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By Root 967 0

correspondences if the lines are not present. We have here another case of jamming facts into a theory. It is wishful thinking, and the result is the creation of another myth that is just about impossible to negate. The tabloids still publicize the story and rhapsodize about it endlessly, particularly now that Betty Hill is claiming to see flying saucers just about every night on a hillside near her home in New Hampshire. There is no shortage of admirers to accompany her to the sacred spot to ooh and aah over every meteor that flashes by and to suspiciously eye each aircraft that passes. And new Betty Hill-like stories are born every time someone looks up at the night sky and sees anything not noticed before. When such people choose to become overnight celebrities, the sensational press is glad to aid and abet them.

Are there others of greater standing in the UFO field who report wonders? Are there more convincing cases than the Mantell matter? Of course there are, and those are the cases that fill the books that promote the myth. To quote a few typical boo-boos that have enthralled the uncritical recently, I turn to such juvenile fiction as Aliens from Space by Donald Keyhoe, and The Edge of Reality by Dr. Jacques Vallee and Dr. Allen Hynek.

Keyhoe is the head of a very large UFO organization in the United States. In his book he tells of an episode that he says took place on July 1, 1954. A UFO was detected and tracked in the skies over New York State by operators at Griffiss Air Force Base, and they scrambled an F-94 "Starfire" jet plane in response. The pilot pursued the UFO, which he followed on his in-flight radar, operated by his flight companion. He saw a "gleaming disc-shaped machine" and "started to close in." Suddenly, as he approached, a "furnace-like" heat filled the cockpit, and the gasping pilot jettisoned the plane's canopy. "Stunned," he pressed the eject button, and as he floated to earth by parachute he watched the plane crash into a town below, killing four civilians and injuring five others. We are told the pilot later reported that a secondary effect was an astonishing "dazed" feeling that he could not explain.

The same four maps with "trade route" lines omitted. Note that any similarities have vanished.

Medical men at the air base said that the pilot was reacting to the sight of the jet crashing into the town. Keyhoe says he was told that the two flyers were "really muzzled" when they attempted to contact the families of those killed and injured in the crash. And an ominous note: "Even today, the AF report on the Walesville crash remains buried, classified secret." How reassuring it is when Keyhoe adds, "Several investigators believe this case indicates the aliens are not hostile. No attempt was made to injure the pilots after they bailed out." All the friendly aliens do, it seems, is set fire to aircraft over a town, causing the plane to fall and leave a trail of destruction and death.

The Vallee-Hynek book discusses this case as well. Vallee, a French aficionado of UFOs, played a role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a film whose title was invented by Dr. Hynek, formerly an astronomer of high caliber who began as a nonbeliever, then fell for the stories because of their very great number. Hynek is currently the leading proponent of "UFOlogy," but has consistently refused to debate skeptic Philip J. Klass either on TV or in person to search out the truth about flying saucers. Lecturing without opposition, he is a compelling speaker. We may never discover how he would fare against an informed opponent.

And what do Vallee and Hynek say about this enthralling case in their book? They present an even more astonishing account. When Hynek tells Vallee that the crash was attributed to "mechanical malfunction," he is rebuffed for this mundane explanation and told that the malfunction was "caused by a UFO." Two jets, we are assured, were sent up to find the UFO, one sighted it, and then came the "heat wave" that caused the airmen to eject from the aircraft. The next day the New York