Mount Davidson, Again.

From the San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 1950.

3 Batches of Saucers Turn Up

Flying saucers may be piloted by little greeen men from Mars, but don't worry about them. They're obviously fun-loving little creatures.



Of three batches of saucers reportedly seen yesterday, only one V-shaped formation of three was sticking to business.



The rest were playing tag.



About 8 a.m. Mrs. Gordon J. Grey, wife of an insurance salesman, spotted two saucers coming toward her Mission street home at an "incredible speed" from the direction of Mt. Davidson.



And then, while she listened to a 15-minute radio program and gazed out the window, the disks rose vertically, swooped, and hovered in a game of tag that looked like loads of fun.



Over at Terra Bella in the San Joaquin Valley, a little later, Ralph Burke, a rancher, spotted the second batch of saucers while he was irrigating a field.



He said they were accompanied by a flight of airplanes, but were much faster-a distinct edge in a game of tag. Like Mrs. Grey's disks, they circled, dipped and rose vertically. But unlike hers, they let out spurts of nasty black smoke as they climbed.



Two 15-year old high school students spotted the third batch of "things" while riding on the Big Dipper at Playland-at-the-Beach.

While Bob Jones, of 628 25th avenue, and George Elkington, of 763 47th avenue, rose vertically and dipped on the roller coaster ride, they saw the formation of three saucers whizz over from the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge and out toward the Farallones.



"They were very high," said Jones, "looked about the size of a dime and were a dirty gray color."



Meanwhile, the saucers, disks, and "things" received whimsical attention from San Francisco's representatives in the Assembly at Sacramento.



Assemblyman Edward M. Gaffney, taking note of Mayor Robinson's "frantic trip to Washington to seek succor for civillians in his city," asked Assemblyman Thomas Maloney to give the Mayor "his plan for transporting the Southern California smog to San Francisco to aid in the blackout if such a measure is necessary."



Two pilot members of the Assembly were asked to scour the California skies and bring back a saucer for the inspection of Mayor Robinson and Assemblyman John B. Cook, a submarine veteran, was asked to "lay aside his cigar and forthwith bring in the mysterious subs that are prowling the Pacific."

The last sentence is interesting. Few people remember this, and it isn't widely known, but at the time there were numerous scares about "mystery submarines" prowling the western coast of the United States. The implied source of these submarines was the Soviet Union, doing everything from preparing to interdict shipping at the start of World War III to landing communist agents meant to infiltrate American society. Some believe that these "mystery submarines" were actually UFOs, which have a long history of being seen entering and leaving bodies of water.

Publicly, Mysterious SF says: Mt. Davidson, again. This is probably less significant than it sounds, as Mt. Davidson is a prominent reference point for people describing things in the sky. Mysterious SF doubts there are any secret UFO bases there.

Privately, Mysterious SF says: UFOs that rose vertically, spewed out nasty black smoke, and were accompanied by regular airplanes. You don't say?