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The Joe Simonton / Alien Pancakes Case (Wisconsin; 1961)

Sabresonic said:
So was ot a myth or sort of true
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It's difficult to tell one way or the other.

The story was submitted and promoted by local resident Judge Carter - an aged man who was interested in UFOs and was a NICAP member.

If you read through the documentation archived at CUFOS (see my earlier posts) it appears that neither NICAP nor CUFOS put much effort into investigating the story. In scanning through the documentation I didn't notice any mention of the third-party corroborating witnesses, so I got the impression the investigators were treating the incident as being based on Simonton's word alone.

It's also clear CUFOS didn't press hard to obtain any analysis of the pancake, so results weren't forthcoming for several months.

On the other hand, the chemical analysis results (such as they were; once they were actually reported) didn't indicate anything that suggested the pancakes' fats and grains originated anywhere else than here on earth. As I understand it, the grain analysis was pretty conclusive. The fat material was simply identified as fat similar to earthly cooking ingredients, and AFAIK it wasn't analyzed to any deeper extent.

One could reasonably say that proof the ingredients came from here on earth didn't necessarily mean the visitors and / or their mysterious vehicle had to be of earthly origin, too.
 
The CUFOS / NICAP documentation seems to indicate the investigators / interviewers thought Simonton's testimony wasn't consistent. For example, it seems he gave different descriptions for how the vehicle rose and flew off at the end of the encounter.

Another oddity was that Simonton seemed to describe meaningful communication between himself and the visitor with whom he directly interacted, but he also said he had no recollection of either of them speaking during the encounter. He seemed to claim or at least suggest he'd understood the visitor telepathically, but other comments seem to indicate a silent interplay of signs or gestures.

Simonton's testimony is unclear regarding the arrival of the vehicle. He's more clear about having seen the vehicle rise and fly away at the end of the encounter.
 
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hunck said:
Is there an element of doubt about aliens making pancakes creeping in?
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Simonton's account seems clear that one of the visitors (the 'cook') was busy doing something that appeared to be cooking, and it was this visitor's activity that produced the pancakes Joe was handed. Whether Simonton accurately recognized what was happening is another matter.

Simonton reported the 'spokesperson' visitor (the one with whom he directly interacted) simply presented a pitcher or jug. Simonton took this to be a request for water, so he filled the container with water.

What if the request (implied by gesture / telepathically projected / spoken but forgotten) had been for milk? That might explain why the pancake given back to Joe was thin and had little flavor.
 
I'm wondering if what the man actually saw was an Airstream trailer, with ordinary human occupants on board (like the following):

This-Renovated-Airstream-Trailer-Houses-a-Family-of-Six_29.jpg


They do have a 'spaceship' aesthetic about them. Maybe the witness had never seen one before?
 
 
Mythopoeika said:
I'm wondering if what the man actually saw was an Airstream trailer, with ordinary human occupants on board (like the following):
They do have a 'spaceship' aesthetic about them. Maybe the witness had never seen one before?
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I've wondered the same thing - i.e., whether Simonton had misidentified a shiny metal-skinned trailer or "food truck" rig that somehow stopped by his rural home.

His experience occurred circa 1100 - 1200 local time, described in multiple early accounts as "lunchtime" or "approaching lunch time."
 
Mythopoeika said:
I'm wondering if what the man actually saw was an Airstream trailer...
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:eek:

if please permissible, a one-off digression... such a stunning photograph, especially if an Airstream tralier is a long held dream.

I have located a high-resolution copy of same, which is now my laptop background picture.

Available here!

www.forteanmedia.com/Trailer.jpg

If you zoom in, the landscape reflection is just as awesome.

Happily spend rest of my days right there and in that, with camera at the ready.

Proper UFO photograph background. :)
 
EnolaGaia said:
I've wondered the same thing - i.e., whether Simonton had misidentified a shiny metal-skinned trailer or "food truck" rig that somehow stopped by his rural home.

His experience occurred circa 1100 - 1200 local time, described in multiple early accounts as "lunchtime" or "approaching lunch time."
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He described the 'beings' as looking like Italians, so perhaps they were immigrant casual farm labourers the move, hence asking for drinking water and only having basic ingredients for food as the work were sporadic?
 
WeirdExeter said:
He described the 'beings' as looking like Italians, so perhaps they were immigrant casual farm labourers the move, hence asking for drinking water and only having basic ingredients for food as the work were sporadic?
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April in northern Wisconsin is a bit early for spring farm work.

A more likely angle would be something to do with recreation and tourism. The Eagle River area had already transitioned to a tourism-based economy by the 1960s, and winter sports and recreation were important facets of that economy. Eagle River was (and is) the home of Halls of Fame and / or championship events in snowmobiling and hockey. The snowmobiling stuff wasn't well-established as of 1961, but the hockey connection was already decades old at the time.
 
Kondoru said:
But would such folk have such a swanky ride?
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Shiny bare aluminum had been the most common exterior material on travel trailers for decades as of 1961. It could well have been an older unit. Aluminum exteriors were also common for lunch trucks (and similar food service / concessionaire) vehicles.
 
Comfortably Numb said:
"...described the three men in the saucer as short and Italian looking".
Maybe... something like this explanation?
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Yes - something along that line.

To my mind the the most telling bit was Simonton's mention of the 'spokesman' visitor closing the 'hatch' by pulling it closed with an attached cord or rope. It instantly reminded me of a food / concession truck that used a large swing-open closure for its service window.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Yes - something along that line.

To my mind the the most telling bit was Simonton's mention of the 'spokesman' visitor closing the 'hatch' by pulling it closed with an attached cord or rope. It instantly reminded me of a food / concession truck that used a large swing-open closure for its service window.
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These vegan lentil pancakes are somewhat similar to what he is holding (note the holes and that they are savoury)

https://www.myweekendkitchen.in/moong-dal-chilla-yellow-lentil-pancake/

So where these people from the Indian sub-continent rater than Italy (or space)?
 

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WeirdExeter said:
So where these people from the Indian sub-continent rater than Italy (or space)?
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I suppose it's conceivable. On a related note - it's worth bearing in mind there's a substantial Native American population in that general area (adjacent to, and extending into, Michigan's Upper Peninsula).
 
Well, at least the pancakes were not sent to Wright-Patterson AFB for analysis!

Wait...

"Major Robert Friend of the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, said that a 'routine" probe was under way, with an Air Force officer and a civilian space expert in vestigating the landing reported ly by Joseph Simonton, 60.

Friend said that one of three pancakes Simonton asserted occu pants of the saucer gave him was analyzed".
 
Comfortably Numb said:
"Major Robert Friend of the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, said that a 'routine" probe was under way, with an Air Force officer and a civilian space expert in vestigating the landing reported ly by Joseph Simonton, 60.
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A... probe, you say?
 
Comfortably Numb said:
Well, at least the pancakes were not sent to Wright-Patterson AFB for analysis!

Wait...

"Major Robert Friend of the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, said that a 'routine" probe was under way, with an Air Force officer and a civilian space expert in vestigating the landing reported ly by Joseph Simonton, 60.

Friend said that one of three pancakes Simonton asserted occu pants of the saucer gave him was analyzed".
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Who concluded it was some sort of flour. But then does Wright-Patterson have a department dedicated to the analysis of food...?
 
WeirdExeter said:
Who concluded it was some sort of flour. But then does Wright-Patterson have a department dedicated to the analysis of food...?
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The Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL's) aero medical component (at WPAFB) was equipped to perform R&D on foodstuffs. They developed survival rations and the original food items for the Mercury astronauts, who were evaluated at AFRL prior to their 1959 selection and trained (e.g., in centrifuges) there in preparation for their flights. For example:
WPAFB Aero Medical Lab dietician Beatrice Finkelstein became synonymous with early space food, including the low-residue diets consumed before flight and the famous “toothpaste tube” style food containers, and worked closely with the Mercury astronauts. Notably, NASA leaned heavily on the Air Force’s aerospace medical experts and facilities for its nascent manned space program, involving astronaut selection, space suits, physiological parameters, microgravity training, capsule layout, and more.
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SOURCE: https://afresearchlab.com/news/12-f...have-on-your-radar-this-womens-history-month/

In any case, AFRL could have submitted the pancake to any of a number of local university or contractor labs if necessary. The problem for NICAP and CUFOS wasn't locating a source for analysis - it was affording the cost of paying for such work.
 
EnolaGaia said:
I've wondered the same thing - i.e., whether Simonton had misidentified a shiny metal-skinned trailer or "food truck" rig that somehow stopped by his rural home.

His experience occurred circa 1100 - 1200 local time, described in multiple early accounts as "lunchtime" or "approaching lunch time."
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Oh for fucksake! I know his story can't possibly be true, so therefore it is not, but a trailer? Really? Was this trailer somehow not towed by a vehicle of some type? Really, the lengths people go to in order to rationalize things around here sometimes astound me. I expect it on sited populated by (apparently) less intelligent people, but here? Christ on a crutch.
 
It's not that far out to wonder whether Simonton's experience involved misidentification of a terrestrial vehicle. The sole tangible evidence for his account were the pancakes, and the analyses of the pancakes clearly indicated they were composed of terrestrial materials.

Simonton's earliest recorded descriptions of the object's arrival don't uniformly or predominantly include any claim that he saw it arrive aloft nor that he saw it land. He originally claimed to have heard noises and a "commotion", then looked outside to see the object already in place. It wouldn't be until later that he began consistently claiming he'd seen it descend into place.

His earliest descriptions also include characterizations of the noise (the initial clue something was outside) that involve similarities to tires screeching / squealing. It wouldn't be until later that he started consistently describing the initial noise in terms of its similarity to a jet - after enthusiastic UFO believer Judge Carter had interrogated him with leading questions, apparently coached him on which versions of certain descriptions to highlight, and most definitely cautioned him to beware of anyone associated with the Air Force (cf. Hynek's report).

There's also the fact Simonton never described the visitors as having any overtly "alien" features. His descriptions consistently portrayed the visitors as ordinary humans in ordinary types of clothing. The only oddity he attributed to the visitors was their silence.
 
It would be helpful if we could pinpoint where Simonton's farm / residence was located. He lived approximately 4 miles outside Eagle River, but I haven't found any record indicating in which direction (relative to town) his home was situated.

Hynek's report mentions a "Route 1" in describing the location. However, there's no federal, state, nor county "Route 1" in the Eagle River area, nor any I can find in historical records. I suspect Hynek was referring to a postal delivery "Rural Route 1", which would only designate an area rather than a specific road and could extend in any direction from the town.
 
So some lost foreigners pulled into Joe's farmyard and used sign language to arrange trading him some shitty pancakes for a jug of water. Then Joe, being a moron, decided the Airstream was a space ship and reported it.

Maybe he was on acid.

Or, if you can't bear the thought of some kind of weird encounter, you could just assume he made the whole thing up. This has the advantage of being plausible.
 
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