Kenneth Arnold was an American pilot who became famous for seeing UFOs. On June 24, 1947, he was flying his plane near Mount Rainier in Washington when he saw something strange. He noticed nine shiny objects flying very fast in the sky. He thought they were moving at about 1,200 miles per hour. This sighting made him famous and got people interested in UFOs. Arnold described the objects as moving like “saucers skipping on water,” which led to the term “flying saucers.”
Arnold’s story quickly spread across the country. Newspapers called the objects “flying saucers,” and many people became interested in UFOs. By the end of July 1947, there were over 850 reports of UFO sightings in the United States.
After his sighting, Arnold started investigating other UFO reports. He worked with Raymond A. Palmer, the editor of a science fiction magazine. Arnold also wrote articles about UFOs and time travel and a booklet about his experiences. His work helped make the study of UFOs more serious and encouraged others to share their sightings. Arnold wrote articles and shared his thoughts about UFOs and time travel. His ideas made people think about the possibility of traveling through time and how it might be connected to UFOs.
He used to visit me at my motorcycle shop in Boise, Idaho, all the time, where we’d talk about UFOs and time travel. He created Great Western Fire Control Supply, operating out of Boise, where he specialized in selling and installing fire suppression systems based on a non-toxic chemical they had designed for use in submarines. He bought up all the surplus of the WWII chemical he could get his hands on for his repurposed invention and sold fire extinguishers all over Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It was a great system that I still have in my shop today.
Kenneth Arnold’s sightings and investigations made him an important figure in UFO research. He helped bring attention to the idea of UFOs and inspired many people to watch the skies and look into the mystery of these strange objects in the sky, and they would seek him out to talk to him. Before Kenneth’s disclosure, people were afraid of not being taken seriously; once the press got ahold of his story, people had more confidence about revealing their stories, especially if they could make contact with him.
So, he’d travel around for his fire business and visit with folks all along the way, and so many of them would open up and tell him their stories. Becoming a UFO researcher just naturally followed him wherever he went. While Kenneth Arnold is best known for his UFO sighting, he also had some interesting ideas about time travel. He wondered if the strange objects he saw could be from another time, not just another place. Arnold thought that maybe these UFOs were actually time machines from the future or the past.
Kenneth would fly into these little airstrips in remote areas all across the Western USA, and they would tell him the most fantastic stories. Arnold had sort of a sixth sense, and he could tell that they were telling the truth, even if it sounded too fantastic to believe. For example, he told me this story about one rancher and his wife he visited with, who told him their story about actually traveling through time and ending up in our prehistoric world.
They didn’t even have a time machine of any kind, they told the story of a time travel accident, where they left home in their car to go into town and hadn’t gotten very far when the terrain turned to enormous thick jungle. They looked around, and there were giant dinosaurs over here and over there, pterodactyls flying overhead, and they were concerned. They backed the vehicle out of there as quickly as safely possible ’til they exited the jungle and returned to their home. Even though it never happened again, they remember that strange event every time they drive away from the house.
No doubt, Kenneth Arnold’s sighting and his ideas about time travel made him an essential figure in UFO research and the study of time travel. He helped bring attention to these topics and inspired many people to explore the mysteries of the sky and the possibilities of time travel.
Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting near Mount Rainier is a key moment in UFO history. His observations and investigations helped shape the field of UFO research. His thoughts about time travel added another layer of mystery to his story. Arnold’s story shows people’s curiosity about the unknown and their desire to find answers.