‘The Maury Island Incident’ movie revisits UFO frenzy, rumors of a coverup

World War II had just ended and fear of the Russians was just beginning to ramp up. World War III seemed inevitable. Already, the world had seen no end of deadly, fantastical machinery deployed: Rockets, jets and nuclear bombs … just to name three.

Front page of the Seattle Times, July 27, 1947.

Rumors (some of which had turned out to be horrifically true) sprang up throughout World War II. And afterwards, rumors swirled around even more fantastical machines like death-ray machines and weird civilizations launching attacks from space. The “Golden Age of Science Fiction” was well underway, and that era had brought even more fantastical ideas into the mainstream consciousness … including the famous invasion from space that had paralyzed millions of Americans: War of the Worlds.
So, when “unidentified flying objects” began consuming the public imagination in 1947 and reports of UFOs started pouring in, newspapers put those stories on their front pages. The FBI and mysterious secret agencies (ill-defined and suspiciously ubiquitous) stepped in to investigate, appearing in slick dark suits with stony silence and a menacing panache.
The fever had struck.
Right into the middle of it all came the Maury Island UFO incident. History Link writes:

On or after June 26, 1947, Harold Dahl and Fred Crissman report the explosion on June 21, 1947, of a giant doughnut-shaped “flying saucer” near Maury Island in Puget Sound. They make the report after another sighting makes national news on June 26, 1947. … Dahl reported observing six large “doughnut-shaped” vehicles … One appeared distressed and spewed chunks of debris that rained on Dahl’s boat, killing his dog and injuring his son. After taking shelter on the island, Dahl returned to Tacoma and showed the evidence to his employer, Fred Crissman.
Dahl also said that a mysterious “man dressed in a black suit” had menaced him and fogged his photographs of the incident.

Story in the Seattle Times, Aug. 4, 1947.

Story in the Seattle Times, Aug. 4, 1947.

That report would gain national attention and the publisher of a science fiction magazine would pay for an investigation. And then a B-25 airplane, supposedly carrying parts of the UFO, crashed on Aug. 1, 1947, en route from Tacoma to San Francisco, killing the two “U.S. Army specialists” on board, according to History Link.
Then Dahl began recanting his story (see clippings) but nothing he said or was reported by newspapers and U.S. Government officials could stop the spread of the story. Remember, also swirling around in the media at that time, was the soon to be much more famous Roswell UFO incident.
Sounds like the setting for movie?
And indeed it is/was: Enter writer/producer Steve Edmiston and director/producer Scott Schaefer and their soon-to-be released movie: “The Maury Island Incident.”

“The most exciting parts of the story to me are the true things that actually happened,” said Edmiston, ”all without having to decide if the UFOs were real: The first reported man in black, J. Edgar Hoover’s personal involvement, the Army’s investigation, the fatal B-25 crash over Kelso, and the fact that the facts were hidden in classified FBI documents.  To me, the real story here is what happens to a man who tells the world an amazing story that no one believes and the government wants to bury.”
The two moviemakers received some money from the state to make the film. Here’s how Washington Filmworks reported on the project:

Washington Filmworks (WF) is pleased to announce that The Maury Island Incident, a short film chronicling a 1947 UFO sighting over the Puget Sound, has wrapped principal photography. From late June through early July, filming took place in Burien, Des Moines, Tukwila and the waters off of Maury Island. WF is proud to include The Maury Island Incident as part of the inaugural Innovation Cycle of the Filmworks Innovation Lab. The Lab is a groundbreaking new program offering funding assistance to Washington filmmakers and filmmakers using emerging technologies.

Why do a film on UFOs?
“Before working on ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ in the ’90s, I directed for a UFO-related TV show called ‘Sightings’ in Los Angeles,” said Schaefer. “I went in as a total skeptic but came out as a total non-skeptic, and that’s where I first learned about the Maury Island Incident. In June 2012, Edmiston invited me to a party to commemorate its June 21st anniversary. After listening to Steve’s excellent presentation about the case, I approached him about making a film. The rest is history, yet with a taste of local mystery…”
Check out the trailer above and the crews’ website  or Facebook page and get into the mystery of it all.
Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook

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