PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 20 May 64 Lansing, Michigan 3. DATETIME GROUP ~. TVPF. OF OBSERVATION XX Ground Visual 0 Air-Vi eual Cl No civilian 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECT$ one each time BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Observer saw three seperate observations of which one had definite shape and was not Just a light source. Observed through BX. Witnessed by husband and neighborns. CONCLUSJON$ 0 Was Balloon Probably Balloon Pauibly Balloon 0 GroundRodor Was Aircraft P rob obi y AI rcroft 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Po ui bl y AIrcraft Was Astrono"'icol 0 Probably Astronomical 0 Possibly Astronomical Insufficient Data for Evaluation 11. COMMENTS Made several atempts to contact witness ~ throughout four day period andunable to do so. Possible association with some of the Lansing s ...-.nd Cannot conclude on limited second ak hand data as. it s~ .. rept around in circles over trees .(and possibly played on a hc.7.e lay(! J es the temperature was in the low thirties folloving a hot day J a conC..i-tion conductive to an inversion layer. A UPI reporter advised that !1c received ll~ television channel.~:\ that night). The locations from which t he calls came were all c lose to the route of the police car. In this investigator' s opinion, all the calls at or around 0300 on 21 May may be attributed to the police-run. 1 . T!1e Siren. Reports of strange noises J res~lt of emergency polic e car run at looping blue light. EXTRACT LANSING CITI POLICE WG The following reports of UFO' s were extracted from the Lansing City Police Log by TSgt DaYid N Y...oody and William P?wers on 1 21 May 64, at 0302 am, report ot Land.ut!l ~eard noise trom elephants 1n Logan Shopping Center. old sav Flying Saucer at 15 foot diaceter. 23 May 64, Saturday at 0300 23 May 64, Saturday at 1.238 am, reported UFO. TOE STATE JOVIL~AL Thurs., May 21, 1964 L&"''" Michltan - Was it Martians? Od<l. Sound Linl,e<l to Sky Object . By. DICK FRAZIER. tlons sort of slacked off, like a : Journal St.f\Cf Wrlt.er motor that has been turned ore, ' . and then it revved up for just The clock. 1n Mrs. Elizabeth a second and then qult.'' . Hoxey's living room struc~ th~e Speer said he bad saen a shoot- as .she.~. :was . awakened by a ing star a few minutes before, atrang~ :no1.se Thursday morn but that was before he heard . :Others reported hearing the Mrs. Cole was th~ only per~on sound on the city's south side who report~d seem' anyth1ng . . connected Wlth the noase. ~urlng the next few minutes.. ..I was too scared to. 'go to the Mrs. Hox~Y . of .6035 Hilliard window at first," she said, "but called caty pollee .to l'~F,rl after I got my daughter settled ' she ha.d heard a noase ;,hke down, I looked out toward Holt somethmg from o~t~r space.. : Cto the southeast of her home) About the same ume, Mrs. Ed and saw this light-colored shiny, Cole, 4623 ~ughes, Road, silver-metal thing. It looked like and her daughter, Wan~a. 10, a great, huge bowl, sort of spin awa~ened. by a noa~ she ning. It was just over the tops later descnbed aa a high-p&tched of the trees and it kept moving "twhirling sound.'~ away not straight away Jike ... . ,~It was terrible lllld it lasted you'd' think, but turning in loops tor ~ore than five minu~s." as it disappeared." ! she said. !"It was a very .loud, veri shrill sound, steady for OBJECT GLOWED quite a while and then it. drifted She said the object had a glow ! away." . but no other markings or 1ights. i The story, of course, has to Neither her husband or son got c 0 have an elephant angle -and up to look at the object, Mrs. n city police, investigating a simi Cole said, although her husband n lar report of a screeching noise did hear the screeching noise. t .. . at 1008 W. Dunlap St.-at first Capt. Donald R. Knutson oft -believed the noise was coming 836 Sandlyn Ave. said the .noise from a trumpeting elephant at woke him up about 3 a.m. E the Logan Shopping Center cir, An army officer, Knutson fs ~us. . ~vorking or. his master's degree c NO ELEPHAI'II"T m ~cco~ntmg at Michigan State UmversJty. . . But one elephant couldn't "At first I thought it was my]. make all the noise -and keep furnace acting up again. Then I up steady for five minutes-realized it sounded like aheli,. like police were hearing about copter but it was more com . Thursday from . at least haU a pressed and sounded like a . dozen residents living ;.s far smoother ruMing engine. away as Depot Street in Holt. "I thought it was trucks on J Elmer Speer, 1008 Dunlap St., Cedar Street then I realized it t said he had just gotten hol1te lasted too long for them. I did c from work at Oldsmobile when not look out so I saw nothing. ' . he heard the noise. It was ex "'When I looked at the clock t actly 3 a.m., he said. it was 3:01 a.m. and the sound . .. 1 know it sounds like I'm lasted for a Cew minutes longer l crazy, or something," Speer and then quit. It sounds kookie, c said, "'but it sounded just like I know, but that is what hap-( the theme music and noises on pened," he said. c "Twilight Zone.' The Ingham County Sheriff's a .. And I'd swear the darned Department had several phone < thing landed over south of my calls this morning asking about 1 place somewhere. The revolu a mufCled booming sound. 1 .free Press T elep~ones For llome DeU\ery Place Want Ad Cit,. Neml Desk Sport~ (after 2 p.m.) IDsorllDr-8 Drpt. All Other Calla ;Friday, llay 22, 1964 . THE SECOND FRONT PAGE Page 3, Section A Slltclll to the''" Preas - . . DOn \VeJgandt, 30, a television newscaster ln Jackson; . Ebner Speer, ol. 1008 ,V, Dunlap, Lansing, eald, ''o 1 LANSING-An .. U n i o e !1 t if i e d FlY!~g Object" first saw the object while driving to his East Lansing -know ft sounds crazy (but) rd swear the tblng landePt reamed across Lansing early Thursday, setting neffes home along College ' Road. r south of my place." . I -cd~-~-!'d pr_om pt1ilg po!ice{o ~!Jtpar_e the hiJ~ "It was vei'J blue, too blue tO be a. falling star," lie "The revolutions sort of sla~ened off, like a mot4~, tchcd whme to a n <'lcpha n t ~ tntmpetmg. sald. "It was tound, like a bn.sketball, and "'aS falling ., The bluish, circular object was described as 'a great, very fast. But 1 went to the spot where lt disappeared, that ha.s been turned off. It revved upagain for a aeconen ge bowl, sort of sp,inning'' and a "light-colored, shiny, there 1\'U nothing." . . . \. then qulL" / . to ver metal thing." ; . Stanley Brauer, 40, and hls wife, Blanche, were on Speer said. the sound ~as. a ,.whirring. nolse ,alJ \}:itn.!!s br~an phoning repor!s to L:tnsJng po~ce their way home from the Lansing restaurant he owns. started lo~ and got so loud and high-pitched it a a d rndio and t"lc\'il'Jon sla.lions sliorll after !be flJ'St They first saw the object along Pennsylvania Ave. . . me:~ : , p ;htin ~ Rt 2: . , "Ita speed was terrific," Brauer said. "We tried~ to 'Army Capt. Donald Knu~on, a graduate studentJ' o. Many of the sightings were in. an area near the follow it but it was going so fast that it "'~s gone, d h ht 't , j lik th t It s tt' w d Mlchigan S~te University, sai , "I t oug 1 was wi Jgan Shopping Center at Jolly and Logan, on Lansing's phfft. ust e a. oo s fJlrnace acting up again. Then I realized it sound me uiliwest side. ' (to tbe e " . "i..r-:t.: like a helicopter (or) trucks on Cedar St. :But it lastgr. A 16-year-old 'elephant named Tulsa. is on 'display . ra. ward Cole, ~0, of Lansing_, said, ' oo eC1 too long for tha.t." .. wl the shopping center, and police told the first callers like a great, huge bowl. It kept movm&:. away, t~g . of a t the sound they heard mi;ht be Tulsa trumpeting. in J_oopa ~ it disappeat:,ed. It w~ a ternble, very shrill One unidentified woman saJd she saw the uro la . Prel:imin~ Investigation ot UFO Reports, !tray J:,-.23. 1964. . Will ism T. Polters, Systems Dlgineer, Dea.rlx>rn Observatory On Friday night, Ha7 22-2.3 I made a br:ief telephone survey in response to a request by J. A. Hynek .Uiroctor of Dearborn Obaer'Vatoey .following his apprisal. of a UPI report. or sight;ingsin Lansing Michigan My first caJ1 was to UPI in 9hicago; a repebt of a UFO sighting had come but !rom Mariqn_, Indiana. A subsequent ca.Jl to UPI in Lans:ing establilJhed that reports we~ coming independentl7 from both locations . I contacted the Police Department in la:aR: Marion, and -was infor:ood that po.lice of.t'icers in the Marion force and in pol:Sce dep~ents of ro~ding toloma ( Ti n, Hartford Tipton ~t17 ~erit.tts of~co, ~; had . ' . witness~eitner ldngJe lights or gro.ups of light~, both stationary and moving, ~ich struck ldtnes:ses as unusual enough to report. CaJl s to several of the other departments in the area did not add much infonnation, as the \titnesses \1ere . 'on patrol or wero not on dut7 at the time~ In eveey case I was assured that the . ::. : witnesses w:>uld be avaUabl.o if .a complete investigation were carried out; in most . :: . case~ t..'lo sightillgs wre logeed," or else the force is small e~ough that the individuaJ.s involved w.l.ll be easy-to find. I did succeed in locating .one witness l-rho saw an orange l.ight low :in tho northl'test sky, apparentJ.y 200 -SOO i'eet high, three to six mil.es a"trayn, having driven to the west end of' town ( Hartford City)J after hearing over his police cor radio coinnlents about other sightings in progress. mn The officer, Robert lvieredith~ reports that the BJ.acr..ford another man also saw the orange light. It. seems clear that the object was Venus, just prior to setting. The other reports may involve more defini.te motion# arxl some involve multiple objects ( at least one observation through binoculars) so the Venu~ explanation cannot readily-be extended without. further info:nnation Having established that enough infomation could be: obtaj ned throu~ the The first 3:ansing c.o1l was to the Lansing Police Depart.'!lent, '\'there I spoke with Sgt. tize/Snyder. A series o call.s had been received fro:u residents _, l'/edne sday of Southern t-ans~g far several. days, starting at .3 Al-l onfiwuzd=wnmorni.ng, !:!ay 20. A list of names was obtained from the log of l~ednesdq all from peopl-3 \tho complained of a ""d.ord noise.u This noise was descr:ihed approximately as ~-. 'l-Jhirring" noise, starting low and goi.ng high, then stopping. In a subsequent caJ1 to the Ingham County Sheriff's o.t"fice, I t'las informed that at .3AH rlednesday morning a policeca:-had made an emergency~ down H:ill.er street, employing a sergeant ne\-t nwarb1 ing" siren, which the desk/aeaapu'Cfrl described as sounding \lierd " When I read him the list o! addresses of the complainants, .he identified T.ZCV! rnosi but not al.l ot them as being close to the route of the emergency run It was also found that an elephant was tethered all night in a shopping c~1 nearby, part or a promotion st.tmt. ibe reports or .3 Al-I Wednf:'sday, therefore, may-tentatively be connected witl the known e~rgency run, at least those definitely' concemed 'dth noises, \J'lich I understand is true in aJl cases. \.....-...-= Report,s from 'l'hursdJ7' and. Frid~ night j however, ean11ot be connected Ni.t.h the sil.--on, as objects were seen. There appear to be several independent sighting:l pf different objects. One object. ~ bright blue or blue green lisht uas seen ~escending "to the ground" ( that is, going out or sight .tollol'ring a downward course) by tl';o people, and Mr Each was in his O\..n car on the \-tay home \';ben he caught sit;ht of the object. Both were impressed sufficiently to atte:1pt tc drive to \there the object disap.weared, end both seem to havo thought it rnic;ht be an aircra!t in trouble. 'nle men met subsequently, \oms actir.g i:t hi: capacity of television annourcer ( for \ID.X) at a reitote broadcast from~s restaurant ( in Lansing, and here they each learned that tr.o other h~ seen the li{;ht. Unfortunately, it appears t.h::t they have aJ ready CO!!lP~=- their etor:i.es, as l:oth reported to me in phone cal.J.: Bqtu :-l~7 morning that the sighting took place at 12:10 to 12:15". Both men have agreed to cooperate in any deta:il.~d investigation ............. .......... One or the caJJ s associated l'Tith the nidlt of the ftnefgency run pr~;;io~:;;~r. mentioned was from a . .ramer in Grand Ledge, who called the l"D =-::, Co-=rrtz-~h&z :&:: s , department with a report. that he had seen a fiying ~cer land and take of aga:tn o A police car S miles from the scene was dispatched, but before it arrived the. tanner, whose name was not obtained, said tha.t the object was gone; the investigatil patrol rei=C)rted sighting nothing un11sua1. so the sighting lras not, logged: the name of the fanner mq be di.f.ficul.t to discover. The farmer said the obj~ct was blue/a.nd ro a.red and was . . /15 feet in diameter~ ' The police officer clearly believea the. man to be ''mistaken . 'ibere are seVeral more reports which need to be straight.ened out better then : I could do over the telephone. One involves t'WO men coming home i'rom the ni[#lt shift (apparently-) at Oldsmobile~ an and a The two men ~rere ~ .. .. in a car parked in front of .onse when/heard & weird noise ( apparently not the siren -time is wrong) and saw an object that looked like a sb:>oting star going behind the house. It made ( or something made) a sufficiently impressive noi::;e that wife jtimped out of bed terrified., the sound having mrakened her Between phone caJ 1 s . to. saturd'!-Y morning, I received . an W'lsolicited ceJ.l. .f'rom a reporter, Dick Frazier of the Lansing State-JournaL, 1'/ho was trying to find out if my calls of the night before were legitimate, a."'ld. 'ho had another report which cane in just after I had ceased operations ~rida.y night. A Hrs M.., Lansing, saw three o_bjects as 9.:00., 9:45 11:00 PH on the 2~h, at least one of '.zhich showed shape ( outline, not point source) and l-Jhich was objeerved through binoculars. Mrs. and the.#llcalled rome neighbors who also mDml were witnesses. One object \tas described husba..'"ld also sa'" the object~ as roughly circular with many little white lights on its mderside. lirs. not report until she heard o.f other reports, .for !ear she would be c aJ.led crazy Frazier says she is willing to talk to scientists .from. rrorth'\-rcsteln ( Frazier informec her of our investigations). Mrs. t s address is described as b ei ng "near a street which appears on the list of com!IJrlnants ( not in chronoloeical