At last, an official document pinpointing the...

At last, an official document pinpointing the landing site of an alien spaceship.

In Baldwin Park, of all places.

It was on a parcel map that was submitted to various county agencies by a developer seeking to split a lot. An intrigued county engineer asked us to investigate.

Our hopes for a worldwide exclusive were all set for liftoff until we contacted the developer, James Gianni of Glendale. He revealed that the UFO landmark was the joke of his engineer.

“These parcel map plans are jammed so full of information, he wondered if anyone would read all the stuff,” Gianni said, laughing.

The idea had been inspired by the imprint left on the property by the dismantled portable swimming pool of the previous owner.

“When an aerial photo was taken, there was this oval spot, a discoloration of the grass,” Gianni related. “Someone said, ‘Gee it looks like a spaceship.’ So our engineer drew it in.”

We’re happy that we helped prevent another Orson Welles “War of the Worlds”-type panic.

While scientists all over the world are now canceling plans to visit Baldwin Park, that city can at least join the list of local communities who have had fictional close encounters, including Tujunga (visited by the title character in “E.T.”), La Puente (destroyed by Martians in the film “War of the Worlds”) and Hollywood (invaded by humanoids whose hairless heads are adorned with red squiggles in the TV series “Alien Nation”).

Of course, there are those who believe that “Alien Nation” was based on a true incident.

One of the happiest turkeys on Thanksgiving was Lucky, a 25-pounder who lived to gobble another day.

Palmdale resident Sam Garcia had originally purchased the live bird so his family could feast on a fresh turkey the way Garcia had during his childhood days in New Mexico.

But the Garcias became so attached to the friendly creature that they instead found it a permanent home. Lucky will take up residence in Malibu at Camp Joan Mier, a Crippled Children’s Society installation, where developmentally disabled youngsters can visit him.

The family will miss Lucky. “He was the hit of our Thanksgiving party,” said Garcia.

We recently published a reproduction of a piece of holiday gift paper that was recalled by a Cerritos store after a Norwalk woman charged that it contained satanic symbols. The alleged devil-wrap evoked a variety of responses from other readers.

Brian Brennan of Burbank saw not the devil, but “Michael Jackson looking from above with a little hat on. He has a panther on his chest. Or maybe it’s (his) Bubbles the Chimp, gone bad.”

Wally Rosenblatt of West L.A. commented that some satanic designs might “turn an ordinary gift into one hell of a gift.”

By coincidence, a religious zealot downtown handed us a flyer that carried the notation “666-HELL.” We dialed it up, hoping to learn to hear old Lucifer’s side of the wrapping paper controversy. But the number was disconnected. Maybe he’s at a different area code.

miscelLAny:

What do former County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, the devil, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Dennis the Menace have in common? All have parks named after them--in Rowland Heights, Pearblossom (Devil’s Punchbowl Park), downtown L.A. and Downey, respectively.