1 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:05,040 Hello and welcome to the program UFO Warning. 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,280 In this episode we're talking about the Frank Manor UFO 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,480 incident. That's correct, the Frank Manor 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,440 UFO incident. This happened up in Michigan 5 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,200 many years ago. I found this couple articles, 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,480 actually this first one from February 17th, 1983, talking 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,760 about the death of Frank Manor gives us a little bit of 8 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,400 background. I'll have this posted at Kofi. 9 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,680 As always, thanks to the folks that contribute over there, it 10 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,960 really helps. Also like, follow, subscribe 11 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:30,520 doesn't cost a dime. Now. 12 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,760 The title of this article says Dexter man's passing recalls UFO 13 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,880 sighting, and it's written by William B Trimmel, News Staff 14 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:43,760 Reporter February 17th, 1983 The death this week of Frank E Manor 15 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,400 of Dexter Township recalled for many in Washtenaw County a 16 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,320 series of bizarre unidentified flying object episodes which 17 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:58,000 occurred 17 years ago, which have never been fully explained. 18 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,120 What was that? 196566? 19 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,040 Manor was 64 when he died Tuesday at the Veterans 20 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,640 Administration Hospital on Fuller Rd. 21 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,880 Funeral arrangements are scheduled for 1:00 PM Friday at 22 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,920 the Hosmer Funeral Home in Dexter. 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,280 Burial will be in Forest Lawn cemetery. 24 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,960 It was on the Manor Farm on McGinnis Road northwest of 25 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,360 Dexter that the most spectacular of the UFO sightings was 26 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,840 reported. About 8:30 PM on the night of 27 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,680 March 20th, 1966, several persons living in the Quingly 28 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,840 Brand Road near the Manor property reported seeing a 29 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,560 bright shining object fly overhead. 30 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,680 The object, which witnesses said did not have the characteristics 31 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,600 of an airplane, appeared to land in a swampy area on the Manor 32 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,480 Farm. Manor and his son Ronald, then 33 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,840 18, also saw the lighted object when it first appeared overhead. 34 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,520 When the object appeared to have landed, they dashed from their 35 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,800 house to investigate. When the manors reached a marshy 36 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:04,640 area on the farm, they reported seeing a lighted brown sphere 37 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,639 shaped object which appeared to have a quilted effect on its 38 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,320 surface. Two small lights at the outer 39 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,480 edges of the object issued a glowing bluish green collar, 40 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,920 which intensified and turned a brilliant red at times, they 41 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:22,560 later told Ouachita County Sheriff's Department deputies. 42 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,360 The entire object turned it yellow, white at times, and the 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,520 light ran horizontally between the two outer lights, they said. 44 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,120 The object disappeared at one point and reappeared seconds 45 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,720 later across the swamp about 500 yards from its original 46 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,800 position, Manners reported. As the deputies and Dexter 47 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,880 police approached the area with flashlights, the lights on the 48 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,960 object went out, Manners said. He and his son then heard a 49 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,280 sound like a whistle similar to that of a rifle bullet 50 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,200 ricocheting off an object, they said The UFO then went up in the 51 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:58,120 air, passed directly over them and disappeared moments later. 52 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,560 Robert Humwill, then a patrolman with the Dexter Police 53 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,240 Department, saw what he later assumed was the same object the 54 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,360 Manners had observed. The officer had parked his 55 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,240 patrol car at the Queen Lee Brand Rd. intersection while the 56 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,080 late Dexter Police Chief Robert Taylor and Patrolman Nolan Lee 57 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,720 entered the Manor property to aid in the police search. 58 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,440 Honeywell said the object approached over his patrol car 59 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:28,040 at a height of about 1000 feet, hovered there, then began a 60 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,400 series of sweeps over the Manor Swamp. 61 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,320 The object had red and white lights, which changed to a 62 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,800 bluish tinge at times, Hannibal said. 63 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,800 While the officer watched, the object was joined by three other 64 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,720 flying ships and the four flew off together, he reported later. 65 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,800 A short time later, in the same general area, 2 sheriff's 66 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,840 deputies Stanley McFadden and David Fitzpatrick saw a lighted 67 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,920 object in the sky at North Territorial Road near Mast Rd. 68 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:01,240 The officers turned their scout car's spotlight on the object. 69 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,480 It was the size of a small house, kind of pushed down flat, 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,600 Mcfarden would later report. It had red green lights on it 71 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,280 and movements which could not possibly have been made by any 72 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,800 aircraft I've ever heard of. The object disappeared moments 73 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,079 after the deputy saw it. And the week that followed, a 74 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:23,920 number of other sightings of UFOs reported, the most 75 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,080 outstanding coming from Hillsdale College, 75 miles West 76 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,600 of Ann Arbor. Now, as I remember, that college 77 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:37,080 was a women's college up there and they had another experience. 78 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:38,600 These things were all over the place. 79 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,080 The witness included more than 80 Hillsdale College women 80 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,560 students and the Hillsdale County Civil Defense Director 81 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,120 William Van Horn. The students called Van Horn 82 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,560 after spotting a strange flying light over a swamp near their 83 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,840 campus dormitory. The C. 84 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:58,480 The director said he watched the object through binoculars for 85 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,960 more than an hour. He said it emitted wavering 86 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,160 orange, red and white lights and hovered over the swamp less than 87 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,480 1000 yards from a college dormitory. 88 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,640 The local reports were so widespread that the US Air 89 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,920 Force, which at the time had a section for the investigation of 90 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,360 UFOs, called in Doctor J Alan Heineck, an actual physicist 91 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,080 from Northwestern University. Heineck was a scientific 92 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,920 consultant for the Air Force and had investigated and explained 93 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,120 the scores of UFO sightings. Oh, yeah, he explained them all, 94 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,720 right. In a press conference held in 95 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:39,080 Detroit on March 26th, 1966, Heineck said the Manor sightings 96 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,920 and the one at Hillsdale College were probably swamp gas. 97 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,080 The scientists that said gases created from rotting swamp 98 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,400 vegetation are ignited into flames when a thaw occurs and 99 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,080 release the gases from ice and frozen ground. 100 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,280 Now I've been to Michigan many times. 101 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:56,360 I've been up there on the swamps. 102 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,200 I've never seen that happen. I've talked to people and I've 103 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,840 never I've never come across anybody who's seen such a thing. 104 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:05,880 But if you have, please leave a leave a comment. 105 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,920 He said the flame of chemical luminescence moves quickly and 106 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:14,720 freely about the about the error over a swampy area giving the 107 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,080 appearance of a solid object, then Sheriff Douglas J Harvey 108 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,000 was doubtful about Hynek's explanation. 109 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,520 That's a pretty weak theory. I'm not ready to accept it, 110 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,960 Harvey said. Frank Manor was equally 111 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,400 dissatisfied. I spent time on army maneuvers 112 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,400 in the swamps of Louisiana during World War Two, he said. 113 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,560 I've seen plenty of swamp gas. This wasn't it. 114 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,240 We saw what we saw, all right. That's about as good a response 115 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:42,440 as you can get. So you had this. 116 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,280 You had it. Sounds like multiple UFOs up 117 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:49,520 there, not just witnessed by Frank Manor, but by local law 118 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,240 enforcement 70 miles away. They're seeing these things. 119 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,400 The civil defense coordinator watched it. 120 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,360 What you have basically is a mass UFO sighting over the 121 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,160 course of several days. And what did the government do? 122 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,320 Well, they brought in J Allen Heineck to just Pooh Pooh. 123 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,920 The whole thing create a false narrative that is that it's 124 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,280 swamp gas and just try to deperson anybody that disagreed 125 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,960 with them. Now this next article comes from 126 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,560 aadl.org. It's in one of these library 127 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,720 sites that that logs these old newspaper articles. 128 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,800 I think sometimes it's so fun to go back and get the original 129 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,200 stuff. It says area UFO followed by 130 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,360 trouble. I think this is actually from 131 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,880 the time that it happened in 1966. 132 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,200 Yes. So this the the last one I read 133 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,800 you was part of the obituary for Frank Manor and this is when it 134 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,120 actually happened. I believe Dexter, whatever it 135 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:49,640 was Frank Manor, 47, and his family saw near their rented 136 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,800 farmhouse here last month, they are not too happy about the 137 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,280 whole thing. A month ago Wednesday, Manor 138 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,680 reported seeing a strange pyramid shaped object with red, 139 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,920 blue and white lights and swampland behind the house. 140 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,880 Now get that pyramid shaped this his 19 year old son Ronald and 141 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,640 his wife Leona also saw something. 142 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,360 Their report, among the first of hundreds of such reports in 143 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,280 Michigan, touched off an Air Force investigation. 144 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,400 Get that? Hundreds of reports with the 145 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,240 finding that what most people probably saw was the rare 146 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:25,560 phenomena of swamp gas. Now, I guess this swamp gas is 147 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:27,280 pretty rare. I've been around swamps, I've 148 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,040 never seen it, so I'll take their word for it. 149 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,120 But imagine you've got hundreds of people seeing this, different 150 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:35,200 sightings all over the place, but we're supposed to believe 151 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,320 it's swamp gas. Well, I think that they must 152 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,080 have just had more swamp gas sightings in that one week than 153 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,120 they had in the previous couple 100 years. 154 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,080 It goes on here. It says the Manners still aren't 155 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,440 buying that explanation. They still believe it was 156 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,000 something else they saw, just what they don't know. 157 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,200 Manor said Wednesday he hasn't spotted any more lights sent 158 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,360 that night. There have been sightings by 159 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,200 other people around here, though, he said. 160 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,640 They're just not reporting them. In view of what happened to us, 161 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,320 what happened to the Manners and is still plaguing them, is a 162 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,520 flood of curiosity secrets roaming the area in hopes of 163 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,400 seeing something too. We still have them around here a 164 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,120 couple of times a week, sometimes at 2:00 or 3:00 in the 165 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:16,360 morning, He said. Mostly their car loads of kids 166 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,480 driving around or parking near the house. 167 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,720 One night, Manner said some of the prowlers climbed onto the 168 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,320 second story roof of the house using a ladder that was 169 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,720 left-leaning against a wall. My daughter screamed and I 170 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,880 thought she was having a nightmare, but her mother went 171 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,040 into the bedroom and heard them crawling across the roof too, he 172 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,680 recalled. As a result, Manner is prepared 173 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:40,480 for trespassers. You'd better believe, he said. 174 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:42,280 I've got a shotgun in every room. 175 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,360 Every since the Manners and others told of seeing strange 176 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,440 objects, there have been reports of mysterious lights and flying 177 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,840 saucers elsewhere around the state and nation. 178 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,800 Only this week, a deputy sheriff said he chased an unidentified 179 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,560 flying object from Ohio into Pennsylvania. 180 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,640 Hundreds of people in both states reported seeing the 181 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,440 object, which most agreed look like 2 saucers, 1 atop the 182 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:07,920 other. On the same day, three municipal 183 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,160 workers and a policeman in Western Michigan saw what they 184 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,720 said was a hot dog shaped object. 185 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,000 These sightings were in hours of darkness. 186 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,720 Since the furor started a month ago, there had been no reported 187 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,160 daytime sightings. Because of recurring and 188 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,240 persistent reports, the Air Force has told Congress it will 189 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,560 name a panel of scientists to investigate them in depth. 190 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,160 Same thing happened in back then as today. 191 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,040 We're just going to, we're going to make up another panel, 192 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:34,560 another committee, another agency. 193 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,640 We'll, we'll investigate all this stuff. 194 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:38,400 Nothing to see here. Move along. 195 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,240 Doctor J Allen Heineck, a Northwestern University 196 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,200 astrophysicist and scientific consultant for the Air Force, 197 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:48,520 urged just such a study after his probe of the sightings by 198 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,520 Manor and others in Michigan. Well, why have a study if all 199 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:53,400 you're going to do is say that it's swamp gas? 200 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,400 It says. I have recommended that that 201 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,400 competent scientists quietly study such cases when evidence 202 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,440 from responsible people appears to warrant such a study. 203 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:05,720 There may be much more of a potential value to science in 204 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:07,960 such events. Yeah, competent science seems 205 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,560 like so far all we've got is incompetent. 206 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,600 We know a very great deal more about the physical world in 1966 207 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:18,520 than we did in 1866. But by the same token, people in 208 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,720 the year 2066 may regard us as very incomplete in our 209 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:24,640 scientific knowledge, Honey said. 210 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,800 I don't like a mystery, Honey told The Associated Press this 211 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,080 week. A mystery is an itch that should 212 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,600 be scratched. Well, it seems like what they 213 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,640 really thought was is that it was a itch that should just be 214 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,080 done away with. You create a false narrative. 215 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,760 This shows me this idea that that he doesn't like a mystery. 216 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,360 In other words, he's the kind of person that's not comfortable 217 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:49,160 with with these ideas in his head that don't, that don't, 218 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:53,560 that don't correlate. He doesn't like to have things 219 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:56,480 bouncing around in his brain that he can't explain. 220 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,000 He's not able to say it. Well, I just don't know what it 221 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:00,440 is. Like a lot of these scientists, 222 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,000 they have to make, they have to make up their own idea of what 223 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,640 they're saying. They have to have an explanation 224 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,080 for everything because if they don't, then they don't feel like 225 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,080 they are operating in a rational world. 226 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,520 Well, I'm sorry, but the world is full of mystery. 227 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,360 And if you don't like a mystery, you're probably going to be in a 228 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,640 state of anxiety for a lot of your days. 229 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,400 Now, I'm going to go ahead and look at this other article on on 230 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,880 this Frank matter incident. This is from 231 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,880 universityofmichigan.edu. It says flying saucers and swamp 232 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,400 gas. A rash of UFO sightings across 233 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:34,400 Michigan in the mid 1960s launched investigations by the 234 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,520 highest levels of the US government. 235 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,000 What was happening in the skies? Collections at the Bentley 236 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,360 document several aspects of these widespread close 237 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,400 encounters. Was it spaceships or swamp gas? 238 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,600 The answer may depend on whose papers you pursue. 239 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:54,240 It goes on since Frank Manor was spending a quiet night at home 240 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,160 with his wife and teenage son, Ronald on the evening of March 241 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:02,400 20th, 1966, all was peaceful at their farmhouse just northwest 242 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,800 of Dexter, MI until around 8:30 PM. 243 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,520 That's when they saw the lights. Something unusual was in the sky 244 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,520 outside their farmhouse. They watched from their window 245 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,240 as a strange object appeared to land on their property. 246 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,200 Then Frank and Ronald dashed from the house to investigate. 247 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:22,040 The object hovered above a nearby marshy area, pulsating 248 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,920 red and green lights. Frank and Ronald described it as 249 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,880 a large brown and sphere shaped with a quilted pattern on its 250 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,440 surface. Now keep in mind that we just 251 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,440 read the article from 1966, and in that article he described it 252 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,440 as a pyramid shaped. At one point, the object's 253 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,040 lights went out and it disappeared, only to reappear 254 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,560 seconds later about 500 yards away. 255 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,760 Then they heard a sharp sound like a rifle bullet ricocheting 256 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,480 off an object. The strange craft lifted into 257 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,440 the air, paused directly above them and disappeared. 258 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,400 The Manners phoned law enforcement to explain what they 259 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,320 had witnessed. Instead of being laughed at, 260 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:58,760 their report was taken seriously. 261 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,760 Police officers on patrol that evening had seen something 262 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:03,840 similar. Washtenaw County Sheriff's 263 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,200 Captain David Severance even drew a picture of it based on 264 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,520 witnesses description. What's more, sightings had been 265 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,800 happening all week. The previous Monday, police on 266 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,600 patrol in Lima Township, southwest of Dexter had 267 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,360 witnessed 4 lights flying with great speed and amazing 268 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,800 maneuverability in the early morning hours. 269 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,560 One officer even attempted to take photos. 270 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,280 So we have law enforcement officers seeing these things. 271 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,960 They're happening all over that area over multiple days. 272 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,360 The day after the incident in the Manor Farm, lights were 273 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,760 reported about 60 miles southwest of Dexter at Hillsdale 274 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,840 College. In this case, several 275 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,680 undergraduate women saw lights outside their dorm windows. 276 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,840 They phoned William Van Horn, the Hillsdale County Civil 277 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:51,000 Defense director, who arrived with a patrol car and also saw 278 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,880 the lights first hand. The incidents were so widespread 279 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,520 and witnesses were so credible that senators, governors and law 280 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,880 enforcement and researchers would become involved, trying to 281 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,360 understand what was happening. Today, numerous collections at 282 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,160 the Bentley document much of this activity, from archive 283 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,240 newspapers to governor's papers to faculty, correspondents and 284 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:11,920 more. What happened in the spring of 285 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,600 1966 in Michigan It may be impossible to know, but a dive 286 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,680 into the archive materials certainly reveals what happened 287 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:20,280 next. Then it goes on and says 288 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,080 Washington County Sheriff Douglas J Harvey knew the 289 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,360 manners and had visited them on the night of March 20th. 290 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,400 He found their testimony to be credible and took their account 291 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,280 seriously. These people have seen 292 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,360 something, Harvey said, refuting rumors that the family was 293 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,520 seeking publicity or was somehow deranged. 294 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,160 Harvey's officers were among those who had also witnessed the 295 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,120 unexplained lights. I know my men, I trust their 296 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,960 reports, Harvey told the Ann Arbor News on March 22nd. 297 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,200 I don't know what it is, but I'm sure they have seen something 298 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,560 aloft. Harvey also asked for help 299 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,440 investigating the incidents from several federal agencies, but 300 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,520 was reportedly ignored. Desperate, he reached out to 301 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,800 Western Weston Vivian, his congressional representative. 302 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,280 Vivian took Harvey's request seriously. 303 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,440 This may have been motivated in part by his constituents. 304 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,880 Concerns about the UFOSA file in his collection contains letters 305 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:15,800 from citizens predating the 1966 incident, asking for information 306 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:18,200 and relaying worries about UF OS. 307 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,480 More public letters conveying UF OS concerns and predating the 308 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,240 1966 incident can be found in the collections of other 309 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,760 politicians, including Michigan Senator Phil Hart and 310 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,640 Representative William D Ford from Michigan's 15th District. 311 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,400 Vivian pulled enough strings to get the US Air Force to send out 312 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,720 an investigator, Jay Allen Heine, PhD, and astrophysicist 313 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,720 from Northwestern University. But soon Heine's president 314 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,720 presence would create more problems than it would solve. 315 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,040 Well, clearly these things have been going on for months if not 316 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,200 years, these sightings and people have been trying to get 317 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,720 someone to investigate it. The federal government was just 318 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,360 blowing them off. The sheriff goes, gets a hold of 319 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,640 this connected congressman and they send out Heineck, which 320 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,880 just sounds to me like it's just an immediate cover up. 321 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,839 Heineck was a respected academic who had worked at the Johns 322 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,480 Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory during World War 2, 323 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,560 then as a full professor in physics and astronomy at Ohio 324 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,319 State University. He eventually left Ohio State to 325 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:18,880 conduct research at the Smithsonian Astrophysical 326 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,960 Observatory, where he worked on AUS satellite program in the 327 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,599 late 1950s. When the program him ended, he 328 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:28,119 returned to teaching at Northwestern University, where 329 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:29,640 he chaired the astronomy department. 330 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,120 He did all this while consulting on the side for the United 331 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,160 States Air Force about UFOs. So you see the connection there. 332 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,280 You've got your intelligence. The big universities connected 333 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,240 right in with the government. Beginning in the late 1940s, 334 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,240 Hynix was asked to advise the military on Project Sign, an 335 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,080 investigation into a rash of reports about strange objects in 336 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,000 the sky. Project Sign eventually morphed 337 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,880 into Project Blue Book in 1952. Heinek initially approached the 338 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,160 UFO reports with a great deal of skepticism. 339 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,640 After all, they were reports Heineck was largely behind a 340 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,640 desk, reading accounts from people he hadn't met and from 341 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,200 places he'd never seen. Things begin to change when 342 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,880 Heineck went into the field visiting with people, making the 343 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,800 claims and hearing them first hand. 344 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:14,760 The witnesses I interviewed could have been lying, could 345 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,280 have been insane, or could have been hallucinating collectively, 346 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,640 but I do not think so, he wrote in the Heineck UFO Report, the 347 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:22,840 authority of account of the Project Blue Book cover up in 348 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:24,680 1977. Heineck would go on to write 349 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,360 exhaustively about UFOs, even creating a classification system 350 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:30,880 for alien encounters, most encounters of the first kind, 351 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,320 second and third kind. But when he arrived in 352 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,960 Washington County on March 23rd, 1966, he couldn't see much 353 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,920 evidence that anything was awry. In fact, he devised a tidy 354 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,960 explanation for all of it. On March 25th, 1966, Heineck 355 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,000 gave a press conference where he said that the incidents at the 356 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,400 Manor Farm at Hillsdale College were the result of riding 357 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,960 vegetation in lowland areas. The vegetation created gases 358 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,560 that were trapped in the winter. During the spring thaw, the 359 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,320 gases were released. This so-called swamp gas 360 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,920 phenomena could cause lights and even sound. 361 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,360 Heineck called it highly localized. 362 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,320 A Dismal swamp is most likely. Swamp is a most unlikely place 363 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,840 for a visit from outer space, Heineck said at the press 364 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,200 conference. You personing these people? 365 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,040 Furthermore, Heiney asserted that the strange photos taken by 366 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,760 the police officers were nothing more than trails made as a 367 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,040 result of a camera time exposure of the rising Crescent moon and 368 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,160 the planet Venus. The public wasn't buying it. 369 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,400 Among the skeptics was Sheriff Harvey, who continued to support 370 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:30,920 his patrol officers in the manners. 371 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,000 With all due respect to Doctor Heiney, I'm not ready to accept 372 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,480 this weak excuse of gas from marshes, he told reporters. 373 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,600 I've got that link to the pictures he's talking about 374 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,200 there. I do believe that somebody went 375 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,960 back and checked and found that it was not possible that that 376 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,920 could have been the moon in Venus as they weren't up that 377 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,920 night in that direction. Heine explanations were so 378 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,080 unsatisfying to the public that pressure mounted for a deeper 379 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,280 investigation. Congressman Vivian continued to 380 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,720 put pressure on the Air Force for more investigative 381 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,000 resources, and he wasn't alone. Representative Gerald Ford from 382 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,480 Michigan also became involved, requesting a full congressional 383 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,400 inquiry about the UFO reports. The Air Force caved under 384 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,480 pressure. On April 6th, 1966, they 385 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,840 announced that they would convene a group of scientific 386 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,560 observers to further delve into recent sightings. 387 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,920 By the fall of 1966, the US Air Force had commissioned the 388 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,320 University of Colorado and physicist Edward Condon to head 389 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,320 up a two year project to study UFOs and determine the if the 390 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,400 government should continue. Funding UFO Investigations Known 391 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,800 as the Condom Committee, this group of 11 scientists, give or 392 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:40,120 take some part time consultants, released a report in 1969 that 393 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:43,320 was more than 1000 pages long and concluded that there was 394 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,960 nothing of scientific value in the documentation of UFO 395 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,960 phenomena. The report dismissed hundreds of 396 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:53,360 eyewitnesses across the country, including those from Washtenaw 397 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,640 County, who saw something strange in the sky in March of 398 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,480 1966. The report supported all of 399 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,040 Heineck's findings. The manners were dismissed as 400 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,080 having been too far away to know what they saw. 401 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,760 The Hillsdale College students likely saw young men who played 402 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,960 pranks. Both flares, the photos of the 403 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,000 police officer were just what Heineck said they were streaks 404 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:13,400 of light from Venus and the moon. 405 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,040 In its conclusion, the report fails to validate any of the 406 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,720 hundreds of eyewitnesses featured in its thousands plus 407 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:21,840 pages. In our experience, those who 408 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,320 reported UFOs are often very articulate but not necessarily 409 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,640 reliable, the report says. And we pay for this garbage. 410 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:31,520 We pay for this garbage in 1966, and we pay for this garbage 411 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,600 today. The Condon report was 412 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,720 scrutinized by members from the National Academy of Sciences to 413 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,160 ensure its accuracy. Appeal to authority. 414 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,200 Among the reviewers was H Richard Crane, a distinguished 415 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,400 professor of physics from the University of Michigan. 416 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,120 Crane and his colleagues concluded that the Condon report 417 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,720 got it right, that UFOs weren't worth scientific investigation. 418 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,160 And most of what people were saying was highly explainable. 419 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,520 But tucked into Crane's archive papers at the Bentley are 420 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,560 letters from Condon on which Crane is copied, which speak to 421 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,560 one of the more controversial aspects of the report, a memo by 422 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,920 Condon committee member Robert J Lowe and assistant Dean at the 423 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,640 University of Colorado. Lowe's memo, dated in 1966, 424 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,880 assured the University of Colorado administrators that 425 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,960 they could expect the study to find that UF observations have 426 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,360 no basis in reality. The memo raised doubts about the 427 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,520 project's objectivity, and the copies of the memo were leaked 428 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,920 to the press. Look magazine ran a highly 429 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,760 publicized article about it. Controversy or no, the Air Force 430 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,360 acquiesced the report's findings, and Project Blue Book 431 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,080 was shut down in 1969. Talk about a cover up. 432 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,880 Then it goes on and says UFO sightings continue to this day. 433 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,840 And in June 2021, an unclassified report was released 434 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,240 to Congress about the unidentified aerial phenomena. 435 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,640 Then it goes on and talks a little bit about some of the 436 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:52,160 nonsense has been happening lately. 437 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,480 But what I find so fascinating about this case is you had all 438 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,800 these people, Frank Manor kind of start to take the whole thing 439 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,120 off. This family man, this salt of 440 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,040 the earth guy, this their family sees this UFO within 500 feet. 441 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,840 He gives a detailed description of it and then he calls law 442 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:09,360 enforcement out. They see it. 443 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:11,800 People in surrounding community see it. 444 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,160 You have a whole college full of girls to see something similar. 445 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,760 So we have multiple UFO showing up all over in that area of 446 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,520 Michigan over over maybe a year or so because they said in these 447 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:26,200 letters Mclure back in at least back to 1965. 448 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,960 So we have all of these eyewitness accounts and the 449 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,640 local law enforcement tries to get some help with the federal 450 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,360 investigation and the feds have no interest in it. 451 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,000 But finally, when they're forced to look at it, they send in Jay 452 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,920 Allen Hayek to create a parallel narrative. 453 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,880 It's just swamp gas. They just create the flimsiest 454 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,040 of excuses. They direct a lot of ridicule of 455 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,200 Frank Manor. In fact, the college girls 456 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,280 didn't seem to get that much of it because it was a whole lot of 457 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,440 them in one place. But Frank Manor, he got a lot of 458 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,080 ridicule over this. We've done podcast on him 459 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,440 before. And for what? 460 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,440 Why was it so important for them to cover this up? 461 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:05,640 Are they afraid of mass hysteria? 462 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,920 Are they afraid that if they admit these things are real that 463 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,400 at some point people will look into the subject and find out 464 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,920 that our own government is in collusion with these things? 465 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,520 Who knows, but we know one thing for sure, a lot of people saw 466 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:22,200 these things in 1965 and 66 there in Michigan and they 467 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,160 reported it and nothing was done about it. 468 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,920 Until next time. This is UFO warning over now.