Editing 1947 flying disc craze

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{{Short description|Reports of unidentified flying objects}}
{{1947 flying disc craze}}
The '''1947 flying disc craze''' was a rash of [[unidentified flying object]] reports in the United States that were publicized during the summer of 1947.<ref name="Peebles2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjI4X7ZOvOIC|title=Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth, Ch 2 'The 1947 Flap'|first=Curtis|last=Peebles|date=March 24, 1995|publisher=Berkley Books|isbn=9780425151174 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="G_Arnold"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/60409408/|title=11 Jul 1947, Page 4 - The Evening Review at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/139105098/|title=13 Apr 1948, Page 18 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The craze began on June 24, when media nationwide reported civilian pilot [[Kenneth Arnold|Kenneth Arnold's]] [[Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting|story of witnessing disc-shaped objects]] which headline writers dubbed "[[Flying Saucers]]".<ref name="G_Arnold"/>  Such reports quickly spread throughout the United States; historians would later chronicle at least 800 "copycat" reports in subsequent weeks, while other sources estimate the reports may have numbered in the thousands.<ref name="jkHK1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eHo2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT238|title=Why Statues Weep: The Best of the "Skeptic"|first1=Wendy M.|last1=Grossman|first2=Christopher C.|last2=French|date=September 19, 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134962525|via=Google Books|page=172}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1cfVtAEACAAJ|title=The Myth and Mystery of UFOs|first=Thomas E.|last=Bullard|date=October 24, 2016|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=9780700623389 |via=Google Books|page=53}}</ref>

Reports peaked on July 7.<ref name="bloecher"/>  After numerous hoaxes and mistaken identifications, the disc reports largely subsided by July 10.<ref name="auto43"/>  Mainstream sources speculated that the disc reports were caused by novel technology, mistaken identifications, or [[mass hysteria]].<ref name="Peebles2"/>  In contrast, fringe speculation held that the discs might come from other planets or other dimensions; still others suggested the discs were occult or might signify the end of the world.<ref name="Peebles2"/>

The 1947 craze has been extensively studied within the frameworks of both [[folklore studies]] and [[religious studies]], where it is regarded by scholars as the "birth of a modern [[myth]]".<ref name="HHP"/><ref name="Clarke"/><ref name="auto20"/>

==Overview==
{{Quote box
|quote=If people saw [[Chimera (mythology)|chimaeras]] back in the days when Greek mythology was being born, it should not be wondered at that people are seeing supersonic discs in this [[Flash Gordon]] era.
|source=Denver Post (July 3, 1947)
|width=30%
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In late June 1947, press in the United States began covering reports of flying discs.<ref name="auto51">Bloecher p.21</ref><ref name="UnivIowa"/>  Reports increased, with a sharp rise on July 4; over the course of the next five days, there were widespread reports throughout the entirety of the United States.  Reports crested on July 7, gradually diminishing over the subsequent week, amid numerous hoaxes, pranks, and mistaken identifications.<ref name="bloecher"/>

The flying saucer craze of 1947 was thoroughly and widely covered in media nationwide, with some contemporary observers interpreting the disc sightings as 'modern folklore'.<ref name="G_Arnold"/>  On July 3, midway through the craze, the Denver Post opined: "Even before Plato, scholars were perplexed by what is real and what isn't...Finally Descartes came along with the theory that 'whatever I apprehend clearly and distinctly is true' and on the basis of such authority it seems unimportant whether people actually saw the discs or only thought they did...If people saw chimaeras back in the days when Greek mythology was being born, it should not be wondered at that people are seeing supersonic discs in this Flash Gordon era."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/624924963/|title=3 Jul 1947, 14 - Ventura County Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 2020, Religious Studies professor David J. Halpern similarly argued "UFOs are a myth {{ndash}} but myths are real."<ref name="auto20">{{Cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781503612129/html|title=Intimate Alien|first=David J.|last=Halperin|date=March 24, 2020|publisher=Stanford University Press|via=www.degruyter.com|doi=10.1515/9781503612129|isbn=9781503612129 |s2cid=240572019 }}</ref>  [[Howard Henry Peckham|Another scholar]] opined: "The 'flying saucers' may have been a hoax, imagination, illusion, mirages, phantoms of preposterous eyesight, et al, yet they caused a phenomenon reverberations of which were heard around the world."<ref name="HHP"/>

The 1947 craze has long been of interest to scholars of [[folklore studies]].<ref name="HHP">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27650026|title=Flying Saucers as Folklore|author=Peckham, Howard H.|year=1950|journal=Hoosier Folklore|volume=9|issue=4|pages=103–107|jstor=27650026 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>  Halpern argues that "The power and fascination of the UFO has nothing to do with space travel or life on other planets. It's about us, our longings and terrors".<ref name="auto20"/>  [[Roland Barthes]], a 'founding father' of cultural studies, recalled "The mystery of flying saucers was at first entirely terrestrial: we suspected that the saucers came from the Soviet netherworld, from this world as devoid of clear intentions as another planet."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230361362_12|title=Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century|first=Pierre|last=Lagrange|editor-first=Alexander C. T.|editor-last=Geppert|date=April 29, 2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|pages=224–244|via=Springer Link|doi=10.1057/9780230361362_12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0VYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA245|title=Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century|first=Alexander C. T.|last=Geppert|date=April 25, 2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349953394 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Folklorist Gordon Arnold similarly writes: "Many aspects of the great flying saucer wave raise questions about human behavior and America's social, cultural, and political inclinations".<ref name="G_Arnold">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GBVEAAAQBAJ|title=Flying Saucers Over America: The UFO Craze of 1947|first=Gordon|last=Arnold|date=December 17, 2021|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476646527 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Ted Bloecher]] argued that the 1947 craze is "the most fascinating of any to examine because of its unique position at the very beginning" of [[flying saucer]] folklore.  Writes Bloecher: "There were no 'attitudes' about UFOs in June 1947. There were no preconceptions, no misconceptions, no 'policies' by either press or public, or by any official agencies".<ref name="bloecher">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBJDAAAAIAAJ|title=Report on the UFO Wave of 1947|first=Ted|last=Bloecher|date=May 19, 1967|via=Google Books}}</ref> Folklorist [[Howard Henry Peckham]] similarly argued that "students of folklore have had a rare opportunity to witness the birth and development of a modern myth -- the 'flying saucers'".<ref name="HHP"/>

==Events of Summer 1947==
{{see also|Cold War}}
[[File:Flying disc craze of 1947 - no labels - animated.gif|thumb|350px|right|Animation of reports during the flying disc craze]]

The year 1947 was marked by renewed tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States.<ref name="auto91"/>  On March 13, American president [[Harry Truman]] pledged to contain the communist uprisings [[Greek Civil War|in Greece]] and [[Turkish straits crisis|Turkey]]. More generally, the [[Truman Doctrine]] implied American support for other nations thought to be threatened by [[Marxism–Leninism|Soviet communism]].<ref name="auto91">{{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=April 29, 1995|publisher=Berkley Books|isbn=9780425151174 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

On April 16, statesman [[Bernard Baruch]] coined the term "Cold War" to describe relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/bernard-baruch-coins-term-cold-war-april-16-1947-035862|title=Bernard Baruch coins term 'Cold War,' April 16, 1947|website=POLITICO|date=16 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 10, 2020|title=The Truman Doctrine's Significance|url=https://www.historyonthenet.com/truman-doctrine-significance|website=History on the Net}}</ref><ref name="auto91"/><!-- On April 30, it was reported that Mountain Home AAF would be reactivated for use by strategic air force as a base for heavy planes.<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/566107810 {{Bare URL inline|date=July 2022}}</ref>-->

Having lost 27 million people in the war, the Soviet Union pushed for returning Germany to a pastoral state without heavy industry.  Despite Soviet objections, on June 5, Secretary of State [[George Marshall]] announced a [[Marshall Plan|comprehensive program of American assistance]] to reindustrialize European nations.<ref name="marshallspeech">Marshall, George C, ''[[s:The Marshall Plan Speech|The Marshal Plan Speech]]'', June 5, 1947</ref><ref name="auto91"/>

The summer of 1947 featured widespread publications about atomic energy and war.  On June 27, retired Supreme Court Justice [[Owen Roberts]] warned the US was headed "down the old familiar road of appeasement" towards "An all-out shooting [[World War III]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/564374740/|title=27 Jun 1947, 9 - Spokane Chronicle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 30, [[Albert Einstein]] and fellow scientists warned of a possible atomic war within a decade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/628457201/|title=30 Jun 1947, 2 - Metropolitan Pasadena Star-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  A three-week conference about radioactive chemicals in medicine began at the University of California in San Francisco.  On July 1, Representative [[John Dingell Sr.|John Dingell]] criticized hosting of German atomic scientists in places like El Paso.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/429442639/|title=1 Jul 1947, 1 - El Paso Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto91"/>

===Initial reports===
{{main|Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting}}
{{Location map+|USA|width=150|float = right|caption='''June 25''' - [[Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting|Kenneth Arnold sighting]] near Mount Rainier|places=
<!-- Jun 25 (Mineral, Washington) Jun 24 -->
{{Location map~|USA|marksize=7|lat_deg=46.718405 |lon_deg=-122.18727}}<!-- Jun 25 (Mineral, Washington) Jun 24 -->
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On June 24, 1947, private pilot [[Kenneth Arnold]] claimed that he saw a string of nine, shiny [[unidentified flying objects]] flying past [[Mount Rainier]] at speeds that Arnold estimated at a minimum of 1,200 miles an hour (1,932&nbsp;km/h). This was the first post-[[World War II]] sighting in the United States that garnered nationwide news coverage and is credited with being the first of the modern era of [[UFO sightings]], including numerous reported sightings over the next two to three weeks. Arnold's description of the objects also led to the press quickly coining the terms ''[[flying saucer]]'' and ''flying disc'' as popular descriptive terms for UFOs.<ref name="auto21">Peebles p. 7-12</ref>

When Arnold landed in Yakima, he described what he had seen to a number of pilot friends, who suggested that maybe he had seen guided missiles or a new airplane being secretly developed by the United States Army.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ddB7do2jUx8C&dat=19470627&printsec=frontpage|title=Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search|website=News.google.com|access-date=24 June 2022}}</ref>
After refueling, he continued on his way to an air show in [[Pendleton, Oregon]].  He was first interviewed by reporters the next day (June 25), when he went to the office of the ''[[East Oregonian]]'' in Pendleton.<ref>Lagrange, Pierre (1988), [https://pierrelagrangesociologie.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/lagrange-impossiblebut-spencerevans-1988.pdf "It Seems Impossible, but There It Is"], in John Spencer & Hilary Evans (eds.), ''Phenomenon: From Flying Saucers to UFOs – Forty Years of Facts and Research''. London: Futura Publications, 1988, pp. 26–45.</ref> Any skepticism the reporters might have harbored evaporated when they interviewed Arnold at length,<ref>Lagrange, Pierre (1998), [https://pierrelagrangesociologie.files.wordpress.com/1998/12/lagrange-interviewwithbillbequette-iur-internationaluforeporter-winer1998-copie-2.pdf A Moment in History: An Interview with Bill Bequette], ''International UFO Reporter'', Vol. 23, n° 4, Winter, pp. 15, 20</ref> as historian [[Mike Dash]] records:<ref>Dash, Mike, ''Borderlands: The Ultimate Exploration of the Unknown''; Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2000; {{ISBN|0-87951-724-7}}</ref>

:Arnold had the makings of a reliable witness. He was a respected businessman and experienced pilot...and seemed to be neither exaggerating what he had seen, nor adding sensational details to his report. He also gave the impression of being a careful observer...These details impressed the newspapermen who interviewed him and lent credibility to his report.

{{external media|audio1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0D8eAm8h2Y Kenneth Arnold radio interview], June 1947}}
The following day, Arnold was interviewed on the radio about his sighting and his story was published in afternoon and evening editions of regional papers.<ref name="Bloecher"/><ref name="auto33">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54076142/kenneth-arnold-ufo-sighting-june-25/|title=Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting June 25, 1947|newspaper=Corvallis Gazette-Times |date=June 25, 1947|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>  By June 26, Arnold's story was being widely reported throughout the United States.<ref name="auto21"/>

====Additional reports====
{{Flying disc craze of 1947 map of reports - Jun 26}}

Arnold's report was the first of many.<ref>Peebles - chapter 2</ref>  On June 26, press reported that Byron Savage of Oklahoma City had seen a flying disc about six weeks prior.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/624257337/|title=26 Jun 1947, 1 - The Sacramento Bee at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="Bloecher">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBJDAAAAIAAJ|title=Report on the UFO Wave of 1947|first=Ted|last=Bloecher|date=April 7, 1967|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CmFVEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=Flying Saucers Over America: The UFO Craze of 1947|first=Gordon|last=Arnold|date=December 3, 2021|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476687667 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  That same day, press reported that a Kansas City carpenter named W. I. Davenport recalled having seen nine discs while working on a roof the prior Wednesday.<ref name="auto35">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/564372494/|title=26 Jun 1947, 1 - Spokane Chronicle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto53">G. Arnold, Ch. 4</ref>  Also on June 26, photographer E.H. Sprinkle of Eugene, Oregon reported having attempted to take a photograph of a formation of nine bright objects in the prior weeks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11961250/flying-discs/|title=flying discs|newspaper=The Courier-Journal |date=June 27, 1947|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto37">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11713669/case-13-e-h-sprinkle/|title=Case # 13 E. H. Sprinkle|newspaper=The Eugene Guard |date=June 26, 1947|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> 
<ref name="auto12">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/624259269/|title=28 Jun 1947, 4 - The Sacramento Bee at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto59">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IINjCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106|title=Washington Myths and Legends: The True Stories behind History's Mysteries|first=Lynn|last=Bragg|date=September 1, 2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781493016044 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

{{clear right}}

====Pacific Northwest reports amid jet speculation====
June 27 saw reports of past sightings from a housewife in Bremerton, a home-builder in Bellingham, a motorist and his family from Wenatachee, a couple from Salem, and a woman from Yakima.<ref name="auto22">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/768897049/|title=27 Jun 1947, 1 - The Bellingham Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto59"/>

On June 28, press nationwide reported the opinion of Army rocket expert Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, who speculated the "discs" were jet airplanes; Turner explained that "the jet planes' circular exhaust glows brightly when heated and might easily appear to be discs at a distance.<ref name="auto56">Arnold, G. p.30</ref><ref name="auto63">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/17214707/|title=28 Jun 1947, Page 1 - The Gallup Independent at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Also on June 28, original disc witness Kenneth Arnold publicly criticized the lack of any official investigation into his sighting.  Said Arnold: "If I was running the country and someone reported something unusual, I'd certainly want to know more about it."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/701792044/|title=30 Jun 1947, 1 - The Fresno Bee at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
{{clear right}}

====Reports throughout the West====
On June 28, the Denver Post reported on a crew of seven railway workers in Colorado Springs who claimed to have seen a disc the prior May.<ref name="Bloecher"/>  Also on June 28, press covered reports from a mother and son in Seattle, three airport employees in [[Cedar City]], a family near Boise, an optometrist in El Paso, a dentist in [[Silver City, New Mexico|Silver City]] and a railroad engineer in Joliet; all claimed to have seen discs.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/624259174/|title=28 Jun 1947, 1 - The Sacramento Bee at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto38">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/797769263/|title=28 Jun 1947, 1 - El Paso Herald-Post at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/50526757/|title=28 Jun 1947, Page 1 - The San Bernardino County Sun at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto12"/>

====Potential explanations offered====
{{Flying disc craze of 1947 map of reports - Jun 29}}
Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner of the [[White Sands Proving Ground]] publicly initially speculated the discs "must have been" jet airplanes but later told press that the New Mexico flying disc reports were the result of meteorites.<ref name="auto4"/><ref name="auto40">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/10286931/|title=29 Jun 1947, Page 1 - The Mexia Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 28, Washington-based ironworks operator Ray Taro speculated that the "flying discs" were caused by his foundry, which had been melting bottlecaps, expelling "little aluminum discs" which were blown out of the foundry smoke stacks.<ref name="auto54">Spartanburg Herald, South Carolina - 28 Jun 47</ref><ref name="auto44">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/138615089/|title=29 Jun 1947, Page 1 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 28, Oklahoma sightings were revealed as handbills released from an airplane.<ref name="auto55">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/774335922/|title=29 Jun 1947, 17 - Wichita Falls Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
[[File:COL Harold Turner.jpg|thumb|right|Col. Harold R. Turner, commander of the White Sands Proving Ground, speculated the reports were caused by rockets or meteors.]]

By June 29, one source reported that "These discs, some people suggest, may presage an invasion from Mars."<ref name="feof6">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/503032645/|title=29 Jun 1947, 12 - Carlsbad Current-Argus at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Others suggested the discs were Russian weapons, akin to the [[Fu-Go balloon bomb|incendiary balloons released by the Japanese]] to cross the Pacific and explode in the US.<ref name="auto6"/><ref name="auto9">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/210766243/|title=6 Jul 1947, Page 30 - The Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto10">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ3BBAAAQBAJ|title=Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs.|first=Mark|last=Pilkington|date=July 29, 2010|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9781849012409 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  Speculation suggested that the Navy's experimental [[Flying Flapjack]] might be responsible for disc sightings.<ref name="auto11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/797769397/|title=30 Jun 1947, 1 - El Paso Herald-Post at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 30, one Oregon preacher suggested that the discs were "the 'advance guard' of universal disaster, heralding the end of the world".<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/628197575/|title=1 Jul 1947, 4 - Lodi News-Sentinel at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 1, Air Force intelligence officer Col. [[Alfred Kalberer]] and astronomer [[Oscar Monnig]] briefed press to provide reassurance that "we're not being invaded by little platter-like planes from Mars".<ref name="JulKalberer" >{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/636946287/|title=1 Jul 1947, 6 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Monnig described the sightings as "an interesting study in human psychology", arguing that after upon hearing Arnold's initial report, a colleague laughed and predicted "Watch the reports pour in now, from all across the country, from people who will imagine they have seen these things, too".<ref name="JulKalberer" />  Kalberer cited the [[Orson Welles]] broadcast and the [[May 1947 Tokyo Sea Monster broadcast]].<ref name="JulKalberer" /> Kalberer joked that he wished "someone would [[Salting a bird's tail|put salt on the tail]] of one of these discs and catch it like our grandmothers used to tell us to do if we wished to catch a bird",  adding "They're such friendly little discs.  They seem to flip around and do all sorts of kittenish antics".<ref name="JulKalberer" />

Also on July 1, headlines like "Flying Disc Deal 'Solved'" reported that a flying disc had been recovered in New Mexico after a local man chased the object until it landed.  The object was identified as a "five by eight inch piece of tinfoil".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/79807919/|title=1 Jul 1947, Page 2 - The Post-Register at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  In San Angelo, on July 2 the press relayed a report from Ivy T. Young who speculated that his hobby of releasing silvery balloons with his name attached may have been responsible for the disc sightings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/781616993/|title=2 Jul 1947, 1 - San Angelo Standard-Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

===Increasing prominence===
From June 24 to July 1, official response was one of skepticism and humor; that changed during the first week of July, when reports from reputable witnesses prompted further reactions and investigations.<ref name="auto36"/>

====Lt. Governor sighting followed by official investigation====
On July 2, Idaho Lt. Governor [[Donald S. Whitehead]] revealed publicly that both he and Boise Justice J.M. Lampert had witnessed objects on June 24, the day of Arnold's sighting.<ref name="auto31">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566291520/|title=2 Jul 1947, 1 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7aJVq5-ZkuEC&pg=PA180|title=Outbreak!: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior|first1=Hilary|last1=Evans|first2=Robert E.|last2=Bartholomew|date=April 11, 2009|publisher=Anomalist Books, LLC|isbn=9781933665252 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5tTAAAAMAAJ|title=Report on the UFO Wave of 1947|first=Ted|last=Bloecher|date=April 23, 1967|via=Google Books}}</ref> The next day, papers nationwide reported that Lt. Gen. [[Nathan F. Twining|Nathan Twining]], commander of [[Wright Field]], had announced that Air Material Command had opened a probe into the discs. Twining claimed that a "reputable scientist" had seen the disc-like objects in flight. Twining urged all persons seeing the strange objects in flight to contact Wright Field.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566291653/|title=3 Jul 1947, 1 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

That day, headlines proclaimed "U.S. Stops 'Laughing Off' Stories of Flying Discs", quoting an Army Air Force spokesman as saying "If some foreign power is sending flying discs over the United States, it is our responsibility to know about it and take proper action".<ref name="auto36">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/683746478/|title=3 Jul 1947, 1 - Los Angeles Evening Citizen News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Army experts acknowledged that they could not explain the disc and reported having checked research authorities and contractors, none of whom knew anything concrete about the discs.<ref name="auto25">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/38901616/|title=3 Jul 1947, Page 2 - The Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  They suggested the discs might be the product of a civilian inventor.<ref name="auto28">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/358928569/|title=3 Jul 1947, 1 - The Daily News-Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The ''[[Idaho Statesman]]'' quoted an unnamed military officer as saying he thought the air forces and FBI had been showing "complacency" by not pushing for a more "vigorous investigation". It also reported that Kenneth Arnold has not been contacted by military or the FBI about his sighting.<ref name="auto23">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723487694/|title=3 Jul 1947, 1 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The ''Statesman'' quoted the FBI special agent in charge of the area's FBI force, [[Guy Banister|W.G. Banister]], who reported "I don't know any more about it than what I read in the newspapers."<ref name="auto23"/>

====San Francisco fireworks and stories of landings====
On July 3, press nationwide reported a story from California Highway Patrol Sergeant David Menary who told of seeing six large metallic discs dive into the San Francisco Bay at high speed the prior day.<ref name="auto13">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/458782396/|title=3 Jul 1947, 6 - The San Francisco Examiner at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Menary had been accompanied by Walter Castro, a garage owner.  On July 3, US Army major Steve Monroe of [[Presidio of San Francisco|the Presidio]] issued a report explaining that Menary's sighting had been caused by 'some of the boys' experimenting with fireworks.  Monroe announced further such experiments would be cancelled.<ref name="auto13"/>

On July 3, press announced a "mystery missle" had been seen in Altadena, California and was believed to have landed nearby; the witness stated that object "was NOT {{sic}} a 'flying disc'".<ref name="auto14">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/628345830/|title=3 Jul 1947, 11 - Metropolitan Pasadena Star-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  That same day, press reported on a potential landing in San Miguel.<ref name="auto32">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/17214918/|title=3 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Gallup Independent at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====July 4 press reports====
By July 4, reports had spread to 11 states and two Canadian provinces, with new sightings reported in Delaware.<ref name="auto17">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566291780/|title=4 Jul 1947, 1 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Headlines declared the recent investigation had finished: "Army Air Forces Drops Inquiry Into Mysterious 'Flying Discs'; Maybe They're Just Imaginary".  An Army Air Force spokesman explained that the inquiry "has not produced enough fact to warrant further investigation".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/664344070/|title=4 Jul 1947, 1 - The Bangor Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Also on July 4, the United Press quoted [[Meade Layne]], a publisher of an occult magazine, who speculated that the discs were "etheric".<ref name="auto34">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/809588970/|title=4 Jul 1947, 1 - The Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Alternatively, the San Francisco Chronicle published a letter from local eccentric Ole J. Sneide who claimed that the discs were "oblate spheroid space ships" who "have been absent from our planet since before the fall of the Roman Empire, when the Great Master left earth for the outer galaxy by fohatic {{sic}} teleportation."<ref name="auto34"/>
{{external media
|image1=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23246299/harrisburg-telegraph/ Frank Ryman photograph]
}}
That same day, it was reported that Frank Ryman, a Coast Guard yeoman in Seattle, had photographed a disc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/745115299/|title=4 Jul 1947, 9 - The Columbia Record at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto27">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/213019753/|title=5 Jul 1947, Page 4 - The Town Talk at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto59"/>  Also on July 4, it was reported that eight military men were hospitalized with burns after an acid accident at White Sands under Lt. Col. Harold B. Turner.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/2859461/|title=4 Jul 1947, Page 2 - Clovis News-Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Flight 105====
{{main|Flight 105 UFO sighting}}
{{Location map+|USA West|width=150|float = right|caption=Flight 105 departed Boise bound for Pendleton.|places=
{{Location map~|USA West|
lat_dir=N|lat_deg=43|lat_min=36|lat_sec=57|mark = BSicon_AIRCLUB_fliph.svg | marksize =16 |
lon_dir=W|lon_deg=116|lon_min=12|lon_sec=6|label=Boise | label_size = 100 |position=right}}
}}
On the evening of July 4, United Airlines Flight 105 took off from [[Boise, Idaho]] in a [[DC-3]] bound for [[Pendleton, Oregon]].<ref name="auto59"/><ref name="auto">{{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=March 21, 1995|publisher=Berkley Books|isbn=9780425151174 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/569377870/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - The Spokesman-Review at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  In a sign of the times, on departure Boise tower jokingly suggested the crew "be on the lookout for 'flying saucers'".<ref name="Jul5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/428762908/|title=5 Jul 1947, 3 - The Columbus Telegram at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

During the flight, the crew reportedly observed "four or five 'somethings'", described as "smooth on the bottom and rough appearing on top", but they could not say whether they were "oval or saucer-like".<ref name="Jul5"/>  One object was reportedly larger than the rest.<ref name="Jul5"/>  The crew later witnessed what they interpreted as four additional objects.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/350610291/|title=5 Jul 1947, 1 - Rapid City Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Group sightings====
The Flight 105 sighting was widely publicized on July 5. Also on July 5, papers reported a group of 60 picnickers in Twin Falls Park had witnessed 35 discs over a twenty-minute period the prior day.<ref name="auto48">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723487814/|title=5 Jul 1947, 1 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Police in Portland received reports of discs, some reports coming from members of local law enforcement in Portland and Vancouver; the International News Service reported that "hundreds of persons" viewed the strange objects, up to 20 in number.<ref name="auto26"/>  At [[Hayden Lake, Idaho]], a group of 200 people were said to witness a disc for thirty minutes.<ref name="auto18">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/569193624/|title=5 Jul 1947, 1 - The Rock Island Argus at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Six people in Boise reported seeing discs the previous day.<ref name="auto26">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723487819/|title=5 Jul 1947, 2 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 5, it was reported that a balloon and a six-pointed, star-shaped tinfoil object was recovered in [[Pickaway County, Ohio]] by farmer Sherman Campbell; the press speculated the object may have been responsible for recent local 'flying saucer' reports.

Also on July 5, press reported on the disappearance of an Army C-54 transport plane.  The plane went missing after departing Bermuda bound for West Palm Beach with six men aboard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/80175383/|title=5 Jul 1947, Page 2 - Statesman Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Years later, the disappearance and flying discs would be incorporated into the [[Bermuda Triangle]] folklore.

Wire service reports quoted astronomer Oliver J. Lee of the [[Dearborn Observatory]] as suggesting the discs were "probably man-made and radio controlled".<ref name="auto18"/>  Human behavioral expert John. G. Lynn blamed the "wave of saucer hysteria" on "recent predictions that an atomic war would break out, laying waste the United States".<ref name="auto18"/>  A Louisiana paper quoted physicist Norris Sill, a member of the Navy staff at the [[Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll|Bikini tests]], as discounting the suggestion that nuclear fission was causing the sightings, saying there was "no plausible connection between the two".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/213019734/|title=5 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Town Talk at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Atomic link claimed====
{{Flying disc craze of 1947 map of reports - Jul 6}}

During the 1947 craze, flying discs and atomic weaponry became linked in the public consciousness.<ref>G. Arnold, Ch. 12</ref>  On July 6, headlines proclaimed "Discs Atom Products, A-Bomb Scientist Says".  Articles cited an unnamed "noted scientist in nuclear physics" affiliated with CalTech who had been part of the Manhattan Project.  The scientist declared "People are not 'seeing things'" and 'said flatly that experiments in "transmutation of atomic energy" being conducted at Muroc Lake Calif; White Sands, N.M.; Portland Ore., and elsewhere are responsible for the "flying discs".<ref name="auto64">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/527531897/|title=6 Jul 1947, 4 - Scrantonian Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Papers observed that the "Bulk of the flying disc reports have generated in a wide circle through Idaho, Washington, and Oregon surrounding the [[Hanford Site|Hanford works]]".<ref name="auto58">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/182928820/|title=6 Jul 1947, Page 17 - Star Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Col. F. J. Clarke, commander of Hanford, denied knowledge of any connection.<ref name="auto58"/> [[Harold Urey]], atomic scientist in Chicago, dismissed the report as "gibberish", as did Atomic Energy Commission chair [[David E. Lilienthal]].<ref name="auto58"/>

The Associated Press reported that fighters had been placed on alert at [[Muroc Army Airfield]] and Portland, Oregon—two hotspots of reports in the prior weeks.<ref name="auto46">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566291869/|title=6 Jul 1947, 1 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  By July 6, reports had spread to 31 states.<ref name="auto46"/>  Louis E. Starr, the national commander of the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]], called for more information about the discs, declaring that "Too little is being told to the people of this country".<ref name="auto46"/>

====Reports peak====
By July 7, the [[Los Angeles Times]] proclaimed: "Flying ‘Whatsits’ Supplant Weather as No. 1 Topic Anywhere People Meet".<ref>Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1947</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='UFO' Review: Outer Space, the Inside Story |url=https://manhattan.institute/article/ufo-review-outer-space-the-inside-story |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=Manhattan Institute |language=en}}</ref><ref>Last Week Tonight, April 21, 2024</ref> That day, newspapers announced that reports "poured in" from the San Francisco Bay.  Berkeley professor [[Raymond Thayer Birge]] reassured the public that the discs "aren't coming from outer space".  Army pilots began flying "camera patrols" as 11 planes were equipped with telescopic cameras in the hopes of capturing images of a flying disc.<ref name="auto52">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/292796768/|title=7 Jul 1947, 1 - News-Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Also on July 7, press reported the account of Vernon Baird, who claimed to have seen a 'Flying Yo-Yo' over Montana.<ref name="auto49">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/428764300/|title=7 Jul 1947, 1 - The Columbus Telegram at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Baird, a civilian pilot working work for a mapping firm, reported the object "came apart like a clamshell. The two pieces spiraled down somewhere in the Madison Range".  Baird described seeing similar objects darting around "like a batch of molecules doing the rumba."  Later that day, it was reported that Baird had admitted the entire story was false.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/624925011/|title=7 Jul 1947, 1 - Ventura County Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

One recovered disc was revealed to be a circular saw blade with tubes and wires attached, while a second disc turned out to be locomotive packing washers.<ref name="auto52"/><ref name="auto89">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/798426337/|title=7 Jul 1947, 2 - The Memphis Press-Scimitar at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Retired general [[Hap Arnold]] (no relation) publicly speculated the discs had either been developed by United States scientists or were foreign technology that "operating out of control".<ref name="auto89"/>  The ''Los Angeles Examiner'' received and publicized a letter claiming the discs were atomic-powered Russian planes.<ref name="auto89"/>

[[Winfred Overholser]], a nationally renowned psychiatrist, described the reports as a "national hysteria".<ref name="auto79">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/616084762/|title=7 Jul 1947, 6 - The Times Dispatch at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In contrast, Harry A. Steckel, psychiatric consultant to the Veterans Administration, dismissed the "mass hysteria" explanation, adding that the disc might be the result of "experiments by unknown government agencies".<ref name="auto79"/>

On July 7, it was reported than an Army weather kite was found on a farm near Granville, Ohio.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/287371827/|title=7 Jul 1947, 1 - The Newark Advocate at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Truman returned to Washington after a weekend in Charlottesville, driving himself most of the way, with police escort.<ref name="auto108">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/761535159/|title=7 Jul 1947, 1 - Abilene Reporter-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Also on July 7, it was reported that the FBI was investigating a letter received by the ''Los Angeles Examiner'' which claimed the discs were atomic-powered Russian craft.  The ''Examiner'' turned the letter over to authorities after a recommendation by a "top-flight atomic scientist" who appraised the letter as "not all nonsense".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/458810880/ | title=The San Francisco Examiner 07 Jul 1947, page 2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/594876423/ | title=Deseret News 07 Jul 1947, page 1 }}</ref>

===Weather balloons, pranks, and hoaxes===
{{external media
|title=Hoaxed discs
|image1=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23512763/standard-speaker Harston with a hoaxed disc from Shreveport]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18838873/the-times/|title=Clipped From The Times|newspaper=The Times |date=July 8, 1947|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> 
|image2=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23512763/standard-speaker Rev. Joseph Brasky of Grafton, Wisconsin poses with hoax disc]
|image3=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18841058/the-gazette-and-daily/ Kemper disc] of York, PA<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18841058/the-gazette-and-daily/|title=Clipped From The Gazette and Daily|newspaper=The Gazette and Daily |date=July 12, 1947|pages=4|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
|image4=Morfitt disc of Victoria, B.C.<ref name="auto85">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/506005135/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - Times Colonist at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
}}
On July 8, United Press reported that Soviet Vice Counsel Eugene Tunantzev denied responsibility for the discs, saying that "Russia respects the sovereignty of all governments and by no stretch of the imagination would use another country for a proving ground."  American officials agreed, dismissing speculation that the discs might be 'secret weapons of use in bacteriological warfare'.<ref name="auto78">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/334399780/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - The Journal Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  $1,000 rewards were offered in three different parts of the country: in Los Angeles, the "World Inventors' Exposition" announced a $1,000 reward for a  'flying disc' by the end of the week.<ref name="auto100">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/249335572/|title=8 Jul 1947, Page 1 - Muncie Evening Press at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Similar rewards were offered by entrepreneur [[Culligan#History|E.J. Culligan]] of Northbrook Illinois and the [[Joe Albi#Athletic Round Table|Spokane Athletic Round Table]], described as a 'group of gagsters'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/550962474/|title=8 Jul 1947, 4 - The Gazette at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On July 8, papers ran comments by White House press secretary Charles G. Ross who jokingly shared a telegram from a professional juggler who reported the "saucers" were things used in his act that "got out of hand".<ref name="auto109">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/347821422/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - Casper Star-Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Pulitzer-prize winning journalist [[Hal Boyle]] authored a satirical report from inside a flying saucer.<ref name="auto109"/>

On July 8, it was reported that Norman Hargrave reported finding a object containing the inscription "Military secret of the United States of America".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/6159572/|title=8 Jul 1947, Page 1 - Lubbock Morning Avalanche at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Another unsubstantiated story was circulated of a disc being recovered on the Texas Gulf coast.  Flying disc reports spread to Sydney, Australia, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Copenhagen, Denmark.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/325468177/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - Nanaimo Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto90">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/683746787/|title=8 Jul 1947, 3 - Los Angeles Evening Citizen News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Sightings were reported in Saanich, B.C.<ref name="auto85"/>  In Victoria, B.C., a palm-sized disc was photographed and turned over to police by Arthur Morfitt, who said the disc landed near him.<ref name="auto85"/>

By July 8, reports had spread to 41 states.<ref name="auto74">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/205470618/|title=8 Jul 1947, Page 3 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Science-fiction author and [[Fortean]] [[R. DeWitt Miller]] compared the current craze to 19th-century folklore, speculating the discs were either a new weapon, interplanetary, or else "things out of other dimensions of time and space".<ref name="auto104">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/101172712/|title=8 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Bend Bulletin at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Newspaper and radio firebrand [[Walter Winchell]] cited DeWitt's book "Forgotten Mysteries", highlighting three 19th-century reports that Winchell alleged were similar to the ongoing disc craze.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/325779550/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - The Tampa Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Tobacco salesman Lloyd Bennet, of Oelwein, Iowa, claimed to have found a 6.5-inch diameter disc in his front yard.<ref name="auto104"/>  Frances Adams of Austin similarly recovered a disc which was photographed and publicized.<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>  F.G. 'Happy' Harston, a Shreveport auto salesman, recovered a 16-inch aluminum disc thrown by pranksters.<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>  Thomas W. Wilson, also of Shreveport, chased a "disc" which was revealed to be a balloon.<ref name="auto107"/>

John Caldwell, of Austin TX, reported seeing a disc and also shared having seen a mysterious aircraft 57 years prior; Caldwell dismissed both as illusions.<ref name="auto77"/>  On July 8, celebrity [[Orson Welles]] publicly denied any connection to the flying discs, saying "I [[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|scared the shirts off Americans]] once.  That was enough."<ref name="auto93">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/391653138/|title=8 Jul 1947, 3 - The Journal Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Media reported on rumors that a disc had crashed near Lancaster, CA, setting fifteen or 20 tree afire; ranch owner Fritz Godde denied the reports.<ref name="auto90"/>

{{external media
|image1=[https://saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articleimages/carrolltimesheraldalbertweaver7-9-47.jpg Albert Weaver photograph]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16245710/the-journal-times/|title=Clipped From The Journal Times|newspaper=The Journal Times |date=July 9, 1947|pages=7|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
}}

Media compared the ongoing craze to the unexplained fireballs reported in May and June 1945 over Japan, beginning with the May 23 night raid of Tokyo.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/402580806/|title=8 Jul 1947, 5 - Wisconsin State Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

July 8 saw the first publication of a flying disc photograph, captured by Albert Weaver of Michigan.<ref name="auto106">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/501000238/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - The Windsor Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Also on July 8, press ran a photo of three prominent disc observers, Kenneth Arnold, E.J. Smith, and Ralph Stephens, who had gathered to "compare notes on the 'flying discs'"<ref name="auto84">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/628198085/|title=8 Jul 1947, 1 - Lodi News-Sentinel at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Roswell debris====
{{main|Roswell incident}}
[[File:Marcel-roswell-debris 0.jpg|thumb|At Fort Worth Army Air Field, Major Jesse A. Marcel posing with debris on July 8, 1947]]

On July 8, 1947, RAAF [[public information officer]] [[Walter Haut]] issued a [[press release]] stating that personnel from the field's [[509th Operations Group]] had recovered a "flying disc", which had landed on a ranch near Roswell.

The following day, the "disc" was revealed to be pieces of a weather balloon.  On July 9, ''[[Roswell Daily Record]]'' reported that the debris consisted of "large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks."<ref name="7bqsQ">{{cite news|url=http://ufologie.net/rw/p/roswelldailyrecord9jul1947.htm |title=Harassed Rancher who Located 'Saucer' Sorry He Told About it |newspaper=[[Roswell Daily Record]] |date=July 9, 1947 |access-date=February 5, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109043134/http://ufologie.net/rw/p/roswelldailyrecord9jul1947.htm |archive-date=January 9, 2009}}</ref>

====Reports diminish====
{{see also|Rhodes UFO photographs|l1=Rhodes flying disc photographs}}
On July 9, the Oakland Tribune announced that reports had dropped off and "it appeared the show is over".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/205471452/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 3 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Press reported that the Army and Navy had begun a campaign to halt the flying disc tales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/303514720/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - The Daily Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Also on July 9, media reported that a triangular object found near Oxford Ohio by John Strucks was also a radar target used on weather balloons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/249279881/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 1 - Palladium-Item at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Dozens of "flying discs" in Richmond, Virginia were revealed to be paper plates released by jokesters from a tall building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/560787757/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - St. Joseph Gazette at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On July 9, airplane inventor [[Orville Wright]] argued the disc reports are "more propaganda for war, to stir up the people and excite them to believe a foreign power has designs on this nation".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/56081240/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Courier-Gazette at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 9, Missouri press reported that a contraption made from pie pans, wires, and radio tubes was found burning on the Clayton County courthouse lawn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/573455827/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - St. Louis Globe-Democrat at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
[[File:Rhodes UFO photos.png|thumb|right|The [[Rhodes UFO photographs|Rhodes flying disc photos]] of Phoenix were published by the ''Arizona Republic'' on July 9.]]
Al Hixenbaugh of the Louisville Times photographed two objects streaking across the sky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/476855227/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - The Oshkosh Northwestern at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> William A. Rhodes [[Rhodes UFO photographs|photographed an object]] over the skies of Phoenix.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/117325958/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 1 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Disc reports from Iran were published in US media.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/140787133/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Plain Speaker at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 9, with the announcement of new disc reports from Kansas, reports had come from all 48 states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/445659156/|title=9 Jul 1947, 445 - Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  That same day, press ran headlines reporting: "Army, Navy try to stop rumors of 'Flying Discs'".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/13590060/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 17 - The Kokomo Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Hoaxed discs recovered in Hollywood and Detroit====
On July 10, it was reported that Russell Long of North Hollywood had discovered a 30-inch diameter disc which allegedly struck his house and came to rest in his flower garden.  The disc, still smoking, prompted a call to the fire department; firemen reported an "acrid, chemical smell".  The device was described as having exhaust pipes, a fin and rudder.<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> The local fire battalion chief told press that "It looks like someone went to a great deal of trouble for a joke."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/10339753/|title=10 Jul 1947, Page 10 - The Chronicle-Telegram at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The disc featured a glass radio tube.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/681669028/|title=10 Jul 1947, 2 - The Lexington Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Local FBI chief Richard B. Hood reported that the FBI took possession of the disc and would turn it over to the military.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/742779524/|title=10 Jul 1947, 1 - Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In Detroit, Emmett C. Daniels discovered a disc with "red painted hieroglyphics apparently of oriental origin".  Local workers took credit for creating the 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>

====Balloons====
The Navy announced it had conducted a test, releasing a helium balloon carrying a tin-foil screen over Stone Mountain, Georgia.  As anticipated, local newspapers received disc reports.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/5066310/|title=10 Jul 1947, Page 16 - The Sandusky Register at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Leroy Leach of Dover, Ohio reported discovering a balloon with foil on his farm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/324939471/|title=10 Jul 1947, 1 - The Union County Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
On July 10, a local army recruiter was photographed with a shattered kite and balloon that had been recovered from Bakersfield.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/3624437/|title=10 Jul 1947, Page 1 - The Bakersfield Californian at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In Lima, Ohio, a cardboard disc attached to a balloon was recovered by Julian Faccenda, workers at a local factory took credit for the device. Original disc witness Kenneth Arnold flatly denied that the objects he saw could have been balloons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/174586/|title=10 Jul 1947, Page 8 - The Tipton Daily Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol announced it had ceased its aerial search for discs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/334400206/|title=10 Jul 1947, 3 - The Journal Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In Barstow, California, one columnist observed that reporting on discs might jeopardize national security: "If these 'flying discs' are enemy experimental dummy bombs or rockets, we have given the enemy valuable information.  We have published the exact location, time, etc.  This would make excellent data for enemy agents."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/747987583/|title=10 Jul 1947, 7 - Desert Dispatch at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Walter Winchell speculated that, despite official denials, the disc reports likely stemmed from secret Navy flying wing aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/325781270/|title=10 Jul 1947, 1 - The Tampa Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

====Twin Falls recovered disc hoax====
{{main|Twin Falls saucer hoax}}
[[File:Twin Falls saucer hoax.png|thumb|175px|right|Hoaxed saucer from Twin Falls]]
On July 11, press reported the recovery of a 30-inch disc from the yard of a Twin Falls home. Residents reported hearing a "thud" around 2:30{{spaces}}a.m., but dismissed the noise as a truck.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566292718/|title=11 Jul 1947, 2 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> At 8:20{{spaces}}a.m., a next-door neighbor reportedly discovered a "disc" and summoned police.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8d1EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106|title=Crash: When UFOs Fall From the Sky: A History of Famous Incidents, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups|first=Kevin D.|last=Randle|date=May 20, 2010|publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser|isbn=9781601637369 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Local police arrived and took possession of the object.  The matter was referred to both FBI and military intelligence.  Multiple officers from [[Fort Douglas]] flew in to investigate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566292842/|title=13 Jul 1947, 2 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>Two lieutenant colonels, two first lieutenants, and a civilian.</ref>  Authorities "clamped down a lid of secrecy pending the outcome of further investigation".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566292702/|title=11 Jul 1947, 1 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  Local press featured a piece on Army "cloak and dagger" during the disc investigation, mentioning that photographs of the object were confiscated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/566293198/|title=15 Jul 1947, 4 - The Times-News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On July 11, the FBI reported the apparently-mundane object had been turned over to the Army.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/393708035/|title=11 Jul 1947, 1 - The Independent-Record at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 12, it was reported nationally that the Twin Falls disc was a hoax.  Photos of the object were publicly released.  The object was described as containing radio tubes, electric coils, and wires underneath a Plexiglas dome.  Press reported that four teenagers had confessed to creating the disc.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/594877292/|title=12 Jul 1947, 9 - Deseret News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The Twin Falls hoax, with its nationally published image showing a bemused army officer holding a disc-like object of mundane construction, has been called the "[[Coup de grâce|Coup de Grace]] of press coverage" on the Summer 1947 Flying Disc wave; in the days following the story, "press accounts rapidly fell off".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81xoS94LSncC&pg=PA39|title=UFO Headquarters: Investigations On Current Extraterrestrial Activity In Area 51|first=Susan|last=Wright|date=August 15, 1998|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=9780312207816 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Reports subside===
Bloecher writes: "With scarcely more than a dozen sightings for July 10th, the UFO wave of 1947 had almost completely subsided. Few if any of the reports were carried by the wire services".<ref name="auto6">Bloecher, 1967</ref>  Bloecher adds: "While interest was high at the time of the sightings, it died out not long after".<ref name="auto6"/>

Another scholar commented on the brevity of the craze, writing: "The first newspaper accounts preceded a sweep of confirmative {{nowrap|stories{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}some creditable, some doubtful, some proven hoaxes, and innumerable {{nowrap|explanations{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}that caught the nation's attention in a matter of days, and the world inside of three weeks...Yet a hypothetical person not in contact with a medium of communication during the incident, and returning to read an American newspaper after July 20, 1947, would know nothing of the episode which, shortly before, held the world in its grip. The episode was that short, that concentrated, that volatile."<ref name="UnivIowa">{{cite thesis |last=Wennergren |first=Emil Ear |date=1948 |title=The "Flying Saucers" Episode |publisher= University of Iowa |url=https://iro.uiowa.edu/discovery/delivery/01IOWA_INST:ResearchRepository/12730522520002771#13730804330002771}}</ref>

In 1948, the press published a new spate of disc reports and revitalized interest in discs.<ref name="auto6"/>

====Crash at Kelso====
{{main|Maury Island incident}}
{{Location map|Washington|label=Maury Island||lat_dir=N|lat_deg=47|lat_min=22 |lat_sec=48|lon_dir=W|lon_deg=122|lon_min=25|lon_sec=12|position=right|width=250| float=right|caption=Location of Maury Island, Washington}}
On August 1, it was publicly reported that a [[B-25]] departing [[McChord Field]] bound for [[Hamilton Field, California|Hamilton Field]] had crashed near [[Kelso, Washington]], killing both pilot and co-pilot; two other men bailed out, though one was critically injured in the parachute jump.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/564353540/|title=1 Aug 1947, 1 - Spokane Chronicle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto24">Peebles, Ch.2</ref><ref name="arnoldch11">G. Arnold, Ch. 11</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IINjCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|title=Washington Myths and Legends: The True Stories behind History's Mysteries|first=Lynn|last=Bragg|date=September 1, 2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781493016044 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The following day, press accounts revealed that a "mysterious telephone informant with uncannily accurate information" had contacted the United Press of Tacoma.  The caller claimed that the crashed B-25 had been loaded with flying disc fragments; the caller further claimed that flying saucer witnesses Kenneth Arnold and E.J. Smith had been "in secret conference" at Tacoma's Hotel Winthrop.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/485766482/|title=2 Aug 1947, 3 - The World at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  General Ned Schramm of the fourth air force publicly acknowledged that the deceased pilots were intelligence officers who had traveled to Tacoma to meet with original saucer witness Kenneth Arnold, but Schramm told denied knowledge of any debris onboard the plane, telling press that "it was his understanding" that the pilots "were not bringing anything back with them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/75097503/|title=3 Aug 1947, Page 1 - Nevada State Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto24"/><ref name="arnoldch11"/>

By August 3, press reported a detailed narrative about the events: original saucer witness Kenneth Arnold had travelled to Tacoma to investigate claims by [[Fred Crisman]] and Harold Dahl, who reported recovering debris dropped by a flying saucer at [[Maury Island]].  Flight 105 pilot E.J. Smith joined the investigation, which received "lava rocks" from Crisman who claimed they were "flying disc debris".  Army Air Force investigators were contacted, and two investigators flew to Tacoma where they took possession of the debris and departed in their B-25 to return to Hamilton Field.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723484175/|title=3 Aug 1947, 1 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto24"/><ref name="arnoldch11"/>

===Public awareness===
On August 19, Gallup published a poll reporting that 90% of the public had heard about flying discs.<ref name="auto80">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0VYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA260|title=Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century|first=Alexander C. T.|last=Geppert|date=April 25, 2018|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349953394 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  Reports noted this poll "places the saucers on par with Orson Welles' 'Invasion from Mars', the Loch Ness Monster, and [[Miniature golf|Tom Thumb Golf]]."  By comparison, only half the public had heard of the Marshall Plan.<ref name="auto80"/>

The survey showed that 29% of the public believed the discs were illusions or imaginary,<ref name="auto80"/>  33% did not know what the discs were, and 9% offered other interpretations, including linking the discs to atomic weapons or the end of the world.<ref name="auto80"/>

===Maps and table of reports===
{{main|Table of reports during the 1947 flying disc craze}}
{{Gallery
|title=Maps of the 1947 flying disc craze
|align=center
|width=549
|height=338
|mode=slideshow
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-25.png|'''June 25''' - [[Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting|Kenneth Arnold sighting]] near Mount Rainier
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-26.png|'''June 26''' - Reports from Oregon, Missouri, and Oklahoma
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-27.png|'''June 27''' - Reports continue in Washington, Oregon, and Oklahoma
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-28.png|'''June 28''' - Reports spread throughout the West. Idaho, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and Illinois see their first reports.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-29.png|'''June 29''' - Washington, Oregon, and Texas experience further reports, while British Columbia and Arizona see their first reports.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jun-30.png|'''June 30''' - Continuing reports from British Columbia, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, and Texas. Reports spread to California, Virginia, and Ontario.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-1.png|'''July 1''' - Continued reports in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. First report from South Carolina.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-2.png|'''July 2''' - Ongoing reports in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. First report from Kentucky.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-3.png|'''July 3''' - More reports from Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Reports spread to Kansas, Arkansas, and Prince Edward Island.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-4.png|'''July 4''' - Widespread sightings amid first reports from Delaware
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-5.png|'''July 5''' -
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-6.png|'''July 6''' -
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-7.png|'''July 7''' -
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-8.png|'''July 8''' - Reports spread throughout the United States.
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-9.png|'''July 9''' - Reports reach all states
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-10.png|'''July 10'''
|File:Flying-Disc-Craze-of-1947--nocaption--Jul-11.png|'''July 11''' - Reports have largely subsided.
}}

==Contemporary interpretations==

===Technological===
[[File:Vought V-173.jpg|thumb|right|The US Navy had [[Vought XF5U|experimented with disc-shaped aircraft]] during World War II. Members of the public speculated the craft were responsible for disc reports, though Navy officials later debunked the theory.]]

Initial speculation held that the disc might be technology developed by the Americans or the Soviets.

Army rocket expert Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner publicly speculated the "discs" were jet airplanes, arguing that "the jet planes' circular exhaust glows brightly when heated and might easily appear to be discs at a distance.<ref name="auto56"/><ref name="auto63"/>

By June 29, public speculation suggested that the reports might be attributed to [[Vought XF5U|"Flying Flapjack"]], an experimental Navy fighter aircraft with a somewhat disc-shaped body that had been profiled in the May 1947 issue of ''Mechanix Illustrated''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/768897089/|title=29 Jun 1947, 1 - The Bellingham Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The Navy dismissed that suggestion, noting that only one such prototype existed, and it had never flown outside of Connecticut.<ref name="auto11"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/536439114/|title=2 Jul 1947, 1 - The Daily Advertiser at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 3, Army Lt. Gen [[Nathan F. Twining|Nathan Twining]], head of Air Material Command and commander of Wright Field, announced an investigation into the discs and informed the public that the Army Air Forces "have nothing that would compare to the descriptions of the object"
<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/564362275/|title=3 Jul 1947, 11 - Spokane Chronicle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On July 6, the International News Services interviewed racecar builder Leo Bentz who speculated the discs were the work of an inventor named George De Bay.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/524008121/|title=6 Jul 1947, 3 - Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On July 9, the El Paso Times published an editorial calling on the Army to admit the discs were new US technology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/429447097/|title=9 Jul 1947, 4 - El Paso Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Others suggested the discs were Russian weapons, akin to the [[Fu-Go balloon bomb|incendiary balloons released by the Japanese]] to cross the Pacific and explode in the US.<ref name="feof6"/><ref name="auto9"/><ref name="auto61">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/2393039/|title=22 Dec 1947, Page 32 - The Kokomo Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The ''Los Angeles Examiner'' received and publicized a letter claiming the discs were atomic-powered Russian planes.<ref name="auto89"/>
[[File:Weather-balloon 0.jpg|thumb|right|Balloons, radar reflectors, tinfoil, insulation, and numerous other objects were thought to contribute to the reports.]]
Retired general [[Hap Arnold]] (no relation) publicly speculated the discs had either been developed by United States scientists or were foreign technology "operating out of control".<ref name="auto89"/>

===Conventional===
Army rocket expert Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner revised his estimate on June 29 and suggested that meteors, not jets, were responsible.<ref name="auto4"/><ref name="auto40"/>  One ironworks operator speculated that the " flying discs" were caused by the melting of bottlecaps".<ref name="auto54"/><ref name="auto44"/> Oklahoma sightings were revealed as handbills released from an airplane.<ref name="auto55"/><ref name="auto53"/>  Numerous recovered objects were revealed to hoaxes, pranks, or mistaken identifications.

On July 4, press nationwide quoted an unnamed Chicago scientist who speculated that people were seeing "spots in front of their eyes."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/616084642/|title=4 Jul 1947, 4 - The Times Dispatch at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In the prior decades, reports of [[Martian canals|canals on Mars]] had been revealed to stem from [[optical illusions]].<ref name="auto15">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CmFVEAAAQBAJ|title=Flying Saucers Over America: The UFO Craze of 1947|first=Gordon|last=Arnold|date=December 3, 2021|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476687667 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Behavioral===
{{see also|Mass psychogenic illness|Psychosocial hypothesis}}
[[File:Dance at Molenbeek.jpg|thumb|right| [[Dancing mania|Dancing plagues]] of the [[Middle Ages]] are thought to have been caused by mass hysteria.]]
During the 1947 craze, experts in human behavior argued the reports were best explained as a [[psychology|psychological]] or [[anthropological|social]] phenomenon.  The flying disc craze was compared to Scotland's [[Loch Ness monster]], the panic caused by the Orson Welles broadcast of War of the Worlds, and a [[May 1947 Tokyo Sea Monster broadcast|sea monster panic]] caused by a US Armed Forces Radio hoax in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2000/05/22164854/p20.pdf|title=Mass Delusions and Hysterias : Highlights from the Past Millennium|quotation=Over the past millennium, mass delusions and hysterical outbreaks have taken many forms. Sociologists Robert Bartholomew and Erich Goode survey some of the more colorful cases.|author1=Robert E. Bartholomew and Erich Goode|website=Cdn.centerforinquiry.org|access-date=June 24, 2022}}</ref>

On July 3, the International News Service suggested a sociological component, arguing that Arnold had "broken the ice" and induced "trained observers to tell stories they had hesitated to relate before in the fear nobody would believe them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723487772/|title=4 Jul 1947, 2 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> As early as July 5, press featured speculation that the disc craze was the result of [[mass psychogenic illness|mass hysteria]].<ref name="auto18"/>

On July 9, psychiatrist [[Edward Adam Strecker|Edward Strecker]] described discs as the result of "pathological receptiveness".  Strecker argued that initial witnesses "may have seen something, such as the glint of an airplane" while subsequent sightings were likely illusions brought on by hysteria.  Strecker argued that 'the emotional state of many person had been over-active since the first atomic bomb exploded'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/773565938/|title=9 Jul 1947, 18 - The Seattle Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  [[Winfred Overholser]], nationally renown psychiatrist, described the reports as a "national hysteria".<ref name="auto79"/>

On July 9, it was reported that an Indianapolis woman was sent to a mental ward after she was discovered "hacking holes in the sidewalk with a hatchet" in an effort to 'drive the saucers away'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/540797971/|title=9 Jul 1947, 5 - The Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph ran a headline telling readers "If you're seeing those saucers -- call the psychiatrist, and quick!" after a Harvard professor proclaimed that flying disc mystery was "not a problem for meteorologists or astronomers, but one for psychiatrists."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/523992561/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

===Interplanetary===
{{see also|Extraterrestrial hypothesis}}
[[File:Amazing Stories 1927 08.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Interplanetary invaders, as depicted on the August 1927 cover of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'']]

On June 27, unnamed experts argued that supersonic saucer-shaped aircraft would be "out of this planet".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/143491805/|title=27 Jun 1947, Page 1 - The Tennessean at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 28, headlines joked "No, They're Not Men from Mars".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/401278240/|title=29 Jun 1947, 2 - Dayton Daily News at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  By June 29, one source reported that "These discs, some people suggest, may presage an invasion from Mars."<ref name="feof6"/>

On July 7, 1947, two stories came out where Arnold raised the topic of possible extraterrestrial origins, both as his opinion and those who had written to him.<ref>Associated Press story, July 7, 1947, e.g., Salt Lake City ''Deseret News'', p. 3, "Author of 'Discs' Story To Seek Proof" [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19470707&printsec=frontpage]</ref>  Per the Chicago Times:

:"...Kenneth Luis Arnold...is not so certain that the strange contraptions are made on this planet.  Arnold...said he hoped the devices were really the work of the U.S. Army.  But he told the TIMES in a phone conversation: 'If our government knows anything about these devices, the people should be told at once.  A lot of people out here are very much disturbed.  Some think these things may be from another planet.  But they aren't harming anyone and I think it would be the wrong thing to shoot one of them down—even if can be done.  Their high speed would completely wreck them...'

:"Arnold, in pointing to the possibility of these discs being from another world, said, regardless of their origin, they apparently were traveling to some reachable destination.  Whoever controlled them, he said, obviously wasn't trying to hurt anyone...He said discs were making turns so abruptly in rounding peaks that it would have been impossible for human pilots inside to have survived the pressure.  So, he too thinks they are controlled from elsewhere, regardless of whether it's from Mars, Venus, or our own planet."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roswellproof.com/Chicago_D_Times_1947-07-07-3s_Arnold_interplanetary_statement-Cpt_Smith.jpg|title=Chicago 'Times'|date=July 7, 1947|page=3|website=Roswellproof.com|access-date=24 June 2022}}</ref>

On July 9, US Senator from Idaho [[Glen H. Taylor]] said he 'almost hoped' that the discs would turn out to be space ships from another planet.  Taylor explained that "'the mere possibility' that the spinning circles might be hostile would unify the peoples of earth as nothing else could."<ref name="auto7">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/334400011/|title=9 Jul 1947, 7 - The Journal Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In an Associated Press story from July 19, Arnold reiterated his belief that if they weren't Army, then they were extraterrestrial.<ref>Walla Walla (Wash) ''Union-Bulletin'', July 20, 1947, "Man Who Reported 'Flying Saucers' Feels That He Has Been Vindicated"[http://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/positivelytruestoryofkennetharnold5.html]</ref>

===Biological===
{{see also|Space animal hypothesis}}
Another line of thought argued that the reports might be caused not by technological alien spacecraft or mass hysteria, but rather by animal lifeforms that are indigenous to Earth's atmosphere or interplanetary space.

In 1923, paranormal author [[Charles Fort]] had mused "It seems no more incredible that up in the seemingly unoccupied sky there should be hosts of living things than that the seeming blank of the ocean should swarm with life".<ref>''New Lands, 1923, ch 17''</ref><ref name="WhoDiscovered">[https://web.archive.org/web/20210214054202/http://www.cufos.org/CSI_NY/CSI_NY_%2322.pdf "Who 'Discovered Space Animals'?"], Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York Newsletter, (December 15, 1957)</ref> On July 7, 1947,  a fan of Fort's writings named [[John Philip Bessor]] became the first modern proponent of the hypothesis when he authored a letter to the Air Force suggesting that discs might be "animals bearing very little likeness to human beings".   In 1949, he wrote to the Saturday Evening Post to suggest that the discs might be "more like octopuses, in mentality, than humans".<ref>Saturday Evening Post, July 2, 1949 "He Believes in Saucers"</ref><ref name="WhoDiscovered"/>   In April 1949, the Air Force's Project Sign released an essay which considered the hypothesis, writing "the possible existence of some sort of strange extraterrestrial animals has been remotely considered, as many of the objects described acted more like animals than anything else".<ref name="WhoDiscovered"/>

In October 1954, [[Alfred Loedding]] was publicly quoted on his suspicion that the disks "may be a kind of space animal".<ref>Times-Advertiser, Oct 10 1954</ref>  By 1955, original saucer witness [[Kenneth Arnold]] began to promote the theory, suggesting that the UFOs are "sort of like sky jellyfish."  Arnold added: "My theory might sound funny, but just remember that there are a lot of things in nature that we don’t know yet."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-grande-observer-kenneth-arnolds-cryp/12450519/|title=Eerie Blue Light Said Live 'Thing' |date=January 29, 1955|pages=1|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

===Eschatological===
[[File:John Hamilton Mortimer - Death on a Pale Horse - Google Art Project (cropped).jpg|thumb|275px|right|"Death on a Pale Horse", an apocalyptic image from the [[Book of Revelation]], as depicted by 18th-century artist [[John Hamilton Mortimer]]]]
Some members of the public interpreted the reports as signifying [[Eschatology|the end of the world]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5emvDwAAQBAJ|title=Six Concepts for the End of the World|first=Steve|last=Beard|date=October 8, 2019|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9781912685332 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zgUTDAAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism|first=Catherine|last=Wessinger|date=July 19, 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-061194-1 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

On June 27, Kenneth Arnold told press that he had been contacted by a preacher who insisted saucers were harbingers of Doomsday.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/564374587/|title=27 Jun 1947, 5 - Spokane Chronicle at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  On June 30, one Oregon preacher suggested that the discs were "the 'advance guard' of universal disaster, heralding the end of the world".<ref name="auto3"/>  On July 9, deputies in Everett, Idaho took a woman into custody who was marching around a lake, Bible in hand, speaking only of discs and the end of the world.  The woman had never been known to be irrational, a deputy told press.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/79808250/|title=9 Jul 1947, Page 9 - The Post-Register at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  In [[Oshkosh, Wisconsin|Oshkosh]], a housewife directed press to the [[Book of Job]], explaining "when man becomes too vain and smart, some divine being will send things of various sizes and shapes through the air to confound and confuse man".<ref name="auto7"/>  On July 5, press reported on a 67-year-old gardener who claimed to have watched saucers for about 30 minutes before going to bed, saying: "I thought about waking up some of my neighbors but decided if it meant the end of the world they would be just about as happy sleeping when the world ended."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/30943002/|title=6 Jul 1947, Page 12 - The Sunday News and Tribune at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="UnivIowa"/>

In Louisiana, Governor [[Jimmie Davis]] relayed an explanation attributed to an 'elderly negro': "Saucers are part of the prophecy, something man is supposed to see and not understand.  Next the world will know no seasons; Winter will come in the Summer; In Winter men will walk before they crawl; cotton will open before it blooms; the watermelon will come before the vine; in fact, I look for it to be kind of spooky from now on."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/325780504/|title=9 Jul 1947, 3 - The Tampa Times at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="UnivIowa"/>

===Occult===
{{see also|Interdimensional hypothesis}}
[[File:Olcott Besant Leadbeater.jpg|thumb|200px|Theosophists [[Annie Besant]],  [[Henry Olcott]] (left) and [[Charles Webster Leadbeater|Charles Leadbeater]] (right) popularized the mythical "[[etheric plane]]".]]
As early as July 4, occultists like [[Meade Layne]] claimed that the discs were occult or "etheric".<ref name="auto34"/><ref name="auto43">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r4nAAAAYAAJ|title=UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture|first=Gregory L.|last=Reece|date=August 15, 2007|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=9781845114510 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  Layne claimed to be in telepathic communication with "people in the saucers", arguing "it is possible for objects to pass from an etheric to a dense level of matter and will then appear to materialize. They then will return to [...] etheric conditions".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/788881393/|title=5 Jul 1947, 1 - The Herald-Sun at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto43"/>  Layne claimed that "These visitors are not excarnate humans but are human beings living in their own world.  They come with good intent.  They have some idea of experimenting with earth life."<ref name="auto65">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/788881408/|title=5 Jul 1947, 2 - The Herald-Sun at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The prior year, it had been reported that Layne consulted a medium who relayed communications from a "space ship named Careeta" that came to Earth from 'an unidentified planet'.<ref name="auto65"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/563072982/|title=15 Oct 1946, 1 - Hanford Morning Journal at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="auto43"/>

===Esoteric===
{{main|Shaver Mystery}}
[[File:Amazing Stories August 1946 back cover.png|thumb|Nearly a year before the flying disc craze, ''Amazing Stories'' featured disc-shaped spacecraft.]]
During the mid-1940s, an obscure sub-culture developed around the science-fiction magazine [[Amazing Stories]] and its tales of [[Richard Sharpe Shaver]], claimed to be non-fictional.<ref name="auto8">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mMtqtZMoNYC|title=War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction|first=Richard|last=Toronto|date=April 25, 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786473076 |via=Google Books}}</ref>  Since 1945, the magazine had published Shaver's claims to be in communication with subterranean beings concerned about atomic pollution who piloted disc-shaped craft.<ref name="auto10"/><ref name="auto8"/>

In the October 1947 issue of Amazing Stories, editor [[Raymond A. Palmer|Raymond Palmer]] argued the flying disc flap was proof of Richard Sharpe Shaver's claims.  That same issue carried a letter from Shaver in which he argued the truth behind the discs would remain a secret.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/Amazing_Stories_v21n10_1947-10_cape1736|title=Amazing Stories v21n10 (1947 10) (cape1736)|date=October 1947 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="auto10"/>

Wrote Shaver: "The discs can be a space invasion, a secret new army plane — or a scouting trip by an enemy country...OR, they can be Shaver's space ships, taking off and landing regularly on earth for centuries past, and seen today as they have always been — as a mystery.  They could be leaving earth with cargos of wonder-mech that to us would mean emancipation from a great many of our worst troubles— and we'll never see those cargos...I predict that nothing more will be seen, and the truth of what the strange disc ships really are will never be disclosed to the common people. We just don't count to the people who do know about such things. It isn't necessary to tell us anything."<ref name="auto5"/><ref name="auto10"/><ref name="auto8"/>

==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
-->

==See also==
*[[1952 UFO flap]]
*[[Battle of Los Angeles]]
*[[Mad Gasser of Mattoon]], a 1944 outbreak of hysteria in Mattoon, Illinois
*[[Mystery airship#The airship wave of 1896-1897|The mystery airship wave of 1896-7]]
*[[List of reported UFO sightings]] 
*[[Spring-heeled Jack]], an 1838 outbreak of mass hysteria
*[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)#Public reaction|The War of the Worlds hysteria]] of 1938

==Further reading==
; Popular 
* Wennergren, Emil Earl (1948) ''The "Flying Saucers" Episode''
* Peeples, Curtis (1995) ''Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth''
* Saler, Benson; Ziegler, Charles A.; Moore, Charles (1997) ''UFO Crash at Roswell: The Genesis of a Modern Myth''
* Clarke, David (2015) ''How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth''<ref name="Clarke">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_R0CQAAQBAJ|title=How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth|first=David|last=Clarke|date=May 14, 2015|publisher=Aurum|isbn=9781781314722 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
* Arnold, Gordon (2021) ''Flying Saucers Over America: The UFO Craze of 1947''<ref name="G_Arnold"/>

; Scholarly 
* {{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|303215667}} |last1=Bullard |first1=Thomas E |year=1982 |title=Mysteries in the eye of the beholder: UFOs and their correlates as a folkloric theme past and present }}
* {{cite book |doi=10.1057/9780230361362_12 |chapter=A Ghost in the Machine: How Sociology Tried to Explain (Away) American Flying Saucers and European Ghost Rockets, 1946–1947 |title=Imagining Outer Space |year=2012 |last1=Lagrange |first1=Pierre |pages=224–244 |isbn=978-1-349-31215-3 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Mckee |first1=Gabriel |title='Reality – Is it a Horror?': Richard Shaver's Subterranean World and the Displaced Self |journal=The Journal of Gods and Monsters |date=18 July 2020 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.58997/jgm.v1i1.1 |s2cid=225543859 |url=https://godsandmonsters-ojs-txstate.tdl.org/godsandmonsters/index.php/godsandmonsters/article/view/1 |doi-access=free }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite journal |date=16 July 2017 |title=Roswell myth lives on despite the established facts |journal=Albuquerque Journal |first=Kendrick |last=Frazier |author-link=Kendrick Frazier |url=https://www.abqjournal.com/1033584/roswell-myth-lives-on-despite-the-established-facts.html }}
* {{cite book|first=Kathryn S.|last=Olmsted|title=Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7Sd5vyOOtEC&pg=PA173|chapter=Chapter 6: Trust No One: Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories from the 1970s to the 1990s|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-975395-6|pages=173–204|access-date=2016-03-16}}

{{UFOs}}

[[Category:1947 flying disc craze| ]]
[[Category:June 1947 events in the United States]]
[[Category:July 1947 events in the United States]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1947]]
[[Category:1940s fads and trends]]
[[Category:Folklore studies]]
[[Category:Religious studies]]
[[Category:UFO sightings in the United States]]
[[Category:Flying saucers]]
[[Category:Apocalypticism]]
[[Category:American folklore]]
[[Category:Myths]]