World Invasion

There used to be a desktop calendar called Mysteries of the Unexplained. Each day featured an obscure fact involving something related to UFO's, cryptozoology, or the paranormal. Back in the 90's, I had this great calendar on my desk and when I flipped to February 24th, I learned about the Battle of Los Angeles for the first time. Apparently, a UFO flew over the city in 1942 and we opened fire like that great scene in War of the Worlds where soldiers start getting evaporated in a blur of green and skeleton.

I shared the information with a coworker who instantly began to mock the concept, and the calendar. Back in the mid 90's you really couldn't hop on the internet to fact check or prove someone wrong. So I did the next best thing - I called the Los Angeles Historical Society. A soft-spoken elderly woman answered. I identified myself and informed her I had read an article about the Battle of Los Angeles. She said something pretty amazing: "Oh YES! I was there!" This was insane. THINK of the chances of that actually occurring (and this isn't one of my fabrication "ghost" stories for the blog). I couldn't believe it. But I asked her to please explain. She said she was very young and was in some kind of nursing corp. She informed me that she remembered the sirens and the spot lights and the shelling. At no point did she say it was a UFO. She informed me that the theory passed around was that somehow the Japanese had launched an aircraft from Mexico. That sounded crazier to me than if she said she saw aliens looking out of portholes. But that's what she told me and what she believed.

My coworker was sitting in the office the entire time, as I repeated her statements in whispers while covering the phone. I felt pretty satisfied when I thanked her for her time and said farewell. Hopefully she enjoyed digging up those old memories for a friendly voice on the phone.

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