John A. Keel WHY UFOS

illuminated, and they have often been seen hedge hoppingin rainstorms and blizzards at night when no private pilotin his right mind would even consider taking off. Thisinclement-weather flying is a historical pattern.In March, 1968, experienced UFO watchers in PointPleasant, West Virginia, told me of seeing a formation oflow-flying UFO-type lights over Highway 62 at night in araging snowstorm. Directly behind the lights there was asmall single-engined plane, keeping close on their heelsdespite the high winds and billowing snow.The year before, early in April, 1967, I had pursued apeculiar flying light from the TNT area, an abandonedWorld War II ammunition dump, north of Point Pleasantto the steep hills behind Henderson, West Virginia. I joineda cluster of people on a hilltop just as a twin-engined planecircled and flew directly at us at treetop level. As it drewcloser, it cut its engines and glided over our heads—anidiotic maneuver when flying the treacherous updraftssurrounding the steep hills and valleys. The cabin wasbrilliantly illuminated, and the pilot was visible. Since itwas about 9 P.M. and pitch-dark, this seemed doublystupid. Here we had a pilot who was flying at treetop levelover very dangerous terrain, yet he deliberately cut hisengines and blinded himself by turning on his cabin lights!I sprang into a car and dashed across the Ohio River tothe little airfield at Gallipolis, Ohio, to see if the mad flierhad landed there. The field was deserted, and none of theparked planes had a warm engine. In any case, few sensibleprivate pilots care to indulge in low-level night flying, andfew would be willing to risk their licenses by performingstupid and dangerous stunts over populated areas.The Mystery Planes of 1934, A Swedish researcher, Mr. Åke Frazen, has recentlybeen going through the Stockholm newspapers of the1930's, piecing together the many fragments of theforgotten Scandinavian flap of 1932-38. He has uncoveredmore than ninety detailed reports thus far and hastediously translated them into English for us. They form astartling picture.Beginning in 1932, large unmarked airplanes began toappear over northern Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Theywere always described as gray. They frequently appeared