{"id":17282,"date":"2023-06-21T17:08:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T09:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/maury-island-incident-and-men-in-black-stories-become-a-cause-for-celebration\/"},"modified":"2023-06-21T17:08:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T09:08:57","slug":"maury-island-incident-and-men-in-black-stories-become-a-cause-for-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/maury-island-incident-and-men-in-black-stories-become-a-cause-for-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"Maury Island Incident and \u2018Men in Black\u2019 stories become a cause for celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-630x421.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-778649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-630x421.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-1260x842.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/230617-maury-2048x1368.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">The 1947 Maury Island UFO incident is commemorated in a mural on display in Des Moines, Wash. (Explore Seattle Southside Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even the Men in Black need their day in the sun. And they\u2019re getting it this week, in the place where those classic characters in UFO tales made their debut.<\/p>\n<p>Roswell may be the nation\u2019s best-known UFO capital \u2014 but you can make a good argument that the Seattle area served the true birthplace of the Men in Black and helped inspire shows including&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cThe X-Files,\u201d&nbsp;\u201cProject Blue Book\u201d&nbsp;and yes,&nbsp;\u201cMen in Black.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steve Edmiston \u2014 a lawyer, film writer and producer who\u2019s one of the organizers of the&nbsp;Men in Black Birthday Bash&nbsp;\u2014 can make an especially good argument.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like almost the original X-File, if you think about it,\u201d he says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/12l8P5IbuuFuoVvbhY7zNb?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Edmiston is talking about the&nbsp;Maury Island Incident, a flying-saucer tale that dates back to June 21, 1947 \u2014 two weeks before the Roswell UFO Incident took place in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The main character in the Maury Island Incident is Harold Dahl, a man from Tacoma, Wash., who goes out on his boat in Puget Sound with his son and his dog on the fateful day. As he plies the waters, Dahl spots what he describes as six doughnut-shaped flying objects in the sky above. One of the UFOs explodes and drops a blizzard of burning slag onto the boat, killing Dahl\u2019s dog and burning his son\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re so frightened, they have to get off the water,\u201d Edmiston said. Dahl and his son take shelter on Maury Island\u2019s shores and wait for the saucers to fly away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe very next morning, Harold Dahl gets a knock at his door in Tacoma,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the man at that door is dressed in black. White shirt, black tie, black suit, black shoes. Got the fedora on. Came up in a black 1947 Buick. It\u2019s all there in the records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The man takes Dahl to a diner and proceeds to tell him everything that happened the day before. Then he issues a warning that becomes the signature for all the Men in Black who follow in his footsteps:&nbsp; \u201cDon\u2019t pass this around. You don\u2019t even know what you saw. Bad things will happen if you talk about this information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rest is UFO history \u2014 including disappearing alien artifacts and a plane crash, weird occurrences experienced by Dahl and his family, and what may have been the FBI\u2019s first investigation of flying saucers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"377\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-630x377.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-778650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-630x377.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-1260x754.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-768x460.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-1536x919.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/edmiston-2048x1226.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Steve Edmiston is a Seattle lawyer, independent film writer and producer \u2026 and a self-described \u201cmicrohistorian\u201d specializing in the lore of the Maury Island Incident. (Photo Courtesy of Steve Edmiston)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI conducted almost a three-week investigation, with documentation on a daily basis, going all the way to J. Edgar Hoover,\u201d Edmiston said. \u201cI mean, Hoover\u2019s got his fingerprints all over this. He was super-fascinated by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Why was there so much interest?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a new enemy, the Soviet Union, right?\u201d Edmiston said. \u201cAnd President Truman had just said, in May,&nbsp;we gotta contain \u2019em. And all these agencies were now worried that maybe some of us are seeing things overflying our country, and we should investigate that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similar concerns about China and Russia are now fueling the federal government\u2019s renewed interest in UFOs \u2014 or to use the new label, unidentified anomalous phenomena. The&nbsp;Pentagon&nbsp;and&nbsp;NASA&nbsp;are taking a more serious look at reports that were previously met with ridicule. And some folks who claim inside knowledge even say the&nbsp;intelligence community is hiding evidence of alien technology.<\/p>\n<p>You could argue that the UFO renaissance is getting weird enough to pique the interest of Fox Mulder, the fictional FBI agent in \u201cThe X-Files.\u201d And the Maury Island Incident has its very own Mulder: FBI Special Agent Jack Wilcox, who wrote up a 14-page memo summarizing his investigation for Hoover in August 1947.<\/p>\n<p>Harold Dahl, the Tacoma man who made the original UFO report, had decided to claim it was all a hoax \u2014 perhaps to get the Men in Black off his back. Hoover was also ready to write off the case as a hoax. But Wilcox wasn\u2019t willing to call it quits. He sent Hoover a teletype insisting that Dahl \u201cdid not admit \u2026 that his story was a hoax, but only stated that if questioned by the authorities he was going to say it was a hoax because he did not want any further trouble over the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hoax-630x461.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-778653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hoax-630x461.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hoax-768x562.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hoax.jpg 909w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">A teletype from FBI Special Agent Jack Wilcox discusses Harold Dahl\u2019s UFO report. (FBI Image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cImagine the courage to tell the executive director of the FBI at the height of his powers, \u2018No, you\u2019re wrong,\u2019\u201d Edmiston said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Wilcox\u2019s efforts, the Maury Island Incident did end up being widely seen as a hoax, in part because Fred Crisman, a teller of tall tales, got tangled up in the story. Over the decades, Dahl\u2019s story faded into obscurity \u2014 to the point that Edmiston, who has spent nearly his whole life in the Puget Sound region, never heard anything about the incident until it came up in a coffee-shop conversation in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Edmiston and the Maury Island Incident were made for each other. \u201cI love talking about this story because it\u2019s just so crazy,\u201d he said. He and his friends founded the&nbsp;Maury Island Incident Historical Society&nbsp;to preserve the UFO tale \u2014 and in 2014 he teamed up with a cadre of filmmakers and actors to create a 30-minute movie version. \u201cIt\u2019s not a documentary, it\u2019s a narrative film,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Maury Island Incident\u201d&nbsp;is available for rent or purchase via Vimeo, and you can even watch a free sample:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;The Maury Island Incident \u2013 Episode 1: An Honest Man&quot;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/103827928?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Last year marked 75 years since the Maury Island Incident, and in recognition of the anniversary, Edmiston wrote a&nbsp;recap of the story for Fate magazine. He and other keepers of the UFO flame also threw a party in Des Moines, Wash. \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t on June 21, the date on which Dahl said he saw the flying saucers. Instead, it was on June 22, the date when the first Man in Black showed up.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s&nbsp;\u201cMen in Black Birthday Bash,\u201d&nbsp;presented by Seattle Southside, is even bigger: There\u2019ll be a mass gathering of Men (and Women) in Black on Thursday, followed by a film festival on Friday and an evening of Sinatra-style swing on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Why have stories about the Men in Black held so much appeal over the past seven and a half decades? Speaking as a writer, Edmiston thinks there\u2019s a dual appeal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got this confluence of \u2018Maybe there\u2019s something nefarious going out here, and maybe there\u2019s something to be afraid of,\u2019 and that\u2019s sort of thrilling to know that that could be happening,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then, \u2018Boy, would I like to know!\u2019 That sense of discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what does he think Harold Dahl saw \u2014 or didn\u2019t see? Edmiston gave a lawyerly answer to that question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a very open mind about things that can happen,\u201d Edmiston said. \u201cI make no claim about what actually happened at Maury Island. I feel pretty strongly that this hoax theory should be cast aside. We can decide not to believe Harold Dahl, but I don\u2019t think the hoax thing is the reason we shouldn\u2019t. When the FBI has basically got in writing that the hoax is itself a fabrication, I think we need to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Check out the&nbsp;Explore Seattle Southside&nbsp;website, the&nbsp;6\/22 Facebook page, the&nbsp;2023 Summer Saucer Search&nbsp;and&nbsp;MIBBB Fest 2023&nbsp;for more about the Men in Black Birthday Bash in Des Moines, Wash.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This report was first published on Alan Boyle\u2019s&nbsp;Cosmic Log. Stay tuned for future episodes of the&nbsp;Fiction Science podcast&nbsp;via&nbsp;Apple,&nbsp;Google,&nbsp;Overcast,&nbsp;Spotify,&nbsp;Player.fm,&nbsp;Pocket Casts,&nbsp;Radio Public&nbsp;and&nbsp;Podvine. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 1947 Maury Island UFO incident is commemorated in a mural on display in Des Moines, Wash. (Explore Seattle Southside Photo) Even the Men in Black need their day in the sun. And they\u2019re getting it this week, in the place where those classic characters in UFO tales made their debut. Roswell may be the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4419,4550,4551,4552],"class_list":["post-17282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-fiction-science","tag-movies","tag-television","tag-ufo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}