Chris A. Rutkowski - The Big Book of UFOs

THE BIG BOOK OF UFOS

DUNDURN PRESS
TORONTO

Copyright Chris A. Rutkowski, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Copy Editor: Matt Baker
Design: Jesse Hooper
Printer: Transcontinental

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Rutkowski, Chris
The big book of UFOs / by Chris A. Rutkowski.

Issued also in an electronic format.
ISBN 978-1-55488-760-6

1. Unidentified flying objects. 2. Unidentified flying objects--Sightings and encounters. I. Title.

TL789.R785 2010 001.942 C2010-902408-7

1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and TheAssociation for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers TaxCredit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed and bound in Canada.
www.dundurn.com

To Nu

CONTENTS

To produce a Big Book, one must have friends and colleagues with Big Hearts. I certainly have many of these.

In terms of writing and encouragement, I must thank my writers group, Off The Wall, including Evelyn Woodward, Susan Rocan, Kevin Russell, Sam Courcelles, K.C. Oliver, Katherine Lovejoy, and Barbara Lange.

My publisher, Dundurn Press, has helped me refine and craft my manuscript into readable form, particularly their staff: Matt Baker, Margaret Bryant, Tammy Mavroudi, Karen McMullin, Michael Carroll, Jennifer Scott, and especially Beth Bruder.

For assistance with scanning and artwork, I would like to thank Pat Goss and Stacey Archer, as well as Jennifer Wang, Susan Birdwise, Vladimir Simosko, Zachary Rutkowski, Erwin Dirks, and Billy Booth.

For moral support and for sharing views, news, and ideas about UFOs, I would like to thank Alan and Cindy Anderson, Geoff Currier, Geoff Dittman, John Danakas, Grant Cameron, Sue St. Clair, Terry Groff, Linda and Don Percy, Dave Trimble, Stanton Friedman, Nicholas Roesler, Vladimir Simosko, Francois Bourbeau, Errol Bruce-Knapp, and Chris Reid.

Finally, it goes without saying, but I will anyway: a special thank you to my wife Donna, who kept the house going while I was hiding in the study. Her support and inspiration are what keep me going. Not only that, shes pretty.

Thanks also to Vicki and Zach, who told me they helped her around the house with chores and other duties as assigned.

Throughout this book, youll find measurements in metric units. If you find this at all confusing, it may help to reference this handy chart:

1 centimetre = 0.3937 inches

1 metre = 3.281 feet

1 kilometre = 0.6214 miles

OR

1 inch is roughly 2.5 centimetres

1 metre is roughly 3 feet (a little more)

1 kilometre is just over half a mile

For temperatures, weights, and complicated conversions, you can find several free conversion sites online.

This is a big book about UFOs.

Ive been writing about the UFO phenomenon for almost 35 years, having investigated hundreds of UFO sightings, interviewed thousands of witnesses, and conducted research since the mid-1970s. Ive heard it all: from pilots eyewitness accounts of encounters with craft that seemed to defy physics, to the befuddlement of professionals who insist that aliens visited them in their bedrooms.

I have travelled across Canada on investigative expeditions, and driven through the Midwestern United States to interview witnesses in many counties. I have sat throughout the night in some popular UFO haunts, but never saw anything that defied explanation, much to the chagrin of my guides and companions.

As an astronomer, I spent many hours with my eye frozen to a telescope eyepiece at brutal temperatures my record is -42 degrees Celsius at 3:30 a.m. watching the Moons terminator plunge a small craters rim into darkness. I have shown eager kids and their parents Saturns rings through a small scope at public star parties, and I have presented papers at astronomical conferences.

Im fascinated with space and astronomy. I was taught by brilliant minds such as cosmologist Dr. Martin Clutton-Brock and pure astronomer Dr. Richard Bochonko, for whom spherical astronomy and orbital dynamics came naturally. But not me.

Ive always had a sense of wonder about the universe. Growing up, my most common question was, Why? Now I know the most appropriate answer is not, Because, but, Why not?

At a young age I wondered if there was other life out there, somewhere. It was a sensible enough question. After all, were here, so why shouldnt there be other beings on other planets, wondering the same thing?

After more than 35 years of investigation and research and wondering I still dont know. Why has the UFO phenomenon been so persistent? Why do people still report seeing unidentified objects in the sky, despite the best efforts of scientists to assure them there is nothing of concern? Why do we persist in wondering?

Ive written several books, published dozens of research papers and reports, and over the past decade posted many blog entries and tweeted about the UFO phenomenon.

This Big Book of UFOs contains some of the most interesting stories and cases from my files, some of which have appeared in my other books, but many which were researched and are described here for the first time. I dont think any nonbelievers will be convinced, nor do I expect ardent UFO fans will doubt some of the more popular UFO tales.

The idea behind this book is to inform and entertain, and make you wonder.

As I still do.

LIFE IN THE
UNIVERSE

1
THE UFO QUESTION