The Mike Wallace-Major Donald Keyhoe Interview
By
Robert D. Morningstar
(Copyright 2008, RDM*- All Rights Reserved)
Major Keyhoe, first of all, let me ask you this:
Most people in the United States, in spite of the fact that I said that millions do believe, I think you will agree that most people in the United States don't believe in flying saucers from outer space. They probably hold the view of columnist Bob Considine, who wrote that flying saucers are products of, for the most part, quote "pranksters, half-wits, cranks, publicity hounds, fanatics in general and screwballs" end quote.
How do you feel about Mr. Considine's charge?
KEYHOE: Well, I know where he got the story; he got it from Colonel Watson out at the Air Technical Intelligence Center in Dayton. In fact, the colonel went even a little further and he said "that behind every sighting was an idiot, a crackpot or religious fanatic." That included a lot of high-ranking Air Force pilots, incidentally, and many airline captains, people who are qualified to see these things.
But, he's just following on Air Force policy.
WALLACE: Well now, you're not suggesting that Bob Considine is in the pay of the Air Force; he's an independent newsman with a considerable reputation.
KEYHOE: No, I mean the colonel, I mean the colonel.
No, I have a only respect for Bob Considine.
WALLACE: In spite of the fact that he suggests that "pranksters, half-wits and screwballs" are responsible for the stories about flying saucers?
KEYHOE: Well, I wish I could show him, at anytime, a list of about 800 witnesses, some of the big names of aviation including, up to the rank of colonel in the Air Force.
They're still flying, and they're still carrying passengers; they've never been grounded. They're still guiding airliners in the radar men are, night after night in bad weather. If they're "screwballs and incompetents," why are they still on the job?
WALLACE: Major Keyhoe, where do you think flying saucers are coming from?
KEYHOE: I don't know. There is an indication that they could be using Mars as a base. I don't mean they originate right there, but every time Mars has approached us, in the last ten years, there's been a noticeable increase in saucer sightings. And that's been mentioned officially. In fact, the Canadian official project, on the basis of that, set up an observation station in Canada.
WALLACE: You say the Canadian official project, what do you mean by "the official"?
KEYHOE: There was an official project called "Project Magnet," and they set up an observatory at Shirley Bay to try to track these things. And...
WALLACE: What happened to the official project? You say there was a project.
KEYHOE: Yes. They ran for about a year and they had one sighting on the gravimeter, which indicated that something... a very large object had flow over there, but they finally decided that they were spending a little bit much money on that, I suppose.
WALLACE: For certain, they wouldn't have thought that they were spending too much money on it, if they believed that that kind of phenomena existed.
KEYHOE: A lot of people on the project are still working up there on their own time and certain government officials have still kept the lid on the reports in Canada, just as they do down here.
WALLACE: What is your theory? … In other words, you suggest that they come from Mars or from other planets, from other solar systems, possibly, throughout the universe. Is that correct?
KEYHOE: Yes, and there're a lot of scientists who've said the same thing.
WALLACE: What is your theory as to the kind of people who fly these... or the kind of beings who fly these saucers?
KEYHOE: Well, that's speculation…
Willy Ley said recently that it would be like the man next door, the invaders from space, and his reasons, may be good. But most of the top scientists have said that the odds are that beings from other worlds would not be like us; some of them would be.
Dr. Harlow Shapley, for instance, said that there probably… were at least a hundred million inhabited planets in the universe. And then Menzel, who doesn't believe in saucers, at all, says, that he goes at higher -- even higher. And among those, by --there must, be- the law of averages. ---, There is a certain number of planets that would be like the earth, and if evolution started the same time, you might have the same type of being.
WALLACE: What (do) you think of the intentions of these people -- for lack of a better name -- of these people who are in these flying saucers?
KEYHOE: Well, there's been no evidence of any hostility during the last 10 years, for what we call the modern phase, there have been sightings before then.
There had have been some accidents; air force pilots chasing these things; they kept a man until he was killed chasing, one in '48 and two pilots disappeared chasing one in '53 over Lake Superior.
But, I think those are just accidents.
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