Thinking About a 1950 Flying Saucer

The story of this famous case is posted below.  The saucer is said to be 30 feet across from a quarter mile away.  I wondered.

In the picture above, I have marked a quarter mile away against buildings that are 66 feet across, more or less.  Trent's home does not look 60 feet across.  The tree in the background, at least 100 feet high, is much larger than the saucer in perspective.

Above is a water tower that is a quarter mile away.  It is close to 40 feet high, maybe larger. 

Below, is a magnified view.  You can barely see it.

Above is that same water tower a tenth of a mile away.

I measured with my car odometer.  That is the same electrical tower in the first picture.

Above is a billboard that is close to three tenths of a mile from this intersection,

as the crow flies.  Again, measured with my car odometer.

As I was waiting for a traffic light, a bi-plane flew over.  

I will guess it was at least 30 feet across, and not much more than a quarter-mile above me.

The image above is magnified.

Here is what the original looks like.  It is barely a dot.

So for the flying disc to have been 30 feet across, it could not have been a quarter mile away.  Maybe a tenth of a mile.  Which is close to two football fields away.

If it was 30 feet in diameter, then it couldn't have been much more that 8 feet high.

If the object were smaller, then it would be very much closer.  

So what was it - some skeptics think it may have been a barn lamp.

_____

Long Beach Independent

Long Beach, California

11 June 1950

page 9

Farmer Photographs Flying Saucers

McMINNVILLE, Ore., Jun. 10.  (INS). 

Leading McMinnville residents vouched tonight for the authenticity of two. photographs of a flying saucer taken by Paul Trent, 34-year-old farmer living near McMinnville.

Trent impressed newsmen with his integrity, and one Portland reporter wrote, "His word is reliable."

Trent took the pictures May 11 and finished the roll with other snapshots before having it developed. Even then, he said little about his photographs and only casually mentioned them to an acquaintance Wednesday.

"Kinda Scared"

When reporters asked why he had waited so long to tell about the pictures, Trent said: "I was kinda scared of it. You know, you hear so much talk about those things, and the government …"

He said he is loathe to have the publicity that is sure to result from publication of the pictures.

"I didn't believe all that tall about flying saucers before," he added. "But now I have an idea the army knows what they are."

The object in his pictures, "shot" from two angles, seems flat on the bottom with a superstructure. A  stem-like object sticks up from the middle.

Moving Slowly

Trent said his 28-year-old wife, Evelyn, first saw the-saucer slipping toward their home about 7:30

in the evening of May 11. She was in the back yard.

She called him, and he snatched his camera and took the picture.

He recalled:

"It was about 20 or 30 feet in diameter. It seemed to be both dark and silver.

"There wasn't any flame, and it was moving fairly slowly.

"Then I snapped the first picture. It moved a little to the left, and I moved to the right to take another picture.

"Then it seemed to pick up speed suddenly, and in no time at all it vanished out of sight."

Trent estimated that the object was about a fourth of a mile from him. He cannot estimate its altitude.

Felt a Wind

Neither he nor his wife heard a sound from it, he reported, "but my wife felt a wind from it."

Trent casually mentioned the pictures Wednesday in conversation with Frank Wortman, president of the First National Bank of McMinnville. Wortman and his brother, Ralph, took the pictures to the McMinnville newspaper, the Telephone-Register, which published them after talking with Mr. and Mrs. Trent.

Ralph Wortman declared that he is willing to sign an affidavit that "these people are telling the

truth."

He said:

"They've banked here at least 10 years, and I know they aren't the type to spoof anyone about a matter like this."

Trent's brother, Clayton, said:

"Paul doesn't know enough about photography to fake something like that"

Images of the Moon

My cell phone camera continues to give interesting "interpretations" of objects.  In the two pictures below taken about an hour apart, the Moon was about half-full.  You could not tell it from the cell images.  It might as well be a flying saucer.  There is no reason for one image of the Moon to be large than the other, so this can only be an artifact of the brightness contrast against the sky.  An hour later and the Moon is much brighter against the darkening sky.

Cool 1975 UFO Article

Click on images to expand.

Plane Over Kentucky State Fair

This was taken 22 August 2012.

It is a strange effect with my cell phone giving a huge solar lens flare as the plane lands.

This one was taken on 18 August 2012 in an east Louisville parking lot.  In it, a plane's contrail is parallel to the solar lens flare.  A neat effect, even though it was accidental.

Below, I thought this had an Independence day effect coming through the clouds.  Also on 18 August 2012.

Balloon Sculptures at the 2012 Kentucky State Fair

These balloon sculptures are amazing.  Click and they should expand in high resolution in a new window.

UFO / IFO ?

Thursday, 16 August, a storm came up while we were at Target.  The lightning was very strange, almost 100% horizontal flashing from cloud to cloud.  The rain poured.  While waiting, I thought maybe I could take some lightning pictures.  The lightning was fast, I was slow.

However, in several shots, a series of lights that formed a sort of triangle appeared over and over.  Look at them, but I think i figured it out.

Above, three lights! 

There they are again! 

They are fainter here. 

Close up of one of them. 

They are gone.   

Less rain now, lights are gone. 

Just a wet parking lot. 

Is that a flying saucer reflected in the car?  

Maybe it's Saturn?

No, it's a very wet Target symbol reflected in the car window. 

So, once again, hopes were dashed.  No captured lightning, no flying saucers, just slow reflexes and a wet night.  Another day in the life of Chrispy.  :)

More Cloud Pictures

13 August 2012

Just a cool sunset picture.

15 August 2012

Just liked the way the sun shone behind these clouds.

17 August 2012
Nice formation of clouds.
A turkey vulture was flying, but it is so small it can't be seen here.

18 August 2012
The sun shining behind an interesting cloud pattern.

18 August 2012
The sun's flare merges with a jet contrail that makes a straight line.
It also illuminates some smaller clouds.

Half-Price Bookstore 18 August 2012

Today, found some cool books. The first is an historical review of the flying saucer legend.

Carl Sagan left us too soon. I couldn't pass up this book on The Dragons of Eden.

In addition found two Dark Horse Conan back issues and two Solomon Cane issues. I am not a huge Solomon Kane fan, but I do like the Two-Gun Bob cartoon strip in each issue.

Quick-Draw Chrispy: How Fast Can I Snap?

No, not Quickdraw McGraw. But I have been fixated on the sky lately. What is a flying sacuer flew by? Would I be quick enough to get it? If I did take a picture, could I see it? Evidence so far is that I am slow, but I make up for it by taking blurry photographs. Along the way, I had fun taking some cloud pictures.

Whoops.  This is the Moon.  It is an "IFO", but not the way I take pictures.

It is a blurry blob with my cell. 

"The Giant Just Plowed the Sky" 

These were pretty cool clouds.

"The Fingers of God"

Not quite a classic icon the way I took it, but it was still impressive in person. 

Nice fluffy clouds hanging out. 

"There Was Eight of Them Things, But I Only Shot Four"

These geese were coming in for a landing and headed right for me.

Eek!  They seemed to know what they were doing,

but after I stopped panicking, I managed to get the last four in formation.

There are two shadows below.   

This crazy "Red Baron" kind of plane flew over the park.  Bright red.

It was right over my head.

This blurry splotch is what my cell took.

So, all in all, if I had seen a real UFO, you would never have believed me.  

 Above 30 July 2012 about mid-day.  Sun behind cloud.

Thursday Evening 2 August 2012 a strange effect.

It appeared as if the clouds were fanning out like fingers. 

About 7:30 AM, a picture of the Moon.

6 August 2012, just a dot in the sky with the cell camera. 

This effect, about 8:30 PM Monday, 6 August 2012.

The sunset spreads fingers of light outward and toward the fluffy cloud.

Look close to the bottom right and you will see the Frisch's sign.