John A. Keel WHY UFOS

credence in the reports we have received to date."Ironically, at 8 A.M. that very morning, C. PhillipLambert and Donny Russell Rose, both stable men withgood reputations, were driving to work outside ofCharleston, South Carolina, when they reportedly noticeda strange circular object spinning in the clear sky above theSouthern Trucking Company terminal on Meeting StreetRoad. They stopped their car and watched the object forabout eight minutes."It looked like a sterling-silver disk," Lambert said. "Itwas about fourteen feet tall and twenty feet in diameter.We just happened to look up into the sky; it was such apretty day. I know we saw it; we were both wide awake, andneither of us drinks."A veteran of eight years in the airborne infantry,Lambert estimated that the object was 800 or 900 feetabove the ground when they first saw it. It appeared to bespinning rapidly and was constantly shifting from oneposition to another.This was what ufologists call a Type I sighting —a lowlevelobject observed and reported by reliable witnesses.March 30, 1966, was a flap date, and local newspapersfrom coast to coast carried dozens of other Type I sightingsthat day. Many of them involved police officers, pilots, andother above-average witnesses. Weeks later, when all of theclippings and reports for that day had been collected by theauthor, we found that extensive sightings had also beenreported in the following states: Michigan, New York(Long Island), Ohio, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Iowa, andother sections of South Carolina. This was a typical minorflap, and like most flaps, it received no national publicity,and none of the sightings was published outside of its placeof origin.While all of this was going on, Secretary McNamarawas blithely repeating the long-established Air Force linebehind the closed doors at the House hearing."People are beginning to attach significance to thismatter," Representative Gallagher told the Secretary thatday."There is no indication that they are anything other thanillusions," McNamara responded blandly.How do you suppose those two men in South Carolinaresponded when they read that statement? For years nowthousands of witnesses have been reacting with anger andbewilderment to the official pronouncements and explana-