All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S21E09

NARRATOR: Dr. J. Allen Hynek
was a pioneering scientist

who developed smart weapons,

optical tracking systems

and space satellites.

But his passion was studying
unidentified flying objects.

LUIS ELIZONDO: J.
Allen Hynek was

this very highly
trained scientist

that was convinced
that there was

something to this phenomenon.

NARRATOR: Dr. Hynek
revolutionized

how UFOs are studied.

TRAVIS TAYLOR: J. Allen Hynek
took the scientific method

to the UFO-UAP problem,
and he says,

"We need to take it serious."

That changed the
community forever.

NARRATOR: And as far as UFO
researchers are concerned,

he helped to establish
that there is a presence

in our skies that is
not of this world.

HYNEK: I'm quite certain
there is a real phenomenon.

It is not all nonsense.

NARRATOR: In the 1940s,

people around the world
became aware

of a startling new phenomenon:
flying saucers.

Over the next several decades,

a highly renowned astronomer,
astrophysicist and professor

became the leading proponent
for the study of flying saucers

and other unidentified
flying objects.

His name was Dr. J. Allen Hynek.

Even the grossest skeptic
can't deny

that the UFO reports not
only exist, but persist.

We have reports from 133
different countries,

and the same pattern exists
around the world.

Many of the reports come

from highly, highly credible,

technically trained people,
you see.

NARRATOR: At a time when the
government, the military

and nearly the entire
academic community mocked

and shunned anyone
who spoke about UFOs,

Hynek had the courage
to treat the topic seriously.

And as far as ufologists
are concerned,

Dr. J. Allen Hynek was
the ideal person

to advocate that UFOs
are a real phenomenon,

because he started off
as a skeptic,

hired by the U.S. Air Force
to debunk reports of UFOs.

J. Allen Hynek is
really the cornerstone,

I believe, of modern ufology.

He was a very serious
and credentialed academic

brought in by the government
to debunk the UAP topic,

only to be immersed in the topic

and realize that it's real.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Hynek
was really viewed

as the king of ufology.

He was the one who was saying

that there's something
going on out there,

and it's worthy
of scientific study.

TAYLOR: J. Allen Hynek actually
took the scientific method

to the UFO-UAP problem.

And I think that's
the first time

someone actually started taking
the UFO situation seriously

and applying methods
that would enable us

to actually figure out
what it is.

Dr. Allen Hynek, who
is the leading expert

on UFOs in this country
and probably in the world.

It's a very, very
real phenomenon

of some sort is going on.

This all calls for some
very real research,

and no real research
has been done.

MICHIO KAKU: Dr.
Hynek was fearless,

saying, "I believe in science,

"I believe in testability,

I believe in pushing the
boundaries of science."

It is my growing feeling
across the years

that the UFO phenomenon,
not-not any hypothesis,

but the phenomenon itself
is signaling,

I think, a coming change
in the scientific paradigm.

He is one of the, if not
the, founding father

of modern-day ufology.

I'm not sure we'd be here
if it wasn't for Hynek.

NARRATOR: While Dr.
Hynek's focus

was the modern-day
UFO phenomenon,

ancient astronaut theorists
point out

that he was also intrigued
by the theories posed

by Erich von DƤniken in
his groundbreaking book,

Chariots of the Gods.

PHIL IMBROGNO: Dr. Hynek
did mention Von DƤniken

a number of times.

He said, "There are things

that can't be explained from
a historical point of view,"

and that we have to consider

that extraterrestrials
came here a long time ago

and interfered or
helped human beings

develop their civilization.

He said, "You can't
rule it out."

NARRATOR: But how did a
world-renowned scientist,

hired by the military
to put an end

to the so-called
"flying disc craze,"

end up becoming a champion
for the study of UFOs?

Joseph Allen Hynek is born
into a working-class family

of Czechoslovakian immigrants.

As a young boy, he's stricken
with scarlet fever,

which leads to a formative
moment in his life.

ROXANE HYNEK: In those days,

one of the treatments was
to keep the child in bed.

So it was almost a year,
something like that.

So, his mom got him
a book on astronomy.

And that's what set
the whole thing in motion.

NARRATOR: By the time
he was a teenager,

Hynek had also developed
an interest in mysticism,

theosophy and Rosicrucianism--

an ancient society of
mystics and philosophers.

PAUL HYNEK: He thought there was
something implicit underneath

and perhaps behind the stars.

I think that's what drove him
to look there,

and astronomy was the method
for him to sort of reconcile

to take a flashlight
to the dim edges

of mainstream science

and shine a bit of light
out there

and find the magic
in the universe.

NARRATOR: Hynek earned
his PhD in astrophysics

at the University of Chicago
in 1935,

and quickly gained fame
as a highly respected scientist.

He helped develop the
world's first smart weapons

during World War II,

worked on technology
for space telescopes,

and pioneered
satellite tracking.

JACQUES VALLEE: He
was on the cover

of Life magazine after Sputnik

because he had been the man

to really build the entire

American tracking system
from scratch

with special telescopes
that could move very quickly,

could track an object
in the sky.

And it was also
the administration

of a worldwide network
of observing stations.

Dr. Hynek had managed all that.

NARRATOR: By his mid-30s,

J. Allen Hynek had already
made a name for himself

as an astronomer
and astrophysicist.

But a series of
extraordinary events

would dramatically change
the trajectory of his career.

In June 1947,

pilot Kenneth Arnold

reported seeing nine
disc-shaped objects

flying near Mount Rainier
in Washington.

Less than a month later,

there is a report
of a flying saucer

crashing outside the town
of Roswell, New Mexico.

And in January 1948,

Army Captain Thomas Mantell
tragically died in a plane crash

while chasing a UFO
over Kentucky.

The U.S. Air Force was
really put on the spot

to have some kind of public
engagement with this phenomenon.

People wanted to know about it.

And they created in 1948,

something known
as "Project Sign."

NARRATOR: Project Sign
was the very first

government investigation
into UFOs.

To lead the scientific side
of the project,

they chose Dr. Hynek.

These three Air Force officers
came by,

and for about a half an hour,
we just talked

about the weather
and this and that.

JOEL HYNEK: My
father liked to say

that he was like the innocent
bystander that got shot.

He had no idea what
he was in for,

but he thought he should help
the Air Force calm the public,

you know, after the war, so,

that's why he did it.

CHILDRESS: Hynek would explain
all these UFO reports

as meteors, as comets,
as reflections off clouds,

as stars that were
bright in the sky,

or the planet Venus.

Anything that would
explain this activity

as other than flying
saucers or UFOs.

NARRATOR: Hynek served as
the scientific advisor

for Project Sign, which
lasted less than a year.

It was followed by another
UFO investigation

called "Project Grudge," which
was terminated so quickly,

Hynek never had a chance
to join it.

But reports of UFOs only
continued to increase,

prompting the government
to launch

a much more substantial
initiative

to study, and ultimately
debunk, UFOs,

called "Project Blue Book."

But the longer Dr. Hynek studied
the UFO phenomenon,

the more convinced he became
that it could not be dismissed.

NARRATOR: In the aftermath
of World War II,

the United States
has become engaged

in a Cold War with
the Soviet Union.

There has also been
an increase in reports

of unidentified flying objects,

and some fear the UFOs
could be Soviet aircraft.

But with extraterrestrials
becoming a popular theme

in 1950s science fiction,

many others are
genuinely concerned

about an alien invasion.

After the war, there
were strange sightings

of things in the sky,

and people began to wonder
what's up there?

People were afraid of
aliens in outer space.

And so, Project Blue Book
was created as a consequence.

NARRATOR: Project Blue Book was
the Air Force's third

and most significant
investigation

into the UFO phenomenon.

And once again, they looked
to Dr. J. Allen Hynek

to be the scientific face
of the project.

MARK O'CONNELL: The
Air Force said,

"We keep getting these reports.
It's still a problem.

"In fact, it's a bigger problem
than it was

"the last time we talked to you.

Would you be willing to come
back and help us with this?"

So Hynek agrees.

KAKU: The military wanted to
squash any of this speculation

about aliens from outer space
or what have you.

You see, the government wanted
to control the agenda,

and flying saucers did not fit
with that agenda.

We were in a race with Russia.

It was the McCarthy period.

Anyone who deviated
from this agenda

would put their scientific
reputation on the line.

JOEL: I think being
patriotic is part of why

he worked for the Air Force
'cause that was, uh,

you know, after the war,
and everybody was very

gung ho and let's help the
government and the country.

You see, there's nothing
more cocky

than a relatively young PhD,
just coming out of...

NARRATOR: But shortly after
joining Project Blue Book,

Hynek's notion

that UFOs were nonsense
would be seriously challenged.

An air traffic controller
at Washington National Airport

is alarmed when he picks up
seven strange objects

on his radar screen, and
he quickly determines

they are unlike any man-made
aircraft he has ever seen.

PAUL: These objects that
were spherical shaped were

moving up to 7,000
miles per hour

in very unconventional fashion.

We scrambled fighter jets
after them,

but as soon as the jets got
aloft, the objects disappeared.

NARRATOR: One week later, the
strange objects appeared

over the nation's capital again.

POPE: There was a press
conference at the Pentagon

which was the biggest
single press conference

that had been held since the end
of the Second World War.

Hynek got to see the
various reports.

The debunking explanation
was that these were mirages

sometimes caused by a
temperature inversion.

In other words, a layer
of particularly dense air.

NARRATOR: While Hynek
publicly supported

the Air Force's explanation

for the Washington
UFO sightings,

privately he was conflicted

about the investigation's
findings.

The official conclusion

that an optical illusion
was the source

of the alarming events caused
Hynek to begin to question

his colleague, Dr. Donald H.
Menzel,

Director of the
Harvard Observatory.

VALLEE: Dr. Hynek disagreed with Dr.
Menzel.

Dr. Menzel had "explained,"

when people were seeing
those lights,

there was a temperature
inversion over Washington,

and that's why the
radar was reflected.

I looked at that later,
and I met someone

who had been in that radar room.

And he left the room
to see, well,

if he could see something
in the sky.

And he could see the UFOs.

So, this was a visual sighting.

It wasn't just radar,
which meant

that the Menzel explanation

didn't make any sense
scientifically.

It was wrong scientifically.

NARRATOR: Project Blue Book
had just gotten underway,

but already, Hynek was
beginning to think

UFOs could be something more
than just natural phenomena.

NARRATOR: Over the years,

Hynek would become
increasingly conflicted

about his role on
Project Blue Book.

I remember one time driving up
to Canada in the family car,

and I think I was about 15,

and I noticed he's
fidgeting with his hair,

and... and I said,
"Dad, what's going on?"

He said, "Well, I'm-I'm
on the fence."

I mean, he was on the fence.

Having to toe the party line

of the Air Force's that
there's nothing going on here,

that it's all explainable,
took a toll on him.

CHILDRESS: The Air Force
continually insisted that every

UFO incident had some
natural explanation.

And Hynek knew that
that was untrue,

that while many UFO reports
could be explained naturally,

there were some that couldn't,

but the Air Force wouldn't
allow him to go that direction.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The more he did his research,

and the more people
he interviewed,

the more he realized,
"Wait a second.

Not all of these eyewitnesses
are crazy."

In many cases, these
eyewitnesses were not alone

when they experienced
their encounters,

or when they saw something.

IMBROGNO: He began to
realize how long--

and these are his exact words--

"How long am I gonna call
these people

"crazy or incompetent?

"Some of them
were seeing something

"very, very unexplainable,

and it should be
investigated further."

NARRATOR: For more
than a decade,

Dr. Hynek helped the Air Force
carry out its agenda,

assuring the public that UFOs

were nothing to be
concerned about.

But that would begin
to change in 1963,

when Hynek gained
a fierce ally in his pursuit

to make the government take the
study of UFOs more seriously:

Dr. Jacques Vallee.

NARRATOR: J. Allen Hynek
is entering his 11th year

as the scientific advisor
to Project Blue Book,

and is now also the chair

of Northwestern University's
astronomy department.

In the spring,

the 53-year-old professor meets
a young French astronomer

and computer science student
named Jacques Vallee.

One of the most important
meetings

that Hynek had in his life
was when he first

came across Jacques Vallee.

Jacques Vallee was himself
an astronomer,

an astrophysicist really,

and he was also an early
computer pioneer.

NARRATOR: While working
as an astronomer

at the Paris Observatory,

Vallee had conducted
extensive research

about UFO activity
throughout Europe.

Hynek was eager to see
Vallee's research,

but what impressed him the most

was that Vallee had created
a computer database

to analyze all of the data.

VALLEE: What I found

in developing a catalogue
of sightings were a number

of patterns that
were interesting.

And in late '63,
I traveled to Chicago

and met with Dr. Hynek
and started to compare notes

to see if those patterns
in Europe are the same

as were patterns
in the United States.

TSOUKALOS: When Jacques
Vallee came into the picture,

a dynamic duo was formed
that was unstoppable,

because Vallee helped Hynek
computerize everything.

That was the next level
in UFO research.

HENRY: Vallee has a very
scientific orientation

towards the study of this.

Together, they both
have an intuition

that this is an
extraterrestrial phenomena,

and it needs to be
treated as such.

VALLEE: We started to look
at patterns in the behavior

of UFO phenomena,

and we started finding things

that had not been
published before,

had not been understood before.

IMBROGNO: Dr. Hynek said,
"This fellow is brilliant.

"He's respected in the
scientific world,

"and he's coming out

with these ideas that I would
like to explore more."

And I think when Jacques Vallee
said, "This is what I believe,

and I'm not afraid to say this,"
Hynek felt relieved.

PAUL: Jacques was a-a
very frequent guest,

along with his wife and kids,
at our house.

He had a great passion
for astronomy.

He saw a fascinating phenomena,

and he wanted to go
where the science led them.

I could see this special
fondness and reverence

my father had for Jacques.

NARRATOR: Working with
Vallee and his database,

Hynek encountered more and more
UFO sightings

that could not be
easily explained.

But perhaps the most
compelling case

he would investigate
not only had a report

of an object in the sky,
but evidence...

on the ground.

Dr. Hynek is summoned
to the small town

of Socorro, New Mexico.

When he arrives, he is told

that local police officer
Lonnie Zamora encountered a UFO

on the outskirts of the city.

RICHARD DOLAN: April 24, Lonnie
Zamora is chasing a speeder

when he sees this thing zoom
across the sky

and go over a hill
and possibly crash.

He stops the chase,
gets out of his car,

goes up on foot to this hill,

and he sees this perfect,
egg-shaped thing

with landing gear
and everything.

ELIZONDO: Lonnie Zamora recalls

seeing what he describes

as a-a... some sort
of vehicle craft

that would appear
to be in distress.

And even perhaps little beings,

what we now refer to as "NHI,
non-human intelligence."

And in his report,
they very quickly

and hurriedly get into the
aircraft and flew away.

NARRATOR: According
to Zamora's report,

the brush was burning
in several places,

and there were four
perpendicular impressions

left on the ground.

PAUL: When Project Blue Book
got word of the Socorro case,

they sent my father there
to explain it away.

But when my father got there,

he found it to be a
very compelling case.

There was Zamora, who clearly
seemed to be traumatized.

HYNEK: I visited Socorro
a number of times,

trying, frankly, to break down
the man's character

to try to find out
whether he's capable

of the hoax... and whether...

what his gravitation is like,
and I've inquired

of, uh, people who have
known him all his life,

and even some parents of
some of my students happen

to live in Socorro, and I
roundabout tried that.

And he, Zamora,
has always held up.

His character has simply held up
as a solid American citizen cop.

ELIZONDO: J. Allen
Hynek realized

that Lonnie Zamora
was not a fabricator,

that what he was saying
was an experience

that he believed he
actually experienced.

(camera shutter clicks)

And that may have
had something to do

with J. Allen Hynek
perhaps starting

to come around the corner

and change his position
on the topic.

PAUL: Jacques told me
that it was this case

that was more or less the straw
that broke the camel's back,

to make my father feel
comfortable

talking about UFO reports

with sightings of aliens.

VALLEE: This was the first
case where he said,

"Yes, these were creatures,"

because there were traces
of footsteps there

that were not human footsteps.

It was a turning point
because there was no question

something had happened,

and he had to take
landings seriously.

NARRATOR: Despite the evidence
collected in New Mexico,

the Air Force insisted that
Hynek toe the company line,

and he dropped
the investigation.

Hynek's frustration
with the military's policy

of denial was
at an all-time high,

and when another extraordinary
UFO event occurred

two years later,

the acclaimed astronomer
would no longer stay quiet.

NARRATOR: J. Allen Hynek,
now in his 14th year

with Project Blue Book,
is at home

when he catches a curious
segment on the evening news.

According to the report,

a farmer in rural Michigan
named Frank Manor

witnessed a UFO flying
above his property.

I looked north of me,
and, uh, there were...

It looked like a
falling star, or...

It was red and kind
of coming down and...

And, uh, when it got to the top
of the trees, it stopped.

And a... a blue and a
white light come on.

And, uh, I looked at it, and
I thought I was seeing things.

NARRATOR: In addition
to Frank Manor,

many other residents
across southern Michigan

saw the UFO, including a member

of law enforcement: Sheriff's
Sergeant Newell Snyder,

who drew a sketch
of the flying craft.

SNYDER: It, uh, moved very
rapidly at any speed,

or rather, any direction
it wanted to go.

REPORTER: What do
you think it was?

SNYDER: Well, if they
call it a flying saucer,

that's what it is.

NARRATOR: Over the
next few nights,

dozens more UFO sightings
were reported.

CHILDRESS: The 1966

UFO flap over Michigan happened
over several days.

And hundreds of witnesses saw

these weird flying saucer
lights in the sky.

It was big news at the time.

O'CONNELL: Dr. Hynek calls his
boss at Project Blue Book,

and he says, "Hey, something big
is going on in Michigan."

And his boss says,
"You go to Michigan,

wipe out the whole thing.
Make it like it never happened."

NARRATOR: Hynek
traveled to Michigan

to investigate the sightings,

and on March 25, he released
his conclusions to the press.

He claimed that the
most likely cause

of the lights seen by witnesses

was not extraterrestrial
activity,

but marsh gas.

I cannot prove in a court of law

that marsh gas is the full
explanation of these sightings,

but it does appear to
me extremely likely.

REPORTER: Are you
saying, Doctor,

that Michigan is now producing
non-existent saucers?

(laughs) Well, it's, uh,

one way of putting it,
I suppose.

NARRATOR: Hynek's conclusion
sparked outrage nationwide.

He was ridiculed by pundits,
op-ed columnists and cartoonists

who viewed him as the
ultimate government pawn.

DOLAN: It's an absolute
embarrassing debacle for him.

No one believed this.

So, this became
the national joke.

JOEL: Michigan-- that was
a tough moment for him.

He really didn't know
what to make of it, uh,

but he was under a lot of
pressure to say something, and

he went with that.

ROXANE: I remember the
swamp gas incident.

I remember actually
seeing him on TV.

And I-I could just see
in his face that it was just

not something he wanted to do.

NARRATOR: After his
disastrous press conference,

Hynek was summoned
to Washington, D.C.

to testify before Congress.

And for the first time,

he defied his superiors
on Project Blue Book

and revealed his true thoughts
on the UFO phenomenon.

CHILDRESS: Hynek gets in
front of this committee

and says to them,

"UFOs are a worthy study,

and it needs scientific
investigation."

TAYLOR: He's had
enough, and he says,

"No, there's
a scientific problem

"with UFOs.

We need to take it serious."

IMBROGNO: Hynek said

that when he made
his official statement

about how he felt about UFOs,
he got into serious trouble

with the Air Force.

I don't think they did much
of anything to him,

but they cut him off

from support is what they did.

NARRATOR: After Hynek's
controversial testimony,

the Air Force opened
an investigation

into Project Blue Book

chaired by physicist
Edward Condon,

called "the Condon Committee."

By the end of 1969,

the Condon Committee terminated
Project Blue Book,

and J. Allen Hynek was finally
free to speak openly about UFOs.

In my association with
Project Blue Book, I know,

and I know very well that
it was not a scientific project.

I also know that they never,
never would notify the media

when an interesting case
came up.

They did everything
they could to...

REPORTER: Keep it down.
-...push it, keep it down.

TSOUKALOS: J. Allen Hynek became

a well-known figure
on television,

on radio, talking about
aerial phenomena.

And in doing so, he
became, well, Mr. UFO,

I guess the first
one there ever was.

And he really took this whole
research topic to another level.

ROXANE: My parents were a
bit concerned about his

mainstream reputation
being damaged.

It was so different than
it is now as far as

if somebody talked about UFOs,
they could lose their careers,

their kids could be hounded
at school.

So, there was a real stigma
back then.

But I don't think it
slowed my father down.

It was a brave thing to do.

NARRATOR: After spending
more than 20 years

helping the U.S. government
convince the public

that there is nothing mysterious
in our skies,

Hynek was now leading the charge
to legitimize the study of UFOs.

And he would soon reach
a larger audience

than ever before
with the help...

of Steven Spielberg.

NARRATOR: After investigating
UFOs for more than 24 years,

J. Allen Hynek publishes
his first book

on the phenomenon--
The UFO Experience.

HENRY: It's an instant
bestseller, mega bestseller.

One of the key elements
in the book is

the "close encounter"
classification.

This becomes a framework

for people to categorize
their UFO experience.

Is it a close encounter
of the first kind?

In other words,
did you see something

less than 500 feet away?

Close encounter
of the second kind--

was there a physical effect
that was felt?

Was there a burn mark?

Is there physical evidence left

by perhaps a landing
of the craft?

And then the close encounter
of the third kind,

which is the sighting
of an animated figure,

be it a humanoid being
or perhaps a robot

within or near that craft.

NARRATOR: Today,

more than five decades
after he introduced it,

Hynek's close encounters
classification system

remains the standard by
which UFO reports are defined.

But even more influential
was the research facility

he launched in
Evanston, Illinois

just one year
after the publication

of his first book, called
"The Center for UFO Studies."

TSOUKALOS: It essentially
became a global hub

for anyone to go and report
their UFO sightings.

But he couldn't do it
by himself,

so he raised a whole
bunch of money,

and all of a sudden, had staff.

He was able to do a
lot more research

than he had ever been able
to do before.

JOEL: My father felt
it was important

to set up a 1-800 number,

and he was very free
giving his phone number,

the-the home phone number.

(phone ringing)
-And so in those days,

the phone was always
ringing off the hook.

But he was always happy to,
you know, take the call.

What motivated him was the idea

that UFOs could open up
a whole new domain of physics,

that it could increase
our understanding of reality.

That really propelled him.

PAUL: My father traveled more
than anybody I've ever met.

And so, my mom was left

to take care of the kids
to a great deal.

She was fiercely independent,
very strong.

And at first, I think, she
must have been hesitant

to have my father go off
on these

wild-goose chases
for flying saucers,

but after a while, she
caught the bug, too,

and became an active participant
in the Center for UFO Studies.

And I think she really helped
comfort a lot of people,

gently coaxing them into
talking a little bit more

about what could be
a very traumatic topic.

ROXANE: It seemed a really
exciting time for my father,

a blossoming time.

I remember coming home, and
our house had been transformed.

My bedroom was no longer
my bedroom, and the same

with most of the others,
so it was this hubbub.

And files and papers and phones,

and it was just...
it was an exciting time,

and I think he really
enjoyed that a lot.

NARRATOR: Ufologist Phil
Imbrogno worked with Dr. Hynek

in the early 1980s
investigating UFO sightings

in New York's Hudson Valley.

According to him,
Hynek's passion

for investigating the phenomenon
was unmatched.

IMBROGNO: If he thought that
the sightings were worth value

to give UFOs more credibility
and more attention

in the scientific world,
he was there.

And his energy was unbelievable
in the field.

I was only

30-something years old there,
and he was in his 70s,

and I was exhausted
before he was.

And he just kept on going.

And when interviewing witnesses,

he made them feel so comfortable

that they just opened up to him.

NARRATOR: Three years

after launching
The Center for UFO Studies,

J. Allen Hynek received
a phone call

from Hollywood's hottest
new director: Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg wanted the
distinguished Dr. Hynek

to consult on his new film,

called Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

JOEL: Our father was all for it,

being a technical advisor

on Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

And people were
taking it seriously,

and that's what he loved
about it.

POPE: Hynek even
has a cameo role.

Right at the end of it,
the climactic scene

where the mothership comes down,
you can see

there's one guy with a goatee
and a pipe, and that's Hynek.

ROXANE: I still, when I see it,

I always get a... just sort of a...
(gasps)

...when he comes on
for his-his cameo.

NARRATOR: Close Encounters
of the Third Kind premiered

on November 15, 1977,

and went on to become
a box office smash

and a critical success.

But perhaps most important
to Hynek

was the fact that the movie
established the UFO phenomenon

in the mainstream.

PAUL: The movie Close Encounters
of the Third Kind

was truly a watershed moment
in the phenomena.

The movie did so much service

for people who felt
they'd had sightings,

in legitimizing them
to come forward.

The movie raised
public awareness

of the UFO phenomenon
to new heights.

One of the offshoots of the
popularity of this movie was

Hynek was able to persuade
Spielberg to print

the contact information for
his Center for UFO Studies

on every single movie poster

for Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

Bottom corner of the poster,

there's gonna be
a little notation,

"If you've seen anything
unusual, contact CUFOS."

NARRATOR: Shortly after
the release of the film,

Hynek retired from teaching,

and eventually relocated
The Center for UFO Studies

to Phoenix, Arizona.

In his final years, he continued

to travel the world
investigating UFOs,

and proposed profound
new possibilities

for what might be
behind the phenomenon.

NARRATOR: In 1981,

the residents of this
small mountain village

began reporting strange lights

of various colors,
sizes and shapes.

Intrigued by the phenomenon,

Norwegian electrical engineer
Erling Strand

started a research project
to investigate it.

And on a whim, he reached out

to the world's
foremost authority

on the UFO phenomenon:
Dr. J. Allen Hynek.

To his surprise, Hynek
was not only receptive,

but in 1985, at 74 years old,

he traveled to Hessdalen

to witness the phenomenon
for himself.

STRAND: Everyone

in Scandinavia knew who he was.

When he came to visit us
out in the field in Norway,

that inspired us very much.

Such a great man.

Now the fact that they actually
saw those lights

against the mountain,
I think is very important.

NARRATOR: Most of the video from
Hynek's visit has been lost,

but the fragments
that have survived

represent the last footage
ever shot

of the pioneering scientist
and ufologist.

In it, he reveals that
in his final assessment

of the UFO phenomenon,

an extraterrestrial intelligence
is just one

of numerous
profound possibilities.

ROXANE: One of the things
I really love, loved,

love about my dad is that

he was open to entertaining
things that weren't just

a fixed solution.

He didn't have to wrap things up

so that you couldn't
continue exploring.

I-I... love that aspect
of my dad.

NARRATOR: Dr. J. Allen
Hynek passed away

from a malignant brain tumor
in 1986,

as Halley's Comet
was passing by the planet.

It was the first time
the comet had been visible

from Earth since 1910,
the year Hynek was born.

He came and went
with Halley's Comet,

which is a really nice
kind of comforting,

cosmological bookend
for a grieving son.

JOEL: I'm very proud
of my father.

He was a serious scientist
looking into UFOs.

And it was not cool for a
scientist to be doing that

on this silly subject.

So, he battled that a lot,

and I think he will be
appreciated by UFO advocates

and serious scientists.

PAUL: My father's legacy is that
he was a very believable figure.

He was the archetypal professor.

And if this guy says there's
something happening here,

maybe it's okay
if I believe that, too.

So I think he was able
to put the world on his back

and bring us just a little bit
closer to accepting the idea

that we are not alone.

VALLEE: Dr. Hynek used to say

that what's important
in science is the exception.

So much of science

and scientific discovery
is based on an exception

for the things
that breaks a rule.

And I think that's why
UFOs are important.

Because they break the rule.

ELIZONDO: It's because of J.
Allen Hynek

I think we are where we are
today in this topic.

J. Allen Hynek was the
right person at the right time.

NARRATOR: From a young boy
fascinated with astronomy,

to a government UFO debunker,

to a founding father of ufology,

J. Allen Hynek lived his life

with one foot planted
in hard science

and the other in the unknown.

And in the end,
his investigations,

both in the academic world
and the world of UFOs,

led him to conclude that whether
it's extraterrestrial,

interdimensional,

or something
we have yet to imagine,

there is likely a non-human
intelligence on planet Earth.

Perhaps someday
in the very near future,

we will discover
that Hynek was right

and come face-to-face
with our alien ancestors.

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