William Guy Banister was an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an assistant superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, and a private investigator. After his death, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison alleged that he had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He was an avid anti-communist, alleged member of the Minutemen, the John Birch Society, Louisiana Committee on Un-American Activities, and alleged publisher of the Louisiana Intelligence Digest which maintained that the civil rights movement was part of an international communist conspiracy and was treasonous.
Photo of Banister from the House Select Committee on Assassinations
The 1947 flying disc craze was a rash of unidentified flying object reports in the United States that were publicized during the summer of 1947. The craze began on June 24, when media nationwide reported civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold's story of witnessing disc-shaped objects which headline writers dubbed "Flying Saucers". Such reports quickly spread throughout the United States; historians would later chronicle at least 800 "copycat" reports in subsequent weeks, while other sources estimate the reports may have numbered in the thousands.
Col. Harold R. Turner, commander of the White Sands Proving Ground, speculated the reports were caused by rockets or meteors.
At Fort Worth Army Air Field, Major Jesse A. Marcel posing with debris on July 8, 1947
The US Navy had experimented with disc-shaped aircraft during World War II. Members of the public speculated the craft were responsible for disc reports, though Navy officials later debunked the theory.
Balloons, radar reflectors, tinfoil, insulation, and numerous other objects were thought to contribute to the reports.
