PROJECT BLUE BOOK

PRUJECI I0UT3 RECURD
1. DATE: TIME GROUP 2. LOCATION
27 Feb 67 28/0119Z Grand Haven, Holland, Michigan (3 wicness)
. SOURCE . SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION 10. CONCLUSION
Civilian Civilian (1) UNIDENTIFIED UNIDENTIFIED
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS (2) Astro (VENUS) Astro (VENuS)
2
5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
I hour ll minutes I hour il minutes SEE CASE FILE
t.. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Cround-Visual (BX)
7. COURSE
Varied
8. PHOTOS
D Yes
x No
2. PHYSICA IDENCE
i7 Yes
No
FORM
FTD SCP63 0.329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used.
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degree, at the same
detailed than the others. He was 3.7
the object, obtained from
intersecting his l last view; his estimate of
bigger.
Two of the ooservers ( troregana and moe) indicated that the
a red patch on the lower right quadrant - nese appeared to
him te inerease and decrease in brightness. a green a green +
patch on the lower left quadrant. patch on the lower left quadrant.
and his rider also showed
these lights, as did the object seen through these lights, as did the object seen through binoculars at 9:30. at 9:30.
I

were confined to the three parties mentioned. Therefore all conclusions
Heerspink
65 degrees apart, probably P
landing light.
saw an
object due west from inside
-
was lower in the sky at the time of his sighting than he later believed
it to have been. If that object was Venus, it set either below the
BA
the n
was not seen again. was nc. 3een again.
The second object which The second cbject which to the northwest, appears to
correlate with the object that correlate with the object that to come rapidly from the
L e ten ten
miles from the lakeshore and north of Grand Haven. The sudden, very fast,
left-to-right movement seen by followed by a stop ofextreme

probably within the range over which landing lights s could appear bright to
beth observers.
If that is true, then
7
been 4-1/2 degrees above the horizon, and about three degrees south of
the sightings the sightings to an observer capable of seeing within to an observer capable of seeing within l.5 1.5 degrees of the degrees of the
horizon.

11
A timetable of events, with considerable uncertainty, would go
as follows:
8:19 called by dispatcher: hears call and
sees object. to SW.
'8:20 overhears call: sees object to west.
starts nort ratches object SW.
8:22 sees object to NW. Loes outside to look
at object in est, eturns indoors and calls office.
8:25 .mturns down Riley Street; Heerspink drives up
Cedar Street. not watching.
8:27 ogces outside again: first object gone, second
suddenly appears. sees object suddenly
move to position ( over road. Wassink still driving toward
object in west.
8:35 loses object behind dunes: lik arrives at
final position, sees object west; still watching
object in NW.
8:36 moved down behind trees.
8:37 sees object disappear
motion motion to south. to south.
8:40 arrives at lakeshore: nothing visible.
9:00 sees objects to south.
9:30 and report UFO in. middle of county
sees in binoculars.
The principal objections to some possible explanations (a) the
brightness, (b) the shape and size, and the rapid motions of the objects.
These can be dealt with o some degree confidence.
Brightness. UFO reports were received at Ottowa County Sherifts
Department by the investigator, which involved an extremely bright objeet
positively identified as Venus. This took place the evening of the investi-
gation, March 3. was surprised to see Venus lcw in the sky at 8:2o PM
that night - he said his object was much brighter, but Venus was seen through
trees and appeared 2 magnitudes dimner than normal.

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the main white
fit the red
and
Motions. The most s striking motions were those reported by
He did not see it in
of f motion, -
but no actual motion. The light simply went out.
If the sudden
observation of fast motion from the left, there is considerable support

to realize that what looks like a large motion caused by
In short, there is nothing about the observed motions that cannot be
accounted for
Conclusions
The appearance of those objects which are not identifiable with Venus
-
however, makes it impossible to conclude that a definitely unconventional
object was present. The objects remain unidentified, meaning neither known

.
14
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Longitude of Grand Haven (Lakeshore) 5h 44m 56s
Sidereal Time at Ol2OUT, March 1 11h 52m 13s
(8:20 PM E ST, Feb. 28)
6h 0r7m 17s
Oh 07m 1 17s
Right Ascension, Venus, Ola 0 UT, March 1 Oh 24m 36s
Time, Venus to reach geometric horizon 17m 19s
uncorredted for declination
Declination of Venus = +1° 40'
Correction due to declination Correction due to declination +6m 12s
Time, Venus to reach geometric horizon 23m 31s 23m 31s
Time of Venus-set, geometric horizon = 8 8:43:31 PM EST, February 28, 1967
Elevation of Venus, 8:20 PM EST Elevation Venus, 8:20 PM EST horizon horizon
Elevation of Venus, 8:36 PM EST 57 PM ROm = 1.34° above geometric horizon
Azimith of Venus, 8:20 PM EST = 268.3°
Azimuth of Venus, 8:36 PM EST = 271°

MICHI
8:27 H
COTTAGE
8:35
hq'0ε:b HAVEN GRAND
) A
SA 9:00 194tm$ 1947m 8.30
\bects bects 8:30-36
028+4. 128+4.
F F 120th
8.22 8:2+
from Pasima 9:30 109+4
HOLLAND Buclana 3:19 8:25
C
>Z
MILES

ca e white
i-Bo Red
o
12-15 ft gives
right s size.
\ 10M
215nn ! 72 12s degru.
180 in

.
1
.
off
white
Blue-
GREEN-
$\frac { }$ moon

Sightings at Grand Haven and Holland, Michigan
February 27, 1957
William T. Powers
In response to news reports and telephoned reports to the Dearborn
onducted into reports of object sighted
in Ottowa County by an and
2. There were reports of other sightings as well, which were not
directly investigated.
After the
Personnel
aircraft with its landing lights on, but enough ambiguity remains that it
is impessible to is impcssioie to conciude that wnat was seen was unconventional. conclude that what was seen unconventional.
The Reports
i and
on remodeling it, when a call was heard over a monitor radio in the cottage:
- 1 -

.
a
.
ofS
wkite,
hight
60 d0
$\frac6 }$ moon.
10

lakefront overheard the call, and
radiced that he had a bright object t in view to the southwest. Angle e measure-
Street near r
Avenue, Grand Haven) showed that
within a few seconds of the radio message,
EST.
to -io: far brighter than Venus. At this point the angle riew was about
280 degreas. 280 degrees.
- - proceeded to Riley Avenue, 1-l/2 miles farther north, at
which point the object appeared to is an an
east-west street. I four miles
until the object was lost to sight over some dunes; he spent the next five

have been about over
over her car at
about 8:20. This is not inconsistent
initial view of the object
shortly:
time for to have
At about this time, ae m's wife called him to the west
:
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a porch roof outside the window to that amount). T a porch roof outside the window to that amount). The object gn was The object  w was
observing at observing at this point could not have this point could not have e been the same as the one which been the same as the one which P
Aiegrand Arand . se S
look, and saw the object jump right and left by about eight degrees. look, and saw the object jump degrees.
watched the E e object for a few minutes, and then went back in
A

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his cottage to call the office; while talking to the office he could still
the
At about the time w had reached mand turned west, p
: a time, but lost it behind
trees.
actually runs about thirty degrees north of west
in irom the left and stopped over the road." The road does not change
which is iefinitely on a straight stretch of road. In other words, the whith is definitely on a straight stretch of road. In other words, the
bean over the road - in fact, it was probably been over the road - in fact, it was probably not visible at all from that y not visible at all from that
position, because of position, because of the trees. I the trees. The time at which the cbject streaked to
the right would have been at about 8:25 to 8:27. The wituess was certain
he saw the object in motion: it stopped abruptly.

.
than before. His impression was that the object appeared suddenly.
During this time, was watching his object to the west, T
slightly north
both and Sroone : therefore he was observing a different object,
but still possibly not Venus unless he lost sight of the original object
, degree or
bend to the left, heading due west and then slightly south of west. At
118ch Avenue, ll8ch Avenue,
level). At t this point he was looking about f forty degrees to the left of

: 3
6
just south of west, as it dimmed and brightened several times, and then
F. ,
horiton and would have been behind the distant tree line.
up and down several times, and then "just like that" shoot left through a
90-degree angle and disappear behind trees in the southwest. He went back
-
northwest, and ramarked at one point that the object did dim and come back
the time Hearspink reached his final position, at about 8:30, and (b) he
closer to
e case, the object would have been
two miles offshore and because that is where because that is where
s and last lines of s sight cross. On the other hand,
3
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7
rk was still watching Venus: his view to the
northwest was not entirely open and s object may have been obscured
by trees. T
the south: his object went down behind trees,
still in the west.
-
where the first object he had seen appeared to be. On the way a motorist
sign, rti pulled the motorist over
proceeded south on 14hth street, the
over a hill at Rich Street,
iooot+od tva chiects appeared similar
to the previous one in shape ani color, but dimmer and farther away,
S These objects crossed. the
read, and just to the left of the road, apparently behind the glare of
-
The leftmost one then went very fast straight down behind trees, and was
not seen again. The rightmost object then jumped abruptly to a position
.
line of sight astablished a direction reference, so the motion may have
towari Buchanan Street, where the men met the Sheriff outside his his cottage.
At about 9:30, two calls were received, from deputies Blair and
Posina. Blair was twelve miles ESE Grand Haven, and Posma was twelve
4

.
8
miles SW of Blair, in Holland.E Each saw a bright object on a line toward
went
the original object:
a round white light flanked by red and grean patches. T They were looking
than to the southeast. While they were watching, an airplane went across
the field of view belcw the object. There was no resemblance.
they had been watching Venus. T
All had also seen airplane landing lights; in fact, Wassink had
the cause to be
airplane landing lights. He said this present c
and was not similar at all.
All witnesses agreed that the light had physical size: estimates
were L/o, 1/o, and l/4 the size of the moon. Indicated Sizes, between
thumb ani forefinger, however, re around 3/4 to one inch, indicating a around 3/4 to one inch, indicating a
size of about two degrees. Fk Fk r remarked that the 9:30 object seen remarked that the 9:30 object seen
seen with the naked eye: in the means
that
/