Kelly-Hopkinsville becomes a "cold case"; then an unexpected letter gets Dr. Hynek involved in the investigation...
It took nearly a year for Dr. Hynek to
become involved in the Kelly-Hopkinsville incident, and when he did it came
about in a manner that seemed both entirely random and yet entirely predestined.
By the
time of the events on the Sutton farm, Project Blue Book had settled into an
efficiently low-key operative mode, humming along beneath most everyone’s
radar. In part this was because, in 1953, the program had received what Captain
Ruppelt described as “a badly needed shot in the arm”[1]
with the formation of a new Air Force unit, the 4602nd Air
Intelligence Services Squadron (AISS). While this was far from its only
function, AISS was in a perfect position to be the eyes and ears of Blue Book:
With units stationed at bases throughout the country, AISS could send out
agents to conduct timely investigations of UFO sighting reports, screen out the
unreliable cases and then send the “important” cases on to Blue Book for
further investigation.
On
paper, it was a brilliant approach: it ensured that more UFO reports could be
investigated while the trail was still fresh, it gave the AISS agents unique
opportunities to hone their investigative skills, and it enabled Blue Book to
concentrate on cases of scientific significance. In practice, however, it meant
that decisions about which cases to investigate were being made by officers
completely unfamiliar with the UFO phenomenon, and it meant that “Blue Book
slowly became more and more irrelevant”[2] as
fewer cases came its way.
It
was the perfect set-up for Air Force Intelligence to intercept the very best
UFO cases before they ever reached Project Blue Book.
By
March, 1954, Lt. Olsson was gone and Captain Ruppelt, finally retired from the
Air Force, was working on a book about his experiences as project chief of
Project Blue Book. Captain Charles A. Hardin, the new project chief, was
particularly adroit at maintaining a low profile, and he impressed no one with
his approach to Project Blue Book. Ruppelt’s impression was that Hardin was
anti-UFO, stating that “They bore him.”[3] Hynek’s
take on Hardin was similarly dismissive: “(he) had ambitions to be a
stockbroker.”
Hynek
grew comfortable with the slower pace, however, and enjoyed his regular visits
to the Blue Book offices. “I knew all of these men quite well, lunching with
them regularly on my visits to Dayton, sometimes at the Officers’ Club and
sometimes at nearby restaurants,” he recalled. “Occasionally, when one of the
junior officers or a secretary had a birthday, I joined in celebrating it with
a longer lunch than usual. But I knew my place; I was a consultant, not a
director or policy setter.”[4]
Hynek
was in no hurry. “I bided my time,” he said of this interlude. “Meanwhile, my
attitude continued to change.”
“As
time went on and reports accumulated, so that my data base was far more
extensive than it had been in the Project Sign days, I came to realize that
inherent in the better UFO reports there was much more than ‘fooled the eye or
deluded the fool.’ There was a phenomenon consisting of new empirical
observations that demanded far more attention that Blue Book was giving it.”[5]
During
this period of relative inactivity, and still several months before the
Kelly-Hopkinsville events, the Doctor received a letter from an admiring fan. “My
dear Dr. Hynek,” the April 17, 1955 letter began, “I have recently had the good
fortune to find your article, ‘Unusual
Aerial Phenomena’... It is such an unusual discussion of the subject of
‘flying saucers’ that I am prompted to write you about it.”
The
admirer, an amateur UFO investigator from New York City named Isabel L. Davis,
got right to the point: “Ever since 1947 I have been seriously disturbed by the
attitude that seems to prevail among scientists generally, the superficial
character of their investigation and criticism, and the tone of patronizing
mockery with which they tend to dismiss the reports. Your statement, ‘Ridicule
is not a part of the scientific method and the public should not be taught that
it is,’ expresses my feelings exactly.”[6]
Davis
had since 1950 been cataloguing UFO reports on her own, and she wanted to know
the exact dates and locations of ten of the cases Hynek had discussed in his
paper. Hynek, as the notes written in the margins of the letter reveal, handily
knew the details of each case; they had all occurred in the timeframe of
1951-1952, in locations from Jacksonville, Florida to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That Hynek was willing to share even a modicum of information from Blue Book
files with an amateur investigator suggests a growing comfort level with the
idea of operating ever so slightly outside the purview of the Air Force.
Clearly, Hynek
was impressed by Davis, whom he later described as, “one of the most sincere
and dedicated UFO investigators I have met.”[7]
She had immediately earned his trust, and their cordial professional
relationship would, in time, become crucial to the investigation of the
Kelly-Hopkinsville incident.
Before
the pieces could be assembled, however, another connection needed to be made,
and it would have to wait for several more months, when Hynek took on a
scientific project of national significance.
In
January, 1956, Hynek took a leave from his duties at The Ohio State University
to accept a position with the Smithsonian Institution Observatory at Harvard
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The new position (which we will examine
in detail in the next chapter) represented a giant leap in visibility and
prestige, and left Hynek, in his own words, “with very little time for UFO
investigations.”[8] Ironic, then, that in the
course of performing his new duties, Hynek had the occasion to hire a talented
electrical engineer from Hopkinsville, Kentucky named Andrew B. “Bud” Ledwith
III.
“Purely
fortuitous,”[9] was how Hynek described
the events that followed. Recognizing their mutual interest in the
Kelly-Hopkinsville incident, Ledwith shared his interview transcriptions and
composite sketches with Hynek, and by the following summer, Ledwith had
consented to share them with Isabel Davis as well.
Hynek’s
fascination with the case is evidenced by the amount of space he devoted to its
discussion in his books “The UFO
Experience” (1972) and “The Hynek UFO
Report” (1977). Even though Hynek described the case as one that “no sober
scientist would care to be caught within ten feet of,”[10] few
cases garnered as much attention from the him in one of his books, let alone
two, and it is worth looking at both passages in detail:
“The
Kelly-Hopkinsville case, if considered entirely apart from the total pattern of
UFO sightings, seems clearly preposterous, even to offend common sense,” Hynek
wrote in “The UFO Experience.” “The
latter, however, has not proved a sure guide in the past history of science.
Blue Book records on this event are sketchy, and little or no investigation was
conducted. Still, the case is carried in the Blue Book files as ‘Unidentified.’
That much it certainly is.”
“I
would not have given the Kelly-Hopkinsville case this much attention were it
not for the fact that I know the principle investigators, Ledwith and Davis, well,”
he went on, “particularly Ledwith, since he was in my direct employ for nearly two
years on the satellite tracking program.
“There
is an even greater reason: the ‘humanoids’ are themselves a prototype that has
occurred again and again throughout the years, going back, as (Dr. Jaques) Vallée
so convincingly points out in ‘Passport
to Magonia,’ to the myths and legends of many cultures. It is highly
improbable that the Suttons, ‘who did not have telephone, radio, television,
books, or much furniture,’ were aware of UFO lore and could have known that
many times in the past creatures like those they had delineated had been described.
The resemblance to the ‘little people’ described by many cultures is striking.
“We
are not, of course, justified in concluding that the Kelly creatures stemmed
from the imagination alone or, conversely, that the source of ancient legends
lies in the actual appearances of such creatures in the past or that real
humanoids were seen. As in other aspects of the entire UFO phenomenon, the call
is clearly for more study.
“The
Suttons themselves were convinced that they had had a real experience, a
pattern of reaction I have found consistently. Let the report of Isabel Davis
underscore this:
“‘Finally, the Suttons stuck to their story.
Stubbornly, angrily, they insisted they were telling the truth. Neither adults
nor children so much as hinted at the possibility of a lie or mistake – in
public or to relatives; there was no trace of retraction.’
“Davis
further remarks on the absence of ‘protective rationalization’ used by UFO
sighters, who, though personally convinced, wish to remain in the good graces
of their fellows by saying something such as, ‘Of course, it must have been an
airplane… I could have been mistaken’ – accompanying their disclaimers by an
embarrassed laugh or giggle. As she states:
“‘The Suttons seem never to have
been tempted to recant and get back in the good graces of society…Their costly
refusal to give an inch to skepticism may not prove anything about the truth of
their story, but it does tell us something about them.’”[11]
To Be Continued...
[1] The
Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, by Edward J. Ruppelt, Captain, USAF,
1956, Doubleday
[2] UFOS & Government, by Michael
Swords, Robert Powell, et al, 2012, Anomalist Books
[3] The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, by Jerome Clark, 1997, Visible Ink
Press
[4] The Hynek UFO Report, by Dr. J. Allen
Hynek, 1977, Dell
[5] Ibid.
[6] Letter
to Dr. J. Allen Hynek from Isabel L. Davis, dated April 17, 1955, from the
CUFOS collection
[7] The UFO Experience, by Dr. J. Allen
Hynek, 1972, Henry Regnery Company
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] “UFOs 1960” speech by J. A. Hynek to
Hypervelocity Impact Conference Banquet, on April 27, 1960, at Elgin Air Force
Base
[11] Ibid.
1 comment:
Dr. Hykes is a very great and talented author for some reasons. His books that mostly refuse to simplify anything contain constructive content all thorugh.
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