Page Content (OCR)
area: the soil would not permit the water to pass through the surface. This was most remarkable, as there had been several inches of rain and snow. Phillips removed a sample from the ring and observed that it contained a high concentration of a whitish material. The soil under the ring was dry to a depth of at least one foot. This is not an isolated occurrence. Hundreds of reports of ring-shaped patterns have been gathered, and many of them refer to a white substance or powder at the site. A similar occurrence took place in New Zealand, at a place named Waihoke, in January 1965. The ring there was visible for four years before it was finally covered with grass. It is curious that in spite of all the excitement caused by the Delphos case and the attention it recieved from "scientific" ufologists and from skeptics, no one, believer or skeptic, ever bothered to identify the white substance itself. Thorough analyses of the soil have been made, however, showing no significant difference between the inside and the outside of the ring. I eventually obtained a sample of the white substance from Mr. Phillips and forwarded it to a biological laboratory in France, where it was examined under a microscope with magnifications ranging from a few diameters to the maximum enlargement possible under the oil immersion technique. The white substance was resolved into fibers (thus destroying the "explanation" of the case put forth by Philip Klass in his book UFOs Explained, where he claimed the substance was produced by the urine of sheep feeding from a circular device). The fibers were vegetal in nature and belonged to an organism of the order of the Actinomycetales, which is an intermediate organism between bacteria and fungus. (The French biologist who identified it, and who has wished not to be named in this book, determined that the organism belongs to the family of the actinomycete and the genus Nocardia.) It is often found together with a fungus of the order of the Bacidiomycepes, which may fluoresce under certain conditions. This fungus can cause a circular pattern to be visible on the surface of the ground. This is undoubtedly the explanation for some UFO rings, but the coincidence of this fungus ring with the observation made by the Johnsons remains to be explained. One possible interpretation is that high- energy stimulation triggered the spectacular growth of the Nocardia and of an exiting fungus and caused the latter to fluoresce. The effects of the glowing object an animals were consistent with other landing cases. During the sighting itself, the dog was very quiet and still. The sheep were bellowing, but like the dog they were almost glued to the spot. The boy could not move either, but it was not clear to him whether this was due to fear or to another cause. The behavior of the animals after the sighting was remarkable. For about two weeks, every evening at sunset, the sheep would jump out of the pen and run wildly. The dog would furiosly try to get into the house at nightfall. He practically destroyed the screen door, and the only way to keep him outside was to replace it with a stronger metal door. There were striking effects on the witness himself, too. First he suffered from strong eye irritation; his eyes were red and watery. Then came the headaches and the nightmares. These nightmares, lasting about one week, were so vivid that he would wake up his parents with loud screams. He had the same dream, night after night, in which human-like creatures were looking into his window from the outside. Two or three times, when coming into his bedroom, his parents found him 1 toa 1 the witness replied. "You lie; it is four o'clock," said the occupant. I am indebted to Gerald Askevold for bringing to my attention a fascinating story by Dr. Milton Erickson, a pioneer in modern hypnosis, concerning "The Gentle Art of Reframing": screaming, standing by the window. The Confusion Technique in the Contact Ritual Earlier I recounted the story of a witness who was asked the time by a UFO occupant. "It is 2:30," One windy day... a man came rushing around the corner of a building and bumped hard