It should be pointed out that Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Project Bluebook scientific advisor, was sent to Michigan after the mass UFO sightings in 1966. The press and citizens of Michigan were expecting a QUICK answer/explanation…Dr. Hynek was still studying reports, etc. and had a lot to go thru. After awhile the USAF was being pressured to give an answer.
So the USAF hasily arranged a news conference. Dr. Hynek who was still studying and reviewing cases was not prepared for this so he decoded to give the press, what he had found out so far….
According to Dr. Hynek, he made a speech on the sightings, etc. He started out with one sighting saying, “The case of the girls in the college dormitory that saw a strange object in the swampy fields on night, I believe they PROBABLY saw a phenomenon called “swamp gas”, and briefly went into an explanation of it.
Because, of the frenzy at the time the press did not pay attention to his term of “PROBABLY”, nor did they stick around to hear what he had to say about other sightings. According to Hynek, as soon as he finished telling what he thought of this only ONE CASE. The reporters inmediately left the room to call their city editors, news desks, ect. And in less than 24 hours almost every newspaper in the world had on the front page, “MICHIGAN UFOs ARE SWAMP GAS”. Dr. Hynek said he was BADLY MISQUOTED by the press at the time. He was referring to ONLY ONE UFO SIGHTING and the press assumed he meant all UFO sightings.
Note to ping list: I saw the Johnny Carson show when Hynek was on, and had heard him state the above. He was sorry that he ever said "swamp gas"....
I immediately recognized him on the theater screen and I burst out with a laugh...(I never expected him to be in the film).