According to the rumor, two of the scientists at the unnamed place were watching the equipment one day when, for no apparent reason, a sudden increase of radiation was indicated.  The radiation remained high for a few seconds, then dropped back to normal.  The increase over normal was not sufficient to be dangerous, but it definitely was unusual.  All indications pointed to equipment malfunction as the most probable explanation.  A quick check revealed no obvious trouble with the gear, and the two scientists were about to start a more detailed check when a third member of the radiation crew came rushing into the lab.

Before they could tell the newcomer about the unexplained radiation they had just picked up, he blurted out a story of his own.  He had driven to a nearby town, and on his return trip, as he approached the research lab, something in the sky suddenly caught his eye.  High in the cloudless blue he saw three silvery objects moving in a V formation.  They appeared to be spherical in shape, but he wasn’t sure.  The first fact that had hit him was that the objects were traveling too fast to be conventional aircraft.  He jammed on the brakes, stopped his car, and shut off the engine.  No sound.  All he could hear was the quiet whir of a generator in the research lab.  In a few seconds the objects had disappeared from sight.

After the first two scientists had briefed their excited colleague on the unusual radiation they had detected, the three men asked each other the $64 question:  Was there any connection between the two incidents?  Had the UFO’s caused the excessive radiation?

They checked the time.  Knowing almost exactly when the instruments had registered the increased radiation, they checked on how long it took to drive to the lab from the point where the three silver objects had been seen.  The times correlated within a minute or two.  The three men proceeded to check their radiation equipment thoroughly.  Nothing was wrong.

The rumor stopped here.  Nothing that I or anyone else on Project Blue Book could find out shed any further light on the source of the story.  People associated with projects similar to the research lab that was mentioned in the rumor were sought out and questioned.  Many of them had heard the story, but no one could add any new details.  The three unknown scientists, at the unnamed lab, in an unknown part of the United States, might as well never have existed.  Maybe they hadn’t.

Almost a year after I had first heard the UFO-radiation story I got a long-distance call from a friend on the west coast.  I had seen him several months before, at which time I told him about this curious rumor and expressed my wish to find out how authentic it was.  Now, on the phone, he told me he had just been in contact with two people he knew and they had the whole story.  He said they would be in Los Angeles the following night and would like very much to talk to me.