textfiles/ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1384.ufo

SUBJECT: LAKE ERIE SIGHTING - MUFON                          FILE: UFO1384                             
                             
                             
                             
                             N.E. OHIO FLAP
                       by Richard P. Dell'Aquila

         Richard P. Dell'Aquila and Dale B. Wedge, MUFON State Section 
Directors for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula Counties (Ohio) 
have been investigating a series of sightings, beginning about March 
4, 1988 and seemingly centered around the Perry Nuclear Plant, and the 
CEI coal burning plant at Eastlake, both on the shore of Lake Erie, 
east of Cleveland, Ohio.
         March 4th was a clear, crisp night and the stars were clearly 
visible, especially to the north over the lake where there are no city 
lights.  Venus and Jupiter were bright and in close proximity to each 
other in the western sky.  At about 6:30 P.M., S.B. (name and address 
provided to MUFON) and her children were driving home to Eastlake 
along the lake shore when they observed a large blimp-like object with 
bright white lights at each end, hovering over the lake and rocking 
end to end like a "teeter-totter."  One light was brighter than the 
other and was strobing.  On arriving home, she asked her husband to 
accompany her to the beach about 200 yards north for a closer view of 
the object which they later described as "larger than a football held 
at arm's length."  
         She and her husband walked onto the beach.  The noiseless 
object was gun metal gray and seemed to cause the ice on the lake to 
rumble and crack loudly in an unusual way which frightened her.  The 
witnesses had to shout to be heard by each other, and were surprised 
that no dogs were out barking as would have been expected.
         After observing the object for a while, the couple became 
concerned for the safety of their children in the car when the object 
revolved slowly about 90 degrees, coming almost overhead (about 1/4 
mile high) and pointing its "front" end down toward them.  They drove 
the children home and continued watching the object from their living 
room window which faces the lake.  A neighbor was phoned and she and 
her son went to the beach, reporting the same thing.  They took 
photographs which did not turn out.
        The object began to descend and the witnesses returned to the 
beach, where it was now observed to have red and blue blinking lights 
along its bottom edge.  It emitted 5 or 6 noiseless, intensly bright 
yellow triangular lights from its side.  They intermittently hovered 
around the larger object, darted and zig-zagged into the night sky at 
velocities far in excess of known aircraft.  Mr. B stated the 
triangular objects were smaller than a one-seat Cessna and "crossed 50 
mile stretches low over the ice in the snap of a finger."  They were 
said to be able to approach the shore, turn abrupt right angles due 
east toward the Perry Nuclear Plant about 12 miles away, climbing 
rapidly and returning again, all within several seconds.  By this 
time, a Coast Guard patrol vehicle had arrived on the beach in 
response to S.B.'s several phone calls.
         The triangular objects came closer to the shore, causing the 
witnesses to become concerned that the lights on the Coast Guard 
vehicle would attract the objects and the lights were turned off.  The 
triangles continued to fly off at high speed northward over the lake 
and eastward toward the Perry Nuclear Plant.  About an hour later, 
they returned one at a time into the large ship, which then landed on 
the ice.  Several multi-colored lights now came on for about 5 minutes 

                             (Page 1 of 3)
on the bottom of the object "in a wave like a movie theater sign" and 
the brighter white light on the end began strobing red and white.  
When these went off, the ice stopped making noise and everything 
became "dead silent."  The object could no longer be seen within about 
a half hour and it was assumed to have gone below the surface.  The 
next day, unusually huge pieces of broken ice were observed in the 
area of the landing. 
         The Coast Guard informed Mr. and Mrs. B the following day 
that the Army and NASA, whom S.B. had also phoned, instructed them not 
to investigate the matter further or go out on the lake in their 
cutter to examine the ice in the area of the landing, since the matter 
was "out of their league and out of their hands."  They informed the 
couple that all information was being forwarded to Wright-Patterson 
Air Force Base and a facility in Detroit, Michigan.  In response to a 
Coast Guard inquiry, Wright-Patterson refused to confirm or deny any 
interest in these activities.
         On the next night, the same witnesses observed several 
triangular objects over the lake for about 45 minutes.  By the time 
Coast Guard personnel arrived on the scene, the objects were gone.
         On March 7, 1988, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Lake County  
News-Herald carried articles which attributed a series of reports of 
large brightly lit objects over Lake Erie on the prior weekend to 
several witnesses' misidentification of the planets Venus and Jupiter. 
The newspaper accounts indicated that the Fairport Harbor Coast Guard 
went to the area and saw a large bright object that seemed to dispurse 
smaller, bright multi-colored objects.  But when they called the local 
air traffic controllers, they were "informed" that Jupiter and Venus 
were in alignment and that the colors were the result of "spontaneous 
gas emissions from the two planets."  One article even attributed this 
amazing explanation to a professor of astronomy at a local university.
         On reading the articles, Dell'Aquila felt it was unlikely 
that U.S. Coast Guard personnel, trained in navigation and 
identification of basic celestial objects such as the planets, could 
have made such a gross misidentification.  Likewise, the statement 
attributed to the professor of astronomy was equally unacceptable, in 
that no other similar "spontaneous gas emission" from the planets 
cited, of the necessary magnitude, had ever been noted, particulary on 
this weekend.
         In the course of the follow-up investigation by Dell'Aquila 
and Wedge, a Coast Guard incident report was found (presently in 
MUFON's possession) which states that Coast Guard personnel responded 
to several calls reporting UFOs over Lake Erie on the night of March 
4, 1988.  When the Coast Guard arrived, the report confirms that a 
large object "dispersed 3-5 smaller flying objects that were zipping 
around rather quickly.  These objects had red, green white, and yellow 
lights on them that strobed intermittently  They also had the ability 
to stop and hover in mid-flight."  The incident report confirms Mr. 
and Mrs. B's reports, including the abnormal cracking of the ice as 
the object came closer to it and apparently landed.  "The smaller 
objects began hovering in the area where the large object landed 
(about 1/4 mile east of the CEI power plant) and after a few minutes 
they began flying around again."  The report states that, "One of the 
small objects turned on a spotlight where the large object had been, 
but [the Coast Guard personnel] could not see anything, and then the 
object seemed to disappear.  Another object approached [these 
personnel] approximately 500 yards offshore about 20 feet above the 
ice, and it began moving closer as [the Coast Guard] began flashing 
its headlights, then it moved off to the west." 

                            (Page 2 of 3)
         A subsequent Coast Guard report (also in possession of MUFON) 
prepared after the sightings of the following night attributes the 
sightings to misidentifications of the planets Venus and Jupiter and 
says, "the flashing lights are gases in the atmosphere...Request 
incident closed this unit."  In response to a classified advertisement 
placed by the investigators, other witnesses contacted Dell'Aquila and 
Wedge, and have been interviewed as the investigation continues.
         On the same night (March 4th) at about 10:00 P.M., and 
continuing until approximately 10:30 P.M., C.H. (name and address 
provided to MUFON) also reported a UFO near her home, which is a few 
miles south of the lake shore and just east of the Perry Nuclear 
Plant.  C.H. was walking a puppy when she noticed the stationary 
triangular object in the southeasterly sky.  It was much brighter than 
the moon, and seemed to upset the puppy, which she took back indoors.  
Returning outdoors, she reported that the object began sequentially 
flashing multi-colored lights, suspended in rows below the base of the 
triangle.  The witness responded by flashing her cigarette lighter and 
the UFO's light pattern became more erratic.  At one point, the 
triangle revolved clockwise, turning its apex about 90 degrees to a 
horizontal position, but still flashing the rows of light.  After 
several minutes, it turned back counter-clockwise as it simultaneously 
accelerated away to the south at a high rate of speed, disappearing 
behind some trees.  No noise or odor was reported.
         At about 10:30 P.M. that night T.K. (name and address 
provided to MUFON), took a photograph in his back yard, within a few 
miles of the Perry Nuclear Plant, showing a portion of a brightly lit 
triangular object travelling across the sky (Photograph in possession 
of MUFON).  This object was later confirmed by Mr. and Mrs. B and C.H. 
to be identical to the triangular objects they were also observing 
about the same time a few miles away, and is also similar to one 
reported to Phil Imbrogno as having been near the Indian Point Nuclear 
Power Plant in New York State on the same night.
         T.K. and his friend were outdoors on the night of March 4th, 
observing the stars through his telescope.  Venus and Jupiter were 
reported to be in the western sky behind a stand of trees.  While 
looking southward through the telescope, out of the corner of his left 
eye, T.K. noticed a bright, moving object in the sky.  He and his 
friend were awe-struck by the triangular object, but he did have the 
presence of mind to take 3 photographs with a small "snapshot" type 
camera loaded with Kodak 110 color film, with which they had intended 
to photograph stars through the telescope.  Only one photograph 
turned out.  It is the last in the series, taken while 
panning ahead of the object, and shows the front portion of the 
triangle.  The object was described as about 3-4 inches tall at arm's 
length and glowing an intense yellow/orange to white, with a bright 
orange/red glow behind it.  It seemed to pulse brighter and dimmer, 
moving in a roughly southwesterly direction until it was obscured by 
trees.  As it moved, it accelerated, slowed and accelerated again.  No 
sound or smell was noted, although his dog had a strong reaction, 
running in circles and tugging on T.K.'s sleeve, apparently in an 
attempt to urge him away from the object.  Total time of observation 
was a few minutes.
         Dell'Aquila and Wedge continue to receive reports of 
additional UFOs over the same period, some supported by photographs, 
as the sightings continue to the date of this writing.  Supplementary 
reports will be provided as the investigation of the flap progresses.

                             (Page 3 of 3)

              
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