Delphos, Kansas
November 2, 1971

Animal Reaction Feature:
Snowball was a farm dog, an outdoors living dog who assisted in rounding up and herding sheep.  Sheep were also involved in this incident, and the event took place during the time their lambs were being born.

About 7:00 p.m., 16-year-old Ron Johnson was in a shed doing chores at the sheep pen on his family’s farm accompanied by Snowball.  Ron heard a rumbling noise (like a washing machine out of balance) and stepped outside of the shed. He and Snowball at the same time saw a brightly illuminated object about 75 feet away and 2 to 5 feet above the ground. Snowball stood still and was quiet.

For about 30 minutes Ron said that he, Snowball, and the sheep could not move, although the sheep were bellowing.  Snowball remained quiet and his ruff was not up.

After a half an hour or so, the object, base glowing more brightly, leaned slightly west from the vertical and moved east rapidly.  As it angled upward, it’s sound became a high-pitched jet-like sound.  At this point, Ron lost his vision, then in minutes, regained his sight.  Ron ran to alert his parents, who came outdoors after the object’s departure and saw it in the distant sky.  That evening after the event was over the following observations were made of Snowball.  Durel, Ron’s father, reported that he saw Snowball looking up into the air.  Ron also reported Snowball looked "up in the air all the time.”  Ron also reported that “he [Snowball] looked up in the air and just cried.”

The next day Thaddia Smith (reporter) said the boy and dog were still afraid, and that the dog wandered around the yard with his head up in the air as if still looking for the object.

Harlan Enlow, (Undersheriff) reported that the day after the event they “had to force the dog back into the area and he was shivering and pawing the ground.  He was upset, very agitated.”

After November 2, Snowball, always an outside dog, damaged 2 wooden doors trying to get inside whenever he heard a high pitched noise.  The Johnsons began leaving the porch door open so he could get onto the porch when he wanted. Mrs. Johnson commented that the dog wanted to be inside with house with Ron.

Also on the day after the event, when sent to round up sheep, Snowball ran full tilt into a fence. He continued to have problems over the following weeks until the Johnsons took him to a veterinarian.  The veterinarian reported that the dog had not been feeling well, not eating, and  “in a hemorrhage situation, out the nose.”  Under anesthesia, a 3.5 inch bearded piece of probable vegetation was removed from up in the nostril on the same side as the blind eye. The eye was permanently blind, but Snowball otherwise recovered.

[Possibly many of Snowball’s odd behaviors  were related to an at-that-point-in-time unperceived physical injury rather than to the exposure of the unknown object on November 2—jw.]

For the next week the sheep would jump out of the pen after dark. They did stay in during the daytime.

Joan Woodward, Animal Reaction Specialist:
It was after dark on a clear night when Ron Johnson heard the rumbling noise and stepped out to see a brilliant object near the ground. There was a mass of unchanging colors over the object—blue, red, and orange.  The actual surface could not be seen, and the shape was difficult to discern, but the top had a flat-dome shape and it had a flat bottom. At one point Ron compared it to “a toad stool.”   Ron estimated it to be 8 feet in diameter. A bright glow with a shimmering appearance extended from the base to the ground. The glow from the object illuminated nearby trees and the ground.

Physiological effects included Ron’s eyes hurting after looking directly at the object and then losing his vision temporarily.  For 3-4 days after, Ron’s eyes hurt and watered but then got better, and he also had headaches during that time. Ron had nightmares and incidents of sleep walking during the weeks after this event.

Physical traces were found on the ground where the object hovered. Touching the traces caused numbness. 

No EM effects were reported.

Source:
Phillips, Ted (Edited by Jennie Zeidman), 2002, Delphos,  A Close Encounter of the Second Kind (CE II), Fairfax, VA, UFO Research Coalition, 176 pp.