From Researcher: Stan Gordon
The Kecksburg, PA UFO Incident 56 Years Ago Today: Some Interesting Details
I remember that Thursday evening very well. It was December 9, 1965, and I was listening to the Contact talk show on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. The host of the show, the late Mike Levine, was talking about the breaking news story concerning the numerous reports of a bright fireball that had been observed moving across the sky over a widespread area. Levine was talking about the news wire stories that discussed that sightings had taken place from as far away as Canada, and over states such as Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He was talking with witnesses who were calling in. Newspapers, radio, and TV stations, as well as police departments were swamped with calls from area residents who saw the fiery object as it passed over the Pittsburgh area earlier that afternoon at 4:47 PM.
I was sixteen years old at that time, and I had an interest in science and electronics, and I was already curious about reports of UFOs. I spent the rest of the evening listening to my radio and watching our black and white console TV for any news accounts about the sighting around the area. That evening on KDKA-TV, the late Bill Burns, a well known TV reporter, broke into regular programming with a special report that the military was arriving in the Kecksburg area to search for an Unidentified Flying Object that had reportedly fallen near that community.
I had been writing down the details that I was hearing that night. The next day I made a trip to the local newsstand and picked up copies of several local newspapers. The county edition of the Greensburg Tribune-Review ran the headlines, “Unidentified Flying Object Falls Near Kecksburg, Army Ropes Off Area.” The city edition of the Greensburg Tribune-Review had other stories such as “Unidentified Flying Object Report Touches Off Probe Near Kecksburg” and “Searchers Fail To Find Object.” Many other local and national newspapers carried stories on the incident as well. The local authorities stated that a search had been conducted in the wooded area where the object had reportedly fallen and nothing was found. Government sources and astronomers suggested that the object observed in the sky was a meteor, and nothing had fallen to the ground.
In the days after the occurrence, I attempted to track down witnesses to the occurrence but there were few names in the newspaper. It was over months and years that I received significant information about that 1965 incident. As time went on, I was contacted by some people who were directly involved in that incident. I would at times have friends, relatives, and neighbors of witnesses contact me and provide leads on the case. I would on occasion receive anonymous tips concerning witnesses as well.
It became very apparent that the witnesses and others who were involved in various aspects of the case were from all walks of life. Some of them were military veterans, police officers and news reporters. Others were youngsters and teenagers who grew up to hold responsible positions such as teachers and engineers. Most of these people, for various reasons, asked to remain anonymous over the years which is why their accounts were never in the news at that time. Witnesses told me that they knew what they saw and experienced in 1965, however, after reading the news stories the next day that nothing had been found, they just shared their experience with some close friends and relatives.
Over the years, I tracked down hundreds of people who were involved with the Kecksburg case. In time, many individuals did break their silence and discussed what they had experienced. During my 56 years of research into this case I have learned a lot of details about what apparently did take place at the time but was never made known to the public. I have absolutely no doubt that an object did fall from the sky that afternoon in December of 1965 and was apparently recovered by the military. During my many years of investigating the case, there were some details that surfaced that were associated with the incident that were quite interesting. However, I never discussed those subjects publicly until years later when I had enough independent confirmation from other sources that could confirm that such an event did occur.
The following are just some of some very interesting details that I have learned about the case.
* The object was moving roughly SE from Allegheny county into Westmoreland county and over the city of Greensburg. It moved toward Route 30 east near what was then the Gee Bee department store and made a turn to the south. The object was observed from such areas as Margurite, Norvelt, Mammoth, over the outskirts of Kecksburg, and continued to move toward the mountains of Laurelville about 3.5 miles away. The object seemed to hesitate over the mountain, turned and began to travel toward the NE and passed near the outskirts of Kecksburg, then turned again and dropped down into the woods. Area residents who saw the object fall said that it was moving quite slow and went down as though it was making a controlled landing. There were no parachutes reported at the site during or after the landing.
* Some witnesses reported seeing the fiery object as it moved across the sky. Some local witnesses, however, had a better view of the object as it passed low overhead before it fell. The late Randy Overly was playing near Norvelt, that afternoon when he heard a hissing sound and noticed an object in the distance moving slowly toward his location. The object passed only about 200 feet overhead giving him a good view of the object. The object was moving steadily, at about the speed of a single engine airplane. The object was acorn shaped with a goldish-brown color and had a vapor around it. The witness noticed green flames around the back of the object. He watched the object as it continued to move off in the distance.
* Moments after the object fell, some local people went down into the woods to see what the object was. They came across a large metallic acorn shaped object semi-buried in the ground. Those people apparently never reported this to any agency at that time.
* As a result of many area residents reporting to local authorities the sighting of the object in the sky, volunteer firefighters from Kecksburg and other communities of Westmoreland county were activated to conduct a search for a possible downed aircraft in the Kecksburg area.
* A team of firemen came across the object acorn shaped object. The late James Romansky, a young volunteer fireman at the time, stood only a few feet away from the object. According to Jim, the object was large enough for a man to stand up inside of it. The object was a bronze-gold color, and appeared to be one solid piece of metal, displaying no rivets or seams. At the back of the acorn shape was what Jim called the bumper area. Upon that section of the object were unusual symbols that Jim said looked similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. Romansky, who was a machinist for many years, said the object itself looked as though it had been constructed from liquid metal that had been poured into an acorn-shaped mold.
Stan Gordon near the mockup of the Kecksburg UFO
* During the mid-1980s, my team was searching the woods where the object was said to have fallen and found a pattern of tree damage and trees knocked down in the same direction that suggested a possible trajectory of where the object had entered into the woods. Several years later in that same area, the exact location of the crash site was located when three independent witnesses, unknown to each other, separately took my team deep into the woods to the same exact location from different vantage points. John Hayes and his brother, who lived near the impact site, watched the activity taking place that evening. The next morning the two boys went down into the woods where the military had been to look around. They played in those woods daily, and quickly noticed that trees had been knocked down and damaged. They had not seen that damage previously.
Trees knocked down in the area where witnesses reported the object had fallen. Copyright: Stan Gordon
* The military set up a command post at the Kecksburg V.F.D. truck station. Some military brass asked firemen to take them down to the woods and the landing area. They were driven down on a Kecksburg V.F.D. four wheel drive pumper fire truck. The military sent the firemen back and walked into the woods as they approached the landing site.
* There were two military flatbed tractor trailer trucks observed in the area of where the object fell that evening. Many witnesses reported observing military jeeps and trucks as well as military personnel in the area around Kecksburg that evening.
* I have independent confirmation from various sources, including former military personnel, that the object from Kecksburg was transported to Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio, during the early morning hours of December 10th. It only stayed there for a short time under heavy security then continued on to Wright Patterson Air Force Base where I was told that the object was stored in a building on that facility.
* For years, I had information from witnesses who told me that the next day (Friday) after the incident had taken place, that a smaller group of personnel returned to the location and were observed entering the woods where the object had fallen. For example, one witness told me of seeing men in white moon suits carrying equipment entering the woods. Another instance was when two boys playing in the woods the next morning were stopped by a man with an instrument, possibly a metal detector or Geiger counter, and were told that they better leave the woods since there was the chance of radiation. Additionally, independent newspaper stories confirmed the search of the area the next day where the object had fallen, and mentioned the military being there. However, in Friday’s newspapers, the officials indicated that the search was over on Thursday night, and that nothing was found.
* My investigation of the Kecksburg case started as the news was breaking that evening in 1965 and has uncovered a massive amount of information from many independent sources that an object did fall from the sky into a wooded area near Kecksburg and was recovered by the military. What that object was remains undetermined. I never tried to prove that the object that fell was ET in nature. For years I suggested the possibility that the object could have been a highly advanced man-made space probe with some controlled re-entry capability or a secret military or government experiment. It also should not be ruled out among other more common explanations the possibility that the object was an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
It has been 56 years and the government has not told the public what the object was that was recovered near Kecksburg that day in 1965. Many witnesses have now passed away and never learned the truth about what they saw or experienced. The public deserves an answer.
Have you had a sighting of a winged humanoid or huge bat-like creature in the Chicago, Illinois metro area / Lake Michigan region? The entity has also been referred to as the 'Chicago Mothman', 'Chicago Owlman' & 'O'Hare Mothman.' - Chicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive Map - Please feel free to contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com - your anonymity is guaranteed. Our investigative group is conducting a serious examination of his phenomenon. We are merely seeking the truth and wish to determine what eyewitnesses have been encountering. Your cooperation is truly appreciated.
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Thanks. Lon Strickler
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