The earliest source I could find so far about this alleged case was a post by US ufologist Jan Aldrich on the UFO Updates mailing list on September 22, 1997 ([ufu1]). It said:
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From: jan@cyberzone.net (Jan Aldrich)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 09:10:52 -0700
Fwd Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 20:33:40 -0400
Subject: 1926 Utah Aircraft Encounter
Very few early aircraft/UFO encounters are known. I listed six incidents in "Aircraft/UFO Encounters Before 1942"
http://www.ufomind.com/ufo/updates/1997/sep/m05-021.shtml [Old URL of the UFO updates.]
In addition the case appears to be an early electromagnetic effects case. This "new" account was originally posted on the Fido UFO net. The posting does give a reference which can be checked. Does anyone have access to old "Sky Trails" magazines?
(Thanks to John Stepkowski for locating this interesting account.)
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> From: Wayne Thompson Submitted: 12 Feb94 Fido UFO
Here is another short one that is handy...
I can give you one U.S. account right now, as I have it laying
here beside me.
In late September, 1926 (the exact date so far is unavailable),
at 2300 hrs. an Air-Mail pilot named Colin Murphy was repeatedly
"buzzed" by a huge glowing object an hour after take-off from Salt
Lake City. The pilot described the object as a cylinder without
any wings or propeller that he could see, and at least three times
the length of his DH-4 aircraft (this would make the object at
least 90 feet long), and 8 to 10 feet in diameter.
Murphy also stated that every time the object approached closer
than fifty-yards to his aircraft, the engine would begin to
sputter and misfire. He was finally forced to land in a sheep
pasture. Upon landing, the object "took off like a shot out
of a gun" disappearing to the south in a "few seconds".
I am curious about newspaper reports in the Salt Lake area.
If anyone living there can check out old papers for the
last half of September, 1926 and post anything they find,
it would help to pin down the exact date.
This account is taken from a journal kept by Richard West.
Portions of it were serialized in "Sky Trails" magazine (a
small "general aviation" magazine). The above account comes
from the June, 1933 Issue.
=============================================================
Jan Aldrich
Project 1947
http://www.iufog.org/project1947/
John Stepkowski was a contributor to several BBS and usenet e-publications such as CNI-News, those were often UFO newsclippings.
Let me specify that there was apparently no follow up postings on the UFO Updates mailing list about this, at least not in the next days.
The Project 1947 website ([prt1]) indicated about the same time:
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1926: #Late September, (the exact date so far is unavailable), at 2300 hrs.
An Air-Mail pilot named Colin Murphy was repeatedly `buzzed' by a huge glowing object an hour after take-off from Salt Lake City. The pilot described the object as a cylinder without any wings or propeller that he could see, and at least three times the length of his DH-4 aircraft (this would make the object at least 90 feet long), and 8 to 10 feet in diameter.
Murphy also stated that every time the object approached closer than fifty-yards to his aircraft, the engine would begin to sputter and misfire. He was finally forced to land in a sheep pasture. Upon landing, the object 'took off like a shot out of a gun' disappearing to the south in a 'few seconds'.
"I am curious about newspaper reports in the Salt Lake area. If anyone living there can check out old papers for the last half of September, 1926 and post anything they find, it would help to pin down the exact date.
"This account is taken from a journal kept by Richard West. Portions of it were serialized in `Sky Trails' magazine, a small general aviation magazine.. The above account comes from the June, 1933 Issue."
A/C Code: A GXE codes: _ _ E
Source: (From: Wayne Thompson Submitted: 12 Feb 94 to "Fido UFO" BBS Network..)
The "#" indicates the report is of doubtful reliability, Aldrich indicated.
Erudite UFO historian Jerome Clark reported in his "Strange Skies" book of 2003 ([jce1]) this alleged case of pilot encounter with a UFO over Southern Utah in late September 1926.
Clark said the report is shaky and the sourcing is vague, as it was given only as "Sky Trails, June 1933", Clark saying that no issue of this alleged publication having ever surfaced. Clark says the story appeared on a UFO e-list in 1994 from someone untraceable who claimed that it was "taken from a journal kept by Richard West", portions of which were serialized in the alleged Sky Trails magazine, supposed to be a general aviation magazine.
The story was that in late September 1926, at 2:30, airmail pilot Colin Murphy spotted a glowing cylinder-shaped object in the southern Utah sky.
The object had no wings, no tail, it was 3 times as long as the DH-4 Murphy flew, that is, 90 feet long. It was 8 to 10 feet in diameter.
The object approached the DH-4 several times, each time to within 50 yards, and the plane experienced engine trouble.
Alarmed, Murphy finally landed his plane in a sheep pasture, while the object "took off like the shot of a gun" and disappeared towards the south in a few seconds.
French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft ([dwn1]). The first case in February 2001 (6th edition) catalog appears as the case of "26.09.late", at "23:00", it is put in Nevada instead of Utah for no apparent reason, the plane is given as "DH-4", the witness as "an airmail pilot" and the UFO as "one cylindrical huge object, wingless". It is said the pilot was forced to land, and the source is said to be Jan Aldrich's catalogue ([prt1]).
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In the 1970's, British ufologist Peter Rogerson published in Magonia magazine a long catalog of close encounter cases, with little details and no research into the veracity or real strangeness of these cases; in the 2010's; he republished it on the Web, sometimes with additional evaluation - he had become a "skeptic" in the meantime. He added some new cases; including this one ([prn1]):
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Late September 1926, 2300hrs.
AALT [sic, SALT] LAKE CITY (UTAH : USA)
Airmail pilot Colin Murphy was flying his DH-4 biplane about 110km out from Salt Lake City when his plane was buzzed by a wingless cylinder about 27m long and 2.5-3m thick. Every time the thing got within 50m the plane’s engine misfired, forcing Murphy to land in a sheep pasture. As he got out and looked up the thing shot off at terrific speed to the south.
Some websites picked up the story, such as below, without any credit or source reference:
Another encounter took place in September 1926 over Salt Lake City in Utah. On this occasion, a “long, cylindrical object” would circle an airline pilot’s plane several times. Even coming as close to him as 50 yards. In fact, so concerned was the pilot that he made an emergency landing in a field below. When he looked up, he could see it speed away, as if "“shot out of a gun!"
(Source for this: https://www.ufoinsight.com/ufos/waves/1926-maitland-ufo-lights )
The Think About It Website put the case in its 1926 sightings chronology as:
Date: September 1926
Location: Nr. Salt Lake City, UT
Time: 11:00 PM.
Summary: An air mail pilot was repeatedly buzzed by a long, cylindrical object. Each time the object came within about 50 yards, the aircraft engine would begin to sputter and misfire, until the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in a pasture. At this point the UFO "took off like a shot out of a gun" and sped away.
Source: Hall, 2000, p. 13
(Source for this: https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1926-ufo-alien-sightings )
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Above: a US version of the DH-4 built by Airco. |
The British DeHavilland DH.4 was used in 1918 by the American Air Service as reconnaissance and bomber plane. After WWI, numerous DH-4 were used, including for airmail. So, there is no issue about the plane in the alleged UFO encounter.
However, to me, this story was invented in 1994 by "Wayne Thompson". Here is why:
I searched in Utah newspapers for September 1, 1926 to December 31, 1926 and found nothing related to this. Of course I do not have at hand all the Utah newspapers.
Story probably invented in 1994.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 5, 2021 | Création, [ufu1], [prt1], [dwn1], [jce1], [prn1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 5, 2021 | First published. |
