9:00 p.m. (+-) Now it so happens that Mr. Eldon Heck sent his
wife out in the yard to scan the skies while he was on the
air. She came back to report that she was sighting something
strange over the Shelby area. (Ref. 7, page 87, Zeidman)
Oct. 18, 1973: Mansfield area, OH
9:00 p.m. (+-) Then we have a report from Gordon Sponseller who
was also in the Air National Guard, and he reported while on the
air, "There is a strange object. I can't identify it because
all I can see is a light. I cannot see an object, but I can
see a strange light, and the manner in which it is maneuvering—it'
s very rapidly in one direction and then a sudden stop."
Sponseller said that no object with any mass at all could possibly
stop that suddenly. "Something is strange," he said. "Either
someone is shining a light against some clouds, or it's a type of
maneuvering that is very fast." (Ref. 7, page 87, Zeidman)
Oct 18, 1973; SW of Mansfield, OH
9:00 p.m. (approx) The Kowalchik sighting. Mary sighted an aircraft
in the sky, and she knew it was an aircraft because of the flashing
lights on the craft, and it was moving at a very steady rate across
the sky like an airplane would, whereas the other object was moving
very rapidly from spot to spot on the skyline. So Mary called
Walter out and as he got there she said, "Look at that! Oh my
God, they're gonna crash!" Because they were on a collision
course—at least it appeared from there, and they did come close
together and veered off--the orange object veered off, and the plane
kept going on, and that's about the extent of our sighting. (Ref. 7,
page 88, Zeidman)