December 9, 2014-The 49th Anniversary of the Kecksburg, PA UFO Incident
The Kecksburg UFO Incident: You Can Help Solve it.
By Stan Gordon
(Originally published in the July 25-27, 2014, Old Fashioned & UFO Festival booklet.)
Stan Gordon near the mockup of the Kecksburg UFO.
It is hard to believe that we are approaching 49 years since the UFO incident occurred near Kecksburg on December 9, 1965. I was 16 years old when it occurred that day so long ago. I remember quite well as news about a brilliant fireball seen over Canada and several states was breaking on Pittsburgh area radio and TV that evening. More startling was news that the military was also arriving in the Kecksburg area and were going to search for whatever had fallen.
Apparently hundreds of people from around the Pittsburgh area and elsewhere jumped into their vehicles and sought out the wooded location in Mount Pleasant Township to try to obtain a look at a mysterious object that had reportedly fallen into the woods. Among the crowds were also reporters from newspapers, radio, and TV stations from the Pittsburgh region.
The next day the story made the front page of area papers and was also printed in newspapers all across the country. The news also indicated that the search found nothing in the woods and the official explanation was that bright object observed in the sky by multitudes of people was only a meteor, but nothing had fallen to the ground. Word at that time was circulating around the area that some locals that night had observed a military flatbed tractor trailer truck carrying a large tarped object out of the area.
I started making inquiries the next day trying to learn more detail but information was scarce. During the years since the incident occurred, I have had the opportunity to interviews hundreds of people who have information about the case. Among those I talked with were former Kecksburg volunteer firemen who took part in activities dealing with the incident that night. I talked with people who went down into the woods soon after the object fell who came across that mysterious metallic acorn shaped object with odd hieroglyphic-like symbols that was semi-buried down in the wooded ravine.
A former military source told me he was a part of the Air Force security team that guarded the object when it arrived from Pennsylvania during the early morning hours of December 10, 1965, at Lockbourne Air Force base near Columbus, Ohio. It then continued its journey to Wright-Patterson Air Force base. Many of the people that I interviewed about the case were former residents from around Kecksburg and the Mount Pleasant area.
Sadly many of those people are now deceased, and others are getting up in age and not in good health. As we approach the 50th anniversary of this historical local event that has reached international interest, it’s time for those of you who were involved that day in 1965 to share what details you recall with me so it can be recorded for historical reference.
More importantly, I believe from information that has surfaced over the years that some local people still have in their possession black and white photos of the object down in the woods, as well as pictures of military personnel and trucks taken that evening in 1965.
Before it is too late after so many years, won’t you share this information and evidence with your neighbors and community and help solve this mystery? Anyone contacting me can remain anonymous. I am interested in the details of what you recall and any evidence or photos that will give us clues as to the origin of that mysterious object that fell near your local community so many years ago.
I can be reached via e-mail at paufo@comcast.net. Please write to me at P.O. Box 936, Greensburg, Pa. 15601.