BATTLE: LOS ANGELES Based on a True Story?
I thought everything surrounding this new upcoming sci-fi action film Battle: Los Angeles was all pretty much fiction, but apparently it's not. There is a fun conspiracy out there that was pointed out to me by bloody-disgusting that give us details on an event that took place in 1942 actually called Battle Los Angeles. There's an official Wiki page for the event that says,
The Battle of Los Angeles, also known as "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid," is the name given by contemporary sources to the rumored enemy attack and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late February 24 to early February 25, 1942 over Los Angeles, California. The incident occurred less than three months after the United States entered World War II as a result of the Japanese Imperial Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor.
Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but speaking at a press conference shortly afterward Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox called the incident a "false alarm." Newspapers of the time published a number of sensational reports and speculations of a cover-up. A small number of modern-day UFOlogists have suggested the targets were extraterrestrial spacecraft. When documenting the incident in 1983, the U.S. Office of Air Force History attributed the event to a case of "war nerves" likely triggered by a lost weather balloon and exacerbated by stray flares and shell bursts from adjoining batteries.
The poster for the film seen above actually comes from a newspaper photo published in the LA Times which you can see below. There's also a website that goes into more detail about the event, which I recommend you check out, it's just a really fun read, and heres a little excerpt from the article,
Have you ever heard of the Battle of Los Angeles? Few have. Imagine a visiting spacecraft from another world, or dimension, hovering over a panicked and blacked-out LA in the middle of the night just weeks after Pearl Harbor at the height of WWII fear and paranoia. Imagine how this huge ship, assumed to be some unknown Japanese aircraft, was then attacked as it hung, nearly stationary, over Culver City and Santa Monica by dozens of Army anti-aircraft batteries firing nearly 2,000 rounds of 12 pound, high explosive shells in full view of hundreds of thousands of residents. Imagine all of that and you have an idea of what was the Battle of Los Angeles.
And here's a little description from an eye witness of what they saw,
The object...caught in the center of the lights like the hub of a bicycle wheel surrounded by gleaming spokes. The fire seemed to burst in rings all around the object.
Whether this event involved real UFO's or not, it's still fun to speculate and talk about. I can't even imagine how crazy it would have been to witness this event back in the 40's. These day's I don't think it would be as shocking because of all the sci-fi movies that have been made, but back then, 5 year before Roswell, and during a second world war, it would have been extremely frightening.
Check everything out, look everything over and tell us what you think!
