pul9503.27a
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 00:11:04 -0500
From: Germannvh
Subject: The Arnold Chronology, Part 3/4 --

The Arnold Chronology, Part 3/4 --

UFOSearch
Columbia, Missouri 65203

On July 29, 1947, Kenneth Arnold took off for Tacoma, Washington,
to look into the Maury Island incident. He did not file a flight
plan. No one but his wife knew he was going. His plane did not
have a radio transmitter. Half way there he stopped in a cow
pasture to refuel. He had left on the spur of the moment as only
a true independent businessman can do.

Over Union, Oregon, he saw a strange group of "brass colored
objects that looked like ducks" coming straight for him. He
tried to photograph them with a movie camera. They appeared to
be round, rather rough on top and with a "spot" on the upper
surface of each one. They were moving at a speed of several
hundred miles an hour. Arnold later found that several people on
the ground near Union had seen these same objects.

Late that afternoon Arnold arrived at Chehalis, Washington, and
after some thought decided to fly on to Tacoma. He told no-one
of his plans. Here, in chronology format, is an account of
Arnold's "investigation."

July 29 - Arnold arrives and tries to get a hotel room in
Tacoma, is at first unsuccessful. Finally, in desperation, calls
the most expensive place in town. Finds that there is already a
room reserved for "Kenneth Arnold!" After some discussion with
the clerk he accepts the room. Later he cannot find the clerk
who he talked to when he accepted the room.

July 30 - Arnold calls one of the men mentioned by Palmer, Harold
A. Dahl. His name is in the book. This Mr. Dahl tells Arnold to
go home, says that he, Dahl, has had nothing but "tough luck"
ever since this business began. Says that it would be better if
everyone forgot it. But finally agrees to talk. Dahl comes to
Arnold's room, is 6'2" tall, a lumberjack. He is not at all
anxious to talk. Says that since he saw the flying discs on June
21, 1947, he had lost his job, his wife had become ill, he had
lost much expensive property, his boat had sprung mysterious
leaks and its engine would not start. Dahl made his living in
part scavenging lost "booms" of logs in the waters near Tacoma.
But Dahl had been master of a Harbor Patrol Boat at the time he
had his sighting. Dahl tells his story.

Dahl, two crewmen, his son and their dog were on board Dahl's
boat near Maury Island, Tacoma, when SIX flying discs came near.
One of them appeared in trouble and ejected material out of a
hole in its bottom. Part of this material was like "newspaper, a
very light-weight, white-type metal." There were "thousands" of
pieces of this and most of it fell in the bay. Also falling was
a heavier, lava-like rock. This material fell into the bay, onto
the beach and onto the boat. It was hot and steam rose from the
water where this material fell. Some of this heavier material hit
Dahl's son on the arm, burning him. Other pieces hit the dog,
killing it. Photos were taken of this material and of the discs.

July 30 - The men picked up some of both types of material. They
attempted to radio what they had seen but the radio did not work.
The boat had been damaged by the fall of the heavier material.
Dahl had to tell his immediate superior, Fred Crisman, what
happened. He gave the camera and the recovered material to
Crisman, who did not seem to believe Dahl. There was
considerable damage to the boat. Dahl's son was treated and
released at a local hospital.

The next day Dahl got a visit from a gentleman who wanted to talk
to him right away. The man looked like "an insurance agent," not
a logger. He appeared about 40 years of age. Dahl followed the
man and his 1947 Buick sedan to a cafe in the uptown part of
Tacoma. After they had entered a small diner and ordered their
food the man began to tell Dahl exactly what had happened the day
before. Every detail was correct. Dahl sat there, astounded.

The man said, "I know more about your experience than you will
want to believe." The man said that he, Dahl, should not have
seen what he had seen and should never discuss this ever again.

Dahl said he was very upset but thought the man was some sort of
crackpot, a nut. Dahl said he did not put much stock in what the
man had said. When Dahl got to work he found that Crisman had
gone out in a boat alone--to Maury Island. Dahl then discussed
his experience with several seamen on the docks while he waited
for Crisman to return. Early in the afternoon Crisman came back.
He did not criticise Dahl and began procedures to repair the boat.

At this point Dahl stopped telling his story and invited Arnold
to go out to where his secretary lived and where some of the
material still remained. Arnold was now totally out of his depth
and he admits it. He had never been an "investigator" before.
Dahl took him to a small house on a corner in one of the rundown
sections of town. The house was in need of paint and looked
about "1912 vintage." There was a woman there working with
papers and the place was furnished in an old and poor sort of
way. Dahl showed Arnold a piece of rock they had been using as
an ash tray. He claimed it was from the disc. By now Arnold's
head was spinning; it was almost too much to take in.

Dahl said that he had gotten an anonymous letter several days
after his story had become known. It said that the flying discs
were manned by beings like us, only "less dense." The discs were
there to protect the earth from outside dark influences. It was
the Atomic Bomb and its radiation had caused them to become
visible. The letter went on to say that the beings flying the
discs were under attack by other beings who were enemies of their
people and life on this planet. Dahl was quite upset by this.

Dahl said that the "white metal" was all over at Crisman's house
and offered to take Arnold there. But Arnold was tired, it had
been a long and incredible day. "Tomorrow," he said. Arnold
returns to his hotel and goes to bed.

July 31 - At 9:30 am Crisman and Dahl wake Arnold up by banging
on his door. Crisman can not wait to tell Arnold about what has
happened. He says that the boat looked like someone had tried to
sink it from the top down with a sledgehammer. Crisman says that
he went out to the island and there was a lot of debris there.
As he was inspecting it he said that an object like Dahl had seen
came out of a cloud and circled his boat. Crisman is a ball of
fire, says he was a fighter pilot during World War II, in Burma.
(Crisman was much, much more than that!)

Crisman has now taken over the story. Dahl is saying nothing.
Arnold remembers a clipping in his pocket about metal falling out
of flying discs near Mountain Home, Idaho, on July 12. Arnold
now wants to see the metal, all of it. He also wants some help.
So, he calls Captain Smith in Seattle, who happens to have the
afternoon off. Arnold then flies up to get Smith and they arrive
back at Tacoma about 3 pm.

Crisman and Dahl show up soon after this and Smith talks to them
for about an hour and a half--gives them the business. Then
Smith says he will stay for a couple of days and help Arnold.

Smith asks Crisman to drive him back to Seattle to get his car
and some things. He and Crisman leave together. Dahl then
leaves to go home to his sick wife. It is now about 5 pm.

At 7:30 Smith comes back and takes Arnold out to dinner, at a
secluded cafe on the edge of Tacoma that he, Smith, seems to know
very well. There they discuss the events of the day.

At 8:30 all four men, Arnold and Smith, Dahl and Crisman, are
back in the hotel room. Smith wants the following from the men:

1) Samples of both types of material.
2) The photographs.
3) To meet the crew of Dahl's boat.
4) A trip to Maury Island to see what remains.

Dahl and Crisman promise that everything will be provided and
leave, to return the next morning. Smith discovers that Arnold
is carrying a .32 pistol, a present from his friend, Colonel
Weiland, who lives in Provo, Utah. Arnold says that at this time
he and Smight were very nervous and had the feeling that they
were being watched, that there was something dangerous about
Crisman and Dahl. There might be Russian agents about, they
felt. Arnold says that at this time he still did not dream that
the objects he had seen might have been "from another world."


July 31 - Just as the two men are going to bed the phone rings.
It is a man named Ted Morello of United Press. He tells them that
he has been getting calls from someone claiming to know exactly
what has been going on their hotel room. To prove this Morello
tells Arnold what he has done that day, precisely. Since neither
Smith nor Arnold have been talking to the press Arnold assumes
that Crisman or Dahl have been leaking. But Morello knows things
that had been said in the room when neither Crisman or Dahl were
present. The two men spend an hour tearing the room apart, looking
for a hidden microphone. They are five stories up in a corner room.
They find nothing but they do not change rooms.


Aug 1 - The next morning Crisman and Dahl arrive early with
fragments of both kinds of metal. They also say that the other
crew members are downstairs waiting. Everyone then has breakfast
and then goes upstairs to the room to talk. The dark metal is
very, very heavy. A piece the size of a hand and only an inch
thick is very hard to pick up. The dark fragments are perfectly
smooth on one side and burned on the other. The light metal that
Crisman hands them seems like aluminum and Arnold knows it is no
lighter or thinner that ordinary aircraft metal. This did not
correspond to Dahl's description at all. But it does have
strange square rivets in it.

Crisman does not have Dahl's photos with him but says he will
show them later in the day. Smith and Arnold decide to call in
the boys from Air Force intelligence, sure that just saying this
would smoke out Dahl and Crisman. But Crisman is enthusiastic.
Dahl says he will have nothing to do with intelligence, that the
whole business will end up in bad luck for everybody.

Arnold then calls Lt. Brown but he refuses to take the call in
his office. Instead he calls back later from an OFF BASE pay
phone. Arnold tells Brown what has been happening. Brown says
to sit tight and that he and Davidson will be there as soon as
possible. Everybody sits down to wait. Two telephone calls come
in, one of them from Ted Morello who said his mysterious informer
has been calling, staying on the line for no more than 20 seconds
at a time.

Then Paul Lance, reporter for the Tacoma Times, calls. They
refuse to talk to him so he comes to the room. Smith frisks him
and then throws him out. They all know that the Air Force
intelligence officers will be there soon.

Dahl says he is going to a movie and leaves. Smith and Crisman
leave, for a private conversation, Arnold says. This is the
second time the two of them have a "private conversation."


Aug 1 - At 4:30 pm the officers arrive. Davidson and Brown come
up to the room. Davidson shows Arnold a drawing of an object, an
object that looks like the one Arnold had never talked about.
Brown says that this type of object is "authentic" and they had
just received several photographs of this object at Hamilton
Field. The original negatives had been flown to Washington,
D.C., Davidson says. Arnold tells the two officers about the
"other object" he saw on the 24th of June, the one with the
double curve.

Crisman now tells the officers his and Dahl's story, taking over
two hours to do it. Then there is general discussion as the
officers handle the material. Crisman says he will get the box of
material from his home and give it to the officers. It is
midnight. Suddenly the two airmen decide to leave, to fly back to
Hamilton Field that very night. The B-25 they were flying had to
be back the next morning for Air Force day, they say. It had
just been overhauled. The two officers have been flying all over
the area inter- viewing people in their investigation.

Arnold is feeling bad. He feels the two men think Crisman and
Dahl's story is a hoax. They are not interested in the material.
Arnold thinks about telling them about the letter that Dahl had
received about the flying discs but decides not to do that. Just
as the officers are ready to leave Crisman pulls up with his box
of fragments, putting them into their car. Arnold gets a quick
look at the fragments. They are not the same as those up in the
hotel room. Arnold says he was mixed up and that this was "the
screwiest situation he could imagine."

Arnold never finds out much about Crisman, where he lives,
whether he is married or not. When Smith and Arnold get back to
the hotel room the phone rings. It is Ted Morello telling them
everything that has just happened. Obviously there is a bug but
the two men still do not change rooms, perhaps because they
can't. They go to bed. Questions: What happened to the crewmen
of Dahl's boat? The reader never finds out. Nor do we ever hear
of Dahl's son or the dog. Arnold is doing his best but he is
not, and never will be, a detective.


Aug 2 - This is to be the last day of the "investigation."
Smith and Arnold are to meet Crisman and Dahl at 10 o'clock and
go out to Maury Island on Dahl's boat. At 9:20 the phone rings.
It is Chrisman telling Arnold that the B-25 carrying Davidson and
Brown had "blown up and crashed" at about 1:30 that morning.

Arnold says he was too weak to stand up, was white as a sheet.
The same for Captain Smith. Smith calls McChord field and learns
that two men did parachute out of the plane but neither one was
Brown or Davidson. Soon Crisman is at the hotel room, very
excited. Arnold calls Palmer in Chicago and says he is through
with the whole business, that two men have been killed and a
bomber lost because of it and he, Arnold, has had enough.

End, Part 3/4.