As I look at all the information I have, I feel that there are some vehicles of extraterrestrial origin being seen flying above and around Area 51.'[818]
It reached the point that one person observed, 'The Area 51 folder seems to have degenerated into a discussion of UFO's.'[819]
The myth of Aurora can serve as an example of how a belief system can develop and spread. It began with vague stories in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They did not take solid form until the name Aurora was publicized in 1985. Soon, the name was attached to the rumors of a superfast airplane.
By the late 1980s, the first sightings were being made and Aurora had become part of the UFO subculture. Media access, on the part of the UFO believers, brought the story to national attention, which created more reports and more sightings. Each time the story was repeated, it grew and was embellished. Rumor became fact and then proof. Yet few of the people reading the stories or watching the television reports knew they were based on fringe UFO stories.
A close examination shows the difference between the Aurora myth and research into stories of real Black airplanes. In historical research, the separate bits of information are assembled into a complete picture. It is much like the pieces of a puzzle; individually they may seem meaningless, but together the pattern becomes clear.
With the Aurora myth, it is different. These tales of darkness and shadows are without substance or coherence. Each sighting exists separately, without connection to a whole. Each new tale replaces the ones that came before. For example, the 'flattened diamond' stories, which ushered in the first series of reports, are now passed off by believers. The intercepted radio messages between Gaspipe and Edwards Air Force Base are now thought to be from security guards playing with their radios.[820]
The ebb and flow of the Aurora myth also followed the earlier pattern of the flying saucer myth. As with Aurora, the flying saucer myth had been developing for several years before the first widely publicized sightings in June and July 1947. In the years to follow, the number of UFO sightings went up sharply during times of public unease. These included presidential election years, the launch
In 1954, the noted psychologist Carl Jung gave an interview in which he expressed a degree of skepticism about UFOs. In 1958 the interview was republished, but in a distorted form which made Jung appear to be a UFO believer. He issued a statement giving a true version of his beliefs, 'but,' as he said later, 'nobody, so far as I know took any notice of it.' Jung concluded:
The moral of this story is rather interesting. As the behavior of the press is a sort of Gallup test with reference to world opinion, one must draw the conclusion that news affirming the existence of UFOs is welcome, but that skepticism seems to be undesirable. To believe that UFOs are real suits the general opinion, whereas disbelief is to be discouraged. This creates the impression that there is a tendency all over the world to believe in saucers and to want them to be real, unconsciously helped along by a press that otherwise has no sympathy with the phenomenon.
This remarkable fact in itself surely merits the psychologist's interest. Why should it be more desirable for saucers to exist than not?[822]
This was written thirty years before the Aurora stories were published; yet one need only substitute 'Aurora' for 'UFOs' and 'saucers,' and the statement still stands.
On July 1, 1994, believers in Aurora suffered a stunning blow. On that date the Senate Appropriations Committee added $100 million in funding to bring three SR-71s back into operation.[823] This was an outgrowth of the problems in reconnaissance revealed by the Gulf War. If Aurora did exist, why would the SR-71s be taken out of storage?
While the believers debated this question, a second blow came at the end of the year, with publication of Ben Rich's book
'the rumor surfaced that it was a top secret project assigned to the Skunk Works — to build America's first hypersonic plane… there is no code name for the hypersonic plane, because it simply does not exist.'[824]
Although some believers whispered about secret crashes and technical problems or cast doubts on Rich's word, it was becoming clear a hypersonic Aurora was becoming untenable. The Aurora story began to undergo a shift.
The first example of this 'revisionist Aurora' was an article in the January 1995
It was described as a cross between the F-lll and the YF-23 prototype. The article alleged the aircraft had a two-man crew, swing wings, and the ability to reach supersonic speeds without an afterburner. The A-12's future home base was to be Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. An A-17 sighting was made in September 1994, above Amarillo, Texas. The article concluded by saying, 'Here's a legend-shattering notion: Was the triangular craft seen refueling over Britain's North Sea actually an A-17—and not the rumored Aurora hypersonic spyplane?'[825]
The Black airplane community greeted the A-17 with less than enthusiasm. One suspects this was due to the challenge it posed to the 'orthodox' Aurora. A more significant problem was that it was inconsistent with the policy governing post-F-117A stealth aircraft. Although the F-117A remained secret, the existence of the B-2, YF-22, and YF-23 programs were public knowledge. Shortly before the aircraft were rolled out, artists conceptions were released.
Another negative factor is the sheer number of supposedly still secret Black aircraft. From the published accounts, there are at least eleven such planes — two Shamus (the B-2 prototype and the 'funny-looking' one), at least three differing Auroras (the diamond, North Sea, and XB-70), the TR-3, the large delta wings, the very large deltas, the F-121, the Artichoke, and, finally, the A-17. How many Black airplanes are there? At best, the only one with any credibility is the 'funny-looking' Shamu.
The situation is similar to the early 1950s, when numerous reports and blurry photos were published of 'new' Soviet aircraft. In this case too, they later proved to be false.
The tales of Aurora and captured flying saucers brought a degree of attention to Groom Lake that no real Black airplane ever had. Soon, people were going to sites near the restricted area to watch the UFOs. One popular site was 'The Black Mailbox,' a rancher's mailbox that stands by the side of a highway. The site allows a view of the airspace above Groom Lake. Wednesdays are said to be the best night for seeing the saucers.
For the would-be saucer watcher, the skies above Groom Lake offer many sources of UFO reports. These include parachute flares, infrared decoy flares, aircraft lights and afterburners, planets, satellites, meteors (a brief film of Aurora was actually a bright meteor), and the Old Faithful airliner used to fly workers to Groom Lake.
Two hills, dubbed White Sides Mountain and Freedom Ridge, actually overlook Groom Lake. These were the only sites from which a person could have a close look at the facility itself from public land. They soon became a mecca for Black airplane buffs, UFO believers, radio intercept hobbyists, television reporters, and pilgrims.
The visitors caused problems with Groom Lake operations. Whenever someone was on White Sides or Freedom Ridge, altitude and route changes had to be made to avoid their seeing the aircraft (i.e., the MiGs). In some cases, operations had to be delayed or canceled.[826]
Signs were posted announcing, 'Warning, There Is a Restricted Military Installation to the West.' At the Groom Lake border, signs read, 'Restricted Area, No Trespassing Beyond This Point, Photography Is Prohibited.' The small print on yet another sign read, 'Use of Deadly Force Authorized.'
Security guards, (originally in tan Broncos or Blazers, then later in white Cherokees and HUMVEES) watched
