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August 1947, Los Angeles, California, USA, Mr. Jones:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

On July 9, 1949, Mr. Milton D. Ladd, assistant to the FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, sent a one page memo to the later about "Flying Saucers" - a copy in the memo is available below in this file.

Ladd adised that Walter Winchell - a gossip journalist who often "told things" to the FBI - had received a letter from a "Mr Jones" of Los Angeles, California. (This name "Jones" is censored in most of the memo, except in one place where the FBI forgot to censor it.)

Winchell had read Jone's letter to Ladd, who found it "very well written, obviously by a man of intelligence."

Jones had claimed that in August of 1947, he left Los Angeles and started hiking through the mountains. About 10:00 a.m. he was hiking on the ground, when he observed about one-half block away from him "a large silver metal, greenish in color, shaped like a child's top and about the size of the balloons used at County Fairs."

Jones stated that there appeared to be two windows on the object, and portions of metal appeared transparent and that "he gained the impression that there was some life within this object although he saw no persons."

The object appeared as if it was "a pressure chamber." Jones claimed he stood up and waved towards the object, anf then "this so-called flying saucer was off the ground in a second, knocking Jones to the ground." Jones said the bject flew silently, and "he raised the question as to whether this was an inter-global landing on our planet. He thought that it might be a device to land on our planet because the occupants of another planet had become curious as the the reactions caused by the explosions of the atomic bomb causing trouble in an expanded universe. He asks the question as to whether it was possible that the occupants of another planet might have solved the theory of negative gravity."

Winchell had stated that this letter "indicated a very good knowledge of physics" and that he thought it would be interesting to check into Jones' background and then possibly interview him about this alleged flying saucer. Winchell stated that it would appear that Jones "may have actually seen a flying saucer, that in any event it made an awfully good story and he requested that the bureau kept the matter in confidence."

Ladd recommended that the Los Angeles FBI Office discreetly checks into the background of Jones and "thereafter interview him for the purpose of determining any fact he possesses about flying saucers in order that it may be determined whether his story is in any way accurate."

I wsa unable to track any further FBI action on this in the avaiable FBI documentation.

These are the fact, and in the strict sense, there was no UFO occupant seen, only the vlaim by Jones that "he gained the impression that there was some life within this object although he saw no persons." However, the case appeared in at least ne CE3 catalgue on the Wen in the 2000's.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. fb1:] F.B.I.:

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates that near Los Angeles, California, in August 1947, a Mr. "Jones" had left Los Angeles for the mountains and started hiking through the mountains. About 10:00 a.m. he was laying on the ground when he observed about one half block away from him a large silver, metal object, greenish in color, shaped like a child's top and about the size of the balloons used at Country Fairs. He stated that there appeared to be two windows in the object and portions of metal appeared transparent and that he gained the impression that there was some life within this object although he saw no persons.

The object appeared as though sealed as a pressure chamber. He stood up and waved toward this object and this so-called flying saucer was off the ground in a second, knocking Jones to the ground. In its flight, he stated, its power was silent and he raised the question as to whether this was an inter-global landing on our planet.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "UFO Mystic 'An Early Contactee?' quoting letter received by columnist Walter Winchell who forwarded the letter to the FBI."

[Ref. nr1:] NICK REDFERN:

The author says that though "contactees" appeared in the late 1950's, there were a few earlier case, including one in the FBI declassified UFO files. He says that on Jul 9, 1949, columnist Walter Winchell broght to he t attention of Edgar Hoover a story he had received from a "Mr Jones of Los Angeles" who claimed he hasd seen a flying saucer in the Summer of 1947. Winchell told Hoover that the letter was "very well written, obivously by a man of intelligence" and says the source is "Winchell, 1949".

Redfern says th FBI pusued the matter, as show in the meorandum [bf1] of which he provides a 2correted" version - adding "object" after "metal", corrects mispells and keeps only the 1st paragraph.

He then says that a source whose name has been excised from the FBI files but who was described as having a scientific background advised the Bureau that Jones's communication suggested he possessed a very good knowledge of physics, and added it might be at the FBI's advantage co check into Jones's background and interview him at the earliest opportunity. All attempts to do so were unsuccessful, Jones could not be located, or had seemingly vanished.

Redfren says it is worthy to note that

1 - Jones reportedly lived in California, just like many of the original Contactees.

2 - As was the case with many following Contactees, Jones's encounter occurred in a remote location.

He adds that there is the matter of the concern exhibited by the aliens in relation co che power of the atom. He wonders if this was merely a case of Jones speculating, but even so, notes thet astonishing coincidence, as only a few years later countless other people were making very similar observations of an atomic kind.

Because Jones was laying on the ground during the sighting Redfern wonders whether Jones was in some form of altered state of mind throughout his encounter, and perhaps one brought on by the occupants of the strange, aerial device. If that was the case, then Jones' story may possibly represent one of the earliest Contactee cases on record.

[Ref. nr2:] NICK REDFERN:

Points to consider:

In 1947 and on, Walter Winchell (1897 - 1972) was a gossip journalist and radio show host who had talked of flying saucers soon after Kenneth Arnold's sighting report (example in the San José News for July 7, 1947). One of his topics was that flying saucers were not something "new".

In his April 3, 1949, weekly radio broadcast, he had claimed that the flying saucers seen in the US came from Russia. According the a May 26, 1949, FBI memorandum, Winchell wrote to FBI director Edgar Hoover saying that Robert Ripley, host of "Believe it or not", told him he knew about "the only authentic Japanese flying saucer in this country." Investigations showed that the so-called "Japanese flying saucer" was just the remains of a Japanese WWI Fugo balloon recovered by the Army.

What happened with Winchell in the 1940's is quite understandable. The man spoke about saucers on the radio, though he did not know much about the subject - and many people told him saucer stories. He reported these to the FBI, as he was quite familiar with FBI Director Edgar Hoover. Winchell had fed Hoover with gossips on personalities such as actors, journalists, mobsters; which Hoover was delighted to put in his files on them in order to control them.

So in 1949, one "Mr. Jones" (this sounds like a "generic", fake name) told Winchell a saucer crash story and Winchell told Ladd about it and Ladd told Hoover about it. Nothing else seems to have been done, I found no official document in the support of the idea that Jones could not be located, it rather looks like nobody looked for him.

Of course, as explained in my Summary, this is not stricto sensu a CE3, as "no persons" were seen.

Nick Redfern is right in noting that an interesting aspect of this affair is the mention of aliens concerns about atomics, a topic that would be much used by the "contactees".

However:

• One must keep in mnd that this is not a "1947 contactee" affair. It is a 1949 claim, with some contactee-like stuff (but no contact, actually). A number of "contactes" in the 1950's and later claimed their contacts were well before 1947 (See Menger in 1932, or Galloway in 1947 for example).
• Winchell (much like Frank Scully who was fed with saucer stories by con-men) had no scientific education at all. He may have been impressed by Jones giberissh. Clearly it was gibberish, not science: for example, atomic weapons of the UD have nothing to do with an "expanded universe". Of course this is also a common trait with the contactee lore; inasmuch contactees almost always produced kindergarten science like this in their stories.
• Nick Redfern is wrong when he says that "a source whose name has been excised from the FBI files but who was described as having a scientific background advised the Bureau that Jones's communication suggested he possessed a very good knowledge of physics." The excised name is obviously Winchell, it was Winchell, and not some true scientist who believed Jones had a very good knowledge of physics; which he had not, as explained above. No scientist here has been "described as having a scientific background" this is pure invention.
• Nick Redfern is wildly speculating when he thinks Jones might have been "in some form of altered-state of mind throughout his encounter". There is a more down ro earth possibility: Jones did not see any flying saucer, he just invented it all, just like the "contactees" did. Assessment of the story should be based on evidence, and the only evidence here is that there have been claims by Jones.

But if we are to speculate, I may speculate that perhaps this "Mr. Jones" (does is not sound like a fake name?) was just one of Scully's con-men, Leo Gebauer or Silas Newton, trying to fool LA gossip journalist Winchell. As the claim did not seem to being going anywhere, they tried the other LA gossip journalist whose interest in flying saucer was also publicly known, Frank Scully. And it worked greatly: Scully's book was a best seller, until the hoax was exposed, that is.

Of course, there were "contactees" going public as early as 1947. But though they appeared in most US newspapers them, who remembers Hal Boyle's trip to Mars stories?

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Extraterrestrial visitors or hoax.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [wm1] ? Letter received by gossip journalist Walter Winchell, forwarded to the FBI, 1949.
• [fb1] * "Subject: flying Saucers", Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memorandum, USA, July 9, 1949.
• [ar1] * "Humanoid Encounters - International Catalogue - 1947", book by Albert Rosales, Digital Mirage publishers, page 51, 2009.
• [nr1] * "Contactees: A History of Alien-human Interaction", book by Nick Redfern, Red Wheel/Weiser publishers, U-K., pp 17-18, 2010.
• [nr2] * "Alien Archives and the FBI", article by Nick Redfern, U-K., August 29, 2011, at https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/08/alien-archives-and-the-fbi

Document history:

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This page was last updated on November 11, 2018.