Late on Feb. 24, 1942, reports of flares and blinking lights in the skies over southern California caused a succession of nervous alerts. Only three months earlier, the U.S. had entered the Second World War after the shocking attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, so it is understandable that the West Coast was on the look-out for enemy aircraft.
By the early hours of the following morning, on Feb 25, military radar detected an unidentified flying object 120 miles offshore approaching the coastline. This was followed by reports of a squadron of aircraft over LA and a balloon-borne flare over Santa Monica. A barrage of gunfire from anti-aircraft artillery was ordered, causing the skies to erupt "like a volcano," according to eyewitness reports.
This may sound like the storyline from a work of fiction, but "The Battle of Los Angeles" definitely happened in the early morning of Feb. 25 and will forever fuel UFO conspiracy theories.
Because they can. Duuuhhhh? (How'd this dude get this job?) To read the rest of the article, click here.