1978 11 20 Time (2) AFU scan CFI archive keyword UFO

Magazine Overview

Title: TIME
Issue Date: November 20, 1978
Document Type: Magazine Issue
Cover Headline: Pesky UFOs

This issue of TIME magazine features an article titled "Pesky UFOs" which explores a scientific explanation for unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings. The article, published on November 20, 1978, suggests that many reported UFOs, particularly those described as glowing and humming, may actually be insects.

Pesky UFOs: The Insect Explanation

The article begins by recounting an incident from the 1974 book "The Utah UFO Display," which detailed 80 sightings of unidentified flying objects near Roosevelt, Utah, between 1965 and 1968. These objects were described as large, flat-bottomed with domes, emitting humming noises and blinking red, green, and yellow lights.

Entomologists Philip S. Callahan and R.W. Mankin from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after reviewing "The Utah UFO Display" by Frank B. Salisbury, a plant physiologist at Utah State University, noted a striking similarity between the reported UFO movements and the behavior of insect swarms. They hypothesized that these UFOs could be moths, specifically spruce budworms, illuminated by a natural atmospheric phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire.

St. Elmo's fire is described as a glowing halo that appears around pointed objects like ship masts or aircraft propellers when strong electrical fields are present in the atmosphere, causing nearby air molecules to agitate and produce light.

To test their hypothesis, Callahan and Mankin conducted laboratory experiments. They generated electric fields comparable to those found during storms and confined various insects, including predatory stinkbugs and spruce budworms, within these fields. The results showed that the insects, with their dielectric exoskeletons and electrolyte body fluids, displayed brilliantly colored flares from their antennae, leg joints, and jaws. The scientists concluded, "There is absolutely no doubt that, given the right weather conditions, nature can produce a high enough electric field to light up flying insects."

Further supporting evidence came from U.S. Forest Service records, which indicated that severe spruce budworm infestations occurred in forests near Roosevelt just before the period of the UFO outbreaks. The article suggests that these budworm moths, possibly migrating in large swarms, could have been responsible for the sightings. When hovering and blinking overhead, especially on stormy nights while attempting to escape atmospheric electric fields, they might have appeared as strange, dancing lights, which the scientists metaphorically described as a great "free-floating discothèque in the sky."

The article includes an image labeled "Predatory stinkbug glowing UFO-like in a lab-created electrical field" and quotes Callahan and Mankin's conclusion about nature's ability to illuminate flying insects.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring theme of this article is the scientific demystification of phenomena often attributed to extraterrestrial or unknown sources. The editorial stance appears to favor rational, evidence-based explanations grounded in natural science, suggesting that common natural occurrences, like illuminated insects, can be mistaken for more extraordinary events. The article highlights the importance of entomology and atmospheric physics in understanding reported anomalies.