Tell me why there weren’t a lot MORE stories before 1947. Now they’re a dime a dozen, but scanty “long” before that. Same goes for Loch Ness Monster, exactly.
“Tell me why there weren’t a lot MORE stories before 1947.”
There were a lot—they were just not as well publicized or given a “template” like flying saucer.
There was a saucer crash near Cape Girardeau, MO in 1941 with the usual .gov retrieval and coverup.
There was the “Battle of LA”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles
There were the Foo Fighters.
That was just the period from 1941 to 1947.
One fascinating series with lots of details over every period of history is the “Humanoid Encounters” volumes by Albert Rosales.
This volume, for example, covers the period from 1900 to 1929:
https://www.amazon.com/Humanoid-Encounters-1900-1929-Others-amongst/dp/1541101448
This phenomenon has always been with us—in large quantity—you just have to do the homework to find it.
Btw—one of the very solid “recovered craft” cases, including military retrieval and coverup, dates back to 1945.
This book discusses it in detail:
https://www.amazon.com/TRINITY-Best-Kept-Jacques-F-Vall%C3%A9e/dp/B094ZQ1GW5
The coverup was particularly fascinating because it was done by the then Atomic Energy Commission (now part of the Department of Energy) and not the military or intelligence community. DOE had custody of the craft (and it appears there were live occupants!) for decades—this may be one of the “legacy” craft Congress is attempting to locate.