Editing 1947 flying disc craze (section)

==Aftermath==
Original saucer witness Kenneth Arnold went on to detail his purported sightings and subsequent disc investigations in a 1952 book co-authored with ''Amazing Stories'' editor Raymond Palmer.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6E_VDwAAQBAJ|title=Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO|first=David J.|last=Halperin|date=March 24, 2020|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9781503612129 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fux7V5ROz-sC|title=The Coming of the Saucers: A Documentary Report on Sky Objects that Have Mystified the World|first1=Kenneth Albert|last1=Arnold|first2=Ray|last2=Palmer|date=May 19, 1952|publisher=Privately published by the authors|via=Google Books}}</ref>  Arnold was the Republican nominee in the [[1962 Idaho lieutenant gubernatorial election]];<ref>{{Cite web|title=6 Jun 1962, 2 – The Times-News at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/408264435/|access-date=2021-12-30|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}}</ref>  In 1977, he appeared at a convention curated by ''Fate Magazine'' to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the "birth of the modern UFO age".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/156014786/|title=4 May 1977, Page 4 - The News Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Occultist Meade Layne went on to found the pseudo-scientific "Borderland Sciences Research Associates".  In 1961, he self-published ''The Flying Saucer Mystery and Its Solution'', continuing to argue for his "Ether Ship" belief; Layne would come to be seen as an early proponent of the [[interdimensional hypothesis]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rs_uAAACAAJ|title=The Flying Saucer Mystery and Its Solution|first=Meade|last=Layne|date=May 22, 1961|publisher=Borderland Sciences Research Foundation|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Reece">{{cite book |last= Reece |first= Gregory L. |title= UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture |publisher= [[I. B. Tauris]] |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-1845114510 }}</ref>  Numerous other [[UFO religion|Saucer cults and UFO religions]] arose in the coming years.<ref name="Reece"/>

Richard Sharpe Shaver, who had made claims of an ancient underground advanced civilization since 1945, continued to promote his stories.  During the last decades of his life, Shaver devoted himself to "rock books"—stones that he believed had been created by the advanced ancient races and embedded with legible pictures and texts. 
<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmGyoQEACAAJ|title=This Tragic Earth: The Art and World of Richard Sharpe Shaver|first=Richard S.|last=Shaver|date=September 24, 2014|publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp Print Us|isbn=9780990868507 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  After Shaver's death in 1975, his editor Raymond Palmer admitted that "Shaver had spent eight years not in the Cavern World, but in a mental institution" being treated for [[paranoid schizophrenia]].<ref name="fja-2">{{cite book | last = Ackerman | title = World of Science Fiction | page = 117 }}</ref>

On September 23, 1947, Lieutenant General Twining issued a memo to Brigadier General George Schulgen of the Army Air Forces. The subject line of the memo read "AMC Opinion Concerning 'Flying Discs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wojciechowski|first=Eric|date=March–April 2020|title=General Nathan F. Twining and the Flying Disc Problem of 1947|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2020/03/general-nathan-f-twining-and-the-flying-disc-problem-of-1947/|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|volume=44|pages=54–57}}</ref>'" The general tone of the memo was that unidentified objects seen in the skies by military personnel were not weather, astronomical or other phenomena but rather objects that warranted further investigation. Twining wrote "The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious."

In 1948, General Nathan Twining, of Air Material Command, initiated [[Project Sign]], an Air Force investigation into the reports.  Twining went on to become [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]] in 1953.<ref name=bio1956>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/download/afhra-k168.1501-3/AFHRA%20K168.1501-3.pdf |title=Biography of General Nathan F. Twining |pages=16, 19–20 |date=May 11, 1956 |publisher=[[Air Force Historical Research Agency]] |access-date=October 26, 2021 }}</ref> He remained in that post until 1957 when he was appointed [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] by Eisenhower.<ref name=bio1956/>  In 1984, the hoaxed [[Majestic 12]] documents included a memo attributed to Twining; Upon examination, the FBI declared the documents to be "completely bogus"—an assessment echoed by most Ufologists.<ref name="Donovan2011">{{cite book|last=Donovan|first=Barna William|title=Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJkhqU1IXHAC&pg=PA107|access-date=17 September 2014|date=2011-07-20|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786486151|pages=107–}}</ref>

===Flying saucer conspiracy theories===
{{main|UFO conspiracy theories}}
In May 1949, journalist [[Donald Keyhoe]] of [[True magazine]] was tasked with investigating the reports.  On December 26, ''True'' published Keyhoe's piece, titled "[[The Flying Saucers Are Real]]".<ref name="Gulyas20210"/>  Keyhoe claimed that elements within the Air Force knew that saucers existed and had concluded they were likely 'inter-planetary'.<ref name="Gulyas20210">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_hPEAAAQBAJ|title=Conspiracy and Triumph: Theories of a Victorious Future for the Faithful|first=Aaron John|last=Gulyas|date=November 8, 2021|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476680767|via=Google Books|access-date=December 23, 2021|archive-date=December 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223072307/https://books.google.com/books?id=a_hPEAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>  The ''True'' article caused a sensation.<ref name="Peebles">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjI4X7ZOvOIC|title=Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth|first=Curtis|last=Peebles|date=December 25, 1995|publisher=Berkley Books|isbn=9780425151174|via=Google Books|access-date=December 23, 2021|archive-date=December 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223074720/https://books.google.com/books/about/Watch_the_Skies.html?id=zjI4X7ZOvOIC|url-status=live}}</ref>  The article was expanded into a book of the same name.  In 1953, Keyhoe wrote that "Since July, 1952, in a new investigation of the saucers, I have been privileged to cooperate with the Air Force. Because of my present understanding of their very serious problem, and certain dangers inherent in the situation, I have been given information unknown to most Americans."<ref>Keyhoe (1953) ''[[Flying Saucers from Outer Space]]''</ref>

In 1955,  Keyhoe authored a book that pointedly accused elements of United States government of engaging in a conspiracy to cover up knowledge of flying saucers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tD7bAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9781523928668|title=The Flying Saucer Conspiracy|year=1955|last1=Keyhoe|first1=Donald Edward}}</ref>  Keyhoe claims the existence of a "silence group" of orchestrating this conspiracy.<ref name="Peebles111">Peebles, p. 111-113</ref>  Historian of folklore [[Curtis Peebles]] argues: "''[[The Flying Saucer Conspiracy]]'' marked a shift in Keyhoe's belief system. No longer were flying saucers the central theme; that now belonged to the silence group and its coverup. For the next two decades Keyhoe's beliefs about this would dominate the flying saucer myth."<ref name="Peebles111"/>

===Roswell conspiracy theory===
In February 1978, UFO researcher [[Stanton T. Friedman|Stanton Friedman]] interviewed [[Jesse Marcel]], who had traveled with Roswell debris from New Mexico to [[Fort Worth]].  Marcel's statements contradicted those he made to the press in 1947.  In November 1979, Marcel's first filmed interview was featured in a documentary titled "UFO's Are Real", co-written by Friedman.<ref name="1qd1c">{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211707/|title=UFO's Are Real|via=IMDb}}</ref>  On September 20, 1980, Marcel appeared on the TV series ''[[In Search of... (TV series)|In Search of...]]'' described his participation in the 1947 press conference: "They wanted some comments from me, but I wasn't at liberty to do that. So, all I could do is keep my mouth shut. And General Ramey is the one who discussed – told the newspapers, I mean the newsman, what it was, and to forget about it. It is nothing more than a weather observation balloon. Of course, we both knew differently."<ref name="1qd1c" /><ref name="wyrar">{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=528860&page=1|title=Aliens Changed Roswell, Even Without Proof|website=ABC News}}</ref>  Marcel gave a final interview to HBO's [[America Undercover]] which aired in August 1985.<ref name="n9Ye8">{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6424000/|title=UFO's: What's Going On?|date=September 10, 1985|via=IMDb}}</ref>  Marcel consistently denied the presence of bodies.<ref name="wwbV0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUEYAQAAMAAJ|title=The Skeptical Inquirer|date=April 29, 1998|publisher=Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.|via=Google Books}}</ref>  By the 1990s, Roswell was home to a UFO museum and an annual UFO festival.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newmexico.org/events/summer-events/roswell-ufo-festival/ | title=Roswell UFO Festival }}</ref>

===Project Mogul and Skyhook===
{{see also|Project Mogul#Roswell incident}}
Skyhook balloons may have been the origin of some UFO observations.

[[File:The Roswell Report - front.jpg|right|thumb|150 px|In 1995, the US Government released a report concluding that the Roswell Incident stemmed from a Project MOGUL balloon.]]
In the 1990s, the US [[Government Accountability Office|General Accounting Office]] launched an inquiry and directed the Office of the [[United States Secretary of the Air Force]] to conduct an internal investigation about the 1947 UFO wave. The result was summarized in two reports. The first, released in 1994, concluded that the material recovered in 1947 was likely debris from [[Project Mogul]], a military surveillance program employing [[high-altitude balloon]]s (and classified portion of an unclassified [[New York University]] project by atmospheric researchers<ref name="Qr1ce">{{cite journal |last1=Frazier |first1=Kendrick |author-link1=Kendrick Frazier |title=The Roswell Incident at 70: Facts, Not Myths |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2017 |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=12–15 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_roswell_incident_at_70_facts_not_myths |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720182643/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_roswell_incident_at_70_facts_not_myths |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-07-20 |access-date=20 July 2018 |ref=none}}</ref>).

By the 1990s, a scholarly consensus emerged concluding that the military decided to conceal the true purpose of the crashed device—[[nuclear test]] monitoring—and instead inform the public that the crash was of a [[weather balloon]].<ref name="olmsted184">{{Harvnb|Olmsted|2009|page=184}}: Olmsted writes "When one of these balloons smashed into the sands of the New Mexico ranch, the military decided to hide the project's real purpose." The official Air Force report (Weaver & McAndrew 1995) had concluded (p. 9) "...the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of the MOGUL balloons that had not been previously recovered."</ref> The balloon had been launched from [[Alamogordo Army Air Field]] a month earlier. It carried a radar reflector and classified [[Project Mogul]] sensors for experimental monitoring of [[Soviet]] nuclear testing.<ref name="lVzhM">{{Harvnb|Frazier|2017}}.</ref>
<!-- ==Tables==
===Newspaper reports===
{{main|User:Feoffer/sandbox Flying disc craze of 1947/table}}
===Photographs===
* July 4 - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23246299/harrisburg-telegraph/ Frank Ryman photograph]
* July 8 - [https://saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articleimages/carrolltimesheraldalbertweaver7-9-47.jpg Albert Weaver photograph]<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16245710/the-journal-times/ {{Bare URL inline|date=July 2022}}</ref>
* July 9 - [[Rhodes UFO photographs]]

===Recovered objects===
* July 7 - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23512763/standard-speaker/ Grafton, Wisconsin hoax], identified as a circular sawblade
* July 8
** [[Roswell incident|Roswell debris]], identified as balloon debris
** Victoria, BC<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/506005135 {{Bare URL inline|date=July 2022}}</ref>
** Oelwein, Iowa<ref name="auto104"/>
** [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18312007/austin-american-statesman/ Austin, Texas]<ref name="auto77">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/359898241/|title=8 Jul 1947,1 - Austin American-Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
** [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18838873/the-times/ Shreveport, Louisiana hoax]<ref name="auto107">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/210767436/|title=8 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
* July 10
** North Hollywood disc, identified as intentional hoax<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/265266336/|title=10 Jul 1947, 3 - The Press Democrat at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
** [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18311899/detroit-free-press/ Detroit disc]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/97795926/|title=10 Jul 1947, Page 7 - Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
** Bakersfield
** Lima, Ohio, identified as balloon debris
* July 11 - [[Twin Falls saucer hoax|Twin Falls hoax]], identified as prank
* July 12 - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18841058/the-gazette-and-daily/ York, Pennsylvania hoax]<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18841058/the-gazette-and-daily {{Bare URL inline|date=July 2022}}</ref>, identified as metal disc with radio equipment painted with "oriental" characters
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