НЛО. Соединённые Штаты Америки

In one of the recurring ironies of the UFO controversy, the March 1966 Michigan “swamp gas” sightings received all the publicity while similar localized waves elsewhere remained all but unknown. Such a concentration of close-range sightings occurred in eastern Massachusetts a month after the “swamp gas” reports.

A summary report for the month, prepared by Massachusetts NICAP Subcommittee Chairman Raymond Fowler, logs 18 sightings between April 11 and 23 along the eastern Massachusetts shore from Danvers, north of Boston, to Attleboro, near the Connecticut border. The large majority of sightings occurred over city residential areas, and the predominant shape of the reported objects was oval. Virtually all had body lights; several gave off high-pitched humming noises.

On two consecutive nights, April 18/19 and 19/20, there were at least 6 reports. About midnight on the 18th, Mr. and Mrs. George May of Sharon were arriving home when they saw an egg-shaped object descend and hover about 500 feet above an open field adjoining their property. At each end of the UFO was a small red light. A band of yellow light across the length of the object gave the impression of windows. After about ten minutes, the UFO rose slowly in an upward slant, then accelerated and rapidly disappeared.

On the evening of the 19th, a group of people gathered at the May home in hopes of seeing the UFO sighted the night before. About 11:45 p.m. some blinking, color-changing lights were noted in the northeast. Mrs. May called the Sharon police, and two officers were dispatched to the scene. About midnight, the two officers were relieved by a new shift, Sgt. Bernard Coffey and Officer Frederick Jones. Nothing of consequence transpired for the few minutes that the first officers were present, except the sightings of distant lights in the sky. Sgt. Coffey’s report of what followed:

“About 12:10 a.m. . . . Officer Jones and myself watched these distant lights with the Mays. One of these objects was in a northwesterly direction, similar to a star, only brighter. It appeared to be rotating and changing colors from red to white to green. There were two other objects of the same description in a southwesterly direction. While we were observing these distant lights, Mrs. May said `here it comes,’ or `there it is,’ and we all looked in an easterly direction. The object appeared to be a falling star at a great distance, only three times the size of a star, and brighter. Within a matter of two or three seconds the object appeared over the tree line on the easterly side of the field in front of the Mays’ house about 200-300 yards away from us and approximately 500 feet up. When it was hovering over the tree line it appeared as a very bright, large mass of white light with a ballish [round] appearance. It made no noise whatsoever and did not cast any light onto the tree line or ground below.

“The object stopped and hovered over the tree line for approximately two or three minutes. While it hovered a plane passed over in a northerly direction. When the plane moved off the object started to move across the field in front of us in a southwesterly direction. As the object passed in front of us I viewed a red light in front and a red light to the rear that remained on (not flashing) and a wide section of white light extending from red light to red light and appeared to be inside lights. I concentrated on trying to see inside of the object for any figures or movements but failed to detect any signs of life or figures. I feel as if I did see inside the object. The object disappeared as it went over the tree line in a southwesterly direction.”

Also on the early morning of the 20th, Mr. David Clapp of Sharon was driving in a northeast direction about a mile from the May home. About 12:15 a.m. he saw a very bright light headed south at a height of 500 to 700 feet. He stopped his car, rolled down the window, and saw the UFO abruptly reverse direction. The light moved rapidly north and disappeared as if into clouds. About the same time, a Sharon woman (name and report on file) was a passenger in a car going east southeast at a position less than a mile from the May home. She saw a bright white light with smaller red lights at each end moving slowly southward at an estimated altitude of 800 to 1000 feet, below some scattered clouds. The light disappeared upwards as if into the clouds.

Earlier in the evening of the 19th, Mrs. Peggy Kudla in Bellingham, several miles west southwest of Sharon, and another witness, saw a narrow oval or cigar-shaped object of very large apparent size, at first tipped at an angle. At each end was a bright red light, steady at first but blinking later as the UFO moved away. As it began moving, it tilted to a level position. The time was about 10:00 p.m. (EST). The UFO hovered, moved up and down and back and forth over a small area. It was silent while hovering, but gave off a high-pitched hissing sound when it moved. The UFO appeared to be at an altitude of about 200 feet and at its closest point was estimated to be about 300 feet away.

Mr. Fowler’s report on the events of April 19 adds: “On this same night at 8 p.m. an oval object giving off a `piercing humming sound’ was seen passing over Stoughton, 20 miles west of Bellingham [near Sharon]. It was heading west, toward Bellingham. At 8:11 p.m. two oval objects with red and green lights were sighted near Hartford, Connecticut, hovering over the Rocky Hill Veteran’s Home and Hospital, according to a report received by the Rocky Hill police. At 11:45 p.m. at Quincy, Mass., about 30 miles northeast of Bellingham, there were sightings of disc-shaped objects with red lights hovering and then `swinging like a pendulum’. The Bellingham sighting is typical of the many reports received by the NICAP-Massachusetts Subcommittee.”

Since a local advertising plane had often touched off UFO reports, Mr. Fowler checked and learned that the plane did not fly at all on the night of April 19.