Don’t Laugh! – ‘Strange’ Light Sighted Over City
‘Strange Light’ Sighted Over City
Eight persons reportedly watched from a Missoula backyard Tuesday night as a bright, white, round object hovered in the sky, then moved off in a northerly direction.
Charles Dene Leach, New Orleans, a freshman at Louisiana State University, said he first observed a dimmer object move from horizon to horizon in a northeasterly direction.
Shortly afterward, at 9:45 p.m., Leach said he was standing in the backyard of his grandparents’ home at 1003 Locust Ave. when he noticed the bright, stationary white light.
Leach said seven others, including his father who works with Boeing in New Orleans on space projects, viewed the object.
The group watched the light hover over Mt. Jumbo and move straight north as it stayed in sight until 10 p.m. It was moving very fast, Leach said.
The weather bureau reported launching a pilot balloon about the same time which drifted off toward town from the airport.
However, the weathermen said the light on a balloon would appear dim, “about the size of a flashlight” and would not be visible to the naked eye after attaining an altitude of 10,000 feet.
The above article appeared in The Missoulian on August 19, 1965.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/349946994/
Another interesting article appeared in The Missoulian on the same day.
Federal Award
A Missoula native, Ms. Isabell B. Bowman, has been presented a certificate and a lapel pin at Sandia Base, N.M[1]., in recognition of 20 years of federal service. She is a supervisory accounting technician in the comptroller group of field command, Defense Atomic Support agency. A sister, Mrs. Ed Loos, resides at 1020 Cleveland St., Missoula.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/349947021
Missoula had a spate of sightings the previous year. A Missoulian article by Phil Hess, from August 9, 1964, examined the subject in great detail:
‘Saucers’ Here to Stay
By Phil Hess
On Aug. 6, 1860, residents of Norfolk, Va., reported seeing two objects flying overhead. One was red, the other green, and they moved with an undulating motion. This was one of the earliest reported sightings of unidentified flying objects.
Seventeen years ago the term “flying saucers” was coined when an Idaho pilot flying near Mr. Rainer, Wash., spotted nine UFOs which he told newsmen looked like “saucers skipping over the water.” The term “flying saucers” was used by a wire service in reporting the incident and the name stuck.
Between 1860 and 1947 several dozen scattered reports of weird flying objects reached the newspapers. In 1896 and 1897 many persons said they saw “a mysterious airship” over various parts of the country. New York newspapers told of a strange craft which hovered over parts of Massachusetts in 1909, “giving off a strange light.”
A North Dakota man said, in 1928, he saw an object resembling an “inverted soup plate” speeding overhead. He reported it startled his cattle and emitted rays of light illuminating the ground.
‘Foo-fighters’
During World War II, many American pilots reported strange objects and lights hovering near their airplanes. They dubbed these “foo-fighters” and later many said they thought the objects were secret German aircraft. Associated Press dispatches told of “foo-fighters” over Europe and Asia which were seen by ground crews as well as flyers. Pilots said the objects would occasionally follow their planes, sometimes diving at them and darting away just before colliding.
The 1947 UFO sighting over Mt. Rainier marks the beginning of the modern “flying saucer era.” An Air Force report issued earlier this year said the Air Force has investigated more than 8,000 reported UFOs. “Project Blue Book,” the congressionally ordered Air Force study of UFOs, shows that most of the reports have been “explained.” Only slightly over 600 are still listed as “unidentified.”
Although a large number of UFO sightings in the Missoula area has been reported in recent weeks, “flying saucers” are not new to Montana. In August 1950, a Great Falls resident, Nick Mariana (later of Missoula) took color movies of two UFOs. Mariana said when the film was returned after being loaned to the Air Force for study, several important sections, including close-ups, were missing.
On Aug. 1, 1952, radar operators at the Air Defense Command base near Yaak[2] reported both visual and radar sightings of a “cigar-shaped” object. The following summer a radar crew at the same base reported tracking six UFOs at speeds ranging up to 1,600 miles per hour. The official world aircraft speed record at that time was 755 miles per hour.
The radar operators said as the objects neared the base they went outside and saw six objects in trail formation, switching to line abreast, then stack formation. Other radar facilities also reported tracking the objects.
In mid-1956 a private plane flying from Sheridan, Wyo., to Billings was approached by two dark, elongated objects with knobs attached, according to the pilot. He said they sped away but seconds later four similar objects appeared.
Lands Near Helena
This year’s rash of UFO sightings in Montana began last April 30 when two youngsters reported seeing a brightly lighted object land near their home on the shore of a lake near Helena. Sheriff’s deputies investigating the report found marks left on the ground between the house and Canyon Ferry Lake shore. They discovered four holes about 13 feet apart and a circular scorched spot in the center of the square formed by the holes.
Sheriff Dave Middlemas turned the investigation over to officials at Malmstrom Air Force base. Their findings were turned in to “Project Blue Book” headquarters in Washington. Malmstrom investigators said they could not divulge their findings.
The next word on the case came from Air Force headquarters in Washington labeling the story as a “child’s hoax.” The official report said the sighting and ground markings were found to be “a hoax perpetrated by children who wanted to play a trick on a younger sister and the show got out of hand.” Parents and relatives of the children claim the youngsters never backed down from the original story.
The ground markings near Helena were similar to those seen a week earlier near Socorro, N. M. That sighting, reported by a policeman, is still listed as “unexplained” by the Air Force.
Missoula Sightings
The recent Missoula area sightings began July 21 when Dr. Reuben Diettert, 57 Marilyn Dr., reported having seen an object “almost every night for a week” fly over the city. The object appeared to have pulsating green and red lights. It was observed and photographed by a Missoulian-Sentinel photographer as it traveled north, then suddenly turned east and continued its “voyage.”
Diettert’s son, Dr. Gerald Diettert, observed the UFO through a 350 power telescope. He reported the object as having a round circle of light with six brightly lighted areas on the circumference. He also saw a larger light in the center of the circle. He described the image of the object, as seen through the telescope, as about the same diameter as the image of the planet Jupiter.
Scores of telephone calls and letters to the Missoulian-Sentinel followed these first reports. Many told of similar sightings and were reported in the newspaper. An object dubbed a “flying silo” was recently seen flying slowly over the Bitter Root valley. An unconfirmed report told of an encounter with a UFO by the pilot of a small plane flying over Missoula. Hamilton area youths hung a sign on a post proclaiming “Caution – Flying Saucer, 1500 ft.” after they spotted a UFO hovering over a nearby hill.
The “biggest” UFO story was reported by the Missoulian Sentinel July 25. Mr. and Mrs. Allen Lund, Rattlesnake, told of several visits by a strange craft over a period of three months. They said the object hovered over a meadow within a few hundred yards of their home. The UFO was described as a large round ship with a row of fluorescent type lights around the circumference.
The Lunds told of a strong beam of light coming from the ship and aimed through the windows into their home. They said each appearance of the object scared the dogs and livestock. When fully illuminated, the UFO was “too bright to look at directly.”
Reports of UFO sightings are still being received, though not at the rapid pace of two weeks ago. No official statements have been issued by the Air Force or other agency about the recent reports. Weather Bureau officials have not seen any of the UFOs on their radar but, as one operator explained, “this equipment was designed for the study of weather conditions, not aircraft. Besides, if an aircraft didn’t wish to be tracked, it could easily evade our radar.”
UFOs Taken Seriously
A recent Missoulian-Sentinel editorial suggested there may be something to the recent sightings and they shouldn’t be dismissed or laughed way. At least one national organization shares this attitude. The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, Seattle, is a non-profit organization “serving the public through education since 1955.”
NICAP was organized to collect and disseminate information on UFO reports to the public because of the “lack of access to the specific detailed cases in Air Force files.” A recently published NICAP report, “The UFO Evidence,” examines 746 UFO sightings from the more than 5,000 in the organization’s files.
Data in the report is collected from governmental, press and private sources. Following detailed analysis “the data are grouped by categories of specially trained observers and studied by patterns of appearance, performance and periodic recurrence.”
In dissenting from the official Air Force position of “no comment” or “no such thing as flying saucers,” NICAP’s lengthy report presents evidence in support of an hypothesis that “UFOs are under intelligent control, making plausible the notion that some of them might be of extraterrestrial origin.”
Whatever they may be and from wherever they may come, “flying saucers” apparently are here to stay. We may some day get all the answers. Until then we can only keep looking and wondering.