Actually, the "anti-UFO people" (with Hynek specifically mentioned) never claimed that ALL UFO activity was "swamp gas". Apparently Hynek had made the "swamp gas" comment about ONE sighting, and soon enough it got blown all out of context and soon everybody thought that Hynek, and by extension all UFO denialists, were saying that ALL UFO sightings were swamp gas.
Anyway, the cause of most "unexplainable" UFO sightings have been linked to a spy plane called OXCART that was highly classified until Obama finally ordered it declassified around 2010 or so. OXCART was used from just after the end of WW2 until it was replaced by the U-2 at the end of the 1950s.
The U-2 would have remained a secret if the Soviets hadn't shot one down in 1960. The pilot was supposed to inject himself with shellfish toxin if shot down. He didn't. The whole mess was a big egg-on-the-face moment for Ike and the army, right in the middle of the election campaign too.
Ultimately, the need for manned spy planes was superseded by satellites, once the US figured out how to get the rockets to launch without blowing up.
And then there was Roswell, where the only real evidence that ANYTHING crashed was the debris found by the sons of a local rancher. They described a foil that wouldn't crumple. The foil was likely an early variant of Mylar, the stuff that party balloons are made of today.
The "flying disc" was probably just a test of a photographic balloon intended to be used for spying. Where the report of a flying disc crash received by the local newspaper came from will likely never be known.
Funny thing is, the whole incident had long been forgotten, even in Roswell, until some conspiracy geek ran across it in the early 70s. Actress Demi Moore grew up in Roswell in the 60s and has said that nobody ever mentioned it until the conspiracists started showing up in the mid 70s looking for the "crash site".
04 Feb 2017, 9:05 pm
