21x09 - The Legacy of J. Allen Hynek

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: Dr. J. Allen Hynek
was a pioneering scientist

who developed smart weapons,

optical tracking systems

and space satellites.

But his passion was studying
unidentified flying objects.

LUIS ELIZONDO:
J. Allen Hynek was

this very
highly trained scientist

that was convinced
that there was

something to this phenomenon.

NARRATOR:
Dr. Hynek revolutionized

how UFOs are studied.

TRAVIS TAYLOR: J. Allen
Hynek took the scientific method

to the UFO-UAP
problem, and he says,

"We need to take it serious."

That changed the
community forever.

NARRATOR: And as far as
UFO researchers are concerned,

he helped to establish
that there is a presence

in our skies that
is not of this world.

HYNEK: I'm quite certain
there is a real phenomenon.

It is not all nonsense.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In the 1940s,

people around the
world became aware

of a startling new
phenomenon: flying saucers.

Over the next several decades,

a highly renowned astronomer,
astrophysicist and professor

became the leading proponent
for the study of flying saucers

and other unidentified
flying objects.

His name was Dr. J. Allen Hynek.

Even the grossest
skeptic can't deny

that the UFO reports
not only exist, but persist.

We have reports from


and the same pattern
exists around the world.

Many of the reports come

from highly, highly credible,

technically trained
people, you see.

NARRATOR: At a time when
the government, the military

and nearly the entire
academic community mocked

and shunned anyone
who spoke about UFOs,

Hynek had the courage
to treat the topic seriously.

And as far as
ufologists are concerned,

Dr. J. Allen Hynek
was the ideal person

to advocate that UFOs
are a real phenomenon,

because he started
off as a skeptic,

hired by the U.S. Air Force
to debunk reports of UFOs.

J. Allen Hynek is
really the cornerstone,

I believe, of modern ufology.

He was a very serious
and credentialed academic

brought in by the government
to debunk the UAP topic,

only to be immersed in the topic

and realize that it's real.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
Hynek was really viewed

as the king of ufology.

He was the one who was saying

that there's something
going on out there,

and it's worthy
of scientific study.

TAYLOR: J. Allen Hynek
actually took the scientific method

to the UFO-UAP problem.

And I think that's
the first time

someone actually started
taking the UFO situation seriously

and applying methods
that would enable us

to actually figure
out what it is.

Dr. Allen Hynek, who
is the leading expert

on UFOs in this country
and probably in the world.

It's a very, very
real phenomenon

of some sort is going on.

This all calls for some
very real research,

and no real research
has been done.

MICHIO KAKU:
Dr. Hynek was fearless,

saying, "I believe in science,

"I believe in testability,

I believe in pushing the
boundaries of science."

It is my growing
feeling across the years

that the UFO phenomenon,
not-not any hypothesis,

but the phenomenon
itself is signaling,

I think, a coming change
in the scientific paradigm.

He is one of the, if
not the, founding father

of modern-day ufology.

I'm not sure we'd be
here if it wasn't for Hynek.

NARRATOR: While
Dr. Hynek's focus

was the modern-day
UFO phenomenon,

ancient astronaut
theorists point out

that he was also intrigued
by the theories posed

by Erich von Däniken in
his groundbreaking book,

Chariots of the Gods.

PHIL IMBROGNO: Dr. Hynek
did mention Von Däniken

a number of times.

He said, "There are things

that can't be explained from
a historical point of view,"

and that we have to consider

that extraterrestrials
came here a long time ago

and interfered or
helped human beings

develop their civilization.

He said, "You
can't rule it out."

NARRATOR: But how did
a world-renowned scientist,

hired by the
military to put an end

to the so-called
"flying disc craze,"

end up becoming a champion
for the study of UFOs?

Joseph Allen Hynek is born
into a working-class family

of Czechoslovakian immigrants.

As a young boy, he's
stricken with scarlet fever,

which leads to a
formative moment in his life.

ROXANE HYNEK: In those days,

one of the treatments
was to keep the child in bed.

So it was almost a
year, something like that.

So, his mom got him
a book on astronomy.

And that's what set the
whole thing in motion.

NARRATOR: By the
time he was a teenager,

Hynek had also developed
an interest in mysticism,

theosophy and Rosicrucianism...

an ancient society of
mystics and philosophers.

PAUL HYNEK: He thought there
was something implicit underneath

and perhaps behind the stars.

I think that's what
drove him to look there,

and astronomy was the
method for him to sort of reconcile

to take a flashlight
to the dim edges

of mainstream science

and shine a bit
of light out there

and find the magic
in the universe.

NARRATOR: Hynek earned
his PhD in astrophysics

at the University
of Chicago in 1935,

and quickly gained fame as
a highly respected scientist.

He helped develop the
world's first smart weapons

during World w*r II,

worked on technology
for space telescopes,

and pioneered
satellite tracking.

JACQUES VALLEE:
He was on the cover

of Life magazine after Sputnik

because he had been the man

to really build the entire

American tracking
system from scratch

with special telescopes
that could move very quickly,

could track an
object in the sky.

And it was also
the administration

of a worldwide network
of observing stations.

Dr. Hynek had managed all that.

NARRATOR: By his mid-30s,

J. Allen Hynek had already
made a name for himself

as an astronomer
and astrophysicist.

But a series of
extraordinary events

would dramatically change
the trajectory of his career.

In June 1947,

pilot Kenneth Arnold

reported seeing nine
disc-shaped objects

flying near Mount
Rainier in Washington.

Less than a month later,

there is a report
of a flying saucer

crashing outside the town
of Roswell, New Mexico.

And in January 1948,

Army Captain Thomas Mantell
tragically died in a plane crash

while chasing a
UFO over Kentucky.

The U.S. Air Force was
really put on the spot

to have some kind of public
engagement with this phenomenon.

People wanted to know about it.

And they created in 1948,

something known
as "Project Sign."

NARRATOR: Project
Sign was the very first

government
investigation into UFOs.

To lead the scientific
side of the project,

they chose Dr. Hynek.

These three Air
Force officers came by,

and for about a half
an hour, we just talked

about the weather
and this and that.

JOEL HYNEK: My
father liked to say

that he was like the innocent
bystander that got shot.

He had no idea
what he was in for,

but he thought he should help
the Air Force calm the public,

you know, after the w*r, so,

that's why he did it.

CHILDRESS: Hynek would
explain all these UFO reports

as meteors, as comets,
as reflections off clouds,

as stars that were
bright in the sky,

or the planet Venus.

Anything that would
explain this activity

as other than flying
saucers or UFOs.

NARRATOR: Hynek served
as the scientific advisor

for Project Sign, which
lasted less than a year.

It was followed by
another UFO investigation

called "Project Grudge,"
which was terminated so quickly,

Hynek never had
a chance to join it.

But reports of UFOs
only continued to increase,

prompting the
government to launch

a much more
substantial initiative

to study, and ultimately
debunk, UFOs,

called "Project Blue Book."

But the longer Dr. Hynek
studied the UFO phenomenon,

the more convinced he became
that it could not be dismissed.

NARRATOR: In the
aftermath of World w*r II,

the United States
has become engaged

in a Cold w*r with
the Soviet Union.

There has also been
an increase in reports

of unidentified flying objects,

and some fear the UFOs
could be Soviet aircraft.

But with extraterrestrials
becoming a popular theme

in 1950s science fiction,

many others are
genuinely concerned

about an alien invasion.

After the w*r, there
were strange sightings

of things in the sky,

and people began to
wonder what's up there?

People were afraid of
aliens in outer space.

And so, Project Blue Book
was created as a consequence.

NARRATOR: Project Blue
Book was the Air Force's third

and most significant
investigation

into the UFO phenomenon.

And once again, they
looked to Dr. J. Allen Hynek

to be the scientific
face of the project.

MARK O'CONNELL:
The Air Force said,

"We keep getting these
reports. It's still a problem.

"In fact, it's a bigger
problem than it was

"the last time we talked to you.

Would you be willing to come
back and help us with this?"

So Hynek agrees.

KAKU: The military wanted to
squash any of this speculation

about aliens from outer
space or what have you.

You see, the government
wanted to control the agenda,

and flying saucers did
not fit with that agenda.

We were in a race with Russia.

It was the McCarthy period.

Anyone who deviated
from this agenda

would put their scientific
reputation on the line.

JOEL: I think being
patriotic is part of why

he worked for the Air
Force 'cause that was, uh,

you know, after the w*r,
and everybody was very

gung h* and let's help the
government and the country.

You see, there's
nothing more c*ck

than a relatively young
PhD, just coming out of...

NARRATOR: But shortly
after joining Project Blue Book,

Hynek's notion

that UFOs were nonsense
would be seriously challenged.

An air traffic controller at
Washington National Airport

is alarmed when he picks
up seven strange objects

on his radar screen,
and he quickly determines

they are unlike any man-made
aircraft he has ever seen.

PAUL: These objects that
were spherical shaped were

moving up to


in very unconventional fashion.

We scrambled
fighter jets after them,

but as soon as the jets got
aloft, the objects disappeared.

NARRATOR: One week later,
the strange objects appeared

over the nation's capital again.

POPE: There was a press
conference at the Pentagon

which was the biggest
single press conference

that had been held since the
end of the Second World w*r.

Hynek got to see
the various reports.

The debunking explanation
was that these were mirages

sometimes caused by
a temperature inversion.

In other words, a layer
of particularly dense air.

NARRATOR: While
Hynek publicly supported

the Air Force's explanation

for the Washington
UFO sightings,

privately he was conflicted

about the
investigation's findings.

The official conclusion

that an optical
illusion was the source

of the alarming events caused
Hynek to begin to question

his colleague,
Dr. Donald H. Menzel,

Director of the
Harvard Observatory.

VALLEE: Dr. Hynek
disagreed with Dr. Menzel.

Dr. Menzel had "explained,"

when people were
seeing those lights,

there was a temperature
inversion over Washington,

and that's why the
radar was reflected.

I looked at that later,
and I met someone

who had been in that radar room.

And he left the
room to see, well,

if he could see
something in the sky.

And he could see the UFOs.

So, this was a visual sighting.

It wasn't just
radar, which meant

that the Menzel explanation

didn't make any
sense scientifically.

It was wrong scientifically.

NARRATOR: Project Blue
Book had just gotten underway,

but already, Hynek
was beginning to think

UFOs could be something more
than just natural phenomena.

NARRATOR: Over the years,

Hynek would become
increasingly conflicted

about his role on
Project Blue Book.

I remember one time driving
up to Canada in the family car,

and I think I was about 15,

and I noticed he's
fidgeting with his hair,

and... and I said,
"Dad, what's going on?"

He said, "Well,
I'm-I'm on the fence."

I mean, he was on the fence.

Having to toe the party line

of the Air Force's that
there's nothing going on here,

that it's all explainable,
took a toll on him.

CHILDRESS: The Air Force
continually insisted that every

UFO incident had
some natural explanation.

And Hynek knew
that that was untrue,

that while many UFO reports
could be explained naturally,

there were some that couldn't,

but the Air Force wouldn't
allow him to go that direction.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The more he did his research,

and the more people
he interviewed,

the more he realized,
"Wait a second.

Not all of these
eyewitnesses are crazy."

In many cases, these
eyewitnesses were not alone

when they experienced
their encounters,

or when they saw something.

IMBROGNO: He began
to realize how long...

and these are his exact words...

"How long am I
gonna call these people

"crazy or incompetent?

"Some of them were
seeing something

"very, very unexplainable,

and it should be
investigated further."

NARRATOR: For
more than a decade,

Dr. Hynek helped the Air
Force carry out its agenda,

assuring the public that UFOs

were nothing to be
concerned about.

But that would begin
to change in 1963,

when Hynek gained a
fierce ally in his pursuit

to make the government take
the study of UFOs more seriously:

Dr. Jacques Vallee.

NARRATOR: J. Allen
Hynek is entering his 11th year

as the scientific advisor
to Project Blue Book,

and is now also the chair

of Northwestern University's
astronomy department.

In the spring,

the 53-year-old professor
meets a young French astronomer

and computer science
student named Jacques Vallee.

One of the most
important meetings

that Hynek had in his
life was when he first

came across Jacques Vallee.

Jacques Vallee was
himself an astronomer,

an astrophysicist really,

and he was also an
early computer pioneer.

NARRATOR: While
working as an astronomer

at the Paris Observatory,

Vallee had conducted
extensive research

about UFO activity
throughout Europe.

Hynek was eager to
see Vallee's research,

but what impressed him the most

was that Vallee had
created a computer database

to analyze all of the data.

VALLEE: What I found

in developing a catalogue
of sightings were a number

of patterns that
were interesting.

And in late '63, I
traveled to Chicago

and met with Dr. Hynek
and started to compare notes

to see if those patterns
in Europe are the same

as were patterns
in the United States.

TSOUKALOS: When Jacques
Vallee came into the picture,

a dynamic duo was formed
that was unstoppable,

because Vallee helped
Hynek computerize everything.

That was the next
level in UFO research.

HENRY: Vallee has a
very scientific orientation

towards the study of this.

Together, they both
have an intuition

that this is an
extraterrestrial phenomena,

and it needs to
be treated as such.

VALLEE: We started to look
at patterns in the behavior

of UFO phenomena,

and we started finding things

that had not been
published before,

had not been understood before.

IMBROGNO: Dr. Hynek
said, "This fellow is brilliant.

"He's respected in
the scientific world,

"and he's coming out

with these ideas that I
would like to explore more."

And I think when Jacques
Vallee said, "This is what I believe,

and I'm not afraid to say
this," Hynek felt relieved.

PAUL: Jacques was
a-a very frequent guest,

along with his wife
and kids, at our house.

He had a great
passion for astronomy.

He saw a fascinating phenomena,

and he wanted to go
where the science led them.

I could see this special
fondness and reverence

my father had for Jacques.

NARRATOR: Working
with Vallee and his database,

Hynek encountered more
and more UFO sightings

that could not be
easily explained.

But perhaps the
most compelling case

he would investigate
not only had a report

of an object in the
sky, but evidence...

on the ground.

Dr. Hynek is summoned
to the small town

of Socorro, New Mexico.

When he arrives, he is told

that local police officer Lonnie
Zamora encountered a UFO

on the outskirts of the city.

RICHARD DOLAN: April 24,
Lonnie Zamora is chasing a speeder

when he sees this thing
zoom across the sky

and go over a hill
and possibly crash.

He stops the chase,
gets out of his car,

goes up on foot to this hill,

and he sees this
perfect, egg-shaped thing

with landing gear
and everything.

ELIZONDO: Lonnie Zamora recalls

seeing what he describes

as a-a... some
sort of vehicle craft

that would appear
to be in distress.

And even perhaps little beings,

what we now refer to as
"NHI, non-human intelligence."

And in his report,
they very quickly

and hurriedly get into
the aircraft and flew away.

NARRATOR: According
to Zamora's report,

the brush was burning
in several places,

and there were four
perpendicular impressions

left on the ground.

PAUL: When Project Blue Book
got word of the Socorro case,

they sent my father
there to explain it away.

But when my father got there,

he found it to be a
very compelling case.

There was Zamora, who
clearly seemed to be traumatized.

HYNEK: I visited
Socorro a number of times,

trying, frankly, to break
down the man's character

to try to find out
whether he's capable

of the hoax... and whether...

what his gravitation
is like, and I've inquired

of, uh, people who have
known him all his life,

and even some parents of
some of my students happen

to live in Socorro, and
I roundabout tried that.

And he, Zamora,
has always held up.

His character has simply held
up as a solid American citizen cop.

ELIZONDO: J.
Allen Hynek realized

that Lonnie Zamora
was not a fabricator,

that what he was
saying was an experience

that he believed he
actually experienced.

[camera shutter clicks]

And that may have
had something to do

with J. Allen Hynek
perhaps starting

to come around the corner

and change his
position on the topic.

PAUL: Jacques told
me that it was this case

that was more or less the
straw that broke the camel's back,

to make my father
feel comfortable

talking about UFO reports

with sightings of aliens.

VALLEE: This was the
first case where he said,

"Yes, these were creatures,"

because there were
traces of footsteps there

that were not human footsteps.

It was a turning point
because there was no question

something had happened,

and he had to take
landings seriously.

NARRATOR: Despite the
evidence collected in New Mexico,

the Air Force insisted that
Hynek toe the company line,

and he dropped
the investigation.

Hynek's frustration
with the military's policy

of denial was at
an all-time high,

and when another
extraordinary UFO event occurred

two years later,

the acclaimed astronomer
would no longer stay quiet.

NARRATOR: J. Allen
Hynek, now in his 14th year

with Project Blue
Book, is at home

when he catches a curious
segment on the evening news.

According to the report,

a farmer in rural Michigan
named Frank Manor

witnessed a UFO
flying above his property.

I looked north of me,
and, uh, there were...

It looked like a
falling star, or...

It was red and kind
of coming down and...

And, uh, when it got to the
top of the trees, it stopped.

And a... a blue and
a white light come on.

And, uh, I looked at it, and I
thought I was seeing things.

NARRATOR: In
addition to Frank Manor,

many other residents
across southern Michigan

saw the UFO, including a member

of law enforcement: Sheriff's
Sergeant Newell Snyder,

who drew a sketch
of the flying craft.

SNYDER: It, uh, moved
very rapidly at any speed,

or rather, any
direction it wanted to go.

REPORTER: What
do you think it was?

SNYDER: Well, if they
call it a flying saucer,

that's what it is.

NARRATOR: Over
the next few nights,

dozens more UFO
sightings were reported.

CHILDRESS: The 1966

UFO flap over Michigan
happened over several days.

And hundreds of witnesses saw

these weird flying
saucer lights in the sky.

It was big news at the time.

O'CONNELL: Dr. Hynek calls
his boss at Project Blue Book,

and he says, "Hey, something
big is going on in Michigan."

And his boss says,
"You go to Michigan,

wipe out the whole thing.
Make it like it never happened."

NARRATOR: Hynek
traveled to Michigan

to investigate the sightings,

and on March 25, he released
his conclusions to the press.

He claimed that
the most likely cause

of the lights seen by witnesses

was not
extraterrestrial activity,

but marsh gas.

I cannot prove in a court of law

that marsh gas is the full
explanation of these sightings,

but it does appear
to me extremely likely.

REPORTER: Are
you saying, Doctor,

that Michigan is now
producing non-existent saucers?

[laughs] Well, it's, uh,

one way of putting
it, I suppose.

NARRATOR: Hynek's conclusion
sparked outrage nationwide.

He was ridiculed by pundits,
op-ed columnists and cartoonists

who viewed him as the
ultimate government pawn.

DOLAN: It's an absolute
embarrassing debacle for him.

No one believed this.

So, this became
the national joke.

JOEL: Michigan... that
was a tough moment for him.

He really didn't know
what to make of it, uh,

but he was under a lot of
pressure to say something, and

he went with that.

ROXANE: I remember
the swamp gas incident.

I remember actually
seeing him on TV.

And I-I could just see
in his face that it was just

not something he wanted to do.

NARRATOR: After his
disastrous press conference,

Hynek was summoned
to Washington, D.C.

to testify before Congress.

And for the first time,

he defied his superiors
on Project Blue Book

and revealed his true thoughts
on the UFO phenomenon.

CHILDRESS: Hynek gets
in front of this committee

and says to them,

"UFOs are a worthy study,

and it needs
scientific investigation."

TAYLOR: He's had
enough, and he says,

"No, there's a
scientific problem

"with UFOs.

We need to take it serious."

IMBROGNO: Hynek said

that when he made
his official statement

about how he felt about
UFOs, he got into serious trouble

with the Air Force.

I don't think they did
much of anything to him,

but they cut him off

from support is what they did.

NARRATOR: After Hynek's
controversial testimony,

the Air Force opened
an investigation

into Project Blue Book

chaired by physicist
Edward Condon,

called "the Condon Committee."

By the end of 1969,

the Condon Committee
terminated Project Blue Book,

and J. Allen Hynek was finally
free to speak openly about UFOs.

In my association with
Project Blue Book, I know,

and I know very well that it
was not a scientific project.

I also know that they never,
never would notify the media

when an interesting
case came up.

They did everything
they could to...

- REPORTER: Keep it down.
- Push it, keep it down.

TSOUKALOS: J. Allen Hynek became

a well-known
figure on television,

on radio, talking about
aerial phenomena.

And in doing so, he
became, well, Mr. UFO,

I guess the first
one there ever was.

And he really took this whole
research topic to another level.

ROXANE: My parents were
a bit concerned about his

mainstream reputation
being damaged.

It was so different
than it is now as far as

if somebody talked about UFOs,
they could lose their careers,

their kids could be
hounded at school.

So, there was a real
stigma back then.

But I don't think it
slowed my father down.

It was a brave thing to do.

NARRATOR: After
spending more than 20 years

helping the U.S. government
convince the public

that there is nothing
mysterious in our skies,

Hynek was now leading the charge
to legitimize the study of UFOs.

And he would soon
reach a larger audience

than ever before
with the help...

of Steven Spielberg.

NARRATOR: After investigating
UFOs for more than 24 years,

J. Allen Hynek
publishes his first book

on the phenomenon...
The UFO Experience.

HENRY: It's an instant
bestseller, mega bestseller.

One of the key
elements in the book is

the "close encounter"
classification.

This becomes a framework

for people to categorize
their UFO experience.

Is it a close encounter
of the first kind?

In other words, did
you see something

less than 500 feet away?

Close encounter
of the second kind...

was there a physical
effect that was felt?

Was there a burn mark?

Is there physical evidence left

by perhaps a
landing of the craft?

And then the close
encounter of the third kind,

which is the sighting
of an animated figure,

be it a humanoid
being or perhaps a robot

within or near that craft.

NARRATOR: Today,

more than five decades
after he introduced it,

Hynek's close encounters
classification system

remains the standard by
which UFO reports are defined.

But even more influential
was the research facility

he launched in
Evanston, Illinois

just one year after
the publication

of his first book, called "The
Center for UFO Studies."

TSOUKALOS: It essentially
became a global hub

for anyone to go and
report their UFO sightings.

But he couldn't
do it by himself,

so he raised a whole
bunch of money,

and all of a sudden, had staff.

He was able to do
a lot more research

than he had ever
been able to do before.

JOEL: My father
felt it was important

to set up a 1-800 number,

and he was very free
giving his phone number,

the-the home phone number.

- [phone ringing]
- And so in those days,

the phone was always
ringing off the hook.

But he was always happy
to, you know, take the call.

What motivated him was the idea

that UFOs could open up a
whole new domain of physics,

that it could increase our
understanding of reality.

That really propelled him.

PAUL: My father traveled
more than anybody I've ever met.

And so, my mom was left

to take care of the
kids to a great deal.

She was fiercely
independent, very strong.

And at first, I think, she
must have been hesitant

to have my father
go off on these

wild-goose chases
for flying saucers,

but after a while, she
caught the bug, too,

and became an active participant
in the Center for UFO Studies.

And I think she really
helped comfort a lot of people,

gently coaxing them
into talking a little bit more

about what could be
a very traumatic topic.

ROXANE: It seemed a really
exciting time for my father,

a blossoming time.

I remember coming home, and
our house had been transformed.

My bedroom was no longer
my bedroom, and the same

with most of the others,
so it was this hubbub.

And files and papers and phones,

and it was just... it
was an exciting time,

and I think he really
enjoyed that a lot.

NARRATOR: Ufologist Phil
Imbrogno worked with Dr. Hynek

in the early 1980s
investigating UFO sightings

in New York's Hudson Valley.

According to him,
Hynek's passion

for investigating the
phenomenon was unmatched.

IMBROGNO: If he thought that
the sightings were worth value

to give UFOs more
credibility and more attention

in the scientific
world, he was there.

And his energy was
unbelievable in the field.

I was only


there, and he was in his 70s,

and I was exhausted
before he was.

And he just kept on going.

And when interviewing witnesses,

he made them feel so comfortable

that they just opened up to him.

NARRATOR: Three years

after launching The
Center for UFO Studies,

J. Allen Hynek
received a phone call

from Hollywood's hottest
new director: Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg wanted the
distinguished Dr. Hynek

to consult on his new film,

called Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

JOEL: Our father was all for it,

being a technical advisor

on Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

And people were
taking it seriously,

and that's what
he loved about it.

POPE: Hynek even
has a cameo role.

Right at the end of
it, the climactic scene

where the mothership
comes down, you can see

there's one guy with a goatee
and a pipe, and that's Hynek.

ROXANE: I still, when I see it,

I always get a... just
sort of a... [gasps]

when he comes
on for his-his cameo.

NARRATOR: Close Encounters
of the Third Kind premiered

on November 15, 1977,

and went on to become
a box office smash

and a critical success.

But perhaps most
important to Hynek

was the fact that the movie
established the UFO phenomenon

in the mainstream.

PAUL: The movie Close
Encounters of the Third Kind

was truly a watershed
moment in the phenomena.

The movie did so much service

for people who felt
they'd had sightings,

in legitimizing them
to come forward.

The movie raised
public awareness

of the UFO phenomenon
to new heights.

One of the offshoots of the
popularity of this movie was

Hynek was able to
persuade Spielberg to print

the contact information for
his Center for UFO Studies

on every single movie poster

for Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

Bottom corner of the poster,

there's gonna
be a little notation,

"If you've seen anything
unusual, contact CUFOS."

NARRATOR: Shortly
after the release of the film,

Hynek retired from teaching,

and eventually relocated
The Center for UFO Studies

to Phoenix, Arizona.

In his final years, he continued

to travel the world
investigating UFOs,

and proposed profound
new possibilities

for what might be
behind the phenomenon.

NARRATOR: In 1981,

the residents of this
small mountain village

began reporting strange lights

of various colors,
sizes and shapes.

Intrigued by the phenomenon,

Norwegian electrical
engineer Erling Strand

started a research
project to investigate it.

And on a whim, he reached out

to the world's
foremost authority

on the UFO phenomenon:
Dr. J. Allen Hynek.

To his surprise, Hynek
was not only receptive,

but in 1985, at 74 years old,

he traveled to Hessdalen

to witness the
phenomenon for himself.

STRAND: Everyone

in Scandinavia knew who he was.

When he came to visit us
out in the field in Norway,

that inspired us very much.

Such a great man.

Now the fact that they
actually saw those lights

against the mountain, I
think is very important.

NARRATOR: Most of the video
from Hynek's visit has been lost,

but the fragments
that have survived

represent the last
footage ever shot

of the pioneering
scientist and ufologist.

In it, he reveals that
in his final assessment

of the UFO phenomenon,

an extraterrestrial
intelligence is just one

of numerous
profound possibilities.

ROXANE: One of the
things I really love, loved,

love about my dad is that

he was open to entertaining
things that weren't just

a fixed solution.

He didn't have to wrap things up

so that you couldn't
continue exploring.

I-I... love that
aspect of my dad.

NARRATOR: Dr. J.
Allen Hynek passed away

from a malignant
brain tumor in 1986,

as Halley's Comet was
passing by the planet.

It was the first time the
comet had been visible

from Earth since 1910,
the year Hynek was born.

He came and went
with Halley's Comet,

which is a really nice
kind of comforting,

cosmological bookend
for a grieving son.

JOEL: I'm very
proud of my father.

He was a serious
scientist looking into UFOs.

And it was not cool for a
scientist to be doing that

on this silly subject.

So, he battled that a lot,

and I think he will be
appreciated by UFO advocates

and serious scientists.

PAUL: My father's legacy is that
he was a very believable figure.

He was the archetypal professor.

And if this guy says there's
something happening here,

maybe it's okay if
I believe that, too.

So I think he was able to
put the world on his back

and bring us just a little bit
closer to accepting the idea

that we are not alone.

VALLEE: Dr. Hynek used to say

that what's important in
science is the exception.

So much of science

and scientific discovery
is based on an exception

for the things
that breaks a rule.

And I think that's why
UFOs are important.

Because they break the rule.

ELIZONDO: It's
because of J. Allen Hynek

I think we are where
we are today in this topic.

J. Allen Hynek was the
right person at the right time.

NARRATOR: From a young
boy fascinated with astronomy,

to a government UFO debunker,

to a founding father of ufology,

J. Allen Hynek lived his life

with one foot planted
in hard science

and the other in the unknown.

And in the end,
his investigations,

both in the academic
world and the world of UFOs,

led him to conclude that
whether it's extraterrestrial,

interdimensional,

or something
we have yet to imagine,

there is likely a non-human
intelligence on planet Earth.

Perhaps someday
in the very near future,

we will discover
that Hynek was right

and come face-to-face
with our alien ancestors.