PROJECT BLUE BOOK

1, DATE - TIME GROUP 2. LOCATION :

21 December 64 21/2130} Harrisonburg, Virginia i

3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION
Civilian

PSYCHOLOGICAL CATEGORY
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS

No evidence to indicate that a landing took place, Case carried
One in the general psychological category. SEE CASE FILE,

5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
2 Minutes (Approximate) Saucer landed and took off. Area allegedly radioactive. Car

supposedly stopped by the object. Size estimted at more thz
CEE OF Cee 90 ft high. Shaped a bee hive, Had a flourescent light
Ground-Visual ring around center. vestigated from WPAFB.

7. COURSE SEE CASE FILE.
Land & Take Off Initial information received innletter from citizen 21 days

after reported event allegedly took place,

8. PHOTOS

FORM
FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used,

nk

*

Sree © tet e.. . / ee temme ot 26 ee

So Mr. Burns told me how to find the meadow in which the
object had landed and said he judged that the UFO had rested
about 100 yards from the highway. But he gave me no further
directions. I found the meadow, stepped off 100 yards along the
west fence, and then went 10 or 15 steps farther. Then with the
Geiger counter turned on, I walked across the field eastward.
When I was about two-thirds of the distance across the meadow,
the needle started to rise and in the area from there 40 or 45
steps eastward the needle swung off the dial a number of times.
I trailed the probe stick (by its flexible wire) in the dry grass
and several times picked up highly radioactive particles that sent
the needle off the dial. Even though I walked far off the landing
site, the needle would not return until I had cleaned off the
Geiger-Mueller D-50 tube with a cloth.

Fortunately, before I was halfway through this investigation
Mr. Harry Cook, a DuPont research engineer, and a Mr. Funk,
a fellow engineer, while driving home from the day's work,
the former having learned the day before thatthe UFO had landed

somewhere in that meadow, saw me there, stopped their car,
joined me, and corroborated my findings when they saw the evi-
dent radioactivity revealed by the Geiger counter. (See Jan. 17
Richmond Times-Dispatch.) The Geiger counter I used isa Model
2612 Portable Survey Meter with a Model PlSprobe. The Count-
er's ranges are 0.2, 2, and 20 mr/hr coinciding with 600; 6,000;
and 60,000 counts per minute full scale with the P15 probe. The
several times that I had evidently picked up radioactive particles,
I had the range set at 0.2, but the needle still stayed off the dial
even when I set the counter to the 2 or 20 ranges, and, as | said
before, the needle did not return to near zero until I brushed off
the tube with my handkerchief. After I had uncovered the tube in
in the probe stick the second time, to clean if off, I walked over
the landing area with the probe stick and exposed tube held about
five feet from the ground. While | was doing this, the needle
wavered around 16-18 milliroentgens per hour. The rays so
registering were evidently striking the tube from various directions
from the ground. And we noticed that when all three of us were
near to look at the counter dial, our bodies seemed to shield out
many of the rays, so that the needle dropped back considerably.
This would indicate that the radiation was not of the gamma ray
type, because gamma rays will penetrate several feet of solid
concrete, whereas a thin sheet of paper will stop the alpha rays
and something like a one-inch board will stop beta rays.

On January 12 Technical Sergeant David Moody and Staff
Sergeant Harold Jones of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
after telephone conversations initiated the day before by the Day-
ton, Ohio, team, arrived to investigate the UFO landing of over
three weeks earlier, Horace Burs, Clair Weaver (student nresident
of the UFO Investigators of Eastern Mennonite College), and |
accompanied the Air Force officers to the landing side 42 miles
south and back again to Harrisonburg. Sergeant Moody had
Mr. Burns tell the entire story of his sighting, both on the way
and on arrival at the place of the sighting. Also he questioned
me as to my investigation of the landing site and discovery of the
high radioactivity. To Mr. Dallas Kersey, reporter for the Rich-
mond Times-Dispatch, who joined us when we were about to begin
work in the field, Sergeant Moody said,” Thisis an unusual sight-
ing. It's not routine. If it was coutine, we wouldn't be here.”

As the now six of us walked into the field, still covered with
four inches of snow remaining from a six-inch fall of a few days
before, it was no little gratification to me to see Mr. Burns lead
the group exactly to the area that Mr. Cook, Mr. Funk, and I
had found to be radioactive, and to hear him say, “Here, Gentle
men, is where this Thing stood." This was the first ime Horace
Burns and | had been near the place at the same time.

Sergeant Moody, using a Model 2586 Beta-Gamma Survey
Meter, tested the area (rather perfunctorily, we feit) at 8 or 10
spots, first scraping the 4 inches of snow aside each time with
his foot. Twice, when the needle started to rise, he ejaculated,
"Unh!", quickly made some adjustment on his Survey Meter
which caused the needle to return to zero, and then said, “See,
there's no radiation here!’ On a third occasion (each of these
witnessed by at least three persons), when he poked his instrument
too far into a clump of grass (after he had kicked off the snow),
several grass stubbles punctured the thin grey plastic-like film on
the end of the Meter and thistimethe needle shot up much higher
than before, before he could jerk back the Meter and examine
the damaged film. But again he made the adjustment, lowered
the Meter more gently and said, "There's no radiation here!"
However, he acknowledged that the J cains and the 5 Inches of
snow that had fallen, since the time of my investigation on Dec-
ember 30, could have dissipated any radioactive isotopes deposited
there on Dec, 21, depending on their half-life, of course. The Serg-
eants both seemed sufficiently impressed by all the facts they
observed and heard related, that they said several times that of
the 532 UFOs reported in 1964 and investigated by the Air

Force (of which 16 were classified as unidentified or unexplained)
this could well result in being the 17th for 1964.

In view of all these facts, when Mr. Burns and I each received
our 3-page cr py (dated January 27, 1965) of the Air Force
report and findings on the Dec. 21 UFO landing near Staunton,
it was with considerable surprise and dismay that we found that
the Air Force had decided there had been no such UFO sighting
and landing. The report’s concluding paragraph reads:

“CONCLUSION: It is believed that a vehicle of this
size would be observed by additional witnesses at the time
and location of the reported event. There were no addi-
tional witnesses. There was no confirmation of radio-
activity in the area. Grass and weeds had not been de-
pressed. There was a total lack of any indication that a
vehicle had landed in the field. Investigation by Air Force
personnel and subsequent analysis of the data collected
fails to reveal any evidence of an alleged landing.”

Apparently the honest, straightforward, detailed testimony by
Horace Burns, as to what he saw in the air, on the ground, and
in the air again, and its effect on the motor of his car, and my
testimony, supported by two technically experienced witnesses, as
to the radioactivity of the landing site of the UFO, do not con-
stitute evidence as far as the Air Force is concerned.

Strangely missing from the greatly detailed, 3-page report
from the Air Force was any reference at all to the three rains
and the 6 inches of snow that had fallen on the area between
December 30 and January 12, which we reportedto the Air Force
team and which they could easily have verified at the local weather
station which informs us that between these dates this region had
a total precipiiation of exactly 2 inches. The two sergeants were
very much aware of the 4 inches of snow still present in the field,
through which they waded in their low shoes for half an hour,
although I had urged them during their long-distance call from
Mhio, to come prepared with galoshes.

Also missing from their report is any referenceto the fact that
the two research engineers (Messrs. Cook and Funk, used to
Geiger counter work), had witnessed the radioactivity of the land-
ing area. Curiously, the sergeants evinced no interest in talking
to these two engineers, both of whom live within a few miles of
the area. Howevery, Sergeant Moody mentions in his report that
copies of several Richmond Times-Dispatch articles are attached,
including one written by Reporter Dallas Kersey on January 16
for the January 17 issue. Moody does not quote from the article,
but he can hardly have missed reading the following:

Nine days after Burns said he saw the 80 to 90-foot
object, Gehman took a Geiger counter to the site to check
for radiation. He knew that othre reported UFO's have
given off radiation.

Gehman got a “tremendously high reading” of radia-
tion, and his finding has been verified by H.M. Cook of
Staunton, a research engineer at Waynesboro’s DuPont
plant. Gehman “was having a tizzy because the needle
was all the way off the dial,”” said Cook, who has had
considerable experience with Geiger counters in his work.

“It was a hot area,"’ Cook said. ""Wespent 45 minutes
in the field trying to tone this reading down. We checked
the radium dials on our watches, even went over a small
hill from the field, but this was definitely an accurate
reading. The only thing | can say is that it was hot
(radioactive).""

Another curious juggling of the facts appears inthe Air Force
report near the bottom of page 2 as follows:

“Examination of the field showed that grass and
brittle weeds stems had not been depressed or broken over
any large area. There was no indication that a large
vehicle or object of any significant weight had landed in
the field.””

How could they make such a statement, when the facts are
that the meadow, of good quality grass, had been mowed for hay
and there were no brittle weed stems in the field anywhere, to be
depressed or broken down? And as for the grass, how could the
Sergeants know that it had not been depressed, since it was covered
with 4 inches of snow when they were there? The photograph,
widely published, taken by Mr. Kersey of Sergeant Moody and
Horace Burns bending over the Air Force Survey Meter, elo-
quently proves the presence of at least 4 inches of snow.

_ Again, on page 3 of their report they refer owes to the read-
ing | Sad obtained on the Geigercounter. once ‘hat ¢ was SOU)
counts per minute, which ts correct, Dut iater this is equated with
"60,000 mr/hr on the check by Dr. Gehman,” but this would
multiply the radiation I found by 120. And they quote Major
James Sproul, Air Force radiation expert, as stating (apparently

on the basis of this misinformation) that such radioactive strength
deposited on December 21 should yield a positive return on
January 12, which would without a doubt becorrect, if there had
been radioactivity of such intensity. But following on Major
Sproul’s statement, the report says, ". . . there is no alternative
but to disregard the Geigercounter returnstakenby Dr. Gehman.”
In this way they disposed ofthe problem indicated by the opening
sentence in thelr paragraph on radiation: ‘The most pertinent
fact in the alleged landing was the Geiger counter reading taken
by Dr. Gehman.” .

Two questions continually linger in my mind First, was the
Air Force Beta-Gamma Survey Meter really the proper instru-

‘ment to use, if the radiation might have been mainly or only of

alpha rays? And, second, was their particular instrument, which
Sergeant Moody always held down close to the ground, really
designed to discover radiation in a wide, general area? Was it
not rather designed for use after the source of the rays has
already been pretty definitely pinpointed?

In this Alr Force report there are a number of other curious
errors and misjudgments of fact, such as their saying that the
UFO had crossed Route 250 “at an altitude higher than a trans-
mission power line to the left of the highway. These telephone
(sic) poles are approximately 75 feet in height. Descent of the
object was at an angle and the object appeared to be spinning
slightly.” Now it happens that those Virginia Electric Power
Company poles are declared by VEPCO officials to be from 38
to 44 feet in height, which averages at little more than half as
high as was estimated by the Sergeants. If they had missed this
estimate by 5 or even 10 feet, it could be overlooked, but to miss
it by 30 feet is more than one hopes for from technically trained
members of a responsible investigating team. And as to the
“spinning” of the UFO, we haveheard Mr. Burns say repeatedly,
as he said in answer to Sergeant Moody's question that day,
that he did not notice any spinning.

The report contains a number of other such discrepancies.
For a quick rundown of some of these, note:

Page 1: (a) Sergeant Moody called my home at 11:30 a.m.
on Jan. 12, inatead of at 9:00 a.m. as he said in his report to
his superiors. Small matter? Perhaps. When he called at 11:30
he told Mrs. Gehman that they had just arrived at a local motel
and needed to shave and wash up and eat before we could get
together, which we did at 1:30.

(b) Describing the UFO: “The band of light was about 12
inches In diameter.” He should have siad ‘in width."

Page 2: (a) “The object rose straight up, tilted at an angle
and shot off into space. .."" Mr. Burns had told him: “shot off
in a northeasterly direction.”” It had come from due north.

(b) “Direction of ceparture was about sixty degrees to the
right of its approach.” However, the angle between north and
northeast is not 60 but 45 degrees.

(c) "Dr. E. G. Gehman siated that he had contacted occu-

ants of the adjacent farmhouses and that they had seen or
rd nothing.” Correct; but since the Sergeants accepted and
reported this fact, why not also my much more extended testimony
of the two research engineers who shared my Geiger counter in-
vestigation with me?

(ad) “Dr. Gehman is head of a local UFO Hobby Club and
bas appeared on severa! local radio programs in the area."’ The
UFO Investigators are a serious group of college students con-
ducting a scientific inquiry on the many locally reported UFO
phenomena. I have never appeared on a local radic program
on the subject of UFOs; although WSVA on Dec. 27 announced
the existence of this extracurricular group organized several
months earlier at Eastern Mennonite College, as noted above.

Page 3: (a) “At no time during the thirty minutes of investi-
gation was the highway empty of cars."" This can be challenged,
for ail of us were intent on Sergeant Moody's Geiger counter,
aa be also was. No one was consistently observing the highway

' traffic.

(b>) Regarding Mr. Burns: “Without a thorough psychiatric
examination no positive conclusion regarding hallucination is
possible. The witness's reliability is not questioned.”’ This seems

like contradictory testimony. How can one consider a witness
reliable, if one also suspects that he may have hallucinations?
But since Mr. Burns’ simple, frank testimony has through these
weeks been consistent and unshaken under sometimes severe cross-
questioning, even heckling, possibly it is not oe who should have
a thorough psychiatric examinadon.

(c) The Air Force report states, as quoted above: "There
were no additional witnesses” to the Burns’ sighting. While it ls
true that at the time ofthe Air Force team's visit we did not know
of any other persons who had seen the same UFO, yet two days
later Mr. Kersey interviewed a 14-year-old high schoolboy, Ken-
neth Norton, of Staunton, who saw 4 large UFO traveling rapidly

over the city in the direction from which Horace Burns saw It
coming. This sighting by Kenneth occurred on the same day
just a few minutes before the landing seen by Burns. The boy
called to his mother to come to see the object. His parents cor-
roborate their son's story as to date and time of sighting. A
fuller account of this and of the sighting in the air by another
father and son and still another man, of the UFO, apparently
immediately after it had left the landing site on Route 250, are
told in Reporter Kersey'’s January 15 and 17 Richmond Times-
Dispatch articles. Sergeant Moody bad at least the article of the
17th as mentioned earlier, but, without looking into these reports
at all, he could blandly say, “There were no additional wit-
nesses,"”

This paper does not exhaust the inconsistencies and dis-
crepancies in the Air Force report of its ‘official investigation.”
One or two of those remaining the writer plans to take up with
Sergeant Moody personally, in addition to the ones noted in this
paper, but all of them together constitute strong proof that the
investigation and subsequent report were considerably less than
fair and open-minded. In consequence, a good many people in
the Shenandoah Valley feel that if other Air Force investigations
of UFO reports may be judged by this one, then the general rep-
utation that the: Aerial Phenomena Section of the Air Force,
Project Blue Book, has un the subjectisby no means undeserved.

While on the whole wehavea very high regard for the United

~ States Air Force, its tremendous responsibilities for the safety

of our country, its capabilities, standards, and, by no means
least, its personnel, yet we cannot help feeling that the Aerial
Phenomena Section of the Foreign Technology Division would
do well to seriously overhaul its principles, its methodology, and
some of its personnel.

Attestation: I believe the above report by Dr. Gehman
is a complete and accurate statement of Mr. Horace
Burns’ UFO sighting and related matters.

Signed: 5
: Ernest G. Gehman
Professor of German
Sponsor of UFO Investigators
Eastern Mennonite College

Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
Ii. CarivWaoves
Signed:

R. Clair Weaver, President
UFO Investigators
Eastern Mennonite College
Harrisonburg, Virginia

Attestation: I have read this paper and can affirm that
it is a true and reliable report.

/

Signed: P
ee Horace Burns, Gunsmith
Grottoes, Virginia

P.S. Further confirmation: just as we goto press we learn that
several homes in the landing region reported the fact that at
about 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 21 their lights suddenly dimmed and
their radios and TV sets ceased functioning for several minutes.
The heads of these homes are saidto have told this in the factory
where they work.

GEH MAN'S YIEWS AIRED

Prof, Genman, who aiso is a miniter, things there is possibly
some connection between the UFOs and the second coming of
Christ. Gehman believes ours is not the only inhabited planet.

NICAP AND KEYHOE
Prof. Gehman filed the report with NICAP. The news story
(Continued on Page 4)

hes 6

THE A. P, R. O. BULLETIN

MAY-JUNE, 1965

Huge UFO At Staunton, Va.

Mr. Horace Burns, of Grottoes, Virgin-
ia, claims to have seen an 80-foot-high
UFO four miles east of Staunton, Virgin-

ia at 5 p.m. on 21 Decembér 1964-Draw-—

ings of the objéc€ show a general cone
shape 125 feet in diameter with a band
of bluish-white light on the bottom.

Burns claimed the metallie-appearing
object came out of the sky north ‘of the
Highway, crossed Route 250 about 200
feet ahead of him and then his engine
stepped. He said his car seemed to come
to an “unnaturally” quick stop.

He also said the object landed lightly,
“like a bubble” about 100 yards off the
Highway. It had no visible portholes,
wings or seams. See diagram. The ob-
ject rested on the meadow for from 60-90
seconds, then with a sound of rushing air,
it rose straight up for several hundred
feet and then proceeded into the north-
east. Burns claimed there was no traffic
during this time, nor was there any for
at least a mile ahead along the route
which he drove his car after he started
it up again.

Six days later Mr. Burns informed
Ernest G. Gehman, a Professor of Ger-
man at Eastern Mennonite College at
Harrisonburg. On the following Tuesday
Professor Gehman taped the story at Mr.
Burns’ gunshop. On Wednesday the Pro-
fessor tested the area where the UFO had
purportedly landed and his counter reg-
istered 60,000 counts per minute. . This
was 9 days after the UFO had rested on
the spot.

On January 12 Sgt. David Moody and
S/Sgt. H. Jones of Wright-Patterson AFB
arrived to investigate the landing. They
questioned Burns and Gehman.

Gehman, who was on the scene during
the AF investigation, noted that Moody
also got an indication of radioactivity.
This was three weeks after the incident.
Moody also indicated the Burns sighting
was a “good” one by several remarks.
However, in their 3-page report which
they forwarded to Gehman, they inferred
their doubts concerning the authenticity
of Burns’ claims.

To our knowledge no sighting of a UFO
in that area which would tend to corrob-
orate Burns’ claims has come to light.
It has been suggested that the lack of
traffic on route 250 is most unusual at
any time of day and especially at 5 p.m.

An examination of a state of Virginia
road map shows Staunton intersected by
two major highways and several smailer
roads, HKoute 1 cuns roughly SSW to
NNE. Highway 250 where the huge

UFO was alleged to have landed, runs)
WNW and ESE. This major U. S. High-,

way runs to Charlottesville and then to
Richmond, ESE of Staunton. It does not

BAND OF LIGHT

LARRY E.

Shown above is the “beehive” shaped object a observed near Staunton, Vir-

ginia, U.S.A. on 21 December, 1964.

seem likely that an 80-90 foot high UFO
could land in daylight on a major thor-
oughfare and be seen by only one individ-
ual. Charlottesville, home of the Uni-
versity of Virginia is only 35 miles away
to the ESE. Its population is in excess
of 30,000. The population of Staunton is
20,000. Waynesboro, between Staunton
and Charlottesville, has 13,000 residents.

This evidence seems to conflict with
Burns’ story—but on the other hand, we
have the testimony of a respected Uni-

versity Professor concerning excessive |

radiation,

A short time ago, some strange holes
and high radiation count were found in
the woods near Glassboro, New Jersey.
A tale of a glowing red object which had
purportedly landed in the woods was told
to the son of a known UFO enthusiast

and NICAP member, by an unidentified |

youth. Police investigated and located
a boy who was identified as the one who
originally told of the alleged landing. He
was taken into custody, admitted perpe-
trating a hoax by digging the holes and
scattering certain chemicals to raise the
radiation count. He was tried, found
guiltv, fined, warned about future she-
nanigans and released. His tine was aiso
suspended,

We relate the latter case without pert-
inent details or names (the case is old
and does not appear to be a true UFO
report) because it is important in that
radiation at an alleged UFO landing site
can be simulated. However, such fake

cases can be detected with a little investi-

Yalion,

_—_—_—- -— ___

On the basis of this misinformation) that such radioactive strength
deposited on December 21 should yield a positive return on
January 12, which would without a doubt becorrect, if there had
been radioactivity of such intensity. But following on Major
Sproul’s statement, the report says, ‘'. . . there is no alternative
but to disregard the Geiger counter returnstakenby Dr. Gehman.”
In this way they disposed oftheproblemindicated by the opening
sentence in their paragraph on radiation: "The most pertinent
fact in the alleged landing was the Geiger counter reading taken
by Dr. Gehman.”

Two questions continually linger in my mind First, was the
Alr Force Beta-Gamma Survey Meter really the proper instru-
‘ment to use, if the radiation might have been mainly or only of
alpha rays? And, second, was their particular instrument, which
Sergeant Moody always held down close to the ground, really
designed to discover radiation in a wide, general area? Was it
not rather designed for use after the source of the rays has
already been pretty definitely pinpointed?

In this Air Force report there are a number of other curious
errors and misjudgments of fact, such as their saying that the
UFO had crossed Route 250 “at an altitude higher than a trans-
mission power line to the left of the highway. These telephone
(sic) poles are approximately 75 feet in height Descent of the
object was at an angle and the object appeared to be spinning
slightly." Now it happens that those Virginia Electric Power
Company poles are declared by VEPCO officials to be from 38
to 44 feet in height, which averages at little more than half as
high as was estimated by the Sergeants. If they had missed this
estimate by 5 or even 10 feet, it could be overlooked, but to miss
it by 30 feet is more than one hopes for from technically trained
members of a responsible investigating team. And as to the
“spinning” of the UFO, we haveheard Mr. Burns say repeatedly,
as he said in answer to Sergeant Moody's question that day,
that he did not notice ang spinning.

The report contains a number of other such discrepancies.
For a quick rundown of some of these, note:

Page |: (a) Sergeant Moody called my home at 11:30 a.m.
on Jan. 12, instead of at 9:00 a.m. as he said in his report to
his superiors. Small matter? Perhaps. When he called at 11:30
he told Mrs. Gehman that they had just arrived at a local motel
and needed to shave and wash up and eat before we could get
together, which we did at 1:30.

(b) Describing the UFO: “The band of light was about 12
inches in diameter.” He should have siad ‘in width."

Page 2: (a) “The object rose straight up, tilted at an angle
and shot off into space...’" Mr. Burns had told him: “shot off
in a northeasterly direction.”” It had come from due north.

(b) “Direction of ceparture was about sixty degrees to the
right of its approach.” However, the angle between north and
northeast ia not 60 but 45 degrees.

(c) “Dr. E. G. Gehman stated that he had contacted occu-
pants of the adjacent farmhouses and that they had seen or
heard nothing.” Correct; but since the Sergeants accepted and
reported this fact, why not also my much more extended testimony
of the two research engineers who shared my Geiger counter in-
vestigation with me?

(ad) “Dr. Gehman is head of a local UFO Hobby Club and
bas appeared on several! local radio programs in the area." The
UFO Investigators are a serious group of college students con-
ducting a scientific inquiry on the many locally reported UFO
phenomena. I have never appeared on a local radic program
on the subject of UFOs; although WSVA on Dec. 27 announced
the existence of this extracurricular group organized several
months earlier at Eastern Mennonite College, as noted above.

Page 3: (a) “At no time during the thirty minutes of investi-
gation was the highway empty of cars."’ This can be challenged,
for all of us were intent on Sergeant Moody's Geiger counter,
aa be also was. No one was consistently observing the highway
- traffic.

(>) Regarding Mr. Burns: “Without a thorough psychiatric
examination no positive conclusion regarding hallucination is
possible. The witness's reliability is not questioned.”’ This seems

like contradictory testimony. How can one consider a witness
reliable, if one also suspects that he may have hallucinations?
But since Mr. Burns’ simple, frank testimony has through these
weeks been consistent and unshaken under sometimes severe crosa-
questioning, even heckling, possibly it is not he who should have
a thorough psychiatric examinacion.

(c) The Air Force report states, as quoted above: "There
were no additional witnesses” to the Burns’ sighting. While it Is
true that at the time ofthe Air Force team's visit we did not know
of any other persons who had seen the same UFO, yet two days
later Mr. Kersey interviewed a 14-year-old high schoolboy, Ken-
neth Norton, of Staunton, whosawalarge UFO traveling rapidly

over the city in the direction from which Horace Burns saw it
coming. This sighting by Kenneth occurred on the same day
just a few minutes before the landing seen by Burns. The boy
called to his mother to come to see the object His parents cor-
roborate their son's story as to date and time of sighting. A
fuller account of this and of the sighting in the air by another
father and son and still another man, of the UFO, apparently
immediately after it had left the landing site on Route 250, are
told in Reporter Kersey’s January 15 and 17 Richmond Times-
Dispatch articles. Sergeant Moody bad at least the article of the
17th as mentioned earlier, but, without looking into these reports
at all, he could blandly say, “There were no additional wit-
nesses.”’ ;

This paper does not exhaust the inconsistencies and dis-
crepancies in the Air Force report of its ‘official investigation."’
One or two of those remaining the writer plans to take up with
Sergeant Moody personally, in addition to the ones noied in this
paper, but all of them together constitute strong proof that the
investigation and subsequent report were considerably less than
fair and open-minded. In consequence, a good many people in
the Shenandoah Valley feel that if other Air Force investigations
of UFO reports may be judged by this one, then the general rep-
utation that the: Aerial Phenomena Section of the Air Force,
Project Blue Book, has on the subjectisby no means undeserved.

While on the whole we havea very high regard for the United

~ States Air Force, its tremendous responsibilities for the safety

of our country, its capabilities, standards, and, by no means
least, its personnel, yet we cannot help feeling that the Aerial
Phenomena Section of the Foreign Technology Division would
do well to seriously overhaul its principles, its methodology, and
some of its personnel.

Attestation: I believe the above report by Dr. Gehman
is a complete and accurate statement of Mr. Horace
Burns’ UFO sighting and related matters.

Signed: i
. Ernest G. Gehman
Professor of German
Sponsor of UFO Investigators
Eastern Mennonite College

Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA

Signed:
R. Clair Weaver, President
UFO Investigators

Eastern Mennorite College
Harrisonburg, Virginia

Attestation: I have read this paper and can affirm that
it is a true and reliable report.

/

Signed:

Horace Burns, Gunsmith

+e Grottoes, Virginia

P.S. Further confirmation: just as we go to press we learn that
several homes in the landing region reported the fact that at
about 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 21 their lights suddenly dimmed and
their radios and TV sets ceased functioning for several minutes.
The heads of these homes are saidto have told this in the factory
where they work.

GEH MAN'S VIEWS AIRED

Prot, Genman, who aiso is 4 miniter, chings there ls possibly
some connection between the UFOs and the second coming of
Christ. Gehman believes ours is not the only inhabited planet.

NICAP AND KEYHOE

Prof. Gehman filed the report with NICAP. The news story
(Continued on Page 4)

re ] ** * ’ sf ».
ourses Saneer ews, Vol 12, #1, March 1965 21 December 1964

: VIRGINIA SAUCER LANDING LEAVES HIGH RADIOACTIVITY: On Oecember
2lst, Horace Burns, a Harrisonburg, Vas gunsmith, was driving on Route 250 a
few miles east of Staunton, when he saw a UFO which he estimates to have been
125 feet in dismeter at ;- [twaltt.s.
the base, and 75 feet in
height. The object ess so
} lerge thet he could not
see all of it when look-
ing et it through his car
windshield. As the object
crossed the road shesd of
him, “some sort of force”®
wes exerted on the cer,
because the motor lost
its power tesporerily.
Tne automobile stopped
deed es the UFO crossed
the highway and cease to
test in oe meadows sbout -
100 yerde away. It wos |
cone-shaped, ond ite cir-
cular sloping sides rose
in six large rings that
diminished in diseater to a dome on the top. All sround the perimeter ast the
bese of the-mochine.there wae a bluish glow in s bend about a foot wide. There
were no windows or doors, and no evidence of seams of any sort. Mr. Burns
stood beside his car for ea minute cr two, ofter which the saucer rose up and
took off et very high speed in a northeasterly direction... After the UFO disap-
pesred, the car operated normally, as is the usual case in such incidents.

. f ‘Ff . . 7 *
Information Only Harrisonourg, Virg

|

eben ks!

, WO, Case

source:

(Information Only

Saucer News otaunton,

‘in our non-scheduled Newsletter #22 we gave the story of seven
teenagers who said they saw a little man from outer space near Staunton, Vas, |
late lest J A photograph was also taken by the boys. In our report we |
stated that the story "has all the earmarks of a hoax.” Now we learn that a,
local man named Donald Cash has admitted hoaxing the youngsters...We also have |

s follow-up on the Virginia landing story on Page 18 of our March issues ae

-_— oe ee > ewe oo

industrial worker who, on January 19th,’ saw three 37-inch-high beings enorge |
from = landed UFO, now has-#tleqed?ytesn "hushed up” by the U. S. Covernment. |
When asked by local newspapers to confirm or deny this rumor, the man had no)
comment. Although his name was not released by the newspapers at first, we
have learned that he is William Blackburn, an employee of the General Electric
CompanyeeesIn regard to the “physical evidence” found along a New Jersey high-
way last November (as described on Pages 17-18 of our March issue), over a
dozen subscribers have accepted our offer to send a sample of the material to
any person who has access to laboratory facilities. As yat, none of these peo-
ple have reported back to us with the results of any analysis. However, Paul
Hammer, a Chicago researcher, sent a sample to the U. S. Air Force, and re-
ceived a letter from Wright-Patterson dated February 24th, a copy of which was
sent to us. The Air Force (as was to be expected) identified the material as.

nothing more mysterious than ordinary glass fibers....

on ape 7 °
Last vonue ry
,
Va,

DEARBORN OBSERVATORY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201

n°? '* aoe . i ; > 7
FP en ay ee ot ve ie te pe nice wt i - * VTE Wilts ¥ Lae S ihe § Ree S

. port prepared for tational inveatigations Committee on Aerial
NeEROMeNA, washington, ~. uJ

sossibly ¢ she most remarkable eishting - of an unidentified flying object
ever ray weet to hava taxen place in the chenamdoah Valley oecurred at
3 Pee On Onday, ec.21, 1954. im. iorace Sorns, Living at _brottocs,
Yao, and conducting 2 anall gunshop business on lorth Minin street in
Harrisonburg, was driving his Mercury station wagon a few miles cast of
Staunton on Seute 250 toward Waynesboro, when he caw a huge metallic
object coming out of the aky north of the hishway. As it “erodded Route
250 adout 200 feet ahead of hin, his motor storped dead, “conkad out,” ae
he tells it , and his car seemed to come to on unnaturally quick stop.

ai tua taed ee Gans lee bake antaes alo mae tee
epee Dlg ng po etre e tz. Kuna guided his car to the side
of the road, got outand stood besida it, ond stared in mnazement at the
awesome spectacic. What he saw resesbled in shape an upaide-dewn toy top,
but the size of it was astounding. "It was 125 feet in diameter, at leezst,
and: 8&0 to 90 feet high!" he declares. And besides being generally cone=- —
ghaped, ita circular, sloping sides rose in about 6 larne, concentric

convolutiona that decreased diameter to a dome at the top.

Jithough in the sathering twilicsht Craftsman Dorns could not be sure

o£ the exact natiwa ot the matarial of which it was made, it apreared to
be metallic, possibly o£ alumimm. ie noted that all around the perinater
at the base of the monstrous machine there wae a bluish glow in a band
about a foot, possibly 13 inches, wide. Ue could see no win » doors,

portholes, or even scams anywhere on the ebject. Lor did there seem to be
any sort of Landing gear; the vehicla had sently settled flat on its
bottom on the ground, althouzh he noted that its underside was slightly curve:

the visiter from cuter svace reste! on the meadow for from 60 to 90
seconds ami them with a'whooshj’ the sound no doubt caused by the air rushing;
under it, it suddenly rose straight up for several Inmdred feet and imme-
diately took off in a northeasterly direction at a speed mich greater than
when it crossed the highway from tha north the first time, which br. Burns
Catinates to have been about 15 ailes per hour,

4fter it was gone, Burns got into his car again ond was surprisad to
fing, vien he pressed the starter button, that there was nothing wrong with
the engine amd that it started off at once. Az he crove away he was evident):
ouch excited and engrossed in his thoughts about the apparition (as who

very
wouldn't be?), for he camot recall seeiny any other vehicles coming or go-
ing on “outa 350 for possibly a mile. Dut no doubt other cars on that busy

hisiwsay must have been halted by the UFO's tremencoua magnetic field, and
—, drivers sagt have witnessed the sisht; wa hope Pcs oe ae will make the
ROC

‘race Girma wont hose and toid ©s. Gurns the story of what he had

seen, but declared ha would not tell anyone elise. “They'd thirk I'm crazy,"
he gaide. Ue gis days Later, when ir. Jim chigo of VWSVA ammounced on the
& 2. newacast about the existence of the USO investisaters as an extra-

curricular ciub at astern .ennon.te colleve, .r3. rng comvinced her
Musbard that he should report his exverience. Ja told it on Ponday to .
Ripo, we informed che investivtators, who taped the stary on Tuesday as

f. corms told it. <n Wednesday I asde a orelininary testing pZEK of the
area with a Geiger counter which revealed radio-activity of ovar 50,V00
counts ver m@mute. chia was 93 days after the UO had briefly rested there!

ee

7 de . - ~ ‘
eDp0rt to iISAP 2

43 an interesting and unplanned corroboration of Horace Burns’ story,
let me mention the fact that I found the exact Landing area of the UFO by
myself with the Geiger counter. if. Burns had intended to accompany ne
to the spot, but when the hour arrived for us to go to the place four
miles east of Staunton (which is 28 miles south of Harrisonburg) he could
not Leave his gunshop until a certain dealer in West Virginia had come to
pick up a Lot of guns which Burns had repaired for the dealer's customers
and which they had to have the next day to shoot out the old year and to
shoot in the new!

So ir. Burma told me how to find the meadow in whieh the object had
landed and said he judged that the UFO had rested about 100 yards from
the highway. But he gave me no further directions. I found the meadow,
stepped off 100 yards along the west fence, and then went 10 steps farther.
Then with the Geiger counter turned on, I walked across the field eastward.
When I was about two-thirds of the distance across the meadow, the needle
started to rise and in the area from there about 45 steps castward the
needle swung off the dial a mumber of times. I trailed the probe stick 6y
its flexible wire)in the dry grass and several times picked up highly
radio-active particles that sent the needle off the dial. Even though I
walked far off the landing site, the needle would not return until I had
cleaned off the Geiger-Mieller D#50 tube with a cloth.

Fortunately, before I was halfway through this investigation Mr. Harry
Cook, a Duvont research engineer, and@Mr. Funk, a fellow engineer, while
driving home from the day's work, and having Learned the day before that
the UFO had landed somewhere in that meadow, saw me there, stopped their
car, joined me, and corroborated my findings when they saw the evident
radio-activity revealed by the Geiger counter. (ace Jan. 17 Times-Dispatchd
The Geiger counter I used is a Model 2612 Portable Survey Meter with a
model p=15 probe. The Counter's ranges are 0.2, 2, and 20 mr/hr coinciding
with 600; 6,000; and 60,000 counts per minute full scale with the p-15 probe.
The several times that I had evidently picked up radioactive particles, I
had the range set at 0.2, but the needle still stayed off the dial even
when I set the counter to the 2 and 20 ranges, and, as [ said before, the
needle did not return to near zero until I brushed off the tube with ny
handkerchief. After I had uncovered the tube in the probe stick the second
time, to clean it off, I walked over the landing area with the probe stick
and exposed tube held about five feet from the ground. While I was doing
this, the needle wavered around the 17-18 milliroentgens per hour area.

The rays so registering were evidently striking the tube from various direc-
tions from the ground. And we noticed that when all three of us were near,
to look at the counter dial, our bodies seemed to shield out many of the
rays, so that the needle dropped back considerably. JShis would indicate
that the radiation was not of the gamma ray type, becaiise gamma rays will
penetrate several feet of solid concrete, whereas a thin sheet of paper will
‘top the alpha rays and something like a one-inch board will stop beta rags.

On January 12 Technical Sergeant David Moody and Staff Serczeant Harold
Jones of the Wright-/atterson Air Force Base, after telecohone conversations
initiated by the Dayton, Chio, team, arrived to investizatea the UFO Landi ng
of over three weeks ecarlier. Horace burns, Clair Weaver (student president
of the UFO Investigators of Eastern Mennonite College), and I accompanied
che Air Yorce officers ‘o the landing site 33 miles sowth and back to Jiar-
visonbury. sergeant Moody had 2. Burns tell the antire story of his
sighting, both on the way and on arrival at the place of the sighting. Also
he questioned me as to my investigation of the landing site and discovery
of the high radioactivity, To Mr. Dallas Kersey, reporter for the Richmond
fimes-Dispatch, who joined us while we were/f# work in the field, Serjeant

about to begin

oe

be

a be

‘clump of grass (after he had kicked off the snow), several grass stubbles
“time the needle shot up mich higher than before, before he could jerk back

Reporte to NICAP S

Moody said,"This is an wmusual sighting. [t's not routine. If it was
routine, ‘ve wouldn't be here."

» As the now six of us walked into the field, still covered with four
inches o£ snow remaining from a six-inch fall of a Etew days before, it was
no little gratification to me to see ir. Burns lead the group exactly to the
area that har. Cook, ix. Mimk, and I had found to be radioactive, and to hear
him say, "Here, Gentlemen, is where this fhing stood." This was the first
time Horace Burns and I had been near the place at the Ss, + shsielen

Serceant Moody, using a Model 25386 } SGrvey Meter, onan the
area (rather perfunctorily, we felt) ai{.8 or LO Spotsy first scraping the
4 inches o£ snow aside each time with his-= ‘¢, when the needle
started to rise, he ejaculated, "Uh!" »quicitly made some adjustment on his

Survey Meter which caused the needle to return to zero, and then said, "See,
there's no radiation here!" On a third occasion (each of these witnessed

by at least three persons), when he poked his instrument too far into a

punctured the ‘thin grey plastic-like film om the’end of the meter and this

the Meter and examine the damaged film. But again he made the adjustment,
lowered the Meter more gently and said,"There's no radiation here.? How-
ever, he acknowledged that the 3 rains and the 6 inches of snow that had
fallen,since the time of my investigation on December 30, could have dissi-
pated any stadioactive isotopes deposited there on Dec.21, depending on

their half-life, of course. The Sergeants both scemed sufficiently impressed
by all the facts they observed and heard related, that they said several
times that of the 532 UFOs reported in 1964 and investigated by the Air
Force (of which 16 were classified as unidentified or unexplained) this

could well result in being the 17th for 1964.

In view of ‘all these facts, when Mr. Burns and I each received our
3-page copy (dated January 27, 1965) of the Air Force report and findings
on the Dec 21 UFO Landing near Staunton, it was with considerable surprise
and dismay that we found that the Air Force had decided there had been no

such UFO sighting and landing. The report's concluding paragraph reads:

"CONCLUSION It is believed that a vehicle of this size would

oe observed by additional witnesses at the time and location of the
ported veaont There were no additional witmesses. There was no
conti rmmetine of radioactivity in the area. Grass and weeds f¢7¢ haa
not been depressed. There was a total lack of any indication that a
vehicle had landed in the field. Investigation by Air Force person-
mel and subsequent analysis of the data collected "Sails to reveal

any evidence of an alleged landing." ? ;

Apparently the honest, straightforward, detailed testimony by Horace
Burns, as to what he saw Bn the air, on the ground, and in the air again,

and its effect on the motor of his car, and my testimony, supported by two
technically experienced witnesses, as to the radioactivity of the Landing
site of the UFO, do not constitute evidence as far as the Air Force is
concerned.

Strangely missing from the treatly detailed, S-page report from the
Air Force was any reference at all to the three rains end the 6 inches of
snow that had fallen on the area between December 30 and January 12, wnich
we renorted to the Air Force team and which they could easily have verified

at the local weather stati The two sergeants were very much oe of

the 4 inches of snow still regent in the fi eid eet ween these ao SRE tke

total precipitation (8.7 inches of rain, 2.3 inches of snow waterJexactly 1

At 1000 hours, 11 Jan 1965, The Aerial Phenomena Section of the Foreign
TecHnology Division received a letter (attached) from a civilian regarding an
alleged landing of an unidentified flying object in Harrisonburg, Virginia on
21 Dec 64. The letter indicated that the witness's car had stalled and that
radioactivity was present in the landing area. This radiation had been veri-
fied by one ps aE of Eastern Mennonite College. Upon receipt of this
letter a telephone call wes made to qm to verify the alleged incident
and to determine if a check had been made on radiation. ‘Gimmes stated that
he had checked the area on 30 December with a geiger counter and that this check

showed redioactive returns.

In view of the report of radioactivity and car stalling it was decided that
an investigative team be sent from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to conduct an
official investigation of the reported incident. At 1600, 11 Jan 65 TSgt David
N Moody and SSgt Harold T Jones departed W-P AFB for Harrisonburg, Virginia
(Orders Attached).

An investigation was conducted on 12 Jan 65 and the following information
was obtained. At 0900 a telephone call was made +gQqimiuGammge home and
Sgt Moody was informed that he was inclass at Eastern Mennonite College. Sub-
sequent contact was made and an appointment for an interview with the witness,

Mr See, and was arranged for 1330, 12 Jan. At 1330 Sgt Moody
gunshop at s in
Shortly thereafter @gjj™—fan and a student from Eastern

and Sgt Jones arrived at
Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Mennonite College arrived. This party then departed for the area of the sighting.
The alleged landing site was on U S Route #250 between Waynesboro and Staunton,
near Fishersville, Virginia. During the drive of approximately forty-five minutes
the witness reported the essential details of his observation. Upon arrival

at the landing site pictures were taken of the area and the reported path and

description of the object were given by aS. (copies Attached)

DESCRIPTION OF OBJECT

The object was reported as tremendous in size, about eighty to ninety feet
high end 125 feet in diameter. The shape corresponded to a large teehive.
(Drawing Attached). No color was reported, the object being described only as
dark. When asked i2.colors of the cars and other objects could be identified,
Mr Burns stated that they could. He stated that the light condition at the time
of the sighting was such that colors of the cars and other objects could be identi-
fied. No features such as doors, windows, means of propulsion or other characteris-
tics were noted with the exception of a narrow band of light surrounding the
object about six feet from the ground. This band of light was about 12’ inches
in diameter which would have been above a man standing on the ground adjacent
to the object. No rays were noted and the light was described as florescent.
Mr wanes. did not think the light could have been cuased by a heat source. It
was not similar to a welders torch or other flame. ‘This lignt did not change
in intensity. It was not an extremely bright light and the edges were sharply
defined.

MOTION OF OBJECT

The object was first observed through the windshield in the upper left hand

~y _A - ‘ _ 5 - aw ry — ion ane - an be J bes 2, dem : :
corner. Object approached from the North et an altitude higher than a transmission

“port to Ni@ap “

waded in their low shoes for half an hour, although i had urged them,on
their long-distance call from Chio, to come orepared with galoshes.

Also missing from their report is any reference to the fact that two
research engineers (Messrs. Cook and Fumk, used to Geiger counter work),
had witnessed the radioactivity of the Landing area. Curiously, the ser-
Seants evinced no interest in talking to these two enzincers, both of whom
live within a few miles of the area. However, Sergeant Moody mentions in
his report that copies of several Richmond Times-Dispatch articles are at-
tached, including one written by Reporter Dallas Kersey on January 16 for
the Jamuary 17 issue. ‘Moody does not quote from the article, but he can
hardly have missed reading the following:

Nine days after Burns said he saw the 80 to 90-foot object,
Gehman took a Geiger counter to the site to check for radiation. He
knew that other reported UFO's have given off radiation.

Gehman got a'tremendously high reading" of radiation, and his
finding has been verified by He. M, Cook of Staunton, a’ research
engineer at Waynesboro's DuPont plant. Gehman “was having a tizzy
because the needle was all the way off the dial," said Cook, who
has had considerable experience with Geiger counters in his work.

"It was a hot area," Cook said. "Je spent 45 minutes in the
field trying to tone this reading down. We checked the radium dials
on our watches, even went over a small hill from the field, but
this was definitely an accurate reading. The only thing I can say
is that it was hot (radioactive)."

Another curious juggling of the facts appears near the bottom of page 2
as follows: (This refers again to the Air Force report)

"Examination of the field showed that grass and brittle weeds
stems had not been depressed or broken over any large area. There
was no indication that a large vehicle or object of any significant
weight had landed in the field."

f

How could they make such a statement, wnen the facts are that the res,
meadow, of good quality grass, had been mowed and there were no brittla ~
weed stems in the field anywhere, to be depressed or Droken down? And as
for the grass, how could the Sergeants know that it had not been depressed,
since it was covered with 4 inches of snow when they were there? The
photograph, widely published, taken by Mr. Kersey of Sergeant boody and
Horace Burns bending over the Air Force Survey Meter, eloquently proves
the prasence of at least 4 inches of snow.

Again, on page 3 of their report they refer twice to the reading I
had obtained on the Geiger counter, once that it was 60,900 counts per
minute, which is correct, but later this is equated with "60,000 mr/hr on
the check by Dr. Gehman," but this would multiply the radiation I found
by 120. And they quote Major James Sproul as stating (apparently on the
basis of this misinformation) that such radioactive strength deposited on
December 21 should yieldda positive return on January 12, which is without
: dowbt correct. But following on Major Sproul's statement, the report
says, “. .« - there is no alternative out to disregard the Ceizer counter
returns taken by Or. Gehman." in this way they disposed of the probiem
indicated by their ovening sentence in their paragraph on radiation: ‘The
most pertinent fact in the alleged landing was the Geiger counter reading
taken by Dr. Gehman."

Se

:
:
:

Report to Nigas 5
ho ALr Force
Iwo questions continually linger in my mind: First, was the/Beta-JUanma
Survey Meter really the proper ins crument to use, if the radiation might
have been mainly or only of alpha rays? And, second, was their particular
instrument, which Sergeant loody always held down close to the ground, really
designed to discover radiation in a wide, general area? i\ias it “not rather
designed for use after the source of the rays has already been pretty defin-
itely pinpointed? (Cf. photo on page 2 of Jan. 14 Richmond Times-Dispatch. )

In this Air Force report there are a number of other curious errors
and mis judements of fact, such as their saying that the UrO had crossed
Route 250"at an altitude "higher than a transmission power line to the left

of the highway. These telephone (sic) poles are approximately 7S feet in
t. Descent of the object was at an anzle and the object appeared to be

spinning slightly." Now it happens that those Virginia Electric Fower Com-
pany poles are declared by VEPCO personnel to be 34 feet in height, which
is not even half as high as was estimated by the Sergeants. If they had
missed this estimate by 5 or even 10 feet, it could be overlooked, but to
miss it by 40 feet’ is more than one hopes for from technically traindd
members of a responsible investigating team. And as to the “spinning” of
the UFO, we have heard Mr. Burns say repeatedly, as he said in answer to
Sergeant Moody’s question that day, that he did not notice any spinning.

The report contains a number of other such discrevancies. For a quick
run-down of some of these, note:

Page 1: (a) Sergeant Moody called my home at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 12,
instead or at 9:00 a.m. as he says in his report to his superiors. Small
matter? Perhaps. When he called at 11:30 he told Mrs. Gehman that they
had just arrived at a local motel and needed to shave and wash up and eat
before we could get together, which we did at 1:30.

(b) Describ the UFO: "The band of light was about 12 inches in

diameter."' He should have said "in width."

Page 2: (a) "The object roge straight up, tilted at an angle and shot
off into space .« . .” Mr. Burns had told him: "shot off in a northeasterly

direction."' It had come from the north.

Cb) "Direction of departure was about sixty dezrees to the rizht of its
approach." However, the angle between north and northeast is not 60 but
45. decrees. --

(c} "Dr. E. G. Gehman stated that he had contacted ousupants of the
adjacent farmhouses and that they had seen or heard nothing.'’ Correct, but
since the Sergeants accepted and reported this fact, why not also my much
more extended testimony of the two research engineers who shared my Geiger’

counter investigation vith me?
(d) ‘™r. Gehman is head of a local UFO Hobby Club and has appeared on

several local radio programs in the area."' The UFO Investigators are a
serious group of collete students conducting a scientific inquiry on the
locally reported Uro nhenomena. If havenever appeared on a Local radio
program on the subject of UFOs, although WSVA on D€&6. 27 announced the exis-
tence of this extracurricular organization at “Eastern Mennonite Collece.

Page 3: (a) "At no time during the thirty nimutes of investization was
the highway empty of cars.'"' This can be chall enged, ior ail of us were
intent on Sergeant Moody's Geiger counter, 2 as he aiso ivas. Ne one was con-
sistently observing the highway traffic. Jones } 1 /

ic examination

arding Mr. Burns: "Without a thorough psychiatric .
no Liehive sonetneton regarding hallucination is possible. The. witness’s

\.<pG7t. to NICAP 6

reliability is not questioned." his seems like contradictory testimony.
How can one consider a witness reliable, if one also suspects that he may
have hiaallucinations? But since lr. Burns! simple, frank testimony has through
these weeks been consistent and unshaken under sometimes severe cross-ques-
tioning, even heckling, possibly it is not he who should have a thorough
psychiatric examination. vere no additional
(c) The Air Force report states, as quoted above: "There ax¢¢/fd/ptKes
witnesses" to the Burns’ sighting. While it is true that at the time of
the Air Force team's visit we did not know of any other persons who had seen
the same UFO, yet two days later Mr. Kersey interviewed a L4-year=-old high-
school boy, Kenneth Norton, of Staunton, who saw a large UroO traveling rapid-
ly over the city in the direction from which Horace Burns saw it coming.
This sizhting by Kenneth occurred on the sane day just a few mimites before
the landing seen by Burns. The boy called to his mother to come to see the
object. His parents corroborate their son's story as to date and time of
sighting. A fuller account of this and of the sighting in the air by another
father and son and another man,of the UFO, apparently immediately after it
had left the landing site on Route 250, are told in Reporter Kersey's Jan-
vary 15 and 17 Richmond Times-Dispatch articles. Serdeant Moody had at
least the article of the 17th, as mentioned earlier, but, without looking
into these reports at all, he could blandly say, "There were no adtiérional

witnesses."

This paper does not exhaust the inconsistencies and discrepancies in
the Air Force report of its “official investigation;' one or two of which
the writer plans to take up with Sezzgeant Moody personally, but all of tt}
together constitute strong proof that the investigation and subsequent pert
considerably less than fair and open-minded. in consequence, a good many
people in the Shenandoah Valley feel that if other Air Force investigations
of UFO reports may be judged by this one, then the general reputation that
the Aerial Phenomena. Section of the Air Force, Project Blue Book, has on
the subject is by no means undeserved.

While on the whole we have a very high regard for the United States Air
Force, its tremendous responsibilities for the safety of our country, its
Capabilities, standards, and, by no means least, its personnel, yet we can-
not help feeling that the Aerial Phenomena Section of the Foreign Technology
Division would do well to seriously overhaul its principles, its methodolocy,

and some of its personnel. Boat AS cba gu.
Signed ¢:

Ernest G. Gehman

Professor of German

Sponsor of UFO Investigators
Eastern Mennonite College
Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA

EARBORN OSSERVATORY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
i EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201

23 February 1965

Major Hector Quintanilla

Foreign Technology Division

Box 9494 ‘
Wright Patterson Air Force Base

Dayton, Ohio

Dear Major:

I am enclosing a toasted copy of a APRO bulletin. Please notice the reported
Holloman Air Force Base case. This is the sort of case which prompts charges of
Air Force secrecy, and I feel that it would be very wise to track this one down
to itslair if at all possible. Apparently there wes some conversation between
the bomber pilot and the tower which the radio amateur accidentally overheard,
but things like that can't get nipped in the bud at the very beginning. It gives
an awful lot of grist for the mill of APRO, etc. I don't know what can be done
at this late date, but at the very least, the radio arateur and the newspaper
reporter should be contacted to see just what the original stimulus was.

I am also enclosing a toasted copy of a note from Mr. a He was the
one who reported the Toledo case which was rather similar to the Monticello
case. I have asked him to get some pictures made of the terrain around there

at a nominal cost if necessary.

Reference 13 August 1964, 200 miles east of Dover (Atlantic); would it be possible
to get the names of the crew members concerned? I would like to write to them

and have each one give me 2 completely independent statement and drawing of what
they reportedly saw. Ir this can be done, we may be able to take this off the
unidentified list. Abcparently these people were between two cloud decks and

saw an object approaching them. It might have been a relatively stationary
balloon which they were overtaking and passed. Since everything over the Atlantic
is carefully checked by radar, this is a puzzler, and it would be very interesting
to get the comments of the individual crew members. I would like to find out how
bright the object appeared and also whether they ever saw it to the rear of the

plane.
Last Sunday I took occasion while loafing around to call this German vrofessor

VS an ped wn ts Mwy te > pase

et the Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonourg, Virginia. This is the case,

“~

ou will remember, that Dave and Sgt. Jones investigated. I also co... a
because I wanted to get straight on two points. ne was how they would

explain the fact that no one else on a well traveled road would not have seen
the object and aso by talking to get a possible line on their personality quirks.

ay
+ ee ote

Ganen ips ve SR completely clean bill of health which, of course, I expected.
to

fat seo =} a a . esecin
Vnisw Os Bae WAS USingd asx
.

rt =. ” n* Sule te ; 4+} -
yvaicen ” —_ e = § lj Lvv iis displease 94 Wile } Vie

‘* aah

* + 4. . ~ ‘2 x. .
oF v7. AGF ot = =» - is 7 ¢ oy we ‘ 4 ~~
me WALy Da ve ken OG SeLTLN Ls bye back SO eeloOo Wraenever ict Snowadac &@ wai ;_— "SSG. 6

also wanted to know how, when the ground was covered with four inches of snow,
: Dave’ could say categorically, that there were no traces of anything having lended.

, 2

The field is apparently mowed, and he mainteins that even without the snow a
landing in a stubble field would be hard to detect. He also said that there
were several other witnesses, but they did not want their names used. I told
him that it would be very important to get the testimony of such witnesses be-
cause otherwise it wes his word egainst the rest of the world. He said he would
continue to investigate. He also said that he would send me a copy of the
report he turned in to NICAP. When I get it, I shali send you a toasted copy.
Gamen's feeling about the well-traveled road was simply that the road is not
always well traveli and furthermore even if there had been cars and other wit-
nesses that in all probability no one would have wanted to say anything about
it for fear of ridicule. He pointed out that it took six days to make
his initial report! So one can take that for what it is worth. ~~

OU tre neenenrnne Poms *

| When I talked to @#MBMB later in the day, he seemed a little too positive for my
blood and a little too belligerent. I tried to trip him up on some fact, such
as where he had said he originally saw it, however, and he invariably corrected.
He said that there were no other cars on the road at the time, but, of course,
in his excitement, I doubt that he would have noticed had there been e whole
caravan. JI think we need a psychiatrist here. What does a person need to eat
to see a traveling beehive? Nonetheless, this will be one of NICAP's select
cases. They simply will not believe the"psychological category" classification.

So mich for that.

I

TAB A Letter from Quer, 6 Jan 65

TAB B Orders Directing TDY to Harrisonburg, Va
TAB C Drawing of Object
| TAB D News Clippings
3 TAB E Map of Area |
. TAB F Miscellaneous Materials

l. Photos of Area
2. Geiger Counter Check
3. Various Notes and Letters

Broadway, Virginia
January 6, 1965 |

U.F.0- Investigation Office
Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Dayton, Ohio

Gentlemen:

I have a good friend at Eastern Mennonite College in
Harrisonburg, Virginia, Gueeeme, , who is interested
in U.F.0.'se He told me that on December 21, 1964, a
Mr. QR. was traveling on the highway between Staunton and
Waynesboro about 5 P.M... when his car suddenly stalled and
as he drifted to a stop off the payment 3 large flat bottomed,
circular and dome shaped object passed directly overhead,
crossing the highway and gently settled to earth about 100
yards away- He judged the object to be about 125 feet in
diameter.

I have no more details of the shape; however, he said
+t had a grey-blue glow around the perimeter. It sat there
about 30 seconds and suddenly rose and left the area heading
toward the mountain at 3 terrific speed. He got back in his
car and the motor started promptly so he drove away very
shaken UD.

This is probably routine to you, but the significant
point is that Queseuiesm® acquired a Geiger counter from the
college, took and had him show him the area. This
was on December 26, 1964. The Geiger counter showed intense
radioactivity in the spot where Mr. SM saw the object
land. No doubt the area is still radioactive.

Or. Genman did not say what type of rays were oresent,
but this should be of some help to youe

_~

—_—= we 2”

a

Mr. has —_— in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
on the faculty at Eastern Mennonite

ollege, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

ee ee oe

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter.

RLS/ss

«
—_—_—_—

REQUES ‘D AUTHORIZATION FOR TEMPORARY DUTY TRAVEL ‘C—LITARY PERSONNEL
(2) ...ore space is required, continue on reverse, identifying »~..13 by number.) 1fj ota Jan 1965

I REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION
0: _ADMINISTRATIVS OFFICHR, HQ FED To as "ruoteateD th

FROM: (Requesting Authority) ITEMS 5 THROUGH 12.
TDSH

2. TYPED NAME, GRADE AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL 3. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL 4. PHONE NR.

DRIC. T. deJONCKHSERS, Colonel, USAF (69216)
Lep/ Technology & Subsystems
iI. TEMPORARY DUTY TRAVEL ORDERS

5. THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL(S) WILL PROCEED AS INDICATED. UPON COMPLETION WILL RETURN TO PROPER STATION:

NAME SECURITY CLEAR.
GRADE ORGANIZATION ANCE FOR PERIOD

(First name, middle initial, last name, AFSN) OF TDY

Tso? DAVID N. MOODY, AF19549897 HQ FTD(ArsCc)USAF
WPAFB, OHIO SECRET

6. DEPART ON OR ABOUT LL Jan 1965 7. APPROXIMATE NR. OF DAYS (Including traveltime) ‘DP o,22 lab (3) 8. DDALV

9. SPECIFY PURPOSE OF TDY 10. ITINERARY: fejpVARIATIONS IN ITINERARY AUTHORIZED

To investigate an operational projecte | Fron: Wright-Patt AFB, Oh4
10: HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA & vicinity

ecuRn To: WPASRt=Patterson AFB, Ohio

» SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

——

12. MODES OF TRAVEL A. TRAVEL BY DIRECTED WHEN AVAILABLE B. TPA. TIME BY COMMON
CARRIER (raster bus) 1S._DAYS. TRAVEL TIME IN EXCESS IS CHARGEABLE TO DELAY ENROUTE AUTHORIZED IN ITEM 8. ce. tra. THIS MODE OF
TRANSPORTATION HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE MORE ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE GOVERNMENT. 0. OTHER

AUTHORIZATION

/

3. AUTHORITY ‘ 14. DATE 15. SPECIAL ORDER NR.
APM 10-3, APM 35—11 1l Jarmary 1965 T9J6
16. DESIGNATION AND LOCATION OF APPROVING HEADQUARTERS 17, APPROPRIATION ACCOUNTING SYMBOL

a 5753400 3054771 P489 2133 2153 3503000 ™
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Wright-Patterson AY Base, Ohio 19. REQUEST FOR TOY 1S APPROVED AND WILL BE PERFORMED. TON.
POR THS COMMANDER

18. DISTRISUTION 20. SIGNATURE ELEMENT OF ORDERS ISSUING OFFICIAL (Seal or Signature)

— _~

—

— —
Ag FORM e989 PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THIS FORM MAY BE USED. de ene: \ear-ebenent

\

REQUES! } AUTHORIZATION FOR TEMPORARY DUTY TRAVEL O -:. {EL
(Ij nore space is required, continue on reverse, identifying itema\, oe —
-— -_-— —_—_—_—_——S—o - —- —; = ~
I. REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZATION, - oF

, : 7 Pony, , 1. REQUEST TOY BE AUTHOR.
TO: uth dest eit VAT TY SPETCED en eon IZED AS INDICATED IN

FROM: (Requesting Authority) ITEMS 5 THROUGH 12.
Oat

2. TYPEO NAME, GRADE AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL | 3. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL 4. PHONE NR.

SRIS T. deJONCEHSSR, Colonel, USAF
Dep/ Technology & Subsystems 69216

ALE TEMPORARY DUTY TRAVEL ORDERS
5. THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL(S) WILL PROCEED AS INDICATED. UPON COMPLETION WILL RETURN TO PROPER STATION:

GRADE HARE ORGANIZATION ANCE FOR PERIOD
(First name, middle initial, last name, APSN) OF TDY

Ssor HAROLD fe JONSS, AF13450006. BQ PTD(APSC)usAP,

UPA, OID

6. DEPART ON OR ABOUT il Jan 1965 7. APPROXIMATE NR. OF DAYS (Including travel time) Sedduaane t3) 8. DOALV
9. SPECIFY PURPOSE OF TOY 10. ITINERARY:42 VARIATIONS IN ITINERARY AUTHORIZED

——

Te nal projects | Frou: Tright-Pattersen APS, Ohio
10: MARRISONBUR, VIRGINIA & VICLUITY

RETURN TO: Wright-Patterson AFB, Chie
CIVILIAN CLOTH AUTHORIZID

it. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

12. MODES OF TRAVEL A. CJ TRAVEL BY. DIRECTED WHEN AVAILABLE B. TPA. TIME BY COMMON
CARRIER (radior bus) 19__._.OAYS. TRAVEL TIME IN EXCESS IS CHARGEASLE TO DELAY ENROUTE AUTHORIZED IN ITEM 8. c. rea. THIS MODE OF
) TRANSPORTATION HAS SEEN DETERMINED TO GE MORE ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE GOVERNMENT. 0. OTHER

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TOR THR

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FO
AF nov'as 628 PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THIS FORM MAY SE USED. Tr GPO: 1901-0-s08281

landing and obtained a reading on the geiger counter which he indicated had

a count of 60,000 counts per minute. Highway 250 has heavy traffic. At no

time during the thirty minutes of investigation at the landing site was the

highway empty of cars. There was constant traffic adjacent to the landing site.
indicated that he would forward his investigative data and informa-

tion on the geiger counter returns obtained by him. Further, this information

was requested in a letter from this office (TDEW) on 19 Jan 65 (Copy Attached.)

The time of the sighting was repvorted as after dark during twilight.
Lights were on Mg cer and on the other cars m the highway. Sunset for
21 Dec at 38° N was approximately 1645. Allowance should be made for the mountains
and horizon to the West. The end of astronomical twilight on the night of 21 Dec
was 1519. Apparent right Ascension of the Moon on 21 Dec at 1730 was approximately
8 hours, 41 minutes with a declination of plus 22° 6 min placing the moon below
the horizon in the East, rising about 1930. On 21 Dec the moon was in full phase,
however, since the moon was below the horizon it did mt add to illumination of
the area. Time of the sighting is estimated as shortly after 1700.

ANALYSIS

Radiation: The most pertinent fact in the alleged landing was the geiger
counter reading taken by wae 9 days later. On 16 Jan 65 Project personnel
consulted Major James Sproul, specialist in radiation. Major Sproul stated that
radioactive isotopes deposited on 21 Dec 6% and yielding returns with a strength
indicated in a news article, (60,000 mr/per hour on the check > reanaaiagg se would
yield a positive return on 12 Jan. Since the geiger counter used by iffVestigators
trained in its use and was in good working order there is no alternative but to

disregard the geiger counter returns taken by BuggggliP.

CONSIDERATION OF POSSIBLE HALLUCINATION, PRANK OR A HOAX

a. During the conversations, interview and subsequent trip to the alleged
landing area the witness appeared normal. He exhibited no indications of suffering
from mental disorders. Without a thorough psychiatric examination no positive
conclusion regarding hallucination is possible. The witness's reliability is
not questioned.

b. Possibility of a prank or trick being played upon 7: considered,
since he is head of the local = The partictilars of the sighting
such as car stalling and radiation and an alleged landing give rise to this
speculation, however, no connection was established between esomnage — rire.
to account for this possibility. This cause (prank) is considered remote. _

ce. Possibility of a hoax was considered. There is no apparent motive.
It seems unlikely that @tggmlimemg would expose himself to ridicule if the sighting
were determined to be a hoax.

CONCLUSION

It is believed that a vehicle of this size would be observed by additional
witnesses at the time and location of the reported event. There were no additional
witnesses. There was no confirmation of radioactivity in the area. Grass and
weeds had not been depressed. There was a total lack of any indication that a
venicie nad landed in the fleid. “Investigation by Air force personnel and subsequent

“e +. 2» > AY aA ~ 77 ; o ; Sr , = -7 5 o S 7 aS 7, :
analysis of the data collected fails to reveal any evidence of an aliseged landing.

oe

epee ree
ee

_ diation, he said. “f
The two servicemen, :B

to-90 foot unidentified flying iob+| re landed
fect near here brought a tworl fy the of gas.’’ The UFO lan

in the field about 100 yards
from him.-He got out of his
ltovJook at the craft which Fe
Sembled ‘an + upside-down ice
cream cone. “It was 125 feet
in"diameter, at least, and 80 to
90; feet high,’”’ said: Burns: ; iy
is not ‘sure. of. what ma-
ferial ‘the object. was: made jal
though it looked like spun alum-
inum, he said. Around the per-
imeter of the base of the ma-

=

man-sair force. investigating
team here-Tuesday to~the siteli
where the object is believed: to

4

lee rad is
Si h di A | B/E pstas 8
ig te in ugusia. 4 Sl oka. aha
son eighe te § wis SFe> mt:
) ae 2
ee eee deer
By Dallas M. Kersey. Auto’s Engine Stalled. - | Sergeant Moody said it is pos- 5 vs BFS yy oh +i
; Times-Dispatch News Burau As it anceed Rt. . 250 ae sible that the radiation, if there 3 5 ° 4 .
FISHERSVILLE, Jan. - 12—| 999 feet ahead of nim, his. car’s} ¥4S* any, could have worn off » eam
The reported sighting of a 80-) engine cut off “just as if I'd by now. This rules out the ex- Ser
t istence of certain types of ra-|

Burns,
Gehman and a student at- East~
ern Mennonite spent Wns ore

;

have-lapded. But there was,
indications : that the’ pene
been there: bre npr ee

The unidentified flying’ o
(UFO) was reportedly ‘seen
Horace Burns a gunsmith who
lives at Grottoes, on Decem
21 while driving to Waynesboro,
No one else has reported seeing
the object.

After a field inspection with)
a Geiger counter, air force Sgt:})
David Moody said only that

half; hour Tuesday walking ove
evarea: ‘where Burns. said’ hej’
aw) the aircraft‘land. The field

cévered with snow. 2 |

=

7 +
#i ve

> After. Burns saw the UFO he,
told. his’ wife..about. it but..d
;cided not to mention it to any-
‘one because “they'd think I'm
chine there was a band of biu-| jcrazy."" However, six days later
ish glow about a foot wide. It] by coincidence, The Times-Dis-
had: no visible windows © or! jpatch carried an article about}**
doors, he said. 'Gehman’s UFO club, Burns}...
| The UFO rested in the mead-| heard about it indirectly and
jow about one to one and.one-| told Gehman the entire story.

Role: x S Vibes
} ¢

there is no radioactivity now:

the area where Burns said

3
$=
craft landed. He did not ruleliie suddenly iano said-then Sergeant Moody said he has | ¥ 2
out the possibility that there t —eletes — ——e t, NO explanation for the strangeli | s=
could have been radiation ear-|| [ly for several hundred feet. and|happenings.. “I wish. I ; ,
lier, si ee ‘off-in’ a“ northeasterly di-j;would certainly ease Mr.

'%

Out

rection at a very fast speed. It] Burns,”’ he said
made only a soft “whooshing Normally all such reports are
sound,”’ he said. first investigated by officials

was then. able to. restart from the nearest air force base,

his‘ ar= Burns $aid‘he wag! still] but Moody said this was of such
Sdit¥hocked at/seeing the object] 444n unusul nature that it was
he cannot: recall whetherrany decided to check it directly:
qrner cars. came by while the Once he has completed his in-
object was cn. the ground, ™ “, [vestigation here, he will return
if 4 “Zero Report” © 4 to Wright-Patterson to report on

 Serzeant Moody said that-al- eS nen, A
Raush his office had 16 out-of The investigators said that
$00-reports last year for which during Project Blue Book's ir}
they could not find answers,’ ¥e® history, only 7.7 per cent
Project Blue Book has had. ‘of the reported cases i

|

Burns”. sighting of the UFO
was reported to the air force’in
a letter from a resident of. this
area of.the Shenandoah: valleyt
Sergeant. Moody said ‘he’ could
not disclose the name of the
pores Reports of — sighti

have to be filed with the-
force: before they are investi.
gated, he said.

Open Meadow

Sergeant Moody headed
two-man-team from Wright-Pa
tersom Air Force Base, Daytan,
Ohio, who investigated the re

ported sighting along U..S. Ra,

ye!

-———
~_ ve ‘
:

:

mw
—

250) east» of here in. an
meadow:-near the entrance
the Woodrow Wilson Rehabiliti
tion Center in Augusta county.

“This. is an unusual sight
| Ing,’’said Sergeant Moody, who
has had four years experience
| checking~out similar reports.

tie lie wouldn’t Ir tt was rou-
wouldn't be here.” All
' -oports to the air forceon UFO's

are checked at Wright-P
son Under what is called Pro}

a
: ——

fotéconform with any
Siteratt. Ld s
-Etnest Gehman, professor: of
Gesman at Eastern. Mennonit “i
College’ at Harrisonburg? wholf ~ “> me
Sponsors a UFO investigators}, ;
club at the school, said\ he was
contacted about~Burns?. sight-
ing-several days after) the ae
curence. {
‘He visited the site on Decem-|'
ber 30 to take @ radiation read-

_“zeto reports like this. It ae unidentified.
'

» 1 oo wee

rut

_—

Moody said he has never run
ross-an object of the shaped
‘scribed by Burns. te
Burns said he was driving to-
vard Waynesboro about 5 p.m,

ground was found radio active.
SIt. knocked the thing (needle)!
off the dial,’’ Gehman said in}
dicating a high concentration of
radiation. He--said~his -meter
registered over 60,000 counts per
minute, - =~ »

. <
< v

~ —

—

Cavnuep ‘LEPSOUpIM “TIES a ‘PUOUTYOTY

ug

|
; ;
ing with a Geiger counter. He

I . vad |
ect Bive Book. : had heard that in other areas)
During his four years with] of the country where similar ob-
Project Blue Book, Sergeant! jects have been sighted the
|

JOURNAL HERALD sia

Monday, Feb, J, 1965

n°

Virginia Sheriff £ Warn

ss

. RICHMOND, Va. _(AP)—A
; im one Virginia sheriff thinkd
Saticers in the skies. Just don't
 Bhoot-the litle green men re-
‘- ported accompanying them.
bi “This . thing las gotten com-
; - pletely out of hand,” says Shere
: j4ff* John E. Kent of Augusta
' ‘County. “It is now dangerous
~~ to county residents."
Y Almost daily, Virginians are *
reporting unidentified flying
_ objects (UFO) in several
> parts of the state. And some
>-¢cluim they have seen little
'»Martian types wandering
* around on the ground.
* -“Anyone can go out at night,"
. gays Kent, “And see reflections
SS in the sky’ But anyone carrying
"firearms in the county without
food reason will be dealt with
according to the Jaw.
© ‘Beside, he adds, even if crea-
» tares from space have landed—
‘S"Who's got the right to mow
them down?”
Even the Air Force has gotten
nto the act. lt has discounted
‘any evidence confirming exist-
ence of either flying saucers or
little green men, But, for the
~ record, a spokesman adds!
“Our cases are never closed
until the reported objects are
sufficiently identified.”’
Last week a pastor added
his name to the growling list
of persons reporting sightings.
The Rev. HM. Preston Kobin-
son, pastor of the Chilhowie,

oe - CE _ —

i: atch UF 0's, q ust. Dowt
Shoot At Little Green. M ent

it's okay -to watch for flying”

as ry

.
Me Re,
, < : DY

Va... Church of God, ait

‘saw @ flying -saticer over’
downtown Marion. “It sto

600 feet aboye the ground,” |
he said, “and had a round-
shaped bottom from w
several lights showed." *

After one Teperted sar
landing, professor Ernest Gi
man of Eastern Hennoanatt
College in’ Harrisonburg,t , :
checked the site with a Geiger ~
counter Dec. 20, He reported
a high radiation level, |. |

Gunsmith Horace Burns. of
Grottoes reported in detail the.
sound one flying saucer made’
when he saw it land in Augusta.
county.

“It made a soft, whooshing?
sound,”’ he said.

And at Staunton ‘ast Tues- A
day night, three boys said ©
they  saw—and chased — a

- small, green man nears rural |
road. He was described as — 3
three and a half feet tall. | —

The little green man was
probably none other than '
ald Cash, whose in-the-flesh}}
statistics are somewhat more,
sizable — five-foot-eight, 190
pounds,

Cash, 36, decided to len
substance to the UFO craze
by donning Wlue (not green)
overalls and a leather cap and
pushing his halr straight up, «

Now‘he's not so sure it was
the right move,. Some youngs-

ters spotted him in a field, he
suid, and tried to run him down, |
He outran them.

“But it shook me up,” he
said, “I didn't know what they

on me,”

-

; | would do if they got their hands,

-

3

“och Bie a

.
_
. =)
= >
i a *. '
>
: ~
"” ’
»
.
;
~ >
ae
: -
"eth
.
+ °
te oe ;
sf , % . :
=% : eat - ”
. ‘eo eo
> 4
r«
Pe
r -
4a¢

|

wy

‘M unident Hail said, in reports)
S

4

Roanoke World-News, Friday, January 15, 1965

1

Man)

Sewetaece
’ »

_HARRISONBURG — Horace
Burns told a crowd of several
hundred people ‘at Eastern Men-
nonite College auditorium | las

hight about his sighting» of

“flying saucer’ on.Dec.. 2Ra"%
~ Burns, a Grottoes. gunsmith,
said he saw the object nea
Fishersville as. he was. driving
from Staunton to. Waynesborg:

U.S. 250. ene
the object»

--He described
looking like an old-fashi
beehive, with six concentric

Lh
ros, * * a
In Washington, Burns’

description was termed “pretty
typical” by Richard Hall, a
ing director of the National It
vestigating Committee on Ae!
al Phenomenon. (3
-sHall said Burns’ report. tha
his car engine stopped when}
the saucer passed in front, of}

' him is also fairly common.” -}
“This electro-magnetic. effect!

as been repo I

unidentified flying obbjects
(UFO) and that the first. s
report was made in 1957...
. UFO reports -are becomin
more numerous, Hall said, &
latest having reportedly been
Seen Monday over Washington
by six people. A naval air sti
tion tracked am object by rad
Dec. 29 and reported it was
traveling 4,800. miles en hour,
he added. ps
~. Prof. Ernest Gehman of Eas

‘ern Mennonite College told tie:
érowd at Harrisonburg that
least four other people saw the
same UFO that Burns reported,
but are reluctant to make pub
lie statements for fear of rid
cule. porta +e

telephone cail yesterday from a
Staunton man whose son sup
posediy saw the object Burns
described.

The boy made a sketch, which
closely resembled. Burn’s de-
scription, Gehman said.
J * * *,

Burns said the object was
lark-colored and. appeared. to
be metallic but he could not be
certain. There were no oby{ous!
doors or windows onthe: craft,
he said. pee Aclts2:

Tells Of

=
=
ms

io Iwai“

Novseattis were visible and al-
| “¢hough:there-was: no. apparent
ymeans of control or guidance, !
-gaid he was certain it had in-
“telligent
janded
jrear the.
“Dabilitation Center

=

Wille, 225) Geredinie ethic “ch however that the radioactivity,
® tt rested on the ground forf could have dissipated between
bout oneand-a-half minutes} the time of the landing and the

ES irra ee: . : PBs a ‘ ; :
~tm team of Air Force investi-
‘sators from. Wright-Patterson
‘Ry.\ Base, Dayton, Ohio, came
tq’ Fishersville Jan. 7 to study
ligase but found no evidence

he
direction.’ The . UFO

of, radiation ‘in’the area—some:

Sq
©

More UFO.
MG Abed 0 Hl
tin

Sig! GS?

hs

Burns said, in a field)
the Woodrow Wilson Re
at Fishers

three weeks after the’ sighting!
The Air Force specialists

en rose slowly in the air for
several hundred feet then sud-
denly shot off at a 9 degree
turn to the northeast at a very
rapid pace. :
. ees said Thursday ni
there was no evidence of h

time of their investigation.

| However, the airmen reported
a significant radiation reading)
on the left side of Burns’ auto-)
mobile. t ‘ |
| Burns said when the object

wpassed over him he fella sett
Pe aot ee i he hat teen: struck
m as if he hac stru
he has. a
B

Vv
ened when he saw th
and said it was as big.as twO)'by a blast of aiff
ordinary houses. > ; an ‘$a
;.. * witness to his Geiger counter
‘Du Pont in Waynesboro. The en-

rionite College auditorium andi gineer told Gehman he knows of

me stood in the aisles to hear} at least three other

e report, - * AM sighted the object but have been
Burns withstood a barrage © reluctant to report it.
estions—s ome indicating? aj’ “T think it is a tragedy that

eople are so reluctant to tell
‘at tled th ita something eng eos be so
ctaft setUed on = :
Wghtly as a bubble. the ‘Gehman said |

ab ie ae = 2 Lats lr sof ; :

. help feeling there.

. | a prophetic signifi

sightings," he added. Gehman

it could _ possibly foretell
of Christ. He

eer pe
-

sarted.|jthe second cuming
‘Prof. Gehman said he ¢
amined the landing area with.
Geiger counter and found it  t
be highly radioactive, One area,

i eedle to!
ree ee pgp Re and he!man teacher at the college,

@d to take the plate glass off;said that the faculty thinks this
tare clean: it before he could Lael hoax. We are not be
gin measuring the radiation, ‘The hind it at alk” ite,
needie again jumped off the reg].
ister, the professor said, an
upon closer examination foun
that a piece of radioactive grass
less than an inch long was caus-
ing the needle to react so radi-
cally. ' o

‘Prof. Gehman again adjusted
the needle, he said, and then
walked over the area holding

e. counter five feet off the
ground: and it still registered

yery high. ore

estament which said there will
be signs in the heavens befor
Christ returns to earth.

|
:| Are Reported

\sky as she rode home in a cab
‘readings who is an engineer at last night. She said the car driv

people who|

race,
. ; easel |

— a passage from the New)

Werner Will, assistant Ger-'

_ WAYNESBORO (AP) — Three
‘more Sightings of unidentified
‘flying objects (UFO) in the
'Waynesboro-Staunton area were
‘reported today.
-Mrs. Marguerite Bolton of;

Waynesboro said today she saw
a round, orange-colored object:

or

_ Related Story on Page 14.

with. silver-like prongs in the’

er also saw the object.

—The Lester Hogshezd family
of Rt. 2: Waynesboro reported it
saw an object at 6 p.m. on U.S}!
1250 west of W
=Kenne orton Jr.,. 14,
|Staunton high school student r
ported Thursday he saw a cigar
shaped UFO at about 4:40 p.m
Dec. 21.

at was the same day Hor-
ace» Burns of Grottoes said he
| Saw an- object land beside U.S.})

——_

ance to these| 220 «between . Waynesboro - and),

Staunton. Burns, who did not}
report the sighting for several
weeks, said the object—which
‘looked like an upside down ice
‘cream cone—landed in.a mead-
‘ow for/a minute or so then
‘took off at a high rate of speed.
Last night &year-old Bruce
Hogshead ran into his home and
asked, “‘Mama, do you want to
see a flying saucer?” The fam-
ily went into a woods about a
quarter of a mile away and
watched the UFO for about five;
minutes.
The parents and five children)
are reported to have watched |
the bright object hover above’ |
the ground for five minutes.|
Then, like a “snap of the fin-| |
ter,” it diSappeared:
, Young Norton said he saw the
vbject iast month irom his bed-
room window. His fa:nily with-

‘held information until Burns

‘reported. his \aightin

s

S|
"|
‘a -

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J. SYMBOL IK. Bes LL CORRECTIVE ACTION ~ nas |

Due Ces bate | |
Bung 825 Thee (6 92h /o637¢) i

leone Re Gub6eR CoonreR.

= Jafar DJwe oY |

WS CORRECTED BY-SIGNATURE & GRADE
Bing §28 EGU6 Bes 6637F ~

OVERED a, SIGNATURE INSPECTED SY-SIG & GRADE SUPERVISOR-SIG & GRADE
Z 1M, Atoose 1
RECORDS ACTION DATE TRANSCRIBED | TRANSCRIBED BY-SIGNATURE & GRADE
UNCLEAREO REPLACEMENT TIME DATA TRANSCRISGEO
DISCREPANCY CHANGE Jd ce Lind APPROP Recoros |
AFTO ger oy 211/ TNL er ERIOn \s OBSOLETE MAINTENANCE DISCREPANCY /PRODUCTION CREDIT RECORD |

power line to the left of the highway. These telephone poles are approximately
75 ft in height. Descent of the object was at an angle and the object appeared
to bé spinning slightly. No sound was heard. The car of the witness stopped
as though the car had ran out of gas. The car proceeded about 50 ft down the
road and Mr Burns pulled the car to the side of the road. The object crossed
the road about 100 yrds in front of the car and landed in a field to the right
about 100 yds from the highway. Total time of the landing portion of the reported
observation was approximately 15 seconds, plus or minus five. The object was
reported to have landed in a field and remained there in excess of one minute
but less than two minutes. Mr Burns got out of the car, walked around to the
front of it and stood on the side of the road and looked at the object. At no
time was any sound heard. The object rose straight up to an estimated altitude
of about 200 ft, tilted at an angle and shot off into space, disappearing ina
matter of a few seconds. Direction of departure was about sixty degrees to the
right of its approach. A whoosing sound accompanied departure. There was no
exhaust or contrail noted.

ee

CHECK FOR RADIATION

A thorough geiger counter check of the area was made. At no time was a
reading obtained to indicate any radioactivity above normal background radiation.
The dial on the watch of the college student with Sigman indicated a reading
of 1.5/mr. Subsequent to return from Fishersville the car of Mr rami Ss
was checked with the geiger counter also. (59 mercury station wagon). The
only reading obtained was a reading on the left rear door similar to the returns
from the students wrist watch (1.5/mr). The check for radiation was made with
a Model 2586, Beta-Gama Survey Meter, manufactured by the Nuclear-Chicago Cor-
poration, serial number 1203. ‘This instrument had been calibrated and was in
good working order. On 15 Jan 65 this instrument was checked for accuracy and
a calibration check on report number 034227 was made and the geiger counter found
to be in good working order. The range of the instrument is 0-2500 mr/hr.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

During the investigation at the alleged landing site, Mr Dallas M Kersey
news reporter from the Shenandoah Valley News Bureau, P O Box 846, Staunton,
Virginia arrived at the site. A copy of an article under his byline furnished
to the Richmond Times Dispatch appeared on the following day and a subsequent
article carried on 16 January 1965. Copies of these articles are attached.

ADDITIONAL DATA

Examination of the field showed that grass and brittle weeds stems had not
been depressed or broken over any large area. There was no indication that a
large vehicle or object of any significant weight had landed in the field. Dr

GUNG stated that he had contacted occupants of the»adjacent houses
and they had seen or heard nothing. =

GMa has appeared on several local radio programs in the area. It was because
of one of these radio programs that s stated that he had revealed his
observation. The object had been observed on 21 Dec 6) by d he

contact; Cian on 29 Dec. On 30 Dec SUQQMMam went to the area of the alleged

Broadway, Virginia
January 6, 1965

U.F.0. Investigation Office
Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Dayton, Ohio .

Ar
Gentlemen:

I have a good friend at Eastern Mennonite College in
Harrisonburg, Virginia, “Ciiiioiieimens whos interested
in U.F.0.'s. He told me that on December 21, 1964, a
Mr. was traveling on the highway between Staunton and
Waynesboro about 5 P.M.. when his car suddenly stalled and
as he drifted to a stop off the payment a large flat bottomed,
circular and dome s:i.aned cbject passed directly overhead,
crossing the hichwe nc gently settled to earth about 100
yards away. + j <« the object to be about 125 feet in

diameter.

I . + ©. Getai!s of the shap:; however, he said
it had ~. «¢. -Diue giow aroind the per:ser-r. It sat there
about 3. seconds and suddenly rose and icf: "he area heading
toward the mountain at a terrific speed. te  %t back in his
car and the motor started promptly so he drove away very
shaken up.

This is probably routine to you ~ she significant
point is that SS ae acquired a vec: counter from the
college, took Mr@mimmps and had him sno. - m the area. This

was on Decemc>- <- 964. The Geicer ccurcer showed intense
radioactivity .~ => sot ‘ne cage ae che object

land. No doubt the area is still radroc.cive.

wae << not say what type or ~ -sre present,
but this should be of some help to yo ,

A ORE Alas: » Eastern Mennowite College,

Harrisonburg, Virginia |

WMP one phone

nf: : ie ‘° Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Or. is on the faculty at Eastern Mennonite

College, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter.

roadway, Virginia 22815

RLS/ss

$=)

} Wi ro F ‘4 ~ UJ inion !
/ SI MUNCIE > OF “Soler
[. Yorktown) aod Zaglt Awh =t 85 X ie . ee 11 0 ee
ANDERSON mis) 1492 AW Vee _ : \_- ,
? mo a ai o
4 V ghee , \ PRESE
e- 90 ' tie
ya Z1n00 NT \ Yo

ONC 358

101160 St
Losantviliany

LEGEND | 50-
RELIEF PORTRAYAL t

Elevations ore in feet. HIGHEST TERRAIN elevation
is 6313 feet located at 36°O6'N 82°07'W

119d [POPE . j} SKY

395
| vs anceniPealy  Khigh

Ray) ape ee -- a

‘CASTLE

‘

TERRAIN CHARACTERISTIC TINTS

{creas of unreliable relief are devoid of tint) C stasyiti “ 4

ed Why

SS

/ (frospatioan
i Fy

——— 2

RELATIVELY LEVEL

vand forms ara shown by contours, three dimensional
shading, and terrain color tints. Green indicates
flat or relatively level areas in the lower elevations.
Flat areas at higher elevations, such as plateaus,
are shown by a yellow/green. The light buff ond
yellow colors indicate hilly and rolling to mountain-
ous terrain. Two bands of yellow are used at higher
elevations to help identify mountain ranges and/or
critical tops.

CONTOUR INTERVAL
1000 feet with intermediates at 500 feet
\uxiliaries are shown at intervals of 100 feet)

~“—=— "#1 ——— sor 0

Contours Intermediate Avsiliory

Dashed contours indicate approximote alignment

SPOT ELEVATIONS
Elevation and position accurate, maximum

_ vertical error 100 feet. . 0000
Position accurate, maximum possible vertical
error 200 feet ee «0000

Approximate or doubtful locations are in-
dicated by omission of the point locotor
(dot or **x"’).

Critical elevation. ..... .. 0000
Lake elevation er : A 0000
Strecm elevation...

MAXIMUM ELEVATION DATA
Maximum elevation figures, centered in the area
bounded by ticked lines of longitude and latitude,
indicate the HIGHEST TERRAIN ELEVATION within
thet area. These figures include the maximum
possible vertical error of elevations, BUT OO NOT
INCLUDE ELEVATION OF VERTICAL OSSTRUCTIONS

mt 7 \ following the flueure indicates thot

astle

140
\{200)

? ish) a ‘ir a ea tlewor av
AAXIMUM ELEVATION FIGURES ARe OMITTED iN
UNSURVEYED AREAS AND AREAS WHERE RELIEF
INFORMATION IS INADEQUATE.

700 ioe? 3 4 6100 feat 6 i

(estimeted)

CULTURE ea

.
= -ia~ 7 stig? 4

Towns and silts

remark features ,eronch > ts i eh = 2 ps
{unillustrated) age ‘Se (\ .~ f
{uniabled + ba! 2144 drive-in theater ~en, s-\5 the
jvalable ymbol ind cates 'v ’ ‘ ) f° Tiexncray Wf } N
je ay ;
P Vual lane and other roads..... <eensss: —--— y VIP owas NN vy eg so
at ° ~ 4
Tracks or trails yet ‘ ry » Sie ST Wi frdlare
‘Aultiple and single track R.R,... —we- —4 * 4 at. / fe) LOO wtCep
» ‘ “ Ton a | aE be.
Power Transmission line pabnecacd 30 A | 'F / 12 yet j
‘* ‘ ~/ Mth arewe me: SS f ed » >

ar
tf

By Dallas M. Kersey.

Times-Dispatch News Bureau

STAUNTON, Jan. 16—A short,
siout middle-aged man was at a
hardware store in Staunton four
days before Christmas buying
supplies . for the gunshop he
owns in Harrisonburg, At 4 :30
p.m. he left the city headed east,
on U. S.* ‘Rt 250 on the way: to
his home at.Grottoes. © (\)i8 5"

About eight miles out of Staun-
ton one-half hour later, Horace

RS I et ES roads i Bt ON a A

Some Believe

ote ee, ue ea \ ieesteneltatees

\
‘

Gehman got a “tremendously
high reading’’ of radiation, and)
his finding has been verified by}
H. M. Cook of Staunton, a re-
search engineer at Waynes-

boro’s. Du Pont plant.. Gehman
“was having a tizzy because
the needle was. all the way off
the dial,’ said Cook, who has
had considerable experience with
Geiger counters in his work.

“Tt was a» hot jarea,!’,.Cook
said: ’ “We spent: 45, minutes. in
the field trying to tone this read-

Burns said he noticed a gigantic
dark object floating in from the
north, cross Rt. 250 about 200
‘eet ahead of him and land
geatly in a field “like a bubble”

for several seconds before taking
off at a +tremendous rate of
speed. }

Surns said the object appar!
ently caused the engine of his
car to stop. —

Burns: was “astonished” ‘at
the time.-He told his wife about
it but the family decided to.

keep the story a. secret “he
cause I thought people would
think I'm crazy."’ But after hear-
ing of other similar sightings
of unidentified flying objects
(UFO's) in the Shenandoalr val-
ley he decided to tell his story
publicly. : ae

Since the episode was
in The Times-Dispatch Wed
‘ay, Burns has been call
‘crazy’ and “nuts’’ many times.;
But he also has believers, many;
cl whom doubted the exist-
ence of UFO’s in the past,
| UFO Club

One: of his most ardent be-
levers, for good reason, is Er-
nest-Gehman, professor of Ger-
man af Basiern Mennonite Col-
lege im »Harrisonburge» He is

onsorOf"a' recently -" formed

"Oflu atthe. colege which

eh ostigates > stories. similar’ to

urns.’
"Nine days. after Burns said
‘aw the 80 to 9-font object,
Geman took a Geiger counter
) the site to check for radiation!

knew, that other reported
Ys have given off radiations

-accurate reading. The

ing down. We checked the ra-
dium dials on our watches, even
went over a small hill from the
field, but this was definitely an
_only
thing I can say is that it was
hot (radioactive).”’

} To Test Soil

Gehman said he plans to take
samples of the soil in the field
in the next few oar for labora-
tory tests.

Last Tuesdy, 22 days after
Burns’ sighting, the air force
sent two men here from Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base, at
Dayton, Ohio, to investigate a
report they had gotten of the
UFO in a letter from a valley
resident. The air base is head-
quarters for project Blue Book
which investigates sightings of
UFO's reported to the air farce.

. M37 Gt

"After a 30minute inves tio
tion in the fleld with air
Geiger counters, the serv icemen}
reached the conclusion that

there is no, radiation in the field.
They. could give Burns no ‘ex-
planation for what he saw, but
Sgt. David Moody, head of the
team, said he would rule out in
his final report any possibility?
of jt being an airplane or heli-
copter because of the nature of
Burns’ reoort.

It. was nearing dusk on De-
cember 21 when Burns said he
saw the UFO. Only one visible
light shone from it—a foot-wide
blue band around the base, he
said, The vehicle made no noise
except for a slight “whooshing
sound’ when it left. It had no

visibie doors, Of. i a ee ond
sald. f. y

| UFO.

,

{

Not Routine Sighting

Until Sergeant Moody files

his report his findings will not!

be known, but he admitted that!
“this is an unusual sighting.
It’s not routine. If it was routine
we wouldn't be here.”

When the question was raised
last week whether Burns was
telling a true story or one he
had fabricated for publicity, a
young boy came to his aid. Ken-
neth Norton Jr., 14, said he had
seen a similar object about the
same time on the same day
from a bedroom window of nid
Staunton home. He told
mother about the object on thal
same day—December 21. e4

Urged by Professor Gehmar
to notify him. if others h
alsg.seen the object, three pe:
sons have ‘said. sts also no
an unusual object about |

same time. A research iatinted
and his son who live near
Waynesboro airport were out-
side and also saw a strange ef-
fect. Another may who lives in
Waynesboro reported seeing a

Although residents .of this ;
area have responded with in-.
terest to Burns’ account, many4
are still’ skeptical and point to,

the loopholes in his story. . +

Most Frequent Question

The question most often raised °
is why weren't other cars
stopped by the flying vehicle as
Burns says his was; also, Rt:
250 is a heavily traveled road
in this area, yet he doesn’t re-
call any other cars passing the
scene nor have any reported
being there.

Professor Gehman has pre~
pared a report of the entire in-
cident to be filed with the Na-
tional Invstizations Committee
on Aerial] Phenomena (NICAP}
at Washington. NICAP receives!
all reports of UFO's, chec
them and catalogues its findings

Professor Gehman, who alsa
is @ minister, thinks there ig
possible some connection bes
tween the UFO's and a passage
in the New Testament?'s book of
St. Luke referring to the secs
ond coming of Christ:

*‘And there shall be signs in
the sun, and in the moon, ‘and
n the stars: and upon th@
earth distress. of nations, with
perplexity; and the sea and!
waves roaring .

Gehman also sii he feels
that possibly the word “worlds”’
in Hebrews 11 is. meant to indi-
cate God created more than one
planet with living beings:

> Some Doubt

“Through faith we ‘understand!
that the worlds were framed

| by the word of God...”
|

Keyhoe's View

A similar view-—that there
are other planets with life on
them—is shared by Maj. Donald
Keyhoe of Luray, a retired ma-
rine corps pilot who is now di-
rector of NICAP. He is a noted
authority and author on UFO's.

Major Keyhoe said “it would)

be narrow-minded of us to be-
lieve that we are the only living
creatures in a galaxie with bil-
lions of stars and several million
thought to have planets.” 9

It is very possible that another] .

planet. possibly not in our sol
Pose, has life on it developed
‘hundreds, or eVen millions, of
years ahead of us enablii
them to travel great distances
through space, pointed out the
major.

“Major Keyhoe’s main con-
cern in the entirewsubject .of
UFO's is the attitude of the air

[force toward.the’ field of these

junexplained vehicles. — .

“The high level policy of t
air force is to play this thi
(CFO reports) down,” ..Ma
Keyhoe said. ‘The policy is

more answers.”

publication on Project Bl

‘Book that ‘‘to date, no uniden
fied aerial phenomena has give
‘any indication of threat to
'national security; | there
‘been no evidence submitted ‘t
,or discovered. by the air fore

jthat unidentified.sightings rep-

resented technological. devel
‘ments or principles beyond

range of our present day sci
tific knowledge;

deny everything until they haye

*The air force: maintains in a

and finally,

.to indicate that these unidenti-

there has been nothing in the
way of evidence or other data

fied sightings were extra ter-!
restria! vehicles under intelli
gent control."’

Major Keyhoe counters with:
“IT think the same as the air
force secretly does-——these ve-
hicles are from another planet}
with far superior intelligence to
ours."”

Regardless of what the future
has in store for this planet and
UFO's, Keyhoe is concerned.

that presently an accidental nu-})
clear war could be triggered by’)
Russia or the United States.!!
“The air force secrecy is dan-i
serous because these UFO's}
could be mistaken for an enemy
attack,"" he said. Many have:
een picked up on radar screens,
he added. .

—

a —

T-O

Horace Burns of Grottoes Works at His Trade -

puna | ~

Gunsmith R UEO-in Au

oF oe Ps Seeiiat 2

News wureou Photo

Prof. Ernest Gehman
Fra ee ;
ote Cites Bible

Maj. Donald Keyhoe

liey =
Enamasrory se ey:

saecabggh fet

? ’

quotes Keyhoe’s well-known views ou the dangers inherent in |
withholding information. An accidental nuclear war could acci- |

dentally be triggered by Russia or the U.S. |

“The high level policy of the air force is to play this thing
down,” Major Keyhoe said. "The policy is to deny everything
until they have more answers.”’ |

ee ag Keyhoe answers the Air Force's negative findings, one
of w is “That there has been nothing in the way of evidence
or other data to Indicate that these unidentified sightings were
extra-terrestria] vehicles under intelligent control."’

Major Keyhoe counters with: ‘I think the same as the Air
Force secretly does — these vehicles are from another planet
with far superior intelligence to ours."

yx December 21, 1964--Fishervilie, Virzinia-- Gunsmith Horace Burns

reported a 125 foot in diameter and 80 to S0 foot high saucer which
landed in a nearby meadow for two minutes near Woodrow Wilson Education
Center. A high background radiation count was detected by Professor

rnest Gehman of the Eastern Mennonite College at the site the next day.

tej

rginia.

wf
2
3
©
ea
©
ct
c
ct
iS)
te
tc
a
io)
f2.
w
ry
<{
i

isin

|. By TOM PENDERG

one Virginia

mn,

Ast i

“RICHMOND, Ya. (AP) — At]
sheriff thinks| accon

'sikay to watch for flying sau-}! “

[at A RRR SRE

pletely. out of hand, ”
iff John” EeKent of of
County. eit is'n dé
county resident ta
‘Almost : ‘daily, Virg n

|reporting — unidentified * flying
objects — UFO — in. several

parts of the state... And ‘some

'|claim they have’seen little ‘Mar-

tian types wandering around on
the ground. Kei] Ae a AC ~

“Anyone can go outiat: night,"

orted| in the sky. But anyone carrying
» 1 _ |firearms in the county ‘without

ys ser_| accordin

will be dealt with
to the law.” ))

Besides, he adds, even if crea-
tures from outer. space have
landed '— Who's. got the right
to mow them down?!” >

Even'the Air Force has gotten
into the act. It has discounted
any evidence confirming exist-
ence of either flying saucers or
little green men. But, for the
record, a spokesman adds:
“Our cases are never closed
until the reported objects are
sufficiently identified.”

good r

- during last December and January Especial!

VOL.2 NO.1

PREPARED BY THE FLYING SAUCER
INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE OF AKRON, OHIO

P.O.DRAWERG -

FOR
OCTOBER,

ond

JANUARY,

AKRON, OHIO 44305

NOVEMBER,
DECEMBER, 1964

FEBRUARY, 1965

————_—_—_—— —

GIGANTIC UFO LANDS NEAR STAUNTON, VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA HIT BY “SAUCERS”

Unidentified fying objects were «ve-ywhere — or so it seemed,

y was this true in
Augusta County in western Virginia. (J8th parallel)

Many Virginians from various walks of life reported sightings
of eiyutariotes objects in the sky, on the ground, and even little
men scurrying over the Virginia countryside.

Professor Ernest Gehman, of Eastern Mennonite College, at
Harrisonburg, Va., entered the picture at thattime. ( Harrisonburg
is 20-30 miles north). Prof. Gehman launched himself into the
investigabun, and found himself unexpectedly involved in a
succession of fast moving discoveries.

The ct is thorough, complete, and clearly written. But a

ter vale attaches; that of his first-hand contact with the Air

orce investigations team. His keen observations and insights
touch many familiar “bases” in the continuing controversy over
UFOs.

Dr. Gehman’s report follows, complete and unabridged.

GIGANTIC UFO LANDS NEAR STAUNTON, VIRGINIA
(Report on Sighting, Radiation, and Air Force Investigation)

Possibly the most remarkable sighting ofan unidentified lying
object ever reported to have taken placeinthe Shenandoah Valley
occurred at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21, 1964. Mr. Horace
Burns, living at Grottoes, Va., and conducting a small gunshop
business on North Mais Street in Harrisonburg, was driving his
58 Mercury station ~agon a few miles east of Staunton on Route
250 toward Waynesboro, when he saw a huge metallic object
coming out of the sky north of the highway. As it crossed Route
250 about 200 feet ahead of him, his motor stopped dead,
“conked out,” as he telis it, and his car seemed to come to an
unnaturally quick stop.

The UFO landed lightly "like a bubble” in a small meadow
at a spot about 100 yards from the highway. Mr. Burns guided
his car to the side of the road, got out and stood beside it, and
stared in amazement at the awesome spectacle. What he saw re-
sembled in shape an upside-down toy top, but the size of it was
astounding. “It was 125 feet in diameter, at least, and 80 to 90
feet high! he declares. And besides being generally cone-shaped,
its circular, sloping sides rose in about 6 large, concentric con-
volutions that decreased in diameter to a dome at the top.

Although in the gathering twilight Crafisman Burns could not
be sure of the exact nature ofthe material of which it was made, it
appeared to be metallic, possibly of aluminum. He noted that all
around the perimeter at the base of the monstrous machine there
was « bluish glow in a band about a frot, possibiy 14 inches,
wide. He could see no windows, doors, portholes, or even seams
anywhere on the object. Nor did there seem to be any sort of

landing gear; the vehicle had gently settled Mat on its bottom on
the ground, although he noted that its underside was slightly
curved, :

(

“>

Chu sasdiaapatlsag TY kswoneba op aie

Headow drain ea

The visitor from outer space rested on the meadow for from
60 to 90 seconds and then with a “whoosh,” the sound no doubt
caused by the air rushing under it, it suddenly rose straight up
for several hundred feet and immediately took off in a north-
easterly direction at a speed much greater than when it crossed
the highway from the north the first time, which Mr. Burns esti-
mates to have been about 15 miles per hour.

After it was gone, Burns got into his car again and was sur-
prised to find, when he pressed the starter button, that there was
nothing wrong with the engine and that it started off at once.
As he drove away he was evidently very much excited and en-
grossed in his thoughts about the apparition (as who wouldn't
be?), for he cannot recall seeing any other vehicles coming or
going on Route 250 for possibly a mile. But no doubt other cars
on that busy highway must have been halted by the UFO's
tremendous magnetic field, and other drivers must have wilt-
nessed the sight; we are still hoping that any such will make the
fact known.

Horace Burns went home and told Mrs. Burns the story of
what he had seen, but declared he would not tell anyone elise.
“They'd think I'm crazy,"’ he said. But six days later, when Mr.
Jim Shipp of WSVA announced on the 6 p.m. newscast about
the existence of the UFO [Investigators as an extra-curricular club
at Eastern Mennonite Coilege; Mrs. Burns convinced her husband
that he should report his experience. He told it on Monday to
Mr. Shipp, who informed me, the undersigned sponsor of the UFO
Investigators, and [taped thestory on Tuesday as Mr. Burns told
it in his gunshop. I had never known or heard of Horace Burns
before that Monday afternoon. On Wednesday I made a prelim-
inary testing of the area with a Geiger counter which revealed
radioactivity of over 60,000 counts per minute. This was 9 days
after the UFO had briefly rested there!

As an interesting and unplanned corroboration of Horace
Burns’ story, let me mention the factthatI found the exact landing
area of the UFO by myself with the Geiger counter. Mr. Surns
had intended to accompany me to the spot, but when the hour
arrived for us to go to the place four miles east of Staunton
(which is 28 miles south of Harrisonburg) he could not leave his
gunshop until a certain dealer in West Virginia had come to pick
up a lot of guns which Burns had repaired for the dealer's
customers and which they had to have the next day to shoot out
the old year and to shoot in the new! “

Continued on Page 2) |

™

te
Diagram of the landing and de
parture of a gigantic UFO 4 miles
east of Staunton, Virginia, at 5:00
p.m. on December 21, 1964.

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UFO 125° feetin die, , 30 t. high.