April 2026

The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail

wreck of mentor — *The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail, by Eric Jay Dolin*

Was This the First Reported UFO?

saucers over tulsa — *Arnold claimed seeing a chain of nine bright objects flying south from Mount Baker in June 1947, similar to the eight lights reported weeks later over Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa Daily World*

Editor's Note: Mike Bezemek is a journalist and the author of Mysteries of the National Parks: 35 Stories of Baffling Disappearances, Unexplained Phenomena, and More, published by Sourcebooks in 2025. The following essay comes from chapter one of the book.

Watching Apollo 8 Leave Earth

Apollo 8 lifts off from the Cape Canaveral on December 21, 1968. NASA Photo — *Apollo 8 lifts off from Cape Canaveral on December 21, 1968 atop a massive Saturn V rocket. NASA Photo*

Editor's Note: Edwin Grosvenor is Editor-in-Chief of American Heritage. He covered the launch of Apollo 8 for National Geographic as a freelance photographer early in his career.

As Artemis II lifted off on April 1 from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, I recalled watching Apollo 8 blast off nearly 58 ago before from almost the same spot. Both Artemis II and Apollo 8 were on a similar mission: leave the bounds of earth and travel a quarter million miles to the Moon, circle it, and return.

April 2026

The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail

Was This the First Reported UFO?

Watching Apollo 8 Leave Earth

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