1965 COLOR UFO PHOTO SNAPPED BY 14-YEAR-OLD TULSA YOUTH

Smith, Alan. The 14-year-old paperboy who snapped a color photograph of a UFO over Tulsa, August of 1965. The time was about 1:45 a.m. on August 2 (some sources are unclear on the date). 

His father and at least three other witnesses were present to see the object. Although some charged that the image was a fraud (a Christmas light was the number one choice of tool for the hoax) various studies into the image had stood up well over time and give strong support for its veracity. Additionally, other sightings from the time do suggest people were seeing a similar object. 

Cited problems with the Christmas wheel solution:

Item: Experts were unclear how the young photographer was able to capture the panels of colors without surroundings bleeding in - unless it was actually in the sky.

Item: All through 1965 there are other reports of multi-colored objects that bear a striking resemblance to the object shown in the image.

Item: The Air Force files show attempts to duplicate the end result - and they all appear to fall short (if not they would have been touted as proof positive of a hoax).

Item: Subsequent research of measurements and angles appeared to support the reality of a large object in the sky at the distance indicated by witnesses.

The group Ground Saucer Watch in 1977 analyzed the photo and said it displayed an extraordinary object, a “craft of large dimension.” USAF Photo Analysis Division, according to one source, analyzed the picture for Project Blue Book. Most agreed it was a material object, less than a mile (1.6km) from the camera, and about 30ft (10m) in diameter. They also observe, pushing forward the hoax angle, that it resembled the effect “obtained by photographing a multicolored revolving filter flood light.” There is no report in Project Blue Book to determine what they did, what tests they ran, or the investigations they conducted. 

There is a 23-page file of photos showing an attempt to replicate the photo but failing to deliver one that adequately duplicated the image. It appears, to this day, to have been an image of something in the sky that night. Thus, verifying what people were reporting at the time all across the state, and matches numerous reports of objects reported in the years before (and since) that had panels of colors on them.  

(Source. Used by Permission. Sooner Saucers: Volume Two, Marilyn A. Hudson, p182)

For a technical reading see Tulsa paperboy made UFO history in 1965 (edmondlifeandleisure.com) and UFO Casebook's follow up Tulsa's 1965 UFO Still Unidentified - UFO Casebook Files 

From Project Blue Book - one of the attempts to copy the end result. The original image was copyrighted by a major news publication. Many images used to illustrate the image are actually images of a Christmas tree light of the era.

Hayden Hewes (1943-2017): Oklahoma's Pioneer UFO Researcher

Hayden Hewes (1943-2017). He founded what is believed to be the first UFO group in the state in 1957 as a teenager (The Interplanetary Intelligence of Unidentified Flying Objects or the IIUFO) , then later formed the International UFO Bureau (IUFOB). President Jimmy Carter reported his own UFO sighting to that group. Mid-1960’s he was gaining recognition as an investigator, author, and advocate for continued and serious research into the topic. 

His published works include: The Collected Issues of Interplanetary Intelligence Report, The Truth About Flying Saucers. Magazine. Hayden C. Hewes, editor. Oklahoma City, OK: Interplanetary Intelligence of Unidentified Flying Objects (IIOUFO), 1965-1966. [Unknown]: Saucerian Publisher, 2020.; Earthprobe : the complete story of the "Piedmont unexplained" : statements taken from over 200 eyewitnesses : complete with illustrations and unexplained photos by Hayden C Hewes; Daniel Garcia. [Oklahoma City, OK]: [International UFO Bureau], [1973]; UFO missionaries extraordinary. Hayden C Hewes; Brad Steiger. New York: Pocket Books, 1976; Inside Heaven's Gate: the UFO cult leaders tell their story in their own words, by Brad Steiger; Hayden C Hewes. New York: Signet, 1997; The Aliens by Hal Crawford; Hayden C Hewes; Kietha Hewes; International UFO Bureau. Oklahoma City: International UFO Bureau, 1970.

Oklahoma's First "Flying Saucer" Festival

"Chief Standing Horse" of Sapulpa, Oklahoma shared his "contact" with beings from another world and his trip aboard their craft in the late 1950's. Early 1961, he is sponsoring the "flying saucer" or 'UFO Festival' at the campgrounds of his Sapulpa Native American church and campgrounds.

He will later exodus to join the people gathering around George Wellington Van Tassel (March 12, 1910 – February 9, 1978) tan American "contactee", ufologist and author.   Van Tassel was a classic 1950s contactee in the mold of George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Daniel Fry, Orfeo Angelucci and many others. He hosted "The Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention" annually beside the Rock, from 1953 to 1971, which attracted at its peak in 1959 as many as 10,000 attendees. Guests trekked to the desert by car or landed airplanes on Van Tassel's small airstrip, called Giant Rock Airport.

Standing Horse, which may not have been his real name, claimed birth in Ohio and membership in the Ottawa Tribe.

The following is a bio entry from SOONER SAUCERS: Vol.2 (2023) by Marilyn A. Hudson (used by permission): Standing Horse, Henry B (Henry Buckeye, 1892-1977). A clergyman in the Sapulpa area of Oklahoma, along Route 66. He is first associated with a church named the Wildwood Chapel and then the Holy Church of God. Both were on the Oklahoma Indian Christian Camp grounds located at Route 66 and the “Old Henry Land place” (2.5 miles north of Sapulpa). The camp incorporated as an Oklahoma not-for-profit business May 24, 1949 as the “Oklahoma Indian Christian Camp and Mission with Institutional Features.” It is still listed with the state for that purpose. Three names are on the original record: Frank B. Standing Horse Chief, Harrison A. Snell, and Wandie White Wing. 

Frank B. Standing Horse was listed in newspaper ads, in the African-American newspaper of Tulsa, The Oklahoma Eagle, under the name “Dr. F.B. Standing Horse”, specialist in various ills and the “secret of life.” Starting in late 1949 he is listed in Sapulpa as “Bishop H.B. Standing Horse”, and sometimes, as merely “Rev. H.P. Standing Horse.” His church was actively engaged in working with the community and bringing races together. A July 1949 article in the Oklahoma Eagle announced that Standing Horse, of the Oklahoma Indian Christian Camp and Mission, Inc. and Rev. W.W. Mayle, The Calvary Bible Institute, Inc., would join forces for an inter-racial, undenominational, Bible school camp. 

A self-described Native American from Ohio (a member of the Ottawa Tribe), Standing Horse claimed sightings as early as 1949, 1957, and again in 1959. That was the year he claimed a major “Contact” experience with an alien species, with subsequent journeys to the Moon, Mars, Venus, the planet “Clarion” (made famous by Contactee Truman Bethurum).

In 1959, he organized the first UFO themed conference in the state at the Sapulpa campgrounds of his church. Guests included several well-known figures in the UFO and Contactee camps. Around 1966, he moved to California, became part of the west coast Contactee community, died there, and is buried in Riverside County. A biography was included in an announcement from the offices of the Oklahoma offices of the Washington Saucer Intelligence, headed by Wayne S. Aho. 

Standing Horse, said Aho, was born eighteen miles east of Toledo, Ohio in a tepee and says he is therefore a “Buckeye.” He was listed as 67 years old. He was quoted as saying he had seen flying saucers four times, perhaps five, since May 15, 1947. One nearly landed on him at his place at Tulsa one day while he was reading the Holy Bible under an oak tree in front of his house. 

He said his grandmother knew what Flying Saucers were and she believed she saw one when she was 13 years of age. She called it a “Canne.” She lived to within three months and four days of being 130 years of age.” Aho gave the dates for the coming conference as September 26 and 27, differing from the story in the local Sapulpa newspaper. 

Shortly after the conferences, he moved to California and was said to have become associated with the wider Contactee movement of Van Tassel and later died in California. 

Sources: “Professional Services” (Oklahoma Eagle, April 7, 1945, pg.2); “Bible School Camp Opens” (Oklahoma Eagle, July 21, 1949); “Church Announcements” (Sapulpa Daily Herald, 

December 18, 1949, pg. 16, “Wildwood Chapel”); “Space Convention Plans Announced” (Sapulpa Daily Herald, July 31, 1960, ‘Second Annual’).

 

FALCON ROCKET SPIRAL SEEN BY MANY (2022-2024)

 This image is from a television station out the Tulsa area; but its twin from various angles can be found in numerous reports and private photos. For many in Oklahoma these sightings have been dramatic and intensely fascinating.

SpaceX rocket spotted in Tulsa metro night sky (kjrh.com)

A Collection Center for the History MUFON in Oklahoma

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