All language subtitles for Project UFO 2x12 - Sighting 4025 The Whitman Tower Incident

These are unidentified flying objects.

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

Or just what are they?

Super. Look at this return.

Look out your moving target indicator.

Who the heck is that?

I show no traffic.

Man, that is a big target.

Barely moving.

Los Angeles approach to unidentified
traffic over Long Beach. Come in, over.

I'll see if AFR can give
us flight level on that.

Wait a minute.

It's gone, Super.

It went right off the scope in
the vicinity of the Whitman Tower.

Chuck, it's starting.

Janet, where's the little iron pot? I
want to melt some butter for the popcorn.

Let's see, the iron pan.

I think the movers put it in this big box.

Mommy!

Daddy!

What's wrong?

Mom!

Oh.

I have it again, at
2,500 feet, drifting inland.

Morning, Captain. Coolidge.

Roosevelt.

Truman.

Eisenhower.

Kennedy.

Johnson. You having me exercise
in your stomach or your memory?

Can't stand the counting. It's boring.

Nixon.

Ford.

Carter.

I was gonna use the names of the
beautiful women I've dated, but...

But you can't do 300 repetitions.

Harry, I'm in pain. At least
let me do my own punchlines.

Well, I know this is
gonna hurt you, Captain,

but your workout's gonna have to
wait till we get back from California.

Bless you.

We had a sighting in Los Angeles
last night, three separate cases of Mr.

Emerson Keyes and Mr. H. Rasson.

It was a weekend in L.A. too,
Harry. Too much party, maybe?

The third witness was an
air traffic controller

at Los Angeles International Airport.

We don't keep continuous
records of activities in this sector,

but this monitor is
tied into our computer,

and we can simulate just
about anything we want.

Okay, I think it's just about ready.

All right, this is the way it looked.

We first saw it out here at about 2,500.
Then it started moving west like this.

Until it got here, where it
lost altitude, and disappeared.

What's this right here?
Well, that's the Whitman Tower.

One of our other
witnesses lives in that tower.

No kidding.

That blip, you sure that's
the way that actually looked?

Almost exactly.

And it looked the same when
it reappeared further south.

See something, Captain? I
don't know. It's strange.

Almost like it's not... solid.

Solid or not, Captain, it didn't
respond to any of our radio challenges.

And it sure wasn't on any flight plan.

I know why you hesitate,
Mr. Murphy, but believe me,

I have privileged information on
this subject. Please buy it. Now.

Please.

Thank you. Thank you.

Forgive me, gentlemen, for
receiving you in my bedroom,

but like your American writer Mark
Twain, I find, I think, much better in bed.

I guess we all have our favorite
places to think, sir. Yes, indeed.

Well, uh...

Shall we get on with it?

Where do we start?

Fine, Mr. Rashoon.

If you don't mind, the sergeant
will record what you have to say.

Just tell us what happened.

Well, it was last night.

Do you remember the time, sir?

No.

Yes, it was 11.40.

I was waiting on a call,
so I looked at my watch.

I had the feeling they were coming
from the other side of the building.

Now I am very curious about
strange phenomena, gentlemen.

I just had to get a better look.

My neighbor, Mr. Ryerson, opened the door.

The expression I saw on Mr.
Ryerson's face, I cannot describe it,

but I knew he had seen a lot
more than I. More of what, sir?

Well, of the spaceship, of course.

Did I not mention the ship when I
reported the incident to your office?

Yes, sir, you did. But you
personally didn't see a spaceship.

I saw only the beams of light, but
they, they saw a great deal more.

Mr. Ryerson? Oh, boy, the Air Force.

Yes?

I guess he did it, huh?

Well, if you mean Mr.
Rashoon. Yes, I mean Mr. Rashoon.

Look, I know you have a job to do,

but I don't feature having my wife and
child go through this whole thing again.

Through this whole thing, you
mean the sighting of the UFO?

Yeah.

Right outside my living room
window. No more than four feet away.

If that's the case, sir, it's very unique,

and I promise your family
a minimum of disturbance.

All right, come in. Thank you, sir.

I'll take your hats. Thank you.

Thanks.

Chuck, I thought we decided not
to... Janet, I'll make those decisions.

Gentlemen, my wife Janet, our
daughter Billy... I'm Captain Ryan.

This is Sergeant Fitz. Hello, Billy.

Set, will you?

Thank you.

I promise you, Mrs.
Rison, this won't take long,

and you can stop any time
it becomes too disturbing.

It's already disturbing.

Would you mind, Mrs. Ryerson, if the
sergeant took your testimony in another room?

Oh, sure. Split us up, get two
different stories, just like cops on TV.

Jan.

You know, it's starting already, Chuck.

Honey, for crying out loud,
they have procedures to follow.

It's no problem, folks. We can
talk to you in a group if you like.

Why don't you sit beside
your mom and dad, Billy?

No, I don't want to. Do I have to?

No, Billy, you don't have to.

Honey, why don't you go
into your room and play, okay?

Why don't you start at the
beginning, Mr. Harrison?

Well, it was late last night.

I was in the dining room making popcorn.

We just moved in a
couple of days ago, so...

Jan was helping me find
a pan to melt butter.

So you would say, ma'am, that the object
circled the building at regular intervals?

As if it were under control, Sergeant.

Under control, ma'am?

Yes.

A few minutes later, we saw them.

Is it from outer space, Daddy?

It scared Billy to death.

I don't want her involved.

I understand.

We'll get back to you as fast as we can.

I'll get your hats.

Uh, Captain, I'm sorry
about my attitude at first.

If we can be of any further help.

Thank you.

We'll try to keep our
interviews to a minimum.

Goodbye.

What do you make of the
Ryerson story, Captain?

I don't know, Harry. Something
sure has those people spooked.

A city of six million people,
and only three saw anything.

And that's because they
live above the fog level.

That's one for the books.

Mr. Emerson Keyes?

Naturally. I'm Captain Ben Ryan.
This is Sergeant Harry. Oh, yes.

Come in. Come in.

I'll wager I know why you've come.

And I must say, the Army is
certainly prompt with its inquiries.

Air Force, sir.

Army, Air Force, Navy, it's all
pretty much the same, isn't it?

Not during football season.

I ignore sports.

But regardless, I'm happy to meet you.

Won't you sit down? Thank you.

When I called my old
friend Captain Harding at LAPD,

I had no idea it was going
to generate a formal inquiry.

Have you told anyone else
about your sighting, sir? Yes,

I just finished talking with some
adolescent at the Daily Journal. Oh,

I lost my temper. You'd think a story
like mine would be worth gold to them, but no.

Excuse me, sir, but you called a
newspaper to give your account of the sighting?

Yes, of course. Why?

Well, most people are a
little hesitant to tell

the general public about spotting a UFO.

Captain, I was a publisher of
experimental fiction and poetry for 40 years.

I have ceased to care what the
general public thinks of me.

Sir, we'd like to hear about your
account of the sighting in your own words.

The sergeant will
record it if you don't mind.

Very well.

Maybe you should start at the beginning?

I know how to begin a story, Captain.

Can you point out exactly where
you saw the object, Mr. Keyes?

Certainly.

Right there.

Between the islands
and the Queen Mary. 225.

How far out in the water, sir?

Well, that's difficult to say.

Beyond the island, certainly.

Sure is a fine view, Mr. Keyes.

I bet those apartments
in the bay aren't cheap.

Those are not apartments,
Sergeant. Those are oil wells.

They built those frames
around them to cover the derricks.

Mr. Keyes, I noticed you
have a videotape recorder.

Did you tape the show last
night by any chance? Yes, I did.

I like to keep a permanent
record of the better shows.

I'm afraid that's
mostly static, though. Well,

could we borrow the
tape for a couple of days?

Yes, of course. Thank you.

Sergeant, you finished?

Yes, sir.

You are?

Mr. Keyes, thank you again for
your cooperation. And the tape.

By the way, the television.

Is that cable or antenna?

It's cable.

Thank you.

One minute. Can you tell me what I
saw? At the moment, it's unknown.

I told you earlier that I don't care
anymore what the general public thinks of me.

But I do cherish the
public's right to know.

I have connections in
the media, gentlemen.

Don't try to cover this up.

Mr. Keyes, you'll have every
opportunity to judge our findings for yourself.

Goodbye, sir.

Good day.

Your chief engineer up here,
Mr. Webster? That's right.

We leased the tower to broadcasting cable
companies. Quite a beat. Isn't it just?

Last night, Mr. Webster,
anything unusual happen?

Sure as heck did.

We had heavy interference with
the TV and microwave signal.

Only lasted about five minutes,

but that phone was ringing off
its hook from all over the county.

It was pretty strange.

Any idea what caused it?

Not a one.

The TV cable antenna,
it's still having trouble.

Yeah, I think there's
something caught up there.

We'd sure like to take a
look at that something.

So would I. There's no way
anyone's gonna get up there

until I can switch to alternate
microline paths. How long will that take?

Two, three hours.

You guys investigate flying
saucers, is that what you said?

We investigate unidentified
flying objects and related phenomena.

Okay.

Keep in touch.

Hi, here we are.

Barsons should be down in any minute.

Yeah, I hope you're in a better mood.

Good morning.

Good morning. Hi.

You picked a good spot, Captain.
It's certainly very convenient for us.

Good.

Well, we wanted you to
come down and meet us to get

your reaction to some
new evidence we've found.

You have found something.

Found out there'd been many
complaints of broadcast interference

at the time the UFO was
circling your building.

There was definitely interference at
the time you said the UFO appeared.

However... However, though it
confirms the time of the sighting,

there was no pattern to the disturbances.

It was just random static.

I don't understand.

What the captain is saying, ma'am,

is that the UFO could
not have circled your

building at a constant
speed, as you claim.

It's a small point, but it's our
first evidence of any significance.

But it did. It went
around like a record player.

Gentlemen, let me tell you something.

Television waves can be kind of fluky.

Blind spots, shadows.

We're going to stick by our testimony.

We try to conduct our
investigations with an open mind.

They're not designed to prove you wrong.

We understand that, Captain.

May I ask your line of work, Mr. Ryerson?

Electronics.

Microcircuitry.

He's being modest. Chuck
developed a new process

for doping
semiconductors to make microcircuits.

An absolute breakthrough.

Speaking of which, gentlemen, if you'll
excuse us, we have a luncheon to attend.

I'm sorry, Captain, if we were a
bit hostile when we first met.

If you have any more results that you
want to run by us, just give us a call.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Nice folks.

This time.

It's like they're
completely different people.

They're open,
friendly, and willing to help.

It's quite a contrast
to their first meeting.

The only similarity was
their business with the hands.

You noticed that, too?

Maybe it was just a
shock wearing off. Maybe.

But he was right about the TV flukes. That

doesn't knock their
story down, absolutely.

And the time frame fits
together pretty neatly.

Yes, sir.

11.39 p.m., LAX radar tracks
the UFO near the Whitman Tower.

Loses it at 1141.

That's just the time the Ryerson's and Mr.

Rassoon see something
buzzing the top of the building.

TV interference between 1141 and 1144.

That stops when it comes down the side
of the building to visit the Ryerson's.

They see it for another five until 1149,
and radar picks it up again moving south,

tracks it out over the ocean, then
loses it at 1158, just about the time Mr.

Keyes sees it beyond
the Long Beach Harbor.

But radar doesn't pick
it up the third time,

when Keyes said it
blasted off straight up.

Well, if it was climbing as fast as
Keyes said, Radar might have missed it.

I bet I know what you're looking for.

Here it is.

Emerson Keyes' noted
publisher. Harry, listen to this.

In a possibly related incident,
patrons at Frankie's Waterfront,

a tavern in Portugal Village in San Pedro,

reported conversations with
a man who claimed to have

seen a similar craft over
the ocean at the same time.

They were unable to
provide the man's name.

Sure, I was working Saturday.

Worked my tail off, I can tell you. Well,

do you remember the
customer who sighted the UFO?

I only heard this and
that of what he was saying.

I don't think I'd pay
much attention to that.

The guy was a little, uh...
Who called the newspaper?

Some of the regulars.

They thought it was a big joke, you know.

So the CIT, the man who
saw it, he wasn't a regular?

I never saw him before.

Or since.

He was a salesman, I
think. He carried a big case,

like it was filled with samples, you know.

He was drinking Manhattans.

Could he have paid by credit card?

Possible.

Could we look through
your receipts for that day?

Well, sure. I guess so.

I'll duck in back and get them.

Hoping for a piece of luck, sir? It
could be. You stay with the luck,

and I'm gonna go make a
couple of phone calls,

and I'll meet you back at that little
outside coffee shop around the corner.

Yes, sir. There you go, Sarge.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

That's okay.

Now let me ask you, what does
a Manhattan run around here?

A buck and a half.

And seems like I remember
him buying a round once.

So what I'm looking for is a receipt
with a bunch of 150s and one big round.

Oh, I forgot to tell you.

What?

All drinks are 150.

Captain Ryan, meet Mr.
Silas Cobb. Mr. Cobb, Captain.

Mr. Cobb's our mysterious salesman who
saw the UFO. Oh, I sure as heck did.

Harry, you're a magician.
No, sir, I just got lucky.

Got Mr. Cobb's name off a sales slip, took

a chance and called his home in St. Louis.

Fortunately, he called his wife
last night and told her he saw a UFO.

And Lucy gave the sergeant my
hotel address here in the city.

Double lucky, really. You know, I was
due to fly out tonight. You bet it was.

Mr. Cobb, you ready to take that walk?

You bet.

I remember I was walking back to the
car after a long day of making calls,

and it started getting chilly.

And I stopped to button my coat.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is the spot, though.

That's pretty consistent, right, Sergeant?

Yes, sir.

You mean someone else saw it?

We have a witness in Long Beach who
told exactly the same story. Now,

you say you sighted it between
the lighthouse and the buoy. Right.

That should give us a pretty good LOP.

That's the line of position, Mr. Cobb.

We have a compass
reading from another witness,

and now with yours we
can triangulate and get

a pretty good fix on
the position of the UFO.

Reads out at 188 degrees, sir.

Nothing out there but blue water.

Let's get a recent history on
that patch of blue water, Sergeant.

There's the lot of the
Deputy Harbormaster, Captain. I

worked Saturday nights. I was here.

Let me see these coordinates again.

Ah, yes.

Was there something out there at that
time, sir? 50,000 tons of something.

The Nakia Maru, that's
her right out there.

She slipped a rudder
cable about two days out.

We radioed her captain to stand off
Santa Catalina Island for repairs,

but he evidently misunderstood.

So all of a sudden that night,
about 2,200 hours, there she was,

five miles off the breakwater.

No way to steer. Wind's
blowing her right down on the beach.

And loaded with a very fancy cargo, too.

Oil, detergents, and chemical dyes.

I sent out tugs to hold her for a while.

Then I got on the horn to our
best marine construction firm.

They had a special
low-profile hydraulic jack designed,

especially to force those
rudder cables back on their tracks.

But in order to transfer it to the
deck of a ship in 8 to 10 foot of sea,

we had to use a helicopter.

That must have been a rough
mission. Night, fog, wind, the waves.

Yeah, 20-odd winds, and that darn jack
swinging back and forth in that cable,

just like Paul Bunyan's yo-yo.

It took them 15 minutes
trying to get that onto the deck.

Running lights, searchlights
beaming down from the chopper.

Oversized rotor
spinning in a circular shape.

You got the picture.

So do I. But I tell you, Captain,

that thing took off straight up
like no helicopter I ever saw.

Well, that's right.

One of our pilots fractured his
wrist when it broke. When what broke?

The cargo cable.

Snapped like a shoelace.

Now, the chopper was at maximum thrust,

and it just sort of
bounced right up in reaction.

That jack went right through a steel
deck and sank in the hold carrying the die.

Boy, whoever said seeing was believing.

Thank you very much for your help,
sir. Not at all, Captain. Anytime,

gentlemen. Especially on Saturdays.

Thanks, Ernie.

Now, are you satisfied, Mr. Cobb,
that that explanation fits what you saw?

Well, I'm convinced that
is what I saw, Captain. The

more I think about it,
the more sense it makes.

Sorry I couldn't come up
with something more exotic.

Oh, that's okay. We've
still got an exotic file open.

Thank you very much again
for your time and your help,

sir. You bet. So long,
Sergeant. Goodbye, sir.

Kevin, what you said about
an exotic file still open,

you think we're looking at two separate
incidents then? Oh, it's got to be, Harry.

That radar blip was ten times the
size a cargo chopper would cause.

And no pilot in his right mind is going
to fly ten miles off course in a 20-knot

wind carrying a thousand-pound cargo on
a sling to play tag with a skyscraper.

No, sir.

Our problem is that we assumed it
was one object from the beginning.

I think it's time we
talked to Mr. Webster again.

¶¶

It's gusting too hard.
You better get him down.

Come on down, Harry! Too much wind!

I can't hear you, sir. Harry!

Very strange.

Polyvinyl chloride?

That would be my guess.

Look at this. A valve.

Tied with a square knot.

Maybe they got boy scouts on Mars.

I think we'll start looking a
little closer to home. Anybody here?

Oh, sir, we're looking for the
manager of Steiner Enterprises.

Airport?

Yes, sir, I'm Captain Ryan. This is
Sergeant Fitz at Project Blue Book.

I'm Joe Steiner, owner.

Who would anybody else work this hard?

Mr. Steiner, you're a distributor for
novelty items and stage props, is that right?

Yes.

What's this all about?

Do you handle this item, sir?

Yes.

Sir, is it possible that you
might have sold a large quantity

of these balloons recently for
aerial advertising display? Uh-oh.

Sir?

I sold a large number of
these to Big Dan Donovan.

Yes.

What's his address, sir?

You're not from around here,
are you, Sergeant? No, sir.

Big Dan Donovan is one of the
largest used car dealers in Los Angeles.

And that means the world.

He's always got some gimmick
for bringing in the people.

The latest one I dreamed up was to take
a bunch of these big silver balloons...

Timed together with some silver tape,

forming a large floating
automobile shape up over the lot.

It was a great idea for
a silver anniversary.

It was too great an idea.

Dan had to have it yesterday.

By the time he picked for my staff to put
it together, the wind just wouldn't quit.

If only he could have waited another day.

But he had to have it over the
weekend. The wind began to kick up hard.

No time at all. The
thing was a giant mess.

I guess you fellas found them, huh?

More like they found us.

I'd say you were lucky.
Those balloons had collided

with an aircraft, especially a helicopter.

You don't have to worry, gentlemen.

Big Dan is staying on
the ground from now on.

Yes, sir.

Well, I thought we'd cleared that
up, but... Well, I'll check on it.

So the balloons lifted off the used
car lot and drifted out over the city.

When they got above 2,500
feet, radar picked them up.

Now, radar responds only
to surface area, not mass.

So several dozen metal-skinned
balloons, many reflecting angles,

the return could produce almost the
same target image as a large aircraft.

Now, when the wind brushed them up
against the cable TV tower on the mountain,

One of the balloons got caught. The
whole mass bobbled around up there,

interfering with
transmission in a random pattern.

When it finally freed itself,

it blew all the way over
against the side of this building,

which is when the Ryerson saw it.

Now...

Metal surface tape.

Long strands of this were blowing out
from the top of the building at the same time.

They picked up the flashes of red
light from the aircraft hazard beacons.

That light, reflected from the strips of
tape, is what caused your beams of light.

And the whole incident
was concealed from a city

of six million people
by the fog that night.

You two gentlemen have
certainly done your homework.

I'm convinced.

However, there still is one other matter.

Yes, sir.

If the UFO was a mass of balloons, why
did the Ryerson's report say in a spacecraft?

Exactly, Sergeant.

Thank you.

Thanks.

I explained things to Keyes. Our
appointment with the Ryersons is at 2?

Yes, sir, in about 40 minutes.

You know, Harry, something...
something I noticed in their apartment...

for the life of me... Could
somebody help me, please?

It's my wife. If she
won't move, she won't say

anything to me. She's
frozen. She's scared.

Get her away from the
window. Well, I've tried.

I can't move her hands.
Harry, cover her eyes.

Man, she sure got a hold of this thing.

There. Stop.

Let's let her sit down.

Honey, you OK?

What happened?

She'll be OK now.

Thank you all very much.

You're welcome.

Harry.

Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson, I believe we have
some idea what happened on Saturday night.

But first, would you mind calling
your daughter in here for a moment?

I'll get her.

No, no, excuse me, but could you
just call her from here, please?

Sure.

Billy?

Billy, come here, honey.

Fingers still stiff, Mr. Harrison?

Now, I'd like to reconstruct
the events of that evening.

We've established that the
object you saw was a mass of silver

balloons released accidentally from an
aerial display, an advertising display.

They got tangled in the TV antennas above,

and they bobbled down the outside of
the building, just outside your window.

Now, your account of the sighting differs
from the known facts in a number of ways,

such as the size of the balloons.

But the most important departure, of
course, is the alien beings you saw.

We also believe you saw them.

But we think what you
saw were hallucinations.

When your daughter asked,
is it from outer space, Dad?

The seed was planted.

Your subconscious mind's
filled in the details.

Hallucinations?

Captain, I don't like
what you're implying,

that my whole family
are a bunch of loonies.

Not at all, sir.

But I called an Air Force psychologist
just before coming up here. He agrees.

What happened to you is perfectly natural.

What? What happened to us?

Acrophobia.

The fear of heights.

Now, you've only
recently moved into the tower,

and it takes some people time to
adjust to living at this altitude.

Have you noticed how Billy clings
to the inner walls of the apartment?

The phobia is strongest near the windows.

You were standing near
them to see the balloons,

and that triggered the hallucinations.

But is that possible? Possible.

Perfectly common and completely curable.

In fact, there are even veteran pilots
who suffer acrophobia. Not from flying,

but from stationary heights.

Irritability.

Loss of appetite.

Both symptoms.

They vanish when you're at ground level.

Like when you had coffee
with the sergeant and me.

And all this time I thought this
new wealth was coming between us.

And I thought...

Hope we didn't offend you, Mr. Harrison.

No, Sergeant, you haven't
offended us in the slightest.

And that makes sense.

We covered this up that
night because it reminded

us of the terrible thing that we saw.

And if you're right...

This is that terrible thing that we saw.