AudioBlog: Did UFOs Cause the 1965 Blackout?

by Charles Lear, author of “The Flying Saucer Investigators.”On November 9, 1965, a huge portion of the Eastern United States experienced a power outage that began at 5:17 p.m. and lasted until 7:00 a.m. the next day in most areas. According to an article on the New England Historical Society website, it happened because maintenance workers “set a protective relay too low on a power line to Ontario, which then tripped the relay. It then sent power to other lines, overloading them.” At the time, the entire U.S. was in the midst of a UFO flap, and there was speculation that UFOs had something to do with the outage. As far-fetched as that might seem, this was considered seriously by Saturday Review columnist John Fuller in his 1966 book, Incident at Exeter and was discussed in Congress in 1968 during a UFO symposium. A high-strangeness aspect to all this is that Oscar-nominated actor Stuart Whitman, claimed he was given an explanation by the occupants of two UFOs he saw in New York City the night of the blackout. Read more →

Episode Transcript

(00:28):
Did UFOs caused the nineteen sixty fiveblackout by Charles Lear and November ninth,
nineteen sixty five, a huge portionof the eastern United States experienced a power
outage that began at five seventeen PMand lasted until seven am the next day
in most areas. According to anarticle on the New England Historical Society website,

(00:50):
it happened because maintenance workers set aprotective relay too low on a power
line to Ontario, which then trippedthe relay. It then sent power to
other lines, overloading them. Atthe same time, the entire US was
in the midst of a UFO flap, and the was speculation that UFOs had
something to do with the outage.As far fetched as that might seem,

(01:11):
this was considered seriously by Saturday Reviewcolumnist John Fuller in his nineteen sixty six
book Incident at Exeter, and wasdiscussed in Congress in nineteen sixty eight during
a UFO symposium. A high strangenessaspect to all this is that Oscar nominated
actor Stuart Whitman claimed he was givenan explanation by the occupants of two UFOs

(01:33):
he saw in New York City thenight of the blackout. The UFO flap
of nineteen sixty five was extensive,so much so that Jerome Clark were at
a four part series on it forFlying Saucer Review that was published in Volume
twelve, numbers one, two,three, and six. In part four,
he references Fuller's book, which mainlydealt with UFO sightings reported in the

(01:55):
area of Exeter, New Hampshire.In some of these cases, saucers were
described flying near and sometimes touching,high tension power lines. With this in
mind. After the blackout, Fullerspeculated that the saucer pilots had been making
observations of power sources in preparation forthe mischief they were planning. According to
Clark, even jaded eufologists were disturbedby a pattern of blackouts that followed throughout

(02:22):
North and South America. The connectionbetween UFOs and the blackout was brought up
before members of the US Congress atthe Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects on July
twentieth, nineteen sixty eight. Sixscientists, including doctor j Allen Heinik,
doctor Carl Sagan, and doctor JamesE. MacDonald were invited to present their

(02:43):
views on the subject before the Committeeon Astronautics. McDonald was an atmospheric physicist
who was deeply interested in the UFOphenomenon and was a member of the National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Hebrought up the subject of the blackout after
ANTWS entering New York Representative William F. Ryan's question about UFOs on radar,

(03:05):
saying there were thousands that were identifiedand an impressive number that weren't. Ryan
asked about other events associated with UFOs. McDonald took this to mean physical effects.
McDonald brought up the leveland reports anddescribed ten vehicles being stopped there in
a small area within a two hourperiod. He specifically mentioned that there was

(03:29):
only a trace of rain and nothunder in lightning. McDonald then, with
some hesitancy, brought up the subjectof UFO sidings near power stations that coincided
with blackout periods, calling the evidencenot as conclusive as the car stopping phenomenon.
He specifically mentioned UFO sidings during blackoutsin New York State, Tamero at

(03:51):
Illinois, Shelbyville, Kentucky, andEngland. McDonald recommended that Heineck be consulted
regarding sightings in Manhattan, as hehad interviewed witnesses there. Referring to the
New York blackout, McDonald pointed outthat while the pulse of current responsible for
tripping a relay that an Ontario plantwas never identified, there were UFOs seen

(04:13):
over a substation in Syracuse, NewYork, where suspicion for the surge had
been centered. Ryan asked MacDonald ifany agency had investigated the New York blackout
in terms of its relationship to UFOs. McDonald replied none at all. He
told Ryan that he had spoken topeople with the Federal Power Commission and was
dissatisfied with the amount of information hewas able to gain. He said he

(04:38):
was not going on the record assaying there was a clear cut cause and
effect relationship between UFOs and power outages, but he did say it ought to
be looked at. What wasn't broughtup before the committee was the claim by
Stuart Whitman that he saw two UFOshovering outside his room on the twelfth floor
of a Manhattan hotel, and thatthe occupants did so explaining for him about

(05:00):
their role in the blackout. Hisstory has appeared in various publications, including
Clark's article and comes from the articlewritten by Hollywood columnist Vernon Scott headlined Stuart
Whitman Sees Flying Saucer that was publishedin the January eleventh, nineteen sixty six
South Bay Daily Breeze. According toWhitman, one of them was orange and

(05:23):
the other was blue. They gaveoff a strange luminescent light, so I
couldn't see if there were portals orwho was in them. Then I heard
them speaking to me, as ifthey were on a loud speaker. They
spoke to me in English, itmay not have been audible to any one
else. They said they wanted totalk to me because I appeared to have
no malice or hate. They saidthey were fearful of Earth because Earthlings were

(05:46):
messing around with unknown quantities. Theymight disrupt the balance of the universe or
their planet. The people in theUFO said the blackout was just a little
demonstration of their power and that theycould do a lot more with almost no
effort. It served as a warning. They said they could stop our whole
planet from functioning. They asked meto do what I could to fight malice,

(06:06):
prejudice and hate on Earth, andthen they took off. I couldn't
say how big the objects were,but when they took off, I felt
elated. I wasn't even shocked.I know I wasn't asleep, because I
was standing by the window and wideawake the entire time. I don't know
why they picked me as a contact, but I'll swear in a bible that
I saw them out there and thatthey talked to me. Whitman starred in

(06:28):
one of this writer's favorite movies,released in nineteen seventy two, which he
probably did his best to forget,Knight of the Leapists, about giant bunny
rabbits terrorizing and killing people in smallArizona towns. Despite this error in judgment,
he was a very successful actor whoworked constantly and was nominated for an
Oscar as Best Actor for his rolein the nineteen sixty one movie The Mark.

(06:53):
As noted by Clark, Whitman presumablyhad more to lose than to gain
in telling his story. CHARLS.Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer
Investigators, available at Amazon dot com. M