70 years ago, ND pilot chased UFO

When  it comes to UFO stories, North Dakota has its share, one of which ranks up with the best that have yet to be adequately explained.

On Oct. 1, 1948, a World War II veteran pilot and member of the North Dakota Air National Guard, engaged in a 27-minute chase and "battle" over the skies of Fargo.

What makes this encounter especially interesting is the length of the encounter and the fact that other witnesses recorded the event on the ground and in the air.

The gist of the incident is this: Former fighter pilot George Gorman was taking part in a cross-country flight with other National Guard airmen.

The group, except for Gorman, landed at Hector Airport -- Gorman wanted to get in some nighttime flying experience before landing.

Around 9:00 p.m., Gorman saw what looked like the flashing taillight of another aircraft passing by.

“It was about six to eight inches in diameter, clear white and completely without fuzz at the edges,” he wrote in his report. “It was blinking on and off. As I approached, however, the light suddenly became steady and pulled into a sharp left bank.”

He tried following the light, but it was moving faster than his P-51 Mustang plane.

Then the light, making sudden and rapid turns, played "chicken" with Gorman, coming in straight at him.

The first time, Gorman dove to avoid hitting the object.

The second time, the object came at him and, at the last second, abruptly shot upward, not to be seen again.

The strange UFO was also seen by two air traffic controllers in the Hector Airport tower, two Civil Aeronautics Authority employees and a pilot and passenger in a Piper Cub airplane flying near Gorman and the airport.

After an investigation, authorities concluded what Gorman chased and everyone else saw was a lighted weather balloon that had been launched 10 minutes before Gorman saw and chased his UFO.

You can read a more in-depth report about the encounter here.

You can also browse through the Project Blue Book files of the incident here.

UFO alert: Letter to President Jefferson may be earliest recorded visit of ALIENS

FORMER US President Thomas Jefferson may have been sent the earliest recorded written observation of a UFO, according to a letter from 1813.

By Sean Martin

A tavern keeper in Portsmouth, Virginia, and a friend visiting from Baltimore believe they saw a UFO in the sky.

The two men, barkeeper Edward Hansford and Baltimore’s John Clarke, describe in their letter to President Jefferson how they saw a meteor-like object in the sky.

However, this object in the sky began to change shape, first taking on the form of a turtle “which also appeared to be much agitated and as frequently obscured by a similar smoke.”

The UFO then apparently “assumed the shape of a human skeleton” which ascended and descended quickly, according to the mail which was reprinted in 2010 in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series.

The letter reads: ““We the subscribers most earnestly solicit, that your honour will give us your opinion on the following extraordinary phenomenon.

“We saw in the South a Ball of fire full as large as the sun at Maridian which was frequently obscured within the space of ten minutes by a smoke emitted from its own body, but ultimately retained its brilliancy, and form during that period, but with apparent agitation.

“It then assumed the form of a Turtle which also appeared to be much agitated and as frequently obscured by a similar smoke.

“It then assumed the shape of a human skeleton which was frequently obscured by a like smoke and as frequently descended and ascended—It then assumed the form of a Scotch Highlander arrayed for battle and extremely agitated, and ultimately passed to the West and disappeared in its own smoke.”

It is unclear whether President Jefferson ever responded, but according to the website Monticello, it “is perhaps the earliest recorded observation of a UFO.”

Ex-blink-182 man continues his research into UFOs and secret transformative technology

By Alan Cross

Since he left blink-182, Tom DeLonge has gone deep–and I mean really deep–into UFO research (something that he calls “The Phenomenon”) and captured/transferred technology that could change everything for humanity. If we ever gain mainstream access to zero-point energy, our species should be better off.

Tom’s R&D/whistle-blowing organization is called To the Stars Academy. And it’s not just Tom in his basement, posting screeds for an audience of like-minded conspiratorial nutbars. No, this is a very, serious organization with a very serious staff.

An announcement of a new initiative was made the other day.

Investors and Friends,

Today we announce the launch of our flagship research program, The ADAM Research Project, and our partnership with EarthTech International (www.earthtech.org), a pioneering research organization in Austin, Texas, at the forefront of next-generation science and technology.

Project ADAM, an acronym for Acquisition & Data Analysis of Materials, will focus on the collection and scientific evaluation of material samples obtained through reliable reports of advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin.

We are overwhelmed by the reception our world-class team has received since the launch of the company and are confident in our ability to be among the leading research teams focused on trying to answer some of the biggest questions of our lifetime.

Read more here. If the truth is out there, Tom will be the guy to find it.

Interview with a veteran paranormal investigator

Stan Gordon has dedicated almost 60 years to researching Bigfoot, UFOs, cryptids and other unusual phenomena

A replication of the Kecksburg UFO

Stan Gordon and I have the same last name, we both live in Southwestern Pennsylvania and neither of us has seen Bigfoot in person. 

I haven't been looking. Gordon, on the other hand, has spent 59 years investigating reports of paranormal activity in the area: Bigfoot, UFOs, and cryptids (a creature whose existence is either disputed or unconfirmed). He’s never seen these or other unusual phenomena. But what he lacks in first-hand experience with the paranormal, Gordon makes up for with fierce dedication to investigating the stories of those who have. Or say they have.  

Gordon founded Westmoreland County UFO Study Group (WCUFOSG) in 1970, broke off for a solo career as an independent researcher in 1993, and these days spends time penning articles for paranormal outlets, speaking at expos, and continuing to investigate sightings in the area. He's seen a lot of weird stuff over the years, most of it easy to explain by natural or manmade origins — UFOs are often just airplanes or Venus or the International Space Station or Chinese lanterns. But there are a few examples that elude breezy disproof.

The big one is the Kecksburg UFO incident of 1965, an event that hooked Gordon on paranormalism at the age of 16. 

It was late afternoon ("about 4:47 p.m.," Gordon says) on Dec. 9, 1965, when a "brilliant fiery object" was spotted in the night sky in Westmoreland County. Witnesses reported a slow-moving object that changed its path over the woods of Kecksburg — "like it was being controlled," not falling straight down, like a meteor. There were reports at the time of a military flatbed leaving the woods where the object fell sometime in the night. 

However, one group of spectators was able to locate the object first. People described it as an oversized metallic acorn, an estimated 10-12 feet in length, 8-10 feet in diameter, "big enough for a person to stand inside of." There were markings on the outside, similar to Cyrillic or hieroglyphics, but unidentifiable. (For a deeper look, check out Gordon's website, his film Kecksburg: The Untold Story, or Unsolved Mysteries Season 1, Episode 8, hosted by Dennis Farina.) It's been a big part of town lore ever since. 

When I spoke to Gordon, he was preparing to visit Kecksburg for the city's annual UFO Festival. It's an odd mix of charming small-town festival fun and paranormal reporting. There are fireworks, a "bed race," corn hole, live music, and something called a "UFO hot dog eating competition." 

click to enlarge

• Photo courtesy of Stan Gordon
• Stan Gordon investigating a UFO incident

Mixed in the itinerary are film screenings and guest speakers, including an update on recent Bigfoot/UFO sightings from Gordon, former Greensburg Tribune-Review reporter Bob Gatty, and area researcher Ed Kelemen. It's kind of weird to imagine these professional investigators and authors in the company of such brazen, lighthearted fun such as eating contests and a DJ. You'd think the more kid-friendly festival stuff would undermine the seriousness of the research. 

Whatever. Thinking about paranormal activity is fun for most people, whether it's reading sci-fi/horror books, watching latter-day History Channel, or spending your life's work investigating aliens and Bigfoot. Gordon speaks about his work like a giddy professor mid-lecture, tripping over his own stories. Interviewing him was like tapping a boulder at the top of a steep hill and watching it roll down the road for miles. I might have asked four questions in 45 minutes. He handled the rest.  

When it comes to what he personally believes, Gordon takes the role of impartial detective. There's a lot of fascinating information out there. It's all interesting, but he's hesitant to go much beyond that. 

"The more I know about the phenomena, the more interesting and more complex it is," Gordon says. "I don't think anybody out there really has a good explanation for some of the phenomena we’re dealing with." 

When he says the majority of the people who submit reports to him do it anonymously to avoid unwanted attention and ridicule, I ask why he's OK putting himself out there, full name and all. 

"Because I'm not a witness," he says. "I'm an investigator."

Submit information about UFOs, Bigfoot or other paranormal phenomena to sightings@stangordon.info, or visit stangordon.info. 

Documentary filming to coincide with Shag Harbour UFO Festival being held Aug. 3-5

By Kathy Johnson

SHAG HARBOUR, N.S. – It’s one of the worst kept secrets in Shelburne County.

Toronto based Cineflix Media Inc will be “filming a documentary series called Ocean Mysteries in and around Shelburne and Shag Harbour” from July 29 to Aug. 6 but the company was making no comment about the project because they want to keep it hush-hush.

However, local knowledge, correspondence with local media looking for a journalist to interview on camera, and an online job posting that read “looking for three ready-to-work candidates who can drive and help with filming and are interested in working behind the scenes of television production between July 29 and Aug. 6” pretty much let the cat out of the bag.

There has also been unconfirmed speculation that third-generation ocean explorers Celine Cousteau and Fabian Cousteau, grandchildren of the legendary Jacques Cousteau, will be part of the dive team and film crew, and will be taking part in the opening night events of the Shag Harbour UFO Festival, which runs from Aug. 3 to 5 at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena on Sherose Island in Barrington Passage.

This year’s festival marks the 51st anniversary since the Oct. 4, 1967, incident, which is regarded as the best documented UFO case in Canada. On that night witnesses reported seeing a sequence of lights on the horizon of the skyline that eventually veered towards the water and crashed into the water. A yellow foam was observed on the surface of the water.

REVISIT AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT SHARED DURING A 2016 FESTIVAL BUS TOUR BY CLICKING HERE

Besides the presentations and panel discussions on tap at the arena over the three days that includes some of the top minds in the field of Ufology and research along with witnesses to the impact and other people who were involved with the search effort on the night of the incident and the days following, the festival also includes guided bus tours to the Shag Harbour area and harbour boat tours of the crash site and area.

“Shag Harbour is the case that keeps on giving in research,” said renowned Shag Harbour UFO incident researcher Chris Styles in an interview. “You don’t very often find that. No one has come up and explained it or attempted to explain it away. We don’t have any claims or crashes or test dummies or whatever and all these years later, the more information we find, the case has not evaporated and if anything becomes more mysterious.”

Styles, who will be the keynote speaker for the festival, noted it was only a few years ago around the release of the book Impact to Contact that he co-authored with Graham Simms that they found the pilot who “saw everything” on a flight from New York to London on the night of Oct. 4, 1967. Captain Ralph Loewinger (retired), who was co-pilot of that Pan Am flight 160, attended last year’s festival giving a detailed account of what he and the flight crew saw in the skies when approaching the Yarmouth area that night. He still wonders to this day what it was they saw.

Loewinger also provide a written statement at last year’s festival from retired flight engineer Mike Littlepage, who gave a public account of his experience for the first time.

“I can only speak for myself as to what I observed and remember that night,” wrote Littlepage. “A few things have stayed with me for all these years. The size of the object which I could clearly see outlined in the diffused light of ground illumination. It was frankly frightening, the speed at which it moved up and away from us was awe inspiring and the feeling of abject fear knowing that at any moment it could end our very existence.” Littlepage is taking part in this year’s festival via live skype.

Other national and international guests include Chris Rutkowski, a Canadian science writer, educator and consultant for the Winnipeg Paranormal Group who has been writing about his investigations and research on UFOs since the mid-1970s; Palmiro Campagna, a professional engineer with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa, who will speak about the Avro Arrow and Other Ufology, and from Hawaii, Ted Roe, co-founder and CEO of the U.S. based National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

Styles said one of things he will be speaking about, and making an argument for, at the festival is the belief that the crash site is still worth searching.

“There might still be evidence beyond the original search area conducted by the Navy,” he said. It’s a belief held by Styles, who dove on the site in 1995, and of diver David Cvet and it was the conviction of the late William F. Dawson who was head of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at the time of the incident, said Styles.

“We’ve been trying to bring attention to this for years, working in the background to attract people with greater resources than what we did in the past to do a bigger search with side scan sonar surveys and dives especially out on Shag Harbour rip which one of areas of interest,” said Styles. “I think the premise that something could still be there is valid and I’m hoping that happens and hoping I can say something about that on the stage at the festival. I expect to have something to say about it.”

FOR MORE INFO

For further information about the festival email shagharbour@gmail.com, or visit http://shagharbourincident.com/ . Festival tickets are available online at shagharbourfest.eventbrite.ca

REVISIT THE INCIDENT

At the Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre in Shag Harbour, Shelburne County, people can view different items that chronicle the 1967 UFO incident. Visitors can view newspaper articles, maps, documents and view television documentaries. The centre is located on Highway 3 in Shag Harbour, just a few minutes from the crash site. There is also a gift ship that has some fun knick-knacks. There's even an alien you can pose with. 

The museum hours are Monday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $2.

FESTIVAL AND CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Friday, August 3  – Barrington arena

5:30 – 5:45pm:   Conference Welcome & Announcements and Introduction of Conference Speakers

5:45 – 7:00pm:   Shag Harbour UFO Witness Panel –  Panelists: Individual Names

7:00 – 7:45pm:   Rodney Ross:  Sea Monster Experience

Saturday, August 4

9:00 – 10:15am:   Chris Styles – Lecture:  Shag Harbour 1967

10:30 – 11:45am:  Chris Rutkowski – Lecture: 1967 – The Year Canada Was “Invaded” by UFO’s including Shag Harbour in Perspective

12:00 – 1:00pm:  Lunch on your own

1:00 – 2:15pm:  Palmiro Campagna – Lecture:  The Avro Arrow and Other Ufology

2:30 – 3:45pm:  Ted Roe – Lecture: My Personal Perspective as an Experiencer and NARCAP (National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena)

4:00 – 5:15pm:   Paul Kimball – Lecture:  The Men in Black

Sunday, August 5

10:00 – 11:15am:  Graham Simms – Lecture

11:15 – 12:45pm:  Experiencer Panel – Panelists:  Heather Doucette, Chris Styles, Ted Roe & others.  Moderated by:  Chris Styles

1:00 – 2:00pm:  Guest Speaker Panel – Q & A

2:00pm – Conference closing remarks 

Extra Activities:  Tickets to be purchased 

Bus Tour – Reenactment of the evening of October 4, 1967

Offered Friday evening and Saturday evening at 7 pm.

Price:  $25 per person (Going to have to sell 40 tickets at $15. each just to cover bus rent of $600)

Harbour Tour – Tour of area where UFO went into water in 1967

Offered Friday evening and Saturday evening at 7pm.

Price:  $40 per person until July 6th. $50 after July 6th.

Both Harbour Tour and Bus Tour should take place at same time so participants can get the effectiveness of the flares.  Tours should begin at 8:15 give them some daylight/dusk.  Offering these two tours each night will give participants a chance to buy both tickets.  One for each night.

Free Events:

Campfire with the Speakers and Locals after tours are over

 (Friday evening only and FREE) (Location to be determined)

Dark Skies with Tim Doucette at Crash Site

 (Saturday Evening only and FREE)