For decades, flying objects have intrigued and defied all explanation. Every day, witnesses report strange lights in the sky, yet their origin remains unknown: hoaxes, natural phenomena, secret military tests, or extraterrestrial life?
In the 1950s, this fascination fueled novels, comic books, and the first science fiction films. In 1952, the American press reported hundreds of UFO sightings. The Air Force, which had created a special unit in 1947, investigated the most puzzling cases. On July 16, 1952, Shell Alpert, a photographer in Salem, captured a strange scene: “I saw several shimmering lights… they seemed to flicker. I grabbed the camera and pressed the shutter. I can’t say that I saw objects or planes, only a kind of light.” This image, symbolizing an “unusual aerial phenomenon,” was made public by the Coast Guard.