Abstract:

Two women, joined later by a third, reported three appearances of a disc-shaped object with lights while they were driving in early darkness. Because of elapsed time and other factors, no evaluation was practicable.

Investigation:

Interviews with the three women in autumn 1967 developed the following account:

A woman (witness A), and her niece about 16 yr. old (witness B), were driving north toward town at about 5:45 p.m. They had just passed the lake and were about 0.5 mi. south of town, when they saw a "classical" disc-shaped object moving toward them from the general direction of the mountain on their right. The disc had several round lights or "portholes" on its equator, and bright beams pointed in all directions. It stopped and hovered about 200 yd. from the road at such an altitude that it appeared to be below the crest of the mountain. (Since the top of the mountain was 400 ft. higher than the road and 2,400 yd. away, the object would have been 33 ft. off the ground if it had been seen in line with the mountain top.)

The women stopped and observed this phenomenon for five minutes, until the lights went out and the craft vanished. They stayed in the car during this time, with the engine running and the lights on.

They then drove on to town to pick up a woman friend (witness C). Just before arriving in town they looked back and saw the same or another object overtaking them from the direction of the lake. This second object looked and behaved like the first, hovering over

the ground, remaining for about the same time, and finally vanishing when its lights went out. This time the women got out of the car, but left the lights on and the motor running.

The women continued their drive, picked up their friend, and returned to a point just east of the town to see if the object(s) had reappeared. Seeing nothing, they drove around to the east of the mountain and continued south. About a mile south of the mountain, they saw another object similar in shape to the first two, but having dim red, square windows, hovering near the road on their right at the same altitude as before. The three women got out of the car and turned off the motor and lights, and watched the object until the lights went out and it disappeared.

Comments:

This case is stronger than most eyewitness accounts, because two original witnesses were corroborated by a third although the third is not independent. Unfortunately, the incidents occurred eight months before the interviews, thus affording opportunity for significant distortions of memories. Because of the time lapse, a search for other witnesses or other contributing evidence did not appear practicable. The case therefore must be regarded as unexplained for lack of knowledge of the context in which it occurred.

During the interview, the niece made a remark that seemed especially relevant to the numerous sighting reports in that region. When asked whether she had seen anything like the disc before, she said she had not, "But we frequently see moving lights." Questions about altitude and azimuth, characteristics of the lights and frequency of appearances, brought out that lights had been seen several times a week, mostly toward the northwest (15 to 20 mi. away), at a low altitude just above the tree line. The lights were white points and moved rather rapidly in a random manner.