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Eagle River encounter

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In 1961, Joe Simonton of Eagle River, Wisconsin reported an encounter with an unidentified aircraft and its three occupants.[1] His account, in which he gave the occupants water and received pancakes, was covered in popular media nationwide and internationally.[1][2][3] Lab analysis revealed one fragment came from an "ordinary pancake of terrestrial origin".[1]: 85 

The account, with its "humorous absurdity", was divisive even amongst UFO believers. [1][4][5][6] In the ensuing years, the Eagle River story would be cited by skeptics and mainstream sources as an example of preposterous UFO accounts.[7] Meanwhile, the story led some extreme-fringe UFO authors to reject the suggestion that UFO reports were caused by extra-terrestrial spaceships in favor of the idea that such tales might be caused by some paranormal phenomenon akin to fairies or elves.[8][9]

The case has been described as "Wisconsin's most famous claim of alien encounters". [10]

Eagle River encounter is located in Wisconsin
Eagle River
Eagle River
Eagle River, Wisconsin

Background

[edit]
UFO conspiracy theorist and NICAP founder Donald Keyhoe (right) during a 1958 interview with Mike Wallace

By 1961, American popular culture and myth was abound with tales of aliens spaceships and government coverups,[11] with Joe Simonton being exposed to such theories before his supposed encounter.[12]

Since the 1947 flying disc craze, reports of unidentified aircraft led to speculation of secret, perhaps extraterrestrial, technology.[11] After a 1952 nationwide spate of sighting culminating in mass UFO reports over Washington, D.C., a CIA study concluded continued public interest in the subject might pose grave risks to national security.[11][13][14] The panel recommended a public education "debunking" campaign to reduce public interest in the subject and monitoring of civilian UFO groups.[11]

Despite the efforts of Air Force debunkers like J. Allen Hynek, public interest grew alongside belief in conspiracies.[11] By 1955, amateur UFO investigator Donald Keyhoe and his book The Flying Saucer Conspiracy publicly accused a "silence group" within the government of covering up flying saucer evidence "to protect the public from possible hysteria".[11] The following year, 1956, Keyhoe founded the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), which quickly grew to become the largest civilian UFO group.[11] The year 1961 marked "the high point" in their "campaign against the Air Force".[6] After NICAP board member Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, publicly claimed that "Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense."[15] House leader John W. McCormack told press "I feel the Air Force has not been giving out all the information it has on the Unidentified Flying Object" and called for hearings on the topic.[16][17][18] Keyhoe told press that the incoming administration might "end the secrecy", saying "President Kennedy is on record that the UFO subject is important." [19] On April 16, 1961, Hearst publication The American Weekly ran a lengthy article by Keyhoe. [20][21]

One member of Donald Keyhoe's NICAP was Eagle River magistrate Frank Wellington Carter. A longtime-believer in a government coverup of UFOs, Judge Carter gave public talks on the subject of flying saucers and was locally known as an authority on the topic.[22][23][24][25] One presentation titled "The Battle for the Moon" was attended by Joe Simonton, who learned there that Judge Carter led the local "UFO study group".[12]

Initial reports

[edit]

On April 23, 1961, papers nation-wide reported on a wire-service story of Joe Simonton, an Eagle River plumber who told of seeing a silver saucer days prior on Tuesday, April 18, around 11 AM.[26][27][28]

Simonton reportedly encountered three men aboard and was handed a jug which he filled with water and returned. In exchange, Simonton reported receiving "cakes" about three inches in diameter. Simonton described the cakes as tasting "just like cardboard". Simonton described the men as clean-shaven, looking like "ordinary human beings" with black shirts and trousers .He described the men as short in stature and looked of Italian descent.[29] He noted one of the three men had a stripe of red trim on his trousers, which Simonton interpreted as perhaps a sign of rank.

He reported the craft made familiar hums like a generator or electric motor, and having exhaust pipes along one edge. According to the story, the saucer took off after about five minutes. He described it taking off with a blast of air that affected nearby pine trees, [30] before flying away at a 45 degree angle.[31]

Simonton relayed his account to local authorities and turned over the cakes to the local judge, Frank Carter. Press quoted the District Attorney as saying Simonton "had a good reputation and told a straightforward story", [32] a sentiment echoed by the editor of the town's weekly newspaper who described Simonton as a trustworthy man. In an editorial, the paper denied having hoaxed the story as a publicity stunt.[33]

Reactions

[edit]
Project Bluebook investigation form for the Eagle River case

A local insurance agent claimed he also saw the saucer at about the same time as Simonton's report.[34] Two local youths and their family reported having seen a saucer the following day.[35]

Investigator stands out Simonton residence in photograph taken by USAF investigator J. Allen Hynek
Walter Weller and John Tumlin outside Joe Simonton residence

The US Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Command dispatched investigator J. Allen Hynek to Eagle River. He noted the local judge Frank Carter, a NICAP member, was hostile to the Air Force. Hynek concluded Simonton suffered from a hallucination followed by a delusion.[36]

Simonton was flooded with inquiries and visitors.[37] By May 3, Simonton complained about loss of work due to publicity and told papers: "If it happened again, I don't think I'd tell anybody about it." [38][39] Simonton, who raised chickens, reported his birds became ill after the encounter, with many dying.[40]

On May 4, a local supermarket advertisement offered the public a chance to meet and question Simonton as part of a promotional sale of Aunt Jemima Pancakes.[41] A local politician lampooned Simonton's story as related to John F. Kennedy's so-called "Pie in the Sky",[42] while another suggested the occupants ate local foods to 'live as the natives do', not unlike "the members of Mr. Kennedy's Peace Corps." [43] Local press suggested "Flying Saucers" as theme for the upcoming July festivities and nominated Simonton as parade king.[44]

On May 11, Minnesota TV station KSTP announced an upcoming May 13 broadcast of their investigation into the case.[45] On June 22, papers announced that a government analysis revealed the pancake contained ordinary ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and cooked in oil.[46][47]

Division amongst UFO believers

[edit]

The Eagle River encounter was ultimately described by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization as "one of the most controversial cases we have ever investigated".[48] The case led Vallee to reject the claim that UFOs are related to extraterrestrial, becoming a self-described "heretic among heretics" who connected the encounter to folklore of fairies offering bread. [49]

Local judge Frank Carter told press that he sent one of the cakes to civilian UFO group NICAP for analysis,[50] but NICAP declined involvement, expressing skepticism to press and writing: "We are engaged in very important liaison work with Congress which may well lead to hearings on UFOs and we do not propose to compromise this work for the sake of an unproven and, you must admit, fantastic sounding claim. Accordingly, we do not wish to have any further publicity in connection with this claim".[51] The April/May edition of NICAP's newsletter speculated that pancake story would "be used by the Air Force for added ridicule of serious UFO reports."[52]

Carter wrote a scathing reply, accusing NICAP of refusing to investigate "contact" cases; Wrote Carter: " perhaps you WANT to REMAIN with your eyes shut as to ANY contact story... Are you AFRAID to examine for fear it might result in a vindication of their story".[53][54] Ray Palmer, publisher of the pulp magazine Flying Saucers based in Amherst, Wisconsin, reprinted Carter's attack on NICAP. Palmer argued that "With the Keyhoe formula, nothing but complete failure in uncovering the truth can result."[54][55]

The 1961 Congressional hearings never materialized and in 1962, APRO split with NICAP, after which the groups became bitter rivals[56][57] In 1965, press described NICAP as waging a "two-front war": against the Air Force for allegedly "covering up the evidence that saucers exist" and against "the Saucerians for giving the whole business a bad name."; the Simonton case was cited as an example of the latter.[6]

Vallée (right) with J. Allen Hynek

UFO researcher Jacques Vallée discussed the case in his 1969 book Passport to Magonia, where he compared Simonton's account to Celtic myths of food received from fairies or biblical tales of manna from heaven.[58] Vallée and Keel cited the Eagle River incident in their rejection of the Extraterrestrial hypothesis in favor of paranormal explanations variously labeled 'ultra-terrestrial' or 'interdimensional'.[58][8][59][9] In 1977, "Discordian" author Robert Anton Wilson discussed Vallee's hypothesis, asking: "Did a leprechaun leave the Simonton pancakes?"[60] Vallee returned to the Simonton case in his 2008 book Dimensions. [61]

Hynek, now a UFO believer, revisited the Eagle River case in his 1975 book The Edge of Reality, co-authored with Vallée .[62]"I'm beginning to think more of Joe Simonton than I did at that time."[63] Interviewed in the press in 1978, Hynek said "The things [Simonton] said fit now, whereas they didn't fit, at least to me they didn't fit at that time." Hynek elaborated that because of its similarities to numerous subsequent cases, he tends to "give it more credence now." [64]

In 2008, the Eagle River encounter was named one of the "five most bizarre UFO cases".[65]

Later publicity

[edit]

In 1962, Simonton attended a "Space Age" convention in Chicago and was invited to speak as part of a "Space-O-Rama" event at Seattle's World's Fair.[66] The San Francisco Examiner highlighted Simonton's story. [67] In 1963, he was slated to talk to a Space Age convention on his experience.[68] In 1965, Howard Margolis cited the case in the context of UFO conspiracy theories.[6]

External videos
video icon Simonton interview with remarks by Air Force officer Hector Quintanilla, chief of Project Bluebook
video icon Simonton interview from "Flying Saucers and the People Who See Them" (BBC, 1968)

In 1965, Hector Quintanilla, chief of Project Bluebook, discussed the case alongside the recent Lonnie Zamora incident, a 1964 case where a New Mexico police officer reported two people depart via unidentified aircraft that left imprints in the soil. Quintanilla exhibited a pancake to press and public.[69][70] By 1966, Simonton's story had been featured in further TV reports.[71] On May 9, 1968 BBC1 broadcast "Flying Saucers and the People Who See Them" , a 75-minuted documentary by psychiatrist Stephen Black which included an interview with Simonton along with coverage of Zamora and the Betty and Barney Hill case.[72][73]

In 1969, Simonton's home was destroyed in a fire.[74] Simonton, born on February 5, 1901 in Potomac, Illinois, died on August 21, 1971.[75][3] A 1952 newspaper featured an ad for Simonton's plumbing services.[76] In 1959, Simonton lost an election for Constable.[77]

In 1978, TV series Project U.F.O. based an episode on Simonton's story , with aliens offering a strange loaf of bread in exchange for a jug of water.[78]

In 2023, it was reported that a fragment of one of the pancakes is still in the possession of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.[79]

Modern interpretations

[edit]

In 2019, author and University of Wisconsin English Professor B. J. Hollars published his experience with the case, having travelled to Eagle River to interview locals.[1] According to Hollars, modern interpretations suggest Simonton hallucinated or dreamt the unusual object and its occupants, perhaps while cooking the pancakes himself.[1][7] An alternative suggestion holds the story might been fabricated in order to discredit Judge Frank Carter, though UFO author Jerome Clark questions what motive Simonton would have had to do so. [1][80]

In 2020, Reason magazine's Jesse Walker observed: "The UFO literature is also filled with another sort of enigma—stories told by people who might be pranking us or might sincerely believe what they're saying. In 1961, a plumber named Joe Simonton told the world that a saucer had flown to his home in rural Wisconsin; a man allegedly exited the spacecraft, asked for some water, and then gave Simonton some pancakes. I'll go out on a limb and say that I doubt this really happened. But I'll be damned if I could tell you whether Simonton thought it happened."[81]

See also

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
Spectrographic analysis of oil from pancake showed it to be an ordinary triglyceride
  • APRO Bulletin (May 1961) "The Case Of The Interplanetary Cookies"
  • The UFO Investigator (April/May 1961) "New 'Contactee' Claim"
  • Flying Saucer Review (July/August 1961) "The Eagle River Incident: A NEW CONTACT CLAIM"
  • The UFO Investigator (July/August 1961) "Facts Behind the 'pancake' Story."
  • Fate (August 1961) "Inside the Flying Saucers... Pancakes."
  • APRO Bulletin (Sept 1961) "A Re-Examination of The Simonton Case"
  • Flying Saucer Review (September/October 1961) "Claimants, Ridicule, and a Piece of Cake - a plea for an open mind"
  • Flying Saucer Review (November/December 1961) "The Eagle River Incident: The Air Force Comments"
  • Saucerian Bulletin (31 December 1961) "Judge Avers Story True"]
  • Flying Saucer Review (May/June 1962) "THE EAGLE RIVER INCIDENT: A Letter from Joe Simonton"
  • Robert Anton Wilson (1977). Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 978-1-56184-003-8.
  • Center for UFO Studies resources:

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 B. J. Hollars (September 2019). Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1560-4.
  2. ↑ Manus, Tom and Kristi (15 September 2023). Secret Wisconsin: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Reedy Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-68106-494-9.
  3. 1 2 Linda S. Godfrey (2007). Strange Wisconsin: More Badger State Weirdness. Big Earth. ISBN 978-1-931599-85-6.
  4. ↑ Gary Entz. "A Northwoods Case for the X-Files". WXPR Public Radio. It is easy to look at a story like Simonton's as a humorous absurdity, but in official Air Force records it remains an unexplained phenomenon worthy of the X-Files.
  5. ↑ Jerome Clark (15 December 2000). Extraordinary Encounters: An Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrials and Otherworldy Beings. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-57607-379-7. Even UFO groups disagreed on its significance, some championing Simonton as a naïve, sincere witness to an extraordinary event, while the conservative National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) sneeringly dismissed the story as an absurd contact claim
  6. 1 2 3 4 Howard Margolis (11 August 1965). "Saucers May be Gone, Memory Lingers on". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 1. the high point in the ufologist campaign against the Air Force came in 1961 when they persuaded the chairman of the House Space Committee to hold a formal investigation to find out if the Air Force was lying about flying saucers, or the lack of credible evidence therefore. But the chairman, an elderly gentleman, died before the thing could be brought off and his successor quickly abandoned the project.
    A typical difficult moment on the other front came when a plumber named Joe Simonton of Eagle River, Wis., reported that a saucer had landed in his back yard bearing visitors from outer space. The visitors, ac- cording to Simonton, were friendly, but thirsty. Simonton said he gave them a pitcher of water and the little fellows presented him with three outer-space pancakes.
    This stirred some controversy in Eagle River, so Judge Carter, the local magistrate, shipped one of the pancakes off to the ufologists on Connecticut Avenue, asking for a judgment. The ufologists pondered the thing. Then they sent it to their arch enemies in the Air Force. The Air Force pondered the thing, and then sent it off to the Food and Drug Administration, which, after appropriate testing, reported that it seemed to be a pretty ordinary pancake. Simonton's supporters claimed this showed the ufologists were in league with the Air Force, but the ufologists said it showed how careful they were, not leaping to support any far-fetched story. When last heard from, Joe the plumber was giving lectures to anyone who would listen and displaying his two remaining pancakes as proof of his veracity.
  7. 1 2 James R. Lewis (December 2000). UFOs and Popular Culture: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Mythology. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-57607-375-9. Skeptics still maintained that he had merely experienced a hallucination followed by a delusion
  8. 1 2 The Mammoth Book of UFOs. Little, Brown Book. March 2012. ISBN 978-1-78033-701-2. In his masterly Passport to Magonia, Dr Vallée cites the case of sixty-year-old chicken farmer Joe Simonton who lived close to Eagle River, Wisconsin as a classic story of encounters with the fairy folk
  9. 1 2 Richardson, Nick (2 August 2018). "Nick Richardson · Diary: Elves and Aliens". London Review of Books. Vol. 40, no. 15. In Passport to Magonia (1969) Vallée examined the overlap between modern accounts of UFO experiences and the folklore of fairies, gnomes and elves. The book's contention is that UFOs, and their pilots, behave much more like these creatures than like intelligent, technologically advanced emissaries of an alien race. Take the case of Joe Simonton, a farmer from Wisconsin, who had a silver flying saucer land in his garden at II o'clock in the morning one day in April 1961. Simonton said that there were three men in the machine, each of them about five feet tall, and that they had dark hair and skin, wore turtleneck tops and knitted helmets, and 'resembled Italians'. The aliens requested water, and in return gave Simonton an oatmeal pancake that they had cooked on a grill in their ship. This isn't the kind of thing that humans would do if we were technologically advanced enough to go about the universe meeting aliens: we would appear to their leaders and present them with gifts and documents of our civilisation's achievements. But in folklore it is common for fairies to appear to rural people and exchange food with them, often wheat or cakes.
  10. ↑ Michael Bie (3 July 2012). Myths and Mysteries of Wisconsin: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7627-9441-6.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Curtis Peebles (17 March 1994). Watch the Skies. Smithsonian. ISBN 978-1-56098-343-9.
  12. 1 2 Frank W. Carter Letter, published in Saucerian Bulletin (31 December 1961): "Simonton, incidentally, had never attended any of the UFO meetings or Club discussions at my home, but had attended one of the public forums where I had presented the subject, 'The Battle for the Moon.' Through attending this meeting Simonton learned that I was the leader of the UFO study group here, and wanted to talk to me since he felt I knew something about the subject."
  13. ↑ Piepenbring, Dan (2023-11-01). "New Books". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  14. ↑ Robertson Panel: "We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority."
  15. ↑ United Press International (February 28, 1960). "Air Force Order on 'Saucers' Cited; Pamphlet by the Inspector General Called Objects a 'Serious Business'" (Fee). The New York Times. p. 30. Retrieved 2009-03-30. Washington, February 27 (UPI) – The Air Force has sent its commands a warning to treat sightings of unidentified flying objects as "serious business" directly related to the nation's defense, it was learned today.
  16. ↑ "May Probe 'Flying Objects' McCormack Not Satisfied That UFOs All Explained". The Morning Union. 22 February 1961. p. 26.
  17. ↑ Peebles: "Congressional interest remained high and, in the spring of 1961, House Majority Leader John W. McCormack said in an interview with a NICAP member: I feel that the Air Force has not been giving out all the information it has on Unidentified Flying Objects. These UFOS (the sightings that cannot be satisfactorily explained) much [sic] be in a very high state of development. Whether they come from some other planet we don't know. We can't say they come from another planet until we find life on another planet. On the evidence we have you can't pinpoint their source. So many expert witnesses have seen these objects that you can't disregard so many unimpeachable sources. Among the experts who insist that some of these objects constitute something real, something unknown, are pilots, other persons with special skills in this area, persons of great responsibility, rational-minded witnesses. This is not all imagination. You can't rule out all these sightings as imagination producing a mistake in identity. You can't put it down to atmospheric phenomena."It might be well for the House Committee on Science and Astronautics to hold further hearings, either executive ses- sions or open hearings to bring the matter up to date. All this led Keyhoe to conclude "that the UFO secrecy fight is nearing a climax," and that, as a headline put it, PROBE ASSURED.24 The reason for Keyhoe's optimism was a decision by McCormack. In 1961, he directed Congressman Overton Brooks, chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, to investigate UFOS. Brooks select- ed Minnesota Congressman Joseph Karth as chairman of a three-man Subcommittee on Space Problems and Life Sciences. The hearings would be held in early 1962". Senators Thomas J. Dodd and Barry Goldwater echoed McCormack's claims. <ref>"Senate May Again Look into Flying Objects". The Patriot Ledger. 14 March 1961. p. 17.
  18. ↑ "Debate over Unidentified Flying Objects Still Rages". The Patriot Ledger. 27 March 1961. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "AF Holding UFO Data, Demo Says". The Register. 6 February 1961. p. 6.
  20. ↑ "UFO by Major Donald E. Keyhoe". San Antonio Light. 16 April 1961. p. 108.
  21. ↑ "UFO by Donald Keyhoe Pt 2". San Antonio Light. 16 April 1961. p. 109.
  22. ↑ "Judge Carter Talks on "Flying Saucers' at Monday Meeting". Vilas County News-Review. 22 July 1954. p. 4.
  23. ↑ "Carter Talks to Educator Group". The Rhinelander Daily News. 19 April 1956. p. 8.
  24. ↑ "Lions Hear Talk on 'Flying Saucers'". The Rhinelander Daily News. 23 April 1954. p. 3.
  25. ↑ "Rotary Hears About 'Flying Saucer' Topic". Vilas County News-Review. 15 April 1954. p. 4.
  26. ↑ "Joe Simonton Space Pancakes". Leader-Telegram. 23 April 1961. p. 1.
  27. ↑ "'Flying Saucer' Cake Swap". The Atlanta Journal. 23 April 1961. p. 22.
  28. ↑ "Love That Cake from Outer Space!". Tulsa World. 23 April 1961. p. 1.
  29. ↑ "Joe Simonton Space Pancakes". Wisconsin State Journal. 25 April 1961. p. 7.
  30. ↑ "Got 'Cakes' from Saucer Men Is Claim of Joe Simonton: Report Stirs State, Then Much of U.S." Vilas County News-Review. 27 April 1961. p. 1.
  31. ↑ "'Flying Saucer' Cake Swap". The Atlanta Journal. 23 April 1961. p. 22.
  32. ↑ "Cake from Flying Saucer". The Duluth News Tribune. 24 April 1961. p. 1.
  33. ↑ "How About It?". Vilas County News-Review. 27 April 1961. p. 19.
  34. ↑ "Joe Simonton Space Pancakes". The Capital Times. 28 April 1961. p. 8.
  35. ↑ "Flying Saucer Reports Again; AF Sets Inquiry". The Merrill Daily Herald. 28 April 1961. p. 1.
  36. ↑ Hynek: Mr. Weller talked with Judge Carter and experienced great difficulty in being admitted to the house. Apparently the judge thought he was from the Air Force and the Air Force appears to be strictly persona non grata among the flying saucer people here.
  37. ↑ "Saucer Sighter Shows Cakes to Local Visitors". The Tomahawk Leader. 27 April 1961. p. 1.
  38. ↑ "No Check Made on 'Space Cake'". The Daily Telegram. 3 May 1961. p. 3.
  39. ↑ "Plan No Inquiry Into 'Pancakes'". Kenosha News. 3 May 1961. p. 1.
  40. ↑ "Eagle River Man Having Troubles Due To Saucers". Beaver Dam Daily Citizen. 4 May 1961. p. 4.
  41. ↑ "Be Our Guest". Vilas County News-Review. 4 May 1961. p. 16.
  42. ↑ "Joe Simonton Space Pancakes". The Waukesha County Freeman. 29 April 1961. p. 12.
  43. ↑ "The Saucernaut's Visit". Omaha World-Herald. 30 April 1961. p. 94.
  44. ↑ "How About It?". Vilas County News-Review. 4 May 1961. p. 15.
  45. ↑ "Saucer Story Is Set for TV Report". Vilas County News-Review. 11 May 1961. p. 1.
  46. ↑ "Flying Saucer Cake Analysis Convinces Joe of Authenticity". Vilas County News-Review. 22 June 1961. p. 5.
  47. ↑ H. L. Yakovitz FDA letter of June 8: Microscopic analysis shows the presence of fat, starch, buckwheat hulls, wheat bran, and soybean hulls. The material appears to be a portion of an ordinary pancake made predominantly of buckwheat. Bacteriological examination and measurement of radioactivity give results which are consistent with the view that the article is an ordinary pancake of terrestrial origin.
  48. ↑ Encounters with UFO Occupants. Berkley Publishing Corporation. 1976. ISBN 978-0-425-03093-6.
  49. ↑ Ross Douthat (23 December 2017). "Flying Saucers and Other Fairy Tales". WRAL News.
  50. ↑ "Meet with Saucermen Described by Witness". The Oregon Daily Journal. 25 April 1961. p. 2.
  51. ↑ Richard Hall letter to Frank. W. Carter (May 9, 1961) , quoted in Clark (1996) The Pancakes of Eagle River
  52. ↑ The UFO Investigator (April/May 1961), "New 'Contactee' Claim"" The recent "spacemen contact" claim at Eagle River, Wisc., received so much publicity that it unfortunately may lead many to think the UFO mystery a joke... This sensational new story probably will be used by the AF for added ridicule of serious UFO reports. We urge our members to offset any such action by citing the massive documented evidence of UFO reality and putting unproven contact stories in the proper light."
  53. ↑ May 25 letter, quoted in Clark (1996)
  54. 1 2 Clark (1996) The Pancakes of Eagle River
  55. ↑ Palmer, Ray. "NICAP: National Non Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon" Flying Saucer (September 1961)
  56. ↑ Peebles
  57. ↑ APRO would accept "occupant cases," where a witness claimed to have seen a UFO pilot, when they felt the evidence warranted it. (The contactees were out of bounds.) NICAP had much tighter limits on what kinds of sightings were accept- able. A UFO could be seen in flight or hovering, but NICAP was very reluctant to accept a landing."
  58. 1 2 Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. University of Chicago Press. 30 May 2010. ISBN 978-0-226-45386-6.
  59. ↑ Operation Trojan Horse. Sphere Books. 1970.
  60. ↑ Note: Wilson (1977)
  61. ↑ Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 100-105, 2009: "Vallee spends most of Dimensions showing parallels between contemporary UFO cases and historical or legendary tales. For example, in his discussion of the classic case of Joe Simonton who was given “pancakes” by space visitors in 1961, Vallee notes ancient stories about “the Gentry” who would occasionally appear to unsuspecting Irishmen and offer food and nourishment that were enchanted and cause commotion. These fairy-folk would often whisk away humans for tours of strange lands only to bring them back to have their victims find that many hours,days or years have apparently elapsed, reminding one of modern-day abductees’ and contactees’ experiences."
  62. ↑ Hynek, Joseph Allen; Vallee, Jacques (1975). The Edge of reality : A progress report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Regnery. ISBN 978-0-8092-8209-8.
  63. ↑ HYNEK: "Well, suddenly the Air Force hears that a UFO had allegedly landed in Eagle River, Wisconsin, and some pancakes had been given to this guy by the occupants. I went up there and talked with him and took pictures and so forth. First of all, I was not at all impressed with him personally or with his surroundings. He lived by himself, he’d been divorced [separated], he lived in a sort of a shack on the outskirts of town, and there was nothing to give you a feeling of confidence. This man could have been a wino, the yard was sort of unkempt, bottles and so forth, not wine bottles necessarily, but just untidy. His story was that he was having breakfast one morning and he heard a whining noise outside; he looked out the window, and there was this silvery ship descending. It was hovering, it didn’t land, just hovered in the back yard and, of course, he went out to see what was happening. The door opened and a creature beckoned to him—and then as he got close, one of them handed down the most beautiful thermos jug he’d ever seen. He said that the creature didn’t talk, but indicated by sign language: water, you know. So he got the idea. He went inside and filled it with water. He brought it out and he indicated now you can drink! But they must have misunderstood him, because they thought he wanted something to eat, so they handed him these pancakes. I kept a sample of the pancake and took it back to Dayton. My interpretation at that time was that he'd been having pancakes himself for breakfast and had suddenly had a waking dream or what is known in psychology, I believe, as an isolation hypnosis or isolation delusion, and if he'd had his family with him or other people around, it would have been quite different. A delusion could then have been ruled out. That's why I don't like single witness cases-as they used to say in Roman law, "One witness is no witness." Then he said it just took off and in two or three seconds it was gone, and I said, "No sonic boom?" No. The trees waved a little bit, but no. Well, I just put it down as sheer delusion at the time, but hell, certain little things hit-no nuts and bolts and no rivets everything very smooth-rapid disappearance, no sonic boom and the trees being disturbed. I don't know. He certainly wasn't reading any UFO literature.
    HASTINGS: Well, what about the pancakes?
    HYNEK: Those were examined and were found to be ordinary grain pancakes.
    [...] HASTINGS: Isn't there a fairy bread precedent for that, if the fairy is giving food? Of course, then it's not just an ordinary pancake.
    VALLEE: The exchange of food in fairy lore is a very common symbolic gesture, and with Elves, it's a consistent way of making contact-they often give you pancakes.
    HASTINGS: In Tolkien's Ring books the fairies give flat pancake- like objects.
    VALLEE: Well, in Irish poetry, they "live on crispy pancakes and yellow tide foam"!
    HASTINGS: Maybe they did come from Aunt Jemima! I don't know, they have to get it from somewhere, maybe steal it from the local warehouse?
    HYNEK: The only thing that I'm uneasy about, and I expect the two of you are also, is that we recognize that the subject is much more complex than we can present. Jacques has called this the Magonia Syndrome. The whole craziness of the thing, the whole absurdity-it's another world, another realm, that seems to have some interlocking with ours, and what we're describing here is just that interlocking.
  64. ↑ "Many Strange Encounters 1". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 26 February 1978. p. 82.
  65. ↑ A World of UFOs. Dundurn. 29 September 2008. ISBN 978-1-4597-2051-0.
  66. ↑ "Simonton is Guest at Fair Program". Vilas County News-Review. 5 July 1962. p. 5.
  67. ↑ "Flapjack Fancies? Flying Saucer Folk Defiant". The San Francisco Examiner. 5 March 1962. p. 4.
  68. ↑ "Simonton to Speak at Space Confab". Vilas County News-Review. 20 June 1963. p. 35.
  69. ↑ "UFO 'Sightings' Held Explainable or False". Richmond Times-Dispatch. 11 February 1965. p. 6.
  70. ↑ "How About It?". Vilas County News-Review. 19 August 1965. p. 13.
  71. ↑ "Simonton Receives More Publicity from Flying Saucer Story". Vilas County News-Review. 21 April 1966. p. 1.
  72. ↑ "Joe Simonton Tells Flying Saucer Story". Vilas County News-Review. 8 February 1968. p. 9.
  73. ↑ "Mystery of UFOs only emphasised". The Daily Telegraph. 10 May 1968. p. 21.
  74. ↑ "Joe Simonton home destroyed by fire". Vilas County News-Review. 16 January 1969. p. 4.
  75. ↑ "'Santa' Simonton who got outer-space pancake, dies". Vilas County News-Review. 24 August 1972. p. 1.
  76. ↑ "Call, See or Write Joe Simonton". Vilas County News-Review. 13 March 1952. p. 3.
  77. ↑ "Township Election Results". Vilas County News-Review. 16 April 1959. p. 1.
  78. ↑ Science Fiction Television Series: Episode Guides, Histories, and Casts and Credits for 62 Prime Time Shows, 1959 Through 1989. McFarland. 1996. ISBN 978-0-7864-0041-6.
  79. ↑ "Tiger skull and space pancakes: A behind-the-scenes look at USAF museum rarities not on display". 18 May 2023.
  80. ↑ Hollars (2019): "Let's consider another theory: that Joe Simonton fabricated the story. Okay, but if so, then what might've motived him to do it? During our phone interview, Jerry recounts that a friend once told him that he'd heard that Joe Simonton may have concocted the story as a means to 'get back' at Judge Frank Carter. 'I said absolutely not,' Jerry says. 'That is extremely unlikely, a stupid theory concocted by someone who doesn't know anything about small town dynamics... If Simonton had a grudge against Judge Carter-and I don't know that he did, I've never read any real evidence that he did... he would not have concocted a flying saucer story, which would have put his head very high up there. You just don't do things like that in small towns.'
  81. ↑ "From Antifa to UFOs, One Joke Can Spawn a Thousand Conspiracies". 12 July 2020.
  82. ↑ "Vallee explicitly states his view that: . . . some UFO sightings are covert experiments in the manipulation of the belief systems of the public. And some cases simply did not happen. (Revelations, p. 8)" ... Vallee notes his disgust with the “revoltingly amateurish Strawberry Ice Cream Show” of 1988, in which a major TV network aired a ridiculous “tell-all” program about military involvement in the UFO phenomenon. During its presentation, an “informant” told the world that captured aliens at a secret American base preferred a particular confectionary over another"
  83. ↑ K.A. Wisniewski (10 January 2014). The Comedy of Dave Chappelle: Critical Essays. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5427-3. The final True Hollywood Story broadcast refers to an encounter in which the singer Prince and his fellow artists the Revolution beat the Murphys and their friends at a game of basketball, after which Prince made them all pancakes. The juxtaposition of the banal and the exotic is one of the major sources of humor in this sketch [...] Charlie confronts the audience(s), demanding, 'You don't believe me? You think I'm making it up?' He then continues, 'After it was all over he took us in the house and served us pancakes. [Pauses, nods, and reaffirms the line.] Pancakes.' The pause, definitive nod of the head, and deadpan delivery stress the truth claim as Charlie stares down the camera, daring us to disbelieve him.
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