Chariots of the Gods (17 page)

Thus the Lockheed Company which makes Starfighters and the famous Mayo Clinic co-operated to develop a new system of nursing based on computer techniques. The designers of North American Aviation, following suggestions by the medical profession, are working on an "emphysema belt", which is intended to make it easier for patients with lung trouble to breathe. The NASA space authorities produced the idea for this diagnostic apparatus. The apparatus, actually conceived to measure the impact of micro-meteorites on space-ships, registers minute muscular spasms in certain nervous diseases.

'Another life-saving by-product of American computer technology was the "pacemaker". Today more than 2,000 Germans live with one of these apparatuses in their chests.

It is a battery-driven mini-generator which is introduced under the skin. From it the doctors insert a connecting cable through the superior vena cava to the right auricle of the heart. The heart is then stimulated to rhythmical movements by regular surges of current. It beats. When the battery of the "heart machine" is burnt out after three years, it can be changed by a comparatively simple operation.

'General Electric, the American concern, improved this little miracle of medical technology last year when it developed a two-speed model. If the wearer of this "pacemaker" wants to play tennis or run to catch a train, he simply moves a bar magnet up and down for a moment over the spot where his built-in generator is located. His heart promptly works at a higher speed.'

So much for the report in Der Stern. Two more examples of by-products of space-research. Who still has the nerve to say that it is useless?

Under the headline 'Stimulus from Moon Rockets', the newspaper Die Zeit contained the following report in its edition No. 47 of November 1967:

'The designs of space vehicles developed for soft landings on the moon have an interim interest for automobile manufacturers, for the knowledge of how such designs behave under conditions which cause their destruction can be appreciably increased. Even though it will not be possible to make cars safe for the passengers against all kinds of collisions, the designs used with most success in space travel can help to diminish the risk when collisions occur. "Honey-comb" sheets which are being used more and more in modern aircraft construction, guarantee high tensile strength with little weight. They have also been practically tested in automobile manufacture. The floor of the experimental gas-turbine-driven Rover car is made of "honey-combs".'

Anyone who knows the present state of research and the impetuous way in which it develops can no longer tolerate sayings such as 'It will never be possible to travel from one star to another'. The younger generation of our day will see this 'impossibility' become reality. Gigantic space-ships with incredibly powerful motors will be built, as the Russians proved in 1967 when they succeeded in coupling two unmanned space-craft in the stratosphere. One sector of space research is already working on a kind of protective screen, like an electric arc, which is attached in front of the actual capsule and is intended to prevent or deflect the impact of particles. A group of distinguished physicists is trying to detect what are known as tachyons. As yet these are theoretical particles which are supposed to fly faster than light and whose lower speed limit is the speed of light. Scientists know that tachyons must exist; it is now 'only' a question of providing physical proof of their existence. Yet such proofs have actually been produced for neutrinos and anti-matter! Finally I should like to ask the die-hard critics in the chorus of opponents of space travel: do they really believe that several thousands of probably the cleverest men of our time would waste their impassioned work on a pure Utopia or a trivial goal?

So let me tackle UFO's boldly, ignoring the risk of not being taken seriously. If I am not taken seriously, I can at least console myself with the knowledge that I am in distinguished company.

UFO's have been sighted in America and over the Philippines, in West Germany and over Mexico. Let us assume that 98 per cent of the people who claimed that they had seen UFO's actually saw ball lightning, weather balloons, strange cloud formations, new unknown types of aircraft or even odd effects of light and shade in the sky at twilight. Undoubtedly, too, many people were the victims of mass hysteria. They claimed to have seen something that simply was not there. And of course there were also the publicity-seekers who wanted to make capital out of their alleged observations and produce banner headlines for the press in the silly season. If we reject all the crackpots, liars, hysterics and sensation-mongers, there still remains a sizeable group of sober observers, including people whose jobs make them familiar with celestial phenomena. A simple housewife may have made the same mistake as a farmer in the Wild West. But when, for example, a sighting of UFO's is made by an experienced airline pilot, it is hard to dismiss it as humbug. For an airline pilot is familiar with mirages, ball lightning, weather balloons, etc. The reactions of all his senses, including his first-class vision, are regularly tested; he is not allowed to drink alcohol for some hours before take-off and during flights. And an airline pilot is hardly likely to talk nonsense, because he would lose his nice, well-paid job only too easily. Yet when not merely one airline pilot, but a whole group of pilots (including airforce men) tell the same story, we are bound to listen to it.

I myself do not know what UFO's are; I do not say that they have been proved to be flying objects belonging to unknown intelligences, although there could be little objection to such a supposition. Unfortunately I have never seen a UFO with my own eyes during my world-wide travels round the globe, but I can reproduce here some credible, authenticated accounts:

On 5 February, 1965, the American Department of Defense announced that the Special Division for UFO's had been instructed to investigate reports of two radar operators. On 29 January, 1965, these two men had made out two unidentified flying objects on their radar screen at the Naval Airfield in Maryland. These objects approached the airfield from the south at the enormous speed of 4,350 m.p.h. 30 miles above the airfield the objects made a sharp turn and quickly disappeared out of radar range.

On 3 May, 1964, various people at Canberra (Australia), including three meteorologists, observed a large shining flying object crossing the morning sky in a north-easterly direction. During an interrogation by delegates of NASA the eye-witnesses described how the 'thing' had tumbled about in a strange way and how a smaller object had rushed at the large one. The small object had given off a red glow and then been obliterated, while the large 'thing' had disappeared from view in a north-westerly direction. One of the meteorologists said resignedly: 'I've always ridiculed these UFO stories. What the hell am I going to say now?'

On 23 November, 1953, an unidentified flying object was picked up on the radar screen of the Kinross Air Base in Michigan. Flight Lieutenant R. Wilson, who happened to be on a training flight in an F-86 jet aircraft, was given permission to chase the 'thing'. The radar crew watched Wilson pursuing the unidentified object for 160 miles. Suddenly both flying bodies merged with one another on the radar screen. Radio calls to Lt Wilson were unanswered. During the next few days, the region in which the inexplicable event took place was combed for wreckage by search troops and nearby Lake Superior was examined for traces of oil. They found nothing. There was absolutely no trace of Flight Lt. Wilson and his machine!

On 13 September, 1965, shortly before one in the morning, Police Sergeant Eugene Bertrand came across a distracted woman at the wheel of her car in a by-pass at Exeter (New Hampshire, USA). The lady refused to drive on and claimed that a gigantic gleaming-red flying object had pursued her for 10 miles to Route 101 and then disappeared into the forest.

The policeman, an elderly level-headed man, thought the lady was a bit crazy, until he heard the same report from another patrol over his car radio. Speaking from headquarters, his colleague Gene Toland ordered him to return there at once. There a young man told him the same story as the lady had done; he too had sought refuge in the ditch from a glowing red object.

Rather unwillingly the men went on a car patrol, convinced that the whole silly story would have a rational explanation. They searched the district for two hours, then they set off on the return journey. They passed a field in which stood six horses that suddenly stampeded madly out of it. Almost simultaneously the region was bathed in glowing red light. 'There. Look there!' shouted a young policeman. Indeed, a fiery red object, which moved slowly and silently towards the observers, was floating above the trees. Bertrand excitedly informed his colleague Toland over the telephone that he had just seen the damned thing with his own eyes. Now the farm near the road and the neighbouring hill were also bathed in glowing red light. A second police car screeched to a halt next to the men.

'God damn it!' stuttered Dave, 'I heard you and Toland yelling to each other over the radio. I thought you'd gone crazy. But just look at that!'

Fifty-eight qualified eye-witnesses came forward during the investigation of the mysterious incident that was subsequently carried out. They included meteorologists and members of the Coast Guard, in other words men who as reliable observers were scarcely likely not to be able to tell a weather balloon from a helicopter, or a falling satellite from the navigation lights of an aircraft. The report contained factual statements, but did not give any explanation of the unidentified flying object.

On 5 May, 1967, the Mayor of Marliens in the Cote d'Or, Monsieur Malliotte, discovered a strange hole in a field of clover 680 yards from the road. He found traces of a circle with a diameter of 15 1/2 ft and a depth of 1 ft. Deep furrows 4 inches deep ran out in all directions from this circle. They gave the impression that a heavy metal grating had been pressed into the ground. At the end of the furrows there were holes 1 ft 2 in. deep, which might have been impressed in the soil by 'feet' at the end of the metal grating. An exceptionally curious feature was the violet-white dust which was deposited in the furrows and holes. I have inspected this place near Marliens personally. Ghosts could not have left those traces!

What are we to make of this account? It is depressing what many people—and sometimes whole occult societies— make out of their ostensible observations. They only blur our view of reality and deter serious scholars from dealing with verified phenomena because they are afraid of exposing themselves to ridicule.

On 6 November, 1967, during a transmission by German Television 2 on the subject 'Invasion from the Cosmos?', the captain of a Lufthansa aircraft told of an incident of which he and four members of the crew were eye-witnesses. On 15 February, 1967, about ten to fifteen minutes before landing in San Francisco, they saw close to their own machine a flying object with a diameter of about 33 ft that shone dazzlingly and flew alongside them for some time. They sent their observations to the University of Colorado which for want of a better explanation surmised that the flying object was part of a previously launched rocket falling to the ground. The pilot explained that with over a million miles of flying experience he was as unable as his colleagues to believe that a falling piece of metal could stay in the air for a quarter of an hour, have such dimensions and fly alongside an aircraft; he believed this explanation even less since this unidentified flying object had been observable from the ground for nearly three-quarters of an hour. The German pilot certainly did not give the impression of being a visionary.

Two reports from Die Suddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, for 21 and 23 November, 1967:

'Belgrade (from our own correspondent)

'Unidentified flying objects (UFO's) have been sighted over various districts of south-east Europe during the last few days At the weekend an amateur astronomer photographed three of these gleaming celestial objects at Agram. But while the experts were still giving their opinions of this photograph that was splashed across several columns of the Yugoslavian papers, more UFO's have already been reported from the mountainous region of Montenegro, where they were even supposed to have caused several forest fires. These accounts come mainly from the village of Ivangrad where the inhabitants swear black and blue that they have observed strange brightly illuminated heavenly bodies every evening during the last few days. The authorities confirm that several forest fires have occurred in this district but so far cannot explain what started them.'

'Sofia (UPI)

'A UFO has appeared over the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. According to the report of the Bulgarian News Agency BTA, the UFO could be recognised with the naked eye. BTA says that the flying body was "bigger than the sun's disc and later took the shape of a trapeze". The flying body is supposed to have emitted powerful rays. It was also observed by telescope in Sofia. A scientific collaborator of the Bulgarian Institute for Hydrology and Meteorology said that the flying body apparently moved under its own power. It was flying about 18 miles above the earth.'

People block the road to serious research by boundless stupidity. There are 'contact men' who claim to be in communication with extraterrestrial beings; there are groups who develop fanciful religious ideas from hitherto unexplained phenomena or build cranky philosophies of life from them or even claim to have received orders for the salvation of mankind from UFO crews. Among the religious fanatics, the Egyptian 'UFO angel' naturally comes from Mohammed, the Asiatic one from Buddha and the Christian one directly from Jesus.

At the 7th International World Congress of UFO Investigators, in the autumn of 1967, Professor Hermann Oberth, the man known as 'the father of space travel' and the teacher of Wernher von Braun, said that UFO's were still 'an extra-scientific problem'; but, said Oberth, UFO's were probably 'space-ships from unknown worlds' and to use his own words: 'Obviously the beings who man and fly them are far ahead of us culturally, and if we go about things properly we can learn a lot from them.' Oberth, who accurately predicted rocket development on earth, suspects that the prerequisites for abiogenesis exist on other planets in the solar system. Oberth, a research scientist himself, demands that serious scientists, too, should tackle problems that may seem fantastic at first. 'Scholars behave like stuffed geese who refuse to digest anything else. They simply reject new ideas as nonsense.'