Summary:
The legend of the 1946 Spitzbergen UFO Crash, more than anything else, is memorable for its characters. The legend goes something like this: In 1946, General James H. Doolittle was sent to Sweden by the Shell Oil Company, supposedly to investigate the mystery of the "Ghost Rockets." Why an oil company would investigate UFOs is beyond my understanding. Unless they felt they could strengthen their profits somehow.
Doolittle's Doings:
Somehow, he supposedly wound up in Spitzbergen. There are a number of Internet sites which claim that there was a short lived article published in America of a UFO crash near the Norwegian city. Some people claim to have seen the article. The really odd thing about the tales of this case is the question must be asked what does Doolittle have to do with anything, since he is only mentioned, and that is the end of his involvement.
Dorothy Kilgallen:
The only redeeming part of this particular case is that it was reported by Dorothy Kilgallen, celebrity for her years of appearing on the "What's My Line?" TV game show. She claimed that someone in the upper echelon of the British government informed her that a UFO had crashed near Spitzbergen, and was under investigation by the British and American military. Supposedly, this informant was Lord Mountbatten.
Dorothy's Doings:
In addition to being a game show regular, Kilgallen also was a journalist of a sort, having written "gossip columns," but she also was well known for covering hard current events. She had covered the headline grabbing Lindbergh kidnapping story. In the 1950s, she covered one of the top stories of her time, the Sam Sheppard murder trial. Her last real claim to fame was in the 1960s when she got an interview with Lee Harvey Oswald killer Jack Ruby.
Reporter Found Dead:
This interview was carried by the "Los Angeles Examiner." She told friends that she had information that would "break the case wide open." On November 8, 1965, Kilgallen was found dead in her New York apartment. She was fully dressed and sitting upright in her bed. The police reported that she had died from taking a cocktail of alcohol and barbiturates.
The Oswald Curse:
The notes of her interview with Ruby and the article she was writing on the case had disappeared from her apartment. Luckily, she had given a friend a draft of her interview. Obviously, she was afraid for her own life because several other writers who had worked on the Oswald / Ruby case had died under "unusual circumstances."
The Legend Dies:
Kilgallen's reputation and notoriety was the only thing that kept the weak story of he Spitzbergen crash of 1946 alive. The last hope of further research into the Norwegian crash died along with her, as her sources were never verified. This case, although interesting for its characters, will never be accepted as a genuine UFO crash.
