Kenneth Arnold was an eagle scout, acting deputy sheriff, relief deputy Federal United States Marshal, and pilot. When he reported the nine strange aircraft near Mt. Rainier on June 24, 1947, he didn't intend to stir up any trouble; he just wanted to know what he saw. He wasn't the only one, either. According to his daughter, Arnold received over 10,000 letters from various people and organization following his report. 

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In 1948 an article written by Arnold was published in Raymond Palmer's new Fate magazine. He self-published a pamphlet in 1950, and then published a book co-authored by Palmer in 1952. As time passed and no explanation was provided by the government for what he might have seen, Arnold became more convinced that an extraterrestrial explanation was possible. Before his death in 1984, Arnold had seven more encounters with UFOs, and his final hypothesis included the theory that these unidentified flying objects were not mechanical at all, but may be organisms native to the upper atmosphere.