Original subtitles

These are unidentified flying objects.

Are they proof that we are being visited by civilizations from other stars?

Or just what are they?

Hold it. Okay, this will do fine. Oh, let's keep going, Mr. LaVertre.

What, and wind up in the middle of the swamp when the lights go out? No thanks,

Jonathan. We'll camp here tonight. Okay, fellas, let's get to it, okay?

Hup!

Look, Jonathan, more slope.

Let that air in and under. Otherwise, the pile will choke itself. All right.

Easy, Chris.

You want to be breathing smoke all night long? You're downwind from the campfire.

Mr. MacMurray, quick!

What's the matter, Sam? There, a light.

Here. What kind of light, a fire?

No, a glow, a blue glow. It's wild.

Hey, wow.

See, I told you.

What do you suppose it is?

It could be Mars gas. It's been seen now and again between here and the Gulf.

That shape?

Never seen it that common. All right, fellas, now don't get excited.

You guys stay here. There's snakes and stuff in the brush.

Finish setting up camp, and if I'm not back in 15 minutes, you go get help, okay?

Now.

Thank you.

We gotta go get help, quick! No, come on! Marjorie!

Captain, you said you'd be through today.

Is that the model car you've been working on for the last two months?

Oh, yeah. I ran into a little trouble.

Trouble?

What kind? Maybe I can help.

I don't think so, but let's go outside and take a look.

What are we going outside for? The model.

You got it out in the Jeep, huh?

Bought a real one. No, that's the model I've been working on.

You mean that came out of a kit?

Yep.

Want to take a ride?

You got it.

What's this, Captain?

That's the trouble I ran into.

After I had everything finished.

That was left over.

You don't know where it goes?

Maybe it's the cigarette lighter.

Be back in a second.

Mississippi, huh?

Yeah.

I got it.

I'll pick up the file before we take off.

Thanks, Libby.

Okay, who saw what, when, and how?

That's the missing part. The where is Richelome, Mississippi. Well, come on in.

I can taste that cornbread now, Captain.

I thought you might.

Getting homesick, Harry?

Well, sir, if you take a detour of about 174 degrees and go yea miles,

you'll be smack over the biggest, littlest town of South Carolina. Wouldn't help.

You couldn't see six miles from 39,000 feet.

No, sir, but I can feel it.

Good shot, good shot.

It was. It was a real UFO. We saw it with our own eyes.

So did Mr. McMurtry. Oh, it's just another one of his dumb stories.

Here, keep shooting.

You tell them, Mr. Mimurtry. You saw it closest.

It was a UFO. Tell them.

Look, guys, let's not get carried away, okay? Sure, it was weird. In fact,

I ain't ever seen it like it before. And something knocked you out.

And those burns.

Look, I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions.

But I... Now, listen, boys.

What's happened has happened. There's no use spreading it around, okay? I mean,

it'll just get blown all out of proportion.

Now, let's get back to the game. Let's go. Move it. Hustle up.

Captain Ryan, I'm Chief Morton, the one that called in about the sighting. Hello,

Chief. This is Sergeant Fitz. Pleased to meet you, sir.

Well, are you from around the Delta, son? Six miles South Carolina, sir. Oh, yeah,

northern part of the state. Might have found country.

First look at Mississippi? Yes, sir.

Well, let's all go into the office.

I've been waiting on you gentlemen all morning

ever since I heard back from your place,

the Foreign Technology Division.

I don't know how foreign this thing we got here is,

but it sure is stirring up a fuss. Have a seat.

How do you want to work this?

Want to get settled first? There's a good motel the other side of the interstate.

Should change this place. All that traffic pouring through,

stopping off here and yonder.

More work than the body can handle.

Only got me and two patrolmen and one squad car.

Guess you all had the same problem the sixth mile, huh?

Yes, sir. Our town grew up as tall as cotton overnight while we, uh...

Chief, could you tell us why you called instead of Andrew McMurtry himself?

Well, he wanted to at first, all excited,

and then just plumb changed his mind and clammed up.

Oh?

Most people we interview won't stop talking.

Well, you gotta know Andy. He's kind of quiet.

I got a little profile on him for you from a local newspaper.

Andrew McMurtry, age 31, unmarried, teacher, junior high, athletics, social studies.

Served two tours in Vietnam, 68 and in 71.

Thanks, Chief.

Nothing, don't know what else I can tell you.

He's, uh, he's just Andy, that's all. Nothing really special about him.

Well, all right, Chief, we won't take up any more

of your time. Say, listen, it's been a pleasure.

You know, uh, my granddaddy came from Lexington, North Carolina,

southern part of the state. Never get a moment to chat.

Chief Morton.

Hold on, please.

Anything else I can do?

Uh, yes, sir. If you don't mind,

we'd like our calls and messages to come through here. It's a pleasure, son.

Good hunting.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief. See you, Morton.

Hey, they're real Air Force. It's gotta be about that UFO.

We'd like to go out to the site when we're through

here. If it's convenient, Mr. McMurtry. Just handy.

Sure, as soon as this period's over.

That'll be about 45 minutes. Well, good.

That'll give us time to check into the motel and get a change of clothes.

We'll pick you up in 45 minutes.

All right.

I'll be waiting at the gym.

It was dark, you know?

At first, I thought it had to be marsh gas, because I'd seen that flaring up before.

But the color was wrong. I figured maybe a plane was down.

You take these backpacking trips with the boys often, Mr. McMurtry? Well,

with good weather, we try to work some in. Nature studies, survival techniques.

It's part of a statewide program, Explorers Club.

I volunteered about three years ago when I moved here.

I'd say about here is where we had our campsite.

Boy, it's sure been chewed up with the sightseers, even out here in the boonies.

Anyhow, like Chief Morton must have told you, I seen this weird light.

The way you woke up, you weren't aware that you'd been burned? Nope.

My cap got singed and my jacket. Then about an hour later,

my hand and my face started to sting.

But Doc Bosley put some gunk on them, and, well, they don't bother me anymore,

Captain. But they haven't healed yet, have they?

No, but they don't hurt.

Now, I ain't got radiation poisoning, if that's what you're thinking.

We'll make sure, Mr. McMurtry.

You didn't go to the hospital.

No, but Doc is the hospital here in Richelome, and he said I was just fine.

Hey, y'all, have I got a reading.

That's my machete. I figured the boys would pick that

up. Wait, don't touch it. It's not dangerous.

It's just a high magnetic reading.

Well, that ought to prove something, huh, Captain?

It might.

We'd like to keep it for examination. We'll send it back to our lab,

and we'll return it to you.

Tell me something, okay?

Try to.

You're doing all this checking because you believe in me or because you don't,

and you just want to prove I'm some kind of kook or something.

We only want to learn what you saw.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I was never much of an artist, but more or less like this.

A body, a fuselage, or whatever you want to call it.

It was roundish with a sort of a ring around it.

Blue-greenish and then red like molten metal. You understand?

You say these antennae kept extending and retracting.

Yeah, sort of like probes, you know, reaching out.

What would be a good time, Monday,

for you to see the flight surgeon at Keesler Air Force Base?

What for?

The doc fixed me up.

I don't need any physical. Our medic's quite expert at determining burn causes.

Look, I'm willing to cooperate. I'll get the cap I was wearing, the jacket,

and then let's call it quits, okay?

And don't you worry about my health, neither, because I'm fine, just fine.

Well, we only want you to check those burns, Andy.

It seems to me you're making too much out of this whole thing.

I didn't call you fellas in. That was Chief Morton's idea.

Maybe I did see marsh gas.

I could have inhaled it.

That could have played tricks on your mind.

And remember, I blacked out and everything.

Look, I gotta get back.

You just made a 180-degree turn, Captain.

Yeah.

I see turbulence ahead.

Pretty much what we expected. Ordinary burns could have been caused by anything.

He didn't have the equipment anyway to detect radiation,

if there was involved. That's right.

We'll have to rely on the clothes and the machete. Let's get them shipped out.

Andy!

Mr. McMurtry? Chief Morton told me I could find you down here.

That is you, isn't it? Yeah.

Hello, I'm Roy Denby from the Biloxi Inquirer. You're a reporter? Yeah. Well,

you know, you're big news now, fella.

You got a couple of minutes? I'd like to get your whole story from you right now.

I'm sorry, but I can't talk about that anymore. Hey, wait a minute.

Why not?

Look, those Air Force fellas from Blue Book, well, they're still investigating,

and it wouldn't be right. Well, wait a minute.

What does that have to do with anything?

It's procedure, man.

It's official. Ain't no point in talking about something until it's confirmed.

Wait a minute. Let me at least get your picture.

Some other time, fellas. Some other time.

Okay, we're all connected.

There's a C-130 at Columbus that's flying to Wright-Patterson.

They'll hand over samples.

With luck, we should have a report by tomorrow noon.

What do you want to bet is negative?

It wouldn't surprise me, but you sound like you've got inside information.

I just picked this up at the newsstand.

Do you suppose McMurtry saw that before the signing?

If he did, it's possible we've just hit that turbulence.

Hey, Andy. How are you? Eddie Larkin. Platoon Sergeant Larkin.

Now, just passing through. I thought I'd look up my

old company C-Buddy. Oh, well, come on in, Sergeant.

Not bad.

Not bad.

Hey, you still got the barbells. You carried them all the way from NAMM?

Yeah.

Uh-oh, sit down. Can I get you a beer? Did I ever say no?

So, you stayed in the Marines after all.

How come you're in uniform? Oh, the chicks dig it.

Hey, where's yours?

My walk.

You're a chick, you're an old lady, you know?

Still looking, I guess.

I figured you'd be settled down with four kids by now. You know,

when they pulled you out of the boondocks and put you in that loony bin,

we kind of got separated. How long did they keep you in that place?

Four months.

And, Daddy, it was for battle fatigue, not loony. Yeah, I know, sure.

To old times? Yeah, sure. Hey, buddy.

Well...

How can you just sit there and pretend nothing's changed?

You're a big man. You're all over the local rag with pictures.

Andrew McMurtry, local high school teacher encounters UFO.

So I happened to come up here. I caught your act at the bus station.

Oh.

Well, you know how these small towns make a big thing out of nothing. Nothing?

If I seen one of these things close up like you,

I wouldn't just call it nothing. It's big, man.

Was it like you said it was? I mean, green and

round? Look, Eddie, do me a favor, okay?

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Well, yeah, sure, but why? I mean, this happens once in a lifetime,

and you want to write it off?

It's real simple, Eddie.

They won't understand about me being in that psychiatric ward.

It'll all get dragged up again. They'll think

I'm still not cured, that I'm seeing things.

They discharged you.

That won't matter, Eddie. I teach kids. I work with them.

People won't want me around their kids anymore.

Yeah.

Well, I got a bus to catch.

Yeah, sure.

Yes, sir. Just like we told you before, Captain.

He went out there alone, and he told us to go back

to the camp where we hung around to watch.

From at least 200 yards away, and it was dark by then.

Okay, what's the difference?

And the way he screamed, it was awful, like he was getting killed.

But you never actually saw what happened to him?

No, sir. We just found him lying there.

And that light, that big glow, came on again while we was waiting for Andy.

That's all you saw, the lights, nothing else?

No, nothing else.

I think three people would have at least one

or two slight variations about what they saw.

Not these kids who make carbon copies. Yeah,

all we've really got is Andy's version,

and he's not too wild about it anymore either. Well,

we still have to get that report back from Wright-Patt on the physical evidence.

And if that turns out to be a handful of smoke...

Good morning, Chief. Hey, morning, fellas.

Have a good night?

That motel okay for you, Sergeant? Powerful. Breakfast like home. Grits,

slab of bacon, thick homemade country biscuits.

What we got, Chief?

Well, this just came in for you from Wright-Patterson Field.

Pretty sure I got it straight.

No explanation on the magnetic reading on the machete.

Suggests several possibilities.

I'll be darned.

Expect to have a report on the clothing and the soil samples by tomorrow.

Chief, there's something I want to double-check with you. Sure thing.

At first, from what you told us,

Andy had no reservations about discussing the sighting.

Now we get the feeling he'd just soon forget the whole thing.

Well, like I say, you got to know Andy. He's always been kind of quiet.

And I guess all the attention just kind of rattled him.

And after what you fellas told him.

Well, what's that?

This morning's Biloxi Inquirer.

Interviewed by investigators from Washington, D.C.

Cannot reveal any more details for security reasons.

I wonder why he said that.

See, it just looks like you fellas put the lid on him.

Hey, with all the fuss and feathers, I clean forgot.

I got Ella Primrose waiting in my office, and she ain't partial to waiting.

There's something about this UFO thing.

Frankly, Captain, I am not your biggest fan. As for me,

flying saucers are just for crackpots and kids. But after the last three nights,

I have to look in the mirror just to make sure that I'm here.

If we could just start at the beginning, ma'am.

You mean right after Annie McMurtry said he saw this thing?

Well, ever since then, for three nights running, Luke's been talking in his sleep.

Luke, he's my husband. He's sort of retired, on a disability pension, you know.

We live out of town a ways.

If we could get back to the UFO?

Sure, that's why I'm here.

Well, I guess he was having these nightmares.

Anyway, in the middle of the night,

he's mumbling and he's shouting about this big thing coming over his head,

just like it said in the papers.

Well, that happens to some people.

Think too much about what they read.

I mean, that man was scared to death when he was telling me about those long,

thin steel pipes moving in and out.

Sort of like fingers.

Steel pipes?

Just how did he describe them?

Fingers?

I think he said they were groping and probing, sort of searching around.

That part about the probes wasn't in the paper.

Only Andy told us.

Where did he see this thing?

Couldn't get that out of him, either.

And I was hanging on to every word he was yelling.

You suppose he'd talk to us if we came out?

He better.

If you just follow those directions, and when the road grows lonesome, that's us.

If it wasn't that we have proof, I would have never believed what just happened.

Let's follow that lonesome road.

But when Ella makes your mind up, wild horses ain't gonna change it.

We don't mind the drive, Mr. Primrose.

You don't mind telling us about your dream.

He don't mind one bit.

Well, it seems I was outside somewhere.

There were trees. Lots of trees, remember?

Maybe I was in the woods.

And way off in the distance, there was this glow in the sky.

Then wham, bang, like 10,000 mortar shells going off at once.

It just kept a-coming, growing bigger, coming right for me.

When it took off, it was giving off some kind of a sweet perfume.

Too sweet.

Seems like I was hugging the ground for dear life.

Honey, that was me who was hugging.

Anyway, that's when I woke up.

That is when I shook you to make you stop yelling.

The part of the woods that you were in, do you

remember where it was? Why would I know that?

Luke, don't you remember?

You said there was an owl, and a rock, and an oak tree. Huh?

That's what you kept saying in your sleep.

Heck, it was all mixed up.

If you try and sort things out, we'd be awful grateful, sir.

Well, it seems there was an owl hooting an oak

tree and a big old rock in spitting distance.

Is there anything particular about this rock?

No, just a rock.

You said you saw a bear. Honey, tell him about the bear.

There wasn't no bear. The rock just looked like a bear.

That's all I remember.

I don't want to be rude, but I do have some fishing to do,

and I'm running way behind on these lures.

Well, sure hope they're biting them.

That was good. Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Harry Heather Luke Primrose is the best dreamer in these parts. Or the best liar.

Worth a look.

Chief Morton told me I'd find you out here. No, we're just leaving. Look,

I know I was short with you fellas last time, but things been happening to me fast.

Maybe too fast, you know?

Getting out of hand.

Well, I think we'll get the idea.

Well, maybe.

But what I'm trying to tell you is,

it was me that started this whole thing about the UFO,

and maybe I just got carried away, you know?

Anyhow, I'd appreciate it if you'd just forget about the whole thing.

I'm afraid it's too late, Andy. Once we start an investigation,

we're under orders to check every detail.

Okay, then.

Well, you're gonna find out about it anyway, sooner or later.

I spent four months in a psychiatric ward after NOM.

So, why didn't you tell us about it?

Are you kidding? After what I said about that UFO,

they think I was some kind of nut, and they will, too,

if the rest of this town hears about it. Well, they won't hear it from us.

Are you still sure about what you saw?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm sure.

I admit I keep going over it in my mind, and sometimes it gets fuzzy,

a little mixed up with the things that happened in Nam,

like the guns and shells and the flak.

But it keeps coming back, and nothing can change it.

It's important to me that what I saw really happened,

because I don't want to go back to that hospital again.

You understand?

We understand, Andy. We do.

Yeah?

Thanks, fellas.

Andy said it took off that way. If Luke had been around,

he would have been out there somewhere. Yeah.

You suppose that owl knows anybody we know?

Well, I come from hoot-owl country.

He'll be up high somewhere.

Well, Al, you keep a hootin', and we'll keep a climbin'.

Somebody's been on this trail lately, I hope.

There she is, Captain.

And it's an oak tree.

Yeah.

No boulder, huh?

Nothing like what Luke Primrose described.

Shine your light down here, Sergeant.

Brother Luke was here, all right.

Wonder why he was so reluctant to admit it.

Hey, Captain. Bear country. Our dreamer's a liar.

We go see him?

Yeah.

Right after we hear what Wright Patterson has to say about those burn marks.

If what you're saying is true, I'd hate to be in Andy's shoes.

Well, it's true, all right. Took a lot of digging, but it's true.

Fellas!

This is Mr. Denby from the Biloxi Inquirer. Hi. Oh,

I got some terrible news for you.

You're never gonna believe this.

He just told me that Andrew McMurtry spent some time in a

military psychiatric ward before they turned him loose.

I particularly wanted to get your reaction before I wrote that story, Captain.

Interesting, but not too relevant.

I beg your pardon?

You got it, my reaction.

Well, Captain, don't you see? We've all been taken in. I mean, Andy and his UFO.

He never said a word about being a mental case.

I tell you, folks ain't gonna take too kindly to it, being made fools of.

Chief, do you make it a matter of public record every time you see a doctor?

I know what you're driving at, but it ain't the same.

I never said I saw that thing. He did. Is that

all you have to say about it, Captain?

No.

No, that's not all I have to say.

I think your story's premature.

Why?

You have some information that can back up Andy's story?

You'll give me until, say, ten hundred hours. Ten a.m., tomorrow morning.

I just might have it. If you'll hold off, you'll be the first to know.

All right.

Got yourself a deal.

10 a.m.

Good.

Chief, did anything come in for us?

Doggone, sure did. A call from Rat Patterson.

They'll get back to you here in the morning.

That the information you think is gonna change my mind, Captain?

No, but it just might be the icing on the cake.

I sure hope you're right, for Andy's sake.

You're shinning up the wrong tree, fellas.

It was a dream, that's all.

And don't count on Ella to change things, either. She's the town.

Mr. Primrose, I think this belongs to you.

Kind of looks like my style.

Yeah, we found it in the place you described.

Owl. Oak tree, bear's head, just like in that dream.

Heck, I'm all over these woods all the time.

Mr. Primrose, whether or not you saw that UFO is your business.

But I think you ought to know that what you do about it is

going to affect Andy McMurtry's career and his life here.

Well, he says he saw it, claims he did. Isn't that enough?

There is a reporter waiting to splash Andy's name

and reputation all over the Biloxi Enquirer.

He wants people to know that Andy spent time

in a veteran's hospital for mental care.

He's suggesting that Andy's not really cured,

that what he says he saw is part of his sickness.

Folks might not like a fellow with those kind of problems teaching their kids.

All right, I seen that thing.

I seen it out there with my own eyes.

But if I go blabbing about it, I'm gonna serve time in the pokey.

For being in the woods?

No, for working the whiskey still out there.

Even Ella doesn't know about it.

And if Chief Morton ever finds out, I'm going to serve time.

He's been looking for it for years.

Even had me in jail one time on suspicion, then had to let me go.

And if he even thinks that's why I was out there, he's going to lock me up.

Well, that ain't going to happen.

If you say what I told you, I'll flat out deny it.

Mr. Primrose, we can't force you to do anything,

but there's a federal agency known as Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,

and Explosives that does have an interest.

Feds?

Well, I ain't feeling any guilt.

It's my hide or Andy's peace of mind.

He's young. He'll get over it.

Sooner or later.

We're due back.

Yeah, sure.

I think they're stalling, Chief. I gotta get my story in in five minutes.

Yeah, I know, I know.

Yes?

No, they're not here. I'm sorry, I don't know where they are.

Wait, hold on.

It's Wright Patterson.

It's Captain Ryan.

Yeah?

What about the soil samples?

What about the clothing, the jacket and the cap?

No, the cap was new. It had to have happened there. All right. That all?

Well, we'll probably be back tonight.

We win or lose, Captain?

The magnetic reading on the machete could have happened

when the blade was hammered out originally.

There's nothing definitive on the burn holes in McMurtry's clothing.

We lose.

So it could have been the marsh gas.

It's a possibility.

They're still analyzing the soil samples.

And what about that information that's supposed to change my mind, Captain?

It didn't work out.

Can I use your phone to make a collect call to my paper, Chief?

I guess so.

Chief, I got a statement to make about that UFO.

I've seen it too.

You did?

Well, back I told these fellas what you're gonna hear now.

Only I told them if they repeated it, I'd deny it.

Now I've changed my mind.

Why did you change it?

You'll find that out, too.

Anyway, that night Andy saw the UFO, I was out in them woods, too.

About a mile east of where he was.

I was looking back, and I seen this thing through the trees, like a firestorm,

only brighter, whiter, bluer.

And then nothing.

And then she blew.

Wham! Big as a moon rocket. She come right at me. Big as a house.

Like they scared me clear out of my boots. Them long,

spiny things reaching down like they had eyes.

Most horrible thing I ever seen.

She took off like a scared quail. Her tail feathers all laid up,

and then there was that sweet perfume.

Sick sweet.

I just stayed there until everything stopped humming in my head.

Thank you, Mr. Primrose. It's a nice thing you did.

For everyone.

Tell me, Captain, what makes his sighting so special?

There were characteristics of the UFO that only Andy knew.

They were never in the paper, yet.

Mr. Primrose described them.

Well, then, can we say that this is an authentic sighting?

Well, of course, you can say what you like.

We're satisfied the two sightings coincided.

We're satisfied Andy saw what he saw. Doggone. I'm sure glad to hear that.

Well, Mr. Denby.

There won't be any reference to McMurtry having been hospitalized.

Thank you.

Good.

Well, fellas, I gotta run along. Wait a minute.

You said something changed your mind about coming

here and telling us his story. Now, what was it?

What's the difference?

That could be important.

Well, let's just say I owe the government something for giving me a pension.

You never did say what you were doing out in

those woods that hour of the night, Luke.

Yeah, I was afraid you were going to ask that.

Uh-huh.

Well, you got to still head, Luke Primrose.

Still?

Considering the unusual circumstances, I'm going to give you one hour.

If I find any evidence after that time, I am putting

you on ice, Luke Primrose. You hear me?

Like a bird, Chief Morton.

Like a bird.

Captain, how would Blue Book classify this sighting?

Right now, I'd call it unknown.

Sure gonna make Andy mighty important.

Gonna make Rich Loman important, too.

He'll be coming off that interstate by the thousand.

Son, if you ever think about getting out of

the Air Force and want to pin on the star, you just call me.

Now, uh, pay ain't much, but you get all the grits you want.

Well, I'm much obliged to you, Chief.

Hey, Captain!

Say, I just heard about Luke's sighting.

Sure wanted to thank you fellas before you left town. Well, thank Luke.

Well, you fellas don't know how much this means to me.

Well, we got a pretty good idea.

Gosh.

I wonder what that was.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, that's Luke Primrose putting himself out of business.

Huh?