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Michigan Sheriffs Watch High-Performance Discs
"Swamp Gas" Plagues Air Force
Dexter, Michigan
March 14-20, 1966
Dozens saw domed disc on ground
Richard Hall:
March 14, 1966: Dexter, MI, 3:50 A.M. Flurry of sightings for two and a half
hours. Sheriffs reported disc-shaped objects moving at fantastic speeds and
making sharp turns, diving and climbing, hovering. Four UFOs in straight-line
formation observed at one point. Seifridge AFB confirmed tracking UFOs over Lake Erie at 4:56 A.M. Following is the log of
"Complaint No.00967" signed by Cpl. Broderick and Deputy Patterson
of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department:
3:50 A.M. Received calls from Deputies Bushroe and Foster, car 19, stating
that they saw some suspicious objects in the sky, disc, star-like colors, red
and green, moving very fast, making sharp turns, having left to right
movements, going in a Northwest direction.
4:04 A.M. Livingston County
[sheriff's department] called and stated that they also saw the objects, and
were sending car to the location.
4:05 A.M. Ypsilanti Police Dept. also called stated that the object was
seen at the location of US-12 and I-94 [intersection of a U.S. and an interstate highway].
4:10. A.M. Monroe County
[sheriff's department] called and stated that they also saw the objects.
4:20 A.M. Car 19 stated that they just saw four more in the same location
moving at a high rate of speed.
4:30 A.M. Colonel Miller [county civil defense director] was called; he
stated just to keep an eye on the objects that he did not know what to do,
and also check with Willow Run Airport.
4:54 A.M. Car 19 called and stated that two more were spotted coming from
the Southeast, over Monroe
County. Also that they
were side by side.
4:56 A.M. Monroe
County [sheriff's department] stated that they just spotted the object, and
also that they are having calls from citizens. Called Selfridgc Air Base and
they stated that they also had some objects [presumably on radar]
over Lake Erie and were unable to get any ID
from the objects. The Air Base called Detroit Operations and were to call
this Dept. back as to the disposition.
5:30 A.M. Dep. Patterson and I [Cpl. Broderick] looked out of the office
and saw a bright light that appeared to be over the Ypsilanti area. It looked like a star but
was moving from North to East.
6:15 A.M. As of this time we have had no confirmation from the Air Base.
Appended to the report is a statement from Washtenaw County
deputies B. Bushroe and J. Foster: "This is the strangest thing that
[we] have ever witnessed. We would have not believed this story if we hadn't
seen it with our own eyes. These objects could move at fantastic speeds, and
make very sharp turns, dive and climb, and hover with great maneuverability.
We have no idea what these objects were, or where they could have come from.
At 4:20 A.M. there were four of these objects flying in a line formation, in
a north westerly direction, at 5:30 these objects went out of view, and were
not seen again."
Deputy Bushroe told the press: "It would swing back and forth like a
pendulum, then shoot upward at tremendous speed, hover and then come down
just as fast." Dexter police and Livingston County
sheriffs, contacted by Bushroe and Foster, "reported that they saw the
same objects engaging in the same maneuvers.
March 17, 1966: Milan,
MI, 4:25 A.M. Sgt. Niel
Schneider and Deputy David Fitzpatrick saw top-shaped objects making sharp
maneuvers. They alternately hovered, rose and fell quickly, darted around at
jet like speed, their light dimming and brightening periodically. In a report
to NICAP the officers stated that two objects were operating together,
circling and flying in formation, while a third object hovered at a lower
altitude.
March 20, 1966: Dexter,
MI. About 8:30 PM. Frank Mannor
and family and dozens of other witnesses, reported that a domed oval object
with "quilted" or "waffled" surface and lights in the
center and on each end had landed in a swampy field. Deputies David
Fitzpatrick and Stanley McFadden parked car #34 adjacent to the area and
began a search with Frank Mannor.
"While in the woods area," their report states, "a
brilliant light was observed from the far edge of the woods, and upon [our]
approaching, the light dimmed in brilliance. . . . The brilliant light [then]
again appeared, and then disappeared. A continued search of the area was
conducted, through swamp and high grass, with negative results. Upon
returning to the patrol vehicle, the undersigned officers were informed that
one of the objects had been hovering directly over the area where our
flashlight beams had been seen, and then [it] departed in a west direction of
flight, at high rate of speed."
As he and other officers were rushing to the scene, Officer Robert
Hartwcll of the Dexter Police Department saw a luminous object buzz his car.
Robert Taylor, Dexter police chief, said he watched an object in the field
from Frank Mannor's home on a knoll overlooking the area. It appeared as a
pulsating red, glowing object. Through binoculars he saw "a light on
each end of the thing."
There were additional sightings on March 21 at Hillsdale
College, with Civil Defense Director
William Van Horn as one of dozens of witnesses, and March 24 in Ypsilanti, MI.
Source: Richard H. Hall, Volume II, The UFO Evidence - A Thirty Year
Report, pages 184-186
Ordering information
(This web page was produced by Francis
Ridge for the NICAP web
site with permission from the copyright owner, Richard Hall)
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