UFO WAVES: an INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos FOTOCAT Project [email protected]
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UFO WAVES: AN INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos FOTOCAT Project [email protected] Introduction In the study of UFO phenomena there are several topics that emerge as key issues for the understanding and potential resolution of this worldwide enigma. The subject of UFO waves and UFO flaps is, evidently, one of these. Compiling bibliographies of research items has been a recurrent interest in my investigative life (1-7), as I have always thought that, as in mainstream science disciplines, progress is linked to the knowledge of prior work in the field. Those who ignore what their senior colleagues have produced on a given matter waste time duplicating past efforts or are unable to build upon previous finds. Over the years, the field of ufology has produced many authoritative bibliographies. With a few exceptions, these are general lists of literature, sometimes annotated, but usually not organized by topic (8-28). Nevertheless, these assist the researcher and represent an academic advancement. As I am committed to the concept of achieving a synthesis of knowledge in some of the main areas of the study of UFOs (29), I think a more pragmatic approach is to design a series of very specific, subject-focused bibliographies. As a practical example, I have combed through my files to create a thorough bibliography of articles and papers related to the mystery of UFO waves, those periods when UFO reporting increases noticeably and suddenly with respect to average historical records. I have been assisted by a number of top scholars who have contributed references, actual materials, pdfs and online links to create what is intended to be a comprehensive list of the literature on this subject published all over the world. It is a fact that, over the years, different UFO researchers have been working in the same areas without each other’s knowledge, sharing common interests, motivations and objectives. One example is Edoardo Russo, leader of the Italian Center for UFO Studies (CISU), who compiled a rather extensive bibliography on this same theme in 2005. Mr. Russo has been very generous in ceding all the data he collected to the current bibliography. Another researcher that has kept a meticulous thematic register of UFO papers is French scholar Claude Maugé. Thanks to his open collaboration, I have consolidated his records into the present bibliography as well. The material here presented ranges from initial ideas and informal conjectures to articulated statistical work and formal studies on the shaping and development of waves and their relation to external factors, and on the existence of any periodicity or temporal 1 pattern within. Major books and monographs focusing on specific wave periods all over the world have also been included. I have listed the bibliography by chronological order of publication. By doing so, I want to give a sense of history of the progress of ufology, adding a temporal flavor to it: who first stated this or discovered that. There is one aspect I have purposely avoided in this compendium. That is the robust research conducted to prove or disprove the relationship between the rise of UFO reports and geophysical variables such as faults (first suggested in France by Fernand Lagarde) or seismic activity, the so-called Tectonic Strain Hypothesis (first proposed in Canada by Dr. Michael A. Persinger). Although these factors might also influence levels of UFO reporting (i.e. waves), I have excluded the ample existing literature on the basis that this distinct line of inquiry in the field of geophysics merits a systematic bibliography of its own. The literature of sociology and popular culture amply covers episodes of mass delusion, war fears, short-term collective hysteria and the like. I have excluded these related topics from the present bibliography unless there is a direct relationship to alleged accounts of the apparition of unusual aerial vessels, flying machines or aircraft. I have also excluded any articles proposing, investigating or refuting the theory of “orthoteny.” Although those alignments were first discovered in data of the 1954 wave in France, similar straight-line patterns have claimed to be found elsewhere. Whether this is simply a pure statistical artifact or not, it cannot be considered relevant to flap periods. This bibliography is not an end in itself. My main goal is to encourage UFO students in academia to analyze the problem of these reporting surges with a view to interpreting and modelling the underlying mechanisms that generate them. The response to this question will enlighten us as to the nature of UFO phenomena. To this purpose, I have striven to facilitate, when existing or known to this compiler, online sources where the reader can consult or download the actual essays. I have also indicated with a ℗ sign when the author owns the paper in a .pdf format. For a number of books and monographs I have provided publisher information. Moreover, when I have found a given book (at least temporarily) available from Amazon, I have added the proper link. Likewise, when a work is devoted to a very particular wave and the title does not disclose its timeframe, I have included the wave date in brackets, following the item’s heading. Selection has proved to be tough when deciding between countless magazine or journal articles devoted to episodes from UFO wave periods, or when having to extract material from others’ input. Especially when many articles are written discussing a wave on either skeptical or believer grounds (e.g. the 1989-1992 wave in Belgium.) The basic premise in order to allocate a reference here is that it has to give quantified data on a flap, an overview of a wave (start, unfolding and termination) or an insight into causes and antecedents to its 2 development, not merely a series of stories and anecdotes or case studies. This has proved difficult to ascertain when the actual article is not at hand to read so I followed the principle that too much is better than too little. If there are items not fulfilling such requirements, any new edition will clean them up. The bottom line in selecting an optimal item is that it is crucial for the understanding of a given UFO wave, as well as any work that investigates the statistics of a wave, or sets forth any theory on periodicities or cycles discovered within a longer period where several waves have occurred. An important single contribution is the outstanding work performed by researcher Loren E. Gross with his series of UFOs: A History monographs compiled from 1971 to 2005, with case reports from all over the world encompassing the 1896-1963 period along with ~100 booklets with some 11,000 pages of case material. This bibliography will include references to his massive work for the early waves up to 1957. I am inviting fellow researchers to report any mistakes and to supply any references I may have missed. I am also requesting readers to provide any links to works already included here that are available on the internet. Finally, I would appreciate any contributions of pdfs of essays (already cited or new), in order to complement an archive that before long will be shared with everybody through a dropbox-type system. The present compilation also attempts to correct two major flaws detected in the evolution of the literature on this subject. To this effect, it is aimed at: (1) Highlighting the importance of much research work made in Europe in the early decades of UFO publications, which were neglected or ignored by English-speaking ufologists, and, therefore, never verified, tested or improved. (2) Calling for an intelligent synthesis that firstly summarizes all finds and secondly concentrates the accumulated knowledge of this problem so far, which is a much-needed step before we can carry out a global analysis of the underlying causes of the wave phenomenon. To this objective, and after this publication, I will encourage the formation of an ad hoc taskforce of volunteers to study the collected materials, which will be the object of a separate communication. Finally, this essay serves to pay a heartfelt tribute to the pioneering and painstaking work carried out by many scholars, some of them unheard by later generations. Chronological Bibliography on UFO Waves ℗ Anonymous, “Air Ships.” [1896-1897] Popular Astronomy, Vol. 5, No. 1, May 1897, pages 54-55. ℗ Rudolph Umland, “Phantom Airships of the Nineties.” [1896-1897] Prairie Schooner, Vol. 12, winter 1938, pages 247-260. 3 L.H. Truettner & A.B. Deyarmond, “Unidentified Aerial Objects. Project Sign,” Technical Report No. F-TR-2274-IA, USAF Air Materiel Command (AMC) Intelligence Department, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, February 1949, including Appendix C by G.E. Valley (pages 19-26) and Appendix D by J.E. Lipp (pages 27-35), http://www.nicap.org/docs/SignRptFeb1949.pdf ℗ H.W. Smith & G.W. Towles, “Unidentified Flying Objects. Project Grudge,” Technical Report No. 102-AC-49/15-100, USAF Air Materiel Command (AMC) Intelligence Department, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, August 1949. Oscar Rey Brea, “OVNIS. Sobre su existencia, posible realidad, procedencia y características aparentes.” Unpublished manuscript, 1950. ℗ Personal communication to José-Tomás Ramírez y Barberó, April 14, 1974, Stendek, No. 35, March 1979, pages 44-45 & 49. Also: UFO Press, No. 13, October 1979, pages 30 & 35, http://es.scribd.com/doc/169549523/Ufopress-13-Octubre-1979-Ocr United States Air Force Projects Grudge & Bluebook Reports 1-12 (1951-1953), NICAP, Washington, D.C., 1968, http://www.nicap.org/docs/pbb/nicap_pbr1-12_srch.pdf ℗ Lonzo Dove, “The Mars Explosions and the Flying Saucers.” Space Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, July 1953, page 3. ℗ Quoted in Gray Barker, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, University Books, New York, 1956, pages 87-88 & 224-225.