UFO expert to speak Thursday in Colorado

UFO expert to speak Thursday

Staff Reports
March 10, 2008

The latest in UFO sightings will be offered by an international expert Thursday evening.

James P. Carrion, international director of the Mutual UFO Network will be the guest speaker at a Thursday meeting a the Western Sizzlin’ Steakhouse, 3033 8th Ave., Evans. Dinner will be at 6 p.m., with the program at 7 p.m. Participants may buy dinner on their own, admission to the meeting is $3.

Carrion has been the international director of MUFON for the past two years. He has implemented new technologies to enhance the UFO investigation process for the organization. He has investigated several UFO sightings and is known as one of the most qualified investigators in the network.

He will talk about a recent UFO sighting near Stephenville, Texas, as well as other extraordinary UFO events.

Secret Air Force tests could explain Texas UFO sightings

By Trish Choate

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.30.2008

WASHINGTON — Put the alien theories on hold and get the men in black a cup of coffee. You know how they like it.

Some experts say it's possible that instead of little green men at the helm of Unidentified Flying Objects sighted in Texas skies the past two months, Air Force pilots could be secretly working out the kinks in the next U-2 spy plane or B-2 stealth bomber.

Secret technology could be giving house-size spheres the power to zoom around in incredible maneuvers or allowing mother ships a mile long and a half mile wide to hover over central and west Texas.

After all, the military has experimental technologies the public might not know about until decades after development.

"For national security reasons, of course, they're disinclined to tell us about it," said Michael Shermer, executive director of the Skeptics Society and editor of Skeptic magazine.

In addition to Shermer, an author of more than 20 books on secret and stealth technology, other think-tank experts and a former "Skunk Works" chief are among those weighing in.

Some of the possibilities:

● The government is conducting a campaign of disinformation, spreading UFO stories to cover up the truth, which could involve something like the F-117.

● Eyewitnesses surprised by fast-moving spheres and gigantic space ships saw jets from the 301st Fighter Wing at the nearby Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base.

The UFO sighting in the news was at 6:15 p.m. Jan. 8 around Stephenville, Texas, in Erath County, was on the same day military officials say the 301st had F-16s on a training mission in the area.

But residents in Brown, Erath and Comanche counties have spoken of UFO incidents going back 30 years, said Ken Cherry, owner of a small financial services company who volunteers as Texas state director for the nonprofit Mutual UFO Network.

During the last two months, a cluster of UFOs cropped up in the area about a 77-mile drive from Fort Worth, Cherry said. Commercial and ex-military pilots, oilfield workers, ranchers, farmers and others reported sightings to the organization devoted to seriously researching UFOs.

"Out of the small number of cases that we have been unable to solve, we've determined that UFOs do exist," he said. "The two leading theories are that these UFOs are either our secret technology or they're extraterrestrial technology."

Defense analysts are frank about the certainty the military is working on something secret but aren't ready to believe central Texas is where.

John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert, said the government has thrown up smokescreens before, like with Area 51 in Nevada, to discredit witnesses.

"If they get people seeing lights all the time, and they don't know what it is, one way of making the whole thing seem silly is to have people recall flying saucers," Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said. "And that way the whole story just kind of goes away."

Area 51 has played a role in modern American mythology about everything from secret military technologies to alien spacecraft. Beliefs vary as to the truth about the southern Nevada location although it's widely thought the military has black — classified — programs there.

The U-2, for instance, was tested at a secret base in Nevada, said Bill Sweetman, who's written extensively on stealth and black technology.

In the 1950s, the Air Force exploited the UFO scenario to divert attention from the U-2, said Sweetman, editor of Defense Technology International magazine.

"Airline pilots who didn't know that a secret airplane was out there would see this object way up above them, and they would report it as a UFO," he said.

Those sightings led to "Project Blue Book," Sweetman said.

The Air Force research project on UFOs was actually designed to throw people off the track, making them think they'd seen a natural phenomenon or something unexplainable — not a secret airplane, he said.

Sweetman didn't want to hazard a guess about whether Texans have spotted secret aircraft in development, but he was doubtful.

"Why would you fly it near a populated area at all?" he said.

Sweetman also didn't think the sightings had anything to do with the debut of the first F-35B Lightning II in Fort Worth.

Lockheed Martin touts the fighter as the first one to combine stealth, short takeoff/vertical landing capability and supersonic speed.

And it's impossible to speculate whether the UFOs in central Texas were signs of a secret program, said retired Air Force Col. Tom Ehrhardt, a former Pentagon chief of the "Skunk Works" or the Strategy, Concepts and Doctrine Division.

In an about face, the military said 10 F-16s based at the Fort Worth reserve base were on a training mission from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 8 in airspace including that over Erath County.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a fighter wing spokesman, said it was just a mistake when he first told reporters the base had no planes in the sky that day.

"I did my best to correct it as soon as possible," Lewis said.

UFO fever has spread far beyond Stephenville

By Matt Frazier and Bryon Okada

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

Corie White/Stephenville Chamber of Commerce

Stephenville residents are having some fun with their recent reports of UFOs in their fair city. Here, it seems an alien life form has taken over city hall. (That's actually city secretary Cindy Stafford.)

• UFO fervor
• Strange lights over Stephenville? There's more to the story
• Scottish evangelist predicts a 'stunning' light over Texas

The Stephenville UFOs have gone beyond North Texas.

Thanks to dozens of reports of a strange, silent object over the town about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, UFO stories have filled newscasts, newspapers and online reports around the world.

"Dozens in Texas Town Report Seeing UFO," read an online headline for The Washington Post.

"Multiple reports of UFO-like sighting in Texas town," proclaimed Canada's CBC News.

UFO photos were among the top Yahoo searches this morning, along with Katie Holmes and Prince William's girlfriend.

The reported sightings have become a catalyst on blogs and in chat rooms, triggering scientific and philosophical debates, religious inquiries, conspiracy charges and bad Texas jokes.

"It's amazing how this has taken on an international profile," said Kenneth Cherry, president of the Texas chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. "I've had calls from Japanese and British newspapers. I'm supposed to be doing Larry King Live on Friday."

All this attention is not enough, says one group in New York, which believes this should be a top issue for the presidential candidates.

But in Stephenville, a dairy town of 15,000, most people just thought the UFO sightings were fun.

'Interesting today'

A UFO is parked outside a Stephenville business.

"It's been interesting today," said Treva Thompson with the Stephenville Chamber of Commerce. "My son and some of his friends made helmets out of tinfoil and are walking around town."

City Secretary Cindy Stafford has been going about town in a green alien mask. Some high school students are making alien T-shirts. One automobile dealership put up a sign saying UFOs could be traded in there.

It's not that people are making fun of those who say they saw a UFO, said Sara Vanden Berge, managing editor of the Stephenville Empire-Tribune. With such a small population, the witnesses, including county Constable Leroy Gaitan, are too well-known.

It's just that aliens are a fun and welcome change from cowboys and rodeos.

"There are some people who are taking it very seriously," Vanden Berge said. "But there is a large group of people having a good time with it. They are just having fun with the idea."

Others across the country are also having fun with the idea.

Some of the comments on the Internet and airwaves over the past couple of days:

Why did the Stephenville resident cross the road? To get to the other UFO.

Is the UFO over Stephenville looking for Jewel and Tasty BBQ? (The singer Jewel has been connected with legendary rodeo competitor and Stephenville resident Ty Murray.)

President Bush has hired real aliens to get rid of the illegal human aliens.

Taking it seriously

Not amused by the jokes is Dennis Balthaser, UFO researcher and former director of Roswell's International UFO Museum and Research Center.

"Once again the media is not taking this seriously, and that makes it difficult to investigate," Balthaser said.

Supporting this idea is the Washington-based Paradigm Research Group, which dedicates itself to getting the federal government to acknowledge and disclose information about extraterrestrials on Earth. This week it renewed its long call for the mainstream media to take the issue seriously, saying it should demand answers from the presidential candidates regarding the issue.

The group says it has compiled 1,700 news accounts of UFOs since 1947.

"What you discover is the local and regional press covered the issue pretty straight," executive director Stephen Bassett said. "The phenomena is laid out. But when it comes to the top tier -- the major networks and papers of record in the U.S. -- they have not done their job."

The problem is obvious, says one responder to a news blog: The media is conspiring with the government to keep the existence of UFOs a secret.

One post from South Carolina offered a different idea: "I don't know y'all, but it seems to me like a tourist attraction scam."

Spiritual questions

Is God an alien?

Can a Christian believe in UFOs?

Aren't UFOs mentioned in the Bible?

Questions like these have become popular as some struggle to reaffirm their place in the universe.

That is as it should be, said C. Scott Littleton, professor of anthropology at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

"People have been seeing anomalous objects in the sky for millennia, but for the most part they -- and their occupants -- have been perceived as gods, demons," Littleton said. "Indeed, I suspect that most if not all of our religions evolved to 'explain' these otherwise inexplicable phenomena."

Believing or not believing in UFOs is not so much a concern, said James K. Walker, president of the Watchman Fellowship, an evangelical group based in Arlington that debunks cults.

What is a concern are those rare instances in which unexplained phenomena result in the formation of a religious group or cult that professes to offer spiritual guidance, then spins off -- for whatever reason -- in a destructive pattern. "When they go off the deep end, they can take a bunch of people with them."

He mentioned the 1997 case in which Marshall Applewhite, leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, persuaded followers to commit suicide so their souls could ride on a spaceship trailing Comet Hale-Bopp.

Telepathic channeling with aliens is a common feature of UFO-based cults, said Walker, who included several UFO cults -- Chen Tao in Garland, Armageddon Tim Ark Base in Weslaco, the Raelians of Southern California to name a few -- in his recent book, The Concise Guide to Today's Religions And Spirituality.

"Faith is a good thing," the "unapologetically Christian" Walker said. "The object of your faith is what makes all the difference."

Report a UFO

The Texas chapter of the Mutual UFO Network plans to begin interviewing witnesses at 1 p.m. Saturday in a meeting room in downtown Dublin near the Dr Pepper plant. To report a sighting, call MUFON State Director Kenneth Cherry at 817-379-0773 or fill out a report form at www.mufon.com.

MATT FRAZIER, 817-390-7957 BRYON OKADA, 817-390-7752
mfrazier@star-telegram.com

Local Newspaper Empire Tribunes Guestbook Entries

Ok, my fellow villans....lol that is what we shall call people from da ville from now on....anyways, to all the people who have witnessed the "ufos" stick to your guns... only you know what you saw. Dont let anyone tell you different... I love seeing this kinda stuff on tv and for it to be in my town! Wow! lol and for the businesses who have put ufo and alien stuff on their marquees thanks...I crack up everytime I drive through town!! Randi Monday, Jan 21, 2008 (10:01:32 am CST) I invite all to look at a web site called The Elijah List. Go to Cathrine Browns Prophecy report. This was Propfetic word given on 11/11/07. But you will need to go to the 12/10/07 issue. God Bless you all! Anita Lynn Stone Monday, Jan 21, 2008 (10:01:25 am CST) Just a little town wanting publicity... trisha Sunday, Jan 20, 2008 (04:01:12 pm CST) Your quote from Karl Lewis that his base had no F-16's in the area is being misquoted all over the world as "the military denies they had any aircraft in the area". Since your newspaper broke this story, Can you clarify what he said? LeeRoy Sunday, Jan 20, 2008 (11:01:46 am CST) Hello Stephenville! I live in British Columbia, Canada, and I watched some of your citizens on Larry King Live last night. I have no doubt you saw what you said you saw. I'm afraid governments don't want people to know the truth because they have no control over these space vessels and no control over anything that might happen because of them. I was/am amused at the rantings of people who dismiss these sightings as illusions. Although I've never seen anything unusual, just being an open-minded person (52-year old married woman with children) it is obvious to me from accounts over the years from many varied people, we are probably not alone in the universe. How interesting and how amazing. Let's keep an open mind. Maybe this knowledge will bring the world together. Elaine Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (11:01:52 pm CST) I honestly think this whole UFO thing is happening for a reason...and the question here to answer is: Are we ready for this?....i honestly don't think so..even if we already know about life out of our planet and objects and signs up on the sky (because the BIBLE tell us about all this)we all reacted amazed and confused last weekend and that's a real proof that today, people is just as ignorant as it was 500 years ago...what we should do is just get a better and closer relationship with our creator and forgiver: Jesus. Israel Lopez Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (07:01:52 pm CST) In 1973 in Southern California, I was driving my car up the Grapevine to Bakersfield. In the sky I saw dozens of black objects zipping back and forth high in the sky. They were definitely not birds or planes. I saw another one in Bakersfield that flew over my car. These were definitely not of this world and not of some other world either. I believe they were celestial. God said there would be signs in the heavens in the last days. Ann Rudolph Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (10:01:26 am CST) We were stationed in Bermuda in 1987, and were on our second floor balcony, when out of no where three huge round objects came out of the sky, no sound, they were fast, and beautiful,they wer all lite up..after that I called the flight tower, but of course they said they saw nothing on the radar..Bermuda has things flying around in their skies all the time, it is dark and clear and scary there..We were lived in Greenville Texas, and one night while driving back from a trip, on one of the long lonely roads, we saw an UFO, we knew what it was...they are out there, not for sure what they are waiting for...Thank you for letting me send this to you....Barbara barbara endress Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (04:01:08 am CST) I think that there is an element of our government/military that are deeply in the occult and in cahoots with fallen angels( do a google search on eisenhower, aliens, treaty, 1954)--our government made a treaty with aliens(really they're fallen angels)supposely, we made a treaty, for the 'aliens' to give us technology knowledge and in exchange, we allow them to abduct a certain number of people--I believe there are two reasons why they abduct people...It's also possible that the government is doing some the abductions, too. I believe the implanting--are a form of experiementation of microchip implants(using the abductees as guinea pigs) (which will head down to the antichrist 666 chip) and, ...there are those who are impregnated...it's a modern form of Genesis 6:4(look it up!) fallen angels impregnating women to produce nephilim. I believe that end times are very much upon us and these are a part of it.. Lara Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (03:01:03 am CST) The huge hole across from La Fiesta by the railroad track is an archealogical excavation. There was a homing beacon device discovered there about 40 feet down that has been buried about 20,000 years. It appears to be calling the mother ships to this area. Anyone wonder why our town newspaper is called the "ET"? If spacemen don't go through immigration, are they illegal aliens? Ever wonder why they call it the "green" card? I would be offended if I were from another planet. That would like someone originally from Mexico having to carry a "brown" card. Politically insensitive, I say. Nanu nanu... Klatu! barata nikto... ET Phone Home Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 (12:01:48 am CST) I live in abilene. I was heading from east to west when I saw two lights that came together and fuse as one, the went up east away from me. these lights were very bright as if it was white fosforus Joe Arizpe Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (10:01:59 pm CST) Bob, I believe it is a drainage tunnel. I think they are digging all the way to the southloop. tm Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (05:01:32 pm CST) The HUGE hole across from LaFiesta: They are putting drainage in and they have to go under the road and railroad tracks... OTHER Topic: RE: UFO.. PLEASE read my earlier post telling ALL what was really in the air that night.. Search Images on the internet for Osprey Helicopter and C130.... Please people quit wasting time and money on this UFO thing and embarrassing us on national TV, yet again.. We've quit telling people we meet where we live....... JR Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (04:01:06 pm CST) Are they putting Whiskey in the water in Stephenville? What are ya'll smoking down there in Stephenville? These are just 2 examples of questions I have been asked from family members that live anywhere from Ft. Worth to Rhode Island. No whiskey in the water(although it might make it taste better), and I don't know if they are smoking but if they are they need to stay off the sh*t. Those are typically my answers before telling them that I have not seen anything but stars in the beautiful night skies of Stephenville. Do I know whether or not other people saw a UFO, no. But they saw something that can't be identified, so I guess it is kinda a yes. It doesn't necessarily mean that aliens have come to Stephenville, but it does seem kinda wierd that the day after all the news broke there were planes and jets flying over our house and scaring my 2 year old. I don't know whether or not I believe in aliens, but it seems like it maybe ignorant and arrogant to believe that we are the only ones in the whole universe and beyond. I do think it is going kinda far to believe that it might be the end of days though. I think I would rather believe that maybe two teenage aliens heard about cow tipping and were going to try it! :o) But really, don't ya'll kinda think that since the news broke and more people are coming forth and saying they saw it too, they might just want a little bit of the spotlight? And if that is the case, come on people...they are calling us weird rednecks. Last year we were racist rednecks, this year we are weird rednecks...oh the joys of living in good ole Stephenville!! ufo's or no ufo's that is the question Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (02:01:52 pm CST)

Well by gosh, if any aliens do decide to land here then they dang sure better have their green cards with them or the good citizens of Earth...I mean...Erath County will depart their green little butts back from where they came. VivaMexico Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (01:01:23 pm CST)

On to a different subject unrelated to the UFO's...Does anyone know what the huge hole is that is across from the LaFiesta restaurant that they have been working on for the last 6-8 months?? Bob Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (12:01:10 pm CST)

i lived in stephenville 6 year ago.i think the ufo just is a area 51 aircraft chris wren Friday, Jan 18, 2008 (08:01:52 am CST)

Basic logic and reasoning should tell most people that this unidentified flying object has something to do with the government, not that there's little green men inside of it coming to visit our planet. No wonder the world is laughing at us, there's people that believe it's a sign the world is ending! What happened to common sense? The government hides a lot of things from it's people, and usually for good reason. Kari Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (10:01:28 pm CST)

It sounds like Stephenville is turning into another Roswell.As I recall there were a number of UFO sightings around Stephenville in the 1970's. justin Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (09:01:52 pm CST)

Does the Bible have anything to say about such strange occurrences and what they mean? In the Bible, Jesus specifically tells us that we are not to seek after or desire a "sign from heaven." Mt 12:38-39, Mt 16:1-4, and LK 11:16,29-30. Jesus knows our nature, which is sinful, and that we are inclined towards perceiving and feeling and knowing through our five senses. Jesus refused to provide "a sign from heaven" for those who sought proof of who He was. But the Bible does tell us that "signs and wonders" are going to be shown to the world, only these are not signs from God. These "signs and wonders" will accompany the "end times," as we approach the end of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 explains, "Even him, whose coming is after the workings of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." These are the "signs and wonders" that Satan will use to deceive the world into believing in the Antichrist. That is what I think about this sort of strange "sign" in the sky. It is contrary to God's Word to believe in aliens from outer space, and it is contrary to God's Word to seek to believe in what we can experience with our senses, for “the just shall live by faith (Gal 3:11).” Jesus said that the only sign that He would give to the world was His burial and bodily resurrection. And He did! This is the only sign from heaven that should interest us, as it is through Jesus' death and resurrection that the soul is saved from sin and given the gift of eternal life. I believe that this sort of phenomenon, like this event in Stephenville, will begin to occur with greater and greater frequency. These experiences are intended to lead people astray: towards believing in what they see and feel, rather than believing what God has told us in His Word. Sarah Lyman Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (04:01:29 pm CST)

Who got a property tax cut? http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/2007/11/what-happened-to-property-tax-cut.php Marcy Tanter Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (04:01:46 pm CST)

Has there been no news in Erath County? this embarrassing UFO story that has been blasted all over the planet does not belong on the front page of our only newspaper. Even Chinese television broadcast this. For goodness sake, they're laughing at us.... bored of this Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (04:01:43 pm CST)

Well, your town is sure much more interesting than alot of towns in Texas!!!! I will be interested to hear or read what the outcome will be after the meeting on Jan19. Loboness Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (03:01:59 pm CST)

I think the government knows what is going on. They just don't want to have a national panic on their hands. To many people seen it for it not to be real and they all didn't know each other. hold your ground Stephenville. cathy Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (02:01:06 pm CST)

Fiona, under the contact us, if you click on the persons name, you can e-mail them. DMW Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (01:01:39 pm CST)

There were no UFO's or Aliens in Stephenville Texas. What people did see were military aircraft transporting from Florida to a military base to the west. The Officer that was contacted at the military base in Fort Worth Texas stated "no aircraft was deployed from HIS base" and he told the truth, the aircraft were NOT from his base nor were they going to his base. These aircraft were large, extremely quiet (thus the purpose of be military aircraft i.e. technology!) Two particular aircraft have red lights and very bright white lights, which is what people in Stephenville saw. SO please... let it go. Not only is this embarresing for the town, it's making us the laughing stock throughout the world and we look like hicks!!! i.e. quote "I was going to shoot at it, but I didn't want to start an intergalactic war".. oh please!!!!! JR Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (12:01:59 pm CST)

I think the paper is wonder ful but I wish you could up date the Milling Around more often because I us to live there and I would like to keep up on the news thank you, sincerly George Boen III George Boen III Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (12:01:14 pm CST)

I have been enjoying some of the comments about the recent UFO sighting near Stephenville. As one of my adult children put it, "A UFO is an Unidentified Flying Object". Doesn't have to be considered an Alien Space Ship until the U.F.O. is identified as such. Jean Moss Fisher Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (11:01:52 am CST)

Stephenville, we are depending on you all to pursue this ufo issue,let them not bury what has happened. The heavenly bodies will be shaken says the bible. soul retriever Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 (10:01:22 am CST)

I was at a park at the time of the sightings, actively looking at the sky. I saw two airplanes. I'm not sure what kind, but they certainly weren't military aircraft. Sometimes the sun below the horizon (from our POV) makes interesting effects on airplanes. I've observed that a lot during my time here in Stephenville. People want to see excitement in the world, so they let their imaginations run wild. Sadly, there are fame seekers and the media who are ready to make a mountain out of a molehill. Last year we made national news because of the MLK party and KKK rally. This year was UFOs. What will happen next year? O'dell Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (08:01:45 pm CST)

How wonderful the world wide web is. I run a community newspaper in Queensland, Australia and heard about your local ufo sightings. (I'm using this guestbook comment section to speak with editorial staff as you have no email addresses published on your site, only phone numbers for contact.) My readers are intrigued by ufos and I wondered if we could reprint articles off you website about them, acknowledging you as source of course. We have a local Gympie UFO Club which regularily publishes articles in the Hinterland Voice and you may be interested in www.dhamurian.org.au. We're interested in your local ufo society too. Perhaps you could give me a web address for them. Thanking you and waiting eagerly for a reply. Regards Fiona Fiona Sullivan Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (07:01:17 pm CST)

Keep your cameras near by and available. The UFO will be returning to Texas soon. 00331924 ionizer Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (07:01:15 pm CST)

Greetings to all my fellow Texan's!I live here in Palm Coast FL,and it sucks here.I miss my home state.I recently wanted to add on to on to the recent Ufo story.I heard of this today on the Today show.They all think it is a possible UFO,and they laughed at it.Well,I have been an active investigator in this field,and what the town had seen is real.So beware of the skipitics,and ohters out to make a buck on this.They will do anything to get a publicity act out of this.I believe you all,and I am always here to speak out my voice.Take good care yall,keep your eyes on the skies!! Joshua Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (04:01:48 pm CST)

Heard threw a friend at work about the UFO and came on to check it out. You have great articles and layout. Keep up the good work and one day will head southwest to come and visit the state. take care from the country canuk Regards Kim Austin Innisfil Ontario Kim Austin Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (02:01:02 pm CST)

Please keep up the good coverage on the UFO's, Angie. I along with thousands of people nationaly, have witnessed these. Its time these UFO's get some national attention. It sounds like the military is makeing up stories already, that, the public all are laughing at. Ron from Nebraska ronald kucera Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (02:01:12 pm CST)

Just the facts ma'am...This from military sources... A Naval flight officer (anonymous) witnessed the event. When he first sighted the strange lights in the sky he stopped to watch and he could tell that it was part of a military exercise in which helicopter shoot flares so that the F-18's they're working with can see their targets. F-18 Hornets are Navy. Several Army Chinooks have been landing at S'ville airport in the last week also (refueling). At least 3 low flying fighter jets (unidentified) flew over town last night between 5:30 & 6:30. The military still may not claim this, but several .mil and .gov IPs have been scouring the UFO websites for information. Why? Beam me up Scotty, indeed. N D Know Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (02:01:31 pm CST)

Greetings to the people of Erath County who saw the ufo.I was so excited to read your story because in Northern California 1972, a friend and I saw an object similar in that it was easily a mile long, had flashing lights, silvery surface, absolutely enormous (yikes)and up to now I've not heard of another sighting like this. I will follow this with interest! Best Regards, Katherine Phillips Barry Vale of Glamorgan UK Katherine Phillips Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (12:01:55 pm CST) Gd day, though I am more than half way across the globe from Stephenville TX, here in DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, I hv been reading with keen interest the reports being filed by Angelia Joiner. Keep up the good work Ma'm & continue to bring out the truth & facts. Even EMPIRE Tribune's name features in an article published in our leading regional newspaper GULF NEWS in Dubai concerning the UFO sightings in your area. Thks once again for the coverage. Cheers, Ray - in Dubai Ray C Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 (09:01:57 am CST) Stephenville is always the best, and for the UFO situation, I saw one in Garland, Dec 27. Sorry ya'll are having to be teased. Robyn Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (09:01:50 pm CST) I just read about the sightings people have reported in your area. At least six people had an identical experience on a bridge to Mantoloking, NJ some years ago. I worked with a guy named Vern Reo told me perhaps 10 years ago he was among the six. Vern sells real estate in Asbury Park NJ should you wish to contact him. Garrett Stasse Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (02:01:10 pm CST) Where is the town of Selden located? Ragan Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (12:01:38 pm CST) I also have seen something in the night sky in Stephenville,Tx. In 1970-1971 while traveling thru Stephenville, my dad and i on our way to Sonora Tx. saw a bright light hover overhead then in a second it flashed away. I was in my teens and will never forget what i saw. bob morrow Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (11:01:59 am CST) Greetings from Finland.. I like Your UFO`s... pictures please! Vesa Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (10:01:28 am CST) Yiens guys got alians an at? Mike Pittsburgh Mike Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 (08:01:33 am CST) Kudos to your people for standing up and saying what they saw in the sky. Please tell them to carry video or still cameras more often! Something like what you all saw should show up on a video camera or still digital camera nicely, that way it won't be just "he said she said" :). Good for your people, standing up for what they saw, but please..."end times?". Is Jesus gonna come back in a spaceship?? Cmon, try to think about what you guys are saying to the crazy mainstream media, hehe. It's tough enough being a Christian these days without trying to explain how people come to think a ufo means the Devil is zipping around or something :). Somebody is tellin some whoppers in the pulpit somewhere! Good luck down there, I'm sure you'll have plenty of attention for awhile. I ride through there on occasion going to Texa Hill Country, nice place you have. Hope you can get a camera on that thing, and if somebody gets it in his sights, pull the dang trigger and see what happens! Rick :) Rick Monday, Jan 14, 2008 (10:01:34 pm CST) To Da'Ville Thanks for the nice comment. Angelia Joiner ANGELIA Sunday, Jan 13, 2008 (02:01:44 pm CST) The UFOs are here!! Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. Captain James T. Kirk Friday, Jan 11, 2008 (07:01:12 am CST)

Dozens Claim They Spotted UFO in Texas

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Day to Day, January 16, 2008 · Faster than a speeding bullet — and bigger than a Wal-Mart.

That's how residents near the west Texas town of Stephenville described an object they spotted in the sky one night last week.

Dozens of the town's residents — including a pilot and a police officer — said a UFO hovered over the farming community for about five minutes last Tuesday before streaking away into the night sky.

Pilot Steve Allen saw the object when he was out clearing brush off a hilltop near the town of Silden. Allen described the unidentified object as being an enormous aircraft with flashing strobe lights — and it was totally silent.

He said the UFO sped away at more than 3,000 mph, followed by two fighter jets that were hopelessly outmaneuvered. Allen said it took the aircraft just a few seconds to cross a section of sky that it takes him 20 minutes to fly in his Cessna.

The veteran pilot said the UFO, an estimated half-mile wide and a mile long, was "bigger than a Wal-Mart."

Military Dismisses Sighting

The Stephenville Empire-Tribune, which has written about the mysterious object, said about 40 people saw the thing — though some were too sheepish to admit the sighting until others came forward.

Police officer Leroy Gatin said he was walking to his car when he saw a red glow that reminded him of pictures he'd seen of an erupting volcano.

He said the object was suspended 3,000 feet in the air. Gatin said he was so awestruck that he called his son to come and see — but he didn't talk much about it until he saw a story about a UFO in the local paper.

Military officials, however, were skeptical. They said the residents are letting their imaginations run wild and passed it off as an optical illusion. They said it was likely nothing more than a reflection of sunlight on two airliners.

Officials at a nearby air force base also said their fighter pilots didn't chase down anything that night.

The incident was eerily similar to a UFO sighting a little more than a year ago at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

As many as 12 United Airlines employees spotted the object and filed reports with United.

Reported by Wade Goodwyn; written and edited by Deborah Tedford

Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO - National News

Larry King LIVE on CNN covering Stephenville, TX UFO Sightings

Larry King - UFOS: Are They For Real (November 9th, 2007)

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/..._ufo_sightings

Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 14, 6:37 PM ET

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."

While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."

Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.

Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.

"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."

Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.

One man has offered a reward for a photograph or videotape of the mysterious object.

About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, mostly in California, Colorado and Texas, according to the Mutual UFO Network, which plans to go to the 17,000-resident town of Stephenville to investigate.

Fourteen percent of Americans polled last year by The Associated Press and Ipsos say they have seen a UFO.

Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan said that he first saw red glowing lights and then white flashing lights moving fast, but that even with binoculars could not see the object to which the lights were attached.

"I didn't see a flying saucer and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it," Gaitan said. "I think it must be some kind of military craft — at least I hope it was."

Empire Tribune past articles on UFOs

Possible UFO sighting

Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:16 AM CST
Four area residents witness mysterious object, lights in Selden sky
By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer

http://www.empiretribune.com/article...ews/news02.txt

Steve Allen, Mike Odom and Lance Jones were out admiring a beautiful Texas sunset Tuesday evening when they saw something none of them can explain.

Allen called it an unidentified flying object. And, because he's been a private pilot for more than 30 years, he has a little more experience judging air speeds and distances than most.

“We all flipped out,” Allen said. “I didn't sleep a wink last night.”

Allen was at the home of Mike Odom in Selden about 6:15 p.m. when they suddenly noticed flashing lights about “3,500 feet above ground level,” he said.

“The ship wasn't really visible and was totally silent, but the lights spanned about a mile long and a half mile wide,” Allen said. “The lights went from corner to corner. It was directly above Highway 67 traveling towards Stephenville at a high rate of speed - about 3,000 miles per hour is what I would estimate.”

Allen said the lights were not those of a normal aircraft. He said they were more like strobe lights, and while they were all watching, the lights reconfigured themselves from a single horizontal line into two sets of vertical lights.

“The two sets were approximately one-quarter of a mile apart,” Allen said. “Then they turned into dirty burning flames. The flames were not blue. They were white in color. About two seconds later it disappeared completely.”

Allen said they were all scratching their heads and talking about what it could have been, when approximately 10 minutes later, the object flew overhead again.

“This time it came from the west traveling east towards Glen Rose,” Allen said. “And it was about two or three miles south of 67, and two military jets, possibly F16s, were in pursuit.”

“I was asking, “Are you guys seeing that?” Allen said.

Mike Odom said he didn't have trouble sleeping but it was a “wild experience.”

“It's unexplainable,” Odom said. “It was something not natural; it was moving way too fast.”

Odom said he saw one other unexplainable object in the sky in 1978 when he was in Arizona.

“Back then something flew over with lights all around,” Odom said. “I think this thing bothered all of us, but it probably bothered Steve more because he's a pilot and he flies a lot.”

“It was neat,” Lance Jones said. “It was something. I've never seen anything like it before but it didn't scare me. I just figured it was military.”

Odom's wife, Claudette, said she was previously employed as a flight attendant.

“Lights were going up and down the side,” she said. “There was no sound, just the lights. It was moving so fast. It wasn't a plane. I know how planes move. Honestly, I think it was a UFO. It was so fast you couldn't have put your finger on it and move it fast enough to follow it.”

Allen said he has never seen a UFO until now, but he did suspect there was something to UFO stories all along.

“I was very surprised to finally get my eyes on one,” Allen said. “If anybody else saw this and got pictures I hope they will contact me.”

Allen said he has already reported the sighting to Washington, and is in the process of writing a report on the event.

Allen is the owner of L & S Enterprises and Texas Freight in Glen Rose. He can be contacted at 254-898-1117.

The group plans to return to Odom's house and keep an eye on the sky in the near future, hoping to see it again.



Mysterious sightings keep locals guessing
By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer
Friday, January 11, 2008 11:30 AM CST

http://www.empiretribune.com/article...ews/news01.txt

A number of area residents have come forward saying they also saw the mysterious lights witnessed by Steve Allen and friends Tuesday night in Selden.

“It was like nothing I've ever seen before,” comes up over and over in their descriptions of bright lights in the sky. Accounts have come in from various locations and a few of those brave enough to come forward are listed below with stories of their own.

Major Karl Lewis of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (Carswell Field) believes he might be able to solve the mystery in a couple of days.

Allen said his phone rang all day Wednesday with people reporting to him that they had seen the strange lights in the sky.

David Jaquess

“I live 4.6 miles out on Hwy. 67. About 6:15 p.m. I saw something as I was turning in my driveway. I won't say it was a UFO but I will say it was UFL, meaning it was unidentified flying lights. They were real bright yellow and I thought I must be seeing the sun reflecting off a plane. I'm guessing they were five miles away from me. But, they were unusually bright like a welding arc being struck - it was that bright. I don't discount UFOs but I don't necessarily believe in them either. I got a call this morning saying there was story about a UFO in today's paper and it was out where I live. I immediately said, ‘Yeah, I saw it.' I was looking west/southwest.”

Dublin Constable Lee Roy Gaitan

“I was outside with my eight-year-old son, Ryan, when I saw lights. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was dark already. At first it was two red burning glows that went away and then came back on. I went inside to tell my wife. When I came back out I saw something like lights you'd see in a bar. My little boy and I counted and we came up with nine flashes and they were real spread out. But I couldn't see them attached to anything, just the lights. So I went to my pickup and got my binoculars to see if I could see a plane or something. Even with the binoculars there was no outline. It started moving towards Stephenville and moving so fast I had trouble following it with my binoculars. It covered a big area. It sounds crazy but we really saw what we saw. As a matter of fact I mentioned it to an officer in Stephenville and he called me up and said to get the Stephenville paper because I wasn't going to believe what was in it. I also went to the Dublin paper but they had no other reports on it so I just dropped it. But my little boy went to school the next day and told everybody all about what we'd seen.”

Anne Frazor

“I had just left the nursing home from seeing my husband. I was going down 914 towards Alexander. Just as I got to the hill at Alexander where Hwy. 6 crosses I saw them - the lights. It scared me. I thought two planes were about to collide. The lights were as bright as a school bus ahead of you but up in the air. They were certainly much closer to the ground than I would appreciate them to be. I looked in my mirrors and there were no reflections. Just as I got up to the top of the hill they were gone. It was about 6:40 p.m.”

James Hughes

“I was a navigational specialist in the Air Force and I don't know what it was that I saw while I was walking two friends to their car at my home. But as soon as I saw it I jokingly said to them, ‘Hey look - a UFO.' I saw two red lights acting unusual. There were two very bright red lights traveling in formation. By formation I mean they kept their positions respective to each other. They were so intensely bright that I realized they must be at a low altitude. But, there was no noise. The lights were not like a helicopter or a plane. I live near the courthouse, actually two blocks from it, towards the river. I was looking north. It was unusual.”


All eyes on the skies
By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer
Sunday, January 13, 2008 4:38 PM CST

http://www.empiretribune.com/article...ews/news01.txt

Mysterious lights in the sky and what some believe was an increased military air traffic in the past week has prompted the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to schedule a meeting for 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at Erath County Dairy Sales & Livestock Commission located on U.S. Highway 377/67 South.

MUFON Texas Senior Field Investigator and Assistant State Director Steve Hudgeons said field investigators from Waco, Fort Worth, and Dallas will be on hand to interview witnesses and complete sighting reports. He said MUFON is interested in Steve Allen’s first hand account of intensely bright lights and military jets over the Selden community last Tuesday night as well as other accounts.

“I have read the papers and have been sent several e-mails from people that have heard of this sighting and it looks as if there are a good many people that have either seen this or have heard about it,” Hudgeons said. “I will bring down a team of investigators and we will do a mass interview and then do a later follow-up with a selected group.”

Hudgeons said it is the unusually high number of people that claim to have witnessed the event as well as the credibility of those involved that has prompted his organization to become involved.

Founded in 1969, the Mutual UFO Network, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation dedicated, through its volunteers, to resolving the scientific enigma known collectively as unidentified flying objects (UFOs), according to its Web site, www.mufon.com.

The world wide organization headquartered in Denver, Colorado has two publications; the monthly MUFON UFO Journal addresses all aspects of the subject, and The International UFO Symposium Proceedings offers a yearly in-depth analysis of the UFO subject by world-renowned researchers, according to their Web site. Each is available to MUFON members and the public.

Allen said he has received a barrage of phone calls from others witnessing the Tuesday night event as well as reports of military air traffic but also received calls from individuals describing similar accounts. The accounts include a woman that said she saw the same thing in 1967 and worked to solve the mystery with former Sheriff David Hale. But, she said no conclusions were ever drawn.

Allen said he has been speaking with a Hillsboro resident who wishes to remain anonymous but is offering a substantial reward for authentic local pictures or videos to assist with validation of the claim. Allen is the owner of L & S Enterprises and Texas Freight in Glen Rose and can be reached at 254-898-1117.

Hudgeons said he encourages anyone with photos or film footage to wait until he can view the material at the meeting before turning it over to anyone else.

“Even if someone says they are from MUFON, don’t turn it over,” Hudgeons said. “I feel that someone from a government entity will pose as MUFON and try to take them.”

Major Karl Lewis of Naval Air Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (Carswell Field) reported Friday that no military aircraft from his establishment were in the area Tuesday night. When questioned about military air traffic in the Stephenville area he said there could be a number of reasons for that and most likely it’s because of training missions related to the Brady area.

“There were no F16s from this unit operating and no other pilots from our unit reported a UFO,” Lewis said.

He also said the jets could have been in the area but from a different base or they could have been F18s, which are similar in appearance.

Lewis said after reading newspaper accounts of what area residents saw he has a plausible explanation — something that he has witnessed himself in his 32 years as a pilot.

“I think it was a consortium of lights. It sounds like sun reflection of an aircraft traveling at high altitude,” Lewis said. “That can cause an intensely bright light like that. Sometimes you can’t look at it because it is so bright. As the angle of the sun changes, the color dulls because the sun is setting on the horizon and it’s hitting the aircraft at a different angle.”

Lewis said intense orange, red or white lights as well as other colors may be seen when this occurs. He also said it could have been natural light phenomenon or a visual illusion caused by natural atmospheric conditions.

Hypothetically, Lewis said, an object of the reported size traveling through the atmosphere would leave a catastrophic “sound signature or footprint.”

“An aircraft traveling that fast and at that low altitude would leave an approximate path of four miles wide of damage,” Lewis said. “Low and fast like what was described, would leave a path similar to that of a tornado - it’s a pressure differentiation.”

Another point, he said, was something that fast and low to the ground would create thermal heat, which would create a vapor trail and none was reported.

Lewis said he knows of a plane traveling at mach one speed at an altitude of 5,000 feet, which caused a cinderblock house to collapse, so he doesn’t believe what witnesses spotted was actually a craft of any kind.


UFO witnessed in Cleburne by expert
By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer
Monday, January 14, 2008 9:47 AM CST

http://www.empiretribune.com/article...ews/news01.txt

Jason Greywolf Leigh, an expert on UFOs and a resident of Cleburne, will go on the air tonight at 10 p.m. CDT, for the Canadian station http://xzone-radio.com hosted by Rob McConnell to discuss the sighting so many in the area witnessed the evening of Jan. 8.

But the best part is Leigh witnessed the same event from Cleburne in the east-northeast sky and had already started documenting his account before he saw the Empire-Tribune article on Jan. 10.

“I sent him (McConnell) an email Tuesday night after my sighting, or two days before I was contacted by Councilman Murphy about the sightings there,” Leigh said. “It adds more credence to not only that of your people's sighting, but to mine as well!”

Leigh is well known for having filmed the June 11, 1995, daytime footage of a UFO over Cleburne. He said it is rated as one of the top 5 films of UFOs in the world and is extremely rare because it occurred in the light of day.

“My broad daylight footage could not be disputed, as I had first gone in person to the small Cleburne airport and ‘looked' at the flight log and times: no planes in the area at the time, then I called the FAA in Fort Worth, tape recording the call, as I spoke to the operations manager who admitted they had booked a ‘bogey' in the Cleburne area that ‘disappeared' off the screen after ‘x' minutes,” Leigh said. “He even asked me what it was! After we had talked, I told him that not only was I a freelance journalist, but that I saw/videotaped the UFO and recorded our call.”

Leigh has appeared on several television shows with the dramatic footage and his eyewitness account including “Unsolved Mysteries,” and gives lectures on the subject. He has authored a book on UFO sightings and his uncanny ESP ability titled Power Glide.

Leigh said before you can prove a UFO - you must first prove what it is not - so after the Jan. 8 sighting of what appeared to be a “large blue star that zipped off as quick as that,” he got busy. And busier still, when he glanced at the north-northeast sky and saw a jet aircraft at above 20,000 feet, “zooming in the direction that the blue star took.” Then he noticed another jet as he was peering into the west-southwest sky and it, too, was at least 20,000 feet, as it was leaving a trail, he said.

He said the first thing skeptics will say is that what you saw was a star, in particular, Venus.

“The moon is the size of a quarter with your arm fully extended,” Leigh said. “This object would be the size of a dime with arm fully extended which is 60 times larger than any star.”

But to quiet naysayers, he logged on to starpathways.com and researched Venus. Leigh found on Jan. 8 there was a new moon so that would mean a black sky.

“Venus would be due west and as evening progresses it sinks below the horizon,” Leigh said. “Sunset was at 5:38 p.m. It was after six in the evening so it was dark. It was cloudless, although a brisk wind out of the south. You've got to do your homework with this sort of thing.”

Many area residents have questioned what appeared to be an increase in military air traffic in the skies and Leigh documented that as well.

The next day Jan. 9 at 10:30 a.m. he documented four jets, “leaving ‘chem trails' and making zigzagging patterns in the cloudless bright blue sky” and took photos.

“Until you see something as dramatic as a UFO; you will never be the same again - ever,” Leigh said. “I always suggest to those who have seen them for the first time to read a few of my articles, which gives some idea of how to prepare a report and how to go about ‘proving' what they saw as opposed to what else ‘it' or ‘them' could have been.”

Leigh's web site is http://jasonleigh.org.

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) has scheduled a meeting for 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at Erath County Dairy Sales & Livestock Commission located on U.S. Highway 377/67 South. The public is invited and field representatives will conduct interviews and complete sighting forms. Leigh said he would be in attendance.

UFO Sightings Stream In from Texas Townsfolk

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All Things Considered, January 16, 2008 · The town of Stephenville, Texas, is abuzz with talk of UFOs. Several residents — including a pilot — have reported seeing a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast this week, describing it as "nothing from these parts." Federal officials say there's a logical explanation, but locals insist the object was larger, quieter and faster than an aircraft.

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Dozens Claim They Spotted UFO in Texas

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Click to tour UFO sightings since 1953.

Faster than a speeding bullet — and bigger than a Wal-Mart.

That's how residents near the west Texas town of Stephenville described an object they spotted in the sky one night last week.

Dozens of the town's residents — including a pilot and a police officer — said a UFO hovered over the farming community for about five minutes last Tuesday before streaking away into the night sky.

Pilot Steve Allen saw the object when he was out clearing brush off a hilltop near the town of Silden. Allen described the unidentified object as being an enormous aircraft with flashing strobe lights — and it was totally silent.

He said the UFO sped away at more than 3,000 mph, followed by two fighter jets that were hopelessly outmaneuvered. Allen said it took the aircraft just a few seconds to cross a section of sky that it takes him 20 minutes to fly in his Cessna.

The veteran pilot said the UFO, an estimated half-mile wide and a mile long, was "bigger than a Wal-Mart."

Military Dismisses Sighting

The Stephenville Empire-Tribune, which has written about the mysterious object, said about 40 people saw the thing — though some were too sheepish to admit the sighting until others came forward.

Police officer Leroy Gatin said he was walking to his car when he saw a red glow that reminded him of pictures he'd seen of an erupting volcano.

He said the object was suspended 3,000 feet in the air. Gatin said he was so awestruck that he called his son to come and see — but he didn't talk much about it until he saw a story about a UFO in the local paper.

Military officials, however, were skeptical. They said the residents are letting their imaginations run wild and passed it off as an optical illusion. They said it was likely nothing more than a reflection of sunlight on two airliners.

Officials at a nearby air force base also said their fighter pilots didn't chase down anything that night.

The incident was eerily similar to a UFO sighting a little more than a year ago at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

As many as 12 United Airlines employees spotted the object and filed reports with United.

Reported by Wade Goodwyn; written and edited by Deborah Tedford

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18159599&sc=emaf