On February 25, 1942, reports filtered in of a glowing object floating over Culver City. Air-raid sirens sounded; the Army proceeded to pepper it with 1,400 anti-aircraft shells. Eventually it disappeared from view, but not before a citywide blackout was ordered, shell fragments got lodged in surrounding buildings, and five civilians died. The Navy later explained it had been a weather balloon. But ufologists suspected an alien spacecraft, which would explain why an hour's worth of heavy artillery had failed to eliminate a single weather balloon.
Steven Spielberg would mercilessly satirize the incident in 1941, a "comedy spectacular." But ufologists immediately suspected an alien spacecraft, which would explain why an hours' worth of heavy artillery had failed to eliminate a single weather balloon. Conspiracists site a famous L.A. Times photo as extra proof; it seemingly caught searchlights trained on a very un-balloon-like object getting barraged with shells. The next day's Times ran an editorial on page A1 ("") demanding the Army and Navy release more info, "if only to clarify their own conflicting statements about it."
—C.R.
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SpiritualReasons to Believe How seriously should you take those recent reports of UFOs? Ask the Pentagon. Or read this primer for the SETI-curious
