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-
- A Revival of the 61-Month Wave Theory
-
- by Donald A. Johnson, Ph.D.
- P.O. Box 161
- Kirkland, Washington 98033
-
- The Knowles family CE-II encounter with an ovoid-shaped UFO
- on the Nullarbor Plateau in Western Australia January 20th was
- right on target in terms of time and place, according to the
- 61-month wave cycle first proposed by Dr. David Saunders back in
- 1971. At least two other UFO encounters of major importance
- occurred that same night in Australia and Tasmania. If the
- indications are correct and this is not an isolated incident but
- the beginnings of a major UFO wave, we will have to reconsider
- the significance of this long-term prediction in terms of our
- ability to predict and act upon the occurrence of this and
- future UFO waves.
-
- Dr. David Saunders first noticed the regularity in major
- American UFO waves (1947, 1952, 1957 and 1967) in the early
- months of 1971 while working with the UFOCAT computer catalog at
- the University of Colorado. He determined that what
- distinguished these UFO waves from other, possibly
- publicity-generated UFO waves, was the shape of their
- distributions. These were waves of UFO reports in which the
- frequency of daily reports began building slowly, built to a
- crescendo, and then diminished rapidly. These
- negatively-skewed UFO waves occurred with a periodicity of five
- years, or more accurately 61-months, with an accuracy in peak
- prediction to within a day or so (1).
-
- Furthermore, another characteristic of these five-year
- waves was the progressively eastward movement of their loci of
- activity. The first wave crested in July 1947 and occurred
- predominantly in the Pacific and Mountain States. The 1952 wave
- reached its peak in late August 1952 with the majority of
- reports coming from Midwestern States. Each successive wave
- appeared to move approximately 30 degrees east in longitude.
- The absence of a 1962 wave was accounted for by a search of
- South American references which revealed a Brazilian and
- Argentinian UFO wave in September, and the 1967 wave--which
- began on the Eastern seaboard of the United States--actually
- crested in November of that year in England.
-
- Saunders was able to make his first prediction that a major
- UFO wave would occur in the vicinity of 30 degrees East
- longitude and peak in December 1972 over a year prior to its
- occurrence. This prediction was borne out by the occurrence of
- a UFO wave in South Africa in late November. However, most
- ufologists lost interest in the theory when the predicted waves
- for 1977-78 and 1983 failed to materialize (so far as we can
- tell). Both of these waves should have occurred in countries
- controlled predominantly by governments unfriendly to the West.
- Saunders continues to have faith in the theory and has offered a
- consistent, convincing response to critics: that it is unfair
- to judge the merits of the theory on what we may or may not hear
- about from the Soviet Union.
-
- According to calculations (see table below), the next great
- UFO wave should occur between now and the beginning of March,
- centered at 120 degrees East longitude. The Nullarbor Plain is
- at approximately 127 degrees East longitude. The wave should
- also unfold in the same characteristic manner as the earlier
- waves, building slowly in intensity in the number of daily
- reports and diminishing rapidly after reaching a peak.
-
- Table 1
-
- The 61-Month Wave Cycle and Corresponding UFO Waves
-
- Predicted Actual Peak Predicted Actual
- Date Date Longitude Location
-
- July 1947 July 8, 1947 120o W Northwestern U.S.
- Aug. 1952 Aug. 3, 1952 90o W Central and Eastern U.S.
- Sep. 1957 Aug. 21, 1957 60o W Central and Eastern U.S.
- Oct. 1962 Sep. 1962 30o W Brazil
- Nov. 1967 Oct. 24, 1967 0o W Atlantic, England
- Dec. 1972 Nov. 1972 30o E South Africa
- Jan. 1978 ? 60o E ?
- Feb. 1983 ? 90o E ?
- Mar. 1988 Feb. 1988(?) 120o E Australia(?)
-
-
- A corrollary to the Saunders' spatio-temporal wave theory
- is that physical evidence cases should occur at approximately
- the same time world-wide; thus, if the Australian close
- encounters continue to occur during the pre-dawn hours, we
- should expect U.S. CE-II cases to occur in the evening hours
- between 4 and 10 p.m., since the United States and Australia
- have a time difference of some 8 to 11 hours.
-
- We shall soon see if new evidence merits the revival of
- an old theory.
-
-
- (1) Saunders, D.R. (1976). A spatio-temporal invariant for
- major UFO waves. In N. Dornbos (ed.), Proceedings of the 1976
- CUFOS Conference. Evanston, IL: Center for UFO Studies.
-