Original subtitles

Ezekiel saw the wheel.

This is the wheel he said he saw.

These are unidentified flying objects that people say they are seeing now.

Are they proof that we are being visited by civilizations

from other stars? Or just what are they?

The United States Air Force began an investigation

of this high strangeness in a search for the truth.

What you are about to see is part of that 20-year search.

Mmm, boy, love that music. Love it.

Hi, Peg.

Welcome to beautiful Wyoming.

Look at those ski slopes, Peg.

Oh, that's my kind of world.

Break out the boards, open the wax, and give me my parachute.

Check the center for traffic out of Stapleton. All right.

Doris?

Yes?

Why is the plane bouncing so? It's just a little turbulence. Nothing to worry about.

Seatbelt and no smoking on.

Denver Center, this is InterAmerica 5-4, do you read?

InterAmerica 5-4, Denver Center, go.

Ev, 12 o'clock low.

You see it?

What was it?

Yes, I do show something now.

Closing on you.

What the hell is it?

Inter-America 5-4. Radar contact. Unknown traffic.

Three miles close. No help. Estimate speed 600. Closing rate 1,200.

Lean on it, Bill.

This is Sergeant Fitz, your transportation safety. That's

right, Frank Walters, accident investigation.

You made good time considering you were coming upwind. Smooth flight all the way.

This aircraft sure didn't have one.

It all started at 1750 hours.

This aircraft, Flight 5-4, was en route to Dulles from Salt Lake.

True airspeed, 325.

Altitude, 37,000 feet, 20 miles north of Laramie, Wyoming.

That's where they encountered the UFO.

Flight recorder tell you anything?

More than the pilots.

How's that? In-flight emergency was declared,

and they were rerouted here to Stapleton.

40 passengers were given medical treatment, 15 hospitalized.

The captain and the co-pilot have some sort of a pact,

and their company's going along with it for now. Nobody's available for comment.

Not available to who? Me, the press, you name it.

We don't have any authority to make them talk, you know that.

Yes, sir, you do.

Captain Mason asked me to notify somebody from Blue Book,

but it's not going to be that easy.

You'll still have to clear through the President of Inter-America.

Why is that?

They're the only people who know where the pilots are.

Major, as president of this airline, please permit

me to make a few things clear. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

We are a multi-million dollar commercial air carrier. Our costs are immense.

Profits, marginal. To be quite frank, Major, we can't afford bad publicity.

Anytime one of our pilots thinks he sees spaceships

and passengers are injured because of it.

Well, we can expect to hear from the stockholders.

Do you have a pilot who saw a spaceship, Mr. London?

Inter-America does not have a pilot or a co-pilot who saw a spacecraft.

I prefer to leave it at that. What did they see?

They haven't said.

I didn't ask.

Pardon me, sir, but that's just a little vague.

Captain Mason asked that your investigative unit be notified.

The FAA accommodated his wishes.

Captain Mason will not say what caused the diversionary maneuver that he took,

nor will he discuss what happened in that airplane.

Mr. Lundman.

Suppose you tell us where to find Captain Mason. He asked to see us.

He's quartered at the Hotel Denver. Thank you for your cooperation, sir.

Major. Major.

It's already been suggested to Captain Mason that if he

does think he saw an unidentified craft of any sort,

we'd consider it a psychological aberration.

And we certainly can't afford to entrust the safety

of our passengers to a pilot like that. How can we?

Captain Mason?

Yes.

I'm Jake Gatlin.

This is Sergeant Fitz, Project Blue Book. You

know, I'm glad you could make it, gentlemen.

Are you cleared through the front office? Yes, sir. Charles Lundman.

Very nervous man. So am I, Sergeant.

I've got two sons in college, hefty mortgage on six acres outside of Salt Lake,

a nice wife. Somehow it seems very important

to keep a job for all of that right now.

That's understandable, Captain. Is it, I wonder,

important enough to consider lying to you?

Are you?

I have a problem, Major.

I'm not a liar.

Why don't we go someplace more private?

There's no need for that, Sergeant. Sir?

There's someplace I'd like to take you first.

Dr. Dormer, you are wanted in emergency. Dr. Dormer, you are wanted in emergency.

That's Peggy Williams, my number one stew. Severe skull fracture.

That's your co-pilot with her? Yeah, Brad Everett.

Dr. Treads, you are wanted in the blood lab or well. Dr. Treads,

you are wanted in the blood lab or well.

How is she?

Well, the doc says it's too early to tell, Skipper. She's still in a coma.

Well, this is Major Gatlin and Sergeant Fitz. They're from Blue Book, Ev.

You got them in spite of what Mr. Lundin said?

As we agreed, right?

How much have you told them?

Nothing, as we agreed.

After the incident, we didn't discuss anything.

We didn't have time to do anything but declare an emergency

and fight to keep that aircraft from going into the dirt.

First time we even referred to what happened was

after the plane was finally parked at Stapleton.

The minute the aircraft was secured, I went back to the passenger compartment.

Please, everybody, stay in your seats. We have some injured people here.

There's a medical team on board.

If you need help... Peggy.

Peg? Oh, Em.

Em, I saw it.

What was it?

I don't know, Peg.

Let's get a doctor over here. Doctor, please.

How is she? I'm not sure. I'll stay with her. All right.

I have a... Operation wants to see me right now.

We haven't talked about it,

and I don't think we should until I can get

the Air Force to listen to us independently.

Agreed?

Agreed.

That was the last time I saw or spoke to Captain Mason until today,

here with the two of you.

We've been especially careful to ensure that, Major.

Please believe it. All right.

You say you didn't collaborate.

Harry, let's just see if we can find a spare waiting room.

You got your copy of the recording?

Yes, sir.

Let's make the queue line, Ev, 12 o'clock low, see it.

Right.

Mr. Everett?

The FAA gave us a voice track copy of the in-flight recorder.

All right, Captain, we'll start from there. 12 o'clock low. See it?

Okay?

From here, sir.

We were right at 37,000 when we hit the turbulence.

Not like the buffeting we usually experience.

Washboard, you know what I mean?

I turned on the seatbelt sign,

and then I called Denver to check on Stapleton traffic.

Captain saw something, pointed it out to me.

Ev, 12 o'clock low.

See it?

It was shaking, sort of like a boomerang.

The object passed over the aircraft. It was more turbulence.

I asked Ed if he had any idea what it was.

It was a boomerang-shaped thing.

The plane felt as if it were going to come apart. Denver Center 540,

you show another aircraft to our airspace.

Inter-America 544, radar contact, unknown traffic, three miles closing,

no altitude. Estimate speed 600, closing rate 1200.

We lost all contact with Denver.

The indicator light showed the port side boarding door was malfunctioning.

I thought it was going to open.

The thing moved over to the starboard side again, and then everything broke loose.

Let's get down to 8,000 fast. Then it left at an incredible speed.

Then we declared an in-flight emergency and got the plane

down to below 8,000 feet so we could do without oxygen.

And then we just brought her into Stapleton the best we could.

We listened to both of them.

What do you think?

Their stories have understandable differences in interpretation,

but they're both saying the same thing, both describing the same experience.

If it was a put-on, it was well-rehearsed.

Well, I'm not much of an artist, Major, but I think it's close.

Did you get abs yet?

No, sir, not yet.

With our known state of the art, Captain,

would you say that something like this could fly? No way, Major, but it did.

Okay, this is as good as I can do. I think it's close.

Well, it's like that Chinese fellow said, Major.

The picture's worth 10,000 words.

That was pure delight. What was? Full night's sleep.

Only because Colotex research was closed last night.

Just let me enjoy it, Major. It might not happen again.

Yes, he's right here.

It's for you, Major. Telephone call. I'll have it transferred to the house phone.

You can get it right over there.

Thank you.

Catlin.

Oh, call me lucky. I found you.

Libby?

Who'd you think it was? Mary Tyler Moore?

Always that possibility.

Only at the USO for you people.

All right, pal.

You called us.

You've got an assignment.

Yeah, and we're on it.

Tell me, is our contract with Colatex Research still good?

Let's see. Yep.

And as soon as you finish there, since you're in the neighborhood,

take a run over to Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

Why do we want to go to Medicine Bow, Wyoming?

A politician type out there says he was nearly barbecued by a UFO.

He's already saying the Air Force is covering up.

Naturally. We spend just about all of our time covering up.

Yeah, on a cold night in bed.

Anyway, his name's Schaffner. Gus Schaffner. And you can find him at City Hall.

Okay. We'll get over there as soon as we can.

Make it sooner. He's already called here three times.

That's not so bad.

In the last 30 minutes. Bye-bye, Major.

What was that all about? Harry,

you should be used to doing two things at once by now.

I am, sir, I am.

My old first sergeant used to say a juggler

will always enjoy himself in the Air Force.

And you juggle? I enjoy the Air Force.

What do you have besides these drawings?

Weather reports, in-flight tape data, navigation fixes both radio and radar,

and interior photos of the aircraft.

That piece of metal go with all this paper? Starboard window blew out,

and this is a piece of the frame.

Huh.

Is there a picture of the damaged window area?

In spite of the incident, possible structural failure, we hoped you could tell us.

What about the passengers? All interviewed by the Transportation Safety Board.

Flight attendants? Stewardesses? One of them's still in a coma.

The rest of the crew's storytelling is with the pilot and co-pilot.

Okay.

When you get back from Medicine Bowl, maybe I'll have something.

Maybe.

Five little with the big meaning.

How many miles to Medicine Bowl, Major? About 175. You know how I was thinking?

We're both members of the U.S. Air Force.

I bet we log more miles on the ground than we ever do in the air.

That's our man over there by the market.

Yes, my friends and neighbors, I am going to tour the country so that all can see.

And I will not stop, I won't stop until the government of the

United States of America perks up and pays attention to us.

And now, we all got concerns.

This is only one of those concerns.

But where are they when spaceships, flying saucers attack innocent folks?

Where are they when they're needed for anything?

And this right here, this is evidence.

Evidence!

And we are still ignored, ignored completely.

Well, believe you me, you put Gus Schaffner in office,

and I will use that power that you give me.

I will use it to get Uncle Sam out of his soft chair and interested in us.

And let's have some concern when something like this happens.

Concern for the little folks like us.

Welcome, soldiers.

You're from around here?

No, sir, we're not.

Oh, you're just passing through? Project Blue Book. You called about a UFO sighting.

A sighting. It sighted me long before I sighted it. It attacked me,

pure and simple. Sneak attacked.

You want proof?

I got it burned to a crisp.

We go someplace and talk about this, sir?

We can talk about it right here. All these folks know what happened.

I was zapped by that saucer is what happened.

Now you can see for yourself what they did. Look at that paint. Burned to a crisp.

We'd like to talk it over with you, Mr. Shafter, but not while you're campaigning.

Sure, sure. I want to talk to you, too.

I'll let you all know about this. This whole country's

going to know the truth. You can count on that.

Where do we start? How about showing us the area

where you first saw it? Fine. Get aboard.

What are you doing?

It's a paint sample.

Just routine.

Oh, yeah? What kind of routine?

It may help prove what you say happened.

It happened, all right, and it won't do you no good to say it didn't.

Besides, I have a witness to testify it was a fact.

Where is your witness?

We'll stop by and pick him up on the way out. You can hear it from both of us.

Hey there, Danny. Howdy, Mr. Schaffner. Come on, boy, let's take a ride.

I got some military experts here to check out what we saw. Okay. Okay.

This is the exact spot. Right here is where it all happened.

Well, we're just plain lucky it didn't fry us both, right, Danny?

Yes, sir.

You can see, it's quite a fire. Suppose we start at the beginning. What's that,

more samples there? Yes, sir.

Why don't you and I take a walk up here? Well,

a major here wants to hear the story, don't you? I'll talk with you, Mr. Schaffner.

Sergeant Fitz will talk with him.

Oh, well, all right.

That's the way you do it? All right, sir. From the beginning.

How long have you known Mr. Schaffner?

Three days now.

I met him the night that it happened. Is that right?

I go to college in Freedom, about 20 miles east of here,

and I was hitchhiking home one night, and Mr. Schaffner gave me a ride.

And it was on your way home in his car that you had the sighting.

Sighting?

Mister, that thing was so close I could have touched it.

Tell me about it.

So me and young Peterson was just riding along.

I hadn't picked him up more than 20 minutes before and freed him.

Anyway...

I had just tuned in some real good country western on the radio,

when all of a sudden, the engine started to quit.

And then the radio went dead.

We come to a dead stop.

It was about then that it happened.

Get my gun. It's in the back.

They're gonna kill us, boy! You know they're not friendly.

That fire ain't what I call a peace signal.

Well, go ahead and run if you want to, boy. I ain't gonna let that thing kill me.

And then off it went.

Rolling like a wheel.

Now, you might expect a saucer to move flat,

but this one was rolling right on its edge.

What happened after it left?

I flipped that key.

And that engine kicked right over, just like there wasn't nothing wrong with it.

Now, you remember, I told you, that saucer killed that engine dead.

So I dropped Danny off at his house and went on home.

Did you report this to the police? Nope.

I know who to report matters like this to.

Waited till the next day, then I called your people.

Sure did have to push him to get you out here.

You know that rifle I told you about?

Show it to him, Mr. Shatner.

Here it is.

I wonder if we might borrow that rifle for a few days.

What for?

We'd like to send it to our lab.

We'll have it back to you shortly.

I'll tell you what you do. Stop by my place in about an hour, 34 Elm Street.

And I have to take a picture of this gun before

I turn it over to you. Property identification.

You know.

Yes, sir.

Look at that thing.

Ain't no good to somebody unless they want to shoot their foot off.

I'd like a letter of confirmation from the Air Force. You'll hear from us, Mr.

Schaffner, one way or another.

I want that letter.

You just put it all in writing.

We'll run you home.

Thanks.

Quite a character, isn't he?

You told it to me straight, didn't you, Danny?

Yes, sir, I did.

I know you told Sergeant Fitz, but go over it

once more for me on the way, do you mind?

You don't believe us, do you?

For us, it's just a matter of getting the best evidence we can.

We just want to be sure, Danny.

We just want to be sure we got it all straight.

I can't give it to you any straighter, sir.

It's the pure truth.

The boy's story was straight up both times,

when he told me and when he told you on the way out here.

I'm right on target with Schaffner.

Okay, 34 Elm Street. Then what?

Anytime back to Denver.

Inter-America Airlines.

Well, maybe I've worked up a theory.

What kind of theory?

I've got a few facts to go with it, Major.

Follow me.

We have an incredible vehicle reported by two credible witnesses.

Airline pilots who say that they observed the product

of a technology far in advance of our own.

An observation.

I'll attempt to explain the observation. Please go on, Doctor.

First, the aircraft, and what everyone appears to agree upon, the turbulence.

Fact.

The plane's location, altitude, and speed.

It was generally eastbound just above a known jet stream,

the core of which was measured at 170 knots.

Fact two.

The turbulence everyone experienced at the edge of the jet stream here.

Aircraft here.

Result?

Typical, rapid, shortwave turbulence, like riding on a washboard.

How about the sighting itself, doctor?

I checked Denver Center, and radar activity with this particular

jet stream has been quite interesting. In what way?

Like a series of false radar targets that are recorded in various locations.

False, but still they read on the scopes.

High-altitude weather balloons.

A few have been launched in northern Minnesota and Mexico. Now,

calculations indicate one or more could have been caught in our jet stream.

Has that ever happened?

Three times, as a matter of record.

Now, here's the theory.

The high altitude balloon malfunctions and gets pulled down into the jet stream.

When that happens, the balloon tips like this in front of its payload,

and then it rides along the jet stream for a while.

Depending on the altitude, it could very well take on a boomerang-like appearance.

So...

The pilots say they saw lights,

and the object was seen on both sides of the aircraft.

The balloon payload carries navigation lights.

They're configured very different from those of an aircraft.

Now, I can't explain the object appearing on both sides of the aircraft.

Unless the pilots were maneuvering their plane into various attitudes and were

unaware they were doing so in an effort to get a fix on the unknown object.

That leaves the blown-out window.

I've put that metal frame through a dozen tests. They prove or disprove nothing.

If somebody were to say a flying suitcase hit it during the abrupt maneuvers...

I'd say it's possible that's how it happened.

We can check further, but if we can't find any kind of

object that was flying around loose in that cabin...

Could have blown out with a window.

Possible.

Well, we can put the balloon theory in front of those two pilots.

I think it's a sound theory.

And for what it's worth, I have a feeling so will Charles Lundman,

President of Inter-America.

He's been calling, asking for some sort of assistance from us.

What did you tell him, Doctor?

The truth.

I explained to Mr. Lundman this laboratory is under contract to the Air Force.

We are not privileged to pass along any information pertaining

to this matter without specific permission from the Air Force.

Exactly what information did he ask for?

Tell him he'd been talking with his weather people.

He said he was most anxious to pin down some sort of weather or aerial phenomena.

He went on to say that he could then call a press

conference and clear up the entire matter.

I told him I had no data to release to him at this time.

Do you get the impression that if Lundman got the information he was asking...

Consider the employment of the two pilots?

He indicated quite positively the pilot's future

was of no concern. The airline came first.

Mr. Lundman is a troubled man. Yeah, a little like a steer on a sheep ranch.

I know you gentlemen are acquainted with what you're looking at. Yeah,

the open pit iron mines, northern Minnesota.

It's a high-altitude research balloon launching.

You're trying to tell us that's what we saw up there?

Not exactly. Not in that particular configuration.

If the balloon malfunctioned, drifted into the jet stream,

it could have taken on an appearance of a boomerang-like shape.

Particularly when you consider the unusual

pattern of navigational lights they carry.

Picture it this way. The balloon is on a horizontal attitude,

the balloon leading the payload.

I can't buy it.

Can you, Captain?

Well, Major, a high-altitude balloon is about

500 feet in length, including the payload.

Now, the object that we saw couldn't have been

any more than 150 feet at the outside.

Is it a possibility, sir?

Oh, Sergeant, anything's a possibility.

But that couldn't possibly be what I saw up there.

Major, please tell us how that thing approached us head-on, not once, but twice,

and we're doing a good 600 knots.

Everett here.

Oh, that's fine.

Very good. Thank you.

Peggy's out of the coma. She's going to be all right. Oh, good.

That's as good a note as any to conclude on. Oh, Major, before you go...

Eb and I know that you get around quite a bit. If you happen to hear of anything,

hauling freight, whatever.

Captain, every ball game has nine innings.

Not if you're the visiting team and you're behind.

Telephone message?

And this was hand-delivered an hour ago by an Air Force driver. Thank you.

We have an appointment with Lundman at 3.

And maybe one in Wyoming shortly thereafter.

Well, Major, one good theory does not necessarily make a positive.

And one positive does not necessarily destroy a good theory.

Has this information been put in front of Captain Mason

and his co-pilot? Yes, sir, it has.

What was their opinion?

Or is that an Air Force privilege, as in the case of Colotex research? No, sir,

Captain Mason and co-pilot Everett do not believe

that that object was what they saw.

I accept the balloon theory, whether my pilots do or not. Now,

how does that sit with you people?

Sir, we appreciate your position, and in a sense, maybe you can appreciate ours.

All right.

What do you people think really happened up

there? We don't know. And we may never know.

Well, then tell me, why can't my pilots see it that way?

Why must they be so damned positive?

Because, sir, they were up there and we weren't.

We can't keep telling people they didn't see something if they did.

I'm not trying to tell them they didn't see something. No, sir,

you're trying to tell them that they saw a high-altitude balloon.

And we tried to tell them that was a possibility, too.

Do you release this balloon theory to the news media, or do I?

If the news media makes an inquiry...

We will respond.

But when you talk to the news media,

I would like to think you might keep your pilots in mind.

Between them, those two men have over 30,000 hours of good,

safe flying in their logbooks.

And if that was a balloon they encountered,

it took some real ability to have kept away from it.

If they hadn't...

You could have a 57-passenger plastic-wrapped coffin on your hands.

Where'd you ever get the idea I was gonna fire him?

Right, Pat, come up with anything?

Mr. Shafter may have to break a campaign promise or two.

I am writing to the Congress of the United States about this.

I don't care what your laboratory says. Nobody calls me a liar. Look at that rifle.

Look at, just look at that rifle.

Do you think it got that way because it wanted to? No, sir, it did not.

That space machine did this,

and I'm going to see to it that the Air Force doesn't cover it up. And, Peterson,

that kid of yours is as big a liar as they are.

I'm saying goodbye, but you are going to hear from me.

All that business there in the house, would you mind going over that again?

According to our laboratory technicians,

a blowtorch was used to burn the paint off the hood of his car.

Traces of ordinary gasoline were found where he claimed

a spacecraft scorched the road and surrounding area.

And the rifle...

Our lab clearly detected tooth marks from a commonly

manufactured bench vise on the barrel of the rifle,

indicating someone bent it intentionally,

and it had not been subjected to any heat since it left the factory.

How are you mixed up in all this, son?

Well, I'll start at the beginning.

If you would, please.

I'll leave out the very beginning, and I'll get back to it, okay? Okay.

Okay.

I was hitchhiking back from freedom.

Mr. Schaffner picked me up.

We started talking about UFOs.

He told me about how he saw this outer space machine.

How it burned everything.

How he tried to shoot at it and bent his gun and all that.

I still don't see how you got involved.

Well, he asked me to go along with him and tell people that I'd seen what he saw.

I knew it was wrong, but I had a reason.

What reason?

I didn't think anybody was going to believe me either.

You mean in regard to Schaffner's story?

No, sir.

Mine.

I had a sighting.

A real one.

I saw a real UFO.

Lied about the Shafter, isn't it?

How do we know you're not lying about this?

I guess you don't.

But I'm not.

Tell us what you saw.

I saw a huge machine.

Must have been 200 feet long.

What'd it look like?

Looked like a boomerang.