Were The Five Most Famous Musical Notes In Film History Inspired By A Real-Life Signal From Outer Space?
Hollywood P.O.V. By Dan Harary
May 2025
On August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman discovered anomalous data from outer space via Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope. A few days later, while reviewing that recorded data, he was so impressed by the result, he circled on the computer printout the reading of the signal's intensity, "6EQUJ5,” and wrote the comment "WOW!" in red ink beside it. This led to the event's widely used name, The WOW! Signal, to this day (including the inspiration behind the name of this website.)
On December 14, 1977, almost exactly four months later, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Columbia Pictures released into the world perhaps the most realistic “Alien/UFO” movie of all time, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It’s my very favorite film.
A few weeks ago, a gentleman named Erich Habich-Traut, whose organization, The Contact Project, is based in Greece, wrote to me to tell me that, in his studied opinion, the original WOW! data most likely was a MUSICAL TUNE – musical data that he crafted into quite a lovely little melody, comprised of 8 notes:
Just recently, I realized that the ACTUAL WOW! Signal, which was very likely from non-human intelligence in Outer Space, preceded by four months the famous Dah-DAH-dah-duh-Dah, five note musical signature from Spielberg’s Close Encounters Aliens. So, I had to wonder:
Was Steven Spielberg somehow given insider knowledge that the historic WOW! Signal from August 1977 was a Musical Message from ETs to Humans?
As a longtime “Hollywood” guy, I already know the answer is a highly improbable NO, since film production and post-production takes forever, and he would have had to have known about the original WOW! Signal many, many months, if not years, before his finished masterpiece Close Encounters hit theaters in December 1977.
NOTE: I have to credit my mother, Joan, for this “discovery.” When I was recently telling her about how the historic WOW! Signal might have been a song from Outer Space, SHE said to me, instantly, “Do you mean like the famous little melody from Close Encounters?”
My mom turns 91 in October. God bless her, ya gotta love her! I call her every Sunday night and we talk about Aliens and UFOs. For many years, she’d forcefully tell me, “DANNY! IT’S ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE ALIENS!”
But now, as she’s getting older and a bit wiser, she says, “Danny, I hope I live long enough to see Disclosure!”
MOM! We ALL hope we live long enough to see DISCLOSURE!
Dan Harary is the Chairman of The Hollywood Disclosure Alliance
and Author of the Sci-Fi Novel AFTER THEY CAME
To Contact Dan Harary: