home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- The following a is a transcript of an interviewof the photographer of a bright triangularobject on March 4, 1988 near the eEaslLake
- ErieUFO sighting area. On March 19, 1988, a separate witness from W1 and W2 was interviewed by Richard P. Dell'Aquila (RD) and Dale B
- . Wedge (DW) concerning a UFO sighting he had on the night of March 4, 1988 (contemporaneously with the Coast Guard sighting that night at E
- astlake, Ohio) a few miles south of the Perry nuclear plant, during which the witness attempted to take a series of photographs of an unknow
- n brightly lit triangular object. The witness will be designated herein as "W3". The immediate area of the sighting is a circular clea
- ring, which forms the witness's yard in a heavily wooded area of southern Lake County, Ohio. The witness's home is at the western edge of t
- he clearing and he observed the unknown object from the center of the clearing. The witness has an above average understanding of astronomy
- , describing various stars, constellations, citing information on up-coming meteor showers, and noting that Venus and Jupiter (which were in
- apparent close proximity in the sky that night) were observed through the tall trees on the western edge of his property. This is a p
- artial transcript of his testimony: DW Please give us a description as to what occurred on the night in question. W3 O
- kay, my friend and I were at my house and he had never seen any stars or moon or anything through the telescope, so we took it out and we sa
- w a neat looking planet with the telescope and we decided we were going to take a picture of it. I went in and got my camera and when we we
- re getting [the telescope] focused, I looked up and saw this bright red, reddish-orange light in the Southeast. I grabbed my friend's arm a
- nd pointed it out to him. He looked and we were both just stunned. We didn't know what to do. Finally, I came to my senses and took two p
- ictures of it and got a glance of it through the telescope, but no better than the picture is. I was going to take another picture, when it
- sped up too fast for me to take the picture. It was going slow, and then all of a sudden, it just sped up and I couldn't get a focus on it
- to get a picture. Then it disappered behind trees. The dog ran up to me and started grabbing my arm and pull me in the house, like it wan
- ted me to hide or something or to get away. It started acting real weird-running around and jumping around and trying to get my friend insi
- de. It just kept pulling us, like it wanted us to go inside away from it.DW About what time was this in the evening?W3 About 10:30.
- RD Do you remember the night, what night it was?W3 March 4th. DW Did this object, or whatever, make any sound? What alerted you
- to the fact it was there?W3 Well, I just lifted my head and it was so bright that it caught my attention out of my peripheral vision.DW
- How long did it last? How long did the entire sighting last?W3 About two minutes.DW What was it doing? Can you give us a descr
- iption?W3 When I first saw it, it was going real slow...DW From which direction to which direction?W3 East to West. It started
- in the East and it was going slow and then it sped up and disappeared behind the trees...[when it sped up it went] faster than a jet. When
- it first started it was slower than a jet, then it went faster than a jet. It sped up and I couldn't even get a picture of it because it wa
- s going too fast.DW It went down behind some trees?W3 It was just going in a straight line and there were trees in the way so I coul
- dn't see it any more. Then we drove into Thompson up onto the big hill and into a clearing and we couldn't see it anymore.DW Did it mak
- e any noise?W3 No, not that we know. We didn't hear anything. (At this point, the witness was asked to make a drawing of the obje
- ct)W3 (Drawing) It was in this shape and the back part of it here was glowing it would get real bright and would be orange, but then it
- would get dim again and then all you would see would be the rear and it would get real bright again. It was almost like a flashing light wh
- enever it went out.RD When the brightness changed, was there any change in the motion of the object? Did it speed up, slow down, move up
- or down or flutter like a leaf in the wind, anything like that?W3 No, it just was moving across the sky and kept glowing and geting dim
- , glowing and getting dim.RD So, you didn't notice any apparent connection between the alternating frequency of the brightness of it and
- the motion of it? W3 No.(The MUFON Investigators' Manual was used at this point and the witness selected certain drawings as representa
- tive of the apparent size and shape of the object)W3 It was like a triangle shape, but had little tails, like, coming out of the ends.RD
- You mentioned the object had a glow, which you diagrammed here on the left-hand side of it. Could you draw an arrow on the page to sho
- w which direction it was moving?W3 It was moving in this direction [away from the observed glow]RD What brand name camera did you us
- e?(Information on the camera and film used by the witness was taken, an Argus 20, Kodak 110 color film, no special developing process used)R
- D Examining the photograph, is this right side up? Is the point, the apex of the triangle upward or downward?W3 Upward. RD Giv
- e us an estimate of how far away it was. I know you mentioned it went behind some trees at one point. Do you know how far those trees were
- from you?W3 Those are in my yard. It went to where I couldn't see it anymore somewhere over Thompson. Maybe not even a mile away.(The
- interview continued)RD (Referring to a streak of light across the triangular object on the photograph) Did you see this blue streak wit
- h the naked eye or was this something that surprised you...W3 It was something that surprised me when I saw the picture. In the picture
- you can see part of the little fin I was talking about that it has on it...where it comes down and like curves out.(The witness's drawing w
- as labelled in reference to the photograph, biographical information concerning the witness was obtained and the MUFON investigative forms w
- ere filled)RD What was the sky like that night?W3 Perfectly clear. Not even a little layer of clouds. RD You mentioned you were
- out looking at some planets. What planets did you notice in the sky?W3 Well, Venus and Jupiter were set behind the trees. They were no
- where near where we were looking. We were just looking at different stars.RD Which direction were you looking in when you first observe
- d the object?W3 East by Southeast.RD Describe its motion again. Other than speeding up and slowing down, did it change direction or
- muve up or down or exhibit any kind of fluttering or swaying motion?W3 From the angle that we saw it, we couldn't see anything other th
- an it was speeding up and slowing down.RD You mentioned a situation with your dog. Could you fill that in for us?W3 We were by the
- telescope. We were both standing there. The dog kept running around and acting real weird before we even saw it. It was running around ac
- ting real playful, but a different kind of playful. She never acted like that before. When we did see it, she came over and she started tug
- ging on my arm and trying to nudge us into the house...nudging us to get away from there or something. She just acted real weird. She kept
- running around like towards the door and...just can't explain everything she did...she just ran around and acted so funny.DW You said y
- ou were outside? Did you view it from inside at all or from a car, or...W3 No.DW You stated you saw it through your still camera. D
- id you see it through your telescope?W3 A little bit, yes. Only like a glance of it though, because I couldn't keep the telescope on it
- . I aimed the telescope ahead of where it was heading and then when it did get there it was in and out real fast, but I did get a glance of
- it. (The witness later demonstrated his location at the time and the positioning of the telescope and its tripod).DW Did you run in th
- en and get the camera or did you have the camera with you?W3 I had the camera in my hand when I saw it. RD Did you have any special
- reason to have the camera with you?W3 Well yeah, we were going to try to take pictures of these planets, like through the telescope.DW
- Is there an airport near your home?W3 There's a small one.DW About how far away is that?W3 It's in North Madison, towards the
- lake.DW It's north of where you're at?W3 Yes.DW Is there any power lines near where you live...major power lines, like power st
- ations?W3 Yes, but not real close.DW Any railroad tracks near-by?W3 Way north.DW Tell us again what the sky conditions were
- like?W3 Perfectly clear. There was no clouds; I didn't see any planes anywhere, nothing, nothing but stars.DW You said the object..
- .where did you first see it...where was it?W3 In about the Southeast.DW When you last saw it where was it?W3 In the South. It w
- as heading from...it was like south of us and coming from east to west. We saw it ovewr here and it kept moving across and went behind the
- trees and we couldn't see it anymore.DW Figuring tht's the horizon (gesturing) and that being a quarter and that being a half, and this
- three quarters, where would it be on the horizon?W3 About a half. It was just above the trees.RD If straight up was 90 degrees and
- straight ahead was 0 degrees, how many degrees would that have been?W3 About 40-45. DW When it was closest to you, how far away do
- you think it was?W3 Probably somewhere around a mile.DW How far off the ground do you think it was?W3 I wouldn't know because th
- ere are so many trees around my house, you can't tell.DW Did this pass in front of you, behind you?W3 It went in front of us. It st
- arted to my left and went in front of us.DW Were there any airplanes or anything in the area? W3 No.DW Anything before you saw
- the object?W3 There was an airplane about an hour and a half before.DW How about afterwards?W3 No.DW Was there any sound at
- all?W3 No. Just silent.DW Did you sense anything--smell--feel anything?W3 No. We felt like...just...weird. We didn't know what
- it was. We didn't know what was going to happen. We were stunned, excited. We weren't really afraid of it...DW You've seen the speed
- of a jet as it flies over?W3 Yes.DW Compared to the speed of a jet, what would you estimate the speed of this object?W3 Well, w
- hen we first saw it it was going a little bit slower than a jet and we weren't really sure what it was. Then when it sped up, it was going
- faster than a jet would go. We knew then for sure that it wasn't a jet oir plane or something, because it changed speed so fast.DW (Est
- imate the size) W3 It was so big you can't explain it. Just a real big light in the sky...as tall as our house and about as big around
- (two story house with a full attic).DW Was it as bright as a star?W3 Much, much, much brighter than Venus was, because I know how br
- ight Venus was and it was a lot brighter than Venus.DW How about the moon?W3 Not quite that bright. It was real bright within itsel
- f. It didn't make a big bright space around it like the moon would. It was just...it was bright in that little area.RD Did you notice
- if it lit up anything on the ground? Did it cause any shadows to be cast?W3 No.RD Did it leave a trail?W3 No. Nothing that we
- could see. This was the only thing. (Pointing to the glow behind the object).RD Did it appear solid?W3 Yes.RD Did it have fuzzy
- edges or hard edges?W3 Probably kind of fuzzy. I don't really think it was solid like a plane would be. A plane when you see it would
- have hard edges, but this was like...you couldn't really see the edges.RD Did you dog bark or howl or whine?W3 She barked and whine
- d.RD How did she appear...describe her actionsW3 She was kind of protective, like trying toi get us to hide someplace away from it.D
- W Had she ever done that before?W3 No.RD Did you give her any commands, like "be quite" or "move away," or... W3 Yes, and sh
- e wouldn't...like we'll be playing sometime and we'll tell her, "no, be nice," and she'll just lay there and wait, but she wouldn't listen t
- o me she just kept trying to get me away.RD How did she move?W3 She kept running around and going up on her back legs like she was t
- rying to get a hold of our coats or something.RD Did her hair stand on end?W3 Yes. Her fur on the back of her neck.RD How is sh
- e now?W3 She's fine.(At this point the witness was asked to draw a diagram of his yard, with a line representing the motion of the objec
- t relative to his position that night and the investigators went to the site where additional information was obtained and photographs were
- taken).
