job!

reply to post by Cosmic911

Isn't weird that there is no specific recipient though, instead looking like it was "transmitted in the blind." I know the audience is astronomers but which ones? Lol. Its a little perplexing. Maybe it wasn't a sensitive issue at the time but you think this type of telegram would have a specific and intended receiver. Maybe not

I realize that telegrams are an archaic form of communications, so let's read this one together:



Source

The header at the top tells us what telegraphic network the cable was sent on:
"Signal Corps, United States Army."
In other words, this is a message sent through military channels, specifically:
"Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System."
It was received at 1308 1st Avenue, Seattle, Washington, which is close enough to the water to be a plausible address for a Navy office building at the time.
Its recipient is" GOVT CMNDT 13 NAV DIST", that is, the Commandant of the 13th Naval District, based in Puget sound. As far as I can tell, "ALNAVSTA" is period Milspeak for "All Naval Stations." All naval stations are ordered to co-operate with astronomers who believe that it might be possible to detect radio transmissions from Mars during its closest approach. It is signed "SECNAV," the Secretary of the Navy. The Commandants receiving this telegram must have thought that Curtis D. Wilbur, then only five or six months at the job, was out of his mind.

Back then little was known about Mars compared to today. There were theories from respected scientists about possible habitation on the red planet and there were people observing canals and city outlines through their telescopes. Of course they would try and listen to the planet also, I have no idea why these specific dates are mentioned

Originally posted by Blue Shift
I think that it's interesting that they were only interested in three specific days between 8/21/1924 and 8/24/1924. Was Mars particularly close at that time or something?

Yes - that proximity formed part of the reasoning of David Todd (the scientist behind this experiment).

For anyone interested in looking into this experiment in any depth, I compiled a list of page references to a couple of dozen relevant discussions in UFO and SETI books a few years ago.

Those references can be found in a table at the link below and can be sorted by date, author or length of discussion:
www.isaackoi.com...

reply to post by DJW001


Nice analysis of the telegram. Its a lot easier to make out the details now.

They must have had a lot of assumptions about Mars to send out a telegram like this.

reply to post by Cosmic911

Nice analysis of the telegram. Its a lot easier to make out the details now.

Thank you.

They must have had a lot of assumptions about Mars to send out a telegram like this.

Yes, indeed! You might find this ATS thread of interest:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Cosmic911


they were trying to figure out where all the UFOs were coming from

Civilian radio transmitters were also requested to go off the air during certain periods, around the date August 23rd, 1924, which marked Mars' closest approach to Earth, the closest of any such approach between 1845 and 2003. This was so they would not interfere with any possible incoming signals from Mars. A very speculative project, but the same can be said about some aspects our modern SETI efforts. Ross