The rule of the day, enunciated this morning at Denny's, is that no one shall speak explicitly of skydiving until the deed is done. My mind turns first to the space aliens who, in the summer of 1947, lighted upon Roswell, New Mexico, only to be hounded into a government compound in Nevada and there sequestered till kingdom come. The famous compound is located in a military security zone called Area 51, which is the size of the fine State of Connecticut. Indeed, signs around Area 51 warn that the use of deadly force is authorized against tax-paying intruders who want in on government military secrets. Campbell moved to Rachel in 1992 chiefly to debunk UFO mythology, and, Thomson writes, he has done some of that.
Hardened skeptics expect to debunk the saucer stories, and they do.
Spiritualists see spirits. Doomsdayers see the end of the world. I ask if in the course of their plummet from 12,000 feet they happened to spy any atomic blasts. And, as a result of the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, atmospheric tests in Nevada with nuclear weapons were also brought to an end. But the underground tests that continued for years set casino mogul Howard Hughes on edge.