Encounter record / 1953
July 1953. Before dawn on the Bankhead Highway west of Atlanta. A police patrol finds a pickup truck stopped in the road and three young men standing beside it. Two barbers and a butcher. At their feet lies a hairless creature about two feet long, beside a scorched ring on the asphalt. Their story was extraordinary. A small red saucer had landed on the highway. Little beings ran beside it. The truck struck one. The others jumped aboard and the craft shot into the sky, turning blue. Wire services carried it across the country. The Air Force came. Within about a day, the truth came out. It began with a $10 bet.
Summer, 1953. The country was in the grip of flying saucer excitement. Three young Atlanta men shared a home at 1919 Peachtree Road: Edward "Ed" Watters, 28, a barber. Thomas "Tom" Wilson, 20, also a barber. Arnold "Buddy" Payne, 19, a butcher. On the night of 7 to 8 July they were out "honky-tonking."