1 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:07,520 Hello and welcome to the program UFO Warning. 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:11,040 In this episode we're talking about the Wytheville UFO 3 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:13,360 sightings. That's correct, the Wytheville 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,480 UFO sightings. This actually took place in 1987 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,320 down at Wytheville, VA. I found this first article over 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:26,680 at unsolved.com. The title says Whitefield UFO 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,480 Sightings and the case details start off telling us that 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:34,040 Whitefield, Virginia is a small town nestled in the foothills of 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,960 the Blue Ridge Mountains. Country music station WYVE calls 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,560 itself the voice of Whitefield for most days. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,080 Life there is usually quiet and uneventful, but that was not the 12 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,240 case on the morning of October 7th, 1987. 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,440 Radio reporter Danny Gordon checked in as usual with the 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,280 County Sheriff and heard an unbelievable tale. 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,600 According to Danny, three wife county sheriff's deputies all 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,000 claim to have seen a UFO. So there you have your three 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,280 reliable witnesses. I guess quote. 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,000 It was a filler piece that came on at the end of the news, which 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,320 I usually relegate to something that may be unusual. 20 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,320 Like we had one police officer who killed 5 chickens at once 21 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,120 with two shots. And that was a story that ran as 22 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,280 kind of a ha ha piece. And this was another ha ha 23 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,040 piece. And being a very skeptical news 24 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,600 man, it was definitely not in my lead part of my news. 25 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:35,480 Well, it kind of tells you this guy's opinion. 26 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,680 He's pretty biased toward not believing UFOs. 27 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:41,640 Even though he has three reliable witnesses in the form 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,920 of deputy sheriff's who all claim to have seen this UFO, he 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,880 chooses not to believe them. So we have kind of have an idea 30 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,320 where he was coming from on this that goes on and says. 31 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,520 However, Danny's ha ha piece sparked some unbelievable 32 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,040 listener responses. Reports of UFO sightings poured 33 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,920 into WYVE. With the switchboard jammed, 34 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,720 Danny set up a spatial call in program for the following week. 35 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,200 Being a brass tacks journalist, I always believed there was a 36 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,800 plausible logical explanation and I felt at the time that it 37 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,640 was military of some nature and that we would find the reason in 38 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:23,560 a short period of time. Danny thought the UF OS weren't 39 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,240 most likely experimental aircraft being tested out of 40 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:33,000 Virginia's Langley Air Force Base, but he was reportedly told 41 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,320 by the military that there was no testing going on. 42 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,440 As more and more residents came forward with their stories of UF 43 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,440 OS, the military finally came up with an explanation. 44 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,720 While you bug these guys long enough, they're going to come up 45 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,480 with an excuse. They said the cause for the UFO 46 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:54,200 sightings was not an experimental aircraft, but were 47 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,040 there planes refueling? But according to Danny Gordon, 48 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:03,120 that explanation was impossible. I called the Pentagon and talked 49 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,680 to the Air Force general there who told me if they're refueling 50 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,200 under 13,000 feet, then somebody's butt's in a sling. 51 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,640 And to this day we don't know if they were refueling at 5000 52 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:16,840 feet. But at the same time, I have 53 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,440 asked if it is military, then I'll back off the story and 54 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,080 leave it alone if you tell me, because I'm a patriot. 55 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:28,520 And each time I'm told it's not us, we're not doing it, and we 56 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,320 haven't been doing it. Well, they're at a loss, 57 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:34,960 clearly. And I find it interesting that 58 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,640 this journalist, just their first, their first inclination 59 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,920 is to volunteer to the military, not to inform the public of 60 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:43,720 what's going on because they're a patriot. 61 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,160 Interesting take on that. On October 21st, just two weeks 62 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,520 after the first sighting, Danny and his friend Rodger Hall drove 63 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,640 to the area where most of the sightings had occurred. 64 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,920 According to Danny, they brought along a 35mm still camera as 65 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,320 well as a video camera, so he's starting to see the guy does 66 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,040 have some curiosity about this. Give him credit. 67 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,920 He's taking his friend out there to the site at least, and he is 68 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,200 going to do some actual investigation, he says. 69 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:17,760 We were headed home after two hours of fruitless searching and 70 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,800 I just happened to look to my left and saw a very unusual 71 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,880 object coming across the horizon. 72 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,120 I pulled off to the side of the road in a hurry, jumped out, he 73 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,280 got out of the right side. As he got out I noticed the 74 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:35,800 craft coming at me was very large, it had a Dome shape to 75 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:41,120 the top of it and no winks and had what appeared to be a strobe 76 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:46,120 putting up multi coloured lights on the right side of the craft. 77 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,680 As I watched the sky from the left came the red ball. 78 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,440 As the big mothership went into a small skiff of clouds, the Red 79 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,680 Bull docked with the craft. We looked at each other and 80 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,360 realized no pictures. The camera was not in my hand. 81 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:07,280 The camera was not in his hand, and we both knew we blew it. 82 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,920 The next night, Gordon and Hall went out again. 83 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,040 This time they did take photographs with the film still 84 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,520 undeveloped. Danny Calder press conference 85 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:23,360 for the following day, October 23rd, 1987. 86 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,400 The night before the press conference, I received a phone 87 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,000 call from somebody who refused to identify himself, and he said 88 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,720 that I need to be aware that the CIA and the federal government 89 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,520 were very much interested in the Wythe County UF OS. 90 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,080 I started to wonder what I'd stepped into and my wife was 91 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,560 urging me to back off, to leave it alone, and I was receiving 92 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,200 some anonymous phone calls saying it's not for your place 93 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,160 to be messing in defence matters. 94 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,240 So now he's getting these anonymous phone calls 95 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,960 threatening him, claiming to be some sort of, I suppose, quasi 96 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,560 representative of the DoD and the CIA. 97 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,040 Kind of weird, kind of scary maybe. 98 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,440 After the press conference, Danny discovered that his house 99 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,200 had been broken into. Although nothing was stolen, 100 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,080 Danny was convinced that someone was looking for his photographs 101 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,320 when when developed, the pictures revealed only vague 102 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,720 streaks of light in the sky. But six weeks later, Danny had 103 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,480 another opportunity to photograph the UFOs. 104 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,560 He was out shopping with his wife and daughter when they 105 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,280 encountered some unexpected visitors. 106 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,320 We looked very quickly and saw what I thought was one large 107 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,680 object, which later appeared to be 4 flying disc shapes. 108 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,040 As soon as the objects were photographed, they disappeared 109 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,840 from view. When the pictures came out they 110 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:52,320 showed 4 definite shapes of objects in the sky. 111 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,880 But the most impressive point in the four photographs, the 112 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:01,000 objects appeared to change shape or life formations with one 113 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,080 click of the camera. They go from a teardrop shape to 114 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,680 a round ball shape, then they go to a flying saucer like disc 115 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,440 shape and then they go to an egg shape. 116 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,640 As they go out of sight, there you go. 117 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,880 Classic shape changing, very, very weird stuff. 118 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,800 The people of Whiteville knew something extraordinary was 119 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,480 happening in their small town. Within a three month period, 120 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,120 there had been more than 1500 sightings. 121 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:34,200 One of the first occurred near Interstate 81, a mile from 122 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,520 downtown Whiteville. Eyewitnesses said the craft 123 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,000 resembled A brightly lit spinning carousel. 124 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:42,960 Immediately, other sightings were reported. 125 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:48,120 One local resident, Patricia Acre, experienced a total of 10 126 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,400 UFO sightings. I'm not mistaken about what we 127 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,840 saw, Absolutely not, because we've never seen this before. 128 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,120 The best way I can describe them is that they were sort is that 129 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,000 they sort of look like a cross between a helicopter and an 130 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,560 airplane with no noise. Don't we hear that all the time 131 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:05,920 now when these things are called drones? 132 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:10,040 But you notice no noise. Then there was Mary Jane 133 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,760 Williamson's sighting, which happened directly above her 134 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:14,760 house in the center of white fill. 135 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:19,600 It had all the white lights in the front, just a big semicircle 136 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,880 of white light, and it was just huge. 137 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,600 I mean, it was just absolutely huge. 138 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,720 You just had this feeling of something really, really big 139 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,400 just moving, just drifting over your head and no sounds or 140 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,000 anything. Three months after the initial 141 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,760 wave of sightings, Danny was packing for a broadcasters 142 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,720 conference in Virginia Beach. It was there that he was to 143 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:45,360 speak about his UFO coverage. Quote, I received a phone call 144 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,400 at home from a retired military intelligence officer. 145 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,680 And first he told me to make sure that I taped the 146 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:56,080 conversation so he could put the date and everyone to be aware. 147 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,680 And I said, why do you want to take this? 148 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,120 And he said I want your friends to know that if something 149 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,480 happens to you that I forewarned you. 150 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,160 He told me that because of his investigations into the UFO 151 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:12,720 field that they had hit his son and caused his son to die with 152 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,120 some kind of virus connected to leukemia. 153 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,720 He said that he had information that the federal government was 154 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,840 not very happy with my UFO investigations. 155 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,360 He said they want to quiet you. Less than one month after the 156 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,880 disturbing phone call, Danny had two surprise visitors at his 157 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,440 home. The two suited men said they 158 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,080 were newspaper reporters and stayed for approximately 45 159 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,480 minutes. According to Danny, one of the 160 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:43,080 men interviewed him while the other roamed through the house 161 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,760 snapping photographs. They told me when they left they 162 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,040 would send me a copy of the article so I could peruse it, 163 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,400 and when I didn't get one, I called the newspaper and they 164 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,600 said, well, these two guys are not on our payroll. 165 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,520 They don't work for us. So who they were I don't know. 166 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,880 But they were in my house, saw my pictures, saw my negatives, 167 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,800 talked to my family, took pictures and then left. 168 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:10,800 But they were not with the newspaper. 169 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:14,800 A few weeks later, Danny sit down to organize and catalog his 170 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,680 UFO photographs. When I got to the canister which 171 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:22,560 had the UFO negatives, I quickly opened it and found some UFO 172 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:24,720 negatives. But the one negative with the 173 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,800 shots from the shopping mall was missing. 174 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,760 Now I felt like maybe there was something in those photographs 175 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,680 that I was not seeing. So I took the photographs to 176 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:38,400 some other people to look at it. We used magnifying glasses and 177 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,880 and we measured angles trying to find out why these photographs 178 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,960 were so important. And we've yet to discover why 179 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,240 anyone would want to steal that set of four in a series of 180 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:54,200 photographs of the UFOs. 2 months later, the stress of the 181 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,320 late night phone calls, the home break in, the strange visitors 182 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:02,360 and now the missing negatives finally took a toll on Danny and 183 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,680 he had a heart attack. Wow. 184 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,920 Doctors later determined that the attack was brought on by 185 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,760 severe exhaustion. Danny was warned that continued 186 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,880 involvement with the UFO controversy could kill him. 187 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,080 If I had my choice, I I'd not report on the UFO story again. 188 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:23,720 It's just been too hard in my life and created too many 189 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,240 problems. Don't look up, because once you 190 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,080 look up and you tell somebody what you saw, your life has 191 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,160 changed forever. Danny Gordon says that today 192 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,320 Whitefield has moved on from his days as a UFO town and is now 193 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:39,880 enjoying its booming arts and business communities. 194 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,240 But if history is any indicator, sometime soon, in another small 195 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,120 town, someone else will look up and his or her life will never 196 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,440 be the same. That's actually some pretty 197 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,280 frightening stuff there. Yeah, very, very strange. 198 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,000 Let's take a look at this other article about this mass UFO 199 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,920 sighting from 1987 down there in Whitefield, Virginia. 200 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,400 I found this take on the same sighting over at 201 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,920 astonishinglegends.com. Kind of a little bit off the 202 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:11,920 beaten track type of website, but it says Wytheville UFO. 203 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,680 This is dated October 4th, 20/24/1987. 204 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:17,360 Brought many new things to the world. 205 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,640 The Lost Boys, Apple's first Computer and Guns and Roses 206 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,320 debut album. But it also brought an 207 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,120 incredible UFO flap to the small town of Wytheville, VA. 208 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,720 In fact, it got so intense and there were so many different 209 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,720 crafts in the area that even Unsolved Mysteries covered the 210 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:35,520 phenomena in one of their episodes. 211 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,760 Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Whitefield was not 212 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,800 what you'd call a bustling place, and certainly not a place 213 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,840 on the map when it came to legend tripping. 214 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,800 But that changed on the morning of October 7th, 1987. 215 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,280 Danny Gordon, a local radio operator, checked in early with 216 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,000 the County Sheriff for any news that happened overnight. 217 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:56,840 That's when the first tale landed. 218 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,640 There, 3 White County Sheriff's deputies all claimed to have 219 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,240 seen a UFO. Danny decided to cover the piece 220 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,000 on the news as an interesting tidbit, but shortly after he 221 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,080 finished his spot, the piece sparked an unbelievable 222 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:11,960 response. Throughout Whiteville. 223 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,360 Reports of UFO sightings began to pour into the radio station 224 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,200 WYVE. It was so relentless that the 225 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,960 switchboard jammed and Danny had to work to set up a special 226 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,800 dedicated call in program to cover the calls on October 17th. 227 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,640 This just shows you how many people were seeing these crazy 228 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,000 things. This is unique because at the 229 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,160 time Danny confirmed he was a skeptic. 230 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:36,000 This was good news. It was engaging his audience and 231 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,040 making some ways. But he truly believed there was 232 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,680 a terrestrial explanation and the one thing they had in 233 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:43,720 common. There was nothing in common. 234 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,920 In fact the sightings were in the UFO gambit. 235 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:47,640 But here's some of my favourites. 236 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,000 A UFO lit up like a Christmas tree with red, green and white 237 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:53,960 lights. There was a giant egg shaped 238 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,280 craft. There was silent giant black 239 00:13:56,280 --> 00:14:00,400 triangles and something described as ominous cubes. 240 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,080 These things are coming in all different shapes and sizes. 241 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:08,320 Going back to Danny, even after the October 7th, Spatial figured 242 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,480 that experimenting or testing new crafts were being tested at 243 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:12,720 Virginia's Langley Air Force Base. 244 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,680 However, he called the base and couldn't quite come up with 245 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:17,960 anything. So on October 21st, him and a 246 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,840 friend decided to drive out to an area by the town where many 247 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:24,720 reports occurred. They hung out for a while and 248 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,920 didn't see anything until I did. He reported on Unsolved 249 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,040 Mysteries. We were headed home after two 250 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,880 hours of fruitless searching and I just happened to look to my 251 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,240 left and saw a very unusual object coming across the 252 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,360 horizon. I pulled off to the side of the 253 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:43,040 road in a hurry, jumped out, he got on the right side, and as he 254 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,880 got out I noticed the craft coming at me was very large. 255 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,600 It had a Dome shape to the top of it, no wings, and had what 256 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:53,800 appeared to be a strobe putting out multi colored lights on the 257 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,120 right side of the craft. As I watched the sky from the 258 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:00,520 left came the red ball. As the big mothership went into 259 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,160 a small skiff of clouds, the red ball docked with the craft. 260 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,480 We looked at each other and realized no pictures. 261 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,920 The camera was not in my hand. The camera was not in his hand. 262 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,440 And we knew we both blew it. Yeah. 263 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,400 Then it goes on and talks a little bit more about these. 264 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,520 It says between October and December 1987, more than 1500 265 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:23,400 UFO reports would be submitted. No explanation or hotspot 266 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,760 theories were ever proposed or discovered. 267 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:32,040 Now there is now even a White Fill UFO Fest commemorating the 268 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:33,880 flap. But when it comes to white fill, 269 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:36,680 this isn't the only strange event that occurred. 270 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,720 The Octagon Mansion, the History Museum is supposedly haunted. 271 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,520 The Grand Mansion too and was covered on Ghost Hunters. 272 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:45,960 Interesting stuff. It's kind of funny how a lot of 273 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,360 times this paranormal stuff does seem to overlap. 274 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,760 So I want to finish up with this newspaper article from back on 275 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,280 October 19th, 1987. This is from the Times Dispatch 276 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,640 that says staff writer Mark Homburg. 277 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,200 Title says UFOs. If you're crazy, I'm nuts too. 278 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,840 Got a couple illustrations here. Composite drawing of recent 279 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,680 Richmond sighting. One of them's kind of a big 280 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,160 cigar, almost blimp shaped, and the other one looks like a giant 281 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,880 flying saucer perhaps. Article begins. 282 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:20,040 It says Rural Retreat Police Chief Bob Lewis wishes he could 283 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,880 find a lid for the can of worms he opened two weeks ago when he 284 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,200 spotted an unidentified flying object. 285 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,200 I didn't see anything, He joked as he opened the door of his 286 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,040 modest brick home to confront another reporter. 287 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,760 He stepped into his front yard and glanced at the mountains on 288 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,480 the edge of the on the edge of town. 289 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,440 Man, I wish I hadn't said a word to anybody about it. 290 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,640 Lewis is 1 of dozens of Southwest Virginia residents who 291 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,600 are certain they've seen large silent objects hovering or 292 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,920 creeping along in the crisp air over the multi colored 293 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,480 mountains. He carefully looked at each of 294 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,440 the composite drawings of other recent sightings made by Times 295 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,600 Dispatch artist with the help of the witnesses. 296 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,359 I don't know what it was I saw up there, he said calmly after 297 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,200 looking the sketches over. But that's it right there. 298 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,480 He jabbed a finger at one of the drawings, a black and white 299 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,640 version of the cone shaped object drawn by the artist. 300 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,040 It wasn't a depiction of one of the White County sightings, but 301 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,280 a drawing of an object spotted over Richmond skies. 302 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:25,800 A Southside woman was driving north toward Richmond on 303 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,600 Interstate 95 Wednesday night. The following is her explanation 304 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,480 of her close encounter. I sound crazy, I know. 305 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,520 When I saw it, I thought, this isn't me seeing this. 306 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,320 It wasn't all the way dark. The news had just finished. 307 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,480 I was driving to Cloverleaf Mall to go to the Toys-R-Us. 308 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:51,160 Right past the Willis Rd. exit. The boys, aged 2 and 4, started 309 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,640 being calm. That's highly unusual, the kids 310 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,040 said. Look at all those lights, mommy. 311 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,080 The traffic slowed, my radio stopped working, and my lights 312 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,920 got dim. The charge light came on. 313 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,880 I looked over and oh gosh, oh gosh. 314 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,880 I started ripping apart my glove compartment looking for my 315 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,360 camera. She pulled her car over. 316 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,560 It was about as high as the telephone wire, maybe lower, and 317 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,320 it was about the size of that house. 318 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,560 She pointed at her back door to a house about 1000 square feet 319 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,160 in size, 50 yards away, and it was that close. 320 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,480 The lights were flashing red, blue-green, yellow, so it was 321 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:31,280 beautiful. There was no noise. 322 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,880 The sky was so quiet I didn't want to take my eyes off it. 323 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,480 Other cars had pulled over. I asked one of the drivers, Am I 324 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:39,800 crazy? She said. 325 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,640 If you're crazy, I'm nuts too. She continued to watch for about 326 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,560 two minutes. A round and red object, much 327 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,640 smaller and glowing brightly, approached the larger object as 328 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,480 if the two were playing hide and seek, she said. 329 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,200 Once the small object found the other, both disappeared 330 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,920 instantly, followed by a shower of white lights like a tangle of 331 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,760 shooting stars. She then tried her ignition. 332 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,240 The car started right up. No one else called to 333 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,840 substantiate the Richmond story, but have the wife UFOs straight 334 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,320 E. After nearly a dozen interviews 335 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,360 with UFO spotters there, a clear picture emerges. 336 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,960 The UFOs are silent except for an occasional little hum. 337 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:23,200 Reminded me of a little bee or something. 338 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:27,280 Patricia Akers said she and her family saw 2 airplane shaped 339 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,480 objects before Sun Niles more than a week ago, flying low at a 340 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,560 low speed. She and her husband Elmo helped 341 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,520 with the other composite drawing. 342 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,600 The UFOs can hover or fly so slowly that they appear to be 343 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,320 hovering. The objects appeared in groups 344 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,040 of two or three. The red, green, yellow and white 345 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:50,400 lights usually don't flash. Many spotters believe the 346 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:52,760 objects are part of a secret military project. 347 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,680 Dogs, usually alert to visitors, haven't paid any attention to 348 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,080 the UFOs. The objects are being spotted by 349 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,920 people who have never seen a UFO before. 350 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,120 Witnesses say they feel the objects are not hostile. 351 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,080 In fact, most smile while discussing their encounters. 352 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:13,400 It's hardly a laughing matter. Residents of wife are no 353 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,480 strangers to aircraft, particularly military planes on 354 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,080 maneuvers, and they say what they have been seeing are not 355 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,800 normal aircraft. They'll jar your windows out, 356 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,440 Elmo Aker said of the military aircraft that frequently fly by. 357 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,040 This one didn't hardly make any noise. 358 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,400 What struck me was it was flying so slow. 359 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,920 I didn't see how anything that big could stay in the air going 360 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,680 that slow, He said. It was larger than a bomber. 361 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,840 The Acre sighting was rare in that it was still daylight, 362 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:44,920 although the light was fading fast. 363 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,520 If I'd seen it one after dark, it would have scared me to 364 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,640 death. Missus Acres said as it was, her 365 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,200 children were terrified and cried. 366 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,400 Daddy, get out here. She said many of the other 367 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,520 sightings coincide with that one. 368 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,440 Lighting patterns match almost exactly. 369 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,800 It was big. Lights are flashing all the way 370 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,160 around, said Gerald Musser, who spotted the object while bow 371 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,440 hunting for a raccoon down in Black Lake. 372 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,120 It was a humongous thing. Then came another right behind 373 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:13,960 it. Just a straight in, a straight 374 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,120 arrow. He then saw a big reddish orange 375 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:19,160 ball. My buddy said it was, their 376 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,360 mother said with a laugh. Bill Rosenbaum was watching the 377 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:26,160 baseball game Wednesday night when he stepped outside to get a 378 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,400 little air. He said he saw two objects 379 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,520 almost exactly like those Muster saw. 380 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,680 He ran over and woke up his neighbor, and together they 381 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,800 watched the objects make a slow tour of the Ridge above his 382 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,040 house. Rosenberg described his 383 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,800 encounter while playing pool in his basement. 384 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,680 I'd given anything if he'd land over there, he said as he 385 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,760 hunkered down for a shot on the 12 ball. 386 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:50,520 I'd go with him in a minute. That same night, Jack and 387 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,840 Carolyn Ellison spotted objects creeping through the air above 388 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,000 their mobile home on the outskirts of Rural Retreat. 389 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,400 The composite sketch of what they saw matched that of the 390 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,760 Acre sighting. Retired from the Air Force, 391 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,160 where he worked on flight simulators, Ellison is no 392 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,960 stranger to aircraft. I told her, his wife, that maybe 393 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,200 that's some of the new Star Wars defense drawl. 394 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,040 Ellison, the next day when that stealth bomber went down, made 395 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,920 me think about what I'd seen. Betty Patterson saw the same 396 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,200 thing the others did, except she noticed that the smaller glowing 397 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,040 ball coming out of the top of the larger object, the little 398 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,800 one, flew off a little bit and curved toward Cripple Creek. 399 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,360 The big one followed it. It was strange, it was like you 400 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:38,920 were being stared at, She said. She too heard a low humming 401 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,800 sound after the UFO left. Missus Patterson remembered 402 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,480 thinking, I don't believe this is bull, and went outside to 403 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,280 look up into the crystal clear skies to see if she couldn't 404 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,120 spot the object again. The air was crisp, the stars 405 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:53,920 were brilliant, everything was quiet. 406 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:56,480 Then the hog snorted. She remembered. 407 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,480 It just scared me to death. Wow, Isn't that something else? 408 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:05,520 The cool thing about going back in these old newspaper articles 409 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:10,320 is, is seeing the, the real reaction these people had in 410 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,560 real time. It's just, it's just such a cool 411 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,600 thing to see with these things. Yeah, there's a bunch of cool 412 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,760 articles about. There's, there's one last one 413 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,640 I'll look at. This is from October 14th, 1987. 414 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:29,680 SW Times Pulaski written by Joe Heldreth Another UFO sighted in 415 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:31,000 wife. So you kind of get the idea of 416 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:32,640 these things were just being seen all over the place. 417 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,440 The sightings of unidentified flying objects continue in Wife 418 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,360 County and now include an incident where an object rent a 419 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:43,000 car off the road. The Wife County Sheriff's 420 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,520 Department says this past weekend an out of state family 421 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:50,880 which was visiting here reported their car was harassed by an 422 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,800 unidentified flying object and forced out of the road. 423 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:01,960 The car was near the S&D Grocery and Hopkins Motel and Graham's 424 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:07,120 Forge when a low flying object came at the car flying directly 425 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,240 over it. The object was described as Oval 426 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,520 in shape with red and white pulsating lights. 427 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,680 The area the lights showed was from 6 to 8 feet wide. 428 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,520 The family reported the UFO hovered at a distance for five 429 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,120 to 10 minutes, then took off toward Pulaski County. 430 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,760 The family says the flying object gave off no noise as it 431 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,200 disappeared. The out of state family 432 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,720 reportedly was not aware of any other UFO sightings at the time 433 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,440 of the incident. Other sightings of UFOs were 434 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:43,720 reported this past weekend over Ivanhoe, Piney and Wytheville. 435 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,880 No explanation has been offered for the sighting. 436 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,640 Isn't that something final? Let's wrap it up here with this 437 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,120 this last little excerpt. Marines, mum, other military 438 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,680 deny involvement in Whitefield UFOs, it says Officials of the 439 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:05,960 US Air Force, Army and Navy have told Senator Paul Tribble of 440 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:10,440 Virginia that they are not the source of many UFOs spotted in 441 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,800 White County, Virginia since October of last year. 442 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,400 According to Whitefield's principal witness, Danny Gordon, 443 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,640 the Marines haven't replied at all to Senator Tribe's inquiry. 444 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,800 Senator Tribe questioned military authorities at the 445 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,760 urging of White County residents to determine if military was 446 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,040 involved. As Gordon and others have 447 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,840 suspected they may be stonewalling, but in fact the 448 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,160 military is not the source of objects. 449 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,200 Gordon questions why they don't show more concern. 450 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,600 Doesn't that sound familiar? Uncountable numbers of witnesses 451 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:50,280 have reported UFOs in and around Whitefield, usually seen on 452 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:55,320 Wednesday nights and described as saucer shaped, oblong and 453 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,480 dumb, topped often with many brilliant flashing lights. 454 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,920 Gordon said this got a picture of this Danny Gordon fella here? 455 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:06,840 Yeah, it just sounds just exactly like the drones to me. 456 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,400 Of course, we didn't have drones back then, so people didn't know 457 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,960 what to call them. We always go back to the to the 458 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,200 default position. Well, this must be some kind of 459 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,880 a top secret craft when they tell you how these things are 460 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,160 changing shapes right in front of you. 461 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,160 So they're they're beyond anything that we have. 462 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:27,400 They almost, they're almost reaching like this level of, of 463 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,840 paranormal. That's what it seems like to me. 464 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,760 It's just so strange. They just are not conforming to 465 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,480 our definition of, of reality or the laws of physics whatsoever. 466 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,160 But some really cool sightings down there in Whiteville, 467 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,600 Virginia back in 1987. Until next time, this is UFO 468 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:46,720 warning over and out.