Thus 1947 ended with various-sized question marks in the mind of the
public. If you followed flying saucers closely the question mark was
big, if you just noted the UFO story titles in the papers it was
smaller, but it was there and it was growing. Probably none of the
people, military or civilian, who had made the public statements were
at all qualified to do so but they had done it, their comments had
been printed, and their comments had been read. Their comments formed
the question mark.



CHAPTER THREE

The Classics

1948 was only one hour and twenty-five minutes old when a gentleman
from Abilene, Texas, made the first UFO report of the year. What he
saw, "a fan-shaped glow" in the sky, was insignificant as far as UFO
reports go, but it ushered in a year that was to bring feverish
activity to Project Sign.

With the Soviets practically eliminated as a UFO source, the idea of
interplanetary spaceships was becoming more popular. During 1948 the
people in ATIC were openly discussing the possibility of
interplanetary visitors without others tapping their heads and
looking smug. During 1948 the novelty of UFO's had worn off for the
press and every John and Jane Doe who saw one didn't make the front
pages as in 1947. Editors were becoming hardened, only a few of the
best reports got any space. Only "The Classics" rated headlines. "The
Classics" were three historic reports that were the highlights of