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The Kenneth Arnold sighting, June 24, 1947:

The other sightings reported in the days after Arnold's report

When Kenneth Arnold's sighting reports got published in the Press starting on June 25, 1947, other sighting reports came.

Some advocated that they were a conformation that what Arnold reported was truthfull; some said these other reports were caused by the "hysteria" or "contamination" of people by Arnold's story.

But what were those other reports?

In this page, I provide the infoprmation that appeared in the Press after June 24, 1947, about these other sighting reports. I provide links to the actual newspapers articles where these sighting reports appeared. Some of these reports appeared in hundreds of newspaper, so I do not necessarily provide all the concerned newspaper articles, but I provide those I found where the reports were the most details, the "primary" soucres so to speak.

I sorted these other reports by the date of occurrence whenever possible, but I also provide the date they were reported. Whenever useful, I provide an opinion on the possible or certain cause of these sightings. The reader must bear in mind that unfortunately, none of them was the subject of a bona fide and thorough "ufology investigation". It was just to early for that, nobody had any experience of what a ufology investigation could be. In fact, one might consider that Kenneth Arnold himself was "the first ufologist", as he, undertandably but remarkably, took interest in the other reports because he himself wondered what he had seen.

In the ufology litterature, only few of these other reports were even mentionned. UFO books, skeptical or not, insist that Arnold's report caused a certain umber of other reports in the days that followed, but only few ufology source tried to list or document or comment these other reports.

The reader must also bear in mind that I hereby do not claim at all that nothing that would fit the UFO acronym occurred before Arnold. It did; but this is not the topic of this article. Also, I excluded from this article the infamous "Roswell indicent" because I provide information about it in a relevant section of this website.

Content:

Oklahoma city sighting - Byron Savage - May or June 1947:

The most complete version I could find on this sighting was based on an Associated Press story for June 26, 1947. As it appeared in the newspaper The Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA, on pages 1 and 2, on June 26, 1947, it said:

Strange Flying Objects Pose Mystery For Pilots

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 26 (AP) Don't sell those strange flying objects reported whizzing over western Washington short until the returns are all in - a flyer claimed today he saw one flash over Oklahoma City.

"It was about five or six weeks ago, as near as my wife and I can remember," said Byron Savage, 38, Oklahoma City businessman pilot.

"I was standing in my front yard at the time, about dusk, with a little sunlight in the sky, when a flat, disc-like object came across the city from just a little east of south and was gone in about four of five seconds.

"The machine, or whatever it was, was a very shiny, silvery color - very big - and was moving at a terrific rate of speed.

"The funny thing about it was that it made no noise. I don't think it had any kind of internal combustion engine."

Referring to a claim by Kenneth Arnold, flying Boise, Idaho, businessman that he saw nine objects in western Washington similar to the one Savage described, the Oklahoma City pilot declared:

"I know that boy up there (Arnold) really saw them."

Savage said he told his wife about the object at the time, but "she thought I must have seen lightning," and he also told some skeptical pilot friends.

"I kept quiet after that," he continued "until I read about that man seeig nine of the same things I saw and I thought it only fair to back him up."

Mrs Savage said today that she now was convinced her husband saw the object.

"He was very much worked up about it when he read about the man in Washington," she declared.

Savage said the object he saw was high in the air - "somewhere around 10,000 feet. I could'nt be sure, judging it from the ground where I was."

The sighting is not precisely date, as Savage only told it week later because of Arnold's report of June 25, 1947. The rest of the above article was actually about the Arnold sighting.

Byron Savage reportedly saw only one disc, none 9 like Arnold. He was obviously expecting for engine noise, and told there was none.

Like Arnold, he reported it was very fast, silvery, flat, and disc-like (Do not believe the "boomerang-shape" silliness, this is a skeptics's myth, Arnold never said that, he said flat, "saucer-like", "pie pan shaped", round at the front, slightly convex at the rear).

It could have been a meteor, but no mention of a trail is made, so this explanation is not obvious.

He reported he met skepticism, like Arnold. This is a general pattern that will be met in nearly all of the reports: the alleged witness(es) meets skepticisme, or fears skepticism, and goes public only because Arnold did first.

Numerous other newspapers all across the US published the story, generally in a briefer form, on June 26, 27 and 28, 1947. For example:

Most of the newspaper just said:

Byron Savage, Oklahoma City businessman pilot, said that five or six weeks ago he observed from his front lawn a flat disc-like object hurtling through the sky at tremendous speed. He said he told his wife and a few pilot friends, then said no more until he heard of Arnold's report. "I know that boy up there (Arnold) really saw them," Savage declared.

Ufologist Ted Bloecher mentionned the sighting in 1967:

Another early sighting in the official files is the report by Byron Savage of Oklahoma City -- like Arnold, a businessman and private pilot. He had seen an object about six weeks before Arnold, on May 17th or 18th, and his report was one of the first to receive widespread attention in the newspapers immediately after Arnold's report had appeared. The Oklahoma City Times gave it prominent space on June 26th. At the time of his sighting, Savage had been out in his yard it was dusk, and the sky was still light, when he saw an object “come across the city from just a little east of south … its altitude was very high somewhere around 10,000 feet, I couldn’t be sure. Funny thing about it, it made no noise. I don't think it had kind of internal combustion engine. But I did notice that right after it went out of sight, I heard the sound of rushing wind and air. I told my wife right away, but she thought I must have seen lightning.“ He further described the object as being of “a shiny, silvery color,” and very large -- “bigger than any aircraft we have.” He said it was “perfectly round and flat.” In the Blue Book file he described the object as appearing ellipsoidal in shape as it approached, and completely circular while passing directly overhead, on a course toward the northwest. In this account he said that it appeared “frosty white,” and that its speed was about three times as fast as a jet. It disappeared from view in about fifteen to twenty seconds. Although the sighting details provided by Savage are far more complete than those given for many of the official cases listed by Blue Book as “explained,” this report falls in the category of Insufficient Information.

Source:

The US Air Force Project Blue Book investigated, and wrote this report:

http://www.nicap.org/docs/470517oklacity_docs.pdf

Ukiah sighting - Unknown man - June 24, 1947:

Arnold inquired about the "mystery planes" at Yakima last night and received only blank stares. But in Pendleton this morning he said he talked with an unidentified man from Ukiah who reported he had seen similar objects yesterday afternoon in the mountains near Ukiah.

The above is how the report appeared in the newspaper Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, on page 1, on June 25, 1947.

This newspaper had published what was an Associate Press article for June 25, 1947, written and sent to the wire by two journalists of the East Oregonian newspaper, Nolan Skff and Bill Becquette, who met Kenneth Arnold to hearhim about what he saw the day before, June 24, 1947.

The East Oregonian, Pendleton, Oregon, USA, on page 1, on June 25, 1947, reported roughly the same:

He [Arnold] landed at Yakima somewhat later and inquired there, but learned nothing. Talking about it to a man from Ukiah in Pendleton this morning whose name he did not get, he was amazed to learn that the man had sighted the same aerial objects yesterday afternoon from the mountains in the Ukiah section!

Several other newspapers published the same AP story, on June 25, 1947, and June 26, 1947, for example:

Ukiah is in California, Mendocino county, roughly 850 kilometers south of Mineral where Arnold had his sigting.

I found nothing more in the Press articles I could read. The 1947 issue of Doubt, the Fortean Socity magazine, confirms that the Ukiah sighting was only appearing in the AP story. However, UFO historian Loren Gross gave these details:

The Boise flyer [Arnold] was up early on 25th and decided to go downtown. A gentleman who said he was from a city called Ukiah stopped Arnold in the street and brought up the subject of the "mystery missiles." The stranger claimed that he seen a similar formation over his home in Ukiah, the day before, about the same time Arnold had seen this formation near Mount Rainer. The man added that the things would weave and threaten to break out of alinement as they sped along.

The encounter with a man who claimed to have seen the same thing, as he, enbolded Arnold. Before leaving for Boise, Arnold gathered together his courage and went over to the officee of the East Oregonian, Pendleton's only newspaper. It was noon time as Arnold timidly walked into the East Oregonian building and asked to talk to someone in the news department. [And told his story to Nolan Skiff there.]

Source:

Unfortunately, there is no other information I could find on this sighting.

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This page was last updated on June 30, 2017.