Eclipse of May 1947

I am still on an antiquarian jag. I am going through all the newspaper reports prior to Kenneth Arnold's sighting to get a feel for the esoteric news of the year. I don't know that anyone has brought up that there was an eclipse - something that aliens may or may not have been interested in. Earthlings sure were.

Below you will see powerful American organizations drag 75 tons of equipment up a Brazilian mountain after getting it through merciless jungle. They paid homage to relativity. Elsewhere native peoples went a little berserk in shock and paid homage to their cultural gods.

Which of these two groups performed in the most natural manner? Perhaps both.



The Miami News 20 May 1947 Page 3

Savages Fire Arrows In Sky To Save Sun

(Editor's Note: From the heart of the Brazilian jungle, thousands of miles from Rio de Janeiro, a special United Press correspondent reports the reaction of the savage natives to the solar eclipse.)

By Orlando Villasboas (United Press Staff Correspondent) On the Upper Xingu River. May 20.-

"Is the sun going to die?"

Terrified Xingu river savages of the Camiulas and Trumas tribes rushed to our camp with that question today as the sun passed into the shadow of the moon and a chill spread over the tropical jungle.

We had not told the Indians of the approaching eclipse and when the sun began to disappear the 200 tribesmen near here were frightened.

They ran to us with expressions of fear and mystification and pointed to the sky.

"Is the sun going to die?" they asked. "Let the sun live."

They then raced to the river's bank and tossed into the stream all the food they had cooked as a sacrifice to appease the gods.

Children and women seized ashes from the campfire and smeared them over their faces to propitiate the angry spirits.

Warriors grabbed their bows and shot arrows into the sky toward the sun.

Finally, as the eclipse passed totality and the light from the sun grew stronger the tribesmen sank back in relief – confident that their sacrifices had appeased the angry gods.

When the eclipse was over we tried to explain it to the Indians. But they would have none of it.

They said that a monster had attacked the sun and finally had been driven off. Others believed the sun had angered the gods but that the gods finally had decided not to kill it.

Eclipse Blacks Out Sun Across Brazil's Jungles U.S. Scientists Report Favorable Conditions Hope For New Facts From Phenomenon Bocayuva, Brazil, May 20. - (UP) -

The sun's total eclipse was observed today under virtually perfect conditions with the moon's passage across the sun's face throwing the semi-jungle land into darkness through which stars shone palely in the sky.

A quarter hour before the period of totality began scattered clouds moved out of the path of the sun, allowing scientists to make their observations with a minimum of atmospheric interruption.

The moon completely blacked out the sun at 9:34:8 a. m., exactly as scientists had forecast. At 9:38.6 a. m., totality ended as the moon completing its quick transit of the sun's rays, moved on and the sun's light again broke through to the earth.

Dr. Carl C. Kless of the National Bureau of Standards at Washington said that "our program of observations was carried out according to schedule. The skies were favorable. But we will not be able to say for some time what the results were."

Specially equipped planes circles overhead at 30,000 feet taking photographs of various phases of the eclipse and made a special attempt to photograph the shadow of the eclipse racing across the earth's surface.



Much U S. Equipment



Seventy United States scientists had set up 75 tons of equipment at Bocayuva, where long range predictions were for the best observation of the eclipse.

Scientists hoped to obtain supporting evidence for the Einstein theory of relativity, which holds that space is curved, and make new checks on the mysterious activities of cosmic rays.

The eclipse was charted to move from the Pacific coast of Chile southeastward across South America and over the Atlantic tothe African gold coast. A shadow about 104 miles wide was calculated, reaching total darkness in the Brazilian areas where observation parties took their posts.



Last Eclipse Until 1955



Exceptional scientific preparations were made because this was the last total eclipse until 1955.

The American expedition, largest of the 11 nations represented, was sponsored jointly by the U. S. army air forces, the National Geographic Society and the Bureau of Standards. Dr. Layman J. Briggs, chairman of the Geographic Society's research committee, head {sic} the group.

Bocayuva was chosen as the American observation point because weather records showed it to have exceptionally clear weather during late May. It is a town of 3,000 on the 2,172-foot high Matto Grosso plateau.

Great Old Magazine Articles

I just love looking at these old illustrated weird magazines.

How Fast Can You React to a UFO?

Or take a picture of a Biigfoot, or Crypto, or ? I had that chance today. I had to go tot he car, between our manufacturing buildings, and a propeller airplane was flying unusually low. I had seconds to think about it, and pulled my cell phone out. I clicked the photo button, aimed into the bright sunny sky, couldn't see a thing, and guessed. It was almost past me when I snapped the button. I thought, OK, no dice. Nothing. I missed my chance to take a picture of an IFO. Then I opened up the photos inside, when I could get my vision back (sun blinded for a minute) and this is what I got.

I had to think, point, click under uncomfortable rushed conditions, and in the end not too bad. I'm not so sure if it was a flying saucer I would have been so lucky.

Einstein Believed In Aliens !

Well, he did in early 1920. See below.

Carl Jung's 1958 Flying Saucer Declaration

I'm still in antiquarian flying saucer mode. Today I looked up newspaper references to Carl Jung's 1958 flying saucer declaration. It didn't go well for 83 year old Carl.

More research: Retraction! Apparently the news media and Dr. Jung didn't see eye-to-eye on his earlier quotes and he clarified things.

More Sun Pictures

Just for fun, I snapped these two morning pictures of the sun rise.

Another image from 25 July 2012 evening

A fascinating video of a UFO flying across the sun was allegedly taken in Mexico. The video has subsequently been pulled down. However screen captures were taken before it was too late. Was it a UFO, a flying saucer, or a cloud? Don't know. Here is the brief analysis I did. Original Image:

Inverted Colors:

Larger Size - note color of clouds and color of object very similar.

These are other images of clouds in front of the sun, chosen using Google Image Search for near-identical images.

Lenticular Clouds amazing saucer shaped.

It's hard to decide what this really is. Additional: I played with the contrast and got these:

The shadowing under the "flying saucer" could be an artifact of software.

I've been trying to figure out where the idea that flying discs and saucers between June and August 1947 turned into "alien space craft"? There is a spring 1948 initial issue of Fate that carried a story by Kenneth Arnold in which he first stated that flying saucers might be from outer space. But this may have been more significant:

I don't know.

Well that button says it all. I like Dr. Who, but it is Tom Baker's incarnation that I am most fascinated with. This button, I believe, came from membership in the short lived Whoiville Group when the local Louisville, Kentucky PBS sattion began to show the old shows. Whoiville rhymes with Louisville.

More Ancient Buttons

I believe these are from 1960 to 1964 and came from bubble gum machines. Certainly the Huck Hound for President and Kennedy-Johnson are. The Sputnik space dog was in reference to Sputnik II (1957) with the first living creature into space. Unfortunately the dog and the capsule disintegrated about four days later. The Beatles button is dated online at 1964 - their first American appearance was in February.

Kelly Kentucky 50th Anniversary of "Green Men" Invasion

There are lots of things laying around my home.

Tonight I came across these after being tucked in a box for a long time.  I didn't get to go to the 50th anniversary celebration of the Kelly, Kentucky Green Men Landing, but I got to meet the mayor of Hopkinsville that year (2005) at the Kentucky State Fair.  And I got to get these really cool buttons.

Later in 2005, I got to travel through Kelly, Kentucky and into Hopkinsville.  Kelly, Kentucky is some of the loneliest places I may have been to, and I've seen a lot of Kentucky and Indiana.  It was just grass and we drove by the area where the sighting took place, but there was nothing to see just a few really old houses.  As lonely as it is today, how much more so in 1955?

The real highlight was seeing the Trail of Tears Monument in Hopkinsville with many Native American tokens  left behind by visitors.

_____

Here is the original story of the Kelly Invasion.

Kentucky New Era, 22 August 1955

"Story of Space-Ship, 12 Little Men Probed Today"


Kelly Farmhouse Scene Of Alleged Raid By Strange Crew Last Night; Reports Say Bullets Failed To Affect Visitors


By Joe Dorris,  Kentucky New Era


All kinds of investigations were going on today in connection with the bizarre story of how a space-ship carrying 12 to 15 little men landed in the Kelly community early last night and battled occupants of a farmhouse.


Most official of the probes was reportedly being staged by the air force.


More than a dozen state, county, and city officers from Christian and Hopkins counties went to the scene between 11 p.m. and midnight and remained until after 2 a.m. without seeing anything either to prove or disprove the story about the ship and its occupants.


The farmhouse is located on the Old Madisonville Road about eight miles north of Hopkinsville. The property is occupied by Cecil (Lucky) Sutton, one of those who reported experiencing last night's phenomena.


There were some 10 or 12 persons at the house, including several children, but investigating officers were not able to determine exactly how many of those present actually clamed to have seen any of the little men from the space ship. Only other person who officers quoted directly was identified as Billy Ray Taylor. One account said Taylor is a visitor from Pennsylvania, which recently had a similar report of a space ship. Neither Sutton nor Taylor was at home when officers returned to the scene this morning.


The story broke around 11 o'clock last night when two cars, one bearing a Pennsylvania license drove up to Hopkinsville's police headquarters. Officers then at the station said the two autos contained at least five adults and several children. All appeared highly excited.


Spokesmen for the crowd told of how something resembling a space ship or flying saucer had landed at the back of their house near Kelly and 12 or 15 men, who appeared to be about 4 feet tall, had got out of ship and come up to the house and done battle with the occupants.


"We need help," one of the men said, "we've been fighting them for nearly four hours."


Four city police, Chief Russell Greenwell, T.C. Gross, Dorris Francis, and Gray Salter, drove to the scene to see about the "little men". By radio, contact was made with State Troopers R.N. Ferguson Jr. and G.W. Riley and Deputy Sheriff George Batts, all of whom joined the motorcade to Kelly in their own vehicles. Four MP's also went.


The radio discussions also brought two Hopkins County deputy sheriffs and at least three state troopers from the station at Madisonville.


First arrivers found the scene deserted. The two cars which had brought the report to Hopkinsville did not return to the Kelly farm until after officers had arrived and looked the situation over.


Officers reported they found no tracks of "little men," nor was there any mark indicating anything had landed at the described sport behind the house. There was a hole in the screen at the window through which occupants said a shot had been fired at one of the strange little men.


Both Chief Greenwell and Deputy Sheriff Batts said they got approximately this story from the still-terrified and excited Sutton and Taylor families:


About 7 p.m. one of the men went out of the house to get a bucket of water. He saw what looked like a flying saucer come over the trees and land in a field at a point about a city block behind the house. There was no explosion, only a semi-hissing sound, and the watcher returned to the house with the bucket of water.


A short time later somebody reported some little men with big heads and long arms were approaching the house. The men were described as having huge eyes and hands out of proportion to their small bodies. The visitors were wearing what looked to be metal plate.


The men got their guns, a shotgun for Sutton and a .22 caliber target pistol for Taylor. By and by, one of the little men pressed his face against the window and the shotgun was fired through the window. The face disappeared.


The men decided to go outside and see if the visitor had been hit. Taylor was in front and when he emerged from the front door, a huge hand reached down from the low roof above the door and grabbed him by the hair. He pulled away and the two men went on out of the house.


One of the strange little men was in a nearby tree, another on top of the house. A blast from Sutton's shotgun knocked another one of the men down but he did not appear hurt. He disappeared in the darkness.


Taylor reportedly opened fire on other member of the invading party, also with little effect. The battle went on for some time. When the occupants of the house saw their chance, they jumped into their cars and drove to Hopkinsville for help.


Deputy Sheriff Batts said the men told him that in all they fired up about four boxes of .22 pistol shells. The officer quoted a neighbor saying he heard shooting at the Suttons but distinguished only about four shots and mistook them for fire-crackers. Most of the officers remained at the site for more than two hours. During that period, there were approximately 25 person at the scene.


Only excitement during the period the officers were there came when an MP happened to step on a cat's tail while walking in the darkness near the house. The cat let out a squawl and for a few seconds there was much activity and scurrying around on the part of those present.


Two officers who returned to the Kelly area early this morning reported hearing that the "little men" had reappeared around the Sutton home about 3:30 a.m.


Other investigators who went to Kelly later during the morning said they were told Sutton and Taylor had gone to Evansville today.


Officers who visited the scene during last night's excitement were reluctant to express any opinion today in regard to the reported invasion of Kelly. All officials appeared to agree that there was no drinking involved.


Only outspoken comment came from Frank Dudas, city police desk sergeant, who was not on duty last night and has not visited the scene so far. He said, "I think the whole story is entirely possible."


Sergeant Dudas was one of two city policemen who reported seeing three flying saucers early one morning last summer. He said, "I know I saw them. If I saw them, the Kelly story certainly could be true."