Professor Gort

Seven-Up Ad, 1957

In the fall of 1957, about the time that the United States was experiencing one of its most concentrated waves of UFO reports, Seven-Up ran this ad in a series of national publications. The other-worldly visitors featured in these advertisements had no interest in taking over the world. They were just thirsty.

Fairytown USA, Middle Island, NY, Late 1950s

Kids getting on your nerves as you make the drive out to Long Island? Send them into another dimension at Fairytown USA amusement park!

Fantastic Universe, March 1955

Next time you find yourself cursing rush hour traffic, just be glad you aren’t having to deal with a bunch of road raging extraterrestrials.

Flying Saucer Cartoon, 1952 (by Alan Ferber)

Los Angeles Daily News cartoonist Alan Ferber came up with this vision of U.S. Air Force flying saucer denial after reading the just published book, Flying Saucers from Outer Space, by Donald Keyhoe. Keyhoe was, by late 1952, well on his way to becoming the nation’s foremost UFO proponent.

Flying Saucer Sheet Music, 1950s and 1960s

Artist’s Depiction of the Kenneth Arnold Sighting (Coronet Magazine, November 1952)

Forget for a moment that the guy in this picture doesn’t look anything like the real Kenneth Arnold. It’s still a great example of saucer-era pop art. By the time Coronet magazine published this image and its accompanying article, “Flying Saucers: Myth or Menace?” in late 1952, the Kenneth Arnold sighting was more than five years old. By then, many Americans were at least somewhat familiar with the story. Arnold claimed that on the afternoon of June 24, 1947, as he was flying his private plane to Yakima, Washington, he spotted something strange: a formation of bright objects moving south between Mount Baker and Mount Ranier. The next day a newspaper reporter in Pendleton, Oregon, wrote up the story and sent it on to the Associated Press. Soon people around the country were talking about the “saucer-like objects” that Arnold had reported seeing. It didn’t matter that Arnold had never used the word “saucer” to describe the objects he saw. The term “flying saucer” was now embedded in the national lexicon.

Another early piece of photographic evidence from the 1947 wave of UFO sightings, this one purportedly shows one of six discs seen flying over Santa Catalina Island, California, on July 9, 1947. Three visiting Army veterans reported the sighting. One of them, a former aerial photographer named Bob Jung, snapped the photo. 

Artist’s Depiction of the Kenneth Arnold Sighting (Coronet Magazine, November 1952)

Forget for a moment that the guy in this picture doesn’t look anything like the real Kenneth Arnold. It’s still a great example of saucer-era pop art. By the time Coronet magazine published this image and its accompanying article, “Flying Saucers: Myth or Menace?” in late 1952, the Kenneth Arnold sighting was more than five years old. By then, many Americans were at least somewhat familiar with the story. Arnold claimed that on the afternoon of June 24, 1947, as he was flying his private plane to Yakima, Washington, he spotted something strange: a formation of bright objects moving south between Mount Baker and Mount Ranier. The next day a newspaper reporter in Pendleton, Oregon, wrote up the story and sent it on to the Associated Press. Soon people around the country were talking about the “saucer-like objects” that Arnold had reported seeing. It didn’t matter that Arnold had never used the word “saucer” to describe the objects he saw. The term “flying saucer” was now embedded in the national lexicon.