1. DATE TIME GROUP 21 December Harrisonburg, Virginia CONCLUSION Civilian PSYCHOLOGICAL CATinORY 4. HUMBER OF OIJECn No evidence to indicate that a landing took place. One in the general psychologic~ cat egory SEE CASE FILE. LENGTH Of' OISI!RVATIOH 11. BRIE, SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS 2 Minutes (ApproJdmat Saucer landed and took off. Area allegedly radioactive. supposedly stopped by the object. Size estimted at more t ~AI TYPE OF OBSERVATION 90 .f't high. Shaped ~e a bee hive. Had a flourescent light. Gr ound-Visual ring around center. vestigated from \IPAFB. SEE CASE FIIE. !.and & Take Off Initial information received innletter from citizen 2l. days after reported event alleg~ took place. 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE So :Mr. Burru told me how to find the ml!adow in which the object bad landed and said he Judged that the UFO hud rt!Sted about 100 yards from the highway. But he gavl! me no further directions. I found the meadow, stepped o ff 100 yards a long the west fence. and then went 10 or 15 steps farthe r. Then with the ~lger counter turned on. I walked across the field eastward. \ Vben I wa:. about two-thirds of the distance across the meadow, the n~le atarted to rise and in the a rea from there 4 0 o r 4 5 atepa ea.stward the needle swung orr the dial a number or times . I trailed the probe s Uc k (by its flexible wire) in the dry grass and several limn picked up highly radioactive particles that sent the ntedle off the dial. Even though I walked far off the landing e ite. the ntedle would not return untll I had cleaned orr the Q!iger-Mueller 0-50 tube with a cloth. Fortunately, before I was halfway through this Investigation Mr. Harry Cook, a DuPont research engineer. and a Mr. Funk, a fellow engineer, whUe driving home [ro m the day's work, the former having learned the day before that the UFO had landed aomewhere In that meadow, :~aw me there, stopped their car, joined me. and corroborated my findings when thry saw the evi- dent radioactivity revealed by the Geiger counter. (Sel: Jan. 17 RJchmond TlmDiapatch.) The Geiger counter l used Is a Model 2612 Portable Survey Meter with a Model P15probe. The Count- er's rangea are 0.2, 2, and 20 mr/hr colncldlng w ith 600; 6,000; and 60,000 counts per m inute full scale w ith the Pl5 probe. The wveraJ times that I had evidently p icked up radioactive particles, I had the range set at 0.2, but the needle stllJ stayed orr the dial even when I set the counter to the 2 or 20 ranges, a ad, as I said before, the needle did not return to near zero untll l bruahed off the tub.! with my handkerchief. Alter I had uncovered the tube In the probe stick the second time, to clean if orr. I walked over the landing area with the prot>.! stick and exposed tube held about five feet [rom the ground. While I wa:~ doing this, the nl:'edle a round 16-18 milliroentgen:~ per hour. Thl! rays so registering were evidl!nUy s tr lkln" the tube fro m various d1rectlons from the ground. And we no tiC1:<1 that when aU thr~ of us were near to look a t the counte r dial, our bod ies seemed to s h1eld out many of the rays, so that the needle dropped back con:~idl!rably. This would indicate that the radiation was not o f the gamma ray ty~. bauu gamma rays will pen~trate stv.:ral feet u r ,olld concrete, when!a a thin sh~:e~ or paper w ill stop th~ alpha rays ant! somethlniJ like a one-inch board wUI stop beta rays. On January 12 Technical Sergeant David Moody and Starr Serge~tnt Harold Jones o f the WrightPanerso n Air Force Base, after telephone conven1ations initia ted the day beforl! by the Day- to n, Ohio, team, arrived to investigate the U F O land in K o r over thn!e weeks earlier. Horace Burs. Clair W4!8ver (student [lresldent of the U 1-"0 Investigators of Eastern Mennonite Colle!{e), and I accump .. nled the Air Force officers to the landing aide 32 mUe. south and bac k again to Harnsonburg. Sergeant Moody had Mr. Durn tell the enUre story o r his iightlng. both o n th11 way and o n arrlvaJ at the pla"-e o r the sighting. AJso he qu~tioned me u:s tu my Investigation o r t~ It~ mling she and d1scovery o f th e hll(h radioactivity. To Mr. IJallu Ktrsey, reporter fo r the Ric h- mt~nd Tlme.-Dillplltc:h, whu j)ono-d u,; wnen we were .tbout to begin wurk In the fteld, Sergeant ~11)0.1\iy 'ald . "'This is an unusual sight lng. It's not routine. If it wa rouune. we wouldn't be here." As the now 1lx of us waJl<ed Into the field, still covered with ur lnc:hd o r now remalnln!( from a sixinch fall o r a few days before, It waa no little gratifica tion to me to see Mr. Burns lead the gToup exactly to the a rea that ~lr. Cook, ~lr. Funk, and I bad found to be radioactive, and to hear him say, " Here, Q!ntle- men. Ia when! thla Thing s tood . This was the first ume H orace Burru and I had bftn near the p lace at the same time. Sergeant Moody, using a Model 2586 BetaGamma Survey Meter. tested the an!a (rather Pl!rfunctorUy, we felt) a t 8 or 10 spots, first tcraplng thl! 4 Inches or sno w aside each time w ith his rooc. Twice, when the needle started to rise, he ejoculattd. "l h''", quoc:kly m~tdl! iOmoe .,adJU~tmoent o n h1:1 "urvey ~ltt<'r wh1ch caukd the needle to return to zero, .:&nd then sa1d, "S~. the re's no radiation here!" On a third occa:.lon (each or the:~e witnessed by at least three persons), when h~ poked his Instrument too far Into a clu m p of gran (after he had kicked orr the :snow). several gross stubbles punctured the thin Krty pla~Lclike nJm u n the end ofthoe Meter and thlstlmtthe ne.!dle shot up much hil(her than ~fore, before he could jerk back the ~leter and examlM tho: damaged film. But again he made the ndjustment, lowtred the Metl!r more gently and said. "There's no rndlatlon here!" Ho1w~v .. r . ho~ ocknowl~dl(eti that :.ht 3 nun' .tnoJ rn .. ..; !nch n f an ow th u t had fallen , since th<! lime u i my anv .. -4111( !Won <JII ll.-c cmb .. r :w. could hav~di:hlpatt:d ..any radio~tt.tlvt" i.iulup1!5 d~pvd<tt:d there o n Dec. 2 1, depend in" o n their halrllfe. or cours.:. T h < :>erg eants both teemed suffic:iently imprn:sed by all the facts they oberved and heard related, that they said severaJ time that o r the 532 UFO. reported In 1964 and lnvesllgated by the Air Force (of which 16 were classiiied as unidentified o r unexplalnt-d) could wdl result in being the 17th ror 1964. In v iew o r aU these facts, when Mr. Burns and I each received our 3page c py (dated January 2 7, 1965) or the Air Force report and findings o n the Dec. 2 1 UFO landing near Staunton, it was w ith considerable surprise and dismay that we found that the Air Force had decided there had been no such UFO s1gbb.ng and landing. The report's concluding paragraph reads: "CONCLUSION: It is believtd that a vehicle o f this size would be observed by additional witneucs at the time and location o f the reported event There wue no oddl Llonal witnesses. There was n o conllrmaUon or radio- activity Ln the area. Grass and weeds bad not been de pressed. Th~re wall a total lack or any indication that a vehicle had landed in the fidd. Investigation by Air Force personnel and subsequent analysis of the d ata collected fa Us to reveal any evidence o f a n alleged landing." Apparently the honest, straightlorward, detaUed testimony by H orace Burns, as to what be saw In the air, on the ground, and In the air again, and its effect on the motor o f his car , and my testimony, supported by two technically experienced w itnesses, u to the radioactivity o f the landing site o f the UFO, do not con stitute evidence as fa r as the Air Force Ia concerntd. trangely missing from the greatly detailed, 3-"page report fro m the Air Force was any reference at all to the three rains and the 6 inches of snow that had fallen on the area between 30 and January 12. which we reported to the Air Force team and which they could easUy have veriiied at the local weather s tation which informs us that betw~n these dates this region had a to taJ precipitation or exactly 2 Inches. The two sergeant:~ were very much aware of the 4 inche or snow stlll present in the field, through which they waded in their low s hoes for half an hour, although I had urged them during their long-dbtance caU from Oh1o, to come prepared with galoshes. Also m issing fro m their report Is any reference to the fact that the two research engineer s (~tessrs. Cook and Funk, used to Q!iger counter work). had witnessed the rad1oactivity o r the land ing a rea. Curiously, the sergeants ev1nced no lntere:.t 1n talking to the&e two engineers, both o r whom Lave within a few m iles of the area. H o wevery, Sugeant Moody mentions In hi:l report that cop ies o f several Richmond TimesDispatch articles are attached, Including one written by Reporter DaUas Kersey on January 16 fo r the ,January 17 issue. Moody does not quote from the article, but he can hardly have missed reading the fo Uo wlnK: N ine days after Bums said he saw the 80 to 90-foot object, Gehman took a Geiger counter to the site to check for radiation. He knew that othre reported UFO's have given off radiation. Gehman got a ' "tremendously high reading" o r radia- tion, and his finding bas ~n veriiied by H.:\(. Cook o f aunton, a research engin~r a t Waynesboro"a DuPont plant. Gehman was having a tizzy because the n~le Wit S all the wAy off the dial," said Cook. who has bad considerable exper ience with Geiger counters In his work. "It waa a h o t a rea, .. Cook said . "W< spent 4 5 minutes In the field trying to tone this reading down. We checked the radium dials o n our watches, even went over o small iJI fro m the field, but th is was definitely a n accurate reading. The only thing I can say l.s that It was hot ( r ad1oacUve)." Another curious juggling o r thedacts ap~ars In the Air Force report near the bott o m of page 2 as foUows: "F.xamlnation o f the Odd showed that IJTOU and b r lnle weeds stems had no t be.!n depressed or broken over any large area. Then! was no Indicatio n that a large v.-h1cle o r object or any SIIC'Dificant w"il(ht had landed In llow could they make such a s tatement, when th<! facts are that the: meadow, o f (tood quality grass, had been mowt'd for hay and there were no brittle wee-cl stems In lht field nnywhtre. to be depr ed o r b rol<en down? And .JS fo r the 1,rrass, how could the Strgennt:s know that it had not ~n deprt:):led, since it was cuvered with 4 incllt-:. or snow when tho:y wo:re thHe? lne photograph. wlddy publlsht"<l, taken by ~tr. Kersey of Sergt:ant ~loody und Hurnce Uurns bend1ng over the Air Force Survey :.teter, elo- .. ntlv provt'l thf' p r .. sence or at l .. nst 4 inch~ n f .now. "Rd ubtRmtd tln tht ~igercounaer. nnn: 'h 11 1 v -,tl. UIIII counts p er m 1nute, which LS corrf\."1, but la ter tht:J Ill equuted w1Ul "60,000 m r/hr on the cht:clc by Dr. Gehman, .. but this would multlp ly the radiauon I round by 120. And th.:y quote .'l.lajor ames Sproul, Alr Force radia tion expert, a.s stating (apparently on the baa\a of th\a ml.sln!ormaUon) that auch radJoactive strength depoaUed on December 21 abould yield a positive return on January 12, wbJch would without a doubt ~correct. if there bad been radloactivfty or IUcb lntenaity. But following on Major Spro~'a statement, the report says, " there \a no alternative but to dlaregard the Celger counter returns taken by Dr. Gehman.'' In thla way they dl.epoeed of the problem indicated by the opening lenience 1n their paragraph on radiation: "The moat pertinent fact lD the alleged landing waa the Geiger counter reading taken by Dr. Gehman." . Two quatiooa continually llnger 1n my mind Firat, waa the Alt Force Beta-Gamma Survey Meter really the proper lnatru meat to u.e, if the radiation might have been mairlly or only or alpha ray.? And, aecond, waa their particular Instrument, wbJcb Serg~t Moody alwaya held down dose to the ground, really dealped to dilcover radiation 1n a w ide, general area? Wa.a It not rather deaigned fo r uae after the eource or the raya hu already been patty de6.nlteJy piJlpointed? In tb.la Alt Force report then are a number of other curloua e.uon aod mlajudgments or fact, aucb as the.ir aaying that the UFO bad croeMd Route 250 "at an altitude bJgber than. a trans mJaaloD power llne to the l.eft Of the hlgh.way. These telephone (ale) pola are approximately 75 feet 1Jl height. Desce.ot or the objed waa at an angle and the object appeared to be apinnlng aUgbtly." Now It bappena that those Vtrginia Electric Power Company polee are declared by VEPCO officlala to be from 38 to 4-' feet lD belgbt. which averages at little more than baiC aa blgb u waa eetlmated by the Sergtants. U they had missed this estimate by 5 or even 10 feet, it could be overlooked, but to miss It by 30 feet La more than one hopes for from ttchn.lcally trained memben or a reaponsible Investigating team. And as to the "aplnning" or the UFO, we have heard l\.1r. Burns say repeatedly, u be aa.ld 1Jl antwer to Sergeant Moody's question that day, that he did not notice an1 s p inning. The ~rt contaln.a a number or other auch discrepancies. For a quick rundown or some or these, note: Page 1: (a) Sergeant Moody called my home at 11:30 a .m. on Jan. 12, lnttead or at 9 :00 a . m. as be said in his report to bl.a aupuion. Small matter? Perhaps. When be called at 11:30 be told Mra. Gehman that they bad juat arrived at a local mot.el and needed to abave and wash up and eat before we could get losetbcr, whk:b we did at 1:30. (b) Dncriblng the UFO: "The band or light waa about 12 lnchee ln diameter." lie should have slad "iJl width. " hp 2: (a) "The object roM stralgbt up, tilted at an angle aod abot off Into epace . "Mr. Bunu bad told hlm: "shot off tn a oorth..,.terly direction." It had come from due north. (b) "D~n or (!eparture Will about jixty degrees to the right of Ita approach." Howrver, the angle betwe"!n north and oorthftUt La not 60 but 45 dev~. (c) "01-. E. C. Cthman ttated that be bad contacted occu- panta of the adJacent farmhouHa and that they bad ~n o r beard nothlniJ." Correct: b<Jt ' I nee the Sergeants accepted and nported lhl.a fact, why not -.1110 my much more extended testimony or the two reHarch engln<"t!rt who shared my Geiger counter ln- vatipdon W1th me? (d) "01-. Gehman It bead o f a local UFO H obby Club and baa appored o n aeveral local "'dlo programs ln the area." The UFO Invatt1aton are a aerioua group of college students con- ductlnr a ldenti.Bc inquiry on the many locally n!J>Orled U PO phenomena. I have never appeared on a local radat-program on the aubJect of UFO.; although WSVA on Dec. 27 announced tbe exlttenc:e o( thla extracurricular group organized 5everal montbt earlier at Eaatem Mennonite College, u noted above. hge 3: (a) "At no time during the thirty mlnutea of Investi- gation waa the bhrbwt\y empty o f cars. " Th!.s can be challenged, '(or till o f u were In tent o n So!rgeant ;\lfoody'1 Cietger counter, <.u he aiAO ..,._.. No one wu consaatentJy observing the blghway (b) ~ardlng Mr. Bums: "Without a thorough psychiatric examlnaUoo no po1ltive conclusion regarding hallucloaUon Ia poulble. The witntss's rellabUity Lt not questioned." This seems llke contradictory testimony. How can one consider ll witness diable. if ooe also suspe<:U that be may have halludnaUons? But alnce Mr. Burnt' almple, frank testimony bu through these been conal.stent and unshaken under somet.lmesseverecross- tsdoalng, ev~ heclc.llns. D011111bly It is not oo: Nho 1hould have 4 thorough paych.latrlc e.xamlnAdon. (c:) The A1r Fort'~! report states, a.t quoled .tbove: ''There were no addldonaJ witnesses" to the Bums' sigh ting. While It Lt true that at the time of the Air Force team's via it we d id not know o f any other peraom who bad seen the same UFO, yet two days later Mr. Keney Interviewed a 14-year~ld b lgb school boy, Ken- neth Norton. of Staunton, whoaawa large UFO travtllng rapidly over the city 1n the dlrectioo from which Horace Bum.s aaw It comJng. Tbl.s algbUng by Kenneth occurred on the same day juat a few minutes before the landing seen by Burns. The boy called to hla mother to come to aee the object. His parents cor- roborate their son's story a.s to date and time o r sighting. A account or this and of the sighting in the air by another father and eon and still another man, or the UFO, apparently immediately after It bad left the landlog alte on Route 250, are told in Reporter Kersey's January 15 and 17 Richmond Tl.tne.- Diapatch articles. Sergeant Moody had at least the article of the 17th aa mentioned earlier, but. without look1Jlg1nto these reports at all, be could blandly aay, "There were no additional wit- Thlt paper does not exhautt the inconsistencies and dis- crepancies ln the Air Force report o f Its "official investigation." One or two or those remaining the writer pls:1.ns to take up with Sergeant Moody personally, in addition to the ones n o:ed in this paper, but all or them together constitute strong proo f that the investigation and sub:~equent report were considerably less than fait and open-minded. In consequence, a good many people in the Shenandoah Valley feel that U other Air Force invesUgationJ of UFO reports may be judged by this one, then the general rep- utation that' the Aerial Pbenomma Sec:tion of the Alr Force, Project Blue Book, bas un the subject 1:' by no means 'undeserved. Wblle on the whole we have a very high rega:d for the Uruted States Air Force, it.s tremenJoua responsibilities for the aalety or our country, it.s capabilities, standards, and, by no means least, lt.s personnel, yet we cannot help feeling that the Aerial Phenomena Section or the Foreign Technology Oivi:~!on would do well to seriously overhaul its principles, Its methodology, and some o r Its personnel. Al1estatlon: I believe the above report by Ur. Gehman \a a complete and accurate statement of Mr. Horace Bums' UFO sighting and related mal1ers. Eroeet C. Gehman Professor o r German Sponaor of UFO Investigators Eastern Mennonite College Ha.rrltooburg, Virgin.ia, USA R. Clair W!aver, President UFO Investigators Eastern Mennonite College Ha.rrilonburg, Virginia Attestation: 1 have read this paper and ca It \a a true and rella~le report. Horace Burn.~. Guru~math C roctt>es, Vlrgtnl a P.S. Further confirmation: Just as we go to p r ess we learn that several homes in the landing region reported the fa ct that a t about 5:00 p .m. on Dec. 21 their lights suddenly rlimmed anc:! thetr radios and TV set.s ceased functlon1ng fo r seve ra l minutes . The heads or these homes are sa.ld to have told this in the factory where they work. GEH\ofA'N''i IJlEWS AIRED Pr,(. ~oman. who J.l.iO ts a mlnner, :nl.n~s .h.,r~ !<i po$SLbly some: conno!Cllon o"tw~n the U FOs und th" second commg o r Christ Gehman believes ours is not the only Inhabited planet NlCAP AND KEYHOE Prof. Gehman fiJed the report w ith NICAP. The news story (Continued on Page 4)