Electromagnetic Effects and Car Engines

I was doing some work for my book, The Government UFO Files, which is a cheap way to give it a plug and I noticed that I had included a sighting from November 23, 1957 made by an Air Force officer that included electro-magnetic effects. Given the discussions from the past several days, this case becomes relevant.

According to the story told by First Lieutenant Joseph F. Long, a pilot with the 321^st Fighter-Inceptor Squadron, he was near Tonopah, Nevada when his car engine stalled. He reported:

… Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful, and SOURCE [Long] got out of his car to investigate the trouble. Outside the car he heard a steady high-pitched whining noise which drew his attention to four (4) disc-shaped objects that were sitting on the ground about 300 – 400 yards to the right of the highway. These objects were totally unlike anything he had ever seen, and he attempted to get closer for a better look at them. He walked for several minutes until he was to within approximately fifty (50) feet from the nearest object. The objects appeared identical and about fifty (50) feet in diameter. They were disc-shaped, emitting their own source of light which caused them to blow brightly. They were equipped with a translucent dome in the center of the top which was obviously not of the same material as the rest of the craft. The entire body of the objects emitted the light, they did not seem to be dark on the underside. They were equipped with three (3) landing gears each that appeared hemispherical in shape, about two (2) feet in diameter, and some dark material. Source estimated the height of the objects from the ground level to the top of the dome to be about ten (10) to fifteen (15) feet. The objects were equipped with a ring around the outside that was darker than the rest of the craft and was apparently rotating. When SOURCE got to within fifty (50) feet of the nearest object, the hum, which had been steady the air over since he first observed the objects, increased in pitch to a degree where it almost hurt his ears, and the objects lifted off the ground. The protruding gears were retracted immediately after take-off, the objects rose about fifty (50) feet into the air and proceeded slowly (about ten mph) to the north, across the highway, contoured over some small hills about half (½) mile away, and disappeared behind those hills. As the object passed directly over SOURCE, he observed no evidence of any smoke, exhaust, trail, heat, disturbance of the ground or terrain, or any visible outlines of landing gear doors, or any other outlines or openings on the bottom. The total time of the sighting lasted about (20) minutes. After the objects disappeared, SOURCE examined the place where he had first seen them on the ground. There was no evidence that any heat had been present, or that the ground had been disturbed in any other way than several very small impressions were very shallow and bowl-shaped, triangular in pattern (in equally sided triangles). SOURCE did not measure the distances between the impressions, but estimated it to be about eight (8) to ten (10) feet. After his investigation of the impressions, SOURCE returned to his car, and the engine started immediately and ran perfectly.

This is important simply because it was another example of someone reporting that the car stalled when the UFO was near, but that Long was able to restart it when the UFO was gone. Or, in other words, it didn’t spontaneously start. Long had to turn the key.

Yes, there is much more to this story, including a rather annoying assessment by Captain G. T. Gregory who was the chief of Project Blue Book at the time. He made the normal condescending statements about the witness because Long was a member of the Air Force Reserve. All that is laid out in The Government UFO Files.

As I say, I found this interesting because the car didn’t spontaneously start when the UFO disappeared. Long had to start it… which, of course, was the point of the post about Levelland.