23857122-0457-180273-0012

OCR Text

SECRET PACTUAL DATA eI i te repre cae one OR Te a Te I. Foreign Reports Re During the summer of 19446, there were reported to have been seen in Sweden a number of mysterious aerial objects. There were as many different descriptions for the "ghost rockets" , 28 the newspapers tagged them, as there were observers. It soon became quite common for newspapers in Sweden and in the U. &. to refer authoritatively to these objects as guided cna with the inference that they were test flights from Russia or Russian-dominated areas. The "ghost rockets" were usually seen in hours of darimess, almost always traveling at ex- tremely high ee shaped like a ball or projectile; bright or incan- descent blue, white, red, greer, or yellow; sometimes had an associated noise; and were always seen at too great a distance to observe details. By the end of the summer, 19446, an occasional report came out of Den- mark, Norway, Spain, Greece, Fr. iforocco, Portugal, and Turkey. Throurhout 1947 and 198, “chost rocket" reports totalled less than a dozen. None have been received within the past 6 months. These reports reached the public through the press and the radio, they reached the sovernment of the U. $. through Mili beet Attache reports. Attaches had obtained virtually all of their information from isuropean press and radio items. : fhe Swedish Defense Staff conducted a comprehensive study of the early inoidents. Several ee nd reports were thorough ily investi- rated and plotted, with resultant conclusions that all evidence obtained of sightings were explicable in terms of astronomical phenomena. Since at; time, although the Swedes themselves show little concern, they attempt to play up their incidents to the United States, obviously to emphasize their request for radar (see Appendix "A"). 13 Early American Reports Rn eens en ene The first American report of unidentified objects to receive wide publicity and to cause some national concern was eal of Kemeth Arnold of Boise, Idaho. Arnold described the objects as "“saucer-like dises" and this is evidently the origination of the much-used terms "flying saucers" and "flying discs". This incident is Number 17 in the project files. The date of sighting is given as 2, June 191;7. Arnold's story appeared in many newspapers throughout the country. He even wrote a series of articles about this sighting for "Fate" magazine. This periodical styles itself a "cosmic reporter" and delves into the supernatural and fantastic. Within the month following Arnold's report, the mumber of incidents reached a peak that remained unsurpassed for any like period covered by this report. (This peak was, however, surpassed in May 1949, following an Air Force press release and a series of articles in the Saturday Evening Post concerning flying objects. A few individuals later reported having seen objects prior to the Arnold incident. dt, SECRET Declassification Authority: NND 57565