Why choosing to live without air conditioning is sexy.
This is an article written by Shirley Erstad. It was written this morning and tomorrow it will be on print in the newspaper around here, it probably goes in to print as we speak. However that will be a shortened version and I proudly present to you with permission the original:
My husband, bless his heart, has agreed to live with me and my, “We don’t need air
conditioning” philosophy. This morning, after a 101° 4th of July and a string of six days
in the 90’s, he complained for the umpteenth time that he’s hot. I told him to just think of
it as being sexy. “Sex sells” is the heart of marketing after all.
We’ve been asked why we don’t want air conditioning. Well, here’s my short list:
“Conditioned air” is unnatural. We live in Minnesota, apparently, because we enjoy
changes in the seasons. Sitting in one’s air-conditioned house is not conducive to
enjoying summer’s beautiful array of temperatures, bird songs, flowers, sunrises, sunsets,
kids running through sprinklers, mosquitos, and so forth.
It’s detrimental to community spirit. When I walk the dogs, sometimes I have the
streets of St Paul to myself. It’s an unsettling feeling in the middle of summer. Where is
everybody? Judging by the sounds of fireworks last night, I know they’re not all up at
the cabin. Winter snows and cold separate us, and summer’s heat does, too, apparently.
The windows stay closed. If there’s a window a.c. unit, the window can’t be opened to
let the fresh morning air and the cool evening breezes pass through.
It uses lots of electricity. Much of our electricity in Minnesota is generated by nuclear
power. Our family pays a surcharge every month to support wind power, but that is still
not our main source.
It requires chemicals that erode the ozone layer. Regardless of one’s views on global
climate change, surely we can all agree that eroding the atmosphere is a bad idea.
My sexy husband and I tell our hot children that life is based on the choices each of
us makes. We lecture them that they, “Vote with their dollars” with every purchase
they make. Making a choice about where we spend our money on electricity is another
example.
Our family lives a very cushy life compared to many of our fellow human beings on this
planet. It doesn’t hurt us to be “uncomfortable” a few days every year. In fact, the past
several days, we have felt as if we better understand the more relaxed cultures in the
hotter zones of the earth.
Life without conditioned air is lived in closer touch with the body. When one feels like a
slug and it takes two minutes to lift one’s arm, it really doesn’t matter how many things
are on the to-do list. Life moves at the pace the body dictates. It’s an excuse to sit in the
shade and drink lemonade.
Survival rates of a species depend on that species’ ability to adapt. Our human
bodies won’t be adapting to our climate if we continue to live in climate-controlled
environments. We need to rethink the many ways in which we alter our natural world in
order to facilitate our human comfort.
It’s loud. Sitting in our yard, trying to enjoy the sounds of the season, is far more
difficult when multiple air conditioning units are running.
We’ve made this hot decision for our children. We want to remind them through
our example, that they’re not “entitled” to certain things. Life is full of choices. Not
long ago, indoor plumbing was a luxury. I’m not saying I want to give up my indoor
plumbing, but that the more we have, the more we expect.
Sweat is healthy, hot, and sexy. Just think of all the toxins, and I hope pounds, the body
sheds in hot weather.
We have three dogs, a cat, and several tanks of fish, both freshwater and salt. We’ve
been asked about the effect of the heat on the animals and been called “irresponsible” for
having a saltwater tank in an uncooled house. Well, the dogs hang out under the porch
or in the basement and I can take the pets in the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned
pet store for a break from the heat. We have a chiller in our saltwater fish system. As a
back up, there’s ice.
I’ve heard that people need air conditioning because of allergies. I’m allergic to trees,
many plants, dust, pets, everything but mold. I get allergy shots to manage the worst of
my symptoms. (Kids, I’m allergic to our three dogs, so don’t let your parents tell you
that you can’t have a pet because they’re allergic. There are shots for that, too. Hooray!)
The good news is that the weather forecast is for a break in the heat tomorrow. The
better news is that I think my husband is sexy, no matter how hot he is.
My husband, bless his heart, has agreed to live with me and my, “We don’t need air
conditioning” philosophy. This morning, after a 101° 4th of July and a string of six days
in the 90’s, he complained for the umpteenth time that he’s hot. I told him to just think of
it as being sexy. “Sex sells” is the heart of marketing after all.
We’ve been asked why we don’t want air conditioning. Well, here’s my short list:
“Conditioned air” is unnatural. We live in Minnesota, apparently, because we enjoy
changes in the seasons. Sitting in one’s air-conditioned house is not conducive to
enjoying summer’s beautiful array of temperatures, bird songs, flowers, sunrises, sunsets,
kids running through sprinklers, mosquitos, and so forth.
It’s detrimental to community spirit. When I walk the dogs, sometimes I have the
streets of St Paul to myself. It’s an unsettling feeling in the middle of summer. Where is
everybody? Judging by the sounds of fireworks last night, I know they’re not all up at
the cabin. Winter snows and cold separate us, and summer’s heat does, too, apparently.
The windows stay closed. If there’s a window a.c. unit, the window can’t be opened to
let the fresh morning air and the cool evening breezes pass through.
It uses lots of electricity. Much of our electricity in Minnesota is generated by nuclear
power. Our family pays a surcharge every month to support wind power, but that is still
not our main source.
It requires chemicals that erode the ozone layer. Regardless of one’s views on global
climate change, surely we can all agree that eroding the atmosphere is a bad idea.
My sexy husband and I tell our hot children that life is based on the choices each of
us makes. We lecture them that they, “Vote with their dollars” with every purchase
they make. Making a choice about where we spend our money on electricity is another
example.
Our family lives a very cushy life compared to many of our fellow human beings on this
planet. It doesn’t hurt us to be “uncomfortable” a few days every year. In fact, the past
several days, we have felt as if we better understand the more relaxed cultures in the
hotter zones of the earth.
Life without conditioned air is lived in closer touch with the body. When one feels like a
slug and it takes two minutes to lift one’s arm, it really doesn’t matter how many things
are on the to-do list. Life moves at the pace the body dictates. It’s an excuse to sit in the
shade and drink lemonade.
Survival rates of a species depend on that species’ ability to adapt. Our human
bodies won’t be adapting to our climate if we continue to live in climate-controlled
environments. We need to rethink the many ways in which we alter our natural world in
order to facilitate our human comfort.
It’s loud. Sitting in our yard, trying to enjoy the sounds of the season, is far more
difficult when multiple air conditioning units are running.
We’ve made this hot decision for our children. We want to remind them through
our example, that they’re not “entitled” to certain things. Life is full of choices. Not
long ago, indoor plumbing was a luxury. I’m not saying I want to give up my indoor
plumbing, but that the more we have, the more we expect.
Sweat is healthy, hot, and sexy. Just think of all the toxins, and I hope pounds, the body
sheds in hot weather.
We have three dogs, a cat, and several tanks of fish, both freshwater and salt. We’ve
been asked about the effect of the heat on the animals and been called “irresponsible” for
having a saltwater tank in an uncooled house. Well, the dogs hang out under the porch
or in the basement and I can take the pets in the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned
pet store for a break from the heat. We have a chiller in our saltwater fish system. As a
back up, there’s ice.
I’ve heard that people need air conditioning because of allergies. I’m allergic to trees,
many plants, dust, pets, everything but mold. I get allergy shots to manage the worst of
my symptoms. (Kids, I’m allergic to our three dogs, so don’t let your parents tell you
that you can’t have a pet because they’re allergic. There are shots for that, too. Hooray!)
The good news is that the weather forecast is for a break in the heat tomorrow. The
better news is that I think my husband is sexy, no matter how hot he is.
Chapter 13 - Firefighter's guide to disaster control
THE UFO THREAT--A FACT
In this chapter we will now turn our attention to the very real
threat posed by Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), whether they exist
or not. The well-documented and highly publicized War of the Worlds
radio drama by Orson Welles shows how even a perceived existence to
alien creatures can cause very real disaster-like conditions and
panic among a given populace. In addition, if the apparent visits by
alien beings and their space vehicles should pose any type of threat,
it will, as always, be the fire service that is called upon to
provide the first line of life-saving defense and disaster mitigation.
On April 25,1991, radio station KSHE in St. Louis, Missouri was
fined $25,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for
broadcasting a mock warning of a nuclear attack during the Persian
Gulf War. The seriousness with which the FCC treated this case is
indicative of the very real panic that can be created from even
illusionary or fictional phenomena. Certainly if these unexplainable
events become more prevalent, the possibility of panic could be even
greater; and again, the fire department will be the agency called
upon to handle the situation.(35) Hence, as we near the year 2000 and
move beyond, any comprehensive disaster plan should address the
potential for panic and other deleterious effects that might befall a
populated area when unexplainable phenomena occur. We will see, as we
continue our discussion in this chapter, that widespread blackouts,
communication disruptions, and other potentially disastrous conditions
have been linked directly to UFO sightings. Hence, fire service
leaders who want to ensure that their disaster planning is complete
will not neglect an appendix to outline those things that could be
done in preparation for the occurrence of such phenomena.
Throughout this book, many of the references to actual events are
based on the experiences of both of the authors. However, in this
area of UFOs and their potential, we are relying largely on the
research and experiences of Charles Bahme. Chuck has made a
considerable study of this subject and is acquiring many publications
and VCR tapes to augment his library on this and related phenomena.
His interest in UFOs was greatly heightened when Congress in 1969
adopted a law (14 CFR Ch. V Part 1211--Extraterrestrial Exposure)
which gave the NASA Administrator the arbitrary discretion to
quarantine under armed guard any object, person, or other form of
life which has been extraterrestrially exposed. The very fact that our
congressmen believed there was a necessity for such drastic authority
made Chuck wonder if they had only our astronauts in mind when they
adopted it. Could it be applied to anyone who has had a UFO
encounter? Whether it has or not is not likely to be a topic for
public dissemination.
UFO DISCUSSION--WHY NOW?
The subject of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) was not included in
previous editions of this book. The first edition was the Handbook of
Disaster Control which Chuck personally published in 1952 following
his release from active naval duty in the Korean War. Although his
services in the conflict as Security Coordinator for the Chief of
Naval Operations involved the creation of a worldwide disaster
control organization for the protection of the physical properties of
the Navy, it must be admitted that the directives approved for this
new organization did not reflect any significant concern for a flying
saucer threat to its shore establishment. That was in the 1950s. Now
that we are in the 1990s it is doubtful that the UFO potential would
be brushed off so lightly by our military security forces. This
change of attitude was evidenced as far back as December 24, 1959,
when the Inspector General of the Air Force issued the following
Operations and Training Order: "Unidentified Flying Objects--
sometimes treated lightly by the press and referred to as 'Flying
Saucers'--must be rapidly and accurately identified as serious Air
Force business...."(36)
There is no uncertainty about the reality of the war between nations
on our planet and the disastrous effects of military actions. The 200
sorties flown every hour against Iraq in the Persian Gulf provided
ample evidence of global war's destructive power. On the other hand,
there are many persons who may believe that a discussion of the
theoretical harm that could be caused by a real or imaginary invasion
of UFOs would be 'far out!" But this is not so for the thousands of
witnesses of unexplained aerial phenomena. To them it is also serious
business.
Chuck's interest in UFOs commenced during the early morning hours of
August 26,1942, while he was roller skating from his house to the
nearest fire station a few blocks away; the wail of sirens had
signaled his recall to fire duty, and with the stringent blackout
orders in effect. driving was not wise; besides, it was much more
exciting to be out in the open where he could see the spectacular
aerial "fireworks" that filled the heavens all around him. Few
residents of the U.S. had ever experienced a real or imaginary
invasion of UFOs like that which occurred in what has become known as
"The Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942." The Army announced the approach
of hostile aircraft and the city's air raid warning system went into
effect for the first time in World War II. The defense to this
"attack" is described in dramatic terms in the opening paragraph of
this chapter.
But what enemy had been routed? No one ever knew. All the fire
fighters saw in the sky were the 15 or 20 moving "things" which
seemed to change course at great speed apparently unaffected by the
flak from bursting shells all around them. Rumors that one had been
shot down were never verified, nor was the explanation that these zig-
zagging invaders were weather balloons ever taken seriously. In any
event, for Chuck, that unforgettable episode aroused a continuing
interest in UFOs, rivalling his professional fields of law and fire
protection. The fact that he subsequently was a member of a group
whose sighting of a flight of UFOs was authenticated by airport radar
helped to sustain that interest.
UFO BACKGROUND INFORMATION
With no intention of trying to prove or disprove the authenticity
of the numerous UFO encounters often related by very credible
witnesses including airline and military pilots, astronauts, police
officers, fire fighters, members of Congress, and even a U.S.
President, the balance of this chapter will present a brief history
and nature of UFOs and their alleged occupants; their widespread
sightings over the globe since ancient times; their appearance,
propulsion origin, and possible motives for continuing reconnaissance.
A quick look at some of the classic accounts of encounters
documented in numerous foreign and U.S. publications might help us
judge the magnitude of their threat, if any, to social stability,
and, if deemed desirable, propose a fire service plan for coping with
some of the conceivable catastrophic effects that UFOs could produce
on cities and densely populated areas.
For readers who already have made up their minds that there is no
such thing as a UFO notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence to the
contrary, it should be pointed out that there is circumstantial
evidence that disastrous effects have already been attributed to UFO
activity in more than one nation, including the United States.
UFOs--WHAT ARE THEY?
William Shakespeare put a fitting observation in the mouth of
Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, that went like this: "There are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your
philosophy." Whether Hamlet was referring to those strange lights or
objects that appear in the sky or near the ground and have no known
cause, we will never know, but the World Book Encyclopedia defines
such things as UFOs.(37)
Several theories have been propounded as to what they might be.
Some scientists believe that they are of extraterrestrial origin--
coming from other planets. Military officers conjecture that they
might be alien aircraft. Some attribute them all to natural causes,
such as meteors, comets, sun dogs, light reflections, marsh gas, ball
lightning, even though they must admit that scientists cannot explain
all UFO reports in that manner. Still others are inclined to believe
that they may be forms from other dimensions which can materialize
and dematerialize at will perhaps by making a wavelength or frequency
transition so as to become invisible to humans. Some believe they are
time travelers from the future.
UFO CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Northern University Professor Emeritus of
Astronomy and an advisor to the Air Force's Blue Book Project adopted
a very simple classification system based solely upon the manner of
observation:
1. Nocturnal lights
2. Daylight disks
3. Close encounters (day or night)
4. Radar readings.
He concluded that this system tells us nothing about the nature of
the UFOs, but can suggest a means for gathering data.(38) He found
that while a large number of such reports were readily identifiable
by trained investigators as misconceptions of known objects or
events, a small residue (about 1.000) were not. These came from
credible witnesses from such widely separated places as Canada.
Australia. South America, and Antarctica. He concludes with:
"Although I know of no hypothesis that adequately covers the
mountainous evidence, this should not and must not deter us from
following the advice of Schroedinger: to be curious, capable of being
astonished, and eager to find out."(39) Dr. Hynek has an excellent,
well-illustrated article on UFOs in a 1982 book which gives a
detailed history of the UFO sightings, together with the reports of
some well-known people who made them, including President Jimmy Carter
while governor of Georgia.(40)
SHAPES OF UFOs
Witnesses have described the shapes of UFOs as anything varying
from a sphere to a boomerang. Some have resembled flying saucers with
a lid; others a glowing tube; some as semi-spherical with colored
apertures; some with reddish-orange glows, or fire-like or sparking
discharges. Incredible speed and maneuverabilities not attainable by
aircraft of any kind are commonly observed. Many of the books and
articles in Appendix H have excellent photographs of these
unexplained visitors--photos that have been checked by experts for
their authenticity.
HISTORY OF UFOS
For hundreds of years mysterious objects in the sky and strange
moving lights have been reported by many people, including the
military pilots in World War II who called them foo fighters, ("Where
there's Foo, there's Fire"). In the middle of the 1900s flying
saucers were increasingly observed in the United States and other
countries. Scientists at the University of Colorado hired by the Air
Force from 1966 to 1968 to study this type of aerial phenomena could
explain most of the UFO reports as a star (Venus), meteor, planet,
balloon, rocket, artificial satellite, etc. Sometimes atmospheric
conditions, aircraft exhaust trails, or unusual lighting conditions
may produce optical illusions that observers thought were UFOs. After
investigating more than 12,000 reports, the U.S. Air Force was unable
to explain where the unexplained UFOs come from, but apparently
concluded that the national security was not threatened by them.(41)
The emphasis of the university's team, headed by Edward U. Condon,
seemed to be more concerned with the establishment of the emotional
stability or instability of those who reported the sightings than with
other evidence.
Psychiatrists have examined the witnesses who claimed to have
encountered UFOs and even been taken aboard their craft, such as the
two shipyard workers in Mississippi, and found that they are not
unbalanced people.(42) "They're not crackpots. There was definitely
something here that was not terrestrial."(43) Dr. J. Allen Hynek
agreed, and added. "Where they are coming from and why they are here
is a matter of conjecture. but the fact that they were here on this
planet is beyond a reasonable doubt."(44)
The Air Force. after 20 years of being deluged with UFO sightings
and spending millions of dollars on their investigation, decided to
drop the inquiry business and turned the project over to a
Kensington, Maryland, group called NICAP (National Investigation
Committee on Aerial Phenomena). This left NASA (National Aeronautics
and Space Administration) with part of the task of trying to run UFO
sighting reports, including many by its own Apollo and Skylab
astronauts. By 1974 over a score of astronauts saw and photographed
UFOs during their flights beyond the earth's atmosphere.
Early in the Apollo 11 mission, which culminated in the moon walk,
astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins reported
sightings of what seemed to be a UFO during the first half of their
flight to the lunar surface. There were many more sightings by U.S.
and Soviet Astronauts. On November 11,1966, Gemini XII astronauts Jim
Lovell and Edwin Aldrin said that they saw four UFOs linked together,
and on October 12, 1964, three Russian astronauts aboard Voskod
reported that they were surrounded by a "formation of fast-moving
disc-shaped objects."(45)
UFO ORGANIZATIONS
In addition to NICAP, some of the other organizations that study
UFO phenomena are MUFON (Mutual UFO Networks), CAUS (Citizens Against
UFO Secrecy), GSW (Ground Saucer Watch), CUFOS (the Center for UFO
Studies), and APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), an
Arizona nonprofit scientific and educational organization, founded in
1952.(46)
WHY THE SECRECY?
In their book UFOs Over America, authors Jim and Carol Lorenzo
charge that the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has been closely
involved in the collection and suppression of UFO information.
"Witnesses to the phenomena have been bribed, coerced, and threatened
by the CIA, who wanted valuable evidence given to them alone."(47) One
reason given is that military intelligence may view the UFOs as a
tool of either a known or unknown potential enemy. "If these vehicles
prove evasive and surreptitious, all the more reason to suspect
them.... the probability looms large that the minds behind these
vehicles may well be gathering intelligence of their own."(48)
Another reason for secrecy may lie in the hope of obtaining
knowledge relating to advanced propulsion methods and anti-gravity
systems before other potential enemies on earth may acquire it.
Hence, though many nations are secretly investigating UFOs, they are
reluctant to share their findings. Robert Lofton, in his book
Identified Flying Saucers, claims that the Air Force became the
"goat" in the effort of the CIA to debunk many sightings by pilots,
radar technicians and reliable civilian observers. He thinks that the
suppression of information about how dangerous UFOs can be is wrong.
After citing a case where a child was burned over 50 to 60 percent of
her body by a low flying UFO and then taken to an Air Force hospital,
no one would explain why her clothes were not burned at the same
time. He also describes another burn case in New Mexico and another
man who recently received a sledge-hammer like blow that knocked him
unconscious by the force field of a 100-foot diameter UFO. "The public
ought to be told the danger! . . . Nothing helps rumors and panic
more than ignorance."(49)
Major Donald Keyhoe describes in his book "Aliens from Space: The
Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects", the difficulties he had in
1957 in trying to get the truth from government agencies after he was
director of NICAP, the world's largest UFO research organization with
over 30 subcommittees in the U.S. and abroad.(50)
According to some UFOlogists the attempts at cover-up by the CIA
extend to destruction of evidence that it could not confiscate.
Apparently some of our nation's important leaders have been denied
access to some UFO secrets in the possession of an agency of the
United States, the very existence of which is classified above top
secret.(51) Senator Barry Goldwater, a retired Air Force Reserve
Brigadier General and pilot with many decades of flying experience,
was quoted as saying "I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may
not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have
advanced beyond our mental capabilities." He said he was refused
permission to check the Air Force files on UFOs and added, "I think
some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we
don't know about--and probably never will unless the Air Force
discloses them."(52) He said that he put faith in the reports of the
Air Force, Navy, and commercial pilots who reported instances where a
UFO would fly near them--right off their plane's wing--and then just
zoom away at incredible speeds. "I remember the case in Georgia in
the 1950s of a National Guard plane going after a UFO and never
returning. And I recall the case in Franklin. Kentucky, when four
military planes investigated a UFO. One of them exploded in midair
and no one knows why."(53)
Unleashed by the policy of Glasnost (greater openness) the Soviet
media felt free to include accounts of UFO sightings. A Tuss report
of October 10, 1989, reported a large shiny ball or disk hovering
over a Voronezh park; residents saw the UFO land and three creatures
similar to human beings emerged, accompanied by a robot.(54)
Apparently the Russians felt no need to suppress this report which
was poked fun at in Newsweek and Time magazines(55) but not in U.S.
News and World Report: "A scant few decades ago, both the U.S.
government and the media treated flying objects as no laughing
matter--which even Congress looked into. In 1966, Representative Ford
responded to a rash of sightings in his home state of Michigan by
calling for, and getting, a House hearing on UFOs."(56)
UFO MISSIONS
Many reasons have been advanced for the purpose of the UFOs visits
to our planet. Although some of the persons who apparently have been
the subjects of genetic investigation, such as the family of Whitley
Streiber may not agree, the majority of those who have studied
possible UFO visitors feel that they are friendly. Mr. Streiber
described his experience as terrifying, and believes that these
"little figures with eyes that seem to stare into the deepest core of
being are asking for something. Whatever it is, it is more than
simple information. The goal does not seem to be a sort of clear and
open exchange that we might expect; whatever may be surfacing, it
wants far more than that. It seems to me that it seeks the very depth
of soul; it seeks communion."(57)
From the thousands of reports he has studied. William Spaulding,
aerospace engineer and head of the Arizona-based Ground Saucer Watch,
believes that a pattern indicates that UFOs are here on a surveillance
mission: the fact that a majority of sightings occur around our
military installations, research and development areas leads to the
conclusion that a methodical study is being made of the earth and its
defensive and offensive capabilities. "The phenomena is not unlike
our own space explorations: scout ship survey: soil samples;
landing."(58)
In his book Incident at Exeter, John Fuller discusses the seeming
affinity of UFOs for electrical power lines in the northeastern part
of the United States. In a later section of this chapter dealing with
the effects of UFOs on our terrestrial activities, we will see how
this affinity may have been responsible for causing 36 million people
to lose power over an area of 8,000 square miles.(59)
Because of our recent adventures into space, there are some who
speculate that UFOs are more concerned with what we will do there than
in settling here. In any event, the Air Force's official publication
(issued by the Government Printing Office 1968) called Flying Objects
says that 'No UFO has been determined to represent a threat to our
national security.' That conclusion, however, should not rule out less
disastrous consequences than the overthrow of our government.
ADVERSE POTENTIAL OF UFOS
Regardless of its past evaluations, the Air Force could be wrong
about a number of things. "It can't even guess within a couple of
billion dollars what one of its planes is going to cost; maybe,
despite the skepticism of the scientists and other investigators, the
UFOs sent from other planets do exist and have visited earth."(60)
And maybe they have exhibited some destructive effects, whether or not
intentionally in every instance, which we need to consider when
drafting a plan for coping with an emergency situation where UFOs are
involved. Some of these documented effects are as follows.
UFO HAZARDS
The two principal hazards noted with relation to UFOs have been
attributed to powerful electrical fields which they can project in a
general or localized area and the psychological effects they have
produced on the general populace or individual contacts.
FORCE FIELD IMPACT
The disruption of air and ground travel has often been reported in
the presence of UFOs. The ignition systems of auto and aircraft
engines have apparently been affected by energized force fields to
such an extent as to stop their operation; the headlights and radios
have also ceased to function. Here are a couple of examples. In
Buenos Aires, on March 29, 1978, "A strange force shut off their
engine and headlights of their Citroen CG, lifted it 15 feet off the
road, then set it down a minute later and 75 miles to the north." The
driver had noticed a yellow and violet light shining in his rear view
mirror while driving the last leg of a long stock car race, and he
realized that it was approaching too fast to be a competitor. A month
later a Colombian bank manager and a navy officer had their car
headlights go off when buzzed by a UFO, with the navy man suffering
temporary paralysis. Other South American countries in which similar
actions were reported around that time included Argentina, Chile,
Peru, and Uruguay.(61)
These effects have also been noted to influence the controls and
instruments of aircraft, e.g., the pilot of a Piper PH-24 reported
that his controls became inoperable when he was approached by three
disk-shaped objects, 10 to 12 feet in diameter, over Mexico City on
May 3,1975.(62) Similar cases have been reported by military pilots,
illustrated by the classic case of the near mid-air collision of an
army helicopter with a UFO on October 18, 1973, over Ohio, where not
only did both the UHF and VHF radio wave- lengths go dead
temporarily, but the downward movement of the helicopter with its
four occupants was levitated upward by a green beam from the UFO in
time to prevent its crash into the ground.(63)
COMMUNICATIONS DISRUPTION
In addition to the impedance of radio transmissions and reception,
such as that described in the preceding incident, telephone
interference has occurred, illustrated by the chagrin of President
Lyndon Johnson in having his conversation from the Texas White House
cut off while talking to assistants in Washington, D.C.(64) The
ability to render inoperable all electronic forms of communications,
including those that control the launching of defense weapons
systems, has been considered within the range of UFO capability.
Whether this could extend to the erasing of recorded computer data
such as bank records, personnel data, FBI, CIA, and NSA files, along
with critical information of every kind, is not beyond the realm of
possibility.
REGIONAL POWER BLACKOUTS
It has long been suspected that UFOs have the capability of
blacking out a city, state, or many states by exerting a force field
sufficient to overload the circuits of public and private utility
installations. "Few things are more disturbing than to be plunged
into pitch darkness without warning; it is dangerous for masses of
people. It paralyzes cities, blocks highways, stops trains, leaves
elevators suspended between floors. In general it simply plays hell
with the modern way of life."(65) You would think that the power
companies would have achieved sufficient reliability in their high
tech systems that a mass failure such as that which blacked out New
York and New England in 1965 would never happen--but it did.
Although, as we have mentioned before, it was known that UFO activity
was associated with disturbances with compasses. instruments,
ignition systems, radios, etc., it was inconceivable that it could
also interfere with generation and distribution of electrical power.
Such a connection was also inferred in November 1953, when a glowing
red object went over a residential area of New Haven, Connecticut,
causing lights to dim out on both sides of the object's path and then
come on when it went out of sight.
Power failures were also reported in association with UFOs in
Brazil in 1957 to l959~ Rome, Italy, in 1958; and Mexico in 1965.
Likewise, in Uberlandia, where the power station operators promptly
closed the circuits when the UFO apparently caused them to open, it
did no good, and they were unable to restore the power until the UFO
departed.
"The Granddaddy of all blackouts to date was the stygian blanket
that fell over 30 million people in the northeastern corner of the
U.S. during the early evening rush hour period on November 9,
1965."(66) Relay services that were supposed to automatically
transfer the load in case of failure in one area to an alternate
source malfunctioned. Military communications relying on public power
without alternate backup systems also failed, but communications were
operable to make a quick public announcement that there was no
military emergency. Though it was largely over by the next morning,
the official explanation about a malfunctioning small device in a
Canadian hydroelectric generating plant never accounted for the
failure of millions of dollars worth of electronic devices to shift
the load when the breakdown occurred.
FIREBALLS OVER SYRACUSE--THE BLACKOUT CONNECTION
Airplane pilots reported that UFOs were being chased across
Pennsylvania about 4:30 P.M., and electronics and construction
engineers who were driving in the area of the Syracuse airport saw
UFOs moving about 5:30 P.M., just prior to the Great Blackout. A
veteran flight instructor who had been flying over Syracuse on a
training flight saw a glowing globe over the power lines leading to
the Niagara Falls generating plant. Hundreds of others saw the
glowing object in the sky on the night of the big power failure.
That was on November 9th. On December 2nd, about 700,000 persons
in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico also had their power fail. It was
said to have originated in a regular failure in El Paso; then on
December 5th, three nights later. 40,000 homes plus military
installations in the area of East Texas were also blacked out--
overloaded! Missile grounds (White Sands), Fort Bliss, Holloman Air
Force Base, and numerous airports were all blacked out (with no
emergency power backup), and this was when President Johnson's
telephone call to the White House in Washington, D.C. was cut off. In
response to his request for an explanation, President Johnson was told
that his calls were fed into a cable system that went dead when the
surge of power caused by the El Paso regulator blow-up hit it, and
the backup batteries didn't work. Though it may be debatable whether
the above cases of electrical transmission failure were merely
coincidences with UFO activity, an incident on April 18,1962,
involving a UFO that had been tracked from New York, through Kansas
to Eureka, Utah, was well documented. The Air Force spokesman
admitted that the object had landed, and during the 42 minutes that it
was on the ground near the power station there was no power, but it
was restored when the UFO left. The object was pursued by jet
interceptors summoned from Phoenix and Stead Field in Reno until it
exploded over the Mesquite Range in Nevada in a brilliant glare that
was visible over five states.(67)
UFOS--THE PANIC HAZARD
The second major disastrous effect that UFO activity, real or
imagined, can have on the populace, is the creation of fear, panic,
flight, and all kinds of irrational behavior. We have mentioned
already the rather well-documented case of hysterical contagion and
mass hysteria created by War of the Worlds, the radio drama by Orson
Welles about an invasion of Martians. It was broadcast on Halloween
of 1938 during the period of the invasions of Germany into Austria
and Japan into China. "The drama, realistically presented in the form
of news bulletins and interviews concerning an alien spaceship
landing in New Jersey, resulted in many kinds of hysterical actions,
including thousands of panic-stricken phone calls, wildly fleeing
automobiles, and impromptu shot gun brigades."(68)
Though most persons reporting UFOs do not interpret them as
personal threats, it is possible that some of the large volume of
reports may be attributable to hysterical contagion. In any case, one
of the reasons often cited for the tight secrecy on government UFO
research findings is the need to prevent the possible panic that a
revelation of the truth might arouse. Rumors that people were being
abducted, dematerialized, burned, made radioactive, rounded up and
impounded, liquidated with ray guns and lasers or shipped off to Mars
or Venus might well give rise to fear--fear of the unknown. Hysteria
could cause frightened persons to imagine that their water was
poisoned, the air contaminated with undetectable but lethal aerosols
or nerve gases. With hundreds of UFO squadrons zooming across the
landscape from California to New York, Toronto to Mexico City,
communications disrupted, widespread power failures, airports and
railroads paralyzed, highways turned into giant parking lots of
immobilized vehicles full of terrified motorists, the problem of
restoring order and sanity would be a tremendous challenge to all of
the emergency services, assuming their personnel would remain calm,
detached. and able to resist the human impulse to put the safety and
well being of their own families ahead of the public's. To make
matters worse, some of the more excitable gun owners might be tempted
to rush out Rambo fashion, and in utter disregard of the damage that
falling bullets might cause innocent residents below their fallout,
start firing at the evasive objects regardless of the range.
PERSONAL HAZARDS--PHYSIOLOGICAL
The force field affects on the physical environment--
communication, transportation, illumination, and computerized data
storage--have already been considered. We might have added that some
physical effects have been observed at locations where UFOs have
landed-- circular patterns of crops destroyed by heat or radiation
and baking or sterilization of the soil at the site.
On a more practical basis there may be grounds for concern that
more than just the environment can be adversely affected by UFO
actions. While pursuing UFOs, military aircraft have disappeared in
mid-air, exploded, and suffered harassment. Persons on the ground have
sustained serious burns, paralysis, and "blows" from a force field,
radiated emissions, or rays and beams that have been described like
that of a "stun-gun"(69)
In 1980, three witnesses saw a red ball of light hovering above
houses in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when suddenly a bolt of blue light
shot down and two houses burst into flames.(70) An Indiana man saw a
bright light flash pass his window; the power went off in his house so
he went outside to investigate and found a brilliantly lit object
hovering above him; when he started to walk toward it his body
commenced to tingle and he was unable to move until the object
disappeared. A similar tingling sensation swept over another man in
Lvnn, Massachusetts. one night when he approached a domed object with
a red glowing cone rising from a parking lot. He too was immobile
until the object moved out of sight. Some believe that even animals
may be at risk by UFOs; in trying to account for the death of 15
ponies, the leader of an investigative team believed they were
crushed by the anti-gravity field of a flying saucer as it took
off.(71)
Thus, UFOs may not only have the power to control some of our
military and industrial establishment's highly technical scientific
hardware, they may also possess the ability to impose pain and
control over people who attempt to attack them, even to the extent of
"liquidating" them in one way or another.
UFOS--EMERGENCY ACTION
In view of the fact that many UFOlogists believe that we are fast
approaching a time when overt landings of UFOs will become less
remarkable, and in the absence of our knowing whether their visits
are friendly or hostile, it would not be remiss to give some thought
to the part that fire departments might play in the event of the
unexpected arrival of UFOs in their communities. For example, what
would be your course of action as an incident commander at the scene
of a school ground where a UFO has crashed into the boiler room,
rupturing a fuel line, and ignition has occurred in the spilling oil,
endangering the occupants of the craft who are trapped in the
wreckage? If your rescue attempts are successful, and two of the five
small alien creatures are injured but still alive, how do you dispose
of the dead and treat the survivors? How would the presence of
children on the school grounds affect your actions? What persons and
agencies would be notified?
The authors have never read any advice on these matters. The
following admonition was printed on the inside front jacket of Frank
Edward's book on flying saucers:
WARNING
"Near approaches of UFOs can be harmful to human beings. Do not
stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or
attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case the safe thing
to do is to get away from there very quickly and let the military
take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger and there are
known cases where persons have been burned by rays emanating from
UFOs. Don't take chances with UFOs!"
In view of the federal law (cited earlier) empowering NASA's
administrator to impound, without a hearing, anyone who touches a UFO
or its occupants. it would be inadvisable to make personal contact
unless you are willing to submit to NASA's quarantine requirements,
should the law be invoked.
Besides the possible physical effects of approaching a UFO, e.g..
burns, radiation, etc., there may be psychological effects produced
by force fields that could induce a hypnotic state in the viewer,
loss of consciousness, memory relapse, and submission to the
occupants. Jacques Vallee, author of "The Invisible College" cautions
that we should consider psychic effects, such as space-time
distortions experienced by percipients of craft-like devices which
appear to fade away--dematerialize--and then reappear; of alien,
strange voices or thoughts that may effect involuntary changes in the
manner in which witnesses may react in such circumstances.(72)
Perhaps the above warnings of Edwards and Vallee are a little too
cautious and apprehensive to adopt as a general pattern of conduct in
every situation. In the absence of overt acts indicating hostility,
there may be no danger in approaching a landing (or landed) UFO with
a positive, solicitous attitude of wanting to be of service. This
nonaggressive mental state may be telepathically sensed by those
aboard or emerging from the craft; a form of nonvocal communication
is a possibility. It goes without saying that any display of firearms
or other weapons on your part could be construed as unfriendly and
likely to thwart your intention of conveying a helpful attitude.
In a best case scenario, you may be able to obtain guidance as to
the appropriate actions to take, whether of a life-saving nature,
e.g., in quelling a fire, abating a spill, and of preservation of
property, or even in the reduction of apprehension on the part of
your response team and the spectators.
In a less optimistic scenario, you may have engine trouble upon
approaching the scene, and radio contact could be lost with your
dispatcher. If at night, your headlights could go out, the city could
be blacked out, and your portable generators may malfunction when you
attempt to use them for fans and portable lights. It would certainly
be an inopportune time for your comrades to announce that they had
decided to take their pensions, effective immediately.
In any event, the incident could provide invaluable experience for
further training in coping with rare and difficult emergencies.
Whatever "inside" information you are able to pass along to your
fellow officers and citizens of the world might help to alleviate
unreasonable fear, so that there would be less likelihood that we
would ever again experience the panic and hysteria that was created
by War of the Worlds a half century ago. Truth is the best cure for
the unknown. A list of some of the available books on Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs) is found in Appendix H.
CONCLUSION
Some fire chiefs have little confidence in disaster plans,
especially those dealing with UFOs or enemy attack. If you develop a
plan that sets forth your responsibilities, resources, organizations,
supplies information, telephone numbers, and special data that will be
useful in obtaining help and fulfilling your role in disaster
control, commit it to an electronic medium, a computer with a
capability for continuous updating through modern word processing.
Bring it forth when the need requires. With a good plan, good
leadership, and adequate resources, you may save many lives in any
disaster, including attack from possible enemies.
In this chapter we will now turn our attention to the very real
threat posed by Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), whether they exist
or not. The well-documented and highly publicized War of the Worlds
radio drama by Orson Welles shows how even a perceived existence to
alien creatures can cause very real disaster-like conditions and
panic among a given populace. In addition, if the apparent visits by
alien beings and their space vehicles should pose any type of threat,
it will, as always, be the fire service that is called upon to
provide the first line of life-saving defense and disaster mitigation.
On April 25,1991, radio station KSHE in St. Louis, Missouri was
fined $25,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for
broadcasting a mock warning of a nuclear attack during the Persian
Gulf War. The seriousness with which the FCC treated this case is
indicative of the very real panic that can be created from even
illusionary or fictional phenomena. Certainly if these unexplainable
events become more prevalent, the possibility of panic could be even
greater; and again, the fire department will be the agency called
upon to handle the situation.(35) Hence, as we near the year 2000 and
move beyond, any comprehensive disaster plan should address the
potential for panic and other deleterious effects that might befall a
populated area when unexplainable phenomena occur. We will see, as we
continue our discussion in this chapter, that widespread blackouts,
communication disruptions, and other potentially disastrous conditions
have been linked directly to UFO sightings. Hence, fire service
leaders who want to ensure that their disaster planning is complete
will not neglect an appendix to outline those things that could be
done in preparation for the occurrence of such phenomena.
Throughout this book, many of the references to actual events are
based on the experiences of both of the authors. However, in this
area of UFOs and their potential, we are relying largely on the
research and experiences of Charles Bahme. Chuck has made a
considerable study of this subject and is acquiring many publications
and VCR tapes to augment his library on this and related phenomena.
His interest in UFOs was greatly heightened when Congress in 1969
adopted a law (14 CFR Ch. V Part 1211--Extraterrestrial Exposure)
which gave the NASA Administrator the arbitrary discretion to
quarantine under armed guard any object, person, or other form of
life which has been extraterrestrially exposed. The very fact that our
congressmen believed there was a necessity for such drastic authority
made Chuck wonder if they had only our astronauts in mind when they
adopted it. Could it be applied to anyone who has had a UFO
encounter? Whether it has or not is not likely to be a topic for
public dissemination.
UFO DISCUSSION--WHY NOW?
The subject of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) was not included in
previous editions of this book. The first edition was the Handbook of
Disaster Control which Chuck personally published in 1952 following
his release from active naval duty in the Korean War. Although his
services in the conflict as Security Coordinator for the Chief of
Naval Operations involved the creation of a worldwide disaster
control organization for the protection of the physical properties of
the Navy, it must be admitted that the directives approved for this
new organization did not reflect any significant concern for a flying
saucer threat to its shore establishment. That was in the 1950s. Now
that we are in the 1990s it is doubtful that the UFO potential would
be brushed off so lightly by our military security forces. This
change of attitude was evidenced as far back as December 24, 1959,
when the Inspector General of the Air Force issued the following
Operations and Training Order: "Unidentified Flying Objects--
sometimes treated lightly by the press and referred to as 'Flying
Saucers'--must be rapidly and accurately identified as serious Air
Force business...."(36)
There is no uncertainty about the reality of the war between nations
on our planet and the disastrous effects of military actions. The 200
sorties flown every hour against Iraq in the Persian Gulf provided
ample evidence of global war's destructive power. On the other hand,
there are many persons who may believe that a discussion of the
theoretical harm that could be caused by a real or imaginary invasion
of UFOs would be 'far out!" But this is not so for the thousands of
witnesses of unexplained aerial phenomena. To them it is also serious
business.
Chuck's interest in UFOs commenced during the early morning hours of
August 26,1942, while he was roller skating from his house to the
nearest fire station a few blocks away; the wail of sirens had
signaled his recall to fire duty, and with the stringent blackout
orders in effect. driving was not wise; besides, it was much more
exciting to be out in the open where he could see the spectacular
aerial "fireworks" that filled the heavens all around him. Few
residents of the U.S. had ever experienced a real or imaginary
invasion of UFOs like that which occurred in what has become known as
"The Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942." The Army announced the approach
of hostile aircraft and the city's air raid warning system went into
effect for the first time in World War II. The defense to this
"attack" is described in dramatic terms in the opening paragraph of
this chapter.
But what enemy had been routed? No one ever knew. All the fire
fighters saw in the sky were the 15 or 20 moving "things" which
seemed to change course at great speed apparently unaffected by the
flak from bursting shells all around them. Rumors that one had been
shot down were never verified, nor was the explanation that these zig-
zagging invaders were weather balloons ever taken seriously. In any
event, for Chuck, that unforgettable episode aroused a continuing
interest in UFOs, rivalling his professional fields of law and fire
protection. The fact that he subsequently was a member of a group
whose sighting of a flight of UFOs was authenticated by airport radar
helped to sustain that interest.
UFO BACKGROUND INFORMATION
With no intention of trying to prove or disprove the authenticity
of the numerous UFO encounters often related by very credible
witnesses including airline and military pilots, astronauts, police
officers, fire fighters, members of Congress, and even a U.S.
President, the balance of this chapter will present a brief history
and nature of UFOs and their alleged occupants; their widespread
sightings over the globe since ancient times; their appearance,
propulsion origin, and possible motives for continuing reconnaissance.
A quick look at some of the classic accounts of encounters
documented in numerous foreign and U.S. publications might help us
judge the magnitude of their threat, if any, to social stability,
and, if deemed desirable, propose a fire service plan for coping with
some of the conceivable catastrophic effects that UFOs could produce
on cities and densely populated areas.
For readers who already have made up their minds that there is no
such thing as a UFO notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence to the
contrary, it should be pointed out that there is circumstantial
evidence that disastrous effects have already been attributed to UFO
activity in more than one nation, including the United States.
UFOs--WHAT ARE THEY?
William Shakespeare put a fitting observation in the mouth of
Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, that went like this: "There are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your
philosophy." Whether Hamlet was referring to those strange lights or
objects that appear in the sky or near the ground and have no known
cause, we will never know, but the World Book Encyclopedia defines
such things as UFOs.(37)
Several theories have been propounded as to what they might be.
Some scientists believe that they are of extraterrestrial origin--
coming from other planets. Military officers conjecture that they
might be alien aircraft. Some attribute them all to natural causes,
such as meteors, comets, sun dogs, light reflections, marsh gas, ball
lightning, even though they must admit that scientists cannot explain
all UFO reports in that manner. Still others are inclined to believe
that they may be forms from other dimensions which can materialize
and dematerialize at will perhaps by making a wavelength or frequency
transition so as to become invisible to humans. Some believe they are
time travelers from the future.
UFO CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Northern University Professor Emeritus of
Astronomy and an advisor to the Air Force's Blue Book Project adopted
a very simple classification system based solely upon the manner of
observation:
1. Nocturnal lights
2. Daylight disks
3. Close encounters (day or night)
4. Radar readings.
He concluded that this system tells us nothing about the nature of
the UFOs, but can suggest a means for gathering data.(38) He found
that while a large number of such reports were readily identifiable
by trained investigators as misconceptions of known objects or
events, a small residue (about 1.000) were not. These came from
credible witnesses from such widely separated places as Canada.
Australia. South America, and Antarctica. He concludes with:
"Although I know of no hypothesis that adequately covers the
mountainous evidence, this should not and must not deter us from
following the advice of Schroedinger: to be curious, capable of being
astonished, and eager to find out."(39) Dr. Hynek has an excellent,
well-illustrated article on UFOs in a 1982 book which gives a
detailed history of the UFO sightings, together with the reports of
some well-known people who made them, including President Jimmy Carter
while governor of Georgia.(40)
SHAPES OF UFOs
Witnesses have described the shapes of UFOs as anything varying
from a sphere to a boomerang. Some have resembled flying saucers with
a lid; others a glowing tube; some as semi-spherical with colored
apertures; some with reddish-orange glows, or fire-like or sparking
discharges. Incredible speed and maneuverabilities not attainable by
aircraft of any kind are commonly observed. Many of the books and
articles in Appendix H have excellent photographs of these
unexplained visitors--photos that have been checked by experts for
their authenticity.
HISTORY OF UFOS
For hundreds of years mysterious objects in the sky and strange
moving lights have been reported by many people, including the
military pilots in World War II who called them foo fighters, ("Where
there's Foo, there's Fire"). In the middle of the 1900s flying
saucers were increasingly observed in the United States and other
countries. Scientists at the University of Colorado hired by the Air
Force from 1966 to 1968 to study this type of aerial phenomena could
explain most of the UFO reports as a star (Venus), meteor, planet,
balloon, rocket, artificial satellite, etc. Sometimes atmospheric
conditions, aircraft exhaust trails, or unusual lighting conditions
may produce optical illusions that observers thought were UFOs. After
investigating more than 12,000 reports, the U.S. Air Force was unable
to explain where the unexplained UFOs come from, but apparently
concluded that the national security was not threatened by them.(41)
The emphasis of the university's team, headed by Edward U. Condon,
seemed to be more concerned with the establishment of the emotional
stability or instability of those who reported the sightings than with
other evidence.
Psychiatrists have examined the witnesses who claimed to have
encountered UFOs and even been taken aboard their craft, such as the
two shipyard workers in Mississippi, and found that they are not
unbalanced people.(42) "They're not crackpots. There was definitely
something here that was not terrestrial."(43) Dr. J. Allen Hynek
agreed, and added. "Where they are coming from and why they are here
is a matter of conjecture. but the fact that they were here on this
planet is beyond a reasonable doubt."(44)
The Air Force. after 20 years of being deluged with UFO sightings
and spending millions of dollars on their investigation, decided to
drop the inquiry business and turned the project over to a
Kensington, Maryland, group called NICAP (National Investigation
Committee on Aerial Phenomena). This left NASA (National Aeronautics
and Space Administration) with part of the task of trying to run UFO
sighting reports, including many by its own Apollo and Skylab
astronauts. By 1974 over a score of astronauts saw and photographed
UFOs during their flights beyond the earth's atmosphere.
Early in the Apollo 11 mission, which culminated in the moon walk,
astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins reported
sightings of what seemed to be a UFO during the first half of their
flight to the lunar surface. There were many more sightings by U.S.
and Soviet Astronauts. On November 11,1966, Gemini XII astronauts Jim
Lovell and Edwin Aldrin said that they saw four UFOs linked together,
and on October 12, 1964, three Russian astronauts aboard Voskod
reported that they were surrounded by a "formation of fast-moving
disc-shaped objects."(45)
UFO ORGANIZATIONS
In addition to NICAP, some of the other organizations that study
UFO phenomena are MUFON (Mutual UFO Networks), CAUS (Citizens Against
UFO Secrecy), GSW (Ground Saucer Watch), CUFOS (the Center for UFO
Studies), and APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), an
Arizona nonprofit scientific and educational organization, founded in
1952.(46)
WHY THE SECRECY?
In their book UFOs Over America, authors Jim and Carol Lorenzo
charge that the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has been closely
involved in the collection and suppression of UFO information.
"Witnesses to the phenomena have been bribed, coerced, and threatened
by the CIA, who wanted valuable evidence given to them alone."(47) One
reason given is that military intelligence may view the UFOs as a
tool of either a known or unknown potential enemy. "If these vehicles
prove evasive and surreptitious, all the more reason to suspect
them.... the probability looms large that the minds behind these
vehicles may well be gathering intelligence of their own."(48)
Another reason for secrecy may lie in the hope of obtaining
knowledge relating to advanced propulsion methods and anti-gravity
systems before other potential enemies on earth may acquire it.
Hence, though many nations are secretly investigating UFOs, they are
reluctant to share their findings. Robert Lofton, in his book
Identified Flying Saucers, claims that the Air Force became the
"goat" in the effort of the CIA to debunk many sightings by pilots,
radar technicians and reliable civilian observers. He thinks that the
suppression of information about how dangerous UFOs can be is wrong.
After citing a case where a child was burned over 50 to 60 percent of
her body by a low flying UFO and then taken to an Air Force hospital,
no one would explain why her clothes were not burned at the same
time. He also describes another burn case in New Mexico and another
man who recently received a sledge-hammer like blow that knocked him
unconscious by the force field of a 100-foot diameter UFO. "The public
ought to be told the danger! . . . Nothing helps rumors and panic
more than ignorance."(49)
Major Donald Keyhoe describes in his book "Aliens from Space: The
Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects", the difficulties he had in
1957 in trying to get the truth from government agencies after he was
director of NICAP, the world's largest UFO research organization with
over 30 subcommittees in the U.S. and abroad.(50)
According to some UFOlogists the attempts at cover-up by the CIA
extend to destruction of evidence that it could not confiscate.
Apparently some of our nation's important leaders have been denied
access to some UFO secrets in the possession of an agency of the
United States, the very existence of which is classified above top
secret.(51) Senator Barry Goldwater, a retired Air Force Reserve
Brigadier General and pilot with many decades of flying experience,
was quoted as saying "I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may
not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have
advanced beyond our mental capabilities." He said he was refused
permission to check the Air Force files on UFOs and added, "I think
some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we
don't know about--and probably never will unless the Air Force
discloses them."(52) He said that he put faith in the reports of the
Air Force, Navy, and commercial pilots who reported instances where a
UFO would fly near them--right off their plane's wing--and then just
zoom away at incredible speeds. "I remember the case in Georgia in
the 1950s of a National Guard plane going after a UFO and never
returning. And I recall the case in Franklin. Kentucky, when four
military planes investigated a UFO. One of them exploded in midair
and no one knows why."(53)
Unleashed by the policy of Glasnost (greater openness) the Soviet
media felt free to include accounts of UFO sightings. A Tuss report
of October 10, 1989, reported a large shiny ball or disk hovering
over a Voronezh park; residents saw the UFO land and three creatures
similar to human beings emerged, accompanied by a robot.(54)
Apparently the Russians felt no need to suppress this report which
was poked fun at in Newsweek and Time magazines(55) but not in U.S.
News and World Report: "A scant few decades ago, both the U.S.
government and the media treated flying objects as no laughing
matter--which even Congress looked into. In 1966, Representative Ford
responded to a rash of sightings in his home state of Michigan by
calling for, and getting, a House hearing on UFOs."(56)
UFO MISSIONS
Many reasons have been advanced for the purpose of the UFOs visits
to our planet. Although some of the persons who apparently have been
the subjects of genetic investigation, such as the family of Whitley
Streiber may not agree, the majority of those who have studied
possible UFO visitors feel that they are friendly. Mr. Streiber
described his experience as terrifying, and believes that these
"little figures with eyes that seem to stare into the deepest core of
being are asking for something. Whatever it is, it is more than
simple information. The goal does not seem to be a sort of clear and
open exchange that we might expect; whatever may be surfacing, it
wants far more than that. It seems to me that it seeks the very depth
of soul; it seeks communion."(57)
From the thousands of reports he has studied. William Spaulding,
aerospace engineer and head of the Arizona-based Ground Saucer Watch,
believes that a pattern indicates that UFOs are here on a surveillance
mission: the fact that a majority of sightings occur around our
military installations, research and development areas leads to the
conclusion that a methodical study is being made of the earth and its
defensive and offensive capabilities. "The phenomena is not unlike
our own space explorations: scout ship survey: soil samples;
landing."(58)
In his book Incident at Exeter, John Fuller discusses the seeming
affinity of UFOs for electrical power lines in the northeastern part
of the United States. In a later section of this chapter dealing with
the effects of UFOs on our terrestrial activities, we will see how
this affinity may have been responsible for causing 36 million people
to lose power over an area of 8,000 square miles.(59)
Because of our recent adventures into space, there are some who
speculate that UFOs are more concerned with what we will do there than
in settling here. In any event, the Air Force's official publication
(issued by the Government Printing Office 1968) called Flying Objects
says that 'No UFO has been determined to represent a threat to our
national security.' That conclusion, however, should not rule out less
disastrous consequences than the overthrow of our government.
ADVERSE POTENTIAL OF UFOS
Regardless of its past evaluations, the Air Force could be wrong
about a number of things. "It can't even guess within a couple of
billion dollars what one of its planes is going to cost; maybe,
despite the skepticism of the scientists and other investigators, the
UFOs sent from other planets do exist and have visited earth."(60)
And maybe they have exhibited some destructive effects, whether or not
intentionally in every instance, which we need to consider when
drafting a plan for coping with an emergency situation where UFOs are
involved. Some of these documented effects are as follows.
UFO HAZARDS
The two principal hazards noted with relation to UFOs have been
attributed to powerful electrical fields which they can project in a
general or localized area and the psychological effects they have
produced on the general populace or individual contacts.
FORCE FIELD IMPACT
The disruption of air and ground travel has often been reported in
the presence of UFOs. The ignition systems of auto and aircraft
engines have apparently been affected by energized force fields to
such an extent as to stop their operation; the headlights and radios
have also ceased to function. Here are a couple of examples. In
Buenos Aires, on March 29, 1978, "A strange force shut off their
engine and headlights of their Citroen CG, lifted it 15 feet off the
road, then set it down a minute later and 75 miles to the north." The
driver had noticed a yellow and violet light shining in his rear view
mirror while driving the last leg of a long stock car race, and he
realized that it was approaching too fast to be a competitor. A month
later a Colombian bank manager and a navy officer had their car
headlights go off when buzzed by a UFO, with the navy man suffering
temporary paralysis. Other South American countries in which similar
actions were reported around that time included Argentina, Chile,
Peru, and Uruguay.(61)
These effects have also been noted to influence the controls and
instruments of aircraft, e.g., the pilot of a Piper PH-24 reported
that his controls became inoperable when he was approached by three
disk-shaped objects, 10 to 12 feet in diameter, over Mexico City on
May 3,1975.(62) Similar cases have been reported by military pilots,
illustrated by the classic case of the near mid-air collision of an
army helicopter with a UFO on October 18, 1973, over Ohio, where not
only did both the UHF and VHF radio wave- lengths go dead
temporarily, but the downward movement of the helicopter with its
four occupants was levitated upward by a green beam from the UFO in
time to prevent its crash into the ground.(63)
COMMUNICATIONS DISRUPTION
In addition to the impedance of radio transmissions and reception,
such as that described in the preceding incident, telephone
interference has occurred, illustrated by the chagrin of President
Lyndon Johnson in having his conversation from the Texas White House
cut off while talking to assistants in Washington, D.C.(64) The
ability to render inoperable all electronic forms of communications,
including those that control the launching of defense weapons
systems, has been considered within the range of UFO capability.
Whether this could extend to the erasing of recorded computer data
such as bank records, personnel data, FBI, CIA, and NSA files, along
with critical information of every kind, is not beyond the realm of
possibility.
REGIONAL POWER BLACKOUTS
It has long been suspected that UFOs have the capability of
blacking out a city, state, or many states by exerting a force field
sufficient to overload the circuits of public and private utility
installations. "Few things are more disturbing than to be plunged
into pitch darkness without warning; it is dangerous for masses of
people. It paralyzes cities, blocks highways, stops trains, leaves
elevators suspended between floors. In general it simply plays hell
with the modern way of life."(65) You would think that the power
companies would have achieved sufficient reliability in their high
tech systems that a mass failure such as that which blacked out New
York and New England in 1965 would never happen--but it did.
Although, as we have mentioned before, it was known that UFO activity
was associated with disturbances with compasses. instruments,
ignition systems, radios, etc., it was inconceivable that it could
also interfere with generation and distribution of electrical power.
Such a connection was also inferred in November 1953, when a glowing
red object went over a residential area of New Haven, Connecticut,
causing lights to dim out on both sides of the object's path and then
come on when it went out of sight.
Power failures were also reported in association with UFOs in
Brazil in 1957 to l959~ Rome, Italy, in 1958; and Mexico in 1965.
Likewise, in Uberlandia, where the power station operators promptly
closed the circuits when the UFO apparently caused them to open, it
did no good, and they were unable to restore the power until the UFO
departed.
"The Granddaddy of all blackouts to date was the stygian blanket
that fell over 30 million people in the northeastern corner of the
U.S. during the early evening rush hour period on November 9,
1965."(66) Relay services that were supposed to automatically
transfer the load in case of failure in one area to an alternate
source malfunctioned. Military communications relying on public power
without alternate backup systems also failed, but communications were
operable to make a quick public announcement that there was no
military emergency. Though it was largely over by the next morning,
the official explanation about a malfunctioning small device in a
Canadian hydroelectric generating plant never accounted for the
failure of millions of dollars worth of electronic devices to shift
the load when the breakdown occurred.
FIREBALLS OVER SYRACUSE--THE BLACKOUT CONNECTION
Airplane pilots reported that UFOs were being chased across
Pennsylvania about 4:30 P.M., and electronics and construction
engineers who were driving in the area of the Syracuse airport saw
UFOs moving about 5:30 P.M., just prior to the Great Blackout. A
veteran flight instructor who had been flying over Syracuse on a
training flight saw a glowing globe over the power lines leading to
the Niagara Falls generating plant. Hundreds of others saw the
glowing object in the sky on the night of the big power failure.
That was on November 9th. On December 2nd, about 700,000 persons
in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico also had their power fail. It was
said to have originated in a regular failure in El Paso; then on
December 5th, three nights later. 40,000 homes plus military
installations in the area of East Texas were also blacked out--
overloaded! Missile grounds (White Sands), Fort Bliss, Holloman Air
Force Base, and numerous airports were all blacked out (with no
emergency power backup), and this was when President Johnson's
telephone call to the White House in Washington, D.C. was cut off. In
response to his request for an explanation, President Johnson was told
that his calls were fed into a cable system that went dead when the
surge of power caused by the El Paso regulator blow-up hit it, and
the backup batteries didn't work. Though it may be debatable whether
the above cases of electrical transmission failure were merely
coincidences with UFO activity, an incident on April 18,1962,
involving a UFO that had been tracked from New York, through Kansas
to Eureka, Utah, was well documented. The Air Force spokesman
admitted that the object had landed, and during the 42 minutes that it
was on the ground near the power station there was no power, but it
was restored when the UFO left. The object was pursued by jet
interceptors summoned from Phoenix and Stead Field in Reno until it
exploded over the Mesquite Range in Nevada in a brilliant glare that
was visible over five states.(67)
UFOS--THE PANIC HAZARD
The second major disastrous effect that UFO activity, real or
imagined, can have on the populace, is the creation of fear, panic,
flight, and all kinds of irrational behavior. We have mentioned
already the rather well-documented case of hysterical contagion and
mass hysteria created by War of the Worlds, the radio drama by Orson
Welles about an invasion of Martians. It was broadcast on Halloween
of 1938 during the period of the invasions of Germany into Austria
and Japan into China. "The drama, realistically presented in the form
of news bulletins and interviews concerning an alien spaceship
landing in New Jersey, resulted in many kinds of hysterical actions,
including thousands of panic-stricken phone calls, wildly fleeing
automobiles, and impromptu shot gun brigades."(68)
Though most persons reporting UFOs do not interpret them as
personal threats, it is possible that some of the large volume of
reports may be attributable to hysterical contagion. In any case, one
of the reasons often cited for the tight secrecy on government UFO
research findings is the need to prevent the possible panic that a
revelation of the truth might arouse. Rumors that people were being
abducted, dematerialized, burned, made radioactive, rounded up and
impounded, liquidated with ray guns and lasers or shipped off to Mars
or Venus might well give rise to fear--fear of the unknown. Hysteria
could cause frightened persons to imagine that their water was
poisoned, the air contaminated with undetectable but lethal aerosols
or nerve gases. With hundreds of UFO squadrons zooming across the
landscape from California to New York, Toronto to Mexico City,
communications disrupted, widespread power failures, airports and
railroads paralyzed, highways turned into giant parking lots of
immobilized vehicles full of terrified motorists, the problem of
restoring order and sanity would be a tremendous challenge to all of
the emergency services, assuming their personnel would remain calm,
detached. and able to resist the human impulse to put the safety and
well being of their own families ahead of the public's. To make
matters worse, some of the more excitable gun owners might be tempted
to rush out Rambo fashion, and in utter disregard of the damage that
falling bullets might cause innocent residents below their fallout,
start firing at the evasive objects regardless of the range.
PERSONAL HAZARDS--PHYSIOLOGICAL
The force field affects on the physical environment--
communication, transportation, illumination, and computerized data
storage--have already been considered. We might have added that some
physical effects have been observed at locations where UFOs have
landed-- circular patterns of crops destroyed by heat or radiation
and baking or sterilization of the soil at the site.
On a more practical basis there may be grounds for concern that
more than just the environment can be adversely affected by UFO
actions. While pursuing UFOs, military aircraft have disappeared in
mid-air, exploded, and suffered harassment. Persons on the ground have
sustained serious burns, paralysis, and "blows" from a force field,
radiated emissions, or rays and beams that have been described like
that of a "stun-gun"(69)
In 1980, three witnesses saw a red ball of light hovering above
houses in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when suddenly a bolt of blue light
shot down and two houses burst into flames.(70) An Indiana man saw a
bright light flash pass his window; the power went off in his house so
he went outside to investigate and found a brilliantly lit object
hovering above him; when he started to walk toward it his body
commenced to tingle and he was unable to move until the object
disappeared. A similar tingling sensation swept over another man in
Lvnn, Massachusetts. one night when he approached a domed object with
a red glowing cone rising from a parking lot. He too was immobile
until the object moved out of sight. Some believe that even animals
may be at risk by UFOs; in trying to account for the death of 15
ponies, the leader of an investigative team believed they were
crushed by the anti-gravity field of a flying saucer as it took
off.(71)
Thus, UFOs may not only have the power to control some of our
military and industrial establishment's highly technical scientific
hardware, they may also possess the ability to impose pain and
control over people who attempt to attack them, even to the extent of
"liquidating" them in one way or another.
UFOS--EMERGENCY ACTION
In view of the fact that many UFOlogists believe that we are fast
approaching a time when overt landings of UFOs will become less
remarkable, and in the absence of our knowing whether their visits
are friendly or hostile, it would not be remiss to give some thought
to the part that fire departments might play in the event of the
unexpected arrival of UFOs in their communities. For example, what
would be your course of action as an incident commander at the scene
of a school ground where a UFO has crashed into the boiler room,
rupturing a fuel line, and ignition has occurred in the spilling oil,
endangering the occupants of the craft who are trapped in the
wreckage? If your rescue attempts are successful, and two of the five
small alien creatures are injured but still alive, how do you dispose
of the dead and treat the survivors? How would the presence of
children on the school grounds affect your actions? What persons and
agencies would be notified?
The authors have never read any advice on these matters. The
following admonition was printed on the inside front jacket of Frank
Edward's book on flying saucers:
WARNING
"Near approaches of UFOs can be harmful to human beings. Do not
stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or
attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case the safe thing
to do is to get away from there very quickly and let the military
take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger and there are
known cases where persons have been burned by rays emanating from
UFOs. Don't take chances with UFOs!"
In view of the federal law (cited earlier) empowering NASA's
administrator to impound, without a hearing, anyone who touches a UFO
or its occupants. it would be inadvisable to make personal contact
unless you are willing to submit to NASA's quarantine requirements,
should the law be invoked.
Besides the possible physical effects of approaching a UFO, e.g..
burns, radiation, etc., there may be psychological effects produced
by force fields that could induce a hypnotic state in the viewer,
loss of consciousness, memory relapse, and submission to the
occupants. Jacques Vallee, author of "The Invisible College" cautions
that we should consider psychic effects, such as space-time
distortions experienced by percipients of craft-like devices which
appear to fade away--dematerialize--and then reappear; of alien,
strange voices or thoughts that may effect involuntary changes in the
manner in which witnesses may react in such circumstances.(72)
Perhaps the above warnings of Edwards and Vallee are a little too
cautious and apprehensive to adopt as a general pattern of conduct in
every situation. In the absence of overt acts indicating hostility,
there may be no danger in approaching a landing (or landed) UFO with
a positive, solicitous attitude of wanting to be of service. This
nonaggressive mental state may be telepathically sensed by those
aboard or emerging from the craft; a form of nonvocal communication
is a possibility. It goes without saying that any display of firearms
or other weapons on your part could be construed as unfriendly and
likely to thwart your intention of conveying a helpful attitude.
In a best case scenario, you may be able to obtain guidance as to
the appropriate actions to take, whether of a life-saving nature,
e.g., in quelling a fire, abating a spill, and of preservation of
property, or even in the reduction of apprehension on the part of
your response team and the spectators.
In a less optimistic scenario, you may have engine trouble upon
approaching the scene, and radio contact could be lost with your
dispatcher. If at night, your headlights could go out, the city could
be blacked out, and your portable generators may malfunction when you
attempt to use them for fans and portable lights. It would certainly
be an inopportune time for your comrades to announce that they had
decided to take their pensions, effective immediately.
In any event, the incident could provide invaluable experience for
further training in coping with rare and difficult emergencies.
Whatever "inside" information you are able to pass along to your
fellow officers and citizens of the world might help to alleviate
unreasonable fear, so that there would be less likelihood that we
would ever again experience the panic and hysteria that was created
by War of the Worlds a half century ago. Truth is the best cure for
the unknown. A list of some of the available books on Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs) is found in Appendix H.
CONCLUSION
Some fire chiefs have little confidence in disaster plans,
especially those dealing with UFOs or enemy attack. If you develop a
plan that sets forth your responsibilities, resources, organizations,
supplies information, telephone numbers, and special data that will be
useful in obtaining help and fulfilling your role in disaster
control, commit it to an electronic medium, a computer with a
capability for continuous updating through modern word processing.
Bring it forth when the need requires. With a good plan, good
leadership, and adequate resources, you may save many lives in any
disaster, including attack from possible enemies.
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