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   SUBJECT: KECKSBURG CRASH CONTROVERSIAL                       FILE: UFO127   
      
      
                                            Latrobe Bulletin   
                                            Latrobe, Pa   
                                            May 6, 1989   
      
      
                    KECKSBURG CRASH CONTROVERSIAL   
      
                                            By Kim Opatka   
                                            Bulletin Staff Writer   
      
        This final article in a six-part series on unidentified flying   
   objects (UFOS) examines one of the most talked about and controversial   
   incidents in the area, what has been termed a meteorite by some and an   
   alien craft by others, which crashed in Kecksburg December 9, 1965.   
      
        The object was first seen streaking across the sky, with   
   thousands from Michigan to New York witnessing a brilliant ball of   
   fire which left a smoke trail, visible for about 20 minutes after it   
   passed.   
      
        Many, including pilots who observed it, thought it was an   
   aircraft which was on fire.  Reports of debris from the object were   
   made in many states, and an Ohio fire department was called to   
   extinguish 10 small fires in an area where witnesses said they saw   
   flaming fragments falling from the sky.   
      
        Shock waves were reported by pilots, and a seismograph near   
   Detroit recorded a shock, wrote investigator Stan Gordon, of   
   Pennsylvania Association for the Study of the Unexplained (PASU) in a   
   recent journal article.  The crash has been a pet project of the   
   Greensburg man "since the night it happened," he said, noting he is   
   still trying to obtain information on the incident.   
      
        Although the military eventually labeled the object a meteor, as   
   did the Associated Press account published in The Bulletin the day   
   after the crash, Gordon says recent evidence, including the discovery   
   of a man who saw the object, supports the idea that the object was a   
   true UFO.   
      
        "I was a teen-ager then," said John (not his real name).  "It was   
   in the early part of December and there was a little snow and a little   
   rain, and mud."   
      
        He was called to the scene after the 4:44 p.m. crash as a fireman   
   from the Latrobe area, to search for the crashed object.   
      
        "I had seen a fiery object in the sky.  I can't say exactly which   
   direction but it was coming from the north.  It was not too much   
   longer and the fire whistle went off," he said.  "I answered the call   
   and was told they needed a search team because at the time they   
   believed it was a downed aircraft.  And I thought, 'My God, this is   
   what I have just seen'."   
      
        When firemen arrived at the Kecksburg Fire Hall, maps were   
   reviewed and groups were given sections to search.   
      
        "It was getting semi-dusk and we had flashlights.  We were taken   
   in the back of a truck and dropped off and told to go 'this way' which   
   we did.  I was not on the initial contact team.  Another team found   
   the object.   
      
        "It was definitely, unequivocally, positively, absolutely no   
   aircraft, plane, helicopter or rocket, at least not to my knowledge.   
   It was in an area that was part field and part woods and we went down   
   to investigate," he said.   
      
        "We found the object had crashed at a 30 to 40 degree angle, and   
   had broken off numerous tree branches in its impact path.  My initial   
   reaction was 'This is no airplane.' I observed no shrapnel, no   
   breaking up of the fuselage.  It was one solid piece, no doors, no   
   windows.   
      
        "Preliminary searches found no bodies or casualties.  It was   
   shaped like an acorn, laying on its side, like the acorn nut is in its   
   shell when it's on a tree," he explained.  "I've been a machinist for   
   24 years and I've worked with a tremendous amount of different metals,   
   and I have never seen any type of metal that looked even close to   
   that."   
      
        John said the object was not broken, "not even cracked, just   
   dented a bit.  It did not give off smoke, steam or vapors, at least   
   none that we could see."   
      
        Reports from neighbors in the area said it had given off a faint   
   trail of blue smoke, which disappeared after the crash.   
      
        He described the portion visible as between eight and 10 feet   
   long, six and seven feet across, and said a man of average height   
   would probably have had little trouble standing up inside it.  The   
   crater it plowed into the ground was "rectangular in shape."   
      
        John said the state police were there and the area was soon   
   quarantined.   
      
        "They drove us out.  It was late at night when we finally got   
   back to the fire hall and it had been completely taken over by the   
   military.  They were carrying in large pieces of equipment, radios and   
   such, and they had armed guards posted outside so nobody could get in   
   or out.  The firemen were thrown out.  We weren't even allowed in to   
   use the bathroom.   
      
        "The military had control of the whole operation," John recalled.   
   "After a while we saw a flat bed truck come by with some other   
   military equipment, a crane or something.   
      
        "It was not too much longer, an hour, an hour and a half, when   
   the trucks came back and there was a large object on the back of the   
   flat bed, covered by a tarp, with military escorts front and back.  I   
   got the feeling that if you had stepped on the road you were dead   
   meat.  They weren't stopping for anything."   
      
        Although the object was later said to be a meteorite, John   
   doesn't buy that explanation.   
      
        "It had writing on it, not like your average writing, but more   
   like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  It had sort of a bumper on it,   
   like a ribbon about six to 10 inches wide, and it stood out.  It was   
   elliptical the whole way around and the writing was on this bumper.   
   It's nothing like I've ever seen, and I'm an avid reader.  I read a   
   lot of books on Egypt, the Incas, Peruvians, Russians and I've never   
   to this day come across anything that looked like that."   
      
        John notes that later it was denied that the object was even a   
   meteorite, and the military "denied they were even in the area.  But I   
   know there were Air Force and Army personnel involved.  It was like   
   they just came out of the woodwork."   
      
        Gordon's research has revealed that one of the military groups   
   involved was most likely to be the 662nd Radar Squadron, based at the   
   Oakdale Armory, located near Greater Pittsburgh International Airport.   
      
        The squadron was found to be under the control of the Aerospace   
   Defense Command, and attempts to get information on the Kecksburg   
   crash, through the Freedom of Information Act, have not provided much   
   to go on.   
      
        One response said there had been no record of the squadron being   
   activated on that date, Gordon said, wondering how so much equipment   
   and personnel could be activated while the monthly report showed no   
   entry on Dec.  9.   
      
        Through his research, Gordon says he knows the Air Force was   
   still investigating UFO cases at the public level then, and that it   
   was apparently the Project Blue Book staff which contacted the 662nd   
   squadron.  Subsequent reports have led him to theorize that even the   
   Project Blue Book staff was not made aware of objects which could   
   "affect national security," and that some intelligence teams   
   investigated crashes of "foreign space vehicles."   
      
       Another strange occurrence that night, Gordon said, was reports by   
   some civilians that radiation was released.  He explained that some   
   children playing in the area had reportedly been told by military   
   personnel that that was a possibility, and men in decontamination   
   suits were allegedly seen at the site later the next day.   
      
        Although he has considered the possibility that the object could   
   have been space debris or a test device, Gordon says documents and   
   evidence obtained in the last few years lead more in the direction of   
   it being a "true UFO."   
      
        John concurs.   
        "It was definitely not of this planet.  At the time I was a   
   skeptical teen, but when you see something like that you don't forget   
   it.  When you get called out like that from the fire department you   
   think you're going out looking for an aircraft of some sort, not a   
   UFO.   
      
        "I'll never forget it.  I still want to know what the hell it   
   was."   
      
         
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