In this episode I look at a few cases that involve cigar shaped UFOs.
In this episode I look at a few cases that involve cigar shaped UFOs.
Ep 42 Cigar Shaped Craft
Hello and welcome back to the UFO and Aliens Podcast. I’m your host Rick Black. I hope everyone is doing well. March madness is in full swing. I don’t really know what’s going on with that, I don’t have a team in it this year. Plus, it’s been a really busy time for me. If you are following the basketball, I hope your team is doing well.
Today, I’m going to talk about specific types of UFO. Cigar shaped UFOs. The first one was on an American West Airline
flight was called “Cactus 564” which is a really cool name. And it started in Tampa, Florida and the final leg of the trip was from Dallas/Fort Worth to Las Vegas. It was piloted by Captain Eugene Tollefson and First Officer John J. Waller. The plane was passing near Bovina, Texas, just across the state line from Clovis, New Mexico at about 9:25 MST. There were thunderstorms to the northeast, and the lead flight attendant was watching the lighting flashes in the night sky.
The flight attendant was the first to notice a line of regularly flashing lights in the sky to the north and below the airliner. The First Officer then saw them as well, and they observed a horizontal row of eight strobe-like lights, flashing on and off in sequence left to right. Now this last statement is important because later in 2015 a Smithsonian Channel documentary had SETI institute Seth Shostak basically said that what the pilots saw could have been planets. That last sentence said the lights were flashing on and off in sequence makes that statement unlikely. Planets don’t flash on and off and certainly not in sequence. Stars will twinkle, but they were describing stars either.
The lights, which were as bright as aircraft landing lights, were at an altitude of between 30,000 and 35,000 feet, and were bright white with a tinge of blue.
Captain Tellefson left his seat to have a look and he saw the left to right sequencing lights as well. Then, when the lightning flashed behind the lights, the observers were able to see the silhouette of a really large 300 to 500 foot long cigar shaped object. A UFO.
After about five minutes of observing the object, Flight 564 called Albuquerque Air Traffic Control to report the object. Albuquerque ATC noted that the position of the object was over a restricted military area called “Tieband.” The controller also noted that the description sounded similar to that of a tethered aerostat except for the large number of strobes. An aerostat is basically a large balloon, a lighter than air aircraft that gains its lift through the use of a buoyant gas. They can be tethered or free-flying. But Aerostats are that large and they only reach an altitude of about 15,000 feet. Halve the altitude that the pilots were reporting. Also the controller contacted sites that would know if an aerostat or any other military aircraft were in the air that night, and was given negative responses all around. The controller contacted other aircraft in the area, but no one else was able to see what Flight 56 saw.
The controller then contacted NORAD, who at first reported nothing on their radar at that location. Then NORAD called back and said that they did have an unidentified return in that area. They were tracking a search only track at that location. The search only means that whatever it was they were tracking didn’t have a transponder. All planes must have a transponder so they can be identified. This whatever it was was going 390 knots, so it would have to be pretty high to be going that fast. Then NORAD called back and said it was an ordinary plane with a faulty transponder. I’ll tell you this, my original source claims that NORAD was tracking some unknown, but they never come back and explain that it was just a plane with a bad transponder. Leaving out information is same as lying, right? Why lie when it’s already a good story. I keep imagining looking out the window at a row of blinking lights when all of a sudden lightning lights up a 300 foot long UFO. That’s gotta creep you out.
Okay from what the witnesses were saying, I don’t think they were seeing celestial bodies or Planets. Planets don’t flash on and off. And these experts that say it was planet or planets weren’t there. Then again, I wasn’t there either. It’s interesting that the sighting was above a restricted area. Could it have been secret military experimental craft? This happened in 1995, people weren’t walking around with phones in their pockets then. If they were, I would think that people on that side of the plane would have been getting some video or pictures. And that brings up another point, we only heard from the crew. Did any of the passengers see the lights?
Next, I’m going to take you to Newberry, South Carolina. Fourteen year old Carl E. Moore was fishing with some friends when he saw a large cigar-shaped UFO land on the water. The sighting took place around 10:30 p.m. on July 15, 1981. The weather was excellent, with a clear sky and a temperature of 75 degrees.
Carl and his friends had been fishing that day, but with very little luck. They had only a few fish to show for their efforts and were on their cots for a rest. Carl decided to go down to the boat ramp and check his trout lines; so he was alone when he observed the UFO.
The UFO was a 30-foot-long glowing silver-white cigar-shaped thing. It was flying very slowly over the water, perhaps 20-25 m.p.h. He said it slowly settled on the surface of the water causing steam to rise around it. After about 3 minutes it rose slightly and hovered about one foot above the surface. Suddenly, it shot skyward, rising vertically until it was out of sight. Carl described the speed as "faaast!," claiming the UFO went from the hovering position to more than 250 m.p.h. in an instant.
The UFO was larger than a standard-sized automobile, without windows or doors. It was covered with small whitish-blue lights. These lights kept flickering back and forth as long as the object was in sight. Now that’s interesting because in the Cactus 564 UFO case they said that the lights were white with a blue tinge and they flashed on and off in sequence. Very similar description to Carls UFO lights.
When the UFO landed on the surface of the water it was less than 50 feet from Carl.
Carl described his feelings during the sighting as "quite disturbed," but he was able to "keep his cool" and observe the whole event. Because his friends were asleep on their cots he felt that no one would believe his experience but when he heard about Project VISIT in Friendswood, Texas, he felt compelled to make a report.
Now what would you do in this situation, would you just observe or would you wake up your friends. Or maybe wake up one of your friends. I think I would try to wake a friend to see what I was seeing, as another witness. It’s hard to convince people if you were the only witness. “Sure you saw a UFO”. Does the fact that he didn’t wake up any of his friends make you not want to believe his story? I like the fact that the description of the lights is similar to the plane sighting. He couldn’t have heard about it, because it hadn’t happened yet.
Now we’re going to Denison Texas at around the same time. Actually its just a few months earlier, May 13th 1981 in an area around the Texas Oklahoma border called Texomaland. It was reported in the Denison Herald by staff writer Irene Flaherty.
At least seven persons spotted an unidentified flying object over Texomaland last Wednesday morning.
Three of the UFO spotters give corresponding visual sightings and are certain they saw what they saw.
Jim Shelton, mechanic at Jim Graham International described what he saw for the Herald and went a step farther.
He drew a sketch.
Shelton said he's been laughed at, poked fun at, and looked at like he was crazy, but won't back away from a single word.
He said "It may have been for only five seconds, but I saw what I saw,"
"It was a flying object with lit portholes. Fire was streaming in sparks from the rear, and it had green and yellow pulsating lights,"
"It was real. I saw it, and if they lock me up, I still saw it. It was long, a cigar-like shape."
Karen Robinson, Calera. employee of Texas Instruments, saw it too.
She described it to her friend Linda Tingle as moving in a straight line across the Texas-Oklahoma skies like a Roman candle, only much bigger — like fireworks trailing behind a falling star. Karen was enroute home from her job at Texas Instruments. She got off at midnight.
Linda Tingle saw it too. She described it as a big ball of light. "I thought it was the moon at first glance. But it was coming downward like it was falling. I thought it might be a falling star or something, but it was flashing a light green color, then it turned light yellow, and I screamed to my husband, 'Mike, Mike look."' She and her husband were driving home from work. She works at Texas Instruments. He works at Johnson & Johnson. He was driving north on Loy Lake Road. They live in West Denison and were enroute to pick up their child before going home.
He couldn't see anything but the sky because he couldn't look around much while he was driving. He said the sky lit up. "It seemed to glow."
But Linda said she did not notice the sky "I just saw that ball glowing and flashing as it streaked downward real fast. Like I said, it first flashed green, a light green, then it turned a light yellow, and it disappeared like it fell to the earth."
Tingle said he talked with a co-worker at J&J who also saw the strange lights.
Shelton's account is the most exacting: "My wife and I were watching television. Channel 13 had that show about the German ship, Graf Spee. The movie had just ended. My wife had gone to sleep.
"Channel 13 was going off the air. I know it was right at 12:30 a.m. Out the living room window, I saw a bright light. The whole pasture lit up. I raised up off the couch, turned toward the window and was looking out when I saw the long cigar-shaped ship. I thought it might be a plane crashing, or a helicopter, but there wasn't a sound. Not a motor, a humming or a bit of noise."
Shelton said he got his knees on the couch, leaned over and raised up the window to get a better look as the object got partially behind one of the big oak trees in the pasture just behind his trailer "I hollered at Judy. my wife. She woke up and said she saw the pasture all lit up, but she did not get to the window in time to see anything else.
"I expected it to come back into view, but just poof. It was gone. I thought it crashed, and I called the Denison Police. Shelton said. "I know they thought I was crazy, but they humored me and said since it was outside the city limits they would notify the sheriff's office. They never contacted me, so I know what they thought too."
Shelton is positive about what he saw. "If they think I'm crazy, that's their problem. I did see it," he said.
He didn't go to the pasture immediately. "I thought about it, but I was scared. What if it was a flying saucer, something from outer space. I just couldn't see myself walking out and shaking hands with any green men. I'd be too scared. I reported what I saw," he said, "and it is up to someone else to investigate."
Shelton couldn't just ignore it, though. He went out the next morning and walked every inch of that 15-acres and couldn't find a thing. Then he decided someone ought to know about his UFO sighting.
"I was an Air Force brat, and dad is retired and living in Fort Worth. I called him, and he said he would tell the Air Force, and they would contact me. But I haven't heard a thing from anyone — except you."
Shelton said he is an average person who has heard of people seeing UFO's and never thought much about them. He is a mechanic, has three children, is 37 years old and been on.the same job for five years.
"I'm not prone to making up things, and I can understand someone being skeptical of what I've said," Shelton added. "The thing I saw was about 20 feet long. It was coming down at a fairlv steep angle. Its glide path was about 100 yards out in the pasture, and it was moving about 30 to 40 miles per hour, not hovering, or trying to land. Then poof — it was gone. I thought, My God. It scared me. It wasn't a plane, a helicopter or the Goodyear blimp. It was bright as day — then pitch dark again ."
A neighbor of the Shelton's who didn't want to be identified also saw the "bright as day" light.
He said
"I had gone to bed. It was well after 10:30, as far as how late. I didn't look at a clock. And my room lit up. It was bright and I woke up. It was that bright. I thought it might have been a car pulling in the driveway, and I was imagining the rest, but I pulled up the covers, closed my eyes again and went back to sleep.
At the police station, the dispatcher didn’t record the telephone call from Shelton.
Alton Taylor, day dispatcher, said he knew what it was. "We get a lot of those calls. People are seeing the weather balloons and think it's something else. It was here just last week, and I saw it myself when I was coming to work."
Shelton said he didn't see a weather balloon.
"There's no way what I saw could have been that. It just couldn't have been. It was strange. For one thing, there was a silvery white glow and orange-red flames coming out of the rear of that cigar or saucer-shaped thing."
The sketch that Shelton drew show’s a cigar shaped craft with six round windows and something shooting out one end of it. The round windows could be lights running down the length of it. It’s interesting that so many people saw this thing and described the same thing. Especially the flames coming out of the rear. Because of the flames coming out of the end, I have to believe that there must be some kind of terrestrial explanation for this one. None of the UFOs that I’ve read about have anything like that in the description. But, then again, it was reported that it made no sound. What could it be?
I’ve got one more. It’s also in 1981. This time April 19th in Los Angeles, California.
A large, low-flying cigar-shaped object with white lights shining from a row of "windows" and bearing green-blue and white "running lights" was reported to the APRO Bulletin (published by APRO, a leading UFO research organization in the United States). The object was sighted by a West Los Angeles resident on the night of April 19, 1981 at about 11:30 p.m.
Barry E. Taff reported that he was driving home from a visit with a friend in the city of Palms when he noticed something unusual in the sky as he crossed under the Santa Monica Freeway bridge. He was just coming up the grade from the underpass, parallel to a shopping center parking lot, when he noticed the object moving slowly no higher than 500-600 feet off the ground over the northeast corner of the parking lot at a compass heading of 40 degrees.
After ruling out the object as a helicopter, blimp, or other conventional aircraft, Taff pulled his car over and stopped to observe the strange sight. The object, which seemed about 2,500 feet from where he was standing, gave off no noise.
Taff wrote, "What made me so sure I was not observing any type of conventional aircraft was its basic structural design _ that of a flattened, elongated cigar, with no tail section or wings of any kind. It is hard to imagine an aircraft staying aloft without any type of horizontal or vertical stabilizer."
He said that what appeared to be "running lights" were positioned along the top and bottom of the craft which alternated green blue and white. There were also what looked like windows spaced regularly along the object's length which gave off an intense white light.
Taff wrote, "The object itself appeared to be quite solid and its surface had a charcoal grey color and looked opaque." He said the object was slightly tilted toward the ground and was moving very slowly.
The object, Taff wrote, seemed to come out of the northeast, tilt towards the ground, and then turn away from his position to a point where he could not see the lights or windows. Then it appeared to begin moving back in a northeasterly direction until he lost sight of it.
The entire sighting lasted less than a minute and Taff did not pursue the object because he could not drive and look at the same time. Taff estimated the object's size at about 65 feet in length and about 15 feet high.
Full report below from APRO Bulletin, 1981 (written by the witness):
OBJECT OVER LOS ANGELES
by Barry B. Taff, 4/19/81
West Los Angeles
On Sunday evening, April 19, 1981, I had just left my friend's apartment (Larry Brooks) on Jasmine in the city of Palms and headed south on Palms to the 7-11 store at Overland and Palms.
I purchased a small bite to eat at the 7-11 store and then headed northbound on Palms toward my home. I didn't notice anything unusual until I crossed under the Santa Monica Freeway bridge after which Palms turns into National Blvd.
It was now approximately 11:30 P.M. PST and I was just coming up the grade from the underpass. As I reached the crest of the grade which is approximately parallel with the 76 Union Gasoline station just to the right, I noticed something in the air slightly off the the right. I was now about even with the parking lot for Von's Market and the accompanying shopping center located there.
At first glance I thought I was observing either a low-flying, fixed-wing aircraft, or possibly a police helicopter which are quite common in that area during the late evening hours. After I ruled out those two possibilities based on my sighting, I then thought it might possibly be the Goodyear Blimp in distress, as it appeared to be quite low in altitude.
I would estimate that it was no higher than 500-600 feet. It was over the northeast leg of the shopping center, at a compass heading of 40 degrees.
After effectively eliminating all the aforementioned aircraft possibilities, I then pulled the car over and stopped, turning off the engine. I stepped out of the car and continued to observe the vehicle in the air.
The most apparent factor at this point was that there was absolutely no sound being generated by the object whatsoever. My eyeball estimate of the object's range is about 2,500 feet from my location as marked on the map. At that range I would expect to hear either engines or propeller blades from a fixed-wing aircraft or the rotor blades of a helicopter. Neither were heard. Nor was the sound of a jet engine or turbine.
What made me so sure I was not observing any type of conventional aircraft was its basic structure' design—that of a flattened, elongated cigar, with no tail section or wings of any kind. It is hard to imagine an aircraft staying aloft without any type of horizontal or vertical stabilizer. Additionally, what appeared to be "running lights", were positioned along the top and bottom of the cigar shape which was viewed on edge. The colors of these running lights were a green/blue and white, alternating.
Another peculiar feature observed was that this long cigar-shaped object had what looked like windows or rectangular openings spaced equidistant from each other between the rows of running lights (see drawing). The "windows" or openings were emitting extremely bright white light.
The object itself appeared to be quite solid and its surface had a charcoal grey color and looked opaque. The object's attitude was slightly tilted toward the ground (see drawing) and it was moving very slowly.
It seemed to come out of the northeast, tilt down towards the ground, then turn away from my position to a point where I could no longer observe the lights of windows, only its backside which had no lights or windows. At that point, it appeared to begin moving back in a northeasternly direction and I lost sight of it.
Again, it is important to note that during this entire observational period, there was not any sound heard coming from the object. And inasmuch as it was a relatively late hour (11:30 P.M.), there were few if any cars on the street to distract me or drown out the sound, if any.
My entire sighting lasted approximately 45 seconds and I did intend to pursue the object, but I could not drive the car and observe the object at the same time since I was alone, and there was no one present to assist me in navigation.
In conclusion, I'd estimate that the object's size was considerably larger than any helicopter that the police have flown locally (perhaps 65 feet in length), and was about 15 feet high. It could not have been a blimp as its shape was not consistent with that type of aircraft-aircraft.
So, what do you think? There are some similarities with these cigar shaped UFOs. It’s interesting if nothing else.
Remember, Believe none of what you hear and half of what you read.
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