Alternate Perceptions Magazine, August 2025
The Saucer Files
By Rick Hilberg
Advent of The Flying Saucers - 1960
March 4, 1960 - Iowa Pilot Tries to Film Disks. In a case which received quite a bit of publicity, a Dubuque pilot named Charles Morris shot 19 feet of color film of three large elliptical UFOs which he saw from his home.
He spotted them at about 5:55 on the day in question as they crossed the horizon from southwest to northwest over the city. According to Morris, they were about 200 feet in length, and at an altitude of 20,000 feet, flying in a perfect formation. The things were about 2,000 feet apart and traveling at a speed of something less than 200 mph.
The objects were thin on the leading edge, thick in the middle, and thin in back, just as one would expect saucers to be, according to Morris. He said that he saw them from the side, and they looked exactly like two dinner platters placed face to face.
The objects made no sound, left no vapor trail, and were very bright. The sighting was confirmed by two other Dubuque residents who spotted them just before 6:00 p.m. Their description of the objects tallies with that of Morris to a tee.
Unfortunately, when Morris had his movie film developed, it showed nothing. The film was shot against the light of the setting sun, washing everything out.
March 15, 1960 - Airline Crew Sights Object Over Virginia. An Eastern Airlines pilot named Earl W. Miles reported that he and his crew saw a mysterious object over Virginia at about that date. According to him it was also confirmed by two other air crews.
Said Miles, " The object was clearly visible, including the outline of its shape and certain details.
"The shape of the entire object was identified by all of us to be like the fuselage of a plane except many times larger than any plane we ever saw.
"From the back of the fuselage streamed a tremendous white flame that from our distance appeared to be a quarter of a mile long. "It had no wings, and there were no protrusions on the body that could keep it balanced or directed. "We estimated from what we know of flight speed that the thing was traveling in excess of 6,000 mph. It went across the sky, from the point of vision at the side of our plane where we picked it up, in about 50 seconds." Captain Miles added that such sightings were made frequently by experienced air crews, but that "information is evidently suppressed from the newspapers."
June 10, 1960 - "Flying Top" Frightens New York Witness. At about 9:00 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Casey of Port Jervis spotted a huge conical-shaped thing which they estimated to be the size of a house.
The couple watched it maneuver in the southern sky for about five minutes before it finally was lost to sight. The UFO was first seen by the couple as they were pulling out of their driveway. They described it as resembling a child's top and said that it was spinning.
It was, gray or black in color, and there was a flashing blue-green light glowing from the pointed bottom. It made no noise. About one quarter of the way down the side of the object, a band of red light encircled it. Mr. Casey said this band appeared incandescent and that it did not seem to be spinning with the rest of the object. When first sighted, the UFO was crossing the sky at high altitude. It passed the face of the moon at tremendous speed and then shot straight down to a point near the ground. It then circled for several seconds, as if observing something on the ground, and finally headed in the general direction of the Casey home. Mr. Casey and his wife became frightened at this point. However, the UFO changed course, went straight up at a rapid rate and flew out of sight. The couple mentioned that even their dog, which was with them in the car, noticed the object. When the thing came towards them, the dog's ears went up, and he watched it closely.
August 11, 1960 - Silvery UFO, EM Effects in Colorado. On August 12, a Boulder truck driver named Ray Hawks told reporters of a strange experience he had the previous afternoon. He said while operating a tractor alone in a canyon a few miles from Boulder, he heard what sounded like an explosion in the air. A strange object then dropped out of a cloud to a point about 400 or 500 feet from the ground and 600 yards away from him. It hovered in one place for 15 minutes. Hawks said that the craft was 45 to 50 feet in diameter and 10 to 15 feet thick. It had no markings. There was a sort of velvety appearance to it, with a silver sheen; yet it did not shine like aluminum. About two feet from the outer edge were five observable metal plates, one of which was sending out bluish smoke of some kind. There was an all-pervading noise, like the thrumming of a generator out of phase. While the craft was hovering nearby, the starter and other electrical equipment on the tractor would not work. After the UFO finally rose and disappeared into the clouds, the tractor again operated as usual.
August 13, 1960 - California Police Chase, Possible Radar Track. A huge object said to be at least the size of an airplane, emitting an extremely red beam of light ten feet or more across, was reported flying at low levels east of Corning. The UFO was first spotted by two highway patrolmen, who saw what first appeared to be a huge airliner dropping from the sky as if about to crash. The patrolmen quickly came to a stop in their patrol car and jumped out in order to get a better look. The two heard no noise at all, but they still assumed it was an aircraft with its engines off. Then, when the object was, within 100 to 200 feet off the ground, it suddenly reversed its direction, and rapidly gained altitude until it was at about 500 feet. The strange craft was surrounded with a glow causing it to appear oblong. There were lights at each end and on the sides, and at times white lights could be seen between the red ones. The startled officers called the nearest sheriff's office and also reported the sighting to the county radar base. According to the patrolmen, officials at the base said they were tracking an unidentified object on radar, but this fact couldn't be confirmed by the news media.
As the patrolmen continued to watch the object, it came directly toward their car on two occasions, each time sweeping the area with a huge red light. As the UFO came within a mile of the officers, they turned on the flashing red light of the patrol car, and it immediately went away from them. The officers said that the UFO used its red light to sweep the area six or seven different times. The object then started moving slowly toward the east, and they followed They were in their car for several miles, until reaching a fire station, at which time they saw a similar object approach the first one from the south. The second UFO moved close to the first, and the two remained stationary for a time.
After watching various aerial maneuvers for more than two hours, the men returned to the sheriff's office at Red Bluff, from where they started out. The officers stated they experienced static and radio interference every time the object came close to their patrol vehicle
