The Wind Is Up in Kansas

It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily . . .

--The Wizard of Oz

In Kansas, where the big wind began that carried Dorothy to the Land of Oz, the Wichita Beacon last week had an Oz-like notice on its bulletin board:

"The frequency of flying-saucer reports in this area is increasing. The latest . . . if true . . . gives us the best report of a flying saucer published anywhere in the country. For that reason, if you have a camera, you are urged to keep it with you at all times ready to shoot." The Beacon also alerted its 30 stringers (part-time correspondents) around the state and asked its readers to organize themselves into "volunteer watching" groups.

The story that set off the Beacon's hunt had appeared on its front page the day before. In nearby Pittsburg, Kans., a radio performer named Bill Squire reported that on his way to work he saw a machine about 75 ft. long, hovering 10 ft. above the ground, which looked as if it consisted of two large platters cupped together and ringed with small propellers. Squire said he got out of his car, walked to within 100 ft. of the saucer, saw bluish lights through portholes, and observed several figures moving inside the ship which looked like "human beings." As he walked toward it, he said, the machine rose straight up at great speed and disappeared. When Squire went on to the radio station and told his story, several colleagues went to the scene, found grass and weeds flattened in a rough oval area as if a heavy wind or weight had crushed them. The Beacon, after assuring itself that Squire had a good reputation for veracity and reliability, decided to issue its state-wide call for a saucer-watch. To spread the alarm further, the Beacon wanted the Associated Press state wire to carry it. The A.P. stuffily refused, giving the off-the-cuff explanation that flying saucers, like a golfer's hole in one, should be verified by at least two people.

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