Here’s
something I noticed as I was reviewing the sightings near Levelland, Texas on
November 2, 1957. There were many reports that vehicle engines stalled, lights
dimmed and radios filled with static at the close approach of the UFO. I’m not
going to argue numbers here, or point fingers at the lack of substantive
investigation, but comment only on one aspect of the case.
I
will note first that the Condon Committee investigation at the University of
Colorado, funded by the Air Force, attempted to learn something about these
sightings. In an experiment, they could find no way to suppress the electrical
energy of an engine that would allow it to restart when the suppression field,
whatever it might have been, was removed. Dimmed lights might brighten and static
filled radios might clear, but the engines would not restart automatically.
While
I’m not sure that their experiments or conclusions were based on good science,
I have noticed something in the reports. Here’s what one of the witnesses,
Newell Wright, a 19-year-old college student, reported about his encounter with
the UFO:
I was driving home from Lubbock on
state highway 116 [the same highway that Saucedo was on] at approximately 12:00
p.m. when the ammeter on my car jumped to complete discharge, then it returned
to normal and my motor started cutting out like it was out of gas. After it had
quit running, my lights went out. I got out of my car and tried in vain to find
the trouble…. It was at this time that I saw this object, I got back into my
car and tried to start it, but to no avail. After that I did nothing but stare
at this object until it disappeared about 5 minutes later. I then resumed trying to start my
car and succeeded with no more trouble than under normal circumstances.
And just so I’m not accused of taking
but a single example from these sightings and applying it to all of them, let
me say that Jim Wheeler said that when the UFO took off, his lights came back
on and he was able to start his car.
Ronald Martin, who also reported his
car engine stalled and his lights dimmed, suggested that when the UFO left, the
lights came on and his car engine started. But I’m not sure if that was
something spontaneous or if he meant that he could now start it himself.
In other reports it does seem as if the
cars started without any action by the witness once the UFO was gone. We have a
discrepancy here. In some reports, the witness said that the engine would not
start while the UFO was near but they were able to start it once the UFO was
gone. That was what I found intriguing about Wright’s and Wheeler’s accounts.
They reported they had to start their cars.
I wondered if the other witnesses, in
the course of talking about it, might have been misunderstood, meaning they too
started their cars… or if they had started them they hadn’t realized that they
had.
I don’t know if this is a big deal or
not. It was just something that I noticed that I hadn’t seen pointed out by
anyone else. The electrical systems were suppressed, the lights and the radios
worked fine when the UFO took off but the car needed to be started again, at
least according to some. Different electrical systems and different ways of
working. Maybe most of those who reported that the lights came on and the
engine started meant that they were able to start it. Maybe some of them didn’t
remember having to start it, only that it worked once the UFO was gone.
The solution here is simple. In
future cases like this, the investigators should make sure that the engine
started again without any action by the witness. Just a simple question to
clarify the situation. That might give us an insight into this.
