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In his book on the folklore of Celtic countries, Walter Evans-Wentz reports that the mind of a person coming out of Fairy-Land is usually blank about what has been seen and done there. The same is true in many modern UFO reports. The mind of Private First Class Gerry Irwin was blank indeed when he woke up on March 2, 1959, in Cedar City Hospital. He had been unconscious for twenty-three hours, at times mumbling incoherently something about a "jacket on the bush." When he became conscious his first question was: "Were there any survivors?" The story of Private Irwin is mysterious, and very little has been done to clarify it. It has been mentioned only once in UFO literature, by the late James Lorenzen, director of the APRO group, and has not, to the best of my knowledge, been the subject of subsequent investigation. Such an investigation, however, would throw light on the sociological context of UFO reports. Perhaps, as Lorenzen suggests, there was a military investigation that has been kept secret. If so, secrecy on the part of the authorities, if they are really concerned with the nation's peace of mind, is not the best course. The well-established facts of the Irwin case, which serves as our introduction to a discussion phenomenon. Late on February 28, 1959, Gerry Irwin, a Nike missile technician, was driving from Nampa, Idaho, back to his barracks at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. He had reached Cedar City, Utah, and turned southeast on Route 14 when he observed an unusual phenomenon six miles after the turnoff. The landscape brightened, and a glowing object crossed the sky from right to left. Irwin stopped the car and got out. He watched the object continue to the east until hidden from view by a ridge. The witness decided that he might have seen an airliner on fire attempting a forced landing, in which case there was no time to lose. Consequently, instead of resuming his journey, Irwin wrote a note ("Have gone to investigate possible plane crash. Please call law enforcement officers.") and placed it on the steering wheel of his car. Using shoe polish, he wrote "STOP" on the side of his car, to make sure people would find his note, and then started out on foot. Approximately thirty minutes later, a fish and game inspector did stop. He took the note to the Cedar City sheriff, Otto Pfief, who gathered a party of volunteers and returned to the site. Ninety minutes after he had sighted the strange object, Gerry Irwin was discovered unconscious and taken to the hospital. No trace of an airplane crash was found. At the hospital, Dr. Broadbent observed that Irwin's temperature and respiration were normal. He seemed merely asleep, but he could not be awakened. Dr. Broadbent diagnosed hysteria. Then, when Irwin did wake up, he felt fine although he was still puzzled by the object he had seen. He was also puzzled by the disappearance of his jacket. He was assured that he was not wearing it when he was found by the search party. Irwin was flown back to Fort Bliss and placed under observation at William Beaumont Army Hospital for four days, after which period he returned to duty. His security clearance, however, was revoked. Several days later, Irwin fainted while walking in the camp, but he recovered rapidly. Several days afterward, on Sunday, March 15, he fainted again in an El Paso street and was taken to Southwest General Hospital. There his physical condition was found similar to that observed in Cedar City. He woke up at about 2:00 A.M. on Monday and asked: "Where there any survivors?" He was told that the date was not February 28 but March 16. Once more, he was taken to William Beaumont Hospital and placed under observation by psychiatrists. He remained there over one month. Lorenzen reports that, according to a Captain Valentine, the results of the tests indicated that Irwin was normal. He was discharged from the hospital on April 17. The next day, following a very powerful urge, he left the fort without leave, caught a bus in El Paso, arrived in Cedar City Sunday afternoon (April 19), walked to the spot where he had seen the object, left the road, and went back through the hills — right to a bush where his jacket lay. There was a 4. The Emotional Component: Cosmic Seduction The Case of Gerry Irwin of the problem or "contact," makes it clear that open research is now imperative on all aspects of the