s group could get any of the equipment built, some
of the members left the lab for other jobs, and the colonel, who
sparked the operation, was himself transferred elsewhere. The entire
effort collapsed.

The scientist was not surprised that I hadn't heard the story of the
colonel's group. All the people involved, he said, had kept it quiet
in order to avoid ridicule. The scientist added that he would be glad
to give me all the data he had on the sightings of his "mineral
club," and he told me where to get the information about the two
astronomers and the colonel's group.

Armed with the scientist's notes and recorder tapes, I left for my
office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton.

With the blessings of my chief, I started to run down the rest of
the radiation information. The data we had, especially that from the
scientist's "mineral club," had been thoroughly analyzed, but we
thought that since we now had access to more general data something
new and more significant might be found.

First I contacted the government agency for which all of the people
involved in these investigations had been working, the scientists who
recorded the original incident, the scientist and his "mineral club,"
the colonel's group, and the rest.

The people in the agency were very co-operative but stressed the
fact that the activities I was investigating were strictly the
extracurricular affairs of the scientists involved, had no official
sanction, and should not be tied in with the agency in any way,
shape, or form. This closed-door reaction was typical of how the
words "flying saucer" seem to scare some people.

They did help me locate the report on the original incident,
however, and since it seemed to be the only existing copy, I arranged
to borrow it. About this same time we located the two graduate
astronomy students in New Mexico. Both now had their Ph.D.'s and held
responsible jobs on highly classified projects. They repeated their
story, which I had first heard from the scientist, but had kept no
record of their activities.

On one occasion, just before dawn on a Sunday morning, they were on
the roof, making some meteorological observations. One of them was
listening to the Geiger counter when he detected a definite increase
in the clicking.

Just as the frequency of the clicks reached its highest peak--almost
a steady buzz--a large fireball, described by them as "spectacular,"
flashed across the sky. Both of the o