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a liar or a drunk. microphone. received all sorts of crank mail, and people traveled for miles just to have the opportunity of calling him One newspaper account claimed that Townsend had been studying an article on UFO's in a current issue of a national magazine and implied that the rocket and the cylinder men were manifestations of the radio announcer's imagination. After one week of such distasteful business, Townsend refused any more interviews. "I'm sorry | ever reported the incident," he said. But more than a few people took what Townsend had said seriously. UFO investigators from all over the country tried to contact him. WCCO television of Minneapolis gave him the opportunity to explain the story himself. The Late Don Dahl Show provided a receptive atmosphere in which Townsend could relate his story without fearing that the interviewer would resort to mockery and innuendo over the open With such widespread publicity, corroborating accounts turned up. Ray Blessing, the 14-year-old son of Mr. Frank Blessing, a Minneapolis businessman, was operating his three-inch 200-power reflector telescope when he saw a "Buck Rogers-like thing" pass in front of his lens for exactly fifteen minutes (7:00 P.M. October 23rd) before James Townsend had slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the standing rocket. Blessing described an inverted sombrero which he had been able to study carefully as it passed across the sky from horizon to horizon. Although the young astronomer reported the sighting to his parents at the time, they did nothing until they heard Townsend tell his story on television. Back in Long Prairie, three boys who were out hunting raccoon claimed that they had seen a strange light in the sky, about the same time that Townsend had come across the rocket in the middle of Highway 27. Other residents of the area reported to Police Officer Lubitz that they had seen strange things around the little community, but did not want their names to be made public. To summarize: James Townsend slammed on his brakes in order to avoid hitting a tall rocket ship. He saw three cylindrical figures, and he saw the rocket take off and disappear. When Sheriff Bain, Lubitz, and he returned to the scene, they saw a peculiar "orange light" in the northern sky. Numerous other sightings were reported at the time, and three mysterious strips had been left on the pavement. It is easy to understand why James Town-send is convinced that what he saw was real.