Part 11 – UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield

"It was like in no time and the Army was there. Kecksburg was under martial law. No one in and no one out. My mom and dad tried to get in, but they would not let them in. So they called my grandpa and asked him to come up and see if we were OK and he did. I heard people saying we were under martial law. You could see the Army everywhere, the jeeps and trucks and manpower.' Later that night, this witness and others saw a large cab with flatbed trailer hauling away something from the area."

 

­ Robert Blystone, Jr., Kecksburg, Pennsylvania Resident

To be more computer-upload-friendly, the reprints will be divided into parts. Here begins Part 11 of Status Report VII, from February 1994.

Roswell Crash/Retrieval UpdateUFO debunkers have had, and will continue to have, a hard time shooting down the 1947 Roswell crash/retrieval case. They would have to make liars out of the hundreds of firsthand and support witnesses who have emerged to tell about their roles in the case.I am pleased that I had the opportunity to talk with the former 509th Bomb Wing intelligence officer, the late Jesse Marcel on three occasions - the first on April 7, 1978, and twice again later, before his passing. His firsthand account of his retrieval task, backs up the testimony he had related to Stan Friedman. It was Marcel who broke the silence about Roswell which opened the floodgates.

New firsthand information about Roswell strengthens the case even more. This will be released in a newly published hardcover book in the Spring of 1994, authored by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt. Following is a statement about some of the disclosures, received from Randle, dated November 1993:

"The last two years have been extraordinary in the search for additional information about the Roswell UFO crash. Many new important firsthand witnesses of the craft and the bodies, including both military and civilian, have been located and interviewed.

The search for the archaeologists, at least in one aspect, ended when we - with the assistance of Tom Carey - located the leader of the expedition. In an interview conducted just weeks before he died, he confirmed that he had been there and he had seen it all. Interestingly, he said that he had been just north of Roswell and not on the Plains of San Augustin in western New Mexico. Another scientist, a vertebra paleontologist, told us that he had seen the military cordon thrown up just off Highway 285 north out of Roswell. All the names will appear in our hardcover book, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell, available early in 1994.

Skeptics have often said that Roswell was a balloon and they say that no on e saw the object in the sky. Because of that, the balloon explanation makes some sense, at least to them. We have found, however, a number of people who saw the object fall to the ground.

Eyewitnesses Watch UFO Fall Out
of Sky Near Roswell in 1947

These (eyewitnesses) include William Woody, an eleven-year-old boy in 1947, who said he saw a falling star that took a long time to fall. The next day, he and his father tried to locate the object, but were turned back by the military. His story fits into the new scenario we've developed based on the firsthand testimony.

Corporal E. L. Pyles, stationed at Roswell in 1947, also saw the object crash. Although at a radio facility 15 miles southwest of Roswell, he told of seeing a shooting star fall north of the town. Pyles, along with Woody and three others, have been able to corroborate the exact date of the crash: July 4, 1947.

Other aspects of the case have not progressed as well. The story told by Gerald Anderson, who claimed that as a five-year-old child he had seen the crashed saucer and dead, dying and uninjured alien pilots, collapsed when it was learned that he had lied about one aspect of his story and then created a forged document to prove his claims. Other supposed documentation, such as a diary allegedly created by Uncle Ted Anderson, was written - not in 1947 - but sometime after 1974 about ten years after Ted died. With the lies, forged documents, and failed corroboration, the Anderson testimonies should be eliminated from the files.

MJ-12, or Operation Majestic Twelve, which seemed to verify the Roswell event has also collapsed. The fact that Rear Admiral Hillenkoetter's rank, as it appears on the document, is wrong suggests it was created, not by Hillenkoetter or someone inside the military, but by a civilian without an understanding of proper military protocol. Because Hillenkoetter is listed as the briefing officer, this is not a mistake he would have overlooked. Those with military experience understand this completely. Those who never served believe it to be unimportant.

But the real problem with MJ-12 is that it reflects the state of the Roswell investigation in the mid-1980s, rather than the truth. For example, the evidence now shows the recovery operation began on July 5, 1947, and not July 7, as the document claims. There were five bodies recovered and not four. It would seem that a document that is supposed to have been written by those on the inside would have reflected the truth. (For a complete analysis of both Gerald Anderson and MJ-12, see the forthcoming book, History of UFO Crashes, available at the end of 1994.)

The whole story of the Roswell crash, including the names of most of the firsthand witnesses who were on the impact site where the bodies were found, will be included in our new book. One problem we had was the interference of third parties. One man interjected himself into the Roswell case, questioned the integrity of one of our firsthand witnesses, and caused the witness to withdraw his permission to use his name. It should be pointed out that the information was corroborated by at least four other sources.

Roswell continues to be the best documented of the UFO crash stories. Questions that had lingered for years will soon be answered. And it is no longer necessary to rely on secondhand testimony. We now have firsthand sources who saw it all."

Kecksburg Crash/Retrieval Update   (See Earthfiles 10/25/03)As with Roswell, a few vociferous, diehard debunkers, pick at Kecksburg. Ignoring a bedrock of correlative testimony by new and old witnesses, they grasp for minor peripheral flaws in a witnesses' character or behavior seeking out the guy who might claim he finally reached the crashed object on this cold December night in 1965 after tripping in a patch of daisies and getting stains on his Bermuda shorts. If no such silly anachronism can be exploited to discredit the case, the debunker might then try to negate the veracities of the dozens of witnesses or the reality of anonymous sources, hoping to create enough doubt about the event that the big media will shrug it off as too controversial.Having talked privately with Stan Gordon, the prime investigator into the Kecksburg case, I know some of the details revealed by his anonymous and military sources. I, too, have a firsthand informant, an involved business man in the case who saw the bell-shaped object at Wright-Patterson AFB. Yes, something crashed at Kecksburg. Whether it is of extraterrestrial origin, or Russian, or a NASA fluke, or launched by a Somalian warlord, the event remains TOP SECRET.

 

Stan Gordon, who extends investigative credits to Keith R. Bastianini and Dennis Smeltzer, updates the case as follows:

"The Military Interest by Investigator Stan Gordon

Since the publication of Stringfield's Status Report VI, I have continued to seek out and investigate information and locate people who have knowledge of events concerning this important UFO case which occurred on December 9, 1965. This case regardless of the nature of the object involved, is important because it shows that our military already had in place a procedure to quickly respond to crashes of aerial objects of undetermined origin. This continuous search for evidence has been exciting and yet very frustrating at times. There is no doubt in my mind that late on the afternoon of December 9, 1965, an object plummeted from the sky into a wooded ravine near the village of Kecksburg in rural Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

From the testimony of multiple observers within a relatively short time after impact, military personnel and equipment arrived on scene and an operation was begun to locate, recover, and transport the object from the site. It is quite apparent that the military accomplished their mission quickly. According to news accounts and those who were in the area that night, hundreds of people crowded the narrow winding road (now called Meteor Road in remembrance of the 1964 event) that bordered the wooded area where the object was said to have impacted on that day. In the last few years since the Kecksburg case has become the subject of major TV and news coverage, much controversy has erupted around Kecksburg with outcries from a few of the remaining long time residents of the area, that the event is a hoax. Some claim that nothing happened at all that night, that nothing fell from the sky, and that few if any military types were even in the area.

But numerous other Kecksburg residents from that time have come forward, along with many outsiders, who found their way to the village that night after hearing news reports that a UFO had fallen in the area and that the military was searching for it. These observers have recorded their testimonies and are willing to testify that military personnel did conduct a mission in the area on that day. The enclosed map (sketch by Charles M. Hanna) which shows some of the major landmarks pertaining to the event.

The map attempts to indicate that from point (A) the curve on Meteor Road where most people were lined up that night glimpsing down into the woods, traveling down and around to the fire station and up the road that connects to the private lane (D) where much of the military activity was taking place, is separated ;by quite a distance. Those people who were on Meteor Road could only see lights in the distance, the actual impact area of the object was in fact not in the woods near the road, but on the opposite side of the woods down in the ravine (E). The Kecksburg Fire Station (B) was over the hill from the impact area. Observers, including some firemen, swear that military personnel, brought equipment into that building that night and used it as a temporary command post. From all indications, most of the military personnel and equipment involved with the actual search and recovery were located along the private lane (D). At the end of this lane and down into the field somewhat was the small white farmhouse that was being rented by the Hays family at the time (C).

Military Entered Hays Farm House 

This family states that military personnel also came in and out of their home during the evening hours after the crash, using their phone to make calls. This house was well isolated and close to the impact site in the woods which was not that far away. While many of the roads around the village were closed that night to keep more people from entering, a number of observers did manage to find their way onto that private lane where military equipment and personnel were observed. What is apparent is that some people that night were in the right place at the right time to observe certain activity. Others could see nothing from their vantage point.

While the Army denies having any knowledge of having personnel or equipment involved in this event, detailed descriptions from observers - including former military people who were in the area as civilians - strongly suggest that most of the military presence was represented by the Army. Air Force personnel were also on the scene. Only a brief mention in the Air Force Project Blue Book report on the case confirms that a three man team from the 662nd Radar Squadron based in Pittsburgh were involved in the investigation.

But there were indeed more than three military types in the area that night, according to those who watched. While thousands that day likely saw the brilliant fireball in the sky, other residents closer to Kecksburg could see in some case a more structured object that seems to have displayed at least limited controlled re-entry capability. Some who saw the object heading towards the impact site indicate that the object was not moving that fast. Those who saw the object impact into the woods said there was no sound of a crash, but moments later a blue column of smoke rose from the spot and quickly dissipated.
A young boy playing outside at the time caught the object for an instant as it dropped in the woods ahead. He ran home to tell his mother and after she heard a radio report about the object being seen in the sky, she phoned radio station WHJB in Greensburg to report that the object had gone down in the Kecksburg woods.

WHJB Radio Swamped with Calls
About Fiery Object in Sky

WHJB Radio was the area's major radio news source and the station had been swamped with calls from area residents reporting the fiery object in the sky. Some had reported that what they had seen might have been an aircraft on fire. John Murphy, WHJB News Director at the time, now deceased, was returning from investigating another area story when he received a radio call about the object in the sky. After responding to the vicinity of the reports and seeing nothing, he returned to the station. Mable Mazza was the WHJB office manager at the time and she was helping to answer the numerous phone calls about the sighting. When the call was received from the Kecksburg woman about the object falling into the woods, Murphy took the call. He obtained the information, contacted the Troop A Pennsylvania State Police Headquarters in Greensburg, and soon left the station to head for the site at Kecksburg. It is now apparent that Murphy got to the scene quite awhile before the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshall and others, along with the woman and small boy who had reported the object to the station, arrived in the area.

Military Asking for Directions to Kecksburg,
Pennsylvania UFO Crash Site

Back at the station, Mazza was having a hard time trying to keep up with the continuing calls. It is from Mazza that we learn about the military interest as the event was unfolding. Mazza stated, 'The calls came in from all over the United States. Other radio stations, wire services, government agencies and military asking for directions to the site, and what I knew from the calls about it.' Mable also stated that she had received calls from the Pentagon as well.

Mazza went on to say that Murphy later called from the site and said, 'Mable, we have a big one here. I will call you as soon as I can - probably by radio. So stick by it.' Mazza said that Murphy told her that the military was there investigating and the security was tight. In the days after the event, Murphy along with other WHJB staff members put together a radio documentary called Object in the Woods. Interestingly, the broadcast had information contained within it that had to be censored from what was originally recorded because as it states in the program, some individuals were afraid of trouble from the Army or state police.

Bonnie Millslagle, who was married to John Murphy at the time of the Kecksburg incident, has recently revealed more information pertaining to her late husband's participation. Bonnie was in touch by two-way radio with Murphy from the scene that evening. Murphy always carried a camera and tape recorder and a black notebook. (This seems evidence from the precise times of occurrences mentioned on the radio documentary.) Murphy later told her that he had time to get down into the woods and he himself had seen the strange metallic object on the ground. Bonnie believes that Murphy did take some pictures there that night and feels that the military had confiscated the film from him. Bonnie also indicated that Murphy was very excited over this story, but not long after the radio documentary was aired he suddenly stopped talking about it. Bonnie doesn't know what happened, but from the tone of the conversations, it was implied that the government was behind it. In time, Murphy died out of state in what Bonnie feels was a suspicious hit and run accident. Whether or not his tragic death had any association with his involvement in the Kecksburg case will likely never be known.

Kecksburg, PA Eyewitnesses Talk About
December 9, 1965, UFO Crash and Military "Martial Law"

During the 1980s, a massive amount of new information has become known to me about the Kecksburg case. After the story was aired on Unsolved Mysteries, and then by other TV and radio sources,new informants who claim to have knowledge of the case began to show up from many areas of the country. Some of these were Pennsylvania residents who had seen the object as it passed through the sky. Some were people who had been to the site that night. Other local residents began to come forward to verify that indeed something did happen that night. Some informants were former military or government sources who claimed to have been involved with certain activity related to the sighting.

As I stated earlier in this report, the search for evidence has been exciting and very frustrating. While quite a number of eyewitnesses have had the fortitude to go public with their personal accounts of what occurred that day in 1965, many important sources have given me their information. But for various reasons, they wish to remain anonymous. Many Kecksburg area residents don't want to get involved publicly because of the on-going debate between some local folks.

There are many other individuals that I know of who have briefly told me of their participation that night, but have indicated 'that they don't want to get involved.' Some anonymous sources, which appear to have been of military origin, at times have provided some very interesting leads to follow. While my search goes on to find the evidence to unlock the secrets surrounding the Kecksburg case, I have located individuals whom I believe were involved in the military investigation at the site that night. Some of these people refuse to talk. Others have given only suggestions as to their involvement. Some important sources have already passed away. Other sources have told me of their concern if they reveal what they know about the incident. It has always been my position to protect confidentiality of my sources. In some cases, even revealing information about their activity without using their name could cause problems.

There are many individuals unknown to each other over many years who have verified many details about the military operation at Kecksburg that night. Once again, most of the military activity was taking place along the private lane which was on the side of the woods where the object had impacted. There was also military equipment and personnel observed around the Hay's home and further down in the fields near the impact site. One individual who was considered a very credible witness (now deceased) provided me with his detailed account as to what he saw on the lane that night. He had gotten out of the military prior to the Kecksburg event and had worked in intelligence. He was very impressed with the military presence that night. He had arrived at the site sometime early evening just as some of the military was arriving. One of the first events he recalls that stuck in his mind was an Air Force officer that he believes was a major, plus a state trooper, walking up from the direction of the impact site towards a military car parked on the lane. He heard the trooper say, 'I've never seen anything like that before.' He stated that from their facial expressions, they were both significantly upset. Both men got in the back seat of the military car and were driven away. The witness observed various military vehicles including jeeps and trucks.

Of even more significance, he later sneaked down through the fields towards the impact site, very curious because he had seen brilliant blue flashes of light coming from that area. (Just after the object impacted that afternoon, numerous people saw unexplained blue light from the impact area for some time.) As he got closer to the edge of the field towards the woods, he was stopped by armed Army personnel who had set up a security perimeter in the event that anyone would try to approach the crash site. Other individuals have provided me with written statements that they also had creeped into the woods to look for the object, but were stopped by military-types and sent back.

Another former Kecksburg resident, Robert Blystone, Jr., who was young at the time recalls the events of that night clearly. Shortly after the object impacted, he went down the hill and he states that the Army was everywhere. 'It was like in no time and the Army was there. Kecksburg was under martial law (witness interpretation). No one in and no one out. My mom and dad tried to get in, but they would not let them in. So they called my grandpa and asked him to come up and see if we were OK and he did. I heard people saying we were under martial law. You could see the Army everywhere, the jeeps and trucks and manpower.' Later that night, this witness and others saw a large cab with flatbed trailer hauling away something from the area."

To be continued in Part 12.