Riverside Resident.

David Calvert.

 Foreword.

This grainy photograph was taken only 2-3 months after the now famous ‘Lubbock Lights’ incident in Texas had occurred . Within the space of a year the UFO phenomenon, in all its manifestations, had become a global phenomenon. People from just about every walk of life were seeing strange lights and unusual craft in their skies.

The picture was taken by Guy B. Marquand Jr. on November 23 1951 on a mountain road near Riverside, California. He claimed the object near the skyline was a “flying saucer.” However, a closer inspection of this image has shown certain features which suggest an entirely different explanation.

EVIDENCE-BASED ANALYSIS

Facts gleaned from visual analysis of above image:

Large head.

large beak.

Large crop.

large wings.

Trailing legs

By now it will have become clear to the reader that this object is actually a bird of some description. But what bird could possibly fit the observations above?  Well, there are one or two other clues that may give you some idea, and they come from the place names of the area as well as business addresses. They are:

• Pelican Woodworks.
• Pelican Hill Court.
• Pelican Hill Wedding Photographs Studios.
• Pelican Point.
• etc., etc, etc..

CONCLUSION: Misidentified sighting of indigenous bird. 

© David Calvert 2011

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