textfiles/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1290.ufo

SUBJECT: KECKSBURG CRASH CONTROVERSIAL                       FILE: UFO1290


NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE

DATE OF ARTICLE:  May 6, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE:  Bulletin
LOCATION:  Latrobe, Pennsylvania
BYLINE:  Kim Opatka
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KECKSBURG CRASH CONTROVERSIAL

By Kim Opatka
Bulletin Staff Writer

     This  final  article  in a six-part series  on  unidentified
flying  objects (UFOS) examines one of the most talked about  and
controversial  incidents  in the area,  what has  been  termed  a
meteorite by some and an alien craft by others,  which crashed in
Kecksburg December 9, 1965.
     The  object  was first seen streaking across the  sky,  with
thousands  from Michigan to New York witnessing a brilliant  ball
of  fire which left a smoke trail,  visible for about 20  minutes
after it passed.
     Many,  including pilots who observed it,  thought it was  an
aircraft  which was on fire.   Reports of debris from the  object
were made in many states,  and an Ohio fire department was called
to extinguish 10 small fires in an area where witnesses said they
saw flaming fragments falling from the sky.
     Shock waves were reported by pilots,  and a seismograph near
Detroit  recorded  a shock,  wrote investigator Stan  Gordon,  of
Pennsylvania Association for the Study of the Unexplained  (PASU)
in a recent journal article.  The crash has been a pet project of
the Greensburg man "since the night it happened," he said, noting
he is still trying to obtain information on the incident.
     Although  the  military  eventually  labeled  the  object  a
meteor,  as  did  the Associated Press account published  in  The
Bulletin  the day after the crash,  Gordon says recent  evidence,
including the discovery of a man who saw the object, supports the
idea that the object was a true UFO.
     "I  was  a teen-ager then," said John (not his  real  name).
"It was in the early part of December and there was a little snow
and a little rain, and mud."
     He  was called to the scene after the 4:44 p.m.  crash as  a
fireman from the Latrobe area, to search for the crashed object.
     "I had seen a fiery object in the sky.   I can't say exactly
which direction but it was coming from the north.  It was not too
much longer and the fire whistle went off," he said.  "I answered
the  call  and was told they needed a search team because at  the
time they believed it was a downed aircraft.   And I thought, 'My
God, this is what I have just seen'."
     When firemen arrived at the Kecksburg Fire Hall,  maps  were
reviewed and groups were given sections to search.
     "It  was getting semi-dusk and we had flashlights.   We were
taken in the back of a truck and dropped off and told to go 'this
way'  which  we  did.   I was not on the  initial  contact  team.
Another team found the object.
     "It was definitely, unequivocally, positively, absolutely no
aircraft,  plane,  helicopter  or  rocket,  at least  not  to  my
knowledge.   It was in an area that was part field and part woods
and we went down to investigate," he said.
     "We found the object had crashed at a 30 to 40 degree angle,
and had broken off numerous tree branches in its impact path.  My
initial  reaction  was  'This  is no airplane.'   I  observed  no
shrapnel,  no  breaking  up of the fuselage.   It was  one  solid
piece, no doors, no windows.
     "Preliminary searches found no bodies or casualties.  It was
shaped like an acorn,  laying on its side,  like the acorn nut is
in  its shell when it's on a tree," he explained.   "I've been  a
machinist  for 24 years and I've worked with a tremendous  amount
of different metals, and I have never seen any type of metal that
looked even close to that."
     John said the object was not broken, "not even cracked, just
dented a bit.   It did not give off smoke,  steam or  vapors,  at
least none that we could see."
     Reports  from neighbors in the area said it had given off  a
faint trail of blue smoke, which disappeared after the crash.
     He  described  the portion visible as between eight  and  10
feet long,  six and seven feet across,  and said a man of average
height  would probably have had little trouble standing up inside
it.   The  crater it plowed into the ground was  "rectangular  in
shape."
     John  said the state police were there and the area was soon
quarantined.
     "They  drove us out.   It was late at night when we  finally
got  back to the fire hall and it had been completely taken  over
by  the  military.    They  were  carrying  in  large  pieces  of
equipment,  radios  and such,  and they had armed  guards  posted
outside  so nobody could get in or out.   The firemen were thrown
out.  We weren't even allowed in to use the bathroom.
     "The  military  had control of the  whole  operation,"  John
recalled.   "After  a while we saw a flat bed truck come by  with
some other military equipment, a crane or something.
     "It  was not too much longer,  an hour,  an hour and a half,
when  the  trucks came back and there was a large object  on  the
back of the flat bed,  covered by a tarp,  with military  escorts
front and back.  I got the feeling that if you had stepped on the
road you were dead meat.  They weren't stopping for anything."
     Although  the object was later said to be a meteorite,  John
doesn't buy that explanation.
     "It had writing on it,  not like your average  writing,  but
more  like  ancient  Egyptian hieroglyphics.   It had sort  of  a
bumper on it,  like a ribbon about six to 10 inches wide,  and it
stood  out.   It  was  elliptical the whole way  around  and  the
writing  was on this bumper.   It's nothing like I've ever  seen,
and  I'm an avid reader.   I read a lot of books  on  Egypt,  the
Incas, Peruvians, Russians and I've never to this day come across
anything that looked like that."
     John notes that later it was denied that the object was even
a meteorite, and the military "denied they were even in the area.
But I know there were Air Force and Army personnel involved.   It
was like they just came out of the woodwork."
     Gordon's  research  has revealed that one  of  the  military
groups  involved was most likely to be the 662nd Radar  Squadron,
based  at  the Oakdale Armory,  located near  Greater  Pittsburgh
International Airport.
     The  squadron  was  found  to be under the  control  of  the
Aerospace Defense Command, and attempts to get information on the
Kecksburg crash, through the Freedom of Information Act, have not
provided much to go on.
     One  response said there had been no record of the  squadron
being activated on that date,  Gordon said, wondering how so much
equipment  and  personnel could be activated  while  the  monthly
report showed no entry on Dec. 9.
     Through his research, Gordon says he knows the Air Force was
still investigating UFO cases at the public level then,  and that
it was apparently the Project Blue Book staff which contacted the
662nd squadron.  Subsequent reports have led him to theorize that
even  the  Project Blue Book staff was not made aware of  objects
which   could   "affect  national  security,"   and   that   some
intelligence   teams  investigated  crashes  of  "foreign   space
vehicles."
     Another  strange  occurrence that night,  Gordon  said,  was
reports  by  some  civilians that  radiation  was  released.   He
explained  that some children playing in the area had  reportedly
been told by military personnel that that was a possibility,  and
men  in  decontamination suits were allegedly seen  at  the  site
later the next day.
     Although  he has considered the possibility that the  object
could  have  been  space debris or a  test  device,  Gordon  says
documents  and evidence obtained in the last few years lead  more
in the direction of it being a "true UFO."
     John concurs.
     "It was definitely not of this planet.   At the time I was a
skeptical  teen,  but when you see something like that you  don't
forget  it.   When  you  get called out like that from  the  fire
department you think you're going out looking for an aircraft  of
some sort, not a UFO.
     "I'll  never forget it.   I still want to know what the hell
it was."

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8/89

              
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