Confrontations

The UFO Enigma

Edited by Peter A. Sturrock

Warner Brother, N.Y. 1999, 404 pages, price $23.95.

The subtitle of this book is A New Review of the Physical Evidence. Recently Lawrence Rockefeller, who wrote the forward, commissioned a new scientific study of the UFO phenomenon. The last major study was in late 1960's, the Condon Report, by Colorado University. That study, most ufologists agree was biased against UFOs. The recent study "was directed by Professor Sturrock, a physicist with a long record of scientific accomplishments. This book would be a good one for someone with a scientific mind to read since the emphasis here is on scientific evidence such as physical traces, photographs and radar evidence. Of local interest is the lengthy, over 70 pages, analysis by Ohio scientist Jennie Zeidman of the Coyne helicopter case. For readers who don't know about it, it involved a National Guard helicopter piloted by Lawrence Coyne and a four man crew flying on October 18, 1973 from Cleveland to Columbus. Over Mansfield, Ohio they encountered a cigar shaped metallic object which they almost collided with. The close proximity of the sighting, the duration, several minutes, the fact that there were eyewitnesses both in the air and on the ground make this an especially worthwhile case. There is no logical explanation for this sighting.
Also in the book is a lengthy analysis of a October 1981 Vancouver, Canada color photo of a UFO showing a disc shaped object. The interesting fact about the photo is that the vacationing family in a park never saw the UFO. They were merely taking a photo of the beautiful countryside and found a UFO on the photo after it was developed. The photo has undergone lengthy analysis such as computer enhancement and the cameras has been investigated. The eyewitnesses never profited from the photo so the hoax motive is eliminated.
The book comes to no conclusion as to UFO origins but it does state that more funding is needed for scientific investigations and that orthodox science has shown a shameful lack of curiosity about UFOs. The book calls for more scientists to study the phenomenon.