Operation Trojan Horse: The Classic Breakthrough Study of UFOs

by John A. Keel

  Patterns in the Phenomenon

  More than 10,000 clippings and reports reached me in 1966 (in contrast with the 1,060 reports allegedly received by the Air Force during that same period). I had checked out many of these cases personally and had become convinced of their validity. Throughout 1967, I devoted my spare time to sorting this great mass of material, categorizing it, and boiling it down into valid statistical form. It was an enormous job, and I had to do it alone. I threw out most of the “lights in the sky” types of reports and concentrated on the Type I cases. I obtained astronomical data on meteors, etc., for the year, and from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration I obtained information on all of the year’s rocket launches. By checking the UFO reports against this data, I was able to sift out the possible or probable misinterpretations that were bound to occur.

  My first interest was to uncover whatever patterns or cycles that might exist in the flap dates. I ended up with two files: one containing the Type I sightings (730 in all, or 7.3 percent of the total); and the other, the best of the Type II sightings (high-altitude objects performing in a controlled manner and distinct from normal aircraft and natural phenomena). There were 2,600 reports in the second group. Thus I was working with 33.3 percent of the total. (Radio and TV surveys that rule the industry work on a far smaller sampling, claiming that a survey of 1,500 TV viewers represents the viewing habits of the whole country.)

  As soon as I had organized the sightings by dates, the first significant pattern became apparent. This was that sightings tended to collect around specific days of the week. Wednesday had the greatest number of sightings, and these were usually reported between the hours of 8 to 11 P.M.

  Day Percentage of Total Reports

  Wednesday 20.5

  Thursday 17.5

  Friday 15.5

  Saturday 15.0

  Monday 13.5

  Sunday 11.0

  Tuesday 7.0

  Of the sampling used, .5 percent were not dated.

  If the UFO phenomenon had a purely psychological basis, then there should be more sightings on Saturday night when more people are out of doors, traveling to and from entertainments, etc. Instead we find that the greatest number of sightings are reported on Wednesday, and then they slowly taper off through the rest of week. The lowest number occurs on Tuesday. This inexplicable “Wednesday phenomenon” proved very valid and was repeated throughout 1967 and 1968. It was later found to be valid, with minor variations, in other countries.

  This does not mean that flying saucers are out in force every Wednesday night. But when there is a large flap, it nearly always takes place on Wednesday. The one notable exception is the flap of August 16, 1966, a Tuesday night, in which thousands of people in five states witnessed unusual aerial phenomena.

  By carefully studying the geographical locations of the reported sightings during these flaps, we came upon another puzzling factor. The reports seemed to cluster within the boundaries of specific states. For example, during the flap of August 16 there were hundreds of sightings in Arkansas. These seemed to be concentrated into two belts which ran the length of the state from north to south. Yet we did not receive a single report from the neighboring states of Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Louisiana that night. Minnesota and Wisconsin, both far to the north of Arkansas, participated in that same flap. But the majority of the sightings seemed to be concentrated in Minnesota, and the UFOs seemed to confine their activities within the political boundaries of that state, too. Random sightings were also reported in distant New Jersey that night, and a few sightings were reported in South Dakota, right on the border with Minnesota.

  Certainly if the UFOs were meteors or other natural phenomena, they would also be reported in adjoining states. Cross-state sightings are not as common as the skeptics would like to believe. In addition, the objects often linger for hours in one area. At Fort Smith, Arkansas, newsman John Garner took his KFSA microphone into the streets and broadcast a description of the strange multicolored lights that cavorted over the city for hours as great crowds of people watched. Another newsman, Ken Bock of KDRS, Paragould, Arkansas, did the same that night.

  In my studies of several other flaps I have discovered this same baffling geographical factor. If the UFOs are actually machines of some sort, their pilots seem to be familiar not only with our calendar but also with the political boundaries of our states. They not only concentrate their activities on Wednesday nights, they also carefully explore our states methodically from border to border.

  Does this sound like the work of Martians or extraterrestrial strangers? Or does it sound like the work of someone who is using our maps and our calendars and may, therefore, know a great deal about us, even though we know little about “them”?

  The skeptics try to explain away the published UFO stories by saying that a mass hysteria builds up in flap areas and that everyone starts seeing the things once a few reports have been published. This is patently untrue. Nearly all the published reports of flap dates appear on the same day. There is no time lag, no building up of reports. Random individuals in widely separated areas all apparently see unidentifiable objects on the same night and dutifully report their observations to their local police or newspapers, seldom realizing that anyone else has seen something that night. The next day the newspapers in several areas, or even several different states, carry the reports. The flap has come and gone in a single day. Even then, people reading the Arkansas Gazette never learn that other papers in other states have been filled with UFO accounts on that same day. Most UFO buffs, who depend upon one another and assorted friends for clippings, are never aware of the full extent of the flap. With the exception of the North American Newspaper Alliance, no news service assigns men to keep track of these things and tabulate them. So while an occasional sighting may be sent out by a wire service, data on the overall situation are simply not available.

  Anatomy of a Flap

  In March-April 1967, the published UFO sightings outstripped all previous years. I received more than 2,000 clippings and reports in March alone and was able to investigate many of them firsthand. Yet the major news media ignored this flap, perhaps because none of the editors realized it was happening. Instead of the mythical censorship so lovingly expounded in some cultist circles, we have a lack of communication and a complete lack of research. The indifference so long fostered by the official government position has resulted in a general indifference.

  The biggest flap in March 1967 occurred on Wednesday, March 8. Let’s review briefly some of the sightings reported on that day:

  1 Minnesota: “A strange object in the sky hovering around above our homes here is giving some of us folks the shivers. It’s becoming such a mysterious light or flying saucer that we can almost work our imaginations into seeing it land some green men from outer space into our backyard. The thing moves with a gliding motion with brilliant light and sometimes just hovering and sometimes moving with utmost speed. It appears each night at 8 o’clock and stays for about one hour before it fades away.” (Floodwood, Minnesota, Rural Forum, March 9, 1967.)

  2. Michigan: “Police said they received eight reports that a UFO hovered over Liggett School about 8 P.M. Wednesday.” The Air Force and Grosse Pointe Woods police were investigating reports of a “burning orange oval” that had been photographed by two persons that week. “There was definitely something out there,” said Major Raymond Nyls, Selfridge Air Force Base operations officer. “Too many people saw it.” (Detroit, Michigan, Free Press, March 11, 1967.)

  3. Oklahoma: At 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday night Mrs. Homer Smith stepped onto her back porch and “was astounded to see a twirling object with colored lights” going over Ninth Street headed south. She called her ten-year-old son, and he saw it, too. She said the UFO was traveling and twirling so fast that it was difficult to count the lights on it, but they were colored, and what she believed to be the rear of the ship had what looked like “spits of fire coming from it.” (Henryetta, Oklaho
ma, Daily Free Lance, March 19, 1967.)

  4. Arkansas: Mrs. Ned Warnock of Brinkley, Arkansas, viewed an object from her kitchen window that night. “It was a reddish orange,” she said. “And it changed to a silver-white color just before it took off. It was round and pretty large. It was real low but gained height and speed as it took off. It was moving too fast for a star.” She alerted her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Folkerts, and they also saw the object. (Clarendon, Arkansas, The Monroe County Sun, March 16, 1967.)

  5. Maryland: Two residents and a police officer observed an object that appeared circular, with “a shiny gold bottom.” When it hovered, the top glowed red. It flew an oval-shaped path, going back and forth from Fort Meade to Laurel three times before taking off. (Laurel, Maryland, Prince George’s County News, March 16, 1967.)

  6. Montana: Mr. Richard Haagland of Stevensville, Montana, reported to the Missoula County sheriff’s office that he had seen a circular flying object which “dropped three balls of fire before disappearing at 8:20 P.M. Wednesday night.” (Missoula, Montana, Missoulian-Sentinel, March 9, 1967.)

  7. Montana: “Many people have seen unidentified flying objects in the Ekalaka, Lame Jones, and Willard areas. The report is that they seem to hover about a mile from the ground, ‘fly’ up and down, or in any direction that seems to pleasure them. They are lit up with red and green lights and are apt to be seen in the early night.

  “The report to the Times office by Mrs. Harry Hanson of Willard relates that Stanley Ketchum has seen them at what seems to be a closer range than most, and any attempt at trying to get close to them makes them literally disappear into thin air.” (Baker, Montana, Fallon County Times, March 9, 1967.)

  8. Missouri: Mr. J. Sloan Muir of Caledonia, Missouri, observed a flashing light from his kitchen window at 7:15 P.M. last Wednesday and called his wife. They said it was “a shiny, metal, oblong globe, shaped something like a watermelon. Around the perimeter were many beautiful multicolored lights-green and red mostly, but also white, blue, and yellow, running into orange.” They estimated that it was about 35 feet long and said they watched it for fifteen or twenty minutes before it flew out of sight. (Bardstown, Kentucky, Kentucky Standard, March 16, 1967.)

  9. Missouri: “In the past two-and-one-half weeks 75 to 100 persons have reported sightings in the Osage Beach and Linn Creek areas.” (Versailles, Missouri, Versailles Leader-Statesman, March 16, 1967.)

  10. Missouri: Mrs. Phyllis Rowles of Bunceton, Missouri, reported seeing a multicolored object at 8 P.M., Wednesday. She described it as having flashing blue, green and white lights. It hovered for two hours, moving in an up-and-down motion. Many others in the area had similar sightings, including Leo Case, a newsman for station KRMS. (Boonville, Missouri, Daily News, March 9, 1967.)

  11. Illinois: Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie Davis were driving on Route 30 around noon when “they saw a beam of light come from a wide-open area south of them.” They stopped and observed a strange object for three or four minutes. “It was very brilliant,” Mrs. Davis said. “And cast a red and blue color. It was circle-shaped. It seemed to come toward us but gained height until it went in back of a small cloud. We watched for about ten minutes more, but it never appeared again.”

  Ronald Kolberg of Aurora, Illinois, said he and other residents of his neighborhood “have noticed an unusual light in the sky west of their area every night for a few months.” (Aurora, Illinois, Beacon-News, March 9, 1967.)

  12. Illinois: Several witnesses in Pontiac, Illinois, reported sightings to the state police on Wednesday. They said a white light flashed occasionally with a less frequent red light and a periodic green light. The object appeared between 10 P.M. and midnight and moved up and down slowly. “More than a dozen people have seen the object this week.” (Pontiac, Illinois, Leader, March 10, 1967.)

  13. Illinois: Knox County Deputy Sheriff Frank Courson and twenty other persons watched a pulsating white and red circular object for several hours on Wednesday night. The object resembled an upside-down bowl and appeared to be about 2,000 feet off the ground. Deputy Courson added that “a similar object crossed over his car Monday as he drove along Interstate 74 near Galesburg, Illinois, but he was scared to tell anyone about it then.”

  There were also reports of UFO sightings Wednesday night in Warren and Henry counties, west of Galesburg. (Associated Press story, widely circulated, March 10, 1967.)

  14. Illinois: State police and scores of others watched UFOs near Flanagan, Illinois, on Wednesday night. A state trooper named Kennedy said he had followed the object to U.S. 51 where he met two Woodford County deputies who had been watching it approach Minonk from the east. The object was a brilliant bluish-white and red. (Bloomington, Illinois, Pantagraph, March 10, 1967.)

  15. Illinois: “Flying saucer reports, one of them from a veteran policeman and pilot, flooded the Knox County sheriff’s office in Galesburg Thursday. Dozens of similar reports poured into police departments in Moline, Illinois.” (Chicago, Illinois, News, March 9, 1967.)

  16. Iowa: “On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights of last week unidentified flying objects were reported by several persons… including Dr. and Mrs. W.G. Tietz, Connie Dagit and her younger brother, Jack Chadwick, and John Kiwala. The UFOs west of Eldora were all reported at approximately the same time nightly, at about 8:30 P.M. UFOs have also been reported in the Steamboat Rock area.” (Eldora, Iowa, Herald-Ledger, March 14, 1967.)

  17. Iowa: A “saucer-shaped blue light” was observed Wednesday night hovering above Dam 18 north of Burlington, Iowa. Deputy Sheriff Homer Dickson said he thought it might have been a “reflection of a spotlight on the ice.” “Wednesday’s sighting was the latest of several reported in the Burlington area the past two weeks.” (Burlington, Iowa, newspaper. Name obliterated. March 9, 1967.)

  18. Iowa: Mrs. L. E. Koppenhaver reported seeing “a big red ball” sailing over her house at 9:45 P.M., Wednesday. “You know how the setting sun gets a red glow on it?” she said. “Well, that was what this thing looked like. Only this object was very mobile, moving almost out of sight, the bright glow diminishing to a small light. I’ve seen satellites before, but this was nothing like them. It moved so fast and maneuvered so quickly.” Her father, Walter Engstrom, said he also saw the same object. (Boone, Iowa, News-Republican, March 10, 1967.)

  19. Kansas: Mr. Jake Jansonius of Prairie View, Kansas, was driving home about 10 P.M. Wednesday night “when the sky lit up and a bright blue object of some kind appeared.” While he was watching it, it shot straight up in the air, and half of it turned fiery red as “three blazing tails reached toward the ground.” It moved to the west and then dropped down, out of his line of vision. He drove a short distance when “the sky lit up poof in one big flash, and immediately ahead of me the saucer-shaped object began to spread apart-one half still blue, the other fiery red. As the distance widened between the two parts, a connecting band which appeared to be about one and a half feet thick formed, and while I watched, the object broke up and disappeared in a flash.” (Phillipsburg, Kansas, Review, March 16, 1967.)

  20. Kansas: Several police officers in Marion, Kansas, watched an unidentified flying object Wednesday night between 8:00 and 8:30 P.M. Marion police dispatcher Sterling Frame and others viewed it through binoculars and stated it changed color: red, green and yellow. “They all agree they saw it. There’s no question about that.” (Marion, Kansas, Marion County Record, March 9, 1967.)

  21. Kansas: “Around 9:00 Wednesday night, several Towanda youths were parked along the road northwest of town when they observed revolving red, white and blue lights flashing in the sky above the Wilson field in the vicinity of a city water well.” The boys fetched City Marshal Virgil Osborne, and he went with them to the area and viewed the lights himself. Osborne said, “The trees along the river were lighted up from the reflection as the mysterious object moved over them.” A line of cars led by Osborne followed the object as it continued its course without changing direction or altitude until it was out of sight.
(Whitewater, Kansas, Independent, March 9, 1967.)

  22. Kansas: Sheriff G. L. Sullivan and Police Chief Al Kisner watched a hovering object for more than an hour on Wednesday evening near Goodland, Kansas. They said the thing resembled a sphere from 12 to 14 feet long with an object attached to the bottom which appeared to be about 12 feet in diameter. There were three lights on it—red, green and amber.

  A Goodland policeman, Ron Weehunt, reported seeing an oval-shaped, domed object about fifty feet long that same evening. He said it flew over the city at moderate speed and appeared at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 feet. (Norton, Kansas, Telegram, March 14, 1967.)

  These twenty-two reports are a mere sampling, but they provide an idea of what happened on a single Wednesday night in March 1967. This was not an exceptional flap. It was, in fact, a rather ordinary one, and none of these incidents is of special interest. There were seventy-four flap dates in 1966, many of them much larger than that of March 8, 1967.

  The flap of March 8 seemed to be largely concentrated in the states of Kansas and Illinois. In fact, much of the UFO activity in recent years has been focused on the Midwestern states. Until the fall of 1967, a simple pattern seems to have emerged: less densely populated areas had a higher ratio of sightings than heavily populated sections. The Air Force discovered this odd fact back in the late 1940s. If this were a purely psychological phenomenon, then there should be more reports in the more densely populated areas. Instead, the reverse has been true. The objects still apparently prefer remote sectors such as hill country, deserts, forested areas, swamplands, and places where the risk of being observed is the least. As you will note from the sample cases mentioned previously, the majority of the sightings were made between 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. But throughout rural America, most of the population is at home and planted in front of the TV sets at that hour, particularly on weekday nights. In other studies we have determined that the majority of the reported landings occur very late at night in very isolated locales, where the chances of being observed are very slight. In most farming areas, the people are early risers, and therefore most of the population is in bed before 10 P.M. It is after 10 P.M. that the unidentified flying objects cut loose. When they do happen to be observed on the ground, it is either by accident or design. And usually they take off the moment they have been discovered, or they inexplicably disappear into thin air!