End of the Foo Fighters...

 

 

 

"It is what it is (whatever that is...)"

Last Monday was a very significant anniversary. On June 24, 1947, the following was reported by multiple sources.

"On this day, Kenneth Arnold was flying across the State of Washington on a business trip.  The skies were completely clear and there was a mild wind. A few minutes before 3:00 p.m. by Mount Rainer, he started heading eastward towards Yakima. He saw a bright flashing light, similar to sunlight reflecting from a mirror. About 30 seconds after seeing the first flash of light, Arnold saw a series of bright flashes in the distance off to his left, or north of Mount Rainer, which was 25 miles away. They flew in a long chain, and Arnold for a moment considered they might be a flock of geese, but quickly ruled this out for a number of reasons, including the altitude, bright glint, and obviously very fast speed. He then thought they might be a new type of jet and started looking intently for a tail and was surprised that he couldn't find any."

In the past, lights and spheres had been seen in the sky. Sometimes pilots had seen them towards the end of World War II. Many of those pilots referred to them as "Foo Fighters". However, that all changed with the sightings made by Mr. Arnold close to Mount Rainer. When he saw the "lights" flying by, he referred to them as looking like "saucers skipping". All Mr. Arnold was doing was trying to describe what he had just seen. The result however, ended up naming these unidentified lights (or flying objects) as just "flying saucers". Thus began the new name.

After the June 24th sighting, many more sightings followed. This was very disturbing to our government as World War II had just ended, and the Dogs of War announcing the Cold War had not yet started to whimper. The fact we had incursions into our air space by (whatever) objects was very disturbing. We did not know what they were, who they belonged to, or if they would be a threat to our national security.

Some might be reading this and wonder "so what?". The "what" is over 80 million Americans, roughly 36% of us, believe UFOs are real. In addition, one out of ten believe they have witnessed a UFO of some type. In the past, I was in the "I don't believe it crowd". Four years ago this Thanksgiving, I reluctantly entered the "one in ten" crowd. Once you have see one, it changes your perspective - forever.

So here we are. we do not know what "flying saucers" are - we do not know what "Foo Fighters" were. And yet, the sightings continue. If you have seen one, you know what I am talking about. If you have not yet seen one, stay tuned, you might end up joining the "ten percent" club. I don't know what "flying saucers" are - but someday I hope to. I believe they will end up being either an interesting phenomena, a hoax of gigantic proportions, or one of the biggest stories ever told.