This incident is Case 39 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 59 of the books covered by that article.
This was Project Blue Book Case Number 1981.
Karl Pflock wrote an article about this incident entitled “The Best Hoax in UFO History”.
Web Resources
For links to various relevant documents and articles online see:
http://www.nicap.org/scoutmasdir.htm
http://nicap.org/bhoax.htm
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Book References
For discussion of the Desvergers incident see the following:
|
Year |
Discussion by:
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No. of Pages |
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Adamski, George in his “Inside the Flying Saucers” (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) (Originally entitled “Inside the Space Ships”) (1955) at page 130 (in Chapter 11) of the Paperback Library paperback edition. |
1 |
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Baker, Alan in his “The Encyclopaedia of Alien Encounters” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 65-66 (in an entry entitled “Desvergers, D S”) of the Virgin hardback edition. |
2 |
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Barker, Gray in his “They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers” (1956) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 70-75 (in Chapter 5) of the University Books hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the 1996 I-Net softcover edition). |
6 |
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Brennan, Herbie in his “The Aliens Handbook” (2005) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 25-26 (in Chapter 4) of the Faber and Faber softcover edition. |
2 |
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Chalker, Bill in “UFO: 1947-1987” (1987) (edited by Hilary Evans with John Spencer) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 183 of the Fortean Tomes softcover edition (in Chapter 3.4.1, entitled “Physical Traces”). |
1 |
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Christopher, Paul in his “Alien Intervention: The Spiritual Mission of UFOs” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 32, 34, 35 (in Chapter 2) of the Huntington House softcover edition. |
3 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 2 – Emergence of a Phenomenon” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 146-149 (in an entry entitled “Florida Scoutmaster Case”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
4 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition : Volume 1:A-K” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 412-414 (in an entry entitled “Florida Scoutmaster Case”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
3 |
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Cohen, Daniel in his “The World of UFOs” (1978) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 58-61 (in Chapter 8) of the Lippincott hardback edition. |
4 |
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Condon Report (“Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects”, Edward U Condon (Director) and Daniel S Gillmor (Editor) (1969)) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 862 (in Section 5, Chapter 2 “UFOs: 1947-1968”, by Edward U Condon) of the uncorrected version submitted to the Air Force (with the same page numbering in the 3 volume paperbound edition distributed by the National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce) at pages 513-515 of the Vision hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Bantam paperback edition). The first of these editions has the same page numbering as the edition available free online at the following links: |
1 |
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Cramp, Leonard G in his “Piece for a Jig-Saw” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 139 (in Chapter 9) of the Somerton hardback edition. |
1 |
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Cramp, Leonard G in his “Space, Gravity and the Flying Saucer” (1954) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 37-38 (in Chapter 2), 94 (in Chapter 9) of the Werner Laurie hardback edition. |
2 |
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Dolan, Richard M in his “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1: 1941-1973” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 180 (in Chapter 4) of the Keyhole softcover edition, omitted from the 2002 revised Hampton Road softcover edition. |
1 |
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Druffel, Ann in “The Tujunga Canyon Contacts” (1980) (by D. Scott Rogo and Ann Druffel) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 218-219 (in Part |
2 |
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Edwards, Frank in his “Flying Saucers – Serious Business” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 102 (in Chapter 7) of the Bantam paperback edition, at pages 109 of the Mayflower-Dell paperback edition. |
1 |
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Fitzgerald, Randall in his “The Cosmic Test Tube” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 110 (in Section 2) of the Moonlake Media softcover edition. |
1 |
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Green, Gabriel with Smith, Warren in their “Let’s face the facts about Flying Saucers” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 87-88 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Healing Lights, Heat Waves, and Paralyzing Beams”), 126 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The True Facts About Flying Saucers”) of the Popular Library paperback edition. |
3 |
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Guieu, Jimmy in his “Flying Saucers Come From Another World” (1956) (edited by Ronald Story) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 68-71 (in Chapter 2), 241 (in Chapter 11) of the Hutchinson hardback edition. |
5 |
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Gurney, Gene (USAF Lt Col) and Clare Gurney in their “Unidentified Flying Objects” (1970) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 75-79 (in Chapter 6) of the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition. |
5 |
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Hall, Michael David and Connors, Wendy Ann in their “Captain Edward J Ruppelt : Summer of the Saucers - 1952” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 176-181, 185-186 (in Chapter 6) of the Rose Press softcover edition. |
8 |
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Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 195-198 (in Chapter 4) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
4 |
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Hill, Paul R in his “Unconventional Flying Objects : A Scientific Analysis” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 74-75 (in Chapter 4) of the Hampton Roads softcover edition. |
2 |
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Holzer, Hans in his “The UFOnauts” (1976) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 39-40 (in Chapter 2) of the Fawcett Gold Medal paperback edition. |
2 |
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Huyghe, Patrick in his “The Field Guide to Extraterrestrials” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 11 (in the Introduction) of the |
1 |
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Keel, John A in his “The Cosmic Question” (1975) (formerly “The Eighth Tower”) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 44 (in Chapter 5) of the Panther paperback edition. |
1 |
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Keel, John A in his “The Mothman Prophecies” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 110-111 (in Chapter 9) of the 1991 I-Net softcover edition, at page 104 of the Panther paperback edition entitled “Visitors from Space”. |
2 |
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Keyhoe, Donald E in his “Flying Saucers from Outer Space” (1953) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 113-115 of the Henry Holt hardback edition, at pages 115-116 of the Tandem paperback edition (in Chapter 7). |
3 |
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Leslie, Desmond in “Flying Saucers Have Landed” (1953) by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 135-136 (in Part 1, Chapter 15) of the Werner Laurie hardback edition, pages 146-147 of the 1970 revised Neville Spearman hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the revised Futura paperback edition). |
2 |
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Lorenzen, Coral and Lorenzen, Jim in their “UFOs: The Whole Story” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 46-47 (in Chapter 1) of the Signet paperback edition. |
2 |
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Lorenzen, Coral E in her “The Great Flying Saucer Hoax” (1962) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 32-35 (in Chapter 4) of the APRO hardback edition. |
4 |
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Lorenzen, Coral in “Flying Saucers : the Startling Evidence of the Invasion from Outer Space” (1966) (an enlarged version of her “The Great Flying Saucer Hoax” (1962)) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 40-42 (in Chapter 4) of the Signet paperback edition. |
3 |
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Maccabee, Bruce in his “UFO-FBI Connection” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 236-237 (in Chapter 20) of the Llewellyn softcover edition. |
2 |
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Machlin, Milt in his “The Total UFO Story” (1979) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 216-219 (in Chapter 11) of the Dale paperback edition. |
4 |
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Maney, Charles And Hall, Richard in their “Challenge of Unidentified Flying Objects” (1961) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 71 and 75 (in Part 2, Chapter 6, by Charles Maney) of the privately published hardback edition. |
2 |
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Menzel, Donald and Boyd, Lyle in their “The World of Flying Saucers” (1963) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 136-137 of the Doubleday hardback edition (Chapter |
2 |
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Moseley, James and Pflock, Karl in their “Shockingly Close to the Truth!” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 83 (in Chapter 3) of the Prometheus hardback edition. |
1 |
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Olsen, Thomas M in his “The Reference for Outstanding UFO Sighting Reports” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 3_13 - 3_16 (in Chapter 3) of the UFOIRC spiral-bound edition. |
4 |
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Ortzen, Len in his “Strange Stories of UFOs” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 28-33 (in Chapter 4) of the Coronet paperback edition. |
6 |
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Pflock, Karl in “UFO: 1947-1997” (1997) (edited by Hilary Evans and Dennis Stacy) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 45-52 of the John Brown hardback edition (Section entitled “The 1950s”, unnumbered chapter entitled “The Best Hoax in UFO History?”). Extended version of the relevant chapter appears online at: http://www.nicap.org/bhoax.htm |
8 |
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Randle, Kevin D in his “Project Bluebook Exposed” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 65-75 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “August 19, 1952”), 209-210 (Appendix B) of the Marlowe softcover edition. |
13 |
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Randle, Kevin D in his “Project Moon Dust” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 58-60 (in Chapter 2) of the |
3 |
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Randle, Kevin D in his “The UFO Casebook” (1989) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 172-173 of the Warner Books paperback edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “Alien Contact – The First Fifty Years” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 20 (in the chapter entitled “1952”) of the Collins and Brown hardback edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Reality” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 141-143 (in Chapter 10) of the Hale hardback edition. |
3 |
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Ruppelt, Edward J in “The Flying Saucer Reader” (1967) (edited by Jay David) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 241-252 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The Florida Scoutmaster …”) of the Signet paperback edition. The relevant chapter is reprinted from “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” by Edward J Ruppelt. |
12 |
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Ruppelt, Edward J in his “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” (1956) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 176-186 (in Chapter 13) of the original 17 chapter Doubleday hardback edition, at pages 233-245 of the Gollancz hardback edition, at pages 233-245 of the Ace paperback edition, at pages 176-186 of the 1959 revised Doubleday 20 chapter hardback edition, at pages 125-131 of the reprinted Source Books softcover edition. The first of these editions (i.e. the original 17 chapter hardback edition) has the same page numbering as the version available free online at: http://www.nicap.org/rufo/contents2.htm |
11 |
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Sladek, John in his “The New Apocrypha” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 33-34 (in Chapter 2) of the Panther paperback edition. |
2 |
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Spaceage in its “UFO USA - A Traveler's Guide” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 52-53 (in the chapter entitled “ |
2 |
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Spencer, John in his “The UFO Encyclopedia” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 96 (in an entry entitled “Desverges, D S”) of the Guild hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Avon softcover edition) at page 109 of the Headline paperback edition. |
1 |
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Spencer, John in his “UFOs: The Definitive Casebook” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 26 (in the unnumbered section entitled “ |
1 |
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Stanton, L Jerome in his “Flying Saucers : Hoax or Reality?” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 69-73 (in Chapter 4) of the |
5 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) edited by Ronald Story (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 128-131 (in an entry entitled “Florida scoutmaster’s encounter”) of the NEL hardback edition. |
4 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Dimensions“ (1988) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 106-108 (in Part 1, Chapter 3) of the Souvenir Press hardback edition. |
3 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Passport to Magonia” (1970) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 83-85 (in Chapter 3) of the Regnery hardback edition, with the same page numbering in the Tandem paperback edition. |
3 |
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White, Dale in his “Is Something Up There?” (1968) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 69-79 (in Chapter 6) of the Scholastic Book Services paperback edition. |
11 |
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Wilkins, Harold in his “Flying Saucers Uncensored” (1955) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 137 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Mystery of the Martian ‘Death Ceiling’ ”) of Pyramid paperback edition. |
1 |
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Wilson, Clifford in his “The Alien Agenda” (1988) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 138-139 (in Chapter 11) of the Signet paperback edition. |
2 |
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Wilson, Clifford in his “UFOs and Their Mission Impossible” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 138-139 (in Chapter 11) of the Signet paperback edition. |
2 |
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Zarkon in his “The Zarkon Principle” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 51 (in Chapter 7) of the Everest paperback edition. |
1 |
Other Material
Listed as Project Blue Book Case Number 1981 on the redacted US National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book, released to the National Archives in 1975 – see National Archives Microfilm Publication T1206 roll number 1. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of NARA-PBB1-76 (page 76 of 1014) at the link below.
Listed (without a Project Blue Book Case Number) on the unredacted Maxwell Air Force Base (“Maxwell”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book – see Maxwell microfilm roll number 30,363. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of MAXW-PBB2-309 (page 309 of 1352) at the link below.
http://www.bluebookarchive.org