Coyne Incident

Few historical accounts of Ohio UFO sightings are more compelling than what has become known as the Coyne Incident.  It was a cloudless October night in 1973 when an Army Reserve helicopter in the skies about Mansfield nearly collided with an unknown craft.  The four military men aboard would soon tell the world what they encountered.  

It was an account later recognized during an assembly of the United Nations.  It seems that for a time, the whole world wanted to know just what happened in our little corner of the planet.  .

Perhaps it's happening still.  Come hear the tale for yourself.

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And as always, keep wondering...

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host Melissa Davies. Today, we turn our attention to the question of life beyond the outer reaches of our atmosphere. For centuries, people have looked to the skies and contemplated whether we truly are alone in this vast universe. Claims of extraterrestrial events are often discounted as weather balloons, experimental aircraft, or perhaps a drug induced psychedelic trip. Skepticism is healthy, especially when the assertion involves alien life forms dropping by our little blue planet. But what about Ohio? Does such intelligent life if it exists, have any interest in the Buckeye State? Some of you Ohio folklore fans know from past episodes that Ohio has a considerable reputation when it comes to folklore surrounding UFOs. In the Portage County UFO Chase, we learned of a group of law enforcement officers that chased an unidentified flying object for more than 80 miles. And the episode on the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, offered insight into the claims that alien wreckage from the Roswell incident remains stored there. But as UFO stories go, these aren't the only intriguing tales that come out of our state. There are countless sightings from ordinary citizens every day. But that's not what I'm talking about. Today. I'm talking about the coin incident. Few Ohioans have ever heard of it. I counted myself among them before stumbling across the topic myself one day. This is no run of the mill account of some observer looking upwards to spot something unusual in the sky. No. This is an Ohio saga that deserves a deep dive into the historical record. Most of the details you'll hear come from a featured article in the Mansfield News Journal published in December 1982. Nine years after the unexplained event. Reporter Linda Mart's captured intimate details from firsthand observers. These accounts have yet to be explained today. Come here the tale for yourself. It was a cloudless night on October 18 1973. The star speckled an inky black sky as Captain Lawrence Coyne and his crew of three ascended in their Huey helicopter from Port Columbus Airport. The Army reservists had just completed their annual medical physicals and we're returning to Cleveland Hopkins Airport, where they were stationed. Captain coin was the commander of the 316th medevac unit there. Those who served under him knew him as a capable and calm leader. That night, he and his crew expected nothing more than a routine trip back to Cleveland, and routine it was until something unexpected confronted them midair. They had just entered the airspace above Mansfield. Their helicopter was cruising at an altitude of 2500 feet and co pilot Lieutenant Rick jazzy was out the controls. Sergeant John Healy, a flight medic, was the first to take notice of a single red light in the distant western sky. He dismissed it, assuming it could be a commercial aircraft. But as the minutes wore on, specialist Robert DNSSEC, former crew chief in Vietnam spotted the same red light in the eastern sky, and this time it appeared to be Bering Strait for them. Captain coin quickly took the controls and maneuvered the helicopter into a shallow dive starting at 500 feet per minute. The light remained on a steady course barreling toward them. Coin accelerated the dive to 2000 feet per minute in a desperate attempt to avoid a collision. All men became transfixed on the red light that seemed to be chasing them at a speed of about 600 knots. They were convinced a collision was inescapable. The velocity of this unearthly light was unlike anything they had ever seen. It covered a distance from the horizon to their craft, and about 10 seconds. Each of them brace themselves for impact and impact that would never come. When the object came within about 500 feet of them it stopped and hovered. The men could see it clearly with their own eyes. Captain coin would describe the nearly 60 foot long craft as a gray metallic cigar shaped object which filled the windshield view. It had no wings and no visible propulsion devices. He described it as unreal with the glowing steady red light on it Leading Edge. A dome was at the center from which a green light shone swiveling like a spotlight. It filled the helicopters cabin with the green glow. Both crafts remained hovering there for about 10 or 12 seconds. The men were wrapped in the server lists of the moment. In one instant, they had braced for an impact that would certainly result in death. And in the next instant, time stopped, as each craft observed the other suspended and both space and belief. Just as suddenly as it had approached them, the object then turn 45 degrees to the right, exposing a white tail light before taking off in a westerly direction. At its moment of departure, the crew felt the helicopter bounce, as if it had been released from some unknown force. They watched as the craft disappeared into the horizon over Lake Erie. It was only then that coin found the presence of mind to return his focus to piloting the helicopter. To his confusion, the main compass was spinning in one direction, round and round. And even more perplexing was the altimeter reading 3500 feet. The controls were still set at a 20 degree dive. Inexplicably, in the brief seconds during the strange encounter with the unknown craft, the helicopter had risen 1800 feet, while its controls remained an innovative dive. The crew had felt low G forces which would have accounted for such a steep ascent in mere seconds. The crew attempted radio contact with Mansfield Lam Airport, in hopes of gaining an answer to just what this craft could have been. Both VHF and UHF communications were down. They were running low on fuel, but decided against stopping at the Mansfield airbase to gas up. Instead, their minds wrapped in fear and confusion. They sped off toward Cleveland and arrived at the Hopkins airport with the gas gauge nearly on empty. While the most dramatic encounter had been in the air, there were also many accounts at this event from the ground. Various citizens of those Ashland and Richland counties observed a near collision of strange lights and the night sky. One mother and four children were headed south on labor road near the Charles mill reservoir. The lights were so bright and their movements so unusual that she stopped to pull over. They all piled out of the car for a better look. After a few moments, they could easily recognize one set of lights as a helicopter, but the other it seemed to hover with the kind of anti gravitational force that they had never before observed. The moment of true wonder arrived when that object turned and emitted a green beam of light that illuminated the helicopter and the ground below it. The whole area below was bathed in a green light, making trees and the rest of the landscape clearly visible. Frightened, everyone jumped back in the car, the mother threw the gearshift into Drive as they sped off towards home. This incident, which would later become known as the coin incident, is regarded by some UFO researchers as one of the finest and most credible reports of a UFO encounter ever recorded. The former military officers on board the helicopter that night maintain their accounts to the press accounts that were unencumbered by Pentagon officials. Unlike other sensational UFO encounters, like the infamous Roswell incident, no pushback or alternative explanations were offered by military officials. In the 47 years that have passed since this mysterious evening, experts have yet to explain the consistent accounts of four credible army reservists. Captain coin was viewed as particularly credible given his long standing reputation as a celebrated leader in the ranks. And even after the accounts were made public coin remained well respected among subordinates and colleagues and like this part of the story is a clear departure from the disdain and scorn typically received by most UFO reporters. Far from disdain. The US military promoted this story as told by coin and his crew. In 1978, coin was permitted to speak at a convention of the United Nations providing a detailed account of just what they had experienced. He encouraged member nations to more fully investigate UFO sightings within their own countries. His testimony would result in The establishment of an agency of the United Nations for undertaking coordinating and disseminating the results of research into unidentified flying objects and related phenomenon. It's relatively easy to find historical footage of Captain coins, various media interviews, take a listen to just a few notable quotes from the man himself. I looked out the window and observed this light moving at a very excessive speed in excess of 600 knots coming out of the helicopter it looked like a lockdown missile. The thing that makes this particular evening a unique experience was that it was almost a matter of collision with an object that we you know, as a UFO, we did not know was such until it was on top to helicopter and that took just a matter of minutes. While I was in this position, and the green light came from the undercarriage of the UFO, the object that I view that particular evening had a high degree of technology was composed of a structure and a design that we do not have. The object can move through the atmosphere without causing any turbulence, it can move at high speeds below 10,000 feet. There are no vertical or horizontal stabilizers, no landing gear no source of propulsion reflecting on the craft looks like it could go fly in space. Many have tried to rationally explain this incident. One example is the theory that coin and his crew encountered a refueling aircraft. One blogger known only by the name para bonk, posted a lengthy and incredibly detailed explanation of just how a tanker attempting to refuel the helicopter could have been mistaken for the UFO. The blogger suggests that perhaps the crew of the tanker wanted to play a prank, and thus approach the helicopter unbidden that or perhaps that had mistaken the identity of the helicopter for another craft that had already requested a refueling procedure. This might explain part of the interaction, including the glowing red and green lights which are known to emit from such aircraft. However, no records of such a tanker wherever revealed no flight plans, no indications from radar recordings. No crew members from the suppose a tanker ever surfaced during the media frenzy, which followed to say, yeah, that was us. Also, no communication between the helicopter and the suppose it tanker ever took place. Coyne and his crew never made a request for refuel. And then there's the question about the hovering. The helicopter crew was adamant that they remain suspended that there was no forward movement during the 10 second encounter. Obviously, planes like a tanker can't hover. As far as what became of the helicopter itself, it was reportedly prone to technical malfunctions ever since that fateful night. It had been dubbed with the nickname The hangar queen. For all the repeated repairs, the crap seemed doomed for life on the ground. The helicopter, identified by tail number 15444, was decommissioned by the military in 2008 and sold to a private citizen. It was then known officially by its civilian number, and 333 SD. It would eventually be donated to the country of Colombia to help in efforts to monitor and intercept illicit drug trafficking. And on March 26 2009, two captains and two soldiers conducting surveillance were killed when it crashed near the border with Ecuador. The same craft of legendary UFO history, which never seemed to regain its air worthiness would go down taking the lives of four Colombian military servants. And herein ends the story of what we know about the coin incident of 1973. Just what are we to make of this tale? The claim that an unidentified flying object and countered, observed and then simply sped away from a group of credible military men. They were just in the course of doing their jobs. None of these men were known for making outlandish claims. None reported any similar incidents before or after this experience. All were well acquainted with aerial phenomenon. All were experienced aviators in their own right. They weren't known for spinning tails. Their military superiors didn't contradict their stories. In fact, they supported them Army reservists reputations were solid. Their account was confirmed by reports from citizens on the ground. It's one Ohio story that hasn't only slipped into history, but into our collective imaginations, just what or who exists beyond ourselves, and have they caused to come visit us? Are we as interesting a specimen as we find them? is the stuff of science fiction, green men for Mars, agents in black suits and shades. A reflection of these questions. We may never have certain answers, perhaps we're meant to keep pondering. This concludes today's episode of Ohio folklore on the coin incident. I hope you've enjoyed listening. If so, please consider leaving a review on Apple podcasts. It helps new listeners find the show. You can find Ohio folklore at Ohio folklore.com And on Facebook. And as always, keep wondering