The Flying Saucer flap of the 1950s - Page 2

Phogg · 10-11-2015, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I believe in UFOs. I've seen several myself. The were flying objects I couldn't identify, so they were unidentified.

Were they launched towards you by a significant other after a particularly atrocious pun?

Not that I am looking for someone to commiserate with...

Byrdie · 10-11-2015, 07:49 PM

Behind the Flying Saucers, Frank Scully, 1950

Oh, I remember this one. Read and re-read it when I too was a pimply-faced adolescent, even tried to find other books on UFOs with that ship full of dead aliens story or even a hint of anything that might seem to confirm it. Of course I couldn't, but not for the reasons I've since discovered. Just that my small town library had few resources and my poor bewildered librarian didn't even know where to begin looking. This was way before the internet even existed and to most people computers were something seen only on Star Trek or a NASA launch. So I had to content myself with the various American tabloids my grandmother saved for me and try to piece together any sort of "clues" as to what was really going on because obviously there was a conspiracy to cover up aliens visiting Earth. A theory, I might add, seemed entirely validated when, about a year after I first read it, that book mysteriously disappeared from the library and I had been one of the extremely few people to ever check it out. (No, the library did not put it in a "discard" sale and dear Mrs. Davis could not find it anywhere. I'd returned it, nobody else had borrowed it after she'd checked it in but suddenly it wasn't even in the card catalogue. As if it hadn't ever been there, though both of us remembered it very well indeed. Talk about a mystery! Always wondered if there were other copies of it around somewhere or if a mysterious "they" had vanished every one. Now I know the truth (sorta ;-) is still out there. Maybe I'll go read it again sometime in honour of my misspent youth.

cromag · 10-11-2015, 08:58 PM

Yep, I read several of these UFO books when I was a kid. I also read some of Immanuel Velikovsky's works.

When you're a teenager, everything is a conspiracy.

Pulpmeister · 10-11-2015, 09:36 PM

About 1953 or 54 the "flying saucer" tag was dropped, replaced by "UFO". There was too much ridicule and too many jokes about flying crockery, flying teacups...

My only beef about the term UFO is that is three-quarters identified already as a "flying object".

The only time I ever saw something of the kind was out on the lonely Nullarbor Plain at night, driving from Perth to Adelaide. (Hazardous in its own right, due to fast-moving kangaroos!) I spotted out to my right a distant light. My first thought was, lonely homestead. After a while it dawned on me that the light was still out there, pacing me along the horizon. It took about five minutes to track it down to the tachometer instrument light bulb reflected in the driver's window. I could really make that UFO vanish and then reappear-- all I had to do was turn the dash lights off and on.

tubemonkey · 10-11-2015, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murg

It's just planet envy.

tubemonkey · 10-11-2015, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Neil deGrasse Tyson on UFOs (with a side on psychology).

A wise monkey knows where his conversation should stop; and I stop very early.

...and he demoted Pluto. Bad astrophysicist, bad.

Quote:

This reminds me of reading (years ago now) about this guy who claimed to be a survivor of a battle between hostile aliens and humans years ago. Yes Area 51 was part of his tale as well as underground bunkers where aliens were in hiding. He also claimed to have rocks that must have been brought by the aliens because the rocks contained chemical elements not known on Earth. The thing of it was he would never let any scientists analyze those rocks and the rocks disappeared on his death. The aliens must have managed to steal his evidence when he died because no one could find it.

Alien rocks, religious relics - no one wants their myths debunked, so they refuse independent examination. Gotta keep the believers happy.

tubemonkey · 10-11-2015, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phogg

Were they launched towards you by a significant other after a particularly atrocious pun?

Not that I am looking for someone to commiserate with...

Shhhsh...

Spoiler:

murg · 10-12-2015, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I believe in UFOs. I've seen several myself. The were flying objects I couldn't identify, so they were unidentified.

Were they flying wolves, by any chance?

Dulin's Books · 10-16-2015, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

...and he demoted Pluto. Bad astrophysicist, bad.

reminds me of a snippet i saw the other day on a site about "things you might have missed this week"

"NASA reported this week that Pluto has water ice on the surface and blue skies- but we're not talking about that because it's not a planet "

tubemonkey · 10-16-2015, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

reminds me of a snippet i saw the other day on a site about "things you might have missed this week"

"NASA reported this week that Pluto has water ice on the surface and blue skies- but we're not talking about that because it's not a planet "

tubemonkey · 10-16-2015, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murg

Were they flying wolves, by any chance?

Then they'd be identified, eh?

murg · 10-16-2015, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Then they'd be identified, eh?

Well, you did identify them as lycanthropes. I was just wondering if you could figure out the type...

tubemonkey · 10-16-2015, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murg

Well, you did identify them as lycanthropes. I was just wondering if you could figure out the type...

I did??? I don't remember that

theducks · 10-16-2015, 10:55 PM

I don't understand

Flying saucers can't flap,

They don't have wings

tubemonkey · 10-17-2015, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

I don't understand

Flying saucers can't flap,They don't have wings

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10-11-2015, 07:49 PM	#17
Byrdie Walking Library Posts: 253 Karma: 3869938 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H20, Kindle Paperwhite 5, 16 gb version	Behind the Flying Saucers, Frank Scully, 1950 Oh, I remember this one. Read and re-read it when I too was a pimply-faced adolescent, even tried to find other books on UFOs with that ship full of dead aliens story or even a hint of anything that might seem to confirm it. Of course I couldn't, but not for the reasons I've since discovered. Just that my small town library had few resources and my poor bewildered librarian didn't even know where to begin looking. This was way before the internet even existed and to most people computers were something seen only on Star Trek or a NASA launch. So I had to content myself with the various American tabloids my grandmother saved for me and try to piece together any sort of "clues" as to what was really going on because obviously there was a conspiracy to cover up aliens visiting Earth. A theory, I might add, seemed entirely validated when, about a year after I first read it, that book mysteriously disappeared from the library and I had been one of the extremely few people to ever check it out. (No, the library did not put it in a "discard" sale and dear Mrs. Davis could not find it anywhere. I'd returned it, nobody else had borrowed it after she'd checked it in but suddenly it wasn't even in the card catalogue. As if it hadn't ever been there, though both of us remembered it very well indeed. Talk about a mystery! Always wondered if there were other copies of it around somewhere or if a mysterious "they" had vanished every one. Now I know the truth (sorta ;-) is still out there. Maybe I'll go read it again sometime in honour of my misspent youth.

10-11-2015, 08:58 PM	#18
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 26,290 Karma: 459765791 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	Yep, I read several of these UFO books when I was a kid. I also read some of Immanuel Velikovsky's works. When you're a teenager, everything is a conspiracy.

10-11-2015, 09:36 PM	#19
Pulpmeister Wizard Posts: 2,822 Karma: 29145056 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Perth Western Australia Device: kindle	About 1953 or 54 the "flying saucer" tag was dropped, replaced by "UFO". There was too much ridicule and too many jokes about flying crockery, flying teacups... My only beef about the term UFO is that is three-quarters identified already as a "flying object". The only time I ever saw something of the kind was out on the lonely Nullarbor Plain at night, driving from Perth to Adelaide. (Hazardous in its own right, due to fast-moving kangaroos!) I spotted out to my right a distant light. My first thought was, lonely homestead. After a while it dawned on me that the light was still out there, pacing me along the horizon. It took about five minutes to track it down to the tachometer instrument light bulb reflected in the driver's window. I could really make that UFO vanish and then reappear-- all I had to do was turn the dash lights off and on.

10-16-2015, 10:55 PM	#29
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,056 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	I don't understand Flying saucers can't flap, They don't have wings