Fourteen years of study has convinced the Aerial Phenomena Research
Organization (APRO) that intelligences are associated with unidentified flying
objects.
The organization believes that although the intelligences are not hostile,
they are indifferent to human welfare.
Reports of persons being Injured by the UFOs are not common, but there are a
few of them.
One of the most notable is the case of James Flynn, 45, a rancher at East Fort
Meyers, Fla. APRO has investigated this case and is convinced that the facts
as given by Flynn and the physician who treated him are true.
Flynn related that on the morning of March 15, 1965, while on a hunting trip,
he sighted what appeared to be a landed UFO. Approaching to within a few feet
of the object, he was struck by what appeared to be a beam of light and was
knocked unconscious.
When he sought medical aid, it was found that his eyes had been so badly
damaged that he may lose his sight. The physician who treated him attested to
the injury.
APRO’s investigation convinced it that Flynn is an emotionally stable man,
unlikely to have imagined what he saw and certainly unlikely to have
undertaken a hoax which would have been both difficult and senseless.
If the UFOs are spacecraft operated by aliens, the noted indifference to
individual human welfare is what might be expected. The crew of a spacecraft
from earth, surveying another planet, might not willingly harm any of the
planet’s native life but would have not hesitated to protect themselves and
their craft against interference by the natives.
APRO was founded in 1952 by Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Lorenzen. It is the oldest
private UFO research organization in the world; its scope is worldwide, and it
is operated on a nonprofit basis. It has, at the moment, about 1,000 members.
The annual membership fee is $3.50, which provides it a yearly budget of about
$3,500. Because the Lorenzens carry on the work of the organization at their
home at 3910 East Kelindale Road in Tucson, Ariz., and charge no rent, the
budget usually is sufficient. All work is volunteer.
A second private UFO research group is the National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) founded in 1956, with headquarters at 1536
Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. Several similar groups are located in
other countries. None has achieved the scope of operation of APRO or NICAP.
Substantially more than 100 UFO “societies” at one time existed in the United
States. Basically, these were “fan” clubs. In some instances, serious research
into the aerial phenomena may have been carried out, but the clubs, by and
large, did little more than enable persons interested in UFOs to get together,
either personally or by letter, to discuss sightings. Many of the groups
published and circulated newsletters among their members.
Today there are fewer UFO groups. The first excitement may have worn off; the
repetitious sightings may have become monotonous. It is hard to maintain a
“gee whiz” attitude for 20 years. To keep up interest, more than idle
speculation was necessary; research and some hard thinking were called for.
APRO and NICAP have supplied these.
NICAP has a membership of about 10,000; its annual membership fee of $5 giving
it an operating budget of about $50,000 a year. The operation however,
sometimes runs in the red. It has a fulltime staff of six and engages in
extensive mailing.
Twenty - five regional subcommittees assist NICAP in its UFO investigation.
Many members voluntarily assist in keeping track of UFO developments by
submitting newspaper clippings, first-hand reports and other information.
NICAP has a two–fold purpose, to investigate and correlate UFO data and to
bring about a congressional hearing on the Air Force’s handling of its UFO
investigation. Its director is Donald Keyhoe, retired U.S. Marine Corps major.
NICAP reflects his philosophy in carrying on a running dispute, if not a feud,
with the Air Force.
The Air Force for its part disclaims any knowledge of a feud. It feuds, it
says, with no one.
While NICAP does not preclude the possibility of some other explanation, its
basic assumption is that the UFOs are spacecraft from somewhere other than the
earth. Its sighting reports over the time of the committee’s existence total
about 10,000, the same figure reported by the Air Force. Of these, about 2,000
remain unexplained.
The attempt to bring about a full-scale congressional hearing of the UFO
situation so far has been unsuccessful. A hearing before the House Committee
on Armed Services, held last April 5, lasted only 80 minutes and did little
more than allow the Air Force once again to state its position and
conclusions.
APRO, which also seems committed to the spacecraft theory, has a membership
top-heavy with technicians, engineers and educators. As is the case with NICAP,
the membership sends in information on new sightings. In many cases, this is
in the form of newspaper clippings. Both NICAP and APRO have, in their
membership, what is probably the world’s best clipping service.
When a report comes in to APRO, the member who is the closest to the area
where the sighting occurred is notified and asked to investigate and report
back. If the sighting is within a few hundred miles of Tucson, the Lorenzens
may drive there to help with the investigation.
The membership includes some attorneys. As might be expected, they are among
the best investigators. Another member is a former U.S. army intelligence
officer, and still another a former British intelligence officer. One member
who has performed exceptional service as an investigator is a symphony
musician.
Lorenzen is an engineer in the space division of the Kitt Peak National
Observatory at Tucson, although he points out that Kitt Peak is in no way
involved with his UFO organization. Mrs. Lorenzen is a former newspaper writer
and a free - lance writer.
A continuous process of checking reports is carried on in an attempt to
determine similarities and correlations that may establish characteristics and
patterns typical of UFO behavior.
APRO believes that it has pinned down some characteristics which are typical.
They are that:
Three types of configurations seem to be the most common — disc, the globe and
the cigar - shaped objects.
Three sounds appear to be characteristic of UFOs. While many UFOs are silent,
the three sounds that have been noted are a whine like the sound of an
electric motor running at high speed, a buzz like the noise of a hive of bees
and a roar that is associated only with egg – shaped craft operating at low
altitude.
Most UFOs have a tendency to glow or are equipped with flashing lights.
Rotating rims have been observed on many of the disc-shaped objects.
Reports of UFOs which have landed have as much validity, APRO contends, as
reports of flying or hovering UFOs. In the APRO files are a dozen or so
reports of landed saucers. They include records of landing marks, and, in some
instances, residue.
The demonstrated hoaxes, most in the early era of interest in the UFOs,
described beings which disembarked from the vehicles and cast a pall of
suspicion over any report of UFO occupants. Some of the early hoaxers told of
being taken aboard the craft or having made trips aboard them to other
planets, either real or mythical. Such reports still pop up now and then but
not many.
NICAP seems to have shied away from occupant reports. There is nothing which
can make a UFO investigator look sillier than to be taken in by an occupant
hoax. NICAP, with the hope of some day bringing about a congressional
investigation, understandably is reluctant to become involved with this kind
of sighting.
APRO, devoted solely to a study of the UFOs on as sound an observational basis
as possible and not concerned with any political considerations, has not
hesitated to investigate reports on UFO occupants.
The files of the organization contain 29 occupant reports from the United
States and 36 from South America. The Lorenzens have been informed, on what
appears good authority, that 200 occupant sightings were made in France in one
year — 1954.
This is a puzzling situation. Some of the reports, perhaps a number of them,
may not be valid. Even so, that is a high proportion of such sightings from
one country, compared with the number of similar reports from elsewhere in the
world.
It is conjectured that France may have been a favorite landing terrain and
that the dense population of the country resulted in more of the occupants
being seen.
All occupants so far reported have been described as humanoid — manlike with
two legs, two arms and a head.
As many as three types of humanoids have been described. One type is said to
be slightly smaller than we are, perhaps an average of 4 feet in height. There
is some doubt about the facial characteristics.
Another type is described as being about 3 feet tall, with a more human look
about it than its larger fellow. Its facial characteristics are human; it has
eyes, nose and mouth. But, the nostrils often are reported as mere slits, the
mouth a straight gash and the eyes wider apart and larger than ours and
extending around the curve of the face, perhaps to give a wider field of
vision.
The third type might be called hairy dwarfs, smaller than the second type,
squatty and apparently very strong.
In almost every instance, strange as it may seem, the hairy dwarfs have been
said to collect material from the ground, as though gathering specimens.
In some instances, the occupants have been reported as wearing what seemed to
be a space helmet.
APRO, after a long, hard look, is inclined to credit many of the occupant
reports as valid. The very fact that the reports are so consistent that types
of creatures can be determined argues some validity.
The unquestioned personal Integrity of some of the witnesses — a clergyman in
one instance — would seem to carry considerable weight.
HOMEPAGE