Kenneth Arnold
UFO stories have been appearing in popular culture and our imaginations for many years now. But where did this whole phenomenon truly start? It started with a man named Kenneth Arnold. He was a business man and a trained pilot of small aircraft. He is considered the first person to ever report the sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object. During his time as a pilot, he was able to log more than 9,000 hours in flight time. Mainly due to this fact that he regularly went on search and rescue missions. His story starts on June 24 of 1947. He was flying his aircraft near Mt. Rainer in Washington State looking for a downed Marine pilot when he noticed some strange objects hovering in the sky.
He first saw bright flashes. He originally thought it was the sun’s reflection from another close plane. After he discovered that they were not from another plane, he felt they must have been coming from the unknown objects. He claims they flew in a chain and were going at very high speeds, ruling out his assumption that it was a flock of geese. As soon as he landed, he phoned a friend and told him the entire story. Soon the press got a hold of it and Arnold became a celebrity. Soon after this event, the Roswell incident happened, which made the whole phenomenon even more popular. The publicity put strain on Arnold’s life and he claims that since he told the story, he has never been left alone.
Kenneth Arnold is considered one of the first people to use the term “Flying Saucer.” His adjective to describe the craft has become a household name. But did Kenneth really see objects or was he suffering from hallucinations brought on from hours of flight. We may never know, but the fact is that this story breathed life into the UFO phenomenon. So it must be somewhat true.
