Flying Saucers in Citrus County?
By: Ken Marotte, Citrus County Historical Society
All eyes in America were on the lookout for “flying saucers” in the skies after World War II. People in Citrus County were no exception and many claimed to have seen strange lights and UFO’s hovering over Inverness and the Gulf Coast. Were we at risk of invasion from creatures from Mars? This is the story of the alien-spotting craze that swept the country in the postwar years.
Initial Contact – It Started in Oregon
If you asked someone about “flying saucers” before 1947, they would probably think you were referring to clay disks that were used for target practice and competitions. That changed in June, 1947 when Kenneth Arnold, a US Forest Service pilot, was searching for a downed airplane in Oregon. He reported encountering nine flying objects that were cruising in formation at an altitude of 10,000 feet but were weaving around each other at very high speeds. Arnold estimated that the craft were traveling at about 1,200 miles per hour, which far exceeded the capabilities of any airplanes at that time. They quickly darted between the mountains in Washington State and were quickly out of the pilot’s field of vision.
The aircraft were described as round saucer-like objects which led to newspaper reporters to create a new nickname for any unidentified flying object; thus, the term “flying saucers” entered American conversations.
Military leaders were puzzled by the report. They knew of no experimental flying squadrons in existence that could match the speed and maneuverability reported by pilot Arnold. While USAF pilot Chuck Yeager would break the sound barrier later that year in the X-1, there was only a single version of that plane and the maximum speed was under 800 miles per hour in level flight. Officials continued to monitor the skies for any other strange events. They would not have to wait long.
Widespread Sightings Across America
A deluge of “flying saucer” sightings were reported from Canada to Texas within the next week. Large groups of people in different locations consistently claimed to see shiny flat disks traveling at tremendous speed with evidently no engine sound.
On July 4th, 1947, observers across 28 states, including some on the Eastern seaboard and Canada, reported waves of the suspicious aircraft.
Officials scrambled to quiet public fears and attributed the incidents to weather balloons and other man-made vehicles. The US Navy released information about an experimental round airplane XF5UI dubbed the “Flying Flapjack” that might be confused with a saucer. The “Flapjack” was currently being tested, although they stated that the maximum speed was about 450 miles per hour (apparently when powered by high-grade maple syrup). Only two experimental “Flapjacks” were built before the project was cancelled by the Navy in 1947.
In spite of the various denials and official explanations, the public remained fascinated by unknown aircraft and the sightings continued to increase as the 1950’s dawned. The UFO reports became so prevalent that President Truman and military leaders issued a press release denying that “flying saucers” from outer space existed.
Popular Culture Adopts Flying Saucers
The mystery surrounding these strange craft captured the public’s attention. Movies such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still” played at the Valerie Theater in Inverness and remains a cult classic today. A beauty contest in Sebring, FL offered young ladies the chance to become “Miss Flying Saucer”. The University of Florida felt compelled to warn the public when they planned to release a series of weather balloons to preempt the inevitable UFO sightings.
For many years the Citrus County school menu was published in the Citrus County Chronicle and listed a “Flying Saucer” for dessert, which was a popular flat pastry resembling a frisbee.
Flying Saucers Come to Citrus County
It was only a matter of time before the rumored aliens became interested in the Nature Coast. The first sighting took place near the Crystal River airport in 1952. Three women reported seeing “weird” red and green lights on an aircraft near the airport. They were probably unaware that airplanes typically have red and green navigation lights on the wings to aid detecting location and direction.
The next incident occurred when a Citrus County couple was on route back to their home. The woman noted “…we saw a flying saucer. It was almost on top of us before it took off from the ground and off into space”. The final line in the article helpfully noted that the couple were non-alcoholic.
A Dunnellon woman reported being awoken in the middle of the night by a craft with strange flashing lights. Her daughter joined her on the back porch and they watched for several minutes until the aircraft darted into the sky. US Air Force officials investigated and concluded that the sightings were nothing more than “a bad dream”
A 1967 UFO sighting was reported by many fishermen across the Gulf one night. Officials later concluded that the lights were the result of a missile test and the citizens witnessed the reentry of boosters reentering the atmosphere.
One of the more interesting events occurred in 1969 when two boys from Yankeetown claimed to have been followed by a UFO that arose from the waters of the Gulf. They watched for a brief time but then decided to pedal home as fast as they could. One of their bicycles experienced a flat tire which hampered their escape. The craft seemed to keep following them until they reached their neighborhood. The craft disappeared but not before the boys had a chance to sketch the layout of the UFO and the location of its lights.
Intelligent Life Sends a Message
The Citrus County Sheriff’s phone lines were suddenly jammed on the evening November 18, 1996. All of the callers reported seeing a strange object in the sky slowly moving across the county. The object was well lit and triggered multiple reports to the Citrus County Chronicle office of an oblong object traveling from Hernando toward Floral City.
John Godlewski was the operations director at the Crystal River airport. He grabbed his binoculars to see if he could identify the craft. It seemed to have a picture of the pilot on the side with a message for the people on the ground below.
The picture of the pilot turned out to be World War I Sopworth Camel ace “Snoopy” and the message for Citrus Countians was “Get Met, It Pays”. As it turns out, the UFO was identified as the Metropolitan Life blimp and it was chartered to provide arial shots of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game. The director of MetLife’s blimp operations chuckled and said “We get this all the time…no aliens are going to get out of the ship tonight”.
The Truth is Out There
The rise in UFO sightings seemed to coincide with the development of advanced cold-war weapons after World War II. While some of the events could be attributed to weather phenomena (or “bad dreams”), many other sightings can probably be related to confidential testing of military technology that is justifiably kept secret. Citrus County joined the flying saucer mania and some still maintain that what they saw in the nighttime skies was real…and cannot be easily explained to this day.
Ken Marotte writes for the Citrus County Historical Society. He can be reached via email at kenmarottejr@gmail.com if you have any comments, questions or suggestions.